June sees user growth in the Web3 space 

Despite regulatory measures aimed at major centralized exchanges, Web3 activity witnessed a surge in June, as per a recent study by DappRadar.

The study revealed that close to 2M wallets engaged with dApps on a daily basis in June, marking a 1.4% rise from May. Web3 gaming continued to dominate as the leading sector, accounting for 36% of users, while DeFi was not far behind, encompassing 35% of users after experiencing a 14% growth. Notably, DeFi is represented by six out of the ten most frequently used dApps.

DappRadar suggests that the increased adoption is due to airdrop hunters accumulating transactions on Layer 2s solutions such as zkSync Era and StarkNet, along with the cross-chain bridging protocol, LayerZero.

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BTC Ordinals see $210 volume in Q2

The development of nonfungible token annotations on the Bitcoin blockchain has resulted in more than $210 million in trading volume for Bitcoin Ordinals, as per the most recent quarterly report from DappRadar.

The information, which has been independently corroborated by Cointelegraph, indicates a significant surge in trading volume for Bitcoin Ordinals during the second quarter of 2023, driven by its soaring popularity.

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Japan’s largest bank eyes stablecoins

TOKI, a provider of cross-chain bridge services and collaborator with Progmat, will be joining forces with Noble, a protocol for issuing tokens, to introduce fully-backed Japanese stablecoins to the Cosmos network. 

Progmat is an initiative inaugurated by Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (MUFG) - Japan's premier bank, and is endorsed by over 200 Japanese firms, counting major banks like SMBC and Mizuho among them. The Japan Exchange Group (JPX) also participates in this project.

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BTC holdings hit a 1-year high according to ARK investment

According to recent statistics, it's estimated that 70% of the 19 million circulating Bitcoin [BTC] hasn't been transacted in more than a year. This percentage signifies a record high for the year, in both relative and absolute measurements. These insights were disclosed in a report named "The Bitcoin Monthly - The Dawn of the ETF Era?" by ARK Invest.

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Shibarium expected to go live in August 

The highly anticipated Shibarium, a layer 2 blockchain, is set to launch following a conference in Toronto this August, according to a blog post by developer Shytoshi Kusama on Thursday. The term "layer 2" pertains to a collection of off-chain systems, distinct blockchains that are constructed over layer 1 protocols, which help mitigate scaling and data issues. They amalgamate numerous off-chain transactions into one layer 1 transaction, which contributes to lessening the data burden and costs.

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Other breaking news

• Barnbridge confirms that they’re being investigated by the SEC
• NFT perpetual protocol nftperp is sunsetting its v1
• Redacted Cartel launches Hidden Hand V2
• Balancer introduces the 8020 Initiative
• Bitfinex recovers a portion of the 2016 hack worth $3.6 billion 

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Wrapping Up

That’s all, folks. It was a busy crypto Friday as usual, with Shibarium being expected in August, as confirmed by the team, and BTC holdings hitting their 1-year all-time highs, at least according to ARK Invest. Meanwhile, Ordinals and Web3 ecosystem see tremendous growth in June. Stay informed and ahead of the game with our daily crypto scoop. See you next week!