Ethereum Foundation to Cut Budget by 40% and Slash 20% of Workforce | CoinDesk Daily

Strategy's $13B unrealized loss. Strategy is sitting on a $13 billion unrealized loss on its bitcoin holdings, with its STRC preferred stock down 25% from par. The company still has about 10 months of reserves to cover dividends but the bigger question is whether investor confidence holds if bitcoin doesn't bounce back. CoinDesk's Sam Ewen hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Sam Ewen. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open with two hot topics: Coinbase's SEC-registered AI agentic trading launch and tribal gaming operators' letter to Senators Thune and Schumer demanding that the CLARITY Act include a prohibition on prediction markets. Then Katie Boller Gosewisch, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, joins to challenge CLARITY's Section 604, arguing that shielding DeFi developers from money-transmitter liability creates a "duty of care" gap that traffickers can exploit. Plus, Rebecca and Renato close by naming Meta as their Person of the Week for its reported move into points-based prediction markets. - Check out CoinDesk's latest episode of Public Keys from the NYSE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LrBmSScvY&list=PLZWrc_gWChqnim-9ZbIKZTOrPA7IgFKVR&pp=sAgC - Register now for CoinDesk’s Policy and Regulation event on September 22, 2026: https://policy-regulation.coindesk.com/. - Timecodes: 00:00 Welcome to The Policy Protocol 00:51 This Week: AI Trading, Prediction Markets, Human Trafficking 01:15 Coinbase Launches AI Agentic Trading 02:22 SEC-Registered AI Agents and the Hallucination Problem 03:43 Tribes Concerns Over Clarity Act 05:30 Rebuttals to the Tribes' Clarity Concerns 06:23 Katie Boller Gosewisch Joins the Show 07:31 Section 604: The Liability Shield Traffickers Could Exploit 08:59 Are DeFi Developers Money Transmitters? 09:52 What Section 604 Actually Says, and What It Doesn't 10:54 Should We Reinstate a Human Trafficking Coordinator? 11:30 Duty of Care and the 'Turning a Blind Eye' Problem 13:07 The Roman Storm/Tornado Cash Case as the Test 14:37 Future Loopholes and the Reasonable Doubt Risk 15:28 Cryptocurrency, Anonymity, and Rising Online Trafficking 16:02 Blockchain Is Transparent, and That Helps Law Enforcement 17:39 Person of the Week: Meta 19:58 The Points-Based Prediction Market and What Meta Could Unlock

Does Ethereum have a funding crisis? On today's Markets Outlook, Protocol Guild Organizer Trent Van Epps tells CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie why the Ethereum Foundation's subtraction philosophy is creating a critical funding gap for core developers, what it will take to fill it, and why he's still optimistic about ETH's future. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Trent Van Epps Joins Markets Outlook 00:57 - Why Trent Left the Ethereum Foundation 01:55 - What Is Subtraction and Why It Matters 02:31 - 20% Workforce Cuts and the Funding Gap Explained 05:09 - Options for Solving the Funding Crisis 07:06 - Will Ethereum Lose Its First Mover Advantage? 08:40 - What Happens If the Funding Doesn't Come? 10:47 - What Institutions Should Replace the EF? 12:24 - Ethereum’s Future 14:37 - ETH the Asset: The Misconceptions and the Opportunity - Check out CoinDesk's latest episode of Public Keys from the NYSE: https://youtu.be/mePmjknvBVc - To get market moving news delivered daily, download CoinDesk’s mobile app: https://linktr.ee/coindeskapp. - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie.

Kalshi seeks funding at $40B. Prediction-market platform Kalshi is raising fresh capital at a roughly $40 billion valuation, nearly double the $22 billion it hit just one round ago. CEO Tarek Mansour says an IPO is on the table, but not before 2027. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

The impact of giving synthetic beings a wallet, an identity, and eventually a body. Jansen Teng, Co-Founder of Virtuals Protocol, joins Sam to lay out one of the most ambitious visions in crypto right now, a parallel society of AI agents that can trade, hire, earn, and eventually inhabit physical bodies. Jansen digs into what it actually takes to build an agentic economy from the ground up, from escrow mechanisms that prevent agents from stealing each other's funds, to real-world robotics deployments at hotels and malls in Southeast Asia. Links mentioned from the podcast: Jansen’s Twitter: https://x.com/ethermage Virtuals Website: https://www.virtuals.io/ Timecodes: 0:00 Intro 1:52 Virtuals Protocol Origin Story 3:58 The Pivot to Economy OS 4:24 The Experiment That Changed Everything 5:11 Defining the Agentic Economy 6:43 Agents Beyond Crypto: Real World Use Cases 7:33 Accountability & Agent Failures 14:05 Agent Identities, KYC & Economy OS Toolkit 17:05 Self-Sustaining Autonomous Agents 19:22 The Pareto Rule: Which Agents Will Succeed? 21:59 Embodied AI & Robotics 29:04 Do Agents Deserve Rights? - "Gen C" features host Sam Ewen. Executive produced by Uyen Truong.

The Ethereum Foundation announced a 40% budget cut after layoff news. The Ethereum Foundation will slash its budget by roughly 40% this year as part of a shift toward a leaner, endowment-style operating model. This comes on the same day the EF confirmed a 20% reduction in headcount. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

The White House issues two executive orders on quantum computing. President Trump signed two executive orders directing the U.S. to build a large-scale quantum computer and to defend federal systems against one. The same technology could eventually break the encryption securing Bitcoin and Ethereum, a threat researchers say may arrive sooner than expected. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.

Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of Binance, sits down with CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie for one of his most candid conversations. CZ talks about growing up in an immigrant family, why he's never taken on real debt, the four months he spent in U.S. prison, the $2 million he's quietly donated to prison reform, and why he believes "there's no delete button" for crypto.  - Check out CoinDesk's latest episode of Public Keys from the NYSE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75LrBmSScvY&list=PLZWrc_gWChqnim-9ZbIKZTOrPA7IgFKVR&index=1 - Register now for CoinDesk’s Policy and Regulation event on September 22, 2026: https://policy-regulation.coindesk.com/. - Timecodes: 00:00 Welcome to CoinDesk Spotlight 00:20 When CZ First Realized Money Mattered 03:08 A Frugal Mindset and Why He Never Took On Debt 04:35 His Father's Journey to Canada 06:30 Freedom of Money vs. Financial Freedom 08:28 Why CZ Wants to Spend More Time in the U.S. 11:52 Binance, U.S. Rivals, and Regulatory Pressure 14:39 Losing Trust - and Why the U.S. Constitution Is a "Great White Paper" 17:17 The Next Administration and the CLARITY Act 19:11 Reflecting on 2022: Was Crypto Too "Drunk" on Hype? 21:36 How AI and Crypto Are Merging 25:17 Crypto's 2026 Challenges 28:03 Inside CZ's Four Months in Prison 31:18 Why CZ Donated $2M to Prison Reform 32:57 What Inmates and Guards Asked Him About Crypto 36:26 Writing His Book: "A Conversation With Myself" 39:15 The Weaknesses and Strengths Prison Revealed 41:17 CZ's Advice to Founders 44:22 Why Most of His Wealth Is Still in BNB 45:31 Binance's Largest Shareholder, But No Longer Running It 48:56 On Legacy: "Be Happy With Myself"

On this episode of CoinDesk’s Public Keys at the New York Stock Exchange, host Jennifer Sanasie sits down with Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals founder Ric Edelman to discuss the disconnect between declining crypto sentiment and Wall Street’s rapid investment in digital asset infrastructure. Their conversation covers the CLARITY Act, the fight over crypto in 401(k) plans, tokenization, and Edelman’s long-term outlook for Bitcoin. In this week’s 10X Trade, Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes shares his highest-conviction trade. Strive Chief Risk Officer Jeff Walton examines the future of digital credit following the sharp declines of STRC and SATA, arguing that digital credit could represent the next $300 trillion opportunity for Bitcoin. Also on the show, BlackRock Global Head of Digital Assets Robbie Mitchnick discusses BITA, the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, while 21Shares Co-Founder Ophelia Snyder explains why today’s financial infrastructure may be fundamentally incompatible with the tokenized future Wall Street is working to build. - This episode of Public Keys is brought to you by Kraken Pro. For more: https://pro.kraken.com/ - Learn more at https://www.bullish.com/. - To get market moving news delivered daily, download CoinDesk’s mobile app: https://linktr.ee/coindeskapp. - Timecodes: 00:00 Welcome to Public Keys 00:37 Strategy's STRC Crashes to a Record Low 01:04 Schwab and Cboe Enter Prediction Markets 01:45 Franklin Templeton Files For Bitcoin Dividend ETFs 02:30 Ric Edelman on Crypto's Great Disconnect 05:05 Will the CLARITY Act Pass? 06:08 Crypto Lobby vs. Banking Lobby Into the Midterms 08:48 Edelman's Bitcoin and Ethereum Outlook 12:34 10X: Arthur Hayes' Highest-Conviction Trade 14:07 Strive's Jeff Walton on Digital Credit's Worst Day 15:46 Inside the STRC and SATA Leverage Liquidation 20:43 The $300 Trillion Credit Market Opportunity 23:46 Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Flows 24:48 BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnick on the BITA Launch 28:37 Ophelia Snyder on Tokenization's Reality Check 30:15 The Scale Problem in Tokenizing Capital Markets

The Bank of England reversed its rules on stablecoin holdings. The Bank of England reversed its plan to cap how much stablecoin individuals and businesses can hold, replacing it with a £40 billion ($50 billion) issuance cap per coin. CoinDesk's Sam Ewen hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Sam Ewen. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.