Network news
“ALPENGLOW” LIVE UPDATE FOR SOLANA TESTING: Solana developer Anza said Alpenglow, the network’s largest proposed consensus overhaul to date, is available in a community test pool, marking an important step toward a potential mainnet launch. The update means that validation 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 aimed at dramatically reducing finality times and improving network responsiveness. “Alpenglow is active in the community test pool,” Anza wrote on 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 performance and low rates, some have pointed to network outages and instability during periods of high demand. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
LAYERZERO’S APOLOGY FOR THE KELP DAO INCIDENT: LayerZero said it “made a mistake” by allowing its own verification infrastructure to protect high-value crypto assets in a vulnerable setup, marking a notable change in tone after weeks of blaming developer Kelp DAO for a $292 million hack linked to North Korean attackers. The admission marks a notable 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 flaw on Kelp’s part. “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 in which only a single decentralized verification 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 was insuring, which created a risk that we simply didn’t see. We own that.” — Samuel Reynolds Read more.
RONIN TO TRANSITION TO LAYER-2: Ronin, the gaming-focused blockchain once synonymous with the industry’s infamous $625 million exploit in 2022, will officially shed its sidechain guise on May 12 to become a layer 2 of Ethereum to improve security and maintain performance. Ronin, which announced the migration in April, will execute a hard fork on block 55,577,490, a process that will result in approximately 10 hours of downtime for users, the network said Monday on X. According to on-chain 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, more efficient network,” Ronin said in announcing the migration. “It worked. Axie Infinity brought millions of players into crypto, and Pixels proved it could be done again.” The time has come to reconnect “to the mothership.” While operating as an independent sidechain in mid-May 2022, Ronin suffered what is still today the largest DeFI bridging exploit in history. Layer 2 protocols benefit from closer ties to the underlying blockchain than sidechains, offering benefits including greater security. — Olivier Acuña Read more.
ETHEREUM DEVELOPERS LAUNCH “CLEAR SIGNATURE”: The Ethereum Foundation and a group of leading crypto wallet developers are implementing a new security standard designed to prevent users from accidentally withdrawing 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 that users currently see when approving Ethereum transactions with simple, human-readable explanations of what they are actually accepting. The effort comes after years of phishing attacks and wallet drains that often boil down to the same problem: users unknowingly approving 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 approve transactions filled with unreadable technical data. Right now, signing a crypto transaction may feel like clicking “accept” on a terms of service page written in another language. Wallets often display long strings 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 around $12 trillion in client assets, has begun the rollout of its cryptocurrency spot trading service for retail clients in the US. An initial group of clients can now trade bitcoin and ether (ETH) on the Schwab Crypto platform, the company posted on 2026 confirmed last month. The Westlake, Texas-based company already offers cryptocurrency 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 Wall Street financial institutions and asset managers are accelerating their efforts to move traditional assets onto blockchain rails. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) outlined plans for a blockchain-based money market fund that invests exclusively in short-term U.S. Treasuries, cash and overnight repurchase agreements backed by government securities. The fund, called JPMorgan OnChain Liquidity-Token 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 over Ethereum, according to the document. The underlying blockchain infrastructure will be operated by Kinexys Digital Assets, JPMorgan’s blockchain unit formerly known as Onyx. — Kristzian Sandor Read more.
Regulation and policy
- Legislation that could fully insert the US crypto industry into the regulated financial system has emerged in its latest form: the Senate Banking Committee released the text of the market structure bill shortly after midnight on Tuesday, ahead of this week’s hearing that will boost the effort. The latest version wasn’t expected to offer many surprises for the crypto industry that has already had a chance to discuss it privately, but it includes still-controversial language about the performance of stablecoins and maintains legal protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers, keeping that corner of the crypto sector happy (until now). Industry insiders waited late into the night for the launch and will still have to study the language to ensure their expectations were met. “This bill reflects serious, good-faith work across the committee and provides the certainty, safeguards and accountability that Americans deserve,” committee Chairman Tim Scott said in a statement. “It puts consumers first, combats illicit finance, cracks down on criminals and foreign adversaries, and keeps the future of finance here in the United States.” — jesse hamilton Read more.
- The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kevin Warsh as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, putting President Donald Trump’s nominee one step closer to becoming the next chairman of the U.S. central bank. Lawmakers approved Warsh in a vote of 51 to 45. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was the only Democrat to support the nomination. Warsh still must win a separate vote in the Senate to become chairman of the Federal Reserve, which is expected on Wednesday. Governors serve 14-year terms, while the president serves a four-year term. If confirmed as chairman, Warsh, 56, will replace Jerome Powell, whose eight-year term leading the Federal Reserve ends Friday. Powell, however, has said he plans to remain on the board until a federal investigation into renovations at the Federal Reserve headquarters concludes. — Helena Braun Read more.
Calendar
- June 2 and 3, 2026: Conversation test, Paris
- June 4, 2026: Stable Summit, New York
- June 8-10, 2026: ETHConf, New York
- September 29 to 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
