EthHub Weekly #167
Optimism integrates with Etherscan, zkSync 2.0 security model announced, Coinbase Wallet extension announced, Rainbow profiles now available on desktop and much more!
Curated by Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x) and Eric Conner (@econoar)
[Sponspored] Pocket is a distributed network that relays data requests/responses to and from any blockchain protocol. Wrapped POKT (wPOKT) is an ERC20 token backed 1:1 by the native POKT on Pocket Network’s blockchain. Standardizing POKT to the ERC20 token format as wPOKT enables Pocket Network to leverage the programmable composability of Ethereum smart contracts.
Within the wPOKT micro-economy, Ethereum users will be able to stake wPOKT for blockchain infrastructure access on behalf of their favorite DApps while earning rewards. Instead of paying centralized providers a hefty monthly recurring toll for blockchain network bandwidth, these web3 applications can now encourage their community members to crowdsource free infra by staking once in app-specific or network-specific farms. We call this Data Farming!
Sign up here to be alerted for when the wPOKT LBP and Data Farming program launches! Are you ready to become a Regen and be a part of the regenerative finance movement? Let us know on Twitter :)
📉 The Great Purge
The last week is probably the most volatile week I’ve ever had in the crypto markets (and I’m sure I’m not alone here). ETH fell from $4,400 to $1,714 in just 2 weeks which is a 61% drop. Obviously in crypto we are used to this kind of volatility but the only other times we have seen these kinds of drops was March of 2020 (due to the global COVID-related risk-off event) and of course at the end of bull runs. Naturally this led people to start questioning if the bull run was over and there were mixed answers here - personally I take a long-term (10+ year) outlook to all of this so for me this was just another dip! In saying that, I hope none of you got blown up or lost money but if you did then it’s best to use it as a learning experience for next time.
Have a great week everyone!
- Anthony
News of the Week
⚖️ Three Self-Regulatory Orgs Reiterate China’s 2017 Stance on Crypto
Three Chinese self-regulatory organizations have published a statement to reiterate the country's stance on crypto businesses.
The National Internet Finance Association of China (NIFA), the China Banking Association (CBA) and the Payment and Clearing Association of China (PCAC) jointly issued a note on Tuesday night China time, telling their member financial and payment institutions not to engage in or provide services to crypto-related businesses.
The three industry bodies are all self-regulatory organizations under the supervision of several Chinese ministries including the People's Bank of China (PBoC) and the China Securities Regulatory Commission. The SROs themselves are not regulatory agencies but are responsible for ensuring their member institutions to follow the regulatory direction of their superior government entities.
🤔 U.S. Federal Reserve Plans to Publish Discussion Paper on the Potential Issuance of a CBDC
The U.S. Federal Reserve plans to publish a discussion paper this summer that will have a "particular focus on the possibility of issuing a U.S. central bank digital currency," according to a press release last week.
The press release added that the paper will complement research that the Federal Reserve is already undertaking.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell highlighted the agency's goals of promoting financial stability and ensuring the payments system is efficient. "In pursuit of these core functions we have been carefully monitoring and adapting to the technological innovations now transforming the world of payments, finance, and banking," he said.
The press release stated that the main concerns are whether the U.S. could improve the current domestic payments system. Powell said that the CBDC would be designed to work alongside the current payments systems, including cash, rather than replacing them.
Project Updates
What’s New in Eth2 - 22 May 2021
The latest updates on Altair, Rayonism, the merge, staking and more in this weeks update from Ben Edgington!
Ethereum Cat Herders Update #44
Energy-efficient Ethereum, Rayonism-Nocturne devent for the Merge, London upgrade-Baikal devent & testnet timeline, Eth2-Altair multiclient testnet timeline, client updates, Merge meetings, EIP-ERC repo splitting, Core Developer Apprenticeship Program, GitHub bot, Community events and ECH updates.
Optimism Integrates with Etherscan
Optimism unveiled optimistic.etherscan.io, their collaboration with Etherscan, the premier block explorer and analytics platform for Ethereum.
zkSync 2.0 Security Model Announced
Security by Isolation and Redundancy, Trust-Minimized Upgradability, and the introduction of zkSync’s Security Council.
Announcing Dark Forest v0.6
In Dark Forest v0.6, players will follow a spacefaring race known as the Seekers on an expedition through the multiverse. The Seekers are a long-lived and nomadic species that travel from universe to universe, fleeing a malevolent corruption–The Ancient One–that strives to destroy them.
GSN v2 Launched
After a year and a half of development and two security audits the OpenGSN team announced that v2 of GSN, the Ethereum Gas Station Network, has been launched as a community governed public good.
Rainbow Web Profiles Launched
The beautiful NFT viewing experience you’ve come to know & love inside the Rainbow app has been unleashed across the entire Ethereum network.
MCDEX Raises $7 Million
The round was led by Delphi Ventures and Alameda Research with participation from other funds and angels.
Alchemix Audits Now In
In addition to 3 months of being battle tested in the wild, the Alchemix audit from Certik has confirmed that Alchemix is secure.
Opium and Uma Team Up
Opium and UMA have combined their efforts and tools to show how off-chain data can be brought to Ethereum to grow the DeFi ecosystem.
Fish.vote Launched
Fish.vote lets anyone can create a Crowd Proposal that others can support. If a proposal receives 10M delegate votes, it becomes a formal UNI governance proposal.
Sorare Integrates with StarkWare
Sorare, the popular sports-based NFT app, has integrated with StarkWare for their scaling needs on Ethereum.
Non-Fungible Technologies Raises $2.75 Million
$2.75 million in seed funding was raised from strategic blockchain-focused VCs and angel investors to build the first decentralized marketplace for loans backed by high-value NFT collateral.
Synthetix Update
A long and healthy update from Synthetix where founder Kain announces that there are 3 new protocols spinning out of the Synthetix ecosystem that will have their own tokens (airdropped to SNX holders) and popular Synthetix front-end will also be joining the party. On top of that, an update on the Synthetix layer 2 rollout is given.
DeversiFi Completes Strategic Round
The $5 million round was led by ParaFi Capital with participation from DeFiance Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, StarkWare and more along with various angels.
Connext Introduces Virtual AMMs and Liquidity Auctions
Virtual AMMs let routers price crosschain transfers based on available liquidity which creates an incentive for arbitrageurs to rebalance liquidity for a profit. Liquidity auctions route transfers to whatever router can supply liquidity most cheaply which enables aggregating and load balancing liquidity between different routers.
Hyphen Introduced
Hyphen from Biconomy is a powerful set of APIs for instantaneous value transfers between EVM chains, fast & cheap cross-chain transactions and quick & simple on-ramp to L2s from ETH
Coinbase Wallet Extension Announced
The extension allows users to more easily and securely connect to decentralized apps (dapps) and decentralized finance (DeFi) on their desktops using Coinbase Wallet.
Universe.XYZ Whitepaper Released
The Universe Protocol aims to provide a system that doesn’t live off the backs of artists and creates a protocol for sustainable ecosystems for artists and fans alike.
MISO Now Live
The Sushiswap ecosytem’s new token sale platform went live this week - the first sales will go live soon.
Interesting Tweets
Ecosystem Bits
Blog Posts
Making Sense of Rollups, Part One: Optimistic vs. Zero Knowledge
How and Why to Replace Your Ethereum Address with a User-Friendly Name
Podcasts
Crypto’s Existential Threat | MEV Panel: Phil Daian, Georgios Konstanopolus, Charlie Noyes - Bankless
Alchemix: Financial Alchemy Through Self-Repaying Loans - Epicenter
Justin Drake - Ethereum: Into the Ether - Colossus
Ultrasound Money and the Ethereum Triple Halving | Nikhil Shamapant - Hidden Forces
Misc
Meme of the Week
Looking for Work?
Top jobs listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs this week:
Data Analyst - Aave
Product Designer - Zerion
Editor & Writer - Bankless
Go To Market Lead - Yield
+1000’s more on the Cryptocurrency Jobs website!