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Crypto && Coffee 126

Technology Recap:

Bitcoin:

  • Lightning Labs announces the initial code for Taro, a new protocol to issue and transfer assets on the Bitcoin and Lightning network. 

  • Core developer, Gloria Zhao, posted to the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list a proposal to allow transactions to opt-in to a modified set of transaction relay policies. This would aid both layer-2 and contract-based protocols. 

  • Bitcoin Core v0.24.0-rc1 is the first release candidate for the next version of the network’s most widely used full node implementation. 

Ethereum:

  • Tim Beiko shares details on EIP-4844 (Shard Blob Transactions) after the recent community call which goes through implementation updates as well as devnet readiness. 

  • Vitalik publishes some recent code illustrating a basic implementation of a SNARK (PLONK) compiler, prover and verifier in Python. SNARKs are a “Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge”. They are used directly in regard to zero-knowledge cryptography which Ethereum is looking at for both scalability and privacy. 

  • Developers have been discussing EIP-4337 which provides account abstraction and a decentralized fee market for user operations in smart contract wallets.

  • BloXroute Lab’s ethical relayer produced a few invalid blocks (Slots: 4791029, 4790116, 4790859, 4790770, 4790780) on the Consensus Layer on September 27th, 2022. 

  • Erigon publishes a new release, v2022.10.01, which contains a ton of fixes and improvements, specifically targeted around the Engine API messages. 

Other Chains: 

  • Circle announced the intent to make USDC available on five blockchain ecosystems: Arbitrum, Cosmos, NEAR, Optimism, and Polkadot by the end of 2022.

  • Ribbon Finance launches Ribbon Lend, their expansion into the credit market.

  • StarkWare shares information on the StarkNet Regenesis which will follow the release of Cairo v1.0. This aims to make the system more secure by allowing simpler and safer StarkNet contracts. 

  • Nethermind publishes an article focused on a path towards permissionless liquid staking. The full doc dives into the mechanisms needed to make liquid staking permissionless in addition to bond-based staking. 

  • Binance plans to implement a Terra Classic (LUNC) burn mechanism on trading fees which will be updated each week. 

  • Only 23 days until zkSync v2.0 is live on mainnet! View the full thread on all things zkSync! 

  • Chainlink introduces their Chainlink BUILD program. The program aims to accelerate the growth of early-stage and established projects within the Chainlink ecosystem. 

  • The Solana network experienced an outage on September 30th which resulted in zero transactions being processed for some time. Developers across the ecosystem worked on diagnosing the issue. Validator operators completed a cluster restart of mainnet at 7AM UTC on October 1st. 

  • The Interchain Foundation celebrated 18months of having Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) transactions live. 

  • Onomy Protocol, a multi-chain suite, announces their new public testnet which will go live on Monday, October 10th, 2022 at 3pm UTC. 


Hacks | Vulnerabilities | Exploits:

  • PeckShield identified a composability issue with the swap contract of Transit Finance on BSC that resulted in the loss of ~$15M. The stolen funds ended up here.


Mainstream Recap:

  • Fidelity’s Wise Origin buys $60M worth of bitcoin according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

  • MetaMask launches Beta Portfolio Dapp for users to view an aggregation of all their assets across multiple accounts and networks in one place. 

  • The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Bermuda-based Arbitrade Ltd and Canada-based Cryptobontix as well as their principals, for carrying out an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. 

  • Crypto venture-capital investment firm Pantera Capital aims to raise $1.25B for its second blockchain fund.

  • SWIFT is using the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) in an initial proof of concept. 

  • Coinbase experienced an outage on October 2nd, 2022 which resulted in the platform being unable to process payments or make withdrawals involving US bank accounts. 

  • Fidelity reveals Ethereum index fund with ~$5M already in sales with new filing. 

  • Gemini announces that Ethereum staking is now live on their platform! Customers who stake ETH will receive 15% in ETH rewards above the base staking reward rate through the end of October. 

  • Blowfish, the security service for Web3 wallet needs, announces a $11.8M funding round led by Paradigm. 

  • Kim Kardashian was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for unlawfully touting a crypto security. She agreed to pay $1.26M to settle charges.

  • Exponential has raised a $14M seed round, led by Paradigm, and is now live to the public! Exponential is a new investment platform that makes it easier to discover, access and invest in DeFi yield opportunities. 

  • Horizon raises $40M in their Series A to help make Web3 easy, fun, and powerful for both users and builders. 


This Week’s Cup of Coffee:

This week, we are headed to Chicago, IL for a cup of Seismic from Metric Coffee. This blend of Ethiopian and Honduran beans yields a light and balanced flavor of buttercream, mandarin orange and hints of tamarind. Sip up and enjoy this smooth roast!!

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