Also: Plus: EF gets new leadership; layer-2 BOB and Fireblocks integrate; new MetaMask roadmap.
The Protocol: The Second Buggy Test for Upcoming Ethereum Upgrade 'Pectra' Could Lead to a Delayed Mainnet Hard ForkWelcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development.
I'm Margaux Nijkerk, the Ethereum protocol reporter at CoinDesk.Ethereum Foundation Picks New Co-Executive Directors, Following Leadership ReshufflePopular Crypto Wallet MetaMask Unveils New Roadmapseemingly successful test of Pectra, the blockchain’s most significant upgrade since 2024, on the Sepolia test network. However, hours after the test, Sepolia began to encounter errors. It was the second buggy test for the highly anticipated Pectra upgrade, which isEthereum's efficiency, user experience, and validator system. The issues have led to calls from some developers that the upgrade be delayed. Wednesday’s Sepolia test was expected to be the final step before Pectra’s launch on Ethereum’s mainnet. Initially, the test appeared to succeed, but later, developers noticed empty blocks being added to the chain. The Ethereum Foundation attributed the issue to "an issue with Sepolia's permissioned deposit contract," which "prevented many execution layer clients from including transactions in blocks." In other words, the problem stemmed from a misconfiguration specific to the Sepolia test, rather than a flaw with Pectra itself. Despite this, the test has raised concerns about whether Pectra has undergone sufficient testing. Thethat they have selected Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as their new co-executive directors. The news follows the departure of Aya MiyaguchiBITCOIN LAYER-2 BOB AND FIREBLOCKS INTEGRATE : EHybrid layer-2 network BOB's mission to make Bitcoin the center of the decentralized finance universe continues through its integration with crypto custody firm Fireblocks. The integration means the over 2,000 entities using Fireblocks will get access to BOB's DeFi ecosystem, which has total value locked of around $250 million.These users can now earn yield on their BTC holdings via BOB's network, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk.: MetaMask, the popular self-custodial crypto wallet for the Ethereum network, shared a flurry of announcements last week, aimed at improving its wallet's user experience. Part of Metamask's revamped roadmap includes addingto its current wallet. At the moment, MetaMask is an Externally Owned Account , a type of wallet that is controlled by a public and a private key. One of the main downfalls with EOAs is that it is subject to human error, meaning if you forget your private key, you lose your crypto holdings in that account forever. The other type of wallet that exists on Ethereum are Contract Accounts , which are controlled by code and have recovery mechanisms in place and security checks for verifying transactions. In a blog post shared during ETHDenver, the largest North American Ethereum conference, the MetaMask team said “smart-contract-based accounts allow us to solve a number of problems: allowing new powerful uses of the assets you hold, while simultaneously improving security. When the user defines their terms from their own programmable account, we greatly expand how the user expresses their agency in ways that are enforced by their own code.” One of those new features aimed at making the user experience on MetaMask easier include ERC-5792, which builds on its current feature,. Under ERC-5792, or known as batched transactions, users can combine certain steps when it comes to signing off transactions, like “approve + swap” in one click, meaning that they would save time and gas fees by batching those steps together.While Jump has maintained its digital assets trading and market-making activity in other parts of the globe, crypto trading volume is now accelerating globally, according to a person familiar with the situation. Ian Allison and Will CannySacks' venture firm, Craft Ventures, exited its Bitwise position ahead of the new administration, according to a source close to the situation. Sam KesslerExecutives from a wide array of crypto companies, including Coinbase, Chainlink and Exodus, will represent the industry Friday at U.S. President Donald Trump's first White House crypto summit. Jesse Hamilton, Cheyenne Ligon, Nik De, and Christine LeeMargaux Nijkerk reports on the Ethereum protocol and L2s. A graduate of Johns Hopkins and Emory universities, she has a masters in International Affairs & Economics. She holds BTC and ETH above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.
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