decentralized

According to tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the decentralized trading platform XBIT has gained the most new followers among X (Twitter) top personalities. New influential figures following this project include crypto KOL Shapo Lang (@wolfyxbt), 2Lambroz (@2lambro), and crypto KOL Gu He.hl (@ZKSgu).In addition, the project with the most followers among X top personalities also includes ink.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a post proposing several ideas for optimizing democracy and decentralized governance using AI and personal LLMs (large language models). He believes that "AI directly as government" is dystopian, but mechanisms such as personal governance agents, public participation dialogue agents, and AI-enhanced suggestion/prediction markets can alleviate the issues of insufficient human attention and expertise in governance like DAOs. Vitalik also suggested introducing technologies such as multi-party secure computation, TEE, or encrypted circuits in decentralized decision-making scenarios involving sensitive information, allowing personal LLMs to participate in judgments within a "black box," while emphasizing the need to use zero-knowledge proofs and multi-party privacy computing tools to enhance participant anonymity and content privacy protection.

According to the tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the decentralized AI memory layer Unibase has been the project with the most unfollows by top figures on X (Twitter). The newly unfollowed influential figures on X include BroLeon (@BroLeon), 0xAA (@0xAA_Science), and 0xAA (@0xAA_Science).In addition, the project with the most unfollows by top figures on X also includes Kaito.

According to tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the decentralized derivatives exchange MYX.Finance has been the project with the most new followers among top figures on X (Twitter). New influential figures on X who have followed this project include zac.eth (@zacxbt) and Pump Man (@crypto_pumpman).

According to the tracking data from the Web3 asset data platform RootData X, in the past 7 days, the decentralized trading platform XBIT has been the project with the most new followers from top X (Twitter) personalities. New influential figures following this project include crypto KOL Shapo Lang (@wolfyxbt), 2Lambroz (@2lambro), and crypto KOL Gu He.hl (@ZKSgu).In addition, the project with the most followers from top X personalities also includes Venice.

Decentralized SocialFi platform Zora has announced the launch of a new Attention Markets platform on the Solana chain, allowing traders to trade on trending words, topics, tags, and trends. Users on the platform can create "Trends" before a topic goes viral and track their profits and losses in real-time.Zora co-founder Jacob Horne stated that currently, creating a Trend requires 1 SOL to curb spam, and the Trend itself does not provide creator rewards, but Pairs under the Trend can earn creator incentives.Additionally, according to a job posting released by Zora, the company is seeking an "Attention Economist" responsible for tracking cultural trends on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and X to predict the next wave of trends.

Psy Protocol announced that it has achieved 521,000 transactions per second (TPS) on a real-world proof-of-work network, setting a new record for decentralized system throughput. The testing was supported by Google Cloud, and all transactions are verifiable on-chain, with complete data and cryptographic proofs open-sourced for independent auditing.The team stated that this result was achieved without sacrificing decentralization, security, or privacy, and has established a $100,000 bounty for anyone who can prove the results invalid. Carter Feldman, founder of Psy Protocol, said, "This is not a development network demonstration or theoretical calculation; every result is verifiable."This test demonstrates the infrastructure capabilities for a future AI agent economy, making high-frequency micropayments, continuous clearing markets, and large-scale AI collaboration feasible. Psy Protocol breaks through traditional blockchain throughput bottlenecks through parallel state architecture, client-generated proofs, recursive zero-knowledge proofs, and horizontal scaling design.Complete verification data and methods have been open-sourced, and users can access here for verification.

Mantle network has completed the deployment support for the ERC-8004 standard, providing on-chain identity, verification, and collaboration infrastructure for decentralized AI agents.Relying on Mantle's high-performance, low-cost execution environment, applications related to the AI agent economy are expected to accelerate their implementation.

Circle Ventures announced a strategic investment in the decentralized trading platform edgeX, with specific amounts and valuation details not disclosed. Circle also plans to introduce its stablecoin USDC and cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) to edgeX's blockchain, EDGE Chain.It is reported that the two companies began discussions at the end of 2025 and ultimately completed the investment transaction last month, with Circle Ventures being the sole investor in this round of financing.

The decentralized large model routing service platform RouterLink under WORLD3 has announced the completion of a large-scale model expansion, integrating 21 new AI models from 10 providers in one go. This update includes flagship inference models (such as GLM-4.7, Gemini 3 Pro, Nova 2.0 Pro, Kimi K2 Thinking, MiMo-V2-Pro), high-speed response models (such as Gemini 3 Flash, Kimi K2 Flash, GLM-4.7-Flash, Nova 2.0 Lite, Seed 1.6 Flash, MiMo-V2-Flash, MiniMax M2.1 Flash), multimodal generation models (such as GPT Image 1.5, Seedream 4.5, Maverick 17B (Llama 4), Seed 1.6), and programming-specific models (such as Qwen3 Coder 480B, Qwen3 Coder 32B, MiniMax M2.1, Llama 3.1 8B / 70B Instruct), aiming to support flexible routing and invocation of AI Agents in complex application scenarios.The WORLD3 team stated that developers can access these cutting-edge models with zero migration costs through RouterLink's unified API, while the platform has also optimized the UI experience for model selection and discovery to enhance development efficiency. Currently, all newly added models are officially online.

Co-founder of MegaETH, Namik Muduroglu, stated that 53% of the total supply of MEGA tokens will be released upon the protocol achieving significant milestones, rather than being released according to a time-based unlocking schedule.These goals include MegaETH TVL, L2 decentralization, protocol performance, and external milestones reached by the Ethereum community. This move aims to address long-standing concerns about low liquidity/high FDV token economic models.

Data shows that the number of validator nodes on the Solana network has significantly decreased from a peak of 2,560 in March 2023 to the current 795, a drop of 68%, raising concerns in the market about the network's level of decentralization.Industry insiders point out that, in addition to clearing "zombie nodes," a more core reason is the continuous rise in operating costs + zero-fee competition among large nodes, which is systematically squeezing out small and medium-sized validators. An independent validator node operator stated that many small nodes are not bearish on Solana, but rather that the economic model has become unsustainable: "Without economic viability, decentralization becomes a charitable act." Meanwhile, Solana's Nakamoto Coefficient has dropped from 31 to 20 during the same period, a decline of about 35%, indicating that the control of staked SOL is concentrating in the hands of a few large nodes, reducing the network's level of decentralization.From a cost perspective: to maintain operation (excluding hardware and servers), a node needs at least $49,000 worth of SOL in the first year; approximately 401 SOL is required annually to pay for voting fees; and daily voting transaction costs can reach up to 1.1 SOL/day. The trend signals are clear: Solana is gradually evolving from a "broad participation node structure" to a structure dominated by large institutional nodes, which may have a profound impact on the network's security structure and governance patterns in the long term.

Web3 governance reputation platform DAO AI has officially launched the 0G mainnet, anchoring DAO governance reputation to a decentralized data availability layer. The platform aims to address the challenges of lacking long-term memory and reputation records in DAO governance by transforming governance data such as participation frequency, contribution levels, and representative actions into a permanent on-chain state, thereby building an immutable and verifiable governance reputation layer.In terms of technical implementation, DAO AI utilizes 0G storage technology to record all governance actions, including participation timestamps, representative actions, and reputation updates, ensuring the transparency and auditability of governance history. Unlike traditional off-chain statistics or temporary analyses, this system makes reputation a fundamental primitive acquired through actions rather than capital, and is directly protected by the storage layer. With the high throughput and data availability guarantees of the 0G network, DAO AI provides infrastructure support for the long-term preservation and cross-protocol access of governance data, helping DAOs establish trustworthy governance records.

The decentralized custody startup Entropy, led by a16z, announced its shutdown and the return of remaining funds to investors.Tux Pacific, founder and CEO of Entropy, stated on the X platform that the decision was made after four years of product development, multiple business adjustments, and two rounds of layoffs. Entropy was positioned as an alternative to centralized crypto custody institutions, utilizing technologies such as multi-party computation, threshold cryptography, and trusted execution environments to provide users with cross-chain asset management and automated signing services.According to the crypto data platform RootData, the company completed a $25 million seed round financing led by a16z in 2022, with participation from Dragonfly, Variant, Coinbase Ventures, and others, raising a total of approximately $27 million. Pacific mentioned that after recent research, it was found that the business model could not support venture capital-level growth, leading to the decision to cease operations and return capital. This event also reflects the tightening survival environment for crypto startups since 2025.

According to official news, the globally leading cryptocurrency trading platform Gate has completed the brand upgrade and functional update of its decentralized trading product, officially renaming the former Gate Web3 to Gate DEX. This upgrade is not only a change in name but also a systematic reconstruction of the positioning of decentralized trading entry, product capabilities, and overall user experience under the Gate All in Web3 strategic framework.The upgraded Gate DEX significantly simplifies the traditional DEX login process, now supporting one-click login with Gate accounts, Google accounts, and wallets, enabling quick access across multiple platforms. Users can quickly enter the trading interface without cumbersome configurations, and after connecting their wallets, they can directly start trading, significantly lowering the entry barrier for first-time users. In terms of experience, Gate DEX provides a trading experience close to that of centralized exchanges in aspects such as interface design, token coverage, and liquidity depth, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale application of decentralized trading.Meanwhile, Gate DEX will launch the "On-chain All-round Challenge" from January 23 to February 11 (UTC+8). During the event, users who complete their "first trade" in any section of Swap, Meme, Spot, or Contracts can unlock a cash reward of up to 100 USDT. The total prize pool for the event is 20,000 USDT, with limited spots available on a first-come, first-served basis.As the Gate All in Web3 strategy continues to deepen, Gate DEX, relying on the continuous empowerment of underlying ecological capabilities such as Gate Layer, is expected to become an important hub connecting centralized and decentralized trading experiences, further promoting the maturity and popularization of Web3 infrastructure.

Vitalik Buterin posted on Farcaster, "In 2026, I will use OpenStreetMap and the encrypted email service Protonmail, prioritizing decentralized social media to enhance the efficiency of privacy data protection. At the same time, I will continue to explore deployment solutions for local large language models (LLMs).The ideal solution is to leverage local LLMs as much as possible, compensating for the lack of parameters with dedicated fine-tuning models; for high-load scenarios, we will overlay pay-per-query zero-knowledge payments, trusted execution environments, and local query filtering, essentially integrating all imperfect solutions to provide the best possible protection. Of course, the ultimate goal remains to conquer highly efficient fully homomorphic encryption technology. Sending all data to third-party centralized services is indeed redundant. We have tools to significantly reduce such operations and should continue to build and apply them more actively."

According to Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster, one of the Farcaster clients, Neynar, will acquire the decentralized social protocol Farcaster. In the coming weeks, the Farcaster protocol contracts, codebase, applications, and ownership of Clanker will be transferred to Neynar, which will be responsible for subsequent operations and maintenance.Some members of the Merkle team, Varun, and Dan Romero will step away from the day-to-day operations of Farcaster to focus on new projects. The Neynar team has been developing on Farcaster from the beginning and is one of the earliest Farcaster clients, with its infrastructure now supporting most of the developer ecosystem.Dan Romero stated that after five years of development, Farcaster needs new approaches and leadership to realize its full potential.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently proposed a "native DVT (Distributed Validator Technology)" solution at the Ethereum Research forum, suggesting that DVT be directly integrated into the Ethereum staking protocol layer to enhance network security while promoting decentralization at the validator level.According to the proposal, validators can register multiple independent keys and operate collectively in the form of "grouped validators"; only when a set threshold number of key signatures is reached will the block proposal or witness be considered valid. This mechanism can significantly reduce the risk of single points of failure or validators going offline due to node breaches, while still maintaining existing slashing protections under reasonable threshold settings.Vitalik pointed out that, unlike current DVT solutions that rely on external coordination layers and complex deployments, native DVT will be directly embedded into the protocol itself. Validators holding multiple minimum staking thresholds (32 ETH) can set up to 16 keys and specify a signature threshold, effectively allowing multiple standard nodes to collectively form a single validator identity. He noted that the additional performance overhead of this design is minimal, only adding one extra delay for block production without affecting witness delays, and is compatible with any signature scheme, helping to reduce reliance on long-term potentially risky cryptographic assumptions.On the decentralization front, Vitalik believes that native DVT will enable individuals and institutions to participate in staking more easily in a "self-custodial, fault-tolerant" manner, rather than relying on large staking service providers, thereby improving the decentralization metrics of the Ethereum validator set (such as the Nakamoto coefficient). The proposal is still in the early discussion stage and will require extensive evaluation and consensus from the Ethereum community moving forward.