Latest blockchain news: July 2025

July 2025 was a key month for the blockchain ecosystem. From major protocol upgrades on mainnets like Aptos and Celo, to new launches on testnets such as Celestia’s Mocha.

As you can see, innovation hasn’t slowed down, and we at Stakely were also very active: we open-sourced Consolideth, traveled to Cannes to attend EthCC 2025, and even sponsored a podcast about staking to keep promoting DeFi and staking education in Spain.

We cover it all in this monthly recap.

Your intuitive tool to streamline Ethereum validator consolidation is now open source, so you can use it with confidence and benefit from our full transparency.

Yes, we traveled to Cannes to connect with the ecosystem, network, and strengthen ties with projects, validators, and institutions. Once again, we shared our vision of non-custodial staking and how we’re developing solutions for individuals and institutions seeking security, control, and efficiency in their stake.

Because staking is a message worth spreading, we took part in the event as speakers and recorded episode #150 of the La Vida Crypto podcast live. Our co-founder & Head of Node Operations, Paco Ducha, joined a roundtable discussion on the future of Web3.

We’ll be sharing the full episode very soon — it’s definitely worth a listen!

OmniFlix already enabled you to encode, distribute, and monetize content 100% on-chain. Now, with the Media Node the system evolves into a more PRO version. At Stakely, we joined the movement by activating our Media Node, now available for leasing with FLIX payments.

Monetize your creations backed by a trusted validator: slashing protection, institutional-grade security, and simplified operations.

Agoric introduces YMAX, its new DeFi interface for cross-chain portfolio management. It combines automation, orchestration, and full capital control with programmable flows and conditional logic. The public beta will launch in September, featuring AI integration, a new design, and UX improvements.

Raptr is live! Aptos’ most important protocol upgrade of 2025 has officially launched on mainnet.

Shelby Serves launches Aptos Arena, the most innovative decentralized hot storage.

Yaptos rewards the top 150 content creators with $100K on the leaderboard.

Aptos Build’s Gas Station allowed gasless operations, improving frictionless scalability and user experience.

Beta version of Aptos Portfolio now available: the team is already gathering feedback.

Aptos celebrates 3B transactions in just two years. It also ranks in the top 3 blockchains by RWA with over $540M, surpasses $1.3B in circulating stablecoins, and breaks records in DEX and perpetual derivatives trading volume — especially in USDT pairs. ::: Twitter 1950514043858428213 :::

Archway launches its first outpost in collaboration with Bolt Liquidity, bringing slippage-free swaps and CEX-quality execution to the IBC ecosystem. You can now try this advanced trading experience on Archway Connect, with pools enabled for USDC, OSMO, TIA, ATOM, and ARCH.

Important update on Archway: Liquid Finance has ceased operations on Archway. You must withdraw and redelegate your tokens to avoid any interruptions.

Avalanche Foundation distributes over $17,000 in rewards to 40 members for referring projects to Retro9000. Projects are still under evaluation!

If you’re a woman in crypto, apply for the travel grant to DevConnect 2025: Avalanche and SheFi are supporting LATAM developers to attend this Web3 event, connect with leaders, and grow in the ecosystem.

Join Hack2Build, a four-week program that turns ideas into real products, focusing on encrypted token standards like eERC20. Kicks off on August 15 with intensive workshops, followed by mentorship, key deliverables, and $5,000 in prizes across two rounds.

Lotus arrives on the Mocha testnet and prepares for its beta mainnet launch, with Hyperlane integration for TIA interoperability, a 33% inflation reduction, and improved staking rewards.

The road to Mammothon 2 begins in August with Camp Mamo, the first hands-on bootcamp for Celestia ecosystem developers. Don’t miss it!

Isthmus hard fork activated on Celo mainnet, introducing OP Stack improvements (Isthmus + Holocene) that strengthen the EVM, enhance L2 security, and streamline node operations. Stakely supports this evolution.

Applications are now open for Celo Camp Batch 10! This cohort focuses on real-world solutions built on Celo.

CCD is now available on Kraken: Concordium’s native token is officially trading in USD and EUR pairs, opening access to major global markets.

Concordium Devnet is now public! Build your own Protocol-Level Tokens (PLTs), identity-based dApps, and privacy-first financial tools from the ground up. All on-chain, no smart contracts needed.

Gaia v25 is now live! A key upgrade to the Cosmos Hub’s liquid staking module.

Cosmos Hub redefines its long-term strategy: halts its EVM platform and pivots toward becoming a service marketplace for L1s connected via IBC.

Over 300M CXT is staked, and at Stakely we’re proud to be a validator and active participant in this ecosystem.

Covalent integrates with HyperEVM, the high-performance EVM from HyperliquidX: developers can now access decoded on-chain data via GoldRush, with agent support through the MCP Server. Covalent is also sponsoring the Hyperliquid Community Hackathon.

GoldRush’s Streaming API enables over 36,000 bots to stream data in under a second. Powered by Covalent, this API delivers structured, real-time optimized data for bots and dashboards, thanks to its subsecond coprocessor.

Ethereum House opens a new center in San Francisco to foster Ethereum development and community.

Dual Governance activated on Lido! Now stETH holders have a voice in the Lido DAO through a dynamic timelock system. Plus, Lido Finance introduces Commit-Boost.

Voting is now live to raise the staking limit of Lido Finance’s CSM to 3%: cast your vote to unlock the benefits of staking ETH with CSM.

29% of ETH is staked: nearly one-third of the supply is off the market — meaning reduced supply and increased demand.

Ethereum raises block gas limit to 45M to boost transaction capacity — and at Stakely, we’ve already increased the gas limit to 45M for our Lido mainnet validators.

New Ethereum developments introduced:

• Universal Intent Engine – a solution for rollup interoperability.
• Forkcast – a tool to monitor updates and analyze EIPs.

CoreWriter contract is now live on Hyperliquid mainnet, enabling new HyperEVM apps with trustless communication and 100% onchain staking.

New sendAsset action on Hyperliquid, unifying operations for perps, spot, subaccounts, and standard users.

Hyper Foundation launches a non-validating node to improve fast and reliable data access in the P2P network — aimed at users with over 10K HYPE staked and high Maker volume.

Hyperliquid releases HyperEvmScan, the new block explorer for HyperEVM.

Phase 7 of the VIP program has concluded, though rewards have yet to be distributed. In Phase 6, 560,000 INIT were shared among those exploring the Interwoven Economy. Additionally, Cabal has emerged as the top VIP influencer: in just two months, they’ve garnered 35% of the votes and generated a 50% APR in rewards.

Claims are now open for the Initia Foundation’s Unstaking Subsidy Plan: eligible users who unstaked between June 2 and June 23 can apply for a partial subsidy until August 3 at 12 PM UTC.

Injective EVM public testnet is now live: the only L1 with a unified VM layer and the fastest EVM to date. Several dApps have already been deployed; plus, Injective is offering a free starter pack for developers interested in experimenting on its testnet.

Injective launches the first on-chain Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) backed by over $1B in ETH from SharpLink Gaming, offering direct access and DeFi utility through the SBET token.

100% of voters approve the Ethernia upgrade, enabling the launch of the beta mainnet for the fastest EVM, with real-time transactions.

Injective introduces the Injective Revenue Fund to support its ecosystem and boost INJ deflation.

Injective’s new Web3 portal: access DeFi without wallets or signups, and operate with INJ in seconds.

Just a few weeks left to migrate your KILT tokens!

KILT’s Liquidity Incentive Program Proposal is now active: 3M KILT will be allocated to reward LPs on Uniswap.

Kusama hit 30K daily transactions on July 10, marking its monthly peak, just days after Polkadot reached 842K transactions.

Solidity arrives on Kusama via the Paseo testnet! Start deploying Solidity smart contracts with no limits.

Palladium, LTO Network’s v1.8 update, is now live on testnet: this version adds on-chain registration of X.509 certificates and BLS12-381 support for verifiable identities and interoperable private credentials.

LTO is moving to Base: key components like EQTY will migrate to Base to drive adoption and growth of RWA solutions. This move supports a more DAO-driven, community-centric architecture. More details coming soon.

Monad Foundation acquires Portal, a stablecoin infrastructure platform that enables businesses and banks to accept stable payments, handling millions in daily settlements.

Testnet shows record-breaking performance: surpasses 40 billion requests per month, with an average of 25k RPS and peaks of up to 50k RPS. L1-level performance from day one.

Monad invites 20–30 teams weekly to work in The Studio, generating $300 daily in passive income.

33 new investors join the Monad Founder Residency, which now includes over 150 participants.

NEAR introduces Nightshade 2.0, a scalable and dynamic infrastructure built to support billions of AI agents and surpass the limitations of other chains; along with Shade Agent Sandbox, enabling developers to deploy verifiable AI agents using NEAR’s infrastructure.

Proposal to reduce NEAR inflation from 5% to 2.5% is now live. Don’t forget to vote to help improve sustainability — at Stakely, we voted YES.

NEAR Intents surpasses 1 million total swaps, marking a new chapter in cross-chain asset movement. It also launched Calyx, the NEAR Intents Launchpad set to fuel the token season of 2025.

NEAR, KaitoAI, and Intellex launch a campaign with $30K in Yapping rewards to drive conversation around AI agents.

More updates:

Total value shielded in Namada’s MASP surpasses $2M, with 80% growth in 30 days; and launches rewards for protecting data with assets like USDC, ATOM, OSMO, and TIA.

First shielded swaps completed on Osmosis, marking a milestone in cross-chain privacy.

This month Osmosis celebrated its 4th anniversary, with over $41B in volume, more than $19M in revenue, and a new inflation reduction.

Osmosis introduces OSMO Tokenomics 2.0: lower inflation, more burning, and new revenue sources to make OSMO deflationary with a focus on long-term sustainability.

Osmosis launches 1-Click Trading: trade with a single approval and no complications.

Last day to complete your participation and be eligible for Beta mainnet incentives! There’s still time to secure your rewards.

XPRT trading contest is back with a boosted prize pool of 9,000 USDT! Until August 20, you can earn daily rewards thanks to Cede Hub. Just join in, trade XPRT on KuCoin, and climb the leaderboard. The higher you go, the more you win.

Proposal #142 approved to incentivize Persistence DEX pools with stkXPRT rewards in August 2025.

Polkadot is offering $450K in open-source development grants, with $30K milestone-based rewards.

Polkadot launches Farm: GIGAHydration campaign is live with attractive APRs.

Now open for applications:

• 3rd cohort of Decentralized Nodes, with Kusama’s new 20% max commission.
• 5th cohort of Decentralized Voices: get involved in Polkadot and Kusama governance.

Secret’s roadmap is now available, with a focus on Secret Mainnet and Secret AI, including key advancements in privacy and governance. In the second half of the year, SNIP-20 upgrade control will transition to the community.

Shentu Mainnet v2.15.0 is now live! The network was successfully upgraded at block 24,865,200.

Cosmos Multisig Wallet: Shentu’s new multisig wallet supports multiple chains and is designed for teams and communities focused on collaboration.

BAM, the new private and programmable system for transaction processing on Solana, received over 200 app, validator, and institution requests within just one week.

Tokenized stocks arrive on Solana with over 55 U.S. equities: now you can trade shares like TSLA and NVDA on Solana thanks to the integration between Kraken and xStocksFi.

Anchorage Digital launches institutional liquid staking for Solana: the first U.S. federal bank to offer liquid staking of SOL via jitoSOL.

RWAs on Solana surpass $418M, with 140% growth in 2025: bonds, private credit, stocks, and tokenized physical assets.

Remember, you can now stake SOL with 0% commission.

Season 1 Airdrop is now claimable: claim 25% of your allocation today and get ready for Season 2 with new multipliers of up to x12.

Sonic launches the first BTF: an ETF-like fund that rebalances between stS, wETH, scBTC, and USDC based on market trends.

Over 1.7M S distributed via FeeM have rewarded developers and real activity on the network, with more than 13K active contracts using it and retaining up to 90% of the fees generated.

Over 400M STRK is now staked, and at Stakely we’re proud to be part of this key milestone.

Starknet v0.14.0 is now available on testnet. This update marks a major step toward a more decentralized and efficient network, with multiple sequencers reaching consensus and pre-confirmations in under one second.

Starknet is now connected to over 140 networks thanks to its integration with Hyperlane. This allows developers to deploy custom bridges across the entire multichain universe.

New open-source Paymaster audited by AVNU: enables developers to easily integrate gas abstraction into their apps, offering a gasless experience.

Upcoming Starknet events: choose between Founders BaseCamp — ideal for those with an idea or project they want to pitch to investors — or Developer BaseCamp, where you can get hands-on training with Starknet from scratch.

Sui surpasses $2.25B in TVL.

BTCfi comes to Sui, unlocking Bitcoin’s financial potential with high-performance DeFi — already 400 xBTC on Sui.

Claim period for the Sui Overflow Community Awards has ended, with 36 winners.

Sui launches beta support for gRPC: faster, real-time on-chain data access with typed support in Rust, Go, TypeScript, and more. gRPC will replace JSON-RPC as the default API for Full Nodes.

Deploying your website on Walrus is now easier than ever: new open-source GitHub Action lets you publish and update directly from GitHub.

Walrus Ambassador Program is open: join to help transform data management and expand globally.

Walrus surpasses 800 TB of data and 14M blobs in just 3 months since mainnet launch. Discover Red Stuff, Walrus’ protocol:

Walrus launches Quilt, a native solution for efficient, scalable storage of small files.

Super-B launches closed beta with Walrus and Sui Network, focused on user-generated content with auto minting, rewards, and full on-chain ownership.

Just one month left for Ethereum R1 to reach its 1000 ETH goal. Will it make it? At Stakely, we’ve already contributed our share with a donation of 1.7 ETH.

For the second year in a row, we’re joining as sponsors and speakers: this time to showcase how staking can drive innovation and performance for regulated institutions and even central banks. We’ll see you there!