Layer 2 Weekly Roundup #83
Welcome to the latest edition of the Layer 2 Weekly Roundup.
Every week, this newsletter covers the latest and most important updates from across Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem.
Catch up on the previous edition HERE
Protocol Updates
@Etherealize_io - Introducing Etherealize, an institutional marketing and product arm for the Ethereum ecosystem — created to accelerate adoption by bringing institutions to Ethereum; the digital economy of tomorrow.
@taikoxyz - Taiko will be upgrading the Taiko client on the Hekla testnet to a new version 0.43.1 on February 1st, 2025. Node runners must update their software before this date.
@inkonchain - Ink has transitioned to Stage 1 Decentralization, joining OP Mainnet as the second Superchain network to achieve this status.
@0xPolygon - Polygon Community Grants Program Season 2 is live, with 35M POL up for grabs for tracks focusing on AI agents, apps/infra, DePIN, and Memecoins from independent GA’s.
@taikoxyz - Taiko announced their strategic partnership with OpenZepelin to develop the next generation Based Rollup stack.
@aztecnetwork - An RFC form has been published by Aztec. This is a request for comments to give community members the opportunity to provide constructive feedback regarding Aztec's recently proposed governance model.
@Scroll_ZKP - Introducing Scroll Sessions 2 — designed to encourage long-term growth and protocols on Scroll with the launch of two Scroll-native assets, scrETH and sSCR.
Ecosystem Highlights
@LidoFinance - Liquid eModes are expanding to Base and Arbitrum. Isolated liquid eMode pools for ezETH-wstETH will soon be available through the Lido-Aave market on both Base and Arbitrum.
@circle - Introducing Circle Paymaster, a new product that enables users to pay gas fees with USDC on Arbitrum and Base.
@VelodromeFi - USDT0 has landed on Velodrome on Ink. USDT0 debuts as a cross-chain OFT, accelerating seamless stablecoin liquidity with two initial pools: USDT0-USDC.e, and USDT0-WETH.
@AethirCloud - Aeither is giving away free GPU compute credits to support AI builders and AI agents who are building on Base.
@MountainUSDM - Mountain Protocol have launched their yield-bearing stablecoin on ZKsync Era. Users can now leverage USDM in DeFi while earning yield from tokenized t-bills.
@ScaffoldStark - The new SpeedRun Stark is live — a new all-in-one resource created by the community to jumpstart your builder journey on Starknet.
@SeamlessFi - Seamless is lighting the way with a brand new USDC Vault on Morpho Labs, curated by Gauntlet.
@interfacedapp - Interface web app is now live. Follow friends, copy trade and get copy traded on any device, anywhere, any time.
@NodleNetwork - The Nodle App now supports multiple tokens on ZKsync, enabling you to earn, pay and send crypto seamlessly.
@SuperSwapINK - SuperSwap has integrated Velodrome pools on the Ink Chain. Enjoy deeper liquidity, better prices, and optimized trades routes like never before.
@agixbt - Introducing AGIXBT: A new era of Agentic Superstructures. AGIXBT have partnered with Virtuals on Base to launch the first AI coporation, where AI agentic clusters autonomously converge into intelligent corporate entities.
@avantisfi - Multi-collateral borrowing has arrived on Base, powered by Avantis. Users can now borrow USDC against their idle ETH or BTC in order to put additional funds to use throughout DeFi.
@RaylsLabs - Rayls is integrating with Arbitrum. Rayls is developing their chain to serve as a liquidity hub to onboard financial institutions and users, allowing them to tap into DeFi and RWAs.
@FasanaraDigital - Fasanara Digital officially launched FAST, a tokenized Money Market Fund on Polygon. FAST will streamline subscriptions, redemptions and fund management in a more transparent, cost-effective environment.
@swanforall - SWAN, the AI agent universe, is live on Base. Earn from prompting artefacts, and build AI agent stories while profiting — no code needed.
@KimaNetwork - Kima has integrated with Base. You can now transfer value seamlessly across Base and other supported blockchains.
@cvex_xyz - CVEX Protocol is live, the first onchain clearing system in DeFI.
@etherfi - Ether.fi have enabled Bitcoin to be used in DeFi, now available on Base.
@flock_io - FLock is the first Private AI Training Platform on Base, bringing AI Agents to Decentralized AI Infrastructure onchain to drive an AI ecosystem.
@endurfi - The ultimate analystics dashboard for zSTRK is here. This new dashboard allows people from all over the world to track a wide-range of user friendly metrics such as DEX liquidity and money markets for xSTRK.
Articles and Threads
@AggLayer - Introducing the AggLayer Educational Series, that explores the big ideas behind AggLayer while diving into the technical details.
@drakefjustin - Justin Drake breaks down how native rollups can solve pain points around security more efficiently than current gen L2s.
@Starknet_OG - Brother Starknet shares their vision on why Starknet is in its best position, and what we need to address to achieve real adoption.
@odin_free - ‘An Incomplete Guide to Daydreams’ — this guide points you to the most relevant resources you will need to learn about Daydreams, a generative agent library that enables AI agents to inject context into any onchain game.
@taikoxyz - Explores the upcoming Ethereum upgrades, how based rollups will benefit from this, and the relationship between based rollups and Ethereum.
@BigNillCollect - Dive into Polygon’s PoS top breakout moments in 2024.
@0xnebeth - 0xneb.eth shares their vision of how AI agents are reshaping gaming on Taiko, and why this combo could revolutionize how we think about virtual worlds.
@2077Research - The team from 2077 Research put out a thorough blog post that breaks down what based rollups are, and why they make sense for Ethereum scalability.
Media - Spaces and Podcasts
@courtsidecrypto - Tristan Thompson brings his podcast ‘Courtside Crypto’ onchain with Base. Listen in as they break down how onchain finance is about to get easier — from debit cards to virtual bank accounts.
@inkonchain - Hosted a fireside chat with guests from Optimism and Velodrome, to discuss permissionless fault proofs and their impact on builders and users.
@Starknet - Big brains, @tarrenceva, @apoorvsadana, @0xethwiz, and @sizero_, explore the diverse flavours of the SN stack — the only appchain stack on the market offering such diversity.
@Scroll_ZKP - Scroll were joined by Founder of Quill Finance to dive into the secrets of building in DeFi, and insights into where Web3 is heading.
@composablepod - @ellierdavidson and @alysiatech discuss the state of interop solutions, crypto UX, and security tradeoffs between different bridging methods.
@0xPolygon - Polygon are joined by Gitcoin, ai16zdao and Crossmint to take Ai, builders, infra, and grant tracks.
@fuelnetwork - Deep dive into FuelVM and AI agents with @dhaiwat10.
@zksync - Alex from ZKsync was joined by Ripio CEO, Sebastian Serrano, to chat about crypto’s growth in LATAM, LaChain’s ZK upgrade, and building on LaChain.
Events
@base - Build with Base at the Onchain AI Weekend, held in London, Bangalore, and San Francisco from February 1st - 2nd.
@base - It’s time to get Based with Base at their upcoming community meetups happening all around the world.
@arbitrum - Registrations are open for Arbitrum’s first community meetup of 2025, to be held on the 6th of Feb in NYC.
@StarkWareLtd - Starkware will be hosting a lineup of workshops as part of their SW X RW AI Agent Hackathon — all happening on StarkWare X.
@cookiedotfun - Cookie DAO have opened registrations for the first DeFAI Hackathon accelerating DeFAI development. $30,000 is available for Arbitrum DeFAI builders innovating with Cookie’s DataSwarm APIs.
@Scroll_ZKP - Applications for Scroll Open have been extended to January 27th.
Metrics and Stats
Sum of all value locked in the L2 ecosystem.
Tracks user operations of Rollups on Ethereum, including regular transactions and actions bundled into a single transaction.
Number of unique addresses interacting with one or multiple Layer 2s weekly.
The number of daily transactions executed by users/smart contracts.
How much does it cost to transact on Layer 2?
This newsletter is for educational purposes only, and should never in any way be considered as financial or investment advice.
Thanks for reading!