Bitcoin Steady Above $85,000, Ethereum RISC-V Proposal Gains Attention

Bitcoin Maintains Stability, Altcoins Show Mixed Signals

As of late Monday morning in India (early hours in Europe), April 21, 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) is holding relatively steady above the $85,000 mark. The market leader has shown limited volatility in the past 24 hours, consolidating its recent gains. Overall market sentiment appears to be cautiously optimistic as traders await further catalysts. Altcoins are displaying a mixed performance, with some showing modest gains while others remain flat or slightly down.

Vitalik Buterin Proposes RISC-V for Ethereum’s Efficiency Overhaul

A significant development gaining traction within the Ethereum community is a proposal by co-founder Vitalik Buterin to potentially replace the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contract language with the RISC-V instruction set architecture. This proposal, dated April 20, 2025, outlines the potential for enhanced speed and efficiency within Ethereum’s execution layer.

Buterin argues that adopting RISC-V in smart contracts could maintain competitive block production markets and significantly improve the efficiency of zero-knowledge functions, potentially leading to efficiency gains of up to 100 times. This proposal addresses long-term scaling challenges and aims to keep Ethereum competitive with newer blockchain protocols. While still in the discussion phase, this idea highlights Ethereum’s ongoing efforts to improve its network capabilities.

BNB Chain’s opBNB Lorentz Hard Fork Imminent

BNB Chain has announced that the opBNB Lorentz mainnet hard fork is scheduled to occur within the next 12 hours (from the time of the announcement on April 20, 2025). This upgrade requires node operators to update their systems promptly to avoid synchronization issues. The hard fork is expected to bring improvements to the opBNB network’s performance and stability.

Other Notable Developments:

• Polymarket Recession Prediction: Data from Polymarket indicates a 58% probability of a U.S. economic recession in 2025, reflecting broader economic concerns that can sometimes influence crypto market sentiment.
• Bitget Account Rollback: The Bitget exchange experienced “abnormal trading activity” in VOXEL-USDT perpetual futures contracts and is rolling back affected accounts, emphasizing the risks associated with volatile trading pairs.
• Dogecoin “Dogeday”: The Dogecoin community celebrated its unofficial holiday, “Dogeday” on April 20th, while awaiting potential news regarding Dogecoin-related ETF applications.
• Analyst’s Critique of BIS Report: The President of CoinFund criticized the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) recent report advocating for the isolation of crypto markets, arguing that such a stance is “dangerous” for the financial system.

Market Outlook:

The cryptocurrency market is currently navigating a landscape influenced by both technological advancements within specific blockchains and broader economic predictions. The proposal for Ethereum to adopt RISC-V is a significant development that could have long-term implications for the network’s scalability and efficiency. Meanwhile, the upcoming BNB Chain hard fork underscores the ongoing development and upgrades within the broader crypto ecosystem. Investors continue to monitor macroeconomic indicators and regulatory developments for further market direction.