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Hollow Knight: Silksong Launches On September 4

by admin August 23, 2025

After years of waiting, today’s Hollow Knight: Silksong presentation gave fans what they’ve been clamoring for: a release date. The long-awaited sequel will launch on September 4.

The brief showcase presented an impressive gameplay montage showing off protagonist Hornet’s solo adventure. Check it out below.

Hollow Knight: Silksong was first announced in 2019, originally envisioned as paid DLC for Hollow Knight before developer Team Cherry expanded its scope to a full-fledged sequel. Silksong stars Hornet, a hunter and supporting character in the first game, as she explores a new kingdom boasting over 150 new enemies to slay. The game has spent years quietly coming together, with only the rare trailer or update during this time, lending to its near-mythical status. After suffering several delays, Xbox announced this summer the game would arrive by this holiday season; turns out they were correct.

Silksong is currently playable for attendees at Gamescom, and senior editor Wesley LeBlanc has played it. You can read his impressions of the game’s first level here.

Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Lenovo Coupon Codes and Deals: Up to $100 Off PCs

by admin August 23, 2025

Lenovo is currently the biggest PC and laptop company in the world, and they just so happen to make some of our favorite laptops and PC peripherals. In fact, our list of the Best Laptops you can buy include a number of Lenovo devices that we’ve tested and fully recommend, ranging from high-end premium laptops to options for budget-minded shoppers. If you are looking to save a few bucks while shopping for a new Lenovo product, here are the Lenovo coupon codes and special offers you need to know about.

Save up to $100 on Lenovo Back-to-School Deals

Back to school season is a great time to shop for a laptop, and there are already tons of deals across Lenovo’s portfolio of Chromebooks and Windows laptops to search through. We’re a big fan of some of Lenovo’s Chromebooks, in particular, which do a good job straddling the line between price and quality. The Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 for example, is currently our pick for the Best Chromebook you can buy and is easily the best Chromebook I’ve ever made. Meanwhile, the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook Plus is a close second, finding a great price around the $500 mark.

If you are shopping for the upcoming return to school, right now it’s the last call to save an extra $100 off for PCs, tablets, and peripherals. You’ll get the extra savings on all orders that are over $500. The deal ends on August 24 though, so now’s your chance to save some extra cash.

Score Weekly Tech Deals, Price Match Guarantee, and Free Shipping

Beyond the back to school deal, Lenovo has a number of other current offers available when shopping through Lenovo.com. There are weekly deals on PCs and tech that include free shipping with no minimums. For certain products, you can even choose to buy online and pick it up in-store at Best Buy. If you’re looking for more Lenovo recommendations, we’re big fans of the Lenovo Idea Tab Pro, an Android tablet that’s currently on our Best Tablets list. It’s currently discounted by 26%, bringing the price down to $280.

Lenovo is also offering price-matching on any comparable PC, including from many online retailers. That’s really helpful, as it’s not uncommon to see price discrepancies between different retailers.

Get Exclusive Savings With Lenovo Discount Programs

Lenovo does offer a fairly generous discount program for certain demographics as well. These include a 5% off Education, Healthcare, First Responder, and Senior (over 55) discount.

You can use this discount on anything you find at Lenovo.com, which includes a lot more than just Lenovo-branded laptops. For example, Lenovo sells one of our favorite laptop docking stations, the Kensington Triple Video Mobile Dock. Despite its tiny size, this tiny device can power up to three 1080p (or two 4K) displays simultaneously. It’s a great example of the wide diversity of products you can use these discounts and coupon codes on.

My Lenovo Rewards and Sweepstakes Offers

Lenovo has a My Lenovo Rewards system that can earn you points that can be spent on future purchases from Lenovo.com. Almost everything you buy gets you between 3% and 9% back in the form of reward points, and you can start redeeming points right after signing up for an account. 1,000 points is equal to $1 that you can spend on future purchases.

There’s also Lenovo’s Gear Up Sweepstakes that’s currently running for My Lenovo Rewards members. You can enter to win a Legion 5 Gen 10 gaming laptop, a Bluetooth Mouse, a backpack, and true wireless earbuds. The sweepstakes will end on August 24.

Lenovo Financing and Lease-to-Own Options

Lenovo uses Katapult to offer financing and lease-to-own options on its laptops. That might be useful if you’ve been eyeing one of Lenovo’s higher-end laptops. One of our favorite of these is the Lenovo Yoga 9i, a gorgeous 2-in-1 with a bright OLED screen and a luxurious design. This laptop is currently listed as one of our top recommendations for the Best Laptops and Best 2-in-1 Laptop.

Katapult allows you to buy now and pay over time, without charging late fees. If you put down a $45 initial payment, you can check out the laptop today. Katapult offers up to $3,500 in pre-approved leases and allows you to make minimum payments over time or buyout early.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Sam Fisher stares at us through his iconic three-eyed goggles.

Game Reviews

Deathwatch Is Out October, And Sam Fisher Is Old

by admin August 23, 2025

Ubisoft’s long-promised animated series Splinter Cell: Deathwatch has finally been given a longer trailer and a release date. Due October 14, the Liev Schreiber-fronted anime also stars comedian Janet Varney as Anna “Grim” Grímsdóttir, and has been in the works for about four-hundred-thousand years.

OK, five years, but it really has dragged on. In the meantime we learned an entire Splinter Cell movie starring Tom Hardy was canned, while there’s been no word on other announced Ubisoft TV and movie projects like Watch_Dogs, Beyond Good & Evil, The Division, Ghost Recon, Riders Republic, a Rabbids feature, and even a Just Dance movie. So honestly, the fact that anything at all is coming to screens feels fairly miraculous.

The trailer, however, is…not what I was expecting. In 2024, Michael Ironside—who voiced title character Sam Fisher in the games—said that he was “too old” to play the part at 75, with the role handed over to 57-year-old Liev Schreiber for the anime. So it’s something of a surprise to see Sam appearing in the trailer looking like a 75-year-old man.

There’s still no clear idea what the show will actually be about, beyond it being personal to Fisher, following the death of someone called Douglas Shetland. What we do see is a lot of guns being fired, and Sam mistaking a fair few people for knife racks. Oh, and while it’s weirdly tossed away in the middle of the short teaser, at least the three-light googles appear at one point. I mean, I’m not in charge of Netflix marketing, but given most of the trailer looks like Sam Fisher: The Retirement Home Years, I’d perhaps have ended on the iconic headwear and maybe something that suggested some sort of intrigue.

The better news is the team behind the show. The creator is Derek Kolstad, responsible for Bob Odenkirk’s reinvention as an action hero in Nobody, and the writer of the first three John Wick movies. That’s some caliber, although I struggle not to imagine the scripts for John Wick are mostly “John punches a man, and then another man and then he shoots three guys, and then he gets shot in the leg but shakes it off and punches four other guys and throws knives at a guy.” Along with Kolstad is a writing team that features scribes from Shooter, and some fresh faces too.

It’s an oddly witless and plotless teaser, although given Kolstad is head writer, it seems implausible the show itself could fall that way. Right? Please? As for Fisher’s age, perhaps the show is canon to the games, given the last one—Splinter Cell: Blacklist—came out an extraordinary 12 years ago. Maybe it’s to make the people who remember playing the games feel seen.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

China Renaissance Buys $100M In BNB, Expands Crypto Partnerships

by admin August 23, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

BNB is entering a new phase of adoption after a landmark announcement from China Renaissance, a Hong Kong-listed investment bank with deep institutional influence. On August 22, 2025, the bank’s board of directors revealed that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with YZi Labs, allocating $100 million toward Binance’s token. This initiative marks a strategic step in bridging the gap between traditional financial institutions and the crypto market, positioning BNB as a gateway for broader adoption in regulated environments.

The agreement outlines a cooperative framework that seeks to empower the Binance Chain ecosystem with China Renaissance’s financial expertise and access to high-quality investment opportunities. In turn, the bank expects to leverage BNB’s ecosystem for new business applications, signaling a mutually reinforcing relationship.

This announcement builds on the company’s earlier disclosure in June 2025 of its intent to pursue cryptocurrency investments. By formalizing its commitment with a large-scale allocation, China Renaissance is not only validating BNB as a viable institutional asset but also setting a precedent for other financial players in Asia and beyond. The partnership could prove pivotal in enhancing BNB’s role within global markets, where regulatory clarity and institutional credibility are key drivers of adoption.

BNB Surges As China Renaissance Commits $100M

Binance co-founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, highlighted the significance of the deal, stating: “China Renaissance, a HK public company, buying $100m USD worth of BNB. In addition to buying BNB, many other long-term strategic partnerships are involved. Let’s build the ecosystem together!” His words reinforced the strategic importance of this cooperation, which goes beyond a simple investment and points to structural growth for BNB in regulated markets.

The immediate market reaction was explosive. The price surged to a new all-time high of $899, marking a milestone in its history. This price action reflects renewed confidence in the asset’s long-term prospects, especially as partnerships deepen and institutions signal commitment.

Related Reading: Dormant Bitcoin Whale Awakens: BTC OG Rotates Into $577M ETH Long

For BNB, the timing could not be more significant. While other altcoins are facing volatility, the chain is showing resilience and growth capacity. With China Renaissance’s institutional backing, and additional strategic partnerships in development, the token appears poised not just for price appreciation but also for broader adoption as a utility and infrastructure asset in global markets.

Price Analysis: Testing Uncharted Territory

Binance coin is showing strong bullish momentum, breaking into new all-time highs with its latest rally. On the weekly timeframe, BNB is trading at $898.29, closing in on the psychological $900 level after surging nearly 5% this week. This push comes right after the announcement of China Renaissance’s $100M allocation into BNB, fueling confidence among institutional and retail investors alike.

BNB reaching new ATH | Source: BNBUSDT chart on TradingView

From a technical perspective, BNB’s trend remains intact, with the 50-week SMA at $654 and the 100-week SMA at $544 providing long-term support. The current distance between price and the moving averages highlights the strength of this parabolic move, but also signals caution, as extended gaps often precede periods of consolidation.

The price has broken decisively above its previous resistance zone at $780–$800, turning it into new support. If this level holds, the path toward $950–$1,000 opens up, supported by growing ecosystem developments and institutional demand. Structure signals continued strength, with institutional backing adding fuel to its breakout and positioning it for further upside in the coming weeks.

Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Whale Drops $32K in a Single Transaction

by admin August 23, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

With granddaddy cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum hitting new highs, the entire altcoin and meme coin market is on the cusp of an explosive rally.

Historically, every time $BTC and $ETH surge, altcoin season follows, and that’s exactly what could be unfolding right now.

And if you want to eke out the maximum possible gains, you need to look beyond the obvious.

This is where Maxi Doge ($MAXI) enters the picture. A brand-new presale meme coin, Maxi Doge is quickly proving it has what it takes to be the next breakout.

With the presale already raising over $1.45M, there’s little doubt this project is attracting massive attention, and that it could very well be the next crypto to explode.

Low-Cap Meme Coins Like $MAXI: Where the Real 1000x Potential Lies

When we think of meme coins, names like Dogecoin and Pepe instantly come to mind. But the fact of the matter is, while they once delivered 100x or even 1000x returns, those days are long gone.

Their popularity has pushed market caps so high that it’s virtually impossible for them to deliver moonshot gains today.

So what do you do. Lose out on those life-changing returns? Absolutely not. The key is to look at new, under-the-radar meme coins. Like $MAXI.

Thanks to their unique designs and low market caps, these projects are not only positioned to ride the broader crypto wave, but also offer far superior upside compared to the mainstream names.

Who Is Maxi Doge?

If you’ve looked at Maxi’s face and noticed an uncanny resemblance to Dogecoin, you’re not alone – and you’re not wrong either.

Maxi and Doge are, in fact, cousins. But here’s the twist: they couldn’t be more different.

Growing up, Doge, because of how ‘cute’ and wholesome it looked, and of course because it became the greatest meme coin on the planet, soaked up all the spotlight at every family gathering.

Maxi, on the other hand, was left in the shadows, ignored, and overlooked, even by his own mom. That’s when Maxi made a decision to become the anti-Doge.

Unlike Doge, he hit the gym, bulked up his muscles, downed protein shakes and caffeine, and set off on a mission to dethrone Doge as the best meme coin on the planet.

He studied candlesticks all day long, to the point that he took one of those fat green candles and turned it into a lightsaber to fight off Doge lovers and mediocre gains.

Maxi is a fierce Shiba who lives by the philosophy: never skip leg day, never skip the pump.

And that’s exactly the kind of raw degen energy meme coin investors crave. Because let’s face it: ‘cute’ might win attention, but it doesn’t win battles.

Maxi Doge: More Than Just a Meme

At first glance, Maxi Doge ($MAXI) might look like just another glamorous meme coin, one that prides itself on having no utility, no underlying value, and simply chasing big pumps out of thin air.

But in reality, the project’s developers have put forward a surprisingly strong roadmap.

For instance, 40% of the total token supply has been reserved for marketing, covering PR campaigns, influencer collaborations, and relentless social media blitzes, all designed to make Maxi one of the top trending cryptos in the space.

The gym-bro humor and viral meme culture behind it give $MAXI the potential to break beyond crypto circles and reach everyday audiences, driving mainstream appeal and popularity.

For holders, the benefits don’t stop at potential price action. Owning Maxi unlocks access to weekly trading competitions, leaderboard prizes, and a thriving community of traders eager to share strategies.

The goal? To help everyone chase those outsized 1000x returns that are usually only reserved for institutional players with eight-figure capital.

Maxi’s mission is simple: bring those moonshot gains to the average Joe. And speaking of massive returns, the project isn’t stopping at CEX and DEX listings.

$MAXI is also eyeing futures listings, which could allow holders to take 1000x leverage bets, opening the door to life-changing profits for those willing to play the high-risk, high-reward game.

Best Time to Buy $MAXI? NOW!

As mentioned earlier, Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is currently in presale – just a few weeks in, in fact – meaning you can grab it at some of its lowest-ever prices.

Right now, 1 $MAXI is available at just $0.0002535, with the project having already pulled in over $1.45M from early investors.

To help you with the purchase process, here’s our step-by-step guide on how to buy Maxi Doge.

And for more information, visit $MAXI’s official presale website.

Disclaimer: None of the above is financial advice. The crypto market is highly volatile, so kindly do your own research before investing.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

US government takes 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for money it was already on the hook for

by admin August 23, 2025

The US is investing $8.9 billion into Intel, but most of the funds come from money that the government was supposed to pay the embattled chipmaker anyway. In an announcement on Friday, Intel said the federal government will fund its investment using the remaining $5.7 billion in grants it hasn’t yet received under the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act, in addition to the $3.2 billion received as part of the Secure Enclave program.

President Donald Trump confirmed the investment during a press briefing before the formal announcement, saying Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan agreed to give the government a 10 percent stake. Earlier this month, Trump called on Tan to resign over his ties to China, and today he positioned the deal as a way for the executive to “keep his job.”

Trump told reporters that he floated the offer during negotiations with Tan. “I said, ‘I think it would be good having the United States as your partner,’” Trump said. “They’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them.” Intel has already received $2.2 billion under the CHIPS Act.

The government’s investment in Intel “will be a passive ownership, with no Board representation or other governance or information rights,” according to Intel. “We are grateful for the confidence the President and the Administration have placed in Intel, and we look forward to working to advance U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership,” Tan says in the press release.

The confirmation of the deal comes just days after SoftBank announced plans to invest $2 billion into Intel to “further expand” chipmaking in the US.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at the government’s potential investment this week, saying during an interview with CNBC that it “would be a conversion of grants” meant to “stabilize the company for chip production here in the US.”

It doesn’t seem like this is the end for Trump’s approach to deal-making, as he said during the briefing that “he’ll do more of them” in the future.

Update, August 22nd: Added information from Intel.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Laci pretends to be a princess for two children in Royalish

Esports

The inspiration behind new doggie horror Good Boy

by admin August 23, 2025

Good Boy is a horror movies that’s told from the point-of-view of a dog, and the idea for that intriguing concept came from an unexpected celluloid source.

Good Boy is a haunted house movie in which a clever canine called Indy endeavours to save his master from a supernatural threat that only the dog can see and hear.

The horror movie has done the festival circuit and reviews have been rapturous, with Good Boy currently on a Rotten Tomatoes score of 95%.

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Director Ben Leonberg has already spoken about how he coaxed such an amazing performance out of the dog in question, who also happens to be his own pet pooch. While below you can find out how he came by the high-concept idea…

How Poltergeist inspired Good Boy

MGMThe dog in Poltergeist helped inspire Good Boy.

In and interview with Filmmaker, Leonberg revealed that the idea came to him while viewing one of the great horror movies.

“I was watching Poltergeist probably for the 100th time,” explains Leonberg. “The opening follows the family’s golden retriever who we learn can clearly perceive the ghosts before anyone else.

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“This same trope – the dog who ‘knows better’ – appears in tons of horror movies, and I thought that someone should make a movie from that dog’s perspective.”

Then it was about finding his lead, though he didn’t have to look far: “Indy, my actual dog, is the second part of the equation, and the secret sauce that makes the concept work.

“He naturally has this really intense, unblinking stare. He usually hits you with it before meal time, but on the occasions when he’s just staring at ’empty’ corners, or tracking smells only he can perceive… it’s really spooky. I think every dog owner has wondered, or worried, why their dog suddenly barks for no reason, or stares at ‘nothing.’

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Why Indy wasn’t first choice to star

IFC Films

That’s not so say Indy was a lock-in for the lead. During a conversation with Variety, Leonberg explained how the movie nearly went from short to feature without his beloved best friend.

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“There was this short film contest called The Rode Reel, which was the biggest online short film contest we entered,” says Leonberg. “We didn’t make the short with the express purpose of [adapting it into a feature], but there was a big financial prize, which was the kickstart to making this movie. We won, but then Indy was nominated for best actor.

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“When I started writing the film, I didn’t intend to make the movie with Indy, but people were reacting to him so strongly and so positively. I do think he legitimately has some quirks that make him uniquely suited to do this. It kind of forced our hand. He became my leading man.”

Good Boy is out in US cinemas on October 3, 2025, and UK theaters a week later, on October 10, while it will launch on this streaming platform first. Before then, head here to see where Poltergeist appears on our list of the best horror movies of all-time.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Private DeFi is also about market efficiency

by admin August 23, 2025

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

Believe it or not, DeFi has a transparency problem. Transparency is one of the cornerstones of decentralized finance, but radical transparency also comes with unintended costs. While it may be fine for pseudonymous retail users, it creates strategic friction for capital allocators, institutional players, and protocol builders.

Summary

Transparency has hidden costs: In DeFi, wallet doxxing, alpha leakage, and MEV extraction turn “openness” into a disadvantage, compromising privacy, safety, and competitiveness.
Unfair market dynamics: Public mempools enable frontrunning and sandwiching, with bots extracting over $1.9B in MEV on Ethereum — an invisible tax on users.
Privacy ≠ secrecy: True privacy creates fairer markets by protecting strategies while keeping outcomes verifiable. It’s about efficiency, not opacity.
Zero-knowledge proofs unlock balance: ZKPs enable compliance checks, proof-of-liquidity, and private execution without exposing wallets, strategies, or counterparties.
The future is programmable privacy: To attract institutions, DeFi must integrate privacy-first infrastructure that balances regulation, efficiency, and confidentiality.

There is such a thing as too much transparency. Even beyond privacy concerns, DeFi’s current default to pseudonymous transactions is not the right infrastructure for many of these participants. Wallet doxxing, alpha leakage, and MEV are direct consequences of a system where your every move is public before it’s final.

DeFi needs to move towards an approach where it can carefully balance transparency with privacy that promotes market efficiency.

The hidden costs of transparent markets

On public blockchains, every transaction, strategy, and wallet can be tracked in real time. That includes large positions, fund flows, and arbitrage routes. This creates a new playing field for market participants that leads to scenarios that never existed before in the world of TradFi. One where there are new risks, many aren’t willing to assume.

The starting point for these hidden problems is wallet doxxing. Pseudonymous addresses can and have been identified and tied back to their owners. There are even platforms dedicated to rewarding users for doing so. This turns high-value addresses into permanent public ledgers of activity and compromises their anonymity, safety, and competitive strategy.

There’s also a strategic cost. The moment an institutional wallet becomes identifiable, every trade becomes a signal that the address owner might or might not want publicly broadcast. This means alpha gets copied instantly, or changes in strategic direction get leaked prematurely. On-chain strategies like arbitrage, yield farming, or liquidity routing are routinely cloned, sandwiched, and drained by bots within minutes. This creates an uncompetitive environment where firms would be leaking trade secrets into a public forum.

Worst of all: frontrunning and MEV are now normalized. Public mempools let bots reorder or sandwich trades before they settle. The Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem has seen over $1.9 billion in MEV extracted, leading many to call it an “invisible tax” paid by users simply for interacting with the system.

Privacy as market infrastructure

We need to move past binaries and realize that privacy is not about compromising transparency. Privacy is about fair market conditions, and ultimately, market efficiency. Without privacy, DeFi becomes a zero-sum game dominated by bots and extractors. With it, DeFi becomes a more viable infrastructure layer for institutions, market makers, and real economic activity.

Luckily, we have the technology to create these nuances, and we have it at the infrastructure level. The main balancing act for privacy in DeFi comes with the ability to verify outcomes without revealing inputs, which is what zero-knowledge infrastructure enables. It enables confidential price discovery, fair execution, and strategic discretion, all without sacrificing transparency.

We can have market conditions that are fair and efficient by keeping the how, what, and when transparent — all without unnecessarily exposing the who.

A privacy-first approach to DeFi infrastructure using ZKPs unlocks this balance by allowing a participant to prove something is true without revealing the underlying data. Likewise, it enables new use cases that make DeFi even more appealing. Imagine:

Compliance without exposure: Prove KYC status or jurisdictional eligibility without sharing personal details.
Proof-of-liquidity: Show solvency or capital commitments without disclosing wallets or balances.
Anti-front-running execution: Run private auctions or batch orders where trade intent is hidden until settlement.

Private DeFi upgrades how data flows between counterparties, and they redefine what it means to transact in the open.

Institutional adoption needs programmable privacy

Many retail users already flock to these benefits, proving that private DeFi marks the next step in crypto adoption. We’re already seeing the rise of private trading pools and confidential rollups.

Institutional newcomers will soon look for similar benefits, especially solutions that streamline compliance with a privacy-first approach. Many onchain compliance mechanisms allow parties to transact confidently while ensuring that they remain regulatorily aligned. Hybrid models are also emerging where transparency is offered where it’s needed (for auditors, regulators, or DAOs), and privacy where it’s not (for trading strategies, counterparties, and wallet activity).

The key is striking the right balance between legal compliance and user confidentiality. A privacy-first approach to DeFi infrastructure provides institutions with the right tools to achieve this and creates healthy market dynamics.

We need to stop treating privacy as a threat to legitimacy. In reality, privacy is what makes legitimacy scalable. Private DeFi means protecting alpha, enabling efficient participation, and rewarding the most effective market participants by letting the right strategies succeed in an open system. More so, they can do so while demonstrating that they operate on the right side of regulations.

If we want DeFi to be more than a speculative playground, we must give builders and institutions the tools actually to compete, and privacy is the starting point.

Rob Viglione

Rob Viglione is the co-founder and CEO of Horizen Labs, the development studio behind several leading web3 projects, including zkVerify, Horizen, and ApeChain. Rob served in the US Air Force for several years and was deployed to Afghanistan, where he supported Special Operations Task Force intelligence efforts. During this time, he developed an early interest in Bitcoin, recognizing its potential benefits for countries with unstable economies. Rob is deeply interested in web3 scalability, blockchain efficiency, and zero-knowledge proofs. His work focuses on developing innovative solutions for zk-rollups to enhance scalability, create cost savings, and drive efficiency. He holds a PhD in finance, an MBA in finance and marketing, and a Bachelor’s degree in physics and applied mathematics. Rob currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Overwatch 2 is getting a Persona 5 crossover event alongside brand new hero

by admin August 23, 2025

Overwatch 2’s eighteenth season launches next week and is bringing a Persona 5 crossover alongside a brand new hero.

The trailer for Season 18 ends with a tease of Joker from Atlus’ beloved JRPG, who will likely appear as a skin for an existing hero. No further details are known at present, but hopefully more character skins and references will make their way into Blizzard’s shooter.

The new hero joining this season is Wuyang, a Chinese “aquatic prodigy” who fights with a Xuanwu Staff and various water abilities as a support character.

Season 18: Stadium Quick Play Official Trailer | Overwatch 2Watch on YouTube

Elsewhere, the biggest additions in Season 18 include:

Stadium Quick Play for shorter match times, along with Winston, Brigitte and Pharah joining Stadium at season launch (and Tracer mid-season)
A new stadium mode called Payload Race
A PvP refresh and perks update, with 50 new hero-specific perks, rebalanced options for certain heroes, and a full rank reset
Two new Mythics: one is a character skin offering four tiers of visual upgrades, the other is a weapon skin with flaming effects
A brand new battle pass full of cosmetics to unlock

More details can be found on the Overwatch 2 blog.

Season 18 of Overwatch 2 launches on 26th August.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Apple is reportedly considering using Gemini to power the new Siri

by admin August 23, 2025

Apple might use Gemini to power its revamped version of Siri, Bloomberg reports. The companies are in the early stages of exploring a partnership, with Google training a version of its Gemini model that can run on Apple’s servers. The iPhone maker was previously reported to be considering similar partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic.

“The company is simultaneously developing two versions of the new Siri: one dubbed Linwood that is powered by its models and another code-named Glenwood that runs on outside technology, ” Bloomberg writes. A final decision has yet to be made on what AI model Apple will ultimately use, but it’s entirely possible it sticks with its internally-developed models.

While seceding a potentially key technology to a competitor seems decidedly un-Apple, it’s a testament to how much difficulty the company has had rolling out Apple Intelligence. Apple included the majority of its new AI features in the release of iOS 18, but failed to ship an updated version of Siri that can draw on personal data to take action in apps. Apple ultimately admitted the Siri update was delayed in March, with the new launch now expected sometime in 2026.

The turmoil caused by the delay reportedly led to Apple’s various AI projects changing hands internally, and the company’s decision to consider using a third-party AI model. As of the launch of the Pixel 10, Gemini now offers a similar set of capabilities to what Apple promised with the new Siri. It could presumably do the same things on iOS with the right changes. Using a version of Gemini that runs on Apple’s hardware and servers — the company calls this Private Cloud Compute — could also add an additional layer of security.

Apple was reportedly planning to offer Gemini as an alternative to ChatGPT in Apple Intelligence, but the option has yet to ship. Having Gemini power some of its AI features would put Apple in a similar position to Samsung, who’s Galaxy AI relies on a mix of custom models and Gemini.

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August 23, 2025 0 comments