upgrades

According to The Block, Josh Stark, a key figure at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), announced his resignation after five years and will officially step down at the end of the month. Stark joined the Ethereum Foundation in 2019, initially working in the special projects team, and later rose to leadership, collaborating with EF Chair Aya Miyaguchi, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, and co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Bastian Aue.He is one of the most prominent members of the foundation's external image and has led several significant advancements in Ethereum, including the "The Merge" upgrade that transitioned from proof of work to proof of stake, as well as subsequent upgrades like Dencun, Fusaka, and Pectra. During last year's leadership adjustments at the foundation, he was appointed as the "co-manager" of the EF board and recently took on the role of co-chair of the "trillion-dollar security" initiative.Last month, Stark co-authored a strategic blog post on Ethereum with Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, outlining Ethereum's latest scaling direction and its relationship with the Layer 2 ecosystem. Stark stated, "I haven't planned for the future yet; I just want to take a good rest and spend time with family and friends." This resignation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing changes at the Ethereum Foundation.Last year, the foundation underwent significant leadership adjustments, refocusing its strategic priorities on scaling the Ethereum mainnet and core cypherpunk values; Tomasz K. Stańczak also resigned from his co-executive director position at the end of February this year, having served for less than a year. On the same day, Trent Van Epps also announced his departure from EF to fully dedicate himself to Protocol Guild, the independent funding organization for Ethereum core developers that he founded.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back stated that Bitcoin should adopt an optional quantum-resistant upgrade scheme, rather than the mandatory freezing of tokens at risk from quantum threats proposed in BIP-361.The BIP-361 proposal suggests phasing out addresses vulnerable to quantum attacks over five years and ultimately freezing un-migrated tokens, including assets held by Satoshi Nakamoto. Google's latest research indicates that a superconducting qubit system may need fewer than 500,000 physical qubits to crack Bitcoin encryption in just a few minutes. Currently, about 6.9 million BTC are at risk from such threats. In response to the quantum threat, BitMEX Research proposed establishing a canary fund that would implement a full freeze only when expenditures occur from the relevant addresses.

According to market news, Blockstream CEO Adam Back stated at the Paris Blockchain Week that he supports the optional advancement of Bitcoin's quantum resistance upgrade and opposes the proposal to forcibly freeze quantum-vulnerable addresses. He emphasized that "preparation is much safer than hasty responses in a crisis" and pointed out that the Bitcoin community has the coordination ability to respond quickly to urgent vulnerabilities.Previously, the BIP-361 proposal ("Post-Quantum Migration and Legacy Signature Sunset") put forward by developers Jameson Lopp and five others advocated for the gradual elimination of quantum-vulnerable addresses over five years, ultimately freezing coins that have not completed migration— including approximately 1.7 million Bitcoins held by Satoshi Nakamoto.

According to CoinDesk, Blockstream CEO Adam Back stated at Paris Blockchain Week that Bitcoin developers should advance optional quantum-resistant upgrades as early as possible, even though practical quantum computers are still far from being realized.He pointed out that Taproot's flexible design can support the introduction of new quantum-resistant signature schemes without affecting existing users. Previously, Jameson Lopp and others proposed BIP - 361, which aims to gradually phase out addresses vulnerable to quantum attacks within 5 years and freeze Bitcoin that has not completed migration. Adam Back believes that the Bitcoin community can quickly coordinate responses in emergencies without the need for pre-established freezing arrangements.

Bitget today announced the completion of an upgrade to its underlying trading infrastructure. By restructuring the core modules of the matching engine cluster and account system, the order processing delay has been reduced by up to 40%. This upgrade is aimed at all platform users, including Bitget PRO users and market maker users.After the upgrade, the platform can provide faster order reception and status feedback speeds, significantly shortening the response chain from order submission to matching execution. During periods of significant market fluctuations, it further ensures the execution efficiency and transaction stability of large orders and complex trading strategies, continuously optimizing the overall trading experience.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated, "The market is ever-changing, and trading tools must evolve in sync. Continuously optimizing matching performance aims to create a reliable execution foundation for traders. Under the UEX strategic framework, this upgrade will further enhance trading efficiency and liquidity capacity within a unified account system, providing more stable and efficient infrastructure support for the integration of crypto assets and traditional assets."

Sky Governance announced on April 7 two structural upgrade proposals aimed at strengthening the capital protection framework of the protocol. The two proposals are: implementing a stronger solvency buffer mechanism and adopting a more sustainable staking reward model, with the goal of consolidating the long-term stability of the protocol and placing credibility above the pursuit of short-term gains.Sky Protocol pointed out that its yield-bearing stablecoin sUSDS is the largest in its category, attributing this success to the protocol's unique risk positioning compared to its competitors.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, about 1 hour ago, Resolv Labs destroyed 36.73 million USR held by the hacker through a contract upgrade.The hacker minted 80 million USR through a minting vulnerability without collateral, of which approximately 34 million USR were sold off by the hacker for 11,409 ETH (24.48 million USD) stored at the address 0x8ED...81C. Additionally, about 46 million USR were destroyed from the hacker's address by the Resolv project team through a contract upgrade. The actual loss from this vulnerability exploitation incident for Resolv is 34 million USD.

According to the official blog, Circle's institutional-grade blockchain Arc has released a phased upgrade roadmap for post-quantum cryptography (PQ), planning to introduce post-quantum signature schemes at the launch of the mainnet, gradually covering full-stack layers such as private state protection, infrastructure hardening, and validator authentication.The Arc mainnet will support post-quantum signatures from the outset, using an opt-in mechanism that does not require mandatory migration or a full network reset, allowing users to independently create wallets with long-term security. The recent goal is to extend quantum resistance to the private virtual machine (VM) layer, protecting private balances, private transactions, and private payees, with public keys additionally encapsulated in a symmetric encryption layer under privacy mode.The mid-term plan is to advance the upgrade of the infrastructure layer, aligning with industry standards such as TLS 1.3, covering access control, cloud environments, and hardware security modules (HSM). The long-term goal is to complete the hardening of validator signatures. Given that Arc's block finalization time is less than 1 second, the current assessment considers the risk of quantum attacks in this phase to be relatively limited, and it will be steadily advanced after the post-quantum consensus toolchain matures.Circle also warns that attackers may adopt a "collect now, decrypt later" strategy, and institutions should plan their cryptographic migration paths as early as possible.

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow posted on the X platform, stating that the current response to the threat of quantum computing (QC) to Bitcoin should not be rushed. Blindly and hastily switching from the existing signature mechanism to post-quantum (PQ) solutions may expose Bitcoin to the risk of classical computing attacks in the short term. The size of PQ signatures could increase by 10 to 125 times, significantly reducing network throughput and potentially triggering a repeat of the scaling disputes similar to the early "block wars."In addition, Samson Mow warned that some PQ solutions may have potential backdoor risks. The threat of quantum computing is still in the medium to long-term stage (which may take 10 to 20 years). The more reasonable path currently is to continue research rather than rush deployment. He also specifically mentioned Coinbase, stating that its wallet has quantum attack vulnerabilities due to address reuse, and suggested prioritizing the repair of related infrastructure issues.

The Ethereum Foundation released a new roadmap on Tuesday, outlining how the development team is preparing for the threats posed by quantum computing.The Foundation's quantum team expects a series of preliminary upgrades to the network to be completed by 2029, primarily involving four key hard forks. The Foundation stated that quantum computing will eventually break the public key cryptography that protects ownership, authentication, and consensus in all digital systems, but this threat is not expected to arrive immediately. Researchers from the Foundation's quantum team anticipate that quantum computing with cryptographic capabilities will not emerge for another 8 to 12 years.Among the four hard forks, the "I" fork will provide network validators with quantum-safe public keys, and the "J" fork will reduce the Gas fees for validating quantum-safe signatures; both upgrades have been included in the considerations for the Hegota fork expected to take place later this year. The "L" fork will express the network state as zero-knowledge proofs, while the "M" fork will protect Layer 2 networks from quantum threats.Researchers indicated that Layer 1 protocol upgrades could be completed by 2029, while a complete migration of the execution layer will require several additional years thereafter. The Ethereum Foundation established a dedicated quantum team in January of this year, and a developer testnet began testing some quantum features in March.

According to Crowdfund Insider, Binance has upgraded its lending services, launching an improved Flexible Loan product that allows users to obtain liquidity without selling their assets.This product is an over-collateralized, open-term isolated lending solution, with a minimum loan amount equivalent to 1 USD. It supports borrowing and repayment at any time, and no fees are charged for either. The collateralized assets will automatically connect to the Simple Earn flexible product, continuously generating earnings every minute, achieving "earn interest while collateralizing." The loan interest rate is also refreshed every minute to reflect real-time market conditions. Borrowed funds can be used for spot trading, leveraged positions, contract trading, or further staking, with supported assets including mainstream tokens like BTC, ETH, and USDT.The platform has a built-in risk monitoring mechanism, but users still need to actively manage their positions and maintain sufficient collateral buffers to prevent forced liquidation. Binance stated that this upgrade is particularly suitable for long-term holders like Bitcoin miners, allowing them to cover operational costs or seize market opportunities without reducing their asset holdings.

The digital asset trading platform Gate announced that its Gate for AI system has upgraded the Wallet MCP module, providing on-chain asset management and wallet interaction capabilities for AI Agents. Through the MCP interface, AI can create non-custodial wallets, query account assets, send tokens, and obtain real-time Gas information, achieving an integrated capability for on-chain asset operations and information retrieval.The Wallet MCP also supports asset management and token security detection for over 100 mainstream networks, and can facilitate interaction between web and plugin through plugin wallets, offering a more flexible human-machine collaboration mechanism between automated execution and manual confirmation.Currently, Gate for AI has established a standardized data and transaction access system through MCP and Skills modules, covering five major capabilities: CEX, DEX, wallet signing, real-time information, and on-chain data, providing a complete capability entry for AI Agents to enter the digital asset market. This capability system will further promote the deep integration of AI and digital asset trading scenarios.

The global cryptocurrency trading platform Gate has announced the upgrade of its AI Agent infrastructure, Gate for AI. Today, the DEX MCP has been fully upgraded to provide native full-scenario market insights and cross-chain trading capabilities for AI Agents.Gate for AI has now connected CEX and DEX, building five major capability systems. First, centralized trading capabilities (CEX), supporting the invocation of products such as spot, contracts, wealth management, and IPOs; second, on-chain trading capabilities (DEX), supporting Swap, on-chain perpetual contracts, and Meme coin trading, deeply aggregating liquidity from 20+ mainstream public chains, and achieving optimal price execution through smart routing; third, wallet and signature systems, supporting wallet creation and on-chain signing; fourth, real-time information and sentiment data systems, providing structured market news and event data; fifth, on-chain data and industry information query capabilities, supporting queries on currencies, projects, addresses, and risk information.Gate for AI connects centralized and on-chain markets through a unified interface, allowing AI to conduct research, strategy generation, and trade execution within the same framework. After developers integrate mainstream AI systems, AI can directly invoke trading and data capabilities.This system adopts a dual-layer architecture of MCP + Skills, aiming to extend the exchange capabilities from traditional user interfaces to infrastructure that can be invoked by AI. This upgrade marks a gradual shift of trading platform capabilities towards AI-native infrastructure, and Gate will continue to promote the application of AI Agents in the digital asset market.

Binance announces the upgrade of the U-based contract WebSocket URL architecture to support traffic growth and enhance overall stability and scalability. The new architecture is divided into three specialized base URLs by data category: Public (high-frequency public market data), Market (regular market data), and Private (user data stream).The new WebSocket URL is available for use starting today, and the old URL will be permanently decommissioned on April 23, 2026. Additionally, this upgrade continues to support both ws and stream access modes and combined subscriptions.

According to market news, 1inch Network has upgraded its platform, enhancing user experience and speeding up Swap transaction times. This upgrade has reduced the median execution time for Swap transactions from 26 seconds to 14 seconds.

The globally leading cryptocurrency trading platform Gate has announced an upgrade to its VIP service system, optimizing the exclusive service structure and support mechanisms around the diverse needs of high-net-worth clients. This upgrade aims to build a more efficient and customer-centric interactive network, providing VIP clients with instant and convenient services through improved exclusive connection channels and response processes, thereby enhancing overall service collaboration efficiency.In terms of high-net-worth client operations, Gate is simultaneously deepening its VIP client operation strategy, strengthening tiered management and refined outreach mechanisms, focusing on improving the quality of client interactions and service outreach efficiency, and promoting the establishment of a more long-term and stable client relationship structure. Additionally, Gate has launched several exclusive features, including Gate Vault, VIP-exclusive wealth management, and private wealth management services, gradually forming a comprehensive service system that encompasses trading support, asset allocation, and security assurance.Against the backdrop of deepening industry competition, the platform's upgrade of tiered services and high-end client operation capabilities helps to solidify its core user base and enhance overall service resilience.

The panoramic exchange Bitget announced a comprehensive upgrade to its mobile App. It places cryptocurrency (Crypto) alongside traditional finance (TradFi) markets on the homepage, aiming to enhance the cross-asset trading experience. In the new interface, users can easily access crypto products such as contracts, spot trading, on-chain trading, leveraged trading, and wealth management through the trading tab. Additionally, a dedicated TradFi entry has been added, allowing users to access stock perpetual contracts, forex, gold, and RWA tokens with one click using USDT, reducing the overall operational path by about 30% compared to conventional industry processes.Bitget pointed out that the current global annual trading volume of stocks is approximately $100 trillion to $130 trillion, and it is expected to increase to $160 trillion to $200 trillion by 2030. As the circulation of tokenized assets accelerates, exchanges may undertake about 20% to 40% of the related trading volume. Bitget's UEX (Universal Exchange) strategic goal is to become a core liquidity and distribution hub, aiming to handle about 40% of the tokenized stock trading volume by 2030.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that as the regulatory environment matures and the trend of institutional assets moving on-chain strengthens, crypto technology is gradually evolving into the settlement infrastructure for everyday finance. This product experience reconstruction aims to align with this asset migration trend. The upgraded App has been launched globally.

According to CoinMarketCap, Morgan Stanley has begun coverage on Bitcoin mining companies, giving Cipher Mining and TeraWulf an overweight rating, while rating Marathon Digital as underweight.