Tokenized gold carries several benefits over other forms of paper gold, including gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Melissa Song and Dustin Becker, representatives of Gold DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization that facilitates investor access to tokenized gold.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, the DAO representatives outlined three major benefits unique to tokenized gold, including 1:1 redeemability for a specific quantity of physical, serialized gold, usage as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, and transactional efficiency through on-demand liquidity.

“When you buy an ETF, you are betting on the gold price going up, but you do not own any specific gold bar,” Song told Cointelegraph.

The pair added that the price of gold surged in 2025 due to the current macroeconomic uncertainty, the high level of US government debt, and geopolitical tensions that are reshaping the global monetary order.

Gold’s price hits all-time highs against the US dollar. Source: TradingView

Related: Geopolitical tensions fuel central bank shift toward gold, crypto — BlackRock exec

Macroeconomic uncertainty spikes gold prices, leaves USD in doubt

Gold hit an all-time high of $3,500 per ounce in April 2025 amid the trade tariffs announced by United States President Donald Trump that caused turmoil in risk-on asset markets like stocks and crypto.

Traders shifted to gold, cash, and other safe-haven assets to weather the extreme volatility caused by the protectionist trade policies and the counter-response from other countries.

This rush to gold also caused gold-backed cryptocurrencies such as Paxos Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAUT) to spike in price during April 2024.

The Volatility S&P Index (VIX) tracks the volatility of the US stock market and surged following Trump’s tariff announcement. Source: TradingView

Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser argued that gold-backed tokens will outcompete fiat stablecoins due to the lack of geopolitical risk and inflationary resistance inherent in gold.

“A stablecoin backed by Gold would out-compete a USD-backed stablecoin in world markets: Russia, China, and Iran should take note,” Keiser wrote in a March 22 X post.

“The United States dollar has no volatility, but you are guaranteed to lose purchasing power,” the BTC advocate continued.

Gold’s current rally could spill over into Bitcoin if investors shift from viewing Bitcoin as a risk asset to more of a store of value in turbulent economic times that is counter-cyclical to the stock market and other speculative investments.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Opinion by: Fakhul Miah, managing director of GoMining Institutional

The Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry has never been more attractive to institutional investors. Fintech giants are investing in Bitcoin mining rather than just accumulating the asset, all thanks to the favorable regulatory environment in the US and the profitability margin of BTC. 

Then, numerous companies are diversifying by allocating computing power to AI, further strengthening their economics and, thus, investment attractiveness. For now, it looks like the future of the foundational layer for the Bitcoin network could mark the new gusher age.

Is Bitcoin mining profitable?

Bitcoin mining is still profitable. CoinShares, a digital asset investment firm, shared that the average cost to mine 1 BTC for US-listed miners reached $55,950 in Q3 2024. Two other popular models — one from MacroMicro and another dubbed the Glassnode Difficulty Regression Model — give different estimates. 

On the very same day of Feb. 20, MacroMicro.me data shows that the average cost to produce 1 BTC hovers above $92,000; Glassnode’s Difficulty Regression Model estimates the cost to mine a single BTC at approximately $34,400, all while the cryptocurrency’s price hit $98,300 on that day.

On a global scale, mining costs differ based on the region. For example, the electricity cost to produce 1 BTC in Ireland is roughly $321,000, but it costs just over $1,300 to mine 1 BTC in Iran. Electricity is only part of the equation — hardware, labor and maintenance costs also play a crucial role.

Recent data from CoinShares and MacroMicro.me paints a challenging yet nuanced picture for Bitcoin miners in the United States. While some institutional miners remain profitable, the broader landscape reveals increasing operational pressures that could reshape the mining industry.

What happens if the challenges aren’t addressed? Mining institutions with high profitability rates could start to expand their operations and possibly acquire struggling miners at bargain prices, potentially putting retail and smaller miners at risk.

Sustainable economics for investment attractiveness

In addition to receiving the block rewards, miners also benefit from the Bitcoin network’s transaction fees, which depend on network usage. Data shows that the daily Bitcoin transaction fees have been hovering between $360,000 and $1.3 million over the past month — reaching an average of $595,000 daily. 

This additional revenue stream bolsters Bitcoin mining’s economic appeal and strengthens the resilience of the mining business model by diversifying income sources.

Recent: Bitcoin miner Bitfarms secures up to $300M loan from Macquarie

It’s not only mining that mining hardware is used for. High computational power, captive power supplies and ready-made infrastructure make miners uniquely equipped to support AI and high-performance computing. In simple terms, mining firms can now rent out their hardware to process AI tasks instead of only focusing on mining Bitcoin.

The combination of transaction fee revenue growth and AI computing diversification creates a more resilient and profitable industry model (the existing one has never been quite appealing to institutional investments in the US). 

Institutional investments on the rise

The appealing revenues in the Bitcoin mining industries brought huge attention from institutional investors. This process is easy to spot: Bitcoin mining pools in the US accounted for over 40% of the global Bitcoin network’s hashrate in 2024. 

According to research by EY-Parthenon and Coinbase, 83% of the 352 global institutions plan to increase their crypto allocations this year, while 51% of the asset managers are considering investments in digital asset companies, including mining companies. That’s why I’m not surprised to witness huge investments in Riot Platforms, CoreWeave and other mining industry players. 

The favorable market sentiment has paved the way for more initial public offerings (IPOs) and specialized funds targeting mining companies. In addition to securing the $650-million investment, CoreWeave aims to go public with a $4-billion IPO to help the Nvidia-backed company reach a $35-billion valuation.

Bgin Blockchain, a Singapore-based crypto miner manufacturer, recently filed to go public in the US. Renaissance Capital, an investment advisory firm, expects Bgin Blockchain to raise $50 million for its IPO.

This surge in institutional momentum is set to benefit the Bitcoin mining industry by driving up demand and tightening available supply on the market. As more large players accumulate and hold Bitcoin, market scarcity could increase, supporting higher prices and, in turn, boosting miner profitability.

The future optimism is more than tangible

The strong support from institutional investors comes as the optimism around crypto-friendly policies has significantly increased after Donald Trump won the US presidential elections in November 2024.

Establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve in early March, seen as a massive policy shift, triggered positivity in the crypto and mining sectors. This sector gained importance. Last year, Bitcoin mining operations significantly contributed to the US economy, generating roughly $4.1 billion in gross domestic product and creating over 31,000 jobs nationwide. The industry is also revitalizing rural areas by generating tax revenue and repurposing remote locations for mining operations. It sounds like the gusher days of the oil industry a century ago, doesn’t it?

The latest investments, leadership appointments and IPOs show that Bitcoin mining firms have a significant tailwind. Meanwhile, they are no longer just about BTC — they are becoming data infrastructure providers for the AI sector, turning into hybrid data processing giants.

Taking advantage of this shift, the US could potentially become the leader in the digital asset and Bitcoin mining space due to the pro-crypto stance of the Trump administration and fulfill its stated goal of being the “crypto capital of the world.”

As institutions double down on Bitcoin mining and AI convergence, the question isn’t if this industry will evolve but who will lead the charge. The modern digital gold rush is underway, and the smartest capital is already claiming it.

Opinion by: Fakhul Miah, managing director of GoMining Institutional.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Onchain social network Zora has built a reputation as a popular tool for artists, musicians and other creatives to monetize their content onchain, but the recent launch of its eponymous ZORA token has left many users confused and dissatisfied.

The token’s price tanked shortly after launch, with users and observers complaining about everything from poor communication from the team to the token’s distribution and utility models. 

This comes amid an overall decline in interest in the onchain creator economy and a changing perspective on whether blockchain tools like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are still useful for creatives who want to monetize their work on the blockchain.

With creators and builders shifting focus and NFTs no longer selling like they used to, does the ZORA token drop symbolize the end of the creator-driven NFT model? Maybe not, but many creatives are changing their perspectives and the role blockchain should play in the creator economy. 

ZORA token launch and airdrop go awry

The ZORA token launched on April 23, and it quickly became a point of controversy among users. To start, Zora did not officially announce that it had gone live until two hours after it was already trading, leading to confusion on social media.

Source: ZachXBT

The token’s price quickly fell by over 50% within those roughly two hours, from $0.037 to $0.017, adding to users’ complaints. It has since fallen even further, sitting around $0.013 at the time of writing.

ZORA’s tokenomics also became a point of contention. 45% of the supply is reserved for the team and investors, while 25% is for the treasury, leaving 20% for community incentives and just 10% for the user airdrop. This led some to complain that the project was keeping too much for itself.

Others disliked its general lack of utility. Zora repeatedly stated that the token “is for fun only and does not entitle its holders to any governance rights or a claim on any equity ownership in Zora or its products.” But the project seemed to respond to this criticism on May 1 by announcing that ZORA would have some additional functionalities within the network.

However, many others came to the defense of the project, saying that sharing on the platform has been financially lucrative. Others were simply thankful they received anything at all.

Source: Wbnns

Singer Vérité, who has racked up hundreds of millions of streams as an independent artist and was an early adopter of Web3 tech, told Cointelegraph that “on a base level, I’m appreciative of being rewarded for participating in something early.”

She said that while she doesn’t know the team very well, “I feel like they are genuinely trying to construct new models for valuing digital artifacts and have built an aesthetic and culture around their brand in juxtaposition to what are usually awful crypto vibes.”

Source: VéritéNFTs no longer the top of the creator food chain 

Zora’s token launch was the latest move in a broader shift away from the traditional NFT model for creators, in this case toward embracing the cultural dominance of memecoins. 

While posts on Zora used to be minted as NFTs, now each post creates an instantly tradeable memecoin, also known as a “content coin.” Creators are given 1% of the supply and earn 50% of the trading and liquidity provider fees.

Source: Zora

While the move from NFTs to content coins was itself controversial, it represents a shift to a new class of creators, according to Adam Levy, host of the Mint podcast and founder of Blueprint, which helps creators go viral onchain. He told Cointelegraph that the wild success of memecoin launchpad Pump.fun “brought in a brand new class of creators that now Zora is trying to capitalize on.”

I think the Pump.fun or coin-like model is a perfect token model for a new class of creators that are emerging just generally on the internet. I think it’s like the Gen Z brain rot type of creator that spends a lot of their time remixing content or trying to create viral content in terms of like memetic content.

NFT sales remain way down compared to their 2021 peak, and many creators have simply left the NFT space due to its perceived shortcomings. Music-related NFTs, which used to be prevalent on platforms like Zora, have taken a particularly hard beating.

Several builders of the most popular creator platforms have moved on to work on other projects. For instance, the team behind music NFT platform Sound.xyz has shifted its focus to a new platform called Vault, which still uses blockchain technology but keeps it hidden on the back end.

In a February X post, Sound co-founder David Greenstein said a hyperfocus on speculation led to the decline in NFT interest. “Over time, it became less about the artist, the music, and real connection—and more about financial transactions,” he wrote. “When speculation cooled, so did the energy behind supporting artists.”

This sentiment was echoed by Vérité, who said, “I don’t think digital artifacts will have lasting value outside of speculation, experience and patronage.”

Related: Tokenizing music royalties as NFTs could help the next Taylor Swift

According to music artist and builder Latashá, “We weren’t getting focused on culture; we were getting focused on speculation. And once the bear market hit, it really showcased that.” 

Latashá, who was previously head of community at Zora and is now building several blockchain-based platforms, told Cointelegraph that people also got too caught up in the language of Web3 instead of simply using the technology:

The language and the jargon and even the communities that created that really kind of boxed themselves in when they only stay in that place, right? And so, I always knew that the language was going to change and that the crypto was going to become just the tool, as it should be.What’s next for the onchain creator economy?

Despite the shift of interest away from NFTs toward things like memecoins, as encapsulated by Zora, many builders and creators still believe blockchain remains incredibly powerful, just that maybe it needs to be used in a different way.

“I learned that you can’t force your idealism onto the world and into the market,” said Vérité. “I am less interested in making ‘Web3 tools’ work because they’re on the blockchain and more interested in finding new ways to solve problems that face artists, audiences and the systems that connect them, regardless of form.”

“I definitely won’t sell NFTs to fans,” she added.

Levy, on the other hand, remains firm in his belief in NFTs, specifically. “I still have endless conviction in what I’m doing,” he said. He pointed out that cryptocurrency overall, let alone NFTs, is still in the very early stages of adoption. “I think we all need to zoom out.”

I don’t think it’s just a fad. I don’t think that this is going to disappear. And I don’t think that because I’ve tasted the sugar of what this is as a creator. […] And I know there’s a better way to create content on the internet and to monetize on the internet.

One notable shift has been to hide the blockchain elements and focus solely on user experience. For example, rap duo Run The Jewels has a fan club where members are rewarded with “JWL” points that can be used to unlock exclusive experiences. JWL is actually an onchain token, but that fact is buried in the club’s FAQ page. 

“We still need to come up with a better way of making crypto wallets accessible to people so that it is easier,” Renata Lowenbraun, CEO of independent music Web3 platform Infanity, told Cointelegraph. “The moment that happens, everything will change.”

Lowenbraun compared blockchain to the internet, saying the internet took decades to truly catch on. NFTs, she argued, had a “false start” before the infrastructure had a chance to mature, “but it doesn’t mean it’s not going to stick and it’s not going to be around and it’s not going to have these amazing applications, particularly for creative people and creative ventures.”

For Latashá, the future is in the hands of the artists themselves. “I think artists are just going to build their platforms. I think that’s going to be the future,” she said.

From 2021 to 2024, we were really dependent on platforms. […] And then we witnessed platforms kind of move like Web2 platforms, where they had so much ownership over our worlds and how we move that I think we finally all learned like, ‘Oh yeah, if this is really about building something different, it’s going to have to come from us.’

Whatever the future of the Web3 creator economy holds, it’s clear that it won’t be without road bumps along the way. But if the builders and artists are to be believed, the road bumps lie on the path toward greater artist independence.

Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, is weighing an entry into the US market, encouraged by what it sees as a friendlier regulatory climate under President Donald Trump’s administration, according to a recent Financial Times report.

The Dubai-based exchange, which processed $1.3 trillion in notional volume last year, is “actively reassessing potential opportunities” in the United States, CEO Luuk Strijers told the FT.

He cited the “recent shift toward a more favorable regulatory stance on crypto in the US” as a key motivator behind the decision.

Deribit’s potential plan to expand into the US comes amid reports that Coinbase is in advanced negotiations to acquire the platform.

In a March 21 report, Bloomberg said both companies have notified regulators in Dubai, where Deribit is licensed. If the deal is finalized, the license would need to be transferred to Coinbase.

The move comes as competitors like Kraken also pursue growth in the derivatives space, with its recent $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader.

Bitcoin perps on Deribit. Source: Deribit

Report: Deribit options exchange is evaluating buyout offers: Report

Crypto firms target US expansion

Deribit joins a growing list of European and Asian crypto firms exploring US expansion.

The shift comes after a period of regulatory hostility during the Biden administration, following the collapse of FTX in late 2022.

That era saw an aggressive crackdown from the SEC and DOJ, prompting many firms to withdraw from US operations. However, the narrative appears to be shifting under Trump, who has pledged to “make the US the crypto capital of the world.”

Since Trump’s election victory, the SEC has dropped or paused over a dozen enforcement cases against crypto companies.

Additionally, the Department of Justice recently announced the dissolution of its cryptocurrency enforcement unit, signaling a softer approach to the sector.

Related: Tether CEO to take ‘cautious’ approach to US expansion, eyes larger profits

This hands-on approach appears to be boosting industry confidence.

OKX, for example, has announced plans to establish a US headquarters in San Jose, California, just months after settling a $504 million case with US authorities.

On April 28, Nexo, which left the US at the end of 2022 citing a lack of regulatory clarity, revealed that it is reentering the US market.

Switzerland’s Wintermute and Dubai’s DWF Labs are among other major crypto players that have shown interest in exploring US expansion.

Magazine: ZK-proofs are bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin — BitcoinOS and Starknet

In a move that hopes to challenge Big Tech’s grip on artificial intelligence, AI agent protocol Thinkagents.ai has launched a new open-source framework for building onchain agents that operate autonomously across decentralized networks.

While traditional systems aim to restrict data ownership and platform abilities for their users, Thinkagents.ai is creating an interoperable ecosystem owned and controlled by its users. For Mike Anderson, core contributor at THINK, the Think Agent Standard is the future of AI.

Anderson and his team developed the Think Agent Standard to enable millions of autonomous onchain AI agents to transact and communicate. The protocol now has over 70 companies, like Arbitrum and Yuga Labs, on board to help out. 

The platform is now live, allowing developers, enterprises and Web3 communities to experiment with the framework.

“There was always this idea that it’s so much harder to [build AI] and so much more expensive when you have to build a thousand custom ways of doing it,” Anderson said during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. “By standardizing demand — the way people want to receive AI — you can get the whole market to line up because they want customers, and getting customers in AI is really difficult.”

Following the release of Meta’s Llama 2 a few years ago, Anderson and his team decided that if the future of decentralized AI ever manifested, they needed to ensure that consumers could easily use graphic processing units (GPUs) without spending billions of dollars.

“We watched as this whole ecosystem started to grow, with people saying, ’I’m going to build this part of the stack,’ and others saying they’ll ‘build that part of the stack,” almost as if Amazon Web Services (AWS) showed up with each department, with one saying they’ll do the data and another saying they’ll do the networking,” Anderson said.

We found that the problem isn’t having enough builders, it’s aligning them around an actual use case.Mike Anderson, core contributor at THINK. Source: THINKDeveloping the AI standard

The Think Agent Standard was launched by THINK protocol, in partnership with the Independent AI Institute, with the initial use case around Anderson and his team defining an AI agent (a place on a blockchain that has access to a computer and can make decisions), and the AI agents playing the video game Street Fighter 3 against each other. The use case brought nine different companies to work together for an audience of 30,000 viewers last summer.

That validated the idea that we could unite all of these infrastructure companies, provide a better product to customers, and do it in a way where users owned their information, data, keys, and encryption.

Because if owning and controlling AI agents is to remain in the hands of users, the decentralized AI agent platforms need to be simple, user-intuitive, well-designed and deliver on a user experience that could have changed the way we use and understand social media.

Related: How Meta’s antitrust case could dampen AI development

“Imagine if we’d had the foresight in 2003 to see social media as a way to organize our lives,” Anderson said. “Instead of having accounts on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, what if we had a standard where your accounts follow you—where all of your data and everything you’d posted in the past is something you’re providing to them. It’s a very different thing if users owned their accounts and data and could have opted into seeing ads where they would benefit from them. That’s what we’re building.”

The future of AI agents

Just as the ERC-20 standard enabled the tokenized economy, the Think Agent Standard introduces a modular, permissionless and composable system that allows AI agents to function as sovereign digital entities: Owning wallets, interacting with smart contracts and transacting seamlessly across every blockchain.

Each Think agent is powered by Non-Fungible Intelligence™ (NFI), a digital identity layer that establishes ownership, memory, and authentication, with the core genome palette residing on The Root Network and subsequent layers deployed to any connected network natively. 

The agents are composed of three core elements: The Soul (NFI), which provides a persistent, self-sovereign identity; the Mind, which governs behavior and decision-making; and the Body, which allows interaction across platforms and environments.

The first platform built on the Think Agent Standard is SOULS, a personal AI agent that users can own, train and customize. SOULS connects to thousands of open-source applications and evolves over time by integrating the best available intelligence without compromising user privacy or ownership.

Related: Crypto projects prepare to battle for privacy in Switzerland

Leading organizations in gaming, infrastructure and generative AI, including Yuga Labs, Futureverse, Alchemy, Render, Venice.ai and Magic Eden, are actively integrating the standard into real-world applications, further validating its potential across use cases.

“AI agents are the new interface to technology,” Anderson said. “What we’ve been able to do successfully is partner with consumer brands — like Bored Ape Yacht Club — to actually have distribution into a consumer’s end point, and we’ve been able to build all the systems so that they can actually access consumers.”

We’re helping people transition to the AI age by owning their intelligence instead of renting it from someone else.

For Anderson, a personal AI agent is like a personal dashboard that acts as an extension of your real self. If the information contained within your AI agent were to leak, the results could be personally catastrophic. That’s why Think is standardizing the system the agent can interact with, backed by cryptography, no matter what chain the agent is on. If a safe and successful standard exists within the user-owned AI agent industry, big tech will have a harder time controlling it.

It’s why users can own their data through their Think agent, eliminating the need for their data to be copied and live on some external third-party server. In this way, Think agents also hope to address the issue around data ownership by putting users in control of who they share their information with.

“When a social company goes out of business, all of that data gets sold to the highest bidder,” Anderson said. “23andMe is the most egregious example of this. They didn’t give you your DNA data and then delete it from their servers, their business model was actually to sell your data to others. Now, who knows who the highest bidder is. Is it an insurance company? The Chinese government? Who is it? Your data exhaust is more valuable than your DNA.”

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state to hold Bitcoin as part of its official reserves, effectively ending efforts to make Arizona the first US state to adopt such a policy.

The Digital Assets Strategic Reserve bill, which would have permitted Arizona to invest seized funds into Bitcoin (BTC) and create a reserve managed by state officials, was formally struck down on Friday, according to an update on the Arizona State Legislature’s website.

“Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1025. The Arizona State Retirement System is one of the strongest in the nation because it makes sound and informed investments,” Hobbs wrote in a statement aimed at Warren Petersen, the President of the Arizona Senate.

“Arizonans’ retirement funds are not the place for the state to try untested investments like virtual currency,” she added.

On April 28, the bill passed a final vote in the state House when 31 members of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposing. 

Hobbs had previously stated she would veto any legislation not tied to a bipartisan agreement on disability funding.

Source: Governor Katie Hobbs

Related: Bitcoin bros at ‘the club’ may stop US gov’t from buying BTC — Arthur Hayes

Another Bitcoin awaits final vote

A companion bill, SB1373, which would authorize the state treasurer to allocate up to 10% of Arizona’s rainy-day fund into digital assets like Bitcoin, has not yet reached a final vote.

Arizona joins several other states where similar efforts have failed. In recent months, similar proposals in Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming have stalled or been withdrawn.

In contrast, North Carolina’s House passed the Digital Assets Investment Act on April 30, allowing the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of certain funds in approved cryptocurrencies. The bill has now been moved to the state Senate for consideration.

The state-level efforts to create Bitcoin reserves come amid a push from US President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers to do the same in the federal government. 

Trump signed an executive order in March with a proposal for a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve” and a “Digital Asset Stockpile.”

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, and now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called for simplifying Ethereum’s base protocol, aiming to make the network more efficient, secure and accessible, drawing inspiration from Bitcoin’s minimalist design.

In a blog post titled “Simplifying the L1,” published on May 3, Buterin laid out a vision to restructure Ethereum’s architecture across consensus, execution and shared components.

“This post will describe how Ethereum 5 years from now can become close to as simple as Bitcoin,” Buterin wrote, arguing that simplicity is key to Ethereum’s resilience and long-term scalability.

While recent upgrades like proof-of-stake (PoS) and Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) integration have made Ethereum more robust, he said that technical complexity has led to bloated development cycles, higher costs and greater risks of bugs:

“Historically, Ethereum has often not done this (sometimes because of my own decisions), and this has contributed to much of our excessive development expenditure, all kinds of security risk, and insularity of R&D culture, often in pursuit of benefits that have proven illusory.”Buterin praises Bitcoin for its simplicity. Source: Vitalik Buterin

Related: ‘Vitalik: An Ethereum Story’ is less about crypto and more about being human

Ethereum eyes “3-Slot Finality” to simplify consensus

One key area of focus is Ethereum’s consensus layer. Central to this effort is the proposed “3-slot finality” model, which eliminates complex components like epochs, sync committees and validator shuffling.

“The reduced number of active validators at a time means that it becomes safer to use simpler implementations of the fork choice rule,” Buterin wrote.

Other proposed improvements include allowing for more straightforward fork choice rules and adopting Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge (STARK)-based aggregation protocols to decentralize and simplify network coordination.

On the execution layer, Buterin proposed a shift from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to a simpler, ZK-friendly virtual machine like RISC-V. This move could offer 100x performance improvements for zero-knowledge proofs and significantly simplify the protocol.

RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) used in designing computer processors. It follows a minimalist design philosophy, using a small set of simple instructions for high efficiency and easier implementation.

To preserve backward compatibility, Buterin suggested running legacy EVM contracts onchain via a RISC-V interpreter while supporting both VMs concurrently during a transitional phase.

Source: Vitalik Buterin

Related: Ethereum community members propose new fee structure for the app layer

Buterin calls for protocol-wide standards

Buterin also advocated for protocol-wide standardization. He suggested adopting a single erasure coding method, serialization format (favoring SSZ), and tree structure to reduce redundant complexity and streamline Ethereum’s tooling and infrastructure.

“Simplicity is in many ways similar to decentralization,” Buterin wrote. He suggested Ethereum adopt a “max line-of-code” target similar to what Tinygrad does, keeping consensus-critical logic as lean and auditable as possible.

Non-critical legacy features would remain but reside outside the core specification.

Buterin’s proposal aimed at simplifying Ethereum comes as the network continues to lose market share to competing blockchains.

During a panel discussion at the LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph event on May 2, Alex Svanevik, CEO of data service Nansen, said Ethereum’s relative dominance among L1 blockchain networks has declined.

“If you’d asked me 3–4 years ago whether Ethereum would dominate crypto, I’d have said yes,” Svanevik said during a panel discussion at the LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph event. “But now, it’s clear that’s not what’s happening.”

Magazine: ZK-proofs are bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin — BitcoinOS and Starknet

Crypto app developers are now free to direct users to payments outside of Apple’s ecosystem without restrictions or hefty fees, after a United States district judge ruled that Apple violated an injunction in its antitrust legal battle against Epic Games.

“The Court finds Apple in willful violation of this Court’s 2021 Injunction, which was issued to restrain and prohibit Apple’s anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing. Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in an April 30 court filing.

Apple must make changes “effective immediately”

“Effective immediately, Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users, nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases,” Rogers added.

Rogers reiterated, “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the essence.”

Source: Hector Lopez

The ruling stated that Apple must not impose “any commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app.” It added, “no reason exists to audit, monitor, track or require developers to report purchases or any other activity that consumers make outside an app.”

It was ruled that Apple can’t control how developers design or place links that lead users to buy items outside the app. Apple also cannot exclude “certain categories of apps and developers from obtaining link access.”

Following the court ruling, several crypto industry participants noticed that Apple guidelines were updated, with some claiming that the tone of the guidelines suggests they weren’t too pleased with the ruling.

Appfigures co-founder and CEO Ariel Michaeli said that people may find Apple’s “passive aggressive language confusing.”

Related: FTX sues NFT Stars and Kurosemi in push to recover tokens

Michaeli summarized Apple’s update as Apps can now link to an external non-fungible token (NFT) collection, can link outside of the App Store without needing an entitlement, and can link to an external payment system without requiring an entitlement.

Crypto commentator “Xero” told their 50,000 X followers on May 2, “This is hugely bullish for mobile crypto games and apps.” Meanwhile, Alex Masmej said, “This is absolutely huge for crypto.”

The same day, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic would be relaunching Fortnite to the US Apple App Store.

“Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we’ll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic,” Sweeney said.

In August 2023, Justice Elena Kagan declined to let a federal appeals court decision take immediate effect as Epic had asked — with no explanation for the decision.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Crypto app developers are now free to direct users to payments outside of Apple’s ecosystem without restrictions or hefty fees, after a United States district judge ruled that Apple violated an injunction in its antitrust legal battle against Epic Games.

“The Court finds Apple in willful violation of this Court’s 2021 Injunction, which was issued to restrain and prohibit Apple’s anticompetitive conduct and anticompetitive pricing. Apple’s continued attempts to interfere with competition will not be tolerated,” US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said in an April 30 court filing.

Apple must make changes “effective immediately”

“Effective immediately, Apple will no longer impede developers’ ability to communicate with users, nor will they levy or impose a new commission on off-app purchases,” Rogers added.

Rogers reiterated, “This is an injunction, not a negotiation. There are no do-overs once a party willfully disregards a court order. Time is of the essence.”

Source: Hector Lopez

The ruling stated that Apple must not impose “any commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app.” It added, “no reason exists to audit, monitor, track or require developers to report purchases or any other activity that consumers make outside an app.”

It was ruled that Apple can’t control how developers design or place links that lead users to buy items outside the app. Apple also cannot exclude “certain categories of apps and developers from obtaining link access.”

Following the court ruling, several crypto industry participants noticed that Apple guidelines were updated, with some claiming that the tone of the guidelines suggests they weren’t too pleased with the ruling.

Appfigures co-founder and CEO Ariel Michaeli said that people may find Apple’s “passive aggressive language confusing.”

Related: FTX sues NFT Stars and Kurosemi in push to recover tokens

Michaeli summarized Apple’s update as Apps can now link to an external non-fungible token (NFT) collection, can link outside of the App Store without needing an entitlement, and can link to an external payment system without requiring an entitlement.

Crypto commentator “Xero” told their 50,000 X followers on May 2, “This is hugely bullish for mobile crypto games and apps.” Meanwhile, Alex Masmej said, “This is absolutely huge for crypto.”

The same day, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic would be relaunching Fortnite to the US Apple App Store.

“Epic puts forth a peace proposal: If Apple extends the court’s friction-free, Apple-tax-free framework worldwide, we’ll return Fortnite to the App Store worldwide and drop current and future litigation on the topic,” Sweeney said.

In August 2023, Justice Elena Kagan declined to let a federal appeals court decision take immediate effect as Epic had asked — with no explanation for the decision.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Key takeaways:

BTC hit $97,900 due to soaring institutional investor demand, but futures pricing shows traders aren’t confident in a sustained rally.

Macroeconomic risks and global trade tensions cap bullish sentiment despite $3.6 billion in spot BTC ETF inflows.

BTC options lean bullish, suggesting big players expect upside, but their caution keeps leverage use low.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke out of a tight trading range between $93,000 and $95,600 on May 1, following six days of limited movement. Despite reaching its highest price in ten weeks at $97,930, sentiment remains neutral according to BTC derivatives indicators. This price action has occurred alongside significant net inflows into US spot exchange-traded Bitcoin funds (ETFs).

Some of the disappointment among traders can be attributed to the ongoing global tariff dispute, which is beginning to affect macroeconomic data. Bitcoin traders are concerned that, despite growing interest from institutional investors, fears of an economic recession could limit price performance. This concern reduces the likelihood of BTC reaching $110,000 or higher in 2025.

Bitcoin 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: Laevitas.ch

The annualized premium for Bitcoin’s two-month futures has remained between 6% and 7% over the past week, staying within the neutral range of 5% to 10%. Compared to January, when Bitcoin was trading near $95,000 and the futures premium was above 10%, traders’ sentiment has weakened. This data suggests there is less optimism, or at least less conviction, in further price gains toward $100,000 and above.

Gold’s performance outshone Bitcoin’s modest gains

Some market participants point to gold’s 20% rally, from $2,680 to $3,220, as a source of concern. Although Bitcoin recently surpassed silver’s $1.8 trillion market capitalization to become the seventh largest global tradable asset, gold’s surge to a massive $21.7 trillion valuation has overshadowed this achievement. Investors worry that Bitcoin’s strong correlation with the stock market has diminished the appeal of its “digital gold” narrative.

Bitcoin spot US-listed ETFs daily net flows, USD. Source: CoinGlass

There is also a possibility that the $3.6 billion in net inflows to US spot ETFs over the past two weeks are being driven by delta-neutral strategies. In this scenario, the flows reflect Bitcoin holders moving to listed products or using derivatives for hedging. If so, the direct impact on price would be limited, which is consistent with Bitcoin’s modest 5% gain during this period.

To determine whether professional traders are comfortable with Bitcoin around $97,500, it is helpful to examine the BTC options market.

Bitcoin 1-month options 25% delta skew (put-call) at Deribit. Source: Laevitas.ch

The BTC options 25% delta skew metric is currently near its lowest level since Feb. 15, indicating that whales and market makers are assigning higher odds to further upside from here. This marks a sharp reversal from three weeks ago, when put (sell) options traded at a premium.

Related: Bitcoin unsure as recession looms, US-China tariff talks kick off

Bitcoin derivatives’ resilience favors further BTC price gains

Overall, Bitcoin derivatives indicate moderate optimism. Traders generally expect further price gains, but bulls are refraining from using leverage. Some might argue that this creates the ideal conditions for a surprise rally, especially since the retest of $74,500 on April 9 did not significantly affect BTC derivatives.

The most important factor influencing Bitcoin’s performance remains the commercial relationship between the US and China. As long as the trade war continues, Bitcoin is likely to continue tracking the S&P 500 movements. While this environment may prevent Bitcoin from reaching a new all-time high in the near term, BTC derivatives are currently leaning slightly in favor of the bulls.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.