Converge: New Arbitrum Chain for Traditional Finance Settlement

The ArbitrumDAO has completed its Security Council elections for the March 2025 cohort, marking another milestone in the protocol's decentralized governance. This follows the previous election cycle from September 2024, maintaining the regular rotation of council members to ensure continued security and oversight of the protocol. The election has resulted in 6 new members joining the Security Council, who will serve alongside existing members to help govern and secure the Arbitrum ecosystem.

Circle has upgraded its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to version 2, enabling faster USDC transfers directly on Arbitrum. The enhancement allows users to: - Execute seamless USDC transactions across different chains - Skip the traditional bridging process to Ethereum - Access native USDC markets on Compound's Arbitrum deployment The upgrade streamlines cross-chain operations, making USDC more efficient for swaps, trades, and payments within the Arbitrum ecosystem. Users can interact with the native USDC market at [Compound Finance](https://app.compound.finance/markets?market=usdc-arb).

Arbitrum has integrated Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) through a partnership with Fhenix, advancing blockchain privacy capabilities. The integration enables developers to build privacy-preserving smart contracts on the platform. - FHE technology allows computations on encrypted data without decryption - Partnership includes coFHE integration for enhanced privacy features - Available exclusively on Arbitrum's ecosystem Additionally, Arbitrum Orbit rollups now support FairBlock's encryption module, bringing confidentiality features to DeFi, gaming, and on-chain AI applications. [Learn more about Fhenix privacy integration](blog.arbitrum.io/fhenix-priv)

**KintoXYZ** has reached a significant milestone by becoming the first appchain to achieve Stage 1 Decentralization on Arbitrum. The platform focuses on providing compliant DeFi access for users and institutions. This development marks an important step in Arbitrum's ecosystem expansion. - First appchain to reach Stage 1 Decentralization - Built for institutional DeFi adoption - Operates in a regulatory-compliant environment Learn more about Kinto's scaling solutions at [L2Beat](gweil2beat.com/scaling/projects/)

Arbitrum's new Timeboost feature has collected 65.7 ETH in fees since launching on Arbitrum One and Nova. The system introduces an express lane auction mechanism that allows users to bid for faster transaction processing while maintaining the network's private mempool security. Key benefits of Timeboost: - Reduces network congestion through latency race disincentivization - Creates new DAO revenue streams - Maintains protection against front-running attacks Track Timeboost metrics on the [Entropy Advisors Dune dashboard](https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/arbitrum-timeboost).