Behind the blocks

Sometimes, crypto projects with a meme-like concept can evolve to take on a new life with greater utility. One example is Berachain , which began life as the Bong Bears NFT project. At the 2024 edition of Token2049 in Singapore, Berachain’s anonymous co-founder, Smokey the Bera, explained that the team had noticed problems with how a number of blockchain networks worked today. Specifically, they realized that in many cases, liquidity and security weren’t aligned at the chain level. That led to Bong Bears taking on a new life as a Layer-1 blockchain that integrates with the Ethereum virtual machine (EVM). Berachain runs on a Proof of Liquidity (PoL) consensus, which provides security for the chain and rewards participants who provide liquidity.

Authored by Kiwi Yao, researcher @OKX Ventures 2023 was a big year for account abstraction (AA), as the arrival of the ERC-4337 Ethereum standard brought new opportunities for users of the network. ERC-4337 gave access to smart wallet contracts, and its progress since launch has brought new capabilities.

Have you ever wondered how certain research projects get funded? How about why some groundbreaking discoveries sometimes seem to take forever to materialize? With a lack of transparency and funding troubles existing, it's no wonder scientists are considering decentralized science (DeSci) to be a revolutionary movement that aims to shake up the traditional scientific landscape.