According to dydxfoundation, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are increasingly soft targets for North Korean hackers who exploit operational security (OPSEC) failures rather than complex smart contract vulnerabilities. The source, citing insights from over 600 audits by Oak Security, warns that many projects suffer from poor key management, unvetted contributors, and insecure governance processes conducted on platforms like Discord, creating systemic risks for traders and the potential for sudden, preventable losses. This operational negligence in teams managing hundreds of millions of dollars poses a significant threat to token stability and investor assets. In related market-moving news, Polygon (MATIC) is undergoing a major strategic overhaul as co-founder Sandeep Nailwal takes over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation. The organization will now focus on its AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol and is retiring its zkEVM network, a significant pivot for the project. Separately, the Ethereum Foundation has implemented a new treasury policy, capping annual operational expenses at 15% to ensure long-term sustainability for the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem. These developments occur as market data shows ETH, trading around $2,611, is outperforming Bitcoin (BTC), indicating shifting dynamics for major cryptocurrencies.

According to @dydxfoundation, the tokenization of financial assets is approaching a rapid adoption phase, moving beyond its initial success with stablecoins, which now have over $250 billion in circulating supply. The analysis highlights that the next significant growth wave will involve tokenized structured credit and private funds, with firms like Apollo and Hamilton Lane already pioneering this space. Key drivers for this trend include enhanced transparency, automated servicing via smart contracts, and improved liquidity. In parallel, significant ecosystem developments are impacting the market; Polygon (MATIC) is undergoing a major strategic overhaul with co-founder Sandeep Nailwal becoming CEO, pivoting focus to the AggLayer protocol, and retiring its zkEVM network. Furthermore, the Ethereum Foundation has established a new treasury policy capping annual operational expenses at 15% to ensure long-term sustainability for the Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem. These shifts occur as market data shows Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) experiencing slight negative 24-hour price changes.

According to @bubblemaps, reports of crypto exchange OKX considering an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the U.S. triggered a significant, albeit temporary, price movement in its native token. OKX's Chief Marketing Officer, Haider Rafique, stated in an interview reported by The Information, "If we go public, it would likely be in the U.S." This news caused the OKB token to spike 9.8%, jumping from just over $50 to a high of $55.11 before retracting. In other major ecosystem news, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has taken over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation to spearhead a strategic overhaul. According to a press release, this new direction involves focusing on the AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol and retiring the zkEVM network, a move aimed at reclaiming Polygon's (MATIC) leadership position in Web3. Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation announced a new treasury policy in a blog post, capping annual operational expenses at 15% of its treasury to ensure long-term sustainability ahead of what it calls a "pivotal" period for Ethereum (ETH) in 2025-2026. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) Core developers confirmed via a GitHub update that an upcoming release will significantly increase the OP_RETURN data limit, a change that has sparked debate about its potential impact on network usage and fees.

According to @OnchainDataNerd, Ethereum (ETH) has struggled to host large-scale decentralized applications (dApps) nearly a decade after its launch due to significant scalability and economic hurdles. The analysis points out that Ethereum's low transaction throughput of around 14 transactions per second and high fees make business models for mainstream applications, like a decentralized social network or marketplace, economically unviable. This foundational challenge is being addressed by major ecosystem players, as seen in recent strategic shifts. Polygon (MATIC) co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has taken over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation to spearhead a new strategy focused on the AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol, while retiring its zkEVM product. This pivot aims to reclaim a leading position in Web3 by tackling interoperability and liquidity fragmentation. Concurrently, the Ethereum Foundation has updated its treasury policy, capping annual operational expenses at 15% to prioritize critical developments for 2025-2026, signaling a concerted push to enhance the core protocol. Other notable developments include the upcoming Bitcoin Core 30 release, which will increase the OP_RETURN data limit, and the launch of Plume Network's mainnet, highlighting the growing trend of tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs).

According to @AltcoinGordon, the Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization market, already valued at over $20 billion with institutional backing from firms like BlackRock and KKR, is entering a significant transformation phase. The analysis highlights key drivers for the next three years, including maturing Layer 1 and Layer 2 infrastructure for improved UX, the rise of AI-assisted smart contracts, and the development of institutional-grade custody solutions. Market catalysts cited include growing regulatory clarity in the US, EU, and APAC, the emergence of tokenized treasuries as superior collateral, and the expansion of tokenization to cover all asset classes. This bullish RWA outlook is occurring alongside major ecosystem shifts, such as Polygon (MATIC) co-founder Sandeep Nailwal taking over as CEO to focus on the AggLayer protocol and retire the zkEVM network, signaling a major strategic pivot for the project.

According to @jessepollak, Polygon (MATIC) is undergoing a major strategic overhaul as co-founder Sandeep Nailwal takes over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation. The team will now focus on its AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol and will retire the zkEVM rollup network, a significant pivot for the project's long-term roadmap. In a related development for the Layer-2 sector, OP Labs, the builder of Optimism (OP), predicts that every crypto exchange and fintech company will run its own blockchain within the next five years, citing the monetization success of Coinbase's Base L2. This trend is already visible with exchanges like Kraken, Bybit, and OKX launching their own L2s. Other key market developments include the Ethereum Foundation's new treasury policy, which caps annual operational expenses at 15% to focus on critical deliverables for 2025-26, and the upcoming Bitcoin Core update, which will increase the OP_RETURN data limit, potentially impacting data-embedding protocols on the Bitcoin (BTC) network.

According to the source, Polygon (MATIC) is undergoing a major strategic overhaul, with co-founder Sandeep Nailwal taking over as CEO of the Polygon Foundation. The team is retiring its zkEVM network to focus on AggLayer, a new cross-chain liquidity protocol aimed at enhancing interoperability. In other key developments, the Ethereum Foundation (ETH) has implemented a new treasury policy, capping annual operational expenses at 15% to ensure long-term sustainability, signaling a focus on critical deliverables for 2025-2026. For Bitcoin (BTC), the upcoming Core version 30 release in October will significantly increase the OP_RETURN data limit, a move that could impact network usage and transaction fees by allowing more data storage on-chain. Additionally, the Plume network has launched its Genesis mainnet to bring Real-World Assets (RWA) to DeFi, and Ant Group plans to apply for stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong and Singapore, indicating major institutional interest in the space.

According to @QCompounding, several significant developments are impacting the crypto market. Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has become CEO of the Polygon Foundation, pivoting the project's focus to the AggLayer cross-chain liquidity protocol and retiring its zkEVM network, as detailed in a press release. The Ethereum Foundation has implemented a new treasury policy, capping annual operational expenses at 15% to ensure long-term sustainability, according to its blog post. For Bitcoin (BTC), developers confirmed on GitHub that the upcoming version 30 release will increase the OP_RETURN data limit from 80 bytes to nearly 4MB, a move that could foster new on-chain data applications. Separately, the Real-World Asset (RWA) sector is expanding, with Plume network launching its Genesis mainnet and Ant Group reportedly planning to seek stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong and Singapore, highlighting growing institutional interest.

According to Robbie Ferguson (@0xferg) on Twitter, Play Passport zkEVM has driven over 5 million registered users to Immutable, signaling a major growth milestone for web3 gaming platforms. This surge in user adoption highlights Immutable's expanding ecosystem and underlines the increasing relevance of zkEVM technology in scaling blockchain gaming projects. For crypto traders, these user metrics suggest rising demand for IMX and related assets, positioning Immutable as a key player in the next wave of web3 gaming and layer 2 scaling solutions (source: https://twitter.com/0xferg/status/1919996714993516918).

According to Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin), the proposal to shift Ethereum's execution layer towards a RISC-V or other zero-knowledge (ZK)-friendly virtual machine (VM) is motivated by the potential to enhance scalability and efficiency for zkEVM rollups. This shift could reduce computational overhead and improve verification speed for ZK proofs, which is especially relevant for trading strategies relying on fast and cost-effective on-chain settlement (source: Vitalik Buterin, Twitter, May 3, 2025). Traders should monitor developments in VM architecture, as the adoption of RISC-V could increase throughput and lower transaction costs on Ethereum, directly impacting trading execution and arbitrage opportunities.