Two good things have already happened to you today. First, it’s Friday, and second, the unmissable HODLfm Digest. The best and worst, interesting opinions, latest updates, industry leaders’ highs and lows — it’s all waiting for you below. Enjoy!
Best of the Week
- Story (IP): Surging by 175.54% over the last 7 days, the price reached $5.03.
- Sonic (prev. FTM): Up by 53.67% this week, now trading at $0.8324.
- Berachain (BERA): Gained 50.38%, pushing its value to $8.30.
Worst of the Week
- Bitget Token (BGB): The price decreased by 16.47% over the last 7 days to reach $4.65.
- Jupiter (JUP): Dropped by 13.08% over the last 7 days to reach $0.8075.
- Raydium (RAY): $RAY fell over the last 7 days to $4.68, marking a 12.43% decline.
The Upcoming Pectra Upgrade for Ethereum
One of the key features of the Pectra upgrade, according to Artemiy Parshakov, VP of Institutions at P2P.org, is automatic compounding. This function reinvests staking rewards automatically, allowing earnings to grow over time without requiring manual intervention.
🚨 Ethereum Holder Alert: PECTRA Upgrade Incoming! 🚨
— Ethereum Daily (@ETH_Daily) January 23, 2025
Set to launch in March 2025. Here’s what you need to know 👇
🔗 Scalability:
🛠️ Staking:
💡 User Experience:
🌟 Future-Proofing:
Built to adapt and scale with Ethereum’s growing ecosystem https://t.co/lsp8A8pbOh pic.twitter.com/m7mCjcmiBk
For institutional stakers managing thousands or even tens of thousands of ETH, automatic compounding is great opportunity.
“You don’t have to constantly think, ‘How much ETH have I earned? What should I do with it?’ You can just keep growing and growing — earning more and more,” Parshakov explained.
What we find less fair about the update is the consolidation of validators from 32 ETH to 2,000 ETH per validator. This means fewer but larger validators instead of many smaller ones.
For regular users, this change makes it harder to participate in staking directly. However, for large investors and institutions, it simplifies staking management, reducing the number of individual validators they need to handle.
“The rich get richer” now applies to ETH staking as well, and we’re not happy about it.
One feature we do like is the introduction of flexible gas payments. ‘Gas’ represents the transaction fees paid to validators for maintaining the network's security. Through account abstraction, Pectra enables users to cover these fees with ERC-20 tokens such as USDC, rather than being limited to ETH.
The upgrade is set to go live in March 2025. So, if you happen to have 32 spare ETH, there’s still time to become a solo validator. If not, start accumulating USDC to take advantage of more flexible transaction payments.
Opinion: Most Bitcoin L2 Projects Will Disappear Within Three Years
Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Stacks, believes that most Bitcoin Layer 2 (L2) projects will vanish in the next three years as competition intensifies. According to him, the initial hype around Bitcoin L2 is fading, and only those that provide real value will survive.
What’s happening with Bitcoin L2?
- Over two-thirds of existing Bitcoin L2 projects won’t last long.
- Only a few strong players, like Stacks and Babylon, are expected to keep growing.
- Stacks recently rolled out the Nakamoto upgrade, improving the user experience and making the network fully secured by Bitcoin’s hashrate.
Why will only the strongest survive?
Ali explains that the Bitcoin L2 market is extremely competitive, and many projects weren’t built for the long run—they just rode the hype wave. Investors now prefer “blue-chip” projects that offer stability and long-term potential.
While many Bitcoin L2 projects will disappear, those that adapt and deliver real value will thrive. This means users will benefit from faster confirmations on Bitcoin L2 networks while still enjoying the security of Bitcoin’s main network.
Pi Network - Big Airdrop, Big Crash
Pi Network has become the most valuable airdrop in history, surpassing Uniswap’s (UNI) record. The total value of the token distribution reached $12.6 billion, more than double the $6.43 billion of Uniswap after its launch in 2020. This achievement was made possible by the mass participation of users mining Pi on their mobile devices since 2019.
With the mainnet (Open Network) launch, Pi has opened up the possibility for integration with other blockchains and financial systems. Now, users can conduct transactions outside of the closed Pi ecosystem.
“The Open Network has unlocked a thriving Pi ecosystem, innovative applications, and a broad peer-to-peer network for integration with the wider blockchain world,” the team said.
However, despite the record-breaking airdrop, Pi Network is facing challenges, including regulatory scrutiny and skepticism about its unique mining model. Critics argue that the pyramid-style user recruitment raises concerns about the project’s sustainability and legal compliance.
While these issues remain unresolved, volatility is the immediate concern.
At the time of launch, Pi was trading at a proud $2, but now its value has dropped to $0.66, 67% lower than the initial price.
Buterin Concerned About the “Moral Shift” in Crypto
Vitalik Buterin expressed his concern about the changing moral compass in the crypto industry, especially when it comes to the spread of gambling on the blockchain. During AMA session on February 20, he noted that Ethereum is being criticized for not supporting blockchain casinos, unlike other networks that accept any applications.
What was possibly the most disappointing for me was when someone recently said that Ethereum is bad and intolerant because we don’t respect ‘blockchain casinos’, while other networks are happy to accept any applications, so they must be better.
He stressed that he finds this attitude concerning and wouldn’t want to be part of the industry if it ultimately goes in that direction. However, his personal interactions with the Ethereum community reassured him that the core values of Ethereum remain intact.
As long as a giant like Ethereum is firmly advocating for moral values, the industry as a whole can still be considered safe.
HODL Team
Disclaimer: All materials on this site are for informational purposes only. None of the material should be interpreted as investment advice. Please note that despite the nature of much of the material created and hosted on this website, HODL FM is not a financial reference resource and the opinions of authors and other contributors are their own and should not be taken as financial advice. If you require advice of this sort, HODL FM strongly recommends contacting a qualified industry professional.
