Coinbase has rolled out direct USDC-BRL trading and conversion for users in Brazil, giving the country’s crypto-curious population a cleaner on-ramp between the Brazilian real and the world’s second-largest stablecoin.
The feature is live on Coinbase’s dedicated Brazilian platform at coinbase.com/en-br, where users can access real-time conversion tools, trade USDC against BRL, and, in some cases, earn yield on their holdings. Promotional rewards of up to 7% annually on USDC are part of the offering.
Why Brazil, why now USDC, issued by Circle, is pegged one-to-one to the US dollar. As of late July 2026, one USDC converts to approximately R$5.08-5.10. For Brazilian users, holding USDC is functionally like holding digital dollars, without needing a US bank account or dealing with traditional forex friction.
Coinbase launched its dedicated Brazilian platform on January 23, 2026, laying the groundwork for this kind of localized feature set. Earlier reports from 2025 had flagged limitations in BRL transaction support on the exchange, so the USDC-BRL integration represents a clear upgrade from where things stood just 18 months ago.
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Direct fiat-to-stablecoin conversion eliminates a step that previously required users to either buy Bitcoin or Ethereum first and then swap into USDC, or use a third-party service to bridge the gap.
The stablecoin playbook in emerging markets For Coinbase specifically, Brazil represents one of only a handful of regions where the exchange has explicitly built out USDC trading and conversion infrastructure.
Brazil’s regulatory landscape passed its landmark crypto regulatory framework in 2023, and the central bank has been actively developing its own digital currency, the Drex.
The 7% annual yield promotion on USDC is worth pausing on. A dollar-denominated yield product adds a layer of currency diversification on top of the return itself, providing both yield and a hedge against real depreciation simultaneously.
What this means for investors and the competitive landscape Coinbase isn’t operating in a vacuum here. Binance, Mercado Bitcoin, and other exchanges have been aggressively courting Brazilian users for years. Binance in particular has built deep roots in the country, with BRL payment integrations and localized support that predates Coinbase’s dedicated Brazilian platform launched January 23, 2026.
Brazil’s crypto framework is still relatively young, and the central bank’s Drex project could eventually introduce a government-backed digital alternative that competes directly with private stablecoins like USDC.
The 7% promotional rate on USDC is tied to what Circle can earn on the reserves backing the stablecoin. If global interest rates decline, so do the yields that make these products compelling.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Samsung has taken a significant step in the cryptocurrency world by adding stablecoin support to its mobile wallet, Samsung Wallet. At the recent Galaxy Unpacked event, it was announced that Samsung Wallet will support stablecoins like USDC. This move brings digital dollars into the pockets of hundreds of millions of Galaxy device users.
Innovations Announced by Samsung Stablecoin integration was introduced as part of an effort to make Samsung Wallet a unified hub for payments, rewards, and digital assets. Samsung framed this innovation as a “secure payments and rewards experience.” A definitive launch date for the stablecoin feature has not yet been announced, and it hasn’t been officially confirmed which stablecoins will be supported besides USDC. However, there are strong indications that USDC will be supported.
This announcement came alongside Samsung’s introduction of the Galaxy Card, issued by Barclays and operating on the Visa network. This credit card offers various cashback rewards to US users. A partnership with Coinbase in 2025 provided millions of US Galaxy users with access to cryptocurrency services directly through their devices, laying a significant foundation for transforming Samsung Wallet into a more comprehensive digital asset platform.
What it Means for Investors For Circle, the company behind USDC, this partnership could strengthen its position ahead of a potential IPO or market activity. However, regulatory frameworks for stablecoins are still under development in many regions. Samsung will have to overcome varying compliance requirements in its global markets, which could initially lead to the feature being limited to certain regions. The Galaxy Card, in partnership with Barclays, is likely to launch in the US market as the first target.
The partnership with Coinbase in 2025 provided Samsung with a foundation in crypto services, but stablecoin integration offers an entirely different proposition. It’s one thing to offer users the ability to buy Bitcoin through a partner app, but integrating the dollar equivalent of digital currency into the core wallet experience is quite another.
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Circle has minted an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana blockchain, increasing the total issuance on the network to approximately $72.01 billion. This marks the fourth such mint in two days, indicating significant activity within the Solana ecosystem. The cumulative issuance figure reflects the total amount minted, not the circulating supply on the network. The recent minting activity suggests an uptick in liquidity and usage of Solana, which might influence market dynamics and investor sentiment.
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The market’s response to this development appears mixed. In the prediction market for Solana reaching $90 by August 1, 2026, the odds remain low, with a 2% YES probability. This suggests that while the increased USDC issuance could indicate higher network activity, it has not yet translated into strong confidence in a substantial price rise for Solana in the short term. Market participants continue to weigh the potential impact of increased liquidity against broader market conditions and regulatory environment.
Key Takeaways Recent USDC minting activity appears consistent with increased liquidity on Solana, potentially impacting network activity. Market pricing suggests limited confidence in a near-term price surge for Solana, with low odds of reaching $90 by August 1. The aggregate issuance of USDC on Solana does not equate to circulating supply, indicating complex underlying market dynamics. What to Watch Observers should monitor whether continued USDC issuance on Solana leads to significant shifts in network activity or market sentiment. Key indicators include any changes in the prediction market’s pricing for Solana’s price targets and broader adoption of USDC on Solana for transactions. Additionally, developments in regulatory policies and technological upgrades on Solana may further influence market perceptions and pricing.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 2.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.3% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 28% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market →
@Circle has minted another $250 million $USDC on the @Solana blockchain, marking its fourth major issuance event within a 48-hour window. The move pushed the total circulating supply of USDC to a record $72.01 billion, underscoring relentless institutional demand for on-chain dollar liquidity.
Rapid Minting Reflects Rising On-Chain Demand The speed of the minting cycle is notable. Four large issuances in under two days signals that Circle is responding in near real-time to demand from market makers, trading venues, and DeFi protocols operating on Solana. Traders use USDC as collateral, as a settlement asset, and as a quick way to move between volatile positions without leaving the chain. When more USDC is minted onto Solana, it usually points to demand for on-chain dollar liquidity, which can come from market makers, DeFi protocols, retail traders, or institutions routing activity through Solana-based venues.
Large stablecoin mints typically provide fresh liquidity that can be deployed across decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, automated market makers, and yield-generating applications. As newly minted USDC enters circulation, DeFi platforms can absorb the additional capital to facilitate larger trading volumes and improve market efficiency.
USDC Cements Its Role as a Core Settlement Layer The pace of issuance sits within a broader trend of USDC dominance in 2026. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume hit a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, with Circle's USDC capturing 67% of activity at $1.21 trillion. That momentum has been driven in part by regulatory clarity in the United States and growing institutional use of USDC for payments and settlement.
USDC supply surged 220% since late 2023 to approximately $78 billion, driven by institutional B2B settlement, payroll infrastructure, and programmatic payment rails built by Visa and Stripe. The repeated minting cycles on Solana reflect that growth and reinforce the stablecoin's position as a primary collateral layer for on-chain finance.
Blockchain analysts note that gross issuance does not represent the network's live circulating supply, since USDC can later be redeemed, burned, or bridged to other blockchains. Even so, the frequency and scale of Circle's recent mints point to sustained, real demand rather than a one-off capital event.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Circle's USDC drives record stablecoin transaction volume in June 2026
CoinTrust: Circle Mints $250M USDC on Solana as 2026 Supply Nears $65B
CoinMarketCap Academy: $315B Stablecoin Supply Hits Record as USDC Gains
Duan Yongping has sold SpaceX put options with a strike price of $92.
Renowned investor Duan Yongping stated yesterday in response to a community user's question that he has started selling put options on SpaceX. This is his typical "potential acquisition" strategy. According to the live trading records of the SpaceX put options Duan shared, his quoted price was around 23.20, with actual execution at 23.26 (1,000 contracts), earning him a premium of approximately $2.32 million. Calculated over a 5-month term, the yield is roughly 25.35%, with an annualized return of about 60%. He noted, "I want to support Elon Musk's dream."
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The United States and the United Kingdom plan to discuss forming an international alliance to protect maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to AXIOS: European diplomats say the U.S. and the U.K. are discussing holding a high-level meeting in London next week, with the meeting focusing on a potential plan to establish an international coalition to protect maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
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A prominent trader says Bitcoin’s cycle is accelerating, and firmly believes this cycle will still hit a new high before the halving.
Renowned trader Killa (@KillaXBT) stated in a post that Bitcoin’s cycle is accelerating. The previous cycle took just 476 days to rise from its bottom to a new all-time high (ATH), far faster than the two prior cycles. He forecasts this cycle will also hit a new high ahead of the next halving. Killa, a BTC-focused quantitative trader, accurately predicted the peak of the current bull market in May 2025 and boasts over 200,000 followers on X. In mid-April, he shorted Bitcoin at $74,688 before switching to long positions during the broad market sell-off on June 5.
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Qualcomm notifies its customers it can no longer absorb price hikes, and will raise prices by double-digit percentages.
Bloomberg cited a letter reporting that Qualcomm has informed its clients it can no longer absorb price hikes and will implement double-digit percentage price increases. Following the news, BIT (bit.com) market data shows Qualcomm’s decline narrowed, while Nvidia climbed 1.2% to hit a new daily high.
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OpenAI CEO: Hopes the U.S. wins in the open-source AI sector, and is "pleased to see" Jensen Huang's remarks.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he hopes the U.S. will lead in both open-source AI and proprietary AI models, adding that he "welcomes" the statement Nvidia’s CEO made on social media regarding the open letter jointly issued by over 20 U.S. tech companies.
Banxa Brings Fiat On-Ramp Access to Arbitrum's USDCArbitrum has announced that users can now purchase $USDC directly on the Arbitrum network through Banxa, the regulated fiat-to-crypto payment gateway. The integration covers bank transfers, debit and credit cards, and local payment methods, broadening the ways users can fund positions on one of Ethereum's most active Layer 2 networks.
The move lowers a practical barrier for new and existing users. Rather than acquiring USDC on a centralised exchange and bridging it across, buyers can now land the asset directly on Arbitrum in a single step. Circle launched USDC natively on Arbitrum One in June 2023, adding support for its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, which enabled direct minting and burning of USDC between Ethereum and Arbitrum One. As of March 2025, there was over $3.5 billion of USDC in circulation on Arbitrum.
Banxa's Global Payment ReachBanxa is available in more than 180 countries, with support for over 30 fiat currencies and local payment methods worldwide. The company operates as a fiat-to-crypto payment gateway primarily serving crypto exchanges, wallets, and other blockchain platforms that require compliant and secure fiat on-ramps, with a focus on regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and user verification.
The Arbitrum integration adds to a growing list of blockchain networks where Banxa has established a presence, which already includes Ethereum, Base, Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, and others. Purchase eligibility for $USDC on Arbitrum is subject to applicable order conditions, and availability may vary by region.
For the Arbitrum ecosystem, the partnership represents a more direct path from fiat to on-chain activity, particularly for users in markets where access to centralised exchanges is limited or where local payment rails are preferred over card-based options.
Sources:
Arbitrum Docs: USDC on Arbitrum One
USDC.com: How to Get USDC on Arbitrum
Banxa: On-Ramp and Off-Ramp Solutions
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.
Semiconductor stocks were mixed in U.S. pre-market trading, with Intel rising nearly 5% while most storage and optical communication stocks declined.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, ahead of Friday’s US pre-market trading, semiconductor stocks were mixed: Intel (INTC) rose 4.76%, Arm (ARM) gained 0.96%, and AMD (AMD) increased 0.41%; SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 2.93%, Micron Technology (MU) dropped 2.16%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) decreased 1.41%, and NVIDIA (NVDA) declined 0.72%. The storage sector saw broad declines: SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 2.93%, SanDisk (SNDK) dropped 2.19%, Micron Technology (MU) decreased 2.16%, Western Digital (WDC) declined 1.68%, and Seagate Technology (STX) fell 1.24%. Most optical communication concept stocks retreated: Nokia (NOK) dropped 2.15%, Astera Labs (ALAB) fell 1.99%, Credo (CRDO) decreased 1.86%, Ciena (CIEN) declined 1.14%, and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) fell 0.62%.
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Suspected a16z address has staked 2.785 million HYPE tokens, worth approximately $164 million.
According to Mlm monitoring, a HYPE whale staked 2.785 million HYPE tokens via 20 wallets over the past 11 hours, worth roughly $164 million. The whale had previously accumulated 2.94 million HYPE tokens between September and October last year, currently valued at approximately $172 million, and ranks among HYPE’s largest holders. The whale may be linked to a16z, though this association has not been confirmed.
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Intel's pre-market trading rose nearly 5% on the back of strong Q2 performance and Q3 guidance that exceeded expectations.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Intel (INTC) is up nearly 5% in pre-market trading, as its Q2 results were strong and Q3 guidance exceeded expectations.
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Jiang Zhuoer: The CLARITY Act has only a 10% to 20% chance of passing, with major disagreements on ethical provisions persisting between the two parties.
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Bitget has completed dividend distributions for 63 stocks including Micron Technology and TSMC.
According to an official announcement, Bitget has completed the dividend distribution for 63 US stocks and ETFs, including rMU (Micron Technology), rQQQ (Nasdaq 100 Index ETF), and rTSM (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC). The platform has settled USDT dividends proportionally for users who held the relevant assets at the snapshot time, with the entire process automated—no user action is required. This distribution covers multiple asset categories including technology, semiconductors, communications, and index ETFs. Users can check specific details via: in the App, navigate to "Assets" → "Financial Records" → "Spot" → "Other" → "Dividends"; or on the Web, go to "Asset Overview" → "Spot Orders" → "Fund Flow" → "Other" → "Dividends". The final credited amount and timing shall be subject to the platform’s actual credit and page display.
20 minutes ago
Ethereum breaks through $1,900
According to HTX market data, Ethereum has broken through the $1900 level, with a 0.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
Coinbase Opens Business Payments to AI AgentsCoinbase is moving to put autonomous software at the center of digital commerce. Starting this week, Coinbase Business users can accept $USDC payments directly from AI agents through the x402 payment standard. Coinbase launched x402 in May 2025 as a way for APIs, apps, and AI agents to transact directly over HTTP using stablecoins.
The feature uses x402, an open payment standard created for automated payments across websites and online services. Businesses will not need to complete additional setup to accept agent payments. Coinbase said USDC transactions settle instantly and do not carry chargeback risk. The service also supports reusable payment links and automated buyer data collection for reconciliation and analytics.
The timing is deliberate. The rollout arrives as agent traffic starts to overtake human traffic on parts of Coinbase's platform. Sid Coelho-Prabhu, who leads Coinbase Business, described it as recreating a familiar transaction for a new customer type, telling CoinDesk: "We are delivering that experience for the new online agentic economy."
Trading Tools, Developer Kit and the Agentic EconomyThe new releases include support for agent payments through Coinbase Business, expanded trading capabilities within Coinbase for Agents, and a new x402 software development kit from Coinbase Developer Platform.
Coinbase also expanded Coinbase for Agents, its Model Context Protocol product, with new commands that allow AI agents to access live market data and execute trades based on predefined rules. The tools include live monitoring of open orders, access to order books, and real-time price and volume data. Users can create conditional instructions that trigger purchases when a selected price or market condition is reached. Coinbase said the system uses the same WebSocket market data infrastructure available to institutional trading desks while allowing users to manage instructions through natural language.
On the developer side, the CDP x402 SDK lets developers integrate agent payment acceptance in just three lines of code, with managed wallets and spend controls included. Coinbase and Cloudflare launched the x402 Foundation in 2025 to establish x402 as the universal standard for internet-native payments. Core members now include Google, Visa, AWS, Circle, Anthropic, and Vercel alongside the founding partners.
Coinbase said the products are designed to support the "agentic economy," where AI agents can make payments, manage finances, and complete other tasks on behalf of users.
Sources:
Coinbase for Agents: Official Coinbase Blog
Coinbase Enables AI Agents to Pay Businesses and Execute Crypto Trades, Crypto Briefing
Coinbase Closes the Gaps in AI Agent Economy, CoinDesk
Coinbase is allowing businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents as part of a wider expansion of its agent-focused financial tools.
Summary
Coinbase Business will accept USDC payments initiated by AI agents through its native x402 support. Coinbase for Agents adds live market views and conditional actions controlled by user-defined trading guardrails. Developers can add agent payment acceptance to online services using Coinbase’s streamlined CDP x402 SDK. The exchange announced the rollout on July 23, 2026, alongside new trading commands for users and a developer kit for adding x402 payments to online services.
Coinbase said software-generated traffic exceeded human traffic on its Base documentation pages for the first time in June. The company argued that most online payment systems still assume “a human clicking the button,” leaving businesses and developers without a simple way to serve autonomous software.
Coinbase Business adds agent payments Beginning this week, Coinbase Business users can accept USDC payments sent by AI agents. Coinbase Payments powers the feature, while native x402 support handles internet-based, pay-per-use transactions. Businesses can receive, track, reconcile and cash out agent payments from the same account used for other payment activity.
Coinbase Business also offers rewards on eligible idle USDC balances. Its current business page lists a 3.35% annual reward rate, although Coinbase says rates can vary by region and may change. The company also states that USDC payments do not carry chargeback risk because Coinbase does not act as a party to transactions between businesses and their customers.
New commands expand Coinbase for Agents Coinbase also added real-time market views and conditional actions to Coinbase for Agents. The new commands let an agent stream open orders, view an asset’s order book and watch live price and volume data. Users can set a condition that triggers a planned action, including a buy, sale or order cancellation.
The company presented examples such as selling assets when Bitcoin falls below a set level or cancelling an order after a fixed period. Users define those instructions and related guardrails.Coinbase for Agents already allowed authorised AI tools to trade, manage portfolios and complete financial workflows through linked Coinbase accounts.
CDP x402 SDK targets developers Coinbase Developer Platform introduced a new CDP x402 SDK that lets developers add agent payments to an API, Model Context Protocol server or web service with a small code setup. Coinbase said the kit arrives preconfigured with its preferred infrastructure and extensions, reducing the manual work previously required to choose payment middleware and service providers.
The x402 standard uses the HTTP 402 “Payment Required” response to send payment instructions directly between an online service and a client. An AI agent can receive the request, sign a stablecoin payment and retry access with proof of payment. Coinbase launched the open standard in May 2025 for APIs, applications and autonomous agents.
The latest products extend a series of agent-payment releases from Coinbase. As previously reported, Amazon added Coinbase x402 to Bedrock AgentCore Payments in May, allowing agents to pay for services in USDC. Coinbase-backed x402 also launched Agentic.market in April to help agents discover and purchase compatible online services.
The company has not disclosed payment volumes expected from the feature.Coinbase said the three updates cover businesses receiving payments, people directing financial agents and developers building agent services. The rollout remains tied to user-set controls, supported regions and product availability. Coinbase Business currently operates in the U.S. and Singapore, while individual features and USDC reward rates may differ by market.
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.
Key Highlights Businesses using Coinbase can now receive USDC payments directly from AI agents through x402 protocol integration The x402 framework debuted in May 2025, designed to facilitate stablecoin transactions via HTTP Automated trading features allow users to set market conditions and execute transactions through AI monitoring Developers gain access to an x402 SDK enabling payment integration with minimal code implementation AI agent activity on Coinbase’s Base documentation exceeded human visits for the first time recently In a significant expansion of its business services, Coinbase has introduced functionality enabling commercial entities to receive cryptocurrency payments from autonomous AI agents. The platform now supports USDC stablecoin transactions through its Business tier, marking a shift toward automated digital commerce.
The infrastructure relies on x402, a payment protocol developed by Coinbase and unveiled in May 2025. This framework enables stablecoin transfers to occur via HTTP requests, effectively allowing AI systems to execute financial transactions similar to how consumers use digital payment methods for online purchases.
According to Sid Coelho-Prabhu, who leads Coinbase Business operations, the development represents creating a payment gateway tailored for an economy driven by autonomous agents. These AI systems can establish wallets independently, access necessary technical documentation, and begin conducting transactions without requiring merchants to implement specialized infrastructure.
Transaction processing occurs through Coinbase Payments infrastructure with settlements completed in USDC. Merchants can accept these automated payments without developing custom integration solutions.
Automated Trading Features Debut Alongside the business payment tools, Coinbase has activated AI-powered trading capabilities for individual users. These features enable traders to establish parameters using conversational language—for instance, “purchase ETH when price drops 5%”—with an AI agent continuously monitoring market conditions and executing trades when criteria are met.
The interface provides real-time visibility into all agent-managed orders, displaying current status, pricing information, and transaction volumes. Behind the scenes, the system leverages WebSocket market feeds identical to those utilized by professional trading operations.
This democratizes sophisticated market surveillance capabilities that traditionally required either technical expertise or specialized software to implement effectively.
SDK Release Simplifies Development On the developer front, Coinbase has made available an x402 software development kit via its Developer Platform. The toolkit enables programmers to integrate x402 payment capabilities into APIs, MCP servers, or web applications with minimal coding effort—reportedly just three lines of implementation code.
This streamlined approach reduces technical barriers for developers building applications designed to interact with AI agents conducting financial operations.
The company highlighted increasing adoption signals, revealing that automated agent traffic surpassed human visitors on Base network documentation resources last month. Coinbase emphasized that existing internet payment systems were architected with the assumption of human interaction—a premise that no longer reflects current usage patterns.
This launch aligns with broader industry momentum, as multiple payment processors and cryptocurrency platforms work to establish stablecoins as the foundational payment layer for AI-driven online commerce.
Specific pricing structures for these new business capabilities have not been disclosed, though they operate within Coinbase’s existing Payments framework.
Semiconductor stocks were mixed in U.S. pre-market trading, with Intel rising nearly 5% while most storage and optical communication stocks declined.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, ahead of Friday’s US pre-market trading, semiconductor stocks were mixed: Intel (INTC) rose 4.76%, Arm (ARM) gained 0.96%, and AMD (AMD) increased 0.41%; SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 2.93%, Micron Technology (MU) dropped 2.16%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) decreased 1.41%, and NVIDIA (NVDA) declined 0.72%. The storage sector saw broad declines: SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 2.93%, SanDisk (SNDK) dropped 2.19%, Micron Technology (MU) decreased 2.16%, Western Digital (WDC) declined 1.68%, and Seagate Technology (STX) fell 1.24%. Most optical communication concept stocks retreated: Nokia (NOK) dropped 2.15%, Astera Labs (ALAB) fell 1.99%, Credo (CRDO) decreased 1.86%, Ciena (CIEN) declined 1.14%, and Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) fell 0.62%.
20 minutes ago
Suspected a16z address has staked 2.785 million HYPE tokens, worth approximately $164 million.
According to Mlm monitoring, a HYPE whale staked 2.785 million HYPE tokens via 20 wallets over the past 11 hours, worth roughly $164 million. The whale had previously accumulated 2.94 million HYPE tokens between September and October last year, currently valued at approximately $172 million, and ranks among HYPE’s largest holders. The whale may be linked to a16z, though this association has not been confirmed.
20 minutes ago
Intel's pre-market trading rose nearly 5% on the back of strong Q2 performance and Q3 guidance that exceeded expectations.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Intel (INTC) is up nearly 5% in pre-market trading, as its Q2 results were strong and Q3 guidance exceeded expectations.
20 minutes ago
Jiang Zhuoer: The CLARITY Act has only a 10% to 20% chance of passing, with major disagreements on ethical provisions persisting between the two parties.
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.TOP, stated in a post that the Clarity Act has only a 10% to 20% chance of passing, with major disagreements persisting solely on its ethics provisions. The proposal agreed by Trump only restricts the president and their spouse from engaging in crypto asset issuance, while Democrats demand including other family members and family entities in the restrictions. The two sides also failed to reach an agreement on law enforcement authority: Trump supports the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) being responsible for prosecuting violations, but Democrats argue the Attorney General is appointed by the president and demand granting state attorneys general the right to prosecute as well. Jiang believes that fully accepting the Democrats’ proposed restrictions would leave Trump with little incentive to sign the bill. Apart from the ethics provisions, multiple disagreements also exist in other parts of the legislation. The U.S. Congress will adjourn on August 7, with only around 10 working days remaining, leaving the procedural timeline extremely tight and making it difficult to bridge major divides before adjournment. He added that Congress’s session from September 14 to October 5 falls near the midterm elections, and lawmakers must also handle budget and appropriations agendas, with even a potential government shutdown risk. Democrats also lack the political incentive to push the bill through before the elections.
20 minutes ago
Bitget has completed dividend distributions for 63 stocks including Micron Technology and TSMC.
According to an official announcement, Bitget has completed the dividend distribution for 63 US stocks and ETFs, including rMU (Micron Technology), rQQQ (Nasdaq 100 Index ETF), and rTSM (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, TSMC). The platform has settled USDT dividends proportionally for users who held the relevant assets at the snapshot time, with the entire process automated—no user action is required. This distribution covers multiple asset categories including technology, semiconductors, communications, and index ETFs. Users can check specific details via: in the App, navigate to "Assets" → "Financial Records" → "Spot" → "Other" → "Dividends"; or on the Web, go to "Asset Overview" → "Spot Orders" → "Fund Flow" → "Other" → "Dividends". The final credited amount and timing shall be subject to the platform’s actual credit and page display.
20 minutes ago
Ethereum breaks through $1,900
According to HTX market data, Ethereum has broken through the $1900 level, with a 0.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
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.
TLDRCircle Forges Strategic Alliances with Kakao and Toss BankCircle Leverages Previous Korean Collaborations for Stablecoin GrowthSouth Korea Presents Prime Opportunities for Circle’s Payment Expansion Circle partners with Kakao Group to develop blockchain-based payment systems in South Korea. Toss Bank collaboration focuses on exploring stablecoin integration for payment services. New partnerships build upon existing relationships with Upbit, Bithumb, and Hana Bank. Kakao alliance extends Circle’s influence throughout Korea’s expansive digital ecosystem. Circle pursues compliant USDC payment expansion within South Korea’s regulatory framework. The stablecoin issuer Circle has strengthened its South Korean operations by establishing strategic partnerships with Kakao Group and Toss Bank. These collaborations emphasize developing blockchain-enabled payment systems and exploring stablecoin integration opportunities. Circle continues reinforcing its regional position by securing partnerships with prominent technology and financial sector players.
Circle Forges Strategic Alliances with Kakao and Toss Bank Circle formalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kakao Group to investigate blockchain-powered payment solutions throughout South Korea. This collaboration centers on digital transaction systems and wider blockchain technology implementations. Neither organization has disclosed specific product launches or deployment schedules.
Kakao commands one of South Korea’s most extensive digital platforms, encompassing messaging applications, payment processing, banking operations, and financial technology services. This alliance provides Circle with potential access to an ecosystem reaching millions of active users. The partners intend to evaluate blockchain innovations that could enhance future payment offerings.
Circle simultaneously initiated cooperation with Toss Bank to explore stablecoin-based payment solutions. The digital-only banking institution has recently intensified its blockchain engagement. Toss Bank previously established a partnership with the Solana Foundation to advance blockchain-powered financial infrastructure for international users.
Circle maintains its focus on cultivating partnerships with licensed financial entities throughout South Korea. The company prioritizes expanding real-world payment applications rather than developing a Korean won-denominated stablecoin. These recent agreements reinforce its broader regional expansion blueprint.
Circle Leverages Previous Korean Collaborations for Stablecoin Growth Circle established its South Korean presence through multiple strategic partnerships preceding these latest announcements. During April, the firm secured collaborative agreements with cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit and Bithumb. These platforms collectively dominate the nation’s cryptocurrency trading volume.
Subsequently, Circle finalized another memorandum of understanding with Hana Bank in May 2025. This relationship later broadened to encompass Hana Card. The collaborating entities focused on international remittance services and corporate treasury solutions utilizing USDC.
Circle has consistently stated it has no plans to introduce a Korean won-backed stablecoin. The company instead advocates for USDC as a dollar-denominated payment instrument. This approach contrasts with domestic stablecoin development initiatives.
KakaoBank progressed its won-backed stablecoin development efforts throughout late 2025. The two organizations may pursue independent stablecoin initiatives within the Korean market. Their partnership emphasizes payment infrastructure development rather than collaborative digital currency issuance.
South Korea Presents Prime Opportunities for Circle’s Payment Expansion South Korea represents a critical marketplace for blockchain payment innovation and regulated digital asset infrastructure. The nation features sophisticated digital banking systems alongside widespread mobile payment utilization. These factors position Circle to capitalize on stablecoin-powered financial service opportunities.
Kakao launched its blockchain initiatives with Klaytn in 2019. The platform subsequently integrated into the Kaia blockchain throughout 2024. This evolution produced a high-throughput Layer-1 blockchain capable of supporting diverse blockchain applications.
Circle garnered significant interest from South Korean retail investors following its public market debut in 2025. The organization simultaneously advanced partnership development across financial institutions and technology enterprises. Its territorial strategy emphasizes compliant payment infrastructure and streamlined cross-border transaction capabilities.
South Korea enforces rigorous digital asset regulations while simultaneously promoting blockchain technological advancement. The government prohibited initial coin offerings in 2017 and established mandatory exchange registration protocols. Circle nevertheless continues forging partnerships aligned with the nation’s regulated financial ecosystem.
Oliver Dale
Editor-in-Chief of Blockonomi and founder of Kooc Media, A UK-Based Online Media Company. Believer in Open-Source Software, Blockchain Technology & a Free and Fair Internet for all. His writing has been quoted by Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Investopedia, The New Yorker, Forbes, Techcrunch & More. Contact [email protected]
AMD officially launches rack-mounted AI system Helios, set to begin shipping soon.
The AMD Advancing AI Conference was held in San Francisco from July 22 to 23. At the event, AMD CEO Lisa Su announced that Helios has entered full production and will begin shipping soon. OpenAI’s Head of Infrastructure stated that the company plans to deploy AMD Helios at scale, and OpenAI will collaborate with AMD to develop the MI500 series AI chips and their subsequent products. Additionally, Su said AMD is partnering with chip design firm Cerebras to deliver high-speed inference capabilities via Cerebras’ cloud services. The joint product of AMD and Cerebras will hit the market later this year. The AMD-Cerebras system will launch an AI inference solution combining AMD Helios GPU server racks and Cerebras’ wafer-scale chips. CNBC analysis points out that a year ago, Su projected the 2028 AI accelerator market would reach $500 billion. The latest forecast puts the market size at the end of this decade roughly equivalent to the current entire semiconductor market. Su noted that GPUs will account for the majority of this share.
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Trump: To use Iranian funds to compensate for ship and cargo losses
US President Trump stated, "Until further notice, effective immediately, all and any damages caused to vessels, cargo, or any related items shall be compensated using Iranian funds currently held and controlled by the United States. Although such compensation amounts may be substantial, this remains a fair and reasonable approach."
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The United States has imposed additional tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on 60 economies, with the measures taking effect today.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) issued a notice on local time the 23rd, announcing that under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, it would impose additional tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on dozens of countries and regions under the pretext of so-called "forced labor" to replace the expiring global import tariffs. The new tariffs will take effect at 12:00 noon ET on the 24th (12:00 noon Beijing time on the same day). The USTR stated that as the 10% global tariff is set to expire, this round of tariffs will be levied on 60 economies, covering more than 99% of U.S. trade volume. Senior U.S. officials added that tariff measures for goods in transit will take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 28 (12:01 noon Beijing time on the same day). Imported goods including fuel, food, and fertilizers will be exempt from the new tariffs; products subject to specific industry-specific tariffs (such as automobiles, metals, and pharmaceuticals) are also excluded from the levy. Additionally, goods covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will also be granted exemptions. U.S. officials noted that the new tariffs will not be imposed in tandem with existing steel and aluminum import taxes, namely the "Section 232" tariffs implemented by the Trump administration last year on national security grounds.
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Intel's revenue and outlook beat expectations, with its stock rising 13% in after-hours trading.
Intel (INTC.O) released an unexpectedly strong revenue forecast, indicating that surging data center spending is helping the chipmaker achieve its long-awaited recovery. The company said it expects third-quarter sales to reach $15.8 billion to $16.8 billion. Even the lower end of this range easily exceeds analysts’ average forecast of $15.1 billion. This forecast highlights Intel’s growth momentum among data center customers, who are urgently needing chips to meet AI computing demands. Last quarter, sales in this segment surged 59%, more than twice Intel’s overall revenue growth. After the earnings release, Intel’s stock rose 13% in after-hours trading. Additionally, Intel’s second-quarter revenue of $16.13 billion also exceeded the market expectation of $14.43 billion.
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Iraqi Prime Minister: Iraq will not allow actions threatening Iran to be launched from its territory.
According to a statement released by Iraq's Prime Minister's Press Office on the 23rd, Iraqi Prime Minister al-Zaidi visited Iran that day and held talks with Iranian President Pezeshkian in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Al-Zaidi stated that Iraq and Iran's security are closely linked, and Iraq will never allow any actions threatening Iran to be launched from its territory. Pezeshkian noted that security and stability are of great significance to the development of bilateral relations.
In a recent setback for DeFi ecosystem participants active on Arbitrum, the perpetuals trading platform AFX Trade experienced a substantial security breach targeting one of its proprietary bridges. Blockchain security firm Blockaid first identified the incident around 21:30 UTC on July 22, 2026, reporting that attackers had extracted approximately $24.15 million in USDC from the affected contract.
AFX Trade operates as a USDC-settled derivatives exchange on the Arbitrum network, offering users leveraged trading opportunities across various assets.
Deposits and withdrawals typically route through its dedicated bridge infrastructure, which held roughly $24.2 million in USDC prior to the event—nearly its entire locked value according to DeFiLlama data.
The exploit effectively emptied most of these funds, highlighting vulnerabilities that can arise even in established Layer-2 environments.
Blockaid detected an exploit at 2026-07-22 21:30 UTC targeting @AFX_XYZ, a protocol on @arbitrum. The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates. Approximately 24.15M USDC has been drained thus far from the protocol.
Our team has been working with the incredible folks on… https://t.co/0Qd9ve5gPB
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 22, 2026
Importantly, the breach was confined to AFX Trade’s own bridge implementation and did not involve Arbitrum’s native bridge infrastructure.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs (the team behind Arbitrum), quickly addressed community concerns.
He confirmed that the suspicious transaction originated from a third-party protocol and emphasized that Arbitrum’s core bridging system remained secure and uncompromised.
The Arbitrum team is actively investigating alongside affected parties.
Blockaid has been collaborating closely with Arbitrum developers and AFX Trade to manage the response, investigate the root cause, and explore options for containing or recovering the stolen assets.
On-chain observers, including PeckShield and Lookonchain, tracked the attacker’s subsequent moves: the drained USDC was rapidly bridged to Ethereum mainnet and converted into roughly 12,467 ETH at an average price near $1,937.
The funds now sit in an attacker-controlled address, a common tactic to obscure trails and hinder immediate recovery efforts.
This event underscores the persistent challenges bridges face in DeFi. These components often custody large asset pools while relying on intricate smart contract logic and cross-chain messaging, making them attractive targets.
AFX Trade’s bridge had seen growing deposits in recent weeks, rising from about $19.3 million in mid-June, which likely increased its visibility to potential adversaries.
The incident follows other recent security events on Arbitrum, such as the mid-July exploit affecting Ostium’s vault.
While no official statement from AFX Trade had appeared on its social channels shortly after the breach, users and the broader ecosystem await updates on compensation plans, enhanced security measures, or any forensic findings.
Market reactions remained relatively contained in the immediate aftermath, with minimal movement in ARB and ETH prices.
However, such exploits can erode confidence in protocol-specific infrastructure and prompt heightened scrutiny of bridge designs across Arbitrum-based projects.
Developers and users alike are reminded of the importance of rigorous audits, ongoing monitoring, and diversified risk management in decentralized trading environments.
As investigations continue, this case serves as yet another concerning reminder of the evolving threat landscape in Layer-2 DeFi. Protocols must prioritize robust, isolated security for auxiliary components like bridges to safeguard user funds and maintain ecosystem trust.
Coinbase is expanding its push into AI-powered finance, enabling businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents as part of a broader expansion of its payment, trading and developer tools.
According to a Thursday X post, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept USDC (USDC) payments from AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which Coinbase first introduced in May 2025 to enable stablecoin payments over HTTP for AI agents, applications and APIs.
The post also announced AI trading tools that let users monitor orders, access live market data, and execute actions based on predefined conditions, as well as a software development kit for developers building agent-powered applications.
Coinbase said the products are designed to support the “agentic economy,” where AI agents can make payments, manage finances and complete other tasks on behalf of users.
The company said adoption of AI agents is accelerating, noting that agent-generated traffic surpassed human traffic on its Base documentation pages for the first time last month. However, it added that the internet’s financial infrastructure was built with “one assumption: a human clicking the button,” which has left businesses, developers and users without tools designed for AI agents.
The rollout comes as companies increasingly position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as infrastructure for AI agents, an emerging use case that several exchanges and payment companies are targeting.
Magazine: Here’s why the CLARITY Act’s ethics deal may be so hard to reach
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.
Coinbase is expanding its push into AI-powered finance, enabling businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents as part of a broader expansion of its payment, trading and developer tools.
According to a Thursday X post, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept USDC (USDC) payments from AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which Coinbase first introduced in May 2025 to enable stablecoin payments over HTTP for AI agents, applications and APIs.
The post also announced AI trading tools that let users monitor orders, access live market data, and execute actions based on predefined conditions, as well as a software development kit for developers building agent-powered applications.
Coinbase said the products are designed to support the “agentic economy,” where AI agents can make payments, manage finances and complete other tasks on behalf of users.
The company said adoption of AI agents is accelerating, noting that agent-generated traffic surpassed human traffic on its Base documentation pages for the first time last month. However, it added that the internet’s financial infrastructure was built with “one assumption: a human clicking the button,” which has left businesses, developers and users without tools designed for AI agents.
The rollout comes as companies increasingly position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as infrastructure for AI agents, an emerging use case that several exchanges and payment companies are targeting.
Magazine: Here’s why the CLARITY Act’s ethics deal may be so hard to reach
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.
Coinbase has announced a major expansion into AI-powered financial services, introducing USDC payment acceptance for businesses via autonomous AI agents. This initiative forms part of a wider effort to enhance the company’s suite of payment, trading, and developer solutions.
AI-driven payments and new standardsCoinbase stated that firms using its business platform can now accept USDC transactions from AI agents, leveraging the x402 payment standard. First launched in May 2025, x402 enables automated stablecoin payments over HTTP for AI agents, applications, and APIs. This new system targets the growing demand for seamless financial transactions carried out by artificial intelligence on behalf of users and institutions.
Mini dictionary: x402 payment standard, a protocol developed by Coinbase that enables AI agents and applications to send and receive stablecoin payments autonomously over HTTP, facilitating financial transactions without direct human input.
USDC is a widely used stablecoin issued by Circle and maintained at a 1:1 peg with the US dollar, designed for secure and efficient digital transactions. Coinbase’s integration of USDC payments aims to simplify financial processes in the evolving area of AI-powered commerce.
New trading tools for businessesCoinbase’s update also introduces advanced AI trading tools, giving users the ability to monitor order books, access real-time market data, and automate trading based on preset conditions. These functions can help businesses respond quickly to market fluctuations and execute strategies using AI capabilities.
The company revealed that it had released a software development kit to support developers in creating agent-driven applications, broadening access to these AI-powered tools. By enabling both businesses and independent developers to deploy AI agents for finance, Coinbase seeks to support a new wave of innovation across sectors.
Underlying trends in the agentic economyCoinbase said these product launches are intended to support the emergence of an “agentic economy,” where AI agents independently manage payments, financial planning, and other administrative tasks. The company observed a recent surge in usage by AI agents, with agent-driven traffic surpassing human traffic for the first time last month on its Base documentation pages.
Despite this rapid adoption, Coinbase emphasized that most web-based financial infrastructure still assumes human interaction, such as pressing a button to approve a payment. This gap, the company argued, leaves businesses and developers without appropriate systems tailored for AI agents, slowing down the adoption of automated financial workflows.
Coinbase underscored the accelerating pace of AI adoption in finance, stating that, “For the first time last month, agent-generated traffic outnumbered human traffic on our Base documentation pages.”
The company continues to develop tools and protocols specifically designed for non-human actors, aiming to ensure that financial systems are equipped for future needs driven by advanced AI technology.
Stablecoins gain momentum in AI and blockchain integrationThe move by Coinbase aligns with broader industry trends, as more payments and exchange companies position blockchain-based stablecoins, like USDC, as essential infrastructure for AI agents. This collaboration between AI and digital assets is seen as key for the next generation of automated commerce and decentralized applications.
Coinbase, established in 2012, is a leading US-based cryptocurrency exchange and fintech company, known for its role in popularizing crypto assets among both retail and institutional investors.
As the use of autonomous agents in finance expands, companies like Coinbase are investing in tools that allow seamless interaction between AI and blockchain systems, advancing the “agentic economy” and transforming how businesses manage digital payments.
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.
A recent report from CGAP, a think tank associated with the World Bank, has turned the spotlight onto the use of stablecoins in international humanitarian aid. The report, frequently discussed by prominent crypto commentator All In Crypto, features real-world cases where Stellar- and Algorand-based platforms facilitate digital cash transfers in challenging regions.
Stablecoins in humanitarian relief effortsCGAP’s research investigates whether stablecoins can assist non-profit organizations in moving money across borders, particularly when traditional correspondent banks are slow, costly, or outright inaccessible. The analysis identifies a range of technical and regulatory barriers, including high transaction fees, lack of transparency in foreign exchange rates, delays of several days in payments, and the withdrawal of banks from jurisdictions labeled high-risk.
The report notes that stablecoins transact on blockchain networks, with the choice of network directly affecting costs, speed, and service availability. Stellar is highlighted as a blockchain supporting USDC, while both Stellar and Algorand are specifically identified as preferred low-fee networks in humanitarian cash transfer programs.
Field cases: Stellar and Algorand in actionIn Sudan, the Norwegian Refugee Council used KoalaPay, a digital payments platform, to distribute USDC—a major dollar-pegged stablecoin—to local partners handling aid disbursement. According to All In Crypto’s summary, KoalaPay runs on both Stellar and Base networks, with local organizations converting USDC into Sudanese pounds before transferring money to aid recipients.
A separate Ukraine initiative, launched in December 2022, relied on Stellar’s Aid Assist platform, MoneyGram, and self-managed digital wallets. This program delivered $4.6 million to more than 2,500 households during its first two years of operation.
CGAP described how, in Ukraine, digital stablecoin payments on Stellar and integration with major remittance networks enabled fast, traceable transactions to recipients in a highly volatile market.
Meanwhile, Algorand features in the Afghanistan-based case managed by Mercy Corps and HesabPay, a platform that sent a stablecoin denominated in afghani, the local currency, to users’ wallets. HesabPay allows recipients to receive digital funds directly, even in environments with limited banking infrastructure.
Mini dictionary: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is a global partnership housed at the World Bank, focused on advancing financial inclusion in developing economies by researching digital financial services and innovative technologies.
CountryPlatformBlockchain UtilizedStablecoinImplementation PartnerReported ImpactSudanKoalaPayStellar, BaseUSDCNorwegian Refugee CouncilFunds converted to Sudanese pounds, distributed to local recipientsUkraineAid Assist, MoneyGramStellarUSDC (via wallets)Multiple partners$4.6M to 2,500 householdsAfghanistanHesabPayAlgorandAfghani-denominated stablecoinMercy CorpsDirect-to-recipient stablecoin aid deliveryChallenges remain for digital aid solutionsWhile CGAP affirms that stablecoins can enhance traceability and expand market access for cross-border aid, the report cautions that familiar hurdles remain. Currency exchange, cash withdrawal, and compliance all present continued challenges, even when on-chain transaction costs are negligible. The expense and availability of off-ramps—services that allow recipients to convert digital assets into local currency—still pose operational difficulties.
Another warning from CGAP is that direct-to-recipient models could shift foreign exchange risk, withdrawal fees, and digital literacy requirements to aid recipients. These risks are particularly significant for vulnerable populations in regions with limited access to merchant networks or digital infrastructure.
CGAP emphasizes that while blockchain-based transfers may cut transaction fees, practical access and inclusion barriers can persist in fragile environments where alternatives are scarce.
Stellar is an open-source blockchain designed for fast, low-cost cross-border payments and is widely used by financial institutions and non-profits for currency transfers. Algorand, launched in 2019, offers high-speed and scalable decentralized finance solutions and operates with a unique pure proof-of-stake protocol.
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.
An attacker extracted 24.15 million USDC from Arbitrum-based platform AFX Trade by using hot-validator signatures to authorize a massive withdrawal, according to the original report. Security firms traced the exploit to compromised keys tied to the external bridge the project operated, not to any vulnerability in the layer-2 network’s core infrastructure.
Arbitrum quickly confirmed that its native bridge remained untouched. The distinction matters because custom bridges—built by individual teams to connect Ethereum-based applications to L2s—often rely on a smaller validator set, making a key compromise attack more feasible. In this case, the attacker gathered enough valid signatures to move the funds off the platform without triggering standard safety thresholds.
Validator Signature Vulnerability External bridges frequently depend on a multi-sig or proof-of-authority system where a quorum of keys can greenlight transfers. Security researchers noted that the attack vector on AFX Trade points to poor key management practices rather than a smart contract flaw. The funds, denominated in USDC, were withdrawn in a single transaction that observers say would normally require multiple independent approvals.
The incident underscores a pattern that has plagued cross-chain infrastructure for years. Bridges remain the weakest link between networks, and the track record of exploits—from Wormhole to Ronin—has consistently involved governance or validator key compromises. What sets this case apart is the clean isolation from Arbitrum’s own security model, which might shield the broader ecosystem from direct contagion.
While Arbitrum has cemented its place among the top blockchains by developer activity, the proliferation of third-party bridges built atop its scalability framework introduces risks that the core protocol cannot fully mitigate.
What Remains Unknown Details about how the keys were initially compromised are scarce. It is unclear whether the attack originated from a phishing campaign, insider threat, or infrastructure breach. On-chain investigators are tracking the movement of the USDC, but no central issuer or law enforcement agency has yet announced a freeze, and the funds may already be routed through mixers or other obfuscation layers.
The lack of immediate recoverability is likely to weigh on users who parked liquidity on a relatively lesser-known bridge. For traders and liquidity providers inside the Arbitrum DeFi scene, the episode reintroduces a familiar tension: the speed and composability gains of newer bridges often come at the cost of diluted security assumptions.
Broader Impact on Layer-2 Security Narratives AFX Trade’s loss arrives during a period when institutional attention on Ethereum scaling solutions is growing, and security guarantees are becoming a selling point. Arbitrum’s quick separation from the exploit—emphasizing its native bridge’s integrity—suggests that prominent L2 teams are acutely aware of the reputational damage that bridge hacks can inflict, even when they are not technically at fault.
Still, the practical outcome for affected users is the same as in any bridge theft: tokens gone and uncertainty about recourse. The incident does not signal systemic risk for Arbitrum as a network, but it reinforces the caution that DeFi participants must apply when evaluating the custody chains of any application that sits on top of a major rollup.
The next phase of the story will depend on forensic reports and whether the attacker leaves a trace that can tie the wallet activity to a known entity. For now, the exploitation of hot-validator signatures serves as yet another data point in the ongoing struggle to secure cross-chain messaging layers without reintroducing centralization.
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.
Two major cross-chain bridges suffered security breaches in July 2026, with attackers stealing over $31 million from AFX Trade and VerusCoin in separate but closely timed incidents. Blockchain security firm Blockaid identified and publicized both exploits as they were in progress, increasing concerns about ongoing vulnerabilities in the bridge infrastructure supporting decentralized finance (DeFi).
AFX Trade bridge hacked for $24 million on ArbitrumBlockaid first detected an attack on the Arbitrum-based AFX Trade protocol at 21:30 UTC on July 22. The hacker managed to compromise five hot-validator signatures on AFX’s custody bridge, bypassing the required quorum and executing an unauthorized transfer of $24.15 million in USDC tokens.
Security teams revealed that the stolen USDC was moved to an Ethereum wallet, then swapped out for 12,467.5 ETH. PeckShieldAlert traced the movement of these funds, which remain in the address 0x6276…ebAC.
Blockaid stated it had identified a targeted exploit affecting a bridge operated by AFX on Arbitrum. The incident enabled an attacker to drain approximately $24.15 million in USDC from the protocol in a single operation.
AFX paused bridge operations as soon as the breach was discovered, clarifying that neither its core trading infrastructure nor the wider Arbitrum network was affected. Steven Goldfeder, representing the Arbitrum Foundation, separately confirmed that Arbitrum’s native bridge had not been compromised, attributing the unauthorized withdrawal to a third-party protocol integration.
AFX disclosed that all stolen funds are still located in the attacker’s wallet. Security firm SlowMist reported the wallet address to the Crypto Defense Alliance, an industry network tracking stolen digital assets, while Zellic, which previously audited the bridge’s code, joined the ongoing investigation.
AFX pledged to provide frequent updates as more facts are verified and as recovery efforts continue.
Mini dictionary: Arbitrum is a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that aims to provide faster and cheaper transactions by processing them off the Ethereum main chain and then settling the results back onto the mainnet.
VerusCoin bridge loses $7.5 million in recurring exploitBlockaid also flagged a breach in the VerusCoin Ethereum Bridge, resulting in a further loss of roughly $7.54 million. The attacker manipulated the bridge’s import mechanism to trigger payouts that lacked the necessary asset reserves, siphoning off multiple cryptocurrencies, including ETH, tBTC, USDC, USDT, EURC, MKR, and scrvUSD. The stolen funds were transferred from the bridge contract to a wallet ending in C142D54.
Analysis revealed similarities between this attack and a previous incident on the same bridge in May 2026. Both leveraged an identical vulnerability, but July’s exploit appeared to originate from a different attacker using a new wallet.
Blockaid noted this latest breach exploited the same contract and entry path as the May attack, and described both incidents as sharing an identical bug class, pointing to persistent flaws in validation logic for bridge transfers.
PeckShieldAlert reported that the attacker soon began laundering the stolen assets through Tornado Cash. At the time of the incident, VerusCoin had not yet released any public statements.
The May incident on the VerusCoin bridge involved a manipulation of its cross-chain export process, enabling the attacker to extract $11.58 million for a relatively low transaction fee.
Mini dictionary: VerusCoin is a blockchain platform focused on privacy and interoperability, allowing users to move assets across different chains through its bridging technology.
BridgeDate of ExploitAmount StolenAssets AffectedAFX Trade (Arbitrum)July 22, 2026$24.15 millionUSDCVerusCoin Ethereum BridgeJuly 23, 2026$7.54 millionETH, tBTC, USDC, USDT, EURC, MKR, scrvUSDVerusCoin Ethereum BridgeMay 2026$11.58 millionMultiple currenciesSecurity sector response and ongoing investigationsThese incidents have brought renewed scrutiny to the recurring vulnerabilities affecting cross-chain bridges, which have previously experienced high-profile breaches including those involving Wormhole and Nomad in 2022.
Blockaid indicated that the root causes in the VerusCoin exploits involved missing checks on incoming transfer values, a class of bugs observed previously in the sector. Security firms, including SlowMist and PeckShieldAlert, are actively monitoring the stolen funds and collaborating with exchanges and other ecosystem partners to track suspicious wallet activity.
Neither AFX nor VerusCoin has provided a date for restoring bridge operations. Both investigations remain open, and recovery or remediation plans have not yet been announced as authorities and security teams work to follow the movements of the stolen assets.
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.
AFX Trade, a decentralized exchange running on Arbitrum, just lost $24.15 million in USDC through a bridge attack. And now it’s essentially negotiating with the person who robbed it, offering them roughly $7.2 million to give the rest back.
The white-hat bounty deal, proposed publicly by AFX head of growth Ken C, would let the attacker keep 30% of the stolen funds as a “bounty” in exchange for returning the remaining 70%.
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What actually happened The exploit hit on July 22, 2026, targeting AFX Trade’s custody bridge rather than its smart contracts or Arbitrum’s underlying infrastructure. The attacker compromised off-chain validator signing keys.
Once inside, the attacker drained approximately $24.15 million in USDC from the bridge. They then moved the funds to Ethereum and swapped them for about 12,467 ETH, which was trading at roughly $1,937 per token at the time. AFX suspended its bridge immediately after discovering the breach.
Security firms Blockaid and PeckShield both confirmed the attack and were quick to note that Arbitrum’s native bridge remained completely unaffected.
Part of a much bigger problem AFX wasn’t the only victim that week. The exploit was part of a concentrated wave of attacks on July 22 and 23, which collectively resulted in losses exceeding $35 million across multiple platforms. Zoom out further and July 2026 saw nearly $97 million in total hack-related losses, according to data from Blockaid and PeckShield.
The AFX exploit is particularly instructive because it didn’t involve a smart contract flaw. The contracts worked exactly as designed. The weakness was in the off-chain validator key management. Smart contract audits only cover one layer of security. The operational security of key management, validator selection, and bridge architecture often receives far less scrutiny from users, even though it represents a substantial attack surface.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Circle has signed separate memorandums of understanding with Kakao Group and South Korean fintech operator Toss to explore stablecoin payments, blockchain settlement and digital asset infrastructure in South Korea.
Summary
Circle signed agreements with Kakao Group and Toss to explore stablecoin payment infrastructure in Korea. Kakao plans to assess KRW stablecoins, remittances and merchant settlement using Circle’s blockchain payment technology. Toss will explore USDC-based services, digital wallets and programmable payments while regulations continue developing nationwide. The agreements bring Circle’s USDC and payment technology into discussions with some of Korea’s largest consumer finance platforms. Kakao, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank will study opportunities around KRW-based digital assets, cross-border payments and tokenized financial services. Toss and Toss Bank will examine similar uses, including digital wallets, overseas payments and programmable onchain transactions.
Kakao Group said its agreement with Circle will combine the KakaoTalk-centered platform ecosystem with Kakao Pay’s payment services, Kakao Bank’s banking capabilities and Circle’s blockchain infrastructure. The companies plan to review payment, settlement and digital asset connectivity as South Korea develops rules for stablecoins and other tokenized financial products.
The initial work will focus on faster payment and settlement systems, according to local reporting. The companies will also assess cross-border remittances, merchant settlement and links between blockchain networks and existing financial systems. Kakao Group said the infrastructure could eventually support services from other Korean companies, although the MOU does not set a launch date or confirm a specific stablecoin issuance model.
Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun, who leads the group’s stablecoin task force, said the companies would “preemptively prepare a Korean digital asset ecosystem with Circle.” Circle executives met Kakao representatives in Pangyo on July 22 before the partnership was announced.
Toss explores USDC and programmable payments Circle also signed a separate MOU with Viva Republica, the operator of Toss, and Toss Bank. The companies will study blockchain-based payments and stablecoin infrastructure, with potential uses covering digital wallets, cross-border settlement and financial services that use USDC.
Toss will review biometric payment tools, USDC-linked financial products and programmable onchain payments. Toss Bank will focus on connecting stablecoin infrastructure with traditional bank accounts and fiat payment networks. The parties also plan to examine compliance, risk management, security and anti-money laundering requirements as Korean rules develop.
The agreement builds on Toss’s broader interest in digital assets. As crypto.news previously reported, the fintech has explored a proprietary blockchain and a possible token while preparing for a Korean stablecoin market. Toss Bank has also been studying blockchain-based payment and settlement models.
Circle expands its South Korea strategy The new agreements follow months of outreach by Circle in South Korea. As crypto.news reported on July 13, the company planned its Current Seoul event to bring banks, exchanges, payment firms and super-app operators together for talks on digital asset regulation and payments. Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun was among the scheduled speakers.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire also visited Seoul in April and met executives from Korean banks, exchanges and payment companies. He said Circle did not plan to issue its own won stablecoin. Instead, the company has positioned USDC and its infrastructure as possible links between future KRW-denominated tokens and global payment networks.
That approach is visible in the latest agreements. Circle is not announcing a KRW stablecoin with Kakao or Toss. The companies are studying how local won-based digital assets could work alongside USDC, blockchain settlement systems and existing financial infrastructure.
Any commercial launch will depend on the final product design and regulatory approvals. Circle Chief Commercial Officer Kash Rajaghi said Korea has “a solid foundation for financial innovation.”
Korean firms prepare for stablecoin rules South Korean technology and financial groups have increased work on won-based stablecoins as policymakers prepare a broader legal framework. Kakao Bank has already explored stablecoin development, while Kakao Pay has been building a wider group strategy around KRW-linked digital assets.
Kakao Group said its Circle partnership could support a shared foundation for stablecoin services beyond its own platforms. The group is also reviewing tokenized financial services, which could use stablecoins as a settlement layer when assets move between blockchain networks and traditional financial systems.
Circle has taken a similar infrastructure-led approach elsewhere in Asia.The company recently partnered with Japan’s JCB to test USDC for corporate treasury transfers and merchant payments. The Korean agreements extend that regional strategy into platforms with large domestic payment and banking networks.
For now, both partnerships remain exploratory. Kakao Group, Toss and Circle have not announced a launch date for a KRW stablecoin or a live consumer payment product. Their agreements instead create a framework to test business models, technical connections and regulatory requirements as South Korea’s digital asset rules take shape.
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TLDR: USDC expansion in South Korea now includes Kakao and Toss, giving Circle access to major wallet, banking, payment, and consumer platforms. Kakao will assess remittances, merchant settlement, digital asset links, and possible connections between KRW tokens and Circle infrastructure. Toss will study USDC wallets, programmable payments, biometric authentication, overseas transfers, and settlement links with traditional bank accounts. Both memorandums remain exploratory, with commercial services dependent on technical testing, compliance controls, product design, and regulatory approval. Circle has accelerated its USDC expansion in South Korea through separate agreements with Kakao Group and Toss. The memorandums, signed July 23, focus on blockchain payment infrastructure and regulated stablecoin services. Kakao will assess payments, merchant settlement, remittances, and digital asset links across its major platforms. Toss will study USDC wallets, programmable payments, biometric tools, and connections to bank accounts.
Both deals remain exploratory and set no launch date. Still, they place Circle beside two consumer finance networks with nationwide reach. The move also extends Circle’s broader outreach to Korean banks, exchanges, payment companies, digital asset platforms, and merchants.
Circle 🤝 Kakao Group
Circle and Kakao Group have signed an MOU to explore blockchain-based payment infrastructure and digital asset technologies in Korea.
Together, we’ll assess opportunities for USDC and Circle’s global payment rails across payments, settlement, and digital… pic.twitter.com/MmZRd19iIH
— Circle (@circle) July 23, 2026
USDC Expansion in South Korea Reaches Kakao Ecosystem Kakao Group will combine Circle’s blockchain infrastructure with services operated by Kakao, Kakao Pay, and KakaoBank. The companies will review payment rails, settlement tools, cross-border transfers, and links between digital assets and traditional finance.
Kakao Pay has more than 40 million registered users, according to local reporting. That scale gives the partnership access to one of South Korea’s largest digital wallet networks. KakaoTalk also anchors the group’s wider consumer ecosystem, while KakaoBank provides regulated banking capabilities.
The agreement may support merchant settlement and remittance services using stablecoin payments. It could also connect future won-denominated digital assets with USDC and global blockchain settlement systems. Circle has said it does not plan to issue its own Korean won stablecoin.
Instead, Circle is positioning USDC as a bridge for international transfers and tokenized financial services. This approach allows local firms to develop KRW products while using Circle’s infrastructure for global liquidity and settlement.
The USDC expansion in South Korea also fits Kakao’s existing blockchain work. Kakao previously launched Klaytn, which later merged into the Kaia network. Yet the new memorandum does not confirm that Kaia will support any planned service.
No commercial product, issuance structure, or rollout schedule has been announced. Kakao and Circle will first assess technical requirements, business models, security standards, and regulatory conditions.
Kakao and Toss Map Stablecoin Payments Across Finance Toss and Toss Bank will examine a broader set of consumer and banking services. Their work covers USDC wallets, programmable payments, biometric authentication, overseas transfers, and bank-linked settlement.
Programmable payments can execute transactions after predefined conditions are met. Toss may test these functions for consumer services, while Toss Bank studies connections with conventional accounts and fiat networks.
The partnership gives the USDC expansion in South Korea another route into a major digital finance platform. Toss operates payment, banking, investment, and insurance services through a widely used mobile application.
Circle’s discussions with Toss also include compliance, anti-money laundering controls, risk management, and cybersecurity. Those areas remain central as South Korean policymakers develop stablecoin and digital asset rules.
Circle has expanded its Korean outreach during 2026. It signed agreements with Upbit and Bithumb in April to support USDC adoption and related technology work. The two exchanges account for most daily cryptocurrency trading volume in the country.
The USDC expansion in South Korea therefore spans exchanges, wallets, banks, and payment applications. Circle is building technical relationships before regulators finalize rules for won-based tokens and blockchain settlement.
Circle reported a USDC supply of $74.4 billion on July 23. The Kakao and Toss memorandums do not guarantee live services. Any launch will depend on product design and regulatory approval.
AFX Trade, a decentralized perpetuals exchange built on Arbitrum, got cleaned out to the tune of $24.15 million on July 22. The attacker compromised validator signing keys for the platform’s bridge, drained USDC from the protocol, bridged it all to Ethereum, and promptly swapped it for approximately 12,467 ETH at an average price of around $1,937 per token.
The platform’s response? A public offer to let the hacker keep 30% of the stolen funds, roughly $7.2 million, if they return the remaining 70%.
What happened and how the exploit worked The attack targeted a third-party bridge operated by AFX Trade, not Arbitrum’s native bridge infrastructure. Arbitrum itself wasn’t breached, and its core bridging mechanism remains intact. The vulnerability lived in the layer AFX maintained on top of it.
The attacker gained access to validator signing keys for the AFX-operated bridge, which meant they could move funds out without restriction. The $24.15 million in USDC was bridged from Arbitrum to Ethereum and converted into ETH.
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The exploit follows a familiar playbook. A similar attack hit the Verus-Ethereum bridge back in May 2026, using a comparable method to drain funds.
Security firm Blockaid flagged the AFX Trade exploit as part of a broader cluster of attacks it labeled “Hackers Day.” Total losses from hacks during July 2026 have reached nearly $97 million.
The 30% bounty gambit AFX Trade’s decision to publicly offer the attacker a 30% bounty is increasingly standard practice in crypto exploits. The logic is straightforward: recovering 70% of stolen funds is better than recovering nothing, and on-chain forensics make it increasingly difficult to launder large sums without eventually being identified.
A growing pattern of bridge exploits Bridge attacks have been the single most lucrative attack vector in DeFi for several years running. The reason is structural: bridges hold large pools of locked assets and rely on validator sets or multisig arrangements that create concentrated points of failure.
The AFX Trade incident fits neatly into this pattern. A third-party bridge, maintained by the protocol team rather than the underlying Layer 2 network, proved to be the weak link.
The nearly $97 million in total July 2026 hack losses, as tracked by Blockaid, suggests the problem is getting worse, not better.
What this means for investors For traders using perpetual DEXs on Layer 2 networks, the AFX Trade exploit is a concrete reminder to evaluate the infrastructure underneath the trading interface. The exchange itself might have solid smart contracts for its perps engine, but if the bridge it relies on has centralized validator keys, none of that matters when the keys get compromised.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Arbitrum ekosisteminde faaliyet gösteren merkeziyetsiz sürekli vadeli işlem platformu AFX Trade, yaklaşık 24,15 milyon dolarlık siber saldırının hedefi oldu. Güvenlik şirketlerinin paylaştığı verilere göre saldırganlar, protokolün köprü doğrulama anahtarlarını ele geçirerek milyonlarca dolarlık USDC’yi kendi cüzdanlarına aktarmayı başardı. Olayın ardından Arbitrum’un yerel köprüsünün saldırıdan etkilenmediği açıklanırken, yaşanan ihlalin zincir dışı güvenlik açıklarından kaynaklandığı belirtildi.
Saldırı Akıllı Sözleşmelerden Değil, Doğrulama Anahtarlarından Kaynaklandı Blokzincir analizlerine göre saldırgan, köprü sisteminde kullanılan doğrulayıcı (validator) imzalama anahtarlarını ele geçirerek yaklaşık 24,15 milyon USDC’nin çekilmesini onayladı. Uzmanlar, akıllı sözleşmelerde herhangi bir güvenlik açığı bulunmadığını vurgularken, sorunun zincir dışında saklanan özel doğrulayıcı anahtarlarının ele geçirilmesinden kaynaklandığını ifade etti. Akıllı sözleşme yalnızca geçerli imzaları doğruladığı için işlemi normal bir çekim olarak kabul etti.
İlginizi Çekebilir: Binance Futures Yeni Listelemesini Duyurdu! İşte Detaylar
Arbitrum’un geliştiricisi Offchain Labs’ın kurucu ortaklarından Steven Goldfeder, saldırının Arbitrum ağının yerel köprüsüyle ilgili olmadığını açıkladı. Goldfeder, yaşanan olayın tamamen üçüncü taraf bir protokolden kaynaklandığını ve Arbitrum’un resmi köprü altyapısının herhangi bir güvenlik ihlaline uğramadığını belirtti. Bu açıklama, olayın tüm Arbitrum ağı yerine yalnızca AFX Trade’in kullandığı köprü mekanizmasını etkilediğini gösteriyor.
Saldırgan Yeterli Sayıda İmzaya Ulaştı Blockaid’e göre saldırgan, köprünün kullandığı sıcak doğrulayıcı (hot validator) anahtarlarından yeterli sayıda imzayı ele geçirerek yaklaşık 24,15 milyon USDC’nin transferini onayladı. Bu nedenle saldırının, köprü kodundan değil doğrulayıcı anahtarlarının ele geçirilmesinden kaynaklandığı belirtildi.
Arbitrum CEO’su Steven Goldfeder ise olayın Arbitrum’un yerel köprüsüyle ilgili olmadığını, saldırının üçüncü taraf bir protokolden kaynaklandığını açıkladı. Goldfeder, incelemelerin ilgili ekiple koordinasyon içinde sürdüğünü ifade etti.
Zincir üstü verilere göre saldırgan, çaldığı USDC’leri Ethereum ağına taşıyarak yaklaşık 12.467 ETH’ye dönüştürdü.
Varlıklarının Büyük Bölümü Kaybedildi Saldırı öncesinde işlem hacminde önemli artış yaşayan AFX Trade’in toplam kilitli varlıklarının (TVL) büyük kısmının saldırıda boşaltıldığı bildirildi. Yaklaşık 24 milyon dolarlık kayıp, protokolde bulunan varlıkların neredeyse tamamına karşılık geliyor. Bu durum, saldırganın protokoldeki likiditenin en yüksek olduğu dönemi hedef aldığını gösteriyor. AFX Trade’e yönelik yaklaşık 24 milyon dolarlık saldırı, DeFi sektöründe güvenlik risklerinin yalnızca akıllı sözleşmelerle sınırlı olmadığını bir kez daha ortaya koydu. Uzmanlara göre zincir dışı doğrulama anahtarlarının korunması, merkeziyetsiz finans protokolleri için kritik önem taşıyor. Olayın Arbitrum ağının yerel köprüsünü etkilememesi ekosistem açısından olumlu değerlendirilse de, üçüncü taraf protokollerin güvenlik altyapısının güçlendirilmesi gerektiği vurgulanıyor.
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Attackers used an AFX-powered bridge within Arbitrum and stole around $24.15 million worth of USDC and converted it into Ether. This brought the total losses due to hacks in July to around $97 million, surpassing that of June. A new and significant hack on a bridge system is just another problem in the string of problems affecting the crypto world this month. AFX Trade, which runs on Arbitrum, lost $24.15 million worth of USDC. Attackers exploited AFX’s bridge, and several blockchain security firms detected the attack almost immediately. They have been tracking the transaction of the hacked money on various blockchain networks. Offchain Labs confirmed that attackers exploited AFX’s bridge without compromising Arbitrum’s native bridge.
Blockaid detected an exploit at 2026-07-22 21:30 UTC targeting @AFX_XYZ, a protocol on @arbitrum. The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates. Approximately 24.15M USDC has been drained thus far from the protocol.
Our team has been working with the incredible folks on… https://t.co/0Qd9ve5gPB
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 22, 2026 The breach was spotted by blockchain security firm Blockaid at around 21:30 UTC on July 22, after which they began working together with Arbitrum on their investigation. The hacker moved the stolen money to the Ethereum blockchain shortly after hacking the system. As a result, according to PeckShield security experts, the hacker converted the hacked money into roughly 12,467.5 ETH, moving the entire amount into one single wallet address.
Arbitrum Confirms Safety of Its Native Bridge The hack caused significant concern across the Arbitrum community, since bridge hacks often sow doubt about blockchain technology itself. Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, stated clearly that hackers managed to compromise a bridge created by AFX, but not the official Arbitrum bridge. Goldfeder said that there was no attack or compromise of the native Arbitrum bridge. This clarification was very important for distinguishing the problem associated with the protocol from the safety of the Arbitrum blockchain network.
We're aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way.
We will coordinate with the third…
— Steven Goldfeder (@sgoldfed) July 22, 2026 Bridge Hacks Keep On Leading To Losses For Cryptocurrencies This latest hack is one in many that has made the security situation in the decentralized finance community very difficult this month. Before the AFX hack, DefiLlama reported 13 cryptocurrency hacks in July, resulting in a total loss of around $72.6 million. The AFX bridge hack is the 14th one to take place in July, bringing the total July losses to about $97 million.
This loss has already surpassed the $75.32 million lost in June in various cryptocurrency hacks. This recent hack also highlights the ongoing pattern of hackers targeting bridges between blockchains rather than attacking the protocol directly. Investigations have begun for the Ethereum that was stolen, waiting to see if recovery becomes possible at all.
The AFX Trade Bridge exploit has sent shockwaves across the DeFi space. On July 22, 2026, an attacker drained exactly $24.15 million in USDC from a custody bridge operated by AFX Trade on Arbitrum.
Security firm Blockaid detected the breach at approximately 21:30 UTC, confirming that the attack was specific to an AFX Trade bridge exploit and did not touch Arbitrum’s native bridge.
Inside the $24.15M Raid on AFX’s Arbitrum Bridge AFX Trade runs a decentralized perpetual futures protocol on a sovereign Layer-1 chain. It routes USDC deposits through Arbitrum via a custom custody bridge, and that bridge became the target.
On-chain data shows that at 21:30:25 UTC, the attacker triggered a successful withdrawal of exactly 24,150,000 USDC from the bridge contract.
Preliminary on-chain analysis suggests the attacker may have compromised validator hot keys, meeting the 5-of-7 signature quorum required to authorize the withdrawal.
After the drain, the attacker bridged the stolen USDC to Ethereum via Circle’s CCTP and swapped it for 12,467 ETH at an average price of roughly $1,937 per ETH.
AFX Trade(@AFX_XYZ) was exploited for $24.15M!
The exploiter bridged 24.15M $USDC to #Ethereum and bought 12,467 $ETH at an average price of $1,937.https://t.co/m5i1x1EOlz pic.twitter.com/XWD4dWLlJc
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 23, 2026
The conversion into ETH exposed the stolen value to price risk and complicated recovery efforts.
This incident is not isolated. Just one day before the AFX breach, attackers hit the Wanchain-Cardano Bridge and walked away with $13M, proof that cross-chain infrastructure keeps drawing fire in 2026.
Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder was quick to separate AFX’s incident from Arbitrum’s core infrastructure.
“We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third-party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way,” Goldfeder stated on X.
We're aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way.
We will coordinate with the third…
— Steven Goldfeder (@sgoldfed) July 22, 2026
AFX immediately suspended bridge operations after the breach.
Security Is Not a Feature, It Is the Product BloFin CEO Matt responded to the AFX Trade bridge exploit with a blunt industry warning: X: “24M drained from a protocol-run bridge on Arbitrum today. The canonical bridge held; the custom one didn’t… in this industry, security isn’t a feature you add later. It IS the product.”
24M drained from a protocol-run bridge on Arbitrum today. The canonical bridge held, the custom one didn’t.
Every cycle we relearn the same thing: in this industry, security isn’t a feature you add later. It IS the product. Yield, speed, UX, none of it matters if user funds… https://t.co/8UCi73NOE0
— Matt (@BloFin_CEO) July 23, 2026
Bridge exploits have become a defining threat of 2026. A flash loan exploit hit Summer.fi Vaults in July. Also, a Private Keys Hack Drained the Humanity Protocol in a similar custody-key scenario earlier this year.
The KelpDAO incident in April saw attackers drain roughly $292 million via a LayerZero-powered bridge, a case CoinGape reported showed North Korea’s Lazarus Group was blamed for the KelpDAO LayerZero exploit.
AFX has issued a white-hat bounty offer, return 70% of the funds and keep 30%. The protocol has enlisted SlowMist, Zellic, and the Crypto Defense Alliance to assist in the investigation, per their official update.
We are continuing to work closely with leading blockchain security partners as the investigation progresses. According to SlowMist, the stolen funds remain in the attacker's address and have been reported to the Crypto Defense Alliance (CDA), a collaborative network that includes…
— AFX Trade (@AFX_XYZ) July 23, 2026
AFX has confirmed no recovery at the time of writing. This incident sends a direct custody warning to investors in perp DEXs.
The investigation into the AFX Trade bridge exploit continues. Users should monitor official AFX channels for updates on deposits, withdrawals, and any recovery plan.
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AFX Trade, a decentralized perpetuals exchange operating on the Arbitrum blockchain and settling trades in USDC, suffered a major exploit on Wednesday. An attacker managed to drain approximately $24.15 million by targeting the platform’s custody bridge.
Details of the BreachAFX Trade is known for offering perpetual trading services managed via smart contracts, allowing traders to gain leveraged exposure to various cryptocurrency assets. The exploited bridge serves as a component for moving funds between Arbitrum and Ethereum, facilitating cross-chain access for its users.
Rather than exploiting a flaw in a smart contract, the attacker utilized hot-validator signatures tied to the custody bridge. According to Vladimir S., security chief at Legalblock, five validator signatures approved the withdrawal, surpassing the two-thirds approval threshold required by the bridge protocol. After a 200-second dispute window elapsed without challenge, the contract released the funds as intended.
PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, reported that the attacker transferred the stolen USDC to Ethereum and swapped it for roughly 12,467 ETH, which remains consolidated in a single wallet.
Mini dictionary: Hot-validator signatures, digital signatures generated by bridge validators tasked with approving transactions; “hot” implies continuous online access, which potentially exposes keys to greater risk compared to “cold” offline storage. The security of such bridges relies on multi-signature schemes, where compromise of a quorum can lead to asset loss.
Bridge Security and ResponseSteven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, the developer behind Arbitrum, clarified that the native Arbitrum bridge remained secure and had not suffered any breach or exploit.
Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs, emphasized that the incident affected an external bridge whose validators approved the withdrawal, and not the core Arbitrum infrastructure.
Security experts pointed out that this exploit continues the trend seen throughout 2026, where attackers opt to compromise off-chain elements like private keys and signature authorities, rather than directly targeting smart contract vulnerabilities.
Recent Security Challenges for Arbitrum ProtocolsEarlier in April, Drift Protocol lost around $285 million after attackers gradually gained privileged access. Just last week, an oracle attack drained $18 million from Ostium, another Arbitrum-based protocol. These incidents highlight the evolving tactics of attackers seeking to exploit the weakest links in DeFi’s security architecture.
In response to recent exploits, the Arbitrum Security Council, a body responsible for safeguarding network integrity, took the rare step of freezing $71 million in ETH related to the Kelp DAO bridge compromise. This action led to debate about the extent of emergency powers in networks that market themselves as decentralized.
In the AFX Trade case, the attacker quickly bridged funds to Ethereum and swapped the proceeds, potentially making asset recovery even more challenging and further distancing the funds from protocol control.
ProtocolDate of ExploitMethodLoss (USD)AFX TradeJune 2026Bridge validator compromise$24.15 millionDrift ProtocolApril 2026Privileged access (private key)$285 millionOstiumMay 2026Oracle manipulation$18 millionRecent events have led to renewed scrutiny of cross-chain infrastructure’s security, and the ability of DeFi networks to respond to increasingly sophisticated attack vectors.
Repeated incidents have fueled ongoing debate about the trade-offs between decentralization and emergency protocol intervention as Arbitrum-based platforms seek to balance user security with network autonomy.
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.
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Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, signed a memorandum of understanding with Kakao Group on July 23 to jointly explore blockchain-based payment systems and digital asset technologies in South Korea.
The deal pairs one of the world’s largest stablecoin issuers with the tech conglomerate that essentially runs South Korea’s digital life. Kakao operates everything from the country’s dominant messaging app to its own banking platform, making it a gateway to tens of millions of Korean consumers.
Why Kakao matters For anyone unfamiliar with the Korean tech ecosystem, think of Kakao as a hybrid of WhatsApp, Venmo, and a mid-size bank, all rolled into one corporate umbrella. KakaoTalk, its messaging platform, is used by virtually every smartphone owner in the country. KakaoBank is one of the largest digital banks in Asia.
The MOU is focused on exploration rather than a finished product launch. No specific products or timelines have been disclosed.
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Circle’s broader Korea playbook This isn’t Circle’s first move on the Korean peninsula. In May 2025, the company signed a separate MOU with Hana Bank, one of South Korea’s major financial institutions. That partnership expanded to include Hana Card, with the stated goal of driving USDC adoption for cross-border remittances and treasury services.
Circle has been clear that it has no plans to issue a Korean won-denominated stablecoin. The company is betting that USDC, as a dollar-pegged asset, serves a different and complementary role to whatever local stablecoin products emerge.
KakaoBank reached the development stage for a KRW-pegged stablecoin by late November 2025. So even within this new partnership, the two sides may end up operating parallel stablecoin strategies rather than a single unified one.
Kakao’s blockchain evolution Kakao launched its own blockchain, Klaytn, back in 2019. That chain went through a significant transformation in 2024, merging into a new high-performance Layer-1 blockchain called Kaia.
Circle went public in 2025, and the IPO generated notable interest among Korean retail investors.
What this means for investors South Korea’s cross-border remittance market is substantial, and stablecoins have a genuine cost advantage over traditional wire transfers. Tether’s USDT has historically dominated Asian markets, but Circle’s strategy of embedding USDC directly into regulated financial institutions could chip away at that lead in jurisdictions where compliance matters to partners.
The risk side of the ledger isn’t empty. South Korea banned ICOs in 2017, introduced strict exchange registration requirements, and has periodically spooked markets with regulatory signals.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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.
The exploit targeted a bridge operated by derivatives exchange AFX and emptied nearly all of the USDC locked in the contract, according to security firm Blockaid. Arbitrum co-founder Steven Goldfeder said the network's native bridge was not affected.
AFX Trade, a derivatives exchange that settles trades in USDC, was exploited for approximately $24.15 million on July 22 after an attacker targeted a bridge the protocol operates on Arbitrum, according to security firm Blockaid.
Blockaid said it detected the exploit at 21:30 UTC and published the transaction on Arbiscan. "The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates," the firm wrote, adding that it is working with the Arbitrum team "to respond to the incident, to engage with the affected protocol, and to help them contain the stolen funds."
The attacker moved the funds to Ethereum and swapped them for 12,467 ETH at an average price of $1,937, according to onchain analytics account Lookonchain, which linked to the exploiter's address on Arkham.
AFX had not published a statement on its X account as of the time of writing. The Defiant reached out to AFX for comment.
Arbitrum Says Native Bridge UnaffectedSteven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs, said the exploit did not compromise Arbitrum's own infrastructure.
"We're aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way," Goldfeder wrote. "We will coordinate with the third party team and will report more details when we have them."
Nearly All Bridge Deposits DrainedThe AFX bridge contract on Arbitrum held about $24.2 million in USDC before the attack, according to DefiLlama, meaning the exploit drained nearly all of the funds locked in the contract. Deposits in the bridge had grown from about $19.3 million in mid-June.
AFX, short for Anti-Fragile Exchange, describes itself as a sovereign Layer 1 blockchain built for decentralized derivatives, offering USDC-margined perpetuals with up to 100x leverage on crypto assets, equities, ETFs and commodities, according to its website. User deposits enter the protocol through the Arbitrum-based bridge contract that was targeted in the attack.
The attack follows a string of exploits targeting protocols on Arbitrum in July. On July 15, perpetuals exchange Ostium halted trading after an attacker manipulated its oracle system to drain up to $18 million in USDC from its liquidity vault.
Markets showed little immediate reaction. ETH was trading at about $1,928, roughly flat over 24 hours, while ARB was down 0.3% at $0.0806, according to CoinGecko. ARB set an all-time low of $0.0705 on June 26.
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.
This is a general announcement. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Terms and conditions apply. Fellow Binancians, The next billion people entering crypto won't look like the last billion. Different countries, different starting points, different reasons for showing up - and different assets on their radar. We want to hear your take. Who are they, and what are they buying? Join our latest community challenge on the Binance Angels X account and Binance Discord, create a post on the topic below for a chance to win a share of 500 USDC token vouchers! Activity Period: 2026-07-22 09:00 (UTC) to 2026-07-28 23:59 (UTC) How to Participate: During the Activity Period, complete all of the following steps to be eligible: Follow the Binance Angels X account.Repost this post with your take on "What the world's next billion investors look like - and what they're buying." Ground it in something real: a region, a generation, a trend, an asset class.Go to this Binance Discord channel and share:Your X post link; andYour X account username. Reward Structure: The best 20 posts will be selected at Binance’s sole discretion, and eligible winners will share a prize pool of 500 USDC token vouchers equally. The posts will be selected based on creativity, Binance brand relevance, and accuracy as per Binance's discretion. Activity Rules: Each user is allowed to submit a maximum of 1 submission for the whole campaign in the Binance Discord channel.Copied, hateful, or offensive content is not allowed and will not be counted as eligible for this Activity. Terms & Conditions: This campaign is not available for users in the EEA region. These terms and conditions (“Promotion Terms”) govern users’ participation in the promotion above (“Promotion”). By participating in this Promotion, users agree to these Promotion Terms, and the following additional terms: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice; all of which are incorporated by reference into these terms and conditions. In the case of any inconsistency or conflict between these Promotion Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Promotion Terms shall prevail, followed by the following in this order of precedence, and to the extent of such conflict: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice.Only users who complete identity verification during the Activity Period can qualify for rewards in the Promotion. The products or features referred to above may not be available in your region. Users are responsible for informing themselves about and observing any restrictions and/or requirements imposed with respect to the access to and use of Binance services in each country from which the services are accessed.Only users in eligible countries are able to participate in this activity. Rewards will be distributed on 2026-08-15 on Binance Rewards Hub. Eligible users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub. The validity period for the token voucher is set at 30 days from the day of distribution. Binance reserves the right to disqualify a user’s reward eligibility if the account is involved in any dishonest behavior (e.g., wash trading, illegally bulk account registrations/logins, self dealing, or market manipulation). Binance further reserves the right to disqualify any participants who tamper with Binance program code, or interfere with the operation of Binance program code with other software.Binance reserves the right at any time in its sole and absolute discretion to determine and/or amend or vary these terms and conditions without prior notice, including but not limited to canceling, extending, terminating or suspending this Promotion, the eligibility terms and criteria, the selection and number of winners, and the timing of any act to be done, and all Participants shall be bound by these amendments. There may be discrepancies between this original content in English and any translated versions. Please refer to the original English version for the most accurate information, in case any discrepancies arise. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-07-23
Intel and AMD are reportedly signing long-term server CPU procurement agreements with Chinese clients, with some products seeing price hikes of over 40% this year.
According to Reuters, driven by the boom in AI data center construction, Intel and AMD are signing longer-term server CPU procurement agreements with Chinese server clients, with some terms exceeding two years to lock in purchasing volumes, though prices are generally not fixed. The report notes that demand for AI infrastructure has expanded from GPUs to areas including server CPUs, storage, networking equipment and memory. Some Chinese server CPU products have seen prices rise by over 40% year-to-date, with monthly increases for certain products exceeding 10%. Earlier, Reuters reported that the delivery cycle for some of Intel’s Xeon server CPUs has extended to up to six months.
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Binance will suspend trading on July 25 for system upgrades.
According to an official announcement, Binance will support its partner brokers in carrying out a scheduled system upgrade, during which its stock trading service will be suspended from 10:50 to 14:00 UTC on July 25. Users will not be able to submit stock trading orders during the upgrade period. Binance stated that the upgrade is scheduled outside regular U.S. stock trading hours, and the service is expected to automatically resume after the upgrade is completed. The exact resumption time may be earlier or later than the planned window, so users are advised to arrange their relevant trading activities in advance.
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Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $69.1 million, while Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $72.7 million.
According to data from Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a total net inflow of $69.1 million yesterday. BlackRock’s IBIT led with a $38.8 million net inflow, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $21.5 million, Bitwise’s BITB at $5.4 million, and MSBT at $3.8 million. Grayscale’s GBTC, however, saw a net outflow of $38.3 million, while all other products had zero net flow. In the same period, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a total net inflow of $72.7 million: BlackRock’s ETHA took in $53.5 million, Fidelity’s FETH added $19.2 million, and all other products recorded no net flow.
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The on-chain tokenized GME stock on Robinhood Crypto once traded at a significant premium, as market makers engaged in continuous mint arbitrage.
According to market data, trading activity in GME meme tokens and GME tokenized stocks on Robinhood Crypto has driven a rapid rise in the prices of their underlying liquidity pools. The on-chain price of GME tokenized stocks once traded at a roughly 10x premium over the actual underlying stock price. Given the relevant trading pools hold only around $200,000 in liquidity, heavy buying pressure pushed prices to deviate sharply from the spot level. Currently, mint and burn permissions for GME tokenized stocks are restricted to Authorized Participants (APs) and market makers that have completed Know Your Business (KYB) verification. On-chain data shows the official mint address is continuously issuing additional tokens to inject market liquidity; the latest records indicate new mint transactions occur nearly every minute, aimed at easing the premium and guiding prices back to their fair value.
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Kazakhstan will incorporate strategic digital mining into the development of its national cryptocurrency reserve, requiring mining firms to surrender a portion of their mining assets.
Kazakhstan’s government has approved the "Implementation Rules for Strategic Digital Mining", allowing eligible enterprises to secure power quotas for up to 10 years at a capped electricity price. In exchange, participating firms must transfer a portion of their mined crypto assets to the Astana Hub Autonomous Cluster Fund, which is managed by the National Investment Company under Kazakhstan’s National Bank to bolster the country’s strategic crypto reserves. Under the new regulations, digital mining operators must submit applications via the E-licensing system, gain approval from a special committee, sign an agreement with Astana Hub within 5 working days, and finalize a power purchase contract with a power generation company to participate in the strategic digital mining program.
Intel and AMD are reportedly signing long-term server CPU procurement agreements with Chinese clients, with some products seeing price hikes of over 40% this year.
According to Reuters, driven by the boom in AI data center construction, Intel and AMD are signing longer-term server CPU procurement agreements with Chinese server clients, with some terms exceeding two years to lock in purchasing volumes, though prices are generally not fixed. The report notes that demand for AI infrastructure has expanded from GPUs to areas including server CPUs, storage, networking equipment and memory. Some Chinese server CPU products have seen prices rise by over 40% year-to-date, with monthly increases for certain products exceeding 10%. Earlier, Reuters reported that the delivery cycle for some of Intel’s Xeon server CPUs has extended to up to six months.
37 minutes ago
Binance will suspend trading on July 25 for system upgrades.
According to an official announcement, Binance will support its partner brokers in carrying out a scheduled system upgrade, during which its stock trading service will be suspended from 10:50 to 14:00 UTC on July 25. Users will not be able to submit stock trading orders during the upgrade period. Binance stated that the upgrade is scheduled outside regular U.S. stock trading hours, and the service is expected to automatically resume after the upgrade is completed. The exact resumption time may be earlier or later than the planned window, so users are advised to arrange their relevant trading activities in advance.
37 minutes ago
Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $69.1 million, while Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $72.7 million.
According to data from Farside Investors, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a total net inflow of $69.1 million yesterday. BlackRock’s IBIT led with a $38.8 million net inflow, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $21.5 million, Bitwise’s BITB at $5.4 million, and MSBT at $3.8 million. Grayscale’s GBTC, however, saw a net outflow of $38.3 million, while all other products had zero net flow. In the same period, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted a total net inflow of $72.7 million: BlackRock’s ETHA took in $53.5 million, Fidelity’s FETH added $19.2 million, and all other products recorded no net flow.
37 minutes ago
The on-chain tokenized GME stock on Robinhood Crypto once traded at a significant premium, as market makers engaged in continuous mint arbitrage.
According to market data, trading activity in GME meme tokens and GME tokenized stocks on Robinhood Crypto has driven a rapid rise in the prices of their underlying liquidity pools. The on-chain price of GME tokenized stocks once traded at a roughly 10x premium over the actual underlying stock price. Given the relevant trading pools hold only around $200,000 in liquidity, heavy buying pressure pushed prices to deviate sharply from the spot level. Currently, mint and burn permissions for GME tokenized stocks are restricted to Authorized Participants (APs) and market makers that have completed Know Your Business (KYB) verification. On-chain data shows the official mint address is continuously issuing additional tokens to inject market liquidity; the latest records indicate new mint transactions occur nearly every minute, aimed at easing the premium and guiding prices back to their fair value.
37 minutes ago
Kazakhstan will incorporate strategic digital mining into the development of its national cryptocurrency reserve, requiring mining firms to surrender a portion of their mining assets.
Kazakhstan’s government has approved the "Implementation Rules for Strategic Digital Mining", allowing eligible enterprises to secure power quotas for up to 10 years at a capped electricity price. In exchange, participating firms must transfer a portion of their mined crypto assets to the Astana Hub Autonomous Cluster Fund, which is managed by the National Investment Company under Kazakhstan’s National Bank to bolster the country’s strategic crypto reserves. Under the new regulations, digital mining operators must submit applications via the E-licensing system, gain approval from a special committee, sign an agreement with Astana Hub within 5 working days, and finalize a power purchase contract with a power generation company to participate in the strategic digital mining program.
AFX suffered a $24.15 million USDC loss after an attacker targeted a cross-chain bridge linked to the trading protocol on July 22.
Summary
AFX’s cross-chain bridge lost $24.15 million USDC while Arbitrum’s native bridge remained unaffected during attack. The exploiter moved stolen USDC to Ethereum and converted the proceeds into 12,467.5 ETH afterward. Security firms are tracing the stolen funds as AFX and Arbitrum teams investigate the breach. The incident triggered an investigation by Blockaid and the Arbitrum team, while on-chain trackers followed the stolen funds to Ethereum.
The attack did not affect Arbitrum’s native bridge. AFX operates its own sovereign Layer 1 for perpetual trading but accepts USDC deposits through Arbitrum. The affected infrastructure was a third-party bridge operated by AFX rather than Arbitrum’s core bridge.
AFX bridge loses $24.15 million USDC Blockaid said it detected the exploit at 9:30 p.m. UTC on July 22. The firm said the attack targeted a bridge operated by AFX and drained about 24.15 million USDC. An Arbiscan record shows a successful transfer of 24,150,000 USDC from the bridge contract to the recipient address at 9:30:25 p.m. UTC.
Blockaid detected an exploit at 2026-07-22 21:30 UTC targeting @AFX_XYZ, a protocol on @arbitrum. The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates. Approximately 24.15M USDC has been drained thus far from the protocol.
Our team has been working with the incredible folks on… https://t.co/0Qd9ve5gPB
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 22, 2026 The security firm said it was working with the Arbitrum team to respond, contact the affected protocol and help contain the stolen funds. Based on the public updates reviewed at publication time, no recovery had been confirmed.
AFX had also not published a verified technical postmortem explaining how the attacker gained authorization to withdraw the funds. The protocol had not announced a recovery plan.
Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder confirmed that the suspicious transaction came from a third-party protocol. He also separated the AFX incident from Arbitrum’s own bridge infrastructure.
“We’re aware of a report of a bridge hack on Arbitrum and are investigating. We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third-party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way,” Goldfeder said.
He added that the team would coordinate with the third-party protocol and share more details when available.
AFX uses Arbitrum as a route for USDC deposits while running its trading system on a dedicated Layer 1. AFX describes itself as a decentralized derivatives platform built around a sovereign execution environment. A recent protocol post also said users could deposit USDC from Arbitrum before accessing its perpetual markets.
Exploiter converts stolen USDC into ETH PeckShield said the attacker moved the stolen USDC from Arbitrum to Ethereum and converted the proceeds into 12,467.5 ETH. Lookonchain separately reported that the exploiter bought about 12,467 ETH at an average price near $1,937 per ETH after moving the funds.
The conversion moved the stolen value from a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin into Ether, exposing the holdings to ETH price movements. Security teams continued tracing the funds after the swap. At publication time, the reviewed sources did not confirm that Circle had frozen the USDC before conversion or that any of the ETH had been recovered.
The attack adds to several bridge-related security incidents this year. As crypto.news previously reported, Stake DAO closed its vsdCRV bridge after an unauthorized mint on Arbitrum in May. The project said it secured the token’s mainnet backing and contained the incident to the affected bridge.
Earlier in April, a larger exploit hit Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge. Attackers drained roughly 116,500 rsETH worth about $292 million. Arbitrum later froze more than 30,000 ETH linked to that attacker after the funds moved onto Arbitrum One.
Investigation focuses on AFX-operated infrastructure The investigation now centers on the AFX-operated bridge and the authorization process behind the 24.15 million USDC withdrawal. The confirmed transaction shows that the bridge contract finalized the transfer, but public statements do not yet establish the verified root cause. A full postmortem may determine whether the incident involved compromised validator credentials, faulty access controls or another weakness.
The main confirmed point is that the exploit affected infrastructure operated by AFX rather than Arbitrum’s native bridge. Blockaid and Offchain Labs both made that separation clear in their initial responses. The Arbitrum network continued operating, and reviewed reports showed no loss from its native bridge.
The incident also places attention on AFX’s deposit infrastructure. The protocol has promoted USDC deposits from Arbitrum as an entry route into its trading platform. Any changes to deposits, withdrawals or bridge operations will depend on the protocol’s response and the ongoing investigation.
The case remains developing. The confirmed loss stands at about $24.15 million in USDC, while on-chain trackers have traced the stolen value into roughly 12,467 ETH on Ethereum. Further updates are expected from AFX, Blockaid and the Arbitrum team as they review the breach and track the attacker’s funds.
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.
Hong Hao: The correction in AI stocks is far from complete, and the rotation of capital from overheated sectors to undervalued sectors has not yet ended.
Renowned economist Hong Hao recently stated that the current pullback in AI sector stocks is a mid-cycle correction, not the end of the trend. Judging from South Korea’s KOSPI index, the overall sector correction is far from complete. Stock prices have already overpriced fundamentals in advance; technical adjustments will continue, with sharp short-term volatility and a temporarily downward-biased trend. Hong Hao believes market capital is rotating from overheated new tech sectors like AI and semiconductors to previously neglected old economy/traditional tech sectors—internet giants including Tencent, Alibaba, and Meituan have already posted notable gains. Logically, if one is bullish on AI’s productivity-boosting effect, one should also be optimistic about the old economy (as economic growth will ultimately drive consumption), expecting a broad-based rally rather than narrow speculation.
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Kimi employees hit back at the White House’s allegations: Distilling a cutting-edge model in 15 days? That would require applying for a Guinness World Record!
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South Korean President will meet with executives from multiple global AI giants in the US to strengthen cooperation.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung will hold meetings with executives from multiple global AI giants in San Francisco during his visit to the U.S. this week, aiming to strengthen South Korea’s position in the global artificial intelligence sector and advance substantive cooperation. It is reported that Lee will meet separately with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Broadcom CEO Hock Tan. Additionally, he will attend the San Francisco AI Summit and witness the signing of cooperation agreements between South Korean enterprises and the tech giants. Executives from South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (chief Lee Jae-yong), SK Group, Hyundai Motor, Naver, and other local firms will also hold meetings with the aforementioned AI leaders. Analysts note that Lee’s initiative will strengthen South Korea’s role in the global AI industrial chain, particularly in areas including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), GPUs, AI infrastructure, and generative AI services. The summit will send a strong signal to the market, boosting confidence in AI infrastructure investment, especially amid the current tech stock correction. (The Korea Times)
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Samsung plans to natively support stablecoins in Samsung Wallet.
Samsung Electronics announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2026 that Samsung Wallet will support stablecoins in the future, integrating payments, rewards, and digital assets into the Galaxy ecosystem. The tech giant noted it is poised to become one of the first major smartphone makers to natively support stablecoins. Samsung also unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Card, co-developed with Barclays and Visa, which will launch first in the U.S.
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Japan plans to launch a Bitcoin ETF in 2028, with individual funds likely to become the main source of inflows.
According to a report by the Nikkei, Japan is expected to launch a Bitcoin ETF as early as 2028. With the revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act bringing crypto assets under the regulatory scope of financial products, Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to adjust rules related to investment trusts to allow funds and ETFs to hold crypto assets as their primary investment target, with multiple asset management firms already considering participation. Interest in crypto assets among Japanese institutional investors is on the rise: a survey by Nomura Holdings and Laser Digital shows that around 79% of institutional investors and family offices plan to invest in crypto assets over the next three years. However, unlike U.S. Bitcoin ETFs which are driven primarily by institutional capital, Japan’s institutional investor base is relatively small, and household financial assets in the country have a high cash proportion, meaning funds from individual investors are likely to be the main source of inflows. Analysts project that Japan’s Bitcoin ETF could attract up to 3 trillion yen in inflows by fiscal 2028.
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Tesla’s Q2 Bitcoin holdings remain unchanged at 11,509, with the company confirming an impairment loss of $112 million.
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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.
