Tag:

infrastructure

Plasma Partners With Chainlink to Power Stablecoin Infrastructure

by admin October 3, 2025

Plasma, a newly launched layer 1 blockchain built specifically for stablecoins, has announced a partnership with Chainlink to integrate decentralized oracle services into its network. The collaboration will enable Plasma to provide accurate and high-performance data feeds for stablecoin transactions.

Stablecoin rails for global money movement require accurate, high performance data feeds.

We are partnering with @Chainlink to provide oracle services on Plasma so builders can use digital dollars to create life-changing financial applications for those who need it most. https://t.co/FSt7zHSTwZ

— Plasma (@Plasma) October 3, 2025

Following this partnership, Plasma has joined the Chainlink SCALE program, giving developers access to Chainlink Data Feeds and the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). These integrations provide tamper-resistant pricing, real-time payment data, and secure cross-chain messaging to more than 60 other blockchains. Builders on the Plasma network will now be able to create a digital dollar application aimed at delivering accessible and secure financial services.

According to Chainlink, Plasma surpassed $5.5 billion in stablecoin supply just one week after its launch, highlighting rapid demand for stablecoin-focused blockchains.

Aave live at launch

Highlighting the ecosystem push, Aave, the largest liquidity protocol, went live on Plasma at launch. Backed by Chainlink’s infrastructure, Aave brings deep stablecoin liquidity into the Plasma network and expands its reach to a new class of builders and users.

Paul Faecks, founder and CEO of Plasma, said, “Stablecoins are one of the most important use cases in crypto. They give everyone, everywhere permissionless access to core financial services, including saving, spending, and earning. Plasma is building the infrastructure for this global financial system, and we are thrilled to join Chainlink Scale and adopt the Chainlink data and interoperability standards. With Chainlink, Plasma can scale our onchain ecosystem, strengthen our stablecoin rails, and bring mainstream adoption closer to reality.”

Stani Kulechov, Founder and CEO of Aave Labs, said, “Stablecoins are foundational to DeFi’s growth, and Aave secures over 70% of all stablecoins across DeFi lending. Bringing that deep liquidity to Plasma from day one—alongside Chainlink’s leading oracle infrastructure—extends it to a high-throughput network and a new community of builders. Together we unlock instant, low-cost stablecoin movement and secure cross-chain connectivity for real-time payments and next-generation onchain finance.”

Addressing market concerns

The announcement follows a turbulent week for XPL. On October 2, 2025, Plasma Labs issued a statement to counter speculation after its token came under heavy selling pressure. The team clarified that no member or inventor has sold tokens. Plasma stressed that all XPL allocations remain locked for three years with a one-year cliff.

Co-founder Paul added that while some employees previously worked at Blur and Blast, others came from global firms like Google, Meta, Goldman Sachs, and Temasek. Plasma also denied rumors of any ties to market maker Wintermute, confirming it has never contacted them.

Regulatory Backdrop

Plasma’s push comes against a shifting backdrop. In Washington, lawmakers recently passed the Genius Act, the first federal framework for stablecoins. The law requires issuers to be licensed, hold reserves entirely in cash or treasuries, and publish regular audits. It also bans yield payments directly from issuers, as it aims to give the sector long-awaited legal clarity.

Projects like Plasma, which emphasizes transparency and dependable stablecoin rails, may benefit from the legislation if its ecosystem aligns with these standards. Partnerships with established oracle providers like Chainlink are likely to become crucial in meeting expectations for accuracy, security, and compliance readiness.

Also Read: Stablecoin Market Cap Surpasses $300B Milestone For First Time

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October 3, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

SEC’s Bow to DoubleZero Carries Major Weight for Decentralized Infrastructure: Peirce

by admin September 30, 2025

Even before the arrival of President Donald Trump and his crypto-friendly regulators, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had a crypto advocate, Commissioner Hester Peirce, who contends that a decision this week to grant DoubleZero a so-called no-action letter represents the kind of space she’s long been wanting to offer blockchain pursuits.

The SEC staff agreed to the startup’s request that the agency wouldn’t pursue any registration complaints for tokens issued for the specific aims of DoubleZero’s decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN). Commissioner Peirce suggested this open door for DePIN efforts keeps the SEC out of business it shouldn’t be in.

“Rather than relying on centralized corporate structures to coordinate activity, DePIN projects enlist participants to provide real-world capabilities, such as storage, telecommunications bandwidth, mapping, or energy, through open and distributed peer-to-peer networks,” she said in a statement. The activity doesn’t trigger the Supreme Court’s Howey Test — the test that decides what falls within the SEC’s jurisdiction — because such projects “allocate tokens as compensation for work performed or services rendered, rather than as investments with an expectation of profit from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”

The SEC uses no-action letters to make it clear what activities it doesn’t intend to pursue with enforcement actions, so a letter to a single firm can signal to an entire space what the agency’s current posture is. But to reap the benefits, the activity has to stay strictly within the boundaries outlined in the SEC’s letter.

“The line between tokens and securities law is getting clearer,” said Austin Federa, DoubleZero co-founder, in a statement to CoinDesk. “Founders who once spent countless hours (and legal dollars) on this question can now focus on building.”

DoubleZero sought to incentivize providers of infrastructure for network connectivity, such as large technology companies that control surplus fiber networks, by compensating them with tokens — in this case, the protocol’s native 2Z.

“Treating such tokens as securities would suppress the growth of networks of distributed providers of services,” Peirce said. “Blockchain technology cannot reach its full potential if we force all activities into existing financial market regulatory frameworks.”

The agency’s action drew praise from advocates of decentralized finance (DeFi).”No-Action Letters are one of the most pragmatic tools for navigating regulatory uncertainty in crypto, and the SEC’s issuance of No-Action Letters shows that constructive engagement with regulators is possible,” said Amanda Tuminelli, executive director of the DeFi Education Fund, in a blog posting by the DoubleZero Foundation.

The SEC has been pursuing an aggressive course of pro-crypto policy actions under Chairman Paul Atkins. Earlier this week, he said at a roundtable event in the agency’s Washington headquarters that establishing clear rules for the digital assets sector is “job one” for the SEC. Before Atkins arrived, Peirce led the agency’s crypto task force and was already working on policy statements to clarify the regulator’s expectations for the industry.

Read More: DoubleZero’s ‘New Internet’ for Blockchains Nabs $400M Valuation from Top Crypto VCs

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September 30, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Wall Street’s RWA bet could break on crypto infrastructure

by admin September 28, 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.

Real-world asset tokenization has surged to $27 billion, making it the fastest-growing corner of crypto. But while headlines boast about trillion-dollar potential, most platforms still fall short of the institutional standards needed to unlock real capital. The next phase of tokenization isn’t about hype — it’s about building rails institutions can actually trust.

Summary

RWA tokenization grew 118% YoY to $27B, led by BlackRock’s $1.7B BUIDL fund.
Institutions like Franklin Templeton and KKR are testing tokenization, but major allocators remain cautious.
Current gaps include asset commingling, weak auditability, and a lack of regulated custody and insurance.
To attract trillions in institutional capital, platforms must embed compliance, real-time audits, and ironclad custodial safeguards from day one.

Real-world asset tokenization is now the fastest-growing segment in crypto, clocking in at $27 billion, a 118% year-over-year surge. In the past year alone, BlackRock’s BUIDL fund crossed $1.7 billion in tokenized U.S. Treasuries, while institutional players like Franklin Templeton, Apollo, and KKR are rushing to tokenize everything from private credit to real estate on-chain.

The institutional growth has arrived, and now the challenge is clear: RWA platforms must build infrastructure that meets the unique standards of institutional capital if this gold rush is to deliver on its potential for investors and markets alike. When trillions in institutional assets start migrating onto blockchains, the quality of the rails matters for everyone.

As more players rush in, the gap between what is being built and what is actually needed deepens, growing more dangerous. With more at stake than ever, it’s time for platforms to focus on embedding the controls, transparency, and reliability that institutional capital requires. Only by adopting these standards can RWA tokenization deliver lasting benefits for end investors, borrowers, and overall financial stability, unlocking institutional capital at the scale needed to drive this trillion-dollar market. Forward-looking RWA platforms, however, recognize that serving institutions means evolving beyond early crypto playbooks. The next phase is about building the features needed to welcome and safeguard major capital.

The institutional standard: Where RWA infrastructure still falls short

In financial services, there are certain standards that are baseline; for example, client assets must be kept in legally distinct accounts. Meaning that if a custodian fails, the assets are recoverable and protected by regulations that have been used for decades.

On-chain, many RWA platforms still rely on pooled or omnibus wallets, a shortcut that blurs the line between client holdings and platform funds. This approach introduces a systemic risk: if a protocol is compromised, client assets may be mixed in ways that make legal recovery or restitution highly uncertain. On-chain, where such protections are usually absent, commingling turns a technical breach into a potential operational and legal nightmare.

Just as critical is auditability. Blockchain may promise transparency, but for institutional players, visibility without audit‑ready oversight is meaningless, and most RWA platforms still fall short.

It’s no surprise that many traditional hedge fund managers remain hesitant to crypto exposure, due to concerns over auditability and reporting standards, with 76% of those not currently invested in digital assets unlikely to enter the space within the next three years, up from 54% in 2023. Failing to meet these rigorous standards means locking out the very institutional capital poised to transform this market.

If RWA tokenization delivers on its promise, the industry can no longer settle for shortcuts. Infrastructure built for institutions means inherited safeguards, not just innovation. These safeguards include meticulous asset segregation, real-time auditability, and ironclad regulatory compliance, the same protections that have underpinned traditional finance for decades. Without them, institutional allocators will simply not move. This shift is what is needed if the next wave of capital is to be both substantial and sustainable.

Custody and compliance struggles

Behind every major allocation of institutional capital sits a base of regulated custody and insurance. Pension funds and sovereign wealth managers are not going to entrust billions to a browser extension wallet. Instead, institutions expect highly certified custodians (SOC2 or ISO) who provide both regulatory protection and robust insurance protecting clients in case of loss.

In short, while custody infrastructure is steadily improving, and leading providers are showing what’s possible, the broader market still has a way to go. Elevating these standards industry-wide is essential. Without insured, regulated custody at scale, even the most innovative platforms may find doors to major institutional capital remain firmly shut.

The same gap shows up in compliance. DeFi’s promise of permissionless access was once its boldest selling point. This same promise is ringing alarm bells for institutional allocators. Without built-in KYC, AML controls, and whitelisted investor pools, institutional allocators cannot participate — the risk profile is simply untenable. Expanding these frameworks will be key to unlocking broader institutional engagement going forward.

Until RWA platforms give regulated custody, insurance, and compliance the same priority as technical innovation, the sector will be stuck on the sidelines of true institutional finance. For tokenization to scale safely, these core systems must be foundational, or the promise of bringing real-world assets on-chain will not become a market reality.

The rift between headlines and reality

Even as the RWA tokenization market now exceeds $27 billion, the vast majority is held by crypto-native investors, hedge funds, and stablecoin issuers, not by the banks, insurers, or pension funds that move true institutional capital. Among the Fortune 100, only a handful have run tokenization pilots, and even fewer have allocated real balance sheet capital.

While some platforms have ticked off compliance boxes, earned accredited certifications, and landed custody partnerships, most of the industry still faces stiff regulatory scrutiny in the United States. As of today, the SEC continues to press for deeper disclosures, stronger investor protections, and clearer legal structures before it greenlights RWA tokenization for broad investment.

The real test is just beginning

Crypto is now at the same crossroads. The next wave of institutional capital will flow to platforms designed from day one with transparency, real-time auditability, segregated and insured custody, and with compliance woven into every layer. However, these platforms are still the exception, not the rule, at a time when the sector desperately needs robust, institution-ready rails. The few platforms taking a compliance-first approach, embedding safeguards and institution-ready custody from the outset, are the ones best positioned to meet Wall Street’s bar.

And as capital pours in, it’s only getting more selective. Institutional allocators will not move billions onto rails they cannot trust. The next leaders in RWA tokenization will be the ones embedding compliance, auditability, and custodial safeguards into their architecture from day one.

Abdul Rafay Gadit

Abdul Rafay Gadit is the Co-Founder of ZIGChain, a next-generation Layer 1 blockchain protocol created to provide the core infrastructure for real-world financial applications. At ZIGChain, Rafay oversees the development of foundational blockchain components, including the Wealth Management Engine and a $100 million ecosystem fund that supports builders and institutions bringing traditional financial products on-chain. In addition to his role at ZIGChain, Rafay is also the Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Zignaly, a leading Web3-native investment platform that connects everyday investors with top-performing fund managers through blockchain-powered profit sharing.

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September 28, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Nvidia Invests in OpenAI With $100 Billion AI Infrastructure Deal

by admin September 23, 2025

OpenAI and Nvidia have struck one of the biggest partnerships in AI, with Nvidia pledging to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI while supplying the compute power needed to build the company’s next generation of models.

The deal, announced Monday in a letter of intent, calls for OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia systems over the coming years. The first phase, one gigawatt, is scheduled for the second half of 2026 on Nvidia’s upcoming Vera Rubin platform, named for the late dark-matter astronomer. Nvidia’s investment will grow in scale as each new system is deployed.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

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“Everything starts with compute,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a statement. “Compute infrastructure will be the basis for the economy of the future, and we will utilize what we’re building with Nvidia to both create new AI breakthroughs and empower people and businesses with them at scale.”

Read also: Is AI Capable of ‘Scheming?’ What OpenAI Found When Testing for Tricky Behavior

This partnership is notable as AI research is increasingly constrained by access to massive computing resources. By securing a long-term pipeline of Nvidia hardware, OpenAI seeks to guarantee its ability to keep pace with rivals like Google, Anthropic, Microsoft and Meta.

For Nvidia, the deal makes it more than just a supplier. By gradually taking a large stake in OpenAI, it positions itself at the center of the AI boom, buying into the biggest AI company.

Read also: OpenAI Is Building a Teen-Friendly Version of ChatGPT

The completion of this deal will take years. If the partnership holds, it could define how quickly AI advances, what kinds of models OpenAI can deliver in the future and how accessible those models will be to the global population.

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September 23, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Upbit Unveils Ethereum Layer 2 ‘GIWA’ To Compete In Infrastructure Race

by admin September 9, 2025

Upbit, South Korea’s largest exchange by volume, confirmed plans on Tuesday to launch its own Ethereum Layer 2 network, GIWA, as part of a broader infrastructure push, a month after trademark filings hinted at the project.

Shortly before the confirmation, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok teased details of the project in a keynote speech at the Upbit Developer Conference, saying South Korea “can aggressively compete in the global financial infrastructure race, extending beyond Asia,” according to a rough translation of a company tweet.

Citing the approval of the first U.S. Bitcoin ETF last year and the signing of landmark stablecoin legislation into law, Oh added that digital assets are “not a bubble but the result of evolution.”

While blockchain development has advanced in markets like the U.S. and Singapore, “the Korean market remains largely sidelined,” a representative for the company told Decrypt.

“Dunamu hopes that more domestic developers will build innovative blockchain services on GIWA, enter the Web3 ecosystem, and avoid being excluded from the global market,” the representative said.

GIWA will follow a phased decentralization roadmap, with stablecoin plans dependent on pending Korean regulation, Decrypt was told. The network is designed to offer scalability through Optimistic Rollups, privacy features with verified liquidity from Upbit’s market data, and a mobile wallet for assets, NFTs, and dApps.

The confirmation follows trademark filings on August 8 from Dunamu Inc., the operator behind Upbit. A Sepolia testnet for the layer-2 chain is now live.

“Although still in testnet, Giwa represents an important step in expanding opportunities for both Korean and global builders,” Rei Nam, chief technology officer at Lambda256, Dunamu’s blockchain technology arm and subsidiary, told Decrypt, adding that their team has supported “Giwa Chain from its earliest stage,” to help “new services and ideas emerge from it.”

Diversification play

GIWA is built on Optimism’s OP Stack, with its public testnet targeting one-second block times. A dedicated GIWA Wallet application is in development, per details on its official documentation.

Analysts say the network’s design raises familiar questions around centralization.

Like Coinbase’s Base, GIWA is expected to begin with a single sequencer under operator control, a model that can give exchanges significant influence over transaction ordering and potential maximal extractable value (MEV) capture.

In Ethereum-based Layer 2 networks, a sequencer orders transactions, groups them into batches, and submits them back to Ethereum for settlement.

Earlier this month, a regulatory report cautioned that exchange-operated Layer 2 networks could in practice function as trading venues, raising questions over whether similar scrutiny may extend to Asia.

Similar to Upbit, large exchanges such as Coinbase in the U.S. also have “centralized sequencer issues,” Jay Jo, senior analyst at Seoul-based Tiger Research, told Decrypt. “Both Coinbase and Upbit focus more on financial infrastructure innovation and utility than decentralization. They’ll likely operate similarly.”

“Sure, Upbit tried diversifying with Levvels, NFTs, and overseas exchanges in Thailand and Indonesia. Most failed,” he said.

Still, even if those have failed and regulatory risks exist, Upbit “operates under the direct supervision of Korean authorities,” Jo said, noting that the crypto exchange had likely reached some agreements with regulators before moving forward with GIWA.

Given this, Upbit would need “growth drivers since domestic volumes declined after 2021 and competition keeps intensifying,” he said, adding that fee-based models have clear limits, because previous attempts at revenue diversification have failed to deliver.

Building its own chain could leverage its advantages, Jo said, pointing to a “massive user base and liquidity” for Upbit.

“This might be their most realistic diversification play.”

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September 9, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Digital identity is the infrastructure crisis no one admits

by admin September 6, 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.

In the early days of the internet, you didn’t need a password to browse, and online communities operated on good faith and shared curiosity. But as the web evolved into the infrastructure of modern life, helping us govern our money, politics, and information flows, digital identity never caught up.

Summary

Identity is the missing layer of the internet — while we’ve digitized commerce and communication, online trust still rests on fragile, centralized logins and surveillance systems.
Verification ≠ identity — proving you hold a key or match a photo isn’t enough; true digital identity must be portable, composable, and tied to both humans and AI agents.
AI platforms are becoming dangerous gatekeepers — without trustworthy identity, we risk a future where bots, corporations, and governments control access, incentives, and even speech.
Current fixes fall short — fragmented age-verification tools and surveillance-heavy systems raise more privacy questions than they solve.
The solution: self-owned, privacy-preserving identity — cryptographic passports and zero-knowledge proofs can enable scalable trust without sacrificing freedom, creating a post-platform internet built on authenticity.

We’ve digitized commerce, communication, and computation, but identity is still a patchwork of logins and surveillance. The very thing that enables trustworthy relationships in the physical world, knowing who you’re interacting with, is nonexistent online.

Digital identity is the missing layer of the internet. Without it, everything we build rests on sand.

Verification isn’t enough

We often confuse identity with verification. Proving that you hold the private keys to a wallet, or that your face matches a passport photo, is only part of the story.

But identity must do more. It must be portable and composable across systems, supporting not just access, but trust. And it must work not just for people, but also the bots and agents we’re increasingly relying on.

Trust infrastructure is the fundamental challenge to be solved to fix digital identity.

The perfect storm

AI is currently being built like platforms, with a single point of failure. We’ve seen this movie before, on the web, Twitter, and Facebook, which centralized the discovery layer of the internet, concentrating control over what we see, share, and believe. AI is heading in the same direction, with a handful of companies owning the gateways to intelligence itself. If we allow this trajectory to continue, the future of AI will be defined not by open innovation, but by gatekeepers who control the inputs, outputs, and incentives of the entire ecosystem.

AI platforms are fast becoming the new gatekeepers of human activity. They train on our conversations and increasingly act on our behalf. But they lack accountability.

AI agents can generate content, apply for jobs, purchase products, and even negotiate contracts. But how do you know if that agent is operating on behalf of a real, unique human? Or a farm of coordinated bots? If you can’t tell the difference, you can’t trust the output.

The question becomes: how do we prove personhood and tie it to real accountability, without giving up privacy or control?

The current system is failing us

Last week, the EU launched a prototype age verification app across five countries, claiming to use zero-knowledge proofs to confirm if someone is over 18 without exposing their identity. The move is part of the EU’s broader Digital Services Act enforcement and a signal that lawmakers are finally starting to treat identity as infrastructure.

In the UK, where age verification has already been mandated under the Online Safety Act, platforms are relying on everything from facial recognition to credit card checks to behavioral data, often powered by opaque third-party providers.

These fragmented approaches raise more questions than they answer. Who stores the data? Who decides who gets access? And what happens when AI systems start using this data to infer, manipulate, or impersonate our identities?

You only need to look at the privacy policy of AI startups like Friend, which states it can use data from “everything you say, hear, and see”, to realize how far we’ve already drifted toward the normalization of surveillance.

Scaling trust

To establish and scale trust, we need ways to prove uniqueness and accountability. But to protect freedom, we must do it without exposing personal data, linking everything on-chain, or submitting to government-run surveillance regimes. Today, identity is centralized and owned by platforms and governments, along with all the data tied to it, leaving individuals with no real control over who sees it, how it’s used, or when it can be taken away. Owning your identity means holding it yourself, not renting it from a provider. This starts with a secure one-to-one mapping between a biological human and a digital representation, encrypted and held locally, a version of a cryptographic passport that’s verifiable, portable, and private.

From there, we can use zero-knowledge proofs to let users verify traits like age, location, and credentials, without disclosing underlying information. Combined with social graph validation, this would allow us to create identity networks that grow virally, not through centralized registration but through real human connections.

This system covers both humans and AI agents alike, ensuring that every autonomous actor on the network can be tied back to a real, accountable individual without ever needing to reveal who they are.

Post-platform Internet

Just as property rights enabled the Industrial Revolution, and Bitcoin (BTC) enabled permissionless finance, we need to unlock the next evolution of digital coordination, and that is authenticity at scale.

Every human should have a portable, self-owned identity that can be used across platforms. We also need to ensure that bots and agents can be audited and held accountable, and that DAOs and marketplaces can make decisions based on real, unique participants, not sybil attacks or fake accounts.

The world we’re sleepwalking toward

Let’s be honest about where this is heading if we do nothing. Over 50 countries are developing CBDCs, AI platforms are cooperating with governments, and wearable devices record our speech, location, heart rate, and more. The most sensitive data about our behavior, thoughts, and preferences will sit in private systems waiting to be breached or weaponized.

If we don’t act now, centralized identity, CBDCs, and AI platforms will converge into a system where governments can cut you off entirely for something you say in public, just as it worked in the USSR, only 100 times more efficient, more permanent, and harder to escape.

What we need is a proactive identity layer for the entire internet. Not just for web3, but for every digital interaction, whether it’s social, financial, creative, or autonomous. One that’s not owned by governments or corporations and verifies human uniqueness without surveillance. One that prioritizes privacy, dignity, and individual freedom at the protocol level.

The future of the internet demands more than patches; it demands new primitives.

Kirill Avery

Kirill Avery is a self-taught coder since the age of 11. He built Europe’s largest consumer social app at 16 (15M users). The youngest engineer at VK.com and the youngest solo founder accepted into Y Combinator.

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September 6, 2025 0 comments

100 dollar bill and 5,000 ruble bill on a map

Product Reviews

US offers $10M reward for snitching on trio of Russians that hacked critical infrastructure

by admin September 4, 2025

A trio of Russian hackers is probably about to find out who their friends really are. The U.S. Department of State announced a $10 million bounty for information about the hackers, who “conducted malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure on behalf of the Russian government,” via its Rewards for Justice program.

The alleged hackers are Marat Valeryevich Tyukov, Mikhail Mikhailovich Gavrilov, and Pavel Aleksandrovich Akulovof. The State Department said in the X post announcing the bounty that the trio are officers in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) who “targeted more than 500 foreign energy companies in 135 other countries.”

The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed indictments related to these hackers in 2022. In a press release, the department said that “between May and September 2017, the defendant and co-conspirators hacked the systems of a foreign refinery and installed malware […] to prevent the refinery’s safety systems from functioning (i.e., by causing the [industrial control system] to operate in an unsafe manner while appearing to be operating normally), granting the defendant and his co-conspirators the ability to cause damage to the refinery, injury to anyone nearby, and economic harm.”

Stellar Lumens Gains 3% Ahead of Network Infrastructure Overhaul

by admin September 2, 2025

Stellar Lumens (XLM) extended its recent rally over the past 24 hours, climbing 3% as buyers absorbed heightened selling pressure and pushed the token into fresh resistance levels. Between Sept. 1 at 15:00 UTC and Sept. 2 at 14:00 UTC, XLM advanced from $0.36 to $0.36, with volatility of 5% underscoring active participation.

The asset found support at $0.35 following a brief wave of selling before consolidating in the $0.36 range. Resistance emerged around $0.37, where the market saw two rejection points, though trading volumes above the daily average of 31.2 million tokens signaled sustained institutional interest.

The bullish structure carried into the final hour of the session, when XLM gained 2% from $0.36 to $0.37. The move was bolstered by a volume spike of 2.7 million units at 14:00 UTC, enabling the token to briefly pierce the $0.37 ceiling before stabilizing above $0.36. The breakout reinforced the 24-hour trend and suggested buyers are building a foundation for further upside if volume momentum continues.

At the same time, leading South Korean exchanges Bithumb and Upbit said they will suspend XLM deposits and withdrawals beginning Sept. 3 at 09:00 UTC. The move is part of preparations for Stellar’s Protocol 23 upgrade, which aims to modernize network infrastructure and expand interoperability.

Protocol 23 has been framed as a step toward broadening Stellar’s utility for real-world assets, of which roughly $460 million are already circulating on the network. The synchronization of price gains with network enhancements highlights a growing narrative of enterprise adoption.

CoinDesk Data’s technical analysis model note that the consolidation above $0.36, combined with systematic accumulation around key support levels, points to ongoing institutional positioning that could pave the way for a sustained move beyond $0.37.

XLM/USD (TradingView)

Market Analysis Reveals Strengthening Corporate Interest

Price established fundamental support at $0.35 during heightened selling pressure on September 1, 21:00.
Robust accumulation activity developed between $0.36-$0.36 following decisive market recovery.
Resistance parameters identified at $0.37-$0.37 where price encountered dual rejection events.
Trading volume increases above 24-hour average of 31.20 million validated institutional market participation.
Asset maintaining consolidation within ascending price channel formation.
Breakout potential above $0.37 resistance dependent upon sustained volume validation.
Trading momentum accelerated during 13:35-13:46 session with decisive upward movement.
Enhanced support structure established around $0.36-$0.36 price levels.

Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk’s full AI Policy.

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September 2, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Asia is redefining global financial infrastructure

by admin August 31, 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.

Tokenization is rewriting the rules of global wealth, and Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia are emerging as epicentres of the global real-world asset boom. Unlike legacy hubs like London, dependent on U.S.-approved crypto rules and bogged by regulatory inertia, Asia is moving deliberately to shape its own financial future.

Summary

Tokenized sukuks as untapped opportunity: Despite $1T+ in global sukuk issuances, access has been limited to institutions — tokenization can democratize Shariah-compliant, yield-bearing finance.
Regulatory clarity ≠ readiness: Licensing is now baseline, but without secondary markets and infrastructure, $25B in tokenized assets remain largely illiquid.
Infrastructure as competitive edge: Success depends on compliance-by-design systems that enable cross-border settlement, interoperability, and retail-friendly products.
Execution over vision: Platforms must localize architecture, own deep infrastructure stacks, and build trusted distribution rails to capture Islamic finance growth.

Yet, as capital and innovation flood into RWAs, one segment remains curiously underserved: Shariah-compliant, yield-bearing instruments. Sukuks, long dominated by institutions, represent over $1 trillion in outstanding issuances globally, with Malaysia and Indonesia accounting for nearly half (47%) of the global sukuk market. This lucrative investment vehicle has historically been constrained to institutional and accredited investors — but tokenized offerings are here to change that.

As regulatory approval becomes table stakes, Asian players are racing to capture the global sukuk market with tokenization as the means to lower capital barriers and unlock Islamic finance liquidity. However, resilient builders must first operationalize compliance through on-chain products, cross-border plug-ins, and transparent liquidity access to drive a performant market with lowered entry barriers. The future of tokenization will be defined by utility, not ideology.

Regulatory approval is only the point of parity

Regulatory licensing, once conferred as legitimacy, is now the baseline. In many jurisdictions, licensing has outpaced the infrastructure needed to operationalize it, leaving much of the $25 billion in global tokenized assets illiquid or restricted to primary issuance stages. Regulatory clarity risks becoming symbolic rather than catalytic without mature secondary capital markets to build scalable products, investor trust, and robust financial ecosystems.

As global hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Switzerland court the same capital flows and talent pools, regulators must manage the flood of new entrants, each eyeing a stake in the region’s financial economy. This competitiveness will hinge on robust regulatory frameworks and the infrastructure readiness of those operating within them.

To future-proof, financial platforms should build product architecture designed to meet the evolving demands of such global hubs from day one, ensuring interoperability and scalability to reach underserved markets. Those natively embedding compliance, from KYC and cross-border identity resolution to RegTech integration, are better positioned to pass due diligence by sovereign investors. Many are already aligning with global standards such as ISO 20022 for payments and token settlement, suggesting that tokenized finance is converging with global norms faster than expected.

Ultimately, infrastructure must go beyond following rules to deliver practical utility. Compliance-by-design principles should be architected to enable 24/7 cross-border settlement systems, frictionless access to regulated yield offerings, and mobile-native experiences tailored for first-time investors. These systems must anticipate evolving compliance standards while remaining intuitive to new users. By becoming ecosystem architects, platforms can stitch together on-chain pipes for a new class of inclusive, compliant, and composable investment vehicles.

Turning regulatory clarity into a competitive edge

The advent of regulation-ready markets means the next generation of tokenized finance will be merited by execution, not vision. The burden has shifted to how well platforms translate the ‘license to operate’ into usable products by uniting user experience, cross-border operability, and asset design, with execution leading on three fronts.

Localised architecture from day one: Tuning into local realities will outpace hype players who simply replicate Western models. Of systemic significance across Asia, Islamic finance is gaining a foothold even in non-Muslim majority countries. This indicates successful platforms are built with native fluency in local economic transactions and on-ground environments.
Owning infrastructure to move fast: Deep infrastructure stack ownership, from Layer-2 chains to compliance engines, enables faster market moves, resilience, and jurisdictional adaptability. Platforms that nimbly update systems and support programmable rulesets while actively responding to regulatory changes will dominate institutional adoption and market expansion.
Trusted distribution rails: Reaching the next billion users requires working with the infrastructure people already know and trust. Direct integrations with legacy institutions, including banks, telcos, and sovereign funds, are key to mass adoption. From crypto cards, instant USD off-ramps, to yield-bearing sukuks, a financial superapp is an essential front-end for full-stack financial ecosystems serving real-world Islamic finance needs.

Ultimately, regulatory clarity is only as valuable as the infrastructure it enables. In the new phase of tokenized finance, those building for local context are best positioned to shape what comes next.

Scaling amid regulatory flux and infrastructure gaps

In emerging markets, where innovation outpaces precedent, high-stakes growth depends less on speed than on resilience. In these markets, sandbox conditions and regulatory frameworks are still crystallizing, and rigidity becomes risk. Operators must build systems that thrive in today’s rules and anticipate tomorrow’s evolution. Otherwise, hard-coded infrastructure will turn policy shifts into operational fire drills, eroding user trust and regulator confidence.

From fragmented identity systems, limited custodial services, to absent standardized third-party audit protocols, infrastructure gaps continue to restrict institutional capital in RWA tokenization. Even advanced jurisdictions like Hong Kong are bringing virtual asset custodians under formal oversight. This reflects how fragile custody, identity, and compliance infrastructure remain dynamic evolution points globally. At its current juncture, agility and fastidious oversight are necessary levers to unlock institutional participation at scale.

Setting the new world order with tokenized sukuks

As Asian regulations mature, the question is no longer whether tokenization will reshape finance, but how and who will lead. Licensing is just the start; thriving platforms must integrate robust compliance, consider retail expectations, and cater to Shariah-aligned finance.

Tokenized sukuks offer a compelling pathway for accessible, yield-bearing products within Islamic finance. It demands Shariah-compliant product design, interoperable cross-border rails, and infrastructure to achieve inclusive, ethical finance at scale.

Policymakers and regulators would welcome existing platforms that embed inclusivity, liquidity, and ethical access into their architecture, ensuring tokenization delivers on its promise of real-world wealth transformation.

Startups entering these hubs must meet significantly higher standards while leveraging niche specializations and local insights. In this new financial order, Asia is writing its own rules and inviting the world to follow, powering the next era of tokenized finance.

Daniel Ahmed

Daniel Ahmed is the COO and co-founder of Fasset. Daniel is an experienced finance and technology professional with a background in leading high-impact projects for governments as well as private enterprises. Before co-founding Fasset, Daniel worked at the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, focusing on strategic policies and initiatives for the UAE across Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain projects, contributing to the UAE’s vision of technological excellence. Daniel was also named in Forbes 30 under 30 in 2024. Prior to this, Daniel was at Deloitte London and New York, where he advised banking and capital markets clients on the impact of emerging technologies. He started his career at Bluefield Partners, a leading private equity investor in energy infrastructure. With a strong focus on Islamic fintech, Daniel founded the Islamic Finance & Ethics Society — a think tank spanning all major UK universities. Daniel is a mentor with the Antler Operator Network and is a former World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Daniel has an academic background in economics, philosophy, and politics from King’s College London.

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August 31, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Bitcoin Infrastructure Gets $200-M Boost from Crypto Execs’ SPAC Push

by admin August 29, 2025

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

A group of crypto executives has filed to raise $200 million through a blank-check company that plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker BIXIU.

According to a regulatory filing, Cayman Islands-based Bitcoin Infrastructure Acquisition Corp Ltd will offer 20 million shares at $10 each and then search for a private company to merge with and take public.

Experienced Crypto Team

The company’s leaders bring long ties to bitcoin and crypto firms. Ryan Gentry, named CEO, spent five years leading business development at Lightning Labs.

He also worked as a lead analyst at Multicoin Capital. James DeAngelis was picked as finance chief; he has run finance teams at Kroll, a firm involved in several crypto bankruptcy cases.

Vikas Mittal, a director, is the chief investment officer at Meteora Capital, the sponsor behind this IPO and a backer of the 2023 SPAC that took Bitcoin Depot public.

Image: NASDAQ

According To The Filing, Focus Will Be On Infrastructure

Bitcoin Infrastructure says it will look for targets involved in wallets, custody, exchanges, lending protocols and tokenized financial instruments, as well as applications such as payments, DeFi and cross-border finance.

The filing frames the SPAC as a vehicle to bring infrastructure-style businesses into public markets rather than speculative consumer tokens.

Market Appetite For Crypto IPOs

Wall Street money has already flowed into crypto companies that went public this year, and SPACs are part of that push.

BTCUSD now trading at $109,827. Chart: TradingView

Bullish and Circle Internet Group are two recent public debuts tied to crypto. In just two days, two crypto-focused SPACs raised a combined $575 million: CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III closed a $230 million IPO and M3-Brigade Acquisition VI Corp closed $345 million.

A prior M3-Brigade SPAC took ReserveOne public in July. These moves show there is still capital available for firms that promise a path to public markets.

Baggage And Risks Remain

There are reasons for caution. Kroll, where DeAngelis worked with finance teams, faces a lawsuit over a data breach that touched creditors of FTX, BlockFi and Genesis.

The SPAC itself has not named a target yet. That leaves investors buying into a plan without a clear deal on the table.

Blank-check companies have been criticized for raising large sums and then racing to find a suitable merger, which can lead to rushed decisions.

Featured image from Unsplash, 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 29, 2025 0 comments