The Protocol: Solana’s Seeker Mobile Begins to Ship
This week in cryptocurrency tech: Solana Mobile’s Seeker phone launched, aiming to improve upon its predecessor, the Saga, with enhanced usability and a crypto-first design. Priced at $500, with 150,000 pre-orders, it targets active Solana users.
Coinbase’s Base network experienced a 33-minute block production halt due to a sequencer failure. While the Conductor module attempted a failover, the standby sequencer was not fully provisioned, leading to a manual fix. This highlights operational risks in layer-2 networks reliant on centralized sequencers.
Jito Labs proposed JIP-24, rerouting all Block Engine and BAM fees to the Jito DAO treasury. This aims to decentralize the network and increase JTO token value by transferring control of protocol revenue from Jito Labs to the DAO.
Cardano’s core developers secured a $71 million budget for network upgrades. This 12-month allocation, approved via governance vote, will fund projects like Hydra (layer-2 scaling) and Project Acropolis (node re-architecture).
Big banks are allegedly making it harder and more expensive for consumers to use fintech and crypto apps, a trend described as “Operation Chokepoint 3.0”. High fees and blocking of certain apps are cited as methods used to stifle competition.
Celestia’s TIA token, initially lauded after its airdrop, has plummeted from $20 to under $1.65. This sharp decline is attributed to massive token vesting schedule cliffs, allowing early investors and VCs to sell large quantities. Despite the price drop, the token’s market cap increased due to the substantial supply increase.
Regulatory news includes a potential White House executive order penalizing banks for closing customer accounts based on beliefs, and a French proposal to use surplus nuclear power for Bitcoin mining. This initiative would leverage excess energy from EDF facilities to power mining hardware.
Upcoming events include Korea Blockchain Week (Seoul, Sept 22-28), Token2049 (Singapore, Oct 1-2), and several other conferences throughout the year.
