Crypto Market Shows Slight Gains Today
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing minor gains today, though the increase is marginal. Over the last 24 hours, the global market capitalization for cryptocurrencies has decreased by 1.2%, now totaling approximately $2.69 trillion. Currently, the trading volume in the crypto space is around $123 billion. Out of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, just over half have shown positive performance, while the remainder has declined. Leading the gains are Curve DAO (CRV) and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN), which surged by 20.6% and 18.5%, reaching prices of $0.6167 and $0.8649, respectively. Other notable performers include Kaspa (KAS) and Render (RENDER), both of which experienced increases of up to 13%. Conversely, the largest declines were seen in DeXe (DEXE) and Story (IP), which fell by 6.1% and 5.5%, dropping to $14.9 and $3.98, respectively. Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, Ethereum (ETH) has decreased by 2.2%, now trading at $1,558, while TRON (TRX) saw a drop of 1.8%, currently priced at $0.2367. In contrast, Solana (SOL) stands out with a 3.8% rise, trading at $118, while Binance Coin (BNB) and Dogecoin (DOGE) each saw modest gains of up to 1.5%. Bitcoin (BTC) remains relatively stable, with a slight increase of less than 0.5%, now priced at $82,044.
Sony Unveils Anime Art Festival
Soneium, a blockchain initiative launched by Sony Block Solutions Labs (SBSL), has officially kicked off the highly anticipated Anime Art Festival, marking a significant entry for popular anime into the Web3 space, highlighting the renowned series Solo Leveling. Recently, game development and venture capital firm Animoca Brands formed a partnership with Ethereum Layer-2 Soneium. This collaboration involves Moca Network, Animoca Brands’ primary digital identity platform, which aims to establish a premier identity infrastructure on this blockchain. The collaboration began with Anime ID, a decentralized identifier (DID) and reputation framework developed by the Anime Foundation’s core contributors. The Anime Art Festival is now active, developed by San_FranTokyo’s Anime ID and powered by Moca_Network’s AIR Kit, exclusively on Soneium. According to the team, the Anime Foundation facilitates user engagement in anime culture by enabling them to collect, participate, and earn badges, thereby enhancing their status within the community. Attendees can mint and collect an official digital poster for Solo Leveling, which allows them to gain chakra and elevate their reputations on Anime ID. The team emphasizes that this initiative is more than just an open edition on Soneium; it represents a crucial milestone for anime enthusiasts, creators, and traditional intellectual properties in the on-chain domain, where fandom can translate into reputation, unlocking new opportunities.
Spark Introduces Spark Rewards to Enhance DeFi Engagement
Onchain capital allocator Spark has unveiled a new initiative named Spark Rewards, designed to incentivize user participation and foster collaboration within the ecosystem. According to a statement shared with Cryptonews, Spark Rewards will provide weekly token incentives to users who engage in specific on-chain activities that bolster ecosystem growth. This program aims to promote cooperation among various projects and ecosystems while enhancing engagement within the DeFi sector. The initiative aspires to create a more interconnected DeFi environment, allowing users to earn rewards through interoperable DeFi mechanisms. The first campaign, dubbed RED Season, is a collaboration between Spark and RedStone, a modular blockchain oracle. Integrating RedStone’s price feeds with Spark’s oracle system, Chronicle Aggor, aims to bolster the resilience of Spark’s ecosystem, in contrast to many DeFi protocols that rely solely on one oracle provider. Additionally, users who provide cbBTC to SparkLend on Ethereum Mainnet during the RED Season will be eligible to earn RED tokens, with a total of 11,529,834 RED tokens earmarked for distribution throughout the campaign. Spark has indicated plans to roll out further campaigns, collaborations, and reward opportunities in the future.
GMX Proposes Expansion into Bitcoin through Botanix
Non-custodial exchange GMX has put forth a proposal to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to launch GMX V2 on Botanix, an EVM Layer 2 built atop Bitcoin. If accepted, this integration would facilitate Bitcoin-native trading on a dedicated GMX market, utilizing native BTC for trades, which the team describes as a strategic move to introduce decentralized, trust-minimized Bitcoin trading to public blockchains. GMX operates as a non-custodial on-chain exchange for perpetual and spot trading, allowing users to engage with top cryptocurrencies such as BTC, ETH, and SOL with leverage of up to 100x. By proposing to deploy GMX V2 on Botanix, GMX aims to become the first major decentralized exchange to offer trustless Bitcoin trading on a Bitcoin Layer-2 solution. Since its launch on Arbitrum One in 2021, the platform has expanded to Avalanche in 2022 and plans to enter the Solana ecosystem in 2025. The Botanix platform boasts full EVM compatibility, approximately $0.02 average gas fees, and five-second block times. Furthermore, the proposal outlines plans for a Bitcoin-centric GMX V2 deployment that would facilitate gmBTC single-asset pools, introduce Bitcoin-native perpetual contracts, and expand the trading utility of the GMX token on the new chain. The announcement states that Botanix has gained support from key infrastructure partners, including Chainlink, Ankr, and The Graph. The proposal is currently open for discussions before being put to a DAO vote.
