Matrixport View_Technology #2

Matrixport Research

Summary

  • As Prysmatic Labs published Topaz test network with full ETH2.0 Phase 0 features, the whole blockchain community finally see the dawn of deployment of ETH2.0. Meanwhile, layer two solutions are also rapidly developing in the ETH ecosystem. On the scalability side, Aztec released its first ZK2 rollup code. On the privacy side, Incognito announced its plan to enable anonymous transactions on major DeFi platforms.

  • Sticking to the upgrade schedule, BCH community recently published its network upgrade specification for the annual May-15th upgrade this year. The major modification to the consensus rule is to replace the old SigOps restraint system with the new SigChecks system in order to mitigate the mismatch between the actual CPU cost and the calculated transaction cost.

  • Security risk is still the Sword of Damocles to the whole blockchain industry, especially to DeFi world. This month, we witnessed more security issues emerging: reentrancy attacks against Lendf.Me and Uniswap has resulted in $25 million loss; false information and social engineering attack via Telegram has resulted in 834 ETH loss.

Public Blockchain: Top 10

Prysmatic Labs published Topaz test network for ETH2.0

Testnet Launch☆☆☆

  • Topaz is the first testnet with full ETH 2.0 Phase 0 features

  • Topaz is currently accepting genesis deposits, with a minimum deposit of 32 ETH for validators to participate

Aztec released first ZK² rollup code

ETH ecosystem；Proof of Concept Done☆☆

  • First implementation of ZK² rollup, a universal recursion for pairing-based SNARKs over a single curve

  • Able to run industry-standard hashes — no need for SNARK-friendly hashes

Incognito plans to enable anonymous transactions on major DeFi platforms

ETH ecosystem；Official Announcement☆☆

  • This feature will be enabled using zero-knowledge proofs on ETH sidechains

  • Support will be rolled out for major DeFi platforms, including Kyber Network, 0x, Uniswap and Compound

BCH published Network Upgrade Specification on May 15, 2020

Upgrade Specification☆☆

The changes to the consensus rules in this upgrade include:

  • Replace BCH’s SigOps counting and limiting system with the new SigChecks system, which can mitigate the mismatch between the actual CPU work needed and the transaction costs calculated via SigOps

  • Add a new opcode named OP_REVERSEBYTES to the script system

Xpring Wants to Make XRP Transactions Private

Tech Proposal☆

  • Ripple’s core developer team Xpring proposes to add an opt-in privacy feature to the XRP Ledger

  • XRP can be made anonymous with the help of “blinded tags”, obfuscating the source and destination tags from observers (with the exception of the originator and the source of a specific transaction)

Public Blockchain: Others

Polkadot published its 3rd version of Lightpaper

Lightpaper Revise☆☆

  • Polkadot’s design offers several distinct advantages over existing and legacy networks, including heterogeneous sharding, scalability, upgradeability, transparent governance and cross-chain composability

ETC TestNets Successfully Activate Phoenix

Testnet Upgrade☆☆

  • Mordor and Kotti, 2 of 2 TestNets for ETC, have successfully activated the Phoenix upgrade on Mar 9th and Apr 15th respectively

  • ETC Core is preparing for Phonenix’s MainNet activation

Blockchain Adoption in Traditional Industries

Financial Industry

  • Hong Kong-based Hex Trust is partnering with the enterprise blockchain company R3 to enable its clients to issue collateral tokens for derivatives on Corda; (R3’s Corda; Partnership achieved☆)

  • The second iteration of Facebook’s Libra project has been announced; changes include: announcement of single-currency stablecoin, introduction of a capital buffer for crisis situations, commitment to a permissioned blockchain system (Libra platform), and implementation of an in-depth compliance strategy in collaboration with regulators (Libra; Iteration announcement☆☆☆)

  • Rumours are circulating on Chinese social media that DCEP has already undergone internal closed beta testing by the Agricultural Bank of China, the DCEP wallet will support several major functions including: digital asset exchange, wallet management, ability to look up past transactions, payment via QR code, remittances and mobile payments; (DCEP; Internal test☆☆)

  • Blockchain developer IOV Labs created a proof-of-concept that aims to speed fiat currency settlement in Argentina, with the central bank and major commercial banks including Santander and BBVA actively testing it. The solution is based on permissioned blockchain and RSK Smart Contract Network. (RSK; Proof-of-concept☆☆)

Security Incidents

DeFi

  • About $25 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from Uniswap and Lendf.Me on Apr 18th/19th. The attackers exploited the DeFi platforms’ oversight in handling ERC777 related transactions, which one of the root causes is ERC20 compatible interface (“transferFrom”) provided by ERC777. This seemingly similar interface can trigger some additional functions in ERC777, one of which was exploited by the attackers to perform reentrancy attacks against the DeFi platforms.☆☆☆

  • A group of miners that controlled 70% hash rate of Factom manipulated the price of a Japanese Yen-pegged stablecoin dubbed pJPY on PegNet, a Factom-based decentralized exchange. By submitting false data, they artificially inflate a wallet balance from $11 to $6.7 million. However, the group was unsuccessful in their attempt to liquidate the funds, and no financial loss was suffered.☆☆

Others

  • Telegram witnessed a new arbitrage scam where three victims lost a total of 834 ETH. The scammer claimed to provide conversion between ETH and HT at the ratio of 1:50-100, swindling the victims to transfer ETH to their accounts with no HT given back.☆

Note：Top 10 refers to the marketcap rank indicated in coinmarketcap on 2020/4/30

Importance level：low-☆; medium-☆☆; high-☆☆☆

Sources: Prysmatic Labs Medium, Aztec Medium, Decrypt, Peckshield Medium, Bitcoincash.org, U.today, Polkadot Lightpaper, ETC Medium, Coindesk, Libra org, Boxmining, Cryptopotato, Coinhunter, analyzed by Matrixport

Disclaimer

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