Weekly Project Updates: Optimism Grants Kraken Massive OP Token Allocation, Zircuit Airdrops for EigenLayer Holders and Stakers, Pyth Monthly Trading Volume Surpasses Chainlink, etc

Nov 02, 2024

1. BNB Foundation Completes 29th Quarterly BNB Burn link

A total of 1,772,712.363 BNB, valued at approximately $1.07 billion, has been burned. Due to the ongoing BNB Chain integration, this quarter’s burn, as well as future burns, will occur directly on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), with the corresponding BNB being sent to a “black hole” address. Additionally, BNB employs a real-time burn mechanism based on gas fees. BSC validators determine the proportion of gas fees collected in each block, burning a fixed percentage. Since the introduction of BEP95, around 242,000 BNB has been burned under this mechanism.

2. Optimism Foundation Approves Grant of 25 Million OP Tokens to Kraken link

The Optimism Foundation has approved a grant of 25 million OP tokens to Kraken. At the time of the agreement earlier this year, the grant was valued at approximately $100 million, though it is now worth about $42.5 million. This deal, completed around January or February, facilitates Kraken’s use of Optimism’s OP Stack. Previously, Kraken announced plans to develop a Layer 2 network utilizing the OP Stack blockchain framework from Optimism. The OP Stack is a customizable toolkit allowing users to build their own Layer 2 rollups based on Optimism’s technology.

3. Zircuit Airdrop Now Available for EigenLayer Holders and Stakers link

Zircuit has announced that its airdrop event is now available to holders and stakers of EigenLayer, with all eligible wallets receiving equal rewards. Meanwhile, Binance Web3 tweeted about its ongoing $500,000 prize pool event, offering Zircuit tokens and gas fee subsidies. Users who bridge and stake ETH using BinanceWeb3Wallet can claim rewards, and those completing both tasks are eligible for a gas fee refund of up to 10 USDC. Previously, Zircuit received investments from Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, Dragonfly Capital, and Maelstrom.

4. Elixir’s Modular Blockchain Launches Phase One of Mainnet link

The modular blockchain project Elixir has launched the first phase of its mainnet, initially powered by genesis nodes operated by institutional validators. During this phase, the network will undergo stability testing with pre-selected institutional validators. Elixir stated that once the public mainnet is launched, any user will be able to participate in operating validation nodes, with eligible participants earning ELX rewards. The project team will release the list of genesis validators and provide details on the foundation’s delegation plan.

5. Cardano Founder: Cardano to Transition into Bitcoin L2 link

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has shifted his stance on Bitcoin, announcing plans to transition Cardano’s Layer 1 (L1) to function as a Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2) solution.

6. Vitalik Praises Polygon Zero’s Latest Breakthrough link

Polygon Zero developer Daniel Lubarov recently tweeted about a significant breakthrough in their zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) system, Plonky3, achieving a performance of over 2 million Poseidon2 hash computations per second. This advancement is attributed to memory optimizations, including techniques such as avoiding data duplication, skipping zeroing operations, and merging FFT steps. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged this achievement, highlighting that this processing speed — equivalent to around 62MB of Merkle hashing per second — is sufficient to rehash Ethereum’s maximum theoretical consensus state within a single slot.

7. Fuel-Backed Points Program and Lending Protocol Swaylend Currently Supports Deposits Only, No Withdrawals link

Fuel Mod announced in the Discord community that issues related to price updates from Pyth Oracle are affecting the Borrow/Repay functions and collateral withdrawals. The team is currently collaborating with the Fuel core team to resolve these problems. Meanwhile, Swaylend’s official Twitter has not released any related notifications. According to the official website, Fuel currently holds deposits amounting to $30.4 million and has been audited by Halborn Audit Service.

8. NFTSniper Community Manager Announces Gradual Shutdown of Website link

The reason for this is that the current complexity of the project has exceeded what an individual can manage, and with advancing age, it has become increasingly difficult to sustain high-intensity, real-time on-chain development. According to the official announcement, NFTSniper has suspended the onboarding of new users as of October 23. Development of new features will continue until December 31, and real-time issue handling will be maintained until the website closes. NFTSniper has been operational for approximately four years and was once an essential tool for Chinese-speaking NFT users during the NFT boom of 2021.

9. Decentralized Oracle Pyth Surpasses Chainlink in 30-Day Trading Volume, Reaching $36 Billion link

The decentralized oracle Pyth surpassed Chainlink in trading volume on the 30th, reaching $36 billion. Its pull-based model supports high-frequency data requests, making it particularly favored by derivatives and options protocols. Former Chronicle CEO Niklas Kunkel noted that oracles such as Pyth, Chronicle, and Redstone are gradually closing the market gap with Chainlink, especially regarding cost control and update frequency. Although Chainlink continues to dominate in terms of total value locked (TVL), there is a growing demand in the market for more innovative oracle infrastructures.

10. Vitalik Publishes “The Splurge: Future Development of the Ethereum Protocol” link

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled “The Future Development of the Ethereum Protocol, Part Six: The Splurge,” outlining key objectives: achieving a high-performance and stable “final state” for the EVM; integrating account abstraction into the protocol to ensure all users can benefit from more secure and convenient accounts; optimizing transaction fee economics to enhance scalability while mitigating risk; and exploring advanced cryptography that could enhance Ethereum in the long term.

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