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A recent surge of negative sentiment against the decentralized staking protocol Rocket Pool (RPL) has puzzled data onlookers. According to crypto analytics provider Santiment, RPL saw a spike in mentions on Nov. 6, topping the trending chart with 40% of that chatter’s negative tone. The vitriol stands in stark contrast to the sunny outlook for Ethereum (ETH), which garnered over 54% positive and 29% negative sentiment on the same day. Rocket Pool’s social value | Source: Santiment What is Rocket Pool, and why the hate? Rocket Pool aims to open up Ethereum staking to users who lack the 32 ETH needed to run a solo validator node. Using a tokenized staking system called rETH, users can stake with as little as 0.01 ETH and earn staking rewards. You might also like: Coinbase invests in Rocket Pool, RPL rises 8% The protocol also enables node operators to earn higher returns than solo staking by taking a cut of rewards from user deposits. Rocket Pool emphasi...

Bitcoin Lightning Network adoption receives a boost with the launch of USD payments and decentralized social media platform, Nostr. Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) capacity recently surpassed an all-time high of 5,000 BTC.  The Lightning Network is a neutral protocol built on top of Bitcoin and currently it does not have a “native” token attached to it like many decentralized finance platforms. Although the Lightning Network’s total liquidity is less than 0.5% of the ETH in DeFi contracts, the uptrend in Bitcoin’s LN capacity versus a downtrend in the amount of ETH locked in smart contracts is encouraging for LN development. Total ETH locked in DeFi contracts (top) and total BTC in Lightning Network channels (bottom). Source: DefiLlama While the liquidity on the LN has been rising consistently, the number of channels on the peer-to-peer network dropped drastically in November following the FTX collapse. It could be due to an exodus of miners operating LN nodes besides running mining ...