Weekly Project Updates: OpenSea Set to Launch Creator Studio, etc

1. Arbitrum Announces Odyssey Reboot on September 26th link

On September 20th, Arbitrum announced that it will relaunch Odyssey on September 26th. Arbitrum Odyssey, in collaboration with Galxe, will run for 7 weeks, covering 13 project communities and collecting custom badges created by Ratwell and frens. Arbitrum has emphasized that there will be no airdrops in the Odyssey event, only badges upon completion of tasks. In June of last year, due to the chase for Arbitrum airdrops, the heavy on-chain load led to higher than normal gas fees, forcing the termination of the Odyssey event.

2. Optimism’s Weekly Summary

a. Optimism Completes 116 Million OP Private Token Sale link

On September 21st, Optimism announced that it has conducted a private token sale of 116 million OP tokens, valued at $162 million, as part of their planned transactions. This private token sale involved 7 buyers and is intended for fund management purposes. The tokens will be locked for a period of 2 years, but during this lock-up period, they can be delegated to unrelated third parties for participation in governance. These tokens are from the undistributed portion of the OP token treasury and were originally part of the foundation’s initial operational budget, representing 30% of the initial OP token supply.

b. Optimism Launches Third Airdrop link

On September 19th, according to @optimismFND, Optimism launched its third round of OP token airdrop program. Approximately 19 million OP tokens have been distributed to over 31,000 unique addresses as a reward for active community members participating in governance. This airdrop round began at 02:10 Beijing time on September 19th and does not require a claim page; the tokens will be directly distributed to addresses that were granted voting power for OP tokens between January 20th and July 20th, 2023.

3. zkSync Introduces ZK Fellowship link

On September 21st, zkSync announced the launch of the ZK Fellowship, a paid online program lasting 4–6 months. Its aim is to advance the development of zkSync, ZK Stack, and ZK Credo through the technical contributions of individuals and teams. The application deadline is October 15th. Successful applicants will receive a monthly stipend of $3,500 during the fellowship period. The most accomplished participants will have the opportunity to: 1)Secure a long-term fellowship, potentially gain a position at Matter Labs. 2)Join Matter Labs’ incubation program and work closely with Matter Labs’ investment team.

4. Ethereum Scaling Project Scroll Set to Launch zkEVM Scroll in Weeks link

On September 18th, the Ethereum scaling project Scroll is set to launch zkEVM Scroll in the coming weeks. The code has undergone extensive testing and audits. zkEVM will roll out after some final testing, and major projects like Uniswap and Aave are prepared to deploy on Scroll upon launch. Ye Zhang, co-founder of Scroll, described the project as “idealistic” and driven by an open-source, community-centric approach.

5. Canto Plans Migration to ZK-Supported Ethereum L2 via Polygon CDK link

On September 19th, the Cosmos-based L1 blockchain Canto is collaborating with Polygon to migrate to an Ethereum Layer2 solution supported by ZK technology. The goal is to establish a blockchain network dedicated to real-world assets and facilitate access to Ethereum through a shared ZK bridge within the unified Polygon ecosystem.

6. BIT Exchange Officially Launches Filecoin Options Trading link

Sponsored by Bit.com

On September 22nd, BIT Exchange officially launched Filecoin options trading in collaboration with market makers Coinhako and Orbit Markets. Prior to this, BIT had already supported options trading for XRP, TON, LADYS, and ADA. BIT states that this move provides a new tool for stakeholders in the Filecoin ecosystem to effectively manage and hedge portfolio risks.

7. UniSat Announces Early Public Testing Phase for brc20-swap on September 26th link

On September 20th, UniSat announced its plans to launch the early public testing phase of brc20-swap on September 26th (next Tuesday). This version utilizes the modular design of brc-20, as outlined at the 2023 Ord Summit. Previously, OKX CEO Star Xu had raised questions on Twitter about whether this feature was centralized.

8. OpenSea to Launch Creator Studio in the Coming Weeks link

On September 20th, OpenSea officially announced its plans to launch the Creator Studio in the coming weeks. This studio will include expanded tools for creating, managing, and analyzing projects. It encompasses basic no-code tools, including launching community mints and sending minted items directly to wallets. Over the next few months, additional features will be added to the Creator Studio, allowing for more enriching content on collection pages.

9. Metis Launches $5 Million DeFi Incentive Program link

On September 19th, Metis announced the launch of a DeFi incentive program, allocating $5 million in incentives for new and existing DeFi applications on the Metis network. The first allocation of 100,000 METIS tokens (approximately $1.04 million) will be distributed to Aave v3 to incentivize lending activity. Metis stated that this initiative marks the beginning of a series of strategic moves to promote exponential growth in the ecosystem and user community in the coming weeks and months.

10. Partial Withdrawals of Funds Inside HTX Due to Lack of Transparency in stUSDT Project by Some Institutional Customers link

On September 20th, according to Bloomberg, a source revealed that institutional clients such as crypto funds and market makers have expressed concerns to Huobi (HTX) about the dominance of stUSDT and other tokens related to Justin Sun in Huobi’s reserves. Shortly after the launch of stUSDT, they withdrew most of their assets from the exchange. After these withdrawals, they now account for approximately 15% of Huobi’s average daily trading volume.

stUSDT is an RWA (Real-World Asset) project launched by the Tron team in early July, with operations managed by JustLend. It allows users to collateralize USDT and has a total value locked (TVL) of over $1.8 billion, making it the largest DeFi protocol in the RWA space to date.