On February 10th, the Tezos blockchain activated its fifteenth upgrade, known as Oxford 2. This upgrade brings new security features for developers, a smoother staking process for validators, and adjustments to slashing penalties. It also comes just a month before the main net launch of Etherlink, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 built on Tezos and powered by Smart Rollups.
Meanwhile, the Aptos Ecosystem Summit highlighted news and best practices across 32 projects from 15+ countries. The event celebrated achievements, unveiled news, and featured 50+ investors from 26 firms. Additionally, 122 one-on-one conversations took place, allowing ecosystem leaders to discuss engineering, marketing, product development, legal, and more.
In other news, the Web3 Foundation announced funding support for Ideal Labs in the creation of the Encryption to the Future (ETF) network. This funding is part of the Foundation’s Decentralized Futures Funding Program and will help address the challenges of secure delayed transactions.
Zeitgeist, a leading platform in decentralized prediction markets, announced its integration of USDC via Cross-Consensus Messaging (XCM). This development allows for the seamless transfer of USDC from two projects within the Polkadot ecosystem into Zeitgeist.
StarkWare, the developer behind the Starknet blockchain, is set to launch a new “Cairo Verifier” in the next few weeks. This will open the door to layer-3 application-based chains on Starknet, providing a unique solution for verifying proofs and posting them back to the layer-2 blockchain.
FuzzLand, a Web3 security and analytics company, has raised $3M in seed funding. This funding will help accelerate research and development into automated solutions for smart contract analysis.
Flood, a protocol for order routing, management, and settlement, announced a $5.2M seed funding round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Archetype. This protocol provides a suite of tools for managing the entire lifecycle of a dApp’s order flow.
The Casper Association released the Peregrine (v1.5.6) update for the Casper Network, which includes a reduction in block times to 16 seconds, a 99% refund of unspent funds, and lower control flow opcode costs. This update reflects the network’s continual evolution and commitment to meeting the demands of its users and partners.
The TON Bootcamp, in collaboration with Hashkey, has accepted its first twelve projects and earmarked up to $500,000 for each of them. These projects will leverage Telegram’s Web3 ecosystem and engage with its 800 million monthly active users.
Dtravel has received backing and a strategic investment from Borderless Capital to support its DePIN peer-to-peer vacation rental ecosystem. This partnership will provide expertise and networking opportunities for Dtravel’s growth.
Cornucopias, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is expanding to the Ethereum layer-2 network Base, allowing gamers within the Eth ecosystem to experience its superior graphics and immersive gaming experiences.
Transak, a crypto on-ramp solution, is expanding into the APAC region with a new entity in Hong Kong. This move follows a Series A funding round and aims to simplify Web3 accessibility by integrating local payment methods and adhering to Hong Kong’s regulatory standards.
