Airdrops: The Controversy

Airdrops are meant to be a gift of free money, but LayerZero’s recent distribution of ZRO tokens caused quite a stir. The introduction of a 10-cent fee per token for claiming the airdrop sparked complaints among users, questioning the concept of “pay-to-claim” in such distributions.

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Network News

Free, for a Fee:

LayerZero’s unconventional airdrop approach raised eyebrows in the crypto community. By requiring users to make a 10-cent donation in USDC to Protocol Guild for each ZRO token claimed, the project deviated from the traditional notion of airdrops as free giveaways. While some saw it as a way to show commitment to the protocol, others criticized it as a paywall for claiming tokens.

Mount Top?

• Mt. Gox announced the start of asset distribution to clients, causing fluctuations in the BTC price and market share.
• The Winklevoss Twins revealed their refunded donations to Donald Trump’s campaign due to exceeding legal limits.
• U.S. Treasury Department highlighted Mexican cartels using cryptocurrencies for illicit activities.
• German government’s BTC transfers fueled speculation of potential sales from its holdings.

Protocol Village

• BNB Chain: Introduced BEP-341 proposal for enhanced block production capacity.
• Algorand Foundation: Presented LiquidAuth for decentralized authentication and communication.
• Solana Foundation: Launched Solana Actions and Blinks for seamless blockchain integration.
• Matter Labs: Unveiled ZKsync 3.0 roadmap for an interconnected ecosystem.
• Aleph Zero: Introduced zkOS for privacy-enhanced blockchain operations.

Money Center

Fundraisings: Ora co-founder Kartin Wong

Deals and Grants

Data and Tokens

NEAR Sees TVL Growth: NEAR Protocol’s TVL tripled in the first half of 2024, with key applications driving the surge in user deposits.

Calendar

• July 8-11: EthCC, Brussels.
• July 11: TezDev 2024, Brussels.
• July 25-27: Bitcoin 2024, Nashville.
• Aug. 19-21: Web3 Summit, Berlin.
• Sept. 19-21: Solana Breakpoint, Singapore.
• Sept. 1-7: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul.
• Sept. 12-13: Global Blockchain Congress, Southeast Asia Edition, Singapore.
• Sept. 30-Oct. 2: Messari Mainnet, New York.
• Oct. 9-11: Permissionless, Salt Lake City.
• Oct. 21-22: Cosmoverse, Dubai.
• Oct. 23-24: Cardano Summit, Dubai.
• Oct. 30-31: Chainlink SmartCon, Hong Kong.
• Nov 12-14: Devcon 7, Bangkok.
• Nov. 20-21: North American Blockchain Summit, Dallas.
• Feb. 19-20, 2025: ConsensusHK, Hong Kong.
• May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto.

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