It’s been a turbulent week for crypto, with RPL and other altcoins continuing to struggle as the token price hovers near $5. While the market remains uncertain, Rocket Pool has exciting upgrades on the way, such as Saturn on the horizon. Until then, the price action will be a bumpy ride. Community members within the Rocket Pool Discord that share their struggles receive a POAP.

Bankless Citizen - Class of 2025 This is your onchain representation of being a Bankless Citizen!

The Rocket Pool Smartnode v1.14.0 release includes mandatory client updates for Nethermind, Prysm, Besu, and Reth, alongside Smart Node changes such as removing the 16 ETH minipool option, enhancing deposit prompts, and optimizing RPC calls for oDAO nodes. Minor adjustments were also made to accommodate Saturn-0 and update messages. Shortly after, version 1.14.1 was released to address a breaking change in Prysm and update Lodestar, which is only necessary for Prysm users. Node operators that updated within 72 hours received a POAP.

Rocket Pool has released v1.13.10 of the Smart Node, a recommended update featuring important bug fixes, client updates, and minor enhancements. This version includes updates to Geth, Besu, Reth, Teku, Nimbus, and Nethermind, along with new MEV-Boost support for the Holesky testnet and optimizations for oDAO RPC calls. Additional improvements include Reth peer parameter controls, cleanup for V10, and fixes to various issues. Rocket Pool node operators that were the first to upgrade received a POAP. This month's POAP was designed by talented Icelandic community member IcelandCalling.eth.

Rocket Pool has released v1.13.8 of the Smart Node. Smart Node 1.13.8 adds contribution guidelines, flags bloXroute Max Profit relay as censoring, supports configuring Nethermind's pruning, and auto-initializes voting power. It also removes the Eden Relay, improves voting command text, and adds a warning for uninitialized voting power during staking after the hotfix. Rocket Pool node operators that updated swiftly received a POAP.

After many years of progress and a lengthy approval process, Spot Ethereum Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) opened for trading on July 23, 2024. The SEC approved eight ETFs, including the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH), Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV), Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW), 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF (CETH), Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), BlackRock's (BLK) iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) and the Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF (QETH). Funds raised from this POAP will go to Aestus. The Aestus MEV-Boost Relay is a neutral, non-censoring relay, which emerged from conversations between members of the EthFinance and EthStaker communities who see the need to develop credibly neutral architecture for the Ethereum staking ecosystem. This POAP was developed by superphiz.eth with input from nixorokish.eth, with art by electropillow.eth