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Belgium seeks to reboot EU blockchain infrastructure project

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The country’s government plans to accelerate the development of a European blockchain infrastructure during its presidency of the Council of the European Union.

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Watch these Bitcoin price levels as BTC meets ‘decision point’

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Key takeaways:

Bitcoin failed to break the $98,000 resistance amid increased profit-taking.

BTC price needs to close above $95,000 on the daily chart for a push to $100,000.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price failed to break above resistance at $98,000 on May 3. Since April 22, BTC prices have formed daily candle highs between $93,000 and $97,900, but they could not close above $97,440.

BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Bitcoin price action has been choppy and within a narrow range for the past few days. With elevated profit-taking and a lot of supply in profit, markets could see volatile price swings toward key BTC price levels over the next few days. 

Realized profits above “statistical levels”

Senior researcher at Glassnode, CryptoVizArt.₿, said that Bitcoin’s rally to the $93,000-96,000 range has “pushed the profit-taking volume above the statistical levels.”

In other words, the Realized Profit/Loss ratio shows that the volume of Bitcoin being sold at a profit exceeds historical norms. This suggests heightened selling activity by investors locking in gains, often signaling potential market tops and increased sell-side pressure.

The chart below indicates that “for every dollar realized in loss, more than 9 dollars was realized in profit!” CryptoVizArt.₿ explained, adding:

“The fact that the price is still above $93,000 is very surprising, which in my humble opinion is also risky.”Bitcoin realized profit/loss ratio. Source: Glassnode 

As reported by Cointelegraph, BTC selling has been ramping up near the $95,000 level over the past few days as short-term traders book profits.

Crypto analyst Checkmate said that Bitcoin’s current market is at a key “decision point,” so Bitcoin must clear this price zone in the near term to avoid another major correction.

Related: Bitcoin price cools going into Fed rate hike week, HYPE, AAVE, RNDR, FET still look bullish

Bitcoin’s supply in profit now stands at 86%, as per data from Glassnode. This high percentage often signals a bullish phase. However, it also indicates potential risks: when supply in profit exceeds 80-90%, historical patterns show increased profit-taking, particularly by short-term holders, which can lead to corrections.

Given these two scenarios, Checkmate pointed out:

“We’re sitting right in the middle of a decision point, and all it will take is one big red or green candle from here to convince people of a lower high, or bull continuation, respectively.”Bitcoin distribution. Source: Checkonchain

Key Bitcoin price levels to watch

Bitcoin must flip the $98,000 resistance level into support to target higher highs above $100,000.

But first, the BTC/USD pair must close above $95,000 on the daily chart. BTC’s price dropped below this level on May 4, driven by profit-taking after the rally to $97,000.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

​​One positive catalyst for the bulls could be continued demand from spot Bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin ETFs registered $1.8 billion in net inflows last week, per Farside Investors’ data.

Another catalyst could come from Wednesday’s Fed interest rate decision meeting.

Meanwhile, the bears will attempt to keep the $98,000 resistance in place to increase the likelihood of pulling the price below $92,000. The immediate target below the previous range lows is at $90,000, i.e., the convergence point of the 100-day and 200-day SMAs.

Below $90,000, the next key area of interest remains between $85,000 and $75,000. Reaching $75,000 would erase all the gains after the 90-day tariff pause

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Coin Market

Aptos exec sees Web 2.5 platforms earning ‘tons’ of revenue

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While many crypto ecosystems focus on decentralization as the core tenet of Web3, Aptos is seeing success with hybrid platforms that blend Web2 and Web3 technologies, commonly referred to as “Web2.5.”

In an interview at the Token2049 event in Dubai, Aptos’ head of ecosystem, Ash Pampati, told Cointelegraph that Web2.5 platforms are earning “tons of revenue” within Aptos. He noted that consumer-focused applications, in particular, are thriving in the network.

Web2.5 is a term used to describe platforms or applications that blend centralized Web2 experiences with decentralized Web3 elements. 

These applications avoid full decentralization, often drawing criticism for not fully embracing the Web3 vision.

Ash Pampati at the Token2049 media lounge in Dubai. Source: Cointelegraph

Consumer-focused Web2.5 platforms generate revenue on Aptos

Pampati told Cointelegraph that one of the trends he sees within the Aptos ecosystem is that founders want to build “great consumer experiences.” 

He said the Aptos network was built to support projects with almost a Web2-like scale. Because of its Meta origins, Aptos has a developer stack focusing on abstracting friction away from Web3. 

Pampati described this as more of a Web2 user experience “without sacrificing Web3 principles.” He said platforms that followed such models had found success within the ecosystem:

“We see a lot of great consumer Web 2.5 platforms emerging. So, those that are focused on distribution and those that are focused on fan loyalty are also generating tons of revenue because they’ve created great products.”

Pampati said the trend is mainly influenced by their developer stack and what the Aptos platform offers, which focuses on broad consumer applications. 

Related: From digital identity to outer space: Projects push crypto use cases

The challenge of attracting the next million users

While Web2.5 applications address some of the user experience problems for crypto and Web3, Pampati said that one of the challenges in the space remains the onboarding of non-crypto natives to the industry. 

“I think the biggest challenge is trying to predict the next catalyst that pulls forward the next million, 10 million users into crypto. I think there’s a lot of tendency to go and refight old wars,” Pampati told Cointelegraph, adding that founders often move back into concepts like memecoins and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Still, he said, finding the next catalyst to spur broader mainstream adoption will require creating something new. 

Pampati added that collaborating and motivating founders to “see through the corners and not just try to recreate what’s already been created before” remains a challenge. He said that founders should be prepared for the next catalyst.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

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Vitalik Buterin says rollups must prove security before decentralizing

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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin explained when rollup-based layer-2 platforms should go decentralized, and why “as soon as possible” is not the correct answer.

In a May 5 X post, Buterin said there is a right time for rollup-based scalability solutions to transition to a decentralized model. This moment depends on how low the proof system’s failure probability has fallen compared with the risks introduced by centralization.

Buterin’s thread came in response to a separate post by decentralized exchange Loopring founder and CEO Daniel Wang. Wang said in his thread that the maturity of a system matters to its security:

“Not all code is created equal. A rollup can be Stage 2, but running fresh code that’s never been tested under real stress.“

Rollup development is classified into stages: stage zero, stage one and stage two. Each stage is increasingly decentralized, with stage two being fully decentralized and trustless.

Related: Vitalik Buterin’s vision for Ethereum: Pectra, Glamsterdam and beyond

Code that experienced war

Cryptocurrency systems that manage significant assets are exposed to profit-motivated bad actors worldwide. Even if a project does not feature a bug bounty program promising payments to people who find vulnerabilities, it is still taken apart under a microscope — it may just pay more for its faults.

This threat is growing as nation-state-backed bad actors increase their crypto activity level. One such example is the Lazarus hacking group, responsible for many high-profile hacks in the crypto space, including the $1.4 billion Bybit hack.

Wang suggested introducing a new metric for veteran code that survived the pressure of being exposed to highly motivated advanced hackers and hacker groups: “BattleTested.” The BattleTested badge would be awarded to a rollup that consistently secured at least $100 million of assets for at least six months, with at least $50 million in Ether (ETH) and a major stablecoin.

Also, this badge would be lost at every update, as the new code needs to survive the onslaught of attackers to earn it. Buterin commented on the analysis:

“A good reminder that stage 2 is not the only thing that matters for security: the quality of the underlying proof system matters too.“

Analyst at Kronos Research Dominick John told Cointelegraph that “to responsibly transition from stage 1 to stage 2, rollup teams must […] take a hard look at correlated risks like shared custody weaknesses or geopolitical chokepoints that can compromise the reliability of multisig security councils.” He said that such risks often go unnoticed until the locked value crosses $100 million. He added:

“The real green light for decentralization comes not when the proof system looks good on paper, but when it proves under real economic pressure that it’s more reliable than the potential for coordinated failures among council members.“

Related: Vitalik wants to make Ethereum ‘as simple as Bitcoin’ in 5 years

When to go decentralized?

Buterin said the best time for a protocol to go decentralized is when its onchain proof system is safe enough that the centralized components serving as a point of failure or collusion risk becoming the bigger threat. This is because until a system is proven to be secure enough, decentralization, which increases the reliance on this system, may end up making the system less secure.

Chart showing example rollup risk analysis per stage. Source: Vitalik Buterin

Mike Tiutin, chief technology officer at decentralized compliance protocol PureFi, told Cointelegraph that “going decentralized too early […] can leave users vulnerable.”

Kronos Research’s John said that “decentralization isn’t a race, it’s a long-term responsibility shared by the entire ecosystem.” He added that rushing to stage two puts ideology before safety and increases risks:

“In stage one, councils can step in if something breaks. In Stage 2, a single bug could wipe out billions with no rollback.”

While going decentralized right away is recognized as problematic, some experts highlight not going decentralized at all. Arthur Breitman, co-founder of the Tezos blockchain, told Cointelegraph that “prominent Ethereum L2s” are fundamentally custodial, adding:

“Privileged entities control core logic, jeopardizing asset integrity; banking on their immunity to collusion is fragile, and failure is likely to be correlated.“

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

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