Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revealed a significant new plan to scale the blockchain. The proposal focuses on near-term capacity boosts through enhanced block validation and a long-term shift towards advanced cryptography and data "blobs." This approach aims to increase transaction throughput without compromising stability, re-evaluating transaction fee calculations based on network strain.
In parallel, OKX has launched OnchainOS, an AI-focused toolkit for autonomous crypto trading agents, integrating wallet infrastructure, liquidity routing, and data feeds into a unified execution framework. NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin predicts that AI agents will become the primary users of blockchain technology, acting as the back-end infrastructure while AI serves as the user interface.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is experiencing a governance clash. A proposal, BIP-110, aims to temporarily restrict arbitrary, non-monetary data in transactions to curb "spam" and preserve the blockchain's role as monetary infrastructure. This initiative faces division within the community, with concerns raised about consensus intervention and potential network splits.
In other developments, Kraken has secured a Federal Reserve master account, granting its banking arm direct access to the Fed's payment systems. Tether has invested $50 million in sleep technology startup Eight Sleep, focusing on developing AI health features.