The Block
Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick expects bitcoin to revisit its all-time high of over $73,000 on the day of the U.S. presidential election.Kendrick has based his prediction on bitcoin derivatives and trading volume indicators.
Quick Take GnosisDAO is launching a $40 million venture fund to support early-stage projects under the Gnosis 3.0 roadmap, according to an announcement on Thursday.
Quick Take Ankr will provide a “gateway for developers to build on TON blockchain.” Building mini-apps and mini-games for Telegram, which utilize TON, has become increasingly popular in recent months.
Quick Take Crypto exchange Kraken will launch its own Layer 2 blockchain called “Ink” in the first quarter of 2025. Built using the OP Stack, Ink follows the lead of rival crypto exchange Coinbase’s launch of Base in 2023.
Quick Take Coinbase Ventures and the a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) contributed strategic funding to Skyfire’s $8.5 million seed raise from August. The fresh financing brings the AI payments firm’s total funding raised to $9.5 million Skyfire is building the infrastructure that lets AI agents make autonomous payments, eschewing a human intermediary.
Quick Take Developers behind the Ethereum-compatible “spiderchain” network will integrate Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol and data oracles to expand bitcoin’s functionality.
Quick Take The EURC stablecoin has reached an all-time high supply of more than 90 million — equating to a market cap of nearly $100 million. A surge of growth on Base has fueled the rise, though it still represents a fraction of the supply of U.S. dollar-based stablecoins.
Bitcoin options traders are increasingly buying post-U.S. election expiry call options in the $70,000-$80,000 range, according to an analyst.Donald Trump is widening his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris on the decentralized betting platform Polymarket.
Quick Take Tokenization protocol Midas is launching a wrapped bitcoin product, mBTC, which will pay out yields of 4% paid in bitcoin-denominated assets rather than fiat.
