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News & Updates

Stay up to date with recent developments and ecosystem news.

Weekly or monthly digests that summarize the most important news, upgrades, events, and announcements from the Namada ecosystem.

April

Weekly #1 (Apr 14-20, 2025)

Weekly Highlights

  1. The Namada Mission — Response to Vitalik Buterin

Namada responds to Vitalik's post about privacy with a powerful message on the importance of shielding:

"Why I support privacy." Read the full post on the forum

  1. Development Update: Phase 4 & 5 Progress

The team is preparing for the mainnet upgrade after updates to Campfire and Housefire testnets. A hard fork will enable protocol improvements to support shielding rewards in future phases.

Key Points:

  • Campfire testnet upgrade ✅

  • Housefire upgrade in progress 🔥

  • Mainnet fork coming soon ⏳

“Once the mainnet hard fork is completed, there will be no remaining technical barriers to moving quickly through phase 4 and 5.” 📎 Read the full update

  1. Delegation Program Round 2 is Live

Applications for the next round of Namada’s delegation program are open until April 30, 2025. Up to 50 validators will be selected for a 6-month delegation period.

✅ Requirements:

  • High uptime & performance

  • Community contribution

  • Participation in testnets

📎 Apply here

  1. New Asset Proposal

The Veil team proposed adding 5 new tokens to Namada’s MASP:

  • USDC, USDY (via Noble)

  • UM (Penumbra DEX)

  • NYM (Nym Mixnet)

  • NTRN (Neutron)

📎 Read full proposal on the forum

🔥 Community & Culture

  • 🧠 “Everybody asks wen Phase 5… nobody asks how is Namada”

  • 🔁 “Connect. Protect. Repeat.”

  • 🎭 Meme of the week:

    Never show anyone outside the family your transactions again 🔗 See the post

  • 🎥 Featured Video:

“You choose what’s visible on-chain. That’s the whole point.” 🔗 Watch here

  • 🗣 Community Question:

    What’s one thing you wish blockchains didn’t show publicly? Join the conversation on Twitter

Weekly #2 (Apr 21-27, 2025)

Weekly Highlights

  1. New Community Campaign

The Shield Missions campaign has launched! The task: send Adaman, the Agent of Shield, into historical or fictional events where privacy protection could have changed everything. Best submissions earn 200 Shield XP. The campaign runs until May 9. For more information, see the project discord, in the community-boost branch

  1. Testnet Upgrades

The Campfire testnet upgrade was successfully completed. A new testnet upgrade, Housefire, is expected in the coming days.

  1. Zcash Shielded Airdrop

Heliax developed a tool for the first-ever shielded airdrop. There are plans to airdrop $NAM to shielded Zcash holders. The code is awaiting review from the Electric Coin Company.

  1. Governance Proposal #18

Proposal #18 suggests distributing 945,000 NAM to Discord moderators (three since January 2023 and five since January 2024). Validators should cast their votes by Monday ~17:00 UTC. (Note: voters are asked to vote no on Proposal #17, as Proposal #18 replaces it.)

  1. Privacy Awareness Campaign

Several posts emphasized the importance of privacy:

Weekly #3 (Apr-May 28-04, 2025)

Weekly Highlights

1. Secure Your Wallets

Namada shared an important reminder on Twitter: If your wallet isn’t shielded yet, now’s the time to fix that. Read the blog post: Shielding the Multichain: How Namada’s Data Protection Works

2. Validator Delegation Deadline

April 30 marked the deadline for validators to apply for Round 2 of the Namada Delegation Program. Learn more: Namada Delegation Program Round 2

3. Testnets Upgraded

Following last week’s Campfire testnet update, the Housefire testnet has now been upgraded. Before proceeding to Mainnet Phase 4 and 5, the team will ensure Housefire is fully stable.

4. Discord Community Challenge Launched

A Community Challenge kicked off on Discord and runs until May 9. Details are available in the #community-boost thread in Namada’s Discord.

5. Bi-weekly Community Bonfire

The latest Community Bonfire AMA took place on April 24 at 17:00 UTC. These sessions will now happen every second Thursday at the same time.

6. ECC on $NAM Airdrop for $ZEC Holders

Electric Coin Co (ECC) has acknowledged community efforts supporting the $NAM airdrop for $ZEC holders — including shielded ones. ECC is now reviewing and working toward implementation.

7. New Proposal #19

Proposal #19 has been submitted to whitelist four new assets:

  • USDC (via Noble)

  • UM (Penumbra)

  • NYM (Nym)

  • NTRN (Neutron)

Full proposal: Proposal #19 – Whitelisting USDC, UM, NYM, and NTRN

May

Weekly #1 (May 05-11, 2025)

Weekly Highlights

1. Heliax Opens Hiring for Three Engineering Roles

Heliax, the team behind Namada and Anoma, announced they are hiring for three engineering positions to support the development of both projects. The roles include:

  • Applied Compiler Engineer

  • Distributed Systems Engineer

  • Protocol & Infrastructure Engineer

Interested candidates can find more details and apply via the official Heliax jobs page at heliax.dev/jobs. The team encourages the community to share this opportunity, signaling ongoing growth and development efforts for Namada and Anoma. However, a note from the Heliax website indicates that due to high demand and the intense focus on launching Namada, responses to applications may be delayed.

2. MASP Deposits Enabled for Multiple Assets

On May 8, 2025, Namada successfully passed a governance proposal to enable deposits for several assets in its Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (MASP). The assets now supported include:

  • USDC (via Noble)

  • NYM (from Nym Project)

  • UM (from Penumbra Zone)

  • NTRN (from Neutron Org)

This integration allows users to shield these assets within Namada’s privacy-focused MASP, enhancing cross-chain privacy capabilities. The proposal voting period concluded just under 24 hours before the activation, and the community was encouraged to participate in the final voting phase. The successful passage of this proposal marks a significant step in expanding Namada’s interoperability and privacy features.

3. X-Space Event on Privacy in Web3

Namada, in collaboration with Penumbra Zone, hosted an X-space event on May 8, 2025, at 6 PM UTC to discuss the evolving role of privacy in Web3. The session, joined by Validatus.com, featured speakers Adrian Brink (@adrianbrink) and Brent Stone (@brentstone01). The conversation focused on why privacy matters more than ever in the Web3 ecosystem. A recording of the event is available via Namada’s X post: link to the post. This event underscores Namada’s commitment to advancing privacy solutions and fostering community dialogue on critical Web3 topics.

4. Namada Community Bonfire

On May 8, 2025, Namada held its Community Bonfire, a recurring event designed to engage and update its community. While specific details of the discussions were not provided, this gathering likely served as a platform for the Namada team to share updates, answer questions, and strengthen community ties. The Bonfire coincided with other significant events that day, such as the X-space on privacy, indicating a busy and active week for the project.

5. Proposal #20: Wormhole as Namada’s First New Bridge Integration

A new governance proposal, Proposal #20, was introduced, asking validators to signal their preference for integrating Wormhole as Namada’s first new bridge. The voting period for this proposal began on May 4, 2025, at 14:05:27 UTC and is set to end on May 14, 2025, at 03:05:19 UTC. Validators are encouraged to cast their votes via the Namada governance interface at interface.namada.tududes.com/governance/proposal/20. This proposal reflects Namada’s ongoing efforts to expand its interoperability by integrating new bridging solutions, further enhancing its cross-chain capabilities.

Summary

The week of May 05–11, 2025, was a busy one for Namada, marked by significant developments in hiring, privacy-focused integrations, community engagement, and governance. The successful enabling of MASP deposits for USDC, NYM, UM, and NTRN assets highlights Namada’s commitment to privacy and interoperability, while the X-space event and Community Bonfire reinforced its focus on community education and dialogue. The ongoing voting for Proposal #20 for Wormhole bridge integration signals continued efforts to enhance Namada’s cross-chain functionality, and Heliax’s hiring push indicates that the project is gearing up for further growth and innovation. Stay tuned for more updates as Namada continues to evolve in the Web3 space!

Weekly #2 (May 12-18, 2025)

Weekly Highlights

1. Finalizing Namadillo Before Mainnet Upgrade

The Namada team continues refining the final elements of Namadillo before announcing the mainnet upgrade date. Recent fixes pushed to mainnet addressed key Namadillo issues, suggesting the network might be ready for the transition. Further updates are expected soon. 🔗 Dev update tweet

2. MASP Expanded With Four New Assets

Namada’s Multi-Asset Shielded Pool (MASP) now supports shielding for four additional assets:

  • USDC (via Noble)

  • NYM (from Nym Project)

  • UM (from Penumbra Zone)

  • NTRN (from Neutron Org)

These assets enhance Namada’s cross-chain privacy capabilities. Currently, UM is not available through the Namadillo interface due to Keplr limitations but can still be shielded via the CLI. 🔗 Governance proposal on Forum

3. Validator Circle Discusses Phase 4 Transition

On May 15, 2025, Namada held a Validator Circle meeting to discuss preparations for the Phase 4 mainnet upgrade. The session covered technical readiness, known issues, and coordination plans for the transition, reflecting ongoing validator engagement.

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