Week in Ethereum News, January 22, 2022 - thanks to Kwenta & Synthetix for making this issue possible!
Eth News and Links
Mainnet execution layer
Latest core devs call video. Notes from Tim Beiko:
Engine API spec to make executing a payload optional & auth proposal
Testnets post PoW switch off likely to be Goerli & Sepolia
Discussion of potential EIPs for Shanghai upgrade: EIP2537 BLS precompile, EIP3540 EVM Object Format, EIP3670 EOF code validation and EIP3860 limit & meter initcode
Erigon v2022.01.02: simplified miner gas limit, trace_filter intersection mode and bug fixes
Besu v21.10.9: bug fixes
Empirical analysis of EIP1559: fee estimation is now easier, decreased gas price volatility between blocks, reduced user wait time and MEV larger share of miner revenue due to burn
Flashbots research: parallel EVM, execute transactions with no storage conflicts at the same time and pre-load storage using optional access lists
Proof of Stake consensus layer
Lighthouse v2.1.0: performance improvements, 5-10x smaller slasher db, improved peer count stability and bug fixes
Vitalik’s secret non-single leader election proposal to avoid DoS attacks on proposer, use randao reveal hash to select, lowest hash wins for conflicts
proto-EIP: beacon state root in EVM to support validator withdrawals
Insecura: long range attack versus weak subjectivity testing
PoW switch off
Goerli testnet shadow forked in PoW switch off test
EIPs/Standards
EIP4675: Multi-Fractional Non-Fungible Token Standard
Layer2
Connext Vector v0.1.0 live, transfer value between Layer 2s using state channels
Warp (Solidity to Cairo transpiler): first major release, write tests in Solidity
StarkNet Prover code license discussion
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Decentralized Perpetual Futures coming soon.
Stuff for developers
Forge (Foundry testing framework) starter guide [another one]
Forge replit, run Forge in the browser, vanilla setup
Ganache v7: local blockchain (formerly ganache-cli), 30x faster forking, zero-config mainnet forking
Hardhat-Vyper v3.0.0: compilation cache fixed, removed Docker dependency and supports compiling with multiple Vyper versions
MetaMask Flask: developer distribution for experimental features, first feature is Snaps to build and plugin APIs
ENS Offchain Resolver: starter-kit to resolve names using external services, ready for dev testing, first step for Layer 2/off-chain resolution
Solidity functions cheaper with payable modifier, non-payable functions add 24 gas check that msg.value is zero
evm-codes: share code links from playground
VestedERC20: ERC20 wrapped as ERC20 that vests linearly
TWAM: time weighted minting prices for ERC721
MoonCats deep dive into on-chain generative art NFTs using traits
ERC721 with on-mint generation from 7 traits using probabilities
Playpen: gas optimized staking pool contracts, supports ERC20 & ERC721
Web3UIKit: lightweight UI components
Dune Analytics resources to get started
Rinkeby social faucet is back! Alchemy’s Rinkeby faucet requires no auth
Security
Multichain bridge vulnerability, 600 ETH exploited, revoke approvals
Float Protocol ~$1 million exploit, Uniswap V3 price oracle manipulated
Redacted token vulnerability, ~$3 million was at risk, funds rescued
Notional Finance post mortem, verification missed vulnerability due to logic error
Austin Williams: MasterChefV2 principal freezing and ransom attacks
Secureum contract auditing next bootcamp
Ecosystem
Josh Stark & Evan Van Ness: Year in Ethereum 2021
Ethereum.org: 20 million visits last year, Q1 roadmap includes rebrand from ETH2
ETHGlobal: NFT Hack recap and finalists
Enterprise
Twitter adds hexagon NFT profile pics on iOS, requires paid Twitter Blue subscription (US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand), SVG not yet supported
Bud Light changes Twitter profile pic to Noun NFT in deal to feature Noun glasses in a Super Bowl commercial
Adidas & Prada collaboration with Zach Lieberman on 3000 tile canvas NFT
Gucci & SUPERPLASTIC collaboration selling NFTs with ceramic sculptures
StockXVault: custodial NFTs of physical products stored at a StockX facility
Application layer
UMA protected tokens, shield underlying token from theft or loss
ShapeShift v2: DeFi gateway
Argent zkSync wallet adds Aave via pooling
Themis live on mainnet, borrow and lend against Uniswap v3 LPs
Radicle Drips: stream funds to an address, split funds, sell memberships & subscriptions, collect from multiple streams with a single transaction
Snapshot X: governance voting on StarkNet & execute transactions on mainnet, work in progress, permissioned from Q2, open access from Q3
OpenGSN meta-transactions live on Optimism
Lit Protocol: access control for content, airdrops & interactive NFTs
Coinbase NFT working with MasterCard to allow credit card purchases
gem: NFT marketplace aggregator
NFTX Inventory Staking: staked floor NFTs receive share of vault fees
CryptoStats data metrics, use community created datasets or publish an adaptor
Job Listings
Ether Capital is hiring a 👩🏼💻 DevOps Engineer 👨🏻💻 to stake millions on Eth2
Kwenta seeks Frontend Engineer, Solidity Engineer & Marketing Lead
Nethermind 1-3 month internship program
Are you a p2p networking whiz? EF research hiring Networking Engineer
Geth team seeks Senior Technical Writer to redo the docs & take ownership
Certora seeks SR SW Eng, Security Res, Security Eng & Community Manager
Reach developers experienced with Ethereum. $600 for four 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 Fed CBDC discussion paper [PDF], proposes privacy-protected, intermediated, widely transferable & identity-verified CBDC
Bank of Russia consultation paper proposes ban on mining & use of crypto
Spanish regulator to require 10 days notice of crypto ad campaigns
UK government plans for financial promotion regulations to cover crypto
Dharma acquired by OpenSea, Dharma wallet being sunset over 30 days
ETH inflation rate below that of BTC
General
Wallets that load centralized NFT metadata directly can be used to identify an IP address from an Ethereum address
Hyperstructures: concept of protocols that are unstoppable, free, valuable, expansive, permissionless, positive sum and credibly neutral
Opera’s Crypto Browser with native wallet for Android, Windows & Mac, public beta
Crypto.com $34 million in unauthorized withdrawals from 483 accounts, users refunded, all users migrated to new 2FA infrastructure
UK government advertising campaign against end to end encryption
Intel deprecating SGX in desktop chips
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-january-22-2022
Dates of Note
Upcoming dates of note (new/changes in bold):
Feb 15 - Apr 5 – Cryptocurrency Class (virtual)
Feb 17 – Schelling Point (Denver)
Feb 18-20 – ETHDenver
Mar 14-17 – Eth Rio
Mar 17-18 – ETH Austin summit
Mar 29-31 – ETHDubai
Apr 7-9 – ETH Portland hackathon
Apr 20-21 – The Alliance gaming summit (Amsterdam)
Apr 21 – ETHconomics (Amsterdam)
Apr 22-24 – ETHAmsterdam
May 3-8 – spaghettETH (Milan)
May 20 – US Fed CBDC discussion paper feedback deadline
Jun 10-12 – ETHPrague
Jun 16-19 – ETH Miami summit & hackathon
Jun 20-23 – NFT.NYC
Jun 24-26 – ETHNewYork
Jul 8 – ETH Seattle summit
Jul 19-21 – EthCC 5 (Paris)
Aug 19-21 – ETHMexicoCity
Aug 27-28 – DeFi Security Summit (Stanford)
Aug 29-31 – Science of Blockchain Conference (Stanford)
Nov 4-6 – ETHSanFrancisco
Dec 2-4 – ETHTaipei
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