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Door Remote - 22 Oct 2026
Today in crypto, Starknet votes in favor of layer-1 transition research, government websites and online services were disrupted after concerns about a PHP bug and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent compared the GENIUS Act’s stablecoin regulations to Abraham Lincoln-era banking reforms.
Starknet voters back research into life beyond EthereumStarknet’s community has voted to support research into becoming an independent, post-quantum layer-1 blockchain.
The network’s potential departure from Ethereum gained overwhelming support. The governance vote that ran for seven days closed on Thursday. The poll drew about 3,200 votes, with 93.52% of voting power in favor of the transition.
The non-binding poll recorded the highest participation in Starknet’s governance history, according to StarkWare, which said it abstained from voting to leave the decision to the community.
The outcome allows StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation to proceed with research into an independent L1. The actual shift itself would require a separate, binding governance vote. For now, Starknet will continue operating as an Ethereum layer-2 network.
“We’re beginning work on a whitepaper even before we start the weekend, and hope to release a draft for public scrutiny in November,” StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson told Cointelegraph.
PHP Foundation admits ‘structural failure’ delayed critical security fixThe PHP Foundation has acknowledged that indecision and a shortage of resources delayed a fix for a critical security flaw first identified in 2024, calling the stalled response a “structural failure.”
Government agencies and other organizations worldwide took websites offline Wednesday as a precaution while PHP released emergency patches for two related critical vulnerabilities. The flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on affected servers without logging in.
PHP is a programming language widely used to power websites and web applications, including content management systems.
In a blog post following the release of the patch, the foundation described how its developers first found signs of the vulnerability in 2024, but struggled to come up with a solution without disrupting the large ecosystem of software built using PHP.
“Combined with the lack of a known path to remote code execution and the small team of core developers with the necessary deep knowledge of the engine occupied with many responsibilities, this decision process caused work on a fix to stall and restart repeatedly over months,” said the foundation.
“We won’t pretend otherwise: the delay was a structural failure, caused by both the security team’s decision process and its lack of resources.”
The foundation was pointed to the vulnerability again on August 11, after security firm Calif and OpenAI independently reported the same underlying issue, with Calif demonstrating unconditional remote code execution, which made it a top security priority.
Bessent compares GENIUS Act stablecoin rules to Lincoln-era banking reformsUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has compared the newly finalized stablecoin regulations under the GENIUS Act to President Abraham Lincoln’s banking reforms, as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) prepares to enforce federal rules for stablecoin issuers in January 2027.
In a Wednesday post on X, Bessent described the legislation as a “watershed moment in American finance,” drawing parallels with the National Currency Act of 1863, which created a federal system for nationally chartered banks to issue currency.
Bessent argued that the GENIUS Act could play a similar role in modernizing US payments, strengthening private-sector innovation and reinforcing American leadership in digital assets.
The OCC’s finalized regulations establish requirements for stablecoin reserves, redemptions, risk management and issuer oversight. The framework applies to eligible banks, federally supervised nonbank issuers and certain foreign stablecoin providers.
Starting Jan. 18, 2027, payment stablecoin issuers will generally need appropriate regulatory authorization to operate legally in the United States, with penalties possible for noncompliance.
The regulatory milestone comes as dollar-backed stablecoins gain wider adoption in payments and cross-border transfers, despite slowing growth in their overall circulating supply.
Starknet voters back research into life beyond EthereumStarknet’s community has voted to support research into becoming an independent, post-quantum layer-1 blockchain.
The network’s potential departure from Ethereum gained overwhelming support. The governance vote that ran for seven days closed on Thursday. The poll drew about 3,200 votes, with 93.52% of voting power in favor of the transition.
The non-binding poll recorded the highest participation in Starknet’s governance history, according to StarkWare, which said it abstained from voting to leave the decision to the community.
The outcome allows StarkWare and the Starknet Foundation to proceed with research into an independent L1. The actual shift itself would require a separate, binding governance vote. For now, Starknet will continue operating as an Ethereum layer-2 network.
“We’re beginning work on a whitepaper even before we start the weekend, and hope to release a draft for public scrutiny in November,” StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson told Cointelegraph.
PHP Foundation admits ‘structural failure’ delayed critical security fixThe PHP Foundation has acknowledged that indecision and a shortage of resources delayed a fix for a critical security flaw first identified in 2024, calling the stalled response a “structural failure.”
Government agencies and other organizations worldwide took websites offline Wednesday as a precaution while PHP released emergency patches for two related critical vulnerabilities. The flaws could allow unauthenticated attackers to execute code on affected servers without logging in.
PHP is a programming language widely used to power websites and web applications, including content management systems.
In a blog post following the release of the patch, the foundation described how its developers first found signs of the vulnerability in 2024, but struggled to come up with a solution without disrupting the large ecosystem of software built using PHP.
“Combined with the lack of a known path to remote code execution and the small team of core developers with the necessary deep knowledge of the engine occupied with many responsibilities, this decision process caused work on a fix to stall and restart repeatedly over months,” said the foundation.
“We won’t pretend otherwise: the delay was a structural failure, caused by both the security team’s decision process and its lack of resources.”
The foundation was pointed to the vulnerability again on August 11, after security firm Calif and OpenAI independently reported the same underlying issue, with Calif demonstrating unconditional remote code execution, which made it a top security priority.
Bessent compares GENIUS Act stablecoin rules to Lincoln-era banking reformsUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has compared the newly finalized stablecoin regulations under the GENIUS Act to President Abraham Lincoln’s banking reforms, as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) prepares to enforce federal rules for stablecoin issuers in January 2027.
In a Wednesday post on X, Bessent described the legislation as a “watershed moment in American finance,” drawing parallels with the National Currency Act of 1863, which created a federal system for nationally chartered banks to issue currency.
Bessent argued that the GENIUS Act could play a similar role in modernizing US payments, strengthening private-sector innovation and reinforcing American leadership in digital assets.
The OCC’s finalized regulations establish requirements for stablecoin reserves, redemptions, risk management and issuer oversight. The framework applies to eligible banks, federally supervised nonbank issuers and certain foreign stablecoin providers.
Starting Jan. 18, 2027, payment stablecoin issuers will generally need appropriate regulatory authorization to operate legally in the United States, with penalties possible for noncompliance.
The regulatory milestone comes as dollar-backed stablecoins gain wider adoption in payments and cross-border transfers, despite slowing growth in their overall circulating supply.