Ethereum Developers Say Shanghai Upgrade Remains on Track for March

Ethereum core developers say they are chugging steadily towards their goal of launching Shanghai and enabling staked ETH withdrawals on the network by March.

This week, the group launched “devnet 2,” a developer network designed specifically to allow client teams to tweak the ETH withdrawal process and make sure they get it right. The network launch went mostly smoothly, with minor but expected hiccups, according to a developer call Thursday.

ETH withdrawal capability will launch as the central component of Ethereum’s much-anticipated Shanghai upgrade. A previous upgrade, known as the “merge,” officially transitioned Ethereum to a proof-of-stake system, which involves network participants known as validators pledging ETH to the network in order to verify transactions and keep the network secure. These validators also earn newly minted ETH as a reward for staking.

Even before the merge, network users were given the opportunity to start staking on Ethereum in anticipation of the upgrade. A total of $22.7 billion worth of ETH now sits in the staking contract. But these users have yet to be able to unstake those funds, meaning they still can’t retrieve the ETH they have pledged.

Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade is expected to roll out that capability—assuming it all goes according to plan. Given that more than 16 million ETH is currently staked with the network, introducing the ability to withdraw those funds is understandably a priority for the Ethereum community and the network’s developers.

The Shanghai upgrade, for example, was initially intended to include a number of other eagerly awaited updates, including proto-danksharding, a streamlined data-sampling process that would make layer-2 transactions on Ethereum substantially cheaper and faster. Proto-danksharding was eventually scrapped from Shanghai, to make sure ETH withdrawal capability was rolled out as quickly as possible. The feature is expected to instead roll out later this year.

Amazon Web Services Users Can Now Launch Avalanche Blockchain Nodes

Ava Labs announced Wednesday that they will be offering crypto infrastructure through Amazon Web Services (AWS) to facilitate enterprise, institutional, and government adoption of blockchain. This includes the ability to launch custom Subnets on the AWS platform, which are blockchains built on Avalanche with custom rulesets and their own token for paying network gas fees.

“At AWS, we are all about bringing the most cutting-edge technologies to builders, no matter if they sit in a multi-million-dollar enterprise, a government office, or a dorm,” said Howard Wright, VP and Global Head of Startups, AWS, in a statement. “The new capabilities brought by Avalanche enable us to do just that."

AWS has agreed to a deal with Avalanche to help expand its adoption to new regions and customer groups, as well as provide new tools for its infrastructure and ecosystem.

Avalanche nodes can now be used in AWS GovCloud, allowing government organizations to use the technology for public sector projects while adhering to stricter data control regulations.

“It has been a huge boon for both individual and enterprise developers to be able to spin up nodes and test networks on the fly with AWS in whatever legal jurisdiction makes the most sense for them,” said Emin Gün Sirer, Founder and CEO of Ava Labs, in a statement. “I’m proud that we’ve implemented a protocol that can accommodate millions of participants with near-instant finality.”

“Our work with Amazon can accelerate the positive impact of Avalanche,” Sirer added.

Ava Labs has also joined AWS Activate and the AWS Partner Network (APN) to strengthen their connection to Amazon, providing tech startups with support and access to resources such as growth tools and funding.

AWS will also participate in future Avalanche-related events like the Avalanche Summit, Avalanche Creates, and hackathons, according to the announcement.

Wyre Lifts Withdrawal Limits After Fresh Funding From Strategic Partner

Wyre, a San Francisco-based crypto payments firm, has lifted its depositing freeze and 90% withdrawal limit after receiving financing from a strategic partner, the company announced yesterday on Twitter.

The reversal came a little less than a week after Wyre had implemented withdrawal limits for user accounts, citing “the best interest of our community.”

On January 7, the company issued a statement noting that customer withdrawals would be restricted to no greater than 90% of the funds in each account, in compliance with the current daily limits. In addition, the company revealed that its CEO, Ioannis Giannaros, would be transitioning to a different role, with Stephen Cheng, previously the firm's chief risk officer and chief compliance officer, taking the lead as interim CEO.

This move is part of the company's ongoing effort to ensure that customer funds are protected and managed responsibly. The company remains committed to providing a secure, reliable, and compliant financial services platform for its customers.

In its Twitter post yesterday, the firm added, "This additional capital will help us continue to deliver on our mission to simplify and revolutionize the global financial ecosystem."

It’s unclear who the strategic partner is, and Wyre has not immediately responded to Decrypt’s request for comment.

Video Game Calendar for 2023

2023 is set to be a monumental year for the video game industry, with a large number of delayed games being released and the potential outcome of the biggest attempted merger in the sector.

The first six months alone are stunning:

• January: Sony's highly anticipated game adaptation "The Last of Us" will debut on HBO on January 15th, while Google will end its Stadia service on the 18th and EA will launch a remake of Dead Space on the 27th.
• February: In February 2021, virtual reality technology will get one of its biggest boosts with the launch of Sony's PSVR2, while Nintendo will open its first U.S. theme park. Warner Bros. will release Hogwarts Legacy, Bungie and Sony will release Destiny 2 Lightfall, and industry leaders will gather for the DICE convention near Las Vegas.
• March: Capcom will release the highly anticipated remake of Resident Evil 4, EA's Respawn Studios released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Storyteller will be released by an indie studio, and thousands of game makers will gather for the Game Developers Conference and PAX East.
• April: Nintendo will make its return to the big screen with the premiere of the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" and the long-awaited release of Dead Island 2.
• May: Nintendo is set to release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on May 12th, a sequel to the highly acclaimed Breath of the Wild, while Warner Bros. will release Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League on May 26th.
• June is a big month for gaming, with the first in-person E3 since 2019, the competing Summer Game Fest, and the release of Street Fighter 6, Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XVI, and Xbox's Starfield all taking place.

Summer: Microsoft's deadline to purchase Activision-Blizzard is set to expire in July, while the FTC's trial is scheduled for August. Sony's next feature film, "Gran Turismo" is set to be released in August, Baldur's Gate III is advancing to a full release, and the Games 4 Change summit is taking place in July.

Fall: Sony is expected to deliver on its 2023 promise of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, while Ubisoft is set to release three major games in 2023, including Assassin's Creed Mirage, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, and possibly its first free-to-play franchise spinoffs.

2023 could potentially be a big year for video game releases, with the Ukrainian-developed S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Remedy's Alan Wake 2, and the anticipated indie side-scroller Hollow Knight Silksong all potentially being released due to war-related delays.

Marvel Snap PvP Mode Drops Very Soon

On @January 31, 2021, Marvel Snap's Battle Mode will launch, allowing players to face off against their friends in PvP mode after weeks of playtesting, theorycrafting, and ladder-climbing. Associate Design Director Kent-Erik Hagman has written a blog post detailing what players can expect.

In Marvel Snap's Battle Mode, players bet with their health instead of cubes, with each player starting with 10 health. At the end of the match, the winner deals the amount of wagered health as damage, potentially dealing up to 8 damage to the loser if both opponents "snap".

Hagman has proposed a new Battle Mode for the game, where players will use one deck for the duration of the match and have a limited health pool, making every point of damage important. This will add an extra layer of excitement to the head-to-head showdown.

"We also knew that over a series of games, the mind games of learning and anticipating what was in your opponent's deck and their specific play style was something that would add a ton of fun," he wrote.

In Issue No. 37, Hagman discussed the development of Battle Mode, including the introduction of a high-stakes round. He noted that matches should take around 20 minutes, but early testing revealed that players were intentionally losing the first two rounds to gain insight into their opponents' decks, resulting in longer matches.

"To keep Battles around 20 minutes, we added 'High Stakes Rounds,' which kick in starting on Round 5. High Stakes Rounds start with the stakes at two damage, so it's much more deadly," Hagman wrote.

Battle Mode in Marvel Snap has a restriction that prevents players from risking more health than they have, which is beneficial as it prevents players from losing a match due to a risky wager on the last turn.

Battle Mode isn't the only thing coming to Snap in the next patch. If you missed out on purchasing Black Panther during its season or still haven't cracked a She-Hulk, they're about to get easier to obtain.

Essentially, Marvel Snap is introducing a series drop, which will transition cards from rare to more common tiers, and will also add badges to denote if a card was obtained before its drop.

My grumblings at bundle pricing and card progression aside, I'm excited for Battle Mode. I can't wait to terrorize all my friends and Snap-playing colleagues, and I'm really looking forward to all the community tournaments that are sure to crop up when Battle Mode hopefully goes live on @January 31, 2021.

Hypercasual Goliath Voodoo is Launching its Own Blockchain Ecosystem and Cryptocurrency

The French publisher of hypercasual games Voodoo has revealed Voodoo Infinity, its new blockchain ecosystem, and cryptocurrency Voodoo Coin along with it. Expected to launch in Q3 2023, Voodoo’s new crypto is planned to be made available via an initial coin offering.

A working title

Voodoo Coin is the current working title for the company’s crypto, which will be used within upcoming blockchain games released throughout 2023 as a global ecosystem. As reported by The Big Whale, this cryptocurrency will enable access to paid segments of Voodoo’s blockchain games; players who miss out on the initial coin offering may also earn in-game rewards that can be converted into Voodoo Coins.

The publisher is expecting to rely primarily on a Discord community that has yet to be built, but that is planned to be ready by summer 2023.

"There will be an advantage to being part of this community because those who test the games in advance will be able to earn tokens in a privileged way," said Voodoo blockchain investment manager Yoni Lasry. "They can also receive NFTs."

Seeking to acquire such NFTs ahead of time, there are reportedly "major" players in Web3 already getting involved. As for the blockchain games themselves, there are said to be around 10 in development right now with three expected to be in the launch catalog.

If all goes to plan, Voodoo Infinity will be launching as an app on the App Store and Google Play Store, and given that Voodoo tends to focus on the casual mobile playerbase, the company’s hope is that crypto advocates and the general public will both see the appeal in its upcoming titles.

It was revealed last February that, across the company's library of apps and games, Voodoo had surpassed six billion downloads. 1 billion of these were achieved within the nine months prior.

More recently, in December, Voodoo also reached a noteworthy milestone with its Academy program.

Axie Infinity leverages Cloud9’s Stratus fan subscription for esports

Axie Infinity and Cloud9 have partnered to bring Axie's popular esports game to a wider audience, with Cloud9's competitive talent and streamers, reasonable price point, and willingness to promote blockchain technology making it an ideal choice.

Etienne is a firm believer in codifying ownership of digital assets. “I paid my student loans by selling in-game items and characters. Back then and today, there were a lot of risks, particularly chargebacks. It’s personally interesting to me to see publishers supporting players to sell their in-game items.”

This shared vision and goal of communicating the potential of blockchain technology in a way that resonated with the traditional gaming audience was the foundation of the partnership. Given the potential pitfalls seen with other NFT projects, both Campbell and Etienne wanted to avoid something that felt like a scam to users.

“Neither of us is chasing a hype cycle. Nobody’s looking for a get-rich-quick thing. Both of us are trying to build something that delivers quality for users,” Campbell said.

For this latest activation, Cloud9 ran a tournament using the free-to-play Axie Infinity: Origins that pitted its members — including Etienne himself — against seasoned Axie pros, with commentary geared towards introducing new players to the game. Ultimately, the stream on Cloud9’s Twitch channel averaged about 180 viewers, which is more than double the game’s average viewership.

But to Sky Mavis, viewership was never the most important metric for success. The goal was quality over quantity. “It’s more important to us to reach engaged viewers that get excited enough to set up a Ronin wallet than thousands of people seeing us on the Twitch front page that just click away,” Campbell added. Along those lines, Cloud9 stood out because it gave Sky Mavis a way to directly reach its most engaged fans.