Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly roundup of the most important stories in the development of cryptocurrency technology. I’m Ben Schiller, Opinions and Features Editor at CoinDesk.
In this number:
- Sony blockchain faces memecoin controversy
- Bubblemaps prepares BMT and a new intelligence table
- Babylon improves Bitcoin interoperability
- Prosecutors seek return of 95,000 BTC from Bitfinex
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network news
SONY EMBRACES BLOCKCHAIN, BATTLE MEMES: Sony, the 78-year-old Japanese electronics giant, is the latest legacy megacorporation to explore blockchain technology. On Tuesday, the company announced that it will officially launch “Soneium,” its general-purpose blockchain platform built on Optimism’s OP Stack. The network aims to “bridge the gap between Web2 and Web3 audiences, especially for creators, fans and the community,” the team behind the network told CoinDesk’s Margaux Nijkerk in a statement. Like similar general-purpose blockchains, the network is designed to support a wide variety of use cases, from decentralized finance applications to entertainment and gaming services. While Sony’s blockchain technology has attracted attention over the past week, not all of the attention has been positive in the early hours. Since the launch of Soneium, some for some cryptocurrency followers. The controversy underscored the inevitable tension. between the hardline ideals of blockchain and traditional corporate interests, but the incident also showed the resilience of cryptocurrencies: some savvy blockchain users found a solution that allowed them to “force” transactions to the Ethereum base network, rendering. Sony’s alleged transaction blocking is debatable. Read more.
BUBBLEMAPS WANTS MORE CRYPTO RESEARCHERS: Blockchain analysis service Bubblemaps announced on X this week that it will launch a token, BMT, and a new “Intel Desk” that will give holders a voice in driving research. Bubblemaps recently introduced V2 of its platform, which helps crypto sleuths discover who In fact owns the supply of a given token. The platform classifies closely related blockchain addresses into groups, and its easy-to-read images have become a common sight on crypto Twitter, where they have been used to demonstrate suspicious supply patterns between popular memecoins and DeFi tokens. Bubblemaps V2, which began rolling out to users in November, added new AI pooling features and made it easier to examine token distributions over time. Bubblemaps’ newly announced token, BMT, will be airdropped to users of the V2 platform. Incumbents will have a role on the platform’s “Intel Desk,” where community members can propose research and vote on how Bubblemaps allocates internal researchers and resources.
BABYLON BRINGS THE ZK IMPULSE: Babylon Labs, developer of the largest BTC staking protocol, is building a trust-minimized Bitcoin bridge with the Cosmos network to improve interoperability of the world’s oldest blockchain. In partnership with developers Fiamma, Babylon is using the BitVM2 computing paradigm, which is designed to enable Ethereum-style smart contracts on Bitcoin, which then paves the way for zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. ZK calculations allow different parties to verify that information is accurate without revealing to each other what the information is. In this sense, it is essential to join digital assets between different blockchains. Developers like Babylon Labs and Fiamma aim to unlock the deep wells of value stored in BTC to fund other ecosystems and enable transactions on blockchains that are free from some of Bitcoin’s speed and scale limitations. Read more.
BITFINEX: US prosecutors have asked a federal judge to give the green light to the return of nearly 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins stolen in the 2016 attack on crypto exchange Bitfinex. In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said the 94,643 bitcoins recovered by the government from the original wallet used by the hacker, Ilya Lichtenstein, can be paid to Bitfinex as restitution in kind once the court gives the go-ahead. The Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, and Bitcoin Gold generated through various forks after the hack will also be sent to Bitfinex. Last November, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in 2023. His wife, Heather Morgan, better known by her rap nickname Razzlekhan, received an 18-month sentence for helping Lichtenstein to wash part. of the hacking proceeds. Both agreed to forfeit the stolen cryptocurrency as part of their plea deals. Read more.
money center
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Regulation and policy
Calendar
- January 20-24: World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
- January 21-25: WAGMI conference, Miami.
- January 24-25: Bitcoin Adoption, Cape Town, South Africa.
- January 30-31: PLAN B Forum, San Salvador, El Salvador.
- February 1-6: Satoshi Roundtable, Dubai
- February 19-20, 2025: ConsensusHK, Hong Kong.
- February 23 and 24: NFT Paris
- February 23 to March 2: ETHDenver
- March 18-19: Digital Asset Summit, London
- May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto.
- May 27-29: Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas.
