律动BlockBeats

BlockBeats news: On July 29, the total value locked (TVL) in the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem had fallen to about $5 billion, reaching the lowest level since 2023 and essentially erasing the capital scale accumulated during the period of rapid L2 ecosystem growth in 2024.
Data shows that the combined TVL of the three major networks—Optimism, Base, and Arbitrum—totals approximately $4.8 billion, accounting for 96% of the entire L2 ecosystem.
Reports indicate that the cooling of the L2 ecosystem has occurred in tandem with the challenges facing Ethereum as a whole. Since this year began, multiple senior executives at the Ethereum Foundation have left their positions and personnel adjustments have been made. At the same time, as traditional financial institutions explore blockchain infrastructure, they are gradually shifting their focus to alternative solutions beyond Ethereum.

BlockBeats message: On July 29, Israeli and Emirati officials recently held multiple secret meetings in a third country with an undisclosed name, to discuss coordinating their stance toward Iran and taking joint action in international forums. Reports say the UAE strongly opposes the U.S.-Iran understanding memorandum, believing the agreement could give Iran time to improve its economic situation but does not involve any substantive concessions. The two sides also discussed coordinating measures targeting Iran within international organizations, and agreed that any action must be communicated in advance with the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that on the local time of the 28th, he held a “excellent meeting” with U.S. President Trump. Netanyahu said that the two sides remain aligned on the shared goal of “ensuring Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons,” and stated that the talks were among the “deepest and best dialogues” he has had with the U.S. president.

BlockBeats news: On July 29, according to market data from BIT (bit.com), the stock price of U.S.-listed electric vehicle company Lucid surged by more than 20%, trading at $7.82.
On the messaging front, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud invested $129.5 million to buy about 19.5 million shares of Lucid, bringing his stake to 5%. His spokesperson said that the investment was made after Lucid’s share price recently plunged significantly. Previously, amid funding pressure and ongoing losses, market concerns about the company going bankrupt emerged. The company then denied bankruptcy rumors but acknowledged that it had hired AlixPartners as a restructuring advisor. After the news was released, the stock price initially fell as much as 57% in a single day.

BlockBeats message: On July 29, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said that he has proposed talks with Oman regarding a temporary route through the Strait of Hormuz. If an agreement is reached, the route would replace the current north–south routes.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said that the Omani side stated that a channel should be designed with 50% controlled by Iran and 50% controlled by Oman. We said this cannot address Iran’s concerns. We said that the inbound sea route should be fully controlled by Iran, and part of the outbound sea route should also be controlled by Iran. If they accept this arrangement, we will move to the next phase. We will never recognize the southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, not even for just one hour.

BlockBeats message: On July 29, Strategy founder Michael Saylor said that Bitcoin has already gained market acceptance, but the biggest challenge ahead is not external competition—it comes from the internal erosion of consensus rules. He believes that Bitcoin’s consensus rules are like a “constitution,” determining property rights, scarcity, settlement mechanisms, and the boundaries of authority. Any behavior that changes the rules for the benefit of a particular group is an infringement on the economic interests of all participants. He warned that Bitcoin could grow a hundredfold in the future and become a foundation infrastructure for global capital markets, and that an incorrect rule change could damage markets, technologies, and economic freedoms that have not yet even emerged.

BlockBeats message: On July 29, according to Bloomberg, the U.S. Department of Justice said that Justin Ryan Schmidt, the founder of a cryptocurrency investment hedge fund, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for tax evasion after renouncing his U.S. citizenship.
Schmidt, 46, was sentenced on Monday in the Austin federal court in Texas, USA, where he had already pleaded guilty earlier this year. Schmidt previously ran a hedge fund focused on cryptocurrency investments, Translunar Crypto LP.
Prosecutors said that between 2020 and 2022, he made false personal income reports of less than $5,000, while in fact his income obtained through the hedge fund between 2019 and 2022 exceeded $7 million.

BlockBeats message: On July 28, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a new article introducing Diamond iO, a novel cryptographic obfuscation technique. The technology aims to address the extremely low efficiency of traditional indistinguishability obfuscation schemes, enabling programs to run while concealing internal logic and critical data. Although conventional iO techniques offer strong privacy protection, their running costs are so high that they are nearly impractical. By contrast, Diamond iO improves computational efficiency from “cosmic-level time” to “planet-level time” by adopting more aggressive new cryptographic assumptions, bringing it closer to real-world applications.

BlockBeats message: On July 28, according to official information, Base Build announced the launch of Base Verify Onchain to address the problem of Sybil ("witch"/"Sybil"-type) attacks in blockchain ecosystems. The feature has been deployed on the Base Sepolia testnet and allows developers to implement a rule of “one real user, one claim” within smart contracts. Base Build stated that traditional airdrop mechanisms are easily manipulated by bulk wallets; in many cases, large rewards are captured by professional airdrop farmers, while users who truly participate in product building only receive limited benefits.
Base Verify Onchain generates a stable identity hash for each real user, helping project teams identify multiple wallets controlled by the same user, while eliminating the need to obtain sensitive privacy data such as users’ names or account information. Users can complete verification using existing accounts on platforms like Coinbase, Instagram, X, and TikTok; the system then returns a verified identity credential to the smart contract, which automatically enforces rules such as claim limits, voting limits, or quota controls. Currently, Base Verify has been used more than 300,000 times and supports partner projects including Base App, Cody, Scratch, and Bracket.