The bank also plans to issue loans secured by USDT, bitcoin, and ether once they are approved by the central bank, according to TASS.

#Sberbank #Russia #Bitcoin #Ethereum #USDT #CryptoTrading #CryptoLending #CryptoRegulation #CryptoNews #DigitalAssets

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered a former White House teleprompter operator to pay more than $172,000 to settle charges that he used his advance access to President Trump’s speeches to profit from “mention markets” on prediction marketplace Kalshi.

The former employee, Gabriel Perez, was ordered to repay $107,539.02 in profits and pay an additional $65,000 civil fine. The order also bars him from trading on any CFTC-registered entity for three years.

Perez opened an account at Kalshi on Dec. 8, 2025, and traded between December 2025 and March 2026, according to the order. Perez allegedly read Trump’s prepared remarks roughly an hour before delivery and placed his trades on Kalshi mention markets, which attempt to predict specific words that public figures will use in addresses, based on the words in the text.

Perez consented to the order without admitting the findings. The CFTC said he received a roughly 40% reduction of the civil penalty after he voluntarily sat for an interview and accepted responsibility, which the agency called “exemplary cooperation”.

The CFTC credited KalshiEX for its assistance in the matter. Kalshi head of enforcement Robert DeNault said on X the exchange’s surveillance unit caught the trading.

“It doesn’t matter who you are: violate our rules or federal law and you will face the consequences,” DeNault wrote.

The Perez order is the agency’s second event contract settlement since late July. On July 31, former congressman George Santos agreed to pay the CFTC about $35,000 over Kalshi trades on a contract asking who would attend February’s State of the Union address. The agency found he made misrepresentations about his own attendance on social media while holding positions in the market.

Both orders carry three-year trading bans, and both grew out of Kalshi referrals, though Santos was charged for manipulating a contract under which he had influence, while Perez was charged for trading on insider information.

Private companies have also faced employees using insider information to trade on prediction markets. Federal prosecutors in May charged Google engineer Michele Spagnuolo with using internal search data to make about $1.2 million on Polymarket, and the CFTC filed a parallel civil complaint. House Oversight Chairman James Comer opened a probe in May into insider trading controls at Kalshi and Polymarket, requesting documents detailing how each platform verifies users’ identities, enforces geoblocks, and detects suspicious trading activity.

Both platforms had tightened those controls in March, adding screening tools and updated conduct rules. The CFTC has separately proposed a rules framework for prediction markets under Chair Michael Selig.

Also on Friday, the Ninth Circuit ruled against Kalshi in its fight with Nevada gaming regulators, holding that the company had not shown a likelihood that federal commodities law preempts the state’s gambling rules, arguably dealing a significant blow to Kalshi’s legal posture.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Kalshi #CFTC #PredictionMarkets #InsiderTrading #CryptoNews #EventContracts #MarketIntegrity #Trading #Regulation #FinTech

Connecticut has sued Kalshi to block the platform from offering sports-related event contracts, escalating the state’s months-long legal fight against the prediction markets platform.

In a statement released Wednesday, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the state is seeking a court injunction requiring it to cease offering what it identifies as unlicensed sports wagers.

“Sports event contracts are no different than sports betting and are not magically shielded by federal law from Connecticut’s commonsense consumer protection laws,” said Tong.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said that Kalshi’s prediction markets put the state’s consumers and young people at serious risk.

“When we legalized sports wagering in 2021, the goal was to create a safe, responsibly regulated market for Connecticut consumers, not to open a free-for-all on sports betting,” Lamont added.

Jovy Dedaj, Kalshi’s head of litigation, wrote in a post on X that Connecticut’s move is “the latest in a line of arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement,” as the state is “okay with other prediction markets operating there in the meantime.”

“This unequal treatment is exactly why federal oversight is necessary,” said Dedaj.

The Block has reached out to Kalshi for further comment.

Legal battle

The case is Connecticut’s latest move in its months-long fight with Kalshi.

In December 2025, Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection ordered Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com to stop promoting and offering sports event contracts.

Kalshi fought back by filing a lawsuit against state officials the following day, arguing that its markets — which allow users to trade on outcomes of future events — are regulated derivatives products overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Because the CFTC granted Kalshi designated contract market status in 2020, the company claims that Connecticut’s gambling laws do not apply and that the state is overstepping its authority.

Earlier this month, Judge Vernon Oliver denied Kalshi’s motion for preliminary injunction against state enforcement. The company has since appealed the decision to the Second Circuit.

Separately, in April, the CFTC sued Connecticut, Arizona, and Illinois, arguing that the states can’t outlaw CFTC-registered designated contract markets.

“The CFTC will continue to safeguard its exclusive regulatory authority over these markets and defend market participants against overzealous state regulators,” CFTC Chair Michael Selig said at the time.

Nationwide

Connecticut is among more than a dozen states that have taken enforcement action or filed lawsuits against Kalshi over its sports event contracts.

Earlier this month, a Washington court ordered Kalshi to stop offering prediction markets related to sports, elections, politics, entertainment, culture, technology and science in the state.

Also this month, Baltimore, the most populous city in Maryland, sued Kalshi and Polymarket, alleging that their sports-event contracts amount to illegal gambling.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Kalshi #PredictionMarkets #SportsBetting #CFTC #Crypto #Regulation #EventContracts #FinTech #Gambling #CryptoNews

Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar was convicted by a federal jury for fraudulently obtaining $24 million from at least 400 investors through his cryptocurrency company, Profit Connect.

Kovar was found guilty on 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of money laundering, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada said in a statement on Monday.

According to the statement, Kovar owned Profit Connect, a Las Vegas-based company that operated from late 2017 to July 2021. He told investors that the company used artificial intelligence software on a supercomputer to mine crypto and verify transactions.

Prosecutors said Kovar marketed the firm as a profitable venture, promising investors fixed annual returns of 15% to 30% and a 100% money-back guarantee. He also told investors that Profit Connect held hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency reserves and falsely claimed that their investments were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The company, however, was not profitable, had no reserves, and could not pay the promised returns or honor the money-back guarantee, the statement said.

“The victims in this case thought they were engaged in revolutionary technological advancement, but it was merely a deception crafted by the falsehoods and trickery of Mr. Kovar,” said FBI Las Vegas Field Office Special Agent in Charge Christopher S. Delzotto.

Kovar faces a statutory maximum of 280 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 30, with a federal judge to determine the actual sentence.

Ref: https://www.paykalken.com

#Crypto #Bitcoin #CryptoFraud #CryptoScam #Fraud #MoneyLaundering #CryptoMining #AI #Investing #Blockchain

Bitcoin (BTC) just recorded its largest dollar-denominated weekly gain in history — gaining $14,264 to close the week at $77,387. This is a 22.7% gain in just seven days.

The current rally, triggered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement last week of an expansion of its buyback program, has flipped investor apathy into FOMO. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stands at 78 — on the brink of “extreme greed” and the highest it has been since December 2024.

The improved sentiment is also reflected in U.S. bitcoin exchange-traded fund flows. In the trading week ended Aug. 21, spot bitcoin ETFs reported $1.92 billion in total net inflows, the largest amount the funds have seen since the height of the last bull cycle in October 2025, according to SoSoValue data.

Matt Cole, Chairman and CEO of Strive, said bitcoin’s comparative performance against both the dollar and gold shows that the next bitcoin cycle “will be the strongest we have ever seen.”

Hunt for scarcity

“The growing hunt for scarcity in an AI-driven world of abundance both point toward a powerful structural tailwind for scarce assets,” Cole wrote, adding that this force will drive more capital toward scarce monetary assets such as gold, silver, and bitcoin.

The bitcoin-to-gold ratio currently stands at 16.73 ounces of gold per bitcoin, the highest level since May, according to Longtermtrends.

“What makes this week particularly interesting is that bitcoin has now broken out against both the dollar and gold. The breakout has been explosive,” Cole said. “Relative performance within that trade will help determine where incremental capital and liquidity flow. When bitcoin is the fastest horse, it will attract a disproportionate share of that capital.”

The Strive CEO said these structural forces have left him more bullish on bitcoin today than ever before, adding that while a short-term pullback is likely, buyers will step in aggressively to buy the dip.

BTC, ETH Price Performance (30D) / The Block
Rally to continue

Other analysts predict that the current upward momentum will likely continue in the near future.

“The rally will continue in the short term, fueled by the short renewed ETF inflows, and improving macro liquidity,” said Dominick John, analyst at Zeus Research. “With the CLARITY Act potentially advancing in September, institutional confidence could strengthen further, but some mid-term consolidation is likely before the next leg higher.”

BTC Markets Crypto Analyst Rachael Lucas told The Block that it is important to understand what is driving the gains of such historic magnitude.

“Momentum this sharp is often driven by a mix of short covering, spot demand and derivatives positioning rather than a single catalyst,” Lucas said. “The key thing to watch isn’t the headline number; it’s whether spot volume and ETF inflows are confirming the move or whether it’s being amplified by leverage.”

Lucas noted that spot-driven rallies offer stronger structural support for another leg up, whereas leverage-heavy moves leave the market vulnerable to a sharp unwind.

Watch the flows

Spot Bitcoin ETF Flows / The Block
The BTC Markets analyst said investors should watch spot bitcoin ETF flow data, which tends to lag, as it will show whether institutional demand is in line with market sentiment. Investors should also monitor derivatives positioning, funding rates and open interest, which will show how much leverage has built into this move, Lucas said.

“Overheated funding rates and elevated open interest after a move this size are often an early warning of a leverage-driven pullback,” Lucas added. “Broader macro risk, particularly any hawkish repricing in rate expectations or USD strength, could also cap enthusiasm.”

Lucas, however, noted that a fair amount of profit-taking and volatility is a normal part of price discovery, and should not be interpreted as a bearish signal in itself.

“The main target is to reclaim $80,000 and see how the market responds. If the breakout holds, I’d look toward $85,000-$90,000, with $100,000 possible if ETF inflows and macro liquidity remain supportive,” John of Zeus said.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Bitcoin #BTC #Crypto #BitcoinETF #BTCPrice #CryptoMarket #BullMarket #Liquidity #Gold #Macro

Grayscale is inching closer to launching its Zcash (ZEC) exchange-traded fund, filing its fifth amendment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.

The proposed ETF would convert Grayscale’s existing Zcash Trust, bringing the product closer to a spot ETF structure — and the first in the U.S. to directly track the privacy-related asset.

In its latest amendment, Grayscale said the trust would be renamed The Zcash ETF. A sponsor fee was also set at an annual rate of 2.5%, according to the latest filing.

The ETF would list on NYSE Arca, Inc. under the ticker symbol ZCH. The Bank of New York Mellon would serve as the transfer agent and Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC as the custodian.

“The Trust intends to issue Shares on a continuous basis and is registering an indeterminate number of Shares,” Grayscale said in the filing on Friday. “It is expected that the Shares will be sold to the public at varying prices to be determined by reference to, among other considerations, the price of ZEC and the trading price of the Shares on the NYSE Arca at the time of each sale.”

In its fourth amended filing earlier this week, Grayscale said that a Digital Currency Group subsidiary was in discussions to potentially contribute about 200,000 ZEC to the fund.

Grayscale has launched over a dozen crypto ETFs, including bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin and XRP. The company’s Zcash Trust has been running since 2017 and, as of Friday, has over $260 million in assets under management.

Zcash is the 12th-largest crypto by market capitalization, according to The Block’s data page. The digital asset was created in 2016 and is designed to be focused on privacy.

If the SEC greenlights Grayscale’s Zcash ETF, it would be the first of its kind in the U.S.

“Looks like they’re getting closer and closer to converting this thing into an ETF,” said Bloomberg Intelligence ETF Analyst James Seyffart on Friday in a post on X.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Zcash #ZEC #ZcashETF #Grayscale #CryptoETF #PrivacyCoin #Crypto #DigitalAssets #Altcoins #CryptoNews

Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. reported $517.19 million in net inflows on Wednesday amid a notable rebound in the cryptocurrency market.

According to data from SoSoValue, eight out of 12 bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows on the day, led by $284.7 million worth of inflows into BlackRock’s IBIT. Ark & 21Shares’ ARKB logged $77.7 million in inflows, and Fidelity’s FBTC reported $62.4 million.

Total inflows into the bitcoin funds were the largest since May 4 — three months and 16 days ago.

Analysts concurred that the sizable net inflows resulted from positive news that drove up the crypto market after months of downturn.

Buyback expansion

Yesterday, bitcoin (BTC) climbed above $69,000 for the first time in two months while ether (ETH) reclaimed $2,000 amid a broader crypto market rally attributed to a Treasury buyback expansion and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s latest crypto offering proposal.

“We’re not surprised by the $517 million inflow into bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday – it’s a natural reaction to the Department of Treasury’s buyback announcement,” Jeff Mei, COO of BTSE, told The Block. “When the Treasury signals it’s stepping in to cap Treasury yields, the dollar softens, risk appetites return, and bitcoin and crypto benefit.”

On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Treasury Department said that it will at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities across the 10- to 30-year segment.

Earlier on Tuesday, the SEC proposed a rule that would create two tailored exemptions for certain crypto investment contracts: issuers could raise up to $5 million over four years or $75 million annually, subject to disclosure requirements.

No day traders

Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst at BTC Markets, said that expectations of improving liquidity have resulted in renewed institutional positioning, rather than “pure retail FOMO.”

“After the heavy outflows seen in May-June and more choppy flows through parts of July and mid-August, a print of this size signals that larger allocators are once again treating current levels as constructive entry points or adding on strength,” Lucas told The Block. “It is not opportunistic day-trading money; these are typically longer-horizon allocations from players who have the compliance frameworks and balance-sheet capacity to move size.”

However, both Lucas and Mei said that inflows are unlikely to continue at this magnitude.

“A lot depends on whether the buybacks are a one-off move or an ongoing initiative — This depends on inflation and how the U.S.-Iran conflict will evolve,” Mei said. “The catalysts we’re watching for are next week’s CPI data and any commentary from Bessent on whether this buyback strategy will be sustained over a longer period.”

Hyperliquid to US

The crypto market is continuing its rally today, with bitcoin up 8.3% in the past 24 hours at $69,564, and ether up nearly 18% at $2,251. XRP and Solana both rose around 10%.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE (HYPE) was among the day’s top gainers, fueled by President Donald Trump’s public comment that Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is working to bring the perpetuals-focused trading platform into the U.S. in a “fully compliant and legal fashion.”

LIT (LIT), the native token of competing perp futures trading platform Lighter, added 23.5% in the past 24 hours to $2.84. The overall crypto market is up 8%.

“Overall, Wednesday’s print is a constructive data point that institutional demand remains very much alive and capable of absorbing supply when the setup improves,” Lucas said.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinETF #Crypto #CryptoMarket #ETFInflows #BlackRock #IBIT #Institutional #CryptoNews

Tokenized stock’s market share has grown to 15%, up three times from the start of the year. It’s been one of the few RWA categories to see growth as interest in onchain equity trading has ballooned. Total market cap currently sits around $2.8 billion.

RWA transfer volume has also rocketed, doubling in August to $20 billion, up from $9 billion the month prior. Despite accounting for a relatively small share of the total RWA market, tokenized equities have drawn the most attention from retail investors and have become an entry point to onchain applications.

Three contenders have emerged in the race to bring stocks onchain. Ondo Finance, Binance (bStock), and xStocks have captured the majority of market share, collectively accounting for an impressive 77%. Ondo sits with the largest slice at $957 million, while bStocks and xStocks command $622 million and $600 million, respectively.

Expand Chart

All three leverage synthetic representations of underlying stock. While the specific mechanics vary, each aims to replicate the actual stock performance while giving the investor a derivative to transact or trade. Other builders such as Securitize and Superstate are working to bring actual equity onchain, where shares issued on the blockchain carry the same rights as conventional shares.

Tokenized equity companies are choosing between first-to-distribute and onchain native tokenization. While synthetic stocks are being traded more frequently, they lack the full ownership, governance and shareholder protections of the underlying asset.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#TokenizedEquities #RWA #Ondo #Binance #xStocks #Tokenization #DeFi #Crypto #Blockchain #OnchainFinance

JPMorgan Chase ended its banking relationship with prediction market Polymarket in October 2025, telling the company to find a new banking partner, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

Polymarket has since moved its accounts to a different lender, whose identity the FT could not establish. The bank nevertheless wants to remain in contention for an underwriting role if Polymarket eventually pursues an initial public offering, according to the FT. JPMorgan declined to comment to the outlet.

Reuters independently reported the account closure on Friday evening, citing a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.

At the time of the October 2025 account closure, Polymarket’s original platform was not serving U.S. customers following a 2022 CFTC settlement. The agreement required the company to pay a $1.4 million penalty and wind down markets that did not comply with U.S. derivatives law.

Polymarket later re-entered the country through Polymarket US after acquiring QCX LLC, a derivatives exchange, and QC Clearing LLC, a clearinghouse, in a $112 million deal. The CFTC designated QCX as a contract market in July 2025 and amended that designation in November to permit intermediated trading.

The FT also reported that the CFTC has an ongoing investigation into Polymarket. A CFTC spokesperson told The Block in June that it cannot confirm or deny an investigation.

JPMorgan retains some ties to Polymarket

JPMorgan has retained other business with the company, per the report. The bank, along with wishing to remain in contention for a potential IPO underwriting role, invited Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan to speak at a conference for wealthy private banking clients in Miami in February, alongside former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, the FT reported.

“We maintain a close, active relationship with JPMorgan across multiple entities, operational integrations, and material handling of customer fund flows,” a Polymarket spokesperson told the FT.

“The strength of our relationship is highlighted by our CEO speaking at three of their flagship events in the past year alone. Any suggestion otherwise fundamentally mischaracterizes our relationship,” the spokesperson added.

Debanking in Washington

“Debanking” broadly refers to a financial institution’s restricting or ending services for a customer. Crypto executives and political allies have used the phrase “Operation Choke Point 2.0” for alleged government pressure on banks during the Biden administration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August 2025 directing regulators to investigate debanking claims and levy fines where appropriate.

JPMorgan has faced similar accusations from crypto executives. The bank closed the accounts of Strike CEO Jack Mallers and a ShapeShift executive in November 2025, telling Mallers only that it was not permitted to say why. Neither the FT nor Reuters reported that JPMorgan’s October 2025 decision to cut Polymarket was politically motivated or directed by regulators.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has said banks are limited in what they can disclose. “I think we should be allowed to tell you,” Dimon said on a podcast in January 2025, adding that the bank risks millions of dollars in fines if a crypto client goes wrong.

Prediction markets under scrutiny

Polymarket is in early talks to raise roughly $1 billion at a valuation above $20 billion, Reuters reported on Aug. 4. The company was valued at $9 billion in October 2025 after NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange agreed to invest up to $2 billion.

Kalshi, Polymarket, and Polymarket US volume per The Block’s data.
Kalshi has pulled ahead on volume in recent months. Polymarket and Polymarket US recorded a combined $12.9 billion in July, compared with Kalshi’s $40 billion, according to The Block’s data.

Both platforms faced new hurdles this week. Baltimore sued Kalshi and Polymarket on Thursday over sports-related contracts, and a Washington state court ordered Kalshi the same day to halt most of its offerings there.

The New York City Council opened a probe on Wednesday into marketing practices at Polymarket, Kalshi, Coinbase and Gemini Titan. The CFTC has invoked emergency authority to keep Kalshi trading in New York and has sued several states to assert exclusive federal jurisdiction over event contracts.

Coplan is a member of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, which holds its first meeting Thursday, Aug. 20. Trump is expected to attend a White House session with crypto and prediction market executives the day before.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#JPMorgan #Polymarket #PredictionMarkets #IPO #Crypto #Banking #FinTech #CFTC #CryptoNews #Finance

President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial secured preliminary approval to become a national trust bank on Friday.

In a letter, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Company, National Association conditional approval, bringing it one step closer to a final approval for a bank charter.

“The OCC hereby grants preliminary conditional approval of your charter application upon determining that your proposal meets certain regulatory and policy requirements,” the regulator said in its letter.

Earlier this year, WLF created a new trust company in order to secure a banking license from the OCC that it said would allow it to offer stablecoin issuance and redemption, on-ramp and off-ramp services, and custody and conversion. WLF issues a stablecoin called USD1, which has a market capitalization of $4 billion and ranks as the fourth-largest stablecoin after Tether and USDC.

Earlier, WLF said it also plans to serve institutional customers, such as market makers, exchanges, and investment firms. The conditional approval means that WLF would still need final approval and that the OCC could rescind it.

On Friday, in a post on X, WLF CEO Zack Witkoff said the company wants to “build the most trusted and widely used digital dollar in the world while strengthening the role of the U.S. dollar across the global economy.” He is also the son of Trump’s Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Other crypto firms have received conditional approvals over the past year, including Coinbase, Paxos, BitGo, Ripple and Circle as the OCC takes a friendly stance toward the industry. The OCC’s top chief, Jonathan Gould, was previously a chief legal officer at Bitfury and has said that entities that engage in crypto and other novel technologies should “have a pathway to become federally supervised banks.”

WLF’s close ties to the administration have raised concerns among Democratic lawmakers. In January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Gould demanding that he stop the OCC’s review of WLF’s bank application until Trump divests from the company and halts conflicts of interest.

Financial disclosures released in June showed that Trump received millions of dollars connected to World Liberty Financial (WLFI).

“If the application is approved, you would promulgate rules that influence the profitability of the President’s company,” Warren said in the letter. “You would also be responsible for directly supervising and enforcing the law against the President’s company—and its competitors.”

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#WorldLiberty #WLFI #USD1 #Trump #Crypto #CryptoBank #OCC #Stablecoin #Banking #CryptoRegulation

Zama has listed its native token (ZAMA) for trading on Revolut across the European Economic Area on Monday, putting the blockchain-privacy project in front of the fintech’s customer base.

The listing opens ZAMA to Revolut’s more than 70 million customers, including the 15 million-plus who already trade crypto on the platform, the company said in a statement.

Existing Revolut users can buy and hold the token without opening a new account or completing additional identity checks, with trading fees starting at 0 in the main app. Revolut, which bills itself as the only banking app in the EEA offering onchain crypto transfers, will also let users withdraw ZAMA to a self-custody wallet.

Zama builds confidentiality tools using fully homomorphic encryption, a technique that lets balances, transactions and positions stay encrypted on public blockchains such as Ethereum without routing them through a separate privacy chain.

The company casts the approach as blockchain’s “HTTPS moment,” the point at which privacy shifts from optional to default.

“Privacy is something people expect everywhere else in their financial lives, but onchain they simply haven’t been able to have it,” said Rand Hindi, Zama’s co-founder and chief executive.

Zama’s big moves

The listing follows a run of production deployments that moved Zama’s technology past the research stage. The protocol now spans confidential lending, real-world asset tokenization and institutional token operations.

Zama partnered with Morpho and Steakhouse Financial in June to launch a confidential DeFi yield vault on Ethereum, and acquired TokenOps in May to bring encrypted token distributions to institutional issuers.

Additionally, Zama launched ZAMA in February after a sealed-bid Dutch auction that shielded more than $121 million on Ethereum, the first large-scale production use of the encryption method on mainnet.

ZAMA changed hands around $0.04 as of Aug. 11, The Block’s price page shows.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Zama #ZAMA #Revolut #Crypto #CryptoNews #Blockchain #BlockchainPrivacy #Privacy #FHE #FullyHomomorphicEncryption #DeFi #Ethereum #RWA #Tokenization #TokenizedAssets #Web3 #SelfCustody #DigitalAssets #CryptoAdoption #Fintech #Onchain #ConfidentialComputing #CryptoTrading #CryptoInvesting

Guren “Bobby” Zhou, the businessman behind Aqua 1’s $100 million purchase of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) governance tokens, was arrested in Britain in 2021 on suspicion of money laundering and remains connected to an active investigation, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Zhou has not been charged. A British court record filed last November accused him of participating with five other people in a money laundering operation dating to 2019, according to the Times. Two of his longtime employees were charged in the case last September, and one defendant has pleaded guilty. A trial for the charged defendants is scheduled for 2028.

Reuters first identified Zhou as the person behind Aqua 1, the Times noted. The Block reported in June 2025 that the little-known UAE-based fund had purchased $100 million of WLFI, making it one of World Liberty’s biggest known token buyers.

The Times, through a review of court records, confidential documents and interviews with Zhou’s former associates, found a history of failed ventures, disputed claims of prominent backers, and a sudden change in Zhou’s fortune after he moved from London to Abu Dhabi in 2024.

Source of $100 million remains unclear

Zhou previously ran a British flooring retailer that entered restructuring without repaying about $5 million owed to his father’s company, according to the Times. He later launched Caduceus, a crypto project whose token became effectively worthless by 2024 after the company spent about $7.6 million in funding.

Caduceus announced backing from China Merchants Securities UK and the Bin Zayed Group, which was founded by a member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family. Both organizations told the Times that representations about their involvement were “unauthorized and materially false.”

After relocating to the UAE, Zhou led Web3Port, a crypto venture fund that announced a $10 million World Liberty investment shortly after Trump’s January 2025 inauguration. The Times reported that a Web3Port entity registered in the British Virgin Islands later changed its name to Aqua 1 GP Limited. Two weeks after the name change, Aqua 1 announced the $100 million WLFI purchase.

Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence determined that a wallet controlled by Web3Port bought $20 million of WLFI in January 2025 and that a second wallet likely controlled by Aqua 1 purchased another $80 million in June, according to the Times.

Aqua 1 previously denied having a connection to Web3Port, following a report that linked the two operations. Aqua 1 did not specify which details of that earlier report it disputed.

The Times said it could not determine the source of the $100 million. Under World Liberty’s revenue-sharing arrangement, as much as $75 million from the purchase was distributed to a company controlled by Trump and his sons, the newspaper reported. The transaction also benefited the family of World Liberty co-founder Zach Witkoff, whose father, Steve Witkoff, serves as a Trump administration special envoy.

The Block previously reported that 75% of proceeds from WLFI token sales flow to DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump-controlled entity. Trump’s latest financial disclosure listed more than $65.6 million from the sale of equity in WLF Holdco and $236.25 million in distributed World Liberty token-sale proceeds, according to The Block.

World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman told the Times that the company followed all applicable laws and regulations and maintained a compliance program that “meets or exceeds industry standards.” He declined to say whether World Liberty knew the source of Zhou’s funds. Wachsman also disputed the newspaper’s characterization of Zhou but did not identify any specific inaccuracies.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told the newspaper that Trump had no conflicts of interest. Zhou did not respond to requests for comment from the Times.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#WorldLiberty #WLFI #DonaldTrump #TrumpCrypto #CryptoNews #Crypto #MoneyLaundering #AML #CryptoRegulation #DeFi #Web3 #Stablecoin #Blockchain #WorldLibertyFinancial #TrumpFamily #Aqua1 #GurenZhou #BobbyZhou #CryptoScandal #FinancialNews #USPolitics #Bitcoin #Ethereum

The U.S. Senate is delaying a vote on the Clarity Act, a landmark crypto market structure bill, until lawmakers return from their August recess next month.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) confirmed with The Block late Thursday that the Senate is pushing back a procedural vote for the Clarity Act until September.

“Well, the Dems are insistent on no Clarity vote. Anyway, I worked with sponsors of the bill,” Thune said. “Senator [Cynthia Lummis] was great, and we’re getting that queued up first thing when we come back.”

The Senate is set to leave on a month-long recess starting on Friday and will be back in Washington in mid-September for a few weeks. Attention is likely to be focused on, and will increasingly shift, to elections in November — leaving the few weeks in September pivotal to passing crypto legislation.

A source familiar with the matter said Senate Democrats were reluctant to take the vote due to its potential political implications ahead of the midterm elections and the crypto industry’s growing influence.

The delay gives lawmakers several more weeks to try to secure the 60 votes needed to advance the bill when the Senate returns in September, the source added.

The legislation would require Democratic support to clear that threshold, while Republican support for the bill has also wavered. If the Clarity Act clears the Senate, it would have to go back to the House for a vote before being sent to President Donald Trump’s desk.

“While this isn’t the result any of us hoped for when we began the week, the fight is far from over,” said The Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone in a statement. “The next few weeks, we will continue to work to find the last pieces of common ground needed to set up a successful vote when Congress returns in September.”

Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said the delay is “disappointing” but the direction has not changed. “Our efforts will not stop here. CCI will keep working with Senators on both sides of the aisle, their staff, and the Administration until the Clarity Act is signed into law,” Kim added.

Contentious issues

Several contentious issues have slowed the bill’s progress over the past year. One early flashpoint was how to regulate stablecoin rewards, which allow users to earn interest on deposited funds. The debate quickly evolved into a broader clash between the crypto industry and the banking sector. In May, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon blasted Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong as “full of sh–,” in an interview with Fox Business.

Ethics concerns have also loomed over negotiations, particularly as Trump’s cryptocurrency holdings and business interests have expanded. His crypto ventures — from the launch of his memecoin to his family’s ties to World Liberty Financial — are now estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

Trump is now weighing the latest ethics proposal from Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), which includes language that would allow state attorneys general to enforce a provision that would prohibit public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. It also includes language requiring him to divest from crypto-related businesses, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Concerns over illicit finance have also remained a recurring sticking point. Some lawmakers argue the Clarity Act does not provide law enforcement and consumer protection agencies with sufficient tools to police illicit activity, a characterization the crypto industry strongly disputes.

The story has been updated to include CCI’s comment.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#ClarityAct #CryptoRegulation #CryptoLaw #USSenate #DigitalAssets #CryptoNews #Bitcoin #Ethereum #Blockchain #Stablecoins #Web3 #Cryptocurrency #USPolitics #CryptoMarket #DigitalAssetRegulation

#MiCA #EU #CryptoScam #CryptoRegulation #Crypto #Blockchain #DigitalAssets #CryptoExchange #CyberSecurity #Fintech #CryptoNews #Europe #ScamAlert #Web3 #Regulation

Fortitude Mining Holdings, Inc., the Zcash mining subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, has completed its acquisition of a 12.5 megawatt facility in Prosser, Nebraska, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

This comes about a week after Fortitude announced it was bringing a 12 MW mining facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, online. That Nebraska facility was called Fortitude’s first self-developed mining site.

The Prosser site will be Fortitude’s third in Nebraska and adds to its owned power portfolio of more than 60 MW across seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and New York.

“The acquisition of our Prosser Facility is a significant step forward in scaling our owned-and-operated portfolio,” Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs said. “By pairing targeted acquisitions like Prosser with our own greenfield development, we are building a vertically-integrated platform designed to maximize the value of every megawatt we own.”

Fortitude said it funded the acquisition entirely using cash on its balance sheet of about $6.25 million for the property and improvements. However, the sticker price was reduced by a $985,000 hosting deposit credit and a $465,500 credit from the sale of about 1,400 T21 miners, resulting in a net cash outlay of approximately $4.7 million.

The deal includes the land, building, and an on-site 67 kV substation, as well as a 90-day construction warranty plus assigned manufacturer warranties. Owning the property will help Fortitude maintain long-term cost control and operational flexibility, according to CFO Erik Ellingson, who noted it was already listed as an “operating asset” that was “generating revenue at close.”

Prosser is estimated to provide low, stabilized power costs of approximately $0.045 per kWh, a rate that Fortitude previously said could reduce its mining costs to around $40 per ZEC (ZEC).

DCG spun Fortitude out of its Foundry bitcoin mining subsidiary in late 2025. Fortitude is planning to go public through a proposed merger with HeartSciences, and expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker TUDE pending approvals.

Last month, Fortitude announced plans to acquire 9,000 Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro miners for roughly $31.5 million, a move that could boost its Zcash mining capacity by 145%.

ZEC is trading at about $488, according to The Block’s price page. The cryptocurrency jumped from about $40 in September to a recent high of nearly $699 in November, before losing ground. The token is up over 94% over the last six months, up about 5.6% over the past month, and down 4.4% year-to-date, per TradingView

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Zcash #ZEC #CryptoMining #DigitalCurrencyGroup #DCG #Fortitude #Blockchain #Crypto #Mining #Nasdaq #Bitmain #Antminer #CryptoNews #Nebraska #DataCenter

Exchange operator CME Group is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to overturn a staff decision that conditionally approved Nasdaq PHLX’s proposal for cash-settled bitcoin index options, arguing that the contracts should fall exclusively under the jurisdiction of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In a July 29 order, the SEC granted CME’s petition for review and kept the approval stayed while the full Commission considers the challenge. Written statements supporting or opposing the approval are due Aug. 24. The order does not indicate whether the commissioners agree with CME’s arguments.

Nasdaq first announced plans for bitcoin index options with CF Benchmarks in 2024. The proposed contracts differ from the options already trading on spot bitcoin ETFs, as the underlying instruments for those options are securities. Nasdaq’s contracts would instead reference an index tracking bitcoin itself, creating the jurisdictional issue at the center of CME’s challenge.

CME and Nasdaq did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.

CME disputes jurisdiction

The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets approved Nasdaq’s proposal through delegated authority on May 22; however, Nasdaq could not begin trading the options without first obtaining exemptions from the CFTC.

The CFTC exemptions Nasdaq needs would allow would allow Nasdaq PHLX (formerly the Philadelphia Stock Exchange) to offer the contracts under concurrent SEC and CFTC oversight and permit the Options Clearing Corporation to clear them without registering as a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organization.

However, CME argued in its petition that bitcoin is a non-security commodity and that options based directly on its value are commodity option swaps under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. The exchange operator said the CFTC cannot use an exemption to give that jurisdiction to the SEC, nor can the SEC assume oversight of a product with no securities-related features.

CME also argued in its challenge that the Division of Trading and Markets exceeded its delegated authority by adopting a novel interpretation of Section 717 of the Dodd-Frank Act. It asked the full Commission to vacate the approval, warning that the decision could open the door for securities exchanges to list options or futures tied to other non-security commodities under SEC rules.

CME said in its petition that the SEC’s approval of the options would let Nasdaq’s product directly compete with CME’s offerings and could impose new regulatory costs on CME’s exchanges and clearing business.

Proposed options are tied directly to bitcoin

The proposed contracts, which would trade under the ticker QBTC, would track the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index divided by 100. The underlying index is calculated every 200 milliseconds using order-book data from qualifying bitcoin-dollar markets. The options would be European-style, meaning they could be exercised only at expiration, and would settle entirely in U.S. dollars rather than bitcoin.

The final settlement value would use the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant, also divided by 100. That once-daily benchmark is based on bitcoin-dollar transactions during the one-hour window ending at 4 p.m. New York time.

Nasdaq has argued that the options would allow holders of spot bitcoin ETFs to hedge or modify their exposure on a national securities exchange and within the same margin regime as their ETF positions.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#SEC #CFTC #Nasdaq #CME #Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinOptions #CryptoRegulation #CryptoNews #DigitalAssets

The Russian government has issued a decree banning crypto mining and participation in mining pools in Moscow, the surrounding Moscow region, and parts of the Kursk region from Aug. 15 until the end of 2032.

The more than six-year ban will expand restrictions aimed at curbing the crypto mining industry’s pressure on local electricity networks. The decree, Government Decree No. 936, was dated July 25 and published on Russia’s official legal information portal on Friday.

The decree covers the capital city of Moscow and the entirety of the surrounding Moscow Oblast. It also applies to eight municipal districts in Kursk Oblast and the city of Lgov.

The measure finalizes a proposal published by the country’s Energy Ministry in late June, which included an explanatory note that said the affected territories could face electricity shortages if the mining activities were not prohibited year-round.

Mining consumes estimated 1 GW on Moscow grid

The energy minister for Moscow Oblast, Sergei Voropanov, previously estimated that crypto mining can account for roughly 1 gigawatt (GW) of power consumption across the city’s grid, according to Interfax.

Voropanov also said at the time that the combined capacity of data centers in Moscow and Moscow Oblast could climb to 3.6 GW by 2032, or about 17% of the grid’s projected maximum load capacity, though that includes all data center usage and not just crypto mining.

The new decree expands a regional approach Russia began pursuing in late 2024, when officials moved to ban mining in multiple energy-constrained regions, including parts of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. Some of those restrictions remain in force through 2031, while others only apply seasonally during periods of higher electricity demand.

Russia has otherwise taken steps to formally regulate the crypto mining industry nationwide rather than ban it outright. President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in 2024 allowing companies and entrepreneurs listed in a special registry to mine crypto, while unregistered individuals may only mine crypto within established electricity consumption limits.

In July 2025, Russian authorities rolled out a national registry for crypto mining equipment, intended to identify operators, measure their electricity consumption, and improve tax enforcement, The Block previously reported.

The Moscow regional ban comes as Russia continues developing a broader regulatory framework for crypto. The State Duma passed landmark legislation last month that, if enacted, would allow regulated retail crypto trading while retaining the country’s ban on using crypto for domestic payments.

The decree also comes days after a Russian court transferred BitRiver founder Igor Runets from house arrest to pre-trial detention as he faces charges of fraud on an especially large scale committed by an organized group. Investigators allege that Runets and the mining firm were involved in an equipment deal with energy conglomerate En+ that caused 1 billion rubles, or about $12.5 million, in damages.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Russia #Bitcoin #CryptoMining #Mining #BTC #Blockchain #CryptoRegulation #Energy #CryptoNews #DigitalAssets

Coinkite published a security advisory on Thursday, warning of an ongoing issue affecting seeds generated on Coldcard Mk3 devices.

“Out of an abundance of caution, Coinkite is warning all users who generated a seed using a Mk3 on version 4.0.1 (March 2021) or any subsequent version that their funds may be at risk,” the crypto hardware maker wrote.

Coinkite said the issue exists through firmware version 5.0.3, which is the final release that supported the Mk3. “Mk4, Q and Mk5 are not affected based on our early analysis of the issue,” the company said.

Users who applied a BIP-39 passphrase to an affected Mk3 seed face limited exposure, Coinkite added.

594 BTC

The advisory post followed multiple online and social media reports earlier on July 30 of bitcoin being drained from users’ Coldcard wallets. According to a report from Atlas 21, approximately 594.5 BTC ($38.3 million) was swept from 500 single-signature addresses in a coordinated series of transactions spanning Bitcoin blocks 960188 to 960191.

While Coinkite has not confirmed the link between the theft and the security issue, some blockchain experts have associated the drains with weak entropy in seeds generated on Coldcard Mk3 devices.

Bitcoin developer James O’Beirne wrote on X that users whose bitcoin was secured by a single key generated on a Coldcard Mk3 between 2021 and 2023 — without dice rolls, a passphrase, or multi-signature — need to move funds as soon as possible. While Coinkite’s early analysis excludes Mk2 and Mk4, O’Beirne said those models may also be affected.

Separately, Clay Garrett of Block’s engineering and security team wrote that the company identified an additional set of transactions that could form part of a Coldcard-related drain.

“There are 695 earlier transactions with the same full fingerprint that transactions in the known set had,” Garrett said. “These transactions moved another 488.10957948 BTC. If this is part of the same attack, it’d bring the total to 1,082.58680432 BTC.”

Recommendations

In its latest advisory note, Coinkite recommended that Mk3 users create a strong, unique BIP-39 passphrase on the device and move funds to the resulting wallet.

As an advanced option, users may generate a replacement seed on an empty Mk3 running firmware 4.1.9 via the dedicated dice-roll path, entering at least 99 independent rolls of a fair six-sided die. This method hashes the roll sequence directly and does not use the device’s random-number generator.

Coinkite said the preferred long-term approach is migration to a new seed generated on an unaffected Coldcard model. The team advised: “When migrating to a new key, calm and care should be applied. Rushing a wallet migration can create a more immediate risk than the issue you are trying to address.”

The exact cause of the security issue has yet to be confirmed by the team. “We are continuing to investigate. More details will follow,” Coinkite added.

#Bitcoin #BTC #Coldcard #Coinkite #HardwareWallet #CryptoSecurity #CyberSecurity #Blockchain #CryptoNews #Animalverse

The site impersonated the Flare Network and FXRP projects, timed to their launch, and a fourth suspect is overseas under an Interpol red notice, police said.

#XRP #Ripple #CryptoScam #StakingScam #BlockchainSecurity #FlareNetwork #FXRP #CryptoFraud #DigitalAssets #CryptoNews

Russia’s Federal Security Service has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activity and placed him on an international wanted list over the messaging platform’s alleged failure to remove content used to coordinate attacks inside Russia, according to Interfax.

The FSB said Wednesday that Durov was charged under the Russian Criminal Code, which covers assistance to terrorist activity, per the Interfax report. Reuters separately reported that the agency had issued an international warrant for his arrest.

According to the FSB, the case relates to Telegram’s alleged failure to remove channels, chats and bots that it said were used by Ukrainian special services, terrorist, and extremist organizations to coordinate acts of sabotage, terrorism, mass killings, and cyber fraud within Russia.

Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform founded in 2013, has more than 1 billion users and is widely used by both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Block reached out to Durov and Telegram for comment.

Meanwhile, the charges mark the latest escalation in Russia’s long-running dispute with Telegram. Interfax reported that the platform has been fined more than 100 million rubles ($1.3 million) this year for failing to remove content prohibited under Russian law. Russia has also continued restricting Telegram’s operations while promoting its state-backed MAX messaging service.

Durov, who holds Emirati and French citizenship, was previously arrested by French authorities in 2024 over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately counter criminal activity on its platform and did not sufficiently cooperate with law enforcement requests. Durov denies wrongdoing.

In June 2025, French authorities allowed him to travel to Dubai for a second time, though under temporary travel restrictions. Durov slammed the arrest as “legally and logically absurd” and said French authorities have failed to find wrongdoing on Durov’s part.

The latest development comes as Telegram has expanded its digital asset strategy. Earlier this month, Durov said the company plans to roll out a native non-custodial GRAM wallet to Telegram’s roughly 1 billion users, following the June rebranding of The Open Network’s native token from Toncoin to GRAM as Telegram assumes a larger role in the ecosystem.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Telegram #PavelDurov #Russia #CyberSecurity #Privacy #GRAM #Blockchain #CryptoNews #TechNews

#Kalshi #Polymarket #PredictionMarkets #Crypto #Blockchain #Regulation #Web3 #CryptoNews #US #Animalverse

Ondo Finance, focused on tokenizing real-world assets, has launched the Ondo Network, a new execution layer designed to combine centralized exchange-like speed with non-custodial trading and onchain settlement.

The new network is being announced publicly for the first time, Ondo CEO Ian De Bode told The Block. He described it as the “evolution” of Ondo Chain, the company’s previous blockchain.

Asked whether the Ondo Network is effectively replacing Ondo Chain, De Bode said it is “the implementation of what we originally set out with the Ondo Chain.”

“I’d frame it more as an evolution, but we will not be running the Ondo Network and the Ondo Chain in parallel,” he said.

Why Ondo changed course

Ondo originally planned to build a full blockchain through Ondo Chain to bring real-world assets onchain. However, while developing the Ondo Perps exchange and speaking with customers, the company concluded that execution, rather than settlement, was the main bottleneck.

According to Ondo, traditional blockchains perform execution, verification, and settlement on the same ledger, providing durability and trust but making them too slow and transparent for high-performance trading. The Ondo Network instead separates execution from settlement and verification while keeping users in control of their assets.

“The Ondo network is a new type of architecture that tries to land at a different configuration so that privacy is enabled by default, execution speed can rival centralized exchanges, while still maintaining the self-custodial design, verifiable fairness and permissionless access that makes blockchains so powerful,” De Bode said.

Asked how verification and settlement work under the new architecture, De Bode said a decentralized network of attestors determines which code the secure hardware enclaves are allowed to run, effectively verifying that the approved code is being executed. Asset transfers currently settle on Ethereum, with support for additional public blockchains planned.

“Over time, the network will also commit the settled state to public blockchains to allow for a durable and immutable record (similar to how Lighter does it). Right now, that record only lives within the enclaves,” De Bode said.

Ondo said the network is general-purpose and could support applications beyond perpetual futures, including spot markets, lending, structured products and non-financial applications that require fast, private and verifiable execution.

Ondo Perps is the first application built on the network. The platform offers 24/7 perpetual futures tied to equities and commodities, with tokenized real-world assets supported as collateral.

ONDO token

The launch does not change the role of the (ONDO) token, De Bode said. He said it remains the governance and ecosystem token for Ondo’s real-world asset and markets infrastructure.

“As the Ondo Network decentralizes (more attestors, watchers, economic security), ONDO is what will sit at the center of incentives and governance for that layer,” De Bode said.

The ONDO token is currently trading at around $0.40, making it the 41st-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of nearly $2 billion, according to The Block’s ONDO price page.

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Ondo #ONDO #RWA #Tokenization #DeFi #Ethereum #Blockchain #Web3 #CryptoNews #Animalverse

World Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the World protocol, has raised $52.5 million in new funding through a strategic sale of its WLD token, with all purchased tokens subject to a one-year lockup.

The “first close” of the token sale was led by Pantera Capital and included Bain Capital Crypto, WLD treasury company Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq: ORBS), Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto and other investors, World Foundation said Friday. It is not clear whether the foundation plans additional token sales beyond the first close. A spokesperson declined to comment to The Block when asked.

Notably, the foundation said the WLD tokens sold in the transaction “are intended for use within World Network and do not represent investment interest or rights to profits or returns.” The spokesperson said this means the WLD purchased by investors does not represent an equity interest in Tools for Humanity, the for-profit company behind the World project.

The new funding will be used to expand World ID technology for organizations, consumers and AI agents globally, the foundation said.

Scaling World ID

The token sale comes as World marks three years since launching into production and shifts its focus from building the network to expanding the use of World ID.

World enables people to verify they are unique humans through a one-time Orb verification that creates a World ID without revealing their identity. The foundation said the World ID is stored on a user’s phone and relies on advanced cryptography and anonymized multi-party computation, developed and open-sourced by the foundation, to preserve user privacy.

“The need for Proof of Human is becoming acutely clear with the acceleration of AI development, and we see this in the influx of enterprise traction,” Pantera Capital general partner Cosmo Jiang said in a statement. “We’re excited to continue supporting World’s mission at this inflection point in its growth.”

World said the rapid rise of AI agents is increasing demand for technology that can distinguish humans from machines online. Without proof-of-human infrastructure, it said sectors including digital advertising, online dating, voting systems, creative marketplaces and video communications could face growing challenges from AI-generated content, synthetic identities and deepfakes. The foundation also pointed to the release of World ID 4.0, which it said is designed for enterprise-scale integrations and enables developers to build additional credentials within the World ID stack using zero-knowledge proofs.

World ID is already being integrated with platforms including Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel and Tinder, according to the foundation. It also said more than 39 million people have joined World Network, including more than 18 million who have completed Orb verification. Since launch, users have generated more than 475 million World ID proofs, referring to instances where people use their World ID to verify they are human when accessing applications or services integrated with the network.

Growth and regulatory scrutiny

World was originally conceived by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern and Alex Blania with the goal of enabling people to prove they are unique humans while preserving their privacy in the age of AI. World Foundation now oversees the protocol’s governance, ecosystem grants and network operations, and said it aims to make the protocol economically self-sustaining over time through fees paid by applications using the network rather than by individual users.

Tools for Humanity is the for-profit company behind the project’s hardware and software development. It has raised roughly $240 million in venture equity to date, and World Foundation, which, along with its related entities, has previously raised $200 million through sales of WLD tokens. Including the latest token sale, the project has now raised about $492.5 million in total funding.

Since its launch, the World project has faced privacy and regulatory scrutiny over its biometric identity verification model. Authorities in jurisdictions including Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines have investigated, restricted, suspended or fined aspects of the project’s biometric data collection over privacy, consent and data protection concerns, while World has said it continues to engage with regulators as it expands globally.

The WLD token is currently trading at around $0.37, giving it a market capitalization of about $1.31 billion. The token is down roughly 2% over the past 24 hours

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#WorldNetwork #WorldID #WLD #Crypto #Blockchain #AI #DigitalIdentity #Web3 #CryptoNews #Animalverse

Crypto trade association The Digital Chamber is taking Illinois to court over its decision to pass a law imposing a 0.2% tax on digital asset transactions, a move that has become highly controversial in crypto circles.

On Tuesday, the organization filed a complaint in a circuit court in Illinois accusing the state of singling out digital assets in that they are being taxed differently because of the technology.

“Today we are asking the courts to protect consumers and our members and stop this unfair tax in Illinois,” said TDC CEO Cody Carbone in a statement. “Taxes should be carefully considered, not only for the revenue they produce but for the fairness of those being taxed. That was not the case here as the provision slipped into legislation the night before the bill’s final consideration.”

The Digital Asset Tax Act was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker as part of the state’s FY2027 budget planning last month. The tax is scheduled to take effect in January 2027. The crypto industry has been quick to criticize the measure, with some calling it the “most punitive digital asset tax in the country.” Industry groups have also raised questions about how the law will be implemented in practice.

TDC has more than 250 members globally, including Anchorage Digital, Chainlink Labs and ICE, owner of the New York Stock Exchange.

In the 32-page complaint, TDC said it is not looking for special treatment, but wants the “equal treatment of economically identical property regardless of the technology through which ownership is recorded, transferred, or settled.”

Illinois’ tax could also float over to other states and affect other areas, TDC said.

“If Illinois may impose a special transaction tax because commerce occurs through blockchain infrastructure, other States could impose similar taxes on commerce conducted through artificial intelligence-enabled settlement systems, cloud-based payment networks, or any future form of electronic commerce, while leaving economically identical transactions conducted through older technologies untaxed,” TDC said in its complaint.

TDC is asking the court to declare the new Illinois law “void and unenforceable” because it violates the U.S. Constitution and to grant relief.

At the federal level, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Michael Selig has lambasted Illinois over its new tax, adding that lawmakers there have “slammed the brakes on technological progress.”

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#DigitalChamber #Illinois #CryptoTax #DigitalAssets #Blockchain #CryptoRegulation #Web3 #CryptoNews #USCrypto #Cryptocurrency

The UK Parliament’s cross-party group for digital assets has launched an inquiry into banking access for the country’s crypto sector.

The Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) — chaired by Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Labour MP Gurinder Singh Josan CBE — announced the probe on Tuesday.

The group aims to examine difficulties crypto businesses face in opening and maintaining bank accounts in the UK, as well as restrictions some UK banks have placed on crypto-related transactions.

“The APPG has heard consistent reports from crypto and digital asset businesses that they face difficulties accessing bank accounts and banking services,” the group said in the statement. “Access to banking services is fundamental for any legitimate business, and where unnecessary barriers exist they have the potential to hinder growth, investment and innovation.”

Ongoing crypto reform

The inquiry will also examine international approaches adopted in jurisdictions including the U.S., Hong Kong, Australia, and the EU.

The APPG is inviting written evidence from the banking, payments, fintech and crypto sectors for six weeks — from July 21 to Aug. 31. The group plans to publish a report on findings and recommendations to the government thereafter.

This comes weeks after the publication of the UK’s new crypto regulatory framework and aims to assess whether these barriers risk undermining the government’s ambition for the UK to become a global leader in digital assets.

“With the publication of the UK’s new crypto regulatory framework, now is the right time to examine whether any remaining barriers could undermine that ambition as the regime comes into force next year,” the group said. The framework is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 25, 2027.

New Prime Minister

The inquiry coincides with a major political shift in the UK on Monday, as Labour Party’s Andy Burnham takes office as prime minister.

Burnham announced his intention to scrap the previous government’s digital ID scheme, redirecting resources toward cost-of-living measures. Local experts said abandoning digital IDs will leave the UK lagging globally.

Stefan Deiss, co-founder and CEO of The Hashgraph Group, said in a statement that stepping back from the idea of a single, centralized government managing every citizen’s digital ID was the right decision, but the country should not discard the idea entirely.

“The technology has moved on, and there’s now a better way: credentials held in a secure wallet on the citizen’s own phone, not on a state server,” Deiss said. “Burnham has promised a government that works for ordinary people. Identity that citizens genuinely own is precisely that. Pause the old model, but don’t lose the ambition.”

Burnham also named John Healey as chancellor of the Exchequer — the top finance official of the country.

Jonathan Herbst, Global Head of Financial Services at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, said that the new chancellor will likely ensure that ongoing financial reforms are delivered in a predictable and coordinated manner.

“For internationally active firms, the UK’s attractiveness depends not just on the substance of the rules but on the stability of the regulatory environment,” Herbst said. “Areas such as capital markets, fintech, digital assets and sustainable finance will continue to be important tests of that commitment.”

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#UK #Crypto #DigitalAssets #Banking #Blockchain #Fintech #CryptoRegulation #Web3 #Innovation #CryptoNews

“The Digital Credit Capital Framework is a genuine course correction,” CryptoQuant said. “To complete that shift, Strategy still needs to define two things: a systematic model for timing bitcoin purchases, and a disciplined framework for selling into strength. Until then, the pivot still has room to improve.”

Ref: https://paykalken.com

#Strategy #MichaelSaylor #Bitcoin #BTC #CryptoQuant #BitcoinTreasury #InstitutionalInvestment #DigitalAssets #CryptoNews #Blockchain