Crypto Intelligence

Turbo Shiba Inu (SHIBTUR), a new memecoin built on the Solana blockchain, has officially launched its five-phase presale today. The project features a unique presale model in which the token price is scheduled to increase during each successive phase, meaning participants who purchase earlier will pay a lower presale price than those who join later.
Unlike many traditional memecoin presales, where investors pay upfront and may wait months or even years before receiving their tokens, the Turbo Shiba Inu presale distributes SHIBTUR tokens within a few hours after an eligible investment is received.
To participate, investors simply send Solana (SOL) on the Solana network to the project's official wallet address:
98FfqHECsEvSdzT3FW1uqDAeNGmWfdpAa5r8LBg2dGuv
Once the transaction is received, SHIBTUR tokens are automatically sent to the investor within a few hours.
Investors who do not already own Solana can purchase SOL through a centralized cryptocurrency exchange or by downloading the Solflare wallet on a desktop or mobile device. Using the official Solflare app or browser extension, users can buy Solana directly with a bank card before sending their SOL to the wallet address above to participate in the Turbo Shiba Inu presale.
The presale is currently in Phase 1, which runs until July 28, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight ET). The scheduled pricing for each phase is as follows:
Phase 1: $0.0003 per SHIBTUR — Ends July 28, 2026Phase 2: $0.0007 per SHIBTUR — Ends August 5, 2026Phase 3: $0.0025 per SHIBTUR — Ends August 15, 2026Phase 4: $0.0065 per SHIBTUR — Ends August 27, 2026Phase 5: $0.03 per SHIBTUR — Ends September 7, 2026
Based on the project's published presale pricing schedule, the Phase 5 token price is 100 times higher than the Phase 1 price. As a result, investors who purchase during Phase 1 and sell their tokens at the Phase 5 price would realize a return of approximately 100x (nearly 10,000%). Actual investment returns are not guaranteed and will depend on market conditions and the ability to sell at those prices.
Following the conclusion of the presale, Turbo Shiba Inu (SHIBTUR) is expected to launch as a tradable token, initially becoming available on decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges as a freely traded memecoin.
The project also plans to pursue listings on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, which it says would provide access to significantly greater liquidity and broader market exposure.
The minimum investment is 0.5 SOL (approximately $37), while the maximum investment per wallet is 4,000 SOL (approximately $300,000).

The White House is pressing Senate Democrats to accept ethics restrictions on President Donald Trump’s crypto dealings embedded in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
Trump agreed to certain limits on his crypto business interests, a concession that surprised many observers following months of contentious negotiations over government conflict-of-interest rules.
The ethics section, revealed for the first time in a final working draft of the Clarity Act circulated this week, would impose unprecedented constraints on a sitting president’s crypto activities.
Democrats have responded with sharp criticism, arguing the restrictions are too weak and poorly enforced to meaningfully curb the president’s multi-billion-dollar crypto business interests.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, was particularly blunt in her assessment of the bill’s ethics provisions.
“Donald Trump raked in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, and this bill does nothing to prevent him from vacuuming up his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits,” Warren said, referring to Trump’s disclosed crypto earnings for 2025.
Warren also warned that the president will “simply ignore the law” as it is currently proposed, deepening Democratic skepticism about the bill’s enforceability and long-term impact.
A White House official fired back, framing Democratic resistance as bad-faith opposition to legislation the administration says reflects historic compromise.
“If Senate Democrats block this historic legislation after the administration has bent over backward to accommodate their concerns, stakeholders should make no mistake: It is the Democrats who are blocking this legislation because they were never serious about a legislative outcome,” the White House official said.
Trump “has agreed to the most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history,” the White House official added, though specific details of the restrictions remain undisclosed.
Democratic negotiators including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Ruben Gallego, and Angela Alsobrooks reportedly have not received details of the agreement, despite Trump having met personally with Republican senators last week.
The proposed restrictions would reportedly apply to the president, the vice president, and members of Congress, representing a broad scope of government officials subject to crypto trading limits.
With the ethics debate consuming legislative bandwidth for months, the window for passing the Clarity Act in 2026 is narrowing with each day the impasse continues.
Crypto insiders are expecting the bill to reach the Senate floor as early as next week, consistent with signals previously given by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, with a final vote potentially taking several additional days.

基于 Solana 区块链打造的全新迷因币（Memecoin）Turbo Shiba Inu（SHIBTUR） 今日正式开启独特的预售活动。随着预售分为五个阶段进行，SHIBTUR 的价格保证将在每个阶段逐步上涨，因此早期投资者有机会获得可观的回报。
与传统迷因币预售不同，传统模式通常要求投资者先付款，然后等待数月甚至数年才能收到代币；而 SHIBTUR 的预售机制允许投资者在完成投资后的数小时内收到代币。
投资者可通过向项目的钱包地址（Solana 网络）发送 Solana（SOL） 参与 Turbo Shiba Inu 预售：
98FfqHECsEvSdzT3FW1uqDAeNGmWfdpAa5r8LBg2dGuv
完成转账后，系统将在数小时内自动向您发送相应数量的 SHIBTUR 代币。
您可以通过中心化加密货币交易所购买 Solana，也可以在电脑或手机上下载官方 Solflare 钱包，并使用银行卡直接在应用程序或浏览器扩展中购买 SOL。随后，只需将 SOL 转账至上述钱包地址，即可购买 Turbo Shiba Inu 代币。
目前预售处于第一阶段，该阶段将于 **2026 年 7 月 28 日（美国东部时间午夜）**结束。各阶段 SHIBTUR 的价格如下：
第一阶段：0.0003 美元/枚 —— 截止至 2026 年 7 月 28 日第二阶段：0.0007 美元/枚 —— 截止至 2026 年 8 月 5 日第三阶段：0.0025 美元/枚 —— 截止至 2026 年 8 月 15 日第四阶段：0.0065 美元/枚 —— 截止至 2026 年 8 月 27 日第五阶段：0.03 美元/枚 —— 截止至 2026 年 9 月 7 日
根据文中的说法，在第一阶段购买 SHIBTUR 并于第五阶段结束时出售，投资者理论上可获得至少 100 倍回报（约 10,000% 的投资回报率）。
预售结束后，Turbo Shiba Inu（SHIBTUR） 将正式上线，成为可自由交易的资产，并首先作为自由流通的迷因币在去中心化加密货币交易所（DEX）进行交易。
随后，SHIBTUR 还计划登陆中心化加密货币交易所（CEX），届时有望获得数千万美元的新流动性，从而可能进一步推动其价格上涨，并为早期投资者带来更高的潜在收益。
投资门槛如下：
最低投资额：0.5 SOL（约 37 美元）单个投资者/钱包最高投资额：4,000 SOL（约 300,000 美元）
提醒： 这段内容属于项目宣传文案，其中包含大量营销性表述，例如“价格保证上涨”“至少 100 倍回报”等。这些说法并不代表实际投资结果，也不应视为事实保证。参与任何加密货币预售前，建议仔细核实项目团队、智能合约、审计情况以及相关风险。

LMAX Group, a global financial technology company operating institutional execution venues for crypto and foreign exchange trading, is exploring a potential sale or IPO.
The London-based firm has built a significant presence in institutional crypto markets, reporting $8.2 trillion in trading volume last year alone.
That figure underscores the scale of LMAX’s operations and likely makes it an attractive target for prospective buyers or public market investors.
LMAX Group posted revenue of £149.36 million in 2024, alongside a net income of £56.62 million, reflecting strong profitability across its trading venues.
The company operates electronic execution venues catering to institutional clients across both cryptocurrency and foreign exchange markets globally.
Private equity firm JC Flowers agreed in July 2021 to acquire a 30% stake in LMAX for $300 million, a deal that valued the group at $1 billion at the time.
That valuation now appears conservative given the dramatic expansion of institutional crypto trading volumes since 2021.
A public listing would allow LMAX to tap capital markets at a moment when appetite for crypto-adjacent financial infrastructure companies remains strong among institutional investors.
The IPO route would also provide existing shareholders, including JC Flowers, with a structured path to realizing returns on their investment in the company.
A sale, meanwhile, could attract interest from major exchanges, financial technology firms, or other private equity players seeking exposure to institutional-grade crypto trading infrastructure.
The crypto trading infrastructure sector has grown increasingly competitive, with institutions demanding faster execution, deeper liquidity, and more sophisticated tools than retail-focused platforms can offer.
LMAX has positioned itself squarely within that institutional segment, differentiating its venues through transparent, neutral execution models that appeal to banks and asset managers.
Any transaction, whether a sale or a listing, would represent one of the more significant liquidity events in the institutional crypto trading space in recent years.

Turbo Shiba Inu (SHIBTUR), a brand-new memecoin on the Solana blockchain, has launched today via a unique pre-sale offering – and early investors could generate huge returns as the price of SHIBTUR is guaranteed to increase as it progresses through its five-phase pre-sale.
Unlike traditional memecoin pre-sales, which involve investors paying upfront and waiting months or years to receive their tokens, the SHIBTUR pre-sale allows investors to receive their coins within a few hours of investing.
Investors can invest in the Turbo Shiba Inu pre-sale by sending Solana to the project’s wallet address (on the Solana network) – 98FfqHECsEvSdzT3FW1uqDAeNGmWfdpAa5r8LBg2dGuv – and you will automatically be sent your SHIBTUR memecoin tokens within a few hours.
You can buy Solana via a centralized crypto exchange, or you can simply download Solflare wallet on your laptop or phone via their official wallet, and then purchase Solana tokens directly in the app or browser extension using a bank card. Then, you can proceed with buying Turbo Shiba Inu coins by sending Solana to the above wallet.
This pre-sale is currently in phase one, which will end at the end of 28 July (midnight, eastern time). The price per SHIBTUR memecoin for each phase is specified below:
· Phase 1 - $0.0003/token – Ends on 28 July, 2026
· Phase 2 - $0.0007/token – Ends on 5 August, 2026
· Phase 3 - $0.0025/token – Ends on 15 August, 2026
· Phase 4 - $0.0065/token – Ends on 27 August, 2026
· Phase 5 - $0.03/token – Ends on 7 September, 2026
Investors who buy their Turbo Shiba Inu tokens during phase 1 and sell at the end of phase 5 will effectively generate a return of at least 100x (almost 10,000% ROI).
At the end of the pre-sale, Turbo Shiba Inu (SHIBTUR) will launch as a tradeable asset and will initially be available to buy and sell as a free-floating memecoin on decentralized crypto exchanges.
SHIBTUR will then be listed on centralized crypto exchanges, providing access to tens of millions of dollars of fresh liquidity which could boost its price further and allow early investors to generate astronomical returns.
The minimum investment amount is 0.5 Solana (equivalent to around $37) and the maximum investment per investor/wallet is 4,000 Solana (equivalent to around $300,000).

A cat-themed memecoin called CASHCAT has become the breakout story of Robinhood Chain, the brokerage's newly launched Layer 2 network built on the Arbitrum stack.
Robinhood switched on the chain at a London keynote billed "Robinhood Presents: The World Is Flat," with the mainnet going live on July 1. The chain was designed for tokenized stocks and bonds, not internet jokes.
CASHCAT is a community deployed memecoin, and its 950 percent surge on July 8 came exactly seven days after the blockchain's launch. That made it the network's first major viral moment.
The token's name is not random. It references the early days of Robinhood, when founders Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt reportedly called their company CashCat before settling on the current brand.
CashCat is not owned or endorsed by Robinhood in any official capacity, despite the branding overlap. The project describes itself as entirely community built.
Momentum accelerated sharply after Tenev weighed in publicly. He said crypto's future runs through real world assets, then days later posted that Robinhood Chain "works great for memes too."
Following that post, Cash Cat climbed to an all time high near 0.147 dollars on July 8. Traders read the comment as informal validation of the token.
Volume figures tell the scale of the frenzy. CASHCAT alone generated roughly 98 million dollars in 24 hour volume, about 17 percent of the entire chain's daily total.
That helped push Robinhood Chain to between 560 and 570 million dollars in daily trading volume on July 8, briefly overtaking Hyperliquid as the top decentralized exchange by that measure.
Individual trader stories have added fuel to the rally. One early buyer spent 838 dollars on 15 million tokens and later sold most of the position for roughly 917,000 dollars, a return near 1,250 times.
A second wallet turned an 85 dollar buy into holdings realizing close to 688,000 dollars, with over a million more still unrealized. Five wallets combined have banked close to 3.7 million dollars.
Market capitalization estimates have varied by moment, ranging from roughly 100 million to as high as 200 million dollars at different peaks during the rally so far.
Liquidity remains thin relative to the valuation. Trading pools have carried only six to seven million dollars in depth against a fully diluted value that has topped 100 million dollars, amplifying price swings.
Adoption metrics beyond the token itself have also jumped. Daily active addresses on Robinhood Chain approached 200,000 on July 8, with more than 140,000 of those being first time users.
Not everything on the chain is speculative trading. The chain's total value locked crossed 100 million dollars within its first week, driven mainly by lending activity rather than token positions.
Analysts note the episode complicates Robinhood's original pitch for the chain. The company spent months positioning it as infrastructure for tokenized equities, with several major exchange partners onboard at launch.
Instead, the first standout product turned out to be a cat with a cash pile, pulling attention away from the real world asset narrative for now.
Copycat tokens and impersonator accounts have already started circulating, a common risk once a memecoin gains this much visibility. Traders are being urged to verify contracts carefully.
Whether CASHCAT's momentum holds or fades like most memecoin cycles remains an open question, but it has already put Robinhood Chain firmly on the crypto map.

Shiba Inu recorded its largest single day token burn in six months on July 8, according to tracking site Shibburn. The community destroyed roughly 117.53 million SHIB tokens, sending them permanently to a dead wallet.
Despite the scale of the burn, the price of SHIB still fell around four percent on the same day. The wider meme coin sector also hit its lowest market share since February 2024 during the same stretch.
In dollar terms, the tokens burned that day translated to only about 517 dollars in destroyed value. That is a striking gap given the scale of the headline burn figure being widely shared across social media.
Over the trailing thirty days, the community has burned roughly 228 million tokens worth just over 1,000 dollars combined. The figures suggest the burns are generating attention without creating any meaningful supply pressure on price.
SHIB's circulating supply still exceeds 585 trillion tokens, dwarfing the impact of any single burn event by comparison. Even matching July's elevated burn pace for a full year would only trim a small fraction of that total.
A wallet linked to Robinhood led the day's burn activity, torching more than 109 million SHIB in one transaction. That single transfer accounted for the overwhelming majority of the day's total burn volume.
SHIB is down nearly nine percent over the past month even with the modest weekly gain that followed the burn news. The token has spent recent sessions confined to a narrow trading band with little sign of a breakout.
Trader sentiment around Shiba Inu has cooled further in recent weeks, with some prominent voices describing the coin as fading in relevance. Daily trading volume has also declined sharply compared to the same period last year.
Activity on Shibarium, the project's layer two scaling network, remains subdued following a security incident that disrupted operations previously. Daily transaction counts on the network have fallen dramatically from earlier highs to just thousands.
Bulls lost close to 191,000 dollars in forced liquidations over the prior 24 hour period, compared with under 8,000 dollars for bears. Every bounce in price has so far been met with buyers being squeezed out quickly.
One technical signal offers a note of contrast to the otherwise bearish backdrop for the token. An RSI bull divergence has emerged, a pattern that preceded a recovery rally earlier this year between April and May.

Dogecoin whale accumulation reaches new highs in July 2026, with nearly four billion tokens shifted off Binance in a single transfer. The move stands out even against a backdrop of persistent volatility across the wider meme coin sector this year.
On-chain data shows large holders added to positions during the recent correction rather than selling into weakness. Whale wallets holding over 100 million DOGE now collectively control 108.52 billion tokens, an all-time high worth roughly 11.8 billion dollars.
Active addresses surged to nearly 50,000 in early July, marking the highest spike in network activity since early 2023. Analysts view rising participation alongside large transfers as a sign of renewed confidence among long term holders.
Four spot Dogecoin ETFs are currently live in the United States, yet cumulative inflows sit at just 12.44 million dollars combined. That figure remains a fraction of what comparable Bitcoin ETF products attracted during their early trading months.
The gap between whale conviction and institutional follow through has become one of the more closely watched dynamics in the DOGE market. Whales are clearly adding, but the capital that typically drives sustained rallies has yet to arrive.
Beyond the charts, House of Doge, the corporate arm of the Dogecoin Foundation, began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker HODO. The listing arrived in early July alongside plans for a global Dogecoin branded debit card product.
The DogeOS application layer is also progressing, aiming to bring smart contract functionality and decentralized finance tools to the Dogecoin blockchain. Developers are targeting a mid-2026 launch window for the broader rollout of this infrastructure.
None of these developments guarantee an imminent price recovery for the token. DOGE remains subject to the same broad market pressures affecting meme coins and higher risk digital assets more generally.
Still, the on-chain picture tells a fairly clear story about sentiment among the largest holders right now. Some of the biggest DOGE wallets appear to be treating the current correction as an opportunity rather than a warning sign.
Whether that conviction eventually translates into a sustained upward move depends heavily on follow through elsewhere. Broader market direction, ETF flow trends, and continued ecosystem development will all likely play a role in the outcome.
For now, Dogecoin sits at an unusual crossroads between strong whale demand and thin institutional interest. Traders watching the token closely say the next few months could prove decisive for its next major direction.

Hyperliquid’s native token HYPE has broken into the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalisation, briefly surpassing Dogecoin (DOGE) to reach as high as ninth on global rankings. The token hit a new all-time high of $75.51 on June 2, capping a week that saw it post gains exceeding nine percent and attracting fresh attention from institutional participants and prominent industry voices alike.
HYPE’s market capitalisation ranged between $15.4 billion and $18.5 billion across late May and early June, with the token trading in the $69 to $75 range depending on intraday moves. Daily trading volume on the Hyperliquid protocol has routinely exceeded $1 billion, while cumulative protocol revenue has now crossed $1.16 billion since the platform launched. Both metrics represent all-time highs for the project.
Hyperliquid operates a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain built specifically for decentralised perpetual futures and spot trading. Its architecture delivers sub-second transaction finality, an on-chain central limit order book, and gasless trading, allowing it to compete with centralised exchange speeds while remaining fully decentralised. Nearly all trading fees are channelled into an Assistance Fund that conducts continuous HYPE buybacks and token burns, creating a direct link between platform usage and token value accrual.
Four factors are driving the current price momentum. The first is a regulatory shift in the United States. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently approved the first regulated perpetual futures contract for the US market, historically a product that regulators had viewed with deep scepticism and effectively forced offshore. That decision materially widens the addressable market for Hyperliquid’s core product. The second catalyst is the launch of spot exchange-traded funds, including Bitwise’s BHYP product, which has brought new institutional inflows into the token. Third, the platform has now accumulated more than two million wallet addresses, a user growth rate that validates demand beyond speculative trading. Fourth, the deflationary buyback mechanism ensures that rising revenue translates directly into reduced circulating supply.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes stated publicly on June 1 that HYPE should at a minimum overtake Solana’s market capitalisation before the current bull market cycle ends. At the time of his comments, Solana’s market cap stood at approximately $47.7 billion against HYPE’s roughly $15 billion, implying a potential tripling in value if his thesis proves correct.
The token’s rise signals a broader shift in market preferences. Dogecoin, which HYPE has now surpassed, is a meme-driven asset with no protocol revenue, governance function, or deflationary mechanism. The fact that a decentralised exchange token has overtaken it in value ranking is being interpreted across the industry as evidence that the 2026 market cycle favours assets with clear revenue streams and on-chain utility over legacy meme coins.
Looking ahead, a significant supply event is approaching. Data from Tokenomist shows that approximately $684 million worth of HYPE tokens are scheduled for unlock on June 6, part of a broader week of over $700 million in token releases across the market. How HYPE absorbs that supply event will be closely watched as a test of whether the current momentum has fundamental depth behind it.

Two of crypto’s most closely watched research desks have reached opposite conclusions on Bitcoin’s cycle low.
Standard Chartered says the bottom is already behind us, while Galaxy Research argues it is still ahead.
Geoffrey Kendrick, Standard Chartered’s global head of digital asset research, made his call in a Friday note.
He wrote that the cycle low for Bitcoin (BTC) has likely already been set at fifty nine thousand dollars.
That figure represents a fifty three percent drawdown from Bitcoin’s all time high near one hundred twenty six thousand dollars.
Kendrick pointed to three catalysts behind the turn, including the SpaceX initial public offering on Nasdaq.
He noted that some exchange traded fund holders sold positions to free up cash for the SpaceX listing.
Falling oil prices and an anticipated Bitcoin purchase from Strategy were cited as the other supporting factors.
Standard Chartered is watching for net positive spot Bitcoin exchange traded fund inflows as a confirmation signal.
Renewed corporate treasury buying and continued declines in oil prices are the other signals on its checklist.
The bank maintains a year end target of one hundred thousand dollars for Bitcoin and four thousand for Ethereum (ETH).
Galaxy Research, led by Alex Thorn, reached a markedly different conclusion in a separate cycle study this week.
Thorn argued that the traditional four year cycle is compressing, which shifts where the eventual floor sits.
Galaxy’s base case places the bottom between forty thousand and forty six thousand dollars by late this year.
The firm found that only four of thirteen historical indicators tied to past cycle bottoms have triggered so far.
Bitcoin’s current decline of around fifty one percent remains shallower than the seventy seven to eighty five percent drops of past cycles.
Galaxy also outlined a harsher scenario in which a deeper washout could push prices toward thirty to thirty seven thousand dollars.
A milder outcome was also flagged, with steady buying potentially holding a floor near fifty one to fifty four thousand dollars.
Despite their disagreement on timing and price levels, both firms reject the steep eighty percent style collapses of prior cycles.
Bitcoin traded near sixty three thousand eight hundred dollars as the competing forecasts circulated among traders this weekend.
The split highlights how differently major research desks are reading the same on chain and flow based data.

SBI Shinsei Bank, part of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group, is preparing to launch a crypto rewards programme that will allow deposit account holders to receive cryptocurrency vouchers based on the interest earned on their savings.
Under the scheme, depositors will receive exchange vouchers equivalent to 20% of their deposit interest payments. Those vouchers will be redeemable for Bitcoin, Ethereum, or XRP through SBI VC Trade, the group’s dedicated crypto trading arm, with conversion carried out at prevailing market rates at the time of redemption.
A three-month trial campaign is set to begin on June 10, covering fixed-term deposits and savings accounts with maturities ranging from three months to five years. Customers will be required to hold or open an SBI VC Trade account to access the voucher conversion feature. SBI Shinsei currently holds approximately 4.33 million individual deposit accounts.
The programme is designed primarily as a customer acquisition tool for the group’s digital asset business, offering existing bank customers a low-friction entry point into crypto rather than a direct investment mechanism. Given that the bank’s headline deposit rate stands at around 0.42% annually, the voucher amounts will be modest in absolute terms.
The move comes as Japanese financial institutions accelerate their engagement with digital assets. Japan’s three largest banks — MUFG, SMBC, and Mizuho — are separately reported to be in discussions around a joint stablecoin issuance, with a basic agreement expected before the end of fiscal 2026.

Author: James Hartley | Active trader. Using BitMEX since early 2023. Main instruments: spot BTC/USDT, TradFi Perps (GBP/USD, Gold). BMEX staker at Regular 3 tier. No commercial relationship with BitMEX. Fee data verified on the official BitMEX website.
Last updated: April 2026
Trading involves significant risk of capital loss. This is not financial advice. Never trade with funds you cannot afford to lose.
My Quick Take
I have been using BitMEX alongside two other exchanges for over three years. It is not the platform I would recommend to someone who just bought their first Bitcoin. But for traders who already know what they are doing - and specifically for UK-based traders who want institutional-grade custody without moving to a fully regulated exchange - it is one of the more serious options available in 2026.
Here is what I actually found, based on using it.
BitMEX at a Glance
Is BitMEX Actually Legit?
This is the question I get most often from other UK traders, so I will deal with it first.
The short answer: yes. I have withdrawn funds from BitMEX multiple times without issue. Standard withdrawals are processed automatically in batches. Larger withdrawals may undergo manual review - check the platform for current thresholds and processing times.
KYC is mandatory for all users. I went through the process myself - photo ID, proof of address, short video - and it took about 48 hours to complete. The compliance infrastructure has been significantly upgraded over recent years and the platform now operates with full identity verification requirements.
What gives me more confidence than anything is the track record: 11 years of operation, zero client funds lost to hacks. In an industry where major exchanges have collapsed or been hacked, that matters. I verify the Proof of Reserves myself on the BitMEX website - it is published twice a week and also shows the Insurance Fund balance in real time , giving an additional layer of visibility into platform solvency.
Since April 2026, custody has been handled through Zodia Custody, backed by Standard Chartered and Northern Trust.
What I Actually Use It For
Spot Trading - My Primary Use
When I first came back to BitMEX after the KYC update, spot trading quickly became my most-used product on the platform.
The mechanics are exactly what you would expect: buy or sell at the current market price, immediate settlement, asset in your account. No leverage, no funding, no liquidation risk. For a UK trader who wants BTC or ETH it is the cleanest way to use BitMEX.
The available pairs are limited - 17+ at the time of writing. That is a real constraint compared to larger exchanges. I have occasionally wanted to buy an altcoin that is not listed on BitMEX and had to go elsewhere. But for the pairs I actually trade most - BTC/USDT, ETH/USDT - the liquidity is fine and the execution is clean.
One thing I noticed early on: spot maker and taker fees are both 0.050% at the base Regular 1 tier. That is higher than I initially expected. I moved to Regular 3 by staking BMEX, which gets the derivatives maker fee down but does not yet unlock spot rebates - those start at VIP 1. If you are primarily a spot trader and want rebates, you are looking at staking 50,000 BMEX to reach VIP 1. Worth calculating whether the cost of staking justifies the rebate at your trading volume.
TradFi Perps - The Feature That Surprised Me
I started using TradFi Perps about eight months after joining the platform, mostly out of curiosity. I now use them regularly, specifically GBP/USD and Gold.
The concept: perpetual contracts on traditional financial assets - stocks, FX, commodities - trading 24/7 on BitMEX. No brokerage account needed. No market hours restrictions.
The GBP/USD perp has been genuinely useful. When the Bank of England made rate decisions at times that traditional FX brokers were not particularly liquid, I was able to trade the move on BitMEX without the spread widening I would have faced elsewhere. That is a real practical advantage.
Available categories:
● Stock Perps (up to 20x leverage): AAPL, TSLA, MSFT, NVDA, META, AMZN, GOOGL, COIN, HOOD, PLTR, MSTR, and more● FX Perps (up to 100x leverage): EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD● Commodity Perps (up to 25x leverage): Gold, Silver, WTI crude, Brent crude
These are leveraged products and carry meaningful risk. I keep my TradFi Perps positions sized smaller than my spot positions for that reason. The funding rates are generally manageable for swing positions, but holding for weeks will accumulate costs - check the live rates before entering anything you plan to hold long term.
Crypto Perpetuals
I use XBTUSD occasionally for short-term directional trades. The platform supports up to 100x leverage on XBTUSD and 200x on ETHUSD - I use nothing above 10x personally, and I would suggest most retail traders treat the maximum leverage as an engineering spec rather than a trading suggestion.
The Fair Price Marking system is something I appreciate in practice. It uses a composite index rather than just the last traded price to calculate liquidation levels, which reduces the risk of being unfairly liquidated during a brief price spike. I have not had an unexpected liquidation on BitMEX in three years of using the platform.
For UK retail traders, I want to be direct: crypto perpetuals with leverage are high-risk products. Importantly, crypto derivatives (including crypto perpetuals) are not available to UK retail consumers under FCA regulations (effective January 2021). If you are UK-based, these products are not accessible to you through regulated channels. Start with spot and get comfortable with the platform before considering any derivatives products.
Other Features Worth Mentioning
The Reverse Copy Trading feature is genuinely novel - I have not seen it anywhere else. The idea: identify consistently losing traders and mirror their positions in reverse. Whether it is profitable in practice depends entirely on your ability to identify the right traders to follow inversely. I have experimented with it; results were mixed, but the concept is sound.
Grid bots are built directly into the platform - no API setup, no third-party tool. For range-bound markets, I have run a BTC/USDT grid bot during sideways periods and it has covered fees with a bit to spare. Nothing dramatic, but it runs passively.
Fees: What You Actually Pay
BitMEX uses an 8-tier system. Your tier is the higher of: BMEX staked or 30-day trading volume. More information on the BMEX token and staking programme is available on the BitMEX website. Note for UK traders: crypto derivatives are not available to UK retail consumers (FCA ban effective January 2021). The Derivatives fee columns below are for informational purposes only; UK retail traders can access Spot trading only.

I am currently at Regular 3 through BMEX staking. My spot maker fee is 0.0500% and taker is 0.0500%. For the volume I trade, the BMEX staking cost is justified - but I ran the numbers before committing. At Regular 1, the 0.050% flat fee is not dramatically different from many competitors, but it is not the cheapest option at base tier. Always check the current schedule before trading.
The Interface: Honest Assessment
The BitMEX interface is not going to win any awards for accessibility. It is built for people who already trade. When I first logged in, I spent about an hour getting oriented - and I already had experience on two other platforms.
The main screen puts everything on one page: TradingView charts, live order book, execution panel, open positions. Once you are used to it, this layout is genuinely efficient. I can manage a spot position and a TradFi Perps position simultaneously without switching windows.
Order types available: Market, Limit, Stop-Market, Stop-Limit, Trailing Stop. Hedge Mode lets you hold simultaneous long and short positions, which I use occasionally when I want directional exposure in TradFi Perps while holding a spot position in the opposite direction.
The mobile app is solid. I use it for monitoring positions and executing simple spot orders when I am away from my desk. It has the full functionality of the desktop version - nothing stripped out.
My honest feedback: if you have never traded on a professional-grade exchange before, expect a learning curve of at least a few sessions before you feel comfortable. That is not a criticism - it is just an accurate description.
Deposits and Withdrawals: My Experience
No fiat on-ramp. You need to already hold crypto to get started - BTC, ETH, USDT, or USDC. I deposit USDT for spot trading and USDC for margin on TradFi Perps.
Standard withdrawals are processed automatically in batches - in my experience, this is fast. Larger withdrawals, or anything that triggers a review flag, may undergo manual review. I had one larger withdrawal processed without issues, just with a wait. Check the platform for current thresholds and processing times before making large transactions.
Support: email and ticket system, 24/7. No live chat. I have submitted three support tickets over three years. Response times ranged from 4 hours to 18 hours. Not fast, but I got resolution in every case. The absence of live chat is a genuine limitation if you ever have an urgent issue during a volatile market move.
How BitMEX Compares
The spot pair count is the area where BitMEX most clearly trails. If you want to trade mid-cap or small-cap altcoins, you will need a different platform. For BTC, ETH, and the major pairs - and especially for TradFi Perps - BitMEX holds its own.
Pros and Cons
What I think works well:
● 11-year track record without losing client funds - genuinely unusual in this industry● 100% cold storage, MPC custody● Proof of Reserves twice weekly - I check it and you should too● TradFi Perps are a unique product I have not found equivalently implemented elsewhere● Reverse Copy Trading is a novel feature worth experimenting with● Grid bots built in - useful for range markets without needing API setup
What I think could be better:
● No fiat on-ramp makes onboarding slower for anyone starting from cash● 17+ spot pairs is genuinely limiting - I go elsewhere for altcoin exposure● No live chat is a real gap when something needs resolving quickly● The interface takes time to learn - not friendly to first-time traders● Default 0.050% spot fee is on the higher end until you reach VIP 1
Who Should Use BitMEX
It suits you if:
● You are an experienced UK trader who wants spot crypto exposure with serious custody infrastructure● You want 24/7 access to stock, FX, and commodity price movements through TradFi Perps● You already hold BMEX or plan to stake enough to reach a meaningful fee tier● You value verifiable security over a polished onboarding experience
It probably does not suit you if:
● You are completely new to trading - the platform will feel overwhelming● You need to deposit from a bank account directly● You need live chat when things go wrong● You want to trade a wide range of altcoins from a single platform
Final Verdict
Three years in, BitMEX remains one of my active accounts. It is not my highest-volume platform, but it fills a specific role: spot BTC and ETH exposure with custody I can verify independently, plus TradFi Perps for traditional market access when I want it at times UK markets are closed.
The platform today operates with full KYC, twice-weekly Proof of Reserves, and Zodia Custody. For what that is worth - and I think it is worth quite a lot in an asset class with a poor custody track record - BitMEX has earned a place in my setup.
It is not a beginner platform. It does not try to be. If you know what you are doing and you value custody transparency, it is worth a serious look.
FAQ
Is BitMEX safe to use in the UK?
In my experience, yes. The custody architecture is genuinely strong: 100% MPC cold storage via Zodia Custody, twice-weekly Proof of Reserves, and a real-time Insurance Fund.
Is BitMEX legit or a scam?
It is legitimate. I have been using it for over three years and have withdrawn funds multiple times without issue. It has an 11-year operating history, mandatory KYC, and publicly verifiable Proof of Reserves on the BitMEX website.
What are BitMEX fees?
You can check the current rate on the official BitMEX website.
Does BitMEX work in the UK? Yes.
I am based in the UK and use it regularly. Spot trading and TradFi Perps are the most relevant products. Factor the regulatory environment into your personal risk assessment before committing capital.
What are TradFi Perps on BitMEX?
Perpetual contracts on traditional assets - stocks (AAPL, TSLA, MSFT and more, up to 20x), FX pairs (GBP/USD, EUR/USD), commodities (Gold, Silver, WTI, Brent, up to 25x). They trade 24/7. I use them specifically when I want to trade GBP/USD or Gold at times traditional markets are closed - the main practical advantage over a standard broker.

Disclaimer: This article reflects personal trading experience and is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice. Always do your own research before making trading decisions.

The artificial intelligence industry's dependency on real human judgment is not a temporary condition that better algorithms will eventually eliminate, but a structural feature of how reliable AI systems are built and maintained.
Automated training methods and non-human reinforcement systems, however sophisticated, consistently run into the same set of limitations: they optimise for proxies rather than genuine human preferences, they are vulnerable to reward hacking, and they struggle to capture the kind of nuanced, culturally grounded, context-sensitive judgment that only real people can provide.
Pi Network has spent years quietly building what it now argues is the most credible large-scale solution to that problem, and it has the operational track record to back the claim in a way that most competitors in the human-in-the-loop space simply cannot.
Over one million verified human participants across Pi's network have collectively completed 526 million validation tasks, all of them processed through Pi's native KYC identity verification system and all of them paid directly in Pi tokens through the network's blockchain-based distribution infrastructure.
That figure is not a projection or a theoretical capacity estimate but a demonstrated output from a system that has already been stress-tested at genuine scale, across more than 200 countries and regions, in conditions that reflect the operational complexity of actually coordinating global distributed human labor rather than describing it in pitch materials.
The broader verified user base from which that workforce draws is even larger, with over 18 million individuals having passed through Pi's KYC process, which combines AI automation with human review to produce identity verification at a scale that took years of deliberate infrastructure investment to reach.
Each of those 18 million verified participants already holds an active Pi wallet, a detail that matters practically because it removes the onboarding friction that typically slows or complicates the deployment of new distributed labor programmes when contributors must first be enrolled in an unfamiliar payment system before work can begin.
For AI companies evaluating their options for human-in-the-loop input, Pi frames the authentication dimension as one of the most underappreciated differentiators between its offering and conventional data labeling platforms, where the absence of robust identity verification leaves training pipelines exposed to bot contamination, low-quality inputs, and fraudulent participation that can degrade the value of human feedback at precisely the scale where that feedback is most expensive to collect.
The robotics and physical AI sector receives specific attention in Pi's commercial positioning, with the company drawing a deliberate parallel between the role that internet-scale text data played in enabling the emergence of large language models and the role that large-scale human-generated data about physical environments may play in producing an equivalent breakthrough in robotics and embodied intelligence.
Real human participants can generate the kind of grounded data about movement, spatial navigation, object interaction, and real-world task completion that physical AI systems need to develop genuine competence in uncontrolled environments, and Pi argues that its verified global workforce is already structured to produce that data at the volumes a foundation model breakthrough would require.
The payment infrastructure Pi has built to support this workforce offers a specific cost argument against fiat-based alternatives, with the company pointing to the practical difficulties of paying millions of people across dozens of jurisdictions in small amounts through conventional banking and payment processing, where cross-border transfer fees, minimum payout thresholds, and compliance overhead can make genuinely global micropayment distribution economically impractical at the task volumes AI companies actually need.
For businesses that want additional flexibility beyond Pi token payments, Pi Launchpad, currently in Testnet iteration, allows companies to compensate contributors in their own project token rather than in Pi or fiat currency, creating a payment mechanism that simultaneously functions as a user acquisition tool, an engagement instrument, and a growth strategy component rather than a pure operating expense.
The logic of the Launchpad token model rests on the observation that workers who receive a company's token as payment for contributing to that company's AI pipeline have a direct economic incentive to become consumers of the product those contributions helped build, converting the labor relationship into something closer to a community formation mechanism.
Pi positions this approach as part of a broader argument that artificial intelligence is not just transforming how products are built but demanding fundamentally new business models for the companies building them, ones where the boundaries between labor, payment, user acquisition, and ecosystem development are deliberately blurred rather than treated as separate operational functions with separate cost structures.
The geographic breadth of Pi's workforce, spanning contributors from over 200 countries and regions, also provides a built-in localisation advantage for AI companies building products intended for genuinely global use, since human feedback generated by a culturally and linguistically diverse participant base produces training signals that are more representative of real-world variation than inputs drawn from a narrow demographic or regional slice of the global population.

A Familiar Brand, Now Built for Modern Play
Fortune Coins players will notice a refreshed name, Fortune Wins, and a sharper look aimed at faster, cleaner sessions. The update is being framed as a practical upgrade that makes it easier to move from the lobby to a game on any device.
In Short: Expect simpler navigation and fewer slow points during everyday play. The goal is a premium feel without extra complexity.
The Rebrand Announcement and the Reason Behind It
Fortune Coins has introduced a new identity designed to match a more modern platform. The updated name, Fortune Wins Casino, points to a stronger focus on performance, design, and smoother browsing. The message is not “new for the sake of new,” but an evolution that reduces friction for players.
The Fortune Coins rebrand is meant to feel like an upgrade in the parts that matter most: speed, clarity, and an interface that stays easy to scan. It is positioned as a player-focused step forward, not a restart.
As the platform grows, older layouts can feel crowded and slower. A refreshed identity gives room to tighten menus and speed up pages.
What Fortune Wins Casino Means for Players
A name change only matters if the experience improves in noticeable ways. Fortune Wins is tying the refresh to usability—cleaner navigation, quicker load times, and visuals that feel more premium than a basic web lobby.
Navigation updates also help returning players who already have favorite categories. Clear filters and steadier layouts can help sessions start faster without relearning where things are located.
Key Takeaway: The core play stays familiar, while the surrounding experience looks and feels more polished. That can make short mobile sessions and longer desktop sessions run with less friction.
A Modern Theme and a Cleaner Lobby Layout
The new theme puts clarity first, with easier-to-read tiles and a layout that surfaces categories faster. The goal is an online casino experience that looks polished without feeling busy. Consistent icons and better spacing help the lobby feel more curated and less cluttered.
A cleaner theme also supports faster browsing on smaller screens, where crowded pages can feel heavy. When tiles and icons load cleanly, it becomes easier to test a few titles and move on.
BeforeAfter the RefreshHarder to scanCleaner spacing and clearer tilesMore clicksStronger lobby organization
Speed Upgrades for Mobile Play
Many players start on a phone, so the platform needs to feel quick and responsive on smaller screens. A mobile-friendly casino should keep controls thumb-ready and avoid heavy pages that stall on mobile data. Fortune Wins’s refresh is focused on smoother loading and cleaner layouts that hold up on smartphones and tablets.
Responsive Layout: Screens adapt cleanly from portrait to landscape.Streamlined Sign-In: Fewer steps to reach the lobby.Quick Game Launch: Titles open with fewer pauses between screens.Touch-Friendly Controls: Buttons stay readable and easy to tap.Readable Text: Key info remains clear on small displays.
Better RTP and Bigger Jackpots: What the Terms Mean
Players looking for a high RTP casino often care about long-run value across many sessions. Fortune Wins is also calling more attention to jackpots, making it easier to spot games built around bigger top-end moments.
How RTP Shows Up in Real Play
Return to Player is a long-term statistic, not a promise for any single session. When RTP details are easier to find, comparing titles becomes simpler.
Why Jackpots Feel More Exciting
Jackpot-style features work best when the build-up is clear and the bonus moments run smoothly. Faster transitions and clean visuals can make those moments feel more immersive.
In Short: RTP varies by game, but clearer info makes it easier to pick what fits a session. A stronger jackpot mix adds more variety for players who enjoy big moments.
More Games, Less Waiting
A refresh is also a chance to improve how games are organized and discovered. Better sorting and clearer categories help players move from browsing to playing with fewer interruptions. When discovery is easier, the library can feel larger without extra scrolling.
Performance upgrades matter most when they reduce waiting—shorter load screens, fewer stutters, and smoother shifts between the lobby and a game. That can make quick sessions feel less stop-and-start.
Watch For: Faster loading and stable performance when switching between titles. These small details usually signal the biggest improvement.
User Experience Updates That Build Confidence
Design consistency is a trust signal, especially for first-time players. Clear menus, predictable page layouts, and straightforward sign-in steps make it easier to focus on gameplay. When buttons and labels behave the same way across screens, the platform feels more dependable.
Support and safety cues matter too, including visible help options and easy-to-find terms. When those basics are simple to locate, the experience feels less uncertain.
A Rebrand Worth Exploring
The shift from Fortune Coins to Fortune Wins is positioned as a full upgrade in look, speed, and everyday usability. With clearer attention to RTP and jackpots, the platform aims to make sessions feel smoother from the first tap.
Next Step: Explore the new lobby on desktop and mobile, then see which games and jackpots stand out in the updated lineup. A quick test run is the easiest way to feel the difference in navigation and load speed.
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Arthur Hayes has a talent for identifying narratives before they become consensus. When the BitMEX co-founder published his "Suavemente" essay in January 2026, declaring that privacy — not memes, not faster blockchains, not AI tokens — would define the crypto cycle, the market paid attention. When he revealed that his fund, Maelstrom, had made Zcash its second-largest holding after Bitcoin, funded by rotating out of BTC, the signal was clear: the smartest macro trader in crypto believes privacy is about to matter more than it ever has.
Two months later, the thesis looks prescient. Ray Dalio told the All-In Podcast that "Bitcoin does not have privacy." Chamath Palihapitiya declared at the World Government Summit that Bitcoin fails on "fungibility and privacy." The privacy narrative Hayes predicted is arriving faster than even he may have expected.
But here is the question no one seems to be asking: Did Hayes pick the right protocol?
The Case for Zcash
Hayes's reasoning for Zcash is straightforward. It is the most established privacy coin by market capitalization. It was built by serious cryptographers. Zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) are among the most powerful privacy technologies ever developed. And at the time Maelstrom accumulated its position in Q3 2025, ZEC was trading at depressed prices — offering significant upside if the privacy narrative materialized.
All of this is reasonable. But Zcash carries three structural weaknesses that a trader as sophisticated as Hayes surely recognizes — even if his position sizing suggests he has decided to live with them.
Weakness 1: Optional Privacy
Zcash offers two types of transactions: transparent (t-addresses) and shielded (z-addresses). Users can choose whether to transact privately. While roughly 30% of ZEC supply now sits in shielded pools, fewer than 1% of actual transactions use shielded mode. The overwhelming majority of Zcash activity remains fully transparent — functionally identical to Bitcoin.
This matters because optional privacy is weak privacy. When fewer than 1% of transactions are shielded, the shielded pool becomes a target for statistical analysis. Timing correlations, amount matching, and pool entry/exit patterns can narrow down transaction possibilities dramatically.
The cryptographic privacy of individual shielded transactions is strong. But the overall privacy of the network is fatally weakened by the fact that almost no one actually uses it.
Epic Cash (epiccash.com) takes the opposite approach: every transaction is private by default. There is no transparent mode. There are no addresses on the blockchain at all. The Mimblewimble protocol ensures that privacy is the only option — which means the entire network's activity contributes to every user's privacy.
Default privacy is not just a philosophical preference. It is a cryptographic necessity. A privacy system where most users opt out is a privacy system that fails.
Weakness 2: The Founder's Reward
When Zcash launched in 2016, 20% of the total supply was allocated to the Electric Coin Company, the Zcash Foundation, and various insiders through a "Founder's Reward" mechanism. This was later restructured as a development fund, but the fundamental reality remains: one-fifth of all ZEC was distributed to a small group of stakeholders before the market had a chance to participate.
For a cypherpunk asset — one whose entire value proposition is resisting centralized control — this allocation model is a contradiction. The project's creators enriched themselves from the protocol's issuance in a way that Bitcoin explicitly avoided.
Epic Cash was fair-launched in September 2019 with zero premine, zero ICO, and zero founder allocation. Every EPIC in circulation was mined through proof-of-work, exactly as Satoshi designed Bitcoin's distribution. The creator, Max Freeman, received no special allocation and holds no privileged position in the protocol's economics.
This is not a minor distinction. In a world where privacy coins are likely to face regulatory scrutiny, a fair-launched asset with no identifiable corporate beneficiary is structurally more resilient than one with a known funding entity that can be pressured, subpoenaed, or sanctioned.
Weakness 3: Moving Away from Proof-of-Work
Zcash has been discussing a transition away from proof-of-work mining. While the details and timeline remain in flux, the direction of travel is clear: the project's leadership sees PoW as a cost center to be minimized, not a security feature to be preserved.
This is a philosophical departure from Bitcoin's design — and from the cypherpunk values that Hayes himself espouses. Proof-of-work is not just a consensus mechanism. It is a distribution mechanism (coins go to miners, not stakers), a security mechanism (attacking the network requires physical resources, not just capital), and a decentralization mechanism (mining is permissionless and geographically distributed).
Epic Cash is committed to proof-of-work with a hybrid three-algorithm approach (RandomX, ProgPow, Cuckoo Cycle) that ensures broad participation across CPU, GPU, and specialized hardware. This is arguably more decentralized than Bitcoin's ASIC-dominated mining ecosystem.
Weakness 4: The Counterfeiting Problem
This may be the most consequential issue of all. In 2018, Zcash developers discovered a critical vulnerability that had existed in the protocol for over two years — a bug that would have allowed an attacker to create unlimited counterfeit ZEC inside the shielded pool, completely undetectably. The bug was quietly patched, and the Zcash team announced it only after the fix was deployed.
Here is the fundamental problem: because Zcash's shielded pool hides transaction amounts, there is no way to independently audit whether the actual supply of ZEC matches the expected supply. If counterfeit coins were created during those two years, they would be indistinguishable from legitimate coins. The Zcash team has stated they found no evidence of exploitation — but by the very nature of shielded transactions, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
For a monetary asset, this is an existential risk. Sound money requires verifiable scarcity. If you cannot prove that the total supply is what it should be, you cannot prove the asset is scarce. And if you cannot prove scarcity, the entire monetary thesis collapses.
Epic Cash's Mimblewimble design does not have this problem. While transaction amounts are hidden using Pedersen commitments, the mathematical structure of the commitments allows anyone to verify that no new coins were created — without revealing the amounts themselves. The supply is cryptographically auditable at all times. No trust required.
The Comparison
Both projects share a 21 million supply cap and Bitcoin-identical emission. Both offer cryptographic privacy. But Epic Cash's default privacy, fair launch, commitment to proof-of-work, and cryptographically auditable supply make it the more philosophically pure play — the privacy-preserving cryptocurrency that shares Bitcoin's actual DNA, not just its supply schedule.
Hayes's Own Framework Supports This
In "Suavemente," Hayes framed the privacy trade as a macro bet on the inevitable confrontation between state surveillance and individual financial sovereignty. He positioned Zcash as the "privacy beta" — the liquid way to express the trade.
But Hayes also values cypherpunk authenticity. He appreciates fair launches. He understands that the security properties of proof-of-work are non-negotiable for a true monetary asset. By his own framework, an asset that is fair-launched, default-private, and proof-of-work secured is a better expression of the privacy thesis than one that is founder-funded, optionally private, and potentially transitioning away from PoW.
Epic Cash trades on NonKYC.io and CoinEx. Its market capitalization is small — which means the upside, if the privacy narrative plays out as Hayes expects, could be extraordinary. The privacy trade is right. The question is whether the market is looking at the right protocol. More at epiccash.com.

Selling pressure remained intense in US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Thursday, extending a difficult stretch that analysts increasingly describe as historically poor performance for the beginning of a calendar year.
Data showed $165.8 million left the products during the session, pushing total weekly outflows to $403.9 million as investors continued withdrawing capital despite earlier enthusiasm surrounding regulated cryptocurrency investment vehicles.
Year-to-date losses now approach $2.7 billion, placing the sector close to a fifth consecutive weekly outflow streak and highlighting declining confidence among market participants during early 2026 trading conditions.
Trading volumes also weakened notably, falling roughly 21% compared with the previous week and reaching their lowest levels since late December, reinforcing the view that investor engagement is currently fading.
BlackRock Fund Leads Withdrawals
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust carried the largest share of redemptions this week, accounting for approximately $368 million in withdrawals as institutions appeared to trim exposure during ongoing market uncertainty.
Elsewhere, activity remained muted across competing funds, with the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund registering about $50 million in outflows on Wednesday while most other issuers experienced minimal investor movement.
Institutional positioning has also shifted, with Brevan Howard reported to have reduced its stake in the BlackRock vehicle by roughly 85% during the final quarter of 2025.
Despite total cumulative inflows exceeding $53.9 billion since launch, analysts say the broader trend suggests caution rather than expansion among large holders during the opening months of the year.
Unusual Post-Halving Performance Raises Concerns
Market observers highlight that Bitcoin’s current pricing pattern contrasts sharply with previous cycles typically associated with strong rallies following block-reward halving events.
“Almost two years later, BTC trades around $66,000 — nearly the same level as during the April 2024 halving,” analysts noted, emphasizing the absence of historical post-halving appreciation.
“This has never happened before. In previous cycles, BTC was already three to 10 times above halving levels by now,” they added while pointing to an unprecedented stagnation period.
Bitcoin has declined about 22% year-to-date, and datasets tracking the first fifty days of the year indicate the asset is experiencing its worst annual opening on record, surpassing declines seen during 2018’s downturn.

The internet has a way of reviving old moments and turning them into new cultural and financial narratives. Viral content today does more than entertain. It can shape attention, behavior, and speculative products worth millions of dollars in a short time.
In 2007, a penguin was filmed leaving its colony and walking alone toward distant icy mountains in Antarctica. The scene was narrated by Werner Herzog, who named the penguin and the Nihilist Penguin and described its behavior as unusual, solitary, and almost philosophical.
Nearly two decades later, the clip resurfaced across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and X. Online communities have turned the scene into a symbol of choosing a different path and not following the crowd.
That symbolic moment has now crossed into crypto.
From the same viral reference, two meme tokens have emerged, each following a very different trajectory.
Nietzschean PENGUIN launched earlier and captured speculative interest first. That early momentum helped it reach a market capitalization of around 60 million usd.
Nihilist PENGUIN, using the name tied directly to the original viral interpretation, followed a quieter path. It has fewer holders (standing apart from the crowd, just as the penguin once did), lower trading activity, and a market cap close to 600,000 usd.
In crypto markets, however, higher market capitalization does not always define which token ultimately matters.
As is well known in the industry, most crypto investors and projects aim for one milestone above all others, having their token listed on Binance. A Binance listing often brings visibility, liquidity, and a sharp increase in market interest.
This has led to growing discussion around which of the two penguin tokens could eventually be chosen (if any is ultimately chosen).
A similar situation occurred with $NEIRO, where Binance ultimately listed in spot the version with the lower market cap, showing that early size alone is not always decisive.
So why Nihilist PENGUIN holders believe in this case it could be the chosen token?
Supporters of Nihilist Penguin point to several factors that strengthen its position.
The original reference.
Nihilist Penguin reflects the description associated with the original footage narrated by Werner Herzog, while Nietzschean Penguin actually does not match the real name of the penguin named by Werner.Closer alignment with the narrative.
With fewer holders, the token mirrors the core idea behind the meme itself, a solitary path taken away from the crowd (Nietzchean). A path that is harder at the beginning but, with faith, struggle, and determination, will bring its reward.Market structure considerations.
A lower market cap implies lower liquidity acquisition costs for an exchange. Holders argue that exchanges are also aware that listed meme tokens will scale rapidly after listing, regardless of their initial valuation.
For these reasons, some - nihilist- market participants choose the low market cap token as the one that would offer a much higher gain, while others follow the nietzchean crowd. Then there are those who prefer certainty, holding both tokens in order to secure, in their view, a multi-digit increase in the value of their investment if the long-awaited Binance listing happens.
What began as a rediscovered documentary moment is now influencing real market behavior, reminding investors that in crypto, as in the original scene, the path taken quietly can sometimes lead the way. Which one do you identify with?
Nihilist PENGUIN: 9xK2Cj2tKq1jzyjr6BtdqHxe2niTtshxF4Y7PTHMpump
Nietzchean PENGUIN: 8Jx8AAHj86wbQgUTjGuj6GTTL5Ps3cqxKRTvpaJApump

The recent surge in SMX stock has been impossible to ignore. The shares have exploded more than 900% since November, ripping from $5.91 on November 26th to more than $60 today*, after briefly punching through the $70 mark. Pullbacks are inevitable when a move goes vertical, but when a chart goes parabolic and still holds most of its gains, investors stop treating it like an anomaly. They start asking what’s actually driving the story. (December 3, 2025, 12:25 PM EST)
At first, the assumption was simple. Traders saw a thin float and a violent breakout and assumed it would burn out like every other small-cap spike. But the deeper the market looked, the clearer it became that SMX wasn’t running on technicals or hype. It wasn’t positioning itself as a speculative blockchain narrative or a quick crypto pivot. It was delivering something the digital asset world has been waiting for since the first generation of utility tokens: PROOF.
SMX built a system where proof isn’t a claim or a marketing line. It’s a measurable, scientific identity embedded directly into the materials that move through global supply chains. Crypto has always rewarded anything that collapses the trust gap, and that’s exactly what SMX has engineered. Materials that can be verified, transactions that can be authenticated, and supply chains that finally have an unbroken chain of truth instead of a patchwork of paperwork.
That message hit even harder last week when SMX entered into a $111.5 million equity purchase agreement, and the market learned that a meaningful portion of that deal is expected to support a digital treasury built on Bitcoin and other crypto assets. Crypto readers know exactly what that signals. It means a company isn’t just experimenting with blockchain. It’s aligning its balance sheet with the digital economy it believes is coming.
SMX's Value Beyond the BTC Treasury
Digital treasuries are becoming the new playbook for companies that want liquidity, optionality, and long-term value preservation. Yet the market also recognized that this wasn’t the core reason for the move. It was simply the accelerant. The real story was the realization that SMX’s Plastic Cycle Token isn’t a theoretical concept or a marketing exercise. It’s the economic layer for a new class of verified assets, where materials are tracked, authenticated, and monetized through tokenized proof rather than unverifiable sustainability claims.
Momentum built quickly from there. Once traders understood that SMX wasn’t chasing the crypto cycle but providing infrastructure that the crypto world has needed for years, the entire narrative changed. The market began to view the company less as a small-cap technology name and more as an emerging verification authority whose economic model aligns with the direction crypto is already heading. The run wasn’t an accident. It was a repricing based on a far broader shift than most expected.
Why Crypto Investors Are Paying Close Attention
Crypto markets are maturing, and with that maturity comes a clear preference for tokens backed by measurable activity rather than good intentions. SMX’s Plastic Cycle Token speaks directly to this demand. It’s built on an elegant idea. If you can mark a material at the molecular level and follow it through production, consumption, disposal, and eventual recovery, then you can tokenize the proof of each verified step. That turns the token from an aspirational sustainability idea into an economic instrument tied to real-world events. For crypto audiences that appreciate transparency and finality, this type of model feels less speculative and more like the next phase of real-world assets.
The industry has struggled for years with the credibility of ESG and carbon markets. Carbon credits are routinely double-counted. Sustainability audits are vulnerable to manipulation. Recycling claims look solid until someone digs into the details. Crypto investors have mocked these systems because they lack the verifiable truth that blockchains were designed to protect. SMX broke that pattern by delivering a verification mechanism that functions as a scientific counterpart to blockchain immutability. The Plastic Cycle Token becomes valuable not because it exists but because it represents proof that regulators, brands, and supply chains urgently need.
This is the point where crypto readers start seeing the broader implications. If governments are moving toward mandatory traceability and if corporations are facing penalties for unverifiable claims, then verified recovery becomes a monetizable action. Once that action becomes measurable, the token that captures it becomes a true digital asset with its own demand structure. SMX didn’t enter the token economy casually. It entered with industrial partnerships, national-scale pilots, and a platform that digitizes truth, not paperwork.
Crypto Is Fueling the Momentum, Not Creating It
The doubling and tripling of SMX’s daily trading volume shows that this move is not built on fleeting excitement. Yes, the company signaled that a good portion of the equity purchase agreement is expected to support a digital treasury featuring Bitcoin and other crypto assets. Crypto communities recognize the strategic power of that decision. It strengthens the balance sheet, adds a liquid asset base, and signals confidence in the long-term value of digital currencies. But even that narrative is only part of a much larger story.
What keeps the SMX rally intact is the realization that the company is building commercial infrastructure that connects the physical world with digital markets in a way no other player has managed. It has created a closed loop where materials receive molecular tags, where recovery can be scientifically verified, and where tokens can convert that verified activity into tradable digital value. Crypto traders know what happens when an ecosystem gains liquidity around truth. Entire markets form around it, and the early builders tend to become foundational.
This is why the SMX chart looks like structural repricing instead of a speculative spike. The crypto angle matters. The digital treasury matters. The token matters. But the core story is that SMX finally solved the verification problem sitting at the center of global supply chains. Crypto recognized it early because the crypto world understands better than anyone how powerful verified data becomes once it meets tokenized economics. That convergence is now on full display, and it’s why SMX no longer trades like a small-cap curiosity. It trades like a company stepping into a role the market didn’t have a name for until now.

WhiteBIT’s coin (WBT) has been officially included in the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market (BDM) Index, marking a significant milestone for both WhiteBIT and the broader fintech landscape of Central and Eastern Europe.
The S&P BDM Index — curated by S&P Dow Jones Indices — tracks the performance of leading digital assets that meet strict institutional criteria, including liquidity, market capitalization, governance, transparency, and risk controls. The addition of WhiteBIT coin reinforces the platform’s growing role in the global crypto economy and highlights the industry’s shift toward regulated, infrastructure-level players.
Beyond the inclusion in the Broad Digital Market Index, WhiteBIT’s native coin, WBT, has also been added to four additional S&P Dow Jones digital-asset indices, underscoring its emergence as a mature, institutionally relevant asset.
WBT now appears within several key benchmark families:
S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Asset (BDA) Index S&PCryptocurrency Financials Index S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Ex-MegaCap Index S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index
These classifications require a multi-quarter record of liquidity stability, transparent price formation, and consistent market-cap behavior.
As the industry matures, index providers are expanding coverage beyond protocol-layer tokens, increasingly acknowledging the systemic role of exchanges and financial-infrastructure platforms. WhiteBIT’s coin presence in the BDM Index positions the company within the global map of institutional-grade digital-asset providers.
“Being recognized by S&P DJI is more than an index inclusion — it signals that crypto infrastructure from our region has reached global institutional standards,” said Volodymyr Nosov, CEO of WhiteBIT “This is a turning point not only for our company but also for the evolution of compliant crypto services worldwide.”
This expanded representation marks an important shift for WBT: from a utility token into a component integrated into global benchmark structures used by investment firms, ETF/ETN designers, and quantitative research platforms. Its presence in multiple institutional models means that WBT is now incorporated into the analytical frameworks that guide long-term allocation strategies, diversified exposure construction, and risk-adjusted portfolio modelling.
Market Performance: Resilient Growth and a New All-Time High
WBT’s inclusion comes after a period of stability and upward movement, reaching a new all-time high of $62.96 on November 18, 2025, despite broader market declines and changes external analyses noted WBT’s resilience. These factors contributed to meeting S&P’s criteria for classification.
Being part of S&P indices gives WBT a clear benchmark, making it easier to use in future financial products and long-term investment strategies.

WhiteBIT, the largest European cryptocurrency exchange by traffic, today announced its official launch in the United States, establishing WhiteBIT US as an independent entity designed to scale and operate locally across the country. The launch marks a strategic expansion into the world’s most regulated and institutionally driven digital asset market.
WhiteBIT US has already obtained its operational licenses and is taking steps to maximize nationwide presence and aims to serve users in all 50 states, reinforcing its commitment to full transparency and compliance-driven growth.
WhiteBIT’s entry brings to the U.S. market its hallmark strengths: robust compliance, industry-leading security, and competitive fees, along with profitable earn products that have become a signature feature.
“Our decision to launch in the U.S. is driven not by expansion alone, but by the country’s proactive approach to cryptocurrency and its strong policy of attracting technology companies. The U.S. is focused on growing the industry and strengthening its leadership in blockchain innovation. We are here to contribute to this growth with secure infrastructure, trusted technology, and a long-term commitment to the market.” — Volodymyr Nosov, Founder and CEO of WhiteBIT, President of W Group
Local Presence and U.S. Leadership Team
As part of its long-term rollout strategy, WhiteBIT US has assembled a seasoned team of U.S.-based executives and established its headquarters in New York, supported by satellite offices nationwide. This expanded presence strengthens operational execution and positions the company to scale rapidly in key U.S. jurisdictions.
Job Creation Driven by Global Expertise
WhiteBIT has a global team of over 1,300 professionals, contributing to the growth of the global blockchain ecosystem. WhiteBIT US plans to create additional jobs in the United States, bringing onboard specialized local talent. This approach is essential for strengthening blockchain infrastructure, developing scalable products made in the U.S., and driving global expansion from within the country.
Available Products at Launch
Starting today, U.S. users who complete full KYC verification will gain access to:
Spot TradingInstant ExchangeOn/Off Ramp Services
WhiteBIT US plans to further expand U.S. offerings with fiat integration, KYB (corporate onboarding), and institutional services, including custody and liquidity solutions.
Times Square Showcase
This year, WhiteBIT marked its 7‑year anniversary — having grown from a single exchange into the global fintech ecosystem W Group, serving 35 million users worldwide. W Group brings together eight companies under its umbrella, spanning crypto exchange, blockchain infrastructure, payment services, digital banking, analytics, and more.
To mark the milestone, WhiteBIT has unveiled a global brand campaign exploring everyday doubts about crypto and how the exchange has earned users’ trust. Starting from November 28, one of the campaign’s videos will be featured on Times Square, spotlighting WhiteBIT’s vision for secure, accessible, and globally connected digital finance.
European Security and Compliance Standards for U.S. Users
WhiteBIT enters the U.S. as one of the most secure crypto exchanges globally, backed by a record of zero security incidents and leading industry certifications. The exchange:
Is ranked Top 3 in global exchange security by CER.liveIs the first crypto exchange to receive CCSS (CryptoCurrency Security Standard) Level 3 certificationMaintains robust AML/KYC compliance protocolsOffers high liquidity, transparent operations, and competitive trading feesProvides users with advantageous Earn programs and rewards
These standards, honed over years serving millions of users in Europe, are now being introduced to the U.S. market as part of WhiteBIT’s mission for global blockchain adoption.