Kraken is making a significant push into Europe with its new MiFID II-compliant crypto derivatives platform, positioning itself as a strong competitor to OKX as the latter eyes European expansion. With this move, the exchange offers retail and institutional customers in the European Economic Area access to perpetual and fixed maturity crypto futures contracts. It’s noteworthy that the exchange’s European expansion is unfolding against a backdrop of speculation about a potential native token launch and IPO. “We’re excited to announce our launch of regulated crypto derivatives in Europe, providing our clients and partners with access to a full suite of liquid futures instruments – all within a recognized regulatory framework,” the exchange said via an official blog post. Kraken Launches Crypto Derivatives Platform in Europe According to a May 20 announcement, Kraken has launched the largest regulated crypto derivatives trading platform in Europe. Compliant with the Markets in Financial Instruments… Read More at Coingape.com
SOL Strategies agreed with ATW Partners to issue a convertible note of up to $500M.
The capital will exclusively be used for purchasing Solana coins, and staked to offer regular yields.
Solana price will heavily benefit from the deal, especially after the recent bullish breakout.
SOL Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL), an investment company focused on the development and growth of the Solana (SOL) ecosystem, has announced the largest deal geared towards acquiring more SOL coins. On Wednesday, April 23, during the mid-North American trading session, SOL Strategies announced that it had inked an agreement with ATW Partners to issue a convertible note of up to $500M.
According to the announcement, SOL Strategies will issue the notes in an aggregate amount of $20 million as its first initial closing. The first tranche of the deal will close by May 1, 2025.
The agreement will offer an additional capacity of up to $480 million. The acquired SOLs will be staked and the yield generated shared among the investors.
“This is the largest financing facility of its kind in the Solana ecosystem and the first ever directly tied to staking yield. By securing up to half a billion dollars in strategic capital, we are doubling down on our conviction in Solana and our commitment to being the leading institutional staking platform. Every dollar deployed is immediately yield-generating, and accretive to both our balance sheet and our validator business. This structure is not only innovative, it is highly scalable,” Leah Wald, Chief Executive Officer of SOL Strategies, noted.
Impact on Solana Price
The convertible notes will play a crucial role in the long-term growth prospects for the Solana network. Furthermore, its success will attract more institutional investors, and bolster SOL’s bullish sentiment ahead.
From a technical analysis standpoint, SOL price has successfully rebounded following the 42 percent rally in the past two weeks. In the daily timeframe, the SOL price has been forming a megaphone structure, with the next target above $300.
Moreover, the daily MACD and Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicators have already flashed bullish sentiment.
The post Mega Bullish: SOL Strategies Announces $500M to Buy More Solana appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
SOL Strategies agreed with ATW Partners to issue a convertible note of up to $500M. The capital will exclusively be used for purchasing Solana coins, and staked to offer regular yields. Solana price will heavily benefit from the deal, especially after the recent bullish breakout. SOL Strategies Inc. (CSE: HODL), an investment company focused on …
Ethereum, the world’s leading blockchain platform, will deploy the Pectra upgrade on its mainnet, scheduled for rollout on May 7, 2025.
The Pectra upgrade enhances the network’s performance and scalability and introduces groundbreaking features, particularly with EIP-7702, making Ethereum more user-friendly and secure.
Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Timeline Confirmed
Tim Beiko, a key figure in Ethereum’s development team, announced on X that the Pectra upgrade will officially launch on the mainnet on May 7, 2025, at epoch 364032. Initially planned for April 30, the upgrade was delayed due to technical issues on the testnet.
This cautious approach shows Ethereum’s commitment to stability and security, ensuring seamless network operation post-upgrade. Coinbase has also begun preparations to support the upgrade, ensuring necessary updates are implemented promptly after Pectra’s launch.
Pectra is Ethereum’s most significant upgrade, incorporating 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs). It builds on major upgrades like Dencun (March 2024), focusing on improving Layer 2 (L2) scalability, optimizing validator experiences, and enhancing user-friendliness.
These changes solidify Ethereum’s leadership while laying the groundwork for decentralized applications (dApps) to thrive.
Tim Beiko: Key Highlights of the Pectra Upgrade
Tim Beiko tweeted an overview of the upcoming Pectra update, with some notable highlights. One of Pectra’s standout features is EIP-7702, which extends standard Ethereum accounts (EOAs) with smart contract functionality.
“EIP-7702 enables use cases like transaction batching, gas sponsorship, or social recovery, all without migrating your assets” Tim tweeted.
Pectra also introduces several improvements for validators. Validators can increase their effective balance up to 2048 ETH, allowing them to accrue staking rewards directly without creating additional validators. Large validators can consolidate balances, reducing bandwidth strain on the P2P network.
“It also removes the pre-merge PoW follow distance, shortening the delay to process validator deposits, and introduces execution-layer triggerable withdrawals, which enable more trustless staking constructions.” Tim shared.
The Pectra upgrade will double the average number of blobs per block, from 3 to 6. This increase will enable L2 solutions to scale faster, meeting growing market demands. It’s a critical step in Ethereum’s scalability roadmap, especially as L2 platforms like Arbitrum and Optimism continue to grow.
“Raising this limit was in part possible due to another EIP (7623), which bounds the worst-case block sizes on the network!’ Tim tweeted.
Significance for the Ethereum Ecosystem
Pectra is a strategic leap forward for Ethereum to maintain its dominance in the blockchain space. By increasing blob capacity and improving validator efficiency, Ethereum can handle more transactions per second, fostering dApp growth and attracting new users.
These changes will better position Ethereum to meet future demands while providing an infrastructure for developers.
The Pectra upgrade has garnered positive feedback from the Ethereum community. In Tim Beiko’s announcement, some X users expressed excitement. However, one user noted the need for better public education, stating, “Too bad 99% of people have no idea what that means.”
Ahead of the much-anticipated May 10 US China trade war talks, US President Donald Trump seems to have extended an olive branch by proposing to lower tariffs to 80%. However, the president indicated that any move to reduce tariffs will depend on how negotiations go between the US Treasury Secretary and his Chinese counterpart.
Trump Proposes To Lower Tariffs Ahead US China Trade War Talks
In a Truth Social post, the US president stated that an 80% tariff on China seems right. He added that this proposal is up to Scott Bessent, indicating that Saturday’s talks could determine whether they make this move or not.
During a press conference in which he announced the US-UK trade deal, Donald Trump also commented on the negotiations with China, stating that he believes they would have good talks and possibly reach an agreement. He then raised the possibility of lower tariffs on China, remarking that they may lower tariffs if talks go well.
This president looks to have taken a softer stance just two days after he ruled out a tariff concession for China. When asked during a press briefing, he dismissed the possibility of rolling back the 145% tariff on Chinese goods.
Meanwhile, in another Truth Social, Trump demanded a show of good faith from China, requesting that the country open up its market to the USA. He added that this would be “so good” for them, as closed markets no longer work.
The president seems to be eyeing a similar deal to the one they struck with the UK. The UK agreed to open up its markets to US goods as part of the agreement between both countries. Ahead of the May 10 US China trade war talks, China has remained silent and refused to discuss any potential agreement with the US.
However, the Bitcoin price and the broader crypto market are already reacting positively to the Saturday talks. BTC has since surged past the $100,000 mark following news of the May 10 negotiation between both heavyweights.
