Here are some of the latest updates and news from the Mina ecosystem this week.

State of the Mina Ecosystem and Future Directions

Mina Protocol Co-founder Evan Shapiro discusses the current state of the Mina ecosystem following the Berkeley Upgrade, highlighting its evolution into a programmable ZK blockchain. With over 50 projects in progress, Mina aims to support a variety of zkApps, including zkKYC, private voting, games, and DEXes.

The Berkeley upgrade has made Mina the first ZK Layer 1 (L1) platform with ZK programmability. This advancement allows for applications that leverage zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) for enhanced privacy, scalability, and decentralization. Major milestones include the mainnet release in 2021, which introduced a blockchain maintaining a full proof of its state in just a few kilobytes.

Key areas of focus include L2 support, wallet audits, development standards, and infrastructure improvements. Discover more about the future of the ecosystem here.

Mina Navigator Proposal Updates
Proposals Under Consideration:

• zkDatabase as a service: Open for public comments until July 20, 2024.
• Paima Engine template: Open for public comments until July 23, 2024.

Proposals to Re-scope:

• Secp256r1 & Smart Contract Wallet: This proposal is being revised due to overlapping work by the ZKON team, which is close to being published to the community.

Funded Proposals:

• Auro Wallet: Mina custom token support.
• TileVille: An on-chain strategic city development game.

For more information, please check the announcement.

Collaboration between Aligned Layer & o1Labs

Brandon Kase, CEO of o1Labs, a significant partner in the Mina Protocol ecosystem, discussed on an X Space how Aligned Layer will verify Mina zk proofs on Ethereum, enabling rapid and cost-effective cross-chain applications. This partnership facilitates the development of interoperable applications. To listen to the discussion, please visit the link.

Minataur Introduces “Charts: Data by Epoch”

Serhii Pimenov announced the addition of “Data by Epoch” charts to Minataur. This new feature enables users to track changes over epochs through charts that display various data metrics such as User Tx Count, zkApps Tx Count, Blocks Count, and Blocks Reward Count. Explore this new feature here.