The Daily: Ethereum's Pectra upgrade goes live, Coinbase unveils SEC emails on XRP and ETH, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter,  The Daily , which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Wednesday! Bitcoin climbed back around the $97,000 level this morning as U.S. and Chinese officials confirmed plans to meet in Switzerland over the weekend — fueling hopes of progress in the trade dispute and reigniting "risk-on" market sentiment.

In today's newsletter, Ethereum developers activate its Pectra upgrade, Coinbase reveals SEC documents regarding XRP and ETH, "hold in May and stay," bitcoin analysts say amid upcoming summer catalysts, and more.

Meanwhile, Russia could be the largest Bitcoin mining beneficiary if President Trump's tariffs hit in full, according to an industry expert.

Let's get started.

Ethereum's Pectra upgrade goes live

Ethereum developers activated the Pectra upgrade at epoch 364032, around 6:05 a.m. ET on Wednesday, marking the network's biggest update since The Merge in 2022.

• Pectra introduces 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals focused on boosting staking efficiency, user experience, validator operations, and Layer 2 scalability.
• After early testnet issues, including Holesky validator misconfigurations, the March 2025 Hoodi deployment cleared the path for Pectra's mainnet launch.
• Among Pectra's various improvements, EIP-7702 pushes account abstraction forward by enabling smart contract logic in wallets and gasless transactions.
• EIP-7251 raises the maximum validator cap from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, allowing large stakers to consolidate and streamline operations.
• Building on Ethereum's Dencun upgrade of March 2024, which introduced proto-danksharding via EIP-4844, EIP-7691 doubles temporary data storage blob throughput to make Layer 2 rollups faster and cheaper as demand surges.
• Pectra also slashes validator onboarding time, makes key historical data accessible onchain, and lays the groundwork for future upgrades like Fusaka.

Coinbase reveals SEC docs on XRP and NYAG request to support ETH security claim

Coinbase released over 10,000 documents via Freedom of Information Act requests to multiple agencies on Wednesday, revealing SEC discussions on XRP and ETH's regulatory classification.

• The SEC debated XRP's security status internally in 2021, even questioning what might happen if Ripple vanished from the ecosystem.
• A June 2023 email also showed the New York Attorney General's office asked the SEC to file an amicus brief "in support of the argument that ether is a security."
• Under new leadership, the SEC has softened its crypto stance, dropping charges against major firms, including Coinbase.

'Hold in May and stay,' bitcoin analysts say

This time is different, according to analysts at K33, who argue in favor of a " hold in May and stay " strategy rather than the old adage of "sell in May and walk away" that crypto has inherited from traditional markets.

• The start of May has seen the beginning of a significant decline in exactly half of bitcoin's 14-year observable trading history. A 50/50 toss-up isn't particularly helpful to participants, but four of those declines coming in the past four years perhaps explain their increased confidence in the mantra.
• However, the analysts argue that 2025 will differ from prior summer lulls, with multiple Trump-driven catalysts, despite a key Strategic Bitcoin Reserve deadline passing without a public announcement.
• "Our plan has been clear: reaccumulate BTC south of $80k and hold. We're now entering a period designated for holding," they said.

Metaplanet buys another 555 BTC, issues $25 million in bonds for more

Metaplanet disclosed on Wednesday that it has bought another 555 BTC , worth around $54 million, bringing its total stash to 5,555 BTC ($539 million).

• The Tokyo-listed investment firm's cumulative bitcoin holdings were purchased at an average price of $86,672 for $481.5 million in total — implying approximately $57.5 million of paper gains.
• "In Japanese, the number 5 is pronounced 'Go,' so today we're shouting: Go go go go — to the moon and beyond!" Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich posted on X.
• The firm also issued its 13th series of ordinary bonds on Wednesday, raising another $25 million to keep stacking bitcoin, as its stock closed the day up 11.5%.

Movement Labs fires co-founder Rushi Manche

Movement Labs has fired co-founder Rushi Manche , following allegations that he was involved in a recent market maker scandal involving 66 million MOVE tokens that caused a price plummet.

• The team also launched a new entity called Move Industries, promising transparency and a return to community roots under the leadership of two of the project's early employees — Torab You and Will Gaines.
• "Honestly, mistakes were made," Manche said ahead of his initial suspension last week. "I personally trusted opportunistic administrators who acted as shadow decision makers behind the decisions with their own financial motives."

In the next 24 hours

• The Bank of England's latest interest rate decision is due at 7 a.m. ET on Thursday — a 25 basis point cut to 4.25% is expected. U.S. jobless claims figures follow at 8:30 a.m.
• Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will speak at 9:15 a.m.

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