network news
“ALPENGLOW” upgrade tested on SOLANA: Solana developer Anza said Alpenglow, the network’s largest proposed consensus reform to date, has gone live on the community test cluster, marking an important step towards a potential mainnet launch. The update means validator operators can now test software designed to move Solana away from the current consensus system, which combines Proof-of-Stake with TowerBFT and Proof-of-History, towards a new architecture designed to significantly reduce finalization times and improve network responsiveness. Anza wrote on While the design helped Solana achieve high throughput and low fees, some noted outages and network instability during periods of high demand. — Margot Neckar Read more.
LAYERZERO apologizes for KELP DAO incident: LayerZero said it “made a mistake” by allowing its verification infrastructure to be configured in a vulnerable configuration to protect high-value crypto assets, marking a significant shift in tone after weeks of blaming developer Kelp DAO for a $292 million hack linked to North Korean attackers. The admission marks a significant turnaround from weeks of public finger-pointing between LayerZero and Kelp over responsibility for the April hack, which LayerZero initially characterized as an application-level configuration failure at Kelp. “First things first: a belated apology,” LayerZero wrote in a blog post. LayerZero initially blamed Kelp, arguing that the protocol had chosen a risky “1-of-1” configuration where only a decentralized verification network (DVN) was needed to approve cross-chain transfers, creating a single point of failure. DVN is part of the infrastructure used to verify that transactions moving assets between blockchains are legitimate. “We made a mistake by allowing our DVN to act as a 1/1 DVN for high-value transactions,” the company said. “We did not regulate what the DVN protected, which created a risk that we simply did not see. We owned it.” — Sam Reynolds Read more.
Ronin transitions to Layer-2: Ronin, a gaming-centric blockchain once synonymous with the industry’s infamous $625 million breach in 2022, officially shed its sidechain coat on May 12 to become Ethereum Layer 2 to improve security while maintaining throughput. Ronin announced the migration in April, and the network said on Monday that it would perform a hard fork at block 55,577,490, a process that will cause approximately 10 hours of downtime for users. According to on-chain data, the migration is expected to begin around 15:16 UTC on Tuesday. “Four years ago, we launched Ronin because Axie Infinity needed a faster, more efficient network,” Ronin said when announcing the migration. “It worked. Axie Infinity brought millions of gamers into crypto, and Pixels prove it’s possible to do it again.” It’s time to “get back to the mothership.” While running as an independent sidechain in mid-May 2022, Ronin suffered what remains the largest DeFi bridge vulnerability attack in history. Layer 2 protocols benefit from closer links to the underlying blockchain than sidechains, providing benefits including greater security. — Olivier Acuna Read more.
Ethereum developers release “clear signature”: The Ethereum Foundation and a group of major crypto wallet developers are rolling out a new security standard aimed at preventing users from accidentally signing over their funds, an issue that has fueled some of the industry’s biggest hacks and scams. The initiative, called Clear Signatures, aims to replace the confusing wall of code that users currently see when approving Ethereum transactions with a simple, readable explanation of what they are actually agreeing to. The effort comes after years of phishing attacks and wallet losses that often boiled down to the same problem: users unknowingly approving malicious transactions they didn’t understand. The Ethereum Foundation points to incidents such as the Bybit hack as examples of how attackers can exploit “blind signatures,” in which users approve transactions filled with unreadable technical data. Now, signing a crypto transaction is like clicking “accept” on a terms of service page written in another language. Wallets often display long strings of code that only technically savvy users can decipher, leaving everyday traders vulnerable to fake apps, malicious links, and compromised websites. — Margot Neckar Read more.
Other news
- Brokerage giant Charles Schwab, which manages about $12 trillion in client assets, has begun launching spot cryptocurrency trading services for U.S. retail clients. The company announced on X that its first customers can now trade Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform. Last July, CEO Rick Wurster said the company planned to launch cryptocurrency trading in the near future, with a timeline for the first half of 2026 confirmed last month. The Westlake, Texas-based company already offers cryptocurrency investments through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures trading. — Jamie Crowley Read more.
- JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is preparing to launch a tokenized money market fund, the latest sign that major financial institutions and Wall Street asset managers are stepping up efforts to move traditional assets onto the blockchain track. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlines plans for a blockchain-based money market fund that would invest exclusively in short-term U.S. Treasuries, cash and overnight repurchase agreements backed by government securities. The fund, known as the J.P. Morgan OnChain Liquid Token Money Market Fund (JLTXX), will maintain blockchain-based token balances tied to investor ownership records, allowing approved users to submit purchase, redemption and transfer requests via Ethereum, the filing said. The underlying blockchain infrastructure will be operated by JPMorgan Chase’s blockchain arm Kinexys Digital Assets, formerly known as Onyx. — Christian Sandel Read more.
Regulation and Policy
- Legislation that could fully integrate the U.S. cryptocurrency industry into the regulated financial system has emerged in its latest form, with the Senate Banking Committee releasing the text of a market structure bill just after midnight on Tuesday before moving forward with the effort at hearings this week. The latest version isn’t expected to bring many surprises to the cryptocurrency industry, which has already had a chance to delve into it privately, but it includes language about still-controversial stablecoin yields and preserves legal protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, keeping this corner of the cryptocurrency industry happy (so far). Those in the industry waited late into the night for the release, and they still had to work on the language to make sure it met their expectations. “This bill reflects serious, good-faith work across the committee and provides the certainty, safeguards, and accountability Americans deserve,” Committee Chairman Tim Scott said in a statement. “It would put consumers first, fight illicit finance, fight criminals and foreign adversaries, and keep the future of finance in the United States.” — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
- The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Tuesday, moving President Donald Trump’s pick one step closer to becoming the next Fed chair. Lawmakers approved Wash on a 51-45 vote. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to support the nomination. Warsh must still win a separate vote in the Senate to become Fed chairman, which is expected to take place on Wednesday. The term of directors is 14 years and the term of the chairman is 4 years. If confirmed as chairman, Warsh, 56, would succeed Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term leading the Fed ends on Friday. However, Powell said he plans to remain on the board until the federal investigation into the renovation of the Fed headquarters is concluded. — Helen Braun Read more.
calendar
- June 2-3, 2026: Proof of Talk, Paris
- June 4, 2026: Stability Summit, New York
- June 8-10, 2026: ETHConf, New York
- 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