• Superchain Network has raised $4 million in a combined seed and pre-seed round to build a decentralized blockchain data protocol.
• The platform organizes on-chain data and allows decentralized application (dapp) developers and users to access the data in seconds.
• Superchain joins other data indexing protocols such as The Graph and Moralis, who both raised eight-figure rounds last year.

Superchain Network Raises $4M

Superchain Network has raised $4 million in a combined seed and pre-seed fundraising round to build a decentralized blockchain data protocol. Venture capital firm Blockchain Capital led the seed round, with participation from Maven 11, KR1, Tokonomy and Fansara in the pre-seed round.

The Open Index Protocol

Superchain Network, also known as the “Open Index Protocol,” is a decentralized indexer that organizes on-chain data so that dApp developers and users can access it quickly. Superchain believes in unconstrained ownership of data, eliminating the need for centralized entities to be involved in user relationships with their own data.

Competitors In The Space

Superchain joins other competing protocols such as The Graph and Moralis who have also raised significant amounts of money recently. These protocols are attempting to decentralize Web2 APIs, whereas Superchains is taking an alternative approach by making its own open source data ownable by users, unlocking use cases not possible with GraphQL.

Early Access To Market Makers

Superchain is offering early access for market makers, quant traders, data scientists ,and dApp developers looking to take advantage of its platform capabilities.

Conclusion

With its recent raise of $4 million from major investors including Blockchain Capital, Superchains is well positioned to become a leading player in the decentralised indexing space providing faster access to indexed blockchain data for dApp developers and users alike.

• TuongVy Le, a partner and head of regulatory and policy at investment firm Bain Capital, believes that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) needs to make its crypto compliance rules clearer.
• The SEC recently reached a $30 million settlement with Kraken and issued a Wells Notice to Paxos.
• Le believes that blindly applying existing securities laws could potentially kill something like staking.

SEC Needs To Make Crypto Compliance Rules Clearer

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is falling short when it comes to addressing how it deals with the digital asset industry, said TuongVy Le, partner and head of regulatory and policy at investment firm Bain Capital. According to Le, the federal agency is regulating “almost entirely through enforcement actions,” leaving many unanswered questions about what would be considered compliant behavior in the space.

Kraken Settlement And Wells Notice

Le’s comments come in light of the SEC’s recent settlement with Kraken under which the centralized exchange will shutter its staking service platform to U.S. customers as well as its issuance of a Wells Notice to Paxos over potential violations of securities laws related to crypto-asset activities.

Blindly Applying Existing Laws Could Kill Staking

When referring specifically to Kraken’s situation, Le noted that “blindly and mechanically applying the existing securities laws…could potentially kill something like staking.” She urged that more clarity from the SEC on this matter would help better inform those operating in this space about what is considered compliant behavior according to the agency’s standards.

Consequences Of Unclear Regulations

By failing to provide this clarity, Le believes that investors may shy away from participating in certain activities due their uncertainty about whether or not they are compliant with regulations set forth by the agency—something she noted could have serious consequences for innovation in this space going forward.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while enforcement actions by regulators can help bring greater clarity into an evolving industry such as crypto assets, there still remains much room for improvement when it comes to making clear expectations around compliance known so that innovators can move forward confidently within these parameters without fear of running afoul of regulators’ standards or expectations.

• Aave governance participants recently voted to distribute Lido staking rewards on Arbitrum and Optimism.
• Lido is a staking system that allows users to stake tokens in return for daily rewards.
• Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork will soon allow users to earn interest by staking ether.

Aave Votes to Distribute Lido Staking Rewards

Aave, a leading DeFi lender, recently conducted a community vote which concluded with over 99% of all governance participants voting in favor of the proposal to distribute Lido staking rewards on its v2 platform, which is deployed on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

What is Lido?

Lido is an Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) application that allows users to stake their tokens in return for daily rewards and receive a derivative token that represents the actual staked token. It currently has the largest locked value of over $8.48 billion as of Tuesday. One key benefit of using Lido is that it requires no minimum amount of ether (worth over $52,000 at press time) before users get any rewards – unlike becoming a validator on Ethereum which does require this minimum amount before one can start earning returns.

Ethereum’s Upcoming Hard Fork

Following the Merge event last year, Ethereum’s next major upgrade – known as the Shanghai hard fork – is expected take place in March and will allow users to earn interest by staking ether. The new protocol upgrade also promises faster transactions and more efficient network usage than previous versions of Ethereum.

LDO Stake Rewards Distribution

As part of its efforts to attract more users, Lido has announced that it will be rewarding stakers who put up their Ether on Arbitrum or Optimism with 150,000 cumulative LDO tokens – which are used for governance purposes within the DeFi app – distributed across Aave upon completion of the community vote mentioned earlier.

Conclusion

With Aave’s decision to distribute LDO stake rewards across its platform and Ethereum’s upcoming hard fork offering increased efficiency along with higher returns for those who choose to stake their ether, DeFi looks set for further growth in 2021 as more people flock towards these innovative financial products and services.

• Bitcoin (BTC) recently trading at about $22,700, down more than 4% over the past 24 hours.
• Equities closed lower as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates Wednesday and studied a flurry of fourth-quarter earnings reports from big techs including Apple and Meta.
• LayerZero co-founder denying accusations from a competitor that it covered up the existence of a critical “backdoor” vulnerability in its code.

Crypto Markets Today

Bitcoin (BTC) recently trading at about $22,700, down more than 4% over the past 24 hours and well off its high Sunday near $24,000. The Sandbox’s SAND token surged ahead of its token unlock. Equities closed lower as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates Wednesday and studied a flurry of fourth-quarter earnings reports from big techs including Apple and Meta.

Bitcoin Price

The largest cryptocurrency by market value was recently trading at about $22,700, down more than 4% over the past 24 hours and well off its high Sunday near $24,000. Bitcoin-related funds dominated last week’s digital-asset investment products inflows, accounting for almost all of the $117 million coming in. Prices as of about 4 p.m. ET were CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) 1,065.79 −55.7 ▼ 5.0%, Ethereum (ETH) $1,555 −89.5 ▼ 5.4%, S&P 500 daily close 4,017

• Allegations that LayerZero kept a secret “backdoor” have surfaced, but the firm denies these claims.
• The allegations come just before Uniswap votes on whether to partner with LayerZero.
• Co-founder Bryan Pellegrino says the platform does have backdoor-like capabilities, but he denies LayerZero has ever tried to hide them.

Allegations of ‘Backdoor’ at LayerZero

The head of Nomad, a competitor of LayerZero, recently alleged that the company had kept a secret “backdoor” in its code which allowed them to bypass security controls and pass data between blockchains without permission.

LayerZero Denies Accusations

LayerZero co-founder Bryan Pellegrino says the project does have backdoor-like capabilities but denied the platform has ever tried to hide them. He also suggested that competing bridge providers such as Nomad and Wormhole have similar functions and accused Prestwich of making these accusations due to an upcoming Uniswap vote on whether or not to partner with LayerZero.

Security Capabilities of Platform

Pellegrino explained that developers are able to set parameters barring Layerzero from special access privileges, which would prevent any potential backdoor activity from taking place. He also clarified that there is nothing anyone can do unless their configuration is set in a certain way.

Uniswap Vote on Partnering With LayerZero

The accusations from Prestwich come just before Uniswap votes on whether or not they should partner with Layer Zero for their bridging services. This has lead many people to speculate about Prestwich’s motives for releasing this information now.

Conclusion

Although allegations about a possible backdoor at Layerzeroo have been made, the company has denied any wrong doing and clarified the security capabilities of their platform. Ultimately, it will be up to Uniswap’s vote as to who they choose as their bridge provider moving forward