Major Blockchain Project News

[Kinexys] Mastercard and JPMorgan Link Up to Bring Cross-Border Payments on the Blockchain. According to CoinDesk, Mastercard (MA) has connected its blockchain-based system for shifting tokenized assets, the Multi-Token Network (MTN), with JPMorgan’s (JPM) recently rebranded digital assets business Kinexys (formerly known as Onyx). The collaboration is to enhance B2B cross-border payments, the companies said in a press release last Thursday, “providing greater transparency and faster settlement as well as reducing time zone friction.”

The payments giant said it had invited a number of banks onto its MTN when the platform emerged in mid-2023 with a view to testing out tokenized bank deposits, the use of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Mastercard’s token network is working specifically with the JPMorgan’s Kinexys Digital Payments, which was formerly known as JPM Coin.

[Solana] USDS Stablecoin Launches on Solana, Sky Ecosystem to Provide Over 500,000 USDS Weekly Rewards. The USDS stablecoin has officially launched on Solana, becoming the first major DeFi-native stablecoin on the network. USDS aims to unlock new lending and trading opportunities across DeFi platforms on Solana. To incentivise early adoption, the Sky Ecosystem will distribute over 500,000 USDS in weekly rewards, allocated as follows: 1) Kamino Finance: 200,000 USDS weekly for USDC/USDS liquidity providers and 100,000 USDS weekly for USDS suppliers. 2) Drift Protocol: 100,000 USDS weekly for USDS suppliers. 3) Save Finance: 400,000 USDS monthly for USDS suppliers. 4) Jito: 5,000 USDS weekly for the SOL/USDS liquidity pool.

[SUI] Sui Enters Strategic Partnership with Franklin Templeton Digital Assets. Sui has announced a strategic partnership with Franklin Templeton Digital Assets, focusing on supporting builders within the Sui ecosystem and deploying new technologies on the Sui blockchain protocol. Franklin Templeton plans to leverage Sui’s high-performance blockchain network to develop innovative financial products, aiming to enhance transparency and efficiency in asset management.

[Ton] DuckChain, the First Consumer Layer on TON, Goes Live with ISO Concept. On 18 November, DuckChain, the first consumer Layer built on TON, officially launched its mainnet and introduced the innovative ISO (Initial Star Offering) concept. ISO allows users to convert Telegram Stars into on-chain Stars, enabling diverse on-chain interactions. This breakthrough significantly lowers the adoption barrier for Web2 users. ISO is designed as a unique asset issuance and on-chain interaction model within the Telegram ecosystem, paving the way for mass adoption among Telegram users.

DuckChain has already attracted nearly 50 ecosystem projects and is the first TON-based consumer Layer to support EVM compatibility. This feature enriches the on-chain application ecosystem and encourages more developers from EVM ecosystems to join. In addition, DuckChain announced the launch of the “Eggs Season” mainnet campaign, offering a prize pool worth millions of dollars. Participants can earn rewards including USDT, TON, ecosystem partner tokens (such as NOT and DOGS), and other ecosystem credits.

[Layer2] Coinbase Launches cbBTC on Arbitrum Network. On 19 November, Coinbase announced that cbBTC is now live on the Arbitrum network. cbBTC is an ERC-20 token backed 1:1 by Bitcoin (BTC) reserves and fully supported by Coinbase.

[Layer2] Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 Monad begins rolling out testnet. According to The Block, the highly-anticipated Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 Monad has begun rolling out its testnet as part of a phased release, a source told The Block. “I made a tx, it was fast,” well-known crypto trader Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie, wrote on X. Cobie subsequently confirmed his post was in reference to the Monad testnet.

The news follows the launch of Monad’s devnet in March, having reached 10,000 transactions per second in internal testing. "This is an important milestone for our team," Keone Hon, CEO and co-founder of Monad developer Monad Labs, told The Block at the time. Monad claims to have optimized the way Ethereum works to provide greater throughput — designed to offer up to 10,000 TPS with a one-second block time. However, this may be more challenging for node operators, with hardware requirements around twice as large compared to the main Ethereum blockchain.