Crypto wallet Zerion is developing an Ethereum-based L2, ZERO Network, anticipated to launch in late Q2 or early Q3 of this year. It aims to offer free transactions to improve the user experience and accessibility for newcomers. Zerion believes the cost of subsidizing transactions will decrease over time with technological improvements and the network will increase its wallet's visibility, generating additional revenue to offset expenses. It expects to share the cost of subsidizing transactions with dapp developers.

Canto's proposed Cyclone Stack is a set of upgrades aimed at improving the network's performance and scalability via a parallel execution engine. The update involves three steps: the Callisto Upgrade, which will transition Canto towards ABCI 2.0; the Elara Upgrade, which implements the Cyclone EVM for concurrent transaction processing; and the Kallichore Upgrade, which will integrate mem-IAVL to address storage bottlenecks. All existing apps are expected to function normally post-upgrade. The new changes are set to be launched by H2 2024.

Light is a new approach meant to address the fragmentation of user experience across EVM chains. The tool enables users to interact with any EVM chain, including L2s and L3s, as if using one network. It functions like network abstraction, cross-chain asset management, and batch transaction execution. Light is fully open source and aligns with open standards such as ERC-4337 and ERC-7579.

This article discusses the rising prominence and potential of the DePin space, an often overlooked sector in crypto. DePin uses blockchain technology to accelerate and make infrastructure projects more efficient and globally accessible. With over 650 projects in six core subsectors, DePin's market cap is anticipated to reach about $3.5T by 2028.

Base, an Ethereum L2 network created by Coinbase, saw transactions soar to over 1 million and fees drop after the Dencun upgrade.

Coinbase’s L2, Base, has been gaining traction after the Dencun upgrade leveraging lower fees, account abstraction, and Coinbase’s enormous user base. The team is developing a smart wallet that simplifies wallet creation with non-custodial, exportable keys and traditional login methods. This new service aims to make web3 interactions via Coinbase more user-friendly, enhancing its utility and impact on the crypto market.

This thread provides a summary of a talk from SevenX Ventures on the future of modularity and restaking. The talk focused on the scalability, interoperability, and new features of modularity, while also outlining the opportunities and risks associated with restaking. It also shared insights on performance analysis, proof aggregation, and ensuring secure cross-chain transactions.

This thread compares zkVMs with zkEVMs, making a case for zkVMs. A zero-knowledge virtual machine (zkVM) provides secure and verifiable computation through zero-knowledge proofs, offering a simpler alternative to the complex and resource-intensive zkEVMs. Taiko has implemented a multi-prover system to ensure continued security even if one type of proof is compromised.

Essential is a new blockchain that uses constraints to perform state updates without the need for execution. All current blockchains use the imperative programming paradigm, causing poor UX and uncertain outcomes. Interactions in Essential are defined in terms of their outcomes using declarative programming and intents instead of instructions, leading to better developer and user experiences.

The commoditization of blockchain infrastructure, enabled by more competitors and options in the modular stack, is catalyzing a new wave of customized, application-specific rollups. By leveraging components like data availability layers (Celestia, Avail, and EigenDA), rollup SDKs (Sovereign and RollKit), and shared sequencers (Astria and Espresso), developers can focus on optimizing applications without the burden of managing the entire stack. At the same time, infrastructure providers can increase demand for their products and protocols by decreasing the cost of using them by commoditizing the complements or tools an application relies on.

Offchain Labs has released Arbitrum BOLD on testnet, a new dispute resolution protocol for optimistic rollups that enhances permissionless validation and security. Now, anyone can secure claims about Arbitrum's state on Ethereum, promising increased network security and democratizing the validation process. Following thorough testing, including community engagement and a tally vote, BOLD is expected to further align Arbitrum with Ethereum's decentralization goals.

Octane is an open-source, modular implementation of the EVM designed to simplify the integration of the EVM into any blockchain application. By incorporating technology from Cosmos and Ethereum, it is capable of sub-second finality, low query latencies, and high transaction throughput. It will be used for creating Layer 1 networks and decentralized sequencers for L2s.

Vitalik Buterin discusses how Ethereum has traditionally used gas to manage computational resources (computation, storage, data transmission, and cryptographic proof generation) and represent them as a cost metric. He argues that this approach has some limitations given it doesn't effectively describe the limits of each computational resource. By shifting towards a "multi-dimensional gas system", Ethereum will be able to better align costs with the actual demands and capacities of these computational resources.

Arbitrum Stylus is reducing the barrier of entry for developers by allowing EVM-compatible smart contracts programmed in C, C++, and Rust. Stylus improves execution by 10x and scales memory by 50-100x. Since Solana programs are written in Rust, Stylus applications can be interoperable with the Solana ecosystem. It's expected to go live on mainnet in the coming months.

After two years and seven testnets, ZK rollup Taiko has launched its mainnet. Taiko is a based rollup, meaning Ethereum validators are responsible for sequencing transactions instead of foundation-controlled entities. Vitalik Buterin proposed the inaugural block.

Polymer Labs created Monomer SDK in partnership with Nethermind. Monomer SDK can take any Cosmos SDK app and make it deployable as an execution layer on the OP Stack. This approach allows the InterBlockchain Communication (IBC) protocol to be used for bridging alongside additional Cosmos tooling and tech.

Asynchronous execution allows consensus votes to happen independently of all other functions. Two primary Execution Domains, VoteExecutionDomain (VED) and UserExecutionDomain (UED), must be implemented to allow validators to vote before complete transaction execution. This article details the components of VED, the process of computing VED and UED states, and how funds can be moved between domains. The system aims to improve Solana's efficiency and scalability while maintaining integrity.

Solana has introduced "blinks" (blockchain links), a new feature that lets users perform Solana actions like voting, donating, and swapping using shareable links on websites like X.

This mechanism of selling block building and execution rights in advance is the latest development in enshrined proposer builder separation for Ethereum. In this model, builders purchase a proposal slot, with the final price dynamically determined by the amount of outstanding purchases. The payment is burned, similar to EIP-1559.

The slot-to-ping (s2p) ratio is the ratio of the block production time to the time it takes for the block to reach other validators. A smaller s2p promotes centralization, as delays in block production times lead to higher returns by allowing producers to include more blocks. block-bits-per-slot-time against propagation/execution bandwidth must also be considered as it considers block data transfers instead of assuming it is always a tiny fraction of the slot time.

Gwyneth is a new based rollup, meaning transactions are sequenced by L1 validators with blocks constructed by L1 builders. It is a synchronously composable “booster rollup,” allowing for seamless access to the L1's state with no fragmentation. Gwyneth was built using Taiko's prover technology and will eventually utilize zkVMs like SP1 and Risc0 for transaction execution.

Polkadot is a decentralized multi-chain network that uses a main Relay chain that provides security and interoperability to multiple L1 parachains, each customized for specific functions. It supports a dynamic ecosystem with a capped number of 100 parachains, enabling specialized apps like privacy, RWAs, and DeFi solutions within its architecture.

This thread highlights some of the most innovative rollups with technological and cultural differentiations from Ethereum. It includes a chain for halal finance, one with an MEV-free crosschain DEX, and another with EVM and SVM apps running in parallel. There are also L2s requiring all users to KYC and designed for banks.

Brevis is an EigenLayer-secured ZK coprocessor that enables smart contracts to read historic onchain data. It allows dapps to introduce features like intent-based active liquidity management, loyalty trading programs, and account reputation. Its decentralized prover network and Brevis coChain allow for efficient and trust-minimized ZK-proof validation.

Cross-L2 interoperability problems require considerable effort, but we should quickly achieve a seamless UX across Ethereum-based rollups. Work is being done on chain-specific addresses, cross-L2 sends using liquidity providers, L2 light clients, and replayable account state updates. In Phase 2 of the roadmap, shared key management and proof aggregation will further improve the experience.

Optimistic rollups face a fundamental trilemma, making it difficult to design safe systems with fixed delays that rely on a 1-of-N honest assumption, primarily due to the risk of resource exhaustion attacks. This article examines the fraud proof designs of projects like Arbitrum, Cartesi, and Optimism, and questions the viability of fraud proofs in a zero-knowledge (ZK) context.

InfinityVM introduces a new execution architecture that natively integrates offchain compute. It aims to overcome the limits of traditional blockchain models by allowing apps to execute offchain while ensuring only honest results are included onchain. It also enables ZK proofs without constraints, allowing results to be utilized instantly. Thanks to InfinityVM, blockchains can become mechanisms for trustlessly verifying centralized compute, combining the performance of optimized servers with blockchain guarantees.

"Based Rollups" could significantly boost demand for ETH by restructuring validator incentives. By allowing Layer 2 rollups to tap into Layer 1 validators for processing, validators can earn additional income, enhancing ETH staking returns without increasing supply, potentially driving long-term ETH value higher as Ethereum becomes more deflationary and yield remains competitive.

Chaos Labs has unveiled the Edge Oracle Network, a risk-aware, decentralized oracle protocol that is the primary oracle for Solana's Jupiter Exchange. Edge integrates risk management, security, and real-time market context earlier in the data pipeline, allowing for precision during black swan events where traditional oracles often falter. Chaos Labs plans to fully decentralize the network in the coming weeks.