Crypto News
New Bitcoin Faucet Launches—But There’s No Free Coins Yet
Charlie Shrem's newly launched 21million.com aims to distribute free Bitcoin, echoing Gavin Andresen's 2010 faucet concept.Source link
Solana’s Overnight Emergency Upgrade Raises Concerns About Its True Level of Decentralization
In April, Solana network participants implemented an emergency upgrade to address a serious security vulnerability that could allow attackers to mint and steal tokens. Nonetheless, the coordinated effort to execute the mitigation measures and patch the vulnerability has raised concerns about the network’s level of decentralization. Solana’s Quiet Emergency Upgrade Raises Concerns Among Crypto ActorsSource link
VIRTUAL Surges 200% in a Month as Smart Money Pours Into Virtuals Protocol
VIRTUAL, the native cryptocurrency of the Base-based Virtuals Protocol for creating and owning AI agents, has outperformed all major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC), over the past four weeks. This rally is characterized by increased participation from the "smart money" wallets, according to on-chain data tracked by Nansen.VIRTUAL has rallied 207% to $1.66 in 30 days to rank as the best performer among the top 100 tokens by market value, according to data source CoinDesk. Prices have risen 11% in the past seven days. Market leader bitcoin, meanwhile, has gained just 13% in four weeks, with flat performance over the past seven days.VIRTUAL is also the most traded token by smart money—wallets identified by Nansen as owned by institutions, funds, and...
COTI Selected by ECB to Help Develop Digital Euro Technology
The European Central Bank has selected COTI as a Pioneer Partner for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative. The selected partners are tasked with demonstrating the technical implementation of a conditional payments system before the CBDC’s launch. Digital Euro Launch Set for Early 2026 COTI, an Ethereum confidentiality layer, has been selected by theSource link
Bitcoin Developers Plan OP_RETURN Removal in Next Release
The debate over Bitcoin's OP_RETURN heats up, as developers of Bitcoin Core – the most popular node software – said they plan to scrap OP_RETURN entirely in the next release.The OP_RETURN limit is an 80-byte cap on the amount of arbitrary data that can be embedded in a Bitcoin transaction using a special, unspendable output field.“Large-data inscriptions are happening regardless and can be done in more or less abusive ways,” said Core contributor and Engineer at Blockstream Greg Sanders, known as ‘instagibbs,’ in a post on Github announcing the removal. “The cap merely channels them into more opaque forms that cause damage to the network.”The debate centered on whether lifting the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit promotes transparency and simplifies data use...