BIP‑110, the controversial soft‑fork aimed at erasing non‑financial activity from Bitcoin, collapsed after a brief, two‑block run, while the CLARITY Act heads toward a September Senate vote that most analysts predict will end in rejection.
BIP‑110’s brief existence
The proposal to strip the blockchain of transactions such as Ordinals never gained traction. With only 2.5 % of the network signalling support before mandatory signaling began on Saturday, the fork split into a minority chain that produced just two blocks in eight hours before stalling. Mining on the new chain proved just as costly and difficult as on Bitcoin itself, yet miners had no realistic path to recoup block rewards. Even if they had managed to mine the next 2,014 blocks, difficulty would have adjusted downward, offering little relief.
Supporters argued the fork would cleanse the ledger, but detractors saw it as censorship. Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy and a prominent Bitcoin advocate, said he agreed with the goal but feared the approach threatened Bitcoin’s neutral consensus rules. Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, warned that a consensus‑level change could damage Bitcoin’s credibility and render some unspent transaction outputs unusable. In response, Bitcoin Core developer Murch suggested removing BIP‑110 backer Luke Dashjr from his role as a BIP editor.
The CLARITY Act moves forward
Senator Tim Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, announced on Thursday that a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act should take place before the August recess “without any question.” Senator Cynthia Lummis also expressed optimism about a last‑minute vote, hoping senators would convene in a closed setting and be compelled to compromise before the break. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to push the issue and instead scheduled the cloture vote for September 15.
“The Democrats 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 then to secure the 60 votes required by negotiating on ethics rules, the stablecoin yield issue, and protections for developers in the BRCA. Whether the vote will represent a genuine attempt to pass the legislation or merely a procedural move to get people on record before the mid‑term elections, as Lummis suggested, remains to be seen.
Bitcoin security watchdogs uncover thousands of vulnerabilities
A volunteer‑run security group composed of 16 members reported finding nearly 5,000 potential issues in mid‑week during a rapid, AI‑assisted review of Bitcoin‑related projects. By the weekend, that number had risen to 7,958, including 168 critical flaws and 1,120 high‑severity issues. The Bitcoin Red Team—an initiative that includes Rob Hamilton, CEO of AnchorWatch, and developer Calle—has been using AI tools combined with human scrutiny to scan open‑source Bitcoin repositories for weaknesses. Calle posted that the team averages about one critical exploit per hour per person.
Hardware wallet hacks shake confidence
The group’s efforts were spurred by the Coldcard hardware‑wallet hacks, which Coinkite alleged resulted from an AI analysis of its source code. The breaches have cost more than $100 million, affecting 7,300 wallets, and stem from a flaw in the random number generator used to create seed phrases. This incident became the third‑largest crypto hack of 2026 and pushed the total value of July’s crypto thefts to $247 million.
The breach has prompted many Bitcoiners to question the safety of hardware wallets, with some now opting to generate their own seed phrases using at least 100 manual dice rolls.
Ethereum researchers propose new issuance policy
A team of Ethereum researchers and developers has suggested modifying the network’s issuance policy to reduce validator rewards more sharply as the proportion of staked ETH increases.
Tapered Issuance Burn proposal and DeFi response
The “Tapered Issuance Burn,” identified in the Ethereum Improvement Proposal 8363, would eliminate validator rewards once the proportion of ETH that is staked surpasses the 50 % threshold. Current staking stands at roughly 34 %, with a substantial backlog of ETH awaiting entry, raising concerns that the mechanism could spiral, delivering diminishing security benefits as more ETH becomes locked.
Although the concept presents several logical arguments, it has encountered strong opposition, particularly from decentralized finance platforms. Mike Silagadze, founder of Ether.fi, warned that his protocol would abandon staking altogether should the proposal be adopted. He emphasized that the change would compel Ether.fi to exit the staking ecosystem entirely.
ETF inflows reflect institutional momentum
Spot Bitcoin exchange‑traded funds recorded their third‑strongest weekly inflow since October, pulling in $853.54 million—a figure five times larger than the total they attracted throughout July and the most robust week since April. Ether‑linked ETFs added a further $243.7 million during the same period.
Some market observers link the surge to the recent Coldcard breach, suggesting that the incident has nudged institutions toward custodial solutions on exchanges rather than relying on potentially vulnerable hardware wallets. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas hinted at such a connection, while Binance co‑founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao bluntly asserted that statistically, keeping assets on exchanges is safer than self‑custody.
Market snapshot: Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP
At the close of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2 % to about $64,814, Ethereum (ETH) gained 1.7 % to roughly $1,908, and XRP slipped 5 % to $1.02. The aggregate market capitalization stood at $2.21 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Altcoin winners and losers
Within the top‑100 crypto assets, the three best‑performing altcoins were Pump.fun (PUMP) with a 27.6 % increase, LayerZero (ZRO) up 17.6 %, and Curve DAO Token (CRV) climbing 16.2 %.
Conversely, the hardest‑hit tokens were Injective (INJ), down 15.1 %; Canton (CC), down 13.8 %; and Cronos (CRO), which fell 13.7 %.
Bitcoin price outlook
Alex Svanevik, founder and CEO of analytics firm Nansen, suggested that Bitcoin may be nearing a floor, with the current vicinity of $60,000 potentially representing the low point of its present cycle.
“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 based this stance on the belief that Bitcoin functions as a hedge against central‑bank money creation and that the broader monetary expansion cycle is unlikely to conclude in the near term.
Physical attacks on crypto holders
Chainalysis reported that more than $30 million was stolen through violent, physical assaults on cryptocurrency owners during the first half of the year, putting the 2026 total on track to exceed the $58 million record set in 2025.
The firm documented 46 “wrench attacks” worldwide through the end of June, up from 40 in the same period a year earlier. These incidents encompass kidnappings, home invasions and hostage situations. Only 12 of the 46 attempts resulted in successful payment, yielding a 26 % success rate—down from 49 % in the prior year.
ElizaOS token collapse
ElizaOS experienced a 19 % drop over a single day, sinking to an all‑time low after founder Shaw Walters of Eliza Labs declared the token “dead” and announced the winding down of the Eliza Foundation.
“The token is dead. Completely,” Walters stated, adding that he no longer holds or supports the token.
The decline marks a stark reversal for a former breakout token in the AI‑agent sector. Prior to rebranding as ElizaOS, the token—then known as AI16Z—reached a peak market cap of $2.5 billion in January 2025, according to CoinGecko. Walters clarified that development of the open‑source Eliza software will continue independently of the token or the foundation.
Perpetual futures volume trends
Trading volume for crypto perpetual futures on centralized exchanges fell to $4 trillion in July, the lowest level observed in 31 months. Binance led the sector with $1.4 trillion in monthly perpetual futures turnover, followed by OKX with $607 billion and Bybit with $300 billion, as reported by analytics platform CryptoRank.
On decentralized exchanges, perpetual futures volume dropped to $531 billion in July—the smallest figure since June 2025—and represented a 21 % decline from the $676 billion recorded in June 2026, according to data aggregator DeFiLlama.
Coldcard entropy vulnerability
A flaw in the entropy generation of the Coldcard hardware wallet has sparked a noticeable dip in trust toward cold‑storage solutions. The issue has prompted users to scrutinize the security track records of other major providers such as Ledger, Trezor and the Foundation before committing their Bitcoin holdings to these devices.
Unusual tokenized assets gaining traction
Tokenized cattle have recently captured public attention, but they represent only the newest entry in a growing catalogue of eccentric digital representations. Prior examples include tokenized flatulence, fragments of human skin and even digitized versions of artworks that have been physically destroyed, all of which now reside on blockchain ledgers.
EIP‑8363 staking reform faces criticism
Ethereum’s draft improvement, designated EIP‑8363, seeks to overhaul the network’s staking mechanism with the goal of lowering token issuance. However, detractors argue that the proposed changes could negatively impact decentralized finance protocols, reduce overall network decentralization, and deter institutional participants from engaging with the platform.
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