📰 Week in Mina News - 30
Dec 22, 2024 - Stay Updated with the Latest from Mina: Protocol Updates, Developer News, and Community Highlights
🖼️ Ecosystem News
Aligned Foundation’s Genesis Drop Registrations
The Aligned Foundation announced its Genesis Drop Registrations, including the Mina ecosystem. Targeting nearly 1 million addresses, this initiative will distribute $ALIGN tokens to reward loyalty. A total of 891,322 addresses were selected based on holding tokens from ecosystems like Mina, Starknet, Polygon, and EigenLayer at their all-time lows. This effort highlights Aligned’s commitment to supporting dedicated community members.
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DinoDex Launches: Trading Competition and Community Engagement
DinoDex has kicked off a trading competition on LocalNet! Participants can trade and add liquidity with TREX/tMINA and RAPTOR/tMINA pairs. Transactions use $tMINA test tokens, initially fixed at $1, with plans to adjust based on MINA's actual price later.
You can contribute feedback through the #bug-report channel on the DinoDex Discord. Winners will be announced on social media after the competition ends.
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Orochi Network x Mina Foundation Partnership
Orochi Network's partnership with Mina Foundation introduces zkDatabase, an innovative off-chain storage solution for zkApps. Supported by the Mina Navigators grant, zkDatabase addresses challenges in data integrity, scalability, and privacy, leveraging Kimchi proofs and recursion. This solution opens opportunities in industries like FinTech, IoT, healthcare, gaming, and identity verification, accelerating zkApp development and adoption.
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ZKON x Galxe Collaboration
ZKON Network has teamed up with Galxe to launch an exciting campaign with $300 USDT in rewards! This collaboration invites participants to explore ZKON through the Galxe Quest by completing a series of simple tasks. The campaign is open until January 2nd, 2025, 22:59 UTC, offering users the chance to win rewards while learning more about ZKON's ecosystem.
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Orochi and ZKON Join Forces
Orochi Network and ZKON are now official ecosystem partners. ZKON, a decentralized Oracle Network, addresses challenges in decentralization, data integrity, and scalability using advanced technologies like ZKPs, MPC, and zkTLS. This partnership aims to drive secure and verifiable data solutions across Web3. Together, they aim to deliver the potential of Zero Knowledge to a broader audience and strengthen the decentralized ecosystem.
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ZkNoid's Provably Fair Lottery Launching January 2025
ZkNoid is gearing up to launch its L1 Lottery game on the Mina mainnet this January 2025! Known for leveraging client-side proof generation, ZkNoid ensures a provably fair and transparent gaming experience powered by zkProofs. Players can enjoy a trustworthy system for ticket purchases and winning number generation, with real $MINA prizes up for grabs.
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TileVille Introduces Player vs Player Challenges
TileVille has launched its exciting "Player vs Player" feature, adding a competitive edge to the Mina ecosystem. Players can create custom challenges with entry fees, set participant limits, and choose between SPEED (timed builds) or CLASSIC modes. The winner takes the entire prize pool! Share challenge links with friends, test your skills, and prove your building prowess. Whether you're looking for high-stakes fun or a friendly competition, this new feature has something for everyone.
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Governance Updates
Protocol Governance Weekly Updates
MIP: The Mina Improvement Proposal (MIP) upgrade review is underway. Community calls are planned to discuss the proposal, encouraging participation.
MEF: Testing of the MEF web-based application continues, focusing on proposals deliberation and Off-Chain Voting (OCV).
PGT: Integration of SurveyBot with the leaderboard is in progress, with testing as the next step.
Research: MEF blog posts and new research exploring trust in Mina’s social layer are being developed, with publication scheduling in motion.
More details can be found on the Mina Protocol Governance Knowledge Hub.
Growth Programs
A General Update About Growth Programs
The Mina Foundation has announced updates to its grant programs. While celebrating the success of zkIgnite, the program will now be retired to focus on the Navigators and Core Grants programs. Navigators will emphasize technical mentorship, hands-on support, and quick application deployment, with tracks for both new and mid-stage projects. Core Grants will continue funding public-good projects aimed at improving Mina's core protocol and infrastructure. These changes reflect a strategic shift toward programs that better align with the ecosystem’s current needs. Future plans include cultivating a decentralized funding model to support sustainable projects.
You can find all details here.
CORE
Navigators
December Update
In Season 2, the Navigators Program has processed 106 Growth Track applications, funding 30 projects (16 delivered). Between Nov 15th - Dec 13th, 10 new applications were received, with 3 funded and 5 rejected. The Starter Track onboarded 5 new participants, with total payouts reaching ~870,000 MINA.
Key Funded Proposals:Mina Schnorr Signature Verification in EVMs
LimitLeSwap (DEX)
LitProtocol Integration (Google Auth)
Season 3 launches in January 2025 with over 2 million tokens, focusing on new tech like bridges and rolling over applications from Season 2 for continuity.
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Zeko
Zeko Protocol Mainnet Audit Kicks Off
Zeko Protocol has officially started its mainnet audit in partnership with zkSecurity, a renowned team of cryptography experts, including former engineers from o1Labs. Known for their experience with ZK L1 and L2 audits, zkSecurity will help ensure that the Zeko mainnet meets the highest standards of security and reliability. This milestone underscores Zeko's commitment to delivering a robust and trustworthy blockchain network ahead of its launch.
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Zeko Ecosystem
The #ZekoBoom Contest is Here
ZekoLabs enters the #ZekoBoom expansion phase with an exciting testnet contest launching soon! Participants can create and fund their Zeko testnet wallets through Aurowallet to earn bonus points and climb the leaderboard. This initiative is a lead-up to Zeko’s highly anticipated mainnet launch in 2025. Don't miss the chance to gain a head start in the competition.
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📌 Mina Community Bulletin Board
This section features posts from the community and projects. You can submit yours here.
X Posts
Post by “@_ibrahimoumar”
https://x.com/_ibrahimoumar/status/1869313697937756406
Blog Posts
Testing, Node Operations & Velocity Improvements: The Role of Platform Engineering in Advancing Mina
https://www.o1labs.org/blog/platform-engineering-for-mina
https://x.com/o1_labs/status/1869335558222451126
Mina’s superpower: the ability to maintain a succinct, verifiable blockchain
https://www.o1labs.org/blog/mina-s-superpower-the-ability-to-maintain-a-succinct-verifiable-blockchain
Introduction to Polynomial Commitments — Kimchi Series #2
https://blockofchain.medium.com/introduction-to-polynomial-commitments-kimchi-series-2-c80a3b6618fe
https://x.com/BlockofChain/status/1870605852820091387
TileVille: Pioneering ZK Gaming with Strategic City-Building
https://medium.com/@dokmecisamet/tileville-pioneering-zk-gaming-with-strategic-city-building-4e8836266baf
https://x.com/Sametdokmeci1/status/1868690921329729721
🎟️ Events
Last Week’s Events
Highlighting Mina Protocol’s Decentralization
A recent discussion by o1Labs featured insights on why Mina Protocol stands out as the only truly decentralized zkRollup. Experts like Brandon Kase and Yasin Yesilyurt emphasized its role in advancing decentralized technology. A powerful statement by Connaugh Gaskin summed it up: “If you care about decentralization, you have to care about Mina Protocol.”
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"Exploring Mina with Evan Shapiro"
Last week, Foresight News hosted an insightful session featuring Evan Shapiro, founder of Mina Protocol. The discussion provided a recap of Mina's journey in 2024 and exciting perspectives for 2025. This engaging event offered the community a deeper understanding of Mina Protocol’s accomplishments and future direction.
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Mina Bootcamp AMA
Last week, the Mina Bootcamp AMA hosted by Mina Pulse and OpenBuild, provided an excellent opportunity for participants to dive into Mina’s technology and learn about the Open Build Mina Hackathon. The event, held on December 19 at 12:00 UTC, featured Daniel Luo, DevRel at the Mina Foundation, sharing insights on zkApps and technical resources for developers. It was a valuable session for anyone looking to participate in the Mina Hackathon or learn more about Mina’s ecosystem.
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💼 Open Jobs
No new job listings from the community this week. If you have any job updates or offers, please share them here.
🔭 Statistics and Metrics
Key Metrics from Last Week:
Total Amount Transferred (daily average): 18,39M MINA
Unique Snark Workers (daily average): 13
Snarks Included (daily average): 21,377
Transactions (daily average): 20,661
CryptoMiso Commit Stats: Mina secured 2nd place over the past 12 months with 4,995 commits and +100 contributors.
More details here.
This newsletter helps the Mina community stay updated on the latest protocol changes, developer news, ecosystem developments, community activities, and key metrics. If you have news to share in this newsletter, please reach out to us here. Better together! - Astromina Team