Over $100 million has been distributed in the third round of Optimism’s Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF), marking a significant milestone in the ongoing commitment to fund public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, took to X Platform to express his admiration for Optimism’s dedication, highlighting the importance of supporting developers and contributors, even without a traditional business model.
Optimism’s RetroPGF is hailed as an economic flywheel propelling the Optimism Collective forward, rewarding individuals and projects contributing to essential infrastructure, tooling, and content. The initiative aims to foster a flourishing ecosystem through community-driven development, where collaboration is key. This round of funding recognized 501 projects and individuals, showcasing the diversity within the Optimism Collective, including both established names and newcomers shaping the ecosystem’s future.
With a total of 643 projects receiving awards across three rounds, RetroPGF demonstrates a commitment to building a self-sustaining economic system that consistently rewards contributors. Community participation is a crucial element, involving badge-holders who vote on award allocations and teams dedicated to building public goods infrastructure.
Ethereum Foundation’s Gas Efficiency Upgrade
Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation is set to implement major changes to the account abstraction standard in Ethereum, with a focus on reducing gas consumption, particularly for layer-2 solutions. The preview of version 0.7 of the ERC-4337 standard specification reveals significant adjustments based on nine months of usage.
One key change involves the structure of account abstraction transactions, now requiring the specification of five gas values instead of one. This enhances gas estimation accuracy and reduces costs, particularly on layer-2 networks. John Rising, a developer involved in the update, emphasized that the major benefit for users would be reduced gas fees, achieved through more efficient transaction data usage.
Furthermore, the new specification penalizes users 10% for all unused gas in execution, preventing unnecessary high gas limits in transactions. Account abstraction, also known as “smart accounts,” expands Ethereum’s basic accounts by enabling programmable logic and rules, opening up new use cases not possible with simple accounts. These developments signify a continuous evolution in the Ethereum ecosystem, emphasizing community-driven support and adaptability to enhance the overall user experience.
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