News & Research

Ripple (XRP) has applied for a U.S. Federal Reserve master account through its acquisition of Standard Custody, alongside its application for an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) trust charter, according to Eleanor Terrett on X. A Fed master account offers direct access to the payment system, a significant step up from an OCC charter. The Federal Reserve has historically resisted granting crypto firms such access and a decision on this matter is pending in an ongoing lawsuit with Custodia Bank.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has outperformed its iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) in annual fee revenue, despite IVV being nearly nine times larger in assets, Watcher Guru reported. IBIT, with an expense ratio of 0.25%, generated an estimated $187.2 million in annual fees, compared to $187.1 million from IVV. The success of IBIT reflects strong investor demand for Bitcoin exposure, as the ETF has seen inflows in 17 of the past 18 months since its January 2024 launch.

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of the U.S. hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, has said that the trend of companies adopting Bitcoin (BTC) as a treasury asset is likely to fade. In an interview with Bloomberg, Scaramucci referred to the approach as a "replicative treasury company idea" that will lose momentum in the coming months. While acknowledging the success of Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR), which has made significant gains from its Bitcoin investments, Scaramucci pointed out that Saylor’s company is unique, with multiple business lines beyond Bitcoin. He believes that most companies will struggle to maintain high valuations simply by holding Bitcoin, as investors will eventually focus on business profitability and value creation, according to CoinDesk.

U.S. President Donald Trump and his family have earned at least $620 million through their foray into the cryptocurrency space, shifting their wealth-building efforts from traditional real estate to the faster-moving crypto markets. According to Bloomberg, this marks a major change for the Trump family, whose previous earnings were primarily based on real estate deals and licensing agreements. Their ventures into crypto include DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which has sold tokens worth over $550 million, with about $390 million directly benefitting the Trump family. They also hold a significant amount of WLFI-branded tokens, worth more than $2 billion as of June. Additionally, the Trump family launched its own stablecoin, USD1, which has gained significant traction following a major investment from MGX. Despite this success, the Trump family has also ventured into memecoins, including a Trump-branded coin, which has generated significant attention and profits. The family also holds a 20% stake in the crypto entity American Bitcoin, which plans to go public, potentially adding even more wealth to their growing crypto portfolio.

BounceBit (BB), a CeDeFi infrastructure platform, announced on X that it will launch tokenized stocks in Q4. These tokenized stocks will be accessible on-chain continuously, fully enabled for decentralized finance. Issued by BounceBit, the tokenized stocks are designed for active trading, composability and borderless use rather than passive holding.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Truth Social that a trade agreement has been reached with Vietnam, with further details to be announced soon.

Bitstack, a French Bitcoin (BTC) savings app, has become the first company in France to receive a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license under the new European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, according to FinanceFeeds. This license, awarded outside of any transitional fast-track or notification processes, authorizes Bitstack to operate throughout all member states of the EU and to extend its services across the continent under the unified MiCA framework.

PancakeSwap (CAKE), a multichain decentralized exchange (DEX), reached a record $325 billion in trading volume in June, its highest monthly total in five years, according to Cointelegraph. This surpassed May’s $174 billion and raised second-quarter volume to $530 billion, more than doubling the $211 billion from the first quarter. The growth follows recent upgrades, including the April launch of PancakeSwap Infinity, which improved user experience and trading efficiency.

KBC, Belgium’s largest bank, plans to allow retail customers to invest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) through its Bolero platform later this year, pending regulatory approval, according to Cointelegraph. If launched, it would be the first major Belgian bank to provide crypto services directly to individual investors.

Nasdaq-listed Addentax (ATXG) has signed a non-binding term sheet to acquire up to 12,000 BTC—valued at approximately $1.3 billion—by issuing new shares, according to PR Newswire press release. The deal, up from a previously discussed 8,000 BTC, is subject to final agreement, due diligence and approvals. The move aligns with the company’s long-term Bitcoin investment strategy.