Quick Take
Circle launches CCTP V2 on Ethereum.
Fidelity plans to enable staking for FETH ETF.
Lido Finance releases its CSM V2 vision.
Optimism’s Futarchy contest goes live.
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Circle Launches CCTP V2
Circle, the issuer of USDC, launched Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2, an upgrade that reduces transfer times from minutes to seconds by allowing message attestation before source chain finalization. It also features Hooks, enabling developers to automate post-transfer actions via smart contracts. A 1:1 burn-and-mint mechanism eliminates the need for liquidity pools, improving capital efficiency while supporting finality-based settlement. CCTP V2 is live on Ethereum, Base, and Avalanche, with planned support for Linea and Arbitrum. Since April 2023, CCTP V1 has processed over 2 million transfers, exceeding $37 billion in volume.
Fidelity Seeks Ethereum ETF Staking
Fidelity Investments is seeking approval to enable staking in its Ethereum Fund (FETH) ETF. On Tuesday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) submitted Form 19b-4 to the SEC, requesting staking permission for the Spot Ethereum ETF. Once approved, the SEC must still greenlight Form S-1 filings before trading can begin. It marks the second ETF seeking ETH staking approval, following 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF, which filed a similar request in February. Fidelity’s Ethereum Fund ETF currently holds nearly $1 billion in AUM. After the news, ETH rebounded slightly to $1,950.
Lido Releases CSM V2 Vision
Lido Finance unveiled its vision for CSM v2, the next iteration of its permissionless staking solution that enables any node operator to run validators through the Lido protocol. The vision for 2025 focuses on expanding CSM's share of the protocol, increasing independent Community Staker participation, and enhancing the reward structure. CSM v2 introduces EIP-7002 withdrawal support and the addition of Entry Gates, which offer tailored staker incentives like priority deposit queues, customized rewards, and differentiated security requirements. CSM v2 also transitions the fee structure to a variable Node Operator reward share based on validator count.
OP Futarchy Contest Goes Live
Optimism's Futarchy governance contest is now live. Futarchy uses prediction markets to guide decision-making. Users can apply to receive OP Play Tokens to predict which protocols will see the largest TVL increase from a 100,000 OP token grant. Users who accurately forecast the closest predicted TVL to the actual TVL achieved by a protocol will also win OP token rewards. The contest ends on March 20th.
Other News
Lens Chain joins the Elastic Network
U.S. gov withholds evidence in Storm case
Starknet settles on Bitcoin and Ethereum
GG23 community rounds announced
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