30 Jun 2025, 15:30

BNB Chain DEX Volume Hits $166B After Maxwell Upgrade Cuts Block Time

BNB Chain DEX volume reached $166.6 billion in June 2025, its highest monthly total ever. The Maxwell upgrade reduced block time to 0.75 seconds, improving speed and validator coordination. PancakeSwap alone contributed $139 billion to the BNB Chain DEX volume, outperforming other major exchanges. BNB Chain deployed the Maxwell upgrade on June 30, 2025, cutting block time from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds, according to BscScan. The upgrade immediately delivered a massive boost to the network’s performance, which in turn helped fuel a record-breaking month for its decentralized exchange (DEX) ecosystem. The Maxwell upgrade followed a similar speed-boosting hardfork in April, which had reduced block time from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. It included three proposals: BEP-524, BEP-563, and BEP-564. These proposals addressed transaction speed, validator messaging, and node synchronization. BEP-524 and BEP-563 Improve Network Performance BEP-524 introduced a shorter block interval, enabling quicker transaction confirmation. This adjustment lowered the time needed for DeFi and GameFi transactions to be finalized. BEP-563 improved validator communication by upgr… The post BNB Chain DEX Volume Hits $166B After Maxwell Upgrade Cuts Block Time appeared first on Coin Edition .

30 Jun 2025, 13:00

Binance’s Role in Kenyan Crypto Board Sparks Monopoly Debate

Critics argue that VAC’s close financial ties to Binance—and reportedly receiving $6,000 per country for advocacy—create a very clear conflict of interest that could skew Kenya’s crypto regulations in favor of the global exchange. This could potentially sideline local players and damage Kenya’s reputation with global watchdogs like FATF. Meanwhile, Binance continues its international expansion, and completed the Maxwell upgrade on BNB Chain to reduce block times and improve network efficiency. At the same time, Coinbase was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies due to its growing influence in shaping US crypto policy. Kenya’s Crypto Bill Draws Fire Over Binance Ties Kenya’s proposed Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill started controversy among local crypto startups, due to the growing concerns that it may hand too much influence to a Binance-linked lobby group. This could potentially undermine fair competition in the country’s digital asset market. According to a report by The Kenyan Wall Street, the draft legislation includes a provision for a private think tank called the Virtual Asset Chamber of Commerce (VAC) to hold a seat on the new regulatory board. However, several stakeholders claim that VAC operates as a proxy for Binance and lacks the independence necessary to act in the best interests of Kenya’s broader crypto ecosystem. Critics argue that VAC’s recent regulatory consultations have been heavily sponsored by Binance and allege that the group has a non-compete clause with the exchange. These revelations triggered fears that the draft law could tilt Kenya’s regulatory landscape in favor of Binance, and marginalize local players. One person also questioned the constitutionality of granting VAC a formal regulatory role under these circumstances, as arrangement could lead to biased policy outcomes. The report further claims that Binance pays VAC $6,000 per country each month for advocacy work. Stakeholders warn that this financial arrangement creates a clear conflict of interest that could potentially harm Kenya’s international regulatory standing and hinder efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and EU greylists. Similar concerns reportedly arose in Rwanda, where VAC allegedly attempted to influence crypto policy as well. In response, VAC director Basil Ogolla defended the group’s credibility by pointing to two years of engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK), and Parliament. He stated that the National Assembly’s decision to include VAC on the board reflects its commitment to responsible consultation. The new regulatory board will also include officials from the National Treasury, CBK, and Capital Markets Authority (CMA), alongside a lawyer and an accountant. Binance has been expanding its government relations globally. In May, the exchange signed a memorandum of understanding with Kyrgyzstan to develop crypto infrastructure and blockchain education. Binance CEO Richard Teng also revealed in April that several governments and sovereign wealth funds approached the company for guidance on establishing Bitcoin reserves and crafting national crypto policies. BNB Chain Slashes Block Times in Maxwell Upgrade Despite the growing tensions in Kenya, Binance is reaching new milestones. BNB Smart Chain successfully completed its Maxwell hard fork, which is a major upgrade that cut average block times nearly in half—from 1.5 seconds on Monday to just 0.8 seconds. The Maxwell upgrade went live on June 30 at 2:30 am UTC, and is part of BNB Chain’s ongoing efforts to boost network performance, scalability, and developer experience. According to the BNB Chain team, this latest hard fork is a major technical advancement rather than just another routine update. It is expected to make transactions faster, improve validator coordination, reduce latency for decentralized finance applications, and create a more responsive environment for decentralized app developers. The upgrade follows a successful testnet deployment that was launched on May 26. The Maxwell hard fork introduced three major improvement proposals—BEP-524, BEP-563, and BEP-564. The main goal of BEP-563 is to enhance peer-to-peer messaging between validators by enabling quicker block proposal communication and improving validator stability. This reduces the likelihood of missed votes or delays, both of which are critical in achieving the new target block time of 0.75 seconds. BEP-564 introduces two new message types—GetBlocksByRangeMsg and RangeBlocksMsg—that allow multiple blocks to be requested and delivered in a single transaction. This is expected to greatly accelerate synchronization speeds across the network. Meanwhile, BEP-524 focuses on reducing block times , continuing the improvements that were made by the Lorentz upgrade in April, which had already cut block times from three seconds to 1.5 seconds. The Maxwell update brings that time even lower. The BNB Chain team advised developers to test their applications under the faster block timing and refactor any components that rely on the previous 1.5-second intervals. They warned that any issues post-upgrade would likely stem from app-level code rather than the blockchain itself. BNB’s price action over the past week (Source: CoinMarketCap ) BNB's native token saw a price increase ahead of the upgrade, and climbed by 5.97% over the past week. At press time, BNB was trading at around $654.22, up 0.48% in the last 24 hours. Coinbase Named in TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies Another crypto exchange, Coinbase, recently turned heads after it was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential Companies of 2025 . It also earned the label of “disruptor” for its influence on crypto policy and regulation in the United States. (Source: TIME ) The recognition comes as the company is gaining traction both on Wall Street and within political circles. Coinbase’s stock rose by approximately 37% year-to-date, with an impressive surge after the Senate’s approval of the GENIUS stablecoin bill on June 17. The announcement helped propel Coinbase shares from around $303 to a local high of $382. TIME pointed out Coinbase’s milestone inclusion in the S&P 500 index in May, and called it a key driver of crypto policy efforts in Washington and a potential future hub for US-based crypto activity, especially if favorable regulations continue to pass. In addition to its domestic advances, Coinbase is aggressively expanding its international footprint. The company reportedly applied to the US SEC for permission to offer tokenized equities to its users, a move that would position it as a direct competitor to traditional brokerage platforms like Robinhood and WeBull. If approved, this expansion would bring mixed asset trading capabilities to the Coinbase ecosystem, which will help cement its role as a comprehensive financial platform. Internationally, Coinbase secured a regulatory license on June 20 under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The license was granted by Luxembourg’s financial regulator, and it will enable Coinbase to operate its digital asset services across EU member states and establish its European headquarters in Luxembourg.

30 Jun 2025, 12:42

Polygon Network Upgrade This Week May Impact Binance Deposits and Withdrawals Temporarily

Polygon’s Layer 2 blockchain is undergoing a critical upgrade this week, with Binance proactively suspending deposits and withdrawals to ensure a smooth transition. The Bhilai Hard Fork aims to significantly

30 Jun 2025, 12:34

Ripple CEO Gets XRP Tattoo, Showing “1000%” Confidence in Token Future

Brad Garlinghouse, the Harvard-educated CEO of Ripple Labs, has declared his unwavering belief in XRP by tattooing the token’s logo on his arm. Key Takeaways: Ripple CEO tattooed the XRP logo and key court date to show “1000%” confidence in the token’s future. Ripple and the SEC are moving to end their years-long legal battle. The court’s ruling left XRP’s retail sales untouched but confirmed institutional sales violated securities laws. On Sunday, the fintech chief responded to a popular crypto X account that pointed out the boldness of getting inked past 50, especially amid Ripple’s ongoing legal saga with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). “When someone with a Harvard MBA gets a tattoo after 50 they have thought it through and know it’s only going to change in a good way,” the user wrote. The Ripple CEO responded , “1000%.” Garlinghouse Tattoos Key XRP Court Ruling Date Garlinghouse’s tattoo includes the XRP icon and July 13, 2023, the date when a court ruled Ripple’s XRP sales to institutional investors violated securities laws but cleared retail sales. The ruling marked a turning point in Ripple’s legal fight with the SEC, which sued the company in December 2020 for alleged securities violations. The Ripple CEO’s bold show of support comes as the company and SEC seek to resolve the case. Last week, Garlinghouse announced the company is dropping its cross-appeal against the SEC. “Ripple is dropping our cross-appeal, and the SEC is expected to drop their appeal, as they’ve previously said,” he said. 1000% — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) June 28, 2025 The development comes just a day after the US district court denied a joint request from Ripple and the SEC seeking an indicative ruling to reduce Ripple’s $125 million civil penalty and reverse the order labeling Ripple’s institutional XRP sales as securities transactions. Judge Analisa Torres wrote that Ripple’s willingness to “push the boundaries” of the prior summary judgment indicated a likelihood of further violations. Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty commented on the court’s decision, saying Ripple had two options: to drop its appeal or continue challenging the finding. He emphasized that regardless of the path chosen, “XRP’s legal status as not a security remains unchanged,” reassuring investors that Ripple’s operations would proceed normally. While the court ruled that Ripple’s programmatic sales of XRP did not constitute securities transactions, it held that Ripple’s institutional sales did. XRP Ledger Rolls Out New Upgrade Amid Rising Interest As reported, RippleX, the development arm of Ripple, has rolled out version 2.5.0 of the XRP Ledger , introducing several protocol upgrades aimed at strengthening network functionality and security. RippleX engineer Mayukha Vadari has called the upgrade “possibly the best single lineup of amendments” ever released, introducing significant improvements to token management and transaction processing. The XLS-85 amendment upgrades the escrow system by allowing third-party issued tokens, including stablecoins, and introduces multi-purpose tokens designed for institutional applications. Another key change, XLS-56, enables wrapper transactions that can combine up to eight steps into a single action, aiming to lower failure rates in complex transaction flows and improve network efficiency for advanced use cases. The new update comes as the XRP Ledger has recorded a surge in user activity , with the number of daily active addresses climbing from an average of 35,000 to over 295,000. The post Ripple CEO Gets XRP Tattoo, Showing “1000%” Confidence in Token Future appeared first on Cryptonews .

30 Jun 2025, 12:30

Here’s how Binance is supporting Polygon’s network upgrade

Layer 2 blockchain Polygon is set for an upgrade this week, and crypto exchange Binance is taking steps to support this process. According to an official June 30 notice , Binance will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for the Polygon network on July 1 as part of preparations for the scheduled network upgrade and hard fork. The suspension will begin at 16:10 ET, with the upgrade expected to occur an hour later at block height 73,440,256. During this time, however, trading of Polygon tokens on Binance will continue without interruption Binance added that it will handle all technical requirements on behalf of users, so users do not need to take any action themselves. The exchange also urged all intended deposits of POL to be done ahead of time, as deposit and withdrawal services will only resume once the network is deemed stable. Read more: Polygon price slowly forms a bullish pattern as stablecoin growth surges Users must monitor the network’s status for updates and the resumption of services, as Binance noted that it will not issue a separate announcement for this. What is the Polygon Network Upgrade? Polygon’s upcoming upgrade , called the Bhilai Hard Fork, is a scheduled update to the network’s core infrastructure. The upgrade involves updating Polygon’s Bor nodes, which are essential parts of the network’s blockchain infrastructure responsible for processing transactions and maintaining security. The new Bor version (v2.1.1) introduces changes to improve network performance and support a key protocol improvement proposal known as PIP-60. Polygon co-founder and CEO Sandeep Nailwal said the upgrade is expected to boost the Polygon proof-of-stake chain’s throughput to around 1,000 transactions per second (TPS), with finality in under five seconds. A follow-up upgrade planned for October could push performance even higher, to 5,000 TPS with one-second finality. Validators running Bor nodes must update their software and adjust certain configuration settings, including increasing the gas limit to 45 million to align with the upgrade requirements. The hard fork is part of Polygon’s broader effort to enhance scalability and governance. It supports the network’s transition toward adopting a new token standard, POL, aimed at improving how it operates for both users and developers. You might also like: Polygon co-founder Jordi Baylina revives zkEVM tech under new venture, Zisk

30 Jun 2025, 12:17

BNB Chain Maxwell Hard Fork Slashes Block Time to 0.75 Seconds Boosting Network Speed

On June 30, BNB Chain successfully implemented the Maxwell hard fork upgrade, effectively halving the block time from 1.5 seconds to 0.75 seconds. This technical enhancement significantly boosts the network’s