network news
“Alpenglow” upgrade live for testing on Solana: Solana developer Enza said the network’s largest proposed consensus overhaul to date, Alpenglow, is live on a community test cluster, a major step toward a potential mainnet rollout. The update means validator operators can now test software designed to move Solana from its current consensus system, which combines proof-of-stake with TowerBFT and proof-of-history, towards a new architecture that aims to dramatically reduce latency and improve network responsiveness. “Alpenglow is live on the community test cluster,” Anja wrote on X. “The largest consensus change in Solana history, now running on validator infrastructure before mainnet.” Today, Solana relies on proof-of-history, a cryptographic clock that combines transaction timestamps with TowerBFT, a voting mechanism validators use to agree on the state of the blockchain. While the design has helped Solana achieve high throughput and low fees, some have pointed to outages and network instability during periods of heavy demand. — margaux nijkerk Read more.
LayerZero apologizes for Kelp Dao incident: LayerZero said it “made a mistake” by allowing its own verification infrastructure to secure high-value crypto assets in a weak configuration, a notable change in tone weeks after blaming developer Kelp DAO for a $292 million hack linked to North Korean attackers. The admission marks a notable turnaround after weeks of public finger-pointing between LayerZero and Kelp over responsibility for the April hack, which LayerZero initially attributed to an application-level configuration failure by Kelp. “First things first: an overdue apology,” LayerZero wrote in a blog. LayerZero initially blamed Kelp, arguing that the protocol had chosen a risky “1-of-1” configuration that required only one decentralized validator network, or DVN, to approve cross-chain transfers, creating a single point of failure. DVN is the part of the infrastructure that verifies whether a transaction transferring assets between blockchains is valid. “We made a mistake by allowing our DVN to act as a 1/1 DVN for high-value transactions,” the company said. “We didn’t monitor what our DVN was securing, which created a risk we didn’t see. We own it.” — Sam Reynolds Read more.
To transition to Ronin Layer-2: Ronin, the gaming-focused blockchain once synonymous with the industry’s infamous $625 million exploit in 2022, is officially shedding its sidechain skin on May 12 to become Ethereum layer 2 to improve security while maintaining throughput. Ronin, which announced the migration in April, will execute a hard fork at block 55,577,490, a process that will result in about 10 hours of downtime for users, the network said on Monday on X. According to onchain data, the migration is expected to begin around 15:16 UTC on Tuesday. When announcing the migration Ronin said, “Four years ago, we launched Ronin because Axie Infinity needed a faster and more efficient network.” “It worked. Axie Infinity got millions of gamers into crypto, and Pixels proved it’s possible to do it again.” It’s time for us to “get back to motherhood.” While operating as an independent sidechain in mid-May 2022, Ronin suffered the largest DeFi bridge exploit in history. Layer 2 protocols benefit from tighter links to the underlying blockchain than sidechains, which provides benefits including greater security. — olivier acuna Read more.
Ethereum developers release “clear signatures”: The Ethereum Foundation and a group of leading crypto wallet developers are introducing a new security standard designed to prevent users from accidentally signing over their funds, a problem that has fueled some of the industry’s biggest hacks and scams. The initiative, called “Clear Signing,” aims to replace the confusing walls of code users currently see when approving Ethereum transactions with simple, human-readable explanations of what they are actually agreeing to. The effort comes after years of phishing attacks and wallet drains, which often boil down to the same issue: users unknowingly approving malicious transactions they don’t understand. The Ethereum Foundation cited incidents like the Bybit hack as examples of how attackers exploit “blind signatures,” where users approve transactions filled with unreadable technical data. Right now, signing a crypto transaction can feel like clicking “Accept” on a terms of service page written in another language. Wallets often display long strings of code that only high-tech users can understand, leaving everyday merchants vulnerable to fake apps, malicious links, and compromised websites. — margaux nijkerk Read more.
in other news
- Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant that manages approximately $12 trillion of client assets, began the rollout of its spot cryptocurrency trading service for retail clients in the US. An initial group of customers can now trade Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform, the company posted on X. In July last year, CEO Rick Wurster said the company planned to launch crypto trading in the near future, with a first half 2026 timeframe confirmed last month. The Westlake, Texas-headquartered company already offers crypto investments through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures trading. — jamie crawley Read more.
- JPMorgan (JPM) is preparing to launch a tokenized money market fund, the latest sign that major financial institutions and Wall Street asset managers are accelerating efforts to move traditional assets onto the blockchain rails. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlines a plan for a blockchain-based money-market fund to invest exclusively in overnight repo agreements backed by short-term US Treasuries, cash and government securities. The fund, called the JPMorgan Onchain Liquidity-Tokenized Money Market Fund (JLTXX), will maintain blockchain-based token balances linked to investors’ 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 Kinexis Digital Assets, the blockchain unit of JPMorgan formerly known as Onyx. — Christian Sandor Read more.
Regulatory and Policy
- Legislation that could insert the US crypto industry into a fully regulated financial system has emerged in its latest form, with the Senate Banking Committee unveiling the text of a market structure bill just after midnight Tuesday ahead of a hearing this week that is poised to advance the effort. The latest version wasn’t expected to offer many surprises for the crypto industry, which already had a chance to dig into it privately, but it does include still-controversial language on stablecoin yields and it maintains legal protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, keeping that corner of the crypto sector happy (so far). Industry insiders were waiting for the release late at night, and still have to study the language to make sure their expectations are met. “This bill reflects the serious, good-faith work in committee and provides Americans with the certainty, safeguards, and accountability they deserve,” committee Chairman Tim Scott said in a statement. “It puts consumers first, combats illicit finance, cracks down on criminals and foreign adversaries, and preserves the future of finance in the United States.” — jesse hamilton Read more.
- The Senate confirmed Kevin Wersh to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Tuesday, bringing President Donald Trump’s pick one step closer to becoming the next chair of the US central bank. Lawmakers approved Warsh by a vote of 51-45. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to support the nomination. Warsh must still win a separate Senate vote to become Fed chair, which is expected to take place on Wednesday. The Governor serves a term of 14 years while the Speaker serves a term of four years. If confirmed as chairman, Wersh, 56, would succeed Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term leading the Fed ends on Friday. However, Powell has said he plans to remain on the board until the federal investigation into renovations at the Fed’s headquarters concludes. — Helen Braun Read more.
calendar
- June 2-3, 2026: Proof of Point, Paris
- June 4, 2026: Stable 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
- November 15-17, 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London