Weekly Roundup: What Happened in Crypto Over the Past Week

From groundbreaking Ethereum developments to record-breaking DeFi activity and major protocol updates, the crypto industry saw a flurry of important announcements this past week.

Here’s a summary of the top 10 highlights, according to a report by Wu Blockchain:

Ethereum Foundation outlines full ZK integration plan

The Ethereum Foundation released a detailed roadmap for adopting zero-knowledge proofs across Layer 1. The plan includes deploying a zkEVM, enabling validators to verify proofs instead of re-executing blocks, and setting strict targets for proof time, size, and hardware efficiency. The Glamsterdam upgrade will support this transition and aims to enable home-based proof generation.

Linea to reveal TGE plans later this month

Linea project lead Declan Fox confirmed that a major announcement related to the Token Generation Event (TGE) will be made this month. The update builds on Linea’s roadmap presentation from Bangkok and is expected to detail next steps for the ecosystem’s token release.

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Hyperliquid hits $10.6B open interest, setting new record

Decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid reported all-time high open interest above $10.6 billion. Its native token HYPE climbed 18.2% over the week to $46.17 and was listed on Bybit’s spot exchange, reflecting strong market traction.

Eigen Labs cuts 25% of workforce to focus on EigenCloud

In a strategic restructuring move, Eigen Labs laid off 29 employees as it shifts resources toward its EigenCloud developer platform. Despite recently raising $70M led by a16z, the company cited product focus—not financial strain—as the reason. Laid-off employees will receive support packages and accelerated token vesting.

Polygon launches Heimdall v2 consensus upgrade

On July 10, Polygon successfully implemented its most significant hard fork since 2020. The Heimdall v2 upgrade transitioned the network to CometBFT and Cosmos SDK v0.50, improving finality time to around 5 seconds and removing outdated components.

BNB burns $1.02B worth of tokens in quarterly event

The BNB Foundation completed its 32nd quarterly burn, eliminating 1.59 million BNB from circulation—valued at approximately $1.024 billion. This included standard burns and tokens burned via the Pioneer program, reducing total supply to just under 140 million.

HashKey Chain activates veHSK governance model

HashKey Chain officially launched its veHSK (vote-escrowed HSK) system, allowing users to stake tokens in exchange for non-transferable governance rights. The system introduces two tiers of governance: daily participation and major proposals requiring veHSK consumption.

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Aptos becomes third-largest RWA network with $538M TVL

The Aptos network’s total value locked in Real-World Assets surged 56.28% over 30 days to $538 million. The growth places it behind only Ethereum and zkSync Era in the RWA space, with most value coming from private credit, U.S. Treasuries, and alternative funds.

OpenSea acquires Rally to expand token trading infrastructure

NFT giant OpenSea acquired Rally, the developer behind Rally Wallet and mobile-first Web3 apps. The move strengthens OpenSea’s presence in the token trading sector and adds support for 19 blockchains.

Inception re-staking protocol shuts down operations

Inception, a re-staking protocol built on EigenLayer, has officially closed down. Despite strong integration with over 60 DeFi projects and 15+ liquid restaking tokens, the protocol failed to gain sustainable traction. The team cited a lack of product-market fit and insufficient incentive alignment.

Kosta Gushterov

Kosta has been working in the crypto industry for over 4 years. He strives to present different perspectives on a given topic and enjoys the sector for its transparency and dynamism. In his work, he focuses on balanced coverage of events and developments in the crypto space, providing information to his readers from a neutral perspective.