The increase in Ether’s staking cap from 32 to 2,048 ETH could make the feature more attractive to institutional participants. Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade doesn’t pose a threat to decentralization, according to Mallesh Pai, senior research director at blockchain software firm Consensys, describing the update as a cleanup of the behind-the-scenes “busy work” currently handled by validators. During a May 9 Cointelegraph X Space, Pai said a validator’s chances of proposing a block or earning rewards remain tied to how much ETH they hold, adding that larger validators don’t gain any new advantages under the upgrade: Pectra is Ethereum’s most extensive network upgrade since the Merge took place in September 2022. Pectra allows validators to stake as much as 2,048 ETH, up from the previous limit of 32 ETH. The new standard has raised community concerns about the risks of centralization on the network. Read more
ConSensys has acquired Web3Auth, which it says will help it improve the user experience for its popular MetaMask crypto wallet. ConSensys has acquired the crypto wallet infrastructure provider Web3Auth, which it says will bolster the user experience for its popular crypto wallet offering MetaMask. ConSensys said in a June 2 blog post that the acquisition, which it did not share further details on, “will greatly improve MetaMask user experience by addressing one of the biggest risks in self-custody today: seed phrase management.” It claimed that 35% of crypto wallet users are at risk of losing their funds as they do not keep a backup of their seed phrase — a string of up to 24 words that allows full access and control of a wallet. Read more