TLDR:

• • Vitalik proposes cutting Ethereum’s slot time from 12 seconds to 2 seconds using a sqrt(2) formula.
    
  • Erasure coding upgrades to Ethereum’s p2p layer will reduce block propagation time across the network.
    
  • The Minimmit finality algorithm targets a reduction from 16 minutes today down to just 8 seconds.
  • Ethereum’s quantum-resistant upgrades will roll out in phases, with slot protection arriving first. 

Ethereum’s Fast L1 goal took center stage as Vitalik Buterin published a detailed strawman roadmap outlining how the network plans to evolve its base layer.

The document covers slot time reductions, peer-to-peer network upgrades, and a new finality algorithm. Buterin walks through each goal methodically, explaining how the changes interconnect.

The roadmap presents a phased, component-by-component transformation of Ethereum’s consensus layer toward a faster, simpler, and quantum-resistant design.

Slot Time and Network Architecture at the Core of Fast L1

Ethereum’s Fast L1 goal begins with a structured reduction of slot time across multiple incremental steps. Buterin proposes moving from the current 12 seconds down through 8, 6, 4, 3, and eventually 2 seconds per slot.

Each reduction follows a “sqrt(2) at a time” formula, with steps only taken when safety is confirmed.

Supporting shorter slots requires major improvements at the network layer. Buterin points to ongoing work by @raulvk on an optimized peer-to-peer design using erasure coding.

The new architecture splits each block into pieces so that any subset of them is enough to reconstruct the full block.

In his post, Buterin explained: “split each block into 8 pieces so that with any 4 of them you can reconstruct the full block.” This design cuts 95th percentile block propagation time and makes shorter slots viable without security tradeoffs.

That said, adding protocols like ePBS and FOCIL to the slot structure tightens timing constraints. These changes shrink the safe latency window from one-third of a slot to one-fifth.

To offset this, researchers are exploring a model where only 256 to 1,024 randomly selected attesters sign per slot, eliminating the aggregation phase and shortening slot duration further.

Finality Overhaul and the Shift to Quantum-Resistant Consensus

Beyond slot time, the strawman roadmap targets a complete rework of how Ethereum achieves finality. Today, finality takes roughly 16 minutes on average, calculated across 12-second slots, 32-slot epochs, and 2.5 epochs. Buterin wants to decouple finality from slot time entirely so each can be optimized on its own path.

The target is a one-round-finality algorithm called Minimmit, a variant of the established BFT consensus design. A projected trajectory moves from 16 minutes today through several intermediate stages, eventually reaching as low as 8 seconds with aggressive Minimmit parameters.

These changes will also carry a transition to post-quantum cryptography, including hash-based signatures and a STARK-friendly hash function.

Three hash function options are under active research: adjusting Poseidon2’s round count, returning to Poseidon1, or adopting BLAKE3 as a conventional alternative.

Buterin described the overall transformation as a “ship of Theseus” style process, replacing each part of Ethereum’s consensus layer one at a time.

Notably, the phased approach means slot-level quantum resistance could arrive well ahead of finality-level protection, providing an early security layer if quantum computing advances faster than anticipated.

A Florida man accused of running what is arguably the largest crypto-linked Ponzi scheme involving $328 million has been arrested, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Christopher Alexander Delgado, 34, of Apopka, Florida, was taken into custody on a criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 30 years in federal prison. A criminal complaint contains allegations, and Delgado is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to a TRM Labs global report, pyramid and Ponzi schemes received approximately $6.1 billion in victim funds globally in 2025, a 49% increase from the previous year. The most recent case prior to Goliath Ventures involves Ramil Ventura Palafox, the CEO of Praetorian Group International (PGI), who was sentenced to 20 years for misleading more than 90,000 investors and draining over $62.7 million in funds.

Prosecutors allege Delgado served as president and CEO of Goliath Ventures, formerly known as Gen-Z Venture Firm, from January 2023 through January 2026. During that period, authorities claim he raised at least $328 million from investors by promising monthly returns generated through cryptocurrency “liquidity pools,” sometimes described as “guaranteed” or “low risk,” with contracts promising monthly returns of roughly 3% to 8%.

Instead of investing the funds as represented, Delgado allegedly operated Goliath as a Ponzi scheme, using money from new investors to pay purported returns to earlier backers and to meet withdrawal requests.

The complaint alleges that the firm’s claims about deploying capital into crypto liquidity pools were false. According to court filings, investigators said blockchain analysis showed only about $1.5 million was sent to Uniswap, while the “vast majority” of investor funds were not placed into liquidity pools.

To build credibility and attract victims, prosecutors say Delgado relied on personal referrals, polished marketing materials, luxury events, charitable sponsorships and periodic payments marketed as returns. The court documents also revealed investors were shown account updates via an online portal that displayed consistent gains, but the reported “returns” were allegedly fabricated and adjusted to match promised rates.

The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations and is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Orlando. Law enforcement officials are asking potential victims to come forward as the investigation continues.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a roadmap on Thursday to protect the blockchain from the long-term risks posed by quantum computers — a move that comes shortly after the Ethereum Foundation established a dedicated post-quantum research team to study the issue.

Although practical quantum computers capable of breaking modern cryptography do not yet exist, they could one day crack the digital signatures and cryptographic systems that secure Ethereum.

In a post on X, Buterin identified four key areas of vulnerability: validator signatures used in consensus, Ethereum’s data availability system, everyday wallet signatures, and certain zero-knowledge proofs used by applications and layer-2 networks.

A big part of the plan involves changing how Ethereum’s validators sign and confirm blocks. Right now, they use a type of digital signature called BLS. In a world with powerful quantum computers, those signatures could eventually be broken. Buterin suggests switching to “hash-based” signatures, which are considered much safer against quantum attacks.

Another area that would need updating is how Ethereum checks and stores large batches of transaction data. The system it uses today relies on a cryptographic tool called KZG commitments. Replacing that with a quantum-safe alternative is possible, Buterin said, but it would require significant behind-the-scenes engineering work and could make some parts of the system more complicated.

For everyday users, the proposed fix revolves around a planned upgrade called EIP-8141. In simple terms, this upgrade would make Ethereum wallets more flexible. Today, most wallets rely on one standard type of digital signature to approve transactions. EIP-8141 would allow accounts to switch to different types of signatures in the future — including ones designed to be safe against quantum computers.

There’s a similar issue with zero-knowledge proofs, a type of advanced cryptography used by privacy tools and many layer-2 scaling networks. Quantum-safe versions of these proofs are currently far more expensive to verify on Ethereum.

Buterin pointed to a longer-term solution built into EIP-8141 known as “validation frames.” These would allow the network to bundle together many signatures and proofs and replace them with a single combined proof. Instead of checking each one individually on the blockchain, Ethereum would only need to verify one compressed proof, helping keep costs down.

Read more: Quantum threat gets real: Ethereum Foundation prioritizes security with leanVM and PQ signatures

“The growth in Cardano’s technology has been amazing, and the best is yet to come,” one X user stroke back.

Cardano’s native token reached an all-time high of almost $3.10 in late 2021. Despite sporadic runs in the following years, it has not managed to break its record and is currently worth around $0.29, representing a staggering 90% decline from the historic peak.

The steep decline has left many investors frustrated, including popular content creator Jake Gagain, who described ADA as one of his worst investments since entering the crypto market.

Wasting “Such a Great Opportunity?’

Besides expressing regret over his investment, Gagain emphasized that Cardano still has a strong community and huge potential. He said he was disappointed to see the team waste “such a great opportunity” and asked his followers whether they still hold ADA.

His post on X sparked a heated debate, with many users sharing their experiences with the token. One person agreed with Gagain, arguing that Cardano’s community is among the most dedicated, “but the execution and speed have just been painful to watch for years now.”

The discontent was echoed by numerous others, some of whom pledged to step away from ADA and all altcoins for good and to shift their capital solely to Bitcoin (BTC) from now on.

Others differentiated from this thesis. X user Michael Lesser claimed that Gagain doesn’t understand the definition of a bear market, adding that his timing is bad.

“If you have an investment thesis and patience, ‘paper losses’ are just that. The growth in Cardano’s technology has been amazing, and the best is yet to come,” he said.

Many investors who remain optimistic said they would keep accumulating ADA, convinced that the token will set a new all-time high sooner or later. Some even flashed the “diamond hands” emoji to signal their determination not to sell under any circumstances.

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Meanwhile, certain X users attacked Gagain for promoting meme coins, which performed much worse than ADA. In the summer of 2024, for instance, he claimed that NEIRO could be the next “billion-plus dollar project” on the Ethereum blockchain. It is important to note that the asset’s market cap briefly surged above $1 billion in late 2024, but since then, it has been in a sharp decline, and its current capitalization stands at less than $30 million.

What’s Next for ADA?

Cardano’s native token has been among the biggest beneficiaries of the recent market resurgence, with its price rallying by 9% on a weekly scale. The recent whale activity suggests a further jump might be on the way.

As CryptoPotato reported, large investors have scooped up almost 820 million coins over the past six months, thus increasing their total holdings to 25.36 billion tokens, or nearly 70% of ADA’s circulating supply.

Big purchases of this type leave fewer tokens on the open market, which could result in a surging price (should demand remain constant or rise). Whales’ buying also sends a strong signal that they believe in the asset’s long-term future, and that confidence could draw smaller players into the ecosystem.

Some analysts observed ADA’s recent comeback and envisioned further gains if key levels are reclaimed. X user Nehal argued that breaking and holding above $0.30 could lead to a pump to $0.32 and $0.34.

US-based asset manager REX Shares has launched an exchange-traded fund that bundles leveraged covered-call strategies tied to nine individual stocks, including crypto-linked names Coinbase and Strategy, into a single income-focused product trading under the ticker GIF.

According to Thursday’s announcement, the fund holds equal-weighted positions in REX’s existing single-stock Growth & Income ETFs, each of which targets about 1.25x exposure to its underlying equity while writing covered calls on a portion of the portfolio to generate option premium income.

GIF trades on Cboe Global Markets and each underlying ETF seeks to distribute income on a weekly basis, with payouts largely derived from covered call premiums.

Covered call premiums are the upfront payments a fund collects for selling options on stocks it already owns, generating income in exchange for capping some of the shares’ upside potential.

REX Shares said the ETF holds equal-weighted exposure to nine REX funds tied to Nvidia (NVII), Tesla (TSII), Strategy (MSII), Coinbase (COII), Robinhood (HOII), Palantir (PLTI), CoreWeave (CWII), Eli Lilly (LLII) and Walmart (WMTI), spanning crypto-linked equities, technology, AI, healthcare and retail sectors.

Related: Michael Saylor says quantum threat to Bitcoin is more than 10 years away

21Shares lists STRC ETP as companies add Strategy preferred shares to treasuries

The launch comes amid a week of new allocations tied to Strategy-linked securities.

On Wednesday, 21Shares introduced an exchange-traded product (ETP) giving European investors exposure to STRC, Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred stock. The 21Shares Strategy Yield ETP began trading on Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker STRC NA on Thursday.

Also on Wednesday, Strategy said Prevalon Energy, an energy infrastructure company, and Anchorage Digital, a crypto-focused digital asset bank, had allocated portions of their corporate treasuries to STRC, though they did not disclose the size of their positions.

Strategy describes STRC as a digital credit instrument with an 11.25% annual dividend, part of its broader effort to issue fixed-income securities tied to its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings.

Since adopting its Bitcoin treasury strategy in August 2020, Strategy has become the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, reporting 717,722 BTC, or about 3.4% of the fixed 21 million supply.

Despite demand for Strategy-linked securities, the company’s shares have fallen alongside Bitcoin’s price. The stock is down more than 60% over the past six months and about 50% over the past year, according to Yahoo Finance data.

​​Strategy has also emerged as the most heavily shorted large-cap US stock on Goldman Sachs’ latest ranking, based on short interest relative to market value.

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