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Ripple stablecoin product lead Lauren Berta has highlighted an upcoming XRP Ledger feature that could matter greatly for the RLUSD stablecoin: permission delegation.

Version 3.3.0 of xrpld, the reference server implementation of the XRP Ledger protocol, released earlier this month, introduced XLS-75—'PermissionDelegationV1_1: Granular account Permission Delegation.'

The Permission Delegation amendment is currently up for validator voting on the XRP Ledger, and according to Berta, has the potential to unlock an important capability for institutions issuing regulated assets on XRPL.

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Permission Delegation is currently up for validator voting on the XRP Ledger, and it has the potential to unlock an important capability for institutions issuing regulated assets on XRPL.
Here's why that matters for $RLUSD and every regulated token on the ledger. 🧵

— Lauren (@rootveg444) August 21, 2026 In a lengthy threaded post, Berta explains why permission delegation matters for RLUSD and every regulated token on the ledger. Currently, an XRPL token issuer account controls key functions like minting, freezing, clawback, or trust line authorization. For regulated issuers, those responsibilities often sit across different teams such as compliance, operations, security, and others.

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The Permission Delegation feature is designed to reflect this reality as it allows issuers to delegate specific actions to separate accounts while keeping the issuer account secure. Berta cited an instance where the compliance team gets freeze and clawback, Ops gets mint and burn, and a KYC provider gets trust line authorization, while each team uses its own keys.

Berta noted that this separation of duties is how stablecoin issuers operate on other chains, with different teams being responsible for different functions. The Ripple stablecoin product lead added that Permission Delegation will enable this same operational structure for RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, natively at the protocol level, which is entirely distinct from multisig.

Multisig vs Permission DelegationWhile multisig requires parties to approve a transaction, delegation authorizes an account to perform a specific action on another's behalf.

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"One splits approval authority. The other splits responsibilities," Berta added, noting that multisig and permission delegation solve different problems. Importantly, delegation does not mean giving up control.

Permission delegation remains essential as stablecoin issuers, RWA tokenizers, and asset managers bringing regulated instruments onchain need ways to separate the teams moving assets, enforcing compliance, and managing security.

While permission delegation is currently in validator voting, in parallel, the RLUSD team is building and testing the functionality on devnet in preparation for its activation.  

In a notable milestone, Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin total circulating supply has topped $2 billion. 

Altcoins

22 August 2026 | 16:02 Ethereum’s flash push above $2,500 ran out of steam, dragging the asset back below the crucial $2,465 handle, though it still retains a 30% weekly gain, according to CoinMarketCap data.

With spot demand wrestling against heavy derivatives exposure, the next directional cue depends entirely on whether bulls can recapture that old ceiling.

Make no mistake, this price action goes far deeper than a simple technical rejection. U.S. spot ETF absorption and surging on-chain velocity are clashing with bloated futures leverage, setting up an explosive environment if $2,465 fails to hold.

Ethereum price chart – Source: TradingView What sits behind ETH at $2,430 $692.6M: Net inflows into U.S. spot Ether ETFs over five consecutive trading sessions. +61.25%: Weekly expansion in Ethereum DEX volume. $80.22B: Total ETH futures turnover recorded over a 24-hour window. $6.32B: Corresponding ETH spot market turnover over the same period. $2,465: The former resistance ceiling ETH must now flip back into support. The breakout demands a reclaim On the Coinbase daily chart, ETH stretched as high as $2,530, cleanly clearing the $2,465 Fibonacci level (1.0). The failure to stick the landing left ETH slipping back to $2,430 by the time of writing.

That swift rejection puts a spotlight on $2,465. Closing a daily candle back above that threshold would signal genuine market acceptance at higher valuations; failing here locks it in as firm overhead resistance.

If sellers stay in control, downside tests wait at the 0.786 Fibonacci retracement near $2,270. A deeper flush exposes $2,100, followed by a heavier confluence zone around $2,000 and $1,986, where the 200-day moving average intersects the 0.5 Fibonacci marker.

ETF buyers showed up ahead of the test Farside Investors’ ETF tracking data reveals a healthy institutional appetite, logging five straight days of net inflows into U.S. spot Ether products from August 17 to August 21. Total absorption hit $692.6 million, capped by a massive $184 million single-day injection on August 21.

BlackRock’s ETHA drove the lions share, pulling in $536.8 million across the window. This steady cash accumulation separates the move from a transient retail squeeze, proving real capital is entering regulated investment vehicles.

To be clear, spot inflows don’t dictate every intraday price swing or guarantee $2,465 will hold. But they confirm the breakout attempt was backed by authentic capital rather than pure perpetual swap leverage.

Derivatives are still out-muscling spot The derivatives complex remains the primary source of market friction. CoinGlass figures show ETH futures turnover reached a staggering $80.22 billion over 24 hours, dwarfing the $6.32 billion spot volume by a factor of roughly 12.7.

With open interest hovering at $31.80 billion alongside $286.75 million in daily liquidations, the market is primed for violent moves in either direction. Ideally, ETH will reclaim $2,465 while open interest stabilizes rather than compounding. Traders tracking risk exposure can monitor CoinGlass’s ETH funding-rate metrics for signs of overheating.

On-chain activity climbs, but stablecoin liquidity flatlines Fundamental network activity paints a constructive picture. According to DefiLlama, weekly Ethereum DEX volume surged 61.25% to $8.28 billion, while on-chain perpetual volume climbed 53.51% to $10.38 billion.

Yet a closer look at the data reveals a notable divergence: Ethereum’s stablecoin market capitalization barely budged over the same period, sitting flat at $147.05 billion (down 0.05%).

Higher token prices naturally inflate dollar-denominated DeFi TVL, but flat stablecoin supply signals that a massive wave of fresh fiat liquidity hasn’t actually washed onto the chain yet. Trading velocity is up; the underlying cash pool is staying steady.

The verdict rests below $2,500 Ethereum proved it has the firepower to breach $2,500, but sustainable rallies require more than a fleeting spike. The healthier path forward involves reclaiming $2,465, establishing a calm retest base, and letting derivatives leverage cool off while ETF bids continue.

If price breaks below $2,270 while open interest stays bloated, that $2,530 wick will look less like a breakout and more like a classic liquidity sweep that ran too far, too fast.

The underlying cash bid is real, underscored by strong ETF inflows and surging decentralized exchange volume. Now, the chart has to prove whether that momentum can turn $2,465 into a permanent floor.

Methodology: Price structure, Fibonacci levels, moving averages, volume and RSI are taken from the Coinbase ETH/USD daily chart created on August 22, 2026, at 12:46 UTC. ETF-flow, derivatives and on-chain metrics were reviewed on August 22, 2026 and change continuously. The article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

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.

The XRP Ledger has overtaken Stellar in the stablecoin race with further growth in Ripple USD (RLUSD). This change spotlights with the increasing activity of stablecoins on XRP and the growing demand for Ripple’s stablecoin.

XRP Ledger Outpaces Stellar In Terms of Stablecoin Supply According to DeFiLlama, XRP Ledger has a total stablecoin supply of $1.092 billion, ranking it 12th in the blockchain networks. Number-one ranked Steller is ranked 13th with $968.67 million. XRPL’s supply has increased by 14.29%, while the supply of Stellar has declined by 5.87%.

Over the past week, XRPL’s stablecoin supply increased about 13%. During the same period, Stellar’s decline was 6.5%. Not only that, XRP price exploded 20% and outshined XLM price during the recent crypto market rally.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2091049963728089363

The vast majority of XRP Ledger’s supply of stablecoins comes from RLUSD. According to the data, it makes up 90.49% of the total network. This puts RLUSD supply on XRPL at above $988 million.

In the case of supply, Ethereum still leads XRPL by a notable margin in terms of their RLUSD supply. In the past, XRP Ledger had outpaced Ethereum in RLUSD supply but the latter has since returned as the leader. As of the time of this writing, there are approximately $1.08 billion worth of RLUSD on Ethereum and $988.36 million worth of XRPL on the XRPL.

RLUSD Takes The Spotlight Again RLUSD has also surpassed the $2 billion market cap milestone. This puts it just a little further away from PayPal USD, which has a market value of approximately $2.87 billion. For context, RLUSD was founded by Ripple in December 2024. Hence, XRP Ledger validator Vet declared it “the fastest growing stablecoin regulated under the NYDFS.”

The stablecoin’s growth is occurring as Ripple advances on institutional credit markets. Ripple is also involved in a new endeavor to provide RLUSD loans to fintech and payments companies on XRPL with Clearpool and Cicada Partners.

Cicada will recruit borrowers and set up the parameters of the loan. Clearpool is building out the lending platform. Ripple will be funding the development.

This protocol is still being developed. XRP is still used for transaction fees and account balances on the XRPL. RLUSD is created to be used and liquidated in the ecosystem with dollars.

Aave V4 has surpassed $600 million in total deposits, marking a new historical peak for the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol. This milestone reflects renewed capital flows into crypto lending and signals increasing institutional participation in decentralized finance.

Institutional interest and on-chain capital inflowThe latest surge in deposits is driven by heightened demand for stablecoins and tokenized treasuries, as more traditional financial players move funds on-chain. Reports from DefiLlama indicate that Aave V4’s $600 million figure represents aggregate deposits across both Ethereum’s mainnet and several Layer 2 (L2) networks.

Market observers attribute this growth to rising stablecoin yields, which continue to outpace returns from many conventional deposit products. The transition from Aave V3 to V4 has also accelerated as users seek unified liquidity pools and improved risk management modules introduced in the newest version.

Aave V4’s rapid accumulation of $600 million showcases both confident institutional adoption and a strong migration from previous versions, bolstered by the platform’s streamlined liquidity architecture and granular risk controls.

The increase in borrowing demand is notable, with higher utilization ratios observed for USDC, USDT, and GHO stablecoins. With V4 audits nearing completion and advanced cross-chain features poised for release, Aave appears well positioned to capture additional liquidity in the coming months.

Technical upgrades and competitive landscapeAave is a leading decentralized lending protocol that enables users to borrow and lend cryptocurrencies without the need for intermediaries. The protocol’s upgrade to V4 introduces a modular system designed for interoperability across networks, and it seeks to establish itself as core infrastructure for institutional DeFi participants.

Developers focused on building lending, repo, and structured financial products across Ethereum, Base, and Polygon networks are expected to benefit from the modular architecture. This competition has intensified with platforms like Compound and Morpho, as rivals work to match Aave’s capital efficiency and innovative liquidity tools.

Mini dictionary: GHO — GHO is a decentralized, overcollateralized stablecoin native to the Aave protocol, designed to maintain a stable value pegged to the US dollar and can be minted by users supplying collateral to the platform.

ProtocolTotal DepositsKey FeaturesAave V4$600 millionUnified liquidity, granular risk control, cross-chain supportCompound$2.6 billion*Algorithmic interest, no unified liquidityMorpho$1.7 billion*P2P optimization, flexible rates*Estimated as of the latest data from DefiLlama.

Positive outlook as audits and integrations progressThe increase in Aave V4 deposits aligns with recent trends in decentralized finance, including tokenized treasuries crossing $15 billion and surging stablecoin settlement volumes. The protocol has pursued collaborations with ETF custodial service providers and real-world asset (RWA) firms, attracting further institutional capital.

Aave’s latest developments are expected to pave the way for more governance decisions this year, especially relating to the addition of new assets and cross-chain liquidity support. The completion of the ongoing V4 audits is anticipated as a catalyst for further development and adoption.

Institutions exploring digital credit lines have pointed to Aave V4’s risk controls and enhanced liquidity as foundational tools, reinforcing the protocol’s role in the evolving DeFi infrastructure for treasury management.

As traditional and crypto-native funds continue to seek higher yields, Aave’s expanded feature set is expected to strengthen the platform’s position among both retail and institutional users.

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.

Solana (SOL) saw a successful mainnet upgrade on Friday morning that cuts the network's target slot time to 350 milliseconds (ms), down 50 ms from its former target of 400 ms. A slot is the short period of time in which a designated validator can produce a block of transactions of Solana's blockchain. 

The change was the first step under SIMD-0525, a Solana upgrade proposal merged on May 14 that outlines a path to eventually cutting the target slot time to just 200 ms, half its longtime value. 

"Shorter slots reduce confirmation and finalization latency for users," the proposal explains. "Any consensus or commitment threshold measured in slots takes less wall-clock time as slot time decreases."

The change also shortens Solana's epochs, which each contain 432,000 slots, meaning an epoch that used to take about 48 hours should now only take about 42 hours. Validators, which remain in charge for four slots at a time, will now change turns every 1.4 seconds, down from 1.6 seconds. 

Solana developers plan to make three further 50 ms cuts until the slot time reaches its final target of 200 ms. Each stage will be switched on separately, and the rollout can be paused if too many validators fail to produce blocks in their assigned slots, according to the Solana Foundation's upgrade overview. 

In a point-in-time check conducted for this article, a 1,000-slot period shortly before the change took 415 seconds, compared with 368 seconds for a 1,000-slot period later in epoch 1020.

While shorter slots reduce transaction latency, the change does not mean Solana's network can automatically process more work each second, as validators handle slots more often but each slot carries less work. Shorter slots also limit how long one validator can delay or rearrange transactions before the next validator's turn, the proposal's authors argue. 

Seven-day moving average of vote and non-vote transactions on Solana over the past year, per The Block's data. The change comes as non-voting transactions on the network, meaning transactions that have a purpose beyond supporting the network, have seen a notable rise since the start of the year according to The Block's data. 

Solana, co-founded by Anatoly Yakovenko, has in the past separately increased the amount of work that can fit into each block. The Block reported in July 2025 that developers had proposed raising the network's compute limit, which limits the amount of work the network can do to process transactions, to 100 million compute units. The change was merged and adopted into the main network on July 29. 

The network has also recently added another major validator client, written in a different language than the Rust-based Agave (and its popular fork, Jito-Agave). Jump Crypto’s Firedancer client, written in the C programming language, went live in December, improving client diversity and network resilience. 

Though slot times are now on their way down to 200 ms, full finality, or how long it takes the network to treat a block as irreversible, still takes much longer: Solana’s Alpenglow overhaul, still in development, aims to eventually cut finality to about 150 ms from roughly 12.8 seconds today.

The next planned mainnet target for slot times is 300 ms, though Solana developers have not yet set a target activation date for the change. The developers plan to monitor the network's performance with its current 350 ms slots before proceeding to cut the target time further.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

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

Bitcoin staking through Stacks is set to go live in about 19 days. The PoX-5 hardfork, scheduled to activate on the Stacks mainnet around July 29, 2026, will lay the technical groundwork for BTC holders to earn yield directly on their holdings without giving up custody of their coins.

How Bitcoin staking on Stacks actually works The system relies on Stacks’ Proof of Transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism, which has been operational since 2021. Under the new staking framework, participants lock BTC on Bitcoin’s layer 1 alongside STX tokens to form what Stacks calls “bonds.” Those bonds generate BTC rewards at an initial annual percentage yield of roughly 3%.

The BTC stays on Bitcoin’s base layer under your own custody, while the STX component ties the staking activity into the Stacks network’s economics. Neither asset needs to be wrapped, bridged to another chain, or deposited into a smart contract controlled by someone else.

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Previous iterations of this concept have already shown meaningful traction. Dual Stacking with sBTC, an earlier offering from the Stacks ecosystem, attracted over $100 million in user participation and facilitated substantial BTC payouts.

The rollout timeline and what comes next The July 29 hardfork is just the first domino. After PoX-5 activates, the next major milestone is the inaugural Genesis Bond event, scheduled for late August 2026. That event will mark the practical launch of the staking system, giving users their first opportunity to form bonds and begin earning rewards.

Stacks has been running the upgrade through public testnet phases and conducting thorough audits ahead of the mainnet activation. September 2026 carries additional milestones for Q3, though the Genesis Bond event in August represents the moment when the system transitions from theoretical to functional for real users with real capital.

Institutional interest and market positioning Institutional integrations are already underway, with partners like Fireblocks and UTXO Management involved from early phases of the rollout. Fireblocks is one of the most widely used institutional custody and settlement platforms in crypto. UTXO Management is a digital asset investment firm focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The requirement to hold STX alongside BTC creates an interesting dynamic for Stacks’ native token. Every participant who wants to stake Bitcoin through this system also needs exposure to STX. The over $100 million that flowed into the earlier Dual Stacking program suggests there is genuine appetite for Bitcoin yield products within the Stacks community.

Competing yield products on Bitcoin typically involve either lending platforms, which carry counterparty risk, or wrapped Bitcoin on other chains, which introduces bridge risk. Stacks’ self-custodial approach sidesteps both of those concerns. The roughly 3% initial yield is lower than what some DeFi lending protocols offer on wrapped BTC, but comes with a fundamentally different risk profile.

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

XRP recorded a significant price increase on Thursday, surging over 17% to reach an intraday peak of $1.43. The spike coincided with Ripple’s official support for the PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), which advances core upgrades anticipated in the forthcoming XRPL version 3.3.0. However, the proposed feature still requires broader consensus among network validators before it can be implemented.

Validator Voting and Amendment ProgressOut of 35 validators listed in the Unique Node List, only 7 have voted in favor of the PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment so far. Ripple added its vote to the tally, but as a single validator, it cannot control the amendment process. For the change to be enacted on the XRPL, more than 80% of validators must support it for two consecutive weeks. If this threshold is not met or support drops below 80%, the voting period restarts from zero and validators retain the option to reverse their votes at any stage.

The PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment allows account owners to authorize another account for specific transaction types, enhancing the flexibility and usability of XRPL accounts. This delegated authority is limited in scope and does not extend to all payments or changes in account settings, preserving owner control and security.

Implications and Additional ProposalsRole-based permission systems, similar to the proposed amendment, are widely used by financial organizations to restrict data access and operational control among employees and service providers. By giving precise permissions to distinct accounts, organizations can enhance security without compromising efficiency.

Jazzi Cooper, RippleX head of product, emphasized the importance of establishing appropriate controls for regulated firms engaging with public ledgers. She explained that token issuance is a necessity for on-chain activities, and consistent standards are crucial. The PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment adheres to the XLS-75 standard and replaces a previous version that was disabled due to a critical software bug, which this update now addresses and corrects.

Node operators are urged to upgrade and run software with approved amendments to maintain network compatibility. Running outdated software may result in amendment blocks if the node cannot process updated protocol rules.

Jazzi Cooper highlighted the need for regulated organizations to have adequate controls when issuing tokenized assets on public ledgers, pointing out that the PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment responds to this requirement while upholding XRPL’s security framework.

Other XRPL Upgrades and Market DynamicsRipple also signaled support for two additional amendment proposals: Single Asset Vault (XLS-65) and Lending Protocol (XLS-66). These received support from 40% and more than 37% of validators, respectively, which remains below the 80% supermajority threshold needed for activation.

The Single Asset Vault feature offers a mechanism to aggregate a singular asset, such as XRP, RLUSD, or similar ledger tokens, enabling shareholders to hold proportional ownership within the vault. Meanwhile, the Lending Protocol proposes fixed-term credit issuance and pooled liquidity, supported by off-chain credit evaluations. Security reviews of the lending protocol code, including a re-audit by Halborn in June, flagged no major or high-severity vulnerabilities.

Validator approval solely enables such features on-chain and does not alter any regulatory requirements for XRP, RLUSD, securities, or lending. These developments underscore the incremental expansion of functionality on XRPL.

Market Activity and Tokenization TrendsFollowing a recent low at $1.22, XRP surged roughly 40% over the past week, driven by higher spot prices and active short-covering. Trading volume in spot markets soared 156% during the rally, reflecting increased investor participation. ETF flows also intensified: net inflows into US spot XRP ETFs totaled $13.24 million on Thursday, with Bitwise adding $9.9 million and Franklin Templeton $3.34 million. Open interest in XRP futures expanded to $3.44 billion, gaining 17% in the last 24 hours. CME, Binance, and Hyperliquid exchanges saw respective increases in open interest of 35%, 15%, and 29%.

These blockchain innovations are part of a broader trend in financial markets. While traditional systems depend on multiple intermediaries, a shift toward Web3 is revolutionizing asset handling. Wall Street firms and investors now leverage platforms like 1stepSwap to directly hold shares of major US companies, gold, and silver in their crypto wallets. These platforms tokenize Real-World Assets (RWAs) and use smart routing to identify optimal market prices in seconds, effectively eliminating the need for middlemen.

The PermissionDelegationV1_1 amendment will enable XRPL account owners to delegate authority for certain transaction types, providing greater flexibility and closer alignment with institutional security standards.

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.

Ethereum’s largest whale wallets holding over 1000 ETH trimmed off 1.7M coins in the last three months. 

According to Santiment, this whale cohort’s overall holdings dropped from 58.64M ETH to 56.91M ETH between May and August. This translated to a 2.9% fall. Notably, the mega whale holdings across exchanges and staking contracts also slipped from 7.07M ETH to 6.54M ETH. 

Source: Santiment Interestingly, the wallet category holding 1 to 10 ETH surged to over 4.5% of the circulating supply over the same period. This suggested that retail was actively accumulating during the Q2 drawdown. 

Will staking and ETF demand push ETH above $3K? Here, it’s worth noting that staked ETH jumped from 39M coins to a record 42.3M coins, or a 35% staking ratio. In other words, demand from staking and retail players was steady despite the headwinds in Q2. 

Source: Beacon chain The staking demand has been crucial in easing the sell-off driven by the U.S Spot ETH ETF in Q2. That said, since July, the Spot ETH ETF complex has become a net buyer.

This week alone, the products have hauled in record inflows of over 34K ETH. The last time such ETF demand was seen was last October, just before the flash crash. 

Source: Glassnode Collectively, this has sent ETH’s price soaring by 26% this week to $2.5K. Effectively, it has reversed all Q2 losses after dipping to $1.5K in June. Reclaiming $2.5K might just set the pace for the next leg of the recovery. 

In fact, sophisticated players across the Options market have been positioning themselves for a similar scenario.

In the last 24 hours, the top traded volume was calls (bullish bets) eyeing $2500 for the end-of-August expiry. For the middle and the end of September Option expiries, bullish bets were concentrated at $2900 and $3000. 

Source: Deribit Perhaps the most notable positioning was at $2000, which had the highest put volume (bearish bets). This meant that institutional players expected $2000 to be the new ETH floor price with a potential upside move towards $2.5K or $3K by late August or September. 

However, there is only a 12.5% chance of ETH hitting $3K by next month. If the bets are validated, that would mark a 2x move (100% rally) from the June low of $1.5K. 

Final Summary Large whale wallets with over 1000 ETH have trimmed their exposure by 2.9% since May. Institutional players have been betting that ETH’s recovery could 2x to $3K by September.

Uruguay seemed like the perfect place for cryptocurrency giant Tether to launch a bitcoin mining operation.

The company, which has issued nearly two thirds of all stablecoins in circulation, picked this still largely agricultural corner of South America that has in recent years become a hub for global fintech firms, helped by its reputation for political stability and favorable tax conditions.

In 2023, Tether said it would build two mining ​sites in Uruguay, part of a spending spree it said would bring economic development, new energy infrastructure and jobs to the country.

But amid a dispute over the amount of energy that would be supplied for its thirsty bitcoin mining, the plans unraveled and the ‌mining sites were abandoned, a Reuters review of documents and interviews with multiple people reveals. Little was left to show for a project that one person with direct knowledge estimated likely cost around $120 million.

Tether did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

The aborted Uruguay investment offers a rare window into the often opaque operations of Tether, as it seeks to expand and reinvest its vast profits into industries as varied as brain implants and soccer.

It also demonstrates how the basic economics of bitcoin mining — turning cheap energy into crypto profits — may no longer be adding up, after crypto prices dropped and as energy prices rise.

Tether’s ability to quickly dip in and out of Uruguay is typical of the “hypermobile” nature of bitcoin mining ​activity, which does not tend to create substantial long-term jobs or benefits for the host country, said Pete Howson, an assistant professor at Northumbria University.

“This plug-and-play infrastructure is very easy to do — literally pulling the plug and then move it to somewhere else,” he said.

'THE PERFECT PLATFORM'
In May ​2023, Tether announced the launch of bitcoin mining operations in Uruguay, without disclosing an investment value. It called Uruguay the “perfect platform," citing its abundant renewable energy and robust grid.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and chairman Giancarlo Devasini are frequent ⁠visitors to Uruguay's booming beach resort of Punta del Este — dubbed the Monaco of South America — where they host private gatherings, industry sources told Reuters, and American billionaire Peter Thiel is building a $10 million residential compound nearby.

At the time, Tether said the plan involved “investing resources into energy production," without providing details.

Bitcoin mining, an energy-intensive ​process in which computers solve complex computational puzzles to be rewarded in bitcoin, is a core part of Tether’s investment plans. Ardoino told an industry conference last year the company has invested more than $2 billion in energy production and bitcoin mining.

A former Tether contractor who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because they ​are not allowed to speak to the media said Uruguay had been intended as a “first step” for Tether’s bitcoin mining plans across South America.

Tether invested roughly $60 million in each of two mining sites in the department of Florida, totaling roughly $120 million, the former contractor said, citing their own assessments of how much the company had spent.

The project, a sizable deal for a country where annual foreign direct investment is around $2 billion, was aimed at using Uruguay as a testing ground before moving to bigger markets such as Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, the person said. Tether has since announced investments in bitcoin mining and platforms in Brazil.

Based in El Salvador with just a few hundred employees globally, Tether controls around $183 billion-worth of stablecoin. Some ​policymakers worry that stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to official currencies, risk endangering financial stability by increasing the linkages between crypto and mainstream finance.

Tether says its stablecoin is backed by an equivalent amount in real-world assets. Those assets have made it a top 20 holder of U.S. Treasuries — earning the company billions in ​profits now used to build a portfolio of investments it says is worth around $20 billion.

Most of those 100-plus investments are not disclosed, but those it has include data centers, video-sharing platform Rumble, which hosts U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social, and a brain-chip implants business, plus a stake in Italy’s Juventus football club.

SUPPLY DISAGREEMENT
A promotional video posted by ‌Tether on X in ⁠February 2024 of its nascent Uruguay operations showed rows of small buildings, with fans on top and computing hardware inside. Farmland surrounds the site, characteristic of the rural department of Florida, with wind turbines in the background.

Road signs around the buildings play on crypto jargon, such as “Memepool Avenue” and “Halving Street”, according to the video, which was verified by Reuters.

Initially well run, the site's operations generated income, the two former Tether contractors said.

Then the project began to unravel over a fundamental disagreement about electricity supply with state utility UTE, the two former contractors and a source at UTE said.

Tether believed a clause in its contract with UTE represented a minimum level of power supply that could later be increased — but UTE viewed the contracted amount as a maximum allocation that could not be exceeded, one of the former contractors said.

Sources at UTE also said the disagreement was over how much electricity Tether’s local legal entity Microfin was entitled to.

The dispute had begun by November 2024, according ​to an internal briefing UTE compiled in 2025 for its own staff ​that Reuters reviewed.

Insufficient power was a serious problem. As demand at the ⁠mining plants rose, Tether was short of supply, leaving the site without sufficient electricity for days at a time, the former contractor said.

Tether and Microfin did not respond to requests for comment on the UTE contract.

The first ex-contractor and a third source said the dispute had been compounded by a shift in Uruguay’s political landscape. A left‑leaning government took office in March 2025 and appointed new directors at UTE. The firm took a harder line on allowing Tether to renegotiate ​the energy supply contract, the contractor said.

Two months after the new government took office, Microfin stopped paying its electricity bills and then told UTE in June 2025 it would terminate its contracts, the UTE document shows.

Both sides ​sought to salvage the deal by agreeing to ⁠a revised contract, the UTE briefing notes show. The utility’s board approved a memorandum of understanding and revised contract texts, but Tether representatives did not attend the signing, according to the minutes in the briefing.

With the memorandum unsigned and unpaid bills, UTE cut power to the mining sites on July 25, according to the UTE document.

Tether told Uruguay’s labor authorities on November 25 that it would cease operations and lay off most staff, local newspaper El Observador reported.

Microfin settled its outstanding debts in December, UTE told Reuters.

SWITCH TO AI
The Uruguayan deal collapsed as Tether has sought to position bitcoin mining as a key part of its global investment portfolio.

But bitcoin mining has become less profitable, ⁠analysts say, hit by ​a pre-programmed reduction in the bitcoin rewards available — called the “halving” — in April 2024, as well as a sharp drop in bitcoin’s price from a peak in 2025.

To stay afloat, bitcoin miners have ​tried strategies including buying more efficient hardware, seeking cheaper energy, or using their computer power for AI and high-performance computing instead, said Tanay Ved, senior research analyst at Talos.

Crypto mining expert Nicolas Ribeiro described the industry as “extremely dynamic,” with operators opening, closing and relocating constantly.

Uruguay’s strengths — a reliable power grid and strong internet connectivity — are better suited to data centers for AI because mining hinges ​almost entirely on access to cheap electricity, Ribeiro added. Uruguay is a leader in renewable energy, but its power costs are relatively high.

“Uruguay isn’t viable for mining — that’s the reality,” he said.

6 hours ago

According to HTX market data, ZEC briefly surged past $833 this morning, hitting a new all-time high. It has rallied 67% in the past seven days, 230% in 180 days, and 1970% over the past year. Recent key catalysts include: - Grayscale filed its Fourth S-3 amendment to advance the conversion of Zcash Trust into a spot ETF (proposed ticker: ZCSH), and disclosed that a DCG subsidiary is in non-binding discussions to inject approximately 200,000 ZEC (valued at around $110 million at the time). - Cypherpunk Technologies, backed by the Winklevoss twins, launched the world’s largest ZEC mining machine cluster, controlling roughly 18% of the network’s total hash rate while continuing to increase its holdings of ZEC treasury. - Ironwood’s network upgrade (NU6.3) has gone live, fixing a previous vulnerability in the Orchard privacy pool, enhancing the security and verifiability of the shielded pool, and facilitating fund migration and restoring ecosystem confidence. Against the backdrop of rising privacy narratives and market short squeezes, ZEC has emerged as one of the top-performing privacy coins in this cycle, with its price still in a high-volatility range.

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Uniswap’s UNI token burn hit a new daily record on August 21, with approximately 150,000 tokens worth $590,000 permanently removed from circulation.

The milestone eclipsed previous records of 134,000 UNI burned on June 5 and 106,000 UNI on July 30. Both of those earlier spikes were tied to elevated fee generation under Uniswap’s UNIfication framework.

How the burn machine works Uniswap’s fee switch, activated in December 2025, routes a portion of trading fees into smart contracts that automatically buy UNI on the open market and then burn it.

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The fee switch was part of the broader UNIfication proposal, which passed in late 2025. That proposal also included a one-time burn of 100 million UNI from the protocol’s treasury.

Recent developments in August include the redirection of creator fees into the burn mechanism and ongoing extensions of the fee switch across both v3 and v4 pools. Annualized burn rates have climbed to upwards of 16.5 million UNI in recent 30-day rolling periods.

From governance token to deflationary asset For most of its existence, UNI was a governance token for the largest decentralized exchange by volume that didn’t entitle holders to any share of the protocol’s fees. The fee switch changed that by linking trading activity directly to token burns: more trading volume generates more fees, which buys and burns more UNI, which reduces supply.

The one-time treasury burn of 100 million UNI was dramatic, but it’s the daily burns that matter more for long-term supply dynamics. A single bonfire gets attention. A furnace that runs every day changes the math.

What this means for UNI and DeFi governance tokens If annualized burn rates remain in the range of 16.5 million UNI or higher, the deflationary pressure becomes difficult to ignore.

The risk is that trading volumes are cyclical. DeFi activity ebbs and flows with broader market sentiment, and a sustained downturn would slow fee generation and, consequently, the burn rate.

The extension of the fee switch to more pool types and the inclusion of creator fees in the burn mechanism suggest the protocol isn’t done expanding the system. Each new fee source that gets piped into the burn contract increases the ceiling for future daily records.

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

AVAX One interim CEO Pete Wylie has said $33 million in non-cash charges accounted for most of the company’s $35.1 million second-quarter loss as staking helped revenue rise to $2.8 million.

Summary

AVAX One’s adjusted net loss was $2.2 million after excluding $33 million in non-cash charges. Staking generated $2.1 million as quarterly revenue rose from approximately $500,000 to $2.8 million. The company held 14.09 million AVAX and equivalents, with roughly 95% actively staked. Wylie said AVAX One favors established yield partners and maintains a conservative approach to debt. AVAX One interim CEO Pete Wylie told crypto.news that the reported loss did not capture the operating performance of the company’s staking, mining and digital infrastructure businesses.

“The $35.1 million number can be attention-grabbing, but it does not tell the full story,” Wylie said.

“It includes about $33 million of what are called non-cash charges, most of that being an unrealized markdown based on current prices for the AVAX we continue to hold and accumulate.”

After removing the non-cash items, AVAX One reported an adjusted net loss of $2.2 million for the quarter. Wylie said the adjusted figure provided a clearer view of the operating business, although the company’s reported results remain closely tied to AVAX’s market value.

AVAX One’s loss was driven by digital-asset markdowns According to AVAX One’s Aug. 13 earnings release, the company recorded a $29.8 million unrealized loss from changes in the market value of its digital assets. A further $2.6 million impairment came from its liquid-staking tokens, while share-based compensation and depreciation contributed approximately $600,000.

Operating expenses reached $36.2 million, up from $1.8 million during the same quarter of 2025. Excluding the $33 million in non-cash charges, AVAX One calculated adjusted operating expenses of $3.2 million.

Net loss reached $4.41 per diluted share, compared with an $8.1 million loss, or $335.88 per diluted share, one year earlier. On the company’s adjusted basis, the latest loss was $0.27 per diluted share.

Although an unrealized loss does not require an immediate cash payment, AVAX One’s results show how a declining token price can reduce the recorded value of its treasury. Wylie acknowledged that volatility is built into the strategy but said staking rewards continue to accrue in AVAX regardless of the token’s dollar price.

“We earn revenue in ‘nominal’ form, AVAX tokens, and though the current value is lower than we expected for this period, if the token price rebounds, we get the benefit as our earned rewards tokens increase in value, even though we recognized initial revenue at a lower price,” he said.

Quarterly revenue rose to $2.8 million from approximately $500,000 a year earlier. Staking supplied about $2.1 million, or 75% of the total, while Bitcoin mining produced approximately $700,000.

As of Aug. 13, the company held 14,091,424 AVAX tokens and equivalents. Approximately 95% of the holdings were staked at an annualized yield of about 5.4%, according to the earnings release.

Around 800,000 AVAX had been deployed into Treehouse. An AVAX One SEC filing describes Treehouse’s tAVAX as a liquid-staking receipt backed by BENQI’s sAVAX, with an AVAX redemption process that can take approximately 14 days.

The filing also lists smart-contract vulnerabilities, extreme market volatility, governance attacks and bridge failures among the risks associated with decentralized finance positions. AVAX One said it would typically absorb losses arising from an adverse event.

Liquidity and debt shape the treasury strategy Wylie said AVAX One allocates capital according to where management believes each dollar can create the most shareholder value. Depending on market prices and available opportunities, the company can buy AVAX, repurchase its shares, or fund selected infrastructure projects.

“Staking is the foundation of our Avalanche treasury strategy. Our Bitcoin mining operations contribute operating cash flow and provide a gateway for opportunities in the AI and high-performance computing space, an area we are actively exploring.”

During the second quarter, AVAX One repurchased approximately 144,755 common shares under its authorized $40 million buyback program. The company said it had repurchased approximately 417,537 shares since November 2025 on a split-adjusted basis.

Reported liquidity stood at approximately $21.2 million on June 30, down from $27.6 million at the end of 2025. The latest amount included $11.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, $5.4 million in restricted cash, and a $4.3 million escrow receivable.

Given AVAX’s volatility, Wylie said the company remains cautious about its capital structure, particularly debt. After the quarter closed, AVAX One retired and restructured approximately $6.8 million of convertible debt.

The August restructuring fully repaid debentures held by two institutional investors and reduced the principal owed to another investor. AVAX One also agreed to increase a covenant covering the minimum cash and Bitcoin it must maintain from $100,000 to $3.5 million.

For U.S. investors, AVAX One offers public-market exposure to an Avalanche treasury through its Nasdaq-listed AVX shares. The structure also means shareholders face risks from both the company’s operations and changes in the value of AVAX recorded in its U.S. financial reports.

Wylie took over as interim CEO while retaining his chief operating officer role after Jolie Kahn left the company in July. As previously reported by crypto.news, the board retained ZRG Partners to search for a permanent chief executive while weak AVAX prices pressured the company’s treasury strategy.

AVAX One favors explainable yield over higher returns With most of its AVAX working through staking, the company monitors yield and operating costs as it tries to increase the number of tokens held per share, according to Wylie.

“Our yield partnerships are with established, proven companies. We’d rather earn a yield we can explain than a higher one that seems too good to be true, because it probably is.”

AVAX One’s staking rewards accrue in tokens, leaving their dollar value exposed to changes in AVAX prices. Wylie said management focuses on keeping the assets productive while controlling operating expenses so the treasury can continue accumulating AVAX.

Avalanche’s Helicon upgrade could provide more flexibility if its staking changes progress from testnet to mainnet. Helicon is live on the Fuji testnet and includes proposals to reduce the minimum primary-network validator commitment from 336 hours, or 14 days, to 48 hours.

Another proposal introduces automatic staking renewal, allowing validators to set a cycle period and an auto-compounding ratio. Avalanche’s documentation says the feature applies to primary-network validators, not Avalanche L1 validators or legacy subnet validators.

Wylie said shorter commitments could improve liquidity and reduce the barrier for institutions. Since the changes remain under testing, AVAX One has not yet gained its proposed benefits in its mainnet staking operations.

Avalanche adoption supports Wylie’s treasury conviction Wylie tied the company’s long-term confidence to institutional activity across Avalanche, pointing to recent deployments involving tokenized securities, lending and stablecoin settlement.

In July, Japan’s Progmat completed the migration of ¥452 billion in issued securities and underlying assets from Corda 5 to a dedicated Avalanche L1. Progmat said the transfer covered all active projects on its platform without disrupting participating financial institutions.

According to Progmat, its platform handles 45 of Japan’s 89 publicly disclosed security-token projects and accounts for 64.6% of the country’s market by issuance value. Internal tests cited by the company found that rights-transfer processing became three to five times faster after the migration.

Aave also deployed V4 on Avalanche on July 15, its first launch of the architecture outside Ethereum. Aave’s documentation says the deployment uses a core liquidity hub with main, foreign-exchange, and AVAX-linked lending sections.

Stablecoin payments supplied another institutional test. Hyundai Card completed a $20,000 remittance pilot between Hyundai Motor entities in the United States and Mexico using USDT on Avalanche. The company said the settlement took about seven minutes.

BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, issued through Securitize, had also accumulated more than $900 million on Avalanche by July after adding approximately $436 million in one week. BUIDL invests mainly in U.S. Treasury bills, cash, and repurchase agreements, while access remains subject to investor eligibility and transfer controls.

Visa added Avalanche to its supported stablecoin settlement networks in 2025. An April 2026 company announcement said Visa’s nine-network stablecoin settlement pilot had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate, although Visa did not provide an Avalanche-specific share of that volume.

Outside its treasury operations, AVAX One is preparing an AI inference pilot at its Redwater facility in Alberta. The project is testing whether approximately 100 kilowatts of excess Bitcoin-mining capacity can support AI workloads, with the company working alongside infrastructure developer BlueFlare on additional AI and high-performance computing opportunities.

US Treasury repurchase operations unexpectedly pushed Bitcoin’s price up 25%, triggering $4 billion in short-position liquidations.

After the U.S. Treasury expanded its long-term U.S. Treasury bond repurchase operations, the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield fell from a 19-year high of 5.34% to around 5.19%, while Bitcoin rose roughly 25% in several days, briefly topping $79,000. Around $4 billion in cryptocurrency short positions were liquidated during this period, further amplifying the rally. The U.S. Treasury had earlier announced it would raise the size of its longest-dated Treasury repurchase operations from $2 billion per operation to $4 billion. Analysts noted that this operation is not equivalent to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE); its main function is to improve the liquidity of older bonds and optimize the debt structure, but the market views it as a policy support signal for long-term U.S. Treasury yields. Analysts believe the key driver of Bitcoin’s recent rally is not the repurchase operation itself, but the market’s prior over-concentration of short positions. As long-term U.S. Treasury yields fell, short sellers were forced to cover their positions, triggering a powerful short squeeze. Meanwhile, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a net inflow of around $650 million this week, and Trump once again urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act, further boosting market risk appetite. Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx, said the key now is whether Bitcoin can hold its 200-day moving average around $69,000 and turn it from resistance into support. Market participants also warned that if the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield re-breaks above 4.7% and the 30-year yield approaches 5.3%, Bitcoin’s current breakout could face renewed tests. Bitcoin has now broken above its 200-day moving average and continues to rise; the next phase of the market will focus on whether it can sustain its rally in a high-yield environment.

6 minutes ago

Strategy's Bitcoin holdings have generated an unrealized profit of $1.7187 billion.

Strategy currently holds 840,447 Bitcoin, with a total cost of $63.36 billion and an average entry price of $75,385. At Bitcoin’s current price of $77,430, the company’s Bitcoin holdings now have an unrealized profit of $1.7187 billion.

6 minutes ago

The Sandbox confirms SAND cross-chain bridge vulnerability; Base and BSC networks affected, cross-chain functionality suspended.

The Sandbox officials announced that the team has confirmed and fully contained the recent SAND cross-chain bridge vulnerability incident, which involved the Base and BNB Smart Chain (BSC) networks. The incident’s impact is limited, with the number of tokens involved accounting for less than 0.01% of SAND’s total supply. SAND on Ethereum and Polygon remains unaffected; user wallets were not compromised, and no action is required for affected token holders or liquidity providers. Attackers minted unbacked SAND tokens on Base and BSC networks via the vulnerability, per disclosures. Currently, The Sandbox has shut down SAND cross-chain functionality on both networks. SAND on Base and BSC has been isolated and is temporarily non-transferable or non-exchangeable. The Sandbox reminds users not to buy, sell, or trade SAND on Base and BSC, as liquidity on these networks has been impacted. The team has completed a pre-incident snapshot, is developing a compensation plan for affected liquidity pool (LP) users, and continues to investigate the full scope of the vulnerability. A full incident report and technical post-mortem will be released later.

6 minutes ago

A crypto whale opened a 4x long position worth $10.7 million on HYPE, with a liquidation price of $64.47.

According to monitoring by TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight), a crypto whale recently deposited approximately $4 million in USDC into Hyperliquid and opened a long position on HYPE. The wallet address established a 134,930 HYPE long position with 4x leverage, valued at around $10.7 million. Its entry price was $81.64, liquidation price stands at $64.47, and the current unrealized loss amounts to $315,000. The whale’s address is 0xa9d1c0fe2aa58038bac208ad390f69e7ce0c29a2.

6 minutes ago

Tesla has set the date for the press conference of its self-driving electric Cybercab.

Tesla has announced on social platforms that it will hold the Cybercab launch event on September 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas, United States. The automaker’s self-driving electric Cybercab officially entered production in North America this April, and the vehicle is AI-powered, with no steering wheel, pedals, or rearview mirrors.

6 minutes ago

Tencent's chip division head Gao Jianlin has resigned to found a startup, targeting the high-performance AI CPU track in the RISC-V space.

According to MaxForAI's disclosure, Gao Jianlin, a core lead in Tencent's chip research and development, recently left the tech giant to launch a startup focused on high-performance AI servers and Agentic AI, with plans to develop high-performance CPUs based on the RISC-V architecture. Gao is widely regarded as one of the early core drivers of Tencent's in-house chip ecosystem. Public records show he formed Tencent's FPGA hardware team in 2013, began laying the groundwork for AI chip R&D in 2018, established Penglai Lab in 2020, and spearheaded the development and data center deployment of multiple AI chips for Tencent. Unlike the currently fiercely competitive AI GPU market, Gao's new venture will center on CPUs. Gao believes that as Agentic AI advances rapidly, AI inference processes will involve model calls, tool execution, searches, database interactions, and extensive task scheduling, making CPUs take on a more critical scheduling and control role in AI systems. Reportedly, Gao was already involved in RISC-V-related R&D during his tenure at Tencent, contributing to multiple technical areas including chip architecture, verification, and backend development. His new company plans to build high-performance server CPUs based on the open RISC-V instruction set to enter the AI infrastructure market. To date, the startup's name, financing details, and specific product launch timeline have not been made public. The market is closely watching whether it will emerge as another key player in China's AI chip space targeting server CPUs and agent infrastructure.

6 minutes ago

World Liberty Financial investors including Eric Trump have agreed to limit their influence over the management of the company’s proposed national trust bank as it moves through the federal approval process.

Trump, World Liberty cofounder Zak Folkman and Emirati businessman Hamad Khalfan Ali Matar Alshamsi signed agreements known as passivity commitments on behalf of their respective companies, according to documents disclosed alongside the bank’s preliminary approval last week.

The agreements commit the investors to avoiding influence over the bank’s management. World Liberty said the arrangements are intended to ensure certain stakeholders do not exercise control over the operations of World Liberty Trust Company.

The commitments have attracted attention because of World Liberty’s connections to President Donald Trump’s family and foreign investors.

Similar arrangements have previously been used by major institutional investors. Vanguard Group has pledged not to influence banks held in its investment portfolios, while China’s sovereign wealth fund entered a passivity agreement when acquiring a stake in Morgan Stanley.

World Liberty said it intends to operate under continued federal oversight.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company preliminary approval last week. The charter still requires final approval.

If approved, the trust bank would be able to issue and redeem World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin, manage its reserves and provide digital asset custody services. It would not operate as a traditional commercial bank.

The proposed charter has faced political scrutiny because of the Trump family’s financial interests in World Liberty. 

Senate Democrats including Elizabeth Warren have introduced legislation that would prevent regulators from approving bank charters for companies owned or controlled by a president or members of their immediate family.

World Liberty has said Trump and his family do not serve as officers, directors or employees of the company. The White House has rejected claims that the president’s financial interests create a conflict of interest.

The bank application also includes organizers and directors connected to the Witkoff family, including Zach Witkoff, Scott Alper and Robert Witkoff.

World Liberty’s ownership structure has also drawn scrutiny. Before Trump’s inauguration, the company agreed to sell a 49% stake to a firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, the brother of the United Arab Emirates president, for $500 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Securing a charter would allow World Liberty to bring issuance and reserve management for USD1 in-house. The stablecoin has a market capitalization of nearly $4 billion, making it one of the world’s largest dollar-backed stablecoins.

The OCC has taken a more receptive stance toward crypto banking applications under Comptroller Jonathan Gould. Ripple, Paxos, and Fidelity Digital Assets received conditional trust bank approvals in 2025, while Coinbase received similar approval earlier this year.

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

https://www.blocmates.com/articles/a-complete-guide-to-hyperliquid

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange, reported significant growth in fee revenue for August, marking a 31% increase compared to the previous year. This surge is attributed to higher volume, an increase in active users, and an expanded market share. The exchange’s native asset, HYPE, has seen a notable upward movement, reflecting positive market sentiment and increased on-chain activity. The latest data suggests that HYPE’s price hovers around $73.53.

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In the prediction market, the odds for Hyperliquid reaching $100 by the end of 2026 have increased, suggesting a more optimistic outlook from market participants. The current pricing shows a 42.5% chance of Hyperliquid reaching the $100 mark by December 31, up from 16% a week ago. This change is supported by the recent financial results, which appear consistent with the scenario where Hyperliquid continues its upward trajectory.

Key Takeaways Market activity suggests that participants view Hyperliquid’s recent performance as supportive of a YES outcome for reaching $100 by year-end. The 31% year-over-year increase in fee revenue appears consistent with positive sentiment towards Hyperliquid’s growth prospects. HYPE’s price increase and market dynamics may indicate strengthened confidence among participants in the decentralized perpetuals sector. What to Watch Watch for upcoming developments, such as potential announcements of partnerships or new integrations that could further influence Hyperliquid’s competitive position. Additionally, any shifts in market share or changes in user engagement metrics could impact the prediction market’s current outlook. The evolving sentiment around Hyperliquid’s performance will be crucial in determining future price movements and market expectations.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 42.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 3.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.9% — — View market → January 1 2027 82% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.7% — — View market → January 1 2027 3.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 54.5% — — View market →

Bitcoin is surging again. The cryptocurrency climbed above $78,200 on Friday for the first time since May. But it wasn’t the only crypto asset posting big gains. Hyperliquid, the decentralized perpetual futures exchange, reached a record $75, leaving its HYPE token up over 195% so far this year, according to CoinGecko.

Hyperliquid’s gains have drawn market share that might otherwise have flowed into Bitcoin, according to Ish Asad, a research analyst at crypto index fund manager Bitwise Investments.

“If Hyperliquid and perpetual futures weren’t so popular, people would just be buying spot Bitcoin,” Asad told Fortune.

Hyperliquid, which lets users trade through self-custody wallets rather than a traditional centralized exchange, has emerged as a major force in crypto derivatives trading over the past year. During the first quarter of 2026, the platform processed more than $633 billion in combined spot and perpetual futures volume, over six times its total during the second quarter of 2024, according to investment manager VanEck.

Its growing success has “sucked away volume” from direct purchases of smaller crypto tokens. Perpetual futures let traders speculate on a cryptocurrency’s price, often with leverage, without buying or holding the token itself, making the platform attractive to active traders.

“All the crypto trading happens on Hyperliquid now, so most of the other crypto assets are getting less buying pressure,” Asad added. 

Hyperliquid’s most recent price jump came two days after President Donald Trump said his administration was working to bring the platform to the U.S.

“I understand that [Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair] Mike [Selig] is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion, working very hard on that,” Trump said at a White House event. 

Behind the rally Despite Hyperliquid drawing some capital away from direct Bitcoin purchases, the cryptocurrency still gained nearly 25% over the past week. Macro factors, including the Treasury Department’s recent bond-buyback announcement, helped set the rally in motion, but Asad said liquidations drove Bitcoin’s most recent surge.

On Tuesday, as Bitcoin traded around $64,000, traders liquidated $1.3 billion in short positions in a single day. Another $1 billion in Bitcoin shorts were liquidated over the following 48 hours, bringing the week’s total to $4.5 billion, according to Bitwise.

Political developments also helped support the rally. At a meeting with crypto industry leaders this week, Trump urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act, a bill that would establish a long-awaited market structure framework for digital assets. On Thursday, Selig said he had directed the CFTC to begin developing clearer crypto rules if Congress does not pass the legislation before the end of the year.

In the meantime, worries over U.S. debt surpassing $40 trillion and a weakening U.S. dollar have renewed investor interest in alternative assets such as gold and Bitcoin.

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has renewed his support for holding gold and some Bitcoin as U.S. federal debt has crossed $40 trillion, and BTC has rallied toward $80,000.

Summary

U.S. federal debt reached $40.05 trillion on Aug. 18, according to Treasury data. Dalio advised investors to favor gold and some Bitcoin over debt assets such as bonds. Bitcoin has climbed from nearly $63,000 to the upper $70,000 range this week. Treasury will double some long-dated debt buybacks to at least $4 billion per operation. Ray Dalio, writing in an X post, said the U.S. government’s financial position had reached an inflection point as its debt burden approached a level that may become difficult to manage without severe economic pain.

The Bridgewater Associates founder advised investors to spread their exposure across asset classes and countries with strong finances. He also recommended limiting exposure to debt assets such as bonds while holding more gold and a smaller allocation to Bitcoin.

“As general advice, I suggest diversifying well in asset classes and countries that have strong income statements and balance sheets and are not having great internal political and external geopolitical conflicts, underweighting debt assets like bonds, and overweighting gold and a bit of Bitcoin,” Dalio said.

His comments followed another major milestone for U.S. public finances. The federal government’s total outstanding debt reached $40.047 trillion on Aug. 18, up from $39.987 trillion one day earlier, according to the Treasury Department’s Debt to the Penny database.

Of the Aug. 18 total, approximately $32.27 trillion was debt held by the public, while about $7.78 trillion consisted of intragovernmental holdings. The government ended 2025 with $37.64 trillion in federal debt, meaning the total had increased by about $2.4 trillion in less than eight months.

Bitcoin and gold can reduce portfolio risk Dalio said an allocation of roughly 10% to 15% to gold could lower a portfolio’s overall risk because the metal often behaves differently from stocks and debt securities during periods of financial stress.

Bitcoin received a more limited endorsement. Dalio described it as part of the group of assets investors could hold outside conventional debt markets, though his suggested positioning still placed more weight on gold.

His latest statement follows years of gradually changing views on the cryptocurrency. Dalio disclosed in 2021 that he owned some Bitcoin and later described it as an alternative, gold-like asset, while continuing to question whether governments and central banks would adopt it as reserve money.

In October 2025, crypto.news examined Dalio’s position that Bitcoin was unlikely to become a reserve currency. The report noted that he favored gold because of its long history, liquidity, and acceptance among central banks, even as he recognized Bitcoin as a possible hedge against monetary expansion and heavy government borrowing.

Dalio’s portfolio guidance is not a prediction that Bitcoin will rise whenever federal debt increases. His recommendation rests on diversification and reducing dependence on assets tied to highly indebted governments, rather than replacing an entire investment portfolio with BTC or gold.

For U.S. investors, both assets are available through regulated products as well as direct ownership. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds provide exposure through U.S. brokerage and retirement accounts, while gold can be held through exchange-traded products, mining shares, or physical bullion. Each route carries different fees, custody risks, and tax treatment.

U.S. debt concerns meet Bitcoin’s rally toward $80K Bitcoin’s advance has placed Dalio’s comments alongside a sharp change in crypto market conditions. BTC fell to the $62,000–$63,000 area earlier this week before recovering through $70,000 and entering the upper $70,000 range.

The move ended several weeks of sideways trading and pushed Bitcoin to its highest level since May. BTC was trading near $77,600 when checked, according to market data, leaving the $80,000 level as the next closely watched psychological barrier.

Forced buying from short sellers helped accelerate the initial breakout. When Bitcoin crossed $69,000, exchanges liquidated more than $1 billion in bearish positions within one hour, requiring some traders to purchase BTC to close leveraged bets.

Spot demand then added support. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted about $517 million on Aug. 19 and another $606 million on Aug. 20, according to SoSoValue data cited in recent market coverage. The two sessions generated more than $1.1 billion in combined net inflows.

As previously reported, Bitcoin gained about 18% in two days before clearing $76,000. The report identified $70,000 to $72,000 as an important support area, while resistance remained near $80,000 to $82,000.

ETF inflows offer a direct U.S. connection to the rally because the funds must obtain Bitcoin exposure as investors add capital. Short liquidations, by comparison, represent forced derivatives activity that may fade once leveraged bearish positions have been closed.

Treasury doubles long-dated debt buybacks Alongside the $40 trillion debt milestone, the U.S. Treasury announced on Aug. 19 that it would increase the size of liquidity-support buybacks for longer-dated nominal government securities.

The maximum purchase size will rise from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation for securities in the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year maturity sectors, according to the Treasury’s official announcement. The change takes effect on Sept. 9 and will remain in place through Nov. 4, when the department plans to provide further information during its next quarterly refunding.

Treasury said the increase would provide more liquidity in long-dated sectors where market participants had submitted a high volume of eligible offers. Buybacks allow the government to repurchase older, less-liquid bonds and may improve trading conditions in parts of the Treasury market.

The operations are not Federal Reserve asset purchases, money creation or direct support for cryptocurrency. Market participants nevertheless responded to the announcement as long-dated Treasury yields declined and demand for risk assets improved.

A recent market report linked Bitcoin’s initial 11.4% rise above $71,000 to the buyback announcement, renewed ETF inflows and short liquidations. The report said Treasury’s decision helped the liquidity backdrop but did not establish that bond buybacks alone caused the rally.

Dalio’s warning addressed the underlying debt burden rather than the mechanics of the buyback program. He said government finances should be repaired while economic conditions remain relatively strong because borrowing requirements tend to increase during a contraction.

Policies, political changes, and wars could either speed up or delay the point at which debt becomes unmanageable, according to Dalio. Waiting for an economic downturn would leave policymakers with fewer options because weaker tax revenue and additional government support programs typically increase funding needs.

Fed policy remains a risk for Bitcoin investors While lower long-term yields have supported Bitcoin, Federal Reserve policy remains a separate source of risk for U.S. investors. The Fed kept its target rate at 3.5% to 3.75% in July but faced three dissenting votes from officials who preferred a quarter-point increase.

In its July policy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee said inflation remained above its 2% goal, partly because supply shocks had raised prices in sectors including energy. The committee also said it would “deliver price stability.”

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh and the committee face another policy decision on Sept. 15–16. Higher interest rates can raise the returns available on cash and government bonds, which may reduce demand for non-yielding assets such as gold and volatile assets such as Bitcoin.

The July vote showed that pressure for tighter policy already existed inside the Fed. Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie Logan opposed the decision to hold rates steady and supported a 25-basis-point increase instead.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has disclosed that Ripple’s business ecosystem processed $16 trillion in transactions last year, highlighting the growing scale of the company’s global financial operations. This figure reflects the combined transaction volume from newly acquired businesses that now operate under Ripple.

Major acquisitions drive transaction volumeGarlinghouse attributed Ripple’s $16 trillion transaction total to the integration of two acquisitions completed during the previous year. The company acquired Hidden Road, a non-bank prime broker responsible for approximately $3 trillion in cleared transactions, and G-Treasury, a treasury management software provider which processed $13 trillion in transaction activity.

Today, Ripple operates these entities as Ripple Prime and Ripple Treasury, forming the backbone of the company’s expanding business. Garlinghouse described the resulting combined transaction volume as similar in scale to the activity handled by large global payment processors such as Visa.

Both Ripple Prime and Ripple Treasury are currently experiencing what Garlinghouse described as record years, and the CEO expressed confidence that the overall volume will continue to climb. He stated that the company anticipates increasing financial activity as demand among corporate clients rises.

Ripple’s combined transaction flow through its acquired businesses reached $16 trillion last year, a figure Garlinghouse compared to Visa’s network scale. These segments are reporting record performance, further boosting Ripple’s expectations for transaction growth.

Mini dictionary: G-Treasury is a treasury and cash management software company that assists organizations in automating payments, managing liquidity, and optimizing financial workflows.

On-chain settlement remains limitedGarlinghouse drew attention to the relationship between the total transaction volume and blockchain settlement. He estimated that currently only about 0.1% of Ripple’s $16 trillion in transaction flow settles on-chain in stablecoins, XRP, or similar blockchain-based assets. Each additional 0.1% migrated on-chain could represent an estimated $160 billion in transaction activity.

Ripple’s CEO outlined a long-term goal to boost the share of transaction volume completed with blockchain-based settlement. He said this strategy aims to provide corporate clients with increased efficiency in terms of speed, cost, and transaction certainty.

Business UnitTransaction VolumeStatusRipple Prime (Hidden Road)$3 trillionActive, Record YearRipple Treasury (G-Treasury)$13 trillionActive, Record YearTotal Ripple Ecosystem$16 trillionGrowingCorporate demand for stablecoin solutions increasesGarlinghouse observed a recent uptick in outreach from chief financial officers and treasurers, who are now seeking information on blockchain settlement and stablecoin use cases. He explained that many of these inquiries originate from executives unsure how to unlock idle capital distributed across global subsidiaries.

According to Garlinghouse, Ripple has been asked to assist these organizations in maximizing global liquidity and improving operational flexibility by utilizing stablecoins and other blockchain technologies. This increasing attention from financial decision-makers points to broader adoption of blockchain within established corporate finance practices.

Executives are now turning to Ripple for guidance on how stablecoins and blockchain systems can help unlock trapped corporate capital and manage global liquidity more efficiently.

Emphasis shifts to real utility in the crypto sectorAddressing cryptocurrency market dynamics, Garlinghouse emphasized the importance of developing real-world utility, suggesting that industry sustainability relies on genuine use cases rather than speculation or meme coins.

He outlined how Ripple’s expansion into large-scale financial services positions the company to demonstrate tangible benefits for institutional clients, especially as more businesses explore blockchain-based settlement.

While most of Ripple’s activity currently remains off-chain, Garlinghouse believes the growing shift toward on-chain settlement could result in significant increases in blockchain transaction volume going forward.

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.

A new Ethereum Improvement Proposal wants to make account abstraction actually work the same way everywhere. EIP-8130, drafted by Chris Hunter of Coinbase/Base, introduces a universal account standard designed to bring consistent authentication, gas sponsorship, and call batching to every EVM-compatible chain, not just the ones that happened to implement their own flavor of smart accounts.

How it works At its core, EIP-8130 introduces a new transaction type, designated AA_TX_TYPE = 0x79, paired with an onchain Keystore contract deployed at a fixed address. Think of the Keystore as a universal settings panel for your account. It stores your authentication preferences onchain so that any compliant EVM chain can read them.

Instead of requiring nodes to simulate entire wallet bytecode to verify a transaction, EIP-8130 separates authentication from account logic entirely. Nodes validate transactions using a fixed set of canonical authenticators, enabling what the proposal describes as O(1) checks without full EVM tracing.

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The canonical authenticators baked into the proposal include secp256k1/k1 (Ethereum’s existing signature scheme), P-256 (used by Apple and Google secure enclaves), WebAuthn (the standard behind passkeys), and a delegate authenticator. That last one enables use cases where one account can authorize transactions on behalf of another.

Two profiles, one standard EIP-8130 defines two adoption profiles. Level 1 is designed for Ethereum mainnet and similarly structured chains. It uses a normative gas schedule and permissive acceptance, meaning it’s more flexible about which authenticators and account configurations it will process.

Level 2 is built for high-throughput chains like Base and other L2 rollups. It restricts validation to a canonical-only pathway, sacrificing some flexibility for predictable performance at scale.

The proposal also maintains backward compatibility through an ERC-4337 fallback mechanism. Chains that haven’t adopted EIP-8130 natively can still process these accounts through the existing ERC-4337 infrastructure, making the standard fully portable without requiring protocol-level changes on every chain.

The backers and the timeline Base, Coinbase, Optimism, and WalletConnect are all listed among its backers. The proposal claims a 63% reduction in transfer costs compared to the existing ERC-4337 model.

Base is targeting its Cobalt upgrade in September 2026 as the vehicle for deploying EIP-8130. That gives the proposal roughly a year from its October 2025 drafting date to move through discussion, iteration, and testing. The proposal currently sits in draft status, with active discussions happening on Ethereum Magicians and GitHub.

EIP-8130 builds on several prior EIPs, including EIP-2718 (typed transaction envelopes) and EIP-4337 itself.

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

21h35 ▪ 6 min read ▪ by Luc Jose A.

Summarize this article with:

Like many companies, SharpLink Gaming transforms its treasury into a yield machine. Indeed, the Nasdaq-listed firm has just injected an additional 39,319 ETH into staking, approximately 91 million dollars. This new investment thus strengthens its position as the second largest institutional holder of Ether after BitMine. Like a volatile market, the company executives have decided to make their reserves work directly on Ethereum. This maneuver explains the transformation of crypto treasuries, currently developed as productive assets likely to generate on-chain income, rather than as reserves intended to sit idle on a balance sheet.

In brief Sharplink Gaming immobilizes an additional 39,319 ETH (91 million dollars) in staking, bringing its total treasury to nearly 889,000 ETH. Under the leadership of Joseph Lubin and Joseph Chalom, the firm allocates its tokens between native Ether and liquid staking tokens (LsETH and weETH) to maximize its on-chain revenue. Staking generates 11.2 million dollars in Q2 2026, offsetting a net quarterly loss of 394.3 million linked to Ether price decline. Management stays the course by directing every financing decision toward continuously increasing the number of ETH per share. Sharplink consolidates its Ether treasure through staking The allocation of 39,319 ETH, detected on August 21, 2026 by the on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, fits into a methodical programming implemented by the management of SharpLink for over a year. This new allocation of 91 million dollars supplements an already significant company balance sheet, which was about 888,938 ETH on August 3, compared to 886,725 ETH at the end of June.

Thanks to its strategic pivot made in mid-2025, abandoning sports betting marketing under the impetus of its president Joseph Lubin, one of the Ethereum co-founders and head of Consensys, the company places staking at the center of its financial activity.

Such a meticulous distribution respects an accounting orthodoxy in which capital inactivity is viewed as an exceptional opportunity cost. Opposite to passive treasury models, SharpLink chose to place almost all of its cryptos in network validation mechanisms while maintaining a concise arbitrage between liquidity and yield.

The financial indicators for the second quarter of this year reveal this balance sheet engineering, organized around three complementary pillars :

632,719 ETH held directly in the form of native Ether, ensuring direct control over the main reserves ; 181,299 ETH mobilized through the liquid staking token of ETH to maintain operational flexibility ; 72,707 ETH committed on the weETH protocol, complemented by a 100 million dollar contribution of staked ETH aimed at kick-starting the 125 million dollar Galaxy Sharplink Onchain Yield Fund. SharpLink tested by the market: between yield and volatility The direct impact of this development is reflected in the company’s earnings composition. SharpLink’s staking activity generated 11.2 million dollars during the second quarter of this year. This amount represents almost the entire general quarterly turnover of the company.

Although this result falls slightly below Wall Street professionals’ estimate, who expected 12.3 million dollars, the trend is clear compared to the 25.6 million dollars of staking revenues earned in all of 2025. However, price corrections negatively impact this protocol.

During the same quarterly period, Sharplink suffered a colossal loss of 394.3 million dollars. Such a critical result includes 321 million dollars of unrealized losses on crypto holdings as well as 76.1 million dollars of impairments related to liquid staking positions.

Despite these original dimension balance sheet variations, management’s guidance is directed towards a single fundamental indicator. Co-CEO Joseph Chalom, recruited from BlackRock’s crypto team, emphasized during the financial update presentation in June the company’s vision: “all our financing decisions are based on a long-term goal: to increase the number of ETH per share”. Quarterly accounting turbulences matter little compared to the accumulation of Ether per share for SharpLink’s management.

Institutionalization of staked reserves: toward a new standard for Wall Street This initiative carried out by SharpLink fits into a global trend where corporate treasuries no longer want just a store of value, but rather a proper yield. Referring to observations published by specialist Everstake, staking operations now generate on average 60% of the revenues of companies that have chosen a treasury based on Ether, although the peer group accumulates more than 1.4 billion dollars of collective accounting losses considering market volatility.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the interest of major investors in this approach is increasing. The proportion of institutional investors in SBET’s capital now reaches 60%. This share is supported by the filing of a Schedule 13G form with the SEC, attesting to a new large passive stake acquisition.

This constant opposition between the creation of native cash flows and stock price fluctuations consecrates a new paradigm in corporate finance. While the methodical accumulation policy led by Joseph Lubin and Joseph Chalom exposes the stock to significant accounting difficulties, it provides in return a unique capital self-generation capacity through on-chain yields.

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Luc Jose A.

Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 21st, 2026, FinanceWire

Bitcoin.com, one of the world’s most widely used cryptocurrency platforms, today announced that its self-custody Bitcoin.com Wallet app now natively supports the TRON network. Users can hold, send, swap, and buy TRX and USDT on TRON directly within the mobile application.

TRON has established itself as one of the most widely used networks for USDT settlement, with USDT-TRC20 accepted for deposits and withdrawals across a broad range of major exchanges and payment services. That breadth of acceptance has made it a common choice for exchange-to-exchange transfers and for dollar-denominated payments in emerging markets, supporting the reliable movement of stablecoins at scale. By integrating TRON natively, Bitcoin.com Wallet users can transact with counterparties who ask for a TRC20 address without leaving the wallet or installing anything new.

“Our users do not think in terms of chains. They think about who they need to pay and what that person asked them for. A very large number of those requests say USDT on TRON, and until now we could not answer them. That is the gap this closes,” said Bitcoin.com CEO Corbin Fraser.

With this launch, Bitcoin.com Wallet users can:

Hold TRX and USDT-TRC20 alongside their existing portfolio. Send and receive TRX and TRC20 tokens to any TRON address. Swap between TRX, supported TRC20 tokens, and other supported assets in-app. Buy TRX and USDT-TRC20 directly with a card or bank transfer. “With more than $90 billion in USDT circulating on TRON and $23 billion in daily transfer volume, TRON is already a leading network for stablecoin payments,” said Justin Sun, Founder of TRON. “Users want to hold and spend stablecoins on TRON directly from the wallets they use every day. Bitcoin.com Wallet’s integration meets that demand, bringing TRON’s settlement infrastructure into a familiar wallet and making stablecoin payments faster, simpler, and more accessible.”

Bitcoin.com Wallet users can now access TRX and USDT-TRC20 natively, without bridging assets, managing a separate wallet, or leaving the mobile application. TRON’s functionality is now built into a wallet people already use for their everyday crypto activity. The TRON integration is available now on iOS, Android, and web.

About Bitcoin.com

Bitcoin.com is on a mission to increase the freedom and prosperity of people everywhere by providing easy access to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and other leading cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin.com Wallet is a non-custodial, multi-chain wallet used by millions of people worldwide to hold, send, swap, and buy digital assets.

Media Contact

Graham Stone

[email protected] 

About TRON DAO

TRON DAO is a community-governed DAO dedicated to accelerating the decentralization of the internet via blockchain technology and dApps.

Founded in September 2017, the TRON blockchain has experienced significant growth since its MainNet launch in May 2018. Until recently, TRON hosted the largest circulating supply of USD Tether (USDT) stablecoin, which currently exceeds $91 billion. As of August 2026, the TRON blockchain has recorded over 399 million in total user accounts, more than 15 billion in total transactions, and over $28 billion in total value locked (TVL), based on TRONSCAN. Recognized as the global settlement layer for stablecoin transactions and everyday purchases with proven success, TRON is “Moving Trillions, Empowering Billions.”

TRONNetwork | TRONDAO | X | YouTube | Telegram | Discord | Reddit | GitHub | Medium | Forum

Media Contact

Yeweon Park

[email protected]

Contacts Graham Stone

[email protected]

Yeweon Park

[email protected]

Contacts Graham Stone
[email protected]
Yeweon Park
[email protected]

Price and On-Chain Activity Pick Up SteamStellar's native token $XLM is trading near $0.19, up roughly 20% over the past seven days. Daily trading volume has jumped 47% to $389 million, pushing the network's market capitalisation to approximately $6.64 billion.

The price move comes as broader technical momentum builds around the token. Stellar's blockchain performance recently reached 3,351 transactions per second, marking a roughly 65% increase in its theoretical capacity, reinforcing the network's scalability narrative.

Real-World Assets and Stablecoin Volume Drive the Fundamental CaseBeyond the price action, the more durable story may be what is happening on the institutional side. Real-world assets on @StellarOrg now stand at $3.28 billion, up 7.7% over the past 30 days per rwa.xyz. Stablecoin transfer volume over the same 30-day window climbed 35% to $7.89 billion.

Much of the acceleration traces back to Protocol 26, nicknamed "Yardstick," which went live on Stellar's mainnet on May 6, 2026. The upgrade added a governed on-chain freeze mechanism for compliance and improved 256-bit arithmetic, giving the network the precision needed to settle institutional-grade financial instruments accurately.

The combination of rising on-chain activity, growing institutional RWA adoption, and improving throughput metrics appears to be giving traders a concrete reason to re-rate the asset beyond short-term speculation.

Sources
DefiLlama: Stellar DeFi TVL and Chain Metrics
RWA.xyz: Stellar Real-World Asset Data
CoinMarketCap: Stellar XLM Latest Updates

The U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) introduced a new proposal that could allow certain stablecoins, such as USDC, to be classified as cash equivalents on company balance sheets. Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire described the move as “an enormous strategic unlock” for the stablecoin sector.

Potential impact on stablecoins and corporate accountingFASB’s proposal was released on August 18 and targets updates in Topic 230, the section governing cash flow statements. Rather than creating a new definition for cash equivalents, FASB focused on clarifying the existing framework, mandating enhanced annual disclosures about the primary components of companies’ cash equivalents, including any digital assets.

Allaire, whose firm issues USDC, assessed the proposal as “a nine out of 10” and linked its significance to recent regulatory developments, most notably the pending GENIUS Act. He indicated that the combination of supportive accounting standards and favorable legislation could open the door for broader usage of USDC within the financial system.

Allaire highlighted the shift in how stablecoins are recorded on company balance sheets, noting that classifying tokens as cash equivalents, rather than intangible assets, makes them far more attractive to treasury departments and lenders assessing repayment capabilities.

If stablecoins are treated as cash equivalents, companies can avoid balance-sheet penalties typically associated with intangible assets—a factor that could significantly influence their adoption among corporate treasurers. FASB opened the comment period for its proposal until November 19, after which a final standard and effective date will be determined. For the moment, no changes have officially taken effect.

Criteria for stablecoin qualificationFASB outlined several requirements for a stablecoin to be recognized as a cash equivalent. First, holders must have a contractual right to redeem the token on demand. Second, the redemption must occur directly with the issuer for a fixed cash amount. Third, the issuer needs to hold segregated reserves in short-term, highly liquid assets equal to at least one dollar per token in circulation.

The board emphasized that liquidity from trading on secondary markets does not meet these standards because prices might deviate from their promised value during periods of market stress. FASB also excluded stablecoins backed by volatile assets, such as other cryptocurrencies or gold, from qualifying as cash equivalents. This approach leaves out certain algorithmic and overcollateralized tokens, despite being labeled as stablecoins.

Although these criteria are clear, meeting them is optional, not mandatory, for qualifying companies. Each issuer and corporation must carefully assess whether their tokens satisfy all requirements before accounting changes are made.

Early adopters and skeptical viewpointsCoinbase has already adjusted its accounting practices. As of December 31, 2025, the company reported USDC, EURC, and PYUSD as being fully backed by segregated cash-equivalent reserves, with redemption available at a one-to-one ratio. Coinbase reported no changes to previously stated financial metrics after the retrospective update.

However, not everyone supports FASB’s draft. Jack Castonguay, an accounting professor at Hofstra University, welcomed the limited scope but remains unconvinced by the prospect of stablecoins being classified under cash. He described the proposal as not having gone “too far,” but still sees the new categorization as overly permissive.

FASB stated that only stablecoins directly redeemable with the issuer against explicit cash reserves will qualify, a move designed to protect financial stability and limit risk.

With the November 19 deadline for public comments approaching, industry participants, auditors, and corporate treasurers are closely monitoring developments. Decisions after this period may determine the scale and pace at which stablecoins become integrated into mainstream finance.

Given the rapid shifts in the digital asset sector, from central bank decisions to new token listings, traders face growing complexity managing charts, positions, and news across multiple platforms. Many are turning to privacy-focused solutions such as CryptoAppsy, which provides unified access to real-time charts, price alerts, dedicated coin news, and macroeconomic indicators—all without requiring an account. This approach helps investors respond faster in an increasingly unpredictable market environment.

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.

BTCS Inc. reduced its DeFi leverage in the second quarter, repaying $8.2 million in debt to the Aave protocol as the company shifted its balance sheet away from more aggressive borrowing.

In its Q2 2026 Form 10-Q filing, BTCS reported ending the quarter with $317,113 in cash and stablecoins. The company also reported $36.0 million in outstanding loans payable to DeFi protocols, showing that its digital-asset balance sheet remained heavily tied to crypto, staking, and DeFi activity.

The numbers are striking, but they need careful framing.

This is not proof that BTCS is insolvent. It is not evidence of an Aave failure. It is a corporate treasury and risk-management story involving Ethereum, DeFi borrowing, and balance-sheet leverage.

TL;DR BTCS repaid $8.2 million in debt to Aave during Q2 2026. The company ended the quarter with $317,113 in cash and stablecoins. BTCS still reported $36.0 million in outstanding loans payable to DeFi protocols. Corporate Treasuries Are Getting More Complex Public companies involved in crypto no longer just hold Bitcoin or Ethereum on the balance sheet.

Some stake assets. Some borrow against assets. Some use DeFi protocols. Some run validator infrastructure. Some hold a mix of tokens, cash, stablecoins, loans, and operating assets.

BTCS fits into that more complex category.

Its filing shows a company using crypto-native financial infrastructure while still reporting through traditional public-company disclosures. That combination gives investors a rare view into how DeFi leverage can appear inside a listed company’s financial statements.

The result is more transparent, but also more complicated.

Why The Aave Repayment Matters Aave is one of the largest DeFi lending protocols.

Repaying $8.2 million in Aave debt suggests BTCS was actively reducing leverage rather than simply carrying the same borrowing profile forward. That can be read as a risk-management move, especially during a period when Ethereum and DeFi markets remain volatile.

Reducing debt can lower liquidation risk and simplify the balance sheet.

But it also shows how closely some crypto companies are tied to on-chain lending conditions. When a company borrows through DeFi, its financial position can depend on collateral values, interest rates, liquidity, and liquidation thresholds.

That is very different from a plain cash-and-equity treasury.

The Cash Figure Needs Context The $317,113 cash and stablecoin figure may look low at first glance.

But it should be read alongside the rest of the balance sheet, including digital assets, staking exposure, and outstanding DeFi loans. Crypto-native companies may hold value in assets that do not resemble traditional cash reserves.

That does not remove risk.

Low cash balances can limit flexibility, especially if operating expenses rise or market liquidity weakens. But it also does not automatically mean a company is insolvent.

The cleaner read is that BTCS was managing a balance sheet where most value remained tied to digital assets and DeFi positions.

DeFi Leverage Is Now A Public-Market Issue This is the broader point.

DeFi borrowing used to be mostly a wallet-level or protocol-level story. Now it can appear inside public-company filings. That means traditional investors need to understand terms like collateral, liquidation, protocol debt, staking, and on-chain credit exposure.

As more companies use Ethereum and DeFi infrastructure, these disclosures will matter more.

Investors will not only ask how many coins a company holds. They will ask whether those assets are borrowed against, staked, locked, lent, or exposed to smart-contract risk.

BTCS offers an early example of that shift.

What Comes Next The next filings will show whether BTCS continues reducing leverage or rebuilds DeFi exposure as market conditions improve.

If the company keeps lowering debt, investors may view the strategy as more conservative. If it increases borrowing again, the balance sheet may become more sensitive to Ethereum price swings and protocol conditions.

Either way, BTCS highlights an important trend.

Corporate crypto strategies are no longer simple reserve stories. Some companies are operating inside DeFi as active balance-sheet participants.

That creates opportunity, but it also creates risk that investors need to understand.

This article is based on BTCS Inc.’s Q2 2026 Form 10-Q filing and related company financial disclosures.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Circle’s euro-pegged stablecoin EURC has quietly amassed $76.6 million in deposits spread across 20 DeFi protocols. That’s not a massive number by USDC standards, but for a euro stablecoin operating in a market historically dominated by dollar-denominated assets, it represents a meaningful foothold.

The lion’s share of those deposits, roughly 70.9%, sits in Aave V3. That concentration tells you something about where the euro-denominated DeFi action is actually happening, and which protocol has managed to build the infrastructure that euro stablecoin users trust.

Aave V3’s outsized role Aave V3 holds approximately $42.5 million to $42.7 million in EURC supply based on visible protocol snapshots. That means a single lending protocol accounts for more than two-thirds of all EURC deployed in DeFi.

The remaining 29% of EURC deposits are distributed across 19 other venues, including liquidity provision and foreign exchange trading pairs across multiple protocols.

The bigger EURC picture The total circulating supply of EURC stands at approximately €410.6 million as of August 17, 2026. That means the $76.6 million sitting in DeFi protocols represents roughly 18-19% of the overall EURC supply depending on exchange rates.

Circle has positioned EURC as a fully reserved, 1:1 euro-pegged stablecoin with cash-equivalent redemptions. EURC currently lives across multiple blockchain networks: Ethereum, Base, Avalanche, Solana, and Stellar.

MiCA and the regulatory tailwind Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, commonly known as MiCA, has created a framework that specifically addresses stablecoin issuance in the EU. MiCA’s requirements around reserves, transparency, and licensing have raised the barrier to entry for anyone wanting to issue a euro stablecoin.

For the broader DeFi market, dollar stablecoins like USDC and USDT still dominate global DeFi activity by an enormous margin. But within the European market specifically, compliant euro stablecoins are carving out territory for users and businesses that need to denominate transactions in euros for tax, accounting, or operational reasons.

What this means for DeFi’s euro market When 71% of a stablecoin’s DeFi deposits sit in one protocol, any disruption to that protocol, whether technical, regulatory, or governance-related, would ripple through the entire EURC DeFi ecosystem. With EURC and USDC both issued by Circle and available across the same blockchain networks, the infrastructure also exists for on-chain forex trading between euros and dollars without touching centralized exchanges.

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