In today’s crypto news, a pro-crypto political organization has thrown its support behind Andrew Cuomo in the race for mayor of New York City. Additionally, Grayscale Investments has introduced its staking Solana ETF in the U.S., and the Fusaka fork of Ethereum has gone live on the final testnet.
Pro-crypto group supports Andrew Cuomo for NYC mayor as election nears
Innovate NY, a political organization that describes itself as “pro-digital assets” and backed by approximately $100,000 ahead of the New York City mayoral election, has endorsed independent candidate and former state Governor Andrew Cuomo.
In a notice issued on Tuesday, Innovate NY endorsed Cuomo for mayor, with early voting already underway. The political group highlighted a platform that includes “blockchain, tokenization, public-benefit stablecoins, and artificial intelligence.”
The organization, registered as an independent spender with the New York City Campaign Finance Board, was funded with $99,500 from six individuals through two companies as of Wednesday.
As per expenditure records, Innovate NY spent $30,000 on a flyer endorsing Cuomo and criticizing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, who currently leads in many polls against the former governor.
The mayoral race in New York City has attracted considerable attention from the crypto industry due to its potential effects on businesses operating within the country’s largest economic hub. On Nov. 4, voters will select among frontrunners Mamdani, Cuomo, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.
In the final weeks of his campaign, Cuomo is courting crypto-minded voters in New York, promising to establish an Innovation Council with advisory committees focused on crypto, AI, and biotech if elected. Conversely, Mamdani, who is leading in the polls against Cuomo, has largely sidestepped digital assets in his campaign, instead concentrating on issues such as childcare and affordable housing.
Grayscale launches Solana ETF, entering competition with Bitwise in SOL staking space
Grayscale Investments has unveiled its staking-enabled Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), enhancing institutional access to exposure to Solana.
According to a Wednesday announcement, the Grayscale Solana Trust ETF started trading under the GSOL ticker on the New York Stock Exchange Arca platform. This product features staking capability, allowing investors to earn rewards via the Solana proof-of-stake (PoS) network.
Grayscale’s senior vice president of ETFs, Inkoo Kang, remarked that the new product is “expanding investor choice.” The firm now ranks among the largest managers of Solana (SOL) exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the U.S. based on assets under management.
This launch follows the introduction of Bitwise’s staking Solana ETF on Tuesday, which debuted with $222.9 million in assets under management. Grayscale commenced with $102.7 million, less than half of Bitwise’s total.
Ethereum’s Fusaka fork ready for mainnet after final testnet launch
Ethereum’s forthcoming major upgrade, Fusaka, was activated on the blockchain’s last testnet, Hoodi, on Tuesday, preparing for a mainnet launch set for Dec. 3. This upgrade aims to bring various scalability and security enhancements to the network.
Fusaka will introduce several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including Peer Data Availability Sampling, or PeerDAS, via EIP-7594, which will allow validators to access smaller data segments on layer 2 networks rather than full data blobs, thereby enhancing node efficiency.
The update also includes EIP-7825 and EIP-7935, aimed at increasing the gas limit and enhancing efficiency as Ethereum prepares to enable parallel execution, allowing multiple smart contracts to be processed simultaneously. Additional EIPs in the update focus on advancing zero-knowledge rollups.
This upgrade seeks to bolster Ethereum’s scalability, one of the three aspects of the so-called “blockchain trilemma,” a term coined by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, which also encompasses decentralization and security.
