Ethereum to Activate Zhejiang Testnet Next Week, Sberbank to Release a DeFi Platform by May, Titan Comics to Launch a Comic Series Based on Nouns NFTs in April

Get your daily, bite-sized digest of cryptoasset and blockchain-related news – investigating the stories flying under the radar of today’s crypto news.
__________

Blockchain news

• The Ethereum network will activate the Zhejiang public testnet on February 7, while preparing for the Shanghai-Capella upgrade, aka Shapella, in March. “There were some config issues in launching the network, but the devops and client teams are looking into it. The Shapella fork is planned for Tuesday 3pm UTC,” said Tim Beiko from the Ethereum Foundation. Once activated next week, Zhejiang will be open to the public for testing.

DeFi news

• Russia’s major bank Sberbank will release a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform by May this year, according to Russian news agency Interfax, citing Konstantin Klimenko, Product Director of the blockchain laboratory of Sberbank. The platform will initially be based on the Ethereum network, and users will be able to access it using the MetaMask wallet extension. Klimenko said that the bank’s DeFi network is running in closed beta and that it will turn into open testing on March 1.
• Web3 protocol Saga and blockchain development platform Polygon announced that they have entered into a partnership where the Saga protocol will automate the instantiation of Supernets, Polygon’s appchain solution. According to the press release, Supernets, developed by Polygon Edge, allows a project to spin up an appchain using their chosen subset of Polygon validators, while using the MATIC token to secure the chain.

NFT news

• Titan Comics, the publishers of Batman, Doctor Who, Family Guy, Superman, and Star Wars comic books, alongside Adam Fortier of ComicsDAO, are launching a comic series based on Nouns NFTs called “Nouns: Nountown”. Per the press release, the comic books will be printed in April and sent to 4K Protocol to get vaulted, while a non-fungible token (NFT) will be minted to represent ownership of the physical copy. Owners are able to redeem the NFT for the physical comic at any time via 4K, it added.
• European deep-tech startup Humans.ai partnered with UAE-based consultancy Deca4 to bring wrapped AI NFTs to the mainstream, by launching them on the Hedera public distributed network, said the press release. The first AIverse project to integrate Hedera is Klon, the AI video generation tool, available in closed beta, that enables users to create professional text-to-voice content with realistic avatars, with NFTs on Hedera being used to unlock certain aspects or features of the AI, it added.

Exchange news

• Binance gave Zanmai, the operator of the Indian crypto exchange WazirX, until February 3 to remove the funds from the accounts that they used for WazirX’s operations. In a post, Binance acknowledged “the public debate” with Zanmai “regarding the nature of our relationship,” and said that it “has no control over WazirX user funds or any aspect of the WazirX exchange’s operations. Rather, as we do for many individuals and organizations, we provided wallet and related technology services to the exchange’s operator, [Zanmai] – a service we are terminating,” it said.
• Bitfinex launched a new trading Spread Ladder into its user interface, a tool that allows traders to execute large trades in a single transaction without having to take multiple positions to hedge risk, and assists in achieving an average entry and exit price, said the announcement. 

Security news

• Web3 Builders Inc., the creators behind the recently launched TrustCheck, a browser extension that flags Web3 scams before they happen, announced the launch of a suite of application programming interface (API) tools for Web3 businesses including wallets, exchanges, dapps, and marketplaces to help prevent drainer scams, fake NFT websites, and vulnerable smart contracts, said an announcement. “The Web3 Builders Transaction Checker, Website Checker and Smart Contract Checker APIs work hand in hand to protect end users from a variety of risks like scam websites, dangerous transactions, and malicious smart contracts,” it stated.

Mining news

• Bitcoin miner CleanSpark released its unaudited bitcoin mining and operations update for the month ending January 31, reporting: BTC 697 mined, up 50% from December 2022; total holdings of BTC 301 as of January 31, up 32% from December; BTC 624 converted for operations and growth; and a deployed fleet of about 66,000 bitcoin miners with a hashrate of 6.6 EH/s, up 7% from December 2022 and up 214% from January 2022.