Some hot topics in Crypto in the second half of 2023

Introduction:

Some hot topics in the Crypto industry in the second half of 2023 listed in the CMC Research report:

1. Bitcoin Spot ETF

In June 2023, BlackRock (BlackRock) applied to the US SEC for a Bitcoin spot ETF.

Subsequently, Bitwise, VanEck, Invesco, Fidelity, WisdomTree, Valkyrie, ARK Invest, 21 Shares and other institutions also applied for or updated Bitcoin spot ETFs.

If these ETFs are approved, they could unleash demand from large numbers of institutional investors by offering regulated asset allocation products.

Globally, current cryptocurrency ETFs and ETPs have reached an asset size of about $9.5 billion.

Once a bitcoin spot ETF is approved in the U.S., a surge in demand for bitcoin could push its price significantly higher than its all-time high.

2. DePIN (Decentralized Public Infrastructure Network)

DePIN provides solutions for sharing access to physical assets or services such as warehousing and data networks.

Related projects include: Helium $HNT (decentralized wireless communication infrastructure), IoTeX $IOTX (decentralized Internet of Things)

Arweave $AR (decentralized storage) and Filecoin $FIL (distributed storage)

3. RWA (Real World Assets)

#RWA can be traded on the blockchain, which mainly includes credit protocols like Maple Finance $MPL and Goldfinch $GFI, allowing projects to use DeFi to obtain financing and loans.

Some platforms are starting to focus on tokenizing RWA, including real estate, collectibles, stocks, intellectual property, etc., so that transactions can be conducted more smoothly on the blockchain.

4. LSD (Liquid Staking Derivatives)

In the first half of 2023, thanks to Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade, the TVL of #LSD leader Lido $LDO and Rocket Pool $RPL increased by 138% and 220%, respectively.

By the end of June 2023, the LSD platform has locked more than one-third of the total value of Ethereum, of which Lido accounted for almost 75% of the market share at its peak.

There are also LSDfi projects like $Pendle and $LBR.

5. Restaking

In June 2023, the Ethereum re-pledging protocol EigenLayer will be launched on the mainnet.

EigenLayer is a middleware platform that allows staked ETH or liquid staked ETH to be re-staked on the consensus layer.

Users can earn additional yield by re-staking their assets elsewhere.

6. ZkSync

#zkSync is Ethereum’s Layer 2 and Zero Knowledge Rollup (#zkRollup) solution, a strong competitor to Optimism $OP and Arbitrum $ARB.

zkSync Era becomes first #zkEVM to reach mainnet development stage

#zkSync has over 1.1 million unique wallets and processed over 1.38 million transactions.

Next, zkSync is expected to airdrop to early ecological participants.

7. Modular blockchain (Celestia)

Currently, most Layer 1 #public chains are monolithic chains, where execution, data availability, security, and consensus are all on the same chain.

This leads to a series of efficiency-related limitations stemming from the “impossible triangle” of blockchain decentralization, security, and scalability.

Modular blockchains like #Celestia aim to solve this challenge by dividing the blockchain into three layers: execution, settlement, consensus, and data availability.

It provides developers with a modular data availability and consensus layer that can be leveraged by #dApps and #sidechains to drive development efforts off the ground.

At the same time, other platforms emerged, offering modular execution environments and settlement layers, including Rollkit (settlement) and Fuel (execution).

These platforms and others have emerged to help improve existing monolithic blockchains, including Ethereum $ETH and Solana $SOL.