Bitcoin Rebounds to $65,000
Amid the absence of new strikes between the US and Iran and falling oil prices, Bitcoin has once again consolidated above $65,000, up 1.2% in 24 hours. Ethereum rose 4.2% to $1,960, while Solana and XRP rose 1-2%, according to CoinGecko data.
The Ironwood Update Launched on the Zcash Network
On July 28, the Ironwood upgrade was activated on the Zcash mainnet at block #3,428,143. The upgrade launched a new private transaction pool, which will gradually replace Orchard, which had previously been found to contain a critical vulnerability.
The issue was discovered by Shielded Labs engineer Taylor Hornby using Anthropic's Opus 4.8 AI model. The bug had existed since May 2022 and theoretically allowed for the undetected creation of new ZEC. The researcher confirmed the attack on the testnet.
The developers fixed the vulnerability back in June and stated that they had found no signs of exploitation. However, due to the nature of private transactions, it is impossible to cryptographically confirm the absence of abuse.
Ironwood addresses the issue with a new verification mechanism. Orchard is now in withdrawal mode: new deposits are no longer accepted, and existing ZEC can only be transferred to the new pool. Protocol-level protection has been implemented to prevent withdrawals of more coins than were deposited.
According to Zcash, Ironwood is based on a patched version of Orchard and has undergone formal verification and an independent security audit. The migration is performed via wallets; users won't need to create a new address.
Stablecoin Market Size Declines Significantly in Four Years
On July 28, according to DeFiLlama, the total capitalization of stablecoins fell by more than $10 billion from the May high, falling to about $310 billion. This was the largest monthly decline since the collapse of Terra in May 2022. At the same time, the adjusted transaction volume in June 2026 reached a record $1.79 trillion, an increase of approximately 63% over the month.
The main reason for the discrepancy between the reduction in supply and the increase in activity, analysts cite the GENIUS Act, which came into force in July 2025, prohibiting issuers from charging returns on payment stablecoins.
Against the backdrop of growing turnover, the turnover rate of stablecoins in the fourth quarter of 2025 reached 13.56, almost eight times higher than the M1 dollar aggregate (1.65), according to Visa data. The leader among institutional participants was USDC: according to the Visa analytical dashboard based on Allium, in the first half of 2026 it accounted for about 70% of all transactions.
Aave Proposes Closing $100 Million in Reserves
Aave founder Stani Kulechov proposed delisting dozens of underutilized reserves from the protocol and discontinuing support for the Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos networks. The initiative affects $98.1 million in assets and $15.6 million in debt positions. The document was prepared by the LlamaRisk team as part of Aave's new risk management model.
The revision affected assets with low activity, whose maintenance no longer justifies the costs of price oracles, liquidation infrastructure, and risk monitoring. The list also includes duplicate bridge tokens and redeemed lending assets that have lost their yield.
Aave proposes freezing new activity on these reserves, reducing supply and borrowing limits, and, for the networks slated for delisting, increasing the reserve ratio to 99% and increasing base rates to incentivize users to close positions. The proposal has yet to be submitted to a community vote.
Blockaid: First Half of 2026 Sets Record for Crypto Hacks
In the first half of 2026, crypto projects lost approximately $1.1 billion due to hacks, and the number of confirmed exploits hit a record high for the first half of the year, according to Blockaid analysts. According to the company, 212 successful attacks occurred in the first six months—3.4 times more than in all of 2025. However, the total amount of funds stolen was lower than last year.
Blockaid also warned of a new threat in the second half of the year: AI-enabled attacks. The analysts identified the $216,000 Bankr hack as the first such case. They believe attackers will increasingly use prompt injections against AI agents to gain unauthorized access to tools and sign transactions without permission.
Coldcard Holders Victimized in $38 Million BTC Theft
On the night of July 31, approximately 500 Coldcard hardware wallet owners lost 594.48 BTC (approximately $38.2 million). The incident was brought to the attention of Lookonchain analysts. According to their data, the attackers withdrew all the funds in less than 30 minutes and then consolidated them into a single address. At the time of publication, the coins remained idle.
All compromised wallets were single-factor authentication, contained more than 0.15 BTC, and in many cases had not been used for years. The funds were dated between 2021 and 2026. Coldcard developer Coinkite reported that the issue was related to the device firmware, but did not directly confirm the mass hack.
The vulnerability affects all Mk3 firmware versions starting with 4.0.1, as well as seed phrases generated on Mk4, Mk5 (up to version 5.6.0), and Q (up to version 1.5.0Q). Device owners are advised to update their firmware as soon as possible. The company continues to investigate the incident.
