Following Vitalik Buterin’s call for more social application use cases on Ethereum earlier this summer, multiple crypto companies voiced intentions to build decentralized versions of mainstream social networks like Twitter. However, to create and view crypto-centered social platforms as merely decentralized versions of Twitter is shortsighted. The moral and technical implications of creating truly decentralized social networks that abide by Web 3.0 principles extend far beyond what the idea of “decentralized Twitter” currently encompasses. Beyond mere decentralization, there are four key themes central to the idea of crypto social development: private communication and censorship resistance, moderation, decentralized governance, and secure …

In remarks given at the American Fintech Council’s 2021 Policy Summit, acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J Hsu called for greater regulation of universal crypto firms. “Large, universal crypto firms—especially issuers of highly-circulated stablecoins—should embrace comprehensive, consolidated supervision. At the same time, federal and state bank regulators should prioritize the development of policies, staff, and supervisory approaches to bring such firms safely into the bank regulatory perimeter. This would clearly differentiate safe and sound crypto firms from those that are regulated only partially and have a history of control lapses, such as Binance and Tether.” The Office of the …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. For many years, Ethereum and XRP held the second and third-ranking spots in the crypto market. Read on to discover how wXRP will integrate into Ethereum to expand its utility to smart contracts. What you’re about to read is the smaller version of this newsletter. For the full breakdown of DeFi’s developments over the last week, subscribe to our newsletter below. Avalanche launch $200M fund to incentive developers The Avalanche Foundation unveiled a new $200-million fund this week aimed at expanding the liquidity potential of startup projects with its ecosystem …

THORChain hasn’t had an easy year. After three exploits in the space of a month during the summer the protocol’s native token (RUNE) took a beating, plummeting from all-time highs over $20.00 in May to a low of around $3.50 in late July. Billed as a way to exchange crypto assets across different blockchains without an intermediary, the protocol disabled swaps completely as it looked to harden the network against exploits. With the relaunch of Ethereum swaps in late October, however, THORChain’s recovery was virtually complete — and the price of RUNE was within striking distance of the $20.00 mark …

Ethereum-based (ETH) decentralized finance, or DeFi, risk management marketplace Risk Harbor will soon take over control of Terra's Ozone Protocol, according to a press release published on Thursday. Ozone is a decentralized insurance mechanism that provides coverage in the event of technical failures on the Terra DeFi ecosystem. The latter is a dual-token platform that features its governance token LUNA and stablecoin Terra USD (UST), which has an exchange rate of 1:1 with the U.S. dollar. UST has no underlying USD reserves backing it. Instead, it's collateralized via an algorithm by LUNA, and users can earn rewards by using LUNA …

On Nov. 2, award-winning writer and director Quentin Tarantino announced he would auction off seven uncut scenes from Pulp Fiction as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, built on the Secret Network (SCRT). The digitized assets will include the first uncut scripts of the movie, as well as secrets about the film and its creators. While the NFTs will feature public metadata, acting as a sort of front cover of the underlying digitized asset, only the NFT owner will have access to the never before seen content — a unique feature of the Secret Network. Regarding the drop, Tarantino said "Secret Network …

Play-to-earn has become a popular concept in the gaming industry, with the emergence of blockchain technology taking traditional gaming to the next level. However, with so many players entering the market, these platforms are set for significant competition in the long run if they cannot bring anything above and beyond the model itself. Aloha DeFi aims to take the play-to-earn model to the next level by merging it with the concept of learn-to-earn to give participants numerous earning opportunities. Aloha began its journey as a WiFi-sharing platform focused on providing passive income opportunities to users. In practice, the platform allowed …

Bluzelle, a decentralized storage network, has announced the release of its mainnet R2 file storage system designed to enhance the decentralization of nonfungible tokens (NFT) and their corresponding data. The solution was created amid the rise in concerns around the lack of immutability on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) protocol, a relatively undiscussed model of storage that currently serves as the gold standard for the majority of NFT assets including Cryptopunks and Beeple. Twitter user Jonty Wareing shared a popular assessment on the fundamental flaws of IPFS for NFT projects. Short version: The NFT token you bought either points to …

Blockchain gaming platform Enjin is establishing a new fund to support the development of the metaverse ecosystem and make it more decentralized. Enjin, a startup behind the nonfungible token (NFT)-focused blockchain Efinity, has formed a $100 million fund to support Efinity adopters as well as other related projects, the startup announced Thursday. “It is now time for us to turn this into an official, public, and conscious piece of our growth strategy, and support a free, open, and decentralized Metaverse,” Enjin said, adding that it will consider equity investments in seed funding rounds and token purchases to nurture the ecosystem. …

The Avalanche Foundation has unveiled “Blizzard” — a fund offering more than $200 million in incentives to developers who build on the Avalanche network. The fund will provide liquidity to those early-stage projects that innovate decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and other products on Avalanche. Avalanche is a Proof-of-Stake network that launched in September 2020. The network boasts Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatibility, allowing developers to port decentralized applications over from Ethereum. The network now boasts more than 320 projects that are currently building on it, including top stablecoin issuer Tether, popular DEX SushiSwap, and oracle providers Chainlink and …

Patreon executives again teased their company's expansion into the world of crypto at a 2021 Creator Economy Summit by The Information panel. Patreon CEO Jack Conte appeared with Chief Product Officer Julian Gutman, saying: “I really love the idea of creators owning their media and owning their content. [...] I love the idea of shifting power away from institutions and toward individual creative people.” Conte noted that while the platform doesn’t currently have full time employees focused on cryptocurrency, it was considering hiring them. Gutman went on to say, “I think for us, really thinking through how we’re continuing to …

Decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions have already proved they are better alternatives to traditional finance, arising from the need for an open, secure and transparent financial system. With DeFi, users can take advantage of lower transaction rates, higher interest rates or an opportunity to diversify investments. Therefore, there are few surprises regarding decentralized finance emerging as an alternative to today's financial system for these reasons. The bottom line is that while blockchain technology ensures the network's security, it is at the cost of users’ inconvenience. Unfortunately, like other promising technologies, the blockchain is prone to challenges that may impact its usage. …