Welcome to the protocol, the weekly envelope of Coindesk of the most important stories in the development of cryptocurrency technology. I am Margaux Nijkerk, a journalist in Coindesk.
In this issue:
- Solana worked for a major revision after 98% of votes to approve the historic upgrade of “Alpenglow”
- Ethereum Foundation to unload another 10K ETH by following the Sharplink agreement
- ‘Op_cat is not my invention. It’s Satoshi ”, says Bruce Liu as Oppat_labs pushes to restart the Bitcoin code
- Ethereum to close its biggest testnet, Holesky, after the Fusaka upgrade
Network news
Alpenglow approved by the Solana community: The Solana community voted massively in favor of the long -awaited Alpenglow upgrade, bringing the network of the most important technical transformation closer to its history. According to Solana’s status on X, 98.27% of the Sol stakers who voted approved the proposal, with only 1.05% voting against and 0.36% to abstain. In total, 52% of stakers in the network participated in the vote. The upgrade introduces a new consensual protocol designed to considerably improve the purpose of transactions and network efficiency. In the heart of Alpenglow are two new components, Votor and Rotor, which will replace the existing Solana systems, the proof of history and the tower. Currently, time transactions for proof of history to preserve their order without slowing down the network, while Towerbft manages the voting process among the validators. Alpenglow will revise the two systems. Votor will reduce the purposes of transactions of more than 12 seconds to around 150 milliseconds, providing an almost instant confirmation for users. The rotor, planned for subsequent deployment, will minimize data transfers between validators, a crucial improvement for high -demand applications such as decentralized finance (Challenge) And the game based on the blockchain. With secure approval, Solana is now preparing to implement the upgrade, an important step that should unlock more speed, resilience and scalability in its ecosystem. – Margaux Nijkerk Learn more.
EF to sell 10K ETH in the coming weeks: The Ethereum Foundation (EF) Shared Tuesday in an article on X that it plans to sell 10,000 ETH through centralized exchanges in the coming weeks to support research and development work, ecosystem subsidies and related donations. According to CoinmarketCap, the ETH will amount to around $ 43 million at Tuesday prices. “The conversions will take place on several smaller orders, rather than a single large transaction,” wrote the EF in the post on X. The news follows the deployment of the FE of a new cash policy in June which caps the annual operational expenses (OPEX) At 15%, establishes a multi -year reserve stamp and establishes a progressive pace to even thinner expenses in the long term. The Foundation sold 10,000 additional ETH in Sharplink Gaming in July, making the online casino marketing company the first listed company to buy ETH with a key company in the network ecosystem. – Margaux Nijkerk Learn more.
A conversation with Bruce Liu on Op_Cat: Without Op_Cat, Bruce Liu says that Bitcoin is as “useful as a jumbo without wings” capable of much more than it is allowed to do so, but stuck on the ground while Ethereum and Solana sink. Liu, the founder of OPCAT_Labs, says that a single OPCODE, OP_CAT, could transform the bitcoin of static digital gold into programmable silver silver which competes with other 1. OP_CAT channels is a long -term opcode in the Bitcoin code which, in the event of responsiveness, would allow developers to concatenate the data in the scripts and to unlock new possibilities, vaults and alliances with decentralized exchanges and zero knowledge of knowledge. The Bitcoin blockchain, if OP_Cat was reactivated, would be as programmable as Ethereum or Solana, said Liu. “Op_cat is not a new code. It has never been deleted, just commented and disabled. We do not add my Opcode or someone else. It’s Satoshi,” Liu in Coindesk told an interview on the BTC Asia key in Hong Kong. – Sam Reynolds Learn more.
Holesky Sunset arrives after Fusaka upgrade: A new list of Ethereum Testnets replaces Holesky, the formerly massive staging field is now planned for closing after two years of service. The end of the end will occur two weeks after the finalization of the upgrade of Fusaka later this year, in which case the customer and the infrastructure teams will cease to provide support. Fusaka is ready to make Ethereum Rollups cheaper and faster by disseminating “data storage work” more uniformly between validators. Holesky was broadcast in 2023 on a large scale of Ethereum Ethereum proof. He quickly became the largest public test, offering thousands of validators a platform to test upgrades before being deployed on the Mainnet. Major milestones, such as Dencun and Pectra upgrades – which lowered the transaction costs and improved the efficiency of the validator, among other characteristics – were executed by Holesky first. However, cracks began to appear as the aged network. Holesky encountered “leaks of inactivity” after the activation of Pectra in early 2025, a term referring to the validators who deploy in large numbers, which created an important backlog for those who try to leave. The result was queues of several months which made it impractical to test the validator’s full life cycle. For developers needing fast feedback loops, Holesky had become more a roadblock than a tool. – Shaurya Malwa Learn more.
In other news
- Galaxy Digital digital asset investment company (GLXY) Bring her stocks to blockchain rails while the tokenization of actions wins steam. The listed company at Nasdaq works with the company Blockchain Superstate to make its class an ordinary action available in tokens on the Solana network via the Superstate opening bell platform. The arrangement preserves the full right of equity recorded by the SEC while allowing investors to hold and transfer chain shares, companies said. The tokenization of traditional assets has gained ground in the financial sector as companies are experiencing the move of stocks, bonds and monetary market funds on blockchain infrastructure. A multitude of tokenized equity products have struck the market in recent months mainly for EU investors, notably by Robinhood, Gemini with Dinari and Xstocks from Kraken and Backed Finance. However, certain offers have aroused concerns such as the limited rights of shareholders and fragmented regulations. Unlike the actions of synthetic or enveloped token that operates without involvement of the transmitter, Galaxy actions are issued directly on the chain and followed by superstate as a transferring, recording the changes in the shareholder register instantly while the tokens move between the verified wallets. This approach aims to combine compliance with blockchain features such as the rapid colony, transparency and the availability of the clock, companies said. – Kristzian Sandor Learn more.
- Ondo Finance has launched its tokenized equity platform nicknamed Ondo Global Markets, offering non-American investors access to more than 100 American shares and Stock Exchange Funds (ETF) in mind. Tokenized actions, announced for the first time in February, were broadcast on Ethereum and are supported by titles held by brokers registered in the United States, said the firm. The offer includes versions of Apple cryptographic token (AAPP)Nvidia (NVDA) and the qqq ETF among others. Investors in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and Latin America can enter and buy stocks 24 hours a day during the negotiation days, with access to the liquidity of underlying exchange. The service is not available for American users. The tokens are designed to move freely between portfolios, exchanges and decentralized finance (Challenge) Protocols. The company has also teamed up with Bitgo, Ledger, Chainlink and other infrastructure providers to support deployment. Kristzian Sandor Learn more.
Regulation and Policy
- European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde urged the European Union (EU) Legislators will have to impose strict requirements and guarantees on foreign stables.
- Lagarde argued that they should comply with the regulatory standards of the block before operating on EU soil, she said in a speech of a European systemic risk committee (ESRB) Conference in Frankfurt. The president of the ECB warned that during a stable race, investors would be more likely to buy jurisdictions with stronger protections, such as the EU, where the markets of the crypto-active (Mica) The regulations prohibit buying costs, potentially exhausting local reserves. “The risk of mismanagement of liquidity between the courts is that which we have seen before. Banking groups, for example, are already necessary to ensure that the reserves are available in the part of the group where and when they are necessary,” said Lagarde. – Jamie Crawley Learn more.
- The US government has started using blockchains to disseminate key economic data, starting with the Liberation with the US Department of Domestic Product Gross (GDP) Numbers, which have been described as “proof of concept” to do more in the future. “We make the economic truth of immutable America and accessible on a global scale like never before, cementing our role as the Blockchain World Capital,” said trade secretary Howard Lutnick in a statement that announced the new approach to data distribution. In a deliberate effort so as not to choose the Blockchain favorites, the department published last week’s data on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Stellar, Avalanche, Arbitrum One, Polygon POS and Optimism, identifying the transaction hatches for each in their ad. The agency said it also sent the data via ChainLink and Pyth and noted that Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken exchanges helped .— Jesse Hamilton 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
- March 30. 2: Ethcc, Cannes
- May 5-7, 2026: consensus, Miami
