• StarkWare proposes STRK staking.

• Optimism activates the Fjord upgrade.

• Safe integrates support for TWAP orders.

• CFTC Chair reaffirms ETH as a commodity.

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StarkWare proposed to launch staking for its native STRK token, introducing a permissionless staking protocol and stake delegation program. The proposal outlines an incremental rollout approach. In the initial stage, users can choose between running a full node to stake directly or delegating their stake to a staker who runs a full node. The mechanism will feature a minting curve with 1.8% to 2.5% yearly inflation, adjusting rewards based on the total STRK locked. Staking will require a 21-day lockup period for withdrawals. StarkWare plans to launch the initial stage on mainnet by Q4 2024. In subsequent stages, stakers will be responsible for securing the network by producing, attesting, and proving blocks.

The Fjord network upgrade is now live on the OP Stack, including OP Mainnet and Base. The upgrade introduces support for EIP-7212, a rollup-specific standard leveraging the secp256r1 elliptic curve for secure and efficient signature verifications, which significantly reduces gas costs for smart wallet applications. The upgrade also incorporates Brotli compression to lower data availability costs and adopts a new L1 fee cost calculation using FastLZ compression. A standard ETH transfer on Base using a smart wallet now incurs less than half the gas costs compared to before the upgrade. OP Stack node operators must update their client software.

Safe now supports tiered fees and TWAP orders on its native in-wallet swap portal. Time Weighted Average Price (TWAP) orders allow users to execute large trades gradually, minimizing price impact. The tiered fee structure offers lower fees for higher swap volumes across various token and stablecoin-only pairs, with fees ranging from 0.05% to 0.35%. The integration is powered by CoW Swap, a leading MEV-protecting DEX aggregator. Safe native swaps are available on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Gnosis Chain.

CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam reaffirmed that Bitcoin and Ethereum are classified as commodities. The chairman referenced a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which determined that the assets are commodities under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). In his testimony during the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Behnam also stated that 70-80% of the cryptocurrency market consists of non-securities.

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