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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sparked renewed debate within the technology community after suggesting that a universal kill switch should be implemented for all artificial intelligence applications. His proposal arrives amid ongoing disagreements about the anticipated pace and implications of AI development, particularly concerning its impact on society and the workforce.

Growing divisions among AI expertsButerin’s recent statements on X outlined a divide between those who expect the emergence of “superintelligence” by 2040—often referred to as the “AI 2040” scenario—and skeptics who question the urgency of such concerns. Supporters of the AI 2040 outlook argue that exceptional AI capabilities could develop within the next two decades unless decisive action is taken. Meanwhile, critics contend that this view underestimates humanity’s ability to coordinate and manage risks, while also warning that certain regulatory proposals could restrict freedom without addressing the real dangers.

Acknowledging both perspectives, Buterin admitted uncertainty about which scenario is likely. He wrote that if current-day AI remains similar to existing technologies, he would agree with the skeptics, but that faster-than-expected advances would bring him closer to the AI 2040 camp.

Buterin indicated, “If I was confident that superintelligence is coming in 2030 by default, I would be closer to the AI 2040 camp … But I am open to slowing or pausing AI development if the risks become significant.”

His remarks attracted responses from notable figures, including Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, author Daniel Jeffries, and policy analyst Adam Thierer.

The debate over AI safety and governanceLeCun argued that AI safety represents an engineering problem that can be addressed through iterative design, much like how aviation safety progressed over decades. He expressed skepticism toward fears of near-term superintelligence and pointed out that current large language models function as limited “autocomplete machines.”

AI commentator Harry Hawk sided with LeCun, suggesting that, just as aircraft have become safer, future AI systems will be designed for reliability. He pushed back against the belief that advanced AI will eliminate all human jobs.

Buterin countered by highlighting the possibility of Artificial Superintelligence (ASI)—an AI so powerful it could accomplish virtually any task without human intervention. The discussion also engaged AI researcher Yann LeCun, policy analyst Adam Thierer, and others who criticized or supported various ideas on AI regulation and openness.

Part of the debate was prompted by Daniel Kokotajlo’s AI Futures Project, which released the “AI 2040: Plan A” report. The report advocates for collaboration between the United States and China to slow development toward superintelligence, including provisions for open sharing of research and “mutually assured compute destruction.”

Richard Ngo, an AI researcher, claimed the report exaggerates the speed with which powerful AI systems could emerge and does not address the political challenges such technology may create within countries.

Mini dictionary: Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), a hypothetical form of AI that surpasses human intelligence across all domains and could autonomously perform any conceivable task.

ViewpointKey ArgumentMain ProponentAI 2040 ScenarioSuperintelligent AI may emerge by 2040. Strong regulation needed.Daniel Kokotajlo (AI Futures Project), Supported by Buterin (cautiously)Skeptics/CriticsHumanity can control AI risks; focus on freedom and coordination.LeCun, Thierer, JeffriesOpen source as a safeguard?Open source models have become central to the debate. LeCun argued that the true danger lies in the concentration of AI development within a handful of powerful companies, and stated that open source foundation models are crucial for “AI sovereignty.”

LeCun noted, “The only solution to AI sovereignty is open source foundation models,” emphasizing the importance of broad accessibility in AI technology.

Author Daniel Jeffries agreed, warning that efforts by what he called “safetyists and hawks” to restrict open source could stifle innovation. Adam Thierer, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute and key contributor to the US House AI Task Force, labeled the current US legislative process on AI review as disorganized and secretive. He cautioned that increased regulation could harm open source AI, instead supporting “permissionless innovation.”

Thierer recommends using existing laws against harmful applications, creating test zones, mandating openness for certain models, and increasing funding for research, instead of imposing heavy new restrictions.

Mini dictionary: The R Street Institute is a Washington, DC-based think tank that focuses on free markets and limited, effective government, often contributing research and analysis on technology policy issues including AI governance.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) reports that Ethereum’s annual energy consumption and carbon emissions have declined by over 99.9% following The Merge in 2022, marking a significant shift in the network’s environmental profile.

Ethereum’s energy demand falls after moving to Proof-of-StakeAccording to the latest CCAF research, Ethereum now consumes around 7.87 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year. This represents a dramatic drop from the estimated 8.88 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually prior to The Merge, when Ethereum operated on a Proof-of-Work (PoW) validation system.

The Merge was Ethereum’s transition from the energy-intensive PoW framework, where miners competed using computational power, to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which relies on validators securing the network by staking ETH. With PoS, energy-hungry mining rigs were eliminated in favor of more sustainable and efficient mechanisms for maintaining network integrity. The report estimates Ethereum’s current continuous power draw at 0.90 megawatts, compared to 2.4 gigawatts immediately before the switch.

CCAF also says Ethereum’s annual greenhouse gas emissions have dropped to about 2.37 kilotonnes of CO₂ equivalent (ktCO₂e), reflecting a near-total decline from previous levels.

To provide further context, CCAF compared Ethereum’s electricity usage to that of the British Museum, which consumes about 16.18 GWh per year. Ethereum’s current figure is less than half of that, illustrating how significantly the network’s power consumption has fallen.

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance assessed Ethereum’s new energy profile, noting its “electricity consumption and carbon emissions have fallen by more than 99% since it migrated to Proof-of-Stake, transforming its environmental footprint to a level well below that of small public institutions.”

MetricBefore The Merge (PoW)After The Merge (PoS)Annual electricity use8.88 TWh7.87 GWhContinuous power demand2.4 GW0.90 MWCO₂ emissionsApprox. 10,000 ktCO₂e2.37 ktCO₂eInfrastructure and node distribution dataThe CCAF report is based on a comprehensive audit of about 8,522 Ethereum nodes distributed globally. This analysis focuses on actual hardware and internet hosting, rather than theoretical assumptions.

Ethereum nodes act as data processors, maintaining the ledger’s integrity and sharing updates. These differ from the network’s roughly 894,000 validators, who secure Ethereum by locking up staked ETH and confirming transactions.

The study determined that the average energy use per node is approximately 105 watts. For residential setups, the median is 18 watts. Energy requirements increase with larger and enterprise-level deployments.

Mini dictionary: Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), an academic research institute at Cambridge Judge Business School focusing on global financial technology, digital assets, and alternative finance trends.

Carbon intensity depends on grid and hostingThe United States currently hosts 31% of Ethereum’s full nodes, followed by Germany with 16%, Finland with 8%, and France with 6%. Together, these four countries account for about 62% of the network’s full nodes.

CCAF estimates that 36% of nodes run on residential hardware, while the remaining 64% are hosted in cloud or enterprise data centers. In particular, Hetzner, Amazon Web Services, and OVH collectively account for approximately 40% of all node hosting.

The study shows that 56.4% of Ethereum’s electricity is sourced from sustainable energy, with 39.4% coming from renewables and 17.0% from nuclear power. The largest single contributor remains natural gas at 27.7%.

According to the report, the main factor influencing Ethereum’s carbon footprint now is the carbon intensity of local power grids serving the nodes. This means network location has become more important than the underlying consensus protocol for determining environmental impact.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded a net inflow of $18.4 million on July 10, as institutional appetite for the asset appears to be gaining momentum after weeks of varied activity.

BlackRock leads inflowsThe majority of the day’s inflows came from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock clients contributed $16.2 million out of the total, accounting for more than 90% of the Ethereum purchased through these ETF products. Other issuers saw relatively minor activity by comparison.

Recent data covers only primary market creations, which means it tracks funds moving in and out of ETFs rather than secondary market trading volumes on exchanges.

Mini dictionary: BlackRock, based in New York, is a global asset management company recognized for its influence in traditional and alternative asset classes, including cryptocurrency ETFs.

ETF IssuerNet Inflow (July 10)BlackRock$16.2 millionOther Issuers$2.2 millionTotal$18.4 millionInstitutional exposure to EthereumSpot Ethereum ETFs offer institutional investors direct exposure to the underlying asset rather than derivatives. This structure links traditional capital markets to the Ethereum blockchain and may affect the wider financial ecosystem, especially asset management firms, exchanges, and custodians.

Continued inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs signal ongoing validation from institutional investors, which could drive issuers to expand product offerings and further integrate crypto assets into mainstream portfolios.

Over the past months, the pattern of flows has fluctuated. While the recent surge may build confidence for new product launches, inconsistent demand could return flow trends to a neutral position.

Market implications and upcoming developmentsFor developers and participants in the crypto ecosystem, sustained inflows from institutions can help deepen market liquidity and potentially reduce volatility. However, analysts caution that these effects are expected to play out gradually over time rather than deliver immediate change.

The months ahead may bring further shifts as upcoming Ethereum network upgrades, growth in Layer-2 solutions, and quarterly ETF portfolio rebalancing shape investor strategies. Should the upward demand persist, issuers are likely to explore education initiatives and product wrappers tailored to registered investment advisors (RIAs).

Institutional inflows to spot Ethereum ETFs could indirectly support long-term market stability, although their full impact may not be felt immediately.

If investor interest wanes, ETF flows could become neutral again, interrupting the recent positive trend.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

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The numbers were positive but offered no fireworks. On July 10, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $90.44 million in net new capital while their Ethereum counterparts added a modest $18.43 million, according to the original report citing SoSoValue data. The flows arrived during a stretch when crypto markets have drifted sideways, and institutional allocators appear to be favoring incremental exposure over bold positioning.

The subdued pace is less about disinterest and more about the regulatory fog hanging over Washington. With a landmark crypto bill facing last‑minute resistance from traditional banking interests, some fund managers are reluctant to increase digital asset weightings until the Senate votes. The fight over the biggest crypto bill in US history has turned into a wire‑to‑wire drama, and even a single large ETF order can be influenced by the perceived odds of tighter or looser rules.

Ethereum’s $18.43 million inflow, while small in absolute terms, is still a signal. It shows that accredited investors and fund managers are not pulling back from ETH exposure entirely, even as fee competition among ETF issuers intensifies. The network itself continues to attract builders: recent metrics on developer engagement highlight that Ethereum, BNB Chain, and Polygon dominate the rankings, with Solana and Arbitrum close behind. Ethereum’s developer ecosystem remains robust, which adds a layer of conviction for longer‑term ETF holders who track fundamentals rather than daily price action.

A snapshot, not a trend Single‑day flow data can be noisy. July 10’s Bitcoin ETF inflow was decent but well below the hundreds of millions that characterized earlier buying waves. That could be a mid‑summer lull, or it could be a reflection of positioning ahead of second‑quarter corporate earnings and central bank commentary. What’s clearer is that the ETF complex has matured: volume is no longer driven by a handful of early‑mover whales but by a broader distribution of institutional and quasi‑institutional participants. The steady drip of inflows contrasts with the boom‑and‑bust cycles that defined crypto’s previous ETF attempts in other jurisdictions.

Where institutional interest is deepening Separately, the institutional pipeline is not limited to ETFs. Tokenization of real‑world assets has crossed $20 billion on‑chain, and deals like Bullish’s $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti signal that large financial players are embedding blockchain into their core infrastructure. The tokenization of real-world assets is no longer a proof‑of‑concept; it is a parallel track of adoption that will eventually pull ETF demand along with it, especially as more familiar assets like Treasuries settle on‑chain.

What remains uncertain The direction of net flows over the next two weeks will depend heavily on whether the Senate passes the crypto bill and what the Fed signals about rate cuts. A rejection or a delay could push daily flows back toward breakeven or negative territory, simply because compliance desks will stay in neutral. The Ethereum ETF category is particularly sensitive: its lower baseline means that even a $20 million swing can look dramatic, but the structural story is about whether issuers can convince RIAs and pension consultants that ether is a distinct asset class rather than an appendage to bitcoin.

For now, the market is in a holding pattern. The inflows are real but restrained, and that is entirely consistent with an institutional crowd that wants more clarity before committing larger slices of a portfolio. The next couple of data points, set against the legislative calendar, will reveal whether this is a temporary pause or the new steady state.

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Kester is an experienced freelance content writer. His focus is primarily on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. One might even refer to him as a "blockchain enthusiast." He has been following advancements in the crypto and blockchain area for several years, researching and writing his insights in the media. In addition to being a skilled content writer, Mushumir is also knowledgeable in SEO and digital marketing. He aspires to succeed as a content creator in the digital realm, dealing with customers in the finance and tech industries to generate traffic through engaging taglines and content. Mushumir enjoys traveling, reading, and playing cricket when he is not writing. He now works as a news and article writer for BlockchainReporter.

Ethereum’s Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) Ratio fell below the critical 0.8 threshold, placing the altcoin in a historically rare accumulation zone. 

The on-chain metric suggested ETH traded below its realized value, a condition that previously appeared during major market bottoms. 

According to the data, similar readings emerged in December 2018, March 2020, and June 2022 before Ethereum established cycle lows. That historical context renewed attention among long-term investors despite the absence of an immediate bullish catalyst. 

However, the metric reflected valuation rather than future price direction. Instead, it suggested seller exhaustion had intensified after months of weakness.

As a result, Ethereum entered another period where long-term value investors historically became active, while broader market participants continued weighing macroeconomic uncertainty against improving blockchain fundamentals.

Inflows outweighed withdrawals despite recovery Spot flow data showed Ethereum recorded Exchange Netflows of approximately $62.64 million during the latest session. That reading indicated more ETH entered exchanges than left them, even as price stabilized above recent lows. 

Such activity often reflected investors preparing assets for trading rather than demonstrating outright accumulation through exchange withdrawals. 

However, the inflow remained relatively modest compared with larger historical spikes visible on the chart, suggesting exchange activity had not reached panic levels. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum maintained its recovery without triggering aggressive selling pressure across spot markets. 

The combination revealed a market that continued supplying exchanges with liquidity while buyers absorbed available inventory. 

That balance prevented excessive downside pressure, although it also suggested traders remained willing to reposition holdings instead of committing entirely to long-term storage.

Source: CoinGlass Leveraged traders increased their exposure despite softer funding Derivatives activity strengthened as market participation expanded across perpetual futures. 

Open Interest climbed 3.25% to $11.1092 billion, showing traders increased outstanding positions while Ethereum stabilized near current levels. 

Funding Rates remained positive at 0.00699, although the metric declined 25.41% over the previous 24 hours. The combination indicated long traders still paid a premium to maintain positions, but bullish conviction eased compared with the prior session.

Instead of unwinding exposure, participants continued adding contracts while accepting a lower funding environment. 

The derivatives market, therefore, reflected measured optimism rather than aggressive speculation. 

Source: CryptoQuant Can Ethereum hold above reclaimed support? Ethereum [ETH] reclaimed the $1,800 region after recovering sharply from its early June low near $1,560. 

Buyers repeatedly defended higher lows throughout July, allowing the price to consolidate just beneath the next resistance around $2,000. 

The Relative Strength Index also recovered to 57.16, while its moving average stood at 49.84, confirming that buying strength improved after emerging from deeply oversold territory. 

Even so, RSI remained below overbought conditions, leaving room for either continued stabilization or renewed consolidation. 

Price also continued trading below the major $2,000 resistance that previously acted as support before June’s decline. 

If buyers maintain control above $1,800, Ethereum would continue preserving its improving technical structure. 

However, failure to defend that level would likely return focus to the lower support around $1,564, where buyers previously regained control.

Source: TradingView What does it all mean? To sum up, Ethereum presented conflicting signals rather than a one-sided narrative.

The historically low MVRV ratio strengthened the long-term valuation case, while rising Open Interest reflected sustained trader participation.

However, exchange inflows showed more ETH returned to trading venues instead of leaving them for long-term holding. 

The combination suggests confidence improved, yet caution still shaped market positioning as investors balanced attractive valuation against lingering uncertainty.

Final Summary Ethereum looked historically undervalued, but Exchange Netflows suggested investors still preferred flexibility over long-term conviction. ETH’s setup improved, but holding above $1,800 could decide whether buyers keep control.

The Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol Security team just made something clear: AI isn’t just a research toy anymore. In experiments published July 9, 2026, the team confirmed that coordinated AI agents identified genuine vulnerabilities in Ethereum’s core protocol code, including a bug serious enough to earn its own CVE designation.

The bug that could have taken validators offline The confirmed vulnerability lived inside libp2p’s gossipsub implementation, which is part of the networking layer Ethereum nodes use to communicate with each other. The specific issue was a remotely triggerable panic, meaning an attacker could send a specially crafted message that caused a validator node to crash outright. The bug was assigned CVE-2026-34219 and was fixed before it could be exploited in the wild.

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What the AI actually did, and where it fell short The experiment used coordinated AI agents to scan critical components of the Ethereum protocol, including systems software and cryptographic code. The agents were capable of surfacing potential vulnerabilities at a pace that would be difficult for human auditors to match on their own.

A significant portion of the AI’s outputs turned out to be false positives, things like non-reproducible crashes and issues that only appeared in debug builds and would never surface in production. Each of those still required a human auditor to examine, test, and discard. The actual time spent confirming genuine vulnerabilities was far smaller than the time spent sorting through junk.

The Foundation concluded that reproducible proof-of-concept artifacts are essential for any AI-assisted audit to be useful. Without a working demonstration that a bug actually does what the AI claims, the finding is just a hypothesis. The broader takeaway from the experiments is that structured validation pipelines matter as much as the AI models themselves.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

An attacker has stolen over $5 million from the Hedera network in a significant exploit on July 11, with the majority of the stolen assets already transferred to the Ethereum blockchain, according to multiple blockchain analysts.

Exploit details and fund movementsOnchain analyst Specter was among the first to report the ongoing attack, promptly flagging suspicious activity involving large sums moved from Hedera. Initial tallies from Specter estimated losses at $3.7 million, which soon increased to over $5 million as further transactions were tracked over several hours.

Specter indicated that the attacker bridged the funds to Ethereum via LayerZero, a protocol that enables interoperability between blockchain networks. The perpetrator then converted Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) into Ether (ETH) after the funds arrived on Ethereum.

Blockchain security firm PeckShieldAlert later confirmed the incident, revealing that $5.25 million had already been moved from Hedera to Ethereum. Investigators traced the initial capital to 1 ETH withdrawn from Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing protocol. At the time of reporting, the attacker’s Ethereum wallet held approximately 2,360 ETH, valued at roughly $4.25 million, alongside 15.58 WBTC, worth about $1 million.

Onchain observer @0xNox also noted more than $4 million was bridged to Ethereum through LayerZero, with funds being cycled through WBTC-to-ETH swaps.

Mini dictionary: LayerZero is an interoperability protocol designed to allow seamless transfers of assets and data across multiple blockchain networks, linking ecosystems such as Ethereum and non-EVM chains.

AssetAmountValue (approximate)ETH2,360$4.25 millionWBTC15.58$1 millionPeckShieldAlert confirmed that $5.25 million was transferred from Hedera Mainnet to Ethereum, with the attacker’s wallet containing both ETH and WBTC after the swap process.

Transparency concerns on HederaHedera, founded by Dr. Leemon Baird and Mance Harmon, operates on a unique hashgraph consensus system rather than a traditional blockchain. Its native token, HBAR, is used for transaction fees and securing the network through staking. However, auditing incidents on the platform has proven challenging.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT commented on social media that Hedera’s lack of a reliable block explorer effectively turns it into a “privacy chain,” since tracking and tracing suspicious transactions is particularly difficult for third parties.

ZachXBT remarked that limited block explorer functionality on Hedera poses challenges for transparency, especially during active security incidents.

Mini dictionary: Hashgraph is a consensus algorithm distinct from traditional blockchains, enabling faster and fairer transaction ordering and increased throughput, but often making third-party transaction tracing more complex.

Potential impact and market reactionHedera is governed by a council consisting of major global enterprises. In 2026, the platform attracted members such as McLaren Racing and Accenture, both citing the network’s enterprise-focused governance and infrastructure as key benefits. Hedera markets itself as the chosen trust layer for large organizations worldwide.

Despite these endorsements, the exploit has raised questions about network security and transparency. As of now, Hedera has not released any official statement regarding the exploit, but users and industry participants are awaiting further clarification and a detailed investigation.

HBAR, Hedera’s native cryptocurrency, is currently priced near $0.068, marking a 4% drop in the past 24 hours. The token’s market capitalization has fallen to around $2.98 billion, down just under 4% over the same period, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

XRP Demand Cools Across 3 Metrics, but Funding Hints at Rebound

Robinhood Chain has processed 7.6 million daily transactions just 11 days after its mainnet launch, narrowing the gap with Coinbase’s Base and accelerating competition among Ethereum Layer 2 networks.

Summary

Robinhood Chain processed 7.6 million daily transactions just 11 days after its mainnet launch. Free gas subsidies and tokenized stocks have helped narrow the activity gap with Coinbase’s Base. Investors are watching whether network usage remains strong after fee subsidies end in September. According to on-chain data shared by MSBIntel and verified by Token Terminal, Robinhood Chain recorded 7.6 million transactions in a single day on July 11, while Base processed 9.2 million over the same period. The figures place Robinhood’s Arbitrum-powered Layer 2 much closer to the leading Ethereum scaling network than many expected so soon after its July 1 launch.

BREAKING: Robinhood Chain processed 7.6 million transactions yesterday, nearing Base’s 9.2 million, eleven days after mainnet, per Token Terminal.

Base users pay for every transaction; Robinhood covers gas on its chain through a 90-day subsidy, with daily fees near $4,000. pic.twitter.com/sWLM0yRV0z

— MSB Intel (@MSBIntel) July 10, 2026 Launched alongside Robinhood’s tokenized equities platform, the network has quickly become one of the busiest Layer 2 ecosystems by activity. The rapid increase has drawn attention from blockchain analysts and investors tracking Robinhood Markets’ stock, as the company expands beyond its brokerage business into blockchain infrastructure.

Free gas incentives have accelerated early network activity One factor behind the increase is Robinhood’s decision to pay users’ gas fees during the first 90 days of mainnet operations. By removing transaction costs through the end of September 2026, the company has lowered the barrier for retail traders, decentralized finance users, and memecoin participants to move assets on the network.

Data cited by MSBIntel and Token Terminal also showed Robinhood Chain generated roughly $4,000 in daily protocol fees despite the temporary subsidy. While Base remains ahead in transaction count, the difference between the two networks has narrowed considerably since Robinhood’s launch.

Network usage has extended beyond simple transfers. Robinhood Chain surpassed $500 million in single-day volume on Uniswap deployments, taking the second position behind Ethereum mainnet, according to the report. The milestone followed Robinhood overtaking Base as the second-largest Uniswap deployment by spot activity, indicating liquidity growth alongside transaction volume.

Unlike Base, which launched with Coinbase’s exchange ecosystem and early integrations with decentralized applications such as Uniswap and Chainlink, Robinhood entered the market with access to roughly 23 million brokerage users. The company also introduced tokenized equities that are available in more than 120 countries, giving the network an additional source of potential activity.

Investors are watching whether activity survives after subsidies end Robinhood’s blockchain expansion has also influenced sentiment around its publicly traded shares. The company’s initial Layer 2 announcement lifted HOOD stock by about 10%, while its later rollout of AI-powered agentic trading coincided with another gain of roughly 7%, according to the data from Yahoo Finance.

Robinhood has connected its tokenized stock offering with infrastructure from several blockchain projects. Chainlink provides oracle pricing for 95 tokenized equities, including Nvidia, Apple, and Alphabet, while Uniswap supplies trading liquidity and Morpho supports lending functionality. Earlier this week, Robinhood also confirmed that the Layer 2 network is built using Arbitrum technology.

Despite the early momentum, analysts continue to watch whether activity remains strong after the promotional period ends. The current gas subsidy expires at the end of September 2026, removing the cost advantage that has encouraged heavy network usage during launch.

FalconX estimated in an April 2026 report that Robinhood Chain could generate about $1.1 million in fees over six months, although the temporary fee subsidy is expected to reduce revenue during its initial rollout. Once users begin paying transaction fees, on-chain activity will provide a clearer picture of whether tokenized assets and decentralized finance usage can sustain current volumes beyond launch-driven trading.

Attention is now turning to Robinhood’s early August earnings release for the second quarter of 2026. Because it will be the company’s first financial report to include data from the live mainnet, investors are expected to watch for evidence that blockchain infrastructure is beginning to contribute to Robinhood’s long-term revenue strategy.

Jul 11, 2026, 12:00 p.m.

3 min read

Summary

Ethereum Foundation developers used AI agents to hunt for bugs in the network’s gossipsub messaging system, uncovering a crash vulnerability that could take validator nodes offline and has since been fixed as CVE-2026-34219.The experiment showed that most of the work involved sifting real bugs from convincing false positives, as AI agents generated detailed but often misleading narratives about test-only crashes, infeasible attacks and trivial formal proofs.Because AI tools struggle with exploits that unfold over valid steps, like recent Edel Finance and BONK attacks, the Foundation now uses agents to propose suspicious sequences while still relying on traditional testing and human review to validate them.Developers at the Ethereum Foundation recently set AI agents loose on the software Ethereum runs on, hoping to discover bugs in an ongoing effort to keep strengthening the largest blockchain by value locked.

And while bugs were found, meticulous human judgment was still required to differentiate between what was real and what were false positives - with the Protocol Security team publishing field notes on tips the broader ecosystem should follow in their own AI workflows.

Ethereum runs on thousands of nodes, or ordinary computers running the network's software, each keeping a copy of the chain and passing messages to its neighbors.

Validators, the nodes that stake ether and vote on which blocks are valid, sit on top of that layer. They only work if messages reach them.

The bug these engineers found sat in gossipsub. The flaw let a remote system trigger a crash — wherein the node's software hits an impossible calculation, gives up and shuts itself down, taking a validator offline until an operator restarts it.

This was quickly fixed and disclosed as 'CVE-2026-34219' with credit to the team. The broader concern, however, was separating the agents' real bugs from the ones that were confidently masquerading as such.

"The surprise was how little of the work went into finding them, and how much went into telling the real bugs from the ones that just looked real," wrote Nikos Baxevanis, who authored the post.

The difficulty started with what an agent produces. A fuzzer, the standard tool that hurls malformed data at software until something breaks, returned a crash and a record of where it happened, which an engineer can confirm in minutes.

An agent, however, returns a created narrative. It traces how the flaw could be reached, argues why it matters, proposes a severity rating and supplies working code that demonstrates the attack. All of it arrives in fluent prose, reading the same whether the bug is real or invented.

Three kinds of false positive kept recurring, according to the Foundation.

The first was a crash that only occurs in a test build, where the compiler switches on safety checks that the shipped software does not carry, so nothing breaks for real users.

The second was an attack that only works if the dangerous value is planted inside the program by hand, because every route an outsider could take to deliver it rejects the value first. The third came from formal verification, the practice of proving mathematically that code behaves correctly, where a proof passed by demonstrating something trivially true and told the reviewers nothing about the software.

Each is a test that never actually tests anything, and an agent writes that empty version as quickly and as convincingly as the genuine one.

Another concern was that agents are strong at reasoning about a single moment and weak at bugs that span a sequence of individually valid steps, where nothing is wrong except the order.

That describes most of the exploits that have drained crypto protocols this year, where attack methods use technical tools that are individually fine, but mask the theft that lives in the sequence of carrying out several usual steps that lead to a malicious outcome.

Recent attacks fit the pattern. The Edel Finance exploit earlier this month sidestepped an accurate Chainlink price feed through the wrapping layer above it, and in the BONK governance attack, buying tokens, voting and executing a passed proposal were each ordinary transactions.

The Foundation's answer is to let the agent suggest which sequences are worth testing, and to run the tests anyway.

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Digital Assets: Quarterly Review and Outlook Q2

Digital Assets: Quarterly Review and Outlook Q2

Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.

Jul 10, 2026

Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.

Why it matters:

Digital assets posted a third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market, as institutional capital rotated into AI equities and Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest quarterly outflow since launch. Our report examines what drove the divergence, where structural adoption continued regardless, and what Q3 signals to watch.

COINTELEGRAPH: Ethereum climbs 3% on tokenization boom: Can bulls push ETH price past $1,800?

PANews reported on July 11, citing CoinDesk, that the Ethereum Foundation recently disclosed that its security team used AI agents to test the software running on Ethereum validator nodes and successfully discovered a vulnerability that could be triggered remotely, causing the node to crash. However, researchers stressed that among the large number of security reports generated by AI, human review remains the crucial step in distinguishing real vulnerabilities from false positives.

The vulnerability discovered this time exists in the Ethereum network’s message propagation protocol gossipsub. An attacker could remotely trigger the node software to enter an abnormal computing state, causing the program to crash and shut down, taking the validator node offline until the operator manually restarts it. The vulnerability was later fixed and registered as security vulnerability number “CVE-2026-34219”.

Nikos Baxevanis, a member of the Ethereum Foundation’s protocol security team, said that the truly surprising thing was not AI’s ability to discover vulnerabilities, but that the team spent a lot of time distinguishing which vulnerabilities were real and which were merely plausible “hallucinations.” Unlike traditional fuzzing tools (Fuzzer) that directly output the crash location, AI agents automatically generate a complete narrative, including the cause of the vulnerability, impact analysis, severity assessment, and attack demonstration code. However, whether the vulnerability actually exists or is purely fictitious, these reports are usually presented in a fluent and convincing manner.

The Ethereum Foundation summarized three most common types of false positives: first, crashes that can only be triggered in a test environment; second, attack paths that can only be realized by manually modifying program data; and third, during formal verification processes, proving only mathematically meaningless conclusions without verifying the security of the code itself.

Additionally, the researchers pointed out that AI is currently better at analyzing single events, but struggles to identify complex attack chains composed of multiple seemingly normal steps, which is a typical characteristic of many DeFi attacks this year. For example, this month’s Edel Finance attack exploited the wrapper layer to bypass the accurate Chainlink price oracle, and in the BONK governance attack, individual actions such as buying tokens, initiating votes, and executing proposals were all normal behaviors in themselves, but their combination ultimately led to a malicious result.

The Ethereum Foundation stated that it will continue to use AI agents to assist in discovering potential risks in the future, but for scenarios involving complex attack paths, it will still be necessary to manually design and execute tests to verify the hypotheses proposed by AI.

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The sheer scale of Ethereum’s energy reduction after The Merge is no longer just a community talking point — it now has the weight of a Cambridge audit behind it. The latest figures from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) put annual electricity use at just 7.87 GWh, a decline of more than 99.9%. Emissions have followed a similarly dramatic path downward, settling around 2.37 ktCO₂e annually. For a network that once drew comparisons to medium-sized countries, the numbers represent a complete re‑write of the environmental script.

But the report, built from an infrastructure audit of roughly 8,522 nodes, doesn’t stop at the headline drop. It surfaces a structural reality that market participants and regulators will need to weigh carefully: how the network’s remaining footprint is distributed and who ultimately controls the hardware.

The numbers that reset the conversation Before The Merge, Ethereum’s proof‑of‑work consensus consumed power at a level that made institutional ESG committees uncomfortable. The 99.9% cut changes the calculus for any fund or corporate treasury that had dismissed ether exposure on environmental grounds. The CCAF’s estimate of 56.4% sustainable electricity sourcing further strengthens a story that is increasingly about grid mix rather than the consensus mechanism itself. That subtlety matters because it shifts the burden of scrutiny from the protocol to the geographies where validators operate.

The emissions figure — roughly 2.37 kilotonnes of CO₂‑equivalent — is so low that it practically invites comparisons to small‑scale data centre operations rather than global financial infrastructure. And yet, Ethereum’s developer activity remains among the highest in the industry, as recent ecosystem metrics continue to show. That gap between environmental cost and economic output is precisely the kind of metric that draws serious institutional capital over time.

Provider concentration and geographic clustering The audit’s infrastructure mapping is where the comfort zone narrows. The United States, Germany, Finland, and France host approximately 62% of Ethereum full nodes. Even more concentrated is the service provider layer: Hetzner, Amazon Web Services, and OVH together run roughly 40% of all nodes the researchers examined. For a network that prizes decentralisation as a security property, that level of physical co‑location on a small set of commercial cloud operators raises non‑trivial tail‑risk questions.

A coordinated outage or a regulatory intervention at one of those providers could temporarily reshape network participation. The Dencun upgrade cycle has already sharpened the focus on client diversity; node hosting geography now joins that conversation. The CCAF data makes it explicit that the environmental victory is partly built on layers that are not themselves permissionless.

What the shift means for institutional positioning ESG dynamics in crypto have often been reduced to a binary: Bitcoin’s energy hunger versus everything else. The Cambridge study gives asset allocators a concrete figure to slot into sustainability reports. It also arrives at a moment when on‑chain real‑world asset volumes are swelling beyond $20 billion, a trend documented in a recent tokenisation roundup. Most of that activity lives on Ethereum or its layer‑2 networks, meaning the updated energy footprint directly undercuts a longstanding objection to deploying regulated instruments on public rails.

Policymakers in Washington have been wrestling with crypto market structure legislation, and banking interests are pushing against a landmark Senate bill that could reshape the regulatory perimeter. In that context, verifiable environmental data is not decorative — it is ammunition. A network that can demonstrate a 99.9% energy reduction with audited, third‑party data is harder to dismiss on the basis of vague climate concerns.

What remains uncertain The CCAF report rightly emphasises that the remaining footprint is now a function of local grid carbon intensity. That implies energy‑mix volatility: a shift in the sourcing profile of a single large cloud region could measurably change Ethereum’s overall environmental scorecard. The research does not, however, model how liquid staking protocols or restaking layers might redistribute the validator set across providers and jurisdictions over the next 12 months. The interaction between infrastructure concentration and the rapid evolution of the staking industry is still poorly mapped.

Nor does the report address the energy footprint of layer‑2 rollups posting blobs to mainnet, an increasingly relevant variable as activity migrates off the base layer. For now, the headline is clear: Ethereum’s energy era has ended. The harder conversation about who runs the nodes and where they plug in is just beginning.

AUTHOR

With over five years of experience in crypto, blockchain, and tech content, Ishtiyaq makes complex topics easy to understand. He simplifies blockchain and digital currency concepts for a wide audience, ensuring that beginners and experts alike can grasp key ideas. His clear and engaging writing helps readers stay informed about the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the crypto space. Whether explaining blockchain technology, digital assets, or DeFi, Ishtiyaq breaks down complicated ideas into simple, digestible content. His goal is to help people navigate the fast-changing world of cryptocurrency with confidence, clarity, and a deeper understanding.

16h05 ▪ 6 min read ▪ by Ghiles A.

Summarize this article with:

The Ethereum network continues to evolve, but its geographical distribution remains a subject of monitoring for researchers. A new study from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance shows that a significant share of nodes operates in North America and Europe. This snapshot of the network highlights several technical and legal issues. It also reminds us that the location of infrastructures can influence the protocol’s resilience. The updated data finally sheds new light on the network’s energy consumption after the merge.

In brief 31% of Ethereum nodes are hosted in the United States, compared to 39% in the European Union excluding the United Kingdom. The network can stop finalizing its transactions if more than a third of validators become simultaneously inactive. The concentration of infrastructures and client software remains a major issue for Ethereum’s resilience and decentralization. Ethereum’s energy consumption has dropped by about 99.98% since the merge, according to the new Cambridge study. Ethereum’s Geographic Distribution Is Dominated by the United States and Europe The new study indicates that 31% of Ethereum activity is now hosted in the United States. The European Union, excluding the United Kingdom, concentrates about 39% of this activity. In a statement attributed to the daily show The Starting Block, Alexander Neumuller, head of research at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, estimates that the distribution remains heavily oriented towards Western countries. However, it does not indicate excessive concentration in a single state.

Researchers also observe that nodes rely heavily on three major hosting providers: Hetzner, AWS, and OVH. Alexander Neumuller recalls that Hetzner’s terms of use previously prohibited operating blockchain services. However, he notes that this policy may have evolved. This concentration of infrastructures therefore deserves ongoing attention, even if the data do not show a unique national imbalance.

The study also emphasizes that the relationship between nodes and validators remains difficult to measure precisely. The same access point can indeed host several validators. Researchers explain that it is therefore impossible to know exactly the number of validators associated with each infrastructure.

The One-Third Threshold Remains a Key Concern for the Network The analysis conclusions remind us of an important characteristic of Ethereum’s operation. Contrary to some misconceptions, the network does not need to lose half of its validators to encounter a problem. As soon as more than a third of validators simultaneously cease their activity, checkpoint finalization may be interrupted.

This situation explains why the distribution of Ethereum nodes represents a strategic element for the network’s stability. An interruption affecting a widely used infrastructure could slow down overall operation. However, Alexander Neumuller specifies that the available data do not allow a direct link to be established between each node and the exact number of validators it hosts.

Concentration concerns not only physical infrastructures. According to the researcher, client software diversity also plays a crucial role. A technical defect affecting a dominant client could quickly spread to a large part of the network. The report thus presents detailed data on the distribution of consensus clients and execution clients to illustrate this other risk factor.

A New Energy Estimate and Ongoing Legal Challenges The location of nodes goes beyond the simple technical framework. In 2022, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimated that it could claim jurisdiction over Ethereum. The authority notably relied on the fact that a majority of the network’s infrastructure was then hosted on U.S. soil. This issue therefore continues to fuel reflections on the legal framework applicable to transactions.

Alexander Neumüller nonetheless presents the current geographical distribution as a balance he considers positive, while specifying that it is his personal assessment. According to him, better geographical distribution is an advantage for a decentralized network.

Geographical distribution is a real asset for the network’s resilience, even if the community must continue to monitor its evolution. At the same time, a strong concentration of client software could amplify the consequences of a bug affecting the most used client.

Alexander Neumuller, Head of Research at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, Source: The Block. He also believes that a strong concentration of client software risks quickly spreading the effects of a bug affecting the network’s main client. On this, the community must continue to closely follow this development.

The report also updates Ethereum’s energy estimates thanks to a new methodology. Researchers now use empirical data on node distribution between residential and commercial hosting, rather than theoretical assumptions. This approach takes into account software changes made after the merge, which can modify equipment consumption.

The new estimates assess the annual network consumption at about 7.9 gigawatt hours, equivalent to a continuous power of one megawatt. This corresponds to the consumption of about 2,000 British households. The study also estimates that this consumption remains about 99.98% lower than levels observed before the merge. Finally, the share of sustainable energy used by the network now exceeds 56%, compared to an estimated global average of 43%.

Researchers also estimate the theoretical cost of fully offsetting annual emissions through high-quality carbon credits. This would be between 25,000 and 55,000 pounds sterling, an amount Alexander Neumuller compares to the price of a car. He indicates that this estimate is the result that surprised him most. The Ethereum Foundation supported this study, while researchers specify that their analyses on decentralization reflect their own interpretation. Upcoming observations will measure whether this geographical distribution continues to evolve while preserving network resilience.

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Ghiles A.

Journaliste et rédacteur web passionné par l’univers des cryptomonnaies et des technologies Web3. J’y traite les dernières tendances et actualités afin de proposer un contenu de haute qualité à un large public du secteur.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

A recent analysis by researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has shed new light on the physical distribution of Ethereum’s infrastructure, revealing notable geographic clustering of its validator nodes. According to the findings, approximately 31% of the network’s beacon node activity is concentrated within the United States as of May 2026.

This level of regional focus raises important questions about the blockchain‘s resilience to localized disruptions, regulatory pressures, and potential single points of failure.

Ethereum operates on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism following the 2022 Merge, which dramatically reduced its energy demands.

Unlike the earlier proof-of-work era, the network now relies on staked capital for security, with nodes performing validation and attestation tasks.

These nodes form the backbone of the system, ensuring transaction finality and network integrity.

The CCAF report emphasizes that while the overall node population—estimated at around 8,522 full nodes—draws far less power than before (roughly 0.90 MW on average), their geographic placement remains critical for operational robustness.

The United States leads with 31% of discoverable node activity, followed by Germany at 16%, Finland at 8%, and France at 6%.

Together, these four countries account for about 62% of the network’s full nodes.

The European Union (excluding the UK) hosts roughly 39% of activity overall.

This distribution is described as concentrated yet not monolithic, offering some built-in redundancy but still exposing vulnerabilities.

For instance, Ethereum’s finality mechanism can stall if more than one-third of validators go offline simultaneously.

A significant outage affecting US-based nodes could therefore push the network close to or beyond that threshold, potentially halting checkpoint finalization and disrupting the chain’s progress.

Much of this activity is further centralized among major cloud and hosting providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Hetzner, and OVH. Such reliance on a handful of infrastructure giants introduces counterparty and jurisdictional risks.

Regulators in any single country could, in theory, exert influence over a substantial portion of the network through legal actions targeting data centers or service providers.

This setup contrasts with Ethereum’s decentralized ethos and underscores ongoing debates about true geographic and operational dispersion.

On the environmental front, the study provides updated post-Merge estimates. Ethereum‘s annual electricity consumption now stands at approximately 7.87 GWh, a reduction of about 99.98% from pre-Merge levels.

When mapped against the carbon intensity of host grids, the network’s climate footprint equates to roughly 2.37 kilotonnes of CO₂-equivalent per year.

Over 56% of the powering energy mix comes from sustainable sources like renewables and nuclear, thanks to the favorable grids in key hosting nations.

The research report also notes a bimodal hardware profile: many residential nodes operate at low power (around 18W), while enterprise or cloud setups draw more (around 153W).

Network-weighted averages sit near 105W per node. Looking ahead, protocol upgrades, improving hardware efficiency, and global grid decarbonization are expected to further refine this footprint.

While Ethereum has made strides in sustainability and scalability, the Cambridge research serves as a reminder that decentralization extends beyond software and economics to physical infrastructure.

Broader node distribution across more jurisdictions and diverse hosting options could strengthen the network against both technical failures and external interventions. As the ecosystem matures, stakeholders may increasingly prioritize geographic resilience alongside other performance metrics.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Hedera’s native token HBAR has fallen more than 2% after blockchain security researchers reported that a suspected exploit had moved more than $5.8 million in assets from the Hedera network to Ethereum.

Summary

Suspected Hedera exploit moved more than $5.8 million in assets to Ethereum, according to blockchain security researchers. Specter and PeckShield said the attacker bridged funds through LayerZero before swapping WBTC for ETH. HBAR fell more than 2%, trading near $0.069 as the reported exploit unfolded. According to blockchain security researcher Specter, the suspected attacker had already bridged more than $3.7 million worth of assets from Hedera to Ethereum before continuing to move additional funds.

There appears to be an ongoing hack involving @hedera Network, with over $3.7M already bridged to Ethereum by the attacker.

The stolen funds are currently being swapped from WBTC for ETH after being bridged from the Hedera network via Layerzero.

Theft addresses:… pic.twitter.com/KSxd3K2vlu

— Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) July 11, 2026 Specter said the stolen assets were being swapped from Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) into Ether (ETH) after crossing chains through LayerZero. The researcher also published two wallet addresses believed to be linked to the incident.

At the time of writing, CryptoBull360 reported that the wallet’s estimated value had increased to roughly $5.8 million, indicating that more assets had reached Ethereum after the initial transfers. The shared wallet data showed holdings of about 3,203 ETH, representing nearly 80% of the portfolio, alongside roughly 20% in WBTC.

According to data from crypto.news, Hedera (HBAR) price traded around $0.069, down more than 2% following the reports of the suspected exploit.

Cross-chain transfers have continued after the initial breach As additional transactions appeared on-chain, blockchain security firm PeckShield said the suspected exploit had already transferred approximately $5.25 million from the Hedera mainnet to Ethereum. The firm added that the wallet held around 2,360 ETH, valued at roughly $4.25 million, and 15.58 WBTC, worth about $1 million, at the time of its analysis.

PeckShield also reported that the wallet had originally been funded with 1 ETH from Tornado Cash, citing on-chain transaction history. The observation identifies the source of the wallet’s initial funding but does not establish who controls the address or who carried out the alleged attack.

The wallet screenshots shared by both Specter and PeckShield showed a series of inbound transfers arriving within a short period before the assets were converted into ETH.

Investigation remains ongoing as official details are limited Neither Specter nor PeckShield identified the party responsible for the suspected exploit, and no official estimate of the total losses had been released at the time of writing. The reported value of the stolen assets continued to change as additional funds were observed moving through the wallet.

The incident is still developing, with blockchain security researchers continuing to monitor the addresses and publish updates as new transactions appear on-chain. Meanwhile, market participants are watching for an official statement from the Hedera team regarding the reported exploit and any measures taken to contain its impact.

The Hedera incident comes amid a series of security-related developments reported by crypto.news in recent weeks. Blockaid recently said it detected an active exploit targeting Summer.fi, estimating losses of about $6 million at the time of its alert.

Separately, Ctrl Wallet announced it will permanently shut down after a security exploit affecting some Cardano wallets, giving users until Aug. 3 to withdraw their assets. Meanwhile, crypto.news also reported that Secret Network has proposed migrating SCRT from Cosmos to Arbitrum, with the team citing security risks, weaker liquidity, and an aging codebase in its July 7 governance proposal.

Someone just walked off with $5.25 million from the Hedera network, and they didn’t exactly try to be subtle about it. Blockchain security firms PeckShield and Specter flagged the suspicious activity on July 11, tracking a trail of funds that moved from Hedera’s mainnet to Ethereum through a cross-chain bridge powered by LayerZero technology.

The timing is particularly awkward for Hedera. Just weeks after the network celebrated the launch of the first US spot HBAR ETF, it’s now dealing with a significant security incident.

How the exploit unfolded The attacker funded an Ethereum wallet with 1 ETH routed through Tornado Cash, the privacy mixing service. From there, the attacker bridged assets from Hedera to Ethereum using LayerZero’s cross-chain infrastructure. Once the funds landed on Ethereum, the attacker swapped Wrapped Bitcoin for Ether, consolidating the stolen haul into more liquid assets.

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At the time security researchers flagged the incident, the attacker’s Ethereum wallet held approximately 2,360 ETH, valued at about $4.25 million, along with 15.58 WBTC worth roughly $1 million. The wallet addresses involved have been identified as 0x9A4966152F6e10b33Cb7a37975e8619816d6a494 and 0xaf20D792A19fD42dCf697ceBa6100291D96dD93e.

Hedera itself has not confirmed the exploit. On-chain investigators are still picking through the transaction data to determine exactly what vulnerability was exploited and how the attacker gained access to the funds in the first place.

A pattern that should worry everyone This isn’t Hedera’s first brush with a security breach. Back in March 2023, the network experienced an exploit that affected decentralized exchange liquidity pools through a bug in Hedera Token Service transfers.

The 2026 landscape has been particularly brutal. A $6 million exploit hit Summer.fi, and a governance attack on BONK DAO resulted in $20 million in losses. The suspected Hedera incident slots neatly into this growing catalog of multi-million-dollar security failures.

What this means for HBAR and its new ETF In June 2026, Canary Capital launched the first US spot HBAR ETF, which debuted with $52.6 million in assets under management. Now, barely a month later, the network is associated with a multi-million-dollar theft.

The exploit appears to involve assets bridged off the Hedera network rather than a compromise of the network’s core consensus mechanism. The use of Tornado Cash to fund the initial wallet suggests the attacker was prepared for scrutiny, which typically makes fund recovery significantly more difficult.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Key Takeaways Ethereum stands as the dominant smart contract platform with strong institutional backing and an established DeFi landscape Solana delivers thousands of transactions per second with minimal costs, attracting gaming and consumer-focused applications Ethereum represents a more conservative choice; Solana carries greater risk alongside potentially larger returns Developer activity continues to strengthen across both networks as their ecosystems evolve A growing number of investors maintain positions in both assets instead of choosing a single blockchain Ethereum holds the position as the premier smart contract platform globally. It supports countless decentralized applications, DeFi protocols, and NFT marketplaces. Additionally, it serves as the foundation for numerous tokenized real-world assets and corporate blockchain initiatives.

Ethereum (ETH) Price Ethereum transitioned to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, dramatically reducing energy consumption while enabling token holders to generate staking income. The platform boasts crypto’s most extensive developer base and maintains billions locked within DeFi protocols.

The primary challenges facing Ethereum include elevated transaction costs during network congestion and processing speeds that lag behind more recent blockchain platforms.

Solana emerged specifically to address these performance and affordability limitations. The network processes thousands of transactions every second while maintaining exceptionally low fees. This capability has positioned it as a preferred platform for gaming applications, payment systems, meme tokens, and consumer-oriented products.

Solana’s developer ecosystem has expanded rapidly. Institutional participation has increased significantly, with many industry observers considering it Ethereum’s primary long-term competitor.

Solana (SOL) Price The platform’s weaknesses include a comparatively smaller overall ecosystem and heavier reliance on sustained network expansion to support its valuation.

Evaluating Growth Trajectories and Risk Profiles Ethereum typically receives recognition as the more conservative option. It currently dominates in institutional acceptance, DeFi infrastructure, and asset tokenization. Should blockchain technology achieve deeper integration into worldwide financial systems, Ethereum stands well-positioned to capitalize.

Solana potentially offers greater appreciation prospects. The platform remains earlier along its development path. Should developers continue building applications and consumer adoption accelerate, potential gains could exceed Ethereum’s — though accompanying risks are similarly elevated.

These two blockchains address somewhat distinct market segments. Ethereum commands institutional finance and sophisticated decentralized applications. Solana has established dominance in rapid, cost-effective consumer transactions and decentralized exchange activity.

Certain investors perceive them as direct competitors for identical user bases. Others recognize them as fulfilling separate requirements and maintain exposure to both networks.

Single Position or Diversified Approach? Numerous long-term cryptocurrency investors maintain holdings in both Ethereum and Solana. The rationale centers on each ecosystem addressing different market areas. Dual ownership mitigates the risk associated with concentrating on a single blockchain while providing participation in each platform’s expansion.

For those preferring reduced volatility and proven infrastructure, Ethereum presents the more convincing case. For investors seeking elevated growth potential who can tolerate additional risk, Solana offers a persuasive proposition.

Both platforms will likely maintain prominent positions within digital assets. The optimal selection depends on individual objectives, risk capacity, and investment timeline.

Cryptocurrencies exhibit extreme price volatility. Conduct thorough independent research and invest only capital you can afford to lose completely.

Hedera Network Reportedly Hit by Exploit With Losses Climbing Past $5 Million

TLDR: Bitcoin ETF inflows reached $90.44 million on July 10, with BlackRock’s IBIT supplying nearly all the fresh capital entering U.S. spot funds. Spot Ethereum ETFs added $18.43 million during the same session, showing that regulated crypto demand extended beyond Bitcoin alone. Bitcoin traded above $64,000 and approached the key $65,000 resistance area as softer oil prices and a weaker dollar supported risk assets. Short-term holders remain underwater near higher cost bases, leaving the $71,000 to $77,500 region exposed to renewed selling pressure. U.S. spot funds attracted fresh capital as Bitcoin returned above $64,000. Bitcoin ETF inflows reached $90.44 million on July 10, Eastern Time, according to SoSoValue data. Spot Ethereum products added another $18.43 million during the same session.

The move marks another positive flow day after June delivered roughly $4 billion in Bitcoin ETF withdrawals. Bitcoin traded near $64,149, while Ethereum changed hands around $1,798. 

Both assets gained support from softer oil prices and a weaker U.S. dollar. Still, Bitcoin faces firm resistance near $65,000 as traders assess whether institutional demand can extend the rebound.

Bitcoin ETF Inflows Rise as BlackRock Controls the Session BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust generated $86.83 million of the daily total. VanEck’s HODL fund added $3.61 million, bringing combined Bitcoin ETF inflows to $90.44 million. IBIT has now attracted about $60.29 billion since launch, while HODL’s cumulative inflows stand near $1.14 billion.

U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs See $90.44 Million in Net Inflows; Ethereum ETFs Add $18.43 Million

According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of $90.44 million on July 10, Eastern Time, while U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded total net inflows of… pic.twitter.com/sAEX5gmh1b

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 11, 2026

The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market holds about $77.42 billion in total net assets. That equals roughly 6.05% of Bitcoin’s market value. Cumulative net inflows across the products have reached approximately $51.28 billion since trading began in January 2024.

The latest reading follows a difficult June for regulated Bitcoin funds. Investors withdrew around $4 billion during the month, setting the weakest monthly result since the products launched. A 10-day outflow run also removed about $2.73 billion before positive flows returned in early July.

Bitcoin ETF inflows now show selective demand rather than a broad rush into every product. The July 10 total came almost entirely from IBIT, with VanEck supplying the balance. This concentration shows that large investors still favor liquid funds with deep trading activity and competitive fees.

Ethereum ETF inflows were smaller but moved in the same direction. The $18.43 million daily addition represented about 10,550 ETH at prevailing prices. BlackRock’s ETHA attracted $16.20 million, while Fidelity’s FETH added $2.23 million.

ETF Demand Returns While Bitcoin Tests the $65K Barrier Bitcoin climbed above $64,000 and approached a three-week high as the dollar weakened. Lower crude prices also eased immediate inflation concerns, giving risk assets more room to recover. However, the rebound still needs stronger spot demand to support a sustained break above $65,000.

Short-term holder data presents another challenge. Buyers holding Bitcoin for one to six months remain about 15% underwater on average. The newest buyers hold a realized price near $61,600. The three-to-six-month group sits near $74,900.

Source: Cryptoquant That gap may create selling pressure during a stronger advance. Holders who bought near $70,000 could use a recovery to reduce losses. A break above $71,000 would improve the structure. The $73,200 to $77,500 area could attract heavier supply.

Bitcoin ETF inflows offer a stronger demand signal than leveraged futures activity. Yet negative apparent demand and a weak Coinbase premium still point to caution among U.S. spot buyers. Rising leverage could also expose the market to sharp liquidations if Bitcoin loses momentum below $64,000.

Analyst Axel Adler Jr. says short-term holder buying pressure has recently exceeded selling pressure. Buying scores ranged from 37% to 46% during June and July, while selling pressure stayed near 16%. Those conditions support a possible bounce, although older holders remain positioned to sell into higher prices.

Table of contents

When autonomous AI agents start executing trades, managing liquidity and settling contracts entirely on-chain, the question of what happens when a transaction goes wrong becomes urgent. Traditional legal systems move too slowly, and the cost of small-value claims often exceeds the amounts at stake. A consortium of 27 Web3 firms, including major exchange OKX, wallet provider MetaMask and zero-knowledge rollup builder Matter Labs, is now backing a decentralized “Internet Court” designed to handle disputes at machine speed. The initiative, led by the GenLayer Foundation, was detailed in a report picked up by WuBlockchain.

The Internet Court aims to build a system where AI-powered payments and escrow services can operate with an automated layer of dispute resolution. As agent-to-agent commerce expands, the need for a trust-minimized arbitration mechanism that can scale to millions of interactions per minute is no longer a theoretical exercise. The consortium wants to create an environment where AI agents can transact with each other, confident that if a smart contract fails or a counterparty behaves unexpectedly, resolution will not require human lawyers.

A Justice Layer for Autonomous Agents The core idea is to embed arbitration directly into the transaction flow, using cryptographic proofs, reputation scores and economic incentives to adjudicate conflicts without slow off-chain processes. OKX’s involvement suggests that major trading venues see AI-driven activity as a significant future volume driver. MetaMask’s participation indicates that wallet infrastructure will need to support agent identities and dispute flows natively. Matter Labs’ backing points to layer-2 networks grappling with the high throughput required to settle agent disputes economically.

The push to bring AI on-chain has already spurred collaborations such as initiatives to power scalable AI-driven Web3 applications using decentralized computing. The Internet Court is the next logical step: if agents can act autonomously, they also need a counterparty risk framework that doesn’t depend on human legal systems.

Developer activity remains concentrated on chains like Ethereum, BNB Chain and Polygon, as seen in recent ecosystem metrics, and these are the networks where AI agent commerce is most likely to scale. The Internet Court will probably need to integrate across multiple blockchains, which raises questions about interoperability standards and cross-chain evidence handling.

What Still Has to Be Solved The consortium’s ambition has clear limits. There is no legal recognition for such a court in any jurisdiction, and on-chain arbitration generally lacks the enforcement power of state-backed judicial systems. The Internet Court will likely rely on staking mechanisms and slashing conditions to enforce decisions, but that creates new attack surfaces. An adversarial AI agent could attempt to game the system by submitting false evidence or coordinating Sybil attacks on reputation models.

It also remains uncertain whether enterprises will integrate with a non-state arbitration layer without clear liability frameworks. Regulators have yet to address AI agent accountability in financial transactions, and until they do, institutional users may remain cautious. Still, the consortium’s size and the stature of its initial backers make it one of the more serious attempts to build infrastructure for the coming agentic economy.

Where This Fits in a Maturing On-Chain Economy The Internet Court isn’t happening in isolation. The push mirrors the maturation of on-chain settlement seen in traditional finance, where real-world asset tokenization recently crossed $20 billion and major institutions settled trades directly on-chain. As automated market participants proliferate, the need for a parallel dispute layer grows alongside. Whether the Internet Court becomes that default layer will depend on how well it handles edge cases, how quickly it can win over builders outside the initial consortium, and whether it can prove its resilience against the same adversarial dynamics it seeks to tame.

AUTHOR

Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.

Ethereum’s entire global network now consumes less energy in a year than a single mid-sized museum. That’s the kind of stat that makes you do a double-take, but the numbers from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance back it up.

The network’s annual electricity consumption sits at approximately 7.87 GWh as of mid-2026, with associated carbon emissions of just 2.37 ktCO2e. For context, that’s less than half what the British Museum uses annually to keep its lights on and its ancient artifacts properly climate-controlled.

From country-sized to museum-sized Before The Merge on September 15, 2022, Ethereum’s energy appetite was comparable to that of mid-sized countries. The network’s lifetime energy consumption from 2015 to 2022, its entire proof-of-work era, totaled about 58.26 TWh.

Then Ethereum switched from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. In English: it stopped requiring thousands of specialized computers to race each other solving math puzzles and instead let token holders validate transactions by putting their ETH up as collateral.

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The result was a reduction in energy use exceeding 99.98%.

Early projections after The Merge estimated annual consumption would land somewhere between 2.6 and 6.5 GWh. The actual figure of 7.87 GWh sits slightly above that initial range, which makes sense given the network’s validator set has grown steadily since the transition.

The CCAF data also reveals that the network’s continuous power draw amounts to roughly 0.90 MW.

The sustainability mix matters According to CCAF’s latest assessment, 56.4% of Ethereum’s electricity mix comes from sustainable sources.

The 2.37 ktCO2e in annual emissions reflects this cleaner energy mix.

What this means for investors The environmental narrative around crypto has been a persistent headache for institutional adoption. ESG-mandated funds, sovereign wealth managers, and corporate treasuries have repeatedly cited energy concerns as a barrier to crypto allocation. Bitcoin still faces this criticism regularly, with its proof-of-work consensus consuming energy on the scale of medium-sized nations.

Ethereum’s post-Merge energy profile effectively removes that objection from the conversation. A network using 7.87 GWh annually with majority-sustainable sourcing is, by any reasonable measure, not an environmental concern.

The CCAF data provides the kind of rigorous, third-party verification that compliance departments and institutional due diligence teams actually care about.

The steady growth in validators despite already-low energy consumption also signals something important about network health. Ethereum is attracting more participants to its consensus mechanism without proportionally scaling its energy footprint.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

According to monitoring by crypto analytics account Ai Yi, the combined 24-hour trading volume of SK Hynix-related contracts SKHX and SKHY on the Hyperliquid platform has reached $1.015 billion, surpassing Ethereum (ETH) to become the second-most active asset by trading volume on the platform. SKHX recorded a 24-hour trading volume of $698 million, with an open interest (OI) of $494 million; SKHY’s 24-hour trading volume stood at $317 million and its open interest was $117 million. Currently, SKHY still trades at a roughly 17% premium relative to SKHX.

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A whale shorted 1.11 million CASHCAT tokens on Hyperliquid.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a whale deposited approximately $450,000 into Hyperliquid. Within one hour of CASHCAT’s listing on Hyperliquid, the whale shorted 1.11 million CASHCAT tokens with 3x leverage, valued at $222,200. The entry price was $0.195336, liquidation price $0.531304, resulting in an unrealized loss of $4,400.

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CASHCAT's market capitalization briefly surpassed $200 million, surging over 22% intraday.

Per GMGN market data, CASHCAT, a meme coin on Robinhood Chain, briefly hit an all-time high in market capitalization, currently trading at $200 million with an intraday increase of over 20%. Meme coins are highly volatile, so investors should exercise caution regarding associated risks.

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The White House confirms Trump has 'emptied' the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The White House confirmed on the 10th that U.S. President Donald Trump has removed two incumbent members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from their posts. In a statement sent to media on the same day, the White House said the president "reserves the right to remove relevant personnel who may not be fully committed to safeguarding U.S. election security and ensuring every legal vote is counted." The statement did not give a specific reason for Trump's move. However, U.S. media reported that the Election Assistance Commission had rejected an executive order signed by Trump, which required voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship on the national voter registration form. (Xinhua News Agency)

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Hyperliquid launches CASHCAT futures trading, supporting up to 3x leverage.

Hyperliquid announces the launch of contract trading for the meme coin CASHCAT on Robinhood Chain, with support for up to 3x leverage.

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A crypto whale shorted Ethereum (ETH) with 25x leverage, holding a position worth $12.43 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale deposited approximately $500,000 into Hyperliquid to open a short position of 6,914 ETH (valued at $12.43 million) with 25x leverage. The entry price was $1,790.36, liquidation price stands at $1,825.58. The position currently has an unrealized loss of around $50,700, with only a 1.55% gap to liquidation.

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A trader has earned more than $1 million in profits on CASHCAT, achieving a staggering return of up to 1183 times.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader has reaped over $1 million in profits from CASHCAT. The trader spent 0.49 ETH (valued at $838) to purchase 15.04 million CASHCAT tokens, then sold them for 580 ETH (worth $1.04 million), generating a profit of over $1 million (a 1183x return). Had the trader held the tokens until now, the profit would have reached $2.9 million.

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