Ethereum Developers Propose Supply Cuts as SpaceX Marks Down $540M in Bitcoin

Ethereum core researcher Justin Drake and five co-authors have introduced EIP-8361, a proposal designed to curb token inflation by burning a progressive share of validator rewards as network staking expands.

The proposal, titled “Tapered Issuance Burn,” seeks to structurally reduce yield payouts to roughly 1% when 33% of all Ether is staked, and down to 0% if total staked capital reaches 50%. The move comes as developers seek to prevent excessive capital lockup and preserve token economics amid growing network participation.

The technical shift arrives alongside significant portfolio adjustments across corporate balance sheets. SpaceX reported a $540 million impairment markdown on its digital assets, reducing the balance sheet value of its 18,712 Bitcoin to $1.10 billion from $1.64 billion, even as the aerospace contractor beat Wall Street quarterly revenue expectations.

Separately, CNBC television host Jim Cramer disclosed he is liquidating his personal Bitcoin holdings over emerging quantum computing risks. Cramer cited on-air guidance from IBM Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna, who warned that quantum systems could pose severe cryptographic threats to blockchain networks within three to four years.

Cryptographic vulnerabilities have drawn heightened scrutiny following an exploit of hardware vendor Coldcard, where losses surpassed $100 million in attacks linked to artificial intelligence-assisted vulnerability detection. In response, privacy protocol Zcash deployed frontier AI models to audit and patch cryptographic exploit vectors across its own code base before recovering in secondary markets.

Despite security concerns and corporate write-downs, institutional demand for fund products remained firm. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds accumulated $380 million in net inflows across the first two trading sessions of the week, supporting Bitcoin prices at $64,100.

Traditional financial institutions and tech firms also continued expanding digital payment infrastructure. Wells Fargo confirmed plans to introduce tokenized corporate deposit accounts for 24/7 payment processing, joining JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Simultaneously, Cloudflare launched Cloudflare Wallets to allow autonomous AI agents to execute stablecoin micropayments.

Meanwhile, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial posted second-quarter revenue of $701 million as USDC market circulation grew 19% to $73.3 billion, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization reaching $143 million ahead of its scheduled Arc mainnet deployment on Sept. 16.