Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Italys biggest bank triples staked Ether ETF holdings while cutting IBIT shares

Intesa Sanpaolo, Italys largest banking group, tripled its position in an iShares staked Ether exchange-traded fund during the second quarter while reducing its position in the iShares spot Bitcoin ETF.　　The bank reported holding 349,600 shares of the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) worth $7.1 million as of June 30, according to Friday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. That was up from 116,200 shares valued at $3.15 million at the end of March.　　Intesa retained 3.47 million shares of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) worth $67.6 million, its largest crypto-linked holding in the filing. The share count was down about 4% from the first quarter.　　The bank cut its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) shareholding by about 94%, to 40,723 shares from 646,809 shares.　　Intesa kept its Grayscale XRP Trust ETF (GXRP) position unchanged at 712,319 shares, nearly doubled its BitGo stake to 323,000 shares and reduced its Coinbase position to 7,000 shares.　　Crypto ETFs give banks and other institutional investors exposure to digital assets through regulated securities products, avoiding the custody, compliance and operational requirements of holding cryptocurrencies directly.　　Related: Italys largest bank more than doubles crypto holdings to $235M in Q1: Report

08-04Industry

DCG's Fortitude acquires 12.5 MW Nebraska facility for net $4.7 million, expanding Zcash mining portfolio

Quick TakeFortitude Mining has completed the cash acquisition of a 12.5 MW mining facility for a net outlay of about $4.7 million after credits.The site, which includes full ownership of the land, building, and on-site substation, is the companys third in Nebraska and contributes to an owned power portfolio of more than 60 MW across seven sites.　　Fortitude Mining Holdings, Inc., the Zcash mining subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, has completed its acquisition of a 12.5 megawatt facility in Prosser, Nebraska, according to an announcement on Tuesday.　　This comes about a week after Fortitude announced it was bringing a 12 MW mining facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, online. That Nebraska facility was called Fortitudes first self-developed mining site.　　The Prosser site will be Fortitudes third in Nebraska and adds to its owned power portfolio of more than 60 MW across seven sites in South Dakota, Nebraska, Texas, and New York.　　“The acquisition of our Prosser Facility is a significant step forward in scaling our owned-and-operated portfolio,” Fortitude CEO Andrea Childs said. By pairing targeted acquisitions like Prosser with our own greenfield development, we are building a vertically-integrated platform designed to maximize the value of every megawatt we own.　　Fortitude said it funded the acquisition entirely

08-04Industry

South African lawmakers propose draft rules on cross-border crypto transactions

SummarySouth Africas National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank are moving towards regulating the use of cryptocurrency for cross-border transactions.A draft rulebook proposes that sending crypto offshore must be conducted through an authorized provider and be reported to the central banks Financial Surveillance Department.The two bodies have invited comments from interested parties with a deadline for submission of Sept. 30.　　South Africas Treasury and central bank are moving towards regulating the use of cryptocurrency for cross-border transactions.　　The National Treasury and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released a draft rulebook on Monday that proposes that sending crypto offshore must be conducted through an authorized provider and reported to the central banks Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv).　　“The proposed regulatory measures seek to minimize the risk of regulatory arbitrage between regulated entities conducting cross-border activities, and to enhance the ability of the Financial Surveillance Department (FinSurv) to detect, deter and disrupt illicit financial flows,” Treasury and the Reserve Bank said in a joint statement.　　The framework would not make crypto legal tender, nor do the rules distinguish between different digital assets.　　The two bodies have invited comments from interested parties with a deadline for submission of Sept. 30.　　The proposed rules build on previous National Treasury

08-04Industry

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest snaps up nearly $10 million in Coinbase and Circle stock

Quick TakeArk Invest bought another 54,776 Coinbase shares on Monday — worth around $8 million.The Cathie Wood-led firm also picked up $1.4 million in additional Circle shares, while offloading a small amount of Solmate stock.　　Ark Invest bought 54,776 Coinbase (COIN) shares, worth approximately $8 million, across three of its exchange-traded funds on Monday, adding to its holdings after the crypto exchanges shares slumped following last weeks earnings report.　　Of the total acquisition, the Cathie Wood-led investment firm bought 38,761 Coinbase shares ($5.7 million) for its Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK), 11,133 shares ($1.6 million) for its Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and 4,882 shares ($715,000) for its Ark Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) as the company continues to rebalance its fund weightings amid market volatility.　　Arks investment strategy aims to let no individual holding take up more than 10% of a funds portfolio. This is to maintain diversification within its funds — meaning Ark is likely to continue rebalancing its weightings if the value of Coinbase shares rises or falls significantly relative to Arks other holdings in its funds.　　According to the firms disclosures, COIN is currently the sixth-largest holding within its ARKK fund, with a weighting of 4.2%, worth around $238 million, as

08-04Industry

Hardware Wallet Firms Warn of Phishing Surge as Coldcard Losses Near $130M

In briefTrezor and Foundation both reported a surge in phishing attempts targeting hardware wallet owners following the Coldcard exploit.Proofpoint identified a phishing campaign targeting Coldcard holders with a cloned site and “Hardware Audit” that installs remote-access software.A person, rather than a bot, staffs the fake sites customer service chat and talks victims through the install.　　Hardware wallet manufacturers Trezor and Foundation have warned of a surge in phishing attempts trading on the Coldcard firmware exploit, with scammers chasing users recovery phrases and pushing malicious downloads.　　Trezor said it was already seeing an increase in phishing attempts following the disclosure, telling users to enter a wallet backup only on the device itself and reiterating that its own hardware is unaffected. Foundation said it had been made aware of emails impersonating the firm that push recipients toward fake websites and malicious downloads, adding that it will never ask for a recovery phrase or tell users to install software to secure a wallet.　　Security firm Proofpoint documented a phishing campaign targeting Coldcard users on Monday. Emails sent from a spoofed Coldcard address invite recipients to complete a “coordinated hardware audit,” a theme lifted from the security incident itself, and link to a cloned Coldcard site carrying

08-04Industry

India updates tax reporting rules to include crypto assets and CBDCs

India has expanded its global tax reporting framework to include specified crypto-assets, central bank digital currencies, and digital money products under updated FATCA and Common Reporting Standard rules.　　The Economic Times reported that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has revised Indias implementation guidance for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), bringing specified crypto-assets, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and digital money products within the scope of international tax reporting.　　The updated guidance sets out revised compliance requirements for reporting financial institutions, including banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, custodians, and other investment entities. Under the framework, such entities must identify reportable accounts, verify customers‘ tax residency, and report financial information as part of India’s commitments under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework.　　In addition, the revised rules require reporting institutions to apply enhanced due diligence to high-value accounts with balances exceeding $1 million. The guidance calls for additional review procedures before such accounts are classified for reporting.　　The latest changes expand the range of financial products covered under Indias international tax reporting regime as authorities continue updating compliance standards for digital financial assets.　　High-value accounts will face additional review　　Alongside the expanded reporting scope, the revised guidance

08-04Industry

Strategy Sells BTC to Fund STRC Dividends and Buybacks

In the lastest Bitcoin news today, Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR), Michael Saylors bitcoin treasury company, disclosed the sale of 1,638 BTC for approximately $105 million in an 8-K filing with the SEC.　　Proceeds are expected to fund dividend payments on Strategys preferred stock classes – including STRC, STRK, STRD, STRF, and STRE – and to pay for repurchases of STRC preferred shares.　　This is not simply a Bitcoin sale. It is a capital structure management exercise, with Strategy running a parallel set of levers – BTC monetization and reserve allocation – to service a preferred-stock stack that carries rising cash obligations.　　DISCOVER: Best Meme Coins to Buy in 2026　　Bitcoin News Today: BTC Sale Mechanics, Price, and the Six-Week Accumulation Pause　　Strategy liquidated the 1,638 BTC at an average of roughly $64,000 per coin, a price that sits materially below the firms all-in average acquisition cost of $75,419. Despite offloading a portion of its reserves and now sitting on a $10.9 billion paper loss, Strategy remains one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin globally, and the $105 million sale represents a small fraction of its total portfolio.　　Strategy increased its USD Reserve by $250M and repurchased $81M of $STRC. This increased USD Duration by 57 days

08-04Industry

BlackRock debuts tokenized access to $311 billion of money market funds in Europe

SummaryBlackRocks new European-focused offerings provide tokenized functionality to a combined $311 billion of assets under management of money market funds across 15 markets.This includes sterling, euro and dollar share classes, BlackRock said.　　BlackRock (BLK), the worlds largest asset manager, is building on its recent expansion of tokenized cash offerings in the U.S. by tapping into a combined $311 billion of assets under management in European money market funds in a sign of the growing appeal of holding real-world assets on blockchain technology.　　BlockRock unveiled 12 new tokenized share classes based on six funds across 15 European markets. The funds, which comply with the European Unions UCITS regulations, include sterling, euro and dollar share classes, the asset manager said Tuesday. The move comes one day after the firm added two tokenized cash offerings in the U.S.　　CEO Larry Fink has repeatedly championed tokenization technology as a way to modernize financial markets. The tokenized real-world asset market has grown more than 200% over the past year to over $30 billion, according to rwa.xyz, while Citi projects tokenized securities could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.　　The tokenized funds are designed for corporate treasurers who already use money market funds to manage operating and reserve cash, as well

08-04Industry

Ripple Backs Zilo & Licuido to Scale XRPL Tokenization

Ripple announced strategic investments in two UK-based firms, Zilo and Licuido, on August 3, 2026, converting existing commercial partnerships into equity positions and adding regulated transfer agency, digital issuance, and collateral mobility to its capital markets infrastructure on the XRP Ledger.　　The investments address the gap that has kept most institutional tokenization projects in pilot mode: a tokenized fund share is only useful when it can be financed, pledged as collateral, and settled against cash with legal certainty, capabilities that require regulated ownership records, compliant issuance rails, and atomic delivery-versus-payment settlement, precisely what Zilo and Licuido supply.　　This news dropped as XRP USD trades for $1.07, up around +0.5% over the past 24 hours. This continues its modest run over the past seven days, with the token up +1.7% in the past week. Daily trading volume sits at $965M.　　#StateStreet #XRPL A $57.9 trillion custodian backed a small transfer agency startup in 2024. Today that startup just became Ripples newest bridge into TradFi.　　ZILO the platform State Street uses for its UK transfer agency business just launched a Digital Transfer Agency built…　　Zilo and Licuido: What Each Layer Does on XRPL　　Zilo provides the transfer agency and fund administration layer – the regulated record of who

08-04Industry

Crypto firms still seeking frontier AI access; only select few have it

Many of cryptos biggest players are still waiting to gain access to powerful new AI models to strengthen their code from attacks, with only a select few having been able to get it.　　US crypto exchange Coinbase said in June that it had secured access to Anthropic‘s restricted Mythos model and Zcash’s Zooko Wilcox said Anthropic used the model to audit the Zcash protocol at the request of Shielded Labs, while other major crypto players are seemingly yet to get access.　　“That‘s one advanced frontier model that hasn’t been made available to crypto just yet,” Binance‘s chief security officer Jimmy Su told Cointelegraph. “We have been trying to make inroads there. We also talked to other crypto exchanges and our own investors to try to make some progress. But we haven’t gotten the most frontier AI model, like Mythos.”　　The uneven access creates a new security divide in an industry where exploits can put billions of dollars at risk. While model developers like Anthropic and OpenAI have chosen to restrict their most cyber-capable models from the public, there are concerns that increasingly powerful open-source alternatives mean crypto firms are left to deal with sophisticated AI-assisted attacks without the most capable tools to defend

08-04Industry

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