The latest in blockchain tech upgrades, funding announcements and deals. For the period of Dec 14-Dec. 20, with live updates throughout.

Dec. 15: Intersect, a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, has announced the planned migration of the core Cardano codebase to its stewardship, according to the team: "Intersect will then support those Intersect members that are maintaining the Repos. From Dec. 16, administration of all 26 Cardano code repositories will transfer to Intersect and its members, further enabling and empowering its distributed development, with the community driving the future direction of the blockchain. This migration forms an essential part of Cardano’s ongoing "Voltaire" era." (ADA)

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3.8KBitcoin's Price Set to End the Week Relatively Unchanged

Privacy-Focused Namada Blockchain Incentivizes Testnet With 'ROID' Points

Dec. 15: Namada, a multi-chain privacy Layer 1, introduced an incentivized testnet offering 3% of its total supply as rewards, according to a message from the team. "The testnet includes an “asteroid mining race” where participants accumulate ROIDs to win part of 30 million NAM tokens." A blog post is here.

Metagood, Behind OnChainMonkey NFTs, Raises $5M Seed Round

Dec. 14 (PROTOCOL VILLAGE EXCLUSIVE): Metagood, "the blockchain technology and digital assets company that launched the innovative OnChainMonkey NFTs and Osura marketplace, announced today the completion of a $5 million series seed funding round. The round was led by Sora Ventures, with participation from ACTAI Ventures, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Bitcoin Magazine Fund, London Real Ventures and Peach.xyz. The new funding will finance new technology and product developments and marketing on Osura and catalyze partnerships with artists."

Provenance Blockchain Foundation Launches 'Hold Module' to Cut Risks of Smart-Contract Bottlenecks

Dec. 14: Provenance Blockchain Foundation announced the launch of Hold Module, "which can be seen as a major change to how financial transactions and smart contracts function in regard to counterparties, and will serve to reduce costs, steps and counterparty risks for those entering into a transaction. It will eliminate a number of risks and bottlenecks typically associated with smart contracts," according to the team.

LayerZero, Cross-Chain Messaging Protocol, Launches 'V2' on Testnet

Dec. 14: LayerZero Labs, a blockchain developer, launched its "V2" upgrade of LayerZero, a protocol to send messages between blockchains, on testnet, according to a press release: "V2 is a protocol upgrade that increases customization capabilities for dApp security and how transactions are executed, as well as helps make the protocol easier to develop on overall." Enhancements include "modular security," "lazy nonce-order enforcement" for higher throughput, a permissionless "executor" to replace the V1 "relayer," and "unified semantics" that "enables developers to build applications that work the same across every blockchain LayerZero has an endpoint on."

Bitcoin Rewards App Lolli Raises $8M Series B Led by Bitkraft

Dec. 14: Lolli, a bitcoin rewards app, has raised an $8M Series B led by Bitkraft Ventures, with investors like Serena Ventures, Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six, Ulta Beauty's Prisma Ventures, Michelle Phan and Logan Paul," according to the team. "The fundraise will contribute to the company’s ongoing expansion, which will include bringing Lolli’s patented multi-currency rewards offering to enterprise partners like exchanges, neobanks, banks, payment companies, and browsers."

Ava Labs' Core Wallet Goes 'Seedless'

Dec. 14: Ava Labs, developer team behind Avalanche blockchain, sent the following message: "Core wallet goes seedless to accelerate Web3 adoption while preserving self-custody and high security. And it’s NOT the usual Account Abstraction-based seedless experience. Core introduces an innovative Seed Abstraction that allows people to use Core-generated seed across various blockchains, from Bitcoin to EVMs, without the complexities of multiple contracts or cross-chain issues." (AVAX)

EOS Ecosystem Gets 'EOS Stable Coin Chain'

Dec. 14: EOS Labs and EOS Network Foundation, supporting the EOS blockchain, will "partner with EOS Stable Coin Chain (ESCC) to revolutionize the EOS ecosystem," according to the team. Features include:

FutureMoney Group Launches $5M DePIN Accelerator With IoTeX Foundation

Dec. 13: FutureMoney Group, a Web3 investment firm, is "launching a $5M Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) accelerator program in partnership with IoTeX Foundation, the organization behind IoTeX, the leading modular Web3 infrastructure platform connecting smart devices and real-world data to blockchains," according to the team. "The accelerator program is focused on startup innovations seeking to unlock the $2.2 trillion potential in DePIN, AI and real-world value in Web3."

Cronos, Partner of Crypto.com, to Start Layer 2 Network With Matter Labs

Dec. 14: Cronos Labs, the developer behind the Cronos blockchain, announced Thursday the launch of a new layer-2 network, joining the growing ranks of second-tier projects that have opted to build auxiliary networks within the dominant Ethereum ecosystem. The new "Cronos zkEVM chain" is launching initially as a test network, based on Matter Labs’ software tools, which can be used to spin up new layer 2 and layer 3 “hyperchains” atop Ethereum. (CRO)

Ethereum's Buterin Floats Prospect of Taking Some Layer-2 Functions Back on Main Chain

Dec. 14: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who argued three years ago for pushing more of the blockchain's computational load onto affiliated networks known as "layer-2 networks" or "rollups," has just outlined a plan to take some of the functions back onto the main chain. His idea for an "enshrined zkEVM" could prove disruptive, since prominent layer-2 projects, including "ZK-rollups" from Polygon, Matter Labs and Scroll, have invested heavily in fulfilling the earlier roadmap. (ETH)

Immutable zkEVM Will Allow Developers to 'Abstract' Transaction Fees

Dec. 14: Immutable, a gaming company, announced that "Immutable zkEVM, a next-gen zero-knowledge (ZK) proof-based scaling platform developed in collaboration with Polygon Labs, will allow developers to completely abstract transaction fees for a frictionless onboarding and enhanced user experience."

Kinetic Launches on Flare With Rome Blockchain Labs

Dec. 14: Kinetic (VC) is launching its platform on Flare network with the support of Rome Blockchain Labs (RBL), according to the team: "The partnership will improve the defi ecosystem within Flare and Kinetic including liquidity provisioning, lending/borrowing and FAssets (bridge crypto assets)."