Week in Ethereum News, December 7, 2024
Eth News and Links
Eth R&D protocol call (All Core Devs)
Execution layer focused protocol call (ACDE #201):
Pectra upgrade:
Mekong testnet: 97% participation, client teams fixing issues
Pectra-devnet-5 spec: ideally launch devnet before the holidays
EIP2537 BLS precompile: 2-3x gas cost increase proposed, agree async
EIP7623 increase calldata cost: scheduled for inclusion in Pectra, discuss on testing call which devnet to add to
EIP7762 increase min blob base fee: not included for now, discuss at RollCall (L2 standards) & consensus layer call (ACDC) next week
EIP4803 limit transaction gas: proposed to retroactively include
History expiry plan: pre-merge expiry set for May 1, discussed if new eth/70 protocol needed (EIP7639)
All Core Devs process improvements: added Declined for Inclusion EIP status and non-consensus changing EIPs can be included in upgrade Meta EIPs
Pectra (Prague + Electra) upgrade
Client testing call #15: Mekong testnet deposit processing fixed and Pectra-devnet-5 spec discussions
Pectra system contracts for consolidations, withdrawals & block hash lookup; used instead of precompiles, implemented in Assembly
Amsterdam upgrade
Stateless implementers call #28 (formerly Verkle): file based approach for preimage distribution and implementation in progress of EIP7736 leaf-level state expiry
Layer 1
Bandwidth availability shows reasonable to increase blob count
EVMMAX implementers call #1: Poseidon planned as first use case
For stakers
Slashing event: 21 validators slashed for attestation violation
SOLO: proposal for liquid staking using portion of stake unlikely to be lost, without needing governance, trusted hardware or permissioned operator sets
Centralization watch: threatening the value of your ETH
🚨 Lido at 28.1%, still too close to 33.3% threshold
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
Execution layer: Geth ~43% & Nethermind ~36% (estimate based on 74% self reported data)
Consensus layer: Prysm 35%
Any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality
Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe
Client Releases
Consensus layer:
Layer 2
Arbitrum Connect: interface for users to force include transactions during sequencer downtime
EIPs/Standards
EIPs (Ethereum improvement proposals):
ERCs (application layer):
Stuff for developers
Foundry: forge build 10-36% faster compilation, forge coverage 2x faster
Hardhat v2.22.17: adds Solidity v0.8.28 support
Ape v0.8.21 (Python contract framework): faster console launch & auto fork chains
Frangio: Solidity learnings & working on EVML (EVM language)
Tornado Cash reference manual: architecture, Circom circuit, Solidity contracts and client side proof generation & verification
eth_simulateV1 explainer: standardized approach for multicall via JSON-RPC
Rotki balance scanner (Vyper): query ETH/token balances, deployed on mainnet & L2s
Drift (create cached contract calls): adds hooks
Safe owner manager: manage Safe multisig owners & thresholds in bulk
Security
Vestra $500k exploit on mainnet
Clipper (DEX) $460k exploit on Optimism & Base
Spectral Syntax v2 $200k exploit on Base via infinite approval
ETH Rangers, $25k stipend from EF for public goods security work, December 20 deadline
Job Listings
Mimic: Tech Lead Engineer
Vyper (Pythonic EVM language) seek a DevRel
Nethermind: AI Agent, Infra, Blockchain, Full Stack, BizDev & Researcher
Job listings: $600 for 4 issues (75 char limit). Pay using 3cities. Questions? abcoathup at-gmail
Onchain stats
Fees (via ultrasound.money):
Gas: 4.5 to 202.4 gwei, 20.2 gwei average; zero net issuance at 24.1 gwei
2.7k ETH net issuance this week
ETHUSD: $3,543 - $4,089, currently $4,022, all time high $4,878
ETHBTC: currently 0.04 (Flippening at ~0.164)
Ecosystem
EF Q3 grantees share $12.8 million in funding
Public goods dashboards share $250k via quadratic voting at Devcon
Enterprise
Wyoming stable token commission: request for qualifications to support state issued USD backed stablecoin, deadline December 12
Notable at app layer
Vitalik’s ideal wallet: cross-L2, secure from users & wallet devs, private transfers, store private data, secure chain access & keystores
ENS DAO grants: $12-50k for public goods projects
Regulation/business/tokens
Paul Atkins to be nominated as SEC Chair; David Sacks to be White House AI & crypto czar
Coinbase obtained FDIC’s requests for banks to pause crypto activities
Alex Mashinsky (former Celsius CEO) pleaded guilty to fraud
General
XT exchange $1M stolen
END OF SERVICE: plan to deprecate Week in Ethereum News
Editor: @abcoathup
Follow @WeekinEthNews for the most clicked links
Permalink: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-december-7-2024
Upcoming Dates of Note
(new/changes in bold)
Dec 9 – EF internships 2025 application deadline
Dec 20 – ETH Rangers application deadline
Jan 20 – Ethereum protocol attackathon ends
Jan 30-31 – EthereumZuri.ch conference
Feb 23 - Mar 2 – ETHDenver
Apr 4-6 – ETHGlobal Taipei hackathon
May 9-11 – ETHDam (Amsterdam) conference & hackathon
May 27-29 – ETHPrague conference
May 30 - Jun 1 – ETHGlobal Prague hackathon
Jun 3-8 – ETH Belgrade conference & hackathon
Jun 12-13 – Protocol Berg (Berlin) conference
Jun 16-18 – DappCon (Berlin)
Jun 26-28 – ETHCluj (Romania) conference
Jun 30 - Jul 3 – EthCC (Cannes) conference
Jul 4-6 – ETHGlobal Cannes hackathon
Aug 15-17 – ETHGlobal New York hackathon
Sep 26-28 – ETHGlobal New Delhi hackathon
Nov – ETHGlobal Devconnect hackathon
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