16 July 2024
It was a momentous EthCC this year in Brussels as Ethereum celebrated its 10-year anniversary since Vitalik Buterin published the whitepaper. To mark the occasion, Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, and Gavin Wood spoke and presented at the main event which drew full crowds. Vitalik Buterin emphasized Ethereum's foundational role in decentralized applications and called for more research and community collaboration to overcome current blockchain limitations.
"Ethereum can serve as a base layer…this is the thing I'm advocating we do more research on and we build.” -Vitalik Buterin
Joseph Lubin reflected on Ethereum's decade-long growth, highlighting its significant impact on DeFi and enterprise adoption, while also emphasizing efforts to enhance scalability and reduce costs. Gavin Wood discussed the importance of interoperability in the Web3 space, detailing Polkadot's advancements and the significance of decentralized governance in empowering community decision-making.
Below are some of our highlights from EthCC Brussels:
We were proud to be a part of Integrated Day hosted by Movement Labs. Movement Labs is developing the first Move-EVM Layer 2 on Ethereum, integrating the strengths of the EVM and the Move programming language to achieve significant improvements in smart contract security and transaction throughput. Integrated Day featured a myriad of discussions and panels on critical themes: synchronous composability, Web3 UX, cross-chain interoperability, integrated blockchains, and pragmatic infrastructure for rollup-centric environments. Laszlo Fodor, Flow Traders Head of Digital Assets Technology, joined a panel on interoperability and cross-chain where the role of synchronous composability in financial applications was underscored as a critical factor for future blockchain scalability.
“Interoperability sounds promising, but what about the security trade-offs? More interconnected systems can lead to increased vulnerabilities.” - Laszlo Fodor
We were also happy to be part of the inaugural Borderless Summit, hosted by SynFutures. SynFutures is a leading decentralized derivatives protocol that enables on-chain futures and perpetual contracts trading for a wide array of assets. Borderless Summit served as a dynamic platform to bridge the crypto communities of the East and West, focusing on innovative trends in memecoins and broader DeFi mechanisms. Ruben Brons, Flow Traders Business Development Lead, joined a panel on market making long-tail assets and emphasized the importance of deep liquidity.
"At Flow Traders, we bridge the gap between traditional and digital markets. Our expertise allows us to provide liquidity and stability across a diverse and volatile range of asset classes, even in rapidly changing market conditions." -Ruben Brons
Next we co-hosted an afternoon mixer with Eclipse Foundation and Anza. Eclipse is pioneering the integration of the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) on Ethereum, aiming to leverage the strengths of both ecosystems to create a more performant and scalable Layer 2 solution. Anza is a software development firm that emerged from Solana Labs, focusing on maintaining and advancing the core technology of the Solana blockchain, including the Agave validator client. This event brought together a perfect mix of founders, investors, and thought leaders for informal and spontaneous conversations about the innovations at the intersection of the Solana and Ethereum ecosystems.
Finally, we were proud to be part of Pyth Network’s announcement of the Express Relay service. Pyth Network is a decentralized blockchain oracle network that delivers high-frequency, real-time market data to on-chain applications. The launch of the Express Relay service on mainnet is a significant milestone aimed at eliminating the long-standing issue of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) in on-chain applications. MEV refers to the profit that can be extracted by reordering, including, or excluding transactions during block production.
Several well-known DeFi protocols, including Synthetix, Zerolend, Ionic, Synonym, Keom, Jax Finance, Vela Exchange, and Fulcrom Finance, have already integrated Pyth Network services. This underscores the relay's significant impact on improving the efficiency and security of these platforms. By reducing MEV, the Express Relay service enhances the reliability and fairness of transaction processing within the network, ultimately benefiting users with more predictable and secure transaction outcomes.
As long-time supporters of Pyth Network, we were excited to participate in the announcement. Additionally, Laszlo Fodor joined other leading market participants to discuss the significance and implications of this announcement.
“We shouldn’t be talking about detriment to certain players. It is simple, MEV needs to be eliminated to create the next wave of crypto adoption. This is what Pyth Network’s Express Relay is here to solve!” -Laszlo Fodor
Overall, EthCC 2024 was a remarkable experience filled with insightful discussions, groundbreaking announcements, and invaluable networking opportunities. As Ethereum continues to evolve and inspire the blockchain ecosystem, events like these reinforce the importance of collaboration, innovation, and community engagement. We look forward to the future advancements and are excited to contribute to the ongoing journey of decentralized technology.