Grass

On October 28, the Phantom wallet provider experienced significant downtime lasting nearly three hours, coinciding with a surge in demand for the GRASS token airdrop. Users reported issues such as missing balances and transaction failures on social media platforms. The downtime began at 1:36 PM UTC and was resolved by 4:20 PM UTC, marking the second service interruption for Phantom within the month. Earlier in October, a brief 8-minute outage was recorded on the 3rd. In response to the incident, Phantom's team assured users that they would actively monitor the situation and implement measures to prevent future occurrences. The GRASS tokens are part of a decentralized physical infrastructure network known as Grass, which operates on the Solana blockchain. This network incentivizes users by rewarding them for lending unused internet bandwidth, which is then utilized to enhance artificial intelligence models. The first airdrop of GRASS tokens will distribute 100 million tokens, accounting for 10% of the total supply. Following the airdrop's launch, the price of GRASS experienced volatility, initially dropping by 28% to $0.65 before recovering slightly to $0.71 at the time of reporting. Despite the issues faced by Phantom, the Solana network itself remained fully operational throughout the downtime. Data from Solana Status indicated that the network maintained total uptime over the past 90 days. The timing of Phantom's service disruption, just minutes after the GRASS token claim went live, has led to speculation about a correlation between the two events, as users rushed to claim their rewards. This incident highlights the challenges faced by wallet providers during high-demand events in the cryptocurrency space.

In the latest developments in the blockchain space, several projects have announced airdrops and funding rounds that are set to take place from October 21 to October 27. One of the highlights is Ethereum L2 Scroll, which has opened its first airdrop application, allocating 7% of its total SCR supply. This airdrop targets community participants, ecosystem projects, industry contributors, and global community organizers. Scroll has successfully raised over $80 million in funding through various rounds, with significant contributions from Polychain and Bain Capital Crypto, among others. Another noteworthy project is Grass, a Depin initiative on Solana that integrates AI technology. Grass has announced its Airdrop One, distributing 100 million GRASS tokens, representing 10% of its total supply. The allocation is designed to reward users who have earned Grass points and those who hold specific NFTs. Grass has raised over $4.5 million in funding, with its latest round led by Polychain Capital. The airdrop applications for Grass will open on October 28, 2024, creating excitement among its user base. Additionally, Kelp DAO, a re-staking protocol based on EigenLayer, has opened airdrop applications for SCR tokens. The project raised $9 million in a private funding round earlier this year. Jupiter, a DEX aggregator, has also launched its Active Staking Rewards, distributing JUP and CLOUD tokens to active voters. The airdrop landscape is further enriched by projects like ALIENX and Ordzaar, which are also rolling out their airdrop initiatives. As these projects continue to innovate and engage their communities, the upcoming weeks promise to be significant for blockchain enthusiasts and investors alike.

Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePin) are making significant strides in the tech industry by facilitating decentralized projects that focus on real-world infrastructure. Recently, the DePin sector has seen notable developments, including the listing of the GRASS token on OKX's pre-market futures platform. This allows users to trade USDT-margined futures on the GRASS token, which is the native asset of the Grass project. The futures went live on October 14, 2024, enabling users to monetize unused bandwidth by selling it to vetted companies, thereby creating a fairer marketplace for proxy services. Additionally, the Grass Foundation is set to release a checker for its highly anticipated “Airdrop One” on October 21, 2024, marking it as potentially the most widely distributed airdrop in crypto history. In another significant move, Aethir, a decentralized GPU-as-a-service network, announced the launch of a $100 million Ecosystem Fund aimed at fostering AI and cloud gaming initiatives. A substantial portion of this fund will be directed towards the Aethir Catalyst program, which offers grants ranging from $5,000 to $200,000 to emerging developers. This initiative not only provides financial backing but also grants access to Aethir's extensive GPU resources, enabling developers to create decentralized cloud-based games and integrate AI solutions. Aethir's strategic investment in this area reflects its commitment to enhancing its presence in the rapidly growing cloud gaming and AI sectors. Analytics platform LunarCrush has also highlighted the top DePIN projects based on social media mentions, with Bittensor (TAO) leading the pack with 10,880 mentions, indicating a surge in community interest. MultiversX (EGLD) and ICP (Internet Computer Protocol) followed, showcasing their growing presence in the decentralized infrastructure space. While DePIN is still evolving and faces challenges, it plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between synthetic and real-world assets, thereby supporting traditional infrastructure in areas where conventional models fall short.

Bitget Wallet, a prominent Web3 non-custodial wallet, has announced its integration with Grass, an AI-driven data layer protocol. This integration allows users to earn rewards by sharing their unused internet bandwidth. With over 2 million users globally, Grass enables individuals to contribute to AI model training by sharing their internet bandwidth. The collected data is structured and sold to AI labs, providing users with rewards while advancing AI technology. Grass ensures user security by meeting industry standards and is now featured in the DApp section of Bitget Wallet, aligning with the platform's goal of offering seamless access to Web3 technologies. Alvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet, emphasized the significance of this integration, stating, 'Grass is a prime example of how users can earn rewards effortlessly while contributing to AI and decentralized infrastructure development. This partnership underscores our dedication to making Web3 accessible and beneficial for all users.' About Bitget Wallet Bitget Wallet is a leading non-custodial Web3 wallet and decentralized ecosystem platform. Offering a range of features such as multi-chain asset management, a native Launchpad, and support for over 100 blockchains and 250,000+ tokens, Bitget Wallet aims to facilitate asset discovery and Web3 exploration. For more information, visit the Bitget Wallet [website](Website).

There is a growing interest in Solana DePIN projects, with many seeing it as the next big thing in the crypto world. These projects enable the tokenization of tangible assets such as cellular networks, cloud storage, and computer processing power. The DePIN market has experienced significant growth, currently valued at $20 billion, marking a 400% increase in the past year. Surpassing 300% growth, DePIN has become one of the most profitable sectors in the crypto industry, second only to real-world assets (RWA). The value of DePIN on Solana has exceeded $4 billion, attracting both individual users and companies as AI and machine learning gain popularity. **The Appeal of Solana for DePIN Projects** Solana stands out for DePIN projects due to its speed, cost-effectiveness, and robust infrastructure. Its ability to process transactions quickly and at lower costs compared to other blockchains makes it an attractive choice for DePIN initiatives. The ease of system installation, high speed, and expanding user base further contribute to Solana's popularity among DePIN projects. Let's delve into some notable DePIN projects on Solana: 1. **Render Network**: Render is a decentralized GPU rendering network that migrated to Solana for its speed and cost efficiency. Introducing features like the Render Network Cinema 4D Wizard, which streamlines designers' workflows by supporting native C4D files, Render is also part of Grayscale's Decentralized AI Fund, highlighting its significance in AI. 2. **Get Grass**: This decentralized network leverages unused Internet computing power for web scraping, converting data into AI datasets. With over 2 million users globally, Get Grass launched the Desktop Node and initiated an airdrop, distributing 10% of its total token supply. 3. **Kuzco**: Focused on scalable and cost-effective machine learning, Kuzco operates a decentralized GPU cluster on Solana for LLM inference. Since its launch, Kuzco has experienced remarkable growth, expanding its online GPUs to 11.3K and significantly increasing daily points completed. 4. **Ionet**: Partnering with Chainbase, Ionet enhances its omnichannel data network for AI modeling advancements, aiming to elevate the capabilities of AI applications.

The Grass airdrop faced backlash as participants received minimal token rewards, sparking disappointment and criticism. Users expressed frustration over inadequate allocations and lack of communication from the project. In response, Grass introduced the Grass Foundation to address concerns and uphold its mission of decentralizing data management for AI training. Despite community dissatisfaction, Grass secured $4.5 million in funding from investors like No Limit Holdings, Polychain Capital, and Tribe Capital. Moving forward, Grass must prioritize transparent reward distribution to regain user trust and support.