In north central Nigeria’s Muslim-majority state of Kwara, where religious traditions shape daily life, a group of girls are challenging cultural norms by playing soccer. They’ve embraced the game’s team spirit, competitive thrill, plus the highs and lows of winning and losing, all whilst trying to ignore the disapproval of those who consider it unsuitable for women who choose to dress modestly. As Maryam Muhammed laces up her boots and heads to soccer training at a local school in Ilorin, she feels the sweltering heat — made worse by her hijab and leggings — as well as the scorn from some in the local community. Muhammed, 17, regularly hears taunts as she walks to her training sessions with the Model Queens Football Academy. “They tell me I won’t achieve anything. But I believe I will achieve something big,” she said. Despite the discomfort, it is important to her to cover up when she plays rather than wear shorts and a t-shirt. “Sometimes it feels like I want to open the hijab, but I must not expose my hair...
The confidence of the private business environment in the Romanian economy is decreasing, amid rising inflation, increasing costs, and recent fiscal changes, per a survey conducted by the Concordia Employers’ Confederation among Romanian employees and employers in September 2025.
California’s new law states that abandoned Bitcoin can’t be immediately sold by the state, which may ease recovery and lower burdens on exchanges. Over the weekend, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that preserves abandoned Bitcoin (BTC) holdings — a step forward that could provide legal clarity for custodians and crypto holders. The bill was an update to unclaimed property law (UPL) and contained one key provision: Abandoned Bitcoin or crypto holdings that are transferred to the state must be maintained in their original format (not sold for cash) for a certain amount of time. States with similar laws require that crypto be liquidated into cash immediately. This can create difficulties for recovering lost property and also creates administrative burdens for exchanges and crypto custodians. Read more
As $83 trillion passes to digital-native generations, wealth managers must embrace tokenization or watch capital find partners who will. Opinion by: Anthony Agoshkov, co-founder of Marvel Capital The world is witnessing the largest wealth handoff in modern history. Over the next 20 years, Millennials and Gen Z will inherit around $83 trillion, and some bullish forecasts suggest as much as $4 trillion of that could be tokenized onchain by 2030. Read more
High value DeFi projects like Synthetix and Aave are making Ethereum L1 great again, as Ronin, Celo and Phala switch chains to become L2s. In recent months, a raft of alt-L1s joined Ethereum to become L2s, even as other projects on L2s switch back to the Ethereum mainnet. The Ethereum L1 is reasserting its claim to be the home of high-value DeFi it has seven times more TVL than its nearest rival while the L2 model offers millions in potential savings, along with network effects for alt-L1s that join the ecosystem. Back in March, when bearishness around the extractive L2 roadmap was at its peak, mobile payments network Celo quietly closed down its validator network to become an L2. Now, its saving almost $7 million a year in operating costs. In August, blockchain gaming L1 Ronin announced it was coming home to Ethereum in early 2026, five years after network congestion forced its popular game Axie Infinity off mainnet. Ethereum has largely delivered on the scaling roadmap, says Jeffrey “Jiho” Zirlin, co-founde...
High value DeFi projects like Synthetix and Aave are making Ethereum L1 great again, as Ronin, Celo and Phala switch chains to become L2s. In recent months, a raft of alt-L1s joined Ethereum to become L2s, even as other projects on L2s switch back to the Ethereum mainnet. The Ethereum L1 is reasserting its claim to be the home of high-value DeFi it has seven times more TVL than its nearest rival while the L2 model offers millions in potential savings, along with network effects for alt-L1s that join the ecosystem. Back in March, when bearishness around the extractive L2 roadmap was at its peak, mobile payments network Celo quietly closed down its validator network to become an L2. Now, its saving almost $7 million a year in operating costs. In August, blockchain gaming L1 Ronin announced it was coming home to Ethereum in early 2026, five years after network congestion forced its popular game Axie Infinity off mainnet. Ethereum has largely delivered on the scaling roadmap, says Jeffrey “Jiho” Zirlin, co-founde...