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Cardano Coalition - Cardano’s biggest players unite behind 70M ADA push to spark on-chain growth.
Sony Stable - Sony’s blockchain partner Startale launches dollar stablecoin on Soneium.
XRP Staking - Firelight launches XRP staking protocol on Flare, with stXRP planned to earn rewards through DeFi insurance.
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This week, Messari's Chris Davis sat down with Multicoin Capital partner Shayon Sengupta to explore how crypto’s true superpower—permissionless capital formation—is redefining resource networks in the age of AI.
They trace the evolution from Bitcoin and Helium to modern DePIN and “internet labor markets,” unpack why verification and proof of real work are make-or-break for these systems, and dig into emerging crypto markets for AI compute, scarce data, and global ML talent.
The conversation ranges from agent-run, zero-employee companies and brain-computer interfaces to proof of personhood and the looming wave of AI-generated media, before closing with grounded advice on how to break into venture capital today.
Watch the full discussion on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.
Messari's protocol reports give you a deep dive on the foundation and state of top crypto protocols, including key metrics and notable events. See the complete list of protocol reports here and get a preview of our latest report below.
Layer-1 smart contract blockchain using Liquid Proof-of-Stake (LPoS) for consensus
Token: XTZ (tez) is the native asset used for staking (“baking”), delegation, governance, and fees on L1 and on the Tezos-based L2
Tezos L1 transactions rose 21.5% QoQ; contract calls also increased, signaling healthier base-layer activity
L1 fees climbed 16.9% QoQ to 17,460 XTZ, while Etherlink L2 fees fell 36.7% QoQ to 50,220 XTZ as its Kernel 4.1 upgrade doubled gas throughput and lowered effective costs
VeChainThor is a Layer-1 smart contract platform launched in 2017, focused on real-world enterprise and sustainability use cases
Daily active addresses: +85.2% QoQ to 62.8k; daily new addresses: +54.4% QoQ to 40.9k
+32.3% QoQ to 370k, ending a two-quarter decline and reflecting broader onchain usage
~81.5% of gas now from EVM-based transactions, with EVM gas consumption up ~51% QoQ
High-performance L1 for real-time apps: Somnia targets internet-scale throughput, sub-second finality, and ultra-low fees to support gaming, social, and interactive digital worlds
After a 6-month testnet (10B+ txs, 118M wallets), launched mainnet and the SOMI token, ending Q3 with a $112M market cap
Averaged 14.3M daily transactions in September and generated 199k SOMI in fees, showing meaningful retention beyond airdrop farming
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