Meet Hoodi, Ethereum’s New Testnet

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of a very powerful tales in cryptocurrency tech growth. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Ethereum Reporter.

In this situation:

• Hello, Hoodi: Ethereum Welcomes a New Testnet
• Microsoft Raises Alarm of Malware Targeting Coinbase, MetaMask Wallets
• Halliday Raises $20M for AI Protocol to Eliminate Writing Smart Contracts for DeFi
• Sam Altman’s World Network and Razer Want to Defeat Gaming’s Bot Problem

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Network information

HELLO, HOODI: ETHEREUM WELCOMES A NEW TESTNET: Ethereum builders launched a brand new take a look at community, Hoodi, this week that shall be used to hold out the blockchain’s upcoming “Pectra” improve. Pectra will go dwell on Hoodi on March 26, and if all goes properly, the long-awaited improve will proceed to Ethereum’s mainnet roughly 30 days later, in line with the community’s core builders. Hoodi was created following defective Pectra checks on Ethereum’s different testnets, Holesky and Sepolia, which did not finalize correctly as a result of issues with how they have been configured. Test networks like Holesky, Sepolia, and Hoodi intention to imitate the primary Ethereum community — permitting builders the chance to check out code adjustments or main upgrades like Pectra in a low-stakes atmosphere earlier than deploying them to the mainnet. — Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

MICROSOFT RAISES ALARM OF MALWARE TARGETING COINBASE, METAMASK WALLETS: Tech big Microsoft shared a brand new report warning of malware that targets 20 of the preferred cryptocurrency wallets used with the Google Chrome extension. Microsoft’s Incident Response researchers raised alarms of a brand new distant entry trojan (RAT), dubbed StilachiRAT, which might deploy “sophisticated techniques to evade detection, persist in the target environment, and exfiltrate sensitive data,” the group shared in a weblog put up. The malware was found in November 2024, and it might steal customers’ pockets data, and any credentials, together with usernames and passwords, saved of their Google Chrome browser. StilachiRAT targets 20 crypto wallets together with among the most widely-used ones like MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Phantom, OKX Wallet, and BNB Chain Wallet. While the malware has not been distributed broadly, Microsoft did share that it has not been in a position to establish what entity is behind the menace and laid out some mitigation tips for present targets together with putting in antivirus software program. — Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

HALLIDAY RAISES $20M FOR AI PROTOCOL TO ELIMINATE WRITING SMART CONTRACTS FOR DEFI: Artificial intelligence (AI)-focused blockchain protocol Halliday mentioned it raised $20 million to assist fund growth of its Agentic Workflow Protocol (AWP), which goals to hurry growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) purposes and keep away from the necessity for programmers to write down good contracts. The Series A funding spherical was led by enterprise capital big Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto arm. “Our mission is to pioneer the software era of blockchain, enabling developers to build applications in hours, not years,” Halliday mentioned in an emailed announcement. “With Halliday, you can never write a smart contract again.”— Jamie Crawley + AI Boost Read extra.

SAM ALTMAN’S WORLD NETWORK AND RAZER WANT TO DEFEAT GAMING’S BOT PROBLEM: Sam Altman’s blockchain undertaking, World Network, is teaming up with gaming {hardware} agency Razer on a collection of options designed to weed out bots from video video games. “Razer ID verified by World ID” is a single sign-on mechanism that may confirm actual human players from bots. It’s constructed atop Razer ID, Razer’s current login service, and can assist assure there’s “a real person behind every Razer ID account,” according to a statement shared by Razer and World. The collaboration between the two firms comes as artificial intelligence (AI) tools are seeping into every corner of online life — including inside of video games, which have been plagued by non-human AI “bots” since lengthy earlier than the rise of Altman’s ChatGPT. — Margaux Nijkerk Read extra.

In Other News

• EOS Network, known for its scalable blockchain infrastructure, is rebranding to Vaulta as it pivots toward Web3 banking. The transition comes with a token swap that is provisionally scheduled for the end of May. It also comes with the launch of the Vaulta Banking Advisory Council, a group of financial and blockchain industry experts focused on bridging the gap between traditional banking and decentralized systems. Members include executives from Systemic Trust, Tetra, and ATB Financial, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk. – Francisco Rodrigues reports.
• Solana-based decentralized exchange Raydium is set to start its own token issuance platform in the coming weeks to drive more revenue to the already-popular trading service. Raydium’s LaunchLab will initially resemble the hit token issuance platform Pump.Fun, Blockworks first reported. Though developers say it will have several added features that make it more appealing for token launches. – Shaurya Malwa reports.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is set to drop its appeal against Ripple, ending a four-year legal battle, according to the company’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse. The XRP token, which is closely associated with Ripple, jumped 10% on Wednesday during U.S. morning hours after Garlinghouse posted in regards to the information on X. – Krisztian Sandor and Helene Braun report.

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