TLDR

Vitalik Buterin updated his 2023 Ethereum roadmap to compare it with the network’s current “Strawmap.”
Quantum resistance, privacy, and AI-assisted security are now bigger priorities than in 2023.
Ethereum researchers are using STARKs and AI-assisted formal verification to check the protocol works correctly.
The roadmap also includes native rollups and looks at ideas beyond the current EVM setup.
The update follows earlier 2026 moves, including a dedicated post-quantum team and the “Lean Ethereum” overhaul plan.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared an update to his 2023 roadmap this week. He compared it against Ethereum’s current long-term plan, known as the “Strawmap.”

Buterin posted the comparison on X on Monday. He said the update shows how the network’s goals have shifted over the past few years.

“What’s most striking, however, is that some completely new things are in the strawmap that are not in this diagram, because they were not in the 2023 roadmap at all,” Buterin wrote. He said this reflects changing priorities within the project.

Quantum Safety Moves to the Center

Quantum resistance is one of the clearest new additions. Buterin said Ethereum needs designs that can survive a future where quantum computers can break current cryptography.

This concern is often called “Q-Day,” the point where quantum computers could threaten existing blockchain security. Buterin has raised this issue several times in 2026.

In January, he urged developers to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography early rather than wait for the threat to become urgent. The Ethereum Foundation later formed a team focused only on post-quantum research.

In February, Buterin laid out a phased plan to replace four parts of Ethereum’s cryptographic system that could be vulnerable to quantum attacks. That plan is now part of the broader roadmap.

Privacy is tied closely to this quantum work. Buterin wants scaling methods that protect user data while still working under quantum-safe rules.

AI Tools Support New Verification Methods

Buterin said Ethereum is leaning more on STARKs, a cryptographic method used to verify computations without redoing all the work. This helps confirm that code runs the way it should.

He also pointed to AI-assisted formal verification as a growing part of Ethereum’s security process. Formal verification is a way of mathematically checking that software behaves as intended.

“This can only be safe with formal verification, which is itself only feasible with modern AI tools,” Buterin wrote. He said AI has made this kind of checking more practical at scale.

Rather than trying to scale every type of Ethereum activity equally, Buterin described a plan to build specialized systems. These would handle common tasks like token transfers and swaps, along with future needs like privacy tools.

He also mentioned “lean-ification,” a push to simplify Ethereum’s technical specifications. Native rollups and ideas that move beyond the current Ethereum Virtual Machine are also part of the roadmap.

Building on July’s Lean Ethereum Plan

This update follows Buterin’s July proposal for what he called “Lean Ethereum.” That plan already placed quantum safety and privacy at its core.

At the time, Buterin said Ethereum would aim to be quantum safe, privacy focused, secure, and resistant to censorship. He added that the network should stay fast and scalable while meeting those goals.

The latest roadmap comparison builds directly on that framework. It shows quantum security and AI-assisted verification as consistent themes running through Ethereum’s plans for the rest of 2026.

Buterin has not given a set timeline for when these changes would be fully implemented across the network.

Arbitrum [ARB] has been in a strong downtrend for two years, despite the chain’s performance. However, the altcoin appears to be forming a bottom at $0.07 as tokenization on the chain gains pace.

Notably, the market cap of tokenized stocks on Arbitrum by issuer grew to $173 million, a 476% increase. Reality accounted for $135 million, while Robinhood, Dinari, and xStocks were capped at $24 million, $13.9 million, and $3.8K, respectively.

Over the past ninety days, the market cap of the top 10 tokenized stocks surpassed the $100 million mark. They included Micron, Nvidia, SanDisk, SpaceX, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), Tesla, and Intel, among others.

Moreover, the Arbitrum Platform has the highest RWA count at 3,208, making it the first chain to surpass 3,000, according to rwa.xyz. It is followed by Solana [SOL], Ethereum [ETH], Avalanche [AVAX], and BNB Chain, respectively.

Despite the momentum in tokenization, bearish sentiments did not lurk.

In addition to the daily token unlock of 479.06K ARB, a larger unlock is approaching. On the 16th of August, Abritrum will unlock 93.19 million ARB tokens worth $7.41 million. This adds selling pressure to the existing strong downtrend.

Such consistent selling pressure from token unlocks partially explains why ARB’s price is weak.

ARB’s market structure after a 2-year downtrend

The market structure has been bearish for the past two years, but things could be about to change. The 4-hour chart shows a structure that is in transition at around the $0.07 zone.

ARB’s price is making higher lows alongside the RSI Divergence which was at 50.99 as of writing, a typical institutional accumulation pattern. As big players build positions, the bigger crowd is fading.

This is evident as the Aggregate Crypto Open Interest dropped from $64.5 million to $46.63 million, indicating that the broader market was losing interest in the token.

Therefore, the price of Arbitrum remains in a downtrend due to the existing market structure and tokenomics.

But the growth in tokenization may help speed up the formation of a bottom between the $0.07 and $0.09 zones. However, if the slanting trendline breaks down, it could indicate the continuation of the downtrend.

Final Summary

The market cap of tokenized stocks on Arbitrum One has grown by 476%, but the token remains under intense selling pressure. 
ARB price has been declining for the past two years but has hinted at bottoming at the $0.07 zone. 

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) invoked its emergency authority on Tuesday, ordering prediction market Kalshi to continue operating.

The CFTC said that New York’s enforcement action and request for a temporary restraining order themselves constituted a market emergency and directed Kalshi to continue operating in accordance with its normal practices and the Commodity Exchange Act’s Core Principles.

New York’s requested temporary restraining order would bar Kalshi from operating a business offering contracts tied to sports, culture, elections and other events in or from New York or to people in the state. The CFTC said the order could prevent Kalshi from offering all event contracts nationwide because it is based in New York. According to the CFTC, New York is seeking at least $36 billion in compensatory damages pending an accounting.

The CFTC said the Commodity Exchange Act requires the commission to provide a uniform national derivatives market and that major disruptions threaten orderly trading and price discovery. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said Congress did not intend derivatives exchanges to face a “patchwork of state gaming laws.”

The confrontation is part of a broader national fight over whether the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling laws as applied to event contracts traded on federally regulated exchanges.

CFTC challenges state oversight of prediction markets 

In the lawsuit filed on July 31, New York alleges Kalshi runs an illegal, unlicensed gambling business by offering contracts tied to sports, elections, culture and other events. The state is seeking restitution, disgorgement, damages and penalties, including a penalty equal to three times Kalshi’s alleged gains and $100,000 for each unauthorized sports wagering offer or attempt in New York.

Kalshi says states cannot shut down a federally licensed exchange, while the CFTC argues that the Commodity Exchange Act gives it exclusive jurisdiction over transactions involving swaps traded on designated contract markets, including event contracts Kalshi lists as swaps.

A federal judge in a separate New York case denied Kalshi’s request for a preliminary injunction on July 7, finding at that stage that New York gambling laws were not preempted by the Commodity Exchange Act as applied to Kalshi’s sports-event contracts.

Related: Judge stays CFTC’s case against US soldier over prediction market bets

In a separate federal case, the CFTC sued New York in federal court in April to block the state from applying its gambling laws to CFTC-registered contract markets. Judge Jed Rakoff denied without prejudice the agency’s emergency request for a temporary restraining order, finding that the CFTC had not established a high likelihood of success on the merits or a likelihood of irreparable harm.

The latest CFTC order directs Kalshi to continue operating but does not end New York’s lawsuit or resolve the underlying jurisdictional dispute. It is not a judicial ruling on whether federal law preempts state gambling enforcement. 

The dispute extends beyond New York. The CFTC said it has sued eight other states, along with New York, to defend its congressionally granted jurisdiction.

Magazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures

Whale Wallets Keep Climbing Despite the Slump

The XRP Ledger’s wealthiest addresses are still adding to their positions even as the broader market struggles. Onchain analytics firm Santiment noted that the number of wallets holding at least 1 million XRP increased by 32 over the last three months. Over that same period, XRP’s total market capitalization dropped by a sizable 29%

The divergence isn’t new for XRP, as trackers have consistently shown large-holder cohorts expanding during price downturns over the past year, a trend some analysts read as quiet conviction rather than panic.

Numbers-wise, one can see that XRP is trading near $1.02, down roughly 69% from its 2025 peak of $3.66. The token has shed 5% to 8% over the past week and month alike, extending a slide that began after XRP retreated from a late-July peak near $1.16.

Institutional demand too has cooled as evidenced by XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows plunging 93% week-over-week, falling to about $1.01 million from $14.86 million the week before, while Grayscale’s XRP Trust logged over 100 million tokens in net outflows during the first half of 2026.

Weekend liquidations added another $9.48 million in forced selling, nearly all of it from long positions, and a stalled Clarity Act vote has removed a near-term catalyst traders had been counting on.

That weakness comes even though XRP’s biggest legal overhang is gone given that Ripple settled its SEC lawsuit last May, and spot ETFs that launched in November 2025 have pulled in more than $1.4 billion in cumulative inflows since.

Onchain behavior, on the other hand, has shown wallets holding between 10 million and 100 million XRP have added roughly 1.23 billion tokens since the start of 2026. More recently, large holders added 380 million XRP over the week leading into August 11, with 81% of Binance outflows in that stretch tied to large holders moving tokens into self-custody (a signal typically associated with long-term holding rather than short-term trading).

A Recurring Theme

Bitcoin.com News reported earlier this year that 42 new millionaire XRP wallets had entered the fray after a decline of roughly 784 addresses between October and December 2025. That earlier growth spurt also came as XRP’s price stayed flat to lower, reinforcing that large XRP holders have treated 2026’s weakness as an accumulation opportunity rather than a reason to exit.

The pattern isn’t unique to XRP, either, as Cryptoquant’s latest Smart Money Report found similar whale absorption underway in Bitcoin and Ethereum, and pegged XRP’s realized price, the average cost basis of coins that last moved onchain, at $0.75 versus a trading price near $1.10 in early August.

Cryptoquant has called that kind of supply absorption during price contractions a historical signal linked to the formation of market bottoms, though it stopped short of calling one for XRP specifically.

What Can Supporters Hinge on?

Traders are now watching the $1 support level that market analysts flagged this week, a threshold that has become a psychological floor after XRP’s steep pullback from last year’s peak. If millionaire wallets keep expanding while price stays under pressure, it would extend a divergence that has defined XRP’s year so far, one where onchain conviction and market price are telling two very different stories.

TLDR:

Ethereum’s Binance NUPL has dropped near -0.35, a level historically tied to major bottoms.
The metric shows exchange-held ETH supply carrying unrealized losses near 35% of its value.
Past -0.35 readings coincided with the 2019, 2020, 2022, and 2025 ETH bottoming phases too.
Ethereum traded near $1,866.93, down 3.01% daily despite a 0.38% weekly price gain overall.

 

Ethereum’s exchange-level Net Unrealized Profit and Loss reading on Binance has slipped into a historic bottoming zone.

The metric, known as NUPL, now sits near negative 0.35. That level appeared during the 2019 lows, the March 2020 crash, and both 2022 bottoming phases. It also showed up in the 2025 correction.

Ethereum traded at $1,866.93 at the time of writing. The asset fell 3.01% over the past 24 hours despite a 0.38% gain across the week.

Reading the Binance NUPL Level

NUPL measures the gap between unrealized profits and unrealized losses held by a given supply cohort. A positive reading means that the cohort holds an aggregate paper profit. A negative reading means the same supply sits underwater against its estimated cost basis.

This particular calculation covers only ETH held on Binance rather than the full Ethereum holder base. That distinction matters because exchange-based supply tends to be more available for immediate trading. It offers a narrower but more reactive view of market stress.

A reading near negative 0.35 signals considerable financial stress among that group. The tracked supply is carrying unrealized losses equal to roughly 35% of its current market value. This level has not appeared often across Ethereum’s trading history.

Cryptoquant Analyst @MorenoDV_ noted that “Ethereum’s exchange-level NUPL on Binance has returned to a region that has historically appeared near important price floors.”

Past occurrences of this threshold coincided with several of Ethereum’s most notable market bottoms. Those episodes span both the 2019 and 2020 lows.

What The Pattern Suggests About ETH

As weaker holders capitulate near this threshold, the remaining exchange supply grows less willing to sell at depressed prices. Once the most loss-sensitive sellers have exited, further declines may generate less additional supply pressure.

That dynamic can allow even modest buying demand to stabilize price levels over time. Traders often watch for this shift as an early signal of a possible trend reversal.

Previous cycles show mixed outcomes after the first breach of this zone. In some cases, price found support quickly. In others, a retest or a final lower low preceded the eventual recovery.

A move back above the negative 0.35 threshold while ETH holds its recent low would strengthen the bottoming case. Continued NUPL deterioration alongside fresh price lows would instead suggest that capitulation remains incomplete.

Ethereum’s price action over the coming weeks will likely determine which outcome plays out this cycle. Traders watching on-chain metrics will look for confirmation through price stabilization and a corresponding recovery in the NUPL reading.

Until that confirmation arrives, the current reading remains a signal worth monitoring rather than a guaranteed floor for Ethereum’s price.

On-chain observers typically treat the metric as one input among several. Spot volume, funding rates, and broader macro conditions also shape the outlook.

Institutional demand for Ethereum [ETH] eased slightly ahead of U.S. inflation data and rising oil prices. The U.S. spot ETH ETFs saw $14.59 million in daily net outflows on the 10th of August. This broke its recent four days of consecutive outflows. 

Will selling pressure keep ETH stuck below $2K?

Besides the slow institutional appetite, there was a broader uptick in selling pressure across exchanges. According to CryptoQuant data, the weekly Exchange Netflow has been climbing higher in August.

The metric tracks the net difference between ETH entering exchanges and ETH being moved out. 

A positive and rising number implies increasing selling pressure across spot exchanges. On the contrary, a negative reading (or downslope on the chart) suggests more ETH is being withdrawn, a bullish signal. 

After slowing in July, the metric’s continued rise in August meant increased selling pressure. On the 10th of August, the metric spiked higher again. This coincided with ETH’s sharp 3% price drop as the altcoin slipped from $1920 to $1875. 

Ethereum price vs. CPI data

That said, traders have been using the $1800-$1960 price range for opportunities. Notably, there is scheduled U.S. inflation data (CPI) on the 12th of August. The price range could still be exploited for potential trading opportunities ahead of the data.  

Cooler inflation data could raise the odds of another Fed rate cut. However, higher inflation figures would reinforce the ongoing Fed rate hike fears. This may send markets lower, including ETH. 

Currently, the market is 50/50 on the Fed’s next move. This makes Wednesday’s inflation data a crucial catalyst that could sway the odds and directly affect market sentiment. 

That said, the Options market positioning leaned more toward a potential extension of the Q3 sideways structure. 

Notably, institutional players were betting on a possible move towards $2K by the end of August or September (green bars tracking bullish calls). Moreover, there was considerable hedging against downside moves towards $1700 and $1650.  

ETH’s overall selling pressure has remained elevated despite the improved institutional demand in the past few days. Still, the price could be impacted by Wednesday’s inflation data. The $1800 and $1700 could be lower targets if the data is negative for ETH. 

Otherwise, if inflation cools, ETH price may reclaim $1900, and eye the $2000 psychological level. 

Final Summary

ETH has seen rising selling pressure across exchanges in August. 
Whether the Q3 price range of $1800-$1960 holds or extends may partly be influenced by Fed rate expectations.

South Korea will expand its crypto Travel Rule to all transfers between registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs), removing the current 1 million won (about $700) threshold.

The country’s Cabinet approved amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information on Tuesday.

Under the changes, the Travel Rule will apply to all transfers between registered crypto service providers regardless of value. Receiving platforms will also be required to obtain sender and recipient information and may request missing information or reject transactions when required data is unavailable.

Removing the threshold is intended to prevent users from circumventing the rule by splitting transfers into smaller amounts, according to the Financial Intelligence Unit. 

It cited one case in which a user bought Tether USDt (USDT) after depositing about 200 million won into a crypto exchange and then made 216 withdrawals, each worth less than 1 million won.

Related: South Korea plans stablecoin rules as opposition pushes crypto tax repeal

South Korea tightens rules for overseas exchanges, personal wallets

The amendments also introduce new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements for transfers involving overseas crypto exchanges and personal wallets.

Registered local VASPs will be required to determine which transfers they allow based on the risk posed by the counterparty. Transfers to low-risk overseas exchanges will be permitted, while transfers involving other foreign exchanges and personal wallets will generally be allowed when the sender and recipient are the same person.

However, transactions involving counterparties deemed high risk will be prohibited.

Crypto platforms will also have to establish their own suspicious transaction monitoring systems for transfers worth at least 10 million won involving foreign exchanges or personal wallets.

South Korean authorities said suspected money laundering involving overseas exchanges and personal wallets has increased as gaps in existing AML rules governing such transfers have been exploited.

The decree also strengthens registration requirements for crypto service providers, including financial health, internal controls, staffing and infrastructure standards, while expanding scrutiny of major shareholders.

The VASP registration provisions will take effect on Aug. 20, although existing providers will have an additional year to comply with some financial, staffing, infrastructure and internal control requirements. The expanded Travel Rule and other transfer-related AML requirements will take effect six months after the decree is promulgated.

Asia Express: Thailand’s 0% crypto tax. Bitcoin Red Team forced to use Chinese AI

The LINK token may see a 25-fold increase to $200 by the end of 2030, as the growing real world asset market increases demand for the industry’s largest oracle services provider, according to Standard Chartered.

The Chainlink (LINK) token may see an more than 25-fold increase by the end of the decade, as tokenized real world assets (RWA) will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028, according to a forecast by Geoff Kendrick, the global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered.

Kendrick said that the growth in tokenized assets will require more external data to come securely onchain, which may increase Chainlink’s fee generation and push its LINK token to $200 by the end of 2030, up from $8 today, according to a Monday report shared with Cointelegraph.

The report also forecast a 37-fold rise in tokenized and crypto-native assets deployed in decentralized finance, pushing these assets to $2.7 trillion by the end of 2030. Kendrick said these assets will require trusted data, interoperability between networks, privacy-preserving compliance and integrations with existing financial systems, which “only Chainlink is currently equipped to provide.” 

The report follows growing demand for tokenized assets. Tokenized RWA trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) reached a new all-time high of $141 billion in July, marking a 19.5% monthly rise largely driven by public equities, according to data provider CryptoRank.

Chainlink is the blockchain industry’s leading decentralized oracle provider for crosschain communication, with $34.4 billion in total value secured. Chronicle ranks second with $7.36 billion, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.

Standard Chartered’s Kendrick said that potential risks to its Chainlink price forecast include slower-than-expected institutional tokenization initiatives, competition from specialist oracle providers and potential technical setbacks.

Magazine: What NYSE’s exploration of onchain systems means for financial markets

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

The rules, effective Jan. 1, 2027, cover transactions above $10,000 sent to overseas providers or self-custody wallets, along with other transfers flagged for review.

Brazil’s central bank will require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to place precautionary holds of up to 24 hours on certain transfers to foreign platforms or self-custody wallets as part of new measures aimed at preventing fraud. 

On Friday, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) said the requirement will apply to funds received above $10,000, either in a single transaction or based on a customer’s total transactions in a day. Providers must also hold other transfers requiring further scrutiny under their risk-management policies. 

The rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Providers must notify customers of holds and keep records of fraud incidents, attempted fraud and corrective actions. A VASP may complete its assessment and release a transfer before the 24 hours expire, provided that it follows parameters set out by the central bank. 

The measure adds Brazil to a growing list of jurisdictions tightening crypto safeguards as regulators confront scams that exploit the speed and cross-border reach of digital assets. 

Brazil joins global push against crypto scams

Brazil’s move follows anti-scam measures introduced in other jurisdictions. In Japan, the Financial Services Agency and National Police Agency asked crypto exchanges to restrict withdrawals after customers deposit fiat currency or buy digital assets. 

The authorities also called for platforms to require customers to preregister withdrawal addresses and impose a waiting period before newly added addresses can be used. 

Other proposed safeguards include customer-specific withdrawal limits, stronger monitoring, phishing-resistant multifactor authentication and checks that the name of a bank remitter matches the crypto account holder. 

Unlike Brazil’s regulation, the Japanese measures are not binding. In addition, exchanges can determine implementation based on their operations and exposure to misuse. 

Related: Brazil bars crypto settlement in regulated cross-border payment rails

European regulators have warned of criminals impersonating watchdogs and crypto companies as users search for licensed service providers after the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets licensing deadline. 

France’s financial regulator reported cases involving fake websites, while the European Securities and Markets Authority said scammers had misused its identity and logo in falsified documents. 

Magazine: 10 weirdest things ever tokenized… including farts

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Ether treasury company Sharplink has bought Ether for the first time in eight months as the token sank to its lowest price this year on Thursday.

On-chain data from Arkham shows a wallet associated with Sharplink received 5,000 Ether (ETH), worth $7.85 million, from crypto prime brokerage FalconX on Thursday. The last time it received Ether from FalconX was on Oct. 26, when it bought $78.3 million worth of ETH. 

The purchase comes as Ether hit $1,537 on Thursday, its lowest price in 2026. The latest purchase could suggest a revival of the company’s active Ether accumulation strategy.

“I’m seeing genuine corporate accumulation conviction holding strong amid subdued price action,” Andri Fauzan Adziima, the research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph. 

Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom told Cointelegraph in May that he saw three catalysts that could spur growth in the price of Ether.

The first was the passage of the CLARITY Act in the US, while the second was a return to market risk appetite, which will depend on an easing in geopolitical tension and cooling of the artificial intelligence investment thesis. Chalom’s third catalyst was the continued growth of real-world asset tokenization. 

The Senate is yet to vote on its version of the CLARITY Act, and the House Financial Services Committee said it would hold a hearing on the bill on July 17. The US and Iran are working toward a final peace agreement to end months of conflict and tokenized real-world assets have now reached a distributed asset value of $31.55 billion, close to its highest level this year.

Sharplink now holds 876,285 ETH

Sharplink was founded in 2019 as an affiliate marketing service provider to the sports betting and gambling industries, but pivoted to become an Ethereum treasury company in June 2025, with Consensys co-founder and CEO Joe Lubin named as chairman.

It became the largest publicly traded corporate holder of ETH, but lost the title to Bitmine in August, just two months after Bitmine launched its own Ether buying strategy. 

Related: Bitmine, Sharplink and Joe Lubin back Ethereum R&D nonprofit

The company now holds 876,285 ETH and ETH equivalents, which it has accumulated over time through active ETH purchases and staking rewards. Its competitor, Bitmine, holds 5.67 million ETH after acquiring another 52,203 ETH last week. 

Source: Sharplink

“We continue to maintain a steady pace of accumulation throughout 2026. We believe we are in the early stages of crypto spring,” Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said. 

Sharplink added to the Russell indexes

The purchase also comes just days before Sharplink is expected to join the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes on Monday. 

Inclusion in the indexes is widely viewed as positive because many active and passive funds, including exchange-traded funds, typically buy stocks from them.

Chalom in May said that joining the Russell indexes would broaden the company’s shareholder base and strengthen its access to capital markets.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026