Crypto

Kakao Group and Circle signed an MOU to explore won stablecoin payments, remittances, merchant settlement and tokenized financial services. Kakao Group has partnered with stablecoin issuer Circle to explore payment infrastructure for won-backed stablecoins as South Korea prepares a broader regulatory framework for crypto assets.  On Thursday, the companies announced that Kakao, Kakao Pay and Kakao Bank had signed a strategic memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Circle Internet Group. Under the agreement, the companies will explore ways to connect Circle’s blockchain and global payment infrastructure with Kakao’s consumer platforms and financial services. The agreement highlights how major South Korean consumer and financial platforms are positioning themselves ahead of expected stablecoin legislation, even before the regulatory framework is finalized.  Read more

The attacks hit Verus, B² Network and other cross-chain systems, showing how compromised keys, upgrade powers and validation checks can empty protocols without breaking the underlying cryptography.

LINK still struggles below $10, but analysts are quite optimistic about its future.

Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato integrated Sygnum’s crypto trading and custody services into its Avaloq-powered digital banking apps for Bitcoin and other assets. Swiss bank BancaStato has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading using digital asset bank Sygnum and banking software provider Avaloq. BancaStato, the cantonal bank serving Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region, joined Sygnum’s business-to-business (B2B) banking platform to offer crypto asset services, according to a Thursday announcement shared with Cointelegraph. The integration allows BancaStato customers to buy, sell and hold four crypto assets, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Solana (SOL), through the bank’s existing web and mobile banking apps. Read more

One of the final disputes started during Gensler's tenure has also ended, according to Coinbase's CLO.

Security firms said the attacker used enough hot-validator signatures to approve a 24.15 million USDC withdrawal, while Arbitrum said its native bridge was not affected.

[PRESS RELEASE – Miami, United States, July 22nd, 2026] Unserious today announced the acquisition of Creepz, one of the most recognizable NFT collections of the 2021-22 cycle. Backed by entrepreneur and investor Adam Weitsman, and with the support of the original founders, the deal places the lizard cult brand under a powerhouse new team. Most […]

US officials warn that Chinese firms conducting covert, industrial-scale AI distillation could face sanctions and export restrictions. A White House official accused Moonshot AI of distilling Anthropic’s Fable AI model to develop Kimi K3, which launched last week. In a post on X on Wednesday, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios alleged the Chinese AI firm developed an internal platform to distill US models at scale, using methods designed to evade detection. “Legitimate AI distillation used to create smaller, more efficient models plays a vital role in this open innovation ecosystem,” he said. “However, large-scale, covert industrial distillation aimed at stealing proprietary U.S. technology and undermining American research is unacceptable.” Read more

XRP whales accumulate 2.8% more tokens over five weeks as small holders capitulate, sending the price back above $1.16.

Geopolitical risks, rising rates, and fresh regulatory setbacks send crypto lower as key Democrats demand stronger safeguards in the market structure bill.

The settlement follows a watchdog report last year that blamed “avoidable errors” for the loss of nearly a year’s worth of Gary Gensler’s text messages. The US Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to pay $150,000 in legal fees to settle a Coinbase lawsuit seeking internal records from the agency at the height of the Biden-era SEC crackdown on crypto.  The agreement, filed on Wednesday, ends a two-year lawsuit between the SEC and Coinbase, in which the crypto exchange sought internal documents from the regulator to uncover evidence of “crypto by enforcement.” An internal report in 2025 revealed the SEC had deleted nearly a year of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s texts due to “avoidable” errors.  “The agency tasked with policing corporate record-keeping somehow lost reams of its own text messages between Mr. Gensler and other officials during the most intense period of the anti-crypto campaign,” said Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, add...

AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, reportedly lost $24.15 million on Wednesday, while the Verus Ethereum bridge was attacked hours later. Hackers stole more than $31.6 million across two unrelated crypto bridge exploits spaced just hours apart, targeting bridges operated by decentralized perpetual exchange AFX and Verus Protocol.  According to Blockaid, AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, reportedly lost $24.15 million on Wednesday through a hack targeting one of its crosschain bridges. Hours later, Blockaid said it detected an exploit targeting the Verus Ethereum Bridge that resulted in about $7.5 million in crypto being stolen.  The back-to-back exploits highlight the continued security risks facing crosschain bridges, which hold large pools of assets and move funds between separate blockchains.  Read more

Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the lead negotiators on the bill, told CoinDesk she was "pleased" that the updated bill was ready for release.

Several of the Democrats most likely to vote for the crypto market structure bill said they had issues with the new draft published by Republicans earlier in the day.

The MOVE token is trading more than 99% below its all-time high of $1.45 and hit an all-time low barely two days ago.

The company's "Everything Exchange" is heading north. No launch date set yet, but the Coinbase Canada CEO says phase two for the company is in motion.

The benchmark tracks blockchain networks using protocol revenue, offering an alternative to traditional market capitalization-weighted crypto indexes. S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital launched a digital asset index that tracks blockchain networks and protocols based on protocol revenue, marking a departure from crypto benchmarks built around market capitalization or token prices. The index draws from the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset Index but only includes assets that meet minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization and liquidity. Eligible networks are then ranked by aggregate protocol revenue over the previous two quarters and weighted by adjusted market capitalization, with the largest holding capped at 35% and the remaining constituents generally capped at 20%. The index is rebalanced quarterly. According to an announcement from the companies, the benchmark is intended for institutional allocation and may serve as the basis for investment products or as a reference for...

The electric vehicle maker maintained its 11,509 BTC treasury through the second quarter as bitcoin declined 14%, alongside mixed earnings that beat revenue expectations but missed on profit.

Donavan McKinney, running against Michigan incumbent Shri Thanedar, said that “the crypto lobby is paying my opponent back for helping Trump“ with the PAC-funded ads. An affiliate of the cryptocurrency-aligned political action committee (PAC) Fairshake is attempting to influence voters in a primary race for Michigan’s 13th congressional district, with about $1 million in media on the line. In filings with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) as of Tuesday, the Protect Progress PAC had spent more than $986,000 on ads supportive of Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar and opposing his challenger, Donavan McKinney. The reported expenditures came two weeks before the Democratic candidates were set to face off in an Aug. 4 primary to determine who will stand in the November general election. Source: FEC Read more

The case centers on equal treatment, with challengers claiming blockchain users should not face different tax rules than traditional finance.