Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap of an important tales in cryptocurrency tech growth. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk.
On this problem:
- ZKsync Proposal Aims to Tie ZK Token to Community Income
- Olas Unveils Pearl v1, the First ‘AI Agent App Retailer’
- Ethereum Builders Lock In Fusaka Improve for Dec. 3 With PeerDAS Rollout
- The Graph Builders, Edge & Node, Unveil “ampersend” Dashboard to Handle AI Agent Funds
Community Information
PROPOSAL TO CHANGE ZKSYNC TOKENOMICS: The creator behind the Ethereum layer-2 community ZKsync launched a proposal to rework its ZK token from a governance instrument right into a token with actual financial utility. The proposal, “From Governance to Utility: ZK Token Proposal, Part I,” revealed by Alex Gluchowski within the ZKsync neighborhood discussion board, outlines how community utilization and enterprise licensing might straight feed worth again into the token’s financial system. The transfer might shift how ZKsync’s ecosystem will generate and distribute worth. As an alternative of ZK functioning purely as a governance token, the proposal would make community exercise, like interoperability and enterprise use, straight affect its financial system. The proposal argues that the community’s rising ecosystem, which now contains modular chains, personal “Prividium” networks and a cross-chain interoperability layer often known as the Elastic chain, wants a token mannequin that evolves with it. “The ZK token began as a tool for governance,” the put up says. “Through governance, it can now become the heartbeat of an incorruptible economy.” Beneath the plan, ZKsync would introduce two essential income streams. The primary would come from onchain interoperability charges, charged when customers transfer property or messages between the rollups within the ecosystem. The second could be offchain licensing income from enterprise instruments resembling compliance or reporting modules tailor-made for establishments constructing on the protocol. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.
OLAS UNVEILS FIRST AI AGENT APP STORE: Olas unveiled Pearl v1, a decentralized “AI agent app store” that lets customers personal and function autonomous AI brokers, mixing, it stated, the convenience of Web2 with the self-sovereignty of Web3. Not like centralized AI platforms that lease entry to customers, Pearl offers full management and transparency: each agent motion is verifiable onchain. Customers can begin with acquainted logins like Google or Apple, fund brokers by way of card and retain full information custody. Constructed on ideas of possession, curation and transparency, Pearl gives a rising library of brokers for finance, artistic and social use circumstances. The introduction follows a beta success story the place Modius, a decentralized finance buying and selling agent, earned over 150% return on funding in 150 days. “Centralized infrastructure has achieved global reach and performance, yet this concentration means decisions or faults can strip users of their data and work completely. This is why ownership is so important,” David Minarsch, a founding member of Olas, stated within the launch. — Will Canny Learn extra.
FUSAKA ON ETHEREUM MAINNET INKED IN: Ethereum builders formally inked within the long-awaited Fusaka improve for Dec. 3 throughout the community’s bi-weekly coordination name. The choice kicks off the countdown to Ethereum’s second onerous fork of 2025. The improve’s headline function is PeerDAS. PeerDAS, one in every of 12 enhancements included within the launch, permits validators to confirm solely parts of information, reasonably than complete “blobs,” considerably lowering bandwidth necessities and reducing prices for each validators and layer-2 networks. This can make Ethereum quicker and cheaper, each for customers making transactions and builders constructing on the community. The choice was finalized throughout the All Core Builders Consensus Layer (ACDC) name #168, simply two days after the improve was efficiently deployed on Hoodi, the third and last testnet, with none points. The improve will activate on the Ethereum mainnet when the blockchain reaches slot 13,164,544, anticipated to happen at 21:49 UTC on Dec. 3. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.
EDGE & NODE COME OUT WITH AMPERSEND: Edge & Node, the group that created The Graph, launched ampersend, a administration platform for coordinating how autonomous AI brokers function and transact, the corporate stated. Constructed on Coinbase’s x402 fee protocol and Google’s A2A communication framework, ampersend provides automation, observability and compliance controls to what’s changing into often known as the “agentic economy.” As AI brokers start to deal with funds, information and communication on behalf of customers and organizations, the dearth of standardization has made their operations troublesome to watch. Coinbase launched x402, its agentic funds protocol earlier this yr. It’s an open-source system that allows immediate stablecoin funds on any web site. The addition of ampersend gives a single dashboard the place firms can set spending limits, handle insurance policies, and monitor exercise throughout networks. Edge & Node developed the platform alongside Coinbase, Google, and the Ethereum Basis’s decentralized AI group. The system additionally integrates with rising Ethereum requirements like ERC-8004, designed for agent discovery and popularity monitoring. – Ian Allison Learn extra.
In Different Information
- Cryptocurrency trade Gemini (GEMI) is planning a transfer into the prediction market sector, Bloomberg reported. The trade based by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss mentioned unveiling merchandise as quickly as attainable, in response to the report, citing individuals conversant in the matter. Gemini, which grew to become a publicly traded firm on the Nasdaq World Choose Market in September, is eyeing a transfer into an trade that has gained appreciable traction within the final yr. Market leaders resembling Polymarket and Kalshi shot to prominence throughout the 2024 U.S. election marketing campaign throughout which greater than $8 billion in bets had been made on the previous’s platform. This has prompted an array of different corporations within the monetary, know-how and media sectors concentrating on entries into the market. Trump Media & Expertise Group (DJT), the mum or dad firm behind President Donald Trump’s social platform Fact Social, stated final month it deliberate to roll out predictions markets in partnership with Crypto.com. — Jamie Crawley Learn extra.
- The U.S. Treasury imposed contemporary sanctions on a gaggle of North Korean bankers and establishments accused of laundering hundreds of thousands in cryptocurrency tied to cyberattacks and illicit IT work schemes that assist fund Pyongyang’s weapons packages. The Workplace of Overseas Property Management (OFAC) stated eight people and two entities had been designated for “laundering funds derived from cybercrime and information technology worker fraud,” together with proceeds linked to ransomware and crypto thefts. “North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder money to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons program,” stated Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence John Okay. Hurley in a press launch. — Oliver Knight Learn extra.
Regulatory and Coverage
- Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s probabilities of getting a contemporary trial appear to be dwindling, judging by the pointed questions of an appellate court docket throughout a listening to in Manhattan. Bankman-Fried’s push for a brand new trial largely hinges on his long-standing argument that as a result of the vast majority of FTX collectors had been made complete within the chapter course of — which relied closely on the sale of illiquid property together with actual property and enterprise capital investments — there was, the truth is, no precise theft. Throughout protection legal professional Alexandra Shapiro’s presentation, the appellate judges repeatedly minimize in to query her arguments. “There’s a right to present evidence as to his intent, absolutely, but I don’t understand what you’re saying about there [being] objective corroboration, when the objective corroboration seems to be that, well, after the bankruptcy, more money was made,” stated Circuit Decide Eunice Lee. When Shapiro responded saying that it was clear on the time of the chapter that there have been “very valuable assets in the FTX estate that corroborated Mr. Bankman-Fried’s view that [FTX and Alameda Research] were solvent,” one other decide, Circuit Decide Maria Araújo Kahn, pushed again, saying: “But [Bankman-Fried’s] misrepresentations were not to solvency, but liquidity … part of the government’s theory of the case is that the defendant misrepresented to investors that their money was safe, was not being used in the way that it was the government claims and the jury convicted it was, in fact, used. So it wasn’t an issue of solvency, right? It was an issue of liquidity, whether they could get their money if they asked for it.” — Cheyenne Ligon Learn extra.
- President Trump reiterated his declare that he does not know who Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is throughout an interview with CBS Information. Trump granted Zhao a presidential pardon in October, practically a yr after the chief pleaded responsible to violating the Financial institution Secrecy Act and served a four-month jail sentence. Trump advised CBS’s Norah O’Donnell that Zhao “was treated really badly by the Biden administration,” describing the previous Binance CEO as a “victim of weaponization by government.” The president stated he had been advised Zhao “was set up,” and that his pardon was meant to make sure the U.S. remained aggressive within the cryptocurrency sector. “I don’t know the man at all. I don’t think I ever met him,” Trump stated throughout the interview with CBS. “Maybe I did. Or, you know, somebody shook my hand or something. But I don’t think I ever met him. I have no idea who he is. I was told that he was a victim, just like I was and just like many other people.” Throughout the CBS interview, Trump dismissed questions on conflicts of curiosity, emphasizing his concentrate on preserving the U.S. “number one in crypto” and insisting his sons’ enterprise ventures had been separate from authorities. — Sam Reynolds Learn extra.
Calendar
- Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
- Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
- Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
- Feb. 17-21, 2026: EthDenver, Denver
- Mar. 30-Apr. 2, 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- Apr.15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- Could 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
