A new decentralized digital asset could help Bitcoin unlock its potential for DeFi, making it easier to build new applications, Stacks says. This and more news in this handy daily digest so you're always up to date with the latest developments in the crypto world.
Stacks designs new digital asset to bring Bitcoin to DeFi
📍The Stacks project aims to unlock Bitcoin's potential for decentralized finance. Stacks has published a whitepaper focused on exploring the potential of Bitcoin, the world’s most powerful and robust blockchain network, for decentralized finance, or DeFi. To do so, Stacks has designed a new digital asset, called sBTC, that will function as a decentralized, two-way currency for Bitcoin.
The technical document, explains how sBTC could unlock Bitcoin’s potential to be a fully programmable productive asset, enabling the building of a multi-billion dollar DeFi ecosystem on the blockchain.
sBTC would be pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin and would operate in a decentralized manner, the project explains. The new decentralized digital asset will turn Bitcoin into a trustless, productive asset that can be used in BTC-based decentralized lending applications, BTC-backed stablecoins, among others.
The workings of this new digital asset are described in a similar way to the Bitcoin wrapped token on Ethereum, Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC). However, the Stacks developers clarify that sBTC will be implemented in a completely decentralized manner and on the Bitcoin sidechain, Stacks.
Vitalik Buterin: Solana has a bright future
📍Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has tweeted in support of rival network Solana. On his Twitter account, Buterin wrote that Solana has a bright future. He explained that the PoS blockchain network has a community of smart developers that can strengthen its development and expansion.
Buterin's comments come at a difficult time for the network, which is facing the exit of several of its most important projects, the resounding loss of value of its native cryptocurrency and the fall in liquidity deposited in its DeFi ecosystem. In the last year, Solana has lost more than $51.000 billion in market capitalization.
SOL has been one of the hardest hit cryptocurrencies by the collapse of FTX, as its investment arm, Alameda Research, had invested heavily in it, prompting SOL holders to sell their holdings en masse. However, Buterin noted that now that opportunistic developers and projects have begun to exit Solana, the network could recover.
Following the Ethereum creator's remarks, SOL rose 22%, reaching $10 per unit, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
SEC General Counsel Resigns
📍SEC General Counsel Resigns Following Publicity of His Meetings with Sam Bankman-Fried Dan Berkovitz, general counsel of the US SEC, has resigned from his position following several reports about his encounters and meetings with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
The SEC itself reported on Berkovitz's resignation, stating that his retirement is due to his desire to pursue new opportunities. Berkovitz served as the SEC's general counsel for just over a year, since November 2021. However, he has 34 years of experience in public administration. Gary Gensler, the current SEC chairman, expressed his gratitude to Berkovitz for his years of service and for his advice and dedication to the agency.
However, despite Gensler's claims, several media reports, including Protect the Public's Trust and the Washington Examiner, have revealed that Berkovitz had a close relationship with Bankman-Fried, holding several meetings with the former CEO and his staff.
It should be noted that Bankman-Fried has been charged with, among other things, financial fraud, market manipulation, conspiracy and fraud in connection with the collapse of his company FTX, which owed more than $3.000 billion to its thousands of creditors. Bankman-Fried used several million dollars of his clients' funds to make personal political donations, finance the acquisition of luxury goods, among other things.
Continue reading: Outlook for 2023: What the next year holds for the crypto industry
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