Top Crypto News This Week: Sonic Mainnet to Launch, Avalanche Etna Goes Live, Jupiter’s Jupuary Starts Voting

This week’s crypto calendar is packed with major events, as Sonic Labs is about to launch its L1 mainnet, the Avalanche Etna update went live, Jupuary voting began for Jupiter, and more.

Additionally, Starknet will soon begin STRK token staking, and Stacks Foundation will release a timeline for its sBTC Bitcoin-backed asset.

Sonic Mainnet Is Launching in December

Sonic Labs (formerly known as Fantom) has repeatedly claimed in recent weeks that its Layer-1 mainnet would launch in December. This EVM platform also known as Sonic will offer developers attractive incentives and powerful infrastructure.

However, the company is yet to confirm the exact launch date. A social media post from earlier today teased a few details.

“Tired of waiting months or years for empty launch ‘promises’, and you’re ready to show the world what you can do? Come launch with us on Sonic. Our mainnet goes live this December. Earn up to 90% of your app’s fees. Real 10k at sub-second finality. Secure gateway to Ethereum. Grants available via Innovator Fund. $200 million S airdrop,” Sonic Labs wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

These breadcrumb announcements, alongside Sonic Lab’s airdrop, have generated dramatic interest in the last few days. Sonic’s FTM token has also been performing admirably, surging over 30% in the past week as the mainnet launch approaches. The network’s post-launch success could determine a broader trend in FTM valuation.

Sonic FTM Price. Source: TradingView

Avalanche Etna Goes Live

Blockchain network Avalanche has launched its Etna upgrade on testnet today. After this phase, Etna will launch on the mainnet, which will be the final step before the company launches its “largest update ever.” This update, Avalanche 9000, will drastically upgrade the underlying technology, and Avalanche Labs cofounder Kevin Sekniqi recently discussed its importance:

“My excitement for mainnet deployment literally cannot be overstated. This vision has been in the works for so many years. Huge upgrade, and my expectation and hope is that it’ll spark a golden age of L1s, making ‘scaling’ a thing of the past. No more ‘how do we scale’ but now ‘ok, what do I build to get to 1 billion users?'”, claimed Sekniqi.

The Etna upgrade empowers L1 creators with greater control over their networks. Developers can now define custom staking mechanisms, select alternative gas tokens, and implement unique governance models tailored to their specific use cases.

How the Etna Upgrade Will Change the Avalanche Network. Source: Researcher Aiz Calibur

Jupiter’s Jupuary Begins Voting

Jupiter, a Solana-based decentralized exchange, began the first round of voting for its “Jupuary” airdrop today.

Essentially, Jupiter opened up a vote to the community on whether or not to conduct several massive airdrops. These airdrops require 70% community approval, and their stated goal is to build engagement.

“This current vote is for checking if the community is comfortable with 2 more JUPuaries round of 700M $JUP tokens each. Building a decentralized community has never been an easy task. Jup by Jup, you and I should strive to make $JUP the best governance token in the world and J.U.P the best community ever,” an influencer wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

This is not the platform’s first Jupuary airdrop, but it is the largest. Developers stated that this airdrop’s mission is to “accelerate, decentralize, unify” their broader community ecosystem. If the first vote passes, it will lead to one round of airdrops and successive votes until they lose approval.

Starknet Begins Staking

Starknet, a permissionless ZK-Rollup, will begin staking on its STRK token this week. It deployed staking infrastructure on mainnet earlier today. This will begin the platform’s overall transformation into a Proof-of-Stake network in four phases of preliminary test experiments.

“Validator tooling is now operational, and Validators are invited to begin their integration. For Delegators, UI and dApps for delegation will be available tomorrow with the official launch. Starting tomorrow, becoming a STRK Delegator will be very simple for everyone,” the firm claimed via social media.

Stacks to Reveal sBTC Launch Timeline

Additionally, the Bitcoin L2 Stacks is expected to reveal a timeline for its sBTC Bitcoin-backed asset. The company has released a whitepaper and roadmap, but it claimed that a more detailed timeline is forthcoming. This new asset will seek to provide new opportunities for Bitcoin in nontraditional DeFi applications.

Finally, all eyes will be on Bitcoin as it pushes towards the long-awaited $100,000 milestone. Despite the brief corrections in the market on Monday, Bitcoin has been consistently pushing new boundaries of all-time highs. It will be interesting to see BTC finally reaches six figures ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas.