StarkNet Kakarot ZK-EVM Testnet
Kakarot will also support the creation of an L3 zkEVM, enabling EVM-compatible fractal scaling.
Quick Take
- StarkWare plans to deploy a ZK-EVM testnet.
- Maple Finance introduces Direct Lending.
- The EF announces the academic grant recipients.
- Maverick Protocol launches its MAV token.
StarkNet Kakarot ZK-EVM Testnet
StarkWare announced plans to launch a ZK-EVM testnet for its StarkNet ZK-Rollup L2 network. Coined as Kakarot, the new testnet will introduce EVM compatibility, which allows developers to deploy existing Solidity applications without having to make code adjustments. The current version of StarkNet is not EVM-compatible.
Kakarot zkEVM will also support the creation of an L3 zkEVM, enabling EVM-compatible fractal scaling with provable and verified transactions. The Kakarot testnet is set to go live in August of this year. Kakarot zkEVM joins Matter Labs, Polygon, ConsenSys, Scroll, and Taiko in the race for facilitating ZK-EVM chains.
Maple Finance Introduces Direct Lending
Credit market protocol Maple Finance introduced Direct Lending, a trusted lending desk targeting institutions. The new lending arm will be operated by the founding members of Maple Finance. The new product will offer web3 borrowers access to debt capital and web3 allocators with managed lending opportunities.
Maple Finance has processed over $2 billion in loan originations and claims a 60% market share of onchain institutional lending. Maple Direct will be released in July with initial support for loans backed by BTC, ETH, and staked ether. Maple Finance is a protocol that provides institutional borrowers to access under collateralized loans.
EF Announces Academic Grant Recipients
The EF announced the recipients of its Academic Grants Program, a funding initiative that provides financial support to academic researchers. The program awarded a total of $2.3 million across 43 projects related to cryptography, economics, execution layer, formal verification, P2P networking, security, and society and regulatory aspects.
The program aims to advance innovative research and the understanding of blockchain. The recipients of the grants represent a diverse group of academic institutions and research organizations across 22 countries. The program received more than 250 applications for funding. The academic grants program is run yearly by the foundation.
MAV Token Goes Live
Maverick Protocol’s MAV token is now live. Early users of the protocol can now claim a share of 30 million MAV tokens as part of an incentive program. Coined as a pre-season program, the protocol allocated rewards to users who provided liquidity, participated in governance, traded, and held MAV NFTs prior to June 22nd.
Users who stake their MAV tokens for veMAV governance tokens will also be eligible for a governance bonus. Maverick Protocol will also launch a Season 1 Ecosystem Incentive Program focused on bootstrapping liquidity and incentivizing early users and builders. MAV, which has a total supply of 2 billion, is currently trading for about $0.50.
Wallet Connect Shuts Down v1.0
Wallet Connect has shut down Wallet Connect v1.0 in favor of Wallet Connect 2.0, the latest iteration of the messaging layer that supports simultaneous multi-chain support. Dapps and ecosystem providers are urged to migrate to Wallet Connect 2.0. The new release features improved WebSocket management, faster performance, and a decentralized backend.