This week's token unlock roundup covers two projects. YZY, the token issued by Kanye West, will unlock 120 million tokens with a value of roughly $35.73 million, the largest release in this batch. Starknet, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on zk-STARKs technology, will unlock 130 million tokens worth about $3.19 million. Starknet uses STARK proofs to validate transactions and computations without requiring every network node to verify each operation, reducing computational load and boosting throughput. Its parent company StarkWare was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Israel, with Starknet and StarkEx as its main products. Detailed unlock curves for both projects are published in the images below.

RGB has renewed its pitch to become the common asset standard across Bitcoin’s growing multi-layer ecosystem, arguing that separate token frameworks built by Lightning, Ark, Spark and other protocols are creating fragmentation. The timing is notable. On July 6, Tether said it would issue USDT natively on Bitcoin through RGB, with UTEXO leading issuance and distribution and a launch expected within weeks. That would mark USDT’s return to Bitcoin 12 years after its earlier issuance era on Omni Layer. RGB’s architecture differs from ERC-20 on Ethereum. It uses client-side validation, keeps contract data and state off-chain except for commitments, and binds asset ownership directly to Bitcoin UTXOs. According to the source material, this allows assets to move between the Bitcoin base layer and Lightning channels without relying on cross-chain bridges, while final settlement stays on Bitcoin. The project’s technical stack has also advanced. RGB exited testnet in July 2025, version 0.11.1 gained full Bitcoin mainnet support, and the LNP/BP Standards Association released v0.12 on July 10, 2025 after an eight-month rebuild. Still, the article argues adoption remains the real test. With about 92% of USDT circulating on Ethereum and Tron, Tether’s distribution power may become the first large-scale trial of RGB’s standardization push.

Two exchange shutdown announcements in one week and a separate wallet depletion case in Europe have pushed a familiar question back to the front of the crypto market: are customer assets really still sitting on the exchange? BitMEX said on July 23 that it will shut its platform on Sept. 23 and stop new user registrations immediately, ending an 11-year run. Three days later, BitMart said it had begun an orderly liquidation, will halt all trading on Aug. 26, and expects to complete the process by Jan. 31, 2027. Its exchange token BMX fell 81.5% over the week following the announcement. The article also points to Zondacrypto, where a hot wallet’s BTC balance fell from 55.7 BTC to 0.086 BTC in April 2026, a 99.7% drop, while the platform continued to claim solvency. Around 30,000 users were affected. Against that backdrop, the report lays out what a complete proof-of-reserves system should include, why Merkle tree-based verification matters, where snapshot-based disclosures fall short, and how exchanges including Binance, OKX, Kraken and Ourbit approach reserves verification, audits and security disclosures.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) reaches a crucial price zone after a 50% decline; Ethereum (ETH) maintains $3,000 support aided by whale accumulation; Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) self-funds over $100 million for development ahead of its presale auction, drawing attention to privacy-first AI infrastructure.

ZK Rollups batch transactions off-chain using zero-knowledge proofs, slashing fees and latency on Ethereum. This article covers fundamentals, projects like zkSync/StarkNet/Polygon zkEVM, comparison with Optimistic Rollups, use cases, and challenges.

Zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic method that lets one party prove a statement is true without revealing extra information. It has been used in Ethereum, Zcash, and other privacy-focused systems.

Zero Knowledge Proof says it is building a Layer 1 for privacy-preserving compute and decentralized AI, backed by Proof Pod hardware and a daily on-chain presale auction distributing 200 million ZKP every 24 hours.

Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) allow one party to prove a statement true without revealing the underlying data. This guide breaks down how ZKPs work, their core properties, interactive vs. non-interactive proofs, and key implementations like zk-SNARKs, zk-STARKs, and ZK rollups.