March Crypto Highlights: Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade Testnet Activated, FEVM Released, Illuvium Launches NFT Collectible Game
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March Crypto Highlights: Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade Testnet Activated, FEVM Released, Illuvium Launches NFT Collectible Game
What are the notable crypto events to watch in March?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsSource: First Class Warehouse (@firstvip61)
Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade
The Shanghai upgrade is currently the biggest narrative and public expectation in the market. Prior to the mainnet Shanghai upgrade, there will be three testnet upgrade trials (Zhejiang→Sepolia→Goerli). Today, the Sepolia testnet successfully activated its Shanghai upgrade. If the previous pace of advancing one testnet every three weeks continues, Goerli—the most watched and widely participated testnet—will activate its upgrade on March 21. This implies that the mainnet Shanghai upgrade could occur in April.
We previously mentioned related investment assets at the end of January ($ETH, $LDO, $RPL, $SWISE, $ANKR, $FXS, $SSV, etc.). While awaiting the upgrade, readers should also pay attention to changes in the macro environment, such as the upcoming interest rate decision meeting and economic outlook scheduled for March 22. The latest installment of our macro analysis series, "U.S. Treasury Yields and Market Risk," was released today—please visit the First Class Warehouse platform (first.vip) for details.
DEFI
yearn.finance ($YFI)——The Yearn team recently announced in the community that, with growing investor interest in the LSD sector, the upcoming yETH token will allow users direct exposure to a basket of Ethereum liquid staking derivatives (LSDs). yETH essentially diversifies user risk across individual LSDs while generating additional yield through Yearn’s substantial veCRV positions in Curve pools. The launch of yETH is expected to bring supplementary revenue to veYFI stakeholders. Note that the exact release date for yETH has not yet been disclosed.
dYdX ($DYDX)——Development of version v4 is divided into five phases. The project is currently in Milestone 2 (M2), with the personal testnet expected to go live by the end of March (M3), completing the third milestone.
Nexus Mutual ($NXM, $wNXM)——Nexus Mutual v2 Phase 1 upgrade has been completed. The protocol entered Phase 2 on February 27, lasting until March 5. During this period, claims submissions were suspended and will reopen after the upgrade. The final phase of the v2 upgrade begins on March 6, involving smart contract migration from v1 to v2, along with a UI overhaul, with all upgrades expected to conclude by March 10.
Synthetix ($SNX)——The originally planned March rollout of Synthetix v3 was advanced and deployed on both Ethereum mainnet and Optimism on February 23. Key v3 improvements include adoption of a CDP model, enhanced on-chain trading depth via atomic swaps, support for permissionless spot-futures markets, and enhancements in liquidations and reward mechanisms.
Ondo Finance ($ONDO)——Ondo Finance officially launched its new protocol, Flux Finance, in February, issuing OUSG (U.S. Short-Term Treasury Fund), bringing off-chain bond products onto the blockchain. It plans to issue OSTB (Short-Term Investment Grade Bond Fund) and OHYG (High-Yield Corporate Bond Fund)陆续 in March and April.
L1 & L2s
Filecoin ($FIL)——Will launch FEVM on March 14, enabling developers to deploy EVM-compatible contracts on the Filecoin mainnet. Existing Ethereum tools will become compatible with Filecoin, and user-deployed actors can interact with built-in Filecoin actors and access Filecoin functionalities.
Cosmos ($ATOM)——The proposal to activate Replicated Security has passed. Cosmos Hub is expected to undergo its v9 lambda upgrade on March 15, enforcing Interchain Security (ICS) operational rules. This allows consumer chains to benefit from Cosmos Hub's security without maintaining their own validator sets. In exchange, consumer chains are expected to send a portion of their fees and inflation rewards to Cosmos Hub validators and delegators, which will be included in Cosmos Hub staking rewards. Should multiple consumer chains rely on the Cosmos Hub validator network, ATOM stands to gain increased value accrual.
Game & NFT
Parallel Life ($PRIME)——Will begin circulating $PRIME tokens on March 1. Parallel Life is a sci-fi-themed collectible card game that previously raised $50 million in a funding round led by Paradigm at a $500 million valuation—one of the few gaming investments made by Paradigm. A token airdrop will be distributed to 60,000 addresses holding its NFT cards. As of March 1, approximately 20 million $PRIME tokens (~20% of total supply of ~110 million) will be in circulation. For more fundamental information, please refer to First Class Warehouse’s new token spotlight series.
Yuga Labs ($APE)——Yuga Labs announced it will launch an NFT collection called TwelveFold on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Ordinals protocol. The collection consists of 300 limited-edition generative artworks etched onto the Bitcoin blockchain, each a 12x12 grid designed by Yuga Labs’ internal art team combining 3D elements and hand-drawn features. The company stated that TwelveFold has no connection to its Ethereum-based IPs and will have no future interaction or utility with them. The TwelveFold auction will begin later this week, with full details and timing announced 24 hours in advance. Additionally, $APE will unlock 40 million tokens on March 17—4% of total supply, worth approximately $232 million.
Illuvium ($ILV)——Illuvium will launch a new NFT collectible game, Beyond, on March 7. This interactive, competitive card game is based on Illuvitar (the PFP project released by Illuvium). Players can improve their rankings on leaderboards by acquiring rare Illuvitar NFTs, unlocking greater in-game rewards across the Illuvium universe—including Illuvium: Overworld, Arena, and Zero. Registration for Beyond is now open, and its release may further enrich gameplay and social engagement within the Illuvium ecosystem.
LooksRare ($LOOKS)——Will unlock ~12,500,000 $LOOKS on March 25 (valued at ~$2.4 million at current price of $0.19), representing 1.25% of total supply. All unlocked tokens originate from the treasury.
Others
Stargate Finance ($STG)——Stargate will implement a 1:1 token swap for $STG on March 15, issuing new $STG tokens to replace existing ones, aiming to “eliminate the risk of illicit transfers of STG from Alameda-linked addresses.” Alameda had purchased 10% of the total STG supply during Stargate’s community sale on March 17, 2022, and verbally committed to locking those tokens until March 2025. However, recent on-chain data shows that Alameda does not fully control its wallets, and unauthorized fund movements have occurred.
Helium ($HNT)——The Helium Network will begin migrating to the Solana blockchain on March 27. This upgrade will affect all wallets, Hotspot devices, and the overall state of the Helium network, taking place over a 24-hour transition window. The legacy Helium blockchain will be shut down during this 24-hour period. Data transmission and Proof-of-Coverage activities will remain unaffected.
Umee ($UMEE)——Cosmos-based cross-chain DeFi protocol Umee announced it will initiate the first phase of shutting down the Umee Gravity Bridge before the end of March. Going forward, it will partner with Axelar, making the Axelar Bridge the official bridge between Ethereum and Cosmos. Users can still use Gravity Bridge to transfer tokens back to Umee, but the team advises against using Gravity Bridge to move any tokens from Umee to Ethereum. On April 1, the Gravity Bridge function for transferring assets from Umee to Ethereum will be disabled. The plan is to fully decommission the Gravity Bridge by the end of May.
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