Welcome to the protocol, the weekly conclusion of Coindesk of the most important stories of the technological development of cryptocurrencies. I am Margaux Nijkerk, reporter Tech & Coindesk Protocols.
In this issue:
- Ethereum at 10: where is the next for the global computer?
- Linea to burn ETH with each transaction in force in fat L2
- Solana players unveil the roadmap for “Internet Capital Markets
- Square begins the deployment of bitcoin payments for sellers, targets full availability by 2026
Network news
10 years of Ethereum: When Ethereum was launched on July 30, 2015, he decided to be more than just cryptocurrency. He aimed to extend the limits of blockchain technology itself. While Bitcoin has become digital gold, Ethereum continued a larger vision: being a decentralized “global computer” – programmable, expandable and open. A decade later, Ethereum transformed finance, culture and software. Along the way, it was faced with existential crises, volatile markets and ferocious internal debates. Now he stands at the dawn of a new era – one who can see him fully adopted by traditional finance. Ethereum has seen an increase in the past two months while the project reaches the 10 -year milestone, with the price of ether (ETH) to reach $ 3,800 in July, after having won around $ 1,500 also resumed as in April. In recent months, the ecosystem has experienced a new wave of use cases, including the tokenization and growth of stablescoin, and the network has also benefited from the trend of companies holding ETH in their treasury bills, not only for long -term value, but to gain yield. On the occasion of the birthday, the actors of the Ethereum ecosystem weigh over the last 10 years. – Margaux Nijkerk Learn more.
Linea full protocol changes: Linea, an Ethereum Layer-2 network incubated by consensys, unveiled a complete sequence of upgrades designed to integrate the network more deeply in the economic and ideological fabric of layer 1. The Linea Updated Roadmap, which should be deployed in October 2025, introduces an ETH native exercise on the ponted active ingredients, an ETH burning mechanism at the level of the Protocol and 85% of its token supply to the development of ecosystems. This decision happens that the momentum in the Ethereum ecosystem is built, thanks to the growing institutional interest. The Linea team wrote in a press release shared with Coindesk that their updates “will position Ethereum to meet the needs of sophisticated capital while Tradfi begins to embark to challenge and strengthen Linea as a major house of future innovations on the capital markets on the chain, stimulation and infrastructure.” The team claims that on updates, Linea will become the first layer 2 to burn ETH in the protocol and to incur 20% of the net transaction costs to reduce the supply of Ethereum. The remaining 80% of the costs will be used to burn the Linea tokens, which are capped in the food, integrating the deflationary pressure directly into the activity of the network. “Linea Mainnet will burn ETH with each transaction, uses the Linea token to support users, manufacturers and public goods and the yield of the basic value of Ethereum, while increasing long -term value in the economy based on Linea tokens,” said Declan Fox, Linea manager, in the press release. – Margaux Nijkerk Learn more.
Solana players unveil the roadmap for “Internet Capital Markets: The Solana ecosystem merges a updated vision that its architects call “Internet capital markets” – a decentralized and high performance base for the next generation of chain financial applications. While the network has been focusing for a long time on the increase in bandwidth and reduction latency, its last roadmap is deeply plunged into market microstructure, arguing that the next step is to give applications a granular control of the execution of transactions. The roadmap, which was co-authorized to the leaders of the Solana Foundation, Anza, Jito Labs, Doublezero, Drift and Multicoin Capital, focuses on the execution (ACE) controlled by application, which will give intelligent contracts at the level of milliseconds on the sequencing of transactions. “In our conversations with ecosystem teams, market microstructure is the most important problem in Solana today,” the authors wrote. The new roadmap, published by Anza, basic contributor to Solana’s blockchain, describes six critical compromise dimensions: confidentiality vs transparency, speedbumps vs unhindered decentralization, inclusion against the purpose of latency, roommate against geographic decentralization, manufacturers of manufacturers. – Margaux Nijkerk Learn more.
Square begins the deployment of BTC payments for sellers: Jack Dorsey’s place (XYZ) began the deployment of Bitcoin payments for merchants on its network. Square began to integrate the first sellers, allowing them to accept BTC payments fed by the Lightning network of customers, Owen Jennings, Managing Director of the Square Block parent company (XYZ), published on X last week. Payments are set in real time using Bitcoin Layer-2 lightning, with Square Treatment of exchange in Fiat. Square plans to provide service available to all merchants using its sales platform by next year. The company piloted the system during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas in May, allowing participants to make BTC shopping by scanning a barcode. – Jamie Crawley Learn more.
In other news
- Strategy (MSTR), the largest Bitcoin business owner, said they have acquired around $ 2.4 billion in BTC using funds from its new privileged action program (STRC). The company sold nearly $ 2.5 billion in STRCs, also nicknamed “Stretch”, to investors, much more than the $ 500 million initially planned. STRC, which aims to deliver a regular dividend to investors initially fixed at a rate of 9%, will begin to negotiate Wednesday on the Nasdaq. With the product, the company bought 21,021 BTC at an average price of $ 117,256, according to a press release. This bears Bitcoin Holdings of Strategy at 628,791 BTC, worth nearly $ 74 billion at current prices. – Krisztian Sandor Learn more.
- Sharplink Gaming (SBET), the cryptographic cash company listed at the NASDAQ and the co -founder of Ethereum and CEO of Consensys, Joseph Lubin, revealed that his Holdings of Ether (ETH) increased to 438,190 tokens, worth around 1.68 billion dollars at current prices. The company bought 77,209 Ether (ETH), or $ 297 million, until the week ending on July 27. It also collected 279 million dollars by selling stocks, typing on market levels. The Minneapolis-based firm has continued an aggressive treasury strategy since its ending end, collecting funds to accumulate the second largest cryptocurrency and marked the tokens in exchange for awards. The firm said it had won 722 ETH since then. – Kristzian Sandor Learn more.
Regulation and Policy
- The most reliable American Senate of the US Senate in the digital asset industry, Cynthia Lummis, presented its latest cryptography bill, which will guarantee mortgage borrowers could use their cryptocurrency assets to help guarantee their loans. Last month, the director of the federal agency on housing finances, William Pulte, led the mortgage giants supported by the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government to offer proposals detailing how they can include cryptographic assets to underline a mortgage. The Lummis bill “would authorize the assets of a borrower in a digital asset, highlighted and maintained in accordance with a qualified childcare arrangement, to be included in the reserves of a borrower without conversion of digital assets to American dollars” – essentially codifying what Pulte is already looking for. “This legislation adopts an innovative path towards the creation of wealth, keeping in mind the growing number of young Americans who have digital assets,” said Lummis in a press release, which suggests that these assets could help fill the gap towards otherwise unforeseen property. – Jesse Hamilton Learn more.
- Roman Storm, Tornado Cash’s developer over -corned in Manhattan, accused that the confidentiality tool he created has helped pirates and other cybercriminals whiten more than a billion dollars in criminal products, will not take up position, said his lawyers in court. Storm told the district judge Katherine Polk Failla of the American district court of the South District of New York (SDNY) that he knew that he had the right to testify for his own defense, but chose not to do so. After Storm made his decision, his defense team, led by Keri Axel and Brian Klein of Waymaker LLP, posed his file on Tuesday afternoon. – Cheyenne Ligon Learn more.
Calendar
- September 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- October 1-22: Token2049, Singapore
- October 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London
- October 16-17: Blockchain European Convention, Barcelona
- November 17-22: DevConnect, Buenos Aires
- December 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
- February 10-12, 2026: consensus, Hong Kong
- May 5-7, 2026: consensus, Miami
