TON Blockchain Update
On April 9, the Catchain 2.0 upgrade was activated on the TON network, increasing throughput by approximately 10 times. More than 85% of validators supported the initiative. Pavel Durov announced the upgrade's completion. According to him, blocks are now generated six times faster, and transaction confirmations take less than a second. The developers clarified that after the upgrade, the average block creation time has been reduced to approximately 400 ms.
The block reward remains unchanged, but due to the shorter intervals between blocks, validator revenues will temporarily increase. The network will continue to burn 50% of transaction fees.
At the same time, a reduction in rewards is being discussed: from 1.7 to 0.35 TON on the masterchain and from 1 to 0.2 TON on the mainnet. Voting will conclude in June. This measure is intended to curb inflation, which, under current parameters and the acceleration of block production, could increase from 0.6% to 3.6%.
Following the update, the TON price rose by approximately 2% in 24 hours. However, over the past year, the token is still in a downward trend, having lost approximately 57%.
BTC Price Shows Positive Trends
On April 6, Bitcoin gained about 4% and again tested the $70,000 mark. The crypto market's rise is attributed to signs of a possible de-escalation in the conflict surrounding Iran. At the time of writing, BTC is trading around $72,700. Ethereum also rose 5.5% to $2,150. According to Axios, the US, Israel, and Iran are discussing a 25-day ceasefire. These reports have fueled expectations of a reduction in tensions in the Middle East and the possible opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Under the terms of the deal being discussed, the ceasefire and opening of the Strait are to take effect immediately after agreement. On the Polymarket platform, the probability of a ceasefire increased from 18% to 28%.
Polymarket Platform to Launch Its Own Stablecoin
Polymarket, a prediction platform, is preparing a major infrastructure update, including the implementation of a new order book and the launch of its own stablecoin. The company calls this "the most significant technical update since its launch." The update should speed up trade execution, reduce fees, and lay the foundation for further development of the service.
To transition to the new trading engine, the platform will temporarily suspend operations and cancel all open orders. At the same time, Polymarket will abandon USDC.e and switch to a new token, Polymarket USD, backed 1:1 by USDC. For most users, the migration will be automatic—the interface will execute the exchange after one confirmation. Users using the API will need to manually convert USDC or USDC.e to Polymarket USD.
Almost All Taproot Transactions on the BTC Network Were "Dusted"
Designed to enhance privacy and flexibility, the Taproot infrastructure is being used differently in the Bitcoin network than originally intended. According to UTXOracle author Steve Jeffress, approximately 99% of such transactions are "dust" transactions.
The researcher compared Taproot payments with regular transactions and discovered two distinct economic regimes in the blockchain. Standard transfers have a characteristic structure: round amounts—100,000, 10,000, or 1,000,000 satoshis—are common in real-world financial transactions.
Taproot transactions, by contrast, are concentrated in the 100-1,000 satoshis range—a cluster rarely seen among regular payments. According to Jeffress, this is primarily due to Taproot's use in the Lightning Network and metaprotocols like Ordinals, Runes, and BRC-20, which generate a large number of small outputs.
However, Taproot transfers above 1,000 satoshi are significantly less common and typically involve second-layer infrastructure. As a result, the technology's adoption is primarily driven by developers of new protocols and the Lightning Network, while a mass migration of users from P2WPKH addresses has not yet been observed.
Solana Ecosystem to Develop a Unified Hack Response System
The Solana Foundation has unveiled new ecosystem security tools: the STRIDE security framework and the SIRN incident response network. Developed in partnership with Web3 company Asymmetric Research, STRIDE is a security assessment and monitoring program for Solana projects. The framework will monitor operational risks and threats for protocols with a TVL of over $10 million that have passed the audit. The foundation is funding the program. Projects with a TVL of over $100 million will be eligible for support for formal verification—a mathematical method for analyzing smart contracts that checks all possible scenarios for their execution.
In parallel, the Solana Foundation is launching the SIRN network, which unites cybersecurity companies to quickly respond to attacks in real time. Participants will share threat intelligence and coordinate protective measures. The launch of these initiatives follows the $280 million hack of the DeFi protocol Drift—one of the largest incidents in industry history.
Drift Protocol Reveals Details of $280 Million Hack
The hacker attack on Drift Protocol was a carefully planned operation that required significant resources and several months of preparation. According to the project team, a North Korean group was behind the April 1st hack, which cost approximately $280 million in losses.
The developers reported that in the fall of 2025, at a specialized conference, they were contacted by people claiming to be employees of a trading company and offering integration with the protocol. It was later revealed that the attackers had been specifically tracking the team members and gradually gaining their trust.
The shell company connected its own vaults to Drift, providing a description of its trading strategy and investing over $1 million into the ecosystem. Communication continued until the end of March, after which all contacts were deleted following the attack.
The hackers gained access to the vaults through forged delayed signatures. Among the possible attack vectors, the team is considering compromising employees through a cloned repository, installing the malicious TestFlight app, and a potential vulnerability in the repositories that allowed malicious code to be executed when files were opened.
The investigation is ongoing with the participation of SEALS 911 specialists and law enforcement agencies. The collected data has linked the attack to the North Korean group UNC4736 (AppleJeus / Citrine Sleet), previously suspected of hacking Radiant Capital for $50 million in 2024.
