MegaETH Testnet Launches With 20,000 TPS on Day One

Ethereum scaling project MegaETH launched its public testnet on Friday, clocking over 20,000 transactions per second and 10-millisecond block times. Backed by Vitalik Buterin and Joseph Lubin, MegaETH positions itself as a single high-throughput platform counter to Ethereum’s rollup-centric model.

Like other rollups, MegaETH executes transactions off-chain while using Ethereum for settlement and security. However, it leverages EigenDA and specialized sequencers to enable parallel processing and low latency. MegaETH aims to eventually scale to 100,000 TPS and sub-millisecond latency, with apps like Infinex and GTE already building on the network.

The project has raised over $43 million across token sales, NFT auctions, and seed rounds at a nine-figure valuation. While still experimental, MegaETH’s architectural bet on throughput-first design signals a sharp challenge to Layer 2 network dominance.

If you want to interact with the testnet, you need to add MegaETH to MetaMask, either through ChainList (Chain ID 6342) or by manually entering the RPC details.

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Farcaster Launches Snapchain and Airdrop Rewards

Decentralized social protocol Farcaster has launched Snapchain, a blockchain-inspired data layer designed to process over 10,000 transactions per second. Co-founder Varun Srinivasan said Snapchain was built in just six months to power high-volume social features like likes and shares. Farcaster also debuted an “Airdrop Offers” program that rewards user actions like installing apps and casting content.

Snapchain uses account-based sharding for efficient scalability, and functions as a pruned, low-cost data store for crypto-native social apps. Farcaster’s flagship client, Warpcast, supports payments and smart contract-enabled “Frames” directly within its app. The platform has onboarded 350,000 paid users and raised $150 million from Paradigm, a16z, and others.

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Tornado Cash Sanctions Reversed, Protocol Ported to MegaETH

The U.S. Treasury has officially removed Tornado Cash from its sanctions list following a January court ruling that OFAC overstepped its authority. The Ethereum-based privacy tool had been blacklisted in 2022 for allegedly facilitating money laundering by North Korea’s Lazarus Group. U.S. District and appeals courts ruled the action unconstitutional, prompting the Treasury to lift restrictions on March 21.

Shortly after, a developer known as Gunboats ported Tornado Cash to the MegaETH testnet under the name ETHTornado. The new deployment can handle up to 20,000 transactions per second and sparked debate around “wallet dusting” and airdrop eligibility. Gunboats said the code needed no changes, adding that legal concerns don’t apply since they're not based in the U.S.

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Coinbase in Advanced Talks to Acquire Deribit

Coinbase is in advanced discussions to acquire Deribit, the largest crypto options platform for Bitcoin and Ether trading, Bloomberg reported on March 21. The companies have notified Dubai regulators, as Deribit holds a license there that would transfer in the acquisition. Coinbase declined to confirm the deal, but said it's actively pursuing global expansion.

Bloomberg said, again citing people familiar with the situation, that Deribit hired a financial adviser to "review opportunities" in January after drawing interest from potential buyers. Sources estimate its valuation between $4 billion and $5 billion, though no agreement has been finalized. Kraken was previously rumored as a bidder but has denied involvement in the process.

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Data of the Day

Bitcoin’s volatility surged to 3.6% on March 19, the highest since August 2024, according to CoinGlass data. The spike reflects market uncertainty amid fiscal tightening and the emergence of Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency.” That office claims to have saved $115 billion through asset sales, workforce cuts, and regulatory rollbacks.

Paybis CRO Uldis Tearudklans said tightening policy could counteract potential Fed rate cuts, complicating the macro environment for traders. Since President Trump’s January inauguration, Bitcoin fell from a $109,590 high to as low as $77,041. BTC has since rebounded to roughly $84,000, but investor sentiment remains divided.

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More Breaking News

• Strategy upsized its STRF preferred stock offering to $722.5M to fuel additional Bitcoin purchases, treasury allocation, and working capital.
• SEC’s Hester Peirce signaled NFTs could be exempt from securities rules, paving the way for crypto startups to raise funds with them freely.
• Fidelity filed to launch a blockchain-based version of its U.S. Treasury fund, joining the $4.8B RWA tokenized assets boom in earnest.
• Sonic Labs unveiled a high-yield algorithmic stablecoin targeting up to 23% APR, sparking renewed Terra-Luna collapse comparisons globally.
• Germany’s BaFin ordered Ethena to halt its USDe issuance, citing serious MiCA violations and core organizational deficiencies.
• Australia unveiled plans for a digital asset framework to balance innovation with regulation and boost its global crypto industry leadership.
• South Korea plans sanctions against unregistered crypto exchanges like KuCoin and BitMEX for violating local VASP laws repeatedly.

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