Cronos Labs $100 Million Accelerator Program Enters Hiring Phase

Despite Bitcoin’s recent decline, a South Korean analyst says investors’ trust in the market remains intact. He added that a U.S. crypto market structure bill, which Congress could approve as early as December, may give investors a chance to buy the dip ahead of a potential rebound. According to Etoday, Hong Sung-wook of NH Investment & Securities, one of South Korea’s major brokerage firms, noted that the crypto market has given back all gains made since mid-October, with Bitcoin briefly slipping below $100,000. Most altcoins also saw steep declines, erasing the advances they posted following roughly $19 billion in liquidations around Oct. 10. In this environment, Solana’s year-to-date performance has turned negative despite the recent launch of spot Solana ETFs in Hong Kong and the U.S., while Ethereum has similarly surrendered its earlier gains.Photo by Michael Förtsch on UnsplashContext from past declinesHong framed the latest pullback in a historical context. Since 2018, Bitcoin has recorded a daily closing price drop of more than 20% on seven occasions. The latest decline of about 21% from peak to trough, he said, is broadly in line with previous downturns. He added that Bitcoin is now less likely to experience the extreme volatility seen in earlier years, citing growing institutional participation and its increasing use in so-called “debasement trades,” or hedges against fiat currency inflation. Building on this, Hong attributed the recent weakness primarily to the liquidation wave and the temporary hit to sentiment. However, he argued that confidence could recover faster than in past stress events, emphasizing that trust in the market has not been fundamentally damaged, unlike in prior downturns triggered by unexpected “black swan” shocks. Policy progress could lift market moodIn the near term, Hong pointed to progress on the U.S. crypto market structure bill as a potential catalyst. Further movement on the bill, he said, could help improve sentiment, similar to the supportive reaction seen around the passage of the stablecoin GENIUS Act. Other market observers have expressed a comparable view on Bitcoin’s outlook. BeInCrypto underscored three key factors supporting its stance in an analysis published on FXStreet. First, citing Glassnode’s Accumulation Trend Score, it noted that Bitcoin has managed to hold above the $100,000 level thanks to a balance between whale sell-offs and continued accumulation by other investors. Second, expectations for U.S. interest rate cuts projected for December are seen as another supportive element. Third, Bitcoin continues to trade above its 50-week moving average (WMA), a technical level that has underpinned the market since BTC moved above it in 2023; even when brief sell-offs have pushed prices below this line, buyers have stepped in to restore it by the weekly close. Warning signs of weakening momentumAt the same time, signals of moderating momentum have emerged. Another BeInCrypto report pointed to CryptoQuant’s Bitcoin Bull Score, an on-chain metric that gauges the asset’s upside potential, which fell to zero on Nov. 6, its lowest level since January 2022, just before the market entered its last major bearish phase. This more cautious tone is reflected in institutional forecasts as well. Crypto financial services firm Galaxy Digital last week lowered its year-end price target for Bitcoin from $185,000 to $120,000. The firm cited heavy whale sell-offs, shifting investor focus toward AI, gold, and stablecoins, and the weak performance of Bitcoin-focused digital asset treasury (DAT) companies as key reasons for its downgrade. Even so, Galaxy Digital said it continues to view Bitcoin as a structurally strong asset.From a longer-term perspective, some high-profile experts have also trimmed their expectations. According to Decrypt, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood told CNBC she now sees Bitcoin reaching about $1.2 million in a bullish scenario by 2030, down from her previous $1.5 million target. She attributed the revision mainly to the rapid growth of stablecoins, which are expanding faster than Bitcoin and emerging as a new payment method, a trend she suggested could dilute some of Bitcoin’s potential price momentum over time.

South Korea is building payment rails for a tokenized won on two tracks, one led by banks extending a central bank digital currency pilot, the other by card issuers testing stablecoins, with no law yet to govern either. The Korea Internet & Security Agency and the Ministry of Science and ICT said last week they had begun a project to extend the Bank of Korea's CBDC pilot, Project Hangang, into retail payments, according to a report by local outlet Digital Asset.Ilustration generated with ChatGPTThe Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, which operates the country's interbank payment network, will lead the consortium of nine commercial banks, eight payment gateways and two large organizations that will pilot the payments. It will connect existing payment infrastructure to Project Hangang on a 9.6 billion won ($6.6 million) budget. The pilot tested deposit tokens, a tokenized form of commercial bank deposits backed by a wholesale CBDC. The design avoids building anything new. Consumers would pay through bank-issued deposit token wallet apps, with a physical card under consideration, and merchants would keep their existing terminals. The stated aim is faster settlement and lower fees for small merchants. The government also plans to use deposit tokens for public spending, starting with a pilot for official expenses and later a treasury model linked to dBrain, the nation’s digital budget accounting system. Card issuers defend the railsSeparately, Newspim reported the Credit Finance Association and nine card issuers, including Samsung Card, Shinhan Card, KB Kookmin Card and Hyundai Card, on July 22 concluded a joint proof of concept for won-denominated stablecoins. Run on a test network, it examined whether authorization, settlement and cancellation functioned when a won stablecoin was routed through existing card rails, and whether smart contract-based terminals and QR payments could also handle loyalty points and government-issued vouchers. The tests come as the card business faces mounting pressure. Net income at the eight card companies fell 8.9% last year to 2.36 trillion won ($1.6 billion), as merchant fee income declined despite rising card spending. With 3.09 million merchants, or 95.7% of the total, on preferential fee rates in the first half, and wallet-based stablecoin payments raising the prospect of transactions that bypass card networks altogether, issuers have reason to secure a role in whatever comes next. Their pitch is that they already own the hard part. "Issuers would have to build payment infrastructure from scratch to circulate a stablecoin," a card industry official said. Bolting a settlement function onto existing card rails, the industry argues, would also let issuers apply the fraud detection and anti-money laundering systems already running on those networks. Legislation still stalledDigital assets featured in a reform agenda announced last week by Kim Min-seok, a lawmaker and former prime minister running for leadership of the Democratic Party. "I believe we need financial reform, and one of its key aims should be to establish our sovereignty over digital assets," Kim told a news conference, according to another Digital Asset report. His agenda included passage of the Digital Asset Basic Act, a legal framework for won stablecoins, rules for issuing and trading security tokens, and investor protection. The act, covering stablecoin issuance and digital asset service providers, is targeted for passage this year. Work on the bill had been due to start after party and government consultations in March but was postponed indefinitely, with the crisis in the Middle East among the reasons cited.

Uniswap Competitor Maverick Protocol Raises $9M in FundingMaverick Protocol, a Singapore-centric DeFi project which aims to disrupt Uniswap’s dominance, has announced a fresh capital funding round.On Wednesday, Maverick announced that it successfully raised $9 million in a seed funding round led by Founders Fund. Prominent participants in the round include Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, and Apollo Crypto.It’s not clear what Maverick’s current valuation stands at, and in discussion with Fortune, Alvin Xu, one of the co-founders of Maverick Protocol, refrained from disclosing that valuation.Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels“Surgical approach to DeFi”Joey Krug, a partner at Founders Fund, expressed confidence in Maverick’s potential to contribute to the growth of the DeFi industry through its “surgical approach to decentralized finance.” Krug added that “Maverick has quickly established itself as a hub for liquid staking token trading whilst having greater capital efficiency for liquidity providers.”The injection of capital into Maverick comes at a time when crypto enthusiasts are seeking alternative platforms for purchasing and exchanging tokens. This shift in interest was sparked by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States filing lawsuits earlier this month against two prominent centralized crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase.Following the news of the lawsuits, both Binance and Coinbase experienced significant outflows of cryptocurrencies. Simultaneously, the trading volume on decentralized exchanges, which are characterized by their lack of central ownership, surged from $1.2 billion the day before the Binance lawsuit was filed to $3.1 billion on the day the suit was made public, according to data from DefiLlama. These events occurred during the early afternoon when the SEC unveiled its charges.Crypto industry OGAlvin Xu has been actively involved in the crypto industry since 2018 when he joined the Tron Foundation and subsequently BitTorrent. For a time, he worked at Ethereum-centric blockchain infrastructure firm, ConsenSys, contributing to the development of the MetaMask wallet.In 2021, Xu embarked on the creation of Maverick Protocol, an automated market maker. Typically, market makers like Citadel Securities play a crucial role in traditional finance, matching buy and sell orders for stocks. In the crypto realm, where trading operates 24/7, Uniswap has gained popularity as it automates market making for a wide range of tokens.Xu believes that his new protocol can challenge Uniswap’s dominant position, stating: “That’s definitely our goal.” However, he acknowledges the substantial advantage Uniswap holds as a first-mover in the crypto world.Since its launch in March, Maverick Protocol, currently employing nine individuals, has set its sights not only on competing with Uniswap and other automated market makers but also on surpassing centralized exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase. Xu acknowledges that achieving this goal will require time and further development, stating: “I think it’s still early.”Maverick Protocol’s recent funding round provides a strong boost to its ambitions, stoking further competition with market leader Uniswap, while playing a role in shaping the future of DeFi.