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Crypto exchange BitMart is considering a restructuring that could combine distributions to creditors with a phased restart of some operations, less than four weeks after saying it would shut down, CoinDesk reported.

The proposed plan “The potential plan may include the phased resumption of certain operations in an orderly manner alongside distributions to creditors,” BitMart said in an announcement. The exchange has hired White & Case as restructuring counsel and expects to provide a detailed roadmap by Sept. 9. The reference to creditors marks a change in tone from its July 26 closure notice, which cited only operating conditions, the market environment and future strategy, without giving a specific reason for the shutdown.

Background to the shutdown After nine years in operation, BitMart halted new registrations, deposits and trading orders and moved futures accounts into reduce-only mode. It set Aug. 26 as the deadline for all trading to end and planned to terminate platform operations on Jan. 31, 2027, while keeping withdrawals available under additional compliance checks. The shutdown announcement sent its BMX token down about 58% over 24 hours, extending its year-to-date decline to 83%.

What comes next Details of which operations might restart and how creditor distributions would work have not been disclosed, and the phased resumption remains a proposal rather than a confirmed plan. The roadmap expected by Sept. 9 should clarify the path forward for users with funds still on the platform, including how and when distributions might be made. Until then, withdrawals continue under the compliance checks BitMart put in place when it announced the closure.

What users should watch For customers still holding assets on the exchange, the key dates remain Aug. 26, when all trading is due to end, and Jan. 31, 2027, when platform operations are scheduled to terminate. The appointment of White & Case and the explicit reference to creditor distributions suggest the exchange is now planning a formal wind-down rather than an abrupt closure, though nothing is guaranteed until the roadmap lands. BitMart has not said which products could return or how customer balances would be prioritized in any distribution.

For readers assessing platform risk, our practical look at how to evaluate an exchange’s safety offers useful context.

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.

Tokenized stocks, digital representations of equities on blockchain networks, are experiencing rapid adoption in global markets. Ondo Finance, a New York-based platform specializing in tokenized financial products, announced that its Ondo Stocks platform surpassed $1 billion in total tokenized value within eight months of its launch—outpacing the growth rates of previously tokenized asset classes such as stablecoins and government bonds.

Rapid growth outpaces other tokenized asset classesAccording to figures released by Ondo Finance, the $1 billion milestone in tokenized stocks was achieved in about eight months. For comparison, the company stated that stablecoins required approximately three years to cross the same threshold, while tokenized Treasuries reached it in 18 months. This acceleration highlights the growing investor appetite for blockchain-based equity products.

Ondo Finance reported $1.01 billion in total value locked on its platform as of August 14. The platform offers access to more than 440 different tokenized US stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), providing a broader range than many competitors. Cumulative trading volume has reached $27 billion since the service launched.

The Block, a leading digital asset news outlet, stated that tokenized equities now account for roughly 15% of the tokenized-stock market, with a total market capitalization approaching $2.8 billion. This represents a threefold increase in market share over the start of 2026, suggesting a sharp uptick in activity and market involvement beyond Ondo Finance’s own ecosystem.

Asset ClassTime to $1 BillionStablecoins3 yearsTokenized Treasuries18 monthsTokenized Stocks (Ondo)8 monthsTrading hours, regulatory landscape, and investor considerationsOne of the distinguishing features of tokenized stocks is the potential to extend trading beyond conventional market hours coupled with blockchain-based settlement, which can offer faster execution compared to traditional systems. However, the underlying rights for investors vary by product structure and jurisdiction. Some tokenized stocks grant holders economic exposure rather than legal ownership, making due diligence essential before investing.

Ondo Finance currently offers its tokenized stock products outside the United States, reflecting ongoing regulatory uncertainties within the American market. Changes in US regulations could significantly impact future accessibility for American investors and shape broader market adoption.

Mini dictionary: Ondo Finance is a fintech company that develops blockchain-based products, including tokenized representations of stocks, Treasuries, and ETFs, aiming to provide greater access to digital asset markets for institutional and retail investors.

Industry voices highlight structural changes in marketsJohn Hoffman, managing director at Ondo Finance, compared current developments in tokenized equities to early-stage exchange-traded funds. He outlined the rapid timeline: “Stablecoins took three years to reach $1 billion. Tokenized treasuries took 18 months to reach $1 billion. And Ondo Stocks did that in eight months.”

Stablecoins took three years to reach $1 billion, tokenized Treasuries needed 18 months, and Ondo Stocks achieved it in just eight months, illustrating the pace at which blockchain-based equities are growing, explained Ondo Finance managing director John Hoffman.

The next phase, Hoffman suggested, will test whether these gains lead to sustained liquidity and broader long-term participation. While Ondo Finance has reported more than 200,000 registered ecosystem holders and a cumulative trading volume of $27 billion, adoption rates and staying power for tokenized stocks will depend on how regulations evolve and whether product demand remains strong.

For traditional finance institutions, the rise of tokenized stock markets signals growing pressure to adapt to blockchain infrastructure for distributing equity products efficiently and securely in the coming years.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Bitget Chief Executive Officer Gracy Chen has expressed strong skepticism that the United States government will actively purchase Bitcoin on the open market to expand its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve before the end of President Donald Trump’s current term.

In a recent interview, Chen described such acquisitions as improbable from a policy standpoint, saying she does not expect them to materialize within the next two years.

The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was formalized through an executive order signed on March 6, 2025.

That directive primarily capitalizes the reserve with Bitcoin federal authorities already obtained through criminal and civil asset forfeiture proceedings.

It does not authorize using taxpayer funds for market purchases.

Instead, any additional acquisitions must follow budget-neutral approaches that impose no extra costs on American taxpayers.

The order also generally prohibits selling Bitcoin held in the reserve, creating a one-way mechanism where seized assets can enter but do not routinely exit through auctions or liquidations.

Public estimates place current US government Bitcoin holdings associated with the reserve in the range of roughly 198,000 to over 300,000 BTC, depending on the tracker used, stemming largely from law enforcement actions rather than deliberate sovereign accumulation.

Before the order, authorities sold substantial quantities of forfeited Bitcoin; the new framework ends that practice for assets designated for the reserve.

Chen’s assessment aligns with the practical constraints of the current setup.

Actively purchasing Bitcoin, she noted, would represent a significantly larger policy decision requiring extensive debate among lawmakers, political parties, and other stakeholders—far beyond simply retaining assets already under government control.

While the administration has maintained a relatively crypto-friendly stance, turning the reserve into an active buying program is not straightforward.

This structure means the reserve functions more as a long-term holding vehicle for existing government-controlled Bitcoin than as an active accumulation program.

The no-sale provision removes a potential source of future supply pressure on the market, which could offer some stability.

However, it does not create the ongoing demand that scheduled government purchases might.

Chen also indicated that if the US did begin accumulating Bitcoin, the impact could be substantial and not fully priced in, potentially driving prices higher as other jurisdictions and US states take notice.

Yet she maintains that, based on policy realities observed over the past year, such a move remains unlikely under the current framework through at least the next couple of years.

For market participants, the takeaway is tempered expectations: the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve solidifies the government’s role as a long-term holder of forfeited coins but is unlikely to emerge as a major buyer in the foreseeable future. Further developments would hinge on successfully identifying truly budget-neutral methods or on new congressional action.

In brief Zcash reached its highest price since 2018 after gaining more than 50% in four days. Open interest in ZEC perpetual futures rose from $963 million to $1.8 billion in five days. Crowded futures markets can intensify both short squeezes and selloffs. Zcash briefly reached $888—its highest price level since 2018—before pulling back to around $843, up nearly 7% over 24 hours and roughly 48% since August 20.

The privacy coin, which trades as ZEC, remains well short of a record all-time high of $3,191.93, set in October 2016 during the coin’s earliest days of trading when liquidity was thin. The coin dropped as low as $16 just two years ago and has been on a remarkable run since, appreciating by over 1,800% in the last year alone.

Myriad: Bitcoin next price move? Click to make your prediction.ZEC perpetual futures open interest nearly doubled from $962.5 million on August 19 to $1.8 billion Monday, while 24-hour volume reached $5.3 billion, according to crypto derivatives data platform Loris Tools. The average eight-hour funding rate was 0.0106%, meaning traders paid a premium to hold long positions.

ZEC futures let traders bet on Zcash’s price without owning the coin, often with leverage. Open interest tracks outstanding contracts, while positive funding signals stronger demand for long positions—raising the risk of a short squeeze if ZEC rises or long liquidations if it falls.

Interest in Zcash grew over the last year as investors searched for an alternative to Bitcoin with stronger privacy protections. Zcash, a type of privacy coin, makes it difficult to track transactions on the network by shielding balances, unlike traditional cryptocurrencies—such as Bitcoin or Ethereum—which are transparent by default.

Interest in the coin further grew after Grayscale filed to convert its Zcash Trust into an ETF in November. The proposal is still under review.

What bullishness the Grayscale news may have garnered was tested in June, when ZEC plunged from $635 to $309 after developers using Claude Opus 4.8 disclosed a flaw in its Orchard shielded pool that could have enabled undetectable counterfeiting.

Developers issued an emergency patch in June, then activated the Ironwood upgrade in July. Ironwood retired Orchard and introduced accounting safeguards designed to trap any counterfeit ZEC in the old pool. Developers could not determine whether the flaw had been exploited.

Winklevoss-backed Cypherpunk Technologies launched a Zcash mining operation in August that it estimates represents 18% of the network’s hashrate. The company holds about 323,394 ZEC, around $268 million, and aims to acquire 5% of the circulating supply.

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NYSE Arca Greenlights Grayscale's Zcash ETFNYSE Arca has formally certified its approval for the listing of The Zcash ETF, according to filings on SEC EDGAR dated August 24. The fund is expected to begin exchange trading as soon as Tuesday, August 25, under the ticker ZCSH.

If it goes live as planned, the product would be the first US spot ETF offering exposure to a privacy-focused digital asset.

From OTC Trust to Exchange-Traded FundThe move marks a significant structural shift for the product.

The conversion moves @Zcash exposure from over-the-counter quotes to continuous exchange trading. The fund carries a 2.5% annual fee.

$ZEC eased to around $820 as the approval landed, though the token remains roughly 58% higher on the week and close to eight-year highs.

Sources:
SEC EDGAR: NYSE Arca Listing Certification for The Zcash ETF
Crowdfund Insider: Grayscale Advances Plans for Spot Zcash ETF
The Globe and Mail: Grayscale Zcash Trust Plans NYSE Arca Listing, ETF Rebrand

Quantum computing is still mostly a theoretical threat to financial infrastructure, but the institutions that move slowly on cryptographic upgrades tend to be the ones scrambling later. NEAR Protocol, alongside the Responsible Fintech Institute and technology firm Safeheron, is not waiting around.

On August 23, 2026, the Responsible Fintech Institute convened a cross-regional pilot consortium explicitly designed to stress-test post-quantum cryptography in live institutional digital asset workflows. The group ran wallet generation and on-chain transfer simulations on NEAR’s quantum-resistant testnet, using a multi-party computation protocol built on the NIST FIPS 204 ML-DSA-65 lattice-based digital signature standard.

What the pilot actually involves Multi-party computation, in plain terms, means no single party ever holds a complete private key. The consortium is testing a non-custodial 2-of-2 MPC design, meaning both parties must participate in every signing event, and neither can act unilaterally.

The lattice-based signature scheme at the center of this is ML-DSA-65, one of the standards NIST finalized as part of its post-quantum cryptography project. NEAR explicitly selected the lattice-based approach over hash-based alternatives, a deliberate architectural choice.

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Safeheron is leading development of both the MPC protocol itself and the ML-DSA-65 signing application. The consortium has committed to open-sourcing that code after the testing phase, along with publishing a whitepaper covering pilot findings.

NEAR first signaled its post-quantum direction in May 2026, selecting ML-DSA as its initial quantum-safe signature scheme. The August pilot represents the next step in that roadmap, moving from protocol-level design decisions to actual consortium testing with real financial institutions in the loop.

Who is at the table The participant list matters as much as the technology. Bison Bank and DK Bank are among the banking institutions involved. On the regulatory side, the Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Malta Financial Services Authority are participating, which gives the pilot a notable cross-jurisdictional character.

The timing also aligns with broader regulatory momentum. Singapore and Hong Kong have both been pushing forward frameworks around fintech innovation and quantum preparedness. The RFI consortium appears designed to generate cross-jurisdictional data that regulators in multiple markets can reference when setting their own standards.

Why quantum threats to crypto are not a distant problem Most public-key cryptography in use today, including the signature schemes underpinning the majority of blockchain networks, relies on mathematical problems that classical computers find intractable. A sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could theoretically break those assumptions.

NIST’s finalization of post-quantum standards, including the ML-DSA standard at the center of this pilot, reflects an institutional consensus that preparation needs to happen ahead of the threat materializing.

For the banks and regulators participating in this consortium, the practical question is not whether to eventually adopt quantum-resistant cryptography. It is whether they can develop operational experience with it before they are required to use it. A pilot that generates real data on wallet generation latency, signing performance, and cross-jurisdictional operational workflows is meaningfully more useful than a theoretical framework document.

The open-source commitment from Safeheron adds another layer to this dynamic. If the MPC protocol and signing application are released publicly, other networks and custodians can adopt or adapt them, potentially accelerating industry-wide post-quantum readiness.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Imagine a prediction market, but instead of betting on elections or sports, you’re staking tokens on whether a specific software engineer will get hired. That’s Benchdot Markets, which went live on Solana’s Mainnet on August 24 courtesy of Arcium, the encrypted computation network that styles itself as a privacy-focused “encrypted supercomputer.”

The platform introduces what Arcium calls “opportunity markets,” a category it claims is the first of its kind in digital assets. Companies post open roles with optional prize pools attached, and participants called “scouts” stake on candidates they believe will land the job. If their pick gets hired, they earn a share of the bounty. If not, their stake gets refunded.

Alpha numbers that actually look solid Benchdot didn’t materialize overnight. The platform ran a Devnet alpha phase starting April 27, 2026, and the early traction was noteworthy. Over 4,000 users signed up within the first week alone.

By the time the alpha wrapped up, 900 unique participants had staked across 12 distinct markets, creating 276 options in total. The combined stake volume hit $7.67M.

Why privacy matters in hiring markets The core pitch for Benchdot hinges on a real problem with transparent prediction markets: herding and front-running. When everyone can see where stakes are flowing in real time, participants tend to pile into the same positions, diluting the quality of the signal.

Arcium addresses this with multi-party computation, or MPC. In practical terms, MPC lets multiple parties jointly compute a result without any single party seeing the raw inputs. Applied to hiring, this means scouts can stake on candidates without their choices being visible to other participants or even to the hiring company until the market resolves.

Arcium’s broader trajectory Benchdot Markets sits within a larger ecosystem that Arcium has been methodically building. The network reached Mainnet Alpha back in February 2026, establishing the foundational infrastructure for confidential applications on Solana.

Four months later, in June 2026, Arcium released its governance and utility token $ARX, giving the ecosystem a native economic layer. The project has raised more than $7.5M to date and supports over a dozen teams building confidential applications on its infrastructure.

The Solana angle is also strategic. Solana’s low transaction costs and high throughput make it a natural home for a product that requires frequent staking interactions across many participants.

What this means for the market The refund mechanism for unsuccessful stakes lowers the barrier for participation. Unlike traditional prediction markets where losing bets evaporate, Benchdot’s model means scouts only lose opportunity cost, not principal.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

What Chain Fusion DoesSmart contracts on @dfinity's Internet Computer, known as canisters, can now control Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana addresses outright, signing and submitting transactions with no bridge, wrapped asset, or oracle involved. The protocol calls this design Chain Fusion.

How the Key Never Gets AssembledThe core mechanism is threshold signing: a private key that is never fully assembled in one place. Canisters can request a signature but never access the underlying key material.

Spending $BTC still follows Bitcoin's own rules. Bitcoin uses an unspent transaction output (UTXO) model, which requires one signature for every coin fragment used as an input. meaning $ICP's derived keys conform to the same standards that existing Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets already use.

The practical upshot is that developers can write smart contract logic on the Internet Computer that moves real $BTC on the Bitcoin base layer, without wrapping it or routing it through a third-party custodian.

Sources
Internet Computer: Chain-key signatures
ICP Developer Docs: Chain Fusion
DFINITY: ICP Further Advances Chain Fusion With Latest Bitcoin Milestone

Kylie Jenner’s verified X account, which has roughly 39.5 million followers, briefly promoted a Solana memecoin on Pump.fun before the posts were scrubbed. The token tied to the now-deleted posts saw its market cap spike to $1.21 million, then collapse below $120,000 in what appears to be the latest in a growing pattern of celebrity account compromises used to pump short-lived tokens.

The posts directed followers to a Pump.fun page with the handle “cutekjenner” and included a Solana contract address. Both were removed shortly after publication, but not before on-chain observers and community members flagged the activity as almost certainly the result of a hack.

What happened on-chain The token associated with the contract address (6b7KQsXqb6JR5Nmeer5zGRmo51dwDfttM5b5Nu2rpump) launched on Pump.fun, Solana’s dominant memecoin launchpad. Within minutes of the posts going live from Jenner’s account, buying pressure pushed the token’s market cap to an all-time high of $1.21 million.

That peak didn’t last long. Once the posts disappeared, sellers took over. The market cap cratered to below $120,000, a drop of more than 90%.

A familiar playbook Throughout 2024 and into 2025, a string of high-profile X accounts were compromised using nearly identical tactics: gain access to a verified celebrity or brand account, post a Solana token address or Pump.fun link, let the FOMO do the rest, and cash out before anyone realizes the account holder had nothing to do with it.

Community reactions on both Pump.fun and X pointed to several red flags. The tone of the posts didn’t match Jenner’s typical content. The timing was abrupt. And the deletion, coming just minutes later, suggested either the real account holder regained access or the attacker pulled the plug after extracting enough value.

As of the immediate aftermath, neither Kylie Jenner nor her representatives had issued any official statement about the incident.

The mechanics of celebrity account exploits Pump.fun has become the de facto venue for this type of attack because of how frictionless it makes token creation. Anyone can launch a Solana token on the platform in seconds, with no vetting or approval process.

The exploit relies on a simple asymmetry: the attacker knows the post is fake, but the 39.5 million people who follow Kylie Jenner do not. Even if only a tiny fraction of those followers act on the post, the resulting buy pressure on a low-liquidity token is enough to generate a massive price spike. The attacker, who presumably loaded up on the token before posting, sells into that spike.

A token that briefly hits $1.21 million in market cap on Solana, where transaction fees are negligible, represents a potentially significant payday for whoever holds a large percentage of the supply at launch.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Ankr, the decentralized infrastructure provider, has been added to the sBTC signer set on Stacks, joining a small group of operators tasked with validating and securing Bitcoin-pegged transactions on the Layer 2 network.

For those unfamiliar with the setup: sBTC is a token on Stacks that’s pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin. The signer set is the group of operators who collectively approve the minting and movement of sBTC, functioning like a multi-signature committee that keeps the peg honest.

How the signer model works The initial sBTC signer set launched with 14 operators after one original nominee withdrew before go-live. Transactions require approval from at least 10 of those 14 signers, a threshold designed to balance security with operational efficiency.

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Signers aren’t chosen at random. Operators must meet strict criteria around uptime, geographic diversity, and technical capability.

sBTC deposits went live on mainnet on December 17, 2024, with withdrawal functionality expected to follow in March 2025.

What Ankr brings to the table Ankr operates a Bitcoin Secured Infrastructure platform that provides RPC services, validator solutions, and customizable tooling aimed at Bitcoin-related protocols.

“We’re thrilled to support Stacks and sBTC to build Bitcoin’s future.”

That’s Ankr Co-Founder and CEO Chandler Song, who framed the partnership as part of a broader push to extend Bitcoin’s utility beyond simple value transfer.

Ankr’s participation aligns with the Stacks Foundation’s “Best and the Brightest” campaign, an initiative that highlights key institutional supporters of sBTC.

The bigger picture for Bitcoin DeFi The sBTC signer model is designed to evolve over time. The current structure is intended as a stepping stone toward a more permissionless system, with plans to integrate signer selection with Stacks’ Proof of Transfer consensus mechanism, which itself is anchored to Bitcoin’s own blockchain.

Broader rotations within the sBTC signer set have been noted over time, with other institutional participants cycling in and out.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Injective's native token $INJ has climbed 39% over the past seven days, making it one of the standout performers among mid-cap cryptocurrencies. The token was trading at $5.74 at time of writing, adding 9.4% in 24 hours, with trading volume up 62% to $132 million. The broader market, by comparison, gained only low single digits over the same period.

SEC Transfer Agent Registration Drives Sentiment Much of the momentum traces back to a regulatory milestone reached last week.

, rather than a digital copy of a separate database entry.

Canary Capital ETF Filing Still Pending A separate regulatory catalyst is also in play.

The application remains pending with the regulator, and no timeline for a decision has been confirmed.

Together, the transfer agent registration and the outstanding ETF application represent a concentrated push by @injective into regulated U.S. capital markets infrastructure, which is fuelling the current price advance.

Sources:
Injective: SEC Transfer Agent Registration (Official Blog)
The Block: Injective Becomes SEC-Registered Transfer Agent
ETF.com: Canary Capital Files for First Staked INJ ETF

CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, is rolling out single-asset benchmarks for Ethena’s ENA token, effective August 24, 2026. The new products will deliver real-time pricing and daily reference rates calibrated to London, New York, and APAC trading sessions.

It’s the latest addition to CME’s growing menu of cryptocurrency pricing tools, all administered by CF Benchmarks.

What CME is actually launching The new suite includes three distinct reference rate variants: ENAUSD_RR for the London close, ENAUSD_NY for the New York close, and ENAUSD_AP for the APAC close. Each will publish at 4 p.m. local time in its respective region.

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The rates will be published daily, including weekends and holidays. Alongside the reference rates, CME will also release associated real-time indices for ENA. The pricing data will be sourced from aggregated trading activity across multiple spot exchanges, a methodology designed to reduce the influence of any single venue.

Why Ethena, and why now Ethena operates a synthetic dollar, USDe, that’s collateralized by cryptocurrencies and maintained through delta-neutral hedging strategies. The protocol holds crypto assets while simultaneously shorting them on derivatives exchanges to cancel out price risk, creating something that behaves like a dollar-pegged stablecoin without relying on traditional bank deposits or treasury bills.

ENA is the governance token for this system, giving holders a say in protocol decisions. It’s this token, not the synthetic dollar itself, that CME is now benchmarking.

CME has been steadily expanding its cryptocurrency pricing toolkit throughout 2026, adding various tokens to its CF Benchmarks suite.

What this means for the broader market Portfolio managers and fund administrators need recognized reference rates for net asset value calculations. OTC desks need reliable settlement prices. And product developers, whether they’re building ETFs, structured notes, or lending products, need pricing anchors that regulators and auditors will accept.

The availability of standardized reference rates across three global time zones addresses a practical challenge in crypto markets. Unlike equities, which settle against a single closing auction, crypto trades around the clock. Having London, New York, and APAC reference points gives institutions the ability to mark positions at times that align with their existing operational workflows.

While daily reference rates serve valuation and settlement purposes, real-time pricing feeds are what trading desks need for intraday risk management and algorithmic strategies. Offering both in a single package makes the product useful across the full spectrum of institutional activity, from back-office accounting to front-office execution.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

4 hours ago

Hyperliquid ecosystem project Kinetiq has announced the launch of Elysium, a new Hyperliquid L2 network designed to address key pain points including HyperEVM’s performance bottlenecks and the complexity of its dual-block architecture. Elysium will use HYPE as its native gas token, enabling seamless integration with HyperCore and HyperEVM. Deployed in close synergy with the Hyperliquid mainnet, Elysium’s initial block production performance is projected to far outpace HyperEVM levels. The network will support token issuance: projects can launch starting with a long-tail asset AMM, then gradually integrate Elysium’s PropAMM, HyperCore spot order book, and qualify for perpetual contract listings via HIP-3. For its economic model, 25% of Elysium sequencer fees will be allocated to application builders that consume block space, 25% will go to the Kinetiq treasury, and 50% will be used for programmatic purchases of KNTQ tokens on the open market. All purchased KNTQ tokens will be burned and transferred to the Hyperliquid Aid Fund.

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Pudgy Penguins‘in PENGU tokenı son bir haftada %62,1 yükselerek 0,0095 dolar seviyesine yaklaşırken yatırımcıların gözü markanın halka arz hedefinde. CEO Luca Netz’in son paylaşımı beklentileri artırsa da ortada henüz resmi bir IPO başvurusu bulunmuyor.

PENGU son 24 saatte de yaklaşık %15 yükseldi. Tokenın piyasa değeri 598 milyon dolara yaklaşırken PENGU, kripto para piyasasında 97. sıraya çıktı.

Son rallide tek bir gelişme öne çıkmıyor. LBank’in Pudgy Penguins ile başlattığı kampanya, markanın Walmart ve Target mağazalarındaki yayılımı ve Luca Netz’in halka arzla ilişkilendirilen paylaşımı aynı döneme denk geldi.

PENGU Neden Bu Kadar Yükseldi? PENGU’daki yükselişin arkasındaki gelişmelerden biri LBank’in Ağustos ayında başlattığı Pudgy Penguins kampanyası. Programda işlem yarışmaları, ödüller ve kullanıcıların varlıklarını 30 gün boyunca kilitlemesini gerektiren kazanç ürünleri bulunuyor.

Bu ürünlerde kilitlenen PENGU’lar kampanya süresince borsa emir defterlerinde kullanılabilir durumda olmuyor. Ancak bu mekanizmanın fiyat üzerindeki etkisini tek başına ölçmek mümkün değil.

Pudgy Penguins’in fiziksel ürün satışları da aynı dönemde genişliyor. Plush oyuncaklar ve koleksiyon ürünleri Walmart ve Target mağazalarında Kuzey Amerika genelinde satılıyor. Luca Netz de hafta sonu Target dağıtımını takipçileriyle yeniden paylaştı.

Markanın büyüme stratejisi yalnızca perakende satışlarla sınırlı değil. Pudgy Penguins ocak ayında Manchester City ile NFT anlaşması yaparak spor alanındaki varlığını da genişletti. Bu hamle, NFT piyasasının genel değer kaybı yaşadığı bir dönemde markanın kullanım alanlarını çeşitlendirme çabasına işaret ediyor.

👀🐧🏢🔜

— Luca Netz 🐧✳️ (@LucaNetz) August 23, 2026

PENGU rallisinin en merak edilen kısmı Luca Netz’in son paylaşımı oldu.

Netz, göz, penguen ve bina emojilerinin ardından bir ok ve “soon” ifadesinin yer aldığı kısa bir paylaşım yaptı. Bazı yatırımcılar binayı bir borsa olarak yorumlayarak mesajı halka arz ihtimaliyle ilişkilendirdi.

Ancak Netz paylaşımında doğrudan halka arzdan söz etmedi. Bu nedenle ortada şu aşamada doğrulanmış bir IPO duyurusu bulunmuyor.

Bununla birlikte şirketin halka arz hedefi yeni değil. Netz, Ağustos 2025’te verdiği bir röportajda Pudgy Penguins’in iki yıl içinde halka açık bir şirket haline gelmemesi durumunda kendisini başarısız sayacağını söyledi. Bu hedef, 2027’yi işaret ediyor.

Aynı dönemde şirket yıllık yaklaşık 50 milyon dolarlık satış hedefinden söz ediyordu. Bu gelirin büyük bölümünü token işlemleri değil, oyuncak satışları oluşturuyordu.

Get your Pudgy Penguins available at target! 🐧 https://t.co/K7PHW8IefX

— Luca Netz 🐧✳️ (@LucaNetz) August 23, 2026

Pudgy Penguins’in Oyuncak Satışları PENGU’yu Nasıl Etkiliyor? Pudgy Penguins’in ticari büyümesinin önemli kısmı fiziksel ürünlerden geliyor. Walmart ve Target gibi büyük perakendecilerdeki dağıtımın genişlemesi, markanın NFT projesinden daha geniş bir tüketici markasına dönüşme çabasını destekliyor.

Ancak burada PENGU yatırımcıları açısından önemli bir ayrım var: Oyuncak satışlarından elde edilen şirket geliri doğrudan token sahiplerine ait değil.

Dolayısıyla markanın gelirlerinin artması, PENGU tokenının aynı oranda değer kazanacağı anlamına gelmiyor. Olası bir ABD halka arzında da şirket hissedarları şirket gelirlerine ortak olurken PENGU sahiplerinin bu gelirler üzerinde otomatik bir hakkı olmayacak.

Üstelik halka arz süreci yalnızca bir hedef açıklamasıyla tamamlanmıyor. Denetlenmiş finansal tablolar ve şirket hisseleri ile token arasında net bir hukuki ayrım gerekiyor.

PENGU Rallisi Kalıcı Olabilir mi? PENGU’nun son yükselişi güçlü olsa da token hâlâ tarihi zirvesinin oldukça altında. Token, Aralık 2024’te gördüğü 0,06845 dolarlık rekorun yaklaşık yüzde 86’sından daha düşük seviyede işlem görüyor.

PENGU şubat ayında yaklaşık 0,0053 dolara kadar geriledikten sonra toparlandı. Nisan ayında ise yaklaşık 0,0083 dolar seviyesinde uzun süren düşüş trendini kırdı. Token, sonraki aylarda analistlerin takip listesine giren meme coinler arasında da yer aldı.

Bu nedenle son haftadaki yüzde 62,1’lik yükseliş önemli olsa da daha geniş fiyat yapısı hâlâ tamamen değişmiş değil.

Piyasanın halka arz beklentisini fiyatlamaya başlaması ise ayrı bir konu. Şu ana kadar ortada ne bir kayıt başvurusu ne de seçilmiş bir yatırım bankası veya belirlenmiş bir borsa bulunuyor. Bu nedenle PENGU’daki son hareket, resmi bir IPO sürecinden çok şirketin daha önce açıkladığı hedef, son sosyal medya paylaşımı, LBank kampanyası ve markanın perakende büyümesinin aynı anda yarattığı beklentiyle şekilleniyor.

Bu içerik genel piyasa verilerine dayanır ve yatırım tavsiyesi değildir. Kendi araştırmanızı yapmanızı öneririz.

Son Dakika kripto para haberleri için hemen tıkla.

Konu ile ilgili yorumlarınızı bize yazabilirsiniz. Ayrıca, bu tarz bilgilendirici içeriklerin devamının gelmesini isterseniz, bizleri Telegram, Youtube ve Twitter kanallarımızdan takip edebilirsiniz.

Aster DEX Adds BASECAT Perpetuals With 3x LeverageBase chain memecoin Basecat has jumped 16% in the past 24 hours after decentralized exchange Aster DEX announced a new perpetual listing for the token. The listing gives traders access to BASECAT perpetual contracts with up to 3x leverage, broadening the token's accessibility beyond spot markets.

BASECAT was trading around $0.035 at the time of writing, giving it a market capitalization of approximately $35.4 million. The token launched through the o1 Launchpad on Base on August 15, 2026, and is structured as an independent community project built around the Base ecosystem.

Aster DEX and the Growing Perps LandscapeThe listing adds to a growing catalogue of assets on Aster.

For BASECAT holders, the perpetual listing on Aster represents a meaningful step in market depth. Perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate on asset prices without an expiration date, using leverage to amplify potential gains or losses. The 3x leverage cap on the BASECAT listing is relatively conservative compared with some of Aster's other markets, which offer up to 1001x leverage.

, reflecting its strategy of expanding listings to capture volume from emerging communities and ecosystems.

As with any leveraged product, the risks are real. Leverage trading can lead to significant losses, and on-chain markets may have different liquidity and slippage characteristics compared with traditional exchanges. Traders should factor in those conditions when sizing positions on a memecoin perpetual.

Sources:
BingX: What Is Aster Perpetual DEX and How Does It Work?
Aster DEX Official Docs: Perpetuals
DefiLlama: Aster Protocol Data

Bitcoin has climbed nearly 24% from below $64,000 toward $80,000 as U.S. spot ETF inflows and forced short covering have fueled its strongest weekly advance since March 2023.

Summary

Bitcoin reached a three-month high near $79,550 after rising almost 24% in one week. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted approximately $1.9 billion across five consecutive inflow sessions. Analysts said continued spot demand must replace forced buying for Bitcoin to hold above $80,000. A confirmed breakout could bring $85,000–$90,000 into view, while rejection may trigger another correction. Nansen senior research analyst Nicolai Søndergaard told crypto.news that Bitcoin has probably established an important local bottom, although he wants more evidence from U.S. spot markets before treating the rally as a confirmed cycle turn.

Bitcoin traded close to $80,000 on Aug. 24 after advancing from below $64,000 on Aug. 19. The asset reached approximately $79,550 during the run, its highest price since May, according to recent market coverage.

Søndergaard said selling pressure has eased, some whales have resumed selective accumulation, and ETF flows have improved. However, he noted that recent readings still showed weak U.S. spot demand, a price below important holders’ cost bases, and derivatives positions recovering before clear confirmation from cash-market buyers.

“I view Bitcoin’s latest rally as a meaningful improvement in market structure, but not yet as confirmation that the cycle has definitively turned,” Søndergaard said.

Under his base case, Bitcoin is passing through the final stages of a bottoming process rather than beginning a confirmed market-wide advance. Sustained trading above $80,000, once leverage settles, would provide stronger evidence that buyers can support the move without relying on forced position closures.

Bitcoin’s $80K test requires sustained ETF demand Bitget Wallet research analyst Lacie Zhang said ETF purchases, favorable macro conditions and progress on U.S. crypto regulation have given the rally genuine support. Yet she also attributed part of its speed to traders buying Bitcoin to close leveraged bearish positions.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs collected about $1.9 billion during the week ending Aug. 21, including roughly $606 million on Aug. 20, according to figures cited by the analysts. The funds recorded five straight trading days of inflows, providing a source of spot demand as Bitcoin moved through several resistance levels.

Zhang said the market’s next test will arrive after forced covering loses momentum. ETF buyers would need to keep absorbing available supply while lower yields and a softer dollar maintain a supportive setting for risk assets.

“The latest move looks real, but it is also very fast,” Zhang said.

“For the rally to sustain above $80K, we need to see fresh spot demand continue after the forced covering fades.”

Separate Bitfinex analyst comments also pointed to a combination of spot buying and short covering rather than a rally built mainly on new leveraged longs. During the first part of the breakout, Bitcoin gained between 10% and 11% while aggregate open interest increased by about 4%, according to the firm.

Bitfinex analysts said the difference between price growth and open-interest growth suggested that new leverage played a smaller role. Open interest rising faster than underlying demand would present a less stable setup, particularly if Bitcoin stopped advancing while traders continued adding futures positions.

Søndergaard wants to see a positive Coinbase premium and spot-led trading volume alongside continued ETF inflows. He also said funding should remain moderate, while open interest must not rebuild faster than demand in the underlying market.

Short liquidations accelerated Bitcoin’s rise The first stage of the rally developed as Bitcoin cleared resistance around $65,000 and moved through liquidation clusters above $67,000. Exchanges then closed short positions that no longer had enough collateral, generating market buy orders that pushed prices higher and triggered additional liquidations.

An earlier liquidation event analysis found that more than $3 billion in leveraged shorts were closed across crypto derivatives markets on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20. Short positions accounted for approximately $2.77 billion, or 92% of the total, while about $1.29 billion was liquidated within a single hour.

Bitcoin shorts made up roughly $1.37 billion of the total, while Ethereum shorts accounted for around $1.01 billion. Binance recorded approximately $518 million in liquidations, Hyperliquid handled about $513 million, and Bybit registered close to $303 million.

Forced buying can increase prices quickly, but each purchase created by a liquidation closes an existing position rather than establishing continuing demand. Søndergaard said a return of rising funding and rapidly expanding open interest during another test of $80,000 would make the advance appear increasingly squeeze-led.

“If $80,000 rejects again while open interest and funding continue to rise, I would interpret the rally as increasingly squeeze-led, leaving room for another correction at some point.”

U.S. spot demand, therefore, remains important for American investors using exchange-traded funds to gain exposure without directly holding Bitcoin. Persistent net inflows would show that investment products are still adding BTC after most of the bearish leverage has already been removed.

Bitcoin could target $90K after a confirmed breakout Zhang said a clean close above $80,000 followed by a successful defense of the level could open a move toward $85,000–$90,000 over the following weeks. An accelerated run toward $95,000–$100,000 is also possible under her scenario if ETF inflows remain strong and liquidity conditions continue improving.

Still, Zhang described the market as stretched after a weekly gain of about 20%. Rising funding rates, weaker ETF flows, or a failure to retain $80,000 after crossing it could lead to a reset before another advance, she said.

Søndergaard also expects any recovery outside Bitcoin to remain selective. In his view, investors are directing more capital toward assets with measurable use, fee income, token burns, buybacks, or another clear method of returning value to holders.

Under that framework, he described Bitcoin as institutional macro exposure while naming HYPE, selected decentralized finance protocols, and real-world asset infrastructure as candidates for crypto-native capital. He cautioned that higher Bitcoin prices would not automatically lift most altcoins.

“HYPE has a stronger value-accrual case than most tokens because of its protocol activity and buyback-linked economics, but its large open interest also makes it vulnerable to crowded positioning,” Søndergaard said.

ETH and SOL could signal whether the rally is spreading Zhang expects Ethereum and Solana to receive the first rotation of capital if Bitcoin’s advance starts extending into other parts of the market. Their liquidity makes them more likely to move before infrastructure projects, DeFi tokens, and assets with higher sensitivity to risk appetite, according to her assessment.

Bitcoin dominance would provide one of the main indicators. Zhang said a stalled or declining dominance rate, combined with a rise in the total cryptocurrency market capitalization excluding Bitcoin, would offer evidence that demand is reaching more assets.

Movements in the ETH/BTC and SOL/BTC pairs could supply further confirmation because both measure whether Ethereum and Solana are gaining value against Bitcoin rather than merely rising in dollar terms.

Macroeconomic data may also affect spot demand. A report on upcoming U.S. data noted that July Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation and revised second-quarter gross domestic product figures are due on Aug. 26, followed by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole address on Aug. 28.

June core PCE inflation stood at 3.3%, above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, while the advance estimate showed annualized U.S. economic growth slowing to 1.5% in the second quarter from 2.1% in the first. Zhang said traders should also monitor stablecoin supply, decentralized exchange volumes, perpetual-futures funding, and whether spot volume leads the next round of gains.

Ripple has advanced further into traditional finance with a $275 million private bond sale conducted by Ripple Prime, as reported by crypto researcher BankXRP. This move signals Ripple’s increasing integration with institutional capital markets and sheds light on the company’s evolving brokerage operations.

Ripple Prime’s $275 Million Bond IssuanceBankXRP shared that Ripple Prime, which was formerly known as Hidden Road before Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition, completed the bond sale with an annual coupon rate of 8.25% and a maturity set for 2031. The researcher noted that Kroll assigned the firm a BBB credit rating, representing the first time a crypto-owned broker-dealer has achieved investment-grade status.

The financing allows Ripple Prime to access debt capital while developing its credit profile. A Bloomberg screenshot linked to the discussions identified Ripple Prime CIV US BD Holdco LLC as a special purpose entity responsible for issuing debt securities. According to the entity’s description, the proceeds will be used to refinance existing credit facilities, support future acquisitions, and manage outstanding debt.

BankXRP emphasized the BBB rating from Kroll, describing it as a milestone for crypto companies making inroads into institutional finance. The business structure and bond terms underscore Ripple Prime’s growing connections to traditional debt markets while maintaining its activity within the digital asset sector.

The reported $275 million bond sale by Ripple Prime, with an 8.25% coupon and BBB rating from Kroll, marks the first investment-grade classification for a broker-dealer owned by a crypto company.

Key Terms: 8.25% Coupon, 2031 Maturity, BBB RatingThe 8.25% coupon reflects the annual interest rate investors will receive on the bonds, while the maturity date of 2031 sets the horizon for repayment of principal. These terms are regarded as evidence of Ripple Prime’s entry into conventional fixed-income markets while retaining a foundation in digital assets.

The BBB rating has attracted particular interest from analysts and the crypto community. Blue highlighted questions over whether Ripple Prime required the entire $275 million immediately or if securing a credit rating was equally important for the company’s strategic development. The investment-grade rating is seen as a step that could encourage further participation from institutional investors in the sector.

Lily Lam commented on the implications of obtaining a BBB rating, noting its importance for the credibility of crypto broker-dealers, but also expressed concern about the cost of financing at an 8.25% rate extending to 2031. She further questioned whether Ripple Prime would release detailed financial statements, pointing to broader transparency expectations among investors.

Questions remain over Ripple Prime’s future financial disclosure and whether establishing a robust credit rating will translate into additional transparency for stakeholders.

Market Context and Digital Asset Platform ToolsThe activity surrounding Ripple’s bond issuance has occurred in a market environment where sudden moves, such as shifts in Fed policy or new altcoin listings, can alter investor sentiment in seconds. As trading decisions must often be made in real-time, many investors are moving toward unified portfolio management solutions. Smart traders now rely on privacy-focused platforms like CryptoAppsy, which combine real-time charts, automated alerts, curated news, and crucial macroeconomic data onto a single interface—without requiring users to create an account.

Ripple Prime’s recent capital raise, in parallel to broader trends toward institutional-grade infrastructure, highlights both the maturation of crypto companies and the increasing importance of efficient decision-making tools for investors navigating volatile markets.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Ripple (XRP) surged more than 72% in less than a week, its strongest rally since July 2025, as cryptocurrency prices broadly broke out. But the move has a problem: it may have little to do with XRP itself.

The token's near-term rally appears to have been driven largely by a broader liquidity shift after the US Treasury expanded long-end bond buybacks, pulling yields lower and lifting risk assets. XRP, with more beta than Bitcoin, was one of the biggest beneficiaries.

That leaves XRP at a critical point. The token is holding near $1.50 after touching $1.70, but the rally alone doesn’t confirm that the long-awaited bottom is in. A sustained move above $2.00 would strengthen the case for a structural recovery, while failure to hold recent gains could expose XRP to another correction.

"XRP's near-term path is likely to keep tracking the broader altcoin complex rather than break out on a story of its own. This week's rally has a macro root – the Treasury's move to expand long-end bond buybacks pushed yields down and lifted risk assets broadly, and altcoins simply carry more beta to that kind of liquidity injection than Bitcoin does," Iliya Kalchev, Nexo Dispatch Analyst, highlighted in an exclusive comment to FXStreet.

Ripple ecosystem expansionRipple continues to make headlines with its global regulatory and partnership milestones, backed by the deployment of approximately $4 billion in strategic capital.

The blockchain company has strategically developed a robust ecosystem by acquiring prime brokerage capabilities, modern treasury management systems (TMS), instant stablecoin payments infrastructure, and institutional-grade custody solutions.

In late October 2025, Ripple executed a series of strategic acquisitions: Hidden Road ($1.25 billion, rebranded as Ripple Prime), GTreasury ($1 billion), and Rail ($200 million), further strengthening its institutional offering. Other acquisitions include Metaco, Palisade and Standard Custody & Rail.

Concurrently, Ripple secured more than 60 regulatory licenses and permits worldwide, achieving milestone approvals in the Europe Union’s (EU) Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), Luxembourg’s Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license approved by the country’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) as well as other compliance licenses in the Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa regions, as stated in various press releases and policy briefings.

"However, investors should stop treating every Ripple acquisition, license or partnership as automatically bullish for XRP. The token only captures value when institutions need to hold it, source liquidity through it or use it repeatedly for settlement," Ryan Kirkley, Co-founder & CEO of Global Settlement Network, said in a written comment to FXStreet.

Ripple’s expansion gives XRP more opportunities to prove its utility. It does not guarantee that utility, and it certainly does not guarantee price appreciation.

Ripple Payments and the shift to multi-asset railsRipple Payments has evolved over the years from the former On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) to a product with a worldwide presence. The platform offers institutional-grade custody, fiat and stablecoin rails and other digital assets, including Ripple USD (RLUSD) and XRP.

“Ripple’s compliance build-out is substantial and hard to replicate quickly: more than 60 regulatory licenses globally, full MiCA authorization across the entire EU economic bloc, a new Middle East and Africa hub in Dubai, and a cleared US legal case, on top of capital commitments like the $1.25 billion Hidden Road acquisition. That gives XRP a genuine structural advantage a new entrant can’t shortcut overnight,” Kalchev added.

Despite Ripple’s compliance powerhouse, partnerships and acquisition spree, experts appear to differ on whether ecosystem developments translate to utility for XRP and growth in the token’s value.

Dean Chen, Bitunix analyst, sees long-term value in XRP, suggesting partial allocation in portfolios. Still, Chen cautions investors to temper expectations and assess how much value the token can capture from Ripple’s growing ecosystem, given varying global liquidity conditions.

“Ripple’s ecosystem expansion is clearly positive for XRP, but Ripple’s commercial success and XRP’s investment value are not necessarily equivalent. Growth in cross-border payments and institutional adoption can create more use cases for XRP, but the key question is whether that activity translates into sustained demand and effective value capture for the token,” Chen told FXStreet.

Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, could steal the limelight from XRP, as it appeals to institutional investors looking to avoid crypto-related volatility while offering a regulated platform.

Ripple's ultimate test would be to create a symbiotic relationship between the expanding ecosystem and XRP to ensure long-term growth.

Shawn Young, Chief Analyst at MEXC Research, told FXStreet that “If that growth leads banks and liquidity providers to hold and use more XRP, the token has a much stronger case. If most of it runs through RLUSD, other stablecoins, or infrastructure that barely touches XRP, investors should not expect Ripple’s success to automatically show up in the token price.”

XRP outlook improves on renewed on-chain activityA closer examination of activity on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) shows renewed user participation. Addresses that transact on the protocol, either by receiving or sending value, have recently surged, peaking at roughly 305,000 on Sunday, up from around 25,000 on August 1, according to Santiment.

The surge in on-chain activity reinforces an improving fundamental outlook and raises the probability of an extended recovery as demand for XRP gains momentum.

XRP Active Addresses | Source: SantimentStill, the number of addresses joining the network has remained subdued this year. Newly created addresses on the XRPL averaged 475 on Sunday, down from roughly 4,100 on Saturday and 6,600 in late June. This suggests fewer new users are joining the protocol, which could translate to lower demand for XRP and, in turn, limit potential recovery.

XRP Network Growth | Source: SantimentThe amount of XRP balances on known exchanges has declined, averaging 2.61 billion XRP as of Sunday, from 2.63 billion XRP on Saturday. This figure falls significantly below the annual peak of 2.81 billion XRP, recorded in early March.

The correction shows XRP is gradually moving off Binance, as investors choose self-custody platforms for long-term holding. Notably, declining exchange reserves suggest reduced immediate available sell-side supply.

XRP Binance Exchange Reserve | Source: CryptoQuantUS-listed XRP spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have also supported the bullish case, recording six consecutive weeks of inflows and lifting cumulative net inflows to $1.55 billion.

XRP derivatives market coolsThe XRP derivatives market remains significantly elevated compared to levels seen at the beginning of the year. According to CoinGlass, perpetual futures Open Interest (OI) stands at 2.5 billion XRP on Monday, up only marginally from 2.42 billion XRP the previous day. Looking back, OI averaged 1.84 billion on January 1, underscoring growing risk-on sentiment.

XRP Futures OI | Source: CoinGlassStill, investors should temper expectations, as OI has narrowed over the past few days to 2.78 billion as of August 15. A steady increase in futures OI is required to support XRP’s short to medium-term recovery.

After trading volume surged and peaked at $18.53 billion on Saturday, it has moderated to $9.32 billion at the time of writing. This could suggest that investors are gauging prevailing market conditions and whether they can sustain last week’s 72% rally from $1.00 to $1.70. 

Technical outlook: Is XRP’s bullish comeback sustainable?The remittance token's current position around $1.51 holds above notable levels including $1.50 and $1.25, underscoring renewed risk appetite. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether that rally is sustainable or temporarily driven by liquidity and last week's US Treasury’s open-market buybacks.

The pair holds above the 200-week Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1.37, supporting a medium-term constructive tone, but it remains capped by the 50-week EMA at $1.55 and the 100-week EMA at $1.60, keeping the near-term bias neutral as those barriers hold overhead.

At the same time, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator sits above zero with a positive reading, and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) near 57 suggests moderately bullish momentum, yet these signals only hint at upside potential that would need a weekly close above the clustered EMAs to gain traction.

XRP/USDT weekly chartImmediate resistance lies at the 50-week EMA at $1.55, followed by the 100-week EMA at $1.60, where a break higher would open the way for a more decisive bullish extension. The current price area around $1.50 acts as a pivot, with stronger structural support emerging at the 200-week EMA at $1.37 and then the SuperTrend baseline at $0.96, levels that would be expected to attract buyers on deeper pullbacks while the broader uptrend attempt remains in place.

Still, momentum is stretched, with the RSI hovering in overbought territory near 86 on the daily chart and the MACD above zero, suggesting strong but potentially overextended upside pressure.

XRP/USDT daily chartOn the downside, initial support lies at the 200-day EMA around $1.35, ahead of the SuperTrend zone near $1.25, which marks the next technical floor if a deeper correction unfolds. Below that, the 50-day and 100-day EMAs clustered between $1.14 and $1.18 hint at additional underlying demand, where buyers could look to re-enter if the pair unwinds part of its recent gains.

Ultimately, it is impossible to time a bottom; investors should closely monitor the token and watch for new trends forming from extended sideways action to steady price increases, which could help identify strong support levels. Last week's surge marked XRP's strongest week since July 2025. However, profit-taking remains an overhang risk that could trigger a short-term correction as XRP seeks liquidity before the next breakout. Looking down, the region between $1.00 and $1.25 is a critical support area that will likely continue to absorb selling pressure.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Ripple FAQs Ripple is a payments company that specializes in cross-border remittance. The company does this by leveraging blockchain technology. RippleNet is a network used for payments transfer created by Ripple Labs Inc. and is open to financial institutions worldwide. The company also leverages the XRP token.

XRP is the native token of the decentralized blockchain XRPLedger. The token is used by Ripple Labs to facilitate transactions on the XRPLedger, helping financial institutions transfer value in a borderless manner. XRP therefore facilitates trustless and instant payments on the XRPLedger chain, helping financial firms save on the cost of transacting worldwide.

XRPLedger is based on a distributed ledger technology and the blockchain using XRP to power transactions. The ledger is different from other blockchains as it has a built-in inflammatory protocol that helps fight spam and distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The XRPL is maintained by a peer-to-peer network known as the global XRP Ledger community.

XRP uses the interledger standard. This is a blockchain protocol that aids payments across different networks. For instance, XRP’s blockchain can connect the ledgers of two or more banks. This effectively removes intermediaries and the need for centralization in the system. XRP acts as the native token of the XRPLedger blockchain engineered by Jed McCaleb, Arthur Britto and David Schwartz.

CleanCore Solutions has sold substantially all of its 463 million Dogecoin holdings for about $33.4 million as it redirects capital toward AI infrastructure while a $100 million stock offering has more than doubled its outstanding share count.

Summary

CleanCore sold substantially all of its 463 million DOGE holdings for about $33.4 million on July 20. The proceeds were redirected toward the company’s AI infrastructure business, ending its Dogecoin treasury strategy. A $100 million stock offering increased CleanCore’s outstanding shares by about 121.9% to 502.1 million. Warrants covering another 524.2 million shares could result in additional dilution if exercised. CryptoSlate, citing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, reported that CleanCore disposed of substantially all of its remaining Dogecoin (DOGE) on July 20 and allocated the proceeds to its AI infrastructure segment, ending a treasury strategy that less than a year ago was built around accumulating a major share of DOGE supply.

The sale follows several earlier disposals. An SEC prospectus showed that by June 2, CleanCore had already sold about 200 million DOGE for $18.4 million and transferred another 70 million tokens in exchange for roughly $6.8 million of professional services. At that point, it still held 463.06 million DOGE valued at approximately $44.3 million.

CleanCore’s retreat has reversed a strategy that began in September 2025, when the company raised $175 million through a private investment in public equity to make Dogecoin its primary treasury reserve asset. As crypto.news previously reported, the financing attracted more than 80 investors, including Pantera, GSR and FalconX, while House of Doge and 21Shares advised the treasury program.

CleanCore Dogecoin treasury has moved from accumulation to liquidation Only days after launching the strategy, CleanCore bought 285.42 million DOGE for about $68 million and initially planned to accumulate 1 billion tokens within 30 days. Its longer-term plan called for holding as much as 5% of Dogecoin’s circulating supply, according to coverage of the purchase in September 2025.

The holdings continued rising after the initial acquisition. By October 2025, CleanCore said its treasury contained 710 million DOGE and carried more than $20 million in unrealized gains, while management said the company had sufficient cash to continue buying tokens toward the 1 billion DOGE target, according to an October report.

By 2026, however, the company had begun unwinding the program. A June 8 SEC filing said CleanCore had terminated its asset management agreement with Dogecoin Ventures and 21Shares on March 6 and was managing the remaining assets internally while assessing their disposal. The company disclosed the earlier 200 million DOGE sale and 70 million DOGE transfer in the same filing.

At the same time, CleanCore appointed Tyler Hassen as chief executive and said its business would focus on building AI infrastructure in the United States. The filing described plans to move away from both its cleaning products operations and its previously announced Dogecoin treasury strategy, while the company was exploring a sale of the cleaning business.

$100 million offering has lifted CleanCore’s share count 121.9% Funding the new business has also substantially changed CleanCore’s capital structure.

CleanCore priced a best-efforts public offering on Aug. 11 involving 275,829,576 common shares, 124,170,424 pre-funded warrants and investor warrants covering up to another 400 million shares. The common shares and accompanying warrants were offered at a combined price of $0.25, while the pre-funded warrant packages were priced at $0.2499.

According to CleanCore’s Aug. 20 SEC filing, issuance of the 275.83 million common shares increased shares outstanding to 502,090,260. The final prospectus placed the pre-offering total at 226,260,684 shares, meaning the shares already issued through the transaction increased the outstanding count by about 121.9%.

Potential dilution extends beyond the shares already issued. The offering included pre-funded warrants for 124.17 million shares, which carry a $0.0001 exercise price and have no expiry, alongside warrants covering as many as 400 million shares at an exercise price of $0.25 over five years.

If all offering-related warrants were eventually exercised after the Aug. 20 share count, the number associated with the offering could reach 1.026 billion shares. That remains a conditional scenario because warrant exercises are subject to ownership limits and other terms, while CleanCore’s prospectus separately lists stock options, restricted stock units, existing warrants, settlement shares and other potential equity issuances.

The company said the offering generated approximately $100 million in gross proceeds. Its prospectus estimated net proceeds of about $92 million after an $8 million placement and advisory fee, although the closing disclosure did not specify the final amount of cash received.

AI infrastructure commitments exceed the latest equity raise CleanCore’s new capital is being directed toward an AI infrastructure business that already carries large funding requirements.

A July 23 agreement established a joint venture for an approximately 55-megawatt data center in Minnesota, including a baseline 40-megawatt compute deployment connected to a colocation agreement with Cerebras Systems. CleanCore later said the 10-year Cerebras agreement carried an initial contract value of about $800 million, with two additional 10-year renewal options that could take potential contract value above $3 billion. Initial revenue is expected in the first quarter of 2027, according to the company.

The Minnesota venture carries an initial project budget of approximately $479 million, while CleanCore’s commitments can reach as much as $500 million under the transaction structure, according to the filings cited by CryptoSlate. An initial contribution schedule called for $25 million at the venture’s closing and as much as another $15 million within four business days depending on project needs.

CleanCore subsequently said approximately $140 million of project equity had been “funded or committed,” including proceeds from the stock offering and completed Dogecoin sales. The disclosures cited by CryptoSlate did not separate capital already funded from outstanding commitments or reconcile the $140 million figure against the venture’s contribution schedule.

The financing model resembles a pattern already visible among other listed crypto companies. A July 2026 report found that more than a dozen digital asset treasury companies had moved toward AI and data center businesses as falling crypto prices and lower treasury premiums reduced investor demand for the digital asset treasury model.

CleanCore had reported $4.1 million in cash and cash equivalents and another $13 million in restricted cash on its March 31 balance sheet. The disclosures cited by CryptoSlate have not provided an updated cash balance incorporating the subsequent $33.4 million DOGE disposal and proceeds from the August equity offering.

Key Takeaways ADA surged 29% over the past week following T.Rowe Price’s decision to include Cardano in its Active Crypto ETF with a 0.43% position The token is currently hovering between $0.220 and $0.223, with key resistance positioned at the 200-day EMA of $0.249 Large holders have distributed approximately 100 million tokens since the weekend, indicating potential profit realization Decentralized exchange activity on Cardano surged from $4.15 million to $16.1 million within a 48-hour window Derivatives market data shows a long-to-short ratio of 0.72, suggesting traders are leaning bearish in the near term Cardano (ADA) is currently changing hands around $0.220 this Monday following an impressive 29% climb during the previous week. The upward movement received significant support from improved market conditions and the announcement that T.Rowe Price has incorporated ADA into its Active Crypto ETF.

Cardano (ADA) Price T.Rowe Price manages approximately $1.87 trillion in total assets. The investment giant introduced its Active Crypto ETF (TKNZ) back in July 2026, originally featuring Bitcoin alongside select altcoins, but Cardano wasn’t part of the initial lineup. The fund’s portfolio has now been adjusted to incorporate ADA with a 0.43% allocation. At present, the ETF maintains a position of 416,620 ADA tokens, representing approximately $81,000 in value.

NEWS: T. Rowe Price has added Cardano $ADA to its Active Crypto ETF $TKNZ.

ADA wasn't part of the fund's initial holdings when it launched in July. Now it is, with a 0.44% allocation alongside $BTC, $ETH, $BNB, $SOL, $XRP and others.

It was already listed as an eligible asset… pic.twitter.com/E8sBHfekUD

— Cardanians (CRDN) (@Cardanians_io) August 20, 2026

This portfolio update occurred merely two weeks following Grayscale’s decision to pull its Cardano ETF application on August 10. That withdrawal had sent ADA tumbling to approximately $0.196. The T.Rowe Price move played a crucial role in reversing that downward trend.

Broader cryptocurrency market dynamics also played a supporting role in ADA’s weekly advance. The US Treasury’s announcement to expand its debt buyback program by 100% generated positive sentiment throughout the digital asset space.

Profit Realization Dampens Recent Gains Following three consecutive sessions of upward price action, certain market participants have begun liquidating positions. According to Santiment analytics, addresses containing between 1 million and 100 million ADA have reduced their holdings by roughly 100 million tokens since the weekend. Such distribution patterns from major holders typically indicate potential short-term consolidation or pullback.

Source: Santiment Futures market indicators support this cautious outlook. CoinGlass data reveals ADA’s long-to-short ratio sitting at 0.72 on Monday, approaching its lowest reading in more than 30 days. When this metric falls below 1.0, it indicates that more market participants are positioned for downside movement.

Trading analyst Sssebi highlighted on X that following ADA’s breakout from an ascending channel pattern, the token has returned to retest the broken resistance level — a technical development he characterized as “usually a very bullish signal.”

Network Metrics Show Strengthening Fundamentals While short-term trader sentiment appears mixed, Cardano’s underlying network metrics are demonstrating growth. Decentralized exchange trading volume exploded from $4.15 million on August 20 to reach $16.1 million by August 22, per DeFiLlama data. During this identical timeframe, the total value locked in DeFi protocols on Cardano expanded from $54 million to $60 million.

Stablecoin circulation on the Cardano blockchain increased from $65 million on August 8 to $67 million, reflecting expanding on-chain usage and activity.

From a technical perspective, ADA maintains positioning above both its 50-day and 100-day exponential moving averages at $0.187 and $0.196 respectively. The next significant resistance barrier sits at the 200-day EMA around $0.249. Successfully clearing that threshold could pave the way toward $0.29, based on the 161.8% Fibonacci extension target.

The Relative Strength Index currently registers 72, confirming strong bullish momentum while simultaneously suggesting the asset may be approaching overbought territory where buying pressure could diminish.

At the time of writing, ADA is valued at $0.223, representing a 5.6% increase for the trading session.

Two home invasions in France. Victims hospitalized. Roughly $667K in crypto stolen at knifepoint. And the suspect allegedly celebrated it all on a Telegram channel called “EMPIRE.”

On-chain investigator ZachXBT published a detailed thread tracing the laundering trail of a suspect operating under the aliases M1llionz and RichMilly666, ultimately prompting Tether to freeze $93K in USDT tied to a specific Ethereum address. It’s a case study in how blockchain’s permanent ledger can turn a criminal’s digital paper trail into a liability.

Two robberies, one brutal week The first robbery took place on April 17, 2026. Approximately 7.2 BTC, worth around $557K at the time, was stolen during a violent home invasion that left multiple people hospitalized.

Three days later, on April 20, a second robbery yielded another $110K in crypto. Victims were reportedly restrained and threatened into handing over access to their wallets.

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Following the money through the blockchain ZachXBT’s investigation mapped out a laundering path that moved stolen Bitcoin through Chainflip, a cross-chain bridging protocol, before routing funds into KuCoin. From there, portions were swapped into USDT on the Ethereum network.

Exodus wallets linked to the suspect showed around $84K received directly from the thefts, suggesting the individual was consolidating stolen assets across multiple addresses. The on-chain breadcrumbs connected back to specific email addresses and the Telegram channel “EMPIRE,” where M1llionz allegedly promoted fraudulent services while showing off a lavish lifestyle.

ZachXBT’s findings led directly to Tether freezing $93K in USDT at the Ethereum address 0x47967fe27f07fb54e9f4daa2541c0f75e27ddde7. That freeze effectively renders those tokens unmovable and unusable, locking the funds in place until legal proceedings or further investigation can proceed.

Tether’s role as crypto’s freeze button Tether’s ability to freeze USDT tokens has become one of the more consequential features of the stablecoin ecosystem. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, which operate without a central authority capable of reversing or blocking transactions, USDT has a built-in administrative function that allows Tether to blacklist specific addresses.

Tether has frozen billions of USDT across various criminal investigations over the years. In this case, the freeze captured only a fraction of the total stolen amount. $93K out of $667K means roughly 14% of the haul was locked.

The growing threat of physical crypto crime ZachXBT has become one of the most prolific independent investigators in the space, with a track record of uncovering scams, tracing laundered funds, and contributing to asset freezes and recoveries.

No arrest has been reported in connection with the M1llionz case as of now. The suspect’s real identity, while potentially known to investigators through the email addresses and aliases ZachXBT uncovered, has not been publicly confirmed by any law enforcement agency.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

How the Chainlink Reserve WorksChainlink launched the Chainlink Reserve on August 7, 2025.

The mechanism works in three stages. First, Chainlink generates revenue from two streams: fees from large institutions accessing its infrastructure offchain, and usage fees from decentralized applications consuming its onchain services.

Second, those payments are routed through Payment Abstraction.

Third, the converted LINK is sent to a smart contract deployed on Ethereum. The contract includes a multi-day timelock for withdrawals, and no withdrawals are expected for multiple years, which reduces the circulating supply by locking accumulated LINK.

Growth Since Launch and What It Means for $LINK By August 15, the Reserve had grown to around 5.48 million LINK, worth approximately $63.6 million, a substantial increase from its initial position.

The broader implication is straightforward: as Chainlink's network sees more usage, more revenue is generated, more of that revenue is converted into LINK, and more LINK accumulates inside the Reserve. Network growth and token accumulation become linked rather than separate processes.

Sources:
Chainlink Reserve Official Press Release (PR Newswire, August 7, 2025)
Introducing the Chainlink Reserve: A Strategic LINK Token Reserve (Chainlink Blog)
Chainlink Launches LINK Reserve to Fuel Network Growth (CoinDesk, August 7, 2025)

https://www.disruptionbanking.com/2025/03/28/how-strong-will-chainlink-link-be-in-2025/

Coinbase has selected Chainlink to support its tokenized U.S. stocks on the Base platform, according to a recent announcement on social media. This collaboration leverages Chainlink’s existing infrastructure for tokenized equity feeds, which are already in use on Base. The partnership is part of a broader trend of integration between Coinbase and Chainlink, as seen with previous initiatives like Project Diamond and DataLink. These efforts underscore Coinbase’s commitment to developing its tokenized asset ecosystem with robust oracle and interoperability infrastructure.

The market appears to interpret this development as a positive indicator for the potential of a Base token launch by the end of 2026. Recent price movements suggest increased confidence, as evidenced by a 4-point increase in market pricing for a December 2026 token launch. Currently, the probability of a token launch by this date is priced at 12%, up from 9% a day ago and 7% a week prior.

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This announcement comes amidst a series of strategic moves by Coinbase aimed at bolstering its Base platform’s capabilities, highlighting the company’s ongoing expansion into tokenized assets.

Key Takeaways Recent collaboration between Coinbase and Chainlink suggests increased confidence in Base’s ecosystem, which may indicate potential for a token launch. Market activity reflects increased probability of a Base token launch by the end of 2026, with current pricing at 12% YES. The integration of Chainlink’s infrastructure with Base is part of a broader pattern of Coinbase enhancing its tokenized asset offerings. What to Watch Watch for further announcements from Coinbase regarding its Base platform and potential token launch plans. Any news related to regulatory approvals or strategic partnerships could further influence market pricing. Additionally, updates from key figures at Coinbase, such as CEO Brian Armstrong, might provide further insights into the company’s roadmap for Base. Observing the market response to developments in the tokenized asset space will be crucial in assessing future probabilities for a Base token launch.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31, 2026 12% — — View market → October 1 2026 1.7% — — View market → January 1 2028 56.5% — — View market → July 1 2027 41% — — View market →

Bernstein has maintained an Outperform rating and $140 price target on Circle Internet Group, implying about 59% upside after CRCL closed Friday at $87.98, as the brokerage expects USDC adoption to support the company even without passage of the CLARITY Act.

Summary

Bernstein maintained its Outperform rating and $140 Circle price target, implying about 59% upside from Friday’s close. USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion over the past week after nearly six months of largely flat growth. Adjusted stablecoin transaction volume is tracking at a $17 trillion annualized rate through July, according to Bernstein. Bernstein said Circle’s growth cycle can continue even if the CLARITY Act does not pass in September. Circle said more than 900 paid services use Agent Stack, with 99.3% of x402 agent payment volume settling in USDC. Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani said in an Aug. 24 note that Circle’s next growth cycle does not depend on Congress passing the U.S. crypto market structure bill during the September session.

Circle shares gained more than 5% on Aug. 21 before closing at $87.98, according to Yahoo Finance data. The $140 target would put the stock about 59% above Friday’s closing price, although it remains below Bernstein’s previous $190 target from earlier this year.

Chhugani’s team tied its outlook to several sources of demand, including stablecoin payments, blockchain-based capital markets, tokenized assets and payments made by autonomous software agents.

The analysts also pointed to changes in global liquidity conditions. Bernstein said Bitcoin has benefited from demand for scarce assets while stablecoins have become another destination for dollars as the U.S. Treasury issues more short-term government debt.

USDC supply has started expanding again After spending almost six months largely flat, USDC supply increased by about $1.7 billion during the past week, according to Bernstein.

The brokerage said USDC has become an important collateral asset across decentralized finance, tokenized equities, prediction markets and perpetual futures tied to real-world assets. Bernstein estimated that Circle’s stablecoin accounts for about 80% of decentralized exchange trading and finance volumes.

Stablecoin activity outside speculative trading is also expanding, according to the firm. Adjusted transaction volume, which Bernstein said excludes bots and high-frequency activity, reached about $11 trillion during 2025 and was running at an annualized pace of roughly $17 trillion through July 2026.

That pace represented an increase of about 60% from a year earlier, according to the brokerage.

Circle has also been expanding the institutional infrastructure through which businesses can use USDC. In July, crypto.news reported Circle received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Circle National Trust, a federally supervised national trust bank.

The approval allows the institution to provide digital asset custody services and could eventually place management of reserves backing USDC within the federally regulated entity, according to Circle.

Institutional access has expanded through banks and digital asset infrastructure providers as well. Circle said during its second-quarter results that Standard Chartered had introduced direct USDC minting and redemption access for institutional customers.

A separate July integration also brought USDC settlement through Fireblocks, allowing institutions to manage USDC balances across supported blockchains and route payments into local fiat currencies through Circle Payments Network.

Fireblocks said stablecoins accounted for 69% of transaction volume across its platform during the second quarter, while Circle said its Payments Network reached $14.7 billion in annualized transaction volume at the end of the quarter.

Circle sees agent payments as another USDC market Machine-to-machine payments form another part of Bernstein’s Circle thesis, with the analysts pointing to USDC’s early lead in payments made through the x402 protocol.

Circle launched Agent Stack in May as infrastructure that allows software agents to hold assets, discover services and make programmable payments.

By the second quarter, Circle said the platform had more than 900 paid services, while 99.3% of x402 agent-payment volume was settling in USDC.

Independent data has also shown heavy USDC use in the category. A Keyrock report covered in May found that AI agents had settled $73 million across 176 million transactions over 12 months, with USDC handling 98.6% of those payments.

Circle has built Agent Wallets, an agent marketplace and nanopayment tools around the same use case. The company said Agent Stack lets developers set spending limits, allowlists and other controls while permitting agents to make USDC transactions without requiring a human to approve each payment.

For Bernstein, adoption of such services could create another source of stablecoin transaction demand outside cryptocurrency trading.

CLARITY Act outcome does not change Bernstein’s Circle thesis Regulation remains one of the largest variables for Circle because U.S. lawmakers are still negotiating how stablecoin rewards and digital asset market structure should work.

Bernstein said the outcome of the CLARITY Act would not materially change its investment case.

“We believe, this growth cycle is independent of the Clarity Act passing in the September session,” the analysts wrote.

The brokerage said failure to secure Senate support during the expected Sept. 15 vote could prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission to take a larger role in providing regulatory guidance.

“We believe, the SEC/CFTC intervention would accelerate if the Senate does not support Clarity in the Sept. 15 vote,” Bernstein said.

Stablecoin rewards remain one of the contested parts of the legislation. Under the scenario outlined by Bernstein, failure of the bill would leave third-party reward programs operating under the existing model.

If the legislation passes, the analysts expect rewards to become more closely tied to customer activity instead of payments simply for holding an idle stablecoin balance.

Bernstein views either structure as workable for USDC.

Its view has remained consistent even as the language around stablecoin incentives has changed. In May, Bernstein backed Circle’s regulatory position after lawmakers advanced language that restricted deposit-like yield on passive stablecoin balances.

At the time, the brokerage said such restrictions could prevent stablecoin issuers from competing mainly by paying higher returns to token holders, reducing pressure on Circle to enter what the analysts described as an interest-rate competition.

Banking groups have since pushed lawmakers to tighten the rules further. Several U.S. banking organizations urged Senate leaders in July to revise provisions dealing with stablecoin rewards, arguing that some structures could still function like interest-bearing accounts.

Circle faces competition as payment infrastructure expands Bernstein’s bullish call comes as Circle faces increased competition from other regulated stablecoin models.

Open USD has emerged as one challenge because its consortium structure distributes part of the reserve economics to participating companies, creating a different model from Circle’s approach of earning income from the assets backing USDC.

Mizuho downgraded Circle to Underperform in July and cut its target to $50, citing pressure that Open USD could place on Circle’s margins.

Circle President Heath Tarbert later defended the company’s position, arguing that USDC’s liquidity, existing integrations and regulatory infrastructure would be difficult for new competitors to reproduce quickly.

Circle has continued adding payment partners while competition develops. Its agreement with Japan’s JCB, announced in July, includes tests of USDC for corporate treasury transfers before possible use in merchant payments, while separate partnerships with Kakao and Toss are examining stablecoin settlement and programmable payments in South Korea.

USDC also entered BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform in June, allowing institutional customers to mint, redeem, hold, and transfer the stablecoin through the bank.

Bernstein disclosed that Chhugani holds long positions in several cryptocurrencies and that the brokerage or its affiliates have maintained investment banking or other business relationships with Circle during the past 12 months.

NANO Nuclear Energy and Tillman Global Holdings have entered a strategic commercial framework that positions NANO’s microreactor technology as the preferred nuclear energy source for Tillman’s future AI data center campuses across the United States. The non-binding agreement, announced on August 24, lays out a roadmap to deploy over 2 GW of advanced nuclear capacity by the mid-2030s, scaling to 6 GW by 2040.

What the deal actually includes The framework designates NANO Nuclear’s KRONOS MMR microreactor, rated at 15 megawatts electric, as Tillman Global’s go-to nuclear energy solution. The collaboration spans multiple phases: site evaluation, licensing support, and project development.

On the financial side, the structure is built around milestone-based equity incentives. NANO Nuclear could receive warrants worth up to $100 million in NNE stock, contingent primarily on binding reactor purchase commitments. There’s also an initial restricted stock grant of $5 million baked into the arrangement.

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The word “non-binding” deserves emphasis here. Nothing in this framework obligates either party to purchase, build, or deploy anything. The aggressive capacity targets are contingent on definitive agreements and regulatory approval. NANO’s KRONOS MMR is currently at the NRC construction permit pre-application stage, meaning the reactor design hasn’t yet received a construction permit, let alone an operating license.

Why Tillman matters Tillman Global Holdings has amassed approximately $16 billion in capital since its founding in 2013, built on a track record of financing digital infrastructure projects. For NANO Nuclear, a company still in the pre-revenue, pre-construction-permit phase of its reactor development, having a partner with that kind of capital base is significant.

This deal also follows NANO Nuclear’s recent memorandum of understanding with Supermicro for on-site microreactor installations. The pattern is clear: NANO is systematically lining up commercial relationships across the data center ecosystem, building a pipeline of potential customers before the reactor itself is ready for deployment.

The bigger picture: nuclear and the AI power crunch Microreactors represent a particular bet within the nuclear space. Unlike traditional gigawatt-scale nuclear plants, microreactors are designed to be factory-fabricated and deployed at or near the point of consumption. A 15 MWe unit like the KRONOS MMR could theoretically sit adjacent to a data center campus and provide dedicated, carbon-free baseload power without relying on grid transmission infrastructure.

For investors watching NANO Nuclear’s stock, the equity incentive structure in this deal is worth parsing carefully. The $100 million in potential warrants is tied to binding reactor purchases, not to the framework itself. The $5 million restricted stock grant provides more immediate value, but it’s modest relative to the scale of the capacity targets being discussed.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.