Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Western Union launches USDPT Visa card with Rain

Western Union and stablecoin payments company Rain launched Stablecard on Aug. 4, giving customers in 37 markets a way to receive, hold and spend Western Unions USDPT stablecoin.　　Summary37 markets now offer Western Union Stablecard access, with expansion targeting more than 60 markets.USDPT remittances can fund a Visa card for spending online, in stores, or at ATMs.Anchorage Digital Bank issues USDPT on Solana and publishes monthly independent reserve attestation reports online.Western Unions second quarter digital transactions rose 25%, supporting its wider shift toward digital services.Solana Explorer showed 5.92 million USDPT outstanding, above the amount covered by Junes attestation report.　　The product combines a digital wallet with a Visa card and is available through dedicated applications on Apples App Store and Google Play.　　USDPT is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank on Solana and is redeemable at a one to one rate for U.S. dollars. Customers can receive eligible Western Union transfers into the Stablecard wallet, transfer USDPT from compatible wallets or exchanges, and spend through Visa merchants or ATMs.　　BREAKING: Western Unions Stablecard is live.　　Spend instantly anywhere Visa works, across 175M merchant locations in 37 markets at launch. 　　The card runs on USDPT, @WesternUnions own stablecoin issued onchain on Solana and powered by @raincards. https://t.co/A0ycTQP68X

08-05Industry

Polymarket reportedly seeks $1 billion at $20B

Polymarket is reportedly in preliminary talks with prospective investors about raising roughly $1 billion at a valuation above $20 billion.　　Bloomberg reported the discussions on Aug. 4, citing people familiar with the private negotiations.　　The company has not announced a deal. A Polymarket spokesperson declined to comment on the report. The fundraising amount, valuation and investor group should therefore be treated as “preliminary” rather than completed financing.　　A successful round would place Polymarket near Kalshi, its largest prediction market rival, which secured a $22 billion valuation in May. It would also continue the rapid rise in private valuations across an industry expanding from election contracts into sports, economics, crypto and other real world events.　　Polymarket funding talks remain unconfirmed　　The reported transaction remains at an early stage. No term sheet, closing date or final investor list has been released. Private funding discussions can change before completion, including the capital raised and the valuation investors ultimately accept.　　Comparisons with Polymarket‘s October 2025 valuation also require care. Bloomberg referred to a valuation of about $9 billion. However, Intercontinental Exchange’s official announcement said its planned investment reflected an approximate $8 billion valuation before the new capital was added. The figures may use different valuation bases and are not necessarily

08-05Industry

US, UK reaffirm support for stablecoins, tokenization in joint financial regulation talks

The United States and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their commitment to closer financial regulatory cooperation during a recent bilateral working group, signaling continued policy alignment on digital assets as US authorities move to implement landmark stablecoin legislation.　　During the 13th meeting of the UK-US Financial Regulatory Working Group (FRWG), held in London on July 8, officials discussed stablecoin regulation, digital asset market structure in the United States, tokenization and the UKs Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy.　　An Aug. 4 joint statement summarizing the meeting said US officials updated their UK counterparts on implementation of the GENIUS Act, the countrys landmark stablecoin law, as well as ongoing work on digital asset market structure. Participants also discussed payment modernization and the G20 Cross-border Payments Roadmap, an international initiative to improve cross-border payments.　　Although the meeting did not produce new policy measures, it underscored a shared commitment to coordinating regulation across key areas of the digital asset industry. The statement struck a broadly supportive tone toward “responsible” digital asset innovation while emphasizing financial stability and international regulatory cooperation.　　That commitment was also reflected on July 14, when the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future — a joint US-UK initiative focused on strengthening cooperation on financial innovation

08-05Industry

Ethereum researchers want to rein in staking, critics say it could backfire

A group of six Ethereum researchers and developers, including Ethereum Foundation‘s Justin Drake, has proposed changing the network’s issuance policy to cut validator rewards more sharply as the proportion of staked ETH rises.　　The draft, called the Tapered Issuance Burn and currently being assigned the provisional number EIP-8363, would burn an increasing fraction of validators consensus rewards as the amount of staked ETH approaches a fixed threshold of 60.25 million ETH (around 50% of the current ETH supply), at which point the deduction hits 100%. The changes would phase in over 18 months.Tapered Issuance Burn Ethereum Improvement Proposal. Source: Github　　The proposal has triggered backlash from developers, stakers and DeFi founders, who warn that the reward cuts could force out solo validators before larger institutions are affected, weaken institutional demand for ETH, and disrupt DeFi markets built around staking yield.　　One of the proposal‘s authors, Jérôme de Tychey, said the changes are needed to address the rising share of Ether being staked, which passed 33% in April. The authors argue continued staking growth could concentrate ETH in large custodians and liquid staking providers, while unchecked issuance erodes Ether’s role as a neutral, trustless store of value.　　“Ever-growing issuance is a dilution tax on every

08-05Industry

Crypto 'will be fine' even if Clarity fails to pass this week, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says

Quick TakeBitwise CIO Matt Hougan said crypto will still march forward even if Clarity Act fails to pass this week.The U.S. Congress is entering a month-long recess next week, giving Clarity a three-day window to advance through the Senate.　　Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said crypto will continue to march ahead even if the U.S. Clarity Act fails to pass this week — a deadline widely seen as a critical juncture before Congress takes its August recess.　　The Senate is scheduled to begin its summer break from Aug. 10 to Sept. 11, giving Clarity a three-day window to clear the chamber before lawmakers depart for the recess.　　In a Tuesday blog post, Hougan wrote that the crypto industry will “find a way forward” without the passage of Clarity, arguing that the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely establish rules in place of the bill that are even more crypto-friendly.　　Hougan cited recent comments by SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who said the agency is willing and able to push out rules that address many of the same issues as Clarity.　　“In the short term, rules from Atkins SEC are likely to be more crypto- and innovation-friendly than those that would emerge from a bipartisan bill

08-05Industry

This Bitcoin Bridge Shut Itself Down Because AI Was Finding Bugs Too Fast

In briefBitcoin bridge Boltz has suspended its Bitcoin swap service indefinitely.The company says AI-assisted attacks are outpacing its ability to patch vulnerabilities.Boltz says no user funds were at risk because the platform is non-custodial.　　Boltz has suspended its Bitcoin swap service indefinitely, saying a surge in AI-assisted attacks has left it unable to continue operating safely.　　In a series of posts on X on Monday, the company said swaps are disabled “until further notice” and that it cannot provide an estimate for when the service will return.　　“We cant give an ETA as of this time, but will provide an update once we know more,” Boltz wrote.　　Boltz is a non-custodial Bitcoin swap service that lets users move Bitcoin between the Lightning Network and the blockchains base layer without giving the company custody of their funds. Boltz has not published transaction volume figures. Boltz currently holds around $262,000 in total value locked, according to DeFiLlama.　　Because users retain control of their assets throughout the process, Boltz said “no user funds were ever at risk.”　　Boltz Swap Services are currently unavailable until further notice. We cant give an ETA as of this time, but will provide an update once we know more ????　　“To be clear: this is

08-05Industry

US, UK deepen stablecoin talks after GENIUS Act

US and UK financial regulators have expanded talks on stablecoins, tokenization and digital asset oversight as Washington begins implementing the GENIUS Act.　　SummaryThe 13th UK-US regulatory meetingtook place in London on July 8.US officials briefed UK regulators on GENIUS Act implementationand crypto market structure.Both governments support one-to-one stablecoin backingand greater cross-border regulatory coordination.The Bank of England has replaced proposed holding limits with a £40 billion issuance cap.　　US, UK regulators discuss stablecoin policy　　Senior officials from HM Treasury and the US Treasury met in London for the 13th UK-US Financial Regulatory Working Group meeting, according to an Aug. 4 joint statement.　　Representatives from the Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority, Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also attended.　　Digital finance formed a central part of the July 8 meeting. US officials updated their UK counterparts on the implementation of the GENIUS Act, which establishes a federal framework for payment stablecoins, and on continuing work to define the countrys broader digital asset market structure.　　Officials also discussed tokenization, payment modernization and the G20 Cross-border Payments Roadmap. UK representatives provided an update on the countrys Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy and the

08-05Industry

SpaceX taps NVIDIA for 1M-satellite AI plan

SpaceX has expanded its partnership with NVIDIA to power Starmind, a proposed network of orbital data centers designed to process artificial intelligence workloads in space.　　SummarySpaceX will use NVIDIAs Vera Rubin platformfor its planned Starmind satellite network.The company has requested FCC approval for up to one million orbital data-center satellites.NVIDIA says its Space-1 module provides up to 25 timesthe AI compute of an H100 GPU.SPCX gained 9.8%, while NVIDIA shares rose 2.5%following the announcement.　　SpaceX adds NVIDIA chips to Starmind network　　SpaceX plans to equip its Starmind satellites with NVIDIA‘s Rubin graphics processing units and Vera central processing units. The hardware forms part of NVIDIA’s Space-1 platform, which was developed for AI processing and other computing workloads in orbit.　　https://twitter.com/nvidia/status/2084733460690903204　　The partnership expands NVIDIAs list of space-computing customers after the chipmaker introduced the platform in March. Its initial launch partners included Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Planet Labs, Sophia Space and Starcloud.　　SpaceX was not included in the original announcement but has now joined the companies working with NVIDIA on orbital computing. Musk later said SpaceX would build its AI infrastructure exclusively on NVIDIA platforms and described Vera Rubin as the strongest available option.　　You might also like:　　CLARITY Act misses Senate agenda as deadline nears　　The companies also

08-05Industry

CLARITY Act vote at risk as Democrats withhold support

The CLARITY Act faces a growing risk of failing a procedural Senate vote as Democrats demand progress on ethics, illicit finance and stablecoin yield provisions.　　Democrats threaten to block CLARITY Act vote　　Senate Democrats have reportedly reached a broad consensus that they will not vote to end debate on the CLARITY Act unless negotiators resolve several outstanding issues.　　Punchbowl News reporter Brendan Pedersen said Democratic lawmakers are seeking movement on ethics restrictions, illicit finance rules and stablecoin yield before supporting cloture.　　“There is a clear consensus among Senate Democrats right now that — without movement on ethics, illicit finance and stablecoin yield — a cloture vote this week on the Clarity Act will fail,” Pedersen wrote on X.　　“Democrats wont be moved by crypto cash at this point,” he added.　　Cloture would allow the Senate to limit debate and move the legislation toward a final vote. Advancing the measure would require 60 senators, meaning Republicans cannot proceed without Democratic support.　　Republicans control 53 Senate seats. Assuming full Republican backing, they would still need at least seven Democrats to vote for cloture.　　The current vote count does not appear to provide that support, raising the risk that calling a procedural vote before reaching an agreement could produce a public

08-05Industry

OpenAI Dumps Apple Employees' Text Messages to Fight Trade Secret Suit

In briefOpenAI published a detailed rebuttal to Apples trade secrets lawsuit.The company says Apple misstated key facts before filing suit and released emails to support its claims.OpenAI also argues Apple employees continued seeking help from a former engineer after he joined the company.　　OpenAI has publicly challenged Apples trade secrets lawsuit, publishing emails, text messages, and a point-by-point rebuttal that accuses the iPhone maker of making factual errors before filing its complaint.　　In a blog post published Monday, OpenAI said Apple confused two employees with similar names, falsely claimed the company ignored its outreach, and incorrectly asserted that Apples outside counsel had spoken with OpenAI General Counsel Che Chang before filing a lawsuit against OpenAI.　　The email and text dump comes after Apple sued OpenAI in July, accusing the company, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, former Apple design executive Tang Tan, and io Products of misappropriating hardware trade secrets as OpenAI expanded its consumer hardware efforts following its acquisition of Jony Ives startup in 2025.　　“Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details,” OpenAI wrote. “This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesnt live up to that reputation.”　　In its lawsuit, Apple

08-05Industry

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