ChainCatcher news, Sony's Layer2 project Soneium announced two major upgrades at the end of this month, introducing Granite and Fjord through dual hard forks, and updating its Layer 1 contract to v1.6.0. Soneium stated that these upgrades will enhance its security and efficiency, prepare for Soneium Minato to join the Superchain, and expand the Soneium ecosystem alongside other OP L2s. They will also enable Superchain governance to oversee future L1 contract upgrades, thereby strengthening the decentralization of its ecosystem.

ChainCatcher news, Bitcoin Layer2 project Bitlayer has completed a $9 million A+ round financing with a valuation of $300 million. This round was led by Polychain Capital, with Franklin Templeton co-leading, and participation from SCB Limited, Selini Capital, G-20 Group, and other investors.Bitlayer co-founder Charlie Hu revealed that this round of financing started in early August and concluded last week. Just three months ago, the company had completed a $11 million Series A financing.Like the previous Series A financing, Bitlayer's A+ financing uses a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) structure, accompanied by token warrants, with a valuation of $300 million, which includes both equity valuation and fully diluted token valuation. The latest round of financing brings Bitlayer's total funding to $25 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to L2BEAT data, the current total locked value (TVL) of Ethereum Layer 2 has rebounded to $36.13 billion, with a 7-day increase of 2.87%. The top five locked values are:Arbitrum One ($13.94 billion, 7-day increase of 1.62%);Base ($6.59 billion, 7-day increase of 3.56%);OP Mainnet ($6.12 billion, 7-day increase of 4.38%);Blast ($1.55 billion, 7-day increase of 3.81%);Mantle ($1.25 billion, 7-day increase of 5.75%).

ChainCatcher news, BSCN Headlines posted on X platform that Sony's Layer2 network Soneium will collaborate with Sony Bank to launch a yen stablecoin.

ChainCatcher news, the modular zkEVM Layer2 network Prom announced that its testnet V2 will launch on September 9 at 18:00. V2 will have the same logic and mechanisms as V1, allowing users to continue completing task lists to earn points.

ChainCatcher news, according to DePINscan data, the AI Layer2 project Network3 has surpassed 290,000 global nodes, with devices distributed across 185 countries and regions including Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia.Previously on August 23, the AI Layer2 network Network3's physical mining machine N3 Edge V1 sold out lightning fast on the first day of its presale.It is reported that Network3 has completed a $5.5 million financing round, with participation from Borderless Capital, EV3, and others. The next round of financing has already begun, with multiple institutions participating.

ChainCatcher message, the Ethereum Layer2 network Soneium, jointly developed by Sony and Startale Labs, released a graphic with "08.28.2024" on X, which may hint at the launch of the testnet on August 28.

ChainCatcher news, according to L2BEAT data, the current total locked value of the Ethereum Layer 2 network is $36.04 billion, with a 3.34% decrease over the past seven days.The top five in locked value are: Arbitrum One ($14.78 billion, 7-day decrease of 2.34%); Base ($6.1 billion, 7-day decrease of 4.16%); OP Mainnet ($5.51 billion, 7-day decrease of 4.3%); Blast ($1.74 billion, 7-day decrease of 4.12%); Mantle ($1.19 billion, 7-day decrease of 0.16%).

ChainCatcher news, the Web3 industry research and analysis platform Web3Caff Research recently released an in-depth report on the L2 public chain Scroll. Web3Caff Research researcher ssr.eth pointed out in the report that in January 2021, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that with the advancement of zk-SNARK technology, zk-Rollup would prevail among all Layer2 solutions. As a member of the zk-Rollup sector, Scroll is collaborating with the PSE team, supported by the Ethereum Foundation, to develop zkEVM. Although the PSE team has recently shifted its focus to zkVM, Scroll maintains its unique orthodoxy and is exploring new technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs and hardware acceleration, aiming to launch a more secure, efficient, and highly scalable zk-Rollup network.In addition, Scroll introduced EIP-4844 data blobs on April 29, 2024, to achieve Layer1 data availability. The emergence of EIP-4844 significantly optimizes Layer2 solutions and effectively alleviates data availability issues. The report further indicates that with the launch of the Scroll mainnet, its ecosystem is continuously improving, and community incentive activities and hackathons are attracting more and more users and developers.Despite the steady increase in its TVL and active address count, whether Scroll can stand out among numerous competitors remains a key concern for the community. For example, the disadvantages and risks faced by Scroll include issues of technological maturity and user acceptance; zk-Rollup technology is still in the validation phase, has a long development time, and hardware acceleration technology is still under testing. In terms of developer support and ecosystem building, the number of Scroll users and transaction volume still needs to grow. Challenges in cross-chain interoperability and ecosystem integration also increase the resistance to its comprehensive application, while the choice between zkVM and zkEVM will determine the future development direction.

ChainCatcher news, cross-border payment infrastructure Layer2 Financial has completed a $10.7 million Series A funding round, led by Galaxy Ventures, with participation from Accomplice and Sapphire Ventures. The company plans to use the funds to advance its product development, expand into new jurisdictions, and grow its team.It is reported that Layer2 Financial's partners can provide clients with compliant payments in multiple currencies. Through its API, clients can transfer funds using methods such as ACH, Fedwire, Swift, SEPA, and tokenized assets (including transfers from digital currencies to fiat currencies and vice versa), as well as receive and send payments. The platform is currently regulated in approximately 34 states in the U.S. and has also obtained licenses in Canada and Europe.

ChainCatcher news, the Abelian Foundation will officially launch the testnet for Abelian's quantum-resistant Layer2 QDAY on July 31. The released testnet includes the following:QDAY testnet main node (single node solution, hosted by the foundation)QDAY testnet explorer (https://testnet-explorer.qday.info/)QDAY testnet RPC services (https://testnet-rpc-00.qday.info/, https://testnet-rpc-01.qday.info/)In the next two weeks, the Abelian Foundation will continue to release the QDAY testnet faucet (for free QDAY test tokens), testnet ABEL staking services, decentralized exchange on the testnet, and other DeFi and Web3 applications on the testnet. Community members can add the QDAY network in their wallets and claim test tokens from the testnet faucet, browse block information, exchange for other ERC20 tokens on the testnet using DEX, interact with the QDAY testnet via RPC, deploy EVM smart contracts, claim ABEL test tokens, and experience the test ABEL staking participation.It is reported that QDAY is an EVM-compatible quantum-resistant second-layer network built on the groundbreaking quantum-safe ABEL blockchain. QDAY innovatively adopts a PoS-over-PoW consensus mechanism that combines the robust security of Proof of Work (PoW) with the energy efficiency and scalability of Proof of Stake (PoS), achieving a balance between security and energy efficiency.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Hemi Labs announced the launch of Hemi Network. Hemi Network is a modular Layer2 blockchain network focused on achieving scalability, security, and interoperability between Bitcoin and Ethereum.According to the team, Hemi Labs was co-founded by early Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik and blockchain security expert Max Sanchez, the latter being the main developer of Hemi's unique security feature inherited from Bitcoin, the Proof-of-Proof consensus protocol.