TL;DR

In Arbitrum, governance is increasingly focused on operational sustainability and infrastructure management. The proposal to transition Nova into a maintenance-oriented network reflects how ecosystem activity has consolidated around Arbitrum One, while ongoing discussions around treasury operations, OAT elections, and MSS reporting point to a broader push toward operational consolidation and long-term cost efficiency.

In ZKsync, governance and community efforts continue centering around ecosystem growth and engagement. The ZK Stack Content Program significantly exceeded its first-month targets, highlighting continued investment in narrative building, education, and community-driven ecosystem expansion.

Elsewhere, Starknet discussions are increasingly focused on wallet interoperability and staking infrastructure, Uniswap continues expanding its multichain protocol fee system to additional networks, and Polygon is refining validator infrastructure while exploring new real-world asset initiatives tied to tokenized intellectual property.

Active votes

Arbitrum: 1 Vote

• AIP: Amended Release of Frozen ETH Pursuant to Court Order - ends on May 28th at 22:05 UTC.

Uniswap: 1 Vote

• Protocol Fee Expansion: Three More Chains - ends on May 21st at 5:30 UTC.

Arbitrum

AIP: Minimize Arbitrum Nova

The Arbitrum Foundation introduced a proposal that outlines a plan to minimize Arbitrum Nova by transitioning the network into a reduced-capacity, maintenance-oriented state.

The proposal argues that Nova has largely fulfilled its original purpose as a low-cost AnyTrust experiment, while current usage and ecosystem activity no longer justify its operational costs. If approved, the transition would happen across three phases, including a 90-day migration window for users and developers, a move toward lightweight infrastructure and a passive DAC model, and the deprecation of most Nova-related service provider contracts. The plan aims to reduce annual operating costs by roughly $1.43M while encouraging applications and liquidity to migrate toward Arbitrum One.

L2BEAT’s Take

Arbitrum’s proposal to scale down Nova feels like a recognition of how the ecosystem has evolved over time. Most activity, liquidity, and attention ended up concentrating on Arbitrum One, while Nova slowly became a smaller part of the broader ecosystem.

The proposal itself feels reasonably measured. Instead of shutting the network down abruptly, the DAO is giving teams time to migrate and keeping Nova alive in a reduced form. That probably lowers a lot of the risk and uncertainty for the applications that still rely on it today.

Still, some of the proposed changes do come with tradeoffs. A more passive DAC model and reduced infrastructure support could make the network less operationally robust over time, especially if unexpected issues come up later. Even if activity is lower today, maintaining infrastructure in “maintenance mode” is never completely risk free.

Arbitrum Shares MSS Handover Token Flow Report

The Arbitrum Foundation shared a Q1 2026 token flow report covering funds previously managed under the MSS program before control was transferred to the Foundation following the DAO’s decision to wind it down.

The report includes financial activity across four remaining initiatives, detailing deposits, withdrawals, and operational payments made between January and March 2026. It also notes that the Foundation has begun using a centralized aggregator wallet to streamline outbound payments and reduce operational complexity across multiple DAO-managed initiatives.

Arbitrum Opens Applications for June 2026 OAT Elections

OpCo shared an overview of the upcoming June 2026 elections for Arbitrum’s Oversight and Transparency Committee (OAT), alongside the official application thread for candidates interested in joining the committee.

The election process will begin in May ahead of the current committee’s term ending in August 2026. The OAT is responsible for overseeing OpCo’s operations, coordinating with key DAO stakeholders, approving major operational decisions, and supporting hiring and financial oversight. The update also details the qualifications expected from candidates, emphasizing governance experience, strategic coordination, and strong familiarity with the Arbitrum ecosystem, while the accompanying application thread formalizes the nomination and submission process for participants.

Entropy Shares April Update Across Treasury and DAO Operations

Entropy shared its April 2026 monthly update covering treasury management, DAO operations, ecosystem analytics, and incentive programs within the Arbitrum ecosystem.

The update highlights the DAO’s response to the rsETH exploit, including precautionary treasury actions and the ongoing vote regarding the release of frozen ETH into DeFi United. It also covers new treasury deployments, the phased wind-down of KPK’s active management role, continued progress on Stylus Sprint and Watchdog operations, and the launch of new governance analytics tools on arbdata.com. Across multiple initiatives, the report reflects a growing focus on operational consolidation, treasury coordination, and ecosystem infrastructure.

ZKsync

Mid-Report: ZK Stack Content Program (Community Activation RFP 2 Extension)

0xmadmaxx.eth shared the mid-report for the ZK Stack Content Program extension, covering the first month of the 13-week community activation initiative focused on ZKsync-related content creation.

The report shows that participating creators collectively generated more than 500K views and surpassed nearly all engagement targets within the program’s first month through threads, memes, videos, and educational content tied to ZKsync narratives. The update also highlights strong contributor growth, increased social engagement, and continued focus on topics such as staking, privacy infrastructure, and ZKsync’s broader ecosystem positioning.

Uniswap

Protocol Fee Expansion: Three More Chains

Eek637 created a proposal that outlines the next phase of Uniswap’s protocol fee rollout, extending fee collection infrastructure to BNB Chain, Polygon, and finalizing activation on Celo.

The proposal continues the broader multichain fee expansion strategy previously approved by governance, where protocol fees collected across chains are routed into TokenJar contracts and ultimately used to burn UNI on Ethereum mainnet. In addition to activating fees on BNB Chain and Polygon, the proposal also aims to correct a previous configuration issue that prevented Celo’s fee activation from executing successfully.

Starknet

Starknet Proposal Introduces Pluggable Signer Standard for Smart Accounts

Haycarlitos introduced a Starknet proposal that outlines a standardized pluggable signer interface for smart accounts, enabling support for multiple cryptographic signing methods within a single account architecture.

The proposal introduces a shared verification framework capable of supporting signers from ecosystems such as MetaMask, Phantom, passkeys, and Sign in with Apple, alongside Starknet-native accounts. Rather than requiring separate account contracts for each signature scheme, the system uses modular verifier classes and a shared routing structure, aiming to improve wallet interoperability, account recovery options, and developer integration across Starknet applications.

STRK Staking Guide for New Starknet Users

Atlas Staking published an educational guide explaining the basics of STRK staking and validator delegation within the Starknet ecosystem.

The article outlines how Starknet’s proof-of-stake system works, the differences between validators and delegators, and the factors users should consider when selecting a validator, including uptime, infrastructure reliability, and commission structures. The guide also promotes Atlas Staking’s validator services and introduces an NFT incentive campaign aimed at attracting early STRK delegators.

Guide on Choosing Starknet Validators

Atlas Staking published the second article in its Starknet staking education series, focusing on how users should evaluate and select validators when delegating STRK.

The guide outlines key criteria such as uptime, commission structures, infrastructure reliability, security practices, and validator communication, while presenting a framework for users to compare staking providers. The article also continues promoting Atlas Staking’s validator services and NFT incentive campaign aimed at attracting long-term STRK delegators.

Polygon

Polygon Plans to Sunset Erigon Support on Polygon PoS

Parvez03 shared an infrastructure update announcing that Polygon Labs plans to discontinue support for the Erigon client on Polygon PoS by August 1, 2026.

The announcement recommends validators and node operators transition toward Bor with PBSS for archive node operations, citing similar storage efficiency and long-term support considerations. Polygon Labs also provided configuration guidelines, snapshot resources, and operational recommendations to help node operators migrate infrastructure ahead of the deprecation timeline.

HyDRAULIC Requests Polygon Grant for IP-Backed Lending Protocol

Mars_HyDRAULIC submitted a grant request proposing the launch of HyDRAULIC, a decentralized lending protocol focused on bringing intellectual property-backed financing to Polygon.

The project aims to allow businesses to use tokenized patents, trademarks, and copyrights as collateral for onchain loans through ERC-721 IP NFTs and a legal framework designed for institutional adoption. The team is requesting 50K POL to fund security audits, mainnet deployment, and ecosystem growth efforts, with the broader goal of positioning Polygon as infrastructure for tokenized intellectual property and real-world asset financing.

Quiet Corner

Some ecosystems saw no meaningful governance developments this week.

• Everclear
• Optimism
• Scroll
• Wormhole
• Hop
• Starknet
• Lisk

As always, if we missed something important, feel free to reach out. We’re happy to dig deeper.

Upcoming Events

Arbitrum

• Entropy Advisors - biweekly office hours - on 19.05 at 17:15 UTC.
• Minimize Arbitrum Nova: Open Discussion #1 - on 20.05 at 14:00 UTC.

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