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Ethereum has just marked 10 years since its launch. It rolled out a symbolic NFT called “The Ethereum Torch” to honor its community.

The token will travel from one wallet to another day by day. Then it will be burned to make way for a fresh celebratory NFT that anyone can mint for free.

Ethereum Torch Tour Highlights Community Spirit

According to the Ethereum Foundation’s X account, Joseph Lubin, a co‑founder of Ethereum and founder of ConsenSys, will kick off the torch as its first holder on July 21.

After 24 hours in his wallet, the torch moves on. It will spend 10 days hopping across a selected list of community members. Based on reports, each handover is chosen to show off the network’s global reach.

0/ The Ethereum Torch is now lit.

The Torch is an NFT honoring the people and values that have shaped Ethereum’s first decade and will help build its future.

It will be symbolically passed from wallet to wallet in the 10 days leading up to Ethereum’s 10 year anniversary. pic.twitter.com/nEIY8JOIna

— Ethereum (@ethereum) July 20, 2025

The torch will wrap up its journey on July 30, when the Foundation plans to burn the NFT. That burn is meant to close out one era of the network and launch the next.

After the burn, a brand new torch will be freely claimable through the official Ether website, giving more people a piece of the celebration.

NFT Market Sees Notable Revival

On‑chain data shows a sharp rebound in NFT trading. Total weekly sales across all blockchains topped $110 million last week.

Ethereum projects accounted for about $75 million of that sum. That represents a 300% jump from figures two weeks earlier.

The spike arrived alongside a 50% rise in ETH price since July 6. Collectors and traders are turning back to digital art and collectibles in growing numbers.

Based on reports, this uptick could signal renewed confidence after a weak 2024, when NFT trading fell 18% compared to 2023.

Cross‑Chain Activity And Big Purchases

Other blockchains posted mixed results. Bitcoin‑based collectibles hit almost $26 million in weekly volume. That’s nearly double the $11 million registered in early July.

Polygon trading made a slight retreat during the same period. These shifts suggest interest is spreading but still centers on major players.

Meanwhile, Cboe BZX has filed an application for a new ETF with Canary Capital. The move would hold PENGU tokens tied to the Pudgy Penguins collection.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

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Ethereum transactions burning over 500 ETH and sending 591 ETH to WikiLeaks drew attention on Tuesday.

Blockchain data show that an account identified as “Hu Lezhi” executed a series of transfers that included donations to WikiLeaks-designated addresses, transfers to null addresses representing token burns, and payments to grant providers. The transactions, totaling over 1,000 ETH over the past week, were accompanied by on-chain messages in Chinese that allege misuse of emerging brain-machine interface technologies.

Blockchain records indicate that one transaction burned 500 ETH on Feb. 17, while additional burns of 70 ETH on Feb. 15 and 33 ETH on Feb. 10 highlight a pattern of financial activity that appears intended to signal protest. Other transfers include donations of 591 ETH and several other transactions ranging from 25 to 300 ETH.

These transfers collectively signal a dual-purpose message: a reallocation of funds toward organizations associated with whistleblowing and a symbolic act of value destruction.

The combined translated burn messages read:

“The boss of Kuande Investment: Feng Xin and Xu Yuzhi used brain-machine weapons to persecute all company employees and former employees, and even they themselves are also under control.” – (500 ETH burnt on Feb 17.)

“As brain-computer interfaces and mind-reading technology continue to develop, a new form of crime has emerged: wild animals have become puppets or complete slaves to digital machines.” – (75 ETH burnt on Feb 15.)

“A new form of crime has emerged in which victims are gradually stripped of their desires and sensory experiences until they become complete slaves to digital machines. If one day I become a victim in the final stage, I would choose to leave this world.” – (33 ETH burnt on Feb 10.)

The accompanying messages allege that Feng Xin and Xu Yuzhi of Kuande Investment have employed “brain-machine weapons” to control employees and former staff. The text claims that as the brain-computer interfaces and mind–reading technologies develop, victims may gradually lose their desires and sensory experiences, eventually becoming “complete slaves to digital machines.”

Millions in donations to WikiLeaks

One message concludes with a personal statement indicating that if the sender were to reach the final stage of this alleged process, they would choose to “leave this world.”

The funds sent to WikiLeaks, an organization historically associated with disclosures and investigative journalism, suggest an attempt to channel resources toward entities perceived as counterweights to institutional control.

Simultaneously, burning ETH, a process that permanently removes tokens from circulation, appears intended to symbolize resistance or repudiation of technologies purportedly used for coercion.

Observers familiar with blockchain activity point to the public, irreversible nature of on-chain transactions as a mechanism to broadcast dissent and alert the community.

Although the allegations regarding brain–machine weapons and digital enslavement evoke elements more common to speculative fiction than established technology, the choice to incorporate these claims into financial activity gives them a degree of visibility that is rare in traditional media. However, the deployment of such messaging alongside sizable financial transfers may reflect personal distress as well as a political statement.

The message included in the donation to WikiLeaks reads,

[Editor’s Note: Trigger warning: Suicide]

“I am Hu Lezhi, an ordinary programmer and entrepreneur. Since October 2022, I have realized that I have been monitored and manipulated by brain-controlled organizations since birth. And when I realized the existence of brain-controlled organizations, they were also increasing the harm to me.

I have lived in great pain for the past two years, and now I have reached the point where my dignity as a human being has been completely lost. I decided to leave this world and hope that this ugly world will be destroyed soon.”

The mention of being “monitored and manipulated by brain-controlled organizations since birth” suggests Hu Lezhi may be experiencing some form of psychosis rather than legitimately whistleblowing, given that such technology would be considered frontier by today’s standards and the likelihood of its existence decades ago is extremely low.

Sadly, Hu Lezhi ends their donation message by saying, “I decided to leave this world and hope that this ugly world will be destroyed soon.”

These transactions occurred throughout the last week, although attention spiked today after the 500 ETH burn alongside the sizeable donation to WikiLeaks. Little is currently known about the wallet owner other than what is included within the messages.

As of today, the most advanced brain-controlled chip known to the public is the Neuralink brain implant, also known as “the Link.” This device represents a significant leap forward in brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and has recently made headlines for its successful human implant.

However, this device allows humans to control computers and other electronic devices, not the other way around.