XRP is showing strong signs of a bullish trend shift after breaking previous structure and forming a bullish EMA crossover. The token now eyes a move towards the $2.50 resistance. Ripple&#8217;s (XRP) price action has recently flipped to a bullish…

XRP flashes bullish signals as EMA’a cross: are bulls in control?

By prioritizing Bitcoin’s foundational role and ensuring mining flourishes, 
the US will secure its place at the forefront of the global crypto economy

Bitcoin mining can power the US, if regulators prioritize it | Opinion

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the 
state to hold Bitcoin as part of its official reserves, effectively ending 
efforts to make Arizona the first US state to adopt such a policy.
The Digital Assets Strategic Reserve bill, which would have permitted Arizona 
to invest seized funds into Bitcoin (BTC) and create a reserve managed by 
state officials, was formally struck down on Friday, according to an update on 
the Arizona State Legislature&#8217;s website.
&#8220;Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1025. The Arizona State Retirement System is one 
of the strongest in the nation because it makes sound and informed 
investments,&#8221; Hobbs wrote in a statement aimed at Warren Petersen, the 
President of the Arizona Senate.
&#8220;Arizonans&#8217; retirement funds are not the place for the state to try untested 
investments like virtual currency,&#8221; she added.
On April 28, the bill passed a final vote in the state House when 31 members 
of the Arizona House voted in favor of the bill, with 25 opposing.
Hobbs had previously stated she would veto any legislation not tied to a 
bipartisan agreement on disability funding.
_Source: Governor Katie Hobbs_
 _**Related:**__**Bitcoin bros at &#8216;the club&#8217; may stop US gov&#8217;t from buying BTC 
&#8212; Arthur Hayes**_
## Another Bitcoin awaits final vote
A companion bill, SB1373, which would authorize the state treasurer to 
allocate up to 10% of Arizona&#8217;s rainy-day fund into digital assets like 
Bitcoin, has not yet reached a final vote.
Arizona joins several other states where similar efforts have failed. In 
recent months, similar proposals in Oklahoma, Montana, South Dakota and 
Wyoming have stalled or been withdrawn.
In contrast, North Carolina&#8217;s House passed the Digital Assets Investment Act 
on April 30, allowing the state treasurer to invest up to 5% of certain funds 
in approved cryptocurrencies. The bill has now been moved to the state Senate 
for consideration.
The state-level efforts to create Bitcoin reserves come amid a push from US 
President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers to do the same in the federal 
government.
Trump signed an executive order in March with a proposal for a &#8220;Strategic 
Bitcoin Reserve&#8221; and a &#8220;Digital Asset Stockpile.&#8221;
_**Magazine: **__**Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, and now it &#8216;s becoming 
them in stablecoin fight**_

Arizona governor vetoes bill to make Bitcoin part of state reserves

As Bitcoin (BTC) attempts to break out from its weekly range, its price eyes 
the crucial $99,000-$100,000 resistance barrier, fueling bullish sentiment 
among investors. Multiple analysts forecast that the flagship’s crypto next 
all-time high (ATH) rally is around the corner, with some suggesting that the 
initial jump could come in the coming days. Related Reading: Ethereum ‘Running 
Out Of Time’? Analyst Says New ATH May Not Come This Cycle Bitcoin To $100,000 
This Weekend? Over the past two weeks, Bitcoin has recovered from its 
sub-$80,000 correction, breaking above the $90,000 mark and reclaiming the 
$93,5000 resistance to re-enter its post-US elections price range. Amid its 
recovery, the cryptocurrency consolidated between the $93,000-$96,000 range, 
moving sideways for the last weeks. The start-of-month pump has seen BTC break 
out of this range after being compressed during this period, resembling its 
performance from two weeks ago. Analyst Daan Crypto Trades explained that BTC 
surged to the $83,000-$86,000 region during the mid-April recovery, 
consolidating for over a week before a small 2% breakout toward the $87,500 
resistance. This was followed by a two-day “tight chop” and a breakout to a 
new higher range. He suggested that Bitcoin displays “a similar setup as the 
week before” as it has ranged and compressed within the $93,000-$96,000 zone 
and jumped around 2% to the $97,700 mark. Additionally, the largest crypto by 
market capitalization’s “tight chop” phase could have started as its price has 
hovered between $97,050 and $97,700 for the past few hours. If BTC replicates 
its recent performance, the flagship crypto could rally around 8% toward a new 
range at the end of the weekend and retest $99,000-$100,000 in the coming 
days. BTC Resembles Q4 2024 Price Action Meanwhile, analyst Rekt Capital 
suggested that Bitcoin could repeat its Q4 2024 performance. He highlighted 
that BTC has recovered from its downside deviation to reclaim its recent re- 
accumulation range, but it’s facing a lower high resistance within this zone. 
Notably, the cryptocurrency experienced the same situation in the post-halving 
re-accumulation range, initially rejected from the lower high to fall to the 
range’s lows. Weeks later, Bitcoin broke above the lower high resistance, 
restesting it as support before breaking out and soaring to a new ATH. The 
analyst noted that the idea was first explored before the US election pump, 
suggesting that BTC could mimic its Q1 2024 rally, fueled by the US spot 
Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). “It would be poetry if Bitcoin repeated 
history and followed through on the same path in this current Range as well,” 
he stated. However, Rekt Capital detailed that for history to repeat, Bitcoin 
must get rejected at $99,000, hold the $93,500 mark as support, and break the 
$97,000-$99,000 range before being rejected at the $104,500 resistance. 
Related Reading: Crypto Graveyard: 50% Of Tokens Have Failed In the Past 5 
years – Report Then the flagship crypto would need to hold the $97,000-$99,000 
range as support for a similar breakout to new ATHs. The analyst concluded 
that if Bitcoin continues holding the $93,500 mark, the price will be 
positioned to move across its re-accumulation range. Nonetheless, BTC must 
break its “black Lower High resistance within this Range, which is positioned 
at ~$99k this week.” As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at $97,461, a 3% 
increase in the weekly timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from 
TradingView.com

Bitcoin Could See A Weekend Rally To $100,000 – Is BTC Ready For New Highs?

The 47-year-old lawmaker submitted his proposal to a government agency that 
manages a real estate portfolio of 8,397 federal properties. Federal Buildings 
Could Get Crypto ATMs Under New Proposal Congressman Lance Gooden who 
represents Texas’ 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives submitted 
a letter on Thursday to the General Services Administration (GSA), an […]

Texas Congressman Wants Crypto ATMs in Federal Government Buildings

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin called for simplifying Ethereum&#8217;s base 
protocol, aiming to make the network more efficient, secure and accessible, 
drawing inspiration from Bitcoin&#8217;s minimalist design.
In a blog post titled &#8220;Simplifying the L1,&#8221; published on May 3, Buterin laid 
out a vision to restructure Ethereum&#8217;s architecture across consensus, 
execution and shared components.
&#8220;This post will describe how Ethereum 5 years from now can become close to as 
simple as Bitcoin,&#8221; Buterin wrote, arguing that simplicity is key to 
Ethereum&#8217;s resilience and long-term scalability.
While recent upgrades like proof-of-stake (PoS) and Zero-Knowledge Succinct 
Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge (zk-SNARK) integration have made 
Ethereum more robust, he said that technical complexity has led to bloated 
development cycles, higher costs and greater risks of bugs:
&gt; &#8220;Historically, Ethereum has often not done this (sometimes because of my own 
&gt; decisions), and this has contributed to much of our excessive development 
&gt; expenditure, all kinds of security risk, and insularity of R&amp;D culture, 
&gt; often in pursuit of benefits that have proven illusory.&#8221;
_Buterin praises Bitcoin for its simplicity. Source:__Vitalik Buterin_
 _**Related:**__**&#8217; Vitalik: An Ethereum Story&#8217; is less about crypto and more 
about being human**_
## Ethereum eyes &#8220;3-Slot Finality&#8221; to simplify consensus
One key area of focus is Ethereum&#8217;s consensus layer. Central to this effort is 
the proposed &#8220;3-slot finality&#8221; model, which eliminates complex components like 
epochs, sync committees and validator shuffling.
&#8220;The reduced number of active validators at a time means that it becomes safer 
to use simpler implementations of the fork choice rule,&#8221; Buterin wrote.
Other proposed improvements include allowing for more straightforward fork 
choice rules and adopting Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge 
(STARK)-based aggregation protocols to decentralize and simplify network 
coordination.
On the execution layer, Buterin proposed a shift from the Ethereum Virtual 
Machine (EVM) to a simpler, ZK-friendly virtual machine like RISC-V. This move 
could offer 100x performance improvements for zero-knowledge proofs and 
significantly simplify the protocol.
RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) used in designing 
computer processors. It follows a minimalist design philosophy, using a small 
set of simple instructions for high efficiency and easier implementation.
To preserve backward compatibility, Buterin suggested running legacy EVM 
contracts onchain via a RISC-V interpreter while supporting both VMs 
concurrently during a transitional phase.
_Source: Vitalik Buterin_
 _**Related:**__**Ethereum community members propose new fee structure for the 
app layer**_
## Buterin calls for protocol-wide standards
Buterin also advocated for protocol-wide standardization. He suggested 
adopting a single erasure coding method, serialization format (favoring SSZ), 
and tree structure to reduce redundant complexity and streamline Ethereum&#8217;s 
tooling and infrastructure.
&#8220;Simplicity is in many ways similar to decentralization,&#8221; Buterin wrote. He 
suggested Ethereum adopt a &#8220;max line-of-code&#8221; target similar to what Tinygrad 
does, keeping consensus-critical logic as lean and auditable as possible.
Non-critical legacy features would remain but reside outside the core 
specification.
Buterin&#8217;s proposal aimed at simplifying Ethereum comes as the network 
continues to lose market share to competing blockchains.
During a panel discussion at the LONGITUDE by Cointelegraph event on May 2, 
Alex Svanevik, CEO of data service Nansen, said Ethereum&#8217;s relative dominance 
among L1 blockchain networks has declined.
&#8220;If you&#8217;d asked me 3-4 years ago whether Ethereum would dominate crypto, I&#8217;d 
have said yes,&#8221; Svanevik said during a panel discussion at the LONGITUDE by 
Cointelegraph event. &#8220;But now, it&#8217;s clear that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening.&#8221;
_**Magazine: **__**ZK-proofs are bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin &#8212; 
BitcoinOS and Starknet**_