Visa Tokenized Asset Platform
Banks will be able to issue, mint, burn, and transfer fiat-backed tokens onchain, such as stablecoins, on the platform.
Visa introduces a Tokenized Asset Platform.
Bungee introduces the Bungee Protocol.
Vitalik suggests lowering the staking requirement.
Visa introduced the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), a new solution enabling banks to issue, mint, burn, and transfer fiat-backed tokens onchain, such as stablecoins. Banks will be able to experiment with tokenization in a sandbox environment, with a live pilot expected in 2025 through the Visa Developer Platform. VTAP supports integrations with traditional financial systems, smart contract functionality, interoperability across networks, and cross-chain token transfers. The platform aims to connect fiat currencies with blockchain-based assets, helping banks and financial institutions expand into onchain services. Spanish bank BBVA is already testing token issuance using VTAP, with plans to pilot a token on Ethereum in 2025.
Bungee, a cross-chain bridge aggregator, introduced the Bungee Protocol, a liquidity marketplace enabling users to perform actions across chains without the need to bridge or pay gas in native tokens. Users can simply sign gasless requests for actions such as swaps, deposits, or NFT minting, and an offchain agent will execute it. Built on Socket Protocol’s chain-abstraction infrastructure, the protocol uses Modular Orderflow Actions (MOFA) to allow solvers, provers, and fillers to execute user requests. The marketplace aims to scale actions across thousands of chains. Users can claim "Bungee balls" for early access to the platform.
In response to discussions about minimum bandwidth requirements for solo stakers, Vitalik Buterin highlighted that the 32 ETH minimum staking requirement poses a greater barrier than bandwidth limitations. He proposed a potential trade-off: increasing bandwidth requirements while reducing the minimum stake requirement to 16 or 24 ETH. Currently, 32 ETH is both the maximum and minimum staking requirement for running a validator. The upcoming Pectra upgrade will introduce support for Max EB EIP-7251, allowing large staking providers to consolidate up to 2048 ETH per validator, though the 32 ETH minimum will remain in place. Buterin also suggested a future scenario where the minimum deposit could be reduced to as low as 1 ETH, contingent on the completion of PeerDAS and Orbit SSF, which are expected to ease bandwidth demands.
Conduit Supports OP Succinct
OP Stack chains on Conduit can now convert into Type-1 zkEVMs with minimal effort.
Conduit supports OP Succinct.
Insights on local block-building reorg rates.
Base increases its gas target to 12 Mgas/s.
OP seeks retro funding guest voters.
Rollup-as-a-Service provider Conduit now supports OP Succinct technology, enabling custom OP Stack chain deployments to upgrade from optimistic to ZK. With the integration, developers can easily convert new or existing OP Stack chains into Type-1 zkEVMs with minimal effort. OP Succinct leverages Succinct's SP1 prover to validate the State Transition Function (STF), delivering sub-cent transaction fees, fast finality, and reduced transaction proving times. It also significantly shortens the withdrawal delay from seven days to just minutes, while maintaining full EVM equivalence.
Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter published an article on the impact of increasing blob throughput on local block builders. He noted there is a strong community sentiment against sacrificing solo staker participation for linear scaling improvements. Wahrstätter found that solo stakers tend to miss more slots and experience higher rates of block reorgs compared to professional stakers. He also found that local block builders miss more slots than those using MEV-Boost. The article comes amid ongoing debates about the effects of a potential blob base fee increase on bandwidth requirements for home stakers. Wahrstätter raises the question of when the decentralization offered by lower-bandwidth solo stakers outweighs the constraints on Ethereum's scalability.
Base increased its gas target by 1 Mgas/s, bringing the target to 12 Mgas/s as part of a systematic approach to gradually enhance the network’s capacity. The incremental increase is part of a weekly increase commitment with the ultimate goal of reaching 1 Ggas/s. By ramping up the gas target, Base aims to reduce congestion and enable more transactions to be processed within each block.
EtherFi And Renzo Introduce Restaked EIGEN
A liquid version of staked EIGEN that offers access to additional rewards.
EtherFi and Renzo introduce restaked EIGEN.
Applications open for OP retro funding 6.
Automata joins the Superchain.
PoolTogether goes live on Gnosis Chain
EtherFi and Renzo have introduced restaked EIGEN, a liquid version of staked EIGEN that offers access to additional rewards. Users will continue earning staking rewards and programmatic incentives from EigenLayer, as well as extra rewards from the LRT provider. The LRT also streamlines the reward claim process. EtherFi is distributing eEIGEN staking rewards through a new token called LRT², a standardized vault token that consolidates rewards from multiple AVSs into a single token, simplifying claims. Renzo’s ezEIGEN LRT auto-compounds and restakes rewards to maximize efficiency and reduce gas fees. Currently, over 95 million EIGEN are staked on EigenLayer.
Automata Network, a machine attestation layer, announced its plan to deploy as an OP Stack chain with EigenDA for data availability. As part of the Superchain, Automata introduces a comprehensive framework for Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs). Automata’s ATA token will serve as the default gas token on its chain. Automata launched its TEE Prover on Scroll and Linea, with its Multi-Prover AVS already live on EigenLayer Mainnet. To incentivize onchain attestations, Automata is introducing a Gasdrop initiative that offers free gas to verified machines. The project aims to standardize the TEE stack and simplify interactions with onchain machine attestations.
Optimism opened applications for the sixth round of retroactive funding, which will allocate up to 3.5 million OP tokens to projects that have contributed to Superchain Governance. Eligible contributions include governance infrastructure and tooling, governance analytics and performance reports, as well as leadership roles within councils, commissions, and boards. Contributions need to have demonstrated impact between October 2023 and September 2024. Projects unrelated to Optimism governance and individual delegate participation are not eligible for this round. Badgeholders will vote in October, with grants set to be distributed in November. Applications close on October 14th.
Prize savings protocol PoolTogether is now live on Gnosis Chain. Users can deposit WXDAI and POOL tokens into a savings account for a chance to win a share of daily WXDAI prizes. The protocol generates yield on deposits and raffles the interest earned to depositors with winning chances proportional to their average deposit size. Gnosis Chain, previously known as xDAI, is an EVM-compatible chain that uses DAI as its native gas token.
Powdr labs spins out of EF
Devcon announces keynote speakers
DEGEN is coming to Coinbase
Gitcoin GG22 community rounds