Ethereal news weekly #3

J.P. Morgan tokenized fund, Privacy Pools on Arbitrum & Optimism, SEC talks privacy

Ecosystem

• US SEC: crypto custody basics, hot/cold wallets & self custody explained
• ETH metrics:
  • Gas (gwei): 0.1 average, 0.0 - 1.8 (12.1 for zero net issuance)
  • ETHUSD: $2,782 - $3,250 (all time high $4,946, August 24, 2025)
  • ETH ETFs: 5% of ETH supply
  • ETHBTC: 0.034 (0.165 for the Flippening)

Sponsor: MetaMask

Snaps are apps that customize your wallet experience and let you add new features and functionalities to MetaMask.

Get started with Snaps.

Enterprise

• J.P. Morgan tokenized money market fund on mainnet
• SoFi Bank issued SoFiUSD stablecoin, initially for internal settlements
• Visa stablecoins advisory practice

Applications

• Privacy Pools live on Arbitrum with support for Nerite yUSND yield bearing stablecoin & live on Optimism
• Base app (wallet + Farcaster based social) open to public
• Synthetix returns to mainnet, perp DEX live, initially capped at 500 users
• gasPM: gas price prediction market
• ENS.tools public profiles: shareable ENS profile
• Sound (music NFTs) shutting down January 16, 2026
• Octant StreamVote: pilot, 25 ETH streamed via quadratic voting to 17 public goods

Developers

• Solidity v0.8.32 (language): code generator fix for clearing/copying arrays straddling end of storage
• Echidna v2.3.0 (fuzzer): verification mode for analyzing stateless functions, Foundry test case generation for failed assertions, clearer HTML coverage reports & failures display all events
• Feelyourprotocol ModExp precompile (widget): view Fusaka upgrade gas increases
• ENS:
  • Enscribe Foundry plugin: name contracts in deployment scripts, forward & reverse resolution
  • Decentralized website guide: deploy a static website to IPFS using Omnipin
• Deep funding jurors wanted for infrastructure & dev tools round: volunteers compare repositories, comparisons used to select AI models which distribute funding
• Application layer standards (ERCs):
  • ERC8104: RWA disclosure URI (ERC20 extension)
  • ERC8106: RWA event-based compliance framework (ERC20 extension)
  • ERC8107: ENS trust registry for agent coordination

Security

• Ribbon Finance DeFi options vaults $2.7M exploit
• iEarn yUSDT $250k exploit

All core devs (main protocol calls)

All core devs - execution (ACDE) #226

• Glamsterdam upgrade (targeting June 2026):
  • Non-headliner categorized shortlist
  • Considered for Inclusion:
    • Repricing (targeting 60 MGas/s): EIP7904 general repricing (increases only), EIP7976 increase calldata floor cost, EIP7981 increase access list cost, EIP8038 state-access gas cost increase & EIP2780 reduce intrinsic transaction gas
  • Declined for Inclusion:
    • EIP2926 chunk-based code merkleization, EIP7686 linear EVM memory limits, EIP7923 linear page-based memory costing & EIP7973 warm account write metering
  • Remaining proposed non-headliner EIPs to be decided at ACDE January 5
• Hegotá upgrade:
  • Portmanteau chosen as Hegotá (Heze + Bogotá)

All core devs - testing (ACDT) #64

• Gas limit increase:
  • 75M: getBlobsV3 & max blobs flag need to be implemented & tested before clients can update default gas limit, ready for BPO3 releases
  • Proposal for clients to set gas limit rather than validators
• Glamsterdam upgrade: ePBS block builders to be non-validating with 1 ETH staked
• Hegotá upgrade: consensus layer upgrade renamed to Heze (Heka not in IAU star catalog)
• Erigon RPC integration testing used alongside Hive rpc-compat

Layer 1

• Glamsterdam upgrade:
  • Block-level Access Lists: bal-devnet-1 launched with 5 execution layer clients
• Forkcast: upgrade planning sandbox, view timeline scenarios
• Nethermind: gas benchmarking using historic mainnet blocks & mainnet transactions in a merged payload, Nethermind leads in these benchmark tests
• Blockspace market: PBS leaves gaps in pricing, incentives, concentration, latency & openness; principles to address proposed
• L1 zkEVM security sprint, milestones: soundcalc integration by end of February 2026, 100-bit provable security by Glamsterdam & 128-bit provable security by Hegotá
• Protocol Guild: sponsor a core dev, funding gap for members is $160k
• Ethereum improvement proposals (EIPs):
  • EIP8105: Encrypted transaction pool

Research

• Future of state: broad directions of expiry (mark inactive or era based), archive (hot/cold) & making it easier to hold/serve (partial statelessness & low cost infrastructure) to tackle challenges of state growth & centralization

Staking

• Prysm post mortem for attestation processing issue on December 4
  • Potuz: technical writeup
  • Data Always: MEV supply chain reaction to circuit breakers
    • Local block building: Geth 46%, Nethermind 31%
• Client diversity:
  • Consensus layer:
    • ⚠️ Lighthouse ~54% (data may not be 100% accurate)
    • Data Always: snapshot via Flashbots relay
  • Execution layer: Geth ~41%, Nethermind ~38% (estimated from self reports)
• Staking marketshare: Lido 24% [Note: dual governance]
• Client releases:
  • Consensus layer:
    • Lodestar v1.38.0 (highly recommended): performance improvements & node 24 by default
    • Nimbus v25.12.0 (medium-urgency): network stability improvements
    • Prysm v7.1.1: fixes potential deadlock in data column batch verification and improved processing & metrics for cells & proofs
    • Teku 25.12.0 (recommended): late block reorg enabled by default & improved proposal scheduling
  • Execution layer
    • Erigon v3.3.2: single attestation event support and RPC fixes

Layer 2

• Matter Labs: ZKsync managed services
• Gelato Turbo: custom sequencer, compatible with OP Stack & Arbitrum

Regulation

• Roman Storm: status update
• US SEC:
  • Crypto task force privacy roundtable
  • Clarity on broker-dealer custody
  • Aave investigation closed in August

General

• Reminder: stolen Telegram accounts used to setup fake Zoom/Teams to steal crypto & Telegram accounts on repeat
• Vitalik: tribes & zones, tribes innovate culture, zones innovate rules

Editor: @abcoathup
Permalink: ethereal.news/ethereal-news-weekly-3