An attacker drained roughly $1.73 million from Notional Finance’s legacy escrow contract early Friday, exploiting a coding flaw that made an enormous fabricated debt register as zero.
The stolen DAI and USDC became about 689 ether (ETH). The funds then went through Tornado Cash, a service that breaks the trail between wallets. Notional has said nothing publicly.
How the Notional Finance Exploit WorkedNotional Finance is a fixed-rate lending protocol on Ethereum. Its first version recorded future cash obligations as tokens called fCash. The system screened borrowers for collateral before letting them add debt.
That screening converted debt into ether terms through a raw uint128 conversion. Two mints summed to exactly two raised to the power of 128. That is the single value the conversion flattens to zero, QuillAudits found.
A checked conversion would have rejected the figure instead of quietly dropping its digits. Notional used the safer method elsewhere in the same file, according to the write-up.
The account then read as debt free. Etherscan records show the setup landed at 11:58 p.m. UTC Thursday and the withdrawal three minutes later.
That second transaction moved 69,257 DAI and 1,658,524 USDC out of the escrow. The attacker also tipped block builder Titan 0.07 ETH to route the trade privately.
Security firm PeckShield relayed a warning from on-chain monitor Specter. The escrow now holds about $60,600 in leftover tokens.
#PeckShieldAlert Specter has reported that the Notional Finance escrow contract may have been exploited, resulting in $1.7M in ethereum:0x6b175474e89094c44da98b954eedeac495271d0f and $USDC lost.
The exploiter has swapped the stolen funds into 689.2 $ETH and deposited them into… pic.twitter.com/Wd5Dc3MWtL
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 4, 2026 Dormant V1 Contracts Still Held Real MoneyNotional wound down its third version after the November 2025 Balancer exploit cascaded into its vaults. The V1 contracts stayed live and funded, and nobody swept them.
Independently audited protocols still account for most crypto hack losses, so an old review offered no cover here. June brought a close parallel, when an attacker drained legacy Solana pools at Raydium.
Notional’s NOTE token trades near $0.0065, up 3.5% over 24 hours, on a market value close to $400,700.
Notional Finance (NOTE) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoNotional had issued no statement, loss figure, or post-mortem at publication. Whether the drained cash belonged to users, the treasury, or a third party remains unconfirmed.
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.
A trader spent $2,972 to buy MEME, reaping a 713x return.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader created address 0xc740 21 days ago and has only traded 8 tokens since. The address purchased a MEME token earlier today, booking over $2.1 million in profit in under 12 hours, a 713x return. The address spent $2,972 to acquire 16.11 million MEME tokens, then sold 750,000 tokens for $85,300, and currently holds 15.36 million MEME tokens worth roughly $2.03 million.
10 minutes ago
Rising AI attack risks prompt OpenAI to allocate $1 billion to shore up defenses for its critical infrastructure.
Beating AI News (from Insight) – OpenAI has launched "Daybreak for Frontline Defenders", a $1 billion initiative to provide AI-powered cybersecurity defense for critical infrastructure. Rather than direct grants to organizations, the funding will be delivered as Daybreak model access, training, and technical support. The initial rollout targets U.S. water utilities, power grids, local governments, community banks, nonprofits, and open-source projects, with deployment planned over the next six months. Daybreak helps these entities identify vulnerabilities, analyze anomalies, validate risks, and test patches. OpenAI stated that approximately 2,000 organizations and workspaces are already using the tool, with plans to integrate more than 35 additional enterprise products and services. The initiative was announced alongside GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI’s first model to meet critical cybersecurity capability thresholds. When paired with supporting tools, Astra can already locate unknown vulnerabilities and research new exploitation methods without step-by-step human guidance. OpenAI forecasts that AI-driven cyberattacks will grow more widespread and sophisticated in the coming months.
10 minutes ago
Binance Alpha lists Cluster Protocol (CP), with an airdrop threshold of 235 points.
Binance Alpha has launched Cluster Protocol (CP). Users holding at least 235 Alpha points can claim an airdrop of 860 CP tokens on a first-come, first-served basis. The score threshold will automatically decrease by 5 points every five minutes as long as the event remains ongoing.
10 minutes ago
Crypto Meme project MEME’s market capitalization briefly surged past $130 million, marking a new all-time high.
According to GMGN data, the meme stock crypto project MEME on Robinhood Chain has been rallying, with its market capitalization briefly surging past $130 million to a new all-time high before pulling back to $115 million. The token has surged over 1,000% in 24 hours, with trading volume reaching $77.8 million. MEME leverages Robinhood, a stock trading platform, pairing with tokenized US theater chain AMC Entertainment (stock ticker: AMC) as its liquidity pool, providing liquidity via the MEME/AMC trading pair. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept that combines traditional meme coins with tokenized US stocks. Unlike meme coins paired with USDT or ETH, these tokens are directly paired with on-chain US stock tokens (such as NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This model retains meme coins' high volatility and community-driven speculative traits, while tying to the popularity and narrative of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees often flows back to the community treasury to accumulate corresponding US stock tokens, forming a dual-driven mechanism of "sentiment speculation + real asset anchoring". Price fluctuations are significant, so investment requires caution.
10 minutes ago
A crypto whale spent $5,650 to buy PONS, reaping over 400x returns.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, the Ethereum address CUMBUCKET.ETH initially spent 3.17 ETH (approximately $5,650) to acquire 4.73 million PONS tokens. It has since sold 3.73 million of these tokens, netting a total of roughly $1.74 million in cash. The address currently holds 1 million PONS, valued at about $666,000. Calculated based on the cashed-out amount plus the value of remaining holdings, the combined realized and unrealized profits from this transaction total around $2.4 million, while the initial cost was only approximately $5,650.
10 minutes ago
DeGods founder spends $1,491 to buy MEME, earning an 810x return.
Per Lookonchain monitoring, DeGods founder Frank (@frankdegods) spent $1,491 to buy 11 million MEME tokens 11 hours ago; the holding is now worth over $1.2 million, delivering an 810x return.
Notional Finance may have suffered a $1.7 million exploit involving an escrow contract, blockchain investigators reported on Sept. 4. The reported losses include approximately $69,242 in DAI and $1.66 million in USDC.
Summary
Researchers reported $1.7 million in DAI and USDC leaving an escrow contract linked to Notional. The reported losses comprise $69,242 in DAI and $1,658,423 in USDC, according to Specter researchers. The suspected attacker exchanged the stablecoins for 689.2 ETH before depositing funds into Tornado Cash. PeckShield cited Specter’s findings, while Notional had not publicly confirmed the incident when last checked. The exploit’s technical cause, affected users and prospects for recovering assets remain publicly unconfirmed. Security firm PeckShield cited findings published by blockchain investigation group Specter. Neither report provided a complete technical explanation of how the assets left the contract.
“The Notional Finance escrow contract may have been exploited,” PeckShield said, preserving uncertainty about the incident’s status.
#PeckShieldAlert Specter has reported that the Notional Finance escrow contract may have been exploited, resulting in $1.7M in ethereum:0x6b175474e89094c44da98b954eedeac495271d0f and $USDC lost.
The exploiter has swapped the stolen funds into 689.2 $ETH and deposited them into… pic.twitter.com/Wd5Dc3MWtL
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) September 4, 2026 Notional Finance exploit report identifies two addresses Researchers identified two Ethereum addresses allegedly connected to the movement of the assets. The first address is 0xC954…De69, while the second is 0xDaCC…Ce38.
The addresses were labelled as theft addresses by Specter. That description remains an investigator attribution rather than a finding confirmed by Notional Finance, law enforcement or a court.
The available reports do not identify the precise escrow function involved. They also do not establish whether the event resulted from a smart-contract vulnerability, compromised credentials, faulty permissions or another cause.
Stablecoins were reportedly converted into 689.2 ETH The suspected attacker reportedly exchanged the DAI and USDC for approximately 689.2 ETH. The Ether was then deposited into Tornado Cash, according to Specter and PeckShield.
Tornado Cash is a set of Ethereum smart contracts designed to reduce the visible connection between deposits and later withdrawals. Its use can complicate blockchain tracing, although depositing assets into the protocol does not independently prove criminal ownership or intent.
The rapid conversion of stablecoins may also reduce opportunities for issuers or centralized platforms to restrict the assets. Both DAI and USDC can be followed publicly before conversion, while subsequent withdrawals from a mixer become harder to associate with the original address.
In related coverage, crypto.news reported that an address tied to the Drift Protocol exploiter moved $44 million through Tornado Cash after remaining inactive for several months.
No technical cause or official response is available Notional Finance had not published a public incident report or confirmation through its official account when checked. The project had also not disclosed whether contracts were paused, whether remaining assets were secured or whether users needed to take protective action.
The lack of confirmation means the reported $1.7 million loss should remain described as preliminary. It is also unclear whether the affected assets belonged directly to users, the protocol treasury or another party using the escrow contract.
No verified market reaction can be attributed to the report. Without an official assessment, linking token-price movements or changes in deposited value directly to the suspected exploit would be premature.
Previous recoveries depended on rapid containment DeFi projects commonly respond to suspected exploits by pausing vulnerable contracts, contacting stablecoin issuers and exchanges, tracing connected wallets and offering return agreements. Those options can become more limited after assets enter privacy protocols.
Some projects have still recovered positions or protected unaffected products after an attack. As crypto.news reported, Term Labs recovered its affected fixed-rate positions following an $8.5 million governance exploit, although several products remained closed.
Stake DAO also secured its Ethereum backing and closed a bridge after an unauthorized minting incident, according to related coverage. Those cases involved direct project responses that are not yet available for Notional Finance.
Meanwhile, Notional Finance operates as an Ethereum-based lending protocol focused on fixed-rate, fixed-term borrowing. Its documentation explains that deposited currencies can support borrowing obligations denominated in other currencies.
This makes contract-level accounting and collateral controls central to maintaining solvent user positions. However, researchers have not established whether the reported escrow incident affected Notional’s primary lending system, a separate integration or an older contract.
DAI and USDC have long formed part of Notional’s supported lending markets. The protocol’s technical materials describe currency pairs connecting those stablecoins with their interest-bearing equivalents.
The reported loss therefore involves assets used within Notional’s broader lending architecture, but the available evidence does not show that open loans, collateral balances or fixed-term positions were affected. An official contract identification is needed before the exposure can be measured accurately.
What happens next for Notional Finance The next confirmed update would likely need to establish which contract was involved, how the transactions were authorized and whether other funds remain exposed. A post-mortem could also clarify the ownership of the lost assets.
Investigators may continue tracking any Ether withdrawn from Tornado Cash. Exchanges and blockchain analytics companies could monitor later transactions, but the reported mixer deposits make attribution and recovery more difficult. Until Notional publishes an assessment, the scale, cause and effect on users remain unresolved.
One Route, No Manual Bridging@injective announced on Thursday that users can now swap native $INJ or native $USDC directly into any token on Robinhood Chain through Jumper (@jumperapp), including meme coins and tokenized stocks, with all bridging and swapping handled behind the scenes. According to @injective, the integration delivers the lowest fees and fastest speeds, removing the need for users to manage separate steps across different platforms.
Jumper is the consumer-facing application built on LI.FI's cross-chain aggregation layer. LI.FI's multi-chain routing network supports seamless bridging, swapping, and depositing of $INJ and native $USDC, connecting Injective to over 60 blockchains and more than 1,000 applications. @RobinhoodCrypto has been supported on Jumper since Robinhood Chain's mainnet launch, and @injective went live on the platform last week.
CASHCAT and the Robinhood Chain Ecosystem@injective specifically called out $CASHCAT in its announcement, nodding to the token that has become the breakout asset on Robinhood Chain. Cash Cat is a community-driven meme token native to Robinhood Chain, created around the historical lore that the trading platform Robinhood was originally conceived under the name "Cash Cat." The project is explicitly not affiliated with Robinhood the company. On-chain data shows that CASHCAT surged 1,700% in 24 hours at its peak, reaching a $120 million market cap.
Beyond meme tokens, Robinhood Chain also hosts tokenized shares of US stocks, and the Jumper integration gives $INJ holders a direct route into that entire ecosystem. Injective is a layer-1 chain built specifically for finance, with a focus on decentralized trading, tokenization, and cross-chain interoperability. The aggregation layer identifies the most efficient path automatically, so traders no longer need to source a bridge separately before accessing Robinhood Chain tokens.
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.
Ansem on Shifting Mindsets Between Bull and Bear Markets: To Capture Maximum Profits in a Bull Market, You Have to Relearn to 'Dream'
Crypto trader Ansem says the hardest part of transitioning from a bear market to a bull market is that the strategies that helped you survive and profit in a bear market will end up losing you money in a bull market. If you’re still making money from short-term, high-frequency trading right now, that demonstrates strong trading skills. But to capture the largest gains of a bull market, you need to re-learn to "dream"—meaning daring to hold spot assets and embrace long-term positions. Ansem’s advice for those already profitable is to allocate a portion of their positions to long-term holdings, while using the remaining capital to continue short-term trading as usual. Meanwhile, Ansem once again posted to call for buying ZEC, stating that purchasing ZEC at $948 is equivalent to buying Bitcoin at $948. Per HTX market data, ZEC is currently trading at $948, with a 24-hour increase of over 16%.
5 hours ago
28x surge in a single day! Apple-linked meme coin ICOIN crosses $5.5 million in market cap
According to GMGN market data, Robinhood Chain’s crypto-stock meme token ICOIN has hit a market cap of over $5.5 million, reaching a recent high and approaching its all-time peak of $5.8 million. The token has rallied more than 28 times in 24 hours, with a trading volume of $8.9 million. ICOIN is paired with tokenized U.S. stock Apple (AAPL). BlockBeats Note: Crypto-stock meme (Stock Meme) is an emerging concept merging traditional meme coins with tokenized U.S. stocks. Unlike standard meme coins paired with USDT or ETH, these tokens form trading pairs directly with on-chain U.S. stock tokens (e.g., NVDA, TSLA, AAPL). This model retains meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits while leveraging real stocks’ popularity and narratives. A portion of transaction fees often flows back to the community treasury to accumulate corresponding U.S. stock tokens, creating a dual-driven framework of "sentiment speculation + real asset anchoring". Price volatility is significant; investors should exercise caution.
5 hours ago
Robinhood-linked meme token NUDES hits a new all-time high as its market cap tops $23 million.
According to GMGN data, the stock-meme project NUDES on Robinhood Chain has hit a new all-time high with a market cap exceeding $23 million, surging over 113% in 24 hours and logging a trading volume of $13.9 million. NUDES is paired with tokenized US stock Snap, trading under the ticker SNAP. BlockBeats Note: Stock Meme is an emerging concept that combines traditional meme coins with tokenized US stocks: instead of pairing meme coins with USDT or ETH, they are matched directly with on-chain US stock tokens (such as NVDA, TSLA, AAPL, etc.). This model retains meme coins’ high volatility and community-driven speculative traits while leveraging the popularity and narrative of real stocks. A portion of transaction fees often flows back to the community treasury to accumulate corresponding US stock tokens, forming a dual-driven model of "sentiment speculation + real asset anchoring". Prices are highly volatile; investors should exercise caution.
5 hours ago
Trader Loracle’s unrealized losses on short positions in CASHCAT and PONS have expanded to $2.4 million.
According to TradingBeats’ monitoring, trader Loracle has opened 3x leveraged short positions on CASHCAT and PONS, with a combined short position value of roughly $13 million. As CASHCAT’s market cap breaks through $300 million to a new all-time high, and PONS nears its own $600 million peak, the trader’s unrealized loss has climbed to approximately $2.4 million. The CASHCAT short position is valued at around $6.6 million, with an average entry price of $0.23, leading to an unrealized loss of about $1.1 million. The PONS short position is worth roughly $6.3 million, with an average entry price of $0.47, and an unrealized loss of approximately $1.3 million. On-chain perpetual contract and address analysis tool TradingBeats is now live, supporting real-time access to Hyperliquid data, with in-depth analysis covering everything from address tracing to whale operations, all available at a glance.
5 hours ago
Jiang Zhuoer recapped his trading operations: He bought 4,000 ETH at the $2,380 bottom, but closed his position too early, missing out on potential profits.
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.TOP (莱比特矿池), shared his recent trading operations, announcing he will no longer trade ETH perpetual contracts, citing excessive candlestick wicks that disrupt his trading mindset. For instance, he bought 4,000 ETH at $2,380 last night in a bottom-fishing move, originally setting a take-profit order at $2,493. However, a sharp candlestick wick pushed ETH down to $2,367 this morning, prompting him to decide to close his position once ETH rebounded to $2,403. ETH indeed rallied to his $2,493 take-profit target tonight. Crucially, BTC’s candlestick did not have such a wick. Going forward, he plans to use WBETH as margin, trade BTC perpetual contracts without leverage (maxing out at a full position), and hold all funds in ETH spot when not actively trading.
5 hours ago
Oman Rejects Iran's Proposal to Impose Fees on the Strait of Hormuz
According to a New York Post report, Oman has quietly rejected Iran’s proposal to charge commercial vessels fees in the Strait of Hormuz. A regional official with knowledge of the matter stated that Oman refused to agree to collecting environmental and security fees, even if they were voluntary. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps’ earlier claim that the two sides had reached an agreement is untrue. A U.S. official noted that the terms of Iran’s proposed revenue-sharing agreement had not even been finalized by Tehran. Earlier, after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi held talks in Tehran, Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Hossein said the two countries had reached an agreement on the division of waters in the Strait of Hormuz and revenue sharing.
Per TradingBeats’ monitoring, as of press time, an address starting with 0xc74 has been steadily accumulating HYPE. Today alone, the address has bought 90,772.69 HYPE tokens, totaling roughly $7.43 million in transaction volume. The address’s current HYPE spot holdings breakdown is: HyperCore spot account: 50,331.0493 tokens; HyperEVM native HYPE: 47,950.5328 tokens; Total: 98,281.5822 tokens, valued at approximately $8.0469 million. Its total remaining purchasing power stands at around 9,267.72 tokens. If the address deploys all its remaining USDC, its theoretical HYPE spot holdings could rise to about 107,549 tokens.
Half a Billion in Deposits@coinbase and @Morpho confirmed on Thursday that Coinbase Lend has crossed $500 million in total deposits, a milestone reached less than a year after the product's September 2025 launch.
Infrastructure and Growing Scale on Base
Sources:
Morpho: Morpho is now Powering USDC Lending on Coinbase
Coinbase Blog: Earn competitive yields by lending your USDC
CoinDesk: Coinbase Adds USDC Lending With Morpho and Steakhouse Financial
Circle has issued its latest monthly reserve attestation for USDC, with Deloitte’s review showing reserve assets above total circulating token supply.
The attestation states that USDC reserves stood at $34.5 billion and were backed primarily by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and overnight repurchase agreements. That kind of reserve disclosure matters because stablecoins depend on confidence. Users need to believe that tokens can be redeemed and that reserves are managed conservatively.
USDC has long tried to compete on transparency and regulatory alignment.
Monthly attestations are part of that strategy.
For more details, visit the official Circle platform.
TL;DR Circle released its latest monthly USDC reserve attestation. The attestation showed reserve assets above circulating USDC supply. Reserves were mostly held in short-term U.S. Treasuries and overnight repo agreements. Why Stablecoin Attestations Matter Stablecoins are only useful if users trust the backing.
A dollar-pegged token needs enough high-quality assets behind it to meet redemptions. If users begin to doubt the reserves, confidence can disappear quickly. That is why reserve transparency has become one of the most important parts of the stablecoin market.
Attestations are not the same as real-time audits.
They are point-in-time assessments. But they still give the market a structured look at reserve composition and whether assets exceed token liabilities at the reporting date.
For USDC, that transparency is part of the product.
Treasuries And Repo Keep The Reserve Conservative Circle’s reserve mix remains important.
Short-term U.S. Treasury bills and overnight repurchase agreements are generally viewed as conservative, liquid instruments. They are not risk-free in every possible sense, but they are far easier for investors to understand than opaque commercial paper, volatile assets, or unsecured loans.
That matters in stablecoins.
Reserve quality can be as important as reserve size. A stablecoin backed by liquid government securities sends a different signal than one backed by harder-to-value assets.
USDC’s latest attestation supports the company’s transparency-led positioning.
A Point-In-Time Snapshot The limitation is important.
A reserve attestation reflects a specific reporting date. It does not show every movement before or after that date. It does not guarantee that reserve composition never changes. It does not eliminate operational, banking, regulatory, or redemption risk.
But it does create accountability.
By publishing regular reserve information, Circle gives users, exchanges, institutions, and regulators something concrete to review.
That helps separate serious stablecoin issuers from weaker operators that ask users to trust them without showing much.
USDC’s Role In Crypto Markets USDC remains one of crypto’s most important settlement assets.
It is used across exchanges, DeFi protocols, payment applications, remittances, tokenized markets, and institutional workflows. That makes reserve strength systemically relevant inside crypto.
If USDC confidence is high, it helps liquidity.
If stablecoin confidence weakens, the effects can spread quickly through DeFi and trading venues.
That is why even routine attestations matter.
The Broader Stablecoin Race Stablecoin competition is intensifying.
Tether remains the dominant issuer by supply, but USDC has positioned itself around transparency, compliance, and institutional access. New rules and bank-linked stablecoin projects could make the market even more competitive.
Circle’s reserve attestations are part of how it defends its place in that market.
The latest release does not change the entire stablecoin landscape overnight. But it gives users another monthly data point showing that USDC reserves exceeded circulating supply at the reporting date.
In stablecoins, that kind of boring transparency is exactly the point.
This article draws on Circle’s latest USDC reserve attestation materials.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
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.
Serenity: Sivers Expands InP Production Capacity, Unlocking Potential $100 Billion-Level Market Space for AI Optical Communications
Serenity has issued a statement noting that Sivers Semiconductors (SIVE) plans to expand its indium phosphide (InP) manufacturing capacity in Glasgow, Scotland, targeting an annual production output of approximately 100 million continuous-wave distributed feedback (CW DFB) lasers, with the expanded capacity set to launch in Q4 2027. The expansion plan was officially announced by Sivers. Based on Sivers’ historical pricing of roughly $50–$100 per 8-laser array, Serenity estimates the new capacity could generate potential annual revenue of $625 million to $1.25 billion—this is a model projection, not the company’s official revenue guidance. Serenity said it was surprised by the scale of capacity unlocked via Sivers’ hybrid manufacturing model, particularly amid ongoing laser supply constraints in the AI data center optical communications industry. The expansion is primarily aimed at meeting demand for AI data centers and high-speed optical interconnects.
5 minutes ago
Ukrainian police have dismantled a cryptocurrency fraud ring in Kyiv, with the case involving up to $1 million in monthly illicit proceeds.
Ukraine’s National Police and Security Service have seized a fake cryptocurrency investment platform network based in Kyiv. The scam group used Telegram to distribute fake investment ads, luring victims to a counterfeit trading platform to steal their wallet assets. Investigations confirmed the group defrauded 62 victims across more than 20 countries, including Germany, Poland, France, the UK, Canada, Israel, and other regions. Fraudsters displayed false returns via forged trading interfaces; when users applied for withdrawals, they tricked them into authorizing small test transactions under the pretext of “account verification”, then exploited built-in crypto-theft programs to transfer funds from victims’ wallets. Ukrainian security authorities stated the criminal ring is led by a 25-year-old IT professional, with a peak monthly operation scale of $1 million. Police conducted 34 searches in Kyiv and its surrounding areas, seizing over 100 computers, more than 100 mobile phones, 79 SIM cards, and a large number of related devices. The case remains under further investigation, as police pursue additional suspects, identify more victims, and trace the full scale of stolen funds.
5 minutes ago
OpenAI Accelerates Embodied Intelligence Push, Sam Altman Says It 'Will Definitely Develop Humanoid Robots'
Beating AI News Flash: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that the company "will definitely develop humanoid robots, and will also explore other forms of robots." Altman believes that since most real-world facilities and tools are designed around humans, humanoid structures are better suited to operate in physical environments. OpenAI is currently restructuring its robotics team, recruiting talents in areas including robot control algorithms, actuator design, data collection, and Embodied AI. Earlier around 2021, OpenAI shut down its early robotics project due to insufficient real-world data to train robot systems. Now, with advancements in large models and robot data infrastructure, the company is re-investing heavily in this field. Altman has repeatedly expressed interest in Embodied AI and humanoid robots before, noting that it would be a limitation if AI had near-general intelligence but was unable to perform tasks in the real world.
5 minutes ago
Bloomberg: Low volatility in US equities may signal risks, while gold's advantage over US Treasuries is near a historic high.
Bloomberg commodities strategist Mike McGlone wrote in a note that U.S. stock market volatility relative to gold is at its lowest level since 2007, and as markets enter their traditional volatile season, this situation could impact the performance of gold, stocks, and bonds in the second half of this year. McGlone noted that the ratio of the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) to the iShares 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), which he tracks, is near an all-time high, indicating gold is performing extremely strongly relative to long-term U.S. Treasuries. He said that historically, extremely low stock market volatility occurred ahead of the 2008 financial crisis, and whether the current market will repeat a similar scenario remains to be seen. After gold surged to around $5,600 per ounce in the first quarter of this year, it may face pullback pressure similar to that seen after crude oil prices peaked in 2008. McGlone pointed out that commodity markets have a reversal effect after "rising too fast". After crude oil hit its peak in 2008, it weakened continuously relative to its 60-month moving average, with successive lower highs and lower lows. At that time, crude oil's premium relative to its long-term moving average hit its highest level since the 1973-1974 oil crisis. In February this year, gold once reached a premium of about 2.2 times its 60-month moving average, a level last seen in 1980. However, the difference is that this round of gold's rise has set an unprecedented record amid a non-high-inflation environment, so its subsequent trend remains to be watched.
5 minutes ago
International oil prices continue to climb, with both WTI and Brent crude up over 1%.
According to Bitget market data, both US and Brent crude oil prices rose by over 1%. WTI crude oil is currently trading at $90.01 per barrel, while Brent crude oil stands at $95.26 per barrel.
5 minutes ago
Claude E-commerce Agent open-sourced: Partner merchants see a 35% increase in shopping cart volume and a 60% rise in customer purchase rate.
Beating AI News Flash: Anthropic has open-sourced Claude Commerce Agents, a set of reference code enabling merchants to build their own shopping and operations agents. The suite includes two agents: one for consumers to search for products, compare items, bundle multiple goods, and add to cart; the other for merchants to monitor sales, inventory, pricing, and marketing. The code is licensed under Apache 2.0. Notably, the shopping agent only passes the cart to the merchant’s own checkout page—no direct payment processing interface is included. For the merchant agent, any adjustments to pricing, restocking, or promotions must first generate pending changes that require manual approval before implementation. These restrictions are not limited to prompts: rules around payments, product sourcing, pricing adjustment ranges, and manual approvals are enforced at the code level. Anthropic does not recommend splitting capabilities like search, returns, and pricing into multiple sub-agents. Instead, it uses a single Claude model that retains full conversation context, loading different skills on an as-needed basis. The company states that in comparisons across multiple enterprise deployments, this approach delivers higher quality, typically uses fewer tokens, and has lower latency. According to Anthropic, one partner saw a ~30%–35% increase in shopping cart size and a ~60% rise in customer purchase completion rates after deployment.
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.
PANews, September 3 - Circle and the decentralized perpetual contract trading platform edgeX jointly announced that when the Arc mainnet launches on September 16, edgeX will become Arc's flagship perp and will provide 24/7 FX trading on the first day of the mainnet. The two parties will work together to drive the development of Arc's on-chain foreign exchange and global asset trading markets.
On the first day of the mainnet launch, edgeX will be the first to offer a USD/JPY perpetual contract supporting 24/7 trading, and will launch more than 150 perpetual contract markets covering U.S. stocks, commodities, and crypto assets. All markets will use Arc-native USDC as margin and settlement assets.
Arc is a Layer 1 blockchain built by Circle for stablecoin finance, specifically designed for stablecoin finance, with a built-in FX engine (StableFX), an institutional-grade RFQ system, and 24/7 on-chain PvP settlement, using USDC as the native gas token.
edgeX is invested in by Circle Ventures and will exclusively launch the FX perp market for Arc Chain this time. edgeX is a globally leading centralized perpetual contract exchange by trading volume, with cumulative trading volume exceeding 900B since launch. Users can trade perpetual contracts on U.S. stocks, commodities, foreign exchange, and crypto assets 24/7. Previously, the Circle and edgeX teams have already cooperated on native USDC issuance and CCTP integration on EDGE Chain. This cooperation will further combine Circle's capabilities in stablecoin financial infrastructure with edgeX's experience in on-chain trading to jointly expand 24/7 global asset trading scenarios.
In the future, the two parties plan to gradually add more mainstream FX trading pairs based on market demand and liquidity conditions, and explore non-USD stablecoin margin and on-chain FX spot markets.
Circle and decentralized perpetual contract trading platform edgeX jointly announced that on September 16, coinciding with the launch of the Arc mainnet, edgeX will serve as Arc’s flagship perpetual product, offering 24/7 forex trading on the mainnet’s first day. The two parties will collaborate to advance Arc’s on-chain foreign exchange and global asset trading markets. On the mainnet launch day, edgeX will debut a 24/7 tradable USD/JPY perpetual contract, alongside over 150 perpetual contract markets covering U.S. stocks, commodities, and crypto assets. All markets use Arc’s native USDC as margin and settlement asset. Arc is Circle’s Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin finance, featuring a built-in FX engine (StableFX), institutional-grade RFQ (Request for Quote) system, and 24/7 on-chain PvP (peer-to-peer) settlement, with USDC as its native gas token. Backed by Circle Ventures, edgeX will be the exclusive launch partner for Arc’s FX perpetual market. A globally leading centralized perpetual contract exchange, edgeX has recorded over $900 billion in trading volume since its launch, enabling users to trade perpetual contracts for U.S. stocks, commodities, forex, and crypto assets around the clock. Prior to this, Circle and edgeX teams had collaborated on EDGE Chain’s native USDC issuance and CCTP integration. This partnership will combine Circle’s expertise in stablecoin financial infrastructure with edgeX’s on-chain trading experience to expand 24/7 global asset trading use cases. Looking ahead, the two sides plan to gradually add more major forex pairs based on market demand and liquidity, and explore non-U.S. dollar stablecoin margin and on-chain FX spot markets.
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.
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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.
This is a general announcement and marketing communication. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Disclaimer: This is not available for users in the EEA. Fellow Binancians, Binance is thrilled to launch a Altcoin Trading Festival where eligible users will have a chance to share a total prize pool of 300,000 USDC in token vouchers! In addition, Binance is introducing a “Sprint Reward” for a limited period – the more you trade, the higher your extra rewards! Promotion Period: 2026-09-02 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-09 10:00 (UTC) Join Now Eligibility: All verified new, regular users and all Binance VIP users can participate.Liquidity providers in the Binance Spot Liquidity Provider Program and Binance Brokers are not eligible to participate. Eligible Trading Pair(s) Trading pair(s): PROM/USDT, ZKP/USDT, SC/USDT How to Participate: Click the [Join Now] button on the landing page to register.Total Trading Volume reaches at least 500 USD equivalent in any of the aforementioned eligible pair(s) on Binance Spot during the Promotion Period. Users who do not meet this threshold will not qualify for any reward under this Trading Volume Tournament. Main Reward Structure: Statistical Period: 2026-09-02 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-09 10:00 (UTC)Rankings Based on the Cumulative Trading VolumeReward per Eligible Participant (in USDC Token Vouchers)1st Place9,000 USDC2nd Place7,500 USDC3rd Place6,000 USDC4th Place4,500 USDC5th Place3,000 USDC6th - 20th PlacesAn equal split of 30,000 USDC21st - 50th PlacesAn equal split of 30,000 USDC51st - 200th PlacesAn equal split of 48,000 USDC201st - 1,000th PlacesAn equal split of 42,000 USDCAll Remaining Eligible ParticipantsA proportional share* of 60,000 USDC, capped at 50 USDC per user Proportional Share Rewards Calculation Logic*: Your Final Allocation = (Your Trading Volume / Total Trading Volume of All Eligible Participants Ranked after the 1,000th) * Proportional Share Prize Pool Sprint Reward Structure: Binance is introducing a “Sprint Reward”. For a limited period, users will receive extra rewards based on their ranking by cumulative trading volume. The more one trades during the respective Statistical Periods, the higher the extra rewards can be. Please note that users can earn from both the "Sprint Reward" and the "Main Reward" pools at the same time. Rankings Based on the Cumulative Trading VolumeRound 1 Statistical Period: 2026-09-02 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-04 10:00 (UTC)Round 2 Statistical Period: 2026-09-04 10:01 (UTC) to 2026-09-06 10:00 (UTC)Reward per Eligible Participant (in USDC Token Vouchers)1st Place9,000 USDC9,000 USDC2nd Place7,500 USDC7,500 USDC3rd Place6,000 USDC6,000 USDC4th Place4,500 USDC4,500 USDC5th Place3,000 USDC3,000 USDC Promotion Rules: Trading volume of any zero-fee trading pairs is excluded from the final trading volume calculation.Transaction or gas fees will be excluded from the final trading volume calculation for the tournament.All eligible buy and sell orders will be counted towards the cumulative total trading volume.Token vouchers will be distributed to winners by 2026-09-23, and will expire within 21 days after distribution. Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub.The Spot Trading Volume leaderboard is updated at least once every 24 hours. The final update will be completed within a few hours after the campaign ends. The Main Reward leaderboard and Sprint Reward leaderboard will be displayed on the separate Sub-Spot landing page respectively. Data sync times vary daily but will always be completed by the end of the day.Only users who have met the minimum qualifying trading volume threshold will be displayed on the leaderboard along with their trading volume. Don’t miss out on this opportunity and share in the rewards now! To view more promotions for new listings on Binance, stay tuned to this page for the latest updates and exclusive opportunities. Guides & Related Materials: How to Spot Trade (App / Web) Terms & Conditions: These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the activity above (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity 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 Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity 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 verified users who complete the aforementioned criteria for the tournament by the end of the Promotion Period may receive rewards.This Trading Volume Tournament is available to verified new, regular and VIP users enabled for Binance Spot Trading, subject to product (and where relevant, deposit methods’) availability in users’ regions, and may be restricted in certain jurisdictions or regions, or to certain users, due to legal and regulatory requirements.Reward Distribution:All token voucher rewards will be distributed to eligible, winning users by 2026-09-23.Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub. All token voucher rewards will expire within 21 days after distribution. Winning users should claim their vouchers before the expiration date, and no replacement reward will be provided. Learn how to redeem a Binance voucher.Please note that the actual value of rewards received by a user is subject to change due to market fluctuation.Token voucher rewards are subject to additional terms and conditions.Rewards are not negotiable nor transferable.Once the available rewards have been allocated to users, no further rewards will be provided notwithstanding that an eligible user may have completed the missions.A user’s trading volume in this Trading Volume Tournament will be calculated after the user has opted-in and will be based on the trading volume (i) in their master and sub-accounts, and (ii) on all Spot products, including Spot Trading, Spot Copy Trading and Trading Bots. API trades are allowed. Binance’s calculation of a user’s trading volume is final.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. Rewards that have already been disqualified will not be returned to the prize pool.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 these activities, the eligibility terms and criteria, the selection and number of reward recipients, and the timing of any act to be done, and all participants shall be bound by these amendments.The commencement and operation of the campaign (including the commencement of the Promotion Period) are subject to the successful listing of the relevant token on Binance Spot. If the listing is postponed or cancelled for any reason, the campaign (including the Promotion Period and reward distribution) may be delayed, amended or withdrawn at Binance’s discretion. Binance will not be liable for any loss or inconvenience caused by such changes.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 2026-09-02 Disclaimer: USDC is an e-money token issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (https://www.circle.com/). USDC’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Circle using the following contact information: +33(1)59000130 and [email protected]. Holders of USDC have a legal claim against Circle SAS as the EU issuer of USDC. These holders are entitled to request redemption of their USDC from Circle SAS. Such redemption will be made at any time and at par value.
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.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) said on September 1 that it is leading the Series C equity raise for Félix, the WhatsApp-based remittance platform that settles most of its transfers in USDC. The announcement, published on the a16z crypto blog and authored by partners Ali Yahya and Noah Levine, is the venture firm’s latest bet on stablecoin-powered cross-border payments. Félix is aimed squarely at the U.S.-to-Latin America corridor, where much of the money still moves through costly, cash-heavy networks.
A WhatsApp-First Companion for Cross-Border Payments Félix, founded by Manuel Godoy and Bernardo García, describes itself as an AI financial companion that recreates the comfort of a trusted local banker inside WhatsApp, the dominant messaging app across Latin America. Its conversational AI agent handles onboarding, transaction processing, and customer support, while the company settles most transactions in USDC and converts to local currency through a network of payout partners. Customers never interact with crypto directly, according to the firm.
Eight Billion Dollars Processed and Six Million Users The startup reports it has processed more than $8 billion and now serves six million people across eleven markets, with most new users arriving through word of mouth rather than paid marketing. The founders, who met as MBA students at Wharton and are both immigrants, built the product around a corridor where sending money can still cost about 5% of a transfer, adding up to billions of dollars in annual friction. Around $161 billion was remitted to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, roughly 80% of it from the U.S., according to the announcement. Félix is part of a wider push into stablecoin remittances that has drawn payments and compliance firms alike.
Beyond Remittances Into Credit and Savings a16z frames remittances as the first act of a larger opportunity. Félix plans to layer credit and savings products onto its existing relationships, targeting a U.S. Latino population that generates roughly $4 trillion in annual economic output yet remains underserved by traditional finance. Stablecoin rails, the firm argues, make it cheaper and faster to add lending, savings, and yield products than through the legacy banking system, as stablecoin payment rails keep drawing capital. The round’s size was not disclosed in the announcement.
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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.
This is a general announcement and marketing communication. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Terms and conditions apply. Fellow Binancians, Binance is excited to introduce the Trade Missions Campaign for eligible Binance users in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco. During the Campaign Period, eligible users can complete simple trading missions on Convert, Spot, and Futures to earn up to 20 USDC in reward vouchers. This campaign is designed to help users take their first trading step with clear and simple product-based missions. Users may qualify for one or more missions, depending on their historical trading activity. Campaign Period: 2026-09-03 07:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-29 20:59 (UTC) How to Participate: Step 1: Log in to your Binance account and complete identity verification (KYC). Step 2: Click [Join] on the campaign page to confirm your participation. Step 3: During the Campaign Period, complete one or more trading missions to earn rewards. Note: Eligible users may qualify for one or more missions depending on their historical product usage. Campaign Missions and Rewards: Eligible users can complete the following missions to receive rewards: MissionsEligibility CriteriaRequirementReward per Eligible User (in USDC Token Vouchers)Mission 1Users who have never traded on Spot, Futures, Convert, or Margin before the Campaign PeriodComplete $10 or more in Convert trading volume5 USDCMission 2Users who have never traded on Spot before the Campaign PeriodComplete $100 or more in Spot trading volume5 USDCMission 3Users who have never traded on Futures before the Campaign PeriodComplete $100 or more in Futures trading volume10 USDC Note: Maximum reward per eligible user is up to 20 USDC in token voucher rewards. Reward Distribution: Token vouchers will be distributed to eligible users within 72 hours after mission completion. Only users who successfully join the campaign via the campaign page will be eligible for rewards.Rewards are limited, with a total prize pool of 20,000 USDC, and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Why Join This Campaign: The Trade Missions campaign offers a simple way for new users to explore Binance trading products and complete their first eligible trade. By participating, eligible users can: Start trading with clear and easy-to-follow missionsExplore Convert, Spot, and Futures productsEarn rewards for completing eligible first-trade milestonesEnjoy a more engaging onboarding experience on Binance Terms & Conditions: These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the activity above (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity 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 Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity 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 (KYC) during or before the Campaign Period and whose identity verification countries are in the following countries/regions: Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, can qualify for rewards in the Campaign, if required.Only users who click the [Join] button on the campaign page and confirm participation will be eligible for rewards.Users must complete the relevant trading mission during the Campaign Period to qualify for the corresponding reward.Rewards are limited, with a total prize pool of 20,000 USDC, and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.Eligibility for each mission will be determined based on users’ historical trading activity and Binance’s internal campaign eligibility logic.Users may qualify for one or more missions, but only if they satisfy the eligibility criteria for each relevant mission.Reward vouchers will be distributed within 72 hours after eligible mission completion, subject to risk assessment and reward availability.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.Each sub-account will not be viewed as an independent account when participating in this Campaign. Sub-accounts’ trading volume may be combined with the master account’s activity, where applicable.Binance reserves the right to disqualify any participants showing signs of fraudulent behavior, including but not limited to wash trading, self-dealing, market manipulation, or bulk account registration. 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 Activity, the eligibility terms and criteria, the reward structure, and the timing of reward distribution, and all participants shall be bound by these amendments. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-09-02
The WhatsApp remittance service settles most transfers in USDC without its customers ever touching crypto, and now plans to add lending and savings on the same infrastructure.
Félix Pago Raises $200 Million in a16z-Led Round
Posted September 2, 2026 at 9:11 am EST.
Félix, the WhatsApp remittance service for Latinos in the United States, said Tuesday it raised $200 million in new financing: $87 million in equity led by Andreessen Horowitz, which announced the investment the same day, and a $113 million credit facility from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. QED Investors, Castle Island Ventures, Switch Ventures, Contour Venture Partners and Endeavor Catalyst joined the equity round, according to a statement shared with Unchained.
The money moves on stablecoin rails Félix’s customers never see. Behind the chat window, most of Félix’s transactions settle in USDC, and partner firms pay the recipient out in their own currency, wrote Ali Yahya, a general partner at a16z crypto, and Noah Levine, an investing partner at the firm. “Customers do not need to interact with crypto directly,” they wrote.
Beyond Sending Money Home The new capital is meant to widen a business built on a single product. Félix said it plans to develop lending and savings through third parties, expand remittances and mobile credit and data purchases, and spend on the artificial intelligence and financial infrastructure behind what it calls a Cognitive Financial Companion, a conversational layer on WhatsApp meant to work out which financial product a customer needs from the way they describe the problem. Its statement describes what the companion will do “when launched.”
“Traditional financial institutions often start with the product they want you to use. We want to start with the person,” said Manuel Godoy, co-founder and CEO of Félix. “You tell Félix what you need, in your own words, and we help you figure out the rest.”
Félix said it has processed more than $8 billion in transactions for over six million people since its founding in 2020, and said revenue grew more than 2.5x over the past year. It operates in eleven Latin American markets, including Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Peru, and said its payout and distribution partners include Walmart, UniTeller, Intermex, Visa, Stripe, Mastercard and Checkout.com. It runs no physical branch network.
The raise lands while remittance incumbents adopt stablecoins of their own. Western Union took its USDPT stablecoin live on Solana in May, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, and said it was developing settlement with its global agents and a consumer product for later in 2026.
“Félix has packaged two frontier technologies, AI and blockchain networks, into something simple and consumer-friendly: a better way to send and receive money,” Yahya said in the statement.
Related Listen: How Cory Klippsten Would Decide How to Secure Bitcoin Post-Coldcard
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
Félix, a remittance service leveraging WhatsApp for Latinos in the United States, announced Tuesday it secured $200 million in fresh funding. The company raised $87 million in equity, led by Andreessen Horowitz, and secured a $113 million credit facility from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund. Additional participants in the equity round included QED Investors, Castle Island Ventures, Switch Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst.
Stablecoin-Powered Remittances Behind the ScenesWhile Félix users interact through familiar chat, the engine beneath the service operates with stablecoins. Most transactions are settled using USDC, enabling fast and reliable cross-border transfers. The company’s partner organizations then pay out the recipient in their local currency. Ali Yahya, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Noah Levine, an investing partner at the firm, stated that customers never need to interact with crypto assets directly.
Most Félix transactions settle in USDC on stablecoin rails, while customers experience only a seamless chat interface, avoiding the need to deal with cryptocurrency themselves.
Félix maintains a purely digital approach, relying on its technology stack rather than physical locations.
Expansion Plans and Cognitive Financial ToolsWith the new funding, Félix intends to broaden its range of services from one primary offering to a wider suite of financial products. The company plans to develop lending and savings options with third-party providers and expand into mobile credit and data top-ups for its users. Investment will also be directed toward artificial intelligence and infrastructure for what Félix calls its Cognitive Financial Companion, integrated within the WhatsApp experience.
This conversational AI aims to interpret customer needs from natural language, suggest relevant financial products, and guide users through the process. Félix described its approach as prioritizing each user’s needs, rather than directing them to pre-selected products. Co-founder and CEO Manuel Godoy said, “Traditional financial institutions often start with the product they want you to use. We want to start with the person. You tell Félix what you need, in your own words, and we help you figure out the rest.”
The company’s service currently spans eleven Latin American markets, including Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, in partnership with payout and distribution providers such as Walmart, UniTeller, Intermex, Visa, Stripe, Mastercard, and Checkout.com.
Industry Growth and Technology AdoptionFounded in 2020, Félix reported it has processed more than $8 billion in transactions for over six million users, with revenue more than doubling over the past year. The announcement arrives as established remittance firms begin embracing stablecoin technology. In May, Western Union launched its USDPT stablecoin on Solana, in collaboration with Anchorage Digital Bank, and is currently developing settlement solutions with its global agent network alongside consumer-facing products set for later in 2026.
Yahya stated that Félix brings together artificial intelligence and blockchain to create a straightforward, user-friendly solution for sending and receiving funds internationally.
Félix has packaged two frontier technologies, AI and blockchain networks, into something simple and consumer-friendly: a better way to send and receive money.
In a fast-paced environment where regulatory decisions or new altcoin listings can move markets instantly, efficient management tools are increasingly vital for users. Smart traders are now utilizing privacy-first tools like CryptoAppsy to access real-time charts, price alerts, coin-specific news, and macroeconomic data on a single screen, eliminating the need to switch between multiple apps and removing account-creation barriers.
EURC joins USDC on Circle's native transfer railsStablecoin issuer @circle has extended its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to cover native EURC transfers, applying the same burn-and-mint mechanism it already uses for $USDC. The expansion launches first on Ethereum and Base.
Under the protocol, That means no wrapped version of EURC is created at any point in the process.
Adding EURC to CCTP brings Circle's euro token in line with the infrastructure that has underpinned USDC cross-chain transfers since the protocol launched.
EURC's growing footprint under MiCAThe timing reflects EURC's rapid growth.
Bringing native EURC transfers to CCTP removes a key friction point for developers and institutions moving euro-denominated liquidity between chains without relying on wrapped assets or third-party bridges.
Sources
Circle: Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP)
Circle: EURC Exceeds €400 Million in Circulation
Crypto News: Circle's euro stablecoin EURC tops €400 million in circulation
At three in the morning, an AI system can evaluate a trade flow, verify a contract and trigger a cross-border payout in seconds. The payment may still sit in a correspondent bank queue for days. Corporate software now operates at machine speed, while the financial infrastructure beneath it still keeps banking hours.
That timing gap is the structural challenge. The financial architecture underneath these autonomous workflows has failed to experience a corresponding modernization.
Sophisticated, automated software layers now sit on top of traditional banking rails that remain bound by manual processes, legacy clearing schedules, regional banking hours and standard multi-day settlement timelines. This systemic divergence creates an immediate operational mismatch.
An enterprise cannot maximize continuous, automated commerce when its settlement infrastructure relies on decades-old technology designs.
To understand why traditional clearing mechanisms introduce severe latency, it is necessary to examine the specific structural plumbing of international trade finance. Legacy institutional settlement networks do not transfer value natively; instead, they pass transactional instructions across sequential databases.
When a global payment moves across traditional banking channels, the underlying instruction must migrate through a fragmented array of payment gateways, domestic clearing houses, central banking networks, and multiple intermediary correspondent institutions.
Each individual leg of this journey introduces an additional layer of ledger reconciliation, manual compliance verification, localized operational hours, and distinct fee structures.
For instance, an international payment initiated late on a Friday afternoon from a financial hub in Singapore may not achieve final settlement at its destination bank in São Paulo until the following Wednesday.
The software system determines the optimal allocation of capital and fires the transaction instruction in milliseconds, yet the financial infrastructure requires five business days to clear the funds.
This prolonged processing latency introduces counterparty risk and ties up critical corporate liquidity. For international trading firms, working capital remains locked in transit and unavailable for deployment.
The resulting operational friction forces human intervention back into workflows designed for automation, creating a structural drag on global capital velocity.
Designing the Integrated Operational Architecture
Solving this infrastructure deficit requires moving away from fragmented vendor arrangements. When institutions attempt to stitch together separate partners for execution, asset storage, and fiat connectivity, they merely replicate the inefficiency of the legacy banking system.
Software agents requiring instant settlement cannot be delayed by internal transfers between an isolated over-the-counter desk, a third-party custodian, and an external payment gateway. True efficiency demands one platform where money moves.
SCRYPT follows this integrated model, combining execution, segregated custody and multi-currency settlement on one platform. Keeping the transaction lifecycle in one place reduces internal hand-offs and can limit reconciliation delays and vendor counterparty exposure.
Recent findings from the Bank for International Settlements highlight that stablecoins do not operate as uniform instruments across networks. The same stablecoin issued on two blockchains exists on separate ledgers; bridging capital between them introduces costs, settlement delays and operational exposure.
When trading, custody and payment rails span providers and chains, reconciliation failures and counterparty exposure compound. Overcoming this fragmentation requires an integrated framework capable of handling cross-chain settlement as one connected system.
Figure 1. Stablecoin fragmentation across blockchains. Source: BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, Graph 3 (published June 23, 2026; data through 2025).
The Technical Bottleneck: Protocol Performance vs. Settlement Plumbing
As institutional developers seek to resolve this settlement bottleneck, the nature of digital asset networks is undergoing a fundamental shift. With the deployment of high-performance blockchain protocols capable of processing massive transaction volumes, technical transaction throughput is no longer the primary constraint for institutional adoption. The core operational bottleneck has migrated entirely from protocol engineering down to the underlying custody and settlement plumbing.
True institutional integration relies on agnostic infrastructure. This requires the implementation of management platforms that allow corporate treasuries to clear and settle value across stablecoin rails seamlessly, without requiring institutions to alter their day-to-day corporate financial workflows or interface directly with the complex technical elements of public ledgers.
The enterprise at the end of the chain should experience settlement that completes in real time, without changing how it already works.
Structural Exhaustion and Emerging Market Infrastructure
This operational reality is already dictating corporate behavior within emerging markets, where the adoption narrative has completely moved past speculative retail trading. In economic regions characterized by persistent foreign exchange shortages, systemic currency devaluation, and fragmented local banking systems, enterprise treasury teams are turning to digital settlement rails out of absolute necessity.
In liquidity corridors across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, businesses encounter friction when accessing international clearing currencies through correspondent banks. Local currency conversion adds costs, delays supplier payments and exposes companies to volatility during multi-day clearing cycles. Some enterprises are using reserve-backed stablecoins to execute faster cross-border settlements.
Cross-border settlement across East Africa, without the dollar detour:
Local currency in (KES, TZS, RWF or UGX), through a local partner.
One licensed transaction.
Stablecoin out.
Ready to settle.
No queuing for scarce bank dollars. No stacked FX spreads. Corridors are live… pic.twitter.com/SxubsHIHQZ
— SCRYPT (@Scrypt_Swiss) July 28, 2026
This paradigm shift represents a clear structural exhaustion with legacy infrastructure that fails to satisfy modern commercial requirements. Emerging market businesses use real-time T+0 settlement to rotate working capital efficiently, manage foreign exchange risk, and protect tight operating margins. In these environments, stablecoins are no longer viewed as alternative financial assets; they are functioning as essential infrastructure for daily commercial survival.
SCRYPT applies this model through multi-currency settlement infrastructure that connects local market exposure with reserve-backed stablecoins and major fiat currencies. For businesses in volatile economies, such platforms can support real-time pricing and faster international B2B payments while reducing reliance on correspondent banking.
Jurisdiction as Architecture
The expansion of digital settlement infrastructure has created another operational challenge: navigating a fragmented regulatory landscape. With major economies enforcing distinct frameworks, compliance has become an exercise in structural architecture.
A stablecoin authorised under one jurisdiction’s regime may require separate authorisation under another’s before it can be used the same way. Cross-border tax reporting initiatives such as the European Union’s DAC8 framework and the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) are also turning compliance into an infrastructure problem. Audit controls, automatic reporting and verification mechanisms must sit within the settlement plumbing. Jurisdictional choices lock in banking relationships, asset segregation standards and supervisory obligations that are costly to alter later.
This environment puts a premium on jurisdictions with mature, substantive financial oversight and long experience of supervising digital assets. Switzerland is one of them. Its principles-based approach accommodates new transactional structures while holding institutional-grade compliance standards, which is part of why it has become a base for firms building settlement infrastructure.
Because a principles-based model focuses on substantive risk management, it travels well. Infrastructure anchored to a FINMA portfolio manager licence alongside VQF supervisory membership can work with counterparties across regions, provided each market’s framework is addressed separately. That is deliberate, institutional-grade architecture.
Building for the Permanent Design Constraints of Global Commerce
The friction between regional regulatory frameworks and fragmented legacy clearing chains is a permanent condition of the global economy. Institutions and enterprises must treat it as a design constraint and build their infrastructure accordingly.
The broader market trajectory reinforces this structural migration. Stablecoins have evolved from niche digital assets into an increasingly important layer of global financial infrastructure, with growing adoption across enterprise treasury, cross-border payments, and institutional settlement. This trajectory indicates that the migration of enterprise treasury operations onto digital asset rails represents a lasting shift in global finance rather than a temporary market cycle.
Figure 2. Stablecoin market capitalization remains concentrated in USDT and USDC. Source: BIS Annual Economic Report 2026, Graph 2 (market data as of May 29, 2026).
To scale securely within this framework, global institutions must replace vendor fragmentation with an integrated platform design. Utilizing multiple disparate counterparties for trading, custody, and stablecoin execution introduces unacceptable operational risk and reconciliation overhead. Enterprises require a single point of access, where trading, custody and settlement sit on one platform rather than across three vendors reconciled after the fact.
Execution quality determines whether institutional digital asset infrastructure can support global enterprise operations. Anchoring a technology stack within Switzerland’s regulatory environment enables providers like SCRYPT to combine deep liquidity, segregated multi-party computation (MPC) custody and instant automated clearing. This lets enterprises deploy capital without carrying the operational burden of fragmented infrastructure.
Software automation can complete financial and operational analysis at machine speed. The infrastructure used to settle those outcomes must align with that velocity. Automated commercial networks already operate around the clock. Institutional capital must follow. The standard is one platform, where money moves.
Robinhood Chain’s token issuance platform Long.xyz announced that over the past 24 hours, the trading volume of LONG’s tokenized stocks on Robinhood Chain has exceeded $425 million. Currently, the platform’s stock total value locked (TVL) stands at nearly $12 million, accounting for roughly 20% of the total stock TVL across the entire chain. Long.xyz, an emerging issuance platform on Robinhood Chain, allows users to issue meme tokens and pair them directly with tokenized stocks (such as NVDA, AAPL, and TSLA) instead of pairing with USDC or ETH, a mechanism designed to drive trading volume and liquidity to tokenized stocks.
Coinbase co-founder is seeking to gain control of at least three oil fields in Venezuela.
According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam is seeking to gain control of at least three oil fields in Venezuela. The U.S. government is reshaping Venezuela’s oil industry and plans to replace some operators from the Maduro era with investors close to the Trump camp. The fields, currently operated by Alvorada Heavy Industries Ltda, are located in the Boca, Guico and Guara blocks of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. U.S. officials are considering revoking the existing operating contracts for these fields. As the relevant negotiations have not been made public, the insiders requested anonymity. Additional adjustments to existing oil contracts are expected this week, during which U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit Caracas and is set to showcase up to 17 oil and gas agreements.
4 minutes ago
Binance adds 4 new bStocks trading pairs to its spot and flash swap trading platforms.
According to an official announcement, crypto exchange Binance will launch bStocks tokenized securities trading pairs for CrowdStrike (CRWDB), Moderna (MRNAB), ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ (SQQQB), and Seagate (STXB) on September 2, 2026, at 20:00 GMT+8. The platform will also activate spot algorithmic trading bots and smart position bot services concurrent with the launch. Furthermore, within one hour of bStocks going live on Binance’s spot market, users can redeem their bStocks for BTC, USDT, or other tokens supported by the flash swap platform, with zero redemption fees.
4 minutes ago
Doubao Work enables multiple Agents to operate simultaneously, and it supports direct control of Mac computers.
Beating AI News Flash: Doubao Work Finally Adds Multi-Agent Parallelism. A complex task can now be split into multiple sub-agents to process different modules in parallel, with results aggregated for final delivery. Another update: Mac now supports local "computer operation". Previously, Windows already supported GUI operations, while Mac was restricted to browser control only. Now, Mac can directly recognize local interfaces, enabling it to complete operations based on the UI even in software without MCP, APIs, plugins, or CLI.
4 minutes ago
Figure Completes $717 Million Acquisition of Kiavi, Adding $7 Billion in Tokenized Loan Volume
Figure Technology Solutions completed the $717 million acquisition of Kiavi on Tuesday, bringing one of the largest residential real estate investor lenders in the U.S. into its blockchain ecosystem. Both Figure’s acquisition announcement and its 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed the deal closed on September 1. Per Figure’s prior acquisition announcement, Kiavi is expected to add over $7 billion in annual first-lien mortgage volume to Figure Connect, while more than $100 million in monthly funds will flow into Figure’s on-chain lending platform Democratized Prime.
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Gemini 3.8 Flash has been gray-launched on the Gemini App.
Beating AI News: Google has started the gray-scale rollout of Gemini 3.8 Flash to its Gemini App. When users directly inquire about the current model in the Gemini App, it responds with "Gemini 3.8 Flash". Last week, Business Insider obtained internal screenshots showing Gemini 3.8 Flash Preview appearing on Google’s internal coding platform Jetski. A testing employee said the new model is noticeably better than Gemini 3.7 Flash. Gemini 3.8 Flash’s internal codename is "skimaki". The update mainly fixes issues exposed in Gemini 3.7 Flash, while also cutting down on templated, verbose "AI fluff". Gemini 3.7 Flash was released only on August 13, meaning the interval between the two versions is less than three weeks.
4 minutes ago
A whale opened a $12.91 million position in HYPE and transferred the tokens for staking.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a whale’s execution wallet has accumulated purchases of 155,980 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $12.91 million, at an average price of around $82.77. The tokens were subsequently transferred to another wallet and staked. The wallet currently holds roughly 4.34 million USDC and continues to buy HYPE.
Circle and OKX have expanded their USDC partnership to increase the stablecoin’s liquidity and use across spot, margin and futures markets on the crypto exchange.
Summary
Circle and OKX are expanding USDC liquidity and trading access across spot, margin and futures markets. Eligible OKX users will have more ways to trade in USDC denominated markets under the expanded partnership. OKX has launched a USDC Margin Growth Program offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC reward funded by Circle. The latest move extends an existing partnership that has covered USD to USDC conversions and native USDC support on OKX’s X Layer. Circle said on Sept. 2 that the companies are working together to give eligible OKX users more access to USDC-denominated trading markets, extending an existing relationship between the stablecoin issuer and the exchange.
Circle 🤝 @OKX
Circle and OKX are working together to expand USDC liquidity and trading utility across OKX.
The collaboration supports broader access to USDC-denominated markets across spot, margin, and futures trading.
As digital asset markets scale, trusted dollar stablecoin… pic.twitter.com/lEkCvIMPz3
— Circle (@circle) September 1, 2026 The latest collaboration covers spot trading as well as leveraged products through margin and futures markets. Circle described trusted dollar stablecoin liquidity as part of the trading infrastructure needed as digital asset markets scale.
Specific USDC trading pairs covered by the latest announcement were not disclosed. Circle did not provide a timetable for further market additions or identify the regions where every product would be available, with access subject to user eligibility.
The announcement comes alongside a new OKX and Circle incentive program designed to encourage traders to hold and use USDC on the exchange.
Circle and OKX expand USDC trading access OKX launched its USDC Margin Growth Program with Circle on Sept. 1, offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC cash reward funded by Circle.
Under the program, users must opt in, hold at least 20,000 USDC in their OKX Trading Account for 17 consecutive days during a calendar month and record more than 1,000 USDC in single-side trading volume across eligible spot, futures or margin USDC pairs.
Up to 4,000 users can qualify each month on a first-come, first-served basis. OKX said qualifying rewards are settled within seven days after the end of each month.
The trading push extends a relationship between the two companies that previously focused on moving funds between traditional dollars, USDC and blockchain networks.
In July 2025, Circle and OKX introduced zero-fee USDC conversions between USDC and the U.S. dollar. The arrangement allowed users to convert USD into USDC and back at a 1:1 rate through OKX.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said at the time that demand for USDC was coming from businesses and individuals adopting dollar-denominated digital money. OKX President Hong Fang described the integration as part of the exchange’s work to make access to digital assets easier.
USDC infrastructure has expanded across OKX The companies moved their cooperation further onchain in August when Circle brought native USDC and its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to X Layer, the Ethereum-compatible layer 2 network developed by OKX.
As crypto.news previously reported, the Aug. 7 integration gave developers and businesses access to USDC issued natively by Circle instead of relying only on tokens bridged from another blockchain.
Circle’s CCTP lets users move USDC between supported blockchains through a burn-and-mint process instead of locking tokens into conventional bridges and issuing wrapped representations on destination networks.
At the time of the X Layer launch, native USDC was supported across 36 networks, while CCTP connected 26 blockchains. Qualified businesses could access USDC issuance and redemption on X Layer through Circle Mint.
The infrastructure can be used for transfers, settlements, lending and decentralized applications, extending the companies’ cooperation beyond OKX’s centralized exchange.
USDC access has been developing differently across OKX’s regional operations as exchanges adjust their stablecoin offerings to local rules.
In Europe, OKX opened a USDT-to-USDC conversion route in July for customers across 30 EU and European Economic Area countries. Eligible customers can deposit USDT and convert it into USDC, which is supported under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.
OKX Europe operates under a MiCA license and restricts trading in USDT for European customers. USDC and Paxos-issued USDG remain supported stablecoin options on the platform.
The exchange temporarily paused USDC deposits and withdrawals through Solana in July for scheduled wallet maintenance while keeping related trading services operational. The Solana USDC suspension applied only to transfers through that network and did not amount to a platform-wide pause in USDC trading.
Circle has pushed USDC deeper into trading platforms Circle has pursued similar arrangements with other trading and financial platforms as it expands the places where USDC can be used for collateral, settlement and trading.
In May, Circle deepened its relationship with Hyperliquid by becoming the technical deployment partner for USDC on the decentralized trading platform. USDC continued serving as a primary collateral and quote asset across Hyperliquid’s trading ecosystem, while Circle provided infrastructure for minting, redemption and cross-chain transfers.
Circle later moved approximately 4.397 billion USDC through HyperEVM to a Coinbase-linked address. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham described the USDC transfer to Coinbase as the largest USDC transaction recorded at the time.
Coinbase had become Hyperliquid’s USDC treasury deployer under its Aligned Quote Asset framework, while Circle handled technical infrastructure supporting USDC movement across networks.
Circle’s relationship with Coinbase remains another major distribution channel for the stablecoin. During its second-quarter earnings call in August, the company said its USDC collaboration agreement with Coinbase had renewed on existing terms for another three years, extending the arrangement into 2029.
USDC circulation stood at $73.3 billion at the end of the second quarter, up 19% from a year earlier. Circle reported $701 million in quarterly revenue and reserve income, while roughly 30% of circulating USDC was held on Coinbase’s platform at the end of June.
Circle said at the time that it worked with more than 150 partners that had economic incentives to integrate, distribute or support USDC across exchanges, wallets, payment applications and other financial platforms.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a whale’s execution wallet has accumulated purchases of 155,980 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $12.91 million, at an average price of around $82.77. The tokens were subsequently transferred to another wallet and staked. The wallet currently holds roughly 4.34 million USDC and continues to buy HYPE.
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.
OKX has added 10 USDC spot margin pairs for European customers, offering up to 10x leverage as NEAR and ENA gained 7.2% and 5.6%, respectively, over the past 24 hours.
Summary
OKX added USDC margin markets for HYPE, ZEC, LINK, ONDO, ENA, AAVE, NEAR, TRUMP, OKB, and BNB. Selected markets allow up to 10x leverage, with interest charged hourly on borrowed funds. NEAR led the listed tokens with a 7.2% daily gain, followed by ENA at 5.6%. All 10 pairs use USDC, whose reserves include cash and short-dated U.S. government debt. According to a Sept. 1 press release shared with crypto.news, the new markets expand OKX’s spot margin service for European customers, allowing eligible traders to take long or short positions across 10 additional tokens.
The exchange added HYPE/USDC, ZEC/USDC, LINK/USDC, ONDO/USDC, ENA/USDC, AAVE/USDC, NEAR/USDC, TRUMP/USDC, OKB/USDC, and BNB/USDC. Availability may depend on the customer’s location and account eligibility under local rules.
OKX spot margin adds 10 USDC markets Under the expanded service, customers can borrow assets against collateral and use the funds to open positions larger than their account balance. OKX said selected markets support leverage of up to 10x, although the available limit may differ by pair and user.
Unlike a derivatives contract, a spot margin trade involves buying or selling the underlying asset with borrowed funds. A trader expecting a token to rise can borrow USDC to increase a purchase, while someone expecting a decline can borrow the token and sell it before attempting to repurchase it at a lower price.
According to the exchange’s European margin guide, interest begins accruing once an order is filled and continues until the debt is repaid. Customer assets serve as collateral for loans supplied by other users.
OKX said its borrowing charges are calculated hourly and apply only to the amount borrowed. The company does not impose a separate fee for opening the margin position or a recurring rollover charge, though normal trading and liquidation fees can still apply.
For Bitcoin, the exchange said borrowing rates begin at an annual percentage rate of 0.5%. Rates can vary by asset, customer tier, and market conditions, meaning the starting Bitcoin rate does not necessarily apply to each of the newly listed tokens.
Using a hypothetical example, OKX estimated that a €1,000 Bitcoin position held at 5x leverage for seven days would generate €0.08 in borrowing costs at a constant 0.5% APR, excluding trading and liquidation fees and assuming no price movement.
The company compared that amount with an unnamed platform charging a 0.02% opening fee and another 0.02% every four hours. Under OKX’s calculation, the same hypothetical position would cost €8.60 over one week on the competing platform. The comparison was supplied by OKX and does not identify the platform or account for possible changes in either company’s rates.
NEAR and ENA lead the listed tokens CoinGecko data showed that six of the 10 newly supported tokens had gained over the preceding 24 hours at the time of writing, while three declined and ONDO traded nearly unchanged.
NEAR recorded the largest increase, rising 7.2% to $2.01 on approximately $299.8 million in daily trading volume. ENA followed with a 5.6% advance to $0.1610 as its 24-hour volume reached about $629.2 million.
AAVE gained 2.7% to $127.59, while ZEC climbed 1.6% to $855.22. HYPE rose 1.5% to $83.33, supported by roughly $1.43 billion in daily volume, and LINK added 0.5% to trade at $11.38.
ONDO changed by less than 0.1% and traded near $0.3444. Among the declining tokens, BNB fell 0.4% to $686.29, OKB lost 0.5% to $110.92, and TRUMP dropped 0.8% to $2.39, according to CoinGecko.
Daily gains do not remove the additional risk created by leverage. OKX’s margin documentation states that leverage increases both potential profits and losses, while interest continues to accrue until borrowed assets are fully repaid.
Under cross-margin settings, OKX calculates risk across the assets held in the account. The platform’s cross-margin documentation says positions may be partly or fully liquidated if adjusted account equity becomes insufficient to meet maintenance-margin requirements. Isolated margin can confine the collateral and debt to an individual position, depending on the market and account configuration.
USDC supports OKX’s European expansion All 10 additions are quoted against USDC, placing the dollar-backed stablecoin at the center of the expansion. OKX had already introduced a way for eligible European customers to deposit USDT and convert it into USDC across 30 European Union and European Economic Area countries.
On July 18, crypto.news reported on the conversion, which was introduced as European platforms adjusted their stablecoin services to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework.
The regional competition changed further after some rival platforms faced licensing limits. A July 5 report found that Binance customers in France had retained withdrawal access but lost trading access after the exchange did not secure approval before the applicable MiCA deadline.
OKX has also added products beyond conventional cryptocurrency pairs. On June 9, the exchange introduced 13 X Perps for European users, providing price exposure linked to U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds, equity indexes and commodities, including Apple, Nvidia, SPY, QQQ, gold and oil.
For U.S. readers, the connection comes through USDC and the assets supporting the stablecoin rather than direct access to the European offer. OKX’s Sept. 1 announcement applies to European customers and does not state that the 10-pair rollout extends to accounts in the United States.
Circle, the U.S.-based issuer of USDC, says the stablecoin is redeemable one-for-one for U.S. dollars and backed by highly liquid cash and cash-equivalent assets. According to Circle’s reserve disclosure, most USDC reserves are held in the Circle Reserve Fund, an SEC-registered government money market fund managed by BlackRock.
Circle says the fund may hold cash, short-dated U.S. Treasury securities and overnight Treasury repurchase agreements, while Bank of New York Mellon serves as custodian. BlackRock publishes daily portfolio reporting, and Circle provides monthly third-party reserve assurances.
OKX’s European customers therefore use a U.S. dollar-denominated settlement asset when borrowing or trading across the new markets. The company’s announcement did not disclose initial borrowing limits, liquidity levels or asset-specific APRs for the 10 pairs, leaving those terms to the rates and position tiers displayed to eligible customers on the platform.
Someone just moved roughly $221M in USDC into Coinbase from an unidentified wallet. On-chain tracker Whale Alert flagged the transfer, which joins a growing list of nine-figure stablecoin deposits hitting the exchange this year.
A familiar pattern in 2026 This transfer isn’t an anomaly. Earlier this year, similar movements between unknown wallets and Coinbase clocked in at roughly $199M, $211M to $213M, $230M, and $272M. The current $221M deposit sits comfortably in the middle of that range, suggesting operational consistency rather than a one-off event.
The sender’s identity remains unknown. That’s not unusual for large stablecoin transfers, which frequently originate from institutional wallets, over-the-counter desks, or treasury management accounts that don’t carry public labels on blockchain explorers.
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What large exchange inflows typically signal Treasury rebalancing is one common explanation. Circle, the issuer of USDC, regularly moves large amounts of the stablecoin as part of its minting and redemption operations. Institutional clients settling trades, rotating between custodians, or simply managing cash positions also generate transfers of this size.
Liquidity preparation is another possibility. Market makers and trading firms frequently pre-position stablecoins on exchanges ahead of anticipated volatility or planned trading strategies.
Coinbase’s role as a stablecoin hub Coinbase’s position as a central node for USDC flows isn’t coincidental. The company has a deep commercial relationship with Circle, co-founding the Centre Consortium that originally governed USDC. Coinbase earns revenue from USDC reserves and has built significant infrastructure around the stablecoin.
The frequency of these transfers in 2026 reinforces Coinbase’s dominance in the institutional stablecoin market. When transfers of $200M to $272M are landing on a single exchange multiple times over the course of months, it reflects deep, ongoing relationships with large-scale participants rather than sporadic whale activity.
What to watch next If the funds stay parked on Coinbase without corresponding buy orders or outflows, the deposit likely reflects custody or settlement activity. If on-chain observers spot large market orders or significant outflows of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other assets from Coinbase in the coming days, that would suggest the deposit was preparation for a buying spree.
No concrete links between this transfer and other significant market events have been established. A single inflow, even one worth $221M, doesn’t tell a complete story without visibility into subsequent trading activity or outflows from the Coinbase wallet.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Felix Pago, a stablecoin remittance platform operating primarily in Latin America, has secured $200 million in Series B funding. The round consists of $87 million in equity and $113 million in credit, as the company looks to widen its suite of financial products and services.
Funding Led by Leading Venture FirmsAndreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, led the equity portion of the funding round, while General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund extended the credit facility. The latest financing round highlights growing investor interest in companies leveraging blockchain technology for cross-border payments beyond the traditional cryptocurrency trading sphere.
Felix Pago currently facilitates payments primarily from the US to Mexico, using stablecoins as the infrastructure for remittances. The platform uses WhatsApp as its customer interface, allowing users to easily send funds, while settlements are completed quickly via the USDC stablecoin and blockchain technology.
This model aims to make cross-border money transfers not just faster, but also potentially less expensive for migrant workers and families compared to traditional remittance services.
Focus on Expansion and New Financial ServicesFollowing the Series B raise, Felix Pago plans to extend its operations into new markets. The company also intends to broaden its product suite, with ambitions to develop lending and savings products in addition to its current remittance service. According to reports shared by Wu Blockchain and attributed to Bloomberg, Felix Pago has already processed over $8 billion in remittances.
In addition, Felix Pago is reportedly working on an AI-driven financial assistant to further enhance customer experience and lead its stablecoin-based network toward a more integrated financial services platform.
Mini dictionary: Felix Pago is a financial technology company specializing in cross-border remittances using stablecoins and blockchain infrastructure. It focuses on simplifying global money transfers and is known for integrating popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp as a transaction interface.
The platform’s reliance on USDC highlights the growing presence of this specific stablecoin in real-world payment applications. USDC, issued by Circle, is a fully-backed digital dollar designed for stability and used increasingly for both trading and cross-border transfers.
RoundAmountLead InvestorTypeSeries B$200 millionAndreessen HorowitzEquity + Credit$87 millionAndreessen Horowitz (a16z)Equity$113 millionGeneral CatalystCredit FacilityOutlook for Stablecoin AdoptionFelix Pago’s new funding places it among a growing number of companies using stablecoins as critical payment infrastructure, moving beyond mere digital currency trading. Investors and industry observers are closely watching whether such efforts will encourage wider adoption of stablecoins like USDC across the mainstream financial sector.
Key metrics that market participants are monitoring include Felix Pago’s transaction growth, entry into lending and savings, and the broader uptake of similar blockchain-based settlement mechanisms by other fintech players.
Felix Pago has processed over $8 billion in remittances and is now targeting expansion into lending, savings, and AI-driven financial services, seeking to leverage its stablecoin-based platform for broader financial integration.
The successful fundraising confirms the expanding role of stablecoins as both assets and payment infrastructure. With plans to increase its product offerings, Felix Pago could help determine the scale at which stablecoin-powered remittance platforms may penetrate conventional financial markets.
Circle printed roughly $11 billion in USDC on the Solana blockchain during August, a monthly total that marks the largest single-month issuance the network has seen and signals a meaningful shift in where dollar-backed stablecoins are finding a home.
What actually happened The minting didn’t land in one dramatic drop. Circle issued USDC across August in repeated $250 million tranches, including a notable $1 billion single-day issuance. Monitoring service Whale Alert flagged roughly $1.25 billion minted in a single week during mid-to-late August alone.
The broader picture was equally striking. Gross USDC issuance across all blockchains hit approximately $5 billion in the week ending August 26, the highest weekly figure recorded since early 2026.
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Each mint is backed one-for-one by USD reserves held by Circle, so this wasn’t creative accounting. The company was responding to real demand, issuing new tokens only when counterparties deposited equivalent dollars.
By late August, Solana’s circulating USDC supply had reached around $8 billion, giving the chain more than 10% of USDC’s total supply across all networks.
Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, known as CCTP, enables liquidity to move between blockchains without being manually bridged, reducing friction for institutions that need to shift large dollar positions quickly.
Who’s driving demand Circle serves as the technical provider for Hyperliquid’s $5 billion USDC reserve, a relationship that channels significant stablecoin demand directly onto Solana infrastructure.
BNY Mellon has also established a pathway for institutional clients to mint and burn USDC on the network, opening the door to a class of capital that previously had limited, compliant access to on-chain dollar liquidity.
Prior months in 2026 showed the same pattern building. April saw a single-month issuance peak of $3.25 billion, which at the time looked like an outlier. August’s $11 billion figure suggests the April spike was actually the beginning of a trend, not an anomaly.
What this means for Solana and the stablecoin market USDC’s peg held throughout the August minting surge without a visible wobble. A stablecoin that can absorb $11 billion in new issuance on a single chain in a single month without drifting from $1.00 is demonstrating something about the depth of its reserve management. Circle maintains a strict 1:1 backing against USD reserves, increasing supply only in response to verified market demand.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Stablecoins now account for 94% of Argentina’s peso-denominated cryptocurrency trading, the highest share of any major currency, according to a new analysis published by the venture firm a16z Crypto on August 30, 2026. The finding shows that dollar-pegged tokens have become the default way Argentines convert pesos into crypto, even as the economic pressures that first drove the shift have begun to ease.
The report puts the country’s adoption in sharp relief: roughly one in five people in Argentina use crypto, one of the highest rates in Latin America, and downloads of the country’s 15 leading crypto apps rose 93% year over year in 2024. The analysis draws on third-party data from the analytics platform Artemis and the payroll firm Deel, and a16z notes that the figures have not been independently verified.
How Dollar-Pegged Stablecoins Became the Default The preference for dollars is not new. During the 2001–2002 crisis the government froze bank deposits and forcibly converted dollar-denominated accounts into pesos under Decree 214/2002, and the end of the dollar peg cut the peso’s dollar value by roughly three-quarters. That episode entrenched a habit of keeping savings in physical dollars outside the banking system. After Argentina reintroduced currency controls in 2019, limiting individual dollar purchases to about $200 a month, dollar-pegged stablecoins emerged as an around-the-clock alternative that bypassed the official market.
Adoption That Did Not Fade as Inflation Cooled The most striking signal in the report is durability. Deel data cited by a16z shows the share of Argentina-based contractors paid in USDC rose alongside inflation, which peaked at 289% year over year in April 2024, then eased as price growth cooled. By July 2026 both the USDC-pay share and inflation were holding at about a fifth of their respective peaks. Downloads of Lemon, one of the country’s largest crypto wallets, climbed every quarter even as monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 2.1%. “Stablecoins may no longer be just a hedge against inflation for Argentines — they could be becoming a habit,” the report concludes. That dynamic echoes how stablecoins have become a hedge and settlement tool across developing markets.
A Narrowing Dollar Premium For years the “crypto dollar” traded at a steep premium to the official exchange rate. By 2023, capital controls had pushed the gap between the official and parallel rates above 100%, and stablecoins offered access to dollars outside those restrictions. After Argentina lifted most limits on individual dollar purchases in April 2025, the rates largely converged, and as of August 28, 2026 a digital dollar cost about 4% more than one bought through the official market. That convergence underscores how stablecoins are increasingly functioning as always-on foreign-exchange infrastructure, and how Latin American companies have turned to them for real-time cash flow.
Several questions remain unsettled. The a16z report relies on third-party data and does not independently verify the underlying figures, and it stops short of projecting whether Argentine stablecoin usage will keep rising while inflation stays low and dollar access remains open. What the data does establish is that stablecoin adoption in one of the region’s largest economies has outlasted the crisis that created it, with implications for issuers such as Circle and Tether and for the payment networks targeting high-inflation markets.
AUTHOR
Jide Idowu is a skilled freelance writer with expertise in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and digital finance. Known for his ability to break down complex topics into clear, engaging content, Jide crafts articles, blog posts, and analyses that resonate with both beginners and seasoned professionals. His work spans a wide range of subjects, from emerging crypto trends to in-depth explorations of blockchain innovations. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for educating readers, Jide is a reliable voice in the rapidly evolving world of digital assets.
TL;DRExtended until September 30th, 2026, 23:59 UTCSupported assets: USDC, USD1 & UZero gas fees across withdrawals, transfers, and bridgingOver $4.5M in gas fees has already been covered for users. That's money that would have gone on moving stablecoins around, staying in wallets instead.
The 0 Fee Carnival now runs through the end of September, on the same terms.
How you use it doesn't change. Withdraw from an exchange, send between wallets, or bridge in from another chain exactly as you would normally. You don't pay the gas.
Where You Can SaveWithdraw with Zero Fees, Across Top CEXsUSDC, USD1, and U can be withdrawn to BNB Chain without paying gas through the major exchanges.
Supported platforms include Binance, Bitget, MEXC, Ourbit, BingX, LBank, and HTX, with coverage across BNB Smart Chain and opBNB depending on the exchange.
Minimum withdrawal amounts vary by platform. In every case, funds leave the exchange without losing value on the way out.
CEX
Assets
Network
Condition
Binance
USD1
BNB Smart Chain (BSC)
Minimum withdrawal amount $10
USDC
USDC
opBNB
Minimum withdrawal amount $20
U
BSC
Minimum withdrawal amount $5
Bitget
USDC
BSC
Minimum withdrawal amount $10
USD1
MEXC
USD1
BSC
Minimum withdrawal amount $5
U
USDC
Minimum withdrawal amount $10
Ourbit
USDC
BSC
Minimum withdrawal amount $10
USD1
BingX
USDC
BSC
N/A
LBank
USDC
BSC
N/A
HTX
USD1
BSC
N/A
PS: HTX Supports USD1 — 0 Fees Forever
Free Wallet Transfers: Send Without SpendingSending stablecoins between wallets is covered too.
Supported wallets include Binance Wallet, Trust Wallet, SafePal, TokenPocket, Coin98, imToken, and others.
USD1: Unlimited transfersUSDC: 2 free transfers per dayU: Unlimited transfersMin Transfer: $0.10Eligible: Direct wallet-to-wallet transfers on BSCThis applies to direct wallet-to-wallet transfers on BNB Smart Chain only.
Bridge for Free: Move Across Chains SeamlesslyBringing funds onto BNB Chain is gas-free as well.
Celer cBridge and Meson.fi support bridging from networks like Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, and Tron.
Bridges
Assets
Source Chains
Fee
Condition
Celer cBridge
USDC
Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism
$0 bridge fee!
Limited to Bridge USDC from other chains to BSC.
Meson.fi
USDC
Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Optimism, Tron
100% rebate
Thanks to these partners, your cross-chain transfer literally costs nothing. Bridge, swap, and explore DeFi with zero friction.
The 0 Fee Movement Continues to GrowThe 0 Fee Carnival covers gas, and the point of it is making stablecoins cheap to move for the people using them day to day, whether that means pulling funds off an exchange, paying someone from a wallet, or bringing liquidity over from another chain.
The extension runs until September 30th, 2026, 23:59 UTC. Withdraw, send, or bridge USDC, USD1, or U before then and the gas is covered.
Elon Musk: AI is expected to significantly boost productivity, which could lift the global economy by 20% to 30%.
Elon Musk stated in his speech at the G20 summit that he expects artificial intelligence to significantly boost productivity, noting that AI could lift the global economy by 20% to 30%.
4 minutes ago
Bonk Guy today issued a buy call for USELESS, with the token rallying over 50% in 24 hours and its market cap rising to $104 million.
According to GMGN data, Solana ecosystem meme coin USELESS has rallied over 50% in 24 hours, now trading at $0.1051 with a market cap of $104 million. On the news front, earlier today, the figure known as "Bonk Guy" reflected on his meme coin trading track record, disclosing he once traded BONK with 6x leverage for $16,000 and pocketed over $20 million in profits. Though he later gave back all those accumulated gains on October 10, this isn’t his only high-value trading win. He added that during the last cycle, he also grew funds ranging from low five to six figures to over $5 million to $10 million via trades of meme-related tokens including DOGEGOV, MAGA, and Roaring Kitty. Unipcs also noted that his current bullishness on USELESS is even stronger than when he traded BONK in 2023, pointing out that USELESS previously surged from a market cap of around $4 million to $450 million outside of a bull market, and could see even larger upside if it experiences a genuine bull market for the first time in the future.
4 minutes ago
Open-source Agent framework Pi hits 100,000 stars, v2 coming soon.
Beating AI News Brief: Pi’s GitHub Repository Surpasses 100,000 Stars, Official Teases Upcoming Pi v2. Pi is an open-source Agent harness that also provides a terminal Coding Agent. Over the past month and a half, Pi has been rewriting its underlying Agent runtime framework. At the end of July, it first unveiled Harness v2, adding key features including task persistence, crash recovery, and multiple execution lanes. Shortly after this design was integrated into official APIs in early August, the team began work on Harness v3, which involved a full redesign of storage and runtime states. The v3 work was later consolidated into the current unified harness.md. The new Harness is designed to let Agents resume from their last safe state even if the process crashes mid-execution, and support parallel execution of multiple Agent tasks on the same session history. The current dev branch still has hundreds of commits not yet merged into main, with the new Harness under rapid development.
4 minutes ago
Token 'Niulai' plunges over 21% in 24 hours, market cap falls to $87 million.
According to GMGN market data, the BSC-based meme coin "Niu Lai" has fallen more than 21% in 24 hours, with its market capitalization dropping to $87 million. BlockBeats reported yesterday that all screenings of the movie "Niu Lai" have been extended to 23:59 on October 4, 2026. As of press time, the film "Niu Lai" has accumulated a box office (including pre-sales) of over 60 million yuan, and AI forecasts its total box office will exceed 69 million yuan.
4 minutes ago
US crypto-related concept stocks saw their intraday declines widen, with PURR plunging more than 7%.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), US-listed cryptocurrency-related stocks saw their intraday declines widen, with MSTR down 6.12%, CRCL down 5.94%, COIN down 4.53%, BMNR down 5.73%, SBET down 5.16%, and PURR down 7.02%.
4 minutes ago
Bitunix launches On-Chart Order Preview feature
Bitunix has officially launched the On-Chart Order Preview feature, allowing users to preview entry prices and estimated liquidation prices for long and short positions directly on the K-line chart before placing an order. Users can adjust prices in real time by dragging the preview line, with order details in the order panel updating simultaneously. This feature gives users a clearer view of their positions before executing trades, enabling intuitive understanding of entry points and liquidation risks, and effectively reducing operational errors. This update marks another key step in Bitunix’s ongoing optimization of its chart trading experience, further advancing the platform’s core concepts of Ultra Products and Ultra Experience.
This is a general announcement and marketing communication. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Terms and conditions apply. Fellow Binancians, Binance Earn is excited to renew the campaign for the USDC Simple Earn Flexible Products! During the Promotion Period, users who subscribe to USDC Flexible Products may enjoy up to 7% APR, which includes an exclusive Bonus Tiered APR on top of Real-Time APR rewards. How to Participate: Promotion Period: 2026-09-02 00:00:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-30 23:59:59 (UTC)Subscription Format: Complete subscription on a first-come, first-served basis in accordance with the terms below.Rewards Distribution:Bonus Tiered APR: Distributed to users’ Spot Accounts on a daily basis. The first reward will be given the day after accrual starts (two days after subscription).Real-Time APR: Accrued and directly accumulated in users’ Earn Accounts every minute. Offered Products Digital AssetDurationAPR During Promotion PeriodMin. Subscription Limit per UserMax. Subscription Limit per UserTier Range: Subscription Amount ≤ 300 USDCTier Range: Subscription Amount > 300 USDCUSDCFlexible7%(including 5% Bonus Tiered APR and approximately 2% Real-Time APR)2%(Approximately 2% Real-Time APR)0.01 USDC300,000,000 USDC How to Get Started with USDC Flexible Products: Users can buy USDC on the Buy Crypto page, which supports local and international payment methods including Visa and Mastercard cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, account balances and SWIFT Bank Transfer (corporate user exclusive). Users can also deposit USDC to their Binance account. Head to [Simple Earn], and search for USDC. Select FLEXIBLE, and subscribe to USDC Simple Earn Flexible Products to start earning exclusive APR Rewards! Start Earning Now! Terms & Conditions: These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the activity above (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity 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 Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity 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 Promotion Period can qualify for rewards in the Promotion, and only master accounts qualify for rewards in the Promotion. Sub-accounts are not eligible to receive rewards. 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.Changes to the Binance Simple Earn Rewards Rate will be published on the Platform from time to time. Please refer to Binance Simple Earn Terms & Conditions and Risk Warning for more information prior to using Binance Simple Earn. Rewards:Real-Time APR is subject to change every minute, please refer to the respective product page(s) for accurate information. Real-Time APR rewards are accrued and directly accumulated in users’ Earn Accounts every minute.Bonus Tiered APR is offered as an additional reward on top of Real-Time APR. Upon subscription, Bonus Tiered APR rewards start to accrue the next day starting from 00:00 (UTC) based on the snapshot of your subscribed amounts to the Flexible Product of the day, which will be taken randomly between 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 (UTC) daily. Rewards will start to be distributed the following day after accrual starts between 00:00 (UTC) and 08:00 (UTC) to the user’s Spot Account.Any redemption of Flexible Products made between 00:00:00 (UTC) and 00:00:00 (UTC) of the following day will stop the accrual of Bonus Tiered APR rewards on the redeemed amount for that day.Redemptions of Flexible Products will be processed starting with assets that have accrued rewards. Users can check the rewards history from the Earn History. Bonus Tiered APR rewards are calculated based on the subscribed amounts and are subject to the respective tier limit for each token. Please refer to the FAQ for more details.All users who hold open positions for USDC Flexible Products will receive both Real-Time APR and Bonus Tiered APR rewards during the Promotion Period. Once the Promotion ends, users will be entitled to Real-Time APR rewards only. APR rewards are distributed from Binance’s own funds, and are determined based on the assessment and evaluation of prevailing market conditions. The Activity's subscription amount of each user has an upper limit. When the upper limit is reached, users will no longer be able to subscribe.A large amount of redemption requests might delay redemption temporarily. Redemptions may resume upon return of liquidity.Users can view their Flexible Products assets by going to Assets > Earn > Simple Earn.Redemption time for Flexible Products subscriptions: Instant. 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 2026-09-01 USDC is an e-money token issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (https://www.circle.com/). USDC’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Circle using the following contact information: +33(1)59000130 and [email protected]. Holders of USDC have a legal claim against Circle SAS as the EU issuer of USDC. These holders are entitled to request redemption of their USDC from Circle SAS. Such redemption will be made at any time and at par value.
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.
PANews reported on September 1 that Gate has officially launched a USD order book, bringing USD, USDC, USD1, RLUSD, and other USD-denominated quote currencies into the same spot market, sharing order depth and concentrating liquidity. Users can access this feature after upgrading the Gate App to v8.35 or above, or via the web version. Taking BTC/USD as an example, users can choose to place orders in USD, USDC, USD1, or RLUSD based on their account holdings. Orders in different currencies all enter the BTC/USD market for matching, with prices and depth uniformly displayed in USD. Even if buyers and sellers use different currencies, the system can automatically complete conversion, deduction, and clearing and settlement without requiring manual exchange in advance, reducing the operational cost of switching between multiple similar quote markets.
Compared with establishing independent quote markets for different stablecoins, a shared order book can concentrate depth scattered across multiple USD-denominated currencies into the same market, providing users with clearer market data and a smoother trading experience, while also helping improve the efficiency of platform liquidity allocation. The current feature only supports spot trading. The specific supported currencies may vary by region, account, or trading pair, and may later be expanded to more stablecoins pegged 1:1 to USD. This upgrade improves the connections among asset management, exchange, and spot usage within Gate's USD ecosystem, providing new market infrastructure for coordination among multiple USD assets.
Vienna, Austria — August 31, 2026 — Bybit EU, headquartered in Vienna and operating under a MiCAR license granted by Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA), has been selected as a recommended alternative for MEXC users based in the Netherlands. This shift follows MEXC’s cessation of operations in the Netherlands in compliance with European regulatory requirements.
“We’re pleased to welcome Dutch users who are looking for a regulated, compliant platform to continue their crypto journey,” said Nazar Tymoshchuk, Regional Country Manager at Bybit. “The MiCAR framework exists to protect European users, and we’re committed to providing a secure, seamless experience for everyone transitioning to Bybit EU.”
MEXC has announced it will no longer serve users in the Netherlands due to the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), which requires all crypto-asset service providers operating in the EU to hold appropriate authorization.
“Partnering with Bybit represents an important step in ensuring a secure, compliant, and seamless transition for our users. said Robert MacDonald, Chief Compliance Officer at MEXC. “Bybit’s strong regulatory framework and commitment to user protection give us confidence that our users will continue to receive reliable services and a high standard of care throughout the transition.”
What This Means for Dutch UsersMEXC users in the Netherlands will receive direct communication from MEXC with guidance on next steps and timelines. Those who choose to move to Bybit EU will need to create and verify a new account independently – no accounts or assets will be automatically migrated.
Users are encouraged to complete their transition by October 31, 2026, with final offboarding from MEXC set for November 16, 2026.
About Bybit EUBybit EU operates under a MiCAR authorization granted by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) since May 2025. The platform segregates user funds from company assets as required by regulation, supports EUR top-ups and withdrawals via SEPA and iDEAL, and offers 115+ tokens across 135 trading pairs in both USDC and EUR. The platform is available in Dutch.
Supporting the TransitionTo support users through the transition, Bybit EU is offering a welcome package for eligible new registrants, including bonus rewards, preferential trading fees, and cashback on the Bybit Card. Full details and terms will be available on the dedicated landing page.
A dedicated landing page is available for Dutch users with step-by-step guidance, FAQs, and links to customer support.
Users can also join the Dutch-language Bybit community for transfer support:
Telegram: https://t.me/Bybit_NL
X (Twitter): https://x.com/BybitNL
Bybit EUBybit EU GmbH is an Austrian Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorized under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) in Austria. Bybit EU serves customers across the entire European Economic Area (EEA), with the exception of Malta, via bybit.eu platform.
Bybit EU GmbH is authorized to offer the following services:
– custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients;
– exchange of crypto-assets for funds
– exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets
– placing of crypto-assets; and
– transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients.
Bybit EU GmbH is neither the operator of a trading platform for crypto-assets nor provides investment advice.
Media Contact: [email protected]
Disclaimer: This press release is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to buy or sell digital assets. Investing in crypto-assets is associated with risks, including high volatility and the potential loss of capital. Inform yourself thoroughly about the risks before making an investment decision. The products and services mentioned herein are subject to applicable laws and regulations in the relevant jurisdictions and may not be available in certain regions.
Years of lost savings taught Argentines to buy dollars. Economist Martín Tetaz says rebuilding trust in the peso could take years after inflation is tamed.
An Argentine saver could spend a decade earning interest at a bank and still lose more than half their purchasing power. That is a difficult experience to forget when the government announces another improvement in inflation.
BeInCrypto Intelligence’s The Exodus Economy found that a peso term deposit retained just 44% of its starting purchasing power between June 2016 and June 2026. Someone keeping the equivalent of $10,000 in peso cash ended with about $114 in dollar value.
Speaking to BeInCrypto, Martín Tetaz, an Argentine economist and former national deputy, described the resulting attachment to dollars.
“Demand for dollars is, in practice, the purchase of insurance. It’s like buying car insurance. And it’s a habit that is learned, and that takes time to unlearn.”
Argentina Inflation Rate Over the Last 3 Years. Source: Trading Economics
The report’s ten-year comparison shows why savers looked elsewhere. Dollar cash preserved 74% of purchasing power in Argentina.
Dollars earning short-term US Treasury yields preserved 94%. A Brazilian CDI-linked deposit, meanwhile, increased local purchasing power by 50%.
Dollar cash also lost purchasing power over the decade. In Argentina, the report’s peso options performed considerably worse.
Purchasing power retained, June 2016–June 2026. Start = 100. Source: BeInCrypto
The Peso Has a Better Case
Under President Javier Milei, annual inflation has fallen far below its roughly 289% peak in April 2024. INDEC’s latest figures put it at 33.8% in July 2026. Monthly inflation edged up to 2.1%, from 1.9% in June, a reminder that prices are still rising appreciably.
Tetaz expects the preference to survive well beyond the immediate recovery.
“First it has to eliminate inflation, and then, once inflation is gone, for at least seven or eight years it will keep seeing significant dollar demand until that stability consolidates,” Tetaz said.
That is his estimate of how long confidence takes to recover. Savers have to believe today’s improvement will survive a change of government before committing money for years.
Dollars are Easier to Buy
The report charts another substantial change. The extra cost of buying dollars on the parallel market, compared with the official rate, fell from above 150% in 2023 to around 2% by July 2026.
A narrower gap makes dollar access less expensive. By itself, it reveals little about whether people want to hold fewer dollars.
Official and parallel dollar rates through July 2026. Original report, Figure 16.
There are signs that some crisis-driven demand is easing. Deel payroll data published by a16z crypto on August 30 show the share of Argentine contractors paid in USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, fell as inflation eased, then levelled off. The sample covers contractors using Deel; it cannot establish a nationwide return to peso savings.
The report also shows how accessible digital dollars have become. On Argentine wallet Lemon, tracked withdrawals averaged $544 in the first half of 2026, with monthly medians around $150–$270. These are amounts within reach of ordinary earners.
Tetaz believes a more stable peso could recover some everyday uses.
“If stability returns, short- and medium-term contracts will all be in pesos, and many of the economy’s dollar contracts will unwind.”
He expects longer commitments, such as mortgages, could retain inflation-linked arrangements. Dollar earners may still prefer dollar rents.
Argentina could therefore regain confidence in the peso without persuading everyone to abandon dollars. For a household, trusting pesos for next month’s bills is a much smaller commitment than trusting them with ten years of savings.
TLDR: 94% of Argentina’s peso crypto trading volume now flows into dollar-pegged stablecoins. About one in five Argentines use crypto, among the highest adoption rates in Latin America. Contractor USDC pay and inflation both eased to roughly a fifth of their 2024 peaks by July 2026. Lemon wallet downloads rose every quarter even as monthly inflation fell from 25.5% to 2.1%. a16z Crypto data show that 94% of peso-denominated crypto trading volume in Argentina now flows into stablecoins. That is the highest such share among major currencies tracked by Artemis.
The finding comes from a16z crypto’s latest look at Latin American crypto adoption, published August 30, 2026. About one in five Argentines use crypto, one of the highest rates in the region.
Downloads of the country’s 15 leading crypto apps climbed 93% year over year in 2024. That points to a shift from short-term inflation hedging toward habitual stablecoin use.
A History Rooted in Distrust of the Peso Argentina’s preference for dollars over its own currency predates the rise of stablecoins by decades. In 2001 and 2002, the government froze bank deposits.
It forcibly converted dollar accounts into pesos through Decree 214/2002. When the currency peg later collapsed, the exchange rate moved from one peso per dollar to nearly four. That shift erased about three-quarters of the peso’s dollar value.
That crisis left many Argentines wary of banks and the peso itself. Households grew accustomed to holding savings in physical dollar bills outside the financial system. This habit later shaped how people approached stablecoins once digital options became available.
Stablecoins gained momentum after Argentina reintroduced currency controls in 2019. Within months, officials capped individual dollar purchases at $200 per month.
Eligibility rules also shut out many residents entirely. Dollar-pegged stablecoins offered a workaround outside the restricted official market.
By 2023, capital controls had pushed the gap between official and parallel exchange rates above 100%, a16z crypto’s analysis noted. Stablecoins traded around the clock and sat outside those controls.
That made them attractive during that stretch. As Flores put it in the report, “buying crypto means buying dollars” in Argentina.
Stablecoin Use Persists as Inflation Cools a16z crypto also points to stablecoins becoming a growing part of contractor pay during Argentina’s inflation spike. Year-over-year inflation reached 289% in April 2024.
Over that same period, the share of Argentina-based contractors paid in USDC rose, based on payroll data from Deel.
Deel figures indexed to January 2024 show contractor USDC pay and inflation moving together for a time. As of July 2026, both metrics were holding near one-fifth of their earlier peaks, the report found.
Exchange rate gaps that once made digital dollars pricier than official ones have also narrowed. Argentina lifted most restrictions on buying dollars in April 2025, and official and parallel rates converged. As of August 28, 2026, a digital dollar cost about 4% more than one bought through the official market.
Even as inflation falls and dollar purchases grow easier, usage tied to stablecoins has not faded, according to a16z crypto. Downloads of Lemon, one of Argentina’s largest crypto wallets, rose every quarter.
This happened even as monthly inflation dropped from 25.5% to 2.1%. Stablecoins now look less like a hedge and more like an everyday habit.
Argentina has reached a significant milestone in cryptocurrency adoption, with 94% of peso-denominated crypto trading volume now flowing into dollar-pegged stablecoins. This figure represents the highest stablecoin share among all major fiat currencies tracked by data provider Artemis, according to research by a16z crypto.
A report released by a16z crypto in late August 2026 highlights Argentina’s unique position in Latin America’s digital asset landscape. Around 20% of Argentines have reportedly adopted cryptocurrency, positioning the country among the region’s leaders in crypto usage rates.
App analytics indicate a 93% year-over-year increase in downloads for Argentina’s 15 largest cryptocurrency applications in 2024. This upward trend signals a shift from using cryptocurrencies merely as a hedge against inflation to more routine stablecoin transactions.
Stablecoin usage in Argentina has evolved from a temporary inflation shelter into a regular financial habit, as downloads for major crypto wallets continue to rise even after inflation rates begin to moderate.
Longstanding distrust of the peso drives digital dollar demandArgentina’s preference for holding value in dollars rather than the national peso dates back several decades. The country experienced a severe banking crisis in 2001 and 2002, when authorities froze bank deposits and forced the conversion of dollar accounts into pesos by decree. The collapse of the peso’s dollar peg during this period reduced its value to a quarter of its previous level.
As a result, many Argentines lost trust in both domestic banks and the peso, often choosing to store their savings in US dollars outside of the formal financial system. This ingrained behavior set the stage for the rapid adoption of digital dollar alternatives when stablecoins emerged.
The introduction of new currency controls in 2019 further fueled this trend. The government set a limit of $200 per month on individual dollar purchases, while stricter eligibility requirements prevented a segment of the population from accessing foreign currency altogether. Stablecoins, such as USDC, provided an accessible option for circumventing these official restrictions.
By 2023, capital controls had widened the gap between Argentina’s official and parallel exchange rates to over 100%. As stablecoins traded around the clock and independently from the regulated market, their appeal for Argentines grew further.
For many Argentines, “buying crypto means buying dollars,” making stablecoins a preferred store of value in times of currency instability.
Habitual stablecoin use persists amid easing inflationThe a16z crypto report also highlights the role of stablecoins in the earnings of local contractors during periods of high inflation. Inflation reached an annual rate of 289% in April 2024, spurring a rise in contractor payments sent in USDC, according to payroll data from Deel.
Index data from Deel shows a correlation between local inflation and the proportion of Argentine contractors receiving compensation in USDC. By July 2026, both Argentina’s inflation rate and the share of contractor pay in stablecoins had fallen to about one-fifth of their earlier levels.
Argentina relaxed most controls on dollar purchases in April 2025, resulting in a convergence of the official and parallel market exchange rates. As of August 28, 2026, the cost of acquiring a digital dollar was only about 4% higher than buying dollars at the official rate.
MetricPeak Value (2024)July 2026Year-over-year inflation289%~58%Contractor pay in USDC (index)100 (Jan 2024)~20Lemon wallet downloadsSteady increaseContinued growthMonthly inflation25.5%2.1%Despite the reduction in inflation and relaxed currency controls, stablecoin adoption has remained strong. Downloads of Lemon, one of Argentina’s largest crypto wallets, have continued to increase each quarter, even as monthly inflation dropped significantly. Analysts suggest that stablecoins have shifted from an emergency asset to an everyday financial tool.
Mini dictionary: a16z crypto, an investment arm of Andreessen Horowitz, conducts research and provides data-driven insights across the global cryptocurrency ecosystem. Artemis, mentioned as a data source, specializes in analytics focused on blockchain markets and digital asset trends.
