Welcome to the Protocol, Coindesk’s weekly wrapping of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I am Margaux Nijkerk, Coindesk’s Tech & Protocol’s reporter.
In this number:
- OKX slash OKB Token Supply with 50% with $ 7.6 B -Burning, Price Waves
- ETH -transaction volume climbs on price rally, cheaper defi -cost
- Arms trade bots drain $ 1 million
- Babylon introduces trustless Bitcoin -vaults to BTC -Stacking Protocol
Network news
OKX slash token supply in half: OKB, token for cryptocurrency exchange OKX, more than tripled to a record high after the company performed a one-off burn of 65.26 million OKB, which cut the supply by more than 50%. To burn the approx. $ 7.6 billion worth the tokens permanently reduces the maximum supply to 21 million, in line with the hard cap coded to Bitcoin. The combustion or sends tokens to a wallet address that cannot be accessed was performed from OKX’s reserves and represents one of the greatest deflationary events in exchange token history. The effect of the combustion was immediate. OKB jumped to $ 142 from $ 46 before being dismissed to about $ 102. Trade volume Skyrocketed 13,000% to $ 723 million when dealers tried to utilize the supply shouting. The strategy reflects it from BNB, the token for the BNB chain, which is associated with rival Exchange Binance. It undergoes quarterly burns that often precede short -term events. – Oliver Knight Read more.
ETH transaction volume climbs : Overall, Ethereum’s transaction volume has been on an upward course that closes in its high time of 1.9 million transactions in a single day in January 2024. According to data from Etherscan, daily transaction counts have consistently been in the tendency for higher over the past several weeks. Other data shows that seven-day average of daily transactions has already surpassed their previous items. Analysts suggest that this momentum is burned by a combination of factors: a recent increase in network capacity, increasing ether prices and a reduction in transaction costs, especially for decentralized funding (Defi) Protocols and StableCOin transfers. One of the greatest opportunities for the current spike has been a significant increase in capacity at Ethereum’s mainnet. Fidelity Digital Assets research team told Coindesk that “Ethereum’s layer 1 sees an increase in transactions largely due to an increase of 50% in the gas limit since March, allowing more transactions to fit into each block.” This upgrade is significantly increased the flow, which enables more efficient settlement and reduction of overload. As a result, stableCOin transfer costs have fallen consistently below a dollar, making defi activity and peer-to-peer payments far more affordable. Fidelity Digital Assets notes that Defi is currently toping the charts of Eth Burns and emphasizing its central role in driving network activity. – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
Arms trade bots steal $ 1 million. From crypto tractors: Over $ 1 million has been sifoned from unsuspecting crypto trucks through malicious smart contracts that make up as MEV trade with bots, according to a new report from Sentinellabs. The Geared AI-Geared YouTube videos, age accounts and veiled solidity code to bypass the basic user survey and access crypto drawing books. Scammers seemed to use AI-generated avatars and votes to reduce production costs and scale up video content. These tutorials are published on the age of YouTube accounts populated with non -related content and manipulated comment sections to give the illusion of credibility. In some cases, the videos are unleashed and are probably distributed via telegram or DMs. In the middle of the scam was a smart contract that was promoted as a profitable arbitrage bot. Victims were instructed via YouTube -Tutorials to implement the contract using Remix, finance it with ETH and call a “Start()“-Function. In reality, however, the contract directed funds for a hidden, attacking-controlled wallet using techniques such as Xor connection (which hides data by creeping them with a different value) and big decimal-to-hex conversions (which converts large numbers to wallet -reading address formats) To mask the destination address (which makes fund recovery more difficult). – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
Babylon introduces trustless Bitcoin — vaults: Bitcoin Project Babylon took another step toward offering a decentralized financing (Defi) Experience of its $ 5 billion Poor Protocol, similar to the one seen elsewhere in the crypto. The latest developments are the introduction of Trustless Vaults, designed to allow BTC holders to deposit their tokens without relying on a centralized unit, as described in a new whitebook shared with Coindesk. In defi -ecosystems, trustless vaults are a form of digital asset storage or management that removes the need for users to rely on a central authority or communicator. Instead, the systems use smart contracts to ensure security and enforce the rules of the vault. Babylon says its vaults will allow Bitcoin to be used as security in Defi applications such as lending and stableecoin issuance, as well as the stake that its protocol delivers. Users can also earn benefits from their BTC holdings by setting it up to support the operation of Proof-of-Stake Network. They then receive rewards paid in baby, Babylon’s native token. Development is part of the wider movement to exploit the enormous value kept in Bitcoin for power -defi activity across other blockchains. – Jamie Crawley Read more.
In other news
- Sentient, a New York-based artificial intelligence company, has introduced grid, an open source network designed for building and monetizing artificial general intelligence (AGI) Systems. The company says the platform is aimed at providing a decentralized alternative to closed AI market places from companies like Openai. Developers can connect their AI agents, models or tools and earn token-based rewards with utility fees and subscriptions available as optional revenue routes. At the time of his debut, the grid hosts over 40 AI agents, 50 data sources and more than 10 models spanning both web2 and web3. These include tools such as napkin, a generative graphics engine and exa, a search start and blockchain-connected agents that are inserted across base, polygon, terms and others. Users can access these through sentient chat, a interface to detect and combine agents in workflows that are able to handle tasks such as calendar coordination, code generation and data visualization. – Oliver Knight Read more.
- Stripe has appointed Matt Huang, co-founder and CEO of Crypto Venture Capital Firm Paradigm, as CEO of the upcoming blockchain tempo. Huang, who is already on the board of the Stripes, retains its position in paradigm. According to Fortune, it is quoting sources familiar with the project. The move is in line with a growing tendency to develop stableCOin-focused blockchains. These include plasma, which recently attracted over $ 373 million in an oversigning sale of token and tied focused blockchain-stall.- Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
Legislative and politics
- TerraForm Labs founder Do Kwon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and wire fraud in Manhattan on Tuesday morning, three years after the $ 60 billion dramatic collapse of Terra/Luna StableCoin ecosystem. The 33-year-old South Korean citizen arrived in handcuff court and a Canary Yellow Prison Jumpsuit, a metal chain around his waist. He admitted that he “deliberately engaged in a scheme to scam and actually deceive” buyers of TerraUsd StableCecoin. According to the charges of the original indictment, which included seven other charges, such as securities and raw material fraud, Kwon faced a maximum sentence of 135 years in prison if sentenced to all counts. Kwon’s plea for an agreement with the government cuts its maximum judgment to 25 years – 20 for the fee of wire fraud and five for the scam conspiracy tax that the judge can either order consecutive or simultaneously – but prosecutors will ask for a maximum of 12 years. After handing down half of his verdict in the United States, Kwon will be entitled to apply to serve the rest of his judgment in its original South Korea. – Nikhilesh de & Cheyenne Ligon Read more.
- President Donald Trump’s Crypto adviser Bo Hines has departed after only months on the job, and the next in Lin-Han’s deputy, Patrick Witt-will, apparently shepherd the industry’s political priorities in Washington as it still seeks the industry’s comprehensive rules and the institution for a crypto-warehouse. Witt shares a remarkably similar story with Hines-Begge ex-football stars who played on Yale before sought-after Law and come to a short bid for congressional places. Witt had a brief effort as a free-agent quarterback for New Orleans Saints after leading the Yale Bulldogs team, which Hines later played on as a broad recipient. Both ex-athletes bound their political careers close to Trump in recent years, and Witt will now be the main industry connection for Trump’s White House, according to his social media profile on X, which refers to the title Hines left .- Jesse Hamilton Read more.
Calendar
- 22-28. September: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- 1-2 October: Token2049, Singapore
- 13-15 October: Digital Asset Summit, London
- 16.-17. October: European Blockchain Convention, Barcelona
- November 17-22: DevConnect, Buenos Aires
- 11-13. December: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
- 10-12. February 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
- 5-7 May 2026: Consensus, Miami
