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This week saw major integrations in the NFT space, chains announcing their move into a multichain future and yett another big bridge exploit. Furthermore Web3 Social and decentralized identy seem to be amongst the hottest narratives right now which attracts interest from both Web3 veterans and newbies alike. And while markets seem to be picking up speed again the future of Web3 looks brighter than ever.

Opensea adding Solana

OpenSea, the biggest marketplace for non-fungible tokens, has begun going live with its long-anticipated integration of Solana. 

“Data from the marketplace indicates Solana-centric collections are being listed and denominated in SOL, such as Solana Monkey Business. Following the publication of this report, those functionalities became unavailable -- a reflection of a launch characterized as a beta process”, The Block has learned. 

The move enables a wide crop of NFTs on the platform, which prior to today catered largely to Ethereum-based NFTs along with integrations with the Polygon and Klatyn blockchains. Still, the Solana news represents a significant expansion for OpenSea. The firm raised $300 million at a $13 billion valuation in January. 

Axie Infinities Ronin Bridge Exploited

Crypto news seeped back into mainstream headlines last week with the disclosure of a $624 million heist from Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network. The attack targeted the Ronin Bridge, which enables users to pass funds between the Ronin network and Ethereum.

To some in the crypto world, the Ronin attack was evidence that the future of crypto, even if it is to be “multichain,” is unlikely to be “cross-chain.” With teams fleeing Ethereum for more centralized blockchains that are faster and cheaper, the Ronin attack also served as a reminder of decentralization’s importance.

Ronin was not the first, nor is it likely to be the last, crypto bridge looted for vast sums of cryptocurrency. Joining Ronin in the second and third slots of Rekt’s leaderboard are two more attacks on crypto bridges. In third place is February’s $311 million exploit of the Wormhole bridge. And in second place is the August 2021 attack on the Poly Network bridge, where a hacker famously stole $611 million only to give it all back.

(Source: Coindesk)

Helium Network now Nova

Helium Inc., the company behind the fast-growing Helium blockchain, has rebranded as Nova Labs.

Nova Labs also confirmed earlier reports of a $200 million Series D funding round led by Tiger Global, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY) and others. The latest funding round brings the California-based company’s valuation to $1.2 billion.

The so-called “People’s Network” – a decentralized telecommunications network powered by crypto incentives – is growing fast. Over 680,000 mining “hotspots” are online, with approximately 75,000 new hotspots being added monthly, according to Nova Labs Chief Operating Officer Frank Mong. Hotspot owners provide spare bandwidth in exchange for HNT tokens, which currently trade at $24.68 a pop.

Mong said there are hotspots in over 50,000 cities around the world, with another 5,000 cities being added to the map each month.

Apple Pay coming to Metamask

MetaMask uses two payment gateways Wyre and Transak to support debit card and credit card transactions. Users can now use their Visas and Mastercards stored in Apple Pay to buy ETH and deposit a daily maximum of $400 into their wallets, thanks to the Wyre API. Gas fees are reportedly lower, and according to MetaMask‘s tweets, some transactions may even be gasless if done on a private blockchain or if a project pays for the gas on the user‘s behalf. When completing an ETH purchase, MetaMask discloses that it does not profit from gas fess.

Polygon Identity Service

Polygon ID is a blockchain-native identity system with programmable privacy that empowers people and enables the creation of trusted interactions with web3 services.

WHAT IS POLYGON ID?

Scalable blockchain ID with ZK-based privacy

A new class of technological solutions for a censorship resistant digital identity. Prove access rights and reputation on-chain while keeping user privacy, boost dApps, and DeFi. Open to existing standards and ecosystem development.

Privacy by default is achieved using protocols designed natively for zero-knowledge zkSNARK technology, a battle-tested cryptography, and the most efficient for proof verifications on-chain.

Guiding Principles

Polygon ID is a future-proof tech stack for self-sovereign identity

Decentralised

Users are in control of their identity and personal data to enable social coordination and take back power from third parties.

Private by default

The user’s identity and data are natively protected by zero-knowledge protocols.

Trust and reputation

Identity attributes can be expressed as claims which can be combined to create compound proofs.

Open and permissionless

Identities are not passive, issuance of claims from one identity to another without passing through a third party.

Complete solution and easy integration to enable new generation of applications

Universal identity

• Scalable model for permissionless identity and low cost claims
• Expressible claim format based on the extended Verifiable Credentials data model
• Relayer as a L2 trustless agent to sponsor user identities claim issuance

Prove access rights, not identity

• Circom 2.0 zero-knowledge based privacy of identity and user information
• Unique zkProof Request Language to specify private requirements from apps
• Onboarding developers and partners via Polygon ID toolkit and examples

Advanced on-chain verification

• Private verification of user rights can be done from a Smart Contract
• zkSNARKs is the protocol with the smaller proof size for optimal on-chain verification
• The zkProof composability enables reputation models for people-powered networks

ARCHITECTURE

Polygon ID Architecture

Polygon has introduced a new identity platform called Polygon ID that aims to bolster zero-knowledge identity for Web3 applications. In the vast world of cryptography, a zero-knowledge (ZK) proof allows a user to leverage a cryptographic verifier that enables the user (the prover) to prove something is true without revealing unnecessary information. During the announcement concerning Polygon ID this week, Polygon said the team has made ZK tech a “centerpiece of its strategic vision and has committed $1 billion to related projects.”

“Polygon ID is private by default, offers on-chain verification and permissionless attestation. There is nothing in the digital identity space now that ticks all these boxes.”

Binance Smartchain to launch sidechains

BNB Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain founded by crypto exchange Binance, plans to introduce sidechains to cut the cost and increase the speed of transactions for resource intense applications such as gaming. 

The BNB Chain Application Sidechain (BAS) will let developers port data and assets from BNB Chain, reducing strain on the network’s limited transactional resources, a Binance spokesperson told The Block in a statement, without specifying when the sidechains will launch. These sidechains will also be application-specific, meaning individual sidechains will focus on specific use cases.

Raises

135Million Dollar Layer Zero Investment round led by A16Z, FTX and Sequoia

Avalanche launches another $100 million USD fund

$5 Million USD Seed Round for Zklend led by Delphi Digital