Ethereum news

The contrasting ETF flows suggest shifting investor sentiment, potentially impacting future crypto market dynamics and institutional strategies. Bitcoin ETFs shed $120M in a day while Ethereum ETFs quietly attract inflows.

A Google-led research team, in collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation and Stanford, has published a whitepaper detailing optimized quantum circuits that could break the elliptic curve cryptography securing Bitcoin and Ethereum. The new estimate requires fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, a 20-fold reduction from previous estimates of 9 million, bringing quantum threats closer than expected. The paper focuses on solving the ECDLP-256 problem using Shor's algorithm on the secp256k1 curve. Two circuit variants use up to 1,450 logical qubits and execute in 9-23 minutes. A separate Caltech/Oatomic study suggests even lower qubit counts (10,000-26,000) but with longer runtimes. Two attack vectors are identified: 'on-spend' attacks during transaction broadcast (with a 41% success probability) and 'at-rest' attacks on wallets with exposed public keys. Approximately 6.9 million BTC and 20.5 million ETH are at risk, plus $200B in assets governed by admin keys. The researchers used zero-knowledge proofs for responsible disclosure. Co-author Dan Boneh advocates a measured migration to post-quantum schemes. No existing quantum computer approaches the threshold, with Google's Willow at 105 qubits. For holders, using fresh addresses and avoiding reuse mitigates at-rest attack risks.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has received authorization from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) under Regulation 48.10, enabling U.S. institutional investors to trade its bitcoin and ether perpetual futures. This marks a milestone in connecting U.S. traditional finance participants with Asian liquidity, as previously these contracts were unavailable to U.S. traders. Since launching in late November 2025, the products have seen $5.8 billion in cumulative volume. SGX's perpetuals differ from crypto-native venues by using margin calls and top-up collateral instead of automatic liquidations, and by keeping trading and clearing separate. The exchange excludes stablecoins as collateral due to potential de-pegging risks. SGX plans to expand into dated futures and options for bitcoin and ether, with a disciplined, step-by-step approach to broadening its offerings.

Lido captured only 5.7% of Ethereum's net staking growth in the first half of 2026, with its market share falling from 23.93% to 21.18% despite total staked ETH rising to 43.1 million. The protocol attributes this dilution largely to institutional capital entering other staking routes, which expanded from 25.9% to 35.3% of the market during the period. The business challenge for LDO holders is converting this growing market into DAO income. Lido's automated buyback mechanism, NEST, skipped an allocation on Sept. 9 due to a negative cumulative budget of about $517,024, requiring future surplus to rebuild before purchases resume. While the DAO reported $15.94 million in net revenue for H1, a $6.06 million Kelp-related one-off and $14.33 million in foundation expenses produced a $4.45 million total loss. Lido is favoring adoption over near-term revenue, offering a 0% infrastructure fee waiver for eligible stVaults through Oct. 31. The protocol's effective DAO share of staking rewards rose to 6.15% from 4.96% in December. However, a growing Ethereum staking market can coexist with a funded buyback mechanism still waiting for spendable surplus, as the Sept. 9 checkpoint demonstrated.

Ethereum-focused Consensys Software Inc. is splitting into two independent companies, separating its consumer-facing MetaMask business from its institutional and infrastructure operations. Consensys Software will be rebranded as MetaMask, with Joe Lubin as chairman and CEO, focusing on self-custodial consumer finance, expanding into payments, savings, and investing. The company reports over 100 million downloads and trillions in cumulative transaction volume. The Protocols Group will become a new company under the Consensys name, focusing on Ethereum and institutional blockchain infrastructure, including Linea, Besu, and Teku, led by CEO Mike Kriak and President David Cunningham. The split reflects growing institutional demand for tokenization and blockchain infrastructure. The separation is expected to be official by the end of this year.

BitMine Immersion Technologies purchased 28,086 ETH, worth about $70.1 million, raising its Ethereum treasury to 5.93 million tokens, or roughly 4.9% of the total supply. The company, which has bought ETH weekly since June 30, 2025, aims to reach 5% of the supply, needing about 170,802 more ETH. Its staked ETH could generate around $330 million in annual revenue. Chairman Tom Lee remains bullish on Ethereum, citing potential catalysts such as U.S. crypto legislation, tokenization, and blockchain-based AI. He noted ETH's strong performance, outperforming the S&P 500 by 5,430 basis points in Q3 through Sep. 4. The company's stock, BMNR, has gained 99% in Q3, providing U.S. investors with indirect Ethereum exposure.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Tom Lee, purchased an additional 28,086 Ethereum tokens last week, valued at about $70 million based on a reference price of $2,495 per token. This brings its total holdings to 5.93 million ETH, representing roughly 4.9% of Ethereum's supply, as the company continues its weekly buying strategy since June 2025. As of September 7, Bitmine's combined assets, including crypto, cash, securities, and stakeholdings, total $15.7 billion. The company has staked approximately 85% of its ETH, projecting $330 million in annual staking revenue. Lee noted Ether's strong performance, outperforming the S&P 500 by 54.3 percentage points in Q3, and framed this as a catalyst for institutional crypto adoption.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether holder, announced the purchase of 28,086 ETH, worth approximately $69.5 million, bringing its total holdings to 5.93 million Ether at an average price of $2,495 per coin. This acquisition completes 97% of the company's goal to accumulate 5% of Ethereum's total supply within 15 months. The company, led by chairman Tom Lee, reported $15.7 billion in total assets, including staked ETH expected to generate $330 million in annualized revenue. Despite its aggressive accumulation, Bitmine faces $5.1 billion in unrealized losses as Ether's price has fallen 16% since the start of 2026, trading at $2,469 on Tuesday. Its NYSE-traded stock dropped more than 2% at the market open, extending its year-to-date decline into double digits.

The Ethereum Foundation has set a December 2029 deadline to make the network quantum-resistant across transactions, validators, and data storage, aiming to protect against quantum computers that could break current cryptography, with most forecasts placing such machines as early as 2030. The 2027 Hegotá upgrade will not provide quantum resistance itself, but is designed to keep five subsequent hard forks and related cryptographic changes on schedule, including new signature systems and a public key registry. Planned protections include dropping the secp256k1 signature system, retiring validator withdrawal credentials, and a fallback 'minimum viable post-quantum protection' to keep the network running with reduced guarantees if quantum computers advance sooner than expected. The Foundation will reassess the timeline in January 2027, and features for upcoming upgrades are now weighed against this fixed deadline.

The Ethereum Foundation's Protocol cluster has set a December 2029 deadline for achieving full quantum resistance across its execution, consensus, and data layers, aiming to mitigate the risk of quantum computers breaking current cryptography by 2030. The plan begins with the Hegotá hard fork in late Q4 2026, followed by five additional forks at roughly 7.2-month intervals, with a slower contingency path available if needed. Approximately 65% of ETH sits in quantum-vulnerable addresses, and 42.4 million staked ETH relies on BLS signatures that could be compromised. The timeline aligns with transitions at Google, Cloudflare, and Microsoft, and follows NIST's 2024 post-quantum standards. A dedicated Post-Quantum Security team was established in January 2026 after Google Quantum AI research lowered the qubit requirements for breaking elliptic curve cryptography. Investors should monitor whether Hegotá ships on time, as delays could push full resistance past 2030. Users may need to migrate funds to new address formats, and staking providers must prepare for BLS signature changes, which could temporarily affect yields and network security.