What Is VVV? The Privacy-Obsessed AI Token Thats Up 3,000% in 2026

In briefVenice (VVV) hit a fresh all-time high of $34.51 on September 21.The token is up roughly 17% in a day and more than 3,500% since bottoming out at $0.92 last December.VVV is the access key to Venice AI, a privacy-focused chatbot founded by ShapeShifts Erik Voorhees, and the token now ranks as the third-largest AI cryptocurrency by market cap.  The native token of the Venice AI platform just hit a fresh all-time high of $34.51 on Sunday, and it doesnt look to be slowing down.  The token, which trades under the ticker VVV, is up roughly 17% in the past 24 hours and has climbed around 3,000% since bottoming out at $0.92 last December. Its market cap now sits near $1.6 billion, making it the third-largest AI-focused cryptocurrency, trailing only Near and Tao.  Myriad: Where does Ethereum go next? Click to make your prediction.  VVV isn‘t a coin you spend on coffee. It’s an access key for Venice AI, a chatbot and image generator built by Erik Voorhees, the early Bitcoin and crypto entrepreneur who founded ShapeShift.  Instead of billing users per prompt the way ChatGPT does, Venice lets people stake VVV—lock it in a smart contract—to claim a daily share of the platforms

Yesterday 02:33Industry

ECB launches Pontes to settle tokenized assets without stablecoins

The European Central Bank (ECB) launched Pontes, a system that allows financial institutions to settle wholesale tokenized asset transactions in central bank money, providing an alternative to private settlement assets such as stablecoins.  The ECB announced Pontes‘ launch on Monday as part of the Eurosystem’s strategy for tokenized finance. The system initially offers a core set of services, with full implementation expected by 2028.  Tokenization represents assets as digital tokens, typically on distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks. The ECB said it could make wholesale transactions faster and more efficient by combining issuance, trading, settlement, custody and servicing on a single platform while enabling automation through smart contracts.  “Pontes brings the stability and trust of central bank money to the European tokenised finance ecosystem,” ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said. “It will give an important advantage to help it scale.”  Pontes builds on the Eurosystems 2024 tests of settling DLT-based transactions in central bank money. The ECB said participants identified access to a risk-free settlement asset as crucial for wider adoption of tokenized finance.  The Eurosystem is also developing Appia, a complementary initiative exploring an integrated ecosystem for DLT-based financial services, with a blueprint expected by 2028.  Related: EU finance groups push to remove tokenized securities

Yesterday 02:26Industry

Bitcoin price tags $86K as analysis sees crypto in ‘new bull market’

Bitcoin (BTC) spiked above $86,000 after Mondays Wall Street open as US stocks rose amid cooling oil prices.  Key points:Bitcoin gained nearly 6% on Monday to briefly trade above $86,000 for the first time since late January.Crypto short liquidations totaled almost $800 million in 24 hours as analysis called the start of a “new bull market.”US stocks opened the week higher as WTI oil prices dipped below $92 per barrel.  Bitcoin, US stocks head higher as oil drops further  TradingView data showed Bitcoin hitting a new 33-week high of $86,332 on Bitstamp, up 5.7% on the day at the time of writing.  BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView  Upside quickly returned after Sunday‘s weekly close, which, at $81,120, was Bitcoin’s highest since the start of May, as oil prices continued a drop from late last week.  Signals from both Qatars Foreign Ministry and US President Donald Trump that diplomatic negotiations to end the US-Iran war could resume helped send WTI crude oil as low as $91.59 per barrel on Monday.  “Middle East oil flows remain surprisingly strong despite the disruption to Saudi Arabias ‌East-West pipeline,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Friday, quoted by CNBC and others.  CFDs on WTI crude oil one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView  A report by

Yesterday 02:26Industry

Crypto PAC to spend $30M opposing Sherrod Brown in Ohio, again: NYT

Fairshake, the political action committee (PAC) funded largely by cryptocurrency companies Coinbase and Ripple Labs, plans to spend $30 million opposing Democrat Sherrod Browns bid to return to the US Senate.  In a statement to Cointelegraph, Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter confirmed reporting by the New York Times that the PAC initially planned to spend $30 million opposing Browns 2026 election bid to represent Ohio in the Senate. Vetter said that the PAC expected to announce additional expenditures before the midterm elections on Nov. 3.  Fairshake spent about $41 million supporting Republican Bernie Moreno and opposing Brown in the Ohio lawmakers 2024 reelection bid. Brown, who had been the Senate Banking Committee chair when Democrats were in the majority, lost to Moreno by about four points in 2024 following more than $300 million in spending by Fairshake and other PACs.  The PAC is just one of many aligned with the cryptocurrency industry attempting to influence voters in key races for 2026, when control of the House of Representatives and Senate is up for grabs. As of Monday, many event contracts on prediction market platforms like Kalshi gave Democrats the odds on retaking a majority in the House and the Senate.  Cointelegraph reached out to Brown‘s

Yesterday 02:26Industry

StonkFun up 48% after integrating AAVE, AVAX - Can STONK reach $500M valuation?

StonkFun [STONK] is fast-tracking Pump.fun [PUMP] to becoming a dominant launchpad in the Solana [SOL] ecosystem. In the past 24 hours, the price of STONK rallied over 48%, pushing its weekly gains past 73%.  This rally resulted in STONK making a new all-time (ATH) of $0.36 at the time of press. High activity on the StonkFun launchpad drove the tokens strength. Here are the details of how it unfolded.  Why is STONK up today?  StonkFun rallied to a new high due to increasing integration of major altcoins. Recently, the launchpad integrated Aave Protocol [AAVE], Avalanche [AVAX], and Near Protocol [NEAR] token launches.  Developers can now launch tokens paired with AAVE, AVAX, and NEAR, among other altcoins.  This move expands the platforms revenue generation. In that case, its cumulative revenue generation reached an ATH of $19.10 million, after the platform collected $1.10 million in the past 24 hours.  The revenue is feeding into the buyback and burn program. Of this over $19 million in revenue, the program has used $11.38 million to buy back the tokens.  Recently, the program has burned more than 10.95 million STONK tokens, worth $2.968 million, in the past 5 days. In total, buybacks and fees paid in STONK worth over $60 million have

Yesterday 02:11Industry

Crypto Market News: Rally Holds as Japan, Hormuz Risks Rise

Key InsightsDigital assets staged strong performance in the second half of the week despite unfavorable Crypto market news headlines.Market sentiment remains elevated despite the recent run, even as pressure mounts from macro factors such as the Strait of Hormuz closure.Japans economic woes risk another liquidity unwind from risk-on assets.  The crypto market staged an unexpected mid-week bounce back this past week. It completely disregarded unfavorable crypto market news such as the Senates failure to pass the CLARITY Act and the FED raising rates.  Such crypto market news would have normally yielded a bearish reaction. The crypto market had cooled down in the days prior, and analysts saw this as a sign that those events were priced in.  For context, the total crypto market cap bounced from a weekly low of $2.53 trillion on Wednesday. It then peaked at $2.79 trillion on Saturday. Its highest level since late January 2026.  Crypto market total market capSource: TradingView  This recovery signaled that demand was still robust. Under normal circumstances, the FUD around rate cuts and a regulatory setback would have been considered bearish events. But will crypto market news this week trigger a different outcome?  Discover more  Financial technology news  Ethereum market analysis  Crypto market updates  Crypto Market News: Geopolitical Headlines in View  Market

Yesterday 02:07Industry

Bitcoin targets $90K as spot demand challenges shorts

Bitcoin has broken above $85,000 as renewed U.S. buying and forced short covering have put Nansens next targets at $87,000 and $90,000, even as large crypto traders remain net short.  Nansen Senior Research Analyst Nicolai Sondergaard told crypto.news that Bitcoins price has turned bullish faster than positioning among crypto-native traders, creating room for underexposed market participants to chase the rally.  The move above $84,000 appears to have drawn support from renewed exchange-traded fund demand and a large short squeeze, according to Sondergaard. However, Hyperliquids largest Bitcoin traders were still net short, suggesting that some major market participants had not fully accepted the recovery.  Onchain exchange flows offered another sign of caution. Nansen recorded more Bitcoin moving onto exchanges than leaving them over the past two days, a pattern that can raise the amount of BTC available for sale.  “Bitcoins move above $84,000 looks less like a clean macro-driven accumulation event and more like a combination of renewed ETF demand and a large short squeeze,” Sondergaard said. “The important distinction is that price has turned bullish faster than positioning has.”  Under-positioned traders may have to buy Bitcoin if the advance continues, adding fuel to the rally. Sondergaard warned, however, that the move would remain exposed to

Yesterday 02:02Industry

Coherent Corp. (COHR) Stock: Surge as New 6.4T Optics Boost AI Growth Outlook

TLDRCoherent stock jumps 4.82% to $332.66 as new AI optics drive momentum.Coherent unveils a 6.4T optical engine for high-density AI infrastructure.New 3.2T transceiver advances Coherents next-generation connectivity push.Optical transport systems support up to 25.6Tbps across datacenter links.Advanced thermal materials target rising power density in AI infrastructure.  Coherent Corp. stock gained 4.82% to $332.66 as the company introduced new optical technologies for expanding AI infrastructure. The shares recovered from an early decline and reached an intraday high during Monday trading. Meanwhile, Coherent outlined new products ahead of the ECOC 2026 conference in Málaga, Spain.  Coherent, Inc., COHR  Coherent Corp. Stock Rises as AI Optics Portfolio Expands  Coherent plans to demonstrate technologies covering datacenter connectivity, optical transport, advanced materials, specialty fibers, and thermal management. The company will also highlight solutions for co-packaged and near-packaged optical systems. These technologies address rising bandwidth and power requirements across large computing networks.  Discover more  Crypto trading course  Crypto tax software  Access Premium News  Meanwhile, Coherent introduced PhotonLink, an integrated optics platform supporting advanced packaged optics and chip-to-chip connections. The platform combines optical components, assemblies, integration capabilities, and large-scale manufacturing. Therefore, Coherent aims to provide customers with a broader portfolio for building high-density computing infrastructure.  The company operates across materials, devices, modules, components, and optical systems for

Yesterday 02:02Industry

Fairshake plans $30M push against Sherrod Brown

Crypto-backed super PAC Fairshake has prepared an expenditure of at least $30 million to oppose former Sen. Sherrod Browns return to the U.S. Senate following the failure of the CLARITY Act.  SummaryFairshake reportedly plans its largest expenditure of the 2026 election cycle against Brown.Brown is challenging Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohios November special election.Brown previously chaired the Senate Banking Committee and opposed several crypto-backed proposals.Fairshake and its affiliates had accumulated more than $193 million by January.  Fairshake prepares its largest 2026 expenditure  Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America, reported on X that Fairshake plans to spend at least $30 million against Brown, citing an initial report from The New York Times and confirmation from a spokesperson for the political action committee.  If completed, the allocation would become Fairshakes largest expenditure during the current election cycle. The decision arrived after the Senate rejected a procedural motion on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, an industry-backed bill intended to divide federal oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  Brown is seeking an Ohio Senate seat in a special election against Republican Sen. Jon Husted. Describing the campaign as a re-election bid would be inaccurate because Brown

Yesterday 01:57Industry

Ethereum Futures Activity Hits Nine-Month High on Binance

Ethereum OI reaches $6.58 billionEthereum gains momentum  Ethereum is trading up above the key $2,700 mark, stirring a major resurgence in its derivatives market on the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.  Per recent data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant, Ethereum futures activity on Binance is back on fire, surging to its highest level in nine months.  Ethereum OI reaches $6.58 billion  While the prolonged market volatility seen in the previous months has caused Ethereum futures activity to slow significantly across major exchanges, the market has witnessed a sharp reversal.  Bitcoin Reclaims Key Weekly Level for First Time in 45 Weeks  Zcash (ZEC), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Avalanche (AVAX) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) Price Analysis for September 21: Pivotal Moment for Bullish Market  According to the data, the resurgence in Ethereum futures activity began in late August, when Ethereums open interest on the exchange stood at about $4.8 billion.  You Might Also Like  As of September 21, the Ethereum open interest on Binance has surged to $6.58 billion from the level it was at late last month, marking a substantial increase of about 37% in less than a month.  This means that the leading cryptocurrency has added about $1.78 billion to the amount of outstanding Ethereum futures contracts over the period.  Ethereum gains momentum  While

Yesterday 01:56Industry
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