The Block is a leading global information services brand in the digital asset space, delivering objective, impactful, and timely information through its three pillars: news, research, and data. Founded in 2018 and now majority-owned by Foresight Ventures, the platform empowers investors, technologists, and policymakers to make smart decisions by providing deep insights into the evolving landscape of digital assets and their interaction with traditional finance.
According to The Block, New York-based stablecoin payment and tokenized asset company HIFI has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing round led by Left Lane Capital. Proceeds from the funding will be used to expand its tokenized capital market infrastructure and product lines. HIFI provides API infrastructure that integrates fund flows, compliance, and settlement capabilities, currently processing over $7 billion annually across 87 countries. Prior to this round, HIFI participated in a tokenized securities production trade co-hosted by DTCC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Nasdaq in July. Later this month, it partnered with Visa to extend its stablecoin settlement platform to remittance and card payment scenarios, initially supporting stablecoin settlements for more than 4 billion Visa cards globally.
perpetual contract platform RWAperp has announced the completion of $2 million in financing, with a post-investment valuation of $50 million. Participants in the round include Lime co-founder Brad Bao, Cresta AI co-founder Tim Shi, Tesla Autopilot team member Phil Duan, Crux members William Freiberg and Charles Ferguson, as well as members of the a16z and Sequoia Scout networks.RWAperp is a decentralized perpetual contract protocol for traditional financial assets. It is currently live on OKX X Layer and has opened 19 markets, covering BTC, ETH, SOL, Korean and U.S. stocks, the S&P 500 Index, the DRAM Index, gold, silver, and WTI crude oil. Users can settle in USDC, USDT, or USDG and gain leveraged long and short exposure to stocks, indices, commodities, and crypto assets without needing to hold, custody, or tokenize the underlying assets.RWAperp primarily designs its trading, pricing, liquidity, and risk management systems around the trading characteristics of the stock market, and handles situations such as market closure periods, overnight gaps, trading halts, and corporate actions. The platform uses a multi-issuer composite oracle and provides a professional order book trading terminal.RWAperp is also developing Agent Mode. This AI feature is designed to understand natural language trading instructions, analyze market conditions, and gradually support trading execution operations such as opening positions, position management, and closing positions. (The Block)
Odaily reports: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) stated that under the Demat 2.0 pilot, three issuers have raised a cumulative 102.5 billion rupees (approximately $1.072 billion) through tokenized corporate bonds. The pilot utilizes distributed ledger technology to issue, hold, and settle corporate bonds.Among them, REC was the first to complete a 50 billion rupee fundraising on September 7, with 18 investors participating; L&T raised 50 billion rupees on September 9, subscribed by 4 investors; IIFL raised 2.5 billion rupees on the same day, subscribed by 1 investor.SEBI stated that Demat 2.0 records corporate bonds as native digital tokens on depository institutions' distributed ledgers, and connects to wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) through the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Unified Market Interface, enabling atomic settlement of bonds and funds, which is expected to shorten post-issuance fund settlement time from the traditional 2 to 3 days to same-day.SEBI emphasized that tokenized bonds do not constitute a new category of corporate bonds, and their ISIN, issuer obligations, coupons, maturity dates, covenants, ratings, and investor rights remain consistent with traditional electronic corporate bonds. Currently, the first phase of the pilot is aimed at institutional issuance, with secondary trading and retail investor participation to be advanced in subsequent phases. (The Block)
According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury company DeFi Development Corp (ticker: DFDV) announced plans to publicly offer up to $20 million in Variable Rate Series C Perpetual Preferred Stock, with a par value of $10 per share, an initial annual dividend rate of 13%, and the first dividend payment date set for October 1, 2026. The company plans to use the proceeds to purchase additional SOL and other crypto-related assets. Currently, the company holds approximately 2.33 million SOL, having increased its holdings by around 19,000 at an average price of $98.14 last week. DFDV shares rose 8.03% on Monday to $5.38, posting a cumulative gain of 110% over the past month; SOL appreciated approximately 41% during the same period, currently trading at $103.3.
Odaily News - PURR, a token related to the Hyperliquid ecosystem, rose approximately 15% after Hyperliquid Strategies published its "HYPE Treasury" and balance sheet updates.According to the disclosure, Hyperliquid Strategies has completed a $647 million equity financing round and increased its HYPE token reserve to 29.3 million tokens, valued at approximately $1.9 billion based on fiscal year-end prices—more than doubling from its previous size.The company stated that it subsequently invested an additional $773.4 million to acquire approximately 16.5 million HYPE tokens at an average purchase price of $46.77. The company said the continued expansion of its HYPE holdings is aimed at building a "fortress balance sheet" to strengthen long-term support for the Hyperliquid ecosystem.Market observers believe that sustained institutional allocation to HYPE assets has further reinforced expectations regarding the Hyperliquid ecosystem's value-capture capabilities, driving related ecosystem tokens like PURR higher. (The Block)
Odaily News Crypto exchange Coinbase and digital mortgage company Better Mortgage have announced the full rollout of token-backed conforming mortgages for Coinbase One members, allowing eligible borrowers to use crypto assets as collateral in the home buying process.The product became available to Coinbase One members on August 12. The two companies first announced their partnership in March of this year, with the first mortgage loan under this program designed within the framework of a Fannie Mae-compliant conforming mortgage. According to the announcement, Coinbase One members who qualify for Better's mortgage products can receive a lender credit equal to 1% of the loan amount, up to a maximum of $10,000. This credit can be applied toward mortgage closing costs and is available for standard mortgages, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), and refinancing products. (The Block)
Odaily News: Coinbase-backed crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto (SWC) has announced its first batch of Senate candidate endorsements, including Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, as well as Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson and New Hampshire candidate Chris Pappas.Previously, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a procedural vote on September 15. SWC Executive Director Mason Lynaugh stated that following this vote, the organization will shift more of its focus toward elections. SWC also announced expanded support and advertising spending for certain House candidates. The organization had previously said it would factor senators' performance on key CLARITY Act votes into candidate records. (The Block)
According to The Block, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is preparing to regulate digital assets and tokenized custodial platforms under a framework scheduled to take effect in April 2027. The regulator stated that it will issue consultation papers, guidance documents, and draft rules during this period, while monitoring market integrity and risk management.
Odaily News: The UK Financial Conduct Authority has obtained a court order requiring two individuals involved in a fraudulent crypto investment scheme to jointly repay £851,400, with plans to return the funds to victims. At least 65 investors suffered combined losses of £1.54 million, and the recovered amount accounts for approximately half of the total losses.
According to The Block, New York-based stablecoin payment and tokenized asset company HIFI has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing round led by Left Lane Capital. Proceeds from the funding will be used to expand its tokenized capital market infrastructure and product lines. HIFI provides API infrastructure that integrates fund flows, compliance, and settlement capabilities, currently processing over $7 billion annually across 87 countries. Prior to this round, HIFI participated in a tokenized securities production trade co-hosted by DTCC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Nasdaq in July. Later this month, it partnered with Visa to extend its stablecoin settlement platform to remittance and card payment scenarios, initially supporting stablecoin settlements for more than 4 billion Visa cards globally.
According to The Block, all Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee wrote to Committee Chairman Tim Scott, calling for a bipartisan public hearing on prediction markets rather than discussing them in closed-door sessions. That day, Republican members met privately with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour to discuss securities-linked products, investor protection, and related regulatory issues.
Odaily News: Visa has released its "Money Travels 2026" report, based on a survey of 2,192 U.S. adults, showing that if stablecoins were equipped with bank-grade fraud protection and deposit insurance, consumer willingness to use them would rise from 36% to 56%; if offered through existing financial institutions, willingness would also increase to 45%. The survey also found that 56% of respondents had never heard of stablecoins, and 64% of respondents had greater trust in payment providers than in the technology itself. Currently, the total global supply of USD-pegged stablecoins has exceeded $295 billion, with USDT at approximately $183.4 billion and USDC at approximately $76 billion; Visa's annualized stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed $20 billion, representing more than a 15-fold increase from a year ago. (The Block)
According to The Block (@TheBlockCo), the Zano network was recently subjected to a Gateway Address vulnerability attack, resulting in the unauthorized minting of ZANO and fUSD that have since entered the market. To contain the losses, the team has urgently restarted the blockchain. The team is currently actively negotiating with affected projects and relevant counterparties regarding compensation for losses, and will publish a formal compensation and claims process in the near future.
According to The Block, Bernstein analysts indicated that Senate Republicans' progress on the Clarity Act may surpass market consensus expectations. The Republican proposal has been finalized, incorporating 126 substantive amendments put forward by Democrats. President Trump has also endorsed most measures within the bipartisan ethics framework, including granting enforcement authority to state attorneys general. Bernstein pointed out that the crypto market currently holds a pessimistic view toward Tuesday’s procedural vote, with "any upside surprises not yet priced in." The probability of the bill's passage on prediction market platform Kalshi has climbed back above 30%. Analysts cautioned that a failure to pass the legislation, combined with hawkish remarks from the Federal Reserve, could trigger a "significant pullback" in markets. However, even if the bill fails, it will accelerate SEC and CFTC crypto regulatory rulemaking rather than derail broader regulatory efforts.
Odaily News Bitcoin has rebounded strongly recently. Analysts believe that record-breaking short squeeze activity, along with policy signals from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, may be pushing the market into a new phase of bull market cycle adjustment.Data shows that Bitcoin has risen approximately 23% over the past week, marking its largest weekly gain since the post-U.S. election rally in November 2024. Crypto market trading activity has also recovered in tandem, with spot and perpetual contract trading volume surging 188%. CME Bitcoin futures volume rose 152%, and the annualized futures basis climbed to 11.1%—the highest level since January 2025. Additionally, Bitcoin ETF products recorded net inflows of approximately 31,740 BTC over the week, the strongest capital inflow since the market peak in October 2025.Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at crypto research firm K33 Research, stated that the early phase of this rally was primarily driven by short covering. On August 19, Bitcoin short positions saw a single-day liquidation scale of $1.37 billion, a record high, followed by another $739 million in short liquidations on August 21. The massive short squeeze pushed open interest in perpetual contracts down to 284,000 BTC, the lowest level since May, while market funding rates also returned to neutral.On the macro front, policy signals from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding increased long-term Treasury buybacks are also viewed by analysts as a market catalyst. K33 believes that the Treasury buyback program could lower long-term interest rates and boost demand for scarce assets. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's correlation with gold has risen, with the 90-day correlation coefficient reaching 0.52—the highest since October 2020—while its correlation with the Nasdaq index has declined to 0.38, a one-year low.Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at crypto investment firm Bitwise Asset Management, believes that Bessent's recent remarks on sanctions against Iran's financial network have further strengthened Bitcoin's investment thesis: as the global financial system becomes increasingly influenced by geopolitics, the value of assets that are decentralized and do not rely on any single nation's financial system may appreciate further. (The Block)
Odaily News: Bernstein analysts have assigned Circle an “Outperform” rating with a price target of $140, noting that its growth cycle does not depend on the progress of the Clarity Act. The analysts pointed out that USDC supply grew by $1.7 billion over the past week, and the stablecoin trading volume market share continues to expand. (The Block)
According to The Block, South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit saw a 273% surge in trading volume over the past 24 hours, reaching approximately $1.84 billion and marking its highest single-day level since mid-March. XRP was the most traded cryptocurrency on the platform, with approximately $419 million in volume, followed by Bitcoin, USDT, and Ethereum.
Odaily News - Investment firm Bernstein recently released a report assigning different ratings to two major Bitcoin miners transitioning to AI infrastructure: maintaining an "Outperform" rating on CleanSpark with a price target of $24, and initiating coverage on MARA Holdings with a "Market-Perform" rating and a price target of $17.Bernstein analysts stated that the core reason for the valuation divergence between the two companies lies in their differing progress in executing AI infrastructure transitions. CleanSpark has already signed an anchor tenant agreement for an AI data center and commenced construction, while MARA is still awaiting its first commercial AI contract.Regarding CleanSpark, the company previously announced the signing of a 20-year triple-net lease agreement with a global high-investment-grade technology firm, covering 175MW of IT capacity at its Sandersville, Georgia project. The agreement also includes exclusive cooperation arrangements for CleanSpark's total 885MW asset portfolio in Texas. Bernstein believes that CleanSpark's collaboration with tenant-designated engineering and construction contractors helps mitigate risks associated with its first large-scale AI infrastructure deployment. The first data center hall is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2027.In contrast, Bernstein's assessment of MARA is more cautious. Analysts pointed out that the first commercial AI contract will serve as a key catalyst for a re-rating of MARA's stock, noting that company management previously indicated expectations of signing at least two AI lease agreements by the end of this year. (The Block)
According to The Block (@TheBlockCo), the Zano network was recently subjected to a Gateway Address vulnerability attack, resulting in the unauthorized minting of ZANO and fUSD that have since entered the market. To contain the losses, the team has urgently restarted the blockchain. The team is currently actively negotiating with affected projects and relevant counterparties regarding compensation for losses, and will publish a formal compensation and claims process in the near future.
According to The Block, the Wyoming Stable Token Committee announced the adoption of Chainlink Proof of Reserve to provide near-real-time on-chain reserve validation for its official stablecoin, Frontier Stable Token (FRNT). The Network Firm will audit FRNT reserves in accordance with AICPA standards, while Chainlink will post verification data on-chain in real time to bridge information gaps between reporting cycles. Previously, Wyoming fully migrated FRNT from LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP last month as its sole cross-chain infrastructure. The committee is also advancing the Chainlink Proof of Reserve Secure Mint feature, which requires verifying that reserves do not fall below FRNT's total supply before minting new tokens to prevent infinite minting attacks. FRNT launched in January this year and is the United States' first government-issued stable token, backed by U.S. dollars and short-term U.S. Treasuries.
According to The Block, StarkWare announced it has successfully executed the first post-quantum Bitcoin transaction. Avihu Levy, Head of Applications, used a "signature grinding" approach to repeatedly generate millions of candidate signatures before the transaction entered the Bitcoin mempool, thereby avoiding the exposure of mathematical data related to public keys that could be exploited by future quantum computers to forge signatures. This method incurs significant computational costs, with a single transaction potentially taking several hours. Because the transaction format is unrecognized by standard Bitcoin nodes, it bypassed the public mempool and was submitted directly to miners for inclusion via MARA’s Slipstream service. StarkWare noted that while this technique can serve as a transitional safeguard, Bitcoin will still require protocol-level upgrades or a hard fork to systematically mitigate quantum computing threats.
According to The Block, TRM Labs' latest report shows that AI applications in cryptocurrency crime grew by 40% year-over-year over the past year, primarily driven by fraud activities. In the first half of 2026, digital asset hacking incidents reached 201, a new record high, with approximately 75% of the losses concentrated in just 4% of the incidents. North Korean-linked activities caused approximately $600 million in losses, accounting for 61% of the total losses in the first half of the year. TRM Labs noted that AI has not created new types of crime, but has significantly lowered the barrier to criminal activity and expanded the scale of attacks.
According to The Block, open-source Bitcoin payment processor BTCPay Server disclosed a critical security vulnerability being actively exploited last Friday and urgently requested users to upgrade to version 2.4.2. The vulnerability affects all versions prior to 2.4.2; attackers can use it to steal administrator macaroon authentication credentials of LND nodes, thereby fully controlling the connected Lightning Network wallets. Users such as Foundation and Citadel21 have confirmed that their Lightning node funds were drained, but BTCPay has not publicly disclosed the total amount stolen or the number of affected nodes. Currently, the official release version 2.4.2 has fixed this vulnerability, and on-chain hot wallets are not affected. The BTCPay Server Foundation has donated 0.21 BTC each to security researcher Craig Raw and Bitcoin Red Team to commend their responsible private disclosure of the vulnerability. Meanwhile, BTCPay supporters have promised to provide a bounty incentive of "10% of recovered funds," capped at 3 BTC.
According to The Block, latest data from Immunefi shows that the crypto industry lost approximately $110 million due to hacker attacks in July 2026. During the same period, the platform paid researchers $2.32 million for confirmed vulnerability reports, and the number of confirmed and paid bug bounty reports increased by 18% month-over-month.
Odaily News: Johann Kerbrat, Senior Vice President of Crypto at Robinhood, stated during Korea Blockchain Week 2026 that the company is still working on matters related to the "innovation exemption" with the U.S. SEC to support its tokenized stock business. Kerbrat said that as tokenized stock trading scales up, its trading volume could reach the relevant cap set by the SEC. (The Block)
Odaily News: Coinbase-backed crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto (SWC) has announced its first batch of Senate candidate endorsements, including Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, as well as Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson and New Hampshire candidate Chris Pappas.Previously, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a procedural vote on September 15. SWC Executive Director Mason Lynaugh stated that following this vote, the organization will shift more of its focus toward elections. SWC also announced expanded support and advertising spending for certain House candidates. The organization had previously said it would factor senators' performance on key CLARITY Act votes into candidate records. (The Block)
According to The Block, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is preparing to regulate digital assets and tokenized custodial platforms under a framework scheduled to take effect in April 2027. The regulator stated that it will issue consultation papers, guidance documents, and draft rules during this period, while monitoring market integrity and risk management.
Odaily News: Aave V4 has launched Equities Hub on Base, allowing eligible non-US users to borrow USDC using 7 tokenized US stocks issued by Coinbase as collateral, covering Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. The market uses Chainlink to provide on-chain price data for tokenized stocks. The initial combined collateral cap for the 7 stocks is approximately $29 million, with a USDC supply cap of $32 million and a borrow cap of $21 million. Collateral ratios for different stocks range from 65% to 79%. Currently, these stocks can only be used as collateral. Aave stated that more Coinbase tokenized stocks and GHO as borrowable assets may be added in the future after governance and risk assessment approvals. (The Block)
According to The Block, New York-based stablecoin payment and tokenized asset company HIFI has announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing round led by Left Lane Capital. Proceeds from the funding will be used to expand its tokenized capital market infrastructure and product lines. HIFI provides API infrastructure that integrates fund flows, compliance, and settlement capabilities, currently processing over $7 billion annually across 87 countries. Prior to this round, HIFI participated in a tokenized securities production trade co-hosted by DTCC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and Nasdaq in July. Later this month, it partnered with Visa to extend its stablecoin settlement platform to remittance and card payment scenarios, initially supporting stablecoin settlements for more than 4 billion Visa cards globally.
Odaily News: Visa has released its "Money Travels 2026" report, based on a survey of 2,192 U.S. adults, showing that if stablecoins were equipped with bank-grade fraud protection and deposit insurance, consumer willingness to use them would rise from 36% to 56%; if offered through existing financial institutions, willingness would also increase to 45%. The survey also found that 56% of respondents had never heard of stablecoins, and 64% of respondents had greater trust in payment providers than in the technology itself. Currently, the total global supply of USD-pegged stablecoins has exceeded $295 billion, with USDT at approximately $183.4 billion and USDC at approximately $76 billion; Visa's annualized stablecoin settlement volume has surpassed $20 billion, representing more than a 15-fold increase from a year ago. (The Block)
Odaily News: Johann Kerbrat, Senior Vice President of Crypto at Robinhood, stated during Korea Blockchain Week 2026 that the company is still working on matters related to the "innovation exemption" with the U.S. SEC to support its tokenized stock business. Kerbrat said that as tokenized stock trading scales up, its trading volume could reach the relevant cap set by the SEC. (The Block)
Odaily News: Coinbase-backed crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto (SWC) has announced its first batch of Senate candidate endorsements, including Ohio Republican Senator Jon Husted, as well as Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson and New Hampshire candidate Chris Pappas.Previously, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act in a procedural vote on September 15. SWC Executive Director Mason Lynaugh stated that following this vote, the organization will shift more of its focus toward elections. SWC also announced expanded support and advertising spending for certain House candidates. The organization had previously said it would factor senators' performance on key CLARITY Act votes into candidate records. (The Block)
According to The Block, the Abracadabra governance is considering an orderly termination of the SPELL protocol. Related proposals indicate that the protocol currently faces approximately $21 million in MIM bad debt. The proposal recommends liquidating recoverable collateral prior to formal closure and distributing the proceeds to borrowers and MIM holders.
According to The Block, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is preparing to regulate digital assets and tokenized custodial platforms under a framework scheduled to take effect in April 2027. The regulator stated that it will issue consultation papers, guidance documents, and draft rules during this period, while monitoring market integrity and risk management.
According to The Block, MoonPay has established a subsidiary in South Korea, planning to build it into its expansion hub for the Asia-Pacific region. The company announced partnerships with KakaoBank, Woori Bank, and KB Financial Group, covering cross-border payments, Korean Won (KRW) stablecoin distribution, digital wallets, and cryptocurrency deposit and withdrawal services.
Odaily News: Ondo Perps CEO David Wells stated that there is a huge opportunity in the U.S. perpetual futures market, and it makes sense for Ondo to explore this market, though he did not confirm whether the company will launch a perpetual futures product in the United States. Perpetual futures products targeting the U.S. market may differ from those Ondo offers outside the United States.