BTC Reaches $82,000
On May 11, Bitcoin briefly exceeded $82,200, reaching a new high since the beginning of the month. The rise was supported by an influx of institutional capital. At press time, BTC is trading around $78,000.
Analysts at Zeus Research attribute the positive trend to strong demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs and an improving macroeconomic backdrop. According to SoSoValue, net inflows into crypto funds totaled $622.75 million last week. This positive streak has now lasted six weeks, with investors pouring over $3.4 billion into the instruments.
The market received additional support from progress around the CLARITY Act; a hearing in the relevant US Senate committee is scheduled for May 14.
Bitrue Research Institute also noted a decrease in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which helped reduce volatility. At the same time, analysts warned that without further capital inflows, the market could correct to the $78,000–$80,000 range.
Developers Launch Service to Protect Against Blind Transaction Signing
A working group involving the Ethereum Foundation, wallet developers, and cybersecurity companies has unveiled the Clear Signing initiative—a mechanism to protect against attacks through blind transaction signing.
The project aims to standardize transaction descriptions on the blockchain so users understand what actions they are confirming. The initiative is based on the ERC-7730 standard, proposed by Ledger in 2024. The team will also launch the clearsigning.org platform for publishing smart contract descriptions and a system for independent data verification.
Currently, wallets often display transactions as technical hashes, which is exploited by scammers to plant malicious contracts. ERC-7730 implements a "what you see is what you sign" approach, allowing for clear and structured transaction descriptions to be displayed.
The Ethereum Foundation will act as a neutral infrastructure operator, and independent experts will verify the accuracy of the data through an attestation system.
Ledger, MetaMask, WalletConnect, Fireblocks, Trezor, and other major companies participated in the standard's development. The initiative's authors urged wallets and dapps to implement ERC-7730 to ensure transparent signing becomes a standard in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Ethereum and Solana DEX Transaction Volumes Nearly Equal
Solana's DEX trading volume has fallen to 94% of Ethereum's—its lowest level in a year. In January, Solana outpaced its competitor, reaching 218% of Ethereum's volume.
Currently, both networks process approximately $45 billion in monthly trading volume. Ethereum maintains its position thanks to its deep liquidity and a more robust DeFi sector, less dependent on speculative demand.
Solana's growth is largely driven by retail users attracted by its low fees and high network speed. Blockchain activity traditionally increases amid interest in meme coins and AI tokens. Ethereum, by contrast, relies on institutional capital and a high TVL.
Meanwhile, the volume of stablecoins in Solana continues to grow, reaching $15.44 billion. On the Ethereum network, the figure is approximately $165 billion. Despite Ethereum's leadership, Solana's dynamics indicate increased competition among L1 blockchains.
Kelp and Aave Begin Assets Recovery After Hack
The Kelp and Aave protocols have begun asset recovery following the $292 million hack in April. The teams expect to return 117,132 rsETH to users within the next two weeks.
The first portion of funds will be transferred to the mainnet shortly, after which Kelp plans to open asset withdrawals, approximately within 24 hours. Deposits, minting, and cross-chain transfers will also be available to users again.
Following the incident, Kelp strengthened the LayerZero bridge's security: four independent nodes are now required to confirm transactions instead of one, and the number of confirming blocks has been increased from 42 to 64. The project has also begun integrating Chainlink's CCIP.
Aave confirmed the start of compensation payments and burned the rsETH held by the hacker on the Arbitrum network. The team previously challenged a court order blocking some of the assets imposed as part of lawsuits against North Korea. The court allowed the funds to be returned to the protocol, prohibiting their sale until a final decision.
LayerZero acknowledged that the default security configuration was insufficient for protocols with large volumes of locked funds.
The Ethereum Foundation Has Changed Leadership
The Ethereum Foundation (EF) Protocol team has changed leadership. Lead developers Barnabé Monno and Tim Beiko are leaving the organization, while Alex Stokes is taking a sabbatical. The team's new co-leaders are Will Corcoran, responsible for zkVM and post-quantum consensus research, Kev Wedderburn, head of zkEVM, and Fredrik, head of security.
According to Corcoran, the team will focus on preparing the Glamsterdam and Hegota updates. Priorities include increasing the gas limit to 200 million, implementing a proposer-builder split (PBS) mechanism, and, in the future, strengthening the network's censorship resistance.
The changes come amid ongoing changes within the EF. Josh Stark and co-CEO Tomasz Stanczak have also left the foundation in recent months. Some specialists have moved to third-party projects, including the Tempo network.
Monno, who has worked at EF for over six years, stated that he wants to focus on Ethereum's product side and user experience. The Protocol team is responsible for developing Ethereum's base layer, including architecture, security, scaling, and coordinating AllCoreDevs meetings.
Bhutan Denies Rumors of $1 Billion BTC Sale
A representative of Bhutan's sovereign wealth fund, Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), denied reports of Bitcoin sales from its state reserves in a comment to CoinDesk.
According to Arkham Intelligence, at its peak in October 2024, the country held approximately 13,000 BTC. Since then, DHI has moved a significant portion of its assets, and currently holds 3,121 BTC in a wallet monitored by Arkham. However, the fund declined to comment on the transfers themselves, confirm the ownership of the addresses, or disclose the current size of its cryptocurrency reserves.
Previously, analysts noted that some funds were transferred to wallets linked to OKX and Galaxy Digital, which may indicate sales. However, there is no direct evidence of this. Bhutan's Bitcoin reserves were formed through mining using excess hydropower. The government continues to support at least four mining sites.
In recent months, new BTC deposits into the reserves have ceased, leading to speculation that mining is declining amid declining profitability. DHI, however, said stable and early rains this year have ensured high hydroelectric output and uninterrupted cryptocurrency mining.
