In today’s crypto news, a political group supporting digital assets has endorsed Andrew Cuomo for the New York City mayoral race. Additionally, Grayscale Investments has launched its Solana staking ETF in the U.S., and the Fusaka fork for Ethereum has been implemented on its final testnet.
Pro-crypto organization endorses Andrew Cuomo as NYC mayoral election approaches
Innovate NY, a political organization that champions digital assets and has secured around $100,000 in funding for the New York City mayoral election, has given its backing to independent candidate and former state Governor Andrew Cuomo.
On Tuesday, Innovate NY endorsed Cuomo for mayor, as early voting for the election is already underway. The group highlighted an agenda that encompasses “blockchain, tokenization, public-benefit stablecoins, and artificial intelligence.”
Registered as an independent spender with the New York City Campaign Finance Board, Innovate NY received $99,500 from six individuals through two companies as of Wednesday.
As per expenditure records, Innovate NY allocated $30,000 for a flyer supporting Cuomo and opposing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who is currently leading in various polls against the former governor.
The New York City mayoral race has garnered significant attention from the crypto community due to its potential implications for companies operating within the U.S.’s largest economic center. Voters will choose between frontrunners Mamdani, Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa on Nov. 4.
In the closing weeks of his campaign, Cuomo is actively appealing to crypto-savvy New York voters by promising to establish an Innovation Council with advisory committees for crypto, AI, and biotech if elected. Conversely, Mamdani, who is leading in polling against Cuomo, has primarily refrained from incorporating digital assets into his campaign, focusing instead on cost-of-living issues, particularly childcare and affordable housing.
Grayscale launches Solana ETF, joining Bitwise in the SOL staking ETF competition
Cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments has introduced its staking-enabled Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), enhancing institutional access to Solana investment opportunities.
As per a Wednesday announcement, the Grayscale Solana Trust ETF began trading under the GSOL ticker on the NYSE Arca platform. This product incorporates staking features, permitting investors to earn rewards through Solana’s proof-of-stake (PoS) network.
Inkoo Kang, Grayscale’s senior vice president of ETFs, remarked that the new offering is “expanding investor choice.” The firm noted that it is now one of the largest managers of Solana (SOL) exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the U.S. by assets under management.
This launch follows Bitwise’s staking Solana ETF debut on Tuesday, which commenced with $222.9 million in assets under management, compared to Grayscale’s initial seed of $102.7 million—less than half of Bitwise’s.
Ethereum’s Fusaka fork poised for mainnet launch after final testnet rollout
Ethereum’s upcoming major upgrade, Fusaka, went live on the blockchain’s final testnet, Hoodi, on Tuesday, paving the way for its mainnet launch scheduled for Dec. 3, which aims to introduce several improvements in scalability and security for the network.
Fusaka will incorporate multiple Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including Peer Data Availability Sampling, or PeerDAS, via EIP-7594, which will enable validators to read smaller portions of data on layer 2 networks instead of full blobs, thus enhancing node efficiency.
The update will also include EIP-7825 and EIP-7935, which aim to increase the gas limit and enhance efficiency as Ethereum prepares to enable parallel execution, allowing multiple smart contracts to be processed simultaneously. Additional EIPs focus on advancing zero-knowledge rollups.
This upgrade aims to enhance Ethereum’s scalability, one of the three components of the so-called “blockchain trilemma” articulated by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, which also includes decentralization and security.
