Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Margaux Nijkerk, a reporter at CoinDesk. In this issue: Solana Set for Major Overhaul After 98% Votes to Approve Historic ‘Alpenglow’ Upgrade Ethereum Foundation to Unload Another 10K ETH Following SharpLink Deal ‘OP_CAT Isn’t My Invention. It’s Satoshi’s,’
Wall Street banking and research firm Compass Point has initiated coverage of crypto platform Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk, with a neutral rating and a $45 price target. Despite a belief that Bullish’s lower fee structure could help it chip away at Coinbase’s (COIN) U.S. market share in the future, the analyst Ed
The World Gold Council may develop a digital form of gold to overhaul London’s $900 billion physical market for the yellow metal, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Wednesday. Each unit of digital gold, or “pooled gold interests” (PGIs), would allow investors to buy a form of fractional ownership in gold bullion. The product will
Trusted Smart Chain (TSC) has officially launched its main net, marking a pivotal step forward for Real World Assets (RWA) in the blockchain and digital currency space. As the RWA sector gains momentum as one of the most promising frontiers in crypto, TSC positions itself as a dedicated infrastructure provider—built to connect the reliability of
American Bitcoin (ABTC), a newly public bitcoin mining and treasury firm backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, opened for trade Wednesday morning after completing its merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (GRYP). Wasting little time, the company filed for an at-the-market equity raise of up to $2.1 billion with which to continue building its
AlphaTON Capital, a Nasdaq-listed company newly rebranded from Portage Biotch (PRTG), said it will purchase about $100 million worth of toncoin TON$3.1824 to build a digital asset treasury firm offering exposure to the token. The firm will operate under the ticker “ATON” starting Sept. 4. It plans on managing TON network infrastructure and incubating applications
U.S. Bank said it restarted cryptocurrency custody offerings for institutional investment managers, broadening the service to include bitcoin BTC$111,764.75 exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The program, first rolled out in 2021 and put on hold in 2022, is available on an early access basis through U.S. Bank’s Global Fund Services division, the bank said Wednesday. Custody operations
Ripple (XRP), the fourth-largest cryptocurrency in the global market, has taken an ambitious step into the gaming industry by launching its own private L3 chain on B3’s open consumer ecosystem. Along with this initiative, XRP announced its own dedicated gaming chain and platform, dubbed Xcade. XRP Launches New Gaming-Focused Chain Xcade The project’s most striking
Trust Wallet, the self-custodial crypto wallet owned by Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, has integrated tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into its platform. After initially disclosing the plan to introduce real-world assets (RWAs) in June, Trust Wallet has launched tokenized versions of US stocks and ETFs for use around the globe, the company said
Solowin Holdings (SWIN), a publicly-traded investment holding firm, has announced it completed a $350 million acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure provider AlloyX, integrating its talent and technology as it aims to bolster its expansion into emerging markets. The Hong Kong-based financial firm said in a press release that the deal integrates AlloyX’s infrastructure, including a stablecoin