Autor Cointelegraph by Nate Kostar

Bitcoin miner TeraWulf, moving deeper into AI infrastructure, signed a 20-year data center lease with Anthropic expected to generate about $19 billion in contract revenue.The company also announced Monday that it is selling a majority stake in a separate AI data center joint venture to reinvest in wholly owned projects.The company’s shares rose about 12% in Monday morning trading following the announcement, extending a roughly 107% year-to-date gain, according to Yahoo Finance data at the time of writing.TeraWulf stock price. Source: Yahoo FinanceUnder the agreement, Anthropic will lease a purpose-built AI data center campus at TeraWulf’s Justified Data site in Hawesville, Kentucky. Acquired in February, the facility is designed to support 401 MW of critical IT capacity, with initial operations expected in the second half of 2027 and full buildout targeted for early 2028.Separately, TeraWulf agreed to sell its 50.1% stake in the Abernathy joint venture, an AI data center project in Texas, to an investor group led by partner Fluidstack. The company said it expects the sale to return its roughly $450 million investment which it plans to reinvest in AI infrastructure projects that it owns outright.Related: Strategy sells 3,588 Bitcoin for $216M to fund dividends, keeps $2.55B reserve intactAI demand reshapes Bitcoin mining industryThe announcement comes as demand for AI infrastructure outpaces available computing capacity. Training and running large AI models requires data centers with high-performance chips, advanced cooling systems and access to large amounts of reliable electricity, making power-rich campuses increasingly valuable.That has created an opportunity for several Bitcoin miners, which already own sites with grid connections, power agreements and other infrastructure needed for energy-intensive computing. While AI data centers use different hardware than crypto mining operations, the overlap has prompted several miners to diversify into AI and high-performance computing (HPC).However, the pivot comes with significant costs. Blocksbridge Consulting estimated in June that public Bitcoin miners pursuing AI infrastructure may need roughly $50 billion in near-term capital, as AI data centers require far greater investment than traditional Bitcoin mining facilities.Last month, HIVE Digital signed a three-year, $220 million agreement to provide GPU cloud infrastructure for AI startup Cohere through Bell Canada’s AI Fabric, while IREN acquired Spanish data center developer Nostrum Group, adding about 490 MW of secured, grid-connected power as it entered the European AI market.Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

Crypto exchange Kraken has begun accepting select tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as collateral for futures and margin trading, allowing eligible users to open leveraged positions without selling their holdings.The feature initially supports 10 tokenized stocks and ETFs, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Strategy, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and Invesco QQQ Trust. Eligible users can post those holdings as collateral without selling them first.Each eligible asset is assigned a collateral haircut that reduces its lending value based on risk. Broad-market ETFs receive the lowest haircut at 10%, while more volatile stocks such as Strategy and Robinhood are discounted by 30%.Kraken also imposed collateral limits on each asset, with broad-market ETFs capped at up to $1 million in collateral value, most individual stocks at $250,000 and tokenized gold and Circle shares at $100,000. The exchange said both collateral limits and haircuts will be reviewed periodically and remain subject to change.The feature is available only to eligible clients outside the United States. The exchange said tokenized stocks can be used as collateral for futures trading in the European Economic Area, while margin collateral support is available in other eligible jurisdictions outside the bloc.Related: STS Digital launches structured crypto platform with Kraken as first partnerThe launch comes about a week after Kraken partnered with Maple to launch an onchain warehouse financing facility for institutional crypto lending, allowing the exchange to expand its lending business through blockchain-based structured credit.Tokenized assets gain broader financial utilityKraken’s move adds to a series of efforts aimed at expanding the role of tokenized real-world assets in financial markets. Recent launches have focused on using blockchain-based securities as collateral, settlement assets and components of institutional lending infrastructure.In February, Franklin Templeton and Binance launched a program allowing institutions to use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral while the underlying assets remained in regulated off-exchange custody. BlackRock’s tokenized US Treasury fund, BUIDL, is also accepted as trading collateral on Binance, as well as Crypto.com and Deribit.Earlier this week, Tradeweb executed what it said was the first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against tokenized cash on the Canton Network.According to RWA.xyz, tokenized real-world assets have grown to roughly $32.6 billion in distributed value, while tokenized stocks have climbed to about $2 billion from roughly $381 million a year earlier.Source: RWA.xyzMagazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express

Kalshi posted a record month for trading volume in June as the 2026 FIFA World Cup fueled activity across prediction markets.DefiLlama data shows Kalshi recorded nearly $9.4 billion in trading volume in June, up from about $5.3 billion in May. Polymarket International also climbed to roughly $4.3 billion from about $3.5 billion a month earlier.The tournament kicked off on June 11 and is the first FIFA World Cup to feature 48 teams, up from 32 in previous editions. CNBC reported the competition became the biggest driver of prediction market trading in June, with Dune Analytics showing record notional trading volumes on Kalshi and Polymarket.Kalshi trading volume hits June record. Source: DefiLlama The tournament’s knockout matches are attracting some of the highest trading activity. Canada’s Round of 16 match against Morocco, scheduled for Saturday, had generated over $48 million in trading volume on Kalshi and over $26.8 million on Polymarket at the time of writing.The United States’ Round of 16 match has also drawn significant attention from traders. Kalshi’s market on which team will advance had generated more than $2.1 million in volume, while a comparable market on Polymarket had attracted around $1.6 million as of Saturday. Source: Kalshi Related: US dominates Polymarket political bets despite geoblock: ReportLegal battles intensify as prediction markets growThe high trading volumes come as prediction markets remain at the center of a growing legal and regulatory debate in the United States.By March, nearly a dozen US states had already moved against companies including Kalshi and Polymarket, with some seeking to halt the markets while others pushed to bring them under existing gambling laws and state tax frameworks.Source: CointelegraphFederal regulators have rejected states’ attempts to police prediction markets. The following month, CFTC Chair Michael Selig accused states of pursuing “illegal enforcement actions” against federally regulated exchanges, arguing Congress had given the agency sole authority over commodity derivatives markets, including prediction markets. “To any state that seeks to nullify federal law and seize authority over these markets,” Selig said, “we will see you in court.”The debate has broadened beyond regulators. In June, casino operators, tribal organizations and labor groups urged Congress to remove sports-event contracts from the CFTC’s authority with an amendment to the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, arguing the contracts should instead remain under state gambling laws and existing gaming oversight.Europe has taken a different approach. On Friday, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) reminded firms that many event contracts may already fall under existing restrictions on binary options, saying whether a product is regulated depends on its characteristics rather than the “event contract” label attached to it.Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has warned that many prediction market contracts may already fall under existing restrictions on binary options, saying companies cannot avoid financial regulations simply by marketing them as “event contracts.”In a public statement on Friday, the regulator reminded companies that event contracts meeting the definition of financial instruments are already prohibited from being marketed, distributed or sold to retail investors under national measures implementing ESMA’s 2018 binary options restrictions.ESMA said the assessment depends on a contract’s characteristics rather than how it is marketed, adding that event contracts with binary outcomes and fixed payouts are likely to qualify as financial instruments subject to the restrictions.The regulator also told companies that offering qualifying event contracts to professional or institutional clients still requires authorization under the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, regardless of whether retail investors are excluded.Excerpt from ESMA’s July statement on event contracts. Source: ESMAThe statement does not introduce new restrictions. ESMA said it issued the reminder after observing increased offerings of event contracts and the rapid growth of prediction markets, noting that qualifying binary options have already been subject to national restrictions across the EU since 2018.Related: StanChart joins ESMA’s first MiCA register update since deadlineUS prediction markets face growing legal battleIn the United States, a regulatory battle over prediction markets is unfolding, pitting state gaming regulators against the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over whether event contracts should be treated as gambling or federally regulated derivatives.By March, authorities in 11 states had taken legal or regulatory action against platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket. Nevada became the first state to temporarily block Kalshi’s operations, while Arizona brought criminal charges alleging the company was operating an illegal gambling business.The following month, the CFTC asserted “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets, saying Congress had entrusted the agency with sole authority to regulate commodity derivatives markets, including event contracts. The regulator also said it had sued several states and filed court briefs supporting platforms, including Kalshi.The CFTC’s April announcement defending its authority over prediction markets. Source: CFTC.govThe legal battle has continued to escalate. On June 30, a Massachusetts judge allowed state authorities to file an amended complaint against Kalshi in an ongoing lawsuit alleging that the company’s sports-event contracts constitute illegal gambling under state law.The dispute has also prompted calls for congressional action. Last month, the Indian Gaming Association and American Gaming Association, joined by tribal and labor groups, urged lawmakers to amend the CLARITY Act to explicitly prohibit sports-related event contracts on prediction market platforms, arguing they fall outside the CFTC’s authority and should remain subject to state gambling laws.Some legal experts believe the growing conflict between federal and state regulators over prediction markets could ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court.Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves

Tradeweb, an institutional electronic trading platform, has executed an onchain transaction involving tokenized US Treasuries, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash over the Canton Network.Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while the Canton Network synchronized settlement between the tokenized Treasury and tokenized cash. The companies said the trade settled in real time, but did not disclose its size.A Tradeweb spokesperson told Cointelegraph the deal marked the industry’s first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton. Participants included Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial.According to the announcement, the transaction precedes the planned launch of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Tokenization Services later this year. DTCC said the service will allow participants to tokenize select stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and US Treasury securities while maintaining the same investor protections and ownership rights as traditional assets.Related: Franklin Templeton launches dedicated crypto division after closing 250 Digital acquisitionThe transaction is also the latest step in Franklin Templeton’s expansion into tokenized financial assets. Earlier this year, the asset manager partnered with Binance to let institutions use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral while the assets remained in regulated custody, and with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized ETFs onto blockchain networks.Governments expand tokenized bond initiativesGovernments have also been expanding efforts to bring sovereign debt onto blockchain infrastructure. Several jurisdictions have launched digital bond programs to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and market infrastructure.Hong Kong was among the first jurisdictions to issue tokenized government bonds, launching its inaugural digital green bond in 2023. The government completed its third digital green bond issuance in November 2025, raising HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) across four currencies, which it said was the world’s largest digital bond issuance at the time.Last month, Hong Kong said it would build a digital asset platform through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, with plans to expand the infrastructure to other digital assets and connect it with tokenization platforms across the region.Elsewhere, the UK government appointed HSBC Orion to support its Digital Gilt Instrument pilot, which is designed to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and secondary trading of government bonds.Meanwhile, tokenized US Treasury products have grown into a $14.6 billion market, according to data from RWA.xyz. The sector spans 84 on-chain products and is the largest segment of the tokenized real-world asset market.Tokenized US treasuries. Source: RWA.xyzMagazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves