So… who wants an Orb Mini?
PLUS: Unichain's TEE Innovation, Worldcoin in the United States, and so much more.
Worldcoin’s iris-scanning Orbs have landed in the U.S. — and the new Orb Mini is small enough to set up at events, meetups, maybe even your dorm room (please don’t).
but, here’s the only question that matters:
Let us know in the poll. Midwest Blockchain Conference? Hackathon booth? Dining hall pop-up?
We’re not saying it’s confirmed — but we’re crazy enough to make it happen. (More alpha soon on MCB btw. The group chat is heating up this year and we’re hyped.)
Anyway, back to the real story. From biometric identity layers to on-chain loan protocols and TEE-powered block building, this week’s newsletter is all about the infrastructure behind trust — who we are, how we transact, and what we can verify.
Let’s get into it 👇
Unichain becomes the first Layer 2 to build blocks inside a TEE
Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap has a blindspot: most rollups still rely on centralized sequencers and unverifiable block ordering. That means transactions are often ordered off-chain, behind closed doors, with no public guarantees - a setup that’s vulnerable to MEV extraction, latency games, and trust-based failure modes.
This week, Unichain shipped a major architectural shift that directly addresses those issues. Powered by a new framework called Rollup-Boost, Unichain is now the first Layer 2 to build blocks inside a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) - a secure enclave that introduces cryptographic guarantees into the core of transaction ordering.
So what does that actually unlock?
First, fair and verifiable transaction ordering. Inside the TEE, transactions are ordered based solely on priority fees - no special access, no hidden mempools. And soon, these blocks will come with public attestations so anyone can verify they were built honestly. This makes blockspace markets more predictable and equitable, especially for apps and LPs trying to internalize MEV.
Second, encrypted mempools, which prevent frontrunners and searchers from peeking at pending transactions. That’s a big deal for privacy, but also for fairness - especially as intent-based systems and onchain order flow become more valuable.
Third, revert protection. Apps can now simulate transactions in advance and avoid including ones that are guaranteed to fail - so users don’t burn gas on errors. This cuts down on wasted blockspace and helps improve UX across the board.
The foundation of all this is Flashblocks - a new execution format that streams partial blocks every 250ms. Think of it as Solana-speed confirmations with Ethereum’s trust assumptions. Users get sub-second feedback, while developers get higher gas throughput and lower latency - without sacrificing verifiability.
The bigger picture? Unichain is sketching out a future where rollups don’t have to choose between decentralization and performance. By moving core logic into TEEs - and exposing that logic through attestations and APIs - it becomes possible to harmonize fast UX with credible neutrality.
And there’s more coming. The Rollup-Boost roadmap includes features like scheduled transactions, TEE co-processing (for cheap, private, offchain compute), and hybrid proving systems that combine ZK and TEE security models. This isn't just an upgrade - it's a new design space.
For Ethereum’s scaling roadmap to succeed, rollups need to become more than just throughput engines. They need to be verifiable, programmable, and neutral by default. Unichain’s move into TEE-based sequencing is a rare example of building toward that vision — not with hype, but with architecture.
It doesn’t mean the decentralization problem is solved. But it does mean there’s now a clearer path forward — one where we can finally escape the MEV trilemma, and start building rollups that are fast, fair, and future-proof.
Worldcoin Brings Its Identity Protocol to American Cities
For the past few years, Sam Altman has been quietly building something that sounds like science fiction but feels increasingly inevitable.
Worldcoin, the biometric crypto-identity project, is officially launching in the U.S. That means the metallic iris-scanning “orbs” — which have already scanned over 12 million people globally — are coming to cities like SF, LA, Austin, and Miami. If you’ve been anywhere near the crypto x AI discourse, you’ve probably heard whispers: Worldcoin’s trying to build a new kind of identity layer — one tied to your biology, not just your wallet address. Beyond identity verification, Altman has hinted at broader ambitions, including the potential for Worldcoin to serve as a foundation for universal basic income in a future where AI might displace human work.
The proposal is bold:
Use zero-knowledge proofs + iris scans to issue a World ID — a private, portable, cryptographic proof that you’re a real human.
Let that ID be used anywhere: login flows, marketplaces, social apps, even something like Tinder or Stripe.
Build a global, decentralized verification system that doesn’t rely on governments, driver’s licenses, or surveillance capitalism.
In other words, this is a moonshot at replacing the login button with something way more civilizational. A biometric protocol for trust. A public good built on - or adjacent to - crypto rails.
And yes, the design is controversial. The use of biometric data raises serious questions about consent, control, and surveillance. Not everyone’s thrilled. But there’s also something undeniably bold here — an attempt to solve one of the central problems of the post-AGI internet: how do we rebuild trust when everyone looks real, but no one is?
It’s a moonshot. And it’s not without its flaws. The use of biometric data raises serious concerns — about surveillance, centralization, and consent. Some governments have already banned it. Critics worry it could become the very thing it claims to protect against.
But to their credit, the team behind Worldcoin is not avoiding the hard problems. They’re naming them — and trying to build through them. Whether Worldcoin succeeds or fails, it's addressing a fundamental question we can't ignore: In a world where AI makes digital fakery increasingly convincing, how do we rebuild trust?
The question of digital identity is becoming one of the defining challenges of our time. As we transition into a post-AGI world, the ability to verify human interaction may indeed become a scarce and valuable resource.
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🛰️ Eigen Summer Fellowship Just Landed
EigenLayer has officially launched its Summer Fellowship program - an 8-week, in-person experience designed for ambitious builders at the frontier of crypto infrastructure.
Fellows will work alongside the Eigen team to prototype agent-powered apps, experiment with AVS tooling, and contribute to the growing restaking ecosystem.
-Seattle (on-site)
- 8 weeks | Summer 2025
- $5,000/month + housing + meals
- Mentorship from Eigen core contributors including @sreeramkannan and @dabit3
With fast build cycles, weekly demos, and potential pathways to full-time roles, this fellowship is designed for those ready to move quickly and build with purpose.
Cornell Tech Crypto Conference - April 25th
Cornell's "New Era of U.S. Innovation in Crypto" Conference is coming to NYC on April 25th. The lineup features notable speakers from Visa, MoonPay, Fireblocks, and Ava Labs, along with regulatory perspectives from NYDFS.
Panel topics include DeFi developments, Crypto-AI integration, stablecoin competition, and comparative blockchain architectures. The event concludes with the Cornell Blockchain Accelerator Demo Day.
Early Bird tickets available until April 4th: $10 for students, $50 general admission.
Yale Blockchain Conference - April 4th
You thought we were done after one Ivy? Think again. We’re heading to Yale to explore how blockchain is reshaping industries - from finance and infrastructure to art, AI, and beyond.
Hear from speakers at Paradigm, a16z crypto, Microsoft, BitGo, Galaxy, Movement Labs, the Whitney Museum, and more as we dive into the theme:
“Blockchain Applications Across Industries.”
Panel topics include decentralized infrastructure, institutional adoption, cultural innovation, and the next wave of crypto-native products.
CollegeDAO members receive an exclusive discount - use promo code COLLEGEDAO for student tickets.
Job & Internship Opportunities
Software Engineer, Frontend – Chainlink Labs | Apply Here
Frontend Engineer, UX – Chainlink Labs | Apply Here
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
Frontend Developer – Injective Labs | Apply Here
Plume Internship Program – Open to College Students | Apply Here
AI Ecosystem Growth Lead – Solana Foundation | Apply Here
Summer Analyst Intern – Inversion Capital (LatAm) | Apply via email - hiring@inversioncap.com.
Please send your resume and a short answer to:
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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 world’s first student loan RWA protocol
To close things out this week, here’s something you might’ve missed — but probably shouldn’t have.
Animoca Brands and Open Campus deployed $10M in liquidity to support blockchain-based student loans - part of a growing push to reimagine education finance using decentralized primitives. The loans will flow through Pencil Finance, a lending protocol built on EDU Chain - Using tokenized loan bundles, global LPs can fund whitelisted pools, while students borrow transparently through smart contracts. Repayments, defaults, and returns are all managed on-chain.
The architecture supports senior and junior tranches, enables first-loss protection, and opens the door to financial access models that aren’t bound by national borders or credit scores. If it scales, it won’t just be another lending protocol - it could become a new backbone for global education access.
And for us at College DAO, this hits close to home. Earlier this year, we launched the Open Campus Validator Program — helping secure EDU Chain with nodes run by student blockchain clubs across the world. To now see meaningful financial infrastructure going live on that same chain?
It’s not just a narrative win. It’s a proof of possibility. This is the kind of thing we hoped to see: on-chain primitives that serve real students, built on rails students help maintain.
Pretty awesome stuff.
..and that’s a wrap for this week — enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you back next week.