DroomDroom

2 July, 2025, Switzerland: Quranium, the Layer 1 blockchain leveraging quantum-secure cryptography, is reshaping decentralized infrastructure with unparalleled security and a commitment to community-led innovation. Its latest launch, QRNRush, is a dynamic platform that turns everyday participation into tangible value.
By introducing a gamified quest system, QRNRush rewards users for their contributions with ‘QPoints’ - a transparent, trackable metric for participation, to unlock exclusive perks, recognition, and rewards that make every action count.
Powered by NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms like SLH-DSA and ML-KEM, Quranium is engineered to withstand future quantum threats, safeguarding assets, smart contracts, and data in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. With a vision to build intelligent, inclusive, and resilient digital ecosystems, Quranium is reshaping blockchain adoption through cutting-edge technology and global community empowerment.
“We believe community is the engine of innovation. QRNRush is our way of recognizing and rewarding that engine, not just with points but with purpose,” says Kapil Dhiman, CEO of Quranium. “It’s about giving real value to real contributions, and building a more engaged, trusted, and secure ecosystem together. When you show up, you grow with us. It's our way of saying thank you.” 
How QRNRush Works
QRNRush is easy to use, wherein users log into the QRNRush platform with their QSafe Wallet, access the platform, and complete simple quests to earn ‘QPoints.’ There are various activities to partake in, such as engaging with Quranium’s content, spreading awareness on social media platforms, providing feedback and creative ideas, and joining campaigns, events, and challenges, and participating in incentivized testnet activities. QPoints can be redeemed for exclusive rewards like future on-chain perks, early access to new products, and merchandise, making contributions more rewarding than ever. 
In a Web3 space often plagued by hype, superficial stats, and disengaged communities, QRNRush redefines participation:
Boosts Engagement: Unlike traditional systems where only token-based contributions are valued, QRNRush rewards diverse actions, encouraging broader participation from developers, creators, and everyday supporters.Builds Trust: Transparent QPoints tracking eliminates distrust in reward allocation, ensuring fairness and accountability.Shifts Metrics: By prioritizing measurable contributions over vanity metrics, QRNRush fosters a culture of authenticity and impact.Incentivizes On-Chain Contribution: Quranium values real impact. Through incentivized testnet participation, contributors who help build and test the ecosystem are rewarded for strengthening its foundation. 
Whether it’s sharing insights, championing Quranium’s mission, participating in testnets, or joining ecosystem challenges, contributors earn QPoints that unlock exclusive rewards like event access, special roles, and a lasting reputation. As part of Quranium’s vision to build secure, intelligent infrastructure for the digital age, QRNRush transforms everyday participation into a meaningful pathway for impact. 
Kapil concludes: “It’s how blockchain adoption becomes more inclusive, rewarding, and community-led, and how the quantum-secure movement grows from the ground up.” 

Promo Code: JOINQRN
To get involved on QRNRush, please visit: https://t.co/45lwQyP5om 
Interested members are encouraged to follow Quranium on its social channels to stay informed of latest developments.
LinkedIn: QuraniumX: @quranium_orgTelegram: Quranium CommunityDiscord: Join UsOr by email: [email protected]
For further information, please contact:
Claire Cairns, Head of Brand Strategy
Email: [email protected] 
About Quranium
Quranium is a Layer 1 blockchain protocol optimized for post-quantum security, AI integration, and EVM compatibility. It is ‘The Convergence Layer’, using quantum-resistant encryption, supports intelligent automation at the protocol level, and enables seamless interoperability with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
The protocol is designed for high-throughput execution, deterministic consensus, and long-term resilience against both classical and quantum computational attacks.
Launched in 2024 by a team of Web3 pioneers, Quranium has grown into a global organization with more than 50 team members. It is headquartered in Switzerland, and has offices in DMCC (UAE), and Singapore.
Quranium’s 2025 roadmap includes the recent rollout of its Proof-of-Stake Convergence Layer, an AI-native gaming environment, and QSafe Wallet, a quantum-secure multi-chain crypto wallet.
Quranium provides foundational infrastructure for mission-critical systems and digital sovereignty in a converging technological landscape.  
Key facts and initiatives:
Backed by Animoca BrandsStrategic GTM partner: PwCPartnerships with MetaSig, MatterID, Hacken, Galaxe, LumaGames, etc.Sponsored by Bybit, and Winner of DMCC’s Best Web3 Startup 2024
Join the uncrackable community:
Website: https://quranium.org/LinkedIn: QuraniumX (formerly Twitter): @quranium_orgTelegram: Quranium CommunityDiscord: Join Us

Alpenglow is a revolutionary protocol in Solana that increases the speed of block finalization from 12.8 seconds to less than 150 milliseconds. As a result, blocks will be processed much faster and transactions could get much cheaper.

In this article, we will try to explain this protocol in an easy language and understand what Solana has been planning to defeat Ethereum in the game of speed.

Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Explained: How Ethereum Is Scaling for the Future

What is Solana’s Alpenglow Protocol? Brief Explanation

Solana’s Alpenglow Protocol is a hard fork which will revamp Solana’s consensus mechanism to reduce block finality by 99%. As a result, block time will reduce from current 12.8 seconds(max.) to a maximum of 150 milliseconds (estimated).

The protocol will move away from Solana’s Proof of History block stamps and create a new fixed block time of 400 milliseconds. Further, it will move away from Tower BFT, for Byzantine Fault Tolerance, (a method of verification) to the Rotor and Votor method which are based on Solana’s existing Turbine Architecture.

All the consensus activity of block fetching, propagation and validation will move off-chain which will further reduce block fees. To ensure the same level of security, each validator will have an lightweight on-chain certificate based on the BLS system to attest blocks.

The protocol is expected to be implemented around early to mid 2026.

BNB too is rapidly advancing in this game to finalize blocks faster, now at a sub-second rate.

The Need

After the Ethereum Pectra Upgrade and its improved block fetching protocol the need for a higher speed Solana Blockchain was felt. As Ethereum continues on its scaling journey towards Sharding, the need for low cost blockchains like Solana will die down unless these chains improve further.

Also, the Alpenglow Protocol seems to be a necessary step for Solana’s PayFi vision which could make the blockchain mainstream and replace several traditional finance payment systems.

With new users adopting crypto everyday, scaling is far more important than anything else to absorb those users.

Crypto reached 800M+ users in just 15 yearsThe rate of adoption is accelerating 43% faster than mobile phones and 20% faster than the internetThe implications for global markets are mind-blowing pic.twitter.com/sn39wpydBq

— eye zen hour (@eyezenhour) May 26, 2025

How Does it Work?

The Alpenglow Protocol introduces two mechanisms called Rotor and Votor which will replace the Proof of History Consensus mechanism.

Solana has been using a Proof of History consensus since its creation in 2020. The mechanism synchronizes the entire blockchain to have a shared awareness of a single time. This time is then stamped on each block of the chain and acts as a proof of genuinity along with the Proof of Stake consensus.

Rotor

The Rotor Mechanism improves Solana’s block propagation using its existing Turbine Architecture. It uses a single relay model which finalized a block in one step, unlike the previous mechanism when multiple hops between a block proposer (the validator which creates the block) and the final validator were necessary to secure a block.

Votor

The Votor Mechanism on the other hand optimized Tower BFT (a verification and validation systems for blocks) to create a new type of consensus mechanism. The method finalizes a block if more than 80% of the consensus (total no of validators) approve the block within the first relay period (called round or epoch). Further, if the block has at least 60% approval in the first round and maintains the 60% rate in the second round too, the block is finalized. This prevents the need for multiple rounds of validation and cross-validation for blocks.

Result

The combined effect of these rotor and votor mechanisms means Solana gets block finality within 1% of the time as compared to Proof of History and TowerBFT which were used earlier. This mechanism not only improves speed but also cuts down costs for end users and platforms on Solana.

What is the 20+20 Tolerance?

According to the proponents of this protocol, the blockchain is safe even if 20% of the validators are compromised and another 20% become offline due to any reason.

Guide to Ensuring Safety at Web3 Events: Lessons from the ApeFest Incident

Benefits

Increased Block Speed

The blockchain is expected to witness a 100x increase in block speed from a maximum block time of 12.8 seconds to mere 150 milliseconds. Further, the block speed has been fixed at 400 milliseconds which means there will be near instant finality.

Here is a brief comparison of block speeds.

$KAS has no competition.Bitcoin: 1 block every 600 secondsLitecoin: 1 block every 180 secondsEthereum: 1 block every 15 secondsSolana: 1 block every 3 seconds#Kaspa: 10 block every 1 second#KAS10BPS #Bitcoin #Crypto #Ethereum #Altcoins pic.twitter.com/shD1OKUre9

— Kasdorex (@Kasdorex) June 23, 2025

Cheaper Transactions

A faster block time would mean the blockchain can process more transactions per second, handle more demand, and therefore as the law of demand and supply suggests, the fee per transaction will reduce drastically.

Solana already has a very low fee per transaction, and the Alpenglow protocol will reduce it further.

Support for Scaling

The increased block speed and the increased rate of block finality will mean there is much more transaction throughput capacity for the same time. As a result, even if more dApps adopt Solana, there would be no network congestion.

Stepping Stone for PayFi

Solana along with other major projects has been working towards a payment processing technology called PayFi which creates a blockchain-based payment mechanism. 

PayFi could solve a trillion dollar problem!@0xErbil explains why @humafinance is building rails that work for everyone, from individuals to giants like Amazon moving $1T+ per year. pic.twitter.com/3gQrNJDyDd

— SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) June 22, 2025

A fast blockchain is the core of such systems and the Alpenglow protocol is expected to establish instant finality.

Understanding PayFi’s Strong Use Cases in 2025

Shortcomings

Reduced Tolerance for Exploits

The Alpenglow protocol appears to be compromising a lot on security. Despite its much touted 20+20 tolerance mechanism, it could reduce the level of safety in the blockchain.

Previously, even if the chain had 49% validators compromised, it could remain safe (51% rule). However, the current tolerance protocol seems to have brought that number down to 40%.

Alpenglow is a revolutionary protocol in Solana that increases the speed of block finalization from 12.8 seconds to less than 150 milliseconds. As a result, blocks will be processed much faster and transactions could get much cheaper.

In this article, we will try to explain this protocol in an easy language and understand what Solana has been planning to defeat Ethereum in the game of speed.

Ethereum Pectra Upgrade Explained: How Ethereum Is Scaling for the Future

What is Solana’s Alpenglow Protocol? Brief Explanation

Solana’s Alpenglow Protocol is a hard fork which will revamp Solana’s consensus mechanism to reduce block finality by 99%. As a result, block time will reduce from current 12.8 seconds(max.) to a maximum of 150 milliseconds (estimated).

The protocol will move away from Solana’s Proof of History block stamps and create a new fixed block time of 400 milliseconds. Further, it will move away from Tower BFT, for Byzantine Fault Tolerance, (a method of verification) to the Rotor and Votor method which are based on Solana’s existing Turbine Architecture.

All the consensus activity of block fetching, propagation and validation will move off-chain which will further reduce block fees. To ensure the same level of security, each validator will have an lightweight on-chain certificate based on the BLS system to attest blocks.

The protocol is expected to be implemented around early to mid 2026.

BNB too is rapidly advancing in this game to finalize blocks faster, now at a sub-second rate.

The Need

After the Ethereum Pectra Upgrade and its improved block fetching protocol the need for a higher speed Solana Blockchain was felt. As Ethereum continues on its scaling journey towards Sharding, the need for low cost blockchains like Solana will die down unless these chains improve further.

Also, the Alpenglow Protocol seems to be a necessary step for Solana’s PayFi vision which could make the blockchain mainstream and replace several traditional finance payment systems.

With new users adopting crypto everyday, scaling is far more important than anything else to absorb those users.

Crypto reached 800M+ users in just 15 years

The rate of adoption is accelerating 43% faster than mobile phones and 20% faster than the internet

The implications for global markets are mind-blowing pic.twitter.com/sn39wpydBq

— eye zen hour (@eyezenhour) May 26, 2025

How Does it Work?

The Alpenglow Protocol introduces two mechanisms called Rotor and Votor which will replace the Proof of History Consensus mechanism.

Solana has been using a Proof of History consensus since its creation in 2020. The mechanism synchronizes the entire blockchain to have a shared awareness of a single time. This time is then stamped on each block of the chain and acts as a proof of genuinity along with the Proof of Stake consensus.

Rotor

The Rotor Mechanism improves Solana’s block propagation using its existing Turbine Architecture. It uses a single relay model which finalized a block in one step, unlike the previous mechanism when multiple hops between a block proposer (the validator which creates the block) and the final validator were necessary to secure a block.

Votor

The Votor Mechanism on the other hand optimized Tower BFT (a verification and validation systems for blocks) to create a new type of consensus mechanism. The method finalizes a block if more than 80% of the consensus (total no of validators) approve the block within the first relay period (called round or epoch). Further, if the block has at least 60% approval in the first round and maintains the 60% rate in the second round too, the block is finalized. This prevents the need for multiple rounds of validation and cross-validation for blocks.

Result

The combined effect of these rotor and votor mechanisms means Solana gets block finality within 1% of the time as compared to Proof of History and TowerBFT which were used earlier. This mechanism not only improves speed but also cuts down costs for end users and platforms on Solana.

What is the 20+20 Tolerance?

According to the proponents of this protocol, the blockchain is safe even if 20% of the validators are compromised and another 20% become offline due to any reason.

Guide to Ensuring Safety at Web3 Events: Lessons from the ApeFest Incident

Benefits

Increased Block Speed

The blockchain is expected to witness a 100x increase in block speed from a maximum block time of 12.8 seconds to mere 150 milliseconds. Further, the block speed has been fixed at 400 milliseconds which means there will be near instant finality.

Here is a brief comparison of block speeds.

$KAS has no competition.

Bitcoin: 1 block every 600 seconds
Litecoin: 1 block every 180 seconds
Ethereum: 1 block every 15 seconds
Solana: 1 block every 3 seconds
#Kaspa: 10 block every 1 second#KAS10BPS #Bitcoin #Crypto #Ethereum #Altcoins pic.twitter.com/shD1OKUre9

— Kasdorex (@Kasdorex) June 23, 2025

Cheaper Transactions

A faster block time would mean the blockchain can process more transactions per second, handle more demand, and therefore as the law of demand and supply suggests, the fee per transaction will reduce drastically.

Solana already has a very low fee per transaction, and the Alpenglow protocol will reduce it further.

Support for Scaling

The increased block speed and the increased rate of block finality will mean there is much more transaction throughput capacity for the same time. As a result, even if more dApps adopt Solana, there would be no network congestion.

Stepping Stone for PayFi

Solana along with other major projects has been working towards a payment processing technology called PayFi which creates a blockchain-based payment mechanism. 

PayFi could solve a trillion dollar problem!@0xErbil explains why @humafinance is building rails that work for everyone, from individuals to giants like Amazon moving $1T+ per year. pic.twitter.com/3gQrNJDyDd

— SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) June 22, 2025

A fast blockchain is the core of such systems and the Alpenglow protocol is expected to establish instant finality.

Understanding PayFi’s Strong Use Cases in 2025

Shortcomings

Reduced Tolerance for Exploits

The Alpenglow protocol appears to be compromising a lot on security. Despite its much touted 20+20 tolerance mechanism, it could reduce the level of safety in the blockchain.

Previously, even if the chain had 49% validators compromised, it could remain safe (51% rule). However, the current tolerance protocol seems to have brought that number down to 40%.

BNB blockchain’s Maxwell Hard Fork brings sub-second block times for BNB chain users and helps validators achieve better synchronization with each other. The upgrade is the third major one in 2025 after the Pascal and Lorentz Hard Forks which brought accounts abstraction and 1.5 second block times to the blockchain, respectively. 

In this article, we will discuss Maxwell upgrade in full technical detail and understand its future potential. We will also take a look at a few concerns that have been plaguing all kinds of users. Please note that for the scope of this article, the words “Hard Fork” and “Upgrade” will be used interchangeably.

These Layer-2s are doing a brilliant job in scaling Bitcoin.

What is the Maxwell Upgrade?

After the Lorentz upgrade that reduced the BNB chain’s block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds, BNB has brought the quick follow-up Maxwell upgrade that reduces block times even further.

The latest among these upgrades is the Maxwell upgrade in June 2025. This upgrade brings sub-second block time for BNB (theoretical target being 0.75 seconds). Further, it also brings better communication between validators so that the entire blockchain remains in sync at all times despite such high frequency block production.

Sub-Second Block Time

A couple of months after receiving the 1.5 block time upgrade, BNB has yet again implemented a faster block processing algorithm with the Maxwell Hard Fork. This upgrade is termed as BEP-563

Validator Synchronization

For a blockchain network to remain secure, validators must be in near perfect synchronization with each other, otherwise there remains a chance that a few validators could execute a false transaction without being aware of it. 

The latest Maxwell Upgrade addresses this concern with BEP 563 improves quicker synchronization. With faster block times (0.75 seconds), the network too must synchronize even faster. This faster synchronization is made possible with the usage of Node IDs which will be assigned to each validator. Node IDs can help validators identify each other faster than before.

Smart Block Fetching

As validator synchronization becomes faster, nodes can share messages with each other in a much faster way. This ultimately is expected to improve block fetching.

Previously each new created block had to be synced with all nodes. Improved synchronization among validators via Node IDs could help block synchronization a lot faster.

Benefits From The Hard Fork

A direct result of the hard fork seems to be ultra short block times which means that transaction speeds would be at least four times than that in March 2025. Faster transaction times would mean it would get cheaper to use the BNB Chain.

For the retail markets, buying cryptocurrencies and storing them on BNB chain would become much more profitable. This is because retail purchases are often low value and chains like Ethereum erode a significant portion from retailers’ investments. Though there are other chains like SUI and TON, yet most of these chains do not offer such a huge variety of bridged assets like BNB does.

Top 5 BNB Wallets to Store $BNB & BEP-20 Tokens

For crypto-native startups, it would become a lot easier to use the trusted BNB Chain because unlike other chains which could be shut down in a bad market, the BNB Chain is backed by the largest crypto exchange in the world. At present at least 5700 dApps use the BNB Chain as it is significantly cheaper than Ethereum, yet offers a similar environment (BNB is based on ETH and uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine).

@BNBCHAIN has just hit a new all-time high! With over 5,700 decentralized applications, it now hosts the largest number of dApps across all blockchains. Even more impressive, the total dApp volume on BNB Chain has surpassed a staggering $12.5 trillion — the highest in the… pic.twitter.com/URSbdGZwpq

— BitBull (@AkaBull_) June 8, 2025

BNB’s fast blockchain would also attract TradFi and PayFi businesses that seek to embrace blockchain technology for faster and efficient payments. Lower fees would help them establish themselves in Web3 without having to spend much on transaction fees.

Check out our comprehensive guide on crypto wallets to learn everything you need to keep your funds protected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to update my wallet for Maxwell Upgrade?

If you are using a Web Browser wallet, there is nothing you need to do. For mobile and desktop wallet users, keep the software updated. For hardware wallet users, you will receive a firmware or software update from your OEM.

Does this mean more blocks are produced in a quarter, which results in more quarterly BNB burns?

More blocks would reduce the fee per block, as a result, nothing much changes, unless there is more transaction (by value) due to low fees.

BNB blockchain’s Maxwell Hard Fork brings sub-second block times for BNB chain users and helps validators achieve better synchronization with each other. The upgrade is the third major one in 2025 after the Pascal and Lorentz Hard Forks which brought accounts abstraction and 1.5 second block times to the blockchain, respectively. 

In this article, we will discuss Maxwell upgrade in full technical detail and understand its future potential. We will also take a look at a few concerns that have been plaguing all kinds of users. Please note that for the scope of this article, the words “Hard Fork” and “Upgrade” will be used interchangeably.

These Layer-2s are doing a brilliant job in scaling Bitcoin.

What is the Maxwell Upgrade?

After the Lorentz upgrade that reduced the BNB chain’s block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds, BNB has brought the quick follow-up Maxwell upgrade that reduces block times even further.

The latest among these upgrades is the Maxwell upgrade in June 2025. This upgrade brings sub-second block time for BNB (theoretical target being 0.75 seconds). Further, it also brings better communication between validators so that the entire blockchain remains in sync at all times despite such high frequency block production.

Sub-Second Block Time

A couple of months after receiving the 1.5 block time upgrade, BNB has yet again implemented a faster block processing algorithm with the Maxwell Hard Fork. This upgrade is termed as BEP-563

Validator Synchronization

For a blockchain network to remain secure, validators must be in near perfect synchronization with each other, otherwise there remains a chance that a few validators could execute a false transaction without being aware of it. 

The latest Maxwell Upgrade addresses this concern with BEP 563 improves quicker synchronization. With faster block times (0.75 seconds), the network too must synchronize even faster. This faster synchronization is made possible with the usage of Node IDs which will be assigned to each validator. Node IDs can help validators identify each other faster than before.

Smart Block Fetching

As validator synchronization becomes faster, nodes can share messages with each other in a much faster way. This ultimately is expected to improve block fetching.

Previously each new created block had to be synced with all nodes. Improved synchronization among validators via Node IDs could help block synchronization a lot faster.

Benefits From The Hard Fork

A direct result of the hard fork seems to be ultra short block times which means that transaction speeds would be at least four times than that in March 2025. Faster transaction times would mean it would get cheaper to use the BNB Chain.

For the retail markets, buying cryptocurrencies and storing them on BNB chain would become much more profitable. This is because retail purchases are often low value and chains like Ethereum erode a significant portion from retailers’ investments. Though there are other chains like SUI and TON, yet most of these chains do not offer such a huge variety of bridged assets like BNB does.

Top 5 BNB Wallets to Store $BNB & BEP-20 Tokens

For crypto-native startups, it would become a lot easier to use the trusted BNB Chain because unlike other chains which could be shut down in a bad market, the BNB Chain is backed by the largest crypto exchange in the world. At present at least 5700 dApps use the BNB Chain as it is significantly cheaper than Ethereum, yet offers a similar environment (BNB is based on ETH and uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine).

@BNBCHAIN has just hit a new all-time high!

With over 5,700 decentralized applications, it now hosts the largest number of dApps across all blockchains.

Even more impressive, the total dApp volume on BNB Chain has surpassed a staggering $12.5 trillion — the highest in the… pic.twitter.com/URSbdGZwpq

— BitBull (@AkaBull_) June 8, 2025

BNB’s fast blockchain would also attract TradFi and PayFi businesses that seek to embrace blockchain technology for faster and efficient payments. Lower fees would help them establish themselves in Web3 without having to spend much on transaction fees.

Check out our comprehensive guide on crypto wallets to learn everything you need to keep your funds protected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to update my wallet for Maxwell Upgrade?

If you are using a Web Browser wallet, there is nothing you need to do. For mobile and desktop wallet users, keep the software updated. For hardware wallet users, you will receive a firmware or software update from your OEM.

Does this mean more blocks are produced in a quarter, which results in more quarterly BNB burns?

More blocks would reduce the fee per block, as a result, nothing much changes, unless there is more transaction (by value) due to low fees.

Developers worldwide will embark on an unparalleled journey with direct mentorship from blockchain pioneers, global community support, and pathways to funding.

Global [23 Jun 2025] – Following announcements made at the World Computer Summit 2025, the DFINITY Foundation, the main contributor to the research and development of the Internet Computer, and the ICP HUBS Network – the global community driving the Internet Computer adoption – are launching the World Computer Hacker League 2025 (WCHL25): a four-month global hackathon challenging developers to build production-ready applications on the Internet Computer technology.

The competition, running July through October with registrations now open, is primed to offer an unparalleled experience for builders by granting access to all valuable resources and incentives necessary to accelerate their journey. 

Participants will receive weekly mentorship and feedback from technical experts and experienced builders, ensuring continuous growth and guidance throughout the hackathon. Comprehensive technical support is available through workshops, office hours, and in-depth explorations of the ICP tech stack. Developers also benefit from the exposure to a well established global network of stakeholders, alongside opportunities to pitch their projects to leading Web3 venture capitalists and angel investors.

Unlike traditional hackathons, WCHL provides four months for teams to focus, develop, test, and deploy fully functional applications on the Internet Computer blockchain. The extended timeline enables developers to create more genuine products rather than proof-of-concepts, addressing the industry’s well known challenge of translating hackathon projects into sustainable ventures.

Learn more about the Live Caffeine demonstration rounds out a landmark day at the 2025 World Computer Summit.

“WCHL gives developers what they’ve been asking for: real time to focus and build, real support from experts, and real pathways to growth,” said Emilio Canessa, Director of Global Adoption at DFINITY Foundation. “We’re not just running a hackathon, we’re creating the environment developers need to succeed. Most importantly, we want this event to be an unforgettable experience for tens of thousands of builders around the World.”

In addition to a globally open track, the hackathon leverages a consolidated audience of developers from the ICP HUBS Network – which spans across  North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia and revolves around four stages:

Participants will be challenged to build fully functional applications that run on the Internet Computer blockchain and will go through 4 rounds of selections. The Qualification Round, where teams submit their ideas and qualify to participate; the National Round, where 30% of the teams will be selected; the Regional Round, which brings together top teams on a Continental level; and the Global Grand Finale, where the best projects will compete for top prizes and honors on a global stage.

A panel of judges including prominent members of the ICP ecosystem and industry experts will be evaluating projects based on technical execution, user experience, and real-world applicability.

Registration opens today at DoraHacks. Join now, and become a pioneer in shaping the future of the internet.

About the Internet Computer

The Internet Computer (ICP) represents a fully decentralized web3 cloud platform, enabling developers to deploy code directly onto the blockchain without relying on servers or centralized infrastructure. This fast, cost-efficient, and highly scalable protocol redefines the operational paradigm of a decentralized web3 platform. ICP offers the same functionalities as centralized clouds but with economically efficient computation, heightened security, and rapid processing speeds intrinsic to decentralized technology.

For more information, please visit:https://internetcomputer.org/https://wchl25.worldcomputer.com/

Media Contact: DFINITY Foundation

Email: [email protected]

X: @dfintiy & @ICPHUBS

Developers worldwide will embark on an unparalleled journey with direct mentorship from blockchain pioneers, global community support, and pathways to funding.

Global [23 Jun 2025] – Following announcements made at the World Computer Summit 2025, the DFINITY Foundation, the main contributor to the research and development of the Internet Computer, and the ICP HUBS Network – the global community driving the Internet Computer adoption – are launching the World Computer Hacker League 2025 (WCHL25): a four-month global hackathon challenging developers to build production-ready applications on the Internet Computer technology.

The competition, running July through October with registrations now open, is primed to offer an unparalleled experience for builders by granting access to all valuable resources and incentives necessary to accelerate their journey. 

Participants will receive weekly mentorship and feedback from technical experts and experienced builders, ensuring continuous growth and guidance throughout the hackathon. Comprehensive technical support is available through workshops, office hours, and in-depth explorations of the ICP tech stack. Developers also benefit from the exposure to a well established global network of stakeholders, alongside opportunities to pitch their projects to leading Web3 venture capitalists and angel investors.

Unlike traditional hackathons, WCHL provides four months for teams to focus, develop, test, and deploy fully functional applications on the Internet Computer blockchain. The extended timeline enables developers to create more genuine products rather than proof-of-concepts, addressing the industry’s well known challenge of translating hackathon projects into sustainable ventures.

Learn more about the Live Caffeine demonstration rounds out a landmark day at the 2025 World Computer Summit.

“WCHL gives developers what they’ve been asking for: real time to focus and build, real support from experts, and real pathways to growth,” said Emilio Canessa, Director of Global Adoption at DFINITY Foundation. “We’re not just running a hackathon, we’re creating the environment developers need to succeed. Most importantly, we want this event to be an unforgettable experience for tens of thousands of builders around the World.”

In addition to a globally open track, the hackathon leverages a consolidated audience of developers from the ICP HUBS Network – which spans across  North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia and revolves around four stages:

Participants will be challenged to build fully functional applications that run on the Internet Computer blockchain and will go through 4 rounds of selections. The Qualification Round, where teams submit their ideas and qualify to participate; the National Round, where 30% of the teams will be selected; the Regional Round, which brings together top teams on a Continental level; and the Global Grand Finale, where the best projects will compete for top prizes and honors on a global stage.

A panel of judges including prominent members of the ICP ecosystem and industry experts will be evaluating projects based on technical execution, user experience, and real-world applicability.

Registration opens today at DoraHacks. Join now, and become a pioneer in shaping the future of the internet.

About the Internet Computer

The Internet Computer (ICP) represents a fully decentralized web3 cloud platform, enabling developers to deploy code directly onto the blockchain without relying on servers or centralized infrastructure. This fast, cost-efficient, and highly scalable protocol redefines the operational paradigm of a decentralized web3 platform. ICP offers the same functionalities as centralized clouds but with economically efficient computation, heightened security, and rapid processing speeds intrinsic to decentralized technology.

For more information, please visit:
https://internetcomputer.org/
https://wchl25.worldcomputer.com/

Media Contact: DFINITY Foundation

Email: [email protected]

X: @dfintiy & @ICPHUBS

PayFi could soon develop into a major industry given its potential to accelerate the adoption of Web3 through the creation of better financial architecture than what powers Web2. 

This financial architecture includes payment gateways, monetizing current Web2 assets which are beyond RWAs, settling cross-border payments faster than ever, and utilising cryptocurrency for payments regarding almost anything that you need in your day to day life.

In this article we will explore 9 such interesting use cases where PayFi could create sustainable and resilient infrastructure for Web3.

Meet Shardeum, one of the pioneers in PayFi.

Retail Shopping

A major section of people working in the Web3 industry are nowadays getting paid in exclusively cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, there is also a large section of people who are buying and holding cryptocurrencies and are just a step away from using them for their daily purchases.

With the recent developments in PayFi in the last couple of years, there are more than 280 crypto-based payment companies that could bridge this gap. 

1) Fun fact: there are ~280 payment companies today building on cryptorails (!)I've written a piece explaining the current financial system, major use cases for cryptorails, adoption challenges they're facing, and what the future might look like.https://t.co/KrWyVBQ7CT pic.twitter.com/JVxTmn4fSf

— Dmitriy Berenzon (@dberenzon) February 12, 2025

Please note that the term PayFi is new but the concept has been around since quite a time.

P2P Transfers

P2P transfers were the primary need of developing blockchain technology and was the reason for the creation of Bitcoin. Sixteen years down the line, there has not been much development in terms of a proper P2P payment solution that could replace traditional apps like PayPal.

PayFi could not only help send and receive such P2P payments but also help you track finances, set reminders, split bills, contribute towards house payments, and several other things that traditional finance apps do.

Polygon recently saw a rise of 81% in P2P payments in the last six months post Trump’s win, indicating a growing confidence in crypto.

Online Shopping

There are millions of people who want to directly spend in crypto but are unable to do so because most online shopping platforms do not accept crypto payments. A proper crypto-based payment gateway that provides end-to-end crypto transfer solutions from customer to vendor is the need of the hour.

PayFi could help bridge a gap between these customers and vendors who are ready to adopt crypto but have been unable to do so because of lack of proper infrastructure.

Are you curious about Crypto Debit Cards? Check out how they work.

RWA Purchases

At this stage the entire Web3 industry is quite certain that Real World Assets (RWAs) are going to be the future of traditional finance. However, there has been no RWA-based trading, investing or portfolio managing service for the retail sector.

PayFi dApps could not only help in the trading and settlement of RWA assets, they could also provide custody solutions (both self and via a custodian).

With large players entering the market, crypto custody would be better positioned to help new Web3 users.

JUST IN: $870 billion asset manager Standard Chartered to offer Bitcoin & crypto custody services in Europe.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 9, 2025

Financing Account Receivables

Account receivables are payments which are about to be made to a certain business or individual. In terms of accounting, they are considered as good as money. In traditional finance, these account receivables can be used as collateral to receive ultra-short term loans till the vendor receives the payment.

RWA with the help of PayFi can revolutionize these account receivables by integrating them with DeFi and by acting as an instant monetization service. Since receivables are as good as cash, they can be collateralized to lend crypto loans. Also because these loans are very short term (say 14 days), they are a quick way to earn money.

Cross-Border Settlements

Cross border settlements were one of the first applications of cryptocurrency. Now they are a $600 billion market.

$600B in cross-border crypto payments highlights speculative dominance but also growing use in remittances. Bitcoin and stablecoins are now key alternatives to traditional money transfers, especially in regions with high inflation. Crypto’s interconnectedness with traditional… pic.twitter.com/JHXNJQOu9G

— Unreal Capital (@unrealcapitalvc) May 14, 2025

However, till date there has been no definite solution that could send and receive crypto like a payment app such as PayPal or Stripe would do.

Even though wallets can do pretty much everything you need on regular basis such as sending and receiving crypto, yet they cannot keep a track of payments, generate invoices, collect automatic payments, put reminders and perform a lot of other tasks like a traditional payment app would do.

Buy Now, Pay Never

Buy Now and Pay Never is an interesting concept in PayFi where your rewards collected from multiple sources are used to pay for your needs, from shopping to medical bills.

Though the scale of its potential success is unknown, it could still in principle provide a major support to your financial needs.

Check out our latest article on Buy Now, pay Never.

Financial Inclusion

PayFi being built on Web3, does not require complex financial documents to achieve financial inclusion in areas where the income rate is too low. In such areas, there is a dire need to provide services rather than comply with globally set rules.

A PayFi app could not only help people get paid on time, process faster and cheaper payments, but also help them save in times of abundance and borrow in times of need.

There were some solutions in Africa like Machankura but those applications heavily relied on traditional financial institutions. Web3 being decentralized could help make financial inclusion easier by building peer to peer connections, eliminating middlemen.

Did you know?There's a farm in rural Kenya where people are buying veggies with sats, using a lightning wallet that doesn't need Internet.https://t.co/UwfLOC3kqWDamn. I love Bitcoin.@Machankura8333 @Bitcoinchama pic.twitter.com/xt8w6lJdUX

— Bitcoin Ekasi (@BitcoinEkasi) June 8, 2025

User Data Monetization

For those willing to send their user activity online in exchange for rewards, PayFi could easily help them monetize that data. Common examples would include browser data, shopping data, surveys, and opinions on products or services.

Though there are individual applications like Brave Browser in this field, these are mostly working in silos and there is no single platform which rewards a user by monetizing multiple channels.

Therefore there is a need for one unified application which helps you collate your monetization rewards from different platforms or different channels.

Here’s how you can monetize your knowledge on Web3.

PayFi could soon develop into a major industry given its potential to accelerate the adoption of Web3 through the creation of better financial architecture than what powers Web2. 

This financial architecture includes payment gateways, monetizing current Web2 assets which are beyond RWAs, settling cross-border payments faster than ever, and utilising cryptocurrency for payments regarding almost anything that you need in your day to day life.

In this article we will explore 9 such interesting use cases where PayFi could create sustainable and resilient infrastructure for Web3.

Meet Shardeum, one of the pioneers in PayFi.

Retail Shopping

A major section of people working in the Web3 industry are nowadays getting paid in exclusively cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, there is also a large section of people who are buying and holding cryptocurrencies and are just a step away from using them for their daily purchases.

With the recent developments in PayFi in the last couple of years, there are more than 280 crypto-based payment companies that could bridge this gap. 

1) Fun fact: there are ~280 payment companies today building on cryptorails (!)

I've written a piece explaining the current financial system, major use cases for cryptorails, adoption challenges they're facing, and what the future might look like.https://t.co/KrWyVBQ7CT pic.twitter.com/JVxTmn4fSf

— Dmitriy Berenzon (@dberenzon) February 12, 2025

Please note that the term PayFi is new but the concept has been around since quite a time.

P2P Transfers

P2P transfers were the primary need of developing blockchain technology and was the reason for the creation of Bitcoin. Sixteen years down the line, there has not been much development in terms of a proper P2P payment solution that could replace traditional apps like PayPal.

PayFi could not only help send and receive such P2P payments but also help you track finances, set reminders, split bills, contribute towards house payments, and several other things that traditional finance apps do.

Polygon recently saw a rise of 81% in P2P payments in the last six months post Trump’s win, indicating a growing confidence in crypto.

Online Shopping

There are millions of people who want to directly spend in crypto but are unable to do so because most online shopping platforms do not accept crypto payments. A proper crypto-based payment gateway that provides end-to-end crypto transfer solutions from customer to vendor is the need of the hour.

PayFi could help bridge a gap between these customers and vendors who are ready to adopt crypto but have been unable to do so because of lack of proper infrastructure.

Are you curious about Crypto Debit Cards? Check out how they work.

RWA Purchases

At this stage the entire Web3 industry is quite certain that Real World Assets (RWAs) are going to be the future of traditional finance. However, there has been no RWA-based trading, investing or portfolio managing service for the retail sector.

PayFi dApps could not only help in the trading and settlement of RWA assets, they could also provide custody solutions (both self and via a custodian).

With large players entering the market, crypto custody would be better positioned to help new Web3 users.

JUST IN: $870 billion asset manager Standard Chartered to offer Bitcoin & crypto custody services in Europe.

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 9, 2025

Financing Account Receivables

Account receivables are payments which are about to be made to a certain business or individual. In terms of accounting, they are considered as good as money. In traditional finance, these account receivables can be used as collateral to receive ultra-short term loans till the vendor receives the payment.

RWA with the help of PayFi can revolutionize these account receivables by integrating them with DeFi and by acting as an instant monetization service. Since receivables are as good as cash, they can be collateralized to lend crypto loans. Also because these loans are very short term (say 14 days), they are a quick way to earn money.

Cross-Border Settlements

Cross border settlements were one of the first applications of cryptocurrency. Now they are a $600 billion market.

$600B in cross-border crypto payments highlights speculative dominance but also growing use in remittances.

Bitcoin and stablecoins are now key alternatives to traditional money transfers, especially in regions with high inflation.

Crypto’s interconnectedness with traditional… pic.twitter.com/JHXNJQOu9G

— Unreal Capital (@unrealcapitalvc) May 14, 2025

However, till date there has been no definite solution that could send and receive crypto like a payment app such as PayPal or Stripe would do.

Even though wallets can do pretty much everything you need on regular basis such as sending and receiving crypto, yet they cannot keep a track of payments, generate invoices, collect automatic payments, put reminders and perform a lot of other tasks like a traditional payment app would do.

Buy Now, Pay Never

Buy Now and Pay Never is an interesting concept in PayFi where your rewards collected from multiple sources are used to pay for your needs, from shopping to medical bills.

Though the scale of its potential success is unknown, it could still in principle provide a major support to your financial needs.

Check out our latest article on Buy Now, pay Never.

Financial Inclusion

PayFi being built on Web3, does not require complex financial documents to achieve financial inclusion in areas where the income rate is too low. In such areas, there is a dire need to provide services rather than comply with globally set rules.

A PayFi app could not only help people get paid on time, process faster and cheaper payments, but also help them save in times of abundance and borrow in times of need.

There were some solutions in Africa like Machankura but those applications heavily relied on traditional financial institutions. Web3 being decentralized could help make financial inclusion easier by building peer to peer connections, eliminating middlemen.

Did you know?

There's a farm in rural Kenya where people are buying veggies with sats, using a lightning wallet that doesn't need Internet.https://t.co/UwfLOC3kqW

Damn. I love Bitcoin.@Machankura8333 @Bitcoinchama pic.twitter.com/xt8w6lJdUX

— Bitcoin Ekasi (@BitcoinEkasi) June 8, 2025

User Data Monetization

For those willing to send their user activity online in exchange for rewards, PayFi could easily help them monetize that data. Common examples would include browser data, shopping data, surveys, and opinions on products or services.

Though there are individual applications like Brave Browser in this field, these are mostly working in silos and there is no single platform which rewards a user by monetizing multiple channels.

Therefore there is a need for one unified application which helps you collate your monetization rewards from different platforms or different channels.

Here’s how you can monetize your knowledge on Web3.

Mantra(OM), one of the key supposed players in the RWA space went off crashing in March 2025 after several of its large token holders dumped their crypto large token holders and dumped their $OM on the market currencies on the market, crashing the price below $1 from $8.7.

Although there is no way of perfectly knowing which crypto bill and which not yet there are many checks and balances which could limit your exposure to such cryptocurrencies.  This article explores five such precautions that we learnt through our years of experience working in the crypto markets.

How to minimize your risk exposure in DeFi? Exposing DeFi’s Red Flags

Read The White Paper in Detail

Every blockchain project that is genuine releases a detailed white paper where everything about the project from the technology to the way users are supposed to use it is mentioned.

Crypto buyers who are interested in investing in any project may be at a pre ICO stage or at a post launch stage should refer to the White Paper in as depth as possible and try to understand it with every jargon that is mentioned in it.

In the case of mantra a large part of the token holding was allegedly allotted to internal members. As high as 12.5% of the tokens were in the control of a single wallet, and 52% of the token supply was being controlled by just 10 wallets.

Top 10 Wallets Have 52% Token Concentration in $OM

As soon as the project reached a certain price approximately to $8.4 (from $1, within 6 months), several token owners dumped the $OM tokens. The crypto markets termed it as a pump and dump operation.

Explore Socials

Though it is very cheap and easy to create a perfect set of social media pages for any crypto project, yet many fake ones do not have even those.  These projects can be detected through bad social media visuals, non professional posting and reply behaviour, and amateur grade captions or texts.

Do you know, there are several airdrop scams targeting users like you?

A perfect social media is not the certificate of genuinity for any project but it tells you a lot about projects that are trying to cheat you. Even a brief overlook can manytimes save you from investing in junk grade cryptocurrencies.

Understand Project Viability

Understanding project viability is the key to succeed in crypto investing especially if you’re operating in pre launch project markets. Many projects which look cool but do not have a viability often carry the risk of failure.  Even the smallest periods of bear markets could easily wipe out those projects.

One of the biggest examples of this is the fate of the NFT markets. Though they looked cool to own and were a multi-billion dollar market in the 2021 bull run, yet a couple of years later, NFT markets are virtually non-existent despite Bitcoin rallying 200% from its 2021 highs. NFTs never came out of the bear markets.

NFT Market Activity Between 2016 and 2025

A certain way of defending your crypto capital is by avoiding FOMO traps.

Smart Contract Audit To Check For Loops

Every project has a smart contract on which its token platform decks or exchange is created. It is necessary for project owners to get their smart contracts examined by an independent expert only after which they are allowed for listings. Certik is the most common smart contract auditor in the crypto world.

Auditors check for loops, backdoors, token minting algorithms and many other loopholes to see if the owners are really creating a project as per the white paper or have manipulated some part of the code to suit their best interests.

When PYUSD was launched by PayPal, netizens found an uncommon freeze and erase function in PYUSD’s smart contract wherein it was possible for PayPal to freeze or confiscate any wallet.

PayPal users beware. This is the opposite of why Crypto was invented Function:– Freeze: They have the ability to halt your assets and not allow you to move or use them– Wipe Frozen Address: They have the ability to destroy the coins inside your frozen address in one… pic.twitter.com/HpiFJRSWl0

— KatieePCrypto.pls (@KatieePCrypto) August 8, 2023

Seek Expert Opinion

Although it is impossible for anyone to tell whether a project will be a hit or flop based on their current vitals, yet many experts do have a hunch that a certain project might not survive a bear market or maybe it could just be a ultra short trend.

One such example is the existence of memecoin markets. Despite having no real life utility, coins rallied much for the year 2024 with some gaining up to 10,000% in growth. 

Here is Marty Bent, Managing Partner of Ten31 Funds, commenting on the survivability of memecoins and expressing doubt on their future even before the memecoin rally of late 2024 and early 2025. 

Prediction: people riding the memecoin wave are going to be severely disappointed. The flows from bitcoin to broader crypto this cycle will be significantly reduced due to most new entrants gaining exposure via ETFs.Individual memecoins will rise and die like news headlines.

— Marty Bent (@MartyBent) September 27, 2024

Mantra(OM), one of the key supposed players in the RWA space went off crashing in March 2025 after several of its large token holders dumped their crypto large token holders and dumped their $OM on the market currencies on the market, crashing the price below $1 from $8.7.

Although there is no way of perfectly knowing which crypto bill and which not yet there are many checks and balances which could limit your exposure to such cryptocurrencies.  This article explores five such precautions that we learnt through our years of experience working in the crypto markets.

How to minimize your risk exposure in DeFi? Exposing DeFi’s Red Flags

Read The White Paper in Detail

Every blockchain project that is genuine releases a detailed white paper where everything about the project from the technology to the way users are supposed to use it is mentioned.

Crypto buyers who are interested in investing in any project may be at a pre ICO stage or at a post launch stage should refer to the White Paper in as depth as possible and try to understand it with every jargon that is mentioned in it.

In the case of mantra a large part of the token holding was allegedly allotted to internal members. As high as 12.5% of the tokens were in the control of a single wallet, and 52% of the token supply was being controlled by just 10 wallets.

Top 10 Wallets Have 52% Token Concentration in $OM

As soon as the project reached a certain price approximately to $8.4 (from $1, within 6 months), several token owners dumped the $OM tokens. The crypto markets termed it as a pump and dump operation.

Explore Socials

Though it is very cheap and easy to create a perfect set of social media pages for any crypto project, yet many fake ones do not have even those.  These projects can be detected through bad social media visuals, non professional posting and reply behaviour, and amateur grade captions or texts.

Do you know, there are several airdrop scams targeting users like you?

A perfect social media is not the certificate of genuinity for any project but it tells you a lot about projects that are trying to cheat you. Even a brief overlook can manytimes save you from investing in junk grade cryptocurrencies.

Understand Project Viability

Understanding project viability is the key to succeed in crypto investing especially if you’re operating in pre launch project markets. Many projects which look cool but do not have a viability often carry the risk of failure.  Even the smallest periods of bear markets could easily wipe out those projects.

One of the biggest examples of this is the fate of the NFT markets. Though they looked cool to own and were a multi-billion dollar market in the 2021 bull run, yet a couple of years later, NFT markets are virtually non-existent despite Bitcoin rallying 200% from its 2021 highs. NFTs never came out of the bear markets.

NFT Market Activity Between 2016 and 2025

A certain way of defending your crypto capital is by avoiding FOMO traps.

Smart Contract Audit To Check For Loops

Every project has a smart contract on which its token platform decks or exchange is created. It is necessary for project owners to get their smart contracts examined by an independent expert only after which they are allowed for listings. Certik is the most common smart contract auditor in the crypto world.

Auditors check for loops, backdoors, token minting algorithms and many other loopholes to see if the owners are really creating a project as per the white paper or have manipulated some part of the code to suit their best interests.

When PYUSD was launched by PayPal, netizens found an uncommon freeze and erase function in PYUSD’s smart contract wherein it was possible for PayPal to freeze or confiscate any wallet.

PayPal users beware. This is the opposite of why Crypto was invented

Function:

– Freeze: They have the ability to halt your assets and not allow you to move or use them

– Wipe Frozen Address: They have the ability to destroy the coins inside your frozen address in one… pic.twitter.com/HpiFJRSWl0

— KatieePCrypto.pls (@KatieePCrypto) August 8, 2023

Seek Expert Opinion

Although it is impossible for anyone to tell whether a project will be a hit or flop based on their current vitals, yet many experts do have a hunch that a certain project might not survive a bear market or maybe it could just be a ultra short trend.

One such example is the existence of memecoin markets. Despite having no real life utility, coins rallied much for the year 2024 with some gaining up to 10,000% in growth. 

Here is Marty Bent, Managing Partner of Ten31 Funds, commenting on the survivability of memecoins and expressing doubt on their future even before the memecoin rally of late 2024 and early 2025. 

Prediction: people riding the memecoin wave are going to be severely disappointed. The flows from bitcoin to broader crypto this cycle will be significantly reduced due to most new entrants gaining exposure via ETFs.

Individual memecoins will rise and die like news headlines.

— Marty Bent (@MartyBent) September 27, 2024

BNB has been doing a lot of hard work to ensure it beats both Ethereum and Solana in the layer-1 blockchain race. The latest Pascal (March 2025) and Lorentz (April 2025) series of upgrades aim at making it at par with Ethereum’s latest Pectra Upgrade while the next Maxwell upgrade would reduce BNB’s block time to less than 1 second (0.75 seconds target).

In this article, we will discuss the technical details of the two upgrades i.e., Pascal and Lorentz that have already been implemented in the blockchain. Later articles in this series will be focused on the Maxwell upgrade.

Did you know, BNB was one of the pioneering blockchains to feature an autoburn mechanism?

Technical Details of the Pascal and Lorentz Hard Fork

BNB has undergone two key upgrades in March and April 2025 namely Pascal and Lorentz. Pascal introduced smart wallet features while Lorentz helped BNB Chain reduce transaction processing time. Further, both these upgrades added security features that make the chain more resistant to several kinds of attacks.

The upgrade has been developed in accordance with Ethereum’s ERC-7702 standard which is a part of the Pectra Upgrade. The Pectra Upgrade allows Ethereum wallets to act as smart wallets with the help of their very own smart contracts. It makes 11 new major code changes including Verkle Trees for better cryptographic security of the blockchain.

Both of these upgrades were critically important since the BNB Chain functions on Ethereum’s Virtual Machine.

Thinking of investing in BNB? Here are the top wallets to secure your tokens.

Pascal Upgrade

The Pascal Upgrade is a key hard fork in BNB which allows crypto wallets on the BNB chain to have their own smart contracts. As a result, users would be able to recover their wallets, schedule transactions based on certain conditions, gas sponsorship, and access other smart wallet features.

The Pascal Upgrade was tested in February 2025 and was implemented the next month.

Lorentz Upgrade

The Lorentz Upgrade allows a 1.5 second block time. Previous to this upgrade, the BNB Chain had a block time of 3 seconds.

Further, the Lorentz Upgrade also helps BNB Chain achieve validator synchronization. This means each validator in the network is better connected to others, helping avoid any forceful (such as the 51% Attack) or deceitful (such as Bybit hack) takeover of the chain.

Benefits of Implementing the Hard Forks

There are multiple benefits of implementing the three hard forks in 2025.

The Pascal hard fork helped implement account abstraction features like smart addresses and gas sponsorships.

The Lorentz hard fork reduced the block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. It also helped BNB align well with Ethereum which itself went under the Pectra Upgrade.

Finally, the Maxwell hard fork aims to achieve sub-second (0.75s) block time, increasing the network throughput by 100%. 

Maxwell introduces three major upgrades:

1️⃣ BEP-524: Reduce block time to 0.75s
2️⃣ BEP-563: Enhanced Validator Network messaging
3️⃣ BEP-564: Smarter block-fetching logic

Together, these changes deliver faster confirmations and stronger consensus at scale:…

— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) May 20, 2025

Stay tuned with DroomDroom for a new article on Maxwell Upgrade very soon.

Risks Arising Out of The Hard Forks

No hard fork is completely without its due risks. For the above two discussed ones, there is a risk of users getting phished similar to what happened in the ByBit Hack. 

In that hack, the smart contract wallet’s user interface was hacked and the users of the wallet were tricked into entering their private keys into a fake UI created by the hackers. As a result, $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum and ETH-equivalent tokens were lost.

Here are the top exchange hacks and the lessons that we learn from them?

What are Hard Forks?

Hard Forks are permanent changes in a blockchain after which the prefork version of the chain is no longer compatible with the post-fork version of the chain. The need for a hard fork arises when minor changes in the blockchain are unable to keep up with the requirements of the future.

Ethereum too had to go through the Pectra hard fork in the recent past due to the same reasons. Since BNB is based on the EVM blockchain and its technology is Ethereum-compatible, similar changes become mandatory for BNB too.

Here, in the case of BNB, these changes are related to account abstraction, smart contract wallet addresses and validator synchronization.

Future Potential

The next major upgrade for BNB is the Maxwell Upgrade which seeks to reduce block time to 0.75 seconds from 1.5 seconds. Sub-second block times would mean a faster transaction processing time, which is then expected to enhance BNB chain’s adoption rate. 

BNB has been doing a lot of hard work to ensure it beats both Ethereum and Solana in the layer-1 blockchain race. The latest Pascal (March 2025) and Lorentz (April 2025) series of upgrades aim at making it at par with Ethereum’s latest Pectra Upgrade while the next Maxwell upgrade would reduce BNB’s block time to less than 1 second (0.75 seconds target).

In this article, we will discuss the technical details of the two upgrades i.e., Pascal and Lorentz that have already been implemented in the blockchain. Later articles in this series will be focused on the Maxwell upgrade.

Did you know, BNB was one of the pioneering blockchains to feature an autoburn mechanism?

Technical Details of the Pascal and Lorentz Hard Fork

BNB has undergone two key upgrades in March and April 2025 namely Pascal and Lorentz. Pascal introduced smart wallet features while Lorentz helped BNB Chain reduce transaction processing time. Further, both these upgrades added security features that make the chain more resistant to several kinds of attacks.

The upgrade has been developed in accordance with Ethereum’s ERC-7702 standard which is a part of the Pectra Upgrade. The Pectra Upgrade allows Ethereum wallets to act as smart wallets with the help of their very own smart contracts. It makes 11 new major code changes including Verkle Trees for better cryptographic security of the blockchain.

Both of these upgrades were critically important since the BNB Chain functions on Ethereum’s Virtual Machine.

Thinking of investing in BNB? Here are the top wallets to secure your tokens.

Pascal Upgrade

The Pascal Upgrade is a key hard fork in BNB which allows crypto wallets on the BNB chain to have their own smart contracts. As a result, users would be able to recover their wallets, schedule transactions based on certain conditions, gas sponsorship, and access other smart wallet features.

The Pascal Upgrade was tested in February 2025 and was implemented the next month.

Lorentz Upgrade

The Lorentz Upgrade allows a 1.5 second block time. Previous to this upgrade, the BNB Chain had a block time of 3 seconds.

Further, the Lorentz Upgrade also helps BNB Chain achieve validator synchronization. This means each validator in the network is better connected to others, helping avoid any forceful (such as the 51% Attack) or deceitful (such as Bybit hack) takeover of the chain.

Benefits of Implementing the Hard Forks

There are multiple benefits of implementing the three hard forks in 2025.

The Pascal hard fork helped implement account abstraction features like smart addresses and gas sponsorships.

The Lorentz hard fork reduced the block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. It also helped BNB align well with Ethereum which itself went under the Pectra Upgrade.

Finally, the Maxwell hard fork aims to achieve sub-second (0.75s) block time, increasing the network throughput by 100%. 

Maxwell introduces three major upgrades:1️⃣ BEP-524: Reduce block time to 0.75s2️⃣ BEP-563: Enhanced Validator Network messaging3️⃣ BEP-564: Smarter block-fetching logicTogether, these changes deliver faster confirmations and stronger consensus at scale:…

— BNB Chain (@BNBCHAIN) May 20, 2025

Stay tuned with DroomDroom for a new article on Maxwell Upgrade very soon.

Risks Arising Out of The Hard Forks

No hard fork is completely without its due risks. For the above two discussed ones, there is a risk of users getting phished similar to what happened in the ByBit Hack. 

In that hack, the smart contract wallet’s user interface was hacked and the users of the wallet were tricked into entering their private keys into a fake UI created by the hackers. As a result, $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum and ETH-equivalent tokens were lost.

Here are the top exchange hacks and the lessons that we learn from them?

What are Hard Forks?

Hard Forks are permanent changes in a blockchain after which the prefork version of the chain is no longer compatible with the post-fork version of the chain. The need for a hard fork arises when minor changes in the blockchain are unable to keep up with the requirements of the future.

Ethereum too had to go through the Pectra hard fork in the recent past due to the same reasons. Since BNB is based on the EVM blockchain and its technology is Ethereum-compatible, similar changes become mandatory for BNB too.

Here, in the case of BNB, these changes are related to account abstraction, smart contract wallet addresses and validator synchronization.

Future Potential

The next major upgrade for BNB is the Maxwell Upgrade which seeks to reduce block time to 0.75 seconds from 1.5 seconds. Sub-second block times would mean a faster transaction processing time, which is then expected to enhance BNB chain’s adoption rate. 

Dubai & Switzerland - 11 June, 2025 – Quranium, the pioneer behind the first quantum-secure blockchain infrastructure, has today launched QSafe Quantum Secure Crypto Wallet (‘QSafe Wallet’), a next-generation crypto wallet designed from the ground up to protect digital assets in the quantum era. 
Built with SLHDSA and ML-KEM, two of the leading post-quantum cryptographic algorithms selected by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), QSafe offers quantum-resilient signatures and encrypted backups by default. It supports Bitcoin, Solana, EVM chains, and Quranium’s native Layer 1, delivering a seamless, secure, and cross-chain experience for both newcomers and advanced users. 
"In 2024, over $2.2 billion was lost to cryptocurrency hacks and scams, with approximately $964 million to $1.86 billion attributed to wallet vulnerabilities such as private key compromises and access control failures, primarily driven by phishing, misconfigured multisig wallets, and system breaches, rather than outdated encryption,” said CEO & Co-founder of Quranium, Kapil Dhiman. “That’s why QSafe exists because users deserve a wallet that evolves with threats; a wallet that gives you full control, clarity, and confidence no matter what chain or token you’re using.” 
Key Features of QSafe Wallet
Quantum-safe signatures - Every transaction is signed using SLH-DSA to ensure resilient against quantum attacks.Seamless crypto ↔ fiat access – Buy and sell crypto directly in any national currency, with full KYC integration for secure compliance.Encrypted backup protection - Wallet recovery data is encrypted using ML-LEM to keep it safe, even decades from now.True cross-chain compatibility - Manage assets across Bitcoin, Solana, Ethereum, Quranium, and more with a single wallet.User-friendly experience - Simple, intuitive UX built for everyone; from first-time users to experienced crypto traders.Self-custody first - You hold your keys, your assets, and your future. No intermediaries.Uncrackable by design - QSafe is built to withstand not just today’s risks but tomorrow’s supercomputers. 
Getting Started is Fast and Simple
Available as a browser extension on Chrome, Firefox, Windows, macOS, and Linux, users can set up QSafe in minutes. Users can easily get started by creating or restoring a wallet, setting a secure password, generating SLHDSA and ML-KEM keys, and sending their first quantum-secure transaction on the Quranium Chain, all in just a few simple steps.
Why QSafe, Why Now?
Most crypto wallets today still rely on classical encryption standards like ECDSA and SHA-256. These standards, while robust against classical computing threats, are vulnerable to the emerging capabilities of quantum computing.
As of the end of 2024, Bitcoin's market dominance stood at approximately 53.6%, while Ethereum's market share had declined to around 11.8%, according to CoinGecko's Annual Crypto Industry Report. Combined, these two cryptocurrencies represent a significant portion of the $3.91 trillion total crypto market capitalization.
The threat posed by quantum computing is not merely theoretical. According to Deloitte, nearly 25% of Bitcoin addresses are already exposed, making them a potential jackpot for any quantum system capable of reverse-engineering private keys. This vulnerability underscores the pressing need for quantum-resistant solutions in the crypto space. 
Moreover, quantum computing advancements are accelerating. While current quantum computers have around 100 qubits, breaking ECDSA encryption would require approximately 1,500 logical qubits. Though this threshold hasn't been reached yet, projections suggest that such capabilities could emerge within the next decade, emphasizing the urgency for proactive security measures.
QSafe addresses these challenges head-on by integrating post-quantum cryptographic algorithms, giving users the confidence that their digital assets remain secure in the face of evolving technological threats. 
"QSafe isn’t just reacting to the quantum threat, it’s architected to withstand it,” added Dhiman, “You don’t hire a security guard after the theft has happened. You hire one to prevent it. QSafe is designed to protect your assets before quantum threats ever reach your keys.”
While timelines for cryptographically relevant quantum computers (CRQCs) range from 2030 to 2040, the window for proactive defense is now. And that’s exactly what QSafe delivers: post-quantum signatures, encrypted backups, and full control before the risks become real.
Explore QSafe Today
QSafe is now available for download via qsafewallet.com. For developers and researchers interested in the cryptography behind QSafe, visit docs.qsafewallet.com for a full technical breakdown.
For further information, please contact:
Claire Cairns, Head of Brand Strategy
Email: [email protected] 
About Quranium
Quranium is a Layer 1 blockchain protocol optimized for post-quantum security, AI integration, and EVM compatibility. It uses quantum-resistant encryption, supports intelligent automation at the protocol level, and enables seamless interoperability with the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
The protocol is designed for high-throughput execution, deterministic consensus, and long-term resilience against both classical and quantum computational attacks.
Launched in 2024 by a team of Web3 pioneers, Quranium has grown into a global organization with more than 50 team members. It is headquartered in Switzerland, and has offices in DMCC (UAE), and Singapore.
Quranium’s 2025 roadmap includes the recent rollout of its Proof-of-Stake Convergence Layer, an AI-native gaming environment, and QSafe Wallet, a quantum-secure multi-chain crypto wallet.
Quranium provides foundational infrastructure for mission-critical systems and digital sovereignty in a converging technological landscape.  
Key facts and initiatives:
Backed by Animoca BrandsStrategic GTM partner: PwCPartnerships with MetaSig, MatterID, Hacken, Galaxe, LumaGames, etc.Sponsored by Bybit, and Winner of DMCC’s Best Web3 Startup 2024
Thought leadership via Quantum Minds podcast and monthly virtual webinar, The Uncrackable Conversation.
Join the uncrackable community:
Website: https://quranium.org/LinkedIn: QuraniumX (formerly Twitter): @quranium_orgTelegram: Quranium CommunityDiscord: Join Us

On June 3rd 2025, DFINITY Foundation hosted a market-leading selection of international technologists, developers, policy makers, community members, builders, and pioneers in Zürich for the second World Computer Summit  (WCS) – a one-day event dedicated to the future of the open internet. 
The event focused on several themes, all critical to the realisation of the World Computer vision. These included the topics of decentralised compute, sovereign cloud and data infrastructure, tamperproof and autonomous infrastructure, the role and need for AI on chain, the investment and regulatory landscape, and the many efforts DFINITY is undertaking to help make digital landscapes safer, more productive, and more interconnected than ever before. The diverse range of influential speakers spanned companies and institutions such as Animoca Brands, UNDP, Cisco, Heidrick & Struggles, ETH Zurich, 21Shares, Boston Consulting Group, Credit Agricole Italia, and many more, who all shared a similar message: decentralization and AI adoption are no longer abstract concepts or nice to haves – but an urgent, achievable reality. 
With more than 1,000 attendees welcomed for a Main Stage program of keynotes, panels, firesides, demos, the most notable moment of the day came just before the event’s close, as DFINITY Foundation’s Founder and Chief Scientist, Dominic Williams, unveiled a new paradigm for the Self-Writing Internet. 
As Dom delivered the world’s first, live, onstage demo of DFINITY’s hotly anticipated Caffeine AI tool, it was clear for all those in attendance that this secure, customisable, end-to-end, app builder has the potential to radically transform the lives of anyone with internet access - all through its easy-to-use natural language prompt and highly intuitive user interface. He also announced the opening of the hotly anticipated waitlist for alpha access, with sign ups now accessible via the dedicated microsite join.caffeine.ai. Caffeine is the world’s first self-writing apps platform, and represents a milestone development for DFINITY Foundation. 

Community engagement and developer activations
One of the most notable aspects of WCS25 was the strength and enthusiasm of the ICP builder and holder community, with an entire section of the event staged to platform, engage, and demonstrate ICP’s exceptional capabilities to builders of all levels of growth. From early-stage developers to established dapp teams and infrastructure providers, this part of the event highlighted the diversity and momentum of the ICP ecosystem.
Pitches and Panels in this section included notable ICP projects, such as KongSwap, Liquidium, PiggyCell, Omnity Network, and more.
Throughout the day, the Ecosystem Stage played host to an engaging array of demonstrations, project pitches, use cases and builder tools, spanning DeFi, Agentic AI, RWA, and more. DFINITY’s expert teams also delivered critical project milestone updates and capability demonstrations for OISY Wallet and Chain Fusion technologies, to name just a few.
A new era of Internet Computer 2.0
As the Summit drew to a close, it was clear that the movement for an open, decentralized Internet focusing on accessibility, data sovereignty and ownership is growing - and will be fueled by a combination of developer ambition and AI capabilities. The DFINITY Foundation remains steadfast in its commitment to pushing forward to make this vision a reality, pushing the boundaries of what is possible and contributing to the development of breakthrough, real-world, applications.
Speaking on the demonstration, Dominic Williams said, “We are proud to announce the advent of Internet Computer 2.0. The network now provides a unique cloud computing environment that enables AI to build solo. Today we demonstrated an incredible alpha version of the platform, which will be followed by a beta in about a month that will be released to the public. We are targeting a future where everyone in the world can create online functionality just by talking.”
Catch up on a recording of the live demonstration here. Check out more information about DFINITY and ICP’s vision here. 

In the world of DeFi and TradFi, the concept of buying now and paying later has seen quite a bit of success. Following this concept, comes a new one in PayFi, which allows users to buy a product and allows them to never pay with real cash or crypto.

Check this ever growing list of countries that have established Bitcoin Reserves.

Buy Now and Pay Never is a new concept in PayFi (which itself a new concept in the world of DeFi), where a user pays for his purchases with pooled rewards from various PayFi platforms. This concept is much similar to the cashback you receive after spending on your credit card, however, in this case, the rewards are in cryptocurrencies.

In this article, we will go into the depth of this concept and understand its use cases, potentials, drawbacks and also answer a few miscellaneous questions.

What is Buy Now Pay Never?

Buy Now and Pay Never has emerged as a new concept in financing your daily necessities from the rewards earned via PayFi platforms like DeFi protocols, crypto payment gateways, liquidity pools, peer to peer dApps and many others.

Here the idea is to generate enough rewards that will help you buy goods with no extra money. All the finances will be paid with your passive income from PayFi.

The concept took a concrete shape last year when Solana Foundation President Lily Liu had discussed the potential of PayFi in helping you make fast, cheap and rewarding payments with blockchain technology. Liu had a strong opinion that PayFi as a whole would soon overtake DeFi, a multi-billion industry in itself.

The growth in the DeFi markets bring high hope for the success of PayFi. In May 2025, DeFi TVL grew by 13%, highest in the 2024-25 bull cycle.

TVL growth by blockchain in May 2025Total DeFi TVL rose by 13% in May 2025, driven by the growth of major assets (ETH, SOL, BNB, etc.).Top 5 blockchains: Ethereum: $62B (+17%) Solana: $8.8B (+12% BNB Chain: $6.3B (+6%) Bitcoin: $6.1B (+1.7%) Tron: $4.8B… pic.twitter.com/X7r4ck3iH3

— OAK Research (@OAK_Res_EN) June 5, 2025

However, experts still doubt the degree of success this concept might see. Rewards might not finance one’s financial needs, not even a small fraction, unless the person has millions of dollars worth of DeFi portfolio.

Potential Applications

Should PayFi see decent success in the future, the best application for Buy Now and Pay Never seems to arise from the retail shopping industry where loyalty benefits (as cashback or coupons) could be rewarded via crypto. This would not only help them make their finances more efficient but also save them a lot in transaction costs.

Are you wondering about the best way to buy and sell crypto in bulk? Try OnRamps and OffRamps.

Benefits

The concept could improve the adoption of crypto in the traditional retail markets where TradFi has been the most dominant player. 

Further, as the ability to self-custody of rewards rises, people would be incentivised to shop more, increasing footfalls in stores.

Drawbacks

However, there are a few drawbacks as well. 

Buy Now and Pay Never might make the customers more reward-hungry and drive user traffic towards discount heavy or reward heavy brands. This could lead to another deep-discount battle where only large corporations would win, eliminating smaller competition. Such a scenario has already happened during the onset of the window-shopping era.

What is PayFi?

PayFi is an acronym for Payment Finance, a new form of blockchain-based finance system that leverages the power of blockchain technology to bridge the gap between traditional payment platforms (like PayPal) and crypto payments.

PayFi is expected to ensure a better integration of blockchain technology in our daily lives resulting in faster payments, transparent transactions and resilient payment infrastructure.

Did you know that Shardeum was one of the pioneers of PayFi?

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Buy Now, Pay Never affect your credit score?

No, since in Buy Now and Pay Never, you are simply pooling your rewards to pay for you needs, there is no involvement of any lending or borrowing and hence it would not impact your credit score.

In the world of DeFi and TradFi, the concept of buying now and paying later has seen quite a bit of success. Following this concept, comes a new one in PayFi, which allows users to buy a product and allows them to never pay with real cash or crypto.

Check this ever growing list of countries that have established Bitcoin Reserves.

Buy Now and Pay Never is a new concept in PayFi (which itself a new concept in the world of DeFi), where a user pays for his purchases with pooled rewards from various PayFi platforms. This concept is much similar to the cashback you receive after spending on your credit card, however, in this case, the rewards are in cryptocurrencies.

In this article, we will go into the depth of this concept and understand its use cases, potentials, drawbacks and also answer a few miscellaneous questions.

What is Buy Now Pay Never?

Buy Now and Pay Never has emerged as a new concept in financing your daily necessities from the rewards earned via PayFi platforms like DeFi protocols, crypto payment gateways, liquidity pools, peer to peer dApps and many others.

Here the idea is to generate enough rewards that will help you buy goods with no extra money. All the finances will be paid with your passive income from PayFi.

The concept took a concrete shape last year when Solana Foundation President Lily Liu had discussed the potential of PayFi in helping you make fast, cheap and rewarding payments with blockchain technology. Liu had a strong opinion that PayFi as a whole would soon overtake DeFi, a multi-billion industry in itself.

The growth in the DeFi markets bring high hope for the success of PayFi. In May 2025, DeFi TVL grew by 13%, highest in the 2024-25 bull cycle.

TVL growth by blockchain in May 2025

Total DeFi TVL rose by 13% in May 2025, driven by the growth of major assets (ETH, SOL, BNB, etc.).

Top 5 blockchains:
Ethereum: $62B (+17%)
Solana: $8.8B (+12%
BNB Chain: $6.3B (+6%)
Bitcoin: $6.1B (+1.7%)
Tron: $4.8B… pic.twitter.com/X7r4ck3iH3

— OAK Research (@OAK_Res_EN) June 5, 2025

However, experts still doubt the degree of success this concept might see. Rewards might not finance one’s financial needs, not even a small fraction, unless the person has millions of dollars worth of DeFi portfolio.

Potential Applications

Should PayFi see decent success in the future, the best application for Buy Now and Pay Never seems to arise from the retail shopping industry where loyalty benefits (as cashback or coupons) could be rewarded via crypto. This would not only help them make their finances more efficient but also save them a lot in transaction costs.

Are you wondering about the best way to buy and sell crypto in bulk? Try OnRamps and OffRamps.

Benefits

The concept could improve the adoption of crypto in the traditional retail markets where TradFi has been the most dominant player. 

Further, as the ability to self-custody of rewards rises, people would be incentivised to shop more, increasing footfalls in stores.

Drawbacks

However, there are a few drawbacks as well. 

Buy Now and Pay Never might make the customers more reward-hungry and drive user traffic towards discount heavy or reward heavy brands. This could lead to another deep-discount battle where only large corporations would win, eliminating smaller competition. Such a scenario has already happened during the onset of the window-shopping era.

What is PayFi?

PayFi is an acronym for Payment Finance, a new form of blockchain-based finance system that leverages the power of blockchain technology to bridge the gap between traditional payment platforms (like PayPal) and crypto payments.

PayFi is expected to ensure a better integration of blockchain technology in our daily lives resulting in faster payments, transparent transactions and resilient payment infrastructure.

Did you know that Shardeum was one of the pioneers of PayFi?

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Buy Now, Pay Never affect your credit score?

No, since in Buy Now and Pay Never, you are simply pooling your rewards to pay for you needs, there is no involvement of any lending or borrowing and hence it would not impact your credit score.

Memecoins and altcoins have been going through their worst phases since the bearish markets in January. These two sectors were the worst hit, even when Bitcoin recovered above $100k in early May 2025. 

Now, after a new ATH in Bitcoin, the altcoin season index is still below 20, and the memecoins are still close to their bear market price. The question now arises: Will the markets see a recovery in memecoins and altcoins, or will these sectors fade into the past just like NFTs?

Bitcoin is making major inroads into DeFi markets with this Trustless Bridge.

State of the Memecoin Markets in 2025

Memecoins have seen their worst phase in January 2025 due to a number of reasons. 

First, Pump Fun helped create thousands of memecoins, and due to such high rates of proliferation, most of these memecoins turned out to be dead within a few weeks. Among them, TikTok coin and Libra coin were well-known coins supported by large public figures like Argentine President Javier Milei. Thousands of such memecoins turned out to be scams within a month of their launch. This disheartened new buyers who felt cheated.

Do you know about this strategy that maximizes profit, irrespective of market conditions?

Further, the launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA also saw widespread criticism due to skewed tokenomics. Despite seeing a bumper sale on the day of launch, i.e., Jan 18, 2025, these coins failed to sustain even above their launch price. Many doubted that the first couple made millions at the expense of the retail investor, who got bull trapped.

Among these, the most critical factor was the liquidity crisis. Since memecoins are not serious investments like Bitcoin and Ethereum, they faced the first brunt of a liquidity shortage. As investors pulled back their money, these coins suffered the most.

However, memecoin markets have seen a slight recovery in May 2025 due to the recovery in the wider markets. Still, most of these recoveries are due to a general sense of bullishness in the markets and not due to any intrinsic factor.

Much of this recovery is based on Altcoin Recovery, which as of now has started at a very slow pace.

Is There the Possibility of a Recovery in 2025?

It is natural to doubt a memecoin market recovery after multiple scam tokens, a steep crash in prices, and general waryness in the market, yet, there are several reasons why the memecoins have the potential to outshine other sectors in the near future.

First, the US SEC has classified memecoins as “mere collectibles” and not securities. This means that any transaction related to memecoins would be governed in the same way as a baseball card.

Secondly, memecoins are very close to having their own ETF, starting with Dogecoin. There are rumors surrounding Shiba Inu ETFs as well. If this comes true, the top memecoins might see their own ETFs before the next Bitcoin halving cycle in 2028.

Looking for other top projects to invest in? Here are the top utility coins for 2025.

Memecoins That Have Real-World Utility

To avoid blind buying, we have brought you memecoins that have utility at their core and have survived several ups and downs in the market.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin remains the top choice for crypto investors for several reasons, such as ETF, high whale investment, and Elon Musk’s involvement. All these reasons are further supplemented by technical analysts like Ali Martinez, who think Dogecoin could cross $1 in the next few months.

#Dogecoin $DOGE prepares to rebound as the TD Sequential flashes a buy signal on the hourly chart! pic.twitter.com/RRNTDasYZd

— Ali (@ali_charts) May 28, 2025

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Shiba Inu is the most mature project among memecoins with its own independent chain, a mature DeFi ecosystem, and multiple ecosystem tokens (SHIB, BONE, and LEASH). The cryptocurrency is also one of the most actively traded and dearly held by top crypto investors.

1/ We found a Shiba Inu whale holding $2.5 billion in $SHIB He owns 10% of the supply across 150 addressesHere's his story ↓ pic.twitter.com/nH1AfDm3Pw

— Bubblemaps (@bubblemaps) November 19, 2024

Floki Inu (FLOKI)

Floki Inu has a well-crafted metaverse ecosystem, which could drive users to adopt the coin. A revival of Metaverse businesses could make Floki Inu rise in the future.

Official Trump (TRUMP)

As long as Donald Trump remains the US President, Trumpcoin could continue to see its value rise, despite fluctuations. Further, as the current tenure of Donald Trump seems to be his last one, there is a possibility that he leaves some legacy for the future. Such a legacy would definitely propel the value of the TRUMP memecoin.

Interested in TRUMP? Here’s an easy way to own it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What memecoin will hit 1000x?

There is a very small chance that any memecoin will hit 1000x in the near future, except those that are actively manipulated. However, to increase your chances of buying such a memecoin, keep your eyes on new launches and find unique projects.

What is the danger of memecoin investing?

There are two major risks of memecoin trading: volatility and scams. Volatility can easily kill your portfolio in weeks. Scams, on the other hand, could crash your holdings anytime.

The internet has revolutionized nearly every aspect of modern life, connecting billions of people and scaling communication, commerce, and information exchange to unprecedented levels. Yet, in one fundamental area, it remains largely unfinished: payments. While the internet facilitates borderless digital interactions, the underlying payment systems often rely on outdated, expensive, and geographically constrained infrastructure.
The initial vision for cryptocurrency, as embodied by Satoshi Nakamoto's launch of Bitcoin, was to enable peer-to-peer payments. However, Bitcoin primarily evolved into a store of value, leaving the goal of a decentralized payment system at scale largely incomplete.
Explore how Shardeum’s mainnet launch is reshaping blockchain scalability with dynamic state sharding and autoscaling.
Existing traditional finance systems involve middlemen, causing delays and high fees for transactions like cross-border remittances and online payments. Even within the blockchain space, many early smart contract platforms faced scalability issues, leading to high transaction fees and slow confirmation times, which limited their broader adoption for everyday transactions. While newer platforms achieved higher throughput, many sacrificed decentralization or security, or were not designed for true, sustained scaling. As these networks approach their maximum capacity, they risk encountering the same issues of escalating gas fees and slow processing times.
The Need for Native Internet Payments
A truly evolved internet requires a native payment layer that is fast, low-cost, and borderless. Such a system must be able to handle not just large "macro" payments but also tiny "micro" payments that are currently economically unfeasible due to transaction fees. The rise of AI agents, requiring autonomous transactions for pay-per-use services, highlights the urgent need for such infrastructure. Imagine paying just cents for an AI-generated image or streaming content charged per second in real-time – use cases impossible when transaction costs are high.
Explore how Shardeum is redefining decentralization at scale through dynamic validator participation and energy-efficient design.
Addressing this gap is crucial for unlocking Web3 for billions and enabling mass adoption of decentralized applications beyond the niche focus on DeFi. Payments are universal; everyone interacts with them. Future generations, who value privacy, speed, and global access, may increasingly turn away from traditional banking towards crypto-native payment systems.
Shardeum's Approach: Autoscaling PayFi
Shardeum is being built to bring the vision of a decentralized payment system at scale to life. It aims to be the world’s first auto-scaling Layer-1 blockchain. Its core design goal is to ensure sustainably low transaction fees (as low as $0.01 ) even as the network grows and adoption increases.
The platform achieves this through several key technological innovations inherited from the protocol:
Dynamic State Sharding: Instead of requiring every node to process every transaction, the network is broken into multiple "tabs" or shards. Each validator node is only responsible for a subset of the data. This allows for parallel processing of transactions. The number of shards can dynamically adjust based on transaction volume, enabling the network to scale in and out automatically.Linear Scalability: Adding more validator nodes to the network directly increases its transaction processing capacity (TPS) proportionally. This ensures that transaction costs remain stable because the network's capacity can match demand.Blockless Architecture: Shardeum's design allows for the parallel processing and finalization of individual transactions, rather than waiting for entire blocks to be processed. This leads to faster transaction speeds and near-instant finality.Transaction-Level Consensus: Consensus is reached on individual transactions, providing faster finality compared to block-based approaches.Decentralization: Shardeum prioritizes decentralization by having a low entry barrier for running a validator node. Validator nodes require minimal hardware and resources, making it accessible for almost anyone globally to participate in securing the network. This community-driven validator network helps prevent centralization tradeoffs seen in some other Layer 1 networks.EVM Compatibility: By being compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, Shardeum can easily integrate with the large existing developer community and tools within the Ethereum ecosystem, simplifying the transition for EVM smart contract functionality coming in Q3.
Unlike most EVM chains focusing primarily on DeFi, Shardeum is specifically targeting PayFi, a sector with immense real-world applicability and scale. While others have worked in payments, they have often focused on B2B solutions and lack EVM compatibility, which limits developer adoption. Shardeum aims to fill this gap with a consumer-first approach.
Shardeum's testnet achieved a record-breaking 171,000+ validators, setting a new standard for Layer 1 blockchain participation. Learn how this milestone paves the way for its mainnet launch
Enabling New Use Cases
Shardeum's ability to provide sustainably low gas fees opens the door for a wide range of applications that were previously impractical or impossible on other platforms. These include macro payment use cases such as:
Remittances and cross-border transfersE-commerce paymentsPayroll for global teamsInstitutional settlementsTrade financeReal-world asset tokenization and transferCrowdfunding and donations
Crucially, it also enables numerous micro payment use cases:
AI-to-AI transactionsSplitting bills and peer-to-peer paymentsDirect tipping for creatorsPay-per-use applications and micro billingIoT device transactionsPer-second streaming payments
These applications are currently underserved because existing systems, including many blockchains, cannot support such frequent, low-value transactions at scale without becoming prohibitively expensive or congested.
The Path Forward
Shardeum's vision is to become the payment layer of the open internet. By focusing on solving payments with a scalable, decentralized, and low-cost architecture, Shardeum is carving out a unique path aimed at unlocking mass adoption and fulfilling the original vision of a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system at scale.
The network launched its mainnet on May 5th, 2025, with a phased rollout of EVM smart contract functionality and continued community-driven development. The SHM token, designed with a dynamic supply model that balances issuance and burning, is intended to be a medium of exchange with low transaction fees, rather than primarily a store of value. Running a node requires minimal hardware, reinforcing the network's commitment to decentralization.
The potential to create a secure, decentralized, and scalable blockchain with low transaction costs could enable a whole army of developers to build innovative products that haven't even been conceived yet, ultimately impacting the Web3 landscape far beyond just payments. By solving the internet's unfinished business in payments, Shardeum aims to make decentralization truly accessible to everyone.

The internet has revolutionized nearly every aspect of modern life, connecting billions of people and scaling communication, commerce, and information exchange to unprecedented levels. Yet, in one fundamental area, it remains largely unfinished: payments. While the internet facilitates borderless digital interactions, the underlying payment systems often rely on outdated, expensive, and geographically constrained infrastructure.

The initial vision for cryptocurrency, as embodied by Satoshi Nakamoto’s launch of Bitcoin, was to enable peer-to-peer payments. However, Bitcoin primarily evolved into a store of value, leaving the goal of a decentralized payment system at scale largely incomplete.

Explore how Shardeum’s mainnet launch is reshaping blockchain scalability with dynamic state sharding and autoscaling.

Existing traditional finance systems involve middlemen, causing delays and high fees for transactions like cross-border remittances and online payments. Even within the blockchain space, many early smart contract platforms faced scalability issues, leading to high transaction fees and slow confirmation times, which limited their broader adoption for everyday transactions. While newer platforms achieved higher throughput, many sacrificed decentralization or security, or were not designed for true, sustained scaling. As these networks approach their maximum capacity, they risk encountering the same issues of escalating gas fees and slow processing times.

The Need for Native Internet Payments

A truly evolved internet requires a native payment layer that is fast, low-cost, and borderless. Such a system must be able to handle not just large “macro” payments but also tiny “micro” payments that are currently economically unfeasible due to transaction fees. The rise of AI agents, requiring autonomous transactions for pay-per-use services, highlights the urgent need for such infrastructure. Imagine paying just cents for an AI-generated image or streaming content charged per second in real-time – use cases impossible when transaction costs are high.

Explore how Shardeum is redefining decentralization at scale through dynamic validator participation and energy-efficient design.

Addressing this gap is crucial for unlocking Web3 for billions and enabling mass adoption of decentralized applications beyond the niche focus on DeFi. Payments are universal; everyone interacts with them. Future generations, who value privacy, speed, and global access, may increasingly turn away from traditional banking towards crypto-native payment systems.

Shardeum’s Approach: Autoscaling PayFi

Shardeum is being built to bring the vision of a decentralized payment system at scale to life. It aims to be the world’s first auto-scaling Layer-1 blockchain. Its core design goal is to ensure sustainably low transaction fees (as low as $0.01 ) even as the network grows and adoption increases.

The platform achieves this through several key technological innovations inherited from the protocol:

Dynamic State Sharding: Instead of requiring every node to process every transaction, the network is broken into multiple “tabs” or shards. Each validator node is only responsible for a subset of the data. This allows for parallel processing of transactions. The number of shards can dynamically adjust based on transaction volume, enabling the network to scale in and out automatically.

Linear Scalability: Adding more validator nodes to the network directly increases its transaction processing capacity (TPS) proportionally. This ensures that transaction costs remain stable because the network’s capacity can match demand.

Blockless Architecture: Shardeum’s design allows for the parallel processing and finalization of individual transactions, rather than waiting for entire blocks to be processed. This leads to faster transaction speeds and near-instant finality.

Transaction-Level Consensus: Consensus is reached on individual transactions, providing faster finality compared to block-based approaches.

Decentralization: Shardeum prioritizes decentralization by having a low entry barrier for running a validator node. Validator nodes require minimal hardware and resources, making it accessible for almost anyone globally to participate in securing the network. This community-driven validator network helps prevent centralization tradeoffs seen in some other Layer 1 networks.

EVM Compatibility: By being compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, Shardeum can easily integrate with the large existing developer community and tools within the Ethereum ecosystem, simplifying the transition for EVM smart contract functionality coming in Q3.

Unlike most EVM chains focusing primarily on DeFi, Shardeum is specifically targeting PayFi, a sector with immense real-world applicability and scale. While others have worked in payments, they have often focused on B2B solutions and lack EVM compatibility, which limits developer adoption. Shardeum aims to fill this gap with a consumer-first approach.

Shardeum’s testnet achieved a record-breaking 171,000+ validators, setting a new standard for Layer 1 blockchain participation. Learn how this milestone paves the way for its mainnet launch

Enabling New Use Cases

Shardeum’s ability to provide sustainably low gas fees opens the door for a wide range of applications that were previously impractical or impossible on other platforms. These include macro payment use cases such as:

Remittances and cross-border transfers

E-commerce payments

Payroll for global teams

Institutional settlements

Trade finance

Real-world asset tokenization and transfer

Crowdfunding and donations

Crucially, it also enables numerous micro payment use cases:

AI-to-AI transactions

Splitting bills and peer-to-peer payments

Direct tipping for creators

Pay-per-use applications and micro billing

IoT device transactions

Per-second streaming payments

These applications are currently underserved because existing systems, including many blockchains, cannot support such frequent, low-value transactions at scale without becoming prohibitively expensive or congested.

The Path Forward

Shardeum’s vision is to become the payment layer of the open internet. By focusing on solving payments with a scalable, decentralized, and low-cost architecture, Shardeum is carving out a unique path aimed at unlocking mass adoption and fulfilling the original vision of a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system at scale.

The network launched its mainnet on May 5th, 2025, with a phased rollout of EVM smart contract functionality and continued community-driven development. The SHM token, designed with a dynamic supply model that balances issuance and burning, is intended to be a medium of exchange with low transaction fees, rather than primarily a store of value. Running a node requires minimal hardware, reinforcing the network’s commitment to decentralization.

The potential to create a secure, decentralized, and scalable blockchain with low transaction costs could enable a whole army of developers to build innovative products that haven’t even been conceived yet, ultimately impacting the Web3 landscape far beyond just payments. By solving the internet’s unfinished business in payments, Shardeum aims to make decentralization truly accessible to everyone.