Congrats, Bitcoin — A New All-Time High
PLUS: Exploring ZKTLS, a gentle intro to REV, Coinbase’s bounty hunt, and so much more.
This week, Bitcoin quietly did a very loud thing. It hit a new all-time high—cracking $109,000 and vaporizing its January record. Not bad for magic internet money that was once traded for pizza.
And it didn’t stop there. Ukraine’s parliament is finalizing a bill to make Bitcoin part of its national reserves. Let that sink in: sovereign nations are starting to stack sats. One part hedge, one part Hail Mary - but it’s happening. And it’s not just Ukraine. Moody’s just downgraded U.S. debt, inflation’s still softening, and the narrative around digital store-of-value assets is louder than ever.
So if you’re still treating Web3 like a future bet… it’s time to admit it’s already here - and start learning, building, and shaping what comes next.
In this week’s issue, we’re diving into the signals that matter: a deep look at ZKTLS, and how zero-knowledge proofs are making your real-world reputation portable on-chain. Plus, a gentle but grounded intro to REV, the metric redefining what economic gravity looks like in a post-scaling world.
Let’s get it.
ZKTLS and the road to Reputational Interoperability
We fixed scaling. Now what?
That’s the question haunting Ethereum devs post-rollups. We’ve built the plumbing for millions - billions - to use crypto. Rollups, blobs, danksharding - the plumbing’s done. With Pectra in the rearview, we are the best time if any to support a global user base. But throughput isn’t adoption. There’s a deeper bottleneck: identity.
Not the pseudonymous kind that crypto excels at - wallet addresses, ENS names, on-chain activity - but the messy, persistent identity we carry in the real world. The one built across years of interactions with centralized systems: your credit score, your Uber rating, your employment record, your Spotify history. This isn’t just data - it’s context. It’s what lets people trust you before they meet you, and what determines whether you get a loan, an apartment, a job.
Right now, stepping into Web3 means stepping out of that entire history. It’s like showing up to a new city with no references, no bank account, no resume. You might be trustworthy, but you can’t prove it.
ZKTLS (Zero-Knowledge Transport Layer Security) changes that. It’s a cryptographic wrapper around Web2 data, letting you prove facts about yourself - “I have $20K in my savings,” “I’ve been an Airbnb Superhost since 2018” - without revealing raw data or even asking the platform’s permission. It works by tapping into TLS, the backbone of modern internet security, and layering zero-knowledge proofs on top. If a website shows you your info, ZKTLS can prove it.
And that unlocks a new class of crypto-native applications. DeFi finally gets access to reputation and creditworthiness, opening the door to uncollateralized lending. Peer-to-peer ramps become trustless. Social networks can verify influence without harvesting personal data. Even off-chain, ZKTLS is already improving processes in payday lending and invoice factoring - cutting fraud, streamlining verification, and expanding access.
The bigger picture? ZKTLS isn’t just about importing data. It’s about importing trust. It makes the social and economic scaffolding of Web2 interoperable with the programmable logic of Web3. If Ethereum is the world computer, ZKTLS is what lets it see - and reason about - the world we already live in.
A Gentle Introduction to REV
Every cycle, crypto invents new metrics to explain where value lives. First it was monetary theory, then gold metaphors, then TVL dashboards. Each one made sense - until it didn’t. They either lacked durability, got gamed, or couldn’t keep up with the shape-shifting logic of onchain economies.
Today, we’re exploring REV, or Realized Extractable Value.
At its core, REV is simple. It tracks how much people are actually paying - out of pocket—to get transactions confirmed. Not hypothetical opportunity (like MEV), not protocol inflation, but real user demand for blockspace. It’s a way of asking: how badly do people want to be here?
That makes REV interesting - not because it’s perfect, but because it’s hard to fake. It rises when competition for inclusion is fierce. It falls when no one’s in line. And while it can be noisy during speculative frenzies, it’s still one of the clearest indicators of economic intensity on a chain.
But REV also tells a bigger story: one about the post-scaling world we’re now entering. With blockspace becoming abundant, throughput alone won’t matter. What matters is who can attract meaningful, high-stakes activity - where people are still willing to pay. That’s where REV shines. It rewards utility, not just traffic.
The takeaway? REV isn’t the final answer to valuing blockchains. But it’s a better question. It shifts the frame away from hype and lockups, and toward the real-world pressure points that make blockspace valuable.
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Coinbase Emerging Talent Bounty
Okay this is pretty awesome - Coinbase just launched a cryptic 3-stage bounty challenge to surface emerging talent. If you’ve got smart contract skills and a Coinbase Wallet, you’re already halfway there.
What’s the challenge?
Crack the puzzle embedded in a live smart contract on Base. You’ll need critical thinking, Solidity chops, and a bit of hacker tenacity. The first 50 people to finish all three stages win a $100 Amazon gift card - and potentially a call with Coinbase recruiting.
Here’s how to jump in:
Submit this form to get access
Solve all 3 puzzles and link your completed contract
Job & Internship Opportunities
Software Engineer, Backend (Institutional - Foundations) - Coinbase | Apply Here
Business Operations & Strategy Associate / Senior Associate - Coinbase | Apply Here
Head of AI – SEI Foundation | Apply Here
Social Media Lead - SEI Foundation | Apply Here
Product Designer – Chorus One | Apply Here
Plume Internship Program – Open to College Students | Apply Here
Software Engineer, Backend - dydx | Apply Here
Smart Contract Engineer (Security) - OKX | Apply Here
Core Developer - Gnosis | Apply Here
Data Scientist, AI Agent Development - Binance | Apply Here
Binance Accelerator Program - Product Manager, Content Algorithm | Apply Here
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Whether you’re polishing your resume, preparing for a technical screen, or figuring out where you actually want to be — we’ve got your back. 👇
The phone in your pocket may never look the same again
Solana’s first phone, the Saga, was laughed off as a “memecoin phone” - until it sold out and started flipping on eBay for thousands. Now, they’re back with the sequel: Seeker, dropping August 4th, already 150,000 units deep in pre-sales, and paired with a bold new vision for mobile crypto infrastructure.
And yeah, we’re expecting to see a few Seekers glowing in people’s palms at the Midwest Blockchain Conference this fall. Here’s a poll: who’s grabbing a Seeker? Who’s bringing one to the Midwest?
It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how this evolves over the next few years. On the other side of the ecosystem, OpenAI just made a hardware acquisition — signaling a move that could blur the line between AI agent and physical interface. And if these trends hold, Apple’s mobile dominance might finally get tested — not by one company, but by a wave of protocol-powered devices.