Ethereum News. Jan 21, 2026
Noble announced it is migrating to a standalone Ethereum compatible Layer 1, new mainnet is scheduled to launch on March 18, 2026.
BitMine reveals it now holds 4,203,036 ETH, having added 35,268 ETH over the past week
Vitalik Buterin has published a proposal for native Distributed Validator Technology (DVT), which would split validator private keys into keyshares across multiple independent nodes using an M-of-N threshold setup. This design aims to increase fault tolerance, reduce single points of failure, and enable users to run standard nodes without extra complexity.
Payroll provider Gusto, serving over 400,000 small businesses, has integrated support for stablecoin payouts to international contractors. Powered by Zerohash
Avnu launched v2 on Starknet with gas free trading and dynamic route optimization
ETHGas has launched the GWEI eligibility checker, allowing users to verify their status for the Gasless Future initiative. Eligibility is based on historical Ethereum mainnet gas spend
Rainbow announced the RNBW token airdrop snapshot will be taken on Monday, January 26 at 4:20 PM EST.
MetaLeX has released v2 to expand its focus to real-world startups, positioning MetaLeX as an on-chain corporate finance superapp designed to streamline financial operations and governance for emerging companies.
Fileverse reveals the Walkaway Page v2 that lets users access and decrypt their documents and spreadsheets independently on Fileverse, protecting against counterparty risks and ensuring the right to exit at any time.
Ethereum’s Checkpoint 8 is now live on the official blog, providing a recap of recent bimonthly core developer discussions for those who can’t follow the twice-weekly calls. Key updates include: a Fusaka / BPO fork summary, progress on the Glamsterdam upgrade, and insights into Hegota upgrade feature selection, including potential additions like FOCIL, encrypted mempools, and 6-second slots.
Octant announced it has wrapped Epoch 10, distributing a total of 765.84 ETH ($2.3M) to its community and supported projects. This round featured 24 top teams from across the ecosystem and strong community participation.
Vitalik said he expects decentralized social media to rebound in 2026, emphasizing that a better society needs improved tools for mass communication. He also expressed optimism for platforms like Lens and Farcaster, noting that Farcaster is transitioning from a social-first model to a wallet-driven approach.
The ETHGas eligibility checker is a smart way to reward users who've actualy paid the 'pain tax' on Ethereum. Tying eligibility to historical gas spend makes more sense than random airdrops, tho I wonder if it'll favour power users over regular folks. I dunno if this will set a trend, but incentivizing network participation through retroactive rewards could be interesting for other chains to.