Wu's March Technical Report: Bitcoin Quantum Resistance Solutions, Ethereum Testnet Upgrade Completed, SIMD-0228 Not Passed, Berachain PoL Launched, etc.
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The Wu Says team summarizes the important developments in the blockchain technology sector for March:
· BIP360 Quantum Resistant Hash (P2QRH) Update: Developer Hunter Beast posted an update on his quantum resistance research related to BIP360 on the Bitcoin-Dev mailing list. He has modified the list of quantum-safe algorithms he proposed to use and is looking for support to develop the pay-to-taproot-hash (P2TRH) scheme, considering aiming for the same security level currently offered by Bitcoin (NIST II), instead of a higher level (NIST V) that would require more block space and CPU verification time.
· The grassroots Bitcoin community has begun to push for changes in the underlying Bitcoin software, with current grassroots support focusing on two Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs), namely BIP-119 (CTV) and BIP-348 (CSFS). These two proposals introduce new ways to script Bitcoin, enabling the function of "Covenants." These proposals may be implemented in the next Bitcoin soft fork. In recent weeks, many Western Bitcoin developers have expressed their support for CTV and CSFS on Twitter, which is undoubtedly a strong signal indicating that at least within the social media circle, some segments of the Bitcoin community are moving towards accepting these changes.
· The Holesky testnet resumed finality on March 11 at 15:04 with participation from over two-thirds of validators, after experiencing an interruption during the Pectra upgrade on February 24.
· Ethereum core developers plan to terminate support for the Holesky testnet in September 2025. All other Pectra features can be tested on Holesky aside from validator exits.
· On March 5, the Sepolia testnet underwent the Pectra upgrade, which initially achieved finality but later encountered issues with custom deposit contracts, resulting in empty blocks that were quickly resolved.
· On March 17, the Hooli testnet was launched to address configuration issues from the Pectra upgrade on the Sepolia and Holesky testnets.
· On March 26, the Hoodi testnet successfully activated Pectra, with subsequent network operation functioning normally, maintaining a stable participation rate of up to 97% and achieving finality. Developers noted that Hooli is primarily used for testing validator exits, while Sepolia and Holesky remain for other testing purposes.
· The Pectra mainnet upgrade is tentatively scheduled for April 30 / Slot 115999872.
· Due to issues with EIP-6110, it was agreed to discard historical data before the mainnet Merge after agreeing on Pectra; the Sepolia testnet is scheduled for execution on May 1. PS: EIP-6110: Incorporates validator deposit information into execution layer blocks, simplifying consensus layer work and optimizing validator experience.
· Solana core developers Max Resnick and Ashwin Sekar jointly released the SIMD-0257 draft, proposing the removal of voting fees on the Solana network and optimizing the incentive compatibility of timely voting points to enhance network security and validator participation.
· Solana's inflation rate adjustment proposal SIMD-0228 ultimately failed to pass on-chain voting by validators.
Base
· The Gas Target for blocks has been raised to 30 Mgas/s. It is understood that last September, Base established a scaling target of 1 Ggas/s (i.e., 1000 Mgas/s) and plans to gradually expand by 1 Mgas/s each week. By increasing the block's Gas Target, the network can accommodate more transactions in the same timeframe, thereby relatively suppressing the increase in transaction fees when demand rises. The Gas Target is different from the maximum Gas Limit per block; blocks can temporarily exceed the Target (leading to increased fees) but cannot exceed the Limit, which serves as a hard cap on block size.
BNB Chain
· On March 21, BNB Chain successfully completed the Pascal hard fork, which introduced EIP-7702 smart contract wallets, aimed at enhancing EVM compatibility and developer support, as well as optimizing features related to fuel fee abstraction, smart payment interfaces, and batch transactions.
The official roadmap for future improvements has been announced: The Lorentz upgrade scheduled for April 2025 aims to shorten block time to 1.5 seconds, enhancing transaction speed and network efficiency. Following this, the Maxwell upgrade planned for June 2025 will further accelerate block time to 0.75 seconds.SUI
· On March 9, Sui announced that it is testing the integration of WebAuthn-based Passkeys on the mainnet. Once integrated, Sui users can create Sui accounts, sign transactions without handling private keys or passwords, and access their accounts across devices without manually importing keys, using Face ID, Touch ID, or YubiKey on applications and wallets that support Passkeys.
Near
· On March 23, the NEAR mainnet upgraded from 6 shards to 8, increasing overall network capacity by approximately 33%. The single-block resharding eliminated state reconstruction that could last up to an hour and supports faster scaling to a higher number of shards.
Avalanche
· On March 4, Avalanche announced its roadmap for 2025, with major updates including the Etna network upgrade, the global adoption initiative Avalanche9000 Campaign, and the renaming of subnets to Avalanche L1 to enhance flexibility.
Sonic
· On March 28, Sonic Labs announced the upcoming launch of the SonicCS 2.0 protocol, a new consensus protocol designed to achieve a 2x increase in consensus speed while reducing memory usage by 68%.
Hyperliquid
· On March 4, the Hyper Foundation stated that after the next network upgrade, the mainnet validator set will be completely permissionless. Similar to the testnet, the top N validators ranked by stake will form the active set. Initially, N will be set to 20 and will increase over time. Additionally, a delegation program has been launched, aimed at enhancing network security and decentralization while supporting validators committed to the development of the Hyperliquid ecosystem.
Berachain
· On March 12, the standard testnet Bepolia was officially launched, fully consistent with the mainnet and equipped with all contracts and functionalities required for PoL.
· On March 24, PoL (Proof of Liquidity) was officially launched, governance entered its first phase, and the incentive mechanism began to take effect, with a new rewards pool being emitted. This change means that BGT holders will have more control and profit opportunities, deciding the flow of incentives and supporting the distribution of incentives for users, applications, and validators.