The community for the cross-blockchain platform Stargate has greenlit LayerZero’s $110 million acquisition, despite interest from three other rivals. Blockchain messaging protocol LayerZero has won the bid to acquire crypto protocol Stargate after a shaky first offer and a late four-way bidding war. Stargate’s community voted on Sunday with a 95% majority to greenlight the LayerZero Foundation’s $110 million acquisition proposal, which it amended after holders of the Stargate (STG) token said the original deal was unfair. Three of LayerZero’s rivals also put in last-minute bids or intent-to-bids to acquire Stargate, with one bidder, Wormhole, unsuccessfully asking for the vote on LayerZero’s acquisition to be paused. Read more
Durov said French law enforcement officials are still "struggling" to find evidence of wrongdoing even one year on from his arrest in 2024. Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging application Telegram, provided an update regarding his ongoing case in France, and said the criminal investigation against him is “struggling” to find any evidence of wrongdoing. Durov said his arrest by French authorities in August 2024 was “unprecedented” and added that holding a tech executive accountable for the actions of independent users was “legally and logically absurd,” in a Telegram post on Sunday. Durov added: “One year after this strange arrest, I still have to return to France every 14 days, with no appeal date in sight,” he continued, while also warning that the French government has done irreparable damage to France’s image as a free country. Read more
The inclusion of Metaplanet in these stock indices will funnel passive capital flows into the Bitcoin market, supporting BTC floor prices. Metaplanet, a Bitcoin (BTC) treasury company, has been upgraded from a small-cap to a mid-cap stock in index provider FTSE Russell’s September 2025 Semi-Annual Review, bumping it up for inclusion in the flagship FTSE Japan Index. The index provider updates and rebalances the indices quarterly, and following Metaplanet’s strong Q2 performance, added it to the FTSE Japan Index, a stock market index of mid-cap and large-cap companies listed on Japanese exchanges. Metaplanet’s inclusion in the FTSE Japan Index means it is automatically added to the FTSE All-World Index of the largest publicly-listed companies by market capitalization in each geographic region. Read more
Strategy continues accumulating Bitcoin for its corporate treasury despite a fall in share prices from the peak reached in November 2024. Strategy co-founder Michael Saylor signaled an impending Bitcoin (BTC) purchase, and, if completed, the transaction will mark the company’s third BTC acquisition in August. The company’s most recent Bitcoin buy occurred on August 18, when Strategy purchased 430 BTC for $51.4 million, bringing its total holdings to 629,376 BTC, valued at over $72 billion at the time of this writing. Data from SaylorTracker shows Strategy is up over 56% on its BTC investment, representing over $25.8 billion in unrealized gains at current prices. Read more