Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Stellar Development Foundation, the organization behind the open-source payment network Stellar, has announced a major protocol upgrade aimed at enhancing the network’s resilience against potential quantum computing threats. The upgrade, referred to as the Bell Protocol, is expected to bring advanced security features and prepare the Stellar ecosystem for large-scale enterprise adoption.

Upgrade timeline and new featuresAccording to details shared on X (formerly Twitter), the Bell Protocol upgrade is set for implementation in late 2026. The testnet upgrade vote is scheduled for November 3, 2026, followed by the mainnet upgrade vote on November 23, 2026, both at 17:00 UTC. This timeline allows developers, businesses, and the broader Stellar community adequate time to adapt to the upcoming changes.

Alongside the protocol upgrade, Stellar has recently released the stable version 30.0.0 of Stellar Core, with further infrastructure and SDK updates planned in the coming week. These SDKs will provide updated XDR definitions and introduce support for the new muxed contract address type as well as W strkey formats outlined in CAP-84.

Protocol 30 will also modify the ledger header format (CAP-88), meaning older SDK versions may be unable to decode ledgers created with the upgraded protocol. To ensure compatibility, Stellar encourages all developers to update their software accordingly.

Quantum Preparedness Plan (QPP)In June 2026, Stellar introduced the Quantum Preparedness Plan (QPP). This initiative is designed to transition the Stellar network toward quantum-safe cryptographic standards. By the end of 2027, every account on the network is expected to be able to add a quantum-safe signer through a built-in protocol update. Users will retain their current account addresses and full transaction histories throughout this process.

For enterprise clients, the plan includes early migration to quantum-safe signing via Soroban smart contract accounts in 2026, allowing large-scale wallet providers to enhance security ahead of widespread rollout.

Mini dictionary: Soroban is Stellar’s native smart contract platform, designed to support programmable, decentralized finance applications within the Stellar network while maintaining high performance and security standards.

Stellar Core v30.0.0 and the Quantum Preparedness Plan signal a proactive approach toward future-proofing the network as quantum computing continues to advance.

Addressing threats from quantum computingThere are two primary risks from sufficiently powerful quantum computers: threats to network integrity and to individual account security. Currently, the Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) secures consensus through Ed25519 digital signatures. If quantum computers become able to forge these signatures, a malicious actor could compromise quorum intersection and disrupt the network’s consensus mechanism. To address this, Stellar is planning a major SCP protocol update as part of its quantum-resistant roadmap.

A more complex challenge is account takeover. With Shor’s algorithm, a quantum computer could theoretically derive private keys from any Ed25519 public key. Because Stellar account addresses are directly based on Ed25519 public keys, all user accounts—including dormant ones that have never initiated a transaction—could become susceptible to attacks. The Quantum Preparedness Plan specifically focuses on developing quantum-safe signers to address this issue before such technology becomes accessible.

Stellar’s roadmap targets quantum-safe upgrades by 2026 and aims for all network accounts to support quantum-safe signers by the end of 2027, maintaining current addresses and transaction histories throughout the transition.

Market response and future outlookAs of the current trading session, XLM, Stellar’s native token, has risen 4.80% in the previous 24 hours to $0.183. This surge comes amid a broader recovery in the cryptocurrency market and growing optimism over Stellar’s technological roadmap.

Market observers suggest that XLM may continue to benefit from increased security and institutional adoption as Stellar’s quantum-ready features are rolled out. The Quantum Preparedness Plan is positioned as a major step in anticipating the evolving risks of next-generation cryptography and helping the network maintain its competitive edge in the blockchain space.

Six major blockchain organizations, including Chainlink Labs and the Cardano Foundation, have urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to formally classify digital commodities as non-securities, as the agency’s public consultation on proposed crypto regulations came to a close Tuesday.

In a joint letter dated Oct. 20, Chainlink Labs, the Cardano Foundation, Hedera, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs and the Stellar Development Foundation called on the SEC to incorporate its digital commodity classification directly into the proposed Regulation Crypto Assets framework, arguing that interpretive guidance alone leaves market participants facing legal uncertainty.

The groups argued that the SEC’s existing interpretation recognizes digital commodities as a distinct category but that the proposed rules fail to explicitly reflect that distinction, potentially leaving developers and other market participants uncertain about which securities regulations apply.

Source: Taylor Barr

The letter also seeks greater clarity on how securities laws apply to secondary-market transactions involving digital assets, as well as the treatment of staking and other activities associated with decentralized blockchain networks.

The SEC’s proposed crypto framework, introduced in August, drew roughly 140 public comments over 60 days, with industry participants and legal scholars offering competing views on proposed exemptions for crypto offerings and a conditional safe harbor for certain tokens.

Magazine: 5 alternatives to Ledger to store your Bitcoin

Altcoins

21 October 2026
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11:35

Lead Bank now lets its fintech partners turn dollars into USDC and pay recipients in 44 countries, but the exchange rate on those payouts is posted only after settlement.

Key Takeaways

Partners convert dollars and USDC around the clock
Local-currency payouts reach 44 countries via stablecoins
Bank-account name checks take up to 21 minutes
Returned payouts convert back at a new rate

Lead introduced the on-ramp, off-ramp and cross-border FX payout products in an October 20 blog post, published while the bank presented them at Money20/20.

What Lead launched and who can use it
Lead Bank is a chartered, FDIC-member bank based in Kansas City, Missouri, that sells banking infrastructure to fintech companies through APIs. Those companies, which Lead calls partners, build accounts, cards and payments for their own users on top of Lead’s charter. The new stablecoin products are available to them, not to individuals opening an account directly.

Lead’s payment documentation splits the launch into three flows, each starting or ending in a dollar account at Lead:

Flow
Money goes in as
Money comes out as

On-ramp
Dollars in a Lead account
USDC sent to a wallet

Off-ramp
USDC received on-chain
Dollars in a Lead account

FX payout
Dollars in a Lead account
Local currency in the recipient’s bank account

The FX payout is the cross-border product. Dollars are converted into a stablecoin, moved on-chain, then paid out through the destination country’s domestic payment system, or rail. The recipient never touches USDC.

Lead has not published which 44 countries the payouts reach. Its developer documentation lists five payout currencies: the Mexican peso, Colombian peso, Brazilian real, euro and British pound. Its product page gives Brazil’s PIX and the European Union’s SEPA system as examples of the local rails used. USDC is the only stablecoin at launch, with others planned, and outgoing payments must be at least $3.

One account instead of three providers
Lead argues that fintechs running international payments usually combine a bank, a crypto exchange and a cross-border payments vendor, keep money prefunded with each and reconcile three sets of records. In its setup, converted dollars land in the account the partner already holds and can move on over FedNow, RTP, ACH or wire, or abroad through the FX payout. Partners can still pick a conventional wire for any given payment.

Lead’s own example: a remittance company sending $5 from the US to Mexico. By wire, the fee can exceed the payment itself, and the usual workaround is keeping money parked in accounts abroad. The bank also pitches the service to payroll providers paying staff overseas who want dollars but struggle to open a US account.

The launch comes as community banks warn that stablecoins could pull deposits away from local lenders. Lead is approaching stablecoins from the other side, building products for the moment money converts and leaves the account. It is not new to the sector: Lead is the issuing bank behind the stablecoin-linked Visa cards built with Stripe-owned Bridge.

The exchange rate comes after the money moves
Lead’s validation and best-practice guide states that the FX payout rate is posted after settlement and cannot be retrieved upfront.

A partner sending $500 to a supplier in Brazil therefore cannot get from Lead’s API, before submitting, the number of reais the supplier will receive. How that figure is shown to the sender is left to each partner.

The same gap affects Lead’s $5-to-Mexico example. The announcement sets that transfer against a wire fee but gives no conversion fee or FX spread, so the two can only be compared once payments have settled.

When a payment has to come back
Lead separates payments that never leave from payments that leave and bounce. A rejection stops the payment before it moves. The listed reasons include a recipient name mismatch, a name check that timed out, a closed account and incorrect account details.

A return carries currency risk. Under Lead’s returns terms, the amount returned may differ from the amount sent because of fees and currency conversion. If the dollars were already converted into local currency, they are converted back at the new spot rate, which can leave the sender with more or less than the original payment.

Refunds of incoming stablecoins work differently. Lead cannot block funds sent on-chain to a partner’s deposit address, so every receipt is automatically converted into dollars. To send money back, the partner creates a new outgoing stablecoin payment, which Lead’s system cannot yet link to the original as a refund.

“Seconds” depends on the account check
Lead says the products run 24/7/365 and that, because the local rails are real-time, payouts can land in seconds. Before that happens, each outgoing payment passes Lead’s prohibited-country check, OFAC sanctions screening and a balance check.

On PIX, SPEI and Bre-B, Lead also confirms that the receiving account is active and that the name on it matches the name submitted. That check runs in the background, with a maximum wait set per rail:

Rail
Country
Max name-check wait

PIX
Brazil
3 minutes

SPEI
Mexico
21 minutes

Bre-B
Colombia
21 minutes

If the check doesn’t finish in time, the payment is rejected and has to be resubmitted, which Lead says will usually succeed once verification completes. If the name doesn’t match, Lead won’t reveal the name on file. Recipients with two surnames, common across Latin America, need both entered in the last-name field, or the match can fail.

Lead’s 24/7 claim applies to the stablecoin products. Once off-ramped dollars are in a Lead account, FedNow and RTP move them instantly, while ACH and wires keep their usual operating hours.

Lead has disclosed the currencies but not the country list, its conversion fees or its FX spread. Until those are public, partners can test the speed claim before their first payment, but they can check the price only after the money has arrived.

Author

Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem.
To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem.
His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.

Binance’s stablecoin reserves have dropped to $41.6 billion, a one-year low, after $6.3 billion left the exchange since April. The drain is market-wide, and it is starving crypto rallies of fresh buying power.

Prices have not collapsed. Bitcoin (BTC) trades near $83,350, roughly 4% below its September peak. However, the cash needed to push it higher keeps shrinking.

How Far Has Binance’s Cash Pile Fallen?Binance’s ERC-20 stablecoin balance peaked near $51 billion in late November 2025, according to CryptoQuant data shared by analyst Darkfost.

It has since lost roughly $9 billion. As a result, reserves are back at levels last seen in early October 2025.

A spring recovery briefly lifted the balance to about $48 billion in early May. However, that gain has fully reversed, with $6.3 billion exiting since April.

The 90-day change in Binance’s stablecoin market cap has stayed negative since the summer and now reads -4.7%.

That is milder than the February and March slump. Back then, the 90-day change sank below -15% as BTC slid from roughly $95,000 to the mid-$60,000s.

Concentration raises the stakes. Binance still holds more than 70% of all exchange stablecoin reserves.

Stablecoin market cap change in Binance. Source: Darkfost/CryptoQuantIs the Drain Limited to Binance?No. Since April, Coinbase Advanced lost $2.5 billion in stablecoins, OKX $2.4 billion, and Bybit $2.3 billion, per Darkfost.

Together, the four venues have shed roughly $13.5 billion. Because the data tracks ERC-20 tokens only, the full outflow may be larger.

Meanwhile, total supply offers little offset. Tether (USDT) has hovered near $183 billion since April. USD Coin (USDC), in contrast, slipped from $78 billion to $72 billion, per CoinGecko.

This mirrors an earlier exchange stablecoin reserves drop, which pointed to a similar liquidity squeeze.

Why Does Every Bitcoin Rally Run Out of Fuel?The CryptoQuant chart exposes a divergence. BTC climbed more than 30% from its August low to $86,597 on Sept. 22, yet Binance’s stablecoin balance kept falling.

In other words, the Bitcoin price rallied without fresh exchange cash behind it. Such moves may lean on existing holders and leverage, which can leave them fragile.

That fragility now shows. BTC has given back about 4%, while Ethereum (ETH) has dropped roughly 11% from its Sept. 22 high of $2,775.

Trading activity has thinned too. BTC’s average daily trading volume fell 27%, from $38.6 billion in April to $28.2 billion so far in October.

Derivatives traders are not leaning in either. Funding rates are the fees long and short traders swap periodically. On Binance and Bybit BTC perpetuals, they sit at the neutral 0.01% baseline.

What Would Bring Buyers Back to Exchanges?Darkfost offers two explanations. First, exchanges may be trimming stablecoin inventory to match weaker demand, as investors avoid fresh crypto exposure.

Alternatively, some holders may have moved funds to platforms paying yield while they wait for better conditions.

Either reading points to the same outcome. Without new stablecoins on exchanges, buyers lack the dry powder to defend breakouts.

That pressure adds to Bitcoin’s October risk factors, which already weighed on sentiment entering the month.

The signal to watch is a turn in Binance’s 90-day change back above zero. Until then, rallies may keep running on positioning rather than new capital.

More broadly, the drain shows how much crypto price discovery still rests on a few centralized venues. When Binance’s cash pile shrinks, the whole market feels it.

Disclaimer

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A series of security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in internet infrastructure software within a single day, affecting PHP, Node.js, and Go.

Multiple internet infrastructure software projects rolled out security updates in a single day, addressing vulnerabilities including remote code execution, TLS certificate validation bypass, and certificate trust risks. PHP fixed two critical flaws: CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, both enabling unauthenticated remote code execution that impacts PHP environments processing web requests. The patched versions are 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, and 8.2.35. Node.js’ advisory details 10 vulnerabilities, four of which are high-severity: these include remote code execution via out-of-bounds write in the Brotli decoder, DNS name truncation, and two TLS certificate hostname validation bypass issues. Fixed versions are 26.12.1, 24.22.1, and 22.23.4. Additionally, Go’s crypto/x509-related risk is tracked as CVE-2026-111943, rated "Important" by Red Hat with a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.8. Attackers with specific network access and valid certificates could impersonate legitimate servers to intercept or alter communications. Go 1.26.10 and 1.27.3 have been added to a deny list, blocking trust for compromised intermediate certificates.

53 minutes ago

Dataline completes $10.6 million seed round funding, and plans to conduct an ICO.

Decentralized data network for AI agents Dataline has closed a $10.6 million seed round, co-led by Lattice and Samsung-backed Dispersion Capital, with participation from Symbolic Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Anagram, and Robinhood co-founder & CEO Vlad Tenev, among others. The round, completed in April, utilized a SAFE agreement with token warrants; valuation was not disclosed. Dataline is now live, covering approximately 50 data sources to deliver on-chain and off-chain data, and scores data reliability, timeliness, and consistency using AI. Proceeds will be allocated to expanding data sources, enhancing data validation, and expanding into robotics, AI training data, and other sectors. Dataline plans to launch a token by the end of 2026 for network payments and data access, and intends to conduct a public token sale on Base via Uniswap’s Continuous Clearing Auction (CCA) system, with details set to be revealed next week. The public sale’s target fundraising amount, token quantity, and other terms remain undisclosed.

53 minutes ago

Trump plans to leverage White House cyber crime efforts to showcase achievements in combating cross-border crypto fraud.

White House officials said on October 21 that Trump planned to focus on the U.S. government’s actions to crack down on overseas crypto fraud rings during the White House’s cybersecurity event that day, including recovering funds and shutting down fraudulent operations. These transnational criminal groups steal funds from U.S. citizens via romance scams, phishing, ransomware and other methods. The U.S. government noted that law enforcement agencies have seized approximately $833 million in crypto assets linked to overseas fraud, and shut down 503 fraudulent crypto websites under the supervision of the Homeland Security Task Force. Relevant authorities have also notified nearly 9,000 U.S. citizens to alert them they are being targeted by fraud. The U.S. Treasury Department previously announced the establishment of an inter-agency "Fraud Strike Task Force" to target "pig butchering" scams run by organized criminal groups in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. Since last year, the U.S. has also imposed multiple sanctions aimed at cutting off support for related fraud websites and their infrastructure.

53 minutes ago

American Bankers Association voices dissatisfaction with OCC’s final GENIUS Act rule, which abandons proposed restrictions on stablecoin yields.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that the American Bankers Association (ABA) has voiced dissatisfaction with the final rules implemented by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under the GENIUS Act. The OCC abandoned the previously proposed restrictions on stablecoin yields, a move the ABA argues will "maintain the status quo for crypto platforms." The ABA’s CEO stated: "It is a mistake to wait until deposit outflows and economic harm have already occurred before attempting to address these issues."

53 minutes ago

Beyond PHP, three Node.js version branches are also affected by high-severity vulnerabilities, and users need to update their runtime environments promptly.

Node.js rolled out a security update on October 21, covering its 26.x, 24.x, and 22.x version branches, with corresponding patched releases: 26.12.1, 24.22.1, and 22.23.4. The advisory details 10 total vulnerabilities, categorized as 4 critical-severity, 3 medium-severity, and 3 low-severity, with varying impact scopes across the three version lines. The critical CVE-2026-111497 is an out-of-bounds write flaw in the Brotli decoder that could enable remote code execution (RCE), affecting all three branches. Other critical issues include improper null character handling in DNS resolution and a TLS certificate hostname validation bypass. The update also resolves problems with persistent connection response processing, random number cache duplication, and permission models, while updating dependencies including c-ares, OpenSSL, and Undici. The official note warns that end-of-life (EOL) versions may still be vulnerable, advising users to use the latest supported releases. Separately, prior reports noted PHP has fixed two critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerabilities, with patches available for versions 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, and 8.2.35; PHP users are urged to upgrade immediately.

53 minutes ago

Bonk Guy: This round is the "privacy cycle", privacy protocol MASK is undervalued.

Renowned trader Bonk Guy posted that the current crypto market is showing characteristics of a "privacy cycle". He noted that since yesterday, Bitcoin has risen approximately 3%, ZEC is up 16%, adding over $3 billion in market capitalization. MASK currently has a market cap of roughly $26 million, with its protocol trading volume and fees hitting consecutive all-time highs, he added. Citing data from DefiLlama, he stated that MASK ranks first among privacy protocols by revenue, outearning the next 10 privacy protocols combined. By comparison, ZEC’s market cap gain over the past 24 hours is roughly 115 times MASK’s entire market cap. Bonk Guy also said that MASK’s upcoming deployment on Solana is set to launch in the coming days, which he expects will further drive growth in usage, trading volume, and fees. He went on to call MASK the most undervalued privacy protocol in the crypto market.

53 minutes ago

Zcash ($ZEC) developers are targeting November 5 for the NU7 upgrade, which would cut block times from 75 to 25 seconds while leaving the halving schedule unchanged.

Zcash (@Zcash) $ZEC developers have targeted November 5 for the NU7 network upgrade, which would cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The activation is still pending final implementation in node software.

What NU7 changesThe headline change is faster blocks. According to CoinCentral, the shorter interval would let users receive confirmations three times faster. KuCoin News reports the change is aimed at point-of-sale payments, exchange deposits and cross-chain bridges, where a 75-second wait can be an obstacle.

NU7 also introduces a Network Sustainability Mechanism. Crypto.news reports that the mechanism temporarily removes 60% of transaction fees from circulation. Those funds are scheduled to return as mining rewards starting in February 2031, according to the Zcash Community Forum.

The existing mining reward halving schedule would remain unchanged. According to CoinDesk, the upgrade preserves Zcash's issuance and halving schedule by reducing the reward per block and tripling the halving interval. A weighted coinholder vote showed 98.9% support for preserving the halving schedule and 99.9% backing for faster blocks, based on KuCoin News coverage.

What still needs to happenThe activation height has been proposed but is not yet final. Crypto.news reports that developers selected block 3,543,405 as the planned activation point, expected around November 5. The proposal came from developer Sean Bowe in an October 20 GitHub submission after ZIP editors agreed on the height. It still needs to be integrated into the network's deployment specification.

CoinCentral notes that the date remains provisional until developers complete the required software changes, and that the decision advances the upgrade but does not guarantee a November launch.

Users with funds in Zcash's original Sprout shielded pool should also take note. NU7 disables version 4 transactions, and Bloomingbit reports that ZEC left in the Sprout pool will become unusable once the upgrade is fully activated, so holders must move their funds beforehand. Ordinary ZEC holders outside Sprout do not need to move coins, according to CryptoTicker. Action is required mainly from those running their own node, indexer or block explorer.

NU7 was activated on Zcash's public testnet on October 4, giving exchanges, wallets and infrastructure providers an environment to test the new rules ahead of mainnet.

Sources:

CoinDesk: Zcash targets November upgrade to make private payments up to three times fasterCrypto.news: Zcash developers select November 5 target for NU7 upgradeZcash Community Forum: NU7 Timeline

Zcash (ZEC) surged about 12% over the past 24 hours, as developers agreed on a mainnet activation block for the network’s NU7 upgrade, expected in early November.

The token traded around $1,270 at last look on Wednesday, according to CoinGecko. The rally coincided with a Tuesday GitHub proposal by Zcash developer Sean Bowe setting the activation at block 3,543,405, expected around Nov. 5.

The value of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency that uses advanced trustless zero-knowledge proofs is up more than 148% year to date.

“Height agreed at ZIP editor meeting,” Bowe wrote, adding that the team still needed to finalize the upgrade specifications before merging the proposal. Two developers approved the changes.

The Zakura NU7 dashboard also lists the upgrade as pending on mainnet at block 3,543,405, with activation expected around Nov. 5.

NU7 aims to reduce Zcash’s target block time by two-thirds to 25 seconds, allowing transactions to receive confirmations more quickly. The upgrade from 75-second block time has been undergoing testing since early October.

Meanwhile, the Zcash Foundation’s NU7 readiness tracker showed six of 12 tasks completed, with remaining work involving Zebra node synchronization issues and mainnet preparations. Developers have not confirmed whether these outstanding issues could affect the planned activation date.

Zcash has one shot at $1,350 as ETF inflows return – Or it’s back to $1,040

Zcash Developers Set NU7 Upgrade Target for November 5 at Block 3,543,405

Developers proposed a specific mainnet block for activating NU7. The upgrade cuts block times and defers most transaction fees to future miners. Old Sprout shielded funds must be moved before activation or become unspendable. ZEC is testing the resistance that has capped every rally this month. Zcash price climbed about 8% over the past 24 hours to $1,313.75, lifting the privacy coin‘s market value to roughly $22.23 billion after its developers settled on a concrete mainnet height for Network Upgrade 7 (NU7). The proposed block, 3,543,405, should arrive around November 5 and will bring 25-second blocks along with a new way of handling transaction fees and the retirement of Zcash’s original privacy pool, while on the chart ZEC is pressing against the $1,343 level that has rejected every rally attempt this month.

What Is Still Needed Before NU7 Goes Live On October 20, longtime Zcash protocol developer Sean Bowe opened pull request #1405 on the project’s specification repository, proposing block 3,543,405 as the activation point after a meeting of Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) editors, the group that maintains the network’s formal rulebook. Fellow contributors ValarDragon and str4d approved it the same day, although the change still has to be merged into ZIP 259, the document that defines how NU7 is deployed, and node software must carry the new height before the network can switch over.

The date itself follows a rollout timetable published on the community forum in mid-September, and testnet already runs the new rules after the Zcash Foundation shipped the Zebra 7.0.0-rc.0 release candidate on October 2 and NU7 went live at testnet block 4,465,026 a few days later.

NU7 Road to Mainnet

Sep 17 – Rollout timetable agreed by ecosystem teams

Sep 30 – Feature deadline for testnet release

Early Oct – NU7 live on testnet

Oct 20 – Mainnet block 3,543,405 proposed

Nov 5 – Expected mainnet activation

Triple the Blocks, Same Supply The headline change comes from ZIP 218, which cuts the target gap between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Zcash would produce about 3,456 blocks a day instead of 1,152, and a payment waiting for three confirmations would settle in roughly a minute and a quarter on average, compared with almost four minutes today, with the specification naming everyday payments and integrations such as NEAR Intents as the main beneficiaries.

Zcash Speed: Today vs After NU7

Block interval75 sec→25 sec

Three confirmations3m 45s→1m 15s

Blocks per day1,152→3,456

Reward per blockFull→One third

Averages based on target spacing. Source: ZIP 218.

Faster blocks would normally mean faster issuance, so NU7 trims the scheduled reward per block to a third of its current size and leaves both the total supply of new ZEC and the halving schedule where they were. ZIP 218 also caps the number of shielded actions per block to keep the cost of verifying and syncing private transactions in check, which means tripling block frequency does not triple the network’s sustainable capacity.

60% of Fees Head for a 2031 Vault ZIP 235 creates the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM), which pulls 60% of the transaction fees in every block out of circulation and leaves miners with the remaining 40%. Those coins sit in a pool that is scheduled to come back, since ZIP 237 starts paying the accumulated balance to miners as an extra block subsidy from block 8,939,664, expected around February 2031, and the deployment specification confirms that the 21 million ZEC cap stays untouched.

Where Each Block’s Fees Go

60% NSM

40% Miners

Held back, reissued from ~Feb 2031
Paid out immediately

The design targets Zcash’s long-term security budget, because each halving cuts what miners earn from new coins and the NSM builds a reserve from present-day usage to top up their income later. How large that reserve grows depends entirely on fee volume, which stays modest on a network where individual transactions cost very little, so the mechanism only affects circulating supply in a noticeable way if activity rises considerably.

Sprout Funds Freeze at Activation ZIP 2003 disables version 4 transactions, the format required by Sprout, the shielded pool Zcash launched with in 2016. Funds still sitting in Sprout addresses will become unspendable under the new consensus rules, so holders of old wallets need to move them to the newer Sapling or Orchard pools before activation, while version 5 and version 6 transactions remain valid and ordinary transparent and modern shielded balances are unaffected.

ZEC Stuck Below the 0.236 Fibonacci Level ZEC/USDT daily chart. Source: Alexander Stefanov on TradingView ZEC rallied about 820% from its February low of $184.57 to a September peak of $1,701 before slipping out of a steep rising channel around the start of October. Since then it has traded between the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement at $1,343, measured across that entire rally, and the 0.382 level at $1,122, with the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA) at $1,190 catching every dip, including a brief wick below it last week that buyers reversed almost immediately.

Wednesday’s bounce lifted the 14-day RSI to about 55, above its own average near 45 for the first time since early October. The indicator cooled from readings above 80 in September to the low 40s without ever reaching oversold territory, a pattern typical of a market absorbing a large gain while buyers remain active underneath, although the daily candle is still open and intraday pushes through $1,343 have failed several times this month, so only a daily close above that level would change the structure.

ZEC Price Ladder

Yearly high$1,701

Channel breakdown~$1,500

0.236 Fib, October ceiling$1,343

ZEC now~$1,314

50-day EMA$1,190

0.382 Fib, range floor$1,122

0.5 Fib$943

200-day EMA / 0.618 Fib$792 / $764

Half the Checklist Still Open The Zebra 7.0.0 build that runs NU7 is still a release candidate, and the Zcash Foundation has told mainnet operators to wait for a stable release carrying the activation height, with the current 6.4.x series of the Zebra node set to be retired before the switch. Nodes that miss the update would end up on an incompatible chain, and exchanges, wallets, explorers and indexers all have to adjust to a block arriving every 25 seconds, so brief deposit and withdrawal pauses around activation would not be unusual for an upgrade of this scope.

A daily close above $1,343 would end October’s run of lower highs and bring the $1,500 area into play, with $1,701 behind it, though traders who bought before the channel broke may use that zone to exit. Another rejection would point back to $1,190 and then $1,122, and a close below the range floor would expose $943, leaving the band between $764 and $792, where the 200-day EMA meets the 0.618 retracement, to decide whether the uptrend that began in April survives.

The 50-day EMA climbed steeply through August and September but has gone almost flat during October, which means the level buyers keep defending has stopped rising with price. With NU7 roughly two weeks away, the upgrade is the most likely catalyst to break the range, and any slip in the activation schedule would leave ZEC leaning on a moving average that offers less protection with each passing week.

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.

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"ZEC is gearing up for a $2,000 run," one analyst envisioned.

The cryptocurrency market has staged an evident resurgence over the past 24 hours, with Zcash (ZEC) once again among the top performers.

Many analysts believe this marks the start of a major new rally, while some whales opened long positions worth millions of dollars.

Explosion to $2,000 Comes Next? As of this writing, ZEC is worth just over $1,330 (per CoinGecko), up 13% for the day. By comparison, Bitcoin (BTC) has rebounded by 3%, while Ethereum (ETH) has risen by 4% within the same period. The privacy coin’s market capitalization stands at over $22 billion, solidifying its spot among the 10 biggest cryptocurrencies and widening the gap with Hyperliquid (HYPE), which ranks 11th.

The most likely catalyst for ZEC’s latest price increase is the green wave sweeping the sector, but there may be more to it. The X account BSCN revealed that Zcash plans to triple its block production speed, with developers targeting November 5 for the NU7 upgrade.

“The upgrade would cut block times from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. It would also temporarily remove 60% of transaction fees from circulation. The existing mining reward halving schedule would remain unchanged. The activation height still needs to be incorporated into node software before the upgrade can take effect,” the disclosure reads.

Besides gaining 13% on the day, ZEC has also climbed 22% from its local bottom of around $1,050, registered just a few days ago. On that note, X user Lucky said:

“ZEC is bouncing back beautifully. Tell me you bought the dip.”

Token Talk and Nehal also weighed in. The former argued that, to maintain its bullish structure, the price would need a healthy consolidation period instead of printing another candle straight to the upside. For his part, the latter predicted that ZEC is gearing up for an explosion toward $2,000.

The Whales’ Activity Looknochain revealed that two major investors recently bet heavily on ZEC’s further upside. One opened an $18.6 million long position with 10x leverage, whereas the other entered an $18.9 million long under the same conditions.

You may also like: Zcash (ZEC) Gains 1,000% and Still Has Room to Grow, Grayscale Research Says Cardano’s NIGHT Will Be Bigger Than Zcash: Charles Hoskinson Zcash Tops $1,600 After Europe’s First ZEC ETP Debuts Such a development is generally considered bullish because it shows strong conviction from large investors, which can encourage smaller players to jump on the bandwagon and distribute fresh capital into the ecosystem.

Nonetheless, heavy leverage also raises the risk of a long squeeze, and if ZEC suddenly reverses course, cascading liquidations of overly risky positions could intensify selling pressure and accelerate the decline.

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In brief
Bitcoin trades near $84,500, up 2.5% in 24 hours, as the crypto market cap rose 2.6% to $2.82 trillion; XRP gained 4.1% and Zcash 11.2%.
Brent crude near $108 and a 5.09% 10-year Treasury yield drove October's selloff, and both eased slightly on Wednesday.
Bitcoin technical indicators still suggest caution, but prediction markets lean optimistically bullish.
Bitcoin traders and hodlers are breathing this week after a pretty spooky start to the month with the historically best gains.

Bitcoin traded near $84,500 on Wednesday, up 2.5% over 24 hours, as the crypto market bounced back from a mid-October slide that pushed it below $80,000. The total crypto market capitalization, the combined value of every coin, rose 2.2% to $2.9 trillion.

Myriad: How high will Bitcoin go? Click to make your prediction.Ethereum climbed 2.5% to $2,504, Solana gained 2.2% to $108.18 and BNB rose 2% to $749. XRP led the large caps with a 4.1% gain to $1.37, while Zcash jumped 11.2% to $1,332 and has now added 15.3% over seven days.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a 0-to-100 gauge where 0 means extreme fear and 100 means extreme greed, reads 55, which counts as neutral but is 3 points ahead of yesterday’s readings. In other words, it seems like traders have stopped panicking, but they are not yet chasing prices.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, has swung between $97 and $112 a barrel this month and traded near $108 on Wednesday. The war with Iran keeps supply fears alive, and Washington rejected an Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in late September.

Oil matters to crypto because it feeds inflation. U.S. consumer prices rose 3.7% in September from a year earlier, above the 3.6% economists expected and up from 3.4% in August. Higher inflation pushes up Treasury yields, the annual return investors demand for lending to the U.S. government. Government bonds paying more than 5% with almost no default risk pull money away from stocks and crypto, and higher rates make the borrowing behind leveraged trades costlier.

The Federal Reserve's benchmark rate sits at 3.75% to 4% after a September hike, and CME FedWatch gives about an eight-in-ten chance of a hold at the Oct. 28 meeting. Markets firmly expect a hike on Dec. 9.

Bitcoin price: Going up, but weakOn the daily chart, Bitcoin opened Wednesday at $82,928.80 and has reached $84,726.28, up 1.94% for the candle, after bouncing about 6% from this month's low near $79,711. Its current price is pressing up, trying to approach the natural resistance at $87,422.70.

Bitcoin price data. Image: TradingviewBitcoin’s latest rally ran from $62,763 to a September high of $87,422.70. That trend marked a strong support at $81,603. Bitcoin lost the level in the October dip and has now reclaimed it, with movement still in the upper side of its bounce..

The 50-day exponential moving average, an average of recent closing prices that gives more weight to the most recent days, sits near $80,782, above the 200-day moving average at about $76,084. A 50-day above the 200-day is the standard sign of an uptrend, and Bitcoin trades 4.6% above the shorter average.

The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which scores recent buying against selling on a 0-to-100 scale, reads 58.5. Readings above 50 mean buyers hold the edge, while 70 marks overbought territory, so momentum is not yet stretched but is moving towards a bullish mood.

The bullish scenario needs a daily close above $84,726, today's high, ideally with ADX—an indicator of a trend’s strength over time—climbing back above 25 to confirm a trend. That would open a natural target at around $86,090, and then the September high at $87,422.70.

Traders on Myriad, a prediction market built by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, put the odds of Bitcoin touching $87,500 in October at 31%, down from 45% on Oct. 12. A $90,000 touch is priced at 18%.

A stall below $84,726 would keep Bitcoin inside the roughly $79,700 to $87,400 range that has held since late September, which fits an ADX under 20.

The bearish case starts with a daily close below $81,603. That would expose the 50-day EMA at $80,782, then the October low near $79,711, and the 200-day EMA at $76,084.

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The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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Zcash gains nearly 10% as XRP and Ethereum rebound. October 21 analysis maps key price support, resistance and signals for ETH, XRP, XMR, ZEC and PUMP.

Asset Price 24-hour change Aggregate volume Ethereum $2,443.19 +1.24% $11.30B XRP $1.33 +2.10% $1.41B Zcash $1,259.24 +9.64% $1.04B Monero $575.41 −4.80% $185.56M Pump.fun $0.0047416 +6.35% $189.25M Ethereum Rebounds but Remains Below the Bollinger Midpoint Ethereum closed October 20 at $2,446.73, up 1.72%, after trading between $2,370.41 and $2,475. The candle recovered Monday’s $2,443.70 high at the close but did not clear the October 16 high at $2,490.84 or the October 14 high at $2,527.11.

TH/USD daily Bollinger Bands show a rebound to $2,446.73 below the falling $2,532.04 midpoint, with support concentrated near $2,370–$2,383. Daily Bollinger Bands, calculated from a 20-day simple moving average and two population standard deviations, placed the midpoint at $2,532.04. The lower and upper bands stood at $2,296.81 and $2,767.26.

Price remains in the lower half of the envelope while the midpoint continues to fall. This characterizes a rebound beneath a declining trend reference rather than a confirmed reversal.

The completed 00:00–04:00 UTC candle closed at $2,441.56. CoinGecko’s aggregate quote was 1.34% above Tuesday’s $2,410.99 report.

A daily close above $2,475 would strengthen the approach to $2,490.84 and the Bollinger midpoint near $2,532. A close below $2,382.78 would weaken the rebound and expose $2,370.41, followed by $2,313.42.

XRP’s MACD Gap Narrows Without a Bullish Crossover XRP closed Tuesday at $1.33457, gaining 2.45% and finishing above the previous session’s $1.32128 high. The move recovered part of the decline from $1.38535 but remained beneath the $1.34473 session high and $1.34600–$1.35208 resistance.

XRP/USD daily MACD (12,26,9) remains below its signal even as the histogram becomes less negative following a 2.45% completed-session gain. Daily MACD, using 12- and 26-period exponential averages with a nine-period signal EMA, remained bearish. The MACD line improved to −0.03536 against a −0.02410 signal.

Its histogram narrowed from −0.01569 to −0.01126, showing reduced downside momentum but no completed bullish line-signal crossover.

Four-hour MACD offered a stronger short-term reading: the line was above its signal and the histogram was positive at 0.00611. That divergence supports a near-term rebound attempt but does not replace daily confirmation.

A daily close above $1.34473–$1.35208 would strengthen the recovery toward $1.38076–$1.38535.

Failure to hold $1.29213 would weaken the move and expose Tuesday’s $1.285 low. A close below $1.25477 would invalidate the recovery from the new October low.

Compared with the October 19 report, XRP’s Kraken daily close has risen 2.21% from $1.30573.

Monero Holds Above Its Daily EMAs After a $625 Rejection Monero closed October 20 at $597.57, down 1.29%, after reaching $625. The upper wick and lower close show rejection from that high, while Kraken volume reached 10,422 XMR—approximately 1.66 times the preceding 20-session average.

XMR/USD remains above rising 20-day and 50-day EMAs despite rejecting $625, while four-hour price action has weakened toward $575. Despite the pullback, price remained above the rising 20-day EMA at $559.91 and 50-day EMA at $530.54. The faster average was already above the slower one, and Tuesday did not produce a fresh crossover.

The setup therefore combines a still-positive daily trend position with near-term rejection at resistance.

Short-term conditions weakened after the daily close. The completed four-hour candle fell to $574.94, below its 20-period EMA at $592.17 and near its 50-period EMA at $574.17. CoinGecko’s $575.41 quote likewise sat well below Tuesday’s close.

A daily close above $611.93 would improve the odds of another test of $625. Clearing $625 would bring the September 21 high at $633.90 into focus.

A close below $582.55 would weaken the latest advance, while losing $569.44 would expose the 20-day EMA.

Zcash RSI Reclaims Neutral as Price Tests October Resistance Zcash closed at $1,256.30, gaining 9.17% after trading as low as $1,117.08. The close recovered Monday’s $1,189.88 high and approached the $1,278–$1,284.78 resistance area.

ZEC/USD daily RSI rises above 50 as price approaches $1,278–$1,284.78 resistance; the four-hour move to $1,296 is not yet a daily breakout. The 14-day RSI, calculated with Wilder smoothing, rose to 51.05 from 43.69. Moving above 50 provides momentum confirmation for the rebound, while the reading remains below the conventional 70 overbought threshold. Four-hour RSI was stronger at 64.82, reflecting the sharp short-term advance.

The latest completed four-hour candle reached $1,296 and closed at $1,260.25. This intraday break above $1,284.78 was not confirmed by a completed daily close.

The broader October structure also retains lower highs from the September peak.

A daily close above $1,284.78 would confirm a break of immediate resistance and improve the path toward $1,303–$1,335.

A close below $1,189.88 would weaken the rebound, with $1,150.80 and $1,108.86 next. Losing $1,047.63 would invalidate the recovery.

The current aggregate quote is 4.51% above the $1,204.87 snapshot in the October 16 report.

Pump.fun Rebounds as ATR Keeps Volatility Elevated Pump.fun closed Tuesday at $0.004864, advancing 8.91% after a $0.004325–$0.004878 session. The close recovered Monday’s $0.004586 high but stopped below $0.004878 and the October 14 high at $0.005130.

PUMP/USD daily ATR (14) remains near $0.000596, or 12.25% of price, as the token rebounds toward $0.004878–$0.005130 resistance. The 14-day Average True Range, using Wilder smoothing, stood at $0.000596, down slightly from $0.000599. That equals approximately 12.25% of Tuesday’s close, indicating that recent daily ranges remain wide relative to price.

ATR measures volatility, not direction, so it does not confirm that the rebound will continue.

The latest completed four-hour candle closed at $0.004738 after touching $0.004963. The move cleared Tuesday’s high intraday but failed to hold above it at the four-hour close.

A daily breakout therefore remains unconfirmed.

A daily close above $0.004878 would strengthen the recovery toward $0.005130, followed by $0.005503–$0.005610.

A close below $0.004325 would weaken the setup and expose $0.004153. Losing the October 18 low at $0.003788 would invalidate the current rebound.

Doctor Profit Warns of a Very Big Monero (XMR) Liquidation Event

Trending Privacy Coins XMR, VVV, and PHA on the Run: Can They Keep Pumping?

A series of security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in internet infrastructure software within a single day, affecting PHP, Node.js, and Go.

Multiple internet infrastructure software projects rolled out security updates in a single day, addressing vulnerabilities including remote code execution, TLS certificate validation bypass, and certificate trust risks. PHP fixed two critical flaws: CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619, both enabling unauthenticated remote code execution that impacts PHP environments processing web requests. The patched versions are 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, and 8.2.35. Node.js’ advisory details 10 vulnerabilities, four of which are high-severity: these include remote code execution via out-of-bounds write in the Brotli decoder, DNS name truncation, and two TLS certificate hostname validation bypass issues. Fixed versions are 26.12.1, 24.22.1, and 22.23.4. Additionally, Go’s crypto/x509-related risk is tracked as CVE-2026-111943, rated "Important" by Red Hat with a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.8. Attackers with specific network access and valid certificates could impersonate legitimate servers to intercept or alter communications. Go 1.26.10 and 1.27.3 have been added to a deny list, blocking trust for compromised intermediate certificates.

38 minutes ago

Dataline completes $10.6 million seed round funding, and plans to conduct an ICO.

Decentralized data network for AI agents Dataline has closed a $10.6 million seed round, co-led by Lattice and Samsung-backed Dispersion Capital, with participation from Symbolic Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Anagram, and Robinhood co-founder & CEO Vlad Tenev, among others. The round, completed in April, utilized a SAFE agreement with token warrants; valuation was not disclosed. Dataline is now live, covering approximately 50 data sources to deliver on-chain and off-chain data, and scores data reliability, timeliness, and consistency using AI. Proceeds will be allocated to expanding data sources, enhancing data validation, and expanding into robotics, AI training data, and other sectors. Dataline plans to launch a token by the end of 2026 for network payments and data access, and intends to conduct a public token sale on Base via Uniswap’s Continuous Clearing Auction (CCA) system, with details set to be revealed next week. The public sale’s target fundraising amount, token quantity, and other terms remain undisclosed.

38 minutes ago

Trump plans to leverage White House cyber crime efforts to showcase achievements in combating cross-border crypto fraud.

White House officials said on October 21 that Trump planned to focus on the U.S. government’s actions to crack down on overseas crypto fraud rings during the White House’s cybersecurity event that day, including recovering funds and shutting down fraudulent operations. These transnational criminal groups steal funds from U.S. citizens via romance scams, phishing, ransomware and other methods. The U.S. government noted that law enforcement agencies have seized approximately $833 million in crypto assets linked to overseas fraud, and shut down 503 fraudulent crypto websites under the supervision of the Homeland Security Task Force. Relevant authorities have also notified nearly 9,000 U.S. citizens to alert them they are being targeted by fraud. The U.S. Treasury Department previously announced the establishment of an inter-agency "Fraud Strike Task Force" to target "pig butchering" scams run by organized criminal groups in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines. Since last year, the U.S. has also imposed multiple sanctions aimed at cutting off support for related fraud websites and their infrastructure.

38 minutes ago

American Bankers Association voices dissatisfaction with OCC’s final GENIUS Act rule, which abandons proposed restrictions on stablecoin yields.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that the American Bankers Association (ABA) has voiced dissatisfaction with the final rules implemented by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under the GENIUS Act. The OCC abandoned the previously proposed restrictions on stablecoin yields, a move the ABA argues will "maintain the status quo for crypto platforms." The ABA’s CEO stated: "It is a mistake to wait until deposit outflows and economic harm have already occurred before attempting to address these issues."

38 minutes ago

Beyond PHP, three Node.js version branches are also affected by high-severity vulnerabilities, and users need to update their runtime environments promptly.

Node.js rolled out a security update on October 21, covering its 26.x, 24.x, and 22.x version branches, with corresponding patched releases: 26.12.1, 24.22.1, and 22.23.4. The advisory details 10 total vulnerabilities, categorized as 4 critical-severity, 3 medium-severity, and 3 low-severity, with varying impact scopes across the three version lines. The critical CVE-2026-111497 is an out-of-bounds write flaw in the Brotli decoder that could enable remote code execution (RCE), affecting all three branches. Other critical issues include improper null character handling in DNS resolution and a TLS certificate hostname validation bypass. The update also resolves problems with persistent connection response processing, random number cache duplication, and permission models, while updating dependencies including c-ares, OpenSSL, and Undici. The official note warns that end-of-life (EOL) versions may still be vulnerable, advising users to use the latest supported releases. Separately, prior reports noted PHP has fixed two critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerabilities, with patches available for versions 8.5.12, 8.4.27, 8.3.36, and 8.2.35; PHP users are urged to upgrade immediately.

38 minutes ago

Bonk Guy: This round is the "privacy cycle", privacy protocol MASK is undervalued.

Renowned trader Bonk Guy posted that the current crypto market is showing characteristics of a "privacy cycle". He noted that since yesterday, Bitcoin has risen approximately 3%, ZEC is up 16%, adding over $3 billion in market capitalization. MASK currently has a market cap of roughly $26 million, with its protocol trading volume and fees hitting consecutive all-time highs, he added. Citing data from DefiLlama, he stated that MASK ranks first among privacy protocols by revenue, outearning the next 10 privacy protocols combined. By comparison, ZEC’s market cap gain over the past 24 hours is roughly 115 times MASK’s entire market cap. Bonk Guy also said that MASK’s upcoming deployment on Solana is set to launch in the coming days, which he expects will further drive growth in usage, trading volume, and fees. He went on to call MASK the most undervalued privacy protocol in the crypto market.

38 minutes ago

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Crypto lending has grown back into a credit market worth tens of billions of dollars. It rebuilt after Celsius, BlockFi, Genesis and other large lenders failed during the 2022 crypto crisis.

The industry looks different in 2026. Decentralized protocols such as Aave, Morpho and Spark now compete with centralized lenders such as Coinbase, Galaxy, Ledn and Nexo.

This article uses data from Galaxy Research and DefiLlama. It covers market size, loan balances, protocol rankings, interest rates and the main risks.

Crypto Lending Statistics at a Glance

Table of Contents

Galaxy Research put the crypto-collateralized lending market at $56.16 billion at the end of Q2 2026. That was down 16.8% from the quarter before and about 40% below the Q3 2025 record of $78.7 billion.

Metric
Figure

Total market, end of Q2 2026
$56.16 billion

Q3 2025 peak
$78.7 billion

Change in Q2 2026
Down 16.8%

CeFi loans outstanding
$22.98 billion

DeFi loans outstanding (Galaxy)
$20.43 billion

DeFi change in Q2 2026
Down 27.6%

CeFi change in Q2 2026
Down 9.6%

Lending protocol TVL (DefiLlama)
$51.6 billion

Aave V3 active loans
$11.8 billion

Morpho active loans
$5.6 billion

Average stablecoin borrow rate
4.7%

Average stablecoin supply rate
3.6%

Debt tied to treasury strategies
More than $17.5 billion

Sources: Galaxy Research and DefiLlama.

Figure 1: Decline in outstanding crypto loans in Q2 2026. Source: Galaxy Research.

DeFi lending fell the most in the second quarter. CeFi fell by less.

For the first time since Q3 2023, centralized lenders had more outstanding loans than DeFi lending applications.

How Big Is the Crypto Lending Market?
Galaxy’s figure combines several kinds of crypto-backed credit. At the end of Q2 2026, total loans stood at $56.16 billion. That was $11.33 billion lower than three months earlier.

The market was $67.42 billion at the end of Q1 2026. Its record was $78.7 billion in Q3 2025, which puts Q2 2026 about 40% below the peak.

Figure 2: Total crypto-collateralized loans, from the Q3 2025 peak to Q2 2026. Source: Galaxy Research.

Galaxy described the drop as stepwise deleveraging rather than a cascading collapse. Borrowers have cut leverage over several quarters instead of in one event.

That differs from 2022. DeFi borrowing fell by more than 80% then, and several large centralized lenders failed.

The total also includes more than CeFi and DeFi loans. Subtracting both from the $56.16 billion leaves about $12.75 billion. The research says the rest comes largely from crypto-backed stablecoin debt structures.

CeFi vs DeFi Lending
Crypto lending falls into two groups. In centralized finance, or CeFi, a borrower deals with a company such as an exchange or an institutional lender. Examples include Coinbase, Galaxy, Ledn, Nexo, Arch, Sygnum and Milo.

In decentralized finance, or DeFi, borrowing happens through smart contracts. Examples include Aave, Morpho, Spark, Compound and Euler.

The economics can look alike, but the structure is different. DeFi users deposit collateral into smart contracts, and anyone can check liquidity and debt on-chain. Centralized lenders hold collateral internally and usually share less real-time data.

Feature
CeFi
DeFi

Who holds collateral
The lender
Smart contracts

Data visibility
Limited real-time data
Debt and liquidity visible on-chain

Loans, end of Q2 2026
$22.98 billion
$20.43 billion

Change in Q2 2026
Down 9.6%
Down 27.6%

Source: Galaxy Research.

Figure 3: CeFi and DeFi outstanding loans, Q1 and Q2 2026. Source: Galaxy Research.

In Q1 2026, DeFi had $28.22 billion in loans against $25.43 billion for CeFi. By the end of Q2, CeFi led with $22.98 billion to $20.43 billion.

This is not a return to the pre-Celsius model. Today’s large centralized lenders generally stress overcollateralization, institutional clients, better custody, clear balance sheets, shorter loan terms and regulated structures.

Centralized Crypto Loans: About $23 Billion Outstanding
Galaxy estimated CeFi loans at $22.98 billion at the end of Q2 2026. That was down 9.6% from $25.43 billion in Q1. The Q1 figure was already about 30% below the sector’s Q1 2022 record of $36.58 billion.

The low point came in Q4 2023. CeFi loans fell to about $6.8 billion after Celsius, BlockFi, Genesis and other lenders failed. By Q1 2026, the market was more than 270% above that low.

Figure 4: CeFi crypto loans outstanding at key points since 2022. Source: Galaxy Research.

The modern CeFi market leans toward institutional and collateralized lending. It relies less on unsecured retail yield products.

Galaxy’s own loan book shows the shift. Its average loan book was about $1.44 billion in Q2 2026, up slightly from $1.43 billion in Q1. New loans originated rose during the quarter.

Coinbase, Ledn, Arch, Sygnum and Milo also reportedly grew their loan books while the overall market shrank. This suggests lending is moving toward larger, better-capitalized providers.

DeFi Lending Fell More Sharply
Galaxy put outstanding DeFi loans at $20.43 billion at the end of Q2 2026. That was down 27.6% from $28.22 billion at the end of Q1.

The all-time high was about $47.13 billion in September 2025. By July 31, 2026, Galaxy estimated on-chain lending at $21.94 billion, or 53% below the peak.

Figure 5: DeFi loans outstanding from the September 2025 high to July 31, 2026. Source: Galaxy Research.

The July figure is slightly higher than the end-of-June level. The drop from the peak is still large.

It is smaller than the decline of more than 80% in the previous bear market.

Lenders and borrowers can also move between protocols quickly. That helps explain why on-chain balances can change within weeks.

Why TVL Is Not the Same as Lending
A common mistake in crypto lending statistics is treating total value locked, or TVL, as outstanding loans. The two measure different things.

DefiLlama tracks about $51.6 billion of TVL across roughly 515 lending protocols. Much of that is collateral or supplied funds that nobody has borrowed.

Figure 6: TVL compared with active loans for five lending protocols. Source: DefiLlama.

Aave V3 has about $17 billion of TVL but $11.8 billion in active loans. Morpho has about $11.1 billion of TVL and $5.6 billion in loans.

Using $51 billion as the size of DeFi borrowing would overstate actual debt. The table below shows how much of each protocol’s TVL is currently lent out.

Protocol
TVL
Active loans
Loans as share of TVL

Aave V3
$17.0 billion
$11.8 billion
69%

Morpho
$11.1 billion
$5.6 billion
50%

Spark
$6.9 billion
$2.7 billion
39%

Maple
$2.7 billion
$1.89 billion
70%

Compound V3
$1.4 billion
$646 million
46%

Source: DefiLlama, Oct 19, 2026. Share of TVL calculated by Coincentral and rounded.

The share ranges from 39% at Spark to 70% at Maple. A higher share means more of the deposited money is being used for loans. A lower share means more sits idle.

Aave, Morpho, Spark, Maple and Compound
Five protocols account for most of the large on-chain lending books. Each works a little differently.

Aave: the largest DeFi lender
As of October 19, 2026, DefiLlama showed Aave V3 with about $17.0 billion of TVL and $11.8 billion in active loans. Aave V3 runs on more than 20 networks, including Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, Plasma and Monad.

Ethereum holds about 83% of Aave V3 TVL. The protocol generated about $37 million in fees over the latest 30 days, and $4.75 million of that became protocol revenue. DefiLlama’s trailing annualized fee rate is about $677 million.

Aave’s $11.8 billion in loans equals about 58% of Galaxy’s $20.4 billion DeFi total. The two data sets differ in date and method, so treat that as a rough guide.

Morpho: Aave’s closest challenger
Morpho has about $11.1 billion of TVL and $5.6 billion in active loans. It earned about $22.2 million in fees over the latest 30 days. Its TVL equals about 21.5% of all lending TVL tracked by DefiLlama.

Morpho works as an infrastructure layer. Specialized lending markets and curated vaults are built on top of it.

Figure 7: Fees generated by four lending protocols over the latest 30 days. Source: DefiLlama.

Spark, Maple and Compound
Spark has about $6.9 billion of TVL and $2.7 billion in active loans. Its products include SparkLend, Spark Liquidity Layer and Spark Savings. Ethereum holds close to 90% of its TVL. Spark earned about $19.4 million in fees over 30 days, with annualized fees near $190 million.

Maple focuses on institutional credit and professionally managed lending pools. It has about $2.7 billion of TVL and $1.89 billion in active loans. Its 30-day fees were about $8.1 million, or roughly $110 million on an annual basis.

Compound V3 has about $646 million in active loans and $1.4 billion of TVL. That is well behind Aave, Morpho and Spark. Compound still matters historically, because its early markets helped popularize algorithmic interest rates and permissionless borrowing.

Most DeFi borrowing rates are variable. They rise when utilization rises. Utilization is the share of a lending pool that has been borrowed.

Picture a pool with $100 million of USDC. If $30 million is borrowed, cash is plentiful and rates can stay low. If $95 million is borrowed, cash is scarce and rates climb.

Higher rates push borrowers to repay, draw in new lenders and restore liquidity. The market sets the rate, not a bank.

Figure 8: Market-weighted stablecoin rates and the two largest stablecoins. Source: DefiLlama.

DefiLlama’s market-weighted stablecoin reference rate shows an average supply APY of about 3.6% and an average borrow APY of about 4.7%. That leaves a lending spread of roughly 1.05 percentage points.

USDC borrowing costs about 5.14% and USDT about 4.09%. Rates can change every day as demand and liquidity move.

Borrow Rates by Stablecoin
Borrowing costs differ by stablecoin. USDe is the most expensive of the ten tracked, at about 6.61%. USDtb is the cheapest, at about 3.11%.

Stablecoin
Approx. borrow APY

USDe
6.61%

PYUSD
5.27%

USDC
5.14%

DAI
4.68%

USDS
4.32%

USDG
4.11%

USDT
4.09%

frxUSD
3.90%

RLUSD
3.85%

USDtb
3.11%

Source: DefiLlama, Oct 19, 2026.

Figure 9: Approximate borrow APY for ten stablecoins. Source: DefiLlama

The gap between the highest and lowest rate is about 3.5 percentage points. USDC and USDT, the two largest stablecoins, sit about one point apart.

These are snapshots. They move with borrowing demand and available liquidity.

Supply rates follow the same pattern. Lenders earn less than borrowers pay, and the difference funds the protocol and its reserves.

Borrowing Costs Vary by Protocol
DefiLlama also estimates weighted borrowing rates for each protocol. Fluid is highest at 6.46% and SparkLend is lowest at 4.26%.

Figure 10: Weighted average borrow rates across six lending protocols. Source: DefiLlama.

Compound V3 charges about 6.22%, which is nearly two percentage points above Aave V3 at 4.33%. Morpho Blue sits at 5.00% and Euler V2 at 5.25%.

Gaps like these add up on large loans. On $1 million borrowed for a year, a two-point rate difference equals about $20,000 in interest.

These are broad weighted averages, not guaranteed rates. The actual cost depends on several factors.

The asset borrowed
The blockchain used
Utilization of the pool
The collateral posted
The loan-to-value ratio
Incentive rewards
Market conditions

Why People Borrow Against Crypto
A crypto holder may borrow instead of selling for several reasons.

Keep the asset. An investor may expect Bitcoin to rise but still need cash. They can pledge BTC as collateral and borrow stablecoins.
Trading leverage. Borrowed stablecoins can buy more crypto. This raises both possible gains and possible losses.
Tax planning. In some places, borrowing may not trigger the same tax event as selling. Rules vary, so professional advice is needed.
Business cash. Companies that hold crypto can get working capital without selling treasury assets.
Arbitrage trades. Professional traders borrow assets to trade price gaps between spot, futures and derivatives markets.

Overcollateralization is the norm
Most DeFi loans require collateral worth more than the loan. A borrower might deposit $150,000 of ETH to borrow $100,000 of USDC. That is a loan-to-value ratio of 66.7%.

Figure 11: An example of an overcollateralized loan with a 66.7% loan-to-value ratio.

If ETH falls far enough, the collateral can be sold automatically. This protects lenders, but borrowers take on market risk.

It also explains why crypto loans differ from unsecured personal loans. The borrower’s identity matters less because the collateral can be seized by the protocol.

Liquidations and Smart-Contract Risk
When collateral falls below a protocol’s required level, smart contracts let liquidators repay part of the debt and claim the collateral. This protects lenders. It can also deepen market declines.

A chain of liquidations can unfold in steps:

Crypto prices fall.
Collateral values drop.
Some loans become undercollateralized.
Automated liquidations begin.
More crypto is sold.
Prices come under further pressure.

Price swings are not the only risk. Galaxy reported that DeFi lending was disrupted in Q1 2026 by large exploits involving Drift and LayerZero/KelpDAO.

After the LayerZero/KelpDAO incident, Aave saw more than $5.5 billion of stablecoin withdrawals. About $3.1 billion of stablecoin loans were closed within roughly two weeks.

Figure 12: Aave stablecoin withdrawals and closed loans after the LayerZero/KelpDAO exploit. Source: Galaxy Research.

The episode shows that overcollateralized lending can still see fast capital flight when users lose confidence in collateral or security.

New Demand: Vaults and Treasury Companies
Two newer trends are shaping crypto credit. The first is the growth of lending vaults. The Financial Times reported in October 2026 that these vaults had drawn more than $10 billion, up from roughly $4 billion at the start of 2025.

Some vaults offered yields from about 3% to more than 20%. Higher yields generally point to higher credit, liquidity or collateral risk.

Figure 13: Lending vault deposits and debt tied to digital-asset treasury strategies. Sources: Financial Times, Galaxy Research.

The second trend is corporate leverage. Galaxy estimated that more than $17.5 billion of debt had been used by Q1 2026 to buy digital assets or to support digital-asset treasury strategies.

This links crypto lending to public companies that hold Bitcoin and other tokens. If those strategies spread, loans backed by crypto could become a larger institutional credit market.

The Bottom Line
Galaxy Research valued crypto-collateralized borrowing at about $56.16 billion at the end of Q2 2026. That is roughly 40% below the Q3 2025 peak of $78.7 billion.

Centralized lenders held about $23 billion of loans. DeFi lending applications held about $20.4 billion. The rest came largely from crypto-backed stablecoin debt structures.

Figure 14: Decline from peak for DeFi, total and CeFi crypto lending. Source: Galaxy Research.

Within DeFi, Aave leads with about $11.8 billion of active loans. Morpho follows with $5.6 billion, then Spark with $2.7 billion, Maple with $1.9 billion and Compound V3 with $646 million.

Borrowing is also cheaper than in periods of heavy speculation. The average stablecoin borrow rate is about 4.7%, while lenders earn about 3.6%.

Risks remain. Collateral prices can fall, smart contracts can fail and borrowers can be liquidated automatically.

After the failures of 2022, the sector has rebuilt around overcollateralized loans, open liquidity data and more institutional borrowers. The market is smaller than its 2025 peak, but it is better organized than the one that entered the last downturn.

Sources

Galaxy Research: The State of Crypto Leverage Q2 2026. Centralized lending, DeFi borrowing and collateralized stablecoin debt.
Galaxy Research: Crypto Lending Contracts, But Slowly This Time. Outstanding crypto loans and the comparison with 2022.
Galaxy Research: The State of Crypto Leverage Q1 2026. CeFi loan books, DeFi borrowing and treasury debt.
DefiLlama: Stablecoin Reference Rates. Market-weighted stablecoin borrow and supply rates.
DefiLlama: Aave V3. Aave TVL, active loans, fees and revenue.
Morpho: Network Data. Morpho deposits, outstanding loans and lending activity.
DefiLlama: Morpho. Morpho TVL, active loans, fees and market share.
DefiLlama: Spark. Spark TVL, borrowing, fees and protocol data.
DefiLlama: Maple Finance. Maple institutional lending TVL and active loans.
DefiLlama: Compound V3. Compound V3 lending, TVL, fees and revenue.
Coinbase Institutional: Guide to Crypto Markets 2026. Market structure, leverage, lending and trading infrastructure.

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Polkadot has a blunt message for anyone who used the Fearless Wallet browser extension since February 2025: assume your accounts are compromised, and move your funds.

The warning came in a security notice published on October 21, 2026. It describes a flaw that quietly shipped users’ private keys to a server controlled by an attacker. The flaw had been live, on and off, for roughly a year and a half.

What went wrong inside the extension
According to Polkadot’s notice, four versions of the Fearless Wallet extension were handing out copies of that master key. The affected releases are 3.0.1, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, and 3.0.5. When a user unlocked the wallet, the extension sent their private key to an attacker-controlled server.

The malicious code entered the project on February 19, 2025. It arrived through a GitHub pull request tied to the TON ecosystem.

The leak did not run continuously. Polkadot said it was active intermittently until at least October 10, 2026. That stretch covers more than 19 months of potential exposure for anyone running the compromised builds.

The damage so far is concrete. Eight users have reported unauthorized transactions linked to the exploit, totaling 17,286 DOT. Because a leaked key can sit unused until an attacker decides to strike, the number of exposed accounts could exceed the number of drained ones.

When Polkadot issued its warning, the Chrome Web Store still listed an affected version of the extension. That listing showed around 6,000 users.

A third-party wallet, not an official one
Polkadot was careful to draw a line in its notice. Fearless Wallet is a third-party product. It has never been an official wallet of the Polkadot network.

The timeline also raises uncomfortable questions. Early complaints describing similar problems after an update were logged as far back as October 2025. The detailed public explanation of the coding flaw did not arrive until the October 2026 announcement. That leaves roughly a year between the first user reports and a full public accounting.

What affected users are being told to do
Polkadot’s guidance is straightforward. Anyone who interacted with the vulnerable extension since February 2025 should treat all associated accounts as compromised.

Users are being told to generate new keypairs in a different wallet and transfer their funds immediately. Polkadot recommended Nova Wallet for that move.

Simply updating Fearless Wallet does not solve the problem. If a key has already leaked, the attacker still holds a working copy. The only real defense is to move assets to a fresh key the attacker has never seen.

Staked or locked funds add a wrinkle. Polkadot noted that recovering them may require additional steps. In certain scenarios, it pointed users toward tools such as PAPI Rescue.

Polkadot also flagged a second-order threat: recovery scams. The foundation cautioned users to watch for opportunists posing as helpers who promise to retrieve lost funds.

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

Eligible users can borrow USDC or USDT on Ethereum, while pledged collateral sits in smart contracts and remains subject to liquidation.

Eligible users can borrow USDC or USDT on Ethereum, while pledged collateral sits in smart contracts and remains subject to liquidation.

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Dataline, a startup building a decentralized data network for AI agents, has raised $10.6 million. The round was disclosed on October 21, 2026.

The company also plans a public token sale through Uniswap’s auction platform. Details are expected next week.

What Dataline actually does Dataline operates as a two-sided network. On one side are data providers, which contribute data feeds and fulfill custom requests from agents. On the other are AI agents that receive outputs that are schema-normalized and come with confidence scores attached.

The company says its network has processed 19.4 million on-chain transactions so far. It also reports a 96.4% success rate for agent tasks.

Dataline says the new capital will mainly go toward expanding its infrastructure. That infrastructure already supports a range of trading venues and blockchains.

On the chain side, the platform runs on BNB Chain, Sui and TON. On the venue side, it integrates with Hyperliquid, the perpetual futures exchange, and Polymarket, the prediction market platform.

From Tearline to Dataline, and the DLINE token The company was not always called Dataline. It operated as Tearline until May 12, 2026, when it rebranded.

Dataline counts Google for Startups Cloud and BNB Chain among its backers.

Central to the plan is a proposed token called DLINE. It is not yet live on the market.

According to the company, DLINE will serve as the economic engine of the network. It will be used for access, staking, rewards and slashing.

The token will have a total supply of 1 billion. The proposed allocation breaks down as follows:

33% for community rewards 30% for the ecosystem and foundation 13% for the launchpad and liquidity 12% for the team 12% for investors What this means for the AI agent data race The most immediate thing to watch is the token sale itself. Running it through Uniswap’s auction platform puts the launch on one of the best-known decentralized exchange brands in crypto.

Pricing mechanics, any vesting for the team and investor allocations, and how much supply actually hits the market at launch will shape how the token trades. None of that has been published yet, and the company says details are coming next week.

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

Internet Computer’s ICP price prediction is attracting attention as network activity rises and the chart outlines a possible route toward $15. The catch? ICP is still trading around $2.911 in the supplied chart, and its broader weekly structure remains bearish. Stronger network metrics are encouraging, but price still has a resistance ladder to climb.

ICP Price Prediction Starts With Network GrowthThe Internet Computer network’s finalization rate stands at 159.80 blocks per second, according to the data. Transactions have also climbed to 6,495 per second, up from below 4,500 last month. The project reports a presence across 33 countries, supported by 101 data centers.

Those figures point to growing network activity. Still, increased transactions and infrastructure don’t automatically guarantee stronger token demand or higher prices. Markets tend to demand more than promising statistics.

Reclaiming $4 Could Strengthen ICP’s RecoveryThe chart places ICP’s tentative base around $2.20–$2.60, with the current setup still awaiting confirmation. Reclaiming $3.50–$4 and holding the retest would strengthen the recovery case, putting the $5–$6 supply zone next in focus.

Beyond that, $7–$8 becomes the next major structural test. Buyers would then face resistance around $10–$12. Each level matters; skipping ahead to $15 ignores the hurdles directly overhead.

⚡ $ICP: THE $15 ESCAPE ROUTE 👀

ICP is testing a tentative base around $2.20–$2.60, while the broader weekly structure remains bearish.

Reclaiming $3.50–$4 and holding the retest would strengthen the recovery toward $5–$6 supply.

Above that, $7–$8 becomes the next structure… pic.twitter.com/pOUq6S09j9

— Giannis Andreou (@gandreou007) October 21, 2026 $15 Target Faces Historical SupplyThe longer-term bullish objective sits at $14–$16, a historical supply zone that includes the $15 target. From the displayed price of $2.911, reaching $15 would represent approximately 415% upside.

That’s substantial, but the previous trading range’s breakout doesn’t confirm another one is coming. The current base still needs to hold, and resistance must be reclaimed in sequence.

ICP Price Prediction Depends on Holding SupportA weekly close below $2.20 followed by a failed reclaim would invalidate the outlined setup and raise the risk of fresh lows. For now, the ICP price prediction rests on network growth translating into sustained market interest and price reclaiming successive resistance levels. The $15 objective remains a bullish scenario, not a confirmed destination.

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Decentralized exchange PancakeSwap’s total value locked (TVL) grew nearly 19% over the past week, adding about $380 million as the protocol moves toward a major overhaul of how it distributes trading fees to liquidity providers. 

According to DefiLlama, PancakeSwap’s TVL climbed to $2.4 billion on Wednesday, up from about $2.02 billion on Oct. 14. The increase was concentrated in its V3 liquidity pools, where TVL more than doubled to about $739 million from $336 million over the same period.

The growth coincided with PancakeSwap opening a governance vote on a proposal called “The Flip,” which would increase liquidity providers’ share of swap fees on V3 and Infinity pools to 88%, up from 66%-68% on most pools.

The proposal would also gradually reduce daily CAKE token emissions by approximately 69%, from 22,500 to 7,000 tokens. Voting opened on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and will run until Oct. 24, with implementation expected to begin in November if approved. 

PancakeSwap leads BNB Chain trading as tokenized stocks expandPancakeSwap accounted for approximately $4.67 billion in decentralized exchange trading volume on BNB Chain over the past seven days, representing about 71% of the network’s total, according to DeFiLlama. The network also hosts most of PancakeSwap’s liquidity, accounting for roughly $2.33 billion of its $2.40 billion in TVL.

The activity comes amid broader growth across BNB Chain’s DeFi ecosystem. That network’s TVL climbed approximately 8.3% over the past seven days to $5.84 billion, according to DeFiLlama. Decentralized exchange trading volume also surged 40.2% to $6.54 billion over the same period, even as its stablecoin market capitalization declined 0.6% to $13.1 billion.

Beyond crypto, BNB Chain has also seen an expansion in tokenized equities, a market in which PancakeSwap has an established presence. The decentralized exchange began supporting Binance’s bStocks in June, allowing users to trade tokenized US stocks onchain.

On Oct. 15, Binance announced that bStocks surpassed $1 billion in assets under management, approximately four months after launching. The company reported more than $40 billion in cumulative trading volume and said 11.2% of bStocks’ value was deployed in DeFi in early October.

Magazine: Agents can trade 24/7 — but Yat Siu warns you could lose access at any time

Solana’s first major consensus upgrade, Alpenglow, went live on mainnet around 1:54 pm UTC on Wednesday, according to the Solana Foundation’s Alpenglow dashboard.

Alpenglow seeks to reduce transaction finality by 99%, to roughly 150 milliseconds from about 12.8 seconds, according to the Solana Foundation’s July announcement.

The upgrade’s first phase, Votor, replaces the existing voting and finalization mechanism with direct validator voting and a certificate-based system designed to cut transaction finality to roughly 150 milliseconds. A later phase will introduce Rotor, a new block data-distribution protocol intended to replace Turbine.

Alpenglow is Solana’s first major consensus upgrade, replacing its current consensus model, TowerBFT. The upgrade’s 150-millisecond finality target seeks to introduce near-immediate transaction finality for users, which could mean faster payments, trade settlements and more responsive applications. 

Cointelegraph has approached the Solana Foundation for comment on Alpenglow’s finality measurements in testnet environments and its expected performance in real-world applications.

Solana Alpenglow activation dashboard. Source: Solana.com

At press time, the Solana mainnet showed a 6.6-second transaction finality and a throughput of 4,721 transactions per second, according to the Alpenglow dashboard.

Alpenglow marks “biggest change” for Solana’s core protocol: AnzaAlpenglow will introduce the “biggest change to Solana’s core protocol” since genesis, Anza researchers wrote in a May blog post.

A 150-millisecond latency, “Solana can compete with Web2 infrastructure in terms of responsiveness, potentially making blockchain technology viable for entirely new categories of applications,” wrote Anza researchers Quentin Kniep, Kobi Sliwinski and Roger Wattenhofer on May 19.

In August, Solana reduced its slot time for the first time since genesis, as part of the Solana Foundation’s plans to halve slot times to 200ms, arguing that it would improve latency and accelerate confirmations on the blockchain network. It completed the fourth stage of the slot reduction plan in October.

Following Alpenglow, Solana validators are expected to continue working on Agave 4.5, an upgrade that proposes increasing the number of accounts supported by a versioned transaction from 64 to 96. The increase could create better swap routes and execution prices, according to the Solana Foundation. The upgrade is currently in development and planned for December 2026.

SOL/USD, 1-year chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

The Solana (SOL) token’s price rose nearly 3% in the 24 hours leading up to the upgrade, reversing part of its 42% decline seen during the past year, according to CoinMarketCap.

Magazine: Solana’s fee overhaul increases burn and makes resource hogs pay