gm frens! 🫂
This edition recaps the Arbitrum Founders House gathering and welcomes Adevar Labs Inc. as ETH Bucharest's new Security Partner.
We're also giving the newsletter a new shape: from now on every dispatch carries three fixed sections:
- Security for showcasing latest exploits in the EVM ecosystem, powered by Adevar Labs
- Ethereum News for the biggest ecosystem updates since our last dispatch
- Upcoming Events for EVM gatherings happening around the world, alongside our usual partner updates.
Here's a TLDR of this month's edition:
📍 Arbitrum Founders House Recap — Unpacking a phenomenal week of builders, hackers, & onchain shipping.
🛡️ Adevar Labs Partnership — Welcoming our official Security Partner of ETH Bucharest to level up local ecosystem defense.
💻 EVM News Roundup — From EF scaling roadmaps ("Strawmap") to agentic Robinhood Chain deployments.
🗓️ Upcoming Gatherings — Handpicked July/August events from ETH Global Lisbon to Alpine common villages.
Security isn't a post-script. It is the foundation of everything we ship. That's why we are incredibly proud to introduce Adevar Labs Inc. as the official Security Partner of ETH Bucharest! They are the masterminds helping Web3 protocols audit and secure their smart contracts before mainnet deploy.
With this partnership, we are adding a brand-new dedicated Security section to our Monthly Dispatches, highlighting recent EVM hacks and vulnerabilities. No more learning things the hard way, ser. We want our community building resilient, battle-tested code.
👉 Check out Adevar Labs to secure your stack! Don't miss their pre-audit promo details below.
What an absolute blast. The Arbitrum Founders House was packed to the gills with founders, developers, and ecosystem giants co-working, building, and sharing alpha. Community vibes were at an all-time high, showing that builder talent is ready for the world stage.
Huge salute to everyone who stopped by, shared ideas, and vibed with us. Let's keep this momentum rolling! 🫡
👉 Relive the vibes on Arbitrum's Recap Thread!
No active pause can stop EVM builders from pushing code. Here is the most important shipping news in our ecosystem since the last dispatch:
Robinhood Chain Live on Mainnet: Built on Arbitrum Orbit, enabling 24/7 tokenized stock trading in 120+ countries. Read more. Plus, Rialto emerged from stealth with a PropAMM exchange listing 90+ stock tokens (details).
Base Announces Cobalt Upgrade: Focusing heavily on assets and native account abstraction shipping in September. LFG! Check it out.
Unpacking Cryptocurrency's Final Boss: Vitalik published a fascinating unpack on indistinguishability obfuscation (vitalik.eth daily) and proposed Lean Consensus to scale validator nodes (details).
EF Reorganizes & 'Strawmap' Updates: The Ethereum Foundation implemented structural updates after a budget correction (reorg info) while independent researchers spun out "Ethlabs" (details). The team also updated "Strawmap" charting scale & privacy steps (strawmap).
Robinhood Launches Autonomous/Agentic Crypto Accounts: Letting users connect third-party AI models for onchain execution (link).
Aave Stable Vaults: Introduced fixed-rate yield options optimized for consumer frontends (read).
Kassandra Ships kohaku-cli: A powerful private pocket terminal wallet to seamlessly shift funds between public and private balances (cli repo).
Staying secure means studying the battlefield. Here are the most prominent hacks, exploits, and compromises across EVM networks from the last 30 days. Stay safe out there, frens!
June 10: Secret Network (~$4.67M, Cosmos/Axelar bridge) — Forged IBC packets exploited missing validation checks to mint unbacked tokens. Details here.
July 15: Ostium (~$18M–$24M, Arbitrum) — Oracle manipulation via the protocol's own price feed structure. Details here.
July 9-14: Bonzo ($9M ) — Flash loan attacks and oracle/price manipulation exploits. Details here.
July 6: Summer.fi (~$6M, Ethereum) — Flash loan vault manipulation targeting DAI. Details here.
June 25: Polymarket (~$3M, EVM) — Frontend breach via a malicious third-party script. Details here.
June 21: Taiko Bridge (~$1.7M, L2) — ERC20 vault drained using a fake verification verification proof. Details here.
June 20: JaredFromSubway.eth Bot (~$7.5M, Ethereum) — Honeypot/counter-MEV attack exploiting the bot's sandwich execution logic. Details here.
We've got your back. Here are this month's custom offers & collaborations tailored for ETH Bucharest builders:
Pre-Audit Promotion: 50% Off Pre-Audits This August
Launching soon? Catch the obvious issues before your formal audit begins. For the month of August only, Adevar Labs is offering pre-audits at half price.
And if you move forward with a full engagement, the pre-audit cost is waived entirely.
Reach out to Adevar Labs and mention ETH Bucharest sent you.
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A conference advisory that plans your Web3 conference before you land.
Most people treat events like something to figure out when they land: booking whatever hotel had rooms left, missing the side events that filled up weeks ago, spending day one just getting their bearings.
Embark exists so you don't have to. They're a conference advisory built for Web3 founders, builders, investors, and teams. Before you arrive, they tell you which flight to take, which neighborhood to stay in, and which three side events are worth clearing your schedule for — and why. Not a list of options. Our judgment, built by someone who's actually been there.
Start with a free 15-minute planning call. No commitment, no forms.
Four major Ethereum and EVM-focused events stand out for developers under the late summer sun. Here is what is on, where, and how you can join frens on the ground:
ETHGlobal Lisbon (24–26 Jul): Flagship 1,000+ builder hackathon anchoring Onchain Lisbon Week in Portugal. A massive infra and DeFi focus. Event Details · Onchain Lisbon Week Guides.
FWB Fest (31 Jul – 1 Aug): An intimate paid retreat in the mountains of Idyllwild, CA, USA, merging culture with Web3 communities. FWB Fest Info.
Valley of the Commons (24 Aug – 20 Sep): A multi-week experimental pop-up village exploring decentralized housing, governance, and collective ownership in Vienna, Austria. Commons Hub Page.
ETHBelgrade (26–27 Aug): The core conference & hackathon anchor of Belgrade Blockchain Week in Serbia. Heavy backing from key players (Lido, Linea, Chainlink, and the EF). Excellent for infrastructure and security BD. ETHBelgrade RS · Belgrade Blockchain Week Guide.
Get those registrations sorted frens — don't sleep on these. See you on the builder trail! LFG 🔥
That's all from us this month.
Whether you're heading to Lisbon or Belgrade or just keeping up with everything shipping across the ecosystem, you'll be in good company.
Stay connected, keep building, and we'll see you out there. As always, hit reply if you have questions, feedback, or just want to say hi.
Until then — build something worth talking about
— The ETH Bucharest team