Alisa Davidson
Printed: November 03, 2025 at 10:40 am Up to date: November 03, 2025 at 5:34 am
Edited and fact-checked:
November 03, 2025 at 10:40 am
In Transient
October introduced a surge of exercise throughout main blockchains, from Ethereum’s Fusaka improve and Bitcoin’s debate over Ordinals, to Solana and Polkadot protocol enhancements, and extra.
It looks like October lastly shook off that mid-year quiet. In all places you look — from Ethereum’s testnets to Bitcoin’s mempool wars — the main chains all of a sudden had one thing to say. Some rolled out actual tech, others reopened previous ideological battles, and some simply reminded everybody they’re nonetheless alive and constructing. Right here’s what stood out to us — and, frankly, what we predict is price taking note of as we head into the final stretch of the yr.
Ethereum’s Fusaka units the stage
Let’s begin with the apparent one. Fusaka. The improve went reside throughout testnets this month, and whereas it didn’t make flashy headlines, we predict it’s a type of “you’ll look again and understand this modified all the things” moments.
The important thing piece is PeerDAS — peer data-availability sampling — which basically means Ethereum’s rollup ecosystem is about to get a bandwidth increase. In plain English: rollups can publish knowledge extra effectively, so charges drop and throughput jumps.
We’ve really seen this film earlier than: Ethereum quietly provides an information layer enchancment, everybody yawns, and 6 months later your entire L2 area seems to be cheaper and quicker. Fusaka feels precisely like that type of catalyst. It’s additionally the primary actual step towards a sharded-scale Ethereum — not simply scaling rollups, however scaling how Ethereum scales.
Bitcoin: ideology meets bytes once more
In the meantime, Bitcoin had some drama, of the great previous type. Core v30 dropped, stress-free knowledge limits and successfully making room for bigger OP_RETURN payloads. Which means extra room for Ordinals, inscriptions, and, relying on who you ask, both innovation or spam.
Then got here BIP-444 — the counterpunch. A proposal to ban huge knowledge embeds altogether, quickly not less than. If adopted, it could nuke the Ordinals scene in a single day. The group’s been break up proper down the center: purists saying Bitcoin ought to keep lean and censorship-resistant, others arguing for inventive freedom on-chain.
Solana’s Alpenglow and Firedancer carry confidence again
Solana’s October was all about velocity and redemption. The validator group green-lit the Alpenglow improve, which goals to carry finality right down to round 150 milliseconds. Mix that with Firedancer — the brand new validator shopper from Leap Crypto now operating in restricted mainnet mode — and also you begin to see why Solana all of a sudden feels assured once more.
We bear in mind the times when Solana meant downtime jokes and restart memes. However now the tone has clearly shifted. Firedancer provides variety and uncooked efficiency to the node software program, whereas Alpenglow tightens the protocol itself. If each stick, Solana’s about to grow to be the closest factor to “real-time blockchain” the area has seen. We’d name {that a} comeback story in progress.
Polkadot: rebuilding itself from the within out
Polkadot had a giant October, even when most individuals missed it. The core tech upgrades — Asynchronous Backing, Agile Coretime, Elastic Scaling — all went reside, with the objective to make parachains quicker and extra versatile. Principally, Polkadot 2.0 arrived.
However the headline for us was the brand new onerous cap on DOT provide: 2.1 billion tokens, full cease. That’s a fairly philosophical pivot — DOT principally went from “inflationary Web3 token” to “shortage narrative”. For buyers, it reframes DOT’s long-term story; for the ecosystem, it alerts maturity.
It appears as if Polkadot lastly feels prefer it is aware of what it desires to be. The timing’s good too — infrastructure’s prepared, tokenomics mounted, sentiment recovering. Positively one to observe into Q1.
Portal to Bitcoin, the long-promised DeFi bridge
Right here’s one which caught even seasoned watchers off guard. Portal to Bitcoin (PTB) launched its mainnet mid-October, positioning itself as the primary critical Bitcoin-native DeFi platform. Suppose atomic swaps, yield, lending — all immediately on Bitcoin, with out wrapping or sidechains.
We’ve heard that pitch earlier than, however PTB really shipped. If it really works, it might lastly make “Bitcoin DeFi” one thing greater than a meme. Our opinion: even a modest success right here can be enormous symbolically — proof that BTC’s liquidity can transfer with out leaving house.
Midnight: Cardano’s privateness sidechain grows up
Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain, made a fairly strategic transfer: it partnered with Google Cloud in October. Sure, that Google Cloud. The deal means the cloud large will assist run validator infrastructure and convey confidential computing instruments to the community.
Cardano is clearly attempting to do one thing totally different — not simply scale however to mix privateness and compliance. If finished proper, this may very well be a fairly large deal for enterprise and controlled DeFi use instances. And no, it doesn’t appear to be hype-bait; Cardano’s clearly pushing its proud, slow-but-steady model of innovation.
Lighter brings in ZK perps and critical quantity
Now, over to DeFi correct. Lighter, a brand new Ethereum Layer-2 DEX for perpetuals, went reside in early October and instantly began pulling critical consideration. On the menu are ZK-powered matching, ultra-low latency, and quantity metrics that trace it might compete with GMX-class gamers.
The larger story right here is the development: DeFi derivatives are booming once more. With volatility creeping again, protocols like Lighter are positioning for institutional liquidity. It’s a type of “listen now, thank your self later” launches.
ANyONe Protocol — the place DePIN meets privateness
DePIN initiatives had a reasonably quiet yr — till ANyONe confirmed up. It’s constructing a privacy-layered physical-infrastructure community: assume IoT relays, encrypted knowledge routing, person rewards. October noticed its bug bounty and staking testnet go reside, with mainnet deliberate quickly.
We like this one as a result of it blends tangible infrastructure with crypto economics — one thing the market’s been craving after too many summary “meta” performs. It’s early, positive, but it surely already feels grounded.
MapleStory Universe — a contemporary new twist on Web3 gaming
And eventually, a uncommon vibrant spot in blockchain gaming. MapleStory Universe — sure, the one tied to Nexon — reported regular development this month, now at 1.7 million registered accounts and integrating Chainlink CCIP for cross-chain asset transfers.
The takeaway right here is that Web3 gaming isn’t useless, it’s simply gone quiet and sensible. When a legacy title like MapleStory begins utilizing cross-chain infrastructure in manufacturing, that’s positively price noting.
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About The Writer
Alisa, a devoted journalist on the MPost, makes a speciality of cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a eager eye for rising developments and applied sciences, she delivers complete protection to tell and interact readers within the ever-evolving panorama of digital finance.
Extra articles
Alisa, a devoted journalist on the MPost, makes a speciality of cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a eager eye for rising developments and applied sciences, she delivers complete protection to tell and interact readers within the ever-evolving panorama of digital finance.
Extra articles
