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.
Čítaj viac
Mysten Labs’ Hashi Bitcoin finance network will begin a phased rollout in October with more than $500 million in capital commitments from its launch partners.Hashi uses Bitcoin (BTC) as collateral in Sui applications by minting hBTC on Sui against deposited Bitcoin, the Sui Foundation announced Thursday. Applications could include lending, borrowing, credit, vaults and structured products.When users exit, hBTC is burned and the underlying BTC is returned to the Bitcoin network. Sui said the network’s launch coalition includes more than 20 companies, including BitGo, Bullish, Cumberland, FalconX and Ledger. It named Aftermath, Concrete and Fluid among the providers expected to run Hashi vaults.Anchorage Digital has joined the coalition as a launch partner, offering institutional clients access through its settlement infrastructure and self-custody wallet. The company also plans to provide stablecoin liquidity to Hashi, according to the announcement.“Public companies and institutions hold enormous amounts of Bitcoin, but their ability to use that capital has been constrained by the technology available to them and the limitations of the DeFi space,” said Nathan McCauley, CEO and co-founder of Anchorage Digital.Hashi was developed by Mysten Labs, the founding contributor to Sui. The foundation said third parties will independently create and offer financial products using the infrastructure.Related: Sui tunnels hit 40.6M TPS in live AI agent testCointelegraph 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.
Čítaj viac
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) executives unveiled plans to bring USD1 stablecoin payments to major online businesses during a panel discussion at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday.WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff and co-founder Zak Folkman took part in a stablecoin-focused panel discussion at the industry conference alongside Mesh co-founder and CEO Bam Azizi.Azizi unveiled a partnership with WLFI that would enable USD1 holders to spend the stablecoin across the payment infrastructure provider’s merchant network. The rollout is planned for this quarter.“Beyond the use of the World Liberty app itself, we are already in plans to roll out this exact same technology to some of the largest Web2 businesses that are in the marketplace,” Folkman said.WLFI’s Zak Folkman speaks during a stablecoin panel at Token2049 in Singapore on Wednesday. Photo: Aubrey Paller/CointelegraphWLFI is a crypto venture backed by US President Donald Trump’s family. Its USD1 stablecoin is designed to maintain a value of $1 and is issued by BitGo, with reserves comprising cash, US government money market funds and other cash equivalents. The stablecoin’s market capitalization stood at $4.45 billion, at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. Related: Study suggests WLFI could act as an ‘early warning signal’ in cryptoWLFI seeks to take over USD1 issuanceIn August, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval for WLFI to establish a national trust bank intended to issue dollar-backed stablecoins and custody digital assets.The move would allow it to take over USD1 issuance, according to Witkoff.Related: Trump-linked WLFI hits new low as token-backed loan triggers concern“Today we’re issuing through BitGo,” he said. “With this trust charter, we’ll be able to take on that responsibility ourselves.”The charter approval drew criticism from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who alleged conflicts of interest involving the Trump family’s ties to WLFI. Warren and other senators have introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act in response.The OCC said its leadership and staff had acted consistently with their statutory duties and ethical obligations when reviewing the application.At the panel, Witkoff described the conditional approval as something WLFI had achieved “in spite of some of the attacks against us,” referring to criticism from the mainstream media and politicians.Magazine: Stablecoins can drain from banks and nations at lightning speed
Čítaj viac
A weakening US dollar could give crypto the “green light” and help extend the industry’s rally, says Real Vision founder Raoul Pal.He tells Cointelegraph on the latest episode of Trade Secrets that higher bond yields and the strong dollar are keeping liquidity from flowing freely.“If they can engineer the dollar lower, then we get a green light for further movement in crypto,” he says. “I don’t want to get overly excited, so I haven’t got a full green light on everything.”The US Dollar Index has been trading at the year’s highest levels. Source: TradingViewHowever he believes Bitcoin will miss out of much of the crypto economic activity generated by AI agents, which is likely to flow to smart contract platforms like Ethereum and Solana.Related: El Salvador receives $138 million from IMF after Bitcoin waivers grantedPal is among the most experienced high profile crypto analysts, having worked in hedge fund sales at Goldman Sachs in Europe and co-managed a global macro fund at GLG Partners. He launched the research platform Global Macro Investor in 2005 and co-founded financial media Real Vision in 2014.Pal says he first bought Bitcoin in 2013, after applying a gold-based valuation framework to the cryptocurrency.An AI pause could help crypto catch upBitcoin’s cycle recovery arguably came between Aug. 19 and Aug. 25 when BTC rose about 25% to $80,000. Interestingly, over that period, AI bellwether stock Nvidia notched up seven consecutive losing sessions.Pal says pauses in the AI trade have allowed capital to rotate into crypto.“You can tell there’s this sort of rotation for liquidity that’s around right now, which means it’s not abundant yet,” he says.Bitcoin rallied while Nvidia shares fell in August. Source: TradingViewWhile AI has been competing with crypto for funds, an AI crash would be an unwelcome prospect, as a bursting bubble would indicate that liquidity is being “sucked out of the system,” while threatening the conditions crypto needs to rise.“Things don’t go bust if liquidity is plentiful,” Pal says.His preferred outcome would be a weaker dollar, a steeper yield curve and banks expanding the money supply through increased lending.However, borrowing costs have been moving higher. The US 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.29% in September, while the Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter-point.If those conditions don’t materialize, Pal’s “second best scenario” is for AI stocks to trade sideways, which would allow capital to rotate into crypto.AI agents could bring more business to Ethereum and SolanaAI agents can now pay to access web content using stablecoins through a feature that Amazon Web Services introduced in June. Coinbase handles payment verification and settlement through its x402 protocol, with USDC on Base among the supported payment options.Pal says agents could eventually raise the money they need to operate, by issuing tokens to fund projects that could last “a week, a month, a year,” then carrying out the work and generating returns.He says Ethereum and Solana could attract more activity as software uses their smart contracts to transact.“My guess is they’ll get more adoption over time as AI uses them,” he says.Related: Coinbase’s AI payments protocol x402 launches app store for AI agentsSolana needs more than activity to overtake EthereumEthereum’s greater concentration of capital makes Pal cautious about claims Solana will overtake it in market value, despite his enthusiasm for both networks.Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani predicted on Trade Secrets last month that SOL would surpass Ether’s market capitalization “this market cycle.”Samani “needs to hold his horses a little bit,” Pal says, even though he acknowledged that it is possible.The networks are ahead of each other on different metrics. Solana recorded around 3.2 million active addresses over the preceding 24 hours on Monday, compared with Ethereum’s 387,000, according to DefiLlama. But Ethereum has about $54.4 billion in decentralized finance protocols, which is far ahead of Solana’s $6.7 billion.Pal compares the networks using what he calls “economic density,” dividing total value locked by active users. He says Ethereum attracts more capital relative to its user count, and Solana’s activity involves smaller amounts.“Solana’s core activity is speculation,” he says. “It’s just smaller clip sizes.”Pal says he has stopped giving public price targets because his forecasts get clipped and recirculated online. He describes million-dollar Bitcoin by 2030 as a “meme” reflecting growing adoption, ETF interest and Bitcoin’s use as collateral.“Does it make a million bucks? I don’t know, but certainly by 2032, yeah, I don’t have an issue with that.”Magazine: Former SEC boss made AI Czar, Bitcoin may hit $600K this cycle: Hodler’s Digest
Čítaj viac
Stablecoin issuer Circle urged the European Commission to revise reserve requirements in its response to a consultation on reviewing the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).In Thursday’s summary of its response, the USDC and EURC issuer said mandatory bank-deposit requirements expose stablecoin issuers to banking-sector credit and counterparty risks.Circle faced those risks firsthand in March 2023, when USDC temporarily lost its dollar peg after the company disclosed that $3.3 billion of its reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank. The funds were subsequently made available after US authorities protected the bank’s depositors.The consultation, which closed Wednesday, sought feedback on how MiCA is working and whether it remains fit for purpose as crypto markets develop. Responses will inform the Commission’s assessment of the regulation and activities beyond its current scope.Related: MiCA focus shifts from rulemaking to supervision, ESMA chair saysCircle aligns with central bank on reserve requirementsMiCA currently requires e-money token issuers to hold at least 30% of reserves in commercial bank deposits, with a higher minimum of 60% for significant issuers, according to Circle.Circle backed reconsidering the mandatory deposit minimums and replacing them with a more flexible minimum asset liquidity requirement, agreeing with the European Central Bank.The company also called for removing two reserve concentration limits that impose a 35% cap on exposure to a single sovereign and a ceiling on deposits with each counterparty equivalent to 1.5% of that bank’s total assets.The stablecoin issuer also urged the Commission to preserve “multi-issuance,” through which a European Union-authorized entity and a foreign-regulated counterpart co-issue a stablecoin. Restricting that structure would push users toward offshore providers outside MiCA’s protections, Circle argued.Related: 50,000 Europeans call on EU to ease stablecoin rewards restrictions in MiCA reviewIndustry groups seek changes to onchain market rulesThe Hyperliquid Policy Center also responded to the consultation, urging the Commission to treat crypto perpetual futures under the EU’s existing securities and derivatives framework, the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II.The group called for requirements tailored to perpetual futures’ market structure and recognition of public blockchain records as a way to meet transparency and recordkeeping obligations.The Global Blockchain Business Council recommended clearer token classification, proportionate stablecoin safeguards and less duplication between MiCA and payment-services rules.On cross-border stablecoin issuance, GBBC called for clear redemption responsibilities, enforceable reserve rebalancing and an accountable EU supervisory framework.Magazine: Stablecoins can drain from banks and nations at lightning speed
Čítaj viac
