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<h2>Ramps Integration Connects Solana Apps With Physical Fiat Infrastructure</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>MoneyGram Ramps went live natively on Solana on August 11, connecting wallets, exchanges and applications with cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash services.</li><li>Rift became the first Solana wallet to integrate Ramps, while the service also became part of the Solana Developer Platform’s payments module.</li><li>MoneyGram’s Solana expansion complements its existing Stellar-based MGUSD infrastructure rather than replacing it.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>MoneyGram&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/moneygram-ramps-goes-multichain-with-solana-launch-302847719.html">launched</a> MoneyGram Ramps natively on&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana</a> on August 11, allowing wallets, exchanges, applications and developers to connect digital assets with the payments company’s global cash infrastructure through a single API. The service supports both cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash transactions, giving Solana applications a direct way to connect onchain financial activity with physical fiat access.Developers integrating MoneyGram Ramps can use API credentials, sandbox access, documentation and software development kits rather than building separate banking and cash-access connections market by market. MoneyGram’s existing payments network provides the underlying fiat infrastructure, while applications can embed the service directly into their own user experience.Rift became the first Solana&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/crypto-wallets">wallet</a> to launch MoneyGram Ramps for users. The AI-powered trading platform offers access to equities, commodities, crypto and foreign exchange, and its integration allows customers to move between digital assets and local currency from within its broader trading environment. MoneyGram presented Rift as the starting point for wider adoption of Ramps across the Solana network.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>MoneyGram Brings a Large Physical Network Onchain</h2>MoneyGram enters the Solana ecosystem with more than 85 years of operating history, more than 60 million customers and nearly 500,000 retail locations worldwide. That physical network gives applications integrating Ramps access to existing cash infrastructure rather than requiring individual developers to establish their own local payout and banking relationships.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">MoneyGram Network Metric</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Figure</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Operating history</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 85 years</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Customers served</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 60 million</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Retail locations</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Nearly 500,000 worldwide</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Cash-deposit availability</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 25 countries</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Cash-withdrawal availability</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 170 countries and territories</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The geographic reach is substantially wider for converting crypto into cash than for moving cash into digital assets. That distinction makes the current Ramps configuration particularly relevant to remittance and payment applications serving markets where recipients continue to depend on physical currency.Digital assets can move across&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> networks, but converting them into local cash can still depend on exchanges, banking relationships or regional payout systems. MoneyGram Ramps gives developers access to the company’s existing retail infrastructure for that conversion step.MoneyGram Chairman and CEO Anthony Soohoo said, “The future of payments is built on access.” Soohoo added that each additional platform MoneyGram connects to expands the reach of its network.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Solana Relationship Expanded From Infrastructure to Payments</h2>MoneyGram’s Ramps deployment follows an earlier expansion into Solana infrastructure. The Solana Foundation announced on June 22 that MoneyGram had become an active validator on the network and joined the Solana Developer Platform, or SDP, as an infrastructure partner.Ramps is now integrated into the SDP payments module, allowing developers building through the platform to combine MoneyGram’s fiat infrastructure with Solana’s blockchain tools. The move shifted MoneyGram’s relationship with Solana from participating in network infrastructure to making one of its payment products directly available to applications built on the blockchain.Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, said, “By connecting our ecosystem to MoneyGram's global payments network through MoneyGram Ramps, developers are able to more easily build financial applications with real-world utility at global scale.”Solana is built for fast, low-cost transactions and is used for payments, trading and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> activity. The MoneyGram integration adds access to cash infrastructure alongside those blockchain functions rather than replacing the network’s existing financial tools.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Solana Adds to MoneyGram’s Stellar-Based Strategy</h2>MoneyGram’s move onto Solana does not replace its existing work on&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/stellar-lumens-xlm">Stellar</a>. The two networks currently serve different roles within the company’s blockchain infrastructure.MoneyGram&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/moneygram-mgusd-stablecoin-stellar">launched MGUSD</a> in June with native issuance on Stellar. Bridge, a Stripe company, serves as the regulated issuer, while M0 supplies infrastructure supporting the stablecoin’s minting and burning.MGUSD is designed around MoneyGram’s own financial network, while MoneyGram Ramps serves external applications. The Solana integration gives third-party wallets and developers access to the company’s fiat on- and off-ramp infrastructure, while Stellar remains the native network for MGUSD and supports MoneyGram’s core financial infrastructure and internal clearing.That structure creates a multichain model without requiring MoneyGram to move every blockchain product onto the same network. Solana provides an external developer-facing connection to MoneyGram’s cash rails through Ramps, while Stellar continues to host the company’s stablecoin infrastructure.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Payment Companies Push Further Into Blockchain Infrastructure</h2>MoneyGram’s approach differs from the Solana strategy being developed by Western Union. Western Union is building around the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/western-union-usdpt-stablecoin-may-launch">USDPT stablecoin</a> and a Digital Asset Network intended to connect digital payments with its existing distribution infrastructure.MoneyGram instead centered its Solana expansion on opening existing cash rails to third-party applications rather than introducing another Solana-focused stablecoin. The distinction places Ramps primarily as infrastructure connecting digital assets with fiat distribution.MoneyGram and Western Union are also involved in the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/visa-stablecoin-platform-ousd">Open USD initiative&nbsp;</a>alongside Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and more than 140 other participants. The initiative brings remittance companies, card networks, asset managers and blockchain infrastructure providers into the same broader stablecoin effort.The infrastructure surrounding digital assets extends beyond issuing or transferring digital dollars. Wallet access, compliance, liquidity, fiat conversion and real-world payout infrastructure all form part of the systems needed to connect onchain financial products with users outside crypto-native markets.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>FAQ</h2><h3>What is MoneyGram Ramps?</h3>It connects applications with MoneyGram’s cash-to-crypto and crypto-to-cash infrastructure.<h3>Which Solana wallet integrated MoneyGram Ramps first?</h3>Rift became the first Solana wallet to launch the service.<h3>Does Solana replace MoneyGram’s Stellar integration?</h3>No. Solana supports Ramps, while Stellar remains the native network for MGUSD.<h3>How do Solana developers access MoneyGram Ramps?</h3>Ramps is integrated into the Solana Developer Platform’s payments module.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

MoneyGram Brings Global Cash Network to Solana

BIP-110 Fork Stalls as OCEAN Fallout Deepens

<h2>Lean Ethereum Push Expands Into AI Verification, ZK Scaling and Protocol Redesign</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Vitalik Buterin says Ethereum has elevated privacy, quantum resistance and AI-assisted security among its core long-term priorities.</li><li>Ethereum’s Strawmap adds concepts absent from Buterin’s earlier roadmap, including stronger privacy mechanisms, native rollups and specialized scaling systems.</li><li>Lean Ethereum could eventually revise major parts of the protocol, including the Ethereum Virtual Machine, while emphasizing security and censorship resistance.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr><a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a> co-founder Vitalik Buterin has&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2086824673556467938">outlined</a> a significant shift in&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/lean-ethereum-vitalik-buterin-rebuild">Ethereum’s long-term roadmap</a>, placing stronger privacy, quantum resistance, zero-knowledge technology and AI-assisted formal verification among the network’s highest technical priorities. Buterin presented the changes on Aug. 10, 2026, by comparing his 2023 roadmap with Ethereum’s current Strawmap, a working reference for protocol upgrades through 2029 that was last updated on Aug. 4, 2026.Buterin said several ideas now included in Ethereum’s planning framework did not appear in his earlier roadmap, which organized the network’s multi-year development around The Merge, The Surge, The Scourge, The Verge, The Purge and The Splurge.“What’s most striking, however, is that some completely new things are in the strawmap that are not in this diagram, because they were not in the 2023 roadmap at all,” Buterin wrote. “These reflect changing priorities.”Privacy has become one of those priorities. Ethereum is now treating strong privacy as a core requirement, including privacy pools intended to better conceal user activity and balances and “wormholes,” which are designed to let users move value without exposing their full transaction history.The roadmap also incorporates FOCIL, or Fork-Choice Enforced Inclusion Lists, as part of Ethereum’s censorship-resistance work. FOCIL is expected to be a headline component of the planned Hegota hardfork.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Lean Ethereum Could Reshape Core Protocol Architecture</h2>Quantum-related work and the broader “Lean-ification” of Ethereum have also moved higher on the development agenda. Lean Ethereum refers to a collection of upgrades that could eventually replace or substantially revise nearly every core part of the protocol, an overhaul Buterin has called Ethereum’s “third major iteration.”One potential long-term change would move Ethereum beyond the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/ethereum-virtual-machine">Ethereum Virtual Machine</a>, the execution environment used by Ethereum applications. The Strawmap considers alternative computing formats including RISC-V and leanISA.Other previously considered directions have lost priority. Buterin said “many&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/ethereum-virtual-machine">EVM</a> improvements” are among ideas that have been dialed back or replaced by approaches now viewed as more suitable for Ethereum’s long-term objectives.The Strawmap remains a living draft rather than a fixed implementation schedule, allowing priorities and technical approaches to change as development progresses.<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/zero-knowledge-proof">Zero-knowledge</a> technology is playing a larger role because tools that were previously insufficiently mature have advanced. Buterin said SNARKs, a form of zero-knowledge cryptographic proof, “were nowhere near mature enough” when the earlier roadmap was developed to support more complicated designs such as native rollups.Native rollups are now among the concepts included in Ethereum’s planning framework, alongside greater reliance on STARKs, cryptographic technology used to verify computations.Buterin is also advocating a more specialized approach to Ethereum scaling instead of attempting to maximize capacity uniformly across every category of network activity.“A common theme in scaling, found in both state types and zkzk frames (both new ideas), is that instead of trying to maximally scale all Ethereum activity,” Buterin wrote. “We try to create specialized mechanisms that have more restrictive properties that make them more scaling-friendly, while supporting the heaviest loads incurred by users and applications today (eg. token transfers, swaps) and tomorrow (eg. privacy protocols).”State types and zkzk frames are among the new ideas Buterin cited as examples of that approach. The strategy would use systems with narrower properties where those restrictions make high-volume workloads easier to scale.Blob&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/futures-contract">futures</a> and gas futures are also among concepts now included in the roadmap that were absent from the earlier plan.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>AI Takes a Larger Role in Formal Verification</h2>Artificial intelligence is being incorporated into Ethereum’s technical strategy primarily as a tool for formal verification. Buterin said modern AI can make it more practical to verify that increasingly complex protocol systems behave according to their intended specifications.Ethereum researchers are increasingly using STARKs alongside AI-assisted verification to check protocol behavior.“This can only be safe with formal verification, which is itself only feasible with modern AI tools,” Buterin wrote.Buterin also said “modern AI” will “assist in formal verification” across Ethereum as the protocol becomes more complex.The increased focus on formal verification accompanies Ethereum’s preparations for potential threats from quantum computers. Buterin urged developers in January 2026 to adopt quantum-resistant cryptography before the threat becomes immediate, while the Ethereum Foundation formed a dedicated post-quantum team.Buterin followed in February 2026 with a phased plan covering four potentially vulnerable components of Ethereum’s cryptographic architecture.By July 2026, quantum safety and privacy had become central elements of Buterin’s proposed Lean Ethereum overhaul, including plans to replace cryptography vulnerable to quantum attacks with quantum-safe alternatives.“Ethereum will be quantum-safe. Ethereum will put users’ privacy first. Ethereum will be secure. Ethereum will be censorship-resistant. Ethereum will be highly performant and scalable while satisfying the above. And Ethereum will be Lean,” Buterin wrote.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Ethereum Foundation Reorganizes Around Core Priorities</h2>Ethereum’s organizational structure has also changed alongside the technical roadmap. The Ethereum Foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/ethereum-foundation-staff-cuts-budget-reset">cut 20% of its workforce</a> in June 2026 and reorganized around five core clusters.Those clusters were aligned with the foundation’s CROPs mandate, covering censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security.The restructuring followed criticism of the Ethereum Foundation over delayed upgrades and alleged misallocation of resources.New organizations have also been formed to support Ethereum development and adoption.&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/ethereum-institutional-launch-wall-street-backing">EthLabs</a> is a nonprofit that will conduct research and development work alongside the Ethereum Foundation.<a href="https://coin360.com/news/ethsystems-ethereum-privacy-banks">EthSystems</a> operates under a different structure. The for-profit organization was spun out of the Ethereum Foundation’s former Institutional Privacy Task Force and is focused on building institutional-grade privacy technology.The updated roadmap ties those broader priorities to Ethereum’s protocol work, combining privacy systems, censorship resistance, post-quantum cryptography,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/zero-knowledge-proof">zero-knowledge proofs</a>, specialized scaling and formal verification under the Lean Ethereum program.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Vitalik Buterin Elevates Privacy and Quantum Security in Ethereum Roadmap

<h2>ADA, DOT and HBAR Plans End as Reward Distributions Take Shape</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Grayscale withdrew proposed exchange-traded funds tied to Cardano, Polkadot and Hedera through sponsor-initiated SEC filings.</li><li>Separate amendments require ETHE, GSOL and GAVA to convert staking rewards into cash at least quarterly and distribute net proceeds.</li><li>The staking mechanism applies to earned rewards rather than the funds’ principal ETH, SOL and AVAX holdings.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Grayscale Investments has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/08/10/grayscale-quietly-drops-cardano-polkadot-and-hedera-etf-plans">withdrawn</a> planned exchange-traded funds tied to&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/cardano-ada">Cardano’s ADA</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/polkadot-dot">Polkadot’s DOT</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/hedera-hashgraph-hbar">Hedera’s HBAR</a> while separately formalizing recurring cash distributions from staking rewards earned by its&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/avalanche-avax">Avalanche</a> products. The three altcoin ETF withdrawals were initiated by Grayscale rather than rejected by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while amendments to its staking funds require earned rewards to be converted into cash on a recurring schedule.Grayscale submitted three withdrawal requests to the SEC within four minutes late Friday, Aug. 7, telling the regulator it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of shares in each trust. None of the registrations became effective, no securities were issued or sold under them, and Grayscale said it had not distributed preliminary prospectuses. Grayscale provided no public reason for the withdrawals, and the filings do not prevent the asset manager from submitting new registrations for the assets later.The abandoned products had been under development since 2025. Grayscale made its initial Cardano ETF proposal in February 2025 and pursued its Polkadot filing later that month. Corresponding ADA and DOT registration statements followed on Aug. 29, with the HBAR registration submitted on Sept. 9. The proposed funds were structured as passive vehicles intended to track the value of their respective tokens after fees and expenses.The withdrawals shrink Grayscale’s proposed single-token pipeline without representing a broader retreat from crypto exchange-traded products. At the time of the Aug. 10 disclosure, Grayscale listed 17 ETF products, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">Bitcoin</a> Mini Trust ETF, Ethereum&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/DeFi-Staking">Staking</a> Mini ETF and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/review/hyperliquid">Hyperliquid</a> Staking ETF. Grayscale had not immediately provided additional comment when contacted about the decision.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Staking Funds Set Recurring Reward-to-Cash Schedule</h2>Separate trust amendments executed Aug. 6 for the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF, or ETHE, Grayscale Solana Staking ETF, or GSOL, and Grayscale Avalanche Staking ETF, or GAVA, established a mandatory schedule for converting staking rewards into cash. Form 8-K filings submitted the following day state that each trust must reduce its “Staking Consideration” to cash no less often than quarterly, with net proceeds distributed promptly after applicable fees and trust expenses.The trusts currently intend to make those distributions monthly, although the binding minimum remains quarterly. Under the structure, each fund receives staking rewards, periodically sells the earned tokens for cash, deducts applicable expenses and distributes the remaining proceeds to shareholders. That process creates recurring sales of reward tokens, but it does not require scheduled&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/liquidation">liquidation</a> of the trusts’ principal&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">ETH</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">SOL</a> or&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/avalanche-avax">AVAX</a> holdings.Other disclosures continue to permit token sales for separate purposes including redemptions, fees and expenses. The amendments establish that earned staking consideration will be converted to cash but do not predetermine how many tokens or how much dollar value will be sold during a particular distribution period.As of June 30, the funds reported the following asset and staking positions:<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Fund</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Total assets</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Staked assets</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Share staked</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">ETHE</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$1.22 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$999.96 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About 81.7%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">GSOL</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$101.16 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$101.05 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About 99.9%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">GAVA</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$4.27 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$3.45 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About 80.9%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Combined</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $1.32543 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $1.10446 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">—</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>Those staked balances are principal positions rather than the amount subject to recurring sales. The conversion requirement covers rewards generated by those positions. The reports do not provide current annualized reward rates, and future sales and distributions will depend on rewards actually received, the amount staked, protocol-level reward rates, token values and applicable deductions.Fee structures also differ across the three products:<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Fund</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Annual Sponsor fee</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Staking-related deduction</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">ETHE</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">2.5%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">23% of gross rewards for Sponsor staking and validator fees</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">GAVA</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">0.35%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">23% aggregate reward deduction</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">GSOL</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">0.19%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">7% aggregate Sponsor and validator deduction</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The annual Sponsor fees and reward deductions use different calculation bases and should not be treated as additive percentages. ETHE has already provided an operating example of the reward-conversion model: the fund distributed approximately $9.4 million, equal to $0.083178 per share, on Jan. 6, 2026, after selling staking rewards earned from Oct. 6 through Dec. 31, 2025. Different asset balances, staking participation, fees, reward rates and token values make that payment unsuitable as a forecast for the three funds.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Cash Payouts Carry Separate Tax Treatment</h2>The cash-conversion structure can produce several potential U.S. tax consequences under ETHE and GSOL tax disclosures. Assuming grantor-trust treatment applies, a U.S. holder is generally treated as receiving a pro rata share of staking income when the trust earns it. A later sale of reward tokens to finance the cash distribution can also allocate a pro rata capital gain or loss to the shareholder.Under the treatment described in the filings, receipt of the distributed cash itself should not constitute an additional taxable event. The disclosures caution, however, that grantor-trust treatment is not guaranteed. They also identify potential unrelated business taxable income for certain tax-exempt holders and unresolved sourcing or withholding questions for non-U.S. investors.The two Grayscale developments occurred within the same regulatory filing window but were not presented as causally connected. The staking amendments were executed before the altcoin withdrawal requests, while both sets of actions reached filings over the following day. The staking-distribution development was released Aug. 11, 2026 at 12:30 a.m.&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/gmt-stepn-gmt">GMT</a>, following the Aug. 10 publication of the ADA, DOT and HBAR withdrawal development.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Grayscale Drops Three Altcoin ETFs as Staking Funds Formalize Cash Payouts

<h2>Regulator Explores Bullion as Collateral While London Faces Growing Competition</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>The UK Financial Conduct Authority is developing an approach to tokenized gold and consulting financial institutions on its use in wholesale markets.</li><li>London remains the largest over-the-counter gold trading hub, accounting for about 70% of global notional trading volume.</li><li>The work forms part of a wider UK push to tokenize financial markets, including securities, settlement and collateral.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>The UK Financial Conduct Authority is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9973f186-5834-4b66-8faa-e8b2e8711466?accessToken=zwAAAZ_qjqQckdOZc_GGWDRLZtOPquiy6HEUZg.MEYCIQDwmg9V4UZwu6yDpFP8fxfhL3h4ESJwf2xz9uaKw6GANAIhAKCnRoLPvYihvBir4KWtgksB-c3kt2c9NSnIxXyc8onw&amp;sharetype=gift&amp;token=b1881756-1e32-4488-8419-793f9e071777&amp;syn-25a6b1a6=1">preparing rules</a> for tokenized gold and consulting banks and other financial-industry participants about using the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a>-based representation of physical bullion as collateral in wholesale markets. The initiative, reported on Aug. 10, 2026, forms part of a broader UK effort to digitize financial markets while preserving London’s position as the world’s leading center for over-the-counter gold trading.The FCA has sought feedback from financial institutions on potential standards for tokenized gold and the opportunities and challenges associated with tokenization. An FCA spokesperson said the regulator’s work is not tied to a particular retail application and instead covers tokenization developments across the wider market.“We're monitoring developments across tokenisation and digital assets, including emerging use cases such as tokenised gold,” the FCA spokesperson said.The FCA plans to continue engaging with the financial industry as it develops its policy. “We'll have more to say on our approach to tokenisation soon,” the spokesperson said. The regulator is expected to provide progress on rules for tokenized digital assets within the next few months.Tokenized gold involves creating digital tokens that represent ownership rights in physical gold, with the token issuer holding bullion as backing. The FCA’s work is examining whether such assets could also serve as collateral in wholesale financial transactions, extending tokenization beyond digital ownership records into institutional market infrastructure.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>London’s Bullion Lead Meets Growing Competition</h2>London’s over-the-counter gold market historically ranks as the world’s leading center for bullion trading and accounts for about 70% of global notional gold trading volume, according to the World Gold Council. London’s dominance, however, is increasingly being challenged by China.The FCA’s discussions are therefore taking place alongside a wider effort to modernize UK wholesale financial markets through tokenization. That strategy includes making digitally represented assets usable across issuance, trading, settlement and collateral processes rather than limiting tokenization to investment products.Chris Woolard, the U.K. Treasury's wholesale digital markets lead, laid out a 12-month plan in July 2026 to accelerate the digitization of the country’s financial markets. A government-backed industry task force estimated that tokenization could increase UK annual economic output by as much as 33 billion British pounds, equivalent to $44 billion, by 2035.The broader roadmap also calls for the UK’s first tokenized government bond by early 2027 and seeks to make tokenized securities usable for trading, settlement and as collateral. Those goals parallel the FCA’s examination of tokenized gold as a potential wholesale-market collateral asset.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>FCA and Bank of England Broaden Tokenization Push</h2>The FCA and the Bank of England unveiled plans in May 2026 to modernize and tokenize financial markets, placing the tokenized-gold discussions within an existing regulatory program rather than treating bullion as an isolated digital-asset initiative.“Tokenization has the potential to transform wholesale markets – reshaping how assets are issued, traded and settled,” Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said.The FCA’s current approach links tokenized gold to that wider transformation. Physical bullion would remain the asset backing the digital token, while the regulator is exploring how tokenized ownership could function within wholesale financial infrastructure and potentially serve as collateral.The Financial Times first reported the FCA’s tokenized-gold initiative on Monday, saying the regulator had approached financial institutions to explore rules intended to foster development of the market. The FCA subsequently confirmed that it was monitoring tokenized gold and broader digital-asset use cases and planned further engagement with industry participants.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>FAQ</h2>What is tokenized gold?Digital tokens representing ownership rights in physical gold held as backing.What is the FCA examining?Potential tokenized-gold rules and its use as collateral in wholesale markets.Who is the FCA consulting?Banks and other financial-industry participants.What broader market functions does UK tokenization target?Issuance, trading, settlement and collateral.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

UK FCA Prepares Tokenized Gold Rules for Wholesale Markets

<h2>Ethereum and TRON Wallets Drained as Funds Move Through Exchanges</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Coinsbuy suffered a coordinated Aug. 9 attack across Ethereum and TRON, with the most detailed onchain reconstruction valuing the drain at $8.07 million.</li><li>The attacker linked activity across both networks through Bridgers and routed most of the stolen funds through FixedFloat.</li><li>Coinsbuy said the incident was contained, affected amounts were covered from company reserves and clients suffered no loss.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Coinsbuy suffered a coordinated cross-chain security incident that drained assets from wallets on&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/tron-trx">TRON</a> on Aug. 9, 2026. The most detailed onchain reconstruction valued the loss at about $8.07 million, while PeckShield earlier estimated that Coinsbuy-linked wallets had “likely lost” roughly $7.9 million. The attack vector has not been established, and Coinsbuy later said affected amounts were covered from its own reserves.<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">Blockchain</a> investigator Specter first&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/specterinvestigation/222">flagged</a> suspicious activity beginning at around 13:00 UTC that day. The attack started with a 5&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/tether-usdt">USDT</a> transaction before escalating into withdrawals from multiple wallets across both blockchains. The transaction sequence showed activity on Ethereum and TRON occurring as part of the same broader operation rather than as isolated movements.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Network or&nbsp;Flow</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Wallets or Addresses</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Assets and Amounts</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">TRON drain</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">8 wallets</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">6.04 million USDT</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Ethereum drain</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">3 wallets</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">1.89 million USDT and 77&nbsp;ETH</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Stablecoin total explicitly identified</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Across both networks</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">7.93 million USDT</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Receiving addresses identified</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">2 Ethereum addresses and 1 TRON&nbsp;address</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Stolen Coinsbuy assets</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The Ethereum-side activity used a&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/crypto-wallets">wallet</a> created the same day and involved&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/1inch-1inch">1inch</a>. Onchain records connected the two&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> legs through Bridgers, a cross-chain swapper whose Ethereum payout contract sent funds directly into the Ethereum swap wallet. That connection allowed researchers to tie what appeared to be separate Ethereum and TRON movements to a single coordinated incident.Investigators said the ability to move assets across separate networks could indicate access to wallet infrastructure or privileged credentials capable of authorizing transactions on multiple blockchains. There is no confirmation that Coinsbuy’s private keys were compromised. Researchers later pointed to the company’s rapid replenishment of the affected wallets as behavior suggesting Coinsbuy did not believe its private keys had been exposed.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Stolen Funds Split Across Exchanges and New Addresses</h2>The attacker began dividing, swapping and redistributing the stolen assets after the drain. About 79% of the funds moved through FixedFloat using roughly 50 single-use addresses. PeckShield also&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/2086607420785402044">identified</a> ChangeNOW, FixedFloat and BingX among services that received portions of the stolen assets, while Specter reported that the attacker began converting some of the funds toward privacy-focused cryptocurrency&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/monero-xmr">Monero</a>, or&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/monero-xmr">XMR</a>.ChangeNOW froze a six-figure portion of the assets after being contacted by Specter Investigations. ChangeNOW did not confirm a more precise amount. Separately, around 282 ETH worth roughly $542,000 remained unmoved across 5 addresses when the transaction trail was reviewed.Coinsbuy suspended deposits and withdrawals after the drain and later restored the services, according to Specter. Within 24 hours, the company replenished the affected wallets to within 0.05% of their pre-attack balances. Researchers viewed that action as another indication that Coinsbuy did not consider the underlying private keys compromised, although the mechanism that allowed the unauthorized withdrawals remained unresolved.Coinsbuy later said the incident had been “contained” and that “all affected amounts have been covered in full by the company from its own reserves.” The company added: “No client has borne any loss. The platform is stable and operating normally. Investigation is underway, and we cannot disclose further technical details at this stage.”Coinsbuy’s statement clarified its position on the financial impact to customers but did not establish the technical cause of the breach. Earlier information said Coinsbuy had not explained how the attacker obtained authorization to move funds across multiple blockchains, while the company’s later response said its investigation was continuing.Coinsbuy’s most recent listed software release before the incident was dated July 31 and included changes to administrative tools and withdrawal functionality. The release did not reference the later security incident, and the available information does not establish any connection between those software changes and the attack.The attack came during a year in which roughly $972 million had already been stolen across the crypto sector through late July 2026. The Coinsbuy incident added another major cross-chain theft while leaving the precise method used to gain transaction authorization under investigation.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Coinsbuy Offers $100K Reward as Investigation Continues</h2>Coinsbuy has now explicitly confirmed that unauthorized withdrawals affected several platform wallets during the Aug. 9 security incident. The company did not confirm or dispute the separately reported $7.9 million loss estimate, leaving the external estimate distinct from Coinsbuy’s own account of the breach.Coinsbuy said it is investigating the incident and will withhold technical details until the investigation is complete and its findings have been verified. The statement adds a more specific timeline for when the company may release information about the attack mechanism, which remains under investigation.Coinsbuy also announced a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the identification of those responsible for the breach. The company said an additional bonus is available for information or assistance that helps recover the stolen funds, although it did not give an amount for that separate incentive.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Coinsbuy Hit by $8.07 Million Cross-Chain Attack

Corporate Crypto Treasuries Split as Strategy and MARA Sell Bitcoin

Senate Delays CLARITY Act Vote as Crypto Market Structure Fight Moves to September

<h2>Stablecoin infrastructure firm gains passporting rights across all 27 EU member states</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Stripe-owned Bridge was added to the EU MiCA register on Aug. 7, 2026, through its Luxembourg-based Bridge Building entity.</li><li>Bridge became the 42nd authorized electronic money token issuer after securing CASP and EMI approvals from Luxembourg’s CSSF.</li><li>The licenses give Bridge passporting rights across the European Union as Stripe expands regulated stablecoin payment infrastructure.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Stripe-owned&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> infrastructure company Bridge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bridge.xyz/blog/bridge-secures-mica-and-emi-authorisations-across-all-27-eu-member-states">entered</a> the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets register on Aug. 7, 2026, after receiving regulatory approval in Luxembourg, giving the company a framework to provide regulated stablecoin and digital payment services across all 27 EU member states.Bridge appears on the European Securities and Markets Authority public register through Bridge Building, its Luxembourg-based entity, as the 42nd authorized electronic money token issuer. That places Bridge alongside 41 other licensed EMT issuers operating under the MiCA framework.The registration follows regulatory approvals Bridge disclosed in early July, when Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier granted the company both a Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization and an Electronic Money Institution license.Together, the CASP and EMI permissions allow Bridge to use MiCA “passporting” rights, enabling its Luxembourg-regulated operation to provide qualifying services throughout the European Union without securing a separate authorization in every member state.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Bridge Expands Payments and Stablecoin Infrastructure</h2>Bridge plans to use the authorizations to let European businesses integrate cross-border payments directly into their products, including personalized IBANs and euro-denominated accounts.The company also intends to provide infrastructure allowing corporate customers to issue their own euro-backed&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoins</a>. Identified applications include intra-group payments for multinational companies, loyalty programs, customer reward systems, crypto-specific products and internal payment mechanisms for mobile applications.Bridge Head of Product Mai Leduc Blount previously said the approvals would allow businesses in the European Union to integrate stablecoin payments and custody through Bridge APIs without navigating separate licensing regimes in individual member states.Bridge was co-founded by former&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/review/coinbase">Coinbase</a> and Brex executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu with a focus on building application programming interface infrastructure for stablecoins.The acquisition was valued at approximately $1.1 billion.Stripe’s acquisition was framed around the potential for stablecoin rails to become an internet-commerce settlement layer capable of supporting programmable and near-instant settlement while reducing reliance on traditional card-network intermediaries.Bridge combines that infrastructure with Stripe’s existing merchant network, creating a potential distribution channel to millions of businesses already using Stripe for payments. The business case presented for Bridge extends beyond crypto-native users if regulated stablecoin settlement can lower payment-processing costs compared with conventional card rails.Stripe has also been expanding Bridge’s regulatory reach outside Europe. Bridge is pursuing a federal bank charter in the United States through the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which would allow the establishment of a national trust bank focused on digital assets.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>MiCA Register Adds Traditional Banks</h2>The ESMA update that added Bridge also included three new German CASP entries: Volksbank Die Gestalterbank, VBU Volksbank im Unterland and VR-Bank Erding.Those additions brought the number of authorized CASPs across the European Union to 324 and extended MiCA participation beyond dedicated crypto companies into cooperative and regional banking institutions offering crypto custody and exchange services.The register showed zero authorized asset-referenced token issuers at the time of the update. ARTs include structures such as algorithmic or basket-backed stablecoins, while the authorized stablecoin market described in the register has developed around fiat-backed electronic money tokens.The list of non-compliant crypto-asset companies was unchanged in the same update.Bridge’s Luxembourg base also places the company in the same jurisdiction Coinbase selected for its MiCA authorization earlier in 2026, reinforcing Luxembourg’s role as a regulatory entry point for companies seeking access to the wider European market.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Stablecoin Competition Draws Major Payment Firms</h2>Bridge is entering a regulated stablecoin market that already includes large financial and payments companies building&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a>-based settlement infrastructure.BlackRock has deepened its relationship with Circle and positioned&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/usd-coin-usdc">USDC</a> as a settlement asset for its BUIDL tokenized fund. PayPal has expanded&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/paypal-usd-pyusd">PYUSD</a> into international business payments while operating with a user base exceeding 400 million. Visa has developed stablecoin settlement infrastructure connecting banking partners across multiple blockchain networks.Circle’s USDC was identified as holding a dominant position among dollar-denominated stablecoins relevant to the European market, while Bridge’s competitive advantage centers on its integration with Stripe’s established merchant and payments infrastructure.Bridge is also pursuing a broader infrastructure model rather than relying solely on a single flagship stablecoin. Its planned offering includes payment APIs, custody, cross-border settlement, euro-account functionality and tools allowing companies to create euro-backed stablecoins for internal or customer-facing applications.The MiCA registration gives Bridge a regulatory structure connecting Stripe’s merchant network, Luxembourg-issued CASP and EMI permissions, and EU-wide passporting rights as the payments company expands its stablecoin infrastructure business across Europe.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Stripe-Owned Bridge Enters EU MiCA Register After Luxembourg Approval

<h2>Truth Social Parent Refocuses on Media, Data Licensing and Planned TAE Merger</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Trump Media, Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition mutually terminated the planned Trump Media Group CRO Strategy.</li><li>Trump Media is also abandoning direct prediction-market integration into Truth Social while leaving existing Truth Social Funds ETFs unchanged.</li><li>Interim CEO Kevin McGurn said increasingly crowded digital-asset treasury and prediction-market sectors contributed to the strategic pullback.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Trump Media &amp; Technology Group is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/07/trump-media-crypto-treasury-deals?mrfcid=202608076a7107cca447ee21c3cb6dfb">unwinding</a> major parts of its&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/exchange/crypto_com">Crypto.com</a> partnership, including a planned publicly traded&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/cronos-cro">CRO</a> treasury company, after the parties cited “prevailing market conditions, and shifting business and stakeholder priorities.” The Aug. 7, 2026 decision also covers other digital-asset arrangements and comes as Trump Media redirects attention toward media, data licensing and its proposed merger with fusion-energy company TAE.Trump Media, Crypto.com and special purpose acquisition company Yorkville Acquisition mutually terminated the proposed Trump Media Group CRO Strategy. The venture would have created a publicly traded company focused on accumulating CRO, the native token of Crypto.com’s&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/cronos-cro">Cronos</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a>, while seeking additional returns by staking those holdings.The proposed structure would also have licensed the Trump Media name to the CRO-focused company. When the venture was announced, the partners positioned it as the first and largest publicly traded CRO treasury company, built to accumulate the token and generate additional returns from its holdings.Trump Media had already established direct CRO exposure before abandoning the treasury-company plan. The company bought $105 million of CRO in September 2025 through a broader Crypto.com partnership that also included plans to integrate token rewards into Trump Media products.CRO fell as much as 5% after news of the pullback.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Prediction Market Plans Are Also Being Reduced</h2>Trump Media is also abandoning plans to integrate Crypto.com-powered prediction markets directly into Truth Social. Instead of operating the products inside the social-media platform, Trump Media and Crypto.com plan to pursue a marketing arrangement promoting Crypto.com prediction-market products to Truth Social users.Interim CEO Kevin McGurn told Axios that the prediction-market business had become crowded and was therefore less compelling as a direct investment area. Trump Media now sees greater value in acting as a distribution and data partner rather than operating prediction markets itself.McGurn also said the market for digital-asset treasury companies had become increasingly crowded over the previous year, leading Trump Media to narrow its focus. He added that staking had become less important to Crypto.com, making it an appropriate time for the companies to separate on the proposed treasury strategy.The companies are also ending a separate arrangement under which Crypto.com would have serviced certain planned exchange-traded funds from Yorkville America. Existing Truth Social Funds ETFs will continue unchanged despite the broader restructuring of the Crypto.com relationship.Trump Media’s prediction-market plans had expanded substantially before the retreat. The company announced Truth Predict in October 2025 as a Crypto.com-powered prediction market intended to be integrated with Truth Social. The companies then unveiled the publicly traded CRO treasury venture with Yorkville Acquisition Corp. in December 2025, with that company expected to hold billions of CRO tokens.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Bitcoin Holdings Remain on Trump Media’s Balance Sheet</h2>The pullback from the CRO treasury venture and direct prediction-market operations does not eliminate Trump Media’s documented digital-asset holdings. Company filings showed Trump Media holding 9,542&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">BTC</a> at the end of the second quarter of 2026.Earlier during the week of the announcement, Trump Media moved 2,628 BTC worth about $165 million to addresses associated with Crypto.com. The cited information identified the transfer but did not characterize the movement as a sale.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Bitcoin Item</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Amount</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Status</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Balance-sheet holdings</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">9,542 BTC</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Held at the end of the cited quarter</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">BTC transferred</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">2,628 BTC</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Moved to addresses associated with Crypto.com</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Value of transferred BTC</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About $165 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Value cited at the time of the movement</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Trump Media Prioritizes Media and TAE Merger</h2>McGurn said the saturation of the digital-asset treasury market is forcing Trump Media to direct more attention toward media, data licensing and completion of its proposed merger with fusion-energy firm TAE. He said Trump Media hopes to close the transaction before the end of 2026.The strategic retreat is occurring while the CLARITY Act has stalled in Washington amid debate over ethics and potential conflicts of interest connected to President Donald Trump and his family’s crypto ventures.Democrats have repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump’s expanding crypto businesses. Earlier during the same week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate President Donald Trump’s meme coin, arguing that the agency should determine whether it facilitated fraud or unjust enrichment.That request came amid growing Democratic scrutiny of Trump’s business activities, particularly his cryptocurrency interests, ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections.Crypto.com’s relationship with the broader Trump political ecosystem has also drawn attention. Crypto.com disclosed in February 2026 that it had donated $35 million over the previous year to the pro-Trump super PAC&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/maga-maga">MAGA</a> Inc. During the same month, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conditionally approved Crypto.com’s application for a national trust bank charter.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Trump Media Scraps CRO Treasury and Scales Back Crypto.com Partnership

Coldcard Hack Losses Top $130 Million as Security Fallout Widens

<h2>Traditional assets gain traction across onchain lending, spot markets and derivatives</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Tokenized real-world asset deposits rose from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026.</li><li>Broader DeFi deposits fell about 15%, while tokenized-asset spot trading increased 220%.</li><li>Treasury products, gold tokens, private credit and traditional-market derivatives drove the expansion.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Tokenized real-world asset deposits across decentralized lending platforms and exchanges more than tripled between Q2 2025 and Q2 2026, even as the wider&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/decentralised-finance">DeFi</a> market contracted, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://coinshares.com/us/insights/research-data/token-terminal-hybrid-finance-q2-report/">findings</a> released by CoinShares and Token Terminal on August 6, 2026.The findings showed that RWA deposits increased from $2.3 billion to $7.4 billion during the period, while total DeFi deposits declined by approximately 15%. The two articles carrying the findings were published at 1:22 p.m. EDT and 4:07 p.m. UTC.Growth was driven almost entirely by conventional financial products brought onto&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> infrastructure rather than crypto-native assets. Tokenized Treasury and multi-strategy funds led the collateral segment, followed by private credit products and delta-neutral strategies.JTRSY, BlackRock’s BUIDL and sUSDS were identified among the leading Treasury and multi-strategy products. Investors used those instruments to maintain exposure to income-generating assets while deploying them as collateral across decentralized financial applications.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Metric</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Earlier level</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Latest change or level</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">RWA deposits in lending platforms and DEXs</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$2.3 billion in Q2 2025</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$7.4 billion in Q2 2026</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Total DeFi deposits</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Comparison-period level</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Down approximately 15%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Tokenized-asset&nbsp;DEX spot volume</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Prior-year level</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Up about 220%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Broader crypto-native DEX volume</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Comparison-period level</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Down roughly 70%</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div><hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Gold tokens and traditional-market perpetuals expand</h2>Tokenized spot-market activity rose while wider&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/Decentralized-Crypto-Exchange-dex">decentralized exchange</a> trading weakened. Gold-backed tokens, including&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/tether-gold-xaut">XAUT</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/pax-gold-paxg">PAXG</a>, accounted for a significant portion of the growing RWA trading segment.Volumes and open interest also increased in&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/perpetual-futures">perpetual</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/futures-contract">futures</a> tied to real-world assets despite a broader slowdown that began in October 2025. Activity was concentrated in contracts referencing oil, precious metals, the S&amp;P 500, the Nasdaq-100 and semiconductor stocks.CoinShares said the findings supported its “Hybrid Finance” thesis, which holds that investors are moving conventional financial exposure onto blockchain infrastructure rather than abandoning traditional assets.“Look at what is actually being used on-chain: Treasuries, gold, the S&amp;P 500, semiconductor stocks. Not one of them is a crypto asset,” CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said.“Investors are not leaving traditional finance behind. They are moving traditional assets onto infrastructure that settles in seconds and does not close at night. That is convergence, not disruption.”Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Kula, an investment firm focused on RWAs, said industry measures of tokenization had previously emphasized issuance rather than active financial use.“For the past few years, success in tokenization has largely been measured by the value of assets brought on-chain,” Dhillon said.Dhillon said tokenized assets were increasingly being used as productive financial instruments. “Their growth, despite a broader slowdown across DeFi, suggests demand is being driven by utility rather than market sentiment,” he added.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Ethereum leads collateral as other platforms gain roles</h2><a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a> remained the dominant blockchain for tokenized assets, hosting nearly 70% of RWA collateral used in DeFi lending. CoinShares and Token Terminal also found that&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/plasma-xpl">Plasma</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana</a> were gaining share.Solana strengthened its position in tokenized-asset spot trading, while&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/review/hyperliquid">Hyperliquid</a> emerged as a leading venue for tokenized perpetual futures. The findings placed Ethereum at the center of lending collateral while identifying growing activity on other platforms in spot and derivatives markets.Tokenized assets nevertheless remained a small part of global financial markets. About $2.2 billion of the more than $100 trillion global equity market had been tokenized, a stage CoinShares compared with the early&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> market in 2019.RWA.xyz placed the cumulative value of onchain real-world assets at about $37.89 billion, excluding&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoins</a>. U.S. Treasury debt remained the largest category, followed by commodities, active investment strategies and stocks.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Tokenized RWA category</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Onchain value</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">U.S. Treasury debt</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than $16.1 billion</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Commodities</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$4.6 billion</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Active strategies</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$3.6 billion</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Stocks</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$2.5 billion</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The $37.89 billion figure covered the broader value of onchain RWAs, while the deposit figure measured assets deployed across the lending platforms and decentralized exchanges included in the CoinShares and Token Terminal findings.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>FAQ</h2>What drove the increase in RWA deposits?Tokenized Treasuries, multi-strategy funds, private credit and delta-neutral strategies.Which blockchain held the most RWA lending collateral?Ethereum, with nearly 70% of the measured collateral.Which assets led tokenized spot trading?Gold-backed tokens, including XAUT and PAXG, accounted for a significant share.Which venue led tokenized perpetual futures?Hyperliquid emerged as a leading venue for that market.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Tokenized RWA Deposits Triple as Broader DeFi Activity Contracts

<h2>Regulated expansion spans securities, ETFs, commodities and tokenized equities</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Wintermute USA is now registered with the SEC and is a FINRA member.</li><li>The firm can trade securities, provide liquidity and support exchange-traded products.</li><li>Evgeny Gaevoy wants Wintermute to challenge major market makers over several years.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Wintermute&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/wintermute_t/status/2085472059828715749">announced</a> on Aug. 6, 2026, that its New York-based subsidiary, Wintermute USA, had registered as a broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and become a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, opening a regulated path into U.S. stocks, options, exchange-traded products and other traditional markets.The registration allows Wintermute USA to provide liquidity to U.S. securities exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties. It can also trade stocks and options through its proprietary account, meaning it may transact using the firm’s own capital, and self-clear eligible digital-asset securities transactions.Wintermute USA can act as an Authorized Participant for exchange-traded products, “including those tied to digital assets,” Wintermute said. Authorized Participants create and redeem large&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blocks">blocks</a> of ETF shares by exchanging cash or underlying securities with a fund, helping keep the product’s trading price aligned with the value of its holdings.A broker-dealer may execute securities transactions for clients as a broker and trade securities for its own account as a dealer. Wintermute’s registration also makes the subsidiary eligible to seek market-maker roles on U.S. stock exchanges, although individual products and exchange appointments require additional approvals.Wintermute said the registration marked its entry into U.S. regulated markets and strengthened its coverage of institutional counterparties in the region. The firm has already signed exchange-traded fund issuers as clients, positioning the subsidiary to compete for liquidity, creation and redemption work currently concentrated among established securities firms.“Our long-term conviction has always been that digital asset markets will evolve in more than one direction,” Wintermute founder and CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said. “Digital assets and traditional finance will continue to develop in parallel, intersect in new ways, and ultimately integrate more deeply.”<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Wintermute plans a staged expansion</h2>Gaevoy set a three-to-five-year goal for Wintermute to compete with Jump Trading, Jane Street and Citadel Securities. The planned expansion begins with commodities and digital-asset ETFs, markets that most closely resemble the products and exposures Wintermute already trades.Tokenized equities would follow if regulators approve the relevant activities. Wintermute’s longer-term objective is to obtain designated market maker status on a major U.S. exchange, a role that gives a firm responsibility for maintaining orderly trading in assigned listed securities. Each stage requires a separate approval and does not follow automatically from the broker-dealer registration.The size and concentration of the designated market maker business illustrate the competitive barriers Wintermute faces.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Metric</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Figure</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Detail</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">NYSE designated market makers</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Three firms</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Citadel Securities, Virtu Americas and GTS Securities</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Citadel Securities assignments</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 1,900 stocks</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About 62% of NYSE listings</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">NYSE IPO selections</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than 80%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Issuers selected Citadel Securities</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Minimum capital requirement</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">At least $75 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Required before designated market makers assume inventory risk</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>Every stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange receives one designated market maker. That structure limits the number of available appointments and gives incumbent firms substantial relationships with exchanges, listed companies and issuers entering the public markets.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Crypto ETF infrastructure creates an opening</h2>BlackRock’s iShares&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">Bitcoin</a> Trust held $43.2 billion at the end of June. Twelve firms were authorized to create and redeem shares of the fund, but none was identified as a crypto-native company.The fund’s Authorized Participants included Jane Street, Citadel Securities, Virtu Americas, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Wintermute is seeking to enter that operational layer after previously being unable to participate directly in the creation and redemption infrastructure of major U.S. crypto exchange-traded products without broker-dealer registration.Wintermute quotes prices across more than 60 venues and provides liquidity across centralized and decentralized exchanges globally. The London-based company said its wider operation facilitates over $10 billion in average daily trading volume.Registration makes Wintermute eligible to compete for regulated securities and exchange-traded product work, but it does not automatically provide market share or an exchange appointment. Wintermute must still obtain the applicable approvals and win mandates from issuers, trading venues and institutional counterparties.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Institutional trading supports the strategy</h2>Wintermute’s U.S. expansion builds on a growing concentration of institutional activity within its existing business.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Period</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Institutional share of spot OTC volume</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Change</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">First half of 2026</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">72%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">13 percentage points higher year over year</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Prior-year period</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">59%</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Earlier comparison</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>“At three quarters of volume, institutional flow defines market structure,” Wintermute said in its H1 2026 OTC flow report.Those counterparties already trade equities, commodities and ETFs through other providers. Wintermute’s strategy would allow the company to offer regulated traditional-asset services alongside its existing digital-asset execution and liquidity operations.Wintermute began establishing its U.S. presence before completing the registration. The firm opened its New York headquarters in May 2025 and hired Ron Hammond, previously of the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">Blockchain</a> Association, to lead policy work.FINRA has 180 days to act after a membership application is complete. The regulator supervised 3,184 broker-dealers at the end of 2025, compared with 3,394 in 2021, a reduction of 210 firms, or approximately 6.2%.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Tokenized equities form the longer-term target</h2>Wintermute linked its move into traditional assets to the growth of tokenization. The SEC has supported certain&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> experiments while maintaining that placing a security onchain does not remove the asset or related activity from existing securities laws.The agency has said various onchain securities activities require appropriate licensing. Wintermute’s registration provides a regulated base from which the firm can pursue those activities, subject to product-specific and exchange approvals.Wintermute had already expanded beyond conventional spot crypto trading. Earlier in 2026, the firm said it would begin market-making for tokenized gold and provide two-sided liquidity for prediction markets.Regulated infrastructure for tokenized shares was also developing. The SEC cleared a Nasdaq rule for tokenized share trading in March 2026, while New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange backed a tokenized-equities venture with&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/review/okx">OKX</a> in June 2026.Wintermute presented its preferred regulatory approach before becoming a registered broker-dealer. A September 2025 submission to the SEC’s Crypto Task Force argued that broker-dealers should be permitted to trade tokenized securities for their own accounts and hold those assets through&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/crypto-wallets">wallet</a> software.Two issues were explicitly identified as unresolved: which securities Wintermute would quote first and whether an exchange would grant it market-maker status. The broker-dealer registration permits Wintermute to pursue those opportunities but does not itself secure either outcome.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Wintermute Registers U.S. Broker-Dealer, Targets Wall Street Market Making

<h2>France emerges as the leading hotspot as criminals increasingly target homes and relatives</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Chainalysis documented 46 violent crypto attacks through late June, with confirmed thefts exceeding $30 million.</li><li>France recorded the most publicly known incidents, while home invasions became a larger share of attacks.</li><li>Criminals used tactics ranging from direct exchange deposits to cross-chain laundering through decentralized finance tools.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Chainalysis said violent attacks against cryptocurrency holders were on pace for their worst year on record after criminals stole more than $30 million during the first half of 2026, amid a rise in home invasions, kidnappings and attacks involving victims’ relatives.Chainalysis&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/violent-crypto-wrench-attacks-2026/">released</a> its findings on Aug. 6, documenting 46 violent crypto attacks through late June. The firm defines such incidents, often called <a href="https://coin360.com/news/crypto-wrench-attacks-home-invasions-france">wrench attacks</a> in security circles, as the use of threats or physical violence to force victims to transfer cryptocurrency, reveal&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/crypto-wallets">wallet</a> credentials or authorize transactions.“Violent attacks targeting crypto holders, including home invasions, kidnappings, and hostage situations, sometimes called ‘wrench attacks’ in security circles, have surged in recent years,” Chainalysis wrote. “Criminals have recognized that crypto holders are high-value targets because they possess wealth in an instantly and irreversibly transferrable form.”The first-half theft total placed the year on a trajectory that could surpass the $58 million stolen throughout 2025 if successful attacks continued at a similar pace. The confirmed-loss estimate covers cryptocurrency obtained by attackers rather than every attempted theft or the broader amount placed at risk.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Measure</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Period</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Finding</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Documented violent attacks</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Through late June 2026</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">46 incidents</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Confirmed thefts</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">First half of 2026</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than $30 million</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Previous annual theft record</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Full year 2025</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$58 million</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>France records the highest known attack count</h2>France became the leading publicly documented center of crypto wrench attacks, recording 30 incidents through midyear, more than any other country. The country had recorded only a small number of such attacks before the recent surge, followed by 19 cases during the previous year.The monthly pace increased from about 1.9 incidents during the earlier period to roughly 4.6 during the first six months of the current year. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez separately said authorities had documented <a href="https://coin360.com/news/france-crypto-kidnappings-2026">77 incidents</a> and announced plans for a rapid-alert system intended to protect people considered particularly exposed.Chainalysis linked part of the increase to an alleged breach involving French tax records. A tax official allegedly stole and sold dossiers containing crypto holders’ names, home addresses, telephone numbers and information about their holdings, creating a pool of personal and financial data that criminals could potentially use to identify targets.Two developments during January may have contributed to the subsequent increase. French authorities publicly disclosed the tax-record investigation, while cryptocurrency tax-reporting company Waltio disclosed a separate breach involving approximately 50,000 users.Eric Jardine, Head of Research at Chainalysis, said centralized collections of sensitive information remain attractive to criminals when the data can be exploited.“Any time a central repository collects valuable, exploitable intelligence, illicit actors will seek to attempt a breach. This is especially true of sensitive information like tax records. Implementing strict information controls on targetable data is one useful way to mitigate the risks,” Jardine said.The United States, Brazil and Thailand were also among the countries with the highest cumulative number of documented wrench attacks since 2023. Jardine said Thailand’s position may partly reflect its appeal to cryptocurrency users, expatriates and tourists.“Thailand is a crypto-friendly jurisdiction that attracts a large expat and tourist population. Some of these newcomers may be bringing their crypto holdings with them. One unfortunate implication of this trend is a larger population of potential wrench attack victims,” Jardine said.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Attack success falls as home invasions rise</h2>The proportion of attacks that successfully extracted cryptocurrency declined sharply even as the total number of incidents continued to increase.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Period</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Successful attempts</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">2024</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">67%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">2025</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">49%</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Through late June 2026</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">26%</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The types of attacks also shifted. Kidnappings remained the largest category at 52%, while home invasions accounted for 37% of documented incidents. One comparison showed the home-invasion share rising from 14% a year earlier, while a separate historical comparison placed the share at 26% three years earlier. The figures use different baseline periods and describe the same broader move toward attacks inside victims’ residences.Chainalysis said home invasions allow criminals to isolate victims in a setting where they can directly demand access to funds.“Home invasions allow criminals to confront victims in a controlled environment where they can compel a transfer of funds,” Chainalysis wrote. “Kidnappings, by contrast, are much more difficult to execute. Attackers must expend considerable time and resources planning logistics; and the extended periods spent with victims leaves the attacker exposed for longer.”Criminals also increasingly used relatives and acquaintances as leverage. People connected to the primary holder accounted for an estimated 25% to 30% of cases globally and more than 40% of cases in France. Attackers could threaten or assault family members to pressure the person controlling the wallet into complying.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Attackers show uneven laundering capabilities</h2>Chainalysis found wide differences in how criminals handled stolen funds. Less sophisticated attackers sometimes transferred cryptocurrency directly to centralized exchanges without attempting to conceal the transaction trail, exposing themselves to compliance monitoring and know-your-customer records.More capable groups used decentralized exchanges,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> bridges, maximal extractable value bots and other decentralized-finance tools to exchange assets and move them between networks.“Mid-tier attackers demonstrate greater familiarity with crypto infrastructure. They may use decentralized exchanges, bridges, MEV bots, and other&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/decentralised-finance">DeFi</a> tools to swap and move assets across chains,” Chainalysis wrote. “They understand that centralized exchanges represent chokepoints with sophisticated compliance programs and user KYC, and attempt to avoid or delay interaction with them.”The findings distinguish confirmed thefts from broader financial exposure. Chainalysis measured cryptocurrency successfully obtained by attackers, while CertiK later estimated $124 million in financial exposure during the first six months. The latter category can include ransom demands, assets placed at risk and other values associated with incidents rather than only completed thefts.CertiK said in February that wrench attacks had climbed 75% during the prior year to a record 72 incidents, with France emerging as the epicenter.French authorities charged 88 suspects in April across 12 investigations into organized groups accused of conducting violent crypto attacks. More than 10 of those charged were minors.Authorities indicted a man in June who was accused of participating in a wrench attack after allegedly posing as a police officer.Five men were convicted in London during the week of the Chainalysis release for imprisoning and torturing two French crypto millionaires as part of an extortion scheme.Crypto-linked coercion also drew attention in the United States after ransom notes demanding&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">Bitcoin</a> surfaced during the investigation into the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Crypto Wrench Attacks Put 2026 on Record Pace

<h2>Shaw Walters ends foundation support while keeping the open-source AI framework alive</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters declared ELIZAOS dead after a legal settlement depleted the foundation’s treasury.</li><li>Walters ruled out buybacks, supply reductions, a replacement token and future token support tied to Eliza.</li><li>The ELIZAOS price reached a record low while the open-source ElizaOS framework continued separately from the token.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs, declared the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/elizaos-elizaos">ELIZAOS</a> token dead and began winding down its foundation after a class-action settlement exhausted the project’s remaining treasury. The announcement on August 4, 2026, removed foundation support for the token and preceded a fall to record-low prices observed two days later.<div class="raw-html-embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I guess I should say something about the token Look. I worked my ass off to the point I got a frozen shoulder and severe health issues from overworking and typing, and it was never enough We built cool shit but it was completely ignored because number down It felt like the…— Shaw (spirit/acc) (@shawmakesmagic) <a href="https://x.com/shawmakesmagic/status/2084766991932612911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 4, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div>Walters said the project settled litigation brought by Burwick Law because it lacked enough capital to contest the claims in court. The settlement transferred the rest of the treasury and all remaining project funds to a group of holders, leaving the foundation with no capital to support ELIZAOS.Burwick Law&nbsp;<a href="https://www.burwick.law/insights/burwick-law-files-class-action-over-ai16z-and-elizaos-tokens">filed</a> the federal class action in the Southern District of New York on April 22, 2026. The lawsuit alleged false advertising, deceptive practices, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and investor harm involving the original AI16Z project and its migration to ELIZAOS. Those claims remain allegations, and Walters called them “ridiculous.”Walters did not frame the foundation’s wind-down as a temporary financial problem or restructuring. He said there would be no token buybacks, supply reductions, replacement token or organized financial support for remaining holders.“The token is dead. Completely. The foundation is winding down. I am starting over, since I own the&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/story-ip">IP</a>, and I am never letting a token come close to Eliza again, maybe,” Walters said.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Lawsuit Settlement Leaves ELIZAOS Without Treasury Support</h2>Walters said the legal settlement reduced the foundation’s treasury to zero, eliminating the financial infrastructure previously available to support the token. The shutdown also separated ELIZAOS holders from Walters’ planned restart of the Eliza software project, which he said would not include another token linked to the name.Walters said he owns the Eliza intellectual property and intends to rebuild around that technology. He did not say that ELIZAOS holders would receive an ownership interest, replacement asset or automatic claim on the restarted project.The founder also described the physical and emotional strain associated with operating the project. “I worked my ass off to the point I got a frozen shoulder and severe health issues from overworking and typing, and it was never enough,” Walters wrote.“We built cool shit but it was completely ignored because number down,” he added, criticizing a community focus on token performance rather than software development.Walters said he never sold his AI16Z holdings and received a modest salary comparable to those paid to other project engineers. He also said he no longer held any tokens when he announced the shutdown and would not attach another token to Eliza.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>AI16Z Migration Preceded a More Than 97% Decline</h2>AI16Z launched on&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana</a> in October 2024 during the expansion of the crypto AI-agent sector. The project rebranded as ElizaOS in January 2025, the same month AI16Z reached a&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/market-cap">market capitalization</a> of nearly $2.4 billion.The broader group of Eliza-themed assets reached an estimated combined valuation of roughly $2.4 billion to $2.5 billion during the ecosystem’s peak.The migration increased the token supply from 1.1 billion units to 11 billion units. The expanded supply pressured the token price and contributed to declining confidence among holders before the lawsuit settlement eliminated the remaining treasury.ELIZAOS had already fallen more than 97% from its peak value by the time Walters declared the token dead. Broader selling pressure across&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/altcoin">altcoins</a> and AI-agent tokens added to the decline, although ELIZAOS had underperformed comparable tokens before wider market conditions worsened.<a href="https://coin360.com/review/coin360-dex">COIN360</a> data showed several closely timed ELIZAOS price observations on August 6, 2026, reflecting the token’s volatility as it reached an all-time low.A comparison between the nearly $2.4 billion historical market capitalization and the later $2.15 million valuation implies nominal destruction of about 99.91%. The comparison is not exact on a like-for-like token basis because the project underwent a supply-expanding migration between the two observations.ELIZAOS continued trading on centralized exchanges after Walters withdrew project support. The token therefore remained transferable and tradeable, but without a foundation treasury, planned catalyst, buyback mechanism or supply intervention.Token concentration and thin liquidity were identified as factors capable of producing continued volatility. No token burn, contract shutdown or cessation of exchange trading accompanied Walters’ declaration.A holder identified as KW, using the account @KingstonWang77, responded on August 6. “I’ve been a holder since the very early days of&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ai16z-ai16z">ai16z</a>, stayed through its peak, and continued supporting the project through the migration to elizaOS,” KW wrote.“I recently saw your post saying that you’re ready to give up on the token because you feel holders have done nothing but&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/fear-uncertainty-doubt">FUD</a>…” KW added. The available statement did not include the remainder of the post.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>ElizaOS Software Continues Without the Token</h2>Walters distinguished the failed token structure from the underlying open-source ElizaOS framework. The software allows developers to create autonomous AI agents that interact with social platforms,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> networks and digital wallets.Walters said the development team remained active and characterized work on the framework as accelerating rather than stalling. He expressed a bearish view of crypto while remaining optimistic about artificial intelligence and criticized what he called the industry’s casino mentality.The software project will continue independently of ELIZAOS, but without the foundation treasury or token-linked incentive structure that previously supported the ecosystem. Continued developer adoption of the framework without an associated token was explicitly identified as the main unresolved issue for the project’s longer-term direction.The foundation wind-down closes the token’s organizational support structure roughly eighteen months after the project’s valuation peak. Walters’ planned restart preserves the Eliza intellectual property and software, while ELIZAOS remains an unsupported asset trading separately from the technology that originally gave it relevance.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

ElizaOS Token Collapses After Treasury-Draining Lawsuit Settlement

CLARITY Act Stalls as Senate Negotiations Run Into Recess Deadline

<h2>Lawsuits allege prohibited card funding and diversion of Binance customers</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Binance affiliates accuse RedotPay and its co-founders of diverting customers and violating payment agreements.</li><li>The plaintiffs seek $472.8 million, while RedotPay rejects the allegations and says operations remain unaffected.</li><li>Related proceedings are underway in Hong Kong and Singapore.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr><a href="https://coin360.com/review/binance">Binance</a>-affiliated companies have sued Hong Kong-based&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> payments company RedotPay and its co-founders, alleging that RedotPay diverted more than 470,000 Binance Card users and improperly allowed Binance Pay funds to finance its competing prepaid cards.The legal proceedings were reported on August 5, 2026. Binance Holdings affiliates Nest Trading, DistributedTechnologies and Chaintecs Consulting Singapore filed the Hong Kong petition against RedotPay co-founders Gao Zhangpeng, Chan Wa Choi and Yao Chao.The plaintiffs are seeking $472.8 million in damages. Binance affiliates said the alleged conduct breached commercial agreements between the companies and contributed to RedotPay’s growth and valuation as it considers a potential initial public offering.The damages estimate assigns a lifetime customer value of $925 to each allegedly diverted user. The supplied figures do not align arithmetically when applied to exactly 470,000 customers: that calculation produces $434.75 million, while the stated claim divided by the per-customer value implies approximately 511,135 users.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Binance alleges prohibited use of payment funds</h2>Binance alleges that RedotPay allowed users to fund RedotPay stablecoin payment cards with Binance Pay outside the agreed terms. The dispute centers on whether Binance-originating funds were properly segregated and restricted to uses permitted by the companies’ agreements.“Since March 2026, the Binance Group has discovered that RedotPay Group had been allowing and encouraging Binance Pay funds to be used, without segregation, for the prohibited use within RedotPay, including card top-ups for RedotPay Card,” Binance said in the filing.Binance and RedotPay first entered a commercial agreement in November 2023. RedotPay announced the Binance Pay partnership the following month, saying the integration enabled Binance Pay users to make direct deposits to RedotPay cards.That initial arrangement ended less than six months later after Binance alleged that its funds had been used to top up RedotPay prepaid cards.A second agreement followed in March 2025 and required Binance funds to remain separate. Binance customers could use those funds through RedotPay to convert cryptocurrency into fiat currency, conduct in-app transfers and purchase RedotPay-branded goods.Card top-ups were excluded from the permitted activities. The arrangement also gave RedotPay access to Binance users and made Binance payment services available through RedotPay’s network.Binance ended the partnership in April 2026, saying the decision formed part of a merchant-partner review. Support for Binance Pay features on RedotPay became unavailable effective April 3, 2026.The original termination announcement no longer loaded when the supplied information was compiled, although it remained searchable on Binance’s website. Links attached to RedotPay’s earlier partnership announcement on X also directed users to unavailable pages.A Binance spokesperson said: “While Binance does not comment on ongoing litigation, where necessary we will use courts and other forums to pursue what is right.”<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>RedotPay rejects Binance’s claims</h2>RedotPay&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/08/05/binance-sues-redotpay-for-usd470-million-claiming-it-diverted-users">denied</a> wrongdoing and said it would challenge the allegations through the courts.“RedotPay is aware of legal proceedings initiated by Binance and will vigorously defend all claims,” the company said. “The Company rejects the unfounded allegations made against it and its co-founders.”A RedotPay spokesperson separately said, “RedotPay is strenuously defending the proceedings,” adding that the company would respond through the appropriate legal process.RedotPay also said the litigation would not affect its day-to-day operations.“We are confident in our legal position, and are vigorously defending all claims. As the matter is currently before the court, RedotPay will not be commenting further on the allegations, the ongoing proceedings, or matters that will be addressed through the judicial process,” the company said.Chaintecs filed a related lawsuit against RedotPay affiliates in Singapore. A hearing was scheduled for Friday following the initial coverage of the dispute.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>RedotPay reports rapid payments growth</h2>RedotPay calls itself the world’s largest stablecoin payment card issuer and reports a global customer base exceeding 8 million users.The company said its user base had increased by more than 33% during the previous six months. It also reported substantial annualized business activity while considering a U.S. listing.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">RedotPay metric</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Reported figure</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Comparison derived from supplied figures</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Annualized revenue</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About $180 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About 1.29% of annualized payment volume</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Annualized payment volume</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About $14 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Nearly 78 times annualized revenue</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Potential IPO proceeds</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than $1 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">More than one-quarter of the potential valuation</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Potential IPO valuation</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $4 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Roughly 22 times annualized revenue</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Lawsuit relative to revenue</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Plaintiffs’ damages demand</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Roughly 2.6 times annualized revenue</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Lawsuit relative to payment volume</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Plaintiffs’ damages demand</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately 3.4% of annualized payment volume</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>The litigation remains based on allegations by Binance and its affiliates. The supplied information does not include a court ruling establishing that RedotPay diverted users, breached the agreements or caused the claimed losses.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Binance Affiliates Seek $472.8 Million From RedotPay

Circle Sets September 16 Launch for Arc Mainnet

Ethereum Proposal Would Burn Validator Rewards as Staking Nears 50%

<h2>Payments group gains regulated infrastructure for fiat and blockchain settlement</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>Mastercard completed its acquisition of BVNK on August 3, 2026, in a transaction valued at up to $1.8 billion.</li><li>BVNK processes about $30 billion in annualized payment volume across roughly 200 countries and territories.</li><li>The purchase gives Mastercard direct ownership of stablecoin technology, regulatory permissions and fiat-to-blockchain settlement infrastructure.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>Mastercard&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2026/august/mastercard-completes-acquisition-of-bvnk-to-advance-global-stabl.html">completed</a> its acquisition of&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> payments infrastructure company BVNK on August 3, 2026, in a transaction valued at up to $1.8 billion, giving the global payments group direct control of technology that connects traditional currencies, bank accounts and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a>-based settlement systems.Mastercard initially<a href="https://coin360.com/news/mastercard-bvnk-1-8b-stablecoin-acquisition">&nbsp;announced the agreement</a> on March 17, 2026, with the transaction expected to close by the end of the year. Regulatory authorities cleared the acquisition ahead of that timetable, allowing the companies to complete the deal several months earlier than originally anticipated.The transaction was structured with an initial purchase price of approximately $1.5 billion and as much as $300 million in additional earnout payments tied to BVNK meeting agreed performance targets. Mastercard did not publicly provide a complete breakdown of the final financial terms.The acquisition is Mastercard’s largest crypto-infrastructure purchase and one of its largest corporate transactions of the decade. It also makes Mastercard the first major publicly listed payments network to acquire stablecoin infrastructure directly rather than relying mainly on partnerships with outside providers.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>BVNK Adds Stablecoin Technology and Regulatory Access</h2>BVNK was founded in London in 2021 to provide stablecoin payment infrastructure for businesses and financial institutions. Its platform allows customers to hold, move, settle and manage funds across conventional currencies and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoins</a> while maintaining access to traditional bank accounts and existing payment systems.The company’s enterprise customers use the infrastructure for cross-border disbursements, merchant settlement and corporate treasury transfers. Mastercard plans to apply those capabilities to business-to-business payments, international payouts, merchant settlement, treasury movement and institutional settlement flows.BVNK reported approximately $30 billion in annualized payment volume before the acquisition closed. Its annualized volume had increased from about $20 billion in late 2025, representing a $10 billion increase, or 50%, from that level. A separate year-over-year comparison placed BVNK’s payment growth through 2025 at approximately 2.3 times, reflecting a different measurement period.The platform supports payment activity across approximately 200 countries and territories. BVNK had also raised more than $90 million from investors before Mastercard completed the purchase.BVNK said existing customers would retain their current products, integrations and support teams after the acquisition, allowing the company’s customer-facing services to continue as Mastercard begins integrating the infrastructure into its broader network.BVNK secured authorization under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework in early 2026. It also holds an electronic money license covering European markets, maintains direct euro settlement access and possesses recognized security accreditations for its payment systems.Those regulatory permissions give Mastercard established access to supervised stablecoin and electronic-money operations alongside BVNK’s software, customer relationships and settlement infrastructure. The combination is intended to help Mastercard connect regulated financial institutions with blockchain-based payment systems.Mastercard Chief Product Officer Jorn Lambert said the acquisition supports a payment environment in which several forms of money operate alongside one another.“In a multi-money world where fiat, stablecoins and tokenized deposits and other forms of value coexist, the next payments paradigm will be defined by how effectively each rail, network or form of money connects and works together,” Lambert said on August 3, 2026.Mastercard’s strategy centers on connecting established bank-account and payment systems with stablecoins, tokenized deposits and other forms of onchain money rather than introducing another proprietary digital currency.The company expects future payment infrastructure to include multiple parallel rails. BVNK gives Mastercard technology designed to route value between traditional currencies and stablecoins without requiring businesses to abandon existing banking or card-payment systems.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Stablecoin Competition Accelerates</h2>The acquisition builds on Mastercard’s existing digital-asset operations. Its crypto partner program connects more than 85 companies across the payments industry, and Mastercard expanded settlement support for several regulated stablecoins in June 2026.BVNK changes the nature of that expansion by giving Mastercard ownership of the underlying technology, regulatory permissions, operational infrastructure and customer relationships instead of access through commercial agreements alone.Other payments companies have pursued different approaches to stablecoins.<a href="https://coin360.com/news/stripe-acquires-bridge">&nbsp;Stripe acquired</a> stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for $1.1 billion in 2025, while Visa developed<a href="https://coin360.com/news/visa-stablecoin-settlement-nine-blockchains-7b-run-rate">&nbsp;stablecoin settlement programs</a> and transaction-management tools through partnerships rather than purchasing a dedicated infrastructure provider.PayPal expanded its&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/paypal-usd-pyusd">PYUSD</a> stablecoin to<a href="https://coin360.com/news/paypal-pyusd-70-countries-4-1b-stablecoin-expansion">&nbsp;70 markets</a>, following a model based on issuing and distributing its own stablecoin. The strategies show payments groups using acquisitions, partnerships and proprietary issuance to build positions in blockchain-based settlement.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Transaction</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Maximum reported value</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Difference from BVNK deal</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Mastercard acquisition of BVNK</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$1.8 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Reference transaction</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Stripe acquisition of Bridge</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$1.1 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$700 million smaller</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Mastercard acquisition of Nets</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $3.19 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $1.39 billion larger</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Mastercard acquisition of Recorded Future</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$2.65 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$850 million larger</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div><a href="https://coin360.com/review/coinbase">Coinbase</a> explored acquiring BVNK at a valuation of approximately $2 billion before the discussions ended during due diligence in late 2025. That proposed valuation was about $200 million above the maximum value attached to Mastercard’s completed acquisition, although the respective transaction structures were not presented as directly comparable.Mastercard had also considered acquiring stablecoin infrastructure provider Zerohash before that potential transaction ended without a deal. Its earlier interest in Zerohash and completed purchase of BVNK show a continuing effort to bring stablecoin infrastructure under direct ownership.At least 14 stablecoin-focused transactions were announced during 2025 as payments companies and financial-technology providers increased acquisition activity around blockchain settlement infrastructure.Within Mastercard’s broader acquisition history, the BVNK purchase ranks behind its acquisitions of Nets and Recorded Future. The transaction nevertheless represents Mastercard’s largest direct investment in crypto-related infrastructure.Stablecoins have increasingly moved beyond their use in cryptocurrency trading and into international payments, merchant settlement and treasury management. Mastercard’s acquisition gives the company an operating platform designed specifically for those uses.BVNK’s infrastructure will allow Mastercard to connect fiat currencies, bank money, stablecoins and tokenized deposits across a single payment environment. The company’s stated approach is based on making those payment rails work together rather than replacing one system with another.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

Mastercard Completes $1.8 Billion BVNK Stablecoin Acquisition

<h2>Migration covers BitGo-issued assets as LayerZero departures approach $15 billion</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>BitGo said on August 4, 2026, that Chainlink CCIP will become the exclusive cross-chain infrastructure for WBTC and future BitGo-issued assets.</li><li>The migration covers about $7.4 billion of WBTC and lifts announced LayerZero-to-Chainlink moves to roughly $14.5 billion to $14.6 billion.</li><li>The shift follows broader bridge-security scrutiny after attackers drained $292 million from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered rsETH bridge.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>BitGo said on August 4, 2026, that it will replace&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/layerzero-zro">LayerZero</a> with&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/chainlink-link">Chainlink</a>’s Cross-Chain&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/interoperability">Interoperability</a> Protocol as the exclusive infrastructure for moving&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/wrapped-bitcoin-wbtc">Wrapped Bitcoin</a> across supported blockchains, extending the standard to all future BitGo-issued assets. The migration covers approximately $7.4 billion of&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/wrapped-bitcoin-wbtc">WBTC</a> and makes the token the largest individual asset announced as part of the recent movement from LayerZero-based systems to Chainlink CCIP.BitGo plans to standardize WBTC deployments through Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Token standard, with CCIP handling transfers between networks. BitGo will retain ownership and control of the WBTC token contracts and will be able to configure transfer rate limits and other operating rules governing cross-chain movements.BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said the decision reflects the company’s approach to security and institutional controls. “BitGo has long been built around a simple principle: security comes first,” Belshe said.“As we expand support for BitGo-issued assets across more chains, Chainlink CCIP gives us a proven, institutionally adopted interoperability standard that aligns with the controls, reliability, and risk management our clients expect from BitGo,” he added.WBTC had been the largest asset using LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token standard. BitGo’s decision therefore removes LayerZero’s largest OFT-based asset by value while giving Chainlink responsibility for the cross-chain movement of one of decentralized finance’s largest tokenized assets.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Announced migrations reach nearly $15 billion</h2>Previously announced LayerZero-to-Chainlink migrations covered approximately $7.24 billion in assets. Adding WBTC’s&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/market-cap">market capitalization</a> produces a combined total of about $14.6 billion.A Chainlink representative separately said the value committed to moving from LayerZero to Chainlink totaled approximately $7.2 billion as of July 2026, with WBTC taking the overall amount to nearly $15 billion. Another calculation placed the combined value at approximately $14.5 billion.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Measure</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Value</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Context</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">WBTC covered by migration</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">About $7.4 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Largest individual asset in the announced migration wave</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Alternative WBTC summary figure</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$7.3 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Rounded figure used in one summary</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Earlier announced migrations</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $7.24 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Value before WBTC was added</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Chainlink representative’s earlier tally</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $7.2 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Value committed as of July 2026</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Combined announced value</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $14.5 billion to $14.6 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Commonly characterized as nearly $15 billion</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>Projects identified as moving or planning to move cross-chain infrastructure to Chainlink included&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/mantle-mnt">Mantle</a>, Kelp, Lombard, Solv Protocol, Virtuals, Re and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/exchange/kraken">Kraken</a>. The group includes several Bitcoin-backed products, including Kraken’s kBTC and Solv Protocol’s SolvBTC and xSolvBTC.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Kelp exploit intensified bridge-security scrutiny</h2>The migration wave accelerated after attackers&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/news/kelpdao-layerzero-exploit-chainlink-migration">drained $292 million</a> from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered rsETH bridge earlier in 2026. The incident focused attention on how LayerZero applications could configure the verification systems responsible for approving cross-chain messages.LayerZero used a configurable Decentralized Verifier Network model that allowed clients to determine how many independent verifiers were required to authorize a message. Kelp DAO’s rsETH bridge used a 1-of-1 DVN configuration, meaning a single verifier could approve a cross-chain transaction. That verifier was operated by LayerZero Labs.Attackers compromised the off-chain remote procedure call infrastructure feeding information to the verifier, allowing them to forge a cross-chain message and drain the funds. Analysts later found that 47% of LayerZero OApp contracts were using a 1-of-1 DVN configuration.LayerZero subsequently updated its security framework to prevent applications from using configurations of the kind implicated in the Kelp DAO exploit. The incident involved a LayerZero-powered bridge and its application-specific verifier setup rather than a reported loss involving BitGo’s WBTC deployment.BitGo’s former configuration was more restrictive. The company selected LayerZero in 2024 to extend WBTC to&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/avalanche-avax">Avalanche</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/binance-coin-bnb">BNB</a> Chain, requiring approval from BitGo’s own verifier and either LayerZero or Polyhedra before a transfer could proceed.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Chainlink emphasizes verifier redundancy and transfer controls</h2>Chainlink said each CCIP bridge is protected by at least 16 independent, security-reviewed node operators with established records of uptime and reliability. CCIP also supports programmable transfer safeguards, including rate limits and configurable controls designed to restrict how assets move between networks.“These controls aim to act as automatic circuit breakers, containing potential incidents before they cascade,” the announcement said.The announcement also said CCIP was the only cross-chain protocol holding both SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 compliance certifications. BitGo’s planned structure allows the company to use Chainlink’s interoperability infrastructure while preserving administrative control over WBTC contracts and issuer-level operating restrictions.Chainlink’s public directory already listed CCIP-enabled WBTC pools on&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ronin-ron">Ronin</a> when the migration was announced. BitGo and Chainlink did not provide a definitive completion date for the broader transition, making the August announcement a planned or ongoing migration rather than confirmation that every WBTC deployment had already moved.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>WBTC remains the largest wrapped-bitcoin token</h2>WBTC is a tokenized representation of bitcoin designed for use on smart-contract networks, including decentralized finance applications involving trading, lending and collateral. It was launched in 2019 and became the first and largest wrapped-bitcoin token.WBTC once represented effectively the entire wrapped-bitcoin market, with more than $15 billion in circulation. At the time of the announcement, it accounted for approximately 45% of the combined coin&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/market-cap">market cap</a> of wrapped-bitcoin tokens.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Wrapped-bitcoin asset</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Market value</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Position</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">WBTC</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $7.4 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Largest token in the category</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">cbBTC</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Approximately $6 billion</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Closest competitor</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Next-largest product</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Less than $500 million</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Distant third-largest asset</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>WBTC’s total market value had declined significantly since September 2025, largely alongside the bitcoin price, while the token’s overall supply remained relatively stable.BitGo’s WBTC custody structure had already faced scrutiny after the company began working with Justin Sun-linked BiT Global through a multi-jurisdictional arrangement. BiT Global received two of the three keys associated with the multisignature setup controlling the underlying bitcoin reserves.<a href="https://coin360.com/review/coinbase">Coinbase</a> later delisted WBTC under its internal listing standards and launched cbBTC. BiT Global sued Coinbase, alleging anticompetitive conduct, but a federal judge ruled that Coinbase had the right to remove WBTC. BiT Global later dropped the case.BitGo retained full ownership and control of the WBTC token contracts despite the reserve-custody arrangement. The Chainlink migration changes the infrastructure used to transfer WBTC between blockchains but does not change WBTC into a Chainlink-issued asset or move ownership of the token contracts away from BitGo.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>FAQ</h2><h3>What infrastructure will WBTC use?</h3>Chainlink CCIP will become WBTC’s exclusive cross-chain infrastructure.<h3>Who controls the WBTC contracts?</h3>BitGo retains full ownership and administrative control.<h3>What triggered the wider migration wave?</h3>A $292 million exploit involving Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered rsETH bridge accelerated security scrutiny.<h3>Which networks already showed CCIP-enabled WBTC pools?</h3>Chainlink’s directory listed Ethereum and Ronin.This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.

BitGo Shifts WBTC Cross-Chain Infrastructure to Chainlink CCIP

<h2>Planned service would combine custody and staking without requiring clients to move assets</h2>TL;DR<ul><li>BNY and Galaxy plan to add staking capabilities to BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform.</li><li>Eligible institutions could earn proof-of-stake rewards while keeping assets within BNY’s custody environment.</li><li>Galaxy will provide the staking infrastructure, while the service remains subject to regulatory review.</li></ul><hr>Trade smarter on Jupiter, Solana’s leading DEX built for fast execution and deep liquidity.&nbsp;Swap tokens at competitive rates, route across multiple liquidity sources automatically, and access perpetuals, DCA, and advanced trading tools — all in one place!<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://jup.ag/?ref=g33ohytogabt" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Trade on Jupiter!</a></div></div><hr>BNY and Galaxy&nbsp;<a href="https://investor.galaxy.com/news-releases/news-release-details/galaxy-and-bny-collaborate-advance-digital-asset-infrastructure">announced</a> on Aug. 4, 2026, that they are collaborating on an institutional crypto staking service for BNY’s Digital Asset Custody platform. The planned offering would allow eligible clients to earn staking rewards without transferring their digital assets to a separate provider, but it remains subject to regulatory review and is not yet operational.Galaxy will provide the staking infrastructure and serve as a design partner for the service. BNY would retain the institutional custody relationship while integrating access to proof-of-stake participation into the platform clients already use to hold digital assets.Eligible institutional clients would be able to stake assets held through BNY’s custody platform. Their assets would contribute to the operation and security of proof-of-stake&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/blockchain">blockchain</a> networks while generating protocol rewards.The proposed structure is intended to remove the need for institutions to shift assets into a separate custody arrangement before participating in staking. Clients would instead access Galaxy’s infrastructure through BNY’s existing digital-asset environment.Carolyn Weinberg, BNY’s chief product and innovation officer, said clients increasingly expect digital-asset custodians to provide services beyond storage.“As digital assets continue to evolve, clients want more than safekeeping alone — they want a broader set of capabilities delivered through an institutional-grade model,” Weinberg said.<div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>BNY Expands Beyond Digital-Asset Safekeeping</h2>BNY has been expanding its blockchain operations since launching digital-asset custody services in 2022. The Galaxy collaboration would extend that business from holding digital assets into supporting direct participation in proof-of-stake networks.The staking plan forms part of a broader expansion of BNY’s digital-asset infrastructure. The bank has also moved to support blockchain-based transfer-agency record-keeping,&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/glossary/stablecoin">stablecoin</a> custody and tokenized-fund servicing.The week before the staking announcement, BNY said it was moving transfer-agency record-keeping onto blockchain. The system is intended to establish a single onchain ownership ledger and reduce reliance on intermediaries involved in fund administration.BNY plans to use that infrastructure for tokenized investment funds, including a U.K.-regulated fund from Baillie Gifford. BlackRock and other firms are also expected to adopt the transfer-agency system.The transfer-agency initiative gives BNY another role in blockchain-based finance beyond custody. The bank would maintain ownership records for tokenized funds while providing institutions with servicing infrastructure connected to the assets.BNY is also expanding its stablecoin services by making Circle’s&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/usd-coin-usdc">USDC</a> the first stablecoin supported through its Digital Asset Custody platform. Institutional clients can use the service to custody USDC and convert it to or from U.S. dollars through Circle.Together, the staking collaboration, stablecoin support and transfer-agency infrastructure place custody, blockchain-based ownership records, tokenized-fund servicing and proof-of-stake participation within BNY’s expanding institutional digital-asset business.<hr>We’ve launched the all-new COIN360 Perp DEX, built for traders who move fast!Trade 130+ assets with up to 100× leverage, enjoy instant order placement and low-slippage swaps, and earn USDC passive yield while climbing the leaderboard. Your trades deserve more than speed — they deserve mastery.<div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="box-sizing: inherit; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: white; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;"><a href="https://dex.coin360.com/" ref="noopener nofollow noreferrer" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: white; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; background-color: #4CAF50; padding: 5px 30px; text-align: center; font-size: 16px; margin: 5px 2px; border-radius: 5px;">Start Trading on COIN360 Today!</a></div></div><hr><div class="page-break" style="page-break-after:always;">&nbsp;</div><h2>Custody-Based Staking Targets Direct Asset Holders</h2>The planned BNY service is structured for institutions that directly own and custody digital assets. It differs from obtaining staking exposure through an exchange-traded product, where investors hold securities linked to underlying assets and associated rewards.Morgan Stanley launched&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">Ethereum</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana</a> exchange-traded products with staking at the end of July, providing another institutional route to proof-of-stake exposure. BNY’s proposed model would instead allow eligible custody clients to generate rewards from assets held directly through the bank’s platform.Under the collaboration, Galaxy would handle the specialized infrastructure required for blockchain participation. BNY would integrate that capability with its institutional custody and client-service framework.Proof-of-stake rewards can vary according to network rules, validator performance, issuance levels and the total amount of assets participating in staking. Access to staked assets may also depend on protocol-specific withdrawal queues, validator exit procedures or unbonding periods.Validator uptime is another operational factor because weak performance or outages can reduce rewards. Certain proof-of-stake networks may also impose slashing penalties when validators violate protocol rules or experience specified operational failures.The service’s launch remains dependent on regulatory review. Its final structure will determine how institutional clients access staking through BNY and how Galaxy’s infrastructure is integrated into the custody platform.<div class="raw-html-embed"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;"> <thead> <tr> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Company</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Trading venue and ticker</th> <th style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; text-align: left; color: #fff;">Reported share price</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">BNY</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">New York Stock Exchange: BNY</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$156.20</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Galaxy Digital</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">Nasdaq: GLXY</td> <td style="border: 1px solid #fff; padding: 8px; color: #fff;">$21.88</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div>This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.