Aquanauts, we have crossed the threshold of Shapella and are now in uncharted waters!
Following this successful upgrade, Swell Seawolf is firing up its engines in preparation to publicly launch on Ethereum mainnet.
In the last two weeks, the team has been finalizing everything for this big moment; concluding a successful Sigma Prime smart contract audit, and coordinating with node operators for a Guarded Launch.
All the details are in this fortnight's edition of Deep Dive, including the latest timelines for mainnet deployment and the lowdown on recent community events.
🏛️ Join the Swell Ecosystem Council!
Could you help drive adoption of swETH, support ecosystem governance, and promote Swell partnerships across DeFi?
If so, don't wait to apply for Swell DAO's inaugural Ecosystem Council.
Applications close on Saturday and can be submitted in five minutes:
➡️ Apply for the Ecosystem Council
🔍 Sigma Prime successfully audits contracts
Leading blockchain security firm Sigma Prime, the same auditor behind the Ethereum Foundation and several top DeFi protocols, has now successfully audited the Swell contracts.
Swell remains committed to prioritizing security above all else, and will now be scheduling a series of rolling smart contract audits by a selection of the leading blockchain security firms.
💎 Shapella upgrade enables withdrawals — will it spark a liquid staking gold rush?
Shapella is now live on Ethereum, and around 3% of staked ETH has been withdrawn at the time of writing.
As recently outlined in the Swell blog, we expect this upgrade to spark a dynamic shift in the Ethereum staking landscape, and ultimately create a healthier and more balanced market, in which a diverse range of providers each control a small portion of staked ETH and compete to provide the best experience.
Will Shapella spark a liquid staking gold rush?
🗞️ In the press
Swell founder Daniel has been making a splash on crypto media with both AMA events and published articles.
CoinTelegraph AMA: Maximizing Your ETH Yield Post-Shanghai
Blockworks op-ed: Stakers, Don’t Let the Shanghai Upgrade Centralize Ethereum
DeFiLlama commentary: Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade to unlock $34bn in staked ETH
🙋 Twitter Spaces with SNC and Pendle Finance
We were joined by node operator SNC and DeFi protocol Pendle for two fruitful discussions on Ethereum staking.
SNC
Rudolf van hees and Mark Heus covered the importance of permissionless and non-custodial staking for Ethereum.
🔹 AMA Recap: The Importance of Non-Custodial Staking
Pendle
Pendle's Anton Buenavisa dove deep into LSDfi, Shapella,and the future of liquid staking tokens.
🔹 AMA Recap: From Shanghai to LSDfi
If you missed these events, check the Discord announcements channel for details on how to earn a recognized role in the Swell Aquanauts.
📅 Public launch expected in late April
Following testing on Goerli and a successful smart contract audit, Swell is now expected to engage in a Guarded Launch as early as next week.
This critical phase is expected to last for one week, and will see the protocol tested on mainnet with certain limits around users and deposits.
Once the team has ensured that everything is humming along nicely, we will then be able to confidently invite everyone to stake on a fully open and permissionless Swell!
🧪 Fiat onramp now on testnet
On the Swell testnet, you can now find a small wallet symbol in the top right corner of the app.
Clicking on this will uncover something unique to Swell as a liquid staking protocol: a fiat on ramp!
This functionality will make the liquid staking journey as smooth as possible, enabling you to purchase ETH, stake it, and then compound your yield in DeFi — all from one single dApp.
Testing of the onramp is not required or incentivized. But if you want to investigate, you can do so with a set of test credentials.
📣 Top Tweets
Let's make Shapella the start of a shift towards a healthier liquid staking market
42% of voters expect ETH staking levels to hit 25-50%
Ethereum's future is brighter than ever!
Join the Swell Community
Expect to receive your next Deep Dive edition in two weeks.
Until then, stay up-to-date by joining us in Discord and on Twitter.
