KEYTAKEAWAYS
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The Ethereum Foundation moved 10,000 ETH to an exchange for upcoming sales, funding research and donations, adding short-term pressure but limited long-term impact.
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Gold-backed tokens surpassed $2.57B as XAUT and PAXG hit records, fueled by rising gold prices and strong institutional safe-haven demand.
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Solana approved Alpenglow upgrade, cutting block finality to milliseconds, restructuring fees, and boosting security—positioning Solana as a faster, more resilient L1 blockchain.
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GOLD-BACKED TOKENS MARKET CAP SURPASSES $2.5 BILLION
The crypto market reached a milestone as the market cap of gold-backed tokens crossed $2.57 billion for the first time, driven by gold prices nearing April’s all-time high. According to CoinGecko, Tether’s XAUT and Paxos’ PAXG are the main drivers.
XAUT, issued by Tether and backed by physical gold, saw supply surge by $437 million in August, pushing its market cap to a record $1.3 billion. Etherscan records show Tether minted 129,000 tokens on Ethereum in early August, highlighting strong demand for safe-haven assets. Meanwhile, Paxos’ PAXG also gained momentum, attracting $141.5 million in inflows since June, lifting its market cap to $983 million—another record high.
With international gold prices around $3,490/oz, just shy of the April 22 tariff-driven peak, investors are increasingly turning to tokenized gold to hedge macroeconomic risks. Shifts in the U.S. Treasury yield curve have further accelerated capital inflows into gold-backed digital assets.
Tokenized gold is emerging as a bridge between traditional safe-haven demand and crypto infrastructure. The rapid growth of XAUT and PAXG shows institutional-grade appetite, positioning tokenized commodities as a key sector in future digital asset markets.
SOLANA COMMUNITY APPROVES ALPENGLOW UPGRADE
The Solana community has voted to pass the Alpenglow upgrade proposal (SIMD-0326), marking one of the most significant changes to its consensus, economic model, and security framework.
The upgrade will shorten block finality from ~13 seconds to 100–150 milliseconds, powered by the new Votor finality engine replacing Tower BFT. Combined with BLS aggregated signatures, off-chain voting, and the Rotor one-hop relay replacing Turbine, the changes drastically cut network latency. Proof of History (PoH) is retired, replaced by a fixed 400ms block time maintained by validator clocks.
Economically, on-chain voting fees are scrapped in favor of Validator Admission Tickets (VAT) costing ~1.6 SOL per epoch, burned directly—an estimated annual burn of 296,000 SOL. The validator staking minimum may be lowered, pending further discussion.
On security, Byzantine fault tolerance drops from 33% to 20%, with a “20+20” resilience model ensuring the network runs even if 20% of nodes act maliciously and another 20% go offline. The near-instant finality could also disrupt MEV activity, limiting arbitrage and sandwich attacks.
Deployment is planned for Q1 2026 mainnet, with continued SIMD proposals refining incentives.
Alpenglow is more than just a performance leap—it redefines Solana’s architecture. By reducing latency and restructuring incentives, Solana strengthens its case as the fastest, most resilient L1, potentially reshaping its ecosystem and competitive position in the long term.
ETHEREUM FOUNDATION SELLS ETH AGAIN
The Ethereum Foundation has started selling coins once more. On-chain data shows it transferred 10,000 ETH (about $42.7 million) to an exchange, with plans to gradually sell in the coming weeks to fund research and donations. Notably, its last sale was also 10,000 ETH, but done via OTC to SharpLink at a price of around $2,572 per ETH, totaling roughly $25.73 million. This time, the transfer happened just ten minutes before the official announcement, giving it a “sell first, announce later” feel.
From a market perspective, such moves may add short-term selling pressure and cause some volatility in ETH’s price. However, since the funds are directed toward ecosystem development and research, the operation looks more like strategic capital management, with limited long-term impact on overall market confidence.
