Ethereal news mini #2

Hegotá upgrade frames-devnet-0 live, Nethermind 2.0.0, Daisugi post quantum testnet

Ecosystem

• Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust adds EthSystems (general member) & Ethereum Institutional (associate member)
• ETH metrics:
  • Gas (gwei): 0.4 average, 0 - 24.9 (13.5 for zero net issuance)
  • ETH supply: 122.1M, 20k net issuance
  • ETHUSD: $2,552 - $2,804 (all time high $4,946, August 24, 2025)
  • ETHBTC: 0.032 (0.165 for the Flippening)

Sponsor: Consensys

We are massively hiring to support our growth across several roles.

If you are interested in joining the team, check out our open positions and apply directly via our careers page.

Enterprise

• ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX) tokenizing through Securitize on mainnet, US investors only

Applications

• Alchemix expands to Base
• Ondo Intelligent Portfolios starting with portfolio strategies developed by BlackRock, not available in US
• cp0x defi-dna (DeFi risk aggregator): being built using EF grant
• Kelp filed lawsuit against LayerZero over rsETH bridge exploit
• Trueo (prediction market) migrating to mainnet from Base
• Nymis (privacy scanner): analyzes onchain activity for an address

Developers

• Nomic Foundation Hardhat v3.18.0 (dev framework): adds Solidity test profiles & faster signing via native secp256k1 for ethers test suites
• OKcontract Labs oksolc (Solidity compiler): implemented in Zig, aims for byte compatibility with Solidity 0.8.36, usable with Foundry, not production ready
• EthSystems:
  • Specifications: drafts for shielded pool & attestation gated profile
  • Chainfold (Rust library): fold engine for ordered chain events with reorg recovery & durable snapshots
• Application layer standards (ERCs):
  • ERC8419: Know your agent framework
  • ERC8420: AA compatible solver
  • ERC8421: Frame transaction alternative transaction pools
  • ERC8423: ERC721 burn record extension
  • ERC8424: Confidential real world asset token

Security

• Payy bridge exploit, non custodial deposits stolen
• Limit Break Payment Processor V2 & V3 exploit, 23k NFTs rescued, revoke approvals
• Pashov Audit Group solidity-auditor v4: adds loop mode to run N times with shared memory of findings, combined in one report
• Etherscan SOC 2 Type II compliance
• Security Alliance (SEAL) Frameworks LLM support

All core devs (main protocol calls)

All core devs - execution (ACDE) #246

• Hegotá upgrade (targeting 2027):
  • Nixo (EthCoordinate) ACDE summary
  • Non headliner scoping used EIPs by average client rating
  • 10 EIPs Considered for Inclusion (CFI):
    • Account abstraction (Frame transactions): EIP7906 transaction assertions via state diff opcode, EIP8250 keyed nonces & EIP8272 recent roots
    • EVM features: EIP8253 bump nonce of zero nonce storage accounts, EIP8163 reserve extension opcode and EIP7979 call & return opcodes
    • EVM pricing: EIP3298 remove storage clear refund & refund cap
    • Data repricing: EIP8131 unified transaction content floor & EIP8279 block access list byte floor
    • Miscellaneous: EIP7668 remove bloom filters
  • 1 EIP Declined for Inclusion (DFI):
    • EIP8304 trustless log & transaction index
  • Review post Glamsterdam upgrade:
    • EIP8368 cost per state byte (CPSB) recalibration & EIP8372 normalized state gas limit

All core devs - testing (ACDT) #97 + consensus layer breakout

• Hegotá upgrade (targeting 2027):
  • Separate devnets for headliners FOCIL & Frame transactions before combining
  • Proposed EIP8142 block in blobs withdrawn & replaced by proposed EIP8411 fast execution payload broadcast

Layer 1

• consensus specs v1.7.0-beta.1 & v1.7.0-beta.2
• Hegotá upgrade (targeting 2027):
  • frames-devnet-0 live
  • Frame transactions breakout #5
    • Anders Elowsson (EF) Frame transactions & a multidimensional fee market
  • Barnabé Monnot (Ethlabs) EIP8198 quick slots merged as feature spec in consensus specs (Proposed for Inclusion)
  • Potuz (Prysm) quick blocks without quick slots proposal, slots remain at 12 seconds & builder reveals a block every 4 seconds
• Daisugi 0.1: post quantum testnet using hash based SPHINCS signatures with non native account abstraction
• Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs):
  • EIP8422: Deferred payload verification

Staking

• Client diversity:
  • Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~52% (data may not be accurate)
• Staking market share: Lido 21.7% [Note: dual governance]
• Validators: 895k active (target 128k), 23k accumulating (0x02 withdrawal credentials)
• Client releases:
  • Execution layer:
    • Erigon v3.7.0: parallel commitment by default, RPC performance improvements, persisted receipts by default & Glamsterdam upgrade on Sepolia testnet
    • EF Geth v1.17.6 (recommended): block processing & initial sync performance improvements and Glamsterdam upgrade on Sepolia testnet
    • Nethermind 2.0.0: flat state database (archive nodes drop from ~30 TB to ~2 TB), blocks process 2-3× faster than previous release on fresh node & Glamsterdam upgrade on Sepolia testnet

Research

• Csaba Király hardening the transaction pool with chain anchored multidimensional peer protection
• Dmitry Khovratovich hash function candidates for post quantum

Layer 2

• Arbitrum One priority gas auctions (transaction ordering policy) & fast feed (paid data feed) live, replaces Timeboost

Regulation

• US CFTC registrant crypto FAQs updated, customer funds may be invested in tokenized forms of permitted investments & blockchains can be used for record keeping without needing offchain versions

General

• Bitget (exchange) ~$351.6M unauthorized transfers from hot wallets
• SingularityNET bridge incident, tokens minted & assets withdrawn via unauthorized access to cloud infrastructure

Editor: @abcoathup
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