The Protocol: Ethereum Turns Ten
CoinDesk’s Protocol provides a weekly cryptocurrency tech development summary. This week’s highlights include Ethereum’s 10th anniversary, significant Linea upgrades, Solana’s “Internet Capital Markets” roadmap, and Square’s Bitcoin payment rollout.
Ethereum, launched in 2015, aimed to be a decentralized “World Computer.” A decade later, it has significantly impacted finance, culture, and software, navigating crises and market volatility. Recent months have seen increased use cases, price rebound, and institutional interest. Ether (ETH) reached $3,800 in July after a period around $1,500.
Linea, a Consensys-incubated Ethereum layer-2 network, announced major upgrades for October 2025. These include ETH-native staking, a protocol-level ETH burn mechanism (making it the first L2 to do so), and allocating 85% of its token supply to ecosystem development. 20% of net transaction fees will be used to reduce Ethereum’s supply, with the remaining 80% burning LINEA tokens.
Solana’s ecosystem is focusing on “Internet Capital Markets,” a decentralized platform for next-generation on-chain financial applications. The roadmap emphasizes Application-Controlled Execution (ACE), granting smart contracts millisecond-level transaction sequencing control. Six key tradeoff dimensions are highlighted: privacy vs. transparency, speedbumps vs. unfettered trading, inclusion vs. finality vs. latency, colocation vs. geographic decentralization, makers-first vs. takers-first priorities, and flexible vs. opinionated architecture.
Square is rolling out Bitcoin payments for merchants via the Lightning Network, aiming for full availability by 2026. Initial onboarding has begun, with payments settled in near real-time.
MicroStrategy acquired $2.4 billion worth of BTC using funds from a new preferred stock issuance, increasing its holdings to 628,791 BTC. SharpLink Gaming increased its ETH holdings to 438,190 tokens, purchasing $297 million worth.
Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a bill allowing cryptocurrency holdings to secure mortgages, aligning with the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s direction to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Tornado Cash developer, Roman Storm, chose not to testify in his trial. Finally, the article includes a calendar of upcoming blockchain events.
