Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

In a recent setback for DeFi ecosystem participants active on Arbitrum, the perpetuals trading platform AFX Trade experienced a substantial security breach targeting one of its proprietary bridges. Blockchain security firm Blockaid first identified the incident around 21:30 UTC on July 22, 2026, reporting that attackers had extracted approximately $24.15 million in USDC from the affected contract.

AFX Trade operates as a USDC-settled derivatives exchange on the Arbitrum network, offering users leveraged trading opportunities across various assets.

Deposits and withdrawals typically route through its dedicated bridge infrastructure, which held roughly $24.2 million in USDC prior to the event—nearly its entire locked value according to DeFiLlama data.

The exploit effectively emptied most of these funds, highlighting vulnerabilities that can arise even in established Layer-2 environments.

Blockaid detected an exploit at 2026-07-22 21:30 UTC targeting @AFX_XYZ, a protocol on @arbitrum. The exploit was specific to a bridge that AFX operates. Approximately 24.15M USDC has been drained thus far from the protocol.

Our team has been working with the incredible folks on… https://t.co/0Qd9ve5gPB

— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 22, 2026

Importantly, the breach was confined to AFX Trade’s own bridge implementation and did not involve Arbitrum’s native bridge infrastructure.

Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Offchain Labs (the team behind Arbitrum), quickly addressed community concerns.

He confirmed that the suspicious transaction originated from a third-party protocol and emphasized that Arbitrum’s core bridging system remained secure and uncompromised.

The Arbitrum team is actively investigating alongside affected parties.

Blockaid has been collaborating closely with Arbitrum developers and AFX Trade to manage the response, investigate the root cause, and explore options for containing or recovering the stolen assets.

On-chain observers, including PeckShield and Lookonchain, tracked the attacker’s subsequent moves: the drained USDC was rapidly bridged to Ethereum mainnet and converted into roughly 12,467 ETH at an average price near $1,937.

The funds now sit in an attacker-controlled address, a common tactic to obscure trails and hinder immediate recovery efforts.

This event underscores the persistent challenges bridges face in DeFi. These components often custody large asset pools while relying on intricate smart contract logic and cross-chain messaging, making them attractive targets.

AFX Trade’s bridge had seen growing deposits in recent weeks, rising from about $19.3 million in mid-June, which likely increased its visibility to potential adversaries.

The incident follows other recent security events on Arbitrum, such as the mid-July exploit affecting Ostium’s vault.

While no official statement from AFX Trade had appeared on its social channels shortly after the breach, users and the broader ecosystem await updates on compensation plans, enhanced security measures, or any forensic findings.

Market reactions remained relatively contained in the immediate aftermath, with minimal movement in ARB and ETH prices.

However, such exploits can erode confidence in protocol-specific infrastructure and prompt heightened scrutiny of bridge designs across Arbitrum-based projects.

Developers and users alike are reminded of the importance of rigorous audits, ongoing monitoring, and diversified risk management in decentralized trading environments.

As investigations continue, this case serves as yet another concerning reminder of the evolving threat landscape in Layer-2 DeFi. Protocols must prioritize robust, isolated security for auxiliary components like bridges to safeguard user funds and maintain ecosystem trust.

Coinbase is expanding its push into AI-powered finance, enabling businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents as part of a broader expansion of its payment, trading and developer tools.

According to a Thursday X post, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept USDC (USDC) payments from AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which Coinbase first introduced in May 2025 to enable stablecoin payments over HTTP for AI agents, applications and APIs.

The post also announced AI trading tools that let users monitor orders, access live market data, and execute actions based on predefined conditions, as well as a software development kit for developers building agent-powered applications.

Coinbase said the products are designed to support the “agentic economy,” where AI agents can make payments, manage finances and complete other tasks on behalf of users.

The company said adoption of AI agents is accelerating, noting that agent-generated traffic surpassed human traffic on its Base documentation pages for the first time last month. However, it added that the internet’s financial infrastructure was built with “one assumption: a human clicking the button,” which has left businesses, developers and users without tools designed for AI agents.

The rollout comes as companies increasingly position stablecoins and blockchain-based payments as infrastructure for AI agents, an emerging use case that several exchanges and payment companies are targeting.

Magazine: Here’s why the CLARITY Act’s ethics deal may be so hard to reach

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A recent report from CGAP, a think tank associated with the World Bank, has turned the spotlight onto the use of stablecoins in international humanitarian aid. The report, frequently discussed by prominent crypto commentator All In Crypto, features real-world cases where Stellar- and Algorand-based platforms facilitate digital cash transfers in challenging regions.

Stablecoins in humanitarian relief effortsCGAP’s research investigates whether stablecoins can assist non-profit organizations in moving money across borders, particularly when traditional correspondent banks are slow, costly, or outright inaccessible. The analysis identifies a range of technical and regulatory barriers, including high transaction fees, lack of transparency in foreign exchange rates, delays of several days in payments, and the withdrawal of banks from jurisdictions labeled high-risk.

The report notes that stablecoins transact on blockchain networks, with the choice of network directly affecting costs, speed, and service availability. Stellar is highlighted as a blockchain supporting USDC, while both Stellar and Algorand are specifically identified as preferred low-fee networks in humanitarian cash transfer programs.

Field cases: Stellar and Algorand in actionIn Sudan, the Norwegian Refugee Council used KoalaPay, a digital payments platform, to distribute USDC—a major dollar-pegged stablecoin—to local partners handling aid disbursement. According to All In Crypto’s summary, KoalaPay runs on both Stellar and Base networks, with local organizations converting USDC into Sudanese pounds before transferring money to aid recipients.

A separate Ukraine initiative, launched in December 2022, relied on Stellar’s Aid Assist platform, MoneyGram, and self-managed digital wallets. This program delivered $4.6 million to more than 2,500 households during its first two years of operation.

CGAP described how, in Ukraine, digital stablecoin payments on Stellar and integration with major remittance networks enabled fast, traceable transactions to recipients in a highly volatile market.

Meanwhile, Algorand features in the Afghanistan-based case managed by Mercy Corps and HesabPay, a platform that sent a stablecoin denominated in afghani, the local currency, to users’ wallets. HesabPay allows recipients to receive digital funds directly, even in environments with limited banking infrastructure.

Mini dictionary: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is a global partnership housed at the World Bank, focused on advancing financial inclusion in developing economies by researching digital financial services and innovative technologies.

CountryPlatformBlockchain UtilizedStablecoinImplementation PartnerReported ImpactSudanKoalaPayStellar, BaseUSDCNorwegian Refugee CouncilFunds converted to Sudanese pounds, distributed to local recipientsUkraineAid Assist, MoneyGramStellarUSDC (via wallets)Multiple partners$4.6M to 2,500 householdsAfghanistanHesabPayAlgorandAfghani-denominated stablecoinMercy CorpsDirect-to-recipient stablecoin aid deliveryChallenges remain for digital aid solutionsWhile CGAP affirms that stablecoins can enhance traceability and expand market access for cross-border aid, the report cautions that familiar hurdles remain. Currency exchange, cash withdrawal, and compliance all present continued challenges, even when on-chain transaction costs are negligible. The expense and availability of off-ramps—services that allow recipients to convert digital assets into local currency—still pose operational difficulties.

Another warning from CGAP is that direct-to-recipient models could shift foreign exchange risk, withdrawal fees, and digital literacy requirements to aid recipients. These risks are particularly significant for vulnerable populations in regions with limited access to merchant networks or digital infrastructure.

CGAP emphasizes that while blockchain-based transfers may cut transaction fees, practical access and inclusion barriers can persist in fragile environments where alternatives are scarce.

Stellar is an open-source blockchain designed for fast, low-cost cross-border payments and is widely used by financial institutions and non-profits for currency transfers. Algorand, launched in 2019, offers high-speed and scalable decentralized finance solutions and operates with a unique pure proof-of-stake protocol.

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

Today, we’re introducing Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard for Uniswap v4 that enables permissioned asset trading through Automated Market Makers (AMMs) with compliance enforced directly onchain.

Permissioned Pools were built in collaboration with leading teams bringing regulated assets onchain. Launch partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo: part of a growing set of issuers and platforms seeking compliant access to onchain markets for tokenized funds, securities, equities, and other permissioned assets.

Bringing permissioned assets to AMMs The tokenized asset market is estimated to reach $11 trillion by 2030. As more regulated assets move onchain, issuers need infrastructure that can enforce each asset’s compliance rules. Uniswap Permissioned Pools are the first generalized, open source, institutional-grade standard for trading regulated assets on an AMM. Instead of relying on a frontend gate or an offchain compliance check, the pool itself verifies whether a wallet is approved before a swap or liquidity action goes through. The issuer keeps control of the allowlist, while approved users can access onchain trading and settle through Uniswap v4.

For issuers, this opens a path to AMM liquidity and DeFi composability without giving up required controls. For approved investors, it means direct onchain trading for assets that previously couldn't trade on an AMM at all.

How Permissioned Pools work Permissioned Pools use Uniswap v4 hooks to extend the functionality of a regular pool without breaking the security and interoperability guarantees of the protocol. The particular hook implements logic that checks an issuer-managed allowlist on every swap, verifies allowlist status before a user mints an LP position, and provides support for the administration controls permissioned assets require. These checks happen at the protocol level, not on the frontend.

Behind the scenes, the design uses Uniswap v4 virtual accounting to perform all exchange calculations remotely while permissioned assets remain held in a permissioned contract. You can learn more about this mechanism in the docs.

Uniswap powers tokenized value Permissioned Pools bring a new standard for compliant trading, while the protocol itself stays permissionless. Developers and asset issuers can choose the approach that fits: deploy pools and build on v4 permissionlessly, or deploy a permissioned pool for a specific asset.

Tokenization’s next phase needs standardized market infrastructure that can handle compliance requirements, without compromising permissionless access. Permissioned Pools are the result of deep collaboration between the teams defining the standard, the teams building the compliance layer beneath it, and the issuers and assets putting it to use.

Superstate, an early design partner, helped shape the Permissioned Pool standard for tokenized equities and funds. Uniswap Labs and Securitize collaborated early on to ensure DS Protocol-issued tokens could trade compliantly onchain, laying the groundwork that Permissioned Pools now extends. Dowgo contributed the ERC-3643 integration for Permissioned Pools, and will use the standard once they receive DLT TSS authorization under the EU's DLT Pilot Regime.

With these institutions already building on the hook, Permissioned Pools lay the groundwork for the next generation of value coming onchain.

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Robinhood CEO’s official Twitter account posts suspicious messages, suspected of being hacked.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s X account was reportedly hacked, leading to an abnormal post published in the early morning that announced the launch of Robinhood Chain’s so-called "official" mascot token Vladhood (VLAD), along with the token’s contract address. The token’s contract page was later flagged as "SCAM" in the Robinhood Chain block explorer, alerting users to potential fraud risks. The post has since been removed.

4 hours ago

AMD saw a short-term drop of more than 5%, while Helios has entered full-scale production and is nearing shipment.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), AMD (AMD.O) shares have fallen to an intraday low, currently down 4.72%, after earlier rising 0.66%. AMD CEO Lisa Su just announced the launch of the Helios AI server full rack, noting that Helios has entered full-scale production and will begin shipping soon; the MI450 AI accelerator will become the industry's highest-performance AI accelerator.

4 hours ago

SpaceX has released the live stream page for its 13th Starship flight, with today’s launch probability currently reported at 64%.

According to PolyBeats' monitoring, SpaceX has just released the official live stream page for its 13th Starship flight test, which lists the live stream start time as 6:14 AM (UTC+8) on the 24th. On prediction market Polymarket, the "yes" probability for the question "Will SpaceX launch Starship today (local time 23rd)?" is currently at 64%, while the probability of a launch this month stands at 91%. Starship Flight 13 previously aborted automatically roughly 1 second before clearing the launch pad on the morning of July 17. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in its latest operational plan released today, continues to list SpaceX’s 13th Starship flight test as a scheduled task for the day. Flight 13 is now targeted for launch as early as 17:45 local time in Texas, or 06:45 Beijing time on July 24, with a 90-minute launch window extending to 08:15 Beijing time. Real-time data from Next Spaceflight shows all 19 launch preparation conditions—including rocket testing, stacking, airspace notices, and maritime warnings—have been completed, with no new technical faults or delay announcements reported to date. --------------------------------- Be among the first to glimpse the future. Follow @PolyBeats_Bot See tomorrow, today. Follow @PolyBeatsEN

4 hours ago

Citrini’s view: Bullish on AMD, bearish on NVIDIA. Coding AI is eroding NVIDIA’s competitive moat from the software side, marking the end of its CUDA moat.

Citrini analyst Jukan, citing recent core views from DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng, pointed out that AI-driven code generation and high-level programming languages like TileLang are rapidly lowering entry barriers to the CUDA ecosystem. While DeepSeek uses NVIDIA GPUs to train its V3 model, it has significantly reduced its reliance on NVIDIA’s software ecosystem via its self-developed compiler and TileLang environment. Earlier, Liang projected that porting TileLang and DeepSeek’s compiler to Huawei chips would largely resolve China’s chip ecosystem issues in about a year, with production capacity being the only remaining bottleneck. Liang quantified the China-U.S. chip gap: hardware efficiency is roughly four times lower, and there is a roughly two-year time lag. He also revealed that DeepSeek is working closely with Huawei, expecting to obtain around 16,000 Huawei AI chips, and the Huawei 950 SuperNode can replace the workloads of NVIDIA’s GB200/GB300. Analyst Jukan characterized this as "the end of CUDA’s moat" and holds a highly bearish outlook on NVIDIA. Jukan added that this line of reasoning is precisely one reason for being bullish on AMD: advances in coding AI will also naturally accelerate the development of the ROCm ecosystem, helping narrow its gap with CUDA. When AMD recently invested in Anthropic, it announced it would actively use Claude Code for chip design and software engineering. Overall, advances in AI programming tools are systematically eroding NVIDIA’s competitive barriers from the software side. China’s chip ecosystem issues will be rapidly resolved thanks to code generation capabilities, while AMD will benefit from ROCm’s accelerated growth. The CUDA moat NVIDIA relies on to retain developer loyalty is facing a two-pronged attack, and catching up in hardware efficiency and production capacity is only a matter of time.

4 hours ago

AMD: AI Accelerator Market to Reach $1.4 Trillion by 2030

AMD CEO Lisa Su stated that the AI accelerator market is projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2030. AI accelerators are specialized hardware designed for AI computing tasks such as matrix operations in deep learning, capable of processing massive parallel workloads with far higher efficiency and energy efficiency than traditional CPUs. Mainstream types include NVIDIA GPUs and custom ASICs from vendors like Broadcom, which serve as the core computing backbone driving large model training and inference.

4 hours ago

Data: Approximately 75% of BMEX tokens have never been claimed or put into circulation, with only 8% allocated at the time of listing.

On-chain visualization analytics platform Bubblemaps noted that after BitMEX announced it would officially cease operations in September, its platform token BMEX plummeted by roughly 95% today. However, per the token economics model released in 2021, 92% of BMEX tokens are locked in vesting contracts, with only 8% allocated at launch — 5% via airdrop and 3% for product and liquidity purposes. On-chain data shows the only token withdrawal occurred on November 2, 2022, when the product and liquidity address received 63.75 million BMEX. Meanwhile, approximately 75% of tokens originally earmarked for employee incentives, ecosystem growth, and long-term reserves have never been withdrawn and have never entered circulation. Bubblemaps added that this is not necessarily a violation, but per the publicly disclosed allocation plan, these large portions of tokens have indeed never been actually distributed. BlockBeats previously reported that notably, the platform’s current handling of BMEX tokens is very limited, with no additional compensation or special arrangements. The only action explicitly mentioned in BitMEX’s official shutdown announcement today is that the platform has immediately unstaked all staked BMEX tokens and returned them directly to holders’ accounts. Per BitMEX’s earlier announcement, BMEX is a pure platform utility token, not equity, debt, or an asset with promised returns. The official disclaimer states that BMEX is only used for features such as trading fee discounts and staking rewards on the BitMEX platform, does not constitute an investment, and the platform assumes no refund or exchange liability.

4 hours ago

@Uniswap has announced Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard for Uniswap v4, developed alongside real-world asset (RWA) platforms @SuperstateInc and @Securitize. The feature brings compliance enforcement directly onchain, opening the decentralized exchange's liquidity infrastructure to regulated financial instruments for the first time.

What Permissioned Pools Do Permissioned Pools enforce compliance checks and issuer-defined controls at the protocol level, rather than relying on off-chain gatekeeping. This means issuers of tokenized funds, securities, and equities can tap into Uniswap's Automated Market Maker (AMM) ecosystem while preserving the regulatory oversight required for institutional-grade assets.

The design is made possible by Uniswap v4's hooks architecture, which allows developers to attach custom logic to pool operations. Developers can innovate on top of the Uniswap Protocol's liquidity and security to create customized AMM pools through hooks that integrate with v4's smart contracts. Permissioned Pools use this mechanism to run issuer-specified policy checks on every swap and liquidity action.

Launch partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo, part of a growing set of issuers and platforms seeking compliant access to onchain markets for tokenized funds, securities, equities, and other permissioned assets.

Why It Matters for the RWA Market The timing reflects the rapid expansion of tokenized assets more broadly. By Q1 2026, rwa.xyz tracks more than $30 billion in tokenized assets across six categories, led by tokenized U.S. Treasuries and private credit. Both launch partners are central to that growth. Securitize powers a significant share of that market, including BlackRock's BUIDL fund, the largest tokenized money market product in the world. Superstate, meanwhile, partners with issuers to bring securities onchain, enabling access to new investor capital through Opening Bell for tokenized equity issuers and FundOS for asset managers launching tokenized funds.

The Uniswap collaboration addresses a long-standing tension in DeFi: permissionless liquidity pools are poorly suited to regulated assets that require know-your-customer checks, sanctions screening, and jurisdiction controls. By embedding those controls directly into the hook layer, Permissioned Pools let institutional issuers participate in onchain liquidity without compromising their compliance obligations.

For Uniswap, the move signals a deliberate push into institutional finance, where the RWA sector is drawing increasing interest from traditional asset managers and regulators alike.

Sources:
Introducing Permissioned Pools on Uniswap v4 (Investegate / FinanceWire)
Uniswap v4 Is Here (Uniswap Labs Blog)
Top RWA Tokenization Platforms in 2026 (Chainstack)

The v4 hook enforces issuer allowlists onchain at the protocol level, with Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo as launch partners.

Uniswap introduced Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard for its v4 protocol that lets regulated assets trade through automated market makers while enforcing compliance rules directly onchain, the company said in a blog post published Thursday.

Rather than relying on a frontend gate or an offchain compliance check, the pool itself verifies whether a wallet is approved before a swap or liquidity action goes through, with the issuer keeping control of the allowlist. The hook checks that allowlist on every swap and verifies status before a user mints a liquidity position, running the checks at the protocol level rather than on the frontend.

Launch partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo, issuers and platforms seeking compliant onchain access for tokenized funds, securities, equities, and other permissioned assets. Superstate, an early design partner, helped shape the standard for tokenized equities and funds, while Dowgo contributed the ERC-3643 integration.

UNI traded down 1.6% over the prior 24 hours, with a market capitalization near $2.36 billion.

Institutional-Grade StandardUniswap described Permissioned Pools as the first generalized, open source, institutional-grade standard for trading regulated assets on an AMM. That superlative comes from the company itself and has not been independently verified here.

On its official X account, Uniswap said the hook brings permissioned assets to the AMM "with compliance checks enforced at the protocol level," built in collaboration with the launch partners. Securitize, a tokenization platform, said separately that the standard "gives regulated assets access to AMM liquidity while preserving issuer-defined controls."

The move targets tokenized real-world assets, a market Uniswap cited as estimated to reach $11 trillion by 2030. For issuers, the standard opens a path to AMM liquidity without giving up required controls; for approved investors, it allows direct onchain trading of assets that previously could not trade on an AMM.

nOPAL Vault Brings Brazilian Credit OnchainAvalanche has added another real-world asset product to its growing institutional lineup. Plume Network's nOPAL vault is now live on Avalanche, offering investors onchain access to tokenized Brazilian credit card receivables issued by BlackOpal Finance.

The nOPAL vault represents a tokenized share of BlackOpal Finance's LiquidStone II Vault, which purchases future receivables derived from Brazilian credit card transactions settling through Visa and Mastercard networks. BlackOpal purchases those future receivables from merchants at a discount, with the sale registered in Brazil's Central Bank C3 Registry, and collections flow automatically through Visa and Mastercard settlement rails.

Plume Network wraps those receivables into the nOPAL vault, which users can access by depositing USDC or pUSD through Plume's Nest platform. The yield is generated by card payment settlements through Brazil's existing financial infrastructure, not crypto incentives, which sets the product apart from most onchain yield strategies.

The vault was already operational on Plume's mainnet and on Solana before expanding to Avalanche. On Plume's own mainnet, the nOPAL pool has accumulated approximately $42.7 million in total value locked, with a supply APY of around 8.4%.

Avalanche Deepens Its Institutional RWA PushThe nOPAL deployment is the latest in a string of institutional moves on Avalanche. Earlier this month, Bridgetower tokenized more than $11 billion in production-linked real-world assets on the network, including the Arizona Copper-Gold project, pushing Avalanche into the top five blockchains by net RWA inflows according to RWA.xyz.

BlackOpal Finance brings more than 25 years of credit market experience and over $200 million in institutional backing to the structure. Credit card receivables carry default risk, and Brazilian macroeconomic conditions, interest rate policy, and consumer spending patterns all feed into the quality of the underlying assets. Investors should weigh those factors before allocating.

For Avalanche, the launch adds consumer credit yield to an ecosystem that has largely centred on tokenized treasuries and money market instruments, broadening the range of institutional-grade products available onchain.

Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Avalanche hosts nOPAL vault for FX-hedged Brazilian receivables
Plume Network: nOPAL is Now Live on Pendle
Crypto News: Avalanche lands $11B Bridgetower deal as RWA assets hit $2.1B

LayerZero Labs, an interoperability protocol connecting over 170 blockchains, and Keeta, a regulated payment and settlement platform, announced a partnership to introduce tokenized commercial bank deposits on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and the Keeta Network. This collaboration aims to provide institutions with the ability to transfer regulated bank deposits seamlessly across multiple public blockchains using LayerZero’s interoperability technology.

Tokenized bank deposits roll out with multi-currency supportInstitutions will be able to issue and transfer commercial bank deposits via Bivo, a payment rail and banking network provider, onto several blockchain networks. Initially, these tokenized assets will be backed by U.S. dollars, with support for eight additional currencies—including EUR, JPY, CNY, GBP, CAD, MXN, AED, and HKD—expected by the end of the month. Unlike traditional reserve-backed stablecoins, each token will represent money held directly as a commercial bank deposit through Bivo, linking regulated finance to decentralized infrastructure.

Mini dictionary: Bivo, a payment platform and partner-bank network, bridges commercial bank deposits into blockchain tokens for payment and treasury solutions.

The platform is designed to help institutions conduct payments and manage treasury operations across networks without managing separate token versions or maintaining isolated balances. With LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard, tokens sent from one blockchain are burned and new tokens are minted on the destination chain, keeping supply consistent and removing the need for wrapped assets or external liquidity pools.

CurrencyNetwork AvailabilityUSDPlannedEURPlannedJPYPlannedCNYPlannedGBPPlannedCADPlannedMXNPlannedAEDPlannedHKDPlannedLayerZero has stated that the platform’s OFT framework allows companies to track total supply directly at the contract level across blockchains, ensuring assets are never duplicated and reducing operational complexity.

Issuer controls and security take center stageKeeta allows issuing institutions to set key operating rules for the tokens, including compliance checks, verification settings, transfer limits, and other regulatory safeguards. Such features are considered essential for commercial bank money, given strict legal and operational responsibilities. LayerZero’s infrastructure manages the cross-chain settlement, but issuers retain decision-making authority over how tokens are issued and used.

Keeta stated that a recent public stress test, conducted with assistance from Google’s Spanner engineering team, reached 11.2 million transactions per second on its dedicated blockchain network. This test showcased the system’s technical capacity but did not directly address adoption by banks or treasury institutions.

Mini dictionary: Keeta is an institutional payments and settlement network seeking to bridge regulated banking infrastructure with public blockchain environments.

Bivo’s involvement allows direct on-chain representation of assets held in regulated financial channels, offering a banking foundation rather than relying on crypto-native reserves. This arrangement also grants participating institutions control throughout the entire transfer process, potentially addressing concerns about fragmented liquidity and inconsistent versions of tokenized assets.

Despite technical advances, the companies have not disclosed forecasted transaction volumes, specific banks participating, or committed institutional partners. Future adoption will depend on market demand and how security settings are configured.

Security concerns and institutional adoption remain unresolvedQuestions about adoption persist as neither LayerZero nor Keeta have named banks or provided estimates for usage or transaction volume. Institutional appetite is expected to be influenced by both regulatory frameworks and risk management settings in the infrastructure.

Closer attention to security has followed recent incidents, such as the April 18 KelpDAO exploit, which resulted in attackers draining 116,500 rsETH valued at $292 million. The breach exposed weaknesses in a single-verified protocol setup, prompting LayerZero to discontinue support for the vulnerable configuration and raise default security standards for future deployments. Success of the Keeta rollout may depend on how clients adapt these new default controls.

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.

Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato has launched regulated crypto trading through an integration with digital asset bank Sygnum and banking software provider Avaloq.

The service allows BancaStato clients to buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana directly through the bank’s existing web and mobile banking applications, according to an announcement Thursday.

Clients can place market orders based on either the quantity of crypto they want to purchase or its value in US dollars. Transactions are executed through Sygnum’s business banking API within BancaStato’s Avaloq infrastructure.

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The integration does not require a separate order management system, which Sygnum said reduces operating costs and complexity while allowing trading features to be adjusted to support the bank’s risk management requirements.

BancaStato is the first bank using Avaloq’s software as a service environment to let clients trade crypto directly through Sygnum’s API, the companies said. The bank joins more than 25 banks and international financial institutions using Sygnum’s business banking platform.

Client assets will be stored through Sygnum’s custody infrastructure, which uses hardware and software controls, governance procedures, and external audits. The assets are held off BancaStato’s balance sheet, providing additional protection if the bank enters bankruptcy proceedings.

Founded in 1915, BancaStato serves customers across the Swiss canton of Ticino. The integration allows clients to view and manage their traditional investments and digital assets through the same banking platform.

The launch follows Sygnum Europe’s receipt of a crypto asset service provider license in Liechtenstein on June 30 under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets framework. The authorization allows Sygnum to provide regulated digital asset infrastructure to banks across the European Union.

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

Solana’s memecoin trenches are showing signs of renewed activity, with dormant traders returning, memecoin volumes climbing, and newly launched tokens attracting significant speculative interest.

The number of dormant wallets returning to Solana DEXs surged to 62,000 last week, an increase of more than 400% from the previous week. The figure marked the highest level of returning users in more than a year.

Memecoins also generated more than $2 billion in spot trading volume last week, accounting for roughly 19% of Solana’s total spot volume. Data from Blockworks shows Solana DEXs recorded approximately $10.6 billion in total spot volume, with memecoins contributing about $2.06 billion.

The renewed activity comes even as $SOL itself faces broader market pressure, suggesting traders are still willing to take on risk in specific corners of the ecosystem.

Pump.fun Overtakes Hyperliquid in Daily Revenue The resurgence has arguably benefited pump.fun the most. The Solana-based launchpad generated approximately $1.21 million in 24-hour revenue, surpassing Hyperliquid at roughly $1.03 million over the same period.

Pump.fun continues to attract fresh trading volume with each viral launch.

$JIMOTHY Hits $46.4M as Viral Raccoon Goes Viral One of the clearest examples of the renewed speculation is $JIMOTHY, a memecoin inspired by an unusually shaped raccoon that recently went viral online.

$JIMOTHY reached an all-time-high market cap of $46.4 million yesterday, July 22, before retreating. The token currently trades at around a $29 million market cap.

Jimothy, the raccoon behind the token, became an internet sensation after Kiana Hall spotted the animal in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood on July 13. Experts believe the raccoon may have a rare congenital spine condition that gives it a distinctive short, round body, although it otherwise appears healthy.

Hall recorded the raccoon and posted the clip online, where it quickly attracted millions of views.

Anonymous developers capitalized on that viral attention by launching $JIMOTHY on Pump.fun last week. The token gained visibility through Pump.fun’s trending page before the platform’s official X account reposted it.

$KET and $ANSEM Highlight Broader Memecoin Rally $KET has also emerged as another notable mover in Solana’s renewed memecoin activity. The token climbed to an all-time-high market capitalization of approximately $15 million before retracing to around $8.39 million. Meanwhile, $ANSEM has sustained its traction since its launch “revived’ the trenches, with the token currently trading at a $169 million valuation. Although $ANSEM is a KOL-affiliated token, the return of animal-related memecoins suggests risk-taker trenchers/traders have returned to Solana.

The renewed activity reflects the role memecoins continue to play in driving Solana usage. Speaking to SolanaFloor at Breakpoint 2025, Solana Policy Institute President Kristen Smith argued that “Solana is the most used network in the world because of memecoins.”

Whether that activity develops into a sustained memecoin cycle will depend on whether returning traders remain active after the latest wave of viral launches fades.

Read More on SolanaFloor SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Warns DeFi Vaults are not Exempt From Securities Laws
Senate Republicans Release New Draft of CLARITY Act Banning Federal Officials From Issuing Digital Assets

What's Next For Crypto If CLARITY Fails?

62K dormant wallets return as memecoins capture $2B in volume on Solana

The TRX price continues to hold one of the strongest long-term uptrends in the crypto market, and fresh network data suggests the fundamentals haven’t weakened yet. While many large-cap altcoins are still struggling to reclaim momentum, Loading profile preview is quietly expanding its dominance in stablecoin transfers and user activity, giving traders another reason to watch the chart closely.

Stablecoin Network Keeps Expanding FurtherToday’s update from TRON highlighted how dominant the network has become for stablecoin payments.

As of June 30, nearly 93% of stablecoin transfer volume on TRON came from peer-to-peer transactions, underscoring the network’s role as a payment infrastructure rather than just a speculative blockchain. Meanwhile, TRON’s share of native USDT transfers below $1,000 increased from 43% to 52%, showing growing usage for smaller everyday transactions.

That trend matters. More peer-to-peer activity generally reflects broader utility rather than isolated whale transfers, suggesting network demand continues to broaden.

User Growth Keeps Pace With SolanaOnchain data highlights TRX network activity telling a similar story. Per data, TRON reported an average of roughly 3.5 million daily active users, putting it well ahead of Ethereum’s 532,000 while remaining close to Solana’s 3.8 million users.

Although user count alone doesn’t determine value, maintaining activity at this scale indicates that TRON continues attracting consistent on-chain participation as competition among Layer-1 networks intensifies.

TRX Technical Structure Still Favors BuyersThe TRX price action also remains constructive. Since mid-2025, the CMF has stayed above the zero line, indicating persistent capital inflows while helping TRX defend the $0.2650 support zone. The rally eventually reached $0.3745 in May 2026, and the broader weekly trend remains intact.

Momentum indicators including the MACD and Awesome Oscillator also remain above their respective zero lines, while TRX continues trading comfortably above its 20-week EMA near $0.3265.

If buying momentum continues alongside improving network activity, TRX price could attempt a move toward $0.4265 before challenging the $0.45 area. However, losing the current trend structure would likely delay that scenario despite the improving ecosystem metrics.

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Tokenized equities deposited as collateral in Solana-based lending protocols have reached a new all-time high, crossing the $53 million mark.

The milestone signals a broader shift in how tokenized real-world assets are being used in decentralized finance. Instead of just sitting in wallets as synthetic exposure to stocks and ETFs, these tokens are now being put to work as collateral, letting holders borrow stablecoins like USDC without selling their positions.

Where the deposits are landing Two platforms are eating most of this market. Kamino Finance accounts for over $31 million of the total collateral, making it the dominant player by a wide margin. Jupiter Lend picks up approximately $20 million, rounding out the bulk of the activity.

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The lending mechanism itself works the way you’d expect. Users deposit tokenized versions of stocks or ETFs into these protocols, and in return, they can borrow stablecoins against that collateral.

Chainlink Data Streams provide sub-second pricing to keep the whole system from blowing up. The oracles use price band mechanisms to ensure that collateral valuations stay accurate around the clock, which matters quite a bit when you’re lending against assets that traditionally only trade during market hours.

Solana’s quiet monopoly on tokenized equity trading During Q2 2026, Solana captured roughly 96-97% of global on-chain tokenized equities spot trading volume. Total tokenized asset trading volume on Solana hit $5.8 billion for the quarter.

The broader real-world asset ecosystem on Solana has now surpassed $3.4 billion in total value. Platforms like Backed Finance have helped drive adoption by issuing compliant tokenized stock products, giving institutional and retail users a regulated on-ramp to put traditional equities on-chain.

Why borrowing against your stocks on-chain matters The $53 million figure represents genuine borrower demand for liquidity against equity holdings. Users want to maintain their stock exposure while still accessing capital. Selling would trigger taxable events or force them out of positions they believe in. Borrowing lets them have it both ways.

The risk side deserves attention too. Tokenized equities introduce dependencies that pure crypto collateral doesn’t: corporate actions, stock splits, dividend distributions, and regulatory changes in the underlying securities markets.

There’s also the oracle question. Sub-second pricing from Chainlink is impressive, but tokenized equities create an unusual challenge. Traditional stock markets close on weekends and holidays. If a geopolitical event moves equity prices over a weekend, the gap between Friday’s close and Monday’s open could create liquidation cascades in 24/7 lending markets before accurate prices are even available. The price band mechanisms are designed to handle this, but they haven’t been stress-tested by a genuine black swan event yet.

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

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The line between sovereign wealth and onchain finance just got thinner. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of the emirate’s sovereign wealth fund, has tokenized one of its private market funds using KAIO, a tokenization platform. Coinbase has taken a strategic stake in the onchain vehicle, according to the original report. The fund will be deployed across three distinct networks: Base, Solana, and Sui.

Mubadala manages north of $280 billion in assets, and its entry into tokenization is not a small pilot. Choosing three blockchains from the start signals a clear operational preference for infrastructure redundancy over picking a single winner. For an institution of this size, multi-chain deployment is as much about liquidity access as it is about technical insurance.

A Multi-Chain Platform Approach The decision to distribute the fund across Base, Solana, and Sui covers very different network philosophies. Base, as Coinbase’s own layer-2 on Ethereum, offers a direct line to the largest pool of decentralized finance activity and the exchange’s settlement rails. Solana brings speed and a deep order book for high-throughput asset movement. Sui adds a parallel processing architecture that has been attracting institutional staking and fintech integrations at a rapid clip.

Sui’s recent traction includes a Nasdaq-listed staking firm and a major payment partnership, as detailed in a recent market analysis. Combined with the developer momentum tracked among leading blockchains, the network choices here are not random. They map to where liquidity flows are becoming stickier and where institutional tooling is most mature.

Coinbase’s Strategic Stake Coinbase taking an equity position in the tokenized vehicle adds another layer. The company is no longer merely the exchange that lists assets or the provider of a custodial wallet. Through Base and now selective fund-level stakes, it is positioning as a core infrastructure partner for the tokenization of traditional private markets. This mirrors the strategy visible in the broader adoption of real-world assets, where the total value locked onchain recently crossed $20 billion, a threshold tracked in a recent weekly tokenization roundup.

For Mubadala, the Coinbase link provides a path to eventual secondary liquidity and regulated settlement. For Coinbase, the deal locks in a relationship with a sovereign-backed allocator that could scale far beyond a single fund. The stake aligns incentives without demanding full exclusivity, which is why the multi-chain deployment still makes sense.

The Institutional Tokenization Wave Gathers Pace This move comes as tokenization transitions from proof-of-concept to production across the industry. Apart from the headline $20 billion milestone, recent weeks have seen Bullish acquire Equiniti for $4.2 billion in a tokenization-focused deal and Ondo Finance run the first live tokenized Treasury settlement with JPMorgan. Mubadala’s entry is a sovereign-grade signal, and it arrives at a moment when the plumbing is finally in place.

What remains uncertain is how the tokenized fund will operate within existing regulatory frameworks. Mubadala’s private market fund structure may limit secondary trading, and the tokenization could be more about operational efficiency than public liquidity. Whether the onchain wrapper provides seamless settlement or merely a proof-of-concept will become clearer once the fund’s design details emerge. For now, the move reshapes the conversation around who builds the bridges between traditional capital and blockchain settlement layers.

Developer activity on the chosen networks also provides context for long-term viability. Networks that maintain high developer engagement tend to sustain the tooling and security standards that institutional clients demand. A glance at the latest rankings, such as those covered in a review of top blockchains by developer activity, shows Solana and Sui rising through the ranks alongside Ethereum’s layer-2s. The institutional push is not happening in a vacuum; it is riding on a wave of sustained builder momentum.

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Nicholas Otieno is a fintech writer specializing in cryptocurrency markets. Since 2019, he has written articles to educate readers about cryptocurrency and its substantial positive impact on global prosperity. Nicholas is a Bitcoin holder, believing firmly in its fundamentals. His work has been featured in publications such as Finance Magnates, Blockchain.News, Bitcoin Magazine, Coincub, and among others. When he's not writing, Nicholas enjoys performing domestic tasks, spending time with friends, listening to music, and watching football.

Bitcoin Collateral Meets Institutional Credit@Lombard_Finance has launched its Bitcoin Onchain Credit Strategy, opening a new route for institutional players to access stablecoin liquidity using Bitcoin as collateral. The product lets $LBTC and native $BTC holders earn fixed premiums by providing collateral that backs institutional stablecoin credit facilities. The strategy gives regulated firms a way to post Bitcoin as collateral and borrow stablecoins through a private underwriting structure on Cap, an automated credit marketplace.

The strategy uses @Chainlink CCIP to accept $BTC.b deposits from @Avax into a vault operating on Ethereum, reducing the need for investors to manually bridge, exchange, or reissue their Bitcoin-linked assets before entering the strategy. Lombard had already selected CCIP as the exclusive interoperability system for more than $1 billion of Bitcoin-backed assets, including $LBTC and BTC.b.

Flow Traders Steps Onchain as Inaugural CounterpartyFlow Traders, one of the more recognizable names in institutional digital asset trading, serves as the pilot partner for the rollout. Established in 2004, Flow Traders is a leading multi-asset market maker and liquidity provider that has been publicly listed on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange since 2015. The firm handles billions of dollars in daily trading volume and is one of the main market makers in ETFs, ETPs, equities, fixed income, commodities, and crypto.

The partnership allows a regulated institution to access decentralized capital in a functional, traceable, and automatically secured manner, marking a real shift as institutions move from viewing DeFi from the outside to using it for concrete financial operations.

Founded in 2024, Lombard pioneered Bitcoin's integration into DeFi with $LBTC, the leading yield-bearing Bitcoin asset secured by a consortium of 14 digital asset institutions. LBTC reached $1 billion in TVL in just 92 days and became the first Bitcoin LST trusted by blue-chip protocols including Aave, Spark, and EigenLayer. The protocol operates across Ethereum, Base, and Solana, which matters because institutional allocators increasingly want cross-chain exposure without managing the operational complexity of bridging assets themselves.

Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Lombard Finance launches Bitcoin onchain credit strategy with Flow Traders
AlexaBlockchain: Lombard Opens Bitcoin-Backed Credit Vault With Flow Traders as First Borrower
Lombard Finance: Lombard and Chainlink Partner to Set the Industry Standard for Bitcoin in DeFi

Key Takeaways Alphabet shares plummeted 7% Thursday following the company’s first-ever quarterly negative free cash flow of -$5.9 billion. Management increased its 2026 AI infrastructure spending outlook by $15 billion, now projecting $195 billion to $205 billion. Second-quarter revenue climbed 24% year-over-year to $119.8 billion, while Google Cloud revenue skyrocketed 82% to $24.8 billion. The tech giant secured $85 billion through debt and equity offerings in June to finance AI expenditures through 2027. Market analysts remain divided — some view the decline as an attractive entry point, while others caution about mounting capital demands. Alphabet delivered impressive second-quarter results — yet its shares tumbled 7%. That was Thursday’s paradox on Wall Street.

Alphabet Inc., GOOGL

GOOGL shares declined to as low as $314.91, trading around $316.99 by mid-morning hours, marking what could be the company’s biggest single-session market capitalization decline ever, based on Dow Jones Market Data. The stock led losses in the Dow Jones Industrial Average during Thursday’s session.

The quarterly performance itself was undeniably strong. The company generated $119.8 billion in revenue, representing 24% growth compared to the prior year. Google Cloud posted an extraordinary 82% surge to $24.8 billion. Cloud operating margins nearly doubled, reaching 35.6%. Search revenue increased 17%. Every major metric exceeded Wall Street expectations.

What triggered the sharp decline?

Alphabet Records First-Ever Negative Free Cash Flow The metric that spooked the market was free cash flow: a negative $5.9 billion for the second quarter. This marks an unprecedented milestone for Alphabet — its first quarterly negative free cash flow reading in company history, based on LSEG data.

Simultaneously, executives boosted their full-year capital expenditure forecast by $15 billion, establishing a new range of $195 billion to $205 billion. The company anticipates even greater spending throughout 2027.

Alphabet completed an $85 billion capital raise through combined debt and equity offerings in June, earmarked exclusively for its AI infrastructure expansion through 2026 and 2027. That represents substantial capital outflows.

“GOOGL serves as the primary example for exercising caution with hyperscalers,” noted Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes. He suggested that free cash flow might remain in negative territory through 2027, and projected continued debt and equity issuances ahead.

The anxiety extends beyond spending magnitude — it centers on investment returns. Can Alphabet monetize this infrastructure buildout quickly enough to justify the expenditure?

Wall Street Remains Divided on Outlook Not every analyst is turning bearish.

J.P. Morgan’s Doug Anmuth reduced his price target from $460 to $420 while maintaining an Overweight rating. He stated his team “would be buyers of Google on the pullback,” highlighting accelerating Cloud infrastructure deployment and robust demand indicators.

Roth Capital’s Rohit Kulkarni similarly recommended “buy on weakness,” while recognizing mounting questions about sustained capital requirements needed to maintain Google’s AI competitiveness.

Morgan Stanley’s Brian Nowak highlighted Alphabet’s “disciplined budgeting” approach and noted management’s increased optimism compared to twelve months ago regarding AI prospects across both enterprise and consumer segments.

The demand environment validates the aggressive spending. Close to 500 enterprise Gemini AI customers each processed more than one trillion tokens over the past twelve months. The Cloud backlog totals $514 billion. Alphabet has even leased third-party computing capacity from SpaceX to address immediate capacity constraints.

The forward price-to-earnings ratio stands at 21.3x — relatively modest for a company achieving 24% revenue growth.

Alphabet’s 52-week trading range spans from $187.82 to $408.61. Thursday’s selloff returned the stock to price levels last seen in mid-April.

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Shiba Inu's layer 2 blockchain, Shibarium, saw a 74% increase in transactions in the last 24 hours while the wider Shiba Inu ecosystem was quiet. According to Shibarium Scan data, Shibarium's daily transaction count surged from 661 on July 21 to 1,151 on July 22, a 74% increase. While the jump is small, it is nevertheless significant as the SHIB price awaits a bullish market catalyst. 

The crypto market is consolidating on Thursday, with the majority of crypto assets, including SHIB, in the red. At the time of writing, SHIB was down 1.54% in the last 24 hours to $0.000004166 and is about to erase weekly gains, up just 0.51% in the last seven days. Shiba Inu is down 23% so far in July, marking negative weekly closes in the month. 

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The current price action reflects a market catching its breath. After failing to surpass $0.0000043, the path of least resistance for Shiba Inu in the short term appears to be sideways rather than sharply in either direction.

Market awaits catalystIn a recent analysis, Santiment noted that large cap crypto volumes have been consistently fading since July 2024, with trading activity now sitting near its weakest average levels in two years.  

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According to Santiment, this isn't just boredom, but it reflects a market where many traders have stopped rotating aggressively after repeated sell-offs, weaker spot demand, and lower confidence in altcoin follow-through.

 The decline in interest might be justified given that macro pressure has stayed heavy, risk appetite cautious, and traders less eager to chase. When the crowd avoids aggressive altcoin bets, volumes dry up and then social energy usually follows.

For future market values, low volume might have two implications: first, it can make rallies easier to fade when demand is missing. Second, it might lead to a cleaner setup being formed once sellers are exhausted. In this scenario, a modest return of spot buying can move prices faster when liquidity is thin.

Wallets with tiny balances make up the clear majority of the holder base.

The most recent data show that the self-proclaimed Dogecoin killer has almost 1.7 million holders. However, less than 1,000 wallets own the vast majority of the supply: a concentration hard to ignore and which raises eyebrows.

Shiba Inu’s price has been in a major decline over the past several months, yet some analysts believe a rebound could be on the way while certain factors support their bullish outlook.

How Many Whales and Shrimps? Earlier this month, the total number of SHIB addresses reached an all-time high of 1,676,535 after a sudden one-day increase of 75,000 new holders. The figure kept climbing and currently stands at 1,678,502.

According to Etherscan, nearly a million of those are investors known as shrimps: wallets holding up to $10 worth of the meme coin. The second-largest group is crabs (477,871), who own between $10 and $100 in SHIB. Coming up next are fish, dolphins, and sharks.

Interestingly enough, there are only 703 whales (addresses that hold more than $100K worth of the token each). They make up only 0.04% of the total figure but control staggering 94.5% of Shiba Inu’s supply.

Such an extreme concentration means that theoretically a small group of investors could move the market with their actions. A coordinated sell-off, for instance, could lead to a substantial price crash, while sudden accumulation might have the opposite effect.

SHIB at a ‘Critical Stage’ As of press time, the token is worth around $0.000004235 (per CoinGecko), translating into a massive 72% decline on a yearly scale. X user CRYPTO SHERIFF noted that the asset has been consolidating below a 5-year downtrend, arguing that it is in “a critical stage” which could actually be a precursor to a huge pump.

“There is an unwritten rule in crypto: the longer the consolidation lasts, the bigger the breakout! SHIB is at a critical stage! Unless there is a market downturn in the coming days, we could see a new rally for SHIB,” they stated.

The declining amount of tokens stored on exchanges reinforces the bullish scenario. According to CryptoQuant, there are now approximately 86.2 trillion SHIB held on centralized platforms, a new five-year low that typically reduces immediate selling pressure.

SHIB Exchange Reserve, Source: CryptoQuant At the same time, there are some warning signs. X user SHIBMortal said that analysts have spotted a 91% match between SHIB’s recent performance and the 2023 bearish pattern, which could lead to a 20% drop to the $0.0000032–$0.0000033 range.

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New York, NY, United States, July 23rd, 2026, Chainwire

Q2 Ecosystem Report highlights institutional partnerships, ecosystem growth, and infrastructure milestones ahead of Bitcoin Staking’s Q3 launch.

Stacks (STX) today published its Q2 2026 Ecosystem Report, outlining progress toward launching Bitcoin Staking and expanding the infrastructure needed to make Bitcoin a productive capital asset. Cumulative Stacks users surpassed 1.6 million during the quarter, an 8.0% increase quarter over quarter, while new wallet creation rose nearly 53%, from 72,000 in Q1 to 110,000 in Q2.

The report highlights a quarter of steady execution. Stacks built and deployed PoX-5, the on-chain mechanism powering Bitcoin Staking, first to a private testnet for institutional partners and later to public testnet, where it is now undergoing audit ahead of mainnet launch. The quarter also marked two major institutional partnerships. Fireblocks, which facilitates the transfer and storage of more than $10 trillion in digital assets globally, joined as the institutional custody infrastructure partner, while UTXO Management – the Bitcoin-native asset management subsidiary of Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA) – became the inaugural Bitcoin Staking launch partner. Alongside this, the Bitcoin-native finance ecosystem continued to grow, and the Endowment expanded its grant and Foundry programs to support new builders.

“Bitcoin has spent years establishing itself as an asset. The next chapter is making that asset productive, and Stacks made strong progress on that front in Q2 2026,” said Alex Miller, CEO of Stacks Labs. “Our thesis is clear: Stacks is the place where Bitcoin becomes productive capital. The quarter ahead is an important one for the broader Stacks ecosystem, and we are determined to capture a larger share of the Bitcoin sitting idle today.” 

Among the report’s highlights:

Bitcoin Staking advanced toward launch, with PoX-5 built, deployed to private and public testnet, and now in audit ahead of mainnet in Q3. Fireblocks and UTXO Management joined as institutional partners, expanding the custody and asset-management infrastructure required for institutional participation. Zest Protocol had its biggest quarter to date: the ZEST token launched via Binance Alpha on May 19, reaching a $200 million fully diluted valuation (FDV) within hours while ranking No. 1 trending on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap. Zest remains the top DeFi protocol on Stacks, with $70M in TVL and over 800 sBTC deposited. Stacking DAO reached an all-time high of 110M STX in TVL and announced stBTC, the first Bitcoin liquid staking token on Stacks, now in audit and targeting an August launch. BitFlow surpassed $5 billion in cumulative transaction volume and $575M in swap volume, grew to 29,677 cumulative users, and delivered an estimated average 17.9% Bitcoin APY across its two primary sBTC pools over the past 30 days. Hermetica saw continued allocator demand for BTC yield, with hBTC reaching 75 BTC in TVL and its latest capped allocation filling within 24 hours, while USDh averaged 8% APY over the quarter as Hermetica advanced its STRC integration. Network and protocol development continued, with three stable mainnet node releases and ongoing security hardening through the Immunefi bug bounty program. The Stacks Endowment expanded strategic ecosystem investment through grants and the Foundry program, completing its first Validate cohort (60 participating teams, 25 advancing toward grant applications) and preparing the next program, Onboard. The report also outlines Stacks’ priorities for Q3, including the launch of Bitcoin Staking, expansion of the liquid staking ecosystem through stBTC, onboarding additional institutional participants, and continued investment in founders building Bitcoin-native financial applications.

Read the full Q2 2026 Stacks Ecosystem Report.

About Stacks

Stacks is growing Bitcoin by turning idle Bitcoin into productive capital. The network enables self-custodial Bitcoin yield and a growing ecosystem of Bitcoin-native financial applications that settle on Bitcoin. Learn more at stacks.co.

Ondo Finance tokenized equities are now officially within reach for American retail and institutional investors. On July 23, 2026, Ondo Finance announced that Oasis Pro Markets, its SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, has secured new FINRA authorizations to offer a broad range of Ondo Finance tokenized equities and funds to U.S. investors under full SEC and FINRA oversight.

What the Ondo’s Oasis Pro FINRA Authorization Actually Unlocks The new authorizations allow Oasis Pro Markets to offer U.S. investors market access to NMS equities, ETFs, mutual funds, index funds, and IPO securities.

Ondo Finance announced the development via its official X account. The settlement can happen in fiat or supported stablecoins, including directly between blockchain wallets.

Ondo Finance’s SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, Oasis Pro Markets, has secured regulatory authorization to offer tokenized equities and funds to U.S. investors under SEC and FINRA oversight.

Hundreds of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of U.S. financial… pic.twitter.com/zz57NJcdEu

— Ondo Finance (@Ondo) July 23, 2026

The framework also supports omnibus account structures. That means existing broker-dealers and registered investment advisers can plug in directly, letting their clients access Ondo Finance tokenized equities without switching platforms. Retirement accounts are included too.

This builds directly on Ondo’s Oasis Pro acquisition, which brought SEC-registered broker-dealer, ATS, and transfer agent licenses under one roof.

Oasis Pro TA, the transfer agent arm, also enables on-chain cap table management, shareholder rights, and cross-asset collateral mobility.

Following its earlier tokenization of BlackRock’s IVV ETF and Micron shares entirely inside the U.S. regulatory perimeter, this FINRA authorization is the logical next step.

Ondo already leads the RWA tokenization space with more than $20 billion in cumulative volume and over $1 billion in TVL.

At the time of writing, ONDO is trading at $0.40, down 3.14% in the past 24 hours despite a 2.35% gain over the past seven days.

The token’s 24-hour trading volume stands at roughly $126.4 million, with a market cap of approximately $1.95 billion on a circulating supply of 4.9 billion ONDO.

Coingecko Ondo Price Why This Is a Turning Point for U.S. Tokenized Securities Until now, Ondo’s strongest traction was outside the U.S. The firm secured EU approvals, expanded across multiple chains, and even added BlackRock’s IBIT and Galaxy Digital offerings to its suite.

The U.S. market, however, remained largely out of reach due to regulatory friction.

That gap is now closing. With FINRA authorization in hand, Ondo can bring 24/7 trading, near-instant settlement, and fractional ownership to hundreds of millions of American investors, the same product set it already offers globally.

The regulatory path here matters too. The SEC closed its Ondo probe with no charges, a clearance that signaled confidence in the model.

SBI Group recently tapped Ondo for tokenization expansion, and Ondo’s tokenized STRC stock launch in May 2026 added further momentum.

Each regulatory milestone has reinforced the same thesis: Ondo is building the infrastructure layer for Wall Street to go onchain.

Stay updated with our crypto ICOs calendar featuring the most popular initial coin offerings.

Ondo Finance has secured FINRA authorizations covering tokenized NMS stocks, exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, index funds and IPO securities for U.S. investors.

Summary

Oasis Pro secured FINRA permissions for tokenized stocks, funds and IPO securities in the U.S. The framework supports stablecoin settlement and access through brokers, advisers and retirement accounts. ONDO faces resistance near $0.42 while holding above all four major moving averages. Ondo Finance announced on July 23 that its SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, Oasis Pro Markets, had received the permissions needed to launch regulated tokenized securities services under SEC and FINRA oversight.

Ondo Finance’s SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, Oasis Pro Markets, has secured regulatory authorization to offer tokenized equities and funds to U.S. investors under SEC and FINRA oversight.

Hundreds of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of U.S. financial… pic.twitter.com/zz57NJcdEu

— Ondo Finance (@Ondo) July 23, 2026 According to the company, the authorizations cover over-the-counter retail transactions, underwritten primary offerings, private placements and other securities activities. Oasis Pro Markets can also operate a venue where U.S. issuers conduct primary offerings and eligible retail and institutional investors trade the resulting assets in secondary markets.

The approved framework supports settlement in fiat currencies or selected stablecoins, including transfers made directly between blockchain wallets, Ondo said. Supported products include National Market System equities, ETFs, mutual funds, index funds and securities issued through initial public offerings.

Oasis Pro Markets may also use omnibus account structures, allowing broker-dealers and registered investment advisers to connect their existing systems. Ondo said the arrangement could give institutional clients, retail investors and retirement accounts access through their current financial providers, reducing the need to open accounts on a separate platform.

The company cautioned that FINRA membership and SEC registration do not guarantee compliance with every rule. Neither regulator has recommended the products, approved them as investments or verified Ondo’s announcement, according to the disclaimer accompanying the release.

Authorization opens regulated U.S. distribution Completed in October 2025, Ondo’s acquisition of Oasis Pro brought an SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system and transfer agent into the group. Oasis Pro Markets has been a FINRA member since 2020 and previously received authorization to settle digital securities using fiat, USDC and DAI, according to Ondo’s acquisition announcement.

Through Oasis Pro TA, the group can manage capitalization tables onchain while administering shareholder rights and transfers. Ondo said the transfer-agent unit also supports movement of collateral across asset types, giving the company regulated infrastructure for both issuing and servicing tokenized securities.

Earlier in July, Ondo introduced tokenized versions of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and Micron shares in partnership with Broadridge. Under the structure described by Ondo, the underlying securities remain within the established U.S. custody system while corresponding tokens are issued on Ethereum and held by regulated custodians.

The model follows a third-party custodial structure discussed by the SEC in January 2026. Ondo said each token is backed one-for-one by the underlying shares and carries the same shareholder rights and protections, including voting rights handled through Broadridge.

Before this U.S. rollout, Ondo Stocks mainly served eligible investors outside the country. The platform’s current terms still state that its existing Ondo Stocks tokens cannot be offered to U.S. persons unless they are registered or qualify for an exemption, meaning the new authorizations provide infrastructure for compliant U.S. services rather than automatically removing every product restriction.

Ondo reported in early 2026 that its tokenized products had exceeded $2.5 billion in total value locked, citing RWA.xyz and DefiLlama. At the time, the company said Ondo Stocks had generated more than $7 billion in cumulative trading volume across over 200 tokenized stocks, while its tokenized Treasury products accounted for about $2 billion in value.

Regulatory uncertainty had previously limited Ondo’s U.S. plans. In December 2025, the company reported that the SEC had closed a confidential, multi-year investigation without filing charges, although the closure did not amount to formal approval of Ondo’s products.

Ondo (ONDO) price traded near $0.40 at the time of analysis after falling roughly 3% over 24 hours, while its 7-day performance remained positive. Its market cap stood near $1.94 billion, based on a circulating supply of about 4.9 billion tokens, with daily volume above $130 million.

On the supplied Binance daily chart, ONDO rose as high as $0.4162 before retreating to about $0.398. The rejection places initial resistance between $0.416 and $0.42, where sellers interrupted the latest advance.

Ondo price daily chart — July 24 | Source: crypto.news Despite the pullback, the chart shows ONDO trading above its four displayed moving averages. The 20-day average stands near $0.343, followed by the 50-day at $0.3465, the 100-day at $0.3409 and the 200-day at $0.3156.

Aroon readings also favor the recent advance, with Aroon Up at 92.86% compared with Aroon Down at 35.71%. Based on the chart, a daily close above $0.42 would clear the latest swing high, while failure to hold $0.38 could expose the moving-average cluster between $0.341 and $0.347.

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

New EU Sanctions Make Crypto Harder for Russian Users

Ripple has introduced Ripple Mint, a new enterprise platform designed to streamline the minting, management, and redemption of its US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, for institutional clients. The launch aims to provide large-scale financial players with seamless access to RLUSD, enhanced automation tools, and broader blockchain interoperability.

Ripple Mint offers unified stablecoin managementAccording to Ripple, Ripple Mint enables institutional users to access RLUSD through both an intuitive web dashboard and a robust set of APIs. Institutions may manually manage RLUSD balances, carry out minting and redemption transactions, or integrate directly into their backend systems to automate treasury and settlement workflows.

This unified platform is intended to replace previously fragmented and manual processes often used by exchanges, fintech companies, payment providers, market makers, and asset managers engaged with stablecoins. With Ripple Mint, these participants can directly issue and redeem RLUSD, oversee real-time transactions, and bridge assets across supported blockchain networks.

Ripple’s solution also facilitates integration of RLUSD management into key business operations, including treasury, compliance, settlement, and accounting systems.

Ripple stated that Ripple Mint introduces advanced APIs and real-time webhook notifications, giving institutions end-to-end visibility throughout the minting and redemption lifecycle.

The company explained that unified reference IDs are available within the platform to track fiat deposits, mint requests, on-chain settlements, and redemption payouts, a move designed to simplify reconciliation and reduce operational complexity for enterprise clients.

Broader blockchain access for RLUSDRipple has extended RLUSD’s reach beyond its existing blockchains by supporting minting and redemption on Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain, and the XRP Ledger EVM Sidechain. This step is expected to give institutions more flexibility in accessing decentralized finance, cross-border payment infrastructure, digital asset exchanges, and tokenized real-world asset markets.

Ripple described the XRPL EVM Sidechain as a key element in its multichain approach, combining Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility with the performance capabilities of the XRP Ledger.

This configuration allows developers and enterprises to build Ethereum-based applications while utilizing the speed and efficiency of the XRP Ledger environment.

Ripple emphasized that RLUSD is not intended to replace XRP. Instead, the two digital assets are designed to operate together within the ecosystem: RLUSD functions as a regulated digital dollar for payments, settlements, and treasury management, while XRP serves as a core liquidity and bridge asset for cross-chain transfers, decentralized swaps, collateralization, and global payments.

Recent integrations, such as RedotPay’s RLUSD payment card powered by the XRPL, highlight Ripple’s push to build an institutional-grade digital finance ecosystem where stablecoins and XRP jointly support global financial infrastructure.

Mini dictionary: RLUSD is Ripple’s regulated, US dollar-backed stablecoin designed for institutional use in payments, settlements, and treasury management across multiple blockchain networks.

Blockchain NetworkRLUSD Minting SupportedXRP LedgerYesEthereumYesBaseYesOptimismYesInkYesUnichainYesXRPL EVM SidechainYesDisclaimer: 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.

BitMEX will be closing down by September 23 following an 11-year period of being a pioneer of crypto perpetual futures. The platform encouraged users to liquidate their positions and withdrawals before the closure phases. The platform, which was one of the key players in trading cryptocurrencies, has decided to cease its activities. It has been responsible for the development of market derivatives for more than ten years. BitMEX, the platform that invented perpetual futures and revolutionized leveraged trading of cryptocurrencies. Has decided to finally close its doors on September 23, 2026.

BitMEX has notified their clients about the cessation of activities at 04:00 UTC on September 23. The company asked users to withdraw their funds before the final day to avoid additional costs. According to the company’s notifications of the company, all those who will keep funds in their accounts after this date will have to pay a fee of $50 per month or one percent per year of the value of the asset. The parent company of BitMEX, HDR Global Trading Limited, has stopped accepting new applications.

Orderly Wind Down in Response to Loss of Market Dominance The company is planning for an orderly wind down to minimize disruptions in the crypto derivatives trading markets. Starting from August 26, customers will no longer be able to initiate new positions, but already opened contracts will be completed up to the end of the term. All positions will be closed by exchange owners before the September deadline.

There could be withdrawal delays due to increased activity on the Bitcoin network while transferring customer funds out of the platform. Nevertheless, BitMEX stated that their latest proof-of-reserve data confirms that customer assets are completely covered by platform liabilities.

BitMEX’s Legacy Exceeds Regulatory Issues Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed launched BitMEX back in 2014 when they invented the concept of perpetual swap to change cryptocurrency derivatives trading forever. The company managed to trade more than $1 trillion in one year of trading activity in 2019 and owned about 57% of the total derivatives market globally. BitMEX’s daily trading volume reached approximately $8 billion at its highest point. Although having a flawless history of security with no hacks at all, BitMEX still had to face regulators in 2020 because of anti-money laundering issues.

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