Ethereum

Decentralized applications could tap into improved privacy features as blockchain firm Oasis launches its confidential EVM-compatible blockchain Sapphire. Sapphire and the Oasis Privacy Layer (OPL) are now live, allowing existing decentralized applications (DApp) on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks to make use of the blockchain’s privacy-first features without having to carry out cross-chain swaps for

While account abstraction in Ethereum is perceived to be a catalyst that could onboard a billion users, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared some challenges in implementing the new feature on the blockchain.  Buterin, speaking on July 18 at the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) event in Paris, explained some of the key innovations that modern account

An environment of healthy competition is being fostered between the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem’s top development firms building zkEVMs to scale the network, according to one of Polygon’s co-founders. Jordi Baylina, technical lead of Polygon Hermez zkEVM, spoke to Cointelegraph ahead of the start of EthCC in France. With builders from across the Ethereum ecosystem converging

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution zkSync Era has launched a new Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge (STARK)-based proof system called Boojum that promises to run on consumer-grade general processing units (GPUs). ZkSync Era is one of a handful of Ethereum scaling protocols using zero-knowledge rollups (ZK-rollups) to increase capacity and speed while reducing fees. ZK-rollups mostly use two

Two of the biggest platforms powering Web3 decentralized domains have partnered up after Unstoppable Domains announced support for .eth domain names from Ethereum Name Service (ENS). The two service providers have been central pillars in the Web3 domain space, allowing users to create human-readable domain names and cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Decentralized domains also act as

CLabs, the organization responsible for developing the Celo blockchain, is seeking to return to the Ethereum ecosystem by transitioning from an independent EVM-compatible layer-1 blockchain to an Ethereum layer-2 solution.  According to a proposal discussion on Celo’s governance forum, the transition would include leveraging OP Stack as the architecture to become an Ethereum L2 blockchain,

The cryptocurrency market has encountered its share of ups and downs over the past year, but blockchain technology continues to see impressive growth as businesses seek digital transformation.  Recent findings from the market research platform, MarketsandMarkets, estimated the global blockchain market size to be $7.4 billion in 2022. While notable, the report indicates that the

Lending protocol Geist Finance is shutting down permanently due to losses from the Multichain exploit, according to a July 14 social media post from the app’s development team. Geist contracts were been paused on July 6, then resumed in “withdraw and repay only” mode on July 9. The latest post confirms the team does not

Coinbase’s Base mainnet is now “open for builders,” according to a July 13 blog post from the network’s development team. The team is opening the network to builders ahead of its public launch to allow more time  for user onboarding. Base also announced that the public launch of the network will occur in August. Since

Ethereum (ETH) scaling protocols are dominating the use of zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups, with major launches, new research and healthy competition key points in a sector report published by ZK Validator. The node infrastructure operator’s “State of ZK Q2” report reflects on significant events across the ZK ecosystem, with notable launches of ZK-powered layer 2’s highlighting the

Crypto mining firm Hive Blockchain is now calling itself Hive Digital Technologies — after enacting a branding pivot that seeks to highlight its foray into artificial intelligence. The Vancour-based mining company said in a July 12 statement it has dropped “blockchain” from its name to better represent the company’s “evolving focus” on revenue opportunities in

In this week’s newsletter, read about Ethereum nonfungible token (NFT) royalties hitting their lowest point in two years. Check out Bitcoin Ordinals trading volume, which hit $210 million in the second quarter of 2023, and how a decentralized finance (DeFi) borrower used an NFT representing a physical luxury watch to take out a loan. In

Coinbase Wallet users can now send instant messages to each other using their Ethereum identities, according to a  July 12 blog post from Coinbase. The new feature relies on the Extensible Message Transport Protocol (XMTP), an instant messaging system that allows users to communicate using blockchain addresses. XMTP is also used by decentralized social media

The much-anticipated Quantum Leap upgrade by layer-2 scaling protocol Starknet was recently deployed on the Ethereum mainnet, allowing for as much as 90 transactions per second (TPS), boosting the network’s speed.  MOARRR TPS DADDY STARKNET MAINNET QUANTUM LEAP 0.12.0 LIVE ON MAINNET pic.twitter.com/RaI1XKcgy7 — Starknet (@Starknet) July 12, 2023 According to Uri Kolodny, the co-founder

A person is using the Multichain Executor to drain tokens associated with the AnySwap bridging protocol, according to a July 10 report from on-chain sleuth and Twitter user Spreek. The report follows outflows of over $100 million from Multichain bridges that occurred on July 7, which were reported by the Multichain team as “abnormal.” The

A third straight week of positive digital asset inflows has fully corrected nine previous weeks of outflows for the market, according to a report from CoinShares published on July 10.  This week’s inflows registered $136 million. Bitcoin (BTC) funds continued their trend of holding the anchor position, with 98% of the inflows coming from BTC. The

The Ethereum ecosystem welcomes another layer-2 scaling solution as ConsenSys begins onboarding partners to its Linea network, which has produced significant scaling milestones in testing. Linea is an Ethereum layer-2 scaling network that allows developers to build or migrate decentralized applications for Ethereum. It operates using zero-knowledge proofs and is Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalent, meaning its

Arbitrum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Rodeo Finance was exploited for $1.53 million on July 11. The DeFi protocol was exploited using a code vulnerability in its Oracle, leading to a loss of over 810 Ether (ETH). According to data shared by blockchain analytic firm PeckShield, the exploiter later bridged the stolen funds from Arbitrum to

The Arcadia Finance attacker used a reentrancy exploit to drain $455,000 from the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, according to a July 10 post-mortem report issued by the app’s development team. A “reentrancy exploit” is a bug that allows an attacker to “re-enter” a contract or interrupt it during a multi-step process, preventing the process from

An Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) made on July 7 seeks to standardize how tokens are bridged between networks. The “Sovereign Bridged Token” standard, or EIP-7281, allows token issuers to create canonical bridges across multiple networks.  The proposal was co-authored by Arjun Bhuptani, founder of the Connext bridging protocol. In a July 7 social media post,