UMA

The Optimistic Oracle (OO) is a platform designed for builders, enabling confident development across eight different networks: Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, Arbitrum, Base, Avalanche C-chain, Boba Network, and Gnosis Chain. With access to secure, verifiable long-tail data, the OO provides limitless possibilities as a backbone for building decentralized applications. Developers can find network-specific information in the OO's documentation.

Oval, a company operating in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, has announced that it is expanding its team and seeking a talented Product Manager with expertise in DeFi. The ideal candidate should have familiarity with Miner Extractable Value (MEV), Operator Extractable Value (OEV), or MEV capture. Oval encourages qualified individuals to apply for this position as the company aims to scale its operations.

oSnap is a new governance tool that integrates Snapshot's off-chain voting mechanism, UMA's Optimistic Oracle, and Safe's multisig wallets to provide a seamless and decentralized approach for executing DAO governance decisions on-chain. It allows DAO members to vote off-chain on Snapshot, with the Optimistic Oracle verifying the vote outcomes before automatically executing approved proposals from the DAO's Safe treasury. This removes bottlenecks, mitigates regulatory risks, and gives voters more direct control over the treasury. Key features include the oSnap Safe App, Tenderly simulation, and Safe transaction import. After a rigorous audit, oSnap is now available for DAOs to streamline their governance processes.

Oval is a new application built on Flashbots' MEV-Share infrastructure that allows lending protocols to capture Oracle Extractable Value (OEV) generated during liquidations. When Chainlink price feeds update and trigger potential liquidations, it creates OEV. Oval uses MEV-Share's order flow auctions to allow searchers to bid for the right to backrun these price updates and execute liquidations. The winning bid proceeds are then distributed to the lending protocol and oracle providers. This system promotes capital efficiency by ensuring liquidators are compensated based on market demand, redirecting up to 90% of OEV back to protocols. Over $2.5M has been lost to OEV on Aave and Compound in the past 30 days alone.

The upcoming year 2024 is expected to witness substantial growth in the prediction markets sector. Factors such as the bull market, the upcoming US Presidential election, and recent advancements in decentralized finance (DeFi) are driving platforms like Polymarket to new heights. This surge in prediction markets has major implications for verifying real-world information on the blockchain. As these trends continue, the prediction market space is anticipated to expand even further.

Over the past week, 404 liquidations occurred on the decentralized lending protocols Aave and Compound Finance, resulting in over $2.3 million paid in liquidation incentives. However, a staggering 76% of these incentives were lost to Maximal Extractable Value (MEV), a form of crypto market inefficiency. As the bull market continues, more liquidations are expected, and the company Oval is positioning itself as a solution to capture and reclaim the MEV lost during these events.

Across Protocol and Uniswap have joined forces to pioneer a new standard for cross-chain intents. The proposed standard aims to create a unified framework that enhances interoperability among intents-based systems across various blockchain networks. It will allow different systems using intents to interoperate through a shared filler network, reducing entry barriers for fillers, lowering operational costs, and providing applications access to a broader network. The key innovation is a universal specification that guides how applications handle users' cross-chain requests, streamlining processes and improving the user experience. The standard involves the 'CrossChainOrder' and 'CrossChainSettler' components. By adopting this standard, dApps can ensure that all cross-chain actions are consistent and efficient, reducing risks associated with isolated or proprietary networks. Across and Uniswap Labs have opened the proposal for community feedback and are seeking to discuss it further with the CAKE Working Group. The goal is for this standard to become a cornerstone of interoperability in DeFi.

The Arbitrum DAO has integrated oSnap to distribute its Long-Term Incentives Pilot Program. Up to 45 million ARB tokens, one of the largest incentive programs in history, will be distributed using oSnap alongside other governance tools like HedgeyFinance and Tally. The Arbitrum DAO is streamlining the decentralized distribution of LTIPP funds through oSnap. More details are available in the latest blog post from oSnap.

The Optimistic Oracle, a decentralized oracle developed by UMA, aims to address key challenges in building prediction markets. It offers secure market settlement, decentralized dispute resolution, and trustless on-chain verification. The oracle is designed to serve as a trusted and decentralized backbone for DeFi and other applications, enabling builders to create prediction markets optimistically and securely on the Ethereum blockchain.

Oval has introduced a novel method of auctioning the right to extract Overlooked Exchange Value (OEV) to the highest bidder, with the profits generated being returned to the lending protocols that originally created the OEV. This approach aims to help lending protocols reclaim millions of dollars in OEV revenue that they currently miss out on each year.