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Hex Trust extended its validator and staking infrastructure by joining XDC Network as an institutional Masternode Validator. Hex Trust will join a small group of credible, accountable institutions that verify transactions and contribute to network consensus.  Hex Trust will also evaluate institutional client demand for custody support of XDC and related tokenised assets. Hex Trust, a leading digital asset financial institution across APAC and MEA, has joined XDC Network as an institutional Masternode Validator, extending its validator and staking infrastructure to one of the industry’s fastest-growing networks for real-world asset tokenisation.

Hex Trust will operate a masternode on XDC Network, verifying transactions and contributing to network consensus, a role XDC entrusts to a select group of credible, accountable institutions. 

Hex Trust to explore other XDC support routes The move builds on Hex Trust’s established network infrastructure business, which already includes validator operations on Ethereum and Canton Network, alongside institutional staking services across major Proof-of-Stake networks.

Over the coming months, Hex Trust will also evaluate institutional client demand for custody support of XDC and related tokenised assets, potentially connecting one of Asia’s most established digital asset platforms directly into XDC’s ecosystem.

“Custody has always been treated as separate from infrastructure, something institutions bolt on after they’ve already committed to a network. Hex Trust taking on validator responsibilities changes that sequence, and we’re glad to have them building alongside us. It’s a custodian putting its own accountability behind the network it secures, and that’s exactly the kind of participation this industry needs more of,” said Ritesh Kakkad, Co-Founder, XDC Network.

Hex Trust is licensed and regulated across Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong, serving over 450 institutional clients with over $5 billion in assets under custody. Joining XDC’s validator set brings that regulated operating standard to the consensus layer of a network at the centre of institutional tokenisation.

“Our clients want regulated access to the networks where real-world asset tokenisation is actually happening, and XDC is firmly on that list. We’ve operated validator infrastructure for years to the same standard we apply to custody. So when institutions engage with XDC, they can do it through infrastructure they already trust,” said Giorgia Pellizzari, Chief Product Officer and Head of Custody, Hex Trust

Hex Trust joins a validator set that already includes SBI Holdings, Deutsche Telekom, CertiK, UOB Venture Management, HashKey Cloud and Republic, among other regulated institutions across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. XDC Network has facilitated more than $1.3 billion in tokenised U.S. Treasury bonds and private credit to date, and its institutional validator base continues to grow across new markets.

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The XRP Ledger just got a passport. XRPL and its EVM Sidechain are now live on Axelar’s interoperability network, letting users move XRP and other supported assets across more than 80 blockchains without juggling multiple bridges.

The integration, announced on July 20, represents the culmination of a partnership that’s been building since at least 2024, when Axelar was first tapped as the bridge provider for the XRPL EVM Sidechain. That sidechain itself only went live on June 30, 2025. So in roughly three weeks, the team moved from “EVM compatibility exists” to “here’s connectivity to basically every major chain.”

How the plumbing works Axelar operates as a decentralized network that connects disparate blockchains. Its Interchain Token Service handles the actual mechanics of wrapping and unwrapping tokens as they move between chains. You send XRP from the XRP Ledger, and it shows up as a usable asset on Ethereum, Avalanche, Polygon, or whichever of the 80-plus supported chains you’re targeting.

Axelar serves as the exclusive bridge for wrapped XRP moving to and from the XRPL EVM Sidechain.

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The cross-chain transfer experience is powered in part by Squid, which provides the user interface layer for moving assets. Squid abstracts away the complexity of selecting routes, estimating fees, and confirming transactions across chains.

The collaboration roster includes Ripple, Peersyst, which developed the XRPL EVM Sidechain, and the Axelar Foundation.

Why EVM compatibility changes the game for XRP The XRP Ledger has historically been somewhat isolated from the broader DeFi ecosystem. Most DeFi protocols run on EVM-compatible chains. The XRP Ledger doesn’t natively speak that language.

The EVM Sidechain solves this by giving XRPL an Ethereum-compatible environment that runs alongside the main ledger. Ripple CTO David Schwartz has emphasized the importance of EVM compatibility for expanding XRP’s reach into institutional use cases.

Axelar co-founder Georgios Vlachos has pointed to institutional applications as a key driver behind the integration. Ripple has long positioned itself as the crypto company that targets enterprise clients, and connecting XRPL to 80-plus chains through a single verified bridge fits that narrative.

What this means for investors The most immediate implication is increased utility for XRP. An asset that can seamlessly move across 80-plus chains has more potential use cases than one confined to a single ledger.

Cross-chain bridges have historically been double-edged swords. The Ronin bridge exploit alone cost over $600M. Axelar’s position as the sole bridge for wrapped XRP concentrates risk in a single point of infrastructure.

Investors should monitor adoption metrics in the coming months: how much wrapped XRP flows through Axelar, which destination chains attract the most volume, and whether DeFi protocols begin building XRP-specific products.

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

Three Missouri men were charged over an alleged August 2024 plot to kidnap a Bitcoin holder and steal his holdings.

Sedric Louis, John Davis and Martel Williams were allegedly hired to kidnap and force a Bitcoin holder to transfer cryptocurrency to accounts controlled by organizers, according to a Tuesday press release by the US Attorney’s Office. They traveled from St. Louis to Connecticut, where they rented vehicles and obtained air rifles to stake out the victim.

After staking out the intended target for two days, they abandoned the plan for fear of being caught on home security cameras. Shortly afterward, another crew from Florida arrived to carry out the plan.

The three were charged with conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery under the Hobbs Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Louis and Davis have been detained since their arrest on June 25, 2026. Williams was released on bond. All three pleaded not guilty.

Home invasions were the most common type of physical attack targeting cryptocurrency investors in the first half of 2026, according to blockchain security company CertiK. Crypto home invasions rose to 20 reported incidents in H1, up from a single case a year earlier.

Magazine: Inside the ‘fake police raid’ that forced a $1M Bitcoin transfer

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.

U.S. spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have extended their streak of positive momentum. 

Although Aug. 4 ended with flat flows, the broader trend points to steady institutional confidence.

According to the latest market data, U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded $0 in net inflows on Aug. 4. Funds attracted $1.15 million on Aug. 3, $7.69 million on July 31, $5.98 million on July 30 and $584,710 on July 29.

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Taken together, those sessions brought in approximately $15.4 million before inflows paused. The latest flat session therefore extends the streak of trading days without outflows to four.

Despite the absence of new money on Aug. 4, cumulative net inflows across all U.S. spot XRP ETFs remained at a robust $1.51 billion. 

Total net assets stood at approximately $1 billion, equivalent to about 1.49% of XRP's total market capitalization. 

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Total value traded across XRP ETFs came in at $7.49 million, down from $9.99 million on Aug. 3 and below the roughly $10.3 million recorded on July 29. 

Even though the volumes eased, the lack of redemptions indicates that investors largely held their positions rather than exiting the market.

As reported by U.Today, XRP-focused ETFs stood out last week by attracting $15 million in net inflows. In comparison, Bitcoin ETFs saw $0.6 million in net outflows, Solana ETFs lost $17 million, and Ethereum ETFs posted a modest $0.4 million in inflows.

Largest funds continue to dominateBitwise's spot XRP ETF remains the largest fund by assets under management. It is followed by Franklin's XRPZ with roughly $258 million and Canary's XRPC with about $250.2 million.

21Shares' TOXR manages approximately $116.7 million, while Grayscale's GXRP oversees around $59.4 million. Combined, the five U.S. The recent streak follows a month marked by generally resilient investor demand. Since the start of July, XRP ETFs have experienced only a handful of outflow sessions, the largest being a $7.29 million withdrawal on July 8. Most other trading days either attracted fresh capital or finished with neutral flows.

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5 August 2026 | 10:49 Ethereum researchers are considering a new reward-burn mechanism that would let validator issuance decline at high staking levels, aiming to reduce dilution and weaken incentives for excessive concentration.

Key Takeaways Draft requires approval and a future hard fork. Burn reaches 100% at 60.25 million ETH. Issuance peaks near 20% staking participation. Largest operators face weaker incentives to expand. Idealised deductions preserve validator performance incentives. Lower issuance may reduce unstaked holders’ dilution. Under draft EIP-8363, called Tapered Issuance Burn, a growing share of validator rewards would be burned as staking participation rises.

At 60.25 million ETH in active stake—a saturation balance designed to represent approximately half of ETH’s supply at activation, the burn would offset 100% of the idealised consensus rewards covered by the mechanism.

The proposal remains a Core EIP draft rather than an approved Ethereum upgrade. It would require a hard fork because it changes Ethereum’s consensus-layer state transition, although no changes to the execution layer or existing smart contracts would be needed. Its technical and economic details may still change, and discussion is continuing on the Ethereum Magicians forum.

The Proposal Would Let Yield Limit Staking Growth Ethereum’s current issuance curve reduces the return earned by individual validators as more ETH enters staking. However, it never completely removes the financial incentive to add more stake.

According to the proposal, the existing curve retains a yield floor of roughly 1.5% even at extremely high participation. The market can therefore reach an equilibrium only if the return demanded by the next potential validator remains above that floor.

That required return may continue falling as institutional custodians, liquid-staking protocols and professional infrastructure providers reduce the operational, liquidity and technical costs that previously discouraged holders from staking. The trend is already visible in proposed institutional products: Morgan Stanley’s planned Ether trust intends to stake between 50% and 80% of its ETH through external providers if the product launches.

Unstaked holders are also diluted when the protocol creates new ETH for validators. As staking becomes easier, accepting that dilution may become less attractive than moving ETH into a staking service or yield-bearing derivative.

EIP-8363 would allow net consensus yield to keep declining rather than stopping at a protocol-defined minimum. After rewards are calculated through the existing system, a growing portion would be deducted and burned.

Annual consensus issuance would stop rising continuously with the staking ratio. It would peak when approximately 19.8% of ETH is staked and decline as participation moved beyond that level.

60.25 Million ETH Is Not a Staking Cap The saturation balance is an economic reference point rather than a hard limit. The proposal would not reject new validators, force existing participants to exit or prevent more than 60.25 million ETH from entering staking.

At that balance, the consensus issuance earned by a correctly performing validator from the duties covered by the mechanism would be fully offset by the burn. Validators could still receive execution-layer income from priority fees and maximal extractable value, or MEV.

The proposed burn rises with staking participation and reaches 100% at the 60.25 million ETH saturation balance. Source: Draft EIP-8363. The authors do not expect the market to reach saturation under ordinary conditions. Validators generally require a positive return to compensate for infrastructure, maintenance, downtime, liquidity restrictions and slashing exposure.

As net yield declines, some participants would stop entering while others could exit. The expected equilibrium would therefore sit below 50%, where the remaining return matches the compensation demanded by the next validator.

High Staking Can Increase Concentration Risks More stake raises the nominal value exposed to slashing during an attack, but the proposal argues that the additional security benefit becomes progressively smaller as staking participation rises.

A high staking ratio can also move more ETH into exchanges, custodians, liquid-staking protocols and institutional products because many holders cannot or do not want to operate validators directly. Validator power may consequently become concentrated among a limited number of professional operators.

Concentration creates an operational risk beyond the issuance debate. If more than one-third of validators go offline together, Ethereum loses finality until the required two-thirds majority is restored. That makes the network’s 33.3% threshold especially important when validators cluster around the same clients, hosting providers or jurisdictions.

The authors are particularly concerned that a dominant provider could become systemically difficult to slash. If a large operator suffered a major slashing event, its customers could have enough financial and political influence to seek intervention rather than accept the losses.

High participation could also weaken Ethereum’s ability to coordinate against a colluding validator group. Social slashing depends on the wider economy supporting an alternative chain, which becomes harder when a large percentage of ETH is controlled through custodians and staking intermediaries.

The Curve Turns Scale Against Large Operators The current issuance system continually rewards expansion: an operator that adds validators increases its share of active stake while total issuance also grows with network participation. There is no operator size or staking ratio at which another validator reduces that operator’s consensus income. The tapered burn would change that relationship because, once issuance peaks near a 20% staking ratio, an expanding operator would claim a larger share of a shrinking reward pool.

For the largest operators, the decline in the total reward pool could eventually outweigh the benefit of controlling more validators. The EIP calculates that an operator holding half of all active stake would stop increasing its consensus income through expansion once approximately 31% of the ETH supply is staked.

Smaller operators would reach the same turning point closer to the 50% saturation balance. The mechanism would therefore weaken consensus-layer economies of scale sooner for entities that already control the largest share of stake.

The mechanism would not eliminate every advantage enjoyed by large operators because it would not affect MEV or priority-fee income.

Solo Stakers Face a Different Tax Equation The proposal’s authors argue that the existing curve creates a separate disadvantage for solo validators. Dilution reduces the real return earned by every staker, while individuals in jurisdictions that tax staking rewards as income may still owe tax on their full nominal rewards.

Some institutional investors and holders using accumulating exchange-traded products, non-rebasing liquid-staking tokens or wrapped tokens may not face the same immediate tax burden. Solo participants could therefore reach negative dilution-adjusted returns sooner, encouraging them to close validators or move their ETH into an intermediary and potentially increasing concentration.

By limiting issuance growth, EIP-8363 attempts to reduce that disadvantage. It would not change tax law or remove the operational benefits enjoyed by professional providers, but it could lower the dilution component that affects solo stakers earlier.

Critics See the Opposite Risk for Solo Stakers Not everyone accepts the proposal’s argument that lower issuance would reduce the disadvantages faced by solo stakers. Mike Silagadze, co-founder and CEO of ether.fi, argues that the mechanism could produce the opposite result.

In an August 4 post, Silagadze criticised what he described as a 48-hour comment window for a major change to Ethereum’s network economics. He argued that lower rewards could push independent validators out while leaving large centralised operators with lower capital and operating costs in a stronger position.

This is so disappointing on every level.

EIP released with 48 hours notice for comments. Realistically 4 months before it goes live. For a major network economics change with far reaching implications for all of DeFi.

Every builder on Ethereum opposes this. Why is this a focus?… https://t.co/qQbCui8aju

— Mike Silagadze🛡 (@MikeSilagadze) August 4, 2026

Silagadze also warned that declining staking returns could drive capital away from DeFi protocols built around staking and potentially encourage large amounts of ETH to be withdrawn. In his view, that could increase the amount of ETH available to enter the market rather than support its price through lower issuance.

Silagadze’s predictions remain unproven, but they expose the key question facing the proposal: whether lower rewards would weaken large staking operators or leave independent validators unable to compete with them.

Why the Burn Uses Idealised Rewards The deduction would be based on the reward attached to an assigned duty, regardless of whether the validator completed it successfully. An offline validator would therefore pay the burn alongside the normal penalty for failing to participate, preventing operators from avoiding the deduction by switching off.

If Ethereum instead burned only part of the reward actually earned, the financial difference between completing and missing a duty would shrink as the burn increased. At a burn fraction represented by b, the marginal reward for correct performance would fall to 1-b of its current level.

EIP-8363 avoids that problem by calculating the deduction from what a perfectly performing validator would have earned under the network’s actual participation conditions. Correct performance therefore retains the same advantage over failure.

The mechanism includes an exception for an inactivity leak, Ethereum’s recovery mode when the chain has failed to finalise for more than four epochs. Because attestation rewards are withheld during an inactivity leak, EIP-8363 would suspend the attestation portion of the burn, while proposer and sync committee deductions could continue where the corresponding rewards are still paid.

Lower Dilution Could Support ETH as Neutral Money By reducing net issuance, EIP-8363 would lessen the pressure to stake merely to preserve a holder’s share of the ETH supply. The proposal’s authors argue that this could support ETH’s role as neutral collateral, a settlement asset and a unit of account.

At high staking participation, liquid-staking tokens and other yield-bearing derivatives can become more attractive than unstaked ETH for savings, collateral and payments. Applications adopting them also inherit the smart-contract, governance and counterparty risks associated with their issuers.

Greater use of competing derivatives could fragment liquidity and increase the influence of the organisations that issue and govern them. Lower dilution would allow unstaked ETH to compete without requiring holders and applications to adopt an intermediated substitute.

The Transition Would Take About 18 Months Applying the permanent burn curve immediately would sharply reduce returns at the staking ratio used in the draft’s calculations.

At the roughly 34% staking level shown by ValidatorQueue, the draft’s model indicates that an immediate transition could cut net consensus yield from around 2.6% to 1.2%. A sudden decline of that size could trigger a substantial validator exit.

To reduce the shock, the effective base reward factor would begin at 128, twice its current value of 64, and gradually return to 64 over 123,300 epochs, or approximately 18 months.

The temporary increase would scale rewards, penalties and the burn together, allowing net yield to begin near its existing level before moving toward the permanent curve.

The reduction would occur through 65 small steps, with each level lasting approximately 1,927 epochs, or 8.6 days.

The transition would give validators approximately 18 months to reassess their costs and exit through the normal process before the permanent reward curve took full effect.

MEV Remains but Issuance Still Dominates Yield Execution-layer income from priority fees and maximal extractable value, or MEV, would remain outside EIP-8363. As consensus issuance declined, these rewards would account for a larger share of validator income.

According to the EIP authors’ calculation, payments to proposers recorded through MEV-Boost relays totalled approximately 72,600 ETH across 2.42 million blocks during the year ending July 31, 2026. That equals an average of roughly 0.030 ETH per block.

The authors then applied the same average to approximately 190,000 locally built blocks. They describe this as an upper-bound assumption because locally built blocks generally receive lower execution-layer rewards. The calculation places total execution-layer rewards below 78,300 ETH for the period.

Using approximately 40 million staked ETH as the calculation base, the proposal estimates that these execution-layer rewards represented a return of no more than 0.20%. Consensus issuance was substantially larger at approximately 1.054 million ETH annually, equivalent to a return of around 2.62%.

Based on those estimates, consensus issuance accounted for at least 93% of total staking yield. Even if the staking ratio settled at 40% under the proposed curve, the authors calculate that issuance would still represent at least 80% of validator yield.

MEV would nevertheless continue rewarding operator expansion because expected execution-layer income grows with an operator’s share of block proposals. EIP-8363 does not directly remove that incentive, which is why the draft presents MEV burn research as a complementary approach that could reduce validator income and shift equilibrium toward a lower staking ratio.

Lower Issuance Would Not Guarantee Deflation EIP-8363 would reduce net consensus issuance and permanently destroy ETH deducted from validators, but it would not automatically cause the total supply to decline.

The mechanism would complement the fee burn introduced by EIP-1559. EIP-1559 removes Ethereum’s base transaction fee from circulation, while EIP-8363 would burn part of the ETH calculated as consensus-layer rewards.

If staking settled below the saturation balance, validators would continue receiving positive consensus issuance. Whether Ethereum became inflationary or deflationary would depend on whether transaction-fee burning exceeded that remaining issuance.

Supply could therefore continue growing during periods of low network activity and contract when transaction demand was stronger. The proposal aims to limit consensus issuance, not guarantee permanent deflation.

The Proposal Still Has to Pass Review The authors have completed a draft implementation for the Prysm consensus client, although formal test vectors had not yet been included in the reviewed draft. Client code demonstrates technical progress but does not determine whether the EIP will enter a future hard fork.

The outcome would depend not only on technical review but also on validator operating costs, tax treatment, MEV income, liquidity preferences and the return investors demand for staking risk. Rather than selecting a fixed staking target, EIP-8363 attempts to remove the permanent yield floor and let those market conditions determine where participation settles.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or tax advice. EIP-8363 remains a draft proposal and has not been approved for inclusion in an Ethereum upgrade. Its design, parameters, calculations and implementation may change during technical and community review. Methodology: This article is based primarily on the draft EIP-8363 specification, its Ethereum EIPs pull request and the related Ethereum Magicians discussion. Supporting information comes from official Ethereum and Flashbots documentation, the draft Prysm implementation, published MEV burn research, current staking data, public information on proposed institutional staking products and statements from industry participants, including ether.fi co-founder Mike Silagadze. Issuance, staking-yield and execution-layer reward estimates are attributed to the EIP authors and were not independently reconstructed from on-chain data. Author

Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.

Samsung Wallet will support native stablecoins after the Galaxy Unpacked announcement, but the issuer, chain, and custody model remain undisclosed. The $408 million Dunamu investment and a pending South Korean digital asset law reveal the infrastructure play behind the headline.

Summary

Samsung announced native stablecoin support for Samsung Wallet at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, 2026, with a USDC mockup displayed on stage, though no partnership with Circle has been confirmed. Three Samsung affiliates paid $408 million for a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit, purchasing 1.39 million shares from Kakao linked entities. Samsung SDS identified stablecoin infrastructure as its first collaboration priority with Dunamu during its second quarter 2026 earnings call on July 30. Samsung Wallet has nearly 19 million users in South Korea and operates across 61 countries, with 241 million Galaxy phones shipped in 2025. Neither the stablecoin issuer, blockchain network, custody model, launch date, nor eligible markets have been confirmed by Samsung. Samsung has spent seven years building a crypto footprint inside Galaxy phones. The blockchain keystore arrived with the Galaxy S10 in 2019, offering a hardware isolated vault for private keys. Ledger integration followed the same year. Coinbase came aboard in July 2025, giving 75 million United States Galaxy owners a direct path into crypto purchasing through Samsung Pay. By October 2025, Samsung Wallet users could access the Coinbase One membership program, with its zero trading fees and boosted staking rewards, without leaving the Samsung interface.

None of those steps changed how most people pay for groceries. A crypto wallet buried three menus deep inside a phone settings screen does not compete with a tap to pay terminal. Samsung appears to understand this distinction. At Galaxy Unpacked 2026 on July 22, product manager Lee Dinham said the company would embrace “new forms of digital value, including stablecoins” and described Samsung Wallet as “the foundation for an interconnected financial ecosystem across Galaxy devices and services.” The on stage mockup showed a USDC balance with send, receive, and add funds buttons.

The audience saw a direction, not a product. Samsung disclosed no issuer, no blockchain, no custody arrangement, no launch window, and no list of eligible countries. That gap between announcement and specification is where the real story lives, because Samsung is not simply adding another feature to a phone. It is assembling infrastructure, regulatory positioning, and distribution into a single strategy that could reshape how stablecoins reach ordinary consumers, or could stall at the mockup stage if the missing pieces do not come together.

What the Unpacked announcement actually said Lee Dinham’s remarks at Galaxy Unpacked covered two sentences of substance. Samsung Wallet would support stablecoins. Samsung intended to become “one of the first major mobile brands to bring native stablecoins to a smartphone, enabling fast and trusted digital value transfers.”

The demo showed a wallet interface labeled USDC with three action buttons. Samsung did not confirm a partnership with Circle, the issuer of USDC, and did not respond to press inquiries about the demo before publication of multiple news reports. Cointelegraph, CryptoSlate, and CoinDesk each noted that Samsung had not answered their requests for comment on partner, chain, or timeline details.

Samsung promoted the figure of 800 million smartphones that would carry stablecoin features by default. That number is the company’s target for devices with Galaxy AI by end of 2026 and does not represent Samsung Wallet users, stablecoin eligible devices, or phones that will actually receive the feature at launch. The company’s own figures show nearly 19 million Samsung Wallet users in South Korea alone, but Samsung did not disclose global active wallet numbers or existing crypto user counts.

Alongside the stablecoin announcement, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Card, its first United States credit card, issued by Barclays on the Visa network. The card offers 5% cash rewards on Samsung direct purchases, 3% on Samsung Wallet purchases, 2% on streaming services, and 1% on everything else, with a $200 welcome bonus and no annual fee. The Galaxy Card and the stablecoin roadmap are separate products, but they share the same strategic objective: making Samsung Wallet the single financial hub for Galaxy owners.

JUST IN: Samsung Wallet to add native stablecoin support

A mockup at Galaxy Unpacked featured USDC though no launch date or chain has been confirmed pic.twitter.com/Rp2iiuTsqC

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) July 25, 2026 Samsung Wallet already carries crypto, and that context matters The stablecoin announcement did not arrive in isolation. Samsung has been layering crypto services into its mobile ecosystem since 2019, and each layer narrows the gap between blockchain assets and the tap to pay experience that consumers actually use.

The Samsung Blockchain Keystore launched with the Galaxy S10, using the Knox security platform to store private keys in a hardware isolated environment. The wallet supported Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron, with ERC and TRC token compatibility. In 2019, Samsung added support for Ledger Nano S and Nano X hardware wallets, allowing users to connect external cold storage directly to a Galaxy device.

These were enthusiast features. They did not integrate with Samsung Pay or the broader wallet experience. The Coinbase partnership in 2025 changed the integration model. Samsung Pay became a funding method inside the Coinbase app for users in the United States and Canada. By October 2025, Samsung Wallet offered direct Coinbase access to Galaxy users, including a promotional three month Coinbase One subscription and trading credits for first time crypto purchasers.

The progression matters because each step moved crypto closer to the interface that Samsung controls. It also taught Samsung what works and what does not in consumer crypto distribution. The 2019 keystore was a standalone feature. The 2025 Coinbase integration brought crypto into the Wallet app. The 2026 stablecoin plan, if executed as shown, would make a digital dollar balance native to the same interface where users store credit cards, boarding passes, and loyalty programs.

The $408 million Dunamu stake is the infrastructure half While the Unpacked stage showed a consumer interface, a parallel investment reveals Samsung’s infrastructure ambitions.

In May 2026, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card agreed to acquire a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, for 612.8 billion won, approximately $408 million. Samsung Securities purchased a 2% stake, while Samsung SDS and Samsung Card each acquired 1%. The shares came from Kakao linked entities, with the transaction set to close on June 19.

Each affiliate brought a distinct strategic interest to the deal. Samsung Securities plans to work with Dunamu on tokenized securities issuance, distribution, and digital asset services. This builds on earlier infrastructure work: Samsung SDS had already been selected to build South Korea’s tokenized securities system, giving the company direct experience with the blockchain rails that tokenized assets and stablecoins share. Samsung Card is exploring opportunities in digital payments, particularly around a potential won pegged stablecoin, and intends to integrate its payment network with Dunamu’s ecosystem through Samsung’s Monimo financial platform. Samsung SDS plans to combine its artificial intelligence, cloud, and cybersecurity capabilities with Dunamu’s blockchain operating expertise.

Joseph Goh, director and head of Asia Pacific at crypto investment banking firm Areta, told CoinDesk that “the wallet announcement secured distribution; SDS and Dunamu will secure the infrastructure beneath it.” He described the Dunamu investment as “the more telling half” of Samsung’s strategy, arguing that Samsung aims to build the infrastructure itself rather than rely on third party providers.

The Dunamu deal followed Hana Bank’s agreement in May to buy a 6.55% stake in the same company for approximately $670 million. The concentration of Korean financial institutions investing in Dunamu reflects a broader pattern: established firms are positioning themselves before South Korea’s digital asset regulatory framework takes final shape.

Samsung SDS names stablecoins as the first collaboration priority The clearest statement of intent came not from Galaxy Unpacked but from a corporate earnings call five days later.

On July 30, Samsung SDS president Lee Joon hee told analysts during the company’s second quarter earnings conference call that the Dunamu investment was made “to enter the digital asset infrastructure business rather than as a financial investment.” He said Samsung SDS had been discussing stablecoin infrastructure, AI powered next generation payments, and virtual asset financial system integration with Dunamu.

These comments, reported by crypto.news on July 31, marked the first time a Samsung executive publicly identified stablecoins as the specific focus of the Dunamu partnership. The earnings call also revealed that Samsung SDS reported 17% cloud revenue growth and a 75% increase in external cloud business during the second quarter, with plans to expand AI infrastructure from 110 megawatts to more than 800 megawatts by 2031.

Samsung SDS is the Samsung Group’s information technology services arm, not a consumer electronics division. Its involvement signals that Samsung views stablecoin infrastructure as an enterprise technology opportunity, not merely a phone feature. The company’s existing capabilities in cloud computing, AI, and cybersecurity could support backend systems for stablecoin issuance, custody, or settlement, though no specific product or architecture has been disclosed.

Separately, Samsung has been selective about external stablecoin ventures. Earlier in July, Samsung distanced itself from the OUSD stablecoin consortium proposed by Open Standard after being listed as one of more than 140 founding partners. A Samsung official told South Korean newspaper Chosun that the company had not held official consultations with Open Standard and did not know what role it was expected to play. Dunamu, Shinhan Bank, and K Bank also said they were still reviewing the proposal.

The regulatory window Samsung is trying to enter Samsung’s timing is deliberate. Both the United States and South Korea are implementing or drafting stablecoin frameworks, creating a regulatory environment where early positioning carries strategic value.

In the United States, President Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025, after the Senate passed it 68 to 30 and the House approved it 308 to 122. The law created the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoin issuers, with a staged effective date giving existing issuers two years to become compliant. By July 2028, non compliant stablecoins can no longer be offered to United States users.

The GENIUS Act provides regulatory clarity that Samsung needs before offering stablecoin balances to American Galaxy owners. A Samsung Wallet stablecoin feature in the United States would need to work with a GENIUS Act compliant issuer, a licensed custodian, and a blockchain settlement layer that meets the law’s requirements for reserve transparency and redemption rights. The law requires payment stablecoin issuers to maintain one to one reserves in high quality liquid assets such as United States Treasury securities, insured deposits, or central bank reserves. Issuers must also publish monthly attestations of reserve composition audited by a registered accounting firm. For Samsung, these requirements mean the choice of issuer directly constrains the product design. A compliant issuer brings a clear redemption pathway and regulatory standing. A non compliant issuer would leave Samsung exposed to enforcement risk in its largest single country market.

JUST IN: Stablecoin issuers have two years to become compliant under GENIUS Act

July 2028 marks the deadline when non compliant stablecoins can no longer be offered to U.S. users pic.twitter.com/PsPyra0yXp

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) July 20, 2026 In South Korea, the Financial Services Commission is preparing the Digital Asset Basic Act, a comprehensive framework that would bring 10 separate crypto and stablecoin bills under one legislative umbrella. The draft, unveiled in April 2026, requires stablecoin issuers to obtain authorization, maintain 100% or greater reserves in high quality assets such as bank deposits or government bonds, and ensure full redemption rights for holders. Stablecoins used in cross border or foreign exchange transactions would be classified as “means of payment” under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

Passage has stalled in the National Assembly over a central dispute: who should be authorized to issue Korean won pegged stablecoins. The Bank of Korea has pushed for a rule limiting issuance to bank led consortiums holding at least 51% ownership. Implementation is targeted for late 2026 or 2027.

The Bank for International Settlements has separately described how stablecoin assets deployed across different blockchains may not move seamlessly between them, resulting in fragmented liquidity and reliance on bridges that introduce operational risk. A Samsung implementation on one network would place that network on the default route offered through Wallet. A multichain design could expose more routes while introducing the cross network interoperability problem into the consumer experience. Samsung has disclosed neither a network selection nor a transfer architecture.

Goh of Areta described Samsung’s positioning as intentional. He believes Samsung aims “to be positioned in both dollar and won stablecoins while Korea’s framework is still being discussed.”

What Samsung gains that Apple and Google do not have The competitive landscape offers Samsung a window, but the window is narrower than the headline suggests.

Neither Apple Pay nor Google Wallet offers native stablecoin support. Both route crypto transactions through third party partners. Apple has shown no public interest in integrating stablecoin balances into Apple Wallet, and Google Pay’s crypto features remain limited to select partner integrations.

Samsung’s advantage is specific: it controls the wallet interface, the hardware security layer through Knox, and now holds an equity position in major crypto infrastructure through Dunamu. No other smartphone manufacturer combines consumer distribution, hardware security, and exchange level infrastructure investment in a single corporate ecosystem. Google has partnered with Coinbase and BitPay for limited crypto card functionality in Google Wallet, but those integrations stop at the card layer and do not extend to native token balances. Apple has taken no public steps toward stablecoin integration and has historically maintained strict control over financial features within Apple Wallet, limiting third party crypto access to standalone apps.

The scale numbers, however, require careful reading. Industry projections put Apple Pay at 71.6 million United States proximity payment users in 2026 and Google Pay at 42.6 million, compared to 15 million for Samsung Pay. Samsung ships more phones globally, with 241 million units in 2025 according to IDC data, but its mobile payments market share in the United States remains smaller than Apple’s.

Yat Siu, executive chairman of Animoca Brands, described Samsung’s move as “a feature set rather than an attempt to build a super app.” The integration could give Samsung an advantage over Apple and Google in serving crypto users, he said, but applications and merchants will need to make stablecoins useful for everyday spending. Samsung is an investor in Animoca Brands.

Robby Yung, CEO of Investments at Animoca Brands, agreed that the move is positive for crypto adoption but was “not sure that this puts Samsung at an advantage over crypto native platforms.”

The case against Samsung as a stablecoin distributor The bull case for Samsung’s stablecoin play rests on distribution: 800 million phones, 61 countries, a wallet already storing cards and credentials. The bear case rests on execution and on Samsung’s history with crypto features that never reached mainstream usage.

Samsung Blockchain Keystore launched in 2019. Seven years later, Samsung has not disclosed how many Galaxy owners have ever opened it. The company has not published active crypto user counts for Samsung Wallet. The Coinbase integration announced in October 2025 targeted 75 million United States Galaxy owners, but Samsung has not said how many of those owners actually activated crypto features. The gap between “available on” and “used by” is typically enormous in preinstalled mobile features.

The 800 million figure is a device target for Galaxy AI, not a stablecoin user projection. Samsung has nearly 19 million Wallet users in South Korea but has not provided a global number. If stablecoin support launches in only a subset of the 61 countries where Samsung Wallet operates, the addressable market could be substantially smaller than the headline implies.

The Coinbase precedent is instructive. Samsung announced the partnership targeting 75 million United States Galaxy owners in October 2025. Eight months later, Samsung has not disclosed activation rates, transaction volumes, or the share of those 75 million owners who engaged with any crypto feature. If past performance is any guide, default availability and actual adoption are separated by an order of magnitude.

There are also structural questions. If Samsung’s stablecoin feature works through a partner held account, the distribution benefit sits with the partner, not with Samsung. If the feature requires multiple steps to activate or fund, adoption will follow the same pattern as previous crypto features: available to many, used by few. If Samsung selects a single issuer for default placement, it risks regulatory complications in markets where that issuer is not licensed.

Ben Nadareski, CEO and co founder of Solstice, acknowledged the potential but framed the challenge precisely. The broader picture, he said, is “distribution catching up to liquidity.” For years, crypto had deep trading venues and weak paths into daily spending. Samsung Wallet points the other direction, but the path from a mockup at a product launch to a functioning stablecoin payment at a checkout terminal involves decisions Samsung has not yet made public.

The strongest counterargument to the Samsung stablecoin thesis is that the company announced a direction without a product. Every critical design choice, including which issuer backs the balance, which chain settles the transaction, who holds custody, and which markets receive the feature first, remains undisclosed. Until those decisions are public, the announcement describes potential, not capability.

What to watch Samsung names an issuer or custody partner. The choice of stablecoin and custodian will determine whether Samsung controls the user relationship or hands it to a third party. A Circle or Tether selection would signal dollar denominated ambitions. A won pegged issuer would signal a Korea first strategy.

South Korea’s Digital Asset Basic Act reaches a floor vote. The stalled legislation determines whether Samsung Card and Dunamu can issue or distribute a won pegged stablecoin. If the Bank of Korea’s 51% bank ownership rule survives, Samsung would need a banking partner to participate.

Samsung discloses global Wallet user counts or crypto activation rates. The gap between phones shipped and wallets activated is the single most important metric for evaluating the distribution thesis. Without it, the 800 million figure remains a ceiling, not a forecast.

Samsung Wallet stablecoin feature enters a public beta or limited launch in any market. A beta in South Korea, the United States, or another regulated market would confirm that the product has moved from mockup to implementation. The absence of a timeline makes this the clearest indicator of execution pace.

Apple or Google announces competing stablecoin integration. If a rival smartphone ecosystem moves first, Samsung’s window advantage narrows. If neither moves, Samsung’s early positioning holds more strategic value.

What stablecoins will Samsung Wallet support? Samsung has not confirmed which stablecoins will be supported. The Galaxy Unpacked demo showed a USDC interface, but the company has not announced a partnership with Circle or any other issuer. The final selection could include dollar pegged, euro pegged, or won pegged tokens depending on regulatory approvals and partnership agreements.

When will Samsung Wallet stablecoin support launch? Samsung has not disclosed a launch date. The feature was announced as part of the company’s 2026 roadmap at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22, but no beta date, rollout schedule, or market launch order has been provided.

Which blockchain will Samsung Wallet use for stablecoins? The blockchain network has not been confirmed. Samsung’s choice of chain will determine settlement speed, transaction costs, and interoperability with other wallets and exchanges. A single chain selection would place that network on Samsung’s default route, while a multichain approach would add complexity.

How does Samsung’s Dunamu investment relate to the stablecoin wallet? Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS, and Samsung Card acquired a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, operator of South Korea’s largest exchange Upbit, for $408 million. Samsung SDS has publicly identified stablecoin infrastructure as the first collaboration priority, indicating that the investment supports the backend systems needed for Samsung Wallet’s stablecoin features.

Will Samsung Wallet stablecoin features work with Samsung Pay at retail terminals? Samsung has not confirmed point of sale functionality. If the feature allows users to top up a stablecoin balance and tap to pay at NFC terminals that accept Samsung Pay, it would represent a meaningful advance over existing crypto payment solutions. However, this functionality has not been demonstrated or announced.

How does the GENIUS Act affect Samsung’s stablecoin plans in the United States? The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, created the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoin issuers. Samsung would need to work with a GENIUS Act compliant issuer and custodian to offer stablecoin balances to United States Galaxy owners. The law gives existing issuers until July 2028 to become compliant.

Does Samsung plan to issue its own stablecoin? Samsung has not announced plans to issue a stablecoin. The company’s announcements focus on supporting existing stablecoins within Samsung Wallet and building infrastructure through its Samsung SDS partnership with Dunamu. Samsung Card has expressed interest in won pegged stablecoin opportunities, but this refers to distribution and payments, not issuance.

Is Samsung Wallet a safe place to hold stablecoins? Samsung has not disclosed the custody model for stablecoin balances in Samsung Wallet. The safety of any stablecoin holding depends on the custody arrangement, the issuer’s reserve backing, and the regulatory framework governing both. Samsung’s Knox security platform provides hardware level key isolation for existing crypto features, but the stablecoin feature’s security architecture has not been detailed. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. The views expressed are those of the sources cited and do not necessarily reflect those of crypto.news. Readers should conduct their own research before making any financial decisions. Published August 5, 2026.

US Crypto Regulations : Read the full US Regulation Hub for the latest on SEC enforcement, IRS crypto tax rules, and pending legislation.

A nationwide e-certification system built on Avalanche transforms how an entire country verifies academic records, turning millions of certificates into tamper-proof, instantly auditable credentials.

Every year, millions of students across Kenya complete their final examinations, concluding years of study with a singular milestone: an official certificate. These records represent more than grades; they are the definitive keys to employment, higher education, and economic mobility. Yet, for decades, proving that a certificate is real has depended on slow, manual processes and layers of administrative trust.

Verifying an individual's academic history meant submitting requests to traditional portals or sending manual offline files. A workflow that takes anywhere from a month for single checks to upwards of six months for high-volume mass recruiters. Even recent attempts to modernize, such as adding QR codes to printed documents, remained bound to traditional databases vulnerable to manipulation or spoofing by bad actors setting up lookalike validation websites.

The ’s new blockchain initiative, leveraging the through a local Kenyan technology provider, starts from a different premise. An academic record is an immutable event in a person's life that should stand securely on its own. By anchoring national certification data on Avalanche C-chain, KNEC is moving past traditional database vulnerabilities to establish a system where credentials can be independently and instantly verified.

Upgrading Paper Credentials to Cryptographic TruthAt the center of this transition is the shift from physical issuance to secure, digital e-certificates. Each historic and current examination record is converted into a blockchain-secured asset on the Avalanche C-Chain, creating an unalterable registry that can be queried instantly.

That shift changes the landscape for both job seekers and employers. Mass recruitment and academic placements depend on absolute accuracy and speed. Instead of relying on manual bureaucratic checks, verifiers can now confirm a candidate's credentials in seconds through a dedicated, secure portal.

The solution moves verification entirely from institutional trust toward public, programmatic proof.

Deploying Infrastructure at a National ScaleThe scale of the rollout is designed to cover the country’s entire educational pipeline. The initiative immediately anchors more than 15 million academic records onto the Avalanche C-Chain, with records dating back to 1989. KCSE 2025 certificates for nearly 1 million students are now exclusively available via the e-certificate platform.

Moving forward, the system is projected to reach roughly 35 million verifiable records and will process millions of new certificates every year. The scope spans multiple tiers of the national education structure, including: 

Primary and secondary milestones, covering Grade 8 (KCPE) and Grade 12 (KCSE) records.

Advanced diploma programs.

Government Teaching Faculty certification programs.

By securing both historical databases and upcoming graduation cohorts, the platform future-proofs the sanctity of Kenya's national educational data at scale.

“Candidates no longer have to rely solely on physical certificates. Instead, they can securely access, download and verify their KCSE certificates online, providing a faster, more reliable and more convenient way of managing academic credentials in the digital age” - KNEC Chief Executive Officer: Dr David Njengere.

The Foundation for High-Throughput Public GovernanceKNEC's initiative builds on a pattern already proven elsewhere on Avalanche. In India, the Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh used the same LegitDoc platform to digitize over 700,000 land records dating back to the 1950s, cutting verification times from weeks to under a day and giving officers a tamper-proof, instantly auditable registry. 

That same underlying architecture, now applied to KNEC's academic records, reflects a broader trend of governments turning to Avalanche for their records and certificates: the California DMV has digitized 42 million vehicle titles to fight lien fraud, while Bergen County, New Jersey is tokenizing 370,000 property deeds, representing $240 billion in real estate value, in the largest blockchain-based land registry project in U.S. history. 

Across land, vehicles, and now academic credentials, the same conclusion holds: when public institutions need records that are fast, auditable, and resistant to tampering, they're increasingly building on Avalanche.

A Global Blueprint for Digital SovereigntyWhat KNEC is building stretches beyond simple digitization. It is a blueprint for national data sovereignty and public trust across the African continent.

By combining national administration with decentralized validation, KNEC has established a framework where academic achievement can be recognized, trusted, and utilized globally without friction or delay.

A student's hard work has always been a matter of record. What is changing is how securely that record is held, and how confidently the world can trust it.

GMX just made trading on its decentralized perpetuals platform feel a lot more like using a regular app. The protocol’s July updates introduced native smart wallet support alongside Express and One-Click trading features, essentially removing the friction that makes decentralized exchanges feel clunky compared to their centralized counterparts.

What actually changed The two updates delivered in July brought a handful of meaningful improvements beyond the headline features. Swap routing visuals got an overhaul, giving traders clearer insight into how their orders are being routed across liquidity pools.

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Users can also install the GMX app directly on their devices. This is a progressive web app approach that lets traders bypass the browser entirely and access the platform from their home screen.

The bigger picture for GMX GMX operates on Arbitrum and Avalanche, two networks that have carved out significant niches in the DeFi ecosystem. The platform completed its phase-out of the legacy V1 trading system and GLP liquidity model by July 2025, fully transitioning to the V2 architecture.

V2 centers around GM pools and GLV vaults as the primary liquidity products. Instead of one giant pool absorbing all risk, V2 breaks liquidity into isolated markets, giving liquidity providers more granular control over their exposure.

The protocol has also expanded its asset coverage beyond crypto. GMX now supports perpetuals markets for gold and silver, operational around the clock.

On the token economics side, the GMX DAO has been running a fee-based buyback program since March 2026. The DAO has repurchased over 384,000 GMX tokens for roughly $2.4 million, working out to an average price of approximately $6.25 per token.

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

If you’ve moved a token between blockchains recently, there’s a very good chance LayerZero handled the delivery. The protocol’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard now accounts for 87% of all cross-chain transfer volume, a figure the company highlighted on August 4.

How OFT became the default The OFT standard works on a deceptively simple principle. When a token needs to exist on multiple blockchains, it uses a burn-and-mint mechanism. Tokens are burned on the source chain, then minted on the destination chain, keeping the global supply constant across more than 100 supported networks.

For token issuers starting from scratch, this is particularly attractive. Rather than deploying separate contracts on every chain and managing liquidity independently, OFT offers a single standard that handles expansion across dozens of networks simultaneously.

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As of June 2025, LayerZero was managing approximately $44 billion in cross-chain assets.

The stablecoin angle As of May 2025, 61.2% of all issued stablecoins, roughly $150 billion worth, were supported by LayerZero’s infrastructure.

Pruning the garden and upcoming token dynamics On July 24, the protocol announced it would wind down support for several low-activity chains, including Botanix and Canto, citing minimal user engagement.

Meanwhile, market participants are watching an upcoming event closely. A monthly unlock of 32.6 million ZRO tokens, valued at approximately $25.45 million, is scheduled for August 20.

What investors should watch The competitive landscape is the biggest variable for LayerZero going forward. Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) has been gaining traction, particularly in the wake of security incidents that reportedly prompted some protocols to migrate away from LayerZero.

For investors evaluating LayerZero’s position, three factors deserve close attention. First, the protocol’s ability to maintain its security track record as volume continues to scale. Second, whether the chain pruning strategy translates into better resource allocation and improved service quality on the networks that matter most. And third, how the monthly ZRO unlocks interact with broader market conditions, particularly whether organic demand from protocol fees can absorb the incremental supply.

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

BIP-110 is approaching its first consequential activation boundary. The proposal enters mandatory signaling at block 961,632, currently projected around August 9, 2026. It locks in no later than block 963,648, roughly in late August, and activates its new transaction rules at block 965,664, currently projected for early September. BIP-110 uses a 55% signaling threshold and would enforce its restrictions for 52,416 blocks, approximately one year.

Bitcoin resolves consensus changes through coordination among miners, users, and nodes (note that anyone can be any combination of these three things). Miners choose which valid chain to extend. Users decide which chain’s coins, deposits, and payments they recognize. Nodes independently choose which rules they enforce. Durable consensus emerges whenever these groups converge on the same chain.

BIP-110 restricts large data pushes, oversized output scripts, undefined witness versions, Taproot annexes, deep Taproot control blocks, OP_SUCCESS opcodes, and certain Tapscript conditionals. It grandfathers UTXOs created before activation, while standard monetary uses remain compatible with its rules.

Most corporations don’t have to do anything  For most corporations, BIP-110 requires no action. Today, the typical corporate Bitcoin utility is as a store of value, as a long-duration treasury reserve asset. This use case is basically unaffected by the transaction features targeted by BIP-110.

Corporations using Bitcoin for payments also face limited direct impact. Standard on-chain payments remain compatible (see below for specifics), while ordinary Lightning payments occur off-chain. A chain split can still affect Lightning channel monitoring, force-close behavior, and the chain source that a Lightning node treats as authoritative. However, even corporations using Bitcoin for payments normally use a third party provider like Square, so all of this abstracted away to be a non-issue. 

A corporation that runs its own full node has a direct choice. Every user retains the right to run the Bitcoin implementation that matches its needs. A corporation that supports BIP-110 should therefore switch over to running BIP-110. All other node-running corporations can simply do nothing. 

A BIP-110 node enforces tighter rules. During mandatory signaling, it rejects blocks that fail to signal bit 4. After activation, it also rejects blocks containing transactions that violate BIP-110. A non-BIP-110 node accepts BIP-110-compliant blocks as well as blocks that remain valid under the existing rules. Among all chains valid under its own rules, a node follows the branch with the greatest accumulated proof of work.

So the key factor to be aware of is a chain split. When miners build a chain that is not compliant to the BIP, BIP-110 nodes can separate from the broader network. Non-BIP-110 nodes may continue following the higher-work branch, while BIP-110 nodes could remain on a compliant branch with less accumulated work. 

Corporations dealing with chain splits  Mining companies face the highest immediate economic exposure. Electricity and machine time are sunk costs. A miner should select the branch it expects other miners, nodes, and users to recognize and mine on it. A miner may also stop mining and wait for the chain split to resolve. If BIP-110 and non-BIP-110 chains develop independently, miners must track chainwork, signaling, validity under both rule sets, and their own mining pool’s stance, and the market value assigned to each branch.

Corporations operating exchanges and institutional custody should prepare for settlement uncertainty. During an extended split, the ordinary six-confirmation standard loses much of its value because each branch can show six confirmations independently. Operators should monitor both branches, raise confirmation requirements, pause large deposits or withdrawals when risk rises, and delay final settlement until one branch has decisively accumulated more work or the transaction has sufficient depth on all viable branches. Different validation rules can produce chain splits, false confirmations, and double-spend risk.

Let’s consider a chain split occurring at block height S. 

Chain splits and determining overall global finality Suppose a deposit appears on Chain A at S+4 and on Chain B at S+6. Once both chains reach S+12, the deposit has substantial depth on each branch (assuming we are still using six-confirmations). Now, this number of six confirmations should change depending on the work on each branch. And it might be the case that the number of confirmations one would like to see would be different for each branch. The main point is that the operator must wait until both branches reach the requisite confirmations. The operator can at that point be confident that the transaction remains, not matter which branch becomes canonical.

If the transaction appears on only one branch, the operator should wait for that branch to win or apply chain-specific accounting. That would be the only way to ensure no double spending happens. In practice, monetary transactions should always eventually appear on both branches, since the BIP-110 chain does not prohibit monetary transactions.

Conclusion  The main thing to be aware of is a chain split. If there is no split, then there is nothing that needs to be done differently. Even with a chain split, BIP-110 will not create insurmountable disruptions. 

For corporations that may be impacted by a chain split, the main action to take is to lengthen confirmation times and monitor both branches. For node-running corporations that support the BIP, the main action is to start running it on their nodes, if they haven’t already. 

Miners, as usual, should direct their hashrate based on their view of which branch will end up with the most accumulated proof of work. Exchanges and custodians should lengthen settlement procedures and maintain visibility into both chains, should a chain split occur. For the daily operations of most corporate Bitcoin users, BIP-110 changes very little, if it changes anything at all. 

Disclaimer: This content was prepared on behalf of Bitcoin For Corporations for informational purposes only. It reflects the author’s own analysis and opinion and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Nothing in this article constitutes an offer, invitation, or solicitation to purchase, sell, or subscribe for any security or financial product.

Allard Peng

Research and Insights Analyst at Bitcoin for Corporations

Hardware wallets are supposed to be the gold standard of Bitcoin security. The whole pitch is simple: keep your keys offline, away from hackers, away from exchanges, away from anything that could go wrong. So when a firmware flaw undermines that promise, the community tends to notice. When someone responds by literally shooting the device, everyone notices.

That is exactly what happened when Adam, known on X as @denverbitcoin, announced plans to destroy his ColdCard Q on August 2, 2026, framing the act as a symbolic gesture on behalf of users hurt by the vulnerability.

What the flaw actually did When a ColdCard Q automatically generated a seed phrase, it drew on a pool of randomness that was limited to 32 bytes of entropy, making the seed theoretically easier to brute-force than users were led to believe.

The practical impact depended heavily on whether a user had added a passphrase, sometimes called the 25th word. A passphrase is an extra layer on top of the standard 24-word seed phrase. Users who had one were largely insulated from the problem. Users who had not were the ones left exposed.

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Coinkite, the company behind the ColdCard lineup, acknowledged the issue and released updated firmware. The company also advised affected users to generate entirely new seeds, and clarified that the hardware itself was not defective. Only the firmware’s seed generation routine was at fault.

Why Adam pulled the trigger Adam’s framing was explicitly about solidarity. He described the act as honoring users who had been effectively robbed because of the vulnerability, a pointed choice of words that places blame squarely on the firmware’s failure rather than on user error.

Criticism has also landed on influencers and educators who recommended ColdCard devices without, in the view of critics, sufficiently stress-testing the security assumptions or pushing passphrase adoption hard enough.

NVK, Coinkite’s founder, has faced direct criticism throughout the discussions on X, though engagement from mainstream crypto media has been limited. The bulk of the conversation has stayed within the platform’s Bitcoin-focused corners.

What this means for the hardware wallet market The ColdCard has long occupied a specific position in the Bitcoin hardware wallet market as the choice of the security-maximalist. That reputation made the entropy flaw particularly jarring for its core audience.

The deeper market implication is about defaults. A firmware vulnerability that only affects users without passphrases is, in one reading, a user education problem. In another reading, it is a product design problem.

What to watch now is whether Coinkite’s updated firmware and communication strategy are enough to retain its reputation among the security-conscious Bitcoin holders who made up its core customer base, or whether this incident accelerates a shift toward competing devices. Adam’s destroyed ColdCard Q is now a permanent part of the visual record.

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

As Ripple continues to expand the XRP Ledger infrastructure, facilitating adoption among institutions, the blockchain has continued to see a rapid increase in its holder count.

Following Ripple's persistent push, XRP Ledger is seeing renewed momentum in its tokenized asset market as the latest data from the real-world asset ecosystem shows that its number of RWA holders has soared by 25.16% over the last month.

XRPL RWA infrastructure expands Just a few days ago, Ripple disclosed its new investments in two major companies solely for the purpose of advancing the XRP Ledger infrastructure to foster institutional adoption of tokenized assets on the blockchain.

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Ripple's consistent push and expansion into the capital market follows its plan to position the XRP Ledger as a leading platform for institutional finance and real-world asset tokenization.

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Apart from the surge in its RWA holders, data also shows that over a thousand developers and businesses are building on the network as XRP Ledger continues to expand its infrastructure to offer enterprise-grade reliability, scalability, and cost-efficient transactions.

XRPL stablecoin market still underwater Despite the notable surge in RWA holders on the XRP Ledger, its stablecoin market did not show any major recovery; rather, it painted a mixed picture.

Per the data, the stablecoin market capitalization on the XRP Ledger has fallen by 9.04% to $901.4 million over the same period.

However, the number of stablecoin holders also flashed positive momentum, surging modestly by 0.92% over the 30-day period to more than 60,240 addresses.

A recent disclosure from cryptocurrency researcher SMQKE has drawn attention to ECS Fin, a New York-based financial technology firm, for its role in connecting Ripple and its native token, XRP, to major institutional payment networks including SWIFT and the US Federal Reserve.

ECS Fin and major payment railsECS Fin provides payment processing and transaction messaging services to banks and corporations globally. The company is recognized for integrating financial institutions with payment channels such as Fedwire, SWIFT, and ACH, while supporting industry standards like ISO 20022. ECS Fin’s solutions facilitate interbank transactions and real-time payment capabilities.

In October 2025, ECS Fin secured SWIFT Compatible Application status for its IMS Payments platform, illustrating its deep entrenchment in global payments infrastructure. The company’s established relationships with key financial networks position it as a pivotal intermediary for banks moving funds across systems.

Mini dictionary: ECS Fin is a US-based fintech company specializing in banking transaction processing and connectivity for global payments and settlement systems.

Ripple listed as a ready applicationScreenshots shared by SMQKE displayed Ripple as a “Ready Application” on ECS Fin’s platform, along with industry giants like SWIFT, FedACH, Fedwire, FedNow, and Mastercard. This designation signals that ECS Fin’s technology enables institutions to process payments through Ripple’s network on the same basis as established banking channels.

Ripple has been included in ECS Fin’s platform alongside SWIFT and the Federal Reserve, allowing connected banks to utilize Ripple’s technology as they would other major payment networks.

Banks working with ECS Fin can now access Ripple’s XRP-powered payment solutions and route transactions through these channels without direct relationships with Ripple. Although Ripple does not hold a master account with the Federal Reserve, ECS Fin serves as an intermediary, granting indirect access to national payment rails.

With the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire service fully adopting the ISO 20022 messaging standard in July, ECS Fin’s compliance with this protocol further streamlines interoperability between Ripple and institutional counterparts. Ripple’s own framework aligns with ISO 20022, facilitating its integration into established financial ecosystems.

Industry impact of the integrationRipple’s listing on ECS Fin’s platform signifies its elevated standing among global payment networks. Industry data reveals that over 70% of FedNow vendors also have ties to Ripple, either directly or through intermediaries, which broadens the cryptocurrency company’s reach within US instant payments.

In addition, Ripple’s application for a Fed Master account suggests ambitions to offer stablecoin services linked to the Federal Reserve’s rails. As Ripple deepens its relationships with institutions via ECS Fin and similar partners, it continues to strengthen its institutional presence in the payments sector.

PlatformIntegration StatusMajor Networks SupportedECS FinSupports Ripple, SWIFT, FedACH, Fedwire, FedNow, MastercardFedwire, SWIFT, ACH, RippleRippleReady Application on ECS FinAccessible via ECS Fin’s integrations Ripple’s growing institutional access reflects broader trends in the financial industry, as digital asset networks gain compatibility with legacy payment infrastructures through vendors like ECS Fin.

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.

The euro has quietly been colonizing the blockchain world. Euro-denominated stablecoins now operate across 20 different networks, with Ethereum hosting roughly 69.5% of the total supply. That’s a footprint that would have seemed absurd just two years ago, when the entire euro stablecoin market was worth around €50 million.

Today, total euro stablecoin supply sits at $774.2 million as of mid-May 2026. That represents a ninefold increase from early 2024 levels.

Ethereum’s grip and the multi-chain push Euro stablecoins are now deployed across networks including Solana and the XRP Ledger, mirroring a pattern that USD stablecoins pioneered years ago.

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Circle’s EURC leads the pack with a market cap of $430.4 million, reflecting 109.8% growth. SG-FORGE’s EURCV, backed by Société Générale’s digital assets arm, has also expanded aggressively across multiple chains.

Even at $774.2 million, euro stablecoins are a rounding error compared to USD stablecoins, which command a market cap exceeding $250 billion. The euro’s share of the stablecoin universe is roughly 0.3%. For context, the euro accounts for about 20% of global foreign exchange reserves in traditional finance.

MiCA changed the math MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins now account for approximately $673.9 million of the total supply. That’s 128% year-over-year growth for the regulated segment specifically.

ING and UniCredit are reportedly planning to introduce their own euro stablecoin products by the second half of 2026, which would bring some of Europe’s largest banking names directly into the arena.

What this means for investors As euro stablecoin liquidity deepens, DeFi protocols that support euro-denominated lending, borrowing, and trading pairs become more viable. This creates opportunities in protocols positioned to capture European DeFi volume, a market that has historically been underserved because most on-chain liquidity has been denominated in dollars.

When major European banks enter the stablecoin market, they bring distribution networks that crypto-native issuers can’t easily replicate. ING alone serves tens of millions of customers across Europe.

There’s also the question of whether regulatory clarity becomes regulatory burden. MiCA compliance isn’t free. The capital requirements, reporting obligations, and operational standards that make institutional investors comfortable also raise costs for issuers. Smaller players may find themselves squeezed out, potentially concentrating the market among a handful of bank-backed tokens.

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

Dogecoin (DOGE) is drawing renewed interest from both analysts and institutional investors after reaching its most oversold monthly technical reading and attracting attention from one of the world’s largest asset managers, Franklin Templeton.

Analysts signal potential reversal as RSI hits record lowCrypto analyst Ash Crypto has observed that Dogecoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the monthly chart has dropped into an unprecedented oversold zone, surpassing even the depths seen during the broader crypto market bottom in 2022. The RSI is a technical indicator that measures the magnitude of recent price changes to evaluate overbought or oversold conditions.

These extreme RSI values often appear at or near major market bottoms and have led some market watchers to speculate that DOGE may now be establishing a significant base.

DOGE recently touched a three-year low near $0.067 after a nearly 90% decline from its all-time high. However, traders note a modest rebound, with the price rising 1.27% over the past 24 hours to $0.07036. At the same time, DOGE’s 24-hour trading volume reached $417.11 million, with a market capitalization of $12.03 billion.

If buying momentum continues and DOGE overcomes key resistance levels, several analysts project that the memecoin could test upper targets such as $0.45. The recent price action and oversold technical readings have fueled optimism for a potential bullish reversal.

Institutional moves: Franklin Templeton proposes ETF expansionIn a notable development, Franklin Templeton has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expand the scope of its Franklin Crypto Index ETF to include Dogecoin. Franklin Templeton is a leading global investment management firm overseeing trillions in assets, known for its range of mutual funds and ETFs.

The proposed inclusion of DOGE will transform the ETF into a more diversified “crypto basket fund.” This would allow institutional and retail investors to access a wider array of regulated digital assets under one financial product.

The expanded ETF aims to track a broader range of cryptocurrencies, expanding on its existing offerings. The move comes as established asset managers increasingly compete to launch and broaden crypto-focused investment products.

Franklin Templeton’s application with the SEC marks another step in the growing institutionalization of cryptocurrencies and highlights rising confidence in Dogecoin’s place within diversified crypto portfolios.

Mini dictionary: Franklin Templeton, a major US-based global investment management firm, operates a variety of mutual funds and ETFs. The Franklin Crypto Index ETF is an exchange-traded fund designed to offer diversified exposure to a basket of digital assets within a regulated framework.

ETF NameCurrent HoldingsProposed AdditionStatusFranklin Crypto Index ETFMultiple cryptocurrencies (excluding DOGE)Dogecoin (DOGE)SEC filing submittedMarket outlook and key driversRising optimism for DOGE is also visible in overall market sentiment, with the broader cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin showing signs of recovery. Market participants indicate that sustained buying above the $0.07 support and a successful break of major resistance zones could provide DOGE with upward momentum.

DOGE’s future performance is now closely tied to the outcome of the SEC’s decision on Franklin Templeton’s ETF proposal, as well as continued support from buyers at critical price levels.

Asset managers and DOGE proponents remain watchful for further regulatory updates that could affect the coin’s inclusion in regulated investment products.

The future trajectory of Dogecoin will depend on both the resilience of buyer support at key levels and how regulators respond to Franklin Templeton’s ETF application.

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.

Behind the Suits is our interview series with the institutional partners building on BNB Chain: how they got here and how their products work, told by the people doing the building.

TL;DRBENJI, Franklin Templeton's onchain money market fund, was the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to keep its official share register on blockchain. It has run every day since 2021.Most tokenized products are “digital twins.” BENJI is natively onchain: the blockchain record is the official record.The Benji Technology Platform integrated with BNB Chain in September 2025. Franklin Templeton now accounts for roughly $1.5 billion in tokenized value on the network (rwa.xyz).When Franklin Templeton's Benji Technology Platform integrated with BNB Chain last September, the announcement carried the headline facts: one of the world's largest asset managers, with $1.6 trillion under management, bringing its tokenization stack to the network. Ten months later, Franklin Templeton products account for roughly $1.5 billion in tokenized value on BNB Chain. What the announcement couldn't carry is the reasoning: why an asset manager of that size spent seven years building toward this, and what it takes to run a regulated fund on a public blockchain every day of the year.

The flagship is the Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund, ticker BENJI, the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use blockchain technology to process transactions and maintain its official share register. That last detail matters more than it sounds. Most tokenized products are mirrors: ownership lives on a traditional system and gets reflected onchain. For BENJI, the blockchain record is the official record. Combined with the controls institutions expect (a registered transfer agent, audited smart contracts, regulated custody), it's the kind of design that makes public blockchains safe for serious money.

We spoke with Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets Ecosystem Development at Franklin Templeton, about the road from a 2018 research project to core infrastructure.

What milestones defined Franklin Templeton's journey into digital assets?“Our journey started in 2018, well before tokenization was a mainstream conversation in asset management,” Bayston says. “The early work was genuine R&D: we wanted to understand what distributed ledgers could actually do for an asset manager, starting with the costly reconciliations and duplicate ledgers that weigh on capital markets.”

“The defining milestone came in 2021, when we launched what was the first U.S. registered mutual fund to use blockchain-integrated technology to process transactions and record share ownership. That fund has run continuously, every day of the year, ever since. From there, the milestones have been about breadth, extending the platform across multiple blockchains and building out fund structures for different markets and client types around the world, and more recently bringing our work onto BNB Chain.”

How has the digital assets strategy evolved?“It's moved through three phases,” Bayston says. “First, exploration, asking whether moving records onto a blockchain could make our business more efficient. We chose to tokenize a government money market fund as the test case because its daily yield and stable value made it a clean way to prove the concept. Second, commercialization, as the regulatory picture became clearer we went from experiment to a live, compliant system that can trade, manage risk, administer custody and maintain the shareholder record onchain. Third, expansion, both across networks and across asset types.”

“Along the way we became participants in the networks we use, running our own validating nodes, and we've expanded our crypto research and investment capabilities. The throughline is that we're not experimenting at the edges anymore; we're operationalizing this as core infrastructure.”

What role should traditional asset managers play in bridging TradFi and DeFi?“Our role is to bring the rigor of regulated finance onto open infrastructure, not to leave it behind,” Bayston says. “As a registered transfer agent, we maintain full control of the official ownership record, so if something needs to be corrected, it can be. That's the kind of investor protection institutions and regulators expect, and it's exactly what's needed for this technology to be trusted at scale.”

Then comes the distinction that separates BENJI from most of the tokenization market. “Most tokenized products today are ‘digital twins,' where ownership is really tracked on a parallel traditional system and only mirrored onchain,” he says. “We took the harder path of building genuinely onchain, because that's what unlocks the real benefits. The job of a manager like ours is to be the bridge: pairing decades of regulatory and investment discipline with the efficiency and openness of these networks, so that trusted products work in modern markets.”

What drew Franklin Templeton to BNB Chain?“Our philosophy is to meet investors where they're already active, and BNB Chain has a large, engaged base of both retail and institutional users,” Bayston says. “Practically, it also offers the things that make tokenized real-world assets work at scale: fast settlement, high throughput and low transaction costs, alongside tooling designed to support regulated products. That lets us extend access to our offerings to a community that's genuinely active onchain.”

On BNB Chain, those characteristics come with numbers attached: block times of 0.45 seconds, finality in 1.125 seconds, and fees low enough that per-transaction cost stops being a design constraint.

“Just as important is how we show up on any network,” he adds. “Security and compliance sit at the front of everything we do, and as a registered transfer agent we retain full control of the official ownership record, we work with third-party firms to audit our smart-contract code, and assets stay in regulated custody. Our approach is to bring that discipline to wherever our clients want to engage, and adding BNB Chain supports the broader interoperable, multi-chain strategy we're building.”

How do BNB Chain's speed, costs, and user base benefit clients?“The technical characteristics translate directly into client benefits,” Bayston says. “Low fees and high throughput are what make it realistic to do things onchain that simply don't work when every transaction is expensive or slow, things like continuous settlement and the kind of real-time, even intraday, yield mechanics we've built. Fast finality supports the always-on nature of these markets, which don't keep banking hours. And a large, active user base means the access we're extending actually reaches people who are participating onchain today.”

“For clients, that adds up to efficiency, reach and optionality: the ability to hold and move trusted, yield-bearing assets in a modern, around-the-clock environment.”

Where is the greatest potential for RWA tokenization?“The nearest-term, highest-conviction area is tokenized cash and government money market funds, because the utility is already proving out,” Bayston says. “A good example is using tokenized, yield-bearing money market fund shares as collateral, letting institutions keep assets in regulated custody and still put them to work, rather than parking idle balances. That solves a real pain point.”

“From there, we expect the aperture to widen considerably. Over time we think a very wide range of assets moves onto blockchain rails, for transparency, speed, efficiency and cost, but ultimately because that's where customer preference is heading. The biggest potential isn't any single asset class; it's tokenization becoming foundational, underpinning fund structures, private assets and cash management alike.”

What excites you over the next 6–12 months, and what does institutional success look like?“I'm most excited about the maturing of the infrastructure: real-time settlement becoming routine, better interoperability across networks, and growing regulatory clarity, which is what gives institutions the confidence to commit,” Bayston says. “We're also seeing institutional interest migrate toward the regulated, trusted end of the spectrum, which is healthy.”

“As for what real institutional success looks like, it's when the technology becomes invisible. Success is when onchain is simply how products are built and used, measured by genuine utility and everyday adoption rather than speculation. When clients are using these tools without thinking about the rails underneath, that's when we'll know this has truly arrived.”

What's nextBehind the Suits will continue with more guests coming up with more conversations with the institutions building tokenized funds, stablecoin infrastructure, and onchain yield products here.

In the meantime, see how RWAs are scaling on BNB Chain, explore our institutional solutions, or connect with our BD team to bring your products onchain.

Stellar has quietly outpaced Ethereum in the niche category of non-US government debt tokenization, with on-chain data showing that over $520 million in these assets have been issued on the Stellar network and the figure continues to rise. This development highlights Stellar’s increasing importance in the global decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape, particularly for assets outside the United States.

While Ethereum still dominates the much larger market for tokenized US Treasuries, Stellar has established itself as the preferred network for a growing segment of sovereign bonds from countries other than the US. Recent data indicates that Stellar leads this specific market segment, outpacing other major chains in attracting issuers of non-US government bonds.

The transition has been gradual. Platforms such as Etherfuse have played a significant role by launching “Stablebonds,” which are tokenized funds backed by short-term government debt instruments from multiple countries, directly on Stellar’s blockchain. This has contributed substantially to the rising volumes.

Several non-US sovereign assets, including Mexican CETES, Brazilian Tesouro bonds, euro-denominated government paper, and Korean Treasury Bonds (KTBs), are now available through offerings on Stellar. Spiko has also helped drive volumes by providing euro-based treasury products and other international sovereign instruments.

Technology and practical advantagesStellar’s appeal for these issuers lies in its minimal transaction fees, quick settlement times, and a design optimized for payments. For institutions dealing with global sovereign debt and requiring efficient cross-border settlement, the network’s infrastructure has become increasingly attractive.

The network’s technical strengths have also encouraged smaller sovereign issuers to experiment with tokenized instruments. One notable example is the Marshall Islands’ digital sovereign bond, designed to support on-chain universal basic income payments. These projects underline a trend: issuers seeking alternatives to US Treasuries continue to opt for Stellar.

Ethereum remains prominent in the overall real-world asset (RWA) tokenization narrative and holds a commanding lead in US government debt. However, Stellar’s dominance in non-US sovereign debt marks a significant development, especially as issuers and investors diversify their on-chain offerings.

Stellar’s low fees, fast finality, and payments-first design made it an easy fit for these issuers. When you’re dealing with cross-border sovereign instruments from Mexico, Brazil, the EU, or Korea and wanting them to move cheaply and settle quickly, the network’s architecture starts looking less like a nice-to-have and more like the right tool for the job.

USDC integration and broader ecosystem supportAdding to Stellar’s momentum, Circle’s USDC stablecoin is now live and native on the network, supporting the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP). This integration enables seamless movement of dollar liquidity onto Stellar, eliminating many complications commonly associated with wrapped tokens. A direct USDC on-ramp enhances Stellar’s position as a payment and tokenization platform for both sovereign issuers and global investors.

Such technical developments have coincided with the rise of new platforms like CryptoAppsy. This application provides real-time price monitoring, detailed charting, and multi-currency portfolio management, empowering investors to track opportunities and respond swiftly based on critical data such as Fed interest rate decisions or altcoin launches. CryptoAppsy’s smart price alerts and customizable news filters further support active market participants in this evolving sector.

While most tokenization headlines still focus on US-based government debt due to the dominance of the dollar, the recent rise in tokenized Mexican, Brazilian, European, and Korean bonds has pushed Stellar into the spotlight among international issuers. The network’s increasing volume in this sector may signal a broader shift toward alternative blockchains for government debt tokenization.

The pattern is consistent: issuers looking beyond US Treasuries keep choosing the same chain.

Stellar’s approach relied on providing cost-effective, easy-to-use infrastructure rather than publicity. With the current volume of over $520 million in non-US sovereign debt, XLM is steadily capturing a niche in the tokenization race that is drawing growing attention from governments and market participants around the world.

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.

PANews August 4 news, according to Fortune magazine, tokenized securities company Dinari, headquartered in California, USA, announced a partnership with stablecoin issuer Circle to provide U.S. investors with blockchain-based tokenized stock trading services, and plans to bring all S&P 500 index constituents onto the blockchain.

Dinari stated that its platform represents underlying stocks through “dShares,” where each token corresponds to real securities held in custody by regulated institutions. Investors can buy and sell stocks using USDC via self-custody wallets, with support for instant settlement, cross-platform asset transfers, and other features.

The company said the model aims to connect the roughly $300 billion stablecoin market with the more than $60 trillion U.S. stock market. The Dinari platform is currently live in 85 jurisdictions and supports over 6,000 tokenized assets.

Dinari co-founder and CEO Gabriel Otte said that in the future, stock tokens themselves could become the trusted ledger of stock ownership. With the tokenized asset market growing rapidly, bringing traditional securities onto the blockchain is becoming a key area of exploration for financial institutions.

@DinariGlobal has deployed its dShares™ platform natively on the @Avax C-Chain, opening direct on-chain access to U.S.-listed equities for eligible investors and businesses. The rollout covers 724 stocks and ETFs, including every constituent of the S&P 500, all held within a self-custodial framework.

What dShares Are and How They Work dShares are 1:1 backed by underlying U.S. equities and retain all shareholder rights, including dividends and corporate actions, with voting rights retained where permissible. Unlike synthetic products or derivatives that merely mimic price movements, dShares retain shareholder rights, meaning dividends, corporate actions, and instant settlement.

Dinari also operates as an SEC-registered transfer agent, while its broker-dealer subsidiary is registered with the SEC and belongs to FINRA and SIPC. It obtained a broker-dealer registration in June 2025 for its subsidiary, making it the first U.S. platform cleared to legally offer blockchain-based shares to domestic investors.

Settlement on the platform runs through @Circle's $USDC, enabling seamless intraday transactions. Dividend distributions are delivered natively on-chain, allowing participants to reinvest immediately within the digital ecosystem without routing funds back through traditional infrastructure.

Multi-Chain Reach and Avalanche's Growing RWA Footprint The Avalanche C-Chain deployment extends a multi-chain strategy that already covers @Ethereum, @Arbitrum, and @Base. The C-Chain integration extends compliant, 24/7 tokenized equity settlement into Avalanche's primary smart contract environment, making these assets accessible across DeFi protocols including DEXs, lending, and collateral use.

For Avalanche, routing dShares activity through C-Chain can increase transactions, total value locked, and demand for $AVAX as gas, while also strengthening Avalanche's positioning in the tokenized securities and RWA segment. Avalanche currently holds over $1.6 billion in tokenized assets and surpasses $473 million in monthly transfer volume, positioning itself as one of the most significant real-world asset ecosystems in the crypto industry.

The broader Dinari Financial Network aims to unify clearing and settlement for tokenized equities across various chains, similar to the DTCC's role in the U.S. stock market. All dShares are issued under a compliance-first framework that includes KYC, AML, and third-party audits.

Sources:
Avalanche Foundation: Dinari Launches the Dinari Financial Network
CoinDesk: Tokenized Equity Specialist Dinari to Launch Blockchain With Avalanche
Crypto Briefing: Dinari Launches dShares on Avalanche C-Chain

Six of 11 Stablecoins Rated Adequate or AboveS&P Global Ratings (@SPGlobalRatings) has released an update to its Stablecoin Stability Assessment (SSA) framework, finding that six of the 11 stablecoins covered by its assessments now have an adequate or above ability to maintain their peg to fiat currency. The agency cited progress among issuers as a key factor, with stronger asset quality and good risk management practices driving the improvement.

S&P's SSAs use a five-level scale: 1 (very strong), 2 (strong), 3 (adequate), 4 (constrained), and 5 (weak). The assessments consider factors including asset quality, governance frameworks, regulatory compliance, redeemability, liquidity, and track record. Leading the pack, $EURC and $USDC both carry a score of 2 (strong), as does $USDG, which received its first assessment in February 2026, and $USDP, which was also rated 2 (strong).

$USDT Holds the Weakest Score Despite Dominating the MarketThe contrast at the bottom of the rankings is notable. S&P Global Ratings gave $USDT the weakest possible assessment: 5 (weak) on its 1 to 5 scale. $TUSD and Ethena's $USDe share that bottom tier. S&P noted that "significant differences remain across stablecoins which can increase the risk of de-pegging."

That low rating sits in sharp contrast to $USDT's dominance in the broader market. Tether's $USDT is the largest stablecoin at roughly $187 billion in circulating supply, accounting for about 59% of the total stablecoin market. Over the past three quarters, S&P revised two of its 11 SSAs to a weaker level, while the other nine remained unchanged.

The update underscores a growing divide in how institutional-grade analysis views stablecoin quality versus raw market adoption. While regulated, transparent issuers such as Circle and Paxos score well on S&P's framework, the market's most widely used token continues to attract the agency's lowest rating, a tension that regulators and institutional investors are likely to scrutinize more closely as the stablecoin sector matures.

Sources:
S&P Global Ratings press release: More than half of Stablecoin Stability Assessments are adequate or above (PR Newswire, August 4, 2026)
S&P Global Ratings: Stablecoin Stability Assessments overview
Stablecoin market cap data, June 2026 (Transak)

Cover image via www.youtube.com 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.

Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert, who remains one of the crypto industry's biggest entrepreneurs, has shared a major infrastructure milestone within his portfolio as DCG-controlled mining platform Fortitude has officially confirmed the acquisition of a new 12.5 MW data center in Prosser, Nebraska.

The deal, valued at approximately $4.7 million, pushed Fortitude's total owned power portfolio beyond 60 MW. The new milestone expands DCG's industrial foundation for mining Zcash (ZEC). The holding company's chief openly calls financial privacy "a fundamental right" and his next "large asymmetric bet" in the crypto industry.

Why is Fortitude buying up Nebraska for ZEC?For most market participants, the focus on Zcash looks unconventional, but for Fortitude, it is pure mathematics. The Prosser site has become the company's third facility in Nebraska. Deploying infrastructure within a single regional cluster gives the miner several operational advantages:

Lower electricity costs. Concentrating its facilities in Nebraska gives Fortitude an electricity rate of around $0.045 per kWh.Lower Zcash production costs. Thanks to cheap energy, the direct cost of mining one ZEC falls by 40% to $40 per coin.Control over the network's hash rate. Taking into account its $31.5 million contract with Bitmain to purchase 9,000 Antminer Z15 Pro miners, the company's share of Zcash mining will exceed 28%.Fortitude's infrastructure push continues Silbert's thesis that Bitcoin has lost its anonymity because of analytics services such as Chainalysis.

Explaining his stance on assets with the potential for exponential growth, the creator of the GBTC Bitcoin trust stated: "Bitcoin is not going to go up 500x unless the US dollar completely collapses. I think Zcash or Bittensor can achieve that type of return. Our portfolio is weighted accordingly."

According to his estimates, up to 10% of Bitcoin liquidity, which is now about $128 billion, will flow into privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. 

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Alongside the installation of the equipment, Fortitude is finalizing its merger with publicly traded medical technology company HeartSciences (HSCS). It is an all-stock transaction, and the preliminary proxy statement is already under review by the SEC.

Silbert's plan is pragmatic: close the merger in the second half of 2026, change the ticker to TUDE, and list the first publicly traded institutional Zcash mining platform in history on Nasdaq.

July 2026 marked another major expansion period for tokenization across the Solana ecosystem. Financial institutions, asset managers, infrastructure providers, and blockchain platforms continued building products that connect traditional markets with onchain systems.

Throughout the month, tokenized equities reached new milestones, regulated funds expanded onto Solana, and institutions explored new forms of digital settlement infrastructure. The ecosystem also saw growth beyond financial assets, with tokenized collectibles, private markets, commodities, and alternative credit products gaining traction.

Here is everything you might have missed:

July 1: Bending Spoons Shares Launch Onchain xStocksFi launched tokenized shares of Bending Spoons following the company’s IPO.

The tokenized asset, trading under the ticker $BSPx, provides eligible investors with 1:1 backed price exposure and 24/7 access through Solana-based infrastructure.

July 2: Tokenized Funds and Securities Expand Securitize launched tokenized $SECZ shares on Solana alongside its NYSE debut.

The launch made $SECZ the world’s largest tokenized stock at the time of launch and marked the first instance of a newly public company tokenizing its own shares from the first day of trading.

The same day, TruYields launched $TRUBILL on Solana. The product provides approved institutions with access to a tokenized Treasury bill product backed by the AAA-rated ULTRA Fund.

$TRUBILL includes T+0 redemptions and onchain utility while relying on institutional infrastructure from providers including Komainu for regulated custody, Porto by Anchorage Digital for institutional DeFi participation, Utila for MPC wallet infrastructure, GSR for market making, and Halborn Security for smart contract audits.

Spiko also launched its UCITS-compliant fund on Solana. Managed by Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager with €2.4 trillion in assets under management, the fund provides stable yield exposure with overnight liquidity.

July 10: Backpack Expands 24/7 Equity Trading Backpack launched what it described as the first 24/7 brokerage for real U.S. equities. The platform allows international investors to trade select U.S. equities around the clock through direct brokerage access combined with 1:1 redeemable onchain liquidity. The initial listings included SpaceX, Micron, and SanDisk shares.

On the same day, SK Hynix’s tokenized stock launched on Solana through Backpack Securities and Sunrise, xStocksFi, and Ondo Finance following the company’s $26.5 billion Nasdaq listing with their respective tokenized products.

The offering became the largest U.S. share sale by a foreign issuer, surpassing Alibaba’s 2014 IPO.

July 13: Japan Targets Onchain Financial Markets SBI Holdings and the Solana Foundation announced a partnership to develop Japan’s first onchain financial market. The collaboration focuses on stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, institutional financial infrastructure, and cross-border settlement.

The company also plans to support tokenized corporate bonds, commercial papers, funds, and real estate while developing financial services designed for institutional investors and AI-driven payment systems.

July 13: Jupiter Expands Tokenized Collectibles Jupiter Exchange launched Jupiter Gacha, entering Solana’s growing tokenized trading card market.

The platform allows users to open packs containing authenticated and graded Pokémon and One Piece cards represented onchain.

Jupiter partnered with Collector Crypt to provide the underlying infrastructure. Early activity generated $3.29 million across 31,570 pack openings within 22 hours of launch, according to Dune data.

July 14: Jito Launches JTX Trading Platform Jito launched JTX, its institutional-standard trading platform supporting memecoins, tokenized equities, and major assets. Access initially remained limited to the top 1,000 waitlist users ranked by referrals before opening to all users on July 21.

The launch arrived as Solana continued gaining market share in high-performance spot trading, with decentralized exchanges competing with centralized platforms on execution quality and liquidity.

July 15: DTCC Completes Tokenization Production Tests The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation successfully converted securities held at the Depository Trust Company into tokens and used them in live production trades.

More than 30 traditional finance and digital asset firms participated in the initiative, which DTCC described as its largest tokenization production effort by use cases, asset classes, and participants. Participants included BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, Circle, Chainlink, Ondo Finance, Vanguard, and other major firms.

The same day, SBI Global Asset Management and DigiFT launched $JX on Solana, marking the first time a Japanese asset manager’s equity strategy went live onchain.

July 19: Tokenized Equity Lending Reaches New High Tokenized equities in Solana lending markets reached a weekly all-time high of $51.9 million.

Kamino accounted for $31.73 million while Jupiter Exchange recorded $20.14 million, showing increasing demand for using tokenized stocks as collateral within decentralized finance.

July 22: xStocks Expands Global Coverage xStocks announced plans to expand beyond U.S. stocks and ETFs.

The platform intends to bring tokenized equities from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Europe, and other global markets onchain.

July 23: Mubadala Brings Private Markets Onchain Mubadala Capital announced plans to launch a $75 million tokenized private market strategy fund on Solana through KAIO.

The Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund manages approximately $385 billion in assets. The fund attracted $75 million in commitments and is expected to deploy across Solana, Sui, and Base.

The development reflected a broader shift toward expanding tokenized assets beyond U.S.-focused markets into global investment opportunities.

July 23: Raydium Launches Permissioned AMMs Raydium introduced Permissioned AMMs, enabling issuers to create KYC-gated tokenized assets with compliant onchain secondary markets.

Superstate became the first partner to integrate the infrastructure for tokenized equities. The launch represents an effort to combine decentralized liquidity with compliance requirements for regulated financial assets.

July 27: Tokenized Markets Reach New Milestones $SPCX became the first Sunrise tokenized stock listing to surpass $1 billion in cumulative trading volume on Solana.

The same day, Kamino launched an isolated lending market for tokenized gold. The new $PAXG market allows users to supply Pax Gold as collateral and borrow $USDG without selling their gold holdings.

July 28: Solana Becomes Leading Blockchain by RWA Count Solana became the leading blockchain by number of tokenized real-world assets.

The network reached 2,582 tokenized RWAs, the highest among all chains at the time, while tokenized RWA value surpassed $3.70 billion. The number of RWA holders also reached a new all-time high of more than 313,000.

July 30: Hastra Launches Tokenized Auto Credit Product Hastra launched AUTO on Solana, bringing exposure to the $1.68 trillion auto credit market. The product distributes consumer auto loan yields among asset holders and represents Hastra’s second RWA yield product after PRIME, which reached more than $360 million in Solana TVL.

AUTO launched with more than $475 million in total multichain assets under management and provides liquid asset holders with exposure to asset-backed credit markets.

July 31: Phygitals Launches RWA Mobile App Phygitals shipped its dedicated RWA mobile application, continuing the expansion of consumer-focused tokenized asset platforms.

Broader Trends: Tokenization Moves Toward Global Financial Infrastructure July highlighted a continued shift from experimentation toward broader market infrastructure.

Traditional financial institutions increased their involvement through tokenized funds, regulated securities platforms, and settlement systems. DTCC’s production testing, SBI’s Japanese market initiative, and Mubadala’s tokenized fund plans demonstrated growing interest from institutions outside crypto-native markets.

Tokenized equities remained the dominant category on Solana. Backpack surpassed xStocksFi in monthly tokenized equities volume for the first time in July despite representing only around 5% of Solana’s tokenized stock supply compared with xStocksFi’s 87% share.

Solana Foundation President Lily Liu described the network’s long-term focus as financial infrastructure accessible across the internet, noting that tokenized equities have become a major asset class as global demand for 24/7 market access increases.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko also highlighted the demand for global access to U.S. equities, arguing that blockchain infrastructure represents another attempt to connect global liquidity with major financial markets.

As institutions continue developing regulated frameworks and blockchain platforms improve market infrastructure, tokenized assets are becoming an increasingly important component of digital financial markets.

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Why is the CLARITY Act Stuck?

Ondo’s tokenized Treasury product USDY, bringing yield-bearing dollar exposure to one of DeFi’s largest ecosystems, is now available via 1inch.

Tokenized US Treasuries are moving deeper into DeFi. Ondo’s US Dollar Yield Token, USDY, is now natively available on BNB Chain and supported by 1inch. Users can swap USDY through 1inch, while builders can access it through 1inch APIs.

With more than $2.15 bln in total asset value, USDY is one of the largest tokenized US Treasury products onchain. Its expansion to BNB Chain gives the asset access to another major DeFi ecosystem and creates new opportunities for trading, collateral and treasury management.

What is USDY?USDY is a tokenized note offered by Ondo to eligible non-US individuals and institutions.

It is secured by a portfolio of short-term US Treasuries and bank demand deposits. The underlying assets are held by a collateral agent, while the product is designed to give eligible global investors access to US dollar-denominated yield and institutional-grade protections.

Unlike a conventional dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDY is yield-bearing. Unlike a conventional dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDY's value is not fixed to the dollar. Its price reflects the value of the underlying short-term US Treasuries and cash instruments over time, and can move up or down.

USDY is designed for use across DeFi, including cash and treasury management, lending, borrowing, payments, trading and collateral. On BNB Chain, eligible users can mint and redeem USDY instantly, reducing wait times and making it easier to manage positions. A cross-chain bridge also enables transfers between BNB Chain and other supported networks.

For developers, USDY can serve as a composable yield-bearing asset across BNB Chain applications. It can be integrated into lending markets, trading products, liquidity strategies and treasury-management tools, or used as collateral where supported.

USDY expands to BNB ChainThe BNB Chain launch introduces three key components:

native USDY on BNB Chaininstant minting and redemptiona cross-chain bridge connecting BNB Chain with other supported networksNative issuance means eligible users can access USDY directly on BNB Chain rather than first acquiring it elsewhere and bridging it across.

Instant minting and redemption reduce waiting periods and make it easier to manage positions. Meanwhile, the bridge allows USDY to move between BNB Chain and other networks in Ondo’s growing multichain ecosystem.

USDY is also available on Ethereum and is tradable there via 1inch, as well.

USDY swaps through 1inchOn 1inch.com, users can swap into or out of USDY through available liquidity on BNB Chain and Ethereum. 1inch routing searches across liquidity sources to find an efficient route rather than requiring users to check individual venues manually.

For wallets, applications and institutional platforms, USDY swaps can also be integrated through the APIs available on 1inch Business.

1inch does not issue USDY or manage its reserves, yield, minting, redemption or cross-chain bridge. Those functions remain with Ondo. The role of 1inch is to provide swap and routing infrastructure that helps users and applications access the token through available onchain liquidity.

Why routing matters for tokenized assetsIssuing an asset onchain is only part of the journey. To become useful across DeFi, tokenized assets also need connectivity and liquidity.

Users need practical ways to enter and exit positions. Developers need infrastructure that allows those assets to interact with wallets, trading interfaces and other applications. Liquidity may be distributed across different venues, making the most obvious route not always the most efficient one.

1inch helps connect USDY with the wider DeFi market by supporting swaps through its aggregation and intent-based infrastructure.

As tokenized Treasury assets expand across chains, this infrastructure can help make them more accessible, portable and useful across the onchain economy.

Explore USDY on 1inch.

Disclaimer: This content is for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax or legal advice. USDY is subject to eligibility requirements and may not be available in the US or other restricted jurisdictions. Holding or interacting with tokenized assets involves risk, including the possible loss of funds.

@Injective has joined forces with @Lifiprotocol, giving users the ability to bridge and swap $INJ and native $USDC across more than 60 supported blockchain networks in a single, unified flow.

What the Integration Does The integration covers both Injective's native and EVM environments, using LI.FI's API and SDK to open direct liquidity paths for over 1,000 decentralized applications. Rather than requiring users to navigate a chain of separate bridge and swap steps, the architecture compresses the entire process into a single-click intent, letting users move assets from external networks with execution optimized for price and speed.

LI.FI is a cross-chain liquidity aggregation and orchestration platform that enables developers to access any DEX and bridge across 60+ blockchain ecosystems through a single API. Its stack covers same-chain swaps, cross-chain swaps, contract calls, multi-step flows, status tracking, and intent-based execution. For Injective, that means the multi-step bridging process users previously had to manage manually is now abstracted away entirely.

Why It Matters for Injective LI.FI is a bridge and DEX aggregation protocol that connects dozens of bridges and decentralized exchanges into a single API, SDK, and embeddable widget. This allows for deep integration of LI.FI's cross-chain swapping and bridging logic directly into an application's backend and frontend, while developers can build fully customized user experiences leveraging LI.FI's routing and aggregation engine.

The practical impact for Injective's ecosystem is meaningful. Liquidity that previously sat siloed on external chains becomes reachable without users leaving Injective-native applications. LI.FI describes itself as the routing and execution layer that connects applications to on-chain liquidity across chains, bridges, DEXs, solvers, and yield protocols through a single integration, meaning an app can plug into LI.FI instead of separately integrating a large set of bridge providers, DEX aggregators, token mappings, and monitoring systems.

The move also aligns Injective with a broader trend in DeFi infrastructure. In late May 2026, LI.FI introduced LI.FI Intents, a solution designed to eliminate cross-chain complexity that, rather than forcing users to navigate multiple steps and fragmented infrastructure, offers a full-stack, intent-based system that makes multi-chain transfers feel like a simple utility. Injective's integration taps directly into that intent-based architecture.

Sources:
LI.FI API and SDK: Cross-chain swaps and bridging across 60+ chains
LI.FI: The State of Interop for 2026

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.

Ripple minted $133.3 million in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger on August 3, according to data from the Ripple stablecoin tracker website.

The substantial mint on the XRP Ledger comes amid growing activity for RLUSD and rising demand for stablecoin liquidity. The minting introduces new liquidity to the XRPL ecosystem, where RLUSD has been broadening its role across payments, decentralized finance, and institutional use cases.

In the last seven days, $185 million in RLUSD has been minted on the XRP Ledger, bringing the total to $309 million in the last 30 days. RLUSD supply on the XRP Ledger has surpassed $850 million, currently at $851 million.

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Ripple introduced "Ripple Mint" last month, allowing institutions to mint and redeem RLUSD directly from the source, bridge the stablecoin across chains, and track funds across the full lifecycle of a transaction. Through the feature, they can also integrate RLUSD operations into internal systems or workflows.

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Expectations are building around the upcoming XRP Ledger Lending protocol, which will allow institutions and other projects to lend and borrow XRP or RLUSD and is regarded as a major unlock for on-chain liquidity.

RLUSD utility increasesIn a major development, XRP holders can now borrow RLUSD on Ethereum through Sentora, which manages a $280 million lending pool of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin.

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According to a recent Flare announcement, XRP holders can now use its wrapped XRP (FXRP) as collateral to borrow Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin on Ethereum via a new isolated market on Morpho Blue.

Flare's wrapped XRP (FXRP) has been accepted as collateral by Sentora, which manages a $280 million lending pool of Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin. Borrowers post FXRP and take out RLUSD against it. The approval opens an isolated FXRP/RLUSD market on Morpho Blue, where holders can borrow against XRP exposure rather than sell it.

In a separate development, Ankr's public RPC infrastructure is now live on XRP Ledger, giving developers direct access to the network without running their own nodes.