Q: What was the first major blockchain network to successfully implement Proof-of-Stake at scale without launching as a new chain?

A major compromise around stablecoin yield language moved forward this week as U.S. lawmakers pushed the CLARITY Act closer to a Senate Banking Committee vote. The agreement would prohibit stablecoin issuers from offering bank-like passive interest directly to holders while still permitting activity-based rewards tied to participation and platform usage. The distinction is becoming increasingly important for DeFi, where protocols are attempting to preserve yield mechanics without triggering banking-style regulation. The development is widely viewed as one of the clearest signals yet that U.S. lawmakers are moving toward a formal market structure framework for crypto.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned this week that global regulators are heading toward a “wrestle” with the United States over stablecoin oversight, particularly surrounding convertibility guarantees and systemic risk exposure. Bailey argued that certain dollar-backed stablecoins could create instability during periods of stress if redemption mechanisms rely on crypto exchanges rather than direct banking infrastructure. The remarks reinforce how stablecoins have rapidly evolved from a crypto-native tool into a geopolitical and financial policy issue with direct implications for DeFi liquidity and cross-border settlement systems.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs remained one of the dominant market drivers this week, with inflows helping push bitcoin back above the $80,000 range before geopolitical uncertainty triggered profit taking. Analysts increasingly view ETF demand as a structural liquidity engine for both crypto markets and DeFi activity, as institutional capital continues flowing into digital assets despite broader macro volatility. Altcoins and DeFi-related assets also rallied alongside renewed risk appetite across the sector.  

Development work continued this week on Hemi’s MinerFi infrastructure, with the engineering team focusing on final fixes, optimizations, and improvements ahead of the next phase of review. The updated components are expected to move into the auditing process soon as Hemi continues building out its Bitcoin-focused infrastructure stack.

New details emerged around the ongoing transition from opgeth to opereth, including expanded use of the Oxygen Bitcoin indexer. Originally developed for ZK proveability, Oxygen is now being adapted into a full native Bitcoin data indexer inside opereth. The engineering team is currently working on both an initial Rust wrapper around the existing Go-based Bitcoin indexer and a parallel Oxygen-based implementation designed to deepen Bitcoin data integration within Hemi’s execution environment.

Hemi is preparing a new veHEMI update intended to unblock the next rewards distribution cycle. The update recently completed a third round of internal review and auditing, with deployment expected soon. While described as a relatively minor upgrade, the release is positioned as an important operational step for continued veHEMI reward functionality and ongoing ecosystem participation incentives.

Institutions have allocated, and now BTC is poised for yield.

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The Hemi Discord community, including more than 111,700 members, and over 1,000 daily active users, is seeing a big change-up, with new programs rolling out across the year. The revamp includes an integration with Guild, an education series for newcomers, a community YouTube channel called Hemigo TV, onchain Hemi games, and new weekly office hours with the Protocol Engineering team.

Learn more.

Once a month, we honor a community member’s excellence with a special Hemigo of the Month award. This month’s award goes to Mudokan, in recognition of their long-standing ongoing contributions and thoughtful questions. As our latest Hemigo of the Month, Mudokan has earned the exclusive Hemigo of the Month Hoodie.

Midweek with Max marked its inaugural X, YouTube, and LinkedIn broadcast.

Catch the full recap.

Join Hemi’s Discord to leave questions for Max ahead of next week’s AMA.

A: Ethereum transitioned from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake through The Merge in September 2022.