Week in Ethereum News, December 18, 2021 - thanks to Starbloom Ventures for making this issue possible!
Eth News and Links
Mainnet execution layer
Kintsugi testnet is live for the next month, help test PoW switch off:
Add testnet to MetaMask, get 50 testnet Ether, use the testnet!
Join the testnet; guide to joining with Geth & Lighthouse
Testing ideas for technical folks
Erigon v2021.12.03: Transaction pool debugging for specific sender addresses
Besu v21.10.4: update due to additional log4j vulnerability
Proposal to streamline gas accounting under Verkle trees
EIPs/Standards
EIP4521: ERC721/20-compatible transfer
EIP4546: Wrapped Deposits
EIP4573: Entry Points and Procedures for EVM Code Sections
Proof of Stake consensus layer
Latest What’s New in Eth2
PoS implementers call (no recording). Notes from Ben Edgington: working on optimistic sync (ideas welcome)
Light client sync, alternative to optimistic sync
Teku v21.12.2: update due to additional log4j vulnerability
Armiarma beacon chain crawler v1 (Ant crawler): 58.8% are Prysm nodes
Layer2
Optimism deployment now permissionless; future updates will maintain state, transaction history and event data
Immutable X fiat on-ramp via MoonPay
Polygon Nightfall zk-optimistic rollup testnet
Arbitrum compares ZK and Optimistic Rollups
Optimistic Rollups 7-day fraud proof window explainer
Celer’s call for an open canonical token bridge standard
This newsletter is made possible thanks to Starbloom Ventures!
Starbloom Ventures is a new early-stage venture fund by Evan Van Ness and James Fickel to invest in the future of web3.
What does it mean to invest in the future of web3? This week we published our request for startups.
We’re pledging 10% of profits to support Ethereum public goods. Why isn’t your favorite VC taking the pledge?
Stuff for developers
ethereum-code-viewer: open Etherscan verified contracts in browser instance of VS Code, supports multi-file contracts & proxies, just change etherscan contract URL from “.io” to “.deth.net”
Hardhat v2.8.0: custom hardfork history to fork non-supported networks
Otterscan v2021.12.02: support for revert reasons & custom errors
StarkNet.py: StarkNet SDK for Python
ApeWorX: Python based modular development framework, beta
Subway: example sandwich bot for UniswapV2 pairs
Comparison of BigQuery, Nansen, and Dune Analytics using example of querying historical floor price
MakerDAO developer survey
Security
Gelato G-UNI Router vulnerability, $26 million secured with no funds lost, alerted by samczsun, revoke approvals given to vulnerable contract
Umbra frontend bug disclosure, no funds lost or at risk, check account is configured properly
NFT holder phished, apparent airdrop claim signed using hardware wallet was actually private sale of two NFTs on OpenSea
Key extraction attacks on threshold ECDSA implementations, $500k bounty paid
PLONK ZKP C++ attack using zero to create a forged proof that verifiers accept, $15k bounty paid
Learn to be an auditor at the next Secureum bootcamp, starts in January
Ecosystem
Ethereum Foundation client incentive program: nine client teams receive 144 validators (4608 ETH) each (50% for Lodestar), withdrawal credentials are vested, first tranche released when withdrawals enabled
Ethereum.org page on energy consumption
MetaMask Transaction Insight: decodes transaction data to more human readable format
Guide to SQRL (Simultaneous Qualified Roots with Lure): create a canary account for a secret mnemonic, whilst valuable assets are controlled by the mnemonic plus an extra word using a hardware wallet
Starter guide to MEV [PDF]
Ethereum Foundation’s Devconnect: Amsterdam April 2022, bring community together in small groups to discuss, learn & make progress
ETHGlobal 2022 events: Amsterdam, New York, Mexico City, San Francisco, Taipei & Bogota, plus virtual events HackMoney & ETHOnline
Enterprise
Shopify NFT beta: mint/airdrop/sell using crypto or fiat, open to US Shopify Plus merchants
ConsenSys Rollups: zk-rollups for mainnet or private ConsenSys Quorum networks, with support from Mastercard
Adidas Originals sold out 30k NFTs for access to experiences & products
NIKE acquires RTFKT (NFT studio)
L'Oréal Paris USA five 1-1 NFTs, artists retain 100% of sales & 50% of royalties
Application layer
Lyra (options trading) token launched natively on Optimism
Uniswap Auto Router v2: routes across Uniswap v2 & v3, supports Layer 2 and real-time gas estimates
1inch Limit Order Protocol v2: gasless limit orders for ETH and support for DAI style permits
Euler lending markets guarded launch on mainnet
Balancer Boosted Pools launches with AAVE, deposit excess liquidity into lending protocols to earn yield
Element Finance scaling with Aztec Network zk-rollup
VeVe migrated 3 million licensed NFTs to Immutable X
Mintable integrates with Immutable X, gas free minting & trading
Unlock Protocol WordPress plugin for content access via NFTs
Intergalactic Neon Tokens: on-chain animated SVG NFTs of token symbols based on price
Job Listings
Textile is hiring! Blockchain Eng, Backend Eng, and Partner Manager
IoBuilders is hiring: Enterprise blockchain devs, product managers & more
Kwenta seeks Frontend Engineer, Solidity Engineer & Marketing Lead
EFF hiring a Senior Fellow of Decentralization
Bloom Institute of Technology (fka Lambda school) seek Solidity experts
OpenZeppelin are hiring a Community Manager
Ethereum Foundation: DevOps for Consensus Layer clients in lead up to merge
Reach developers experienced with Ethereum. DECEMBER SPECIAL: $200 for two issues (~75 character limit), payable in ETH/DAI/USDC to abcoathup.eth on mainnet, Arbitrum or Optimism. Questions? abcoathup at-gmail
Regulation/business/tokens
US SEC Republican members issue strong dissent from Gensler’s heavy-handed regulatory agenda
AAVE governance votes for AAVE v3 to use a business license
2022 reports [PDF]: Messari crypto theses & The Block digital asset outlook
Ether Capital stakes 10,240 Ether
General
South Park TV special mocks NFTs
Log4j additional vulnerability
NSO zero-click iMessage exploit deep dive: virtual computer architecture built from boolean pixel operations using image compression in PDF
Bi-directional comms via laser pointed at air gapped office device LEDs [PDF], over 25 metres & 128 kbps throughput, requires modified firmware
Quantum computing overview: start switching to post quantum soon in multi-decade race before RSA is broken
Follow @WeekinEthNews to find out what the most clicked links are. Follow @evan_van_ness and @abcoathup to get most of the week’s news in real time.
Permalink for this week’s issue: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-december-18-2021
Dates of Note
Upcoming dates of note (new/changes in bold):
Jan 22-23 – DeFi Security Summit (Stanford)
Jan 24-26 – Science of Blockchain Conference (Stanford University)
Feb 17 – Schelling Point (Denver)
Feb 18-20 – ETHDenver
Mar 14-17 – Eth Rio
Mar 28-30 – ETHDubai
Apr 22-24 – ETHAmsterdam
Jun 10-12 – ETHPrague
Jun 24-26 – ETHNewYork
Jul 19-21 – EthCC 5 (Paris)
Aug 19-21 – ETHMexicoCity
Nov 4-6 – ETHSanFrancisco
Dec 2-4 – ETHTaipei
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