New Week in Ethereum 2026-01-16

Week in Ethereum News

ACDE #228 set near-term Execution Layer direction for “Glamsterdam” devnet planning, including preferring a simpler contract-size bump approach (EIP-7954) over more complex code-size metering proposals.

Blob Analysis after Fusaka and BPO Updates: empirical post-Fusaka / BPO study (MigaLabs) looking at blob utilization vs. targets and missed-slot correlations at higher blob counts, with a recommendation to pause further blob-parameter-only increases until miss rates normalize.
Recursive-STARK-based bandwidth-efficient mempool: proposes periodically emitting a single recursive STARK attesting to validity of all still-valid objects a node has seen (rather than attaching large proofs per object).
Trust minimized transaction simulation using state proofs: outlines a production-oriented approach for wallets to verify simulation prestate cryptographically (MPT proofs + multi-RPC stateRoot consensus) and then execute locally (e.g., with revm) to reduce blind trust in simulation APIs/RPCs.

Arbitrum positions itself as a stablecoin settlement layer, publishing a data-backed analysis highlighting concentration of stablecoin liquidity and transfer volume on Arbitrum and arguing this use case should guide future technical and ecosystem priorities.
Optimism governance updates proposal to align OP token with Superchain success, revising details on Jan 15 to incorporate feedback, including mechanics for allocating 50% of Superchain revenue toward OP token buybacks and ecosystem alignment.

Yo Protocol suffered a $3.71 million loss on January 14, 2026, when a vault operator fat-fingered a $3.84 million swap with broken slippage parameters. Only $112K came out the other side. The team quietly backstopped the loss and waited two days to mention it publicly.
Truebit was drained for $26.2 million on January 12, 2026, through an unchecked integer overflow in unverified bytecode. This marks the first major hack of 2026, with the same attacker having hit Sparkle weeks prior.

Gitcoin Grants 24 (GG24) is live under Gitcoin 3.0’s structured framework — The Gitcoin network-first public goods funding round continues active coordination of grants across domains to fund builders and ecosystem initiatives.
Ethereum NFT drop calendars show active mint schedules — Multiple NFT calendars are listing ongoing and upcoming Ethereum NFT drops, indicating sustained collector and creator activity in the ecosystem.

🚨 Lido at 23.89%, still too close to the 33.3% threshold.
Client diversity (via clientdiversity.org):
- Execution layer: Geth ~41% & Nethermind ~38%
- Consensus layer: Lighthouse ~37.6% & Erigon ~26%
Any client bug over 33.3% could mean loss of finality.
Better geographic diversity is optimal, particularly outside of North America & Europe.

EIPs (Core, Networking, Interface):
- EIP-7778: Block Gas Accounting without Refunds — Clarifies block gas accounting for receipts.
- EIP-7799: Fee Payment Log — Adds a standardized fee payment log.
- EIP-8024: Backward Compatible SWAPN, DUPN, and EXCHANGE — Specifies EVM behavior at the end of code execution.
- EIP-7825: Transaction Gas Limit Cap — Defines an RPC method for capping transaction gas limits.
ERCs (Application Layer):
- EIP-7932: Pad sigrecover Return Value to 32 Bytes — Pads sigrecover output to 32 bytes.
- EIP-8096: Double Repricing for Point Evaluation — Changes repricing to double.
- EIP-7916: Merkleize to the Right — Updates SSZ merkleization to right-padding.

Fees (via ultrasound.money):
- Gas: 0.0 to 1.9 gwei, 0.1 gwei average; zero net issuance at 12.3 gwei
- 121.3k ETH net issuance this week
ETHUSD: $3,076 – $3,379, currently $3,291, all time high $4,946
ETHBTC: currently 0.034 (Flippening at ~0.165)

EEA hosted Fusaka executive briefing — The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance held a private executive session with Ethereum Foundation and Protocol Guild speakers focused on Fusaka and its enterprise implications.
Baseline Protocol Reference Implementation 3 (BRI-3) — The Baseline Protocol advanced BRI-3 toward a usable reference implementation for enterprise, privacy-preserving workflows on public Ethereum.

Bank of Italy economist warns that Ethereum's role in financial systems makes its token economics a concern for regulators, who may need to consider safeguards for its use in regulated finance.
BitMine Chair Tom Lee told investors the company could generate over $400 million income on its $13 billion worth of ether holdings, primarily via staking.

Ethereum Foundation: Enterprise Relationship Lead (Remote - APAC, US-East Coast)
Aztec: Marketing Assistant (New York City)
OP Labs: Senior Product Manager, Fintechs & Exchanges (New York, San Francisco)
Consensys: Senior Creative Copywriter (Remote - Canada, US)

January 23, 2026: Ethereum Core Devs Meeting #227 - Regular coordination call for Ethereum protocol developers.
February 17-21, 2026: ETHDenver BUIDLWeek - The world's largest Web3 developer conference and hackathon in Denver, Colorado.
Mar 30 – Apr 2, 2026: EthCC 9 (Ethereum Community Conference): Europe’s largest Ethereum-focused conference, with strong research and developer tracks.
April 29–30, 2026: TOKEN2049 Dubai: major global crypto and Web3 industry conference.