The Blockchain Association urged the US Supreme Court to hear Custodia Bank’s challenge to the Federal Reserve’s denial of its application for a master account, which would give the crypto-focused bank direct access to the Fed’s payment system.In an amicus brief filed Wednesday, the industry group argued that federal law requires the central bank to make its payment services available to eligible nonmember banks and that the Fed should not have broad discretion to deny access.The association said the appeals court’s decision effectively gives the Fed veto power over state-chartered banks by allowing it to withhold services needed to operate independently. It also linked Custodia’s case to alleged crypto debanking under “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” arguing that federal regulators discouraged banks from serving the digital asset industry.Custodia, a Wyoming-chartered bank focused on digital assets, applied for a Fed master account in 2020, seeking direct access to the central bank’s payment services without relying on an intermediary bank. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City denied Custodia’s application in 2023, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the regional Fed bank had discretion to reject its request. In March, the appeals court voted 7-3 against rehearing the case, leaving the Supreme Court as Custodia’s only remaining avenue for review.The Blockchain Association said the Tenth Circuit interpreted the Fed’s authority too broadly, potentially allowing it to deny payment-system access to eligible state-chartered banks serving the crypto industry.Blockchain Association backs Custodia’s Supreme Court petition. Source: US Supreme Court filingRelated: Goldman Sachs CEO backs ‘not perfect’ CLARITY Act as vote expected soonCrypto companies push deeper into US bankingCustodia’s challenge comes as other crypto companies are gaining greater access to the US banking system, including federal charters and, in one case, direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails.In March, Kraken Financial became the first crypto banking unit to receive a limited-purpose master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, giving it direct access to Fedwire. The approval contrasts with Custodia’s rejection by the same regional Fed bank in 2023.In April, Coinbase received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust company, bringing its custody business under federal oversight without allowing it to take retail deposits or operate as a commercial bank.Circle received final OCC approval for its national trust bank in July, while Kraken parent Payward applied for its own national trust company charter the following month. The OCC also conditionally approved national trust bank applications from Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos in December.The trend has drawn resistance from traditional banking groups. The Independent Community Bankers of America opposed Coinbase’s approval in April, arguing that crypto companies are seeking the benefits of bank charters without being subject to the full regulatory framework applied to traditional banks.Magazine: Bitcoin will never fall below $60K again: Nansen founder

Robinhood’s partnership with Uniswap is helping the brokerage rapidly build liquidity on its new blockchain, potentially removing a key obstacle to attracting users and assets, according to Standard Chartered.In a recent note, Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick said Robinhood Chain has grown to nearly $1 billion in total value locked (TVL), which he described as the fastest growth of any blockchain by that measure. Virtually all of Robinhood Chain’s liquidity needs are being met through Uniswap V2, V3 and V4, Kendrick said.The arrangement gives Robinhood access to established decentralized finance infrastructure as it scales its blockchain, potentially strengthening its ability to attract users without having to build liquidity from scratch.The partnership is also having a significant impact on Uniswap’s token economics. According to Standard Chartered, protocol fees generated through Robinhood are now the largest source of UNI token burns.The UNI burn rate has roughly doubled since a Robinhood-linked fee switch was activated on July 27, reaching an annualized pace of about $90 million. At UNI’s current price of roughly $3.50 apiece, that would translate to 25 million UNI tokens, or just over 4% of the circulating supply, being burned annually.Robinhood Chain’s liquidity sources. Source: Standard CharteredRobinhood Chain launched on July 1 with a focus on bringing real-world assets onchain. Adoption accelerated quickly after launch, reaching 194,000 daily active users during its first week.Related: Robinhood Chain sees over $70M in ETH bridged during first weekRobinhood’s crypto push expands into tokenization and prediction marketsRobinhood Chain is part of the brokerage’s broader push beyond traditional stock trading, with the company expanding into crypto, prediction markets and tokenization. The strategy has drawn attention from Wall Street, with analysts at Bernstein raising their price target for Robinhood (HOOD) stock to $160 per share and identifying tokenization and prediction markets as key growth drivers.HOOD shares were up more than 4% on Thursday, extending six-month gains to almost 30%. Source: Yahoo Finance.The expansion has coincided with mixed trends across Robinhood’s crypto business. The company reported record revenue and earnings in the second quarter, even as crypto trading volumes and revenues declined. Related: Robinhood in talks with Crypto.com over prediction markets: WSJ

Publicly traded Bitcoin miners are cutting mining capacity faster than the Bitcoin network overall, suggesting that more operators are redirecting electricity and infrastructure toward data centers and high-performance computing (HPC), in another sign of the sector’s evolution beyond creating more crypto.In the latest Miner Weekly newsletter, BlocksBridge Consulting reported that realized hashrate among a cohort of public Bitcoin miners fell from 368.3 exahashes per second (EH/s) in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 319 EH/s in the second quarter of 2026, a 13.4% decline.The contraction was even sharper when excluding Bitdeer, which continued to expand its mining operations. Without Bitdeer, the cohort’s realized hashrate fell 21.2% over the six-month period, from 324.6 EH/s to 255.9 EH/s. Bitdeer’s realized hashrate, meanwhile, increased 44% to 63 EH/s.By comparison, the Bitcoin network’s average hashrate declined 10.6% over the same period.The shift comes as more miners report a growing share of revenue from non-mining activities. Core Scientific generated $136.7 million in colocation revenue during the second quarter, compared with just $27.5 million from Bitcoin mining. TeraWulf reported $31.9 million in HPC lease revenue, compared with $12.8 million from mining.Core Scientific and TeraWulf are now generating the majority of their revenue from non-mining activities.Source: TheEnergyMagRiot Platforms and Bitdeer remain much earlier in the transition, with Bitcoin mining continuing to account for the vast majority of their revenue in the most recent quarter.Related: CoreWeave shows how crypto-era infrastructure quietly became AI’s backboneUnwinding post-China mining boomBlocksBridge framed the current pullback as an unwinding of the expansion cycle that followed China’s Bitcoin mining ban in 2021, which triggered one of the sharpest declines in network hashrate before a rapid recovery as miners relocated overseas.In North America, that migration helped fuel an expansion among public miners, which raised capital and acquired new power sites to expand their operations. One halving cycle later, the economics have shifted significantly. Weaker mining profitability, coupled with surging demand for AI infrastructure since 2022, has prompted several public miners to repurpose sites and power capacity away from Bitcoin mining entirely. Related: Crypto Biz: Crypto’s biggest business is starting to look a lot like banking

Bullish shares jumped around 13% in early trading Thursday after the institutional-focused crypto exchange and CoinDesk owner reported a 62% year-over-year increase in second-quarter adjusted revenue and more than tripled its adjusted EBITDA.Bullish reported $92.6 million in adjusted revenue for the quarter, up from $57 million a year earlier, while adjusted EBITDA rose to $29.5 million from $8.1 million. Adjusted net income reached $14.3 million, reversing a $6 million loss in the year-ago quarter.Subscription, services and other revenue hit a record $62.7 million, helping offset weaker exchange activity. The company recorded $179.6 billion in quarterly trading volume, down from $197.4 billion a year earlier, while average daily volume fell to $2 billion from $2.2 billion.The NYSE-traded BLSH shares were up more than 10% on Thursday morning. Source: Yahoo Finance. The company also received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to offer secondary trading in issuer-sponsored tokenized securities, expanding its push into regulated onchain markets.Bullish lifted its full-year guidance, forecasting $225 million to $245 million in subscription, services and other revenue, citing its first-half performance and improved visibility.Thursday’s rally extends a recent rebound for Bullish shares, which have gained around 20% over the past month. The stock, however, remains about 70% below its post-listing highs last year, according to Yahoo Finance data.Magazine: El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment turns 5: ‘It was for us, not them’Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.