• MakerDAO approves Project Ethena.

• Degen Chain grants program.

• Angle launches USDA to private beta.

• Base surpasses $4 billion in TVL.

MakerDAO governance approved an executive vote that includes the allocation of 600 million DAI into Ethena's USDe stablecoin. The funds, sourced from MakerDAO's DAI credit facility, will be used to accept USDe as collateral through the Morpho lending protocol. The vote also extends the Governance Pause Delay (GSM) to 30 hours and increases the Spark MetaMorpho Vault DDM's maximum debt limit to 1 billion DAI. USDe is an overcollateralized stablecoin backed by stETH and derivative market positions in a cash-and-carry trading strategy. The decision to accept USDe for backing DAI has sparked debate, with concerns that fluctuations in USDe's stability might affect DAI's peg.

Syndicate introduced Deploy On Degen Week, an initiative offering 10 million DEGEN tokens in grants to teams who enhance the Degen Chain ecosystem. The event is scheduled for next week, from April 15-19, and will feature workshops aimed at supporting developers. Teams can now apply for grants through April 12th. The winning grant recipients will be announced on April 25th. Degen Chain is a Layer 3 network built on Arbitrum Orbit and uses the DEGEN community token for gas fees. Syndicate is seeking projects that innovate across exchanges, NFT platforms, gaming, and wallet services. Syndicate is also providing access to transaction APIs and free gas to developers building on Degen Chain.

Angle Protocol launched a private beta for its USDA stablecoin, offering OP token incentives to eligible users who convert USDC into USDA and deposit into Angle's stUSD savings solution. USDA is a stablecoin pegged to the USD that is backed by Real-World Assets (RWA) and DeFi assets. USDA uses the same framework as EURA, Angle's Euro-pegged stablecoin. During the beta phase, stUSD holders will continue to accrue yields on their USDA savings. Following this testing period, USDA is slated for integration with the Morpho Blue lending protocol for lending and borrowing. A broader launch of USDA is anticipated later this month, contingent on approval from Angle governance.

Base, the L2 rollup by Coinbase, achieved a new peak in transaction activity, averaging 36 transactions per second on Sunday. Data from Growthepie shows that Base saw over 432,000 daily active addresses on the network. Base has also reached its highest total value locked (TVL) at $4.4 billion, positioning it as the third-largest rollup in terms of TVL.

• Renzo goes live on Base

• PrismaFi lack of disclosure

• ETF issuers meet w/ SEC

• Libp2p retroactive grants round

• Block-auction-ePBS

• FriendTech release update

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• Farcaster introduces actions.

• Amicus briefs filed for Tornado Cash case.

• TLX unveils its governance token launch.

• MadFi raises a $1 million angel round.

Farcaster introduced Actions, a new feature for developers to build add-on extensions directly within Farcaster. The release enables users to seamlessly install and activate Actions through a Farcaster Frame. Actions are already supported across multiple clients including Warpcast, Nook, and Buttrfly, as well as mobile and web clients. A new Action button has been added to every cast. Actions can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks, such as interacting with databases or smart contracts and executing API calls on a user's behalf. Initially, only one Action can be engaged at a time. Among the first set of Actions introduced are upthumbs—a classic poke feature, USDC tipping, DEGEN token transfers, Farcaster ID verification, and the ability to gift Warps.

Crypto advocacy organizations Coin Center, DeFi Education Fund, and the Blockchain Association have each submitted an amicus brief in support of Tornado Cash developers in their ongoing legal battle. An amicus brief is a filing made by non-parties, offering insights that may impact the case's broad legal implications. Coin Center's submission argues that open-source software developers cannot control how their software is used by others, adding that the freedom to publish open-source code is a First Amendment right. The Blockchain Association's brief challenges the accusations of operating as an unlicensed money transmitter as the developers did not have control over the transactions processed by the platform. The DeFi Education Fund's brief addresses money laundering allegations, arguing that developers should not be held criminally liable for crimes by third parties.

TLX, a leveraged token protocol built on Synthetix perps, unveiled plans to launch its native token next week. Initially, 6% of the governance token's total supply will be dispersed through the initial airdrop. Upon claiming, the tokens will be immediately transferable without any vesting. TLX has a total token supply of 100,000,000. TLX says token farming won't be possible since the allocations have already been designated to users who voted in its ecosystem council elections and those who claimed liquidation points. An additional 4% of the token's supply is allocated as incentives over 26 weeks for users who lock their TLX tokens.

MadFi, a social platform leveraging Lens Protocol that enables communities to monetize through subscriptions, rewards, and revenue-sharing, has raised a $1 million angel round. MadFi is also behind $BONSAI, a memecoin on Polygon, with 10% initially distributed to active Lens profiles in early March. $BONSAI is currently used as an in-feed currency on Lens for NFT minting and tipping. MadFi will use the raised funds to further develop its platform and support ecosystem initiatives.

• eETH supported as USDA collateral

• EigenLayer webapp maintenance

• Puffer Finance public testnet

• Bankless: Aave vs MakerDAO

• Frax activates fee switch

• Aztec integrating Astria

• SEC to eventually approve ETH ETF

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• Synthetix V3 goes live on Base.

• The ZK Stack supports Valadium Mode.

• Lattice deploys Redstone to mainnet.

• Form Network introduces its SocialFi L2.

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Synthetix V3, the latest iteration of the protocol, is now live on Base mainnet, introducing support for multiple collaterals, cross-margin trading, account-based access controls, and new liquidation mechanisms. Users can deposit a minimum of 100 USDC as collateral to the Spartan Council Pool to earn trading fees. Synthetix is incentivizing liquidity providers with 50,000 USDC monthly and 200,000 SNX spread across 10 weeks. The pool has already seen over 3 million USDC in total deposits. Synthetix Perps V3 is also live on Base and can be accessed through the Kwenta interface. This initial version is marked as experimental and does not yet support the capability to mint stablecoin debt.

The ZK Stack by zkSync now supports Valadium Mode, enabling the capability to handle data availability offchain. The ZK Stack is a modular framework designed for building custom L2 and L3 ZK-powered chains. Developers now choose between ZK Rollup Mode for onchain data or Valadium Mode for offchain data storage. Valadium is a type of scaling solution that uses validity proofs while keeping data offchain for further cost savings. The ZK Stack features account abstraction, data compression, EVM compatibility, and advanced scalability options through shared provers and fractal scaling. The ZK Stack will also support native ERC-20 token deployments.

Gaming studio Lattice deployed its Redstone gaming-focused L2 network to mainnet. Redstone is now available for developer use ahead of a full public release set for May 1. Inspired by Plasma, Redstone is an Alternative Data Availability (Alt-DA) chain built on the OP Stack, designed for ultra-low-cost transactions. Unlike traditional methods, Redstone commits a data hash to L1 but maintains its input state offchain. The chain aims to empower developers to seamlessly create blockchain-based games and autonomous virtual worlds. Eight early adopters are set to deploy on Redstone including Small Brain Games.

Form Network introduced its SocialFi-focused L2 network built on the OP Stack. The network will leverage Celestia for data availability, striving to provide a low-cost and interoperable solution designed for SocialFi creator tokens. Scheduled for a mainnet release in Q2 2024, Form Network also anticipates releasing a native governance token within the year.

• Prysm v5.0.3 patch release

• Hey supports swaps in feed

• Orb supports in-app mints

• First retsaked rollup on AltLayer

• EtherFi reaches 1m staked ETH

• Decent introduces V2

• ACDC #131 Recap

• EDCON 2024 in Tokyo on July 26th

• Blobscriptions fizzle out

• Ethena bug bounty program

• Gasless ENS voting on Tally

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