Week in Ethereum News

News and Links

Layer 1

• [Eth 1] Notes from the call on improving the current Ethereum chain
  
• [Eth 2] The latest What’s New in Eth2
  
• [Eth 2] Notes from latest Eth2 implementers call
  
• [Eth 2] Nimbus dev update
  
• [Eth 2] Eric Conner’s Eth2.0 economic primer
  
• [Eth 2] Vitalik: layer 2 computing model using optimistic state roots. Or the ELI5 version. Big if it works.
  
• [CBC Casper] Latest Casper standup call
  
• [CBC Casper] CBC Casper explanation by Vitalik
  

Layer 2

• Latest state channels call
  
• Explainer video for Raiden Network
  
• Minimum number of rounds required for plasma cash with rearrangeable transactions
  

Stuff for developers

• Solidity v0.5.1 “improves the usability of interfaces, fixes some bugs, extends the SMT checker and provides an early preview of the Yul optimizer”
  
• Embark 4.0.0-alpha.2
  
• web3j v4 out of alpha and in general relelase
  
• Rocketh test library with any web3 library and test runner
  
• Aragon: cheaper voting through EVM storage proofs
  
• dappboard: load chain data into PostgreSQL to analyze
  
• Securify academic paper
  
• An IPFS for devs explainer from Piñata
  
• a URL shortener live on Ropsten
  
• Using the iExec SDK
  
• How to use Quiknode to quickly start a dedicated node
  
• 0x Instant react.js component
  
• RuntimeVerification formally verifies the beacon chain in COQ and models RanDAO
  

Ecosystem

• ConsenSys reorg from 1.0 to 2.0 included 13% layoffs.
  
• Alethio’s block explorer and free linked data graph
  
• Curious Giraffe has some nice dapp analytics for Compound, Augur, ENS, etheroll, Kyber, AirSwap, and Cryptokitties.
  
• In 2019, Gnosis will give away up to 600k USD to build on Gnosis products through its ecosystem fund
  
• A list of Ethereum community calls from Trenton Van Epps
  
• More on AZTEC Protocol’s confidential transactions. Plus costs would go down to 200-300k gas with eip1108
  

Live on mainnet

• slow.trade is live on mainnet; it builds on the DutchX protocol by Gnosis
  
• Havven launches stablecoins for EUR, JPY, AUD, KRW, and gold.
  
• FOAM Signaling live on mainnet
  

Enterprise

• SignatureBank to offer commercial clients 24/7 money transfer for free using a private Ethereum chain

Governance and Standards

• Latest core devs call. Lane’s notes. Fork will be around Jan 16th. Working group updates. Dropping Ropsten/PoW testnets forever?
  
• ERC1633: Refungible token standard
  
• ERC1638: Gift vault standard
  

Application layer

• 0x Instant. No more wrapping Eth! Also, 22 ideas to explore with 0x.
  
• dy/dx’s Antonio Juliano tweetstorm on state of 0x
  
• Cyrus Younessi’s overview of Uniswap Exchange
  
• A new and slick version of Maker Tools
  
• Status v0.9.32 with private group chats
  
• Funfair product update
  
• Imbrex open sources its real estate data exchange called Tegula
  
• OpenLaw and Rhombus build onchain derivatives
  
• 3Box spins out from uPort
  
• Livepeer’s Streamflow upgrade proposal with probabilistic micropayments
  

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

• AZTEC Protocol’s Zach Williamson on Smartest Contract
  
• Video of local news report on Blockchains LLC fiber optic ring
  
• Curation markets community call
  
• John Lilic video interview
  
• Intro to Scaling on Into the Ether
  
• Numerai/Erasure’s Richard Craib AMA
  

Tokens / Business / Regulation

• Richard Craib on redesigning Numerai. Cutting supply by half, making it more useful with Erasure, and decentalizing it.
  
• Bonded curves for charity
  
• Brian Armstrong: adoption of cryptoassets will come through VR
  
• Video of NYT’s Sorkin interviews SEC Chairman Clayton
  

General

• Zaki Manian’s Cosmos and Polkadot comparison
  
• NEAR’s Alex Skidanov: Core ideas in blockchain sharding
  
• Update on ETC<>ETH peace relay
  
• Coinbase filed to trademark buidl, though Balaji pledges it will only be defensive.
  

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new in bold):

• Dec 9 – Neufund equity token offering (closes after a week)
  
• Jan 10 – Mobi Grand Challenge hackathon ends
  
• Jan ~16 – Constantinople hard fork at block 7080000
  
• Jan 29-30 – AraCon (Berlin)
  
• Feb 7-8 – Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)
  
• Feb 15-17 – ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal) next hacker application round closes December 31st
  
• Feb 23-25 – EthAustin hackathon (EthUniversal)
  
• Mar 5-7 – EthCC (Paris)
  
• Mar 27 – Infura end of legacy key support (Jan 23 begins Project ID prioritization)
  

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I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.  If you’re unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me. [Although I can’t answer right now to due to censorship, see below.]

Capricious Twitter censorship

One of my best friends launched Stoop, an Android/iOS newsletter reader. It uses a dedicated email and clean design experience to keep your information diet healthy. If you subscribe to newsletters, you will like it.

For reasons unknown, Twitter has locked my @evan_van_ness account. After Mailchimp arbitrarily banned me earlier this year, it’s sad to see web2.0 platforms making the case for their own demise. Web3 can’t come fast enough.

I’m sure that I missed things for this newsletter due to Twitter’s banhammer. Sorry!

If you’re wondering “why didn’t my post make it into Week in Ethereum?”