Author: James Wilson

Russian officials have moved closer to a long-term shutdown of crypto mining in Moscow and nearby regions as lawmakers have advanced a separate bill to jail unregistered miners. Summary A Russian power-industry commission has backed a proposal to ban crypto mining in Moscow, Moscow Oblast, and parts of Kursk until at least 2032. Kommersant reported that the government is also weighing a wider mining ban across 19 regions within Moscow’s power distribution zone. The State Duma has advanced a bill to criminalize illegal mining, with fines of up to 2.5 million rubles and prison terms of up to 5 years.…

Stablecoin payments run through settlement and B2B rails, not consumer checkout, BridgerPay CEO Ran Cohen said. Summary Cohen said real stablecoin demand sits in cross-border settlement, B2B payouts, and treasury, not retail checkout. He argued Mastercard’s $1.8 billion BVNK deal validates the rail rather than ending the case for neutral orchestration. Cohen expects stablecoins to scale across business flows over 18 months without displacing cards at the till. Stablecoin payments are running through global settlement and B2B rails rather than consumer checkout pages, BridgerPay co-founder Ran Cohen said in an interview. Stablecoin transaction volume crossed $33 trillion in 2025. Cohen’s…

FTSE Russell’s governance committee has approved a fast-entry overhaul that will allow mega IPOs to be added more quickly to its top benchmarks, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Summary FTSE Russell governance committee backs fast-entry and minimum standard changes after market consultation IPOs whose investable market cap exceeds a Russell Top 500 threshold now qualify for immediate fast-entry assessment The move is designed to make flagship indices more responsive to large new listings and more reflective of the investable market Bloomberg ETF senior analyst Eric Balchunas said on X that the FTSE Russell Governance Committee has signed off…

AmericanFortress has launched a beta privacy infrastructure on Arbitrum, promising compliant, mixer-free transaction shielding for institutional and high-volume DeFi users. Summary AmericanFortress debuts Send-to-Name privacy beta on Arbitrum for institutional DeFi System uses stealth addresses and FortressNames to hide counterparties while staying auditable Launch leans on Arbitrum’s roughly $20 billion DeFi footprint and growing institutional presence AmericanFortress has rolled out its beta privacy infrastructure on Arbitrum, introducing a Send-to-Name system that uses human readable FortressNames and auto generated stealth addresses to conceal counterparties while preserving bilateral auditability on chain. The company frames the launch squarely at institutions and high frequency…

DMG Blockchain mined 69 bitcoin in its fiscal Q2 2026 but is betting its future on transforming those mining operations into AI-ready data centers serving Canadian government and enterprise demand. Summary DMG produced 69 BTC in Q2, flat quarter-on-quarter but 25% lower year-on-year. Revenue fell to $7.3 million, as the company doubled down on an AI data center pivot. Management is reorganizing around two pillars: core data centers and digital asset financial services. According to its latest earnings release, DMG Blockchain Solutions generated 69 Bitcoin (BTC) in self-mining during the second quarter of fiscal 2026, essentially unchanged from the prior quarter but…

Coinbase has expanded its partnership with Standard Chartered to give institutional clients broader fiat funding access across global markets.  Summary Coinbase added multi-currency rails with Standard Chartered for AUD, SGD, CAD, CHF, EUR and GBP. Institutional clients can manage global books without forced FX consolidation across Coinbase Prime and Exchange. Direct Deposit also returned for U.S. customers, adding paycheck-to-crypto allocation with zero trading fees nationwide. The integration adds new rails for AUD, SGD, CAD, and CHF, along with GSIB-backed settlement for EUR and GBP. The service is available across Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Exchange. Coinbase said the goal is to…

The XRPL Foundation has introduced a draft proposal called “AMM Swappable Curves” to expand the XRP Ledger’s native automated market maker.  Summary XRPL Foundation introduced a draft AMM proposal adding StableSwap and concentrated liquidity to liquidity pools. The upgrade would let pool creators choose curve types without changing existing XLS-30 pools. Stablecoin, RWA and DeFi markets could gain better pricing if validators approve the amendment. The proposal was submitted by Denis Angell and Roman Thpt and remains listed as a draft amendment. The plan builds on XLS-30, the AMM system that went live on XRPL mainnet in March 2024. XLS-30…

South Korea’s domestic crypto trading activity has fallen sharply compared with the country’s stock market.  Summary South Korea’s crypto trading volume fell to 8% of KOSPI activity in May this year. The decline marks a sharp reversal from December 2024, when crypto trading beat stocks heavily. Negative Bitcoin Korea Premium data shows weaker local demand compared with overseas crypto markets. According to Digital Asset, total trading volume across Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax reached only 8% of KOSPI trading volume in May, based on data through May 26. That means local crypto trading has fallen to less than one-tenth…

Crypto firms, including Galaxy Digital, Gemini, Sharplink, and Bitmine Immersion Technologies, have appeared on FTSE Russell’s preliminary lists for possible inclusion in the Russell 3000 indexes, opening the door to automatic buying from index-linked funds and new institutional exposure. Summary Galaxy Digital and Bitmine Immersion Technologies qualified for potential inclusion in the Russell 1000 index based on their market capitalizations. Gemini, Sharplink, and Forward Industries appeared on preliminary Russell index lists tied to smaller U.S. equity benchmarks.  Russell index inclusion could trigger institutional buying from ETFs and mutual funds that track the benchmarks. According to preliminary index lists published by…

Bankless co-founder David Hoffman said he sold his ETH after reassessing the long-running “ETH is money” thesis.  Summary Hoffman sold his ETH after saying the asset’s money thesis has largely played out now. He remains bullish on Ethereum, but says apps and L2s may capture more value directly. Related crypto.news coverage shows stablecoins, L2 fixes, and ETH treasuries still driving activity across Ethereum. In a May 26 X post, Hoffman wrote that Ethereum has earned its current market position, but he sees less room for ETH to receive a new structural rerating from the market. Hoffman said the sale does…