Crypto, Forex & Blockchain News

Crypto markets rally with Bitcoin and Ethereum witnessing nearly 2% gains amidst renewed investor optimism fueled by pro-crypto signals from U.S. policymakers and President Trump. The article details the cryptocurrency market capitalization, trading volumes, liquidations, and flows in Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. It also discusses key regulatory signals from US authorities like the SEC and CFTC and their potential impact on the market sentiment.

The U.S. SEC has issued new guidelines classifying stablecoins as cash equivalents under accounting standards, according to a Bloomberg report. This could boost mainstream financial institutions’ interaction with stablecoins, especially for settlements and cross-border transactions. However, experts warn that the move could stifle innovation if the SEC’s definition of guaranteed redemption is too narrow. The news follows the recent announcement of Project Crypto, an initiative aimed at onboarding traditional finance infrastructure onto the blockchain. The total market cap of all stablecoins currently stands over $268 billion, a 63% increase since August 2024.

Gemini, the US cryptocurrency exchange, is reportedly preparing to expand into decentralized finance with the launch of Gemini Onchain. The platform appears to be a DeFi protocol aggregator, allowing users to perform token swaps, allocate assets into yield-bearing vaults, and access popular decentralized exchanges and other DeFi protocols. This move signals Gemini’s effort to integrate CeFi and DeFi services, which follows similar trends by other major exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and OKX.

Crypto exchange Bullish increases its initial public offering to $990 million, with aims to sell 30 million shares at $32 to $33 each. Bullish is a subsidiary of CoinDesk and one of many crypto firms capitalizing on the booming IPO market. Also, funds managed by BlackRock and Ark Investment have expressed interest in purchasing $200 million worth of shares.

Tether and Rumble plan to acquire all Northern Data shares, advancing in the fields of AI and high-performance computing operations. This deal will make Tether, the issuer of the USDt stablecoin, the single largest holder of Rumble’s Class A common stock and deepen their collaboration in AI, data storage solutions, and peer-to-peer communications.

Crypto funding attracted $1.46 billion across 18 projects in the first week of August, with major institutions investing heavily in blockchain, AI, and payment infrastructure. Notable investments include Verb Technology raising $558 million for the TON ecosystem and Ripple’s $200 million acquisition of Rail for fiat-stablecoin payment expansion. Other key players include Satsuma Technology, Bit2Me, and OpenMind, highlighting the growing interest in AI-blockchain integration.

Circle plans to introduce native USDC on the HyperEVM blockchain of Hyperliquid, reducing the need for wrapped tokens through its existing Arbitrum bridge. The move indicates Circle’s confidence in Hyperliquid as a growing trading platform and could impact Arbitrum’s strategic position with potential liquidity losses.

Sygnum, the first Swiss bank to fully support the SUI token, expands regulated institutional access to the Sui blockchain by announcing new professional client services like institutional-grade custody, spot and derivatives trading, staking and SUI collateral-backed Lombard loans. The bank aims to securely guide demand from other banks, asset managers, and high-net-worth individuals towards the blockchain universe via a trustworthy, regulated portal.

Ethereum Layer 2 network Mantle’s token MNT hits a five-month high amid increasing activity and anticipation of a new app, UR. The token, now valued at a market cap of $3.13 billion, shows an impressive 55% rise over the past year. The launch of UR, combining Swiss bank accounts, Mastercard debit cards with crypto self-custody, is considered a major boost.