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Stellar XLM Rises 8%: What It Means for TON, XMR, and ARB

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 4, 2023

Stellar (XLM) Experiences Over 8% Uptick

As of September 4, 2023, Stellar ($XLM) has seen an 8% increase in its price, indicating a potential mini breakout. This comes at a time when the asset has been consistently “shorted by the crowd,” according to data from Santiment. The uptick in price could be further fueled by liquidations.

Market Watchlist: TON, XMR, ARB

Based on data from Santiment, investors should closely monitor the cryptocurrencies TON, XMR, and ARB, as these assets are also being “shorted by the crowd.”

As of the latest data, XMR’s market value stands at approximately $21.3 million, a significant increase from $11.7 million on August 21. The long/short ratio for XMR is 1.44, indicating a balanced market sentiment. This suggests that XMR is less likely to experience liquidity issues in the long positions.

ARB’s Declining Open Interest

In contrast, ARB has seen a decline in open interest. It reached a high of around $60 million on August 28 but has since dropped to $48.7 million. Despite the decrease, the open interest remains substantial. However, ARB’s long/short ratio of 3.78 serves as a warning signal for long traders, indicating potential liquidity risks.

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Arbitrum Alert: Whale Moves Nearly 3 Million ARB Tokens into Binance

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 4, 2023

A transaction involving ARB tokens has caught the attention of the cryptocurrency onchain analysts. ARB is the native token of Arbitrum network.

A whale with address 0xe04d0484ffb9e0b4567794008e5b8a7c7f6b7e6d transferred 2,689,046 ARB tokens into Binance just a few hours ago.

Source: arbiscan

Just 3 days ago, the same whale sent 2 Million ARB to Binance.

The whale address has 6,750,000 ARB tokens, equivalent to $8.34 million. These ARB token are withrawn from Binance, OKX, and Coinbase Prime between March 29 and May 17, 2023. The average price of these tokens at the time of withdrawal was $1.235 each, according to onchain analyst EmberCN.

If these tokens were to be sold at the current market rate, the whale would incur a loss of approximately $850,000.

Key Transaction Details

The transaction was confirmed on the blockchain with the hash 0x87a286a17c0f1e792a5e46f4f38e62b2e3aa2c6c0b81cb65cea0a43cb5bec20a.

The funds were transferred from address 0xe04d0484ffb9e0b4567794008e5b8a7c7f6b7e6d to address 0x3c2efda2a31660cbf0645d1d9cd442a1588723d4.

Source: arbiscan

It was successfully processed in block 127878480, with 1204 Level 1 block confirmations. The timestamp indicates that the transaction occurred at 07:27:33 AM UTC on September 4, 2023.

Market Implications

While the reasons for these large transactions remain unclear, they do raise questions about market sentiment surrounding ARB tokens. The activity comes amid a period of market uncertainty, where large moves into crypto exchanges by single entities can have a negative effect on token prices and investor confidence.

Recenly, Blockchain.News reported “Arbitrum Proposes 75 Million ARB Short-Term Incentive Program”.

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Tagged : ARB / Arbitrum / Binance / News

Arbitrum Proposes 75 Million ARB Short-Term Incentive Program

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 4, 2023

Arbitrum ($ARB) Incentives Working Group released a proposal outlining a Short-Term Incentive Program. The initiative aims to distribute up to 75 million ARB tokens from DAO-funded incentives to active protocols on the Arbitrum network. The proposal is the result of multiple community calls and workshops involving various stakeholders.

Objectives and Rationale

The program is designed to achieve four primary goals:

Support Network Growth: Accelerate the distribution of incentives to Arbitrum decentralized applications (dApps) to foster network and ecosystem expansion.

Experiment with Incentive Grants: Uncover new incentive strategies to boost user engagement, transaction volume, and liquidity.

Find New Models for Grants and Developer Support: Generate maximum activity on the Arbitrum network.

Create Incentive Data: Collect data on the effectiveness of distributed grants to inform future incentive programs.

The proposal aims to increase volume, transactions, users, and liquidity in the Arbitrum ecosystem. It serves as an experimental program with the primary objective of promoting innovative incentive strategies while ensuring basic safeguards.

Financial and Operational Details

The program will have a budget of 75 million ARB earmarked for incentive grants. Additional allocations include:

A 37,000 ARB operational budget for community and project facilitation.

20,000 ARB to @tnorm for community moderation.

12,000 ARB for PL-ARB Grants Safety Multisig.

5,000 ARB for delegate contributions.

Eligibility and Evaluation Guidelines

Grantees are required to meet specific criteria, including providing a spending plan, pro forma, and the grant’s objective. They must also commit to sharing data on distributions, transactions, and key metrics like daily Total Value Locked (TVL), transaction volumes, and unique addresses.

The program offers four grant categories:

Beacon Grants: Up to 200K ARB for protocols live on Arbitrum for at least two months and meeting specific TVL or volume criteria.

Siren Grants: Up to 750K ARB for protocols live for at least four months and meeting higher TVL or volume criteria.

Lighthouse Grants: Up to 2M ARB for protocols live for at least six months and meeting even higher TVL or volume criteria.

Pinnacle Grants: Over 2M ARB for protocols live for at least 12 months and meeting the highest TVL or volume criteria.

Timeline and Approval Process

The program will undergo a three-week approval process across two cycles, each consisting of an application period, review period, and voting period. The first cycle begins on September 15, 2023, with funds distributed by October 6, 2023. The second cycle commences on October 6, 2023, with funds distributed by October 27, 2023.

Outstanding Questions

The proposal addresses concerns about exceeding the budget and plans for excess funds. If the budget is exceeded, funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis. Excess funds will be returned to the Arbitrum Treasury.

Conclusion

The Arbitrum Short-Term Incentive Program aims to catalyze network growth and user engagement through a one-time, community-driven initiative. With specific eligibility criteria and evaluation metrics, the program seeks to ensure transparent and effective distribution of incentives. The initiative offers a glimpse into Arbitrum’s strategic approach to fostering a dynamic ecosystem.

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Tagged : ARB / Arbitrum / Dao / INCENTIVE PROGRAM / News

Offchain Labs’s Arbitrum Stylus Goes Live

by Blockchain NewsSeptember 1, 2023

Offchain Labs announced the public testnet and code release for Arbitrum Stylus on August 31, 2023. This new framework is designed to work on Arbitrum Nitro chains, allowing developers to build smart contracts using both Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) tools and WebAssembly (WASM)-compatible languages like Rust, C, and C++. Stylus aims to significantly reduce gas costs and enable new, resource-intensive blockchain applications. The open-source Software Development Kit (SDK) is now available for developers.

One Chain, Multiple Languages

Arbitrum Stylus is designed to be a “one chain, many languages” solution. It allows developers to use traditional EVM languages like Solidity alongside WASM-compatible languages such as Rust, C, and C++. According to Offchain Labs, this feature expands the potential developer base from approximately 20,000 Solidity developers to millions who are proficient in Rust and C languages.

Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness

Stylus claims to offer over 10x improvement in computational speed and over 100x improvement in memory efficiency compared to traditional EVM-based solutions. These efficiency gains are expected to translate into significantly lower gas costs for executing smart contracts. Offchain Labs states that allocating megabytes of RAM in Stylus could cost 100–500x less than in Solidity.

New Use Cases Enabled

The efficiency gains are not merely theoretical; they open doors to new blockchain applications that were previously impractical due to resource constraints. These include alternative signature schemes, larger generative art libraries, C++ based gaming, and compute-heavy AI models.

Security Features

Stylus also aims to improve smart contract security with features like opt-in reentrancy, a common vulnerability in Solidity that Stylus disables by default unless intentionally overridden by the developer.

Community and Ecosystem

Arbitrum, the Layer 2 scaling solution for which Stylus is built, already has a large developer and partner community. Stylus aims to leverage this existing ecosystem to encourage rapid adoption and innovation.

What’s Next?

Offchain Labs has scheduled a security audit of the Stylus source code by Trail of Bits. Additionally, a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) vote will determine the inclusion of Stylus support in Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova. An “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session is planned for September 7, 2023, and a Stylus Hackathon with $20,000 in bounties will be held at ETHGlobal NY from September 22–24, 2023.

Conclusion

The launch of Arbitrum Stylus marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Ethereum’s Layer 2 solutions. By offering multi-language support and efficiency gains, Stylus aims to broaden the developer base, reduce operational costs, and enable new blockchain applications. As the public testnet goes live, the blockchain community will be watching closely to see if Stylus delivers on its promises.

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Tagged : ARB / ARBITRUM STYLUS / Evm / News / NITRO CHAINS / Offchain Labs

Arbitrum Bridge: A Comprehensive Guide

by Blockchain NewsJuly 24, 2023

Arbitrum Bridge is a Layer 2 solution that enables users to transfer assets from the Ethereum mainnet to the Arbitrum network. It is an essential part of the Arbitrum ecosystem, which attempts to increase the scalability of Ethereum by processing transactions off-chain while retaining the mainnet’s security..This article provides a comprehensive guide to the Arbitrum Bridge, including its functionality, supported assets, fees, security, troubleshooting, and alternatives.

Overview

Arbitrum, developed by Offchain Labs, is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It aims to address the scalability issues of Ethereum, which has been plagued by high gas fees and slow transaction times due to its limited capacity. By processing transactions off-chain, Arbitrum can significantly reduce these fees and increase transaction speed, making Ethereum more usable for everyday transactions.

The Arbitrum Bridge is a key feature of this solution. It allows users to transfer their assets from Ethereum to the Arbitrum network in a secure and trustless manner. This means that users do not need to trust any third party with their assets – the bridge ensures that the assets are safely locked on the Ethereum network and the corresponding amount is minted on the Arbitrum network.

Functionality

To use the Arbitrum Bridge, users need to connect their Ethereum wallet (such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rainbow, Trust Wallet) to the bridge. Once connected, they can specify the amount of assets they wish to transfer. The bridge then locks the assets on the Ethereum network and mints the corresponding amount on the Arbitrum network.

This process is secure and trustless. The bridge does not have the ability to access or control the user’s assets. Instead, it uses smart contracts to lock the assets on the Ethereum network and mint the corresponding amount on the Arbitrum network. This ensures that the user always retains control over their assets.

Supported Assets

The Arbitrum Bridge supports a wide range of assets, including but not limited to ETH, WBTC, USDT, DAI, AVAX, BNB,USDC. This broad support enables users to transfer almost any asset they hold on the Ethereum network to the Arbitrum network.

Furthermore, the bridge supports multiple networks, including Ethereum, Avalanche, BNB Chain, Canto, Polygon, and 15 others. This makes the Arbitrum Bridge a versatile tool for users looking to move their assets between different blockchain networks.

Fees

The cost of using the Arbitrum Bridge can vary depending on the current gas prices on the Ethereum network. However, once the assets are on the Arbitrum network, transactions are significantly cheaper due to the reduced gas costs on Layer 2.

It’s worth noting that the cost to bridge assets from Ethereum to Arbitrum can be further reduced by using the Synapse Protocol’s native token, SYN, as your bridging crypto. This provides users with a cost-effective way to transfer their assets to the Arbitrum network.

Security

Security is a top priority for the Arbitrum Bridge. It relies on Ethereum’s Layer 1 for security, meaning that even though transactions are processed off-chain, they still benefit from the robust security of the Ethereum network.

The bridge has been audited by top smart contract risk assessment firms, ensuring its safety and reliability. It locally stores critical data like private keys on user devices, minimizing external risks. In addition, it ensures encrypted communication between devices and the bridge for added protection.

Troubleshooting

In case of any issues while using the Arbitrum Bridge, users can refer to the official documentation provided by the developers. This includes a comprehensive guide on how to use the bridge, as well as a troubleshooting section that addresses common problems and their solutions.

For example, when initiating a withdrawal from Arbitrum chains (One and Nova), the process will typically take roughly one week. However, some users opt to use third-party fast bridges, which often bypass this delay.

Alternatives

While the Arbitrum Bridge is a popular choice for transferring assets to the Arbitrum network, there are also other bridges available. These include the Celer Network’s cBridge and Connext’s cross-chain bridge. Each of these alternatives has its own set of features and advantages, and users can choose the one that best fits their needs.

Conclusion

The Arbitrum Bridge is a powerful tool that enables users to leverage the benefits of Layer 2 scaling on the Ethereum network. By providing a secure, efficient, and cost-effective way to transfer assets between networks, the Arbitrum Bridge is a key component of the broader Ethereum ecosystem.

As the Ethereum network continues to grow and evolve, tools like the Arbitrum Bridge will play an increasingly important role in enhancing its scalability and usability. Whether you’re a seasoned Ethereum user or new to the world of blockchain, the Arbitrum Bridge provides a simple and secure way to take advantage of the benefits of Layer 2 scaling.

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Tagged : ARB / ARBITRUM BRIDGE / ARBITRUM NETWORK / Ethereum / Layer 2 / Metamask / Wiki

Binance Joins Association of Russian Banks, Strengthening Strategic Relations

by Blockchain NewsFebruary 21, 2022

Binance cryptocurrency exchange has joined the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), which arguably bolsters its relationship with top financial institutions in the country.

As reported by a local media outlet, Prime, the onboarding of the trading platform into the banking organization was accompanied by establishing a new department within the body.

The department is called the Expert Center for Digital Financial Assets and Digital Currencies. Per the report, it will be led by Olga Goncharova, the Binance Exchange’s Russia and CIS head. As a frontline expert in the digital currency ecosystem, Binance, through the expert Center, will supply members of the association with technical insights related to digital currencies.

As detailed in the report, the new “Expert Center” will help compile “professional opinions on the circulation of digital financial assets and digital currencies” and provide members “with expert and analytical materials” on the topic of crypto, as well as providing “international experience.”

The role of Binance is assuming is pivotal in the overall emancipation of digital currencies in Russia as the ARB is a body that consists of about 290 banks. Despite the country’s largest banking organizations such as Gazprombank, Sberbank, and six others are not being enlisted as members based on a recent fallout, the organization still has a prominent presence in determining the direction of financial policies in the country.

The Russian government has been analyzing its potential moves related to its engagement with Bitcoin and other digital currencies lately. While the Bank of Russia has proposed a ban option, the move has been heavily criticized by some of the country’s local leaders, including Telegram founder and Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov and Leonid Volkov, the Chief of Staff to the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny.

The Bank has now resorted to banning Bitcoin mining, a move that it hopes will generally limit the circulation of the digital currency in the country. The ascension of Binance to the ARB may change the narrative even in ways that cannot be deciphered at this time.

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Tagged : ARB / Bank Of Russia / Binance / Enterprise