🟣 Good launches

Welcome back to 0xResearch – quick hitting alpha for the crypto degens. Here's what we got for you today:

• BTC doesn’t care about the Fed

• Introducing Aave 2030

• Redstone chain is live

• LayerZero snapshot is taken

Today's BTC price action has been rather boring, showing little response to yesterday's developments from the Fed. As anticipated, the benchmark interest rate remained steady at 5.25% to 5.5%, with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell dismissing any imminent rate hikes, triggering a brief, small bounce in BTC. However, despite this minor market reaction, a record outflow of $563 million was observed from US-based spot bitcoin ETFs. Notably, Fidelity's FBTC led the outflows, closely followed by GBTC, ARKB, and IBIT.

Breaking the streak of disappointing token launches, yesterday saw a refreshing change with good launches, albeit not token-related. Aave took center stage with ambitious plans for major upgrades and expansions, collectively termed "Aave 2030," signaling its dedication to leading innovation in DeFi lending. Alongside unveiling plans for Aave V4, Aave Network, Cross-Chain Liquidity Layer, and non-EVM L1 deployments, the platform revealed a revamped visual identity. The temperature check Aave Protocol V4 Development Proposal provides an exhaustive outline of the forthcoming V4, presenting a new architecture designed to enhance modularity, streamline governance, optimize capital efficiency, and seamlessly integrate innovations like the Aave-native stablecoin GHO. Moreover, the proposal introduces improvements aimed at enhancing user experience and security through the implementation of new risk management tools and a new liquidation engine.

In another significant development, Redstone Chain announced its official launch on mainnet. Redstone emerges as a new chain designed specifically for onchain games and autonomous worlds. With features like an automatic MUD indexer, fast edge RPCs, and low fees, it promises a better experience for users. Anticipation has been steadily growing in recent weeks for this new L2 built by the team at Lattice, in collaboration with Optimism.

LayerZero Labs has announced an initial snapshot, presumably in preparation for an upcoming airdrop. This snapshot, important for determining eligibility, took into account transactions up to the stroke of midnight on May 1st, UTC. While specific details remain undisclosed, anticipation mounts for the imminent launch of the cross-chain communication protocol's token.

– Carolina

Stacks is the leading Bitcoin L2 that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications to use Bitcoin as a secure base layer.

The Nakamoto release, happening in May 2024, will bring faster block times, as well as transactions that are as irreversible as Bitcoin’s once confirmed, setting the stage for a programmable Bitcoin asset called sBTC later in the year. ‍Stacks is poised to help unlock Bitcoin and its $1T in passive capital as a fully programmable, productive asset. The Stacks (STX) token, used as gas on the L2, was the first to undergo an SEC-qualified sale in the United States.

Friend.tech on Whales Market:

Seemingly, the market has taken a critical eye toward friend.tech's delays and conduct on Twitter, evident in the sharp decline in the value of its points. Tweets from the project's account often carry an ironic tone, sometimes poking fun at the project itself, such as by postponing the token launch and joking about past announcements regarding launch dates. Additionally, recent tweets adopting a similar satirical stance have broached the topic of geo-blocking the Indian community. While it's assumed to be lighthearted banter with no ill intent, it appears to be impacting the project's pre-launch valuation.

The Jito Network: The MEV Frontier on Solana

The Jito Network is MEV-aware infrastructure that strengthens the performance, decentralization, and security of Solana. As the chain matures, Jito and all of its market-leading products are poised to play a vital role.

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Hyperliquid Deep Dive: The Future of Perp DEXs

Perpetual futures stand out as one of the most dynamic segments within DeFi, characterized by constant innovation, whether that be through pre-market futures or access to community trading vaults. Despite this, perp DEXs currently constitute less than 2% of the total crypto perp volume.

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Vitalik Buterin talks ways to make zk proofs more efficient

Binius operates over binary code and is designed to store information using bits.

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Fed holds interest rates, markets hardly react

The Fed once again opted to not surprise markets on Wednesday, moving to hold interest rates.

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The insights, views and outlooks presented in the report are not to be taken as financial advice. Blockworks Research analysts are not registered broker/dealers or financial advisors. Blockworks Research analysts may hold assets mentioned in this report, further outlined in the Firm’s Financial Disclosures.