Publication Date: February 26, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team
In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has sparked intense discussions on multiple levels. The mainstream topics focus on the controversy over mass layoffs triggered by AI, whether the Ethereum roadmap can truly be implemented, structural risks at Wall Street market-making institutions, and the political boundaries between frontier AI companies and national security. In terms of ecological development, Ethereum is advancing L2 interoperability and cross-chain infrastructure layout, Solana is accelerating evolution between protocol coordination, security investment, and AI development tools, the Perp DEX track is initiating a new round of competition around incentives and governance mechanisms, while prediction markets are rapidly upgrading to real-time news and verification layers.
I. Mainstream Topics
1. Block lays off 40%: Is AI truly the driver, or just a "shield" for the narrative of layoffs?
Jack Dorsey posted an internal letter on X, announcing that Block laid off over 4,000 employees (about 40% of over 10,000 employees) that day, clearly stating that the move aims to achieve a smaller, more efficient organizational structure through AI tools.
Controversy erupted: Has AI really matured enough to replace 40% of jobs in such a short time, or is the company using the AI narrative to cover deeper operational or capital pressures? Has there historically been a precedent for a technology born in December leading to such a large-scale layoff in February?
Avi Felman and others argue that when Elon laid off 80% of Twitter's employees, AI was far from mature; today, AI is just a more "reasonable" excuse, with the essence still being organizational slimming; draecomino and James Wang point out that there has never been a case in history where a technology emerging two months prior resulted in a 40% layoff, indicating this cannot be a real impact of AI; protolambda emphasizes that large company decision-making costs are already high, and that even with AI, an expanded workforce does not necessarily equal higher productivity. The real core contradiction lies in whether the pace of AI productivity improvement has already created a significant mismatch with the decision-making tempo and organizational adjustment capabilities of traditional businesses.
2. EF Protocol Strawmap: A realistic path for ETH 3.0, or just a blueprint at the level of vision?
Justin Drake announced the launch of strawmap.org, a "draft" roadmap for EF Protocol, planning multiple hard forks up to 2029, with goals covering structural evolutions like fast L1, gigagas level L1, and teragas level L2.
The controversy surrounding this roadmap centers on whether it has a clear and executable path, and whether AI has truly endowed researchers with "superpowers," or if the governance structure and execution efficiency of EF remain bottlenecks.
dcfgod believes the architecture of ETH 3.0 is already clear, with a layered progression of fast L1, gigagas L1, and teragas L2; Ryan S. Adams points out that AI has indeed enhanced researchers' capabilities, but the true differentiation still lies in agency and vision; _choppingblock suggests that the current roadmap still has significant room for improvement.
The long-term tension behind it lies in whether the Ethereum Foundation’s inclination towards an open, discussion-based roadmap formulation can meet the higher demands for rapid iteration and on-the-ground execution in reality.
3. Jane Street becomes the largest holder of SLV: Normal arbitrage, or a precursor to ETF structural risks?
Jane Street has significantly purchased shares of iShares Silver Trust (SLV), becoming its largest holder, raising questions about the ETF authorized participants' (AP) arbitrage mechanism, with some discussants linking it to recent lawsuits, "paper BTC" risks, and other issues.
The focal point of controversy is whether this behavior is typical quantitative arbitrage or a signal of potential market manipulation or liquidity pressure?
Macrobysunil questions why Jane Street needs to hold such a large proportion of the position, whether their motives warrant closer examination; protolambda likens Jack Dorsey’s layoff remarks to "citrini doom round 2," suggesting that the structure of paper assets may have broader chain risks.
The deeper issue is that when commodity ETFs decouple from the crypto spot and derivatives markets, will the ETF authorized participant mechanism amplify systemic vulnerabilities?
4. Anthropic CEO rejects U.S. Department of Defense demands: The political red line for AI companies?
Anthropic's CEO formally refused to comply with the U.S. Department of Defense's (sometimes referred to in discussions as "Department of War") relevant demands. The odds for the "refusal" option on Polymarket fluctuated sharply to around 44%.
The core of market discussions revolves around whether AI companies should provide unrestricted models for defense or surveillance systems, and whether the refusal will become a landmark event in the political process of AI by 2026.
Some members of the Polymarket community believe the 44% odds reflect the market's real divide over "ethical red lines"; garrytan proposes that in a highly politicized environment for AI, users mastering Meta-prompting skills may become a form of self-protection.
The incident reflects the ethical and commercial tensions between cutting-edge model development and national security interests that are difficult to reconcile.
5. AI Capex Cycle: Depleting global liquidity, or the growing pains of a new growth phase?
@plur_daddy posted "There’s Not Enough Money In The World—AI capex cycle causing market regime change" (1.7 million views), which was shared by Ansem and other KOLs, directly paralleling Elon and Dorsey's layoff actions.
The core of the controversy is whether hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure investments are causing a "dual squeeze" of global liquidity contraction and employment shocks, or if it is an unavoidable structural reallocation in a new growth cycle?
plur_daddy believes the AI capex is creating a new market regime of "not enough money"; eliant_capital and Ansem point out that when Elon laid off employees back then, no one questioned it, and now Dorsey’s layoffs may simply be a continuation of capital concentration and organizational restructuring.
The more fundamental issue is whether the extremely capital-intensive AI growth path has already created a structural misalignment with the liquidity supply capacity of the current global financial system.
II. Ecological Development
1. Ethereum
DoubleZero enters Ethereum: Solana infrastructure company's cross-chain layout
DoubleZero, co-founded by former Solana CMO Austin Federa, announced its server migration to the Ethereum ecosystem, aiming to "Make Solana Faster," and was reported by CoinDesk as participating in a global speed competition. This move quickly gained endorsement from core Solana members and was simultaneously shared by several ETH and Solana KOLs, widely seen as a positive signal for cooperation and integration between the two ecosystems on an infrastructure level. The deeper significance is that cross-ecosystem layouts by specialized infrastructure service providers in a multi-chain era may become the new norm. However, the long-term reliance of Solana’s speed improvements on external migration capability remains uncertain, with variables and path dependencies.
L2BEAT launches Interop tracking tool
L2BEAT has officially released the Interop tracker to provide real-time tracking of the cross-chain tech stack and interoperability progress of each Ethereum L2. This tool has rapidly gained widespread forwarding within the ETH List, interpreted as an important milestone in the transparency and standardization process of the L2 ecosystem. In the long run, this tool is expected to drive unification of interoperability among Ethereum L2s and technological convergence, but at the actual execution level, whether the fragmented tech stack can truly accelerate integration remains uncertain in terms of time and governance.
2. Solana
Jupiter encounters breaking change event
Jupiter's core operations member SIONG tweeted early in the morning, recording that a protocol pushed a destructive update without prior notice, causing the team to respond overnight. Although leading projects like Backpack and Armani did not add comments, they collectively retweeted, amplifying the event signal. A wide discussion arose within the Solana ecosystem about the lack of coordination and communication mechanisms between protocols. This incident exposed the risk of fragmented governance in a high-frequency iteration ecosystem, which may pressure Solana to develop more mature cross-protocol notification standards in the long run, but in the short term, the internal trust costs within the ecosystem have already significantly increased.
Reserve protocol raises security bounty to $250,000
Ted Livingston announced an increase in the Reserve contract's security bounty to $250,000, emphasizing the goal of "ensuring the contract is as secure as possible." This initiative is viewed as a proactive investment in security by Solana DeFi projects, setting a higher benchmark for security investment. Nevertheless, amidst increasingly sophisticated attack methods, whether $250,000 is sufficient to cover future potential attack costs and incentive demands remains uncertain in practical terms.
DFlow and Phantom launch Solana-specific Claude Skills
DFlow, in collaboration with Phantom, launched a Claude AI skill pack designed specifically for developing Solana applications, attracting significant attention from the developer community, interpreted as a landmark event marking the official entry of AI tools into the Solana development process. This move is expected to significantly lower the development threshold for Solana dApps, accelerating innovation and application iteration, but the stability of the AI skill pack in real-world production environments and whether it can continuously translate into genuine productivity still require further validation.
Base launches x402 protocol
Base's growth leader minseok.base.eth announced the official launch of the x402 protocol on the Base mainnet. Internally, it is widely regarded as an important upgrade to the infrastructure layer, with discussions focusing on its empowering potential in on-chain payments, API calls, and other scenarios. This protocol may mark the starting point for Coinbase’s standardized protocol on-chain, but its actual adoption rate, ecological compatibility, and developer acceptance will require time to observe.
3. Perp DEX
Lighter launches LIT Fee Credits program
Lighter has officially launched the LIT Fee Credits mechanism, allowing small market makers and high-frequency traders to use LIT tokens for discounts on fees and advantages in matching delays. The Perp DEX community generally believes this move lowers the entry barriers for small and medium participants, helping diversify liquidity. If the mechanism runs smoothly, it could reshape the market maker ecosystem of perpetual contract DEXs, but the long-term sustainability and fairness of the points economy model still have uncertainties.
The Chopping Block focuses on AI × Crypto and OpenClaw security incident
This week, The Chopping Block podcast invited @ilblackdragon to discuss the narrative of the convergence between AI and crypto, as well as the serious security blunders of OpenClaw. The program was widely spread across cross-track KOL circles, with a core focus on the realistic landscape of opportunities and risks in the AI-Crypto crossover field. This discussion highlights that the AI-Crypto narrative of 2026 has moved from the conceptual stage to a phase of real risk gaming, while the frequent security incidents also remind the market that this track remains in an early vulnerable window.
Hyperliquid releases HIP-6 governance proposal
Hyperliquid community has officially released the HIP-6 governance proposal, attracting significant attention from the Perp DEX governance circles, with the discussion focusing on adjustments to protocol parameters and incentive mechanisms. This proposal may represent an important step towards a more mature DAO governance structure for Hyperliquid, but there is still room for negotiation regarding the ultimate effectiveness of the proposal and the strength of community consensus.
4. Others
Kalshi releases breaking news on Musk’s "hold on" TSLA
Kalshi released news in a "JUST IN" format stating that Elon Musk is urging to hold TSLA, with a single post view count reaching 140,000, simultaneously disclosing reporting channels. Prediction markets are gradually evolving from a purely betting tool to an instant news release and verification layer. This move signifies that prediction markets are becoming one of the mainstream channels for information discovery, but long-term challenges of regulatory compliance and information authenticity control have also emerged.
Polymarket experiences violent fluctuations in multi-event odds
In the past 24 hours, Polymarket tracked major events such as "FAA closes Texas airspace" and "Anthropic rejects Pentagon demands," with related odds fluctuating in real-time. The crypto and AI circles generally regard this as evidence of prediction markets strengthening as geopolitical and AI political news discovery engines. Prediction markets are rapidly becoming a parallel news verification layer, but the risks of event manipulation and structural vulnerabilities in authenticity have not yet been thoroughly resolved at a mechanistic level.
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