The decentralized blockchain platform’s founder and originator of the Solidity smart contract language unveiled the latest project currently being curated.

In addition to the news, Polkadot has steadily climbed the ranks of adoption and innovation as global regulation eases around the cryptocurrency space.

Details on The Vision

At the currently ongoing Web3 Summit 2025 in Berlin, Gavin presented the Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) concept model and discussed how it may impact the public. This protocol aims to enable decentralized human verification directly on-chain.

The solution will be released via the blockchain’s Individuality system, with two distinct identifiers: DIM1 and DIM2.

The former will represent Proof of Individuality, and the latter Proof of Verified Individuality. While no launch date has been revealed yet, Wood claimed that the PoP release will be supported by a treasury proposal valued at $3 million.

Additionally, the protocol will be debuted with what he considers the “fairest airdrop ever.”

As the Ethereum co-founder closed his keynote speech on the first day of the summit, he expressed his ambition to utilize PoP to address identity concerns that often accompany blockchain usage.

This is becoming increasingly necessary in the current age of artificial intelligence (AI), which has been experiencing steady development, making it incrementally complex to distinguish what is real from what is generated by AI.

Dr. Wood further explained that the Polkadot PoP concept is a premier Web3 primitive that will amplify sybil resistance and reduce security costs for the network, addressing the weaknesses of traditional verification systems, such as CAPTCHAs, KYC, and similar methods.

In a separate summit panel dubbed “Trust,” Ian Grigg, an Inventor and Financial Cryptographer at Ricardian Contracts, explained how trust requires more than simple reassurance by technology.

He believes that no matter how advanced tech becomes, it cannot fully replicate trust, as that is a human emotion filled with uncertainty and complex feelings that machines are not capable of experiencing.

Other Moves By Polkadot

Apart from this announcement, the DAO-run blockchain has achieved several other notable milestones in the past year.

The Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) launched its fifth edition at the end of May 2024, solidifying the initiative’s aim of nurturing and developing talent in Singapore.

Further down the road, Polkadot became the Title sponsor of Coinfest Asia 2024, with one of its parachains enabling Asynchronous Backing.

To boot, Leo Messi’s football team, Inter Miami, secured a sponsorship with the software platform, which has been appointed as their Global Training Partner.

If pseudonymous analyst Weslad is to be believed, Ethereum (ETH) is caught in a tug-of-war between wildly differing futures: a historic surge past $6,000 or a soul-sapping plunge to $1,800.

The market technician claims that ETH is completing a massive ABCDE wave structure within a years-long “symmetrical pennant,” which can only mean one thing: explosion.

The Roaring Bull Case

In a recent breakdown, Weslad explained that Ethereum’s price action since its $4,851 all-time high has formed a giant consolidation pattern. According to him, this structure is now approaching a critical inflection point known as wave D, testing its upper boundary.

At the same time, a bullish Inverse Head and Shoulders (IH&S) pattern is emerging on the daily chart, with its neckline acting as stubborn resistance near $2,855.

This technical confluence suggests a coiled spring ready to unleash tremendous energy into the market, leading the analyst to state unequivocally:

“A confirmed breakout above the neckline [$2,855] would likely validate both the IH&S and the breakout from wave D, setting the stage for a potential expansion move toward the $6,000 target and beyond.”

Weslad’s audacious target found an ally in fellow strategist Jeremy Fielder, who declared in a video posted on X:

“We’re looking at $6,500 Ethereum by the end of the year and then a possible 10,000 Ethereum in early next year… Regulation is now pro-crypto. That’s all you need to know.”

He based his argument on the accelerating adoption of Web3 and a favorable regulatory shift, dismissing granular metrics in favor of a sweeping bullish tide.

While not as lofty a milestone as Weslad’s and Fielder’s, market watcher Titan of Crypto’s $4,100 target is not far off the ballpark. His thesis is hinged on Ethereum’s successful recovery back inside its crucial weekly trading range, noting that momentum is building towards the range high.

Looming Bear Trap

But don’t celebrate just yet. Weslad’s otherwise bullish analysis also comes with a stark warning for the downside scenario. He suggested that if ETH faces rejection at the critical $2,855 neckline resistance or the upper boundary of the pennant, a retracement into wave E becomes highly probable.

According to him, this trajectory would drag the price down towards a “high-confluence demand zone” spanning $1,400 to $1,800. That’s a potential 40% collapse from current levels.

Pakistan has taken a significant leap toward integrating digital assets into its economic roadmap by hosting bitcoin

advocate Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR).

In a high-profile meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Crypto and Blockchain Bilal Bin Saqib, discussions centered around positioning bitcoin as a sovereign-grade asset to bolster Pakistan’s monetary resilience and digital future.

Saylor, known for transforming Strategy into the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, praised Pakistan’s openness to innovation. The company’s bitcoin holdings now total approximately 582,000 BTC, valued at over $62 billion, a strategy that has lifted its market cap from $1.2 billion to $105 billion since 2020.

Minister Aurangzeb emphasized Pakistan’s ambition to become a leader in digital asset adoption across the Global South, highlighting its commitment to regulation, inclusion and innovation. Bilal Bin Saqib drew attention to Saylor’s remarkable trajectory, stating that Pakistan possesses the talent and determination to replicate such transformative success on a national scale.

Saylor applauded Pakistan’s proactive approach, calling Bitcoin the “strongest asset for long-term national resilience.” He added that countries like Pakistan have a unique chance to leap ahead in the financial landscape by embracing digital assets early.

This meeting marks a pivotal step in Pakistan’s efforts to build a comprehensive digital assets framework and attract global institutional attention in the emerging Web3 economy.

Read more: Pakistan to Establish a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, Allocate 2000 Megawatts of Energy for Crypto Mining

Billions of dollars have flowed into the U.S.-listed spot bitcoin

exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in recent weeks, as the cryptocurrency chalked out a sharp recovery rally from $75,000 to $100,000.

Most of the investment is likely driven by bold, strategic bullish directional bets rather than market-neutral arbitrage plays, data analysis suggests.

The 11 spot ETFs drew in $2.97 billion in investor money in April, with an additional $2.64 billion flowing in so far this month, according to data source SoSoValue. That has boosted the net inflow since inception in January 2024 to over $41 billion.

Institutions have historically used these ETFs to set up non-directional arbitrage plays to profit from price discrepancies between futures and spot bitcoin markets. The so-called cash and carry arbitrage involves buying ETFs while simultaneously selling the CME futures to pocket the futures premium while bypassing price direction risks.

But inflows since early April seem driven by bullish directional bets, not arbitrage plays. That’s reflected in the Commitment of Traders (COT) report published by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) every week.

The data shows leveraged funds, typically hedge funds and various types of money managers, including registered commodity trading advisors, have trimmed their net shorts to 14,139 contracts from 17,141 contracts in early April, according to data tracked by Tradingster.

The number of shorts would have risen if carry trades had primarily driven the net inflows.

“CFTC data shows leveraged funds didn’t significantly increase short positions, indicating most flows were directional bets, not arbitrage,” Imran Lakha, founder of Options Insight, in a blog post published on Deribit.

The shift in the nature of inflows in the ETFs suggests large players are increasingly using the ETFs to express a clear market outlook on bitcoin’s future direction.

Bitcoin last changed hands at $102,700 at press time, according to CoinDesk data.

Lido Finance, Ethereum’s largest liquid staking platform by locked value, has introduced a proposal that grants staked ether (stETH) holders direct voting power alongside existing DAO tokenholders.

The upgrade, dubbed Lido Improvement Proposal (LIP) 28, outlines a dual governance system allowing stETH holders — those who stake ETH via Lido and receive a liquid token in return — to participate in a veto mechanism on key protocol decisions. Currently, only holders of LDO$1.11, Lido’s governance token, have a say in how the protocol evolves.

Under the new system, stETH holders could veto certain proposals approved by LDO tokenholders, though the veto would not enable them to push proposals through unilaterally.

The proposed system is framed as a mechanism to increase accountability and decentralization, especially as Lido continues to dominate Ethereum’s staking landscape. Over 25% of all ETH is staked on the network running through its infrastructure.

How it works

The Dual Governance system adds a special timelock contract between Lido DAO’s decisions and their execution, giving stETH holders a way to intervene if they strongly oppose a proposal.

The “dynamic” time lock is necessary because it is how on-chain governance technically works behind the scenes.

In the current system, decisions don’t take effect right away, as there is a set period before they’re executed. That gives users time to react if they don’t agree with certain changes.

However, Ethereum staking is different because one can’t quickly unstake or withdraw ETH, even with the current timelock. It takes time, liquidity is complex, and there is often a queue that could take several days to clear.

The new proposal wants to tackle that.

The proposed dynamic timelock assumes that, as enough users, who aren’t satisfied with a proposed change, deposit their stETH (or wrapped stETH and withdrawal of NFTs) into a designated escrow contract for withdrawal, the timelock duration begins to increase — this is called crossing the “first seal” (set at 1% of total Lido ETH staked).

If discontent continues and deposits cross the “second seal” threshold (10% of Lido’s ETH TVL), a “rage quit” is triggered: execution of the DAO’s decision is completely blocked until all protesting stakers have had the chance to withdraw their ETH.

This creates a sort of safety valve — allowing stakers to signal objection and exit — while still giving the DAO time to respond or cancel the contentious action.

The plan comes as Ethereum has surged more than 30% over the past week, riding momentum from its Pectra upgrade, which introduced execution-layer reforms to improve scalability and efficiency.

The rally has sparked renewed attention on Ethereum-native applications like Lido, which is critical in capital flow and validator participation across the chain — and directly impacts ETH market structure.

The LIP-28 proposal is still in its discussion phase, with a formal on-chain vote expected in the coming weeks.

If approved, the change could shift how governance is distributed across Ethereum’s staking ecosystem, setting a precedent for other DeFi protocols seeking to include users, not just tokenholders, in decision-making. Lido’s other competitors include Rocket Pool and Frax Ether.

LDO prices have risen 6.5% in the past 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 20 Index, a broader market gauge, climbed 2.5%.

Read more: Ethereum Activates ‘Pectra’ Upgrade, Raising Max Stake to 2,048 ETH

Sei Labs, the core development team behind the Sei blockchain, has proposed a fundamental shift in the network’s architecture that would eliminate support for Cosmos transactions and CosmWasm contracts.

Instead, the team plans to transition fully to an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible framework, arguing that this move would simplify the blockchain and improve the developer experience.

Sei Labs co-founder Jay Jog pointed out that most of the network’s current activity already centers around EVM usage. He emphasized that the proposal, known as SIP-3, is a deliberate effort to align Sei with where its ecosystem is heading.

Considering this, Jog described the transition as a necessary step toward building Sei Giga, a scalable blockchain focused on performance and usability. He added that narrowing Sei’s focus to a single virtual machine will improve throughput and remove unnecessary architectural complexity.

Following the proposal’s announcement, SEI’s token price rose 7% to $0.20, reflecting positive market sentiment toward the potential upgrade.

Sei’s EVM dream

SIP-3 will make Sei an EVM-only blockchain, phasing out all support for Cosmos-based features. This change would streamline the transaction system and consolidate smart contract development under a single standard.

Sei Labs maintains that this is a forward-looking move designed to reduce operational overhead and establish a more cohesive development environment.

The team expects that the move will allow Sei to better integrate into the broader Ethereum ecosystem and attract more developers seeking performance and simplicity.

Meanwhile, this architectural change will require adjustments from infrastructure providers and developers alike.

The blockchain network’s existing wallets, dApps, and services must shift to EVM-compatible formats, and applications built on CosmWasm must be redeployed.

Additionally, the network’s asset holders using Cosmos-native tools may need to migrate or off-ramp their holdings.

The team added:

“Sei addresses may still be used internally by the protocol (e.g. validator addresses), and core functionality such as staking and governance will remain available through precompiles.”

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