STARKNET TO SETTLE ON BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM

One of the foremost projects aiming to increase the speed of the Ethereum network is ramping up its work on the world's original blockchain: Bitcoin.

Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I'm Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Ethereum Reporter.

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ETHEREUM HOLESKY TESTNET FINALIZES - FINALLY: Ethereum's Holesky testnet achieved finality nearly two weeks after the Pectra upgrade, overcoming a client-software configuration bug that had prevented finality since Feb. 24. The achievement comes as Ethereum developers held off on deciding when Pectra would go live on the mainnet blockchain, thus delaying the big upgrade. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.

STARKNET TO SETTLE ON BITCOIN AND ETHEREUM: One of the foremost projects aiming to increase the speed of the Ethereum network is ramping up its work on the world's original blockchain: Bitcoin. Ethereum layer-2 Starknet, in partnership with BTC wallet Xverse, is aiming to deliver a "full DeFi experience to Bitcoin users." Xverse said it will "achieve Bitcoin's DeFi take-off moment," through integrating with Starknet in Q2 2025, in an emailed announcement seen by CoinDesk. The Starknet Foundation has published a new Bitcoin Roadmap, which described how Starknet would remain fully active on Ethereum, while "becoming Bitcoin's execution layer," with the goal of scaling the network "from 13 TPS to thousands." Developers have been increasingly exploring how to tap the security and deep reserves held in BTC to empower the broader DeFi and blockchain world. The challenge has been how to address Bitcoin's relative lack of programmability compared to Ethereum and others. — Jamie Crawley Read more.

FROM ETHEREUM’S ENGINE ROOM TO WALL STREET: DANNY RYAN’S NEW MISSION: Key figures in crypto have a habit of moving on to new projects and endeavors, and one of the biggest names to do so recently is Danny Ryan, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation (EF) for seven years. Ryan left the EF in September and entered talks a few months later to take over as the new leader of the foundation. But in January, Ryan and the EF announced that he would be stepping down from the role and remaining at the foundation in a technical capacity. Afterwards, Ryan said that he and the foundation had "ended up mutually parting ways."

Then, in March, Ryan announced that he would be joining Etherealize, an organization focused on bringing Ethereum to Wall Street.

In a candid interview with CoinDesk, Ryan said he made the move because he believes Ethereum is at a technological inflection point: "It's not just a couple of changes at the EF that are going to make or break Ethereum at large."

"There's an inflection point where the technology needs to pivot to continue to service the use cases that people want to build on-chain," he added.

Ryan said he sees Etherealize as a continuation of the work he did at the EF, which was focused on core R&D and bringing new technologies to the blockchain. At Etherealize, he will be working on a new project codenamed "Evmos+", which is designed to bring the benefits of the EVM to new use cases in finance and other fields.

"I think it's an exciting opportunity to take some of the learnings from the past seven years at the EF and apply them to new problems and new use cases," he said.

The move is a significant one for both Ryan and the crypto industry as a whole. It remains to be seen what impact Ryan will have at Etherealize, but his contributions to the EF were pivotal in shaping Ethereum into the blockchain it is today.

"We're trying to build out the core R&D agenda for the next five to seven years of where we can take this technology and what are the new use cases that we can unlock," Ryan said.

He added that he is also interested in exploring how to bring the benefits of crypto to a broader audience.

"I think there's a lot of opportunity to do some good in the world and to really make a difference in people's lives."

The interviewer noted that it appears Ryan really enjoyed his time at the EF and had no issues with the people or the culture at the foundation.

"I had a great time at the EF," Ryan confirmed. "It was a fantastic seven years, and I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such a talented and dedicated team to build something that is truly changing the world."

He added that he is excited to see what the future holds for Ethereum and the crypto industry.

"I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface of what's possible," he said. "The potential is truly boundless."

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