Week in Ethereum News, August 31, 2024
Eth News and Links
OpenSea received Wells notice, Maker rebrands to Sky
All core devs
All Core Devs – Execution (ACDE) #195:
Pectra (Prague + Electra) upgrade:
Pectra-devnet-3: launch once client teams pass spec tests
EIP7702: SELFDESTRUCT behavior clarification and proposals to change signing domain constant from 0x05 to 0x1a & check chain ID
EOF: discussion on ERC721/1155 needs for ISCONTRACT & impact on proxies of DELEGATECALL restriction. Scope to remain as is for Pectra-devnet-4
Proposed Pectra additions:
EIP7623 increase calldata cost to reduce max block size by disincentivizing using mainnet for data availability, already candidate for inclusion
EIP7742 uncouple blob count between CL & EL, moved to candidate for inclusion
Increase blob reserve price for faster price discovery, EIP to be created & proposed for inclusion
List of EIPs proposed for inclusion, to be considered on next ACDE
Pectra (Prague + Electra) upgrade
Pectra testing call #2: Pectra-devnet-2 being left in unhealthy state for debugging
PeerDAS cryptography proved secure
Fusaka (Osaka + Fulu) upgrade
Verkle implementers call #23: test framework progressing, 3 clients ready for next testnet and exploration of binary trees as alternative to Verkle with last minute swap fairly easy
Centralization watch: threatening the value of your ETH
🚨 Lido at 28.4%, still too close to 33.3% threshold
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
Execution layer: Geth ~52% majority
Consensus layer: Prysm 36%
Any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality
Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe
Layer 1
ePBS:
ePBS breakout #8: client teams working on implementations, support for moving from block auctions to slot auctions due to free data availability issue
Terence: block proposal in ePBS block auctions is slower than today, less severe in a slot auction
Multi-block MEV analysis: less sequences than statistically expected, payments increase with sequence length and no indication of deliberate strategies
Portal Network explainer, distributed storage network for Ethereum data
Research
EF Research team AMA on r/Ethereum September 5, submit your questions
Execution Tickets economic modeling: captures some but not all MEV, reduces validator set centralization pressure but doesn’t alleviate builder centralization
FOCIL & BRAID compared: FOCIL is add-on to existing protocol to improve censorship resistance, BRAID is new protocol to improve censorship resistance & solve MEV
Client Releases
Consensus layer:
Nimbus v24.8.0: 25% speed increase for processing blocks with deposits and avoid running light client sync in background when node is synced
Execution layer:
Reth v1.0.6: adds experimental EngineAPI implementation with 100x improvement on fork choice update message handling and bug fixes for OP-Reth & RPC
For Stakers
Vero: multi-node validator client, uses remote signer
EIPs/Standards
EIPs (Ethereum improvement proposals)::
EIP7761: IS_CONTRACT instruction (EOF)
Stuff for developers
Evm.codes: adds EOF opcodes proposed for Pectra (select EOF fork to view)
RareSkills:
ERC1822 universal upgradeable proxy (UUPS) explainer
Kontrol v1 (formal verification): faster & more stable
Revm v14: adds latest spec of EIP7702 (set EOA account code)
PyXatu (Python package): query Xatu database for execution & consensus layer data
Lattice MUD v2.2 (game framework): adds world explorer to view/modify state
Guide to create basic zero knowledge proofs (ZKPs) using Circom & Groth16
Security
Onchain hack impact estimate: $16M loss, 52% market cap decline, depressed token price for 6+ months, 3 months recovery effort & platforms (chain or primitive) are wiped out
Optimization bug found in LLVM (used by ZKsync compiler) while testing Aave deployment, doesn’t affect 64 bit machines but impacted 256 bit EVM
Ecosystem
Josh Stark: EF spending, ~38% internal (EF teams) & ~62% external (grants) in 2022/23
EF Q2 grantees share $8M in funding
ETHTokyo hackathon projects
Suggest a city for ETHGlobal 2025
ETHGas: gas explorer, beta
Job Listings
Gnosis seek CoreDevs, Sr Algorithm Engineer, Sr Smart Contract Engineer
Join Witnet as a Community Builder! Full-time, remote opportunity.
Job listings: $600 for 4 issues (75 char limit). Pay using 3cities. Questions? abcoathup at-gmail
Onchain stats
Fees (via ultrasound.money):
Gas: 0.5 to 18.7 gwei, 1.5 gwei average; zero net issuance at 23.9 gwei
17k ETH net issuance this week
ETHUSD: $2,409 - $2,809, currently $2,528, all time high $4,878
ETHBTC: currently 0.043 (Flippening at ~0.164)
Notable at app layer
Maker rebranded to Sky: USDS stablecoin (freezable in future upgrade) & SKY governance token launch September 18, rewards exclude US, UK & VPN users
MakerDAO Twitter handle snatched
Polygon MATIC migration to POL, manual on Ethereum, automatic on Polygon PoS
100x prediction markets [Starbloom portfolio]
Linkdrop Soulbounds: create/claim non-transferrable NFTs on Base
Regulation/business/tokens
OpenSea received Wells notice from SEC, NFTs on the platform alleged to be securities
General
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov arrested in France [French & English], released on €5M bail & ban on leaving France [French]
Reminder: Telegram chats are probably visible on their servers as not end to end encrypted unless secret chats enabled
North Korean hackers targeting crypto exploited Chrome zero-day to deploy rootkit
Intel SGX encrypted root provisioning key extracted
END OF SERVICE: plan to deprecate Week in Ethereum News
Editor: @abcoathup
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Permalink: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-august-31-2024
Upcoming Dates of Note
(new/changes in bold)
Sep 2 – Scaffold-ETH 2 extensions hackathon deadline
Sep 5 – EF Research AMA on r/Ethereum, submit your questions
Sep 5-8 – ETHWarsaw conference & hackathon
Sep 9-15 – ETHSafari (Kenya)
Sep 12-14 – NapulETH (Napoli)
Sep 13-14 – Ethereum México
Sep 20-22 – ETHCapeTown hackathon
Sep 20-22 – ETHGlobal Singapore hackathon
Sep 26-27 – ETHMilan conference
Oct 4-6 – Ethereum Kuala Lumpur conference & hackathon
Oct 4-6 – ETHRome hackathon
Oct 17-19 – ETHSofia conference & hackathon
Oct 17-20 – ETHLisbon hackathon
Oct 18-20 – ETHGlobal San Francisco hackathon
Nov 12-15 – Devcon 7 - Southeast Asia (Bangkok)
Nov 15-17 – ETHGlobal Bangkok hackathon
Dec 6-8 – ETHIndia hackathon
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