Crypto

Most AI startups are just prompt arbitrage built on rented compute. By 2027, platform landlords will crush 70% of them. Only decentralized AI will survive. Opinion by: Ahmad Shadid, founder of O.xyz and co-founder of IO.ne Not a single week passes by without a new artificial intelligence startup coming out of stealth.  With a slick interface, clever prompts and an OpenAI key powering the back-end, these ventures often boast seed valuations that make even a veteran chip designer blush. Read more

Stellar (XLM) joined Uniswap (UNI) as an underperformer, shedding 6% from Wednesday.

BtcTurk halted deposits and withdrawals, citing a “technical issue” with hot wallets, while trading and local currency withdrawals and deposits remained active. Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk has halted withdrawals amid reports suggesting that the platform has suffered a major loss of funds due to a hack. Cybersecurity firm Cyvers took to X on Thursday to report that it had detected $48 million worth of digital assets, including Ether (ETH), involved in unusual activity. “Our system detected multiple alerts across ETH, AVAX, ARB, BASE, OP, MANTLE and MATIC networks,” Cyvers reported, adding that the attacker had moved the assets to two addresses and begun swapping them. Read more

Framework Ventures leads Series A for GPU-collateralized stablecoin protocol USD.AI

The Dinari Financial Network will serve as a coordination layer for tokenized equities, with a group of institutions such as VanEck, BitGo and Gemini operating validators.

Gemini users can now access Web3 and DeFi ecosystems with social recovery, gas sponsorship, and integrated trading support.

Inflation at wholesale level in the U.S. in July sped up far beyond economist forecasts, calling into question expectations for lower interest rates.

Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds are on pace to hold more than 1.5 million BTC by year-end if current inflow rates persist, according to holdings data tracked by WalletPilot. This would allocate more BTC to ETFs than most estimates for lost coins, which stand around 1.4 million BTC. U.S. spot ETFs collectively hold about 1.296 million […] The post Bitcoin ETFs to lock up 1.5 million BTC by New Year as supply squeeze tightens grip appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Blockchain sleuths flagged suspicious multi-chain transfers from the Turkish exchange, prompting a suspension of deposits and withdrawals.

Vietnam’s police said they arrested 20 people in the country’s largest crypto scam, a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme built around Paynet Coin. Vietnamese authorities have dismantled what they described as the country’s largest crypto fraud to date, arresting the ringleader and accomplices behind a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme built around the digital token Paynet Coin (PAYN). The Phu Tho Provincial Police said on Monday that the suspects lured thousands of victims in Vietnam and overseas into an illegal multilevel marketing (MLM) operation disguised as a crypto investment platform, according to a report by local media outlet Công an Nhân dân. Using websites such as FMCPAY.com and AFF2024.com, the group promised investors monthly returns of 5%–9% and additional commissions for recruiting others. Funds from new participants were used to pay earlier investors, a classic Ponzi structure, per the authorities. Read more

Find out what's driving the move and if there's more fuel for this rally to continue.

ICP posts 5% swing before consolidating, after market sentiment was shaken by a security breach at Odin.fun

Despite the price decline, whale accumulation of PEPE continued, with the top addresses on Ethereum increasing their holdings by 1.5% in the last 30 days.

Sentora's report warns that corporate adoption of bitcoin as a treasury asset is akin to playing 'balance sheet roulette.'

Spar will launch crypto and stablecoin payments across 300 Swiss supermarkets via Binance Pay and DFX.swiss, marking a retail first for the country. Global grocery giant Spar is enabling stablecoin and cryptocurrency payments in its stores across Switzerland, marking what the company says will be the first nationwide rollout of digital asset payments in the retail sector. The grocery chain is partnering with Binance Pay and Swiss fintech firm DFX.swiss to allow customers to pay with more than 100 cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, according to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The service is already live in 100 Spar stores and will expand to the remaining locations in coming months. A full rollout across the country’s Spar network has no confirmed timeline, a Spar spokesperson said. Read more

ADA jumped double digits on the day as it surged to a five-month high, following a BTC all-time high and ETH closing in on its peak.

The hacker behind the Radiant Capital $58 million October 2024 exploit now holds $103 million in Ether since the asset’s price almost doubled. The trove stolen from decentralized lender Radiant Capital in October 2024 has nearly doubled in value as Ether climbed, blockchain data shows. Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Radiant Capital was hacked in mid-October 2024 when the crosschain lending protocol suffered a $58 million cybersecurity breach on BNB Chain and Arbitrum. Radiant Capital lost about $58 million in the breach. The attacker later swapped proceeds into Ether (ETH) and now holds 21,957 ETH worth about $103 million, according to Lookonchain, up from an estimated $58 million at the time of the exploit. Read more

Over 15 billion ADA has not moved for a year, signaling holder confidence as “altcoin season” momentum builds and Cardano price rises to multimonth highs. Key takeaways: ADA price confirms bull flag breakout, eyeing 100%–150% upside. Long-term holders have been holding a record 15 billion ADA for over a year. Read more

Coinbase lost $300,000 in token fees after mistakenly approving assets to a 0x swapper contract, enabling an MEV bot to drain its corporate wallet. Coinbase lost about $300,000 in token fees after mistakenly approving assets to a 0x Project smart contract, allowing a maximal extractable value (MEV) bot to drain the funds. Deebeez, a security researcher at Venn Network, flagged the incident in a Wednesday post on X. He said Coinbase’s corporate wallet interacted with 0x’s “swapper” contract, a permissionless tool designed to execute swaps but not to receive token approvals. Since anyone can call the contract to perform arbitrary actions, granting approvals can expose assets to immediate theft. “This same swapper is known to have had issues with Zora claims on Base,” the researcher wrote, linking to past cases where the setup enabled malicious actors to extract funds without exploiting code vulnerabilities. Read more

Bitcoin technical indicators are starting to show some signs of BTC price overheating, but onchain data suggests otherwise. Key takeaways: Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $124,450 on Thursday, and signs of overheating are starting to appear. Several technical indicators suggest a potential top at $124,000. Read more