Crypto && Coffee 115
- 8 minsTechnology Recap:
Bitcoin:
- ZmnSCPxj posts a proposal to the Bitcoin-dev mailing list regarding a new opcode in order to implement CoinPools - aka shared UTXO ownership.
- Breez Technology discusses how Lightning is a liquidity network and the ideas behind traffic as a source of liquidity.
- The Wasabi Wallet v2.0 testnet has finally been released for testing purposes!
- Synonym releases their first iteration of SlashPay, a payment negotiation method for all Bitcoin payment methods including Lightning, full-service LSPs, OmniBOLT, Hypercore, and the Omni Layer itself.
- Sparrow Wallet v1.6.1 has been released with focus on BIP-47 and wallet discovery. BIP-47 allows for reusable payment codes for HD-Wallets such as PayNyms.
Litecoin:
- February 25th, 2022 was the first time miners could start signaling for MWEB!
- David Burkett shares the February progress update on MWEB activation, the testing effort from the LTC community and more!
Ethereum:
- The Ethereum Foundation announces a new wave of grants to fund formal research to help create more knowledge about Ethereum, blockchain technology, and related domains.
- Erigon releases the latest upgrade, 2022.02.04-beta with optimizations for RPC commands to gather storage and balance information.
- Ben Edgington shares the latest in the Ethereum consensus layer with focus on the Beacon Chain, The Merge, staking, and more!
- Nimbus releases an update on checkpoint sync, era files and Vouch.
Other Chains:
- Osmosis launches Superfluid Staking, which is the biggest advancement in Proof-of-Stake since validator slashing within the Cosmos ecosystem. Superfluid Staking is a new method for staking OSMO tokens that underlie one’s LP (Liquidity Provider) positions.
- Aave governance proposes a vote to deploy on Starknet with 100% quorum which was executed on February 26, 2022!
- Tally announces that users can now swap tokens inside their Tally Wallet through Tally Swaps! All fees for swaps will go to the community.
- zkSync initiated their contract upgrades for v8 of zkSync 1.0 on March 1st, 2022.
- Nethermind announces Nethermind Synthesis, a formal project that encompasses formal verification and auditing, fundamental cryptography research, StarkNet deployment, and further protocol development.
- Offchain Labs, the team behind Arbitrum, introduces AnyTrust Chains, an Arbitrum node for ultra low-cost transactions with strong security guarantees.
- Espresso Systems is launched! Espresso is a single shot solution for scaling and privacy. Their first release is the Jellyfish cryptography library which is a Rust toolkit with support for PLONK.
- Evmos had their much anticipated mainnet launch on March 2nd, 2022 with various issues shortly after which has resulted in the team stopping the chain and not allowing it to be live for several days due to failing network upgrades.
- The H2O Team announces that H2O, a data-backed, non-pegged stable asset, is launching on the Ocean marketplace.
- Ren introduces Catalog, the first application built on Ren’s layer-1. One of Catalog’s missions is to build an experience that feels more familiar to retail users while adapting its incentive structure to support a variety of applications.
- Stratos is introduced! Stratos is a new general purpose NFT marketplace on Arbitrum.
- Spruce shares how Sign-In with Ethereum is a game changer for user choice on the Internet.
- The StarkWare ecosystem is growing at an astounding pace with StarkEx now supported by DeversiFi, GameStop, ImmutableX, dYdX, and Sorare. In addition, more and more partners are jumping online!
- Clipper on Polygon is now integrated on Dex Aggregator OpenOcean! OpenOcean is an aggregation protocol for crypto trading that sources their liquidity from both DeFi and CeFi markets with the support of cross-chain swaps.
- Automata Network announces their integration with zkSync to help support the layer-2 protocol and dApps running on it via their middleware stack. This stack includes Witness and Conveyor.
- Yobot is announced which makes minting high-demand NFTs via Flashbots accessible to all!!
- Emeris Beta has integrated two new chains, Comdex and Sifchain. Users can now transfer and view their token balances all from inside the Emeris interface.
- Chainlink features the use of Chainlink Keepers to automate smart contracts and provide proper monitoring.
- The Evmos team shipped Ethereum signing via the Keplr wallet! Evmos now supports Cosmos and Ethereum signing in both Keplr and MetaMask!
- StarkWare announces their strategic partnership with Alchemy!
- Otter Cash launches as the first anonymity protocol and general zero-knowledge app on Solana mainnet!
- Equilibrium presents an alpha release of Pathfinder, a full node for StarkNet written in Rust! Pathfinder syncs the StarkNet state, verifies it against layer-1, and exposes everything through an Ethereum-like RPC API.
- Yield Protocol is now live on Arbitrum One! Users on layer-2 can now enjoy the benefits of Yield’s collateralized fixed rate lending and borrowing.
Mainstream Recap:
- The Kyiv Independent shares their bitcoin and ether donation addresses to support their continued work in journalism around everything evolving in Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s official Twitter account shared crypto donation addresses for bitcoin, ether, and USDT (ERC-20). A few days later, they shared information about an airdrop and their snapshot date which increased donations drastically. As of March 8th, 2022 there have been 75,836 Ethereum donors with an approximate $38.92M USD raised so far. For Bitcoin, there has been ~10.2M USD raised.
- Ukraine started to accept DOT and SOL donations as well. As of March 8th, 2022 they have received ~$461K USD in SOL and ~$1.4M USD in DOT. Gavin Wood, the Founder of Polkadot shared his transaction.
- Michael Chobanian, founder of Ukrainian crypto exchange KUNA, shares their funding update on March 1st, 2022, March 2nd, an addition of DOGE, and finally on March 3rd, 2022.
- Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and founder of FTX shares that FTX has given $25 to every Ukrainian on FTX.
- The U.S. is asking crypto exchanges to help ensure that Russian individuals and organizations aren’t using virtual currencies and crypto to avoid sanctions.
- Jesse Powell, co-Founder and CEO of Kraken shares his response to the U.S. and Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister in asking to block Russian individuals’ use of crypto.
- Brian Armstrong, co-Founder and CEO of Coinbase shares his remarks to the questions regarding blocking Russian individuals’ use of crypto and sanctions.
- CZ, CEO of Binance shares his remarks on Ukraine, Russia, sanctions, and the use of crypto.
- Praxis is a new project focused on building a beautiful new real-world city organized around the value of vitality in comparison to people trying to escape the real-world via the metaverse. Praxis announced a $15M Series A led by Paradigm, with Apollo Projects, Alameda Research, Three Arrows Capital, and Robot Ventures with continued participation from existing investors.
- Coinbase introduces their new regulatory framework, _Digital Asset Policy Proposal: Safeguarding America’s Financial Leadershi_p (dApp).
- Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ releases a statement on the development of a NFT and crypto wallet service for digital assets.
- BNY Mellon plans to allow institutional clients to hold bitcoin and ether in a BNY Mellon crypto wallet which will be supported by Fireblocks.
- The Switzerland city of Lugano will accept Bitcoin, Tether, and LVGA tokens as legal tender.
- The CEO of eBay stated in a recent interview that they could soon integrate crypto payments into their platform with a full announcement scheduled for March 10th, 2022.
- Santander stated that it will offer a new type of loan in Argentina, backed by tokens based on agricultural commodities.
- Bain Capital Crypto is launched with their first $560M venture fund!
- The Central Bank of Brazil has chosen nine partners to help develop a digital real, Brazil’s CBDC.
- Electric Capital shares that they have raised $1B to fund crypto networks, web3 protocols, and blockchain-enabled businesses.
- a16z shares why they are investing in Lido with the much anticipated transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in Ethereum and the need for a decentralized staking platform like so.
- Block releases their Q4 and full-2021 earnings report.
- Eli Ben-Sasson, co-Founder and President of StarkWare shares an article on the importance of integrity and team building for the future of decentralized tech.
- Gemini joins the Crypto Council for Innovation which expands CCI’s roster of digital asset and finance leaders including Block, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz and Ribbit Capital.
- Samson Mow, previously Chief Strategy Officer at Blockstream and long time contributor, announces he is leaving the company to focus on nation-state Bitcoin adoption through his new company Pixelmatic.
- Jay Graber, who is leading the push behind BlueSky, shares the inception point and their goals on building an open protocol for decentralized social media.
- Anton Nell and Andre Cronje announce that they are closing the chapter on contributing to various apps/services including the following that will be terminating on April 3rd, 2022: yearn[.]fi (replaced by yearn[.]finance), keep3r[.]network (replaced by thekeep3r[.]network, multichain[.]xyz (replaced by multichain[.]org), chainlist[.]org, solidity[.]exchange, and bribe[.]crv[.]finance.
This Week’s Cup of Coffee:
This week, we are heading down the coast to Santa Barbara, CA for a cup of Zip Zinger from Dune Coffee Roasters! This blend of Colombian, Ethiopian, and Honduran coffees yields flavors of stone fruit, caramel, and chocolate. Sip up and enjoy!!
Jake Tarnow
Not Your Average Engineer