GM folks! ✨

Welcome to the 21st Issue of This Week in Web3. As always, you get Web3 updates that matter with a side of discussions, jobs, reads, resources & so much more in a glance!

Let's dive into what we have covered this week:

• A cheaper, faster way to use Ethereum

• Vitalik focuses on decentralization

• How to dive deeper into Web3

• Funding and Work in Web3 + bonus reads

Estimated reading time: 3:25 minutes

This week in crypto

it's not easy being a genius and a drip god, y'know 💁🏻‍♂️

Weekly Web3 Wrap

Major updates from the web3 world 🌐

• Minecraft will not support NFTs, says "they're not inclusive of all of our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots" 🤔

• Coinbase is offering free Coinbase-managed Web3 usernames to its users built on top of the ENS infrastructure 🙋‍♂️

• An anonymous bidder offered to own Amazon.eth domain name for $1 million, which will be the highest ENS Domain sale to date if accepted 🌐

• Ex-Coinbase manager Ishan Wahi was arrested in the US crypto insider-trading case. 💰

A cheaper, faster way to use Ethereum is here!

The biggest and most exciting news comes from Polygon this week! Polygon unveiled its ETH-compatible zero-knowledge scaling solution, zkEVM, with the intention to scale Ethereum. ✨

This will make Ethereum faster and cheaper. And for any developers reading this, you can now seamlessly deploy any Ethereum smart contract to an L2 that scales infinitely using ZK proofs!

zkEVM aims to solve the underlying Blockchain Trilemma – decentralization, scalability, and security. Here are some key features:

• zkEVM will enable developers to deploy any ETH smart contract.

• It uses ETH as the gas token.

• The code is open-source and has already been published by Polygon.

Read Polygon's Blog on zkEVm in detail here. 👩‍🏫

We're happy that the holy grail of scaling is finally here and incredibly proud of Polygon for pulling this off! Web3 just levelled up 📈

Ethereum focuses on decentralization as it moves towards 55% completion

Continuing the talk about Blockchain Trilemma, let's talk about Vitalik at Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC). Speaking at the EthCC in Paris, Vitalik Buterin outlined his vision for the blockchain’s future—increased focus on security, stability and decentralization. 🌐 

Here is everything you need to know summed up in his words:

1. Ethereum is “55% complete once we finish the Merge.”

"At the end of this roadmap, Ethereum will be a much more scalable system."

2. Ethereum should, over time, “settle down.”

Ethereum will “look somewhat more like a system that optimizes for safety and predictability, and less like an ecosystem that optimizes for impressing and dazzling people.”

3. Buterin warned against adding support for multiple virtual machines.

Ethereum shouldn't so complex that “no single person can understand the whole protocol.”

4. Instead of increasing complexity, the focus should be on decentralization.

This includes having an easy-to-use light client for the consensus layer, execution layer, and Layer-2’s “as a default,” having better support for home stakers and making sure it’s possible to run a full node on lighter hardware.

5. “We have to upgrade to different cryptography.”

In terms of future changes, Vitalik pointed out, “Once quantum computers come, we have to upgrade to different cryptography.”

6. The transition is worth it.

Like a lot of people, he believes the big merge has a lot of benefits. And everyone else can use Ethereum Classic. They have “a welcoming community,” and it is “a totally fine chain,” he added.

Dive deeper into Web3 with The Product House 🚀

Learn on Discord

Open doors for bigger and better opportunities by kickstarting your journey led by seasoned Web3 builders. You wouldn't want to miss our AMA session today with Patrick Scott (Dynamo DeFi) at 7:30 pm IST on discord!

Hop onto our Space

Join us this Friday, July 29 at 8:00 PM and understand Tokenomics and its Significance & Career Prospects 👇

THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CELO

If the spirit of Web3 could be explained in one word, it would be along the lines of prosperity for all ✨

And that's what Celo is doing; the word literally translates to purpose in Esperanto! Celo is a mobile-first DeFi platform building for change. Their aim? DEFI for a cause, DeFi for all.

Celo is BUIDLing for climate change and building communities all around the world. You can also get through transactions without wasting your favourite crypto on fees by the time you're done yawning; it's that fast and allows you to pay transaction fees with tokens & stablecoins. Suddenly, DeFi doesn't sound boring, plus it's for the environment? Sold!

Learn more here on how you can earn, learn & build to be a part of Celo's purpose.🤝

Work in Web3

• Develop contracts for Infinite Capital as a Smart Contract/Web3 Developer. 👩🏻‍💻

• Elevate the user experience at Crunchbase as a Front end engineer. 🛠

• Join Moon Pay as their Project Manager, Brand & Marketing. 📋

This Week in funding

• India-based blockchain startup 5ire secured a $100 million Series A led by investors including Alphabit and Marshland Capital — giving it unicorn status with a valuation of $1.5 billion.

• Ex-Uber exec Amit Jain’s startup Zamp, building banking and payments for the crypto economy, has raised about $25 million in a round, valuing the startup at almost $160 million.

• Nevermined, an ecosystem development company providing tools for users to read, write and own digital assets, raised a 3 million euro seed round co-led by Signature Ventures and Polymorphic Capital.

Hey, you made it here! Here, sip the last of that Sunday coffee with some bonus reads: 

That’s a wrap for This Week in Web3, see you next week! 🚀

If you’re an early-stage Web3 builder going from 0 to 1, holler at our creative-capital studio Spacekayak and let’s create something extraordinary through design! ✨