Marco Monaco, co-founder and former head of growth at Linea, resigned from ConsenSys in mid-June and officially left the Linea project after EthCC in mid-July. Marco shared that over the past two years, he had fully dedicated himself to driving Linea’s business development. However, due to differing views with ConsenSys leadership regarding future visions, he decided to step away from the project. During the transition period, Marco supported the Linea team to minimize the impact and ensure a smooth handover to the ConsenSys team. Despite his departure, he remains a strong supporter of Linea and is now focused on new challenges.
2. Starknet Approves Governance Proposal for STRK Staking Activation link
The Starknet community has voted in favor of the governance proposal to activate STRK staking, with a support rate of 98.94%. Starting in Q4 of this year, users holding over 20,000 STRK tokens will be able to stake on the network. Other parameters include a 21-day withdrawal safety lock, an annual minting curve inflation cap of 1.8–2.5%, and staking reward sharing parameters, which can be set by stakers themselves (ranging from 0 to 1). Additionally, the reward coefficient will be balanced based on the amount staked.
3. Paradigm-Backed Succinct Partners with OP Labs on ZK Rollups link
The Paradigm-backed startup Succinct Labs has partnered with OP Labs to launch the “OP Succinct” solution, aimed at addressing the challenges of ZK Rollups in Ethereum Layer 2 scaling through zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs). This solution allows OP Stack chains to be upgraded within an hour, offering faster transaction processing speeds and lower costs compared to traditional Optimistic Rollups. It is expected to significantly enhance Ethereum’s scalability and transaction efficiency.
4. Friend.Tech Relinquishes Smart Contract Control link
The developers of the Web3 social network Friend.Tech have relinquished control of the platform’s smart contracts, effectively locking the current system and preventing further changes. On September 8, the developers used smart contract functions to transfer control to an Ethereum null address, ensuring no additional modifications can be made. In an announcement on X, the team clarified that any fees generated from the smart contracts or the website would no longer flow into the Friend.Tech developers’ multisig wallet.
While the platform appears to remain operational, the decision to relinquish control means introducing new features has become highly unlikely. Data reveals that since June, the protocol has generated only about $60,000 in fees. According to monitoring by @EmberCN, the Friend.Tech team transferred a total of 19,477 ETH to Coinbase between December 2023 and June 2024, earning an estimated $52.39 million. These transfers occurred through two different addresses — 7,821 ETH ($16.85M) in December 2023 and 11,656 ETH ($35.55M) from January to June 2024.
In a recent statement, Friend.Tech confirmed there are no plans to shut down or stop the Web application. They also assured that the smart contracts deployed on Base would not be altered in the future to introduce new fees, safeguarding the platform’s current functionality.
5. Eigen Labs Unveils New EigenLayer Security Model link
Eigen Labs recently launched a new security model for EigenLayer aimed at enhancing the operations and security of decentralized services. The model introduces three key concepts — “Operator Sets”, “Total Stake”, and “Unique Stake” — to provide more flexible and economically aligned incentives for Actively Validated Services (AVS).
Key highlights of the new model include the division of Unique Stake, which can be independently penalized. This significantly reduces cross-service risk without requiring a shared veto committee, improving both the security and operational efficiency of the protocol. By separating stakes and ensuring that operators face fewer systemic risks, the model lowers the capital costs for operators and paves the way for future protocol expansion and innovation.
Eigen Labs emphasized that this new structure would effectively mitigate malicious activities while offering a more secure and economically efficient environment for decentralized services.
6. Treasure DAO Proposes Migration from Arbitrum to ZKsync link
Treasure DAO recently issued a proposal to migrate its Web3 gaming ecosystem from Arbitrum to ZKsync, asserting that ZKsync is better aligned with Treasure’s long-term vision for decentralized gaming. According to the statement, ZKsync has indicated that voting will commence on September 17. Should the proposal be approved, Treasure’s testnet will transition from Arbitrum to a new testnet on the ZK Stack, followed by the mainnet launch. Holders of Treasure’s native token, MAGIC, will be responsible for determining the migration strategy.
7. CryptoPunk #2386 Purchased for 10 ETH via “Shotgun” Bid link
NFT CryptoPunk #2386 was acquired by a user for 10 ETH through a “shotgun” purchase method, despite its current highest offer being 600 ETH (approximately $1.42 million). Previously, the owner of this NFT had fragmented it on a platform called Niftex, dividing its ownership into 10,000 ERC-20 tokens in 2020, which investors could buy and sell individually. Although the website has since shut down, the contract remains valid on the blockchain, triggering the buyout function. Consequently, this user obtained ownership of the NFT for a fraction of its current value.
8. PayPal and Venmo Integrate ENS for Payments link
ENS Labs has announced that PayPal and Venmo have integrated ENS into their payment platforms. American users of PayPal and Venmo can now input the recipient’s ENS name directly into the search bar when sending cryptocurrency, and the payment platforms will automatically recognize the wallet address associated with the ENS. PayPal and Venmo have supported cryptocurrency services since 2021, with Venmo operating as a subsidiary of PayPal.
9. Binance Introduces 58th, 59th Launchpool Project: Hamster Kombat (HMSTR), Catizen (CATI) link
Binance has announced its 58th Launchpool project, Hamster Kombat (HMSTR), a Play-to-Earn (P2E) game built on the Telegram mini-program platform. Users can earn HMSTR airdrop rewards by staking BNB and FDUSD, with the staking period starting from September 19, 2024, at 00:00 (UTC) and lasting for seven days. The total reward pool is 3 billion HMSTR, accounting for 3% of the total supply. Binance plans to list HMSTR on September 26, 2024, at 12:00 (UTC), and will open trading pairs for HMSTR/USDT, HMSTR/BNB, HMSTR/FDUSD, and HMSTR/TRY.
Binance has announced its 59th Launchpool project: Catizen (CATI), a cat-themed game built on the Telegram mini-program platform. Binance will list CATI on September 20, 2024, at 10:00 UTC, and will open trading pairs for CATI/USDT, CATI/BNB, CATI/FDUSD, and CATI/TRY. Seed labels will be applied to CATI. Users will be able to stake their BNB and FDUSD to receive CATI airdrops over a four-day period, starting from September 16, 2024, at 00:00 UTC.
Recently, Binance has frequently listed tokens from the TON ecosystem, including Notcoin, TON, and DOGS. Hamster Kombat previously claimed that its user base has exceeded 300 million (potentially including many bot accounts) and has turned down all venture capital investment offers.
10. Fractal Bitcoin Launches Mainnet with OP_CAT-Based Governance and Community Incentives link
On Monday, Fractal Bitcoin announced via Twitter that its mainnet is now live, with the first block having been successfully mined. The project has partnered with UniSat Wallet and OKX Wallet to reward active Bitcoin users through the Fractal Mainnet Bootstrap program and provide incentives for developers in the first quarter. Additionally, it is set to launch a voting platform that will utilize OP_CAT, allowing Fractal holders to vote on key proposals.
Fractal Bitcoin previously unveiled its tokenomics model: 80% of the tokens are allocated to the community, while 20% are designated for the team and contributors (with a lock-up period). The total supply of tokens is 210 million. Of this, 50% is allocated to Proof of Work (PoW) mining; 15% is reserved for the ecosystem treasury; 10% is allocated to community grants, with both the ecosystem treasury and community grants having a distribution cap of 10% of the total allocation per year, continuing for 10 years; 5% is allocated for pre-sale; 15% is designated for core contributors, with the pre-sale and team tokens having a defined unlocking schedule that starts at the end of the 7th month and is released linearly until the end of the 12th month; an additional 5% is reserved for current and future advisors, with advisor allocations capped at 20% of the total annual distribution, spread over 5 years.
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