The Dark Side of Airdrops: Blockchain Overload

GM Readers!📪 It's BitDegree Insider, and can you smell that sweet Friday aroma?

⭐️Today's selection:

• 🪃Navigating the Hype
• 💧The Curious Case of SUI
• 🧩️Answer To Yesterday's Puzzle
• 👌Selected Meme of The Day
• 📰Bite-Sized News

BLOCKCHAINS ARE OVERLOADED

Crazy times we live in! Yes, the bull market is definitely not here. But many chains are off due to... Traffic? Too much traffic! Let's see what is going.

There has been a HUGE increase in zkSync Lite and Starknet usage. This means that both networks are being pushed to their limit, causing some usability issues.

No doubt, this surge in traffic is caused by many new users discovering the network and exploring what else is possible to 'hunt' after the Arbitrum airdrop.

Usability issues include running into troubles while trading or sending money.

zkSync and Starknet are both aware of these issues and they're working on them.

Both of the networks are Layer-2 rollups on Ethereum, enabling Ethereum to scale via cryptographic protocols.

But wait... There is something else that zkSync is working on. 👀 Spoiler alert: a new flash mob has just been organized.

Here's the news: New zkSync network goes Mainnet.

Say "hi" to zkSync Era.

So, the launch of the first zkEVM (It stands for "zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine") on the Ethereum blockchain is a big deal.

It will allow developers to start building faster and more efficient smart contracts that can handle more complex computations.

Looks like a good opportunity to begin aiming for a new airdrop!

However, they are not going to launch token even in Spring, so there is no need to rush.

Today, many people just unnecessarily spend money on gas commissions.

Moreover, panic is in the room! Due to congestion, it may take up to a day for your transaction to reach the new network.

Though, when the buzz will be a bit less crazy, here's what you can do.

Try using official zkSync 1.0(Lite) and zkSync 2.0(Era) bridges.

As a rule of thumb, better to do more than one transaction, and not during a single day. Also, the transactions better be at least 0.1 ETH (we gotta stand out from the bot army).

There are also dApps, but they are live for now only on zkSync Lite 1.0 and are highly congested.

zkSync Lite (zkSync 1.0) has been running in Mainnet for over 2 years, but the downside is the lack of smart contracts, so that's why zkSync Era is now under active development!

But fear no more. We'll share some guides in the nearest future with you!

BTW, we talked about zkSync and how they acquired $200M in investments in Venture Mondays 5 months ago. Today we see its fruits!

TL;DR: New zkSync network goes into Mainnet. It will be known as zkSync Era, and it will allow developers to start building faster and more efficient smart contracts that can handle more complex computations.

SUI & SURPRISE UPDATES

So, as of today, zkSync and Starknet are super hyped after Arbitrum.

But let's not forget about SUI, the one which became super hyped after Aptos's launch and their airdrop. Though, the things around SUI are rather tricky!

First of all, SUI and Aptos, two projects by team members from Diem, a blockchain project from Microsoft, which, eventually, got abandoned.

Both blockchains are now actively developing on their own, with SUI managing to sign a partnership agreement with the large cloud service Tencent.

Airdrop hunters are greedy for SUI tokens, but there's more to the story. Some crazy updates were just announced.

SUI announced a launch date for the Mainnet set for Q2 2023 (that is from April to June).

Before then, the administration is planning a series of "The Wave to Mainnet" events designed to introduce the concept and key benefits of the project to audiences (including meetups, conferences, and AMA sessions).

However, the developers surprised the community with unpleasant news as well.

There will be no airdrops. At least, not yet.

Indirectly, SUI mentioned that there will be no airdrop due to regulatory issues, but they have already selected around 100K people to sell their token at a very low price, which in itself is odd.

Token sale may, in fact, cause more problems, but on the other hand, it depends on the jurisdiction.

It's possible that by that time, the administration's plans will have changed, especially since the announcement hints at "more details in the near future."

What's more, SUI and FTX have agreed to buy back shares and derivative products.

FTX Ventures invested $100 million in Mysten Labs (developers of SUI) last year and received warrants on SUI worth $1 million.

Warrants give the holder the right to buy an asset at a fixed price on or before a certain date.

Mysten Labs bought back its shares and warrants on SUI for $96.3 million last week, with other buyers bidding for shares in the startup.

Interestingly, the offer from Mysten Labs came just days before the SUI Mainnet launch was announced.

It remains to be seen whether SUI will live up to the hype, but the buyback deal with FTX and the upcoming Mainnet launch have certainly generated interest in the project.

TL;DR: SUI is preparing for its Mainnet launch in Q2 2023 but has announced that there will be no airdrop for now due to regulatory issues.

ANSWER TO YESTERDAY'S PUZZLE

Yesterday we tested your attentiveness by asking who was The SEC suing.

The right answer was Justin Sun. He commented on the news of being sued like this:

"The lawsuit does not matter, we will continue to work."

SELECTED MEME OF THE DAY

BITE-SIZED NEWS

• Binance Employees Allegedly Help Users in China to Circumvent KYC Requirements. Today even they stopped Spot trading for a while, scary!
• Coinbase CEO Urges Crypto Investors to Support Pro-Crypto Lawmakers. And he vows to support pro-crypto legislators.
• Crypto Firms Flood Swiss Bank with Requests After the Collapse of Major US Banks. Looking for a new banking partner, preferably a safer one.