We’re closing in on two weeks since Russian forces invaded Ukraine and the largest land war on European soil since 1945 is continuing to cause increased volatility on financial markets worldwide. Nevertheless, the prices of certain commodities are skyrocketing. This is especially evident when we look at crude oil and natural gas markets, as Russia is a major player in the global energy market. However, as investors are searching for financial safe havens, to weather the storm, the cryptocurrency sector has not, at least during Week 9, attracted massive amount of attention as some expected. While there was a smaller bull run in the middle of the week, which drove the total market capitalization of the sector up to $2 trillion, the market correction in the second half of the week negated all the gains. In fact, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency sector at the end of Week 9 ($1.76 trillion) was almost exactly the same as it had been at the beginning of the week ($1.75 trillion).
3. Harmony (ONE)
Harmony is a cross-chain Layer 2 protocol that facilitates super-fast transactions while maintaining low fees at the same time. Currently, the network has five deployed bridges allowing it to support transfers between five different blockchains aside from Harmony, including Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain. Harmony puts a big emphasize on its scalability since one of the project’s goals is to scale the network to 10 million transactions per second (TPS), allowing it to handle a decentralized economy for 10 billion people and 100 billion devices. The project is currently offering more than $300 million in developer grants.
The already fast blockchain is set to become even faster
The Harmony developers have announced that a network update will take place on March 15. The aforementioned update will cut Harmony’s transaction finality time in half. The reduction from the current 2 seconds finality down to just 1 second will be facilitated by implementing several networking upgrades. After network update, Harmony’s transaction finality time will finally match the name of the platform’s native token: ONE. However, Harmony is not only becoming faster, but also more connected. According to the project’s roadmap Polygon Bridge is scheduled to launch at the end of March, while the much anticipated Trustless Ethereum Bridge that is already running on a Harmony testnet is expected to go live on the Harmony mainnet in mid-April. Furthermore, the project’s developers are also nearing in on the launch of 1Wallet – Harmony’s own non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet that will be packed with features. In addition to advanced security solution and a promised APY of up to 20%, 1Wallet will also come with a wide spectrum of social features aimed at bringing Harmony community members closer together. Nevertheless, the wallet’s social features will also facilitate a social recovery mechanism for regaining access to your wallet in case you forget the password. Nevertheless, in preparations for 1Wallet launch, the project is discontinuing its Harmony Chrome Extension Wallet as of March 15. If you are using the extension wallet, make sure to migrate to Metamask or another wallet provider by then.
2. Kava (KAVA)
Developed by Kava Labs the Kava blockchain boasts with the title of the first multi-blockchain DeFi platform. Kava currently consists of 3 main projects: Kava Mint, which allows users to use their assets as collateral to obtain USDX, Kava Lend, which allows users to earn rewards by lending crypto assets, and Kava Swap, which allows users to buy and sell tokens on the Kava chain and earn rewards by providing liquidity to the trading pool. The Kava blockchain utilizes the Tendermint consensus and is secured by numerous validators but only the top 100 validators are eligible to receive staking rewards. The KAVA token is an asset on the Kava Chain, which is used across the chain as a transport medium and a store of value. Kava Labs have established close partnerships with industry leaders such as Binance, Kraken and Ripple.
Kava Network will combine Ethereum and Cosmos into one single Layer 1 blockchain
According to an official announcement, the Kava Network is set to debut its co-chain concept on March 8, 2022. Under the slogan “One Network. Two Chains. Infinite Ways to Build”, the project will roll-out the Alpha release of the first co-chain blockchain, combining two most often used permissionless ecosystems, Ethereum and Cosmos, into a single scalable network. A successful implementation could be a massive positive news for the project, as the Cosmos Co-Chain will connect Kava to more than 35 IBC-enabled chains, holding more than $70 billion in various digital assets. At the same time, the Ethereum Co-Chain’s EVM-compatibility and developer friendliness, could attract projects to migrate to Kava or develop on Kava, especially as the platform is currently providing 100,000 KAVA through its Kava Pioneer incentive program. Several project participating in the Kava Pioneer program including a popular Ethereum yield optimizer Beefy and a multi-chain DeFi platform Autofarm Network will be onboarded to Kava’s Ethereum co-chain on March 8, this is as soon as it launches.
1. THORChain (RUNE)
THORChain is one of the more widely recognized DEXs. The THORChain developers believed that centralized exchanges have numerous flaws and therefore developed an exchange that addresses all these issues in 2018. The DEX’s protocol allows its users a to effortlessly trade their tokens across multiple blockchains while its AAM model permits traders to switch between various pools that are all connected through platform’s native RUNE tokens. The THORChain boasts with consistent liquidity, allowing both buyers and sellers to always find competitive offers. In addition, unique cross-blockchain trading pairs provide unique trading opportunities.
RUNE rallied on the tailwind of Terra integration: can it sustain the uptrend, or will RUNE price see readjustment?
I the beginning of last week THORChain’s native crypto RUNE rallied by over 70% in just 2 days following the announcement of a successful integration with Terra – a popular blockchain protocol that powers algorithmic decentralized stablecoins. The integration has brought LUNA token and TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin to the THORChain ecosystem, which now supports already six wallet types and eight different blockchains. While the rally caried RUNE price to $6.00 and even slightly above, this crypto is now trading at just $4.80. Nevertheless, RUNE might be preparing for a second push as developers are making everything ready for the upcoming launch of the THORChain mainnet. While a specific date for the mainnet launch has yet to be revealed, the team recently said that the deployment is “on the horizon”. Another factor that could help RUNE achieve a sustained rally is the THORChain’s high yields. Liquidity providers on THORSwap currently receive 55% APR for Binance USD (BUSD), 30% for the DAI stablecoin and 26% on Litecoin (LTC). Dogecoin (DOGE), which was added to THORChain earlier this year gives a 24% APR to DOGE liquidity providers. In addition, THORChain developers have set an ambitious project roadmap, which reveals that the project aims to deploy market orders, limit orders, leverage trading, and even peer-to-peer credit lending to better compete with centralized crypto exchanges.
