Overview

This report rounds up the key developments in the blockchain industry from November 18 to November 21. Significant progress has been made in various sectors, including public blockchains, DeFi, and GameFi. Notably, in the public blockchain ecosystem, Chainlink launched the “Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE)” standard framework, Raydium achieved a record-high $11.31 million in fee revenue, and dYdX Unlimited officially launched, supporting permissionless markets. Additionally, Stripe and USDC joined the Aptos ecosystem, setting a new milestone for cross-chain payments and DeFi. These achievements highlight ongoing innovation in blockchain technology across multiple fields, offering users more application scenarios and development opportunities.

Projects

Chainlink Launches the “Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE)” Standard Framework

Chainlink has launched its new “Chainlink Runtime Environment” (CRE) standard framework to bridge traditional finance and blockchain seamlessly. Chainlink’s core functions are now more modular, allowing developers to combine these flexibly into workflows and execute them via CRE. The framework performs computations off-chain and returns results to on-chain smart contracts, improving both efficiency and complexity of smart contract execution. Through CRE, developers can integrate all Chainlink features, build custom applications, and explore use cases without limitations from chains, off-chain resources, or product integrations.

Chainlink’s CRE standard framework represents both a breakthrough in blockchain technology and a crucial step toward merging blockchain with traditional financial systems. Built on established programming languages like COBOL and Java, the CRE framework offers traditional financial systems a more compatible and feature-rich runtime environment. By bridging this technical divide, blockchain can seamlessly integrate with existing financial infrastructure, enabling new solutions for payments and transfers.

The CRE framework allows financial institutions to integrate blockchain technology more easily, lowering technical barriers and setup costs. This speeds up the traditional financial industry’s digital transformation while enabling closer integration with decentralized finance (DeFi). Financial institutions can now harness blockchain’s key benefits—instant settlement, cross-border payments, and smart contracts — all while maintaining security and compliance standards. The result is greater transparency and efficiency across the financial ecosystem.[1]

Raydium Sets a Record with $11.31 Million in Fee Revenue

Amid the memecoin frenzy, Solana ecosystem DApps have hit record highs in fee revenue. DefiLlama data shows Solana protocols claimed half of the spots among the top 10 fee earners in the last 24 hours.

On November 17, the automated market maker Raydium set a new daily fee record of $11.31 million. The liquid staking protocol Jito also reached $9.87 million in daily fees, marking the third highest in history. Additionally, the memecoin launch platform pump.fun and the Telegram trading bot Photon recorded daily fees of $1.65 million and $2.36 million, respectively, both achieving all-time highs.[2]

dYdX Unlimited Officially Launches with Support for Permissionless Markets

The dYdX Foundation has announced the launch of dYdX Unlimited. This major update allows users to create custom trading markets, introduces MegaVault for enhanced earning opportunities, and features optimized tokenomics to boost user participation and platform growth.

The launch of dYdX Unlimited represents a significant milestone in the DeFi sector. The platform’s new features — instant market creation, MegaVault, and an enhanced incentive program — expand its offerings while showcasing dYdX’s technological leadership. The instant market creation capability will boost community engagement and trading activity by diversifying available trading options. MegaVault introduces a streamlined approach to asset management, improving capital efficiency. Additionally, the enhanced incentive program strengthens dYdX’s market position in DeFi, drawing more users to the platform.

dYdX’s successes in these areas are set to transform the DeFi industry. The platform will drive DeFi trading platforms to become more open and flexible, while its innovative approach will attract new users to the DeFi ecosystem, spurring sector-wide growth. Moreover, dYdX’s success will inspire other DeFi projects to push their own innovation boundaries, strengthening the industry’s competitiveness.[3]

Somnia, an EVM-Compatible Layer1, Launches Devnet with Remarkable Performance

Somnia, an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain focused on high performance, was incubated by Improbable, a metaverse technology company with $150 million in funding. According to Improbable, Somnia Layer 1 delivers transaction processing speeds of over 400,000 transactions per second and maintains transaction latency under one second.

The Somnia Devnet (developer network) has opened its whitelist applications, welcoming developers to become the ecosystem’s founding builders. To foster innovation, Somnia has introduced a $10 million grant program and formed partnerships with leading infrastructure providers — Ankr, Hamera, and ThirdWeb — to deliver comprehensive support. Whitelisted developers gain access to advanced development tools and can obtain Somnia test tokens (STT) through the faucet to conduct thorough testing on the Devnet.[4]

Stripe and USDC Join Aptos Ecosystem, Setting New Milestone for Cross-Chain Payments and DeFi

On November 21, payment giant Stripe announced the expansion of its crypto services to the Aptos (APT) blockchain, supporting Circle’s USDC stablecoin natively issued on the network. This marks a significant advancement for Aptos in decentralized finance (DeFi) and global payments. Previously, Aptos only supported a bridged version of USDC. This upgrade integrates Aptos into Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), enabling seamless USDC transfers across nine major blockchains, including Ethereum and Solana. The Aptos Foundation stated that this move will significantly enhance the usability and capital efficiency of its ecosystem, supporting the development of payment systems, cross-border remittances, and DeFi applications.

This collaboration has far-reaching implications for Aptos. The native USDC integration enhances stablecoin security on the Aptos network while making integration easier for developers, driving growth in DeFi applications and MoveVM-based cross-chain solutions. Through CCTP, Aptos gains stronger connectivity across the multi-chain ecosystem, helping attract more capital. Stripe’s payment services will further accelerate stablecoin adoption in global commerce, increasing Aptos’ overall usage. These developments strengthen Aptos’ role as core Web3 infrastructure and open new market opportunities. The growing ecosystem and potential capital inflows may positively influence APT’s price in the future.[5]

Notice
Users should exercise caution when participating, be mindful of risks, and conduct thorough research before involvement. Gate.io does not guarantee the future development of projects.

References:

1. Chainlink, https://blog.chain.link/introducing-chainlink-runtime-environment/
2. Defillama, https://defillama.com/fees/simple
3. dYdX, https://www.dydx.foundation/blog/enter-the-dydx-unlimited-era
4. X, https://x.com/Somnia_Network/status/1857423354707231075
5. Circle, https://www.circle.com/blog/usdc-and-cctp-are-coming-to-aptos

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