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Project Overview
Bridge is building a stablecoin-powered money movement platform, offering services such as payouts, cross-border payments and exchanging foreign currencies. its Orchestration and Issuance APIs make it possible for any company and team to offer digital dollar-based services to their end consumers or businesses.
AI architecture company Pathway completes $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures and others
Odaily News: AI architecture development company Pathway has announced the completion of a $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures, TQ Ventures, Red Bridge Ventures, Kadmos Capital, and WS Investment, the investment arm of Wilson Sonsini, among others. Databricks' Chief AI Scientist Jonathan Frankle has joined as an angel investor.Pathway is developing a Bio-inspired Dynamic Hierarchical architecture (BDH), a "post-Transformer" architecture designed to overcome the limitations of current Transformer models, which continue to rely on ever-increasing data, GPUs, energy, and capital expansion. Unlike traditional large models that require periodic retraining, BDH enables continuous learning and ongoing adaptation with significantly less data.The company also announced the appointment of Adam Kurzrok, former product lead for Google DeepMind's Gemini, as Chief Product Officer. He will oversee the product direction of BDH models, covering areas such as model packaging, evaluation systems, and commercial deployment. (Finsmes)
AI Security Startup Mindgard Completes €26 Million Series A Funding Round, Led by Album VC
According to EU-Startups, AI security startup Mindgard announced the completion of a €26 million (approximately $30 million) Series A funding round, led by Album VC, with participation from Karma Ventures, .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital, and Lakestar. Mindgard was founded by Dr. Peter Garraghan in 2022, incubated by Lancaster University in the UK, and is headquartered in Boston and London. The company's platform provides Shadow AI discovery, AI red teaming, and runtime AI protection capabilities, and has helped disclose over 150 high-impact AI security vulnerabilities, covering issues such as the Cursor IDE zero-day code execution vulnerability, Google Antigravity trusted workspace defects, and ChatGPT image generation protection failures.
Stripe acquires Bridge for $1.1 billion, Robinhood acquires Bitstamp for $200 million
Odaily News: Payment company Stripe did not sign long-term supplier contracts with third-party stablecoin APIs. Instead, after Bridge achieved $5 billion in annualized cross-border transaction volume, Stripe acquired it outright for $1.1 billion and integrated stablecoin infrastructure into its global checkout layer. Fintech platform Robinhood did not expand internationally through external trading venues. Instead, it acquired cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, obtaining more than 50 global regulatory licenses and institutional liquidity. From 2012 to 2018, early B2B fintech startups paid traditional banks for proof-of-concept pilot fees. From 1996 to 2001, telecom infrastructure startups raised over $50 billion to lay dark fiber. (Bitcoin.com News)
Coinbase reportedly bid as high as $2.5 billion to acquire BVNK, ultimately losing out to Mastercard's $1.8 billion acquisition
Odaily News The inside story behind stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK's acquisition by Mastercard for $1.8 billion has recently come to light. According to Concentric, an early investor in BVNK, during the bidding process, US crypto exchange Coinbase once held an advantageous position and reportedly submitted a bid as high as $2.5 billion, but ultimately withdrew from the competition due to insufficient strategic and cultural alignment between the two parties.Kjartan Rist, founding partner of Concentric, stated that BVNK's founding team did not focus solely on the offer price when selecting an acquirer, but placed greater emphasis on long-term partnership and corporate culture fit. "Coinbase may have offered a higher price, but the chemistry between the two sides was not ideal." In contrast, Mastercard, as a traditional financial services company, is more likely to create synergies with BVNK in payment infrastructure and stablecoin applications.It is understood that Mastercard participated in acquisition discussions with BVNK at an early stage, and after Coinbase failed to advance the deal, Mastercard re-emerged as the primary buyer, ultimately completing the acquisition for $1.8 billion.Visa also participated in the competition. Having previously invested in BVNK and holding a board observer seat, Visa once had an advantage. However, Visa ultimately chose not to pursue a direct acquisition, instead adopting an open strategy of partnering with multiple stablecoin companies.Founded in 2018, BVNK provides enterprises with stablecoin payment, cross-border settlement, and treasury management infrastructure. Its early investor Concentric invested in the company at a valuation of $4 million in 2019, and this transaction has generated substantial returns.The acquisition also reflects a new round of competition between traditional payment giants and crypto companies over stablecoin infrastructure. Previously, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for $1.1 billion, prompting payment giants such as Visa and Mastercard to accelerate their expansion into the stablecoin sector.Currently, the global stablecoin market size has approached $300 billion. As enterprise payments, cross-border settlements, and treasury management use cases grow rapidly, stablecoin infrastructure is becoming a critical gateway for traditional financial institutions to capture. (CoinDesk)
Applied Digital Secures $300 Million Bridge Financing Led by Goldman Sachs for AI Data Center Construction
According to GlobeNewswire, Applied Digital—a Bitcoin mining hosting and cloud services company—announced a $300 million senior secured bridge financing facility led by Goldman Sachs to advance the construction of its AI data center projects. The financing is secured against project assets, is repayable at any time without penalty, and the company plans to pursue additional long-term financing in the future to support the development and construction of its AI data centers.
Stripe acquires Bridge for $1.1 billion, Robinhood acquires Bitstamp for $200 million
Odaily News: Payment company Stripe did not sign long-term supplier contracts with third-party stablecoin APIs. Instead, after Bridge achieved $5 billion in annualized cross-border transaction volume, Stripe acquired it outright for $1.1 billion and integrated stablecoin infrastructure into its global checkout layer. Fintech platform Robinhood did not expand internationally through external trading venues. Instead, it acquired cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, obtaining more than 50 global regulatory licenses and institutional liquidity. From 2012 to 2018, early B2B fintech startups paid traditional banks for proof-of-concept pilot fees. From 1996 to 2001, telecom infrastructure startups raised over $50 billion to lay dark fiber. (Bitcoin.com News)
Stripe's Bridge Completes EU MiCA Registration, EU-Authorized EMT Issuers Increase to 42
According to Cointelegraph, Bridge Building, the Luxembourg entity of Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, has officially joined the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) registry. Previously, on July 2, Bridge obtained Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization under the MiCA framework and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license issued by the Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF). Bridge Head of Product Mai Leduc Blount stated that the aforementioned approvals will allow EU enterprises to build stablecoin and payment products within a compliant framework. According to the latest update from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Bridge's inclusion brings the total number of authorized Electronic Money Token (EMT) issuers in the EU to 42; during the same period, three institutions from Germany newly received CASP authorization, raising the total number of authorized CASPs in the EU to 324.
Stripe's Bridge joins EU MiCA register after Luxembourg approval
Odaily News: Bridge, Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure company, has joined the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register through its Luxembourg entity Bridge Building, after receiving regulatory approval from Luxembourg. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) update on Wednesday shows that with Bridge's inclusion, the number of MiCA-authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers in the EU register has increased to 42. Bridge announced on July 2 that it had obtained the MiCA Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization and Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Luxembourg Financial Industry Supervisory Commission. Bridge product lead Mai Leduc Blount stated that the approvals allow EU companies to build stablecoin and payment products within a regulated framework. The same ESMA update also added three new German CASP entries, including Volksbank Die Gestalterbank, VBU Volksbank im Unterland, and VR-Bank Erding, bringing the total number of authorized CASPs in the EU register to 324. Asset-referenced token (ART) authorizations remained unchanged, with no ART issuers currently listed.
Midnight：Multiple Exchanges Including Binance Freeze Funds Involved in Cross-Chain Bridge Attack
the Midnight Foundation has provided an update on the handling of the cross-chain bridge attack event involving Wanchain Cardano and BNB. Multiple exchanges including KuCoin, Kraken, Binance, Bybit, OKX, Gate, and MEXC have coordinated risk control actions, temporarily freezing the involved accounts and associated addresses, adding the hacker wallet to a blacklist, and pausing NIGHT token deposits and withdrawals as needed to curb the transfer and cashing out of stolen assets.The Foundation specifically noted that this security incident is an isolated incident related to a third-party cross-chain bridge, and the Midnight mainnet and native NIGHT assets have not been affected. The project team continues to collaborate with major exchanges and ecosystem partners to advance traceability investigations, reminding the community to rely on official disclosures for information and to be cautious of misinformation.
Syscoin Releases Bridge Security Incident Report: Recovered Funds Destroyed; Cross-Layer Parsing Vulnerability to Be Fixed
Syscoin has released a security incident report detailing the UTXO-to-NEVM bridge vulnerability. According to the report, this incident resulted in the unauthorized release of approximately 5 billion SYS tokens on the UTXO side. The affected funds have since been returned to the official recovery address and permanently destroyed using the standard OP_RETURN mechanism, rendering them unusable by the protocol. As a result, the on-chain SYS supply has reverted to its expected value. The bridge functionality remains suspended while the team completes its final review and remediation efforts.
Humanity Releases Security Incident Investigation Report: Attack Methodology Exhibits Characteristics of North Korean Hackers; Mainnet Bridge Unaffected
Humanity announced the independent investigation results from Quantstamp, stating that the security incident—exceeding $31 million—originated from a phishing attack that led to the leakage of private keys. The attackers subsequently gained control of the smart contract and dumped tokens; the tools and tactics employed exhibit characteristics commonly associated with North Korean hacker groups.
Nearly $3 Million in Unusual GALA Transfers Detected on GalaChain; Cross-Chain Bridge Suspended
According to reporter Kate Irwin (@kateirwin), GalaChain experienced an anomalous on-chain capital outflow this Tuesday. Approximately 1.99 billion GALA tokens (worth roughly $2.9 million), along with other tokens, were transferred from five major addresses to a newly created wallet, subsequently bridged out and swapped for ETH within approximately one hour. Of these, approximately 1.639 billion GALA (representing roughly 82%) originated from a wallet linked to Gala Games CEO and co-founder Eric Schiermeyer, which simultaneously transferred out other tokens valued at over $500,000. Within hours of the incident, the Gala development team urgently merged a fix commit on GitHub, classifying the event as resulting from a GalaChain EIP-712 unsigned field injection vulnerability. The Gala Ethereum cross-chain bridge has since been halted, with the Solana bridge concurrently deactivated. While officially cited as routine maintenance, users have been unable to access the cross-chain bridge services normally for several consecutive days.
VerusCoin Ethereum Cross-Chain Bridge Attacked, Approximately $7.53 Million Transferred Out
According to CertiK Alert monitoring, a security incident occurred on VerusCoin's Ethereum cross-chain bridge, with approximately $7.53 million in assets transferred out. Preliminary analysis indicates that this issue may be related to the cross-chain bridge failing to sufficiently verify whether the Verus chain-side input supports the paid amount, similar to an incident that occurred in May this year.
TeleSwap Bridge Protocol Suspected of Attack, Over $735,000 in Funds Stolen and Flowed into Tornado Cash
on-chain investigator ZachXBT stated that the cross-chain bridge protocol TeleSwap was suspected of being attacked on July 15, 2026, resulting in losses exceeding $735,000. However, as of five days after the incident, the project team has not yet publicly disclosed the relevant situation.ZachXBT stated that shortly after suspicious fund outflows were detected, TeleSwap's Bitcoin hot wallet stopped processing transactions. About two hours ago, the attacker transferred the stolen funds into the privacy mixing protocol Tornado Cash.
PeckShield: A total of 40 major hacking incidents occurred in the crypto sector in June, with total losses of approximately $75.87 million.
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst PeckShield (@PeckShieldAlert), a total of 40 major hacking incidents occurred in the cryptocurrency sector in June 2026, with total losses of approximately $75.87 million, down 7.13% month-over-month from May ($81.7 million). The top three incidents with the largest losses this month were: $31 million stolen from Humanity Protocol, $10 million lost from Syscoin Bridge, and $7.5 million stolen from the JaredFromSubway.eth MEV bot.
Aztec Private Rollup Bridge Suspected of Being Exploited, ~$2.15M in Assets Transferred Abnormally
Cosine, founder of SlowMist, posted on X stating that Aztec appears to have been hacked again. Aztec’s Private Rollup Bridge is suspected to have been exploited, resulting in the abnormal transfer of approximately 1,158 ETH, 150,000 DAI, and 0.46963295 renBTC, with a total value of roughly $2.15 million.
Humanity Releases Security Incident Investigation Report: Attack Methodology Exhibits Characteristics of North Korean Hackers; Mainnet Bridge Unaffected
Humanity announced the independent investigation results from Quantstamp, stating that the security incident—exceeding $31 million—originated from a phishing attack that led to the leakage of private keys. The attackers subsequently gained control of the smart contract and dumped tokens; the tools and tactics employed exhibit characteristics commonly associated with North Korean hacker groups.
Nearly $3 Million in Unusual GALA Transfers Detected on GalaChain; Cross-Chain Bridge Suspended
According to reporter Kate Irwin (@kateirwin), GalaChain experienced an anomalous on-chain capital outflow this Tuesday. Approximately 1.99 billion GALA tokens (worth roughly $2.9 million), along with other tokens, were transferred from five major addresses to a newly created wallet, subsequently bridged out and swapped for ETH within approximately one hour. Of these, approximately 1.639 billion GALA (representing roughly 82%) originated from a wallet linked to Gala Games CEO and co-founder Eric Schiermeyer, which simultaneously transferred out other tokens valued at over $500,000. Within hours of the incident, the Gala development team urgently merged a fix commit on GitHub, classifying the event as resulting from a GalaChain EIP-712 unsigned field injection vulnerability. The Gala Ethereum cross-chain bridge has since been halted, with the Solana bridge concurrently deactivated. While officially cited as routine maintenance, users have been unable to access the cross-chain bridge services normally for several consecutive days.
AI Security Startup Mindgard Completes €26 Million Series A Funding Round, Led by Album VC
According to EU-Startups, AI security startup Mindgard announced the completion of a €26 million (approximately $30 million) Series A funding round, led by Album VC, with participation from Karma Ventures, .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital, and Lakestar. Mindgard was founded by Dr. Peter Garraghan in 2022, incubated by Lancaster University in the UK, and is headquartered in Boston and London. The company's platform provides Shadow AI discovery, AI red teaming, and runtime AI protection capabilities, and has helped disclose over 150 high-impact AI security vulnerabilities, covering issues such as the Cursor IDE zero-day code execution vulnerability, Google Antigravity trusted workspace defects, and ChatGPT image generation protection failures.
Nearly 200,000 XRP Stolen, Coreum Cross-Chain Bridge Attacked
Odaily News: The cross-chain bridge connecting XRP Ledger and Coreum was attacked on August 9. The attacker exploited a validation logic vulnerability to steal approximately 199,900 XRP, reducing the bridge's asset balance from roughly 200,400 XRP to 493.5 XRP. The attack did not involve private key leaks and did not target the XRP Ledger protocol itself. The attacker forged deposit operations, causing the bridge system to recognize them as legitimate deposits and triggering the bridge wallet on the other end to send real XRP. On-chain data shows that the attacker completed the fund transfer through 94 multi-signature authorization transactions within 97 minutes. These transactions required signatures from 17 of the 28 relay node keys, allowing the attacker to bypass the bridge's validation mechanism. As of August 11, the Coreum cross-chain bridge remains suspended, and the Coreum Development Foundation has not yet released an official incident report. The XRP mainnet and user private keys remain unaffected and secure.
Aztec Private Rollup Bridge Attacker Address Deposits 300 ETH into Tornado Cash, Reaching a Total of 500 ETH
Odaily News On-chain security firm PeckShield (@PeckShieldAlert) monitoring shows that the Aztec private Rollup bridge attacker address has deposited 300 ETH, worth approximately $572,100, into Tornado Cash. As of now, the attacker has cumulatively deposited 500 ETH into Tornado Cash.Aztec suffered an attack in June 2026, with total crypto asset losses amounting to $2.165 million.
July crypto asset thefts reached $247 million, marking the second-highest month of 2026
Odaily News: DefiLlama data shows that hackers stole $247 million in crypto assets in July, making it the second-highest month since 2026, trailing only April's $644 million; this figure represents a significant increase from June's $75 million and May's $60 million. Galaxy Digital stated that the Coldcard vulnerability was the largest attack event of the month, confirming three rounds of attacks involving 7,300 wallets, with at least $100 million in Bitcoin stolen; the firm also identified a suspected fourth round of attacks, which could bring total losses to approximately $130 million. DefiLlama's hack tracker estimates losses related to this vulnerability at $115 million. Other attacks in July include a $9 million exploit on decentralized finance protocol Bonzo Lend, a $2.6 million theft from Cardano-based wallet SecondFi, a $24 million theft from Arbitrum-based perpetual trading platform AFX, and a $7.5 million theft from the Verus Ethereum Bridge.
Wanchain 遭黑客攻击 NIGHT 代币被盗，要求归还 90% 并承诺白帽豁免
据 Wanchain 官方 X 账号发文，2026 年 7 月 20 日，Wanchain Bridge Cardano 跨链桥遭到攻击，黑客盗取 NIGHT 代币。Wanchain 随即向攻击者发出公告，要求其在 8 月 6 日 UTC 12:00 前归还 90% 被盗 NIGHT 代币，可保留 10% 作为白帽赏金，并承诺不追究民事责任。 目前，有社区用户指出黑客已将 NIGHT 代币在 DEX 上完成兑换，NIGHT 代币价格下跌逾 30%，现报 0.0188 美元。
AI architecture company Pathway completes $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures and others
Odaily News: AI architecture development company Pathway has announced the completion of a $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures, TQ Ventures, Red Bridge Ventures, Kadmos Capital, and WS Investment, the investment arm of Wilson Sonsini, among others. Databricks' Chief AI Scientist Jonathan Frankle has joined as an angel investor.Pathway is developing a Bio-inspired Dynamic Hierarchical architecture (BDH), a "post-Transformer" architecture designed to overcome the limitations of current Transformer models, which continue to rely on ever-increasing data, GPUs, energy, and capital expansion. Unlike traditional large models that require periodic retraining, BDH enables continuous learning and ongoing adaptation with significantly less data.The company also announced the appointment of Adam Kurzrok, former product lead for Google DeepMind's Gemini, as Chief Product Officer. He will oversee the product direction of BDH models, covering areas such as model packaging, evaluation systems, and commercial deployment. (Finsmes)
Nearly 200,000 XRP Stolen, Coreum Cross-Chain Bridge Attacked
Odaily News: The cross-chain bridge connecting XRP Ledger and Coreum was attacked on August 9. The attacker exploited a validation logic vulnerability to steal approximately 199,900 XRP, reducing the bridge's asset balance from roughly 200,400 XRP to 493.5 XRP. The attack did not involve private key leaks and did not target the XRP Ledger protocol itself. The attacker forged deposit operations, causing the bridge system to recognize them as legitimate deposits and triggering the bridge wallet on the other end to send real XRP. On-chain data shows that the attacker completed the fund transfer through 94 multi-signature authorization transactions within 97 minutes. These transactions required signatures from 17 of the 28 relay node keys, allowing the attacker to bypass the bridge's validation mechanism. As of August 11, the Coreum cross-chain bridge remains suspended, and the Coreum Development Foundation has not yet released an official incident report. The XRP mainnet and user private keys remain unaffected and secure.
Stripe's Bridge Completes EU MiCA Registration, EU-Authorized EMT Issuers Increase to 42
According to Cointelegraph, Bridge Building, the Luxembourg entity of Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, has officially joined the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) registry. Previously, on July 2, Bridge obtained Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization under the MiCA framework and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license issued by the Luxembourg Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF). Bridge Head of Product Mai Leduc Blount stated that the aforementioned approvals will allow EU enterprises to build stablecoin and payment products within a compliant framework. According to the latest update from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Bridge's inclusion brings the total number of authorized Electronic Money Token (EMT) issuers in the EU to 42; during the same period, three institutions from Germany newly received CASP authorization, raising the total number of authorized CASPs in the EU to 324.
Stripe's Bridge joins EU MiCA register after Luxembourg approval
Odaily News: Bridge, Stripe's stablecoin infrastructure company, has joined the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register through its Luxembourg entity Bridge Building, after receiving regulatory approval from Luxembourg. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) update on Wednesday shows that with Bridge's inclusion, the number of MiCA-authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers in the EU register has increased to 42. Bridge announced on July 2 that it had obtained the MiCA Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization and Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Luxembourg Financial Industry Supervisory Commission. Bridge product lead Mai Leduc Blount stated that the approvals allow EU companies to build stablecoin and payment products within a regulated framework. The same ESMA update also added three new German CASP entries, including Volksbank Die Gestalterbank, VBU Volksbank im Unterland, and VR-Bank Erding, bringing the total number of authorized CASPs in the EU register to 324. Asset-referenced token (ART) authorizations remained unchanged, with no ART issuers currently listed.
Forma Announces Shutdown of Blockchain Network and Migration of NFTs to Ethereum Mainnet
NFT platform Forma announced it will cease operations of the Forma blockchain, stating that continuing to maintain the network is unsustainable. Forma stated it will migrate the Modularium platform and Forma NFTs to the Ethereum mainnet to ensure the long-term continuity of related works and trading markets. After the migration is complete, user NFTs will remain accessible and can be traded on Ethereum ecosystem markets such as OpenSea, while Modularium will continue to operate as a display platform for these NFT series. Forma also urged users to withdraw on-chain funds via the Forma Bridge as soon as possible. Unwithdrawn assets will be manually migrated by the team to a new EVM-compatible chain at a later stage. The team emphasized that user funds and NFT assets are secure, and specific migration timelines and processes will be announced subsequently.
VerusCoin Ethereum Cross-Chain Bridge Attacked, Approximately $7.53 Million Transferred Out
According to CertiK Alert monitoring, a security incident occurred on VerusCoin's Ethereum cross-chain bridge, with approximately $7.53 million in assets transferred out. Preliminary analysis indicates that this issue may be related to the cross-chain bridge failing to sufficiently verify whether the Verus chain-side input supports the paid amount, similar to an incident that occurred in May this year.
Related news
Nearly $3 Million in Unusual GALA Transfers Detected on GalaChain; Cross-Chain Bridge Suspended
According to reporter Kate Irwin (@kateirwin), GalaChain experienced an anomalous on-chain capital outflow this Tuesday. Approximately 1.99 billion GALA tokens (worth roughly $2.9 million), along with other tokens, were transferred from five major addresses to a newly created wallet, subsequently bridged out and swapped for ETH within approximately one hour. Of these, approximately 1.639 billion GALA (representing roughly 82%) originated from a wallet linked to Gala Games CEO and co-founder Eric Schiermeyer, which simultaneously transferred out other tokens valued at over $500,000. Within hours of the incident, the Gala development team urgently merged a fix commit on GitHub, classifying the event as resulting from a GalaChain EIP-712 unsigned field injection vulnerability. The Gala Ethereum cross-chain bridge has since been halted, with the Solana bridge concurrently deactivated. While officially cited as routine maintenance, users have been unable to access the cross-chain bridge services normally for several consecutive days.
AI architecture company Pathway completes $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures and others
Odaily News: AI architecture development company Pathway has announced the completion of a $30 million seed funding round, with participation from Id4 Ventures, TQ Ventures, Red Bridge Ventures, Kadmos Capital, and WS Investment, the investment arm of Wilson Sonsini, among others. Databricks' Chief AI Scientist Jonathan Frankle has joined as an angel investor.Pathway is developing a Bio-inspired Dynamic Hierarchical architecture (BDH), a "post-Transformer" architecture designed to overcome the limitations of current Transformer models, which continue to rely on ever-increasing data, GPUs, energy, and capital expansion. Unlike traditional large models that require periodic retraining, BDH enables continuous learning and ongoing adaptation with significantly less data.The company also announced the appointment of Adam Kurzrok, former product lead for Google DeepMind's Gemini, as Chief Product Officer. He will oversee the product direction of BDH models, covering areas such as model packaging, evaluation systems, and commercial deployment. (Finsmes)
AI Security Startup Mindgard Completes €26 Million Series A Funding Round, Led by Album VC
According to EU-Startups, AI security startup Mindgard announced the completion of a €26 million (approximately $30 million) Series A funding round, led by Album VC, with participation from Karma Ventures, .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital, and Lakestar. Mindgard was founded by Dr. Peter Garraghan in 2022, incubated by Lancaster University in the UK, and is headquartered in Boston and London. The company's platform provides Shadow AI discovery, AI red teaming, and runtime AI protection capabilities, and has helped disclose over 150 high-impact AI security vulnerabilities, covering issues such as the Cursor IDE zero-day code execution vulnerability, Google Antigravity trusted workspace defects, and ChatGPT image generation protection failures.
Nearly 200,000 XRP Stolen, Coreum Cross-Chain Bridge Attacked
Odaily News: The cross-chain bridge connecting XRP Ledger and Coreum was attacked on August 9. The attacker exploited a validation logic vulnerability to steal approximately 199,900 XRP, reducing the bridge's asset balance from roughly 200,400 XRP to 493.5 XRP. The attack did not involve private key leaks and did not target the XRP Ledger protocol itself. The attacker forged deposit operations, causing the bridge system to recognize them as legitimate deposits and triggering the bridge wallet on the other end to send real XRP. On-chain data shows that the attacker completed the fund transfer through 94 multi-signature authorization transactions within 97 minutes. These transactions required signatures from 17 of the 28 relay node keys, allowing the attacker to bypass the bridge's validation mechanism. As of August 11, the Coreum cross-chain bridge remains suspended, and the Coreum Development Foundation has not yet released an official incident report. The XRP mainnet and user private keys remain unaffected and secure.
Stripe acquires Bridge for $1.1 billion, Robinhood acquires Bitstamp for $200 million
Odaily News: Payment company Stripe did not sign long-term supplier contracts with third-party stablecoin APIs. Instead, after Bridge achieved $5 billion in annualized cross-border transaction volume, Stripe acquired it outright for $1.1 billion and integrated stablecoin infrastructure into its global checkout layer. Fintech platform Robinhood did not expand internationally through external trading venues. Instead, it acquired cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, obtaining more than 50 global regulatory licenses and institutional liquidity. From 2012 to 2018, early B2B fintech startups paid traditional banks for proof-of-concept pilot fees. From 1996 to 2001, telecom infrastructure startups raised over $50 billion to lay dark fiber. (Bitcoin.com News)
Coinbase reportedly bid as high as $2.5 billion to acquire BVNK, ultimately losing out to Mastercard's $1.8 billion acquisition
Odaily News The inside story behind stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK's acquisition by Mastercard for $1.8 billion has recently come to light. According to Concentric, an early investor in BVNK, during the bidding process, US crypto exchange Coinbase once held an advantageous position and reportedly submitted a bid as high as $2.5 billion, but ultimately withdrew from the competition due to insufficient strategic and cultural alignment between the two parties.Kjartan Rist, founding partner of Concentric, stated that BVNK's founding team did not focus solely on the offer price when selecting an acquirer, but placed greater emphasis on long-term partnership and corporate culture fit. "Coinbase may have offered a higher price, but the chemistry between the two sides was not ideal." In contrast, Mastercard, as a traditional financial services company, is more likely to create synergies with BVNK in payment infrastructure and stablecoin applications.It is understood that Mastercard participated in acquisition discussions with BVNK at an early stage, and after Coinbase failed to advance the deal, Mastercard re-emerged as the primary buyer, ultimately completing the acquisition for $1.8 billion.Visa also participated in the competition. Having previously invested in BVNK and holding a board observer seat, Visa once had an advantage. However, Visa ultimately chose not to pursue a direct acquisition, instead adopting an open strategy of partnering with multiple stablecoin companies.Founded in 2018, BVNK provides enterprises with stablecoin payment, cross-border settlement, and treasury management infrastructure. Its early investor Concentric invested in the company at a valuation of $4 million in 2019, and this transaction has generated substantial returns.The acquisition also reflects a new round of competition between traditional payment giants and crypto companies over stablecoin infrastructure. Previously, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for $1.1 billion, prompting payment giants such as Visa and Mastercard to accelerate their expansion into the stablecoin sector.Currently, the global stablecoin market size has approached $300 billion. As enterprise payments, cross-border settlements, and treasury management use cases grow rapidly, stablecoin infrastructure is becoming a critical gateway for traditional financial institutions to capture. (CoinDesk)