• FOCIL becomes Hegotá headliner.

• Uniswap launches Developer Platform.

• Payy Network L2 goes live.

• Compound to launch V4 on Base.

[

Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. FOCIL is scheduled for inclusion in Hegotá. Uniswap launches a developer platform. Payy Network launches its stablecoin-focused L2. And Compound will launch Compound V4 on Base. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/887 Are you running a treasury? You need liquidity but don't want to sell ETH?

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EarnUSD is a stablecoin vault by Lido for earning transparent, onchain USD-denominated rewards. Get started today at stake.lido.fi/earn

During ACDC #175, Ethereum core developers agreed to schedule Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists (FOCIL, EIP-7805) as the consensus-layer (CL) headliner for the upcoming Hegotá upgrade, which follows Glamsterdam. FOCIL strengthens censorship resistance by enabling multiple validators to enforce the inclusion of any transaction that is valid under Ethereum's protocol rules. FOCIL prevents a single block builder from excluding transactions and shifts inclusion guarantees from social coordination and market incentives into the protocol itself. Other proposals under consideration for Hegotá include Frame Transactions (EIP-8141) and Encrypted Mempool (EIP-8105). The decision deadline for Hegotá headliner EIPs is February 26.

Uniswap Labs launched the Uniswap Developer Platform to public beta, allowing developers to generate API keys and integrate swap and liquidity providing (LP) functionality into their applications within minutes. The Uniswap APIs abstract away smart contract complexity, giving developers streamlined access to Uniswap's routing engine and intent-based trading systems. The APIs provide access to public, private, and off-chain liquidity, including UniswapX RFQ, along with built-in MEV protection and competitive pricing. Features include intelligent routing for cost-efficient swaps and auto-generated token approvals and transaction calldata. The API is free to use and is still in beta.

Payy Network launched its stablecoin-focused Layer 2 on mainnet. Users of the Payy app should update to the latest version to access the release. Payy Network enables private ERC-20 transfers by default, requiring no changes to existing wallets or smart contracts. The network uses chain-native privacy pools that custody ERC-20 tokens, enabling transfers to take place confidentially within pools. Privacy Vaults handle transaction data offchain, while stealth transactions leverage one-time addresses to prevent links between sender and receiver. The network also integrates a native zero-knowledge (ZK) precompile, enabling low-cost, high-performance privacy applications.

DeFi lending protocol Compound Finance announced plans to launch Compound V4 on Base, the latest iteration of its protocol, aiming to capitalize on the convergence of decentralized and traditional finance. Compound V4 will introduce support for tokenized equities and other real-world assets (RWAs), expand cross-chain liquidity, and add permissioned vaults for institutions. The upgrade will also feature a modular integration suite that enables DeFi applications, financial institutions, and asset managers to embed lending, borrowing, and yield functionality directly into their platforms.

• ACDC #175 highlights | minutes

• Vitalik FOCIL and AA synergy

• Aave hits $1b in RWAs

• Ethereum's hardness property

• Base increases gas base fee

• Balancer pauses reCLAMM pools

• Securitize partners with Euler

• Marius joins EF enterprise team

• Sovra new media agent

Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.

• Ethereum Protocol Priorities for 2026.

• Base Unified Stack introduced.

• OpenAI introduces EVM Bench.

• Privacy Pools supports BOLD.

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Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. The EF publishes Ethereum Protocol Priorities for 2026. Base moves from the OP Stack. OpenAI introduces EVM Bench. And Privacy Pools supports the BOLD stablecoin. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/886 Borrow against ETH at the lowest fixed rates in DeFi.

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EarnUSD is a stablecoin vault by Lido for earning transparent, onchain USD-denominated rewards. Get started today at stake.lido.fi/earn

The Ethereum Foundation Protocol team published its 2026 priorities, focused on three strategic tracks: Scale, Improve UX, and Harden the L1. The Scale track, led by Ansgar, Marius, and Raúl, unifies L1 execution scaling and L2 blob/data availability efforts. It focuses on raising gas limits, advancing ePBS, and increasing blob capacity. The Improve UX track, led by Barnabé and Matt, centers on native account abstraction and interoperability. The goal is to make smart contract wallets the default and enable seamless, trust-minimized interactions across L2s. The newly introduced Harden the L1 track, led by Fredrik, Parithosh, and Thomas, focuses on safeguarding Ethereum's core guarantees. The 2026 roadmap aims to scale aggressively while maintaining security, decentralization, and censorship resistance.

Base, the OP Stack-based Layer 2 by Coinbase, announced it is transitioning away from the OP Stack to operate on its own consolidated infrastructure, the Unified Base Stack. The move shifts Base from Optimism's optimistic proof system toward validity-based proofs to enable faster finality. Base said that it will remain a Stage 1 decentralized rollup and will expand its Security Council. The move aims accelerate the frequency of high-impact upgrades and simplify the protocol to reduce technical complexity and external dependencies. Base will consolidate key infrastructure components, including the sequencer, into a single streamlined codebase. The change means Optimism will lose the largest revenue contributor, as Base accounts for more than 75% of Superchain revenue. The migration will occur through a series of hard forks. No action is required from users.

OpenAI has introduced EVMbench, a benchmark created with Paradigm to measure how well AI agents can identify, fix, and exploit smart contract vulnerabilities. Built from 120 high-severity issues across 40 audits, primarily from Code4rena audit competitions, the benchmark evaluates agents in three modes: detecting, patching, and exploiting. The detection model screens known flaws in contract repositories. The patch model fixes the flaws without breaking functionality. And the exploit model runs end-to-end fund-draining attacks in a sandboxed environment. OpenAI found that agents perform best at exploitation, where objectives are explicit.

Privacy Pools, an onchain privacy protocol, launched support for BOLD, the decentralized stablecoin by Liquity Protocol. The integration brings privacy to the trustless, Ethereum-native stablecoin. BOLD is fully backed by ETH and ETH LST collateral. Privacy Pools allows users to deposit assets and later withdraw them to an unlinked address, leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to ensure deposits and withdrawals cannot be connected, as long as funds remain in the pool for a minimum required period. Privacy Pools recently surpassed $10 million in total deposits.

• Solidity v0.8.34 security release

• Octant v2 goes live

• EthDenver Day 1

• EtherFi migrates to OP Mainnet

• LIFI introduces Composer

• Hayden: Protect BRCA

• World introduces Remainder

• Lean Ethereum mini-series

• Native key delegation for EOAs

• Balancer V3 launches LBPs

• Coinbase expands loan products

• Vitalik on Iran surveillance

• Ledger sideloading bug

Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.

• Ethereum Protocol Studies 2026.

• Rocket Pool activates Saturn 1.

• EF introduces new Platform Team.

• Geth critical security release.

[

Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. The Ethereum Protocol Studies program returns. Rocket Pool activates the Saturn 1 upgrade. The EF introduces a new Platform Team. And Geth issues a critical security release. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/885 Earn 10% real yield on your dollars, fully onchain.

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EarnUSD is a stablecoin vault by Lido for earning transparent, onchain USD-denominated rewards. Get started today at stake.lido.fi/earn

The Ethereum Foundation announced the return of Ethereum Protocol Studies (EPS), a program designed to make Ethereum's core protocol more accessible. The 2026 cohort begins Monday, February 23rd, and introduces new tracks in cryptography and lean consensus/zkEVM, along with a self-paced learning platform. The program guides developers, researchers, and curious users from general Ethereum familiarity to reading protocol specifications, understanding client architecture, and contributing to core development. Participants get to engage with core developers and researchers through live seminars and Discord discussions, gaining a deeper understanding of Ethereum's inner workings.

Rocket Pool, the decentralized Ethereum staking protocol, activated its Saturn One upgrade, introducing 4 ETH megapool validators. The upgrade cuts the node operator bond requirement in half compared to the 8 ETH minipools, significantly improving capital efficiency, scalability, and overall token economics. With megapools, operators can run twice as many validators using the same capital, earning up to 2.3x more commission per ETH bonded. Saturn One also introduces the Universal Adjustable Revenue Split (UARS) rewards model, allocating a 5% base commission to node operators, a 9% revenue share to RPL stakers, while rETH holders maintain the same effective commission as before. rETH remains overcollateralized.

Ethereum Foundation Product Lead Josh Rudolf introduced the Ethereum Foundation's new Platform Team, focused on unifying the Ethereum L1 and L2 ecosystem. The team's mission is to ensure Ethereum serves as the strongest possible platform for users, applications, and organizations. The Platform Team will work to bring greater cohesion to Ethereum's growing network of differentiated L2s. It will lead product-driven R&D, integrate ecosystem needs into the Ethereum roadmap, align L1 and L2 strategy, track network health, and ensure protocol upgrades translate into real-world adoption. The initiative seeks to clarify the roles of L1 and L2 as Ethereum scales, strengthening L1 while enabling specialized L2s to extend its capabilities.

Go Ethereum released v1.16.9, a high-severity security update addressing multiple critical vulnerabilities. All Geth node operators are strongly urged to upgrade as soon as possible. After updating, operators should rotate their p2p node key. The team also released v1.17.0, a feature update that includes the same security fixes and introduces support for lightweight partial archive setups.

• zkVM Standards v0

• Network Anonymized Mempools

• Hegota headliner temp check

• Moonwell Finance exploit

• Fileverse API and Agent Skill

• Optimism Scaling Summit

• BUIDL is live on UniswapX

• StarkWare brings Nightfall to Starknet

• BlackRock acquiring ETH

• Base opens Batches 003

• Bridge wins OCC approval

• Zora pivots to Solana

Disclaimer: Content is for informational purposes only, not endorsement or investment advice. The accuracy of information is not guaranteed.