Danny Ryan Steps Away From L1 R&D
Over the past seven years, he has played a critical role in Ethereum’s development, notably the network's transition to proof-of-stake.
Danny Ryan steps away from his role at the EF.
ZKsync onchain governance goes live.
EF announces 4844 Data Challenge winners.
Long-time Ethereum researcher Danny Ryan announced that he is stepping down from his role at the Ethereum Foundation related to Ethereum L1 research and development. Ryan emphasized that his departure was personal as he plans to take a break to focus on his family and personal projects throughout the end of the year. Ryan urged the Ethereum community to build lasting, long-term value rather than chasing short-term gains. Over the past seven years, he has played a pivotal role in Ethereum’s development, notably leading its transition to proof-of-stake and most recently the introduction of PeerDAS. Ryan says he remains open to exploring part-time engagements next year.
Onchain governance for ZKsync is now live on Tally, enabling delegates to initiate proposals and execute upgrades. The governance system is categorized into three proposal types, including ZKsync Improvement Proposals (ZIPs), Token Program Proposals (TPPs), and Governance Advisory Proposals (GAPs). The minimum proposal threshold needed is 21 million ZK tokens. ZKsync governance consists of three key parts, including ZK token holders coined as the Token Assembly, a twelve-member ZKsync Security Council responsible for reviewing protocol upgrades, and the ZKsync Guardians, a group of five appointed individuals who can veto, initiate, and approve emergency measures.
The Ethereum Foundation revealed the winners of its 4844 Data Challenge, a competition where data experts evaluated the impact of EIP-4844 on Ethereum. Ten finalists were selected to receive a portion of the $30,000 prize pool for their submissions. The top prize was awarded to Seongwan Park for his empirical analysis, which highlighted both the improvements and challenges brought by the upgrade.
Splitting Pectra Into Two Forks
A split would enable developers to ship the EIPs currently in Devnet3 as part of the first Pectra upgrade in early Q1 2025, with the remaining EIPs will postponed to the Fusaka hard fork.
Core developers consider splitting Pectra into two forks.
Coinbase launches cbBTC.
Proposal to deploy Treasure Chain on ZK Stack.
Aragon introduces gasless onchain voting.
Ethereum core developers are considering whether to split the upcoming Pectra upgrade into two separate hard forks, aiming to accelerate deployment compared to a prolonged timeline for a single large fork. Pectra, as currently planned, is the largest fork in Ethereum's history, with 20 EIPs scheduled for inclusion. A split would enable developers to ship the EIPs currently in Devnet3 as part of the first Pectra upgrade in early Q1 2025, with the remaining EIPs will postponed to the Fusaka hard fork. Core developer Alex Stokes advocated for the split, arguing that smaller forks reduce development time and security risks. ACD lead Tim Beiko asked client teams to form a position on whether to split Pectra ahead of the next ACDC call, where a decision will be made.
Coinbase launched cbBTC, a wrapped version of Bitcoin backed 1:1 by Bitcoin held by Coinbase. As an ERC-20 token on Base and Ethereum, cbBTC enables Bitcoin holders to access the broader DeFi ecosystem, including Aerdrome, Aave, Compund, and Spark. Users can easily convert BTC to cbBTC through Coinbase. To convert, users can send Bitcoin on Base or Ethereum from their Coinbase account, and Coinbase automatically converts it into the cbBTC token. If users want to unwrap cbBTC, sending it back to Coinbase will convert it back to Bitcoin. cbBTC does not have a separate order book on Coinbase.
ZKsync proposed for TreasureDAO, the leading gaming platform on Arbitrum, to deploy its gaming-focused rollup as an Elastic Chain on the ZK Stack. ZKsync says it will provide technical support, strategic assistance, and access to a dedicated team for Treasure. ZKSync aims to offer unified liquidity and seamless UX for users. The Treasure L2 aims to serve as a decentralized gaming console. MAGIC, Treasure's native token, will be used for fee payments and underpinning economic security. ZKsync will host an AMA with TreasureDAO to discuss the potential of Treasure L2 as an Elastic Chain.
DAO infrastructure provider Aragon introduced support for gasless onchain voting as part of its multichain governance plugin, enabling DAO members to vote onchain without incurring gas fees The implementation is powered by LayerZero V2, ZKsync’s account abstraction, and txSync’s Tsuko paymaster. The plugin allows DAOs to designate any EVM chain for voting, while LayerZero seamlessly aggregates votes back to the source chain.
Succinct Labs Introduces OP Succinct
Any OP Stack chain can upgrade from an optimistic rollup to a ZK rollup with minimal development effort.
Succinct Labs introduces OP Succinct.
Optimism activates the Granite Network Upgrade.
Aave governance proposes to onboard cbBTC.
Nethermind launches Nethermind Security.
Succinct Labs formally introduced OP Succinct, a solution that enables the upgrade of any OP Stack chain from an optimistic rollup to a ZK rollup with minimal development effort. Developers can easily integrate ZKPs into their OP Stack chain using Rust, resulting in a zkEVM rollup. OP Succinct offers sub-cent transaction costs, fast finality, reduced transaction proving times, and full EVM compatibility. The implementation reuses the OP Stack's proven components and requires only minimal code changes, ensuring both security and ease of maintenance. OP Succinct is fully open-source under an MIT license.
The Granite Network Upgrade is now live on OP Mainnet, restoring permissionless fault proofs for the rollup. The upgrade addresses security vulnerabilities discovered in the network’s Fault Proof System during audits by Spearbit, Cantina, and Code4rena. The upgrade involved changes to the L1 smart contracts. While user assets were not at risk, OP Labs activated the permissioned fallback mechanism as a precaution. The fallback temperarily restricted output proposals to be handled by the Optimism Foundation.
Aave governance proposed to onboard Coinbase's new wrapped Bitcoin asset, cbBTC, to the Aave V3 markets on both Base and Ethereum Mainnet. With Coinbase planning to launch cbBTC in the coming weeks, the proposal aims to diversify DeFi options for Bitcoin holders on Aave v3 by providing an alternative to WBTC. The move comes as Aave has previously considered reducing its exposure to WBTC, following BitGo’s announcement of transferring control of WBTC to a joint venture involving BitGo, Justin Sun, and the Tron ecosystem. MakerDAO has already disabled new loans backed by WBTC collateral as a precautionary measure.
Ethereum research firm Nethermind launched Nethermind Security, a specialized unit focused on providing comprehensive security services such as smart contract security audits, architecture assessments, formal verification, and real-time monitoring. Nethermind Security will build real-time monitoring bots aiming to safeguard projects by identifying early vulnerabilities.