Connect with us

Coin Market

Polygon’s Nailwal: Jio partnership to drive real-world Web3 adoption for 450M users

Published

on

As Polygon lays the groundwork for mainstream Web3 adoption in India by bringing blockchain access to over 450 million Reliance Jio users, it remains focused on balancing speed, scalability and affordability, without compromising on decentralization.

Polygon is working with Jio, a telecom giant owned by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, to find ways to infuse blockchain technology into its existing services. The duo is currently adding blockchain-based capabilities to the JioSphere web browser, which would have been expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming via traditional methods.

“We’re building at an insane pace, onboarding massive partners, and pushing blockchain into the mainstream, but with that growth comes the responsibility to make sure we’re doing it the right way,” Polygon’s co-founder, Sandeep Nailwal, said while discussing Polygon’s India-focused initiatives with Cointelegraph. 

Preserving decentralization while ensuring system scalability

“Scalability and decentralization don’t have to be either-or, and that’s exactly the balance we’re focused on at Polygon,” Nailwal said as he underscored the importance of keeping the core values of blockchain intact: security, transparency and decentralization.

At the same time, Nailwal revealed that Polygon is investing heavily in zero-knowledge technology to make scaling more seamless across the ecosystem. “The goal is to give developers and users the best of both worlds: faster, cheaper transactions without compromising trust or decentralization,” he added.

As a result of delivering the combination of low fees, fast transactions and decentralized security, Polygon is already powering some of the most active use cases in Web3, from stablecoin payments on Polygon PoS to real-world tokenization with major institutions: 

“The key challenge is making blockchain as seamless and accessible as Web2 without compromising what makes it special. That’s why we’re all-in on ZK technology and Agglayer, which let us scale while keeping the ecosystem trustless and interoperable.”

Bringing blockchain tech to millions of users

According to Nailwal, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work when onboarding 450 million users from India’s diverse population. “We’ll be working closely with Jio to develop use cases that truly resonate with their users, and gradually onboard them onto the chain based on these real-world applications,” he added.

Nailwal said that developers never have to compromise on the fundamentals, as Polygon’s infrastructure can scale without sacrificing what makes blockchain powerful in the first place:

“What excites me most is that we’re moving beyond technical discussions about blockchain to solving real problems for real people. These are the use cases that will drive the next wave of adoption.”

“At the end of the day, it’s about more than just technology. We’re here to create a decentralized future that billions of people can actually use. And while that’s a massive challenge, it’s also what excites me the most,” Nailwal said.

Related: Indian town adopts Avalanche blockchain for tamper-proof land records

Real-world problem solving will drive the next wave of adoption

Rising threats driven by artificial intelligence tools, including deepfakes and other misinformation campaigns, are another use case blockchain technology can help solve. Nailwal said that the escalating threat of misinformation and growing consumer insistence on trusted sources will eventually result in an uptick of blockchain-based verification tools.

Additionally, Nailwal highlighted the growing relevance of Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, in mainstream finance and reporting. “Polymarket’s success is exactly what we’ve been working toward,” he said, adding:

“Prediction markets are proving to be incredibly valuable tools for finance, risk assessment, journalism and even governance. They pull in insights from a wide range of sources, often making them more reliable than traditional polling.”

Nailwal is placing his full bet on blockchain’s immutable nature to transform economic forecasting, policy-making and journalism, among others.

Magazine: Your AI ‘digital twin’ can take meetings and comfort your loved ones

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Coin Market

Teens kidnap Las Vegas man at gunpoint, stealing $4M in crypto

Published

on

By

Three teenagers have been accused of kidnapping a man at gunpoint after he was returning from a crypto event in Las Vegas, before driving him an hour outside of the city and robbing him of $4 million in crypto and non-fungible tokens.

According to police, the incident occurred last November. The victim had finished hosting a crypto-related event in downtown Las Vegas, and when he returned home, the suspects forced him into a vehicle and drove him to a remote desert area an hour away from the city. 

There, they forced him to hand over passwords to his accounts, according to a May 10 report from Las Vegas local news outlet 8 News Now. 

The man was allegedly told to comply with the teens’ demands if he wanted to “live to see another day,” and because they also “had his dad and would kill him,” according to the report. 

It’s also alleged that a fourth person may have been communicating with the three young men through a phone call during the incident, which the victim could hear through a speakerphone.

After having his accounts drained of $4 million in crypto and NFTs, the victim reportedly walked five miles back through the desert to reach a gas station where he could call a friend for help. 

Two 16-year-olds from Florida are facing charges including robbery, kidnapping, and extortion in connection with the incident. A third teen allegedly involved in the plot has left the country, prosecutors say.

One of the young men is behind bars with bail set at $4 million, while the other has been released under house arrest with electronic monitoring. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June, with both teens set to be tried as adults. 

Digital asset lawyer Sasha Hodder said in a May 10 X post that this case illustrates how “Crypto theft is evolving. It’s not just social engineering or SIM swaps anymore.”

Source: Sasha Hodder

Uptick in thieves targeting crypto industry offline

Crypto industry participants are increasingly becoming targets for kidnappings and extortion. In a recent May 3 case, the father of a crypto entrepreneur was freed by police in Paris, France, after being held for several days in connection with a 7 million euro ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot.

In February, a UK crypto broker reportedly jumped 30 feet from a balcony to escape kidnappers who were threatening to torture and kill him if he didn’t hand over 30,000 euros ($30,917) of crypto.

Related: Ledger co-founder released after days in captivity in France: Report

Meanwhile, Jameson Lopp, a cypherpunk and co-founder of self-custodial firm Casa, has created a list on GitHub recording dozens of offline crypto robberies all over the world. 

The first dates back to 2014, when someone allegedly tried to extort computer scientist and cryptographer Hal Finney of 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $400,000 at the time. 

There have been 21 incidents of in-person crypto-related robbery so far this year, according to Lopp’s list. In 2024, there were 28 incidents, while there were 17 in 2023 and 32 in 2021. 

Magazine: Bitcoiner sex trap extortion? BTS firm’s blockchain disaster: Asia Express

Continue Reading

Coin Market

DeFi lending TVL is outpacing DEXs due to more sustainable yield — VC

Published

on

By

Crypto users could be looking for a more sustainable yield this cycle, as total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) lending continues to hit new highs while decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have lagged in comparison.

DeFi lending protocols are currently the leading DeFi vertical in TVL at $53.6 billion, representing 43% of the $124.6 billion locked across all DeFi protocols. The figure also surpasses liquid staking.

Multichain lending protocol Aave currently holds $25 billion of locked value, accounting for nearly half of the DeFi lending market.

Change in crypto lending protocol TVL since 2019. Source: DeFiLlama

In stark contrast, DEXs, which once held nearly double the TVL of their closest competitor, have dropped from $85.3 billion in November 2021 to $21.5 billion today.

Explaining the rise in DeFi lending and fall in DEX TVL, the founder of crypto fund Apollo Capital, Henrik Andersson, told Cointelegraph that lending is arguably the “only sustainable way to produce yield” in DeFi, as DEX liquidity pooling has largely become unprofitable due to impermanent loss.

He also argued that the industry-leading DEX Uniswap v3’s more “capital efficient” design, relative to Uniswap v2, may have contributed to the DEX TVL fall, as liquidity providers can now earn more rewards with less upfront capital.

Andersson also pointed out that the rise of intent-based swaps — a relatively new crosschain trading mechanism — may have further reduced the DEX TVL, as market makers typically source liquidity from centralized exchanges to facilitate these swaps.

DeFi lending protocols like Aave and Compound Finance enable crypto users to lend assets to earn interest or borrow against collateral. Smart contracts manage deposits, loans and interest rates to ensure trustless transactions.

DeFi users who supply Ether (ETH) and Tether (USDT) on Aave, for example, currently earn an annual percentage yield of 1.86% and 3.17%, respectively.

Providing stablecoins and Ether to DEX pools such as Uniswap’s can offer higher rewards; however, as Andersson pointed out, they’re far less sustainable, fluctuating by the day.

DeFi now dominates CeFi in crypto lending market 

DeFi-based crypto lending accounted for around 65% of the total market by the end of 2024 and has increased or maintained its market share against centralized lenders every quarter since Q4 2022, an April report from crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital showed.

The fall started occurring around the time several centralized crypto lenders such as Genesis, Celsius Network, BlockFi and Voyager fell bankrupt, causing TVL to fall massively.

Related: Bitcoin hits $103K but DeFi is a mixed bag: Finance Redefined

Their collective downfall led to an estimated 78% collapse in the size of the crypto lending market from the 2022 peak to the bear market trough, Galaxy noted.

Change in market share between centralized and decentralized crypto lending protocols between Q3 2018 and Q4 2024. Source: Galaxy Digital

However, it was DeFi lending protocols that led the resurgence in crypto lending activity, Galaxy noted, pointing to a near 960% increase in DeFi open borrows between Q4 2022 and Q4 2024.

Galaxy said the strong recovery of the DeFi lending market is a testament to the design and risk management practices adopted by DeFi lending protocols while showcasing the benefits of algorithmic, overcollateralized and supply-and-demand-driven borrowing models.

Galaxy expects increased institutional participation and clearer regulations to drive the next wave of crypto lending adoption.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Continue Reading

Coin Market

Uniswap becomes first DEX to hit $3T in all-time volume

Published

on

By

Decentralized exchange Uniswap has hit a whopping $3 trillion in aggregate all-time volume, the first decentralized exchange to hit the number. 

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams noted the achievement in an X post on May 12, which included a screenshot of a Dune Analytics dashboard counting down to the milestone. 

Uniswap also has a current daily volume of $3.3 billion, according to Dune. DeFillama meanwhile shows Uniswap is the leading DEX with a 23% market share in daily volumes, which it reports as slightly lower at $3 billion over the past 24 hours. 

The second-largest DEX in volume is PancakeSwap, with $2.7 billion and a 21% DEX market share. 

Uniswap has a current total value locked of just under $5 billion. However, this figure is around half of its 2021 all-time high, as overall DeFi total value locked (TVL) is about half of what it was in late 2021.

DeFillama reports a DeFi TVL of $124 billion, while DappRadar reports $132 billion, with more than half of this total on Ethereum. 

Uniswap reaches total trade volume milestone. Source: Hayden Adams

Related: Decentralized exchanges gain ground despite $6M Hyperliquid exploit

The DEX’s native token, Uniswap (UNI), has not mirrored the platform’s performance and remains down more than 84% from its peak price of $45 four years ago in May 2021.

UNI had lost 3.4% on the day and was trading at just over $7 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. 

Uniswap smart wallet coming 

Adams also announced on May 12 that Uniswap was “rolling out our own 7702 wallet and supporting other 7702 wallets … with the goal being one-click swapping for all users.” 

EIP-7702 is an Ethereum Improvement Proposal led by Vitalik Buterin that went live with the Pectra upgrade on May 7.

It enhances Ethereum accounts to withstand potential threats from quantum computing and allows externally owned accounts to temporarily function as smart contracts during transactions.

Trust Wallet has already launched a smart account-compatible upgrade for its users, and Uniswap is set to follow. 

Magazine: Bitcoin eyes ‘crazy numbers,’ JD Vance set for Bitcoin talk: Hodler’s Digest

Continue Reading

Trending