Welcome to OpenBuild Dev Digest #114!
This issue covers Ethereum’s long-term roadmap, structural shifts in the Web3 talent market and evolving public chain revenue models. Ethereum reaches a critical inflection point after its first decade: having validated large-scale decentralized applications including smart contracts, DeFi and stablecoins, it is evolving into the settlement layer for the digital economy. Its next decade will focus on supporting core real-world economic activities, with stablecoin payments, tokenized assets and institutional use cases migrating onto public chains. The Web3 job market shows a stark divide: over 7,000 layoffs have been recorded year-to-date, yet engineering roles face significant talent shortages, with over half of open positions requiring AI-related skills, creating a structural supply-demand mismatch. Traditional blockchain business models are under pressure, as selling block space alone no longer builds sustainable moats. Falling block space prices widen the revenue gap between base layer chains and upper-layer applications, forcing a revaluation of industry valuation frameworks.
📅 August 4 - August 31 📍Online 💸 180,000USD Apply
All things agentic hacakthon is a global hackathon that challenges you to build one. Using Gemini, Google’s open-source Agent Development Kit (ADK), and Google Cloud, you’ll create an agent that takes real action to remove everyday friction — at work, at home, or across an entire enterprise.
You don’t need to be an AI researcher to take part. Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or building your first agent, we give you the tools, starter guides, and $150 in Google Cloud credits to go from idea to working demo. Pick a track, build your agent, and show us what “autonomous” really looks like.
Whether you’re a full-stack engineer, a system architect, or a startup founder, this hackathon hands you the tools to build agents that actively work for everyone. Redefining interaction — from static chatbots to immersive experiences.
📅 August 1 - August 24 📍Online 💸 10,000USD Apply
Build an agent. Point it at real information markets. Let it trade for two weeks. The top three P&Ls share $10,000.
Delphi is Gensyn’s on-chain information market protocol. Its markets ask real-world questions across politics, economics, sports, crypto, technology, and current events.
Prices are set by a Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule (LMSR), an automated market maker that provides a price for every outcome. Markets settle automatically using AI oracles.
For this competition, autonomous agents will trade a curated set of Delphi markets on Gensyn Testnet.
📅 August 14 - September 4 📍 Online 💸 8,000USD Apply
Turn your Decentraland World into the Friendzone no one wants to leave!
Build a social hangout, multiplayer activity, cooperative challenge or competitive game that feels intentionally designed for mobile users from the start and gives people a reason to connect, stay longer, invite friends and return regularly.
Whether you are an experienced Decentraland creator or building your first World, you will receive access to workshops, tutorials, live feedback sessions, troubleshooting support and guidance throughout the three-week build phase.
Teams are allowed. All projects must be open source.
✍️ Ethereum's Next Decade 👉Read(EN)
Ethereum is approaching an inflection point.
Its first decade validated the assumption that public blockchains can support meaningful applications at large scale. Smart contracts, DeFi, stablecoins, appchains, and tokenization turned Ethereum from an experimental decentralized computing platform into the settlement layer of a growing digital economy.
The second decade poses a different challenge. Ethereum must carry the economic activity that society actually depends on. Stablecoins are becoming payment rails, tokenized assets are moving beyond pilots, and institutions are building directly on public rails.
✍️ 2026 Q2 Web3 Hiring Report 👉Read(EN)
Since the start of 2026, more than 40 Web3 companies have laid off staff, over 7,000 people in total, and Coinbase and Kraken have both scaled back. On July 23, BitMEX, one of the industry’s oldest exchanges, announced it will fully shut down its trading business in September.
We cross-checked seven external industry reports against application data from the Moledao platform for Q2 2026. The comparison points to a pattern that has received little attention so far. In the functions where companies post the most jobs, candidate applications have not kept up; in the functions where candidates compete hardest, job supply is limited.
Since the start of 2026, Web3 layoffs have exceeded 7,000 people, according to the CryptoJobsList Layoffs Report 2026. Figure 1 shows the eight companies with the largest cuts.
The share of job descriptions requiring AI skills rose from 23% in early 2025 to 53.1% in March 2026.
Moledao data shows that Engineering roles account for 46.0% of hiring demand but only 27.1% of candidate applications, an application concentration index of 0.6x, the lowest among all major functions. This is the quarter’s clearest talent shortage signal.
✍️ The Expanding Business Model of Blockchains 👉Read(EN)
Selling blockspace is no longer a defensible business for blockchains.
For any blockchain, the core business is selling “blockspace”. But this offering is easily replicated and isn’t a differentiator. Almost every blockchain offers the same thing, and the only differentiating factor left in the conversation is “liquidity”. A chain with an already developed ecosystem and liquidity attracts more builders, which in turn increases the blockspace usage, a simple flywheel the blockchain business works upon.
Over time, as the industry grew technically, blockspace became cheaper, and even with more builders and usage, it contributed little to the chain’s revenue, resulting in an ever-increasing gap between the chain’s revenue and app revenue, making it difficult for chains to defend their valuation.
💸 Stacking DAO
Maximum Bounty $100,000 👉 Apply
Stacking DAO provides liquid staking on Stacks. Unlock your STX with stSTX, the most integrated liquid stacking token in the Stacks ecosystem
💸 Axelar Network
Maximum Bounty $500,000 👉 Apply
Axelar Network is a decentralized interoperability network connecting all blockchains, assets and apps through a universal set of protocols and APIs.
💸 Ethena
Maximum Bounty $3,000,000 👉 Apply
Ethena is a synthetic dollar protocol built on Ethereum that will provide a crypto-native solution for money not reliant on traditional banking system infrastructure, alongside a globally accessible dollar denominated savings instrument - the ‘Internet Bond’.
Selected open courses from technical skills to practical tasks, accessible to everyone with no cost!
OpenBuild is an open-source community and platform for Web3 developers. Our aim is to bring more Web2 developers into the Web3 space while helping existing Web3 developers to better build and achieve commercial success through our products! Join us on more platforms: OpenBuild Linktree
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