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Ripple has launched a pilot project that will see its stablecoin, Ripple USD, used for drought relief in Kenya. The announcement comes just days after Ripple integrated the Ripple USD ( RLUSD ) stablecoin in its payments solution. Ripple is partnering with Mercy Corps Ventures and DIVA Donate, a platform that leverages decentralized finance technology to facilitate donations to pastoralists affected by drought in Kenya, for the initiative. The partners will leverage blockchain technology to bring financial aid via RLUSD to the targeted communities,Team Ripple noted. As outlined in a blog post, the pilot is part of Ripple’s broader efforts to expand its impact in cross-border payments, an effort expected to accelerate with the rollout of RLUSD. As with other blockchain-based projects, the use of stablecoins is aimed at improving transparency, settlement speed, and access for the unbanked. According to Ripple, the pilot program will demonstrate how blockchain and stablecoins can improve the delivery of aid and insurance. The trial will use RLUSD on the Ethereum ( ETH ) network. The RLUSD pool for the program will be open to public contributions, with anyone able to donate by connecting a wallet. Smart contracts will hold the funds in escrow, and automatically send RLUSD to those impacted by drought. However, this will only go into action once satellite tracking detects drought triggers- with the pilot targeting automated payouts should the system detect drought conditions by May 31, 2025. If the system determines that pastoralists are likely to face a shortage of vegetation for their livestock, each participant will receive $75 (around 9,600 Kenyan shillings) in RLUSD. Organizers say this amount is sufficient to purchase food and water for one animal for six months. Roughly 533 pastoralists in Kenya’s Laikipia County are expected to benefit from the aid. Ripple plans to publish the results of the pilot later this summer. Fund contributors will also have the option to withdraw their RLUSD or allocate it to future campaigns.

Oak Security’s Jan Philipp Fritsche says Web3 needs to stop ignoring basic OPSEC hygiene, especially as state-sponsored threats rise. As North Korea’s “ClickFake” campaign draws renewed attention to cyberattacks on crypto firms, security experts say Web3’s biggest vulnerability isn’t smart contracts — it’s people. Jan Philipp Fritsche, Managing Director at Oak Security, argued in a note to crypto.news that most blockchain projects lack even the most basic operational security standards . Fritsche, a former European Central Bank analyst who now advises and audits protocols says the real risk lies in how teams manage devices, permissions, and production access. “The ClickFake campaign shows just how easily teams can be compromised,” Fritsche said in a note. “Web3 projects have to assume that most of your employees are exposed to cyber threats outside their work environment.” For background, North Korea’s Lazarus Group is using a cyber campaign called “ClickFake Interview” targeting cryptocurrency professionals. The group posed as recruiters on LinkedIn and X, luring victims into fake interviews to distribute malware. The malware, named “ClickFix,” gave attackers remote access to steal sensitive data like crypto wallet credentials. Researchers said Lazarus used realistic documents and full interview conversations to enhance credibility. Most DAOs and early-stage teams still rely on personal devices — often used for both development and Discord chatting — which leaves them exposed to nation-state level attackers. Unlike traditional enterprises, many DAOs have no way to enforce security standards. “There’s no way to enforce security hygiene,” Fritsche said. “Too many teams, especially smaller ones, ignore this and hope for the best.” Fritsche says even the assumption that a device is clean may be flawed. For high-value projects, that means developers should never have the ability to push changes to production unilaterally. “Company-issued devices with limited privileges are a good start,” Fritsche said. “But you also need fail-safes—no single user should have that kind of control.” The lesson from traditional finance? Every risk is assumed to be real until proven otherwise. “In TradFi, you need a keycard just to check your inbox,” Fritsche said. “That standard exists for a reason. Web3 needs to catch up.”

The Cardano Foundation has unveiled a new open-source digital identity system, Veridian. It is intended to provide individuals with more control over their personal and organizational information. The rollout of the decentralized system comes amid growing cybersecurity fears and a trend of large-scale data breaches in industries. According to the latest release , Veridian is designed to operate as a replacement to conventional, centralized identity systems that tend to leave sensitive credentials within the control of third-party operators. Through using a decentralized architecture, the platform aims to cut down on dependence on intermediaries and provide customers with complete ownership of their online identities. The first product in this effort is the Veridian Wallet, a secure management platform where users can manage digital credentials, private keys, and identifiers from a single interface. The infrastructure of the wallet is directed towards making it possible for individuals and businesses to protect their information easily without having to depend on centralized storage and verification services. As per the Cardano Foundation’s, today’s identity solutions are becoming more exposed. The United States alone had around 1.7 billion data records put out in breach in the last year. Most of this exposure is a result of the centralized architecture nature of conventional verification systems, whereby user data is pooled together and controlled by third parties. Veridian suggests a transition with the rollout of a trustless, decentralized design fueled by cutting-edge protocols like Authentic Chained Data Container (ACDC) credentials and Key Event Receipt Infrastructure (KERI) identifiers, as mentioned in our last story. These technologies enable safe, verifiable sharing of identity information without centralized databases. In addition, Veridian users have the option to anchor credentials on the Cardano blockchain. This integration provides a cryptographic trust layer that further enhances the digital identity’s authenticity and integrity while enabling transparency and auditability when required. The wallet component acts as the direct interface for users to issue, store, and share digital credentials securely. Remote access is enabled, allowing users to have control over their identity data from any location, virtually anywhere. This is necessary for organizations that have distributed teams or people moving across different digital platforms. This release is simultaneous with wider initiatives by the Cardano network to broaden its contribution to the decentralized finance (DeFi) environment. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson recently outlined plans for future work to bring Bitcoin into the DeFi environment using the Cardano network, as reported earlier. Hoskinson’s scheme involves leveraging the Cardano Hydra protocol for scaling and collaboration with Maestro, a blockchain infrastructure company. The scheme is likely to facilitate the development of Bitcoin smart contracts using the Aiken programming language, which facilitates interoperability between Bitcoin and Cardano ecosystems. The integration approach is set to enhance Cardano’s infrastructure as well as provide new avenues for Bitcoin-based DeFi apps.

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade has now been scheduled to go live on the mainnet on May 7, 2025. The announcement was made during a call held by the blockchain’s core developers on April 3. Pectra is one of Ethereum’s most significant upgrades since the network’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism in 2022. It merges the Prague execution layer with the Electra consensus layer and includes 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) aimed at improving the blockchain’s scalability, efficiency, and usability. Originally planned for March 2025, the changes were postponed due to challenges encountered during testnet implementation. Specifically, the Holesky testnet experienced finality issues, preventing developers from proceeding with the original timeline. Additionally, a minor bug was discovered on the Sepolia testnet in early March, which was identified and resolved before further testing. Developers then launched the Hoodi testnet, successfully running the enhancements without major incidents. This phase led to the confirmation of the May 7, 2025, mainnet deployment date. “We’ll go ahead and lock in May 7 for Pectra on mainnet,” said Ethereum Foundation researcher Alex Stokes during yesterday’s core developers’ call . “Happy Pectra everyone.” Despite recent developments, Ethereum’s market performance has remained weak, with its native ETH token posting its worst first-quarter performance in 7 years. A recent report from CryptoQuant showed that the ecosystem continues to struggle due to low activity, declining transaction fees, and a reduced ETH burn rate, all of which have contributed to increased inflationary pressure on the network. Pectra contains several improvements aimed at making Ethereum more user-friendly and efficient. Key features in the new version include smart contract functionality for wallets, enhanced staking capabilities, account abstraction, privilege management, and the ability to sponsor transaction fees. Account abstraction will allow Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) to function similarly to smart contract wallets, introducing advanced features such as transaction batching, fee sponsorship, and custom security rules. These improvements are expected to enhance Ethereum’s flexibility, making decentralized applications (dApps) more accessible to users. Petra also increases the validator staking limit from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. This change supports larger validators and allows smaller ones to receive compounding rewards. Another addition is Peer Data Availability Sampling (PeerDAS), which reduces costs for layer-2 solutions by allowing nodes to verify large data availability without downloading all of it. The upgrade also includes the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) Object Format, which enhances EVM code to support future functionality on both layer-1 and layer-2 networks.

The Ethereum blockchain is about to undergo a major turning point with the Pectra upgrade, scheduled for May 7, 2025. Considered the most significant update since Dencun, this upgrade introduces 11 EIPs. Could this upgrade rekindle interest in Ethereum? Analysis. The Ethereum Pectra upgrade proves particularly beneficial for: Among the key innovations is the EIP-7251 which multiplies Ethereum’s staking threshold by 64. In other words, validators will now be able to stake up to 2,048 ETH (compared to 32 currently). This evolution directly targets institutional actors. It indeed simplifies node management, in addition to streamlining participation in the consensus. In addition to this: Another major advance: the introduction of smart wallets via EIP-7702. Goodbye unexpected transaction fees! The embedded smart contracts will enable: The Pectra upgrade of Ethereum is not limited to wallets. It also doubles the capacity of blobs per block (from 3 to 6) for Layer 2 projects. This facilitates data processing while reducing costs. Coupled with EIP-2537, this optimization could even boost interoperability between chains. Despite these advancements , Ethereum is struggling to revive its on-chain activity. The crypto blockchain has generated only $20 million in fees this month. Certainly, the Pectra test on the Hoodi network has been a success. Nevertheless, the market remains skeptical. The proof: the price of ETH dropped to $1,774 after the announcement. This reflects persistent selling pressure. Experts nevertheless estimate that this upgrade could: It remains to be seen if these improvements will be enough to counter the growing competition from alternative blockchains! The Pectra upgrade marks a key milestone for the crypto blockchain. That being said, its success will depend on its actual adoption. In the meantime, investors are watching May 7, a date that could restart (or not!) the Ethereum ecosystem.