Week in Ethereum News, October 28, 2023
Eth News and Links
Dencun (Cancun + Deneb) upgrade
Latest all core devs – execution (ACDE) call video. Notes from Tim Beiko and Christine Kim:
Mainnet: upgrade likely to be 2024 (minimum 2 week gap between each testnet upgrade)
Goerli testnet: upgrade late November (at the earliest), CL clients not ready yet
Devnet 10: normal & stress testing analysis, tested EIP7514 (max churn limit)
Devnet 11: launch early next week, test all clients with MEV pipeline
Goerli shadow fork: launch early next week
Discussed EIP7523 (empty accounts deprecation)
Proposed Deneb simplification to attach the block header & an inclusion proof on each blob sidecar
Centralization watch: threatening the value of your ETH
🚨 Lido at 31.51% has reduced again but still far too close to 33.3% threshold
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
Execution layer: Geth ~84% supermajority, could possibly cause a chain split
Consensus layer: Prysm at 45%, any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality
Geographic diversity needed for stakers & nodes, particularly outside of US/Canada/EU
Layer 1
Verkle Kaustinen testnet back online, upgraded to Shapella, proof witnesses include post state and adds Lodestar CL client
Client releases
Consensus layer:
Prysm v4.1.1: patch to fix using REST API with external builder and experimental state deadlock
Execution layer:
Research
SubnetDAS: proposal for intermediate DAS approach with linkability of queries tradeoff
Family of embedded curves for BLS
Layer 2
First monthly RollCall (Layer 2 protocol & EVM standardization) call video:
intros, Rollup Improvement Proposals (RIPs), EIP7212 (secp256r1 precompile) as first RIP, Devconnect discussion topics and EIP7530 (EVM profiles)
EIPs/Standards
ERCs split from EIPs
EIPs
ERCs (application layer):
Stuff for developers
Solidity v0.8.22:
Adds unchecked loop increments, Yul optimizer rematerializes zero literals, experimental support to import EVM Assembly JSON and event definition at file level
EVM versions before Constantinople deprecated
Hardhat:
Ignition: declarative contract deployment with support for recovery
Hardhat-verify v2: adds Sourcify verification, enable via config
OpenSea Shipyard: NFT libraries & implementations
Fe (language) v0.25.0: fe test adds print logs and filter to only run specific tests
evm.storage: supports unverified contracts using bytecode-generated layouts
EVM Glue: EVM assembler in Rust
halo2-repl: write zk circuits using JavaScript in browser-based REPL for Halo 2
Security
Maestro 280 ETH exploit via arbitrary call, users refunded
Aztec Connect vulnerability postmortem, $450k bounty paid, withdraw funds from zk.money
UniPass account abstraction (ERC4337) module vulnerability disclosed
SEAL drills: protocol incident response testing via simulated attack, drills run with Compound & Yearn
Ecosystem
Etherscan account abstraction (ERC4337) transaction display
ETH Hong Kong hackathon winners
Onchain stats
Gas fees (via ultrasound.money): 5.3 to 97.5 gwei, with 18.8 gwei average
Zero net issuance currently at 21.6 gwei
2.1k ETH net issuance this week
ETHUSD: $1,595 - $1,845, currently $1,777
ETHBTC: currently 0.053 (Flippening at ~0.16)
Notable at app layer
Call for open bridge standards
Polygon POL token live on mainnet
Gitcoin direct grants: award funds to projects/individuals for deliverables
Karma grantee accountability protocol for public goods projects; [Starbloom portfolio]
Hats modules: automatic granting/revocation of roles based on conditions
Slugs (onchain URL shortener) live on Optimism
Job Listings
eBay Web3 team seeking Lead Solidity Engineer
Gnosis seek a VP Technology, Senior Web Devs (Wallet) & Backend Devs
ZK circuits engineer sought by EF Privacy & Scaling Explorations team
Senior Operations Security Expert wanted by EF
Job listings: $600 for four issues (75 character limit). Questions? abcoathup at-gmail
Regulation/business/tokens
Elliptic: correcting WSJ, no evidence Hamas received significant volumes of crypto donations
SEC Commissioner Peirce: dissent on LBRY, SEC’s misguided enforcement-driven approach to crypto
BlockFi emerged from bankruptcy
Yuga Labs vs Ryder Ripps trademark lawsuit: Yuga awarded $1.5M & RR/BAYC NFT contract
Proposal for Internet Native Company (INC): for-profit org operated & governed onchain
General
Okta support system breached, detected by customers BeyondTrust, Cloudflare & 1Password
iLeakage: transient execution side channel targeting Safari browser
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Permalink for this week’s issue: https://weekinethereumnews.com/week-in-ethereum-news-october-28-2023
Upcoming Dates of Note
(new/changes in bold)
Oct 31 – Road to Devcon grants deadline (max $1k for local meetups)
Nov 3-5 – ETH Lisbon hackathon
Nov 13-19 – Devconnect (Istanbul), travel advisory
Nov 15-29 – Gitcoin Grants 19
Nov 16-19 – Pragma & ETHGlobal Istanbul
Nov 18 – Ethereum Costa Rica
Dec 4 – ETHVenice
Dec 6-7 – Columbia CryptoEconomics workshop (New York)
Dec 8-10 – ETHGlobal ETHIndia (Bangalore)
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