Galaxy lands 15-year Texas Tech stadium naming rights deal
Digital asset and AI infrastructure company Galaxy Digital has signed a 15-year naming rights agreement with Texas Tech, renaming the university’s football stadium Galaxy Stadium beginning with the 2026 season. The partnership also makes Galaxy the official data center and digital assets partner of Texas Tech Athletics, with the companies planning to collaborate on student-athlete name, image and likeness opportunities, artificial intelligence initiatives and workforce development programs. According to Friday’s announcement, the stadium will debut under its new name on Sept. 5, when Texas Tech opens its season against Abilene Christian. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The deal expands Galaxy’s footprint in West Texas, where it operates the Helios data center campus in nearby Dickens County, about 60 miles east of Lubbock. The site has 1.6 gigawatts of approved capacity for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC). Texas strengthens its crypto industry footprint The partnership comes as Texas strengthens its position as a hub for the crypto industry, combining major Bitcoin mining investment with growing political influence and pro-crypto legislation. The state is already home to some of the industry’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) miners and digital infrastructure operators, including Riot Platforms, Cipher Mining, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, IREN and Hut 8. In February, Bitcoin mining hardware maker Canaan acquired a 49% stake in three operating Texas mining facilities from Cipher Mining for nearly $40 million, while earlier this month, MARA Holdings announced plans to acquire a 2-gigawatt powered site in Texas to develop a digital infrastructure campus supporting both HPC and Bitcoin mining. Recently, Texas has become a focal point for crypto-backed political spending. In May, industry-affiliated political action committees spent more than $10 million supporting candidates in Texas congressional primary runoffs, with all six backed candidates winning. The state has also backed the industry through public policy. Last year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation creating the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. In May, state officials began transitioning the reserve’s holdings from a spot Bitcoin ETF to directly custodied bitcoin. Texas Senate Bill 21 established the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Source: Texas Legislature Magazine: Gambling on random Pokémon cards: Onchain gagcha hits record high as crypto sinks
Consensys unknowingly outsourced developer work to North Korean
Blockchain company Consensys accidentally used a software developer linked to North Korea who had access to some of its systems for a month. First reported on Friday by Drop Site, Consensys earlier this year took on a software developer under the alias Tyler Knapp who was later discovered to have ties to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea. The move caused the company to temporarily suspend product releases and conduct an investigation into the matter “‘Knapp’ was introduced to us through an existing relationship with a reputable third-party service provider and collaborated with Consensys as a consultant,” Consensys general counsel Matt Corva stold Cointelegraph. “He was never hired as a Consensys employee. Very quickly after being introduced, we discovered the threat, followed our security protocols, immediately terminated any access and launched a comprehensive investigation that confirmed there was no misappropriation of assets or data, no malicious code deployed, and no impact to user safety and security.” The incident was one of the latest involving North Korean hacking groups targeting digital asset companies by sending fake employment offers to developers and applying for jobs that would allow them to access code. Corva said Consensys will reevaluate its practices for outsourcing engineering and development work.
米国連邦議会でデジタル資産を違法行為と結びつける発言が目立つ上院議員エリザベス・ウォーレンは、ドナルド・トランプ大統領に対し、暗号資産への投資に関する追加情報を、期限までに開示するよう求めた。 木曜付の書簡でウォーレンは、トランプに対し、1月1日から7月15日までの期間における暗号資産に関連した収益についての財務開示報告書を、任意で開示するよう要請した。要請の背景には、トランプの2025年の財務開示で、同年に暗号資産関連の事業で14億ドルを稼いだことが示されていたことがある。内訳には、彼のメメコイン「Official Trump(TRUMP)」や、彼の家族の会社である「World Liberty Financial」を通じた収益も含まれる。
Bitcoin price sags under $62.5K as Iran strikes add to US stocks pressure
Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below $62,500 at Friday’s Wall Street open as stocks took a fresh hit from the US-Iran war. Key points: Bitcoin gives traders a sense of deja-vu as local highs spark rejection and rangebound moves continue. The US-Iran war pushes stocks and crypto lower. A bear-market trend line is now in place as resistance, copying historical patterns. BTC price action stays “very choppy” Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD extending losses with up to 2% daily downside. BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView US stocks opened in the red, with the Nasdaq Composite Index also down nearly 2% at the time of writing. Fresh military strikes on Iran fueled the risk-asset retreat, while tech stocks continued to see selling pressure. Trading resource The Kobeissi Letter also flagged weakness arising from earnings disappointments, with Netflix shedding over 10% to start the US session. “The stock is now down -50% over the last 12 months and trading at its lowest level since August 2024,” it noted in a post on X. Netflix stock one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView After hitting three-week highs, BTC price action fell back into its established range as traders saw copycat moves. “Market just keeps repeating same things,” commentator Exitpump wrote on X. “Dump into passive demand, OI increases with shorts piling up while spot starts buying which leads to bounce.” BTC/USDT five-minute chart with order-book data. Source: Exitpump/X Trader Daan Crypto Trades argued that current behavior was “typical” of summer. “Very choppy few days up, few days down kind of price action the last few weeks. No real action anywhere really,” he summarized. BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X Bitcoin seals key bear-market repeat Trader Jelle, meanwhile, remained optimistic, seeing range lows holding. “Still think this looks good for a relief rally in the next weeks - which would give the market room to drop into October without nuking much deeper,” he told X followers. BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Jelle/X In updates on the bear market’s progress, trader and analyst Rekt Capital suggested that Bitcoin’s long-term downtrend was now in its final stages. BTC/USD, he wrote, had flipped its 50-month exponential moving average (EMA) to resistance, repeating bear-market history to set up its drop to a long-term floor. “The necessary technical milestone has been achieved,” he confirmed. “Which technically indicates that the majority of the anticipated move has already happened.” BTC/USD one-month chart with 21, 50EMA. Source: Rekt Capital/X As Cointelegraph reported, Rekt Capital saw the July relief bounce ending with the onset of next month.
HSBC wins Bank of England approval to enter Digital Securities Sandbox
HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks, has received approval to operate in the United Kingdom’s Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), allowing its digital assets platform, HSBC Orion, to support the issuance, servicing and settlement of digital securities. The bank announced Tuesday that HSBC Orion will operate as a digital securities depository within the DSS, a regulatory environment designed to test new technology for securities markets. HSBC said it is the first company approved by the Bank of England to go live in the sandbox. HSBC’s platform will support digitally native bond issuance, including the UK’s planned digital sovereign bond — Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) — and corporate bonds. HSBC said HSBC Orion has enabled more than $5 billion in digital bond issuances globally. HM Treasury said Thursday that the first DIGIT transaction is expected by Q1 2027, adding that HSBC and London Stock Exchange Group also signed a memorandum of understanding to develop connectivity that supports investor access to the pilot issuance. Launched in 2024, the DSS is operated by the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority to test distributed ledger technology for issuing, trading and settling securities in a live regulatory environment.