EthHub Weekly #175
Ethereum documentary raises $2mil, Uniswap v3 on Optimism, zkSync 1.x upgrade complete, Blocknative raises $12mil and much more!
Curated by Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x) and Eric Conner (@econoar)
đ±Â The Infinite Garden
A new documentary about Ethereum is being made called âEthereum: The Infinite Gardenâ which is described as being âa character-driven documentary film on the challenges and rewards of building a new world.â Last week, the project did a fundraise via Mirror and was able to raise ~$2 million in ETH by selling exclusive perks and NFTs. Personally I think this is a really cool and innovative way to fund an Ethereum project and it allows basically anyone with an Ethereum wallet and some ETH to get involved - just another industry that Ethereum is democratizing.
I joined Justin Bram on his YouTube channel last week for a live AMA where we talked about all things Ethereum - watch that here (and subscribe to Justinâs channel).
Have a great week everyone!
-Â Anthony
News of the Week
đ Fidelity Digital Assets to Grow Team in Response to Institutional Interest in Crypto
Fidelity Digital Assets, the crypto-focused arm of the asset manager Fidelity, plans on hiring as many as 100 employees to bolster cryptocurrency projects in response to institutional demand in crypto, reports Bloomberg.Â
Fidelity Digital Assets president Tom Jessop told Bloomberg that the firm intends on hiring employees in its Dublin, Boston and Salt Lake City offices. Cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin will be the focus of these new projects â ether in particular, as the firm reportedly saw increased interest in the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency in the midst of its all-time high in May.Â
The firm also seeks to provide as much full-time crypto trading as possible, reports Bloomberg, as opposed to traditional finance trading that end in the afternoon or on weekends.Â
đŠÂ Fed Chair Powell âLegitmiately Undecidedâ on Benefits of an American CBDC
In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on July 15, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his uncertainty as to whether the Fed would proceed with the development of a central bank digital currency or CBDC.
âIâm legitimately undecided about whether the benefits outweigh the costs of a CBDC,â said Powell.Â
Senator Pat Toomey (R-PN), meanwhile, seemed to support private stablecoins over a Fed-issued digital dollar. Toomey, the ranking member of the committee, asked Powell about "a change in your tone about the virtues of a central bank digital currency being issued by the Fed.âÂ
Project Updates
Ethereum Roadmapping Improvements
In this post, Tim Beiko proposes a bunch of roadmapping improvements for Ethereum core protocol development including a more refined process proposal, upgrade schedule and more.
Whatâs New in Eth2 - 16 July 2021
Your latest dose of eth2 news from Ben Edgington including updates on Altair, The Merge and more.
Uniswap v3 Launches on Optimism
Users can now trade 6 different tokens (including ETH and stablecoins) on Optimism via Uniswap v3 which marks the first layer 2 deployment of Uniswap.
Hop Bridge Launched
By using Hop Bridge, users can now instantly transfer USDC between Ethereum, Polygon and xDAI.
L2Beat Updates
The L2Beat website has been completely redesigned with a host of new upgrades and features.
New StarkNet Alpha 1 Features Released
StarkNet Alpha 1 has two new features - layer 1 <> layer 2 interaction and on-chain data.
Immutable X Will Soon Be Permissionless
Developers will soon be able to mint 0-gas-fee NFTs on a completely self-serve L2, secured by Ethereum and built using StarkWareâs zkRollup technology.
alETH Returns
Alchemixâs alETH product is now live again with a 2000 alETH mint capped (that was already hit within a few hours).
Infura Now Supports Arbitrum
Infura has added support for the Arbitrum optimistic rollup layer 2 network.
Gnosis Safe is Live on Layer 2
The Gnosis Safe has now been deployed to the layer 2 solution Arbitrum as well as the Polygon PoS sidechain.
zkSync 1.x Upgrade Completed
Ethereum developers now have more tools in their zkRollup toolbox such as the ability to create contracts that allow for trading of NFTs, ERC20 swaps and limit orders, and permissionless token listing.
OKEx Supports Polygon
Users can now deposit and withdraw directly on the OKEx exchange for the Polygon PoS chain.
Introducing Radicle Orgs
Radicle Orgs are a decentralized code management tool for DAOs built on Gnosis Safe.
Zapper Launches Wallet Profiles
The introduction of wallet profiles is the first in a series of updates that will make using the Zapper dashboard and progressing through quests and levels a more interactive and collaborative experience.
Introducing the EthernautDAO
The EthernautDAO is a collection of developers (Ethernauts) that have come together to train new Ethereum engineers.
DAppNode to Decentralize
DAppNode has announced the launch of the NODE token, a new DAO architecture for governance and updates on DeFi.
Blocknative Raises $12 Million
The round was led by Rho Capital with participation from Robot Ventures, Altonomy Ventures and various angels.
The Graph Foundation Allocates $2.8mil+ in Grants
The Graph Foundation to provide over $2.8M in funding to grants and ecosystem support in Wave 2, in addition to $60M Core Dev Grant to StreamingFast.
Thales Raises $2.5 Million
Thales, a Synthetix ecosystem project building support for trading binary options, raised $2.5 million in a strategic investment round led by Framework Ventures and Apollo Capital.
yvUSDC ETH Put Selling Vault Announced
This new product from Ribbon Finance lets users stack Yearn Finance and Ribbon yield by using Yearn Vault tokens as collateral for option writing.
Arcana Raises $375,000
Investors include Balaji Srinivasan, Sandeep Nailwal and JD Kanani, Founders of Polygon (formerly Matic), Kendrick Nguyen, Founder & CEO of Republic and other leading investors in the crypto ecosystem.
Coinbase Wallet Adds Polygon Support
Coinbase Wallet mobile app and extension can now be used to access the Polygon PoS network with support for more scaling solutions coming soon.
TokenSets Launches on Polygon
Set Protocol has been launched on Polygon, lowering the barrier of entry significantly and bringing Set one step closer to enabling asset management and strategy creation for the masses.
Connext Raises $12 Million
The round had participation from 82 distinct entities including funds & exchanges, staking providers, L2 founders and angels.
Nifty Island Exits Stealth
Nifty Island describes itself as âa virtual world built just for youâ - not much information is available about the project at this time.
Shipyard Software Raises $21 Million
Crypto exchange developer Shipyard Software has raised $21 million to build Clipper, a decentralized exchange that is designed for different types of traders.
Superfluid Raises $9 Million
The round was led by Multicoin Capital and had participation from a variety of funds and angels.
alUSD/mUSD Feeder Pool Now Live
Users can deposit alUSD and mUSD at launch into the Vault to earn MTA and a share of trading fees.
Harvest V2 Teased
The Harvest Finance team have teased v2 of the protocol which will come with a host of improvements.
ShapeShift is Decentralizing
ShapeShift has open-sourced their entire platform, airdropped tokens to over a million customers and DeFi community members, and creating a DAO.
Interesting Tweets
Ecosystem Bits
Blog Posts
Dawn of the Layer 2 Era - The Daily Gwei
Ultra Sound Money - The Daily Gwei
A Guide to Uniswap on Optimism - Bankless
Flashbots on Reorgs - Phil D via Flashbots
We Live In A Mempool: Backrunning the MEV Crisis - Tom Schmidt via Dragonfly Research
RAI is a Stablecoin - Stefan Ionescu
Catblazer Chronicles, June â21 - William Schwab via Ethereum Cat Herders
Podcasts
CowSwap: Tackling the Shortcomings of AMM - Epicenter
Conversations with the Coop: Stani Kulechov of Aave - Index Coop
Misc
Meme of the Week
Looking for Work?
Top jobs listed on Cryptocurrency Jobs this week:
Internship - Index Coop
Head of Growth - Colony
Data Scientist - Electric Capital
Ecosystem Developer - EthBlockArt
+1000âs more on the Cryptocurrency Jobs website!