The uptrend established in the first weeks of 2023 appears to be running out of steam. Although the total market cap of the cryptocurrency reached $1.12 trillion over the past week, all of the gains were erased over the weekend, causing the total market cap to fall back to $1.09. , which is exactly where it was at the start of the week. Most of the biggest cryptocurrencies traded rather sideways throughout the past week, which is why the total market capitalization remained stagnant. Among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, the biggest mover was OKB (OKB), which appreciated nearly 12% in the past week.
3. Render Token (RNDR)
Render Network is a decentralized cloud rendering platform that allows users to access high performance computing resources in a secure and decentralized way. The platform uses blockchain technology and its own cryptocurrency, the RNDR token, as a means of payment and reward for participating nodes. The RNDR token is used to incentivize the rendering of 3D graphics, animations and simulations. With Render Network, artists, architects, and engineers can outsource their rendering needs to the network, rather than relying on a centralized cloud provider, providing increased security, cost efficiency, and faster render times.
The project establishes the Render Network Foundation and accepts the proposal to implement a burn-and-mint equilibrium tokenomics model
On January 20, the Render Network announcement that the project is launching Render Network Foundation, a dedicated non-profit organization that will maintain and grow the core Render Network protocol and its community. Additionally, RNDR token holders recently voted in favor of adopting a new model of tokenomics, called burn-and-mint equilibrium. Under the new model, “render jobs to be done” will be charged in USD and creators will need to burn the corresponding amount of RNDR tokens to pay for the render. After burning the RNDR, creators will receive non-transferable, non-fungible “discount coupons” to track completed orders. Node operators will receive rewards in the form of core asset issuance incentives based on the number of jobs they have completed during a network’s epoch. The tokenomics model is called a burn-and-mint equilibrium because if demand remains constant, the number of tokens burned equals the number minted. If, however, usage increases in between, supply decreases and creates upward pressure on prices, and vice versa when the need for rendering power decreases. The tokenomics change proposal was accepted with outstanding unity as 100% of votes were thrown in favor.
Both events boosted the price of RNDR, which gained more than 100% in the past week, outperforming all other top 100 assets over the same period. Additionally, the Render Network token climbed 13 spots on the list of largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization in the last week alone. Currently, the token is changing hands at a price of $1.70, but we believe it could hit $2.00 soon.
2. Aave (AAVE)
Aave is an Ethereum-based decentralized lending and borrowing platform that started as “ETHLend”, a project started by Stani Kulechov in 2017. Aave supports nearly 20 different tokens and has unique features and sophisticated such as flash loans that set it apart from its competitors. While Aave was initially launched on Ethereum, the protocol has expanded to the Fantom, Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, and Harmony networks over the past two years and is now available on 7 channels. The AAVE token is the native token of the protocol, which grants holders governance rights as well as discounts when interacting with the Aave protocol. Although the protocol is fully open source, its code is regularly audited by third parties and has been repeatedly deemed safe. With the launch of its third iteration – “Aave v3” – the protocol has positioned itself as one of the top DeFi protocols. According DeFi Llamathere is currently approximately $4.7 billion locked in the Aave protocol, of which $1.1 billion is locked in Aave v3.
Aave v3, one of the most popular liquidity protocols, has been deployed on the Ethereum mainnet
The Aave protocol recently received its biggest update yet on the Ethereum blockchain as Aave v3 was activated on the Ethereum mainnet on January 27th. While Aave was already running on Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Optimism, the deployment of the Ethereum mainnet was of key importance to the lending protocol as Ethereum is Aave’s largest marketplace. Now, liquidity providers who interact with Aave through the Ethereum mainnet can also use advanced features such as high efficiency mode (or e-mode) and isolation mode. Additionally, gas charges are up to 25% lower on Aave v3. To migrate your positions from v2 to v3, follow the instructions in the Tweet below.
The price of AAVE, which has been on an upward trend since the start of the year, is up 60% since the start of the year. The AAVE token is currently changing hands at around $85. Nonetheless, this remains 87% below the token’s all-time high price of $665 reached on May 18, 2021.
1. Optimism (OP)
Optimism is a popular layer 2 scaling solution for the Ethereum blockchain that aims to enable faster, cheaper, and more scalable decentralized applications (dApps). To achieve its goal, Optimism uses a technology called Optimistic Rollups, which allows dApps to transact off-chain and then settle them on-chain, dramatically increasing transaction speed and reducing costs compared to traditional on-chain transactions. The OP token is the native cryptocurrency of the Optimism platform and is used for staking and governance. By holding and staking OP tokens, users can participate in the governance of the Optimism Network (voting on proposals regarding protocol upgrades, incentives, and cash fund allocation) as well as earn rewards for helping secure the network.
Recently Announced Bedrock Upgrade Will Keep Optimism at the Forefront of Ethereum Scaling for Years to Come
On February 2, The Optimism Foundation proudly announced the Bedrock upgrade, which will significantly improve the performance and functionality of the network. The revamped version of the Optimism protocol will reduce transaction fees by an additional 10% by further optimizing transaction batch compression. Additionally, the developers at Optimism claim that the upgrade will also better handle L1 reorganizations, thus shortening the timeframes for including L1 transactions in rollups. The full list of improvements featured in the upcoming update can be found in the Bedrock Explainer.
According to draft upgrade proposal, the community will vote on the proposal after two weeks of discussion. If Bedrock is approved by the Optimism governance community, the upgrade will be implemented on March 15 at 9:00 a.m. PT. While there is still a long road to Bedrock’s rollout, markets reacted very positively to its announcement as OP gained over 45% in two days after the announcement. Additionally, OP is up nearly 200% in the past month, making it one of the best performing tokens of this time.
Andrew is a writer who does most of his work on cryptocurrency-related topics. Although he is primarily interested in Bitcoin, he also follows major altcoins and the innovative ideas that new cryptocurrency and blockchain projects are bringing to the table.
