Welcome to Protocol, where Coindesk is a weekly summary of the most important stories in cryptocurrency technology development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk from Tech & Protocols Reporter at Coindesk.
In this issue:
10 Ethereum: Next Place for Computers in the World? L2 upgrade player burns ETH in all L2 transactions, announces Roadmapair for “Internet Capital Market”.
Network News
Ethereum in 10: When Ethereum began on July 30, 2015, it was going to be more than just another cryptocurrency. The aim was to broaden the boundaries of blockchain technology itself. While Bitcoin was in digital gold, Ethereum pursued a vaster vision. It is programmable, expandable, and open-ended to become a distributed “computer of the world.” Ten years later, Ethereum changed finance, culture and software. Along the way, we face existential crises, volatile markets and intense internal debate. Now it stands in the cusp of a new era. Ethereum saw an increase over the past two months as the project hit a 10-year milestone, and the price of Ether (ETH) reached $3,800 in July, and after meeting about $1,500 like in April, it reached $3,800. Over the past few months, the ecosystem has seen a wave of new use cases, including growth in tokenization and stabilization. The network also benefited from the trends of companies holding ETH in the Treasury to get long-term value as well as the yield. On anniversary, major players in the Ethereum ecosystem will consume weight over the past decade. – Margaux nijkerkRead more.
Linea’s comprehensive protocol change: Linea, an Ethereum Layer-2 network incubated by Consensys, has announced a comprehensive upgrade suite designed to embed the network deeply into Layer 1 economic and ideological fabrics. Linea’s updated roadmap, scheduled to be deployed in October 2025, will infiltrate bridging assets with 85% allocation of token supply to ecosystem development, as well as the bridging assets. This move is because momentum is being built up in the Ethereum ecosystem thanks to growing institutional interest. In a press release shared with Coindesk, the Linea team wrote that their update “positions Ethereum to meet sophisticated capital needs when Tradfi starts to be mounted on Defi, and strengthens it as a major hub for future innovation in on-chain capital markets, staking and infrastructure.” The team claims that of the update, Linea will be the first layer 2 to burn ETH at the protocol level and commit 20% of the net transaction fee to reduce Ethereum supply. The remaining 80% charge is used to burn liner tokens that are capped on supply, embedding deflationary pressure directly into network activity. “Linea Mainnet will return to the basic layer of Ethereum, burning ETH in every transaction, using Linea tokens to support users, builders and public goods, and increasing long-term value in a Linea token-based economy” – Margaux nijkerkRead more.
Solana Players is pleased to announce the roadmap for the Internet Capital Market. Solana’s ecosystem combines around an updated vision that its architects call the “Internet Capital Market.” While networks have long focused on increasing bandwidth and reducing latency, their latest roadmap lies deep into the market microstructure, claiming that their next leap is to give applications clever control over transaction execution. Co-authored by Solana Foundation leaders, Anza, Zitravo, Double Zero, Drift and Multicoin Capital leaders, the roadmap focuses on application controlled execution (ACE) and provides smart contracts for transaction sequences. “In conversations with teams across the ecosystem, market microstructure is the most important issue in Solana today,” the author writes. Anza, a central contributor to the Solana blockchain, the new roadmap outlines six important dimensions of trade-offs. Privacy vs. Transparency, Speed bump, Non-conservative trading, Including vs. Latency vs. Latency, Colocation vs. Geographical decentralization, Manufacturer priorities vs. Priority vs. – Margaux nijkerkRead more.
Square begins to deploy BTC payments for sellers: Jack Dorsey’s Square (XYZ) has started to deploy Bitcoin payments for merchants on their network. Square began boarding its first seller and last week posted a Lightning network-driven BTC payment on X from Owen Jennings, executive officer of Square’s parent company Block (XYZ). Payments are resolved in real time using Bitcoin Layer 2 lightning, and the square handles exchanges to Fiat. Square plans to use its sales platform by next year to make the service available to all merchants. The company piloted the system at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas in May, allowing participants to purchase with BTC by scanning the barcode. – Read more Jamie Crawley.
In other news
Strategy (MSTR), the largest company owner of Bitcoin, said it has used funds from the new preferred stock (STRC) issuance to acquire approximately $2.4 billion worth of BTC. The company sold $2.5 billion worth of STRC, known as “Stretch,” to investors. STRC aims to provide regular dividends to investors initially set at a rate of 9% and will begin trading on NASDAQ on Wednesday. According to a press release, the company purchased 21,021 BTC with an average price of $117,256. This brings Strategy’s Bitcoin Holdings to 628,791 BTC, worth around $74 billion at its current price. – Continue reading Krisztian Sandor. SharplinkGaming (SBET), registered with NASDAQ, Crypto Treasury Firm, led by Ethereum co-founder and Consensy CEO Joseph Lubin, announced that Ether (ETH) holdings have increased to 438,190 tokens, worth $180 million at its current price. The company purchased 77,209 ether (ETH), or $297 million, throughout the week ending July 27th. It also raised $279 million by selling stocks and tapped equity facilities in the market. The Minneapolis-based company has pursued a proactive financial strategy since late May, raising funds to accumulate the second-largest cryptocurrency, and infused with tokens in exchange for rewards. The company said it has since won 722 ETH. – Christian Sandor Read more.
Regulation and policy
Cynthia Ramis, the most reliable US Senate ally in the digital asset industry, has introduced the latest crypto bill. Last month, Federal Housing Finance Director William Plute ordered government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to come up with a proposal detailing how to include crypto-holdings to support mortgages. Lummis’ bill “allows borrowers to hold digital assets that are certified and maintained in accordance with the digital assets, allowing them to prove and maintain that digital assets are included in borrowers’ preparations without converting them to US dollars” – essentially communalizes what Pulte already seeks. “The law embraces an innovative pathway to building wealth, with the rise in young Americans who own digital assets in mind,” Lummis said in a statement, suggesting that these assets may help bridge the gap with otherwise unobservable home ownership. – Jesse Hamilton reads more. Roman Storm, a Manhattan tornado cash developer standing trial, said the privacy tools he created helped hackers and other cybercriminals wash more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds, his lawyer told the court. Storm told District Judge Katherine Polk Faira of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) that she knew she had the right to testify in her defense, but she chose not to. After Storm made his decision, his defense team, led by Keri Axel and Brian Klein of Waymaker LLP, put their case on Tuesday afternoon. – Cheyenne Ligon Read more.
calendar
September 22nd to 28th: Korean Blockchain Week, Sorokt. 1-2: token2049, singaporeoct. 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London Octo. 16-17: European Blockchain Convention, Barcelonanov. 17-22: DevConnect, Buenos Airesdec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabifeb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami
