Weekly Project Updates: Wormhole Launches Airdrop Query Functionality, etc

1. Wormhole Introduces Airdrop Query Feature link

The cross-chain protocol Wormhole has commenced the airdrop inquiry, aimed at determining eligibility based on user on-chain activities within the Wormhole ecosystem application as of the snapshot taken on February 6, 2024, at 23:59 UTC. The total supply of Wormhole token W amounts to 10 billion units, with an initial circulation of 1.8 billion units, to be distributed in ERC20 and SPL formats across 5 initial chains, namely Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base. This airdrop will allocate 6.17% (617,305,000) of W tokens, with a total of 397,704 wallet addresses receiving the airdrop.

As of the time of writing, data from the off-exchange market Whales Market indicates that the current lowest selling price for the Wormhole token W is $1.5 USD, implying an initial market value of $26.9 billion USD and a $15 billion USD fully diluted valuation (FDV). In this off-exchange market, W has accumulated approximately $2.52 million USD in transactions, with an average bid of $1.13 USD and an average ask of $1.39 USD.

2. Saga Initiates Airdrop link

The Web3 game developer protocol Saga has announced the official launch of its community Genesis Drop, attracting over 200,000 users’ attention. Eligible addresses can apply for up to 60 million SAGA tokens, accounting for 6% of the total supply. The deadline for airdrop applications is set for March 27, 2024, at 20:00. This airdrop is not only targeting the Cosmos community but is also open to users from other communities such as Celestia, Polygon, Avalanche, Solana, including participants in tournaments, developer stress tests, social tasks, and Saga investors and community members involved in the upcoming NFT community. In November 2023, Saga announced the completion of a $5 million seed extension round led by Placeholder.

3. Binance Announces Launch of 48th Launchpool Project AEVO (AEVO) link

Binance has announced the launch of the 48th phase of its Launchpool project, AEVO (AEVO). Users can stake BNB and FDUSD on the Launchpad website starting from 08:00 (GMT+8) on March 8th to earn AEVO rewards, with a total mining duration of 5 days. Trading pairs for AEVO/BTC, AEVO/USDT, AEVO/BNB, AEVO/FDUSD, and AEVO/TRY will be available starting from 18:00 on March 13th. AEVO is a derivatives protocol with previous investors including Paradigm and Dragonfly.

4. Worldcoin’s Weekly Summary

a. Spanish Regulatory Authority Bans Worldcoin from Collecting User Information in the Country link

The Spanish data protection regulatory agency, AEPD, has demanded that Worldcoin immediately cease collecting personal information in the country and stop using the data it has already collected. The regulatory body announced this “preventive measure” on Wednesday and gave Worldcoin 72 hours to demonstrate compliance with the order.

Rebecca Hahn, a spokesperson for Worldcoin, stated that Worldcoin plans to file a lawsuit against the temporary injunction issued by the Spanish regulatory agency. Worldcoin asserts full compliance with all laws and regulations governing the collection and transmission of biometric data, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe. The main data privacy authority in the European Union, BayLDA, has been investigating Worldcoin’s compliance with GDPR since last year and is expected to soon share the investigation results with other data protection agencies for review.

b. Korean Personal Information Commission Plans Investigation into Worldcoin’s Data Collection Practices link

According to the announcement from the Korean Personal Information Commission, affiliated companies of Worldcoin are currently collecting facial and iris recognition information at 10 locations in Korea. The Personal Information Commission intends to investigate the overall situation regarding the collection, processing, and transfer of sensitive information abroad by Worldcoin’s affiliates, based on the Personal Information Protection Act. If any illegal activities are found, appropriate measures will be taken in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

5. Uniswap’s Weekly Summary

a. Uniswap Foundation’s Token Reward Proposal Passes Temperature Check Vote link

The proposal for “Activating Uniswap Protocol Governance” has been approved. As per the schedule, the on-chain voting for this proposal will be launched on March 8th. If the on-chain vote passes, the community will have the option to activate fees, enabling the Uniswap protocol to automatically collect fees and distribute them to the voting UNI token holders, thus allowing governance control over fee-related settings.

b. Uniswap V3 Fees: Factory Owner Amendment with 30M UNI Opposition Votes Rejected link

The Uniswap V3 Fees: Factory Owner Amendment, jointly initiated by Michigan Blockchain, 404 DAO, and GFX Labs, was rejected with 30M UNI (59.89%) voting against it. Representatives such as teemulaumhonkasalo.eth and Wintermute (wintermutegovernance.eth) cast opposing votes. This amendment aimed to allow DAOs to make future changes to the fee mechanism. In the proposal put forth by the Uniswap Foundation, V3FactoryOwner.sol did not include the functionality to set a new owner for UniswapV3Factory.sol. If the proposal were to pass, no one would be able to alter V3FactoryOwner.sol, making it a permanent change.

6. Optimism Foundation Sells 19.5 Million OP Tokens to Private Investors link

The Optimism Foundation has announced the commencement of private sales of approximately 19.5 million governance tokens, OP, valued at over $89 million at current prices. These tokens will have a lock-up period of two years, although purchasers will still be able to delegate the tokens to unrelated third parties for governance voting. These tokens originate from the undistributed portion of the OP token treasury and constitute 30% of the initial OP token supply, forming part of the foundation’s original operational budget.

7. Frax Opens Bridging Access to its L2 Network Fraxtal link

The DeFi protocol Frax Finance has opened access to its L2 network, Fraxtal, through bridging mechanisms, allowing users to transfer assets such as ETH, CRV, and sfxETH from Ethereum to Fraxtal using the official bridge. Fraxtal utilizes an Ethereum-compatible optimistic rollup developed by the OP Stack and will become part of the Optimism Superchain ecosystem. Additionally, the Frax team has taken a snapshot of all veFXS voting escrow stakers on Ethereum, distributing allocations in the form of Fraxtal (FXTL) tokens over the coming days. Fraxtal will also introduce the Flox incentive system, rewarding users based on the Gas they spend.

8. Ethereum NFT Floor Prices Experience Significant Decline Over the Past Week link

Due to the significant increase in the price of ETH, Ethereum NFTs have experienced a noticeable decline when priced in ETH recently. Blue-chip NFTs such as Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Pudgy Penguins, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Azuki have all dropped by over 20% in the past week. Notably, MAYC has fallen below its Dutch auction initial price of 3 ETH. Furthermore, over 70 BAYC NFTs and hundreds of MAYC NFTs are currently in a state of liquidation in Blend auctions.

9. Unibot and Banana Gun Witness Historic High Trading Volumes link

With the market heating up, Telegram Bots have also regained activity. According to the @whale_hunter_ data panel, on March 4th, Unibot recorded a trading volume exceeding $15 million, capturing fees of $139,000, and engaging over 9,200 users, all setting historical records. Similarly, Banana Gun saw a daily trading volume surpassing $40 million, with fees amounting to $263,000 and approximately 5,500 trading users, also marking historical highs.

10. Jito Labs: Suspends mempool Services Provided by Jito Block Engine Due to Negative Externalities link

Jito Labs has announced the temporary suspension of the mempool service provided by the Jito Block Engine due to adverse externalities. Bundles and other Block Engine functionalities continue to operate as usual. Recently, a fee vulnerability in Jito has led to MEV Bot crowding out priority blocks, disrupting users’ regular transactions.