Protocol Village: Aethir, for Sourcing GPUs, Launches Decentralized Cloud on Ethereum

June 12: Aethir, a blockchain project to source underutilized graphical processing units (GPUs) for intensive tasks like AI model training and gaming, launched its decentralized cloud compute network on the Ethereum mainnet, according to a press release. The project recently raised $120 million in a node sale. "Starting today, anyone can participate in two inaugural staking pools: ATH Gaming and ATH AI. When staking in ATH Gaming, stakers will also earn rewards in the native crypto tokens of Aethir's gaming partners, while using the ATH AI pool carries additional rewards from Aethir’s AI partners. ATH holders can simultaneously use both pools and divide their staked ATH to earn additional rewards from both gaming and AI partners including IO.net, KIP Protocol, CARV, Crush Protocol, Deverse World, Rivalz Network and others," according to the release.

Ripple Announces XRP Ledger EVM Sidechain, With Integration of Axelar Bridge

June 12: Ripple, the primary developer behind the XRP Ledger, announced Wednesday that its previously announced XRPL EVM Sidechain will launch with Axelar as the exclusive bridge to source the native gas token of the sidechain, eXRP. According to the team: "The XRPL EVM Sidechain brings Ethereum compatibility to XRP Ledger, unlocking DeFi and RWA tokenization opportunities. The Axelar Bridge will ensure seamless asset transfers between XRPL and EVM Sidechain, with wXRP as the native asset. Security and user experience are key priorities. Ripple and Peersyst are collaborating to expand XRPL’s capabilities, making blockchain technology more accessible and efficient for developers and users alike." XRP$2

Moonbeam, Polkadot Parachain, Allocates $13M for Development

June 12: Moonbeam Network, a parachain on Polkadot, announced $13 million in development support for gaming, real-world assets, canary network Moonriver and other areas. According to the team: "The funding includes a new $10 million Innovation Fund, $1.5 million in Moonbeam ecosystem grants and $1.5 million in Moonriver grants. The Innovation Fund’s first investment is in N3MUS, who will build a gaming ecosystem around Moonbeam. Innovation Fund recipients will also be introduced to Moonbeam’s Venture Capital network, including Arrington Capital, Scytale Digital and more. Go here to apply for grants on Moonbeam."

MetaMask Adds 'Pooled Staking' for Cheaper Ethereum Validation

June 12: MetaMask, the most popular wallet for Ethereum, will roll out a "pooled staking" feature to its users beginning this week, in a move that would make it cheaper to contribute to the blockchain network's security compared to running a full validator node. Staking on Ethereum conventionally requires users to tie up 32 ETH with the network, which at current market prices totals some $112,000. "Pooled" services like Lido, Rocket Pool and now MetaMask give more users access to staking by bundling together assets from various people, making it possible for anyone to stake even if they don't have 32 ETH.

Crypto Hacks Net $19B Since 2011 and Illegal Activity on Blockchain Is Still Growing

June 12: Almost $19 billion worth of cryptocurrency has been stolen in thefts dating back to 2011 and the industry continues to grapple with rising blockchain-related crime, according to a report from Crystal Intelligence. The report notes 785 incidents of crypto theft comprising 220 security breaches, 345 decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks and 220 fraud schemes.

Crypto and Artificial Intelligence Could be a $20 Trillion Megatrend, Bitwise Says

June 12: Artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto could add a combined $20 trillion to the global economy by 2030, asset manager Bitwise said in a report on Wednesday. “The intersection of AI and crypto is going to be even bigger than people imagine,” senior crypto research analyst Juan Leon wrote, adding that the “two industries could add a collective $20 trillion to global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.”

Space and Time Releases 'Proof of SQL v1' With Sub-Second ZK prover

June 12: Space and Time (SxT) released their Proof of SQL v1, claiming "the first ZK prover that runs sub-second for processing data," according to the team: "This launch makes it available to the entire open-source community. This tool ensures SQL queries are accurately computed against untampered data, enabling developers to perform trustless computations on both on-chain and off-chain datasets, much quicker and efficient comparing leading market competitors."

Protocol Village is a regular feature of The Protocol, our weekly newsletter exploring the tech behind crypto, one block at a time. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday. Project teams can submit updates here. For previous versions of Protocol Village, please go here. Also please check out our weekly The Protocol podcast.

Biconomy's 'Delegated Authorization Network' for AI Agents Relies on EigenLayer

June 11: Biconomy, a Web3 infrastructure company, launched a new "Delegated Authorization Network," or DAN, "enabling the safe delegation of on-chain activities to AI agents," according to the team. A press release added: "Biconomy DAN operates by granting AI projects approved access to user's 'Delegated Auth' keys stored on an EigenLayer AVS (Actively Validated Services), ensuring true autonomy without compromising on security. To integrate DAN into an AI agent, projects need to use key storage on DAN, an EigenLayer AVS, and program user-defined permissions for those keys using the DAN SDK. Biconomy has collaborated with Silence Labs for the development and launch of DAN." A blog post is here.

Ava Protocol Raises $10M for EigenLayer AVS for 'Private Autonomous Transactions'

June 11: Ava Protocol, formerly OAK Network, secured $10 million in seed funding ($5.5 million initial and $4.5M seed+ rounds) to develop its Eigenlayer AVS for private autonomous transactions on Ethereum, according to the team: "Investors include Electric Capital, Taisu Ventures and Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal. The funding supports core Web3 infrastructure, enabling cross-chain smart contract automation for applications like limit orders on decentralized exchanges. Over 10,000 wallets use its testnet with 1,000+ daily transactions. With 30+ partners, including Polkadot and Moonbeam, Ava aims to simplify Web3 application deployment."

Covalent Says Arthur Hayes to Advise on Development of 'Ethereum Wayback Machine'

June 11: Covalent, provider of a decentralized network for indexing blockchain data, announced that BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes has been named as a new strategic advisor. Hayes, who currently serves as chief investment officer of Maelstrom, "will be leading the development of the Ethereum Wayback Machine, ensuring that all Ethereum and EVM rollup data will shape AI with a preformat and verifiably secure pipeline," according to the team. "This partnership will further secure Ethereum’s historical data preservation, ensuring accessibility and transparency to the ecosystem’s full history."

Overlai, Blockchain Project for Image Verification, Launches Mobile App, Adobe Plugin on Aptos

June 11: Overlai, a blockchain project for image verification co-founded by photographers Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier, announced the beta launch of its mobile app and Adobe Plugin on Aptos. according to the team: "After validating a picture in Overlai – a process that can be completed in just a few clicks – creators can upload the asset to any digital medium and retain full ownership. No matter how much the photo is screenshotted, compressed, or converted, Overlai’s invisible watermark with a creator’s credentials, securely stored on the Aptos blockchain, stays intact – answering a pressing need amid the rise of generative AI." APT$5

Vana, Network for User-Owned Data, Releases Satori Testnet

June 11: Vana, a network for user-owned data, released its Satori testnet. "Users can now mine and contribute to the network by exporting their data from platforms, leveraging data rights to sidestep big tech's walled gardens. Proof-of-contribution ensures data quality by rewarding users proportionally to their data's impact on AI model performance," according to a blog post. A list of DAOs building on Vana is here.

Flock.io, Ritual Form Partnership to Advance 'Decentralized AI Composability'

June 11: FLock.io, a project to decentralize machine learning for AI models, and Ritual, which enables developers to access models on-chain via smart contracts, announced a strategic partnership to advance decentralized AI composability. According to the team: "Leveraging Ritual's Infernet nodes, FLock.io aims to enhance transparency and verifiability in task routing, model usage and rewards distribution within the decentralized AI ecosystem. This collaboration underscores a commitment to fostering a fair and open-source environment where developers and contributors are compensated based on model usage."

Core, EVM-Compatible L1 Aligned With Bitcoin, Launches Hackathon

June 11: Core, an Ethereum-compatible layer-1 blockchain project that relies on Bitcoin for its security setup, "is launching the BTCfi Summer Hackathon, a 12-week event designed to ignite innovation in the Bitcoin economy," according to the team: "There are prizes for the top three positions ranging from a $5,000 - $15,000 grant, access to Defi workshops, social media highlights, a feature in the BTCfi ecosystem newsletter and more. The hackthon launched June 6 and the winners will be announced Aug. 19."

Polygon Creates New Grants Program, 1B POL Unlocked Over 10 Years

June 11: Layer-2 network Polygon is starting a Community Grants Program to encourage builders to build in its ecosystem, Polygon Labs said on Tuesday. The program aims to place 1 billion POL, Polygon’s soon-to-rebrand MATIC token, into the hands of developers over the next 10 years. The program went live Tuesday with 35 million tokens, worth $23 million at current prices, eligible for distribution. The network is in the process of transitioning its current token, MATIC, to the new POL ticker, so this first tranche of tokens will be denominated in MATIC.

SubQuery Network, for Decentralized Indexers, Launches RPCs for Polkadot, Kusama

June 11: SubQuery Network, a distributed network of decentralized indexers and RPC providers, is launching the first decentralized RPCs for Polkadot and Kusama, according to the team: "The Polkadot RPCs that have been deployed for the Polkadot relay chain and Kusama are operated by more than 30 independent node operators."

Optimism Finally Gets Its Mission-Critical 'Fault Proofs'

June 11: Until now, the Ethereum layer-2 project Optimism has been missing a core feature at the heart of its security design: "Fault proofs." On Monday, that long-promised tech finally came to Optimism's mainnet. The Optimism team previously shared in March that it was testing its fault proofs system on their Sepolia testnet. Since then, they had an audit conducted by blockchain security firm Sherlock, and found a few bugs that they were able to patch out. “We literally deleted the entire system essentially, re-architected it, and rewrote the entire thing,” Karl Floersch, the CEO of OP Labs, said in an interview with CoinDesk.

Cardano Is on Track for Voltaire Upgrade This Month, Co-Founder Hoskinson Says

June 11: The Cardano network is set to move into the final phase of a multiyear program to become a wholly decentralized blockchain ecosystem later this month, co-founder Charles Hoskinson said in an X post Monday. As a first step, the validating node software operated by the system's stake pool operators, or SPOs, needs to be upgraded to the latest version. Then, the blockchain will evolve into a backward-incompatible version, a process known as a hard fork, and in doing so, enter a new era known as Voltaire. Once the switch is complete, the seven-year-old blockchain will no longer be actively managed by Cardano development firm IOHK, instead wholly run by community members, according to a project roadmap. ADA$1

Lido Introduces 'Restaking Vaults' in Collaboration with Symbiotic, Mellow Finance

June 11: A new initiative from Lido DAO will see Lido's partnering with Mellow Finance, a platform that lets users generate yield by depositing into restaking "vaults," and Symbiotic, a permissionless restaking protocol. Mellow curators Steakhouse, P2P Validator, Re7 Labs and MEV Capital are each introducing vaults that accept stETH in tandem with Tuesday's announcement. LDO$1

Wormhole Opens W Staking

June 10: Wormhole, the blockchain interoperability protocol, will allow holders of itsW token to stake with the Tally Governance Portal, "allowing the opportunity to participate in governance and influence the future direction of the Wormhole DAO and platform," according to the team." The update marks "a significant step toward decentralizing Wormhole through MultiGov, an industry-first multichain governance system for DAOs on Solana, Ethereum mainnet, and EVM L2s," Wormhole said in a statement. "The Wormhole DAO will be the first to adopt MultiGov, enabling W holders to create, vote on, and execute governance proposals on any supported chain."

Squads Labs Raises $10M Series A, Unveils Smart Wallet for Public Testing on iOS

June 10: Technology company Squads Labs, which aims to help businesses transact in and manage digital assets, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Electric Capital. The funding round included participation from RockawayX, Coinbase Ventures, L1 Digital and Placeholder, Squads Labs said in an email on Monday. Squads has also unveiled a smart wallet aimed at individuals for public testing on iO