Author: James Wilson

Dutch prosecutors have sold cryptocurrency seized from bankrupt trading platform Knaken for €2.2 million ($2.5 million), leaving the proceeds as the only money currently available in an estate facing customer claims estimated at €10 million to €12 million. Summary Dutch prosecutors sold seized Knaken crypto for €2.2 million to help repay creditors. About 6,300 customers face claims estimated at €10 million to €12 million. The trustee said Knaken may not have held enough crypto to match customer account balances. Knaken owner Ronald J. disputes claims that customer funds broadly went uninvested. Dutch regional broadcaster Rijnmond reported that court-appointed trustee Carl…

Austria has fined Bitpanda €70,000 ($82,000) for breaches of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, making the case the Austrian regulator’s first published final penalty under MiCA. Summary Austria’s FMA fined Bitpanda €70,000 for breaches of MiCA disclosure and marketing rules. Bitpanda failed to submit a required crypto asset white paper at least 20 working days before publication. The company also distributed marketing material before the white paper was published and omitted mandatory disclosures and contact details. The penalty was completed through an expedited procedure and is the FMA’s first published final MiCA fine. The Austrian Financial Market Authority…

Dutch prosecutors sold the remaining cryptocurrency seized from failed trading platform Knaken for €2.2 million, giving its bankruptcy estate its first known pool of funds for creditor claims. Summary Dutch prosecutors sold Knaken’s remaining cryptocurrency for €2.2 million, creating the bankruptcy estate’s current funds. Trustee Carl Hamm contacted approximately 6,300 customers and warned recoveries could remain limited for creditors. Customers invested an estimated €10 million to €12 million, according to the court appointed trustee. Rotterdam’s court declared Knaken bankrupt July 16 after prosecutors alleged €7 million remained unaccounted for. Knaken’s owner disputes the trustee’s accounting claims but acknowledges part of…

Ethereum research group Ethlabs has urged core developers to prioritize censorship resistance, faster blocks, native account abstraction and continued Layer 1 scaling for Hegotá, Ethereum’s planned upgrade after Glamsterdam.  Summary FOCIL remains Hegotá’s only scheduled feature, while Frame Transactions have advanced to considered-for-inclusion status officially. Ethlabs ranks Quick Slots as top priority, proposing Hegotá begin reducing Ethereum’s twelve-second slot time. Frame Transactions could enable passkeys, sponsored fees, token-denominated gas payments, batching and post-quantum account upgrades. Ethlabs backs EIP-8131 and EIP-8279 to constrain payload growth and support higher gas limits safely. Execution client teams must submit Hegotá rankings by September 10…

Apple has patched a critical macOS Screen Sharing vulnerability after attackers exploited internet-facing Macs to gain root access and install Monero mining software, according to an updated warning from the Netherlands’ National Cyber Security Centre. Summary Apple patched CVE-2026-65400 after attackers exploited Mac Screen Sharing services to install Monero miners remotely. Dutch cybersecurity officials confirmed compromised Macs had root access and unauthorized Monero mining software installed. CISA now scores the authentication flaw 9.8 critical, up from its earlier 7.1 assessment overall. Huntress found tens of thousands of potentially exposed Macs, especially internet-hosted bare-metal Apple systems worldwide. Changing Screen Sharing passwords…

Solana is now accessible on the XRP Ledger’s native decentralized exchange through a wrapped SOL asset issued through Axelar, extending interoperability between the two blockchain ecosystems.  Summary Axelar-issued SOL is now tradable through XRP Ledger’s native decentralized exchange using multiple ecosystem interfaces. XRPL Foundation director Hussein Zangana warned Axelar currently remains the only legitimate wrapped SOL issuer. Official XRPL EVM documentation identifies Axelar’s mainnet gateway address as rfmS3zqrQrka8wVyhXifEeyTwe8AMz2Yhw for cross-chain asset transfers. Axelar connected Solana to its interoperability network in June, enabling transfers with XRP Ledger ecosystems. Wrapped SOL represents Solana exposure on XRPL and should not be confused with…

XRP briefly fell below the closely watched $1 level before rebounding on Aug. 16 as veteran trader Peter Brandt renewed his criticism of the cryptocurrency and said he would prefer Bitcoin even if given a large XRP position. Summary Peter Brandt said he would immediately convert a hypothetical 500,000 XRP position into Bitcoin instead. XRP briefly traded below $1 before rebounding toward $1.06 during Sunday’s volatile cryptocurrency market session. CoinGecko places XRP’s record high at $3.65, reached on July 17, 2025, before current decline. Brandt had warned in March 2025 that XRP could fall toward $1.07 after support failed. Binance…

Harvard Management Company kept its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust unchanged during the second quarter, ending two consecutive quarters of reductions in its publicly disclosed Bitcoin exposure.  Summary Harvard held 3,044,612 IBIT shares worth $101.4 million at June 30, unchanged from March quarter-end. Harvard previously cut its IBIT share count 43% during first quarter after trimming fourth-quarter exposure. Mubadala and Abu Dhabi Investment Council retained 22.9 million combined IBIT shares throughout second quarter. JPMorgan increased reported IBIT holdings while Morgan Stanley reduced its reported share count during Q2. Harvard held $171.2 million in gold ETFs, exceeding its $101.4 million…

Cardano’s Dijkstra upgrade remains on its agreed technical scope and schedule, with developers targeting Linear Leios and Nested Transactions in the first phase before a separate Peras activation in 2027.  Summary Cardano’s Dijkstra Phase 1 targets mainnet by year-end with Linear Leios and Nested Transactions included. Peras activation is planned for Q2 2027 through a separate intra-era hard fork on mainnet. Amaru currently validates and syncs to tip, with mainnet block production targeted for November 2026. Cardano plans one constitutional amendment adding Dijkstra parameters, targeted for submission by September 11, 2026. Dijkstra’s first phase also prepares Peras codecs and parameters…

An unnamed XRP Ledger startup being developed by former Ripple staffer Bias Goose will use RLUSD as a primary financial rail, according to a series of public posts published since Aug. 8.  Summary RLUSD will underpin the unnamed XRP Ledger startup, according to former Ripple staffer Bias Goose. Bias Goose says the project will avoid issuing its own token or using artificial incentives. Bias Goose first teased the unnamed XRP Ledger startup on August 8, targeting roughly September. Ripple reported nearly $1.6 billion of RLUSD circulating on August 6 against larger reserve assets. Project claims of yields above Treasury rates…