This week was quiet in the loud way. Fewer fireworks, more code moving into place. Max said the big rock is still ZK provability. The team is tightening data structures, adding optimizations, and bringing up a Rust sidecar that will prove state transitions and hVM precompiles inside a ZK context. That work unlocks ZK settlement on Ethereum, the HBIT VM path on Bitcoin, and future links into next-gen interoperability that require ZK proofs. First things first.

PoP payouts V2 is finished in code. It is headed to testnet. Mainnet follows audits. On Ethereum L1, contract upgrades are staged, with an end-to-end upgrade simulator now complete. Testnet first, a short soak, then mainnet if steady. VE Hemi rewards are near, with an announcement expected soon. There is also a tease called MinorFi, details to come.

One quiet win, the VeriBlock key converter is coded. A test build should land for VBK users, with mainnet after it checks out.

The white paper scope grew for good reason. The team added work on Ethereum consensus proofs and on publishing Ethereum data that helps attribute zero-knowledge, nothing-at-stake attacks. They also show how the HBIT VM vault model can be reused for non-custodial Bitcoin DeFi. Think restaking with arbitrary slashing written in contracts, not only double-signing traps. Think insurance that holds Bitcoin in self-custody until a valid claim. Think lending and even a sober approach to stable value against BTC, with clear liquidation and timing rules. Not hype, just composable pieces that make sense to conservative desks who want moderate yield and low drama.

On revenue, today it is mainly fees, and usage is still below the gas target. Over time, protocol components, the vault system, shared sequencing, shared DA, and the tunnel will add real cash flow. A slice of that will flow to community-directed work, liquidity, and security.

Security stayed front and center. Major contract changes get audits. The ZK work will be reviewed by a firm that knows both ZK and Bitcoin. Infra sees routine pen tests and automated scans. The warning of the week, do not run third-party scripts to manage PoP miners. If you can inspect them, you already know better.
Community notes. A new lending market announcement is close. More cross-chain relay services are coming. NFT talk continues, with interest in inscriptions, ordinals, and runes support on an EVM chain, timeline still open. The OG role flow is in progress, with wallet linking built carefully, not quickly. The merch store is almost
live, with a shirt contest queued.

The roadmap after ZK provability points to decentralizing the sequencer, then broader data publication to Ethereum, then Chain Builder so teams can stand up custom networks with Bitcoin data through BitcoinKit and security through Proof-of-Proof.