Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most significant stories in cryptocurrency technology development. I’m Ben Schiller, CoinDesk’s Opinion and Features editor.
In this issue:
- Ethereum’s Wall Street cheerleader
- Avalanche cuts fees by 75%
- Arbitrum integrates Bitcoin
- UBS tests ZKSync for gold
This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.
Network news
Ethereum’s Wall Street Guy: Ethereum is currently grappling with an identity crisis. Its native token, ether (ETH), has been underperforming against its competitors, leading seasoned developers to question whether the underlying technology is keeping pace and if the community is losing its focus. The Ethereum Foundation has been scrutinized for the network’s difficulties, with co-founder Vitalik Buterin spearheading a significant leadership overhaul. This has raised its controversies, especially as rival ecosystems like Solana attract top talent and experience market growth. Amid this turmoil, a new initiative called Etherealize, launched by former banker Vivek Raman, aims to transition ETH to Wall Street. Raman believes that his banking experience equips him with a unique perspective to present ETH as a serious asset class and has spent four years preparing for this endeavor. Read more.
Avalanche Cuts User Costs: The introduction of the Avalanche9000 upgrade on December 16 has significantly reduced the costs associated with utilizing the Avalanche blockchain. Fees have dropped by an average of 75%, resulting in a transaction increase of over 38%, averaging 354,691 daily transactions. This upgrade includes several improvement proposals, notably lowering the base fee for smart contracts on the C-Chain. The focus of this upgrade is to render Avalanche more accessible across its multichain architecture. Read more.
UBS Tests ZKSync: Swiss banking giant UBS has successfully completed a proof-of-concept for its UBS Key4 Gold offering on the Ethereum layer-2 network ZKsync. This initiative highlights the growing interest among traditional financial institutions in blockchain technology. UBS’ Key4 Gold allows Swiss clients to invest in physical gold fractions. The project aims to enhance scalability while prioritizing privacy through the adoption of zero-knowledge technology. Read more.
Arbitrum Brings BTC: Arbitrum has unveiled a new integration with Bitcoin via BitcoinOS, which enables a “hybrid rollup.” This innovation creates new opportunities for Bitcoin holders to interact with Ethereum efficiently. With Arbitrum already leading in total value locked (TVL) among Ethereum Layer-2 networks, this collaboration promises to further expand the ecosystem while maintaining core security principles. Read more.
Money Center
Top Cats: Taproot Wizards plans to utilize $30 million in new funding to establish a suite of applications centered around the OP_CAT Bitcoin improvement proposal, mirroring smart contract functionalities seen in Ethereum.
Bitcoin Ransom Down Payments: The trend of paying ransoms in Bitcoin is seeing a decline, as many victims are increasingly refusing to pay, according to reports from Chainanalysis.
Regulatory and Policy: New stablecoin legislation is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate, signaling more crypto bills forthcoming. The proposed bill from Senator Hagerty of Tennessee suggests a dual oversight approach for stablecoin issuers involving both state and federal authorities.
Calendar
Feb. 1-6: Satoshi Roundtable, Dubai
Feb. 19-20, 2025: ConsensusHK, Hong Kong.
Feb. 23-24: NFT Paris
Feb. 23-March 2: ETHDenver
March 18-19: Digital Asset Summit, London
May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto.
May 27-29: Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas.
