Ethereum Core Technology Updates and New Trends in DeFi Ecosystem

Recently, the founder of Ethereum proposed a significant technical improvement proposal, while there have also been some new developments and changes in the Decentralized Finance field. Let's review these important dynamics.

Ethereum considers adopting RISC-V architecture

The founder of Ethereum proposed to replace the EVM with RISC-V as the long-term execution layer. This change can be understood as an upgrade to Ethereum's "engine," aimed at improving efficiency and addressing the massive computing demands that may arise in the future. This change only takes place at the underlying execution engine and will not affect Ethereum's account model and contract calling methods.

For ordinary users and developers, the way of interacting with smart contracts will not change. The main purpose of this proposal is to address the potential bottleneck issues that the Ethereum execution layer may face in the long term, particularly in terms of verification and hardware requirements. RISC-V, as a general-purpose and efficient computing model, has a mature hardware and software ecosystem that may provide solutions to this problem.

Ethena Chooses the Arbitrum Ecosystem

Ethena announces that its new public chain Converge will join the Arbitrum ecosystem. This choice has attracted some attention, as there are already several well-known projects on the OP Superchain. While Arbitrum Orbit and OP Superchain are both L2-based scaling solutions, there are differences in their design philosophies:

• Orbit allows developers to create dedicated chains that can be directly anchored to Ethereum or Arbitrum.
• OP Superchain is committed to building a network composed of multiple parallel L2s.

In simple terms, Orbit leans towards vertical scaling, while Superchain tends towards horizontal scaling.

Unichain Liquidity Mining Status

The liquidity mining rewards of Unichain are still considerable, but the entry threshold and difficulty have increased. Currently, the main participants are still experienced miners, and the participation rate of new users is relatively low. This situation may be unfavorable for the promotion of Decentralized Finance in a broader user base.

New Developments in the Stablecoin Ecosystem

Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD has entered mainstream DeFi protocols, including Aave V3 and Curve. Meanwhile, Circle has launched the CPN network, aiming to provide a compliant, seamless, and programmable framework for the global payment market by integrating fiat currency, USDC, and other payment stablecoins.

Cross-Chain Bridge Development

The competition in the cross-chain bridge field is fierce, and GMX has chosen LayerZero as the communication bridge for its multi-chain expansion plan. At the same time, Wormhole has also released its future roadmap. Although the demand in this field is strong, the competition is also becoming increasingly intense, and the competition among protocols in terms of fees, stability, and security will continue to intensify.

MakerDAO Ecosystem Expansion

Spark (a project under MakerDAO) has deployed $50 million in funds into the non-U.S. Treasury market for the first time, specifically investing in the Maple protocol. Maple focuses on connecting on-chain and off-chain unsecured lending, primarily targeting qualified investors and institutions. This move demonstrates that traditional DeFi projects are seeking diversified investment strategies.

Overall, these developments reflect that the DeFi ecosystem is continuously evolving, moving towards more efficient and broader application scenarios. Whether it is the innovation of underlying technologies or the exploration of new business models, it showcases the vitality and potential of this industry.