Switzerland’s fully open LLM merges transparency, sustainability and Web3 utility designed for research, DeFi and AI compliance. ETH Zurich and EPFL’s open-weight LLM offers a transparent alternative to black-box AI built on green compute and set for public release. Large language models (LLMs), which are neural networks that predict the next word in a sentence, are powering today’s generative AI. Most remain closed, usable by the public, yet inaccessible for inspection or improvement. This lack of transparency conflicts with Web3’s principles of openness and permissionless innovation. Read more
Paying rent in Bitcoin is easy, secure and gaining popularity among tenants. Many cities globally now have tech infrastructure to facilitate Bitcoin payments. Remote workers and digital nomads can now pay rent in Bitcoin across major cities and coastal hubs. Blockchain-powered rental platforms and smart contracts simplify lease management, reduce disputes, and enable secure, near-instant settlements. Tenants and landlords can choose direct or indirect Bitcoin payments, with stablecoins, intermediaries or escrow services helping mitigate volatility and compliance risks. Read more
Public markets provide new fundraising avenues for blockchain companies, enabling them to tap into capital from traditional markets. Figure Technology Solutions, a fintech company focused on transforming financial services through blockchain technology, has filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, joining a growing list of crypto-related companies preparing to enter traditional financial markets. Figure Technology submitted a confidential IPO filing with the SEC related to its equity securities offering expected in 2025, the company announced on Monday. The number of shares and the price range have yet to be determined, subject to market conditions and the completion of the SEC’s review process. The IPO filing was made under a new SEC clause that enables confidential filing ahead of a final public offering. Read more
SharpLink marches ahead with its Ether strategy, bagging $264 million of ETH, raising its total staked ETH holdings to 521,939 ETH. Digital asset investment firm SharpLink added another haul of Ether to its balance sheet, bringing its overall ETH holdings to almost $2 billion. On Tuesday, the company said it bought 83,562 Ether (ETH) worth $264.5 million at an average price of $3,634. The purchases, made between July 28 and Aug. 3, brought the company’s total ETH holdings to 521,939 ETH, worth $1.91 billion at current market prices. The company said that all of its ETH holdings are staked, allowing it to earn from Ethereum’s native proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. According to SharpLink, its cumulative staking rewards have reached 929 ETH, worth over $3.3 million. Read more
Users of Clanker, an AI-powered memecoin generator, have created over 355,000 tokens and earned over $34.4 million in fees amid rising AI agent adoption. Clanker, a decentralized application (DApp) built around an artificial intelligence agent that creates memecoins based on prompts, has generated over $34.4 million in fees, according to blockchain data. According to the “Clanker Fees” Dune data dashboard, the liquidity pool fees earned by Clanker have reached $34,417,863. The daily fees peaked on Nov. 26, 2024, at $1.1 million earned in a single day. Clanker’s official website showed 355,179 live “clankers,” referring to tokens deployed through its AI agent. It also showed an ecosystem market cap of $172.3 million, and that $34.4 million of creator fees were earned through it. Read more
With the White House’s latest digital assets report, CCI chief Ji Kim says the US is finally stepping up to claim its place at the front of the global crypto race. A crypto lobby group claims that the US is back on track to lead the cryptocurrency industry after the White House’s latest crypto report called for the nation’s finance regulators to align on digital assets. The report, released last week, marks a possible end to the long-standing turf war between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over how to classify and regulate cryptocurrencies. “We’ve had legal precedent — Bitcoin, Ether and many other digital assets are much more akin to commodities,” said Ji Hun Kim, newly appointed CEO of the advocacy group Crypto Council for Innovation, in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Read more
Galaxy Digital added over 4,200 BTC in the second quarter, helping the company return to profitability after a $295 million loss in Q1. Galaxy Digital reported a net income of $30.7 million for the second quarter of 2025, reversing the $295 million loss recorded in the previous quarter. The digital asset and infrastructure company cited gains in balance sheet holdings and a strong performance from its global markets division as key drivers of the recovery, according to a Tuesday news release. The quarter ended with Galaxy’s Bitcoin holdings increasing to 17,102 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at $1.95 billion. The company held 13,704 BTC at the end of the first quarter, suggesting that it added 4,272 BTC in Q2, the company disclosed in a financial supplement. Read more
With 19 EU member states backing it, the Chat Control proposal could mandate pre-encryption message scanning on apps like WhatsApp and Signal by October. A controversial European Union proposal dubbed “Chat Control” is regaining momentum, with 19 out of 27 EU member states reportedly backing the measure. The plan would mandate that messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, must scan every message, photo and video sent by users starting in October, even if end-to-end encryption is in place, popular French tech blogger Korben wrote on Monday. Denmark reintroduced the proposal on July 1, the first day of its EU Council presidency. France, once opposed, is now in favor, Korben said, citing Patrick Breyer, a former member of the European Parliament for Germany and the European Pirate Party. Read more