Dogecoin (DOGE) price up as meme coins rise

  • Dogecoin price spiked double-digits in 24 hours to hit its highest level in close to three months.
  • DOGE price broke above $0.13, above levels seen in July as several meme coins surged.

While the meme coin’s price rose amid broader optimism in the crypto market, which had Bitcoin above $68k, its likely Dogecoin benefited from fresh upside sentiment following latest comments by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Per data from CoinMarketCap, DOGE ranked as the best performing coin among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap on Friday morning. The dog-themed meme coin’s 10% in 24 hours gain came as Popcat, Mog Coin, Floki and cat in a dogs’ world all surged.

At the time of writing, the global meme coin market cap was up 3.6% to $62 billion, likely indicating a bullish flip for crypto is setting up.

As Dogecoin price eyes further gains, crypto analysts are suggesting a potential breakout in on cards.

Crypto trader Hardy says DOGE has seen a “textbook” falling wedge breakout and could be in for a wild run.

DOGE spikes amid Musk comment

Donald Trump has previously noted that he’s open to X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk joining his cabinet if Trump wins the upcoming election. This particular position is the new Department of Government Efficiency, or abbreviated to ‘DOGE’.

In comments made in Pennsylvania, Musk replied to a question related to the potential of him joining the new docket by mentioning “DOGE”. Although not explicitly about the meme coin, it’s notable that Musk has previously supported Dogecoin.

Tesla even added the meme coin as a payment option for its EVs. DOGE price reached an all-time high of $0.73 in May 2021.

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Mountain Protocol integrates Chainlink’s CCIP for USDM transfers

  • Mountain Protocol has integrated Chainlink’s cross-chain transfers technology.
  • The cross-chain interoperability protocol, CCIP, will help USDM users transfer yield-bearing stablecoin across Ethereum, Base and other chains.

Mountain Protocol has announced that it will tap into oracle network Chainlink’s technology for cross-chain transfers of its yield-bearing stablecoin USDM.

The USDM token is fully backed by US Treasuries.

Mountain Protocol integrates CCIP

According to a blog post, the integration involves Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP).

Mountain Protocol will leverage the standard for cross-chain  transfers of its stablecoin USDM across Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, and Polygon PoS. Users can use the Chainlink-powered XSwap bridge for these transfers.

It’s the latest CCIP integration by a blockchain protocol, with users benefitting from simplified transfers, unified liquidity and security.

Using CCIP for USDM transfers works by burning tokens on originating blockchain and minting new ones on the destination chain. This ensures supply consistency and transaction integrity, with users able to tap into the stablecoin for decentralised finance activities on any of the supported chains.

Chainlink’s CCIP is key in the growing tokenized real-world assets market. Currently total RWA on-chain is over $13 billion, according to rwa.xyz. Meanwhile, the stablecoin market is around $171 billion, with USDM around  $55.5 million per rwa.xyz.

The cross-chain interoperability protocol, alongside other services such as Proof of Reserve, Data Streams and Data Feeds are helping bring DeFi to more people through tokenized RWAs.

Other than token transfers and DeFi, Chainlink’s CCIP has use cases across gaming, web3 usernames and liquidation protection.

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Worldcoin rebrands, launches World Chain mainnet

  • Worldcoin has rebranded to ‘World’ and introduced several new features to enhance its World ID.
  • The project also announced the mainnet launch of its blockchain World Chain.

Worldcoin is now simply “World” after the blockchain-based identity verification project announced it’s rebranding on Oct. 17.

Sam Altman and Alex Blania, co-founders of World, announced the name change during a company event in San Francisco. As well as the rebranding, the project unveiled several updates aimed at bringing ‘proof-of-humanity’ technology to more people.

One of the key announcements is World’s unveiling of a new version of the biometric identification device the Orb. The company said the next-gen Orb is powered by NVIDIA’s latest Jetson chipset and offers as much as fivefold the AI performance of the previous version.

World has also introduced World ID 3.0, an advanced version of World ID and designed to enable further verification across the globe. The World ID Credentials and Deep Face features enhance this capacity, allowing those with NFC-enabled passports to verify their identity via their devices.

According to details in the blog post, verified passport holders can claim the native cryptocurrency WLD even before fully verifying their ID via the Orb.

World Chain mainnet launch

Oct. 17 also saw World Chain, the layer-2 chain the World Foundation announced earlier in the year, launch its mainnet. Approximately 15 million people have migrated or are completing the migration to World Chain as of Thursday, October 17, 2024.

World Chain is a blockchain network that will prioritise human activity and transactions over bots and launched with support from several crypto platforms, including Dune, Uniswap, Optimism, Alchemy, Safe and Etherscan.

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Cosmos co-founder warns of North Korean influence in Cosmos Hub’s LSM

  • Cosmos co-founder Jae Kwon alleges North Korean agents helped develop Cosmos Hub’s LSM code.
  • Kwon accuses Iqlusion’s Zaki Manian of hiding unresolved security risks.
  • Kwon urges an immediate audit and stricter oversight for future implementations.

Cosmos co-founder Jae Kwon has raised serious concerns regarding the integrity of the Cosmos Hub’s liquid staking module (LSM), alleging that significant portions of its development involved individuals linked to North Korea.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Kwon accused Cosmos validator hosting firm Iqlusion and its leader, Zaki Manian, of “gross negligence” in allowing the module’s integration without adequate security vetting.

Cosmos Hub’s LSM developers North Korea agents

According to Kwon, development of the LSM began in August 2021 under the direction of Iqlusion and Manian, with contributions from developers Jun Kai and Sarawut Sanit.

Kwon alleges that these developers were later identified as North Korean agents and had provided a substantial portion of the module’s code.

Despite awareness of their connections since March 2023, Kwon claimed Manian withheld this information and failed to disclose several unresolved security risks associated with the LSM.

The controversy gained traction following Manian’s social media acknowledgement that he had known about the North Korean-linked developers for months. However, instead of taking preventive actions, such as conducting an additional audit or informing the Cosmos community, Kwon stated that Manian continued to assert the module was “ready to be deployed.”

Kwon accused Manian of a “profound breach of trust” for prioritizing deployment over community safety.

Critical vulnerabilities in the LSM

Security issues had already surfaced during a 2022 audit that revealed critical vulnerabilities in the LSM. These vulnerabilities were reportedly addressed by the same North Korean-linked developers.

Kwon suggested that despite Manian’s claim of rewriting the LSM code before deployment, significant risks persisted, especially since the module was not a standalone feature but a set of modifications built atop existing Cosmos staking modules.

This could potentially expose all staked ATOM tokens to security threats.

Kwon has called on the Cosmos governance community to initiate a comprehensive audit of the LSM immediately. Additionally, he urged the Interchain Foundation to impose stricter auditing standards and create an oversight framework to ensure the security of future Cosmos implementations.

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Grayscale wants to convert its mixed-crypto fund into an ETF

  • Grayscale filed to convert its $524M Digital Large Cap Fund into an ETF.
  • The fund includes BTC, ETH, Solana, XRP, and Avalanche among its holdings.
  • This is Grayscale’s third ETF conversion after its Bitcoin and Ethereum funds.

Grayscale Investments has taken a significant step toward expanding its suite of cryptocurrency-based financial products by filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) into an exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The GDLC, which currently trades over the counter, offers diversified exposure to several leading digital assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Avalanche (AVAX).

Grayscale’s move marks a continued effort by Grayscale to make cryptocurrency investments more accessible to traditional investors.

Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC)

According to the company’s report, the fund has $524 million in assets under management, with a significant concentration in Bitcoin and Ethereum, which make up nearly 75% and 19% of the holdings, respectively.

The remaining portion is allocated to Solana, XRP, and Avalanche, providing investors with a balanced exposure to established and emerging cryptocurrencies.

The third time Grayscale is converting a fund into an ETF

If approved, the ETF would represent Grayscale’s third conversion of a fund into an ETF, following its previous transitions of Bitcoin and Ethereum funds earlier this year.

A spokesperson from Grayscale emphasized that the filing reflects the firm’s commitment to enhancing the accessibility of the crypto asset class for mainstream investors.

The company aims to leverage the regulatory structure of an ETF to offer a more efficient and widely accepted investment vehicle, which could attract additional interest from institutional and retail investors.

In parallel with Grayscale’s move, the market has seen a surge in ETF filings for various crypto assets.

Recently, Bitwise submitted an application to the SEC seeking permission to list a spot XRP ETF and Canary Capital submitted applications to list XRP and Litecoin ETFs. However, these filings have yet to receive approval, underscoring the regulatory uncertainty surrounding crypto-based ETFs in the United States.

Grayscale’s initiative to convert GDLC into an ETF aligns with its broader strategy of offering products that bridge the gap between traditional finance and the evolving digital asset landscape.

Alongside its proposed conversion, the firm has also introduced funds that provide exposure to XRP and the AAVE governance token, reflecting its proactive approach to navigating the competitive and regulatory dynamics of the crypto market.

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