Solana Debuts Claw Credit, Vitalik Rewrites L2 Script, Mainstream Ecosystem Roundup?

Publication Date: February 4, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has evolved on multiple fronts simultaneously. Mainstream discussions have focused on the recalibration of Ethereum's scaling logic and the decentralization controversy sparked by the exposure of early Bitcoin historical documents. In terms of ecosystem development, Solana has taken the lead in advancing an AI-driven autonomous credit system, the Ethereum community is accelerating convergence around L2 scaling and delegation standards, and the Perp DEX track continues to heat up in terms of user experience and structural innovation.

I. Mainstream Topics

1. Vitalik Buterin Revisits L2 Positioning: Original Vision No Longer Applicable, Calls for Finding a New Role

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently published a lengthy post pointing out that with the significant increase in Ethereum L1's scalability (gas limit expected to be substantially raised around 2026) and the slow progress of L2 toward "Phase 2," the previous vision of L2 as "Ethereum's branded shard" is no longer valid. He emphasized that L1 is accelerating its expansion axis and no longer needs L2 as a performance extension "crutch."

In this context, Vitalik proposed that L2 reposition its value, shifting towards differentiating directions such as privacy enhancement, deep optimization for specific applications, ultimate scalability, non-financial scenarios, ultra-low latency architecture, or built-in oracles. If continuing to handle ETH-related assets, they should at least reach Stage 1 and strengthen interoperability with the Ethereum mainnet as much as possible.

He also mentioned the upcoming Pectra upgrade (expected in March), which will increase the blob target capacity from 3 to 6, effectively providing double data throughput for L2, and proposed the idea of dynamically adjusting parameters through staker voting to reduce the need for hard forks.

The related statements have sparked intense community discussions. Some view it as a "denial" or strategic shift in the L2 roadmap, expressing concerns about the valuation logic of L2 projects and their long-term adoption prospects. Others see this as a pragmatic clarification, noting that the enhancement of L1 capabilities is itself a positive development that helps drive L2 to focus on genuinely irreplaceable differentiated values such as privacy, AI, and application specialization. The discussion is centered around issues such as "whether Ethereum is no longer relying on L2," "which L2 solutions can survive," and "whether Pectra truly alleviates the capacity bottleneck." In the Chinese community, the notion of "Vitalik giving up on the L2 path" has been widely circulated, but a more accurate interpretation is that it is not abandonment but a redefinition.

2. Polymarket Plans to Open Free Grocery Store in New York

Polymarket has announced its plan to open a free grocery store in New York called "The Polymarket," touted as the first of its kind in the city. The project has signed a formal lease agreement and has donated $1 million to the Food Bank For NYC to address citywide food insecurity issues. The grocery store is set to open on February 12 at noon, catering to all New York residents with no purchase necessary, emphasizing its community-oriented, "completely free, well-stocked" approach.

Meanwhile, the prediction market platform Kalshi swiftly followed suit by hosting a limited-time free grocery event at Westside Market (84 3rd Ave, NYC). The event has been ongoing for several hours and has attracted thousands of attendees. Kalshi stated that this initiative is aimed at inspiring more companies to engage in similar community actions.

This news has garnered significant attention within the community, with mixed reviews. Some users highly praise Polymarket's initiative, seeing it as an example of "capital power directly translated into public welfare" and even comparing it to local government governance capabilities, believing its social benefits outweigh the sloganized collectivism practices; Kalshi's follow-up action has also been described as "dignified" and "pragmatic," showcasing practical execution abilities.

However, there are also concentrated voices of skepticism. Many are concerned about the sustainability of this model, predicting that the store may quickly be depleted shortly after opening, or face depletion due to misuse, security issues, and rapid operational cost constraints; some have pointed out that high-value items may be the first to run out, leading the project to potentially fall into cumbersome management and compliance burdens. Overall, the event is widely seen as a highly impactful marketing stunt, but in New York's low-trust, high-cost urban environment, its long-term viability remains widely doubted, with some calling for a more significant focus on employment and structural support rather than short-term free distribution.

3. Epstein's Ties to Early Bitcoin Community Continue to Stir Controversy

Recently disclosed Epstein documents (from the DOJ and House Oversight Committee) reveal that Jeffrey Epstein was deeply involved in the crypto industry from 2014 to 2017: this involvement included investing approximately $3 million in Coinbase's Series C through an introduction by Brock Pierce; making cumulative donations of $525,000 to the MIT Digital Currency Initiative to fund Bitcoin Core developers and fill the funding gap left by the Bitcoin Foundation's bankruptcy; and interacting with core figures like Adam Back, closely monitoring Bitcoin's development, and attempting to play an "intermediary" role in the network. Corresponding email chains show that Epstein saw Bitcoin as a "revolutionary form of currency" and actively sought to meet with developers.

This disclosure has sparked strong reactions in the Bitcoin community. Some voices were shocked by the "shadow of Epstein's funds appearing in the early days of Bitcoin," questioning the level of centralization in the early ecosystem, whether key figures like Adam Back / Blockstream were influenced, and even extending to speculation about the control of so-called "three-letter agencies"; while other developers and senior figures quickly countered, emphasizing the open-source and transparent nature of the Bitcoin code, stating that nodes and miners can reject any malicious modifications, Epstein's influence is limited, and has not changed the protocol's decentralized nature.

The discussion around this event has gradually focused on several core issues: whether Bitcoin is truly decentralized, whether the early funding structure harbors systemic risks, and whether this round of public opinion constitutes a FUD attack against Bitcoin.

4. Y Combinator Backs Startups to Accept Investment in Stablecoins like USDC

On the funding front, Y Combinator announced that its startups can choose to receive a $500,000 investment in stablecoin form such as USDC, emphasizing that stablecoins are driving global financial innovation, especially in practical applications in regions like India, Latin America, and beyond. The Solana Foundation also provided concurrent resource support, encouraging the use of USDC in the Solana ecosystem.

The market response has been generally positive, with most views seeing it as an important milestone in the mainstreaming of stablecoins and a clear signal of the "crypto-native financing" model; a few concerns have focused on regulatory uncertainties and potential volatility risks, but overall it has been interpreted as a positive development for USDC and the Solana ecosystem.

II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates

1. Solana: AI Agent Starts "Borrowing and Spending on Its Own"

t54.ai has launched Claw Credit on Solana, which is currently the first credit system autonomously operated by an AI agent in the Solana ecosystem. In this system, the agent can independently apply for a line of credit without human intervention, used to purchase x402 services (such as computing power, APIs, etc.).

Claw Credit is powered by t54's risk engine. Agents need to complete pre-qualification through the OpenClaw skill, then activate their limit using an invitation code, gradually building a credit score in the "spend-repay" cycle. The Solana Foundation reiterated in the relevant discussions that "Solana is built for agents," with its high performance and low latency seen as a key foundation supporting the agent economy.

Overall feedback is mostly positive, with many users seeing it as a key step towards "agent autonomy," especially in addressing the issue of AI agents halting due to running out of funds. Discussions have focused on three main areas: whether more complex forms of economic collaboration between agents will emerge (such as credit sharing, credit transfer); security and risk control constraints, with some projects (like Tau Net) emphasizing the need to guard against prompt injection and policy drift over long runs; application layer imagination space, with Bankr Bot being repeatedly mentioned as an experimental example of "agents issuing their own currency or managing assets."

An optimistic sentiment prevails, with the narrative of "agents starting to self-apply for funding" being widely circulated. However, some remain cautious about the long-term reliability of the risk engine. Overall, the event further solidified Solana's leading position in the "agent economy" narrative.

2. Ethereum: L2 Filtering Acceleration, Agent Standard Implementation

An Aave DAO vote decided to close its V3 deployment on zkSync, Metis, and Soneium, citing long-term low usage, lack of organic growth, and an inability to contribute significant revenue to the protocol in the short term. Aave also stated that future new L2 deployments must have a viable path to at least $2 million in annual revenue.

Aave's "off-chain" decision quickly sparked discussions on L2 sustainability, with many users bluntly calling it a "ghost chain exit," and even viewing "whether Aave deploys" as a litmus test for L2 survival, once again questioning the economic rationale of multi-chain expansion.

ERC-8004 has officially launched on Base, becoming the first L2 to support this standard. The standard aims to provide a discovery mechanism and a portable reputation system for AI agents. The Base team positions it as a "public registry" to facilitate interaction between trustless agents, and Jesse Pollak confirms that any agent can register freely.

ERC-8004 has received significant positive feedback, hailed as a landmark event in the "Base riding the wave of agents" phenomenon. Developers have started discussing building a new type of agent network based on this standard (Olas has already registered hundreds of agents).

The Euphoria (@Euphoria_fi) in the MegaETH ecosystem announced the launch of the Tapathon competition: starting from February 16th for two weeks, targeting 5000 traders, offering Rolex watches and cash prizes. The protocol emphasizes a mobile-first approach and gamified experience, where participants can engage in options and perpetual contract trading with a simple "up/down" click.

Euphoria's Tapathon leans more towards emotion-driven, with the community noting it as "more like a game than a trade," eagerly anticipating its public launch and prize mechanism, but there are also a few voices questioning its market positioning and the originality of AI-generated content. Overall, the current focus of the Ethereum community is shifting from "multi-chain deployment" to "layer-two infrastructure + DeFi structure optimization."

3. Perp DEX: Structural Innovation Accelerates, Experience Becomes a Core Variable

Lighter (@lighter_xyz) responded to Vitalik's latest statement on L2 positioning, reaffirming its choice of Ethereum ZK Rollup as a route, emphasizing "scaling Ethereum, not detaching from Ethereum." The protocol focuses on verifiable finance and high-frequency trading, currently leading in TPS, ranking fourth in TVL, and is about to launch Lighter EVM.

Lighter has gained significant support, with users generally acknowledging its positioning as "on the Ethereum side" and looking forward to further enhancing DeFi composability and playability once EVM is live.

The Ventuals exchange, based on HIP-3, released the V2 upgrade: a brand new front end supporting 24/7 trading pre-IPO assets, indexes, and stocks; at the same time introducing point incentives (weekly 500,000 points, vHYPE holder bonus), referral rebates (10%-60%), growth model (maximum fee reduction of 90%), and increasing the leverage limit to 20x.

Ventuals V2 was praised as "another level" due to UI/UX improvements, with invite codes widely circulating in the community, repeatedly mentioned for its ability to attract TradFi users.

Perps.fun launched the first perpetual contract launchpad on Hyperliquid, focusing on a process of "simplified creation of new futures markets" to reduce the barrier for developers and projects.

Perps.fun is more about sparking developer interest, seen as "an interesting experimental launchpad," but some have pointed out that on Hyperliquid, creating markets quickly is already possible, and its differentiation is yet to be validated. Overall, the innovation sentiment in the perps track is high, but discussions about regulatory boundaries and transaction speed are still ongoing.

4. Others: Predictive Market "Into the Community," Is Marketing a Short-term or Long-term Strategy?

Polymarket announced the opening of its first free grocery store, "The Polymarket," in New York and donated $1 million to the Food Bank For NYC. The store will open on February 12 and is open to all New York residents. Almost simultaneously, Kalshi also launched a free grocery event (February 3 noon, West Side Market), with a limit of $50 per person. Both emphasize "giving back to the community" and seek to increase public awareness of predictive markets.

This event has triggered highly polarized reactions. Some people referred to it as a "marketing genius," especially acknowledging Polymarket's early venue rental and accompanying charitable donation execution; while others saw it as a short-term gimmick, questioning its sustainability, and joking that "it will be empty in 15 minutes" and "it's challenging to operate long-term in New York's security and policy environment."

Some users considered Kalshi a "last-minute follow-up," maintaining a reserved attitude toward their motives. Nevertheless, the community widely recognizes that such offline actions have a significant impact on brand exposure and public engagement, successfully placing the prediction market in a broader social context.