Let me share an interesting finding about the total Bitcoin locked on different blockchains and protocols.

Core, Bitlayer, and the Lightning Network have recently emerged as leaders.

Earlier today, Vitalik shared an article outlining the key goals for Ethereum's "The Surge" phase.

Here are the key takeaways and their potential impact on the future landscape of the Ethereum ecosystem ↓

• 100k+ TPS on L1 and rollups → green light for MegaETH, Intmax, Rise, and other high-performant L2s.

• Maximum interoperability → green light for Optimism's Superchain, Polygon's AggLayer, Nodekit's Javelin and the chain abstraction stack including Particle and NEAR.

• Division of labor between L1 and L2s → app-specific rollups / use cases (gaming L2s, consumer apps L2s, etc) with other use cases like DeFi remaining Ethereum-centric.

Here are the top DeFi projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem that have attracted the most funding to date.

By the way, I recently posted about the Babylon ecosystem, which became the leader in terms of raised funding.

Earlier this week, Puffer Finance opened withdrawals, leaving around 190k pufETH (about 38% of Puffer’s total TVL, valued at $497M) pending.

This surge in withdrawals follows key events such as the $PUFFER launch and the $EIGEN stakedrop 2 with enabled transfers.

Interest in AI agents has grown tenfold over the past year.

The AI hype won't die down anytime soon, so let's keep an eye on the sector.

With 95% of Bitcoin addresses in profit, market sentiment is soaring.

While this typically signals bullish momentum, it could also hint at an overheated market.

While still in its early stages, DeFi presents a hopeful alternative to the centralization and power consolidation.

It is affecting the U.S. financial system, where the number of banks has fallen by two-thirds since 1990, resulting in a smaller group of large banks controlling most of the assets.

Polygon experienced significant staking outflows from its largest stakers, while other key players intensified their investments.

Historically, major players like Binance and Lido have led staking on Polygon, but their share of staked MATIC has sharply declined this past year.

Blockworks conducted research about institutional ETH staking and came to some interesting conclusions ↓

A strong 66% of respondents are aware of Distributed Validators, with 61% willing to pay for enhanced security and decentralization.

Despite regulatory uncertainty, most institutions are embracing staking technologies as the ecosystem matures.

Read the full report here.

DropsTab has shared a list of testnets with potential airdrops.

Have you already tried completing tasks in any of them?

Margin notes for a16z's "State of Crypto 2024" report:

Key data highlights and additional context you might need for a full understanding of the market ↓

https://stacymuur.substack.com/p/margin-notes-for-a16zs-state-of-crypto

Stablecoins like USDT and USDC now account for nearly 50% of transaction volume among major crypto assets.

BTCfi is now coming to the Move ecosystem.

Here’s my edu thread on Echo Protocol that brings $APT restaking token and $aBTC to Move for new yield scenarios.

The auditing firm Three Sigma shared its perspective on the role of options in DeFi.

Find out in the new article how they will impact the industry's landscape.

As Bitcoin consolidates near its previous all-time high, more than 320,000 active addresses are interacting within this price range.

Notably, 220,000 of these addresses have an average acquisition price around $68.5K, indicating strong interest and potential support at this key level.

What's new in Web3? Let's find out from the latest research! 🔍

General
➖ Galaxy: Ethereum All Core Developers Consensus Call #144 Writeup
➖ Galaxy: Weekly Top Stories - 10/18

Market
➖ Coinbase: Weekly: Applications and Apotheosis
➖ Galaxy: Election Speculation Drives Bitcoin Toward $68K

DeFi
➖ CoinMarketCap: Why Traders Are Flocking to Hyperliquid

Blockchains & networks
➖ Crypto.com: Intent-Based Protocols
➖ Galaxy: Upcoming Ethereum Upgrades & Catalysts

Tokens & currencies
➖ 4pillars: The Verge of Crypto Dollar War and Strategy of Ethena (Feat. UStb, Network)