Gavin Wood's new JAM initiative takes a different approach to blockchain scaling by admitting that a base layer does not need to split computation between different sources. He believes Ethereum's strength comes from moderate governance and a lack of internal strife. Both Ethereum co-founders agree that the base layer should be minimal and opinionless. To build an ecosystem, focus on the intersection of community and tech, specifically tech that supports multiple approaches to doing something.
Experts predict varying levels of inflows into the anticipated Ethereum ETFs, with estimates suggesting inflows could range from $1 billion to 50% of Bitcoin ETF inflows during the first four months. This increased market participation is expected to significantly impact Ethereum's price, potentially increasing it more substantially per billion invested compared to Bitcoin, due to factors like its smaller market size and deflationary supply dynamics since the Merge.
Concerns are growing about the risks associated with Kamino Finance's Multiply product, particularly after the launch of JupSOL and the promotion of its seemingly attractive 40% APY with no depeg risk. Despite the high user influx, the sustainability of these returns is questionable, as the effectiveness of Multiply depends on the borrowing interest rate for SOL being lower than the APY on the staked tokens, a balance threatened by increasing SOL pool utilization which could lead to negative APYs and potential liquidations for users.
The main differentiation between L2s and L1s is their ability to modify their VM and experiment with new architectures, allowing for programming in different languages, greater safety, or more throughput.
While Solana is a cheap and performant blockchain, Ethereum is an infrastructure primitive allowing for the creation of any verifiable system, including blockchains.
Just hours before President Joe Biden vetoed the repeal of Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, the American Bankers Association (ABA) made a last-ditch effort to influence his decision, arguing that the regulations hinder banks' ability to effectively safeguard digital assets, which could harm investors and destabilize the financial system. Despite bipartisan Congressional support for the repeal, Biden used his presidential veto. The ABA claims that SAB 121 deviates from traditional custodial asset treatment and limits secure options for customers holding digital assets.
Matter Labs, the company behind the zkSync L2, has dropped its trademark application for the term “ZK” after receiving backlash from StarkNet, Polygon, and the zero-knowledge proof co-inventors. It had previously supported a community proposal to set up an ownerless legal entity to hold the trademark and issue free licenses to all applicants.
Bolt aims to enable near-instant transaction confirmation by allowing block proposers to commit to their block contents before their slot. The trustless, permissionless protocol uses restaked collateral to back validator promises, allowing them to further monetize blockspace.
It is possible to securely onboard to an L2 in a few minutes with Venmo and zkp2p. Tools like Coinbase's Smart Wallet can abstract away complexities from wallet creation. EIP-7702, slated for inclusion in the next hard fork, will introduce gas sponsorship, custom verification logic enabling 2FA, and additional security features like spending limits. Stealth addresses in ERC-5564 will enable banking-level privacy for transactions.
Coinbase's new smart wallet uses Account Abstraction (AA) and passkeys to allow users to create and manage a crypto wallet via Touch ID without traditional passwords or Chrome extensions. The wallet uses AA to execute transactions fully sponsored by Base (thus effectively free), making it easier for users to engage with crypto securely and efficiently with biometric authentication using a quick and simple UX.
Miden uses the actor model design, a form of concurrent computation, to introduce local state change management and faster transaction processing. Zero knowledge proofs validate locally-executed transactions, meaning that transactions can be private. Miden's goal is to support privacy-oriented use cases as a ZK L2 with smart contracts programmed in TypeScript and Rust.
A new ad model on Farcaster could use open social graphs, embedded payment rails, and verifiable digital identities to give companies the ability to directly send targeted coupons to consumers' wallets. This approach would ensure that ad budgets are only spent when a sale gets converted, potentially improving marketing campaign ROI while maintaining access to consistent, open data.
Vitalik Buterin comments on the different perspectives on the big block versus small block debate and what we can learn from them. Small blockers saw Bitcoin as a conservative chain that should only hard fork in rare cases that was trying to be a new currency, not a payment processor. Big blockers saw BTC as digital cash and thus wanted fees to be low, seeing the pivot to digital gold as a decision made by a small group of developers to profit off L2s. Ethereum learned from Bitcoin's shortcomings to create a more resilient chain.
After an unnamed stakeholder raised an issue about Uniswap's proposal to introduce protocol governance and enable the fee switch, the Uniswap Foundation announced it would postpone the vote indefinitely.
Linea halted its sequencer and block production in an attempt to halt a hacker's fund transfer after the Velocore DEX was exploited on zkSync Era and Linea.
President Biden's re-election campaign has been reaching out to cryptocurrency industry leaders, seeking advice on crypto community and crypto policy. Biden has previously said he would veto the repeal of SAB 121, an SEC ruling making crypto asset custody complex for institutions to offer. This change in tone comes after the Trump campaign's pro-crypto rhetoric, which includes accepting crypto donations, protecting the right to self-custody, and anti-CBDC remarks.
A wallet owned by DBS, Singapore's largest bank, owns over 173,000 ETH. The bank has made over $200 million on this position at current market prices. While a DBS spokesperson said this position is not on its books, the firm is familiar with crypto and offers services like custody, trading, and portfolio management.
Arweave has typically depended on external applications to bring data into its network. However, the launch of AO, a new network built on Arweave, means Arweave will have the ability to generate consistent internal demand and grow its data storage capabilities and development platform. AO separates consensus mechanisms from app computation, introducing a modular architecture that improves scalability and security customization, while also creating a marketplace where apps can acquire computational resources on-demand.
Pump.fun has partnered with bubblemaps to make it easier to investigate potential rugpulls and understand relationships between wallets interacting with specific tokens. The tool helps users generate visual bubble maps to track coin flows and examine whether developers are manipulating token distribution or using burner wallets during launches.
Starknet's goals for 2024 are to become the L2 with the highest TPS capacity and have an average transaction fee below 1 cent. The DeFi Spring program is allocating 40 million STRK to protocols over six to eight months. It will transition to a Volition to reduce fees, allowing developers to choose whether to store transaction data on Ethereum or Starknet.
Numerous celebrities have been implicated in cryptocurrency scams, promoting projects that eventually failed and led to significant investor losses. High-profile individuals like Davido, Floyd Mayweather, and Shaquille O'Neal have faced legal repercussions and public backlash for their roles in these so-called "rug pulls," highlighting the risks associated with celebrity-endorsed crypto investments.
The recent trend of celebrities launching memecoins has reignited debates over their impact on the cryptocurrency space, with a historical pattern suggesting such ventures often result in quick failures and are generally seen as cash grabs rather than genuine contributions. Critics argue that celebrities should demonstrate genuine interest and involvement in the crypto community before promoting their own coins, emphasizing that authentic engagement and risk-taking, as opposed to opportunistic, profit-driven launches that exploit the space, are crucial for positive adoption.
Matter Labs, the developers of the zkSync L2, have filed trademark applications for “zero-knowledge” and “ZK.” This has been met with backlash across the crypto industry, with zero-knowledge cryptography co-inventor and StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson calling it an “absurd IP grab.” Matter Labs' CEO Alex Gluchowski claims it filed the trademark to prevent dishonest actors from using the term.
a16z has contributed an additional $25 million to Fairshake, totaling $47 million, to continue supporting bipartisan efforts for clearer digital asset regulations and to maintain U.S. leadership in blockchain innovation.
The Hyperliquid development team, which is entirely self-funded and does not collect trading fees, has reinvested over $25 million of revenue back into its community instead of profiting from it.
Brian Nelson, the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, claims that a 2023 FinCEN proposal requiring virtual asset service providers to report crypto transactions involving mixing aimed to drive transparency, not ban mixers.
Gemini has returned $2.18 billion worth of digital assets to its Earn users, comprising ~97% of the assets owed, marking a 232% recovery since Genesis suspended withdrawals. Gemini has achieved an unprecedented recovery in crypto bankruptcies following its settlement with Genesis and other creditors, ensuring its users will eventually recoup all their assets along with any appreciation.
After eight issuers had their 19B-4 filings approved for a spot Ethereum ETF, BlackRock has updated its S-1 application to begin trading its iShares Ethereum Trust. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas believes there could be one more round of comments from the SEC, then a launch around the end of June or early July.
PYUSD just launched on Solana, extending its presence from Ethereum to increase adoption and reduce gas fees and faster transactions. This strategic expansion aims to transition PYUSD from mere awareness to actual utility by incorporating innovative blockchain features that improve payment security and efficiency, enabling its integration into everyday commercial use.
The Ethereum wallet experience is fragmented and complex due to bridging, gas, and dozens of rollups. MagicSpend++ is a framework that allows users to have a chain abstracted balance instead of isolated token balances across chains. It uses account abstraction to create a single-chain experience with no bridging or latency, mimicking a credit card experience where users have their funds pulled by a paymaster later.
Transporter introduces a new level of security in the crypto space, offering Level-5 security, 24/7 customer support, and a user-friendly experience to ensure safe and confident cross-chain transactions. This innovation aims to address the over $2.8 billion previously lost to hacks in token bridges.
The TON blockchain ecosystem is growing rapidly with significant increases in daily and weekly active wallets, total value locked in DeFi, and trading volumes since the start of "The Open League". Ecosystem highlights include large airdrops, notably $NOT coin, and attractive liquidity provider campaigns with APYs up to 105%.
Since memecoins have zero tangible value, unique metrics must be considered to determine their worth. For example, the size of the audience that a meme can appeal to, meme sustainability, and meme visualization are all important for capturing a wide audience of interested buyers. It should be accessible on a chain with liquidity and a first-mover in its category and have potential catalysts and an interesting story or mystery. The main idea is to find a coin's capacity to capture attention.
Layer 2 solutions on Ethereum not only expand its technical capabilities but also foster a diverse and inclusive culture within the blockchain community, leading to unique technological advancements and cultural influences across different blockchains, ultimately driving innovation within the ecosystem.
Pantera Research Lab studied a sample of crypto users and found a high present bias and low discount factor, indicating impatience and a desire for immediate gratification. Crypto users will only wait a short time frame for a high reward, which should be considered when creating a vesting schedule or airdrop design.
This move could lead to broader adoption and innovation within zk-based applications, affecting everything from rollup interoperability to the simplification of zk app development, ultimately impacting the direction of research and optimization in the crypto space.