TLDR Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum is “really not just a blockchain anymore” in a Sept. 27 essay. His plan replaces repeated calculations with cryptographic proofs that confirm work was done correctly. Developers who split apps into separate tasks could pay less than those who bundle everything together. His 2030 vision sketches finality of about eight to 32 seconds, but this is a future design. The Hegota upgrade, planned for 2027, is likely Ethereum’s last “normal” fork. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network is changing into something bigger than a blockchain. He shared his views in an essay and a post on X on Sept. 27.
“It’s really not just a blockchain anymore,” Buterin wrote on X. The ledger will remain, but more of the network’s work would rely on cryptographic tools and outside infrastructure.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026
His essay lays out a vision for Ethereum in 2030. It includes faster finality, lighter verification and stronger privacy.
How Ethereum Could Split the Work Today, Ethereum participants download blocks and repeat the calculations to confirm the rules were followed. This process works, but it takes a lot of effort.
Buterin says the future design would replace much of that repeated work with cryptographic proofs and samples of data. Instead of redoing a whole calculation, participants would check proof that it was done correctly.
He said earlier attempts to split work across the network ran into problems. Assigning tasks was easy, but checking them reliably was not.
Committees used to check work added cost, delays and new risks. “Back then, this was not viable for one primary reason: the missing ingredient was verification,” Buterin wrote.
He argues that modern cryptography now provides that missing piece. As a result, decentralization could help the network store more data and handle more work at the same time.
What Changes for Developers Buterin also said not all computation should cost the same. Under his proposed design, developers would have reasons to break apps into separate tasks that can run at once.
An app that packs everything into one step-by-step transaction would cost more. An app built with independent parts that run together would cost less.
Some proofs and signatures would also be combined before they reach a block. This would reduce how much the chain has to process directly.
“When building applications, structure of computation is starting to matter a lot,” Buterin wrote. The chain would focus on changes that need shared ordering, while outside systems handle support work.
For users, the plan includes stronger promises that transactions get included, more privacy and easier node requirements. His 2030 outline puts finality at about eight to 32 seconds. Those numbers describe a future design, not something available today.
Buterin said there are still engineering hurdles. Proofs must become efficient and safe enough, and managing access to large amounts of stored app data is a harder problem.
He also mentioned obfuscation, a cryptographic method that could one day allow encrypted computing. He described it as a possibility, not a requirement for the nearer changes.
On speed, he set clear limits. “Ethereum itself will never have latency that competes with servers, but infrastructure built around it could,” he wrote.
Buterin said the Hegota upgrade, planned for 2027, is likely Ethereum’s last “normal” fork. By that he means one whose technology would look familiar to someone from 2015. After Hegota, he expects advanced proofs, formal verification and highly optimized consensus to lead development.
In a new essay, the Ethereum co-founder says upgrades after next year’s fork will turn the network into a hybrid of blockchain and advanced cryptography, with 4- to 8-second slots by 2030.
Vitalik Buterin: Hegota likely Ethereum's last "normal" fork
Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images for TechCrunch via flickr.com
Posted September 28, 2026 at 6:17 am EST.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network’s upgrades will change in kind once Hegota ships next year, with each later fork centered on proofs and other advanced cryptography.
In a blog post published Sunday and shared on X, titled “The cryptographic world computer,” Buterin wrote that Hegota is likely to be the network’s last “normal” fork. “Everything after that involves recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, highly optimized consensus algorithms, and making it all quantum-safe,” he wrote.
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A Hybrid System Buterin argued that a future Ethereum will be called a blockchain “to a large extent for historical reasons.” In practice, he wrote, it will combine Bitcoin’s founding ideas with cryptographic tools drawn from 50 years of academic research, some of which were not mature when Bitcoin launched in 2009.
He annotated the Bitcoin whitepaper section by section. Nodes that now download and re-execute every block would instead sample data through PeerDAS and check a SNARK, a short proof that a computation was done correctly. Blocks built by a single miner or proposer would give way to construction split among multiple parties.
A comparison table in the post puts Ethereum in 2030 at roughly 4 to 8 seconds per slot and 8 to 32 seconds to finality, against about 17 seconds per block and around 200 seconds for 12 confirmations in 2015.
Decentralization as a Performance Gain The most important shift, Buterin wrote, is that decentralization is moving from “purely a burden incurred in the name of safety and robustness” to, in limited cases, a source of speed. A spread-out network can store data and run computation in parallel, he said.
Early Ethereum designs tried to split up work this way but could not check each piece was done correctly. “Now, with modern cryptography, this problem is solved, and the overhead factor of that solution is decreasing month by month,” he wrote.
Developers will face new incentives too, since computation crammed into one serial transaction will cost more than work split into parallel pieces.
Making zero-knowledge proofs efficient and safe is hard but “already being heavily optimized with AI tools,” he wrote, while handling huge volumes of state and letting many processes read and write it at once is likely the harder task.
The essay builds on “Lean Ethereum,” the rebuild Buterin has said would take three to four years and rival the Merge in scope, and on the strawmap roadmap Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake introduced in February.
Further out, Buterin said practical program obfuscation could bring “one further shift,” though the essay’s conclusions “will apply long before any of that becomes available.”
Related Listen: Zcash, Ethereum, Aztec, Canton and More: Which Chain Will Win the Privacy Race?
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
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.
Leading cryptocurrencies stagnated on Sunday as investors weighed ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations alongside a series of anticipated macroeconomic data.
Crypto Rally HaltsBitcoin slipped below $84,000 Sunday evening after briefly topping $85,000 earlier in the day. Ethereum wobbled between $2,667 and $2,720, while Dogecoin inched higher.
Over $190 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, split nearly evenly between long and short positions, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin’s open interest fell 0.50% over the last 24 hours and more than 11% over the past week. Binance whale derivatives traders flipped “Bullish” on BTC, while the retail crowd remained “Neutral.”
“Greed” sentiment prevailed in the market, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.97 trillion, down 0.60% over the last 24 hours.
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Stock Futures SlideStock futures ticked lower late Sunday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures fell 152 points, or 0.30%, as of 8:49 p.m. EDT. S&P 500 futures slid 0.21%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 0.19%.
President Donald Trump said he had rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end fighting, but hopes the two sides will reach an agreement before or after the midterms.
A busy week of key economic data lies ahead, with the August personal consumption expenditure price index due on Wednesday and the September jobs report on Friday.
What Lies Ahead for Bitcoin?Michaël van de Poppe, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, identified $84,800 as the key resistance Bitcoin must break to resume its upward grind.
“If that breaks, I think that we’ll see a continuation towards the $90,000 levels,” Van De Poppe added.
Chartered Market Technician Aksel Kibar noted that Bitcoin’s weekly candle near $84,000-$85,000 “does not look like a decisive breakout.”
“Hesitant price action here can result in price returning inside the range,” the analyst added.
Opinion: The practicality of liquidation heatmaps is vastly overestimated, and they should not play a major role in trading systems.
Benson Sun, founder of Coinkarma, says the practical value of liquidation heatmaps is vastly overestimated. Many traders now spot a large cluster of liquidations at a certain price level and immediately interpret it as "the price will definitely go to sweep this area". However, liquidation charts themselves rely heavily on assumptions. Most liquidation heatmaps work by taking historical market trading data and plugging in a set of hypothetical leverage multiples—such as 5x, 10x, 20x, 30x, and 50x—to reverse-engineer the price levels where those positions "might" be liquidated after trading. As a result, the dense liquidation zones users see do not actually represent an identical number of positions waiting to be liquidated there; too many variables are at play. Those traders may have already exited their positions. Some may add to their positions, some may reduce them, and others may top up margin. As long as position size, margin, or average cost changes, the liquidation heatmap shifts. The longer the time frame, the larger this error becomes. Therefore, the most useful window for liquidation heatmaps is roughly the last 24 hours to 3 days. Using liquidation clusters from 7 days, 30 days, or even months ago as current "magnet price levels" is meaningless. Liquidation heatmaps can serve as auxiliary information for short-term market structure analysis, but they should not play a major role in a trading system, as they easily create a false sense of certainty. There will always be liquidation clusters above and below the price. When prices rise, it is said they will first sweep the short positions above; when prices fall, it is said they will first sweep the long positions below; if prices fall first then rise, it is said they will first sweep longs then shorts. In any case, there is an after-the-fact explanation, and it is hard to falsify beforehand—this makes it not an analytical tool, but pure pseudoscience.
16 minutes ago
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed to 5.234%, marking its highest level since mid-2007.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield has risen to 5.234%, hitting its highest level since mid-2007. The 30-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.542%, the highest since 2004. This indicates a significant rise in the market’s pricing of long-term risk, with growing concerns over persistent inflation, the Federal Reserve’s maintenance of high interest rates, as well as massive fiscal deficits and debt sustainability. Long-term borrowing costs for governments, corporations and consumers have been pushed up, which typically suppresses stock market valuations, tightens global financial conditions, and may curb economic growth to some extent. For more analysis, see the article "U.S. Long and Short-Term Treasury Yield Curves Nearing Inversion: Is a Recession Precursor Signal Activated?"
16 minutes ago
OKX's Flash Earn Lite adds Tether USDT; subscribe to ETH to share the 400,000 USDT reward pool.
Official announcement: OKX Flash Earn Lite will launch a Tether USDT "Stake-to-Earn" campaign from 15:00 UTC+8 on September 29, 2026 to 15:00 UTC+8 on October 4, 2026. During the event, users who subscribe ETH will be eligible to split a total of 400,000 USDT in airdrop rewards, with a minimum subscription threshold of 0.01 ETH. Pre-subscriptions will open at 15:00 UTC+8 on September 28. Users will earn simple interest during the pre-subscription period, while USDT airdrop rewards will be calculated from the official start of the event. Rewards are accrued hourly, and users can redeem their funds at any time; any ETH not actively redeemed after the event concludes will automatically continue to be subscribed to OKX's simple earning products.
16 minutes ago
Kimi K3.1 is reportedly in the backend deployment stage: Kimi-K3-1 has passed call tests, bringing it one step closer to its official release.
News flash from Dongcha Beating AI: AI model evaluation account Lumina said it discovered 'kimi-k3-1' in an official product model list from Kimi. Lumina subsequently tested each model individually; all other invalid models returned errors, while kimi-k3-1 was recognized by the backend and accepted requests.
16 minutes ago
Community members disclosed that the Compound Foundation misappropriated v2 DAI reserves.
Compound community member ugurmersin has alleged that the Compound Foundation misappropriated its v2 DAI reserves. According to ugurmersin, Proposal 536 submitted in February this year allocated approximately 8.42 million DAI to the Foundation for custody, with strict restrictions: the funds must be used solely for protocol operations, not for speculative trading, remain the property of the DAO, and cannot be used for the Foundation’s own expenditures. On-chain records show that the funds were transferred to a trading platform, exchanged for around 344,800 COMP, and delegated to the Foundation’s voting address roughly 58 minutes before the deadlines of Proposals 580 and 582. ugurmersin claims this move was intended to push nearly all DAO funds into TMC and pass a roughly $52 million V4 proposal favorable to the Foundation, while multiple parties publicly referred to the funds as "liquidity DAI" throughout the process. The Compound Foundation has not yet responded to the allegations.
16 minutes ago
Binance to List 5 New Stock Trading Assets Including BRUN
Binance’s stock trading will launch five new assets at 21:30 today, namely Boost Run (BRUN), Greenland Mines (GRML), Octave Intelligence (OCTV), StablecoinX (USDE), and Wise Group (WSE). Following the completion of trading and settlement (T+1 trading day), these stocks will qualify for Full Payment Securities Lending (FPSL).
Hyperliquid generated $1.11 million in priority fee revenue this week.
Hyperliquid’s priority fee revenue reached $1.11 million this week. If priority fees were treated as a standalone protocol, its revenue would rank 36th across the entire network, right behind Dexscreener and Lighter. Hyperliquid’s priority fees are extra payments traders make to get their orders processed and filled faster, used to secure priority execution or front-run trades during periods of network congestion.
24 minutes ago
NVIDIA brings AI Agent security down to the chip level, delivering millisecond isolation for boundary breaches.
Beating AI Express News: NVIDIA has launched the Open Agent Safety Platform, composed of two components: OpenShell and Sentry. OpenShell sets permission boundaries for AI agents, while Sentry deploys monitoring and isolation on the BlueField-4 chip. If an agent crosses its boundaries, it can be isolated in milliseconds. OpenShell was open-sourced earlier, and can be directly applied to existing agents such as Claude Code and Codex without modifying the agents themselves. It restricts file access, network connections, tool calls, and credential usage, and enforces these rules during agent operation. Sentry is the newly added hardware security layer. It operates independently of agents, continuously monitoring agent behavior, tool calls, and data access, and handling threat detection and security policy enforcement. Even if an agent malfunctions, security control remains under the external hardware. Jensen Huang noted that over 100 industry partners are currently participating in the platform, including Anthropic, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAP, SpaceX, CrowdStrike, and Palantir. As agents start running continuously for hours or even days and interacting with code, tools, and enterprise data, NVIDIA is shifting security boundaries from within the model to the system and chip layers that the model cannot directly control.
24 minutes ago
Bitget’s Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals are now open, with processing running smoothly; the first batch of around 6,900 transactions has completed on-chain confirmation.
Bitget opened Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawal services as scheduled at 16:00 (UTC+8) today. In a community live stream, Bitget CEO Gracy shared the latest progress in the initial recovery phase: BTC withdrawal channels are operating smoothly, with the first batch of withdrawal requests processed and credited to users’ accounts. According to real-time data disclosed during the live stream, as of 16:50 (UTC+8), the platform has processed approximately 7,683 BTC withdrawal applications, totaling around 3,609 BTC, with no order backlog. Among these, roughly 6,946 withdrawal requests have been confirmed on the blockchain, while remaining applications are being processed in an orderly manner. Per the previously announced timeline, withdrawals for Ethereum (ETH) related networks will open at 16:00 (UTC+8) on September 29; withdrawals for Tether (USDT) related networks will open at 16:00 (UTC+8) on September 30; withdrawals for other tokens, fiat, and C2C services will resume gradually starting at 16:00 (UTC+8) on October 2.
24 minutes ago
Kioxia trades at $113.6 after stock split adjustment, with the largest new position being a short order.
On Hyperliquid, the KIOXIA contract is trading at $113.61, with an open interest nominal value of approximately $1.46 million. The contract completed a 1-for-3 split adjustment today; after old positions were uniformly settled and existing orders canceled, trading resumed. Following the reference price adjustment for the split, the current 24-hour decline stands at around 6.19%. The first post-resumption trade occurred at 16:11 at $114.93; as of press time, the trading range is $112.10–$124.04, and the current price is roughly 1.15% lower than that first trade. Among the top three directional KIOXIA positions since trading resumed, two are short positions totaling ~$585,000: one short position of ~$374,000 with an average entry price of $113.24 (0x4c78…), and another short position of ~$211,000 with an average entry price of $113.16 (0xfe7c…). The long position totals ~$178,000 with an average entry price of $113.43 (0xcd4e…). Prior update: KIOXIA’s 1-for-3 split triggered on-chain uniform settlement, with the largest long position exiting at a loss just before breaking even.
24 minutes ago
NVIDIA releases open-source AI agent security platform OpenShell 0.1.0
Beating AI News Flash: NVIDIA (NVDA) has officially launched the open-source AI agent runtime platform OpenShell 0.1.0. The platform aims to establish security boundaries and runtime controls outside workloads without modifying the AI agent’s own code. OpenShell integrates technologies including kernel-level sandbox execution, external oversight services, external credential injection, and formal policy verification, supporting fine-grained interception of HTTP, GraphQL, and MCP network traffic (e.g., allowing data reads while blocking write operations) and preventing sensitive credential leaks. Additionally, the platform features a built-in formal logic policy analyzer that can block AI agents from bypassing permission checks via adversarial prompts. Currently, OpenShell supports mainstream frameworks such as Codex and Claude Code, and is applied in sectors including chip design, enterprise automation, and robotics.
24 minutes ago
Meme coin Super Inu (SI) has surged past a $20 million market cap, posting a 27.6% gain in the past 24 hours.
According to GMGN market data, the Solana-based meme coin Super Inu (SI) has exceeded $20 million in market capitalization, and is currently priced at $18 million, with a 27.6% 24-hour gain. Earlier reports noted that during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump proposed renaming artificial intelligence to "Super Intelligence" and called for all U.S. documents to use "Super Intelligence" to refer to AI. Super Inu (SI) takes tokenized U.S. stock NVDAX (Nvidia’s tokenized stock on xStocks) as its liquidity pool base, providing liquidity via the SI/NVDAX trading pair. BlockBeats reminds users that related tokens experience high price volatility, so investors should exercise caution.
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.
USDT Replaces Native Tokens for Gas PaymentsBinance Wallet has resolved one of the more persistent friction points in self-custody crypto: the need to hold a network's native token just to pay gas. The wallet now accepts USDT as a direct payment method for network fees, covering BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and TRON.
The practical effect is straightforward. Previously, moving funds on BNB Smart Chain generally required $BNB in the wallet, Ethereum transactions needed ETH, Solana needed SOL, and TRON needed TRX. A user holding USDT but short on the relevant gas token could find themselves unable to send funds they already controlled. That problem is now addressed for supported transactions on those four chains.
It is worth noting that the update does not eliminate the underlying blockchain fee. Validators and other network participants still receive the network charge required to process the transaction. Binance handles the conversion on the user's behalf, deducting the equivalent cost in USDT rather than requiring the native token upfront. Binance states in its support documentation that none of the network fee goes to Binance itself. The company calculates the fee based on current blockchain conditions at the time of the transaction.
TRON Promotion Adds a Zero-Fee WindowThe rollout on TRON comes with an additional incentive. Starting September 23, eligible users sending USDT and other TRC-20 tokens through Binance Wallet can receive zero gas fees entirely, under a campaign that runs through December 22, 2026. The offer is backed by TRON DAO and depends on available campaign spots, so it is not guaranteed indefinitely for every user. Once the promotional window closes, qualifying transfers shift to a discounted fee of 1 USDT per transaction.
Binance has confirmed that more blockchain networks will receive USDT gas support in future, though no specific rollout timetable has been provided. The feature is part of a broader series of updates to the wallet since it was rebranded from Binance Web3 Wallet in December 2024.
Sources:
crypto.news: Binance Wallet adds USDT gas fees on 4 networks
Crypto Briefing: Binance Wallet lets users pay gas fees in USDT across four major networks
USDT can now cover gas through Binance Wallet on four networks. The estimated network fee is shown before a transaction is confirmed. TRON currently has a separate zero-fee promotion for eligible transfers. Binance Wallet has added a way for users to pay blockchain transaction fees with USDT instead of first acquiring the network’s native gas token, removing a familiar obstacle for stablecoin transfers.
The option is available on BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, Solana and TRON. Users with USDT in Binance Wallet can select it as their network fee payment method through the wallet’s Network Fee Payer interface.
The update does not change how those blockchains charge for transactions. Its practical value is simpler: a wallet containing USDT but no ETH, BNB, SOL or TRX may no longer need a separate native-token transfer before the user can move funds.
How to Pay Gas With USDT in Binance Wallet The new payment option appears when the user selects how the network fee will be funded.
For TRON transfers, Binance’s published instructions show the process beginning with Send, followed by selecting the destination, token and recipient address. When signing the transaction, the user opens Network Fee Payer, chooses USDT and then confirms.
BINANCE WALLET
Paying a Network Fee With USDT
1
Prepare the transfer
Tap Send, select the token and enter the destination.
2
Choose the fee payer
Open Network Fee Payer when signing the transaction.
3
Pay with USDT
Select USDT, review the estimated network fee and confirm.
Supported: BNB Smart Chain · Ethereum · Solana · TRON
Binance’s support documentation says that if neither USDT in the wallet nor another supported fee-payment method is available, users still need to obtain a suitable gas token or USDT before completing the transaction.
Why This Solves a Real Stablecoin Problem A wallet balance and a spendable wallet balance are not always the same thing in crypto.
Someone can receive USDT on Ethereum and still be unable to send it without ETH for gas. The equivalent problem occurs when a user has tokens on BNB Smart Chain without BNB or on Solana without SOL.
That can produce an unnecessary second transaction: acquire a small amount of the native asset, transfer it into the wallet and only then send the asset the user originally wanted to move.
Binance Wallet’s new option removes that intermediate step when USDT fee payment is available.
The feature is particularly relevant to stablecoin users because they may have little reason to maintain small balances of several native assets when moving USDT between different networks.
Does Paying Gas in USDT Cost More? There is no single USDT gas price across the four supported networks.
Binance says network fees are dynamic and depend on blockchain conditions, with the wallet calculating an estimated fee based on current network conditions. Its documentation does not disclose a universal percentage markup for using USDT as the fee-payment asset. Binance
That means the USDT option should not automatically be described as cheaper than paying with the native asset.
ETHEREUM
USDT instead of ETH
BNB SMART CHAIN
USDT instead of BNB
SOLANA
USDT instead of SOL
TRON
USDT instead of TRX
The payment option does not change each blockchain’s underlying fee mechanism.
For readers trying the feature, the relevant number is therefore the estimated USDT cost displayed before confirmation, rather than an assumed conversion rate or fixed surcharge.
What Happens If There Is Not Enough USDT? Selecting USDT does not remove the requirement to have enough value available to cover the fee.
Binance says that when a wallet lacks sufficient native gas tokens, users can choose USDT from Binance Wallet or, where available, use supported assets from their Binance Exchange Account. If none of the available sources contains sufficient supported funds, additional gas tokens or USDT must be obtained before the transaction can proceed.
This makes checking the confirmation screen particularly important when someone is attempting to move most of a wallet’s available funds.
TRON Gets a Separate Zero-Fee Window TRON currently comes with an additional incentive.
From September 23 through December 22, 2026, Binance Wallet is offering zero gas fees on eligible transfers of USDT and other TRC-20 tokens through the wallet, subject to limited availability. Binance says the initiative is supported by TRON DAO.
After the promotional period, Binance says discounted transfer fees of 1 USDT per transaction will apply.
TRON PROMOTION
0 Gas Fees
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Promo period
Sep. 23 – Dec. 22, 2026
After promotion
1 USDT / transfer
The promotion should not be confused with the broader USDT gas feature. Zero-fee treatment applies to the specified TRON promotion, while Ethereum, Solana and BNB Smart Chain continue to have network-dependent transaction costs.
USDT Is the Payment Method, Not the Native Gas Token There is one technical limitation readers need to know.
Ethereum has not replaced ETH with USDT for protocol-level gas, and the same principle applies to the native fee mechanics of the other supported networks.
Binance Wallet is handling the fee-payment process for the user. Binance’s documentation says network fees ultimately go to the blockchain network rather than Binance and explains that Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain use network-dependent gas pricing, Solana has its own fee mechanics, while TRON operates through a bandwidth-and-energy resource model.
That distinction explains how Binance can present the same USDT payment option across technically different networks without those networks adopting a common fee token.
For users, however, the result is considerably simpler.
They can hold the asset they intend to transfer, choose USDT to cover the fee where supported, inspect the cost and confirm, without first stopping to source a small balance of another cryptocurrency.
That is a modest technical abstraction with a very practical outcome: having USDT in a wallet is less likely to leave a user unable to move it.
Alexander Zdravkov is a crypto journalist and market analyst specializing in digital assets, blockchain technology, and the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. He entered the industry more than four years ago, drawn to the speed of innovation in crypto and the potential of blockchain-based financial systems to reshape traditional markets. His work focuses on understanding the forces behind crypto market movements, from Bitcoin and altcoin cycles to institutional adoption, regulation, exchange-traded products, stablecoins, DeFi, and emerging blockchain ecosystems. Rather than simply following price action, Alexander looks at liquidity, investor positioning, market structure, and macroeconomic conditions to identify developing trends and explain what they could mean for digital assets. With a degree in International Relations, he brings a broader perspective to cryptocurrency coverage by connecting developments in the sector with monetary policy, geopolitics, regulation, and global capital flows. This allows him to examine crypto not as an isolated market, but as an increasingly interconnected part of the global financial system. Over the course of more than five years in financial journalism, Alexander has written over 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, blockchain, traditional markets, and the global economy. His reporting spans Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, DeFi protocols, institutional crypto adoption, regulation, market infrastructure, security incidents, and major developments shaping the wider digital asset industry. His approach is centered on giving readers context behind the numbers and headlines, explaining not only what is happening in crypto markets, but why it matters and what could come next.
According to Bitget market data, spot silver plunged 5% on the day, currently trading at $61.17 per ounce. Spot gold fell nearly 3% on the day, now at $4,163.08 per ounce.
10 minutes ago
Jensen Huang will meet with Lee Jae-yong and Choi Tae-won today, with the industry closely focusing on HBM-related topics.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will meet again with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won in New York on the 28th local time. The meeting comes about two months after the trio’s gathering in San Francisco in July, as Samsung Electronics accelerates its cooperation with Nvidia in this sector. According to a business source on the 27th, Lee and Choi plan to attend the annual dinner of the Korean Association in New York at 6 PM on the 28th. Huang will attend the event as the recipient of this year’s Van Fleet Award. The industry’s key focus for this meeting is high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Sources said Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Division Vice Chairman Jeong Yong-hyun met with Huang during the latter’s June visit to South Korea, where the two sides discussed long-term cooperation on next-generation HBM such as HBM4E and HBM5. The New York meeting may also cover wafer foundry services and advanced packaging—areas where Samsung holds a competitive advantage. It is learned that Jeong and Huang also discussed next-generation wafer foundry cooperation during their June talks.
10 minutes ago
Bitget hackers are converting ETH to BTC via THORChain.
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, the Bitget hacker who stole $351.6 million is now converting ETH to BTC via THORChain.
10 minutes ago
A certain crypto whale converted its NEAR long position to spot amid funding rate pressure.
According to TradingBeats monitoring, a large crypto whale is adjusting its NEAR holdings by closing out NEAR perpetual contract long positions in batches while simultaneously purchasing an equivalent amount of NEAR spot. The whale currently holds around 738,700 NEAR spot tokens, valued at $3.8008 million (address: 0x089f). On September 23, the whale held approximately 1.1834 million NEAR perpetual contract long positions, with an average entry price of $4.468, and its earliest visible leverage setting was 1x. Since September 25, it has executed multiple rounds of futures-to-spot position swaps. Today, it launched a 24-hour Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP) plan for 400,000 NEAR tokens; the plan is about 53% complete, with roughly 188,000 tokens remaining to be traded. The remaining contract long positions are valued at $2.2877 million, with an unrealized profit of $301,800. The whale’s total combined exposure from NEAR spot and contracts remains around 1.1832 million tokens, close to its prior position size. The whale has paid a net funding fee of approximately $12,300 for its NEAR contract positions in this round. By closing long positions and buying equivalent spot, it retains its original bullish exposure, likely to reduce ongoing funding fee costs. If the current TWAP plan continues, it is scheduled to end around 02:12 tomorrow. Additionally, the whale still holds a large amount of ZEC spot, valued at roughly $13.9824 million, with plans to sell between $1,725 and $1,775.
10 minutes ago
Strategy's Special General Meeting of Shareholders Scheduled to Be Held Online on October 28
Strategy announced that its special general meeting will be held online at 10:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) on October 28, with September 25 as the record date for common stockholders to cast votes. If approved and regulatory filings completed, the proposal will move forward. Earlier, Strategy stated it plans to adjust the dividends of STRF, STRC, STRK and STRD to daily accrual, a measure that will be put to a vote at the upcoming general meeting.
PANews reported on September 28 that, according to SoSoValue data, the crypto market sectors were mixed, with the RWA sector performing relatively well, up 4.24% in 24 hours. Among them, Ondo Finance (ONDO) rose 6.16% and Sky (SKY) rose 4.25%. However, Bitcoin (BTC) fell 0.97%, dropping below $84,000; Ethereum (ETH) fell 1.59%, dropping below $2,700.
In other sectors, the Meme sector rose 0.21% in 24 hours, with Pump.fun (PUMP) up 16.14% within the sector; the CeFi sector rose 0.16%, with NEXO (NEXO) up 0.34%.
In addition, the Layer2 sector fell 0.23%, but SOON (SOON) rose 31.65%; the Layer1 sector fell 0.25%, with Zcash (ZEC) down 4.60%; the DeFi sector fell 1.42%, with SoSoValue (SOSO) bucking the trend to rise 9.67%; the PayFi sector fell 1.60%, with Telcoin (TEL) surging 9.52% intraday.
The crypto sector indices reflecting historical sector performance showed that the ssiRWA, ssiNFT, and ssiSocialFi indices rose 5.10%, 2.99%, and 1.27%, respectively.
Hegotá could mark the end of Ethereum upgrades built primarily around familiar blockchain architecture. Cryptographic proofs could let specialized machines perform different work without forcing every node to reproduce it. The same architecture expands Ethereum’s roadmap beyond scaling into privacy, formal verification and quantum-resistant security. Vitalik Buterin thinks Ethereum is approaching a point where calling it a blockchain will no longer fully describe how the network works.
In a September 27 essay, the Ethereum co-founder describes its destination as a “cryptographic world computer”. Instead of requiring every node to download the same data and repeat the same computation, specialized machines could perform different tasks while cryptographic proofs allow the rest of the network to verify their work.
Buterin places a surprisingly clear marker on that transition. He expects Hegotá in 2027 to be Ethereum’s last “normal” fork, after which technologies including recursive STARKs, formal verification and more specialized distributed computation would play a much larger role.
The ambition is not simply higher throughput. Ethereum would change how it establishes that computation is correct.
Ethereum’s Expensive Habit: Repeating Work Redundancy is one of a blockchain’s core security mechanisms.
Ethereum nodes independently check network activity rather than trusting the computer that originally processed it. That provides strong verification, but creates a structural limitation: adding more machines does not proportionally increase processing capacity when those machines largely repeat one another’s work.
Buterin’s proposed architecture changes the division of labor.
A specialized machine can perform expensive computation and generate a cryptographic proof showing that the result followed the required rules. Other nodes can then verify the much smaller proof instead of reproducing the entire workload.
Ethereum is already applying a related principle to data availability through PeerDAS, where nodes can sample portions of blob data instead of every participant downloading everything.
Buterin’s 2030 vision takes that concept much further.
Traditional Execution vs. the Cryptographic World Computer The visual below is designed as a compact two-column comparison on desktop and remains readable on narrow screens without horizontal scrolling.
Ethereum’s architectural shift
From repeating the work to proving the result
Traditional execution
Everyone repeats everything
HIGH REDUNDANCY
Transaction + Data
↓
NODE A
Downloads
Executes
NODE B
Downloads
Executes
NODE C
Downloads
Executes
Security comes from multiple nodes independently reproducing the computation.
BUTERIN’S SHIFT ↓
Cryptographic world computer
Heavy work is separated from verification
PROOF-BASED
Prover
Runs the computation
Heavy execution happens here.
→
STARK Proof
Compact evidence
Shows the computation was valid.
↓
Ethereum nodes
Verify the proof
NODE A ✓
NODE B ✓
NODE C ✓
The difference:
nodes no longer need to reproduce the full workload to check that it was executed correctly. A compact cryptographic proof can carry that assurance.
Decentralization Could Become Computing Capacity The consequences go beyond making verification cheaper.
Historically, decentralization has imposed a performance cost. A centralized system can assign different jobs to different machines efficiently because it controls the infrastructure and trusts the results.
A blockchain cannot make the same assumption.
Ethereum’s earlier sharding designs attempted to distribute workloads across committees of validators, but the approach introduced coordination, security and latency challenges.
Proof systems offer another route.
If a machine can demonstrate cryptographically that it performed its assigned computation correctly, Ethereum does not need every other machine to redo that computation before accepting the result.
Buterin argues that this could eventually turn Ethereum’s large decentralized network into a source of processing capacity. Machines could specialize, perform tasks in parallel and return independently verifiable outputs.
Decentralization would no longer mean thousands of computers behaving primarily as replicas.
They could begin behaving as workers.
Ethereum Apps Could Be Designed Around Parallelism That architecture would change what developers optimize.
Gas remains the immediate constraint for Ethereum applications, but Buterin expects parallelizability to become increasingly important.
Some computations are inherently sequential. One operation must finish before the next can begin, limiting how much additional hardware can accelerate the process.
Other workloads can be divided into independent components and processed simultaneously.
Applications designed around the second model could take advantage of distributed computation, then combine the results and provide proofs that the work was performed correctly.
The implication is practical: developers may eventually care not only about how much computation an application requires, but how easily that computation can be divided.
Ethereum itself can concentrate on the operations where canonical ordering and global agreement remain necessary.
Privacy Moves Into the Infrastructure Buterin applies the cryptographic model to another problem that raw transaction throughput does not solve: privacy.
Zero-knowledge systems can already prove statements without exposing all the information behind them. But transaction contents are only one source of leakage.
Users can reveal information before they ever submit a transaction.
A wallet querying a centralized RPC service about an address, for example, can expose which accounts that user is interested in. Similar metadata can emerge from interactions with other centralized pieces of blockchain infrastructure.
Buterin’s longer-term architecture pushes privacy deeper into the network, allowing information to be retrieved, processed or verified with less disclosure to infrastructure providers.
He also discusses indistinguishability obfuscation, or iO, as a more speculative technology.
If practical, iO could support generalized encrypted computation, including encrypted mempools and programs whose sensitive internal logic remains hidden while still producing verifiable results.
Buterin does not make the 2030 roadmap dependent on iO. Technologies such as STARKs are much closer to practical deployment.
The broader direction is toward privacy becoming an infrastructure property rather than something applications bolt on afterward.
Hegotá Could Be Ethereum’s Last Familiar Fork Buterin places Hegotá in 2027 at the boundary between two eras of Ethereum development.
He describes it as likely to be the final “normal” fork, meaning the last major upgrade whose underlying technologies would still look broadly recognizable to an Ethereum developer familiar with the network’s earlier architecture.
After that, the roadmap becomes substantially more cryptographic.
Buterin points toward recursive STARKs, highly optimized consensus mechanisms, automated formal verification and eventually quantum-resistant security.
Each solves a different problem.
Recursive proofs can compress layers of verification into increasingly small proofs. More specialized consensus can reduce the work required to establish agreement. Quantum resistance addresses a longer-term threat to cryptographic assumptions underlying today’s networks.
A proof system can establish that computation followed a particular program. It cannot guarantee that the program itself contains the rules developers intended.
Formal verification uses mathematical methods to test that relationship.
As Ethereum places more responsibility on cryptographic verification, proving that critical protocol software behaves according to specification becomes increasingly important.
The Base Layer Could Shrink Relative to Everything Around It Ethereum would still need blocks under Buterin’s model.
Consensus remains necessary to establish canonical state. Ordering remains necessary where operations depend on one another. Data availability remains necessary so participants can independently verify what happened.
What changes is the amount of work those blocks have to represent directly.
Specialized machines could perform computation. Distributed infrastructure could handle more data.
Cryptographic proofs could compress evidence that large workloads were executed correctly. Privacy systems could prevent parts of that information from becoming universally visible.
Ethereum’s base layer becomes the coordination and verification core of a much larger computational environment.
That produces a different scaling metric.
The important number is no longer simply how many transactions Ethereum can squeeze into a block.
It is how much externally performed computation a relatively small amount of Ethereum data can securely verify.
That is the distinction behind Buterin’s new terminology.
The original “world computer” suggested a shared machine replicated across thousands of participants.
A “cryptographic world computer” can consist of many machines performing different jobs, connected by proofs rather than by the requirement that everyone reproduce everyone else’s work.
Ethereum could therefore process dramatically more activity while asking its base layer to directly perform proportionally less of it.
If Buterin’s roadmap succeeds, that may become Ethereum’s most important scaling achievement: not making every node dramatically more powerful, but making it unnecessary for every node to do the same job.
Alex is a financial markets journalist and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, and he's spent close to ten years trying to answer one stubborn question: what's really driving this? It started in 2016, when Bitcoin refused to make sense to him - and rather than shrug, he stayed with it until it did. That patience became his method. He's less interested in what an asset is doing today than in the plumbing behind it: how liquidity flows, where risk hides, what a chart is quietly telling you that the headline isn't. That lens eventually stretched well past crypto into traditional markets, because the same forces - fear, leverage, incentives, timing - show up everywhere once you know how to look. Most coverage, in his view, insults the reader by stopping at the surface. Price up, price down, moving on. He'd rather leave someone genuinely understanding a move than merely informed that it happened. His path into markets ran through a Tourism degree at New Bulgarian University - proof, maybe, that curiosity beats credentials. With more than 200 deep analyses and over 10,000 articles behind him, he still walks away from most trading days having learned something he didn't know that morning.
Peter Brandt, a veteran commodities trader known for his technical analysis, has identified a potential long-term price target for Ethereum based on recent chart patterns. Brandt shared a chart on September 21 highlighting CME Ether futures, suggesting that Ethereum could eventually reach approximately $8,600, provided the cryptocurrency first decisively clears the $5,000 mark.
Technical setup detailsBrandt’s chart specifically notes a level near $8,674.50 as a possible destination for Ethereum if bullish momentum carries the price above $5,000. This scenario, according to Brandt, remains a conditional target rather than a short-term expectation.
At Ethereum’s current valuation near $2,688, reaching the $5,000 threshold would require the asset to rise by about 86%. Surpassing that, a move towards $8,600 would equate to more than tripling the current price.
Brandt argues that the technical setup becomes relevant only once Ethereum convincingly breaks through the $5,000 level, highlighting $8,600 as a potential long-term target under those conditions.
Ethereum has faced persistent resistance in the $2,775 to $2,825 range after climbing above $2,661 earlier in the month. Technical analysts have noted that a sustained break above this zone could shift focus to the $3,000 to $3,050 range in the near term.
Recent price analyses have emphasized $2,800 as a critical short-term breakout level. Previous technical outlooks for ETH mapped a path toward $3,050 if positive momentum continued, reinforcing the idea that Brandt’s $8,600 target should be seen as a long-term projection rather than an imminent move.
Investment flows and exchange supplyBetween September 21 and September 24, US spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered approximately $576 million in net inflows over four consecutive sessions. Despite this robust capital inflow, ETH was unable to maintain prices above $2,800.
Coinpaper, a cryptocurrency analytics platform, has pointed out this divergence between strong ETF inflows and the inability of ETH to sustain gains above key resistance levels. This pattern suggests that market sentiment and actual price action have not been perfectly aligned in recent sessions.
PeriodETF Net InflowsETH Price LevelSept. 21-24$576 millionFailed to hold above $2,800In addition, Ethereum’s supply on centralized exchanges has remained constrained. Earlier this month, balances dropped to roughly 14.88 million ETH, reaching a multi-year low as staking activities continued absorbing circulating supply. This development signals ongoing investor interest in staking over trading, further tightening available exchange liquidity.
Mini dictionary: CME Ether futures refer to standardized Ethereum futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). These products allow institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Ether price movements without holding the underlying asset directly.
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has sparked a buzz in the crypto ecosystem after he shared details about Ethereum’s ongoing push for a more advanced network.
Buterin has expressed belief that Ethereum is about to enter a new phase with several major upgrades capable of changing how it operates in the coming years.
Buterin foresees Ethereum as a cryptographic world computerAs the network continues to advance and improve its infrastructure, Vitalik confirmed that Ethereum is gradually becoming a hybrid system that combines blockchain technology with modern cryptography.
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While he mentioned that Ethereum is advancing beyond just a blockchain, Buterin mentioned that Ethereum is growing to become a "cryptographic world computer" in the future.
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With its potential upgrades, Ethereum will be able to effectively support more advanced applications while improving security, privacy, and efficiency.
These major advancements are expected to begin on Ethereum after the much anticipated Hegota upgrade goes live as several proposals are already forming part of Ethereum's long-term roadmap.
Ethereum eyes advanced cryptographic techniques Buterin further specified on some of the major upgrades coming on the Ethereum blockchain, noting that FOCIL, EIP-8288, Lean consensus, improved state management, and formal verification will soon launch on the network.
With the FOCIL upgrade, it will become more complex for block builders to censor transactions. This aims to ensure that users can access the network without depending too heavily on individual participants.
Other upgrades will also help to tighten its network security on the blockchain as they will help Ethereum to reach agreement on transactions.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum is moving beyond its traditional blockchain design toward what he calls a “cryptographic world computer.” His vision for 2030 focuses on advanced cryptography, lighter nodes, better privacy and decentralized computing, which could change how Ethereum processes and verifies activity.
Ethereum Is Moving Beyond Traditional Blockchain DesignIn his September 27 essay, Buterin explained that Ethereum has already changed through proof-of-stake, zero-knowledge proofs and Layer-2 networks. The next step, he says, is to use advanced cryptography to handle more of the network’s computation and data.
Today, blockchain nodes often download transaction data and repeat the same calculations to check that everything is correct. Buterin believes Ethereum can move away from this process by using SNARK proofs and PeerDAS data sampling.
Instead of doing all the work again, nodes could verify smaller proofs that show the work was completed correctly. This could reduce hardware needs and make it easier for more people to run Ethereum nodes.
That also creates room for another change: heavy computing could happen through decentralized networks, while Ethereum remains the main security layer and checks the proofs they provide.
This is where Buterin’s idea of a “cryptographic world computer” comes in. Ethereum could combine blockchain security with cryptographic proofs, privacy tools and decentralized computing.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026 Zero-knowledge proofs would play an important role by allowing information or computation to be verified without revealing everything behind it. Ethereum could also handle more work in parallel, helping the network manage larger amounts of data and computation.
However, Buterin noted that making these proofs efficient and handling large amounts of data remain major challenges.
Hegota Fork: Ethereum’s Last Normal UpgradeButerin sees the upcoming Hegota fork as Ethereum’s last “normal” upgrade before future changes focus more heavily on advanced cryptography.
Hegota is expected to introduce FOCIL, which can help ensure valid user transactions are included in blocks.
It will also support more flexible accounts, including social recovery, spending limits, sponsored gas fees and quantum-resistant signatures.
What Ethereum Could Look Like by 2030If this vision takes shape, Ethereum could become faster, more private and easier to verify while keeping its core security guarantees.
Buterin’s comparison shows the possible change clearly. Ethereum could move from around 17-second blocks and roughly 200 seconds for 12 confirmations toward 4–8-second slots and 8–32-second finality.
Running a node could also require much less hardware, while users could get stronger privacy and censorship resistance.
Ethereum would not need to do every calculation itself. It could verify cryptographic proof that the work was done correctly.
Story Ends Here
Trust with CoinPedia:CoinPedia has been delivering accurate and timely cryptocurrency and blockchain updates since 2017. All content is created by our expert panel of analysts and journalists, following strict Editorial Guidelines based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Every article is fact-checked against reputable sources to ensure accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Our review policy guarantees unbiased evaluations when recommending exchanges, platforms, or tools. We strive to provide timely updates about everything crypto & blockchain, right from startups to industry majors.
Investment Disclaimer:All opinions and insights shared represent the author's own views on current market conditions. Please do your own research before making investment decisions. Neither the writer nor the publication assumes responsibility for your financial choices.
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Popular crypto chart analyst Ali Martinez says Ethereum is approaching a key level that could decide its next major move. With ETH trading near $2,696, Martinez says buyers face a final hurdle around $2,700–$2,750.
Meanwhile, rising whale activity and strong ETF inflows are adding support as ETH tests this important resistance zone.
Ali Martinez Identifies Ethereum’s Final HurdleAli Martinez says Ethereum is now close to the apex of a large symmetrical triangle, meaning the price is moving into a tighter range before a possible breakout.
For him, the main hurdle is the 2,750 area. Therefore, Ethereum needs to break above and hold this zone to confirm buyers are gaining control.
The challenge is the amount of ETH previously traded at higher levels. Martinez’s chart shows a large supply area between $2,722 and $2,822, where more than 13.3 million ETH changed hands.
This makes the zone important because many holders in this range could sell if ETH returns to their previous buying prices.
Whale Buying Supports Martinez’s ETH SetupWhile this supply wall remains, whale activity is moving in the opposite direction. According to Martinez, transactions worth more than $1 million jumped from 1,202 to 7,113 in one week, an increase of nearly 500%.
2/5 Whale activity remains elevated across the Ethereum $ETH network.
Over the past week, transactions worth more than $1 million have surged nearly 500%, rising from 1,202 to 7,113. pic.twitter.com/r8m9TEuyct
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) September 27, 2026 More importantly, large holders added more than 320,000 ETH, worth around $864 million at current prices.
For Martinez, this rising whale demand is important because it shows that large holders are continuing to accumulate while ETH approaches the resistance zone.
If this buying pressure absorbs the available supply, the breakout could become easier.
ETF Inflows Add More Buying PressureMartinez’s view is also supported by strong institutional demand. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded six consecutive days of inflows, bringing the weekly total to about $690 million.
The buying streak started with a $270 million net daily inflow, marking the strongest single day for Ether funds since the October 2025 cycle peak.
Ethereum Price Targets: $3,400Meanwhile, Martinez’s bullish setup does not end at $2,750. He says that once Ethereum clears the main hurdle, he sees $3,400 as the next major target.
The chart also shows resistance around $2,970 and $3,366 before ETH reaches that level.
Beyond $3,400, Martinez sees the possibility of Ethereum moving toward the 4,300 range if buying momentum remains strong.
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Trust with CoinPedia:CoinPedia has been delivering accurate and timely cryptocurrency and blockchain updates since 2017. All content is created by our expert panel of analysts and journalists, following strict Editorial Guidelines based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Every article is fact-checked against reputable sources to ensure accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Our review policy guarantees unbiased evaluations when recommending exchanges, platforms, or tools. We strive to provide timely updates about everything crypto & blockchain, right from startups to industry majors.
Investment Disclaimer:All opinions and insights shared represent the author's own views on current market conditions. Please do your own research before making investment decisions. Neither the writer nor the publication assumes responsibility for your financial choices.
Sponsored and Advertisements:Sponsored content and affiliate links may appear on our site. Advertisements are marked clearly, and our editorial content remains entirely independent from our ad partners.
Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, has generated renewed attention in the cryptocurrency sector after revealing plans for several significant upgrades intended to transform the Ethereum network over the next few years.
Ethereum shifts toward advanced cryptographic modelButerin outlined that Ethereum is moving beyond its current scope as a blockchain platform, positioning itself as a “cryptographic world computer.” He stated that by integrating emerging cryptographic techniques, Ethereum seeks to become a hybrid system, enhancing both its flexibility and security.
According to Buterin, these enhancements are crucial in ensuring Ethereum remains at the forefront of decentralized technology while maintaining a user-centric design. He described the evolution as a shift from a simple blockchain to a multifaceted system that leverages sophisticated cryptographic solutions.
Vitalik Buterin characterized Ethereum as “gradually becoming a hybrid system that combines blockchain technology with modern cryptography,” and envisions it as a “cryptographic world computer.”
This phase of development is expected to commence following the highly anticipated Hegota upgrade. Several proposals forming part of the long-term roadmap are already in discussion, Buterin indicated.
Ethereum, launched in 2015, is currently the second-largest blockchain network and supports programmable smart contracts.
Upcoming upgrades and network security enhancementsButerin pointed to a number of specific advancements slated for the Ethereum blockchain over the coming period. Among these, he named the FOCIL protocol, EIP-8288, Lean consensus, improved state management, and formal verification as key elements intended for near-term deployment.
The FOCIL upgrade in particular aims to increase transaction neutrality by making censorship of transactions significantly more difficult for block builders. This adjustment seeks to improve user autonomy and reduce the risk of intermediaries exerting control over network access.
Other proposed changes, such as improvements to the consensus mechanism and state management, focus on tightening network security and enhancing agreement on transaction validity among participants.
Buterin emphasized that these initiatives form a critical part of Ethereum’s blueprint to sustain its leadership in decentralized applications and cryptographic innovation. These upgrades are expected to make the blockchain more resilient and versatile for developers and users alike.
Mini dictionary: FOCIL is an upgrade proposal for Ethereum that aims to prevent censorship by block builders, ensuring that all valid transactions are included without undue filtering or manipulation from powerful network participants.
UpgradePurposeFOCILReduces transaction censorship, improves accessEIP-8288Enhances protocol featuresLean consensusBoosts agreement efficiencyState managementMakes transaction processing more efficientFormal verificationIncreases smart contract securityWith these changes, Ethereum aims to strengthen its foundational infrastructure and adapt to the increasing demands of a rapidly evolving decentralized ecosystem.
Ethereum (ETH) has witnessed a sharp rise in whale activity as large holders step up their involvement across the network. Recent data reveals that major wallets are accumulating significant amounts of ETH, reflecting growing confidence among prominent market participants. However, the cryptocurrency is facing a key supply zone that could prove to be a decisive factor in determining the next market direction.
Whale accumulation intensifiesCrypto analyst Ali Charts reported that Ethereum network activity saw a notable increase in large-value transactions over the past week. Transfers exceeding $1 million jumped from 1,202 to 7,113, marking an increase of nearly 500% in such operations. This surge highlights intensified activity among entities holding substantial ETH balances.
Alongside this spike in transactions, large wallets added more than 320,000 ETH within the same period. The total value of this accumulation stands at approximately $864 million, calculated at current prices. The pattern indicates that these major holders remain actively engaged, even as the broader market faces resistance.
Recent Ethereum activity shows whale transfers above $1 million climbing by almost 500% in a week, with major wallets accumulating over 320,000 ETH valued around $864 million.
It is important to note that substantial transfers may involve exchanges, custodial services, or movements between personal wallets. While transaction data alone does not confirm buying behavior, the simultaneous uptick in balances among large holders provides additional context on market dynamics.
Supply zone presents key challengeEthereum is currently approaching a critical supply region between $2,722 and $2,822. This area is significant because more than 13.3 million ETH changed hands within this price range in the past, establishing a dense cluster of historical activity that could act as resistance.
When many tokens have been traded in a particular zone, holders often seek to sell or reduce their exposure when prices revisit those levels. For Ethereum, this pattern suggests that a close watch on price action and trading behavior within this range is warranted, as breakout attempts may encounter intensified selling pressure.
A decisive move above the upper edge of this supply wall could open the path toward the next resistance levels, identified around $2,970 and $3,366. Conversely, failure to break through may result in consolidation or renewed declines in the short term.
The $2,722 to $2,822 region stands out as the primary technical barrier for Ethereum, given the large concentration of previous trading activity and its influence over market structure.
Meme token dynamics underscore timing and choiceAs networks like Ethereum approach important resistance, the broader crypto market continues to spotlight the rapid gains possible from meme tokens driven by social trends. In the meme token market, an internet trend can transform into millions of dollars of interest within days. According to data shared by Fomo App, a trade involving “Niu Lai”—which turned an initial $99 investment into approximately $370,000, stands out as a striking example of this activity. In this market, tracking not only prices but also the timing and token choices of investors is crucial. Fomo App brings token discovery and trading together on a single platform, featuring social feeds, investor rankings, and trade notifications. Discover Fomo App to follow the world of meme tokens alongside investor activity.
Outlook remains data dependentEthereum’s market direction in the near term will likely hinge on how price activity interacts with the $2,722 to $2,822 supply area. Persistent whale accumulation provides bullish context, but the depth of resistance remains a critical challenge. Market participants are advised to monitor developments closely, as reactions in this zone are expected to shape the next significant move for ETH.
Hong Kong-listed large model concept stocks continue to slump, with Zhipu falling over 5.6% intraday and MINIMAX dropping more than 10%.
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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.
According to TradingBeats monitoring, "Big Brother Ma Ji" (real name Huang Licheng) has reduced his Bitcoin long positions. His account suffered a $1.42 million loss in the past 24 hours, with profits shrinking to $1.62 million over the past seven days. His current positions are as follows: Ethereum (ETH) long positions worth approximately $92.62 million, with an unrealized loss of around $70,000; entry price: $2,671.16, liquidation price: $2,548.34. Bitcoin (BTC) long positions worth approximately $25.18 million, with an unrealized loss of around $50,000; entry price: $84,112.40, liquidation price: $70,059.66. HYPE long positions worth approximately $19.82 million, with an unrealized loss of around $650,000; entry price: $93.06, liquidation price: $70.43.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), a GNGN-associated address deposited 6,100 ETH worth $16.38 million to Coinbase 8 hours ago. Tracing back, the ETH was bridged from the Robinhood Network to the Ethereum mainnet six days ago, and is likely Robinhood Network fee revenue.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has released a new article titled "The Cryptographic World Computer", stating that after years of technological evolution, Ethereum will gradually become a system with fundamental architectural differences from traditional blockchains. Vitalik points out that Ethereum already has core capabilities including general-purpose computing, proof-of-stake (PoS), zero-knowledge proofs, and layer-2 (L2) scaling. Going forward, it will further introduce adjustable computing architectures, multi-party block construction, highly optimized PoS, and deep integration of zero-knowledge proofs into its base layer. He predicts that by around 2030, Ethereum’s core mechanisms—transaction validation, consensus, block construction, privacy, and computing—will all undergo changes. These shifts include moving away from re-downloading and executing blocks toward SNARK-based validation and PeerDAS for data availability verification; transitioning from proof-of-work (PoW) to highly optimized PoS; and replacing single-party block construction with multi-participant block building. Vitalik notes that the future Ethereum decentralized network will not only serve security and censorship resistance, but also enhance performance through parallel storage, parallel computing, and privacy protection. The Hegota upgrade is likely Ethereum’s last "traditional" hard fork, after which recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus mechanisms, and anti-quantum technologies will become the main development directions. Ultimately, these advances will drive Ethereum to evolve from a mere ledger to a "cryptographic world computer" that integrates blockchain, cryptographic privacy, verifiable computing, and decentralized off-chain components.
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Strive’s CEO, following in Michael Saylor’s footsteps, hinted in a post that he may add to his Bitcoin holdings next week.
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According to Axios, one day after rejecting Iran’s proposal to end the war, U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects U.S. negotiators to hold more talks with Iran this week. Qatar and other regional mediators are attempting to restart U.S.-Iran negotiations, but the two sides have major differences on key issues. While Iran wants to focus talks on the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. maritime blockades, the Trump administration is demanding Iran make concessions on the nuclear issue. Two regional sources confirmed Trump’s remarks about more talks this week. They anticipate a new round of indirect dialogue between the U.S. and Iran as early as Monday, though it remains unclear whether the two sides can bridge their gaps. Trump stated: “I expect we will have more talks with Iran this week. They want to reach an agreement, but that’s not the agreement I want to make. That’s probably an agreement we would have agreed to a year ago. They misjudged the situation and are asking too much.”
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Analysis: U.S. Treasury yields have surged to near 20-year highs, yet U.S. stocks have remained resilient amid headwinds, with AI serving as a key pillar of support.
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Viewpoint: After Bitcoin broke through $86,000, supply above this level is thin, leaving only a 23% upside potential to $125,000.
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Vitalik releases original novel *Snowmoon* under the GPL v3 open source license.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced in a post today that his original speculative sci-fi novel *Snowmoon* (《雪月》) is complete, spanning 32 chapters. Set in a world deeply reliant on cryptography and decentralized governance, the story focuses on ideological clashes between societies including Veridia and the Arctic Empire, integrating elements such as zero-knowledge proofs, quadratic voting, privacy technologies, and content-oriented tax mechanisms, while touching on mechanism design and digital sovereignty—topics Buterin has long prioritized. The novel is released under the GPL v3 license. Buterin noted that adaptations into films, animations, and other derivative works are permitted, though he requires open-sourcing of related production pipelines, including non-generic materials like AI prompts and scripts. He clarified that all text was written by himself, with AI only assisting in spelling and grammar checks, setting consistency verification, and web formatting, adding the note: “Snowmoon was written with love.”
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TLDR: PeerDAS, live since Fusaka in December 2025, lets nodes sample blob data instead of downloading every blob. Hegotá, expected in 2027, could be Ethereum’s last broadly familiar fork before deeper cryptographic redesign. EIP-7805 adds validator-backed inclusion lists to curb censorship by individual block builders in Hegotá. Ethereum targets 2029 for core post-quantum infrastructure, alongside Lean Consensus and recursive STARKs. Vitalik Buterin has outlined a long-term architecture for Ethereum that could make the network increasingly difficult to describe as a conventional blockchain. The model combines decentralized consensus, zero-knowledge proofs, distributed computation, privacy systems and post-quantum cryptography.
In a September 27 post titled “The cryptographic world computer,” Buterin said the network now blends Bitcoin-era blockchain principles with newer cryptographic research. His framework describes a system where verification relies less on every node repeating every computation and more on proofs, sampling and specialized distributed infrastructure.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026
That shift is already visible in several parts of the roadmap. Data availability, block construction and consensus are moving toward designs that reduce duplication while preserving verifiability across the network.
Ethereum’s World Computer Shift Rewrites Blockchain Verification Traditional blockchains require many nodes to download data and independently re-execute transactions. Buterin described an architecture that increasingly replaces that model with data sampling and cryptographic proof verification.
Consensus has also moved from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, while a more optimized Lean Consensus design remains under development. At the same time, block construction could become more distributed instead of depending heavily on one miner or builder.
PeerDAS provides an early example of that direction. Introduced through the December 2025 Fusaka upgrade, it lets nodes verify blob availability by sampling data rather than downloading every blob.
That reduces bandwidth requirements while supporting higher Layer 2 capacity. As a result, more computation can move outside the base layer without removing Ethereum’s ability to verify results cryptographically.
The next major milestone is Hegotá, currently expected in 2027. Buterin described it as potentially the last upgrade that would remain broadly familiar to developers from earlier network eras.
Hegotá and Lean Ethereum Push Toward Quantum-Safe Design FOCIL, formally EIP-7805, is scheduled for Hegotá. It introduces validator-backed inclusion lists intended to limit the ability of individual block builders to censor valid transactions.
However, the upgrade’s broader scope remains under development, so additional features and timing could still change. Beyond Hegotá, research increasingly centers on recursive STARKs, formal verification and advanced state management.
EIP-8288 offers one example. The draft proposal would aggregate quantum-resistant signatures and STARK proofs in the mempool before producing one recursive proof for block verification.
Lean Ethereum extends that direction with redesigned consensus, hash-based post-quantum signatures, formal verification and finality targeted in seconds. Separately, the Ethereum Foundation is targeting about 2029 for core post-quantum infrastructure.
Taken together, Buterin’s framework describes a network where decentralized offchain systems handle larger workloads while cryptographic proofs preserve security guarantees. He calls that architecture a “cryptographic world computer.”
This week was a rollercoaster ride for the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) surged to a multi-month high, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is evolving beyond a blockchain and the crypto market rallied despite legislative setbacks.
Here’s a quick recap of the top stories.
Bitcoin’s Bullish RunBitcoin surged to a multi-month high of $87,270 on Monday before retreating below $84,000 as US bond yields climbed. Despite this, the retreat seems temporary as Bitcoin has formed strongly bullish chart patterns, and ETF inflows have surged. Spot BTC ETFs had over $134 million in assets on Friday, with BlackRock’s IBIT adding $97 million and Fidelity’s FBTC adding $49 million.
Read the full article here.
Bitcoin’s Rare StreakBitcoin is on track for its first positive August-September combination since at least 2013, a pattern that historically sets up a strong "Uptober." CoinGlass data shows Bitcoin gained 24.95% in August, its third-strongest August since 2013 and best since 2017, crushing the historical August average of 2.82%.
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Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, stated that Ethereum is gradually transforming from just a blockchain into a "much bigger" network with multiple layers. Speaking at the 12th Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai, Buterin expressed optimism about the "huge amount of progress" in the Ethereum world, both at the protocol and application levels.
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Kalshi’s Trading ScrutinyPrediction market platform Kalshi is under scrutiny for facilitating close to a million trades of nearly identical sizes in a single market. Over one-third of Kalshi’s trading volume speculating on the price of Ethereum was rapid trades clustered around the same order size—$5,500, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
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Crypto Market RallyThe cryptocurrency markets staged a broad rally in the week following the Clarity Act’s failure to advance in the U.S. Senate. Several major tokens and crypto-linked stocks posted double-digit gains as regulators moved ahead with industry rules despite the legislative setback.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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Ethereum’s consensus layer is about to get a structural overhaul. Researchers from the Ethereum Foundation’s Consensus team have formally verified a new protocol model that decouples finality from block production and fork choice, a foundational change designed to dramatically reduce the time it takes for transactions to become irreversible on the network.
Right now, Ethereum finality takes roughly 16 minutes. The goal is to compress that window to under a minute, and eventually to mere seconds.
What decoupling actually means Ethereum’s consensus protocol currently bundles together three distinct jobs: producing blocks, choosing between competing chain forks, and finalizing transactions. The decoupling approach separates finality into its own independent track. Block production and fork choice continue running on their own cadence, while a trailing finality gadget operates alongside them, confirming blocks as irreversible on a parallel timeline.
Under this architecture, fast block production could be handled by smaller committees of around 256 to 512 validators, while the full validator set maintains the finality gadget running behind it. That’s a significant reduction in coordination overhead for the block-by-block work, while preserving the security guarantees that come from having the entire validator set sign off on finalized checkpoints.
Machine-checked proofs, not just promises The milestone that triggered this announcement is the formal verification of the decoupled protocol model using Lean 4, a proof assistant that provides machine-checked mathematical guarantees. The researchers confirmed key properties like safety and finalization without relying on any “sorry” statements, which are essentially placeholders that skip unproven steps in formal verification.
The current 16-minute finality window exists because Ethereum requires two full epochs to finalize, with each epoch consisting of 32 slots at 12 seconds per slot. That math works out to roughly 12.8 minutes at minimum, often stretching longer in practice.
The roadmap to single-slot finality Ben Edgington, one of the researchers driving this effort, outlined the practical roadmap in a May 2026 blog post. The strategy follows a deliberate sequence: first decouple the processes, then enhance finality incrementally.
Once finality operates independently, future improvements could draw on protocols like Minmitt and Goldfish, which are being researched in parallel and target dynamically available, single-round finality options. The Goldfish protocol, in particular, explores dynamic availability — the ability to maintain consensus even when large portions of the validator set go offline temporarily.
This work aligns with the broader “strawmap” roadmap that Vitalik Buterin has articulated, which targets finality improvements likely arriving by 2029.
Why faster finality changes the competitive picture Ethereum’s 16-minute finality window has been a persistent competitive disadvantage. Several alternative Layer 1 networks already offer finality in seconds, and that gap matters most in two areas: high-value transactions and cross-chain bridging. Bridges between Ethereum and other networks must account for the long finality window by either imposing delays or accepting reorganization risk.
The decoupled approach also points toward a leaner, more verifiable consensus mechanism that the researchers say anticipates eventual quantum resistance, with the modular architecture making it easier to swap in quantum-resistant cryptographic primitives without rebuilding the entire protocol.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Vitalik Buterin has a new name for what Ethereum is becoming, and it’s not just a rebrand. In a blog post published on September 27, the Ethereum co-founder described the network’s trajectory as an evolution into a “cryptographic world computer,” a hybrid system that fuses blockchain consensus with advanced cryptographic tools, privacy layers, and decentralized off-chain computation.
The post reads less like a product roadmap and more like a thesis statement for Ethereum’s next decade. Buterin argues that by 2030, the network will look almost nothing like the system he first sketched out in the early 2010s, with tunable computation scale, dramatically lower node operating demands, and privacy baked into the protocol rather than bolted on top.
What the cryptographic world computer actually means At the core of Buterin’s vision is the integration of zero-knowledge proof systems, specifically SNARKs and STARKs, into Ethereum’s base layer. These cryptographic tools allow one party to prove a computation happened correctly without revealing the underlying data.
The architecture he describes also leans heavily on optimized proof-of-stake consensus, PeerDAS technology for enhanced data availability, and multi-party block construction. PeerDAS is a system that distributes the burden of storing and serving data across many nodes rather than requiring each one to hold everything.
The Hegota fork and the end of “normal” upgrades Perhaps the most concrete detail in Buterin’s post concerns the Hegota fork, planned for 2027. He characterized it as likely the last upgrade that would be recognizable to someone familiar with Ethereum circa 2015. After Hegota, Buterin expects the network’s evolution to shift toward deeper integrations of recursive STARKs, formal verification processes, quantum safety measures, and enhanced zero-knowledge capabilities at the protocol level.
Buterin also introduced what he calls the “walkaway test” for decentralized applications. The idea is simple: if the original developers of an app disappeared tomorrow, would it keep functioning? If the answer is no, the app isn’t truly decentralized.
Recent progress and the gap that remains Over the past year, Ethereum has made meaningful progress on several fronts that align with this broader vision. Gas limits have been increased, blob capacity has expanded, and zkEVM development has advanced, all contributing to the network’s ability to handle more transactions at lower cost while maintaining verifiability.
But Buterin was careful not to frame these improvements as sufficient on their own. His post explicitly cautions that technical advancements without continued adherence to Ethereum’s foundational principles, decentralization, censorship resistance, permissionlessness, risk producing a system that’s faster but fundamentally compromised.
The 2027 Hegota fork will be the first major test of whether this vision translates from blog posts to production code. If it delivers on even a fraction of what Buterin describes, it would mark Ethereum’s most consequential technical transition since the Merge moved the network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in 2022.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ethereum has begun moving toward what Vitalik Buterin calls a “cryptographic world computer,” with major changes planned to verification, consensus, privacy and state management after Hegotá.
Summary
Ethereum could evolve into a cryptographic world computer using proofs, privacy tools and decentralized components. Hegotá may become Ethereum’s last conventional fork before recursive STARKs and Lean consensus reshape upgrades. FOCIL is scheduled for Hegotá to strengthen censorship resistance by distributing transaction inclusion authority further. PeerDAS has already changed Ethereum verification by letting nodes sample data instead of downloading everything. Ethereum Foundation targets quantum-resistant execution, consensus and data layers by December 2029 under current plans. Buterin wrote in his Sept. 27 essay, The Cryptographic World Computer, that Ethereum is approaching a point where describing it simply as a blockchain becomes increasingly incomplete.
He expects future Ethereum architecture to combine blockchain consensus with zero-knowledge proofs, data sampling, privacy technology and decentralized off-chain computation.
“Hegota — the fork planned for next year — is likely to be Ethereum’s last ‘normal’ fork,” Buterin wrote, referring to an upgrade whose technology would remain recognizable to developers familiar with Ethereum in 2015.
The cryptographic world computer:https://t.co/ueayODeUPo
My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) September 27, 2026 Hegotá could close Ethereum’s conventional upgrade era Ethereum’s official roadmap currently places Hegotá in 2027, following Glamsterdam in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Hegotá upgrade remains in planning, and its complete scope has not been finalized. Two proposals are already scheduled.
FOCIL, or EIP-7805, is the consensus-layer headliner. It lets a committee of validators create inclusion lists containing transactions that block builders must include.
The mechanism is designed to reduce the ability of a single builder to exclude valid transactions. Ethereum’s Hegotá roadmap says the feature can strengthen censorship resistance and improve Layer 2 settlement guarantees.
Frame Transactions, or EIP-8141, is the second scheduled feature. It lets Ethereum accounts decide how their transactions are authorized instead of requiring the same fixed signature structure for every user.
The design can support social recovery, spending controls, sponsored gas and future quantum-resistant signature systems directly at the protocol level.
Ethereum developers have begun treating Hegotá as part of a longer sequence leading toward post-quantum infrastructure and redesigned consensus.
Buterin’s latest essay goes further by describing Hegotá as a dividing line between Ethereum’s existing architecture and the cryptographic systems expected to follow.
Ethereum verification could move toward proofs and sampling One of the largest changes concerns how network participants verify blocks. Traditional blockchain verification requires nodes to download blockchain data and execute transactions themselves. Buterin expects Ethereum to rely increasingly on SNARK verification and PeerDAS data sampling. His comparison of blockchain designs describes the transition as moving from “full re-download and recompute” toward “SNARK verification + PeerDAS for data availability.”
PeerDAS has already entered Ethereum through Fusaka. The system lets nodes verify data availability by sampling parts of the dataset instead of requiring each node to download every blob. The Ethereum Foundation has since moved its development focus toward the next stages of proof-based verification. As crypto.news previously reported on Ethereum’s Lean rebuild, recursive STARKs sit at the center of plans to reduce repeated execution while keeping verification trustless.
Buterin describes the eventual verification model more simply as a move from “download and re-execute” toward sampling data and verifying cryptographic proofs. The approach could reduce the hardware requirements for users seeking strong verification guarantees. His 2030 comparison says nodes should still obtain consensus and validity guarantees while storing less history and performing less redundant computation.
EIP-8288 could aggregate signatures inside the mempool Buterin specifically mentioned EIP-8288 among the technologies that could change how Ethereum processes transactions before they enter blocks.
EIP-8288 is currently a draft proposal authored by Buterin and Thomas Coratger. It introduces in-mempool aggregation for cryptographic signatures and STARK proofs. The design extends Frame Transactions and lets transactions declare cryptographic dependencies.
Mempool nodes could combine many signatures and proofs into a single recursive STARK before passing them onward to block builders. The builder could then include an aggregated proof instead of processing every large proof independently. The proposal is designed partly around future quantum-resistant signatures, which can require considerably more data and computation than Ethereum’s current signature system.
EIP-8288 proposes aggregating LeanSPHINCS signatures and LeanSTARK proofs so that these larger cryptographic objects do not create the same level of bandwidth and gas overhead when used at scale. The EIP remains in draft status and has not been assigned to a confirmed network upgrade.
Buterin’s essay presents it as part of a longer technical direction where cryptographic work can happen earlier in the transaction pipeline, including inside the mempool. His 2030 model envisions signatures and proofs being processed in parallel before final block inclusion.
FOCIL and private mempools could change transaction inclusion Ethereum’s future transaction journey could look very different from the familiar sequence of user, mempool, miner and block. Buterin describes a model where transactions enter a mempool with stronger privacy properties before moving through FOCIL participants or builders.
The Ethereum Foundation’s security roadmap confirms that research into encrypted mempools remains active alongside FOCIL development. FOCIL is already scheduled for Hegotá.
Under the proposal, multiple validators can submit lists of transactions that should appear in a block. A builder cannot independently ignore eligible transactions appearing on those lists without violating protocol rules. Buterin expects network privacy to develop in parallel.
His 2030 comparison includes onion routing, mixnets and other network privacy methods alongside zero-knowledge proofs for transaction and account privacy. As crypto.news reported in August, Buterin has moved privacy and quantum security higher in Ethereum’s roadmap as cryptographic tools mature.
Lean consensus targets faster and simpler finality Consensus itself is expected to change. Ethereum currently uses proof-of-stake with finality occurring over several epochs. Researchers are working toward a more streamlined consensus model capable of reaching finality much faster.
Ethereum’s security roadmap says research that began around single-slot finality later developed into three-slot finality and is now progressing through Minimmit, a one-round consensus design under the Lean Ethereum program.
Finality measured in seconds remains a long-range research target around 2029, but no specific upgrade has yet been assigned to deploy the final design. Buterin’s 2030 comparison estimates slots of roughly four to eight seconds and finality around eight to 32 seconds. The current Ethereum roadmap cautions that these plans remain research goals and may change.
Crypto.news described the Lean Ethereum program in July as the network’s largest technical overhaul since The Merge, with new consensus, proof systems, storage and privacy mechanisms planned over several years.
Ethereum targets quantum resistance by December 2029 Quantum security has become one of Ethereum’s most clearly dated long-term targets. The Ethereum Foundation Protocol Cluster said on Sept. 7 that it is targeting quantum resistance across the execution, consensus and data layers by December 2029.
The Foundation describes the date as deliberately aggressive. Its planning assumes that cryptographically relevant quantum machines could appear as early as 2030, while acknowledging most estimates put that possibility later.
Ethereum is working on replacing cryptography vulnerable to sufficiently powerful quantum computers. Areas under review include BLS validator signatures, ECDSA account signatures, KZG commitments used in data availability and some zero-knowledge proof systems.
Frame Transactions could help with the account side by allowing wallets to choose quantum-resistant verification methods without requiring every account to migrate through the same protocol-level mechanism. EIP-8288 could reduce the cost of aggregating some of those larger post-quantum signatures.
As crypto.news reported in its quantum roadmap analysis, recursive STARK aggregation and hash-based signatures form part of Ethereum’s proposed defense against future quantum attacks. Buterin expects recursive STARKs, formal verification and quantum-resistant cryptography to become increasingly central after Hegotá.
Ethereum could rely more on decentralized off-chain components Buterin’s “world computer” description does not mean Ethereum would move everything onto Layer 1. His essay instead describes an architecture where the blockchain focuses on data and state changes that require ordering, while other work happens in parallel outside the main execution path. “Structuring computation lets the blockchain more effectively focus on its job,” he wrote.
Under that model, signatures and proofs could be aggregated before entering a block, historical data could be distributed between participants and specialized computation could happen outside the base execution layer.
The network would then verify the output cryptographically. Buterin argues that modern proof systems allow Ethereum to distribute computation without requiring every participant to trust whoever performed each piece of work. His longer-term architecture includes distributed history and state storage, proof-based verification, parallel computation and decentralized systems sitting between users and Ethereum itself.
A more speculative technology appears further out. Buterin said indistinguishability obfuscation, or iO, could eventually allow generalized encrypted computation involving many asynchronous participants. He described it as a possible later development, not a technology required for the architecture outlined in his post.
Ethereum’s next scheduled milestone remains Glamsterdam, with Hegotá planned to follow in 2027. Crypto.news reported on Glamsterdam testing risks as developers prepared the upgrade for its next test phases.
Hegotá’s scheduled features currently include FOCIL and Frame Transactions, while additional proposals continue through Ethereum’s research, testing and governance process.
Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter said in a recent X post that things are looking great with Glamsterdam and EIP-7928 (Block-Level Access Lists) close to the final mile.
The countdown has begun for Glamsterdam's first public test as testing continues on devnets. The Sepolia fork is scheduled for October 6, 2026, while the mainnet launch is expected in Q4 2026 with no official date yet.
Glamsterdam with EIP-7928 (Block-Level Access Lists) is approaching the final mile, and things look great:
* Significant throughput increase thanks to parallelism
* Faster and simpler sync via snap v2
* Future-compatible with zkEVMs, partially stateful nodes, inclusion lists,… https://t.co/XBcj9WOpaD
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— Toni Wahrstätter ⟠ (@nero_eth) September 26, 2026 Wahrstätter believes Glamsterdam will be one of the biggest forks seen yet; while it has taken a correspondingly long time, he claims the result will be worth it.
Ethereum's upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade is intended to pave the way for the next generation of scaling.
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The Glamsterdam upgrade centers on three main goals: speeding up processing (parallelization), expanding capacity, and preventing database bloat (sustainability).
ePBS is a headliner of the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade and revamps the block validation pipeline, reducing trust assumptions, while BALs bring parallelization to Ethereum.
Ethereum cofounder reveals vision post-Hegota hard forkIn a recent post, Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin shared a glimpse of a post-Hegota era for Ethereum.
"My attempt to express in somewhat concise terms the true meaning of basically everything planned to happen to Ethereum starting from the fork after Hegota. It's really not just a blockchain anymore. It's a hybrid architecture that combines together blockchains and modern cryptography, to enable much more powerful properties," Buterin wrote on X.
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Citing Strawman, which houses the longer-range draft roadmap for Ethereum, Buterin noted that Hegota—the fork planned for next year—might likely be Ethereum's last "normal" fork, with features and technology that would be recognizable to someone from 2015.
Everything after Hegota will involve recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, and highly optimized consensus algorithms to make Ethereum quantum-safe. Buterin noted that with PeerDAS, Ethereum began its transition from being just a blockchain to being something much more powerful, and starting after Hegota, this transformation becomes Ethereum's primary story.
The outcome of this, Buterin said, will be much cheaper, more scalable, and more private high-security computation than anything that could be done with the previous era's technology alone: the cryptographic world computer.
Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said that the artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency sectors are gradually integrating, with tokenization and agentic AI poised to become the two key drivers of the next crypto market cycle. Lee noted that BlackRock anticipates more assets will be tokenized, and financial settlement infrastructure is increasingly being built on crypto networks; some fintech firms, including Revolut, have already begun developing related businesses on Ethereum. AI is fueling the growth of the digital economy, while cryptocurrencies provide the digital currencies and blockchain infrastructure required to underpin this economic system.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin envisions a 2030 network that uses cryptographic proofs and computers working off-chain to process more transactions without requiring every participant to repeat the same calculations.The proposed system would let users independently verify results more efficiently while improving privacy for payments, balances and wallet activity.Buterin said Ethereum’s transformation would accelerate after the planned Hegotá upgrade, though developers must still make proofs cheaper and coordinate parallel work securely.Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Sunday that the network he envisions for 2030 may still be called a blockchain, but it would work very differently from today’s version.
In a post titled “The cryptographic world computer,” Buterin described a system combining a blockchain with cryptographic proofs and networks of computers working outside it. The plan through 2030 would change both how much Ethereum can do and what users can independently verify.
Ethereum already lets people send money, trade tokens and borrow through applications that run according to shared rules. The difficulty is making those applications serve more people without making the network too expensive to use or too demanding to check.
Today, a computer fully checking Ethereum repeats the calculations behind its transactions. It checks, for example, that someone sending money had enough to spend and that an application did what its rules allowed.
Repeating that work across many computers helps keep the network honest. It also means adding computers does not automatically let Ethereum handle more transactions, because each is busy checking much of the same activity.
Buterin argues that newer cryptographic tools can break that constraint.
A computer could process transactions and produce a short mathematical proof that it followed the rules. Other computers could check that proof much faster than they could repeat all the original work. Separate spot checks would help establish that the transaction records were still available for anyone who wanted to inspect them.
That would allow different computers to tackle different jobs while still checking one another’s results.
Ethereum’s developers wanted to distribute work this way a decade ago, Buterin wrote, but struggled to ensure every participant had done its part correctly.
“Back then, this was not viable for one primary reason: the missing ingredient was verification.”
A lightweight wallet would check the maths itself. (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)Why are these changes neededEthereum’s computers repeat much of the same work to check that transactions follow the rules. That helps keep the network honest, but limits how much it gains from adding more computers.
Earlier attempts to divide the work assigned particular tasks to smaller groups. Coordinating those groups added delays, and the wider network could struggle to recover if one failed.
Buterin argues that mathematical proofs offer a way around that problem. A computer doing a job could provide proof that it followed the rules, allowing others to check its answer without repeating the whole calculation.
Computers could then work on different tasks at the same time, giving Ethereum more capacity as well as more independent checks.
However, Ethereum would still need to settle questions where the order matters, such as which of two payments spending the same funds came first. Buterin suggested that more of the work behind those payments could be completed beforehand, with proofs combined to reduce the information recorded on the blockchain.
Meanwhile, his privacy plans also cover information people reveal simply by using a wallet.
Checking a balance often involves asking an outside server about an address. Its operator can learn which accounts a person follows, even if the payments themselves are private. Buterin envisages hiding those requests alongside payment details and the rules an account uses to approve spending.
A business could then keep its payments confidential without revealing its accounts whenever an employee checked a balance.
How privacy is becoming keyOther crypto developers are pursuing similar goals.
Zcash already lets users send payments with encrypted addresses and amounts. About 4.9 million ZEC sat in its shielded pools on Friday, according to CoinDesk’s earlier analysis of ZecStats data, while the token traded around $1,660 earlier Sunday after gaining about 15% over the week.
Researchers behind the Shielded Bitcoin paper published Thursday have proposed borrowing Zcash’s payment design for BTC. Their specification leaves the mechanism for depositing and withdrawing actual bitcoin to separate research.
Read More: Bitcoin could soon get Zcash-style ‘shielded’ privacy without changing its rules
As such, Ethereum’s own plans still require substantial engineering work. Producing proofs needs to become efficient enough for widespread use. Computers handling separate jobs must also coordinate updates to the same balances and application records without interfering with one another.
Buterin’s 2030 comparison still lists cost and privacy limitations for complex applications. It envisages payments becoming final, meaning the network considers them irreversible, in roughly eight to 32 seconds.
He expects Hegotá, the upgrade planned for next year, to be Ethereum’s last “normal” fork, built with technology familiar to someone working on the network in 2015.
Subsequent upgrades would increasingly rely on mathematical proofs, tools that check software for errors and security designed to withstand future quantum computers.
“Starting after Hegota, this transformation becomes Ethereum's primary story,” he wrote.” The final outcome of this: much more cheap, scalable and private high-security computation than anything that could be done with the previous era's technology alone.
“The cryptographic world computer.”
12345678910The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Sep 15, 2026
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Why it matters:
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Photo: John Phillips / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined an ambitious roadmap for Ethereum’s evolution by 2030, highlighting significant advancements in cryptography and architecture. The plan involves integrating technologies such as recursive STARK verification and quantum-resistant cryptography, aiming to enhance scalability, privacy, and security. This vision suggests a shift from incremental upgrades to a comprehensive protocol redesign, which could shape Ethereum’s future trajectory in the blockchain space.
Current market data shows Ethereum’s future price predictions are modest, with markets pricing in a low likelihood of Ethereum reaching $10,000 by the end of 2026. The highest activity is seen around the $3,500 mark, priced at 38% YES, suggesting that while optimism exists, the path to higher valuations remains uncertain. The ongoing redesign and technological enhancements could, however, influence market sentiment as they unfold.
Vitalik Buterin’s roadmap may indicate increased confidence in Ethereum’s long-term potential, aligning with scenarios where Ethereum could see significant value appreciation. Market participants appear to be weighing these technological advancements against broader market conditions and regulatory landscapes.
Key Takeaways Vitalik Buterin’s roadmap suggests a shift towards a more scalable and secure Ethereum, with advanced cryptography playing a central role. Current market pricing suggests limited optimism for Ethereum reaching $10,000 by December 2026, with only 1.4% YES for this outcome. The technological roadmap could influence market sentiment, potentially leading to increased expectations for Ethereum’s future value. What to Watch Observers should monitor the implementation progress of Ethereum’s proposed upgrades, as successful advancements could enhance market confidence. Additionally, developments in regulatory environments and institutional interest, such as ETF approvals or significant inflows, could impact market pricing. Market participants may also watch for any obstacles in the execution of these technological changes, which could affect Ethereum’s projected growth trajectory.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 1.4% — — View market → December 31, 2026 1.4% — — View market → December 31, 2026 2.8% — — View market → December 31, 2026 4.5% — — View market → December 31, 2026 8.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 37.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.8% — — View market → January 1 2027 3.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 6.2% — — View market → January 1 2027 17.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 6.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.8% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 68.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 7.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 14.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 34.5% — — View market →
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced in a post today that his original speculative sci-fi novel *Snowmoon* (《雪月》) is complete, spanning 32 chapters. Set in a world deeply reliant on cryptography and decentralized governance, the story focuses on ideological clashes between societies including Veridia and the Arctic Empire, integrating elements such as zero-knowledge proofs, quadratic voting, privacy technologies, and content-oriented tax mechanisms, while touching on mechanism design and digital sovereignty—topics Buterin has long prioritized. The novel is released under the GPL v3 license. Buterin noted that adaptations into films, animations, and other derivative works are permitted, though he requires open-sourcing of related production pipelines, including non-generic materials like AI prompts and scripts. He clarified that all text was written by himself, with AI only assisting in spelling and grammar checks, setting consistency verification, and web formatting, adding the note: “Snowmoon was written with love.”
Ethereum Foundation researcher Toni Wahrstätter recently reported that development on the Glamsterdam upgrade and EIP-7928, which introduces Block-Level Access Lists, is nearing completion. Wahrstätter expressed confidence regarding the progress, highlighting advancements as the project approaches a key milestone.
The first public test for Glamsterdam is on the horizon, following ongoing devnet testing. Developers have scheduled the Sepolia testnet fork for October 6, 2026, with the mainnet launch planned for the fourth quarter of 2026. An exact mainnet date is yet to be confirmed.
Wahrstätter described Glamsterdam as one of Ethereum’s most significant forks to date, attributing the extended development timeline to its ambitious scope. He believes the end result will justify the effort invested by the team and community.
The upgrade is designed to advance Ethereum’s scaling capabilities and introduce a new era for the network. Its primary goals include implementing parallelization to accelerate transaction processing, increasing overall capacity, and enhancing sustainability by curbing database bloat.
Key features and technical objectivesA notable highlight of Glamsterdam is the introduction of ePBS, a revamped block validation pipeline that reduces trust assumptions within the network. Additionally, Block-Level Access Lists (BALs) aim to bring parallelization benefits, laying the groundwork for a more scalable and efficient protocol.
Looking at recent technical trends related to market timing and investor choices, the meme token market demonstrates how quickly substantial capital can appear. An example from Fomo App showed a $99 investment in “Niu Lai” growing to approximately $370,000, underscoring the importance of monitoring not only prices but also key moments and asset selections. Fomo App integrates token discovery and trading, featuring social functionality such as investor rankings and trade notifications, allowing users to actively track the evolving meme token landscape.
Vitalik Buterin outlines post-Hegota visionEthereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin recently offered his perspective on the evolution of the network after its upcoming Hegota hard fork. In his view, Hegota may be Ethereum’s last “ordinary” upgrade, recognizable to developers and users familiar with the network’s earlier architecture.
Buterin referred to “Strawman,” Ethereum’s long-term roadmap, which suggests that upgrades following Hegota will move far beyond the technology of 2015. These future phases are expected to incorporate recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, and advanced consensus mechanisms to enhance quantum resistance.
Buterin outlined that after Hegota, Ethereum’s focus will shift to integrating advanced cryptographic and computational techniques. He described the network as a hybrid architecture, no longer just a blockchain, but a combination of modern cryptography and decentralized infrastructure to enable more advanced functionalities.
He also credited the PeerDAS solution as the beginning of Ethereum’s transformation, marking the start of moving from a traditional blockchain structure to a multifaceted, more powerful system. According to Buterin, the upgrades to follow will push Ethereum toward becoming a “cryptographic world computer.”
He emphasized that these innovations aim to deliver cheaper, more scalable, and more private high-security computation, surpassing the capabilities of earlier blockchain systems.
As Ethereum approaches these network milestones, stakeholders continue to monitor both technical developments and the timeline for implementation ahead of the mainnet launch.
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.
The third quarter of 2026 is coming to an end and it will go down in crypto history because bitcoin climbs 43.5%, rising from about 58,500 to nearly 84,000 dollars! Its second best Q3 performance, just behind the famous +80.4% of 2017. Ethereum did even better with +71% over the same period, an all-time record for a third quarter, smashing the previous ceiling of +66.5% set in 2025. Two assets, two records and as you will see, this is no calendar coincidence.
In brief Bitcoin records its best Q3 since 2013, with +43.5%, its second-best summer quarterly performance in history. Ethereum breaks its own Q3 record with +71%, driven by strong ETF and spot demand. Bitcoin withstands the September 25 options expiry calmly and targets resistance at 96,700 dollars, the gateway to six figures. The Mechanics Behind Bitcoin and Ethereum’s Extraordinary Q3 As mentioned in the intro, bitcoin gains 43.5% in the Q3 2026, its second-best summer performance in history. A figure is good but understanding why is even better because this rise does not come out of nowhere. The crypto market re-crossed several entry cost thresholds that had previously blocked rebound attempts. Especially since certain factors helped a lot. Notably:
ETF-related demand strengthened; Volume in the spot market increased; Profit-taking remained limited; No wave of massive sales at each peak. Basically, there was calm, almost suspicious for anyone who has been following this market for several cycles. Bitcoin was not the only one present because Ethereum also made its own demonstration with +71% during the quarter, never seen before in a Q3. This performance was also driven by reinforced ETF demand across the crypto ecosystem. This Q3 is therefore the second best ever recorded for BTC, and the best quarter in all ETH history. However, a good quarter does not necessarily make a good cycle.
Performance of bitcoin and ethereum in Q3 2026. BTC Already Aims Higher After the Options Expiry September 25, 2026, was a big test for bitcoin with a quarterly options expiry with a significant volume of contracts. Such events can shake prices within hours… But BTC held firm. No sharp drop for the crypto queen and no cascade liquidations either. However, once this expiry passed, attention now turns higher, with the next major on-chain resistance located around 96,700 dollars.
Crossing this zone would then put bitcoin within reach of the psychological threshold of 100,000 dollars. There are still a few trading days left before the quarter closes, giving BTC and Ethereum room to extend an already extraordinary performance. And this is no coincidence as historically, the fourth quarter is more favorable to the crypto market than the third. A solid summer guarantees nothing for autumn, but it clearly changes the starting point.
Gold-Bitcoin Rotation, a Strong Signal or an Optimistic Bet? On X, the account Mister Crypto revived a theory that resurfaces every cycle which is the gold to Bitcoin rotation. And his argument? Gold’s momentum slows down while BTC’s accelerates, a pattern already observed in 2017 and 2020, just before two marked bullish phases for bitcoin. For him, the largest bull phase in BTC’s history is starting. Tempting isn’t it? But let’s take two seconds to breathe.
This type of chart always works retroactively. You draw circles around historical lows, connect them to the subsequent rise, and you get a pattern that seems clear. Except you never know in advance if you are inside the circle or outside, and two historical repetitions do not make a law of nature. A correlation between gold and bitcoin, as visually appealing as it is, has never been demonstrated as a causal mechanism. What is true, however, is that this narrative is circulating at the right time, when the BTC is already breaking quarterly records and when the appetite for risk seems to be back.
What to Take Away from the BTC and ETH Explosion in Q3 2026? Bitcoin records its second-best Q3 performance in history, with +43.5%, driven by strong ETF demand and limited profit-taking. Ethereum breaks its own Q3 record with +71%, amid strengthened spot and ETF demand. The key resistance to watch for BTC is around 96,700 dollars, the gateway to the psychological threshold of 100,000 dollars. The gold-bitcoin rotation theory resurfaces on social media but remains a retrospective chart reading, not a validated prediction. Q3 2026 will remain a special quarter for the crypto market for bitcoin and ethereum. Now it remains to be seen if Q4 will confirm the trend or if this long-awaited rotation from gold to BTC will once again be just another pretty chart on social media. And what if bitcoin transactions became as confidential as those of Zcash?
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Eddy S.
The world is evolving and adaptation is the best weapon to survive in this undulating universe. Originally a crypto community manager, I am interested in anything that is directly or indirectly related to blockchain and its derivatives. To share my experience and promote a field that I am passionate about, nothing is better than writing informative and relaxed articles.
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.
Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Ripple (XRP) price have made big gains in September, which have pushed the total crypto market cap from $2.62 trillion on September 1 to $2.87 trillion at the time of writing.
Analysts are now predicting the prices at which the four biggest cryptos by market cap will close on September 30, as the fear and greed index reading of 70 shows that the market remains in “greed” territory.
BTC Price Targets $87,000 by September End BTC price is on track to record its fourth straight September in the green, with month-to-date returns at 7.37%.
Analyst Philakone on X notes that BTC price remains above the 50-day and the 200-day SMAs, suggesting that the daily trend remains bullish. He notes that the resistance for Bitcoin now lies at $87,385.
Analyst Martini Guy also notes that if Bitcoin price can reclaim the $85,000 price, it could move back towards $87K.
Source: X A recent CoinGape Bitcoin price analysis also noted that Bitcoin price remained within a bull flag pattern on the one-day chart and could move towards $87,000 by month-end if support holds.
ETH Price Hunts Liquidity at $2,900 Ethereum price is up by 9.25% month-to-date, with this gain boding well for other altcoins including XRP and Solana.
Analyst Alex Marzell now notes that Ethereum price could continue climbing towards $2,900, where there is a high liquidity cluster.
Analyst Daan Crypto also notes that Ethereum price is facing resistance at $2,800. If ETH price can move above this resistance, the analyst says it could cause a “big move.”
Source: X Ethereum price is also defending support at the 200-week EMA, as earlier reported by CoinGape, suggesting that the long-term trend remains bullish and more gains could occur by month end.
SOL Price Eyes Rally to $130 SOL price traded at $122 at the time of writing after posting an intraday gain of 1.22%. Analyst Alaoui Capital now says Solana’s uptrend could extend towards $130 after the price broke from consolidation.
The analyst also attributed SOL price gains to inflows to ETFs that have amassed 1.475 million SOL in two weeks.
Analyst Apex Gotu also notes that SOL has a liquidity magnet above price at between $125 and $130 that could cause another bullish Solana price forecast.
XRP Price Targets Move to $1.70 XRP price is up by 7.9% in one month, and analyst Diana on X now notes that the uptrend might extend until $1.70.
The analyst noted that XRP price was rejected at $1.61, but the momentum is now turning bullish on the four-hour chart. If XRP price breaks resistance at $1.61, the move to $1.70 could occur.
The analyst’s bullish outlook comes amid a surge in inflows to XRP ETFs to $117.44 million in September 2026 alone.
XRP ETF Inflows/Outflows (Source: SoSoValue) The ongoing upgrades on the XRP Ledger could also aid more gains for the XRP price.
Therefore, as the crypto market comes near to closing the month of September in the green, BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP price are expected to inch higher. But besides technical outlooks, geopolitics and the upcoming PCE Inflation release could affect price movements.
Some assets linked to the Bitget security breach have entered Wasabi CoinJoin after moving through several blockchains and swap routes, according to blockchain compliance firm AMLBot.
Summary
AMLBot traced roughly four BTC linked to Bitget theft into a Wasabi CoinJoin transaction round. Funds moved from TRON through USDT0, Ethereum and THORChain before reaching Bitcoin addresses for mixing. Bitget now confirms approximately $387.5 million was transferred to attacker-controlled addresses during the September breach. About $343 million remained dormant across thirteen attacker wallets as of September 25, AMLBot estimated. Bitget plans phased withdrawals from September 28 after identifying and fixing the underlying security vulnerability. AMLBot said on Sept. 27 that its tracing connected roughly 4 BTC in one CoinJoin round to funds originating from a Bitget-linked TRON wallet. The firm described the activity as an apparent attempt to obscure the movement of stolen assets.
The finding comes after Bitget revised the value of assets transferred to attacker-controlled addresses to approximately $387.5 million. The exchange’s official investigation update said the new total includes Zcash and TRON assets that were missing from its initial $351.6 million estimate.
Bitget funds moved through four networks before CoinJoin AMLBot traced a multi-stage route beginning on TRON. According to the firm’s account, the attacker first converted TRX into USDT. The funds were then moved to Ethereum through USDT0, an omnichain version of Tether designed for transfers between supported networks.
Once on Ethereum, the assets were swapped into approximately 145 ETH. AMLBot said the ETH subsequently moved through THORChain and was converted into around 4.59 BTC.
The Bitcoin was then divided into smaller amounts before reaching a Wasabi CoinJoin round. AMLBot said its analysis could connect roughly 4 BTC in that transaction back to the Bitget TRON wallet.
CoinJoin combines Bitcoin inputs and outputs from multiple participants in a single transaction. The technique can make transaction tracing more difficult because blockchain observers cannot simply map one input to one corresponding output.
AMLBot characterized the activity as laundering through Wasabi CoinJoin and said it had blacklisted the linked addresses. The company is continuing to monitor the Bitcoin for further CoinJoin activity.
The attribution remains AMLBot’s blockchain analysis. Public blockchain records show transfers between addresses, swaps and cross-chain activity, but the purpose of each transaction is inferred from the observed flow and address attribution.
A Binance News summary published Sept. 27 repeated the same sequence, citing reports based on AMLBot’s tracing.
Bitget raises confirmed loss to $387.5 million Bitget initially said the Sept. 24 incident affected approximately $351.6 million in assets after unauthorized transfers from portions of its hot and warm wallet infrastructure.
The exchange detected the activity at 18:31 UTC and suspended withdrawals while leaving deposits and trading operational. Cold wallets remained secure, according to Bitget’s initial security notice.
By Sept. 25, Bitget’s transaction classification had raised the confirmed amount to approximately $387.5 million. The exchange said the increase did not result from new thefts after the breach. Investigators had instead identified additional Zcash and TRON assets involved in the original incident.
Affected assets included ETH, XRP, USDT, USDC, USDT0, ZEC, XAUt, BNB, AVAX and TRX. Bitget published primary attacker-controlled addresses on Ethereum-compatible networks, XRP Ledger, Zcash and TRON as part of its recovery work.
Bitget’s preliminary findings pointed toward a compromise involving backend wallet infrastructure rather than a leak of private keys. CEO Gracy Chen said private keys remained secure while investigators worked to identify the exact intrusion path.
Bitget later said its security team had identified the attack path and the method used to bypass existing controls. The company said the underlying vulnerability had been fixed, though it has not publicly released a complete technical root-cause report detailing the exploit.
AMLBot says most stolen assets remain dormant The CoinJoin activity represents only a small part of the funds linked to the breach.
In a Sept. 25 update, AMLBot said approximately $343 million, representing around 88% of the roughly $389 million it was tracking, had not moved. The firm’s figure was based on addresses it had attributed to the attacker.
AMLBot identified 13 dormant wallets holding several asset types. Eight Ethereum wallets contained approximately 68,300 ETH, while four XRP addresses held around 83 million XRP. Another wallet contained close to 18,900 ZEC.
The firm said none of those 13 addresses had sent a transaction since receiving the funds. Its subsequent Wasabi update concerns a different portion of the stolen assets that had already begun moving between chains and assets.
Other researchers have traced separate conversion activity. Crypto.news reported on Sept. 25 that security researcher Taylor Monahan identified stolen USDC being moved and converted into ETH after the attack.
Her findings showed attacker-controlled assets being bridged and swapped after leaving Bitget. The report noted that Circle can freeze USDC at specified addresses when legal requirements are met, though the public transaction trail did not establish whether a qualifying legal order had reached Circle at the time.
The subsequent AMLBot tracing shows another part of the flow crossing from TRON to Ethereum and then into Bitcoin through THORChain before entering CoinJoin.
Bitget prepares phased withdrawal reopening Bitget is preparing to restore withdrawal services after saying the vulnerability responsible for the incident has been remediated.
The exchange’s withdrawal schedule starts with Bitcoin at 08:00 UTC on Sept. 28. ETH withdrawals on Ethereum, BSC, Arbitrum, Base and Optimism are scheduled for Sept. 29.
USDT withdrawals on Ethereum, BSC, Solana and TRON are scheduled to resume on Sept. 30. Other token withdrawals, fiat services and peer-to-peer withdrawals are expected to return on Oct. 2.
Bitget said Mandiant and SlowMist continue to assist with the security investigation while its technical teams perform validation work on the withdrawal infrastructure.
As crypto.news reported on the reopening plan, Bitget says its Protection Fund will cover the financial loss from the incident and customer account balances remain unchanged. The exchange reported that the fund held more than $464 million during the withdrawal pause.
Bitget’s September proof-of-reserves update, published before the breach, showed a total reserve ratio of 135% across 19 covered assets. The exchange states that it maintains at least a 1:1 reserve ratio for user assets covered by the program. CEO Gracy Chen is scheduled to host a live AMA at 07:30 UTC on Sept. 28 covering the incident, restoration of withdrawals and the exchange’s next steps.
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.
TLDR: AMLBot traced about 4 BTC into a Wasabi CoinJoin after the funds moved through TRON, Ethereum and THORChain. About $343.2M, or 88.1% of roughly $389.4M tracked by AMLBot, remained dormant across 13 attacker wallets. Bitget raised its confirmed loss estimate to $387.5M after adding previously uncounted Zcash and TRON assets. Bitget will resume withdrawals on September 28 with Bitcoin, with broader restoration through October 2. Funds linked to the Bitget security breach have started entering Bitcoin privacy infrastructure, adding a new layer to investigators’ efforts to follow stolen assets. AMLBot reported on September 27 that roughly 4 BTC entered a Wasabi CoinJoin after moving through several assets, blockchains, and cross-chain services.
The movement covers only a small fraction of the theft. Meanwhile, about $343.2 million of tracked assets remained dormant across attacker-controlled wallets.
Attacker Routes Funds From TRON to Bitcoin According to AMLBot, the transaction path began with a Bitget-linked TRON wallet before the attacker converted TRX into USDT. The USDT was then bridged to Ethereum through USDT0, where the funds were exchanged for approximately 145 ETH.
Those assets later moved through THORChain and produced about 4.59 BTC, extending the trail from TRON to Ethereum and then Bitcoin. The attacker subsequently divided the BTC into smaller amounts before roughly 4 BTC entered a Wasabi CoinJoin round.
Wu Blockchain separately reported the same transaction path, while CertiK’s security feed also recorded AMLBot’s finding. Wasabi describes CoinJoin as a Bitcoin transaction that combines inputs from several participants and creates multiple new outputs.
That structure weakens the visible connection between individual inputs and outputs, making the origin-to-destination relationship harder to establish directly from blockchain records. However, CoinJoin participation does not indicate wrongdoing by other users as the privacy method is designed for general Bitcoin transactions.
For investigators, attribution matters as CoinJoin reduces the clarity of subsequent transaction paths. AMLBot said it blacklisted associated addresses and would keep monitoring the funds for additional CoinJoin activity.
$343M in Bitget Hack Funds Remains Dormant Across 13 Wallets Despite the latest movement, most funds linked to the Bitget breach remained dormant in AMLBot’s September 25 assessment. The firm estimated that about $343.2 million, representing 88.1% of roughly $389.4 million tracked, had not moved across 13 attacker wallets.
Those wallets held about 68,300 ETH across eight addresses, nearly 83 million XRP across four wallets, and around 18,900 ZEC elsewhere. That concentration leaves the latest privacy movement small compared with assets remaining stationary across the attacker wallets.
Bitget’s accounting was slightly lower, with the exchange confirming approximately $387.5 million transferred to attacker-controlled addresses. That figure revised an earlier $351.6 million estimate after additional Zcash and TRON assets were included in the total.
Bitget said the underlying vulnerability had been identified and remediated, while Mandiant and SlowMist continued assisting with the investigation. Withdrawals are scheduled to resume gradually from September 28, starting with Bitcoin, before broader restoration continues through October 2.
The CoinJoin activity therefore represents the clearest confirmed movement into privacy-focused infrastructure so far, while most tracked stolen assets remain unmoved.
Over the past seven days, centralized exchanges (CEX) recorded a net outflow of 31,782 BTC.
According to Coinglass data, the cumulative net outflow of BTC from centralized exchanges (CEXs) over the past seven days reached 31,782 BTC. The top three CEXs by outflow volume are as follows: Binance saw an outflow of 19,500.28 BTC; Coinbase Pro recorded an outflow of 6,700.6 BTC; Kraken had an outflow of 2,816.41 BTC.
18 minutes ago
NEAR briefly surges past $5.4, logging a nearly 10% gain in 24 hours.
According to HTX market data, NEAR briefly broke through $5.4, currently trading at $5.377, with a nearly 10% gain in the past 24 hours.
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OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs have been summoned to attend Australia's AI investigation hearing.
The chair of Australia’s Senate Artificial Intelligence Inquiry Committee said Sunday that the chief executives of OpenAI and Anthropic have been summoned to appear at the committee’s hearing. The announcement comes days after reports surfaced that an out-of-control OpenAI bot had breached Australia’s Medicare healthcare system database. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had previously strongly condemned the Medicare data leak. A spokesperson leading the inquiry confirmed that the CEOs of OpenAI and Anthropic have received written subpoenas to attend the public hearing, which will be held this Thursday in Canberra, the national capital.
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US Energy Secretary: The U.S. military is assisting with the transit of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Energy Secretary Wright stated that the U.S. military is assisting in the transit of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz, with nearly 13 million barrels of oil transported via the strait daily.
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Data: THORChain's daily revenue hits a new high in nearly 5 months.
According to Blockworks data, THORChain generated approximately $381,700 in revenue on September 25, hitting its highest level since April 25. Its swap trading volume reached $211 million, the second-highest since April 23, trailing only the roughly $280 million recorded on September 10.
18 minutes ago
Next Week's Macro Outlook: High-impact events including Nonfarm Payrolls and PCE, Micron to report earnings after Wednesday's market close.
The highlight of next week’s economic data will be Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls (NFP) report. The report includes three core metrics: non-farm payrolls, unemployment rate, and average hourly earnings, which are directly linked to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path and carry significant weight ahead of the October policy meeting. Below are the key market-focused events for the coming week (all times Beijing): Wednesday 20:15: U.S. September ADP employment change; Wednesday 20:30: U.S. August core PCE price index year-over-year; Thursday 16:00: Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey delivers a speech; Thursday 20:30: U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ending September 26; Thursday 21:30: European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde gives a speech; Friday 20:30: U.S. September seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate. Starting from Wednesday’s early morning, Federal Reserve officials will hold a flurry of public events. 2027 FOMC voter and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, and 2028 FOMC voter and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem will deliver speeches in succession; FOMC permanent voter and New York Fed President John Williams will give a keynote speech at the University at Buffalo. On Thursday, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin will speak one after another; on Friday, Williams and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan will also hold public events. In U.S. equities: Micron Technology (MU.O) will release its earnings report after Wednesday’s market close; on Thursday, Nike (NKE.N) will announce its latest quarterly results, with the two companies tracking themes of memory chips and consumer demand respectively.
PANews, September 27 — CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost stated that warning signs are beginning to emerge amid the euphoria in the altcoin market. Recently, altcoins have attracted substantial capital inflows. Since June 2026, the Total2 metric, which represents the total altcoin market cap (including Ethereum), has absorbed more than $371 billion in funds, growing 45% in just a few months.
This sudden enthusiasm for altcoins is also reflected in the price performance of altcoins listed on Binance: an increasing number of coins have broken above their 200-day moving average. Looking back to August, 80% of Binance altcoins were trading below this level; today, that share has fallen to 13%. This means 87% of altcoins on the platform have reversed their previous trend and turned bullish. This shift indicates that a sense of euphoria is spreading across the altcoin market. However, based on historical experience, such market conditions are often difficult to sustain and eventually lose their upward momentum.
In addition, the number of altcoins flowing into exchanges has climbed to its highest level since October 2025, which marked the previous market peak. Currently, the weekly average number of deposit transactions on Binance and Coinbase has risen to 22,700 and 8,300 respectively, with roughly another 32,000 transactions spread across other exchanges. Nevertheless, compared with trading volumes at the start of the previous bull cycle, the current scale of altcoins flowing into exchanges remains relatively modest.
Ethereum prices have shown signs of recovery following increased institutional adoption, particularly as spot Ether ETFs in the United States marked a sixth consecutive day of net inflows totaling $86.95 million on September 25. This positive momentum has helped Ethereum reclaim the $2,500–$2,600 support zone and spurred optimism about a potential upward move to higher resistance levels.
Strong ETF inflows drive institutional demandOn September 25, products managed by the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, accounted for the bulk of new investments in US spot Ether ETFs. BlackRock’s ETHA attracted $50.37 million in new funds, while its ETHB product added another $31.88 million. Fidelity’s FETH ETF brought in $4.69 million, combining to make up the day’s total net inflows. Notably, BlackRock products represented about 95% of all inflows that day.
These inflows built on strong ETF activity across the week, with US spot Ether ETFs recording $270 million on September 21, $162.2 million on September 22, $104.5 million on September 23, and $66.1 million on September 24. ETF flow data is used by market participants to track capital movement into regulated products that provide spot Ethereum exposure, indicating heightened interest from traditional investors without requiring direct token ownership.
Mini dictionary: Spot Ether ETF, an exchange-traded fund that directly holds Ethereum (ETH), allowing investors to gain exposure to Ether’s price movements without owning the cryptocurrency itself.
While ETF inflows do not guarantee price appreciation, analysts monitor this data as an important signal for institutional demand.
DateUS Spot Ether ETF Net InflowSeptember 21$270 millionSeptember 22$162.2 millionSeptember 23$104.5 millionSeptember 24$66.1 millionSeptember 25$86.95 millionEthereum’s technical picture and price targetsAccording to CoinMarketCap, Ethereum is currently priced around $2,682, marking a 7-day gain of approximately 1.8% and a 24-hour trading volume near $5.66 billion. The $2,500–$2,600 zone has served as a key support area throughout September, with price action above $2,550 observed since mid-month. Market participants are watching whether Ethereum can hold this range in anticipation of a move higher.
Analyst CryptoCupra identified $3,500 as the main breakout level in Ethereum’s higher-timeframe technical setup. Based on this analysis, a sustained move above $3,500 could clear the path for further gains with successive targets at $4,000, $4,800, $5,500, and $6,500.
CryptoCupra emphasized that the $3,500 zone represents the breakout point for Ethereum: “Above that, momentum accelerates fast and the path to $4,000, $4,800, $5,500 and potentially $6,500 opens up. A parabolic run could follow once ETH clears the current range.”
Given Ethereum’s current price near $2,688, the token would need to rise by about 30% to challenge the $3,500 target. For now, traders continue to observe whether ETH will sustain levels above $2,500 and attempt advances toward the technical resistance outlined by analysts. If this support fails, Ethereum may remain confined to its recent trading range.
Looking ahead: Market drivers to watchETF flows are expected to remain a central factor in assessing institutional appetite. Maintaining positive inflows could support Ethereum’s recovery trend, while a reversal in flows might signal shifting sentiment.
Capital flows into these products indicate that institutional demand for ETH has not subsided, particularly as the cryptocurrency remains above the $2,500 mark.
As the market awaits a potential breakout, Ethereum’s price action above support and continued ETF inflows remain in focus for traders monitoring the path toward higher technical targets.
