The scale of the positioning is easier to see measured in tokens. About 2.77 billion XRP now sits in futures positions, up from closer to 2 billion earlier this summer and nearing the levels last seen when the token was worth several times more.

The ledger is getting busier too. Nearly 50,000 addresses were active over one 24-hour stretch, the most in more than two months, per Santiment, after activity slid close to its 2026 lows in July.

An active address is a wallet that sent or received anything during the period. It shows more wallets are using the ledger, but not whether the people behind them are buying, selling or shuffling tokens between their own accounts.

CoinGlass data shows the long-to-short ratio across all venues at about 0.93 over 24 hours, meaning positioning market-wide is close to balanced. The heavy long bias sits on Binance, OKX and among their bigger accounts.

Watch what happens if XRP breaks below $1, as leveraged longs that run out of collateral get closed by the exchange, which could mean selling into the market.

XRP trades around $1 in Asia morning hours Monday, with bitcoin topping $64,000.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin credited Bitcoin developers on Aug. 16 for work on Utreexo while describing a proposed Ethereum scaling direction that could combine UTXO-style state, conventional dynamic state and models between the two. 

In an X post, Buterin called it the “current proposed Ethereum scaling strategy,” making clear that the architecture remains under development.

Buterin said the goal is to let most Ethereum activity scale much further without sacrificing decentralization, censorship resistance or ease of running nodes. His comments do not mean Ethereum has decided to replace its account model with Bitcoin’s UTXO architecture. The relevant designs remain research proposals rather than approved protocol changes.

Bitcoin’s Utreexo offers a model for reducing node state

Utreexo was introduced by MIT Digital Currency Initiative researcher Thaddeus Dryja in 2019. Instead of requiring a validating node to locally hold the full Bitcoin UTXO set, the design represents that set with a compact hash-based accumulator. Transaction inputs carry inclusion proofs that allow nodes to verify relevant outputs against that accumulator.

MIT DCI’s original paper says the accumulator grows logarithmically with the underlying set. That addresses the same broad problem Ethereum researchers are examining: increasing network activity without forcing state-storage requirements to rise at the same pace. Utreexo remains a Bitcoin scaling project rather than a feature Ethereum is copying directly.

Ethereum’s native UTXO proposal targets payment state

A July 6 Ethereum Research proposal from Toni Wahrstätter, writing as Nero_eth, proposes adding native UTXO-like payments without removing Ethereum accounts. The model targets one-shot payments that do not require persistent smart-contract state.

The proposal estimates that these workloads could reduce permanent state usage by roughly 99.8%. Rather than storing the full payment object in active state, Ethereum would prove its existence from history while mainly retaining a compact spent-status bit. At one billion entries, the proposal estimates roughly 300 MB of permanent state, compared with about 100 GB to 150 GB for equivalent account or storage entries. Those are design estimates, not measured mainnet results.

The approach fits Ethereum’s wider effort to reduce verification and storage burdens. As crypto.news previously reported, Ethereum’s Lean rebuild places recursive cryptographic proofs at the center of its proposed verification overhaul.

Recursive STARKs solve a different scaling bottleneck

Buterin’s January recursive-STARK mempool research tackles proof bandwidth. His model assumes highly optimized STARK proofs of about 128 kB and proposes that mempool nodes periodically combine validity proofs recursively instead of attaching a separate large proof to every object being propagated.

Using Buterin’s example of eight peers and 500-millisecond aggregation intervals, extra bandwidth would total about 2 MB per second per node and remain constant as more objects enter the scheme. The mempool research and native UTXO proposal address different constraints, although researchers are exploring how such technologies might complement one another.

A community response extrapolated the combination into an architecture capable of settling an “unbounded volume” of UTXO transitions through a compact proof. That is not a confirmed Ethereum throughput target or roadmap commitment. Buterin’s research does not establish unlimited transaction capacity, and the 128 kB figure describes an assumed STARK proof size in his mempool model, not a confirmed future Ethereum block format.

What happens next for Ethereum scaling

The native UTXO proposal assumes EIP-8141, or Frame Transactions, for its preferred spending design. EIP-8141 would introduce programmable transaction frames covering validation, gas payment and execution. The official Hegotá specification currently lists Frame Transactions only as “Considered for Inclusion.” FOCIL, or EIP-7805, remains the only proposal formally scheduled for Hegotá.

Ethereum’s official roadmap places Hegotá in 2027, after Glamsterdam in the fourth quarter of 2026. Native UTXOs are not currently listed as a scheduled Hegotá feature. As crypto.news reported, Hegotá’s 2027 upgrade scope is still being narrowed, with Frame Transactions among the major designs still under consideration.

Buterin’s Utreexo reference therefore signals a research direction rather than a dated Ethereum upgrade. The work points toward a hybrid system in which different types of activity could use different state models, while cryptographic proofs reduce what individual nodes must store or repeatedly verify.

MiCA migration scams are targeting European crypto users after the European Union’s final grandfathering period ended on July 1, forcing unauthorized crypto asset service providers to wind down covered services and move customers toward licensed firms or self-hosted wallets. 

ESMA’s June statement requires unauthorized providers to stop onboarding new EU clients and limit activity to an orderly exit.

The regulator also tells customers to check whether a provider appears in its official MiCA register before moving assets. European watchdogs now say fraudsters are exploiting those genuine migration messages by impersonating regulators and licensed exchanges and directing users to fake websites, wallets or platforms.

MiCA deadline created a new migration attack surface

The scale of the migration is large, but the numbers require qualification. A widely repeated estimate of more than 1,700 unlicensed platforms came from data provider VASPnet, not ESMA. CoinDesk cited that estimate alongside ESMA register data showing 323 authorized crypto companies in a late-July snapshot.

A separate Aug. 7 analysis from TRM Labs identified 1,343 operating EEA crypto providers in its dataset as of July 1. Of those, 281 had MiCA authorization and 1,062 did not. TRM said its figures count firms it could identify as actually providing crypto services, rather than every entry in old national registers, which explains part of the difference between datasets.

Moreover, that distinction also makes “1,700 platforms halted services” too definitive. ESMA’s rules require unauthorized CASPs to stop new onboarding, marketing and new client relationships immediately, while allowing only the services needed to sell, transfer or reallocate assets and close positions during an orderly wind-down. Custody may continue only for as long as necessary to complete that exit.

The claim that as many as 10 million users may need to migrate is likewise a media estimate, not a figure published in ESMA’s wind-down statement. The verified regulatory position is that customers of unauthorized providers do not receive MiCA safeguards and should act promptly if their provider is absent from the register.

Regulators warn scammers are copying real migration notices

The migration creates a useful script for social engineering. CoinDesk reported that France’s AMF had encountered criminals posing as regulator employees and asking victims for upfront administrative fees to recover funds. ESMA separately warns that scammers use its name, logo, counterfeit documents and copied websites to appear legitimate.

The Dutch AFM told CoinDesk that fraudsters may target retail investors searching for replacement licensed providers. Austria’s FMA has advised customers of unauthorized firms to verify providers in ESMA’s register and, where appropriate, transfer assets to an authorized CASP or a self-hosted wallet.

As crypto.news previously reported, European regulators warned that criminals were exploiting the MiCA licensing transition by impersonating regulators and licensed crypto businesses. In related coverage, TRM’s dataset found 1,062 EEA firms without MiCA authorization at the July 1 deadline, showing why customer migration remains a live fraud and compliance risk.

Users should verify the legal entity, not just the brand

For customers, the central check is the specific legal entity serving the account. A global exchange brand may operate through multiple subsidiaries, and a MiCA authorization held by one entity does not automatically cover every affiliate or product. Regulators therefore advise users to verify the provider and permitted services before transferring assets.

The ESMA register remains the authoritative EU source. A third-party CASP tracker launched in August makes the information easier to search, but its operators themselves say final verification should still be completed against ESMA and the relevant national regulator. As crypto.news reported, the new MiCA CASP tracker turns ESMA authorization data into a searchable directory.

Finally, the next phase is enforcement and supervision. ESMA said it and national competent authorities will monitor whether major unauthorized cross-border providers wind down without delay and can take coordinated action where necessary.

Users meanwhile face an ongoing phishing risk while genuine providers continue issuing withdrawal, transfer and account-restriction notices. ESMA says it will “never approach you” to request personal information under the pretext of recovering funds or demand an administrative fee. Any unsolicited migration request asking a user to transfer crypto should therefore be independently verified before assets move.

Sandisk-linked perpetual futures have become the crypto market’s largest equity perpetual trade, with aggregate SNDK open interest reaching $1.73 billion on Aug. 17 across 32 tracked venues. 

The position puts SNDK ahead of other stock-linked contracts including SK Hynix and SpaceX as crypto exchanges expand around-the-clock derivatives tied to traditional assets. Loris Tools’ latest data was updated at 02:57 UTC.

Trading activity has accelerated even faster. Aggregate 24-hour SNDK perpetual volume reached $2.51 billion, up 248% from the previous 24-hour period and ranking fourth among all perpetual assets tracked by Loris behind only Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Micron-linked perpetuals generated about $320 million over the same snapshot, meaning SNDK volume was nearly eight times higher.

SNDK open interest leads a fast-changing stock perp market

SNDK’s $1.73 billion in open interest was followed by SKHX at about $1.35 billion and SpaceX-linked SPCX at $967.7 million. Micron stood at roughly $499.6 million. That makes SNDK approximately 1.3 times the size of SKHX and 1.8 times SPCX based on the latest synchronized snapshot.

Those figures update an earlier WuBlockchain Data comparison that placed SKHX around $493 million and SPCX near $928 million. The sharp increase in SKHX means the previously cited claim that SNDK was 3.51 times larger is already outdated, although SNDK remains the largest stock perpetual by open interest. The rapid changes illustrate how quickly leveraged positioning can shift in these markets.

The growth fits a broader trend. As crypto.news previously reported, open interest in perpetuals tied to stocks, commodities and other traditional assets had already climbed above $2 billion by July, after sitting between roughly $350 million and $500 million during spring.

Sandisk’s stock rally adds fuel to derivatives activity

The derivatives surge follows a sharp move in the underlying Sandisk shares. SNDK closed the Aug. 14 U.S. session at $1,641.11, up 7.37% for the day, with roughly 21 million shares traded. That price move preceded the latest weekend increase in crypto perpetual activity. There is no evidence that any single corporate announcement directly caused the rise in perpetual open interest.

Sandisk has nevertheless delivered several major corporate updates this month. The company reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $8.97 billion, up 51% sequentially, with GAAP net income of $6.90 billion. Fiscal-year revenue reached $20.25 billion, while the board expanded its share repurchase authorization by another $14 billion.

At its Aug. 13 investor day, Sandisk said eight new business model agreements now cover approximately 50% of expected fiscal 2027 bit volumes and about two-thirds for fiscal 2028. Management also projected mid-to-high-teens revenue growth for fiscal 2028 through 2030 and said it “expects to return 100 percent of excess cash” after investing in the business. Those longer-term figures are company targets, not guaranteed results.

Jane Street disclosed a 5% Sandisk position

Traditional market makers are also heavily present around the underlying equity and its derivatives. Jane Street Group filed a Schedule 13G on Aug. 5 showing beneficial ownership of 7,409,437 Sandisk shares as of July 30, equal to exactly 5.0% of the company’s common stock. The filing states the securities were not acquired for the purpose of changing or influencing control of Sandisk.

The stake should therefore not automatically be interpreted as a directional investment thesis. Jane Street Capital accounted for 5.89 million of the reported shares, while other affiliated entities held the remainder. Jane Street is also a large electronic market maker across traditional securities and digital asset markets.

Cboe’s current symbol directories identify Susquehanna Securities as the designated primary market maker for SNDK on Cboe Options and IMC Financial Markets for SNDK on EDGX Options. Those assignments establish liquidity-provision roles on the listed-options venues; they do not establish that either firm is making markets in crypto SNDK perpetuals.

MIAX provides another link to the broader SNDK derivatives ecosystem. Its May 26 notice named Citadel Securities as primary lead market maker for options on the T-REX 2X Long SNDK Daily Target ETF, or SNDU.

What happens next for SNDK perpetuals

The immediate metric to watch is whether SNDK can maintain its lead as open interest rotates among equity contracts. SKHX has already closed much of the gap indicated by earlier figures, while SPCX remains close to $1 billion. High open interest also does not indicate whether traders are predominantly bullish or bearish because it measures outstanding positions on both sides.

The contracts also do not represent Sandisk shares. As crypto.news reported in its examination of stock perpetuals moving traditional equity exposure onchain, these instruments provide synthetic price exposure through derivatives rather than voting rights, dividends or ownership in the underlying company. With SNDK now generating $2.51 billion in daily perpetual volume, that distinction becomes increasingly important as crypto and traditional equity markets converge.

Bitcoin crossed $64,000 in Asian morning hours Monday, up half a percent on the day but down almost 3% over the week, as a softer dollar and fading rate-hike bets failed to lift crypto out of its recent range.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE was the standout, up over 3% to $59 and almost 9% on the week, the only major with a meaningful weekly gain. Ether rose over 1% to just under $1,900 but is down 1% over seven days.

Dogecoin added almost 1% to 7 cents, tron under half a percent to just over 33 cents and XRP marginally to $1, though XRP is down 3% on the week. Solana edged up to just over $75 and is down almost 2% over seven days. BNB slipped marginally to just over $604 and was flat on the week.

The macro backdrop turned friendlier without moving crypto. A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar slipped 0.1% toward a third straight decline and levels last seen in May, while MSCI’s emerging-market currency index hit an intraday record, led by the Taiwanese dollar and Thai baht.

Chainalysis Government Solutions has taken the U.S. government to the Court of Federal Claims over a $94.7 million Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract awarded to rival blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs.

The case, Chainalysis Government Solutions, LLC v. United States, No. 26-1067C, was filed July 27. TRM Labs has intervened on the government’s side. The court’s July 31 order confirms Chainalysis’s complaint was permitted to remain under seal and establishes an expedited briefing schedule.

Chainalysis challenges a $94.7 million sole-source award

Public procurement records show ICE awarded TRM Labs contract 70CMSD26C00000005 on July 1 for analytical support to the Homeland Security Task Force National Coordination Center Cyber Disruption Center. The contract is worth up to $94.66 million and runs through June 30, 2027. Records classify it as not competed, using sole-source procedures with one bid received.

ICE had announced its intention in June to obtain the services from a single source. Its procurement notice said the agency determined that only one source was reasonably available for the required capabilities. Interested companies were given until June 11 to submit capability statements.

Because Chainalysis’s complaint is sealed, its precise claims about why ICE’s procurement violated federal contracting rules are not publicly verifiable from the complaint itself. The public record confirms the challenge and the sole-source nature of the award, but the court has not ruled that ICE acted improperly.

TRM Labs contract covers crypto tracing and cybercrime

ICE’s publicly described requirement goes well beyond a standard software subscription. The work supports scam disruption, cybercrime investigations and sextortion cases. Required capabilities include cryptocurrency transaction tracing, blockchain analytics, open-source intelligence, asset recovery support and criminal-network mapping.

The dispute therefore places two major U.S. blockchain intelligence suppliers in direct competition for a large federal law-enforcement program. As crypto.news previously reported, ICE had already moved to acquire forensic software from both TRM Labs and Chainalysis as federal agencies expanded their ability to trace digital assets.

The technology has become increasingly important to government investigations. In related coverage, blockchain analytics have played a growing role in U.S. sanctions enforcement and crypto asset freezes, including cases involving state-linked wallets and illicit financial networks.

Court puts Chainalysis case on an accelerated schedule

Judge Stephen S. Schwartz ordered the government to produce the full administrative record and set an unusually compressed briefing calendar. Chainalysis’s motion for judgment on the administrative record was due Aug. 11, while the government and TRM Labs must file their cross-motions and responses by Aug. 21.

The latest public docket confirms Chainalysis filed its Aug. 11 motion under seal. That means the company’s detailed arguments and evidence are still unavailable for public review.

Chainalysis must respond to the government and TRM Labs by Aug. 26. Their final replies are due Aug. 31, followed by a joint appendix on Sept. 1.

What happens next

Oral arguments are scheduled for Sept. 2 at 10:00 a.m. EDT at the National Courts Building in Washington, D.C. The government has asked Judge Schwartz to issue a decision by Sept. 10.

Until the briefing becomes public or the court issues its ruling, the central legal questions remain unresolved. The confirmed facts are that ICE awarded TRM Labs a roughly $94.7 million sole-source contract, Chainalysis has challenged the procurement, and no court has yet determined whether the award violated federal acquisition rules.