ZachXBT minted his North Korea Lazarus Group investigation on Zora
Optimism Weekly Overview - April 30, 2024
Welcome back to the Optimism Weekly Overview.
We’re creating the best place for the community to get up to speed on the chain’s latest updates, metrics and releases as well as the Superchain ecosystem developments, insights and more – all in one place. Every Tuesday.
Superchain Ecosystem Numbers
DeFi Total Value Locked (TVL) across Superchain: $2.81B (-1.8%)
Assets onchain: $12.86B (-2.1%)
Daily average transaction volume: 3.66M (-5.8%)
Base: 2.59M (-3%)
Zora: 170.31K (-60.7%)
OP Mainnet: 651.36K (+4%)
Mode: 243.79K (+60.12%)
Fraxtal 4.17K (-43.2%)
Revenue-generating devs across chains: 6.87K (+4.3%)
Base: 6,112 (+5.32%)
Zora: 193 (+0.52%)
OP Mainnet: 1,057 (-0.93%)
Superchains: 6,871 (+4.34%)
Optimism’s average txn fee (today): $0.0911
Superchain transaction fee total savings vs L1s:
OP Mainnet: 40,617 ETH
Base: 78,186 ETH
Zora: 13,626 ETH
Compared to Ethereum, L2 Superchain users saved a total of 132,429 ETH, or $391.27M on txn fees this week.
The percentages and metrics are pulled from OPLabs data on Dune and are calculated from its change over a 7-day time frame, unless noted otherwise.
Spotlight on Optimism’s Superchain
Highlighting some of the biggest updates on Optimism’s Superchain this week.
⚡What’s happening: The well-known onchain crypto sleuth ZachXBT minted his 15-month long investigation into North Korea’s Lazarus Group on Zora.
⚡Why it matters: ZachXBT shared the report on Zora, an NFT-based social platform that allows creators to get paid for their work. The free mint gave users the ability to “own” the digital collectible of the report. There were over 5,400 mints, resulting in 1.7 ether, worth about $5,000, in creator earnings, at the time of writing.
The 57-page report was originally shared on web3 publishing platform Mirror. It details an investigation into over 25 exploits on a number of blockchains that impacted “thousands of people in the space,” both directly and indirectly, through Lazarus Group laundering $200 million worth of crypto, he wrote on X. “It seems that number will only continue to increase.”
⚡What it means for the broader ecosystem: ZachXBT has done a number of investigations, but this was the first time he minted his content on Zora and it resulted in him getting paid out thousands of dollars, solely by support from Zora users.
A lot of times, when onchain sleuths do investigations, they’ll post their wallet address as a way to get tips or donations. But it often doesn’t bring in tons of money. By minting the content on Zora, the creator (ZachXBT) is rewarded, and users get to “own” a piece of his work by minting it and supporting it.
As OP Labs’ data analyst, Michael Silberling, said on X, minting and collecting is a way for creators to be paid and appreciated, “who may have otherwise done this work [for free] and/or hoped for future grants.”
⚡TLDR: Platforms like Zora, that provide web3-based social engagement and rewards for content creators, can pave the way for more community-based fundraising in a fun and accessible way. Not to mention, a healthy mint of one’s project can be a nice payday for creators.
What’s poppin on the Superchain
👤This week’s total weekly active addresses on Superchain hit 2.53M.
👤Total number of weekly active addresses on:
Base: 1.41M (20.2%)
OP Mainnet: 763.69K (10.9%)
Zora: 194.31K (2.8%)
Mode Network: 162.9K (2.3%)
Zora Network is now on supported on Coinbase Wallet – and there’s a commemorative mint to celebrate
EthXY L2 World Chain, an Optimism-based L3 on Base, will start its testnet on May 2
Zeeve launches the OP Stack Launchpad to help deploy OP rollups more easily
The seventh wave of Base Builder Grants were announced on Monday
Mode Network announced its newest winners for the Aurora Hackathon: GovernMode and Mode Frames.
From the Optimism Collective
Highlighting the companies, communities and citizens bound to the Optimism Collective.
Base has the second most bridged USDC, after Ethereum, at $2.4B, Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base shared on X
ICYMI: 🎙️Listen in to WLD FM podcast introducing the World Chain alongside Optimism
Voters on Velodrome have received $43.62M in voting incentive rewards since it launched
Worldcoin is expanding its World ID reach into Mexico
Farcaster released a new type of consensus model (pictured below) details are here
Making headlines
The Superchain Contribution to Public Goods Continues to Grow (Optimism)
Deploy OP Rollups Effortlessly with Zeeve's New Launchpad for OP Stack (Accesswire via Yahoo Finance)
The L2 Landscape, OP Stack & Incentive Mechanisms | James Ross @ Mode (Milk Road podcast)
Offchain Labs helps OP Labs with security vulnerabilities (Offchain Labs)
Get into the OP Stack
Want to dive into the ecosystem full-time? Find the latest job postings here or get involved at an event below.
Farcaster’s FarHack hackathon is May 3-5 in Santa Monica, California, RSVP here
Event schedule is available here
Livestream for Retro Funding 4 is on April 30 at 5pm UTC, register here
Learn more about Retro Fundings and the Optimistic Flywheel here
CEL2 - cLabs Community Call on Celo’s L2 proposal on Optimism is May 2 at 2-3pm UTC, register here
April 2nd - May 14th
Fully remote participation
Prize Pool: $38,750
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This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.