Ethereum news

Grayscale Research has declared Ethereum the leading smart contract platform, ranking it first in stablecoin supply, tokenized assets, applications, developers, and investment products. According to a report dated November 6, 2026, Ethereum holds about half of the stablecoin market, with supply near $140 billion, and roughly 40% of tokenized assets, more than double its closest competitor. The network also hosts over 2,000 mainnet applications and about 6,000 on Layer 2. Institutional demand is evident through US exchange-traded products holding over $13 billion in Ethereum exposure and CME futures with more than $3 billion in open interest. Major firms like BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Invesco are issuing Ethereum-linked products. Grayscale attributes Ethereum's position to network effects rather than head-to-head comparisons with rivals, framing it as foundational to on-chain finance. Observers are watching whether Ethereum's stablecoin share holds near half as supply grows, and how activity shifts between mainnet and Layer 2, where the app count is already roughly triple.

U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs saw combined net outflows of $1.65 billion from Nov. 2-6, according to Farside Investors data. Bitcoin funds lost $1.28 billion, while Ether products saw $365.2 million in withdrawals. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $1.21 billion of the Bitcoin outflows, including $403 million on Friday, despite Fidelity's FBTC posting $93.1 million in weekly inflows. The category's only positive session came on Wednesday. Ether ETFs recorded $345.9 million in net withdrawals for BlackRock's ETHA, though Fidelity's FETH attracted $15.3 million. The brief Wednesday recovery, with $74.6 million in Bitcoin inflows and $53 million in Ether inflows, failed to carry through as Friday saw combined outflows of $504.2 million. Industry observers cautioned against interpreting single positive sessions as a trend shift, noting institutional decisions still depend on liquidity, monetary policy, and unresolved U.S. custody rules. AMINA Bank's head of derivatives trading, Andreja Cobeljic, highlighted renewed Ether ETF buying as a key signal for institutional demand, distinguishing true subscriptions from futures arbitrage trades. Cumulative net inflows stand at approximately $55.77 billion for Bitcoin ETFs and $11.95 billion for Ether funds through Nov. 6.

Ethereum core developers are asking application teams to test eight gas assumptions tied to the proposed Glamsterdam upgrade, which includes EIP-8037 (state gas costs) and EIP-8038 (state access repricing), after the Hoodi testnet activation was postponed. The review aims to identify compatibility issues and repair options, as internal audits cannot cover all projects. The new accounting could disrupt relayer reimbursements, as the separate state-gas reservoir is excluded from gasleft() readings, potentially undercharging users or over-reimbursing. It may also expose reusable wallet authorizations after failed transactions, enabling attackers to initialize ownership. The Ethereum Foundation is gathering project feedback on settings, upgrades, or migrations to decide whether specification changes are needed.

The Bank of Russia has finalized the list of cryptoassets accessible to non-qualified investors, allowing exchanges to list Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT for public trading starting November 17, 2026. Non-qualified investors face a 300,000-ruble annual purchase cap per intermediary and must undergo testing before transactions. Qualified investors can trade any cryptoasset without these restrictions, though testing and risk acknowledgment still apply. Moscow Exchange plans to launch digital currency trading on December 1, 2026, with initial instruments being Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. The exchange will use its stock-market technology and include transactions in National Clearing Centre clearing, with pilot trades first and gradual participant onboarding. The directive's effective date and the exchange's rollout are separate timelines.

A critical bug in Reth, an Ethereum execution client developed by Paradigm, prompted emergency patches across major layer-2 networks including Base, Optimism, and Tempo. The flaw, discovered via fuzzing, could allow crafted transactions to produce incorrect state-root calculations, potentially disrupting network consensus. Paradigm's CTO confirmed that withdrawals were unaffected and no funds were lost, but urged node operators to install patched versions: Reth v2.10.0, OP Reth v2.8.1, and Base v1.5.3. Base confirmed user funds were safe, citing its independent state-root verification system. As a precaution, LayerZero temporarily restricted certain cross-chain routes, while Frax Finance reported normal operations. The incident highlights the risks of shared software infrastructure across interconnected blockchain networks. The priority now is for all node operators to deploy the patches to secure the ecosystem.

Hawkeye Digital (OTC: HWKE) has partnered with Securitize (NYSE: SECZ) to tokenize its common stock on Ethereum, with onchain shares available from 2027. The tokenized shares will represent the same HWKE stock traded on OTC Markets, retaining dividend and voting rights, and will be recorded on Ethereum while reconciled with the company's official shareholder register. Shareholders can opt in by transferring holdings to direct registration and completing identity and AML checks. The process is reversible, and traditional OTC trading continues. This issuer-sponsored approach contrasts with venues like OKX and ICE, which face objections from 50 companies. Securitize, with $5 billion in tokenized assets and clients including BlackRock, aims to expand regulated onchain share infrastructure. Hawkeye cautions it has no operating history in this sector.

Ethereum developers have delayed the Glamsterdam upgrade on the Hoodi testnet after security firm ChainSecurity identified eight smart contract assumptions that could become invalid under proposed gas accounting changes, EIP-8037 and EIP-8038. The Ethereum Foundation published a repository documenting affected invariants, asking developers to review projects and submit findings. The Hoodi hard fork remains on hold with no new activation date, while work on the subsequent Hegota upgrade continues. Glamsterdam had already activated on Sepolia testnet, introducing changes like enshrined proposer-builder separation and block-level access lists.

The Bank of Russia has approved Bitcoin, Ether, and USDT for trading by retail investors under a new framework effective Nov. 17. Exchanges can now offer these assets, with purchases capped at 300,000 rubles per year per intermediary for non-qualified investors. Qualified investors face no limits and can access any cryptocurrency. Both investor types must pass an assessment test and acknowledge risks. The central bank selected only the most liquid assets, based on market cap, trading volume, and five years of pricing data, to reduce retail investment risks.

Gnosis's Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) demonstrated at Devcon how a trader can sign a single order on a rollup, with a CoW Swap solver using Ethereum mainnet liquidity to fill it and deliver assets back to the rollup. This approach aims to deepen market access without users manually moving funds, potentially reducing delays and price slippage. The team also showcased Safe wallet cross-chain authority updates and a Falcon signature verification with 91% lower gas. Participating networks must produce proofs within Ethereum's 12-second slot and follow its reorganization rules. Gnosis targets spring 2027 to make this design the default, which would bring the technology to a network with existing users and applications.

Ethereum is preparing to overhaul its data structure with EIP-8297, the Partitioned Binary Tree (PBT), which aims to improve state proofs and enable future state expiry without disrupting the network. The proposal recently passed a mainnet shadowfork test, with full deployment targeted for Q4 2026, though no specific date is set. The upgrade replaces the current hexary Merkle Patricia Trie with a simpler binary tree, consolidating account headers, contract storage, and contract code into one structure. It also removes RLP encoding to ease proving challenges. The design is intended to be invisible to users and dApps, not changing gas schedules or EVM behavior. The shadowfork test, run on the glamsterdam-pbt-1 network, saw Besu clients successfully rebuild state in about 2 hours and 41 minutes. Key benefits include supporting stateless clients and state expiry, while risks involve multiple client implementations needing to convert correctly. Further tests and client results are expected before final activation.