Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Why DeFi giant Aave is pulling the plug on six hyped blockchains making less than $5,000 a quarter

In a July 29 forum-stage proposal, Aave risk service provider LlamaRisk recommended winding down the decentralized lenders V3 deployments on Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium, and Aptos. The plan would put $4.1 million of debt on a staged exit path that keeps existing positions open during the initial step.　　The Aave Request for Final Comments, or ARFC, covers 25 lending reserves with $12.8 million supplied, based on LlamaRisk data dated July 28. The forum thread still showed the request under discussion on July 31. Aaves proposal lifecycle places an ARFC before a community Snapshot and any executable on-chain Aave Improvement Proposal.　　LlamaRisks economic case rests on support costs exceeding revenue. It said Sonic, Scroll, and zkSync each generate less than $5,000 in quarterly protocol revenue at current balances, while Metis, Soneium, and Aptos each generate less than $1,000. The proposal cites oracle, monitoring, and operational support costs but does not quantify the shortfall.　　The same ARFC separately targets 50 individual reserves and 21 matured Pendle principal tokens across 11 deployments, with $85.3 million supplied and $11.5 million borrowed. Those balances sit outside the six-market totals.　　How the six-market exit would work　　For the six full-market exits, every reserve would be frozen and its supply and

08-01Industry

Grayscale joins push for CLARITY Act Senate vote as deadline nears

Grayscale Investments has urged the Senate to vote on the CLARITY Act before the August recess as lawmakers face mounting pressure to resolve disputes holding up the crypto market structure bill.　　Grayscale urges action on the CLARITY Act　　Grayscale sent a letter to senators calling for action on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or H.R. 3633. The asset manager said hundreds of thousands of Americans hold its digital asset investment products, giving the company and its clients a direct interest in clearer federal rules.　　Grayscale Investments, the worlds largest digital asset-focused investment platform¹, just sent a letter to the Senate requesting a floor vote on the CLARITY Act before the August recess.　　Senators and staff across the aisle have spent months addressing hard questions about…　　The bill seeks to establish a regulatory framework for digital asset markets and clarify the respective responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.　　“Senators and staff across the aisle have spent months addressing hard questions about jurisdiction, investor protections, and developer safeguards,” Grayscale said.　　According to the company, the proposed framework would strengthen investor protections while preventing legitimate blockchain developers from facing rules intended for financial intermediaries.　　Grayscale argued that crypto businesses, developers and investors need stable

08-01Industry

The free ride for VanEcks Bitcoin ETF is officially over after falling $1.4 billion short of growth target

VanEcks Bitcoin ETF ends its zero-sponsor-fee period today, July 31, with $1.076 billion in net assets, equal to 43.0% of the waivers $2.5 billion asset threshold.　　The VanEck Bitcoin ETF, which trades as HODL, reported the asset figure as of July 30. It was about $1.424 billion below the threshold, meaning HODL remained fully covered by the waiver through its final day.　　The waivers mechanics are more precise than a simple cap. VanEck waived the sponsor fee on the first $2.5 billion of trust assets through July 31. Had the fund grown beyond that level before the deadline, only assets above $2.5 billion would have incurred a 0.20% fee, producing a weighted sponsor fee.　　After July 31, the 0.20% sponsor fee applies to all trust assets, according to VanEcks latest fee-waiver filing. VanEck had not announced another extension by Friday morning, and the funds SEC submissions feed contained no newer fee-waiver filing.　　What HODLs post-waiver fee changes　　At HODLs July 30 asset level, a 0.20% annual sponsor fee would amount to about $2.15 million if assets remained unchanged. For an investor, the same rate equals $20 a year for every $10,000 invested before changes in the share price.　　That is the sponsor fee, not a measure

08-01Industry

Grayscale Sees 3,000 Onchain Vaults With $7B+ as Next Crypto Breakout

Key TakeawaysGrayscale says 3,000+ onchain vaults hold $7B, positioning them as cryptos next TradFi product.Ethereum, Base, and Solana vaults could pressure the $1.5T CLO market with cheaper, transparent rails.Grayscale says adoption hinges on US rules as 57 curators manage 79% in stablecoin strategies.　　Grayscale Tracks $7B in Vaults as Wall Street Eyes Onchain Credit　　Stablecoins and tokenized assets have already begun reshaping traditional finance. Grayscale now expects onchain vaults to be the next crypto innovation to go mainstream.　　Vaults pool investor funds and deploy them across yield-producing strategies. Their investment rules vary. However, many operate within set risk limits and rely on professional managers, known as curators, to allocate capital.　　“Vaults are a vehicle for onchain asset management,” Zach Pandl, Grayscales head of research, wrote in a recent report.　　The structure bears a close resemblance to collateralized loan obligations (CLOs). Both products combine investor capital in managed portfolios that aim to generate risk-adjusted returns from underlying assets.　　Smart Contracts Replace Traditional Intermediaries　　The main difference is the infrastructure.　　Traditional CLOs rely on custodians, trustees and other intermediaries. Onchain vaults instead use smart contracts to manage assets and settle transactions directly on blockchain networks such as Ethereum, Base and Solana.　　That design can provide investors with real-time visibility into holdings

08-01Industry

Google Yanks Google Earth AI Image Tool a Day After Launch Over Deepfake Fears

In briefGoogle removed an AI image-generation feature from Google Earth on July 31, just a day after its July 30 launch, saying users were sharing generated imagery that appeared to violate its policies.Journalists and open-source researchers showed the Nano Banana tool could easily fabricate events that never happened—a blast crater in Los Angeles, a flooded U.S. Capitol, Irans Kharg Island on fire—raising fears it could supercharge misinformation.Googles defense that images carry a SynthID watermark failed to reassure critics, and the company said it would only restore the feature after adding stronger guardrails, giving no timeline.　　Google has pulled a newly launched artificial intelligence feature from Google Earth barely a day after releasing it, following a swift backlash from journalists and open-source investigators who warned it could flood the internet with convincing fake satellite imagery.　　The company introduced the tool on July 30, letting users zoom to any location on Google Earths web version, click “create image,” and generate a scene from a text prompt using its Nano Banana model. By July 31, it was gone.　　In a statement posted to X, Google said people “uniquely trust Google Earth for a reliable view of the world,” and that while geospatial professionals had found useful

08-01Industry

Bitcoin losses linked to Coldcard vulnerability grow to $70 million, Galaxy Research says

Quick TakeThe firm said nearly 1,200 addresses were drained of more than 1,000 BTC, worth about $70 million in transactions it linked to a vulnerability affecting Coldcard hardware wallets.　　Galaxy Research said Friday that nearly 1,200 addresses were drained of more than 1,000 BTC, worth about $70 million in transactions it linked to a vulnerability affecting Coldcard hardware wallets.　　On Thursday, Coinkite advised that there was an ongoing issue affecting seeds generated on Coldcard Mk3 devices. “Out of an abundance of caution, Coinkite is warning all users who generated a seed using a Mk3 on version 4.0.1 (March 2021) or any subsequent version that their funds may be at risk,” the crypto hardware maker said.　　Coinkite later expanded the advisory to include certain Mk4, Mk5 and Coldcard Q firmware versions, and released emergency firmware updates for all affected models.　　Coinkite CEO Rodolfo Novak, known as NVK, apologized Friday and said the company took “full accountability for the firmware bug,” acknowledging that its review process had failed to catch it.　　Novak also suggested the vulnerability may have been uncovered using artificial intelligence, calling the incident “a sober reality of the new AI paradigm.” He warned that AI-assisted code review can identify latent bugs faster than even

08-01Industry

Tether posts $1.5 billion operating profit in Q2 as reserve buffer falls by half

SummaryTether reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit for the second quarter of 2026, even as its reserve buffer fell by about half to $4.11 billion.The stablecoin issuer increased its gold holdings to roughly 146.2 metric tons and its bitcoin stash to 98,933 BTC.　　Tether reported $1.5 billion in net operating profit for the second quarter of 2026, driven by returns from its U.S. Treasury and repurchase agreement holdings.　　The issuer of USDT, the worlds largest stablecoin, reported holding $187.75 billion in assets against $183.64 billion in liabilities as of June 30, leaving it with $4.11 billion in excess reserves, according to the BDO attestation released Friday. Those excess reserves are down from just over $8.23 billion three months earlier.　　The second quater report shows Tether increased its physical gold holdings by 14 tons to roughly 146.2 metric tons from 132.2 tons during the quarter. The value of those holdings, however, fell to $18.84 billion from $19.84 billion because the price of gold dropped about 15% to just over $4,000 per ounce.　　The company lifted bitcoin holdings by roughly 1,796 coins to 98,933 BTC. The value of those holdings fell to $5.80 billion from $6.62 billion as the bitcoin price used in the reports

08-01Industry

Pump.fun laid off workers before they received millions in PUMP tokens: Report

Solana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun reportedly fired employees two months before they were due to receive PUMP tokens worth millions of dollars.　　According to a Friday Sandmark report, at least one Pump.fun worker was due to receive PUMP tokens worth in the seven-figure range. The news outlet reported that Pump.fun co-founder Noah Tweedale said the company “grew too quickly,” resulting in layoffs of an undisclosed number of employees.　　The employees were reportedly fired in April, just two months before they were due to start receiving the company‘s tokens based on agreements signed in 2025. The agreements, according to documents viewed by Sandmark, said that Pump.fun would unlock a quarter of the employees’ allocated tokens in one year, scheduled for June 2026.　　Pump.fun has previously been the target of a lawsuit involving allegations the company operated a “rigged” machine for investors and another one regarding its maximal extractable value (MEV) practices.　　At the time of publication, the price of PUMP was $0.002113, a 7.5% increase over the previous 24 hours.　　Related: Pump.fun bounty platform pays users to tattoo tokens and chase viral stunts

08-01Industry

AI Music Company Suno Loses Copyright Case in Germany

In briefA German court ruled that Suno infringed copyrights by using music from GEMAs catalog without a license.The decision requires licenses for both AI model training and AI-generated music.Suno said it disagrees with the ruling and is considering an appeal.　　A German court has ruled against AI music startup Suno in a copyright lawsuit brought by music rights organization GEMA.　　According to a report by Variety, the Munich Regional Court found that Suno violated copyright law by using music from GEMAs catalog to train its AI models and by reproducing protected works without a license. The ruling requires AI companies to obtain licenses for the commercial use of GEMAs repertoire, covering both AI model training and the generation of music.　　The lawsuit centered on six songs, including “Daddy Cool,” “Rasputin,” “Forever Young,” and “Mambo No. 5.” GEMA accused Suno Suno of training its AI on copyrighted songs without permission.　　In a statement, Suno said it built its platform to help people create new music, not reproduce existing songs. The company said the ruling is based on a misunderstanding of how its technology works and that it is considering its legal options.　　“Our tools give people the ability to create new songs, whether they are top

08-01Industry

Pump.fun staff lost millions after layoffs, report claims

Solana memecoin platform Pump.fun reportedly terminated over 40 employees shortly before their token allocations vested. The cuts stripped staff of $PUMP tokens, leaving at least one former employee without a seven-figure payout.　　The launchpad fired staff in late March and early April. According to a Sandmark report, the firm obtained internal documents, emails, and audio and video recordings of a meeting. Noah Tweedale, one of the companys co-founders, explained to employees that the cuts were necessary because the firm “had grown too quickly,” preventing Pump.fun from being “fast and rough.”　　Pump.fun stayed silent on the allegations　　A “termination of services” email, seen by Sandmark, instructed Pump.fun employees to attend the meeting with Lloyd McCarthy, the firms head of talent. Employees who lost their jobs had their agreements terminated in early April, and they were compensated with one week of severance pay for each month of service.　　Tweedale and his co-founder, Alon Cohen, did not respond to Sandmarks inquiries. Pump.fun has not issued any response to the allegations.　　The employees were terminated due to a two-year delay in the release of their tokens. Pump.fun employees signed token grant agreements in mid-June 2025, and a quarter of their PUMP allocations were set to unlock in June 2026,

08-01Industry

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