Vana empowers users to own, protect and profit from their personal data through decentralized DataDAOs. Learn more about how it works in this article.

Imagine a world where individuals regain control over their own data, taking it back from the hands of large corporations that often profit from it without consent. Enter Vana, an innovative platform that combines 

 with privacy-driven features to create a fairer, more transparent digital economy. This article explores what Vana is all about — and its exciting future potential in the decentralized data and AI space.

 is a blockchain network that gives users full control over their personal data through an 

 architecture. It enables decentralized data-sharing and monetization using DataDAOs (

), whose users can collectively own, manage and profit from their data, all while maintaining privacy and ownership.

Vana was co-founded by Art Abal and Anna Kazlauskas, two Filipinos with strong academic backgrounds and degrees from Harvard and MIT, respectively. It started as a research initiative in 2018, and has since grown into a project driven by the desire to empower individuals with control over their personal data. 

Vana seeks to address the current imbalance whereby large corporations profit from user data without fairly compensating the individuals who generate it. The goal is to create a new data economy in which users can benefit directly from the AI models built on their data, ensuring that the financial rewards of AI development are more fairly distributed. The name "Vana," short for "Nirvana," speaks to the project’s mission of liberating and empowering user data.

The Vana project attempts to challenge the status quo of data hoarding by large centralized organizations, and to tackle several key issues as follows.

Vana is designed to transform personal data into a valuable, user-controlled asset. It operates through the following three key layers.

Vana gives users the power to monetize and use their data in several ways, such as earning revenue from AI models trained on their data, or by integrating their data into applications for personalized experiences. Most importantly, users maintain detailed control over how their data is shared and used. As data contributors, they also receive governance rights within their respective DataDAOs, allowing them to make decisions about how their data is used and how the value is distributed.

Users receive a DLP-specific token when they submit data to a DataDAO, according to the DataDAO’s unique 

 that Vana uses to validate data submitted to its network. PoC maintains the reliability and value of the data within the Vana network. 

Vana acts as a trustless intermediary, connecting data owners, communities and users. It enables individuals to pool their data collectively in a secure and traceable manner while also allowing data users to monetize that data for purposes such as training AI models.

 is a central platform where users can buy, stake, trade and explore data tokens within the Vana ecosystem. It also enables users to contribute their data to DataDAOs, and earn rewards by staking their VANA tokens.

 is an incubator designed to support the growth and development of the Vana ecosystem. It provides tools and resources for users to create and manage DataDAOs, ensuring that high-quality data is available for AI model training and other applications.

DataDAOs are decentralized organizations that pool user-contributed data on the blockchain. They allow individuals to collectively own, manage and monetize their data for AI and other applications. Each DataDAO governs its own DLPs, ensuring that data is secure, private and used judiciously. 

 system incentivizes premium-quality data contributions by rewarding the top 16 DataDAOs every 21 days, based on total Vana tokens staked. This competitive structure ensures that the best datasets and contributors are recognized and rewarded, promoting innovation and growth within the Vana ecosystem

 commits 44% of its total token supply to empower the community. It rewards active participation, contributions and innovation across the Vana network. This includes incentives for high-quality data contributions to DataDAOs, early community rewards and support for developers building on Vana. 

Since its start as an MIT research project in 2018, Vana has made impressive progress, emerging as the first decentralized data liquidity network. 

Looking ahead, Vana aims to build a thriving decentralized data ecosystem and promote mass adoption with its clear road map:

The VANA token is the native cryptocurrency of the Vana Network. VANA serves multiple purposes within the Vana ecosystem, such as securing the network through staking, paying transaction fees, staking in DataDAOs, accessing datasets, acting as part of a trading pair and participating in decentralized governance.

The tokenomics of VANA are designed to align the interests of all participants in the Vana network. With a total supply capped at 120 million tokens, distribution is as follows:

 of $32.86 by the end of 2024 and $38.58 by 2025, with the potential to climb to approximately $112.78 by the end of 2030. Similarly, Coin Edition 

 a value of $50 by the end of 2025, with further growth expected up to $68 by 2030. 

Looking to purchase Vana tokens? Bybit now offers the VANA/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll first need to create a Bybit account, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

To celebrate this listing, Bybit is holding 

 where you can earn a share of the 560,000 VANA prize pool. 

VANA offers a compelling investment opportunity, thanks to its innovative approach to data ownership, expanding ecosystem and optimistic market outlook. By tackling key challenges in the data economy, VANA empowers users while paving the way for decentralized AI development. However, as with any investment, it's important for potential investors to be mindful of market risks and do their 

Vana is empowering users to take full control of their personal data and even profit from it. By combining blockchain technology with robust privacy measures, Vana challenges traditional data systems and lays the foundation for a more equitable data economy. The platform's ambitious road map could position it as a key player in the future of decentralized AI, opening up new opportunities for individuals to become active participants in this increasingly data-driven world.

Intermediate

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Vana (VANA): Unlocking Data Freedom for User-Owned AI

Sonic and Injective are launching the first cross-chain AI agent platform, the Smart Agent Hub, integrating Solana and Injective ecosystems.

Last week, the S&P 500 saw its biggest single-day price gain this month. This raises the hopes of investors for a year-end rally if prices continue to go up. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was down by 2.54%, with Bitcoin and Ether dropping by 1.24% and 1.00%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is AAVE, which surged 7.7% following the integration of Aave in Balancer's Boosted Pools, simplifying yield generation.

Aave (AAVE), founded in 2017, is a decentralized lending platform on Ethereum for lending, borrowing, and earning interest on 17 cryptocurrencies. It uses smart contracts, collateral for loans, and aTokens for interest, along with features like instant loans. 

 combine markets to enhance capital efficiency and simplify yield generation for DeFi users. By providing liquidity with $USDC and $USDT, users earn fees from swaps and interest from Aave's supply rates. All earnings accrue automatically with no management required. Balancer v3's Boosted Pools streamline liquidity and enable gas-efficient, passive yield generation, making DeFi simpler and more sustainable.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

, the Smart Agent Hub, integrating Solana and Injective ecosystems. The platform enables developers to create, manage, and monetize AI agents in a decentralized environment, with features like tokenization, cross-chain asset interoperability, and a unified developer experience. By leveraging Sonic's HyperGrid and Injective's IBC, the hub facilitates seamless communication and asset transfer across chains. This innovation supports Web3 games, DeFi, and real-world assets, expanding opportunities for AI agents in various sectors. The rollout begins with a testnet in Q1 2025.

From December 16–20, 2024, GBTC had a net outflow of $248.3M, while non-GBTC products saw a net inflow of $705.5M, resulting in a total inflow of $457.2M. The current total stands at a net outflow of $21.3B for GBTC, a net inflow of $57.3B for non-GBTC, and a combined net inflow of $36.03B.

 offers free participation with potential surprise airdrops. Connect your wallet, vote for projects, and use your CHILL FACTOR (based on past Avalanche transactions) to maximize eligibility.

Beginner

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Sonic and Injective Launch First Cross-Chain AI Agent Platform with Smart Agent Hub

Zerebro (ZEREBRO) revolutionizes AI content creation with Solana and Polygon, offering autonomous content generation, NFT minting, and DeFi integration.

 (AI) continues to unlock limitless opportunities in numerous sectors, including the crypto space. Projects such as 

 and others have had a large impact on various facets in 

AI-generated content is in demand, and the latest crypto project to enter the space, Zerebro, aims to provide a way to create and generate content autonomously through AI content models.

Let’s learn more about Zerebro and its innovative approach to content creation through AI.

Zerebro is an autonomous AI system crafted to create, distribute and analyze content across decentralized and social platforms.

 It maintains content diversity through the use of

 (RAG) system that creates a dynamic memory database, based on continuously updated human interactions.

Zerebro operates independently without human oversight using a concept known as hyperstition to merge fiction with reality, resulting in self-propagated narratives encompassing diverse cultural and financial scopes, with key uses of content creation and cultural integration across the digital community. Zerebro autonomously produces high-entropy content, ensuring diversity and originality, and engages audiences on various platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Warpcast and Telegram.

Zerebro also integrates unique cultural themes through a feature known as “infinite backrooms” designed to elicit thought-provoking conversations among digital communities. Its data sets follow a nonlinear thought pattern, resulting in unpredictable and inherently viral outputs. This unique feature can be used to generate chaotic and surreal artworks that can be autonomously minted as 

 (POL) blockchain. Zerebro also features autonomous trading of artwork through the integration of memetic dynamics and market interaction analysis, thereby demonstrating the potential of AI to merge cultural creativity with 

ZEREBRO, the native token for the Zerebro ecosystem, is hosted on the 

 (SOL) blockchain. The maximum supply is 1 billion ZEREBRO tokens, with 999,972,148 tokens currently in circulation.

An autonomous AI system such as Zerebro has transformative potential in the crypto industry, especially in cultural content generation and financial markets. Its “hyperstition” approach to generating content can help influence markets by shaping investor behavior through an interplay between culture and technology.

Furthermore, the project intends to launch a unified memory across social media platforms that could significantly enhance information retention, leading to further engagement. The Zerebro team also intends to integrate the ZEREBRO token with DeFi protocols, opening holders to various income-generating opportunities, such as 

Zerebro has experienced some volatility since its launch, which isn’t unusual for a new project trying to establish a stable price floor. As of Dec 23, 2024, Zerebro is trading at $0.30, with a market cap of over $377 million. This price was over 6,350% higher than its all-time low of $0.0058 on Nov 3, 2024, and just 39% lower than its all-time high of $0.6153 on Nov 23, 2024.

That said, Zerebro is still a new project that’s subject to high volatility. We highly recommend you practice sound 

 crypto on Bybit’s Spot trading platform. To celebrate the listing, Bybit is holding a 

 up for grabs. The first event is exclusively for new users to deposit and earn from a prize pool of 150,000 ZEREBRO tokens.

To participate, simply register on Bybit and complete verification. Then, proceed to accumulate a deposit volume of at least 400 ZEREBRO, or deposit 100 USDT and trade 100 USDT worth of ZEREBRO via your first trade using your Bybit account. This event runs through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC.

, is offering a prize pool of 60,000 ZEREBRO tokens. To earn a share of the prize pool, simply register for the event and trade at least 500 USDT worth of ZEREBRO on Spot through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC. 

Rewards will be capped at 3,000 ZEREBRO per user.

In addition to these two events, you can also participate in a 

 with a 30,000 ZEREBRO prize pool. Earn 20 ZEREBRO for every successful referral (up to 10 referrals) Rewards are on a first-come, first-served basis through Dec 24, 2024, 8:59AM UTC. 

Zerebro’s unique autonomous AI system approach to the crypto market sets it apart in the space. Crypto subcultures will be able to tap into its ability to independently generate and analyze content across different networks. Its RAG technology could enhance content diversity among the crypto community, while its “infinite backrooms” are spaces in which these digital communities can engage in diverse cultural and financial narratives.

As AI continues to transform the web3 space, Zerebro is poised to add value through its autonomous system that eliminates human oversight.

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Zerebro (ZEREBRO): Unlimited Possibilities in AI Content Creation

Gearbox Protocol is a composable leveraged lending protocol designed to enhance capital efficiency within DeFi. Learn how Gearbox Protocol works.

 (DeFi) with its composable leverage system. It enables investors to use 

 on assets across multiple protocols, transforming how DeFi participants can trade with margin, 

 and execute complex strategies — all without leaving their ecosystem.

 is making leverage accessible and secure. Whether you’re a lender seeking passive yield or a leverage user exploring advanced strategies, Gearbox’s unique architecture opens up new possibilities. Let’s explore how this on-chain credit layer is improving DeFi.

Since the emergence of DeFi in 2020, it hasstrived to reimagine financial services by removing intermediaries, such as banks and brokers. Through

 systems, DeFi offers transparent and direct access to lending, trading and investments. Despite market fluctuations, the DeFi sector remains resilient, with a current 

 (TVL) of $123 billion — a 128% increase since the start of 2024.

The DeFi sector is poised for resurgence as secure and scalable innovations fuel its growth. With proven use cases and real-world adoption, DeFi continues to solidify its role as one of crypto’s most valuable use cases.

 (WLFI), backed by the Trump family, underscores a shifting acceptance of DeFi in the United States. The project’s multisig wallet has publicly 

 various DeFi tokens, such as AAVE, LINK, ENA and more. WLFI aims to make DeFi accessible to everyday users, but it remains to be seen if the project will achieve its goals.

Gearbox Protocol is a composable leveraged lending protocol designed to enhance capital efficiency within DeFi. By offering a flexible credit layer, Gearbox empowers users to leverage their positions across multiple DeFi platforms, seamlessly integrating with protocols they already trust.

Gearbox’s fundamental design minimizes costs while maintaining flexibility. Its modular architecture reduces gas costs and improves scalability..

Unlike traditional leveraged lending protocols that silo funds within their ecosystems, Gearbox allows users to execute trades and strategies across integrated platforms, such as 

 correlated assets, Gearbox offers a new way to utilize leverage without restrictions.

With Gearbox Protocol, leverage becomes a DeFi primitive — an infrastructure layer that lets users go beyond basic 

 containing both user funds and borrowed margin funds. They serve as automated leveraged DeFi wallets, allowing users to manage positions and execute strategies independently.

: Gearbox enables users to integrate leverage with DeFi protocols like Uniswap for margin trading, Curve for leverage farming, and more. This flexibility empowers diverse strategies across different platforms.

: Gearbox combines lending and prime brokerage functionalities within the same protocol, simplifying the user experience and expanding possibilities for leveraged trading and farming.

, Gearbox maximizes capital efficiency. It minimizes gas costs and ensures that funds remain noncustodial, unlocking the full potential of leverage without compromising user security.

, ensuring that all integrations, policies and upgrades are managed transparently and collectively by the community and stakeholders.

Gearbox Protocol operates through two main user types:

The Credit Accounts enable operations while maintaining safety through 

Gearbox’s modular architecture supports seamless integrations with third-party protocols, ensuring assets remain decentralized and noncustodial. Liquidations are determined by 

 (based on calculated risks), and protect lenders while offering dynamic leverage possibilities.

 utility token with a capped supply of 10 billion, is the governance token of Gearbox Protocol. It empowers DAO governance and supports initiatives, such as liquidity mining and staking rewards, with an annual emission of just 3% from the DAO's holdings. 

Token distribution percentages are as follows:

Nearly full circulation has been achieved, minimizing supply overhang as a majority of token 

 concluded in 2023. The DAO treasury retains around 40% of the supply, ensuring the community’s strong influence on protocol development.

Marketwise, GEAR has recently experienced notable price movements. Over the past seven days, the token has surged by 11.9%, and its 30-day performance skyrocketed by 166.3%. Year-to-date, GEAR's price has risen approximately 57.7%, reflecting increased investor confidence. Daily trading volume hit $11.8 million over the past 24 hours, marking a 600.3% spike that indicates growing market interest. 

Gearbox Protocol's innovative approach to DeFi simplifies user experience through its wallet-centric design and the integration of the 

. With a capped supply of 10 billion GEAR tokens, robust DAO governance and nearly full circulation, Gearbox prioritizes community-driven growth. 

Recent market performance reflects growing investor confidence, with significant price increases and a surge in trading activity.

Looking ahead, Gearbox Protocol’s road map focuses on enhancing usability and interoperability within the Ethereum ecosystem. The integration of Credit Accounts into account abstraction (AA) wallets such as EIP-4337 revolutionizes the way users can access and manage funds, eliminating the need for complex lending interfaces.

Future developments may include pool-based models and optimizers to tackle liquidity fragmentation, further strengthening 

 Ethereum solutions. As Gearbox Protocol evolves, its focus remains on delivering efficient, user-friendly financial tools that empower users and redefine DeFi as we know it.

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Gearbox: Powering On-Chain Credit for DeFi

Altcoins

Privacy coins are cryptocurrencies that put particular emphasis on user animosity. In this article, we explain everything you need to know about them.

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Cryptocurrencies have been praised for the anonymity they offer through the decentralized transactions and other services that they offer. Ever since the creation of 

(BTC), various cryptocurrencies have been created which retain many of Bitcoin’s features.

However, though transactions are decentralized and somewhat anonymous in the blockchain of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, they are not completely private. What this means is that every BTC used in a transaction can be traced to previous transactions. 

This reality gave birth to a new idea for cryptocurrencies with coins that are untraceable and completely private, called 

. In this article, we will explain what Privacy Coins are, how they work, and what their main characteristics are.

The term “privacy coins” refers to coins which do not give out information regarding a 

 transaction. One reason privacy coins were created is to take people’s right to privacy, and apply that to digital transactions or other decentralized digitized services.

A second rationale is that cash should be digitized, as well. Since cash cannot actually be traced unless it is deposited in a bank account and used to buy through that account, there is also a need for cash to be used in decentralized transactions. Hence, using privacy coins promotes 

technology with the functions of cash built in.

Another reason is fungibility: one coin is completely equal to another coin. For example, if a Bitcoin is used for an illegal transaction, that Bitcoin becomes “contaminated” since Bitcoin can be traced. And if you happen to be the owner of that tainted Bitcoin, it may become harder for you to sell it because many people won’t accept Bitcoin with such a history. Privacy coins, on the other hand, are untraceable. Therefore, each coin is equal to any other, no matter the history of the coin — even if it’s been used for illegal transactions.

The two key components of privacy coins are anonymity and untraceability.

Anonymity hides the user’s private information (identity) in every decentralized transaction or service. Untraceability makes the transaction information untraceable from third parties. Because of these two components, privacy coins are banned in some countries, such as South Korea. Though the nature of privacy coins seems mysterious, they are beginning to grow in value as well as in terms of community.

Some of the most prominent privacy coins include 

Before examining each of these currencies to see what makes them unique, let’s take a brief look at how privacy coins work.

Just like other cryptocurrencies, privacy coins work through blockchain technology. Every transaction is decentralized, meaning that no third party is required to regulate the transactions. 

 part of the network. In order to verify these transactions, nodes need to solve complex mathematical problems that prove that the transaction is valid. After the transaction is confirmed, the information is added to the blockchain, and other nodes update their information.

As a consensus mechanism, privacy coins use 

(PoS), or a hybrid version of both PoW and PoS. Each privacy coin may differ in terms of functionality when it comes to what makes it different from other cryptocurrencies — in other words, what makes it “private.”

Here are the main strategies that privacy coins use.

As the name suggests, stealth addresses mean privacy. Every time you receive a coin, a new address is created, making it impossible for others to use your address as a destination in the future. This is one of the simplest ways to ensure privacy in the blockchain.

Some privacy coins use a more complex model of stealth address. This is known as the dual-key stealth address protocol (DKSAP). Each user on this blockchain gets a hold of a private view key, private spend key and a recipient address. The recipient address is the only thing that is visible to others during a transaction. However, the coins you receive do not go to this address, but rather to a different, private, and unique address in the blockchain. The private send key is used to send cryptocurrencies. The private view key is used to look at the funds that are being received.

Ring signatures are another way to ensure privacy. When you sign a transaction with a private key, others can easily link that signature with your address. Ring signatures prevent that. Through a “ring” of random signatures that cosign the transaction with you, it becomes harder for others to link the transaction with your address because there are many signatures taking place. The larger the ring of signatures, the more private your address becomes.

In addition to ring signatures, one way to ensure more privacy based on their model is Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCTs). In the same way that the address becomes private employing ring signatures, the amount of money involved in the transaction is also hidden.

 method whereby different transactions join together into a single and larger transaction. Then, a custodian using a never-before-used address takes the coins and distributes them to the desired recipients, as initiated by the senders.

Visual representation of CoinJoin. Source: 

Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) is a way of proving or verifying a transaction in the blockchain without requiring transaction details such as amount, sender or recipient address. In this way, transaction information remains private. Moreover, this model of verifying transactions has proved useful in terms of blockchain scalability. 

Mimblewimble is a relatively new way of ensuring privacy. It also provides a new model of the blockchain, and many cryptocurrencies are beginning to implement it in their own blockchains. Each block of information consists of the outputs, inputs and signature information. The transaction is simply verified if the inputs equal the outputs. This way, Mimblewimble maintains privacy in the blockchain in a simple and efficient way.

 form of encryption of your IP addresses through many various layers of encryption, resembling the layers of an onion — hence the name “onion routing.”

So far, we’ve discussed the key features of privacy coins that increase the level of privacy in cryptocurrencies. But as with every other cryptocurrency, privacy coins have their pros and cons.

That said, what are some examples of privacy coins with the characteristics we’ve mentioned so far? 

One of the biggest privacy coins in the crypto market, Monero uses Proof-of-Work (PoW) as a consensus mechanism. In terms of privacy models, Monero uses both RingCT and Stealth Addresses.

The IRS has offered a bounty prize of $625k for any entity able to solve the privacy technology of Monero. According to 

, Chainalysis and Integra FEC are two firms that have managed to come with a solution and collect the bounty.

Price of Monero throughout the years. Source: 

Dash is another privacy coin that has grown in recent years. 

 Bitcoin fork, meaning that many of its components are the same. The difference is that Dash consists of a hybrid version using both PoW and PoS. 

Dash uses PrivateSend and InstaSend on its transactions. Every “round” of PrivateSend is the equivalent of performing one CoinJoin transaction in order to distribute coins to one recipient. InstaSend is a feature of Dash that makes transactions much faster when compared to those using Bitcoin.

Price of Dash throughout the years. Source: 

Zcash (ZEC) is also a Bitcoin fork. It uses PoW as a consensus mechanism. Zcash uses zk-SNARK as a privacy mechanism, which keeps the amount, sender, and recipient address private from other people not involved in the transaction. A feature that distinguishes Zcash is that privacy is optional, and users can choose which transactions to make private and which ones not.

Price of Zcash throughout the years. Source: 

Verge (XVG) has also proved to be efficient in terms of maintaining privacy. Originally named DogecoinDark in 2014, the network was rebranded into Verge two years later. Verge uses Tor (or onion routing) as a privacy mechanism. With Verge, the IP addresses of users are encrypted using several layers that make it practically impossible for others to decrypt them.

Price of Verge throughout the years. Source: 

Beam is a privacy coin that uses Mimblewimble as a privacy mechanism. This model of privacy is relatively new, and is simpler compared to other blockchains. Each block consists of outputs, inputs and signature information, while keeping other information private. Beam also 

 Dandelion ++ as a mechanism to promote anonymity.

Price of Beam throughout the years. Source: 

In addition to Beam, Grin uses Mimblewimble to ensure privacy in the blockchain. Grin is one of the best privacy coins in terms of scalability.

When it comes to mining, Grin differs from other cryptocurrencies because the rate of reward is the same for everyone. It is expected to remain the same in the future, meaning that a miner today may receive a reward equivalent to that of a miner 50 years from now.

Price of Grin throughout the years. Source: 

What can we conclude — after everything we’ve covered so far?

Privacy is an important aspect of cryptocurrencies because of the vast number of hackers that are looking for potential slips from users. Privacy coins have offered a tantalizing glimpse of complete privacy and untraceability. 

The dark side of privacy coins is that they’ve been used for tax evasion, money laundering and the purchase of various illicit products. Perhaps programmers can find a way to maintain complete privacy while also prohibiting the use of privacy coins for illegal activities. Even though it may seem impossible for now, the future brightly beckons.

So, with the new found knowledge in crypto, why not sign up to Bybit?

What Are Privacy Coins?

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