Weekly Hot Project Updates: Ethereum Validator Exit Queue Reset, Optimism Proposal to Use 50% of Revenue for Buyback, WLFI Applies for National Trust Bank License in the US, etc. (1227–0110)

1. The Ethereum staking queue has risen to 1.759 million ETH, requiring approximately 30 days to activate. Validators exit the queue to zero. link

The Ethereum Beacon Chain staking queue has surged to 1.759 million ETH (worth about $5.5 billion), reaching a high since late August 2023; new stakers need to wait about 30 days and 13 hours to officially activate as validators. Meanwhile, the exit queue has been completely cleared.

2. Base’s creator token narrative leans towards Zora, sparking developer concerns over resource allocation link

Base’s promotion strategy around creator tokens, due to its close ties with the NFT market Zora, has caused dissatisfaction among some developers. Although Zora’s promotion of creator token issuance once made Base’s daily token minting surpass Solana in August and increased on-chain activity, several native projects on Base believe that official market and social resources are overly concentrated on Zora-related narratives, neglecting other projects with existing user bases and historical contributions, weakening incentives to continue building on Base.

3. Zcash development team ECC collectively departs, citing governance misalignment with project mission link

On January 8, Electric Coin Company (ECC) CEO Josh Swihart stated that the nonprofit organization Bootstrap, responsible for governing ECC, has shown a “significant deviation” from Zcash’s core mission in governance direction. The ECC team has recently left the original structure and plans to establish a new company.

He pointed out that over the past few weeks, decisions by the majority of Bootstrap’s board members have diverged from Zcash’s original intent, forcing the ECC team to collectively resign amid unilateral changes to employment conditions. He emphasized that the new company will be formed by the original team, with the same mission to create an “unstoppable privacy currency.” He also noted that this event does not affect the Zcash protocol itself, but is a governance-level conflict rather than a technical or protocol split.

4. PumpFun launches creator fee sharing mechanism supporting multi-wallet distribution and permission transfer link

PumpFun announced an adjustment to its creator fee mechanism, introducing a creator fee sharing feature to improve the executability and transparency of fee distribution. According to the update, token creators and CTO administrators can, after token launch, allocate fees proportionally to up to 10 wallets, and support transferring token ownership and revoking update permissions; these settings can be managed via PumpFun’s mobile or web platform. When any fee recipient initiates a claim, all recipients’ claimable statuses will be synchronized, and unclaimed fees will be retained and not reclaimed.

5. Optimism Foundation proposes using 50% of Superchain revenue to buy back OP tokens link

The Optimism Foundation issued an announcement proposing to use 50% of Superchain revenue to buy back OP tokens, aiming to deeply bind the success of OP tokens with the Superchain. The announcement states that if the proposal passes the January 22 vote, the buyback will commence in February, with the repurchased tokens returning to the treasury for future burning or staking rewards. The foundation revealed that over the past 12 months, Optimism has collected 5,868 ETH in revenue, all allocated to the governance treasury.

6. World Liberty Trust applies for a U.S. national trust bank license link

World Liberty Financial announced that its subsidiary, World Liberty Trust, submitted a de novo application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on January 7, seeking a U.S. national trust bank license to directly issue and custody its USD1 stablecoin. The company stated that if approved, the trust bank will gradually develop crypto asset custody and stablecoin exchange services, mainly serving institutional clients.

7. Jito launches IBRL Explorer: revealing Solana block construction details link

According to Jito’s announcement, it has launched the IBRL Explorer tool to transparently display the construction details within Solana blocks. The tool shows behaviors such as “tail packing” and “Slot Timing Games” prevalent in the Solana network, which may affect state propagation efficiency, increase latency, and weaken network stability. The IBRL Explorer generates an IBRL score for each validator based on three metrics: Slot Time, Vote Packing, and Non-Vote Packing, aiming to improve block construction quality and overall network performance.

8. Infinex publicly apologizes for its token sale plan link

Infinex publicly apologized for its token sale plan, admitting that previous design flaws failed to balance retail investors, whales, and fair distribution, leading to low participation enthusiasm. Infinex announced several adjustments: removing the $2,500 maximum investment limit per user, allowing users to decide their own investment amounts; shifting from random allocation to “Maximum-Minimum Fair Distribution,” ensuring equal distribution among participants until supply runs out, with any excess contributions refunded. Additionally, Patrons will still have priority participation, with specific priority methods to be confirmed after the sale ends.

9. Aave Labs: exploring sharing off-protocol revenue with AAVE holders link

Aave Labs stated that, in response to recent community discussions, it commits to exploring sharing some off-protocol revenue with AAVE token holders and plans to submit a formal proposal with detailed structural arrangements. At the branding level, the plan will also include necessary governance and risk constraints to support long-term development goals while safeguarding DAO and token holder interests.

10. Data: Outside of Ethereum, Base, Solana, and Plasma account for 20% of the deposit market share each link

The DeFi lending market landscape outside of Ethereum has changed significantly over the past three years. Base, Solana, and Plasma each hold about 20% of the deposit market share, while Arbitrum and BNB Chain each account for around 10%. Plasma has risen rapidly in a short period; whether it can maintain long-term value may depend on the successful execution of Plasma One.