Project Progress

THENA Official Clarifies Recent THE Market Volatility, States Project Was Not Attacked, Incident Originated from Venus Protocol, Smart Contracts and Liquidity Pools Operating Normally. THENA Cooperating to Handle Signals, and Plans to Increase THE Single Sided Vaults APR to Reward Voters.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed the concept of "Ethereum Lite," aiming to simultaneously enhance network speed and security through a dual-system architecture that strengthens network resilience. This upgrade could potentially change the standards for evaluating blockchain performance, with the community responding positively and focusing on future practical performance metrics. Success would establish a differentiated advantage for ETH.

A latest research report indicates that XRP remains the core of Ripple's cross-border payment infrastructure, serving as a liquidity bridge. Even with the launch of the stablecoin RLUSD, XRP remains irreplaceable in value exchange and transaction speed. Ripple is positioning it as a bridge for central bank digital currencies, enhancing long-term market confidence.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin introduces the concept of Lean Ethereum, aiming to combine speed and security in blockchain design. This innovative dual system could shift the focus from speed to reliability, potentially changing how blockchains are evaluated in the crypto space.

Gate News reported that on March 18, MiniMax released the next-generation Agent flagship large model M2.7, showcasing for the first time a "model self-evolution" pathway. M2.7 can independently construct complex Agent Harness and based on Agent Teams, complex Skills, Tool Search

Pi Network completed a mainnet upgrade to Protocol 20 on March 18, providing a smart contract execution environment to support upcoming NFT and escrow functionalities. Smart contracts will be rolled out in phases, with the first phase featuring subscription contracts, followed by escrow contracts and NFT tools in subsequent phases. Each step requires security audits and community verification to ensure safety and stability.

Pi Network's latest upgrade to Protocol 20 establishes foundational support for smart contracts, focusing on real-world applications. The rollout emphasizes careful testing and community feedback while improving tools like Pi Wallet and SDK, marking a significant advancement for the ecosystem.

Gate News, on March 18, Jupiter Wallet announced the launch of Auto Earn feature. This feature allows users to set a trigger amount (minimum $10). When the wallet balance reaches the set threshold, the system will automatically deposit tokens into the Jup Lend protocol. This process requires no gas fees from users, and idle tokens can automatically generate yields.

Decentralized derivatives platform Aster launched Aster Chain on March 18, a high-performance privacy blockchain designed specifically for perpetual futures, supporting cross-chain asset deposits and emphasizing account-level privacy protection. Although the mainnet launch drove a brief surge in ASTER price, trading volume and total locked value declined significantly. Whether it can attract liquidity in the future will be key to its growth.

New York-based platform Theo announced the completion of a $100 million funding round and launched thUSD, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by gold. It creates two independent sources of income through arbitrage between the gold token thGOLD and gold futures, aiming to provide hedging and returns in unstable markets. Unlike Tether Gold and PAX Gold, thUSD not only tracks gold prices but also actively generates additional yield. The platform plans to open in 200 countries worldwide and is compatible with various lending protocols.

Gate News Update: On March 18, João (@0xTimepunk) announced today that he has officially joined the Aave Protocol as Chief Smart Contract Engineer. João will be involved in smart contract development for the protocol and work with the team to advance the development of on-chain lending applications. It is reported that João previously served as Engineering Lead at Superform XYZ and is also an AI project

Nado decentralized exchange launched Silver commodity perpetual futures (XAG-PERP) on March 18, supporting up to 20x leverage with an isolated margin mode that ensures liquidation of a single position does not affect other holdings. Trading hours align with CME Globex, with position reduction operations only available during non-trading sessions.

Nexus closed its testnet on March 17 and entered the mainnet phase directly, supporting DeFi applications, financial institutions, and AI systems. The testnet attracted 2.6 million participants and processed 58 million transactions, achieving a 1000x improvement in throughput.

Gate News, on March 18, Starknet mainnet will begin a planned upgrade starting at 17:10 (UTC+8) today, with an estimated downtime of approximately 12 minutes. Starknet stated that this upgrade is part of its move toward further decentralization, which will transfer the block hash calculation of Starknet blocks to decentralized Apollo nodes.

Gate News: On March 18, Starknet officially posted on X stating that its mainnet will temporarily shut down starting at 9:10 AM UTC today for a scheduled upgrade.

Anuma, in the ZetaChain ecosystem, has launched Anuma Friends, an AI phone number feature that allows users to interact with AI assistants via SMS without downloading apps or internet access. Services include Anuma and Coco, with subscription fees of $5.99/month.

Harry Howard AI recently completed testing of its prediction market product, attracting 8,518 participants and generating 26,423 transactions. The platform secured $3 million in seed funding in 2025, is currently advancing private fundraising efforts, and plans to launch a token.

Stacks Labs has successfully implemented the SIP-034 upgrade, enhancing network processing efficiency for DeFi applications by up to 30 times by resolving critical bottlenecks. This update allows selective reset of resource limits, enabling more transactions per block, particularly benefiting complex DeFi use cases. While STX tokenomics remain unchanged, the upgrade may boost long-term network activity.

The CFTC issued a "no-action" letter to Phantom Technologies, allowing it to connect users to regulated futures markets without registering as a broker. This decision promotes transparency for non-custodial wallet developers and may guide future regulations.