EtherWorld Bulletin #101

TL;DR

Polygon upgrade cuts finality to 5 seconds. Helps apps that need fast and final confirmation.
Aave crosses $50B TVL. V4 is coming with cross-chain liquidity.
29% of ETH is now staked. Lido’s share is dropping.
Trump says the US must not fall behind in crypto.
Builders are turning to UX, identity, and games, not just infra.
Sharplink stacks eth after $413m raise

1. Polygon now finalizes transactions in 5 seconds

Polygon’s latest upgrade means a transaction is final in 5 seconds. After that, it can’t be reverted. This helps dapps that need fast settlement like games, DeFi, and trading platforms.
It also makes Polygon feel more like a traditional app, where delays are unacceptable. This is one of Polygon’s biggest updates since launch. It shows how far Ethereum L2s have come.

🔗 https://polygon.technology/blog/polygon-5-second-fast-finality-upgrade
🔗 https://x.com/sandeepnailwal/status/1942622020354654524

2. Aave hits $50B in TVL, V4 coming soon

Aave now has $50B+ in total value locked. That’s across 11 chains and 13 lending markets. It started as ETHLend in 2020. Back then, $1B was a big deal. Now it’s 50× that. Aave V4 is in the works. It will bring Cross-Chain Liquidity Layer, a way to pool and use capital across chains, not just on one. This could make lending more efficient, and borrowing cheaper, no matter what chain you’re on.

🔗 https://x.com/StaniKulechov/status/1943998418763809227

3. ETH staking crosses 29%, entry queue still active

About 35.9M ETH is now staked. That’s 29% of all ETH. Over 1.1M validators are live. The staking queue holds around 400,000 ETH, wait time is close to 7 days. Lido still leads with ~25% of all staked ETH. But that’s down from 32% last year.
More people are using other options, solo staking, Rocket Pool, institutional services. The shift is slow, but it’s pushing Ethereum toward a more distributed validator set.

🔗 https://dune.com/hildobby/ethereum-staking-statistics

4. Trump says US must lead in crypto

Donald Trump says the US should not fall behind in crypto. In his words: "America must lead in digital assets". He called out the lack of clear policy and how that’s hurting innovation. He didn’t say much about Ethereum or Bitcoin directly, but mentioned blockchain, stablecoins and digital infrastructure.
With elections ahead, more crypto policy talk is likely from both sides.

🔗 https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5398808-trump-us-lead-digital-assets/

5. Web3 focus shifts: from infra to users

Infra’s catching up. Now the attention is moving to how people use it. Builders like @sassal0x, @philngo_, and @StaniKulechov are saying the same thing, Better wallet UX, identity layers, and games are what come next. This shift matters. If users can’t understand or enjoy Web3, infra alone won’t matter.
Account abstraction, smart wallets, and zero-friction onboarding are now real goals, not just ideas.

🔗 https://x.com/sassal0x/status/1943436620725924176
🔗 https://x.com/philngo_/status/1943326539677942200

6. sharplink stacks eth after $413m raise

SharpLink is now the largest corporate holder of ETH, with over 280,000 ETH. They raised about $413 million through their ATM program between July 7–11. Out of that, $156 million has already been used to buy ETH. Another $257 million remains for future ETH purchases. SharpLink says it’s committed to transparent, best-in-class treasury reporting.

🔗 https://x.com/SharpLinkGaming/status/1945100778244595822