• OFAC deletes Tornado Cash from the SDN list.

• Rainbow wallet releases a token launcher.

• MegaETH releases its public testnet.

• Aragon introduces modular governance tools.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has officially removed Tornado Cash smart contract addresses from its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, lifting sanctions on the privacy tool. OFAC has also taken Tornado Cash developer Roman Semenov and the protocol’s TORN token off the SDN list. The action follows a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which overturned the Treasury’s sanctions on Tornado Cash smart contracts. OFAC initially sanctioned Tornado Cash on August 8, 2022, citing its use by North Korea’s Lazarus Group to launder stolen funds from the Ronin Hack. Despite the victory, prosecutors have not dismissed their case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.

Rainbow, a browser and mobile-based Ethereum wallet, introduced a token launcher, allowing users to create and deploy their own tokens across 12 EVM-compatible chains supported by Rainbow. Users can upload a logo, choose a ticker, and name their token to launch instantly. The tool also includes an airdrop feature, enabling users to distribute tokens to their Farcaster followers. The Rainbow token launcher is built on Optimism’s SuperchainERC20 token standard, which ensures tokens remain portable across multiple chains within the Superchain, eliminating the need for multiple bridged asset versions. Rainbow also unveiled its Phase 2 launch, following the introduction of Phase 1 in December 2023.

MegaETH, an EVM-compatible Layer 2, launched its public testnet for all users. The testnet features 20,000 TPS throughput, 1.7 gigagas/s performance, 1-second block times, and 10ms mini-blocks, which are lightweight, high-frequency blocks that enhance transaction processing while maintaining the same security. Unlike Base’s Flashblocks, MegaETH’s mini-blocks do not rely on TEEs. The network also introduces elastic block production, where blocks are only created when transactions exist, optimizing efficiency. As part of its testnet launch, MegaETH airdropped testnet ETH to over 190,000 wallets, allowing users to explore the network.

Aragon, a leading DAO infrastructure provider, launched its modular governance tooling platform, empowering organizations to create and distribute value. With the Aragon app, organizations can now deploy custom governance models tailored to their specific needs, balancing autonomy, accountability, and streamlined decision-making while minimizing bureaucracy. Built on the Aragon OSx framework, the platform features a no-code design, optimistic governance proposals, security councils, emergency upgrade mechanisms, and legal integrations. In a future release, Aragon plans to introduce universal token voting, crosschain governance, gasless transactions, and council elections.

Bitwise is seeking approval to enable staking in its Bitwise Ethereum (ETHW) ETF. On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange Arca (NYSE) submitted filings to the SEC, requesting staking permission for the Spot Ethereum ETF.  It marks the fourth ETF seeking ETH staking approval, following 21Shares, Grayscale, and Fidelity, which all filed similar requests in recent months. Bitwise Ethereum ETF currently holds nearly $200 million in AUM.

• ACDC #153 Recap

• Pectra potential mainnet dates

• 2025 Ethstaker survey

• Tally supports EFP profiles

• Lighthouse v7.0.0-beta.4 release

• Teku v25.3.0 release

• Lodestar v1.28.0 release

• Conduit chains process 2 billion txs

• Chainsafe’s Holesky retrospective

• Status v2.33 release

• L2 interop updates

• SEC on PoW mining

• Aztec $150k grant applications

• Uniswap approves unleashed

See disclosures

• Coinbase Ethereum validator report.

• Hoodi Ethereum testnet goes live.

• Mantle Network integrates EigenDA.

• Ethereum PoS CO² savings.

Coinbase published its first Ethereum validator performance report, detailing its staking operations, including uptime, participation rate, client diversity, and validator distribution. The report highlights that Coinbase stakes 3.84 million ETH across 120,000 validators, representing 11.42% of total staked ETH. With a 99.75% uptime and participation rate, Coinbase has maintained a track record of zero-slashing events. Its validators are distributed across five countries—Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, and Hong Kong—and operate on Lighthouse, Prysm, Geth, and Nethermind clients. Coinbase says it plans to release Ethereum validator performance metrics more regularly.

Hoodi, a new long-term Ethereum testnet, is now live, providing staking operators and infrastructure providers with a reliable environment for validator testing. The Pectra hard fork will activate on Hoodi on March 26, 2025. Hoodi replaces the Holesky testnet, which encountered extensive inactivity leaks and a prolonged exit queue due to a deposit contract configuration issue. Hoodi is now the primary testnet for infrastructure and staking provider testing. Holesky will be phased out by September 2025. Hoodi features a similar configuration and validator count to Ethereum. Meanwhile, Sepolia will continue to serve as the primary testnet for applications, with a planned replacement expected in 2026. Hoodi is named after the Hoodi metro station in India.

Mantle Network, an EVM-compatible rollup, has fully integrated EigenDA for data availability, making it the largest network by TVL to adopt EigenDA. The upgrade provides Mantle a 20x improvement in censorship resistance, expanding from 10 to over 200 operators securing data, significantly reducing downtime risks. EigenDA now safeguards $1.3 billion in TVL and enables 15MB/s throughput capacity for Mantle. EigenDA’s economic security is backed by 4.3 million restaked ETH and 391.6 million restaked EIGEN on EigenLayer. Mantle functions similarly to a Validium by processing both computation and data storage offchain.

• Ethereum PoS CO² savings

• Celo L2 hard fork party

• Liquity V2 audit competition

• Flaunch introduces revenue manager

• Base gas target is 29 Mgas/s

• Privy raises $40m in total funding

See disclosures

• Obol launches a token incentives program.

• Coinbase introduces Verified Pools.

• Moonwell launches on OP Mainnet.

• Spark announces RWA winners.

Obol launched the OBOL Incentives Program, allocating 12.5 million OBOL tokens in incentives to reward users who stake ETH on Obol Distributed Validators. For the first year, 240,000 OBOL tokens will be distributed each week to participating ETH stakers. OBOL serves as the protocol’s governance, staking, and utility token. To participate, users can stake ETH on Obol Distributed Validators (DVs) through a qualified partner like Chorus One, EtherFi, Swell, or Stakewise, or by running their own distributed validator via Squad Staking. Rewards are based on the total ETH supplied and will begin accruing on March 24, 2025.  

Coinbase introduced Verified Pools, a curated set of onchain liquidity pools accessible only to users with Coinbase Verifications credentials. Built on Uniswap v4, Verified Pools use hooks to integrate compliance via Coinbase Verifications while optimizing liquidity management. The pools are now live on Base. Users can connect to Verified Pools through Prime Onchain Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, or select third-party wallets. Coinbase Verifications, powered by the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS), attests to the ownership of a verified Coinbase account and country of residence, enhancing security and sybil resistance.

Moonwell, a lending protocol built on Morpho, launched its first lending vault on OP Mainnet. Users can now deposit into the Moonwell Flagship USDC vault on OP Mainnet, which is designed to provide optimized, risk-adjusted returns from blue-chip collateral markets. The vault is curated by BlockAnalitica and B Protocol, who strategically allocate funds across Morpho Markets. The vault offers liquidity for the ETH/USDC and wstETH/USDC Morpho Isolated Markets on OP Mainnet, generating interest for depositors. Moonwell also launched Virtual Accounts on OP Mainnet, enabling users to receive payments in a U.S. bank account that are converted to USDC. Moonwell is a top 10 DeFi protocol on Base, with over $100 million in TVL.

Spark announced the winners of the Tokenization Grand Prix, a competition that directs $1 billion in reserves toward tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The three selected winners are BlackRock's BUIDL fund, Superstate's USTB fund, and Centrifuge's JTRSY fund, with $500M allocated to BUIDL, $300M to USTB, and $200M to JTRSY. The final allocations are subject to approval by Sky governance in April 2025. The initiative aims to drive stablecoin adoption in DeFi by boosting liquidity and diversification within the Spark Liquidity Layer. The competition evaluated 39 applications, focusing on pricing, liquidity, and strategic alignment.

• EigenLayer launches on ZKsync

• Interopolis onsite in Athens

• U.S. Treasury defies court ruling

• Technical deep dive into ZKP2P

• ENS $27.8m revenue in 2024

• Harvard research on OSS

See disclosures