Articles by Khal
Latest from Khal
-
Bitcoin miners use collateral to manage treasuries as costs rise
CleanSpark's June filing reveals 12% of its Bitcoin holdings are tied up as collateral or derivatives receivables. Rising production costs and AI revenue diversification are reshaping how major miners manage their treasuries.
-
Bitcoin holds $63K as Iran sanctions, Strait of Hormuz attacks fuel oil spike
Tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz pushed crude oil up 5% this week, while the US Treasury's revocation of Iran sanctions relief on July 7 creates a new wind-down deadline of July 17. Bitcoin traded near $63,317 amid the geopolitical shock, with energy prices now a live factor for Federal Reserve rate decisions.
-
SpaceXAI Grok 4.5 launches at 60% cheaper pricing, but trails on benchmarks
SpaceXAI released Grok 4.5 on Wednesday at $2 per million input tokens—60% cheaper than Anthropic's flagship Claude Opus. Musk says it matches last year's Opus 4.7 but runs faster; independent benchmarks show it lags both Anthropic and OpenAI's current top models.
-
Stablecoin-settled TradFi perpetuals hit $1.1 trillion in H1 2026
Stablecoins have become the primary settlement layer for tokenized traditional finance derivatives, with TradFi-linked perpetual contracts reaching $1.1 trillion in trading volume and accounting for roughly 11% of all crypto perpetual activity in the first half of 2026.
-
BNB Chain Launches Layer-1 Blockchain for AI Agents and High-Speed Trading
BNB Chain unveiled plans for a new layer-1 blockchain targeting 100,000+ transactions per second, with testnet launch expected by end of 2026 and mainnet in early 2027. The network will feature AI-driven transactions and quantum-resistant security research.
-
Dinari and tZERO launch turnkey tokenized equities platform
Dinari and broker-dealer tZERO announced a partnership to offer a combined platform for tokenized U.S. equities, integrating Dinari's blockchain stock platform with tZERO's brokerage and settlement infrastructure as the sector races to build mainstream adoption.
-
BNB Chain launches layer-1 blockchain for 100K TPS AI trading
BNB Chain is building a new layer-1 blockchain targeting over 100,000 transactions per second with sub-50-millisecond preconfirmations, designed for high-frequency trading and autonomous AI agents, with public testnet planned for end of 2026 and mainnet launch in early 2027.
-
Base activates B20 token standard for stablecoins and RWAs
Base is set to activate its B20 token standard on Wednesday at 6 pm UTC, enabling developers to create stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets natively without building custom ERC-20 contracts.
-
Citadel drops Portofino trade secrets suit, files UK bankruptcy petition
Citadel abandoned its U.S. trade secrets lawsuit against Portofino Technologies after winning a £6 million arbitration award it cannot collect, pivoting instead to a bankruptcy petition against founder Leonard Lancia in England's High Court.
-
Bitcoin, Ether Fall Over 2% as Trump Declares Iran Ceasefire 'Over'
Crypto markets fell Wednesday following airstrikes in Iran and U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration that the ceasefire with Iran is "over." Bitcoin and ether each dropped more than 2%, while altcoins slid deeper.
-
Vanguard hires digital assets chief, reversing years of crypto resistance
Vanguard, which manages $12.5 trillion globally and previously blocked crypto ETF purchases, is hiring a head of digital assets to lead strategy on tokenization, stablecoins, and blockchain infrastructure as competitors rapidly scale tokenized products.
-
Bitcoin nears cycle bottom as over 50% of supply held at loss
K33 reported that over 50% of Bitcoin is currently held at a loss, a metric that has historically preceded a market bottom within weeks. Previous cycles saw Bitcoin recover within 13 to 101 days after reaching this threshold, with strong one-year returns in most cases.
-
Ctrl Wallet shutting down August 3 after June security exploit
Ctrl Wallet announced it will cease all operations on August 3, 2026, weeks after a June 23 security exploit affecting Cardano wallets. Users have until then to withdraw assets or export their recovery phrases to compatible wallet providers.
-
Vitalik Buterin's Anonymity Pierced by AI Analyzing Reasoning Patterns
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin confirmed that AI-assisted analysis correctly identified his anonymous contribution to an Ethereum proposal two weeks after he publicly challenged whether current AI tools could pierce online anonymity.
-
Tether invests $20M in Mercado Bitcoin for Latin America expansion
Tether announced a $20 million strategic investment in Mercado Bitcoin, a Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013 that serves 4.5 million users. The capital will fund payments infrastructure, tokenized products, lending services, and international growth.
-
Securitize drops 40% after SPAC debut as crypto stocks face investor caution
Securitize shares fell roughly 40% since completing its merger with Cantor Equity Partner II, reflecting a broader pattern of weakness in recently-public digital asset companies despite booming tokenization projections.
-
Kenya's CMA Seeks Blockchain Analytics to Combat Crypto Crime
Kenya's Capital Markets Authority is seeking an advanced blockchain analytics platform to monitor over 20 blockchains and detect fraud, money laundering, and sanctions evasion under the country's new Virtual Assets Service Providers Act.
-
Coinbase Wins FCA License for UK Stocks and Derivatives Trading
Coinbase secured a UK investment services authorization from the FCA, allowing it to offer equities and derivatives to retail and institutional traders in the UK for the first time.
-
KOR Protocol raises $7.5M Series A from 1kx, Blockchain Capital
KOR Protocol, an onchain creative asset clearinghouse built on Coinbase's Layer 2, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding from 1kx and Blockchain Capital. The platform has surpassed $2 million in gross revenue and counts over 1,000 partners including Black Mirror and Beatport.
-
AI infrastructure trade loses steam amid earnings miss and competition
The AI infrastructure trade is showing fatigue as record earnings and rising competition trigger investor reassessment of whether extraordinary semiconductor and data-center spending can be sustained.
-
Tether's former CIO seeks buyer for 1.26% stake
Richard Heathcote, who stepped down as Tether's chief investment officer in March, is working with PJT Partners to sell a portion of his 1.26% holding in the stablecoin issuer, according to Bloomberg.
-
Japanese firms diversify treasuries into Bitcoin and XRP as yen weakens
Japanese companies are turning to bitcoin and XRP to diversify reserves as currency weakness prompts corporate treasury shifts. SBI VC Trade's registered accounts surpassed 2 million following its April merger with BitPoint Japan.
-
BlackRock's 2% Bitcoin cap forces advisor rebalancing trade-offs
BlackRock's recommended 1% to 2% Bitcoin allocation for model portfolios creates a structural constraint: as Bitcoin rallies, advisors must either sell into strength, place holdings in tax-sheltered accounts, or use wider rebalancing bands to avoid forced liquidation.
-
CLARITY Act stalls as ethics fight over Trump memecoin splits support
The CLARITY Act's path to passage is splitting: law enforcement opposition moved to neutral ground this week, but Senator Gillibrand's push to bar officials from issuing digital assets has become Democrats' condition for voting yes.