BSC News

Cooper Steps Up as Ava Labs Reshuffles the Top
Ava Labs has overhauled its senior leadership, elevating Charley Cooper (@CharleyCooper01) from chief operating officer to president. @AvaLabs founder and chief executive Emin Gün Sirer (@el33th4xor) announced the changes, noting that his own role remains unchanged.
Cooper brings a heavyweight financial and regulatory background to the role. He has previously held positions at R3 and State Street Global Exchange, and according to the original announcement also spent time at Deutsche Bank and the CFTC. In his new position he will oversee day-to-day operations at the company.
Ava Labs is a software development company focused on making it simple to deploy high-performance solutions for Web3, leveraging innovations built on the Avalanche blockchain platform.
Chiu Confirmed as CFO, Wu Moves to Advisory Role
Lydia Chiu (@encycloplydia) has been confirmed as chief financial officer, stepping up from an interim position she had already been holding. Chiu comes from a traditional finance background, having previously worked at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. She joined Ava Labs as part of the company's 2020 acquisition of Investery Inc., initially taking the role of vice president of business development.
John Wu (@John1wu), who had served as president, transitions to a senior advisor position with a focus on long-term strategy. Prior to joining Ava Labs, Wu founded Sureview Capital with a strategic investment from Blackstone, and was formerly a tech investor at Kingdon Capital and Tiger Management.
The moves signal a maturation in Ava Labs' corporate structure as the Avalanche ecosystem continues to compete for institutional and developer attention in the layer-1 blockchain space.
Sources
Ava Labs Acquires Investery Inc. and Appoints New Global President (Avalanche on Medium)
Ava Labs Official Team Page

BlackRock and Fidelity Drive Monday's Rebound
US spot Bitcoin ETFs snapped a three-session losing streak on Monday, pulling in $297.56M in net inflows. BlackRock's $IBIT led the day with $160.23M in new capital, while Fidelity's $FBTC followed with $111.90M, giving the two funds more than 90% of the daily total. ARK Invest's $ARKB added $14.2M and Morgan Stanley's $MSBT contributed $11.2M, with no other spot Bitcoin ETF recording a net flow.
The reversal ended a three-session stretch of net outflows even as Bitcoin fell roughly 2.5% on the day, suggesting investor demand for regulated Bitcoin exposure remained intact during the price pullback. Bitcoin ETF inflows during a price decline can signal that some investors are using weakness to add exposure rather than reduce it.
Cumulative Flows Reflect Deepening Institutional Commitment
The prior three sessions through Friday had accumulated $249.92M in combined outflows. Monday's inflow day pushed cumulative net inflows to $52.09B, with total net assets at $78.67B, representing approximately 6.09% of Bitcoin's total market value.
Trading volume across Bitcoin ETFs reached $2.12B on the day. The session also coincided with fresh signs of broad institutional engagement in the space. Quantitative trading firm Jane Street disclosed more than $1B in US spot Bitcoin ETF holdings as of June 30, with approximately $828M invested in BlackRock's $IBIT.
The week ending August 7 stands out as one of the stronger recent stretches, with net inflows totaling $853.54M across that period. Monday's figure, while smaller, reinforces a pattern in which institutional buyers return decisively after brief spells of outflows.
Sources:
Bitcoin.com: BlackRock, Fidelity Drive $297.5M Bitcoin ETF Rebound
Crypto Briefing: US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Pull In $298M on Monday
Value The Markets: US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Add $298M in Inflows

Holding dollars before converting to stablecoins
@0xPolygon has added native US dollar account functionality to its Open Money Stack (OMS), giving enterprise customers a new way to manage cash before moving it on-chain. The Open Money Stack is payments infrastructure for financial institutions, enabling reliable money movement through a single, easy-to-use API. The latest addition lets businesses fund a dollar account via wire transfer, ACH, or SWIFT and hold that balance until a payment run is needed, converting to stablecoins only when required. A licensed banking partner holds the fiat balance throughout.
The practical benefit, according to @0xPolygon, is straightforward: by parking dollars in advance, businesses eliminate the extra wire transfer that would otherwise be needed at the moment of each stablecoin conversion. That matters when banks are closed, on weekends or public holidays, and a payment still needs to go out. Traditional rails run on banking hours. Users don't. PSPs and neobanks use OMS to credit accounts and settle merchants 24/7: evenings, weekends, holidays, with finality in seconds and no queued ACH batches.
Opening dollar payments to non-US businesses
The update also widens access for businesses outside the United States. Non-US companies can now pay US-based vendors directly in dollars through the stack, without needing a stablecoin leg in the transaction at all. That removes a conversion step and the associated friction for international businesses that regularly settle with American counterparties.
The Polygon Open Money Stack is an open, integrated, and programmable stack of services and technologies under a single easy-to-use API to instantly and reliably move money anywhere, and put it to work. The underlying Polygon chain is fast and low-cost, battle-tested with six years in production and over $2.6 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume. The OMS is designed to sit alongside existing banking and compliance workflows rather than replace them, slotting into existing infrastructure whether a business is running a neobank, a fintech, or a crypto-native platform.
The dollar account feature fits into a broader build-out of the OMS. A dollar account combines the Hold, Identify, and Ramp primitives within the stack's low-level API architecture, meaning businesses can use the feature standalone or chain it into a wider payment flow alongside other money-movement tools.
Sources:
Polygon Open Money Stack: Payments Infrastructure Overview
Polygon Open Money Stack Enters Technical Preview
Polygon OMS Developer Documentation

@TrustWallet is cutting 25 blockchain networks from its app on September 15, 2026. The move affects holders on several once-prominent chains and also retires the wallet's human-readable username feature, Trust Handles.
Which Networks Are Being Removed
According to Trust Wallet's official announcement, the networks being retired include Polygon zkEVM, Moonbeam, MultiversX, IoTeX, Conflux, and Decred, among others. Users holding assets on any of the affected chains do not need to worry about losing funds. Assets remain on their respective blockchains, and access can be restored by manually re-adding each network through the app's custom network settings.
The rationale follows a pattern Trust Wallet has applied before. The wallet previously removed BRC-20 and inscription support, citing low usage and added friction for the broader user base. Cutting underutilised networks keeps the core experience streamlined for the majority of its users, while the app continues to support more than 100 blockchains overall.
Trust Handles Are Also Going Away
The deprecation extends beyond chain support. Trust Handles, the human-readable usernames that replace long wallet addresses, will also stop functioning. Trust Wallet had integrated with the Foundation for Interwallet Operability (FIO) Protocol as its default domain provider, allowing users to replace complex addresses with readable handles such as "name@trust" across multiple blockchains. That infrastructure is being removed as part of this update.
Registrations remain recorded on the FIO network, but re-adding FIO to Trust Wallet will not restore the handles. Users who relied on Trust Handles to receive assets should update their contact details and switch to a standard wallet address before the September 15 deadline. Trust Wallet has not indicated whether a replacement for the feature is planned.
Users on any of the 25 affected networks should act before the cutoff: back up relevant private keys or seed phrases, note the network details needed to re-add a chain manually, and update any incoming payment references to a currently supported address format.
Sources:
Trust Wallet: Sunsetting Support for Multiple Networks on September 15, 2026
Chainwire: Trust Wallet Launches Trust Handles by FIO Protocol

Rain Launches the Agentic Payments Alliance
Stablecoin payments firm @raincards has launched the Agentic Payments Alliance (APA), a new industry coalition aimed at shaping the rules of commerce driven by artificial intelligence agents. The APA brings together organisations working to guide the development of agentic commerce, with founding members including Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv, Circle, Solana and Remitly. Avalanche (@avax), Uniswap Labs (@UniswapLabsVC) and @chainalysis are also among the 26 founding members.
The coalition will operate as a working group run collectively by its founding members rather than owned by any single company. Members will set the charter and mission together, with early work expected to cover shared research and frameworks, testing emerging standards for agent identity and authorisation, and regulatory advocacy.
Why It Matters
The alliance arrives as the business case for agentic commerce accelerates. McKinsey projects between $3 trillion and $5 trillion in global agentic commerce by 2030, and much of the infrastructure that activity depends on, including how agents get authorised and how fraud gets caught, is still being defined.
The APA was formed to bring the people building that infrastructure into the same conversation before those decisions get made in isolation. Rain CEO Farooq Malik framed the rationale plainly: "No single company should get to decide how agents transact on someone's behalf. That has to come from the platforms building the rails, the regulators setting the rules, and the innovators closest to how agents are actually being used today."
Rain itself is no newcomer to the space. In January 2026, the company announced a $250 million Series C at a $1.95 billion valuation to scale stablecoin-powered payments infrastructure for global enterprises. It has also launched an Agent Control Layer, making all of its payments infrastructure agent-compatible.
Founding members will receive early access to Rain's Agentic Startup Program, an accelerator supporting early-stage companies building for agentic commerce, with the first cohort of five startups set to present at a demo day open to Alliance members.
The APA is not alone in this effort. Google and Mastercard are among the big names backing a FIDO Alliance initiative to develop interoperable standards, with Google donating its open protocol and Mastercard providing its Verifiable Intent trust layer.
Sources:
Rain official press release via PR Newswire: Agentic Payments Alliance launch
Finextra: Visa and Mastercard back new Agentic Payments Alliance

Selig Blames Past Enforcement Culture for Driving Innovation Offshore
CFTC Chairman @ChairmanSelig has taken direct aim at the regulatory approach of previous administrations, arguing that what he called "anti-crypto armies, doomers, and decelerationists" pushed blockchain, artificial intelligence, and prediction market companies out of the United States. The remarks signal a clear shift in tone at the agency, which is now positioning itself as a pro-innovation regulator under his leadership.
Operating as the sole commissioner on a five-member body, Selig has been moving quickly on rulemaking, AI-powered market surveillance, and efforts to cement the US as the global home for crypto innovation. His comments reflect a broader ambition to reverse what he sees as years of regulatory overreach that cost the country talent and capital in emerging technology sectors.
Inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee Meeting Set for August 20
Chairman Selig has released the agenda for the Innovation Advisory Committee's inaugural meeting on Thursday, August 20, where attendees will discuss topics related to the regulation of crypto assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets. The committee meets from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET in Washington, with the public able to watch online.
The crypto session is expected to cover state licensing, federal market structure, and regulatory uncertainty. The committee will also examine the absence of a comprehensive federal market structure framework and the practical effects of overlapping jurisdictions and inconsistent regulatory interpretations.
Alongside the IAC, Selig has also launched an Innovation Task Force dedicated to advancing clear rules for American innovators, with a focus on crypto assets and blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, and prediction markets and event contracts.
Selig named the committee's 35 members in February, including Polymarket's Shayne Coplan and Kalshi's Tarek Mansour. Written public comments on the topics under discussion are due August 27.
"America has long been the global hub of financial innovation," Selig said, adding that he looks forward to discussing "ways emerging technologies and financial products are shaping our markets as we embark upon the new frontier of finance."
Sources:
CFTC: Chairman Selig Announces Agenda for August 20 Innovation Advisory Committee Meeting
CFTC: Chairman Selig Announces Formation of New Innovation Task Force
Crypto Times: CFTC Sets Crypto, AI, and Prediction Markets Agenda for August 20

BlackRock met des chiffres sur le Bitcoin
BlackRock, le plus grand gestionnaire d’actifs au monde, a publié des orientations officielles recommandant aux investisseurs d’allouer entre 1 % et 2 % d’un portefeuille multi-actifs à $BTC. L’BlackRock Investment Institute a exposé sa position dans une note de recherche intitulée « Sizing Bitcoin in Portfolios », communiquée directement aux conseillers financiers.
La société estime qu’une allocation de 1 à 2 % en Bitcoin constitue une fourchette raisonnable pour un portefeuille multi-actifs, à condition que les investisseurs s’attendent à une adoption plus large et qu’ils puissent supporter le risque de variations rapides des prix. La note présente le Bitcoin comme un diversifiant complémentaire plutôt que comme une position centrale du portefeuille.

@OndoFinance has crossed the 100,000 unique holders milestone for its tokenized securities network, with over 214,000 total individual asset balances recorded across its platform. The achievement came in less than a year since the project's inception, marking a significant moment for the on-chain US equities space.
A Platform Built for Scale
Ondo's growth sits against a broader surge in tokenized equities. According to RWA.xyz data cited by Insights4VC, the value of distributed tokenized stocks nearly doubled from $951 million in March 2026 to $1.89 billion in July, underlining how quickly the sector is maturing.
Ondo sits at the center of that growth. Intellectia AI's RWA analysis places Ondo as the leading tokenization protocol with over $3.7 billion in total value locked and roughly 70% market share in tokenized equities. Its flagship product, Ondo Global Markets (OGM), crossed $1 billion in TVL in May 2026, becoming the first tokenized equities platform to reach that level. OGM offers access to more than 260 US stocks and ETFs, including SPY, QQQ, NVDA, and TSLA, across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain.
Regulatory Momentum Adds Fuel
The holder milestone arrives as Ondo moves to expand its regulatory footprint. In July 2026, Ondo launched the first implementation of the SEC's third-party custodial tokenization model, using BlackRock's IVV ETF and Micron shares as its initial securities. The structure allows token holders to receive the same governance rights as investors holding securities through traditional brokerages, with Broadridge handling proxy voting and regulatory disclosures.
Separately, Ondo's SEC-registered broker-dealer subsidiary, Oasis Pro Markets, secured FINRA authorization to offer tokenized equities, ETFs, mutual funds, and IPO securities to US retail and institutional investors, a channel that had previously been closed to the platform.
The combination of rapid user growth, a dominant market position in tokenized equities, and expanding regulatory clearance positions Ondo as a central player at the intersection of traditional finance and on-chain markets. With the broader tokenized stock sector now generating $9.22 billion in monthly on-chain transfer volume as of June 2026, the 100,000 holders mark is likely a waypoint rather than a ceiling.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Ondo Finance Debuts SEC-Aligned Tokenized Stock Model
Insights4VC: The State of Onchain Real-World Assets in Mid-2026
KuCoin: Tokenized Stocks Reach $9.22 Billion in Monthly On-Chain Volume

BVNK ajoute USDC sur Arbitrum pour les paiements d’entreprise
@BVNKFinance prend désormais en charge les dépôts et paiements en $USDC sur @Arbitrum, en ciblant les opérations de trésorerie d’entreprise et les workflows de règlement. Cette évolution permet aux entreprises de transférer des fonds sur des canaux à la fois fiduciaires et numériques, avec une latence plus faible et des frais de transaction plus bas par rapport aux systèmes bancaires transfrontaliers traditionnels.
L’intégration s’appuie sur l’infrastructure de paiement existante de BVNK, qui traite plus de 36 milliards de dollars de volume annuel dans plus de 130 pays. Cette échelle donne à la capacité en $USDC basée sur Arbitrum un ancrage immédiat au niveau entreprise, plutôt qu’un déploiement en phase pilote.

@SuiNetwork a franchi les 4,6 milliards de transactions totales on-chain, établissant un nouveau record absolu pour le réseau et renforçant sa place parmi les blockchains Layer-1 les plus actives du secteur. Le chiffre ne se limite pas à un simple comptage brut : il représente l’équivalent d’une transaction pour plus de la moitié de la population mondiale.
Un réseau conçu pour l’échelle
Sui est une blockchain Layer-1 conçue pour des applications décentralisées hautes performances. Son modèle d’exécution parallèle des transactions et son architecture centrée sur les objets lui permettent de traiter plusieurs transactions simultanément, ce qui en fait une solution particulièrement adaptée aux cas d’usage de la DeFi, du gaming et des réseaux sociaux, qui nécessitent une infrastructure rapide et évolutive. Le total cumulé des transactions couvre l’ensemble de l’activité depuis le lancement du mainnet, y compris les transferts de jetons, l’exécution de contrats intelligents et les interactions avec des applications décentralisées.

LINK and WLFI Lead the Weekly Charge
Four major altcoins have stood out from the crowd over the past seven days. @Chainlink ($LINK), @0xPolygon ($POL), @worldlibertyfi ($WLFI), and @monero ($XMR) have all posted notable price moves, outperforming much of the broader crypto market.
$LINK and $WLFI were the clear highlights of the week, with both assets continuing to attract buying interest that has left most competing altcoins behind. Over the past month, the price of $LINK has increased by more than 15%, pointing to sustained momentum that extends beyond a single week.
Chainlink is a foundational layer for the crypto ecosystem, with over $28 trillion of value locked within DeFi, derivatives, gaming, and institutional finance relying on its network. Legacy institutions including J.P. Morgan, SWIFT, and Mastercard use Chainlink to connect smart contracts with real-world data, giving $LINK a utility argument that few altcoins can match.
POL and XMR Add to the Gains
$POL, the native token of the Polygon network, jumped nearly 10% in the past week, making it one of the stronger performers among large-cap altcoins.
$XMR has been the standout story on a longer time horizon. The privacy-focused coin is up over 50% in the past year, a run that reflects growing demand for anonymous, untraceable transactions. Monero stands out in the crypto space for its strong focus on privacy and decentralization of transactions, making it one of the leading privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. By early August, XMR had reclaimed the 200-day EMA band as it sets its sights on the $422 resistance level once more.
During the last month alone, the price of $XMR has increased by 21.4%, suggesting the broader yearly trend is accelerating rather than fading.
Taken together, the performance of these four assets points to a rotation into projects with clear utility or strong narratives: oracle infrastructure, real-world finance integrations, layer-2 scaling, and privacy. Whether the momentum holds will depend on broader market conditions and whether buying pressure can be sustained into the weeks ahead.
Sources:
Changelly: Monero (XMR) Price Prediction 2026
Coinpedia: Monero Price Prediction 2026-2030
Changelly: Chainlink (LINK) Price Prediction 2026

From Treasuries to High-Yield: A Step Change for On-Chain Finance
@Securitize and @Neubergerberman have launched the Neuberger Securitize High Income Tokenized Fund, ticker $HINC, on the @Avax blockchain. The product moves on-chain fixed income beyond the tokenized Treasury equivalents that have dominated the real-world asset space so far, targeting more complex instruments including high-yield bonds, Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs), and leveraged loans.
The launch reflects a broader push by @Securitize into institutional-grade tokenization on Avalanche. Securitize manages over $4 billion in tokenized assets and holds regulatory licences in both the US and the European Union. The firm has built a growing roster of asset manager partnerships, and previously partnered with Apollo to launch ACRED, bringing Apollo's Diversified Credit Fund on-chain for the first time.
Avalanche has become a preferred blockchain for regulated tokenization. The network now hosts approximately $1.65 billion in tokenized real-world assets across 550 projects, and after receiving regulatory approval to operate a tokenized trading and settlement system in the EU, Securitize selected Avalanche to deploy its European platform, citing near-instant settlement and configurable architecture suited to institutional requirements.
$HINC as DeFi Collateral
Beyond its investment profile, the $HINC token is designed with liquidity in mind. Its structure makes it suitable as high-quality collateral on decentralized lending platforms such as @Aave, opening a potential bridge between traditional credit markets and DeFi protocols. That positions $HINC as more than a passive income product: it could serve as productive, yield-bearing collateral within on-chain lending ecosystems.
The wider tokenization market provides context for the significance of this launch. The market for tokenized real-world assets currently exceeds $43 billion, with the majority held in tokenized money market funds, while tokenized commodities account for nearly $7 billion, according to Token Terminal. Analysts expect rapid growth ahead, with Citi projecting that tokenized securities could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, while Boston Consulting Group and Ripple estimated the market could grow to $18.9 trillion by 2033.
The $HINC fund represents the kind of product evolution the market has been anticipating: moving from simple cash-equivalent tokenization toward structured credit that can actively participate in DeFi infrastructure.
Sources:
Securitize: The Infrastructure of Tokenization
Avalanche: Built for Real World Assets
CoinDesk: Securitize Tokenizes $295M of Its Own Stock on Solana and Avalanche

Direct crypto buying from your Cash App balance
@MoonPay has added @CashApp Pay as a payment method, giving U.S. customers a direct route to buy crypto assets using their existing Cash App balance. The integration went live on August 18, 2026, and covers $BTC, $ETH, and a selection of regulated stablecoins.
The move removes a common friction point in crypto onboarding. Rather than linking a bank account or entering card details, eligible users can simply select Cash App Pay at checkout within MoonPay's flow and complete the purchase in a few taps. The goal is to make the process feel as routine as splitting a bill or paying a friend.
Part of a wider push to widen access
The Cash App Pay tie-up fits a pattern MoonPay has been building for some time. The company has steadily added familiar consumer payment methods to reduce the gap between mainstream finance and crypto. An earlier integration brought Venmo support to Exodus wallet users through MoonPay's infrastructure, with that partnership framing the approach plainly: meet people where they already manage their money.
MoonPay's Venmo integration via Exodus showed that plugging into high-adoption payment apps can open crypto access to tens of millions of users who would not otherwise seek out a dedicated exchange. Cash App, operated by Block, brings a similarly large and financially active user base, particularly among younger Americans.
MoonPay describes itself as serving more than 30 million customers across 180 countries and working with over 1,200 enterprise clients. Adding Cash App Pay to its U.S. checkout options extends that reach further into the domestic retail market at a time when regulated stablecoins are drawing renewed attention from both consumers and policymakers.
For Cash App users, the practical benefit is straightforward: no new account, no card entry, and no redirect to a separate service. The purchase settles through MoonPay's existing compliance and payments infrastructure, with the familiar Cash App Pay experience sitting on top.
Sources:
Exodus Expands Crypto Access to Venmo Users Through MoonPay Integration, GlobeNewswire via Seeking Alpha
MoonPay Newsroom

Metaplanet prend le contrôle de Super League, société cotée au Nasdaq
@Metaplanet, le plus grand détenteur corporate de $BTC au Japon, s’étend aux États-Unis. La société cotée à Tokyo a signé un accord définitif en vue d’acquérir une participation majoritaire dans Super League Enterprise, cotée au Nasdaq (Nasdaq : SLE), qui sera renommée Superplanet, Inc. et servira de plateforme dédiée de trésorerie Bitcoin des États-Unis pour le groupe.
Dans le cadre de l’opération, Metaplanet apportera 2 100 Bitcoin, d’une valeur d’environ 132,1 millions de dollars, ainsi que 2,5 millions de dollars en espèces, à Super League en échange d’actions nouvellement émises, d’actions privilégiées et de warrants. À la clôture, Metaplanet détiendra environ 95,7 % du capital-actions ordinaire émis et en circulation de Superplanet, créant ainsi une plateforme de trésorerie Bitcoin s’étendant à la fois sur le Nasdaq Capital Market et la Bourse de Tokyo.

Cypherpunk Technologies (Nasdaq: CYPH) has launched what it calls the world's largest Zcash mining fleet, deploying approximately 4.2 GSol/s of Equihash hashrate across the United States, which currently represents around 18% of the total $ZEC network.
A $33.33 Million Equity Deal With Winklevoss Capital
The deal was structured as an Asset Purchase Agreement with Moria Mining LLC and Winklevoss Treasury Investments, LLC, through which Cypherpunk Mining acquired the latest-generation Z15 Pro machines and their related hosting agreements. The $33.33 million purchase price was settled via a pre-funded warrant for 43,290,042 shares of Cypherpunk common stock at an exercise price of $0.001 per share, reflecting a stock purchase price of $0.77 per share.
Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss commented that investors have had limited options for Zcash mining exposure until now, and that this acquisition changes that. Winklevoss Capital is an investment firm founded in 2012 by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss that invests in frontier technologies.
Positioning as the Leading Corporate Privacy Miner
With the launch, Cypherpunk now offers public market investors exposure to both Zcash mining and treasury upside, continuing its evolution into a diversified privacy technology company. The company already holds a treasury of 323,394 $ZEC, further cementing its position as the leading corporate player in the privacy-mining space.
The company said the transaction made its mining affiliate the $ZEC network's largest active fleet, with access to an addressable market value of more than $250 million per year at current prices.
Industry veteran Kevin Zhang has been appointed Head of Mining at Cypherpunk. According to the company, he has mined Bitcoin since 2014 and Zcash since 2016, built major North American mining facilities, led a power plant conversion to mining, and previously helped build the largest Bitcoin mining pool at Foundry.
Cypherpunk added that the additional mining hashrate and decentralization strengthens Zcash network security, and that a more secure Zcash makes the company's treasury more valuable.
Sources:
Cypherpunk Technologies Launches World's Largest Zcash Mining Fleet (PR Newswire via Manila Times)
Cypherpunk Technologies launches Zcash mining fleet with $33 million Winklevoss deal (The Block)

@kaspaunchained's Toccata protocol activated on mainnet on June 30, 2026, marking one of the most significant upgrades in the project's history. The hard fork activated at DAA score 474,165,565 and introduced covenant-like programmability, ZK verification, transaction v1, script pricing, based-app primitives, and SilverScript tooling. Critically, it shifted the network from a fast payments chain to a fully programmable base layer by introducing native covenant systems for smart contracts, KRC-20 token support, and zero-knowledge proof verification opcodes.
The activation went smoothly. Hashrate readiness was near-total heading into the switch, and the network's UTXO architecture was left intact throughout the process, preserving Kaspa's core design while layering in new programmable capabilities.
Early On-Chain Activity and Network Performance
Kaspa continues to operate at its established throughput of 10 blocks per second, a rate set by the earlier Crescendo hard fork. That upgrade, activated on May 5, 2025, increased block production from 1 block per second to 10 blocks per second, achieving one of the highest base layer throughputs in the PoW space.
Since Toccata went live, on-chain utilisation remains low relative to total capacity, but early covenant activity has grown quickly. Tokens, vaults, and developer experiments have been appearing on-chain, with covenant usage rising by more than 15 times in the first few weeks after activation. If the new features are utilised to create applications, stablecoins, and tokenised assets, demand for $KAS should rise. The biggest risk for KAS is execution risk, which relates to Kaspa's ability to attract developers, users, and liquidity to the blockchain.
$KAS Price and Market Position
In the past, every major upgrade or roadmap update for Kaspa was positively received by the market, with upgrade speculation fuelling price rises before the event. Once live, however, the price of $KAS tends to experience volatility as speculators lock in profits. The Toccata upgrade followed a similar pattern. After a short rally around the activation date, $KAS has settled back. The coin currently trades around $0.0264 on major exchanges, down 0.9% over the past week, with a market capitalisation of approximately $729 million.
The network's hashrate is also running below previous highs, weighed down by price pressure and reduced block emissions as Kaspa's supply schedule continues to wind down. Circulating supply stands at approximately 27.61 billion KAS against a maximum supply of 28.7 billion KAS. Binance Pool launched a zero-fee mining promotion in August 2026, aimed at attracting more miners and securing the network.
Looking ahead, the focus for $KAS will be on whether the programmability unlocked by Toccata translates into sustained developer and user growth. Core developer Michael Sutton has described Toccata as "a significant milestone on the road to vProgs (Yellowpaper), where the long-term destination is synchronously composable verifiable programs."
Sources:
Bitcoin Foundation: Kaspa's Biggest Upgrade Yet
CoinMarketCap: Kaspa Latest Updates
Kaspa GitHub: Toccata Upgrade Guide

Citi passe à la conservation du Bitcoin pour les clients institutionnels
Citigroup a confirmé qu’elle lancera cette année des services de conservation du $BTC de niveau institutionnel, en commençant par le Bitcoin avant de s’étendre à d’autres actifs numériques. L’annonce a été faite par Nisha Surendran, responsable du développement de la conservation d’actifs numériques chez Citi, lors du forum Strategy World 2026 organisé par la société Strategy, spécialisée dans la trésorerie Bitcoin.
Le service permettra à Citi de détenir directement le Bitcoin natif pour le compte de clients institutionnels, plutôt que de faire transiter l’exposition via des ETF ou des produits structurés. Contrairement aux modèles basés sur des ETF utilisés par de nombreuses institutions financières, Citi prévoit de conserver les actifs en Bitcoin natif directement, en les intégrant aux mêmes processus de gestion des risques, de fiscalité et de conformité qu’elle applique aux actions et aux obligations.

L’activité de trading reprend, mais le tableau reste mitigé
Cardano ($ADA) montre des signes renouvelés d’activité on-chain. Le volume DEX du réseau a grimpé à 90,0 M$ sur les 30 derniers jours, soit une hausse de 37,5 % par rapport à la période précédente. Les échanges sur les produits dérivés et les perpétuels ont surpassé l’activité au comptant, atteignant 131,5 M$ sur la même fenêtre, ce qui indique une demande croissante de la part de traders plus actifs au sein de l’écosystème.
Les protocoles incluant Minswap, WingRiders et Liqwid continuent d’ancrer l’essentiel du volume on-chain, selon des données suivies par DefiLlama. La hausse de l’activité sur les produits dérivés, en particulier, suggère que l’intérêt spéculatif pour l’écosystème Cardano n’a pas totalement disparu, même si le prix du token reste sous pression.

SIREN Returns to the Trending List
$SIREN, the AI-themed memecoin native to @BNBCHAIN, is back in the spotlight after months of relative quiet. The token has jumped more than 30% in the past 24 hours, landing it among the day's top trending crypto assets. Despite the move, $SIREN remains down roughly 40% year-to-date, with a market cap of approximately $30 million.
The catalyst this time appears to be renewed attention around a past market-maker dump, reigniting debate over the token's supply dynamics and who has been pulling the strings on price. That context matters. On-chain analyst Yu Jin previously reported that 52 of the top 54 SIREN holder addresses appeared to belong to a single entity, controlling roughly 644 million tokens, or about 88.5% of the circulating supply, with market maker DWF Labs named as a suspect.
On-chain analysts, including Bubblemaps and investigator ZachXBT, have repeatedly flagged extreme token concentration, with a single entity or closely linked wallets reportedly controlling a significant share of the total supply. Critics argue this setup enables coordinated pumps fueled by social media hype, followed by sharp dumps that wipe out retail traders while insiders cash out at peak prices.
A Volatile History on BNB Chain
According to Bubblemaps, SIREN launched in February 2025 as the "first on-chain AI agent analyst on BNB" but was largely abandoned soon after. The token then caught fire well after the project had gone quiet, riding a wave of AI-plus-memecoin narrative hype in early 2026.
Its breakout moment came in February 2026, when Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao burned a portion of SIREN tokens held in a donation wallet he had received. The burn triggered a supply-shock narrative that lifted the token from sub-$0.17 to an eventual high above $3.60 within six weeks. The pattern became glaring in March 2026, when SIREN hit its all-time high near $3.83 before crashing over 60% to 70% in a single day amid heavy whale selling.
Today's 30% move is a far more modest affair, and with a $30 million market cap, $SIREN is a fraction of the size it once was. Whether the latest bounce has legs or follows the same pattern as prior rallies is a question traders will be watching closely. For now, the token has at least succeeded in doing what memecoins do best: getting people talking again.
Sources:
Crypto Times: SIREN Token Jumps 150%, Whale Accumulation Begins on Binance
CryptoTicker: SIREN Crypto, the AI Meme Coin That Pumped 6,800% Then Crashed 90%
Crypto Times: SIREN Meme Coin Awakens from the Depths, Rallied ~50% in 24 Hours

Testnet Numbers Tell the Story
Activity on @SuiNetwork's Hashi testnet has been brisk since it went live on July 22, with cumulative $BTC deposits surpassing 1.1 million and withdrawals topping 165,000 in just three weeks. The protocol now accounts for over 50% of $BTC Signet transactions over the past 14 days, with more than 25 institutional participants actively stress-testing the system.
The pace points to early appetite for bringing native bitcoin into DeFi without wrapping or bridging the asset, a model that has drawn renewed interest after repeated bridge exploits drained hundreds of millions from other chains.
How Hashi Works and Who Is Backing It
Unlike conventional wrapped-asset bridges, Hashi does not move $BTC off the Bitcoin network. Users deposit native bitcoin, Sui validators confirm the transaction, and the protocol mints hBTC, a representative token usable as programmable collateral for institutional lending and stablecoin borrowing. Deposits are secured through a 2-of-2 multisig arrangement combining Hashi's multi-party computation (MPC) validators with a separate Guardian Layer, a configurable risk-management system designed to slow or block suspicious withdrawals. Loan terms and collateral positions are recorded onchain, giving lenders direct visibility into how much bitcoin backs any given position.
More than 25 institutional partners are testing lending and credit applications on the testnet, including custody provider BitGo, trading firms Cumberland and FalconX, hardware wallet maker Ledger, infrastructure provider Blockdaemon, exchange Bullish, and Sui-native lending platforms Navi and Scallop. Wave Digital Assets has committed to a three-year plan to tokenize bitcoin-yield-bearing bonds on Sui once Hashi reaches mainnet.
On the compliance side, attorneys at Fenwick, an AmLaw 100 firm widely recognised in digital assets, concluded that locking $BTC through Hashi and receiving hBTC should not constitute a taxable event under U.S. federal income tax law, removing a key friction point for institutional adoption.
Hashi's Guardian Layer must still clear security reviews before any mainnet transition begins, and no launch date has been announced. The early testnet figures arrive at a difficult moment for the broader BTCFi sector, with layer-2 BTCFi total value locked falling roughly 74% from its 2025 highs to around 91,000 BTC by mid-2026.
Sources:
Bitcoin.com: Sui's Hashi Bridge Tops 1.1 Million Bitcoin Deposits in 3 Weeks
Sui Blog: Hashi Testnet Is Live
TechTimes: Bitcoin Collateral Reaches DeFi Without Wrapping