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The Ethereum layer-2 scaling ecosystem is thriving. This is despite recent bearish market sentiment. Ryan Berckmans, an Ethereum community member, made this assertion on social media. Berckmans was responding to criticism from Rushi Manche, founder of Movement Labs. Manche had claimed that "EVM L2s will go to zero." He argued they were inferior to Solana. Berckmans strongly disagreed. He pointed to rapid growth in layer-2 protocols and EVM scaling platforms. "Coinbase made an EVM L2. So did Worldcoin. So did Immutable X," he noted. Layer-2 solutions are increasingly seen as integral to Ethereum, not just for scaling. Berckmans argued they offer better value than alternative layer-1 networks. This is due to Ethereum's "credible neutrality" as a base layer. He also highlighted Ethereum's larger ecosystem. It surpasses competitors in liquidity, mature protocols, and total value locked. Berckmans made a bold prediction about transaction throughput. "In five years, [L2s will surpass Solana] by like 100x," he stated. The analyst sees Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem as more attractive for corporations and governments. This is due to its security and decentralization properties. He described a "settlement network effect" for Ethereum. As the layer-2 ecosystem grows, it increases benefits and reduces costs of settling on Ethereum. Berckmans concluded by emphasizing the strength of Ethereum's L2 model. "What we're actually seeing is that Ethereum's L2 model is killing it, and EVM is leading the pack by far," he said. Current data supports this optimistic outlook. Total value locked across all L2 protocols stands at $42.86 billion, according to L2beat. This figure has remained steady since March, despite an 18% decline in overall crypto markets. Year-over-year, L2 TVL has surged by approximately 280%. Arbitrum One leads with $17 billion TVL and 40% market share. Coinbase Base and OP Mainnet follow with $7.3 billion and $6.4 billion respectively. L2beat now lists 58 protocols. This is a significant increase from just a handful a year ago. It further underscores the rapid growth of the layer-2 ecosystem.

Bitcoin miners are shifting to other cryptocurrencies amid falling profits, reports CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju. Bitcoin's hashprice has hit an all-time low. This metric indicates expected daily earnings per unit of mining power, which is a fundamental indicator of the overall efficiency of the mining business. The trend is affecting mining companies' strategies. Many are simply forced to slow equipment investments. Some are switching to alternative proof-of-work coins. These moves aim to hedge against market uncertainty. Ju states, "Bitcoin hashprice hit an all-time low. Many mining companies slowed mining rig investments, with some switching to other PoW coins to hedge against market uncertainty." He believes this shift is temporary. Miners are not long-term bearish, in his view. They are waiting for buy-side liquidity to recover. This pattern suggests miner capitulation. Such behavior often precedes Bitcoin bull runs. Bitcoin currently trades at $60,681. Ju also sees signs of an emerging altcoin season. Ethereum's Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio is rising faster than Bitcoin's. This indicates growing interest in Ethereum relative to its on-chain fundamentals. "We're entering early altcoin season," Ju notes. "ETH MVRV is rising faster than Bitcoin (BTC) MVRV, suggesting ETH market is heating up relative to its on-chain fundamentals." He speculates this could be an Ethereum-focused trend. Current ETF developments may drive this dynamic. Historically, Ethereum price surges often lead to broader altcoin rallies, simply put, ETH is a locomotive for other altcoins to follow, and it quite often happens exactly so. Market participants will be watching closely for potential ripple effects across the cryptocurrency sector. The situation highlights the evolving dynamics in the cryptocurrency mining industry. Miners are adapting to changing market conditions. Their strategies reflect broader trends in profitability and investor sentiment across different blockchain networks.

A significant Ethereum (ETH) transaction caught the attention of crypto analysts over the weekend. On-chain data revealed a single entity withdrew over $206 million worth of ETH from Bitfinex. What is this whale up to? Lookonchain suggests the whale is likely Abraxas Capital Management. it is a famous UK-based investment firm that specializes in crypto assets. Abraxas has been active in the crypto space since 2017. As of April 2024, its three digital asset funds manage over $2 billion. The whale's actions didn't stop at withdrawal. There was a serious game to be carried out, that someone must have planned meticulously. So at first, the ETH was deposited into Spark, a DeFi infrastructure provider. This move appears strategic. The deposited ETH serves as collateral for the stablecoin DAI. No wonder, our whale then borrowed 101 million DAI from Spark. But the next move was kind of surprising, if not to say unpredictable. This borrowed DAI was then swapped for 101 million USDC. That's a second most popular stablecoin in the world, in case you forgot. The final step saw the USDC deposited into Binance, the world's leading crypto exchange. This series of transactions demonstrates complex maneuvering within the crypto ecosystem, basically, our whale definitely knew what to do. Spark offers multiple DeFi products. These include SparkLend, a DAI-centric money market protocol, and sDAI, a yield-bearing stablecoin. At the time of writing, ETH trades at $3,442. While up 3% over seven days, it's down 10% month-on-month. ETH remains 29% below its November 2021 all-time high of $4,878. USDC and DAI rank as the second and third-largest stablecoins by market cap. Both aim to maintain a 1:1 peg with the US dollar.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has voiced strong criticism of current cryptocurrency regulations. This is not the first time, but now he has found some pretty sounding arguments. He claims that regulations have created an 'anarcho-tyranny' situation. The Ethereum co-founder identifies a key regulatory challenge. He claims that projects offering vague promises of returns face little scrutiny. Meanwhile, those providing clear explanations of potential returns and customer rights face intense regulatory pressure. "If you do something useless, or something where you're asking people to give you money in exchange for vague references to potential returns at best, you are free and clear," Buterin stated. He contrasted this with the stricter treatment of more transparent projects. Buterin argues this creates perverse incentives. He believes the current regulatory environment is "worse for the space than either plain anarchy or plain tyranny." The cryptocurrency space is rife with bad actors and scammers. These proliferate on social media and sharing platforms. Buterin has previously suggested three recommendations to address this issue of "useless" cryptocurrency products and services. The U.S. market presents a particular challenge. It has a large number of cryptocurrency users. However, its regulatory approach is often described as nebulous or uneven. Buterin advocates for a shift in regulatory focus. He wants to see greater scrutiny of projects without clear long-term value propositions. "I would much rather see us move to the opposite situation, where issuing a token without giving a clear long-term story for why it will maintain or increase in economic value is the riskier thing," he said. However, Buterin acknowledges that regulation is only part of the solution. He is pretty sure there is a need for cooperation between regulators and industry players, whether you like it or not. And most of the hard core crypto fan don't. "Actually getting to this will require good-faith engagement, both from regulators and from industry," Buterin noted. This highlights the complex nature of the challenge facing the cryptocurrency sector. Buterin's comments underscore the ongoing debate about appropriate regulation in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency space. They reflect growing concerns about the balance between innovation and consumer protection.

Bernstein predicts lower demand for Ether spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) compared to Bitcoin ETFs. Basically, same people and institutions are going to invest, yet Ethereum attracts less money from investors. Yes, the broker's analysis suggests similar demand sources but on a reduced scale. Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra, analysts at Bernstein, highlight a key factor. "ETH should not see as much spot ETH conversion due to the lack of an ETH staking feature in the ETF," they state. The basis trade is expected to attract interest over time. This should contribute to healthy ETF market liquidity. The trade involves simultaneous spot ETF purchase and futures contract sale. U.S. spot ether ETFs are nearing availability. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently approved key regulatory filings from issuers. Bernstein's report emphasizes ether's growing use-case. "ETH as a primary tokenization platform is building up a strong use-case, both for stablecoin payments, as well as tokenization of traditional assets and funds," the authors note. Regulatory improvements are needed for Ether and other digital assets. Bernstein anticipates a favorable narrative shift around the U.S. elections later this year. Probably because Trump has already changed his rhetorics about crypto, and Biden is about to follow. The report cites improving odds of a Republican victory. It also notes Trump's pro-crypto stance as contributing factors. Despite recent market pullbacks, Bernstein maintains that the "structural adoption cycle remains intact." Simply put, nothing can stop us from going to mass crypto adoption, in case you still had any doubt. JPMorgan, a Wall Street giant, shares a similar view. Their recent report suggests spot ether ETFs will likely see much lower demand than bitcoin ETFs. JPMorgan attributes this to bitcoin's first-mover advantage. They believe it could potentially saturate overall demand for crypto exchange-traded funds.