Trump Issues Order On Digital Assets
The order establishes a Working Group on Digital Asset Markets tasked with evaluating a potential digital asset stockpile.
Trump issues an order on digital assets.
Liquity V2 goes live on mainnet.
Morpho Labs introduces Bundler3.
Circle launches Circle Paymaster.
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U.S. President Donald Trump issued a new executive order to establish policies that promote the growth and use of digital assets in the United States. The order focuses on advancing blockchain technology, protecting open access to blockchain networks, the self-custody of digital assets, supporting U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins, and ensuring regulatory clarity through technology-neutral frameworks. The order also addresses risks posed by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) by prohibiting their creation, issuance, or promotion by U.S. agencies. It also establishes a Working Group on Digital Asset Markets tasked with recommending regulatory and legislative frameworks and evaluate a potential digital asset stockpile, which could include government-seized crypto assets.
Liquity V2, the newest version of the decentralized borrowing protocol, is now live on Ethereum Mainnet. The V2 release introduces user-set interest rates and supports multiple types of collateral, including rETH and wstETH. It also introduces BOLD, a yield-bearing stablecoin fully backed by ETH and liquid staking tokens. Users can deposit BOLD into Stability Pools to earn yield through borrower-paid interest and liquidation rewards. Additionally, LQTY stakers receive 25% of protocol revenue and have the ability to direct subsidies funded by interest revenues. As with Liquity V1, both Liquity V2 and the BOLD stablecoin are fully immutable.
Morpho Labs released Bundler3, an open-source smart contract that allows externally owned accounts (EOAs) to execute multiple smart contract calls within a single atomic transaction. Bundler3 can call protocols directly or through adapters that enable atomic checks and securely handle actions requiring user authorizations. Adapters enforce restrictions on function calls to enhance user safety while allowing developers to create custom implementations. Bundler3 streamlines complex multicall operations for EOAs. The Bundler3 contract is currently deployed on Ethereum and Base for developers to integrate.
Circle launched the Circle Paymaster, its ERC-4337 implementation that enables users to pay network gas fees in USDC. The Paymaster allows wallet providers to accept USDC for transaction fees. The Paymaster receives gas payments in USDC and pays network gas fees using the native network token. Circle Paymaster works with any ERC-4337-compatible wallet provider and is currently live on Arbitrum One and Base, with plans to expand to Ethereum and Polygon PoS. Additionally, Circle offers Gas Station, a feature that allows developers to sponsor gas fees for their users.
Pectra targeted for March 11th
SEC rescinds SAB 121
Ethereum.org cycle roadmap
Ink reaches Stage 1
WLF buys 3,423 ETH
MetaMask supports ENS on L2s
Vitalik on political coins
Announcing Farcaster labels
Increase in wrench attacks
Court Overturns Tornado Cash Sanctions
The court ruled that the U.S. Treasury exceeded its statutory authority and immutable smart contracts do not qualify as property under IEEPA.
Court overturns Tornado Cash sanctions.
Succinct introduces SP1 Turbo.
Securitize daily dividends for BlackRock BUIDL.
Blob Parameter Only (BPO) Forks.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned sanctions on Tornado Cash smart contracts, ruling that the U.S. Treasury exceeded its statutory authority. The court determined that immutable smart contracts do not qualify as “property” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) because they cannot be owned, controlled, or altered. The legal victory comes ahead of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s trial, scheduled to begin on April 14, 2025. On August 8, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, alleging it facilitated money laundering for malicious actors, including North Korea’s Lazarus Group. Tornado Cash is a privacy tool designed to help users protect the privacy of their funds.
Succinct launched SP1 Turbo, an upgraded version of its general-purpose zkVM, delivering significant improvements in cost, latency, and performance for zero-knowledge (ZK) workloads. Key features of SP1 Turbo include near real-time Ethereum proving, parallel proof generation across GPU clusters, and the addition of new precompiles for advanced cryptographic operations. SP1 Turbo is optimized for tasks like zkEVMs, rollups, light clients, signature verification, and other blockchain computations. Developers can run the SP1 Turbo locally or via the Succinct Prover Network Beta.
Securitize unveiled two new features for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized treasury fund. Investors can now receive daily dividends, replacing the previous monthly distribution model, and redeem holdings multiple times throughout the day for enhanced flexibility. The updates are designed to improve liquidity and accessibility for BUIDL investors. BlackRock’s BUIDL is a U.S. Treasury fund tokenized as an ERC-20 token available on Ethereum and Layer 2 networks. The fund invests in U.S. Treasury bills, notes, cash, and repurchase agreements.
Ethereum developer Proto.eth introduced a framework for safely and continuously scaling blobs on Ethereum, called Blob-Parameter-Only (BPO) Forks. BPO forks are small, targeted hard forks that adjust only two parameters: blob targets and blob limits. The framework aims to balance solo stakes bandwidth requirements with Layer 2 data availability (DA) needs to maintain competitive transaction costs. It also seeks to distribute the operational burden of hard forks between L1 and L2 teams, ensuring a more collaborative process.
Uniswap Wallet supports Flashbots
Etherealize marketing arm
Ross Ulbricht is free
EF R&D Team resources
Base 22 Mgas/s gas target
Nouns open-source DUNA bylaws
Obol Introduces $OBOL Airdrop
Obol is allocating 7.5% of the $OBOL token supply to a retroactive airdrop for the Obol Community.
Obol announces its $OBOL token.
SEC launches a crypto task force.
Vitalik responds to community demands.
Interface launches a web app.
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Obol introduced its OBOL governance and utility token with a total supply of 500 million, allocating 7.5% to an airdrop for the Obol Core Community, Obol Contributions Holders, and Solo Stakers, including Rocketpool Node Operators. The Core Community includes Techne credential holders, testnet participants, and Obol DappNode owners. Contributions Holders are those who provided ETH to run Distributed Validators (DVs). The airdrop will be claimable starting January 24th and will remain open for 90 days. Tokens will initially be locked as non-transferable NFTs. A future governance vote will later enable transferability. Obol also introduced the Obol Product Suite, a toolset for running secure, slashing-resistant DVs, and the Decentralized Operator Ecosystem, a global network of 600 credentialed operators. Obol’s distributed validators improve Ethereum’s fault tolerance by distributing a validator's key across multiple nodes.
SEC Chairman Mark T. Uyeda launched a new crypto task force, led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, to create a clear regulatory framework for crypto assets. Its goals include establishing guidelines for registration, reducing confusion, fostering innovation, combating fraud, and coordinating with federal, state, and international bodies. The task force will engage investors, industry participants, academics, and the public to shift the SEC’s approach from reactive enforcement to proactive clarity. The SEC is welcoming public input at Crypto@sec.gov, with future roundtables planned for broader feedback.
In response to calls for the resignation of the Ethereum Foundation's Executive Director, Aya Miyaguchi, Vitalik Buterin firmly stated "No" noting that he holds the authority to appoint the foundation's leadership. Buterin also expressed concern that the mounting pressure on community members is creating a toxic environment for top talent. The remarks were made amid requests to appoint Ethereum researcher Danny Ryan as the new Executive Director. Danny Ryan expressed appreciation for the community's support and urged the community to be respectful and reasoned in their debates. Ryan also mentioned that he has been in ongoing conversations with Vitalik and others about his potential role in the next phase of the Ethereum Foundation.
Interface, a social app for tracking onchain activities, launched its web application. The platform enables users to follow wallets and explore onchain events such as token swaps, NFT mints, and contract interactions. It also supports wallet following and copy trading. The app provides insights into a wallet's token balances, trade PnL, and collectibles across Ethereum, Base, OP Mainnet, and Arbitrum. Users can log in with their Ethereum wallet to start tracking wallets.
UniV4 deployments begin to roll out this week
EigenLayer launches Rewards v2 on mainnet
Joe Lubin: The leader is Vitalik
AnonCast for ETH holders
New OP Mainnet logo
Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht
Nerite introduces BOLD incentives
Circle acquires Hashnote Labs
Vote for Danny Ryan as EF ED
Ethereum.org 2024 recap
EthCC speaker applications
Conduit launches Conduit Hub