Blast drops ‘L2’ from X username, reduces withdrawal time from 14 to 7 days

July 16, 2024 Coin Telegraph

blast

After monitoring withdrawals for four months, the developers concluded that longer withdrawal times were no longer necessary.

Ethereum layer-2 Blast network has cut its withdrawal times in half, from 14 days to 7 days, according to a July 16 X post from the network’s development team. The network previously required longer withdrawal times “in order to provide a buffer for Lido withdrawals.” The team claims that this longer wait time is no longer necessary.

The team posted the message from a new X account, @blast, which replaces the @blast_l2 account that it previously used. The previous account announced the new account’s existence in its profile.

In an associated thread, the team stated that Blast core contributors have been monitoring withdrawals for the past four months and have now concluded that “a smaller buffer would be sufficient to handle nearly all withdrawal activity.” It cautioned that some withdrawals may still take longer than seven days, although this should happen only “in rare circumstances.” Meanwhile, deposits from Ethereum to Blast will still only take “minutes” to process, the post stated.

Solana traders chase $180 target after SOL gains 13% in 2-days

July 16, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Solana traders chase 0 target after SOL gains 13% in 2-days

Arbitrum

A surge in Solana network activity, memecoin prices and optimistic derivatives markets could be a sign that SOL is aiming for $180.

Solana's native token SOL (SOL) rallied 13% between July 14 and July 16, breaking above the $160 resistance level for the first time in five weeks. However, SOL's price remains 24% lower from its $209 peak in March, leaving little room for celebration among bulls. Traders now question the sustainability of the uptrend and the odds of retesting the $180 level in the near term.

The recent excitement around SOL can be partially attributed to the final phase of Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approval. According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly delivered final instructions to asset managers as it prepares to launch on July 23. VanEck and 21Shares filed for a similar Solana ETF application on July 8, although a final decision from the SEC is expected by March 2025.

A significant part of Solana's ecosystem consists of memecoins, thanks to the network's low fees for launching and trading. This has led to the success of memecoins like BONK and DogwifHat (WIF), which achieved peak market capitalizations of $2.8 billion and $4.8 billion, respectively. More importantly, Solana has been able to build an active and engaged community, which is not easily replicable.

VC Roundup: Venture firms push Web3 forward despite macro headwinds

July 16, 2024 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

This edition of Cointelegraph’s VC Roundup features Mira, Astria, Compute Labs, BOB, Dora and BITKRAFT Ventures.

Several measures of inflation, including the Consumer Price Index and Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, have moderated in recent months, boosting confidence that US cost pressures are moderating and slowly returning to the Federal Reserve's 2% target.

However, macroeconomic conditions are barely affecting the investment strategies of venture firms in the Web3 space. “We believe that when you’re investing in early-stage companies with a long investment horizon, you can’t really let macro dictate your investment pace too much,” Carlos Pereira, partner at BITKRAFT Ventures, told Cointelegraph.

According to Pereira, current economic conditions have less of an impact on seed rounds. Rather, they’re more likely to influence Series A rounds. “In worse markets, it can be a better time to be a later-stage, Series A type investor as it gets “cheaper” to act on incremental validation points, vs. in hotter markets, those businesses may be seen as closer to launching a token, and in turn get more expensive,” he said.