Welcome to the recap of the latest Casper X Space! As always, this month’s session was packed with updates, and technical milestones, and featured an engaging live Q&A session.
You can access the recording of this session here.
Matt Schaffnit, Casper Association CEO, discussed Casper’s direction, growth, and priorities.
Michael Steuer, Casper Association President & CTO, provided an in-depth update on Casper 2.0, upcoming launches, and new integrations.
AJ from COWL Network explained how the project is integrating Casper.
Sander Gortjes from Killer Whales shared insights on the show’s growth, upcoming seasons, and opportunities for Casper projects.
Peter Girr from WiseLending outlined the platform’s expansion to Casper, focusing on decentralized lending and real-world asset vaults.
Matt joined the X Space from ETHDenver 2025, a community-owned gathering taking place in Denver, Colorado.
“We believe that property rights are at the core of what the distributed economy is enabling,” he said and noted that the enhancement of property rights has historically led to improvements in living standards for the everyday person. “We want to make a real impact here,” he added.
Matt also outlined how blockchain and distributed ledger technologies are ideal for real-world use cases, providing machine-readable, cryptographically secure environments. Casper achieves these through instant finality, natively upgradable smart contracts, built-in access rights management and predictable gas fees. Matt pointed out that these features make Casper uniquely positioned to build the infrastructure for the future.
“If you want to build on or enhance your future real-world use case with a blockchain environment, Casper’s building blocks offer the confidence and excitement you need,” he said and added; “Best of all, all devs understand Rust and WASM, making the Casper Network a much more approachable and attractive blockchain for everyday developers.”
For those looking to get involved, Matt provided resources for learning more about Casper, encouraging both new and experienced developers to explore the ecosystem.
“If you’re looking to learn more about us, the best way to do so is by visiting our webpage at casper.network or by following our social channels on X, LinkedIn, or Telegram,” Matt said. He also pointed developers to docs.casper.network to get started and cspr.cloud for more experienced developers.
Michael provided an in-depth update on the rollout and progress of Casper 2.0. He covered the progress made since the last X Space in January, during which the rollout had moved through several critical phases.
“Since early January, a lot of testing against DevNet has taken place, as well as development by downstream parties against the first live testnet of Casper 2.0,” Michael shared. Consequently, Casper 2.0 has also rolled out to Integration Network, the first public beta environment for the new protocol.
He also emphasized the importance of ecosystem contributions to Casper 2.0’s success.
“In parallel to this work on the core protocol and node software, a lot of ecosystem work is being done,” he said, highlighting the contributions made by the MAKE team. Over 30 components, including cspr.live, cspr.cloud, and updated integration libraries for cspr.click, and SDKs are now fully Casper 2.0-ready.
Casper Wallet has been updated to support the new features of Casper 2.0, both on DevNet and Integration Network.
Developers now have access to all these tools, and they’re fully equipped to start building on Casper 2.0.
“A major documentation update effort is underway to ensure ecosystem developers have all the information they need at their fingertips,” he said.
Michael also shared the progress of a security audit conducted by Halborn Security. The audit has been ongoing for three months, and will soon wrap up, and the final report is expected to be made public in the coming weeks.
CSPR.fans Season 3 launched on February 12 and introduced a larger prize pool of 5 million CSPR and a new ticket-based raffle system.
“We massively increased the available prize pool for this season and made sure it is distributed more fairly and more frequently,” Michael said.
Rather than relying solely on the points scored over the entire duration of the season, tickets are earned by users, unlocking access to recurring raffles every three days.
“Every 3 days, 50 random winners are selected, each winning 2500 CSPR,” Michael explained. Additionally, at the end of the season, 2.5 million CSPR will be distributed to 250 individual winners through a final raffle. Higher points increase a user’s chances of winning.
Michael expressed excitement about the season’s success so far, as nearly 30,000 new unique users joined in the first week. Of those, nearly 20,000 connected their Casper Wallets, which Michael pointed out as a new record.
The season is scheduled to end on April 23rd. Join here if you haven’t already.
Michael shared updates on several projects within the Casper ecosystem.
Liquid Staking: The RWY Protocol for liquid staking is coming. The smart contract team is finalizing the on-chain functionality, and liquid staking transactions are already live on the Integration Network. “The dApp is starting to look great, and we’re excited to see the full smart contracts complete soon,” Michael stated. The full implementation will have validator selection mechanics and a rewards and fees scheme.
Tubbly: Michael also mentioned the progress of Tubbly, a Casper-based game that encourages users to walk and visit real-world locations. The game has already seen thousands of on-chain interactions and is planning a promotion for the Casper community in late March, coinciding with the NBX Warsaw.
Chainlink: Michael announced the renewed collaboration with Chainlink, a leading on-chain data provider. The partnership will bring Chainlink oracles to the Casper Network, enabling dApps to directly tap into real-time price information.
MetaMask and Token Minter Updates: The updated MetaMask Snap for Casper is currently under review for approval. “Having MetaMask support from day one is instrumental for DeFi applications that want to bring in users and TVL from other ecosystems,” Michael noted.
He also updated the community on a collaboration with Friendly Market to create a token minter application, enabling anyone to create customizable tokens on Casper and immediately list them on the Friendly Market DEX for instant liquidity. “We are on track to launch this in April,” Michael confirmed.
In regards to new exchange listings, Michael said: “We’re in advanced conversations with both significant exchanges on the global stage and regional ones,” adding that this will help improve access to CSPR in countries where access has been limited, like Turkey.
Finally, he announced that the former ecosystem website will be retired, and all information will be consolidated on the Casper.Network website. “This will make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for and get a holistic picture of everything Casper,” Michael said.
Michael wrapped up his part with an update on the Casper Execution Engine, which is set to revolutionize the development experience on the Casper blockchain.
“Casper is one of the only Layer One networks that can host multiple VMs on the same layer, and the new execution engine is the first live proof of that,” Michael explained. The Developer Preview session will take place on February 27th, where developers will have the opportunity to learn more about the engine’s capabilities.
“COWL Network is a DePIN project,” AJ explained. The project’s goal is to provide decentralized services through a platform that combines open-source technologies with blockchain integration, specifically Casper.
COWL also plans to offer a platform for users to deploy containers and virtual machines (VMs) to target systems for computing purposes. This would enable a flexible system for resource provisioning. They also seek to provide shared services like AI agents or shared APIs that could be deployed across various systems.
AJ explained that COWL is designed to work with both user mode and provider mode. In user mode, individuals request services, while in provider mode, resources are offered for others to lease or use. He shared that all transactions are powered and secured by the Casper blockchain to ensure trust and transparency.
“All these activities happen as transactions are sent into the chain. There is a specific booking contract we’re developing that takes on the logic of understanding whether the requester has the authority to provision a resource,” AJ added. The system will include escrow mechanisms, using COWL tokens for secure transactions between users and providers.
“Killer Whales is not just a show, but a movement that seeks to bring Web3 to the mainstream”, said Sander. The show brings 15-20 Web3 projects into a Hollywood studio, where they pitch their ideas to a panel of “whales,” prominent figures in the crypto and Web3 space. The projects receive feedback and support, which helps them grow and expand.
The show airs on Apple TV and Amazon Prime, spanning over 60 countries with a viewership of about 700 million people and generating 200 million social media impressions annually.
Casper is the official blockchain partner of the show, and Sander invited Casper-built projects to pitch their innovations on the show.
As season two of Killer Whales approaches its debut, Sander shared that Casper will continue to be an important part of the show’s narrative.
Watch the trailer for season 2.
Sander confirmed that season 3 is already in the works and urged developers building on Casper to reach out to the business development teams at Casper or directly to Hello Labs. He emphasized that they are looking for projects that demonstrate innovative Web3 technologies with real-world applications, whether they’re small solo ventures or larger projects with significant funding.
Peter Girr, the CEO of WiseLending shared updates about the platform’s integration with the Casper ecosystem.
WiseLending has a unique approach to decentralized lending and borrowing, as the platform has prioritized custom-built features with a strong focus on gas efficiency and user demand for borrowing.
“We create a demand to borrow by bringing yield sources directly into the platform, ensuring real yields, not just token incentives,” Peter explained.
The platform already operates on Ethereum and Arbitrum, but Peter is particularly excited about expanding to the Casper ecosystem, as it offers a chance to grow alongside Casper 2.0.
“This is a unique opportunity for us to work closely with Casper as it’s just beginning to bloom, whereas, on Ethereum and Arbitrum, we’ve already missed that early-stage growth,” he added.
Peter emphasized that the integration of Chainlink oracles into Casper is a critical element for DeFi applications like lending and borrowing.
Additionally, Peter shared the development of WiseLending’s Real-World Asset (RWA) Vaults, which offer users the ability to earn yield from off-chain real-world assets. “We’re currently working with a telecom company, offering users a 20% fixed APY by participating in our RWA Vault,” Peter noted. These vaults don’t need Chainlink oracles and can be integrated into the Casper network sooner, providing an early yield opportunity for users.
Q: Will Casper 2.0 actually be implemented in March as planned?
(Michael Steuer): Yes, the rollout is progressing, and we’re currently about halfway through the process. The rollout steps are: DevNet, then Integration Network, followed by Testnet, and finally Mainnet. The biggest unknown is exchange readiness, as we’re working with exchanges to ensure that when Casper 2.0 goes live, all or most exchanges are ready. If any of the top exchanges aren’t ready by March, we may delay the launch to early April. But the goal is still to launch by the end of March.
Q: Can Casper confirm any upcoming big partnerships?
(Michael Steuer): While we don’t typically pre-announce partnerships, the short answer is yes, we do have some exciting partnerships coming up. We encourage everyone to stay tuned to our channels for official announcements.
Q: Can you explain CSPR burn tokens and when will burn be enabled?
(Michael Steuer): Like most proof-of-stake networks, Casper is natively inflationary, meaning new tokens are issued to validators for securing the network. The burn mechanism, like the one in Ethereum, will help manage inflation. The network’s focus is on utilization, which will eventually lead to a deflationary effect. Once we have more usage than fees, the network could become deflationary, but for now, it’s inflationary.
Q: Why has CSPR.fans Season 3 changed from a leaderboard to a raffle-based approach?
(Michael Steuer): The change was made for fairness. In previous seasons, people who had more time to engage dominated the leaderboard. With the raffle system, everyone has a chance to win, and the more you engage, the higher your odds. This system allows everyone to participate more fairly.
Q: What types of projects is Casper looking for in Season Three of Killer Whales?
(Michael Steuer & Sander Gortjes): We’re looking for real-world use cases. We want projects that go beyond the typical crypto space, projects that developers from outside crypto would recognize. These projects should have practical, scalable applications. We’re focused on real-world use cases, and Casper’s features cater perfectly to those needs.
Q: Are there any marketing campaigns coming for Casper?
(Michael Steuer): Yes, we’re about to kick off a new marketing campaign in collaboration with new partners. This campaign will span several months leading up to the launch of Casper 2.0 and beyond, and we plan to keep that momentum going.
Q: Has anyone shown interest in using Casper in real estate?
(Michael Steuer): Yes, for example, a company called EquityBrix has been building a platform for fractional real estate investing. They are exclusively building on Casper and plan to launch within the next quarter.
Q: Can validators formally join the Casper Association as members?
(Michael Steuer): Validators will be able to join the Casper Association as members of the General Assembly before the end of 2025. We’re in the process of implementing this as part of the decentralization effort. More updates will be shared as we move forward.
Learn more about decentralized governance on Casper in this article.
Q: How will Michael manage his role as CTO of the Casper Association and co-founder of MAKE?
(Michael Steuer): By sleeping less. Jokes aside, it works well. The teams at MAKE and Casper overlap a lot, which makes collaboration efficient. By working closely between the two, we’re able to deliver more, faster.
Q: Has there been progress on the core protocol roadmap?
(Michael Steuer): Yes, the roadmap is being developed in parallel with the work on Casper 2.0. We’ll make the roadmap publicly available after Casper 2.0 is launched. It will provide clear communication on what’s coming next, with a predictable release schedule.
Q: What TVL will Wise Lending bring to Casper?
(Peter Girr): The TVL that Wise Lending will bring to Casper depends on user demand. We’re working to make it easy for people to bring their TVL over, and we’ll provide incentives for that. Ultimately, it’s up to the users to decide if they want to use Wise Lending on Casper, but we’re confident the integration will bring significant TVL.
Q: How does Casper impact APY if the price hits an all-time high?
(Michael Steuer): APY is determined by two factors: the issuance rate of CSPR tokens and the percentage of tokens staked. If more tokens are staked, the APY decreases. The market price of CSPR doesn’t directly affect the APY. It’s the amount of staking that matters.
See you at the next X Space in March! Meanwhile, stay tuned for more developments on Casper 2.0 and news from ecosystem partners.
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