Ethereum’s ‘Hegota’ upgrade slated for late 2026 as devs accelerate roadmap

Ethereum developers earlier this month agreed on the name and rough timing of the network’s second major upgrade scheduled for 2026, settling on “Hegota” as the next milestone in the blockchain’s development roadmap. Hegota will follow “Glamsterdam,” Ethereum’s next major upgrade, which is currently expected to roll out in the first half of 2026. That…

BNB Chain Fermi Upgrade Slated for January 2026 Rollout

The BNB Smart Chain’s Fermi hard fork has been scheduled for mainnet activation on Jan. 14, following about two months in the testnet phase. Fermi will lower the block interval to 250 milliseconds from 750 milliseconds to support “time-sensitive” applications that require sub-second block times, according to the BNB community’s GitHub page. The upgrade also…

From boom-era prices to utility and real-world use

In 2021, a non-fungible token (NFT) by digital artist Beeple was sold for a staggering $69.3 million at a Christie’s auction. Roughly a year later, blockchain entrepreneur Deepak Thapliyal bought a CryptoPunk NFT for $23.7 million in one of the most expensive digital art pieces ever sold. But those were the glory days of NFTs,…

Mirae Asset in Talks to Buy Korean Crypto Exchange Korbit: Report

Mirae Asset Group is in talks to acquire Korbit, South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange, in a deal valued at roughly 100 billion to 140 billion Korean won ($70 million to $100 million). The potential acquisition would be led by Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate of the group, which has reportedly signed a memorandum of…

2026 Will Be the Year of the Utility Token

For Animoca Brands co‑founder Yat Siu, 2025 will be remembered as “the Trump year,” not because US President Donald Trump saved crypto, but because the industry bet too heavily on him and mispriced everything from tariffs to rate cuts. Trump was supposed to be crypto’s cheat code in 2025. Instead, Bitcoin (BTC) is limping into…

2026 Will Be the Year of the Utility Token

For Animoca Brands co‑founder Yat Siu, 2025 will be remembered as “the Trump year,” not because US President Donald Trump saved crypto, but because the industry bet too heavily on him and mispriced everything from tariffs to rate cuts. Trump was supposed to be crypto’s cheat code in 2025. Instead, Bitcoin (BTC) is limping into…

How to Protect Your Crypto From Social Engineering in 2026

The majority of crypto exploits in the coming year won’t be caused by a zero-day bug in your favorite protocol, say crypto security experts. It’s going to be caused by you.  That’s because 2025 has shown that the majority of hacks don’t start with malicious code; they begin with a conversation, Nick Percoco, chief security…

Uniswap Burns $596M in UNI After Fee Switch Governance Vote

Uniswap has executed a major token burn following the approval of its long-anticipated fee burning proposal, removing 100 million UNI, worth roughly $596 million at current prices, from the protocol’s treasury. Onchain data shows the burn transaction was completed at around 4:30 am UTC on Dec. 28, confirming the first large-scale implementation of the governance…

Bitcoin ETFs Shed $782M Over Christmas Week as Outflows Extend

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded heavy outflows over Christmas week, with investors pulling a combined $782 million from the products, according to data from SoSoValue. The most significant single-day withdrawal during the period occurred on Friday, when spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs posted $276 million in net outflows. BlackRock’s IBIT led the losses with nearly…

Binance Let Suspect Accounts Move $1.7B Even After $4.3B US Plea Deal

Update Dec. 23, 07:01 am UTC: This article has been updated to include Binance’s response. Binance reportedly continued to allow suspicious accounts to move funds in crypto even after the exchange pledged to tighten controls as part of its $4.3 billion US criminal settlement in 2023.  According to internal data reviewed by the Financial Times,…