Week in Ethereum News, May 27, 2023
Eth News and Links
Dencun (Cancun + Deneb) upgrade
Latest all core devs – execution (ACDE) call video. Summary by Tim Beiko. Notes from Tim Beiko and Christine Kim:
SELFDESTRUCT removal impact analysis: EIP6780 (SELFDESTRUCT only in same tx) is low impact and will be in Cancun; EIP6913 SETCODE not in Cancun for now
EIP4844 discussions: excess_data_gas, use big endian for precompile, remove SSZ EIPs, draft devnet 6 spec (last EIP4844 specific devnet before Dencun devnets)
Proposed ordering of Cancun & Prague opcodes being added to execution specs
Final candidates for inclusion in Cancun: EIP4788 (beacon block root in EVM), EIP2537 (BLS precompile), EIP5656 (MCOPY), EIP5920 (PAY) & EIP7069 (revamped CALL instructions); no more EIPs to be considered for Cancun
Consensus-specs v1.4.0-alpha.0: Deneb updates & attnets revamp
KZG ceremony nears 100k contributions, now available to accounts with 16 mainnet transactions
Layer 1
Ben Edgington: deposits & withdrawals, new chapter from Upgrading Ethereum book
Geth team: what happens if a supermajority EL client has a bug?
Verkle overlay tree conversion method implemented
Client releases
Consensus layer:
Execution layer:
For Stakers
Eth-wizard v0.9.7: validator setup on Ubuntu/Windows with MEV-Boost
Research
Path to enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation: top-down via Two-Block HeadLock (variant of two-slot PBS) and bottom-up via optimistic relay
Timing games: proposer may delay block proposal to maximize MEV but still be early enough to be included
Layer 2
Distributed Sequencer Technology: proposal for progressive decentralization of L2 sequencers using Distributed Validator Technology
Layer N zk fraud proofs: hybrid approach only requires a proof to be generated when there is possibility of fraud
EIPs/Standards
EIPs:
EIP7069: Revamped CALL instructions
ERCs:
Stuff for developers
OpenZeppelin Contracts v4.9.0: Governor with Timestamps support for Optimism & Base, ERC4626 inflation attack protection, default admin rules for AccessControl, improved EIP712 signature interoperability via EIP-5267 and ERC777 deprecated
Solc contract metadata explainer: IPFS hash of JSON metadata + Solidity version
Foundry:
Foundry pre v1 update highlights
Forge-std v1.5.6: new cheatcodes and pure console log
tip: console logging supports format specifiers e.g. %s and %d
abi-to-sol v0.7: generate embeddable output (e.g. no pragma, no license identifier)
Guide to finding precision loss vulnerabilities using fuzz testing
Cicada: private on-chain voting using homomorphic time-lock puzzles
Vyper v0.3.8: transient storage keyword, ternary operators, raw_revert builtin, shift operators, configurable send() gas stipend and use PUSH0
Ape v0.6.9: easier testing via Pytest fixtures, Python v3.11 support and use_network marker
Uniswap live on Sepolia testnet
enstate.rs: simultaneous ENS queries with caching, in Rust
Safer: sign & submit transactions to a Safe multisig using Foundry scripts
Curta CTF Baby it’s me solution
Code specification overview: focus on plain english, state machines, diagramming, interfaces, placeholder tests and optionally formal definitions
Echidna v2.2.0: multicore fuzzing & optimized coverage collection, up to 20x faster fuzzing
Security
Tornado Cash governance captured by attacker using SELFDESTRUCT + CREATE2
Ecosystem
Vitalik: overloading Ethereum’s social consensus is high-risk, app devs & Layer 2s need to find alternatives to achieve their security goals, there will be no bailouts
Nick Fett: restaking is overhyped
Optimism’s RetroPGF round 2 learnings
ETHDam hackathon projects
ETHGlobal autonomous worlds hackathon finalists
Notable at app layer
Maker voting to raise DSR to 3.33%
Levon: get a credit score for a Maker vault, beta
Kain: state of Synthetix
TAI (controlled peg stablecoin) live on mainnet
Astaria (NFT-backed lending) live on mainnet, beta
Safe multisig adds ERC1271 message signing support (used for OpenSea signing)
Utopia: Safe multisig gasless swaps, beta
Flashbots Bundler: UI for token rescues from compromised addresses
Job Listings
Protocol Engineer (DeFi) sought by Tunnel Vision Labs
Solidity team need a highly skilled Developer Advocate
Devconnect Istanbul: Production Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator
Job listings: $600 for four issues (75 character limit), payable to abcoathup.eth. Questions? abcoathup at-gmail
Regulation/business/tokens
US Fed: 10% of adults used crypto in 2022
Dan Elitzer: DeFi primitives should have no governance, no upgradeability and no oracles
General/crypto
Taylor warns of targeted spearphishing
KeePass vulnerability, master password can be retrieved from memory
Poseidon hash Merkle Trees implemented in FPGA hardware
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Permalink for this week’s issue: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-may-27-2023
Upcoming Dates of Note
(new/changes in bold)
Jun 2-4 – ETH Seoul
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Jun 9-11 – ETHPrague conference & hackathon
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Jul 5-9 – ETHBarcelona conference & hackathon
Jul 17-20 – EthCC (Paris)
Jul 21–23 – ETHGlobal Paris
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Sep 15 – Protocol Berg (Berlin)
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