Cryptocurrency
Zircuit Raises Mainnet Funding Round With Participation From Binance Labs, Mirana Ventures, And Others

[PRESS RELEASE – George Town, Cayman Islands, July 22nd, 2024]
Zircuit, a fully EVM-compatible ZK rollup with AI-enabled sequencer level security, today announced it raised a Mainnet funding round with participation from Binance Labs, Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, Selini, Robot Ventures, Nomad Capital, Borderless Capital, and prominent angel investors including the founders of Renzo, Etherfi, Pendle, Parallel, LayerZero, Axelar, F2Pool, Nonce, KelpDAO, ETHGlobal, Maelstrom, and more. With this new funding, Zircuit will be able to supercharge ecosystem growth and activity on its network, building upon a strong technical foundation and over $2.9 billion in staked assets.
Since 2022, the Zircuit team has built a new L2 network that introduces a revolutionary new approach to onchain security. Zircuit protects dApps and their users from blockchain vulnerabilities through its novel infrastructure that is armored by sequencer-level security and built-in, automated AI techniques to guard against smart contract exploits and malicious actors. The network’s hybrid architecture also results in a fast, low-cost, and fully EVM-compatible ZK rollup, offering unparalleled security for users without compromising speed or compatibility.
Bolstered by its strong security infrastructure, Zircuit plans to become a central hub for restaked assets that features unparalleled security and allows users to earn industry-leading yields natively. The landscape of liquid restaking is still nascent and rapidly evolving and new LRT protocols are constantly emerging, making it challenging for even experienced users to track and choose the best and the safest protocols for deploying their capital. Zircuit aims to address this problem by becoming a major liquidity hub for restaked assets (ETH, BTC, LSTs, and LRTs) where users can easily allocate their capital and have peace of mind knowing that funds are deployed to the safest and highest quality protocols.
“At Binance Labs, we support projects that are innovating in Web3 and accelerating the blockchain industry. Through its integration of sequencer level security, Zircuit is providing a more secure L2 solution and we look forward to watching it grow and develop further,” said Yi He, Co-Founder of Binance and Head of Binance Labs.
“Security has been a persistent issue in the crypto space, with breaches occurring almost daily. Zircuit, founded by top security veterans, leads the industry with its best-in-class security architecture. The team’s clear growth strategy has led to explosive growth in assets locked since launch,” said Erick Zhang, Managing Partner of Nomad Capital. “We are excited to support and continue working with the Zircuit team.”
“As the web3 space accelerates toward mainstream adoption, Zircuit will empower this growth by providing the necessary infrastructure to onboard the masses. Our years of research into rollups and blockchain security have allowed us to build an L2 network with unparalleled security and scalability. We’re proud to have the support of Binance Labs, Mirana Ventures, and our other investors as we approach our first phase of Mainnet and establish Zircuit as a cornerstone in the industry,” stated Martin Derka, co-founder of Zircuit.
Zircuit’s Mainnet Phase 1 is set to launch in the coming weeks.
To learn more about Zircuit, users can visit zircuit.com or read the developer docs at docs.zircuit.com
To participate in Build to Earn, users can visit: https://build.zircuit.com/
To participate in Zircuit Staking, users can visit: https://stake.zircuit.com/
About Zircuit
Zircuit is a ZK rollup with AI-enabled sequencer-level security and parallelized circuits. Built by a team of web3 security veterans and PhDs in computer science, algorithms, and cryptography, Zircuit’s unique architecture combines the best of both worlds of performance and security. To learn more visit zircuit.com or follow us on Twitter/X @ZircuitL2
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Cryptocurrency
Mounting Evidence of Ethereum’s Struggles: Volatility, ETF Losses, Weak Demand

Ether’s price has been struggling to break above the $2,750 resistance level, despite rising by over 44% this month.
Now, several evidence point to the altcoin’s struggles throughout the 2023-25 cycle, which revealed both volatility and capital flow patterns that contrast sharply with prior cycles and competitor assets like Bitcoin and Solana.
Ethereum Faces Significant Headwinds
One of the most notable indicators is Ether’s realized volatility, which has compressed across cycles as the asset’s size grows, currently hovering around 80%, down from over 120% in earlier periods, according to Glassnode’s latest report.
Typically, Ether’s 3-month realized volatility rises during bull markets and falls during bearish trends. However, this cycle has defied that pattern. In fact, after reaching 60% at the mid-2024 peak of roughly $4,000, realized volatility surprisingly climbed above 90% even as the price declined toward $1,500. This atypical increase in volatility amid falling prices signals increased market uncertainty and instability.
Moreover, while the drawdown structure in this cycle generally aligns with the typical Ether bull market pattern – where corrections of 40% or more from local peaks are common – the key deviation lies in the absence of a fresh ATH price for the altcoin, unlike Bitcoin and Solana, both of which set new peaks in this cycle. This lack of a new high has been a disappointment for many investors who expected the world’s second-largest crypto asset to track more closely with its peers.
Additionally, Ether’s downside price movements have been unusually volatile, with multiple drawdowns exceeding 40% and the current 2025 drawdown peaking at an unusually severe 65.4%. While previous cycles have seen similar or worse drawdowns, they tended to occur later in the cycle. As such, this early, steep correction suggests structural weaknesses unique to this period.
In terms of capital inflows, the Realized Cap – a measure of the value of all Ether based on the price at which coins last moved – has increased by only 38% since the cycle low in January 2023, growing from $176 billion to $243 billion.
This pales in comparison to the massive growth during the 2021 cycle, which saw more than a 1,000% increase. The relatively muted capital inflow of approximately $67 billion during this cycle underlines weaker liquidity support and helps explain the crypto asset’s subdued price performance.
Supporting this narrative, trade activity on major centralized exchanges has mirrored these trends: spot volume, which peaked at $14.7 billion per day during the $4,000 price high in December 2024, plunged by roughly 80% to $2.9 billion per day. Though recent trading volumes have rebounded to $8.6 billion daily, spot volumes have yet to establish new cycle highs, as seen with previous cycles.
Average ETH ETF investor Substantially Underwater
The firm’s analysis further revealed that the average investor in the BlackRock and Fidelity Ethereum ETFs is currently facing an unrealized loss of approximately 21%. Net outflows from these ETFs have tended to accelerate whenever Ethereum’s spot price drops below the average cost basis, observed during important declines in August 2024 and again in January and March 2025.
Despite initial excitement, the ETFs accounted for only around 1.5% of spot market trade volume at launch, pointing to a lukewarm reception. While this rose to over 2.5% in November 2024, it has since reverted back to 1.5%.
While the current market conditions reveal mounting pressure for the crypto asset, certain market experts also predict that it could hit the $3,000 mark as early as June.
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Cryptocurrency
Crypto Markets Shed $200B in 48 Hours as Bitcoin Dumps to 12-Day Low (Weekend Watch)

Perhaps driven by the latest escalation of tensions between the US and China, bitcoin’s price has tumbled over the past 12 hours to a multi-week low of $103,000.
The altcoins have it even worse, with massive price drops from the likes of SUI, LINK, DOGE, SOL, ADA, and more. CRO has defied the market-wide trend with a double-digit price surge.
BTC Dumps to $103K
Ever since it skyrocketed to almost $112,000 last Thursday to chart a new all-time high, bitcoin’s price has been unable to recapture or even sustain its momentum. It started to fall on the next day when US President Trump recommended a new set of tariffs against the EU.
Although he delayed their implementation for over a month, BTC failed to bounce off decisively and was stopped at around $110,000 on a couple of occasions. The latest rejection, which came on Thursday at $109,000, was the worst one (for now) as it drove BTC down to $105,000.
It recovered some ground to $106,000 yesterday, but the bears reemerged and pushed the cryptocurrency south to a 12-day low of just over $103,000. This decline transpired after Trump said China “violated” the trade agreement between the two, while Beijing responded kindly.
Although BTC has regained some ground and now sits above $103,500, its market cap has slid to $2.06 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts has shot up to 61.3%.
Alts Bleed Out, Not CRO
The alternative coins have marked some big losses over the past day. Ethereum is close to breaking below $2,500 after a 4.5% drop. XRP has plunged beneath $2.15, while DOGE, SOL, ADA, SUI, LINK, and AVAX have plummeted by up to 9%.
The situation with the lower-cap alts is even more painful, as many, such as ENA, INJ, VIRTUAL, and PEPE, have charted double-digit price declines.
CRO is the only exception, having gained 17% in the past day and trading close to $0.11.
The total crypto market cap has seen roughly $200 billion gone in the past two days and is down to $3.360 trillion.
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Cryptocurrency
NFT Lending Tanks 97%: Can The Sector Find a New Life?

Following a brief wave of optimism in early 2024, the NFT lending market has drastically slowed. As of May 21, 2025, loan volumes have dwindled to just over $50 million – a steep 83% drop since January and a staggering 97% from the January 2024 high. At its peak, activity surged with platforms like Blur’s Blend and NFTfi attracting traders eager to access liquidity without selling their NFTs.
Today, however, interest has faded, which signals that the hype around NFT lending has lost its appeal amid current market realities.
NFT Lending In Crisis
The downturn in NFT lending is closely linked to the broader slump in the NFT market. Many top-tier collections have seen their floor prices plunge over 50% from peak levels, eroding the value of collateral and, in turn, lending activity. While a handful of projects have bucked the trend, they remain rare exceptions unable to revive the sector.
Loan durations averaged 31 days in May, maintaining a consistent trend seen throughout 2024 and into 2025. This figure is notably shorter than the 40-day average observed in 2023, which, according to DappRadar’s report, hints at a shift in borrower behavior toward shorter, more strategic use of liquidity, rather than longer-term commitments.
The average NFT loan in May 2025 was just $4,000, a steep decline from $14,000 in May 2024 and $22,000 in early 2022, which represents a 71% yearly drop. It suggests borrowers are either using less valuable NFTs or avoiding heavy leverage. The user base has collapsed too: active borrowers and lenders have fallen nearly 90% and 78%, respectively, since their January 2024 peak.
Reigniting The Sector
For NFT lending to regain momentum, new drivers are essential. DappRadar stated that integrating real-world asset (RWA) NFTs – like real estate or yield-generating tokens – could provide stronger, more reliable collateral.
Simplified, intent-based interfaces that match loan terms to user needs may reduce complexity and attract more users.
Additionally, evolving beyond traditional peer-to-peer lending toward smarter infrastructure, including undercollateralized options, credit profiling, and AI-based risk tools, could elevate the ecosystem and make NFT lending a more viable and scalable financial service.
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