This week highlighted Ethereum's progress across protocol development, regulation, and ecosystem growth. Core developers advanced the Glamsterdam upgrade through ACDC #183, moving closer to Devnet 8 while reviewing Hegota proposals. Meanwhile, Coinbase's FOIA settlement with the SEC and the amended CLARITY Act kept regulatory transparency and ethics in focus. Discussions around Layer 2s, DeFi, and growing institutional participation further underscored that Ethereum's evolution is being shaped by both technical innovation and a rapidly changing regulatory landscape.

This Week at a Glance

• RBI Defends Rupee: Will India’s Stablecoin Premium Rise?: RBI intervention steadies the rupee, but currency volatility and tight liquidity could push India’s stablecoin premium higher again.
• Maharashtra’s DELTA Act Could Bring Real Estate Onchain: Maharashtra’s proposed DELTA Act could enable blockchain-based property tokenisation, unlocking real-estate liquidity while introducing new legal, regulatory and investor-protection challenges.
• BitMEX to Shut Down After 11 Years: BitMEX will shut down on September 23, 2026, ending an 11-year legacy that helped define crypto perpetual swaps and high-leverage derivatives trading.
• Bitcoin's New Quantum Defense Starts With BIP-361: Bitcoin's BIP-361 proposes blocking quantum-vulnerable wallets, retiring legacy signatures, and introducing a recovery path after a five-year transition.
• GENIUS Act Rules Still Await Final Approval: U.S. regulators miss the GENIUS Act deadline, leaving stablecoin issuers awaiting final rules as the market moves toward a regulated future.
• AGI Could Change Humanity Forever, Says Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlines why AGI could permanently shift power to machines and how open AI development may reduce the risks.
• Telegram Launches Gram Wallet for 1 Billion Users: Telegram will launch its native non-custodial Gram Wallet this summer, bringing instant zero-fee crypto transactions to over one billion users worldwide.
• Why did Malaysia Shut Down Balaji Network School Hub?: Malaysia shuts down Balaji Srinivasan's Network School after licensing violations. Explore the investigation, investment impact, and Kazakhstan move.
• CLARITY Act Just Added a Major Ban on Federal Officials: The updated CLARITY Act would ban the U.S. president and federal officials from sponsoring digital assets as the crypto bill moves closer to a Senate vote.
• Coinbase Wins $150K SEC Settlement Over Missing Gensler Texts: Coinbase secures a $150,000 SEC FOIA settlement over missing Gary Gensler texts, marking another major transparency victory after its earlier FDIC lawsuit.

Ethereum Protocol

All Core Developers (ACD)

• Meeting highlights: ACDC #183 focused on advancing the Glamsterdam upgrade with all Devnet 7 EIPs ratified while beginning discussions on Hegota proposals for Ethereum's next network upgrade.
• Key decisions: Devnet 7 EIPs were marked Scheduled for Inclusion, and EIP-8334 (Bundled Attestation Propagation) was selected as Proposed for Inclusion in Hegota.
• Action items: Client teams will prepare for Devnet 8 by completing implementation gaps, reaching API consensus, and reviewing additional Hegota proposals before the August 6 deadline.

Ethereum Standards Updates

Ethereum standards activity remained strong this week, with ERC-8161 and ERC-8196 reaching Final status, six related ERCs advancing to Review, ERC-5516 entering Last Call, and previously stagnant proposals returning to active development. Frame Transactions also received major specification updates, while the Hegotá proposal landscape continued expanding through new candidate EIPs and supporting pull requests.

Contributor activity remained broad across financial agreements, autonomous agents, regulated assets, state migration, and EVM validation. Read the full update on EIPsInsight.

Client Updates

• Execution Layer:

  • Nethermind 1.39.2
  • Geth 1.17.4
  • Erigon 3.5.3
  • Besu 26.7.0
  • Reth 2.4.1
  • EthereumJS 10.1.2

• Consensus Layer:

  • Teku 26.7.1
  • Nimbus 26.7.0
  • Prysm 7.1.7
  • Lodestar 1.44.0
  • Lighthouse 8.2.1

Podcasts

1. You Say You Want a Revolution | Pooja Ranjan | Thomas Jay Rush
   Explored the revolutionary potential of Bitcoin and decentralization, and how blockchain could reshape society beyond finance, inspired by You Say You Want a Revolution.
2. Crypto Is Running Out of Reasons to Go Lower | David Hoffman & Ryan Sean Adams
   Discussed crypto's resilience amid easing inflation and rising geopolitical tensions, Robinhood Chain's rapid growth beyond Base, and who stands to benefit from Ethereum's Layer 2 expansion.
3. The CLARITY Bill Coin Flip w/ Patrick Witt - The Chopping Block | Patrick Witt | Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, Haseeb Qureshi, & Robert Leshner
   Covered the CLARITY Act's Senate push and ethics provision, Gauntlet's $125M funding, and the challenges facing Balaji's Network School amid shifting crypto regulation and industry dynamics.

Good Reads

• Is Ethereum Becoming the Internet's Financial Backend?: Ethereum is evolving beyond crypto. Discover how stablecoins, tokenized assets, Layer 2s, and institutional adoption are shaping the internet's financial backend.
• GENIUS Act vs. CLARITY Act: What Is the Difference?: Discover the key differences between the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, their regulatory scope, and why the U.S. crypto industry needs both to thrive.
• All you need to know about Ethereum Hegota Upgrade: Curated resources by EtherWorld for Hegota Upgrade
• All you need to know about Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade: Curated resources by EtherWorld for Glamsterdam Upgrade

Upcoming Events

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Jobs

• Announcing the Avarch Internship Program: A professional internship program by Avarch offering students real project experience, open-source contributions, expert mentorship & industry-ready portfolio development.

Community Spotlight

Former Ethereum Foundation contributor Oskar Thor launched EthSystems, a new initiative focused on building confidential infrastructure for institutional Ethereum. The project draws on nearly a decade of his experience across privacy, peer-to-peer messaging, and protocol development.

Yesterday was my last day at the Ethereum Foundation.

Today we are launching EthSystems. We build confidential systems for institutional Ethereum.

I've spent close to a decade building privacy infrastructure in crypto: p2p messaging at @ethstatus, developing Waku protocols at…

— oskarth (@oskarth) July 14, 2026

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