A new layer-3 (L3) prototype aimed at further solving Ethereum’s scalability issues is set to be deployed for testing as soon as Q1 2023. zkSync, a provider of zero-knowledge blockchain solutions on Oct. 10 announced it is aiming to deploy a new EVM-compatible layer-3 prototype called “Pathfinder” on testnet early next year. zkSync is a L2 Ethereum scaling protocol designed to bring down network usage costs. It launched a 1.0 version back in June 2020, and is now gearing up for the launch of zkSync 2.0 later this month. In its most recent blog post the team explained that the …

Jimmy McNelis, the founder of Web3 tech firm nameless, says there are too many NFT projects rushing to market without proper smart contract testing — potentially leading to millions lost. Speaking with Cointelegraph, McNelis suggested that a lot of NFT projects often rush to market without fully simulating how its smart contracts will work, even skipping extensive audits in some cases. McNelis said an example of this was observed during the sale of the Akutars NFT collection in February 2021 — featuring 15,000 tokens that went up for sale on Winklevoss-owned NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway. McNelis said while the NFT …

After Ropsten and Sepolia, Goerli was the last remaining testnet scheduled to undergo the merge, officially becoming a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain as of 1:45 am UTC, Aug. 11. The Goerli testnet merge has been finalized without any major issues today, suggesting that there will be no delays to the tentative Ethereum Merge date set for Sept. 19. Numerous key devs and figures in the Ethereum ecosystem have taken to Twitter to share their enthusiasm over the successful merge, such as core dev Preston Van Loon and podcaster/ETH proponent Anthony Sassano (@sassal0x) who bullishly noted to his 216,400 followers that “next …

Ethereum has now completed its second-to-last major Merge trial on the public test network Sepolia, paving the way for its transition to the proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. While it's been judged mostly a success, it was not incident free. The final trial of the Merge is set to occur on the Goerli network over the next few weeks before the official Merge on the Ethereum mainnet can be given the go-ahead. Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano, who hosted the Sepolia Merge livestream on YouTube on Wednesday, confirmed on Twitter that the Merge transition went through “successfully” and added that the testnet …

The difficulty bomb-delaying Gray Glacier hard fork went live on Ethereum on Thursday without a hitch, according to the network’s core devs including Ethereum Foundation’s Tim Beiko. The Sepolia testnet is also set to run through its Merge trial over the next few days and is the second last testnet to go through the trial before the official Merge. According to Etherscan, the Gray Glacier hard fork was initiated on block number 15050000 at roughly 6:54 am EST on Thursday. The hard fork will now delay the difficulty bomb by roughly 700,000 blocks or 100 days, giving devs until mid-October …

Cardano Blockchain developer Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK) has submitted an updated proposal to hard fork the Cardano testnet, kicking off the countdown for the network’s Vasil mainnet upgrade. The Vasil upgrade is slated to bring “significant performance and capability upgrades” to the blockchain, with IOHK describing the fork as the “biggest and best upgrade to date,” providing higher throughput, improved script performance for developers and lower costs. One of the most significant updates pointed out by the team is the implementation of diffusion pipelining aimed at improving the blockchains’ scalability for decentralized applications (DApps). The update will allow faster …

The Sepolia testnet Beacon Chain has gone live, setting the stage for its merge dress rehearsal to give Ethereum network developers valuable technical insights. Upon merging with its dedicated Beacon Chain, the Sepolia testnet will begin reaching consensus using proof-of-stake (PoS) rather than proof-of-work (PoW), which will provide data on what may happen when the Ethereum mainnet performs its merge. The Ethereum Sepolia Beacon Chain has been deployed! The Merge is coming https://t.co/IuJBnFp0Xx — Crypto-Gucci.eth ᵍᵐ (@CryptoGucci) June 20, 2022 The exact date of the Sepolia merge has not been determined. Testnet merges are essential for Ethereum developers and independent …

The much-anticipated ‘Merge’ on the Ethereum network is another step closer to becoming a reality after the final public testnet Kiln launched to put it through its paces. On March 14, the Ethereum Foundation urged network stakeholders to run tests using Kiln “to ensure a smooth transition on existing public testnets.” “We strongly recommend that developers run through a full testing & deployment cycle on Kiln and report any issues with tools or dependencies to those projects’ maintainers.” Ethereum developer Tim Beiko confirmed that Kiln has gone live and will soon be ready to merge with the Beacon Chain in …

U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase has unveiled research on a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) blockchain network that is resistant to quantum computing attacks. QKD utilizes quantum mechanics and cryptography to enable two parties to exchange secure data and detect and defend against third parties that are attempting to eavesdrop on the exchange. The technology is seen as a viable defense against potential blockchain hacks that could be conducted by quantum computers in the future. According to a Feb.17 announcement, JPMorgan collaborated with Toshiba and Ciena to deploy and test the QKD blockchain. “At this time, QKD is the only solution …

In a recent interview with Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano, Julia Cheek, CEO of home medical testing company Everlywell, called for major reform in the U.S. lab testing sector. “I’ve been fighting this battle for five years, talking about how lab testing is broken and Americans are getting screwed,” Cheek said in a May 19 podcast interview with Pompliano, adding: “Lab testing is cheap, it can be affordable, you should know how much your tests are going to cost, period. [...] There is no excuse for that, especially as you’re having to pay for it out of pocket more and more.” Everlywell …