Bitcoin's new quantum defense mechanism, 18.9 million SOLs cancelled: Holders 'Digest

Bitcoin embraces a post-quantum future

While there are many doubts in the Bitcoin community about the urgency of quantum threats, two pieces of news this week highlight progress in blockchain upgrades and protecting output from attacks. StarkWare researcher Avihu Levy tested an experimental quantum-resistant transaction on the Bitcoin main network that provides protection during brief exposure of the public key to a memory pool. On-chain data shows that StarkWare spent a sum of 10,000 Satoshi output, which is protected by Levy's quantum-secure Bitcoin solution. The scheme combines a hash-based one-time signature with computational search to bind authorization to specific transactions. However, this is more of a last resort than a practical measure, as each transaction takes hours and costs as much as $150 to $200.

On August 27, Blockstream researchers released a Bitcoin improvement proposal aimed at upgrading Bitcoin through the SHRINCS signature scheme. Researchers have shrunk the huge hash-based post-quantum signature by about 13.23 times, but it is still nine times larger than Bitcoin's existing signatures, with a series of trade-offs. Jonas Nick of Blockstream Research called it "the first specific proposal for a post-quantum signature scheme designed specifically for Bitcoin." Although he said the solution was "not optimal in all dimensions," he added: "I think it's a very good compromise among the current options."

Solana validator vote: Reduce inflation to 1.5% in 2.8 years

Solana validators have approved a proposal to double the annual online inflation reduction rate and reduce circulation by 18.9 million SOL over the next six years. According to the final voting results, the proposal received 67% support, 25.16% opposition, and 7.84% abstention. The total participation rate accounted for 60.7% of the qualified pledges. The proposal, called SGP-0002, or "Double Inflation Deflation," would increase Solana's annual inflation deflation from 15% to 30%, while maintaining the long-term inflation target of 1.5%. Under the new plan, Solana is expected to reach a final inflation rate of 1.5% in about 2.8 years, compared with the previous plan that took about 5.7 years.

Trading volume on Solana hit a record high in July. Online data showed that Solana processed a record 4.2 billion transactions that month, an increase of 13.5% from June. Since December, transaction volume has increased by approximately 2 billion transactions, an increase of 91%.

Public Citizen: Trump lost investors US$4.7 billion through his crypto "plan"

Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, claims that since 2022, U.S. President Donald Trump has "lost investors at least approximately US$4.7 billion" through his and his family's digital asset investments. Its latest report states that investors lost $3.2 billion through its memein Official Trump, at least $1 billion through World Liberty Financial governance tokens,$450 million through Trump Media's digital asset library, and $9.3 million through the launch of the President's NFT trading card in 2022. However, holders of the USD1 stablecoin were unscathed, with zero losses.

Trump's crypto profits were one of the key factors hindering the passage of the CLARITY bill in September, and Democrats are working to strengthen protections to prevent elected officials from profiting from issuing cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin's rally has just begun

BlocksBridge Consulting reported this week that Bitcoin has risen 23% in the past week, outperforming most AI-related infrastructure stocks. Three previously hit bitcoin miners-Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango-rose between 41% and 67%. In comparison, CoreWeave rose about 21%, Nebius rose 17%, and IREN rose 15%. The Bitcoin ETF attracted more than $3.3 billion in funds in August, recording its strongest monthly performance since an all-time high in October 2025. However, Friday's outflows ended a nine-day rally.

Wall Street analyst Bernstein predicts that we are at the beginning of a new four-year cycle. It predicts that Bitcoin will return to US$125,000 in both benchmark and bull scenarios, and peak at US$300,000 in 2029 under the benchmark scenario, while it is expected to exceed US$500,000 in the bull scenario.

Revolut launches euro stablecoin in three European markets

Revolut has begun launching its first stablecoin, the euro pegged token EURR, to approximately 2 million customers in Denmark, Poland and Portugal. The phased roll-out will be extended to other EEA markets later this year, depending on product, operational and regulatory preparations. EURR is developed by Bridge Building S.A. issued by the company, which is the Luxembourg entity of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company owned by Stripe. Revolut said EURR will be integrated into its retail applications and plans to support multiple blockchain networks and external wallet transfers. The token will be launched on the Ethereum network.

Winners and Losers of the Week

As of the weekend, Bitcoin (BTC) rose 1.1% to $78,420; Ethereum (ETH) rose 0.6% to $2,469; and Ripple (XRP) fell 8.7% to $1.38. According to CoinMarketCap data, the total market value is US$2.64 trillion. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoins with gains this week are: VeChain (VET) rose 18.5%, SPX6900 (SPX) rose 17.3%, and Uniswap (UNI) rose 15.2%. The top three altcoins that fell this week were: Aptos (APT) fell 16.4%, Stable (STABLE) fell 14.7%, and Morpho (MORPHO) fell 13.6%.

This week's forecast

Bitcoin bear market ends-Price indicators replicate recovery trend in 2023: CryptoQuant CEO

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju pointed out that CryptoQuant's "bull/bear cycle indicator" has turned positive for the first time since early October. "The Bitcoin bear market cycle is over," he wrote. This indicator measures the comparison of on-chain earnings indicators to the 365-day moving average, including the ratio of market value to realized value, unrealized net gains and losses, and spent output margins. When the bull/bear indicator is above zero, it indicates that the BTC price cycle has entered a bullish phase as profitability improves. The current cyclical low occurred on February 5, when BTC/USD fell to US$60,000 and the indicator reading was-1.244, corresponding to an "extreme bear market" condition. As of August 26 (the latest full data date), the bull/bear indicator showed a positive value of 0.042, in the "bull market" range.

This week's FUD

survey: 77% of Americans believe that cryptocurrencies are risky in retirement plans

A new survey by the National Retirement Security Institute shows that more than three-quarters of Americans believe it is risky to include cryptocurrencies in working retirement plans because of growing concerns about retirement security in the United States. The survey found that 77% of Americans believe that cryptocurrencies are risky in retirement plans, with 46% believing the risks are very high;53% oppose employers using cryptocurrencies as an investment option. The survey was conducted by Greenwald Research from October 24 to November 14, 2025. The sample included 1,203 Americans aged 25 and older, and the results were weighted by age, gender and income.

Real Trump Coins denies launching GOLD tokens, blaming "malicious actors"

Real Trump Coins denies launching, promoting or authorizing the Trump Digital GOLD token, which briefly appeared on its online platform before quickly collapsing, and the company blames the promotion on "third-party malicious actors." Previously, Real Trump Coins 'X account promoted Solana-based tokens on Saturday and directed users to RealTrumpCoins.com, which also displays GOLD ads. The X posts were later deleted and the account is now linked to another domain name, TrumpCoins.com. "Trump Coins has never authorized, and will not launch, promote or authorize any digital tokens," Real Trump Coins said in Saturday's X post. It added that it was working with authorities to investigate the matter.

Polygon discloses security vulnerabilities fixed in recent hard forks

Polygon has disclosed several previously undisclosed security vulnerabilities that could affect its proof-of-stake network, but has deployed fixes through two recent hard forks. According to a disclosure by the Polygon Labs verifier support team on Thursday, the vulnerabilities affect Polygon's Bor and Heimdall clients, including denial of service risks, verifier resource depletion, and flaws that affect checkpoint and milestone processing. Polygon said the vulnerabilities have been fixed through Austin and Kyoto hard forks, and the fixes were privately deployed and tested before being activated and publicly disclosed on the main network.