Ethereum developers set May 7 as the target date for the long-awaited Pectra upgrade on Thursday, beginning the countdown for the blockchain’s biggest changes since March 2024. Pectra contains a series of improvements aimed at making Ethereum more user-friendly and efficient. One such improvement is adding “smart contract” capabilities to wallets, which can make them […]

U.S. recession fears are in the air following President Donald Trump’s tariff plan, with prediction platforms Polymarket and Kalshi indicating heightened concerns the economy will take a hit. On Polymarket, a decentralized prediction platform, the chance of the country slipping into recession this year topped 50% for the first time since the betting contract “US […]

U.S. stablecoin legislation took another major step on Wednesday as a House of Representatives committee joined Senate counterparts in advancing a bill to be considered by the overall House, bringing stablecoin regulations closer to reality. Eventual approvals in both the overall House and Senate would let lawmakers start melding the two versions into a unified […]

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller. In this issue: Vana launches token standard Hashgraph to debut private blockchain ASICs will look more like servers An interview with Gensyn’s Ben Fielding This article is featured in the latest issue of The Protocol, our […]

South Korea’s 7-Eleven stores are now accepting the Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) as part of a limited-time test that runs through June. The company is participating in the “Hangang Project” pilot of the CBDC. Customers with accounts at one of seven partner banks — including Kookmin, Shinhan and Woori — can […]