DeFi: Andreessen bets on transparent and composable EVM computation with smlXL blockchain infra
The number of active wallets engaging with dApps has surpassed 20MM, proving there is a lot more demand for efficient smart contract analysis
Gm Fintech Futurists —
Today we highlight the following:
BLOCKCHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE: Lyft Veteran Dor Levi’s smlXL Wants To Make Blockchains More Accessible—And A $13.4MM Funding Round Led By a16z Should Help (link here)
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BLOCKCHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE: Lyft Veteran Dor Levi’s smlXL Wants To Make Blockchains More Accessible—And A $13.4MM Funding Round Led By a16z Should Help (link here)
Blockchain data and infrastructure company smlXL (pronounced “small-XL”) has emerged from stealth with two flagship products, evm.codes and evm.storage, and 15,000 monthly visitors — impressive, considering there are just over 20,000 monthly active developers in the blockchain space. The company provides a service that helps developers understand code onchain, as well as run more performant code in the future.
Let's touch on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and smart contracts — the computational brain of Ethereum. The EVM plays a vital role in executing transactions and managing data storage and memory. Smart contracts are compiled into EVM bytecode, consisting of operands and opcodes, which are predefined instructions executed by the EVM. This bytecode can be challenging to interpret as it is written in the hexadecimal numbering system, and this is where smlXL's product, evm.codes, comes into play. It serves as an interactive reference for EVM opcodes. For a more technical explanation, see here.
The company’s core product, evm.storage, allows users to explore Ethereum contract storage and state at any block height, view variables and their corresponding values for verified contracts, navigate complex storage structures such as nested mappings, arrays, and structs (a way to group related variables together in one place), and review the storage history of specific variables, including changes to token balances and corresponding transaction hashes. smlXL is also expanding the coverage of evm.storage to include unverified Solidity contracts and plans to add the capability to trace and simulate transactions across multiple blockchains.
Looking ahead, smlXL envisions transforming its product into a Google-like search function. It aims to treat smart contracts as APIs, and collections of smart contracts as applications. Ultimately, smlXL intends to make interacting with smart contracts a user-friendly experience.
We are also intrigued by the potential of smlXL's products in optimizing gas consumption. By exploring different storage structures, developers can visualize the gas costs associated with specific opcodes, which will allow developers to reduce costs for end users.
While smlXL can point to its $13.4MM funding round led by a16z as proof of legitimacy, they are not the only player in the space. Cymbal offers a "human-readable" Ethereum block explorer, while Space and Time (SxT) raised $20MM at a $300MM valuation, and provides a decentralized data warehouse with indexed blockchain data. Subsquid is another notable blockchain indexing platform. After all, the number of active wallets engaging with dApps has surpassed 20MM, so there’s a lot more demand for efficient smart contract analysis.
👑 Related Coverage 👑
Curated Updates
Here are the rest of the updates hitting our radar.
Financial Institutions and Adoption
⭐ Thailand’s Kasikorn Bank Buys Majority Stake In Satang Crypto Exchange For $103MM - CoinDesk
BitGo Granted German Crypto Custody License By BaFin - CoinDesk
SEC Served PayPal Subpoena 'Relating' To Firm's Stablecoin - Decrypt
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DeFi and Digital Assets
⭐ Uniswap DAO Signals Approval for $12MM Investment In Ekubo’s Governance Token - Cryptonews
Circle Curbs Stablecoin Minting For Retail Users, Moving Closer To Tether's Practice - CoinDesk
Cubist, Led By Computer Science Professors, Releases Wallet-as-a-Service 'CubeSigner' - CoinDesk
EigenLayer Launches Voting Contest To Onboard New LSTs - The Defiant
Stablecoins Set To Succeed Where BTC, ETH Failed: Pantera - Blockworks
Hashflow Turns On ‘Fee Switch’, Redistributing 50% Of Revenue To Stakers - The Defiant
Blockchain Protocols
⭐ Crypto Venture Funds Variant, 1kx Lead $6MM Funding Round For ZK-Meets-AI Startup Modulus - CoinDesk
⭐ Zero Knowledge Infrastructure Provider Toposware Secures $5MM Seed Round - NFTGators
⭐ How A Ph.D. Student's Research Paper Turned Celestia Into $345MM Blockchain Project Overnight - CoinDesk
NFTs, DAOs and the Metaverse
⭐ Aera Protocol Opens to General Availability with $8MM Token Sale Led by Bain Capital Crypto - PR Newswire
Web3 Game Studio Moonveil Entertainment Secures $5.4MM In Seed Round - The Block
Rarible Introduces RaribleX: A Marketplace For Web2 Brands - nftnow
Phantom Wallet Now Lets You “Mint Moments” Into NFTs Instantly - nftnow
Yuga Labs Awarded $1.6MM In Landmark Ryder Ripps NFT Case - Blockworks
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