Vitalik Buterin’s recent posts reflect a shift from idealistic decentralization toward pragmatic system design. Rather than rejecting Ethereum’s core principles, he questions where complexity, governance, and the current development path fail under real-world constraints.
Alex Harutunian
Hyperliquid is evolving from a perp DEX into a vertically integrated financial stack. By launching its own L1, native stablecoin, and spot markets, it prioritizes market fit over ideology. Started on Arbitrum, its roadmap reveals a larger ambition: to become the global base layer for all trading.
Alex Harutunian
Triggered by a routine macro shock, crypto once again unraveled faster than any other market. Not because of sentiment alone, but because CEX risk engines, DEX liquidation incentives, and always-on leverage turn small moves into cascading stress.
Alex Harutunian
From Polymarket’s stripped-down design to Kalshi’s regulatory breakthrough, prediction markets are turning collective opinion into a financial asset class — and a new battleground over who defines truth
Alex Harutunian
Curve Finance is launching Yield Basis with a $60M crvUSD credit line. The product aims to eliminate impermanent loss for liquidity providers, and at the same time transform CRV from a governance token into an income-generating asset with revenues shared back to holders
Alex Harutunian
Vitalik Buterin’s recent posts reflect a shift from idealistic decentralization toward pragmatic system design. Rather than rejecting Ethereum’s core principles, he questions where complexity, governance, and the current development path fail under real-world constraints.
Alex Harutunian
The digital euro is increasingly framed as a tool of EU sovereignty. China’s interest-bearing e-CNY shows no banking disruption so far. Tokenization goes mainstream as the ECB validates DLT collateral and the U.S. SEC distinguishes issuer-backed from wrapper tokens.
Bermuda is integrating USDC stablecoin into its economy. In a dollar-pegged island state, stablecoins aren’t replacing money—they’re upgrading the rails. If it works, dozens of “Other Bermudas” could emerge as the next growth engine for stablecoins.
👀 Observing — Jan 31 • Y Combinator to allow founders to receive funding in stablecoins. • Nomura crypto subsidiary Laser Digital discloses Q3 2025 losses. • Ripple Labs achieves major license in Luxembourg. • Prediction markets hit all-time high with $12B in volume in January.
01.01.2026 EU crypto tax transparency directive DAC8 takes effect, requiring crypto-asset service providers to report user data to national tax authorities. 01.01.2026 MiCA comes into force in Spain. 31.12.2025 Ethereum smart contract deployments hit a record high in Q4. 2026 OUTLOOK Haseeb Qureshi (Dragonfly
Balancer Protocol was exploited through a tiny rounding bug in its code. As losses neared $100 million, projects froze pools, rolled back blockchains, and clawed back funds—revealing the centralized and still untamed side of decentralized finance
01.12.2025 Telegram’s Pavel Durov announces Cocoon, a decentralized confidential AI compute network. 01.12.2025 SushiSwap CEO steps down as Synthesis invests $3.3M in the struggling DEX. 01.12.2025 Grayscale to launch the first Chainlink ETF in the US. 01.12.2025 Germany and Switzerland
29.10.25 Ondo Finance launches Ondo Global Markets on BNB Chain. 29.10.25 Ethereum Foundation launches portal to guide institutional adoption. 29.10.25 Securitize goes public via SPAC merger with Cantor Fitzgerald’s CF Acquisition Corp VIII. 28.10.25 Trump Media & Technology Group to launch
Kazakhstan launched a state-backed crypto reserve, Alem Crypto Fund, partnering with Binance Kazakhstan and starting with an investment in $BNB. SWIFT is building a blockchain ledger with 30+ banks using Consensys. Polish lawmakers passed a Crypto-Asset Market Act, aligning rules with the EU’s MiCAR. Vitalik Buterin opposes EU’s
Uniswap’s Unichain has boosted L2 volumes past $40B, but liquidity tells a different story. TVL has halved since July, exposing the limits of incentive-driven growth. Despite cheaper fees, users remain on Ethereum—where Uniswap continues to be one of the network’s largest revenue engines.
Etherealize has released “The Bull Case for ETH,” a report that positions Ethereum as the digital oil of the modern economy. Aimed at traders, it argues that ETH is one of the most mispriced assets in the world—and could eventually reach a valuation of $706,000.
Alexander MardarRipple to unlock 1B XRP from escrow on Aug 1 in routine monthly release. Bolivia partners with El Salvador to advance crypto adoption. Visa adds support for PYUSD, USDG, EURC with Stellar and Avalanche for onchain settlement. White House digital assets chief Bo Hines confirms plans for strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Observers
Several major crypto projects are winding down their DAOs, citing the need for more effective governance. Once seen as the future of decentralization, DAOs now suffer from low participation and stalled decisions—raising the question: if no one’s steering the DAO, should it still stand?
Alexander Mardar
The U.S. Senate has passed the GENIUS Act, a sweeping bill to regulate dollar-backed stablecoins while promoting private-sector leadership in digital finance. Backed by the Trump administration, the bill now heads to the House—marking a pivotal moment in the future of digital dollars.
Alex Harutunian
The spike in activity is primarily attributed to the rapid growth of Avalanche’s Coqnet subnet, which has seen an unusual surge in volume. However, other subnets, including the main Avalanche C-Chain, have also experienced significant increases in activity.
Alexander Mardar
A controversial change in Bitcoin Core will remove relay limits on the OP_RETURN field, allowing larger data payloads to spread across the network. Critics fear spam and bloat; supporters say it's already happening—and making it visible will improve fee markets and mempool consistency.
Alexander Mardar
The digital euro is increasingly framed as a tool of EU sovereignty. China’s interest-bearing e-CNY shows no banking disruption so far. Tokenization goes mainstream as the ECB validates DLT collateral and the U.S. SEC distinguishes issuer-backed from wrapper tokens.
Bermuda is integrating USDC stablecoin into its economy. In a dollar-pegged island state, stablecoins aren’t replacing money—they’re upgrading the rails. If it works, dozens of “Other Bermudas” could emerge as the next growth engine for stablecoins.
👀 Observing — Jan 31 • Y Combinator to allow founders to receive funding in stablecoins. • Nomura crypto subsidiary Laser Digital discloses Q3 2025 losses. • Ripple Labs achieves major license in Luxembourg. • Prediction markets hit all-time high with $12B in volume in January.
01.01.2026 EU crypto tax transparency directive DAC8 takes effect, requiring crypto-asset service providers to report user data to national tax authorities. 01.01.2026 MiCA comes into force in Spain. 31.12.2025 Ethereum smart contract deployments hit a record high in Q4. 2026 OUTLOOK Haseeb Qureshi (Dragonfly
Balancer Protocol was exploited through a tiny rounding bug in its code. As losses neared $100 million, projects froze pools, rolled back blockchains, and clawed back funds—revealing the centralized and still untamed side of decentralized finance
01.12.2025 Telegram’s Pavel Durov announces Cocoon, a decentralized confidential AI compute network. 01.12.2025 SushiSwap CEO steps down as Synthesis invests $3.3M in the struggling DEX. 01.12.2025 Grayscale to launch the first Chainlink ETF in the US. 01.12.2025 Germany and Switzerland
29.10.25 Ondo Finance launches Ondo Global Markets on BNB Chain. 29.10.25 Ethereum Foundation launches portal to guide institutional adoption. 29.10.25 Securitize goes public via SPAC merger with Cantor Fitzgerald’s CF Acquisition Corp VIII. 28.10.25 Trump Media & Technology Group to launch
Kazakhstan launched a state-backed crypto reserve, Alem Crypto Fund, partnering with Binance Kazakhstan and starting with an investment in $BNB. SWIFT is building a blockchain ledger with 30+ banks using Consensys. Polish lawmakers passed a Crypto-Asset Market Act, aligning rules with the EU’s MiCAR. Vitalik Buterin opposes EU’s