Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap of an important tales in cryptocurrency tech growth. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk.

On this problem:

• Firedancer Devs From Bounce Crypto Push Solana Towards Greater Blocks
• Luke Dashjr Denies Onerous Fork Claims as Bitcoin Governance Debate Heats Up
• UN: Experiment With Pension Funds Proves Blockchain as ‘Final’ Identification Tech
• Gate Rolls Out Token Launcher ‘Gate Enjoyable’ on New Layer-2 Community

Community Information

FIREDANCER DEVS PROPOSE REMOVING BLOCK-LEVEL COMPUTE UNIT LIMIT: In a daring shift for Solana’s scaling roadmap, Bounce Crypto’s Firedancer growth staff has submitted a proposal, generally known as SIMD-0370, that will take away the block-level compute unit restrict. The change, which the staff advised can be carried out following the deployment of the Alpenglow improve, might unlock a brand new regime of throughput by letting block producers have greater blocks. Underneath as we speak’s design, every block is bounded by a most allowable compute unit, a security measure and most workload meant to cease validators from getting overwhelmed. At present, the restrict on Solana is at 60 million compute-units. Earlier this 12 months, one other group of Solana core builders submitted a paper arguing to carry the restrict to 100 million compute-units. However with the upcoming Alpenglow improve, some builders say that cap is not vital. And if that cap is lifted, blocks would be capable of match as many transactions as they will, relying on how excessive performing their validators are. Supporters say this flexibility might make Solana extra resilient in periods of excessive demand, comparable to when new tokens launch or DeFi exercise spikes. Greater blocks would imply extra transactions can get by, decreasing the sorts of congestion and failed trades that frustrate customers. Nonetheless, some debated that blocks as we speak on Solana aren’t full so there can be no tangible distinction for finish customers. — Margaux Nijkerk Learn extra.

BITCOIN DEV DOUBLES DOWN ON DENIAL OF HARD FORK: Debates over Bitcoin’s future are nothing new, however this week the dialogue took on a sharper edge. One among Bitcoin’s long-serving builders was on the heart of a storm about immutability, censorship and what it means to “save” the protocol. The controversy escalated on Sept. 25, following an article printed by The Rage claiming to disclose that Luke Dashjr, maintainer of the Bitcoin Knots software program, advocated for a tough fork that will set up a trusted multisig committee with energy to retroactively alter the blockchain, evaluate transactions and take away illicit content material. A blockchain exhausting fork is a everlasting divergence from the earlier model of the blockchain software program, requiring all contributors to improve to the brand new protocol as a result of the brand new and outdated variations are incompatible. The piece cited purported leaked textual content messages through which Dashjr allegedly warned: “Both Bitcoin dies or now we have to belief somebody.” The story unfold throughout X, drawing lots of of 1000’s of views and intensifying a long-running philosophical rift: ought to Bitcoin stay a impartial settlement layer, or ought to builders actively filter what counts as legit use of the community. Dashjr rejected the claims outright. “The reality is I’ve not proposed a hardfork or something of the type, and these unhealthy actors are simply greedy at straws to slander me and attempt to undermine my efforts to avoid wasting Bitcoin once more,” he wrote. The Rage responded with a meme to the impact of demanding to know who despatched the leaked messages that its story shared. Dashjr repeated his place a number of occasions over the next 24 hours. “Nope, nothing modified. No one is asking for a tough fork nonetheless.” he posted. In one other reply, he underlined: “There isn’t any exhausting fork.” — Jamie Crawley Learn extra.

U.N. DABBLES IN BLOCKCHAIN: The United Nations leaned into blockchain expertise to overtake its personal pension system, and a examine of that course of concluded the innovation is the “final expertise for digital identification verification,” which has spurred the UN towards extending the system and sharing it with different worldwide teams. The UN — which has explored varied blockchain makes use of over time — tried it out on their United Nations Joint Workers Pension Fund (UNJSPF), in keeping with a white paper launched this week that advised its use in confirming individuals’s identities may help in safety, effectivity and transparency. In cooperation with the Hyperledger Basis, the UN sought to “enhance and safe the UN pension course of globally by placing a blockchain-supported digital identification infrastructure into manufacturing.” The UN pension fund had been working off of a 70-year-old system to establish beneficiaries in 190 nations, counting on a paper-based method to show greater than 70,000 beneficiaries had been who they stated they had been, nonetheless alive and the place they claimed to be. It was susceptible to error and abuse, and resulted in about 1,400 fee suspensions yearly, in keeping with the doc. So the group shifted to the blockchain-powered digital certification, starting with a 2020 pilot program and a 2021 implementation. “The shift away from bodily documentation has considerably diminished processing occasions beforehand spent on receiving, opening, scanning, and archiving paper paperwork,” the paper stated. — Jesse Hamilton Learn extra.

GATE ROLLS OUT TOKEN LAUNCHER: Crypto trade Gate unveiled Gate Enjoyable, an on-chain platform that enables customers to problem and commerce tokens with out coding. The platform runs on Gate Layer, the corporate’s not too long ago launched layer-2 community constructed on the OP Stack. Gate claims customers can create tokens in beneath a minute by paying a small gasoline charge in GT, the community’s native token. Just like well-liked token launcher Pump.enjoyable, token parameters comparable to title, image, and preliminary buy choices may be custom-made by a one-click interface. Gate Enjoyable is accessible each by way of Web3 wallets like MetaMask and Gate’s personal account system. Tokens launched on the platform may be traded throughout a number of Gate merchandise, together with Gate Alpha, Meme Go and Swap. – Oliver Knight Learn extra.

In Different Information

• Technique (MSTR) will put up a revenue for the second quarter in a row within the third quarter because of an increase within the value of bitcoin. That will once more qualify the corporate for potential S&P 500 inclusion. In accordance with Jeff Walton, Chief Threat Officer of Attempt, Technique can have earned about $2.9 billion, or $10 per share because of bitcoin’s transfer from concerning the $107,000 stage to $114,000 at quarter’s finish. Over the previous 4 quarters, MSTR can have earned roughly $22.80 per share. The evaluation components in an estimated deferred tax legal responsibility of $970 million, leaving a web earnings estimated at $2.9 billion. The evaluation concludes with an estimated trailing twelve-month earnings per share (EPS) of $22.8, reflecting constructive EPS in Q2 and an estimated constructive EPS in Q3 2025 ($32.6 and $10.1, respectively) which offset unfavourable ends in This autumn 2024 and Q1 2025— James Van Straten Learn extra.
• Swiss digital asset financial institution Sygnum has launched a brand new funding car designed to generate yield on Bitcoin with out decreasing traders’ publicity to its value actions. The BTC Alpha Fund, developed in partnership with Athens-based Starboard Digital, makes use of arbitrage methods to focus on web annual returns of 8%-10%, that are paid immediately in Bitcoin. The fund is domiciled within the Cayman Islands and caters to skilled and institutional traders. By changing arbitrage features into bitcoin, contributors can enhance the variety of cash they maintain whereas nonetheless benefiting from bitcoin’s long-term value appreciation. Sygnum stated the product has already drawn sturdy curiosity from purchasers on the lookout for institutional-grade yield choices in digital property. The fund comes as institutional traders wish to transcend simply holding bitcoin of their portfolio and use decentralized finance (DeFi) to generate extra earnings from their BTC holdings. The bitcoin DeFi has gained reputation and has the potential to open up a large market, in keeping with analysts. — Ian Allison Learn extra.

Regulatory and Coverage

• The White Home withdrew former Commodity Futures Buying and selling Commissioner Brian Quintenz’s nomination to run the company late Tuesday, capping off a month-long combat over U.S. President Donald Trump’s choose for company chair. Trump tapped Quintenz shortly after retaking workplace. Quintenz joined enterprise agency Andreessen Horowitz’s international head of coverage, and has been an adviser to companies like prediction market Kalshi since leaving the CFTC following his time period as commissioner. — Nikhilesh De Learn extra.
• The U.S. Securities and Trade Fee has cracked the door to welcome crypto custody at a variety of companies who’ve earned state charters as belief corporations — an inventory that would come with the belief associates of Coinbase, Kraken and different high-profile names in crypto. The SEC’s Division of Funding Administration issued a so-called no-action letter on Tuesday, a doc that assures that the regulator does not intend to pursue any enforcement actions by these partaking within the particular exercise — on this case, that SEC-registered advisers and funds can park digital property in state trusts. — Jesse Hamilton Learn extra.

Calendar

• Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
• Oct. 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London
• Oct. 16-17: European Blockchain Conference, Barcelona
• Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
• Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
• Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
• Feb. 17-21, 2026: EthDenver, Denver
• Mar. 30-Apr. 2: EthCC, Cannes
• Could 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami