Ethereum’s validator entry queue has climbed toward 1 million ETH, with an estimated wait time of nearly 17 days for new validators to become active. BitMine Immersion Technologies has added another 82,560 Ether, worth roughly $259 million, to Ethereum’s staking system, intensifying congestion in the network’s validator entry queue as institutional demand for yield continues to build. Data from Arkham shows that the Ether (ETH) treasury firm sent multiple large deposits to Ethereum’s BatchDeposit contract within the past few hours. With the new stake, BitMine’s total staked ETH has climbed to 544,064 Ether, valued at approximately $1.62 billion at current prices, according to onchain analyst Lookonchain. BitMine first started staking ETH on Dec. 26, transferring nearly $219 million worth of ETH to staking-related contracts on the Ethereum network. Read more
The hacker behind the 2016 Bitfinex breach says he was freed early under Donald Trump’s First Step Act, just over a year after receiving a five-year sentence. Ilya Lichtenstein, the hacker behind one of the largest Bitcoin thefts on record, has been released from prison just over a year after receiving a five-year sentence, thanks to a criminal justice reform law signed during former President Donald Trump’s first term. “Thanks to President Trump's First Step Act, I have been released from prison early,” Lichtenstein said in a Friday post on X. “I remain committed to making a positive impact in cybersecurity as soon as I can,” he added. The First Step Act, passed in 2018, expanded eligibility for sentence reductions through earned time credits and other rehabilitation measures. Lichtenstein was sentenced in November 2024 after pleading guilty to a money laundering conspiracy tied to the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, in which nearly 120,000 Bitcoin (BTC) were stolen. Read more
The crypto market may see FOMO enter the market if Bitcoin suddenly creeps toward the $92,000 price level, according to a crypto analyst. Sentiment among crypto market participants on social media has started the year strong, according to a Santiment analyst, who warned that further market upside depends on retail investors staying level-headed. “We need retail to continue to be a bit cautious, a bit pessimistic, a bit impatient,” Santiment analyst Brian Quinlivan said in a video published to YouTube on Saturday. Despite other crypto sentiment indicators showing fear among market participants, Quinlivan said Santiment’s social media data points the other way. Read more
The US Genius Act dealt with “structurally simpler” issues than the CLARITY Act, which has yet to be passed into US law, according to a Coinbase executive. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, is moving along the appropriate timeline despite the crypto industry’s growing impatience, according to a Coinbase executive. “I completely understand why this is taking longer,” Coinbase Institutional head of strategy John D’Agostino said during an interview on CNBC on Friday. “It’s the kind of bill that is quite frankly more foundational for the growth of crypto or any real asset class,” he said, emphasizing that it makes sense for the process to take some time. Read more
Following a rejected governance vote, Stani Kulechov laid out a plan to expand beyond DeFi lending and reshape how tokenholders capture value. Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov has outlined a broader strategic vision for the protocol following a contentious governance vote that rejected a proposal to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets and intellectual property to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). The failed vote has prompted renewed debate within the Aave community over the protocol’s long-term direction and governance structure, an issue Kulechov addressed directly. In a post published Friday on the Aave governance forum, Kulechov argued that the protocol must evolve beyond its core decentralized finance (DeFi) lending business to pursue opportunities in real-world assets (RWAs), institutional lending and consumer-facing financial products. Read more
The largest crypto exchange by trading volume announced two moves related to the FLOW token following the project's foundation updating users on a $3.9 million exploit. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has announced a change in its policies related to trading and monitoring following a $3.9 million exploit of the Flow blockchain last week. In a Friday announcement, Binance said it would remove nine spot trading pairs from the exchange beginning on Saturday, including one for Flow (FLOW)/Bitcoin (BTC). In a separate notice, the company included FLOW and three other tokens on its monitoring tag list. The tag is featured in tokens exhibiting “notably higher volatility and risks compared to other listed tokens,” the exchange said, noting that tokens with the monitoring tag are at a high risk of no longer meeting listing standards. Read more