Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

BitGo acquired NYDIG's institutional trading business, adding derivatives, structured products, and financing capabilities to its existing crypto custody platform. Around 30 employees and client relationships moved to BitGo as part of the transaction. The acquired operations expand BitGo beyond its core wallet and settlement infrastructure into capital markets services for asset managers and hedge funds. Meanwhile, NYDIG plans to redirect its resources toward Bitcoin mining, power generation, and high-performance computing data centers. BitGo stock closed 1.99% higher at $7.16 on Thursday following the announcement.

Bitcoin traded near $79,520 after slipping from an intraday high of $80,475 as spot exchange-traded funds extended an eight-day inflow streak totaling $2.8 billion. BlackRock's IBIT dominated the demand by drawing $2.02 billion over the stretch, while Grayscale's GBTC shed $50.4 million in a single session. The rally follows the U.S. Treasury's decision to double long-dated bond buybacks, a move that triggered more than $3 billion in short liquidations. Trading volume topped $90 billion for the week, with Bitcoin accounting for nearly $40 billion of that activity. Despite the heavy institutional buying, derivatives positioning cooled as futures open interest remained flat near 700,000 BTC. Market participants faced renewed macro pressure as July Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation printed at 3.7% year-on-year, running ahead of the anticipated 3.6%.

Investors in digital asset ventures tied to Donald Trump and his family have lost at least $4.7 billion. A report published Thursday by the watchdog organization Public Citizen details the losses across multiple crypto products, led by the Official Trump memecoin. That token alone left buyers $3.2 billion underwater after a rapid surge and subsequent collapse, with analytics showing that 65 percent of wallets are in the red while the top one percent captured 80 percent of all gains. President Trump himself invested no cash into the project, instead collecting $635 million in licensing fees last year. Additional losses came from World Liberty Financial governance tokens and digital trading cards, even as Trump generated $1.4 billion in total crypto-related earnings for 2025. Public Citizen used the findings to call for ethics provisions in the upcoming Digital Asset Market Clarity Act that would force a sitting president to divest from the industry.

Circle will brand the front of Chelsea FC jerseys with its USDC stablecoin for the 2026/2027 season, marking the first time a cryptocurrency firm has secured the principal shirt sponsorship of a Premier League club. Financial terms of the agreement were withheld, though reports earlier in the year indicated the club sought 65 million pounds annually for the vacant slot. The partnership arrives three months after the UK Financial Conduct Authority issued warning letters to Premier League clubs regarding unauthorized crypto sponsorship deals. Circle maintains an e-money license from the regulator through its UK subsidiary, though the stablecoin itself is not issued under British law. Chelsea will debut the new kit during its home match against Brighton and Hove Albion.

coindesk.com reports that Ripple has outlined a four-stage plan to secure the XRP Ledger against future quantum computing threats. The strategy begins with assessing vulnerabilities, progresses to testing quantum-resistant cryptography, and involves running legacy and new security systems in parallel. An emergency response mechanism is also included to handle accelerated threats. Ayo Akinyele, senior director of engineering at Ripple, noted that the financial system was not built with quantum capabilities in mind. The transition requires coordination among independent validators and broader infrastructure upgrades.

Bullish has extended a $100 million stablecoin-based debt facility to USD.AI to finance loans secured by graphics processing units. USD.AI will deploy the capital to lend directly to artificial intelligence infrastructure operators, utilizing underlying compute hardware rather than corporate assets as collateral. In addition to the financing, Bullish plans to list USD.AI's sUSDai token across multiple trading pairs alongside a dedicated market-making program. The arrangement builds on Bullish Capital's previous $4 million investment in USD.AI in September 2025, while USD.AI separately reported prior GPU-backed loans totaling $98.1 million and $34 million.

coindesk.com reports that Solana validators narrowly passed a proposal to double the network disinflation rate in its first network-wide governance vote. Proposal SGP-0002 finished with 67 percent support on Friday, barely clearing the two-thirds threshold required to pass. A Kraken-linked validator representing about 2 percent of votes switched its stance from against to for shortly before the deadline. Participation reached 60.7 percent of eligible stake against a one-third quorum requirement. Meanwhile, SGP-0001 passed comfortably with 95.35 percent support, while SGP-0003 failed after receiving about 54 percent support.

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