Optimism

Ether.fi is preparing to remove its final structural connection to EigenLayer this quarter, leaving less than 1% of assets restaked. The shift underscores how declining yields, new slashing risk and wrapper vulnerabilities have forced liquid restaking protocols to rethink their business models.

Ripple is positioning RLUSD for deeper use in corporate treasury, payments and capital markets as circulation reaches $2.4 billion. The company is also pursuing a MiCA compliant route into Europe while selectively expanding the stablecoin across additional blockchain networks.

A contentious Optimism governance vote approved the reallocation of 546.9 million OP from user airdrops into a Strategic Ecosystem Fund administered by the Optimism Foundation. The outcome turned on an 8.486 million OP vote from Test in Prod, a core development team funded by the Optimism Collective.

Ripple is expanding the institutional infrastructure around RLUSD with a new automated minting platform and a compliance network integration through Notabene. The moves come as RLUSD holder activity improves, even as monthly transfer volume falls about 25% to roughly $11 billion.

Large bitcoin holders accumulated more than 270,000 BTC over the past two weeks even as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs posted record June outflows. The split between whale accumulation and institutional selling has drawn attention because similar divergences have appeared near past cycle lows.