Welcome to the protocol, Coindesk’s weekly wrapping of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I am Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter in Coindesk.
In this number:
- Solana sets for greater overhaul after 98% votes to approve historical ‘Alpenglow’ upgrade
- Ethereum Foundation to unload another 10K ETH after Sharplink -Agreement
- ‘Op_cat is not my invention. It’s Satoshi’s, ‘says Bruce Liu as OPCAT_LABS pushes to restart Bitcoin’s code
- Ethereum to close its largest test network, Holeky, after Fusaka upgrade
Network news
Alpenglow approved by Solana Community: The Solana community voted overwhelming in favor of the long-awaited alpenglow upgrade, which brought the network one step closer to the most significant technical transformation in its history. According to the Solana status of X, 98.27% of Sol Stakers who voted, the proposal approved, with only 1.05% vote against and 0.36% fail to vote. In total, 52% of the network’s stakes participated in the vote. The upgrade introduces a new consensus protocol designed to dramatically improve transaction finality and network efficiency. In the heart of AlpendeLow are two new components, Votor and Rotor, which will replace Solana’s existing systems, proof-of-history and Towerbft. Currently, evidence of historical time stamps is transactions to preserve their order without slowing down the network, while the Towerbft handles the voting process among validators. AlpendeLow will review both systems. Votor will cut transaction finality times from over 12 seconds to approx. 150 milliseconds, which provides almost instant confirmation for users. Rotor planned for a later rollout will minimize data transfers between validator (Defi) and blockchain-based games. With approval, Solana is now preparing to implement the upgrade, a milestone that is expected to lock greater speed, resilience and scalability across her ecosystem. – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
EC to sell 10K ETH over the next few weeks: Ethereum Foundation (Ef) Shared in a post of X on Tuesday that it plans to sell 10,000 ETH through centralized exchanges over the next several weeks to support work against research and development, ecosystem grants and related donations. According to CoinMarketcap, ETH will amount to approx. $ 43 million for Tuesday’s awards. “Conversions take place over several smaller orders rather than as a single major transaction,” wrote EC in the post on X.The NEWS (OPEX) At 15%, a multi -year reserve buffer establishes and sets a gradual pace against even slimmer to use in the long term. The fund sold another 10,000 ETH to Sharplink Gaming in July, making the online casino marketing company for the first public traded company buying ETH from a key company in the network’s ecosystem. – Margaux Nijkerk Read more.
A chat with Bruce Liu on OP_CAT: Without OP_CAT, Bruce Liu says Bitcoin is as “useful as a jumbo -jet without wings” that is capable of much more than is allowed to do, but is stuck on the ground while Ethereum and Solana are hovering. Liu, the founder of OPCAT_LABS, says a single OPCODE, OP_CAT, could transform Bitcoin from static digital gold into programmable money competing with other LAG-1 chains. OP_CAT is a long-handicapped OPCODE in Bitcoin’s code which, if enabled, would allow developers to link data into scripts and unlock new options from vaults and covenants to decentralized exchanges and zero knowledge. Bitcoin Blockchain, if OP_CAT was activated, would be as programmable as Ethereum or Solana, Liu said. “Up_cat is not a new code. It was never deleted, just commented and disabled. We are not adding my OPCODE or someone else’s. It’s Satoshis,” Liu told Coindesk during an interview on the sidelines for BTC Asia in Hong Kong. – Sam Reynolds Read more.
Holeky sunset comes after Fusaka upgrade: A fresh slate of Ethereum testnets replaces Holeky, the one-time-massive staging ground, which is now set for shutdown after two years of service. Wind-down will occur two weeks after the Fusaka upgrade has ended later in the year, when client and infrastructure teams cease to provide support. Fusaka is ready to make Ethereum -Rollups cheaper and faster by spreading the “data storage work” more evenly across validators. Holeky went live in 2023 for stress-test Ethereum’s proof-of-stake machines on scale. It quickly became the largest public test network that gave thousands of validators a platform for sample upgrades before they were deployed on mainnet. Larger milestones, such as Dencun and Pectra upgrades – which lowered transaction costs and upgraded validator efficiency, among other features – were first run through Holeky. However, cracks began to appear as the network of age. Holeky encountered “inactivity leaks” after Pectra’s activation in early 2025, an expression that refers to validators that went offline in large numbers, creating a significant afterlaw for those trying to finish. The result was month-long queues that made it impractical to test the full validator life cycle. For developers who needed quick feedback loops, Holeky had become more of a roadblock than a tool. – Shaurya Malwa Read more.
In other news
- Digital Asset Investment Firm Galaxy Digital (Glxy) brings his stock on blockchain rails as equity tookenization gets Steam. The Nasdaq-Børskotered company works with the Blockchain company’s superstat to make its class a common stock available as a tokens on the Solana network through the Superstate’s opening clock platform. The event retains full rights to SEC-registered equity, while investors allow and transfer shares on the chain, companies said. Tokenization of traditional assets has gained traction over the financial sector when companies experiment with moving shares, bonds and money market funds for blockchain infrastructure. A number of tokenized stock products hit the market in the last few months predominantly for the EU investors, including by Robinhood, Gemini with Dinari and Xstocks of Kraken and supported funding. However, some offers raised concerns such as limited shareholder rights and fragmented rules. Contrary to synthetic or wrapped tokenized warehouses operating without issuer involvement, Galaxy’s shares are issued directly on the chain and are traced by Superstate as a transfer agent where they change changes to the shareholder register as the tokens moves between verified wallets. This approach seeks to combine compliance with blockchain features such as fast settlement, transparency and time, companies say. – Kristzian Sandor Read more.
- Ondo Finance launched its tokenized stock platform called Ondo Global Markets, which offers non-American investors access to more than 100 US shares and stock exchangeed funds (ETFS) On-chain. The tokenized shares, first announced in February, have gone live at Ethereum and are supported by securities held by US-registered brokers, the company said. The offer includes Crypto Token versions of Apple (AAPL)Nvidia (NVDA) and QQQ ETF among others. Investors in the Asia-Stophava, Europe, Africa and Latin America can mint and redeem shares around the clock around the clock during trade days with access to underlying exchange liquidity. The service is not available to US users. Tokens is designed to move freely between wallets, exchanges and decentralized financing (Defi) Protocols. The company has also collaborated with Bitgo, Ledger, Chainlink and other providers of infrastructures to support the rollout. Kristzian Sandor Read more.
Legislative and politics
- The European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde called on the European Union (EU) Legislators to make strict requirements and security measures on foreign stablecoins.
- Lagarde claimed to comply with the block’s legislative standards before operating on the EU earth, she said in a speech on a European systemic risk (ESRB) Conference in Frankfurt. The ECB president warned that investors during a stableecoin race would be more likely to redeem in jurisdictions with stronger protection, such as the EU, where markets in crypto assets (Glitter) Regulation prohibits redemption fees that potentially deplet local reserves. “The risk of misdemeaning liquidity across jurisdictions is one we have seen before. Bank groups, for example, are already obliged to ensure that there are reserves in the part of the group where and when they are needed,” Lagarde said. – Jamie Crawley Read more.
- The US Government has begun to use Blockchains to convey key economic data, starting with the US Ministry of Commerce’s release of gross -rating product (GDP) Figures that were described as a “proof of concept” to do more in the future. “We make America’s economic truth unchanging and globally available as never before, cementing our role as the world’s blockchain capital,” said trade secretary Howard Lutnick in a statement announcing the new approach to distributing the data. In a conscious effort not to select Blockchain favorites, the department posted last week’s data on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Stellar, Avalanche, Arbitum One, Polygon POS and Optimism that identifies the transaction hashes for each in its message. The agency said it also sent the data through chainlink and pyth and noticed that exchanges coinbase, Gemini and Kraken helped 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
- 30 March-A-APR. 2: ETHCC, Cannes
- 5-7 May 2026: Consensus, Miami
