Fold Taps Blackhawk to Bring Bitcoin Gift Cards to Over 400K Retailers

Bitcoin financial services company Fold is working with publicly traded prepaid gift-card provider Blackhawk Network to widen distribution of its BTC gift card, the companies announced Thursday.  Fold—which began trading publicly on the Nasdaq Composite in February under the ticker FLD—lets customers accrue Bitcoin rewards by using its services. They can also buy BTC through the platform without fees. "By making Bitcoin available as a gift card, we're opening access to the millions of consumers...

Bitcoin financial services company Fold is working with publicly traded prepaid gift-card provider Blackhawk Network to widen distribution of its BTC gift card, the companies announced Thursday.  Fold—which began trading publicly on the Nasdaq Composite in February under the ticker FLD—lets customers accrue Bitcoin rewards by using its services. They can also buy BTC through the platform without fees. "By making Bitcoin available as a gift card, we're opening access to the millions of consumers...

SEC Chair Paul Atkins Unveils Project Crypto, Greenlighting ICOs, Airdrops and More

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Thursday the agency plans to soon offer purpose-fit disclosures, exemptions, and safe harbors for crypto offerings, including ICOs, airdrops, and network rewards, in a sweeping speech announcing the regulator’s new “Project Crypto” initiative.  “I would like the world to go on notice that under my leadership, the SEC will not stand idly by and watch innovations develop overseas while our capital markets remain stagnant,” Atkins said, speaking steps away from the White...

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Thursday the agency plans to soon offer purpose-fit disclosures, exemptions, and safe harbors for crypto offerings, including ICOs, airdrops, and network rewards, in a sweeping speech announcing the regulator’s new “Project Crypto” initiative.  “I would like the world to go on notice that under my leadership, the SEC will not stand idly by and watch innovations develop overseas while our capital markets remain stagnant,” Atkins said, speaking steps away from the White...

This Game Lets You Relive the Ethereum Story Through Vitalik Buterin’s Eyes

An Israeli developer's new game lets players assume the role of Vitalik Buterin, attempting to write the Ethereum whitepaper while avoiding distractions. The dev says the game, which launched a day after the network celebrated its 10th birthday, aims to tell Ethereum’s story in a fun and chaotic manner. Vitalik.run is an endless roguelike runner, creator Ruby Edelstein told Decrypt. Players need to fight enemies, avoid distractions like Blizzard’s acclaimed World of Warcraft, and progress in the...

An Israeli developer's new game lets players assume the role of Vitalik Buterin, attempting to write the Ethereum whitepaper while avoiding distractions. The dev says the game, which launched a day after the network celebrated its 10th birthday, aims to tell Ethereum’s story in a fun and chaotic manner. Vitalik.run is an endless roguelike runner, creator Ruby Edelstein told Decrypt. Players need to fight enemies, avoid distractions like Blizzard’s acclaimed World of Warcraft, and progress in the...

Myriad Protocol Rolls Out Expansion to Ethereum L2 Linea

Myriad Protocol, the multichain protocol designed to power prediction markets, has launched on Ethereum Layer-2 network Linea. “Predictions now have a home on Linea,” said Loxley Fernandes, co-founder and CEO of Myriad’s parent company DASTAN. He added that, “The Linea team is about to really push hard on creating some more resources for Ethereum users, and making some noise, and we want to be a part of that.” USDC Prediction Markets on @LineaBuild are now live. Sign in, Bridge and Predict now!...

Myriad Protocol, the multichain protocol designed to power prediction markets, has launched on Ethereum Layer-2 network Linea. “Predictions now have a home on Linea,” said Loxley Fernandes, co-founder and CEO of Myriad’s parent company DASTAN. He added that, “The Linea team is about to really push hard on creating some more resources for Ethereum users, and making some noise, and we want to be a part of that.” USDC Prediction Markets on @LineaBuild are now live. Sign in, Bridge and Predict now!...

Why Robinhood’s CEO Touted Tokenization 11 Times on Its Q2 Earning Call

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev referenced tokenization nearly a dozen times during the company’s second-quarter earnings broadcast on Wednesday, highlighting how the once-esoteric term is becoming a cornerstone of the retail brokerage’s crypto strategy. In total, Tenev referenced tokenization 11 times, while also mentioning Robinhood’s stock tokens on a handful of occasions. The digital assets, which offer synthetic exposure to private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, were unveiled for European users...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev referenced tokenization nearly a dozen times during the company’s second-quarter earnings broadcast on Wednesday, highlighting how the once-esoteric term is becoming a cornerstone of the retail brokerage’s crypto strategy. In total, Tenev referenced tokenization 11 times, while also mentioning Robinhood’s stock tokens on a handful of occasions. The digital assets, which offer synthetic exposure to private companies like SpaceX and OpenAI, were unveiled for European users...

Former OpenSea Manager Has Conviction Overturned in First-Ever Crypto Insider Trading Case

A U.S. Appeals Court overturned the conviction of a former OpenSea product manager Thursday, blowing a hole in what had previously been the most prominent conflict of interest-related crypto industry prosecution in the United States to date. The Manhattan-based appeals court found that prosecutors in the initial trial of Nathaniel Chastain were improperly allowed to argue that Chastain’s decision-making about what NFTs were featured on OpenSea’s homepage constituted “property” of the company.  C...

A U.S. Appeals Court overturned the conviction of a former OpenSea product manager Thursday, blowing a hole in what had previously been the most prominent conflict of interest-related crypto industry prosecution in the United States to date. The Manhattan-based appeals court found that prosecutors in the initial trial of Nathaniel Chastain were improperly allowed to argue that Chastain’s decision-making about what NFTs were featured on OpenSea’s homepage constituted “property” of the company.  C...

Bitcoin Whales Bought 1% of Circulating BTC Supply in Past 4 Months

Bitcoin whales holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC accumulated 0.9% of the total supply over the past four months, according the crypto market analytics platform Santiment. That bumps up to a full 1% when you consider that there's 19,899,417 BTC currently circulating, leaving a portion of the original 21 million total Bitcoin supply that hasn't been mined. In the past 48 hours alone, Bitcoin whales accumulated 30,000 more BTC, on-chain analyst Ali Martinez said on X, citing Santiment dashboards....

Bitcoin whales holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC accumulated 0.9% of the total supply over the past four months, according the crypto market analytics platform Santiment. That bumps up to a full 1% when you consider that there's 19,899,417 BTC currently circulating, leaving a portion of the original 21 million total Bitcoin supply that hasn't been mined. In the past 48 hours alone, Bitcoin whales accumulated 30,000 more BTC, on-chain analyst Ali Martinez said on X, citing Santiment dashboards....

The Ether Machine Becomes Third Largest Ethereum Holder With $56.9M ETH Buy

The Ether Machine has purchased nearly 15,000 ETH at a cost of $56.9 million, making the newly formed company one of the largest holders of Ethereum, overtaking the Ethereum Foundation itself. This brings the total Ethereum purchased and committed by The Ether Machine to 334,757 ETH, with up to $407,000,000 remaining for additional ETH stockpiling.  The Ether Machine sprang into existence only last week, via a merger between The Ether Reserve, LLC and publicly traded blank check firm Dynamix C...

The Ether Machine has purchased nearly 15,000 ETH at a cost of $56.9 million, making the newly formed company one of the largest holders of Ethereum, overtaking the Ethereum Foundation itself. This brings the total Ethereum purchased and committed by The Ether Machine to 334,757 ETH, with up to $407,000,000 remaining for additional ETH stockpiling.  The Ether Machine sprang into existence only last week, via a merger between The Ether Reserve, LLC and publicly traded blank check firm Dynamix C...

GOAT Network Bets on Fast ZK Proofs to Capture Bitcoin Layer 2 Yield

GOAT Network launched a public beta Thursday for what it claims is the first zero-knowledge rollup built directly on Bitcoin, capable of generating cryptographic proofs in under three seconds. The rollout—dubbed BitVM2 Beta—is aimed at tackling long-standing performance issues on Bitcoin, including slow transaction finality and the lack of scalable, Bitcoin-denominated yield options. “Layer 2 transactions are fast, but they’re pointless without equally fast proofs to finalize on the Bitcoin main...

GOAT Network launched a public beta Thursday for what it claims is the first zero-knowledge rollup built directly on Bitcoin, capable of generating cryptographic proofs in under three seconds. The rollout—dubbed BitVM2 Beta—is aimed at tackling long-standing performance issues on Bitcoin, including slow transaction finality and the lack of scalable, Bitcoin-denominated yield options. “Layer 2 transactions are fast, but they’re pointless without equally fast proofs to finalize on the Bitcoin main...

CoinDCX Employee Arrested Over $44M Exchange Hack

Indian authorities have arrested a CoinDCX employee following a $44 million (₹384 crore) crypto theft that reportedly leveraged sophisticated social engineering tactics to breach one of the country's largest crypto exchanges. Bengaluru's Whitefield police detained Rahul Agarwal, a software engineer from Jharkhand, on July 26. According to local media outlets, police claimed that Agarwal became the attack vector after he was lured by scammers with freelance gigs such as writing online reviews....

Indian authorities have arrested a CoinDCX employee following a $44 million (₹384 crore) crypto theft that reportedly leveraged sophisticated social engineering tactics to breach one of the country's largest crypto exchanges. Bengaluru's Whitefield police detained Rahul Agarwal, a software engineer from Jharkhand, on July 26. According to local media outlets, police claimed that Agarwal became the attack vector after he was lured by scammers with freelance gigs such as writing online reviews....

Algeria Bans All Crypto Activities, Including Ownership and Mining

The Algerian government has introduced a new law explicitly banning all crypto-related activities, including trading, ownership and mining. Enacted on July 24, the legislation expands and extends the 2018 Financial Law, which prohibited the holding and exchange of cryptocurrencies but didn’t cover mining activities. The new provision acts as a crypto-focused amendment to the 2005 law on Preventing Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism, with the Algerian government framing the ban as a necess...

The Algerian government has introduced a new law explicitly banning all crypto-related activities, including trading, ownership and mining. Enacted on July 24, the legislation expands and extends the 2018 Financial Law, which prohibited the holding and exchange of cryptocurrencies but didn’t cover mining activities. The new provision acts as a crypto-focused amendment to the 2005 law on Preventing Money Laundering and Financing Terrorism, with the Algerian government framing the ban as a necess...

South Korea Flags Upbit and Bithumb's Crypto Lending, Margin Trading Services

South Korea’s financial watchdogs have raised red flags over crypto lending and margin trading products recently launched by Upbit and Bithumb, warning of legal uncertainty and investor risks tied to high-leverage trading in the absence of proper safeguards. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) summoned officials from the country’s top five crypto exchanges last Friday to raise concerns, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. The warnings came after Bithumb...

South Korea’s financial watchdogs have raised red flags over crypto lending and margin trading products recently launched by Upbit and Bithumb, warning of legal uncertainty and investor risks tied to high-leverage trading in the absence of proper safeguards. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) summoned officials from the country’s top five crypto exchanges last Friday to raise concerns, according to Korea JoongAng Daily. The warnings came after Bithumb...

Tourists Can Now Withdraw Cash With USDT via Kaia ATMs in South Korea

Foreign visitors to South Korea can now use select crypto-enabled kiosks to convert stablecoins into cash at major tourist destinations, in an experiment that offers a glimpse into how the country is warming to the idea of digital asset payments. Built and operated by South Korean blockchain firm DaWinKS in partnership with the Kaia DLT Foundation, the machines support Kaia-issued USDT, a version of Tether’s stablecoin on the public blockchain formed from the merger of Klaytn and Finschia, two p...

Foreign visitors to South Korea can now use select crypto-enabled kiosks to convert stablecoins into cash at major tourist destinations, in an experiment that offers a glimpse into how the country is warming to the idea of digital asset payments. Built and operated by South Korean blockchain firm DaWinKS in partnership with the Kaia DLT Foundation, the machines support Kaia-issued USDT, a version of Tether’s stablecoin on the public blockchain formed from the merger of Klaytn and Finschia, two p...

Cboe BZX Seeks Regulatory Nod for Invesco Galaxy's Solana ETF

Cboe BZX has submitted a formal proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval to list shares of the Invesco Galaxy Solana ETF, advancing efforts to bring Solana into regulated U.S. markets. The filing, submitted on Monday, represents a joint venture between global asset manager Invesco and crypto-focused financial company Galaxy Digital.  The proposed exchange-traded fund would offer investors regulated access to the native token belonging to Layer 1 blockchain Solana...

Cboe BZX has submitted a formal proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval to list shares of the Invesco Galaxy Solana ETF, advancing efforts to bring Solana into regulated U.S. markets. The filing, submitted on Monday, represents a joint venture between global asset manager Invesco and crypto-focused financial company Galaxy Digital.  The proposed exchange-traded fund would offer investors regulated access to the native token belonging to Layer 1 blockchain Solana...

Privacy Takes Center Stage in Closing Arguments at Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm's Trial

Developer Roman Storm created coin mixer Tornado Cash not to champion Cypherpunk principles like privacy but to “make bags and bags of money,” U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday during a criminal trial in New York.  “The business was privacy for criminals,” federal prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti said in closing arguments, pointing to evidence that criminals had laundered stolen funds through the decentralized, non-custodial privacy protocol he had built back in 2019. Storm's lawyers argued to the ju...

Developer Roman Storm created coin mixer Tornado Cash not to champion Cypherpunk principles like privacy but to “make bags and bags of money,” U.S. prosecutors said Wednesday during a criminal trial in New York.  “The business was privacy for criminals,” federal prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti said in closing arguments, pointing to evidence that criminals had laundered stolen funds through the decentralized, non-custodial privacy protocol he had built back in 2019. Storm's lawyers argued to the ju...

Bitcoin Rangebound as Market Ignores Good News in 'Textbook Late Cycle Behavior'

Bitcoin continues to be stuck within a narrow trading range, tentatively below all-time highs, and it's beginning to appear like the old Hollywood movie, Groundhog Day. Bitcoin leaped to $118,640 on Wednesday before a swift 2.58% decline to $115,700. The top crypto is now back trading near its intraday high. “New highs remain a strong possibility over the medium term,” Singapore-based trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a note on Wednesday. Still, Bitcoin’s failure to revisit its all-time highs ab...

Bitcoin continues to be stuck within a narrow trading range, tentatively below all-time highs, and it's beginning to appear like the old Hollywood movie, Groundhog Day. Bitcoin leaped to $118,640 on Wednesday before a swift 2.58% decline to $115,700. The top crypto is now back trading near its intraday high. “New highs remain a strong possibility over the medium term,” Singapore-based trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a note on Wednesday. Still, Bitcoin’s failure to revisit its all-time highs ab...

From Metaverse to Machine Learning, Inside Meta’s $72 Billion AI Gamble

Meta is investing billions in AI infrastructure and intensifying efforts to recruit talent from rivals as it accelerates its push into artificial intelligence. But for all the talk of “superintelligence,” the company’s latest pivot raises questions of whether this is a genuine push for innovation or another high-stakes gamble. Meta’s plan is sweeping and expensive. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, the tech giant poured $17 billion into infrastructure, where CFO Susan Li said 2025’s total cap...

Meta is investing billions in AI infrastructure and intensifying efforts to recruit talent from rivals as it accelerates its push into artificial intelligence. But for all the talk of “superintelligence,” the company’s latest pivot raises questions of whether this is a genuine push for innovation or another high-stakes gamble. Meta’s plan is sweeping and expensive. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, the tech giant poured $17 billion into infrastructure, where CFO Susan Li said 2025’s total cap...

US Exchanges Ask SEC to Consider Rule Change to Speed Up Crypto ETFs

Two major U.S. exchanges have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a rule change that could significantly shorten the approval process for future crypto exchange-traded funds, automatically listing certain products without requiring case-by-case filings. In separate filings submitted Wednesday, Cboe BZX and NYSE Arca proposed amending their listing standards to allow certain crypto ETFs to be listed without going through the SEC's rigorous review process under Rule 19b-4, a pr...

Two major U.S. exchanges have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a rule change that could significantly shorten the approval process for future crypto exchange-traded funds, automatically listing certain products without requiring case-by-case filings. In separate filings submitted Wednesday, Cboe BZX and NYSE Arca proposed amending their listing standards to allow certain crypto ETFs to be listed without going through the SEC's rigorous review process under Rule 19b-4, a pr...

High School Student's ChatGPT Trading Bot Is Crushing the Russell 2000

A high school kid from rural Oklahoma just did what Wall Street's algorithms haven't: he let ChatGPT run wild with $100 and watched it outperform the market by a massive margin. Nathan Smith's experiment started four weeks ago with a simple premise—give ChatGPT complete control over a small portfolio of micro-cap stocks and see what happens. The results? A 23.8% return while the Russell 2000 and biotech ETF XBI crawled up just 3.9% and 3.5% respectively. Image: Nathan Smith "When I was watching...

A high school kid from rural Oklahoma just did what Wall Street's algorithms haven't: he let ChatGPT run wild with $100 and watched it outperform the market by a massive margin. Nathan Smith's experiment started four weeks ago with a simple premise—give ChatGPT complete control over a small portfolio of micro-cap stocks and see what happens. The results? A 23.8% return while the Russell 2000 and biotech ETF XBI crawled up just 3.9% and 3.5% respectively. Image: Nathan Smith "When I was watching...

How Etherex Plans to Fuel Linea's Quest to Boost Ethereum Capital

Newly launched crypto exchange Etherex aims to be home to all of Linea's Ethereum capital, building on the promise of Ethereum’s decentralized network by committing to a full incentive alignment with its users.  Etherex—which gets its name from the 2014 Ethereum decentralized exchange, or DEX, idea called “EtherEX”—soft-launched on Monday, preceding the Tuesday announcement from its network and partner Linea that details the Ethereum layer-2’s token plans and alignment with Ethereum mainnet. (Di...

Newly launched crypto exchange Etherex aims to be home to all of Linea's Ethereum capital, building on the promise of Ethereum’s decentralized network by committing to a full incentive alignment with its users.  Etherex—which gets its name from the 2014 Ethereum decentralized exchange, or DEX, idea called “EtherEX”—soft-launched on Monday, preceding the Tuesday announcement from its network and partner Linea that details the Ethereum layer-2’s token plans and alignment with Ethereum mainnet. (Di...