In an in-depth conversation with technology thinker Balaji Srinivasan, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin reviewed the progress of Ethereum technology, the growth of DeFi security, and his vision for future AI risks and digital nations (Startup Societies). He believes that Ethereum is no longer an "experimental product" but has entered a new era of "practical stage".
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ToggleScaling progress: Layer 2 has now reached 250 TPS, will it reach 5,000 next?
Vitalik said that Ethereum has finally completed years of infrastructure construction: "We are now finally at the stage where we can truly realize our dreams." He pointed out that the current Layer 2 solution can already handle about 250 transactions per second (TPS), and the upcoming Pectra upgrade will double the number of blobs, further improving performance to 500 TPS, and there is a chance to expand to more than 5,000 TPS in the next year.
In addition, L1 will also achieve a 10-fold gas limit increase by 2026 through a series of planned EIPs (Ethereum Improvement Proposals). Combined with ZKVM, the entire network will be able to reach the level of large-scale commercial applications.
DeFi security upgrade: hacking risk reduced to 0.53%, safer than traditional finance?
In the past few years, the most common criticism of DeFi is that "funds are not safe." Vitalik admitted that three or four years ago, he could not confidently recommend that ordinary people invest their retirement funds in DeFi.
But according to the statistics he shared, the overall DeFi hacking rate is only about 0.53%, and this number is still declining. For mature protocols, the risk is lower.
“Instead of asking what the difference is between 6% APY and 4% APY, it’s better to ask: Are you willing to take the risk of 100% capital loss? But now the risk is significantly smaller.” He emphasized that in addition to contract security, “social recovery” and account abstraction at the wallet layer are also being gradually implemented to enhance users’ ability to independently control their assets.
Privacy returns: Ethereum supports legal privacy tools, and ZK technology takes the stage
Vitalik mentioned that privacy protocols that were considered to have legal risks in the past are now gradually being accepted. With the emergence of applications such as Privacy Pools and Railway, Ethereum is creating compliant and practical privacy solutions.
He stressed: “Privacy technology is not about hiding criminals, but about enabling ordinary people to use decentralized applications without being tracked.”
New hope for social platforms: Farcaster is expected to become the main force of open Web3 social networking
In an era dominated by traditional social platforms, decentralized social applications like Farcaster show different possibilities. Vitalik said he was surprised and optimistic about Farcaster's staying power, calling it "the most promising social experiment in Web3."
The value of such platforms lies not only in decentralization, but also in allowing people to interact with "rational and interesting" users and build a real online community.
The progress of AI is worrying: from "harmless tools" to "goal-oriented intelligence"?
When talking about the future risks of AI, Vitalik admitted that he is more pessimistic than in the past. He said that the current AI can not only solve problems, but also repeatedly learn and optimize the decision chain (Chain of Thought), which makes it possible for AI to enter the field of "superhuman intelligence".
Although most AIs today still rely on prompting, the data he cited shows that the time it takes for AI to autonomously complete complex tasks is doubling every seven months. He also mentioned the potential risks of robots and self-replication, and called for not underestimating the challenges of the physical world and the problems of technological spillover.
Stablecoins are just "Dollar 2.0"? Vitalik warns
Currently, 99% of the stablecoins on the market are pegged to the US dollar. Does this mean that "the US dollar will dominate the chain again"?
Balaji’s view is: “After putting the US dollar on the chain, it actually enters a completely different rules field. It is no longer the US dollar vs. the euro, but the US dollar vs. Bitcoin vs. smart contract currency.” Vitalik added that once these currencies become “programmable and switchable” assets, the uses and risks of stablecoins will also be reorganized.
The digital state experiment takes off: Is Zuzalu the prototype of a future social model?
Vitalik shared his participation in the "Zuzalu" community experiment. He pointed out that after two months and 150 people, a complete community governance and daily operation model has been demonstrated, which will be an important reference for future "Startup Societies".
Both he and Balaji believe that digital states will become the third type of thing that can be created on the Internet after companies and currencies, and are also a possible solution to replace modern dysfunctional governments.
Biodefense and the Self-Health Revolution: The Intersection of AI and DeSci
In the post-epidemic era, Vitalik and Balaji are both concerned about how to make society more resistant to airborne infectious diseases. They advocate the use of UV lights, air filtration, and personal health data dashboards, emphasizing that these tools are not technically difficult, but what society needs is rapid deployment and consensus testing grounds.
They believe that "Startup Societies" is the best platform for experimenting with such biotechnology and data governance models.
Ethereum and its community are maturing, but they still need to stay true to their original mission
Vitalik pointed out that if Ethereum only pursues scale and UX at the expense of decentralization, it will no longer have any meaning. However, with the implementation of Layer 2, ZK technology and account abstraction, Ethereum is gradually achieving the dual goals of "decentralization and usability".
The battlefield of the future will not only be about technology, but also governance models, global currency competition, and the impact of AI on social structure. Ethereum is standing at the intersection of all of this.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
As the NFT market gradually picks up, the popular project Pudgy Penguins is rumored to acquire the NFT trading platform OpenSea, which the team denied. At the same time, its own token $PENGU has also set off a craze on Upbit, the largest exchange in South Korea, with a surge in daily trading volume that even surpassed Dogecoin (DOGE).
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TogglePudgy Penguins denies acquisition of OpenSea: Focus on brand management
Last October, Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz revealed in an interview that he "wanted to buy OpenSea" and "bought a big project in December last year". The sudden change in token issuance after OpenSea's four-year operation triggered speculation in the community that Pudgy Penguins might have quietly acquired OpenSea as early as the end of last year.
However, Pudgy Penguins security director Beau explicitly denied this on X: "Pudgy Penguins did not buy OpenSea, calm down. The scale we are planning is very large, you don't need to speculate on a single acquisition."
He further pointed out that the team is currently focusing on expanding brand influence rather than acquiring platforms. He also called on the community: "Instead of speculating on mergers and acquisitions, it is better to talk about our cooperation with Lufthansa or NASCAR and see which brands we can create an ecosystem with together."
These remarks also show that the Fat Penguin team prefers to expand the breadth of physical products and applications through brand cooperation rather than mergers and acquisitions to integrate the platform market, such as cooperating with PMI Toys to release Pudgy Toys dolls, or launching the casual mini-game " Pengu Clash " on the TON chain, further extending the ecosystem and community stickiness.
Fat Penguin hits South Korea: $PENGU becomes the new favorite of local exchanges
At the same time, Pudgy Penguins' own token $PENGU also set off a craze in the Korean market. Lookonchain pointed out that although DOGE's market value is 13 times that of PENGU, PENGU's recent trading volume on Upbit, South Korea's largest exchange, has reached 136.4 billion won (about 100 million US dollars), even surpassing DOGE's trading volume.
The fact that local investors are continuing to accumulate holdings shows that the brand's brand influence in the Korean market is rapidly expanding, and also reflects the high enthusiasm of Korean users for low-market-cap tokens and community-driven projects.
NFT market rebounds: Whale buy CryptoPunks to boost confidence
DappRadar data shows that the total market value of the NFT market has now rebounded to US$6.6 billion, a significant increase of 94% from last month, and weekly trading volume has also increased by more than 50%, marking the strongest rebound in the past six months.
This wave of recovery was mainly driven by the legendary CryptoPunks project on Ethereum, whose floor price rose by more than 50% in a single month. GameSquare, the Ethereum reserve company, Arthur Hayes, the founder of BitMEX, and several whale on the chain are making large-scale acquisitions, bringing vitality to the market.
Pudgy Penguins' clarification on the acquisition of OpenSea not only reaffirms its own development path, but also highlights the importance of brand management and community building. At a time when the NFT market is warming up again after many years, it is inevitable to see a major reshuffle of top blue chips, which once again proves the value and importance of physical businesses and loyal communities.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
Binance Coin (BNB) surged 5.8% in 24 hours to a record high of $855, attracting market attention. In addition to technical breakthroughs, the influx of institutional funds and the shift in US regulatory policies have also become three key factors in pushing up prices.
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ToggleTechnological breakthroughs trigger FOMO sentiment and short position explosion
On July 28, BNB hit a record high of $855, breaking through the long-term consolidation pressure zone and becoming the focus of the entire crypto market. This strong rise triggered two major chain reactions:
More than US$180 million of short positions were liquidated in the derivatives market, reflecting that the short sellers were caught off guard and the market further staged a short squeeze.
According to HyperLiquid data, more than $5.56 million worth of whale long orders entered the market, indicating that big investors are betting that there is still room for growth in the future.
In addition, BNB's 14-day relative strength index (RSI) reached 86.34. Although it entered the overbought zone, it also showed that the momentum was extremely strong and the market sentiment was bullish in the short term.
Institutional funds enter the market in large numbers, and corporate treasuries embrace BNB
In addition to the strong technical aspects, BNB's current round of gains was also supported by large-scale institutional buying:
WindTree Therapeutics invested $520 million of its corporate treasury allocation into BNB, funded by a recent equity financing. This is the first major foray into crypto assets by a traditional medical company.
Nano Labs also joined the fray, announcing that it would add $90 million of BNB to its $1 billion crypto asset treasury, demonstrating the company's confidence in the long-term value of BNB.
At the application level, BNB Chain's decentralized exchange (DEX) has a daily trading volume of US$5 billion, comparable to the total of Ethereum and Solana.
The shift in US regulatory policy injects confidence into Altcoin
The GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act passed by the United States in July established the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as the main regulatory agency, bringing long-awaited regulatory clarity to the crypto market.
In just nine days after the policy was announced, more than $15 billion has flowed into major Altcoin including BNB, and the market generally believes that this is a wave of capital reallocation.
At the same time, Bitcoin’s market capitalization dominance fell to 60.06%, a daily decline of 0.46%, indicating that funds are flowing from Bitcoin to stronger-performing Altcoin.
Market observation: Short-term volatility risks and long-term momentum coexist
Although BNB is currently in the overbought zone and may face pressure to take profits in the short term, institutional funds still show strong confidence as the price has successfully stabilized above $800.
In addition, whether BNB's long-term deflationary burning mechanism can offset the potential selling pressure will also become the key focus of investors. The next target of the market may be the psychological barrier of $900.
What do you think? Is this BNB wave just the beginning?
With the three pillars of institutional adoption, technical breakthroughs and regulatory benefits, BNB is redefining its role in the crypto market. However, the current high point may also mean that short-term volatility is coming. Investors need to continue to observe on-chain data and macro policy changes to determine whether this wave of growth can continue.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
SharpLink, the US Ethereum reserve company, did not rest during the weekend and bought more than 77,000 ETH, bringing its total holdings to 438,000 ETH, consolidating its position as the world's second largest Ethereum holder. Nowadays, competition among ETH reserve companies is fierce, not only to see who buys more, but also to see which company has someone personally calling the order and who actually injects capital to endorse it.
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ToggleSharpLink bought another 7.7 ETH, firmly taking the second place
SharpLink ($SBET) announced its entry into the Ethereum (ETH) strategic reserve company at the end of May. Today's on-chain data showed that the company purchased another 77,210 ETH (about US$295 million), and its total ETH holdings reached 438,017 (about US$1.69 billion).
It is reported that this batch of ETH seems to have been purchased through cooperation with Galaxy Digital. The funds first flowed from SharpLink to Galaxy, which then transferred the ETH to the SharpLink main wallet after withdrawing from Binance. Galaxy Digital also successfully assisted "Satoshi-era" investors in selling more than 80,000 bitcoins with a market value of more than US$9 billion recently.
Currently, SharpLink's 438,000 tokens still rank second, second only to BitMine ($BMNR)'s 566,000 tokens (about US$2.18 billion), accounting for 0.83% of the total circulating supply. The stock prices of the two companies have faced declines of 11.3% and 31.2% respectively in the past five days.
Competition among Ethereum reserve companies intensifies: Who endorses and who stands for it becomes the focus
A few days ago, SharpLink announced the hiring of Joseph Chalom, former head of digital asset strategy at BlackRock, as co-CEO to enhance its familiarity with institutional procurement models and regulatory operations, and also shape an Ethereum strategic layout in which traditional finance and crypto giants work together.
In the past, he has led the launch of benchmark products such as Ethereum Spot ETF (ETHA), Bitcoin Spot ETF (IBIT), and US Treasury Bond Fund (BUIDL). Among them, ETHA has benefited from a large influx of funds in the past 10 days, doubling from US$5 billion to US$10 billion, becoming the third fastest ETF in the world to break through the US$10 billion scale.
Recently, competitor Bitmine, with well-known Wall Street analyst Tom Lee as an advocate and lobbyist, not only attracted Silicon Valley investment tycoon Peter Thiel and his fund Founders Fund to invest , but also successfully found Ark Investment CEO Cathie Wood to support it . Now, SharpLink's move can be regarded as a response to Bitmine.
Ethereum: A new digital economy reserve asset or an institutional cash-out tool?
Recently, all the comments on Ethereum from all walks of life are positive, including that the embrace of traditional institutions will lead to its widespread adoption, and that demand exceeding supply will become a perpetual motion machine for the price of the currency .
However, what is worrying is that even with the inflow of hundreds of millions of dollars, the price of the currency has not seen a significant increase. Instead, the hyped stock targets have quickly fallen after soaring, highlighting that these reserve companies may not have obtained tokens from the market, but instead have become early holders such as venture capital institutions and crypto funds, cashing out their crypto assets by selling them in the form of stocks.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency investment carries a high degree of risk. Its price may fluctuate drastically and you may lose all your capital. Please assess the risk carefully.
