Latest Blockchain News: January 2025

We’re kicking off 2025 with a bang! In this first update of the year, we bring you major news from Stakely, new solutions, partnerships, and surprises for our community. We also cover what's happening in the blockchain industry: from Solana’s progress to the latest privacy integrations in Cosmos, innovative scalability strategies, and new DeFi partnerships.

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Simple CSM adventages

We’ve partnered with Loop

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Solana: The epicenter of Web3 innovation

Solana's ecosystem is driving real-world solutions with disruptive projects like KAST, AlphaFC, Sling Money, ZAR, Moonwalk Fitness, dVIN, Dabba Network, and PreGame, transforming payments, finance, sports, health, and more.

Hackathons: The innovation startup hub

With over 1,300 teams from 150 countries, Solana's hackathons are pushing innovations with support from Helius, Alliance, Solana Labs Incubator, OrangeDAO, and HackQuest, accelerating ecosystem growth.

Success of Solana’s first AI Hackathon

SendAI brought together over 400 projects in 15 days, awarding 21 winners with $275,000. The Hive won $60,000, highlighting advances in AI for DeFi and Solana.

Use the bridge with confidence and get 0.1 S for free

Get 0.1 S free when bridging 1 USDC or 1 FTM to Sonic via the Gateway if your address is new to Sonic. Forget about gas fees!

S incentives on Uniswap: $750K in rewards

Uniswap DAO will allocate $250K in UNI to Sonic's native pools on Uniswap v3, while Sonic contributes $500K in S to Uniswap.

Track your points on testnet with the new dashboard

Sonic Labs has launched a dashboard to track points earned by whitelisted assets and liquidity in DeFi, as part of a 200M S airdrop through June 2025.

Polkadot 2.0 to bring Kkey upgrades for 2025

Polkadot 2.0, set for the first quarter of 2025, will include smart contracts, transition to PVM RISC-V, XCM v5, and address unification. It will also reduce the unlocking time for DOT and turn it into a universal gas token.

Revolutionizing the staking experience

Polkadot plans to fund the development of its Staking Dashboard in 2025, with a simplified interface, multilingual support, enhanced security, and faster load times, improving user experience and accessibility.

AI improves governance in Polkadot

Polkadot introduced Clarys.AI, its new AI assistant for OpenGov, funded by the Web3 Foundation. Designed to streamline community governance, it enhances transparency, accountability, and trust with on-chain and off-chain data analysis.

Aptos Blocktime: One of the fastest in the world

Aptos stands out with an average blocktime of just 0.22 seconds, providing a dynamic experience by processing blocks in real-time, according to Chainspect.

Boosting DeFi with BTCFi

The partnership between StakeStone, Echelon, and Aptos introduces BTCfi, allowing users to take loans and earn rewards in APT by depositing SBTC or STONE as collateral with a 50% LTV, connecting BTC to Aptos’ DeFi ecosystem.

Move 2 and other key improvements

Aptos integrates Move Compiler V2, enhancing security with Permissioned Signer and increasing flexibility with Account Abstraction. It also reduces latency (~100ms) to optimize transactions and strengthen its growing ecosystem.

Sony launches Soneium on Ethereum

Sony launches the mainnet of Soneium, its Layer 2 platform on Ethereum, focused on creators and audiences with NFTs and the Soneium Spark incubation program. With over 14 million users on testnet, it aims to drive creative economies in entertainment, gaming, and music.

Hybrid ETFs of ETH: Bitcoin and Ethereum in one fund

Hashdex and Franklin Templeton launch the first hybrid Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, approved by the SEC. Composed of 80% BTC and 20% ETH, they debut in January, offering new cryptocurrency investment options.

Project Dama 2 on Ethereum: A leap for financial institutions

Deutsche Bank launches Project Dama 2, an MVP based on Ethereum and ZKsync, to improve efficiency and regulatory compliance in blockchain interactions. The MVP is expected for 2025, with curated validators and regulatory rights.

HashKey chain launches innovative L2

HashKey Group unveils HashKey Chain, its Ethereum L2, providing efficient, low-cost solutions using zero-knowledge proof technology. This initiative aims to expand its presence in the crypto space as an economical, efficient alternative for interacting with Ethereum.

Changes and adjustments in Ethereum: New Ggovernance and staking

Vitalik Buterin may temporarily lead the Ethereum Foundation while a new governance structure is implemented. The Foundation is also exploring the option of staking the 269,000 ETH it manages to reduce regulatory risks.

Frictionless coordination layer

Sui aims to establish itself as the global coordination layer for digital assets and has the key tools to achieve it:

• Object-centered data model: Enhances scalability and reduces friction.
• Move: A language for secure smart contracts.
• DeepBook: Native liquidity for fast swaps.
• zkLogin: Onboarding with no advanced knowledge required.
• Mysticeti: Ultra-fast transactions in sub-seconds.
• SuiNS and sponsored transactions: Improve usability and accessibility.
• Walrus: Distributed decentralized storage.
• SCION: Strengthens network security.
• Gaming: Drives Web3 adoption with SuiPlay0X1 and Playtron OS.

Backbone for the Future of DeFi

Sui has evaluated its 2024 achievements as a foundation for setting goals for 2025 and beyond, with innovative tools including:

• 2024 achievements: Easy access and user-friendly chain.
• 2025 vision: Becoming the foundation for DeFi, gaming, AI, and more.
• Mysticeti V2/FastPath: Reduced latency and improved performance.
• Remora: Scalability for fast and secure transactions.
• Off-chain transactions: Unlimited throughput and zero latency.
• Key tools: Walrus, SEAL, SCION, and SDKs for developers.

Injective and IO.NET drive DeFAI: Decentralized AI in Web3

Injective and IO.NET expand decentralized AI (DeFAI) infrastructure, supporting the growth of AI in DeFi, AI agents, and Web3 gaming. IO.NET provides access to over 10,000 GPUs and CPUs for ML models, fueling innovation in on-chain finance for 2025.

AI Agent hub between Solana and Injective

Injective partners with Sonic SVM, Solana’s virtual machine, to develop the Smart Agent Hub, an innovative hub for AI agents. This will enable the integration of AI apps built on Solana into Injective’s decentralized ecosystem, using Cosmos' IBC as a bridge between both networks.

INJ available on the largest brazilian exchange

Mercado Bitcoin, the oldest exchange in Latin America, has integrated INJ natively. With over 3 million active users, it allows access to the Injective ecosystem using cryptocurrencies and the Brazilian real.

First AI Hackathon: Innovation in autonomous agents

Injective, ElizaOS, and Dorahacks organize the first AI Agents hackathon, with over $100,000 in prizes. The event aims to promote the creation of AI agents compatible with multiple models and platforms like X and Discord. Injective has also integrated ElizaOS into its iAgent 2.0 update, advancing autonomous agents with advanced features.

Surpassing 500 GB

Celeium shows an increase in demand for data (Data Availability) on Celestia, with over 540 GB registered in January, reflecting the ongoing growth in the ecosystem. The platform dynamically visualizes blobs, highlighting the increased demand for decentralized storage.

8MiB Blocks on mainnet

The governance proposal #5 on Celestia suggests increasing block size to 8MiB, enhancing scalability and allowing more transactions per block. It also proposes adjusting GovMaxSquareSize to 128, the highest so far, which will push the network’s capacity to new limits, advancing its technical roadmap for scaling the rollup ecosystem.

Modular Day ETH Denver 2025

Movement Labs announces "Modular Day ETH Denver 2025," a co-hosted event with Celestia The Rollup Co, set to take place on February 26, 2025. The event will focus on modularity and altVMs, offering a day of innovation, networking, and celebrations within the modular blockchain ecosystem.

Months of development & innovation

Evmos has updated its Cosmos SDK and IBC dependencies, rebuilt its RPC stack with Vote Extensions, and refactored over 110k lines of code to enhance software reliability and efficiency. Additionally, it is developing support for 6-decimal EVM tokens and new EVM extensions for dApps, while forming a partnership with Saga to facilitate the development of EVM chains in Cosmos.

Partnerships & commitments strengthened

Ambur Marketplace has been integrated into Printhereum’s Web3 directory, while Astrovault strengthens its commitment to Archway, solidifying its position in the ecosystem. These partnerships and consolidations are key to promoting and expanding the Archway network.

NFT sector gaining traction

Holders of Derpies and Archies NFT collections on Archway have gained attention across other chains. Sputnik Network announced that holders of non-listed Derpies NFTs and wallets with Archies NFTs will be eligible for an airdrop of the SIGNAL token. More details on dates and distribution will be revealed soon.

Over $25 billion in transfers processed on Aptos

According to Flipside, the Aptos network has processed over $25 billion in historical transfers. In the last month alone, it surpassed $2.5 billion in transfers.

Gaming sector on the rise

In January, the Crime&Chase Play Test challenge attracted top D-3 gaming hunters, competing for the highest leaderboard rankings to secure top rewards from an $11,000 USD prize pool.

AI enhancing UX & security

Aptos is strengthening its network with AI through a collaboration with Overlai, a platform dedicated to protecting digital assets from AI impersonation. Together, they ensure immutable ownership records and safeguard assets against AI scraping.

Gaia v22: The key Cosmos update for 2025

Cosmos Hub is preparing to implement Gaia v22, its first update of 2025, following governance approval. This version, driven by Interchain Labs, Informal Systems, and Hypha, brings major upgrades, including: ibc-go a v8.5.2, cometbft a v0.38.15, cosmos-sdk a v0.50.11-lsm, wasmd a v0.53.2 and ICS v6.4.0.

Gaia v22 has undergone rigorous testing, including end-to-end tests and public testnet validations by Hypha Co-op and node operators, ensuring a seamless upgrade process.

BTC moving to a new multisig: A step towards decentralization

The Interchain Foundation has begun transferring Bitcoin to a new multisig system as part of its 2024 treasury management strategy. This move aims to enhance security and distribute risk, minimizing centralized control over funds and promoting more decentralized and secure financial practices.

Privacy sector on the rise

Namada, Penumbra, Secret, Nillion, and Sentinel share a common vision of privacy protection within the Cosmos ecosystem. These projects are at the forefront of Web3 confidentiality, focusing on user data protection and financial transaction privacy. Their goal is to make privacy a fundamental feature, ensuring decentralization and security in DeFi and beyond.

Keplr secures its first funding round

With over 2 million active users and connections to 100+ chains, Keplr has secured $5 million in its first funding round, led by 1Confirmation, after five years of successful operations.

OSMO Tokenomics: Key Adjustments for 2025

Osmosis introduced major tokenomics changes for 2025, focusing on:

• Emission reduction: Lower inflation, from one-third per year to two-thirds every two years.
• Sustainability: Adjustments in revenue flows and liquidity incentives.
• Network improvements: Faster block speeds, reducing the need for fee increases.
• Block auction: Implementation of priority transactions.
• Fee abstraction: Payments in multiple assets for a smoother user experience.

We’re excited to announce that Stakely will be a Silver Sponsor at Merge Buenos Aires 2025, happening from March 24-26 in Argentina. This event is a great opportunity to connect with the LATAM community, share our projects, and showcase Stakely’s potential to traditional banking entities in Latin America. See you in Argentina!

We hope you enjoyed this recap! We’ll keep an eye on the latest trends in February to continue bringing you the best in blockchain innovation.

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