The Block

Quick Take On July 15, Base chain recorded 3.28 million transactions. By July 19, this number had climbed to 3.52 million transactions. The following is an excerpt from The Block’s Data and Insights newsletter.

The market debut of the new funds tied to the second-largest cryptocurrency saw volumes exceed $1 billion, about 23% of the volumes seen during the first day spot Bitcoin ETFs hit the market.This column is adapted from The Scoop newsletter.

Open interest peaked at $40 billion on the Fourth of July after prices tumbled more than 5% that day.The following is an excerpt from The Block’s Data and Insights newsletter.

Quick Take Bitstamp said it has begun the process of returning digital assets to Mt. Gox creditors. The exchange received bitcoin, bitcoin cash and Ethereum from the Mt. Gox trustees on Wednesday and will begin distributing the digital assets to customers tomorrow.

Quick Take Think tank Digital Future launched the program on Wednesday, calling it Project Swing. The initiative will focus on unregistered voters in swing states, according to a statement. Crypto advocate Michelle Bond told The Block that Project Swing is taking a different approach from PACs, which have brought in millions of dollars.

Options traders are less optimistic about ether’s short-term price performance compared to bitcoin’s, QCP Capital analysts said.However, analysts maintain a positive outlook for ether in the medium to long term.

Quick Take The agricultural RWA platform AgriDex settled its first trade on Solana. The platform helped over 200 olive oil bottles and numerous wine cases travel from South Africa to London. AgriDex previously raised $5 million in pre-seed funding led by Endeavour Ventures in May.

Quick Take Caldera has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round from Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and others. The Ethereum rollup deployment platform is now building ‘Metalayer’ to unify the fragmented Layer 2 and Layer 3 ecosystem, co-founder and CEO Matt Katz told The Block.

Quick Take Alby releases browser extension that allows users to launch Bitcoin-based apps using a personal Lightning node. The service also contains a “one-click” Lightning node installer and self-custody wallet.

Quick Take Ferrari has expanded its crypto payment solution to Europe following its U.S. launch in October. Ferrari’s European dealer network will be able to accept crypto payments for its cars from the end of July.