Ethereum Layer 2s See Surge in Popularity in Q1 2023
Alchemy's Q1 2023 report shows Ethereum layer 2 networks, including Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon, saw a 44% increase in bridged crypto assets compared to Q4 2022, and a 518% increase compared to Q1 2022. The report suggests this growth may have been driven by successful airdrops from Optimism and Arbitrum. Additionally, the deployment of smart contracts related to layer 2s increased by 160% compared to Q1 2022, despite a 30% decrease from Q4 2022.
Ethereum Beacon Chain Sees Over $2 Billion Worth of ETH Withdrawn in Four Days
Over 1 million ETH, worth $2.1 billion, has been withdrawn from Ethereum's Beacon Chain within the first four days of the Shapella hard fork, with nearly 87% of active validators now able to withdraw their staked Ether. Despite initial community uncertainty about the impact of Shapella on ETH's price, the first four days have resulted in close to a 10% rise, with much of the withdrawn stake being reinvested in the Beacon Chain for interest compounding purposes.
Shapella Upgrade, Privacy Concerns, Hacks, and Financial Inclusion
The DeFi space had a busy week with the successful completion of the Shapella upgrade on Ethereum, concerns over privacy related to staking, a major DeFi hack, and a partnership between Fonbnk and Tanda to increase financial inclusion in Africa. The top 100 DeFi tokens had a bullish week, and Glassnode predicted only a small percentage of staked ETH would be withdrawn.
BlockSec Launches Phalcon Fork for Collaborative Testing on Ethereum Mainnet
Blockchain security firm BlockSec has launched Phalcon Fork, a toolkit that enables collaborative testing on private chains forked from arbitrary transaction positions and block numbers on the Ethereum mainnet. The toolkit offers greater control over testing, analysis, and debugging on testnets, with features such as snapshots and a faucet for acquiring free fork network Ether. The Phalcon Fork user manual touts advantages over traditional solutions such as Goerli, including retaining services and states from the mainnet and maintaining full control over block information.
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.