Bitcoin

is back above $106,000 after dipping below five figures earlier this week, as global markets steadied on signs that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is holding.

Meanwhile, Ether

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traded at $2,400, up 0.5% on the day, approaching resistance near $2,450. Dogecoinhovered at 16 cents after a minor 0.6% rise, while Solana’s SOLdipped to $145, down 0.2%. Cardano’s ADAslid nearly 1.3% to 58 cents after briefly testing the 60 cents level earlier in the week.

Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said BTC’s inability to stabilize immediately after its initial drop below $99,000 signaled lingering caution, even as ETF inflows — now totaling $46 billion — continue to provide structural support.

“Its potential as a safe-haven shines through, but tempered risk appetite delays recovery,” Lee said.

Despite this, Lee sees bitcoin hitting $110,000–$115,000 by Q3 and potentially $130,000–$160,000 by year-end. Lee expects ether to be in the $2,600–$2,800 in the near term and as high as $5,500 longer term.

The rebound comes amid a broader shift in risk sentiment. U.S. equity futures edged higher on Wednesday, building on the Nasdaq 100’s record close the previous session, while Asian stocks extended their two-day rally.

Treasuries firmed and the dollar steadied after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said “many paths are possible” for monetary policy, reinforcing bets on interest rate cuts as consumer confidence weakens.

Bitcoin's recovery after its weekend fall has reignited debate over whether it’s maturing into a true safe-haven asset or simply responding to macro tailwinds and ETF-driven flows.

“Bitcoin’s status as a safe-haven asset is still taking shape,” said Gadi Chait, head of investment at Xapo Bank. “Its V‑shaped recovery back above $105K in under 48 hours after falling into the nineties highlights its growing liquidity and integration into mainstream portfolios.”

Chait added that while geopolitical shocks often spark a flight to cash, recent cycles show that institutional bids now help shallow the dips and accelerate rebounds.

Bitcoin Trader Targets $160K by Year-End, With ETH, SOL, ADA Rising on Middle East Truce

The money-market fund industry is booming as the Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady.

Bloomberg, citing info from Crane Data LLC, reports that the amount of capital invested in the money-market industry has now soared to a record $7.4 trillion, with $320 billion pouring into the funds in 2025 so far.

Money-market funds are financial instruments that allow people to invest in lower-risk and short-term debt securities, including US Treasuries.

Deborah Cunningham, chief investment officer for global liquidity markets at Federated Hermes, tells Bloomberg that the Federal Reserve’s ongoing monetary policy choices suggest the money market industry could continue to grow and easily stretch to $7.5 trillion in assets this year.

“Five-percent-plus rates were nirvana, four-percent-plus is still very good – and if we dip down into the high threes, that’s quite acceptable as well.”

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced last week that it planned to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25-4.5%, arguing that it was the most suitable level to achieve both maximum employment and controlled inflation. The Fed has held interest rates steady since December, when it cut the rate by 0.25%.

Michael Bird, senior fund manager at Allspring Global Investments, tells Bloomberg that it’s “not surprising” that asset levels in the money-market sector have grown.

“Even if the Fed picks up its easing campaign this year, rates will still be relatively high…”

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Investors Pour $320,000,000,000+ in Six Months in One Industry Being Boosted by Uncertainty: Report

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based altcoin is faltering after gaining support from the world’s largest crypto exchange platform by trading volume.

In a new announcement, Binance says that it is adding support for Sahara AI (SAHARA), a decentralized AI platform that enables users to develop and monetize AI models, datasets and applications.

“Binance is excited to announce that Sahara AI will be added to Binance Simple Earn, ‘Buy Crypto,’ Binance Convert, Binance Margin, and Binance Futures.”

News of the addition had a negative impact on the price of SAHARA, as the digital asset went from a peak of $0.141 earlier today to its current price of $0.096, a dip of over 32% in just a few hours.

Earlier this week, SAHARA was also added to Binance Earn, a program that allows traders to generate passive income by staking crypto.

In its official litepaper, the development team behind Sahara AI says its purpose is to address the common issues found in centralized AI platforms.

“Centralized AI platforms come with significant limitations and risks, including concerns for privacy, deepening economic disparities, and restricted access to resources.

This creates significant barriers that hinder widespread innovation, limit participation in AI development from diverse backgrounds, and restrict access to AI technologies across different communities. Sahara AI addresses these challenges by decentralizing AI ownership and enabling broader participation in its development.”

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AI-Focused Layer-1 Blockchain Altcoin SAHARA Flames Out Following New Binance Listing

A widely followed analyst and trader who accurately predicted the Bitcoin (BTC) bottom in 2018 is highlighting one crypto asset that could go up by triple-digit percentage points.

The trader pseudonymously known as Bluntz tells his 321,100 followers on the social media platform X that dogwifhat (WIF), a memecoin built in the Solana (SOL) ecosystem, could go up by about 472% to reclaim and surpass the all-time high recorded in March of 2024.

“Still a lot of work to put in and need to see price action confirm, but I think there’s a very real chance a new impulse back to all-time high on WIF has commenced.”

According to the analyst who regularly applies the Elliott Wave theory in his technical analysis, WIF started a bullish uptrend earlier this month in a five-wave pattern. The Elliott Wave theory states that the main trend of the price of an asset moves in a five-wave pattern while a correction occurs in a three-wave pattern. Based on Bluntz’s chart on the three-day time frame, WIF bottomed out earlier this year.

Over the short term, the pseudonymous analyst says WIF could undergo a correction before rallying. Based on the widely followed analyst’s chart of the one-hour time frame, WIF could pull back by around 10% from the current level.

“Very obvious five-wave rise from the lows on hourly for WIF, would expect a bit of a pullback here before the next major leg up.”

WIF is trading at $0.845 at time of writing.

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Trader Who Accurately Predicted 2018 Bitcoin Bottom Says One Solana-Based Altcoin Has ‘Very Real Chance’ of Exploding 450%+

A widely followed crypto analyst says that Bitcoin (BTC) surging to a new all-time high (ATH) is still a very real scenario.

In a new thread, crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe tells his 792,000 followers on the social media platform X that the top crypto asset by market cap looks poised to hit a new ATH by the end of next month, also noting that he expects BTC to dip before skyrocketing.

“Bitcoin continues to push upwards and break the all-time high. I still think we’ll have a slight consolidation before the big breakout happens, which means that an all-time high is on the cards for July ’25.”

Van de Poppe says that in order for the crypto king to shatter its previous best, it needs to first hurdle a key resistance level at $108,900.

“Bitcoin has taken the liquidity. That’s great, there’s a lot of upside momentum here. However, this is the FINAL hurdle before a new ATH. I think we’ll consolidate slightly and break towards new ATHs in the coming 1-2 weeks max.”

According to the analyst, BTC rallying would also send altcoins skyrocketing due to them being short-squeezed, or a rapid increase in price driven by short sellers covering their positions.

“Altcoins are looking primed for a big move upwards. If Bitcoin is able to break up, Altcoins are likely to outperform. How? Massive short squeezes across the board accelerating the price action of those altcoins upwards vanishing losses away in days/weeks.”

Bitcoin is trading for $107,633 at time of writing, a fractional decrease during the last 24 hours.

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New Bitcoin All-Time High In the Cards, According to Analyst Michaël van de Poppe – Here’s His Timeline

Bitcoin

traded in a tight range just during U.S. hours Thursday ahead of a big options quarter expiry on Friday.

The top cryptocurrency is currently trading for $107,500, down 0.2% in the past 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 20 — an index of the top 20 coins by market capitalization, except for stablecoins, exchange coins and stablecoins — lost 0.9% in the same period of time.

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"This Friday marks one of the largest option expiries of the year on Deribit,” Jean-David Péquignot, chief commercial officer at Deribit, told CoinDesk. BTC options open interest stands at $40 billion, Péquignot said, and 38% of these contracts will expire on Friday.

“Max pain price for Friday is at $102,000, with a put/call ratio of 0.73," said Péquignot.

Bitcoin’s implied volatility, measured by Deribit DVOL, dropped to 38% from 50% in what was a wild April, signaling perhaps that the market is increasingly confident in the cryptocurrency’s macro-hedge role, according to Péquignot. Meanwhile, put-call skews show no clear directional positioning for traders in the short-term.

“Bitcoin’s $105,000 level is pivotal, with technicals suggesting caution if support fails,” Péquignot said. “Low open interest in perps and fairly depressed Bitcoin implied volatility and skew are indicative of limited expectations for sharp price movements going into Friday’s expiry.”

A number of crypto stocks are managing gains on Thursday, with Core Scientific (CORZ) surging more than 33% off of a Wall Street Journal report that the bitcoin miner may soon be acquired by AI Hyperscaler CoreWeave (CRWV) .

Circle (CRCL) , Coinbase (COIN) , Riot Platforms (RIOT) and Hut 8 (HUT) were higher by 5%-7%, while Strategy (MSTR) was lower by nearly 1%.



BTC Remains Flat Ahead of Friday’s Big Options Expiry With $102k Max Pain Price

The regulator of the United States’ largest mortgage provider has ordered that cryptocurrencies be listed as mortgage assets.

According to Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director William Pulte on the social media platform X, mortgage lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been told to “count cryptocurrency” as an asset in mortgage loan applications.

“After significant studying, and in keeping with President Trump’s vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world, today I ordered the Great Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as an asset for a mortgage.”

Per the image of the order shared on the social media platform, the only digital assets that will count will be those held on a US-regulated crypto exchange.

“U.S. Federal Housing FHFA, as conservator, hereby directs each Enterprise to prepare a proposal for consideration of cryptocurrency as an asset for reserves in their respective single-family mortgage loan risk assessments, without conversion of said cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars. Each Enterprise is directed to consider only cryptocurrency assets that can be evidenced and stored on a US-regulated centralized exchange subject to all applicable laws.”

The FHFA has regulated and controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ever since the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis spurred, in part, by the lenders.

The order does not specify which cryptocurrencies will be considered.

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Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte Orders Crypto To Be Counted as an Asset for Mortgages

A woman in British Columbia recently lost CA$60,000 after being targeted in an elaborate “bank courier” scam.

In May, a scammer called the victim, 68, pretending to represent her bank and claiming that her cards had been compromised, per a press release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

The scammer said a courier would come to collect her old cards and sent a driver from a rideshare company to pick them up. An hour later, the same scammer told the woman that all of her financial accounts had been compromised and sent a second rideshare “courier” to pick up all of her cards.

The scammer also obtained the victim’s PINs over the phone and used the stolen cards and her personal info to drain CA$60,000 ($43,687) from her account.

Police have tracked down one of the rideshare drivers, who is cooperating with the investigation, but they have been unable to locate the second driver. RCMP investigators say the victim’s cards were driven to the parking lot of a Home Depot, where they were picked up by a man wearing a face covering.

The RCMP says it will continue to investigate the crime but notes that the chances of recovering stolen funds are low.

Similar “bank courier” scams occurred in New York state earlier this year.

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Fake ‘Bank Courier’ Sends Ride-Share App Drivers To Pick Up Woman’s Credit Cards, Drains $43,687 From Her Accounts

A closely followed crypto analyst says that Ethereum (ETH) has to break through one resistance level to ignite a bull rally.

In a new thread, crypto trader Rekt Capital tells his 549,100 followers on the social media platform X that Ethereum needs to reclaim the area around $2,500 as support before ETH can mount an explosive move to the upside.

“After holding the orange circled area for about six full weeks, Ethereum ended up following through on the blue circled scenario. Still, this orange box is the macro range low ($2,200), and price needs to effectively reclaim around $2,500 to rally across the range.”

The analyst also says that until Ethereum closes above $2,500 on the daily chart, ETH will likely hold $2,200 as support as it trades sideways.

“For the time being, Ethereum is treating the ~$2,500 level as resistance after it previously held for almost six weeks. But Ethereum just needs a daily close above ~$2,500 to start the reclaim process. Until then, ETH will meander between $2,200-$2,500.”

ETH is trading for $2,425 at time of writing, flat on the day.

Next up, the analyst says that Bitcoin (BTC) is showing bullishness on the daily timeframe, having smashed through a downtrend line for the second time in June.

“Bitcoin has broken two two-week downtrends over the past month.”

Bitcoin is trading for $107,302 at time of writing, flat on the day.

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Crypto Trader Unveils Major Level Ethereum Must Break Above To Trigger Rally, Updates Outlook on Bitcoin

Tahini’s Restaurants, a Canadian fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, integrated bitcoin into its business in 2020 and has been refining its strategy ever since. Today Bitcoin makes up over 70% of their reserves and has made a critical difference in their expansion to 62 restaurants in just over a decade.

“We just kept putting more and more money into bitcoin.” Omar Hamam, CEO and co-founder of Tahini’s, told Bitcoin Magazine. Omar and his brother Aly Hamam founded the company in 2012, starting with one restaurant in London, Ontario. Tahini’s has since grown to 62 restaurants across the country, their expansion amplified by their adoption of an early bitcoin treasury strategy, partially inspired by Michael Saylor in 2020. The bold move gave them a pool of capital with which they could compete with the giants of the fast-casual food industry.

As a small company that started in London Ontario Canada we operate 4 corporate locations and 3 Franshise locations about to open up in Ontario. We just converted our entire cash reserves that were originally used as savings into #Bitcoin

Time for thread 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽 — Tahini’s (@TheRealTahinis) August 18, 2020

“We’re competing with McDonald’s, and Chipotle,” said Omar, adding, “All these companies have more money than 100 Tahini’s. So, to have an advantage like that, where we have a treasury and a balance sheet strategy that puts us in a comfortable place financially, that lets us preserve our wealth over time and space … it was the best decision we’ve ever made for our business.”

The company has implemented multiple innovative strategies throughout its journey, including the deployment of Bitcoin ATMs to many of their franchises, a new media strategy that, according to Aly, has netted them “three billion views over the last five years across all social media platforms,” including a YouTube channel with over 3.2 million subscribers and, of course, their bitcoin treasury strategy.

Aly’s Fascination with Bitcoin Post-COVID, Influenced by Egyptian Currency Devaluation

Aly Hamam was the main driver behind the restaurant’s bitcoin strategy. Shaped by his family’s experiences with the Egyptian pound’s aggressive devaluations over the past 20 years, the catastrophic consequences of runaway inflation were deeply personal to him, an experience that set him up well to discover bitcoin during the March 2020 market crash. “So, I came from Egypt, and over the last two decades, I’ve seen the Egyptian pound drop probably 85% or something like that. And I’ve seen our family struggle. I’ve seen my parents struggle. My parents had money sitting in Egypt over that time. I’ve seen their life savings get wiped away. Sometimes with Egypt, it happens like flash crashes. So, the government will come in and can just devalue the currency within a month, 50%,” Aly recalled.

When the COVID-19 market panic happened in March of 2020, the price of bitcoin went from a high of $10,000 to as low as $4,000 in weeks. “I bought a little bit as a gimmick and because it was just down so much, I was like, yeah, I might as well buy it. … The more I studied, I fell down the rabbit hole hard. Over the next few months, I just kept buying more and more and more, and you know those first three months when you discover bitcoin, it’s just like a never-ending consuming over every aspect of your life, listening to podcasts, reading books, and just buying more and more and more,” Aly explained.

After the crash, Bitcoin bounced back up to around $10,000, where it consolidated for months as governments throughout the world prepared their COVID-19 response and unleashed trillions of newly printed dollars into the global economy. Interest rates in the U.S. dropped to zero, and COVID-19 support checks started to flow to anyone in Canada who filled out a form. Omar recalled that “the government was just literally printing money nonstop. And it wasn’t just the Canadian government. It was every single government out there that was doing it. So, we knew there was going to be an inflation problem.” The Bitcoin halving was also taking place right around that time, an additional fundamental force that arguably led to one of the most impressive bull runs in its history.

This was the same era when Michael Saylor famously entered the industry and became the most famous Bitcoin bull to date. However, Saylor’s many speeches and documents on how to structure a corporate bitcoin strategy and how to convince the board of directors or other business partners were just starting to hit the podcast circuit, and the bitcoin treasury playbook was still in its infancy.

Once Aly was “100% in,” he started orange-pilling his family. “So, I started orange-pilling my business partners, my brother, my cousin, and they started buying it personally.” Personally they all started buying Bitcoin in small amounts, but using the company’s reserves was a far more difficult process, Aly explained that “it wasn’t quick. It was a back-and-forth where I wanted us to put the company money into bitcoin, and they were kind of on the edge. ‘That’s a crazy idea.’ ‘This’ and ‘that,’ and then we just kept going back and forth, back and forth until Michael Saylor announced that first buy. I had already set up like all the accounts and all of that was just ready to go. So, when Michael Saylor bought that first batch of bitcoin, that was what pushed us all over the cliff. And a week later, we put whatever money the company had into bitcoin.”

Acquisition Price, DCA Strategy, and Persistence Through Bear Markets

Tahini’s bitcoin investment strategy differs from today’s public companies, which issue stock (and other financial instruments) to buy bitcoin and add to their reserves. As a private company that started accumulating bitcoin before the ETF in the U.S. was approved, Tahini’s took a simpler approach: buy as much as reasonably possible each month, forever. According to Omar, today bitcoin represents over 70% of the company’s reserves.

While their timing was excellent, having started to buy bitcoin for their treasury at around $10,000, the strategy known as “dollar-cost averaging” works very well regardless of price, even in a bear market. Have a look at this DCA calculation, for example.

If you started putting $1,000 into bitcoin every two weeks at the top of the 2021 bull market — at nearly $70,000 per coin — every time you made a purchase at a lower price after that, you would be lowering your average purchase price. The result is that on the way out of the bear market — in this example, above roughly $30,000 — you would be at break-even and would be perfectly positioned for the upcoming bull market. The only requirement is having a long-term investment mindset.

“You buy every month, every single month. Ups and downs. I know it sounds too simple, but actually, this is the only way to do it. Right. You just buy, don’t try to outsmart the system, in my opinion, unless you’re really good at this. Put a number aside every single month, and it just pans out. And if you think about it, if you look at the last four years, you would have made more than 2-30x your investment,” Omar explained. He added that, “I have this conversation with a lot of people. Friends, family, everybody. And I always tell them, listen, just start somewhere. Don’t put a big amount and see how it works out for you. Right. So, let’s say you put a thousand dollars and watch it as a number that’s not going to be too bad if anything happens to it. See, if let’s say next year, this 1,000 becomes 1,200 or 1,500. Now imagine if you had 100,000 or imagine if you had a million, right? What would have happened to that amount?”

While there are no hard rules about the optimal frequency of the DCA strategy in Bitcoin, be it for individuals or corporations, Tahini’s opted for monthly purchases, as it made sense given their accounting processes. “Every month, we have a P&L. Every month, we see our profit and losses. And we decide at the end of the month, okay, we’re gonna put this much aside,” Omar explained.

When it comes to amounts, Omar explained that they do not invest a fixed or percentage-based amount. “It’s also about, are we investing this month back in the business? Are we not? What are our expenses like? Do we have any big payments? So, you know, sometimes you have all these expenses at the end of the year. So, you have your month highs and lows and so on, but the key is to stay consistent in putting money in. How much is what you have to decide every month.”

To Sell or to Mortgage Your Bitcoin?

When it comes to monetizing their Bitcoin Tahini’s has opted for the simple strategy. When the time is right, and the business opportunity demands it, they sell some Bitcoin and buy it back later, as per their standard DCA strategy, and integrate the capital gains tax into their accounting flow. Omar explained that, “When it comes time to reinvest, you know, you always need money. So, let’s say you want to do a huge marketing campaign as a franchise, right? You need to dip into those savings. And when you have money, you have power. The more money you have, the more you can be free to make the right decision for the company instead of just doing what you can afford.”

Challenges with Accepting Bitcoin Payments and POS Integration

As one of the first steps in their Bitcoin integration, Tahini’s explored the possibility of accepting bitcoin as payment at their restaurants; however, a series of challenges arose that forced them to pivot. Many of these challenges remain for businesses throughout the world and involve the entrenched, closed-source and walled-garden models of popular payment processing systems.

“A lot of these point-of-sale system companies, they do their own payment processing, and they just don’t have the capability to accept Bitcoin in their system,” Omar explained about the world of merchant-grade POS. Many of these systems are closed-source with very restrictive APIs that the Bitcoin economy cannot easily integrate into, a moat that has been an issue for bitcoin payment adoption since its inception.

However, the friction to merchant adoption is deeper than just a POS moat; the feature list merchants need to stay competitive is very complex, and most Bitcoin payment systems today are still lagging behind:

“The POS system is not just about the payment. It’s also about how they build menus in the background. The POS system gives you reports. It gives you an analysis of what you sold, when you sold it, what these stores are doing, what time of the day they’re busy, what time of the day they’re not busy, how to ask for whatever you’re ordering. It’s very complicated, right? So, the payment is just the last piece of the puzzle. So, when we choose a POS system, it’s not just about the payment system. It’s also about their functionality and how good they are as a system.”

To top it off, POS systems that integrate bitcoin would also have to support fiat currencies for them to be viable to normal merchants today, raising the barrier to entry and competition much further.

As a result, Tahini’s did the next best thing: They added Bitcoin ATMs to 10 of their restaurants in partnership with Bitcoin Well, a Canadian Bitcoin ATM company, opting to take in all profits from the machines in Bitcoin and allocating it to isolated accounts for each restaurant. Though Aly reports that these ATMs were only bringing in about $250 CAD a month, since 2021, these “sats flows” — as some people in the industry are calling them — add up, and with the price of bitcoin rising, each of those restaurants now has over $40,000 of bitcoin per corresponding restaurant, a very significant balance.

Nevertheless, Omar is optimistic that these barriers will fall, as interest in bitcoin payments is stronger than ever. “I think bitcoin is really growing at a rapid pace, and it’s being adopted now by a lot of companies, and people are learning more and more about Bitcoin, and they’re becoming much more aware about Bitcoin. So, I think it’s just a matter of time.”

Tahini’s Bitcoin Treasury: How a Family Chain Outsmarted Inflation

The American crypto exchange Coinbase helped law enforcement authorities seize millions worth of digital assets that were stolen through pig butchering scams.

Beginning in 2023, the stablecoin issuer Tether froze 39 wallets with $225 million in USDT that were tied to pig butchering scams – deceptive schemes in which bad actors typically initiate fake romantic or business relationships with victims to financially exploit them.

The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) traced the frozen funds to 140 accounts at the crypto exchange OKX. Many of these wallets are under the name of individuals who were trafficked into scam compounds in Southeast Asia.

In February 2024, Coinbase team members joined the Secret Service investigation, working with USSS agents to trace crypto transactions and analyze account activities to flag victims.

The exchange says the blockchain analysis and subpoena records production enabled the USSS to identify more than 130 Coinbase customers who were defrauded of a total of $2.3 million.

“Coinbase played a key role in this landmark operation, supporting the investigation, tracing onchain funds, and helping identify victims eligible for restitution.”

Coinbase says the USSS has already taken control of the $225 million in USDT and is now in the process of returning the stolen funds. The exchange says the victims must provide proof that they sent funds to the scam-related wallets by downloading their transaction history from their crypto platform.

“Many victims used Coinbase, and we’re already seeing an increase in customer support inquiries related to account access and transaction records.”

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Coinbase Assists U.S. Secret Service in Seizing $225,000,000 in Crypto Tied to 2023 Pig Butchering Scam

Key Takeaways:

Hong Kong introduces “Policy Statement 2.0” with a new LEAP framework to expand digital asset adoption.

Licensing regime for stablecoin issuers will go live on August 1, signaling real-world crypto integration.

Government-backed tokenized bonds and ETFs are set to become standard, accelerating financial tokenization.

Hong Kong has launched a sweeping new digital asset policy aimed at solidifying its role as a global crypto and tokenization hub. Branded as “Policy Statement 2.0,” the framework deepens the city’s commitment to regulating, expanding, and mainstreaming digital assets—especially stablecoins and tokenized products—through a concrete and strategic initiative called LEAP.

Read More: Hong Kong to Introduce New Virtual Asset Policy Framework by End-2025

Hong Kong’s LEAP: A Four-Pillar Strategy to Dominate Digital Finance

Unveiled on June 26, Policy Statement 2.0 introduces the LEAP framework—an acronym for Legal, Expand, Advance, and People. It is designed to scale up the adoption of digital assets while maintaining a focus on risk management, regulatory clarity, and innovation across sectors.

Legal & Regulatory Streamlining

The Hong Kong government, through its Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB), is working with the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to create a comprehensive legal and regulatory regime. The key targets include:

Licensing of digital asset dealing and custodian service providers .

digital asset dealing custodian service providers A full legal review to support tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) such as bonds, metals, and other financial instruments.

real-world assets (RWAs) Establishing a unified framework that enables seamless settlement, registration, and trading of tokenized assets.

The SFC will act as the lead authority for licensing, ensuring that all platforms and service providers operate under strict compliance with investor protection mandates.

Tokenization Goes Mainstream in Hong Kong

Government-Issued Tokenized Bonds and ETFs

Hong Kong is moving beyond regulatory theory and into application. The government announced that tokenized government bonds will become a regular issuance tool. This positions the city as one of the first jurisdictions to institutionalize digital bond offerings under regulatory oversight.

It is also exploring incentives for tokenizing real-world assets to enhance liquidity, accessibility, and efficiency. Specifically:

Clarification of stamp duty rules on tokenized ETFs will simplify secondary market participation.

Trading of these tokenized products will be enabled on licensed digital asset platforms or other regulated channels.

Hong Kong’s move follows a broader trend where financial instruments—from fixed income to commodities—are increasingly issued in tokenized formats. For instance, large asset managers like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have rolled out tokenized funds in recent months that have on-chain settlement capabilities that are attached to public and permissioned blockchains.

Stablecoin Licensing Kicks Off August 1

The bold measures under Policy Statement 2.0 include the introduction of official licensing for stablecoin issuers, with effect from 1 st August, 2025 being the most significant of them all. They’re taking this step in order to:

Compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) standards.

anti-money laundering (AML) counter-terrorist financing (CTF) Proper backing of stablecoins with transparent, real-world assets .

transparent, real-world assets Risk mitigation for algorithmic or uncollateralized stablecoin models.

The government will be interested as well to receive proposals from market stakeholders on how licensed stablecoins might be incorporated into public sector processes, further demonstrating them to be useful tools in the real world.

This move will put Hong Kong’s regulator timeline in line with other leading financial centers. For comparison:

The European Union’s MiCA framework will regulate stablecoins starting mid-2025.

European Union’s MiCA In the United States , Congressional proposals around stablecoin oversight remain pending, giving Hong Kong a first-mover advantage in Asia.

Hong Kong’s Bid to Become Asia’s Crypto Capital

After crypto trading was reopened to retail investors in 2022 Hong Kong indicated that it would be taking the drive into the next stage of blockchain finance. Now, Policy Statement 2.0 is putting teeth behind that commitment.

Key milestones include:

Licensed stablecoin regime starting August 2025.

Tokenized government bonds and ETFs to become standard issuance.

Support for RWA tokenization in both public and private markets.

Legal overhaul for seamless digital asset issuance, transfer, and custody.

Read More: Sony Singapore Accepts Crypto and Now USDC Payments via Crypto.com

Hong Kong Unveils Bold Crypto Policy: Stablecoin Licensing and Tokenized Bonds Incoming

Key Takeaways:

Galaxy Digital secures over $175 million for its first external venture fund, exceeding its $150M target.

The fund targets infrastructure and applications driving stablecoins, tokenization, and onchain payments.

Galaxy’s move signals growing institutional confidence in real-world crypto adoption despite market volatility.

Galaxy Digital, one of the most prominent players in the digital asset space, has officially closed its first externally-backed crypto venture fund—Galaxy Ventures Fund I—at more than $175 million, surpassing its initial target of $150 million. The successful raise marks a significant milestone as the company doubles down on early-stage crypto infrastructure and real-world blockchain applications, even during a subdued fundraising environment across the broader crypto industry.

Read More: Galaxy Digital acquires crypto custody and asset infrastructure provider BitGo

Galaxy Ventures Fund I—Positioning for the Next Phase of Onchain Growth

The newly launched Galaxy Ventures Fund I (GVF I) will focus on startups that are building core components of the onchain economy. These include sectors such as:

Stablecoin infrastructure

Payment rails

Real-world asset tokenization

Underlying blockchain protocols and development tools

Galaxy aims to back founders at the earliest stages—pre-seed to Series A—and help scale projects through its broad crypto-native ecosystem.

From Balance Sheet to Institutional Capital

Prior to GVF I, Galaxy had been deploying capital into crypto startups directly from its balance sheet since 2018. This first-time inclusion of external limited partners (LPs) shows a strategic pivot: moving from internal venture operations to a more structured, institutionalized venture fund model.

The firm attracted a diverse group of backers, including global institutional investors, family offices, and strategic digital asset companies. Notably, Galaxy remains an anchor investor in the fund, holding both general partner and limited partner positions.

This structure enables Galaxy to maintain high conviction in its investments while expanding its reach by leveraging outside capital.

What Startups Is Galaxy Backing?

Galaxy Ventures’ portfolio already includes over 120 companies, combining both legacy balance-sheet investments and the new GVF I fund.

Some of the standout names include:

Monad : A high-performance Layer-1 blockchain designed to compete with Solana and Aptos on speed and scalability.

Ethena : Issuer of a synthetic stablecoin offering yield-bearing solutions, aiming to solve volatility without traditional fiat backing.

Arch Lending : A DeFi protocol focused on credit markets and real-world asset lending.

Plume , Rain , and RedotPay : Platforms focused on integrating digital asset payments and financial infrastructure across borders.

These investments show a clear focus on foundational technologies with real-world use cases, rather than speculative projects. Galaxy is placing its bets on blockchain products that offer utility, compliance readiness, and institutional compatibility.

Read More: Galaxy Digital Obtains FCA License, Paving Path for UK Derivatives Trading

Why This Fundraise Matters Now

The successful close of GVF I comes at a time when crypto venture capital has significantly contracted. According to data from Galaxy Research, Q1 2025 marked one of the lowest funding periods for crypto startups in the last three years, with only a few breakout raises.

That makes this $175 million raise all the more impressive.

Confidence in Onchain Finance and Tokenization

Galaxy executives say the fund is aimed squarely at the next wave of crypto adoption, which revolves around tangible, regulated applications.

“Blockchain infrastructure is poised to revolutionize global financial markets. We’re seeing accelerating adoption from both institutions and retail, particularly in payments and capital markets,” said Mike Giampapa, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures.

Giampapa emphasized that GVF I’s strategy reflects a shift in the broader market: away from speculative assets, and toward projects that offer immediate value through efficient, compliant financial products.

Galaxy’s Strategic Edge in the Crypto Ecosystem

Galaxy isn’t just deploying capital—it’s providing startups access to a broad ecosystem. With more than 550 employees across digital asset trading, lending, staking and custody, the firm offers deep operational support.

Portfolio companies benefit from:

Technical assistance via the Ventures Platform team

Ventures Platform Connectivity to Galaxy’s trading desks, infrastructure arms, and partner networks

Strategic guidance from executives like Mike Novogratz , a seasoned investor with deep Wall Street and crypto roots

This kind of hands-on support is what separates Galaxy from traditional VC firms passively supplying capital, but no industry-native backing.

In fact, Novogratz highlighted this advantage in the announcement:

“Closing above target in one of the toughest crypto fundraising climates shows how our team brings a unique edge to the table. We’re committed to supporting startups building real-world use cases shaping the next era of crypto.”

Institutional Demand Is Back—Quietly But Steadily

While mainstream headlines often focus on crypto’s volatility, behind the scenes, there is a quiet resurgence of institutional interest.

Galaxy’s venture raise also comes as trailing indicators of real capital re-entering the market –accordioning in cautiously, and at least as much out the other side – are finally beginning to emerge:

In 2025, BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton rolled out or expanded tokenized funds.

Volumes of stablecoins on networks like Ethereum and Tron exceeded $1.3 trillion in Q1 2025, indicating a demand for programmable dollars.

Traditional banks such as HSBC and Standard Chartered are piloting onchain settlement rails and tokenized gold products.

GVF I puts Galaxy at the center of this evolution, complementing Web3 to traditional finance connections between customers, partners, and developers through deals involving the fund.

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