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Welcome back to 0xResearch.

Today, we’re looking at a newly-announced tech stack by Commonware that seeks to reinvent blockchain development from the ground up. Then we’ll dive into some numbers indicating bitcoin HODLing is becoming less of a fad, and explore an upcoming derivatives exchange built on StarkEx.

Bitcoin long/short-term holder (LTH/STH) supply ratio:

The Glassnode chart illustrates a notable shift in bitcoin market dynamics, emphasizing increased distribution among holders. The long/short-term holder (LTH/STH) supply ratio, which measures the dominance of long-term holders' BTC supply relative to short-term holders’, has dropped to 3.78 — the lowest in this cycle.

This decrease signals that fewer market participants are holding onto their BTC for extended periods, reflecting heightened short-term trading activity.

Bitcoin has been in a $10,000 range between about $92k and $102k for the past three weeks.

Glassnode's analysis suggests this trend does not necessarily indicate a market top. Historical data shows bitcoin prices have often risen even as long-term holding declines, particularly during phases of active market distribution. While current behavior departs from the HODL-centric narrative, it aligns with periods of increased liquidity and market engagement.

— Macauley Peterson (X: @yeluacaM | Farcaster: @Macauley)

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The anti-framework to build in Web3

Building an application or a rollup today isn't difficult. Whether it’s the OP Stack or Arbitrum Orbit, there are a variety of blockchain technology frameworks to choose from.

These tech stacks are useful for builders to go to market quickly. But they’re also eventually constraining in practice as businesses seek increasingly differentiated architectures to suit their unique purposes.

As such, most applications do not fit into an existing technology stack framework. For instance, an application builder may want to change what happens in a block, or introduce custom cryptography, rather than being tied to the rules of how an L1 blockchain’s state is governed.

So developers frequently fork and customize to get what they need. Cosmos’ CometBFT consensus layer (itself a fork of Tendermint Core) for instance, is one of the most frequently forked consensus mechanisms by projects such as Sei, Celestia, dYdX, Penumbra and more.

For a thousand chains or dapps to bloom, builders want even more modularity. That’s the bet middleware blockchain infrastructure platform Commonware is making.

Commonware is an open-source “anti-framework” set of primitives that developers can use to build and reassemble their applications without resorting to a complicated fork.

Led by a $9 million fundraise backed by Haun Ventures and Dragonfly Capital, Commonware wants to break the existing “one-size-fits-all” mold that comes with today’s technology stacks.

“Frameworks today like the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT is open and flexible in a few specific ways, but I argue that you get stuck eventually,” said Commonware founder Patrick O’Grady. “You have to redo and fork and rebuild a lot of stuff, and builders end up spending too much time dealing with the abstractions rather than focusing on the product.”

Existing frameworks prescribe a standard way to build an app. In contrast, Commonware does not tie developers into any specific security configurations, hardcoded block formats, mempool policies or execution rules.

Developers building with Commonware can custom design their own mempool configurations, or introduce their own execution environments, rather than having to comply with prescribed block formats. On the consensus layer, they can determine how validators are rewarded.

“We want builders to be able to use Commonware to couple their existing applications with their own custom capabilities,” O’Grady said. “Developers shouldn’t have to decide which ecosystem’s religion they want to be part of first, then build their application as a second step.” 

For that reason, Commonware’s set of architectural primitives is best thought of as an optimized, architectural way to build in Web3.

For Commonware chains to communicate with one another, the team plans to incorporate an optional threshold signature primitive into its consensus construction.

Commonware is not striving to create another “chain of chains” architecture such as the OP Superchain, which binds you into preset rules, O’Grady explains. It further extends the modular evolution of blockchains that Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap kickstarted and augments existing virtual machines, rather than completely replacing them.

For more, tap into the Bell Curve podcast with Commonware.

— Donovan Choy (X: @donovanchoy | Farcaster: @donovan)

A Binance-like experience with decentralized settlement

Extended, formerly X10, is ramping up its hybrid derivatives exchange to provide open access to all users today. An invite-only launch saw $300m in trading volume, according to the team.

Key to its offering will be unified portfolio margining, which enables users to trade both spot and perpetuals with a single collateral pool, thus enhancing capital efficiency for traders. While commonplace in TradFi, unified margining is still rare in DeFi. Extended further boasts ultra-low latency (10-20ms) comparable to centralized exchanges, achieved through centralized order processing with trustless onchain settlement.

This system is supported by StarkWare's StarkEx technology, the same platform dYdX v3 employed prior to launching its own chain.

The trust-minimized architecture includes permissionless withdrawals, and Extended has plans to migrate to Starknet, according to CEO Ruslan Fakhrutdinov.

"Based on our reviews and assessments, [StarkWare is] at least years ahead of anyone else, technologically,” Fakhrutdinov, the former head of crypto operations at Revolut, told Blockworks.

One novel feature of Extended is that user collateral is fully segregated and never comingled, even within its planned liquidity vaults launching in early 2025. Funds are held in individual sub-accounts tied directly to their contributions, with onchain settlements reflecting this separation. Unlike other platforms that offer vaults, such as Hyperliquid, which pool funds under a central manager, Extended’s approach mitigates legal risks and maintains transparency.

The vaults are nevertheless treated as a single user for efficiency during centralized processing, and splits transactions during settlement.

The exchange has no token, but raised $6.5 million earlier this year and plans to launch a points program soon.

— Macauley Peterson

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Emerging technologies including AI and blockchain are set to transform society, but they often involve sensitive information. For these technologies to realize their full potential, private data sharing and privacy-preserving computation are essential prerequisites.

In the latest report from Blockworks Research, analyst Daniel Shapiro breaks down how emerging Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) could enable secure collaboration without compromising privacy, making it possible for individuals and organizations to leverage data across partners, users, and systems.

• Backpack, a crypto exchange and wallet originating in the Solana ecosystem, has announced the integration of Sui. Backpack serves 150+ countries with $60b trading volume. The multichain wallet Phantom also recently added support for Sui, which some have regarded as “the next Solana.”

• Babylon, Bitcoin’s largest staking protocol with $2b in TVL, launched a staking window on Tuesday which will span 1,000 bitcoin blocks. This phase, known as Cap-3, expands access for both institutional and retail holders. It will run until Dec. 16.

• Balancer v3 went live today, with the team touting a 10x improvement in developer experience, 100% Boosted Pools for passive yield optimization, and Hooks for customizable liquidity strategies. Other enhancements include reduced yield fees, increased LP and veBAL rewards, as well as comprehensive audits.