Ethereum's Pectra Hits Bugs on Sepolia Testnet Debut

Ethereum's Pectra Hits Bugs on Sepolia Testnet Debut

Ethereum’s critical Pectra upgrade ran into another hurdle on March 5, as the Sepolia testnet unexpectedly began producing empty blocks hours after deployment. This setback mirrored a similar failure on Ethereum’s Holesky testnet last month, raising alarms about the upgrade's readiness.

The Ethereum Foundation traced Sepolia's malfunction to a "permissioned deposit contract," blocking execution layer clients from including transactions. Though developers swiftly pinpointed and patched the misconfiguration, the incident halted Sepolia for nearly five hours.

Galaxy Digital's VP Christine Kim warned, "I do think the incidents on both the Holesky and Sepolia testnets warrant a delay to Pectra mainnet activation." Kim pressed Ethereum developers to establish more rigorous testing infrastructure to safeguard the upgrade.

Ethereum core developers will meet on March 7 to finalize the mainnet launch timeline for the Pectra upgrade. Any further delay risks fueling community unease amid Ethereum's recent leadership instability and heightened competition from agile rivals like Solana.

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US Might Opt for a Bitcoin-Focused Crypto Reserve Model

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disclosed Tuesday that the upcoming White House Crypto Summit on Friday will unveil President Trump's model for a strategic crypto reserve. Lutnick confirmed Trump’s distinct preference, stating, "The President definitely thinks that there's a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve," setting Bitcoin apart from other cryptocurrencies.

While Bitcoin will receive a unique status in the nation's crypto policy, Lutnick clarified other tokens like Ether, Solana, and Cardano will be "treated positively, but differently." The announcement has stirred controversy among Bitcoin purists who object to centralized altcoins sharing reserve space with decentralized Bitcoin.

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Foundation Capital Raises $600M in Eleventh Crypto Fund

Foundation Capital, an early backer of Solana Labs, closed $600 million for its 11th flagship investment fund, marking a 20% increase from its previous raise. The 30-year-old Silicon Valley venture firm remains committed to seeding companies at "day zero," often investing before startups generate any revenue. Its crypto investments already feature Binance U.S., OpenSea, MoonPay, and Algorand.

This latest fund is 20% larger than its previous $500 million fund, which closed three years ago. Foundation Capital believes in funding "zero-billion-dollar markets", meaning sectors that don’t yet appear in industry forecasts. With a track record of investing in blockchain since 2014, the firm remains unfazed by crypto winters and focused on the next wave of innovation.

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Reddit Founder Joins Bid to Acquire TikTok and Move It Onchain

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined Project Liberty’s bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, also aiming to move it onchain. If successful, the platform will run on Frequency, a blockchain that gives users control over their data. Ohanian announced the move on March 3, emphasizing that creators should own their audience, and users should dictate how their information is managed.

The bid, led by American businessman Frank McCourt, is in response to the U.S. government’s demand that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance either sell its U.S. assets or shut down operations due to security concerns. If acquired, TikTok’s new model could redefine how social platforms operate, with blockchain ensuring decentralized control.

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Data of the Day

Solana saw $485 million in capital outflows over the past month as investors moved toward Ethereum, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain, seeking more stable holdings. According to a Binance Research report, this shift reflects a broader market flight to safety, with Bitcoin dominance rising to 59.6%.

The decline in Solana’s ecosystem is closely tied to the failure of multiple meme coins, where insiders allegedly extracted large sums through pump-and-dump schemes. One notable collapse was Libra, a token endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei, which lost 94% of its value within hours.

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More Breaking News

• The US Treasury sanctioned 49 Bitcoin and Monero addresses linked to Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, the alleged admin of the Nemesis darknet marketplace.
• Japanese investment firm Metaplanet acquired 497 BTC for $43.9 million, bringing its total holdings to 2,888 BTC amid its plan to accumulate 10,000 by 2025.
• The SEC moved to drop its lawsuit against Cumberland DRW, marking another crypto-related probe dissolved under the Trump administration.
• Ripple is backing the launch of a crypto-focused nonprofit with a $50 million grant, as its CEO prepares to attend a White House summit.
• El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele dismissed IMF loan conditions restricting Bitcoin use, vowing the country’s strategy “won’t stop.”
• Australian authorities charged Olympian breakdancer Raygun’s brother, Brendan Gunn, with allegedly converting crime proceeds into cryptocurrency.
• Bybit is requesting ParaSwap DAO return $100,000 in fees paid by North Korean hackers who used the DeFi platform to launder stolen crypto.

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