Week Ahead Industry Previews: Second Week of March 2024

  • The Ethereum mainnet is scheduled to undergo the Dencun upgrade on March 13.
  • Approximately $2.32 billion worth of ARB tokens will unlock, constituting 76.62% of the circulating supply.
  • ETHGlobal London is set to take place from March 15 to 17 in London.
  • FTX will host a creditors meeting in The Bahamas on March 15.
  • QnA3.AI will participate in the NVIDIA GTC24 conference.

Key Events

  • The Ethereum mainnet is scheduled for the Dencun upgrade at block height 8626176 (March 13, 21:55). A crucial aspect of this upgrade is the introduction of a temporary data blob with EIP-4844, also known as “protodanksharding.” This introduction aims to reduce Layer 2 transaction costs. Prior to the mainnet upgrade, Gnosis Chain plans to undergo the Dencun upgrade on March 11. Additionally, the OP chain is scheduled for the EIP-4844 and Ecotone upgrades on March 14 at 8:00.
  • FTX Digital will host a creditors meeting in the Bahamas on March 15 at 22:30, establishing a liquidation committee. The meeting will provide the latest updates and guidance on the liquidation process by the joint official liquidators. It will also inform creditors, both customers and non-customers of FTX Digital, about the debt claim declaration process.
  • Institutional staking service providers Figment Europe and Apex Group’s Ethereum and Solana staking ETPs are set to go live on SIX Swiss Exchange on March 12. These products aim to offer exposure to ETH and SOL base crypto assets, along with rewards generated through staking, including Maximum Extractable Value (MEV).

Project Updates

This week’s airdrop-related project updates include:

  • The shooting game Nyan Heroes on Solana will initiate the first phase of its airdrop missions on March 11. The airdrop activity will span three phases. In the initial phase, users completing tasks will earn points named MEOWS, with the points being proportional to the amount of NYAN tokens acquired.
  • The first round of the QnA3.AI airdrop is open for claiming until March 12, with the second round snapshot scheduled for March 15. Additionally, QnA3.AI announces its participation in the NVIDIA GTC24 conference from March 17 to 21.
  • Rich Rabbit introduces an airdrop plan, with the first round airdropping 20 million MOBILE tokens (approximately $760,000). To qualify for the airdrop, users must hold over 100,000 RABBIT tokens in their wallets (approximately $580). The snapshot is set for March 15.
  • ConsenSys’ Layer2 network, Linea, will mint LXP for users participating in the Desig, Foxy, and The Unfettered activities. Users need to complete Proof of Humanity (POH) by March 12. POH serves as a privacy protection mechanism, allowing verification to prevent Sybil attacks.

Other project updates:

  • The on-chain game marathon, Arbitrum Arcade, commences on March 11, lasting for 8 weeks and featuring over 24 native games within the Arbitrum ecosystem. Game developers can apply until April 15.
  • The lightweight node protocol, Over Protocol, announces the launch of the Beta testnet “OBT” on March 13. OverWallet introduces new features, and the daily quiz rewards end on March 11.
  • Modular infrastructure project Self Chain extends its incentive testnet 2 until March 15, allowing validators and stakers to contribute to stress testing network security.
  • Bitcoin ZK Rollup Layer2 solution, SatoshiVM, unveils its Alpha mainnet on March 15, featuring functionalities like SAVM staking, token cross-chain bridge, 30-second token deployment, and low-cost transactions for BRC20 tokens.
  • Sushi announces the deprecation of the Trident pool to streamline user experience and enhance operational efficiency. Users are encouraged to withdraw liquidity assets before March 16, after which the UI will cease, requiring withdrawal through smart contracts or manual support from the official team. Continued liquidity provision is encouraged on Sushi V3 AMM.

Upcoming Events

  • Pragma London is scheduled to take place in London, UK, on March 14, 2024.
  • ETHGlobal London is set to be held in London, UK, from March 15 to March 17, 2024.
  • Sky Mavis has opened applications for its recruitment program, Mavis Seeds, targeting young developers in Vietnam, until March 17. The program is open to third and fourth-year students as well as recent graduates, offering seven positions and 14 spots for a six-month on-the-job training program.

Token Unlock

According to Token Unlocks data, this week will witness a one-time large-scale unlocking of tokens, including ARB, APE, and APT, with a total value exceeding $2.6 billion. The most notable event is the massive unlocking of Arbitrum tokens scheduled for March 16 at 21:00, releasing 1.11 billion tokens, valued at approximately $23.2 billion, representing 76.62% of the circulating supply.

Additionally, ApeCoin token (APE) will unlock 15.6 million tokens on March 17 at 8:00, worth around $35.57 million, constituting 2.55% of the circulating supply. Aptos (APT) is set to unlock 24.84 million tokens on March 13 at 6:00, valued at about $329 million, accounting for 6.73% of the circulating supply.

Governance Voting

The Security Alliance, a white-hat hacker safe harbor initiative launched by Paradigm researcher samczsun, is seeking community feedback until March 14. The Security Alliance aims to provide a legal protection framework for white-hat hackers and promptly notify owners of vulnerable systems, with plans to launch later this year.

The Cosmos Hub community’s “Gaia v15” upgrade proposal voting is set to conclude on March 16. If governance approval is secured, the software upgrade proposal is expected to go live on the mainnet on March 20. The focus of the v15 version is a significant upgrade of the Cosmos SDK to version v0.47, utilizing v0.47.8-ics-lsm, a unique branch of Cosmos SDK that includes support for ICS and LSM.

The Uniswap community’s highly anticipated “Activate Uniswap Protocol Governance” proposal voting, originally scheduled to begin on-chain voting on March 8, has updated its timetable, with the on-chain voting time to be determined. Over the weekend, another proposal, “Uniswap V3 Fees: Factory Owner Amendment,” faced community dissent with a disapproval rate of 59.89%. This proposal aimed to introduce an amendment allowing Uniswap V3 Factory owners to let the DAO make future changes to the fee mechanism.