PancakeSwap has partnered with BetFury to launch a $50,000 trading competition running from December 24, 2024, to January 12, 2025.

Daily Top Performer — Phala Network (PHA)

The S&P 500 rose 1.1%, marking its third straight gain and the start of the Santa Claus rally. Growth and megacap tech stocks led, driven by optimism in AI and long-term tech trends, despite elevated Treasury yields. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 4.18%, with Bitcoin and Ether rising by 4.52% and 1.90%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is PHA, which surged 63.4% after the announcement of Phala Network's 2024 achievements and 2025 roadmap, featuring decentralized GPU AI advancements and strategic partnerships.

The Phala Network (PHA), founded in 2018, is a decentralized cloud computing platform that uses excess computing power from everyday devices. It operates with Gatekeeper and Miner nodes, offering secure and scalable cloud services. Phala also launched Khala (PHA) on the Kusama network in 2021. 

 include co-building a decentralized GPU network, enhancing AI model training, and partnerships with projects like SentientAGI and MorpheusAIs. The Phala Treasury allocated 37% to infrastructure, 20% to community, and 43% to marketing. Social media efforts generated millions of impressions and engagements, while the network participated in six events and established 15 partnerships. Phala 2.0, launching in 2025, will integrate GPU TEE technology and Ethereum Layer 2 scalability for AI and Web3 applications.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

 to launch a $50,000 trading competition running from December 24, 2024, to January 12, 2025. Participants can earn rewards by trading BFG tokens on the PancakeSwap Web interface or Telegram Swap-Bot. The competition includes daily lucky draws with $10,000 USDT, a leaderboard with $30,000 in BFG tokens for top traders, and $10,000 USDT for traders using the Telegram Swap-Bot. To qualify, participants must meet specific trading volume requirements, with rewards distributed in USDT and BFG tokens.

Yesterday, Bitcoin Spot ETF flows remained unchanged for GBTC, while non-GBTC ETFs experienced outflows of $149.7 million, bringing total outflows to $149.7 million.

: Astherus lets you farm while qualifying for Lista DAO Season 2, while Superform involves depositing ETH on Base via Moonwell WETH Morpho vault. Mitosis allows Linea airdrop qualification by holding funds, and Symbiotic rewards large token deposits on Ethereum mainnet. Mind Network offers bigger airdrop allocations for farming vFHE by depositing eETH. Solayer requires depositing and delegating SOL or derivatives to rank higher, and Drift's second airdrop involves liquid staking SOL to earn and lend dSOL.

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PancakeSwap and BetFury Launch $50,000 Trading Competition with BFG Token Rewards

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can complete a series of tasks in Orochi Network for Bybit Web3 Airdrop Arcade.

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can complete Orochi Network tasks for Bybit Web3 Airdrop Arcade. 

Task 2: Quote Orochi Network's Post and Tag 3 Friends

: Navigate to Orochi Network’s pinned post on X.

: Quote the tweet with your thoughts, and tag 3 friends.

 button at the top right corner of the page.

: The Orochi ID window will pop up. You may choose to sign up for an Orochi ID using your Google account, GitHub or email address.

: Congratulations! You’ve successfully created your Orochi ID. 

Task 4: Join the Contribute to Earn Program

: Connect your Wallet, Google account and Discord to be eligible.

: Once you’ve successfully connected all accounts, you’ll have completed this task.

 all of the four tasks above for your chance to 

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How to Complete Orochi Network Tasks for Bybit Web3 Airdrop Arcade

MegaETH is an EVM-compatible blockchain with real-time Web 2.0–level performance. Learn more about MegaETH.

 has long been a formidable challenge for the blockchain industry. Most established chains maintain decentralization and security, but struggle with limited scalability while high-performance 

 (L1) blockchains often compromise decentralization to achieve high throughput. 

What if we could push throughput to unprecedented levels without compromising security or decentralization? 

Enter MegaETH — a project backed by industry leaders such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin and Dragonfly Capital. With the first real-time 

 (EVM)–compatible chain —i.e., one that can process transactions as soon as they arrive, and then publish the resulting state changes — MegaETH aims to redefine blockchain performance. In this article, we delve into the scaling limitations of current blockchains and examine how MegaETH aims to solve them. Let's dive in!

The blockchain trilemma has posed a significant challenge for 

 developers for years. As Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explains, distributed ledger networks can only achieve two out of three critical qualities (security, decentralization and scalability) by using simple techniques. 

As a result, most high-performance chains, such as Solana, Avalanche and BNB Chain, often compromise on decentralization or security to achieve scalability.

To address the scalability challenges of L1 networks, developers have introduced 

 (L2) solutions, which operate on top of blockchains such as Ethereum. These L2 chains achieve 

 (TPS) while leveraging the security and decentralization of their underlying L1s. However, according to MegaETH, both high-performance L1 and L2 networks fall short of meeting the demands of Web 2.0–scale applications, particularly in terms of 

As shown in the table above, the blockchain with the highest scalability, opBNB, achieves a gas rate of 100 MGas/s, equivalent to 650 Uniswap swaps or 3,700 

 transfers per second. In comparison, modern databases can 

 over 1 million TPC-C TPS. While Arbitrum One, the fastest chain listed, offers a block time of 0.25 seconds, this remains insufficient for applications requiring rapid feedback or high update rates. 

These limitations in both scalability and speed make current high-performance L1s and L2s ill-suited for Web 2.0 applications with significant computational demands.

 is an EVM-compatible blockchain with real-time Web 2.0–level performance. With the goal of bridging the gap between distributed ledger networks and traditional cloud computing servers, the project aims to push the performance of Ethereum-based L2s to hardware limits. As the first real-time blockchain, MegaETH can stream transactions at 100,000 TPS with transaction fees under $0.01, and provide millisecond-level responsiveness without sacrificing security or decentralization.

MegaLabs, the organization behind MegaETH, was founded in early 2023 by Shuyao Kong and Yilong Li. Holding an MBA from Harvard Business School, Kong has a background in business development within the blockchain industry. Prior to co-founding MegaLabs, she was the global head of business development at ConsenSys, where she continues to serve as an advisor.

As the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MegaLabs, Li has a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. An experienced software developer, he previously worked at Runtime Verification Inc., a firm specializing in software analysis tools and the application of formal methods to improve computing systems.

Together, Kong and Li founded MegaLabs in early 2023 to leverage their business development and computer science expertise to build MegaETH as the first real-time blockchain.

 $20 million of funding in a single seed round at a 9-figure valuation. The round was led by Dragonfly Capital, with other notable venture capitalists including Figment Capital, Folius Ventures, Robot Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Tangent Ventures and Credibly Neutral. In addition to VCs, MegaETH is backed by high-profile angel investors, such as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin and EigenLayer creator Sreeram Kannan.

 on crypto trader Cobie’s decentralized fundraising platform, Echo. The round was fully funded within minutes and oversubscribed, showing significant investor demand.

MegaETH achieves over 100,000 TPS with less than 1 ms latency and block time, as well as transaction fees under $0.01, via two core features: a heterogenous blockchain architecture and a hyper-optimized EVM execution environment.

MegaETH's heterogeneous blockchain architecture enables network nodes with different hardware configurations to specialize in specific tasks to boost performance.

There are three types of nodes: sequencers, full nodes and provers. With cutting-edge hardware, a small set of sequencers conduct performance-critical tasks such as transaction execution. Simultaneously, a massively decentralized network of full nodes performs security-critical duties such as block validation. Provers have the lowest hardware requirements, and focus on providing L2 proofs to full nodes.

Hyper-Optimized EVM Execution Environment

MegaETH provides a hyper-optimized EVM execution environment to push latency, throughput and resource efficiency to hardware limits. Consequently, the real-time blockchain can process large volumes of transactions as soon as they arrive, and publish the resulting state changes in a few milliseconds.

To enable real-time EVM execution, MegaETH co-designed a low-latency, streaming-based block-building algorithm with a concurrency control protocol supporting transaction prioritization.

MegaETH's real-time blockchain scales without sacrificing decentralization and security through the following key components and features.

 is an extension of the MegaETH core team. It consists of a group of 10x builders hand-picked by MegaETH developers. According to the project, MegaMafia participants have "an internal compass guiding them toward crypto's world domination."

MegaETH defines three common qualities for MegaMafia members:

MegaETH is setting a new standard for blockchain scalability, addressing long-standing limitations without compromising decentralization or security. By combining innovative architectural decisions with technologies like real-time EVM execution, in-memory computing and smart contract JIT compilation, this real-time L1 chain delivers unmatched performance tailored for Web 2.0–scale applications.

Supported by high-profile investors, such as Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin, MegaETH is poised to bridge the gap between blockchain and traditional computing, unlocking new possibilities for decentralized applications. The project is on track to launch its testnet in early 2025, with the mainnet rollout soon thereafter.

Advanced

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MegaETH: A Real-Time Blockchain for Web 2.0–Scale DApps

Grayscale has launched the Horizen Trust, a fund that allows qualified investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency ZEN without the need to buy, store, or safeguard it.

Daily Top Performer — Convex Finance (CVX)

The S&P 500 rose 0.73%, driven by big tech and communication services, as investors anticipate a "Santa Claus Rally" to close the year. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 1.61%, with Bitcoin dropping by 2.58% and Ether rising by 4.32%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is CVX, which surged 28.1% following Frax's consideration of BlackRock's BUIDL token as backing for the rebranded frxUSD stablecoin.

Convex Finance (CVX), launched in May 2021, is a DeFi protocol that boosts yields for Curve protocol users on Ethereum. It allows for staking to earn CRV and CVX tokens and provides voting rights on token allocations. Securitize has 

 adding BlackRock's BUIDL token as backing for Frax's rebranded Frax USD (frxUSD) stablecoin, which will feature a new mint-redeem system. Early feedback from Frax DAO members is positive. Competing proposals from Superstate also suggest backing frxUSD with their tokenized funds. The final backing structure is still undecided.

, a fund that allows qualified investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency ZEN without the need to buy, store, or safeguard it. The fund's shares track the market price of ZEN, net of fees. While the shares have been traded at both a premium and discount, the fund aims to provide a simpler way for investors to gain exposure to ZEN. Grayscale is also expanding its offerings, with plans for a Solana spot ETF.

Yesterday, BTC Spot ETFs recorded total outflows of $258.2 million, including $38.4 million from GBTC and $219.8 million from non-GBTC funds.

, distributing $SONIC tokens to those who participate. Over 2 million users have joined through an easy onboarding process, requiring no wallet setup or gas fees. To qualify for the airdrop, users must log in via TikTok, access SonicX, and wait for the $SONIC claim banner. SonicX, part of the Sonic SVM app layer, uses TikTok ads and creator partnerships to promote its gaming and blockchain education hub. The project aims to expand its TikTok Chain with new games and future token rewards.

Grayscale Introduces Horizen Trust for ZEN Investment Access

Valuable NFTs can be used as collateral for acquiring loans. In this guide, we’re going to explore how NFT loans work, and take a look at some existing platforms that have made strides. Valuable NFTs can be used as collateral for acquiring loans. In this guide, we’re going to explore how NFT loans work, and take a look at some existing platforms that have made strides.

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Two aspects of the cryptoverse are gaining popularity — NFTs and 

, are a class of crypto assets that can’t be replicated or replaced.

They’ve become a controversial topic, thanks to 

 selling for staggering amounts of money. 

 refers to blockchain platforms that offer crypto investors financial products and services without the oversight of banks or financial institutions. These platforms enable anyone with an internet connection to borrow, lend or trade crypto assets in minutes without requiring approval from a centralized authority. 

 applications are easy to understand in the context of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ether. But how do NFTs — which aren’t divisible, and therefore can’t be easily traded — fit in the picture? The answer is NFT loans. Valuable NFTs can be used as collateral for acquiring loans, just as with a house, car, boat or stocks. 

Merging DeFi with NFTs is opening up a whole new economy for this emerging class of crypto assets. In this guide, we’re going to explore how NFT loans work, and take a look at some existing platforms that have made strides in the NFT/DeFi space.

NFT loans are offered by DeFi platforms. They allow NFT owners to mortgage their NFT pieces or collections in exchange for cryptocurrencies or fiat currency. Many NFTs on the market are highly illiquid, and several DeFi projects have identified the growing need to improve NFT liquidity using solutions such as lending.

 can represent ownership of a wide variety of real world items and digital assets, ranging from 

. The biggest selling point for NFTs is their non-fungibility, which basically means they aren’t divisible and can’t be replicated. 

By contrast, cryptocurrencies are divisible — which means that investors don’t have to buy one 

 in its entirety, but can instead buy fractions at a time. In comparison, all NFTs have a unique digital identifier that ensures they can’t be copied or subdivided. An original NFT can easily be verified on the blockchain.

NFT art by Beeple broke records after it sold for $69,346,250 in March 2021. Image source:

In many cases, NFTs simply point to the location of a digital file, whether it be an audio clip, work of art, GIF or video. The most prominent example of a sale which made headlines last year was NFT artwork 

by digital artist Beeple. The work went for $69 million at 

’s auction house, kicking off the NFT craze back in March 2021. 

Other examples include Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet, or even 

, an official marketplace for NBA-licensed digital trading cards that features some of the NBA’s biggest stars. Fans can enjoy unique ownership of the licensed trading sports cards or flip them for a profit. 

The first edition of an NFT clip of Kevin Durant dunking a basketball sold for almost $20,000. Image source:

NFTs’ lack of fungibility is great for establishing the uniqueness of assets. It’s created a distinct class of assets for digital items which shares parallels with traditional fine art collecting and other rare physical collectibles, like baseball or Pokémon cards. 

However, non-fungibility isn’t without its flaws. The most prominent one is that it limits what investors can do with their NFTs, which makes NFTs highly illiquid. Once an investor obtains an NFT, the standard option to turn a profit is to sell once its value increases. 

That’s where NFT loans come in, a mechanism made possible thanks to DeFi. NFT-backed loans and fractionalized NFT ownership through 

 are becoming a way to solve the NFT illiquidity problem. These innovations create a market where NFT owners can mortgage their NFT(s) in exchange for cryptocurrencies or fiat.

, it’s generally challenging to use it productively. Unlike fungible cryptocurrencies, NFTs can’t be 

 or otherwise put to work to generate yield. However, NFT-backed loans enable holders to acquire funds using their digital assets as collateral. The loan can then be used to buy more NFTs, purchase tokens that can be converted into fiat, or acquire other tokens that can be deployed into DeFi protocols for yields to generate income.

Sales of NFT art surpassed $2.1 billion in 2021. Image source:

 has made great strides in crypto markets with a host of applications that include apps for lending, renting, staking and margin trading, without involving a bank or centralized authority. DeFi mechanisms such as 

, and others are giving collectors new ways to leverage their NFTs beyond passive buy-and-hold investment strategies.

, which serve as the foundation for transparent, open and self-executing loan solutions which don’t require supervision. They execute predetermined tasks, with users able to access them through simple interfaces, just as with any regular application.

However, the smart contracts used by DeFi platforms aren’t flawless. For example, 

 are a common concern for these platforms. Attackers can exploit the market as they take out a loan, driving the value of the borrowed token underwater. They then buy back the token at a deflated price, repay the loan — and pocket the difference. 

Regardless of these hurdles, NFT loans are slowly gaining exposure to the mainstream crypto market. The NFT ecosystem is currently underdeveloped, likely due to its age and the size of the market, but expanding use cases in

borrowing, staking and fractionalized ownership are pumping growth into the industry. 

Platforms that support NFT loans allow holders to borrow funds and set terms without an intermediary. Borrowers can expect to get a loan amount of approximately 50% of the value of the NFT, with interest rates ranging from 20% to 80%, depending on the popularity of the NFT. 

The beauty of DeFi protocols is how simple, transparent and fast they are compared to traditional lending institutions. There is no centralized authority that needs to check your credit score, verify your real identity and spend days or weeks deliberating your application. 

DeFi platforms use smart contracts to give users complete control over their funds. Assets that function as collateral are sent to a secure smart contract, which acts as an impartial, automated third party programmed to facilitate the lending and borrowing process. 

Lenders decide what they think is the fair value of the collateral, usually by looking at the asset’s past performance, sales history or the 

 of similar NFTs. The floor price refers to the lowest offer price for an NFT from a particular series. Once both parties agree on the terms, the NFT is transferred from the borrower’s wallet into an escrow account, and a smart contract facilitates the loan. 

It sounds simple and clean in theory, but the market isn’t entirely risk-free. If the borrower can’t repay the loan and interest by the end of the loan period, then the lender is entitled to the underlying NFT. Lenders may also not accept new NFT projects as collateral because of price volatility, since they could end up losing if there isn’t any market demand for the defaulted NFT. 

One of the core features of NFTs is that they’re completely unique, indivisible and verifiable, guaranteeing absolute ownership. That means only one owner can fully possess one NFT. Fractionalized ownership of NFTs is a method which allows multiple individuals or parties to own “shares” of a single NFT. 

NFT owners can use fractionalization to mint tokenized fractional NFTs. Some NFTs are extremely high-priced, and fractionalization is a convenient way for several parties to each invest a smaller sum of money to gain fractional ownership of the asset. An NFT that’s an ERC-721 token can be fractionalized into multiple ERC20 tokens, with each one sold individually at a much more affordable price. 

Fractionalization has opened up new horizons for the NFT market and brings numerous benefits, including: 

Fractionalized NFTs have the potential to disrupt the NFT market for digital art, collectibles, in-game items, 

, music and real estate. In all of these areas, 

 can use fractionalization to quickly sell their assets to a wider market that includes small-to-medium investors.

The market for NFT loans is still in its infancy, but there are already a handful of DeFi platforms offering opportunities to mortgage NFTs for permissionless loans. There are also several upcoming projects, such as those using the lending protocol 

, looking to accept NFTs as collateral for loans. Currently, the best platforms for NFT loans are as follows. 

 is basically a digital pawnshop that offers loans using ERC-721 tokens as collateral. It allows users to mortgage NFTs in exchange for various cryptocurrencies, which can then be sold for cash. Lenders offer borrowers loan proposals based on the value of the NFT that’s been put up as collateral. If the borrower accepts the proposal, then the NFT is locked in a smart contract until the terms of the loan are fulfilled. 

The platform has reportedly done over $12 million in volume since its launch in June 2020. The average loan size is $26,000 for one month, but the platform has purportedly facilitated loans as high as $200,000. Default rates hover just below 20%, and vary depending on the NFT. 

Arcade is an NFT lending platform geared mainly toward retail investors with a high net worth and institutional lenders. It’s built on the 

, a noncustodial liquidity infrastructure designed specifically for loans backed by NFTs. 

NFT holders can request loans using one or more of their assets as collateral via the Arcade app. Users must first connect the app with their 

 wallet, select which assets (from the list of supported collections) to use as collateral, and then request a loan with specified terms. 

The platform uses a smart contract to create a wrapped NFT (or 

) which represents the borrower’s loan collateral and is used when requesting a loan. The wNFT is time-locked in an escrow smart contract that notes when the funding principal is both sent to the borrower and repaid to the lender. Arcade earns a percentage of every transaction completed on the platform. 

 is a DeFi lending platform where NFT holders can put down their collection as collateral in exchange for instant access to a trustless loan without having to talk to an intermediary. Users can borrow up to 80% of the value of the asset (as determined by the floor price) and receive an instant permissionless loan from the lending pools.

 is a centralized NFT loan platform that only accepts blue-chip NFT collections valued at over $500,000. These include valuable NFT collections such as CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and others. Crypto whales who hold these blue-chip NFTs can acquire instant liquidity without having to part with their assets.

Nexo assigns a dedicated account manager to loan applicants. Once an application is approved, applicants can receive a loan without a hard credit inquiry or credit history review. The NFTs held as collateral won’t be liquidated, even if the value of the NFT fluctuates during the course of the loan.

Recently, the market for NFTs has grown exponentially, becoming an estimated $40 billion market in 2021. Decentralized NFT loans are opening up new opportunities for growth in this nascent industry and are slowly gaining mainstream appeal, thanks to platforms like Arcade, NFTfi and Nexo.

NFT loans are solving the illiquidity problem facing most digital collectibles. At the same time, they enable NFT holders to put their assets to work, instead of engaging in simple buy-and-hold strategies. 

Even institutional investors seem to be taking interest in this new market. In December 2021, Arcade announced that it had received $15 million in 

That being said, the adoption of NFTs isn’t completely rosy, with many issues that still need to be worked out. Other than the impact NFT minting has on the environment, one of the other major problems is high gas fees. 

 requires fees which users pay to miners to validate the transaction, thereby adding it to the blockchain. This sounds straightforward, but the issue with gas fees is that they fluctuate. When the network is congested, fees go up, which is unfair to the consumer.

The good news is that Ethereum is actively working to fix this problem by switching to a 

 in 2022. This change will not only solve Ethereum’s energy consumption and carbon footprint problem, but also expand the network and improve its transaction-processing capability. This should ease congestion and reduce gas fees. 

While no one knows for sure where the NFT market will trend next, it’s safe to say NFT loans will continue to offer good investment opportunities in 2022 and beyond. 

NFT loans are a gateway into the NFT/DeFi sphere. They could potentially create exciting revenue streams for previously illiquid assets like NFTs. The core goal of NFT loans is to increase the liquidity of NFTs, providing users access to capital to spend on other projects and services. 

To learn more about lending protocols and how blockchain technology is continuing to develop, check out our guide on 

If you’re keen to get in on the growing NFT scene, find out 

Explained: NFT Loans and How They Work

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards