Crypto

Sandbox participation permits supervised testing but does not guarantee full commercial registration. Zimbabwe’s securities regulator has admitted seven financial technology projects to its regulatory sandbox, with tokenization accounting for most of the latest group.  The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ) listed Zimbabwe Entrepreneurship Exchange, Ndarama Standard, Questview Brokers, Crowdaxe Capital, Procode Platforms, Financial Securities Exchange, or FINSEC, and Colmin Resources Zimbabwe as approved participants. The projects cover blockchain-based capital raising, crowdfunding, synthetic trading and the tokenization of assets, securities and infrastructure, with four of the seven directly focused on tokenization,  Read more

The HKMA aims to make Hong Kong’s banking sector fully prepared for quantum-related security risks by 2030 as the city expands tokenized finance. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched a framework to assess banks’ preparedness for quantum-computing threats as the city expands its use of tokenized deposits, digital assets and blockchain settlement.  On Monday, the HKMA introduced a white paper on quantum preparedness and the sector’s first Quantum Preparedness Index (QPI). The index gave the sector an overall readiness score of 2.3 out of 10, while the white paper found that around half of surveyed institutions had no formal post-quantum planning in place. The HKMA said it aims to achieve full sector readiness, represented by a QPI score of 10, by 2030. The development comes as Hong Kong moves more traditional financial activity onto distributed ledgers. Government figures show that Hong Kong has issued three batches of tokenized green bonds totaling about HK$16.8 billion (about $2.1 billion) sin...

Binance has been phishing its own staff to get ahead of potential attacks. South Korean crypto volumes tank 89% — plus all of the week’s other crypto news from Asia. Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been running simulated phishing attacks against its own employees for the past four years and can fire staff who repeatedly fail the tests, according to Binance chief security officer Jimmy Su. The fake attacks are conducted by Binance’s red team, an internal ethical hacking unit whose job is to break into systems to identify vulnerabilities. “We do phishing attacks on our own employees on a monthly basis just so we understand if our security hygiene is improving,” Su told Cointelegraph. “The ones that have failed it, we will do remediation training.”  Read more

The majority leader is pursuing floor time for unrelated bills as the crypto industry waits for its policy effort to get its chance for votes.

A federal judge ruled that Minnesota's law criminalizing prediction markets would probably violate the federal Commodity Exchange Act.

The SpaceX founder says artificial intelligence is advancing too quickly to stop and is urging leading AI companies to coordinate on safety before releasing their most powerful models.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the federal crypto market structure bill could restrict state regulators and urged Congress to impose stronger consumer protections on digital asset platforms. New York Attorney General Letitia James urged Congress to strengthen oversight of cryptocurrency companies, warning that proposed federal legislation could weaken states’ ability to investigate scams and hold platforms accountable. In written testimony submitted Monday to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, James said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act would override state regulation of digital asset markets and shift oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She argued that this would undermine state and local enforcement. According to the attorney general, complaints about crypto scams received by her office have tripled over the past three years, while reported losses totaled nearly $500 million over five years. Read more

Money is moving on a September bet for OpenAI’s next major model on both Polymarket and Myriad prediction markets.

"It seems a historical breakout is about to occur," one analyst stated.

Sam Altman ChatGPT AI is extending the timeline on this one. Rather than an end of year predicts, it is framing Bitcoin price prediction at $64,500 as a 2027 setup, and calling it one of the strongest asymmetric risk reward positions available right now. The post Sam Altman ChatGPT AI Predicts Bitcoin Will Do Something Incredible Before 2027 appeared first on Cryptonews.

A searchable database built from New York City's public property assessment records has drawn backlash from critics who say it creates privacy and security risks.

The banking-as-a-service provider will power X Money’s peer-to-peer payments, FDIC-insured accounts and Visa debit cards as the platform expands its financial services. Cross River said Monday it will provide the banking infrastructure for X Money, the financial services platform being integrated into X, enabling peer-to-peer payments, FDIC-insured interest-bearing accounts and Visa debit cards. The company said its banking platform and payment rails will power the service as X continues its push to become an “everything app,” with infrastructure designed to support additional financial products and services over time. Cross River provides embedded financial infrastructure for payments, cards, lending and cryptocurrency services to fintech and technology companies through its regulated banking platform and payment rails. The announcement did not mention support for cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Read more

Prediction market traders have pushed the odds of a July Fed rate hike to 27% on both Polymarket and Myriad, rising double digits in the last 24 hours.

A newly detailed report says SparkKitty malware scanned photos on infected iPhones and Android devices for cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases after infiltrating Apple's App Store and Google Play.

BTC held near $65,000 even as Nvidia and AI stocks fell sharply. This week's Fed decision could determine whether bitcoin finally breaks higher or revisits June's lows, analysts said.

The deal for BGC's Water Street Labs and CX Clearinghouse lets Fanatics list and settle its own event contracts, echoing DraftKings and FanDuel as sports-betting giants scramble for a foothold in the sector.

"The next cycle will be dominated by licensed exchanges and institutional capital," one analyst predicted.

The company added nearly 10,000 ETH over the past week, bringing its holdings to 5.79 million Ether, about 85% of which is staked through its validator operations. Bitmine Immersion Technologies said Monday it holds 5.79 million Ether, or about 4.8% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply, after purchasing nearly 10,000 ETH over the past week. Bitmine disclosed that about 4.9 million ETH (ETH), or roughly 85% of its holdings, are staked through its validator operations. The company projected annualized staking rewards of about $299 million once all of its Ether is deployed across its staking infrastructure and partner validators. The company’s crypto holdings, cash and marketable securities total $11.8 billion as of July 26. The latest purchases come as Ether has outperformed Bitcoin (BTC) over the past week. ETH has gained about 2.4% over the past seven days while Bitcoin has fallen roughly 0.7%, according to CoinGecko data. In Monday’s announcement, Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee said the rising ETH/BTC ratio, which...

Microsoft says its new cyber model lets more than 100 AI agents find software flaws at half the cost of its current best MDASH configuration.

The registration expands Securitize’s regulated platform for tokenized assets, adding investment advisory services to its institutional offering. Securitize Capital, a subsidiary of tokenized asset platform Securitize, has registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment adviser, allowing the company to expand its regulated investment advisory business for institutional clients, Securitize said Monday. The registration adds investment advisory capabilities to Securitize’s existing regulated businesses, which include an SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system, transfer agent and fund administration services. CEO Carlos Domingo said the registration strengthens Securitize’s ability to help institutions develop and manage investment strategies for onchain capital markets. Securitize Capital previously operated as an exempt reporting adviser and is now subject to additional disclosure, compliance, recordkeeping and examination requirements under the Investment Advi...