The integration enhances AI-driven cybersecurity, streamlining threat detection and compliance, while fostering seamless enterprise adoption.

The post CrowdStrike integrates Falcon platform into Anthropic’s Claude Marketplace appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The US's leadership in digital finance via stablecoins could solidify dollar dominance, impacting global payment systems and economic power dynamics.

The post Circle CEO urges US to lead digital finance with stablecoins appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Kimi K3's success in Bitcoin vulnerability detection highlights the potential for open-weight AI models to revolutionize cybersecurity audits.

The post Kimi K3 outperforms rival open-weight models in finding Bitcoin vulnerabilities appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The lawsuits against OpenAI could set a precedent for AI firms' responsibilities in reporting potential threats, impacting tech industry regulations.

The post OpenAI faces 37 lawsuits over alleged failure to warn police before Canadian mass shooting appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

X's in-house payment system enhances creator loyalty and engagement, potentially reshaping platform economics and content strategies.

The post X shifts US creator payouts from Stripe to X Money, building its own payments rails appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

The Quantum Issue: Letter From The Editor

Quantum this, quantum that…who put a stupid cat on-chain!?

Ahem. 

Alright, let’s be serious. The threat that a viable, actually functioning, quantum computer would pose to Bitcoin if it were to be built is very serious. It is the concrete example of an existential threat, in every sense of the word. 

One of the bedrock foundations that Bitcoin rests upon is the assumption of a functioning cryptographic system that can be used to produce unforgeable signatures, i.e. that if you follow that system’s protocol properly when signing things, there is no way that anyone but a bitcoin’s rightful owner could produce a signature needed to spend it unless the rightful owner failed to secure their private key from theft. 

Quantum computers toss that right out the window. There goes the integrity of the entire mechanism that is used for owners of bitcoin to authenticate their ownership for the protocol to process their legitimately authorized transactions, and ONLY their legitimately authorized transactions. There’s no way for anyone to actually own anything in the context of the Bitcoin protocol if that assumption breaks. 

Bitcoin breaks if that assumption breaks. 

Thankfully, there are many different cryptographic systems that exist, and not all of them rest on assumptions that a quantum computer breaks. That’s the good news. The bad news is that its all a set of tradeoffs, none of them are ideal, and there are going to be some hard choices that have to be made. 

But there are solutions to just about every one of the problems that a viable quantum computer would create…except the problem of choosing which solutions to use. So in light of that, here is The Quantum Issue. 

This issue is a lot more structured than most past issues, and that is to ensure that it guides a reader through the entirety of the problem space and solution space without assuming any prior understanding (this is a very deep and technical subject). 

The first set of articles goes through the general issue of quantum computing itself, how it differs from classical computing, why that matters, how likely it is one is developed soon, etc.

The second set examines Bitcoin’s exposure. How is it exposed? How badly is it exposed? How can that degree of exposure change? 

The third set examines concrete (or developed enough to not be too hard to get to a concrete place) solutions to securing your bitcoin in a quantum safe way, and handling a network wide migration to those solutions. 

Don’t miss your chance to own The Quantum Issue — featuring articles written by many influential figures in the space working on the necessary pieces for a post-quantum Bitcoin!

This piece is the Letter from the Editor featured in the latest Print edition of Bitcoin Magazine, The Quantum Issue. We’re sharing it here as an early look at the ideas explored throughout the full issue.

This post The Quantum Issue: Letter From The Editor first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Shinobi.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy CEO Defends Bitcoin Sale as the ‘Right Trade’ 

The CEO of bitcoin treasury Strategy brushed off concerns investors may have about the company selling some of its stash, instead telling reporters that the move was to strengthen its balance sheet. 

Speaking to Bloomberg on Tuesday, Phong Le said that the company now has a “bullet-proof balance sheet” and it was the “right trade at the time” to sell bitcoin when it did. 

Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, restarted its buying the cryptocurrency on Monday after a 10-week pause. After halting its buys in June, it instead sold small amounts of its bitcoin and built two cash reserves. 

“We don’t really make decisions specifically on bitcoin’s price,” Le said. 

He added: “We’re a net accumulator, and so I don’t sit around and say, ‘Well, when am I going to sell Bitcoin next?’ It comes down to a bit of a capital management mathematical equation of when we would do it.”

“I don’t foresee us selling bitcoin as we enter into what I consider a pretty heavy bull market.” 

Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — is an enterprise software company that pivoted to buying and holding bitcoin in 2020. 

It first bought the cryptocurrency to protect its shareholders from inflation but has since aggressively bought the asset and pivoted to being a bitcoin treasury. It is now the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, with 845,050 bitcoins worth $65.1 billion at today’s prices. 

Investors can buy Strategy’s Nasdaq-listed stock (MSTR) to get heightened exposure to bitcoin’s performance. 

This year, Strategy has bought back some of its preferred stock, STRC, which is trading at a discount, and increasing its dollar cushion.  

In the company’s quarterly earnings in July, Strategy posted a $8.22 billion loss. But Le said the firm’s current paper loss wasn’t important for the time being, and that next year, its stock would soar again. 

“We’re the J.P. Morgan of the crypto economy, so whether we sell 1,000 Bitcoin out of 840,000 to me is irrelevant to the conversation,” Le said. 

Strategy stock (NASDAQ: MSTR) was trading 2% lower on Wednesday. Year-to-date, the stock is down 22%.

This post Strategy CEO Defends Bitcoin Sale as the ‘Right Trade’  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Slides as US-Iran Tensions Escalate 

Bitcoin slid on Tuesday after investors went into “risk-off” mode following escalating attacks between the U.S. and Iran. 

The largest cryptocurrency had initially shrugged off President Donald Trump’s threats to the Middle Eastern nation, as well as the first strikes. 

But things heated up on Tuesday, and bitcoin’s price slid. It was recently down more than 2% on the day, trading for $77,363. The coin had pushed past as high as nearly $81,282 on Friday. 

The Tuesday attacks from the U.S. were because Iran tried to put mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and also because of an attack on an American military base in Jordan, according to President Trump. 

U.S. Central Command said on X that Iran had also attacked commercial ships. 

“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the post read. 

Iran responded with a “decisive operation” against U.S. military bases, according to Iranian media. Oil surged on the news. 

Bitcoin’s price has been sensitive to geopolitical tensions this year — especially after Iran and Israel attacked Iran. The cryptocurrency has typically faced downward pressure on news of war, only to then rally when Trump raised hopes of a ceasefire. 

Despite Bitcoin’s price being relatively muted, in recent months, it has made more wild swings since mid-August. 

Bitcoin’s immediate reaction to rising oil prices is to drop: more expensive energy means higher inflation, and higher inflation typically means the U.S. central bank will postpone rate cuts, which can restrict the liquidity that bitcoin needs to gain momentum. 

The Federal Reserve’s chair, Kevin Warsh, last week gave his first major speech as leader of the central bank and said that inflation in the world’s largest economy had not come down enough. 

Traders are now no longer pricing in an interest rate cut this year, instead expecting a hike. Bitcoin has typically performed well in the past in low interest rate environments. 

Still, the coin had one of its best runs in August after the U.S. Treasury said it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations, in response to surging borrowing costs. 

The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited. 

This post Bitcoin Slides as US-Iran Tensions Escalate  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Defies Seasonal Slump With Third-Best August Ever

Bitcoin is known for its summer slumps. But August was different. 

In fact, the leading cryptocurrency had its third best August ever. 

As highlighted on Tuesday by Bitwise’s European Head of Research, André Dragosch, bitcoin delivered returns of 25% last month. 

“No ‘summer lull’ so far,” Dragosch wrote on X, highlighting that the only better Augusts the coin has had were in 2017 when it gave investors returns of nearly 66%, and 2013, with close to 31%. 

Multiple analyses point to the months of June-September showing weaker average returns than the rest of the year.

Throughout most of June and July, bitcoin’s volatility was particularly muted, and the coin traded below $65,000. 

But that changed in mid-August after the U.S. Treasury Department said it would more than double the size of its government debt repurchases due to fixed income markets under pressure and yields surging to levels not seen in nearly 20 years. 

Lower long-term yields reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold, and generally support risk-on sentiment. 

Investors flooded into bitcoin as a result. 

Positive news soon followed, with President Donald Trump urging lawmakers to get the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act over the line. The digital asset industry has long called for clear rules on how regulators should treat bitcoin, stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies. 

Despite a delay in a vote on the legislation, Trump called the draft “very powerful.” The president made the comments after having met with crypto industry bigwigs and CEOs. 

Investors also rushed back into ETFs in August, throwing over $2.8 billion at the vehicles — the most since October, when the coin hit a new all-time high. 

Bitcoin in August had its best run in three years — and is up nearly over 20% over the past month. 

The asset reached as high as $81,281 last week before sliding again on Friday. 

Bitcoin’s price recently stood at $76,883, nearly down 3% over a 24-hour period. 

This post Bitcoin Defies Seasonal Slump With Third-Best August Ever first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust Is Beating Top S&P 500 ETF 

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund has delivered better returns since its 2024 launch than Vanguard’s popular S&P 500 fund. 

That’s according to Bloomberg data highlighted by the firm’s senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, who said that the BlackRock product’s cumulative percentage return was only slightly ahead of Vanguard’s in the time period. 

BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF is up 71% since its January 2024 debut, while Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF up 66% on a total-return basis.  

The iShares Bitcoin Trust — IBIT — started trading in 2024 after the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light to 11 spot bitcoin ETFs following a decade of denials. 

“IBIT’s path to 70% looks like the El Toro roller coaster at Great Adventure (I needed two Advil last time I rode that thing) while $VOO was a walk in the park in comparison,” wrote Balchunas on Tuesday. 

U.S. investors now have several funds to choose from to buy shares that track the price of bitcoin managed by the likes of Fidelity, Grayscale and Morgan Stanley. But BlackRock’s product is the most successful: It currently manages $61.4 billion in assets, according to its website. 

By comparison, the second biggest bitcoin ETF, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, manages nearly $11 billion. 

BlackRock, which manages over $15 trillion in assets, sent shockwaves through the crypto space after it applied for a spot bitcoin ETF in 2023. Its fund now allows more traditional investors to get exposure to bitcoin; its product also experiences more day-to-day trading action than the other ETFs. 

Investors piled back into ETFs in August, which has also helped bitcoin’s price. From August 17 to 27, investors threw over $2.8 billion at the vehicles — the most since October, when the coin hit a new all-time high. 

Bitcoin reached as high as $81,281 last week before sliding again on Friday. 

The price of the biggest cryptocurrency recently stood at $77,539, nearly down 1% over a 24-hour period. 

Bitcoin started a phenomenal run two weeks ago — its best in three years — and is up nearly 30% over the past month. 

This post BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust Is Beating Top S&P 500 ETF  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to let Wall Street’s official shareholder records move onchain while keeping regulated transfer agents in control.

On Sept. 1, the financial regulator proposed its first major overhaul of transfer-agent rules since regulations were adopted in the late 1970s and early 1980s, explicitly allowing blockchain or other distributed-ledger technology to serve as a company’s master securityholder file, or part of it.

That would bring tokenized securities deeper into the machinery that determines who legally owns shares, rather than limiting blockchain to a parallel record or digital representation.

One recordkeeping transfer agent would still retain exclusive control over the official shareholder file and remain responsible for its accuracy, security, and production to regulators.

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the proposal reflects the growing use of electronic communications and blockchain technology in securities offerings and share transfers. The broader rewrite would also replace paper-based requirements with electronic recordkeeping standards and update reporting around tokenization and distributed ledgers.

Securitize, a registered transfer agent already using blockchain infrastructure for digital securities, said the proposal moves regulation toward a model it has advocated to the SEC. Securitize is a tokenized real-world asset manager, with over $4 billion in assets under management.

The company has previously argued that public blockchains should be incorporated into securities recordkeeping while transfer agents continue overseeing the official ownership record.

“Modernization should raise standards, not lower them,” Securitize said, calling the regulatory shift and growing adoption of digital securities a tailwind for the sector.

Blockchain enters the official shareholder ledger

The proposal would formalize a direction SEC staff had already signaled.

Staff guidance has allowed registered transfer agents to use distributed-ledger technology as the official master securityholder file without maintaining a separate offchain duplicate, provided they meet existing regulatory requirements.

Transaction data, including wallet addresses, balances, ownership percentages, and purchase information, can reside onchain while sensitive personal information remains in separate systems.

The proposed rules would put that approach directly into the transfer-agent framework.

However, they would not mandate blockchain. Instead, transfer agents could choose the technology used to maintain their records, but the SEC said the system must remain secure, current, and accessible whether the underlying infrastructure is a conventional database or a distributed ledger.

Transfer agents would also have to give regulators more visibility into tokenization. Proposed changes to Form TA-2 would require reporting around securities using distributed ledgers, tokenization agents and platforms involved in those arrangements.

The technology provider would not inherit the transfer agent’s regulatory responsibility simply because the shareholder record runs through its infrastructure.

Wallet-only shareholders will have to wait

The proposal stops short of making corporate ownership fully wallet-native.

The SEC’s drafted framework would continue requiring the master securityholder file to include a holder’s full name and contact information, including a physical mailing address.

This means that a digital-wallet address can form part of the identifying information attached to a tokenized security, but it would not replace those traditional identity requirements.

The agency is nevertheless asking whether that should change.

Among the questions opened for public comment is whether transfer agents should have to collect a shareholder’s full name and physical mailing address and what consequences eliminating those requirements could have for other securities laws and market participants.

Commissioner Hester Peirce has separately raised the possibility of using email or digital-wallet addresses instead of names and physical addresses in some circumstances to facilitate onchain securities trading.

That leaves the SEC drawing a line between modernizing the shareholder ledger and replacing the identity system built around it.

Under the proposal, blockchain could become the authoritative infrastructure recording legal share ownership. The regulated transfer agent, however, would remain the gatekeeper connecting those on-chain positions to identifiable shareholders.

Comments are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. As of Sept. 1, the SEC had not provided a fixed publication date.

The post The SEC is rewriting 50-year-old Wall Street rules to let public blockchains decide who legally owns a stock appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Corporate political donations hit a record $646 million over the 18 months through June, according to Public Citizen's analysis of FEC filings. Crypto political spending led every other corporate sector at $206 million, while crypto, AI, and online betting together accounted for $344 million, more than half the total.

The GENIUS Act already created a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, the SEC is rewriting crypto rules under Chair Paul Atkins, and the CFTC is pushing to bring more digital asset trading onshore. The Senate also faces a Sept. 15 cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the CLARITY Act, a procedural step requiring 60 votes to limit debate.

Three years ago, the industry's Washington agenda was simple: stop regulating through enforcement and say what rules apply. Founders interviewed for this piece describe a different ask now, one that treats today's wins as a starting point Congress needs to make permanent.

Crypto political spending seeks durable rules

Utkarsh Ahuja, founder of Moon Pursuit Capital, said the industry has moved past asking for rules.

He told CryptoSlate:

“Founders are building companies on five- and ten-year timelines, and investors are deploying capital on similar horizons.”

A regulatory framework that can swing with each new administration gets priced directly into where that capital goes. Serious long-term bets are hard to make when asset classification, agency jurisdiction, and compliance requirements could all move again in four years.

Ahuja framed the goal in terms of credibility:

“The US doesn't need to be the easiest jurisdiction for crypto, but it should aim to be the most credible and predictable.”

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said on Aug. 18 that legislation remains indispensable to creating rules “future-proofed” enough that a future regulator cannot simply undo the current SEC's work.

That an administration official and an industry investor are converging on the same point independently gives the durability argument real weight beyond standard lobbying language.

The Sept. 15 vote shapes what comes next

The House passed the CLARITY Act 294-134 in July 2025. The bill would create a system letting the SEC and CFTC jointly regulate the offer and sale of digital commodities, resolving the jurisdictional fight that has defined crypto lobbying for years.

Ahuja, Ryan Kirkley of Global Settlement Network, and Parth Kapadia of OpenVPP all named finishing market structure as their priority, independently of each other.

Whether the Senate clears cloture on Sept. 15 will shape which fight the next Congress inherits.

If cloture clears and the bill later becomes law, market structure could stop being the answer to every question about crypto's agenda, freeing attention for banking access, tax rules, and noncustodial protections.

Fail it, and finishing market structure remains the industry's dominant fight straight through the midterms, with committee control and chamber leadership suddenly carrying much higher stakes for crypto than they did a year ago.

Crypto wants infrastructure access

Kirkley wants federal regulatory sandboxes that let startups test settlement infrastructure under supervision “without needing a megabank's compliance budget on day one,” modernized bank charters, and direct access to payment rails.

He added that “ambiguity taxes every founder building here.”

That means crypto companies want the same infrastructure access banks already have, well beyond a regulator's acknowledgment that they can operate legally.

Kirkley also warned that stablecoin rules need to stay workable for new entrants, since GENIUS implementation could otherwise harden into an incumbent moat and close off the open market it was supposed to create.

Total stablecoin market capitalization sits near $303.7 billion, and 21 financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citi and Deutsche Bank, announced on Sept. 1 plans to launch a jointly owned dollar-pegged stablecoin by early 2027.

BIS chief Pablo Hernández de Cos has separately argued that stablecoins do not yet credibly function as a means of payment at scale, while presenting tokenized deposits as a more promising path. That view reminds us that Washington's stablecoin enthusiasm is not universally shared.

Congress still writes crypto tax law for people

Kapadia's example involves a homeowner's battery enrolled in a virtual power plant, automatically earning thousands of tiny crypto-denominated payments for exporting electricity or responding to grid conditions.

Cynthia Lummis's pending digital asset tax proposal includes a $300 de minimis exemption meant to spare consumers from tracking every small crypto transaction, but it excludes property held for income production.

Kapadia argued that the carve-out excludes households earning automated crypto income from physical infrastructure, since the enrolled battery counts as income-producing property.

His proposed fix is an aggregation rule treating a year of micro-settlements as a single basis event, though how any enrolled battery gets classified in practice still needs confirmation from tax counsel.

Kapadia also wants a federal path for noncustodial settlement platforms, arguing a system that orchestrates payments without ever holding customer funds should not need money-transmitter licenses in fifty states. Congress has already begun addressing this.

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, introduced by Lummis and Wyden, would exempt developers and infrastructure providers without control over user funds from money-transmitter status.

CLARITY's Senate materials describe similar protections for software developers who never control customer assets. Kapadia's request builds on that foundation, aiming to make those protections durable enough to survive state-by-state licensing fights that recreate the same problem elsewhere.

His final ask involves tokenized assets tied to physical performance, like renewable energy certificates and verified megawatt-hour receipts, which he wants classified on the commodity side of the line.

Tokenized real-world assets have already more than tripled since the start of 2025, reaching nearly $39 billion as of Sept. 1.

Market structure, in other words, also touches receipts for electricity, grid capacity and other machine-measured outputs.

Whether crypto political spending delivers durable rules

One path has cloture clearing Sept. 15 and the bill later becoming law, giving the next Congress room to work through banking access, tax treatment and noncustodial protections beyond relitigating basic jurisdiction.

Under that path, institutional capital gains the predictability Ahuja describes, and the industry's political spending starts converting into legislation a future administration cannot casually unwind.

Another path has cloture failing, or CLARITY stalling short of full passage, leaving market structure as the industry's dominant fight into a midterm election that could hand committee gavels to different hands entirely.

In that scenario, Ahuja's durability problem stays unresolved, capital keeps discounting US crypto policy for its volatility, and the industry's record political spending buys attention without buying the permanence founders say they need.

Crypto's next fight is over how much of the financial system it gets permitted to help rebuild.

The post What the $344M crypto political spending spree wants from Congress next appeared first on CryptoSlate.

CME and ICE told Washington in May that Hyperliquid's pseudonymous, always-on markets could let sanctioned state actors circumvent enforcement.

On Aug. 31, an Arkham analysis reviewed by CoinDesk found that wallets linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group had sold more than $30 million of Bitcoin through Hyperliquid over the prior three weeks.

The proceeds were converted into ETH and SOL before funds moved to Kraken, LBank, and KuCoin. The same day, Bloomberg reported that Hyperliquid Labs was in advanced talks with Kraken parent Payward over a regulated US entry point.

On paper, the timing could hardly be worse for Hyperliquid. Whether it threatens the push to bring the exchange onshore depends on a detail neither Bloomberg's report nor the Lazarus findings answer: how the proposed US structure would connect to Hyperliquid's market.

The plumbing for the Hyperliquid deal remains a mystery

Bloomberg reported that US customers would use Payward's Bitnomial exchange to trade perpetual futures tied to the price of crypto tokens built on Hyperliquid's blockchain technology, subject to regulatory approval.

Bitnomial would be the US-facing venue, the products would be perpetual futures, and Hyperliquid-related tokens would sit underneath them economically.

The report does not establish whether Bitnomial orders would ever touch Hyperliquid's existing order book, or whether the two venues would share liquidity. It also leaves open whether positions would settle on Hyperliquid's chain, or whether Payward and its market makers would hedge Bitnomial exposure by trading directly on Hyperliquid.

That gap determines whether Lazarus becomes a distant offshore data point or a direct question about who US-regulated customers could end up transacting against.

CME is already fighting the framework in court

CME filed Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. v. Selig on June 18 in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The suit challenges the CFTC's decision to let Kalshi and other designated contract markets list crypto perpetual contracts as futures, a classification CME argues should have been swaps under a separate regulatory structure.

CME's complaint points to differences in swap-dealer registration, margin treatment, transaction reporting, collateral rules, and tax treatment. It alleges competitive injury from a regime that lets newer products compete directly with CME for retail derivatives customers.

The court ordered the CFTC and Selig to respond by Sept. 2, with CME's opposition to an expected motion to dismiss due Oct. 2.

CME's case turns on a narrow statutory question: whether perpetual contracts meet the legal definition of futures under the Commodity Exchange Act, or whether they function as swaps subject to a different regulatory structure entirely.

Whether North Korean wallets moved $30 million through an offshore venue has no direct bearing on that classification question. Lazarus gives CME a far more intuitive story to tell outside the courtroom, in front of the CFTC's product-review process, in congressional hearings, and in public advocacy.

A concrete sanctions-evasion example lands harder there than a technical swaps argument ever could.

ICE has drifted away from CME's position

The original May warning grouped CME and ICE. ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher has since struck a far more conciliatory tone, saying ICE was “not freaked out about Hyperliquid” and describing the two companies as helping each other understand their respective worlds.

Those comments followed a round of meetings between the two sides. He called Hyperliquid a wake-up call, a framing well short of a threat to reject outright. That breaks the tidy version of this story where legacy exchanges unite against a common DeFi rival.

CME is actively litigating the CFTC's framework, while ICE looks more interested in understanding the model while still pushing for a level regulatory playing field.

Payward agreed to acquire Bitnomial for up to $550 million in April and completed the deal May 1. The purchase gave it a full CFTC-regulated derivatives stack: a designated contract market, a derivatives clearing organization, and a futures commission merchant.

Kraken has already listed CFTC-regulated crypto perpetuals through that infrastructure for US users. Bitnomial functions as regulated market infrastructure that Payward acquired specifically for this kind of product, carrying its own designated contract market, clearing organization, and futures commission merchant licenses.

Two opposite conclusions for Hyperliquid

CME's version treats Lazarus as proof of concept. A sanctioned North Korean hacking group apparently moved tens of millions of dollars through the kind of pseudonymous, permissionless market CME warned regulators about months earlier.

That market lacks the identity and surveillance architecture required of conventional US intermediaries.

Keeping Hyperliquid offshore leaves the protocol running as it does now, available to the same global actors, with US regulators holding no more control over it than they already do.

A customer entering through a registered FCM, DCM, and DCO structure instead faces onboarding, compliance, and surveillance requirements that offshore access never required in the first place.

CME can litigate the CFTC's classification decisions, lobby Congress, press for stricter surveillance and sanctions-screening requirements, and contest future agency actions if it has standing. Its current complaint already leans on a competitive-injury theory to establish that standing.

CME cannot veto the Payward-Hyperliquid agreement directly, order the CFTC to reject a product, or stop Congress and the CFTC from building a different lawful pathway if this one gets blocked.

Even a full win in its current lawsuit would mean Hyperliquid-linked products cannot use this specific futures framework, a narrower outcome than closing off every compliant path Hyperliquid could take into the US.

Whether the plumbing vindicates the warning or the onshoring push

The bull case for the CFTC's approach has Bitnomial running as a genuinely segregated market, handling its own onboarding, clearing, and participant controls, while Hyperliquid supplies only technology, token exposure, and reference pricing underneath.

Under that path, Lazarus becomes mostly a benchmark and surveillance question, well short of evidence that sanctioned wallets could ever transact against US customers. The episode ends up strengthening the case that bringing this activity onshore beats leaving it purely offshore and unsupervised.

The bear case has Bitnomial activity executing against, settling through, or getting hedged on Hyperliquid's own permissionless liquidity in some meaningful way.

In that scenario, the compliance picture gets much harder fast: wallet sanctions screening, counterparty exposure, settlement finality, and whether regulated US positions can end up economically dependent on the same liquidity environment Lazarus just used.

That is the scenario where CME's May warning reads as an accurate prediction of what happened.
Lazarus may end up as evidence for two opposite visions of American market regulation at once. One holds that pseudonymous derivatives markets are inherently too dangerous to connect to US finance, while the other holds that leaving them offshore was the danger all along.

Which argument wins probably depends on a technical detail nobody involved has explained publicly yet.

The post North Korea’s $30M crypto cashout just handed legacy finance its best weapon to kill DeFi’s US debut appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Abstract: In H1 2026, TRON bucked broader market headwinds through a twin-track strategy: solidifying its core DeFi engine while aggressively expanding into AI. As recurring deflationary mechanics anchored value across DeFi protocols, a rapid wave of AI product launches unlocked new vectors for ecosystem growth.

Throughout the first half of 2026, global crypto markets faced a macro-driven cooldown. Tightening market liquidity and capital rotations into traditional AI tech pushed many crypto sectors into stagnation. TRON, however, carved out a distinct counter-cyclical rally. From expanding its stablecoin settlement layer and upgrading core DeFi asset value to strategically positioning itself across the Web3 AI stack, TRON delivered ecosystem-wide growth that significantly outperformed industry benchmarks.

At the heart of this performance is TRON's stablecoin infrastructure, which serves as the primary liquidity engine for the entire network. During H1 2026—even as global USDT market cap held relatively flat—circulating USDT on TRON expanded rapidly, breaking through $90 billion and setting consecutive all-time highs as it approaches the $100 billion milestone. This sustained liquidity depth cements TRON's role as the leading settlement network for digital dollars, providing low-cost, capital-efficient liquidity for applications building on top of the layer.

Building on its stablecoin dominance, TRON pursued a cohesive strategy throughout H1 2026: fortify the DeFi foundation and expand the AI front. In DeFi, key protocols introduced recurring buyback-and-burn mechanics alongside steady feature upgrades, sharpening the network's overall value-capture capability. Simultaneously, TRON executed a rapid rollout of foundational AI products—building a full-stack Web3 AI ecosystem that spans unified multi-model access layers, AI agent infrastructure, and distributed compute networks.

DeFi Ecosystem: Synergizing Token Deflation with Protocol Innovation

Against industry headwinds in H1 2026, TRON's DeFi sector advanced a dual-track strategy: value empowerment via buybacks and burns, and continuous product iteration. On the one hand, the ongoing execution of buyback-and-burn mechanisms by core projects across multiple tracks established a normalized, ecosystem-wide deflationary system. On the other, the relentless refinements to the functionality and user experience of core protocols enhanced both token value and protocol fundamentals.

To drive sustainable tokenomics, core ecosystem projects established programmatic buyback-and-burn mechanisms, forming a network-wide deflationary matrix across liquidity infrastructure, lending, oracles, and decentralized storage:

• SUN.io (Liquidity): Expanded its SUN buyback revenue streams. Starting with its 50th buyback-and-burn round in April, revenue from SUNX derivatives was permanently added to the burn pool alongside existing fees from SunSwap V2 and SunPump. The protocol completed its 50th and 51st token burn rounds in April and July, respectively.
• JUST (DeFi): Executed scheduled, multi-round JST token burns. The protocol completed its 2nd and 3rd large-scale buyback-and-burn rounds in January and April, followed by a record-setting 4th round in July that marked the largest capital allocation to date.
• WINkLink (Oracles): Launched a dedicated WIN buyback-and-burn program in July, allocating 100% of oracle service revenue toward repurchasing and burning WIN tokens.
• BitTorrent (Storage & Compute): Initiated a BTT buyback-and-burn program in July, funneling all revenue from decentralized services directly into token burns.

Parallel to these value-accrual mechanics, TRON protocols pushed aggressive feature upgrades across trading, lending, data feeds, and decentralized compute:

• SUN.io completed a strategic rebranding in January by introducing a dedicated Chinese brand to accelerate global adoption, followed by the launch of SunSwap V4 in March to deepen liquidity and enhance user experience.
• JustLend DAO deployed SBM V2 in June, introducing isolated collateral pools to support long-tail assets while enhancing risk management. Concurrently, the network's gasless transaction solution, GasFree, saw exponential adoption across stablecoin transfers.
• WINkLink upgraded its price feed portal in March, adding an integrated “Market Statistics” dashboard to enhance on-chain analytics.
• BitTorrent formally entered the AI space in June with BTTInferGrid, a decentralized AI compute marketplace that unlocks long-term demand for the network.

This dual engine of consistent token deflation and protocol innovation not only drove a steady surge in on-chain DeFi activity but also established a robust bedrock for long-term token value.

According to DeFiLlama, TRON's DeFi TVL climbed past $5.18 billion by September 1, placing it firmly in the top five public chains globally—narrowing the gap with Solana and BSC, and even overtaking them during peak trading periods. TRON's lead is even more pronounced in user engagement: the network logged over 3.88 million 24-hour active addresses, nearly double that of second-place BSC, underscoring its unmatched real-user adoption.

SUN.io: Enhancing DEX Efficiency via SunSwap V4 and Expanding Burn Pools

In H1 2026, SUN.io rolled out major updates across its branding, product suite, and tokenomics. By expanding brand awareness, upgrading protocol capabilities, and strengthening its value-accrual mechanics, the platform significantly sharpened its competitive edge.

To support global adoption, SUN.io launched a dual-brand strategy in January. This included introducing a dedicated Chinese brand identity, “Sun Wukong” (孙悟空), alongside a localized official website. The core product suite was seamlessly unified under this new framework: the DEX platform SunSwap became “Wukong Swap”, the memecoin launchpad SunPump became “Wukong Launch”, and the derivatives platform SunX became “Sun Wukong”. This approach allows SUN.io‘s comprehensive DeFi matrix—covering spot DEX trading, meme issuance, and perpetuals—to effectively engage both Western and Asian user bases.

On the product side, SUN.io continued to iterate on its core protocols, leveraging technical upgrades to lower trading barriers and reduce costs for users. On March 2, SunSwap V4 went live with six core architectural innovations:

• Singleton Design: Unified pool management for maximum capital efficiency.
• Native TRX Swaps: Direct trading pairs without the need to wrap TRX.
• Flash Accounting: Net balance settlements that dramatically cut transaction costs.
• Hooks: Customizable smart contract plugins for novel trading strategies.
• Custom Accounting: Tailored settlement logic for specialized pools.
• Subscribers: Real-time event notifications for active position monitoring.

These features pushed the protocol's customizability to new heights, unlocking possibilities for innovative DeFi scenarios. Within five months of launch, SunSwap V4 saw rapid adoption: peak liquidity stabilized at $108 million, and 24-hour trading volumes frequently surpassed $70 million during peak periods.

Capital efficiency was further improved in May with an upgraded Universal Router contract, which automatically executes trades across the optimal multi-pool paths.

As of September 1, SUN.io reports a total TVL of ~$650 million across more than 26,500 active liquidity pools. Over the past seven days, total platform trading volume exceeded $514 million across 112,000+ individual transactions, maintaining a steady upward trajectory across all metrics.

Finally, SUN.io accelerated the deflation of the SUN token by expanding its buyback revenue streams. Starting with its 50th buyback-and-burn round on April 25, revenue from the SunX derivatives platform was permanently added to the burn pool, complementing existing fees from SunSwap V2 and SunPump. To make this deflationary process more transparent and predictable, the platform also standardized its execution schedule, shifting to a unified announcement in the middle of the first month of each quarter.

Since launching its buyback-and-burn model in December 2021, SUN.io has executed 51 consecutive burn rounds without interruption, permanently removing 678,547,188.32 SUN from circulation—bringing the token rapidly toward the 700 million deflation milestone.

JustLend DAO: Real Yield Fuels JST Deflation as Product Matrix Expands

Powered by the protocol's sustained revenue growth in H1, JustLend DAO has executed multiple rounds of JST buybacks and burns. This established a complete closed-loop value model: real business revenue drives programmatic deflation, which fundamentally reinforces JST's value proposition. Driven by this deflationary flywheel, JST's price charted strong growth, surging from $0.04 at the start of 2026 to a peak of $0.11—a 275% cumulative gain. This rally catapulted its market cap from $400 million to over $868 million, marking its highest valuation since 2022. As of September 1, JST remains strong, trading at $0.101.

Concurrently, JustLend DAO‘s diversified product suite—spanning lending, liquid staking, Energy Rental, and smart wallets—unlocked new vectors for long-term ecosystem growth.

Since the start of 2026, JST has completed three large-scale scheduled burn rounds, each deploying over $20 million. In H1 alone, more than $70 million was allocated to buybacks, with nearly 90% derived from JustLend DAO‘s real operating net revenue:

• Round 2 (January 14): 525 million JST burned (equivalent to $21 million), accounting for 5.3% of the total JST supply.
• Round 3 (April 15): 271 million JST burned (equivalent to $21.3 million), accounting for 2.74% of the total JST supply.
• Round 4 (July 17): A record-breaking 355 million JST burned (equivalent to $34.59 million).

Funded by robust protocol revenue alongside accrued USDJ stability fees, this milestone burn accounted for 3.59% of the total JST supply.

To date, the protocol has completed four major buyback-and-burn rounds, permanently removing 1.711 billion JST from circulation. This accounts for 17.29% of the total token supply and represents over $94.62 million in cumulative capital deployed. Excluding the $10.39 million special burn from accrued USDJ stability fees in Round 4, 100% of routine buyback funds are sourced directly from JustLend DAO‘s real business revenue.

According to official data, JustLend DAO has generated over $94.2 million in cumulative net revenue to date. When combined with stability fees, the total capital generated for repurchases approaches $105 million. This deflationary engine is primed to continue: the protocol has already reserved an additional $10.34 million in accrued revenue to fund the next scheduled buyback-and-burn event.

As the core protocol of the JUST ecosystem, JustLend DAO has built a robust, diversified product suite covering Supply & Borrow Markets (SBM), Liquid Staking (sTRX), Energy Rental, Gas-Free Transfers (GasFree), and Energy Purchasing (Buy Energy)—maintaining a top-tier industry position across all respective verticals.

In the decentralized lending sector, JustLend DAO remains a dominant global force. According to DeFiLlama data as of September 1, the SBM platform boasts a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $3.38 billion, firmly securing its rank as the #4 decentralized lending protocol worldwide. Innovation continues to drive this growth: the launch of SBM V2 in June introduced isolated vaults, a critical architectural upgrade that expanded asset coverage while substantially reinforcing platform security. To further enhance capital efficiency during H1, the protocol also rolled out a dedicated $U lending market, continuously broadening its asset support to meet growing user demand.

In the liquid staking track, the sTRX product has accumulated over 9.73 billion staked TRX across more than 17,000 unique addresses, maintaining a steady upward trajectory in both TVL and user adoption. Building on this liquid staking foundation, the Energy Rental market introduces a highly flexible, pay-as-you-go model. This solves the pain point of requiring users to lock up large amounts of TRX long-term to lower on-chain gas costs, attracting a cumulative user base of over 80,000 participants.

Further expanding this utility ecosystem, JustLend DAO launched the Buy Energy feature in August. This pay-as-you-go service allows users to purchase TRON Energy on demand, saving users up to 64% in transaction fees compared to the traditional method of burning TRX for on-chain resources.

Driven by a core mission to eliminate friction and democratize on-chain access, JustLend DAO has engineered a comprehensive utility suite comprising Energy Rental, Buy Energy, and GasFree Transfers.

GasFree Transfers, in particular, has emerged as a primary growth catalyst for the platform. By allowing users to pay gas fees directly in their target token—bypassing the necessity of holding native TRX—it drastically lowers the barrier to entry for decentralized transactions. Currently supporting fee deductions in USDT and USDD (following its strategic integration in August), the feature is experiencing accelerating user adoption and transaction velocity.

Recent data underscores this robust traction. According to CryptoQuant's TRON Q2 report, GasFree transfer volume in the final week of June reached $2.9 billion, closely approaching the $3 billion all-time high established in early May. As of September 1, cumulative GasFree stablecoin transfers have surpassed 7.7 million transactions, representing $132.6 billion in total transfer volume. By saving users over $8.48 million in cumulative transaction fees, GasFree Transfers has rapidly solidified its position as an indispensable utility and a significant new growth vector for JustLend DAO.

Beyond rapid product iteration and steady growth in core business metrics, JustLend DAO is actively expanding its strategic partnerships to bridge external ecosystems and onboard new users. On July 6, JustLend DAO was officially integrated into the Binance Web3 Wallet DeFi hub, launching dedicated liquidity pools to tap into the leading CEX's massive global user base. Hot on the heels of this integration, JustLend DAO teamed up with USDD and SUN.io to co-host the “TRON DeFi Summer” campaign alongside Binance Wallet, backed by a $4.5 million prize pool. This cross-ecosystem alliance is highly strategic: it not only injects substantial fresh capital and new user cohorts, but it also establishes a seamless conversion pipeline moving users from a top-tier CEX directly into TRON ecosystem DeFi. Ultimately, this frictionless acquisition funnel broadens the protocol's foundation for sustainable revenue generation.

BitTorrent: Expanding into Decentralized AI via BTTInferGrid and Launching Long-Term BTT Buybacks

BitTorrent advanced its core value proposition in H1 2026, achieving landmark breakthroughs across compliance, product development, and tokenomics. By resolving long-standing regulatory headwinds, accelerating core product iteration, expanding into artificial intelligence, and instituting a multi-phase BTT buyback-and-burn initiative, BitTorrent has executed a comprehensive strategic transformation from the ground up.

This shift began with the total clearance of a multi-year regulatory overhang. On March 6, the U.S. SEC officially dropped all charges against Justin Sun, the TRON Foundation, and the BitTorrent Foundation. This resolution brought a definitive end to a three-year dispute, eliminating the policy uncertainty that had previously constrained the ecosystem's growth and strategic roadmap. Capitalizing on this regulatory clarity, BTT secured a fiat listing on Bitkub, a leading Thai cryptocurrency exchange, with the launch of the BTT/THB trading pair. By enabling local users to trade BTT directly with Thai Baht, the listing significantly bolsters BTT's regional market liquidity and deepens its strategic footprint in Southeast Asia.

Simultaneously, BitTorrent continues to iterate on its core infrastructure. On June 5, the team rolled out BitTorrent Neo, a specialized client designed natively for macOS. Delivering a lightweight, intuitive user interface without compromising performance, BitTorrent Neo modernizes the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing experience and reinforces the protocol's position in decentralized distribution.

Expanding into high-growth verticals, BitTorrent officially entered the decentralized AI compute sector with the June 17 launch of BTTInferGrid. Built as a DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network) tailored specifically for AI inference workloads, BTTInferGrid aims to optimize traditional compute supply. This launch signals BitTorrent's strategic expansion into the Web3 AI landscape, unlocking a new growth vector for the entire ecosystem.

To complement this expansion, BitTorrent has activated a comprehensive BTT buyback-and-burn mechanism designed to drive long-term value. In a strategic update announced July 6, 100% of the revenue generated from its decentralized businesses is now routed into a dedicated pool for routine quarterly burns. This enhances BTT's value capture logic—upgrading it from a standard utility and governance token into a deflationary asset anchored by real protocol yield. Ultimately, this ensures the community shares directly in the growth of BitTorrent's expanding network.

WINkLink: Core Oracle Services Upgrade as New Buyback Program Bolsters Token Value

As the premier oracle infrastructure powering the TRON ecosystem, WINkLink executed comprehensive upgrades throughout H1. These enhancements touched every layer of the protocol, spanning core product functionalities, broader asset coverage, and updated tokenomics. By fortifying its on-chain data services and deploying a dedicated token buyback-and-burn mechanism, WINkLink is actively translating its operational success into sustainable, long-term value for token holders.

On the product front, WINkLink upgraded its Price Service page on March 27, introducing a new Market Statistics module. This feature visualizes key metrics—such as market cap ranking, circulating and total supply, and 24-hour and 7-day price ranges—substantially improving data completeness and readability to better support the diverse needs of developers and financial protocols.

In terms of asset coverage, WINkLink steadily expanded its oracle price feeds. It integrated $U price feeds alongside U/TRX and U/USD trading pairs on April 13, followed by KGST price feeds and the KGST/TRX pair on June 9, continuously enriching on-chain price data across a broader range of asset classes.

To empower token value, WINkLink launched a long-term WIN buyback-and-burn initiative on July 6. Under this program, 100% of the revenue generated from providing oracle services to the TRON ecosystem is allocated to buying back and burning WIN tokens, with burn data publicly disclosed around the middle of the following quarter. By directly linking ecosystem revenue to token value, this mechanism continuously optimizes token supply dynamics, fostering a positive feedback loop between protocol utility and token value. Following the announcement, WIN surged from ~$0.00002055 to $0.00002514 on July 29, marking a 22.5% gain that clearly demonstrates the value appreciation driven by deflationary mechanics.

Additionally, WINkLink secured exchange recognition early in the year. WIN was officially listed on Thailand's leading crypto exchange, Bitkub, on January 30, followed by Baltex on February 28, expanding its global market footprint ahead of schedule.

TRON's AI Matrix: Rapid Product Rollouts Drive Expansion

While a mature DeFi ecosystem serves as TRON's financial anchor through market cycles, its strategic expansion into Web3 AI forms the core pivot for capturing the dividends of the next technological revolution. In H1 2026, TRON entered a major growth phase for its AI ecosystem: Bank of AI, a dedicated financial infrastructure for AI Agents, launched in February; B.AI, a unified multi-model service gateway, debuted in April; and BTTInferGrid, a decentralized AI computing network, went live in June—marking a rapid succession of milestone product rollouts.

Today, TRON's AI ecosystem features a robust product matrix anchored by B.AI, Bank of AI, AINFT, and BTTInferGrid. Spanning large language model (LLM) service gateways, AI Agent infrastructure, AI Agent financial trading, and distributed compute supply, each layer boasts distinct positioning, complementary capabilities, and functional synergies. Together, they form a complete multi-tier architecture connecting top-layer service gateways, middle-layer core infrastructure, and bottom-layer computing power, creating a highly efficient and well-structured decentralized AI ecosystem.

At the top layer, B.AI serves as a unified multi-model gateway bridging Web2 and Web3. Positioned as premier AI infrastructure, B.AI functions as a global settlement layer for intelligence, operating above all models and below all agents to route, compute, and settle every call. Its LLM offering integrates conversational capabilities and standardized API services from multiple mainstream models, supporting one-click model switching and rapid integration through a single API. The platform has also introduced essential ecosystem tools, including the desktop AI agent BAIclaw, the coding assistant BAIcode, and foundational protocols like the x402 payment standard and 8004 identity protocol. Together, these solutions deliver a frictionless user experience while drastically lowering technical barriers for developers, providing a unified LLM foundation for all applications across the ecosystem.

At the middle infrastructure layer, Bank of AI and AINFT power two central pillars for AI agents: financial service onboarding and trading strategy validation. Bank of AI provides dedicated financial infrastructure, leveraging native components such as the x402 payment standard, 8004 identity protocol, MCP Server, and Skills to deliver one-stop Web3 integration. This allows AI agents to seamlessly access mature DeFi functions like trading and lending out of the box, positioning Bank of AI as the primary bridge between AI agents and TRON's DeFi ecosystem. Meanwhile, AINFT plans to build an AI trading hub by introducing standardized evaluation infrastructure, providing strategy verification and benchmarking to foster trust and value flow across the AI trading landscape.

At the foundational layer, BitTorrent's BTTInferGrid decentralized AI inference network powers the entire ecosystem. Drawing on BitTorrent's 20-plus years of global distributed node infrastructure, the platform uses crypto-economic incentives to aggregate idle GPU compute and bandwidth resources. By transforming fragmented hardware into a standardized, unified compute pool, BTTInferGrid delivers low-cost, high-availability, and on-chain-verifiable AI inference services for all upper-layer applications. This directly challenges the monopoly of centralized providers while significantly reducing compute costs for Web3 AI projects.

Beyond product rollouts, TRON has also secured a forward-looking position in industry standards. In March, TRON joined the Agentic AI Foundation hosted by the Linux Foundation as a Gold Member, taking a seat alongside global tech and finance leaders, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Circle, and JPMorgan Chase, to shape industry governance. This strategic move further reinforces TRON's influence and competitive edge in decentralized AI, bolstering its position to lead the next technological revolution.

B.AI: Full-Stack AI Infrastructure and the Go-To Gateway for Global Users

Officially launched in April, the platform has rapidly evolved into a breakout Web2 and Web3 AI product through high-frequency iterations and constant feature rollouts. Serving as TRON's core unified gateway for both everyday users and developers, B.AI surpassed 2.2 million registered users by September 1, reaching a multi-million scale in just four months. Momentum reached a new high on August 31, when daily token throughput crossed 1.1 trillion, ushering the platform into the era of 1T+ compute orchestration and solidifying its position among the industry's fastest-growing AI platforms.

In just four months, B.AI has built a full-stack infrastructure spanning consumer interactions and developer tools. Its multi-tiered architecture features a unified LLM platform at its core, practical applications like the desktop AI agent BAIclaw and coding assistant BAIcode, and foundational components such as the x402 payment standard, 8004 identity protocol, and Skill modules. Together, these layers form an end-to-end framework connecting unified access, real-world applications, and underlying capabilities.

At the core service layer, B.AI aggregates dozens of leading global AI models, pairing premier international flagships with highly cost-effective options. The catalog includes global benchmarks including ChatGPT (GPT-5.4/5.5/5.6 series), Claude (Opus/Sonnet/Haiku series), Gemini (Flash/Pro series), and Grok (4.5 series), alongside competitive Chinese models like MiniMax (M2.7/M3), DeepSeek (V4 series), Kimi (K2.5/K2.6/K3), Zhipu GLM (5.1/5.2/5.3), Qwen (3.6/3.8 series), Tencent Hy3, and MiMo (V2.5/V2.5 Pro). With new models continuously integrated, users can freely toggle across options within a single interface, eliminating the hassle of switching platforms.

To solve the complexity of model selection, B.AI introduced Auto Smart Routing, which automatically pairs user tasks with the optimal model based on task type, complexity, and cost. This drastically lowers the barrier to leveraging multi-model AI. Additionally, a dedicated Leaderboard tracks real-time usage volume and user ratings, enabling new users to quickly identify top-performing models tailored to their needs.

For API integrations, B.AI launched a unified API key interface that enables developers to access every model on the platform with a single key. To accommodate varying user scales, budgets, and operational needs, B.AI API offers dual operating modes:

• Official Mode: Connects directly to native provider APIs and offers discounted resource pools with 10% to 40% off across models like GLM-5.2, Grok, Gemini, and GPT, with model coverage expanding continuously.
• Custom Provider Mode: Allows users to select model providers based on specific business needs and unlock flexible tiered pricing. Featuring discounts up to 90% off across mainstream models like Claude, GPT, Gemini, Kimi, and GLM, this mode regularly adds new providers and pricing tiers to offer developers even more diverse choices for API integration.

For authentication and payments, B.AI supports dual Web2 and Web3 rails, ensuring frictionless onboarding for users across all ecosystems. On the login side, the platform supports one-click Web2 sign-in via Google accounts alongside multi-chain Web3 wallet access across TRON, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Optimism, Arbitrum, and non-EVM networks like Solana. On the payment side, B.AI bridges traditional fiat and crypto ecosystems: Web2 users can pay via Visa, WeChat Pay, Alipay, and UnionPay, while Web3 users can connect through dozens of major global wallets including TronLink, Binance Wallet, OKX Wallet, MetaMask, and Trust Wallet. By pairing full wallet compatibility with unified fiat-crypto payments, this hybrid approach delivers a smooth interaction and payment experience worldwide.

To expand its ecosystem, B.AI has partnered with dozens of tech and Web3 leaders, including cloud giants Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud, AI unicorn MiniMax, and Web3 innovators like Biconomy, MoonPay, Pundi X Labs, KuCoin Web3 Wallet, Symbiosis, CROSS, and deBridge.

To boost adoption, B.AI launched a limited-time free-access campaign on August 17, offering zero-threshold, unlimited access to six top LLMs: GLM-5.3-Flash (Ox Alpha), Qwen3.8-Flash, DeepSeek-V4-Flash, DeepSeek-V4-Flash-Vision-Exp, Tencent Hy3, and Xiaomi MiMo-V2.5.

Official data shows this promotion drove explosive usage growth. On August 31, B.AI‘s daily token throughput topped 1.1 trillion, marking a new milestone in 1T+ compute scale. In the campaign's first 14 days, cumulative throughput reached 6.86 trillion, bringing in over 196,000 new API users.

Bank of AI: One-Click On-Chain Financial Infrastructure for AI Agents

Unveiled in February, Bank of AI serves as a financial protocol hub connecting AI and Web3. By equipping AI agents with autonomous execution capabilities, it transforms them from passive chatbots into active, decision-making economic actors.

Designed as an all-in-one toolkit, Bank of AI provides standardized, out-of-the-box financial modules. It integrates foundational standards like the x402 payment protocol and 8004 identity protocol, alongside developer tools such as the MCP Server, Skills plugin framework, and OpenClaw Extension. With simple code snippets or plain natural language prompts, developers and no-code users can equip any AI agent with automated payments, identity verification, and DeFi operations—no smart contract expertise required.

Currently, Bank of AI‘s MCP Server and Skills framework support TRON, Ethereum, and BNB Chain. Connected agents can fetch real-time data and interface seamlessly with top DeFi protocols—including SUN.io, JustLend DAO, Uniswap, and PancakeSwap—to autonomously handle swaps, lending, yield farming, and cross-chain arbitrage. This grants AI agents true asset management autonomy, laying an extensible financial execution layer for the Web3 AI economy.

AINFT: Trading Hub & Standardized Trust Layer for AI Agents

AINFT plans to provide standardized infrastructure and serve as a financial trading hub for AI agents. For developers, AINFT will launch a dedicated trading benchmark platform to turn investment concepts into audited, quantitative backtesting results, establishing clear performance standards and validation frameworks for AI agent trading strategies.

Specifically, developers can evaluate strategies with zero financial risk using simulated real-market data for core assets like BTC and ETH. The platform provides objective quantitative assessments across key metrics—including returns, risk control (loss limits and maximum drawdown), operational stability, alpha generation, and end-to-end decision logic. This allows top-tier strategies to stand out through market competition, building an industry-recognized capability rating and trust credential system for AI agents.

While AINFT has not officially launched, a preview version is currently live on its website. For further product updates, please follow @AINFT on X.

BTTInferGrid: Decentralized AI Compute Network Reshaping the Economy

Launched by BitTorrent in June, BTTInferGrid is a flagship DePIN decentralized compute network designed for AI inference. Serving as the compute foundation for TRON's AI ecosystem, it connects global idle GPU resources with AI developers to build an open, accessible next-generation compute infrastructure.

Powered by cryptoeconomic incentives and distributed consensus, BTTInferGrid aggregates fragmented, underutilized GPU capacity into a standardized, schedulable resource pool that precisely matches developer inference demands. This approach reshapes the production, distribution, and value flow of compute power, dismantling traditional centralized monopolies.

Currently, BTTInferGrid supports key open-source models—including Qwen3.6 27B, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct, and Meta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct—which developers can access with one click via B.AI. The platform will soon release standardized APIs for flexible, on-demand compute scheduling, further shortening AI application development cycles.

Longer term, BTTInferGrid aims to become a fully AI-native infrastructure. By 2028 and beyond, it plans to deliver an integrated network combining compute, storage, and smart contracts to power AI agents and automated applications, establishing itself as the go-to decentralized compute network for global open-source AI.

TRON's DeFi + AI Engine: Building Resilience Across Market Cycles

Amid an industry-wide downturn, TRON achieved counter-cyclical growth by solidifying its DeFi foundation while expanding into AI. Its DeFi sector maintains market leadership, while a rapidly maturing AI ecosystem unlocks new growth vectors. Together, these complementary drivers power TRON's long-term competitiveness, setting a proven blueprint for Web3 growth.

TRON has established a mature DeFi ecosystem spanning trading, asset management, and infrastructure. SUN.io provides a full suite of trading services, including SunSwap (DEX), SunPump (meme launchpad), and SUNX (perpetuals). The JUST ecosystem delivers integrated asset solutions via JustLend DAO—covering SBM lending, sTRX liquid staking, and energy rental—alongside the GasFree smart wallet and USDD stablecoin. Supporting the entire network, WINkLink oracle and BitTorrent offer essential data and file transfer capabilities.

Backed by real protocol revenue, ongoing product iteration, and token deflation, this robust DeFi base provides both the revenue and user foundation needed to power TRON's expansion into AI.

In AI, TRON has secured a strong first-mover advantage through rapid product rollouts and practical execution, establishing a full-stack, closed-loop ecosystem. Built around four core products—B.AI, Bank of AI, AINFT, and BTTInferGrid—TRON has structured a three-tiered architecture spanning top-layer model entry, middle-layer agent infrastructure, and bottom-layer compute. Rather than standalone tools, these components operate as a cohesive system: B.AI serves as the portal for user traffic and model services; Bank of AI and AINFT empower AI agents with financial capabilities; and BTTInferGrid provides distributed compute. Working in synergy, these products drive TRON's competitiveness in Web3 AI and lay the groundwork for deep AI-blockchain integration.

At Malaysia Blockchain Week 2026, TRON Founder Justin Sun highlighted TRON as a cornerstone for converging AI and finance. He noted that DeFi, TradFi, and AI are accelerating convergence across shared assets, payment rails, and user bases. In a future financial landscape shaped by institutions, open blockchains, and AI, TRON's infrastructure will play a central role.

Just as TRON's 2019 vision established its global stablecoin leadership and its 2020 push built its DeFi foundation, its systematic deployment of AI now serves as the growth engine for its next era, driving the ecosystem into new technological frontiers.

TRON Eco Team
Singapore
media@just.network

Disclaimer: This was a sponsored post brought to you by TRON.

The post TRON H1 2026 Strategy Report: Dual-Engine Growth via DeFi and AI Delivers Record Traction appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Michael Saylor has roughly one week to orchestrate STRC’s return to its $100 par value by his informal Sept. 8 target, but the financial machinery required to close the final gap is running hot.

Despite deploying $635.2 million on aggressive buybacks, Strategy’s preferred security continues to hover around $97. The company has simultaneously restarted its Bitcoin accumulation after a two-month freeze, signaling confidence that its balance sheet can absorb both demands.

Yet, the path to par has morphed into a highly capital-intensive grind just as a wave of competing Bitcoin-linked yield products hits the market.

The coming days will test more than Saylor’s 70-trading-day timeline, a target calculated from STRC's latest recovery starting May 28. It will reveal how much more capital the firm is willing to deploy before relying on organic institutional demand to anchor the security.

The final $3 is costing Strategy more

The economics of the buyback campaign have deteriorated steadily as STRC climbs toward par, upending the company's initial strategy.

When Strategy began repurchasing STRC in July, management outlined a clear tapering framework: deploy more capital at deeper discounts to capture attractive economics, then scale back as the security approached $100, where independent investor demand would theoretically take the reins.

Instead, weekly spending has accelerated as the discount narrowed.

Buying below par still carries a basic economic rationale. Every share retired for less than $100 eliminates $100 of stated value, along with its annualized 12% dividend obligation. However, the rapidly shrinking spread alters the campaign's trade-off.

The firm now has just $364.8 million remaining under its $1 billion authorization. At the recent pace of spending, that runway could narrow quickly, leaving Strategy to decide how much more capital it is prepared to commit to support the final move to par.

MSTR and Bitcoin are carrying the STRC repair

Strategy has leaned heavily on its two largest sources of financial firepower, MSTR common stock and its Bitcoin holdings, to finance the STRC repair effort.

Between late June and early August, the firm sold a net 6,916 Bitcoin across four disclosed transactions to fund preferred-stock obligations and, in later transactions, STRC repurchases.

Last week, Strategy pivoted back toward common-equity issuance, selling 4.53 million MSTR shares for $602.8 million in net proceeds. Of that amount, $151.8 million funded the latest STRC repurchase while another $50.7 million covered STRC dividends.

The company also deployed $369.7 million to acquire 4,603 Bitcoin, its first purchase in roughly two months, pushing its total stockpile to 845,050 BTC. Another $30 million went into its flexible cash pool.

To fortify the structure surrounding its preferred securities, Strategy has ring-fenced a $5.1 billion USD Reserve earmarked for preferred dividends and debt interest, backed by a separate roughly $1.6 billion pool of flexible USD Cash.

It has also maintained STRC's annualized dividend at 12% and instituted a policy barring new STRC issuance below $100.

Those moves temporarily invert the security's intended design.

STRC was engineered to raise capital from investors that Strategy could deploy across its balance sheet, including toward Bitcoin purchases. Instead, the company spent much of the summer using proceeds from MSTR issuance and, at times, Bitcoin sales to service and repurchase STRC.

The return to Bitcoin buying suggests Strategy believes the rebuilt mechanics around the preferred are now strong enough to support both sides of the strategy simultaneously.

STRC’s real test begins at $100

The ultimate gauge of success arrives when Strategy reduces its own purchases and asks outside investors to carry STRC around $100.

Traditional finance has already demonstrated substantial appetite for the security. The initial July 2025 offering was originally slated for 5 million shares, or $500 million at stated value. Strong demand allowed the firm to increase the deal to more than 28 million shares and raise $2.52 billion.

By July 2026, Saylor said Digital Credit was entering the institutional mainstream, pointing to $756 million of STRC held across three major US preferred-stock ETFs: BlackRock’s PFF, Virtus InfraCap’s PFFA and VanEck’s PFXF. STRC was the largest individual holding in all three at the time.

However, as STRC approaches $100, the market it is returning to is becoming more crowded.

Strive has expanded its SATA preferred stock, which carries a 13% annual dividend rate, pays distributions every business day, and follows a similar policy against issuing below $100.

Metaplanet is also building a broader Bitcoin-credit distribution platform. The Japanese Bitcoin treasury company acquired licensed securities platform Siiibo Securities to develop and distribute Bitcoin-linked yield products, while separately expanding its US presence through Super League Enterprise.

Those developments give investors seeking Bitcoin-linked income a growing menu of securities with different yields, payment schedules, and capital structures.

STRC enters that competition with an important advantage: scale and demonstrated institutional adoption. But reaching $100 will test whether that established investor base remains strong enough to replace Strategy's own purchases and eventually absorb fresh issuance at par.

If outside demand does so as Strategy reduces buybacks, STRC can return to its intended role as a funding source for Bitcoin purchases.

However, if demand weakens as issuer support fades and competing products attract capital, reaching $100 may prove easier than sustaining it.

The post Strategy keeps STRC at 12% as Saylor has seven days to salvage the $10 billion Bitcoin yield product as costs spiral appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Groups including The Crypto Council for Innovation, Grayscale, and a16z urged the regulator to preserve existing fund classifications and streamline reviews for new exchange-traded products.

The unreleased model can find zero-day vulnerabilities and chain them into working exploits without a human walking it through each step, and access to that capability is starting with a small group of testers.

Two Thai businessmen claim Tether blocked access to their stablecoins months before federal authorities secured a seizure warrant.

The country's consumer watchdog went further, urging retailers to stop selling the devices until the law is clear.

Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and OpenAI's Greg Brockman have backed the super PAC behind the campaign, which faces surging opposition.

Trading activity on the XRP Ledger surged in the second quarter, with average daily order-book volume rising 79% from a year earlier even as the number of accounts executing trades fell.

Bitcoin is breaking out of its bear market as giant buyers completely absorb the retail panic.

Kalshi traders are betting on Bitcoin reaching a high of $82,000 this month, amid growing expectations for another price recovery across major assets.

Former Ripple CTO backs Tether's $42 million warrantless freeze in SDNY lawsuit, warning of massive anti-money laundering risks.

September has opened on a familiar note for risk assets, with Dogecoin cofounder sharing an unexpected take.

Key Highlights

• Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE, revealed to lawmakers that the exchange participated in Anthropic’s Project Glasswing initiative
• The program provides select partners with early access to Anthropic’s advanced Mythos AI model for security vulnerability detection
• The exchange successfully identified and remediated several security weaknesses using the technology
• The revelation came during Martin’s response to questions from Representative Bill Huizenga regarding cyber threat preparedness
• Specific details about the nature of the vulnerabilities and remediation timeline remain undisclosed

The New York Stock Exchange has deployed artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic to identify and remediate security weaknesses within its infrastructure.

During testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, NYSE President Lynn Martin revealed that the exchange participated as an early partner in Anthropic’s Project Glasswing initiative.

According to Martin, the AI-powered technology enabled the exchange to discover several security issues and address them promptly. She declined to elaborate on the specific nature of the vulnerabilities or provide a timeline for when the remediation occurred.

Understanding Project Glasswing

Anthropic’s Project Glasswing represents a specialized initiative that grants exclusive access to the company’s Mythos AI model to a carefully selected group of organizations. The primary objective is to enable these partners to enhance their cybersecurity posture.

According to Anthropic, Mythos represents its highest-capability model tier. Currently, the technology remains unavailable to general users and is restricted to approved participants.

The NYSE operates under Intercontinental Exchange, its parent organization, which manages various financial market infrastructure systems worldwide.

Congressional Context

Martin’s revelation emerged during a line of questioning from Michigan Republican Representative Bill Huizenga. The congressman inquired about the exchange’s preparedness protocols for defending against organized cyberattacks.

Martin cited the Project Glasswing participation as a concrete example demonstrating the exchange’s proactive approach to bolstering its security infrastructure.

The NYSE president offered no additional information regarding the severity of the discovered vulnerabilities or the investment required to address them.

By participating in the program, the exchange joins an exclusive cohort of institutions granted early access to the Mythos model for defensive security applications.

Financial market infrastructure operators face mounting cybersecurity challenges. Regulatory bodies and legislative officials increasingly demand that major exchanges prove their ability to resist advanced cyber threats.

As a platform handling millions of transactions daily, the NYSE represents a particularly attractive target for malicious cyber actors.

Martin’s remarks to Congress made no reference to ongoing threats or security breaches. The cybersecurity work she described appears to have been conducted as preventive testing rather than incident response.

Anthropic has not released a public roster of Project Glasswing participants. The NYSE’s involvement only became known through Martin’s congressional appearance.

Shares of Intercontinental Exchange declined 1.39% on the day Martin delivered her testimony.

Neither Anthropic nor the NYSE provided additional statements at press time.

The post NYSE Deploys Anthropic’s AI to Identify and Repair Security Weaknesses appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Highlights

• Chevron intends to deploy over $7 billion in Venezuelan operations throughout the next five-year period
• The objective targets doubling crude production in Venezuela to approximately 600,000 barrels daily
• Updated arrangements broaden Chevron’s Petroindependencia partnership into two additional zones within the Orinoco Belt
• Per-barrel production expenses anticipated to remain under $20
• Output from Venezuela has already climbed 15% year-to-date across Chevron’s trio of joint partnerships

On Wednesday, Chevron announced it has secured revised agreements with Venezuela regarding its collaborative ventures operating in the nation, pledging in excess of $7 billion throughout the coming five years. The energy company’s shares rose 0.42% during trading.

Chevron Corporation, CVX

The ambition centers on elevating Venezuelan crude output to approximately 600,000 barrels daily, representing nearly twice the existing production volumes. Overall production expenses are projected to remain beneath the $20-per-barrel threshold.

The updated arrangements broaden Chevron’s Petroindependencia collaborative venture to encompass two neighboring zones located in the Carabobo sector of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. The company currently manages three partnership operations within the nation: Petroindependencia and Petropiar situated in the Orinoco Belt, alongside Petroboscan positioned in Zulia’s western state.

Chief Executive Mike Wirth of Chevron stated the expansion demonstrates trust in Venezuela’s petroleum reserves. “Chevron’s engagement in Venezuela extends beyond a century, and our broadened footprint demonstrates our trust in the nation’s substantial resource capabilities and its capacity to attract investment within our holdings for generations to come,” Wirth explained.

The energy giant has maintained operations in Venezuela since 1923, positioning it among the limited U.S. petroleum corporations maintaining an uninterrupted footprint there. Both ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips departed in 2007 following asset nationalization under Hugo Chavez and have remained absent.

Background of the Agreement

The disclosure arrives just days following President Trump’s revelation of an arrangement granting the U.S. controlling interest over approximately 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan petroleum reserves. Chevron’s expansion operates independently from that arrangement but aligns with the wider initiative to resurrect Venezuela’s petroleum industry.

Venezuela possesses the planet’s most extensive oil reserves yet presently generates merely around 1.25 million barrels daily. This represents a steep decline from exceeding 3 million barrels daily two decades prior, stemming from prolonged operational failures by government-controlled PDVSA.

Chris Wright, U.S. Energy Secretary, who touched down in Caracas late Tuesday evening, anticipates Venezuela’s aggregate oil production will achieve 2 million barrels daily before the decade concludes. Wright alongside Venezuela’s petroleum minister Paula Henao are scheduled to witness the execution of numerous energy contracts.

Wirth indicated the infrastructure necessary for the expansion already exists. “Our capacity to expand economically is substantially different compared to entering an undeveloped region lacking roads, lacking water systems, lacking electrical power,” he explained to CNBC.

Additional Firms Entering the Market

Chevron isn’t alone in finalizing agreements. Energy producer ENI, investment firm KEO Capital and energy company Primavera, co-established by billionaire Fred Ehrsam, number among entities anticipated to execute energy contracts in Venezuela potentially as early as Wednesday.

A majority of these contracts involve operational expansions negotiated as components of an extensive petroleum restructuring authorized in January, subsequent to the departure of former President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Chevron indicated the updated agreements incorporate improved fiscal, commercial and regulatory provisions to safeguard extended-term capital deployments. Throughout its three Venezuelan collaborative ventures, the corporation has already boosted production by 15% during the current year.

The post Chevron (CVX) Stock Rises as Energy Giant Pledges $7B to Revitalize Venezuela Oil Production appeared first on Blockonomi.

Quick Overview

• Berenberg Bank started covering ASTS with a Buy recommendation and $92 price objective
• The price objective indicates approximately 65% potential gain from previous closing price
• Shares of ASTS rose more than 9% during early September 2, 2026 trading
• Analysts highlighted AST’s unique capability to provide satellite broadband directly to standard smartphones
• AST has secured partnerships with over 60 telecom carriers, reaching approximately 3 billion subscribers worldwide

Shares of AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) rallied over 9% during morning hours on September 2 following Berenberg Bank’s initiation of coverage featuring a Buy rating and $92 price objective. The equity reached an intraday peak of $61.48, climbing from its opening level of $58.48.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc., ASTS

Berenberg’s $92 price objective suggests roughly 65% appreciation potential from the stock’s pre-announcement trading level. Such a substantial upside forecast naturally draws investor interest.

The core thesis from Berenberg was straightforward: AST SpaceMobile stands alone as the only enterprise demonstrating successful cellular broadband delivery from satellite directly to standard smartphones. Users need no specialized equipment. Berenberg views this capability as a significant competitive moat.

This coverage launch was part of Berenberg’s broader expansion into space sector analysis. Their research team characterized the worldwide space industry, which surpassed $500 billion in 2025, as positioned to reach $1 trillion by 2030. Declining launch expenses and accelerated commercial adoption fuel this growth forecast.

Against this backdrop, Berenberg highlighted AST’s business model as particularly compelling. The firm has established agreements with more than 60 telecommunications operators globally, providing reach to roughly 3 billion prospective subscribers while avoiding direct consumer marketing costs.

Prior to the Berenberg announcement, increased bullish options trading activity had been observed, suggesting certain traders were positioning themselves ahead of a potential positive development.

Path to Commercial Operations Takes Shape

Berenberg’s analysis also emphasized AST’s vertically integrated business structure and satellite network architecture as fundamental competitive advantages. The company anticipates significant commercial service expansion beginning in 2027, providing a concrete milestone for market observers.

Broader equity markets showed modest movement. The S&P 500 increased 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite remained essentially unchanged. The ASTS rally was predominantly attributable to company-specific developments.

Year-to-date performance has been challenging for the stock. Shares are down approximately 23% for the year and trade substantially below their 52-week peak of $133.86. Monday’s advance originated from price levels many market participants viewed as oversold territory.

Challenges Remain for Investors

AST continues operating with significant losses and substantial cash consumption to finance satellite manufacturing, orbital deployments, and ground infrastructure development. While typical for pre-commercial space ventures, this reality introduces considerable execution uncertainty.

Potential setbacks in satellite deployment schedules or regulatory clearance processes could extend the timeline to revenue generation. Should development expenses exceed projections, the company might require additional financing rounds, potentially diluting current shareholders.

Daily trading volume averages approximately 16.6 million shares, with AST’s market capitalization standing at roughly $23 billion.

The equity finished the previous session around $55.70 before Berenberg’s coverage initiation drove it significantly higher during early September 2 trading.

The post AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Stock Surges 9% Following Berenberg’s Bullish Buy Rating appeared first on Blockonomi.

Key Takeaways

• The company’s September 8 annual investor presentation is expected to center heavily on the massive $1.8 billion SkyWater Technology acquisition.
• Second-quarter revenue reached $80.05 million, representing a 287% year-over-year increase and surpassing analyst projections of $66.47 million.
• Following the SkyWater transaction’s completion in late July, IonQ now controls its own semiconductor fabrication facility.
• Wall Street consensus stands at “Moderate Buy” with analysts targeting an average price of $69.92; shares began Wednesday’s session at $37.87.
• Public warrants for IonQ are scheduled to expire on September 30, which could create dilution concerns for shareholders.

Shares of IonQ began trading Wednesday at $37.87, significantly under the Wall Street consensus price target of $69.92. The equity has moved within a 52-week band of $25.89 to $84.64, with the company currently valued at $14.43 billion in market capitalization.

IonQ, Inc., IONQ

The firm’s investor day scheduled for September 8 has emerged as a significant event for those tracking the quantum computing sector. Market observers anticipate that the SkyWater Technology transaction will be the primary discussion point.

According to StoneX analyst Gary Mobley, IonQ’s acquisition strategy represents the central narrative. The $1.8 billion purchase of SkyWater, finalized in late July, stands as the company’s most substantial deal to date and provides IonQ with ownership of its own fabrication facility.

This development enables IonQ to provide semiconductor manufacturing, chip architecture design, and sophisticated packaging services to external clients. The move represents a substantial evolution for an enterprise that originally launched as a dedicated quantum computing operation.

Mobley suggests the SkyWater transaction might accelerate IonQ’s development timeline for a 200,000 qubit system by approximately twelve months. This projection aligns with a recent executive directive mandating a fault-tolerant quantum computing system at a national laboratory by 2028.

SkyWater Acquisition Presents Financial Challenges

The accounting implications are considerably complex. Since IonQ was already a significant SkyWater client, analysts warn against merely combining SkyWater’s revenue figures. Mobley indicates investors should decrease SkyWater’s revenue impact by approximately 20% to eliminate intercompany transactions.

IonQ was projected to spend $120 million with SkyWater in 2026, with $80 million scheduled for the year’s latter half. Present Wall Street forecasts have not completely integrated the SkyWater acquisition’s effects.

Mobley further anticipates the transaction will reduce overall profit margins and incorporate roughly $93 million in operational costs during the current year. Comprehensive guidance regarding the acquisition’s financial consequences is anticipated during the September 8 presentation.

IonQ’s second-quarter performance provided investors with encouraging data. Revenue totaled $80.05 million, marking a 286.7% annual increase, exceeding the $66.47 million consensus estimate. The adjusted loss per share came in at $0.33, outperforming analyst expectations of $0.56.

Pharmaceutical Research Partnership Expands Applications

A fresh announcement this week provides IonQ with additional momentum entering investor day. The company collaborated with QC Ware to showcase a hybrid quantum-classical chemistry application utilizing IonQ’s Forte platform via Amazon Braket.

The demonstration generated enzyme interaction-energy calculations within 4% of established benchmarks, achieving the chemical-accuracy standard required for pharmaceutical applications. This success reveals a promising avenue into drug development, an industry outside IonQ’s conventional focus areas.

CEO Niccolo de Masi has been forthright regarding his vision. “Our ambition is always to be the Nvidia of quantum,” he stated to Barron’s following the most recent earnings announcement.

Current analyst coverage includes nine Buy ratings, four Hold recommendations, and one Sell rating. IonQ’s outstanding public warrants reach their expiration date on September 30, and their potential exercise could dilute existing shares and create short-term downward pressure.

The post IonQ (IONQ) Stock Faces Critical Investor Day as SkyWater Acquisition Takes Center Stage appeared first on Blockonomi.

Quick Summary

• All three major US indices reversed earlier declines to close higher on Wednesday’s trading session
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams indicated uncertainty about September rate increase necessity
• Crude oil stabilized around $95 per barrel for Brent amid ongoing Middle East tensions
• Private sector employment data from ADP revealed just 38,000 jobs added in August, missing expectations of 47,000
• The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield remained elevated at 4.79%, matching levels not seen since 2023

American equities staged a recovery Wednesday afternoon as crude oil prices stabilized and comments from a Federal Reserve policymaker suggested reduced likelihood of a September interest rate increase.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed approximately 0.4%, adding roughly 236 points by session’s end. The S&P 500 advanced 0.49% while the Nasdaq Composite registered a 0.45% gain, erasing earlier session losses.

Central Bank Official Provides Dovish Commentary

In an interview with CNBC Wednesday, New York Federal Reserve President John Williams stated there were “no clear signs right now” justifying an interest rate increase at September’s policy meeting to combat inflation.

Williams further indicated that climbing bond yields might actually signal economic strength rather than increasing inflation concerns. This perspective provided market participants with some reassurance.

The 10-year Treasury yield maintained its position at 4.79% Wednesday, representing its peak level since 2023. Meanwhile, the 30-year yield stood at 5.26%.

According to Andy Goldberg, chief investment strategist at Nomura Asset Management International, Wednesday’s market advance stemmed primarily from an absence of negative headlines rather than significant positive catalysts.

“When you do have a lack of clear catalyst and the market’s been down for a few days, investors don’t feel as bad buying the dips,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg additionally pointed out that elevated yields have constrained equity valuations following a robust earnings period, creating attractive entry points for certain stocks during pullbacks.

Energy Markets and Middle East Tensions Draw Attention

Oil prices remained a central concern for market participants throughout the week. Brent crude futures hovered around $95 per barrel while WTI crude maintained levels near $90 per barrel.

Escalating tensions with Iran continued affecting market psychology. Following US airstrikes, President Trump warned Tuesday of potential stronger action should Iran retaliate. Iranian officials indicated they’re considering targets including US military installations in Jordan and Bahrain.

Equities had initially declined during morning trading before rebounding as energy prices retreated modestly from earlier highs.

Employment data released Wednesday showed private sector job creation of just 38,000 positions in August according to ADP. This figure fell short of the 47,000 consensus forecast and may foreshadow weaker results in Friday’s official government employment report.

Broadcom and Snowflake were scheduled to release quarterly results after Wednesday’s market close, providing additional focus points for traders and analysts.

While Wednesday’s advances were relatively modest in scale, they provided welcome respite following multiple consecutive days of market declines.

The post Wall Street Rallies as Fed’s Williams Downplays September Rate Increase appeared first on Blockonomi.

The cryptocurrency market took another step back today (September 2) as the USA and Iran exchanged more strikes in the Middle East.

Despite that, certain digital assets like Filecoin (FIL) remain in green territory and even posted double-digit increases on a daily scale. Here’s what may come next for the token.

How Much More?

FIL outperformed all top 100 cryptocurrencies today after jumping by 15% and briefly surpassing $0.80. As of this writing, it trades at around $0.77 (per CoinGecko), representing a 25% increase over the past two weeks.

It remains unclear exactly what triggered the resurgence, but according to numerous market observers, the upward move may not be over yet. X user Crypto GVR recently claimed that FIL is moving toward a zone that could be important for “the next major trend shift.”

The analyst said they are paying close attention to the $0.50-$0.70 zone as “the potential reversal area,” arguing that a strong recovery and strengthening momentum could open the door to a further push toward $2 in the long term.

The Boss also chipped in. The analyst opined that FIL is nearing a major technical decision as its descending wedge has compressed further and price is now much closer to the apex.

“The lower boundary has continued to act as support, while the upper trendline keeps pressure on the recovery. What has changed is the degree of compression. Price is spending more time near the lower part of the structure instead of expanding lower, making the wedge increasingly important,” they added.

The X user claimed that a breakout from the upper boundary would be the “first meaningful structural confirmation,” but until then “the descending wedge remains intact.”

JAVON MARKS was much more bullish. The analyst believes that if FIL continues to hold the key breakout, “sights remain on a major reversal & run,” especially given the improved condition of the crypto market lately. The X user envisioned a 1,200% jump to $2.94, followed by an explosion to $7.50 and $11.40.

“We could be right at the start of this process, right now,” they concluded.

Pullback Ahead?

It is important to note that some market participants used the recent price uptrend to lock in profits. Crypto trader Mehmet GIZIK revealed that he closed his FIL position, resulting in a $10,200 gain.

His decision isn’t illogical, given the asset’s Relative Strength Index (RSI), which briefly rose above 80 and now stands beyond 70. Such readings mean the asset has entered overbought territory and could be due for a correction. On the other hand, anything below 30 is typically viewed as a buying opportunity.

Separately, if you want to know about the market state, the recent Iran-US tension, and other hot crypto news, please check our video below.

The post Filecoin (FIL) Jumps 15% Daily: Here Are the Next Bullish Targets appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Tether is facing a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York over the freeze of $42.4 million in USDT belonging to two Thai businessmen, Nutthawat Rukthammachalern and Natthawat Kasamvilas.

The plaintiffs allege that Tether blacklisted their Ethereum addresses in late October 2025 after receiving an informal request from an agent with the US Department of Homeland Security (HSI). A total of 42.4 million USDT was frozen. According to the businessmen, the stablecoin issuer took the action without a warrant, court order, or notice to them.

Funds Linked to Pig-Butchering Investigation

According to an update from Attorney Ariel Givner, the funds appear to be connected to an HSI Raleigh investigation into a pig-butchering case. The investigation began after a victim tip involving romance and investment fraud, a fake trading platform, and the movement of stolen USDT through multiple wallets in an effort to make the funds appear clean.

One of the wallets linked to the plaintiffs held about $26.1 million and had already been identified as a consolidation address in an “accumulate, layer, integrate” flow.

A warrant came later. On February 19, 2026, the Eastern District of North Carolina issued warrant 5:26-MJ-1267-JG, directing Tether to burn the frozen USDT and remint the tokens to a government wallet. Five days later, EDNC and HSI announced a $61 million USDT seizure traced to addresses allegedly associated with laundering proceeds stolen from pig-butchering victims. Tether was publicly thanked for carrying out the transfer.

The lawsuit, however, does not dispute the government’s claim that the funds are connected to scam proceeds. Instead, the plaintiffs have challenged Tether’s authority to freeze, burn, and reissue USDT that they say was purchased on the secondary market. The duo argued,

“Defendants are profiting directly from the freeze itself. Defendants use the actual U.S. dollars they receive when they mint USDT to purchase interest-bearing financial instruments, predominantly United States Treasury securities custodied in New York.”

Their claims include declaratory judgment, conversion, trespass to chattels, unjust enrichment, and injunctive relief. The duo is seeking to lift the freeze, damages if the tokens are destroyed, repayment of reserve interest earned during the freeze, and punitive damages.

Tether Defends Law Enforcement Role

The stablecoin issuer has defended the freeze. In a statement to CryptoPotato, the stablecoin issuer said,

“The new lawsuit against Tether is a baseless attempt to interfere with Tether’s important work with global law enforcement, including the Department of Justice, to prevent the unlawful use of USDT.”

The post Two Thai Businessmen Sue Tether Over $42.4M USDT Freeze as Issuer Calls Case ‘Baseless’ appeared first on CryptoPotato.

[PRESS RELEASE – HONG KONG, HONG KONG, September 2nd, 2026]

New suite of standalone products gives institutions principal OTC dealing and LP connectivity alongside Liminal’s existing wallet and key-management infrastructure 

Today, Liminal, a provider of institutional digital asset wallet and key-management infrastructure, announced the launch of Liminal Prime, an enterprise software suite designed to provide stablecoin liquidity connectivity. It is built exclusively to enable locally licensed exchanges, financial institutions, payment providers, fintechs, market makers, corporate treasuries and OTC trading desks to access principal-to-principal OTC dealing and LP connectivity alongside Liminal’s existing wallet and key-management infrastructure. Liminal’s technology is delivered strictly as a tech infrastructure solution to authorised entities responsible for their own local regulatory compliance.

As cross-border payments, tokenized assets and enterprise blockchain applications move from pilot projects into production deployments, financial institutions increasingly need trading and liquidity infrastructure designed to integrate with the governance and compliance controls institutions have already established. Liminal Prime has been built to address that gap precisely.

For many institutions, secure wallet infrastructure is no longer the primary challenge. As digital asset operations mature, attention is shifting toward trading, liquidity access, and operational efficiency. Liminal Prime has been developed to address this next phase of institutional adoption.

This launch marks the next phase of Liminal’s evolution as an institutional partner, expanding its core wallet and key-management offering with OTC and liquidity connectivity. Each product operates as an independent module, licensed and deployed separately, giving institutions the flexibility to adopt what fits their operational and regulatory requirements, without displacing existing infrastructure

Liminal Prime is built by the team behind Liminal’s institutional wallet infrastructure and key-management infrastructure, which has processed more than US$100 billion in on-chain transactions across more than 20 blockchain networks for institutions in over 12 countries.

The products have been shaped by direct engagement with the licensed exchanges, payment companies, financial institutions and digital asset businesses that form Liminal’s client base. What those clients identified consistently was a common operational gap: institutional-grade trading and liquidity access that works within, not alongside, their existing governance and compliance frameworks.

“What we keep hearing from institutions, across markets, is that the wallet question is largely settled. The conversation has moved on. They are now asking how they actually operationalise digital assets at scale — how they trade, how they manage liquidity, and how they do all of that without introducing new counterparty risk or compliance gaps. Liminal Prime is built to close that gap. We have the relationships and the trust already in place. This is a natural next step.” Rajesh Sabari, Chief Commercial Officer, Liminal 

Liminal Prime comprises three products, each addressing a distinct institutional operating requirement:

White-Glove OTC supports high-value, complex, and time-sensitive block trades through a dedicated dealing desk. A desk reaches Liminal directly, gets a price, and confirms the trade; no automated flow, a human on the other end for every transaction. Where regulatory frameworks permit, Liminal acts as principal counterparty for its own account on every trade, buying and selling digital assets. Designed for licensed institutions where transaction size, confidentiality and tailored workflow requirements are paramount.

Electronic OTC (eOTC) provides GUI and API-driven access to streaming and firm quotes for organisations managing recurring, high- frequency digital asset transaction flows at scale. A GUI and API connection enables automated, always-on pricing; a web platform provides a self-serve, screen-based experience for systematic dealing without a manual conversation for every trade. Subject to applicable local licensing, Liminal acts as principal counterparty for its own account.

Bridge is a technology platform that gives institutions a single screen or API to request quotes from, and trade directly with, liquidity providers they have separately onboarded with and been approved by. Liminal is not the counterparty to the trade, does not operate an exchange, brokerage or trading venue, and takes no custody of assets. Liminal’s role is limited to routing quote requests, displaying prices and supporting communication between the two parties; the trade and its settlement happen directly between the institution and its chosen liquidity provider, off-platform, under their own bilateral agreement.

Across all three products, Liminal Prime delivers configurable reporting, audit-ready workflows and integration with Liminal’s wallet and key-management infrastructure. The products support multiple blockchain networks and major digital asset pairs, providing the transparency, governance and operational controls that institutions require.

“The time for discussing institutional digital assets in theory is over. Institutions now need practical solutions that can be deployed against real treasury, payment and liquidity requirements. Whether you are managing stablecoin flows, entering a new market or looking for more efficient execution, bring us the challenge. Liminal Prime is ready to help you put into action.” Clarence Leong, Senior Manager – Institutional Markets, Liminal

Liminal Prime is the first step in a broader infrastructure strategy. As institutional participation in digital asset markets deepens across tokenization, cross-border payment infrastructure and enterprise treasury management, Liminal will continue building out its product offering. The company’s objective is to serve as a trusted infrastructure partner for licensed institutions at every stage of their digital asset operations, from wallet and key-management infrastructure to OTC and liquidity connectivity solutions.

Important Notice 

White-Glove OTC and Electronic OTC (eOTC) are restricted and unavailable to entities operating or residing in the UAE, India, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as any jurisdiction where local laws prohibit their use. Bridge is available subject to local regulatory requirements. Note: Users are solely responsible for ensuring compliance with all local regulations before attempting to access any of our services.

Communication Notice: The following Important Notice is an integral part of this release and must be reproduced in full wherever this release, or any substantial portion of it, is published or reproduced. 

About Liminal Prime 

Liminal Prime is a suite of institutional OTC and liquidity connectivity products comprising three distinct offerings: White-Glove OTC, Electronic OTC and Bridge. Where regulatory frameworks permit, White-Glove OTC and eOTC are principal-to-principal dealing products in which Liminal acts as counterparty for its own account. Bridge is a technology platform through which institutions can request quotes from, and trade directly with, approved and licensed liquidity providers of their choosing; the legal trade is formed and settled bilaterally between the institution and its chosen LP under their own agreements. Each product is operated and assessed independently and is designed to complement existing institutional infrastructure. Institutions may adopt individual products independently, based on their operational and regulatory requirements.

About Liminal 

Liminal is an institutional digital asset infrastructure provider offering enterprise-grade wallet infrastructure, key management and governance solutions for exchanges, financial institutions, fintech companies, digital asset businesses and enterprises. Liminal has processed over US$100 billion in on-chain transaction volume across more than 20 blockchain networks for institutions in over 12 countries.

The post Liminal Launches Liminal Prime for Institutional OTC and Stablecoin Liquidity appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The August 19 monetary pivot from the US Treasury Department led to some major changes in the cryptocurrency markets, including how investors view and operate with the spot ETFs tracking BTC and the largest altcoins.

However, another investor shift came on Friday after the hawkish speech by Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Some crypto ETFs have fallen out of grace, but others remain strong. Interestingly, the winner on Tuesday was neither of the two largest cryptocurrencies.

Who Won The Monday Battle?

Before we get to who stood out as the clear victor in terms of net inflows, let’s ensure that we know who didn’t. The first funds to go live on Wall Street, those tracking the performance of the market leader, were the only ones in the red on Monday. Investors pulled out $236.46 million, according to data from SoSoValue. As such, the Monday inflows of $216.70 million were dwarfed, and the week has turned red, even though there are three more business days left.

The ETFs tracking SOL, ETH, and XRP were all in the green. The Solana ETFs attracted $10.19 million, which was significantly higher than the Monday inflows of just $925,000.

The spot Ethereum funds fared slightly better, gaining $10.95 million on Tuesday. However, their Monday numbers were a lot more impressive, standing at $87.68 million. The ETH-tracking financial vehicles have been on a green-only streak for weeks, with no red days since August 11.

As the title of this article suggests, the winner on Tuesday was XRP. The exchange-traded funds tracking the cross-border token gained $14.38 million, which was nearly 3x higher than Monday’s $5.64 million. The funds have been on an even more impressive streak, as their last red day was August 5. Moreover, they have seen just two days with more outflows than inflows since July 2.

Naturally, the vast XRP Army was quick to celebrate the September 1 win.

US Spot ETF Flows Sep 1

XRP: +$14.38M
ETH: +$10.95M
SOL: +$10.19M
BTC: -$236.46M

BTC funds saw net outflows while XRP, ETH and SOL ETFs all posted inflows a clear rotation signal despite the broader market being down 4% today. https://t.co/uK0Bs00Of0 pic.twitter.com/lUV9v4LHma

— 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸XRP (@BankXRP) September 2, 2026

XRP Fails to Capitalize

Although the spot XRP ETFs have become a fan favorite once again in recent weeks, the underlying asset has failed to continue its run. The token exploded in mid-August from $1.00 to $1.70 within 72 hours, but was rejected there and pushed south hard.

It lost a few key support levels, including $1.40 earlier this week. It now struggles below $1.35 after a 6% weekly decline. Nevertheless, analysts remain confident that its actual bull phase is around the corner, outlining some major targets of $7 and beyond.

The post The Crypto ETF Battle: How Ripple (XRP) Won September’s First Fight appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Ethereum’s post-breakout consolidation is beginning to tilt toward a corrective phase, with the price slipping below the lower end of its recent range. While the broader recovery remains intact, weakening short-term structure suggests ETH could seek liquidity at lower levels before buyers attempt another sustained advance.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

Ethereum’s daily chart shows the market cooling considerably after the explosive rally from the $1.85K-$1.92K base. The move carried ETH directly into the major $2.44K-$2.51K resistance zone, but buyers have repeatedly failed to establish acceptance above this area.

The latest candles are now showing a gradual shift in favor of sellers. ETH has fallen below the lower boundary of the $2.44K-$2.51K resistance zone and is trading near $2.37K. This follows several unsuccessful attempts to continue toward the $2.57K local high, suggesting that the initial bullish momentum has been exhausted for the time being.

If the correction develops further, the Fibonacci retracement levels provide a useful roadmap. The 0.5 level sits around $2.21K, while the 0.618 retracement near $2.13K overlaps closely with the broader $2.07K-$2.16K support zone. This confluence makes the $2.07K-$2.21K region an important potential demand area during a deeper pullback.

Nevertheless, the broader bullish structure would not necessarily be invalidated by such a correction. A recovery back above the $2.44K-$2.51K resistance zone would instead reduce the immediate bearish pressure and put the $2.57K high back in focus.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour timeframe presents a clearer deterioration in short-term market structure. After spending several sessions oscillating inside the $2.43K-$2.51K range, ETH has broken beneath its lower boundary and is now approaching $2.37K.

More importantly, recent rebounds have become progressively less effective at sustaining upside momentum. The latest rejection from the $2.48K-$2.50K area was followed by another sharp move lower, indicating that sellers are gaining control as the previous consolidation resolves to the downside.

The first major technical pullback zone is located around $2.21K-$2.31K. Considering the vertical nature of the original rally, relatively little price structure was established between the current market and this area, making a deeper retracement toward it increasingly plausible if selling pressure continues.

The next significant support sits around $2.07K-$2.12K. However, a recovery above the $2.43K-$2.51K zone would weaken the corrective scenario and indicate that the latest breakdown lacked sufficient follow-through.

Sentiment Analysis

The two-week ETH liquidation heatmap reinforces the possibility of a near-term move lower. With ETH trading around the upper-$2.3K region, a substantial concentration of liquidation liquidity is visible immediately beneath the market, roughly around $2.32K-$2.36K.

This downside liquidity represents the most relevant near-term target on the heatmap. If the current decline continues, the market could be drawn toward this cluster as leveraged positions are cleared and liquidity is collected.

Therefore, the liquidation data aligns with the weakening technical structure. A sweep of the liquidity below the current price could serve as the first objective of the developing pullback before the market determines whether a larger correction toward the major technical support zones is necessary.

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