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Ethereal news weekly #31

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glamsterdam-devnet-7 open for app developer testing, EthSystems launched, Devcon 8 tickets

Ecosystem

  • EthSystems launched, for profit, building confidential systems for institutions:
    • Founding team (ex-EF Institutional Privacy Task Force): Mo Jalil, Oskar ThorĂ©n & Aaryamann Challani
    • Anchor funding includes Bitmine, Sharplink & Joe Lubin
  • Ethlabs (R&D lab): Francesco (researcher) moving from EF
  • Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Ethereum environmental footprint: ~7.87 GWh annually, ~8,522 nodes at ~105 W each & ~2.37 ktCOâ‚‚e annual emissions
  • Devcon 8 tickets: general admission first wave $499 ETH or $999 fiat; self claim community discounts; student, youth & builder applications (reviewed in rolling batches)
  • ETH metrics:
    • Gas (gwei): 0.1 average, 0 - 2.9 (13.1 for zero net issuance)
    • ETH supply change: 19.9k net issuance (7 days)
    • ETHUSD: $1,751 - $1,943 (all time high $4,946, August 24, 2025)
    • ETH ETFs: 5.2% of ETH supply
    • ETHBTC: 0.029 (0.166 for the Flippening)

MetaMask 10th anniversary

MetaMask celebrates 10 years as the world’s leading self-custodial crypto wallet, names Gal Eldar as CPO, and unveils its Open Money vision for finance.

MetaMask 10th anniversary.

Enterprise

  • Visa stablecoin platform: wallet as a service (includes Ethereum); institutions can mint, burn & manage stablecoins, starting with Open USD, beta

Applications

  • Revoke paid plans: multichain dashboard with exploit checker & unlimited batch revokes; ultimate adds auto revoking for wallets supporting ERC7715 permissions, e.g. MetaMask, requires upgrading to ERC7702 smart account
  • Splits shared engineering wallet use case via subaccounts or separate workspaces, 1 of n account, top up as needed, workspace admins can require memos on outgoing transactions
  • Sablier Labs maintenance mode, interface stopped accepting vesting streams & airdrops with end dates beyond June 2028 and blocks open ended payment streams
  • Summer.fi winding down after Lazy Summer Protocol exploit on July 6
  • pcaversaccio draft proposal to disable Tornado Cash DAO governance

Developers

  • Nomic Foundation Hardhat v3.10.0 (dev framework): adds initial experimental Glamsterdam upgrade support starting with EIP7708 ETH transfers emit a log
  • Ape (dev framework):
    • Ape Sourcify (plugin): verify Solidity & Vyper contracts and fetch verified source & ABIs
  • Certora AutoProver: agent generates formal specifications and runs tests & proofs, Solidity only beta
  • Speedrun Ethereum AI teaching assistant for challenges, live for registered builders
  • Application layer standards (ERCs):
    • ERC8336: Fractional batch auction token
    • ERC8338: Token bound executable skills
    • ERC8339: Two phase asset transfers
    • ERC8340: Transaction metadata encoding

Agents

Security

All core devs (main protocol calls)

All core devs - execution (ACDE) #241

  • Glamsterdam upgrade (targeting 2026):
    • glamsterdam-devnet-7: open for app developer testing; faucet & RPC available, 300M gas limit
    • glamsterdam-devnet-8 likely last devnet before upgrading public testnets
    • Minimum 3 months before mainnet (30 day security review, 2 weeks between each testnet, 30 day notice period for mainnet upgrade)
    • Upgrade mascot: runoff vote between flamingo & polar bear
  • Hegotá upgrade (targeting 2027):
    • Reminder: Headliner is EIP7805 FOCIL; native account abstraction (via EIP8141 Frame transaction) is Considered for Inclusion
    • Non-headliner proposed for inclusion (deadline for proposing is August 6):
      • EIP8268 Storage roots in block access lists

All core devs - testing (ACDT) #87 + consensus layer breakout

  • Glamsterdam upgrade (targeting 2026):
    • glamsterdam-devnet-8: repricing EIPs to be updated with minor changes

Layer 1

Staking

  • TheDAO Security Fund: ~70k ETH staking infrastructure explainer, distributed validators with threshold signing using Vouch & Dirk
  • Client diversity:
    • Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~51% (data may not be accurate)
    • Manu Nalepa (Prysm): client diversity dashboard with client versions, using block proposer client info from graffiti (where set)
  • Staking market share: Lido 21% [Note: dual governance]
  • Validators: 881k active (target 128k), 16k accumulating (0x02 withdrawal credentials)
  • Client releases:
    • Consensus layer:
      • Consensys Teku 26.7.1 (strongly recommended): updated third party libraries & security fixes
      • Offchain Prysm v7.1.7 (patch): Beacon API interoperability, validator client resilience & Glamsterdam upgrade work
      • Status Nimbus v26.7.0 (medium): CPU & memory usage optimizations
    • Execution layer:
      • Besu 26.7.0: Proof of Work sunset complete (Ethash, mining RPC, PoW classes removed) & adds health check service plugin API
      • Erigon v3.5.2 (recommended): fixes sync halting trie root regression; v3.5.1 (recommended): fixes parallel exec commitment issues, restores WebSocket notifications, Engine API latency reduced, dynamic IP support & pruning fixed
      • Lambda ethrex v21.0.0: ~15% block execution speedup with transaction pool based state prewarming, shared HTTP/WS port, improved graceful shutdown, Glamsterdam & Hegotá upgrade work
      • Nethermind 1.39.1 (patch): fixes & reliability improvements across snap sync, networking, JSON RPC & experimental Flat DB
      • Paradigm Reth v2.4.0 (high): 6.2% reduction in mean newPayload latency, experimental revmc JIT EVM support, throughput improvements, RPC compatibility improved & Glamsterdam upgrade work

Layer 2

Regulation

Editor: @abcoathup
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