BitcoinKE

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has warned prediction-market operators against using American-style ‘moneyline’ betting odds, as the regulator seeks to reinforce its oversight of the rapidly expanding sector.
The CFTC told regulated entities to comply with the law and avoid ‘deceptive’ practices when listing, advertising or soliciting contracts, according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg. The agency also cited research suggesting that American-style odds can encourage greater risk-taking in sports betting.
Prediction markets typically quote contracts in cents with prices corresponding directly to implied probabilities. Moneyline odds instead use positive or negative figures to indicate potential returns on a $100 wager.
Kalshi said it would comply with the CFTC’s guidance.

MARKET ANALYSIS | This Prediction Markets Valuation Hits $40 Billion Leveraging Compliance Over Competitors

CFTC Chair, Michael Selig, has argued that the agency has exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets and has moved to defend that position against states seeking to apply their gambling and sports-betting laws to the platforms.

REGULATION | Prediction Markets Fall Under Our Federal Mandate, Says Chairman, CFTC

The dispute has intensified as prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket have expanded rapidly. The platforms have backed federal CFTC oversight while some states and tribal gaming regulators argue that sports-related contracts should remain subject to state gambling laws.
Lawmakers and tribal gaming interests have also pressed Congress to clarify the boundary between federal derivatives regulation and state control of sports betting.

REGULATION | Leading Prediction Markets Platform Losses Court Case Handing Power to States




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A Nairobi court has approved the extradition of three Kenyans to the United States, where they are wanted to face charges over an alleged multi-million-dollar cyber fraud scheme.
The three
Peter Omari,
Francis Asanyo, and
Elvis Obaigwa
face charges including conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft under US law.
The Milimani court endorsed arrest warrants issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on November 15, 2023, clearing the way for the suspects to be transferred to the US to face prosecution.
The suspects were arrested in Kenya following a joint operation involving
the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI),
Interpol and
the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

CRYPTO CRIME | FBI, Kenya Step Up Joint Fight Against Crypto Crime and Money Laundering

According to investigators, the three were allegedly part of a syndicate involved in business email compromise and vendor account compromise schemes targeting US state and local government entities from April 2019.
The suspects allegedly registered internet domains resembling those of legitimate companies, created fraudulent email accounts and used social engineering tactics to redirect payments to bank accounts under their control.
Investigators further allege that the group recruited U.S-based money mules to receive millions of dollars before transferring the funds to Kenya.

CASE STUDY | Lessons from HuruPay’s Exit from Kenya Amid Crypto AML Scrutiny

The suspects had remained in custody as extradition proceedings progressed. Prosecutors argued that the seriousness of the charges and potential penalties in the US created a risk that they could flee.
The defence had opposed continued detention, arguing that the suspects had not been interrogated by Kenyan or US investigators.
The court’s decision clears the way for their extradition to the US, where they will face the charges brought against them.


CRYPTO CRIME | Kenyan Court Freezes Over $2 Million in USDT in a Binance Wallet for Money Laundering




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Cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit, has sued North Korea, its intelligence agency, and the Lazarus Group over the theft of about $1.5 billion in digital assets in February 2025 seeking to recover funds linked to the record hack.
The Dubai-based exchange filed the civil case in a U.S. federal court and secured a preliminary injunction preventing unidentified defendants holding assets traced to the theft from transferring or selling them while the litigation proceeds.
The February 2025 attack, which involved the theft of more than 400,000 Ether and staked Ether, was attributed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to North Korea. The FBI has described the operation as TraderTraitor.

2025 RECAP | Crypto Losses Increased by ~40% YoY in 2025

Bybit said the civil action is separate from ongoing U.S. criminal investigations and that it would seek further relief from the court. The case gives the exchange another route to pursue stolen funds as blockchain tracing allows investigators to identify and track assets across wallets and platforms.


CASE STUDY | How Recovered Funds from this DeFi Exploit Could Cover Compensation for Non-Crypto Claims




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Crypto derivatives exchange, BitMEX, failed to find a buyer after potential acquirers, including payments platform, Exodus, raised concerns about its
founder-led ownership structure,
declining business, and
lingering reputational issues,
according to a person familiar with the matter.
BitMEX spent about two years exploring a sale, with investment bank, Broadhaven, advising the Seychelles-based company. Its co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed still controlled a large majority of the company despite stepping away from management after U.S. criminal charges in 2020, the source said.
The ownership structure complicated negotiations because buyers typically seek to retain management through acquisition incentives, the person said.
BitMEX also continued to lose market share as trading activity shifted toward larger centralized exchanges and decentralized derivatives platforms making it harder to justify the growth valuation sought by the company.

REALITY CHECK | Why Protocols Generating Over $10 Million in Monthly Fees Fell by Half YoY in H1 2026

BitMEX, which pioneered crypto perpetual futures, subsequently announced plans to wind down operations on September 23 2026 after an 11-year run.

REALITY CHECK | Crypto Leverage and Perpetuals Pioneer, BitMEX, to Wind Down Operations After 11 Years in Operation

Lessons
The collapse also highlights the importance of ownership and governance structures in crypto businesses, particularly when founders retain significant control after stepping away from day-to-day operations. A clean separation between founders, management and shareholders can make a company easier to govern, finance and ultimately sell, while reducing uncertainty for prospective buyers.
Regulatory compliance is equally important.
Building a crypto exchange around robust licensing, governance, risk controls and transparent ownership can preserve strategic options as the business matures. For exchanges operating across multiple jurisdictions, regulatory shortcomings or unresolved legal issues can become liabilities during a sale, potentially narrowing the pool of buyers just as declining volumes put additional pressure on valuations.
The BitMEX case shows that building a successful trading platform is only one part of creating a durable financial business. Strong corporate governance, regulatory compliance and a structure that can accommodate new investors or owners can be as important to preserving value as trading volumes and market share.


CASE STUDY | This Leading DAO Exploit Shows the Biggest Risk to On-Chain Governance is Governance Itself




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Circle has launched native USDC and its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) on X Layer, OKX’s Ethereum layer-2 network, giving users and developers access to Circle-issued USDC without relying on bridged tokens.
CCTP enables USDC to move between supported blockchains without wrapped assets or conventional liquidity pools.
CCTP enables USDC transfers between X Layer and supported blockchains by burning USDC on the source chain and minting an equivalent amount on the destination chain. The integration brings native USDC to 36 blockchains while CCTP is now available across 26 networks.
The move strengthens USDC’s role as infrastructure for cross-chain payments, DeFi, trading and automated transactions involving AI agents.
This latest development also comes after OKX Europe introduced a feature allowing users to convert Tether’s USDT into Circle’s USDC as the exchange continues adapting to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.
USDC is among the stablecoins that comply with MiCA’s requirements and has become one of the primary alternatives available to European users.


REGULATIONS | OKX Prompting Users to Convert USDT to USDC Amid MiCA Requirements




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The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia has shut down nine unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges in Moscow over alleged money laundering linked to fraud proceeds, the agency said.
More than 20 employees were detained during raids at the Moscow International Business Center, known as Moscow City. The FSB said the exchanges converted money stolen from Russian victims of telephone scams into cryptocurrency and transferred the funds to accounts linked to Ukraine-based operators.
The operation, conducted with Russia’s Interior Ministry, also targeted couriers who authorities said collected cash from victims and delivered it to the exchanges for conversion into crypto.
Russia’s Interior Ministry has opened a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud with authorities continuing to identify victims and assess potential compensation.
Under the Russian crypto law, individuals and entities involved in organizing or facilitating crypto transactions without registration with the central bank could face criminal penalties. These include fines of up to about $4,000 and prison terms of up to four years for basic violations.

REGULATION | Russia Introduces Crypto Bill With Severe Criminal Penalties and Prison Time for Unregistered Operations

Harsher punishments are proposed for large-scale offenses or cases involving organized groups. In such instances, penalties could rise to as much as seven years in prison or compulsory labor for up to five years, along with fines of up to roughly $13,100 or equivalent income-based penalties.
The crackdown comes as Russia moves to bring cryptocurrency trading under a formal regulatory framework, with new rules taking effect in 2026.

REGULATION | Russian President Signs Russia’s First Comprehensive Crypto Law




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Bitcoin trading on Binance is becoming increasingly dominated by futures, with derivatives volume reaching nearly eight times spot trading.

Bitcoin spot demand is weakening.


CryptoQuant data shows Binance recorded $57.8 billion in daily Bitcoin futures volume, versus just $6.1 billion in spot. Spot demand has been weakening since June, while futures activity remains relatively stronger.
The record shift signals a market increasingly driven by leverage, hedging and short-term positioning rather than outright Bitcoin buying. With BTC stuck in a narrow range, traders appear to be positioning for a larger move with options markets leaning toward a potential downside resolution in September.

MARKET ANALYSIS | ‘There is No Retail Interest in Crypto Right Now,’ Say Analysts

According to a CryptoQuant analyst:
“This trend reflects a shift in market activity, with more investors and traders preferring to use futures for leverage, risk management, and short-term trading strategies.”

The bigger signal:
Binance’s Bitcoin market is being driven less by buyers taking ownership of BTC and more by traders positioning around its price.


INSIGHTS | The World’s Largest Spot Bitcoin ETF is Emerging as a Key Signal for Bitcoin Market Sentiment




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Europe’s MiCA regime now covers 323 distinct crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) in the latest register data, according to a BitKE analysis of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) database.
ESMA says its register is updated weekly.
Germany is by far the largest licensing hub, accounting for 69 of the 323 entities, followed by
France with 34,
the Netherlands with 29,
Cyprus with 25, and
Malta with 22.
Together, those five jurisdictions account for more than half of all entities in the dataset.
The list also shows how deeply traditional finance has moved into regulated crypto. At least 55 bank or bank-branded institutions can be identified in the register, including
BBVA,
Commerzbank,
DekaBank,
DZ Bank,
KBC,
CACEIS,
CaixaBank,
BNY,
Standard Chartered,
N26,
Trade Republic Bank and
Scalable Capital Bank,
alongside numerous German cooperative banks.

STABLECOINS | Financial Institutions and Corporate Treasury Teams Driving Stablecoin Adoption in Europe

But the strongest signal is not simply the number of exchanges.
Custody is the most widely authorised MiCA service, appearing for 201 of the 323 entities.
Transfer services follow at 193, while
exchange of crypto-assets for fiat is authorised for 166, and
order execution for 155.
That makes MiCA’s first regulated cohort look less like a collection of crypto exchanges and more like an emerging financial-services infrastructure market spanning banks, brokers, exchanges, custodians, payments companies, and asset managers.

REGULATION | Europe’s Crypto Market is About to Look Very Different

Major crypto names on the list include
Coinbase,
Kraken,
OKX,
Bybit,
Crypto.com,
Bitpanda,
Bitstamp,
Bitvavo,
Robinhood, and
WhiteBIT,
while newer infrastructure players such as Bridge are also appearing alongside established financial institutions.

INSIGHTS | Why a MiCA Licensing Setback for the World’s Largest Exchange Matters

The concentration in Germany is particularly striking: more than one in five entities in the dataset has Germany as its home member state.
MiCA therefore appears to be doing more than licensing Europe’s existing crypto industry. It is creating a regulated market in which banks and traditional financial firms are becoming a substantial part of the crypto-service landscape.


NB: This BitKE Analysis is based on the attached ESMA CASP dataset. The file contains 329 records representing 323 entities when consolidated by LEI. One Spanish entity has no LEI in the file.


REGULATION | Why the World’s Largest Stablecoin Issuer is Refusing to Comply With Europe’s MiCA Stablecoin Rules




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Crypto market maker, Wintermute, has secured U.S. broker-dealer status giving the firm a regulated route into Wall Street as crypto and traditional securities markets move closer together.
Wintermute USA LLC has registered with the SEC and joined the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) allowing it to
trade U.S. stocks and equity options,
provide liquidity to exchanges and OTC counterparties, and
act as an authorized participant for ETFs, including crypto-linked funds.
The New York-based unit will operate as a proprietary trading firm rather than a retail broker giving it registration to also seek market-making roles on exchanges, including NYSE and the Nasdaq.

REGULATION | United States SEC Clears World’s Second Largest Stock Exchange for Tokenized Securities

Wintermute plans to initially focus on crypto-linked markets, with tokenized stocks a potential area for expansion pending regulatory approval.
Wintermute processed about $3.5 trillion in trading volume last year and currently handles roughly $10 billion in daily trades across more than 60 venues, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The firm has already signed ETF issuers as clients and aims to compete with established market makers including
Jump Trading,
Jane Street, and
Citadel Securities
within three to five years.


The move comes as crypto firms increasingly seek access to traditional financial infrastructure and diversify beyond volatile digital-asset markets. Wintermute’s expansion also positions it for a potential convergence between crypto markets, ETFs and tokenized securities.
For Wintermute, the broker-dealer registration marks a shift from operating largely around crypto-market liquidity to seeking a direct role in the broader U.S. financial system.


REPORT | Institutions Accounted for Over 70% of Crypto Trading Volumes in H1 2026, Says Latest Research




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AVAX One, a Nasdaq-listed digital asset treasury company, has agreed to tougher debt terms with an institutional lender that exclude its nearly 14 million AVAX tokens, worth about $88 million, from a new minimum liquidity requirement.
AVAX One’s lender has tightened the terms of its debt agreement refusing to count the company’s Avalanche (AVAX) tokens toward a new minimum liquidity requirement.
The lender has also accelerated capital recovery, increasing monthly redemptions to one-tenth of the original principal from one-twenty-fifth.
The amended terms require AVAX One to maintain at least $3.5 million in liquidity, with only cash and Bitcoin eligible to meet the threshold. This means the company’s large AVAX treasury cannot be used to meet the requirement regardless of its market value.

BITCOIN | America’s Largest Bank Says Bitcoin Dominance as Institutional Crypto Asset is Unlikey to Change

The company also paid $1.3 million to secure a waiver of a default and agreed to faster debt repayments, with monthly redemptions rising to one-tenth of the original principal from one-twenty-fifth.

The tighter terms highlight a key distinction between crypto treasury assets and liquid reserves:
While AVAX One’s AVAX holdings represent a substantial asset base, its lender does not regard those tokens as equivalent to cash or Bitcoin for meeting near-term liquidity obligations.

EXPERT OPINION | Crypto Has Split into 4 Major Segments @Bitwise CEO says the crypto market has effectively split into four major segments:
stablecoins and payments, Bitcoin as a macro asset, tokenization and on-chain finance, and blockchain infrastructure.
Bitwise CEO:… pic.twitter.com/fNtxmpOBgD
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) May 17, 2026
AVAX One’s shares have fallen about 42% since July’s departure of CEO, Jolie Kahn.
The move underscores the gap between AVAX and more liquid assets such as cash and Bitcoin in the eyes of institutional lenders, despite AVAX One holding millions of tokens.


REPORT | 80% of AI Agents Choose Bitcoin as a Long-Term Store of Value




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Tether is expanding its real-world asset (RWA) tokenization business into Saudi Arabia starting with institutional real estate as the stablecoin issuer seeks to extend its blockchain infrastructure beyond digital currencies.
Tether said its Hadron platform will provide the technology to issue and manage tokenized real estate assets for institutional investors in Saudi Arabia. First Data will serve as issuer and market operator, while fintech firm BKN301 will connect the platform to banking and compliance infrastructure.

“BKN301’s role in this initiative is to ensure that Hadron by Tether’s tokenization capabilities are seamlessly connected to the banking, payments, and compliance infrastructure required for institutional deployment,” said Stiven Muccioli, CEO of BKN301 Group.
“We look forward to supporting First Data and Tether in building a robust tokenized asset ecosystem in the Kingdom.”


The initiative could later extend to other asset classes, including energy and infrastructure finance, the companies said.
The move gives Tether a foothold in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom pursues economic diversification and financial-sector modernization under its Vision 2030 programme.
Tether launched Hadron in 2024 as a platform for tokenizing traditional assets. The company has increasingly positioned tokenization as a major business alongside its USDT stablecoin, including through its tokenized gold product, XAUT.
The Saudi expansion also follows Tether’s growing push into regulated capital-market infrastructure in Africa.
In July 2026, Tether signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nairobi Securities Exchange to explore asset tokenization, blockchain-based financial infrastructure and digital-asset use cases. The partnership is expected to examine the use of Hadron to issue and trade digital versions of securities, potentially including fractional ownership.

Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange Accelerates Push into Tokenized Assets in Partnership with $USDT Issuer, Tether
For the NSE, the latest agreement represents ANOTHER MILESTONE in a digital transformation strategy that has gathered pace over the past two years under Chief… pic.twitter.com/rauEzyOaAW
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) July 28, 2026
Taken together, the Saudi and Kenyan initiatives show Tether seeking a broader role in financial-market infrastructure, moving beyond USDT issuance toward the tokenization and settlement of traditional assets on blockchain networks.

Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange Accelerates Push into Tokenized Assets in Partnership with USDT Issuer, Tether

Saudi Arabia is rapidly transitioning toward an on-chain, Sharia-compliant digital financial infrastructure as part of its Vision 2030 agenda.
This shift is unlocking liquidity in traditionally illiquid sectors, facilitating foreign direct investment, and creating a secure, asset-backed digital settlement layer to protect national wealth and drive economic modernization. Against this backdrop, the collaboration is well timed and creates a foundation for future expansion into other digital asset classes, including energy, infrastructure project finance, and other strategic real-world assets.


OPINION | Africa’s Capital Market Opportunity: Is Tokenization the Secret Key to Unlock Africa’s Economic Potential? – By CEO, Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)





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Africa-focussed DeFi startup, Fonbnk, is expanding beyond stablecoin payments and digital-asset transactions through a partnership with digital lender, Tala, that will bring embedded, onchain credit to its platform.
The partnership will allow Fonbnk users to access stablecoin-based credit lines directly through the platform combining Fonbnk’s digital-asset infrastructure with Tala’s lending and underwriting capabilities.
The companies say the integration is intended to reach users who already transact through digital assets while creating the possibility of developing onchain credit histories for individuals and businesses.

“Not everything should be onchain.” – Hein, @FlowTraders #ParisBlockchainWeek pic.twitter.com/6AVceHQMDh
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) April 17, 2026
For Fonbnk, the move reflects a broader shift in the stablecoin industry from payments and remittances toward a wider financial-services stack. Rather than simply allowing users to move or hold digital dollars, stablecoin platforms are increasingly looking to add credit and other financial products.
Tala brings more than a decade of experience lending in emerging markets while Fonbnk provides the distribution channel and stablecoin infrastructure.

“We are meeting customers through the financial channels they already trust and use,” Tala founder and CEO, Shivani Siroya, said, describing Fonbnk as a way to reach customers already using stablecoin rails.

Fonbnk founder and CEO, Christian Duffus, said partnering with Tala allows the company to add lending without having to build an underwriting operation from scratch.

But the opportunity comes with a significant caveat, particularly in Kenya:
making credit easier to access does not necessarily make it easier to repay.

Kenya has one of Africa’s most developed digital-credit markets, but the expansion of lending has also exposed lenders to increasingly difficult repayment conditions.
Gross non-performing loans in Kenya’s banking sector rose from KES 576.1 billion ($4.45 billion) in June 2023 to KES 657.6 billion ($5.07 billion) in June 2024, according to data cited from the Central Bank of Kenya. The deterioration has been linked to a difficult operating environment affecting businesses and households.

The pressure is also visible among digital lenders.

STATISTICS | Non-Performing Loans for Digital Lenders in Kenya Hit 40% in 2024, Reveals Latest Study

Kenyan buy-now-pay-later company Watu reported an 85% decline in 2024 profit to about $1.2 million, down from $7.6 million a year earlier, as defaults and weaker repayment behaviour weighed on its core markets. The company targets informal-sector borrowers, including boda boda operators, making its experience a useful reminder of the risks involved in extending credit to customers with irregular incomes.

FINTECH AFRICA | Kenyan BNPL Startup, Watu, Sees 85% Profit Plunge in One Year Amid Rising Loan Defaults

The broader SME lending market has faced similar pressure.
Kenyan commercial banks and microfinance institutions wrote off 95,179 SME loans worth KES 8.8 billion ($68 million) in 2024, with the number of written-off accounts increasing sharply as businesses struggled with high costs and financing conditions.
There is also an important lesson from Kenya’s earlier experiments with crypto-based credit.
In 2023, Tugende Kenya defaulted on a $5 million loan from Goldfinch, a decentralised credit protocol. Goldfinch said the problem was partly linked to an unauthorised $1.9 million intercompany loan from Tugende Kenya to its Ugandan affiliate. The transfer breached the facility agreement and left the Kenyan business short of capital needed to grow its own loan portfolio.

DeFi | Tugende Kenya Defaults on $5 Million (~ 4% of TVL) Loan from GoldFinch DeFi Protocol

The case became an important example of the limitations of bringing real-world credit onto blockchain rails. Putting a loan agreement, repayments, or investor exposure onchain does not eliminate the underlying risks of borrower management, cash-flow shocks, governance failures, or weak underwriting.

Goldfinch ultimately recovered only a fraction of the original principal through the restructuring process.

In a December 2024 update, the protocol said Tugende had made a $460,000 exit payment, following an earlier $1 million community contribution and roughly $1 million in interest payments over the life of the facility.

That history matters as Fonbnk and Tala move in the opposite direction:
bringing traditional digital lending into an ecosystem increasingly built around stablecoins and onchain financial infrastructure.

The attraction is clear. Stablecoins can provide faster settlement, programmable payments, and a common digital-dollar rail across markets where traditional financial infrastructure remains fragmented.
But credit remains fundamentally different from payments.
A stablecoin transaction can settle almost instantly. A loan still depends on whether a borrower generates enough income to repay it.
That distinction could become increasingly important as fintech companies attempt to turn stablecoin wallets into full financial accounts.
For Fonbnk, the Tala partnership therefore represents more than another product feature. It is a test of whether stablecoin infrastructure can become a foundation for credit in emerging markets without simply reproducing the same risks that have already challenged banks, microfinance institutions, and digital lenders.
The next phase of onchain finance may consequently be less about whether credit can be placed on a blockchain and more about whether better data, underwriting, and risk management can make that credit sustainable.

CASE STUDY | The GoldFinch Wind-Down and The Hard Reality of DeFi Credit in Emerging Markets




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Japan’s financial regulator has called on cryptocurrency exchanges to introduce withdrawal delays and additional safeguards as authorities move to curb increasingly sophisticated scams involving digital assets.
The Financial Services Agency (FSA) said that it had jointly requested the measures with the National Police Agency citing growing losses among crypto exchange users and cases in which funds obtained through fraudulent schemes are being transferred to exchange accounts.
Under the request, exchanges should restrict cryptocurrency withdrawals for a specified period after customers deposit fiat currency or purchase digital assets. Platforms have also been asked to require customers to register withdrawal addresses in advance and introduce a waiting period before newly registered addresses can be used.
The request was submitted to the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association, the country’s self-regulatory organization for cryptocurrency exchanges.
The FSA and police also proposed
customer-specific withdrawal limits,
stronger monitoring of transactions and account access environments,
phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and
checks to confirm that the name of a bank remitter matches the holder of the corresponding crypto account.
The proposed measures are not binding regulations. The FSA said exchanges should decide how to implement the safeguards based on their individual operations, services, and exposure to potential misuse.
The move comes as Japanese authorities increase scrutiny of cryptocurrency platforms and seek to prevent exchange accounts from being used to receive or move funds obtained through fraud.
The measures reflect a broader shift toward placing additional friction on cryptocurrency withdrawals, particularly immediately after funds enter an exchange, in an effort to give customers and platforms more time to detect suspicious activity.


REGULATION | South Korea Tightens Crypto Exchange Controls with 5-Min Reconciliations and Kill Switches After Bithumb Incident




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Block’s Bitcoin business posted a sharp decline in gross profit in the second quarter, underscoring pressure on the company’s cryptocurrency operations even as its broader business delivered strong growth.
Gross profit from Block’s Bitcoin Ecosystem fell 31% year-on-year to $72 million, while total company gross profit rose 25% to $3.17 billion. Bitcoin revenue declined 13% to $1.89 billion, according to the company’s quarterly results.


The Bitcoin business was the only one of Block’s three main segments to report a decline in gross profit.
Commerce Enablement gross profit increased 18%, while
Financial Solutions rose 43%.
Block attributed the weaker Bitcoin profitability partly to a decision to lower fees on certain Cash App bitcoin transactions, as well as changes in bitcoin trading dynamics. The company did not quantify how much each factor contributed to the decline.

INTRODUCING | Cash App Begins Rolling Out Stablecoin Payments Functionality

The result reduced the implied gross margin of the Bitcoin business to about 3.8%, from roughly 4.8% a year earlier, despite Block reporting 59 million monthly transacting actives on Cash App in June 2026. The company did not provide bitcoin-specific transaction volumes or customer numbers making it difficult to determine whether increased activity offset the lower fees.
Block also recorded an $88.5 million bitcoin remeasurement loss during the quarter compared with a $212.2 million gain a year earlier, reflecting changes in the value of bitcoin held on its balance sheet.

REALITY CHECK | One of the Largest Bitcoin Miners Sees Over Half a Billion Dollars in Losses in Q2 2026

The figures highlight a growing distinction between Block’s broader financial performance and its Bitcoin operations. The company raised its 2026 gross-profit forecast after reporting strong second-quarter results, helped by Cash App growth, improved margins and cost reductions.
For investors, the key question is whether Block’s lower-fee bitcoin strategy can generate enough additional activity to compensate for the decline in revenue earned per transaction.


STABLECOINS | Bitcoin Purist Jack Dorsey’s Firm, Block, Capitulates and Reluctantly Embraces Stablecoins




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MARA Holdings swung to a $611 million net loss in the second quarter, as a decline in Bitcoin prices reduced the value of its digital-asset holdings and underscored the risks of relying on mining as the company pivots toward artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The loss compared with an $808 million profit a year earlier.
Revenue fell 27% to $175 million with lower average Bitcoin prices accounting for much of the decline. MARA also recorded about $343 million in unrealized mark-to-market losses on digital assets as Bitcoin prices weakened.
The results came despite stronger mining operations. MARA produced 2,422 Bitcoin during the quarter, up 3% from a year earlier, while its energized mining capacity rose 22% to 70.3 exahash per second.

The disconnect highlights the challenge facing large Bitcoin miners:
improving production does not necessarily translate into higher earnings when the value of their Bitcoin holdings and mining output falls.

BITCOIN | Another Bitcoin Mining Firm Sees Positive Economics as it Diversifies into AI Infrastructure

MARA has increasingly responded by shifting capital toward power and data-center infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing. The company has been pursuing an energy-backed infrastructure strategy, including its planned acquisition of Long Ridge Energy & Power, as it seeks revenue streams less exposed to Bitcoin’s price cycles.
In a letter to shareholders, MARA CEO, Fred Thiel, said Bitcoin mining still represents the core of MARA’s business and will continue to generate cash flow that supports its other investments.

“Ultimately, we do not view Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure as competing businesses,” said Thiel.
“Our capital allocation philosophy remains straightforward. Every megawatt should be deployed into its highest-value application. In some markets, that will continue to be Bitcoin mining. In others, it will be AI infrastructure, sovereign cloud, or enterprise computing.”

AI | Another Crypto Mining Firm Shifts Focus to AI Infrastructure with a $6 Billion Deal

The strategy marks a significant change for a company historically valued primarily as a leveraged bet on Bitcoin. MARA sold about 20,880 Bitcoin for $1.5 billion in the first quarter, using part of the proceeds to reduce convertible debt while redirecting capital toward its AI infrastructure plans.

The broader mining industry is following a similar path.

INSIGHTS | AI is Disrupting Bitcoin by Making Mining Increasingly Unsustainable

CleanSpark has also expanded its power and data-center footprint while exploring AI and high-performance computing opportunities reflecting a growing view that scarce electricity and data-center capacity may offer more predictable long-term economics than Bitcoin mining alone.
For MARA, the pivot is therefore less about abandoning Bitcoin than reducing its dependence on it. The company’s latest results show that even higher production can be overwhelmed by Bitcoin-related losses strengthening the case for its attempt to turn its power assets into an AI infrastructure business.


BITCOIN | Bitcoin is Bleeding Mining Power to Artificial Intelligence as Crypto Revenue Shrinks




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Japanese stablecoin issuer, JPYC, has raised 6 billion Yen ($38 million) in an extended Series B funding round bringing its total funding since 2021 to about $106 million as it seeks to accelerate adoption of its regulated Yen-backed stablecoin.
The latest round added Japanese logistics firm, AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings, as a strategic investor.
The companies plan to integrate JPYC into logistics and payment operations with AZ-COM expected to use the stablecoin to settle payments with about 2,300 contractors and business partners, including truck drivers, marking one of Japan’s first large-scale enterprise stablecoin payment deployments.

STABLECOINS | Major Japanese Logistics Firm Explores JPYC Yen Stablecoin for Payments

JPYC said the fresh capital will be used to expand its financial and Web3 ecosystem focusing on
payments,
remittances, and
broader real-world
use of its Yen-pegged stablecoin.
The company has also been testing stablecoin payments with retailers such as Lawson as it looks to move beyond crypto-native applications.
The fundraising comes as Japan steps up support for regulated stablecoins and on-chain finance. While dollar-backed stablecoins continue to dominate the roughly $315 billion global market, Japanese policymakers have increasingly backed domestic Yen-denominated alternatives to strengthen the country’s digital payments infrastructure.

REALITY CHECK | One of Japan’s 3 ‘Mega Banks’ Raises Doubt on USDC Growth Amidst Competition, Negative Growth




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Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has signed legislation establishing Russia’s first comprehensive legal framework for cryptocurrencies with the core provisions set to take effect on Sept. 1, 2026, formalizing oversight of exchanges, brokers, and other digital asset service providers.
The law requires crypto trading to take place through entities licensed by the Bank of Russia and maintains the country’s ban on using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for goods and services. Retail investors will be limited to buying approved digital assets through licensed intermediaries and must pass a knowledge test while qualified investors will face fewer restrictions.

REGULATION | Russia’s Largest State-Owned Lender Plans Crypto Wallet Rollout and Custody Services

Existing market participants have until July 1, 2027, to comply with the new licensing regime.
The legislation marks Russia’s biggest overhaul of digital asset regulation since legalizing cryptocurrency mining in 2024 and allowing crypto for certain cross-border trade settlements, as Moscow increasingly turns to digital assets to facilitate international commerce while keeping domestic crypto payments prohibited.


REGULATION | Russia Introduces Crypto Bill With Severe Criminal Penalties and Prison Time for Unregistered Operations



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BlockTower, the regulated issuer of ZARU, its Rand-backed stablecoin, has announced that Luno Global has listed ZARU/USDT and ZARU/USDC trading pairs. This is the first time an institutional-grade ZAR stablecoin has listed on a large, regulated crypto exchange, giving the Rand its first continuous, on-chain secondary market – available 24/7 on Luno’s exchange – and its first direct on-chain link to the world’s two largest dollar stablecoins. The listing builds on ZARU’s existing footprint. Since launch, ZARU has been available to retail customers through Easy Equities and Luno Global’s instant trade feature in South Africa, and to qualified institutions over-the-counter. Luno has since extended that reach further with a joint campaign with Tether that pays up to 15% back in Tether Gold to customers who pay with ZARU at 1 million merchants across South Africa. Luno Global is making the new exchange pairs available to customers in
South Africa,
Nigeria,
Kenya, and
Uganda,
and will add further regions as regulation permits.
https://bitcoinke.io/2026/02/introducing-zaru/ Why a Rand Stablecoin, and Why Now The Rand is one of the most actively traded emerging-market currencies in the world, with deep, sustained demand across a wide range of capital market instruments – from spot FX and derivatives to offshore-listed products. Until now, that global Rand trading activity had no regulated, on-chain venue to settle in – the ZARU/USDT and ZARU/USDC pairs on Luno Global are, in effect, Rand FX moving onchain. The wider market is moving the same way. Non-USD stablecoin supply has grown 50 times since 2020, from $44 million to $2.20 billion, according to research by Keyrock and Bitso. Emerging-market currencies are leading the shift: the Brazilian Real volume traded has compounded at roughly 20% a quarter for two years to $5.3 billion, and the Mexican Peso set successive quarterly trading records. The Rand ranks among the most liquid and heavily traded emerging-market currencies, with strong bilateral trade flows from a resource-rich, industrial and services economy. How ZARU Works BlockTower is an authorised Financial Services Provider (FSP 55172) and Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) in South Africa. ZARU is backed 1:1 by cash-equivalent reserves held in a segregated account at Standard Bank. Sanlam Specialised Asset Management (Pty) Ltd, a licensed financial services provider part of the Sanlam group of companies, manages the underlying assets. Jacques Le Roux, the CEO of Sanlam Financial Markets, elaborated: “For institutional holders, the reserve management structure is the point. It is the same operational discipline we apply across our asset base, now standing behind a Rand stablecoin.” Moore Johannesburg attests the reserves monthly, and the reports are available online for holders to inspect at any time. ZARU can now be accessed in two ways: direct minting and redemption through the BlockTower issuance platform for qualified institutional clients, and secondary liquidity on exchange. Luno Global provides one of the most accessible secondary venues through the ZARU/USDC and ZARU/USDT pairs. BlockTower is adding further centralised exchanges, decentralised exchanges and OTC desks to build multiple venues of liquidity for ZARU across jurisdictions. Dedicated Institutional Liquidity BlockTower has partnered with Currency Hub, an authorised Financial Services Provider and Crypto Asset Service Provider regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, as ZARU’s dedicated market maker, who will quote two-way prices on the ZARU exchange-listed pairs. “Continuous liquidity is what turns a listing into a market,” according to Warren Deats, CEO of Currency Hub. Liquidity on Luno Global’s exchange and OTC desk enables treasuries and trading desks to move size in and out of ZARU at attractive spreads, around the clock in secondary markets. https://bitcoinke.io/2026/01/south-africa-approves-300-crypto-firms/ What Comes Next BlockTower’s plan extends beyond ZARU. The company aims to be the emerging-market stablecoin issuer and wallet-as-a-service provider of choice for capital markets and the payments industry, and is planning stablecoin launches across key African and APAC markets. As more emerging-market stablecoins move on-chain, cross-peg pairs between them become possible, creating liquidity pools and network effects that did not exist before, particularly with established financial institutions involved. In closing, Vighnesh Patel, the CEO of BlockTower, had this to say: “Institutionally trusted, regulated liquidity for ZARU is foundational to building real onchain capital markets and FX. This listing on Luno Global is a major step in that direction. For any institutions interested in exploring what ZARU can unlock for your business, drop us an email at sales@blocktower.tech.” https://bitcoinke.io/2026/06/valr-stablecoin-milestone/
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Cloudflare has unveiled programmable stablecoin wallets for AI agents allowing autonomous software running on its network to hold funds and make payments for APIs, content, and other online services as the company expands its push into machine-to-machine commerce.
The new Cloudflare Wallets service introduces two wallet types:
Account Wallets, controlled by users or organizations, and
Virtual Wallets, which are assigned to AI agents with programmable spending limits, merchant allowlists, and transaction caps.
The company also launched cloudflare.pay, enabling customers to reserve human-readable identities for their agents.
The launch builds on Cloudflare’s Monetization Gateway, introduced in July 2026, which enables websites and applications to charge AI agents using the x402 protocol, an open standard that embeds stablecoin payments into HTTP requests.


Together, the two products create both the payment acceptance and payment spending infrastructure needed for autonomous AI commerce.

Cloudflare said AI agents will eventually be able to use the wallets to purchase APIs, AI inference, Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools, datasets, and online content without requiring human-managed payment methods. Wallet funding, stablecoin support, and payment capabilities will roll out in the coming months.
The company is positioning the service as a trust layer for AI commerce allowing businesses to verify which person or organization is behind an autonomous agent before completing transactions. Cloudflare says its network spans more than 330 cities and serves roughly one in five websites globally giving it a large footprint to support emerging agent-to-agent payments.
The launch comes as competition intensifies to build payment rails for AI agents.
In early August 2026, the x402 protocol was transferred to the Linux Foundation with backing from companies including Google, Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Shopify and Cloudflare, while rivals such as Stripe and Paradigm are developing alternative machine payment protocols for autonomous software.


INTRODUCING | Tempo Blockchain by Stripe Goes Live with an Agentic AI Open Framework Payments Standard




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SpaceX beat Wall Street’s quarterly revenue estimates in its first earnings report as a public company but disclosed a $540 million decline in the value of its bitcoin holdings as the cryptocurrency fell during the first half of 2026.

$BTC Performance in the last 3 months. pic.twitter.com/FlavTWp5z2
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) August 6, 2026
The Elon Musk-led company reported second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion ahead of analysts’ estimates of $6.9 billion while its net loss narrowed to $541 million from $1 billion a year earlier.
SpaceX’s digital asset holdings were valued at $1.10 billion as of June 30 2026 down from $1.64 billion at the end of 2025. The company retained its 18,712 bitcoin and did not sell any of its holdings despite the paper loss.


The rocket and satellite company disclosed its Bitcoin holdings in a long-awaited IPO filing revealing a far larger cryptocurrency position than previously estimated. In its prospectus, the company said that it held 18,712 bitcoin as of the end of the first quarter with a fair value of roughly $1.29 billion at the time.
The disclosure makes SpaceX one of the world’s largest known corporate bitcoin holders, surpassing crypto exchange Coinbase’s treasury holdings and trailing only a handful of publicly traded firms such as Strategy and Tesla.

INSTITUTIONAL | SpaceX Discloses Bitcoin Holdings Making it a Top 10 Public Company Holder




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