Basenames Dutch Auction

Quick Take

Basenames is launching via Dutch auction.
Dune Analytics enables NFT mints for Dune charts.
Hardhat releases a development update.
Optimism Retro Funding 5 goes live this week.

Base revealed that access for its Base.eth subnames will open on Tuesday, August 20th. The domain names will be available through a Dutch auction sale with a gradually decreasing premium fee over the first 36 hours. The premium fee will start at 100 ETH, decreasing to 0.39 ETH over the first 12 hours. Once the Dutch auction ends, no premium fee will be applied. Base initially introduced Basenames to a limited group of users during Base Camp in July. Basenames are third-level domains based on the Base.eth second-level ENS domain. Users can currently search for Base.eth subname availability at base.org/names.

Dune Enables NFT Mints For Charts

Dune Analytics, a platform for querying blockchain data using SQL, introduced "Mint Moment," a feature that allows users to mint and collect Dune charts as NFTs on Base. The feature is facilitated by an integration with Zora, enabling protocol rewards for users and Dune builders. Users can capture significant moments in time as NFTs, such as TVL, volume, and transaction milestones. The initiative creates a new revenue stream for Dune creators, who earn a 0.000333 ETH fee for each mint originating from their dashboards. Dune wizards need to connect their wallets to their accounts to enable minting.

Hardhat Ethereum Runtime In Rust

Ethereum tooling provider Hardhat released an update on the Ethereum Development Runtime (EDR), a Rust-based runtime implementation. EDR allows features like Solidity stack traces and transaction details to be accessed across multiple languages via WASM. The team is working on stabilizing EDR and ensuring compatibility with existing plugins. The team is also preparing for Hardhat 3, the next major release, which will introduce OP Stack simulation support and Solidity testing capabilities. Hardhat is a development environment and task runner for Ethereum smart contracts. It simplifies the process of writing, testing, and debugging contracts written in EVM-compatible languages.

Retro Funding Round 5 Dates

Applications for Optimism’s fifth retroactive funding round will open this Thursday, August 22nd. This round will distribute 8 million OP tokens to contributors to the OP Stack. Eligible projects include Ethereum core contributions, such as clients, OP Stack research and development, and OP Stack tooling. Applications will close on September 5th.

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