“Ethereum Killer” Coins Pumping as Merge Approaches
Other competing smart-contract networks of Ethereum have seen a significant price increase, namely Solana, Avalanche, Algorand, Polkadot, and Cardano. Bullish sentiment surrounding Ethereum and its long-awaited Merge appears to be the driving force of the pump. At the time of writing, the price increase in the past week are as follows:
- SOL – 37%
- AVAX – 47%
- ALGO – 26%
- DOT – 24%
- ADA – 24%
Lido to Launch Liquid Staking on ETH Layer 2 Networks
Lido Finance has announced plans to offer ETH staking services across the entire ecosystem of Ethereum layer-2 (L2) networks. This means lower fees and more yield-generating opportunities via new DeFi applications for Ethereum stakers. To that end, the initial phase would begin by supporting ETH staking via bridges to L2s using wrapped stETH (wstETH).
Lido has already integrated its bridged staking services with Argent and Aztec. Once the L2 staking support is ready, Lido will first start with Arbitrum and Optimism before moving on to other L2s that have sufficiently “demonstrated economic activity.”
Scroll Pre-Alpha Testnet Announced
Ethereum layer-2 solution Scroll is releasing the pre-alpha version of their zkEVM-based zkRollup for external testers. They have been collaborating with the Privacy and Scaling Explorations (PSE) group at the Ethereum Foundation. According to Scroll’s blog post, the initial release will be run on a private proof-of-authority fork of Ethereum (testnet L1). Scroll will then run a testnet L2 where users interact with their infrastructure and experience DApp workflow.
Austin Virts Joins Aptos as Director of Ecosystem
Austin Virts, former Head of Marketing at Solana Labs, has joined Aptos as Director of Ecosystem. Aptos will be a new layer one blockchain that is built with Diem’s open source technology and the Move coding language designed at Meta. According to Virts’ tweets, he will be working directly with developers at Aptos to build protocol fundamentals for the entire ecosystem to benefit. With $200 million in funding, Aptos currently has eight incubation projects focused on launching products that bring real value to users.
Elon Musk vs Twitter Trial Set in October
The Delaware Court of Chancery has granted Twitter’s request to expedite its lawsuit against Musk after he went back on his agreement to buy Twitter earlier this month. As a result, the five-day trial will take place in October which is much closer to Twitter’s preferred timeline. According to the Washington Post, Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ultimately sided with Twitter’s argument that a delay would cause irreparable damage to the sellers and the company.
