Ethereum layer 2 Blast sees TVL skyrocket 20,000%

On November 21, 2023, Blast – a new layer 2 (L2) solution on Ethereum triggered unprecedented hype on social networks. As of the time of writing, over $87 million in liquidity has been injected into this on-chain bridge.

What is Blast?

L2 Blast tries to change the way ETH is staking on-chain. The protocol uses several unique mechanisms designed to deliver higher returns and more seamless staking for ETH holders.

Blast is promoted as an L2 protocol on Ethereum – the largest programmable blockchain.

According to the team’s statement, Blast automatically stakes all cryptocurrencies put into Lido and redistributes staking rewards to these L2 investors.

Additionally, users who connect the stablecoin will automatically receive USDB, Blast’s auto-rebasing stablecoin, to enjoy additional yield from MakerDAO’s on-chain US Treasury bond protocol.

Team Blast will allow withdrawals on February 24, 2024, while Blast Points redemption will begin in May.

The project has attracted over $87 million in ETH and stablecoins in less than 24 hours after launch.

Source: 21 Shares and Dune Analytics

At the time of writing, Blast’s TVL metrics show a daily growth of over 20,000%, making it arguably the fastest growing L2 in Ethereum history.

Blast: L2 Ethereum gets the most hype in Q4 2023

Blast is trying to make ETH staking more profitable through the concept of “base yield”.

L2 Blast: The Basics

Blast is a layer 2 solution on the Ethereum blockchain. According to the official statement, Blast is developed by contributors of the trending NFT marketplace Blur. Additionally, the protocol is funded by heavyweight VCs such as Paradigm, Standard Crypto and Primitive Ventures, with participation from leading angel investors Andrew Kang and Santiago Santos.

Simply put, the protocol strives to provide more comprehensive and profitable staking for ETH and stablecoin holders than its competitors.

With Blast, ETH itself is actually rebasing on this L2. ETH profits from the L1 (originally Lido) staking protocol are automatically transferred to users via rebasing ETH on L2.

Blast attempts to integrate real-world assets into the ETH staking process. All customers who deposit stablecoins receive USDB, Blast’s native asset. USDB yields come from the MakerDAO protocol pegged to 10-year US treasury bills.

L2 Blast: When will the tokens be released?

Blast has laid out a three-step schedule for its operations:

Early Access (already active since November 21): Bridge goes live, starting to distribute Blast Points.

Mainnet launch (expected on February 24, 2024): dApps go live, ETH withdrawal is allowed by the team.

Redeem (expected on May 24, 2024): Activate Blast Points redemption.

Users will only be able to withdraw what they put into Blast 3 months after the start of the early access campaign.

L2 Blast: Risk

Besides the high volatility of cryptocurrencies and other “regular” considerations necessary for investors, there are some of these risks associated with this project so far:

No one can predict the price of ETH and related assets on the day of unlocking. Therefore, stake valuation in USD may spike or drop.

As of the time of writing, there is no certainty that there will be a token airdrop and its rules have not been announced.

Additionally, the interest in building dApps on top of this L2 cannot be predicted.

Therefore, users should be extremely cautious when working with any budding cryptocurrency protocols.

Ethereum's EIP-7503 takes privacy to the next level

Ethereum’s EIP-7503 takes privacy to the next level

Ethereum recently completed a community event, ACDE 171, which discussed how to bring about several transformative elements that could shape the future of the network, possibly enhancing security and privacy.

The event covered a number of broad topics, including Dencun Devnets, extensive auditing, the much-awaited launch of Holesky, a pioneering proposal for private ETH transfers, and significant changes to the announcement. Specification EIP-6780.

Enhance privacy and security

Tim Beiko, a prominent member of the Ethereum community, gave a detailed summary of these events on around the blob transaction, examining the EIP-4788 contract bytecode and the Holesky restart.

According to posts on X, the highlight of the event was the launch of EIP-7503, a proposal that, according to Beiko, will redefine private remittances on the Ethereum blockchain.

The authors of EIP 7503 are allowed to present this idea. According to Ethereum documentation, EIP 7503 was discovered when developers were looking to provide more applications and privacy of ZKP.

EIP-7501 introduces a new approach called “Burn and Remint,” which allows private transfers by burning and reminting ETH. By burning, individuals send ETH to an unspent address “and then build a ZK proof showing that some amount of tokens were burned in a transaction in an older block without disclosing the transaction.” pandemic”. In this case, the ZKP merger is designed to enhance privacy and security.

Beiko also shed light on the EIP-4788 contract bytecode inspection process. It is reported that three independent auditors, including ChainSecurity, Dedaub and Trail of Bits, have been contracted for scrutiny. Representatives from both ChainSecurity and Dedaub confirmed that no other issues were identified beyond those mentioned in the initial review.

The auditor reviewed the changes, such as explicitly handling 0 being passed as a timestamp and changing the buffer length to 100% being used regardless of block time, and found no issues with fixes. However, they highlight two aspects that beacon root contract users should keep in mind.

Other minor issues

Devnet 9 was also an issue raised at the event, and Beiko reported that teams are already preparing and working to solve various test cases. Other Devnets, which will be short-lived for testing purposes, have been discussed.

Furthermore, a minor change proposed under EIP-6780 would deactivate SELFDESTRUCT, except in the same transaction as the contract creation.

Execution Layer Meeting 171 comes just two weeks after Meeting 170, which was held on September 14. According to the report, the new ACDE meeting is scheduled for October 12.

Ark Invest and VanEck file application for first spot Ethereum ETF in the United States

Ark Invest and VanEck file application for first spot Ethereum ETF in the United States

Cathie Wood’s asset management firm ARK Invest has filed for the first US spot Ethereum ETF weeks after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed its Bitcoin ETF application. company.

Investment manager VanEck also filed a similar 19b-4 filing, starting with the SEC having to approve or deny each filing.

Ark’s ETH ETF playground

In an S-1 filed with the SEC on Wednesday (September 6), the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF will track the performance of ETH by holding ETH to support the value of its shares.

The Trust custodian will be Coinbase Custody, which serves other major fund providers such as Grayscale and BlackRock. It also proposed forming a custodial sharing agreement with Coinbase, as was proposed with the Bitcoin ETF spot application.

The announcement inspired a short-term price rally for both Bitcoin (BTC) to $25,900 and ETH to $1,655, but both quickly returned to their pre-announcement values.

Trust shareholders will not be able to benefit from the protections afforded to investors in Ether futures contracts on regulated Futures markets.

Historically, the SEC has shown a strong preference for Bitcoin futures ETFs and continues to block the approval of spot ETFs. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has argued that the CME futures market provides investor protections that the spot market cannot provide.

The commission has yet to approve any ETH ETF, with potential applicants hesitant due to the asset’s greater price volatility and regulatory uncertainty compared to Bitcoin.

However, recent developments have inspired fund managers to flock to the SEC with both Bitcoin ETF spot and ETH ETF futures applications. Several reports suggest that the ETH ETF futures were triggered by the SEC’s approval of the leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF in June, which has faced major criticism from the crypto industry.

When will the ETH ETF be approved?

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart estimates that the SEC’s deadline to approve both Ark’s and VanEck’s filings will be May 23, 2024. That’s close to the expected deadline for many BTC-traded ETFs. immediately, from March 15 to 19.

Approval could largely depend on how the SEC reacts to Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF spot bid after losing the company in court. Grayscale emphasized to the agency in a recent letter that it no longer has a legitimate reason to favor BTC futures ETFs over spot ETFs and that it must approve such a product to deliver benefits. for investors.

ETH price rises as SEC prepares to approve Futures ETF

ETH price rises as SEC prepares to approve Futures ETF

The price of Ethereum rose about 11% to $1,700 following news that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is set to allow the first exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ether Futures.

According to an August 17 report from Bloomberg citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter – the regulator looks set to block the applications of nearly a dozen companies, including ProShares, Volatility Shares, Bitwise and Roundhill, filed to launch an Ether futures ETF in recent weeks.

It remains unclear which ETF applications will be approved by the SEC; however, officials indicated that some applications could be approved as soon as October.

ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said he was not surprised by the SEC’s move to approve Ether futures ETFs, adding that the decision shows the regulator’s stance on various products , such as the Bitcoin spot ETF may change over time.

The SEC has been inundated with applications for Ether futures ETFs, with more than a dozen filings for such products having been filed with the regulator since late July.

The price of Ether jumped 11% following the news that the SEC will approve an Ether futures ETF. Source: TradingView
The price of Ether jumped 11% following the news that the SEC will approve an Ether futures ETF. Source: TradingView

The news pushed ETH prices back up 11% to $1,717 just 20 minutes after the market dropped two hours earlier.

Wallets that store Ethereum

Wallets that store Ethereum

As more investors are paying attention to Ethereum, many new investors are in need of a wallet solution to securely store digital assets. Storing funds on an exchange has never been a good idea. Luckily, there are a number of Ethereum wallets that are worth considering. Below are the top 5 Ethereum wallets including software and hardware solutions.

Xeth

One of the most recent Ethereum wallets launched goes under the name XETH. This special service provides Ethereum users with secure, personal, and anonymous payments. Although XETH is quite attractive, it is still unclear which group is running the service. You should check out some of the wallets in the range in this article to find a wallet solution that suits your needs.

Jaxx

Jaxx Wallet has had a solid reputation over the past few years. This is the first wallet that allows support for both Bitcoin and Ethereum coins at the same time. Since then, the Jaxx team has expanded support for other cryptocurrencies, tokens and digital assets. This is a very popular wallet in the Ethereum community. Thanks to its convenience and ease of use, it is very suitable for both those new to investing in cryptocurrency, experienced and novices.

Myetherwallet

It’s not hard to see why MyEtherWallet has received so much praise from the Ethereum community. It is an open source application that does not rely on third-party servers to function. Instead, everything happens on the user’s computer, meaning the service will always be accessible. This is not a wallet of any kind because no one controls your Ethereum balance except you.

It is also important to note that MyEtherWallet already supports ERC20 tokens, Ethereum Classic and can be used alongside hardware wallets such as Trezor. This latter part is quite interesting, as it allows Trezor owners to store Ether on a hardware wallet. Additionally, the Trezor wallet can also be used to store ERC20 tokens and sign transactions to provide additional security.

Mist

In some cases, there is nothing better than using the official Ethereum wallet Mist. This particular solution has seen many improvements over the past few years and is trusted by everyone. Mist is also a wallet that supports multi-signature addresses, which can be quite convenient for advanced users. It requires you to download all of the Ethereum Blockchain, although that might be a bit of a problem for those using computers with low hard drive space. Overall, Mist is a convenient wallet that offers everything users need.

Ledger Nano S

Hardware Wallets are always the best solution when it comes to keeping money safe from risks. The Ledger Nano S has been winning hearts since its release, because it’s simple to use, offers top-notch security, and isn’t expensive for the value you get in return. Ledger Nano S also supports Ethereum without the need for additional third-party or custom software. This is a preferred solution for long-term storage of Ethers.