The Protocol: Blast’s $3B Airdrop and Bitcoin’s Mt. Gox Moment

Airdrops
are
supposed
to
be
free
money;
that’s
why
there
were
a
lot
of
complaints
about
LayerZero’s
“pay-to-claim”
distribution
last
week
of
its
ZRO
tokens.
A
10-cent
fee
per
token
might
not
seem
like
too
much
to
complain
about,
but
it
was.

This
article
is
featured
in
the
latest
issue
of


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Protocol,
our
weekly
newsletter
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the
tech
behind
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FREE,
FOR
A
FEE:
Token
airdrops
are,
after
all,
free
money
–
one
reason
why
project
teams
might
be
less
sympathetic
to
users
who
complain
that
they
didn’t
get
what
they
thought
they
were
owed.
Now,
the
blockchain
interoperability
project
LayerZero
has
introduced
a
new
twist
to
the
process
–
what
some
observers
are
calling
“pay
to
claim.”
When
LayerZero
Foundation
came
out
last
week
with
the
ZRO
airdrop,
it
forced
users
to
fork
over
a
“proof-of-donation”
before
they
could
claim
the
new
tokens.
As
detailed
by
CoinDesk’s
Shaurya
Malwa,
users
had
to
make
a
donation
of
10
cents
in
USDC
to

Protocol
Guild
–
a
collective
funding
mechanism
for
Ethereum’s
layer-1
research
and
development
maintainers
–
for
each
ZRO
token
they
hoped
to
claim.
In
a

video
address
posted
on
X,
LayerZero
Labs
co-founder
Bryan
Pellegrino
said
that
“users
need
to
do
something
in
order
to
get
something,”
adding
that
the
amount
was
“extremely
small”
and
that
“the
easy
path”
would
have
been
to
“optimize
for
the
least
amount
of
criticism.”
LayerZero
Foundation
said
it
would
match
all
donations
up
to
$10
million.
The
ostensible
rationale?
“By
donating
to
Protocol
Guild,
eligible
recipients
show
long-term
alignment
with
the
LayerZero
protocol
and
a
commitment
to
the
future
of
crypto,”
LayerZero
said
in
an
X
post.
It
goes
without
saying
that
endorsement
of
the
move
was
not
universal:
“If
I’m
at
McDonald’s
and
they
force
me
to
donate
to
get
my
cheeseburger,
do
I
really
care
about
the
kids
or
am
I
just
hungry?”
one
frustrated
poster

wrote
on
X.

MOUNT
TOP?

Mt.
Gox,
the
once-dominant
bitcoin
exchange
that’s
been
tied
up
in
bankruptcy
court
for
years
following
a
devastating
2014
hack,
announced
it
would

start
distributing
assets
to
clients,
sending
the
BTC
price
tumbling.
The
leading
cryptocurrency
took
a
bigger
hit
than
smaller
tokens,
pushing
its

share
of
the
overall
crypto
market
down
by
1.8
percentage
point
to
54%.
The
fear
is
that,
as
the
Mt.
Gox
investors
and
creditors
get
the
bitcoin,
some
of
them
might
rush
to
cash
out,
unleashing
a
wave
of
selling
that
would,
at
least
in
the
short
term,
push
the
price
lower.
Technical
market
indicators
suggest
a

price
drop
to
$50,000
could
be
in
the
offing,
though
as
of
press
time
bitcoin
appeared
to

stabilize
just
below
$62,000.
Some
traders
argued
that
the
risk
of
mass
selling
might
be

overblown.

The

Winklevoss
Twins,
founders
of
the
Gemini
crypto
exchange,
wrote
on
X
that
they

each
gave
$1
million
to
Donald
Trump’s
presidential
campaign
–
but
later
they
had
to
be
refunded
because
the
donations
were

over
the
legal
limit.

Mexican
cartels
have
been
using
the
cryptocurrencies
bitcoin,
ether,
monero
and
tether
to
buy
the

raw
materials
needed
to
make
the
drug
fentanyl,
according
to
the
U.S.
Treasury
Department’s
Financial
Crimes
Enforcement
Network
(FinCEN).

The

German
government,
which
holds
over
45,000
BTC,
including
bitcoins
seized
from
a
privacy
website,

transferred
750
BTC
valued
at
over
$46
million,
with
250
BTC
sent
to
the
crypto
exchanges
Bitstamp
and
Kraken,
according
to

blockchain
sleuth
Lookonchain.
The
transfers
added
to
speculation
that
the
country
might
be
preparing
to
sell
some
of
its
bitcoin
holdings,
adding
to
bearish
pressures
in
crypto
markets.

Top
picks
of
the
past
week
from


our
Protocol
Village

column,
highlighting
key
blockchain
tech
upgrades
and
news.

Schematic
illustrating
the
new
allocation
for
priority
block-producing
rights
under
BEP-341
(BNB
Forum)

1.
BNB
Chain
announced
a
new
BEP-341
proposal,
“Governance
Enabled
Continuous
Block
Production.”

According
to
the
team:
“This
proposed
enhancement
aims
to
significantly
improve
the
transaction
processing
capacity
of
BSC
by
enabling
validators
to
produce
consecutive
blocks.
To
address
any
risks,
BEP-341
introduces
adjustable
governance
parameters
aimed
at
balancing
performance
improvements
with
critical
security
measures.”

2.
Algorand
Foundation
announced
at
its
annual

Decipher
conference
in
Barcelona
that
it
has
created
a
new
“implementation
for
decentralized
authentication
and
communication
called
LiquidAuth.”

According
to
the
team:
“LiquidAuth,
a
decentralized,
free-to-use,
open-source,
and
chain-agnostic
authentication
tool
provides
greater
security
and
privacy
to
users
than
centralized
solutions
like
WalletConnect.”

3.
The
Solana
Foundation
announced
the
launch
of
Solana
Actions
and
blockchain
links
(“Blinks”)
to
its
suite
of

developer
tools.
According
to
the
team:
“These
tools
offer
a
way
to
integrate
blockchain
transactions
into
any
platform,
creating
a
seamless
and
intuitive
Web3
experience
for
users.
Multiple
Solana
ecosystem
projects
will
be
using
Solana
Actions
and
Blinks
at
launch,
including
Cubik,
Sanctum,
Tensor,
Realms,
Access,
Jupiter,
Helium,
Truffle,
Phantom
and
Backpack.”

4.
Matter
Labs,
the
main
development
firm
behind
the
layer-2
network
ZKsync,

introduced
a
new
roadmap
called
ZKsync
3.0,
aimed
at
making
the
ecosystem
more
interconnected
–
including
a
new
“Elastic
Chain”
that
somewhat
resembles
rival
Polygon’s
AggLayer,
released
earlier
this
year.
At
the
core
of
ZKsync
“3.0”
is
the
v24
upgrade,
released
June
7,
turning
“ZKsync
from
a
single
ZK
chain
into
an
Elastic
Chain,”
the
Matter
Labs
team
wrote
in
a
blog
post
shared
with
CoinDesk.

5.
Aleph
Zero,
a

privacy-enhanced
public
blockchain
operating
on
a
Substrate
stack
developed
by
Polkadot
developer
Parity
Technologies,
introduced
zkOS,
an
EVM-compatible
privacy
layer
that
generates
zero-knowledge
proofs
in
under
a
second
on
consumer
devices,

according
to
the
team:
“This
allows
for
private
transactions
and
dApp
interactions
without
revealing
underlying
data.
ZkOS
uses
Halo2
with
KZG
commitments
for
faster
proof
generation
and
provides
a
zkToolkit
to
simplify
integration
for
developers.
Based
on
benchmarks,
zkOS
can
execute
proofs
in
600-800ms
on
MacBooks.”

Fundraisings

Ora
co-founder
Kartin
Wong
(Ora)

Deals
and
grants

Data
and
Tokens

NEAR
Protocol
transaction
breakdown
(Flipside)

NEAR
Protocol,
a
layer-1
blockchain,
has
seen
its
total
value
locked
(TVL)
–
a
crucial
measure
of
user
deposits
–
triple
during
the
first
half
of
2024,
to
about
$325
million,
according
to
a
new

report
by
Flipside.

“Recent
surges
in
transaction
volume
and
new
user
growth
have
further
cemented
NEAR’s
position
as
a
strong
contender
to
the
EVM-centric
narrative
that
continues
to
dominate
most
DeFi
discussions,”
the
report
reads.
EVM
stands
for
“Ethereum
Virtual
Machine,”
which
is
essentially
the
blockchain
operating
system
that
Ethereum-based
and
Ethereum-compatible
smart
contracts
rely
on.

But
a
closer
look
shows
that
just
three
applications
on
NEAR
account
for
some
72%
of
the
TVL,
according
to
Flipside
–
Burrow,
a
non-custodial
lending
and
borrowing
platform;
Meta
Pool,
a
multichain
liquid
staking
platform;
and
LiNEAR,
a
protocol
that
enables
users
to
create
and
trade
synthetic
assets.

“To
maintain
and
expand
its
current
growth
trajectory,
NEAR
will
need
to
attract
and
foster
a
more
diverse
on-chain
ecosystem
and
make
more
tangible
steps
towards
achieving
a
more
multichain
future,”
according
to
Flipside.
“This
includes
supporting
a
wider
array
of
apps
and
services
beyond
its
current
flagships
and
successfully
driving
more
cross-chain
bridging
activity.”

July
8-11:

EthCC,
Brussels.

July
11:

TezDev
2024,
Brussels.

July
25-27:

Bitcoin
2024,
Nashville.

Aug.
19-21:

Web3
Summit,
Berlin.

Sept.
19-21:

Solana
Breakpoint,
Singapore.

Sept.
1-7:

Korea
Blockchain
Week,
Seoul.

Sept.
12-13:

Global
Blockchain
Congress,
Southeast
Asia
Edition,
Singapore

Sept.
30-Oct.
2:

Messari
Mainnet,
New
York.

Oct.
9-11:

Permissionless,
Salt
Lake
City.

Oct.
21-22:

Cosmoverse,
Dubai.

Oct.
23-24:

Cardano
Summit,
Dubai.

Oct.
30-31:

Chainlink
SmartCon,
Hong
Kong.

Nov
12-14:

Devcon
7,
Bangkok.

Nov.
20-21:

North
American
Blockchain
Summit,
Dallas.

Feb.
19-20,
2025:

ConsensusHK,
Hong
Kong.

May
14-16:

Consensus,
Toronto.