• Paradigm introduces Stateless Reth.

• Summer of Protocols returns.

• Ethereum Film unveils global release.

• EF academic grants close Sunday.

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Paradigm released Reth v1.3, the latest version of its Ethereum execution client written in Rust. The release addresses and fixes all known issues with Pectra. Reth v1.3 also introduces Stateless Reth, also known as Ress, a fully validating Ethereum Execution Layer that reduces node storage requirements to just 14GB. Stateless nodes help improve decentralization, scale the L1 gas limit, enhance L2s, and enable the implementation of Native Rollups. In a Stateless Ethereum model, nodes don’t need to store the entire chain state to process transactions. Instead, each block provides the necessary data through proofs, allowing nodes to validate blocks. 

The Summer of Protocols (SoP) is accepting applications for its third cohort. The program focuses on research and development in the realm of protocols, and this year’s theme, "Accelerating Order," aims to showcase how protocolization can be dynamic and constructive. The program is divided into three tracks. Protocol Education, Scene-Making, and Technical Foundations. The Protocol Education track offers $500,000 in grants to faculty and educators for developing courses on protocols. The Scene-Making track supports the exploration and development of protocol fiction, featuring writing contests. The Technical Foundations track features workshops dedicated to the formalization of protocols. 

Vitalik: An Ethereum Story, a community-funded feature documentary exploring the creation of Ethereum, is set for a global release on April 15th. The documentary will be available for mainstream streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video. Filmed over three years across 28 cities and 15 countries, the documentary dives into Vitalik Buterin’s journey and the worldwide community of Ethereum developers.

• EF Academic Grants close 16th March.

• Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.3 release

• Pectra upgrade timeline

• Ethereum consensus roadmap

• Vitalik on next 6 months

• DeFi Education Fund leadership changes

See disclosures

• Developers to launch Hoodi testnet.

• Aave Labs proposes an RWA project.

• ZKsync cancels its Ignite program.

• Compound launches vaults on Morpho.

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Ethereum core developers introduced Hoodi, a new long-lived Ethereum testnet featuring a similar configuration and validator count as Ethereum mainnet. Designed to initially test validator exits, Hoodi will go live on Monday, March 17, 2025, with the Pectra fork scheduled for the testnet on March 26, 2025. Tim Beiko urged staking operators and infrastructure providers to deploy to Hoodi as it becomes the primary testnet for infrastructure. Applications should also consider migrating. Ethereum developers introduce a new testnet every two years, each with a maximum lifespan of five years. The Pectra upgrade is anticipated to go live on Ethereum mainnet in late April or early May.

Aave Labs proposed Project Horizon, a Real World Assets (RWA) platform for integrating institutional DeFi into the Aave ecosystem. Subject to Aave DAO approval, Horizon will launch as a licensed instance of the Aave Protocol, enabling institutions to borrow USDC and GHO against tokenized Money Market Funds (MMFs) as collateral. The proposal includes a token distribution strategy for a new Horizon token, which has faced opposition from the Aave community. It also proposes a profit-sharing mechanism that allocates 50% of revenue to the Aave DAO in Year 1, gradually decreasing to 10% by Year 4. The proposal is currently open for community discussion.

Compound Finance launched custom lending vaults built on Morpho’s liquidity infrastructure, initially deployed on Polygon PoS. The vaults enable users to borrow and lend assets while optimizing for risk-adjusted yield using Compound’s CORE framework, which strikes a balance between security and yield for a moderate risk profile. The vaults are owned by the Compound DAO, which takes a 10% performance fee. To incentivize participation, Polygon has allocated $1.5 million in POL token rewards for vault depositors, while Compound is also offering $1.5 million in COMP tokens. Over $11 million has been deposited across the three vaults so far.

The ZKsync DeFi Steering Committee (DSC) announced an early end to the Ignite program, which was designed to incentivize DeFi activity on ZKsync Era with up to 300 million ZK in rewards. Originally planned to run for three seasons over nine months, the program will now conclude on March 17, 2025, with rewards being turned off and final distributions completed by that date. The decision was driven by market conditions and a pivot toward growing the multichain Elastic Network. 

• ACDE #207 updates

• ETHGlobal Trifecta hackathon

• BlackRock BUIDL hits $1b TVL

• Path to fix Ethereum fragmentation

• GENIUS Act clarity on stablecoins

• Definitive airdrop checker

• Unnecessary complexity with EOF

• Chaos AI crypto researcher

• Biconomy announces Biconomy Network

• Moonpay acquires Iron

See disclosures

• Aave supports EURC on Base.

• Superstate expands Industry Council.

• Obol DAO approves staking rewards.

• Swell integrates Obol DVs.

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EURC, Circle’s Euro-pegged stablecoin, is now available on the Aave V3 Base market. Users can deposit EURC as collateral to borrow assets such as ETH, cbBTC, wstETH, cbETH, USDC, and GHO. The market has an initial supply cap of 4.2 million EURC, a borrow cap of 3.8 million EURC, and a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 75%. Issued by Circle France, EURC is compliant with Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. Retail users can also access EURC on Coinbase for on- and off-ramping. Currently, EURC has a market cap of $140 million compared to USDC’s $58 billion market cap.

Obol governance approved a proposal to enable staking for the OBOL token. Users will soon be able to stake OBOL for stOBOL, a liquid staked token that earns rewards while maintaining governance power in the DAO. The implementation uses Tally Liquid Staked Token (tLSTs) smart contracts. A total of 0.33% of the total OBOL token supply will be distributed as staking rewards over the next six months. Users can also use stOBOL in DeFi while earning staking rewards. Obol governance has also approved a proposal to enable token transferability.

Superstate, a tokenized fund focused on Real World Assets (RWA), expanded the Superstate Industry Council with 20 new members, including Omni Network, Frax, and Euler. The members bring expertise in trading, custody, lending, stablecoins, and infrastructure. The council plays a role in advancing Superstate’s product roadmap by bridging traditional capital markets with onchain. Steakhouse Financial also launched a USDC RWA Vault on Morpho using USCC as collateral. USCC is Superstate’s tokenized crypto cash-and-carry fund, which holds over $85 million in AUM.

• Swell integrates Obol DVs

• PSE Project unveils MPC Framework

• Coinbase update on Celo L2

• $221k MEV transaction

• Introducing Giza Protocol

See disclosures