TLDR: Stacks Sets the Nakamoto Makeover in Motion, Bitcoin Options Valued at $6.3B Reach Expiration, SEC Proposes Regulation of Ethereum as a Security, SEC Anticipated to Reject Spot Ethereum ETFs in May, Cosmos Fixes Critical Bug in IBC Protocol, Stripe Rejoins Crypto with Solana, Solana Co-Founder Issues Key Statement on Meme Coins, Citi Explores Private Markets Tokenization on Avalanche's 'Spruce' Subnet, FBI Issues Warning on Unregistered Crypto Money Transmitting Services & Pantera Capital Set to Launch $1B Crypto Fund.

Premium Content of the Week

Bitcoin Highlights of the Week

Stacks Sets the Nakamoto Makeover in Motion

Following extensive research and development, the Stacks blockchain is undergoing a significant transformation. The implementation of the largest upgrade to date for this prominent Bitcoin scaling layer commenced at Bitcoin block height 840,360, marking the beginning of a two-phase process expected to conclude in late May. Dubbed Nakamoto in homage to Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, the upgrade aims to separate the Stacks block production schedule from that of Bitcoin.

Nakamoto will implement a fresh approach to generating Stacks blocks, enhancing its unique proof-of-transfer consensus algorithm. Beginning today, new block "signers" will gradually begin validating transaction "tenures." Initially, until the upgrade is fully operational in May, this process will serve as a form of "practice."

Runes Constitute 68% of all Bitcoin Transactions Since Launch

Since its launch following the Bitcoin network's halving event on April 20th, Runes, a new token standard on the Bitcoin blockchain, has dominated transaction activity. Over 2.38 million Runes transactions have been processed, constituting 68% of all Bitcoin transactions. This data comes from a Dune Analytics dashboard shared by blockchain research firm Crypto Koryo, which includes ordinary peer-to-peer Bitcoin transactions, BRC-20s, Ordinals, and Runes in the total transaction count.

Bitcoin Options Valued at $6.3B Reach Expiration

Around $9.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency options expired Friday on the Deribit derivatives exchange.

The bulk of these expiring options are bitcoin contracts, totaling a notional value of $6.35 billion. The put-call ratio before Friday's end-of-month expiration stands at 0.68, indicating an increase in put volume compared to calls compared to the previous week.

Ether options, valued at $3.08 billion, are also approaching expiry. However, the ratio of puts to calls for ether contracts is notably lower than that of bitcoin. Prior to Friday's expiration, the put-call ratio for ether contracts is 0.49. A ratio below one suggests that call volume surpasses put volume, indicating bullish sentiment in the market.

Samourai Wallet Executives Money Laundering Charges

Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill face charges for running Samourai Wallet, an unlicensed money transmitting business. Samourai allegedly facilitated over $2 billion in illicit transactions and laundered more than $100 million in criminal proceeds.

Block Introduces 3-nanometer Bitcoin Mining Chip

Block, the payments startup founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey, has revealed the successful development of its 3-nanometer Bitcoin mining chip and outlined its intentions to build a comprehensive Bitcoin mining infrastructure.

Ethereum Highlights of the Week

SEC Proposes Regulation of Ethereum as a Security

Consensys, the firm behind MetaMask, lodged a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Texas court this week. The lawsuit claims that the SEC is exceeding its regulatory authority.

Consensys contends that the SEC is attempting to classify Ethereum (ETH) as a security, despite the fact that ETH does not exhibit the characteristics of a security. The company highlights that the SEC had previously stated that ETH is not a security and falls outside its regulatory jurisdiction. According to Consensys, the SEC, led by Chair Gary Gensler, is making an attempt to assert undue authority.

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