Vitalik "Extremely Lean" Ethereum Shrinking Chain State

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a proposal to radically shrink the network's consensus layer by shifting state management to validators through zero-knowledge proofs, part of a broader "Lean Ethereum" push. He detailed the plan in an Ethereum Research forum post titled "The Extremely Lean Chain."

The two-step blueprint would eventually reduce Ethereum validator state to roughly 6 bytes while maximizing privacy across the network. Phase one strips most validator data from the chain, replacing per-epoch balance updates with a single daily ZK-STARK proof submitted by each validator.

Phase two layers on anonymity by issuing every validator a fresh key and identity daily, turning the validator set into a rotating, unlinkable list. Buterin argued these changes could let consensus scale to millions of validators while keeping full nodes and the chain lightweight.

Buterin framed Lean Ethereum as the network's third major iteration, comparable in ambition to the Merge that moved Ethereum to proof-of-stake. He estimated the changes could take three to four years, noting the upcoming Hegota upgrade will likely be the last thematically pre-Lean fork.

Strategy Sells 3,588 Bitcoin For $216 Million

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy offloaded 3,588 BTC for roughly $216 million between June 29 and July 5, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Proceeds funded preferred stock distributions and replenished the firm's dollar reserve to $2.55 billion, reflecting a shift toward credit obligations.

The sale trimmed Strategy's stockpile to 843,775 BTC worth about $52.3 billion, bought at an average $74,476 and now carrying roughly $11.4 billion in paper losses. JPMorgan analysts warned the formalized sale policy introduces avoidable two-way risk, though Bernstein argued forced selling remains unlikely.

Ripple Secures Full MiCA Authorization Across 30 Countries

San Francisco infrastructure firm Ripple received full authorization as a Crypto Asset Service Provider from Luxembourg's financial regulator, completing MiCA compliance and letting its regulated payments product reach financial institutions across all 30 European Economic Area countries. The approval follows the company's preliminary green light granted back in June.

The license adds to Ripple's existing EU Electronic Money Institution authorization, pushing its global portfolio beyond 75 regulatory licenses. Ripple joins Kraken, Coinbase, OKX, and CryptoCom under MiCA, while Binance entered the post-transition period unauthorized after withdrawing its Greek application before the deadline.

Ondo Lets Tokenized Stocks Back Perpetual Futures Trading

Ondo Finance said its perpetual futures platform became the first to let traders post tokenized stocks as collateral, opening the feature to pre-alpha users of Ondo Perps. The offering targets traders outside the US, Panama, and other restricted regions, deepening the utility of onchain equities beyond passive holdings.

The platform lets users trade perpetual futures on US stocks, ETFs, and commodities around the clock with up to 20x leverage. Ondo is dangling $150,000 in USDC rewards for first-week activity, days after launching tokenized BlackRock IVV and Micron shares stateside.

Data of the Day

The combined market capitalization of eight MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins climbed 128% to $673.9 million by June 28, up from $295.6 million a year earlier, according to payments infrastructure firm Decta. Trading volume rose 43.1% to $67.3 million as the tracked token count expanded from five to eight.

Euro-denominated tokens remain a sliver of a market dominated by dollar-backed coins, representing just 0.22% of the roughly $300 billion dollar-stablecoin sector. The growth feeds an ongoing debate over whether MiCA's reserve rules and interest ban strengthen safety while blunting euro competitiveness.

More Breaking News

• Coinbase won FCA authorization to offer stocks and derivatives to UK users alongside crypto, letting retail traders buy equities for the first time toward its "everything exchange" ambition.
• The White House said it is still evaluating the best structure for a federal Bitcoin reserve 16 months after Trump's order, with Treasury and Commerce both vying to host it.
• Zcash's ZEC jumped over 12% above $500 after Project Tachyon said it neared a mathematical proof that the Ironwood shielded pool holds no undetectable counterfeiting bug.
• BonkDAO's treasury was drained of roughly $20 million after a malicious governance proposal shifted 4.4 trillion BONK tokens to an attacker's wallet, prompting exchanges to pause deposits.
• Tether invested $20 million in Brazilian platform Mercado Bitcoin, which serves 4.5 million users and has issued over $370 million in tokenized assets, amid Latin America's tokenization boom.
• Kenya's Capital Markets Authority is seeking a blockchain analytics platform to monitor over 20 networks for fraud, laundering, and sanctions evasion under the country's new virtual assets law.
• Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, plans to embed a crypto wallet and digital depository into its apps by early December, pending the country's digital asset law expected in September.
• Former Tether CIO Richard Heathcote is reportedly working with PJT Partners to sell part of his 1.26% stake in the stablecoin issuer after shifting to an advisory role.

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