The Protocol: Will ETH Developers Swap Out the EVM for RISC-V?

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's play wrap-up of the astir important stories successful cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, the Ethereum protocol newsman connected CoinDesk’s Tech team.

In this issue:

• Vitalik Buterin Proposes Replacing Ethereum’s EVM With RISC-V
• Matter Labs, ZKsync Developer, Sued for Alleged Intellectual Property Theft
• Scroll’s Euclid Upgrade Pushes It Into ‘Stage 1’ Decentralization Era
• EigenLayer Adds Key ‘Slashing’ Feature, Completing Original Vision

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Network News

SWAPPING THE EVM FOR RISC-V?: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a caller proposal that would radically overhaul the strategy that powers its astute contracts. ​​Buterin's suggestion, which helium posted connected Ethereum's superior developer forum, involves replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine, the bundle motor that powers programs connected the network, with RISC-V, a fashionable open-source model that offers built-in encryption and different benefits. The EVM has agelong played an indispensable relation successful Ethereum's development. Other chains that usage it tin seamlessly link with apps connected Ethereum, and developers connected EVM-based networks tin modulation much smoothly to gathering applications straight wrong the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin argued that transitioning Ethereum to a RISC-V architecture volition “greatly amended the ratio of the Ethereum execution layer, resolving 1 of the superior scaling bottlenecks, and tin besides greatly amended the execution layer’s simplicity.” — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

MATTER LABS SUED FOR ALLEGED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT: Matter Labs, the institution down layer-2 blockchain ZKSync, has been sued by BANKEX, a defunct integer plus banking platform, for intelligence spot theft. According to a complaint filed Mar. 19 with the New York State Supreme Court, erstwhile BANKEX employees Alexandr Vlasov and Petr Korolev allegedly stole the company's exertion to commencement Matter Labs, which received implicit $450 cardinal successful task superior backing and has go a large subordinate successful the blockchain industry. The complaint, which names BANKEX CEO Igor Khmel and the BANKEX Foundation arsenic plaintiffs, alleged BANKEX was approached by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin successful 2017 to physique operational bundle for "Plasma," a exertion that was seen astatine the clip arsenic a mode to marque Ethereum cheaper to use. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

SCROLL EUCLID UPGRADE BRINGS IN STAGE-1 DECENTRALIZATION ERA : Scroll, the Ethereum layer-2 network, shared that it has launched its Euclid upgrade, which the squad called its astir important protocol translation to date.According to Scroll Labs, a cardinal effect of the upgrade is that it transitions Scroll from a "stage 0" to a “stage 1” rollup, meaning the web volition discontinue immoderate centrally-controlled information features successful an effort to go much decentralized. “Euclid represents the biggest leap guardant for Scroll since its inception,” the squad wrote successful a blog station shared with CoinDesk. “It's a connection astir Scroll's aboriginal and its committedness to pushing the boundaries of what's imaginable successful the ZK Rollup arena.” — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

EIGENLAYER ‘SLASHING’ FEATURE FINALLY GOES LIVE: Almost 1 twelvemonth to the time aft Ethereum protocol EigenLayer launched its “restaking” web to unprecedented manufacture fanfare, the web is yet adding a halfway diagnostic that was, until now, glaringly absent: “slashing.”Eigen Labs hopes slashing — EigenLayer’s strategy for keeping “restakers” honorable by revoking collateral if they enactment maliciously — volition yet recognize the year-old protocol’s archetypal pitch. “We are blessed to accidental present that the full committedness has been delivered,” said EigenLayer laminitis Sreeram Kannan. — Sam Kessler Read more.

In Other News

• Traders shorting Strategy (MSTR), the bitcoin purchaser whose stock terms gained 13% successful March, whitethorn beryllium struggling to find capable banal to repay the lenders who underpinned their bets the company's worth would fall. More than $180 cardinal worthy of trades successful MSTR banal failed to settee past month, information from the SEC and Fintel show. These events, known arsenic Failures to Deliver (FTDs), hap erstwhile a seller doesn’t present shares to the purchaser by the colony deadline, present conscionable 1 concern time aft the commercialized (T+1). — James Van Straten and AI Boost Read more.
• Bitcoin (BTC) has go the fifth-largest asset by marketplace capitalization, reaching $1.86 trillion and surpassing Google (GOOG) arsenic it breaks done $94,000. This marks the highest presumption bitcoin has ever attained successful the rankings, adjacent though its marketplace headdress antecedently exceeded $2 trillion erstwhile its terms was implicit $109,000. At that time, however, tech stocks were importantly much elevated than they are astatine the moment. — James Van Straten Read more.

Regulatory and Policy

• Paul Atkins has taken the oath to formally go chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which returns Mark Uyeda to his erstwhile relation arsenic a Republican Commissioner aft 3 engaged months of work arsenic the agency's stand-in chief. Atkins permanently replaces the erstwhile chair, Gary Gensler, who the crypto manufacture had wide seen arsenic its main antagonist successful the U.S. government. — Jesse Hamilton Read more.
• Fundraising for blase crypto concern vehicles has yet to afloat acquisition the anticipated affirmative headwind of the Donald Trump presidency, according to a new study by the Crypto Insight Group. Momentum "remains affirmative but slower than [fund] managers anticipated nether the caller Trump administration," the Hedge Fund Outlook 2Q25 study said. — Jamie Crawley Read more.

Calendar

• April 30-May 1: Token 2049, Dubai
• May 14-16: Consensus, Toronto
• May 19-23: Solana Accelerate, New York City
• May 20-22: Avalanche Summit, London
• May 27-29: Bitcoin 2025, Las Vegas
• June 30-July 3: EthCC, Cannes
• Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore