Ethereum’s core cryptography is getting an overhaul, Robinhood’s personal blockchain simply outpaced Ethereum on a key metric, and a contemporary safety examine caught greater than a dozen crypto fee suppliers, together with Coinbase, breaking their very own guidelines. This week’s roundup of blockchain undertaking updates spans every part from a quiet cryptographic pivot on the Ethereum Basis to a governance shake-up at ENS and a stablecoin that has misplaced 95% of its provide since spring.
Key takeaways
- The Ethereum Basis is dropping the Poseidon hash perform for Ethereum’s Layer 1 roadmap, shifting to SHA or BLAKE forward of a 2027-2028 rollout tied to post-quantum safety.
- Robinhood Chain’s each day NFT buying and selling quantity hit $3.13 million, overtaking Ethereum, whereas its TVL jumped 32% weekly to $473 million at the same time as lively accounts grew simply 3.3%.
- Hyperliquid will auto-deploy idle HLP money right into a native lending pool, Uniswap is routing test-token charges right into a buy-and-burn contract, and Jupiter launched Lend v2 on Solana.
- ENS DAO formally created the ENS Basis, with an government director and five-member board now overseeing governance past protocol growth.
- A USENIX safety examine discovered all 15 examined x402 fee suppliers, together with Coinbase, violated not less than one safety rule, whereas MegaETH’s USDm stablecoin provide collapsed from $600 million to roughly $18 million.
Ethereum Basis Shifts Hash Scheme for L1 Safety
The Ethereum Basis is strolling away from Poseidon, the hash perform it constructed particularly for zero-knowledge proof programs, in favor of established choices like SHA and BLAKE. Ethereum Basis researcher Justin Drake introduced the choice, framing it because the payoff of what he referred to as an “8-year, 8-figure rabbit gap” in post-quantum cryptography, and wrote on X that the transfer “unlocks final safety for lean Ethereum.”
Abandoning Poseidon for SHA and BLAKE
Poseidon emerged in 2019 as a hash perform tailor-made for SNARKs — the succinct proofs that permit blockchains confirm computation cheaply. Its enchantment was value: processing conventional binary-based hashes inside a SNARK was costly, so specialised features like Poseidon made extra sense. That trade-off has now flipped. In line with Drake, advances in binary-field SNARK design imply typical features similar to SHA-2 and BLAKE2s can match Poseidon’s efficiency inside proof programs, an end result he summed up by saying “the important thing was not SNARK-friendly hashes, however hash-friendly SNARKs.” Analysis tasks together with Binius and Flock reportedly helped drive the breakthrough, with Drake citing proving speeds of round 1 million conventional hash calls per second on a laptop computer. Importantly, this can be a roadmap resolution for Ethereum’s personal Layer 1 — rollups, zkVMs and different tasks already operating on Poseidon aren’t required to change.
Submit-Quantum Cryptography Roadmap
Why this issues turns into clearer when you consider Ethereum’s broader protection in opposition to quantum computer systems, which might finally break the elliptic-curve cryptography securing immediately’s accounts and consensus layer. Drake linked the hash-scheme pivot on to that effort, arguing that hash-based signatures — paired with SNARK aggregation to compress many signatures into one compact proof — provide a extra battle-tested path than newer post-quantum designs, a few of which have reportedly hit setbacks from AI-assisted cryptanalysis. The technical goal: a production-grade leanVM in 2027, with deployments spanning Ethereum’s consensus, knowledge and execution layers to observe in 2028. These dates sit inside Ethereum’s longer-term “Strawmap” coordination doc, that means the timeline nonetheless will depend on testing and settlement throughout unbiased growth groups earlier than something goes reside.
Robinhood Chain Surpasses Ethereum in NFT Buying and selling Quantity
Robinhood Chain has overtaken Ethereum to change into the community with the only largest NFT buying and selling quantity, a milestone that claims as a lot about shifting liquidity patterns because it does about Robinhood’s personal ambitions. Every day NFT buying and selling on the chain reached $3.13 million, edging out Ethereum’s mainnet — a notable reversal given Ethereum’s long-standing dominance in NFT markets.
Report Every day NFT Quantity and TVL Development
The surge traces again largely to StonkBrokers, a undertaking mixing NFTs, meme-coin mechanics and real-world-asset gameplay that has change into the breakout hit on Robinhood Chain; at one level its market cap topped that of Bored Ape Yacht Membership. The broader community numbers again up the momentum: Robinhood Chain averaged 11.6 million each day transactions final week, a brand new all-time excessive and roughly 30% larger week-on-week, whereas on-chain complete worth locked climbed 32% to $473 million. That type of soar in Robinhood Chain NFT quantity and TVL in such a brief window places the community among the many fastest-growing Layer-2 environments this yr — separate knowledge has additionally proven Robinhood Chain producing extra price income than another Ethereum Layer-2 in its first month reside.
Stablecoin Enlargement and Person Development Limits
Not each metric is climbing on the similar tempo, although. Every day lively accounts grew simply 3.3% and stay 11% beneath the height set on July 16 — a spot that implies the trading-volume and TVL surge hasn’t but pulled in a proportionally bigger person base. A lot of the TVL progress seems tied to stablecoins somewhat than natural adoption: the provision of USDe on Robinhood Chain jumped from $17 million a month in the past to $253 million, now making up roughly 43% of the chain’s complete stablecoin provide. This issues for anybody gauging Robinhood Chain’s long-term endurance — capital inflows and speculative NFT cycles can transfer quick, however a stagnant person rely is often the metric that determines whether or not a community’s progress is sturdy or pushed by a handful of huge gamers.
Improvements in Lending and Token Administration
Three separate DeFi protocols rolled out adjustments this week aimed toward placing idle capital to work extra effectively — a theme that’s more and more defining competitors amongst on-chain platforms.
Hyperliquid Introduces Auto-Earn Lending Curiosity
Hyperliquid founder Jeff introduced that, following the platform’s subsequent community improve, HLP will routinely route unused USDC into the HyperCore native lending pool to earn curiosity somewhat than sitting idle. The numbers clarify why this issues: on-chain knowledge reveals HLP holding about $188.7 million in complete worth locked, of which roughly $148.7 million — practically 79% of complete capital — presently sits as idle money in the primary account, with one other $40.06 million unfold throughout seven sub-strategies. Hyperliquid’s native lending pool already has about $176 million equipped and $112 million borrowed, a 63.7% utilization charge that produces a 5% annualized borrowing charge and roughly 2.87% annualized yield for lenders. The change successfully turns HLP from a pool constructed for market-making and liquidations right into a multi-strategy vault with automated capital allocation.
Uniswap Routes Creator Charges to Purchase-and-Burn
Uniswap founder Hayden Adams confirmed that tokens created internally by the crew throughout Swimming pools commerce testing have been by no means meant to flow into publicly — however as soon as the market discovered them, Uniswap responded by waiving all creator charges tied to these staff-led checks. Each previous and future charges related to these tokens will now be routed into an auto-buy-and-burn contract, unlocked in ETH that anybody can declare by burning the corresponding tokens. Adams additionally mentioned he’s contemplating opening the identical buy-and-burn mechanism to different token deployers, which might flip an ungainly discovery right into a broader tokenomics characteristic.
Jupiter Launches Lend v2 on Solana
Solana-based lending protocol Jupiter has launched Lend v2, letting deposited and borrowed belongings double as buying and selling liquidity so the identical capital earns each lending yield and swap charges concurrently. The discharge provides two non-obligatory options: Sensible Collateral, which routinely deploys USDC, USDT, SOL or JupSOL into extremely correlated liquidity swimming pools, and Sensible Debt, which lets borrowed belongings accrue buying and selling charges that offset a part of the borrowing value. Jupiter Lend presently holds round $1.9 billion in deposits and roughly $823 million in lively loans, placing it among the many extra closely used lending markets within the Solana ecosystem.
ENS DAO Formalizes Governance Construction
ENS DAO has voted to show the ENS Basis right into a full working physique, marking one of many extra important governance shifts in latest Ethereum-adjacent historical past. Token holders handed and executed the “Subsequent Period of ENS DAO” proposal, establishing a proper basis with a full-time government director, devoted workers and a five-member board of administrators.
Creation of ENS Basis with Govt Director and Board
This shift in ENS Basis governance separates administrative and external-facing duties from core protocol work. The Basis will now deal with engagement with requirements our bodies together with ICANN, IETF and W3C, push ahead the .ens top-level area, run regulatory outreach and handle model safety — whereas ENS Labs stays centered on protocol and product growth. Token holders retain important management: the DAO nonetheless holds 54.6% of complete ENS token provide, and solely a one-time allocation of 1 million ENS tokens has moved to the Basis to cowl workers compensation. Extra guardrails embrace a nine-day timelock on ENS Endowment transactions and authority for the ENS Safety Council to dam any operations that exceed the Basis’s permitted scope. The inaugural board includes Govt Director Alexander Urbelis, ENS founder Nick Johnson, and administrators Kartik Talwar, Brett Solar and Anthony Leutenegger — all appointed and detachable by token holders, conserving final authority contained in the DAO at the same time as day-to-day operations professionalize.
Safety Vulnerabilities Amongst Main Fee Suppliers
A examine introduced on the thirty fifth USENIX Safety Symposium delivered an uncomfortable discovering for the crypto funds sector: each one in every of 15 main x402 fee service suppliers examined — together with Coinbase, PayAI and Mogami — violated not less than one safety rule. Researchers logged 49 rule violations and 31 distinct vulnerabilities throughout the group, which collectively accounted for 99% of x402 transaction quantity and 98% of fee worth through the examine interval.
The analysis sorted dangers into 4 classes: free acquisition of products or providers, asset theft, service disruption and gas-fee abuse, and the crew validated six assault paths below constrained check situations with out truly transferring provider-held belongings. Coinbase, PayAI and Mogami collectively acknowledged six vulnerabilities, with some already patched and others nonetheless in progress. What stays unclear is how far these fixes have truly rolled out throughout reside x402 infrastructure — a spot that issues given how a lot transaction quantity flows by these platforms each day.
Stablecoin USDm Provide Plunges and Token Launch Delays
Two very completely different tales this week level to the identical underlying lesson: on-chain exercise and geopolitics can each reshape token economics quick.
MegaETH Native Stablecoin Provide Drops Over 95%
The provision of USDm, a stablecoin launched collectively by MegaETH and Ethena, has fallen to roughly $18 million — a drop of greater than 95% from its roughly $600-million peak in Could. USDm deploys its reserve capital into BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, with the yield generated used to purchase again and burn the MegaETH token. Fort Labs estimates that on the present $18-million provide and a 3.6% SOFR charge, USDm can nonetheless generate about $650,000 in annual yield, however it attributes the sharp contraction on to declining on-chain utilization throughout MegaETH.
World Liberty Monetary Postpones Maldives Resort Token Launch
World Liberty Monetary and its companions have delayed the digital-token issuance tied to a Trump-branded resort growth within the Maldives, developed by UK-listed agency DAR International. The token, initially slated for a spring launch, was designed to provide traders a share of proceeds from financing loans tied to the resort — one in every of World Liberty’s flagship real-world-asset tokenization efforts, following earlier discussions about tokenizing actual property, funding funds, oil and gold. The rollout has been pushed again amid regional journey disruptions stemming from the Iran-related battle, and no new launch date has been set.
FAQ
Why is the Ethereum Basis abandoning Poseidon for Ethereum L1?
Advances in binary-field SNARK design now let conventional hash features like SHA and BLAKE ship efficiency akin to Poseidon, supporting Ethereum’s broader post-quantum cryptography roadmap.
How has Robinhood Chain outperformed Ethereum in NFT buying and selling quantity?
Robinhood Chain reached $3.13 million in each day NFT quantity, surpassing Ethereum, pushed largely by fashionable tasks like StonkBrokers and a fast-expanding stablecoin provide, though its lively person base has grown solely modestly.
What’s Hyperliquid’s new lending characteristic?
Hyperliquid will routinely deploy idle USDC from its HLP liquidity pool right into a native lending pool to earn curiosity, turning HLP right into a multi-strategy vault with automated capital allocation.
What safety points have been discovered amongst x402 fee suppliers?
A USENIX examine discovered that every one 15 main suppliers examined, together with Coinbase, violated not less than one safety rule, uncovering 49 rule violations and 31 vulnerabilities in complete, with some fixes already utilized and others nonetheless pending.
Article produced with the help of synthetic intelligence and reviewed by the editorial crew.