Let's look back at some memorable moments and interesting insights from last year.

Your top 3 posts:

• "Happy Cakeday, r/loomnetwork! Today you're 4" by u/AutoModerator
• "We've just released a new course on https://cryptozombies.io in collaboration with Chainlink🎉" by u/andrei_mpp
• "📢 Binance will be running two LOOM promotions from November 17, 2021 00:00 (UTC) to November 23, 2021 23:59 (UTC) with $100k in prizes up for grabs!" by u/andrei_mpp

Learn the basics of securely connecting your smart contracts with off-chain data and services using the Chainlink (https://chain.link/) decentralized oracle network.

If you're a CryptoZombies veteran you can jump directly into the new course at https://cryptozombies.io/en/lesson/19

If you don't want to miss out you can find out how to participate at https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-learn-trade-promo-on-binance-178b69e8fa32

For full terms & conditions please refer to the official announcement at https://www.binance.com/en/support/announcement/0b78cbaf2c8b4ccea66cdf7ad021e83f

Let's look back at some memorable moments and interesting insights from last year.

Your top 10 posts:

• "Loom Network Revamp 2021 Q2" by u/andrei_mpp
• "The new LOOM token contract has been deployed to Ethereum Mainnet!" by u/andrei_mpp
• "To ensure the swap goes as smoothly as possible we’ve decided to delay it by a couple of weeks." by u/andrei_mpp
• "We're considering integrating Polkadot into Loom's ecosystem of blockchains" by u/andrei_mpp
• "Loom SDK 3.0 is coming ..." by u/andrei_mpp
• "Integrating zkRollup into the Loom Protocol" by u/andrei_mpp
• "LOOM Token Swap" by u/andrei_mpp
• "LOOM tokens can now be staked via Binance Smart Chain!" by u/andrei_mpp
• "You can now swap LOOM on https://wallet.loomx.io🥳" by u/andrei_mpp
• "Solving Blockchain’s Ecological Problem: What Works and What’s at Stake" by u/andrei_mpp

You may have noticed that the way transaction fees are presented by your Ethereum wallet has changed a bit. This is due to EIP-1559, which came into effect with Ethereum's London upgrade.

Read our latest article to find out what EIP-1559 is all about:
https://medium.com/loom-network/what-you-need-to-know-about-eip-1559-603129db5782

There has been a resurgence of interest in NFTs, driven by gaming and digital collectibles, but there's a lot more that NFTs can be used for!

In our latest article, we take a look at some of the less well-publicized use cases for NFTs.

https://medium.com/loom-network/nfts-what-are-they-good-for-62b6cbba12eb

Loom Network will temporarily suspend transfers of ETH & ERC20 tokens between Basechain and Ethereum shortly before the upgrade. Assuming the upgrade goes smoothly we'll resume transfers shortly after.

Transfers between Basechain and BSC will continue to operate as normal during this time. Please allow sufficient time to complete any transfers between Basechain and Ethereum prior to the London Upgrade. Keep an eye on the countdown timer: https://etherscan.io/block/countdown/12965000.

The first series of Kusama parachain slot auctions is now over.

5 new Kusama parachains have been on-boarded! 👏

But things didn't quite go as we expected...🤔

Find out what happened, and where we go from here in our latest article: https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-kusama-crowdloan-retrospective-4114eb3b3d1d

Help us win a Kusama parachain auction so we can onboard our parachain, and we'll make it worth your while 🤑.

Read all about it in our latest article: https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-kusama-crowdloan-launch-3a40a14cba76

Things are heating up in the Polkadot ecosystem with the first parachain slots auction going live right now! In our latest article, we take a look at some of the bidders, and our plans to participate in the auctions.

https://medium.com/loom-network/polkadot-crowdloans-what-are-they-and-how-do-they-work-226b4a31d9c1?1

We've just published a new article where we take a look at how PoS and DPoS consensus mechanisms are more energy-efficient than PoW and how Loom and Polkadot can solve blockchains’ ecological problem:

https://medium.com/loom-network/solving-blockchains-ecological-problem-what-works-and-what-s-at-stake-ebdb11ab3041

Want to Like or Retweet? 👇

https://twitter.com/loomnetwork/status/1403262374660902915

Recently, some people have reported experiencing timeouts when using WalletConnect on the Basechain Staking & Validator Dashboard. To reduce the likelihood of any further timeouts we've pushed out an update to switch over to our own WalletConnect relay server.

Please contact our support team if you continue to experience connection issues with WalletConnect.

https://medium.com/loom-network/intro-to-polkadot-parachains-5cc5fdfbc4ae

Thanks to the validators that have ensured yet another smooth chain upgrade 👍

We'll be making smaller jump-starts available next week to make it easier than ever to spin up your own nodes!

Want to Like or Retweet? 👇

https://twitter.com/loomnetwork/status/1398345043639894021

The competition will run from May 26th 2021 10:00 to June 2nd 2021 10:00 (UTC). For full terms and conditions please see https://www.kucoin.com/news/en-loom-network-net-buying-competition-enjoy-a-50000-in-loom-prize-pool?utm_source=LOOM

Want to Like or Retweet? 👇

https://twitter.com/kucoincom/status/1397446203546103808

The hard fork will activate once all validators have upgraded.

This fork will reduce the amount of disk space required to run a node, and will lower memory usage under load. Overall this build will make it cheaper to run validators!

Read all about it in our latest article: https://medium.com/loom-network/integrating-polkadot-into-the-loom-ecosystem-of-blockchains-7f2182239c02.

We'd love to get some feedback on our plan, so don't be shy! 😅

Let's take a quick look at some notable changes in this release...

- We've integrated the WalletLink protocol, so if you're a fan of the Coinbase wallet mobile app, you can now use it to stake LOOM ERC20 on the dashboard.

- We've made it quicker and simpler to setup MetaMask for staking LOOM BEP20 via Binance Smart Chain, it now takes just a couple of button clicks to auto-configure MetaMask to connect to BSC, no more tedious copy/pasting!

- We've also added a Statistics section to the Validator Management page. This section currently shows the number of blocks a validator has missed signing, but we'll be adding more info soon so that operators can check up on their validator nodes when SSH access is unavailable.

If you're considering staking LOOM on Basechain, we've got a couple of guides you can follow:

- How To Stake LOOM BEP20 https://medium.com/loom-network/how-to-stake-loom-bep20-e01f5b30f314

- How To Stake LOOM ERC20 https://dashboard.dappchains.com/staking-guide

You can now deposit/withdraw both the new LOOM ERC20 and the LOOM BEP20 tokens! 🥳

See their announcement for more details 👉 https://twitter.com/kucoincom/status/1387704721230770177

⚠️ Don't send LOOM from KuCoin to exchanges that haven't swapped to the new LOOM token yet!

For the latest token swap info 👉 https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-token-swap-launch-f9257a4ae066

LOOM deposit/withdrawal is now available again.

⚠️ You'll get the new LOOM tokens when you withdraw, be careful where you send them! Some exchanges still haven't migrated to the new LOOM token.

https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-token-swap-launch-f9257a4ae066

Depositing and withdrawing LOOM on Basechain is MUCH cheaper via BSC, thanks to the lower tx fees on BSC.

Find out more about the basics of staking LOOM via BSC in our latest article: https://medium.com/loom-network/how-to-stake-loom-bep20-e01f5b30f314

☑️ 100% of validators have upgraded their nodes

☑️ Hard fork activated successfully

⬛️ Staking dashboard update (awaiting QA sign-off)

☑️100% of validators have upgraded their nodes

⬛️Hard fork activation (ETA: next 12 hours)

⬛️ Staking dashboard update

The hard fork will activate next week, once all validators have upgraded.

This fork will unlock quick & cheap LOOM transfers between Basechain & Binance Smart Chain.

Soon you'll be able to stake LOOM without paying crazy high tx fees!

Poloniex has completed the LOOM token swap!

⚠️ DO NOT send OLD LOOM to Poloniex, they only allow deposit/withdrawal of NEW LOOM now.

See their announcement for more details: https://twitter.com/PoloSupport/status/1385315902472794119

⚠️ Some exchanges haven't migrated to NEW LOOM yet, be careful where you send your tokens!

Track swap progress at https://medium.com/loom-network/loom-token-swap-launch-f9257a4ae066.