Good Morning Crypto Enthusiasts!

Glad to have you back for another edition of the UseTheBitcoin.com newsletter.

1. Coinbase Pushes Super App: Coinbase plans to expand beyond crypto trading into stocks, payments, and onchain social features. The strategy centers on stablecoins and its Base Layer-2 as core infrastructure through 2026.

2. Bitfinex Hacker Freed Early: Ilya Lichtenstein, behind the 2016 Bitfinex hack, was released early after serving just over a year of a five-year sentence. He cited the First Step Act and says he now aims to work in cybersecurity.

3. Ethereum Trilemma Breakthrough: Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum has effectively solved the blockchain trilemma with PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs now live or performance-ready.

4. 💡Feature of the Day - Flow Exploit Recovery Continues: Flow is moving forward with recovery after a $3.9M exploit, restoring EVM functionality while fixing its native chain.

   
   All this and more in today’s headlines!

📰 News Highlights:

Coinbase’s Super App Push [Source][Source][Source]

Coinbase plans to double down on stablecoins, its Base Layer-2 network, and a broader “everything exchange” strategy through 2026. CEO Brian Armstrong says the company wants to move beyond crypto trading into stocks, prediction markets, commodities, and onchain social features.

Coinbase has already launched stock trading and prediction markets, while rebranding its wallet into an all-in-one app. The move reflects growing competition as crypto exchanges chase the “super app” model.

The next phase focuses heavily on payments and stablecoins, which Coinbase sees as core infrastructure for remittances, payroll, and settlements. Armstrong predicts banks will eventually demand interest-bearing stablecoins.

However, the strategy has faced pushback, including criticism over Base’s creator coin experiments and lingering concerns about security and customer support. Past disclosures about insider data theft have also kept scrutiny high as Coinbase expands its reach.

Bitfinex Hacker Released Early [Source][Source]

Ilya Lichtenstein, the hacker behind the 2016 Bitfinex breach, has been released from prison just over a year into a five-year sentence. He credited the early release to the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law signed during Donald Trump’s first term. Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to laundering nearly 120,000 Bitcoin stolen in one of the largest crypto hacks ever. He now says he plans to contribute positively to cybersecurity.

Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested in 2022 after a long-running federal investigation that recovered a large portion of the stolen funds. Morgan, who helped launder the Bitcoin, also received an early release.

The case has gained renewed attention as Trump signals willingness to review other crypto-related prosecutions, following past pardons tied to high-profile digital asset cases.

Ethereum Trilemma Solved [Source]

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network has finally solved the blockchain trilemma of decentralization, security, and scalability. He points to PeerDAS, now live on mainnet, and ZK-EVMs, which are already performance-ready, as key breakthroughs. Together, these upgrades allow Ethereum to scale data throughput while maintaining decentralization. Buterin emphasized that this isn’t theoretical—it’s running code.

While ZK-EVMs still need security refinements, Buterin outlined a multi-year roadmap that gradually increases gas limits and shifts block validation to zero-knowledge systems. He said Ethereum’s progress reflects more than a decade of development.

The result, he argues, is a fundamentally stronger network that avoids the trade-offs most blockchains still struggle with, including Bitcoin’s scalability limits.

💡 Feature of the Day: 

Flow Exploit Recovery Ongoing [Source][Source]

The Flow Foundation is advancing its recovery plan after a $3.9 million exploit, entering phase two of remediation. Developers say they’ve identified a way to restore Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) functionality while continuing fixes on Flow’s native Cadence chain.

Cleanup transactions are being executed under validator approval, with all actions publicly visible on-chain. The team recently abandoned a proposed rollback after community backlash.

Flow also raised concerns about suspicious activity on an unnamed centralized exchange. According to the foundation, a single account deposited roughly 10% of Flow’s total supply, converted large amounts to Bitcoin, and withdrew millions within hours. Flow described this as an AML and KYC failure that shifted risk onto unsuspecting users. The incident adds to broader concerns around exchange oversight during exploit events.

😂 Crypto Meme of the Day: 

Meme of the day provided by @coinsauce

And that’s it for this today.

See you all tomorrow’s edition!

Jonathan Gibson
UseTheBitcoin.com