This week’s project developments were led by a mainnet launch on Ethereum, a new Base upgrade, and two protocol shutdown plans. The Ethereum Foundation and the Open Anonymity Project have launched zkAPI on Ethereum mainnet, while Base has activated its third mainnet upgrade, Cobalt. At the same time, the Balancer community approved an orderly shutdown and Blast said it will stop operating.
Utexo plans to issue USDT on Bitcoin this month with Tether support
Tether-backed Utexo plans to issue USDT on the Bitcoin network this month. Utexo co-founder Viktor Ihnatiuk said the company has obtained a commercial license to issue USDT on Bitcoin and plans to provide APIs, SDKs and cloud infrastructure for exchanges, wallets and payment service providers.
Utexo will use the RGB protocol and Bitcoin’s UTXO model, keeping most transaction data off-chain. The project is focused on three use cases: private USDT transfers, direct swaps between native BTC and USDT, and lending backed by native BTC without wrapping BTC onto another blockchain.
USDT was first issued on Bitcoin in 2014 through the Omni protocol, before Ethereum and Tron became its main circulation networks. Utexo also plans to expand to the Lightning Network after USDT goes live on Bitcoin.
Ethereum Foundation and Open Anonymity Project launch zkAPI
The Ethereum Foundation and the Open Anonymity Project have launched zkAPI, a system that uses zero-knowledge proofs to separate API usage from payment identity. It is now live on Ethereum mainnet.
Users can first deposit balances such as ETH and USDC into an on-chain vault, then authorize one-time or session-based API usage through zero-knowledge proofs. Service providers can verify that payment is valid, but they cannot see the source of the deposit or the payer’s identity. The payment layer also cannot view the request content.
zkAPI supports short-lived, spending-limited API keys for compatible interfaces including OpenAI and Ollama, with billing based on actual usage. Funds are held in smart contracts, and users can exit and withdraw on-chain. The system is currently aimed mainly at AI inference, but it can also extend to RPC, image generation, VPN services and machine-to-machine services. It does not hide IP addresses, request timing, or identity risks created by prompt content itself.
TRUMP token holder dinner set for Nov. 22
Fight Fight Fight, the promoter of the TRUMP meme coin, plans to hold a token holder dinner on Nov. 22 at Trump National Golf Club. The top 185 TRUMP holders will qualify to attend, and Trump is listed as a guest for the event.
Trump has previously attended similar events for TRUMP holders. The token has fallen about 95% from its post-launch peak, though its price rose about 9% at one point on the day the event was announced.
At the same time, Democratic lawmakers are watching Trump’s and his family’s crypto businesses. They said they may investigate those commercial activities further if they control either chamber of Congress after the November midterm elections. The White House has previously said Trump does not take part in the day-to-day management of family businesses and denied that his crypto business creates a conflict of interest.
Aave Labs submits ARFC proposal for an Aave Foundation
Aave Labs has submitted an ARFC proposal to establish a memberless Aave Foundation in the Cayman Islands. The foundation would hold, protect and license Aave trademarks, major domain names, protocol code and related intellectual property.
This first phase only covers registration of the foundation and the appointment of independent directors, a supervisor and a secretary. The DAO would cover reasonable registration, legal and setup costs, with no ongoing budget. Aave Labs and DAO service providers would not be allowed to appoint or serve as directors or supervisor. Governance powers over listings, parameter changes, budgets and service provider selection would remain with the DAO.
Any later transfer of trademarks, domains and code-related intellectual property would be submitted separately for governance review. The foundation would disclose its holdings, operating expenses and related legal actions on a quarterly basis.
Base activates Cobalt mainnet upgrade
Base has activated Cobalt, its third mainnet upgrade, adding Validity Transactions and several B20 asset features.
Validity Transactions let users submit time-constrained transactions in advance so they execute only when preset conditions are met. The B20 standard now includes Composite Policies, which combine rules such as KYC whitelists and sanctions blacklists with AND or OR logic. Schedule Multiplier Updates allow planned changes to how asset balances are displayed, such as stock splits. A new seizeWithMemo function lets authorized administrators reallocate holder balances when an asset seizure mechanism is enabled, while recording the source, destination, amount and memo on-chain.
Base said it also plans over the coming months to reduce block times from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds and add native protocol-level support for smart accounts, gas sponsorship and transaction batching.
OP Enterprise adds managed support for Soneium
OP Enterprise now supports Soneium’s on-chain operations. The Optimism Foundation and OP Labs will provide deployment, upgrades, sequencers, node infrastructure, daily monitoring and incident response under a fully managed model, with a service-level agreement targeting 99.9% monthly uptime and 24/7 emergency response.
Soneium will retain ownership of its blockchain, control over its roadmap and engineering participation. The team said it will continue work on tokenized intellectual property and on-chain entertainment applications, including on-chain royalty distribution and AI-focused IP tools. Soneium was already running on the OP Stack. This arrangement only covers fully managed operational support from OP Enterprise and does not include interoperability or cross-chain functions.
Stable integrates with Visa Direct
Stable said it has integrated with Visa Direct, connecting its stablecoin settlement infrastructure to Visa’s global money movement network. The setup supports real-time payouts to bank accounts and mobile wallets.
The integration links Stable’s on-chain settlement rails with traditional payment channels and creates an off-ramp for cross-border payments from stablecoin settlement to bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Balancer community approves orderly shutdown
The Balancer community has passed BIP-928, approving an orderly shutdown of the protocol. A fork proposal, BIP-929, did not pass.
Existing pools will continue to operate through Oct. 30, and withdrawals will remain available throughout that period. Oct. 16 is the deadline for partners to apply for designated V3 pools to continue running until Nov. 30. Starting Oct. 30, pools will become withdrawal-only where contracts allow, the bug bounty program will end at the same time, and the V3 Vault will pause on Nov. 30.
BAL holders do not need to take action for now. Starting from late May 2027, they are expected to be able to burn BAL and claim treasury assets on a pro rata basis. tetuBAL holders will receive BAL equal to 50% of their locked assets.
Blast says it will stop operating
Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast said it will cease operations, stating that the ongoing cost of maintaining the network has exceeded the revenue generated by the L2 and that it does not see a credible path to economic sustainability at this stage.
Blast asked users to move assets back to Ethereum mainnet and said it plans to shorten withdrawal waiting times to 24 hours. Users can continue withdrawing through the normal interface until Oct. 26. After that, assets can still be recovered through the Blast Bridge contract on Ethereum L1.
Blast launched in November 2023 and raised $20 million at launch from investors including Paradigm and Standard Crypto.
Porsche ends Web3 project and PIONΞERS CIRCLE community
Porsche said it is ending the Porsche Web3 project and activities tied to the PIONΞERS CIRCLE community. PORSCHΞ 911 NFTs will remain with holders and stay on-chain. The PIONΞERS Discord server will become a read-only archive preserving community history and content, and the @eth_porsche account on X will no longer receive ongoing updates.