News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Odaily, as of June 23, 2026, Foundry Digital, AntPool, ViaBTC, and F2Pool collectively control over 70% of the Bitcoin network's hashrate, with shares of approximately 31%, 18%, 13%, and 10% respectively. Foundry Digital is a US-based mining pool backed by Digital Currency Group, primarily serving large institutions and publicly listed mining companies. In the first half of 2026, D-Central reported a Nakamoto coefficient of 3, meaning that just three mining pools would be enough to produce more than half of the blocks. ViaBTC faced stricter regulatory scrutiny in 2026, prompting some miners to shift to alternative pools like EMCD.
According to CoinDesk, Zcash has released the full node software Zakura 1.0.0, a new client refactored based on Zebra that supports pruning, snapshot synchronization, and compatibility mode with the legacy zcashd, capable of reducing new node startup time to within two minutes. The project is maintained by Zcash zero-knowledge cryptography founding member Sean Bowe and Valar Group head Dev Ojha, aiming to lay the foundation for Zcash's subsequent scaling to throughput capabilities approaching those of Visa and Mastercard.
Claude announced that effective July 20, Fable 5 will be officially included in the Max and Team Premium subscription plans, and users will receive usage rights equivalent to 50% of the full quota. Pro and Team Standard users can still access Fable 5 by using credits and will receive a one-time $100 quota compensation. Claude stated that due to the difficulty in accurately predicting the scale of demand after Fable 5's launch, a phased rollout strategy was previously adopted, and the scope of subscriber access was expanded multiple times as compute resources increased. This process brought uncertainty to some users, so this adjustment aims to allow users to more clearly understand the model usage rights included in the subscription plans. In the future, continued investment will be made to expand compute capacity, and Fable 5's access policy will be continuously updated based on capacity conditions.
Bitcoin News posted on X platform, stating that Foundry USA Pool has begun soliciting voting opinions from its mining clients regarding BIP-110 signaling. According to the email sent to mining pool account holders, voting weight is calculated based on each participant's 10-day average hashrate. Foundry stated that it will follow the majority result of hashrate votes during the signaling period; if more than 51% of the voting hashrate supports BIP-110, the mining pool will signal "Yes" with 100% of its blocks; if the majority opposes it, no support signal will be issued. Foundry is the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool by hashrate.
: AI reasoning cloud startup General Compute has obtained a $400 million loan from Upper90. This deal is the world’s first financing project to use dedicated inference chips as collateral. The company has built a proprietary AI reasoning cloud platform based on SambaNova’s self-developed ASIC chips, primarily targeting Agent-type AI computing workloads. Compared to traditional GPU clouds, it offers faster token processing speeds and lower operational latency. The hardware requires no water cooling and can be directly deployed in traditional data centers and idle cryptocurrency mining facilities.
Ethereum Layer 2 infrastructure Optimism has officially announced a tripartite strategic collaboration, joining forces with Upbit operator Dunamu, fintech platform Toss, and DB Securities to comprehensively expand into the Korean market. On the cooperation front with Dunamu, both parties will upgrade the GIWA public chain based on the OP Stack and promote its global development. A three-month technical verification will be conducted with Toss to build a compliant Korean won digital financial infrastructure. Optimism and DB Securities are focusing on the STO and RWA sectors, planning to transform Jeju Island's smart agriculture, livestock assets, and Korean intellectual property into tokenized securities and real-world asset products. This will facilitate the phased on-chain commercialization of local physical assets, with the entire cooperation framework tailored to align with Korea's financial regulatory framework.
Peter Brandt, a seasoned trader and renowned chart analyst, has released his latest technical analysis. He points out that the daily chart of Nasdaq 100 mini futures is forming a diamond pattern, indicating a potential market top. Regarding Bitcoin, Brandt offers a forecast based on historical cycles: BTC may first rebound by $10,000, then retreat to the $40,000 range, forming the bottom of the current cycle around early October 2026. With the current price fluctuating near $60,000, he warns of the downside risk associated with false breakouts. Maintaining a long-term optimistic view, Brandt suggests that if Bitcoin continues its four-year halving cycle pattern, the price could reach between $300,000 and $500,000 by 2029.
Bilal bin Saqib, Chairman of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), has requested Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi to clarify the distinction between speculative cryptocurrencies and asset-backed digital tokens, following the religious institution’s ruling that cryptocurrency-based purchases are not compliant with Islamic law. The ruling pertains to a consultation on using cryptocurrencies to pay for books and online course fees. Waqas Ghani, Head of Research at JS Global Capital, stated that the ruling could hinder bank-led cryptocurrency adoption in Pakistan, but trading volumes have not yet been affected. Saqib stated that PVARA is working with scholars to evaluate digital assets by category, rather than treating them as a single class. He noted that blockchain-recorded Sukuk represent ownership of real income-generating assets, while gold-backed tokens and fully-reserved stablecoins correspond to redeemable value. He added that speculative tokens without underlying assets fall into a different category, and scholars' concerns must be taken seriously. PVARA will continue to collaborate with scholars as it develops a licensing framework in Pakistan and advances efforts in stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets.
: Privacy blockchain Zano has announced that Zenith has entered the implementation phase, with a network transition planned for 2027, subject to testing, analysis, and review results. Zano has not yet announced an activation date, and the proposed operational parameters still require verification at the network level. Zenith will transition Zano from a hybrid PoW and PoS mechanism to a privacy-preserving pure PoS protocol. The proposed block time will be reduced from approximately 1 minute to about 15 seconds, the recommended number of confirmations will be lowered from 10 blocks to 4 to 6 blocks, and the typical confirmation time will be around 60 to 90 seconds. Andrey Sabelnikov, co-founder and core developer of Zano, stated that Zenith is based on over 12 years of privacy research, aiming to provide the network with the advantages of modern PoS while retaining the privacy protections that Zano users expect. PoW miners currently receive approximately 720 newly issued ZANO per day, equivalent to around 21,600 per month and 262,800 per year. After Zenith is activated and PoW mining ends, this issuance will be discontinued. Zano has also launched the official Zano Forum for technical discussions and community support.
security firm Project Eleven has introduced a post-quantum proof technology designed to help users prove ownership of their Bitcoin wallets after quantum computers become capable of deriving private keys and generating valid signatures. Project Eleven CEO Alex Pruden stated that the technology utilizes the wallet's key derivation path, enabling users to prove control without disclosing the parent key, thus distinguishing legitimate owners from attackers. The solution was developed in collaboration with Jim Posen, a primary maintainer of the open-source Binius zero-knowledge proof system, and is based on the "signature lifting" technique proposed by Alon Sattath and Robert Wyborski. Project Eleven noted that the prototype has not yet been audited and requires blockchain protocol support before it can be deployed. It is primarily aimed at users who miss the window to migrate to quantum-resistant addresses in the future.
global payment giant Visa is accelerating its stablecoin infrastructure efforts by launching the Visa Stablecoin Platform, which helps banks and fintech companies integrate stablecoin payment capabilities into their existing payment and treasury management systems. It is reported that the platform aims to provide stablecoin service support to approximately 15,000 financial institutions and over 200 million merchants within Visa's network, enabling enterprises to use USD stablecoins for settlement, capital flow, and financial management within the traditional payment network.Visa currently processes approximately $15 trillion in payment transactions annually and has already processed tens of billions of dollars in stablecoin settlement volume. The company hopes to further expand the application scope of stablecoins through this new platform. Initially, the Visa Stablecoin Platform will support the new stablecoin OUSD, launched by the Open Standard alliance, while continuing to be compatible with stablecoins already supported by Visa, including USDC issued by Circle and USDG issued by Paxos. Visa believes that stablecoins are becoming an important part of the future financial infrastructure, with advantages including:Instant Settlement: Transactions no longer rely on traditional banking clearing cycles;Low-Cost Transfers: Reducing payment costs based on blockchain networks;Transparency and Traceability: On-chain transaction records provide higher verifiability.Visa has been consistently building its footprint in the stablecoin space. In 2020, Visa became the first global payment network to support USDC settlement; in 2025, the company launched a stablecoin settlement plan to further promote the entry of stablecoins into the mainstream payment system.Meanwhile, Visa's competitors are also accelerating their entry into the stablecoin market. Mastercard recently launched a stablecoin settlement solution and partnered with companies such as MoonPay and Paxos; American Express has also participated in the ecosystem development related to Open Standard.As traditional payment giants increasingly adopt stablecoins, they are transitioning from a payment tool within the crypto industry into a vital component of the global financial infrastructure. (Fortune)
AI infrastructure startup Fireworks AI has announced the completion of a $1.5 billion financing round, valuing the company at $17.5 billion. The company, previously backed by NVIDIA, primarily provides developers with cloud-based services for running open-source AI models, helping enterprises deploy AI applications at lower costs. This funding round was led by Atreides Management, Index Ventures, and TCV, with participation from NVIDIA, Evantic, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others. Currently, Fireworks processes approximately 40 trillion AI tokens daily. Its clients include companies such as Elastic, GitLab, and MongoDB. Previously, over half of its revenue came from the AI coding tool Cursor, but its client base has since become more diversified. (CNBC)
hardware wallet company Ledger has launched the open-source toolkit Ledger Agent Stack, enabling AI agents to interact with crypto wallets by reading balances, preparing transactions, and suggesting actions, with all transactions requiring user approval on a Ledger hardware device. Ledger stated that this release is the first step in its AI roadmap, aiming to introduce hardware-based security mechanisms into AI-driven crypto applications and prevent autonomous agents from transferring funds or accessing sensitive credentials without human approval.
Binance will list multiple perpetual contracts sequentially starting from 11:00 on July 17, 2026, including MiniMax Perpetual Contract MINIMAXUSDT (11:00), Zhipu AI Perpetual Contract ZHIPUUSDT (11:05), Tencent Quantitative Perpetual Contract HK0700USDT (11:10), Xiaomi Quantitative Perpetual Contract HK1810USDT (11:15), and Tencent Perpetual Contract TENCENTUSDT (13:00). Among them, HK0700USDT and HK1810USDT are quantitative perpetual contracts, based on Hong Kong stock prices, settled directly in USDT, without involving foreign exchange conversion.
According to Visa's official website, Visa and Artemis jointly released a report that deeply analyzes the current status and trends of AI agent payments based on real-time on-chain data. The report indicates that AI agent payments are divided into two categories: one is "macro commerce" where agents replace users to complete tasks like booking tickets and subscriptions, similar to traditional e-commerce payments; the other is "micro commerce" such as high-frequency, low-value API calls between software, where single transaction amounts are typically less than 1 cent. On-chain data shows that the open protocol x402, incubated by Coinbase and Cloudflare and now hosted by the Linux Foundation, has processed approximately 109 million transactions since launching in May 2025, with an adjusted transaction volume of about $15 million, mainly active on the Base, Solana, and Polygon chains; the Machine Payment Protocol (MPP), jointly built by Stripe and Tempo with Visa's contribution, launched in mid-March 2026 and completed approximately 115,000 transactions within weeks, with a settlement amount of about $25,000. The report notes that blockchain settlement costs have dropped to extremely low levels, making small payments in the 1-cent to 1-dollar range economically feasible for the first time, but agent payments still face significant challenges at the legal and regulatory level regarding trust, liability attribution, and dispute resolution. Visa stated that its goal is to build a unified foundation that simultaneously supports card-native trust authorization and machine-native settlement
: The inaugural Web4.0 and Agent Innovation Summit, along with the launch ceremony of OPC Hub, was held at Hong Kong Cyberport. Cobo was officially announced as a partner of OPC Hub, listed alongside Alibaba Cloud, AWS, NVIDIA, Dell, Lenovo, and BytePlus. Cobo will provide blockchain infrastructure support for entrepreneurs within the ecosystem. Its product capabilities cover Agentic Wallet and stablecoin payments (Cobo Payments), enabling developers to build agent-based applications with on-chain payment capabilities.
According to official Bitget data, the platform-level yield product Cash Plus has exceeded $50 million in Assets Under Management (AUM) within 5 days of launch. Cash Plus provides users with a brand-new stablecoin demand yield service, balancing yield, liquidity, and capital efficiency, allowing users to enjoy daily compound interest during the holding period. The initial phase supports USDT / USDC, enabling 1:1 redemption at any time, real-time fund arrival, and 0 fees with no slippage. The reference annualized yield during the initial launch period is 4% APR, and the actual yield will be dynamically adjusted based on market conditions.
According to the official announcement, HTX recently officially launched the first "Quant Master Trading Competition", aiming to build a stage for real competition and strategy verification for professional quantitative teams and API strategy traders. From now until September 14, 00:00 (UTC+8), API quantitative trading users who register for the competition and meet the specified asset and trading volume requirements will be ranked in three major leaderboards and share the prize pool based on the trading volume, profit amount, and profit rate generated by their spot and contract API trading. The total prize pool will be unlocked tier by tier according to the cumulative trading volume of all participants, up to a maximum of 1,000,000 USDT. In addition, the Quant Master Trading Competition also features bi-weekly phase rewards, and the Top 3 strategies on each leaderboard can win $HTX reward funds. New users who register for the competition can also enjoy 4 exclusive benefits, including Prime 11 exclusive low fees, early bird rewards, broker activation rewards, and interest-free loans up to 50,000 USDT.
According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed Hyperliquid treasury company Hyperion DeFi (HYPD) announced a HYPE Asset Usage Service Agreement (HAUS) with Skew Technologies and will deploy 500,000 staked HYPE (approximately $33.59 million) to Skew to support Skew's launch of a new suite of institutional-grade perpetual futures products on the Hyperliquid HIP-3 permissionless market. In return, Hyperion will receive equity in Skew and a revenue share from market listing services. Previously, Hyperion had terminated similar staking agreements with Felix and Native Markets because both built HIP-3 markets based on Hyperliquid's deprecated native stablecoin USDH. Currently, Hyperliquid has shifted to using Circle's USDC as the primary quote asset, with Coinbase serving as the stablecoin vault provider.
According to Odaily, the persistent memory supply shortage driven by AI demand continues to exert upward pricing pressure on smartphone manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, Apple, and Xiaomi in the second half of the year. Industry sources indicate that Samsung Electronics' upcoming Galaxy Z8 series, set to be released this month, has an increased likelihood of price increases based on storage capacity. The price of the 256GB base model is expected to remain at a similar level to its predecessor, approximately 3.05 million won, while the 512GB and 1TB models may see price increases of around 120,000 won each. This pricing strategy aims to minimize the price increase for the base model while prioritizing adjustments to higher-capacity models, which are more affected by memory cost pressures.