Ethereum Engine Reconstruction and New Trends in DeFi

Recently, the Ethereum community has initiated a discussion on the restructuring of the execution layer, while the DeFi sector has also welcomed a series of new developments. Let's take a look back at the important dynamics of the DeFi ecosystem over the past week.

Ethereum Execution Layer Restructuring Proposal

The co-founder of Ethereum proposed a long-term vision to replace the existing EVM with the RISC-V architecture. This proposal aims to enhance execution efficiency to meet the potentially massive computational demands of the future and to break through the performance bottleneck under the current EVM framework. It is worth noting that this change only involves the underlying execution engine and will not affect Ethereum's account model and contract calling methods. For ordinary users and developers, the interaction method with smart contracts will remain unchanged.

The core goal of this proposal is to address the potential verification difficulties and hardware dependency issues that the Ethereum execution layer may face in the long term. RISC-V, as a general efficient computing model, has a more mature hardware and software ecosystem and is seen as a viable solution to these potential problems. However, this proposal is still in the discussion stage and, if ultimately implemented, is expected to take several years.

Ethena chooses the Arbitrum ecosystem

Ethena announced the selection of the Arbitrum ecosystem as the development direction for its new public chain. This decision has attracted widespread attention in the industry, as there are already well-known projects like Unichain and Base within the Optimism camp. Although Arbitrum Orbit and OP Superchain are both Layer 2 scaling solutions, they differ in design philosophy:

• Orbit allows developers to create dedicated Rollup or AnyTrust chains that can directly anchor to Ethereum (L2) or Arbitrum (L3).
• OP Superchain is committed to building a network composed of multiple parallel L2s, which share the OP Stack standard codebase.

In short, Orbit tends to focus on vertical scalability, while Superchain emphasizes horizontal scalability. In terms of modularity and flexibility, Orbit places more importance on openness and supports various data availability options; Superchain, on the other hand, emphasizes consistency with Ethereum and multi-chain standardization.

Unichain Liquidity Mining Dynamics

Unichain's latest liquidity mining program offers considerable returns, but the requirements for participants have increased. Users need to control the price range themselves, and the yield from mining across the entire range is relatively low. Compared to the previous version, the new mining mechanism has higher thresholds and difficulty, mainly attracting experienced miners. This change may be unfavorable for attracting new users and could hinder the further popularization of DeFi.

Ripple stablecoin RLUSD rapidly integrates into the DeFi ecosystem

RLUSD has successfully entered mainstream Decentralized Finance protocols:

• Added to Aave V3
• Deployed 53M liquidity in the Curve Pool

The stablecoin market has continued to heat up this year, with suitable development angles found in different market environments. From algorithmic stablecoins to compliant stablecoins, this sector has always maintained its vitality.

Optimism Launches SuperStacks Event

Optimism has launched the SuperStacks initiative in preparation for the upcoming Superchain interoperability feature:

• Event Duration: From April 16, 2025 to June 30, 2025
• Encourage users to participate in DeFi activities on Superchain to earn XP
• The protocol can layer its own incentive mechanisms.
• The officials stated that this is a social experiment and there will be no token airdrop.

Users interested in Superchain can participate, for example, by mining on Unichain while also earning XP. The interoperability feature of Superchain is worth paying attention to, as it may bring new changes after its official launch.

BalancerV3 Launches on Avalanche

BalancerV3 has been launched on Avalanche and has introduced an AVAX incentive program. Although the rewards are considerable, the overall scale is limited. As an established DeFi project that has not managed to become an industry leader, Balancer faces severe survival challenges. The project team is still actively promoting ecological cooperation and product iteration, hoping to find new opportunities in large-scale applications on the chain in the future.

Circle Launches CPN Network

Circle has launched the Cross-Chain Payment Network (CPN), aiming to build a compliant, seamless, and programmable payment framework that aggregates financial institutions. The network plans to coordinate global payments through fiat, USDC, and other payment stablecoins, focusing on addressing cross-border payment issues, as a replacement for traditional inefficient and high-cost payment methods.

The launch of the CPN network is expected to promote the application of blockchain technology in the payment sector, and it may also encourage more countries to issue compliant stablecoins.

Cross-Chain Bridge Competition Heats Up

The competition in the cross-chain bridge sector is becoming increasingly fierce:

• GMX has chosen LayerZero as the messaging bridge for its multichain expansion plan.
• A well-known investment institution has purchased a large amount of LayerZero tokens and locked them for three years.
• Wormhole has released its future development plan.

Cross-chain bridges have become an essential sector, with competition becoming increasingly fierce. For users, intense competition is expected to lead to lower transaction fees. However, for protocol integration, security and stability remain the primary considerations.

MakerDAO Subproject Spark Finance Expands Investment Field

Spark Finance has deployed $50 million in funding to the non-U.S. bond sector for the first time, choosing the Maple Finance platform. This decision has attracted market attention as Maple focuses on connecting on-chain and off-chain unsecured lending operations.

The core of Maple is its Pool Delegates mechanism, which are typically reputable institutions or trading firms responsible for managing the loan pool, assessing borrower credit, setting loan terms, and more.

Although Maple was not very popular in the last market cycle, mainly because its business model involves absorbing on-chain deposits and providing unsecured loans to off-chain clients in a centralized manner, this model is gradually gaining recognition with changes in the regulatory environment and user awareness. Nevertheless, Spark's decision to deploy funds to Maple is still considered a relatively high-risk decision.