Author: James Wilson

LayerZero has set Nov. 30 for the launch of its Zero mainnet and ATLAS trading infrastructure, with Open ATLAS expected to support more than a dozen trading venues at debut. Summary LayerZero has scheduled Zero mainnet and ATLAS for Nov. 30, with more than a dozen trading venues expected. ATLAS will handle trading and settlement behind third-party platforms, without its own consumer app. Open ATLAS plans to use 75% of fees remaining after venue rebates to buy and burn ZRO. LayerZero plans initial ATLAS capacity of 200,000 transactions per second. LayerZero announced that ATLAS will be the first application on…

Tether has joined Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion Series E funding round at a $6.2 billion valuation, adding an AI hardware investment to its work on software and automated payments. Summary Tether joined Tenstorrent’s $1.5 billion funding round at a $6.2 billion valuation. Tenstorrent plans to fund Galaxy server production, chip development and global expansion. Neither company disclosed Tether’s investment amount or ownership stake. Tether’s other recent AI projects include AIsa payments and offline speech recognition. Tether Capital announced its participation on Oct. 20, just a day after Tenstorrent disclosed it had completed its financing round. Neither company said how much Tether…

Strive has closed an upsized $630 million preferred stock offering, introducing a new fixed dividend security as the Bitcoin treasury company expands its financing options beyond its existing SATA shares. Summary Bitcoin treasury firm Strive closed its upsized $630 million public offering after selling 7 million SATS preferred shares at $90 each. The new SATS shares carry a 15% annual dividend rate and are expected to begin trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SATS around October 20. Strive CEO Matt Cole said the offering would provide another source of capital while strengthening the credit profile of its existing SATA preferred…

Sophon plans to shut down its blockchain on November 30, but users have been told to withdraw their assets by November 25. Some of the websites and infrastructure needed to complete that work may start closing after the earlier date. The instruction reaches beyond SOPH tokens sitting in a wallet: ETH and USDC on the chain, rewards waiting to be claimed and assets deposited in Sophon Farm can require separate steps. Someone who already holds the Ethereum version of SOPH faces a different situation from someone whose balance is still on the departing network. Summary Sophon has set November 25,…

Bitget has announced plans to acquire a licensed cryptocurrency exchange in Thailand, seeking to establish local operations less than a month after a security breach affected approximately $388 million in assets. Summary Bitget plans to acquire GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics, a licensed Thai cryptocurrency exchange operator, through BTGT Management. GMO Internet has scheduled the proposed share transfer for October 31, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. GMO Internet and its Thai subsidiary plan to sell their combined 99.94% stake in the exchange operator. GMO-Z.com Cryptonomics reported a 74.16 million baht operating loss in 2025, according to the seller’s financial disclosure. The…

21shares has launched two physically backed cryptocurrency exchange-traded products in Europe, offering investors exposure to Lighter’s LIT token and Venice’s VVV token through conventional brokerage accounts. Summary 21shares launched two physically backed crypto ETPs tracking Lighter (LIT) and Venice Token (VVV) on October 20. LIHT trades on Deutsche Börse Xetra, while VENC is listed on SIX Swiss Exchange. Both charge a 2.50% annual fee. The products offer brokerage-account exposure to decentralized derivatives trading and privacy-focused AI without requiring investors to manage tokens directly. As per the company’s October 20 announcement, the 21shares Lighter ETP trades under LIHT on Deutsche Börse…

Scammers have reportedly impersonated generative artist Tyler Hobbs to promote a fake QQL NFT mint, with reports suggesting that at least one person has lost funds after interacting with the scheme. Summary Scammers are reportedly impersonating NFT artist Tyler Hobbs through multiple accounts to promote a fake QQL mint. Community member Quit warned that one person had reportedly lost funds, while another avoided a wallet drain with help from Pocket Universe. The alleged fraudulent promotion referenced 900 QQL Mint Passes and a starting price of 50 ETH, matching details of the project’s original 2022 auction. QQL minting has not reopened…

Corporate payments platform Ramp has applied for a US national trust bank charter to offer digital asset custody and fiduciary investment management under federal supervision. Summary Ramp applied to the OCC on Oct. 16 to establish a national trust bank offering digital asset custody and fiduciary investment management. The proposed institution would operate under federal supervision without accepting deposits or issuing commercial loans. Ramp reported more than $5 billion in customer balances across its existing checking and investment accounts, which operate through separate financial partners. The application follows similar filings from Rain, Payward and Zerohash as the OCC faces a…

Strategy has restated its objective for STRC to trade between $99 and $100 over time after disclosing $193.1 million in preferred-share repurchases and a $3 billion buyback authorization. Summary Strategy reiterated its $99–$100 STRC target after repurchasing $193.1 million of the preferred shares. The company raised its preferred-security buyback authorization to $3 billion, leaving $1.16 billion available. STRC carries a 12% annualized dividend rate, while current policy bars new issuance below $100. Strategy spent $385.5 million on STRC repurchases over two weeks, versus $43.6 million on Bitcoin. Strategy said in an Oct. 19 post that its “objective is for $STRC…

Solana has reported 8.92 billion successful non-vote transactions for the third quarter of 2026, more than double its Q4 2025 total, while SOL has remained near $104. Summary 8.92 billion successful non-vote transactions were recorded in Q3, according to Solana’s Allium-sourced chart. 104% growth compares Q3 2026 with Q4 2025; quarter-over-quarter growth was approximately 24%. Solana Compass recorded 8.78 billion completed transactions, leaving a difference between the two datasets. SOL traded near $104, while the organic share of quarterly transactions remained unquantified. Solana’s chart, published in an Oct. 20 post and sourced to Allium, puts Q3 activity 104% above the…