Web3 Builder News: 8/26-9/1

Solana Incubator Cohort 2, ETH builders residence program MEGAZu, Solana Creators Directory v1, Research of comparing parallel execution engines

Grants & Accelerators

• Solana Labs announced that the second phase of applications for the incubator Solana Incubator is now open, with the application deadline being Oct 4.
• Soneium introduced Soneium Spark, an incubation program offering developers investment of up to $100K.
• BuilderDAO introduced SpringX Solana Ecosystem Accelerator, offering unparalleled Solana ecosystem acceleration services to seed/angel-stage Web3 entrepreneurs.
• Kaia introduced Kaia Wave, a builder support program that will support teams using the NEXT WEB SDK for $1.2M per team.

Hackathons & Events 🧑‍💻

• EigenLayer and MegaETH introduce MEGAZu, a 1-month residence program for Ethereum DApps builders from Oct 7 to Nov 7 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
• Light Protocol introduces Solana Zero, a ZK Compression hackathon partnered with Solana Foundation and Helius from Sep 2 to Oct 8.
• Aspecta announces the Developer Grants Workshop on Sep 10th, giving qualified developers on Aspecta a detailed explanation of Circle's future grants plan.
• Gaia introduces Living Knowledge Systems, a decentralized AI hackathon for developers to build agents contributing to a living, breathing ecosystem to earn from a prize pool of $50,000.

Research 🧑‍🔬

• 2077 Research and Eclipse published “Block-STM vs. Sealevel: A Comparison of Parallel Execution Engines”, analyzing functional parallelization in blockchain execution.
• Pascal Stichler published “Does multi-block MEV exist? Analysis of 2 years of MEV Data”, exploring whether multi-block MEV exists by analyzing data from Ethereum's blockchain over two years.
• shakeshack and pememoni published “Accessible Encryption for Ethereum Rollups with Fairomon”, proposing a tool to help developers create secure Ethereum rollups with built-in encryption.
• Jonah B shares research on Multiblock MEV (MMEV).
• josephjohnston published “Interpreting MPT branch node values”, exploring the difference between two specific cases in a branch node of a Merkle Patricia Trie (MPT) used in Ethereum.

Tooling 🛠

Ethereum

• Sorella Labs released Brontes, an open-source analytics pipeline that provides comprehensive MEV classification on Ethereum.
• nero_eth introduces PyXatu, a Python package for querying data from Xatu database.
• ETHGAS announces the beta launch of GasExplorer, an analytics platform to track and sort information about the gas markets.
• Shadow introduces a public registry of smart contract logs written by protocol teams and smart contract experts.

L2s

• Arbitrum is launching Stylus Season, a new feature of Arbitrum’s official website providing development libraries and code examples, documentation and video tutorials, and user experience sharing.
• Cairo v2.8.0 is out featuring language server improvements, range operator, and supports crate in path names.

Solana

• Superteam introduces the Solana Creators Directory v1, a community-sourced list of creators who deeply understand Solana technology and culture.
• OxDeep introduces the Solana Programs Verified Directory, a public dashboard for trusted, verified Solana programs.
• Blockworks Research released a Solana dashboard to track TEV stats, validator and staker cash flow, transaction activity, and segmentation.
• Hardhat Chad released an open-source Solana wallet adapter for Rust frontend web apps.

Education/Mechanism 🧑‍🏫

• RareSkills explains how the UUPS proxy pattern works in detail.
• RareSkills shares how to use the OpenZeppelin Foundry Upgrades Plugin to automate the procedure and catch bugs in the process.
• ChainSecurity explores the architecture of Swell’s $swBTC and explains how it works.
• nader dabit explains zkTLS(Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security) in an ELI5 way.
• Charles Wang shares how to use inline assembly to manipulate storage variables in Solidity.
• Charles Wang shares the storage architecture of Solidity smart contracts.

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Infrastructure 🏗

Ethereum

• EigenLayer launched permissionless token support on mainnet, enabling any ERC-20 token to be added as a restakable asset.
• RISC Zero released open-source code and compiler technology.
• Uniswap Labs introduces ERC-7683, a new standard proposing that all cross-chain intents follow the same order structure.

L2s

• OP Labs announces that the OP Stack bridge to the USDC standard is now live, and OP Chain can use the standardized OP Stack bridge to deploy the USDC bridging standard.

L1s

• Kakao and LINE launched the EVM-based blockchain Kaia on Mainnet.
• Nillion launched the validator program Nillion Verifier to ensure data integrity across its network.

Solana

• Helius published a developer guide for the Agave 2.0 transition scheduled to debut on Solana Mainnet-Beta after Solana Breakpoint 2024 Singapore.

Bitcoin

• Stacks Foundation announced that the Nakamoto Activation Sequence is live, a major upgrade to enhance functionality and integration with Bitcoin.

Security 👾

• DeFiHackLabs introduces Ethereum & Web3 Security BootCamp, a comprehensive curriculum for writing, debugging, testing, and auditing smart contracts.
• Mitchell Amador published a comprehensive study of hack damage from 2021 to 2023, analyzing the real impact of an on-chain hack.
• asymmetric research identified and reported a critical vulnerability in Circle’s Noble CCTP implementation, preventing an exploit up to ~$35M USDC.
• 0xrudra launched auditoor, a smart bug report aggregator featuring audit report breakdown and interaction with project code/docs.

Bug Bounties 🐞

• Morph, an optimistic zkEVM layer2 with decentralized sequencers, launched an audit contest on Sherlock with a total reward of 180,00 USDC.
• Velar, a DeFi Liquidity Protocol on Bitcoin, launched an audit contest on Sherlock with a total reward of 48,000 USDC.
• Cork Protocol, a risk pricing protocol accelerating the adoption of credit on-chain, launched an audit contest on Sherlock with a total reward of 29,750 USDC.
• Rumpel Labs, a point tokenization protocol, launched an audit contest on Sherlock with a total reward of 16,000 USDC.
• Kleros, a decentralized arbitration protocol for disputes in the on-chain economy, launched an audit competition on Hats finance with rewards of up to 64,000 USDC.
• Flayer, a liquidity protocol for NFTs, launched an audit contest on Sherlock with a total reward of 64,500 USDC.
• Accumulated Finance, the omnichain modular LST/LRT protocol, is launching an audit competition on Hats finance with rewards of up to 412,572 $ROSE (estimated 24K USD).
• Wildcat Protocol, an Ethereum protocol for on-chain fixed-rate private credit, launched an audit contest on Code4rena with a total reward of $60,750.

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Product Launches 🚀

• AO has launched ArFleet, a temporary storage solution built on Arweave and AO. It provides cost-effective short-term data storage and content retrieval services, complementing Arweave’s permanent storage capabilities.
• Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 enabling smart contracts and apps with Bitcoin as a secure base layer, announced its Nakamoto Upgrade, activated on August 28, 2024. This upgrade introduces significant improvements to Bitcoin's DeFi capabilities, boosting transaction speeds to around five seconds and soon launching sBTC, a decentralized asset backed 1:1 by Bitcoin.
• Frax Finance has launched the Frax Name Service (FNS), a fork of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) tailored for the Frax ecosystem. FNS enables users to secure .frax usernames and burns FXS tokens in the process.
• Spectra Finance has introduced Balanced and Advanced modes for liquidity providers. Balanced Mode optimizes LP and YT token allocation for new providers, enhancing pool efficiency. Advanced Mode allows for adjustable YT conversion into LP tokens, impacting the entry price.
• Soneium, a blockchain initiative by Sony Block Solutions Labs, has launched the Soneium Minato Testnet. This Ethereum Layer-2 solution is designed to support Web3 adoption and assist builders with a fast, cost-effective development environment compatible with Ethereum.
• Matchain, a decentralized AI blockchain, has launched its mainnet. Users can explore the ecosystem with tools such as the Matchain Explorer for tracking transactions, a Wallet Setup Guide for network integration, and the BNB Bridge for transferring tokens from the BNB Chain.
• Affine DeFi, a platform offering research-backed liquid restaking, has introduced ultraETHs on the Linea network. This Layer 2 native symbiotic liquid restaking token (LRT) allows users to restake ETH to mint ultraETHs and earn ultraPoints, which include symbiotic points and Linea LXP-L points.
• Mezo, a bitcoin economic layer built by Thesis, has launched Acre's yield-bearing stBTC token on its Bitcoin Layer 2 network. The stBTC token enables users to earn returns while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin.
• Kaia, developed by Kakao and LINE, has launched its Layer-1 blockchain mainnet. The network features ultra-low gas fees and one-second finality, and integrates with Kakao and LINE messaging apps to support DeFi, gaming, real-world assets, and web3-based applications.
• YieldNest has announced that the migration of primeETH to ynLSDe is now live. Users holding primeETH are encouraged to migrate to access new earning opportunities and benefits, including YieldNest Seeds bonuses, Pioneer NFT rewards, and additional airdrops.
• Sky, the rebranded Maker protocol, has launched its new platform, Sky.money, ahead of its full relaunch on September 18th with new $SKY and $USDS tokens. MKR holders can convert their tokens to $SKY at a 1:24,000 ratio, while DAI holders can convert to $USDS at a 1:1 ratio after the relaunch. Early users can earn boosted rewards by signing up at Sky.money now.
• Story Protocol has launched its first public testnet, Iliad, for its Intellectual Property (IP) blockchain platform. Builders and creators are invited to join the testnet to address real-world problems and mint IP assets.
• Legion has introduced a platform aimed at early-stage investments, focusing on merit, skill, and passion rather than wallet size. Users can join the waitlist to participate in Legion’s forthcoming ICO.
• StratoVM, an EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 , has opened its Node Whitelist Sale, which will be available for the next 48 hours. The solution features community node rewards and has recorded over 2 million testnet transactions and 150,000 testnet wallets.
• Sharpe AI, an AI-powered crypto app, has announced that its token $SAI is now listed on Gate, Mexc, and BingX exchanges.
• EigenLayer has launched permissionless token support on the mainnet, allowing any ERC-20 token to be used for restaking. This expands cryptoeconomic security and enables AVSs to customize security profiles and utilize native tokens for rewards and security functions. A user interface for restakers will be added later in Q3.
• Bubbly Finance is now live on the mainnet, offering pre-market trading with ultra-low fees of 1.5% and instant profit and loss (PnL) calculations.
• ALLiN BETS has launched its Testnet Phase 1 on Dymension, limited to the first 200 players. Phase 2, starting on September 2, 2024, will expand the player cap.
• Huma Finance, the first PayFi network, has launched on the Scroll testnet. The mainnet launch is scheduled for this Thursday.
• Berally has launched its private testnet. Participants need at least one Beracid in their wallet to join. The project invites users to test the product, provide feedback, and engage with partners.

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