ETHEREUM
Ethereum is an open-source decentralized platform that introduced the concept of smart contracts into the blockchain space. Through these smart contracts, developers using the Ethereum network are able to create their own decentralized apps and tokens.
EOS EVM Mainnet Launch Improves Interoperability Between EOS and Ethereum
The EOS Network Foundation has launched the EOS EVM mainnet, which emulates Ethereum's Virtual Machine and aims to improve interoperability between EOS and Ethereum. This allows for the deployment of decentralized applications (DApps) written in Solidity, offering access to lower fees and faster transactions of the EOS network. Other projects have also been prioritizing EVM compatibility, including Astar Network's smart contracts and Polygon's zkEVM.
Ethereum's Shapella Upgrade Complete
Ethereum's Shapella upgrade has been successfully completed, allowing validators to withdraw their staked Ether on the Beacon chain. Over 44% of active validators have the ability to request partial or full withdrawals, with most withdrawals being for staking rewards. Major exchanges have announced their support for ETH unstaking, with several already processing withdrawal requests.
Ethereum Upgrade Raises Concerns as Bitcoin Dominance Continues
Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade has led to concerns among investors, particularly regarding a potential sell-off of tokens unlocked after the upgrade, causing uncertainty in the market. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's dominance rate continues to rise and is currently at the highest level since July 2021.
Sentiment Recovers Stolen Funds with Bounty
Lending protocol Sentiment has recovered stolen funds from a recent hack by offering the hacker a $95,000 bounty. The hacker returned over $771,000 in Ether, and Sentiment also received an additional 51.75 ETH. The incident highlights the importance of companies taking bug bounties seriously.
Ethereum Projects Launch MEV Blocker to Minimize Invisible Tax
27 Ethereum projects have launched MEV Blocker, a solution to reduce maximally extractable value (MEV), or Ethereum's invisible tax. MEV Blocker is a free tool developed to counter MEV bots that hijack transactions and inflate prices for users. It sends at least 90% of profits back to users and can protect them from frontrunning and sandwiching when using any Ethereum DApp.
Crypto Donations to Exceed $10 Billion in a Decade
The Giving Block's annual report predicts that crypto donations will surpass $10 billion by November 2032, with USD Coin being the most popular cryptocurrency used in donations. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin holds the record for the largest crypto donation of the year, giving $9.4 million through his philanthropic fund.
DeFi Giants Launch on Ethereum Layer 2 zkSync Era
Some of the biggest names in decentralized finance, including Uniswap, Sushi, Maker, and Curve, are set to launch on zero-knowledge proof roll-up zkSync Era on March 24. The Ethereum layer 2 scaling network has opened to users in alpha after four years in development, enabling faster and cheaper transactions.
MetaMask Launches Ethereum Staking Marketplace
MetaMask Institutional has announced a new staking marketplace that allows institutional clients to manage ETH staking through vendors such as ConsenSys Staking, Allnodes, Blockdaemon, and Kiln. The marketplace aims to simplify access and management of solo staking and enable institutions to become Ethereum network validators.
KyberSwap announces first ever $ARB token liquidity pools, liquidity mining and trading campaigns on Arbitrum
Since launching in 2021, Arbitrum has emerged as one of the most promising Layer 2 solutions, with its ability to scale Ethereum and enable faster and cheaper transactions.
Arbitrum's ARB Token Airdrop Triggers OTC Trading
The announcement of the ARB token airdrop by Arbitrum Foundation has triggered over-the-counter (OTC) trading of the unreleased tokens. ARB marks Arbitrum's official transition into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), giving ARB holders the power to vote on key decisions governing Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova. The airdrop will grant 11.5% of the total supply to eligible Arbitrum users and 1.1% to DAOs in the Arbitrum ecosystem.
Arbitrum Airdrop Boosts zkSync Growth
Arbitrum's recent airdrop of its governance token has generated significant hype, which has helped another layer-2 scaling solution, zkSync, see significant growth in the last week. Despite not having a native token or announcing any airdrop, zkSync has seen a surge in the number of addresses bridging to its platform, with over 39,000 addresses bridging over $871 million in the last seven days.
Euler Finance hacker returns $5.4M
The hacker who drained $197 million from Euler Finance in the biggest DeFi hack of 2023 so far reportedly returned around $5.4 million in Ether to the company. The funds were sent in three transactions from the hacker's address to Euler Finance's deployer address, but it remains to be seen if the hacker will return the rest of the stolen funds.
Privacy blockchain platform Aztec to shut down Aztec Connect
Privacy-oriented blockchain platform Aztec is set to shut down Aztec Connect, its network's privacy infrastructure serving as the encryption layer for Ethereum. Aztec will no longer run a sequencer from March 2024, and the current system will no longer publish rollup blocks processing Aztec Connect transactions.
Bitcoin NFTs to Hit $4.5B Market Cap
Galaxy Digital's research unit predicts that the Bitcoin nonfungible token (NFT) market could reach a $4.5 billion market cap by March 2025 based on conservative estimations. The report also outlines bear and bull case scenarios for the market.
wBTC Supply Hits 9-Month Low After Major Burn
The supply of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) has hit its lowest point since May 2021 following a significant burn of 11,500 wBTC linked to Celsius. The current total supply of wBTC stands at 164,396, with a monthly growth rate of -7.39%. wBTC is an ERC-20 token that mirrors the value of Bitcoin and is pegged 1:1 with its price. It is managed by the decentralized autonomous organization wBTC DAO.