# The Week in Crypto: Quantum-Resistant Bitcoin, Solana’s Inflation Cut, and a Market on the Rise
The cryptocurrency world moved through another eventful week, with developments spanning blockchain security upgrades, major network governance decisions, regulatory concerns, and shifting market sentiment. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the stories that shaped the industry.
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## Bitcoin Takes Steps Toward Quantum Resistance
As concerns about quantum computing threats to cryptographic systems continue to grow, two notable experiments and proposals have demonstrated meaningful progress in shielding Bitcoin from future attacks.
### Experimental Quantum-Resistant Transactions
A researcher at StarkWare successfully tested a quantum-resistant transaction directly on Bitcoin’s mainnet. The experiment focused on protecting transaction outputs during the vulnerable window when public keys are exposed in the mempool — the brief period before a transaction is confirmed and added to a block.
Onchain data confirmed that StarkWare spent a 10,000-satoshi output secured by the Quantum Safe Bitcoin (QSB) scheme. This approach combines hash-based one-time signatures with computational search mechanisms that tie an authorization signature to a specific transaction. While the technique proved effective, it comes with significant practical limitations — each transaction required hours to process and incurred costs between $150 and $200, making it more of a theoretical safeguard than a usable solution at scale.
### SHRINCS: A Long-Term Upgrade Proposal
On a more structural level, researchers at Blockstream published a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal introducing the SHRINCS signature scheme, designed to provide quantum-resistant security for every transaction on the network. The team achieved an impressive compression of the signature data, reducing a large hash-based post-quantum signature by a factor of approximately 13.23 times. Despite this optimization, the resulting signature remains at least nine times larger than Bitcoin’s current signatures, which introduces trade-offs around transaction size, fees, and network throughput.
Blockstream researcher Jonas Nick described the proposal as “the first concrete proposal for a post-quantum signature scheme designed specifically for Bitcoin.” While acknowledging that SHRINCS is “not optimal along every axis,” he emphasized it represents “a very good trade-off among the options we have now.”
These developments signal that the Bitcoin community is taking the quantum threat seriously, even if the technology remains in early stages of development and real-world deployment.
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## Solana Validators Approve Doubled Disinflation Rate
In a decisive governance vote, Solana validators approved a proposal to accelerate the network’s disinflation schedule. Known as SGP-0002 or the “Double Disinflation” measure, the proposal will raise Solana’s annual disinflation rate from 15% to 30%.
Voter participation reached 60.7% of eligible stake, with 67% of votes in favor, 25.16% against, and 7.84% abstaining. The new schedule is expected to bring Solana’s terminal inflation rate down to 1.5% in approximately 2.8 years — nearly halving the previous timeline of roughly 5.7 years. Over the next six years, the accelerated disinflation will reduce new token issuance by an estimated 18.9 million SOL.
On the activity front, Solana posted a record 4.2 billion transactions in July alone, representing a 13.5% increase over the previous month and a 91% jump since December. The surge in transaction volume underscores growing network utilization and demand.
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## Trump Crypto Ventures: Billions in Investor Losses
A report from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has drawn attention to the financial impact of former US President Donald Trump’s digital asset ventures. According to the report, investors lost an estimated $4.7 billion since 2022 through various crypto projects tied to Trump and his family.
The breakdown of losses includes:
– **$3.2 billion** from the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin
– **$1 billion** from the World Liberty Financial governance token
– **$450 million** from Trump Media’s digital asset treasury
– **$9.3 million** from Trump NFT trading cards launched in 2022
Notably, holders of the USD1 stablecoin associated with the Trump ecosystem reported zero losses, adding a nuanced dimension to the broader narrative.
The report has become a focal point in the debate over the CLARITY Act, a piece of legislation aimed at regulating cryptocurrency. Democrats are using the findings to push for stronger protections that would prevent elected officials from issuing their own digital assets, while the bill’s passage continues to face political headwinds.
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## Bitcoin Rally Gains Momentum Amid Optimistic Forecasts
Bitcoin’s price rally, which saw a 23% gain over the past week, has outpaced many AI-linked infrastructure stocks. Mining companies bore the brunt of the gains, with Canaan, American Bitcoin, and Cango rising between 41% and 67%. By comparison, AI-focused hardware stocks like CoreWeave rose roughly 21%, Nebius gained 17%, and IREN advanced 15%.
Bitcoin ETFs also saw strong inflows, minting over $3.3 billion in August — the strongest monthly figure since October 2025’s all-time high. While Friday saw some outflows that ended a nine-day buying streak, overall sentiment remained bullish.
Wall Street analysts at Bernstein have predicted that the current rally marks the beginning of a new four-year cycle. Their forecast models suggest Bitcoin will reclaim the $125,000 level under both base case and bull case scenarios, with a peak of $300,000 projected for 2029 under the base case — or potentially exceeding $500,000 under the more optimistic bullish scenario.
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## Revolut Launches Euro Stablecoin in Europe
Revolut has begun rolling out its first stablecoin, EURR, to approximately two million customers across Denmark, Poland, and Portugal. The euro-pegged token is issued by Bridge Building S.A., the Luxembourg-based entity of Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure company owned by Stripe.
The phased rollout is expected to expand to other European Economic Area markets later in the year. EURR is initially launching on the Ethereum network, with plans to support multiple blockchain networks and enable transfers to external wallets. Integration into Revolut’s retail app will allow users to transact seamlessly with the stablecoin alongside their traditional fiat balances.
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## Market Snapshot: Winners and Losers
As of the close of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) climbed 1.1% to $78,420, while Ethereum (ETH) rose 0.6% to $2,469. XRP (XRP) faced headwinds, dropping 8.7% to $1.38. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.64 trillion.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, the week’s biggest gainers were VeChain (VET) at 18.5%, SPX6900 (SPX) at 17.3%, and Uniswap (UNI) at 15.2%. On the losing side, Aptos (APT) fell 16.4%, Stable (STABLE) dropped 14.7%, and Morpho (MORPHO) declined 13.6%.
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## Bull or Bear? CryptoQuant Signals End of Bitcoin Downtrend
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju highlighted the first positive reading on the company’s Bull/Bear Market Cycle Indicator since early October, writing simply: “The Bitcoin bear cycle is over.”
The indicator tracks onchain profitability metrics against a 365-day moving average, incorporating the market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio, net unrealized profit/loss (NUPL), and the spent output profit ratio (SOPR). Readings above zero suggest a bullish phase in the Bitcoin price cycle. The indicator’s lowest point came on February 5, when it registered -1.244, corresponding to what the company described as “extreme bear” conditions as Bitcoin dipped to $60,000. By late August, the reading had climbed to a positive 0.042, entering the “bull” bracket.
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## Other Notable Developments
### Real Trump Coins Distances Itself from GOLD Token
Real Trump Coins issued a public denial regarding the Trump Digital GOLD token, which briefly appeared across its online platforms before collapsing. The project’s X account had promoted the Solana-based token and directed followers to a website where GOLD was being advertised. Both the X posts and the domain were subsequently removed. The organization stated it “has not authorized and will not launch, promote, or authorize any digital token” and said it is cooperating with authorities investigating the unauthorized promotion.
### Polygon Discloses Fixed Security Vulnerabilities
Polygon revealed several previously undisclosed security flaws that could have compromised its proof-of-stake network. The vulnerabilities affected the Bor and Heimdall clients and included risks of denial-of-service attacks, validator resource exhaustion, and flaws in checkpoint and milestone processing. Fixes were deployed through the Austin and Kyoto hard forks, which were tested privately before being activated on the mainnet and publicly disclosed.
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## Frequently Asked Questions
**Q: What is quantum computing’s threat to Bitcoin?**
A: Quantum computers, once sufficiently advanced, could potentially break the cryptographic algorithms that secure Bitcoin’s public and private key pairs. This would allow an attacker to derive private keys from publicly exposed addresses and steal funds. While this threat is not considered imminent, researchers are developing quantum-resistant signature schemes to future-proof the network.
**Q: Why does the SHRINCS signature scheme matter for Bitcoin?**
A: SHRINCS is a post-quantum signature scheme specifically designed for Bitcoin’s architecture. It uses hash-based cryptography that is believed to be resistant to quantum attacks. While it introduces larger signature sizes, the Blockstream proposal aims to balance security with practicality, making it the first tailored upgrade path for Bitcoin’s long-term quantum resilience.
**Q: What does Solana’s disinflation rate change mean for SOL holders?**
A: Doubling the disinflation rate means Solana will reach its terminal inflation rate of 1.5% much sooner — in about 2.8 years instead of 5.7. This reduces the rate at which new SOL enters circulation, which could support long-term price appreciation if demand remains steady or grows.
**Q: How much did Trump’s crypto projects lose investors?**
A: According to Public Citizen, the combined estimated losses across all Trump-linked crypto ventures total approximately $4.7 billion, with the largest single loss coming from the TRUMP memecoin at $3.2 billion.
**Q: What does the CryptoQuant Bull/Bear indicator measure?**
A: The indicator combines several onchain profitability metrics — MVRV, NUPL, and SOPR — and compares them against a 365-day moving average. A positive reading suggests that the average Bitcoin holder is in a profitable position relative to historical norms, signaling a bullish phase in the market cycle.
**Q: What is Revolut’s EURR stablecoin?**
A: EURR is a euro-pegged stablecoin issued by Bridge Building S.A., a Luxembourg-based entity of Stripe-owned Bridge. Revolut is rolling it out to customers in select European markets, with plans for broader expansion across the European Economic Area.
**Q: Why are Bitcoin ETF inflows important?**
A: Bitcoin ETF inflows signal growing institutional interest and capital allocation toward Bitcoin through regulated investment products. Strong inflows often correlate with bullish price momentum, as they represent a steady demand side entering the market from traditional finance participants.
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## Conclusion
This week demonstrated the cryptocurrency industry’s ability to tackle both immediate and long-term challenges. Bitcoin’s push toward quantum resistance represents a critical chapter in the network’s ongoing evolution, with experimental transactions and formal proposals paving the way for a more secure future. Solana’s governance decision to accelerate its disinflation schedule reflects the power of decentralized decision-making in shaping network economics. Meanwhile, the financial fallout from Trump-linked crypto projects continues to fuel regulatory discussions, and market indicators point toward sustained bullish momentum.
Across the broader ecosystem — from stablecoin adoption in Europe to security disclosures on the Polygon network and market sentiment shifts — the week was a reminder that the crypto landscape is dynamic, multifaceted, and constantly evolving. As quantum-resistant technologies mature, governance mechanisms mature, and regulatory frameworks take shape, the industry inches closer to broader mainstream adoption and long-term stability.
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