Liquid Network recovers 3,400 BTC as Ethereum sets Hegotá EIPs and the UK weighs easing its prediction-market ban; BTC is near the $78.7K price range. BTC is trading near $78.7K today, down about 1.2% over the past 24 hours and still below $80K. ETH is trading near $2,486 with a 24-hour decline of around 0.9%, while major crypto assets have generally moved slightly lower. BTC has tested the $80K level several times recently but has yet to establish a stable position above it. Short-term trading activity remains concentrated around this area. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is currently at 69, down slightly from 71 yesterday but still within the Greed zone. The number is unchanged from 69 last week and remains well above 31 last month. Total liquidations across the crypto market reached USD 178 million over the past 24 hours. Long liquidations accounted for USD 122 million, while short liquidations totaled USD 55.7901 million, making long positions the main source of liquidations. BTC long liquidations reached USD 35.5168 million, compared with USD 5.8416 million in short liquidations. ETH recorded USD 17.0305 million in long liquidations and USD 13.31 million in short liquidations. A total of 65,365 traders were liquidated during the same period, with the largest single liquidation valued at USD 2.8439 million. This shows that leveraged positions continued to face pressure as prices moved lower. Liquidation heatmap data also shows that if BTC rises to $82,874, cumulative short liquidation intensity across major trading platforms could reach about USD 1.356 billion. If BTC falls to $75,576, cumulative long liquidation intensity could reach about USD 1.132 billion. For ETH, the area above $2,611 corresponds to around USD 989 million in short liquidation intensity. The area below $2,368 corresponds to about USD 715 million in long liquidation intensity. Leveraged positions therefore remain heavily concentrated on both sides of the current price.

Source: Alternative

Key News Highlights:

Liquid Network Recovers 3,400 BTC as Network Remains Paused

Following the recent security incident involving Liquid Network, the group describing itself as white-hat hackers has returned most of the bitcoin that was removed. A total of 3,400 BTC has now been sent back to the network-related wallet. The incident originally involved about 4,000 BTC, which means roughly 598 BTC remains outstanding. That amount was worth close to USD 47 million at the time of the update. The incident affected Liquid Network's Federation Wallet, from which attackers initially withdrew about 4,000 BTC worth roughly USD 320 million. The wallet had held around 4,200 BTC before the incident and was left with only about 197 BTC afterward. This sharply reduced the bitcoin reserves backing L-BTC. Network operators responded by disabling the affected bridge nodes and pausing Liquid Network. Related platforms were also asked to suspend L-BTC deposits and withdrawals, while other assets issued on the network were not directly affected. After the affected bridge nodes were patched, the group communicated publicly through messages embedded in Bitcoin transactions and later returned 3,400 BTC to the Federation Wallet. The relevant teams are still in contact with the group. They are also working on additional security fixes, resolving the chain split created during the network pause, and completing checks required before a restart. Users do not need to take any action before the network is officially confirmed to be operational again. They should also avoid sending bitcoin to Liquid Network peg-in addresses until the restart is confirmed.

Bitcoin Falls Below $79K as Market Awaits Final Inflation Data Before Fed Meeting

The crypto market moved broadly lower today, with BTC falling below $79K and declining more than 1% on the day. Despite the pullback, BTC still retains part of its weekly gains. ETH also slipped to around $2,482, while XRP traded near $1.39. Most other major crypto assets moved lower as well. Zcash declined nearly 5%, although its strong earlier gains still leave it notably higher over the past seven days. HYPE fell more than 3%, while SOL dropped over 2%. Both assets have now given back most of their earlier weekly advances. In traditional markets, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield remained near 4.8%. August nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000, well above market expectations of around 53,000. Interest-rate markets currently imply about a 60% probability that the Federal Reserve will raise rates by 25 basis points at its next meeting. The U.S. Dollar Index remained below 99 for a second consecutive session, while gold climbed above $4,430. Brent crude held above $97 and remained near a six-week high. Recent U.S.-Iran developments and shipping-related issues also continue to draw market attention. The upcoming Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index will be the final major inflation releases before the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting.

Ethereum Foundation Names Two Core EIPs for Hegotá Upgrade

The Ethereum Foundation has published its EIP priority rankings for the Hegotá upgrade. EIP-7805, known as FOCIL, and EIP-8141, known as Frame Transactions, were designated as the two core proposals that "must ship." The review covered 62 Ethereum Improvement Proposals and incorporated input from around 60 researchers and engineers across the Foundation's Protocol cluster. This is also the first time the Protocol cluster has published a unified ranking of proposed EIPs instead of separate assessments from individual teams. FOCIL is designed to give eligible transactions a path to block inclusion without relying on centralized block builders. Its goal is to strengthen Ethereum's resistance to transaction censorship. Frame Transactions would introduce native account abstraction at the protocol level and create a path toward post-quantum authentication. Together with related proposals, it could also provide protocol-level infrastructure for privacy applications. Beyond the two highest-priority proposals, 15 EIPs were placed in the A-tier, eight remain candidates, seven are currently below the main inclusion line, and 28 were declined. Two other proposals remain unranked because developers are waiting for additional mainnet data after the preceding Glamsterdam upgrade. The Foundation also said that if either of the two core proposals cannot move forward as planned, the Hegotá schedule should be adjusted rather than dropping the proposal. Under the current roadmap, client teams are expected to begin implementing Hegotá after Glamsterdam. Hegotá is currently positioned as part of Ethereum's 2027 upgrade roadmap.

FOCIL ranks first among Hegotá consensus-layer proposals. Source: Ethereum Foundation

UK FCA Weighs Easing Retail Prediction Market Ban

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority is reportedly in contact with prediction market companies as it considers whether to adjust restrictions that currently apply to retail users in the country. Since 2019, companies have been prohibited from selling, marketing, or distributing binary options to retail consumers in the UK. Some prediction market event contracts currently fall within the same regulatory framework. These contracts generally allow participants to trade YES or NO outcomes linked to sports, politics, weather, and other events. Under the existing UK framework, such products may therefore be treated as binary options. The FCA is now reviewing whether the ban introduced in 2019 should be reconsidered and has begun discussions with several prediction market companies. Some UK retail users are also reportedly using VPNs and similar methods to bypass geographic restrictions and access offshore prediction market services. If the UK later allows these products again, their regulatory classification, distribution model, and rules for retail users would need to be reassessed under the applicable framework. At the same time, several U.S. state gaming regulators have recently taken legal action involving sports event contracts and prediction market operators. This has kept the question of whether event contracts should fall under financial or gaming regulation in focus. The FCA has not formally announced any repeal or amendment to the current restrictions. The 2019 ban on binary options for retail consumers therefore remains in effect.

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