Google Is Building an AI Chip Just for Gemini—And Investors Already Moved On It

Google is building a chip designed for one job: running Gemini faster and cheaper. The chip, codenamed Frozen v2, was reported by The Information on Monday and gives Google a potential answer to a problem it can't spend its way out of fast enough: It is running out of capacity to serve the AI demand it has already generated.  In March, Google told Meta it couldn't fill the volume of Gemini compute Meta wanted to purchase. Meta had to instruct employees to ration their AI usage. Google—spending...

Google is building a chip designed for one job: running Gemini faster and cheaper. The chip, codenamed Frozen v2, was reported by The Information on Monday and gives Google a potential answer to a problem it can't spend its way out of fast enough: It is running out of capacity to serve the AI demand it has already generated.  In March, Google told Meta it couldn't fill the volume of Gemini compute Meta wanted to purchase. Meta had to instruct employees to ration their AI usage. Google—spending...

XRP Breaks Out on Clarity Act Hopes. The Charts Are Still Cautious

It was a good day to own some crypto. Reports emerged late Monday that President Donald Trump agreed to the ethics provision that had been holding the Clarity Act hostage in the Senate—a major sticking point in months of negotiations. Bitcoin climbed above $66,000 following the news, five-day spot ETF inflows surpassed $700 million, and a bounce in Asian AI and semiconductor stocks added to the risk-on tone that lifted nearly every digital asset.  XRP caught the wave harder than most. As Decryp...

It was a good day to own some crypto. Reports emerged late Monday that President Donald Trump agreed to the ethics provision that had been holding the Clarity Act hostage in the Senate—a major sticking point in months of negotiations. Bitcoin climbed above $66,000 following the news, five-day spot ETF inflows surpassed $700 million, and a bounce in Asian AI and semiconductor stocks added to the risk-on tone that lifted nearly every digital asset.  XRP caught the wave harder than most. As Decryp...

Jack Mallers Quits Twenty One Capital as Tether's Bitcoin Merger Collapses

Jack Mallers has stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital, and investors didn't take it well. Shares of the Bitcoin treasury company—a publicly traded firm that holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, letting regular investors gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without buying it directly—dropped nearly 15% on Tuesday.  Mallers co-founded Twenty One alongside Tether—the issuer of USDT, the world's most widely used dollar-pegged stablecoin (a digital token that holds a fixed value of one dollar and...

Jack Mallers has stepped down as CEO of Twenty One Capital, and investors didn't take it well. Shares of the Bitcoin treasury company—a publicly traded firm that holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, letting regular investors gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without buying it directly—dropped nearly 15% on Tuesday.  Mallers co-founded Twenty One alongside Tether—the issuer of USDT, the world's most widely used dollar-pegged stablecoin (a digital token that holds a fixed value of one dollar and...

Galaxy Commits Up to $5 Million to Prepare Bitcoin for Quantum Threat

Galaxy Digital on Tuesday launched a Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, pledging up to $5 million in developer grants, a research program, and a new advisory council to help harden the network against the eventual arrival of powerful quantum computers. The Nasdaq-listed firm said the multi-pillar effort will fund work on post-quantum cryptographic solutions, publish analysis through Galaxy Research, and convene a Quantum Advisory Council whose inaugural members include University of Calgary p...

Galaxy Digital on Tuesday launched a Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, pledging up to $5 million in developer grants, a research program, and a new advisory council to help harden the network against the eventual arrival of powerful quantum computers. The Nasdaq-listed firm said the multi-pillar effort will fund work on post-quantum cryptographic solutions, publish analysis through Galaxy Research, and convene a Quantum Advisory Council whose inaugural members include University of Calgary p...

Morning Minute: The Clarity Act Has New Life

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. GM! Today’s top news: Crypto majors jump 2-3% as ETF flows increase; BTC at $66.2k BTC ETFs see $227M in net inflows, notch 5 straight green sessions White House has reportedly agreed on an ethics package for Clarity Act Saylor adds another $225M in cash by selling MSTR; no new BTC buys Robinhood Chain sees big green overnight, launchpad...

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. GM! Today’s top news: Crypto majors jump 2-3% as ETF flows increase; BTC at $66.2k BTC ETFs see $227M in net inflows, notch 5 straight green sessions White House has reportedly agreed on an ethics package for Clarity Act Saylor adds another $225M in cash by selling MSTR; no new BTC buys Robinhood Chain sees big green overnight, launchpad...

Pakistan Launches Crypto Investigation Unit to Fight Money Laundering

Pakistan's top federal investigators have set up a dedicated unit to police crypto-linked crime, building out the enforcement side of a national drive to embrace digital assets. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has established a cryptocurrency investigation unit in its newly operational National Command and Control Centre (NC3), targeting money laundering and terrorism financing conducted through virtual currencies, the agency's counter-terrorism chief said. FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing Dire...

Pakistan's top federal investigators have set up a dedicated unit to police crypto-linked crime, building out the enforcement side of a national drive to embrace digital assets. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has established a cryptocurrency investigation unit in its newly operational National Command and Control Centre (NC3), targeting money laundering and terrorism financing conducted through virtual currencies, the agency's counter-terrorism chief said. FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing Dire...

Worldcoin’s WLD Jumps 8% on Grayscale ETF Filing

Worldcoin's WLD token jumped after asset manager Grayscale filed to launch the first US exchange-traded fund tied to the biometric crypto project, moving to bring Sam Altman's eye-scanning venture a step closer to Wall Street. WLD climbed about 8% over 24 hours following the filing to an intraday high of $0.387, trimming a rough week that still left it down around 5.5% over the past seven days, per CoinGecko data. On Monday, Grayscale filed an S-1 registration statement for the Grayscale Worldc...

Worldcoin's WLD token jumped after asset manager Grayscale filed to launch the first US exchange-traded fund tied to the biometric crypto project, moving to bring Sam Altman's eye-scanning venture a step closer to Wall Street. WLD climbed about 8% over 24 hours following the filing to an intraday high of $0.387, trimming a rough week that still left it down around 5.5% over the past seven days, per CoinGecko data. On Monday, Grayscale filed an S-1 registration statement for the Grayscale Worldc...

UK Lawmakers Launch Inquiry Into Crypto Banking Access

A cross-party group of UK lawmakers has launched a parliamentary inquiry into the banking problems dogging the country's crypto industry, probing why firms struggle to open accounts and why banks curb crypto-related payments. The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)—co-chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot, a former digital economy minister, and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan—said the inquiry comes just weeks after the UK finalized its new crypto regulatory framework, and wi...

A cross-party group of UK lawmakers has launched a parliamentary inquiry into the banking problems dogging the country's crypto industry, probing why firms struggle to open accounts and why banks curb crypto-related payments. The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)—co-chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot, a former digital economy minister, and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan—said the inquiry comes just weeks after the UK finalized its new crypto regulatory framework, and wi...

Bank of Korea Scales Up CBDC Pilot With Half a Million Users

South Korea's Bank of Korea ran a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, pilot for three months last year. Eighty-one thousand people opened wallets, but only 42% actually spent anything. The next phase of its CBDC push starts in September—with nine banks involved, up to 500,000 users spending the tokens, and real government money on the line this time. The central bank announced the expansion of Project Hangang—its CBDC (a government-issued, blockchain-based version of the paper won) initiativ...

South Korea's Bank of Korea ran a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, pilot for three months last year. Eighty-one thousand people opened wallets, but only 42% actually spent anything. The next phase of its CBDC push starts in September—with nine banks involved, up to 500,000 users spending the tokens, and real government money on the line this time. The central bank announced the expansion of Project Hangang—its CBDC (a government-issued, blockchain-based version of the paper won) initiativ...

Russia's First Comprehensive Crypto Law Is Two Votes Away From Passing

Russia's State Duma, the lower house of its legislative body, takes its final two votes on the country's first comprehensive cryptocurrency law on Tuesday. The bill—titled "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights"—still needs Senate approval and Russian President Vladimir Putin's signature after that, a process Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, expects to take another two weeks. The law would then take effect on September 1. The original target was July 1...

Russia's State Duma, the lower house of its legislative body, takes its final two votes on the country's first comprehensive cryptocurrency law on Tuesday. The bill—titled "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights"—still needs Senate approval and Russian President Vladimir Putin's signature after that, a process Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, expects to take another two weeks. The law would then take effect on September 1. The original target was July 1...

Cardano Triggers Hard Fork With First Community-Voted Upgrade

Cardano has hard forked, implementing the Van Rossem upgrade over the weekend and transitioning the network to protocol version 11. It’s not the first time Cardano has executed a hard fork—but it is the first time it’s done so without the intervention of the blockchain’s founding development company, Input Output. That makes how it happened at least as important as what the upgrade does. A hard fork—a permanent, mandatory update to a blockchain's core rules, applied simultaneously across every...

Cardano has hard forked, implementing the Van Rossem upgrade over the weekend and transitioning the network to protocol version 11. It’s not the first time Cardano has executed a hard fork—but it is the first time it’s done so without the intervention of the blockchain’s founding development company, Input Output. That makes how it happened at least as important as what the upgrade does. A hard fork—a permanent, mandatory update to a blockchain's core rules, applied simultaneously across every...

Bitcoin ETFs Are Green Again—Here’s Why Investors Should Zoom Out

Bitcoin ETFs have posted back-to-back positive weeks for the first time since early May. The 13 U.S. spot Bitcoin funds pulled in $75.7 million in net inflows (money in exceeding money out) for the week ending July 17, according to SoSoValue data. That followed $197.4 million the prior week, bringing the two-week total to $273.1 million in net gains across the funds. When inflows exceed outflows, the easiest translation is that retail traders are buying more Bitcoin than they are selling. The b...

Bitcoin ETFs have posted back-to-back positive weeks for the first time since early May. The 13 U.S. spot Bitcoin funds pulled in $75.7 million in net inflows (money in exceeding money out) for the week ending July 17, according to SoSoValue data. That followed $197.4 million the prior week, bringing the two-week total to $273.1 million in net gains across the funds. When inflows exceed outflows, the easiest translation is that retail traders are buying more Bitcoin than they are selling. The b...

Tom Lee's Bitmine Taps the Brakes on ETH Buys, Pivots $86M Into Stock Buyback

Ethereum treasury company Bitmine barely moved the needle on its ETH stack last week, adding just 7,430 ETH—about $14 million—as it steered capital toward buying back its own shares instead. This week’s buy pushed Bitmine's holdings to about 5.78 million ETH tokens, or nearly 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, according to the company. That leaves the firm inching toward its stated goal of cornering 5% of the token's supply. Bitmine, which trades as BMNR, is currently trading for $16.61, up...

Ethereum treasury company Bitmine barely moved the needle on its ETH stack last week, adding just 7,430 ETH—about $14 million—as it steered capital toward buying back its own shares instead. This week’s buy pushed Bitmine's holdings to about 5.78 million ETH tokens, or nearly 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, according to the company. That leaves the firm inching toward its stated goal of cornering 5% of the token's supply. Bitmine, which trades as BMNR, is currently trading for $16.61, up...

Strategy Pads Cash Reserve By $225M With MSTR Sale, Bitcoin Stash Remains Untouched

Strategy added $225 million to its cash reserves last week—without selling a single Bitcoin. According to the company's latest SEC filing, the Bitcoin treasury firm sold 2,732,318 shares of its MSTR common stock between July 13 and July 19, netting $263.5 million through its at-the-market offering program—a mechanism that lets companies sell new shares gradually into the open market without arranging a traditional banking deal. It mirrors the firm's actions last week, when it raised $466.7 milli...

Strategy added $225 million to its cash reserves last week—without selling a single Bitcoin. According to the company's latest SEC filing, the Bitcoin treasury firm sold 2,732,318 shares of its MSTR common stock between July 13 and July 19, netting $263.5 million through its at-the-market offering program—a mechanism that lets companies sell new shares gradually into the open market without arranging a traditional banking deal. It mirrors the firm's actions last week, when it raised $466.7 milli...

Allbridge Pauses Cross-Chain Protocol After $1.65M Flash Loan Attack

Cross-chain bridge Allbridge has paused its protocol after an attacker drained roughly $1.65 million from its Solana liquidity pools in a flash loan attack, according to blockchain security firms and the project itself. Allbridge lets users move assets between blockchains that don't natively communicate, and its Core product uses pools of native stablecoins such as USDC and USDT rather than minting wrapped tokens. On Sunday, the team said it had "paused the protocol as a precaution" while invest...

Cross-chain bridge Allbridge has paused its protocol after an attacker drained roughly $1.65 million from its Solana liquidity pools in a flash loan attack, according to blockchain security firms and the project itself. Allbridge lets users move assets between blockchains that don't natively communicate, and its Core product uses pools of native stablecoins such as USDC and USDT rather than minting wrapped tokens. On Sunday, the team said it had "paused the protocol as a precaution" while invest...

Morning Minute: Hyperliquid Opens Prediction Markets to Anyone in HIP-4 Upgrade

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. GM! Today’s top news: Crypto majors slightly green as oil falls; BTC at $64.6k PUMP leads alt movers on the week, up 26% as its wave of unlocks begins Hyperliquid to roll out permissionless prediction markets requiring 500k staked HYPE Michael Saylor calls BIP-110 a “bad idea” Pudgy Penguins launch Plushie toys at Target stores across the...

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. GM! Today’s top news: Crypto majors slightly green as oil falls; BTC at $64.6k PUMP leads alt movers on the week, up 26% as its wave of unlocks begins Hyperliquid to roll out permissionless prediction markets requiring 500k staked HYPE Michael Saylor calls BIP-110 a “bad idea” Pudgy Penguins launch Plushie toys at Target stores across the...

Strategy's Michael Saylor Makes 110-Point Case Against Bitcoin's BIP-110

Michael Saylor has escalated his opposition to a contentious Bitcoin proposal, publishing a sweeping 110-point essay over the weekend arguing that BIP-110—a soft fork meant to curb non-financial data on the network—would cause more harm than the problem it targets. Titled "110 Reasons BIP 110 Is a Bad Idea," the Strategy executive chairman billed the text as a “case for neutral rules, hard consensus, open markets, and permissionless innovation." Saylor said he shares supporters' goals—keeping va...

Michael Saylor has escalated his opposition to a contentious Bitcoin proposal, publishing a sweeping 110-point essay over the weekend arguing that BIP-110—a soft fork meant to curb non-financial data on the network—would cause more harm than the problem it targets. Titled "110 Reasons BIP 110 Is a Bad Idea," the Strategy executive chairman billed the text as a “case for neutral rules, hard consensus, open markets, and permissionless innovation." Saylor said he shares supporters' goals—keeping va...

ECB Warns Stablecoins May Drain Bank Deposits—Here's What That Means

European banks are losing the payments war in installments. First came mobile apps, which took their fees and transaction data, then digital payments and startups took even more control. Now the ECB is warning that stablecoins could take the thing that really hurts: their deposits. Piero Cipollone, an executive board member of the European Central Bank, delivered that message Friday at a banking conference in Rome, and framed the digital euro as the structural answer. “Even traditional debit ca...

European banks are losing the payments war in installments. First came mobile apps, which took their fees and transaction data, then digital payments and startups took even more control. Now the ECB is warning that stablecoins could take the thing that really hurts: their deposits. Piero Cipollone, an executive board member of the European Central Bank, delivered that message Friday at a banking conference in Rome, and framed the digital euro as the structural answer. “Even traditional debit ca...

Cardano Pumps as Network Moves to Further Decentralize Development

Cardano's founding developer is letting go. Input Output announced Friday it will hand control of core blockchain infrastructure to outside specialist firms, beginning in August—the Haskell node, Plutus smart-contract platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling technology are all going to external hands. The firms taking over include Se7en Labs, a development agency with a Solana infrastructure background, and Teragone, a cryptographic research team that already leads development of Mithril, Ca...

Cardano's founding developer is letting go. Input Output announced Friday it will hand control of core blockchain infrastructure to outside specialist firms, beginning in August—the Haskell node, Plutus smart-contract platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling technology are all going to external hands. The firms taking over include Se7en Labs, a development agency with a Solana infrastructure background, and Teragone, a cryptographic research team that already leads development of Mithril, Ca...

Kimi K3 Just Triggered DeepSeek Flashbacks for the Stock Market

China did it again. Moonshot AI launched Kimi K3 in the dead of night and markets woke up today doing what they always do when a Chinese lab closes the gap: They panicked. Semiconductor and AI stocks dropped across the board Friday. Taiwan's benchmark fell more than 6%. Japan closed down 4%. The Nasdaq slid 1.5%, its worst session of the week. The DeepSeek comparison seems well deserved. When DeepSeek dropped R1 in January 2025, the assumption that frontier AI required frontier spending—and the...

China did it again. Moonshot AI launched Kimi K3 in the dead of night and markets woke up today doing what they always do when a Chinese lab closes the gap: They panicked. Semiconductor and AI stocks dropped across the board Friday. Taiwan's benchmark fell more than 6%. Japan closed down 4%. The Nasdaq slid 1.5%, its worst session of the week. The DeepSeek comparison seems well deserved. When DeepSeek dropped R1 in January 2025, the assumption that frontier AI required frontier spending—and the...