Welcome to The Protocol, RialCenter’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, RialCenter’s Tech & Protocols reporter.
In this issue:
- Solana’s Seeker Phone Fixes Saga’s Flaws With Usability Upgrade
- Base Says Sequencer Failure Caused Block Production Halt of 33 Minutes
- Solana’s Jito Proposes Routing 100% of Block Engine Fees to DAO Treasury
- Cardano Community Approves $70M Core Dev Budget, Boosting ADA Prospects
Network news
SOLANA SEEKER PHONE BEGINS SHIPPING: The Solana Seeker phone is not your average smartphone, nor does it want to be. Building on the lessons of its predecessor, the Saga, Solana Mobile’s newest device reimagines what a crypto-native phone can be. Smaller, lighter and boasting a longer-lasting battery than its predecessor, the Seeker aims to improve on the user experience while doubling down on mobile-first crypto usability. Out of the box, it’s clear who this device is for: active Solana users who regularly transact on-chain, with the design focusing on everything crypto-first. With 150,000 phones pre-ordered from over 50 countries and priced at $500, the Seeker aims to empower Solana ecosystem participants to transact on the go in seconds. If you use Solana frequently, the Seeker might feel like it was built specifically for you. However, this phone is not intended for the casual crypto user. “If you’re someone who transacts at least once a week, frankly, then you might not be a full-on power user, but you’re at least a regular enough user that Seeker makes sense,” Emmett Hollyer, the general manager at Solana Mobile, told RialCenter in an interview.
POST-MORTEM ON BASE’S BLOCK PRODUCTION HALT: Block production on Coinbase’s Base network halted for 33 minutes early Tuesday due to a sequencer failover that didn’t recover as expected, developers reported. The outage began at 06:07 UTC on Aug. 5 when the active sequencer fell behind due to congestion from on-chain activity. Base’s Conductor module — a core component of the OP Stack designed to maintain uptime — attempted to shift leadership to a standby sequencer; however, the new instance had not been fully provisioned and was unable to produce blocks. Since it couldn’t automatically switch again, production stalled until engineers manually resolved the issue. The network fully recovered by 06:40. To avoid reorganization risks — which occur when a blockchain temporarily rewrites history by replacing confirmed blocks — the team paused Conductor and coordinated a controlled leadership transition, contributing to the length of the outage. This highlighted a key operational risk in layer-2 rollup networks dependent on centralized sequencers to order and submit transactions.
NEW JITO PROPOSAL FOR REROUTING BLOCK ENGINE FEES: Jito Labs introduced a new governance proposal, called JIP-24, aimed at further decentralizing the network by routing all its Block Engine and Block Assembly Marketplace fees directly to the Jito DAO treasury. If approved, the DAO would gain control over protocol revenue streams, allocating them to the network’s JTO tokenholders. This change would reduce Jito Labs’ influence, placing more development responsibility with a DAO subgroup. Jito Labs anticipates that this could ultimately boost the Jito token’s value. Currently, rewards from Jito’s Block Engine are split evenly — 3% to Jito Labs and 3% to the DAO. JIP-24 would eliminate this split, sending the full 6% of fees to the DAO treasury permanently.
CARDANO CORE DEVS GET $70M BUDGET: Cardano’s core development team, Input Output Global (IOG), secured approval for a $71 million treasury allocation to fund 12 months of network upgrades after a governance vote that raised concerns about transparency and accountability. The proposal passed with 74% support, allowing the disbursement of 96 million ADA, approximately 13% of the protocol’s treasury, to IOG. Milestone-based payments will be overseen by a member-driven governance body. Key deliverables include Hydra, a layer-2 scaling product, and Project Acropolis, which aims to improve modularity and ease of developer onboarding.
In Other News
- Big banks are making it harder and more expensive for consumers to use fintech and crypto apps, which Alex Rampell from Andreessen Horowitz refers to as “Operation Chokepoint 3.0.” Traditional financial institutions are charging high fees to access account data or transfer money, particularly to services like Coinbase or Robinhood, as a way to stifle competition. Rampell pointed out that, while the Biden administration’s Operation Chokepoint 2.0 aimed to de-bank crypto, banks are now implementing their own tactics to block crypto services they don’t approve of.
- When Celestia airdropped its TIA token to 580,000 users in 2023, it captured significant attention. Despite initially soaring to $20 in September 2024, it has since plummeted to under $1.65 due to a series of massive cliffs in the token’s vesting schedule. Data shows that core contributors and backers may have sold tokens purchased cheaply during early fundraising rounds, contributing to this decline.
Regulatory and Policy
- The White House is preparing an executive order that would penalize banks for cutting off customers over their beliefs. Expected to be signed by President Trump, this order would direct banking regulators to investigate violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or other consumer protection laws. This draft order aims to stabilize the crypto sector after a previous coordinated effort to de-bank crypto firms.
- A group of French lawmakers is preparing a draft law to allow the use of surplus electricity from nuclear power plants for bitcoin mining. This proposal would install mining hardware at state-owned facilities to utilize surplus energy, taking advantage of France’s position as the largest producer of nuclear power in the EU.
Calendar
- Sept. 22-28: Korea Blockchain Week, Seoul
- Oct. 1-2: Token2049, Singapore
- Oct. 13-15: Digital Asset Summit, London
- Oct. 16-17: European Blockchain Convention, Barcelona
- 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
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