Autor Cointelegraph by Zoltan Vardai

Binance announced it is shutting down support for non-fungible tokens on Binance Exchange and moving NFT management to its self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet, Binance Wallet. The exchange said this will offer NFT holders “easier access to Web3 and decentralized features,” according to a Wednesday announcement.  NFT Holders have until July 3 to withdraw their transferable NFTs from the platform before they become inaccessible. For non-transferable NFTs that can’t be withdrawn by design, Binance Academy will provide a PDF certificate of course completion.The decision shows that more exchanges are winding down support for NFTs and refocusing on other areas, such as tokenized assets. Binance is the latest exchange to wind down support for NFTs after similar moves from other platforms, such as crypto exchange Kraken, which shut down its NFT marketplace in February 2025. NFT marketplace OpenSea also announced halting support for BNB Smart Chain-native NFTs in August 2023. Binance announces a halt to NFT support on Binance Exchange. Source: BinanceBinance to offer fee reimbursement for NFT migrationBinance said it will offer two promotions for NFT withdrawal fee reimbursements for one month.The first one includes a reimbursement for general NFT withdrawal fees for non-CR7 NFTs. The second involves a withdrawal reimbursement for CR7 NFTs.The exchange said it will select up to 100,000 users for the reimbursement, with each receiving 1 USDC (USDC) for an eligible NFT withdrawal, credited to eligible users’ Binance spot accounts by July 3.Related: Kaiko acquires Amberdata in blockchain data consolidation pushThe broader NFT sector has been declining for some time. Leading NFT collections have yet to recover to their previous all-time high seen in the summer of 2022.CryptoPunk, floor price, all-time chart. Source: NFTPriceFloor.comCryptoPunks, the largest NFT collection by market capitalization, is currently trading at 30.9 ETH, down 61% from its all-time high of 80.9 ETH recorded in July 2022.The Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price was trading at 7.9 ETH, down 93% from its all-time high of 128 ETH seen in May 2022, data from NFTPriceFloor shows.Magazine: Digital art will ‘age like fine wine’: Inside Flamingo DAO’s 9-figure NFT collection

The Russian ruble-backed A7A5 stablecoin continued to grow despite Western sanctions, processing more than $110 billion in cumulative onchain transactions, according to CertiK.CertiK said A7A5 processed over $110 billion in cumulative onchain transactions, captured about 43% of the global non-US dollar stablecoin market, and that its holder count rose from 13,000 to 29,000 wallets between February 2025 and May 2026.The security company described A7A5 as one of the clearest examples of a sanctions-evasion stablecoin ecosystem, linking it to Russian cross-border settlement companies.The growth highlights the limits of Western sanctions against blockchain-based payment systems, including the European Union’s 19th sanctions package, adopted on Oct. 23, 2025, which prohibited transactions involving A7A5 from Nov. 12. CertiK said the reserve structure places key assets outside direct Western enforcement reach.A7A5 cumulative activity, all-time chart. Source: CertiKA7A5 was issued in January 2025 by Old Vector LLC, a Kyrgyz entity acting on behalf of the Russian cross-border-settlement firm A7 LLC, which is co-owned by Moldovan-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor and Russian state-owned defense sector lender Promsvyazbank.Russian authorities later recognized A7A5 under the country’s digital financial asset framework.The stablecoin recorded $11.2 billion in trading volume across A7A5/RUB and $6.1 billion in A7A5/USDT trades, primarily through Grinex, which is the successor to Garantex, the platform that previously functioned as a laundering venue for Conti, Black Basta, LockBit and some illicit funds attributed to North Korean-linked actors, including $30 million from the 2022 Horizon Bridge hack sent to Garantex in February 2023.US Secret Service seized the Garantex domain in March 2025, while Tether froze approximately $28 million in USDt (USDT) held by Garantex-controlled wallets.A7A5 was designed to replicate some of USDT’s stablecoin utility while keeping issuance, reserves and freezing authority outside Western-controlled infrastructure.Related: Recovery hopes fade as Kelp DAO hacker launders nearly all $220M in stolen fundsCan Western sanctions curb A7A5’s circulation?The creators of the ruble-backed stablecoin have designed it without a centralized kill switch, meaning that the smart contracts responsible for wallet and fund freezes are controlled entirely by its Russian and Kyrgyz developers, according to Jonathan Riss, OSINT and blockchain intelligence analyst at CertiK.The stablecoin’s reserves also sit in Central Asian banking networks, predominantly in Kyrgyzstan and in the Russian banking system, meaning that the funds are outside the reach of Western sanctions.A7A5 also relies on a distributed distribution model through decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pools such as Curve and Uniswap to prevent getting frozen by centralized exchanges, CertiK’s Riss told Cointelegraph, adding:“While Western regulators cannot directly rewrite the Ethereum or Tron blockchain to erase A7A5, the EU’s 19th package and parallel US/UK actions target the physical and digital choke points.”The stablecoin’s creators designed A7A5 with careful consideration of the above three “immunities” to evade sanctions that crippled their previous evasion methods, such as Tether’s USDT, Riss said.A7A5 network chart. Source: CertiKShor owns 51% of A7 LLC as the majority owner. He served as a former Moldovan parliament member until 2017, when he was convicted by a Moldovan court in connection with a 2014 theft of around $1 billion from three Moldovan Banks. He fled Moldova in 2019 and obtained Russian citizenship.He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison in 2023. He currently resides in Moscow.Magazine: The legal battle over who can claim DeFi’s stolen millions 

Georgia will reportedly install electricity meters across villages and settlements in Mestia as part of a crackdown on illegal crypto mining that officials say is straining the region’s power grid.Vice Prime Minister Mamuka Mdinaradze said Monday that illegal mining had pushed Mestia’s electricity consumption to 133 million kilowatt-hours in 2025, more than 13 times the level of comparable municipalities, according to local outlet 1tv.Large-scale illegal mining operations have led to deteriorating energy supply and grid overload, resulting in numerous outages in the region, affecting both residents and tourists, Mdinaradze reportedly said, adding that law enforcement agencies have also been tasked with identifying illegal mining operations.Cointelegraph reached out to the Georgian government for comment on the sanctions for illegal mining activities and whether these operations are offered a licensing pathway for legitimization.Mdinaradze speaking at a Monday press conference. Source: 1tv.ge Illegal Bitcoin mining cost Mestia $9.5 million annually, says vice PMIllegal Bitcoin mining operations in the Municipality of Mestia pushed the region’s electricity consumption to 133 million kilowatt-hours in 2025, exceeding the ordinary average of about 10 million kilowatt-hours for similar regions.This additional electricity output resulted in financial damages of about 20-25 million lari, or up to $9.4 million annually, according to Mdinaradze.He added that metering will be implemented both locally and on a larger scale across each village or settlement, helping identify the exact sources of illegal mining operations.He added that electricity in Svaneti will remain free for every consumer up to a predetermined quantity and that the new arrangements only serve to crack down on illegal mining operations.Related: Maestro launches mining-backed Bitcoin credit market for institutionsGeorgia offers cheap electricity due to abundant hydropower from the Caucasus Mountains, making it a popular destination for Bitcoin mining operations seeking cheap energy sources.Georgia has also attracted crypto-mining activity through low electricity costs and favorable tax treatment, including free industrial zones and value-added tax exemptions on certain crypto-related activities.Bitcoin mining company Bitfury was among the first major companies to establish operations in the country. In 2014, Bitfury built a 20-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility known as the Gori Data Center.Magazine: 6 weirdest devices people have used to mine Bitcoin and crypto 

Paris-based crypto data platform Kaiko acquired Amberdata, a US-focused digital asset data provider, as institutional investors demand broader market, derivatives and onchain analytics for digital assets.Kaiko said the deal will expand its institutional data stack and help the combined company serve banks, asset managers, hedge funds, exchanges and trading firms that need cleaner data across fragmented crypto markets, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.The acquisition adds Amberdata’s derivatives analytics and artificial intelligence-powered research tools, including the GVOL options analytics platform, which Kaiko said had been one of the most requested capabilities from institutional clients.The transaction was finalized on Monday, but the size and terms of the deal remain confidential, Ambre Soubiran, CEO of Kaiko, told Cointelegraph.The deal marks Kaiko’s fifth acquisition and expands its effort to consolidate institutional-grade crypto market data, derivatives analytics and onchain infrastructure. Kaiko said the combined company will serve 250 institutional clients worldwide. Kaiko acquired onchain data infrastructure provider Cometh on May 20, which is licensed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) as a crypto asset service provider.Kaiko platform homepage. Source: Kaiko.comIn February, Bloomberg announced a collaboration with Kaiko to make Bloomberg’s licensed financial data accessible directly within blockchain-native environments, expanding from traditional offchain databases to address the challenge of inconsistent data across tokenized markets, Cointelegraph reported.Reliable data is particularly important in markets linked to tokenized real-world assets to ensure that onchain assets mirror the pricing of the underlying financial instruments.Related: NYSE parent ICE pushes ‘level playing field’ for 24/7 onchain perpsCrypto data firms need to adhere to TradFi standards: Kaiko CEO Cryptocurrency data companies need to adhere to stricter TradFi-like standards to facilitate the growing institutional participation in the industry, Kaiko’s Soubiran told Cointelegraph, adding:“The growing participation from banks, asset managers, and hedge funds accelerates the demand, and this acquisition is the completion of a strategy that has been underway since day one.”Amberdata’s acquisition makes Kaiko the “only independent, globally regulated company that can serve every data need an institution has,” she added.LIT trading price, listing time, minute-by-minute. Source: KaikoEarlier in May, Kaiko’s data platform flagged concerning trading patterns suggesting that some traders are frontrunning crypto listing announcements on Robinhood, raising concerns that some market participants have access to non-public listing information or an “exceptionally reliable front-running methodology built on public signals.”Magazine: Polymarket seeks Japan entry, Harvard dumps entire ETH position: Hodler’s Digest, May 17 – 23

Binance has launched US equities trading for eligible users and plans to add tokenized stocks as part of a broader push to expand beyond crypto.Users will be able to trade more than 7,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with zero commission, buy fractional shares from $5 and access select equities on a 24/5 basis, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.The exchange said it is also planning to introduce tokenized stocks as part of its vision for a “multi-asset financial super app.” The move puts Binance more directly in competition with Coinbase and other platforms trying to bring stocks, ETFs, derivatives and tokenized assets into a single trading account. Coinbase rolled out commission-free US stock and ETF trading with 24/5 availability in December 2025.“Tokenization has the potential to reshape financial markets by giving users greater control, more flexibility, and ultimately more financial freedom,” said Binance co-CEO Richard Teng. “We see a significant opportunity to make financial assets more accessible, more useful, and more connected across traditional and digital markets.”The new offering is enabled through Binance’s broker-dealer, Nest Trading Limited, based in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).Source: BinancePurchasing tokenized equities will be primarily made through Circle’s USDC (USDC), with support for BNB (BNB), Tether’s USDt (USDT), World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) and United Stables (U). Sales proceeds will be received in USDC.The exchange will also enable eligible users to earn passive income by lending their stock holdings through Fully Paid Securities Lending (FPSL).Related: NYSE parent ICE pushes ‘level playing field’ for 24/7 onchain perpsBinance to launch bStocks after regulatory approvalThe launch of the 7,000 equities is part of Binance’s plan to become a multi-asset platform, with the next phase representing the launch of tokenized US stocks.Binance said that it plans to launch bStocks in the “coming weeks,” which are tokenized securities representing US stocks and ETFs, issued by BTECH Holdings LTD, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) registered in the ADGM.Binance said that the launch of bStocks is currently pending regulatory approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA).Related: NYSE parent ICE pushes ‘level playing field’ for 24/7 onchain perpsCointelegraph reached out to Binance for comment on the timeline of the tokenized stocks launch.Elsewhere, other cryptocurrency exchanges are also looking to bring traditional company stocks to their trading platform.At the beginning of April, crypto exchange Bitget launched a proxy offering tied to the pre-initial public offering (IPO) phase of Elon Musk’s aerospace manufacturing and space transportation company, SpaceX, Cointelegraph reported at the time.In April 2025, Kraken announced the launch of 11,000 US-listed stocks and ETFs with commission-free trading in an effort to bring “equities and digital assets together” under one trading platform, as part of a “phased national rollout.”In January, Vienna-based crypto exchange Bitpanda said it was expanding its offering to include about 10,000 stocks and ETFs.Magazine: Would Bitcoin really be at $200K if not for Jane Street? Trade Secrets