Ethereum Layer 2 Arbitrum Completes Nitro Upgrade
Crypto Briefing
The Ethereum Layer 2 network Arbitrum successfully migrated the existing Arbitrum One network to Arbitrum Nitro Wednesday, exactly one year after the network’s mainnet first went live. Offchain Labs, the company developing Arbitrum, announced the completion of the upgrade which increases transaction throughput, reduces fees, and provides a better UX for developers building applications. In more detail, Arbitrum’s transaction throughput was throttled previously to maintain network performance and stability, but these limitations have now been lifted, vastly increasing the number of transactions the network can handle. It also has helped compress transaction data that it posts back to L1, reducing costs further. However, the bulk of the Nitro upgrade comes in the form of a new prover, which can process Arbitrum’s interactive fraud proofs using WebAssembly code, replacing the custom-designed language and compiler that was previously used. The result is a much more streamlined and intuitive experience for those building on Arbitrum. Now that Nitro has expanded Arbitrum’s transaction throughput, the network will likely restart its Arbitrum Odyssey Campaign that was previously shut down as it briefly pushed gas prices on the L2 network above those on Ethereum mainnet.
DeGods Have Ascended: Solana NFT Project Soars Ahead of Buzzy y00ts Launch
Decrypt
As buzz builds around this week’s launch of the y00ts NFT project on Solana—which has attracted celebrities and crypto influencers alike—prices for the team’s current NFT collection, DeGods, surged to new heights this week, flipping Mutant Ape Yacht Club to become the fourth highest valued collection by floor price (assuming only collections w/ 10,000+ items). DeGods momentum has picked up considerably lately as the project’s creator—who goes simply by Frank—plans to launch a new NFT collection called y00ts on Friday. Y00ts is a Solana-based profile picture project that will launch with 15,000 NFTs, and it has curated its whitelist by requiring people to apply for a “scholarship” and then publicly posting about those that have been accepted via the y00tlist Twitter account. Y00ts aims to differentiate itself from traditional PFP projects by implementing new forms of customization, along with ways for creators to make money. According to its whitepaper, y00ts plans to launch a storefront where holders can purchase and equip visual traits for their NFTs from various artists, with the artists taking a cut of royalties in the process. The project has also discussed topical plans to prevent OTC transactors from receiving any of the utility of the project should they try to bypass royalties.
An NFT Marketplace Is Letting Buyers Avoid Royalty Payments. Creators Aren’t Pleased
CoinDesk
The popular NFT marketplace X2Y2 announced it will no longer make buyers pay royalties on certain NFT purchases, sparking debate on the importance of such payments to the industry. Royalty payments have become a cornerstone of the growing NFT industry, allowing artists to make money when people resell their work, venues to capture revenue on secondary marketplaces for NFT tickets and musicians to subvert streaming services in favor of more lucrative, blockchain-driven products. But there’s a problem: Royalty payments are only enforceable on a marketplace level, and not on-chain. An NFT buyer, for example, could send ETH to a designated wallet after making an off-chain agreement to buy their NFT, and the seller could send them that NFT with no marketplace as a middleman for the transaction, paying no royalty fees in the process. Sellers on marketplaces such as OpenSea can program a designated fee into each sale, in most cases between 5%-10% of an item’s purchase price, but if a marketplace wanted to waive the fee altogether, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so. That’s exactly what’s happened with X2Y2, a popular NFT marketplace that announced on Friday that all royalty payments would be optional, making them the equivalent of a blockchain tip jar.
Fireblocks launches support for Solana NFTs, games and DeFi
The Block
Crypto custody and services firm Fireblocks is now supporting Solana-based applications. This integration enables Fireblocks users to connect and interact directly with decentralized applications built on Solana. Developers also will be able to utilize a suite of tools that increase security for builders working in Solana’s ecosystem. “Fireblocks’ Web3 Engine offers Solana builders the highest level of security when it comes to accessing the blockchain and its ecosystem of applications for their customers,” Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov, said.
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