The Weekly Ethereum Bulletin! Vol. 4: January 31–February 6, 2026

Key highlights:

• LambdaClass publishes updates on Ethlambda, Lambdaworks, and a 20x faster Ethrex
• Vitalik Buterin Revises the Role of Ethereum L2s
• Jordi Baylina Proposes Synchronous Rollups Using Real-Time Proving
• Y Combinator Supports USDC Funding on Base

LambdaClass Shares Update on EthLambda and Post-Quantum Lean Consensus

LambdaClass published a follow-up article on EthLambda, explaining how the post-quantum Lean Consensus client is developed using shared ecosystem tooling.

The post covers:

- EthLambda's participation in pq-devnet-2, focused on leanMultisig signature aggregation

- The specifications, cryptographic primitives, and developer tooling that support these efforts

- The core challenge: XMSS post-quantum signatures are 3,112 bytes vs. 96 for BLS, making aggregation essential. The devnet targets 400 validators based on ~400 XMSS aggregations per second.

LambdaClass Updates Lambdaworks Roadmap and Priorities for 2026

LambdaClass shared an updated 2026 roadmap for lambdaworks, its Rust-based cryptographic and zero-knowledge library with over 575 merged PRs from nearly 80 contributors.

 The update outlines plans to:                                    

- Expand STARK and Plonk support
- Add new polynomial commitment schemes and post-quantum signatures
- Improve GPU acceleration and performance
- Strengthen code quality

The roadmap positions lambdaworks as core infrastructure for projects like ethrex, ethlambda, zkVMs, and high-throughput L1 and L2 systems.

LambdaClass Details How Ethrex Achieved a 20x Performance Gain

LambdaClass published a deep dive into the performance engineering work behind ethrex, explaining how systematic profiling, architectural changes, and targeted optimizations led to a 20x improvement in block execution throughput: from 20 MGas/s to 400 MGas/s. 

The article covers:

- EVM execution optimizations: memory model redesign, opcode lookup tables, and inlined common opcodes

- Faster hashing with assembly-optimized SHA3/Keccak and a switch to fxhash for internal operations

- Storage: Deferred hash computation cut trie insertion time nearly in half

- Parallel merkleization: 16-way parallel processing across CPU cores

- Pipelined block processing and execution-based cache prewarming

Vitalik Revises the Role of Ethereum L2s

Vitalik Buterin said the original idea of L2s as "Ethereum-branded shards" no longer fits, citing slower L2 decentralization and faster Ethereum L1 scaling.

His updated view:

- L2s should be seen as a spectrum of Ethereum-backed chains
- Focus on value beyond scaling: privacy, specialized VMs, and extreme throughput
- L2s working with ETH should be at least Stage 1
- Maintain strong interoperability with Ethereum

Jordi Baylina Proposes Synchronous Rollups Using Real-Time Proving

Jordi Baylina published a research post outlining how real-time proving, combined with proxy contracts and execution tables, could enable synchronous composability between rollups.

The proposal:

- Allows atomic cross-chain contract calls that succeed or revert within a single transaction
- Avoids any L1 forks
- Removes the delays and loss of atomicity seen in asynchronous cross-chain designs

Y Combinator Supports USDC Funding on Base

Y Combinator announced it is offering startup funding in USDC on Base.

Key points:

- Highlights stablecoins' low cost, efficiency, and global reach
- The passage of the GENIUS Act as a key driver
- Expects startups, whether crypto-focused or not, to use crypto-enabled systems for payments, banking, and capital raising

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