Bitcoin 'Anti-Spam' BIP-110 Goes Nowhere Fast

Supporters of the BIP-110 soft fork had hoped to eradicate spam from the Bitcoin blockchain, but after a lengthy and heated debate, the proposal has been pronounced dead on arrival. Having secured just 2.5% support ahead of entering mandatory signaling on Saturday, the proposal split off into a minority chain that mined only two blocks in eight hours before stalling entirely.

The outcome is perhaps unsurprising, given that mining on the new chain is just as difficult and expensive as mining on Bitcoin — yet without any realistic prospect of selling the block reward to recoup costs. The difficulty would have adjusted downward only if miners had managed to push through another 2,014 blocks.

BIP-110 sought to eliminate non-financial transactions from Bitcoin, such as Ordinals inscriptions. Opponents, however, viewed the proposal as an attempt to impose censorship on the network, and it drew resistance from prominent Bitcoin advocates. Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor said he shared the proposal's objectives but argued that its approach threatened Bitcoin's neutral rules and consensus mechanism.

Blockstream CEO Adam Back warned that a consensus-level change of this nature could damage Bitcoin's credibility and potentially render certain unspent transaction outputs unspendable. Bitcoin Core developer Murch subsequently proposed removing BIP-110 backer Luke Dashjr from his position as a BIP Editor.

CLARITY Act Vote Pushed to September

Senator Tim Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said on Thursday that a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act should take place before the August recess "without any question."

Senator Cynthia Lummis also raised hopes of a last-minute vote. However, despite expectations that senators would be pressed to reach a compromise before departing for the August break, Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to force the issue and subsequently scheduled the cloture vote for September 15.

"The Dems are insistent on no Clarity vote," Thune told Cointelegraph. "I worked with sponsors of the bill. Senator Lummis was great, and we're getting that queued up first thing when we come back."

Crypto lobbyists now have until that date to secure the 60 votes required, negotiating on ethics rules, the stablecoin yield issue, and protections for developers under the BRCA. The delay also underscores how much crypto legislation in Washington still depends on floor timing as much as policy text, with the next debate likely centered on whether the bill can attract enough bipartisan support to move beyond committee-stage momentum.

Bitcoiners Form 'Red Team' to Counter AI-Assisted Hacks

A Bitcoin security group comprising 16 volunteers reported mid-week that it had identified nearly 5,000 potential issues during a rapid AI-assisted review of projects across the Bitcoin ecosystem.

By the weekend, that figure had climbed to 7,958 issues, including 168 critical flaws and 1,120 high-severity issues.

Bitcoin Red Team is a volunteer security initiative whose members include Rob Hamilton, CEO of AnchorWatch, and Bitcoin developer Calle. The team has been deploying AI tools alongside human review to scan open-source Bitcoin-related repositories for vulnerabilities.

"We're averaging on the order of 1 critical exploit per hour per person," said Calle in a post.

The initiative was prompted by the Coldcard hardware wallet hacks, which developer Coinkite suggested were the result of AI analysis of its source code. More than $100 million was stolen from 7,300 wallets due to flaws in the random number generator used to create seed phrases. The incident ranks as the third-largest crypto hack of 2026 and helped push July's total crypto theft figure to $247 million.

The episode has cast a spotlight on the trust assumptions inherent in hardware wallets, leading many Bitcoiners to question whether any wallet can be considered truly secure. A growing number are now determined to use at least 100 manual dice rolls to generate their own seed phrases.

Ethereum Researchers Propose Staking Overhaul; Critics Warn of Backlash

A group of Ethereum researchers and developers has proposed altering the network's issuance policy to reduce validator rewards more aggressively as the proportion of staked ETH increases.

The proposal, known as Tapered Issuance Burn (EIP-8363), would cut rewards entirely once the percentage of staked supply crosses the 50% threshold. The staking rate currently stands at 34%, with a substantial queue of ETH waiting to enter. Concerns have been raised that this trend could continue to compound while delivering progressively diminishing returns for network security.

Although the proposal's advocates have presented compelling arguments, it has drawn fierce backlash, particularly from DeFi protocols. Ether.fi founder Mike Silagadze indicated that Ether.fi would exit staking altogether if the change is adopted. He stated:

"This is so disappointing on every level. [...] This is bad for decentralization, this is bad for Ethereum adoption, and this is bad for the credibility of the network."

Bitcoin ETFs Post Best Week in Four Months

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded their third-strongest weekly performance since October, signaling renewed institutional momentum.

The funds pulled in $853.54 million in inflows — five times the total netted across all of July — marking their best week since April. Ether ETFs attracted an additional $243.7 million.

Some industry participants believe the surge may be linked to the Coldcard hack, which has made institutional custody solutions more attractive relative to potentially vulnerable hardware wallets. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested a possible connection, while Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao stated directly: "It is statistically safer to store coins on exchanges than to self custody."

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is up 2% to trade at $64,814, Ethereum (ETH) is up 1.7% at $1,908, and XRP (XRP) is down 5% to $1.02. The total market capitalization stands at $2.21 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, the three biggest altcoin gainers of the week are Pump.fun (PUMP) with a 27.6% gain, LayerZero (ZRO) up 17.6%, and Curve DAO (CRV) up 16.2%.

The three biggest altcoin losers are Injective (INJ), down 15.1%; Canton (CC), down 13.8%; and Cronos (CRO), down 13.7%.

Prediction of the Week: Bitcoin Will Never Fall Below $60K Again

Nansen founder and CEO Alex Svanevik says the Bitcoin market may be approaching a bottom, suggesting that levels around $60,000 could mark the cycle low.

"My personal view is that I don't think Bitcoin's gonna go back below $60,000," Svanevik said. "I think that's the past… I think forever." He bases this assessment on the view that Bitcoin serves as a hedge against central bank money creation, and he does not expect the global monetary expansion cycle to end anytime soon.

Top FUD of the Week

Crypto Wrench Attacks Net More Than $30M in 2026

Criminals stole more than $30 million through physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders during the first half of 2026, putting the year on pace to surpass the record $58 million stolen in 2025.

Chainalysis reports that 46 violent crypto-related incidents were documented globally through late June, up from 40 during the same period in 2025. These incidents — encompassing kidnappings, home invasions, and hostage situations — are collectively referred to as "wrench attacks."

Only 12 of the 46 attempts resulted in payment, giving attackers a 26% success rate, down from 49% in 2025.

ElizaOS Token Sinks 19% to Record Low After Founder Declares It 'Dead'

ElizaOS fell 19% over 24 hours to an all-time low after Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters said the token was "dead" and that the Eliza Foundation was winding down.

CoinGecko data shows the token's market capitalization has fallen to $2.1 million.

"The token is dead. Completely," Walters said, adding that he no longer owned or supported the token.

The decline marks a dramatic reversal for one of the AI-agent sector's former standout tokens. Prior to the project's rebrand as ElizaOS, the token — then known as AI16Z — reached a peak market capitalization of $2.5 billion in January 2025, according to CoinGecko.

Walters said development of the open-source Eliza software would continue without the token or the foundation.

CEX Perpetual Futures Volume Falls to $4T, Lowest Since Late 2023

Crypto perpetual futures trading volume on centralized exchanges (CEXs) dropped to $4 trillion in July, hitting a 31-month low.

Binance led all CEXs with $1.4 trillion in monthly perpetual futures volume, followed by OKX with $607 billion and Bybit with $300 billion, according to analytics platform CryptoRank.

Perpetual trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) also declined, falling to $531 billion in July — the lowest level since June 2025 and a 21% decrease from the $676 billion recorded in June 2026, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.

Best Magazine Features of the Week

• Do the Coldcard attacks mean all hardware wallets are now insecure? — The Coldcard entropy flaw triggered a crisis of confidence in hardware wallets. Key details to know before entrusting Ledger, Trezor, or Foundation with your Bitcoin.
• 10 weirdest things ever tokenized... including farts — Tokenized cows may have gone viral, but they join a long line of unusual assets to find a home onchain, from farts to human skin and destroyed artworks.
• Fierce backlash to Ethereum's EIP-8363 staking proposal — Ethereum's proposed EIP-8363 staking overhaul aims to reduce issuance, but critics argue it could undermine DeFi, decentralization, and institutional adoption.