• Ethereum Beacon Chain turns four.

• EF launches ETH Rangers program.

• Jon Charbonneau on Ethereum’s North Star.

• Coinbase Onramp integrates Apple Pay.

December 1, 2024 marks four years since Ethereum’s Beacon Chain launched on mainnet, with its genesis block created on December 1, 2020. At its inception, the Beacon Chain saw approximately 500,000 ETH deposited on the first day. Today, over 34 million ETH—representing 28% of the total ether supply—is staked on the Beacon Chain, supported by more than 10,000 node operators. The Beacon Chain has achieved 100% uptime since its launch. On September 15, 2022, it merged seamlessly with Ethereum's execution layer, marking Ethereum's complete transition from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake. Reflecting on the anniversary, Ethereum researcher Justin Drake expressed optimism for Ethereum's future, highlighting the potential for incremental Layer 1 improvements in the years ahead.

The Ethereum Foundation's Protocol Security Research Team and Ecosystem Funding Initiative launched ETH Rangers, a new program offering $25,000 stipends to individuals and projects improving security within the Ethereum ecosystem. Eligible work includes vulnerability research, the creation of educational resources, pro-bono incident handling, audits, and tooling development. The program aims to support and incentivize Public Goods Security Work within the Ethereum ecosystem.  The application period for the first wave runs from November 21, 2024, to December 31, 2024, with recipients announced on January 20, 2025. The Ethereum Foundation is also looking to hire two Security Engineers.

Jon Charbonneau published an article analyzing Ethereum’s lack of a "North Star" and proposed strategies for establishing a vision. He notes Bitcoin’s focus on digital gold, Solana’s emphasis on high-performance global finance, and Celestia’s goal of enabling unstoppable applications. Charbonneau argues that a well-defined and unified purpose is crucial for Ethereum to maintain its leadership. The article outlines competing visions for Ethereum, including whether its primary objective should be to excel as sound money, a cutting-edge technology platform, or a mix of both. He advocates for more decisive, top-down leadership to set a clearer direction, aligning infrastructure development with user-driven use cases and engaging more deeply with the applications shaping Ethereum’s ecosystem. Charbonneau suggests prioritizing the "world computer" vision, calling for aggressive Layer 1 scaling to enhance Ethereum’s performance while preserving its decentralization ethos.

Coinbase launched an Apple Pay integration for fast and seamless fiat-to-crypto purchases. The feature enables instant transactions, lightweight KYC requirements, and simplifies the entire process, taking just seconds. Coinbase Onramp also offers free USDC on and off-ramping transactions. With over 60 million Apple Pay users in the U.S., developers can integrate one-click-buy functionality into their apps. Existing apps using Coinbase Onramp automatically gain access to the feature.

• ZKsync introduces SSO

• ZKsync begins ZIP-002 vote

• Pectra introduces new system contracts

• Celestia 8MB blocks live on Arabica testnet

• Consensus to increase blob count

• EF ZK Funding grants

• 40 invalid blocks incident

• Camelot modular incentive system