Author: James Wilson

Actor and cryptocurrency critic Ben McKenzie has taken his campaign against the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act to Capitol Hill as the legislation approaches a possible Senate vote. Summary Ben McKenzie lobbied senators against the CLARITY Act as lawmakers prepare for possible floor action. His campaign joins Democratic calls for stronger ethics rules covering President Trump’s growing cryptocurrency interests. The bill needs sixty Senate votes, making bipartisan support essential before lawmakers leave for recess. McKenzie spent Tuesday meeting with lawmakers and joined Democratic senators at a Capitol Hill press conference opposing the CLARITY Act. The former The O.C. actor argued…

The United Kingdom has set an early 2027 target to issue its first digital sovereign bond on distributed-ledger infrastructure, becoming the first G7 country to launch government debt in tokenized form. Summary The UK plans to issue its first blockchain based sovereign bond by early 2027 through HSBC’s Orion platform. The Digital Gilt Instrument will operate inside the Bank of England and FCA Digital Securities Sandbox. The move comes as the UK expands cooperation with the US on stablecoins, tokenized assets and cross border financial markets. According to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who announced the plan during her annual Mansion House…

Polymarket has been blocked in the Czech Republic after authorities classified the prediction market platform as an unlicensed gambling service, adding another European jurisdiction to the list of countries restricting its operations. Summary Czech authorities have given internet providers 15 days to block access to Polymarket. Regulators said the platform must follow gambling rules regardless of how its contracts are described. India, Argentina and several European countries have also taken action against Polymarket. The Czech Ministry of Finance has ordered internet service providers to block access to Polymarket within 15 days of placing the platform on the country’s list of…

Ark Invest has expanded its exposure to Circle and Block while cutting its Robinhood position, adding nearly $15.4 million worth of shares across the three companies. Summary Ark Invest bought nearly $13.9 million worth of Circle shares and added to its Block position. The investment firm sold about $3.15 million worth of Robinhood shares as the stock moved higher. The latest trades continue Ark’s recent pattern of buying selected stocks after price declines while rebalancing portfolio holdings. According to Ark Invest’s latest daily trading disclosure, the investment firm purchased 220,012 shares of Circle Internet Group across its ARK Innovation ETF…

The United States has frozen more than $130 million in cryptocurrency held in wallets linked to the Central Bank of Iran, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Summary US authorities froze more than $130 million in crypto tied to Iran’s central bank wallets. On-chain data showed four Tron wallets holding about $131 million in USDT were frozen Tuesday. The action follows April’s $344 million USDT freeze and wider US pressure on Iranian crypto. The action adds to a broader U.S. campaign targeting Iran’s use of digital assets and other financial channels.In a July 14 post on X, Bessent said the…

You press send on a crypto transaction and nothing happens. The wallet says pending. The block explorer shows your transaction floating in limbo, unconfirmed, with no clear indication of when, or whether, it will land. Most people meet the mempool for the first time in exactly this moment of mild panic, and most of the advice they find assumes they already know what a mempool is. This guide starts from zero. The mempool, short for memory pool, is the waiting room where every blockchain transaction sits between the moment you broadcast it and the moment a miner or validator writes…

Every few weeks, a token that has done nothing wrong falls ten percent in a day, and the explanation turns out to have been sitting in public view for years. A tranche of supply, promised to early investors back when the project raised money, hit its scheduled release date. Insiders who bought at a fraction of the market price suddenly held tokens they could sell, and enough of them did. Traders call these events unlocks, and they are among the most predictable forces in crypto markets, which makes it strange how many investors get blindsided by them. A token unlock…

Avalanche has reached $2.1 billion in distributed tokenized real-world asset value after a 60.47% monthly increase, supported by a newly announced $11 billion institutional tokenization deal with Bridgetower. Summary Avalanche’s tokenized RWA value has climbed to $2.1 billion after a 60.47% monthly increase. Bridgetower’s $11 billion tokenization deal has pushed Avalanche into the top five for net RWA inflows. BlackRock, VanEck and Franklin Templeton continue expanding institutional activity on Avalanche. According to data from RWA.xyz, Avalanche’s distributed tokenized asset value climbed to $2.1 billion over the past 30 days, lifting the network to fifth place among tokenization blockchains by distributed…

JPMorgan has lowered its earnings forecasts for Circle and Coinbase after a new USDC revenue-sharing agreement with Hyperliquid changed how income from the stablecoin’s reserves will be divided. Summary JPMorgan cut earnings forecasts for Circle and Coinbase after the Hyperliquid USDC deal. The bank warned new revenue-sharing terms could pressure stablecoin profit margins. Analysts remain divided as higher interest rates may still support USDC earnings growth. According to a JPMorgan research note, the revised agreement could reduce the long-term profitability of the USDC business for both companies, even as they continue pursuing higher adoption of the dollar-backed stablecoin. JPMorgan Cuts…

President Donald Trump has strengthened support for a new UK-US stablecoin framework as the Senate races to advance the CLARITY Act despite growing opposition from banking groups over its stablecoin provisions. Summary UK and US have endorsed common stablecoin standards for cross-border finance and customer protection. Trump has continued pushing the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act before the August recess. Banking groups warn unclear stablecoin rules could accelerate deposit outflows from smaller banks. According to a joint statement released through the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future, the United Kingdom and the United States have agreed that properly…