Presented by CryptoLink.Tech

Volume 1 | Edition 7 | August 3, 2023

Opening Thoughts

What’s up web3 wombats?

We are back again this week with another full slate of fun stuff to tell you about.

CryptoLink is full-steam ahead with some HUGE announcements, per usual!

I don’t particularly have any fun anecdotes to talk about this week in the opening thoughts, but I will leave you with a good quote and then we can get into it this week.

Cryptolink Connect

This is where you catch the latest and greatest on CryptoLink!

Chain-Palooza: CryptoLink to Launch New Validator Reservations THOON

Those of you that were in the RBX Twitter Space got this alpha a bit early.

At CryptoLink, we like to stay on top of the currents in crypto. (see what I did there ;))

That being said, it only makes sense that we get to the poppin’ chains sooner than later and that means Base, Coinbases L2 solution, is on the way!

We have been told multiple times in the last week that we need to get there ASAP and from what I’ve been told they have no bridging solution out of Base yet.

I see opportunity in the near future.

This is coupled with the launch of Ethereum and Arbitrum validator reservations and the CryptoLink team is incredibly excited to start making moves towards serious volume.

Stay tuned for more info about the validator reservations being launched.

Fun Fact: With only ~17 projects built there and $10m in TVL, Base has generated over $70,000 in network fee revenue in the last 24 hours. Not bad for being new!

Hint: THOON

First Contact Protocol Initiated: Cosmonaut NFTs and Discounts are LIVE

This one has been a long time coming and I am genuinely proud that we got here.

The Cross-Chain Cosmonaut NFT collection by CryptoLink is now actively providing discounts on cross-chain swaps for holders!

Since day-1 our community has perservered and supported us to the point where we can get these bad boys up and running.

That time has come and our community will reap those benefits!

Don’t forget to grab yours while you still can as they are starting to run out on the currently offered chains.

Bridgeable NFTs that stack swap discounts up to 100%…

I’d say this is a little better of a value proposition than a PFP project, but what does a Walrus know?

Build real things!

Ordering Orange INK: 1-Way INK Warp LIVE on Friday!

I know one furry critter that will be incredibly hyped to see this one. 😉 

Did the title give it away?

INK is heading to Gauss! (If you want it to)

That’s right, the Bossman always said INK would never be bridgeable but we found a solution that works for all sides.

Beginning on Friday, August 4th (tomorrow) the INK Warp will be open to send your existing INK on other chains to the Gauss blockchain.

This won’t be your average bridge, however, so listen close you wombats.

This is a 1-way bridge, meaning once the INK is there, it can’t come back to it’s original chain. The existing chains have as much INK as they ever will at this moment, so no worries to current INK holders that don’t want their bags inflated.

There is another caveat that Atlas added in as well, so keep listening.

The bridge is a 2 for 1 swap. This means if you want to send your CELO INK (example) to Gauss, you will recieve 1 INK on Gauss for every 2 INK you warp from the existing chain.

I’m no math magician but I think that’s pretty good for tokenomics. 😉 

Be aware, however, that we will be opening the INK warp for every chain we launch on from here on out.

So, if you want to send INK to Gauss and then want to send that same INK to ETH when we launch there, you will see diminishing returns.

Example: 4 INK CELO —> 2 INK Gauss —> 1 INK ETH

Choose your warps wisely, anon…

Have fun with this, Ferret. 🤣

Have You Ever Seen A Donkey Fly? New CryptoLink Integration and AMA News!

You thought it ended with RBX?

My friends, we are simply getting the wheels turning.

Arbitrum DEX ‘Donk’ has reached out to the CryptoLink team to help them become a cross-chain DEX as they eye Polygon for their next move!

Cletus has gone beast mode on biz dev lately, and I want to call that out.

I have not personally been too involved in this integration as marketing and branding has really ramped up since launch — However, Cletus nabbed us another chance to push more volume with this one.

We will be hosting the Donk team in our Discord at 4PM Eastern Time on Monday the 7th!

Everybody should come to the AMA and show the Donk team that we roll deep over here at CryptoLink and that they certainly made the right choice.

World Of Web3

This section covers major recent developments and trends in the Web3 world.

Web3 Segue: ‘X’ Leads The Way With X Coins

According to @NFT_GOD, a fairly popular account in the Crypto X space (formerly Crypto Twitter), has broken the news on X Coins.

Now you may notice the “Community Notes” on the bottom saying this isn’t new ‘news’.

I do remember something similar being reported back in January but it was not covered well.

Regardless, Elon is finally acting on this feature though it seems it comes with its own problems.

At face-value this may seem a bit disconnected from what web3 really is. On the other side I think it could have some larger implications for crypto education and bringing new people into the space of digital collectibles and assets.

Does this system look oddly familiar?

As a creator, you can acquire X Coins from your subscribers and then directly swap those for USD on the X site.

I see this as a wonderful web2.5 segue for newbies to start understanding how to swap digital assets for cash. This leads to users becoming comfortable with a liquidity pool-esque system and could eventually get us to a point where crypto seems less scary for people.

However you see it, it’s pretty unique for a social platform to do something like this and I’m excited to watch it play out.

Trouble In Paradise: CRV Debacle Breakdown

Buckle up, this one is a bit of a ride.

On July 30th the popular DeFi protocol CRV was hacked for ~$5ish million dollars.

This wouldn’t be a huge hit to CRV and their liquidity can sustain the sell from the hacker but their problems run a lot deeper than that.

I will be referencing a post by @AutismCapital that was not made into a thread so I can only post one portion of it here.

The real issues arise when we look at the founder of CRV, Michael Egorov.

Michael took out a massive loan on AAVE that was collateralized by his then ~$280m in CRV. This is only the start of the problems.

Remember when I said CRV had enough liquidity to take the 7 million CRV sell hit?

Well, I need you to also remember this is DeFi and the angry mob makes the rules around here.

The hack coupled with the news of Michaels loans has created a massive sell-off of CRV that has not only slaughtered the token price but could kill the protocol.

Let’s dig deeper.

Michael also has a loan out on Fraxlend which according to @Delphi_Digital is where the fun really begins. Check this out.

With the APY on the Fraxlend loan doubling roughly every 12 hours there is a chance he gets liquidated there.

This means about 59m CRV would be dumped, which the CRV pools could not handle, meaning the rest of Michael’s positions would be liquidated.

Now, AC (Autism Capital) points out that AAVE has about $330m USD in its safety fund, but this isn’t looking good.

We will have to wait and see what the outcome is, but this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

NOTE: Currently CRV is trading at $0.5768 and Michael’s liquidation prices are between $0.3-$0.4.

Interchain Intel

Updates and insights from across different blockchain networks.

Base Goes Boom: Memecoins See Revival On Coinbase L2

Believe it or not, there is not a ton of on-chain news this week that is blockchain specific.

I’ll take it as “builders building” and we will be back with juicer stuff next week, in the meantime let’s chat about what Base did last week.

Memecoin season had a mini-revival the last week on Coinbase’s Layer-2 Solution.

No matter how many times I see it, it never ceases to amaze me.

A Brian Armstrong-themed coin called BALD went parabolic in the first half-day it was live.

Yes, that is a 289,000% jump. Cointelegraph reported that multiple wallets went from ~$950 in ETH to over $1m in ETH in under 8 hours. WTF

Wouldn’t it be nice, anon? lol

The best part is probably the fact that BALD doesn’t even have a website.

Another memecoin called BASED had a 1,000,000% increase in a 20 hour window.

Memecoins can make people a lot of money but they can also lose people a lot of money. There are plenty of reported rug pulls on Base already.

Whether you dabble in the memecoin gamble or not always stay safe when on-chain and DYOR!

Tech Trends

Here, we explore the latest technological advancements and innovations in the blockchain space.

Discord Without The Scammers: On-Chain Community Hubs

While I was searching for news this week I came across a bit on Cointelegraph about a Discord-like platform that is built on-chain.

OpenChat was intended to be an instant-messaging app where users can interact using their on-chain identities. This means that the user’s profile is built using their wallet address.

The developers quickly realized that users wanted more than just instant-messaging, they wanted to take group-chats a step further and create communities.

The dev team listened and has recently implemented the features that make the platform look and feel a lot like Discord but with proof-of-wallet security for a lack of better terms.

The OpenChat team plans on taking it even further with an addition that I think could be huge.

This feature would allow DApps to have a chat feature built in which is something we have not seen thus far to my knowledge.

Now, while we would love to implement something like this, OpenChat operates on the Internet Computer network (ICP) and we would have to get there first to make it make sense.

However, there are similar platforms that operate on other chains such as Grill.chat on Polkadot. (Cointelegraph)

Clearly on-chain messaging has a growing audience so we will have to keep tabs on this one for sure!

NOTE: Maybe we should contact OpenChat and see if they want cross-chain messaging… 🧐

Decoded

In this section, we decode complex blockchain and cryptocurrency concepts into understandable language.

Blockchain Is Like An Onion: What Is A Layer-2 Network?

You didn’t think I would get through this entire newsletter without another Shrek reference, did you?

We always hear about layer-2s but what are they?

Many of the networks a lot of us use every day are layer-2s such as Polygon, Metis, Arbitrum, Optimism… the list goes on.

A layer-2 network refers to any off-chain network built on top of an existing blockchain. To qualify as a layer-2 the network must use the layer-1 blockchain that it is built upon for validation. This means that layer-2s do not deploy their own validator nodes.

But why do we need layer-2s?

Scalability.

Larger blockchain networks often sacrifice scalibility for decentralization and security. Ethereum is the perfect example here.

Because Ethereum is not built for scale but rather decentralization, it can’t put through the amount of transactions that it needs to match it’s volume. This leads to increased gas fees and a congested network.

Layer-2 solutions allow for a much larger throughput of transactions which results in lower gas fees on those networks while retaining the security and decentralization provided by the blockchain.

Why can’t blockchains simply have scalability, decentralization, and great security?

This one is a bit over my head but Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum, coined the “blockchain scalability trilemma” that claims you cannot have all three equally.

Developers are sharp cats, imagine coming up with this stuff.

You are now a tad bit smarter this week.

Final Byte: Wally’s Wisdom

Week 7 is in the books!

Thank you all for tuning in and checking out what a wombat like myself has to say on this Thursday morning.

It is a busy time in the CryptoLink world, as you may have noticed, so make sure to keep checking on the Discord and Twitter (X?) for constant updates.

Don’t forget, AnyToAny.io is LIVE! Tell your friends, mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparents, cousins, second cousins, ex, EVERYONE. Stay tuned and make sure you keep engaging with the AnyToAny twitter account!

I have one fun bit for everyone to chew on for a month.

The CryptoLink team is meeting up in person for the first time ever at the end of August and you might get an inside look at our week together.

More details to come over the course of the month.

I love you all.

Best,

Wally
CMO CryptoLink.Tech

ZEALY CODE: WOMBATTICUS