The GENIUS Act drew a hard line between bank deposits and payment stablecoins. SoFi just turned that line into a consumer product with a turnstile in the middle, and the toll is the yield and the insurance.
The most interesting thing about SoFi Earn is not that it exists. It is where it stops.
SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) announced the product, ticker SOFIE, on Oct. 22 via the Business Wire release, billing it as the first and only national bank-issued tokenized deposit for consumers. Those are company claims, like the 15.8 million member figure and the fifth-crypto-product-in-under-a-year line. The innovation underneath the marketing is a turnstile. SoFi has built a product that enforces the legal boundary between a bank deposit and a payment stablecoin, and charges a toll of lost yield and lost insurance at the crossing.
None of this is hidden; the design lives in the fine print, which is where the interesting systems usually do. Each SOFIE is a $1 deposit liability of SoFi Bank, N.A., an OCC-chartered national bank, paying a variable 4.40% APY at launch (rates as of 10/20/26, fees may reduce earnings), with interest accruing daily and paying monthly. The FDIC protection is real but bounded: up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category, and the SOFIE balance shares that limit with the customer’s other individual SoFi deposit balances, including Checking and Savings. On the other side sits SOFID, the SoFiUSD payment stablecoin that has been settling SoFi card payments on Mastercard since September: not a deposit, not FDIC or SIPC insured, no yield, intended to be redeemable 1:1 for dollars with reserves primarily in cash, and generally final and irreversible once it moves on chain.
Then the line that makes the product legible, straight from SoFi’s own disclosures: “once you use SOFIE to buy SOFID or another transferable crypto, that amount is no longer SOFIE.” And: “Digital assets except SOFIE are not bank deposits, are not insured by the FDIC or SIPC, involve risk, and may lose value.” The company is not blurring the two asset classes. It is drawing the boundary in bold and putting a counter on it.
Why the boundary exists at all is no mystery to anyone who has followed the rulemaking. Section 4(a)(11) of the GENIUS Act bars payment stablecoin issuers from paying interest or yield to holders, while bank deposits can pay both interest and carry FDIC eligibility. The economics of that split have been visible for a while: issuers hold the float, and holders get nothing, which is the stablecoin monetization gap in one sentence. The OCC’s final rulebook for the regime landed Oct. 21 and takes effect Jan. 18, 2027. The yield line also explains the politics: the CLARITY Act foundered in Congress in large part over a provision that would have let stablecoins pay interest, with banks arguing that threatened financial stability and the crypto side arguing it was protectionism for a business model that pays consumers little. SoFi did not pick a side in that argument. It built both sides of the wall and put a gate in the middle.
SoFi CEO Anthony Noto’s framing, from an interview published alongside the launch: “I say to my team ‘money doesn’t sleep’ doesn’t mean it just moves 24/7, but it also needs to be making money 24/7.” The target customer is the crypto user who parks dollars in stablecoins between trades and treats idle balance as dead balance. Noto called crypto companies “low hanging fruit,” noting they can pay Mastercard and other service providers that also have accounts with SoFi.
Two edge cases finish the picture. Tokenized deposits are not universal payment instruments: money moves only when both sides have a relationship with the issuing bank. Send dollars to someone outside SoFi’s perimeter and you must convert to SOFID or another transferable asset, shedding the insurance and the yield at the door. And the FDIC coverage is shared, not stacked: a large SOFIE balance plus a large Checking and Savings balance sits under one $250,000 limit per ownership category, a point SoFi’s own FAQ is careful about. The habit this breaks is the market’s habit of treating tokenized deposits and stablecoins as one asset class wearing two tickers. This is one balance sheet with two legal natures and a visible border between them.
Rollout is phased to SoFi Crypto members through November 2026, which makes the near-term test obvious: how much of the balance sits on which side of the turnstile once both options are live in one app. If the split works, the playbook for other banks is sitting there: the institution that holds both legal natures in one interface keeps the deposit, keeps the customer, and keeps the toll booth.
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Earlier this year, I wrote about stablecoins as the next chapter in the evolution of money. They aren't a replacement for the currencies people already use. They're the form those currencies are starting to take as money moves online and across borders.
Since then, I've spent a lot of time with banks, payment providers, brokers, fintechs and exchanges. They're at very different stages and have very different business models, but they keep asking for the same thing. They want to move stablecoins, and they want to do it safely.
That request covers more than payments. It covers money coming in and going out: client deposits, withdrawals, merchant settlement, payouts, and treasury transfers. Every one of those flows ends at a wallet, and every one raises the same question.
My answer keeps coming back to one thing: verify the wallet. Every time, in both directions.
Every transfer starts with a simple questionBefore any money moves, someone needs to know who is on the other side.
In traditional finance, that question was answered over decades. Bank accounts are tied to identities. Card networks built layers of authentication and dispute resolution. Trust is baked into the infrastructure, so most people never think about it.
Stablecoin money movement is newer, and that trust layer is still being built. A wallet address on its own tells you very little. It doesn't tell you who controls it, where they are, or whether the transfer should go ahead.
That's the gap wallet verification closes.
Money movement, not just paymentsWhen most businesses think about stablecoin compliance, they think about payments coming in. Who is paying us? Is this person who they say they are? Should we accept these funds?
Those are the right questions, but they're only part of the picture. Money moves in many directions:
In: customer payments, client deposits, account top-upsOut: withdrawals, payouts to sellers, creators and contractors, and merchant settlementAcross: treasury transfers between an institution's own wallets and its counterpartiesIn my conversations, the outbound side is often where verification is least mature. Teams have invested heavily in onboarding checks and screening on the way in, while withdrawals and payouts still rely on an address someone typed in or pasted from somewhere else. As stablecoin volume grows, that imbalance won't hold. Verification has to cover every flow.
Onchain transfers are final, so verification has to come firstOne of the great strengths of stablecoins is that they settle quickly and with finality. Funds arrive in minutes, not days, and there's no waiting for a batch to clear.
That strength also changes the order of operations. In a system built on finality, you can't rely on catching a problem after the fact. You can't claw back a withdrawal sent to the wrong wallet. The checks have to happen before the money moves.
This is why I think of wallet verification as infrastructure, not a compliance box to tick. It's what lets institutions get the speed of stablecoins without taking on risk they can't control.
What wallet verification actually meansWallet verification confirms that the person sending or receiving funds controls the wallet involved.
That distinction matters. Control can be proven at the moment of the transaction, with a single click from the wallet the person already uses. It tells a business that the person in front of them can actually act on that wallet, not just that they've supplied an address. And because the address is confirmed from the wallet itself, nobody has to copy and paste anything.
This matters most when the sums are large. When someone is moving significant volume, verification also works as a deliberate check from the user's side. The request they sign names the platform asking for it, so the user is confirming that this wallet is going to be used with this specific platform, and not with a lookalike site or an unknown counterparty. The platform gets a record tying that wallet to its own service. The user gets a clear checkpoint before large amounts move.
Wallet verification works alongside existing identity checks rather than replacing them. A bank or broker may already know who its client is. Wallet verification connects that client to the wallet they're using, which closes the loop between identity and money movement.
At WalletConnect, we've built three further layers on top of that:
Location and sanctions screening. We can check the IP address behind a wallet connection and screen the wallet against sanctions lists. That adds location-level insight for fraud prevention and restricted-region checks, which wallet data alone can't give you.An audit-ready record. Every verification captures proof of control, a timestamp, the chain and session details, and returns it to your systems.Configurable capture. The required fields adjust to each institution's compliance requirements.We built these because the institutions we work with told us they needed more context about who they were moving money with, and a record they could stand behind.
Knowing what you're signingVerifying the wallet tells you who is on the other side. The next question is whether the person signing understands what they're approving.
Too often, a wallet shows a user a string of raw transaction data and asks them to approve it. For large transfers, that's not good enough. WalletConnect Clear Signing shows the transaction in plain language before anyone signs: what's moving, how much, and where it's going. Users, and the custodians and approvers acting for institutions, can check it properly before approving.
Together, they cover both ends of the risk. Wallet verification confirms the right wallet. Clear Signing confirms the right action.
What it means in practiceThe need is the same everywhere, but it looks different depending on who you are.
Banks and financial institutions. When a client asks to withdraw stablecoins to an external wallet, the bank needs to know that wallet belongs to the client before releasing funds. Treasury teams moving funds between the institution's wallets and its counterparties need the same assurance, along with a record that satisfies auditors and regulators. Wallet verification provides both, inside the compliance controls the bank already runs.
Payment service providers. PSPs move money on both sides of a transaction. On the way in, they need to screen the payer before the payment clears. On the way out, they need to confirm that merchant settlement goes to the right wallet. Verifying both sides is what allows a PSP to offer stablecoins to its merchants with confidence.
CFD brokers and trading platforms. Brokers increasingly let clients fund accounts and withdraw in stablecoins. Many need to show that withdrawals go back to a wallet the client actually controls, and to block access from restricted regions. Wallet verification, with IP screening built in, confirms both before funds move in either direction.
Fintechs and neobanks. When users top up an account from a wallet, or cash out to one, the fintech needs to connect that wallet to a known customer. Verification at the moment of deposit or withdrawal means users get credited quickly without opening a gap for fraud.
Marketplaces and platforms. Paying sellers, creators, and contractors around the world means sending funds to thousands of wallets the platform has never seen before. Verifying the destination before each payout means the money reaches the person who earned it.
Exchanges, iGaming and prediction markets. Withdrawals are the highest-risk moment. Confirming wallet control and location before funds leave protects the platform and its users, and helps meet the obligations that come with operating across jurisdictions.
What WalletConnect Wallet Verification looks likeRegulation is turning verification into a baselineRegulators are moving in the same direction. In Europe, MiCA and the Travel Rule set clear expectations for how providers handle information about the parties to a transfer. Other markets are developing their own frameworks.
I see this as a positive. Clear rules give serious institutions the confidence to build, and they raise the bar for the whole industry. The providers who treat verification as a strength rather than a burden will be the ones regulators, partners, and customers trust most.
What WalletConnect Travel Rule capture looks likeVerification should be invisible to the userNone of this works if it adds friction. People expect moving money to be simple, and stablecoins should feel as easy as any other way to pay or get paid.
The best verification happens in the background, inside the flow the user is already in. They connect the wallet they already use, confirm, and move on. The institution gets the assurance it needs, and the user barely notices it happened.
That balance is the goal: strong verification that feels effortless.
What I expect nextBased on the conversations I'm having, I expect three things.
First, wallet verification will become standard across every stablecoin flow, in and out, in the same way identity checks became standard for opening an account.
Second, verification will become reusable. A user shouldn't have to prove control of the same wallet over and over. The industry will move toward verification that travels with the user, across the 700+ wallets and 80,000+ apps connected through networks like ours.
Third, trust will become the competitive edge. As stablecoin money movement grows, the institutions that can prove who they're paying and who's paying them will win the partnerships, the licences and the volume.
Every evolution of money has depended on trust, and stablecoins are no different. The technology to move value instantly is already here. The work now is making sure every transfer goes to, and comes from, the right place.
Verify the wallet. Both ways.
Frequently asked questions
What is wallet verification?Wallet verification confirms that the person sending or receiving funds controls the wallet involved before the money moves.
Why does wallet verification matter for withdrawals and payouts?Onchain transfers are final. Verifying the destination wallet before funds leave confirms the money is going to the right person, because there's no way to reverse it afterwards.
Is wallet verification the same as KYC?No. KYC confirms who a customer is. Wallet verification confirms that the customer controls the wallet they're using. The two work together.
Which businesses need wallet verification?Any business moving stablecoins on behalf of customers: banks, PSPs, brokers and trading platforms, fintechs, marketplaces, exchanges and iGaming platforms.
How does WalletConnect verify wallets?WalletConnect confirms wallet control with a single click from the user's own wallet. It screens the wallet and the IP address behind the connection against sanctions lists and restricted regions, and returns an audit-ready record to your systems.
What is Clear Signing?Clear Signing shows a transaction in plain language before it's signed, including what's moving, how much, and where it's going, so users and institutional approvers know exactly what they're approving.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
According to an official announcement, Upbit has launched spot trading for Numeraire (NMR), supporting KRW and USDT trading pairs.
7 minutes ago
Shell CEO: Middle East oil flows have recovered to over 80% of pre-war levels.
Shell CEO Wael Sawan said oil flows in the Middle East have now recovered to around 80% of pre-conflict levels, one of the most authoritative assessments of the region's energy export recovery to date. Sawan spoke at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Tuesday, noting: "Despite all that has happened, we have now recovered to over 80% of pre-war levels, which demonstrates that many countries in the region still boast strong resilience and can continue to fulfill their commitment to supplying energy to the global market." While several major banks and shipping data analytics firms also hold that Middle East oil flows are approaching pre-conflict levels, the market remains divided on the exact scale of the recovery. Accurately counting the number of vessels actually transiting the Strait of Hormuz and parts of the Red Sea is challenging, as many ships frequently disable their satellite positioning signals, making it harder for external parties to calculate the precise volume of cargo transported.
7 minutes ago
Crypto-related stocks in pre-market US trading rose broadly, with HSDT gaining nearly 2%.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), U.S. pre-market trading saw a broad rise in crypto-related stocks, with gains as follows: CRCL up 1.19%, MSTR up 1.05%, HOOD up 0.91%, BMNR up 0.85%, COIN up 1.11%, and HSDT up 1.89%.
7 minutes ago
Wells Fargo raises Meta Platforms' price target from $796 to $1,000
Wells Fargo said it raised Meta Platforms (META.O)’s price target from $796 to $1,000, and Alphabet (GOOG.O)’s price target from $411 to $417.
7 minutes ago
Vitalik praises Nethermind’s efficiency improvements, with its Beacon Chain plugin now synced.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared Nethermind’s development progress, stating that the team is consistently doing excellent work to make Ethereum more efficient and faster. Nethermind core developer Ben Adams noted that its Beacon Chain plugin has completed synchronization and is prepared for Sepolia’s Glamsterdam fork; additionally, running Ethereum’s Execution Layer (EL) and Consensus Layer (CL) as a single application does not appear to result in significant additional memory overhead. The Ethereum Foundation previously confirmed that Glamsterdam will activate on Sepolia on October 6, and Nethermind 2.1.0 already supports the upgrade.
7 minutes ago
Hong Kong government reaffirms that it will submit amendments to the crypto assets licensing bill by the end of 2026.
The Hong Kong government has reaffirmed that it will submit amendments to the crypto asset licensing bill by the end of 2026, establishing a licensing regime covering digital asset trading, custody, advisory, and management services. Christopher Hui, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, stated that the amendments will address developments in the fintech sector. In January this year, Hui disclosed that regulators plan to submit a crypto asset regulatory proposal by the end of 2026. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has started processing license applications for stablecoin issuers, and in April issued the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses to Anchorpoint Financial and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. (Cointelegraph)
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
New Net Zero Speaks Episode Reveals Why Sinking Land, Rising Seas, and Disappearing Salt Marshes Are Reshaping Coastal Communities
, /PRNewswire/ -- As sea levels rise and coastal lands sink, communities in low-lying cities and river deltas face risks that global sea-level averages alone cannot capture. Today, the Planet Classroom Network, in partnership with the Protect Our Planet (POP) Movement, announced a compelling new episode of the global series Net Zero Speaks featuring Professor Marco Marani, Full Professor at the University of Padova and Director of the Centre for Climate Change Impacts (CRITICAL).
Watch the new episode of Net Zero Speaks on the Planet Classroom Network. Hosted by youth climate advocate Ivan Ransom and produced and edited by Gillian Cameron, the episode explores one of the defining questions facing coastal communities worldwide: What happens when the sea rises—and the land beneath us sinks?
For Marani, the answer begins with understanding "relative sea-level rise"—the combined effect of rising oceans and sinking land. The problem is particularly urgent in low-lying coastal areas such as Venice and major river deltas, where natural sediment compaction and human activity accelerate land subsidence and intensify flooding risks.
Throughout the conversation, Marani examines the vulnerability of salt marshes, the role of Venice's MOSE storm-surge barriers, the need to integrate engineering with biological and geological sciences, and why coastal communities must begin planning for adaptation now.
A Leading Voice on Coastal Climate Risk
Professor Marco Marani is Director of the Centre for Climate Change Impacts (CRITICAL) and directs the Water and Geological Risk Engineering Master's Program at the University of Padova – Rovigo Campus. His research focuses on extreme events in the global water cycle, sea-level rise, delta subsidence, salt-marsh resilience, and the vulnerability of coastal systems worldwide. A Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Marani addresses a critical challenge for the future: how societies can protect coastal communities while preserving the natural ecosystems that defend them.
Why Salt Marshes Matter
One of the episode's most critical insights is the often-overlooked role of salt marshes and coastal wetlands. Marani explains that marshes reduce flooding from storm surges while supporting fisheries and local biodiversity. However, their survival depends on their ability to build elevation through sediment and organic material. As sea-level rise accelerates, this natural resilience is threatened; estimates suggest that approximately 50 percent of global marsh areas have already been lost to drowning.
The Venice Lesson: When Protection Has Consequences
Venice offers a compelling case study. Marani notes that while the MOSE storm-surge barrier system is essential to Venice's survival, every engineering intervention carries trade-offs. By blocking exceptionally high tides, MOSE prevents the natural accumulation of sediment that nourishes salt marshes. Marani emphasizes that engineering solutions must be informed by biological and geological processes to remain sustainable long-term.
A Roadmap for Coastal Leaders
Looking ahead, Marani urges coastal leaders to prioritize education, mitigation, and adaptation:
Invest in Youth Education: Engage younger generations who are increasingly aware and driven toward solutions. Combine Science & Engineering: Use climate projections to guide nature-based solutions and infrastructure defense. Plan for Managed Retreat: Protect places that cannot retreat—such as Venice—while preparing other vulnerable regions for managed realignment. "Net Zero Speaks gives young people the opportunity to hear directly from the scientists confronting the defining environmental challenges of their generation," said C. M. (Cathy) Rubin, Founder and CEO of Planet Classroom. "Professor Marani shows us that protecting our coastlines requires more than building barriers. We have to understand living ecosystems, plan for change, and act before climate impacts make our choices even harder."
About Net Zero Speaks
Net Zero Speaks is Planet Classroom's acclaimed climate interview series produced in partnership with the Protect Our Planet (POP) Movement. Featuring conversations between youth climate leaders and global experts, the series spans over 50 episodes exploring solutions, breakthroughs, and policy shaping the net-zero transition.
Watch the Episode
Net Zero Speaks with Marco Marani premieres today on the Planet Classroom Network YouTube Channel.
Quick Summary Equity futures for the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq showed minimal movement in early Wednesday trading. Market participants are anticipating the August PCE inflation data, scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Bond yields surged to multi-decade peaks, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury approaching 5.21%. September ADP employment data revealed 90,000 private payroll additions, exceeding analyst expectations. Market pricing now indicates roughly even odds for a Federal Reserve rate increase in October. Equity index futures registered negligible changes during Wednesday’s pre-market session as market participants adopted a cautious stance ahead of key economic data.
Futures contracts tied to the Dow and S&P 500 hovered near unchanged levels. Nasdaq 100 futures declined approximately 0.1% following Tuesday’s negative market close.
E-Mini S&P 500 Dec 26 (ES=F) Bond market yields continued their upward trajectory. The 10-year Treasury note yield reached territory unseen in multiple decades, hovering around the 5.21% mark.
PCE data takes center stage This morning’s primary market catalyst is the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index for August. This metric serves as the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measurement tool.
Market analysts anticipate the core measure, which excludes volatile food and energy components, will hold steady at 3.3% on an annual basis. This projection aligns with the previous month’s reading.
An inflation print exceeding expectations might prompt market participants to reassess Federal Reserve monetary policy trajectory. Conversely, a softer reading could alleviate mounting tensions in fixed-income markets.
Oil prices remained under scrutiny as well. West Texas Intermediate crude futures maintained stability in the mid-90 dollar per barrel zone amid ongoing Iranian tensions entering their seventh month.
Elevated energy costs typically contribute to broader inflationary pressures, explaining why market participants are monitoring petroleum prices with heightened attention.
Employment figures and central bank outlook Prior to the inflation release, ADP published its September private sector employment figures. The data indicated 90,000 new positions created in the private economy.
This figure surpassed consensus estimates calling for 70,000 additions. The September result also represented a substantial acceleration from August’s downwardly revised 36,000 figure.
Robust employment expansion can occasionally influence Federal Reserve policymakers toward maintaining restrictive monetary conditions for extended periods. Financial markets exhibited subdued reactions to the employment release.
The 2-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.9% in the wake of the ADP report. The 10-year yield pulled back from session lows.
Market participants have recalibrated their expectations regarding Federal Reserve action at the upcoming October policy meeting. The probability of a rate increase now stands at approximately 50%, declining from over 70% during the previous session.
John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, indicated no pressing need to implement rate increases at next month’s gathering. Financial markets interpreted his remarks as suggesting the central bank may opt for a pause.
Corporate results awaited Several corporate earnings releases are drawing investor attention throughout Wednesday’s trading session. Conagra Brands is scheduled to publish quarterly results during the pre-market period.
Micron will unveil its financial performance following the closing bell. The semiconductor manufacturer’s results are anticipated to provide insights into memory chip demand and artificial intelligence infrastructure trends.
These corporate announcements could generate volatility in specific market segments, particularly technology and consumer staples equities.
For the moment, index futures remain locked in narrow trading ranges. The primary market driver arrives with the PCE inflation release scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
Wednesday morning saw Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures showing minimal movement following consecutive record-breaking sessions for the Nasdaq. Market attention centers on the upcoming diplomatic discussions between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for Xi’s U.S. state visit from September 23-25. Key topics anticipated include trade relations, artificial intelligence policy, rare earth minerals, and the Iranian situation. Crude oil prices continued trading beneath the $100 threshold amid evolving U.S.-Iran diplomatic efforts and potential enhancements to regional energy distribution. Quarterly earnings releases are scheduled from Cintas, General Mills, and Cracker Barrel, among other corporations. U.S. stock futures showed little directional bias Wednesday morning as market participants awaited significant developments after the Nasdaq notched another historic closing level.
Futures contracts for the Dow declined approximately 0.1%, S&P 500 futures hovered near unchanged levels, and Nasdaq 100 futures registered marginal declines. Tuesday’s session concluded with the Nasdaq Composite achieving a fresh all-time high as technology sector enthusiasm returned.
Nasdaq 100 Dec 26 (NQ=F) Trump-Xi Summit Commands Market Attention Chinese President Xi Jinping commences his official U.S. state visit Wednesday, featuring high-level discussions with President Donald Trump addressing trade policy, artificial intelligence frameworks, and additional areas of strategic rivalry. The diplomatic visit extends through September 25.
🚨LATEST:🇨🇳President Xi Jinping just left Beijing to meet President Trump in Washington, his first state visit to the US capital since 2015.
AI is on the agenda, but expectations for a major deal are low.
So far, the US has proposed a way for both countries to alert each other… pic.twitter.com/NLZGeK8c9A
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 23, 2026
Artificial intelligence discussions will likely capture significant attention from technology sector investors. Washington and Beijing continue navigating disagreements regarding advanced semiconductor access, AI governance frameworks, and national security considerations, while American officials have explored potential frameworks for exchanging data about significant AI-related incidents.
Senior technology leaders including Jensen Huang from Nvidia, Sundar Pichai from Alphabet, and Sam Altman from OpenAI are scheduled to participate in a White House state dinner throughout Xi’s diplomatic visit.
Crude Oil Maintains Position Under $100 Mark Oil prices sustained levels beneath $100 as market observers tracked developing diplomatic exchanges between the United States and Iran. President Trump indicated Tuesday that negotiations continue and expressed optimism regarding a potential comprehensive agreement.
Iranian officials have separately suggested willingness to consider reopening access through the Strait of Hormuz contingent upon reduced U.S. military positioning and sanction modifications. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has resumed operations along its East-West pipeline infrastructure, establishing an alternative export route for crude oil.
The moderation in oil pricing has contributed to reduced inflation anxieties and provided support for equity markets, though Middle Eastern geopolitical uncertainties persist at elevated levels.
Corporate Earnings and Economic Indicators on Deck Market participants will access updated business activity measurements from S&P Global throughout Wednesday’s session.
Regarding corporate earnings announcements, consumer-oriented enterprises including Cintas, General Mills, and Cracker Barrel are scheduled to disclose quarterly financial performance.
Presently, futures contracts maintain positions near unchanged levels as Wall Street weighs record-setting technology stock valuations against continuing uncertainties surrounding China relations, Iranian negotiations, crude oil dynamics, and monetary policy trajectories.
The Missing Link in Agent Infrastructure Following its introduction of the Credentials API, which established a secure egress proxy for sensitive secrets, Google has released the antigravity-preview-09-2026 managed agent harness. This update introduces the Files API—a development that marks a structural shift in how agent environments handle data. By enabling persistent file and directory management, the Files API completes the sandbox I/O model, effectively formalizing the data-movement layer of the agent stack.
Completing the Sandbox I/O Model Previously, agent environments were largely transient, often requiring full file rewrites that were both inefficient and token-heavy. The Files API changes this by allowing agents to upload, list, and download files directly into a persistent Linux sandbox. When an agent initiates its first interaction, the system creates a sandbox and returns an environment_id. Subsequent calls reuse this environment, transforming the harness from a simple execution node into a stateful data-processing environment.
This transition to stateful agents is measurable. According to Google’s documentation, the changes result in approximately 40% fewer output tokens on file edits and an 8% increase in task completion rates for multi-turn software engineering and research workflows. By moving from full-file rewrites to line-range replacements, the infrastructure now supports a more efficient lifecycle: ingest via the Files API, process via the Gemini 3.8 Flash model, and secure egress via the Credentials API.
A Layered Infrastructure Arc The release of the Files API aligns with a broader industry trend toward standardizing the agent stack. As the ecosystem matures, distinct layers are emerging: AWS provides the compute runtime through AgentCore, Fastly manages edge governance, and Google is defining the standards for data movement and credential proxying. Meanwhile, the CNCF is evaluating the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a potential cloud-native wire specification, and Apple’s Safari MCP continues to expand the protocol’s reach into browser-side contexts.
This convergence suggests that agent infrastructure is moving away from monolithic, execution-only environments toward interoperable, data-aware architectures. The ability to maintain state across tasks, combined with secure, non-resident credential handling, provides the foundation for agents to act as persistent intermediaries in complex, multi-turn workflows.
Cost and Scheduling Infrastructure The Files API also arrives alongside new cost and scheduling primitives that complete the operational picture. Google’s release notes indicate that antigravity interactions follow a pay-as-you-go model, with estimated costs ranging from $0.30 to $1.00 for research and synthesis tasks, $0.70 to $3.25 for data processing, and up to approximately $5 for complex agentic workflows. Environment compute—CPU, memory, sandbox execution—is not billed during the preview period.
The new Triggers feature enables cron-based scheduling for agent tasks, allowing developers to bind an agent, environment, prompt, and schedule into a persistent resource that fires without manual intervention. Each execution reuses the same environment, so files created in one run persist and are visible to the next—reinforcing the stateful model the Files API enables.
Developer Migration and Breaking Changes For developers currently utilizing the antigravity-preview-05-2026 harness, the transition to the 09-2026 version is mandatory. The older environment is scheduled for shutdown on October 5, 2026, creating a clear deadline for migration. This update introduces several breaking changes that require immediate attention.
The new API mandates the use of PascalCase for all parameters, replacing the previous snake_case convention. Additionally, developers must update their implementations to use the new file tool suite, which includes write_to_file, replace_file_content, view_file, find_by_name, grep_search, and list_dir. These tools are specifically optimized for the new line-range replacement model, which is central to the observed performance gains.
Open Questions for the Agent Economy While the formalization of a data-movement layer is a clear step forward, several questions remain. It is currently unclear how persistent sandbox models will interact with evolving cloud-native security standards as they become more widely adopted. Furthermore, the industry has yet to determine whether the data-movement layer will eventually become a commodity service or remain tightly coupled to specific model providers.
As vendors continue to ship diverse credential architectures—ranging from Google’s egress proxy to Rubrik’s short-lived scoped tokens and Microsoft’s MCP Firewall—the challenge for developers will be navigating these competing standards. The focus for the coming months will likely remain on how these disparate layers—compute, governance, and data—can be unified into a cohesive, interoperable stack.
The crypto market will welcome tokens worth roughly $325.6 million in the second week of September 2026. Major projects, including Aptos (APT), Linea (LINEA), and Cheelee (CHEEL), will release new token supplies.
These unlocks could introduce market volatility and influence short-term price movements. So, here’s a breakdown of what to watch.
1. Aptos (APT)
Unlock Date: September 11
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 11.31 million APT
Released Supply: 1.74 billion APT
Total supply: 2.09 billion APT (Y2035)
Aptos is a Layer-1 blockchain platform designed for scalability, security, and efficiency in decentralized applications (dApps) and Web3 ecosystems. It utilizes the Move programming language to enable high-throughput transactions and smart contract execution.
Aptos will release 11.31 million tokens on September 11. The tokens are worth $7.09 million. It represents 0.65% of the released supply.
APT Crypto Token Unlock in September. Source: TokenomistThe team will award 3.96 million APT to core contributors. The community and investors will get 3.21 million and 2.81 million tokens, respectively. Additionally, Aptos will allocate 1.33 million tokens to the foundation.
2. Linea (LINEA)
Unlock Date: September 10
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 960.13 million LINEA
Released Supply: 31.92 billion LINEA
Total supply: 72.01 billion LINEA
Linea is a zkEVM Layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum (ETH). The network provides fast, low-cost transactions while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum tools and security.
The network will unlock 960.13 million tokens, valued at approximately $2.75 million, on September 10. The upcoming unlock represents 3% of the released supply
LINEA Crypto Token Unlock in September. Source: TokenomistLinea will keep 480.07 million tokens for Linea Consortium (long-term alignment), and 480.07 million LINEA for Linea Consortium (Ignition).
3. Cheelee (CHEEL)
Unlock Date: September 13
Number of Tokens to be Unlocked: 6.42 million CHEEL
Released Supply: 813.4 million CHEEL
Total supply: 1 billion CHEEL
Cheelee is a SocialFi hybrid platform that rewards users with LEE tokens for watching short videos. It blends familiar social media mechanics with blockchain-based incentives. The platform utilizes its token, CHEEL, for governance, content promotion, and advertising.
The team will release 6.42 million tokens on September 13. The tokens are worth around $2.24 million and represent 0.79% of the current released supply.
CHEEL Crypto Token Unlock in September. Source: TokenomistCheelee will keep 3.4 million tokens for the reserve fund. Furthermore, it will assign 2.78 million tokens to the team. Advisors will get around 208,330 altcoins. Lastly, the team will direct 27,780 tokens to a private round.
In addition to these, other prominent unlocks that investors can look out for in the second week of September include peaq (PEAQ), Babylon (BABY), Movement (MOVE), and more.
New York, New York, September 3rd, 2026, FinanceWire
Tazapay is live on the Borderless.xyz, putting nine additional markets, local-rail payouts, and stablecoin settlement behind the single connection
Borderless, the global stablecoin orchestration and liquidity network, today announced that Tazapay is live on its network. Tazapay, headquartered in Singapore and licensed there as a Major Payment Institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, brings payouts and collections over domestic rails in markets including Singapore, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia, along with Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia in Latin America.
Businesses paying into these markets have typically run a separate provider relationship per market, each with its own contract, compliance file, and settlement timing, with correspondent banking layering fees and delays underneath. Through the Borderless network, clients reach Tazapay’s coverage over the connection they already operate. Payouts arrive as local currency in the recipient’s own bank account as a domestic transfer rather than an international wire, and collections run in reverse through virtual accounts with local account details in domiciles including Singapore, Australia, the UK, and the UAE.
With Tazapay live, Borderless clients can turn on nine additional markets without a sourcing cycle, a new integration, or additional negotiations. The Borderless network connects 19+ locally licensed providers across 113+ countries through a single API.
“The demand we’re seeing from enterprises and fintechs across Asia Pacific is unmistakable. Businesses there want to move money faster and at lower cost, and our clients want to reach them,” said Alex Garn, Chief Product Officer at Borderless. “This is exactly what we built Borderless to do: extend the network’s reach across Asia Pacific and its depth in Latin America, and hand it to every client through the connection they already run, with Tazapay’s local rails behind every corridor.”
“Expanding globally shouldn’t mean navigating a fragmented payments landscape market by market,” said Rahul Shinghal, CEO of Tazapay. “Through this partnership, Borderless clients get Tazapay’s infrastructure, including local collection and payout rails, virtual accounts, and modern settlement options, through a single API. We’ve spent years building that depth across APAC, and putting it within reach of more businesses is what makes entering a new market genuinely simpler.”
Tazapay corridors are available to Borderless clients today. Businesses can contact the Borderless team to enable them on their routing.
About Borderless
Borderless is a global stablecoin orchestration and liquidity network. Its single API connects wallet infrastructure to 19+ licensed stablecoin providers across 113+ countries and 72+ fiat currencies, giving businesses the speed of an aggregator with the economics of going direct. Borderless is SOC 2 Type II certified and headquartered in New York. Users can learn more at borderless.xyz.
About Tazapay
Tazapay is a cross-border payments platform headquartered in Singapore and licensed as a Major Payment Institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It provides local collections and payouts, virtual accounts, and stablecoin settlement for businesses operating internationally. Users can learn more at tazapay.com.
Switchboard, the multi-chain oracle protocol that feeds price data to decentralized applications across several blockchains, shut down operations on its Move-based deployments after discovering what it described as a potential security compromise. The affected networks include Aptos, Sui, IOTA, and Movement.
The halt, communicated during the transition from August 28 to 29, represents one of the more serious oracle-level incidents in recent memory. And the damage on at least one network was anything but theoretical.
What happened on IOTA An attacker exploited a compromised oracle key to manipulate the IOTA price feed, temporarily setting the token’s price to $10 million.
With the feed showing a wildly inflated IOTA price, the attacker was able to mint approximately 4.94 million VUSD through the Virtue CDP protocol. CDP, or collateralized debt position, protocols let users lock up assets and borrow stablecoins against them. When the oracle says your collateral is worth $10 million per token, the protocol happily lets you borrow accordingly.
The fallout hit 45 users directly through liquidations. Exchange addresses were frozen in response to the chaos, and the Virtue CDP protocol itself was halted.
Scope of the shutdown Switchboard’s decision to halt all Move-based implementations suggests the vulnerability may be architectural rather than network-specific. Move is the programming language originally developed at Meta (then Facebook) for the Diem project, and it now underpins Aptos, Sui, and their derivative ecosystems including Movement and IOTA’s newer infrastructure.
The protocol said it was actively collaborating with relevant security agencies to investigate the breach.
Notably, Switchboard’s Solana deployment was not affected. The protocol’s Solana-based infrastructure runs on different code, which apparently wasn’t vulnerable to the same exploit vector. Still, Switchboard advised even Solana users to temporarily seek alternative oracle options during the investigation.
Why oracle compromises are uniquely dangerous Oracles occupy one of the most critical positions in the DeFi stack. They’re the bridge between real-world data (token prices, interest rates, asset values) and on-chain smart contracts that execute financial transactions based on that data.
The DeFi ecosystem has seen oracle-related exploits before. Mango Markets on Solana suffered a $114 million exploit in 2022 when an attacker manipulated the platform’s oracle price.
What makes the Switchboard incident particularly concerning is that the compromise appears to have occurred at the key level rather than through market manipulation. The attacker didn’t need to execute complex trading strategies to move a price. They simply gained access to a key that controlled the feed and rewrote the data directly.
What this means for affected ecosystems For Aptos, Sui, and Movement, the shutdown is disruptive even if no exploits have been confirmed on those networks. Any DeFi protocol relying on Switchboard for price feeds is effectively flying blind until service resumes, unable to process liquidations, update collateral ratios, or execute any price-dependent function.
Protocols that integrated redundant oracle sources from providers like Pyth, Chainlink, or Redstone alongside Switchboard can continue operating. Those that didn’t are learning an expensive lesson about single points of failure.
Switchboard’s initial statements suggest that user funds have remained intact beyond the IOTA incident, but that assessment could evolve as the investigation deepens.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
TLDR: Switchboard halted Move-based oracle operations on Aptos, Sui, IOTA and Movement after a potential compromise. An IOTA oracle incident allegedly pushed a price feed to $10M, enabling about 4.94M VUSD to be minted. The IOTA incident reportedly liquidated 45 users as investigators examined the potential compromise. Switchboard said no similar issue was reported on Solana, but users were advised to migrate temporarily. Switchboard has halted oracle operations across Aptos, Sui, IOTA, and Movement after contributors identified a potential compromise involving its Move-based deployments. The coordinated shutdown affects applications using its data feeds for prices, collateral valuations, liquidations, and other automated decentralized finance functions.
🚨ALERT: Oracle network @switchboardxyz has halted operations on Aptos, Sui, IOTA and Movement after identifying a potential compromise affecting its Move based implementations.
No similar issue has been identified on @Solana, but users are being advised to temporarily migrate… pic.twitter.com/mfc68xd0ty
— SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) August 29, 2026
The blockchains themselves remain operational as the suspension applies only to the Oracle Network deployments running on those ecosystems. Contributors coordinated with affected teams and security organizations while investigators examine the incident and determine whether additional applications were exposed.
IOTA’s $10M Oracle Feed Incident Raises DeFi Risk The investigation follows an IOTA incident involving an allegedly compromised oracle key that reportedly pushed an asset price feed to $10 million. That manipulated valuation was then reportedly used against Virtue, an IOTA-based collateralized debt position protocol.
According to the reported incident details, the attacker minted approximately 4.94 million VUSD using collateral whose apparent value had been inflated by the corrupted feed. The event also reportedly triggered liquidations affecting 45 users.
Basically, Virtue allows users to mint VUSD after depositing assets including IOTA and stIOTA as collateral. Therefore, accurate external pricing remains essential for maintaining collateral ratios and determining when positions should be liquidated.
However, when an oracle reports an extreme price, smart contracts can treat relatively small collateral deposits as assets worth far more than their market value. That distortion can consequently affect borrowing limits, debt creation, and automated liquidations before the incorrect data is removed.
Nevertheless, Switchboard has not publicly confirmed that the reported IOTA event explains the entire potential compromise. Its initial disclosure did not identify a root cause, attacker, confirmed losses, or affected application count.
A technical postmortem has also not been published. As a result, the available information does not establish whether the issue originated from contract code, signing credentials, infrastructure, or another component.
Switchboard Halts Move Deployments as Solana Shows No Similar Issue The four suspended deployments share Move-based smart-contract infrastructure, making that common architecture central to the investigation. Move was originally developed at Facebook for the Diem blockchain project.
It later became fundamental to Aptos and Sui, while IOTA adopted the Move Virtual Machine through its Rebased upgrade. That architecture reached mainnet in May 2025 and introduced a programmable Move-based Layer 1.
Still, the shared programming environment does not establish that Move contains the vulnerability. The known issue is limited to Switchboard’s potentially compromised Move implementations across the affected networks.
Meanwhile, no similar reports have emerged involving the provider’s Solana implementation. Nevertheless, users were advised to temporarily migrate to alternative oracle solutions while the investigation continues.
The incident therefore highlights how oracle failures can spread quickly through DeFi systems as applications depend on external prices for automated decisions. Multiple providers, deviation limits, circuit breakers, and emergency pauses can limit exposure when feeds behave unexpectedly.
For developers and users, the central questions now concern the precise attack vector, the number of affected applications, and restoration timelines. Until investigators publish their findings, the halted Move deployments will remain the clearest containment measure taken across Aptos, Sui, IOTA, and Movement.
Year-long fellowship to take place at Emory University in Atlanta
, /PRNewswire/ -- The Parkinson's Foundation announced the second cohort of its Parkinson's Nurse Practitioner Fellowship program at Emory University. Applications are now open for nurse practitioners (NP) who are interested in pursuing a career in Parkinson's disease (PD) care and research. Three NPs will be selected for the 2027 fellowship cohort and will complete a year-long program at Emory Healthcare's Movement Disorders Clinic, a Parkinson's Foundation Center of Excellence.
"We are very pleased to announce that this fellowship program will continue to equip essential nurse practitioners with the PD-specific tools they require to deliver quality care to a growing Parkinson's community," said John L. Lehr, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Parkinson's Foundation. "Advancing care models such as these help reduce barriers to quality care access and as a result, improve the lives of people living with PD."
The fellows selected for the program will train alongside physician fellows, modeling an interprofessional approach to Parkinson's care. The fellowship is designed to prepare eight nurse practitioners over three years for independent practice in Parkinson's disease and movement disorders care. Building on the success of the inaugural cohort of two fellows in 2026, each accepted fellow will be offered a wide range of complimentary and accredited virtual learning opportunities prior to the program's start date, including an invitation to the Parkinson's Disease Clinical Conference, hosted by the Parkinson's Foundation.
"The success of our inaugural fellowship cohort demonstrates the growing need for advanced training opportunities in Parkinson's care," said Eli Pollard, Vice President, Chief Training and Education Officer of the Parkinson's Foundation. "We are proud that fellows from the program have remained in the Parkinson's and movement disorders field as nurse practitioner leaders."
The fellowship is open to nurse practitioners with three years or more of clinical experience and are graduates of an adult-gerontology (acute-care or primary-care) or family nurse practitioner program from an accredited school of nursing. A national board certification in a nurse practitioner specialty by January 15, 2027, and a license as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) in the state of Georgia by February 1, 2027, are also required. Applications are now open and close October 1, 2026. Three fellows will be selected, with offers extended by December 1, 2026. The fellowship begins May 10, 2027. Applications may be submitted here.
The Emory University host site is part of the Parkinson's Foundation Global Care Network, which consists of 67 medical centers around the world, including 54 in the U.S., that provide specialty PD care.
"We are pleased to report that our collaboration with the Parkinson's Foundation to help expand access to care for people living with Parkinson's disease is well underway with the first year of the Nurse Practitioner Fellowship program," said Jaffar Khan, MD, chair of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine. "We eagerly anticipate the arrival of our next cohort as we plan for our second iteration of this unique, highly valued and much needed training program."
Learn more about the Parkinson's Foundation Nurse Practitioner Fellowship program.
About the Parkinson's Foundation
The Parkinson's Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson's disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson's community. Since 1957, the Parkinson's Foundation has invested more than $513 million in Parkinson's research and clinical care. Connect with us on Parkinson.org, Facebook, X, Instagram or call 1-800-4PD-INFO (1-800-473-4636).
About Parkinson's Disease
Affecting more than one million Americans, Parkinson's disease is the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world. It is associated with a progressive loss of motor control (e.g., shaking or tremor at rest and lack of facial expression), as well as non-motor symptoms (e.g., trouble sleeping, loss of smell and depression). There is no cure for Parkinson's and nearly 90,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the U.S.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Melissa Nobles Gonzalez
Parkinson's Foundation
[email protected]
305.537.9134
The US Senate won’t make any further progress on crypto market-structure legislation until it returns from its recess in mid-September.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) filed for cloture on the Clarity Act, a procedural step that paves the way for potential progress on the bill next month. The Senate broke for the August recess the following day.
The landmark crypto bill would largely place the digital assets under the regulatory purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an agency industry stakeholders believe is friendlier to the sector than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The potential legislation has faced opposition from traditional financial giants and banking associations, who have argued the bill could put financial stability at risk and cause bank deposits to lose ground to stablecoins.
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong says the lack of progress on Clarity this month was “disappointing.”
“Congress still has an important job to do. A clear federal market structure law will unlock more investment, more innovation, and more jobs in the United States while giving consumers the protections they deserve. Voters are watching closely to see who helps finish this, and who is a blocker. We’re closer than we’ve ever been. Let’s finish the job in September.”
As the banking sector’s opposition to the bill solidified, Polymarket bettors’ confidence in the Clarity Act’s chances of passing this year dwindled, with its odds falling from a high of 82% in February to 25% at time of writing.
In 2026, more than 100 crypto projects have shut down, filed for bankruptcy, or ceased operations, according to RootData. This wave has affected exchanges, wallets, DeFi, NFTs, and some blockchains. In late July, BitMEX, BitMart, Movement Labs, and Storj Labs announced their closure or bankruptcy filings within a single week. Meanwhile, Moonbeam stopped producing blocks on July 31. The sector is therefore entering a broad and highly visible phase of consolidation.
In brief More than 100 crypto projects have shut down, filed for bankruptcy, or ceased operations in 2026, according to RootData data. Closures are affecting several segments, including exchanges, DeFi, NFTs, wallets, and some blockchains. The proliferation of general-purpose Ethereum Layer 2 solutions is now accelerating market consolidation. Hacks and liquidity shortages are further weakening projects whose treasuries consist primarily of tokens. The projects that are weathering the downturn are increasingly relying on products with real usage and sustainable revenue, rather than on their token alone. The trend is affecting several categories of players, including exchanges, wallets, DeFi lending protocols, NFT marketplaces, and Layer 1 blockchains. It is therefore not limited to a specific segment of the ecosystem. The wave is now affecting different types of projects and spreading across the entire sector. According to RootData data, more than 100 crypto projects have already shut down, ceased operations, or filed for bankruptcy in 2026.
At the end of July, four companies announced their closure or bankruptcy filing during the same week. BitMEX, BitMart, Movement Labs, and Storj Labs are among the affected players. This succession of announcements provides a concrete measure of the movement. It also shows that the difficulties now go beyond young projects still in the launch phase.
Moonbeam illustrates this evolution on the scale of an entire blockchain. This Polkadot parachain permanently ceased its activities on July 31. Users who had not transferred their assets in time are left without a solution. The contracts remain present, but the chain no longer produces blocks to allow their normal use.
This situation poses a particular question to users and developers. A project can disappear as a company without its code disappearing immediately. Smart contracts sometimes continue to function after the teams dissolve. This peculiarity distinguishes decentralized infrastructures from traditional tech companies and creates new operational risks.
Ethereum Layer 2 Enters a Consolidation Phase The Ethereum layer 2 ecosystem concentrates a significant part of this restructuring. These networks experienced rapid growth in 2023 due to technical advances. They have strongly reduced costs and facilitated the launch of new chains. Their principle is to process transactions, group them, and then send them back to Ethereum.
However, the simplification of network launches has also multiplied generalist offers. The market now includes many solutions that offer similar functions. This multiplication has reduced differentiation between some projects. The question is therefore no longer just about technology, but about a network’s ability to maintain real usage.
In a statement attributed to CoinDesk, Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems, describes this period as a consolidation of generalist layer 2 solutions.
There were far too many layer 2 solutions, which, frankly, makes no sense as a product, because there is no reason to have so many versions of the same thing. We are now in a phase of consolidating these networks, not layer 2 as a whole.
Ben Fisch, CEO of Espresso Systems. According to him, the problem does not concern all layer 2s but mainly projects that replicate a similar offering. This distinction helps understand why some infrastructures continue to develop while others cease their activities.
On his side, Orkun Mahir Kılıç, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs, which develops Citrea, the layer 2 Bitcoin platform, told CoinDesk that this wave of closures reflects market maturity where raising capital is more difficult and investors become more selective.
Every company has its own reasons and underlying issues to close its doors. The phenomenon we are seeing is not an inherent problem of the layer 2 ecosystem. The market and technology are maturing, investments are much slower and more cautious, and only projects with solid business models and clearly defined problems will survive.
Orkun Mahir Kılıç, co-founder and CEO of Chainway Labs In other words, investors now favor projects capable of demonstrating a viable business model and clearly identifiable utility, at the expense of more speculative initiatives.
For his part, Lorenzo Valente, research director at Ark Invest, reaffirmed his analysis of crypto market consolidation by estimating that the sector is currently going through the largest consolidation phase in its history, much deeper than previous bear markets. According to him, capital has become much more selective, and teams and exchange platforms without real real estate investment trust (REIT) resources are shutting down.
The Crypto Business Model Shows Its Limits Some disappeared projects heavily depended on their own token to finance operations. These assets were used to pay engineers, support liquidity, and finance audits. As long as their dollar value remained sufficient, this mechanism could work. However, the sharp decline of altcoins has reduced the financial visibility of many projects.
Tally provides a particularly telling example. This governance tools platform for DAOs supported more than 500 protocols, including Uniswap, Arbitrum, and ENS. It had processed over a billion dollars in payments and helped secure up to 80 billion dollars in value. Despite this activity, the platform announced its closure due to lack of a sufficiently sustainable model.
Step Finance followed a different trajectory. This Solana portfolio tracking and analysis platform had obtained funding to develop its product. In January, a phishing attack on an executive’s device allowed the theft of 261,854 SOL, about 35 million dollars. After failed funding and acquisition attempts, the platform closed in February.
Everclear shows another problem related to the business model. The cross-chain settlement protocol had reached 500 million dollars in monthly volume. Yet the cross-chain solver segment never reached sufficient commercial depth. The company had signed several partnerships, but its financial resources ran out before full implementation.
These three cases present different situations but share a common point. Product usage does not automatically guarantee sufficient revenues. Significant activity can coexist with a fragile treasury and limited funding. The market thus gives more importance to a project’s ability to generate sustainable revenues.
Hacks Increase Pressure on Fragile Projects Security adds a major constraint to this consolidation period. According to a Blockaid report, on-chain exploits caused 1.1 billion dollars in losses in the first half of 2026. This amount exceeds losses recorded for the entire year of 2025. April also set a historical record for the number of attacks according to CROWDFUND INSIDER.
Two operations accounted for a large part of the losses. Kelp DAO suffered a theft of 293 million dollars on April 18. Drift Protocol lost 285 million dollars on April 1 after a social engineering operation conducted over several months. Attackers affiliated with North Korea are said to have targeted the platform without exploiting any smart contract code line.
TRM Labs estimates that actors linked to North Korea account for 66% of hack-related losses in the first half. This proportion reached 64% in 2025, compared to less than 10% at the beginning of the decade. Increasing sophistication of operations thus raises the minimum cost needed to protect protocols. Medium-sized projects sometimes have fewer resources to absorb this pressure.
The response to attacks has also changed. Previously, some communities could mobilize their treasuries to cover losses. In 2026, these token reserves have already suffered from the bear market effects. Venture capital investments have also slowed, while liquidity remains under pressure after losses related to leverage effects in October.
This combination reduces many projects’ capacity to bounce back after an incident. A hack can then become a definitive event rather than a temporary crisis. Security, treasury, and financing access thus become closely linked. For still active teams, these constraints reinforce the importance of an economic structure capable of withstanding shocks.
“Zombie” Projects Reveal Another Risk The disappearance of a team does not necessarily mean the disappearance of a protocol. Already deployed smart contracts can continue to operate without developers maintaining them. This situation creates a category of projects sometimes described as “zombies.” Their code remains active, while the structure able to monitor or fix it no longer exists.
The Lazy Summer case shows possible consequences. In July, a flaw causing 6 million dollars in losses was directly linked to Stream Finance. This protocol had already ceased operations in November 2025. Eight months later, unresolved code related to this old infrastructure contributed to creating an attack vector.
Moonbeam exacerbates this difficulty. After the blockchain shutdown on July 31, assets still locked in some DeFi protocols deployed on the chain become inaccessible. The contracts still exist, but no team can intervene to modify their functioning. Users must therefore cope with an environment that continues to exist without an active operator.
Security researchers also highlight the limits of old audits. These documents concern specific versions of code and set periods. They thus do not guarantee protocol security after modification or team disappearance. As projects accumulate, the number of active contracts without interface or maintenance may increase.
Business Models That Resist Consolidation Crypto is evolving towards a stricter selection of business models. Projects that continue their activity have used products and revenues that do not rely solely on their own token. This evolution strengthens the importance of real usage, revenues, and the ability to sustainably finance operations. It could also accelerate sector consolidation.
Despite this wave of closures, some players still maintain solid activity. Hyperliquid surpassed one billion dollars in cumulative fees as of June 30. Its trading volume increased despite the market decline, while the platform represents 70% of the decentralized perpetual contracts market. Aave held more than 12 billion dollars in deposits in July and generated more than 100 million dollars in annualized borrowing fees.
Ether.fi also presents a more diversified model. Its debit card product linked to digital assets accounts for about half of the protocol’s revenues. Its transaction fees reached 2.72 million dollars in the second quarter of 2026. The total value locked then reached 7.8 billion dollars.
These examples reveal a common criterion among projects that continue their activity. They have used products and revenue sources that do not rely solely on their own token. Consolidation thus does not mean a general disappearance of the sector. It rather translates a stronger selection between projects capable of transforming their usage into sustainable economic activity and those that fail to do so.
In the short term, the number of closures could continue to evolve with financing conditions, liquidity, and security costs. Still active projects will have to maintain their users sustainably while ensuring sufficient revenues. Abandoned infrastructures could remain present in blockchains despite the disappearance of their teams. The future will therefore depend as much on the capacity to finance operations as on the real use of products.
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Ghiles A.
Journaliste et rédacteur web passionné par l’univers des cryptomonnaies et des technologies Web3. J’y traite les dernières tendances et actualités afin de proposer un contenu de haute qualité à un large public du secteur.
Movement has announced a partnership with New Jersey-based Mexico remittance expert El Vecino and on-chain wallet provider RISE to power a digital-dollar service that lets customers hold their own money and send it home in seconds through WhatsApp.
Leveraging El Vecino’s 19 years of experience in US-to-Mexico physical remittances, RISE’s wallet capabilities and LATAM network, and Movement’s access to regulated, sub-second payment rails, the partnership enables stablecoin-settled transfers to be sent to Mexico almost instantly, giving customers a simple way to initiate transfers without opening a bank account or downloading an app.
Rather than having to visit a physical location to initiate every cash transfer, El Vecino customers can now begin the process through the familiar WhatsApp messenger. Funds settle in seconds before recipients cash out through Mexico's extensive OXXO and Circle K retail networks, or receive funds directly via the country's SPEI banking system.
The partnership aims to simplify sending money home along one of the world's most important remittance corridors. Funds settle in seconds and can be received via SPEI or withdrawn as cash through physical networks like OXXO and Circle K.
In a corridor where over $62 billion moved in 2024, speed matters—but so does trust. The initiative combines El Vecino’s long-standing relationship with the community, RISE’s product expertise, and Movement’s access to regulated payment infrastructure.
Transforming the Remittance ExperienceFor years, many remittances to Mexico have followed a similar pattern: cash handling, visits to physical locations, intermediaries, waiting periods, and settlement times spanning several days.
With this new route, the user initiates the transfer via WhatsApp, funds settle in seconds, and the recipient can receive the money via SPEI or withdraw cash at OXXO and Circle K locations.
The goal isn't to sell a tech narrative; it is to reduce friction regarding a financial need that already exists for thousands of Mexican families.
Discussing stablecoin remittances only makes sense if the infrastructure actually improves the user experience. In this case, the improvement lies in fewer steps, reduced reliance on manual processes, and much faster settlement.
The U.S.-Mexico corridor is the largest in the world and remains vital for families relying on recurring transfers. Being able to initiate a transfer using a familiar tool like WhatsApp—without opening a U.S. bank account—addresses a practical need rather than a passing product trend.
Who manages the customer relationship also matters. El Vecino has spent 19 years building trust regarding remittances to Mexico from New Jersey. That trust is central to the model.
How it WorksEach party brings something unique to this new remittance route to Mexico.
El Vecino contributes 19 years of experience in physical remittance services to Mexico and an active user base already familiar with its operations. It currently processes approximately 25,000 transactions per month—amounting to $70 million annually—across remittances, domestic and international payments, check cashing, and other services. Around 85% of these transactions are destined for Mexico.
RISE provides the wallet and regional network that enable the digital user experience.
Movement contributes regulated payment infrastructure and stablecoin settlement within seconds, as well as compliant fiat on-ramps and off-ramps—services that have historically been difficult for community-based remittance operators to secure.
Operating the new route via WhatsAppInstead of having to visit a physical location to initiate each transfer, El Vecino users will be able to start the process via WhatsApp.
Funds are then settled almost instantly. The recipient in Mexico can receive them directly via SPEI or withdraw cash through a wide, well-known commercial network.
The new service will first be piloted with El Vecino’s 20,000 users. In a second phase, it will expand through the RISE network to reach an estimated 800,000 users. Looking ahead, the model also targets other corridors in Latin America, including Guatemala and El Salvador.
Crucially, this collaboration demonstrates that a community-based operator does not need to build its own blockchain infrastructure to modernize its remittance services to Mexico. It also shows that stablecoin-based remittances can function within a regulated model, offering real local payouts and an experience designed for users who already have established habits, trusted channels, and recurring needs.
From a broader perspective, the case is significant because it combines local distribution, a digital product, and regulated settlement in one of the world's most active remittance corridors.
Voices From The AllianceTorab Torabi, CEO of Movement, said: “For too long, many Mexicans have struggled to send their hard-earned money home. The partnership with El Vecino and RISE helps correct this imbalance and demonstrates that stablecoins can function as a reliable settlement mechanism.
It also allows us to show that regulated blockchain infrastructure can modernize one of the world’s most active remittance corridors.”
Mike Burns, founder of El Vecino, said: “El Vecino was built on the trust that comes from face-to-face interaction. Families trust us because they know we help them support their loved ones. Partnering with RISE and Movement allows us to bring that trust to a remote digital channel, with the same security and certainty that the money will arrive.”
Richard Mas, founder and CEO of RISE, said: “Every year, tens of billions of dollars flow from the United States to Mexico—money largely earned far from home by people whom the banking system has left behind. El Vecino spent 19 years building trust at the counter, household by household, and we are proud to join forces with them and Movement to give those users access to new, secure, and regulatory-compliant digital solutions.”
We at Movement are confident that this pathway will not only improve the experience for El Vecino users but can also serve as a model for other remittance providers serving migrant communities who are seeking a more efficient way to move money between the United States and Mexico.
This is where stablecoin-based remittances move beyond being an abstract idea and become practical infrastructure for solving real-world problems.
Movement anunció una alianza con El Vecino y RISE para lanzar una nueva ruta de remesas a México por WhatsApp que permitirá a usuarios en Estados Unidos iniciar envíos sin abrir una cuenta bancaria en EE.UU. ni descargar una app nueva.
La nueva ruta busca hacer más simple el envío de dinero a casa en uno de los corredores de remesas más importantes del mundo. Los fondos se liquidan en segundos y pueden recibirse por SPEI o retirarse en efectivo a través de redes físicas como OXXO y Circle K.
En un corredor donde más de 62 mil millones de dólares se movieron en 2024, la velocidad importa, pero la confianza también. Combina la relación de largo plazo que El Vecino ya tiene con la comunidad, la experiencia de producto de RISE y la infraestructura regulada de pagos de Movement. Cambios en la experiencia de remesas Durante años, muchas remesas a México han seguido un flujo parecido: traslado en efectivo, visitas al punto físico, intermediarios, tiempos de espera y liquidación en varios días.
Con esta nueva ruta, el usuario inicia el envío por WhatsApp, los fondos se liquidan en segundos y el destinatario puede recibir el dinero por SPEI o retirarlo en efectivo a través de OXXO y Circle K.
El punto no es vender una narrativa tecnológica. El punto es reducir fricción en una necesidad financiera que ya existe para miles de familias mexicanas. El contexto del corredor Estados Unidos-México Hablar de remesas con stablecoins solo tiene sentido si la infraestructura mejora la experiencia real del usuario. En este caso, la mejora está en menos pasos, menos dependencia de procesos manuales y una liquidación mucho más rápida.
El corredor Estados Unidos-México es el más grande del mundo, y sigue siendo uno de los más importantes para familias que dependen de envíos recurrentes. Poder iniciar el envío desde una herramienta tan familiar como WhatsApp, sin abrir una cuenta bancaria en EE.UU., responde a una necesidad práctica, no a una moda de producto.
También importa quién opera la relación con el cliente. El Vecino lleva 19 años construyendo confianza en remesas hacia México desde Nueva Jersey. Esa confianza es parte central del modelo. Cómo participa cada socio Cada parte aporta algo distinto a esta nueva ruta de remesas a México.
El Vecino aporta 19 años de experiencia en remesas físicas hacia México y una base activa de usuarios que ya conoce su operación. Actualmente procesa aproximadamente 25,000 transacciones al mes, equivalentes a 70 millones de dólares al año, entre remesas, pagos nacionales e internacionales, cambio de cheques y otros servicios. Alrededor del 85% de esas transacciones tienen como destino México.
RISE aporta la billetera y la red regional que hacen posible la experiencia digital del usuario.
Movement aporta infraestructura regulada de pagos y liquidación con stablecoins en segundos, además de on-ramps y off-ramps fiat en cumplimiento que históricamente han sido difíciles de conseguir para operadores comunitarios de remesas. La operación de la nueva ruta por WhatsApp En lugar de tener que ir a un local para iniciar cada transferencia, los usuarios de El Vecino podrán comenzar el proceso desde WhatsApp.
Después, los fondos se liquidan casi al instante. El destinatario en México puede recibirlos directamente por SPEI o retirarlos en efectivo en una red comercial amplia y conocida.
El nuevo servicio se probará primero con los 20,000 usuarios de El Vecino. En una segunda fase, se expandirá a través de la red de RISE hasta llegar a un estimado de 800,000 usuarios. Más adelante, el modelo también apunta a otros corredores en América Latina, incluidos Guatemala y El Salvador.
Esta colaboración muestra que un operador comunitario no necesita construir su propia infraestructura blockchain para modernizar sus remesas a México. También muestra que las remesas con stablecoins pueden funcionar dentro de un modelo regulado, con salida local real y con una experiencia pensada para usuarios que ya tienen hábitos claros, canales de confianza y necesidades recurrentes.
Desde una perspectiva más amplia, el caso importa porque combina distribución local, producto digital y liquidación regulada en uno de los corredores de remesas más activos del mundo. Voces de la alianza Torab Torabi, CEO de Movement, dijo: “Durante demasiado tiempo, muchos mexicanos han tenido dificultades para enviar a casa el dinero que ganan. La alianza con El Vecino y RISE ayuda a corregir ese desequilibrio y demuestra que los stablecoins pueden funcionar como un mecanismo de liquidación confiable. También nos permite mostrar que la infraestructura blockchain regulada puede modernizar uno de los corredores de remesas más activos del mundo.”
Mike Burns, fundador de El Vecino, dijo: “El Vecino se construyó sobre la confianza que nace del trato cara a cara. Las familias confían en nosotros porque saben que las ayudamos a apoyar a sus seres queridos. La alianza con RISE y Movement nos permite llevar esa confianza a un canal digital remoto, con la misma seguridad y certeza de que el dinero va a llegar.”
Richard Mas, fundador y CEO de RISE, dijo: “Cada año, decenas de miles de millones de dólares cruzan de Estados Unidos a México, la mayor parte ganada lejos de casa por personas que el sistema bancario dejó de lado. El Vecino pasó 19 años construyendo confianza en el mostrador, hogar por hogar, y nos enorgullece sumarnos junto a Movement para dar a esos usuarios acceso a soluciones digitales nuevas, seguras y compatibles con regulación.”
Esta ruta no solo mejorará la experiencia de usuarios de El Vecino, sino que también puede servir como referencia para otros proveedores de remesas que atienden comunidades migrantes y buscan una forma más eficiente de mover dinero entre Estados Unidos y México.
Ahí es donde las remesas con stablecoins dejan de ser una idea abstracta y empiezan a convertirse en infraestructura útil para resolver problemas concretos.
, /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Hill Foundation is proud to announce the upcoming launch of Season 5 of Conversations from the Frontlines, the foundation's PRism Award-winning podcast hosted by President and CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith.
Liberty Hill Foundation 50th Anniversary Premiering on Wednesday, August 12, Season 5 will feature candid conversations that dive into topics such as who gets to define social progress, who has the resources and power to build the future, and what community members, donors, foundations and public institutions can do to support lasting change. For the first time, full episodes will also be available in video on Liberty Hill's YouTube channel, produced by production partner Multitude Podcasts.
"For 50 years, Liberty Hill has stood alongside frontline communities who refuse to accept injustice as inevitable," said President & CEO Shane Murphy Goldsmith. "This season will reflect on the movements, victories, and organizers that brought us to this moment, while looking ahead to the future we're building together. These conversations will showcase that transformational change happens when people come together around a shared vision of what's possible."
The new season kicks off with two thought-provoking conversations that explore the relationship between power, narrative, and social change. In the season premiere, Glen Galaich, CEO of the Stupski Foundation, will discuss how philanthropy can challenge entrenched norms by shifting from models of control to more equitable, trust-based partnerships grounded in shared power. In Episode 2, award-winning journalist and author Sonali Kolhatkar will examine progressive movement building, the narratives that shape public understanding of race and democracy, and the essential role of community power in creating a more just and inclusive future.
Across Los Angeles, everyday residents are organizing to expand opportunities, strengthen democracy, advance racial and economic justice, and build more equitable communities. Through candid conversations and stories of their leadership, resilience, and collective action, Season 5 of Conversations from the Frontlines will bring listeners closer to that work—highlighting the movement leaders, visionaries, advocates, and changemakers who are "building the good," and planting the seeds of future progress.
About Liberty Hill Foundation
Liberty Hill Foundation is a laboratory for social change philanthropy. We leverage the power of community organizers, donor activists, and allies to advance social justice through strategic investment in grants, leadership training, and campaigns. We envision a society in which all people have a powerful voice, including those currently shut out of our democracy, people cut off from opportunities because of their skin color, gender or sexual orientation, where they live, or where they were born. We will not rest until society provides justice and equality for all.
Hong Kong stocks closed sharply higher across the board, with MINIMAX surging roughly 10%.
Hong Kong stocks closed, with the Hang Seng Index rising 0.24% and the Tech Index up 0.97%. Gold and semiconductor stocks stood out. MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) rose around 10%, Luoyang Molybdenum (03993.HK) gained about 9%, and Hua Hong Hongli (01347.HK) increased roughly 5%.
2 minutes ago
Reality and The Network Firm have upgraded their partnership, with plans to deliver daily audit reports on U.S. stock tokens.
According to official announcements, Reality, Bitget’s licensed real-world asset (RWA) issuance platform, has announced a deepened partnership with U.S. audit firm The Network Firm. Under the upgraded collaboration, The Network Firm will deliver daily Proof of Reserves (PoR) audit reports for U.S. stock rTokens issued by Reality, adhering to attestation standards set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The audits are designed to confirm that every issued rToken matches the corresponding stock or ETF asset held in the custody account. The underlying stocks and ETFs remain custodied by Alpaca Securities LLC, a U.S. broker-dealer registered with FINRA and protected by SIPC, establishing a transparent, tripartite independent framework for issuance, verification, and custody. Reality’s U.S. stock rTokens now support 634 tokenized stocks and ETFs, and are deeply integrated into the Bitget ecosystem, usable in core scenarios including unified account margin, staking, and lending. Prior data indicates that the assets under management (AUM) of Bitget’s stock rTokens surpassed $100 million within one month of launch.
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Iran: No agreement on the Strait of Hormuz can be reached if the US continues its interference.
According to announcements from Iranian authorities and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on August 5, a source revealed that the primary reason Iran and Oman have failed to reach an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz is US intervention and threats from US President Donald Trump. It is understood that as long as the US continues to interfere and issue military threats against Iran, the relevant agreement will not be reached.
2 minutes ago
Predict.fun has launched a prediction market for the Shanghai Composite Index’s ups and downs, with the probability of a closing gain currently standing at 50%.
Data from prediction market platform Predict.fun shows that Predict has launched a prediction market for the question: "Will the SSE Composite Index rise or fall on August 6, 2026?" As of press time, the market assigns a 50% probability to the SSE Composite Index closing higher. Notably, expectations between bullish and bearish participants are nearly balanced, indicating that there remains substantial market divergence.
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Analysis: Over 60% of the top 100 tokens by market cap have become "dead" within five years, and the mortality rate is projected to reach 84.7% in 10 years.
CryptoRank released a report analyzing 1,539 tokens that once ranked in the top 100 of the cryptocurrency market by capitalization, finding that 71.9% of them have been classified as "operationally dead". The study defines a "dead" token as one that has been delisted from major trading platforms and recorded daily trading volumes below $10,000 for over 90 consecutive days. Data indicates that roughly 62% of top 100 tokens become inactive within five years, with their mortality rate projected to hit 84.7% after a decade, while the median lifespan of such tokens is just 2 years and 4 months.
As volatility remains high across the cryptocurrency market, on-chain monitoring service Whale Alert reported a significant movement: Binance transferred 500 million USDT from its exchange wallet to Tether Treasury. Tether is the company behind the largest dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDT, which is widely used on exchanges as a proxy for US dollars and to facilitate crypto trades.
Large USDT transfer draws attentionThe sizeable transfer coincided with a key technical level in Bitcoin’s price action. At the time of the movement, Bitcoin had achieved a rebound to $64,964 on Bitstamp, sitting just below the psychologically important $65,000 mark. Such moments often trigger increased attention from traders and analysts, as they may dictate short-term sentiment in the market.
Typically, the movement of stablecoins like USDT into centralized exchanges signals buying interest. Conversely, a withdrawal or return of this size to Tether’s treasury can suggest reduced liquidity on the exchange.
Despite the initial impression of declining liquidity, market participants did not express concern, as the spot price action remained stable, and Bitcoin continued to rally toward local highs.
Technical explanation and intentAccording to analysts, the transfer is widely seen as a routine technical process rather than a reflection of changing market appetite. Rather than indicating a major sell-off or sudden liquidity loss, Binance is likely optimizing for network fees and speed.
The exchange may be returning an excess supply of USDT tokens on the slower and costlier ERC-20 Ethereum network. In return, it can receive an equivalent amount of USDT on blockchains with faster processing and lower fees, such as Tron or others. This practice enables Binance to efficiently meet the increasing demand for margin by traders while keeping transaction costs in check.
Mini dictionary: Cross-chain swap, a technical process where crypto assets are moved from one blockchain network to another to optimize speed, fees, or utility, commonly used by exchanges to manage liquidity across different blockchains.
Bitcoin holds gains as market absorbs transactionOn the price front, the most recent five-minute BTC/USD chart showed Bitcoin bouncing from a strong support level. The Point of Control (POC), reflecting the area of highest trading volume, was set at $64,102. Observers noted that the price rebounded precisely from this horizontal level, reinforcing its technical significance.
MetricLevelBitcoin price (Bitstamp)$64,964Support (POC)$64,102USDT transfer amount500 millionMomentum indicators echoed stabilization in the market. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which had slipped into an oversold region near 20, reverted to the neutral 40–60 range, highlighting easing selling pressure and renewed buying interest. This transition suggested that bearish momentum had faded and buyers were regaining control in the short term.
Liquidity impact remains limitedDespite the size of the USDT transfer, the broader crypto market absorbed the event without significant volatility spikes. Bitcoin held firm near the upper bounds of its current trading range, and liquidity conditions showed no signs of abrupt tightening.
Both traders and analysts considered the transaction a regular operational move rather than a catalyst for market disruption. As a result, spot market conditions remained calm, with no evidence of panic or abrupt trend reversals.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Most network failures don’t send advanced warnings.
I spent nearly a decade at Qualcomm and Google building core technology for systems designed to scale across millions of consumers. Centralized infrastructure handles volume by hiding complexity. The architecture looks clean until institutional load hits it. Then you find the assumptions baked in at the foundation.
Moving to Solana Labs changed the question I was asking. Decentralized protocols cannot hide complexity behind a centralized state. Every transaction is a distributed consensus problem. After years there and then at Concordia as Head of Engineering, I watched what happens when the runtime cannot hold the state transitions that institutional volume demands. Most protocols build around that problem. They layer workarounds until the architecture carries more debt than infrastructure.
That is why I joined Movement as Head of Lending Infrastructure.
Movement’s execution environment delivers deterministic throughput at institutional scale. My job is to maintain that standard as the network grows. The network is already live, already moving money. The question is whether the architecture scales without losing what makes it trustworthy. A decade across centralized and decentralized systems taught me one thing: users stick with what works. Everything else is temporary.
PANews reported on July 29: According to Bitcoin.com News statistics, from January to July 2026, over 60 crypto companies, blockchain and DeFi protocols shut down or filed for bankruptcy, with the pace of closures accelerating notably in the last weeks of July. Security vulnerabilities, regulatory friction, and unsustainable business models are the three main reasons.
Exchanges: BitMEX announced it will cease operations on September 23, AscendEX halted trading on July 1 due to failure to obtain an EU MiCA license, BitMart started a phased shutdown, and Odos will close all services on July 30. Bankruptcies: Movement Labs filed for Chapter 11 on July 21, Poolin filed for bankruptcy protection this month, and Storj Labs also submitted a Chapter 11 filing. Layer1/L2: Powerloom, Botanix, Hyli, Sophon, Swellchain, Milkyway, Mint Blockchain, and others shut down successively. DeFi protocols: Radiant Capital, Ionic Protocol, Carrot Finance, Step Finance, Polynomial, Seamless Protocol, Everclear, Angle Protocol, and others shut down due to security vulnerabilities or unsustainable economic models. Wallets: Secondfi, Ctrl Wallet, Xenea, Leap Wallet, Magic Eden wallet, and others shut down due to security incidents or strategic adjustments. NFT and gaming platforms: Foundation, Pudgy Party, Fishing Frenzy, Gensokishi Online, and others also shut down. DAO tools: Tally, Syndicate, Parsec, Slingshot, and others shut down due to insufficient demand or intense competition.
The numbers are stark. Movement Labs raised $141.4 million from investors, yet its fully diluted valuation collapsed more than 99% from its all-time peak to $107 million. Daily on-chain fees in the last 24 hours? Just $1. Application revenue hasn’t topped $800 per day since last November. The company has now filed for bankruptcy, according to the weekly project update from WuBlockchain.
The episode sits inside a wider pattern: a growing number of projects that secured nine-figure war chests during the last bull cycle are running out of runway without ever finding a market fit. Earlier this week, DEX aggregator Odos announced it will shut down all services permanently on July 30, with users urged to withdraw funds or export private keys before then. Not every shutdown gets a bankruptcy label, but the dynamic is the same—capital alone doesn’t create demand. In contrast, the most active chains right now show a different kind of metabolism, as seen in the latest developer activity rankings this week.
Worldcoin Sells $52.5M of WLD at a 36% Discount The Worldcoin Foundation sold 217.4 million WLD tokens to institutional investors including Pantera Capital, raising approximately $52.5 million. At an effective price near $0.24 per token, the deal closed at roughly a 36% discount to the spot market at the time. The tokens came from the team wallet, are now distributed across multiple addresses, and carry a one-year lock-up period.
The Worldcoin Foundation stressed that the sold WLD does not represent equity or profit entitlements in Tools for Humanity, the main development firm behind the project. Proceeds are earmarked to expand World ID technology for enterprises, consumers, and AI agents. The network now reports over 39 million users, with more than 18 million Orb-verified. Still, a large over-the-counter sale at a deep discount suggests the foundation needed to raise cash without spooking order books, a move that often signals liquidity management rather than purely strategic allocation.
A Bridge Exploit, a 30% Price Drop, and Frozen Exchange Accounts Wanchain’s cross-chain bridge connecting to Cardano was hit by an exploit that drained roughly 515 million NIGHT tokens from the bridge vault, worth around $9 million. The vulnerability stemmed from non-injective encoding of signed messages inside the TreasuryCheck validator. By directly concatenating 14 variable-length fields to build signed payloads, the system allowed different field combinations to produce identical byte sequences, enabling a signature reuse attack.
The incident sent the NIGHT token tumbling more than 30% in 24 hours to as low as $0.0158. The Midnight Foundation said exchanges including Binance, Kraken, KuCoin, Bybit, OKX, Gate, and MEXC froze linked accounts, blacklisted attacker wallets, and suspended NIGHT deposits and withdrawals where needed. The foundation noted the core network and underlying asset remain unaffected, but the breach undercut confidence in third-party bridging solutions yet again, adding to a long list of bridge exploits that have plagued multi-chain users.
Compliance Infrastructure and Institutional Entry Points Not every development this week pointed toward failure. Uniswap Labs announced Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard built on Uniswap v4 that lets asset issuers manage whitelists at the protocol layer instead of relying on frontend or off-chain controls. The design verifies wallet permissions on every trade and liquidity addition, and leverages v4’s virtual accounting to keep permissioned assets secure. Initial partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo, tapping into the ERC-3643 standard. The move fits into a larger tokenization trend where regulated assets are moving on-chain, a theme explored in the recent tokenization market roundup.
On the exchange front, Robinhood Chain hit $700 million in total on-chain assets three weeks after launch, with stablecoins making up $430 million. Roughly $200 million sits in Morpho, which is now integrated directly into the Robinhood app, removing the need for a standalone Robinhood Wallet and generating around 7% annualized yield. That kind of native yield access inside a mainstream brokerage app is precisely the bridge between traditional fintech and DeFi that many projects promised but rarely delivered. In a separate sign of institutional engagement, LayerZero partnered with payment infrastructure firm Keeta to support cross-chain transfers of tokenized commercial bank deposits across Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Keeta Network. Keeta plans to launch stablecoins pegged to nine fiat currencies later this month.
The divergence is sharp. While some former high-fliers file for bankruptcy or sell tokens at distressed prices, others are building infrastructure that connects regulated capital to on-chain rails. The industry is not shrinking—it’s getting sorted.
AUTHOR
Brenda is a writer with three years of experience specializing in cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. She graduated from the University of Mombasa with a degree in Psychology. She has worked at Cryptopolitan and Blockchain Reporter.
The MOVE token is trading more than 99% below its all-time high of $1.45 and hit an all-time low barely two days ago.
Movement Labs has filed for Chapter 11 insolvency protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Delaware.
This follows months of controversy and a token scandal that left the network dealing with major financial issues.
Movement’s Bankruptcy Timeline In its bankruptcy filing, the company said it has under 1,000 creditors, between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets, and more than $1 million in liabilities. The largest unsecured claim, worth more than $1.6 million, belongs to former co-founder Ruhikesh Manche. Other major creditors are the Delaware Division of Revenue and Anchorage Digital.
The firm’s problems started in December 2024, after it launched its MOVE token. But shortly after its debut on Binance, some $66 million worth of the tokens were dumped onto the market as part of a market-making deal with Rentech. This sudden increase in supply led to its price tumbling and wiped out billions of dollars in value within days.
Binance later banned Rentech for misconduct, accusing it of selling the entire stash just one day after the listing while placing very few buy orders. According to the exchange, the market maker earned a profit of $38 million before it removed it from its platform on March 18.
Movement then launched a token buyback program in response to repurchase MOVE tokens and restore liquidity to the ecosystem. It also contracted Groom Lake to review its deal with Rentech, after which it was discovered that it had ties to the Chinese market maker Web3Port, ultimately leading to the dismissal of Manche over the scandal.
Per the bankruptcy filing, the first creditor hearing is scheduled for August 20.
You may also like: Crypto Lender BlockFills Enters Chapter 11 with Up to $500M in Liabilities From $141M to $8 in Daily Fees Interestingly, Movement had raised a total of $141.4 million across several funding rounds, including a Series A led by Polychain Capital. On paper, that level of funding should have provided the project with some financial stability, but the network’s on-chain activity tells a different story.
DeFiLlama data shows its daily app revenue has been less than $800 since November 2025. The project’s chain fees have also stayed in the single digits for months, with returns for the last 24 hours at just $8 per the same source.
MOVE hit a new all-time low on July 20, after a stormy few months where it went from about $0.041 in January to $0.01043 two days ago. At the time of writing, it had moved less than 2% from the all-time low, with its new level representing a plunge of over 99% from its all-time high of $1.45, according to CoinGecko data. Meanwhile, the network’s Total Value locked (TVL) sits at roughly $133 million.
Movement was originally made to link blockchains built on its Move programming language with Ethereum. But the layer-2 network announced in June that it would be pivoting toward cross-border payments, remittances, and dollar-saving products.
MVMT Labs, the original research and development company responsible for the foundational technology of the Movement Network, has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The petition was submitted to the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in early July 2026.
According to the filing details, the company lists assets in the range of $100,001 to $500,000 and liabilities of up to $10 million. It identifies as many as 299 creditors.
The largest unsecured claim belongs to co-founder Rushikesh “Rushi” Manche, totaling over $1.6 million. Manche retains a 34.25% equity stake and had previously prevailed in Delaware Chancery Court proceedings to secure advancement of legal fees linked to a US Department of Justice investigation arising from events surrounding the project’s token launch.
MVMT Labs played a central role in developing the Movement Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain that employs the Move programming language (originally designed for Meta’s abandoned stablecoin project).
The firm secured substantial funding, notably a $38 million Series A round led by Polychain Capital, before encountering major setbacks.
The December 2024 launch of the MOVE token encountered severe difficulties due to a market-making agreement that placed control of approximately 66 million tokens—about 5% of total supply—with an entity referred to as Rentech.
Quick liquidation of these tokens after debut caused a steep price collapse and prompted trading suspensions on major exchanges including Binance and Coinbase.
An internal investigation into the circumstances led to Manche’s departure from the company.
Subsequently, MVMT Labs restructured by shifting primary development duties to Move Industries, led by Torab Torabi.
This transition supported the ecosystem’s evolution into a sovereign Layer 1 blockchain focused on financial services for emerging markets.
The Movement Foundation pursued token buybacks and provided investor offramps to promote stability. Move Industries has stated it is not part of the bankruptcy process.
Chapter 11 allows MVMT Labs to operate as a debtor-in-possession while pursuing a court-supervised path to address obligations and potentially restructure for long-term sustainability.
Additional significant claims in the filing include those from the Delaware Division of Corporations (approximately $459,000), Move Industries, Anchorage Digital, and auditing firm Ottersec.
This filing illustrates the challenges facing blockchain development companies amid market volatility, regulatory attention, and execution risks. Observers will monitor the proceedings for their potential effects on the Movement ecosystem and broader adoption of Move-based technologies. The case emphasizes the importance of strong internal controls and transparency in high-stakes crypto projects.
The company behind the Move-based layer-2 network collapsed into bankruptcy after a token-dump scandal.
Posted July 22, 2026 at 6:34 am EST.
Movement Labs, the original developer behind the Movement blockchain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week, capping an extended period of controversy.
Movement Labs in its filings reported between $100,001 and $500,000 in assets and liabilities of up to $10 million. The company listed co-founder Rushikesh “Rushi” Manche, the Delaware Division of Revenue and Anchorage Digital among its largest creditors.
This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.
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Movement Labs’ troubles began shortly after the December 2024 launch of the MOVE token.
A market-making agreement had given a little-known company Rentech control of 66 million MOVE tokens to be sold into the market one day after the token debuted, contributing to a significant price decline.
The fallout reshaped the Movement Labs. The company in May 2025 separated from Manche after internal investigations. It also transferred responsibility of Movement blockchain’s development to a separate company called Move Industries.
Move Industries last month said it would pivot away from competing with other Ethereum scaling networks and instead focus on cross-border payments, remittances, and stablecoin settlement, claiming access to licensed payment infrastructure in the U.S., Canada, and the European Union.
Related Listen: The Chopping Block: Is Strategy the Luna for Suits?, ETH Labs Shakeup & CME vs Perps
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
Movement has joined the Mesh Alliance Program (MAP), Mesh's industry-wide interoperability initiative designed to simplify the growing complexity of crypto payments. Movement joins more than 50 partners that connect through Mesh's shared infrastructure, giving every app built on Movement a direct path to the hundreds of accounts where users already hold funds.
Accessing onchain liquidityFor Movement, Mesh closes the gap that stops most users before they start: getting money onto the network. Any app built on Movement can embed Mesh, let a user connect an account they already hold, and pull that balance onchain in a couple of taps. No withdrawal form. No wallet address to copy. No network to pick.
Movement adds one thing on top. A user holding MOVE, or any other token, on an exchange can deposit and receive a stablecoin on Movement instead. The asset the user holds and the asset the app needs do not have to match. The conversion happens inside the deposit.
Motion Wallet ships with Mesh firstMotion Wallet is Movement's self-custodial wallet. Keys stay on the user's device. It ships with the Mesh integration first. A user opens Motion Wallet, connects an exchange account through Mesh, and funds the wallet in a few taps. The same pattern is open to every partner building on Movement.
Remittance corridor realityRemittances to low and middle-income countries reached $685 billion in 2024. Those transfers settle in 278ms on Movement. But settlement speed only matters once the money is on the network, and that first step is where most products lose their users.
Most people in the markets Movement's partners serve already hold a balance on an exchange. They have the money. What they lack is a way to move it into an app without a withdrawal process that loses them halfway through. The markets Mesh is expanding into next, across Latin America, Asia, and Europe, are the same corridors Movement's partners are building for.
Movement CEO, Torab Torabi explains, "Until now, if you wanted to move money in crypto, you had to do all the heavy lifting yourself. Set up a wallet, keep balances on a couple of exchanges, bridge between networks, then paste in a 40-character address and hope the money actually showed up. Nobody liked doing that. We put up with it because there wasn't a better option. This is the pain point that Mesh alleviates. Your money moves from wherever it is to where you needs to be. The bridging happens underneath, where you as the user never have to deal with it. If we want the next billion people moving funds onchain, it has to be that simple."
Full CEX deposit support on Movement targets Q3 2026. Once network support is live across exchanges, the integration takes one to three weeks. The alliance is open to every partner building on Movement.
Move is for Money.
*This post is informational only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation of any digital asset, security, financial instrument, investment product, or stablecoin, or financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. Mesh's products and services are operated solely by Mesh, subject to Mesh's terms and applicable law. Products built on Movement Network by independent partners are operated by those partners subject to their own terms, eligibility criteria, and jurisdictional availability, and may not be available to US persons or in jurisdictions where prohibited. Product descriptions reflect publicly available information and have not been independently verified. Forward-looking statements reflect current expectations and are not guarantees.
The CLARITY Act, a significant U.S. crypto market-structure bill, may face delays due to ongoing negotiations over its ethics provisions, which aim to prevent federal officials from profiting from crypto while in office. This uncertainty has contributed to a decline in market confidence regarding the Act’s enactment in 2026. Meanwhile, Kalshi has launched a U.S. Midterms Hub, enhancing the political prediction market landscape by integrating live odds with various political data. Concurrently, Movement Labs, the entity behind the Movement blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, following a period marked by governance issues and token-market controversies.
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Key Takeaways The CLARITY Act’s passage appears uncertain as a compromise over ethics provisions remains unresolved. Kalshi’s launch of a U.S. Midterms Hub suggests an expansion in political prediction markets, offering comprehensive election data integration. Movement Labs’ Chapter 11 filing indicates ongoing financial stress within the blockchain sector, impacting market confidence. What to Watch Observers will be looking at potential developments in the CLARITY Act’s negotiations, as any progress or setbacks could influence market perceptions of its 2026 passage. The reaction of political stakeholders, such as President Trump and key congressional leaders, will be crucial in shaping the Act’s legislative journey. Additionally, the impact of Movement Labs’ bankruptcy on the broader blockchain ecosystem may reveal further vulnerabilities or resilience within the sector. Kalshi’s Midterms Hub could also serve as a barometer for public engagement and sentiment in the lead-up to the U.S. elections.
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MVMT Labs entered Chapter 11 with up to $10 million in liabilities and reported assets below $500,000. Former co-founder Rushi Manche holds the largest unsecured creditor claim, valued above $1.6 million. The MOVE token crisis began after 66 million tokens were sold through a disputed market-making agreement. Move Industries remains separate from MVMT Labs, keeping Movement blockchain development outside bankruptcy. MVMT Labs, the original developer behind the Movement blockchain, has entered Chapter 11 after a token-launch controversy weakened its finances and corporate structure. The July 15 filing places the company under Delaware bankruptcy protection while creditors, former executives, and service providers pursue claims against its remaining assets.
Movement Labs Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy With Liabilities Above $1 Million
Movement Labs, the developer of the Movement blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Court filings show the company has between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets, more than $1… pic.twitter.com/7wJjZuYye4
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 21, 2026
Court records show estimated assets between $100,001 and $500,000, compared with liabilities ranging from $1 million to $10 million. The petition lists 200 to 999 creditors, highlighting the obligations now facing a company once promoted as a major crypto infrastructure builder.
Subchapter V Filing Reveals Deep Debt and Creditor Pressure The case, filed as 26-11113, was assigned to Judge Thomas M. Horan in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. MVMT Labs selected Subchapter V, a streamlined restructuring process for eligible small businesses seeking court-approved repayment or reorganization plans.
Under that framework, the debtor remains in control while a trustee supervises negotiations and financial disclosures. Jeffrey Schwendeman was appointed trustee, and the company requested approval for post-petition financing.
Consequently, a creditors’ meeting is scheduled for August 20, while most proofs of claim must be submitted by September 14. The company’s restructuring plan is due October 13, creating a timetable for determining whether it can reorganize or wind down.
Former co-founder Rushikesh “Rushi” Manche holds the largest listed unsecured claim, exceeding $1.6 million. He also retains a 34.25% ownership stake in MVMT Labs.
Other creditors include the Delaware Division of Corporations, Move Industries, Anchorage Digital, and blockchain security company OtterSec. Their claims reflect legal, operational, and corporate obligations.
In March, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that Manche was entitled to advancement of legal costs. Those expenses relate to a federal investigation involving the company and activities surrounding the MOVE Token launch.
Disputed MOVE Market-Making Deal Triggered the Collapse The dispute began after the MOVE Token launched in December 2024. A market-making agreement gave Rentech access to 66 million tokens, equal to about 5% of supply.
Binance later said the market maker sold the allocation with little corresponding buy-side activity. The sales generated roughly $38 million in USDT before Binance removed the account for misconduct.
Movement Network Foundation said it had not known about the activity. It later pledged recovered proceeds toward a $38 million MOVE Token repurchase program.
However, a CoinDesk investigation identified internal concerns regarding the agreement’s structure and Rentech’s relationship with Web3Port. Rentech, nevertheless, denied wrongdoing and rejected claims of misrepresentation.
The crypto scandal soon spread beyond the token market. Coinbase suspended MOVE trading in May 2025, while Movement commissioned an outside investigation into the arrangement.
MVMT Labs later terminated Manche, and development responsibilities shifted away from the bankrupt company. Move Industries, formed by former Movement personnel, now oversees much of the network’s work.
Chief Executive Torab Torabi said Move Industries remains legally separate and continues operating normally. Therefore, the bankruptcy does not automatically place the blockchain or its current developer under court protection.
IMPORTANT CLARIFICATIONS
1. I am the CEO of Move Industries and Move Industries is the developer team of the Movement ecosystem
2. MVMT Labs filed for bankruptcy
3. MVMT Labs has no affiliation with Move Industries, thus Move Industries is not involved in the bankruptcy
The filing now turns attention toward creditor claims, financial schedules, and the October restructuring plan. Those documents will show whether Movement Labs can preserve assets or must close.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Movement Labs, the developer of the Movement blockchain network, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US due to financial difficulties. According to court documents, the company’s assets range from $100,000 to $500,000, while its total liabilities exceed $1 million. The filing also states that the company has fewer than 1,000 creditors.
A Chapter 11 filing allows companies to undergo a restructuring process without completely ceasing operations. In this process, the company aims to continue operations and improve its financial structure by restructuring its debts. Movement Labs is expected to continue its operations while conducting restructuring negotiations with its creditors.
According to court records, the company’s largest creditors include Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, the Delaware Division of Revenue, and Anchorage Digital, a digital asset custody service provider. The documents show that the company’s financial structure has deteriorated significantly recently, and its debt burden has exceeded its current assets.
The bankruptcy filing comes after controversies surrounding MOVE, the native token of the Movement ecosystem. The company has long been in the public eye due to allegations regarding its market-making activities for the MOVE token. An internal investigation was launched within the company, and subsequently, Binance banned the market-making account allegedly linked to the incident from its platform.
Following these developments, Movement Labs announced in May 2025 that it had parted ways with co-founder Rushi Manche. This separation was considered a significant change in project management and negatively impacted investor confidence in the MOVE token.
Companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector have been undergoing restructuring processes in recent years due to increasing regulatory pressures, market volatility, and financing difficulties.
Analysts say that Movement Labs’ Chapter 11 process is critical to the company’s future, and that the success of the restructuring plan will depend on both the creditors’ approach and the project’s capacity to revitalize its ecosystem. They also emphasize that investors should closely monitor any new announcements from the court and the company regarding the bankruptcy proceedings.
*This is not investment advice.
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Movement Labs has formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, marking a major turning point for the developer behind the Movement blockchain.
Court filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware show the company sought protection on the 15th of July. According to the filing, the firm had approximately $100,000-$500,000 in assets and over $1 million in liabilities at the time it entered into the bankruptcy protection process.
Source: Pacemonitor The estimated assets and liabilities highlight mounting financial strain after months of operational and governance challenges. The MOVE token market-making controversy, an internal investigation, and Binance’s ban on the related market-making account further weakened confidence.
Additionally, Movement Labs severed ties with co-founder Rushi Manche. In addition to uncertainty about future leadership, the severance raises questions about how Movement Labs intends to rebuild confidence within its community.
However, financial restructuring alone will not restore confidence. Lasting recovery depends on rebuilding trust across the broader Movement ecosystem through consistent execution.
Growth lagged despite substantial fundraising The bankruptcy filing also provides context for how Movement Labs’ funding translated into ecosystem growth. While the project raised an estimated $41.4 million, developer activity and ecosystem expansion remained relatively limited throughout its development.
Source: Cryptorank.io GitHub commits and contributor growth showed little sustained acceleration, while grants and incentives generated only modest user and dApp adoption. As development slowed, the funding primarily extended the project’s operating runway rather than strengthening network participation.
That pattern became clearer when Chapter 11 filings listed $100,000-$500,000 in assets against liabilities of up to $10 million. Together, those figures prove that fundraising alone could not offset weak ecosystem growth. As a result, this left the project increasingly dependent on capital instead of sustained network activity.
Weak network activity limited economic growth Movement Labs’ financial challenges also reflected a deeper weakness in its underlying network economy. Daily app revenue has remained below $800 since November, while chain fees fell to just $1 over the past 24 hours.
These figures indicate users interacted with the network far too infrequently to create sustainable economic activity.
Source: DeFiLlama That weak demand also weighed on market confidence, pushing MOVE’s fully diluted valuation down more than 99% to $107 million.
Rather than pointing to a temporary slowdown, the declining revenue and fee trends indicate the ecosystem struggled to support itself once funding stopped driving growth.
Taken together, Movement Labs leaves behind an ecosystem that never achieved the scale needed to sustain long-term growth. This reinforces the fact that lasting blockchain success depends on sustained network activity, not capital alone.
Final Summary Movement Labs entered Chapter 11 after limited network activity failed to establish a sustainable on-chain economy. Movement demonstrated that strong fundraising alone cannot compensate for weak ecosystem growth and sustained user adoption.
Movement Labs filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Move Industries CEO Torab Torabi clarified that MVMT Labs has no affiliation with Move Industries. Movement Labs, the original developer behind the MOVE-based Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 15 under Subchapter V. The court filings, docketed as case number 1:26-bk-11113, and it is assigned to Judge Thomas M. Horan. The list of assets is between $100,001 and $500,000, liabilities between $1 million and $10 million, and between 200 and 999 creditors.
The largest creditors include co-founder Rushi Manche, the Delaware Division of Revenue, and Anchorage Digital. The filing allows Movement Labs to keep operating while restructuring under court supervision. Creditors have until September 14 to file claims.
Move Industries Steps In With Clarity Torab Torabi, CEO of Move Industries, clarified the situation. Move Industries is the developer team of the Movement ecosystem. MVMT Labs filed for bankruptcy, and MVMT Labs has no affiliation with Move Industries. Further stating that Move Industries is not involved in the bankruptcy process in any way.
Move Industries took over development and operations of the Movement ecosystem from Movement Labs in December 2025 and continues to operate normally. The company describes itself as a global fintech firm with access to live, licensed stablecoin rails, built to close the gap between how money moves and how it should move.
Recently, the court approved interim requests allowing Movement Labs to maintain its bank accounts, cash management systems, and secure debtor-in-possession financing to fund operations during restructuring.
What Led to This Point The trouble started immediately after the MOVE token launched in December 2024. A market-making deal handed a single counterparty 66 million MOVE tokens, roughly 5% of total supply, which were sold a day after launch. It created an estimated $38 million in downward price pressure and triggered internal investigations.
Binance banned the market maker for misconduct. Co-founder Rushi Manche was suspended in May 2025 over his role in brokering the Web3Port deal and later departed the company. The June 2025 transition toward cross-border payments proved too late to reverse the underlying trend. The bankruptcy filing was the final chapter of a slow and public unravelling.
On the other hand, the token MOVE is currently trading within the $0.01072 range. Significantly, it falls above the asset’s all-time low price of $0.01044, hit two days ago.
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MVMT Labs, Inc. (Movement Labs) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a prolonged period of instability that saw the blockchain developer grapple with a disputed token launch, governance issues and a major change in strategy, according to court documents first uncovered by CoinDesk.
Founded by Rushi Manche and Cooper Scanlon, MVMT Labs developed an Ethereum layer 2 network powered by the Move programming language created at Meta, with ambitions to bring Move-based smart contracts to Ethereum while improving transaction speed and costs.
The startup raised a $38 million Series A led by Polychain Capital in April 2024, following a $3.4 million pre-seed round that brought its total disclosed equity financing to about $41.4 million.
According to Fortune, the company later pursued a roughly $100 million Series B in early 2025 led by CoinFund and backed by Brevan Howard’s digital assets arm, valuing the company at around $3 billion.
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However, the team became embroiled in controversy after its MOVE token launch, with an internal review scrutinizing a market-making deal that allegedly granted intermediary Rentech control over 66 million MOVE tokens, a CoinDesk investigation in April 2025 found.
The controversy resulted in Binance banning the market maker and Manche exiting the project. MOVE also experienced a sharp price decline. The token last traded at $0.01, down 99% from its all-time high.
Move Industries says it is separate from bankrupt MVMT Labs Movement underwent a management overhaul in May 2025 with the creation of Move Industries, a new company formed by former Movement Labs employees to oversee the ecosystem.
Calling the transition “a clean break” following months of controversy, the firm named Torab Torabi as chief executive and Will Gaines as president and chief marketing officer. The new leadership pledged stronger governance, more transparent engagement with the community and tighter oversight, while shifting the project’s focus toward long-term technology development and ecosystem growth.
Movement announced last month that it would shift its focus toward cross-border payments, remittances and stablecoin settlement. It said it had obtained access to licensed payments infrastructure in North America and Europe as part of that strategy.
Following news of the bankruptcy, Torabi clarified in a statement that MVMT Labs is “a separate legal entity” and that Move Industries is “operating normally.”
You may have seen the news about the Chapter 11 filing by MVMT Labs, Inc. on July 15th.
Two things worth saying clearly:
1 – MVMT Labs, Inc. is a separate legal entity, and Move Industries is not part of that filing.
2 – Move Industries is operating normally.
We continue to…
— Torab (@torabyou) July 21, 2026
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Movement Labs, the original developers behind the Move blockchain, have filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. This move comes after scandals involving the MOVE token and a restructuring that led to a major overhaul of the token’s ecosystem.
Movement Labs Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court filings show that the firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week with assets worth up to $500,000 and liabilities exceeding $1 million. Creditors include co-founder and CEO Rushi Manche, who left the company last year.
This follows several controversies that involved the MOVE token. Last year, there were allegations that Movement Labs had promised 10% of its MOVE token supply to early insiders. This had contributed to the sharp decline that the token suffered around that period.
There was also controversy about a market-making deal involving 66 million MOVE tokens that were sold after launch. The top crypto exchange Binance banned the market maker and froze the profits, which it used to compensate users.
Movement Labs also announced at the time that it had conducted an investigation and promised to carry out token buybacks. This was also around the time of the restructuring, with Move Industries taking over operations for the MOVE blockchain. Meanwhile, the company officially terminated the co-founder Rushi Manche for signing undisclosed deals.
Move Industries CEO Provides Clarification In an X post, Move Industries CEO Torab clarified that Movement Labs is a separate legal entity from Move Industries and that the latter is not part of the filing. “Move Industries is operating normally. We continue to put our heads down and build,” he assured.
Move Industries led the pivot of the Move blockchain from an Ethereum layer-2 to an independent Layer-1 network late last year. The network now positions itself as a settlement layer for stablecoin payments in emerging markets.
The MOVE token is trading flat amid this development of Movement Labs filing for bankruptcy. The token is currently trading at around 0.0108, up less than 1%, according to TradingView data.
Source: TradingView; MOVE daily chart For more information on crypto exchanges, please check out our page on Best Crypto Exchanges and Apps for 2026
The company behind the MOVE token filed a voluntary petition in Delaware listing up to $10 million in liabilities, capping a year of governance disputes, a market-making scandal and a failed strategic pivot.
MVMT Labs, Inc., the developer behind the Movement blockchain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on July 15, according to the court docket.
The voluntary petition, docketed as case number 26-11113 and assigned to Judge Thomas M. Horan, lists assets of between $100,001 and $1 million, liabilities of between $1 million and $10 million, and 200 to 999 creditors. The San Francisco-based company filed under Subchapter V, the streamlined small-business track of Chapter 11, and is represented by Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP.
A meeting of creditors is scheduled for Aug. 20, and the deadline for filing proofs of claim is Sept. 14, the docket shows. Chapter 11 allows a company to continue operating while it restructures its debts under court supervision.
The filing was first reported by CoinDesk, which said the company's largest creditors include co-founder Rushi Manche, the Delaware Division of Revenue and crypto custodian Anchorage Digital.
From Meta's Move Language to Delaware CourtMovement launched as an Ethereum layer 2 built with Move, the programming language originally developed at Meta for its shelved Diem project. The network aimed to bring Move-based smart contracts to Ethereum while offering faster and cheaper transactions.
Its troubles began shortly after the December 2024 launch of the MOVE token. An April 2025 CoinDesk investigation reported that Movement was examining whether it had been misled into signing a market-making agreement that gave a single counterparty outsized influence over MOVE's circulating supply. Internal documents reviewed by the outlet showed the arrangement allowed 66 million MOVE tokens to be sold into the market one day after the token debuted, contributing to a sharp price decline.
The documents centered on Rentech, an intermediary that appeared in contracts connected to Chinese market maker Web3Port. Rentech has denied any wrongdoing or misrepresentation.
Binance banned the market-making account tied to the launch for what it described as misconduct. Movement launched a token buyback program and hired investigations firm Groom Lake to review the deal.
Movement Labs and Manche separated in May 2025. Manche later sued the startup in Delaware, as The Defiant reported.
A Pivot That Preceded the FilingIn June, the project said it would pivot away from competing with other Ethereum scaling networks and instead focus on cross-border payments, remittances and stablecoin settlement. The company said it had secured access to licensed payment infrastructure in the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The shift mirrored a broader trend in the crowded layer-2 sector, where projects have increasingly moved toward real-world payments as competition among scaling networks intensified.
It is not yet clear how the Chapter 11 process will affect Movement's blockchain, its partnerships or its payments plans.
Market ReactionMOVE traded at about $0.0108 on July 21, roughly flat over the prior 24 hours and down about 8% over the past month, according to CoinGecko. The token carried a market capitalization near $45 million, ranking it around 474th by that measure.
The price sits roughly 99% below its all-time high of $1.45, reached on Dec. 10, 2024, days after launch.
The Movement chain held about $133 million in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama.
Movement Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of MOVE token turmoil Latest NewsPublishedJul 21, 2026
The blockchain developer will continue operating under court supervision as it restructures following a market-making scandal, a co-founder’s suspension, and exchange delistings that rocked the project.
Movement Labs, the developer behind the Movement Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, according to court records.
The petition was filed July 15 under Subchapter V, a streamlined reorganization process for qualifying small businesses. The filing allows the company to continue operating while it restructures under court supervision.
On Monday, the court approved interim requests allowing Movement Labs to maintain its bank accounts and cash management systems and obtain debtor-in-possession financing to fund operations during the bankruptcy process. Creditors have until Sept. 14 to file claims.
Following the filing, Move Industries CEO Torab Torabi wrote on X that the bankruptcy applies only to Movement Labs. Move Industries, which took over development and operations of the Movement ecosystem from Movement Labs in December 2025, continues to operate normally, according to Torabi.
Source: Torab
Market-making scandal rocked Movement before bankruptcyThe filing follows months of turmoil tied to the launch of Movement’s MOVE token and a controversial market-making agreement.
Movement Labs suspended co-founder Rushi Manche in May 2025 over a deal he helped broker with Web3Port. The market maker received 66 million MOVE, about 5% of the token’s supply, and later sold the holdings, reportedly creating roughly $38 million in downward price pressure and prompting an independent investigation.
Coinbase suspended MOVE trading later that month after determining the token no longer met its listing standards, as the review into the market-making arrangement continued.
The bankruptcy follows a prolonged decline of the MOVE token, which has fallen more than 94% over the past year to roughly $0.01.
MOVE token price over the past year. Source: CoinGecko
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Movement Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of MOVE token turmoil Latest NewsPublishedJul 21, 2026
The blockchain developer will continue operating under court supervision as it restructures following a market-making scandal, a co-founder’s suspension, and exchange delistings that rocked the project.
Movement Labs, the developer behind the Movement Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, according to court records.
The petition was filed July 15 under Subchapter V, a streamlined reorganization process for qualifying small businesses. The filing allows the company to continue operating while it restructures under court supervision.
On Monday, the court approved interim requests allowing Movement Labs to maintain its bank accounts and cash management systems and obtain debtor-in-possession financing to fund operations during the bankruptcy process. Creditors have until Sept. 14 to file claims.
Following the filing, Move Industries CEO Torab Torabi wrote on X that the bankruptcy applies only to Movement Labs. Move Industries, which took over development and operations of the Movement ecosystem from Movement Labs in December 2025, continues to operate normally, according to Torabi.
Source: Torab
Market-making scandal rocked Movement before bankruptcyThe filing follows months of turmoil tied to the launch of Movement’s MOVE token and a controversial market-making agreement.
Movement Labs suspended co-founder Rushi Manche in May 2025 over a deal he helped broker with Web3Port. The market maker received 66 million MOVE, about 5% of the token’s supply, and later sold the holdings, reportedly creating roughly $38 million in downward price pressure and prompting an independent investigation.
Coinbase suspended MOVE trading later that month after determining the token no longer met its listing standards, as the review into the market-making arrangement continued.
The bankruptcy follows a prolonged decline of the MOVE token, which has fallen more than 94% over the past year to roughly $0.01.
MOVE token price over the past year. Source: CoinGecko
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Movement Labs has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with no more than $500,000 in assets and liabilities that could reach $10 million following more than a year of turmoil around the MOVE token.
Summary
Movement Labs filed for Chapter 11 with up to $10 million in liabilities. Rushi Manche holds its largest unsecured claim, worth more than $1.6 million. Move Industries says its operations and Movement blockchain development remain unaffected. Court records show that MVMT Labs submitted its petition on July 15 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The original developer of the Movement blockchain listed between $100,001 and $500,000 in assets, up to $10 million in liabilities and as many as 299 creditors.
Former co-founder and chief executive Rushikesh “Rushi” Manche holds the largest unsecured claim at more than $1.6 million, according to the filing. The document also names the Delaware Division of Corporations, Move Industries, Anchorage Digital and security auditor OtterSec among the claimants, with the Delaware agency allegedly owed $459,000.
Despite being removed from the company in May 2025, Manche still owns a 34.25% equity stake in Movement Labs. He previously sued the company in the Delaware Court of Chancery and secured payment of legal expenses connected to a U.S. Department of Justice grand jury investigation into the MOVE launch.
Movement Labs originally served as the main research and development company for Movement Network, which launched as an Ethereum layer-2 using the Move programming language. Meta initially developed Move for its abandoned Libra and Diem digital currency projects.
Before the token controversy, Movement Labs had attracted substantial venture funding. The company raised $38 million in a Series A round led by Polychain Capital, while Reuters reported in January 2025 that it was close to completing another $100 million round at a proposed $3 billion valuation.
MOVE scandal left lasting damage Movement Labs’ problems intensified after MOVE debuted on exchanges in December 2024. An investigation by CoinDesk found that a market-making agreement handed 66 million MOVE tokens, or about 5% of the supply, to a little-known intermediary called Rentech.
According to internal documents reviewed by CoinDesk, wallets linked to market maker Web3Port sold the tokens one day after MOVE’s exchange debut and generated about $38 million. The sale placed a large share of the publicly traded supply under one counterparty’s control and contributed to a steep fall in the token’s price.
Scrutiny also fell on the structure of the agreement because Rentech appeared in contracts both as a Movement Foundation agent and as a Web3Port affiliate, CoinDesk reported. Rentech denied misrepresenting itself, while Movement co-founder Cooper Scanlon told employees that the project was examining whether it had been misled.
Reviewing the documents, crypto founder Zaki Manian argued that the terms created incentives to raise MOVE’s valuation before selling tokens to retail traders.
“Even participating in a discussion where that’s on paper is insane,” Manian told CoinDesk.
Binance later banned the market-making account for what the exchange described as misconduct and froze the profits linked to the token sales. Movement Network Foundation subsequently announced a $38 million MOVE repurchase plan using the recovered funds and hired outside firm Groom Lake to investigate the agreement.
Leadership changes followed the inquiry. Movement Labs terminated Manche after alleging that he had signed undisclosed agreements, while the company transferred core development responsibilities to the newly formed Move Industries under chief executive Torab Torabi.
Trading disruptions compounded the damage. The Block reported that Binance and Coinbase suspended MOVE trading after the launch controversy, while TradingView data cited in the original report placed MOVE near $0.0108 following the bankruptcy news, with the token gaining less than 1%.
Move Industries remains outside the filing Move Industries has denied any involvement in the Chapter 11 case and continues to operate the blockchain separately from Movement Labs. Addressing the filing on X, Torabi stressed that the two companies are distinct legal entities.
“Move Industries is operating normally. We continue to put our heads down and build.”
Movement Network Foundation confirmed in December 2025 that Move Industries had become the network’s primary service provider and assumed its main operating duties. Under that arrangement, the foundation remains the independent network steward, while Move Industries handles development, operations and ecosystem work.
Following the corporate separation, Move Industries converted Movement from an Ethereum layer-2 into an independent layer-1 network. The company has since positioned the chain as infrastructure for stablecoin payments, cross-border transfers and remittances in emerging markets.
Movement Labs is the second prominent crypto company to seek U.S. bankruptcy protection in recent months. In May, Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin Depot entered Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas to close its crypto ATM business and sell its assets under court supervision.
Unlike Movement Labs, Bitcoin Depot blamed tighter state rules, lower transaction limits, litigation and enforcement pressure for making its model unsustainable. The company took more than 9,000 kiosks offline and included its Canadian entities in the court-supervised process, according to its May 18 announcement.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Movement Labs, the developer of the Movement blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.The project came under scrutiny after a market-making deal enabled the rapid sale of 66 million MOVE tokens, triggering a steep price drop and prompting investigations and a token buyback.Movement Labs, the developer behind the Movement blockchain, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, marking the latest setback for a crypto project that has spent much of the past year navigating governance disputes, a token market-making controversy and a failed strategic reset.
The company said in a bankruptcy filing that it had under 1,000 creditors, somewhere between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets and north of $1 million in liabilities. Its largest creditors include co-founder Rushi Manche, the Delaware Division of Revenue, Anchorage Digital and other entities.
The filing follows months of turmoil for Movement, an Ethereum layer-2 network built using the Move programming language, which was originally developed at Meta. The project launched with the goal of bringing Move-based smart contracts to Ethereum (ETH) while offering faster and cheaper transactions through a scaling network.
Its troubles began shortly after the December launch of the MOVE token.
An April 2025 CoinDesk investigation found that Movement was examining whether it had been misled into signing a market-making agreement that handed a single counterparty unusual influence over MOVE's circulating supply. Internal documents reviewed by CoinDesk at the time showed the arrangement allowed 66 million MOVE tokens to be sold into the market one day after the token debuted, contributing to a sharp decline in price.
The controversy centered on Rentech, a little-known intermediary that appeared in contracts connected to Chinese market maker Web3Port. According to documents obtained by CoinDesk, Movement executives later questioned whether the foundation believed Rentech was affiliated with Web3Port when it was not. Rentech has denied any wrongdoing or misrepresentation.
The fallout extended beyond Movement. Binance banned the market-making account involved in the token launch for what it described as misconduct, while Movement launched a token buyback program and hired outside firm Groom Lake to review the events surrounding the deal.
Movement Labs and co-founder Rushi Manche separated in May 2025.
More recently, the company attempted to chart a new course.
In June, Move Industries, a separate legal entity from MVMT Labs, the company that filed for bankruptcy, announced it would pivot away from competing with other Ethereum scaling networks and instead focus on cross-border payments, remittances and stablecoin settlement. The company said it had secured access to licensed payment infrastructure in the U.S., Canada and the European Union as it sought to build services aimed at emerging markets.
The strategy reflected a wider trend across the crowded layer-2 sector, where blockchain projects have increasingly shifted toward real-world financial applications as competition among scaling networks has intensified.
CORRECTION (July 21, 2026, 18:26 UTC): Corrects that Move Industries and not Movement Labs pivoted from Ethereum scaling.
AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
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TRON Network - Q2 2026
TRON Network - Q2 2026
In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (2nd to Hyperliquid), TRX +3%, and deepening institutional & agentic reach.
11 hours ago
In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (2nd to Hyperliquid), TRX +3%, and deepening institutional & agentic reach.
Why it matters:
In Q2; TRON's stablecoin dominance rose to 28.7%, USDT supply on TRON hit $89B ATH, $89M in protocol fees (2nd to Hyperliquid), TRX +3%, and deepening institutional & agentic reach.
