Welcome to the Protocol, Coindesk’s weekly wrapping of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I am Margaux Nijkerk, Ethereum Protocol Reporter on Coindesk’s Tech Team.
In this number:
- Berachain Tap Ethereums Pectra PlayBook with ‘BecTra’ upgrade
- Ethereum Foundation puts some staff in the middle of F & U –
- Elon Musk Announces ‘Bitcoin-style’ xchat but tech experts are skeptical
- Taiwanese Crypto Exchange Bitopro probably hacked for $ 11 million. In May, Says Zachxbt
Network news
BERACHAINS APPLICATION ON PECTRA; Bectra: Berachain is ready to be the first nonthereum-layer-1 blockchain to fully activate Ethereum’s new execution layer. Its BeckRa Hard fork – – named after Ethereum’s recent ‘Pectra’ upgrade – goes today, providing more than 100 apps on chain access to tools that can improve how users and developers interact with the platform. Because Berachat’s consensus model is different from Ethereums, it does not include Pectra’s consensus changes. But since it is Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible, developers do not have to rewrite existing contracts-a relief for the 200 Plus apps that already live on Beracain. For users, BECTRA upgrade means that any wallet can now act as a smart account. They will be able to batch transactions in a single click, set spending limits, pay gas with honey (BERACHAINS STABLECOIN) or even create recurring payments. Previously, these features had necessary customized contracts or third -party implementations (which carry security concerns). – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
Ethereum Foundation Release in the middle of restructuring: The Ethereum Foundation has dismissed some members of its research and development team as part of a broader restructuring effort aimed at focusing on critical protocol design challenges, the organization said in a blog post. Shake-up comes as the Switzerland-based nonprofit fighter with continuous criticism of its leadership and strategic direction. Some in the Ethereum Society have warned for over a year that failure to address key technical obstacles could threaten Ethereum’s status as an industry leader, and the organization has already undergone management changes partially to tackle these concerns. The fund redirects its protocol research and development department under the simplified name “Protocol” and relocates the group around three main priorities: scaling Ethereum’s basic layer, expanding Blobspace (an important part of its data availability strategy) and improving the user experience. Due to these changes, several employees were dismissed, although the EC did not reveal how many people were affected by these changes – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
Technical experts not impressed on Musk’s BTC X-Feature: Billionaire X-owner Elon Musk shared over the weekend launch of a brand new messaging app called Xchat. Neither the Bitcoin market nor the tech community is impressed. A key feature of the new offer is that it is written with a rust programming language and uses the musk that was touted as “Bitcoin -style” encryption. While It Sounds Exciting, The Crypto Community is Not Particularly Psyched, Raising Doubts About The Platform’s Bitcoin-Inspired Technical Promises .. “Bitcoin Primarily Uses Signatures, Not Encryption. This is Like Saying, We Decideed to Run Our Rocket On Water, Since Nasa us and oxygen, “Ian Miers, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, Said On X. – Omrar Godbole Read more.
Crypto Exchange BitoPro probably hacked for $ 11m, Zachxbt says: Taiwanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitopro is suspected of losing over $ 11.5 million worth of tokens in an 8th of May utilization, widely subsequent Blockchain-Luth Zachxbt said in his telegram group. The utilization involved unauthorized access to Bitopro’s hot wallets across several blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana and Polygon. The stolen assets were then sold on decentralized exchanges, with the proceeds laundered through privacy’s peace protocols such as Tornado Cash and Thorchain, and eventually moved to Wasabi Wallet, a Bitcoin mix. Bitopro has not issued any public statements that recognize the violation since the supposed explicit. Users were informed of a temporary service pension due to “system maintenance” last month, and there was a little socially scraped in popular Krypto X circles around the incident at that time. – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
In other news
- A representative of the Trump organization said the group “knows nothing” about a crypto -design book project called “$ Trump -Tevebog” despite the app’s branding and claims tied to the US president. “The Trump organization knows nothing about this project,” a spokesman for the Trump organization Coindesk said. Meanwhile, an X account attached to the president’s Memecoins said the wallet “came soon”, even after several of his representatives refused the rumors.– Helene Braun Read more.
- The World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s supported crypto company, just fell $ 47 worth of its USD1 stableecoin for each wallet that participated in his WLFI-token sale. The move comes as USD 1, which is linked to the US dollar and supported by treasuries and Fiat reserves, is expanded over blockchains as a result of chainlink’s CCIP integration. – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
Legislative and politics
- French authorities have accused 25 people, including six minors, of their roles in a series of crypto nappings in Paris, for most of the suspects associated with the recent failed kidnapping attempt by a Crypto Exchange CEO’s family, Paris’s prosecutor Le Monde reported on Saturday. The study is focused on the kidnapping trial from daughter and grandson of CEO of Crypto Exchange Paymium, Pierre Noizat, who took place on May 13, the report said. – Camomile Shumba Read more.
- The US Senate is quickly approaching a final vote on the regulation of stableecoins, which would be a high watermark for crypto crushes in Congress, but representative French Hill said the Senate’s bill has some important differences with similar efforts in the House of Representatives and these would be broken down before it can be allowed. “The bills are essentially the same,” said Hill, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who has been at the forefront of the congressional negotiations on stablecoins for years, at an Atlantic Council event on Tuesday. “There are some differences that are not invincible but need to be fixed and clarified.” And Jesse Hamilton Read more.
Calendar
- June 8-22: Berlin Blockchain Week, Berlin
- 24-26. June: Permitted, Brooklyn
- June 30. July: ETHCC, Cannes
- July 16-18: Web3 Summit, Berlin
- 22-28. September: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- 1-2 October: Token2049, Singapore
- November 17-22: DevConnect, Buenos Aires
- 11-13. December: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
- 10-12. February 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
- 5-7 May 2026: Consensus, Miami
