Stacksmith #7: Alchemy Developer Report Shows 3x Surge in Ethereum Smart Contracts
Also decentralized website storage, Consensys zkEVM testnet, randomness using SNARKs, and RMRK developer docs.
Hello You Beautiful Builders!
Crypto is pumping, development activity is ramping up… Did we turn the corner? Last week saw a nice swing up in the crypto markets, but don't worry, there will be plenty more bear market to build in.
Update: Just before sending this the markets took a nice fall off a short cliff.
We're all having fun, right? RIGHT?
Ethereum Smart Contracts Soared in 2022
Alchemy has released its Q4 State of Web3 report which shows that smart contracts on Ethereum jumped almost 3x of contract deployments in 2021 despite rough market conditions. Ethereum SDK installs (ethers.js, web3.js, hardhat) grew 87% vs 2021.
The report also shows the number of Solana programs (with at least 1 interaction) jumped 173% vs Jan 2021. Not too shabby for a dead platform with only 75 devs!
Ethereum Smart Contracts Deployment Jumped 293% in 2022
Decentralized Website Storage
Most websites today still use standard Web2 based hosting, without the same decentralization, resilience, or censorship resistance as on-chain code. To fix this, Chainlink looked into various options (Ethereum, dStorage, Sia, Arweave, IPFS, Filecoin) for decentralized storage to create an -almost- unstoppable website.
Using Decentralized Storage To Build the World’s Most Censorship-Resistant Website
Consensys Opens zkEVM Testnet
Consensys, the blockchain software company, is joining the ZK-EVM race with its own EVM-compatible rollup powered by ZK Proofs. Consensys is beginning to onboard whitelisted developers to deploy to the testnet. Early testnet users may qualify for an eventual airdrop.
Consensys Opens zkEVM Testnet to Whitelisted Users
Secure Randomness Using SNARKs
Ethereum dApps like NFT mints, lotteries, or games require true randomness so their contracts are fair. While there are services that provide random numbers they still have flaws, such as cost, biasability, and liveness.
This advanced, proof-of-concept code combines SNARKs and VDFs for an ETH native, VDF-compatible randomness beacon powered by RANDAO and pluggable block hash oracles.
Generating secure randomness on Ethereum using SNARKs
RMRK EVM Developer Documentation Updates
RMRK, a set of NFT building blocks for developers hosted on Kusama, Polkadot's "canary" network, has updated the documentation for its RMRK EVM developers.
The updated docs include a general overview of RMRK's legos and primitives, examples, and the @rmrk-team/evm-contracts package.
RMRK EVM developer documentation
Developer Tweets
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