Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter.

In this issue:

• Vitalik Buterin’s New Proposal Seeks 16.7M Gas Cap on Ethereum to Rein In Transaction Bloat
• Jack Dorsey Unveils Bitchat: Offline, Encrypted Messaging Inspired by Bitcoin
• Volkswagen ADMT Taps Solana-Based Hivemapper Bee Maps for Driverless Data
• Eigen Labs Axes 25% of Staff to Focus on Building EigenCloud

Network News

NEW ETHEREUM PROPOSAL FROM VITALIK BUTERIN: A new Ethereum proposal, co-authored by Vitalik Buterin and Toni Wahrstaetter, aims to impose a hard cap on the maximum gas a transaction can consume in a move developers say could strengthen network stability and make the chain more viable for certain applications. The proposal, EIP-7983, suggests limiting individual transactions to 16,777,216 gas (2²⁴) — a sharp change from the current design, which technically allows a single transaction to consume the gas allocation of an entire block. As a design choice, that introduces several performance and security challenges. When a single transaction consumes nearly all the available gas, it disrupts the distribution of workloads across the network and tends to make block execution less efficient. So the proposed cap is expected to simplify engineering challenges and aligns with Ethereum’s shift toward modularity, though it may require splitting large transactions. — Shaurya Malwa Read more.

JACK DORSEY UNVEILS BITCHAT WHITEPAPER: Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter (now X) and fintech company Block (SQ), published a whitepaper for Bitchat, a decentralized messaging protocol that enables fully encrypted communication without the internet. Bitchat would operate over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), allowing nearby devices to form a mesh network that relays messages hop-by-hop, according to the whitepaper. When a message is sent, it would travel across nearby devices acting as temporary nodes until it reaches its recipient, making it resilient in offline or censored environments. While not making explicit references to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency or the blockchain, Dorsey describes Bitchat as a “decentralized, peer-to-peer messaging application,” evoking connections to the Bitcoin whitepaper’s intro in which it was described as a “peer-to-peer version of electronic cash.” — Jamie Crawley Read more.

SOLANA HIVEMAPPER AND VOLKSWAGEN TEAM UP: Volkswagen ADMT, the carmaker’s autonomous-vehicle testing subsidiary, tapped Hivemapper’s Bee Maps to support its self-driving operations with real-time mapping data. Street-level imagery collected by Bee Maps contributors using Hivemapper cameras will be used to help validate Volkswagen’s self-driving technology in an effort to boost the curbside precision of autonomous pick-ups and drop-offs, a Bee Maps spokesperson told CoinDesk. The deal highlights the growing adoption of crowdsourced geospatial data as autonomous ride-sharing firms look for more precise, up-to-date mapping infrastructure. It also showcases the growth of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), which use blockchain incentives to crowdsource real-world data collection. Hivemapper is one of the best-known DePIN projects in the Solana ecosystem. According to the Wall Street Journal, Volkswagen’s autonomous driving unit has been testing its ‘Robotaxi’ fleet in recent months. In April, the company also announced a partnership with Uber to launch the service in U.S. markets, with pilot operations set for late 2025 and a wider rollout planned for 2026. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more.

EIGENLABS LAYS OFF STAFF AMID RESTRUCTURE: Eigen Labs, the main developer firm behind restaking protocol EigenLayer, cut its workforce by 25%, losing 29 roles, as CEO Sreeram Kannan said he restructured the company to focus on developing EigenCloud, which he called a “verifiable” alternative to existing, opaque cloud services. The Seattle-based startup said the dismissals were not a cash-crunch response. The news comes as the firm has dealt with its fair share of blowback, from not having certain key mechanisms in place at the launch of its main product, to having leading Ethereum Foundation figures receive big payouts for advisory roles. EigenLayer was once one of the buzziest projects in crypto, reaching $20 billion in total value locked in June 2024. It now has $12 billion. — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.

In Other News

• Bit Digital (BTBT) is now the owner of more than 100,000 ether (ETH) after swapping out its bitcoin stack along with a $172 million capital raise for even more of the world’s second-largest crypto. From a holding of 24,434 ETH as of the end of March, Bit Digital now has some 100,603 ETH ($189.2 million) making it one of the largest corporate ETH holders, the company said. Bit Digital revealed its plans to focus solely on ETH staking last month in a move that wasn’t entirely unexpected given the more challenging environment bitcoin miners have experienced since last year’s halving. — Jamie Crawley Read more.
• U.S. President Donald Trump’s Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) filed to list a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would track a selection of digital assets, the latest in a string of such efforts tied to the Trump brand. The proposed “Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF” would hold a portfolio of five tokens: bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and cronos (CRO), according to a filing with the SEC. Eighty-five percent of the fund’s holdings would be split between bitcoin and ether. Solana would make up 8%, cronos 5% and XRP 2%. — Helene Braun Read more.

Regulatory and Policy

• The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) sanctions against privacy tool Tornado Cash cannot be discussed at the upcoming trial of developer Roman Storm, a federal judge ruled. At a status conference in Manhattan on Tuesday, District Judge Katherine Polk Failla initially waffled on whether she would allow expert witnesses to testify about the sanctions, which were first imposed in August 2022, removed this March and subsequently found illegal by a Texas court. After hearing arguments from both prosecution and defense, Failla decided to grant Storm’s motion in limine moving to prohibit testimony about the sanctions entirely, arguing that it would simply be too confusing for a jury to do what she described as the “mental gymnastics” of understanding why the sanctions were imposed and ultimately removed. — Cheyenne Ligon Read more.
• The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged two individuals for their role in OmegaPro, a crypto and investment Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of over $650 million. Michael Shannon Sims, a founder and promoter of OmegaPro, and Juan Carlos Reynoso, who led OmegaPro’s operations in Latin America and some parts of the U.S., were charged on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, according to documents published. OmegaPro was an international investment scheme that collapsed in 2022. In 2024, Andreas Szakacs, the co-founder of the scheme, was arrested in Turkey for his involvement with OmegaPro. — Parikshit Mishra Read more.

Calendar

• July 16-18: Web3 Summit, Berlin
• Sept. 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
• Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
• Nov. 17-22: Devconnect, Buenos Aires
• Dec. 11-13: Solana Breakpoint, Abu Dhabi
• Feb. 10-12, 2026: Consensus, Hong Kong
• May 5-7, 2026: Consensus, Miami