[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Ethereum Foundation says key Glamsterdam upgrade goals are virtually complete, pushes for 200M gas floor

Ethereum Foundation says key Glamsterdam upgrade goals are virtually complete, pushes for 200M gas floor

The Ethereum Foundation said the three core goals of the Glamsterdam upgrade are virtually complete and that it plans to move forward with raising the gas limit floor to 200 million.

According to PANews, the foundation said more than 100 Ethereum core developers gathered last week in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway, to work on the Glamsterdam upgrade. The key objectives were reaching agreement on a 200 million gas floor, implementing a stable external builder process for ePBS (enshrined PBS), and finalizing the gas repricing parameters for EIP-8037.

The foundation explained that the Glamsterdam upgrade is focused on safely increasing the gas limit to expand Ethereum’s throughput. ePBS restructures the proposer-builder model to improve the block execution time window, while block-level access list (BAL) optimization boosts parallel execution and I/O efficiency. EIP-8037 is designed to curb unbounded state growth by increasing the cost of state creation amid a substantial gas limit increase.

The foundation added that, as of this week, most clients were confirmed to be operating stably on glamsterdam-devnet-2, and testing across the external builder process was also completed successfully. Based on this, it said the groundwork is now in place for a stable 200 million gas floor.

It also noted progress on FOCIL, native account abstraction, and features related to the future Hegota upgrade. Over the next few weeks, the foundation plans to continue strengthening client security, improving tests, and merging code, with final details to be disclosed at an AllCoreDevs meeting.

Fox News: Clearer market structure for bitcoin and crypto could help drive institutional BTC inflows

Fox News reported that improved market structure for bitcoin and the broader crypto sector could help accelerate institutional capital inflows into BTC. It also mentioned expectations that greater regulatory clarity could emerge later this month.

According to @pete_rizzo_, Fox News told its millions of viewers that bitcoin and crypto market-structure reforms could draw institutional investor money into BTC. However, it did not provide the name of any specific bill, the possible amount of inflows, or the expected implementation timeline.

The comments came as debate continues in the United States over crypto market-structure regulation and integration into the mainstream financial system. Market participants have long viewed reduced regulatory uncertainty as a key factor for institutional inflows.

Arthur Hayes: Bitcoin could reach $125,000 by year-end

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said bitcoin could reach $125,000 by the end of this year.

According to Wu Blockchain, Hayes argued that new U.S. bank leverage rules and state-level capital spending on military and artificial intelligence initiatives could trigger $4 trillion in credit expansion. He said the resulting liquidity injection would outweigh AI-driven credit contraction effects.

He also said liquidity indicators have already bottomed alongside bitcoin, using that as the basis for his year-end price target.

Hayes has previously emphasized multiple times that global liquidity conditions could determine the direction of risk assets more broadly.

Polymarket posts $43.36 million in April monthly fees, more than doubling from the previous month

Wu Blockchain, citing DeFiLlama data, reported that prediction-market platform Polymarket generated $43.36 million in fees in April, more than double the previous month’s level.

On an annualized basis, that would amount to about $520 million. The figures are being interpreted as a sign of rapidly expanding trading activity and improving platform profitability.

Polymarket previously saw sharp growth in users and trading volume driven by betting demand around the U.S. presidential election and major macro events.

Whale-sized transfer of 1,053 BTC moves from unknown wallet to Kraken

A whale-sized transfer of 1,053 BTC moved from an unknown wallet to Kraken. Exchange inflows are often viewed as a potential signal of selling pressure.

According to Whale Alert, 1,053 BTC was transferred from an unknown wallet to Kraken. The dollar value of the transaction was approximately $82.63 million.

Large bitcoin deposits to exchanges are typically interpreted as moves for liquidation or further trading. However, a single on-chain transaction alone is not enough to determine whether an actual sale will occur or how much impact it may have on the market.