- StarkWare will unveil an AI project under development.
- Hong Kong may open Bitcoin spot ETF trading.
- The Safe token (SAFE) will become transferable starting from April 23rd.
- The Southeast Asia Blockchain Week will take place in Bangkok, Thailand from April 22nd to 28th.
- YGG, valued at approximately $15.71 million, will unlock on April 27th.
Key Events
According to filings from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ripple is required to submit its response to the SEC’s judgment by April 22, 2024. The SEC has sought a $1.95 billion fine against Ripple Labs. The case originated in December 2020 when the SEC sued Ripple Labs and its executives, alleging that they violated federal securities laws by selling XRP to institutional and retail customers. In July of last year, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that selling XRP on exchanges and through algorithms did not violate U.S. law, but only Ripple’s institutional sales of XRP did.
The StarkWare exploration team is collaborating with the decentralized AI project Giza to create a new artificial intelligence project. The announcement will be made at the Starknet event in Berlin on April 23rd.
Several fund companies in Hong Kong announced on April 15th that their applications for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs had been approved. Previously, sources indicated that after the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) approved the first batch of Bitcoin spot ETFs on the 15th, it would take the Hong Kong Stock Exchange about two weeks to prepare for product listing and other matters. However, the entire Bitcoin spot ETF project had already been in detailed communication with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and it was expected to be completed in about ten days. The SFC plans to open trading for Bitcoin spot ETFs in Hong Kong on April 25th, at the latest by the end of April.
Project Updates
This week’s updates related to airdrop activities include:
Synthetix PYTH Airdrop: Synthetix will distribute PYTH tokens to governance users. Eligible users must fill out a form by April 22nd. The airdrop is available to users who have engaged in any of the following activities over the past year: speaking in the SNX Discord governance channel, creating or voting on SIP/SCCP proposals, serving the Synthetix DAO, or participating in Synthetix elections.
MerlinSwap esMP Staking Party: MerlinSwap, the Merlin ecosystem DEX, will commence its esMP staking party starting from April 22nd at 14:00 UTC, ending on May 21st at 14:00 UTC. Users can stake esMP tokens to participate in the second phase’s 2% airdrop allocation.
QnA3.AI Second Phase Airdrop: The second phase of token claim for AI-driven Web3 knowledge sharing and search platform QnA3.AI is open until April 24th at 20:00 UTC. 5 million tokens are available for 200,000 BNB and Solana chain users. Users who claimed points before the March 15th snapshot on the BNB Chain are eligible, and Solana users active before March 31st will receive the airdrop.
Cellula Airdrop Alliance: Cellula, in partnership with the BNB Chain Airdrop Alliance, is distributing CELL token rewards until April 28th. In this campaign, Cellula will distribute a total of 1.1 million CELL tokens to all eligible users.
io.net First Phase Rewards: The first phase of the rewards program for the Solana-based DePIN protocol, io.net, continues until April 28th. Users can now check their rewards points. The program rewards users based on their provision of GPUs to the network. Factors considered in the reward algorithm include hours of work completed, node bandwidth, GPU model, and normal operating time.
In terms of network upgrades, it’s important to note:
Binance System Upgrade: Binance will conduct a regular system upgrade from April 23rd at 14:30 UTC to April 23rd at 17:30 UTC to enhance system performance and stability. Users may encounter system errors while using the Binance website or app during the upgrade period.
Filecoin Network Upgrade: The Filecoin network upgrade coordinator has decided to postpone the nv22 network upgrade to April 24th due to tracking and assessing the status of the STFIL Protocol.
Other project updates include:
Eigenpie LST Withdrawals: SubDAO organization Eigenpie LST withdrawals for providing liquidity re-staking services under the multi-chain yield protocol Magpie will go live on April 22nd. LST deposit users on the platform will be able to withdraw their assets while retaining their accumulated points.
TreasureDAO Ruby Testnet Launch: TreasureDAO plans to launch the Treasure Ruby testnet on April 22nd, including the new Treasure Portal for cross-chain access and exploration of the testnet environment, as well as a new Treasure browser. The official stated that new test network versions will be launched after the Ruby version and new features will be provided. In addition, staking functionality will be added to the Treasure Chain.
Space Nation Online PC Closed Beta: The closed beta version of the Space Nation Online PC version ran from April 1st to April 22nd for 21 days. The closed beta version provided game experiences such as exploration, challenges, trading, gold farming, and mining, and distributed 2.25 million OIK tokens based on in-game contributions.
Magic Eden Runes Platform Launch: The NFT marketplace Magic Eden will launch the Runes trading platform on April 23rd. Additionally, Magic Eden will go live on the Base network on April 25th.
The Machines Arena Public Test Release: The Ethereum-based shooting game The Machines Arena will release its public test version on April 23rd, marking its first launch on Android mobile devices. Users can download it from the Epic Games Store or the official website. Rewards from the closed beta version must be claimed by April 23rd at 7:59 UTC.
Safe Token Transferability: The Safe token (SAFE) will become transferable starting from April 23rd. When initially launched in September 2022, SAFE tokens were non-transferable. SafeDAO governance controls the unpause function in the token contract, enabling SAFE to be transferable. The initial proposal (SEP #23) to make SAFE tokens transferable was not implemented due to 73.63% opposition. A new proposal passed on April 15th, enabling SAFE to be transferable.
Forgotten Playland Release: Forgotten Playland, a free social gathering game under the Merit Circle, will be released on April 25th.
Oasys Loot by Rogue Alpha Launch: The alpha version of Loot by Rogue on the gaming blockchain Oasys will launch on April 26th.
Upcoming Events
The Southeast Asia Blockchain Week will take place in Bangkok, Thailand from April 22nd to 28th, 2024.
Registration for the BNB Chain Q2 “One BNB – Coding the Future” online hackathon ends on April 25th. The prize pool is $470,000, focusing on DeFi, gaming, artificial intelligence, DePIN, DeSoc, and infrastructure tracks.
AI Crypto Hackathon Hosted by BeWater and jointly initiated by ABCDE, OKX Ventures, SevenX Ventures, and BNB Chain, the AI Crypto Hackathon will officially start on April 24th. Registration is open on the BeWater platform. The competition includes tracks such as AI stack (compute power, models, data, agents), and decentralized applications.
The Cornell University Blockchain Club will hold its fourth annual blockchain conference in New York on April 26th, 2024.
Token Unlock
According to Token Unlocks data, this week will see significant one-time token unlocks for YGG, ID, AGIX, and CTSI, totaling over $44 million in value, including:
YGG tokens will be unlocked on April 27th at 22:00 UTC, releasing 16.69 million tokens worth approximately $15.71 million, accounting for 5.33% of the circulating supply.
ID tokens will be unlocked on April 22nd at 8:00 UTC, releasing 18.49 million tokens worth approximately $15.29 million, accounting for 4.29% of the circulating supply.
AGIX tokens will be unlocked on April 28th at 8:00 UTC, releasing 8.84 million tokens worth approximately $8.78 million, accounting for 0.69% of the circulating supply.
CTSI tokens will be unlocked on April 23rd at 12:00 UTC, releasing 21.43 million tokens worth approximately $4.66 million, accounting for 2.73% of the circulating supply.
Governance Voting
The voting for the Injective token economics model upgrade proposal INJ 3.0 will conclude on April 23rd. This proposal aims to reduce the issuance of new INJ tokens by decreasing on-chain parameters. It plans to gradually decrease the INJ inflation rate over two years and increase responsiveness to staking activities.
The voting for the proposal to invest in HOPR to kickstart the development of GnosisVPN will end on April 23rd. According to GIP-98 proposal, this initiative plans to invest in HOPR to promote Gnosis’ focus on privacy. HOPR will build Gnosis VPN, a privacy-focused and decentralized VPN built on the HOPR mixnet. The proposal includes two phases: initially establishing a set of VPN libraries and the Gnosis VPN browser extension, followed by future product expansions and user experience enhancements. GnosisDAO will receive HOPR tokens at a 30% discount as part of its $1.5 million investment return.