network news
Ethereum’s new expansion plan: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a blog post on The post reflects Buterin’s renewed focus on scaling the Ethereum base layer after several years, where much of the ecosystem’s scaling strategy was focused on layer 2 aggregation. The plan comes after the Ethereum Foundation released “sketches” aimed at improving the network’s long-term efficiency. Buterin said that in the short term, Ethereum could safely increase throughput by making blocks easier and faster to check. The upcoming upgrade will allow computers running Ethereum to view different parts of a block at the same time, rather than processing everything step by step. At the same time, changes to the way blocks are constructed will allow the network to make more use of each 12-second processing window rather than doing it early out of caution (called ePBS and will be implemented in the Glamsterdam upgrade). The result: Ethereum should be able to accommodate more transactions per block without increasing the risk of errors or instability. Another major part of the plan involves rethinking how transaction fees (called “gas”) are calculated. Buterin believes that not all activity on Ethereum puts the same pressure on the network. There is a big difference between temporarily using computing power and permanently adding new data that each Ethereum computer or node must store permanently. — Margot Neckar Read more.
OKX gets involved in artificial intelligence agency: OKX has launched an AI-centric upgrade to its developer platform OnchainOS, positioning it as infrastructure for autonomous cryptocurrency trading agents. The AI layer builds on familiar components such as wallet infrastructure, liquidity routing, and on-chain data sources, combining them into a unified execution framework designed to enable AI agents that operate across chains. Instead of manually connecting price feeds, token approvals, gas estimates, and exchange routing, developers can connect to brokers and issue high-level instructions, such as exchanging ETH for USDC below a specific price. OnchainOS handles the behind-the-scenes workflow, from monitoring the market to finding liquidity and confirming settlements. The intersection between cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence has grown exponentially over the past 12 months—the blockchain AI market is expected to grow from $6 billion in 2024 to $50 billion in 2030—and traders are using the technology to their advantage. One recent example is a group of retail traders using artificial intelligence to spot “glitches” on platforms such as Polymarket and then instructing the AI to trade on their behalf. — Sam Reynolds Read more.
The near-founder of future users of blockchain: For years, the crypto industry has been looking for the next breakthrough moment — something similar in scale to DeFi Summer or the NFT craze. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) has quietly integrated into daily life. Developers use ChatGPT as a co-pilot. Consumers rely on AI assistants to draft emails, plan trips and, increasingly, manage workflows. In comparison, cryptocurrencies still feel like infrastructure. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin believes the divide is about to disappear, but not in the way many expect. “Users of blockchain will become artificial intelligence agents,” Polosukhin said in an interview. “AI will be on the front end and blockchain will be on the back end.” His framework opposes much of cryptocurrencies’ recent experiments with AI, which have largely focused on speculative tokens, meme coins and agency-themed trading bots. Instead, Polosukhin believes that AI will become the primary interface layer for everything online, including cryptocurrencies, abstract wallets, browsers, and transaction hashes. “The goal is to have your AI hide all of the blockchain,” he said. “The fact is we have [blockchain] Explorers actually failed because we didn’t have the abstraction technology. “From this perspective, blockchain is not disappearing, but fading. AI agents interact directly with the protocol, executing payments, managing assets, coordinating services, and even voting in the governance system. At the same time, humans interact with the AI. — Margot Neckar Read more.
Bitcoin’s Latest Governance Conflict: Bitcoin’s latest governance conflict escalates as mining pool Ocean generates the first block signal to support a temporary soft fork designed to restrict arbitrary non-monetary data in blockchain transactions. The proposal, officially designated BIP-110 after evolving from an earlier draft, aims to restore strict limits on transaction output sizes and arbitrary data fields for about a year. The idea is to curb what proponents consider “spam” use of non-financial data block space. They believe that unchecked data, including large inscriptions and so-called OP_RETURN payloads, threatens the original blockchain’s role as a sound monetary infrastructure and places a burden on node operators. The community remains deeply divided. Prominent critics, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, have warned that consensus-level intervention could damage Bitcoin’s credibility and lead to preferential treatment of certain transactions, violating the principle of transaction-ability neutrality. He also questioned the level of support for the proposal, which he said increases the risk of blockchain fragmentation. — Jamie Crowley Read more.
Other news
- Kraken gained a “master account” at the Federal Reserve, giving its banking arm direct access to the Fed’s core payments system and making it the first cryptocurrency company to operate on the same orbit as traditional financial institutions. The company said its Kraken Financial unit received approval for a “master account” from the Federal Reserve. The account allows direct access to Fedwire, a major interbank payments network that processes trillions of transfers every day. Until now, Kraken had to rely on partner banks to send or receive U.S. dollars. The change to direct access could speed up deposits and withdrawals for large traders and institutional clients as firms can now settle payments themselves. Kraken Financial operates under a Wyoming charter designed specifically for cryptocurrency banks. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City oversees the application. However, the scope of approval is limited. Kraken will not have access to the full suite of services offered by traditional banks because it will not be able to earn interest on its reserves or tap into emergency loans from the Federal Reserve. — Francisco Rodriguez Read more.
- Tether, the company behind the most popular stablecoin USDT, invested $50 million in sleep technology startup Even Sleep at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to a press release and Crunchbase data on Wednesday. With the funding, Eight Sleep plans to develop new AI health capabilities using Tether’s QVAC architecture, a computing framework designed to process data at the device level rather than relying entirely on cloud systems. Eight Sleep has built a sleep system equipped with sensors that can track biometric data such as nighttime heart rate and body temperature. Its flagship product, the “Pod,” regulates mattress temperature and generates sleep insights based on real-time physiological data. “We believe advanced personalized artificial intelligence is the perfect way to understand and expand human potential,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. This investment is the latest example of Tether moving beyond stablecoins and crypto infrastructure. The company is best known for its $183 billion USDT stablecoin, which is popular as a savings and payment instrument in emerging markets with limited access to U.S. dollars. Tether reported net profits of more than $10 billion in 2025 and is increasingly directing those proceeds into venture capital investments in energy, payments, artificial intelligence and health technology. — Christian Sandel Read more.
Regulation and Policy
- U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Society post on Tuesday that bankers are trying to undermine the Genius Act, the signature stablecoin legislation he signed into law last year, and urged Congress to pass cryptocurrency market structure legislation without interference. “The United States needs to complete its market structure as soon as possible. Americans should use their money to make more money,” he said in the post. “Bank profits are reaching record highs, and we will not allow them to undermine our strong crypto agenda, which will ultimately go to China and other countries if we do not comply with the Clarity Act.” He warned banks not to hold the Clarity Act “hostage,” saying the bill is necessary to keep the crypto industry in the United States. “They need to have a good deal with the crypto industry because that is in the best interest of the American people,” he said. The market structure bill has been in limbo since the Senate Banking Committee indefinitely postponed a hearing on the hike in January, where lawmakers were due to debate and vote on amendments to the bill. There are still many issues standing in the way of the bill’s passage, but the most public debate is between the banking and cryptocurrency industries over whether third parties can offer customers earnings on stablecoin deposits. Nikhilesh De Read more.
- A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Uniswap Labs, CEO Hayden Adams and several venture capital backers, ruling that they cannot be held liable for so-called “pull” tokens traded on the decentralized exchange protocol. In a ruling issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Katherine Polk Failla dismissed the remaining state law claims in Risley v. Universal Navigation Inc., the Brooklyn-based company that operates Uniswap. Plaintiffs’ federal securities claims were previously dismissed. The decision effectively ends the case at the district court level. The ruling is one of the first to specifically address whether developers and investors behind decentralized protocols can be held liable under existing securities and state laws for tokens created and traded by third parties. “Due to the decentralized nature of the protocol, the identity of the fraudulent token issuers is essentially unknown and unknowable, leaving the plaintiffs with identifiable harm but no identifiable defendants,” Failla wrote. She added: “Undaunted, they are now suing the Uniswap Defendants and VC Defendants in the hope that the court will ignore the fact that the current state of cryptocurrency regulation leaves them with no recourse, at least with respect to the specific claims alleged in this lawsuit.” — Olivier Acuna Read more.
calendar
- March 24-26, 2026: Digital Asset Summit, New York
- March 30 – April 2026: EthCC, Cannes
- April 15-16, 2026: Paris Blockchain Week, Paris
- April 29-30, 2026: Token2049, Dubai
- May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
- September 29-October 1, 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- October 7-8, 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- November 3-6, 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- 15-17 November 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
