Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is trading around $1,800, with a total market cap of $220 billion. While recent price performance has been relatively muted, the recent network upgrades and growing institutional interest hint at a bullish long-term outlook.
For the unversed, Ethereum just rolled out one of its biggest updates since The Merge in 2022. The new upgrade, called Pectra, went live today — May 7. Originally planned for 2024, some of Pectra’s features faced setbacks due to code challenges. After testing the upgrade on two testnets, some bugs forced developers to run a third round of tests, which caused more delays.
Why is Pectra a Big Deal?
Pectra is Ethereum’s latest major upgrade that combines two updates — Prague and Electra — and introduces 11 key changes aimed at making the network faster, cheaper, and easier to use. These changes include doubling blob capacity for better Layer 2 support, increasing the maximum validator stake from 32 to 2048 ETH, and speeding up validator activation.
It also brings account abstraction, allowing wallets to act like smart contracts temporarily, enabling bundled transactions and gas payments in any token. Together, the 11 EIPs improve scalability, staking, user experience, and developer tools — making Ethereum more efficient and pushing it closer to mass adoption.
Ethereum Price Preparing For Something Big?
According to analyst Michael Van De Poppe, Ethereum (ETH) is consolidating and might be getting ready for a big move upward.
$ETH is consolidating before a big breakout upwards.
The liquidity is up for grabs, it just needs a news related item to kick it off. pic.twitter.com/VQaGvfZcA0
Right now, ETH is stuck in a familiar price range between $1,760 and $1,843, where it’s been since late April. It recently touched the top of that range but couldn’t break through. Van De Poppe says the market is just waiting for the right news to start a breakout.
Ethereum’s biggest upgrade was The Merge in 2022, which changed the network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake. Before that upgrade, ETH went from around $1,000 to $1,600, but it dropped again afterward. In 2024, the Dencun upgrade helped improve scalability and Layer 2 features, but it didn’t boost the price much. Now, with the Pectra upgrade live, it remains to be seen if the price will jump right away.
Satoshi Nakamoto is arguably the most immortalized personality in the digital currency ecosystem. This is understandable considering the contribution the pseudonymous developer made to the world of crypto, creating Bitcoin. After more than 15 years since Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block, his popularity has only grown more with a new statue raised in his honor.
The Satoshi Nakamoto Statues: What to Know
While almost everyone in the industry is familiar with Bitcoin, not everyone knows Satoshi Nakamoto. The anonymous developer invented a technology that is now worth $1.69 trillion. To recognize this rare feat, a second statue has been erected within one year to immortalize him.
The latest statue erected is located at El Zonte in El Salvador. This location is popularly called the Bitcoin Beach and has wide acclaim from members and proponents of the top coin. The unveiling of this statue comes at a time when El Salvador signed an agreement to strengthen crypto regulation in the country.
While the main creator of the El Zonte statue is unknown, the structure is symbolic and reflective, designed by Valentina Picozzi. The hooded developer showcases the underlying message that we are all Satoshi. The first of these statues was located in Lugano, Switzerland, and the duplicity is a sign that more people beyond the industry can familiarize themselves with Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Bitcoin Gesture: Industry Leaders Weigh In
Since the second statue in El Zonte became public knowledge, it has not helped reshape the market outlook for BTC. Although Bitcoin’s price neared $86,000 earlier today, the Trump tariff woes form a bigger concern to watch.
However, the Satoshi Nakamoto statue gives a sense of belonging, one Tether CEO, Paolo Ardoino, echoed recently. In a post on X, Ardoino said, “We’re Satoshi, especially in El Salvador.”
Meanwhile, the Picozzi-inspired Nakamoto statues were inspired by the first of their kind, the structure erected in Budapest, Hungary. This status sits at the heart of Europe at the Graphisoft Park and grants 24-hour access to the golden statue.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Beyond the effort to continually immortalize the Bitcoin creator, there has also been a good attempt to uncover the face behind the image. In the fourth quarter of last year, film production giant HBO sparked a broad-based interest in the community on plans to reveal who Satoshi Nakamoto was.
After weeks of speculation on Polymarket, with names like Len Sassaman and Adam Back topping the chart of likely candidates, HBO picked Peter Todd. Despite his computing background, Todd denied the claims, which placed the industry back in the search for Nakamoto. The three statues might be the closest anyone will get to the infamous BTC creator.
Bitcoin price rally halted at $97,800 on Saturday, as markets reacted to a major update in Arizona state’s cryptocurrency reserve adoption.
Arizona State Governor Vetoes Against Bitcoin Reserve Bill After Congress Approval
Bitcoin’s upward momentum faced unexpected headwinds this week following a political setback in Arizona. Governor Katie Hobbs formally vetoed Senate Bill 1025, which sought to allow the state to invest public funds in Bitcoin.
This move came just days after the bill passed the Arizona House, signaling bipartisan momentum toward crypto adoption at the state level.
Arizona State Governor Vetoes Against Crypto Reserve Bill, May 2, 2025
Citing fiduciary risk, Hobbs emphasized that Arizona’s retirement system remains one of the nation’s strongest precisely because it avoids “untested” assets like virtual currency.
This development aligns Arizona with several other states, Oklahoma, Montana, and Wyoming, where similar crypto bills have faltered.
The bill had proposed establishing a Digital Assets Strategic Reserve using seized state funds and upto 10% of the state Treasury.
Hobbs’ veto marks a significant reversal, especially as the state legislature had edged closer to positioning Arizona as the first U.S. state to adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Looking forward, another related proposal, SB1373, still awaits a final vote and may reopen the conversation if it garners enough legislative support.
Bitcoin Price Hits Sell-Wall at $98,000, as Short-Traders Cluster $1.2B Leverage
BTC price posted a strong performance through the week, climbing to new 70-day highs at $97,800 early Saturday before retracing toward $96,700.
The timing of the pullback, which closely followed Governor Hobbs’ veto, appears to have introduced caution among traders and short-term holders.
Data from Coinglass’ Liquidation Map reveals a dense cluster of short positions at the $98,000 mark, where bears have placed roughly $1.2 billion in leveraged bets.
The liquidation map visually highlights where significant liquidations may occur if price moves strongly in either direction.
Bitcoin Liquidation Map, May 3, 2025 | Source: Coinglass
While bulls control a dominant $7.45 billion in long positions, only $4.42 billion sits on the short side. However, nearly 25% of the total short leverage is focused precisely at $98,000, suggesting that bears are using Arizona’s regulatory rejection as a catalyst to test upside resistance.
Despite this, bulls still hold a $3 billion advantage, suggesting a strong defense could emerge around support levels, particularly near $96,000, where previous consolidation zones have formed.
Looking Ahead: Tempered Weekend Action Ahead for Bitcoin Price Forecast
With Arizona’s veto introduces fresh regulatory skepticm, it could weaken institutional demand over the weekend as markets await further clarity.
The presence of $1.2 billion in short positions clustered at $98,200 creates a psychological and technical ceiling, dampening momentum toward a $100,000 breakout.
Bitcoin price action, May 3, 2025 | Source: Coingecko
For Bitcoin to advance towards the $100,000 bullish BTC price forecast trajectory, a decisive move above this short cluster is required, potentially triggered by renewed institutional accumulation or fresh policy tailwinds.
Until then, Bitcoin price action could be limited within the $96,000–$98,000 range, if weekend activity subsides as predicted.
Bitcoin Price Forecast Today: Rangebound Between $96,000 and $98,000 Amid Waning Momentum
Bitcoin price forecast today suggests a tempered and cautious stance, with momentum visibly slowing just below the $98,000 mark.
The daily chart shows BTC consolidating after a strong run, but the reluctance to breach upper resistance near the Bollinger Band’s top at $100,736 reflects rising overhead pressure.
On the positive side, BTC price remains above the 20-day moving average, at $90,813, but the tightening bands signal reduced volatility and a potential pause in upward extension.
Bitcoin Price Forecast Today
The BBP indicator, though still in positive territory at 5,647, has flattened, reflecting a moderation in buying pressure.
Meanwhile, the MACD lines remain in a bullish crossover, but the histogram bars are shortening—implying weakening bullish momentum.
This raises the possibility of a sideways drift over the weekend unless another significant market catalyst revives institutional interest
Bitcoin price forecast today leans cautious as long as price action remains boxed between $96,000 support and $98,200 resistance.
A decisive break above $98,200 would invalidate the consolidation thesis, while a drop below $96,000 could open downside toward $92,000. For now, the technicals call for restraint until clearer direction emerges
According to Supra, the future of DeFi is omnichain and fully interoperable, because therein lie greater opportunities for yield hunters and liquidity providers to explore. This vision of a multi-chain DeFi landscape, in which cross-chain can be experienced without cumbersome blockchain bridges, is a step closer to reality thanks to Supra. The Layer 1 chain has just launched two major upgrades on its public testnet that have huge potential for the broader DeFi landscape.
AutoFi and SupraNova are the products Supra’s just shipped and between them they pack a bunch of powers that should excite devs and users alike. AutoFi is particularly interesting, supporting the creation of self-executing smart contracts dependent upon highly granular conditions being met. This is effectively Automation as a Service, and it opens the door to some exciting possibilities for use in decentralized finance.
Automation Meets Onchain Innovation
AutoFi’s automation capabilities aren’t just wide-ranging – they’re also fast. So fast in fact that they can be set to trigger within the same block as the conditions that have been met to cause their execution. As Supra proclaims, “AutoFi changes everything with enshrined automation for true “if-this-then-that” style apps.”
While devs are free to create whatever they want with AutoFi, Supra sees particular value in it being used to automate recurring fees; to support competitive bidding for onchain events such as liquidation auctions; and for protocol-level automation, such as distributing fees to all network users. AutoFi’s current public testnet deployment will allow third-party developers to get a feel for the sort of use cases AutoFi supports before Supra ships it on mainnet, allowing for sophisticated auto-executing dapps to be deployed in a live environment.
Supra Goes SupraNova
The other major product to have been rolled out by Supra is SupraNova, which is also live on public testnet from April 29. It’s described as “the first bridgeless cross-chain interoperability protocol that enables direct, trustless L1-to-L1 communication without relays, wrappers, or third-party multisigs.” In layman’s terms, it’s a safer way to send value between chains. Think less hacks, better security.
One of the problems with software design, not just in web3 but in general, is that systems tend to add complexity over time through introducing more plug-ins, upgrades, and patches. Each time this occurs, the surface attack area increases. SupraNova is an attempt to do away with things like multi-sigs and token wrappers, both of which have been successfully exploited by attackers in the past.
Initially compatible with Ethereum, before expanding to accommodate the full EVM stack, SupraNova has the potential to radically change the way blockchains “talk” to one another. There are also plans in progress to make it compatible with Move VMs, which could ultimately see SupraNova become a bridgeless interoperability solution for the entire omnichain landscape.
While that’s further down the line, in the here and now, Supra’s brace of new products have showcased its team’s ability to innovate while giving DeFi devs some new tools to play with. In the process, they’ve moved the center of decentralized finance closer to Supra, and shone a spotlight on its multi VM-compatible Layer 1.
The post Supra Unveils AutoFi and SupraNova to Transform Cross-Chain DeFi appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
According to Supra, the future of DeFi is omnichain and fully interoperable, because therein lie greater opportunities for yield hunters and liquidity providers to explore. This vision of a multi-chain DeFi landscape, in which cross-chain can be experienced without cumbersome blockchain bridges, is a step closer to reality thanks to Supra. The Layer 1 chain …
