Site language
Ru En
Социальные сети

bitcoinist.com Lagarde Says ECB Needs Tokenised Money, Not Crypto Stablecoins

ECB President Christine Lagarde has pushed back against the idea that Europe should answer dollar crypto stablecoin dominance by promoting euro-denominated stablecoins of its own, arguing instead that the region should build tokenised financial infrastructure anchored in central bank money. In a speech at the Banco de España LatAm Economic Forum in Roda de Bará, […]

news.bitcoin.com Tucker Carlson Calls Markets ‘Fake’ After 60 Days of Middle East Conflict

Tucker Carlson told his audience that financial markets are no longer free or open, calling their behavior during the ongoing Iran conflict not just strange but deliberately manufactured. Tucker Carlson: ‘Markets Are Doing Things You Would Not Expect Markets to Do’ The comments came against a backdrop that has left many analysts searching for explanations. […]

blockmanity.com Revolut BTC Glitch Scares Users: Bitcoin Price Dives to 2 Cents – What Caused It?

What Was the ? On Friday, some Revolut users got a big shock. Their app showed . Charts plunged far below real market levels, then snapped back fast. This caused panic among traders watching their screens. Revolut’s Bitcoin page displayed […] The post Revolut BTC Glitch Scares Users: Bitcoin Price Dives to 2 Cents – What Caused It? appeared first on Blockmanity.

blockonomi.com Ethereum Liquid Staking Expands as EEA Deploys Treasury via Lido Model

TLDR: EEA deployed treasury ETH via Lido, receiving stETH while maintaining liquidity and staking exposure. Ethereum liquid staking removes validator lock-up delays and improves institutional capital efficiency. stETH is increasingly integrated across custody providers and DeFi markets for broader utility. Institutions now evaluate staking strategies based on liquidity access, risk control, and workflow fit. Ethereum [...] The post Ethereum Liquid Staking Expands as EEA Deploys Treasury via Lido Model appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com XRP Structure Strengthens as Traders Eye $1.45 and $1.80 Breakout Zones

TLDR: XRP flashed a fresh TD Sequential buy signal after a recent correction from the $1.46 high. Traders are monitoring $1.45 resistance as the first key level for bullish continuation. XRP’s long-term chart structure mirrors previous breakout cycles after extended consolidation. Analysts remain focused on the $1.80 zone as the next major breakout target for [...] The post XRP Structure Strengthens as Traders Eye $1.45 and $1.80 Breakout Zones appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com S&P 500 Market Concentration Deepens Amid Big Tech and AI Momentum

TLDR: Five mega-cap tech stocks accounted for nearly half of the S&P 500’s gains since April 1, 2026. The equal-weighted S&P 500 rose just 6%, lagging behind the benchmark’s 12% market rally. AI optimism continues directing institutional and retail capital into dominant technology firms. Narrow market leadership raises concerns over rising dependence on a handful [...] The post S&P 500 Market Concentration Deepens Amid Big Tech and AI Momentum appeared first on Blockonomi.

btcmanager.com Strategic crypto positioning after the latest Fed policy: How investors can earn passive income with SHR Miner online AI mining

SHR Miner gains attention as investors seek stable crypto income amid Fed-driven market volatility. Amid heightened macroeconomic volatility following the recent U.S. Federal Reserve policy update, the cryptocurrency market continues to draw investor attention. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin…

news.bitcoin.com SEC Targets Onchain Trading Rules and Crypto Vault Oversight

SEC Chair Paul Atkins signaled a broader shift toward onchain market frameworks, pointing to possible rulemaking for trading systems, broker-dealer activity, clearing functions, and crypto vaults. He said hybrid platforms may require clearer securities treatment. Atkins Maps Broader SEC Shift Toward Onchain Frameworks Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul S. Atkins on May 8 […]

blockonomi.com BNB & Avalanche Hold Steady While BlockDAG Casino Goes Live, and It Is Already the Biggest Crypto Story of 2026

Crypto markets are grinding through a cautious stretch, with Avalanche near $9.27, up 0.54% in 24 hours, and buyers defending the $9.00 support zone. BNB holds around $627, backed by the BNB Foundation’s 35th quarterly burn, removing 1.56 million tokens worth $1.02 billion. Both are showing resilience, but neither is making a defining move. BlockDAG [...] The post BNB & Avalanche Hold Steady While BlockDAG Casino Goes Live, and It Is Already the Biggest Crypto Story of 2026 appeared first on Blockonomi.

news.bitcoin.com New Meme Coin Wadoozie Sets Fair Launch for May 27th on Ethereum

This sponsored press release was provided by Wadoozie and was not written by Bitcoin.com News. Bitcoin.com News does not necessarily endorse the statements made within this announcement. PRESS RELEASE. The meme coin space has spent the last two cycles cycling through the same loop of tickers, trending hashtags, and short-lived hype. Wadoozie is launching with […]

themerkle.com Polygon Raises Network Capacity To 140M Gas

Polygon has made a big move in cementing its mission as one of the leading global payments blockchain infrastructures by deploying a significant network upgrade earlier today designed to drastically increase throughput and chain capacity. Adding this feature raises the gas limit of the network to 140 million, greatly extending Polygon’s capacity to scale processing and raising its maximum throughput over 3,800 TPS. This represents a further step in Polygon’s strategy to establish itself as a blockchain able to power mass-market financial activities – retail payments, institutional settlements, or high-frequency decentralized applications and so on but still at cost-efficient scale. The post Polygon Raises Network Capacity To 140M Gas appeared first on The Merkle News.

blockonomi.com Spartans.com’s $7,000,000 Leaderboard Payout Outranks sportsbet.io and BetMGM Among the Top Crypto Casinos

Financial liquidity and undeniable payout proof define the most successful digital wagering brands. Millions of players constantly search for the top crypto casinos offering premium rewards. sportsbet.io focuses on sponsoring regional basketball leagues to maintain its international presence. BetMGM relies on expanding its localized sports betting markets and preparing for new regional software launches. However, [...] The post Spartans.com’s $7,000,000 Leaderboard Payout Outranks sportsbet.io and BetMGM Among the Top Crypto Casinos appeared first on Blockonomi.

bitcoinist.com XRP Network Sees Steep Pullback In New User Activity From Its 2024 High

XRP’s waning price performance seems to have finally influenced the network’s activity, which has seen a notable cooldown in the month of May. Just a few days into May, the network is struggling to attract new wallet addresses. After over a year, new addresses have fallen to one of their lowest levels. New XRP Addresses […]

news.bitcoin.com Japan to Enter the Blockchain Era with Round-the-Clock Government Bond Trading

The government expects this system to be in operation later this year, aiming to lower costs and speed up transactions involving government bonds. Digital asset developer Progmat will serve as the secretariat for the organization undertaking this tokenization endeavor. Japan Taps Blockchain For Speeding Up Government Bond Trading Blockchain is making inroads in all aspects […]

forklog.media Web3 will look different

For the past several years the crypto community has awaited the advent of Web3, where data belong to users, everything runs on the blockchain, and a crypto wallet is needed to access information. The standard vision of the next-generation internet rests on decentralisation. Data are not stored on centralised servers and are not exploited for personalised advertising. But what if Web3 turns out somewhat different? Consider a future in which decentralisation is achieved through locally running, user-built applications created with AI agents. What many expect of Web3 With the emergence of cryptocurrencies and the development of blockchain technology, many began to see them as the foundation for the internet’s next iteration. For example, the author of the Web 2.0 concept, Tim O’Reilly, argues that Web3 will be a meaningful stage of progress if it can connect the crypto-economy to the real world—including legal systems, property, payments, identity, applied services and production. The crypto community sees the chief distinction from Web 2.0 in deeper decentralisation at every layer, including data storage and application execution. Ideally, product development is handled not by an owner but by a distributed community governing the project via DAO. Decentralisation is viewed as a foundational principle that allowed cryptocurrencies and smart contracts to find their place in the economy: they reduce reliance on intermediaries and centralised structures. Be your own programmer The rise of large language models (LLMs), AI agents and vibe-coding invites a different take on Web3. ForkLog is not calling for ditching decentralisation and blockchains—only for widening the vision of the internet to come. What if every user were their own programmer? Such a user can write applications not for general consumption but for personal tasks, run them locally on their own computer or a remote server, and depend on no central provider. Take decentralised exchanges such as PancakeSwap or Uniswap. They are collections of smart contracts operating on Ethereum, BNB Chain and several other blockchains. The networks are decentralised, and access to services is via non-custodial wallets. That may look like Web3 already. Yet a single point of failure remains: the frontend. The official websites through which users access these exchanges are centralised; they can restrict certain tokens or block users by IP and address. Direct access to smart contracts without the official site is possible, but hard. One can use third-party frontends—again introducing centralised choke points—or open a contract in a blockchain explorer like Etherscan and call functions via Write Contract. This is awkward, complex and requires technical skills. Not everyone will manage it. AI offers a third route: write an application via vibe-coding and run it locally on your PC. We tried building such a product using Zed, OmniRoute and LLMs from Anthropic and OpenAI. Screenshot: ForkLog. The frontend was created through Lovable. When run locally the app still looks rough and needs interface polish, but it performs all functions. Screenshot: ForkLog. The application was built in a few hours of vibe-coding without any programming knowledge. In future AI will be smarter and able to generate complete tools without dozens of prompts and constant corrections. It may be enough to request: "Create and deploy an application for providing liquidity on Uniswap." The idea of running local applications can be extended as far as imagination allows: trading bots for decentralised exchanges—write an algorithm to search for patterns or open trades from a crypto wallet, bolt on a Telegram chatbot for convenience and performance tracking; services for interacting with lending protocols—akin to working with a DEX, but with an interface that lets you place funds in Aave, Compound or Venus and withdraw them in a couple of clicks for earning and borrowing; interfaces for accessing decentralised social networks or censorship-free messengers—harder to picture in practice for now, but why not? Mobile apps are fair game too. AI can produce not only a website but also an Android APK for the same purposes, connecting directly to smart contracts on a blockchain. Imagine you learn that the Spark service offers 12% APY on DAI stablecoins. You visit the site, but your IP is blocked. A VPN does not help. In the Web3 future described here, that is no problem. You open Claude Code and write a prompt: "Create an application to earn using the Spark protocol on Ethereum. It should support adding DAI and withdrawing them, as well as a dashboard to track investment performance." The AI builds a service that connects directly to smart contracts, bypassing frontend blocks. It runs locally on a PC—no centralised components. Local AI In such a Web 3.0 the single point of failure could be AI itself—specifically centralised language models. ChatGPT, Gemini and similar systems run on the servers of OpenAI, Google and other labs. They can filter traffic and impose censorship and restrictions.  There is, however, a remedy: open-source LLMs that you can run on your own machine or a remote server. For example, you can assemble a configuration like this: Ollama—runs LLMs locally on a Mac; OmniRoute—a router/proxy between Zed and the models; Zed—an editor that connects to OmniRoute. You then chat in Zed as with a regular bot; it writes code and launches applications, while the LLMs run locally. An example of working with AI in Zed to create your own application. Screenshot: ForkLog. The model you choose depends on your machine. For example, on a MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM, qwen2.5-coder:7b, qwen3:8b, llama3.2:3b and deepseek-r1:8b are suitable. On a local server you can run something more powerful, though that will no longer be free. There are many powerful open-source models, but most are Chinese—DeepSeek, Alibaba’s Qwen3.5, Kimi K2 / K2.5 / K2.6. Among American firms only Meta had tried to move in this direction, but its latest LLM was released closed-source. Google has the Gemma line, which is not flagship. Even so, it is well suited to local deployment. In May 2025 Tether announced a new platform for developing “infinite and ubiquitous intelligence,” envisaging the “launch and evolution” of AI agents on users’ devices instead of the data centres of big firms. QuantumVerse Automatic Computer (QVAC) removes the need for cloud connectivity and offers greater privacy, autonomy and resilience. Its modular architecture lets developers build and extend applications using small composable elements. A peer-to-peer network ensures direct device-to-device communication and collaboration without dependence on centralised servers. Apple is building AI with an emphasis on on-device operation—Apple Intelligence. Some tasks are performed directly on iPhone, iPad or Mac to account for a user’s personal context without collecting personal data. More complex tasks still use the cloud, but Apple’s own—Private Cloud Compute. Apple says only relevant data are sent, deleted after processing, with the system designed around privacy. Open projects Beyond writing your own code from scratch, you can turn to ready-made open-source projects. GitHub abounds with implemented ideas. Here are a few projects for liquidity management: Uniswap Interface — Uniswap’s official frontend. Supports swaps and liquidity management, but is heavy to install and requires environment/API configuration; Uniswap V3 SDK — an SDK for Uniswap V3: price, tick, range and position calculations; Roger-Wu/uniswap-v2-liquidity-adder-contract — a project for adding liquidity to V2 pairs. The description says it allows supplying tokens or ETH in any proportion; Roger-Wu/uniswap-weth-liquidity-adder — a dapp to add ETH to Uniswap in the ETH-WETH pool in a single transaction. When scouting interesting repositories, analyse the code, verify contract addresses and test functionality in a sandbox or with small sums. No one guarantees quality. You can use ready-made solutions as-is or adapt them to your needs. Often you need not write code manually—ask an AI agent to make the necessary changes to an existing project. Screenshot: ForkLog. Drawbacks The chief obstacle to the Web3 future sketched here is the shortage of convenient, ready-made tools and the technical complexity of implementation. You can already build a frontend for decentralised Web3 projects with AI, but it remains challenging for the average user. Without guidance or hours of research, vibe-coding, installing tools like Zed or Antigravity, launching local LLMs and wiring them through OmniRoute are hard to master. One option is to use ready-made applications from OpenAI (Codex) or Anthropic (Claude Code). But that undermines decentralisation—and token usage could become costly. Theoretically, in the first path you can code entirely for free by linking several Google accounts to services that grant free tokens. One possible direction for Web3 looks like this: everyone builds applications for themselves with AI rather than relying on centralised firms; everything is stored locally on a device or a remote server; the necessary infrastructure is provided by decentralised blockchains and smart contracts. It is too early to say whether technology will evolve precisely this way. Web3 may turn out more familiar—free of single points of control and less dependent on large platforms, yet with decentralisation delivered by relatively small groups of developers. And most users will still rely on ready-made solutions.

blockonomi.com Best Crypto Earn Platforms 2026: Where to Earn Yield on BTC, ETH, and Stablecoins

Key Takeaways BTC, ETH, and stablecoins generate yield through different mechanisms Stablecoins typically offer the highest APY, followed by ETH and BTC Flexible savings products prioritize liquidity over maximum returns Staking remains the base layer for ETH yield Simplicity and access increasingly matter as much as headline rates Crypto “earn” products have matured into a [...] The post Best Crypto Earn Platforms 2026: Where to Earn Yield on BTC, ETH, and Stablecoins appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com Ripple G20 Roadmap Alignment Draws Attention to Cross-Border Payment Strategy

TLDR: Ripple technology matches several G20 targets for faster and lower-cost cross-border settlements. The U.S. Faster Payments Council named Ripple among firms supporting payment modernization. XRP Ledger supports ISO 20022 standards and near-instant settlement for global transactions. Ripple continues working with central banks exploring blockchain-based payment infrastructure. Ripple has entered discussions around the G20’s cross-border [...] The post Ripple G20 Roadmap Alignment Draws Attention to Cross-Border Payment Strategy appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com Revolut Bitcoin Price Glitch Displays BTC at $0.02, Causing Widespread User Panic

TLDR: Revolut confirmed a third-party disruption caused Bitcoin to display at $0.02 inside the app on Friday. No user asset losses were reported, as the glitch only affected price displays and push notifications sent out. Bitcoin continued trading normally on major exchanges while the erroneous figures circulated across Revolut’s platform. Past crypto pricing glitches have [...] The post Revolut Bitcoin Price Glitch Displays BTC at $0.02, Causing Widespread User Panic appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com Video Replay Technologies and Their Importance for Officiating

Modern video replay systems have had a major impact on how referee decision-making is evaluated in the professional sports world because of the technological improvements in broadcasting. In today’s modern sports leagues, most use some form of video review system to help the officials make decisions regarding difficult game-related calls and situations. The video review [...] The post Video Replay Technologies and Their Importance for Officiating appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com Football Academies and Their Role in Developing Young Players

Football academies are instrumental in developing the sport, helping young players refine their talents in an organized way. These institutions focus on technical skills, physical fitness, and tactical knowledge in order to ready players for professional competition. Many elite football players started their careers in academies that stressed the importance of discipline, commitment, and patience. [...] The post Football Academies and Their Role in Developing Young Players appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com MegaETH Foundation Completes First MEGA Buyback Using USDm Rewards

TLDR: MegaETH Foundation completed its first MEGA buyback on May 7th using USDm net rewards through April. The current USDm stablecoin supply stands at $480 million, funding the MEGA token buyback program. Future MEGA buybacks will follow a set schedule with no manual decisions or market timing involved. Onchain execution via MegaETH’s own DeFi protocols [...] The post MegaETH Foundation Completes First MEGA Buyback Using USDm Rewards appeared first on Blockonomi.

blockonomi.com Ondo, Ripple, JPMorgan, and Mastercard Complete First 24/7 Tokenized Treasury Settlement

TLDR: Ondo and Ripple completed a near real-time tokenized Treasury redemption across borders. XRP Ledger processed the blockchain asset transfer in under five seconds during pilot. Mastercard MTN connected blockchain redemption directly with banking settlement rails. The pilot demonstrated 24/7 institutional settlement beyond standard banking hours. Ondo Finance has completed the first near real-time cross-border [...] The post Ondo, Ripple, JPMorgan, and Mastercard Complete First 24/7 Tokenized Treasury Settlement appeared first on Blockonomi.

bitcoinist.com This Russell Signal Has Predicted Every Bitcoin Bull Market And It Just Got Triggered Again

Crypto pundit Bull Theory has alluded to a Russell 2000 signal, which has always triggered every major Bitcoin bull market. This signal is again said to have triggered, signaling that another major bull run may be on the horizon.  Russell 2000 Signal Points To Another Bitcoin Bull Market In an X post, Bull Theory stated […]

forklog.media OpenAI Introduces a Rival to Mythos and Three Voice Models

OpenAI has unveiled GPT-5.5-Cyber, a modification of its flagship AI model tailored for cybersecurity tasks. It is available to a limited group of developers. The neural network is not designed for significant expansion of capabilities in the digital environment; rather, it has been trained for more flexible handling of security tasks: identifying and classifying vulnerabilities, verifying fixes, and analyzing malware. “GPT‑5.5‑Cyber will allow a limited group of partners to explore complex workflows where access specificity matters,” the startup's blog states. The release by OpenAI comes a month after the launch of Mythos, an AI model from Anthropic that garnered significant attention for its cybersecurity capabilities. The firm refrained from releasing the neural network to the public due to high security risks. Instead, it introduced Project Glasswing, an initiative for testing the tool in secure conditions. In April, OpenAI released GPT-5.4-Cyber in response, aimed at finding vulnerabilities as part of the Trusted Access for Cyber program launched in February. Voice Models The company did not stop there. OpenAI introduced three voice models: GPT‑Realtime‑2 — the first neural network with GPT‑5-level logical reasoning capabilities. It can handle more complex queries and engage in natural conversation; GPT‑Realtime‑Translate — an LLM for simultaneous translation, keeping pace with the speaker's speech; GPT‑Realtime‑Whisper — a streaming system for real-time speech-to-text conversion. Introducing GPT-Realtime-2 in the API: our most intelligent voice model yet, bringing GPT-5-class reasoning to voice agents.Voice agents are now real-time collaborators that can listen, reason, and solve complex problems as conversations unfold.Now available in the API… pic.twitter.com/2DY1LU2vO8— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 7, 2026 GPT‑Realtime‑2 offers five levels of reasoning: minimal, low, medium, high, and very high. The context window has been expanded from 32,000 to 128,000 tokens. GPT‑Realtime‑Translate translates live speech from over 70 languages into 13. The context window is 16,000 tokens. GPT‑Realtime‑Whisper can create subtitles during meetings, conferences, lessons, broadcasts, and also generate notes and summaries during or immediately after conversations. The models are available in the Realtime API. Codex Extension for Chrome OpenAI has released a Codex extension for the Chrome browser on macOS and Windows. The tool interacts with applications and websites and operates in parallel across all tabs in the background. Codex now works directly in Chrome on macOS and Windows.It’s even better at working with apps and sites in Chrome, and now works in parallel across tabs in the background without taking over your browser.To get started, install the Chrome plugin in the Codex app. pic.twitter.com/pjtHd9gC69— OpenAI (@OpenAI) May 7, 2026 “Codex can quickly handle routine tasks in the browser such as navigating structured pages and performing complex data entry processes,” the announcement states. At each stage of task execution, the model independently selects the most suitable tool. Emergency Contact in ChatGPT OpenAI has added an “Emergency Contact” feature to ChatGPT. It allows a user (or a parent in a child's account) to designate a contact person for emergencies. If the company's “trained specialists” detect that a user has been asking questions about self-harm, the trusted contact will receive a notification. The method of contact can be chosen — messenger, email, or another ChatGPT account. Back in September 2025, OpenAI implemented parental controls in the chatbot.

blockonomi.com Bitcoin Options Data Points to Consolidation as BTC Pushes Into $82K–$83K Range

TLDR: Bitcoin implied volatility rebounded six points from its lowest levels recorded since October 2025. Nearly $2 billion in short gamma is clustered near the $82K strike, amplifying price moves around current levels. Call selling accounted for 81% of tape activity in 24 hours as traders monetized BTC upside exposure. The skew index is shifting [...] The post Bitcoin Options Data Points to Consolidation as BTC Pushes Into $82K–$83K Range appeared first on Blockonomi.

cryptopotato.com Bitcoin Price Analysis: Rejection at $83K Shows Major Weaknesses in BTC’s Structure

Bitcoin is trading around $80k, holding slightly above the psychological threshold that has defined the ceiling of every recovery attempt over the past three months. The ascending channel is intact, the 100-day MA reclaim is holding, and BTC is now pressing into the zone between the current price and the 200-day MA. This area is […]

forklog.media ECB Favors Digital Euro Over Stablecoins

Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, questioned the necessity of issuing European stablecoins to protect monetary sovereignty. Speaking at an economic forum in Spain, she stated that the risks of such assets outweigh their potential benefits. Lagarde identified two main threats. Financial instability. Stablecoins are private liabilities. She cited the example of USDC in 2023, when the asset lost its peg to the dollar due to issues at Silicon Valley Bank.  Impact on the banking system. A mass shift of depositors from bank deposits to stablecoins would weaken banks' ability to lend to the economy and complicate inflation control. According to the ECB President, stablecoins are popular merely because they are more convenient than traditional interbank transfers. However, Europe does not need to replicate the American model. Instead of private stablecoins, the ECB is focusing on state infrastructure: Pontes project: will enable blockchain settlements directly in central bank money; Appia roadmap: aims to create a unified European ecosystem for tokenized assets by 2028. Lagarde emphasized that integrating capital markets and developing a digital euro will be more beneficial than trying to catch up with the US in issuing private tokens. She concluded that having a state "anchor" in the form of a central bank digital currency will render the use of foreign stablecoins in Europe pointless. Earlier in April, the Bank for International Settlements warned that many dollar stablecoins function more as investment instruments than as a means of payment.  Later, a consortium of 12 European banks announced the launch of a euro stablecoin.

blockmanity.com 7 Top Crypto Wallets for 2026: Secure, Easy-to-Use Picks for Every Need

Why Choosing the Right Crypto Wallet Matters in 2026 Digital assets are growing fast. But many people lose funds not because of bad investments, but due to weak wallet setups. In 2025, wallet hacks hit 158,000 cases, affecting 80,000 users […] The post 7 Top Crypto Wallets for 2026: Secure, Easy-to-Use Picks for Every Need appeared first on Blockmanity.

news.bitcoin.com Coinbase Points to Multi-Zone AWS Failures Behind Outage

Coinbase said AWS failures disrupted core trading services after errors spread across multiple zones. The company traced the outage to use1-az4 in AWS’s US-EAST-1 Region. Coinbase Points to AWS Failures After Trading Services Went Down Crypto exchange Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN) disclosed through Coinbase Support that a May 7 outage disrupted core trading services after failures […]

forklog.media Zcash to Introduce Quantum-Resistant Wallets

The Zcash team is set to unveil wallets with recovery mechanisms against quantum threats within a month. This announcement was made by Josh Swihart, founder and CEO of Zcash Open Development Lab, at the Consensus conference, as reported by CoinDesk.  According to him, the complete transition of the network to post-quantum standards will take 12-18 months. Separately, the project is working on scaling to Mastercard and Visa-level throughput within a similar timeframe. Swihart stated that Zcash aims to return the industry to the original idea of private peer-to-peer payments. He noted that Bitcoin functions well as a store of value and ETF instrument, but is "fundamentally broken" as a confidential settlement system due to its fully transparent ledger. Open balances allow governments and other participants to track users' assets and potentially apply seizure mechanisms or pressure, the expert emphasized.  Zcash Rally Over the past week, the price of ZEC has risen by more than 60%. On May 6, the asset's rate exceeded $585 for the first time since November 2025.  At the time of writing, the coin is trading around $571 (-0.1% for the day).  Hourly chart of ZEC/USDT on Binance. Source: TradingView.  A driving factor was a statement by Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain: since February, the fund has formed a "significant position" in Zcash.  An additional factor is the growth of ZEC's shielded supply. Currently, about 30% of coins in circulation are in the private pool — a historical maximum for the network.  According to Swihart, user demand is channeled through the mobile wallet Zodl (formerly Zashi). In October, it integrated an intent system from the NEAR protocol. This allowed for the direct exchange of Bitcoin, Solana, USDC, and other assets into shielded ZEC.  🛡️ The Zolana Bridge is live.Your Intent: $ZEC on Solana.Delivered: with NEAR Intents + OmniBridge powering Zcash’s $ZEC token on Solana. pic.twitter.com/cXBqgCXXTK— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) October 16, 2025 Since its launch, approximately $700 million has passed through this route — primarily between USD, USDC, and ZEC.  Accelerating Block Processing and New Bridges The Zcash community is actively discussing reducing block processing time from 75 to 25 seconds. This is expected to enhance the network's convenience for payments and expand possibilities for mass settlement scenarios. Cross-chain bridges for Zcash in Solana and Hyperliquid are already operational, noted Helius founder Mert Mumtaz.  Swihart announced a voting mechanism for ZEC holders via Zodl. This tool will not replace formal governance but will create an additional feedback channel within the “rough consensus” model. Back in December 2025, Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group, predicted a shift in focus from Bitcoin towards Zcash. 

blockonomi.com Bitcoin Open Interest Surges to 2026 Record, Blowing Past Every 2025 ATH Session

TLDR: Bitcoin Open Interest has posted its largest increase of 2026, now exceeding levels recorded during the 2025 ATH formation. Binance leads derivatives market share at 34%, with a monthly average Open Interest of $2.5 billion recorded on May 5. Gate.io and Bybit follow with $1.75B and $1.15B respectively, showing broad capital return across major [...] The post Bitcoin Open Interest Surges to 2026 Record, Blowing Past Every 2025 ATH Session appeared first on Blockonomi.