Coindesk

Web3 is drowning in metrics, most of which paint an unclear picture. Transaction volumes, token prices and flashy headlines often mask what really matters: the quality of user engagement and the potential for organic, exponential growth. As the industry moves beyond the hype, reliable, data-driven signals of success are no longer optional — they’re essential.Here’s the good news: the tools to cut through the noise already exist. By combining multiple on-chain metrics into a single “health index” score indicating the depth and quality of overall user engagement, we can identify which chains are truly thriving and poised for long-term growth. With 2024 coming to a close, let’s dig into what these signals reveal about today’s leading chains, and what we...

Solana-based gaming-focused layer-2 blockchain Sonic will airdrop its SONIC token to all its users onboarded through social-media platform TikTok.Sonic built its SonicX game natively inside TikTok, attempting to replicate the success of mini apps that were built on theTON blockchain inside messaging platform Telegram.The game has over 2 million users onboarded using TikTok, which Sonic attributed to the app's seamless experience and reach in an emailed announcement that didn't give further details of the token release.Blockchain-based games have often suffered from a clunky experience which has made user retention difficult. By working through Web2 apps such as Telegram or Tiktok, developers can make use of existing procedures for onboarding and building an easy user experience. TikTok has 1 billion monthly...

Investment advisers will probably overtake hedge funds as the biggest holders of U.S.-listed spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) next year, CF Benchmarks said Monday.A total of 11 spot BTC ETFs debuted in the U.S. on Jan. 11, providing a way for investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without personally having to hold and store it. Since their inception, they have accumulated over $36 billion in investor funds.Demand has been dominated by hedge-fund managers, who own 45.3% of the ETFs. Investment advisers, the gatekeepers to retail and high-net-worth capital, are a distant second at 28%.That's set to change in 2025, according to CF Benchmarks, which predicts investment advisers' share will rise above 50% in both the BTC and...

Avalon Labs, the issuer of the BTC-backed stablecoin USDa, has raised $10 million to grow its Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.The Series A funding round was led by Framework Ventures and included contributions from UXTO Management, Presto Labs and Kenetic Capital, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Monday.Avalon aims to evolve BTC from a digital store of value to a more active financial instrument that can serve a range of different purposes. Users can unlock the value stored in their BTC by collateralizing it for USDa it at a fixed borrowing rate of 8%. The token reached $700 million in total value locked (TVL) earlier this month.Along with its stablecoin, Avalon offers bitcoin-backed lending, yield generating savings accounts...

Several popular memecoins were added to a number of Chainlink services over the weekend, allowing them to be offered on other networks or as data streaming services.In the past few days, Shiba Inu (SHIB) and its ecosystem tokens, Turbo (TURBO) and Apu (APU), adopted the Chainlink Cross-Chain Token (CCT) standard to become available across 12 blockchains, making them accessible on networks other than where they were originally issued.On Sunday, tokens Simon’s Cat (CAT), Coq Inu (COQ), goat (GOAT), Hamster Kombat’s HMSTR and mog coin (MOG) joined a list of assets on Chainlink’s decentralized data streams.These streams use an oracle model where market data is continuously available off-chain. Such data can be accessed and then cryptographically verified on-chain when needed.CCTs are...