Solana Mainnet Welcomes Early Version of Firedancer
According to Kevin Bowers, the chief Science Officer at Jump Crypto, an early version of the independent validator client, Firedancer, known as Frankendancer, has now gone live on the Solana mainnet. Approximately 1% of the Solana network’s “proof-of-life” stake is attributed to Frankendancer, as indicated in a presentation from Bowers.
Jump Crypto, the blockchain infrastructure firm responsible for the Solana validator clients, has highlighted the importance of validator clients like Firedancer in processing transactions and building blocks on Solana’s nearly $70 billion network. This solution is being lauded as a superior alternative to “QUIC,” a Google-developed data transfer protocol that has a history of failing to process transactions during surges in network activity on Solana.
Bowers has stated that Firedancer is currently live on the Solana testnet. However, another Solana contributor at the same conference has claimed that Firedancer is already live on Solana mainnet, albeit in “non-voting mode.” This means it cannot build blocks or participate in consensus, which is a primary role of a blockchain validator, as noted by “ItsDave_ADA,” a Cardano fan and X user.
Pendle Token Surges 25% Following Arthur Hayes’s Sell-Off
After Arthur Hayes confirmed that Maelstrom, his crypto-focused family office fund, sold over 392,000 Pendle tokens worth $1.56 million, the Pendle token rallied more than 25%. Hayes had previously touted the project’s potential at the Token2049 conference, but the recent sell-off has sparked controversy given his earlier statements.
However, Hayes revealed that the sale was merely to take some profits and that the proceeds would be used to fund a “special situation.” The immediate response to the sale saw Pendle’s value soar by 25.2% to $4.36, but it has since cooled off to $4.06, according to CoinGecko data.
At Token2049, Hayes discussed Pendle as a decentralized interest rate market that allows users to hedge their staking yield, which can be as high as 9% with Bitcoin. However, Hayes is uncertain whether this is enough to convince US Treasurys holders to abandon their 5.5% earnings due to the various smart contract risks associated with decentralized finance protocols.
Bill Maher’s Misinformation on Crypto
Bill Maher, host of the American TV talk-show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” recently made comments about cryptocurrencies and their energy usage. Maher claimed that 8% of electricity is consumed by crypto mining, which he argued is comparable to putting 15 million gas-powered cars back on the road. However, the United States Energy Information Administration estimates that crypto mining represents between 0.6% to 2.3% of US electricity consumption.
Maher also stated that crypto is primarily used by criminals to evade US regulators, despite findings from blockchain forensics firm TRM Labs indicating that the share of illicit crypto funds was just 0.63% in 2023. Furthermore, Maher’s comments disregard the institutional acceptance of crypto, particularly through the spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds.
Infinex Raises $58M with Patron NFTs
Infinex has raised nearly $58 million by selling Patron non-fungible tokens to various venture capital firms, industry leaders, and community members. The NFT sales aim to generate interest in Infinex’s vision to provide a non-custodial, unified UX layer across all blockchains and decentralized finance apps.
Notable participants in the Patron NFT sale included Wintermute Ventures, Framework Ventures, Near Foundation, Synthetix, Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko, and Ethereum Foundation researcher Tim Beiko. The sale of 87.5% of the total “Early Access” NFT supply across Wave 1 and 2 indicates strong community support for Infinex’s plans.
Infinex confirmed the opening of Wave 3 until September 23 at 11:59 pm UTC, followed by Wave 4, the final phase of the NFT sale. A total of 37,124 Patron NFTs have already been sold.
Infinex, spearheaded by Kain Warwick, aims to replace centralized cryptocurrency exchanges as the first and primary point of contact for new users. Warwick envisions that Infinex will demonstrate the superiority of onchain platforms over CeFi, offering a better, cheaper, and safer alternative for users.
Other News
A New York resident has been fined $36 million for swindling crypto investors, and the Supreme Court of India regained control of its official YouTube account after being hijacked by crypto scammers selling fake XRP investments. Additionally, Pixels hosted the “first-ever” Web3 wedding, and Immortal Rising 2 received 400,000 registrations in the Web3 Gamer community.