Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

PANews reported on April 5th that Drift released an updated investigation into the attack, indicating that the operation was carried out by the same threat actors as the Radiant Capital hack in October 2024, with highly similar on-chain fund flows and operational methods. Mandiant attributed the Radiant Capital hack to UNC4736, an organization linked to the North Korean government.

Furthermore, this attack was meticulously planned over six months. Starting in the fall of 2025, a group posing as a "quantitative trading company" proactively contacted Drift contributors at multiple international crypto conferences. They established a Telegram group and engaged in in-depth business discussions and strategy exchanges for six months, even launching an Ecosystem Vault on Drift with $1 million in real funds. After multiple face-to-face meetings to build trust, they shared links and tools, ultimately seemingly completing the intrusion through a malicious code repository and a beta wallet app (TestFlight). Following the attack, all related chat logs and malware were thoroughly removed.

The investigation is ongoing, and these findings are preliminary. All remaining protocol functionality has been frozen, and the compromised wallet has been removed from multi-signature authentication. The attacker's wallet has been flagged by exchanges and cross-chain bridge operators.

Previous reports indicated that Drift suffered losses exceeding $285 million in the attack.

Umami DAO has rebranded as Bonsai DAO.The rebrand is part of a larger transformation that includes the eventual launch of "subDAOs."Bonsai is trying to repair its reputation, which took a hit in February 2023.An Arbitrum-based protocol is embarking on a MakerDAO-style transformation more than a year after it weathered a crisis from which it never fully recovered.

The digital cooperative formerly known as Umami DAO has rebranded as Bonsai, a “meta DAO” that will house several, smaller cooperatives, or “subDAOs,” each of which will manage a separate blockchain-based financial product.

The move echoes a recent push from MakerDAO, whose own yearlong transformation, known as “Endgame”, includes the creation of subDAOs.

Each subDAO will eventually launch its own token, according to Bonsai.

Among other things, the strategy will test whether the promise of successive airdrops can boost a long-running protocol long after a flurry of negative headlines.

Umami’s governance token has jumped 11% since the April 24 rebrand.

“It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Umami,” developers behind the project said in an April 2 blog post announcing the changes.

“It is our firm belief that Umami’s token is severely undervalued, and that significant change is required to shift the narrative and regrow the passion and excitement around our amazing community.”

Near collapseIn February 2023, Umami, a protocol-and-LLC combo attempting to link institutional investors and the world of decentralised finance, almost came apart.

The company, Umami Labs, paused the protocol’s staking rewards, angering users. Employees resigned en masse, pledging to continue contributing to the project as Umami DAO contractors.

The UMAMI token crashed: At the end of January 2023, it was trading above $35, but by mid-February, it was worth less than $10.

The DAO, run by people who held the UMAMI token, voted to hire Umami Labs’ former employees as contractors who answer to the DAO. They included all former employees except for the Umami Labs CEO, former Reuters journalist Alex O’Donnell.

In a statement after the vote, Umami Labs’ former employees said O’Donnell “was moving the company in a direction that the entire team unanimously agreed was not in keeping with the expectations or best interests of the UMAMI token holder community.”

Umami Labs took “legal action” against “several of these individuals” for defamation and civil conspiracy, O’Donnell told DL News, adding that he was not speaking on behalf of Umami Labs, but in his personal capacity.

“These claims and other similar ones from this group of individuals are dishonest and directly contrary to the facts,” O’Donnell said.

Pausing staking rewards last year was a “compliance-minded” decision that would “serve the long term interests of the protocol,” according to O’Donnell. Additionally, the former Umami Labs employees were among those who held UMAMI tokens, and they “essentially voted to hire themselves,” he said.

Separately, the former CEO said personally sued two of his former colleagues and “prevailed on a primary matter in a November court ruling.” He expects a final ruling next week.

“With respect to ‘Bonsai DAO’, I find it curious and concerning that this group of individuals is evidently seeking to further obfuscate Umami’s legal-entity structure with a highly-relevant court ruling only a week away,” he said.

Bonsai DAO contributors did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment.

The Umami DAO has soldered along since, restarting staking rewards and releasing new “set-and-forget” vaults that have generated some of the best returns on Ether this calendar year.

But the UMAMI token has steadily fallen since July, and was trading at $3.70 before the announcement of the rebrand. While growing in dollar terms because of the appreciation of Ether, deposits in the protocol have been flat since March 2023, according to data from DefiLlama.

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Since March 2023, deposits in Umami have grown due to Ether appreciation, frustrating its developers. Trying to boost adoptionOn Discord, Umami developers say they have taken some cues from other protocols that feature subDAOs, including Maker, Aladdin, and Magpie.

The rebrand was prompted by frustration that a product generating a relatively high yield for users hadn’t attracted more deposits.

“We launched a great vault product, it has hit $10m TVL and still the token hasn’t moved from $4,” the project’s pseudonymous head of community management said on Discord, using the acronym for total value locked.

“So we might as well try something new, the 10% APR a year at this price should be nothing in comparison to like 3-4 or more airdrops of new products on new chains.”

In a bid to boost adoption of its new governance token, BONSAI, the DAO is letting users convert their UMAMI tokens to BONSAI at a 1:10 ratio.

Under its new structure, so-called “leaves” are DeFi applications that will eventually be run by their own subDAOs.

“Once independent, they have a [token generation event] and reward $Bonsai holders and initial users by airdropping a significant portion of their tokens,” Bonsai said on X.

Umami will be an exception, and is not expected to evolve into a subDAO, developers said.

Update, May 1: This story was updated to include comments from Alex O’Donnell and DL News’ attempt to contact Bonsai DAO contributors.

Aleks Gilbert is a DeFi correspondent based in New York. Have a tip? You can reach him at [email protected].

Aleph.im, a leader in decentralized infrastructure, has rebranded as Aleph Cloud and is launching a new startup accelerator program.

Aleph.im’s rebrand as Aleph Cloud signifies its transformation into a full-stack decentralized cloud provider, as confirmed in an exclusive interview with crypto.news. Announced on April 23, the rebrand reflects the company’s expanded product suite, including decentralized compute, storage, virtual machines, and GPU resources, all designed to power next-generation Web3 and AI applications.

Alongside the rebrand, Aleph Cloud is introducing a $1 million startup accelerator program to help Web3 builders and startups transition away from centralized cloud providers like AWS and Google Cloud, which dominate much of today’s blockchain infrastructure.

The program offers compute credits, storage, and technical support across ecosystems such as Ethereum, Base, Solana, BSC, and Avalanche.

“Most blockchain apps still rely on centralized cloud services, which puts decentralization at risk,” Jonathan Schemoul, CEO of Aleph Cloud, said in a press release. “Our rebrand and accelerator program are designed to help teams move off AWS and toward infrastructure that’s censorship-resistant, performant, and easy to use.”

A shift from tools to full cloud platform Originally known for providing Solana indexers, Aleph.im has evolved into a full cloud platform, prompting the rebrand to Aleph Cloud. According to Schemoul, the new name clarifies the project’s mission: delivering a comprehensive, developer-friendly decentralized cloud experience.

“It felt clearer for us but most importantly to our customers and users to adopt a universal name as Aleph Cloud,” Schemoul said in a Q&A with crypto.news.

Aleph Cloud now runs on over 700 globally distributed nodes across 12 countries and offers an intuitive SaaS interface, allowing developers to deploy decentralized apps without needing DevOps expertise.

Backing builders with a decentralized safety net Aleph Cloud’s newly launched Accelerator Program is intended to give early-stage Web3 and AI developers access to infrastructure credits, confidential virtual machines, web hosting, and more, without upfront cost.

Schemoul told crypto.news that small startups and independent developers “need strong resources in order to develop their projects.” To support a thriving ecosystem, Aleph Cloud will consider companies with a real product or even a proof of concept to gain access to its cloud services for free up to a certain threshold.

Instead of using treasury funds directly, the program distributes access via non-transferable Soulbound tokens, which unlock free use of Aleph Cloud’s infrastructure for selected participants.

Proving its edge over centralized and decentralized rivals The move comes amid increasing concerns about centralization risks in blockchain. Over 50% of Ethereum nodes, for example, are hosted on centralized services like AWS, making entire networks vulnerable to outages. Aleph Cloud offers an alternative by enabling decentralized node hosting for Ethereum, Bitcoin, and more.

In the first four months of 2025 alone, Aleph Cloud has issued over 200,000 Soulbound tokens and supported 26 blockchain networks. Projects like Ubisoft’s Web3 games, HyperSwap, and Anima’s Sybil-resistance tooling already use the platform to maintain censorship-resistance and ensure uptime during centralized cloud outages.

“Whether it’s DeFi applications like HyperSwap, Sybil-resistance tools like Anima, or use cases in the gaming industry with partners such as Ubisoft, we are ready to support them,” Schemoul also said in the interview.

Competing on flexibility and scale Aleph Cloud’s strategy is consistent with a broader trend toward decentralized physical infrastructure. It competes against industry titans like Filecoin and Akash and needs to differentiate itself in a fast growing market.

According to Schemoul, Aleph’s edge lies in its all-in-one design, offering compute, storage, hosting, and confidential virtual machines through a unified interface. The CEO stated:

“Whether you need to store data, host a website or portfolio, display a Frame, or run AI agents, Aleph Cloud is designed to support it all. You can even do everything simultaneously, something that many larger competitors do not offer.”

Developer interest is notably strong on Solana, with nearly 90% of recent accelerator applications focused on that ecosystem. The platform has also expanded support to emerging chains like Sonic and Eclipse.

Designed for compliance Aleph Cloud emphasizes that it is GDPR compliant and operates a chain-agnostic deployment. Neither Aleph nor its node operators can view stored data, reducing the likelihood of ad targeting, resale, or any other activity that goes against the end user’s interest.

Schemoul explained that it had to recently remove a streaming platform from a node it operated after receiving a copyright notice from the content’s owner. Due to the decentralized architecture, the content was simply migrated to another node.

This is a notable example of how censorship-resistance can be maintained without violating any laws.

The full Q&A with Jonathan Schemoul is below:

crypto.news: Your company recently rebranded from Aleph.im to Aleph Cloud. What drove this decision? Can you share the rationale and vision behind the new brand, and how it better reflects the direction the company is headed in 2025 and beyond?

Jonathan Schemoul: We have been exploring different options before finally settling on Aleph Cloud. Our main objective remains the same, providing an affordable, fast and resilient decentralized cloud for web3 native companies. Our infrastructure and service model has greatly improved allowing us to cater also to larger traditional enterprises. 

Aleph.im used to provide indexers on Solana before growing our product suite to a complete cloud platform. In this sense it felt clearer for us but most importantly to our customers and users to adopt a universal name as Aleph Cloud.

CN: What was the strategic thinking behind launching the accelerator program? What types of startups or innovations are you hoping to support, and how will the program help them (e.g. providing cloud credits, mentorship, or other resources)?

JS: First it’s a matter of common good. I think that our industry has to unite in order to grow more successful companies and protocols and their fate shouldn’t be left in the hands of big tech corporates. Small startups and independent devs need strong resources in order to develop their projects even before thinking of raising money. With our grant program anyone can apply with a real product or even a POC (proof of concept) and nearly instantly get access to all our cloud services for free up to a certain threshold. Be it confidential virtual machines, VPS, database storage or web hosting, we give these companies an opportunity to run their full stack onchain from day one.

CN: Is the funding coming entirely from Aleph Cloud’s treasury, or are there external partners involved?

JS: These services aren’t paid directly in ALEPH tokens, instead we have developed a non-transferrable Soulbound token that opens access to  the cloud to selected individuals; It’s a net positive operation for everyone, this way we don’t have to use our treasury and developers have access to the same resource as any other customer.

CN: What chains are you seeing the most developer interest from? You mention Ethereum, Base, Solana, BSC, and Avalanche in the press release but are there specific ecosystems where demand for decentralized infrastructure is outpacing the rest

Looking at the applicants to our grant program, nearly 90% show a strong dominance of Solana, particularly for consumer-facing applications. With support for 24 blockchains (and counting), developers can now build their apps on a truly decentralized cloud, finally putting the ‘D’ back in DApp. Recently, we deployed Aleph Cloud on Sonic and Eclipse, as we’re seeing growing momentum around these emerging blockchains.

CN: Centralization remains a big issue in blockchain ecosystems for instance, up to 90% of Layer-1 nodes run on centralized clouds like AWS or Azure​. How does Aleph Cloud’s decentralized infrastructure offer an advantage over traditional providers like AWS or Google Cloud? In what areas do you see competitive advantages and how do you convince developers or enterprises to switch from the convenience of centralized cloud services?

JS: That’s entirely true, and it is quite concerning to see AWS and GCP ranking among the most-used cloud providers in the blockchain ecosystem.

According to Ethernode, 51% of Ethereum nodes are hosted on cloud providers, with 38% hosted on AWS alone. While we are not yet scaled to host an entire blockchain network on Aleph Cloud, we do enable decentralized node hosting. For example, several users are already running Bitcoin and Ethereum nodes on our infrastructure in a fully decentralized manner.

Our suite of products is designed to support enterprise and developer needs alike. Whether it’s DeFi applications like HyperSwap, Sybil-resistance tools like Anima, or use cases in the gaming industry with partners such as Ubisoft, we are ready to support them.

The path toward a decentralized industry takes time. We are still early, working to convince one project at a time, but we are seeing significant and growing interest in our solution.

CN: Industry-wide, we’re seeing a 2025 trend toward decentralized physical infrastructure for cloud services. How do you view Aleph Cloud’s role in this broader movement? What sets Aleph apart from other decentralized compute or storage protocols emerging in this space (for example, competitors like Filecoin for storage or Akash for compute)? In your opinion, where does Aleph Cloud have a unique edge in the push to challenge the dominance of traditional cloud providers?

We can be proud to be one of the first projects that emerged in 2020 and is still actively building five years later. This demonstrates two key things. First, we have built a strong base of customers and developers who continue to support us regardless of market fluctuations. Second, we consistently innovate and release essential features, such as confidential virtual machines and GPU instances.

As you pointed out, we offer a universal cloud platform. Whether you need to store data, host a website or portfolio, display a Frame, or run AI agents, Aleph Cloud is designed to support it all. You can even do everything simultaneously, something that many larger competitors do not offer. Our biggest advantage is delivering a comprehensive and flexible cloud solution that adapts to every need.

CN: How is Aleph Cloud navigating the regulatory landscape? For example, you’ve described the platform as a GDPR-compliant “chain-agnostic supercloud”​ but how do you ensure data privacy, security, and compliance in a network of globally distributed nodes? Do you foresee any regulatory hurdles (or advantages) for decentralized infrastructure providers, and how are you preparing to address issues like data jurisdiction or service liability that traditional cloud companies typically deal with?

JS: Aleph Cloud is fully GDPR compliant, as neither we nor the node operators have access to the data stored in the cloud. This means we cannot extract or exploit data for commercial purposes, unlike centralized providers such as Meta, Google, or Amazon.Regarding chain agnosticism, we support both EVM and SVM-based blockchains. This allows us to quickly integrate new ecosystems into Aleph Cloud and provide developers and builders with a more flexible, seamless experience. 

For example, a few months ago, we received a copyright infringement notice because someone was using Aleph Cloud to host a streaming platform. Since the content was hosted on a node operated by our own company, we were legally obligated to remove it. However, our infrastructure is designed to provide an alternative, if content is removed from one node, it can be migrated to another. The responsibility for hosted content lies with the node operator where the content resides. We provide decentralized technology, but each operator is accountable for what is hosted on their node.

SAN DIEGO, CA, Dec. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Presearch (https://presearch.com/), the privacy-centric, non-profiling engine, today announced its first Node NFT Auction is now live, giving community operators and new participants a straightforward way to help power the network and earn rewards in return. 

The auction introduces a community-driven model connecting digital art, network participation rights, and decentralized infrastructure. It features 142 unique NFTs from the Wasteland Web collection by digital artist Smokenmirrors, illustrating a vision of the internet free from algorithmic control. Each NFT stands alone as art, while also granting holders the ability to activate a node and earn network rewards once Presearch’s orchestration system goes live in a matter of weeks.

Unlike traditional digital art drops, each NFT doubles as a license key for operating a node under Presearch’s new Node Orchestration layer, the backbone of the upcoming Presearch 3.0 architecture. The orchestration system, detailed in Presearch’s latest technical blog and Nodenomics webinar, will expand the network’s global crawling and indexing capabilities of its innovative, decentralized, independent index named Indee, making it easier for users to operate nodes and contribute to the network.

“We’re scaling Indee, opening up the free web, and rewarding the people who run the compute that fuels the network’s growth.” said Tim Enneking, CEO of Presearch.

How to Participate: 
Participants can join

(here) by creating a Presearch account, depositing PRE tokens, and bidding on the NFT(s) of their choice. The highest bidders at auction close will receive their Node NFTs, which include the corresponding node keys required to operate on the orchestration layer when it launches. 

NFT Nodes Power Presearch 3.0
The Node NFT Auction marks the first phase of a broader rollout for Presearch 3.0, the project’s next major architecture update. The release includes a decentralized system for real-time crawling, indexing, and retrieval intended to support what the team refers to as the “Frontier Intelligence,” or high-value, underrepresented content often overlooked by mainstream search engines. By tying node licenses to NFTs, Presearch is testing a new model for permissionless participation, one that blends network operations, art culture, and economic incentives.

Auction Details

Start Date: [December 9, 9:00 AM Pacific]
End Date: [December 10, 9:00 PM Pacific]Supply: 142 unique 1:1 NFTs (each representing 1 Node License)Accepted Currency: PRELocation: https://account.presearch.com/nft/auctionsTo learn more, read the blog post here that includes a walkthrough video: https://news.presearch.io/presearch-node-nft-auction-278770826418

About Smokenmirrors:
Smokenmirrors, known for world-building in the digital art underground, created The Wasteland Web as a narrative backdrop depicting an imagined “post-algorithmic internet.” Each piece functions as a story fragment within that universe, reflecting themes of open networks and online resilience.

About Presearch
Presearch.com offers a privacy-focused, non-profiling search experience with results comparable to leading search engines. Its search-to-earn model rewards users with PRE tokens for every search, creating a unique value proposition. Powered by a decentralized node infrastructure, Presearch promotes fairness and mitigates biases in search outcomes unlike conventional platforms that may prioritize self-serving content and suppress others. With a loyal community, the platform serves nearly 10 million searches per month.

MEDIA CONTACT: 
presearch(at)transformgroup.com

Markets Insider and Business Insider Editorial Teams were not involved in the creation of this post.

PANews reported on August 25th that Zeus Network has officially announced a strategic liquidity partnership with Metalpha (NASDAQ: MATH), enabling Bitcoin deposits through APOLLO, the first decentralized application (dApp) on Zeus Network. Metalpha, an institutional asset management firm focused on digital assets, has begun accepting Bitcoin deposits through the Zeus Network on Solana.

As part of this partnership, Metalpha will leverage Zeus Network's permissionless infrastructure as a liquidity provider, supporting network security through decentralized verification. The Metalpha team chose Solana to deploy Bitcoin liquidity because of its high-performance DeFi environment and highly active community. By providing Bitcoin to Zeus Network, Metalpha injects liquidity into Solana and strengthens the security of cross-chain Bitcoin transactions, seeking new avenues for sustainable on-chain yield generation. As Solana becomes a major hub for institutional-grade digital asset innovation, Zeus Network is expanding its ecosystem to ensure that Bitcoin liquidity remains fundamental to DeFi growth. Leveraging Metalpha's expertise in structured financial products and risk management, this partnership is expected to enhance the financial capabilities of the Solana network and Bitcoin as an asset, adding fuel to the already booming DeFi market.

Justin Wang, co-founder and CEO of Zeus Network, said: “With Metalpha joining Zeus Network as a liquidity provider, we can leverage their experience in digital asset management to continue developing more accessible and scalable Bitcoin liquidity solutions for institutional Bitcoin holders.”

Xai, the layer-3 gaming network built on Ethereum scaler Arbitrum, kicked off 2024 with a bang, launching its XAI token to early supporters and then announcing that noted NFT game studio Laguna Games will bring Crypto Unicorns and related titles to the network.

So what’s next? More games, of course.

Ex Populus, which co-founder and CEO Tobias Batton described to Decrypt’s GG as the “labs company that serves the Xai Foundation,” is a game studio—and its games are set to be the first out the gate in the coming months as the Xai ecosystem takes shape.

The first, called Final Form, is a card-battler game with NFTs. According to its official website, the game will support NFT cards previously released on Solana via a bridge to Arbitrum. Batton said that the game is “penciled in for April,” but that the ETA could change. He said the game is playable and “moving into a polish phase,” so it can’t be far off.

LAMOverse is the other game from Ex Populus, and it’s a long-in-development online action game with colorful, cartoonish environments. Tied into physical LAMO toys based on gaming influencers like Ninja and Dr. Disrespect, LAMOverse is set to debut sometime after Final Form, and the game studio says it’s likewise playable and nearing a proper launch on Xai.

Batton recounted that Ex Populus spent substantial time seeking an ideal gaming chain for its projects and said that it explored building on other Ethereum scaling networks like Polygon or Immutable X. But, he said, each chain the studio tried had trade-offs that made the team “not enthusiastic” about committing to those ecosystems.

Ultimately, Arbitrum creator Offchain Labs proposed building a custom gaming chain that would suit the needs of Ex Populus while also providing a home for other studios in the future. Thus Xai was born.

In this team-up, Batton said, Ex Populus built the software that powers the Sentry Nodes that early users have purchased to support the Xai network. It also makes games and works in a publisher-like role to help other studios onboard to Xai and get their games in front of players.

That’s the kind of role that Ex Populus will serve for Laguna Games as it migrates its Crypto Unicorns games and associated NFTs from Polygon to Xai this year. And Batton said that he’s seen a “massive influx” of other studios reaching out since the airdrop to get involved with Xai, whether they’re building new games or migrating from existing chains.

In this dual role of game developer and distribution partner, Batton said that Ex Populus is attempting to be the Web3 version of Valve. That gaming powerhouse is known not only for operating the popular Steam PC gaming store, but also developing iconic games like Half-Life, Portal, and Counter-Strike. Fortnite maker Epic Games has charted a similar path.

Ex Populus doesn’t yet have the storied gaming legacy of those long-running giants, of course, but it also faces the immense challenge of trying to convince traditional gamers that user-owned NFT assets and crypto-driven economies are beneficial. And gamers have broadly not been too receptive to such overtures in the past.

What could make that easier is the way that the Xai network abstracts away the complexities of wallet use and asset handling for users who don’t want to get deep into the “crypto” of it all. Your average player doesn’t have to worry about self-custody of NFTs or tokens, plus Xai provides a gas-free experience for players.

“We had this crazy idea that if you remove wallets and remove gas from everything, that you can experience large growth,” Batton explained. “Really, the benefits of blockchain are the ability to trade items and own items—all the stuff we always hear about—but there's a tremendous amount of friction that stands in the way of that.”

There still are wallets, but for traditional gamers, they’re managed in the back end by the Xai team. And if you’d rather bring in your own wallet and self-custody your assets, that option is certainly available for veteran crypto users.

“As a traditional gamer who maybe isn't familiar with crypto or is a little averse to it, these games just seem like a normal game,” said Batton, who added that there would be wallet management features in the settings. “And then you're like, ‘Oh, I have a wallet. I didn't even know it.’ So it sort of breadcrumbs people into this experience in a way that doesn't seem so obtuse.”

our competitors aren't treasure, imx, ronin, or beam.

our competition is nintendo and valve.

decentralized gaming is inevitable.

— XAI (@XAI_GAMES) January 29, 2024

It’s been a busy couple of months for Xai. The Sentry Node sale, which let users invest in supporting the network and receive an allocation of XAI tokens, was a sizable success with about $30 million in sales. And the XAI airdrop that followed certainly made waves, putting over $150 million worth of tokens (at peak value) into users’ wallets.

But as Batton described, the journey dates back to 2022. It’s been a steady rise in prominence and buzz, in his view—and the biggest moves are still yet to come as games start going live on the network.

“It’s a grassroots approach—it didn't happen overnight,” he affirmed. “It took months and months and months of building this hype and this community and excitement.”

“Having Laguna agree to deploy their games is a big deal, because before this news, it was just hype. It's just an empty chain,” Batton added. “But now it's not an empty chain. It's got real games coming.”

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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Binance has sparked market discussions with its latest move to delist five tokens from its platform. This has raised market concerns over a potential crash of the tokens in the coming days. According to the announcement, the crypto on the list are AERGO, AirSwap (AST), BurgerCities (BURGER), Combo (COMBO), and Linear Finance (LINA).

Binance To Remove These Cryptocurrencies; Here’s Why Binance recently announced to delist AERGO, AirSwap (AST), BurgerCities (BURGER), Combo (COMBO), and Linear Finance (LINA) from its platform, sparking market concerns. Notably, the leading exchanges often have great influence in the market and any major announcement from them could impact the asset’s prices.

For context, the exchange has recently extended its support for Broccoli and other cryptocurrencies. Following its announcement, all the crypto prices have skyrocketed, reflecting the heavy influence of the exchange. Considering that, the latest delisting announcement could trigger a widespread selloff of the mentioned tokens.

Meanwhile, the crypto exchange said that it often conducts periodic evaluations to ensure compliance with industry standards. Failing to meet the criteria results in the delisting of the tokens. The exchange mentioned several aspects behind its delisting decision like project commitment, trading liquidity, regulatory concerns, and security risks.

A Closer Look Into The Binance Announcement The exchange will halt trading for AERGO, AST, BURGER, COMBO, and LINA starting March 28 at 03:00 UTC. Several key services, including futures contracts, margin trading, and staking options, will be stopped before the official removal date. Notably:

Binance Futures will close all positions and conduct an automatic settlement for AERGOUSDT, COMBOUSDT, and LINAUSDT perpetual contracts on March 27 at 09:00 UTC. Margin Trading for the affected tokens will be disabled from March 26 at 06:00 UTC, with users advised to close positions before liquidation. Deposits of these tokens will not be credited after March 29, and withdrawals will be unsupported after May 27. In addition, the exchange said that it will introduce a Vote to Delist feature, allowing the community to have a say in future delisting decisions. However, the current batch of delisted tokens will not be part of this initiative.

How These Five Tokens Are Performing? AERGO price was down more than 6% to $0.06845 following the Binance announcement, with its trading volume soaring 43% to $30.46 million. On the other hand, AST price plunged about 28% to $0.03375 with its one-day volume rocketing 88% to $5.25 million.

Simultaneously, BURGER price retreated 48% to $0.1127 while COMBO price declined 20%. Linear Finance price also recorded a slump of over 32%, indicating the waning market interest in the tokens.

Oct 26, 2025, 2:00 p.m.

4 min read

Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow upgrade could mark a turning point for the network’s staking economy. (CoinDesk)Summary

As the Solana ecosystem is preparing for the upgrade to come at the end of this year or in early 2026, Repetny shares how he thinks this shift could expand validator participation and improve decentralization, even as higher hardware demands loom.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Solana’s upcoming Alpenglow upgrade could mark a turning point for the network’s staking economy. CoinDesk sat down with Michael Repetny, CEO of Marinade Labs, the firm that supports Solana’s liquid staking protocol Marinade, to discuss how the update aims to change the economics of running a validator on Solana, significantly lowering the barrier to entry.

As the Solana ecosystem prepares for an upgrade at the end of this year or in early 2026, Repetny shares his thoughts on how this shift could expand validator participation and improve decentralization, even as higher hardware demands loom.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

CoinDesk: Talk to me about the state of Solana staking – what are the most pressing issues right now in this area, in your opinion?

Michael Repetny: So when we started Marinade, there were 700 validators on Solana, with 11 of them big enough to potentially halt the network.

Then we launched Marinade during the first few years, the number of validators grew to 2000 so it looked great. Right now we are below 1000 validators again active on Solana.

I think there are other signals [on the health of Solana staking]. Another way of looking at it is if you look at the concentration of the stake, which is, if you get one-third of that stake to shut down, Solana stops working.

It takes right now around 20 of the biggest violators to do that, or also it takes two countries and it takes two data centers right now. Those are like different ways to look at it. So, it is not ideal.

We would rather see hundreds of bad quality validators than thousands of them with people just running potatoes.

And with the ETFs and with institutional interest, I think that centralization is becoming a greater risk.

At Marinade, we’re trying to make sure that we have a viable option for validators to stake in a responsible way.

Solana has a major upgrade coming called Alpenglow. How will it affect the staking ecosystem?

We are hopeful, and it should impact the staking and validator economics. There is a proposed change to just cut down the vote fees for validators (vote fees are incurred by validators when they vote on processing SOL on the blockchain). So this is a huge one, because right now, if you want to run a validator, just to get it started, you need to pay about $5,000 a month.

Of those $5,000, about $4,000 is spent on just the voting fees. So as you can see, 80% of the cost today to spin up your validator is vote fees. Alpenglow aims to turn the vote fees to be much less. This is super exciting, and should make it much more accessible to start their own validator because the cost will go down

Will there be any changes to Solana validator rewards?

One way to look at it is to cut the cost of running a validator. Alpenglow is really about increasing the bandwidth and reducing latency.

We hope to see more saturated blocks when we pack them better, which should also improve the economics of the validators by packing the blocks.

Another benefit to that would be that if you increase the bandwidth and reduce the latency, then there is a shorter time for arbitrage and malicious maximum extractable value (MEV). This means if there's less time to manipulate the ordering of the transactions, there's going to be less toxic and malicious MEV happening, which is great for users.

Are there any tradeoffs for validators with Alpenglow?

Maybe eventually the hardware cost might go up. There may be a higher requirement on the end validators to make sure that they still keep up with the network, as there will be more transactions coming in. Maybe with the more requirements on them, there could be a trade-off. Other than that, I don't know. There will be problems, but we have to see once we are there.

How does Alpenglow tie back to Marinade’s mission?

It makes it more accessible to spin up just more validators. The threshold for being break-even is way lower.

So Alpenglow is coming at the end of the year or maybe early next year – is this going to be a really big transformation or just another upgrade? And where does Solana head after that?

It's one of the pieces that need to be sorted out for Solana to be and stay competitive with things like Hyperliquid or decentralized exchanges.

Solana is working on fixing the protocol with Alpenglow, fixing the infrastructure with new projects like DoubleZero, fixing the software clients and optimizing Firedancer. All those things, hopefully now, are all coming together.

A six-month timeframe might not be enough for the results to show, but once it's out there, it's hopefully going to unlock use cases that wouldn't be available on Solana at present.

Hopefully, there will be more economic activity, which should translate to more revenue, and hopefully that pie grows.

Read more: Solana Set for Major Overhaul After 98% Votes to Approve Historic 'Alpenglow' Upgrade

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TLDR VanEck Solana ETF (VSOL) launched Monday with waived 0.3% fees until February 17 or $1 billion in assets Fidelity Solana ETF (FSOL) and Canary Marinade Solana ETF (SOLC) both launched Tuesday Grayscale Dogecoin ETF expected to launch November 24 pending SEC response Combined Solana ETFs have attracted over $380 million in inflows despite SOL price dropping 20% weekly SEC’s September listing standard changes enabled faster crypto ETF approvals without individual assessments The cryptocurrency market witnessed a wave of new exchange-traded fund launches this week. VanEck’s Solana ETF began trading Monday while Fidelity and Canary Capital followed with their own Solana funds on Tuesday.

VanEck’s VSOL joined existing Solana ETFs from Bitwise and Grayscale that debuted in late October. These three funds have collectively attracted over $380 million in investor capital.

The new VanEck fund offers staking yields similar to its competitors. Investors’ Solana tokens are locked on the blockchain to earn rewards through the staking process.

VanEck has waived its 0.3% management fee until February 17 or until the fund reaches $1 billion in assets. This temporary fee waiver aims to compete with existing funds charging 0.25%.

Fidelity Enters the Market Fidelity’s Solana ETF launched Tuesday on NYSE Arca under the ticker FSOL. The fund charges a 0.25% management fee matching most competitors in the space.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted Fidelity is the largest asset manager in this category. BlackRock has chosen to sit out and has expressed no interest in launching ETFs beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Canary Capital partnered with Marinade Finance to launch their Solana ETF on the same day. The SOLC fund trades on Nasdaq with a 0.50% management fee.

Marinade Finance serves as the staking partner for Canary’s fund. The company has not announced any fee waivers at this time.

The Securities and Exchange Commission changed its listing standards in September. These new rules allow for faster approvals without requiring individual assessment of each fund.

Dogecoin ETFs on the Horizon Grayscale’s Dogecoin ETF could launch as early as November 24. The fund triggered a 20-day launch window after filing amendments earlier this month.

The Grayscale Dogecoin Trust would convert from its existing fund structure. It plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker DOGE.

This would be the first US Dogecoin ETF able to directly hold the memecoin. REX Shares and Osprey Funds launched a DOGE ETF in September but it holds cryptocurrency through an offshore subsidiary.

Bitwise filed for its own spot Dogecoin ETF on November 6. The filing triggered another 20-day launch timer that could see the fund go live late next week.

Solana’s price has fallen despite strong ETF inflows. The token dropped 20% over the past week and 9% in 24 hours before rebounding slightly.

Solana Price on CoinGecko SOL currently trades at $134.35 after touching a 24-hour low of $129.02. Trading volume increased 60% in the last 24 hours.

Bitwise’s BSOL fund has accumulated almost $450 million in assets under management. The combined inflows demonstrate investor appetite for cryptocurrency exposure through regulated products.

Derivatives data from CoinGlass showed buying sentiment returning in recent hours. Total SOL futures open interest rose 0.61% to $7.43 billion in the past 24 hours.

Amidst undeniably choppy markets, Solana’s staking landscape continues to show strength and resilience. 

Despite $SOL dropping 47% in the last 3 months, investors are steadily growing their stake in the network, with LST adoption hitting all-time highs and the chain’s staking rate reaching its highest point since January 2024.

Solana’s staking boom continues to benefit the network’s OG operators, like Marinade Finance, which has grown the TVL of its institutional staking product, Marinade Select, by 60% in six months.

Solana Staking Rate Hits 2-Year High As institutional interest circles the crypto industry, investors are adding $SOL to their staking accounts at record levels. According to Blockworks data, over 425.7M $SOL, the highest-ever $SOL-denominated figure, is now staked to the network. 

This brings Solana’s Stake Rate to its highest point since January 2024 at just over 68.9%, dominating the staking rate of rival networks. Comparatively, competing Layer-1s chains like Ethereum and BNB Chain have far lower staking adoption rates of 30% and 18.4%, respectively.

Additionally, Solana’s liquid-staking rate is showing no signs of slowing down. Despite the influx of institutional capital flowing into Solana ETFs, liquid staking continues to gain ground, rising to new all-time highs of 15.64%.

Staking providers like Marinade, who offer optimized native and liquid staking services through its Stake Auction Marketplace, are ideally positioned to capture this flow. With staking adoption increasing across the network, Marinade’s specialized offerings are trending upwards.

Marinade Select TVL Up 60% In Six Months Aimed at institutional investors, Marinade Select offers a curated stake pool of KYC-verified, reputable, SOC-2 compliant validators. By offering a premium validator set, Marinade establishes itself as a trusted staking operator for institutional players seeking reliable yield on their $SOL holdings.

In the last six months, Marinade Select’s $ SOL-denominated TVL has increased by 87.13%, rising from 863k $SOL in July 2025 to over 1.6M $SOL in January 2026. This growth is supported by Solana ETF growth, with issuers like Canary Capital opting to stake their $SOL holdings through Marinade Finance.

Over $1.1M Committed to $MNDE Buybacks Since August In August 2025, Marinade Finance debuted its buyback program, promising to allocate 50% of protocol revenue towards repurchasing $MNDE and directly value flow to token holders. Since the launch of the mechanic, over $1.17M worth of $MNDE has been taken off the market and sent to the DAO treasury.

More recently, Marinade DAO has moved away from buybacks to grow $mSOL liquidity. Since passing MIP-17 in December, Marinade DAO has paused $MNDE buybacks, instead directing these funds to growing liquidity in $mSOL, the protocol’s LST.

Since the change, $mSOL supply has increased by around 22.3k tokens. This brings the total supply to to 2.54M $mSOL, valued at around $434M USD and capturing 5.18% of Solana’s LST market.

Read More on SolanaFloor $SKR is finally here

Solana Mobile Airdrops $20M in $SKR to Early Adopters - What’s Next For Seeker?

SolanaFloor Sits Down with Marinade Co-Founder Michael Repetny 

Anchorage Digital has integrated Marinade Finance into its platform, allowing institutional clients to stake Solana tokens through automated validator strategies while maintaining custody of their assets.

According to Thursday’s announcement, the integration gives clients direct access to Marinade’s staking strategies within Anchorage’s custody and wallet infrastructure, including its Porto self-custody wallet, without requiring external applications.

The setup separates staking delegation from withdrawal control, allowing institutions to participate in validator selection and yield generation while retaining asset control.

Clients can choose between two staking strategies: one that allocates across a curated set of roughly 30 KYC-verified validators for compliance-focused use cases, including regulated financial products such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Another dynamically distributes stake across a broader validator set spanning hundreds of operators to optimize yield.

The integration is available through Anchorage Digital’s platform and its Porto wallet, where staking, custody and asset management functions are combined within a single interface.

Anchorage Digital is a San Francisco-based crypto custody provider that operates the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States. In January, it was reported to be seeking between $200 million and $400 million in new funding as it considers a potential initial public offering next year.

Institutional yield strategies expand from staking to Bitcoin DeFiInstitutions are increasingly seeking yield on crypto holdings without moving assets out of custody, as staking gains traction among asset managers and product issuers.

In February, Ripple expanded its custody platform through integrations with Securosys and Figment, enabling banks and custodians to offer staking without running validators or managing keys, with support across on-premises and cloud environments and built-in compliance checks.

The following month, Anchorage Digital integrated with Puffer Finance to offer liquid restaking on Ethereum, allowing clients to stake Ether (ETH) and receive pufETH, a transferable token representing a restaked position that continues earning rewards.

While staking -- that is, earning rewards for securing a network -- was traditionally limited to proof-of-stake assets, similar yield strategies are emerging for Bitcoin (BTC) via decentralized finance (DeFi) integrations.

Lombard recently teamed with Bitwise Asset Management to enable institutions to earn yield and borrow against Bitcoin without moving assets out of custody, combining DeFi lending and tokenized real-world assets with infrastructure from Morpho.

Similarly, Fireblocks has integrated Stacks to provide institutional access to Bitcoin-based lending and yield, using faster block times while settling transactions on Bitcoin for finality.

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Published: March 21, 2024

Last Updated: March 21, 2024

Binance delists DREP, MobileCoin (MOB), and pNetwork (PNT). The move comes as the tokens have fallen short of the criteria initially earning them Binance listings. DREP team has apologized to the community members and proposed an airdrop program. Binance, the most prominent centralized trading platform, has announced plans to discontinue support for three crypto projects due to subpar performance. The affected tokens include Drep (DREP), MobileCoin (MOB), and pNetwork (PNT).

This move comes after Binance recently reviewed all listed digital assets to ensure they meet high standards and industry requirements. Projects failing to meet these standards risk delisting from the platform, as Binance prioritizes providing top-tier services and protections for its users. Unfortunately, DREP, MOB, and PNT have fallen short of the criteria that initially earned them listings on Binance.

As a result, Binance will remove all Bitcoin and USDT trading pairs associated with DREP, MOB, and PNT starting April 3. Additionally, the platform will cease accepting deposits of these tokens from the delisting date. Users are advised to withdraw their holdings before July 3, as Binance will automatically convert any remaining tokens to stablecoins after this period.

Notably, Binance’s move to delist DREP, MOB, and PNT has had severe consequences for the market values of the tokens. For instance, MOB has tanked by over 56% from its daily high of $0.32 to $0.1363 within the last few hours. Similar 56% declines have been observed with PNT and DREP.

Meanwhile, the project team behind DREP has issued a statement via its official X account concerning the delisting from Binance.

𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐏 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲,
We sincerely apologize for the announced delisting of the $DREP from #Binance . We understand this news is frustrating especially since we put in 10000000000000% in our product developments and upcoming milestones.
In the meantime, we'd… pic.twitter.com/T4OcQlXuSu

— Official DREP (@DrepOfficial) March 20, 2024 Acknowledging the implications of this development for DREP holders, the team apologizes to the community members. Simultaneously, the team has proposed a proposal dubbed “MOON-INDUCING UTILITY” to reduce the token supply and potentially benefit holders long-term. 

The proposal includes DREP token burn and airdrop. Specifically, they suggested burning 22,593,750 tokens, approximately 23% of the total token supply should the community approve. Additionally, they propose to airdrop the remaining 20,000,000 tokens.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. The article does not constitute financial advice or advice of any kind. Coin Edition is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the utilization of content, products, or services mentioned. Readers are advised to exercise caution before taking any action related to the company.

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Satoshi Protocol, a prominent stablecoin protocol that gets support from Bitcoin, has announced an exclusive collaboration with Soveryn. The partnership between Satoshi Protocol and the BOB chain-based DeFi protocol Sovryn will unveil a SAT-wBTC pool to boost the utility and liquidity of SAT in the BOB ecosystem. The platform disclosed the development on its official account on X.

Partnership with @SovrynBTC
​
Our collaboration introduces a new SAT-wBTC liquidity pool, boosting $SAT utility and trading options on BOB.
​
Thrilled to announce our partnership with @SovrynBTC, the leading BTCfi Hub on the BOB chain. They offers secure, fast Bitcoin trading… pic.twitter.com/hV6n4rWj2K

— Satoshi Protocol (@Satoshi_BTCFi) July 31, 2024 Satoshi Protocol Commences an Exclusive Collaboration with Sovryn In its latest X post, the company mentioned that Sovryn operates as a decentralized finance protocol on the BOB chain. It reportedly offers several financial services taking into account liquidity provision and trading. Sovryn benefits from the security of Bitcoin along with the smart contract flexibility to deliver resilient financial instruments. Sovryn has additionally attained crucial landmark achievements.

They include more than $85M in its total value locked part from more than $2B worth of cumulative trading volume. Additionally, the total consumer base of the platform has reportedly reached 60,000. Sovryn is integrated with the BOB chain, expanding its platform with diverse integrations and financial services. Moreover, Sovryn delivers decentralized trading, margin trading, borrowing, and lending tools.

Bitcoin network secures all of these products. This partnership will permit the development of a Sovryn-based SAT-wBTC pool. The integration will chiefly enhance liquidity for SAT. As a result of this, the consumers can conveniently trade between the SAT token and the rest of the Sovryn-based coins. This takes into account the well-known tokens such as USDC, ETH, SOV, wBTC, DLLR stablecoin of Sovryn, and so on.

Improved liquidity signifies that the clients can conduct trades more effectively with decreased slippage and enhanced pricing. The integration of SAT within the ecosystem of Sovryn broadens its utility. It provides additional opportunities to facilitate the consumers in engaging with assets. The inclusion in the extensive DeFi package of Sovryn lets SAT holders take part in a broad series of financial operations.

The Development Enhances Liquidity, Capital Efficiency, and Utility in the BTC Ecosystem It includes generating yields via liquidity provision and using SAT in the form of collateral concerning loans. Ingamar Ramirez, Sovryn’s Head of Ecosystem Growth, stated that this collaboration will let them offer additional options regarding decentralized stablecoins. Satoshi Protocol asserted that the partnership will combine the strengths of both entities to capital efficiency, liquidity, and utility in the BTC ecosystem.

AUTHOR

Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.

Belgian prosecutors have opened an investigation into Wise’s accounts over possible money laundering tied to fraud, drug trafficking, and corruption. The news sent the London-listed fintech company’s shares sliding sharply, rattling investors who had only recently started feeling comfortable with the company’s compliance track record.

The investigation lands at an awkward moment. Wise had just spent the better part of two years trying to clean up its regulatory image, completing a remediation plan with Belgian authorities and settling AML deficiencies in the US. Now, prosecutors in Brussels are poking around again, and the market is not exactly giving the company the benefit of the doubt.

Belgium has been a compliance headache before This isn’t Wise’s first brush with Belgian regulators. Back in 2022, the Belgian National Bank flagged that the company was missing proof-of-address documentation for hundreds of thousands of customer accounts.

Wise entered into a formal remediation plan and confirmed by late 2024 that it had completed the required fixes. The Belgian National Bank’s findings from November 2024 highlighted these earlier shortcomings, but the company appeared to be moving past the episode.

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The new investigation by the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office takes things to a different level. Regulatory findings about missing paperwork are one thing. A criminal probe into whether accounts were used for money laundering connected to drug trafficking and corruption is quite another.

A pattern of regulatory settlements Belgium isn’t the only jurisdiction where Wise has had to answer uncomfortable questions about its compliance infrastructure. In July 2025, the company’s US subsidiary settled with six states for $4.2 million over deficiencies in its anti-money laundering program.

The $4.2 million US settlement covered AML program shortcomings, not allegations of actual criminal activity flowing through the platform. The Belgian investigation, however, raises the stakes considerably by drawing a direct line between Wise accounts and potential proceeds from serious crimes.

The broader fintech compliance reckoning Wise is not the only European payments company under the microscope right now. The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s office also opened a money-laundering investigation into Worldline’s Belgian unit on or around June 27, 2025, citing media allegations that the French payments processor had been processing payments for illegal activities. Worldline’s shares fell as much as 10% on that news, coming on top of earlier drops as steep as 38%.

The parallel investigations suggest a broader regulatory sweep across payment processors operating in Belgium.

For Wise specifically, the Belgian probe creates a credibility problem. The company had presented its completed remediation plan as evidence that it had turned a corner on compliance. A criminal investigation suggests that prosecutors believe there may be more to the story than outdated address records.

The key variable to watch is whether prosecutors ultimately bring formal charges or whether the investigation results in a settlement or remediation order. A settlement, even a large one, provides closure. Formal charges open up the possibility of restrictions on Wise’s Belgian operations, which could have knock-on effects across the company’s European business.

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

Pre-staking for $NIM holders has been announced by Layer-1 payments blockchain Nimiq, which is a significant step toward its much awaited migration to Proof-of-Stake (PoS). This initiative not only prepares the way for the network’s transition to a more energy-efficient, decentralized proof of stake consensus, but it also pays out considerable rewards to early participants.

Nimiq is getting ready to switch from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) as its consensus algorithm. To ensure a safe migration, pre-staking is a crucial step. This is because a secure migration requires maximizing the total amount of $NIM pre-staked and dividing it among the maximum number of validators. All Nimiq holders are encouraged to pre-stake and contribute to a more decentralized Nimiq network via the Pre-Staking Rewards program.

Nimiq is a unique blockchain-based decentralized payment system. A digital currency, quick payments, cheap transfers, and universally accessible passive income are all part of its financial ecosystem. The upgrading of Nimiq to Proof of Stake will help it realize its objective of acting as a sustainable monetary system that gives people complete control over their money, enables them to utilize it anywhere in the world, and helps them attain financial independence.

By maximizing their pre-staking strategy through a variety of multipliers—staking early for a time-based boost, selecting an underdog validator to promote even distribution across all validators, and raising their ranking in the Nimiq Space by finishing Nimiq quests—participants can raise their chances of earning bonus rewards.

One may access Nimiq’s pre-staking program by logging onto the campaign’s dedicated dashboard. Community members may choose the Nimiq account address they want to use for pre-staking and register for the pre-staking program here. Further information is available in the blog post announcement from Nimiq.

Max Burger, Ecosystem Developer at Nimiq said:

“Nimiq’s long-awaited migration to Proof-of-Stake marks the beginning of a completely new era for the project. Not only does it drastically reduce the blockchain’s energy consumption, but more importantly, it introduces near-instant transactions for a significantly enhanced payment experience. Once the migration is complete, we can focus on expanding Nimiq’s global adoption to make NIM the most widely accepted cryptocurrency on the planet.”

Participants in the pre-staking program will be eligible for incentives that may be directly claimed via the pre-staking dashboard. The campaign will run from October 7 through November 10. Participants will share 100 million in $NIM pre-staking rewards in addition to a bonus giveaway reserved for community members who sign up for the campaign as soon as possible. Over the course of three rounds, winners of the bonus prize will be selected at random from among eligible entrants, with an extra $NIM reward given to 100 pre-stakers. As a consequence, an incredible 200 million NIM is set aside for rewards and pre-staking prizes.

By making the most of its pre-staking effort, Nimiq will make sure that its network is prepared for the next stage of activation and the November 19th Proof of Stake migration.

Visit https://www.nimiq.com/ to learn more.

A devoted content writer having 3 years of crypto trading experience. Loves cooking and swimming. Stays up to date with the latest developments on blockchain technology.

PANews reported on September 12th that according to The Block, on-chain detective ZachXBT revealed that THORSwap has issued multiple bounty offers over the past few days to hackers who attacked a user's personal wallet. The victim may be THORChain founder John-Paul Thorbjornsen. An on-chain update on Friday indicated that returning THOR tokens would earn a reward, with no legal action taken within 72 hours. Contact information was also provided. PeckShield initially reported that the THORChain protocol had been attacked, resulting in losses of approximately $1.2 million, but later corrected the claim to be targeting user wallets. ZachXBT stated that the victim was likely John-Paul Thorbjornsen's wallet, from which North Korean hackers stole $1.35 million on Tuesday. Thorbjornsen admitted that the attack originated from a fake Zoom link sent from a friend's hacked Telegram account. He stated that his old MetaMask wallet, which had been emptied, was in another logged-out Chrome profile, with the key stored in iCloud Keychain, making it possible for the attacker to access it through a zero-day vulnerability. This reinforces his belief that threshold signature wallets are the only true defense.

Aurory, a Solana role-playing and monster-battling game, has launched its Seekers of Tokane experience to the public on the Epic Games Store after previously restricting access to NFT holders and access code recipients.

Seekers of Tokane serves up a chunk of the overall Aurory experience, letting players battle with Pokémon-esque creatures (called Nefties) and explore a lush fantasy land. It plays like a “roguelike” game, in which players must grab loot and attempt to exit with their winnings—because you’ll lose everything if you perish.

The public access is available for a limited time, from February 12 through February 26, and it’s tied to the launch of an in-game event, Dracurve’s Awakening. And it’s also linked to crypto rewards, including AURY tokens and rare in-game NFTs.

Aurory will distribute $50,000 worth of AURY token rewards to players, with $35,000 of that set for Aurorian NFT owners and the rest intended for non-holders. Furthermore, the game will also offer up limited edition NFT collectibles and “Draconic Eggs.”

Beyond the split between NFT holders and non-owners, it’s not clear how Aurory plans to distribute the $50,000 worth of AURY to players, or how specifically to earn the rewards. Decrypt’s GG has reached out to the Aurory team for clarification and will update this story if we hear back.

Aurory first launched in the Epic Games Store last November with the debut of Seekers of Tokane. Operated by Epic Games, the developer of Fortnite and creator of the widely used Unreal Engine development suite, the Epic Games Store is a major mainstream PC gaming marketplace with some 230 million total users as of the end of 2022.

It has also become a prominent home for a growing stack of crypto and NFT games, including the likes of Shrapnel, Gods Unchained, and Nyan Heroes. Rival marketplace Steam, run by Half-Life and Counter-Strike developer Valve, has taken an anti-crypto stance—though some game creators have found ways around the restrictions.

The Aurory project spans multiple games, as well as multiple chains. While it started life on Solana, the game expanded to Ethereum scaling network Arbitrum last year in an effort to attract more players. However, the game’s bridge to Arbitrum was exploited for $830,000 worth of AURY in December.

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CoW Protocol’s native token has soared 46% after South Korean exchange Upbit announced it will be listing the token on its platform on Feb. 25.

According to a recent notice, Upbit will be listing COW (COW), the CoW Protocol native token starting from Feb. 25 at approximately 20:30 KST. The Ethereum (ETH)-based token will be available for trading on the Korean won, Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) markets. Users can begin depositing COW on Upbit at 19:30 KST.

Shortly after Upbit announced it will be listing COW, the token saw a major leap in price. COW soared as high as 46% mere minutes after the notice was posted, reaching a peak of $0.46 in daily trading. At the time of writing, COW is trading hands at $0.43.

According to the Upbit notice, the previous day’s closing price for COW was around 418 Korean won or equal to $0.29. In the past week, COW has seen a rise in value by 34.2% but it has experienced a decrease by nearly 30% in the past month.

Price chart for CoW Protocol’s native token, February 25, 2025 | Source: crypto.news The CoW Protocol native token has a market cap of $173.6 million and a fully diluted valuation which stands at $420 million. In the past 24 hours, COW’s trading volume has seen a 568.60% increase to $114 million in the past 24 hours, indicating a significant rise in trading activity.

Buy orders for COW will be restricted for five minutes after trading support begins. While all types of orders, with the exception of limit orders, will be restricted for an hour after trading support begins. Sell order prices are capped at a minimum of 10% less than the previous day’s closing price.

The CoW Protocol is a decentralized trading platform with intent-based aggregator as its main service. It also provides features like Maximal Extractable Value blockers, Remote Procedure Call solutions, and Automated Market Makers. COW is the CoW Protocol’s native token and is used for governance.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Grayscale Investments has launched the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust, offering investors exposure to Dogecoin (DOGE)

Grayscale Investments has launched the Grayscale Dogecoin Trust, offering investors exposure to Dogecoin (DOGE), a cryptocurrency with a $49.7 billion market cap that has evolved from a meme coin to a tool for global financial inclusion, grassroots activism, and a viable means of payment.

The trust, which charges a 2.5% fee, is available to eligible accredited investors and is part of Grayscale's portfolio of over 25 crypto investment products.

According to Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary, Grayscale's Head of Product & Research, Dogecoin's low transaction costs and rapid transfer speeds make it an optimal vehicle for international remittances, particularly in regions with underdeveloped banking infrastructure. The launch comes amid a flurry of applications for memecoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) following a shift towards a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment under President Donald Trump.

This is an AI-generated article powered by DeepNewz, curated by The Defiant. For more information, including article sources, visit DeepNewz.

The DeFi lending protocol still has $3.4 million in outstanding bad debt.Bad debt came from malicious exploits from three years ago.DeFi lending protocol Inverse Finance, with more than $178 million in investor funds, has patched a $2.6 million bad debt hole in the project’s finances.

A bad debt happens when a loan position cannot be repaid because the collateral used to borrow funds has lost a lot of its value, which leaves the lender with a hole in their finances. It can happen due to malicious exploits that drain liquidity from lending pools or a massive market decline that causes the price of collateral tokens to plummet.

On Monday, Inverse Finance secured funds to service the bad debt by selling 104,000 of its native Inverse tokens to a cohort of DeFi investors. The token sale was for 25 Dola per Inverse token, to raise the $2.6 million required.

Dola is the protocol’s dollar-pegged stablecoin, while the Inverse token controls the protocol and absorbs financial risks. The latter is also the governance token for the DAO that controls the protocol.

Given the relationship between both tokens, the deal effectively means investors are betting that the Inverse token’s long-term growth potential can cover the bad debt liability, and the DAO proposal for the move did not hide this trade-off.

“This is our way of sending a message to everyone that Inverse DAO never abandons its users always repays its debts,” Nour Haridy, Inverse Finance founder, told DL News. Haridy called the repayment “an investment into the future.”

Hello! This chart will be available in a few moments

Inverse Finance TVLThe Inverse tokens acquired by the investors will be locked for six months. Inverse tokens traded for more than $43 on Monday, a 72% premium on the cost basis of the DeFi investors.

The bad debt traces back to malicious exploits on Inverse Finance lending markets that have since been deprecated. Those defunct lending markets suffered two malicious exploits in April and June 2022 that resulted in more than $24 million in losses.

A portion of the bad debt also comes from Euler Finance’s $200 million flash loan attack of March 2023. Euler has since recovered the hack and now holds more than $1 billion in investor assets, a 10-fold growth in 2025.

‘A moral obligation’Monday’s repayment whittles the protocol’s bad debt exposure to $3.4 million, which the DAO plans to cover by borrowing from 40acres.finance, another lending protocol.

Haridy said the protocol didn’t have a choice but to cover the bad debt.

“Dola would’ve collapsed due to the elevated bad debt levels back then and more people would lose their money,” Haridy said. “We had a moral obligation towards people who trusted Dola with their hard earned money and we chose to fulfill this obligation.”

The repayment also comes as the protocol reached $100 million in loans on its fixed-rate lending market platform FiRM, another sign of recovery for a protocol that has suffered multiple crises.

Osato Avan-Nomayo is our Nigeria-based DeFi correspondent. He covers DeFi and tech. Got a tip? Please contact him [email protected].

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August 12, 2025

Clearpool, a decentralized capital markets ecosystem, has partnered with on-chain credit risk management company Cicada in a move to institutionalize PayFi lending with improved risk management.

In an announcement shared with Cryptonews on Monday, the partnership will boost Clearpool’s credibility and risk management in PayFi lending. Cicada will structure and underwrite PayFi lending opportunities and serve as the administrative agent for select Credit Pools.

Cicada has underwritten more than $850m in loans at a 1.2% default rate during the prior cycle.

🤝 Clearpool has partnered with Cicada to institutionalize PayFi lending with risk-managed Credit Pools

Cicada is an on-chain credit risk management company founded by a seasoned team of former buy- and sell-side credit professionals. Cicada’s co-founders have deep crypto… pic.twitter.com/JY79tNCVqE

— Clearpool (@ClearpoolFin) August 11, 2025 Clearpool’s partnership with Cicada could shake up the lending space, bringing more institutional players into the DeFi fold.

Clearpool Expands to Payment Financing or PayFiAccording to Jakob Kronbichler, CEO of Clearpool, Cicada’s risk management integration would strengthen Clearpool’s institutional infrastructure for PayFi lending.

“While stablecoin settlements are instant, underlying fiat flows are not, forcing fintechs to bridge liquidity gaps,” he said. “This partnership enhances our proven credit framework and supports the growth of the emerging trillion-dollar stablecoin payment ecosystem.”

Clearpool will be launching PayFi Credit Pools for users to access these highly liquid, real-world yield opportunities. This means facilitating credit to institutional lenders specializing in short-term stablecoin-based working capital to fintech operators.

It will also launch cpUSD, a permissionless, yield-bearing asset, which will enable retail to tap into real-world stablecoin payments.

Cicada offers Risk-as-a-Service (RaaS) Solutions to DeFi Protocols On the other hand, Cicada offers Risk-as-a-Service (RaaS) solutions, including third-party underwriting, pool management for DeFi protocols and risk structuring.

“Partnering with Clearpool allows us to elevate PayFi lending by combining our underwriting and risk management expertise with their innovative credit products,” said Sefton Kincaid, Managing Partner of Cicada Partners.

The partnership will accelerate the adoption of PayFi by laying the groundwork for more safer, transparent and scalable stablecoin ecosystem.

“Together, we’re advancing professionally managed Credit Pools and strengthening Clearpool’s offering to borrowers and lenders in the growing stablecoin economy,” Kincaid added.

TLDR: Clearpool will repurchase CPOOL using revenue from its pools, vaults, and Prime protocol operations. 50% of all repurchased CPOOL will go to Clearpool Rewards, supporting token holder incentives. The remaining 50% of tokens will strengthen the Clearpool Reserve for future ecosystem growth. Buybacks were paused as Clearpool prepared its Fintech Vault and PayFi product expansion.
Clearpool is reviving its buyback program, marking a fresh chapter for the DeFi lender’s growing ecosystem. 

The protocol confirmed it will repurchase its native token, CPOOL, from the open market using revenue from recent quarters. This follows months of strategic pause as the team refined its direction and rolled out new products. The initiative signals a renewed commitment to value capture within its ecosystem. 

CPOOL Buyback Program Resumes With New Funding Source According to Clearpool’s announcement, the buyback initiative will draw on revenue generated from Dynamic Pools, Clearpool Prime, Credit Vaults, and the USDX T-Pool. These sources have built consistent inflows since the protocol’s last operational update.

The company stated that buybacks had been paused in earlier quarters as it finalized a shift in product strategy. 

That adjustment is now reflected in new launches such as the Fintech Vault and PayFi. These products extend the protocol’s lending capabilities to a wider market segment while diversifying its revenue base.

With these expansions live, Clearpool will begin acquiring CPOOL again in structured cycles. The buyback activity is expected to provide steady demand for the token while reflecting the project’s long-term growth approach.

The new plan formalizes a balance between ecosystem sustainability and holder incentives, two themes central to the project’s recent roadmap.

Clearpool is resuming its buyback program to purchase $CPOOL from the open market, initiating a series of planned buybacks.

The program will utilize revenue generated from recent quarters across the full Clearpool ecosystem, including Dynamic Pools, Clearpool Prime, Credit… pic.twitter.com/NOFWFnYopz

— Clearpool (@ClearpoolFin) October 20, 2025

Half of Purchased Tokens Head to Rewards and Reserve Funds Clearpool outlined that 50% of all repurchased CPOOL tokens will be deposited into Clearpool Rewards, a system designed to enhance community participation. The other half will be directed to the Clearpool Reserve, supporting ecosystem development and liquidity measures.

This split aims to ensure that both users and the protocol benefit from ongoing buybacks. It also positions Clearpool’s treasury to respond more flexibly to future market conditions.

Analysts observing the update suggested that this structure could add steady pressure on circulating supply while reinforcing protocol backing. While no timeline for completion was disclosed, the strategy implies buybacks will occur periodically as revenue accumulates.

By reinvesting operational income into its native token, Clearpool continues aligning revenue performance with community growth. The model reflects a tightening link between its ecosystem’s utility and the underlying asset’s activity.

CPOOL, the native token of the DeFi institutional credit protocol Clearpool, went parabolic after Upbit announced its listing.

Summary

Clearpool price rose over 70% after Upbit announced support for the token. A descending parallel channel pattern has formed on the daily chart. A clean breakout from $0.172 level could potentially lead to over 40% upside for CPOOL. According to data from crypto.news, Clearpool (CPOOL) rallied 72% to an intraday high of $0.172 before settling at $0.134 at the time of writing.

CPOOL’s gains came along with a 780% surge in its daily trading volume in the spot market, hinting at robust demand from investors. Data from CoinGlass also pointed to a massive uptick in open interest in its futures market, with OI rising nearly 3,000% to $3.69 million, suggesting growing speculative interest. 

A closer look at the long/short ratio across all exchanges also stood at 1.14. This means that a larger number of traders have leaned into bullish bets, a factor that could continue to drive positive sentiment among new investors.

Clearpool’s price shot up today shortly after the South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced it would list the token on its platform. Listings on major exchanges like Upbit, which boasts the highest trading volume in South Korea, often enhance a token’s visibility and credibility, attracting a wave of new investors and triggering sharp price gains.

As earlier reported by crypto.news, ORCA, the native token of the Solana-based DEX Orca, rallied over 200% shortly after a similar listing announcement from Upbit.

However, investors should note that listing-based, community hype-driven rallies often face sharp pullbacks within days as traders start booking profits.

For the uninitiated, Clearpool is a decentralized institutional credit protocol that connects verified institutional borrowers with unsecured liquidity from DeFi lenders. The CPOOL token enables staking, governance, and incentivizes participants within the Clearpool protocol.

Clearpool price analysis On the daily chart, CPOOL price has broken out from the upper boundary of a descending parallel channel that had been forming since mid‑August. 

Clearpool price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart — Oct. 22 | Source: crypto.news Descending parallel channel patterns usually show a token making lower highs and lower lows. The price moves within two downward-sloping, parallel lines, forming a steady downtrend. If the price breaks above the top line, it often signals a bullish reversal. But if it breaks below the bottom line, it usually means the downtrend will continue.

Technical indicators support the bullish picture at press time. Notably, the MACD line has crossed above the signal line, indicating momentum is continuing to shift in favor of bulls. Meanwhile, the RSI has climbed sharply to 57, moving above its neutral zone, which in turn suggests renewed buying pressure.

For now, the key resistance lies near $0.172, the intraday high formed earlier today. This level also coincides closely with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement drawn from the Aug. 23 high to the Oct. 10 low, a critical zone that often acts as a major inflection point. 

A decisive break above this resistance could instill bulls to target $0.190, a level where buying momentum had previously stalled, making it a key psychological barrier in the short term. The said level lies 42% above the current price level.

On the downside, a drop below $0.116, corresponding to the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level, could invalidate the current rally and tilt momentum back in favor of the bears.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Across Protocol, a Paradigm-backed blockchain interoperability protocol, has posted a temperature check proposal exploring a transition from a decentralized autonomous organization and token structure to a U.S. C-corporation and equity structure.

Under the plan, a new entity called AcrossCo would become the operating company behind Across Protocol. ACX tokenholders would then have two options: equity exchange and token buyout. The equity exchange option involves exchanging ACX for equity in AcrossCo. Larger holders would exchange directly, while smaller holders could participate through a no-fee special purpose vehicle structure. The token buyout option would allow holders to redeem ACX for USDC at $0.04375, a 25% premium to the one-month average market rate, with a six-month window to decide.

Across said becoming a private company, with tokenholders offered equity or a “fair” exit, would likely better serve the protocol’s long-term growth. The team said the underlying protocol would continue operating without interruption. AcrossCo would hold the intellectual property and manage development, partnerships, and commercialization, while the infrastructure itself would remain open and permissionless.

"I believe this proposal lets us double down on our future while benefiting all existing tokenholders," said Hart Lambur, Co-founder of Across Protocol.

The current DAO structure Currently, Risk Labs Foundation, the team behind Across Protocol, as well as UMA Protocol, a decentralized oracle, manages the Across protocol. The foundation has been building Across for over four years and says the protocol has processed more than $35 billion in volume and co-created the ERC-7683 cross-chain intents standard. Across Protocol is an intents-based interoperability protocol that connects blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana, allowing users to bridge and swap tokens across networks.

Across Protocol has raised a total of $51 million through two token funding rounds. Its most recent $41 million round last year was led by Paradigm, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Multicoin Capital.

The team said the transition to a C-corporation and equity structure is being explored as demand for the protocol’s infrastructure grows, particularly from institutional partners. Across said the current DAO structure can create limitations when working with enterprise partners, which often require enforceable contracts and a clear legal counterparty.

"As institutional demand for Across infrastructure has grown, the current DAO structure has become a bottleneck," the team said. "Enterprise partners need enforceable contracts. Revenue agreements need a legal counterparty. The kinds of deals that would drive the next phase of growth require a structure that a DAO, today, simply can't provide."

If community sentiment is positive, the team will then move to posting a formal governance proposal two weeks after the temperature check, Lambur told The Block.

A majority vote would determine the outcome, Lambur added. For example, if 20% of voters abstained and the result was 41% in favor and 39% against, the proposal would still pass, he said.

"The community decides whether any of it happens," Across said. "Nothing moves forward without community approval."

The ACX token was trading at around $0.035 at the time of writing, up nearly 4% over the past 24 hours but down about 84% over the past year, according to The Block’s ACX price page.

Updated to include the proposal link and pricing details.

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© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Anthropic sent a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs accusing the Chinese tech company Alibaba of "brazenly" and "illicitly" attempting to extract its artificial intelligence capabilities, CNBC confirmed on Wednesday.

The letter, which was addressed to Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on June 10, said Alibaba carried out "the largest known distillation attack on Anthropic to date."

Distillation is an AI training method where a small, less capable model is built using outputs from an existing, stronger model.

Anthropic said operators affiliated with Alibaba and its AI lab carried out 28.8 million exchanges with its models using roughly 25,000 fraudulent accounts between April 22 and June 5, according to the letter, which was viewed by CNBC.

"We believe combating the threat of illicit distillation requires coordinated action between government and industry, and we will continue working with Congress and the Administration to maintain American AI leadership," an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement.

A representative for Alibaba did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Bloomberg was first to report the letter.

Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon's Zoox unveils redesigned robotaxi ahead of upcoming expansionOpenAI unveils first chip as part of Broadcom deal in effort to 'build the full stack'South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix plans to raise $29 billion via Nasdaq listing as soon as July 10Alphabet added to Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing VerizonThe letter lands two months after the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a memorandum that pledged to help AI companies detect and coordinate against industrial-scale distillation. Anthropic wrote that in proceeding with its distillation attacks, Alibaba "ignored the Trump Administration's warnings."

In February, Anthropic announced that it had identified three "industrial-scale" distillation campaigns from three other AI labs: DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax. The company said in a blog post at the time that the campaigns were growing in intensity and sophistication, and it encouraged collaboration across the AI industry, cloud providers and policymakers.

But in recent weeks, Anthropic's work with policymakers has been complicated.

The company said earlier this month that it received an export control directive from the Trump administration ordering the company to suspend access to its latest Claude models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, "by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees."

The government cited "national security authorities" but didn't specify its concern, Anthropic said.

Senior staffers flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with members of the Trump administration over the next several days. The company told CNBC that "both parties are working quickly to get this resolved," but hasn't yet said when it expects its models to come back online.

--CNBC's Kate Rooney contributed to this report

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