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Antoine Riard, who left the Lightning Network in October, argues the Lightning Network is also at risk of becoming increasingly centralized and susceptible to single points of failure and censorship risks. Developers working on the Bitcoin layer 2 Lightning Network have become less security -oriented and more focused on producing cash flow for their investors, argues a former Lightning Network developer. Bitcoin core developer and security researcher Antoine Riard, made headlines last month after leaving the Lightning ecosystem over concerns about a new attack vector called “replacement cycling,” which exploiters could potentially use to steal funds by targeting payment channels. How does a lightning replacement cycling attack work? There's a lot of discussion about this newly discovered vulnerability on the mailing lists, but the actual mechanism is a bit hard to follow. So here's an illustrated primer... 1/n pic.twitter.com/mvvS8bEc5f — mononaut (@mononautical) Octobe...

Beam wallet uses Web3Auth and account abstraction to allow for seedless accounts, stablecoin gas payments, and other user experience features. A new wallet that has launched on Optimism (OP) allows users to generate an address without storing seed words, and the account can be saved using an ordinary Twitter login . Called “Beam wallet ” the application runs in a browser window and requires no downloads, according to a July 27 announcement from its developer. It also allows users to send transactions on Optimism without owning Ether (ETH). INTRODUCING BEAM The first self-custody payments wallet built for the mainstream — no download or signup required. Beam is the easiest way on the planet to send anyone money. Try it out with a single click — Andy Bromberg (@andy_bromberg) July 27, 2023 Beam was developed by Eco, a payments company backed by Web3 venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Pantera Capital. To...

The Public Goods Network from Gitcoin promises to redirect most net sequencer fees into public goods, instead of giving them to token holders or developers. Layer-2 blockchain Public Goods Network launched a testnet on July 7, promising to spend “the vast majority of net sequencer fees” on public goods instead of paying them out to the development team or token holders, according to an announcement from the network’s developers. In economics, a “ public good” is a good that cannot be produced for profit because it is difficult to exclude non-payers from its consumption. The new network was developed by the same team that created Gitcoin, a project that seeks to raise funds for open-source projects. Public Goods Network is being built using the OP Stack, meaning that it can become part of the proposed “Superchain” that will include Optimism and Base networks. Okay Devs, Overjoyed to announce @pgn_eth, a community-led L2 focused on sustainable funding for public goods Check this ou...

Vitalik Buterin identified distributed validator technology, or DVT, as a key component of Ethereum’s decentralization efforts. Validator infrastructure developer ssv.network has launched a new ecosystem fund to support Ethereum proof-of-stake Decentralization — a move that the company said would promote innovation around Ether (ETH) staking technologies.  The ecosystem fund, valued at $50 million, will support projects building applications using distributed validator technology, or DVT, the company announced on Jan. 17. The fund is solely dedicated to backing DVT use cases in support of Ethereum’s long-term decentralization efforts. DVT is an open-source protocol that allows a validator’s responsibilities to be distributed across multiple nodes. The protocol was a key component of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s roadmap for Eth 2.0, as more DVT implementation means more decentralization. SSV noted that several venture capital investors — including Digital Currency Group, ...