Kategorie: Ethereum News

Ethereum news about the ETH blockchain and its crypto ecosystem.

Veröffentlicht am

Closed beta version of Neon EVM launches on Solana’s Mainnet

  • Neon EVM is a low-friction solution that enables Ethereum dApps to settle transactions on Solana.
  • The EVM helps breach the gap between Ethereum and Solana.
  • Since the Neon EVM beta is closed it will only accept transactions for those on the guest list.

Neon Labs, an Ethereum virtual machine on Solana that enables dApp developers to use Ethereum tooling to scale and get access to liquidity, has announced that it has launched a closed Neon EVM beta version, Neon EVMβ, on Solana’s mainnet. The launch is a significant milestone for the Neon EVM roadmap.

The Neon EVMβ is a fully-functioning Neon EVM that supports fee-free transactions. 

All Neon EVM transactions are settled to Solana’s L1 and require payment in SOL, the native token of Solana, just like any other Solana transaction. However, in the just-launched beta version, the NEON token is not requested by the Proxy Operator responsible for accepting the transaction request and ensuring that it is finalized.

What is Neon EVM?

Neon EVM is a low-friction solution that enables Ethereum dApps to settle transactions on Solana, eliminating the gap between these two leading blockchains. It allows Ethereum developers to enjoy the best of Solana’s network, from low fees to high transaction speeds, and parallel transaction execution capabilities. 

The Neon EVM solves Solana’s incompatibility with EVM which made EVM multichain dApp developers avoid the chain, which is otherwise known for being one of the fastest and organically-growing chains. It aims at making Solana a viable option for multichain builders.

Why a closed beta Neon EVM?

The Neon EVM ecosystem includes many more players than just the Neon EVM and the Proxy Operators that accept and settle transaction requests. It includes DAO, oracles, indexers, wallets, multisigs, bridges, explorers, and more. 

Neon EVMβ provides an opportunity for all parties to deploy and test to ensure the seamless integration of their services before the official Solana Mainnet launch.

Launching in closed beta allows the Neon EVM team to onboard and test the services of ecosystem players in controlled phases. It will only allow those who are on the guest list to test transactions.

The first phase onboards the infrastructure components, and the second phase accepts dApps and will test the connection of wallets.

Operating in closed beta also controls the budget by keeping the activity limited to an invite-only list. Remember, while the Proxy Operator is not charging a fee, the Solana network still does. It simply is not possible to provide an open beta and predict the cost in SOL for such an initiative.

The post Closed beta version of Neon EVM launches on Solana’s Mainnet appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Schwab-backed crypto exchange EDX Markets goes live

  • EDX officially launched trading in bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and bitcoin cash today.
  • The crypto exchange has also completed a second funding round with new investors.
  • EDX has plans of launching a clearinghouse business later this year as well.

Investors can now trade bitcoin, litecoin, ether, and bitcoin cash on a new digital assets marketplace – EDX Markets.

EDX Markets is backed by financial giants

On Tuesday, the crypto exchange that has support from a bunch of Wall Street behemoths, including Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities launched trading in the said digital assets.

EDX Markets had first revealed plans of launching a non-custodial exchange last year in September. In a press release this morning, its CEO Jamil Nazarali said:

EDX’s ability to attract new investors and partners in the face of sector headwinds demonstrates strength of our platform and demand for a safe and compliant crypto market.

It is noteworthy that neither of the four crypto assets available to trade on EDX were dubbed “securities” in the recent complaints the U.S. SEC has filed against Binance and Coinbase.

EDX will soon launch a clearinghouse business

In its press release, EDX Markets also confirmed today that it has completed a second round of funding with new investors. CEO Nazarali added:

We are committed to bringing the best of traditional finance to cryptocurrency markets, with an infrastructure built by market experts to embed key institutional best practices.

A non-custodial crypto exchange is known to be safer than the custodial wallet. On Tuesday, EDX Markets revealed plans of introducing a clearinghouse business in the coming months as well.

The news arrives only days after BlackRock officially filed to launch a Spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States (read more), suggesting the long-term institutional demand remains intact despite the FTX fiasco and the ongoing regulatory crackdown.

The post Schwab-backed crypto exchange EDX Markets goes live appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Ethereum proposal seeks to increase validator limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH

  • Ethereum Foundation researcher Michael Neuder outlined the proposal during a core developer meeting.
  • The proposal seeks to raise the validator stake limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, an increase that would be 64x.
  • Core developers are considering the proposal.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Michael Neuder has proposed that Ethereum’s validator balance cap be increased from the current 32 ETH.

The proposal is under consideration by core developers and if approved could see those looking to be validators on the world’s largest proof-of-stake network required to have 2,048 ETH, a balance that would be 64 times higher than the current limit.

Raise ETH limit and auto-compounding of rewards

According to Neuder, while the 32 ETH limit works towards more decentralisation of the Ethereum network, increasing it not only helps lower the size of the validator set, but will also ultimately bring more efficiency to the leading altcoin. 

Large validators, such exchanges and institutions will find it easy to manage their operations given the reduction such an increase from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH would occasion.

With the 32 ETH limit, entities that run as validators had to increase the number of validator nodes they operate for them to have sufficient stake. But with more people eyeing the staking rewards, the number of Ethereum validators has remained high even after the Shapella upgrade.

Currently, Ethereum has over 700,000 validators, and a further 90,000 are looking to join the set.

Also part of the proposal is the idea of having staking rewards auto-compounded. This means instead of requiring any ETH above the current cap moved to another account, the rewards could be compounded to have validators earn higher staking income.

While core Ethereum developers debated the likely pitfalls of implementing such a change, the agreement was for continued discussions. Notably, the proposal seeks to increase the limit, but the minimum stake will remain 32 ETH.

The post Ethereum proposal seeks to increase validator limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

The Graph migrates settlement layer to Arbitrum

  • The Graph began its transition from Ethereum in 2022.
  • Arbitrum offers more scalability, low transaction costs and high network speeds.
  • The price of GRT and ARB rose slightly following the start of The Graph’s final migration phase.

The Graph, a decentralized protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data, has begun the final migration of its settlement layer from Ethereum to layer-2 scaling solution Arbitrum.

Migration from the Ethereum blockchain began in 2022 and as CoinJournal reported in February, the price of GRT rallied after the initial transition started and as the protocol moved network rewards onto the L2. The current phase is aimed at completing the process into a full relocation.

Community voted to migrated to Arbitrum

In an announcement, The Graph team reiterated that moving from Ethereum to Arbitrum was aimed at reducing gas fees, bumping up transaction speeds and enhancing overall accessibility for users. The transition was approved by GRT holders, whose vote confirmed the community’s objective of improving users’ experience as well as reducing usage costs.

Tegan Kline, CEO of Edge & Node noted in a statement that gas efficiency among other network functionality was The Graph users’ main goal. The choice of Arbitrum was arrived at after a “careful evaluation,” he added.

GRT, The Graph’s native token, traded 2.3% higher on Wednesday afternoon, with the slight gains coming after the news. It’s also as Bitcoin and altcoins struggled to hold onto the little positivity that remained following last week’s downturn amid regulatory crackdown on Binance and Coinbase by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

ARB, the native token of Arbitrum, traded to highs of $1.01 and was 1.5% up in the past 24 hours.

The post The Graph migrates settlement layer to Arbitrum appeared first on CoinJournal.

Veröffentlicht am

Bitcoin and Ethereum network revenues spiked in May despite significant headwinds: ETC Group report

  • Bitcoin revenue jumped 249% YoY in May, while Ethereum network fees rose 53.7% in May, according to a research report by the ETC Group.
  • Ordinals and enterprise adoption drove network revenues for Bitcoin and Ethereum respectively.
  • Regulation and macroeconomics remain key factors even as benefits of tokenisation attracts major banks.

The current market outlook for Bitcoin and crypto continues to suffer from the flurry of activities around the actions of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after it sued Binance and Coinbase. 

While June started off with wild volatility that has pegged prices below key levels, a new report suggests the market headwinds in May did little to slow down network revenue generation for the world’s two largest blockchains by market cap over the month.

Bitcoin and Ethereum network growth

The report by German-based ETP (exchange-traded products) issuer ETC Group highlights a significant jump in network revenue for both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past month. 

ETC Group Research team’s Tom Rodgers (Head of Research) and Hanut Singh (a Research Analyst at ETC Group and formely with CoinJournal), shared the outlook via an overview of the biggest trends and events in crypto over the month – from regulation to macroeconomics and adoption as signaled by on-chain data.

Writing in the Digital Assets and Metaverse Monthly Review: May 2023, Rodgers and Hanut noted that although continued headwinds saw the total crypto market cap flatline near $1.1 trillion. 

On the macro level, the uncertainty around the US debt ceiling debate weighed on crypto markets. Elsewhere, the regulatory front saw the non-friendly approach by the US SEC and UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) continue to impact sentiment. 

However, despite these factors, there was noteworthy growth in terms of network revenue for the leading blockchains.

“…revenues generated by the two largest blockchains by market cap rose substantially in May due to increasing user bases and new technological developments, most notably Ordinals for Bitcoin, and increasing adoption for Ethereum enterprise solutions,” the ETC Group research team wrote.

Ordinals helped push Bitcoin revenue up 249% YoY in May

According to the ETC Group report, the weekly revenue on the Bitcoin network increased by 249% year over year in May. This was largely driven by the spike in Ordinals, which as CoinJournal reported here, saw BTC miners record multi-year highs in transaction revenue.

The demand for the Bitcoin Ordinals meant transaction fees amounted to 29.57% of monthly revenue for miners – the last time it was that high was during the 2017 bull market that had seen the first real foray into crypto by institutional investors.

Ethereum network fees jumped 53.7% in May

For Ethereum, renewed interest in staking was visible in May despite the fears of a major withdrawal rout after the Shapella upgrade. Indeed, as the ETC Group report highlights, the supply of staked ETH on the mainnet rose from 14% to almost 20% at the end of the month. About $46 billion worth of ETH was staked, representing a 200% jump in the percentage of supply locked on the network.

This has happened even as ETH supply has declined since the Merge. Meanwhile, monthly fees rose by 53.7% in the month – from $241 million in April to $448 million in May. Increased demand for Ethereum blockspace is behind the jump in total network fees, the researchers noted.

Crypto regulation in the US

While US presidential candidates Ron DeSantis (R) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D) have indicated support for Bitcoin, the overall outlook on US crypto regulation remains largely hostile even with bipartisan engagements.

The SEC recently ramped up its crackdown with the lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, even as the crypto community highly anticipates the outcome of another high profile case between the SEC and Ripple Labs over the XRP token.

This even as Asia emerged as a strong destination for crypto, led by Hong Kong’s recent regulatory guidelines that have seen OKX, Huobi and other exchanges apply for licenses. The adoption of the MiCA rules by Europe was also a notable event that could make the bloc attractive to more US-based crypto businesses.

Tokenisation sees major banks eye blockchain adoption

May also witnessed increased institutional interest in blockchain amid further growth in tokenisation.

Interest peaked after State Street, the second-oldest US bank, hinted at a move likely to help bring $1.4 trillion worth of assets onto the blockchain via tokenisation of ETFs. The issue of tokenisation and its benefits had also previously been highlighted by the Bank of New York Mellon. 

That’s also the view of Citibank, which has suggested tokenisation could see up to $4 trillion of liquid and illiquid assets brought on-chain.

The post Bitcoin and Ethereum network revenues spiked in May despite significant headwinds: ETC Group report appeared first on CoinJournal.