Zora's leadership change and strategic pivot to creator and content coins could redefine its role in the evolving SocialFi landscape.

The post Dee Goens replaces Jacob Horne as CEO of Zora appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The allegations could strain US-China relations, impact global AI collaboration, and prompt stricter security measures in tech industries.

The post US security agencies accuse Chinese AI firms of intellectual property theft appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Iran's dismissal of Arab League claims may hinder US-Iran dialogue, reflecting broader regional instability and diplomatic challenges.

The post Iran dismisses Arab League’s accusations amid regional tensions appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The establishment of a securities fraud unit in Dallas signifies a maturing financial hub, balancing growth with regulatory oversight.

The post US attorney in Dallas launches securities fraud unit as ‘Y’all Street’ booms appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Rising oil prices exacerbate inflation fears, complicating monetary policy and potentially leading to economic stagnation and market volatility.

The post Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq fall for third straight day as oil prices hit $101 appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Jack Dorsey’s Block Becomes Latest Bitcoin-Focused Company To Apply for Banking Charter

Bitcoin-focused Block Inc. has become the latest company to apply for a U.S. banking charter. 

The company, which manages Square, Cash App, and Bitkey, said Wednesday that it had submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish Builders Bank & Trust, N.A.

Block joins a long-list of digital asset firms that have received conditional approval or are awaiting approval from the regulator to have the license. The charter would allow companies — if fully approved — to have certain banking powers, such as custody assets and move client funds.  

“Building on Block’s experience in the digital asset space, our history with Square Financial Services, and the deep banking expertise of the team we’ve assembled, we believe Builders Bank is well positioned to support Block’s broader vision of economic empowerment,” Lee Woolley, who would serve as President and CEO of Builders Bank, said in a statement. 

Block said that, if approved, Builders Bank would operate as a federally regulated national trust bank under OCC supervision and provide custody and related fiduciary services, including for bitcoin and stablecoins. 

A number of top crypto companies have received conditional approval, including Coinbase, Circle, Crypto.com, and Paxos.

Decentralized financial protocol World Liberty Financial, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, also received approval this year. 

Block CEO and founder Jack Dorsey, a Bitcoin maximalist, has been pushing for the biggest and oldest cryptocurrency to become everyday money. 

His point-of-sale products, Square, last year rolled out bitcoin acceptance for millions of eligible U.S. small businesses, with no setup required and transactions instantly converted to dollars at checkout. 

This post Jack Dorsey’s Block Becomes Latest Bitcoin-Focused Company To Apply for Banking Charter first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Steak ‘n Shake Says Sales Grew Double Digits Since Bitcoin Adoption

Burger restaurant franchise Steak ‘n Shake has said that accepting bitcoin payments has helped the company grow. 

Writing on its X account Tuesday, the Indianapolis, Indiana-based company said since accepting the largest cryptocurrency, it has achieved double-digit same-store sales growth. 

It added: “And this quarter has been extraordinary, with franchise-partners same-store sales gaining 19%.”

The firm last year started accepting Bitcoin payments, using the Lightning Network to do so. 

It added that it would add the cryptocurrency to its balance sheet and announced in January that it had added $10 million in Bitcoin to its strategic reserve.

Back in April, Steak ‘n Shake Chief MAHA Officer Michael Boes told attendees at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference that Bitcoin has become a core driver of the chain’s business performance. 

Same-store sales rose 11% quarter over quarter in Q2 2025 and accelerated to 15% in Q3 2025, outpacing major rivals including McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Domino’s. 

He called it the highest same-store sales growth of any restaurant in the industry — and all because bitcoin on Lightning is cheaper and faster than traditional electronic payment methods. 

It works like this: When customers pay with bitcoin instead of a credit card, Steak ‘n Shake saves roughly 50% on processing fees. Traditional credit card processors charge merchants between 2.5% and 3.5% per transaction. 

“Bitcoin is real money made with real energy,” Boes said at the time. 

The company last year also toyed with the idea of accepting other cryptocurrencies but scrapped the idea after a poll on X revealed people thought that only bitcoin was needed. 

This post Steak ‘n Shake Says Sales Grew Double Digits Since Bitcoin Adoption first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Iran Continues Using Bitcoin To Keep Economy Stable: Report

Iran is continuing to use bitcoin as a way to skirt around sanctions as the country’s central bank turns a blind eye, according to reports. 

The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that the Middle Eastern country was using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to help the economy. 

Citing conversations with businesses, regime insiders and analysts, the newspaper said that the central bank had “quietly encouraged traders” to get money flowing to help its struggling economy. 

Bitcoin is proving to be a tried and tested way of doing so. 

One business insider reportedly told the newspaper that the central bank doesn’t ask any questions about how money is transferred. 

Iran has been sanctioned for decades, and a sharp escalation beginning in late 2025 — UN snapback, EU measures and expanded U.S. energy sanctions — was compounded by war with the U.S. and Israel starting in February 2026 and a naval blockade that has cut oil exports by more than 80%.

The country also has one of the highest rates of inflation in the world. 

Iran started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its counties shipping companies earlier this year.

The U.S. in July said that it had frozen crypto linked to the Iranian regime, mostly in the form of Tether’s stablecoin. 

Stablecoins like Tether’s USDT can be frozen by the company that issues the asset but bitcoin, being decentralized and having no single issuer, cannot. 

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in July said Iran had been dodging sanctions by accepting pay in bitcoin from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. 

OFAC said at the time that Hormuz Safe, developed by Iran’s Ministry of Economy, “accepts payment in Bitcoin and other digital assets” so it can bypass sanctions. 

The U.S. and Israel struck Iran in February 2026. Fighting has continued in phases since, punctuated by a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire in April and a short-lived memorandum in June. 

Both ended up collapsing, and there is currently no ceasefire in place. 

This post Iran Continues Using Bitcoin To Keep Economy Stable: Report first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

VerifiedX Launches $15 Million Financing Round to Deploy Institutional Bitcoin Infrastructure

VerifiedX (verifiedx.io), the programmable financial operating system for Bitcoin and intelligent assets, today announced that its Foundation has launched a $15 million financing round and the first institutional investors have already invested. Initial capital will fund VerifiedX’s institutional Bitcoin distribution.

Cantor Fitzgerald is serving as VerifiedX’s investment banking partner in connection with the financing. The Foundation is not yet disclosing the identities or terms of the initial investors.

Part of the capital is allocated to expand custody relationships with partners including BitGo, the digital-asset custodian listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which will hold vBTC (VerifiedX’s Bitcoin-collateralized token) and vBTC.b (its counterpart on Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network). BitGo is a qualified custodian, meaning U.S. custody rules allow registered investment advisers to hold client assets there.

The capital also funds listings. Tier-one centralized exchanges will be listing vBTC and VFX, VerifiedX’s native token, with a first announcement expected within weeks. The round also supports borrow-and-lend programs: facilities that let a holder borrow against Bitcoin, or lend it out for a return, without sacrificing ownership or locking redemption rights.

“Nearly every way to put Bitcoin to work on-chain today asks the holder to swap it for someone else’s IOU. It’s the reason less than 1% of all Bitcoin held by institutions is earning any yield. vBTC is a game-changer in that regard, and this round funds the custody, exchange and lending rails that will allow institutions to use vBTC and natively turn their Bitcoin into productive financial capital,” said Brian May, a member of the VerifiedX Foundation.

With a wrapped Bitcoin token, the industry’s usual route, the holder hands Bitcoin to a custodian, or to a small group of signers acting together, and receives an off-chain representation on another network. The stand-in is only as good as whoever holds the Bitcoin behind it.

vBTC is built the other way around. When a holder creates a vBTC token, the VerifiedX network generates a unique native Bitcoin address inside each token and the holder deposits Bitcoin to their own self-custodial deposit address. The Bitcoin stays in that address, visible on Bitcoin’s own ledger and never leaves the Bitcoin ecosystem. Deposits and withdrawals are authorized by threshold signatures spread across VerifiedX’s validators, so no single party holds the key, and a holder that would rather not rely on the network’s validators can run its own and restrict signing to their own validators exclusively. The holder can redeem to native Bitcoin at any time. A holder can use vBTC for payments, trading, as collateral, in lending or in treasury. vBTC.b puts the same design on Base, so the asset can be used in applications there non-synthetically.

About VerifiedX

VerifiedX is a financial operating system for Bitcoin, intelligent, and alternative assets, enabling self-custodial ownership, instant settlement, programmable finance, native Bitcoin utility, and agentic financial infrastructure. Through products including vBTC, BFLY, and PulseXAI, VerifiedX connects institutions, users, and autonomous systems through a unified blockchain ecosystem framework.

Its ecosystem includes:

• vBTC & vBTC.b (BTC)
• BFLY payments and click to earn infrastructure
• SwitchBlade wallet technology
• PulseXAI generative and tokenized intelligence
• Institutional settlement architecture
• Consensus driven programmability
• Canonical interoperability systems

Further VerifiedX Inquiries:

Website: https://verifiedx.io/

Discord: https://discord.gg/7cd5ebDQCj

X: https://twitter.com/vfxblockchain

Github: https://github.com/verifiedxblockchain

Email: info@verifiedx.io

PulseXAI and BFLY are trademarks of VerifiedX. Copyright 2026 VerifiedX. All rights reserved.

This post VerifiedX Launches $15 Million Financing Round to Deploy Institutional Bitcoin Infrastructure first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin Magazine

Lummis Blasts Democrats Ahead of Clarity Act Vote — But Adds Bill Can Get Passed

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has again slammed Democrats over the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act. 

Writing on X on Tuesday, the pro-crypto lawmaker responded to an article from Semafor that reported Republican senators saying the bill was likely to fail when the senate returns next week. 

Lawmakers were hoping a crucial vote on the long-awaited crypto market structure bill would go ahead in August before their five-week recess. But it was delayed and the Senate will now vote on it next week. 

“If this bill fails it won’t be because of ethics, it will be because Democrats didn’t join Republicans in embracing a bipartisan bill that protected consumers, cements America’s leadership in digital assets, and empowered law enforcement to clamp down on illicit finance,” wrote Lummis. 

She said that Democrats were continuing to “demand changes” that could allow future regulators to “kill the crypto industry.”

“If we can bridge those gaps I’m confident we can pass Clarity, but they require further compromise from Democrats, not the White House,” added Lummis. 

Lummis previously said that if the Clarity Act dies, it will be because of the Democrats. Lummis and other pro-crypto lawmakers have blasted politicians who they think are deliberately holding back the bill. 

The Clarity Act drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins. 

Though passed by the House of Representatives last July, it has been stalled this year, mostly because the banking lobby clashed with crypto companies over paying customers stablecoin yield. 

A new draft tackling the issue of ethics started circulating in July, banning government officials from promoting or making money from crypto — something Democrats have criticized the Trump family for doing. 

Despite the changes, a group of Democrats said the bill fell short and wanted amendments. 

President Donald Trump has urged lawmakers to get the legislation over the line. In August, he said that in order for the U.S. to remain the “undisputed leader in Bitcoin and crypto,” they had to pass the “very, very powerful legislation.”

This post Lummis Blasts Democrats Ahead of Clarity Act Vote — But Adds Bill Can Get Passed first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Solana’s shorter trading intervals could let liquidity providers keep more of the value that trading bots extract from outdated pool prices. Fee-charging pools whose prices lag external markets have the clearest modeled benefit.

Solana’s mainnet has reached the reported 300-millisecond slot target, shortening the intervals allocated for block production. Validator software developer Anza also issued its Sept. 8 call for volunteers to adopt Agave v4.3.

These separate upgrades change both trading opportunities and the costs of running the network.

The economic question is how much trading value remains with the people supplying liquidity after faster execution, fees, and competition between bots. A larger transaction count cannot answer it.

Faster price updates benefit pools differently

An automated market maker (AMM) lets traders swap against a pool of assets. When an external market price moves before the pool updates, an arbitrageur can trade against the outdated price. The bot captures the difference, and the pool’s liquidity providers bear the cost of that informational disadvantage.

The Solana Foundation’s August analysis applies this model to constant-product pools, a conventional AMM design. Shorter intervals leave less time for the external price to move far enough to make an arbitrage trade profitable after the pool’s trading fee.

The relative benefit is strongest when the fee creates a wide barrier compared with normal short-term price moves. With very low fees or high volatility, profitable discrepancies emerge more readily, so removing part of the waiting interval eliminates a smaller share of the opportunity.

Establishing a higher net return also requires accounting for fee income and the conditions under which trades execute.

The underlying research by Jason Milionis, Ciamac Moallemi, and Tim Roughgarden models fee-bearing AMMs with discrete, randomly arriving blocks and an external price process. It suggests less arbitrage extraction as blocks become more frequent.

For a conventional pool, the fee and the price movement it faces determine how much shorter intervals can help. A given reduction in slot time carries different implications for pools trading different assets or charging different fees.

Proprietary AMMs use quote- or oracle-driven strategies, making information freshness another part of the competition. Finer slot granularity can help these market makers assess how old a quote or price signal is.

That is a different benefit from the modeled reduction in arbitrage against a conventional pool.

The Foundation’s routing evidence illustrates the range of trading mechanisms involved. In the five-day sample described in its August research, about 36% of observed atomic-arbitrage profits came from pure on-chain venues, while more than 60% of flowing volume routed through proprietary AMMs.

Those figures describe a share of profits and a share of routed volume, and their scope is limited to that August sample of atomic arbitrage.

They nevertheless show that Solana’s arbitrage market is broader than a pool waiting for a price update from outside the chain. Reducing that external-price delay does not mean atomic arbitrage between on-chain venues will disappear, or that proprietary makers will get the same savings as conventional pools.

The Foundation’s sandwich model, which examines attacks that trade around a user’s order, finds opposing effects. An attacker has less time to react, but fewer competing trades before the user’s execution can leave more of the user’s permitted price slippage available to exploit, so a sufficiently fast attacker may still use that room.

The next stages change Solana validator costs too

The Foundation’s Sept. 4 roundup reports mainnet activation of the 300ms stage on Aug. 28, after the earlier 350ms step. Anza’s feature tracker, checked Sept. 9, still lists 250ms and 200ms as pending mainnet activation.

Under SIMD-0525, leaders retain four consecutive slots. At the proposed 200ms endpoint, one leader’s nominal window would last 0.8 seconds, compared with 1.6 seconds at the original 400ms target. That limits how long one leader can maintain an ordering policy before another gets a turn.

Per-slot work budgets shrink proportionally, keeping the corresponding capacity per second roughly steady. The gain for trading is more frequent opportunities to incorporate information and a shorter period of control by one leader.

The Agave v4.3 schedule is a separate timeline. As of Sept. 9, the 25% volunteer request on Sept. 14, general adoption recommendation on Sept. 21, and resumption of mainnet feature activation on Sept. 28 remain tentative targets.

Alpenglow’s consensus activation remains a separate step. The Foundation also distinguishes the BLS and validator-admission prerequisites activated in July from the later switch to Alpenglow consensus.

For validators still submitting votes as on-chain transactions, faster slots create a recurring expense. In the Foundation’s model, voting once per slot at 200ms means roughly twice as many vote transactions over the same elapsed time as at 400ms.

Smaller validators can face larger absolute net voting costs because they have fewer opportunities to recover fees while producing blocks. More frequent leader opportunities make modeled rewards less variable, but the simulation does not show that faster slots mechanically increase expected revenue.

Alpenglow's design replaces on-chain voting fees with a burned Validator Admission Ticket (VAT). The current slot-time specification scales that ticket from 1.6 SOL per epoch at 400ms through 1.4, 1.2, and 1.0 SOL at the intermediate stages to 0.8 SOL at 200ms.

Because epochs keep the same number of slots and become shorter, that scale targets roughly 0.8 SOL per day. Carrying a flat 1.6 SOL fee into every shorter epoch would miss the scaling in the current specification.

Preserving execution capacity per second also does not preserve every operational margin. Validators have less time for propagation and leader handoffs, and on-chain voting and gossip activity can increase.

Those costs affect a different participant from the liquidity provider whose pool may lose less to stale prices.

For liquidity providers, the meaningful test is whether comparable pools retain more trading value after fees and execution costs. For proprietary makers, it is whether fresher signals improve the quotes they can deliver.

Measured results by pool type will determine how much value each group keeps.

The post Solana’s 300ms speed boost to outrun trading bots might come with a hidden cost appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Tokenized stocks promise cheaper trading and wider access, while some products make speculation easier without passing shareholder rights to the buyer.

Two people can open their investment apps, see the same company name beside a similar price, and still own different things. One holds shares in the company, and the other holds a token designed to follow those shares. Both benefit if the price goes up, but that doesn't settle what either person is entitled to receive or control.

You can easily lose that distinction when you look at an attractive interface. Familiar tickers and buy buttons make the transaction look and feel like buying stocks, even when the contract underneath it is different.

The London Stock Exchange is now exploring how to bring shares onto blockchain networks while preserving shareholder rights. Its Sep. 1 announcement with Payward describes a structure still under assessment and subject to regulatory approval. Separately, it plans to list xStocks on its LSE 24 venue in 2027, also subject to approval.

Those projects pursue different versions of access. One aims to preserve the relationship between investors and the companies they own, while the other wants to give a separate stock-linked product another place to trade.

The effects this could have reach beyond paperwork to what kind of market tokenization is helping build, and whether its expanding audience gets more ownership or just more ways to bet on prices.

What owning stocks actually gives you

Shares represent ownership interests in companies. Their exact rights depend on the share class and applicable rules, but common shareholders typically participate in the business's financial fortunes and can vote on certain corporate decisions.

If the company distributes a dividend, every eligible shareholder receives it. If the business fails, shareholders have a residual claim, which means they get whatever is left once claims ranking above theirs have been paid. More often than not, that's nothing, and shareholders bear that business risk as part of owning the company.

Most people don't appear personally on every record used to administer those rights. Brokers usually hold shares through nominees and keep their own records of the customers entitled to them. Those investors are called beneficial owners. The SEC distinguishes that arrangement from direct registration, where the owner holds shares in their own name with the company.

Ordinary brokerage accounts already rely on several organizations to maintain records and pass entitlements along. Shareholders can exercise rights through that chain, with voting instructions and dividend payments traveling through intermediaries.

Tokenization introduces another way to maintain and transfer a record. Tokens are digital units that move between accounts on a blockchain. The network records control of those units; the legal arrangement determines what their owners are entitled to receive.

Companies could use that technology for their own shares. Where ownership records recognize the transfer, sending tokens can transfer the shares themselves. The SEC staff's January taxonomy describes issuer-sponsored structures as well as products created by unrelated third parties. But this is a staff explanation of different arrangements, not blanket approval of every token carrying a company name.

Recording shares this way can preserve their existing rights while making transfers easier to administer. The technology leaves room for that choice.

However, a much more confusing arrangement starts when someone other than the company creates a new product linked to its shares.

Your token comes with its own fine print

Imagine a business buying shares and keeping them with a custodian. It then issues tokens intended to track the value of those holdings, so customers buying those tokens receive that business's product. That means that the original company hasn't necessarily issued anything new or entered into a relationship with the token buyer.

There are now two investments to keep track of: the underlying shares and the instrument representing exposure to them. Backing the second with the first can help it track the price, but it doesn't automatically pass every shareholder right through the arrangement.

Kraken makes that distinction in its xStocks documentation. It describes tokens backed by underlying equities but says holders don't receive the underlying shareholder voting rights. The economic benefit of dividends is reflected through an adjustment to their effective holdings rather than a separate cash payment. The tokens also can't be transferred into an ordinary brokerage account as the underlying shares.

The dividend treatment is easier to understand with a small example. Suppose an investment represents $100 of share exposure and receives a $2 net dividend that is reinvested at $100 per share. Ignoring fees and price movement for this illustration, that buys another 0.02 shares of exposure. The holding now represents 1.02 shares rather than one.

The owner now has more share exposure, with the $2 reinvested rather than available to spend. Different products apply their own tax treatment and adjustment methods. In xStocks, the displayed effective balance can increase through a multiplier even while the underlying on-chain token count stays the same.

The dividend benefit belongs to the token's financial design. Shareholder status depends on a separate legal relationship with the company whose shares support it.

The middle row describes a possible legal structure, not an already approved LSEG product. Product terms and jurisdiction determine the details.

Those relationships become especially important when something goes wrong. Shareholders' claims against a company can differ from token holders' claims involving an issuer. If that issuer fails, recovery depends on the custody and collateral arrangements and how insolvency law treats them.

Proof of backing only establishes that assets exist; it's the contract that determines how holders can reach them. Keeping tokens in your own wallet gives you control over their transfer, while the underlying shares continue to depend on the businesses holding and administering them. CryptoSlate's coverage of the companies holding tokenized equity reserves traces that dependence behind the promise of easier transfers.

For people who struggle to access foreign stocks, easier entry can be a real improvement. Small purchases and transfers between compatible apps can make investing more convenient, especially across time zones, and a significant number of buyers will knowingly value that flexibility more than a shareholder vote. Fractional investing already exists through conventional brokers, though, and any advantage depends on the services a person can actually use.

Access also has legal boundaries. Kraken excludes several jurisdictions, including the US, from its xStocks offering. Globally transferable software still operates within distribution rules, and holding tokens in a wallet provides no universal entitlement to buy every product.

All of the other promises tokenized stock products make also deserve the same kind of scrutiny.

Blockchain records make token transfers visible, but leave custody agreements and competing legal claims elsewhere. Businesses can automate parts of that settlement, but the bill may still include conversion charges and the gap between buying and selling prices. Kraken's fee documentation, for example, distinguishes between purchase methods and notes that some transactions can include a spread. Lower costs have to survive the entire transaction to benefit the investor.

Adding trading hours also doesn't automatically produce liquidity. Weekend token markets can operate while the underlying stock exchange is closed. During those hours, traders have fewer ways to buy the shares or offset their exposure, so token prices can stray from the stock's last quoted price. Splitting activity across incompatible venues can also leave each with fewer willing counterparties.

However, the commercial attraction is easy to understand. Platforms that earn fees or part of a trading spread benefit when customers transact more often. They can charge less per trade and still do well if activity expands enough. Investors benefit when access improves the investments available to them or reduces their costs; the number of trades they make is a poor substitute for either outcome.

But all of this comes at a price. Extending the hours and adding more entrances can turn stock exposure into something available for continuous speculation. That becomes especially consequential when these tokens get big and popular enough to be pledged to borrow money, and the borrowed funds can buy more tokens.

Consider a hypothetical investor with $100 in tokens who borrows $50 against them and buys another $50 of exposure. They now have $150 exposed to the stock price and owe $50. If the tokens fall 20%, their holdings are worth $120, leaving $70 once the debt is subtracted. Their own $100 has lost 30%, before interest and fees. Depending on the lending terms, forced sales could occur before they choose to exit.

Borrowing against securities is already possible in conventional markets. Tokenization can make that activity accessible through more applications and connect it to automated sales when collateral falls below a required threshold. Several borrowers hitting those thresholds together can add selling into a falling market.

The Financial Stability Board's 2024 assessment examined this potential for easier collateral use to expand borrowing and transmit losses. It also recognized possible efficiency gains. At the time, it judged tokenization's scale too small to pose a material financial-stability risk. Its warning concerned what broader adoption and more interconnected arrangements could produce, rather than a finding that stock tokens had already destabilized markets.

The claim that tokenization props up stocks also needs to be addressed. Issuers buying backing shares for newly created tokens can add demand in the underlying market. Investors switching from ordinary shares into tokens, however, may largely relocate existing exposure, while redemptions can put the process into reverse. Faster distribution creates another route for buying and selling; its effect on prices depends on the balance of those decisions.

There's also a difference between funding companies and trading their existing shares. Most secondary-market purchases pay an existing owner. They can help companies indirectly if a more accessible market makes future fundraising easier, but a token trade supplies no automatic addition to the business's cash or productive capacity.

The biggest danger here is treating a larger market for stock exposure as sufficient evidence of progress. Easier access can broaden participation while leaving newcomers with fewer rights and more opportunities to borrow against an investment they barely understand. Public transaction records offer only partial protection when the decisive obligations are in contracts elsewhere.

LSEG's proposals show that stronger ownership and wider distribution are distinct design choices.

Tokenization deserves credit where it lowers the full cost of investing or makes enforceable ownership easier to hold and transfer.

Where it mostly adds trading hours and borrowing opportunities to products with weaker claims, the businesses selling access may gain more than the people buying it. The rights and protections delivered with that access should determine how much enthusiasm the product deserves.

The post It looks like a stock and trades like a stock, but it isn’t actually a stock – what is it? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Malone Lam pleaded guilty to leading a crypto theft enterprise that prosecutors say stole and laundered more than $245 million.

The 22-year-old Singapore citizen admitted Tuesday in Washington to participating in a racketeering conspiracy, marking a major turn in a case that began with one of the largest known thefts from an individual Bitcoin holder.

Prosecutors said Lam organized an international network that targeted crypto owners through social engineering and, in some cases, home break-ins to obtain information needed to drain their wallets. The enterprise operated from at least October 2023 through May 2025 and included participants in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida and overseas.

Lam, who used online aliases including “Anne Hathaway,” “$$$” and “King Greavy,” selected targets and coordinated roles across the group, prosecutors said. The network grew from relationships formed on online gaming platforms before developing into a wider operation built around stealing and laundering digital assets.

The proceeds financed an extravagant lifestyle. Members spent as much as $500,000 during a single nightclub evening, gave away luxury handbags at parties and bought watches worth between $100,000 and more than $500,000. Prosecutors also described private-jet rentals, homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons and Miami, private security teams and exotic cars valued at as much as $3.8 million.

Prosecutors arrested Lam in September 2025 at a rented home in Miami. His guilty plea to one RICO conspiracy count turns allegations surrounding the broader organization into an admission of criminal participation, while the case against other alleged participants continues.

One victim lost more than 4,100 Bitcoin

The scale of Lam's operation became public in 2024 after prosecutors accused him and Jeandiel Serrano of participating in the theft of more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a single Washington, D.C., victim.

The coins were worth more than $230 million when they were stolen on Aug. 18, 2024, accounting for most of the value initially tied to the case. The Justice Department's latest figure of more than $245 million covers cryptocurrency stolen and laundered across the wider enterprise, not that single incident.

Earlier accounts of the theft described conspirators posing as Google and Gemini support representatives to gain the victim's trust before obtaining remote access to a computer. That access exposed private keys controlling the Bitcoin, allowing the group to move the funds.

Prosecutors said stolen crypto was then routed through exchanges, mixing services, peel chains and pass-through wallets, while virtual private networks were used to conceal participants' identities. The money was subsequently converted into cars, watches, travel, and other luxury spending that became a hallmark of the operation.

The case also highlights the continuing effectiveness of social engineering against large crypto holders. Rather than compromising Bitcoin itself, the conspirators targeted the people controlling wallet access and the credentials surrounding it.

US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled Lam's next status hearing for Dec. 8. The proceeding is not a sentencing hearing, leaving the timetable and punishment for his RICO conviction unresolved as prosecutors continue pursuing others tied to the enterprise.

The post How 4,100 stolen Bitcoin bankrolled a life of private jets and supercars appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Tether is pursuing Xinbi Guarantee across its USDT payment network, freezing operational wallets as the sanctioned marketplace tries to keep transacting.

Blockchain analytics firm Bitrace said on Sept. 9 that more than $45 million in USDT had been frozen across at least 22 operational addresses linked to Xinbi, including wallets used to receive, route, and withdraw funds.

The action targets a network already under government scrutiny. The UK sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee in March, identifying it as a major Chinese-language crypto marketplace and money-laundering hub serving Southeast Asian scam compounds.

Tether targeted Xinbi's USDT infrastructure

The $45 million freeze reached beyond wallets simply holding Xinbi-linked funds.

Bitrace said the targets included recently used deposit, intermediary, and withdrawal addresses, outgoing hot wallets operated by Xinbi payment service Xpay, and wallets belonging to third parties with close financial ties to the marketplace.

That breadth suggests the action aimed to disrupt Xinbi’s ability to move money, rather than only immobilizing assets already sitting in known addresses.

Bitrace contrasted the operation with a 2024 action against Huione Group, when about $29.6 million was frozen in a single address while other operational wallets remained usable. In Xinbi’s case, restrictions spread across the infrastructure used to receive deposits, route funds, and process withdrawals.

Xinbi responded by activating new operational addresses, but those replacements provided only a brief escape.

Bitrace said newly activated wallets were frozen again on the evening of Sept. 8, less than 12 hours after the initial action. One replacement business address moved about 1.8 million USDT before another restriction was imposed, leaving roughly 37,839 USDT stranded.

Meanwhile, the enforcement perimeter also extended beyond wallets directly attributed to Xinbi.

Bitrace said third-party operators with financial links to the marketplace were caught in the freezes, including one OTC operation that processed more than $72 million over the preceding year and another whose deposits through Xinbi totaled less than $850,000.

These actions show how Tether has increasingly incorporated freezing capability into its law-enforcement efforts.

The company said in April that it works with more than 340 agencies across 65 countries, while its T3 Financial Crime Unit with Tron and TRM Labs had frozen more than $450 million in illicit assets by May. Data from Stable.rip shows that the firm has blacklisted more than $4 billion in USDT.

Tether’s wallet pursuit pushes Xinbi into ‘unfreezable’ USDD

With replacement USDT wallets being frozen within hours, Xinbi has shifted its response from changing addresses to changing stablecoins.

Bitrace reported that the marketplace told users Tether’s actions prompted it to support only USDD transactions going forward, redirecting deposits to USDD rather than continuing to rebuild payment rails around USDT.

USDD is a US dollar-denominated stablecoin with roughly $1.5 billion in circulation across the Tron and Ethereum blockchains.

The switch directly targets the mechanism Tether used to disrupt Xinbi’s operations.

USDD describes itself as an overcollateralized decentralized stablecoin that operates without a central issuer capable of blacklisting individual holders. Its documentation says the token is “tamper-proof and cannot be frozen,” removing the address-level control Tether repeatedly exercised against Xinbi’s USDT wallets.

For Xinbi, that feature has moved from a design principle to an operational advantage. Even if investigators identify its next payment address, they cannot simply repeat the same token-level freeze that disabled the USDT held in earlier wallets.

On-chain activity suggests Xinbi had already begun experimenting with alternative routes. Bitrace-linked analysis identified Xinbi-related funds moving through Tron’s JustLend protocol and jUSDT, while other flows passed through decentralized exchanges and cross-chain infrastructure before accumulating USDD.

The migration creates a new constraint for an enforcement campaign that became increasingly effective while Xinbi remained dependent on Tether.

Tether can blacklist USDT as Xinbi moves from one identified wallet to another. However, it cannot impose the same restriction directly on USDD, meaning the contest now shifts from freezing the stablecoin itself to disrupting the infrastructure around it.

Still, that does not put Xinbi beyond reach. USDD may resist address-level freezes, but acquiring, exchanging, and ultimately cashing out the token can still require interaction with centralized exchanges, bridges, OTC desks, and other services vulnerable to law-enforcement pressure.

The next phase of the crackdown will therefore test whether Xinbi can rebuild a functioning payment network around USDD faster than investigators can target the services and counterparties that make that network usable.

The post How Tether’s $45 million crackdown drove Southeast Asian scam compounds into an ‘unfreezable’ decentralized stablecoin appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Lido, the liquid-staking protocol, captured just 5.7% of Ethereum’s net staking growth in the first half of 2026. For holders of its LDO token, the business challenge is to turn a growing market into DAO income that can fund automated purchases.

The gap is visible in NEST, Lido’s automated buyback mechanism. At 00:00 UTC on Sept. 9, the contract that releases funds for purchases recorded a negative cumulative budget of about $517,024 and skipped an allocation. Its negative budget measured a deficit in calculated buyback capacity. Funding was already in place, while the rules required more cumulative surplus before a purchase could be financed.

Institutional routing is one part of that business challenge. Lido’s first-half report describes capital moving into segments where it captured less growth, while its current institutional offering includes a fee waiver that favors adoption over immediate income. ETH’s dollar price and the rewards earned on each staked coin also affect the outcome.

A growing market, a smaller share

Lido’s H1 operating and financial report puts total staked ETH at 43.1 million at June 30, compared with 36.3 million at the start of the year. Lido added 386,000 ETH over the half, reaching 9.13 million ETH from a rounded opening balance of 8.74 million.

That gave Lido about 5.7% of the network’s 6.8 million ETH increase. Its reported market share fell from 23.93% to 21.18%.

These are historical figures that include ETH in the entry queue and exclude the exit queue. They show dilution despite positive net growth over H1, even though individual months had outflows. June 30 is the cutoff for this comparison.

Lido attributes much of that dilution to institutional capital entering other routes. In its market breakdown, the institutional segment expanded from 25.9% to 35.3% of staking during H1.

The same report lists Bitmine at 11.5%, Coinbase at 10.9% and Binance at 7.9% at June 30. Those labels describe different positions in the staking chain. Its separate 3.1% entry for Grayscale explicitly runs “via Coinbase,” so adding the figures as independent pools of owners would double-count exposure.

The economic distinction is simpler than the rankings. An institution can earn Ethereum staking rewards through another provider without generating a Lido protocol fee. Network growth then benefits that staking route while diluting Lido’s share of the total.

Institutions also bring business through Lido. On Aug. 13, Lido announced that Sharplink was deploying $200 million of ETH through its protocol, with wstETH to be held with Anchorage Digital. The planned allocation illustrates how institutional custody and Lido staking can work together.

The product chosen determines which fees the DAO can earn. Lido also offers stVaults, staking vaults with their own fee terms. Lido’s August operator update says qualifying stVaults retain a 0% Lido infrastructure fee through Oct. 31. The campaign applies to identified node operators running stVaults with more than 250 ETH in total value locked.

The waiver is limited to the infrastructure fee for eligible vaults; other fees and Lido products have their own terms. An increase in these eligible balances can expand adoption while contributing zero revenue from the waived fee.

Lido’s H1 report gives an effective DAO share of staking rewards of 6.15%, up from 4.96% in December, within an unchanged 10% protocol fee. The division between the DAO and operators matters as much as the headline fee. That reported effective share describes the H1 period-end economics; individual products today have their own terms.

A simple sensitivity calculation shows the scale. Assume another 100,000 ETH becomes active, earns 2.59% annually, and pays the DAO 6.15% of those rewards. At an assumed ETH price of $2,500, it would generate about 159 ETH, or $398,000, in annual DAO staking revenue before other adjustments.

This sensitivity example holds its inputs constant. Actual revenue depends on active stake, reward rates, ETH’s dollar price and the fee terms that determine what the DAO retains. Winning deposits and earning income from them are separate commercial steps.

The cost of reaching active staking also influences the choice of product. The Validator Queue snapshot on Sept. 9 showed 1,931,206 ETH waiting to activate, with an estimated delay of 33 days and 13 hours. It displayed 43.0 million ETH already staked and a 2.59% annual reward rate.

For a new deposit joining the back of that queue, a constant 2.59% rate over the displayed wait implies roughly 0.24% of principal in delayed reward opportunity, before fees and compounding. The estimate measures potential rewards delayed under those assumptions; actual rewards and waiting times can change.

An existing liquid-staking position can offer exposure to a pool’s rewards immediately, subject to custody or platform terms, pricing and liquidity. That changes the investor’s experience without making the underlying validators exempt from Ethereum’s activation queue.

Existing validators have another option. Lido’s consolidation guidance explains how most source stake can keep earning while target validators in stVaults await activation. Initial target deposits and a subsequent transfer delay remain.

The queue therefore imposes different costs on fresh deposits, existing liquid positions and migrating validators. For Lido, the commercial question is whether the liquidity and migration options attract balances on terms that eventually produce DAO income.

How DAO income becomes buyback capacity

For LDO purchases, the chain runs from stake that earns fees to DAO revenue, then to the surplus permitted by NEST’s reserve formula. Funding and execution conditions determine whether that permitted amount becomes a market purchase. Its unaudited H1 accounts report $27.51 million in gross staking revenue after rewards paid to stETH holders, but $15.71 million in net staking revenue after deductions. Total net DAO revenue, including Earn, was $15.94 million.

The report attributes the main dollar-revenue reduction to ETH price weakness. Staking still generated a positive $6.73 million product-level result. Across the DAO and foundations, $14.33 million in foundation expenses left a $1.61 million operating surplus before a $6.06 million Kelp-related one-off produced a $4.45 million total loss.

Those distinctions prevent market-share dilution from becoming an explanation for every financial shortfall.

More recently, DefiLlama’s Sept. 9 snapshot showed Lido revenue of $101,935 over 24 hours, $696,955 over seven days and $2.71 million over 30 days. These dashboard figures offer income context. NEST determines eligibility through its own on-chain revenue accounting.

Under implemented LIP-36, NEST subtracts a $109,589 daily reserve, roughly $40 million annually, from tracked revenue and applies a 50% surplus share to a signed cumulative budget. When that budget is negative, later surplus must rebuild it before spending can resume.

The initial ETH price floor is zero. The H1 report’s roughly $2,730 ETH break-even illustration depends on stake, rewards and the DAO’s fee share. It describes a possible daily revenue balance, while the contract also carries forward past deficits. A price move alone leaves that accumulated accounting balance to be rebuilt.

NEST also needs funding and operational eligibility. Allocations are capped at $50,000 a day and $10 million per fixed 365-day window. These are maximum permitted allocations, with actual spending subject to the budget and other eligibility conditions.

The allocator held about 41 stETH in the Sept. 9 data. Blockscout’s transfer records showed a single 41-stETH funding transfer on Aug. 28 and no outbound allocation transfer. The records showed funding waiting in the allocator, consistent with the skipped allocation at the Sept. 9 checkpoint.

Lido’s reported acquisition of 10,025,866 LDO for 1,591 stETH belongs to a separate discretionary program, whose second batch completed in July. Those purchases were made under the discretionary program, separately from NEST.

NEST’s treasury-only launch design sends acquired LDO to the DAO treasury. The tokens remain DAO-owned. NEST provides neither a token burn nor an automatic distribution to holders.

For LDO holders, the useful indicators are the stake that generates fees, the DAO’s retained reward share and the cumulative budget available for purchases. Institutional growth can improve those economics when it reaches Lido on paying terms. The Sept. 9 checkpoint shows how a larger Ethereum staking market can coexist with a funded buyback mechanism still waiting for spendable surplus.

The post Ethereum’s institutional staking boom is growing, but Lido’s share is shrinking appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A banking consortium of 37 European institutions intends to issue its euro stablecoin on the public Ethereum chain. For you that means this: the token due to arrive in the second half of 2026 lands not in a closed banking network but in the same wallet that already holds your ether and your other tokens. Before the first of these euro tokens reaches you, four checks on what you already hold today are worth making: who is the issuer, do you have a redemption claim, does deposit insurance apply, and can your wallet handle the token at all. This article works through the points in turn.

Qivalis on Ethereum: what the banking consortium confirmed on 8 September

Qivalis is the joint venture through which European banks intend to bring their own euro stablecoin to market. On 8 September 2026 it was confirmed that this token will be issued on the public Ethereum blockchain and not on a closed chain accessible only to banks. Several specialist outlets in Germany, the Netherlands and France reported on it independently of one another; the reading they all share is strikingly sober: the choice of chain is what is actually new about this announcement.

To understand why that is more than a technical footnote, a short definition helps. A public blockchain is a network on which anyone can take part without permission, hold balances and initiate transfers. A permissioned chain admits only approved participants, as a rule the banks involved themselves. Anyone issuing a regulated euro token on a permissioned chain keeps full control over who is allowed to hold it. Anyone issuing it on Ethereum gives up much of that control.

Qivalis has opted for the second route. According to the company, the token is to be backed one to one by euros, held in bank deposits and highly liquid assets. The launch is announced for the second half of 2026, but subject to a caveat this article returns to in detail further down.

Who stands behind Qivalis: 37 banks from 15 countries, three of them leading German institutions

The Qivalis company page carries the logos of around three dozen European banks. The venture started in December 2025 with nine founding members: Banca Sella, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB and UniCredit. BNP Paribas joined on 1 December, according to CaixaBank's announcement of 2 December 2025. Over the course of 2026 the circle grew to 37 institutions from 15 countries, among them ABN AMRO, Rabobank and Intesa Sanpaolo.

The joint venture is based in Amsterdam. Its managing director is Jan-Oliver Sell, and the supervisory body is chaired by Sir Howard Davies. The venture is therefore carried by established houses and not by a spin-off from the crypto industry.

Why DekaBank, DZ BANK and Helaba matter particularly here

For a German reader the membership list is more interesting than the headline number. The Qivalis page includes DekaBank, DZ BANK and Helaba, three institutions that play a particular role in German banking. DekaBank is the securities house of the savings banks, DZ BANK the central institution of the cooperative banks, Helaba a state bank. Behind those three names stand, indirectly, the country's two largest branch networks.

Added to that is UniCredit, present in the German market through HypoVereinsbank. If a euro token from these houses one day turns up in the apps of savings banks and cooperative banks, that would be many customers' first point of contact with a blockchain balance at all. Whether it comes to that, however, nobody has promised. Membership of the consortium obliges no bank to offer the token later in its own retail business.

E-money tokens explained: why a euro stablecoin is not a bank balance

An e-money token is, under the European regulation on markets in crypto-assets, a crypto-asset intended to track the value of an official currency, in the case of Qivalis the euro. The rules for it are in Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, MiCAR for short, whose provisions on e-money tokens have applied since 30 June 2024. Only authorised credit institutions or authorised e-money institutions may issue such tokens.

This is the first point at which many investors assume something false. Legally, an e-money token is not a balance in a current account. It is electronic money issued against payment of a sum of money and subject to a set of rules of its own. What practical consequences that has is set out further down in the sections on redemption and deposit insurance.

How strictly that rulebook works in practice is shown by a figure from our own house: our analysis of the official ESMA register of 16 August 2026 counted 23 authorised issuers of e-money tokens and 43 notified white papers across the entire European Union. The bar is therefore high, and that is precisely why the route via authorisation as an e-money institution is the obvious one for a banking consortium.

A public chain instead of a banking network: what that changes for you in practice

On a permissioned banking chain you would deal with the token only through your bank. Issuance on Ethereum shifts four things.

First, custody. A token on Ethereum can sit in a self-managed wallet. You need no permission from the issuing bank for that, and nobody has to unlock anything for you. What you actually need for custody is covered in the next section.

Second, visibility. Transfers on a public chain are visible to anyone. Whoever knows your address sees every movement and every balance. That is the case with every token on Ethereum, and with a euro token you might use for everyday payments it is a point worth knowing beforehand.

Third, connectivity. The token can appear on the same trading venues and in the same applications as other crypto-assets. Anyone who prefers regulated venues will find the providers available in Germany together with their authorisation status in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Fourth, the question of freezes. Whether Qivalis provides a technical option to freeze individual addresses is not publicly documented so far. With the large regulated stablecoins such a function is standard. It would be supposition to claim it for this token, and so only what is established stands here: the question is open and belongs among the points the white paper has to answer.

ERC-20 in your own wallet: without ether for the network fee nothing moves

A token on Ethereum as a rule follows the ERC-20 standard. That is a fixed set of rules for how a token keeps balances and settles transfers. For you that has one very concrete consequence: every transfer of an ERC-20 token is a transaction on the Ethereum chain, and every transaction on this chain costs a network fee that is paid in ether.

So anyone holding a euro token in a self-managed wallet and owning no ether cannot move that token. The balance is there, it is visible, and it still cannot be transferred until some ether for the fee sits at the same address. This constellation regularly surprises newcomers who assume a euro balance behaves like a bank transfer.

Two further points belong with it. Your wallet has to be able to display ERC-20 tokens, which is the case with common wallets but not with older devices and bitcoin-only wallets. And you should always take the contract address of a new token from a source belonging to the issuer. On an open chain anyone can create a token with exactly the same name; the address of the contract is the only reliable distinguishing feature.

Redemption at par: the claim lies against the issuer

The most important consumer protection for e-money tokens is in MiCAR and is called the redemption claim. Holders can demand at any time that the issuer redeem the token at par in euros. The issuer has to comply with that demand, and may not charge a fee for it. On demand a euro token therefore becomes one euro, regardless of what the market would pay for the token on that day.

That claim is the heart of the matter, and it is also the reason a regulated euro token is something different from any token with the word euro in its name. A claim is only of use, however, if you know against whom it lies and how you assert it.

Why selling on an exchange is not the same as a redemption

Most investors hold stablecoins at a trading venue and sell them there when they need euros. That is a sale at the market price to another market participant and not a redemption with the issuer itself. In calm times the difference does not show, because both routes produce the same amount. Under stress it shows: the market price can slip below par, while the redemption claim still reads for the full par value.

So with every euro stablecoin you hold, check whether you can become a customer of the issuer yourself or whether the trading venue is your only exit. Which provider grants access to direct redemption and which does not differs strongly from issuer to issuer. With euro tokens launched recently, access also differed from country to country, so that the direct route to the issuer is not open to German customers everywhere.

Deposit insurance: why the 100,000 euros do not apply to e-money tokens

Here lies the biggest misunderstanding, and the involvement of well-known bank names makes it more rather than less likely. Statutory deposit insurance in the European Union protects deposits up to 100,000 euros per customer and institution. What is protected, then, are deposits. Electronic money is legally not a deposit, and an e-money token is therefore not covered by that protection.

A different mechanism takes its place. The issuer has to hold the sums of money received separately from its own assets and invest them in secure, liquid instruments. That is an effective protection against the issuer's failure, but it works differently from deposit insurance: it guarantees no coverage volume; it requires that the money be available at all times and kept apart from the issuer's assets.

For you one plain rule follows from that. A euro stablecoin is a means of payment and a place to park money in passing, not a substitute for an instant-access savings account. Anyone leaving larger amounts sitting in a token permanently is giving up a protection they would have on an account at the same bank. For everyday payments the token therefore stays usable; for parking larger reserves it is the wrong vessel.

Authorisation still pending: what the Dutch regulator's caveat means

On its own site the company writes unmistakably that it does not yet hold authorisation. The wording there: "Qivalis is not yet authorised and does not currently issue electronic money or provide payment services to the public." The application for authorisation as an e-money institution is with De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank and supervisory authority.

That sentence is the most important line of the whole venture, and it deserves more attention than the number of participating banks. As long as authorisation is outstanding, there is no token, no white paper with binding particulars and no redemption claim. An announced launch date in the second half of 2026 is a plan subject to a regulatory decision.

In practice that means one thing for you above all: any advertisement, any offer and any supposed pre-sale opportunity seeking to sell you a token of this consortium before authorisation cannot be genuine. Experience shows that it is precisely in such announcement gaps that copied websites appear. Anyone looking for a way to buy will find one only after the launch, and then with regulated providers.

Six checks for the euro stablecoin you already hold today

The bank token is months away at the earliest. The questions it raises you can work through on your current holdings straight away.

1. Establish the issuer. Determine which company issues your euro token and whether it is authorised in the EU as an e-money institution or a credit institution. Our analysis of the MiCA register of stablecoin issuers shows how to find the entry.
2. Look for the white paper. For every regulated e-money token there is a document with binding particulars on backing, redemption and risks. If you find none, that is an answer in itself.
3. Clarify the redemption route. Check whether you can demand redemption from the issuer yourself or whether selling on the trading venue is your only route.
4. Correct your expectation of protection. Do not count on statutory deposit insurance with an e-money token. Keep only the sum in the token that you need for payments and short-term reallocations.
5. Test the wallet and the network fee. If you self-custody, transfer a small amount once and make sure enough ether for the fee sits at the address.
6. Verify the contract address. Take the address of a new token exclusively from the issuer's own page and never from a message or a post on social media.

The limits of this assessment: what is not yet established about the bank euro token

Three points remain open, and they belong stated. First, the token's name, its ticker and the precise structure of the backing are not yet described publicly in a binding document; everything on that is subject to the white paper. Second, it is unclear which of the participating banks will offer the token to their own customers and in which countries that happens first. Third, at the time of this article no decision by the Dutch regulator is available, and nothing serious can be said about when such a decision might come.

What is established: the composition of the consortium and the authorisation status according to the company's own statements, the decision for the public Ethereum chain of 8 September 2026 according to consistent reports from several specialist outlets, and the legal position on e-money tokens under MiCAR.

Euro stablecoin on Ethereum: what to take away

1. Check today where your euro token is held. If it sits at a trading venue, your access hangs on that venue's authorisation and availability. How to self-custody and which device suits is set out in our hardware wallet comparison.
2. Decide through which venue you would obtain a future bank token. That decision is better made before the launch than in the first week after it; the selection is in our comparison of crypto exchanges.
3. Make authorisation status your first question. With any provider selling you a euro token, authorisation comes before price. Which houses operate under regulation in Germany is shown by our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

The Qivalis company page names the participating institutions and the authorisation status; the rules for e-money tokens are in the summary of the EU regulation on markets in crypto-assets.

(As of 9 September 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

Anyone who claimed NIGHT in the Glacier Drop of Cardano's privacy network Midnight does not get the tokens in one go, and not automatically. The allocation thaws over 360 days in four equally sized tranches, and every single one of them has to be collected by you through a portal. The schedule ends on 4 December 2026. A 90-day grace period follows, then the portal closes. Nothing happens by itself before then.

In English there is next to nothing on this deadline. We therefore read Midnight's own two sources and checked the schedule against an independent report. This piece tells you what unlocks when, what you need in order to redeem, where the official documentation stays silent and why that particular gap matters to you.

What redeeming NIGHT means, and why nothing happens by itself

Redemption describes the process by which an already allocated token entitlement is turned into holdings actually available in your wallet. The entitlement has existed since the claim; the holding only comes into being through your transaction.

That is the distinction most holders read straight past. The claim was the registration: by 20 October 2025, anyone wanting to claim NIGHT from one of the eligible networks had to deposit a so-called destination address. A destination address is the target address to which Midnight assigns the later allocation. Anyone who took that step has an entitlement. Anyone who did not has none, and this text does not concern them.

The payout itself is a second, separate process. It is not an automatism that starts running once a lock expires, but an action you have to trigger in the portal. Anyone who dealt with the claim almost a year ago and has not looked since is very likely sitting on several due tranches without knowing it.

The schedule at a glance: 360 days of thawing, four tranches, one grace period

Midnight calls the unlocking window the thawing period. What is meant is the span over which an allocated quantity gradually becomes available instead of standing ready in full straight away. In the words of the primary source: "the distribution of NIGHT happens over a 360-day thawing period, where tokens gradually unlock according to a fixed schedule".

The mechanics behind it are manageable and fit into four sentences:

• Every allocation thaws in four equal tranches of 25 percent each.
• Every destination address is given a randomly drawn first day between 10 December 2025 and early March 2026.
• The remaining three tranches follow at intervals of 90 days each.
• The thawing period ends on 4 December 2026, followed by a 90-day grace period.

Midnight illustrates this with two examples. Anyone who drew a start day right at the front unlocks, in the primary source's presentation, "25% on Day 1, then again on Days 91, 181, and 271". Anyone drawn towards the end of the window receives their tranches "on Day 90, then again on Days 180, 270, and 360". Both land inside the same 360 days, just at different points.

Why every address has a different start day

The draw for the first day follows a deliberate decision. Midnight justifies the staggered distribution by pointing to a broad spread of the tokens and the long-term viability of the ecosystem. In practice that means there is no common cutoff date on which all holders see their first tranche at the same time, and therefore no single day on which supply hits the market in a concentrated burst.

For you as a holder that has one uncomfortable consequence. You cannot read your personal schedule off a public announcement. Neither a date in a news item nor another holder's experience tells you when your third tranche falls due. The only reliable information about your own position comes from the portal, into which you enter your destination address.

What that means for keeping track day to day

A rhythm of 90 days is long enough to disappear into everyday life and short enough for four dates to pile up within a year. Anyone who made the claim in autumn 2025 and has not looked since has, depending on the start day drawn, three or four due tranches open today. Nobody sends a reminder.

The pragmatic route is a calendar entry of your own at quarterly intervals, tied to a check of the other deadlines still running. How many such dates are currently running in parallel, and how differently generous providers are with the gap between the end of trading and the final date, is something we counted through for nine running crypto deadlines.

What ends on 4 December 2026 and what is still possible afterwards

It is worth separating two dates cleanly here, because they end different things.

4 December 2026 ends the thawing. By then all four tranches of every allocation are unlocked. Nothing new is added afterwards. The primary source puts it as "The thawing period will end on December 4, 2026."

The final point for redeeming lies later. The end of the thawing period is followed, according to Midnight, by "A final 90-day window (Grace Period) […] for any final claims before the portal closes". Only with the end of that grace period does the portal close.

Arithmetically that end lands in early March 2027. That figure, however, comes from our own addition of 90 days to 4 December 2026 and is not a date named by Midnight. Anyone relying on it to the day is relying on a calculation, not on an announcement. What is reliable is the sequence: first the end of the thawing, then 90 days of grace period, then closed.

What you need in order to redeem: destination address, Cardano wallet, ADA for the fees

The technical requirements are slim, but every single one of them is a potential stumbling block.

1. The destination address from the claim. That is the address you deposited in autumn 2025. Without it the portal cannot find your allocation.
2. A Cardano wallet you control. Redemption runs through a transaction on Cardano, so you have to be able to connect the wallet and sign the transaction.
3. ADA for the transaction fees. Every transaction on Cardano costs a network fee, and that fee is settled in ADA.

On the third point there is a relief that is worth a great deal in practice: according to Midnight's presentation, any wallet can cover the fees on behalf of the destination wallet. Anyone who deliberately left their target address empty does not have to top it up with ADA before they can even start.

The most common mistake: no longer having the address

The practical hurdle is rarely the balance. The bottleneck is the assignment. A claim made almost a year ago in a wallet app that has since been swapped out is no longer reachable without the matching credentials. Anyone who stored their recovery words properly can get to the address. Anyone who left them sitting in an app that has since been uninstalled probably cannot.

That is precisely why the custody question suddenly turns concrete with deadlines like this one. Holdings you cannot reach behave, on a cutoff date, exactly like holdings you do not have. Which devices and procedures come into question for this and how they differ is set out in our comparison of hardware wallets.

The forced pause in summer 2026: what the incident changed and what it did not

Between the end of June and 9 July 2026, redemptions were suspended. According to Midnight's account the reason lay outside its own system: it concerned "a security incident affecting a subset of Cardano wallets associated with SecondFi". Midnight explicitly describes the suspension as a precautionary measure while the possible effects were being examined.

On 9 July 2026 at 17:00 UTC the portal started up again. For the schedule, the decisive statement from the primary source is this: "This pause has not impacted the original Redemption schedule. Any NIGHT that thawed during the suspension period is now redeemable." So anyone with a tranche falling due inside that window did not lose it; it was retrievable once things restarted.

Two things follow from that. First, 4 December 2026 stands unchanged, the pause did not move it. Second, the episode shows that a portal can stand still even when the underlying chain is running faultlessly. Anyone planning to collect a tranche on the last possible day would do well to factor that possibility in.

Where the schedule leaves gaps: what Midnight does not say about unredeemed NIGHT

At this point it becomes important to separate evidence from supposition cleanly, because a fair amount is circulating that cannot be substantiated.

The primary source does not say what happens to NIGHT that nobody redeems. No expiry, no return, no burn, no point in time. The text describes that holders can redeem "anytime during the 360 day thawing period or 90-day Grace Period" and leaves open what happens to the remainder afterwards. Any statement about that would be an invention at this point, and we are therefore not making one.

Equally unsubstantiated is the phase reported in search results in which unclaimed quantities are supposedly reallocated later. We could not find a date for it in the official sources.

For you as a holder this gap changes little in practice, but it changes the direction of the risk. As long as it is unclear what happens to holdings left uncollected, the only assumption that does not leave you worse off is the cautious one: redeem in good time and never let the question become relevant.

Tax in Germany: why you should document the moment of redemption

First and clearly: what follows is not tax advice, and the classification of airdrops and step-by-step allocations under German tax law is disputed in parts. Whether and how an allocation like this has to be recorded in your case depends on the individual situation and belongs with a tax adviser, not in an article.

What you can and should do regardless is secure the evidence. Four details per tranche are as a rule enough for that:

• the date of the redemption,
• the quantity of NIGHT that arrived,
• the price at the moment it arrived,
• the transaction ID on Cardano as proof.

The reason for that care lies in the structure of the process. Four tranches mean four arrival dates at four different prices, and anyone trying to reconstruct that after the fact is hunting for price data for days they no longer remember precisely. Tools that record inflows continuously and assign them to the holdings take that reconstruction off your hands; we set them side by side in our comparison of tax tools and portfolio trackers.

After redemption: where NIGHT goes and what makes holdings expensive

With the redemption the process is closed for you, but the custody question is only then opened. Freshly arrived holdings sit initially wherever the transaction put them, and that is rarely the place they should be sitting long term.

Two routes are open, and they differ less in convenience than in the question of who holds the keys. With self-custody the keys are yours; nobody can block access, but nobody can give it back to you either. With custody by a trading venue the provider takes over the keys; in exchange its deadlines, listing decisions and payout rules apply, and those can change.

Which route is the right one depends on what you intend to do with the holdings. Anyone who wants to leave them lying usually does better with their own custody. Anyone who wants to trade needs a venue on which the token is listed at all, and has to reckon with a listing coming to an end. What happens in that case and which dates then apply is what our guide to delisting at a crypto exchange has written down.

The pattern behind the individual case: deadlines nobody is watching for you

The NIGHT case is typical of 2026 in one respect. More and more processes in the crypto market are tied to dates that pass in silence if the holder does not act: exchange windows after migrations, payout cutoffs after delistings, redemption portals after airdrops. What they have in common is that they bring no notification with them and that the burden lies with the holder.

Anyone wanting to take something from this case that goes beyond NIGHT is best served by these three habits: accept the responsibility, because otherwise nobody is responsible; read the primary source, because second-hand accounts shorten or twist dates; and act early, because every deadline carries on its last day exactly the risk that a portal outage in July 2026 demonstrated.

The older backstory of this airdrop, meaning the distribution of the 24 billion NIGHT and the course of the claim, is in our piece on the Cardano Midnight airdrop. This article picks up exactly where that one stops.

Redeeming NIGHT: what to take away

1. Check your own position first, not the general date. Open the Midnight portal with your destination address and look at how many of the four tranches have already thawed for you and have not yet been collected. Have a Cardano wallet with a little ADA ready for that; how to store that wallet securely in the long run is set out in our hardware wallet comparison.
2. Write down every redemption immediately. Date, quantity, price and transaction ID per tranche, right after the process and not the following spring. A tool from the comparison of tax tools and portfolio trackers takes the collecting off your hands.
3. Set yourself a quarterly date through to December 2026. The rhythm of the tranches is 90 days, the thawing period ends on 4 December 2026, and a 90-day grace period follows. Anyone who uses that date to decide straight away whether to hold or trade the position will find the suitable venues in our comparison of crypto exchanges.

Sources to read up on: Midnight's guide to the launch and redemption of the NIGHT token and Midnight's announcement on the resumption of redemptions of 9 July 2026.

(As of 9 September 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)

The formula is simple: disposal proceeds minus acquisition cost minus fees gives you the gain. If it is above the 1,000-euro exemption threshold and less than a year passed between purchase and sale, you pay tax on it at your personal rate. It only gets difficult once you have bought the same currency several times, because then the order decides.

This article walks through the calculation on a concrete example, gives a table for the usual income brackets and names the points at which every calculator reaches its limits.

The formula

The taxable gain under section 23 of the German Income Tax Act works out like this:

Disposal proceeds minus acquisition cost minus deductible expenses = gain or loss

The acquisition cost includes the purchase price together with the buying fee. The deductible expenses cover the fees on the sale and the transaction costs that can be attributed directly to the transaction. General costs such as a hardware wallet or a custody charge cannot be deducted.

A worked example

The decisive point is in the last line: had more than twelve months passed between purchase and sale, the same gain would have stayed tax free. The holding period is the only lever that brings the amount down to zero.

Watch the exemption threshold as well. It stands at 1,000 euros and applies to all private disposal transactions of a year taken together. It is an exemption threshold and not an allowance: on a gain of 1,001 euros you pay tax on the full amount, not just on the one euro above the line.

What is left of a 10,000-euro gain

The table shows the 2026 basic tariff for single filers. Two points belong with it, because they are often presented wrongly.

First, the solidarity surcharge. It amounts to 5.5 percent of the income tax, but only kicks in from an income tax of around 19,950 euros. For most investors in the lower rows of the table it does not arise at all. Calculators that add it across the board come out too high.

Second, the marginal rate. It applies to the additional euro, not to your entire income. A crypto gain can also lift you into a higher bracket, so that the average rate rises. Anyone close to a threshold should calculate more precisely than with a table.

What you need for the calculation

For every position sold you need four details. If one of them is missing, the calculation turns into an estimate:

1. The acquisition date with the time, because the period runs to the day.
2. The acquisition cost in euros, including the buying fee.
3. The disposal date and price, likewise in euros.
4. The wallet or exchange, because the assessment is made per wallet.

On a coin-to-coin swap there is no euro price. In that case the market value at the moment of the swap has to be used, for both sides of the transaction.

The point where every calculator loses precision

As long as you have bought once and sold once, the calculation is trivial. As soon as you have bought several times, the consumption order decides which coins count as sold, and with it the tax.

The Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 6 March 2025 sets out the order: individual identification comes first, where you can prove which specific coins you disposed of. Where that is not possible, the crypto assets acquired first count as the ones sold first for the purposes of the holding period. For the valuation the average method applies, and for simplicity FIFO may be assumed there as well.

This order usually works in your favour, because it uses up the oldest and therefore often tax-free positions first. But it can only be applied correctly if your history has no gaps. What that means for a savings plan is shown in our article on bitcoin and tax.

When a calculator is enough and when it is not

A simple calculator will do if you have few purchases, all on the same exchange, and trade exclusively against euros. Then you can reproduce the formula above in a spreadsheet.

A specialised tool pays off as soon as one of these points applies:

• You trade on several exchanges or move holdings between wallets.
• You swap coin for coin, because each transaction then needs two market values.
• You run a savings plan with many individual instalments.
• You receive staking or lending income, which has to be valued at the moment it arrives.

Which tools handle that and what they cost is set out in our comparison of crypto tax tools. One note on expectations: no tool replaces the tax assessment of the individual case, and none is liable for the result.

What would change about the calculation from 2027

Under the draft bill from the Federal Ministry of Finance of 8 September 2026, the calculation would become considerably simpler: 25 percent withholding tax plus solidarity surcharge on the gain, regardless of the holding period, and in exchange without the question of the twelve-month window.

As the draft stands, only crypto assets acquired after 31 December 2026 would be affected. For everything before that, the calculation would stay exactly as it is set out here. Nothing has been decided; the details are in our article on the cutoff date and grandfathering.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate the tax on crypto gains?

Disposal proceeds minus acquisition cost minus fees gives you the gain. You pay tax on it at your personal rate if the sale happened within twelve months and the total gain is above 1,000 euros.

Is there a free crypto tax calculator?

For simple cases the formula in a spreadsheet is enough. Free online calculators mostly handle a single transaction and take into account neither the consumption order nor the exemption threshold across all transactions.

How high is the tax rate on crypto?

There is no separate rate. Your personal income tax rate of 14 to 45 percent applies. After a holding period of more than twelve months no tax arises.

Does the solidarity surcharge always come on top?

No. It only kicks in from an income tax of around 19,950 euros and therefore concerns higher incomes only.

How do I calculate a coin-to-coin swap?

You use the market value at the moment of the swap. The coin given up counts as disposed of, the one received as acquired, with a fresh twelve-month period.

Can I deduct fees?

Yes, as far as they can be attributed to the individual transaction. Buying fees increase the acquisition cost, selling fees reduce the gain.

Sources

• Section 23 of the German Income Tax Act on private disposal transactions
• Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 6 March 2025, file reference IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043, on the consumption order and valuation
• Solidarity Surcharge Act 1995 in the version applicable from 2021, on the exemption threshold
• Details of the draft bill based on the reporting of 8 September 2026

(As of 9 September 2026. All examples are simplified and calculated without church tax. This article is not tax advice.)

Crypto belongs in your tax return as soon as you have sold, swapped or spent it within twelve months and your gain is above 1,000 euros. Staking and lending income has to be declared as well. Anyone who held for more than a year before selling enters nothing at all. Losses are worth declaring in every case, because otherwise they are gone.

The rest of this article answers the question most people get stuck on: exactly where each transaction belongs.

When you have to declare crypto and when you do not

The obligation attaches to the transaction, not to the account. These four cases trigger a filing duty:

• A sale within twelve months with a total gain above 1,000 euros across all private disposal transactions of the year.
• A swap of one cryptocurrency for another inside that window, even when no euro changed hands.
• Staking, lending or mining income above the annual exemption threshold of 256 euros.
• Losses, if you want to offset them against future gains.

Nothing has to be declared for a purchase, for simply holding, for transfers between your own wallets, or for sales after a holding period of more than twelve months. These transactions are not relevant for tax, and the tax office expects no entry for them.

The basics of which transaction is taxable in the first place are set out in detail in our guide to crypto tax in Germany.

Which transaction goes into which annex

Annex SO is the main place. It is headed «other income» and contains two separate sections, both of which can apply to crypto.

The section on private disposal transactions covers sales, swaps and payments made in cryptocurrency, provided the position was younger than twelve months. For each transaction you enter the acquisition date, the disposal date, the disposal proceeds and the acquisition cost. Losses go into the same section, with a negative sign.

The section on services covers staking income, lending interest, airdrops received in return for something, and occasional mining. What counts is the market value at the moment the income arrives.

Annex KAP only concerns you with certain products. Anyone holding bitcoin through an ETP or ETN without a delivery claim may be earning investment income, which belongs there. The classification depends on how the product is structured and has not been settled conclusively. More on this in our article on bitcoin and tax.

One warning about line numbers: they change from year to year. Anyone following a guide with fixed line numbers from an earlier year will enter the figures in the wrong field. The section headings are reliable, and in ELSTER the input mask walks you through the fields anyway.

Through the tax return in four steps

Step 1: export your transactions. Pull the complete export from every exchange and every wallet, not just the annual summary. You need every single transaction with date, time, quantity and price. Exchanges delete histories after a while or shut down altogether, which makes this the most important step.

Step 2: sort the transactions. Separate sales and swaps from staking, lending and airdrops. Both groups end up in Annex SO, but in different sections and with a different calculation.

Step 3: work out holding periods and gains. For every position sold, check whether more than twelve months passed between acquisition and sale. Where the same currency was bought several times, the consumption order from the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 6 March 2025 applies: individual identification first, and where that is not possible, the coins acquired first count as the ones sold first.

Step 4: make the entries. Transfer the totals into Annex SO. You do not have to submit an itemised list, but you must be able to produce one on request. Many tax offices ask for it where larger amounts are involved.

Losses: the part most people forget

Losses from crypto sales inside the one-year window reduce your tax, but only if you declare them. The tax office establishes a loss carryforward only when it appears in the return. Anyone who skips a loss-making year because no tax is due anyway gives away the offset against future gains.

These losses can be offset only against gains from other private disposal transactions in the same year. Offsetting them against employment income or share gains is ruled out. Whatever is left over goes back one year or forward indefinitely.

Losses are entered in the same place as gains, in the private disposal transactions section of Annex SO.

What happens if you declare nothing

Since 1 January 2026 all centralised crypto service providers have been reporting to the tax authorities under the EU directive DAC8. The tax office knows about your exchange accounts without you saying a word.

Anyone who fails to declare taxable transactions risks tax evasion under section 370 of the German Fiscal Code. The limitation period there is ten years. A voluntary disclosure is possible, but it is tied to strict conditions: it has to be complete and it has to come in time, meaning before the offence is discovered.

The more honest route is the complete return. Anyone who can no longer assemble full records should disclose that and estimate, instead of leaving transactions out.

Deadlines

The tax return for 2026 is due by 31 July 2027 if you file it yourself. With a tax adviser the deadline runs until the end of February 2028. Anyone who is not obliged to file but declares voluntarily has four years.

For crypto investors the filing obligation is reached quickly: anyone with secondary income above 410 euros has to submit a return. Gains from private disposal transactions count towards that.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to declare crypto in my tax return?

Yes, if you have sold, swapped or paid within twelve months and your total gain from private disposal transactions is above 1,000 euros. Staking and lending income above 256 euros belongs in there as well.

Where do I enter crypto gains?

In Annex SO, in the private disposal transactions section. Staking and lending belong in the services section of the same annex.

Where do I enter crypto losses?

In the same place as gains, in the private disposal transactions section of Annex SO. Without an entry the tax office establishes no loss carryforward.

Do I have to declare crypto if I held for more than a year?

No. Once the twelve-month period has passed the gain is tax free and does not have to be declared.

Do I have to list every single transaction?

The totals are enough in the return itself. But you have to be able to produce the itemised list if the tax office asks for it.

What about coins on an exchange that has gone insolvent?

A default is not a disposal. The tax authorities recognise total losses only under narrow conditions, and advice on the individual case pays off here.

Do I need a tax tool?

With a handful of transactions a spreadsheet is enough. With savings plans, swaps or several exchanges it quickly becomes hard to follow: crypto tax tools compared.

Sources

• Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 6 March 2025, individual questions on the income tax treatment of certain crypto assets, file reference IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043
• Section 23 and section 22 number 3 of the German Income Tax Act
• Section 370 of the German Fiscal Code on tax evasion, section 371 on voluntary disclosure
• Directive (EU) 2023/2226 (DAC8) on the reporting obligation of crypto service providers since 1 January 2026

The submission process from preparation through to filing is described in our article on filing a crypto tax return, and a step-by-step guide to making the entries is set out in our crypto tax instructions.

(As of 9 September 2026. This article is not tax advice and does not replace advice on your individual case. Line numbers and deadlines can change.)

Gains from selling Bitcoin are tax-free in Germany when more than twelve months lie between purchase and sale. Sell earlier and you tax the gain at your personal income tax rate of up to 45 percent plus the solidarity surcharge. An exemption threshold of 1,000 euros a year stays tax-free.

So much for the rule. In practice most people come unstuck not on the rule itself but on the cases it does not cover: a savings plan with twelve different deadlines, a Bitcoin ETP taxed under different rules, or the transfer from an exchange into your own wallet. This article works through the Bitcoin-specific cases. The general basics covering all cryptocurrencies are in our guide to crypto tax in Germany.

The Basic Rule for Bitcoin in Two Sentences

For tax purposes Bitcoin is not a security but an "other economic good". Its sale out of private assets is a private disposal under Section 23 of the German Income Tax Act, and there the holding period decides the tax. The Federal Fiscal Court confirmed this by ruling of February 14, 2023 (case number IX R 3/22).

From that follows the difference from a share: anyone selling shares always pays 25 percent flat withholding tax, no matter how long they have held them. Anyone selling Bitcoin after thirteen months pays nothing, and that holds for a gain of 500,000 euros as well.

Bitcoin Savings Plan: Twelve Purchases, Twelve Deadlines

The most common misconception concerns the savings plan. The twelve-month period applies neither to your portfolio nor to the calendar year, but to each individual acquisition.

Anyone investing 200 euros a month from January 2026 holds twelve positions with twelve different cut-off dates at the end of the year. The January instalment is tax-free in January 2027, the December instalment only in December 2027.

If you sell part of your holding in June 2027, tax-free and taxable shares sit side by side within it. Which ones count as sold is settled by the consumption order: under the Federal Ministry of Finance circular of March 6, 2025, individual allocation applies first, and where that is not possible the coins acquired first count as the ones disposed of first. That order works in your favour, because it uses up the oldest and therefore tax-free positions first.

In practice that means: keep a record of the date, amount and price for every savings plan instalment. Most brokers supply this listing, but not all of them in a form the tax office accepts. How to automate it is shown by our comparison of Bitcoin savings plans.

What Counts as a Sale With Bitcoin

For tax purposes it is not only a sale for euros that is a disposal. These three events trigger the tax as well where the position is younger than twelve months:

• Swapping into another cryptocurrency. Anyone swapping Bitcoin for Ether realises the Bitcoin gain even though no euro moves. For the Ether a new period starts at the same moment.
• Paying with Bitcoin. The purchase is a disposal at the day's price for tax purposes.
• Swapping into a stablecoin. USDT and USDC are crypto assets too, so the swap is a disposal.

Not taxable, by contrast, is the transfer between your own addresses. Anyone sending Bitcoin from an exchange to a hardware wallet disposes of nothing, interrupts no period and triggers no tax. You do have to carry the acquisition data across, though; otherwise nobody can prove later when the coins were bought.

Bitcoin ETP, ETN and ETC: The Second Tax World

Anyone buying Bitcoin not directly but through an exchange-traded product may land somewhere else for tax purposes. This concerns products such as the physically backed ETPs from CoinShares, Invesco or 21Shares, which many investors buy through their ordinary securities account.

The decisive point is the delivery claim. Where the product grants you the right to demand delivery of the Bitcoin deposited, there is much to be said for treating it like direct ownership: Section 23 EStG with the twelve-month period. This line rests on the case law on Xetra-Gold, where the Federal Fiscal Court ruled the same way.

Where the delivery claim is absent, an other capital claim suggests itself. Section 20 EStG then applies with 25 percent flat withholding tax, regardless of the holding period, but with loss offsetting inside the investment income pot.

This classification is not conclusively settled. There is no supreme court decision on crypto ETPs, and the custodian banks do not treat the products uniformly. Some withhold the flat tax even though the investor claims the twelve-month period. Anyone needing certainty here cannot avoid advice on their individual case. Before buying, a look at the product terms is worth it: the delivery claim is expressly set out there, or it is not.

Bitcoin Mining and the Question of Commercial Activity

With mining the scale is what matters. Anyone mining occasionally earns income from other services under Section 22 number 3 EStG, with an exemption threshold of 256 euros per year. Anyone mining on a sustained basis with the intention of making a profit is engaged in a commercial activity, and then trade tax, bookkeeping obligations and the delineation of business assets come along with it.

For block rewards from running your own hardware the tax administration regularly assumes a commercial activity. The value of the coins mined at the moment they accrue is the business income, and at the same time it is the acquisition cost for a later sale.

Important for miners holding coins as business assets: there is no twelve-month period there. The tax exemption after a year has passed applies to private assets only.

Giving Bitcoin Away and Passing It On

A gift is not a disposal, so it triggers no income tax. Gift tax applies instead, with its allowances: 500,000 euros between spouses, 400,000 euros per child, 20,000 euros between people who are not related, in each case every ten years.

The recipient steps into the giver's shoes: they take over the giver's date of acquisition and the giver's acquisition cost. Where the giver bought the coins more than twelve months ago, the recipient can sell them tax-free straight away. The same principle applies on inheritance.

For that to work the origin has to be documented. Without evidence of the date of acquisition and the cost, the tax office will in case of doubt assume the variant less favourable to you.

Losses With Bitcoin

Losses from Bitcoin sales within the one-year period can only be offset against gains from other private disposals of the same year. Offsetting against employment income or share gains is ruled out. What remains goes back one year or forward without limit.

One point is often overlooked: you have to declare losses, otherwise they do not exist for tax purposes. The tax office only determines them where they appear in Annex SO. Anyone not declaring a loss-making year gives away the offset against future gains.

A total loss, through an insolvent exchange or a lost key for instance, is harder to handle for tax purposes. It is not a disposal, and the tax administration recognises it only under narrow conditions.

Bitcoin Through Brokers and Neobrokers

Anyone buying Bitcoin through a neobroker should check what they are actually acquiring. Some providers deliver real coins into a wallet, others track the price through a derivative or an ETP. For tax that makes the difference between Section 23 and Section 20.

A second point concerns withdrawability. If you can move your Bitcoin out to an address of your own, the better arguments point to genuine ownership. Where that is not possible, the classification is trickier. What this means for one specific provider is something we worked through in the case of Trade Republic.

What Is Set to Change in 2027

On September 8, 2026 the Federal Ministry of Finance sent a draft bill into interdepartmental coordination. It would treat Bitcoin in future as investment income: 25 percent flat withholding tax plus the solidarity surcharge, regardless of the holding period.

Two points are decisive for Bitcoin investors. First, the cut-off date is meant to lie in the future: only coins acquired after December 31, 2026 would be covered. What you buy up to then would remain under today's rules as the draft stands. Second, nothing has been adopted. Ahead of the draft lie the hearing of the associations, the cabinet, three readings in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

The details on the cut-off date are in our article on grandfathering and the cut-off date, and the two models under discussion in our comparison of the tax models.

Frequently Asked Questions on Bitcoin Tax

How much tax do I pay on Bitcoin gains?

After a holding period of more than twelve months, nothing. Within the period your personal income tax rate of 14 to 45 percent applies, plus the solidarity surcharge.

When are Bitcoin gains tax-free?

When more than one year lies between acquisition and sale, or when your total gain from private disposals in the year stays below 1,000 euros.

Do I have to declare Bitcoin in my tax return?

Taxable sales belong in Annex SO. Sales after the one-year period has expired do not have to be declared; losses should be.

Does the holding period apply to a savings plan too?

Yes, but to each instalment separately. Every monthly execution is an acquisition of its own with a cut-off date of its own.

How are Bitcoin ETPs taxed?

That depends on the structure. With a delivery claim there is much to be said for treatment like direct ownership with the twelve-month period, without one for the flat withholding tax. The question is not conclusively settled.

Is the transfer to a hardware wallet taxable?

No. A transfer between your own addresses is not a disposal and does not interrupt the holding period.

What happens if I give Bitcoin away?

The gift triggers no income tax, though it may trigger gift tax. The recipient takes over the date of acquisition and the acquisition cost.

Sources

• Federal Fiscal Court, ruling of February 14, 2023, case number IX R 3/22
• Federal Ministry of Finance circular of March 6, 2025, individual questions on the income tax treatment of certain crypto assets, reference IV C 1 - S 2256/00042/064/043
• Section 23 and Section 22 number 3 of the German Income Tax Act, Section 20 EStG for investment income
• Inheritance and Gift Tax Act, Section 16 on the allowances
• German Bundestag, introduction of the 2027 federal budget: bundestag.de
• Details of the draft bill following the reporting of September 8, 2026. The full text has not been officially published so far.

On exchange-traded products there is a separate guide with the details of their structure: ETP Bitcoin tax.

(As of September 9, 2026. This article is not tax advice and not investment advice. It does not replace advice on your individual case, and the legal position can change.)

The Fields medalist points to a real race between OpenAI and Anthropic as proof: AI can now flatten a hard problem the moment someone starts working on it.

Crypto advocates and community bankers are targeting lawmakers in their home states as the Senate prepares for a September 15 procedural vote.

The company's first fall keynote under new leadership paired a Gemini-powered Siri overhaul with Apple's first 2-nanometer chip, plus a $1,999 foldable iPhone that won't ship until October.

Blockchain sleuths at Elliptic traced the money, Treasury sanctioned the marketplace, and Xinbi—which ran $24 billion through a Telegram scam bazaar—called the freeze unfair.

The company has built its first chips and begun testing prototypes as it seeks to manufacture quantum computers in larger quantities.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is urging senators to advance the CLARITY Act.

Ripple veteran David Schwartz says XRP could eventually flip Bitcoin by market capitalization.

Coinbase’s head reveals secure sub-accounts giving artificial intelligence  standalone corporate banking features.

Tron founder Justin Sun confirms the launch of the first-ever U.S. spot ETF, offering investors traditional access to TRX on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, Cboe.

Zcash hits best price in almost a decade, with yearly gain reaching 2,413%.

TLDR

• Nvidia powers Zankore’s $3.1B Indonesia AI infrastructure expansion plan
• Zankore secures $3.1B to build Nvidia-powered GPU and cloud infrastructure
• Nvidia’s Indonesia push targets 100MW initially, with a path toward 1GW
• Five major lenders back Zankore’s Nvidia-powered Indonesia infrastructure deal
• NVDA stays below $225.50 as Nvidia expands its global AI infrastructure push

Nvidia stock traded at $224.34, down 0.62%, as the company expanded its infrastructure footprint through Indonesia. Zankore secured up to $3.1 billion in financing for Nvidia-powered GPU and cloud infrastructure. Meanwhile, NVDA remained below $225.00, while $224.00 and $223.50 marked nearby support levels.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

Nvidia Infrastructure Expands in Indonesia

Zankore plans to deploy 100 megawatts of Nvidia infrastructure during the initial phase in Indonesia. The company then plans to expand capacity toward one gigawatt of AI factory infrastructure. Consequently, the project represents a planned deployment of Nvidia-powered computing capacity in Southeast Asia.

Citi acted as the exclusive debt adviser for Zankore’s financing arrangement supporting the project. Besides Citi, ING, Natixis, Qatar National Bank, and United Overseas Bank participated as lenders. The financing gives Zankore capital for GPUs, cloud systems, and related infrastructure.

The project includes revenue-sharing and credit-support arrangements that connect infrastructure deployment with customer demand. This forms part of Zankore’s financing framework. Additionally, the arrangement links infrastructure investment with revenue generated through project operations.

Zankore Creates New Route for Nvidia Deployments

Nvidia has built much of its infrastructure business around major technology companies and large cloud providers. However, the Zankore project places Nvidia-powered infrastructure within a different financing model in Asia. The arrangement allows Zankore to fund large-scale computing infrastructure.

Zankore’s initial 100-megawatt deployment provides a starting point for the Indonesia expansion. Moreover, the one-gigawatt target would increase project capacity substantially. The financing structure supports the initial deployment and planned growth.

Indonesia provides a regional base for cloud and computing infrastructure, while the project adds Nvidia hardware to that expansion. Furthermore, the deal shows how projects can use external financing for expensive systems. The lenders provide capital, while Zankore manages infrastructure development and customer-linked arrangements.

NVDA Stock Levels and Project Context

Nvidia shares remained under pressure after failing to hold the $225.50 resistance zone during the latest session. A move above $225.50 would place the stock above resistance, while lower levels remain at $224.00 and $223.50. The price action comes as Nvidia expands infrastructure activity.

The Indonesia project adds another infrastructure development to Nvidia’s global hardware footprint. Meanwhile, Zankore’s financing arrangement places significant capital behind a planned Nvidia-powered deployment. The project combines GPU expansion with structured debt financing and revenue arrangements.

The initial 100-megawatt capacity and one-gigawatt target provide milestones for the Indonesia project. Additionally, five lenders are participating in the financing arrangement for the development. The project now moves forward with funding secured for Nvidia-powered GPU and cloud infrastructure.

The post Nvidia (NVDA) Stock: Expands AI Infrastructure Push With $3.1B Indonesia Deal appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• FedEx stock falls 1.57% as Global Trade Navigator launches new shipping tools.
• New FedEx tools target customs delays, duties, taxes, and shipping data errors.
• Trade Planner gives businesses free access to duties, taxes, and customs guidance.
• FedEx adds Shopify duty tools to show import costs before customers check out.
• Global Trade APIs bring customs, tax, and regulatory data into business systems.

FedEx Corporation (FDX) stock fell 1.57% to $309.21 as the company launched its Global Trade Navigator platform. The new digital suite targets common international shipping problems, including customs, duties, taxes, and documentation. FedEx aims to reduce shipping friction while giving businesses earlier access to trade information and compliance guidance.

FedEx Corporation, FDX

FedEx Stock Falls as New Trade Platform Launches

FedEx introduced Global Trade Navigator to help businesses manage international shipping requirements through a broader digital workflow. The platform combines planning tools, shipment data checks, customs support, and reporting features across several FedEx systems. The launch comes as global merchants face growing complexity around cross-border taxes, customs rules, and shipment documentation.

FedEx used its 2026 Small Business Trade Index to highlight recurring problems for smaller international sellers. The survey found 68% of businesses regularly encounter customers surprised by duties during delivery. It also found 60% lose revenue through refunds or abandoned purchases linked to unexpected import charges.

The company designed the platform to move trade information earlier into the shipping process. Businesses can review requirements before creating labels, sending parcels, or completing online purchases. FedEx expects these tools to reduce clearance problems and improve cost visibility for merchants and customers.

Global Trade Navigator Adds Planning and Checkout Tools

FedEx Trade Planner will offer free self-service guidance through the company’s website without requiring account access. Businesses can search Harmonized System codes and estimate duties, taxes, fees, and required documents. This feature gives shippers clearer information before they prepare international shipments.

FedEx Ship Manager will also add stronger checks for product classifications and shipment details. Customers can review customs values, origin information, and Harmonized System code classifications before dispatch. These updates can improve shipment accuracy and reduce errors that delay customs clearance.

FedEx also plans a Duty and Tax application for merchants using Shopify. The application will display guaranteed duty and tax amounts during checkout for international orders. This setup gives customers clearer import costs before payment and may reduce surprise charges after delivery.

FedEx Expands Trade APIs and Customs Management

FedEx will extend Global Trade Navigator through its Developer Portal for businesses with more complex workflows. Global Trade APIs will provide product classifications, estimated duties, taxes, and regulatory information through existing systems. Enterprises can use these tools without changing their broader shipping and order management processes.

The company is also improving its Import Tool and Reporting products for customs management. Customers can review clearance activity, identify required actions, manage payments, and access import and export data. These tools give businesses a more centralized view of international shipment activity and compliance needs.

The launch supports FedEx’s broader push toward a more connected digital shipping network. Global Trade Navigator links planning, checkout, shipping preparation, customs activity, and reporting within one service framework. Meanwhile, FDX stock remained under pressure during the session despite the company’s latest digital expansion.

The post FedEx Corporation (FDX) Stock: Plunge as Global Trade Navigator Expands Digital Shipping Tools  appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Apple stock falls 0.76% as the iPhone 18 Pro debuts with major new upgrades.
• A20 Pro delivers faster graphics, stronger processing, and improved efficiency.
• iPhone 18 Pro adds a 48MP variable aperture camera for greater photo control.
• iPhone 18 Pro Max offers up to 45 hours of video playback on eSIM-only models.
• Siri AI and iOS 27 add personal context, smarter tools, and new app features.

Apple (AAPL) stock slipped 0.76% to $313.82 on Wednesday as Apple introduced its latest premium iPhone models. The company launched iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max with major hardware and software upgrades. The release adds the A20 Pro chip, Siri AI, improved cameras, stronger battery life, and new thermal technology.

Apple Inc., AAPL

Apple Unveils iPhone 18 Pro With A20 Pro Performance

Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro lineup with the new A20 Pro processor built using two-nanometer technology. The chip provides 50% more memory bandwidth compared with the previous A19 Pro processor. Apple also equipped the chip with six CPU cores and a redesigned seven-core graphics processor.

The new graphics system delivers up to 40% faster performance compared with the previous generation. Meanwhile, Apple added a dual 16-core Neural Engine with 32 total cores for heavier computing workloads. The architecture also supports computational photography, advanced processing, gaming, and other demanding smartphone functions.

Apple redesigned the thermal system to support higher performance during extended use. A larger vapor chamber provides three times more surface area than the previous iPhone 17 Pro design. Consequently, the company says the new system can deliver sustained performance gains reaching 40% over its predecessor.

iPhone 18 Pro Adds Variable Aperture Camera and Longer Battery Life

Apple equipped both Pro models with a new 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera featuring variable aperture technology. Six adjustable blades allow the camera to control depth, lighting, and image detail more precisely. Users can also manually adjust aperture, shutter speed, white balance, and exposure settings inside the Camera application.

The camera system also introduces upgraded photographic controls and improved low-light performance. Additionally, users can apply cinematic effects after recording videos at speeds reaching 60 frames per second. Apple also added 4K Dolby Vision recording support for time-lapse videos and improved audio processing.

Battery performance received another major upgrade across both devices. The iPhone 18 Pro offers up to 36 hours of video playback on eSIM-only models. Meanwhile, the iPhone 18 Pro Max extends video playback to 45 hours under similar conditions.

Siri AI and iOS 27 Expand Apple’s Software Push

Apple will ship both Pro models with iOS 27 and the latest version of Siri AI. The system can use personal context from messages, emails, photographs, and onscreen content when handling user requests. Apple designed the software to perform many processing tasks directly on devices while supporting cloud-based processing when required.

The software also introduces new editing features for photographs and expanded tools across Apple’s applications. Safari includes a notification feature that tracks selected webpage changes, including product availability and price movements. Meanwhile, the redesigned Dynamic Island can display three Live Activities simultaneously while continuing to support Face ID.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup begin September 12, while general availability starts September 18. Apple will offer the devices in black, silver, glacier, and a newly introduced burgundy finish. The launch expands Apple’s premium smartphone lineup as the company pushes deeper into performance, photography, battery efficiency, and intelligent software.

The post Apple (AAPL) Stock: Drops as iPhone 18 Pro Debuts With A20 Pro Chips and Siri AI  appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Alif Holding plans a UAE marine security unit under Robo.ai’s wider strategy.
• Alif Maritec will target smart ports, underwater intelligence, and coastal security.
• Robo.ai reported $46.7M first-half profit after completing its restructuring.
• Robo.ai posted over $180M revenue from June through August after restructuring.
• Alif Maritec plans GCC expansion before pursuing broader international markets.

Robo.ai Inc. stock traded at $1.9250, down 1.28%, as the company outlined another expansion of its restructured operations. Alif Holding plans to establish Alif Maritec as a wholly owned subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates. The proposed business will target marine security, smart ports, underwater intelligence, and protection for critical maritime infrastructure.

Robo.ai Inc., AIIO

Alif Maritec Targets Maritime Security Infrastructure

Alif Maritec will serve government agencies and infrastructure operators across ports, coastlines, offshore energy sites, and other critical facilities. The company plans to address security requirements both above and below the water surface. Its planned systems will combine surveillance, physical protection, advanced sensing, and automated analysis across maritime environments.

The subsidiary plans to develop underwater barriers, coastal protection systems, and an intelligent platform for continuous infrastructure monitoring. Meanwhile, its technology framework will combine analytics, sensing systems, marine materials, and digital twin capabilities. These technologies will support faster threat identification, infrastructure assessment, and coordinated responses across maritime facilities.

Alif Maritec plans to integrate and manufacture its technology within the UAE under recognized international standards. Initially, the company expects to focus on Gulf Cooperation Council markets before pursuing wider international expansion. Therefore, the strategy supports UAE programs focused on domestic manufacturing, industrial development, economic diversification, and stronger infrastructure resilience.

Robo.ai Builds Its Intelligent Infrastructure Business

Robo.ai has reshaped its business after completing several major corporate changes during the first half of 2026. The company divested its legacy operations and acquired Neurovia AI and Quantum Core Capital during that period. Subsequently, Robo.ai formed Alif Holding as an industrial group within its broader intelligent infrastructure structure.

The restructuring created four operating platforms focused on different parts of the company’s repositioned business model. Alif Holding now provides the industrial component and plans to expand through specialized businesses such as Alif Maritec. Consequently, the maritime subsidiary extends Robo.ai’s strategy into security systems serving ports, energy facilities, and coastal infrastructure.

Robo.ai reported $46.7 million in first-half net profit attributable to shareholders, reversing the previous year’s loss. However, discontinued operations generated most of that profit following changes to the company’s former business structure. The company also reported preliminary revenue exceeding $180 million between June 1 and August 31, 2026.

Marine Expansion Supports Broader Growth Strategy

Robo.ai said the latest expansion builds on operating contributions emerging from its newly established corporate structure. Furthermore, Alif Maritec will give Alif Holding another operating business focused on intelligent industrial systems. The unit will seek opportunities tied to maritime protection spending across the Gulf and other international markets.

Demand for marine security systems has grown alongside international trade, offshore energy investment, and development near major coastal facilities. At the same time, ports and waterways face stricter operational and infrastructure protection requirements. Alif Maritec plans to address these requirements through integrated monitoring, sensing, protection, and infrastructure management systems.

The company has not provided financial forecasts for Alif Maritec or specific revenue targets for the proposed subsidiary. Robo.ai also described its June-through-August revenue figures as preliminary and unaudited. Therefore, those historical figures represent reported operating performance rather than guidance for future financial results.

The post Robo.ai Inc. (AIIO) Stock: Alif Holding Expands Into Intelligent Marine Security  appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Brent crude broke through the $100 per barrel threshold for the first time in over a month as Middle Eastern tensions escalate
• Meta’s stock gained approximately 5% following the debut of Muse, an advanced AI assistant capable of handling emails, travel arrangements, and online transactions
• Google committed $15.1 billion to Finnish data infrastructure, secured by a two-decade nuclear power agreement
• Apple introduced its inaugural foldable iPhone model under CEO John Ternus’s leadership, with anticipated pricing exceeding $2,000
• Cloudflare stock surged 8-9% driven by investor excitement surrounding its OpenAI-powered cybersecurity collaboration

Crude Oil Breaches $100 Benchmark Amid Geopolitical Tensions

On Wednesday, [[LINK_START_0]]Brent crude[[LINK_END_0]] surpassed the $100 per barrel mark for the first time since early autumn. The price spike followed heightened military confrontations in the Middle East involving the United States, Iran, and Iranian-affiliated militias, sparking worries about potential disruptions to energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region.

Since the beginning of August, Brent crude has climbed approximately 25%. Supply constraints affecting shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have contributed to tightening global oil availability.

The escalation in energy costs threatens to reignite inflationary pressures and potentially extend the period of elevated interest rates. This scenario creates headwinds for household consumption patterns and threatens to compress corporate earnings.

Energy sector equities stood out as one of Wednesday’s rare bright spots, even as broader U.S. equity indices posted declines.

Meta Introduces Muse AI Personal Assistant

Meta experienced a roughly 5% stock price increase following the unveiling of Muse, an advanced AI personal assistant that surpasses conventional chatbot capabilities. The platform enables users to delegate email correspondence, travel booking, and online shopping tasks.

The intelligent assistant integrates with third-party applications and executes assignments autonomously in the background. Meta is rolling out Muse across the United States through its proprietary application and WhatsApp, offering both complimentary and subscription-based tiers.

The company’s artificial intelligence expenditures are projected to reach up to $145 billion during the current fiscal year. Muse represents one of the most tangible demonstrations of how Meta intends to monetize its substantial AI infrastructure investments.

Google Commits $15 Billion to Finnish Data Infrastructure

Google revealed intentions to deploy at least $15.1 billion in Finland throughout the coming 24 months. The initiative encompasses three additional data facilities in Finland’s northern regions, where frigid temperatures naturally assist in managing the substantial cooling requirements of artificial intelligence workloads.

Additionally, Google secured a 22-year power purchase agreement with Finnish energy provider Fortum for nuclear-generated electricity. This commitment illustrates how AI infrastructure development is extending beyond semiconductor procurement to encompass data facilities, energy utilities, and atomic energy sources.

Apple Debuts First Foldable iPhone Design

Apple presented its inaugural foldable iPhone model, marking one of the most significant product evolution moments in recent company history. The launch also represents the first flagship device introduction under recently appointed CEO John Ternus.

The innovative handset transforms from a standard smartphone form factor into a tablet-sized display and targets high-end consumers. Market analysts anticipate base model pricing will exceed the $2,000 threshold.

Apple enters a market segment already occupied by Samsung, Huawei, and various Chinese electronics manufacturers. Despite the delayed entry, industry projections indicate Apple could rapidly capture significant market share in the global foldable smartphone category.

Cloudflare Stock Jumps on OpenAI Security Partnership

Cloudflare experienced an 8-9% share price increase on Wednesday, with trading activity hovering near $307 during morning hours. The rally reflected heightened investor interest in the company’s OpenAI collaboration and its newly introduced Vulnerability Discovery and Remediation security solution.

The cybersecurity offering merges Cloudflare’s worldwide network infrastructure with OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Cyber artificial intelligence model. The system identifies software security weaknesses, detects emerging threats, and autonomously produces remediation code.

While the product received its initial announcement the previous week, investor momentum accelerated Wednesday as market participants interpreted the OpenAI alliance as validation of Cloudflare’s competitive positioning in AI-enhanced security solutions.

The post Market Movers: Crude Oil Breaks $100 as Tech Giants Meta, Apple, and Google Dominate Headlines appeared first on Blockonomi.

Jump Trading’s cumulative trading volume on Hyperliquid has nearly reached $150 billion since the firm made its first deposit on December 12, 2025, according to Hyperdash co-founder Hanson Birringer, who mapped the firm’s entire activity on the exchange.

Jump operates one master account alongside 16 subaccounts, and its trading now represents almost 8% of all perpetual futures volume on Hyperliquid and 19% of volume in xyz markets.

Jump’s Hyperliquid Activity

In July alone, its share rose to almost 18% of total exchange volume and 29% of xyz volume. Jump initially spent about a week testing the platform in December, during which it traded $153 million across BTC, SOL, and HYPE, before funding its master account and starting the sub-process creation.

Each wallet has a specific role, including separate accounts for crude oil, Brent, natural gas, and each new stock listing, while a larger book handles the S&P 500, XYZ100, SK Hynix, silver, gold, and memory-related names. The firm’s strategy is primarily driven by taker volume, as maker volume accounts for only 11% to 35% of fills across its activity. According to Birringer, this appears to be a hedging or arbitrage book paired with other venues to capture differences in spreads and funding rates.

Jump’s current book is long $32 million of Brent and $16 million of CL, while holding shorts in gold, silver, MU, NVDA, DRAM, SK Hynix, XYZ100, and megacap names. The positions total $145 million in notional against $63.6 million in account value. By individual market, the trading firm accounts for 38% of DRAM volume, 36% of NATGAS, 33% of Brent, 32% of SP500, 26% of XYZ100, and 16% of CL, compared with 2.6% of BTC volume.

Between April and August, the master account also increased its use of Hyperliquid’s gossip priority feature and paid 966 HYPE, mostly in May, before stopping. Jump has paid about $7 million in fees to the exchange so far, while generating only a few hundred thousand dollars of PNL, further supporting the view that its Hyperliquid activity is one part of a multi-venue market-making operation.

Its roughly $65 million of USDC margin on the exchange is also generating an additional $1.8 million in annual revenue for Hyperliquid through the recent AQAV2 fee accrual.

Institutional Exposure

HYPE hit an all-time high of $89.60 on September 6 and has remained close to that level three days later. The latest price rise came as new data revealed institutional holdings across three HYPE funds: the Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF, 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF, and Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart recently said second-quarter 13F filings showed 30 investment managers holding a total of around $75 million in the funds.

Wealth High Governance Asset Management had the largest position at nearly $24 million, followed by OLP Capital Management at $10.5 million. UBS held $7.5 million, Bank of Montreal had about $6.7 million, and Jane Street Group held roughly $4.4 million. Other reported holders included Discovery Capital, Brevan Howard, Flow Traders, Virtu Financial, and HighTower Advisors.

Last month, Trump said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig was working to bring the perpetuals-focused trading platform into the US in a “fully compliant and legal fashion,” which added to expectations around its expansion into the country.

The post Jump’s Hyperliquid Footprint Explodes as Trading Volume Nears $150 Billion appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Cardano’s native token has performed quite well lately, and as expected, it has become the subject of optimistic price forecasts.

Most analysts foresee modest short-term gains, while some have made wild bets and think the asset is gearing up for an explosion to a new all-time high.

What’s Next?

As of press time, ADA is worth around $0.22 (according to CoinGecko), up about 13% over the past seven days. In fact, it is among the top performers within that frame, and the green wave has solidified its place in the club of the 20 biggest cryptocurrencies.

X user More Crypto Online claimed that the bounce on the chart remains intact, adding that a break above $0.23 is the next objective for the bulls.

Crypto With Gopal also chipped in, spotting an inverted head-and-shoulders formation in ADA’s price graph. He argued that the right shoulder is holding strong, with buyers defending the neckline around $0.22, while momentum is shifting bullish as price pushes into resistance.

“A clean breakout above the neckline could open the path toward the $0.26 target,” the analyst concluded.

For their part, X user Sssebi sees a “big chance” for a pump to $0.30 if ADA reclaims $0.25. Not long ago, the popular analyst Ali Martinez revealed that the asset’s Tom DeMark Sequential indicator has flashed a buy signal, adding further positivity across the community.

The bullish predictions don’t stop here. X user Cup recently opined that “the biggest altseason ever is about to start,” projecting a potential price eruption that could send ADA to a new all-time high of $8. An increase of that scale seems unlikely at this stage, but the crypto market is full of surprises, so we’ll have to wait and see how things unfold.

Meanwhile, investors continue to shift from centralized platforms to self-custody methods, with outflows surpassing inflows. This, in turn, reduces the immediate selling pressure and strengthens the bullish perspective.

The Bearish Factor

It is important to note that ADA’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggests that a short-term pullback is also plausible. The indicator measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes to help traders identify potential reversal points.

It runs from 0 to 100, where ratios above 70 signal that the asset has entered overbought territory and could be gearing up for a correction, whereas readings below 30 are usually considered buying opportunities. Currently, the RSI stands at around 73.

The post Top Cardano Price Predictions as ADA Soars 13% Weekly appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The second-largest cryptocurrency has hovered around $2,500 over the past several days, with some analysts predicting a decisive breakout above that level and a surge to much higher ground.

Others remain cautious, expecting ETH to head south to around $2,000 before starting a bull run.

The Bullish Perspective

According to X user Ted, ETH is moving towards the $2,550 resistance again, anticipating a pump to $3,000 once the asset initiates a strong weekly close above that zone.

Michael van de Poppe shared a similar thesis, suggesting that if Ethereum tests the $2,520 area and starts to break upwards, it could climb all the way to $3,000. For their part, X user TRACER noted that the asset has recently tested the $2,500-$2,550 range six times, with each rejection getting weaker.

“This resistance will break soon,” they predicted.

MikybullCrypto appears to be the biggest optimist. The analyst opined that a “mega breakout” of the nine-year trendline resistance is on the way, setting the stage for a possible explosion to a new all-time high of $9,000.

The declining amount of ETH stored on exchanges supports the bullish theory. Just a few days ago, Ali Martinez disclosed that over 116,000 coins (worth nearly $300 million) were withdrawn from centralized platforms in 48 hours.

“With exchange supply shrinking this aggressively, the setup for a major move is getting interesting,” he explained.

The analyst also highlighted the major support zone around $2,475, where roughly 2.86 million ETH have previously exchanged hands. “As long as this level holds, the path toward $2,722 remains relatively clear,” Martinez said.

The growing institutional demand reinforces the bullish perspective. Last week, spot ETH ETFs attracted almost $220 million, and cumulative total net inflows now surpass $13.17 billion.

Pullback Ahead?

X user Void claimed ETH has formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern on the daily chart, and that one leg down will confirm the setup. That said, the analyst expects a potential drop to $2,000, saying that without this move south, “we can’t go higher.”

Gerla offered a similar perspective. The analyst noted the formation of the aforementioned structure, anticipating a short-term correction to around $2K, followed by a major rally above $4,000 in the coming months.

The post Ethereum (ETH) at a Crossroads: Jump to $3,000 or a Plunge to $2,000 Comes Next? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP meme coin ($LAPTOP) began trading on the Base network and almost immediately fell 99.2% from an intraday high of $199.51 within hours of launch.

The laptop entered public view in October 2020, when the New York Post reported on emails from a device tied to Biden. The material was initially dismissed by some officials as “possible disinformation” and later authenticated by several news organizations.

Totally Unexpected

“They turned laptop into a weapon. I turned it into a token,” Biden posted on X.

Crypto investigator Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, had urged his audience to stay away from the token before trading began, telling them, “Do not buy it.”

As a surprise to no one, the token had also drawn imitators before it went live, with more than a dozen counterfeit LAPTOP coins surfacing across Solana, BNB Chain, and TON within about an hour of a Wall Street Journal report on the project, trading around $6.9 million combined, none carrying an official contract address because none had been published.

Counterfeits are a known hazard on Base, which drew more than 500 scam tokens in its first weeks after launching in 2023, according to Solidus Labs.

Anyway, on its first day, CoinGecko put LAPTOP’s market cap near $560 million and its fully diluted valuation near $1.6 billion, on about $5.2 million in 24-hour volume.

Airdrop Aimed at TRUMP Losers

Biden had announced the coin days earlier and set aside a fifth of the supply to airdrop wallets that lost money on Donald Trump’s TRUMP coin.

LAPTOP opened with about 35% of its supply unlocked, the remainder set to release through cliffs and vesting over 36 months, and it traded in decentralized-exchange pools with no fixed offering price. CoinGecko logged the $199.51 peak before the slide to near $1.61.

Lookonchain flagged one wallet that pulled $250,000 off Binance ahead of the launch and spent $200,000 on LAPTOP near the top, a stake worth about $3,000 by the time the analytics firm posted, citing DeBank data. CryptoPotato earlier reported a TRUMP trader who lost $207,000 within an hour of buying in March.

Of the 1 billion-token supply, 20% was earmarked for TRUMP holders who lost money, subscribers to his Substack, and a mailing list run by video journalist Andrew Callaghan, while 30% went to the founding team under a six-month lock and roughly two-year vesting.

Public Citizen has estimated that Trump-linked crypto ventures left investors at least $4.7 billion underwater, with the TRUMP meme coin alone accounting for $3.2 billion of that total.

The post Shocking: Hunter Biden’s LAPTOP Meme Coin Crashes 99% Within Hours of Launch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

XRP is trading around $1.42 after a sharp recovery from the August lows near $1.00. The rebound has shifted the short-term structure back to the upside, but much like other major crypto pairs, Ripple’s price is also trapped below a major resistance area, making the next breakout or rejection particularly important.

XRP Price Analysis: The USDT Pair

The daily chart shows a significant bullish impulse from the $1.00 area, followed by a consolidation above the former resistance around $1.30. XRP has reclaimed the $1.30 zone, which now represents an important support area.

Above the current price, the main obstacle is the $1.5 resistance zone. XRP has repeatedly struggled around this region, and a decisive daily close above this zone would strengthen the bullish structure and potentially expose the recent swing high near $1.70 and even the critical $1.90-$2.00 zone.

Momentum has also improved. The daily RSI is around 54, indicating that buyers have regained an advantage without the market being in overbought territory. This leaves room for another upside attempt, although the RSI alone does not confirm a breakout.

Still, with the market consolidating above both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, investors are awaiting a potential bullish crossover between the two for additional confirmation that the bear market bottom is already in.

The 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart provides a clearer picture of the current consolidation. After the explosive move higher, XRP initially spiked toward $1.70 before retracing sharply. Since then, the price has been consolidating around the $1.30-$1.40 region and is now pressing back toward $1.50.

The immediate resistance is the same daily $1.50 zone, which has acted as a supply area multiple times. On the downside, the $1.34 level is the first important support, corresponding closely with the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement. Below it, the $1.25 area combines the 0.618 Fibonacci level with the bullish order block and would be the key area for buyers to defend.

The recent price action suggests that XRP is building pressure beneath resistance rather than immediately reversing lower. The overall market structure leans moderately bullish. However, repeated rejection from $1.50 without a breakout could produce a deeper pullback toward $1.25 or even lower in the coming weeks.

The post Ripple Price Prediction: What to Expect for XRP as a Major Macro Week Approaches appeared first on CryptoPotato.