Crypto

Robinhood and Kraken’s tokenized stocks will bring the TradFi world onchain… or fail miserably again like in 2021 depending on who you ask. Ever since Robinhood co-founder Vlad Tenev bounded onto the stage in Cannes two weeks ago, channeling old-time movie star David Niven in his white suit and cravat, everybodys been talking about tokenized stocks. It certainly seems like a big deal for mainstream adoption of crypto. Robinhood is a TradFi equities platform with 26 million retail customers tokenizing stocks on Arbitrum and offering them to EU users through its user-friendly app interface. There are no crypto wallets or seed phrases required and Tenev suggests its a test run for a wider integration of crypto, a demonstration of what Robinhood itself could look like, built entirely on blockchain technology.  That same week, Gemini launched its own tokenized stocks on Arbitrum in the EU, and 60 of Backeds xStocks went live on Solana, supported by Kraken, Bybit, Bitrue and Gate.io. Tokenized stocks may be just mo...

A quarterly report from the DOJ reveals Mexican Sinaloa cartel was raided in 2025 and agents seized $10 million in crypto in Miami, Florida.

The EU has sanctioned multiple entities for using cryptocurrencies to evade restrictions, channel funds, and propagate pro‑Russian disinformation and election interference. The European Union has sanctioned individuals linked to an operation that used digital assets to evade sanctions and fund pro-Russian disinformation campaigns. In a decision announced on Tuesday under the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, sanctions were imposed on nine individuals and six entities. Among them was Kremlin-linked influencer Simeon Boikov, known as AussieCossack, for spreading pro-Russian disinformation. Boikov was reportedly also responsible for the spread of a fabricated video alleging voter fraud in Georgia in the 2024 US election. According to a Tuesday TRM Labs report, he raised donations through multiple channels, accepting cash and cryptocurrencies. Read more

Bitcoin price has more room to run, with big overhead resistance between $124,000-$126,000 in place and several key support levels below. Key takeaways: Bitcoin hit $122,000 all-time high on Monday, but onchain data shows no signs of overheating, suggesting more growth potential in 2025. BTC price resistance at $124,000-$136,000 remains the main barrier for now. Read more

A group of experienced Bitcoin developers has outlined a new proposal to prepare the network for the inevitable threat of quantum computing. The initiative, led by Jameson Lopp, Christian Papathanasiou, Ian Smith, Steve Vaile, and Pierre-Luc Dallaire-Demers, focuses on safeguarding vulnerable Bitcoin held in older address types that may be compromised by future quantum breakthroughs. […] The post Bitcoin developers proposing quantum upgrade warn 25% of total BTC supply exposed to attack risk appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A dual-network design and fractal sharding give the Waterfall Network interesting scalability properties. Can a blockchain scale without breaking the promise of decentralization? Waterfall Network argues yes by leaving the linear blockchain model behind. In July 2024, Waterfall Network launched its mainnet and joined the short list of layer-1 protocols that depart from the traditional blockchain architecture. In its latest report, Cointelegraph Research investigates Waterfall Network’s architecture and validator design to assess whether it can become a sustainable, alternative base layer. The full Cointelegraph Research report on Waterfall includes validator roles, DAG propagation mechanics and ecosystem overview. Download the full report here Waterfall Network is a layer-1 protocol that implements a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) as its foundational ledger. A DAG is a non-linear data structure that arranges blocks as vertices in a directed graph.  Read more

Bitlayer faces competition from other Bitcoin DeFi protocols such as BabylonChain, Stacks and BounceBit. Bitlayer, a Bitcoin decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure startup backed by Franklin Templeton, has launched its smart contract bridge on mainnet, aiming to make Bitcoin more interoperable across multiple blockchain networks. The bridge, called BitVM, is described by the company as a “trust-minimized bridging solution for Bitcoin holders.” It enables users to deposit Bitcoin (BTC) into a smart contract, where it is held in escrow and converted into Peg-BTC (YBTC), a tokenized version of Bitcoin that can interact with smart contract platforms. According to Bitlayer, Peg-BTC is designed to facilitate programmability and crosschain compatibility. The company has already secured partnerships to integrate the bridge with networks including Sui, Base, and Arbitrum. Read more

Iurii Gugnin allegedly used fake documents to bypass sanctions and launder $530 million for Russian clients. In the process, he deceived US banks. Iurii Gugnin allegedly used his crypto firm to move $530 million through US banks and crypto exchanges using Tether (USDT), facilitating payments for Russian clients tied to sanctioned banks. Gugnin allegedly failed to implement AML regulations and didn’t file suspicious activity reports (SARs), violating the Bank Secrecy Act and misleading financial institutions. Gugnin also reportedly accessed websites that provided information on indicators of criminal investigation and methods for detecting law enforcement surveillance. Read more

BoE Governor Bailey casts doubt on digital pound necessity, warns against stablecoins undermining fiat currencies.

World Liberty Financial investor Aqua1’s response to journalist Jacob Silverman skirts the central issue: Is the company truly unrelated to Web3Port? Aqua1 Foundation said it operates independently in response to a report by journalist Jacob Silverman that suggested possible ties to controversial market maker Web3Port, but left important questions unanswered. On Monday, Silverman published his investigation, which claims to have found connections between Aqua1 Foundation and Web3Port through shared web hosting and overlapping personnel. The reporter added that Aqua1’s founder, who goes by Dave Lee on X, is actually David Li, whose profile on outreach platform ContactOut lists him as a partner and senior project manager at Web3Port. Aqua1 Foundation came under the spotlight in late June after it purchased $100 million worth of governance tokens from World Liberty Financial, a crypto project backed by US President Donald Trump and his family. The investigation raised concerns that the entity supporting the pres...

ARK’s latest Bitcoin ETF sale came shortly after ARKB hit a new all-time high above $39 in early July, equivalent to nearly $118 on a pre-split basis. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has offloaded its largest amount of shares in its spot Bitcoin ETF since the fund’s mid-June stock split. ARK offloaded 225,742 shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) from its ARK Next Generation Internet (ARKW) on Tuesday, according to a trade notification seen by Cointelegraph. The sale netted $8.7 million based on ARKB’s closing price of $38.70 on Tuesday, marking ARK’s largest single-day sale of ARKB shares on record. Read more

ETH continues to show strength after breaking $3,000 and Ethereum bulls have highs hopes of five-digit prices between $15,000 and $30,000 as the top for this cycle. Key takeaways: Ether’s open interest has rallied 64% since June 22 to a record high of $46 billion.  Analysts say ETH could reach as high as $30,000 this cycle, with the near-term target at $4,000. Read more

The state’s new initiative draws in crypto firms to help overhaul its operations and explore blockchain’s role in public-sector innovation.

New BIP proposes phasing out legacy Bitcoin signature schemes to prevent catastrophic losses if quantum computers break existing cryptography. A new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) aims to tackle the threat posed by quantum computers by phasing out Bitcoin’s legacy signature schemes, which can be vulnerable to quantum attacks, in favor of quantum-resistant alternatives. The proposal, titled “Post Quantum Migration and Legacy Signature Sunset,” was drafted earlier this week by a group of cryptography and blockchain experts, including American software engineer Jameson Lopp and BitcoinQS founder Christian Papathanasiou. While quantum computers powerful enough to crack Bitcoin’s cryptography are not yet here, recent developments have narrowed the window. Some academic forecasts suggest quantum machines capable of threatening Bitcoin (BTC) could arrive as early as 2027 to 2030, per McKinsey. Read more

Ethereum hit its highest price since February on Wednesday, as two public companies stockpiled ETH amid a broader crypto treasury trend.

The sanctions “put pressure” on third-country actors to prioritize access to A7 or their relationships with the EU and UK.

Trump should focus on building a national Bitcoin reserve instead of pushing stablecoin regulation, Decrypt was told.

Bitcoin's 5% correction from all-time highs comes as sticky inflation and talk of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's replacement lingers.

The product allows crypto holders to finance property deposits using Bitcoin as collateral, all without having to sell their stash.

The development comes as interest in Ethereum reserves rises, with BitMine surpassing $500 million in holdings.