The DOGS Cause TON Outgaes

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Good Morning.

We’re entering September, which is the busiest month in crypto thanks to back-to-back events being held by our lovely conference organizers. Remember, it’s not a full-blown bull market season so maybe don’t pop a Dom in the club; otherwise you’ll jinx our price action recovery.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: TON outages 🌑 

• Founders Highlight: Sang Kim of Fragmetric 💫 

• Deal Flow: Space & Time’s $20M Series A💰️ 

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WHAT MATTERS

TON Hit by Two Outages in a Single Week

State of play: The Open Network (TON) was experiencing its second outage yesterday. TON claims the outages were caused by heavy loads attributed to DOGS minting.

• The first TON outage occurred on Tuesday and lasted for over six hours and the second outage lasted for four hours.

• After the second outage, TON developers asked validators to restart nodes to fix the issue and to fill out a “Validator Information” form.

• X user @maverickqe, claiming to be a TON Society advisor, attributed the first outage to validators losing consensus due to prolonged network overload.

Why it Matters: DOGS said that 8M users requested the airdrop, and this caused two outages. What will happen on September 26th when 300M Hamster Kombat users try to claim the airdrop?

For builders and investors: Looking at the bright side, this highlights that Telegram’s distribution capability is real.

• Even if the users who are redeeming free $ from DOGS are not crypto power users, they’ll be forced to understand how to send money across different chains and CEXs to redeem it, which will result in a new cohort of users getting onboarded.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Sang Kim of Fragmetric

Intro: Sang Kim is the co-founder and COO of Fragmetric, a liquid restaking protocol on Solana.

• Sang Kim is also the president of Decipher Global, Seoul National University’s blockchain research group.

Previous background: Based on Decipher’s medium, Sang Kim is or was studying computer science and engineering at Seoul National University.

The big idea: Sang Kim through Fragmetric introduced the “Normalized Token Program” and “Token Extension” to address LRTs' lack of clarity and provide a solution for determining slashing ratios for different LSTs.

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INSIGHTS

Unlocking Mass Adoption with Web Proofs

Credits to Nascent, Dan Elitzer & Peter Shoemaker for the original publication.

State of play: Crypto, despite its early successes in DeFi and payments, has struggled to break into the mainstream. A new technology called Web Proofs is poised to change that by bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3.

• Web Proofs refer to a technology that allows for the verification of data from any server on the web using a combination of TLS Notary and zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs).

• This means that data from web2 platforms (like social media, e-commerce sites, etc.) can be brought onto the blockchain in a way that is both verifiable and privacy-preserving.

• This has huge implications for the crypto world, as it opens up possibilities for new types of airdrops, incentives, and marketplaces that were not possible before.  

Web Proofs unlock a range of possibilities for crypto, such as:

• Expanding the reach of airdrops: Crypto projects can now reward not just existing crypto users, but anyone with a verifiable online presence, dramatically increasing their potential audience.

• Incentivizing real-world actions: Web Proofs allows onchain rewards for offchain actions.

• Disrupting Web2 marketplaces: Crypto can now leverage the liquidity and reputation of existing web2 platforms to build decentralized alternatives with lower fees and better user experiences.

Web Proofs essentially give crypto its "AirTag moment," a pivotal point where it connects with a massive existing network, just as Apple's AirTag did with its "Find My" network.

DEAL FLOWS

Space and Time Labs’s $20M Series A

Deal flows stayed consistent this week, we saw $140M+ in deals 💼 

Space and Time (SxT), a blockchain data warehouse with AI integration, has raised $20M in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital.

• The funding round takes SxT's total backing to $50M.

• SxT aims to decentralize data ownership for AI applications, preventing sector monopolies.

• SxT combines blockchain and off-chain data, processed at scale using a zero-knowledge coprocessor.

Deal flows in the past week:

• Origami, $1.5M Seed Round

• Legion, $2M Seed Round

• time.fun, $3M Seed Round

• Echelon, $3.5M Seed Round

• Chainbound, $4.6M Seed Round

• Gameplay Galaxy, $11M Seed+ Round

• Solayer, $12M Seed Round

• Space and Time, $20M Series A

• Quai Network, $5M Strategic Round

• Soon, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round

• Level, $3.6M Private Round

• Edge Matrix Chain, $20M Private Round

• Bridge, $58M Private Round

QUICK BITES

• Telegram CEO Durov indicted in France.

• Crypto hacks and scams surpass $1.2B in 2024.

• Threshold proposes tBTC merger to 'save' WBTC.

• SEC sues OpenSea, alleging that NFTs are securities.

• IREN posts record $184.1M annual bitcoin mining revenue.

• Orderly Network says its Discord has been compromised.

• Australia leads in Bitcoin ATM growth with a 6,000% surge.

• Sony’s Soneium partners with Transak for global fiat on-ramp.

• Gnosis Chain community members evaluate gas token choice.

• Trump to announce plan to make US 'crypto capital of the planet.'

• Crypto.com taps Standard Chartered to expand global fiat services.

• Judge dismisses lawsuit against Tesla, Musk over Dogecoin market manipulation claims.

NOTEWORTHY READS

• Dovey Wan’s read on the state of Solana.

• 0xSmac’s read on a compound crypto company.

• Arthur Hayes’ read on price vs quantity of money.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.