Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap of a very powerful tales in cryptocurrency tech growth. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk.
On this difficulty:
- Solana Set for Main Overhaul After 98% Votes to Approve Historic ‘Alpenglow’ Improve
- Ethereum Basis to Unload One other 10K ETH Following SharpLink Deal
- ‘OP_CAT Isn’t My Invention. It’s Satoshi’s,’ Says Bruce Liu as OPCAT_Labs Pushes to Reboot Bitcoin’s Code
- Ethereum to Shut Its Largest Testnet, Holesky, After Fusaka Improve
Community Information
ALPENGLOW APPROVED BY SOLANA COMMUNITY: The Solana neighborhood voted overwhelmingly in favor of the long-awaited Alpenglow improve, bringing the community one step nearer to probably the most important technical transformation in its historical past. In response to Solana Standing on X, 98.27% of SOL stakers that voted accredited the proposal, with just one.05% voting towards and 0.36% abstaining. In complete, 52% of the community’s stakers participated within the vote. The improve introduces a brand new consensus protocol designed to dramatically enhance transaction finality and community effectivity. On the coronary heart of Alpenglow are two new elements, Votor and Rotor, which can change Solana’s current techniques, Proof-of-Historical past and TowerBFT. At the moment, Proof-of-Historical past timestamps transactions to protect their order with out slowing the community, whereas TowerBFT handles the voting course of amongst validators. Alpenglow will overhaul each techniques. Votor will slash transaction finality instances from over 12 seconds to round 150 milliseconds, delivering near-instant affirmation for customers. Rotor, scheduled for a later rollout, will reduce information transfers between validators, an important enchancment for high-demand functions resembling decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain-based gaming.With approval secured, Solana is now making ready to implement the improve, a milestone anticipated to unlock larger pace, resilience, and scalability throughout its ecosystem. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.
EF TO SELL 10K ETH OVER NEXT FEW WEEKS: The Ethereum Basis (EF) shared in a publish on X on Tuesday that it plans to promote 10,000 ETH by centralized exchanges over the subsequent a number of weeks to help work towards analysis & growth, ecosystem grants and associated donations. In response to CoinMarketCap, the ETH will quantity to roughly $43 million at Tuesday’s costs. “Conversions will happen over a number of smaller orders, reasonably than as a single giant transaction,” the EF wrote within the publish on X.The information follows the EF’s rollout of a brand new treasury coverage in June that caps annual operational spending (opex) at 15%, establishes a multiyear reserve buffer and units a gradual tempo towards even leaner spending long-term. The inspiration bought an extra 10,000 ETH to SharpLink Gaming in July, making the web on line casino advertising agency the primary publicly traded firm to purchase ETH from a key agency within the community’s ecosystem. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.
A CHAT WITH BRUCE LIU ON OP_CAT: With out OP_CAT, Bruce Liu says Bitcoin is as “helpful as a jumbo jet with out wings” able to far more than it’s allowed to do, however caught on the bottom whereas Ethereum and Solana soar. Liu, the founding father of OPCAT_Labs, says a single opcode, OP_CAT, may remodel bitcoin from static digital gold into programmable cash that rivals different layer-1 chains. OP_CAT is a long-disabled opcode in Bitcoin’s code that, if re-enabled, would enable builders to concatenate information in scripts and unlock new potentialities, from vaults and covenants to decentralized exchanges and zero-knowledge proofs. The Bitcoin blockchain, if OP_CAT was re-enabled, can be as programmable as Ethereum or Solana, stated Liu. “OP_CAT will not be new code. It was by no means deleted, simply commented out and disabled. We’re not including my opcode or any person else’s. It’s Satoshi’s,” Liu instructed CoinDesk throughout an interview on the sidelines of BTC Asia in Hong Kong. — Sam Reynolds Learn extra.
HOLESKY SUNSET IS COMING AFTER FUSAKA UPGRADE: A contemporary slate of Ethereum testnets is changing Holesky, the once-massive staging floor now set for shutdown after two years of service.The wind-down will happen two weeks after the Fusaka improve is finalized later this yr, at which level shopper and infrastructure groups will stop offering help. Fusaka is about to make Ethereum rollups cheaper and quicker by spreading out the “information storage work” extra evenly throughout validators. Holesky went dwell in 2023 to stress-test Ethereum’s proof-of-stake equipment at scale. It shortly grew to become the biggest public testnet, offering hundreds of validators with a platform to trial upgrades earlier than they had been deployed on the mainnet. Main milestones, such because the Dencun and Pectra upgrades — which lowered transaction prices and upgraded validator effectivity, amongst different options — had been run by Holesky first. Nonetheless, cracks started to appear because the community aged. Holesky encountered “inactivity leaks” after Pectra’s activation in early 2025, a time period referring to validators going offline in giant numbers, which created a big backlog for these making an attempt to exit. The outcome was months-long queues that made it impractical to check the complete validator lifecycle. For builders needing quick suggestions loops, Holesky had change into extra of a roadblock than a software. — Shaurya Malwa Learn extra.
In Different Information
- Digital asset funding agency Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is bringing its inventory onto blockchain rails as fairness tokenization positive factors steam.The Nasdaq-listed firm is working with blockchain agency Superstate to make its Class A typical inventory out there as tokens on the Solana community by Superstate’s Opening Bell platform. The association preserves the complete rights of SEC-registered fairness whereas permitting traders to carry and switch shares on-chain, the companies stated. Tokenization of conventional property has gained traction throughout the monetary sector as companies experiment with shifting equities, bonds and money-market funds onto blockchain infrastructure. A slew of tokenized fairness merchandise hit the market up to now few months predominantly for EU traders, together with by Robinhood, Gemini with Dinari and xStocks by Kraken and Backed Finance. Nonetheless, some choices drew considerations resembling restricted shareholder rights and fragmented rules. In contrast to artificial or wrapped tokenized shares that function with out issuer involvement, Galaxy’s shares are issued straight on-chain and tracked by Superstate as a switch agent, recording modifications to the shareholder register immediately as tokens transfer between verified wallets. This strategy seeks to mix compliance with blockchain options resembling quick settlement, transparency and around-the clock-availability, the companies stated. — Kristzian Sandor Learn extra.
- Ondo Finance launched its tokenized fairness platform dubbed Ondo World Markets, providing non-U.S. traders entry to greater than 100 U.S. shares and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on-chain. The tokenized equities, first introduced in February, have gone dwell on Ethereum and are backed by securities held by U.S.-registered broker-dealers, the agency stated.The providing contains crypto token variations of Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA) and the QQQ ETF amongst others. Buyers in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and Latin America can mint and redeem shares across the clock throughout buying and selling days, with entry to underlying alternate liquidity. The service will not be out there for U.S. customers. The tokens are designed to maneuver freely between wallets, exchanges and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. The agency has additionally partnered with BitGo, Ledger, Chainlink and different infrastructure suppliers to help the rollout.— Kristzian Sandor Learn extra.
Regulatory and Coverage
- European Central Financial institution (ECB) President Christine Lagarde urged European Union (EU) lawmakers to impose stringent necessities and safeguards on international stablecoins.
- Lagarde argued they need to adjust to the bloc’s regulatory requirements earlier than working on EU soil, she stated in a speech at a European Systemic Threat Board (ESRB) convention in Frankfurt. The ECB president cautioned that in a stablecoin run, traders can be extra seemingly redeem in jurisdictions with stronger protections, such because the EU, the place Markets in Crypto-Belongings (MiCA) regulation prohibits redemption charges, doubtlessly depleting native reserves. “The danger of liquidity mismanagement throughout jurisdictions is one now we have seen earlier than. Banking teams, for instance, are already required to make sure that reserves can be found within the a part of the group the place and when they’re wanted,” Lagarde stated. — Jamie Crawley Learn Extra.
- The U.S. authorities has begun utilizing blockchains to disseminate key financial information, beginning with the U.S. Division of Commerce’s launch of gross-domestic product (GDP) numbers, which was described as a “proof of idea” for doing extra sooner or later. “We’re making America’s financial fact immutable and globally accessible like by no means earlier than, cementing our position because the blockchain capital of the world,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick stated in an announcement that introduced the brand new strategy to distributing the information. In a deliberate effort to not choose blockchain favorites, the division put out final week’s information on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, TRON, Stellar, Avalanche, Arbitrum One, Polygon PoS and Optimism, figuring out the transaction hashes for every in its announcement. The company stated it additionally despatched the information by Chainlink and Pyth and famous that exchanges Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken helped out.— Jesse Hamilton Learn extra.
Calendar
- Sept. 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
- Oct. 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London
- Oct. 16-17: European Blockchain Conference, Barcelona
- Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
- Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
- Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
- Mar. 30-Apr. 2: EthCC, Cannes
- Might 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
