The crypto protocol dYdX has rebranded as Arcus and is joining Robinhood’s new blockchain to bring perpetual and tokenized stock trading. The company behind the dYdX decentralized exchange (DEX) has partnered with Robinhood to rebrand and launch the protocol as Arcus on the Robinhood Chain. An X account for Arcus posted on Wednesday that “dYdX is now Arcus” and would launch on the Robinhood Chain, Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based layer 2 blockchain that went live the same day. The dYdX Foundation said that dYdX Labs created Arcus “in partnership with Robinhood” and that the dYdX blockchain “is not affected by it in any way.” The platform is set to be blockchain’s “leading DEX” and will give users access to perpetual products and fee-free trading of 95 tokenized stocks. Read more
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez promised a “more ambitious” three-part plan to reinforce security measures for the crypto sector. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has promised a "more ambitious" approach to tackling crypto ransom attacks after confirming there were 77 kidnapping, extortion or attempted extortion incidents linked to crypto in the first half of 2026. Nuñez said Tuesday that the 77 incidents recorded so far this year are up sharply from the 45 recorded in all of 2025, according to local outlet BFM Business. “These are serious matters, and your concern is legitimate,” he told the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (ADAN) as he promised more government support. Read more
Dubai’s VARA has licensed its 50th crypto firm, though only 39 VASPs were fully operational at the end of 2025 as the emirate’s regulated market continues to expand. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai's crypto regulator, has granted its 50th virtual asset service provider (VASP) license. On Thursday, VARA said its latest approval went to tokenized assets platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE. The milestone provides one measure of the growth of Dubai's crypto licensing regime, though license totals alone do not show how many firms are operational or the level of business they generate. Read more
The June close above realized price but below the 200-week moving average “signals the bear bottom is still ahead per prior cycles,” one analyst said. Bitcoin could face further downside pressure after ending June below its 200-week moving average but above its realized price, a combination that crypto analyst PlanB says suggests the market has yet to reach a bear market bottom. Bitcoin fell 20.5% in June to close the month at $58,526 — its worst monthly performance since June 2022 — below its 200-week moving average of $62,000 but above its realized price of $52,000. “ALL previous bear market bottoms were below realized price,” said PlanB, the creator of the stock-to-flow pricing model, on Wednesday, adding in a separate post that Bitcoin could drop to $52,000. Read more
The funding round is Venice AI’s first external capital raise since it launched in May 2024. The Erik Voorhees-founded Venice AI has achieved unicorn status after raising $65 million in Series A funding at a $1 billion valuation. Led by Dragonfly and with backing from Coinbase Ventures, F-Prime, North Island Ventures, Morgan Creek and others, the funding round announced on Wednesday marks the company's first external capital raise since launching in 2024. The fundraising came in the same month Anthropic was forced to suddenly cut foreign access to two of its latest AI models, and comes just weeks after OpenAI was accused in a class-action lawsuit for sharing ChatGPT data with third parties, highlighting the potential appeal of privacy-focused AI platforms. Read more
The Trump sons' American Bitcoin hit a low on Wednesday ahead of the company’s reverse stock split, which aims to buoy shares and keep it on the Nasdaq. Shares in the Trump family-backed American Bitcoin (ABTC) sank to an all-time low on Wednesday after the crypto miner set a date for a 1-for-15 reverse stock split in a bid to stay listed on the Nasdaq. American Bitcoin said its reverse stock split will go into effect after the market closes Thursday and will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis when the market opens Monday. It would continue to trade under the ticker ABTC. It said every 15 shares of the company’s Class A and B common stock will be reclassified as one share. The company expects its common stock to be reduced from more than 1 billion outstanding shares to about 73 million. Read more
Bitcoin rallied above $60,000 despite Federal Reserve rate hike fears and steady outflows from the BTC spot ETFs. Is the rally a bull trap? Key takeaways: Bitcoin (BTC) reacted positively to US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's remarks on stubborn inflation. Despite the gains on Wednesday, traders fear that incentives for fixed-income investments and strong earnings momentum in tech stocks will continue to pressure non-yield-bearing assets like cryptocurrencies. Read more
The company announced a suite of DeFi products, plans for launching crypto trading in the UK and its public mainnet after months of testing. Stock and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood announced the launch of its public mainnet about four months after it began testing the network. On Wednesday, the company said Robinhood Chain, a layer 2 (L2) blockchain built on Arbitrum, had officially launched after the network went live on testnet in February. The blockchain, which the company described as “AI-native and purpose-built for real-world assets,” comes amid Robinhood's expansion of crypto- and decentralized finance-related services. According to Robinhood, it plans to launch crypto trading in the UK soon. The company also said that its tokenized stock products were live and available through its wallet app to users in more than 120 countries. CEO Vlad Tenev called tokenized stocks “inevitable” in January, arguing that offering the products could help prevent trading freezes that sometimes occur on tradi...
Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized US Treasury to Virtu Financial in what Tradeweb said was the first real-time transaction settled against USDCx. Tradeweb, an institutional electronic trading platform, has executed an onchain transaction involving tokenized US Treasuries, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash over the Canton Network. Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while the Canton Network synchronized settlement between the tokenized Treasury and tokenized cash. The companies said the trade settled in real time, but did not disclose its size. A Tradeweb spokesperson told Cointelegraph the deal marked the industry's first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton. Participants included Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial. Read more