On September 4, the Polygon team implemented an update to replace the utility token MATIC with POL on a 1:1 basis. This transition was announced in July and will be automatic for most users; it can also be completed manually through a special portal. At launch, POL will replace MATIC for staking and gas payments on the Polygon PoS network. In the future, the new token will be used for the AggLayer aggregation system. Some new tokens will be used to reward validators, while the rest will go into the treasury for ecosystem funds and grant programs.
Bitcoin price drops to $54,000
On September 6, the price of Bitcoin began to decline, falling from $56,000 to $54,000, a decrease of 3.5%. This drop affected other major cryptocurrencies: Ethereum also experienced losses, dropping to $2,270, down 4% from the previous day. At the time of writing, the BTC exchange rate hovered around $54,550, while the ETH exchange rate was $2,305.
Ethereum market depth shrinks by 20% after spot ETF launch
CoinDesk cited data from CCData stating that since the launch of the Ethereum spot ETF in the U.S., the average market depth of ETH pairs on centralized exchanges has decreased by 20%, falling to around $14 million. This means that less capital is now required to raise the spot price by 5%, indicating a decline in liquidity and increased sensitivity to large orders.
On international centralized exchanges, this figure has dropped by 19%, down to around $10 million. While the launch of an ETF typically increases the liquidity of the underlying asset, as seen with Bitcoin, the expected effect has not been observed in the case of Ethereum.
BNB Chain developers announce ecosystem expansion
The BNB Smart Chain (BSC) has reached 1.2 million daily active users, with opBNB reaching 2.7 million. Independent wallets on BSC have grown by 30.4% year-on-year, exceeding 458 million. The average daily transaction count on BSC is 4 million, while opBNB is at 4.8 million. There are nearly 800 dApps in the ecosystem, with 189 added this year. The TVL of BSC has reached $4.82 billion.
By the end of 2024, plans are in place to complete the BNB Chain network merger, introduce a Rust-based client, launch a new state storage model, develop "real-world" applications, support gasless transactions, and develop infrastructure for user acquisition.
Buterin withdraws 2.1 million STRK from his wallet
According to Arkham Intelligence, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has transferred approximately 2.1 million Starknet tokens (STRK), worth about $858,750, to a third-party wallet. The day before, Buterin unlocked 1.26 million STRK from the Starknet LockedTokenGrant contract. The L2 network token is the second most significant part of his portfolio after ETH. Currently, the address labeled Vitalik Buterin contains assets worth $560.3 million. At the end of August, Buterin assured that he had not sold his ETH and continues to hold gains from 2018. According to him, all asset sales are used to support projects and charitable causes, including L2 network tokens.
Independent miners have mined 329 Bitcoin blocks in 11 years
According to data from CK Pool, independent miners of the first cryptocurrency have mined at least 329 blocks since 2014. Although CK Pool is not a classic mining pool, it serves individual miners who connect their hash rates, and if they are lucky, they will receive 98% of the block reward (minus CK Pool's fees). In reality, the number of blocks mined by independent miners may be slightly higher, as they can connect to the network using other methods. However, the probability of independent miners successfully solving cryptographic puzzles remains close to zero.