Darren Kleine


<p>The utopian vision of thousands of blockchains happily running alongside and interacting with each other in an interconnected multiverse is becoming less likely, it seems.</p>



<p>And while the rollup thesis appears to be replacing the appchain narrative of entities like Polkadot and Cosmos, Zee Prime Capital partner Fiskantes says, “it&#8217;s still the same thing,” ultimately.</p>



<p>“The architecture, the structure is almost the same. It&#8217;s just, now we call it rollups, and it&#8217;s on Ethereum.”</p>



<p>Whether its appchains or rollups, Fiskantes says he doesn’t see a future where thousands of chains will crowd the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/defi">DeFi</a> landscape. Even if it is trivially easy to spin up a rollup or appchain for any purpose, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-layer2-enterprise">friction of switching between them</a> and infrastructure costs will be too high to justify, he says.</p>



<p>But “the jury is still out” on how it all resolves, he admits.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/uniswap-own-appchain">Would Uniswap be better off on its own appchain?</a></p>



<p>On the Lightspeed podcast (<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TfTpsfNpd2FwyTTveIgkE?si=PLRRUJgaRrmnC5XWiHXulw">Spotify</a>/<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rise-of-cryptos-superapp-fiskantes-matti-zee/id1697548240?i=1000631854930">Apple</a>), Fiskante proposes a more likely scenario that appears to be playing out right now among the industry’s leading companies. “If you own the front end…and then you own the blockchain infrastructure, of course, you can use all kinds of middleware.”</p>



<p>This “moat-building” approach restricts <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/composable-finance-ibc-polkadot">composability, he admits, but many</a> projects don’t seem to mind the trade-off. In fact, it could be beneficial to them in the end, he says.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Unlimited composability creates an “almost unlimited attack surface” he argues, adding that the benefits are not as great as the potential risks it introduces. So many things can go wrong with components that are permissionlessly built on top of an open-ended project, he says.</p>



<p>Fiskante suggests a more likely scenario is one in which many “siloed” ecosystems offer competing versions of similar services.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Expanding borders</h2>



<p>During the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/will-defi-summer-return">DeFi summer of 2020</a>, everyone was hailing the concept of various interconnected DeFi blocks symbiotically functioning together as a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockchain-goes-modular">sort of “Lego castle</a>.” Now, he says, most surviving projects are competing with each other by integrating vertically or horizontally, building components that already exist elsewhere for their own ecosystems.&nbsp;</p>



<p>“A good example of this is <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/frax">Frax</a>,” he says, “where they are trying to do <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/frax-v3-stablecoin-0xresearch">LSDs and stablecoins and everything themselves</a>.” Companies like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/curve">Curve</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/aave">Aave</a> are also creating user moats, building their own stablecoins to compete with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/maker">Maker</a>, he adds.</p>



<p>“Everybody is trying to do everything at this point because they realize that they are not actually building Lego pieces,” he says. “They are building their own little empires and they want to expand their borders as fast as possible before they are saturated.”</p>



<p>The one possible exception to the trend is the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/evm-helius-lightspeed-dominance">integrated ecosystem of Solana</a>, Fiskante says. But even there, he notes, “they will need to work really hard to maintain the performance of the chain if there are so many different things being built on it that will compete for block space.”</p>



<iframe loading="lazy" frameborder="0" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=BWG3593345712" width="100%"></iframe>



<p></p>



<p>“Of course,” he says, “they have parallelization and other tools to deal with that.” But even with the techno-wizardry of parallelization, a phenomenon known as the Jevons paradox might hold things back anyway, he suggests. </p>



<p>“The more you enable new activity by scaling the infrastructure, the activity will scale with it and will always capture the free space that you enabled.”</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Siloed systems could replace DeFi’s ‘Lego castles,’ Fiskante says

Shalini Nagarajan


<p>Crypto exchange Binance enabled deposits and withdrawals on Bitcoin&#8217;s <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/lightning-network" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lightning Network</a> on Monday.</p>



<p>Lightning is now alongside other options including Bitcoin mainnet, BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum.</p>



<p>Lightning serves as a layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin. The network is intended to speed up transactions and reduce fees, reminiscent of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/optimism-bedrock-upgrade-superchain" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ethereum layer-2 protocols like Optimism</a>.</p>



<p>It supports direct payment channels between users, allowing bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) to be sent off-chain while settling on-chain in batches. This design has <a href="https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/good-griefing-a-lingering-vulnerability-on-lightning-network-that-still-needs-fixing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">presented</a> its own risk profile, with Lightning developers warning users that the software is still under development.</p>



<p>&#8220;Most software deployed in the Lightning Network is still considered beta software, meaning it may contain bugs that could lead to irrevocable loss of funds. For most operators, the biggest risks are data loss from power outages, hardware failures and bugs,&#8221; per Lightning&#8217;s <a href="https://docs.lightning.engineering/community-resources/faq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FAQ</a>.</p>



<p>Bitcoin sent over Lightning should appear in seconds, with the network often used for micropayments and real-world transactions.&nbsp;Twitter, for instance, enabled BTC tipping in 2021 via payments app Strike, which uses Lightning.</p>



<p>Binance <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-bitcoin-lightning" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pledged to integrate</a> Lightning last month but said doing so required further technical work.</p>



<p>Other exchanges such as Bitfinex, Kraken, River Financial and OKX have already integrated Lightning into their platforms. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in April <a href="https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1644794656570617856" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hinted</a> that his platform may do the same but hasn’t yet provided a specific timeline.</p>



<p>Lightning adoption has steadily increased over the past few years, although it hasn&#8217;t been without <a href="https://twitter.com/lightning/status/1587443868617818113" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hiccups</a>. There’s about 4,900 BTC ($148.2 million) on the network right <a href="https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/lightning-network-capacity/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">now</a> — up from under 1,000 BTC ($30.2 million) in 2020.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Bitcoin Lightning Network is now supported by Binance

Andrew Levine


<p>The Ethereum community has been raving about &#8220;layer-2&#8221; or &#8220;L2&#8221; solutions for quite some time now. These solutions are marketed as a way to make Ethereum faster, cheaper and more scalable.&nbsp;</p>



<p>But if you look at what is actually being built and why, you will see that the generally accepted L2 narrative isn’t telling the whole story. What layer-2 technology is actually doing is putting a Band-Aid over some specific issues on Ethereum — but not actually creating solutions that will solve any of Ethereum’s real problems.</p>



<p>If there’s one belief at the core of crypto, it’s that <em>incentives matter</em>; the motivations, often financial or reputational, that drive individuals or entities to promote or criticize a certain narrative.</p>



<p>What are the incentives motivating the people behind L2s?&nbsp;</p>



<p>They stand to benefit from L2s being perceived as a feature rather than a bug.</p>



<p>If layer-2s were widely understood to be a Band-Aid, rather than a fix, this would negatively impact anyone even tangentially involved in the Ethereum space —&nbsp;and certainly anyone behind these solutions, or anyone who intends to leverage these solutions.&nbsp;</p>



<p>A shift in perception that identifies L2s as an insufficient stopgap measure would likely encourage the community to prioritize finding and developing long-term solutions to Ethereum&#8217;s challenges, potentially leading to the emergence of more innovative and sustainable technologies.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What Ethereum is doing wrong</h2>



<p>The main problem with Ethereum is that it can be simply too expensive for people to use. Vitalik Buterin has freely <a href="https://vitalik.ca/general/2023/02/28/ux.html">admitted</a> this.</p>



<p>We can actually keep this discussion fairly non-technical. L2s are a solution to a PROBLEM. Something is wrong with Ethereum, and that needs to be fixed. That’s just reality and it is FINE.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The reason why it is too expensive to use Ethereum is because the network charges gas (essentially, ETH) to use its resources. The more people use the network’s resources, the scarcer those resources become and the higher the cost of those resources in ETH. Of course, the price of ETH can go up as this happens, which obviously creates certain financial incentives. Simply put, high usage and high ETH fees benefit people who already hold ETH.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The problem then with Ethereum is less about the fact that gas fees exist, but instead that gas fees are TOO high. They’re so high that they are limiting the upside for the people who control the chain.&nbsp;</p>



<p>If gas fees are high because of limited network resources, then the solution is obvious; Increase network resources. <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/layer-2-2">L2s</a> accomplish this by giving users a place to send their transactions instead of the main network (main net) where they can be processed. The results of those transactions can then be broadcast down into the main network, Ethereum.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Simply put —&nbsp;L2s are a way of NOT using Ethereum. Why, then, is the L2 narrative one of the successful solving of Ethereum’s problems, rather than a critical look at this solution’s temporary nature?</p>



<p>The dominant approach in the crypto space has been to avoid speaking honestly about both the benefits <em>and </em>the limitations of the technologies we are developing.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Instead, we act as though our existing solutions are perfect. Even though we can acknowledge when they need small improvements, it’s normal to see anyone who says anything more intensely critical as an enemy, someone uninformed who doesn’t know what they are talking about, someone just trying to pump their own bag.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Incentives matter</h2>



<p>Whenever you see a very one-sided narrative being put forward, especially when there is a lot of money on the line, this is an indication that something isn’t right. There’s almost always two sides to every story, especially when that story is about a solution to a problem. It&#8217;s crucial to approach such narratives with a discerning eye and critically evaluate the motivations behind each side of any argument to develop a well-rounded understanding of the issue at hand.</p>



<p>In the context of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a> and layer-2 solutions, it&#8217;s important to keep in mind that different parties have their own incentives to either promote or criticize these technologies.&nbsp;</p>



<p>On the one hand, there are those who have a vested interest in promoting layer-2s as the ultimate solution to Ethereum&#8217;s scalability issues; these individuals are likely to be Ethereum proponents or developers involved in creating and maintaining L2 projects. On the other hand, there are those who stand to gain from criticizing Ethereum and its <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/scaling">scaling</a> solutions, such as competitors in the blockchain space or individuals who have invested in rival platforms.</p>



<p>If L2 solutions were seen as temporary workarounds rather than real solutions, users, developers, and investors might become less inclined to participate in or support layer-2 projects.&nbsp;</p>



<p>And while this would obviously hinder the growth and development of L2s, this lack of confidence in the real L2 narrative could actually prompt individuals to seek out alternative solutions, including new blockchain platforms, that offer genuine fixes to scalability and other issues faced by the Ethereum network. In other words, acknowledging the truth would be more beneficial long term to Ethereum than denying it.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The point here is not that L2s and going off of Ethereum to do your transactions are bad ideas. But if no one talks about what L2s do accurately (and that’s obviously because there are no incentives to do so), then real solutions to Ethereum’s issues will not be found — because no one will even be looking for them.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Andrew Levine is the CEO of Koinos Group, a team of industry veterans accelerating decentralization through accessible blockchain technology. Their foundational product is Koinos, a fee-less and infinitely upgradeable blockchain with universal language support.</div>


<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



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Ethereum L2s Are a Bug Masquerading as a Feature

Sam Martin

BTC, ETH and LUNA Lead Rebound After Friday Omicron Sell-off: Markets Wrap

<div id="highlights-block_617725d07bf3f" class="highlights">
        <ul>
                <li>ETH looks primed for a strong rally if BTC can hold.</li>
                <li>NFT trading volume on Opensea has begun to taper off. </li>
            </ul>
    
</div>



<p>BTC has struggled despite the strong macro narrative. ETH/BTC looks ready to breakout of a multi-month consolidation.</p>



<p>Various Ethereum scaling solutions are coming along strong and should lower fees for users over the medium-to-long term. </p>



<p>Developer data from Santiment leads to misleading conclusions. </p>



<p>Opensea trading volume appears to be tapering off while the number of NFTs sold is lagging even further. </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Latest in Macro:</strong></h3>



<ul><li>S&amp;P 500: 4,690, +0.17%</li><li>NASDAQ: 15,775, -.50%</li><li>Gold: $1,790, -.84%</li><li>WTI Crude Oil: $78.50, +2.28%</li><li>10-Year Treasury: 1.676%, +0.051%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Latest in Crypto:</strong></h3>



<ul><li>BTC: $57,494, +1.49%</li><li>ETH: $4,328, +5.54%</li><li>ETH/BTC: 0.0752, +4.01%</li><li>BTC.D: 42.48%, -0.62%</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Can BTC hold the line?</h3>



<p>The macro narrative behind BTC has never been stronger, so investors are likely puzzled by the recent price action. Some headwinds for BTC include <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/sec-rejects-vanecks-proposed-spot-bitcoin-etf/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">spot ETF rejections</a>, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-20/mt-gox-trustee-says-creditor-reimbursement-plan-is-approved" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mt.Gox claims</a>, the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-09/self-described-bitcoin-creator-denies-friend-helped-mine-fortune" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Craig Wright case</a>, a <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/5GPs0hRQ/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">strengthening USD</a>, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rising treasury yields</a>, and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-agencies-unveil-crypto-sprint-for-2022-as-regulatory-debate-heats-up-191210719.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">potentially unfavorable legislation</a>. </p>



<p>&#8220;We also have the macro situation, with further evidence that BTC behaves more like a risk asset than an inflation hedge coming in the form of a sharp spike when the news broke that Biden had decided to renominate Jerome Powell — gold, in contrast, dropped.&#8221; Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis, commented to Blockworks. </p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="880" height="679" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11742" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=880 880w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=333 333w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=338 338w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=284 284w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BTCUSD_2021-11-23_16-13-13.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 880px) 100vw, 880px" /><figcaption>Source: Trading View</figcaption></figure></div>



<p>She continued by adding &#8220;This links BTC to the outlook for real interest rates which, should they remain low or even negative for the short-term, would support further growth in risk assets. The risk is that real interest rates could rise to a level that starts to choke off growth and liquidity while hitting asset valuations in the broader market while providing a more attractive alternative.&#8221;</p>



<p>The overall backdrop sees BTC supply continue to leave exchanges as long-term holders accumulate and send their holdings to cold storage, inflation running hotter than it has in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/11/16/exxon-us-bank-stocks-to-watch-as-inflation-surges-to-30-year-highs/?sh=24f243be70e0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over 30 years</a> while real yields on the world’s reserve asset are negative. Despite all that, digital assets are risky and volatile, a basic fact unlikely to change in the near-to-medium term.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">ETH/BTC</h3>



<p>ETH has outperformed BTC significantly over the past 24 hours, as it looks set to breakout if BTC can hold the line. ETH/BTC was last trading up over 4% on the day, according to data from <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/5GPs0hRQ/?symbol=BINANCE%3AETHBTC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trading View.</a> It appears to be attempting to breakout from a multi-month consolidation. If successful, it wouldn&#8217;t be surprising to see ETH take a run at all-time highs relative to BTC, last seen in the previous bull market cycle of 2017–2018.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="551" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11745" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ethbtc-long-time-frame-1024x551.png?w=1710 1710w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Source: Trading View</figcaption></figure>



<p>Ethereum has seen the <a href="https://etherscan.io/chart/active-address" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">number of active addresses</a> on the network continue to climb. The <a href="https://watchtheburn.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">net issuance</a> of ETH continues to fall towards zero, <a href="https://etherscan.io/chart/address" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unique addresses</a> are increasing, <a href="https://dune.xyz/datanut/Polygon-MATIC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scaling solutions</a> are increasing and mainstream use cases continue to unfold, such as <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/sothebys-to-announce-live-bidding-increments-in-ether-eth-cryptocurrency-for-banksys-trolley-hunters-and-love-is-in-the-air" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sotheby’s denominating prices in ETH</a>.</p>



<p>Ethereum critics point to the high transaction fees as the Achilles&#8217; heel of the leading smart contract enabled platform. However, scaling solutions are <a href="https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/scaling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">progressing rapidly</a> and are expected to gain adoption over the coming year. </p>



<p>&#8220;ETH won&#8217;t ossify, it will reach homeostasis where more usage kickstarts feedback loops that flow value back into Ether *and* auto-scale to accommodate increased demand.&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/domothy/status/1462988092848156677?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a> one Ethereum enthusiast on Twitter.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="680" height="661" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-11746" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=680 680w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=264 264w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=269 269w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=225 225w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/scaling.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px" /><figcaption>Source: @Domothy</figcaption></figure></div>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Developer activity</h3>



<p>Independent analyst Tascha of TaschaLabs.com recently took to <a href="https://twitter.com/RealNatashaChe/status/1462464440738091012?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> to criticize the developer count on Ethereum based on data from <a href="https://santiment.net" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Santiment</a>. She wrote &#8220;Solana contributors more than double Ethereum, while the market cap is 13% of Ethereum&#8217;s. I was going to say &#8220;probably nothing&#8221; but to be honest if you think it is nothing you&#8217;re sleepwalking.&#8221; </p>



<p>According to data from <a href="https://defillama.com/chains" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Defi Llama</a>, Ethereum still boasts a 65.83% marketshare of TVL among layer-1 chains and is where the vast majority of innovation takes place. The criticism from Tascha came without acknowledging the projects missing from the Santiment data set, according to Afri Schoedon.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Ethereum projects in the chart:<br>* Go-Ethereum<br><br>Ethereum projects not in the data:<br>* Solidity<br>* Erigon<br>* Besu<br>* OpenEthereum<br>* Silkworm<br>* Prysm<br>* Lighthouse<br>* Teku<br>* Nimbus<br>* Lodestar<br>* Arbitrum<br>* Optimism<br>* Hermez<br>* zkSync<br>* Aztec<br>* Loopring<br>* Starkware<br>* Celer<br>* Boba<br>* Cartesi <a href="https://t.co/dLryhn3UzC">https://t.co/dLryhn3UzC</a></p>&mdash; Afri Schoedon (@q9fmz) <a href="https://twitter.com/q9fmz/status/1462686692134068228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)</h3>



<p>Trading volume on OpenSea looks to be on track for its lowest monthly total since July. Even more alarming for NFT investors is the number of NFTs sold on OpenSea. It appears to be lagging even more than trading volume, indicating market saturation. It is worth noting that OpenSea is just one marketplace and could just be losing market share.</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="636" height="591" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11749" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=636 636w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=277 277w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=281 281w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=236 236w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.28.14-PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 636px) 100vw, 636px" /><figcaption>Source: <a href="https://dune.xyz/rchen8/opensea" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dune Analytics</a></figcaption></figure></div>



<p>Trading data from <a href="https://opensea.io/rankings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenSea</a> and <a href="https://solanalysis.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Solanalysis</a> of some of the top Solana and Ethereum projects can be found below:</p>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="332" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11747" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.21.52-PM-1024x332.png?w=1227 1227w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Ethereum Projects</figcaption></figure></div>



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="282" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png" alt="" class="wp-image-11748" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-5.22.08-PM-1024x282.png?w=1198 1198w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Top Solana Projects </figcaption></figure></div>



<p>If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I am looking forward to catching up tomorrow.</p>



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