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Ethereum Co-Founder Buterin Introduces ‘The Splurge’ Upgrade

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has unveiled “The Splurge,” a comprehensive set of protocol upgrades aimed at addressing a variety of challenges within the Ethereum ecosystem. In his latest blog post titled “Possible futures of the Ethereum protocol, part 6: The Splurge,” Buterin delves into the technical intricacies of upcoming enhancements that seek to propel Ethereum toward a more performant, secure, and scalable future.

“The Splurge” is designed to tackle a collection of “little things” in Ethereum protocol design that don’t neatly fit into existing upgrade categories. According to Buterin, these elements are “very valuable for Ethereum’s success” but require a dedicated focus due to their complexity and significance.

What Is Ethereum’s ‘The Splurge’?

The key goals of The Splurge include bringing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to a more performant and stable “endgame state,” integrating account abstraction directly into the protocol to enhance security and user convenience, optimizing transaction fee economics to increase scalability while mitigating risks, and exploring cutting-edge cryptographic techniques to significantly improve Ethereum in the long term.

Buterin emphasizes the need to refine the EVM, stating that “the EVM today is difficult to statically analyze, making it challenging to create highly efficient implementations, formally verify code, and make further extensions over time.” The introduction of the EVM Object Format (EOF) is the first step in the EVM improvement roadmap, scheduled for inclusion in the next hard fork. EOF introduces features such as the separation of code and data, the banning of dynamic jumps in favor of static jumps, the removal of gas observability within EVM code, and the addition of an explicit subroutine mechanism.

EOF lays the groundwork for further upgrades like the EVM Modular Arithmetic Extensions (EVM-MAX) and the integration of Single-Instruction-Multiple-Data (SIMD) capabilities. These enhancements aim to make the EVM more efficient for advanced cryptographic operations without relying heavily on precompiles. “After EOF is introduced, it becomes easier to introduce further upgrades,” Buterin notes.

Account abstraction has been a long-standing goal for Ethereum, aiming to allow smart contract code to control transaction verification. “At the core, account abstraction is simple: allow transactions to be initiated by smart contracts, and not just EOAs,” Buterin explains. This capability could enable a range of applications, from quantum-resistant cryptography to seamless key rotation and improved wallet security.

ERC-4337 serves as a current solution for implementing account abstraction without modifying the core protocol. It introduces a new object called “user operations” and separates transaction processing into validation and execution phases. However, Buterin points out inefficiencies in this approach, particularly the “flat ~100k gas overhead per bundle.”

EIP-7702 is proposed to bring the convenience benefits of account abstraction to all users, including externally owned accounts (EOAs), by integrating it directly into the protocol. This move could unify the ecosystem and eliminate the need for relayers in privacy protocols. “EIP-7702 makes the ‘convenience features’ of account abstraction available to all users, including EOAs, today,” Buterin writes.

While EIP-1559 has improved average block inclusion times and fee predictability, Buterin acknowledges imperfections in its implementation. He notes that “the formula is slightly flawed” and “doesn’t adjust fast enough in extreme conditions.” The proposed EIP-7706 aims to address these issues by introducing multidimensional gas fees, allowing for separate pricing and limits for different resources like calldata, state reads/writes, and state size expansion.

“Multidimensional gas has two primary tradeoffs: it adds complexity to the protocol and to the optimal algorithm needed to fill a block to capacity,” Buterin explains. However, he suggests that the benefits in efficiency and resource management could outweigh these complexities.

The introduction of Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) aims to improve the randomness in Ethereum’s proposer selection process. “Ideally, we would find a more robust source of randomness,” Buterin states. VDFs could offer a solution by providing outputs that are computationally intensive to produce but easy to verify, reducing the potential for manipulation. Challenges remain, such as “unexpected optimization” through hardware acceleration or parallelization. “Currently, there is no VDF construction that fully satisfies Ethereum researchers on all axes,” Buterin admits, indicating that further research and development are needed.

Moreover, Buterin explores the “far future of cryptography” by discussing advanced concepts like indistinguishability obfuscation and one-shot signatures. He refers to these as part of the “Egyptian god protocols,” extremely powerful cryptographic primitives that could revolutionize blockchain technology. Indistinguishability obfuscation allows for the creation of “encrypted programs” that perform arbitrary computations while keeping internal details hidden. “With obfuscation and one-shot signatures together, we can build almost perfect trustless third parties,” Buterin asserts.

Potential applications include secure DAOs and auctions, universal trusted setups, and simplified verification of zero-knowledge proofs. Despite their promise, these technologies are still in their infancy. “There is a heck of a lot left to do,” Buterin concedes. Implementations of indistinguishability obfuscation currently face significant performance hurdles, and practical quantum computers capable of enabling one-shot signatures remain theoretical.

By tackling EVM improvements, account abstraction, transaction fee optimization, and exploring the frontiers of cryptography, Buterin aims to keep Ethereum at the forefront of blockchain innovation. While acknowledging the complexities and trade-offs involved, he remains optimistic. “Extremely powerful cryptography could change the game completely,” he concludes.

At press time, ETH traded at $2,627.

Ethereum price
Ether price, 1-week chart | Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView.com

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com



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Ethereum Price Could Still Reclaim $4,000 Based On This Bullish Divergence

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Opeyemi is a proficient writer and enthusiast in the exciting and unique cryptocurrency realm. While the digital asset industry was not his first choice, he has remained absolutely drawn since making a foray into the space over two years. Now, Opeyemi takes pride in creating unique pieces unraveling the complexities of blockchain technology and sharing insights on the latest trends in the world of cryptocurrencies.

Opeyemi savors his attraction to the crypto market, which explains why he spends the better parts of his day looking through different price charts. “Looking” is a rather simple way to describe analyzing and interpreting various price patterns and chart formations. However, it appears that is not Opeyemi’s favorite part – in fact, far from it.

Being able to connect what happens on a price chart to on-chain movements and blockchain activities is what keeps Opeyemi ticking. “This emphasizes the intricacies of blockchain technology and the cryptocurrency market,” he would say. Most importantly, Opeyemi thinks of any market insights as the gospel, while recognizing that he is only a messenger.

When he is not clicking away at his keyboard, Opeyemi is most definitely listening to music, playing games, reading a book, or scrolling through X. He likes to think he is not loyal to a particular genre of music, which can be true on many days. However, the fast-rising Afrobeats genre is a staple in Opeyemi’s Spotify Daily Mix.

Meanwhile, Opeyemi is a voracious reader who enjoys a wide category of books – ranging from science fiction, fantasy, and historical, to even romance. He believes that authors like George R. R. Martin and J. K.
Rowling are the greatest of all time when it comes to putting pen to paper. Opeyemi believes his reading of the Harry Potter series twice is proof of that.

Indeed, Opeyemi enjoys spending most of his time within the four walls of his home. However, he also sometimes finds solace in the company of his friends at a bar, a restaurant, or even on a stroll. In essence, Opeyemi’s ambivert (haha! been searching for an opportunity to use the word to describe myself) nature makes him a social chameleon who is able to quickly adapt to different settings.

Opeyemi recognizes the need to constantly develop oneself in order to stay afloat in a competitive and ever-evolving market like crypto. For this reason, he is always in learning mode, ready to pick up the slightest lesson from every situation. Opeyemi is efficient and likes to deliver all that is required of him in time – he believes that “whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” Hence, you will always find him striving to be better.

Ultimately, Opeyemi is a good writer and an even better person who is trying to shed light on an exciting world phenomenon – cryptocurrency. He goes to bed every day with a smile of satisfaction on his face, knowing that he has done his bit of the holy assignment – spreading the crypto gospel to the rest of the world.



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Bitcoin Pepe set to reap big from its virality, fundamentals, and timing

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Bitcoin and Ether

The crypto market is subject to a neutral market sentiment even as the bulls remain in control. Subsequently, majors like Ripple and Ethereum are range-bound while their steady fundamentals support the prices. 

On the other hand, more savvy investors are shifting their focus to meme crypto projects with the potential to revolutionize the industry. One such entity is Bitcoin Pepe.

In fact, it is presented as the missing puzzle piece in the Bitcoin network. Through its mission of building “Solana on Bitcoin”, it is creating a platform defined by low fees, speedy transactions, and the ability to launch meme coins on the most steady crypto network. Notably, investors have an opportunity to rake in hefty returns within a relatively short period.

Ripple lacks enough momentum for a weekly gain despite steady fundamentals

Ripple price has held steady above the crucial support zone of $2.5000 even as it lacked enough buyers to lock in the second weekly gain in a row. On the one hand, a neutral market sentiment in the broader crypto sector has pushed buyers to the sidelines. Even so, the bulls remain in control as XRP ETFs and heightened global adoption is set to bolster the crypto to January levels.

In the near term, the bulls are striving to break the resistance at $2.7385. Past that level, the next target will be at $2.9100. On the lower side, a pullback past $2.5000 will still have the bulls in control as $2.3357 remains a steady support level. 

Ripple Price
Ripple Price

Bitcoin Pepe: The missing puzzle on Bitcoin’s network

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, began with no intrinsic value about 15 years ago and has since grown to a market cap of $1.9 trillion at $96,278. Bitcoin Pepe has emerged as a project whose mission is to revolutionize the BTC network by transforming it into a meme coin hub. 

This explains why an overwhelming number of savvy investors are rushing to amass BPEP tokens ahead of its listing in Q2’25. Besides, President Trump has made clear his intentions to foster a pro-crypto environment. 

Subsequently, Bitcoin Pepe has become so popular that within the first 24 hours of its presale launch, it raised over $1 million. 11 days later, it has already reached stage 5 of the total 30 stages; raising over $2.8 million. 

With 25 more stages before it hits the public shelves, early adopters have an apt opportunity to buy BPEP tokens at the current price of $0.0255 and watch their investment yield hefty returns. By the end of the presale, the token price is set to have increased by a total of 311.4% to $0.0864. Read more on how to buy Bitcoin Pepe.

Ethereum price analysis: Neutral outlook with a bullish bias  

Ethereum Price
Ethereum Price

Ethereum price recorded its second week of gains after plunging to a 5-month low earlier in February. Even so, it continues to trade below the 25 and 50-day EMAs. In the absence of a key immediate-term bullish catalyst, the crypto may remain under pressure for a while longer. 

At its current level, the range between $2,543 and $2,804 is still worth watching. If successful at breaking the resistance along the range’s upper limit, the bulls will have a chance to retest the crucial support-turn-resistance zone of 2,950. However, a decline past $2,500 will invalidate this thesis.

 



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Grayscale’s Ethereum ETF On The Brink Of Major Change With NYSE’s Staking Proposal

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The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has submitted a proposed rule change aimed at allowing the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (EZET) to stake their ETH holdings. 

This proposal is particularly noteworthy because it seeks to enable the trusts to earn rewards on their staked ETH while ensuring that the assets remain under the custody of their current custodian.

Grayscale Advocates For Staking In Crypto ETFs

Staking, a process integral to Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) model, allows holders to earn yield on their assets. By staking through trusted providers, ETHE and EZET could potentially bolster their returns, making these investment vehicles more attractive to institutional investors who are increasingly seeking opportunities that offer staking benefits. 

Unlike traditional staking-as-a-service models, which have drawn scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Grayscale claims that its approach is designed exclusively for the benefit of fund shareholders. This means that the assets will not be pooled with those of third parties, which could mitigate some regulatory concerns.

Industry advocates, including organizations such as Jito Labs and Multicoin Capital, have been vocal in their support for integrating staking features into exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

They argue that doing so would not only benefit investors but also more accurately reflect the advantages of native network assets. Furthermore, incorporating staking into ETFs could empower issuers to contribute to the security of the networks on which these assets operate.

Ethereum Surpasses Bitcoin In ETF Inflows

The proposed rule change comes at a crucial time for Grayscale, especially as its ETHE product has faced substantial outflows—nearly $4 billion—making it the largest loser among Ethereum investment products since the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs. 

In contrast, the EZET has struggled to gain market traction, attracting only $650 million in inflows, which is minimal compared to its competitors. 

Other Ethereum spot ETFs, notably those managed by BlackRock and Fidelity, have seen significant inflows, largely due to their lower fees and strong institutional backing.

The Ethereum ETF market’s dynamics are shifting, with Ethereum now gaining momentum in terms of ETF flows, even surpassing Bitcoin in inflows for the first week of February, as reported by CoinShares. 

If the NYSE Arca proposal is approved, it could significantly enhance the appeal of ETHE and EZET, providing a much-needed boost to their performance and potentially curbing outflows.

Grayscale
The 1-hour chart shows ETH’s price drop. Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView.com

At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $2,645, recording a 20% loss in the monthly time frame for the market’s second largest cryptocurrency. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com



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