Weekly Hot Project Updates: World Launches "Super App", Payment Public Chain Tempo Opens Testnet, Farcaster Strategic Transformation, etc. (1207–1213)

1. World Launches “Super App” with New Encrypted Chat and Payment Features link

The biometric authentication project World (co-founded by Sam Altman) releases a new version of the app, adding end-to-end encrypted chat feature World Chat, and cryptocurrency payment capabilities similar to Venmo. The new app also supports receiving salaries and recharges via virtual bank accounts, converting funds into cryptocurrencies without requiring World identity verification. World Chat uses end-to-end encryption similar to Signal and uses color-coded indicators to remind users whether the other party has verified through the World system.

2. Pump fun’s PUMP Token Buyback Total Surpasses $205 Million link

Pump fun’s PUMP token buyback total has exceeded $205 million, surpassing Raydium, becoming the protocol with the highest cumulative buyback amount in the Solana ecosystem. The buyback program has been running for 5 months, currently repurchasing about 13.8% of the circulating supply.

3. Stripe and Paradigm Jointly Launch Payment Public Chain Tempo Opens Public Testnet link

Stripe and Paradigm jointly launch the payment public chain Tempo, now open for public testing. Tempo focuses on stablecoins and cross-border payments, supporting direct stablecoin payments for Gas, and setting up dedicated payment channels to ensure low fees and transaction stability. The project has attracted participation from OpenAI, Shopify, Visa, Mastercard, UBS, Klarna, and others. Klarna plans to issue the stablecoin KlarnaUSD on Tempo next year. Industry analysts believe Tempo will compete directly with Circle’s payment public chain Arc, whose testnet has attracted Visa, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.

4. PayPal USD Stablecoin PYUSD Circulation Surges in Recent Months, Exceeds $3.8 Billion link

PayPal’s USD stablecoin PYUSD has seen a significant increase in circulation over recent months, reaching over $3.8 billion driven by DeFi protocols and incentives. It has grown approximately 224% in the past three months and is now the sixth-largest stablecoin globally, behind World Liberty Financial’s USD1. Decentralized protocol Ethena has become the largest holder of PYUSD, holding about $1.2 billion via custodian Copper.

5. OpenSea’s Token Trading Volume in Past Three Weeks Below $100 Million link

OpenSea’s token trading volume in the past three weeks has remained below $100 million, a decline of over 90% from the peak of over $1 billion in a single week in October. However, token trading on OpenSea still accounts for 70%-90% of the platform’s total trading volume, with weekly NFT trading volume now less than $30 million.

6. Farcaster Announces Strategic Shift: From Social First to Wallet-Driven Growth link

Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero announced a major strategic shift, abandoning the “social first” approach that failed to find product-market fit over the past 4.5 years, and fully transitioning to a “wallet-driven” growth model. The newly launched, rapidly growing in-app wallet is viewed as the closest feature to achieving product-market fit so far. The team is adopting a “use tools (wallet) first, then build networks (protocols)” strategy, aiming to convert each new wallet user into an active protocol user. Romero emphasized that the protocol remains open and decentralized, but the official app will focus on the intersection of wallets and social. Previously, Farcaster acquired token launch platform Clanker.

7. Bittensor’s First Token Halving Scheduled for December 14, TAO Cap Limited to 21 Million link

Decentralized AI-focused network Bittensor will undergo its first token halving on December 14, reducing TAO’s daily issuance from 7,200 to 3,600. Its issuance model is similar to Bitcoin, with a maximum supply of 21 million. Grayscale analysts say this marks a maturation point for the network. Bittensor currently has over 100 subnets, including Chutes providing AI serverless computing and Ridges focusing on AI agent crowdsourcing development.

8. ZKsync Will Discontinue Early Network ZKsync Lite in 2026 link

ZKsync announced it will deprecated the 2020-launched zero-knowledge rollup network ZKsync Lite (formerly ZKsync 1.0) in 2026. This will not affect its other systems, and a detailed schedule and migration guide will be announced next year. ZKsync states that Lite served its purpose as an early solution, and approximately $50 million in assets are still bridged to the network. Withdrawals will remain open.

9. Sky Ecosystem’s On-Chain Capital Allocation Platform Keel Launches $500 Million Investment Plan link

Sky ecosystem’s on-chain capital allocation platform Keel announced a $500 million investment plan to attract more RWA (Real-World Assets) onto Solana. Named “Tokenization Regatta,” the plan was announced at the Abu Dhabi Breakpoint conference and aims to directly fund projects issuing debt, credit, funds, and other RWAs on Solana. Keel, as Sky’s independent capital allocator, will use about $6 billion USDS reserves for yield-generating investments and distribute profits back to Sky and USDS holders.

10. Hyperliquid to Introduce Portfolio Margin in Network Upgrade, Unifying Spot and Perpetual Accounts link

Hyperliquid blockchain will introduce a portfolio margin mechanism in its upcoming network upgrade, currently live on the testnet in pre-alpha form. This mechanism unifies spot and perpetual contract trading into a single account system to improve capital efficiency, allowing unused collateral assets to automatically generate yields. Profits and losses from spot and perpetual positions can offset each other, reducing liquidation risks for perpetual positions. Portfolio margin supports trading structures including hedging spot positions against perpetual shorts and will be available across all HIP-3 DEXs, though not all collateral assets will be borrowable initially. Future HyperCore new asset categories will also gradually support this feature.