Quantum computing is often discussed in crypto as a future doomsday scenario—sometimes framed around the idea that Satoshi Nakamoto’s dormant Bitcoin could be drained once “Q-day” arrives. But Quantus Network CEO and co-founder Christopher Smith argues the first real-world impact may look far less cinematic: not a public, forensic-friendly hack, but a series of wallet breaches that are difficult to attribute to quantum capabilities at all. Smith tells Cointelegraph that once quantum computers become powerful enough to break the public-key cryptography used by major blockchains, attackers may be able to derive private keys from public information on-chain. Crucially, the compromised pathway could avoid triggering obvious internal security failures in wallets or exchanges, leaving investigators with scant evidence beyond the fact that no meaningful breach was detected. Key takeaways Q-day attacks may be hard to detect because they can be executed without compromising a wallet, device, ...

Bitcoin’s long-running debate over “anti-spam” changes took another sharp turn this week as support for the BIP-110 soft fork proposal failed to clear the threshold needed to move forward. After a contentious process, the branch effectively stalled within hours—an outcome observers had largely expected given the economic realities of running parallel mining on a minority chain. Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers again pushed the timing of the CLARITY Act vote, and the market digested fresh signals across regulation, custody security, and institutional demand. Separately, Ethereum researchers advanced a proposal to curb staking rewards as more ETH is locked, while critics warned it could undermine incentives for validators and the broader ecosystem. Key takeaways BIP-110’s anti-spam approach failed to attract enough miner signaling support and quickly stalled on a minority chain. U.S. Senate procedural steps for the CLARITY Act have been scheduled for September rather than being forced throu...

Bitcoin’s contentious BIP-110 upgrade track is showing tangible friction in the form of a widening chain split. According to the BIP-110 monitor, the enforcing (BIP-110 validating) branch has stalled at block 961,633 after producing only two blocks, while the non-enforcing branch has advanced to block 961,721—pushing the gap to 88 blocks. As the disagreement persists through the period where difficulty adjustments cannot yet fully catch up, the episode is again highlighting how “mandatory signaling” mechanics can turn a soft-proposal into an operational contest between node policies and mining output. Key takeaways The enforcing BIP-110 branch halted at block 961,633, while the non-enforcing chain reached 961,721, widening divergence to 88 blocks. BIP-110 nodes reject blocks that do not signal via version bit 4, while ordinary Bitcoin nodes accept both signaling and non-signaling blocks—enabling two simultaneous histories. Mandatory signaling began at block 961,632, following a s...

Bitcoin’s BIP-110-enforcing branch has stalled after mining just two blocks, widening the separation from the non-enforcing chain to 88 blocks. The latest update from a BIP-110 monitoring dashboard shows the mandatory-signaling version of the network making extremely slow progress as it awaits further blocks to complete the current difficulty-adjustment window. According to the BIP-110 monitor (updated at 10:19 am UTC), the enforcing branch was last seen at block 961,633 after a long gap since its previous block. In the meantime, the non-enforcing chain advanced to block 961,721, underscoring how thin the enforcement-side hashpower currently is. Key takeaways The enforcing branch produced only two blocks before stalling, while the non-enforcing chain continued forward, increasing the block-gap to 88. The divergence began after BIP-110 entered mandatory signaling at block 961,632, during which only 2.53% of blocks in the preceding window signaled support. Mandatory signaling is s...

Brazil’s central bank is introducing a new anti-fraud rule for cryptocurrency transfers, requiring regulated virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to temporarily “hold” certain outbound payments. The measure is designed to slow down potentially fraudulent flows that take advantage of cross-border speed and the complexities of self-custody transfers. According to a statement from the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), the rules will apply to funds received above $10,000 —either in a single transaction or based on a customer’s total transactions over a day—when those funds are sent to foreign platforms or to customers’ self-custody wallets. The precautionary hold can last up to 24 hours , and providers will also need to hold other transfers that require additional review under their risk-management systems. Key takeaways Brazil’s central bank (BCB) will require up to 24-hour precautionary holds on certain VASP transfers tied to fraud prevention. The rule targets transfers involving fu...

Brazil’s central bank has approved new rules that require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to temporarily freeze certain crypto transfers before sending funds to foreign platforms or self-custody wallets. The precautionary hold is designed to give firms time to review suspected fraud and suspected illicit behavior. According to a note published by the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) on Friday, the requirement takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027 and will apply to transfers where the amount received by a customer exceeds $10,000 , either as a single transaction or based on the customer’s total activity in a day. In addition to that threshold, VASPs must also place holds on other transfers flagged for enhanced scrutiny under their risk-management systems. Key takeaways Brazil’s BCB will require VASPs to implement precautionary holds of up to 24 hours on certain outbound virtual asset transfers. The initial trigger is $10,000 in value received, measured per transaction or aggregated a...