Gm frENS, Happy April Fools Day! The news is a bit light today since not many projects make announcements on April 1st.

• Franklin Crypto introduced.

• L2BEAT lists Aztec Alpha Network.

• Base App release on April 9th.

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Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. Franklin Templeton introduces Franklin Crypto. L2BEAT adds Aztec as a Stage 1 rollup. And Base App will support all standard web apps. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/916 Sponsor: Lido Earn lets you deploy ETH or stablecoins into curated DeFi strategies for optimised yield.

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Franklin Templeton introduced Franklin Crypto, a new division dedicated to institutional-grade digital asset investment management. The firm is also acquiring crypto investment company 250 Digital to strengthen its capabilities in the space. Part of the deal will be executed using BENJI tokens tied to the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). The move underscores Franklin Templeton's effort to become a leading global digital asset manager, building on its existing $1.8 billion crypto platform and its broader management of over $1.5 trillion in assets.

L2BEAT added Aztec Alpha Network to its L2 tracker as a Stage 1 rollup, noting that its decentralization and censorship resistance more closely resemble Stage 2. Aztec has immutable core contracts, a built-in exit window for users, a permissionless sequencer system, and no security council. In a Stage 1 rollup, only a security council can intervene, whereas a Stage 2 rollup is fully trustless, and no one can interfere with the system. L2BEAT said it classified Aztec as Stage 1 because some critical parameters are still controlled by a DAO, and transaction inclusion delays can reach several days in worst-case scenarios.

Base App, the self-custody wallet from Coinbase, announced that it will support all standard web apps in an upcoming release scheduled for April 9, 2026. Farcaster mini app developers are advised to register their projects on Base.dev, transition authentication from the Farcaster SDK to Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE), and review their existing Farcaster SDK integrations for compatibility. The move comes as Base App transitions from an onchain social focus to a trading-first experience.

• Nethermind v1.36.2 release

• Safe presents Private Safes

• SEC approves options on crypto commodities

• SteakHouse DNS incident update

• ENS coordination layer

• Circle acquires Liquity

• MetaMask TradFi Mode

• Ethresearch: SVC upgrade

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

• Aztec launches Alpha Network.

• Quantum breakthrough threatens crypto.

• Fe relaunches with Fe 26.0.

• Ethereum UX curated mapping.

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Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. Aztec launches the Alpha Network. New quantum breakthrough threatens elliptic curve signatures. And Fe relaunches its smart contract language with Fe 26.0. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/915 Sponsor: Lido Earn lets you deploy ETH or stablecoins into curated DeFi strategies for optimised yield.

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Aztec Network, a privacy-focused Layer 2 on Ethereum, launched its Alpha Network, a fully functional upgrade that brings native privacy to data, identity, and computation. Developers can now build smart contracts and apps where privacy is the default, from execution to settlement. The launch follows nine years of development on a privacy-first architecture. Aztec first rolled out Aztec Ignition in November 2025. While further upgrades are planned before Beta, developers can start building on the network. Aztec also opened sign-ups for a smart contract course.

Justin Drake highlighted two new research papers that show quantum improvements that make future quantum attacks on modern cryptography, such as the elliptic curve signatures used by Ethereum, more plausible. Drake emphasized that the breakthroughs suggest that private keys for 256-bit elliptic curves, such as secp256k1, could be recovered in minutes on quantum computers. The technical details from Google Quantum AI's paper were sensitive enough that they were released using a zero-knowledge proof generated by Succinct's SP1 zkVM. He estimates there is roughly a 10% chance that quantum computers could break real cryptographic keys by 2032. Drake underscored the growing urgency around post-quantum cryptography. Ethereum is already working on a coordinated, multi-year transition toward quantum resistance, with phased upgrades across protocol layers.

Fe released version 26.0, a complete overhaul of its smart contract programming language, introducing a stronger type system and improved safety model. The update adds a new effect system that requires functions to explicitly declare side effects, such as storage access or external calls. It also adopts immutability by default. The relaunch includes a redesigned contract architecture, giving developers more precise control over EVM behavior and low-level operations. It also introduces a new compiler backend built on SSA. Fe combines Python-like syntax with a Rust-inspired design, featuring generics, traits, algebraic data types, and a simplified ownership and borrowing model. Fe version 26.0 is still experimental and not yet ready for production use.

• EthUX curated map

• Base releases 2026 mission

• Teku v26.4.0 release

• TheDAO Security Fund QF round

• Fake NFT scam at EthCC

• AltLayer SOC 2 compliance

• Privacy Pools roadmap

• Aligned TGE tokenomics

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

• Aave V4 goes live on Ethereum.

• Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ).

• Linea activates Yield Boost.

• Geth critical fix v1.17.2.

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Listen to this episode from Ethereum News on Spotify. Aave V4 goes live on Ethereum mainnet. The Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) is announced. Linea activates Yield Boost. And Geth releases critical fix v1.17.2. Read more: https://ethdaily.io/914 Earn 10% real yield on your dollars, fully onchain.

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Aave V4 is now live on Ethereum mainnet, introducing a new hub-and-spoke architecture with support for over 20 assets across three initial liquidity hubs. The launch includes a redesigned interface called Aave Pro. The Liquidity Hubs supply capital to multiple specialized lending markets, known as Spokes, each with its own rules and risk parameters. The three hubs include the Core Hub as the primary liquidity pool, the Prime Hub offering a more controlled collateral environment, and the Plus Hub designed for stablecoin strategies. Aave v4 uses Chainlink’s oracle infrastructure for asset pricing, while the upgrade enhances capital efficiency. Caps and markets will be gradually expanded through governance. Aave v3 will still remain available, and no action is required for users.

Gnosis, ZisK, and the Ethereum Foundation introduced the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ), a new L1↔L2 framework designed to unify Ethereum into a single composable system. The initiative addresses key shortcomings of today’s L2 landscape, including fragmented liquidity, limited interoperability, and the operational burden of deploying and maintaining applications across multiple chains. At its core, EEZ enables synchronous composability across chains, allowing smart contracts on L2s to interact directly with Ethereum mainnet and other EEZ rollups within a single atomic transaction. The architecture creates shared liquidity and a unified security model. The framework is powered by recent advances in real-time zero-knowledge proofs, making cross-chain composability feasible. The team plans to release detailed technical specifications and performance benchmarks, expand developer tooling and integration pathways, and grow the network of contributors and ecosystem partners.

Linea launched Yield Boost, it’s native system that turns idle bridged ETH on Linea into productive liquidity. A portion of bridged ETH is staked in the Lido v3 StakingVault on Ethereum mainnet, generating staking rewards and supporting Ethereum L1 economic security. Similar to Katana, the rewards are directed to liquidity providers and DeFi protocols on Linea. Up to 60% of Total Value Secured (TVS) can be staked. Users retain full control over their ETH and can withdraw anytime thanks to multi-layered safeguards, including a liquidity buffer of ~40% TVS, permissionless rebalancing, and a stETH fallback mechanism.

• Geth v1.17.2 critical fix

• History of account abstraction

• Nikolai’s 33rd birthday

• Ethresearch: decoupled consensus

• Increase Max Contract Size to 64KiB

• Bitmine buys 71k ETH

• Aave deploys on X Layer

• DeFi Saver supports Aave v4

• Linea is moving to RISC-V

• Ethrex updates to ZisK 0.16.0

• Frame Txs: Statelessness Lens

• Steakhouse suffers DNS hijack

• Due obtains MiCA license

• SWIFT shared ledger MVP

• Benji leaves Base, joins X

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