Ethereum staking proposal sparks debate as Russia enacts new crypto regulations

Developers of the Ethereum network, including members of the Ethereum Foundation such as Justin Drake, have introduced EIP‑8363, a proposal to gradually reduce staking rewards as the proportion of staked ether rises. The aim is to curb concentration of power among large institutions and limit new ETH issuance, but critics warn it could hurt small validators and diminish DeFi yields.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin signed a law that creates a regulated cryptocurrency market. The legislation requires exchanges, brokers, custodians and other service providers to obtain licenses, limits retail investors to purchases of up to 300,000 rubles (about $3,700) per provider, and maintains a ban on using crypto for payments. Oversight will be handled by the Bank of Russia, with the main provisions taking effect on 1 September 2026 and some later in 2027.

Other notable crypto developments include BlackRock expanding tokenization of traditional financial products in Europe, Galaxy Digital reporting a series of Coldcard hardware‑wallet attacks causing losses of $100‑130 million, CNBC host Jim Cramer announcing plans to sell all his Bitcoin over fears of quantum‑computing threats, Western Union launching the Stablecard service that uses a USD‑pegged stablecoin in 37 countries, and Mysten Labs co‑founder Sam Blackshear moving to Anthropic to focus on cyber‑security research.