Autor Cointelegraph by Nate Kostar

An ARK Invest analyst says the cryptocurrency industry is entering what he describes as its biggest consolidation phase yet, with revenue increasingly concentrated among a handful of dominant protocols.In a Wednesday post on X, Lorenzo Valente, a research associate at ARK Invest, said investors have become increasingly selective, making it harder for crypto projects and exchanges without strong product-market fit to attract capital. As weaker projects struggle or shut down, revenue is becoming concentrated among a small number of dominant protocols, he said.As evidence, Valente said perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun account for roughly 67% of total crypto application revenue. Including synthetic dollar protocol Ethena raises the top three’s combined share to nearly 80%, highlighting what he described as record-high revenue concentration across the sector.Source: Lorenzo ValenteValente added that he expects the trend to accelerate in the coming months, leading to more mergers and acquisitions, Chapter 11 bankruptcies, project shutdowns and acqui-hires. Despite the shakeout, he described the consolidation as “extremely bullish” for the crypto industry.Related: ARK pushes back against a16z’s ‘TradFi wants blockchain, not DeFi’ claimExchange closures add to consolidation narrativeThe comments come as several crypto exchanges have announced plans to wind down operations in recent days, underscoring mounting pressures across parts of the industry.Last week, BitMEX announced it would shut down its exchange in September after a strategic review by owner HDR Global Trading. The exchange had recently accelerated the delisting of trading pairs and derivative contracts, citing insufficient trading interest.Days later, BitMart announced it would end trading services on Aug. 26 before winding down operations entirely in January 2027. The exchange said the decision followed a review of its operating conditions, market environment and future strategic direction.Consolidation has also come through acquisitions. Earlier this month, Bybit launched a locally operated exchange in Indonesia after acquiring a majority stake in local digital asset firm NOBI, expanding its presence in one of Asia’s largest crypto markets.Source: BitMEXMagazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures

Binance will launch USDT-settled options on gold and silver through its Abu Dhabi-regulated exchange, expanding its lineup of traditional financial products alongside cryptocurrencies.The contracts will be listed through Nest Exchange Limited, Binance’s Abu Dhabi Global Market-regulated Recognized Investment Exchange (ADGM). The options allow traders to gain exposure to movements in gold and silver prices without taking delivery of the underlying metals. Retail users will only be able to buy options, while eligible institutional users and liquidity providers can also write contracts. According to Binance, restricting retail users to buying options limits downside risk to the premium paid, while eligible institutional participants can write options to collect premiums.The launch builds on Binance’s gold and silver perpetual futures, introduced in January, as the exchange expands regulated access to traditional assets through crypto-native trading products.Related: Goldman Sachs cuts year-end gold target by $500, doubting rate cutsCrypto firms expand commodity offeringsBinance’s new options add to a growing range of commodity-linked crypto products. While the exchange is offering derivatives tied to gold and silver prices, companies such as Tether and Paxos have focused on tokenizing physical bullion.Tether’s XAUt, which represents one troy ounce of gold stored in Swiss vaults, recently received Shariah certification from Amanah Advisors, a move aimed at expanding adoption among Islamic financial institutions.Earlier this month, ADGM also recognized XAUt as an accepted spot commodity, allowing regulated firms to offer services tied to the tokenized gold asset.According to RWA.xyz, the tokenized commodities sector has grown to about $4.56 billion in distributed value, with Tether Gold and Paxos Gold accounting for more than 90% of the market.Tokenized commodities. Source: RWA.xyzMagazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto maturesCointelegraph 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.

MoonPay has launched PayBox, a payment vault that lets ChatGPT and Claude users authorize AI to buy crypto, swap tokens and bridge assets from within a conversation while keeping control of their funds.Users connect a crypto wallet and payment methods to ChatGPT or Claude, which prepare transactions such as token swaps, crosschain transfers and DeFi interactions using natural-language prompts. Users can approve each transaction with a passkey or set spending limits that allow the AI to execute certain actions automatically, according to MoonPay.MoonPay said PayBox uses multi-party computation and trusted execution environments to protect wallet keys, preventing either the AI assistant or MoonPay from independently accessing user funds. The platform also lets users require approval for every transaction or allow AI to act autonomously within predefined spending and permission limits.PayBox supports multiple blockchains and payment methods, including debit cards, bank accounts, Apple Pay and PayPal, according to MoonPay. The company said developers can also integrate the payment vault into their own AI applications through its software development kit.Related: OKX launches AI marketplace for autonomous agent economyCoinbase’s x402 gains AI payments tractionPayBox also supports x402, an open payment protocol originally developed by Coinbase that enables AI agents to make internet-native payments. Contributed to the Linux Foundation in April 2026, the protocol is now governed as an open, vendor-neutral industry standard.Coinbase has continued expanding the x402 ecosystem this year. In June, the crypto exchange launched tools that let AI agents accept USDC payments, trade crypto, discover paid services through an AI marketplace and process high-frequency micropayments more efficiently. Earlier this year, Amazon Web Services integrated x402 into its Bedrock AgentCore Payments service, while Fireblocks launched an x402-compatible payments framework for AI agents and joined the x402 Foundation.Network activity appears to be growing alongside adoption. In a June 3 report, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said agentic payments on Coinbase’s Base network surpassed 100 million transactions within roughly nine months, highlighting growing activity around the protocol even as early usage was driven in part by speculative applications.At the time of writing, the protocol’s public dashboard shows more than 12.7 million transactions over the past 30 days across participating services.x402scan (past 30-day ecosystem statistics). Source: x402scan.com Magazine: The 100x obsession: Fundamentals grow in importance as crypto matures

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.