According to @provenauthority, Billions Network has been actively developing zero-knowledge (zk) identity and verifiable data infrastructures since before the advent of modern Layer 2 (L2) technologies. The organization claims stewardship over some of the most widely adopted zk libraries globally, introducing client-side proofs accessible directly on mobile devices. These advancements offer enhanced security and privacy, which are critical for crypto traders seeking reliable identity verification and data integrity solutions. Source: @provenauthority

According to @Celo, Celo has officially completed its migration to an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) solution, marking a significant milestone for both networks. This transition is expected to enhance scalability and lower transaction fees for users, while also increasing interoperability within the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem. Traders should monitor potential liquidity flows and new DeFi protocols launching on Celo's L2, as this could drive increased trading volumes and volatility in ETH-related markets. The announcement coincides with Ethereum's 10th anniversary, underlining the network's growing maturity and the expanding role of L2 solutions in supporting unstoppable applications and broader adoption. Source: @Celo

According to @jessepollak, transactions on Base network are observed to be extremely fast, which could enhance trading efficiency and user experience for crypto traders seeking lower latency and higher throughput. This network performance improvement is significant for traders monitoring Layer 2 solutions for Ethereum (ETH) and optimizing execution strategies. Source: @jessepollak.

According to @MilkRoadDaily, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant surge last week, characterized by strong token performance. Key drivers for this bullish momentum included the official launch of Coinbase's Layer 2 network, Base, and the introduction of the new token $PUMP, as highlighted in their weekly review.

According to Jesse Pollak, the creator of the Base layer-2 network, he is offering access to the @baseapp for holders of the Milady Maker NFT collection. This direct outreach to a specific and culturally significant NFT community could be a strategic move to drive user adoption and on-chain activity within the Base ecosystem. For traders, this announcement could potentially increase demand for Milady NFTs, possibly leading to a rise in their floor price, as individuals may purchase the NFTs to gain access to the Base application. This event highlights Base's strategy of engaging directly with established Web3 communities to foster growth.

According to jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak), the Base application is currently in its 'worst' state, acknowledging it has 'so many bugs and rough edges right now'. He announced that the development team is set to 'sprint on quality, UX, and performance over the next couple weeks'. For traders, this signals a potential turning point for the Base ecosystem, as the promised improvements could lead to increased user adoption, higher transaction volume, and a more stable network, potentially impacting the value of assets within the Base ecosystem.

According to jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak), the creator of Base, users can increase their monetary holdings on a Base application simply through posting. In a public statement, Pollak noted his own funds on the app were increasing without any specific action beyond his posts, describing it as the ideal internet experience. For traders, this points to a potentially powerful user acquisition and engagement model within the Base ecosystem, characteristic of SocialFi platforms. Such reward mechanisms could drive on-chain activity and attract more users to the Layer 2 network, potentially impacting the value of tokens within the Base ecosystem.

According to Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base, he is actively seeking to collaborate directly with developers building trading tools on either the Base or Solana networks. Pollak stated his intention is to work hands-on with these teams to provide their users with the best possible access to all promising new coins originating on the Base platform. This initiative represents a significant effort to strengthen the trading infrastructure and token ecosystem on Base, potentially leading to enhanced liquidity and new opportunities for traders operating on the Layer 2 network.

According to Jesse Pollak, the founder of Base, a key strategy for ecosystem growth involves directly onboarding creators to the Base application. Pollak highlighted his personal involvement in helping new creators earn their first dollar onchain, underscoring his belief that the creator economy will be the primary catalyst for bringing mainstream users into the Web3 space. This focus on creator-led growth aims to increase user activity and transactions on the Base Layer 2 network, which is a critical factor for its long-term value and adoption.

According to Vitalik Buterin, the most effective way to build a Layer 2 (L2) network is to heavily rely on the Layer 1 (L1) for core functionalities such as security, censorship resistance, and data availability. In his view, the L2's logic should be reduced to simply being a sequencer and a prover, or only a prover for 'based' rollups that use the L1 for sequencing. This vision implies that L2s with deeper integration into the L1's security model may be viewed more favorably, a key consideration for traders evaluating the long-term viability and potential valuation of various L2 ecosystem tokens and the core value proposition of Ethereum (ETH) as the ultimate settlement layer.

According to @jessepollak, the cryptocurrency market is undergoing significant technical and strategic shifts. Polygon (MATIC) is pivoting its strategy under new CEO and co-founder Sandeep Nailwal to focus on its AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol while retiring its zkEVM network, as stated in a press release. The Ethereum Foundation (ETH) has released a new treasury policy capping annual operational expenses at 15% and signaling a focus on critical deliverables through 2026. A proposal, EIP-7782, aims to potentially double Ethereum's speed by halving block times to 6 seconds, according to core developer Barnabé Monnot. The upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) Core 30 release is set to increase the OP_RETURN data limit to nearly 4MB, a move confirmed on GitHub that has sparked debate about potential network spam. RippleX has released version 2.5.0 for the XRP Ledger (XRP), introducing features like TokenEscrow and a PermissionedDEX to enhance DeFi and enterprise use cases. In related stock market news, a Bernstein research report raised its Coinbase (COIN) price target to $510, while Jeff Park of Bitwise Asset Management noted that MicroStrategy's (MSTR) stock volatility has hit its lowest point since it began acquiring BTC. On the regulatory front, Norway plans to ban new proof-of-work mining data centers, according to Reuters, while Texas has established a publicly-funded Bitcoin reserve.

According to @NFT5lut, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has issued a critical warning that the network is at an inflection point and risks losing its competitive edge if decentralization is not properly implemented. Buterin argued that too many projects, including Layer-2s and DeFi protocols, have security vulnerabilities like hidden backdoors, which could undermine investor confidence and the long-term value of Ethereum (ETH). He outlined key tests for projects, including resistance to insider attacks and ensuring users retain assets if a project fails. This fundamental risk assessment comes as ETH trades around $2,561, while competitors like Solana (SOL), trading at $151.68, show strong relative performance, with the SOLETH pair up over 2.5%, highlighting the urgency for Ethereum to solidify its core principles to maintain market leadership.

According to @QCompounding, traditional asset managers are moving beyond legacy systems to adopt blockchain as a modern financial operating system, a trend poised to significantly impact the crypto market. This shift is not merely for operational efficiency but is creating entirely new investment products. For instance, the source highlights that major firms like BlackRock, Apollo, and Franklin Templeton are already offering tokenized funds, with BlackRock's tokenized money market fund surpassing $2.5 billion in AUM. This tokenization trend enables fractional ownership and greater liquidity for previously illiquid assets. Further accelerating this evolution, OP Labs predicts that every major crypto exchange and fintech firm will launch its own layer-2 blockchain within five years, following the success of Coinbase's Base, which was built on the Optimism (OP) stack. This development, dubbed 'Base envy' by the source, sees exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, and OKX launching their own L2s to monetize custodied assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), signaling a major growth vector for L2 ecosystems and the broader digital asset space.

According to @DeepLearningAI, Matter Labs has introduced "Airbender," a new ZKsync prover capable of generating Ethereum (ETH) block proofs in just 35 seconds on a single GPU. This technological leap is poised to dramatically lower transaction fees into the "fraction of a cent territory," which could be a game-changer for high-frequency trading, micropayments, and decentralized social applications on the Layer-2 network, as stated by Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski. The new prover, based on the RISC-V framework, is slated for a potential protocol upgrade this summer, signaling a major scalability advancement for the ZKsync ecosystem. In a related trend of infrastructure convergence, crypto mining firm HIVE Digital Technologies is acquiring a 7.2 MW data center in Toronto to build an AI hub, highlighting a strategic pivot by crypto miners to capitalize on the high-demand AI compute market and diversify revenue streams.

According to @_RichardTeng, Matter Labs, the developer firm for the ZKsync Layer-2 network, has launched its new cryptographic prover, "Airbender." Alex Gluchowski, co-founder of Matter Labs, claims Airbender is the fastest of its kind, capable of proving Ethereum blocks in just 35 seconds using a single GPU. For traders, this speed translates into faster transaction finality and significantly lower fees, entering what Gluchowski calls "fraction of a cent territory." This development is critical for enabling high-frequency trading and micropayments on the network. The new prover is based on the RISC-V framework, a technology endorsed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin for making the blockchain more efficient. Pending a governance vote, Airbender is slated for a protocol upgrade later this summer, representing a key potential catalyst for the ZKsync ecosystem and its impact on Ethereum (ETH) scalability.

According to @QCompounding, an analysis of insights from OP Labs' Sam McIngvale suggests a major shift in the crypto and fintech landscape, predicting that every crypto exchange and fintech company will run its own blockchain within the next five years. This forecast is heavily influenced by the success of Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base, which was built using Optimism's (OP) OP Stack, as cited in the report. For traders, the key implication is the monetization of dormant assets; for example, Coinbase can move a user's Bitcoin (BTC) to Base to be used as collateral for a USDC loan, unlocking new liquidity. The analysis notes that other major exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, and Bitget are already developing their own L2s, signaling a potential surge in demand for platforms like Optimism. Furthermore, the source highlights the inadequacy of current blockchain valuation models, comparing them to the dot-com era's flawed metrics. It proposes a new framework focused on 'velocity and flow,' analyzing metrics like stablecoin turnover, DeFi lending, and asset flows between layers to provide a more accurate measure of a network's economic vitality and utility for traders.

According to @CryptoMichNL, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is undergoing a significant transformation driven by institutional participation. A report by Artemis and Vaults.fyi reveals that the total value locked (TVL) in top DeFi lending protocols like Aave (AAVE), Euler, Spark, and Morpho has surged past $50 billion, marking a 60% increase over the past year. This growth is fueled by trends like the "DeFi mullet," where fintech applications use DeFi infrastructure on the backend. For instance, Coinbase's BTC-backed loans, powered by Morpho, have already originated over $300 million. Another key driver is the rise of on-chain asset managers, whose capital under management has quadrupled from $1 billion to over $4 billion since January. Concurrently, OP Labs, the builder of Optimism (OP), predicts that every crypto exchange and fintech firm will operate its own Layer-2 blockchain within five years, following the success of Coinbase's Base. This allows for the monetization of custodied assets and improved user experiences. Market data shows OPUSDT trading at $0.5280, down 5.714% in 24 hours, while AAVEUSDT is at $259.95, a 5.579% decrease.

According to @jessepollak, OP Labs' Head of Product Sam McIngvale predicts that every crypto exchange and fintech company will operate its own layer-2 blockchain within the next five years. McIngvale cites the significant success of Coinbase's Base network, which is built on Optimism's (OP) OP Stack, as the primary driver for this trend. The key advantage highlighted by McIngvale is the ability to monetize dormant crypto assets held in custody; for instance, a user can move their Bitcoin (BTC) to Base and borrow USDC against it, transforming custody from a cost center into a revenue-generating activity. This dynamic has reportedly spurred 'Base envy,' prompting other major exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, and OKX to launch their own L2 solutions, signaling a major strategic shift in digital finance infrastructure.

According to @jessepollak, Sam McIngvale, the head of product at OP Labs, which builds the Ethereum scaling protocol Optimism (OP), predicts that every crypto exchange and fintech company will launch its own blockchain in the next five years. The report cites the success of Coinbase's Layer-2 network Base, built with Optimism's OP Stack, as a key catalyst for this trend. A primary advantage for these firms is the ability to monetize custodied assets, such as allowing customers to borrow against their Bitcoin (BTC) held on the platform. This trend is already being adopted by other major exchanges, including Kraken, Bybit, Bitget, and OKX, which are developing their own L2s, furthering Optimism's vision of an interoperable 'Superchain'.

According to @AltcoinGordon, a significant trend is emerging where every fintech and crypto exchange is expected to launch its own Layer-2 (L2) blockchain within five years, a prediction made by OP Labs, the team behind Optimism (OP). This forecast is driven by the success of Coinbase's Base L2, which leverages Optimism's OP Stack to monetize dormant crypto assets through lending, as cited by OP Labs' Sam McIngvale. Other major exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, and Bitget are already following this model, suggesting a strong growth narrative for L2 infrastructure providers. However, the author raises concerns that this mainstream adoption and corporate alignment, such as Coinbase's political engagements, are diluting the original cypherpunk ethos of decentralization and challenging centralized power. This analysis comes as the market shows a slight downturn, with Bitcoin (BTC) down approximately 1.36% and Ethereum (ETH) down about 1.35% over the past 24 hours, presenting a complex landscape for traders weighing long-term adoption trends against ideological shifts.