The USDm stablecoin, built with Ethena and backed by tokenized treasuries, will use its yield to subsidize Ethereum sequencer fees. MegaETH, an Ethereum layer-2 protocol backed by Vitalik Buterin, announced the upcoming launch of a yield-bearing stablecoin that might give it a different business model than traditional L2s, which drive revenue through transaction fees. The stablecoin, USDm, is being developed in partnership with Ethena, an algorithmic stablecoin protocol with $13 billion in total value locked (TVL). It will launch on Ethena’s USDtb infrastructure, which channels reserves into BlackRock’s BUIDL — a tokenized US Treasury bill fund with a $2.2 billion market cap and steady yield, according to RWA.xyz. Yield from the stablecoin’s reserves will reportedly be used to offset sequencer fees, the Ethereum gas costs a layer-2 incurs when publishing batches of transactions to the main chain. Read more
Hackers drained 193,000 SOL from SwissBorg’s Solana Earn program after a Kiln API was compromised, affecting 1% of users and 2% of assets. SwissBorg, a Switzerland-based crypto wealth management platform, said hackers exploited a vulnerability in the API of its staking partner Kiln, draining about 193,000 Solana tokens from its Earn program. The SwissBorg app and other Earn products were not impacted by the hack, the company wrote in a post on X. The stolen SOL (SOL) tokens were worth roughly $41 million at time of writing. The breach originated with Kiln, a staking infrastructure provider that powers yield products on blockchains such as Solana and Ethereum. Read more
The launch follows Nasdaq’s call for tighter scrutiny of corporate crypto holdings, which HashKey framed as a test for the industry. Hong Kong-based HashKey Group said it launched a $500 million investment fund targeting digital asset treasuries (DATs), initially focusing on exposure to Bitcoin and Ether's price performance. The fund is structured as a perpetual, institutional-only vehicle allowing regular subscriptions and redemptions, similar to an open-ended crypto hedge fund, HashKey said in a statement. Unlike a passive exchange-traded fund (ETF), HashKey’s fund is designed to invest in projects and companies deploying DAT strategies. The launch comes after Nasdaq announced enhanced scrutiny of listed companies’ crypto holdings on Thursday, a move HashKey framed as signaling a “survival of the fittest” stage for the industry. Read more
The NFT sector has yet to recapture the enthusiasm of 2021-2022, forcing many NFT-centric companies like OpenSea to pivot to more in-demand crypto use cases. NFT marketplace turned trading platform OpenSea on Monday said it launched a $1 million reserve dedicated to buying “culturally relevant" non-fungible tokens (NFTs). OpenSea kicked off its NFT reserve by buying a piece of digital art from the CryptoPunk collection — widely considered Ethereum's first NFT profile picture (PFP) collection. “To us, culturally relevant NFTs are works that have made an impact: creatively, socially, or technologically,” OpenSea Chief Marketing Officer Adam Hollander told Cointelegraph. “They might represent a defining moment in NFT history, introduce a new artistic style, or come from voices that haven’t been fully recognized yet.” Read more