Local Ethereum #5

May 2025 Roundup

June 06, 2025

🌍 Beginning

Local Ethereum is a newsletter to cover the geo-story of Ethereum.

Artist: Liam Cobb(opens in a new tab)

Asia 🌊

India

• Base Batches(opens in a new tab) features 2,600+ builders across 90 countries and offers up to $1M in ecosystem grants. Bangalore-based startup Devfolio(opens in a new tab) is behind the logistics and operations for both this program and the Warpspeed: Agentic AI hackathon by Lightspeed(opens in a new tab).

Malaysia

• Scroll co-founder Yezhang is bullish on Malaysian builders(opens in a new tab), especially with strong and organic communities like ETHKL(opens in a new tab) and Etherscan(opens in a new tab).

China Mainland

• Ant Digital launches Jovay L2(opens in a new tab) to join Ethereum's RWAs party. ETHPanda's interview(opens in a new tab) with new EF co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang. DappLearning continues to educate Dapp development(opens in a new tab), 5.5k GitHub star. ✨

Taiwan

• 2025 ETHTaipei recap(opens in a new tab), highlighting its community-driven spirit. DeFiHackLabs May Community update(opens in a new tab). Learn more about Taiwan Ethereum Ecosystem Overview(opens in a new tab).

Hong Kong

• A big win with the new stablecoin bill(opens in a new tab) passing, establishing licensing regime amid global competition.

Singapore

• Central bank has set a deadline of June 30 2025 for local crypto service providers to stop offering digital token (DT) services to overseas markets(opens in a new tab).

Japan

• the mu team(opens in a new tab) is bringing Ethereum to expo2025japan(opens in a new tab), showcasing Ethereum use cases and bringing users onchain! The Tokyo based Uzumaki research house(opens in a new tab) welcomes Ethereum and zk researchers.

Europe 🏰

U.K.

• London-based startup Aztec(opens in a new tab) Network launches public testnet(opens in a new tab) for privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2.

Germany

• Circles V2 launches(opens in a new tab), incorporating several projects incubated by Gnosis, including Safe, CoW Swap, and Gnosis Pay. This might just be the culmination of Berlin-based serial entrepreneur Martin Köppelmann's life's work(opens in a new tab).

France

• Many great Ethereum startups like Ledger originate from France. However, violent extortions targeting the crypto-wealthy have increased(opens in a new tab) in recent months. Further reading: Personal and physical security for founders, operators, and investors(opens in a new tab).

Poland

• ETHWarsaw(opens in a new tab) hosts ongoing meetups(opens in a new tab). Come meet the ETHWarsaw new team members(opens in a new tab) and the ambassadors(opens in a new tab).

Ukraine

• ETHKyiv(opens in a new tab) (June 13-15, 2025) is more than a hackathon, it's a community(opens in a new tab) of builders who inspire each other and collaborate through regular meetups, workshops, mini-hackathons, and innovative product development. Apply to join and hack(opens in a new tab).

Switzerland

• D/ACC pop-up cities expand to Switzerland with Zuitzerland(opens in a new tab), a Swiss-inspired society sandbox running May 1-26, 2025.

Serbia

• Serbia Ethereum Ecosystem Overview(opens in a new tab), highlights incredible startups like MVP Workshop and Tenderly, along with vibrant communities such as ETHBelgrade(opens in a new tab).

Turkey

• ModaPalas(opens in a new tab) is the home for zk & FHE enthusiasts.

North America 🗽

• [SEC says](https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/statement-certain-protocol-staking-activities-052925#:~:text=It%20is%20the%20Division's%20view,Exchange%20Act%20of%201934%20(the%20%E2%80%9C) proof-of-stake staking activities do not constitute securities transactions.
• With the closing of the $425 million private placement(opens in a new tab) led by Consensys(opens in a new tab), SharpLink will become the largest publicly traded ETH holder globally.
• Consensys acquired Web3Auth's wallet infrastructure(opens in a new tab), aiming to improve the user experience on MetaMask.
• Succinct introduces SP1 Hypercube(opens in a new tab), claiming real-time Ethereum proving
• The Base ecosystem is growing. The network rebounds to 10 million daily transactions(opens in a new tab), leading in transaction count among Optimistic Rollups. The first-ever Base Batches just wrapped, 5,000+ builders across 90 countries(opens in a new tab). Avantis(opens in a new tab), a Base-based decentralized exchange for leverage trading, has raised $8 million Series A(opens in a new tab).
• The Arbitrum DAO has approved STEP 2 proposals, allocating 35 million ARB to tokenized U.S. Treasury(opens in a new tab). More on Arbitrum RWA Landscape(opens in a new tab).
• World raises $135 million(opens in a new tab) from Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto to expand the network.
• L2BEAT and Lido Finance now on the EEA Board(opens in a new tab), accelerating Ethereum enterprise integration.
• Circle raises $1.05 billion in upsized US IPO(opens in a new tab). Its payments network mainnet is officially live(opens in a new tab).
• CEX
  • Coinbase data breach(opens in a new tab) affects 69,461 users. Those who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker will be reimbursed.
  • Coinbase to acquire crypto derivatives exchange Deribit(opens in a new tab) in record $2.9 billion deal.
  • Robinhood completes $200 million acquisition(opens in a new tab) of Luxembourg-based crypto exchange Bitstamp.

Latam 💃

Argentina

• bringargentinaonchain.org(opens in a new tab), by Crecimiento. LambdaClass: Celebrating a year of ethrex(opens in a new tab), an Ethereum L1 Execution and L2 client. ETHKipu Q1 progress report(opens in a new tab).

Brazil

• ETH Latam Brazil 2025(opens in a new tab) (Nov 2025), speaker application(opens in a new tab) is open.

Africa 🦁

• Big on wallets, light on volume: Africa's crypto paradox(opens in a new tab).

Nigeria

• Web3Bridge(opens in a new tab) has successfully onboarded ~100 graduates into the Ethereum ecosystem through their cohort training. Graduates now work at companies like Nethermind, Scroll, and Lisk, have received Starknet grants, won Base hackathons, and contribute to Ethereum open source projects.

Oceania 🏄

Australia

• Ethereum L2 RISE(opens in a new tab) [] (https://explorer.testnet.riselabs.xyz/address/0x182Bc4fFDcCC838c72D169fAbddC19c4D4Ea55Cf?utm_source=localethereum.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=local-ethereum-5)testnet(opens in a new tab) reached 1 billion(opens in a new tab) transactions. Monthly Ethereum Melbourne(opens in a new tab) meetup for local cool nerds, May: LP Labyrinth, Recursive Liquidity Madness(opens in a new tab).

Global Ecosystem Update 🗺️

• Ethereum Foundation outlines strategic vision(opens in a new tab) for future growth: Scale L1, Scale L2s (i.e. blobs), and Improve UX (L2 interop + app layer focus).
• Prior to this April, EF made the goals clear(opens in a new tab): 1) Maximize the number of people who (directly or indirectly) use Ethereum, in such a way that they benefit from Ethereum's underlying values. 2) Maximize the resilience of Ethereum's technical and social infrastructure.
• EF new Protocol team change(opens in a new tab).
• The Pectra upgrade(opens in a new tab) went live on May 7th, 2025 at 10:05:11 UTC. Learn more(opens in a new tab).
• Smart wallet adoption surges with over 11,000 EIP-7702 authorizations(opens in a new tab) on Ethereum within a week of Pectra upgrade, indicating healthy uptake by wallets and dapps.
• Ethereum stablecoin volume hits record $908 billion(opens in a new tab) as institutions, tech giants, and Trump jump in.
• The Convergence of Crypto and AI(opens in a new tab) by GSR.

Opportunities 💡

• If you're looking for a new opportunity in the Ethereum ecosystem, explore fresh roles at Ethereum Job Board(opens in a new tab), which we built with our friends at BuidlGuild.
• Ethereum Foundation announced the Trillion Dollar Security Initiative(opens in a new tab). If you are interested in contributing, please share your input(opens in a new tab) here.
• Devcon team announced the Devconnect Scholars Program(opens in a new tab), as part of Devconnect ARG 2025(opens in a new tab). Applications are now open(opens in a new tab), until Monday, June 30th!
• The Ethereum Foundation is sponsoring a global University Tour(opens in a new tab) in partnership with BuidlGuidl(opens in a new tab), designed to activate student communities and grow the next generation of Ethereum builders.
• Ethereum Season of Internships(opens in a new tab), where you can host a Summer Intern and help build the next generation of Ethereum contributors.
• Immunefi launches 'All Stars' elite whitehat program(opens in a new tab).

Highlighted Events in June ✨

• IC3 Blockchain Camp 2025(opens in a new tab), June 9-15, 2025, New York, U.S.;
• Protocol BERG v2(opens in a new tab), June 12-13, 2025, Berlin, Germany;
• ETHKyiv(opens in a new tab), June 13-15, 2025, Kyiv, Ukraine;
• ZuBerlin(opens in a new tab) Futura Garden, June 14-22, Berlin, Germany;
• Dappcon(opens in a new tab), June 16-18, Berlin, Germany;
• KTH Academic Nordic Blockchain Workshop(opens in a new tab), June 17, Stockholm, Sweden;
• ZK Hack Berlin(opens in a new tab), June 20-22, 2025, Berlin, Germany;
• ETHCluj(opens in a new tab), June 26-28, 2025, Cluj, Romania;
• ETHCC(opens in a new tab), June 30- July 3, 2025, Cannes, France

Thanks for reading, and have a nice day! 🌸

Best regards,

Riely and the Geodework team.

❤️❤️❤️

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