Ethena Labs and Germany’s BaFin agreed on a 42-day USDe redemption plan, marking the end of a months-long regulatory dispute. Ethena Labs announced on Wednesday that the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, BaFin, and Ethena GmbH, the company’s German arm, have agreed on a redemption plan for USDe stablecoin holders. The regulator said it had initiated a 42-day redemption process for stablecoin holders. BaFin said USDe holders will have until Aug. 6 to declare redemption claims directly against Ethena GmbH. The process will be supervised by a special representative appointed by BaFin. After the deadline, Ethena GmbH will be deemed officially wound up within Germany, the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA). This means that any claims from Aug. 7 onward should be made through the company’s offshore affiliate, Ethena (BVI) Ltd. Read more
As tensions escalate around the globe, Byte-Sized Insight explores how crypto behaves in crisis, from Bitcoin’s market resilience to blockchain’s role in preserving journalism and dispersing aid. As geopolitical tensions rise in the Middle East and global markets brace for volatility, Byte-Sized Insight’s latest episode explores how crypto reacts under pressure and whether it can provide more than just price movement. In the first half of the episode, host Savannah Fortis speaks with Cointelegraph’s Ray Salmond and Marcel Pechman, who offer expert commentary and break down how Bitcoin (BTC) has performed amid growing fears of US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict. “There’s a lot of uncertainty… and we see this reflected in the price action of gold, silver, US Treasurys and Bitcoin,” Salmond explains. Read more
Moca Chain is a new EVM-compatible layer-1 network designed for decentralized, privacy-preserving identity verification. Blockchain development firm Moca Foundation announced the launch of Moca Chain, a new layer-1 blockchain focused on privacy-preserving identity and data authentication. Moca Chain is a layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for identity and user data management applications, Moca Foundation announced on Wednesday. The network aims to support the development of identity protocols that allow individuals, devices and artificial intelligence agents to control and verify their credentials without relying on centralized service providers. Read more
With a $151 million market cap, A7A5 has reportedly been involved in $9.3 billion of transactions with Grinex, the supposed successor to the sanctioned Garantex exchange. A7A5, a new Russian ruble-backed stablecoin, has reportedly emerged as a major transaction tool on Grinex, a crypto exchange widely seen as the successor to Russia’s sanctioned Garantex platform. Following the stablecoin’s launch in Kyrgyzstan in February, at least $9.3 billion worth of A7A5 (A7A5) has moved through Grinex, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Although Grinex has repeatedly denied links to Garantex, the exchange was allegedly crediting balances by users of the sanctioned Garantex, which was hit with a $27 million USDT freeze by Tether in March. Read more
Eight major banks in South Korea are working on a stablecoin backed by the won, aiming to protect the currency from the growing US dollar dominance. Eight major South Korean banks will team up to launch a stablecoin pegged to the country’s won currency, marking a significant step toward digital asset adoption. According to an Econovill report, the project involves institutions including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Nonghyup, Corporate, Suhyup, Citi Korea and SC First Bank. The collaboration aims to combat increased dollar dominance due to the rise of dollar-pegged stablecoins. Data from the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization tracker RWA.xyz shows that stablecoins have a market capitalization of over $239 billion. The data also shows that 99% of the stablecoins issued are pegged to the US dollar. Read more