Blast, an Ethereum layer-2 solution, has cut its withdrawal times in half. The move comes after four months of monitoring. Withdrawals now take 7 days instead of 14. The network announced this on their new @blast account. It's a big shift from their old strategy. They used to have longer withdrawal times for Lido withdrawals. "Previously, bridging from Blast to Ethereum took 14 days," Blast tweeted. "This timeline was set in order to provide a buffer for Lido withdrawals, which Blast (currently) relies on for ETH yield." The team found most withdrawals can be handled faster. But some rare cases might still take over a week. Deposits from Ethereum to Blast are still quick. They typically take minutes. Blast's rebranding has raised eyebrows. They've changed their handle from @blast_l2 to @blast. They're now calling themselves a "full stack chain". This has got people talking. Jim, an ex-Aave contributor, reckons Blast might be moving away from being just an Ethereum layer-2. Founder Tieshun Roquerre, aka "Pacman", chimed in. In a video, he said Blast might evolve beyond layer-2 if it's better for users. Blast launched phase 1 of its token airdrop on June 26. The token price jumped 40% at first. But it's since dropped to $0.017, below its $0.02 launch price. These changes show Blast is trying to adapt. They're juggling user needs with potential shifts in their blockchain role.

Scroll, a ZK rollup Layer 2 network, has joined the billion-dollar club. The project's total value locked (TVL) hit $1.03 billion, up 23% in a week. This milestone makes Scroll the 8th Ethereum Layer 2 to cross the $1 billion TVL mark. ETH dominates the mix at 87.29%, with stablecoins at 11.11% and other assets at 1.60%. Launched in October 2023, Scroll's been on a roll. It's been churning out features left and right. The latest? Scroll Canvas, a nifty tool for users to show off achievements and on-chain creds. But that's not all, folks. 'Session One' is dangling carrots for DeFi users. Points for liquidity providers on DEXs like Ambient and Nuri? Check. Scroll Marks for lending on Aave? You bet. Here's the kicker: Scroll's riding high without its own token. Go figure. But wrapped tokens on the network are seeing green. Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) is the star performer, up 10% in a week. Want in on the action? Bridge ETH and wstETH through the native bridge, or STONE via LayerZero. No fancy footwork needed for Session Zero eligibility. Easy peasy. Meanwhile, the Layer 2 scene's heating up. Total TVL across all Ethereum Layer 2s? A whopping $42.04 billion, up 12.04% in a week. Arbitrum One's still king of the hill with $16.85 billion TVL, up 11.91%. Base follows at $6.87 billion, despite a 7.53% dip. OP Mainnet's not far behind at $6.42 billion, surging 16.55%. Blast and Mantle round out the top five. Blast's sitting pretty at $2.67 billion, up 10.33%. Mantle's no slouch either, with $1.24 billion and a 15.07% bump. The Layer 2 race is on, and it's anyone's game. Scroll's just crashed the party, but who knows what's next in this fast-moving space?

The TON Application Chain (TAC) is teaming up with Polygon Labs. Their goal? To make the TON ecosystem play nice with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). It's a big deal. TAC is building a Layer-2 network for TON. This blockchain is known for its ties to Telegram, the messaging app. Why does TON need this Layer-2 integration? It's simple. They want to tap into Ethereum's massive developer community. The new Layer-2 chain will use Polygon's tech. It'll leverage Polygon CDK and Agglayer, an interoperability protocol. This combo will let EVM-compatible decentralized apps (DApps) run on TAC. Pavel Altukhov, TAC's CEO, spilled the beans to CoinDesk. "We're going with Polygon for a few reasons," he said. "EVM compatibility, easy liquidity access, solid support, and their EVM know-how." What's in it for developers? A lot, actually. They can port their Ethereum-based apps to TAC without breaking a sweat. And they'll get access to Telegram's huge user base. Altukhov's pretty stoked about recent developments. He pointed to USDT's integration on TON and the success of Notcoin, a popular Tap-to-Earn game. The numbers are looking good. TON's got 5.8 million monthly active on-chain wallets on Telegram. That's nothing to sneeze at. Here's a kicker: TON recently beat Ethereum in daily active addresses. On June 3, it hit 568,300 DAAs and it's worth noting that Ethereum - second most popular crypto in the world - hasn't seen those numbers since September 2023. The Layer-2 race is heating up. Coinbase launched Base last August. It's built on the OP Stack and has already locked in over $6 billion. Other players like Blast, Optimism, and Arbitrum are in the mix too. With TON joining the fray, things are bound to get interesting. It's a young man's game, and TON's playing to win.

Celo, the mobile-first blockchain, has taken a big step. It's launched its Dango Layer 2 testnet. This move kicks off Celo's plan to join the Ethereum ecosystem. The decision wasn't made overnight. Celo voters gave the thumbs up last July. They wanted to turn their Layer 1 network into an Ethereum Layer 2 chain. It took eight months to figure things out. In the end, Celo chose Optimism's OP Stack. This tech will power their Layer 2 network. With this choice, Celo joins the "Superchain" club. It's now in the same league as Base, Zora, and Mode. These are all Ethereum Layer 2 networks. What's in it for Celo users? For starters, they can still use USDT and USDC for gas fees. But there's more good news. Bridging tokens between Ethereum and Celo will be a breeze. Speed is another perk. Celo claims transactions will be zippier. They're talking about a 50% boost in throughput. Block time will drop from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. Marek Olszewski, CTO at cLabs, shared his two cents. "For most EVM-compatible chains, it's increasingly hard to justify a standalone positioning," he told The Block last year. "Ethereum's scaling roadmap is proving itself." The Celo team isn't wasting time. They're eyeing a mainnet launch in "early winter 2024". This move shows Celo's willingness to adapt. It's betting on Ethereum's growing dominance in the blockchain space. Will this gamble pay off? Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure - Celo's not sitting on its hands.

Circle has introduced its euro-backed stablecoin, EURC, on the Base network. This move expands EURC's native availability beyond Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar. It's a first for Base. EURC is now accessible on an Ethereum layer-2 network in native form. Previously, layer-2s only used derivative EURC backed by versions on other networks. Circle claims this new version will boost global e-commerce. The company stated, "The Base versions of EURC and USDC are the first stablecoins on Base from a global issuer to be compliant with the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation." This development could be a game-changer. It may allow Base users to swap euros for dollars more easily. A 2023 study found blockchain forex trades can cut costs by up to 80%. However, there's a catch. Major decentralized exchanges on Base haven't listed EURC yet. Searches on Aerodrome, Uniswap, and BaseSwap came up empty at the time of writing. PancakeSwap offers EURC trading through its "import" feature. But it comes with a strong warning to users. Circle provided the official token address for EURC on Base mainnet: 0x60a3e35cc302bfa44cb288bc5a4f316fdb1adb42. This launch follows Bitstamp's recent delisting of Tether Euro (EURT). The exchange cited EURT's alleged non-compliance with MiCA regulations. EURC's expansion to Base could shake things up in the stablecoin market. It potentially offers users more options for euro-dollar trades on layer-2 networks. As the dust settles, it remains to be seen how quickly major exchanges will adopt EURC on Base. The move could pave the way for more efficient forex trading in the crypto space.