• Rocket Pool activates the Saturn 0 upgrade.

• Vyper outlines security enhancements.

• Astria goes live on mainnet alpha.

• Infinex raises $67.7 million.

Decentralized Ethereum staking protocol Rocket Pool, successfully activated the Saturn 0 upgrade on October 28, 2024, at 0 UTC. The Saturn 0 upgrade removes the RPL stake requirement for new minipools, allowing solo stakers to deploy minipools with just 8 ETH. It also included a Houston Hotfix and RPL Tokenomics Rework. While RPL is no longer mandatory, staking still provides access to additional rewards, boosted APY, and governance participation within the Protocol DAO. ETH-only minipools now earn a 5% base commission, with opportunities to increase yield through the new Dynamic Commission model by joining the Smoothing Pool. Saturn 0 is the first in a series of three planned upgrades. Future upgrades will introduce protocol fee sharing and lower minimum stake requirements. Read more: Saturn Explainer.

Vyper, the second-most popular smart contract programming language, published a blog on the current state of its security. Over the last year, the team has completed 12 audits, launched two bug bounty programs, hosted a security contest, and implemented a contract monitoring system, addressing over 100 security findings. The enhanced security efforts come as Vyper experienced critical zero-day vulnerability last year. In addition to audits, Vyper has expanded its testing infrastructure and developed a runtime semantics interpreter called ivy. To maintain progress, Vyper is seeking community support through public goods funding initiatives.

Astria, a shared sequencing layer, is now live on mainnet alpha, enabling rollups to use the network for decentralized sequencing. Astria uses Celestia for data availability and offers fast confirmations with 2-second block times and single-slot finality. Astria only sequences transactions without executing them, giving rollups the flexibility to choose their preferred execution layer. The mainnet alpha operates on a proof-of-authority (PoA) consensus with an initial set of 11 validators. Developers can now build on Astria mainnet using the Astria Stack and the Astria Execution API.

Infinex raised $67.7 million through its token crowdfund by selling over 40,000 Patron NFTs to community members and angel investors. The platform focuses on competing with centralized exchanges by enhancing the user experience and leveraging smart accounts to reduce friction. Infinex serves as a streamlined interface for trading Synthetix Perpetuals.

• Vitalik: Ethereum’s Future Part 5

• Teku v24.10.3 release

• Gnosis GNO Holder report

• Coinbase files amicus brief

• Hey introduces Lists

• Privacy first RPC endpoint

• Shift introduces USDC support

• Succinct introduces a rebrand

• Gelato raises $11m

• Astria goes live on mainnet

• Robinhood integrates election markets

• Safe supports multichain address deployments.

• Lido’s Community Staking Module goes live.

• Velodrome expands its MetaDEX to Superseed.

Safe introduced a new feature that allows users to reserve a smart wallet account with the same address across 15 supported networks. Now live on the Safe user interface, the feature allows users to reserve their address in a single click. Once reserved, the address can receive funds and the smart contract can be deployed at any time. Safe also offers sponsored transactions on networks like Gnosis, Polygon PoS, Polygon zkEVM, Base, OP Mainnet, Arbitrum, Linea, and Blast, enabling wallet deployments without requiring native gas tokens. The release includes a new sidebar interface that simplifies switching between multiple accounts. The feature is compatible only with Safe version 1.3.0 or later.

Lido’s Community Staking Module (CSM), a permissionless staking solution that allows node operators to run validators through the Lido protocol, is now live on mainnet. The module lowers the barrier for solo stakers by allowing participation with a collateral stake of 2.4 ETH for the first validator and 1.3 ETH for additional validators. The launch is an early adoption phase initially available to qualified solo stakers. Lido states that operators using CSM can earn up to 2.37x higher rewards compared to traditional solo staking. As a key component of the Lido Staking Router, a controller contract designed to integrate modular validator pools, the CSM enables node participation from solo stakers, DAOs, and DVT clusters.

Velodrome announced plans to launch support for Superseed on the Velodrome Superchain, a MetaDEX serving as the primary liquidity hub on the Superhain. Superseed is a DeFi-focused protocol built on the OP Stack that features a native collateralized debt position system called SuperCDP. SuperCDP allows users to lock assets as collateral to mint and borrow the Superseed stablecoin, enabling access to interest-free, self-repaying loans. veVELO holders will be able vote and direct emissions towards liquidity gauges on Superseed's L2. Superseed will also provide incentives for the launch. The Velodrome Superchain already includes nine OP Stack chains. 

• ACDE #199 recap

• Arbitrum Portal refresh

• Etherscan API V2 beta release

• Flashbots deprecates geth-based builder

• Devcon VI attendance forecast

• Lens Network in next 6 months

• Ethresearch: Local fee markets 

• L2Beat adds a search bar

• Aether Farcaster AI agent

• U.S. investigates Tether

• Kraken unveils its Ink Layer 2 network.

• Arbitrum Orbit supports fast withdrawals.

• Synthetix Perps V3 goes live on Arbitrum.

• Celestia plans v3 upgrade on testnet.

Kraken introduced Ink, a new Layer 2 built on the OP Stack, designed to streamline access to DeFi and onboard users onchain by connecting Kraken’s centralized services with a decentralized ecosystem. Ink will feature 1-second block times, settle transactions on Ethereum, and is being developed with the Gelato Network RaaS platform. Similar to Coinbase’s Base, Kraken anticipates migrating its infrastructure onchain. As a member of the Superchain, Ink will support interoperability, governance standards, and shared upgrades and contribute a portion of its sequencer revenue to the Optimism Collective. The testnet launch is scheduled for November 2024, with the mainnet launch expected in early 2025. Users can currently mint a commemorative NFT on OP Mainnet.

Arbitrum Orbit, a tech stack for building L2 and L3 chains, now supports fast withdrawals, enabling withdrawals transactions to be finalized in as little as 15 minutes for Orbit L2 chains and 15 seconds for Orbit L3 chains. Optimistic Rollups typically require a seven-day challenge period for fraud proofs, leading to long withdrawal periods. Fast withdrawals are initially available for Arbitrum Orbit chains built using the AnyTrust architecture and rely on a Data Availability Committee (DAC). The implementation is facilitated through a committee-based validation process. Arbitrum Orbit chains that meet the prerequisite criteria can customize their own withdrawal configurations.

Synthetix Perps V3 is now live on Arbitrum One through the Kwenta interface with support for 81 new markets. Synthetix V3 introduces multi-collateral support, cross-margin trading, account-based access controls, and improved liquidation mechanisms, allowing traders to use their entire portfolio as collateral across multiple positions. Supported collateral types include ETH, tBTC, USDx, and USDe. Kwenta features one-click gasless market orders, integrated bridging via Socket, and delegated wallets. According to DefiLlama, Synthetix V3 on Arbitrum currently holds about $8.5 million in TVL.

• Funki unviels OP Stack L2

• Discussions to increase gas limit

• Upcoming Celestia v3 upgrade

• ZachXBT has recovered $500m

• OnchainKit introduces Checkout