Network news
“ALPENGLOW” UPGRADE LIVE FOR TEST AT SOLANA: Solana developer Anza said Alpenglow, the network’s largest proposed consensus overhaul to date, is live on a community test cluster, marking a major step toward a potential mainnet rollout. The update means that 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 intended to dramatically reduce termination times and improve network responsiveness. “Alpenglow is live on the community test cluster,” Anza wrote on X. “The biggest consensus change in Solana’s history, now running on validator infrastructure in front of the mainnet.” Today, Solana relies on Proof-of-History, a cryptographic clock that timestamps transactions, along with TowerBFT, a voting mechanism that 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 high demand. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
LAYERZERO APOLOGY FOR KELP DAO INCIDENT: LayerZero said it “made a mistake” by allowing its own verification infrastructure to secure high-value cryptoassets in a vulnerable configuration, marking a notable shift in tone after weeks of blaming developer Kelp DAO for a $292 million hack linked to North Korean attackers. The admission marks a remarkable shift after weeks of public finger-pointing between LayerZero and Kelp over responsibility for the April hack, which LayerZero had initially framed as an application-level configuration error by Kelp. “First things first: a belated apology,” LayerZero wrote in a blog. LayerZero initially blamed Kelp, arguing that the protocol had opted for a risky “1-of-1” configuration where only a single decentralized verifier network, or DVN, needed to approve cross-chain transfers, creating a single point of failure. A DVN is part of the infrastructure that verifies whether a transaction that moves assets between blockchains is legitimate. “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 control what our DVN secured, which created a risk we simply didn’t see. We own that.” — Sam Reynolds Read more.
RONIN FOR TRANSITION TO LAYER-2: Ronin, the gaming-centric blockchain once synonymous with the industry’s infamous $625 million 2022 exploit, is officially shedding its sidechain skin on May 12 to become an Ethereum layer 2 to improve security while maintaining throughput. Ronin, which announced the migration in April, will perform 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 the X. According to onchain data, the migration is expected to begin on Tuesday around 15:16 UTC. “Four years ago, we launched Ronin because Axie Infinity needed a faster and more efficient network,” Ronin said in announcing the migration. “It worked. Axie Infinity deployed millions of players to crypto, and Pixels proved it was possible to do it again.” The time has come to plug “back into the mothership.” While operating as an independent sidechain in mid-May 2022, Ronin suffered what remains today the largest DeFI bridge exploit in history. Layer 2 protocols benefit from tighter links to the underlying blockchain than sidechains, providing benefits that include greater security. — Olivier Acuna Read more.
ETHEREUM DEVELOPER RELEASES “CLEAR SIGNING”: The Ethereum Foundation and a group of major crypto wallet developers are rolling out a new security standard designed to prevent users from accidentally signing 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’re actually agreeing to. The effort comes after years of phishing attacks and wallets that often boil down to the same problem: users unknowingly authorizing malicious transactions they don’t understand. The Ethereum Foundation pointed to incidents like the Bybit hack as examples of how attackers exploit “blind signing,” where users authorize 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 lines of code that only highly technical users can decipher, leaving everyday traders vulnerable to fake apps, malicious links and compromised websites. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
In other news
- Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant that manages about $12 trillion in client assets, began rolling out its spot cryptocurrency trading service to retail clients in the United States. An initial group of customers can now trade bitcoin and ether (ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform, which the company announced on X. Last July, CEO Rick Wurster said the company planned to introduce crypto trading in the near future. 2026 confirmed last month. The Westlake, Texas headquarters 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 blockchain rails. A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlined plans for a blockchain-based money market fund that invests exclusively in short-term US Treasuries, cash and overnight repos backed by government securities. The fund, called the JPMorgan OnChain Liquidity-Token Money Market Fund (JLTXX), will maintain blockchain-based token balances linked to investors’ ownership records, allowing authorized users to submit purchase, redemption and transfer requests through Ethereum, the filing said. The underlying blockchain infrastructure will be powered by Kinexy’s Digital Assets, JPMorgan’s blockchain unit formerly known as Onyx. — Christian Sandor Read more.
Legislation and policy
- Legislation that could fully insert the US crypto industry into the regulated financial system has emerged in its latest form, with the Senate Banking Committee unveiling the text of the Market Structure Act just after midnight Tuesday ahead of this week’s hearing to push the effort forward. The latest version wasn’t expected to hold many surprises for the crypto industry, which has already had a chance to dig through it privately, but it still includes some controversial language about the stablecoin dividend, and it maintains legal protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, keeping that corner of the crypto sector happy (for now). Industry insiders awaited the release late into the night and will still have to study the language to make sure their expectations were met. “This bill reflects serious, good-faith work across the committee and delivers the safety, guarantees and accountability Americans deserve,” committee chairman Tim Scott said in a statement. “It puts consumers first, fights illicit finance, cracks down on criminals and foreign adversaries, and preserves the future of finance here 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 chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Lawmakers approved Warsh by a 51-45 vote. Late. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to support the nomination. Warsh still needs to win a separate vote in the Senate to become Fed chairman, which is expected on Wednesday. The governors serve a term of 14 years, while the chairman has a term of four years. If confirmed as chairman, Warsh, 56, would replace Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term as head of the Fed ends on Friday. However, Powell has said he plans to remain on the board until a federal investigation into renovations at Fed headquarters is completed. — Helen Braun Read more.
Calendar
- 2.-3. June 2026: Proof of Talk, Paris
- June 4, 2026: The Stable Summit, New York
- 8.-10. June 2026: ETHConf, New York
- September 29-1. October 2026: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- 7.-8. October 2026: Token2049, Singapore
- 3.-6. November 2026: Devcon, Mumbai
- 15.-17. November 2026: Solana Breakpoint, London
