“Dear Bitcoin Core, Bitcoin is and must remain censorship resistant.” That’s the promise, the battle, and the line in the sand drawn this week as Leonidas, the host of The Ordinal Show, weighs in on the raging Spam Wars, warning Bitcoin Core:

“Any serious attempt by Bitcoin Core to tighten policy rules or censor Ordinals and Runes transactions will be met with decisive action.”

Bitcoin Core: transaction censorship is a ‘dangerous precedent’

Leonidas argues that the Bitcoin network was designed to be neutral, permissionless, and open to anyone willing to pay competitive fees. To censor JPEGs, memecoins, or any on-chain experiment under the guise of ‘spam’ is to undermine what sets Bitcoin apart: resistance to censorship at the base layer. He warns:

“There is no meaningful difference between normalizing the censorship of JPEG or memecoin transactions and normalizing the censorship of certain monetary transactions by nation-states. Both would set very dangerous precedents.”

For anyone following the 2025 Spam Wars, the Core versus Knots debate is everywhere, and node operators have begun voting with their feet, flocking to Knots for its aggressive anti-spam features.

Knots’ share has ballooned from 69 nodes at the start of 2024 to over 4,200 in September 2025, now representing over 18% of the reachable network, a dramatic show of protest against Core’s upcoming v30 release.

At stake is more than OP_RETURN data limits here. It’s a battle over Bitcoin’s soul: Should the protocol remain a strictly monetary settlement layer, or can it evolve to support innovative on-chain uses, as long as transaction fees are paid?

The Ordinals and Runes perspective

The Ordinals and Runes ecosystem, according to Leonidas, has driven over half a billion in fees, supporting miners and security, while “using Bitcoin as money every day” outside of legacy narratives. They’re fed up pf being “gaslit” by Knots proponents.

Miners aren’t sitting out, either, he says. Many mining pools commanding over half of Bitcoin’s hash rate have privately expressed willingness to accept any consensus-valid transaction so long as security and implementation are sound. That’s not neutrality in name only; it’s how protocol resilience is achieved on the ground.

‘Standing with the Degens’: the Shinobi angle

Few comments captured the mood quite like Bitcoin Core’s Shinobi’s:

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“As retarded as I think all the sh*t they do is, I stand with the Degens. I will not participate or standby while a bunch of moralizing puritanical clowns try to undermine the very thing Bitcoin exists to be: a censorship resistant system.”

It’s raw, it’s frustrated, and it echoes a broader sentiment among those who think differently from Knots: resistance to any transaction censorship is non-negotiable, whether the threat is JPEGs, memecoins, or nation-state monetary disputes.

Tensions continue to boil over on X and Nostr, with miners, node operators, and developers locked in heated debates about nearly every technical detail from OP_RETURN caps to what constitutes “spam.”

Knots’ meteoric node share growth has made fragmentation and chain splits more than theoretical. As Bitcoin Core developer Peter Tood commented:

“This has gotten so out of hand that the Knots crowd are becoming a serious risk to Bitcoin.”

If adoption continues, Knots could reach 23% of the network by October, rerpreseting a tipping point for consensus. The message from Leonidas and many other degens this week is clear:

“We will not sit idly by while transaction censorship is normalized on Bitcoin. We will defend the principles that have always set Bitcoin apart, such as open access, censorship resistance, and neutrality at the base layer”.

To the gatekeepers at Bitcoin Core: Bitcoin is and must remain censorship resistant. Anything less would betray the very thing the world’s first digital currency was built to oppose.

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency, is taking a breath before the next phase of its rally. While all major metrics are stagnating, some macro indicators hint at a possible 50% upside for the crypto king’s price.

Bitcoin (BTC) price brutally rejected at $113,000

Bitcoin (BTC), the first cryptocurrency, failed to expand its rally to over $113,000. Yesterday, Sept. 5, 2025, its price jumped by 2%, but was stopped by bears. Immediately after touching the resistance level, it dropped back to $110,300.

At press time, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has stabilized at around $110,900 on major spot trading platforms. In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin (BTC) is up by a negligible 0.24%.

The rest of the cryptocurrency market is also stagnant today. The aggregated capitalization of digital assets added 0.19% and hit $3.81 trillion in equivalent.

The cryptocurrency’s Fear and Greed Index dropped to 48/100, which is considered to be a “Neutral” indicator. As per CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency’s RSI sits at 48.46, which also signals about the market being at a crossroads.

In the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency’s liquidations were below $100 million, which is an indicator of market apathy.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs log $400 million in outflows in two days

Exchange-traded products on spot Bitcoin (BTC) are witnessing outflows in recent sessions. On Sept. 4-5, U.S. BTC ETFs lost almost $400 million in equivalent.

On Sept. 4, 2025, $227 million was withdrawn by investors, followed by $160 million erased the next day. As a result, the aggregated spot Bitcoin ETFs AUM dropped to $144.5 billion.

BlackRock’s IBIT, Grayscale’s GBTC and Bitwise’s BITB are the three most affected ETFs; combined, they lost about $150 million in just one session.

As covered by U.Today previously, spot Bitcoin ETFs have been losing traction since early July 2025. Investors’ pessimism might be a signal of liquidity migration to alternative TradFi products, precious metals and stocks.

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At the same time, Ethereum spot ETFs were hit even harder last week. In seven days, spot Ether ETFs lost over $787 million in AUM, which makes this week the most painful for the segment ever.

Since Ethereum spot ETFs were launched in July 2024, its ecosystem has not been hit by such a massive liquidity outflow.

Bitcoin OI stuck in $79-$85 billion corridor for seven weeks

At the same time, this might be just a rebalance since spot ETH ETFs investors injected $2.8 billion in liquidity during the second week of August.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s open interest — the total USD-denominated value of all derivatives contracts that are not closed yet — has been stagnating since July.

As of printing time, the aggregated Bitcoin futures OI sits slightly below $80 billion in equivalent. In the last couple of weeks, it has remained almost unchanged. After reaching its peak at $88 billion on July 16, 2025, it started slowly declining.

Binance (BNB), the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume and user count, is responsible for $14 billion out of this value.

For Ethereum futures, the net open interest has been sitting at $60 billion in equivalent for three weeks in a row. As such, markets might be confused about performance prospects for both assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) to $185,000? Here’s what Tephra Digital BTC/M2 model says

Despite sending mixed signals to its audience, Bitcoin (BTC) can still expand its rally over $150,000 per BTC easily. As a recent model by Tephra Digital asset management firm demonstrates, Bitcoin (BTC) closely follows the M2 metric — the aggregated volume of the U.S. money supply.

The analyst noticed that Bitcoin (BTC) follows M2 and gold price fluctuations with the lag of 100-200 days. Given that fact, the global cryptocurrency community should be prepared for an extremely bullish Q4, 2025.

Based on these assumptions, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price can naturally reach $167,000-$185,000 by the end of this year.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price set its current ATH at $124,457 on Aug. 14, 2025. As of now, it is trading 11% below the record price.

XRP futures became the fastest contract in CME Group history to cross $1 billion in open interest (OI), achieving the milestone in just over three months.

CME Group reported its crypto futures suite surpassed $30 billion in notional open interest for the first time, with XRP and Solana futures each crossing the $1 billion threshold. Additionally, Ethereum reached the OI record of $10.5 billion.

The derivatives exchange stated:

“Our Crypto futures suite just surpassed $30B in notional open interest for the first time ever. Our SOL and XRP futures, along with ETH options, each crossed $1B in OI, with XRP being the fastest-ever contract to do so, hitting the mark in just over 3 months.”

Strong trading activity

XRP futures recorded their largest daily volume since July 15 on Aug. 25, with 7,533 contracts traded and over $1 billion in total volume, according to CME data.

The activity demonstrates appetite for regulated XRP exposure through CME’s CFTC-supervised platform.

The milestone comes as traditional finance firms seek cryptocurrency derivatives products. CME launched XRP futures in May 2025, providing institutions with standardized contracts settling to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate.

Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth, connected the futures activity to potential spot ETF demand on Aug. 26.

He said:

“CME Group says XRP futures contracts have crossed over $1 billion in open interest… Fastest-ever contract to do so (took just over 3mos). There’s already $800+mil in futures-based xrp ETFs. Think people might be underestimating demand for spot xrp ETFs.”

After the CME XRP futures launch on May 19, Geraci noted that spot ETFs were only a matter of time. The affirmation is likely because analysts view regulated futures markets as a crucial requirement for spot crypto ETF approvals.

Several asset managers have filed for spot XRP ETFs with the SEC, including applications from 21Shares, Bitwise, Canary Capital, and Grayscale.

CME’s crypto derivatives now include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. BTC futures account for the largest share, with over $16 billion in open interest, while Ethereum futures hold approximately $10.5 billion. Additionally, both XRP and Solana recently joined the billion-dollar club.

The $30 billion milestone represents institutional adoption of crypto derivatives as portfolio management tools.

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Crypto Reporter

Shalini Nagarajan

Crypto Reporter

Shalini Nagarajan

About Author

Shalini is a crypto reporter who provides in-depth reports on daily developments and regulatory shifts in the cryptocurrency sector.

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Last updated: 

August 26, 2025

XRP futures on CME Group has now crossed the $1b open interest milestone, becoming the fastest crypto contract to do so, just three months after launch.

The achievement shows growing institutional appetite for regulated exposure to digital assets.

CME said its wider crypto futures suite has now surpassed $30b in notional open interest for the first time. Both Solana and XRP futures crossed $1b, but XRP hit the mark at record speed, outpacing its peers and drawing fresh attention from funds and corporate desks.

The move is being viewed as a sign of market maturity and deepening liquidity in digital asset derivatives. Analysts say it reflects a new wave of institutional capital, as traditional finance increasingly embraces crypto markets through regulated venues.

High Volume Drop Tests Key Levels Before Quick Rebound

XRP itself has remained volatile. The token traded within a 5% range between $2.98 and $2.84 in the 24 hours ending Aug. 26. The steepest move came on Aug. 25, when the price fell from $2.96 to $2.84 on volume three times higher than its daily average.

Institutional buying quickly stepped in, lifting the token back to $2.92. Market participants described the $2.84 level as critical support, with volumes suggesting renewed corporate and fund activity. In the final hour of the session, XRP rose 0.7% from $2.90 to $2.92 on more than 5.7m traded tokens.

On the derivatives side, XRP futures recorded their heaviest daily activity since July 15 on Aug. 25. A total of 7,533 contracts changed hands, equivalent to more than $1b in volume. Since launch in May, CME’s XRP futures have seen over 251,000 contracts traded, representing $9.02b in cumulative notional volume.

Technical Indicators Point To Possible XRP Retest Of Lower Levels

The regulated nature of CME’s contracts, which settle to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate and are supervised by the CFTC, has been a key factor in attracting demand. Analysts argue the milestone shows confidence in XRP’s long-term role in institutional portfolios.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget, said XRP is sitting at a technical crossroads. Bollinger Bands are tightening, RSI remains neutral, and low buying volume suggests a possible retest of $2.60 to $2.00.

“A break above the $3.10 level with conviction and volume, and a run toward $3.40 could follow,” he added. “But derivative markets are skewed short, and upside stays guarded until momentum firms.”

XRP Futures Strength Sparks Renewed Talk Of Spot ETF Approval

The development also feeds into broader speculation about spot XRP ETFs. Several asset managers, including Grayscale, Bitwise and 21Shares, have filed applications with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Market participants believe strong futures liquidity could support those cases.

The surge in XRP futures comes against a backdrop of firm crypto markets. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled rate cuts at Jackson Hole, fueling risk appetite across equities and digital assets. While Bitcoin has dominated headlines, XRP’s rapid derivatives growth signals its expanding role among institutions.

Elsewhere in the market, other altcoins have also seen bursts of activity. Shiba Inu briefly spiked toward $0.0000135 following a short-term technical signal, while Cardano’s development efforts continue to draw interest. Yet analysts caution that sustained momentum across smaller tokens will still depend on Bitcoin’s trajectory and broader macro conditions.

Despite the negative market trend faced by the crypto ecosystem over the past days, Ethereum has continued to make waves in key metrics. 

On August 20, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization set a new record on the leading Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), according to data provided by Maartunn, a community analyst at CryptoQuant.

According to the source, over 14,250,000 ETH worth about $8.3 billion was committed in active futures contracts on the exchange, marking the highest level of open interest ever recorded for ETH derivatives on CME.

Ethereum OI surges despite price slump

This major milestone is coming at a time when the broad crypto market is facing massive price losses, with the prices of leading cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and top altcoins returning to bare lows. Ethereum also had its share of the downtrend, with its price falling significantly below key resistance levels.

However, Ethereum has broken major grounds in open interest despite the declining momentum. The surge in Ethereum’s OI despite the negative sentiment is largely attributable to the spike in institutional engagements.

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During the period, institutions and large ETH holders have shown resilience in accumulating large amounts of ETH, with spot Ethereum ETFs consistently recording daily inflows despite ETH’s price slump.

While Ethereum’s open interest in CME has remained consistently on the high side since the beginning of 2025, institutions and high-profile investors appear to have continuously opened ETH futures as efforts to boost its future price actions while maximizing gains.

Ethereum flips positive

Following this major milestone achieved on CME, Ethereum has seen a sudden reversal in its price amid a broad crypto market resurgence witnessed during the late hours of the day.

While rising open interest has often preceded sharp price movements, as leveraged positions historically spark both rallies and corrections, investors’ interests appear to have been restored.

Notably, speculations suggest that the surge in ETH’s OI on CME, which appears to have been triggered by new institutional positions on the exchange, may have fueled the fresh momentum as Ethereum retraces back above $4,300.

Amid the sudden shift in market sentiment, Ethereum has seen its price reflect an increase of 4.09% over the last day, with its price currently sitting at $4,326 according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.

I created a channel with core lightning with Push_msats parameter and quickly pushed a lot of funds into the peer side of the channel.

lightning-cli fundchannel  push_msats=30480

I did that to improve my ability to receive funds. I was able to receive more funds up to the channel capacity. But this was a big mistake. why? Now, this channel has far more funds than capacity, and when you close the channel, what is the channel capacity? Are the funds you pushed to the peerside with push_masters forever gone?

The peer effectively “stolen”:-(

If you made a payment instead, you would have received at least some products/services in return for that payment. Now, the pushed Saturday will disappear forever.

The channel has been closed.

Can someone help me understand if there is a way to get those Saturdays back from the peers?

Crypto Reporter

Shalini Nagarajan

Crypto Reporter

Shalini Nagarajan

About Author

Shalini is a crypto reporter who provides in-depth reports on daily developments and regulatory shifts in the cryptocurrency sector.

Share

Last updated: 

August 5, 2025

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to allow spot cryptocurrency trading on exchanges it already regulates, expanding access to digital assets through federally registered futures markets.

CFTC Acting Chairman Caroline Pham unveiled the plan on Monday, calling it the first move in the commission’s broader “crypto sprint,” a program aimed at quickly implementing key policy recommendations from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

Pham framed the effort as part of a broader push under President Trump’s leadership to bring digital assets into the federal regulatory fold.

She said the initiative would enable immediate trading of digital assets at the federal level, in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently announced Project Crypto.

CFTC Invites Input on Spot Crypto Listings via DCMs

“There is a clear and simple solution the CFTC can implement now,” Pham said. “The Commodity Exchange Act currently requires that retail trading of commodities with leverage, margin, or financing must be conducted on a designated contract market.

“Starting today, we invite all stakeholders to work with us on providing regulatory clarity on how to list spot crypto asset contracts on a DCM using our existing authority.”

The CFTC’s plan would enable exchanges already registered to trade futures contracts, known as Designated Contract Markets, to also offer spot trading for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In spot trading, buyers and sellers exchange digital assets directly and immediately, unlike futures trading, where contracts are based on predictions of future crypto prices.

Regulators Ask for Clarity on Crypto-Securities Boundary

Stakeholders have until Aug. 18, 2025, to share their feedback through the CFTC’s website. In the meantime, the agency is seeking input on how to regulate spot crypto trading. It is focusing on laws that govern retail commodity transactions. Additionally, it is reviewing compliance requirements for registered exchanges.

The commission is also seeking input on how its framework would interact with securities regulations, especially in cases where crypto assets may not meet the legal definition of securities.

All comments submitted will be made public on the CFTC’s website.

Unified Crypto Framework May Merge Futures and Securities Oversight

The move signals growing coordination between the CFTC and SEC as both agencies look to bring clarity to crypto regulation.

Just last week, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins introduced Project Crypto. This is a broad initiative to modernize securities laws for blockchain-based assets. It aims to clarify how crypto assets are classified, distributed and traded. In particular, it seeks to resolve longstanding confusion around the Howey test.

The test is used to determine whether an asset qualifies as a security. Over time, it has become a sticking point for crypto companies. As a result, many have treated their tokens as securities by default. They remain cautious due to the risk of enforcement actions.

Project Crypto is expected to provide a more tailored regulatory approach.

With the CFTC’s latest initiative, the US may be moving closer to a dual-agency framework for digital asset regulation. This shift involves both the CFTC and the SEC. It comes at a time of growing demand from institutional and retail investors. Many are seeking clearer, regulated access to cryptocurrencies.

If finalized, the CFTC’s plan could open the door for spot crypto trading under existing commodity laws, giving markets greater legal certainty without waiting for new legislation from Congress.

The following article is a guest post and opinion of Chris “Jinx” Jenkins, Head of Operations at Pocket Network.

Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee once dreamed of an open and accessible digital information system. His vision for the web — a virtual space where everyone had equitable opportunities to contribute, collaborate, share, and learn together — has shifted.

But the internet has moved in the opposite direction from this open garden. From single points of failure to censorship by sectors both public and private, it is now in the middle of a fight between messaging-obsessed political bodies and profit-hungry corporations, each seeking to control or monetize information flows.

Web3, powered by decentralized apps (DApps), promises to rekindle Berners-Lee’s dream of a permissionless space for free, open communication and innovation. Yet ironically, DApps today also rely heavily on centralized infrastructure or data sources. These single points of failure compromise the entire ecosystem’s security and integrity — as seen in many of the complaints around Solana.

Systems are only as secure as their weakest points. And to fulfill Web3’s ethos, DApps must adopt and implement genuinely open, decentralized, and verifiable infrastructure.

DApps Suffer from Concentrated Vulnerabilities

Most developers build the front end of DApps on a decentralized interface, but depend on centralized data infrastructure for backend support.

DApps largely run on centralized data hosting platforms and cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Although easily accessible, these platforms are susceptible to single-point failures and censorship, leading to global outages and downtime.

History is a witness to these failures. There are multiple examples where Infrastructure-as-a-Service platforms have faced disruptions, interrupting seamless DApp usage.

For instance, although MetaMask functions as a decentralized wallet, its endpoints run on centralized tech like Infura to access Ethereum. In 2022, when Infura blocked access after U.S. sanctions, MetaMask users temporarily couldn’t access their wallets from specific regions.

This is not an isolated incident. Infura clients have also faced interruptions in the past. Similarly, Solana and Polygon users faced outages due to the overloading of centralized RPCs during high network traffic.

DApps using centralized infrastructure to supply data are thus susceptible to downtime, information inaccuracies, usage gaps, and disconnected data flows. These incidents demonstrate the need to shift to decentralized infrastructure for data transferability and smooth accessibility without facing outages.

The Need for a Decentralized DApp Ecosystem

DApps without a decentralized stack are an oxymoron.

Instead of AWS, Google, or Azure, DApps must use open-source solutions like InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), Filecoin, or Arweave. These protocols provide a tamper-proof, distributed storage facility with high uptime and protection against random outages.

DApps running on decentralized infrastructure work with independent node operators. This helps distribute data queries across the network, eliminating single points of failure for unstoppable data availability.

Since individual nodes cannot block information flows, DApps run smoothly even when several nodes are offline. So the network always remains accessible without any downtime.

Decentralized infrastructure further removes the dependency on intermediaries who arbitrarily control data flows. Instead, DApps can connect with data, service providers, and users within an integrated, enmeshed open-source system.

Pocket Network unlocks open data accessibility so that any DApp can get the information it needs, without relying on centralized or singular entities. Pocket’s Shannon upgrade created the first truly permissionless Open API Network.

Decentralized social networks like BlueSky and the AT Protocol don’t depend on centralized RPCs. Rather, they work with decentralized RPCs to access open data. Similarly, DeFi protocols using Chainlink don’t need to depend on centralized APIs to source real-time on-chain price data.

A robust, genuinely decentralized tech stack is critical for DApps to build a digital ecosystem without single points of failure, paving the way to return to Berners-Lee’s vision of a globally accessible network.

Towards Berners-Lee’s Vision of an Open Internet

Tim didn’t envision a society where a few megacorporations build walled gardens with asymmetrical relationships between users and companies. He wanted open communication in the digital world without any powerful intermediaries controlling information exchange.

This vision is aligned with Satoshi Nakamoto’s idea of a decentralized, peer-to-peer exchange system. And although crypto now leans toward a casino-style gambling circus, that was not how Nakamoto and the cypherpunk community imagined it to be.

That said, Web3 innovators are actively building the infrastructure necessary to bring Tim and Satoshi’s vision to fruition. Because an open digital world with equitable accessibility is a must-have, not a nice-to-have.

Decentralized infrastructure protocols for open-source data are rapidly emerging as the new frontier for seamless data accessibility to train AI models and support cross-chain DApp usage. With a $350 billion open data market, it’s critical to wrest control away from centralized providers and distribute it among decentralized operators.

To thrive, crypto, AI, and other emerging tech must reject Web2’s business model and embrace the internet’s OG vision, now enshrined in the Web3 paradigm. Moving toward a decentralized infrastructure that doesn’t suffer from single points of failure is crucial to building a resilient and reliable internet.

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