Industry News

Tracks company news, strategic changes, funding activities, and personnel adjustments across the blockchain and crypto industries, delivering a full-spectrum industry overview for our users.

BlackRock and Visa's Big Bet on Stablecoins: What Do the Smart Money See?

The stablecoin market reached a historic high of $317 billion in January 2026, but the real story lies in the strategic moves by major financial institutions. BlackRock launched BUIDL, a tokenized money market fund on a public blockchain, surpassing $2 billion by late 2025, highlighting the drive for efficiency, lower costs, and broader accessibility. USDC, growing 73% in 2025, outpaced USDT’s 36% growth, driven by regulatory clarity from the U.S. GENIUS Act and EU’s MiCA compliance, making it the preferred choice for regulated entities like Visa, which integrated USDC for settlements. Visa’s adoption reflects a defensive strategy against stablecoins disrupting cross-border payments, with stablecoin transaction volumes reaching $46 trillion in 2025. Other payment giants, including Stripe and PayPal, are also aggressively entering the space. Meanwhile, banks like JPMorgan are leveraging blockchain for internal efficiency, processing over $3 billion daily via its JPM Coin system. Key trends include the rapid growth of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, a clear regulatory path favoring compliant stablecoins, the restructuring of payment infrastructure, and market bifurcation into payment-focused (e.g., USDC) and yield-bearing stablecoins (e.g., Ondo’s USDY). This shift marks stablecoins' evolution from a crypto niche to a foundational component of the global financial system.

marsbit01/13 14:00

BlackRock and Visa's Big Bet on Stablecoins: What Do the Smart Money See?

marsbit01/13 14:00

From Times Square to zero bids – Inside NYC token’s 30-minute collapse

Eric Adams' ambitious plan to establish New York City as a digital asset hub faced a major setback with the catastrophic failure of the $NYC token. Minutes after its launch at a Times Square press conference, on-chain analysts identified suspicious activity. A wallet linked to the deployer executed a high-speed "rug pull," extracting $3.4 million in USDC at the token's peak price. This maneuver created a $932,000 liquidity gap and caused the token to collapse 80% within thirty minutes, leaving retail investors with significant losses. The crypto community reacted with anger and resignation, labeling it a classic scam. Unlike community-driven political tokens like TRUMP, the $NYC incident sets a troubling precedent, demonstrating how civic fundraising on decentralized exchanges can quickly turn exploitative. Despite a booming memecoin market, this event serves as a stark reminder of the sector's volatility and risks, eroding trust in both the token and broader political crypto ventures.

ambcrypto01/13 13:47

From Times Square to zero bids – Inside NYC token’s 30-minute collapse

ambcrypto01/13 13:47

The Financial Circle is Embracing Knowledge Payment

Financial professionals in China are increasingly turning to knowledge monetization platforms. Notable figures like Hong Hao and Li Bei are achieving significant revenue: Hong Hao's knowledge community generated over 12.5 million RMB in two months after raising its annual fee to 1499 RMB, while Li Bei sold 200 spots for a 12,888 RMB course in just two days, earning 2.57 million RMB. This trend reflects a strategic use of "leverage"—a concept emphasizing scalable, near-zero marginal cost products like media content—to complement traditional labor and capital leverage. Both individuals leverage their macroeconomic expertise and personal branding to attract broad audiences, blending analysis with engaging content like predictions and personal anecdotes. However, their approaches differ: Hong Hao uses his platform to bolster his investment credibility amid uncertain fund performance, while Li Bei employs courses to retain clients and stabilize her asset management firm amid competitive pressures. Ultimately, this shift addresses dual needs: investors seek reliable information and emotional reassurance in noisy markets, while managers aim to cultivate loyal clients directly. As generating alpha becomes harder, selling the "map"—through subscriptions and courses—is emerging as a lucrative alternative.

marsbit01/13 13:33

The Financial Circle is Embracing Knowledge Payment

marsbit01/13 13:33

From Crypto Giant to National Gambler: How a16z's $15 Billion Bets on America's Future

a16z, a leading venture capital firm, has raised $15 billion in new funding, accounting for nearly 20% of all VC fundraising in the U.S. in 2025. The funds will be allocated across several sectors: $6.75 billion for growth-stage companies, $1.7 billion each for applications and infrastructure, $700 million for biotech, and $1.176 billion for "American Dynamism"—a theme focused on revitalizing U.S. manufacturing, particularly in defense technology. This defense-focused investment includes companies like Anduril, Shield AI, and Castelion, which develop advanced weapons systems and drones, primarily for the Pentagon. a16z is betting on modernization gaps in the U.S. defense industry and leverages its political connections, including ties to the Trump administration, to influence policy and secure contracts. While crypto investments are now categorized under a broader "other" segment, a16z remains committed to the space, viewing it as critical infrastructure alongside AI and defense. The firm’s strategy combines high-conviction bets during market downturns with extensive resource-building—including media influence and government relationships—to create a durable competitive advantage. However, this approach also ties its success to U.S. geopolitical and economic trends, making it a high-stakes wager on America’s future.

比推01/13 13:25

From Crypto Giant to National Gambler: How a16z's $15 Billion Bets on America's Future

比推01/13 13:25

A High-Stakes Gamble in the Regulatory Void: Binance Fully Backs Unlicensed Stablecoin U

On January 13, Binance announced the listing of the stablecoin United Stables (U), launching U/USDT and U/USDC trading pairs with zero trading and leverage fees. Within 30 minutes, trading volume exceeded $4.5 million. U is issued by United Stables Limited, a BVI-registered entity, and is backed 1:1 by reserves held in a trust structure with fiat in regulated banks and digital assets with licensed custodians. It has received a custody attestation from Ceffu and a smart contract audit from PeckShield. Notably, U currently lacks regulatory approval under major frameworks like EU’s MiCA, Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance, or the U.S. GENIUS Act. Binance, though not the official issuer, is deeply integrated with U across its ecosystem—including BNB Chain, Binance Wallet, and DeFi protocols—providing liquidity and adoption support. The CEO, Athena Y, is a former Binance NFT lead and Ceffu CEO, but the project has not fully disclosed its core team or financial backing. U aims to serve as a “unified liquidity layer” rather than a direct competitor to USDT or USDC, targeting use cases in exchanges, DeFi, payments, and AI agents. As of January 13, U’s supply is around 410 million tokens with nearly 14,000 holders. It has been adopted by HTX, Aster, Lista DAO, and AEON Pay, though on-chain activity remains moderate.

比推01/13 13:22

A High-Stakes Gamble in the Regulatory Void: Binance Fully Backs Unlicensed Stablecoin U

比推01/13 13:22

Competitors Narrow the Gap from Binance. Who Leads Among Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Competitors are closing the gap with Binance, which remains the dominant leader among cryptocurrency exchanges in 2025, according to data from WuBlockchain. While Binance continues to lead in both spot and derivatives trading volume, smaller platforms are demonstrating more significant growth. In spot trading, the total volume on major exchanges grew 8.8% to $19.1 trillion. Binance, Bybit, and Gate were the top three, with Binance's volume nearly five times that of the second-place exchange. BitMart, KuCoin, and Bitget saw the largest growth in spot volume, while Upbit and Bybit saw declines. The derivatives market grew more substantially, rising 27.8% to $62.4 trillion. Binance, OKX, and Bybit led this segment. HTX and KuCoin recorded the highest growth rates here. Despite the increase in trading activity, overall website traffic to major exchanges fell by 6.9%. HTX, KuCoin, and Crypto.com were the only platforms to see significant traffic growth. The report notes that data from CoinGecko and Similarweb may be influenced by factors like wash trading and bot activity. Notably, Russian users accounted for a significant portion of traffic, representing 31% of all visits to Bybit.

RBK-crypto01/13 13:21

Competitors Narrow the Gap from Binance. Who Leads Among Cryptocurrency Exchanges

RBK-crypto01/13 13:21

Salad.com and Golem Network Partner To Bridge Web2 and Decentralized Computing

Salad.com and Golem Network have partnered to test the integration of traditional cloud computing with decentralized infrastructure. Salad will run real commercial workloads—including AI inference, 3D rendering, and drug-discovery simulations—on Golem’s decentralized network. The goal is to evaluate compatibility, cost efficiency, and the benefits of crypto-based settlements. Salad, which operates a GPU cloud service using global devices, still relies on centralized systems for payments and user rewards. This experiment aims to reduce operational overhead and explore whether decentralized infrastructure can support Salad’s scale while introducing cryptocurrency payments—a feature requested by users. The collaboration reflects a broader industry trend where Web2 companies experiment with Web3 infrastructure to improve transparency, lower costs, and leverage underutilized global computing resources. If successful, it could make high-performance computing more accessible and efficient through decentralized models.

ccn.com01/13 13:07

Salad.com and Golem Network Partner To Bridge Web2 and Decentralized Computing

ccn.com01/13 13:07

80% of Oil Revenue Settled in Stablecoins, Venezuela Turns USDT into a Second Dollar

Venezuela is increasingly using USDT, a dollar-pegged stablecoin, to settle up to 80% of its oil export revenue, as the country seeks to bypass U.S. sanctions and a collapsing traditional banking system. At the same time, USDT has become a financial lifeline for ordinary Venezuelans grappling with hyperinflation of the bolivar and strict capital controls. They use it for remittances, savings, and daily transactions—from paying building fees to haircuts. While Tether, the issuer of USDT, has cooperated with U.S. authorities to freeze wallets linked to sanctioned oil trade, the stablecoin’s role reflects a broader reality: it serves both as a tool for evading financial controls and as a critical means of survival in an economy with broken institutions. The situation underscores the dual nature of stablecoins—operating in regulatory gray zones while providing essential services where traditional systems fail.

marsbit01/13 12:09

80% of Oil Revenue Settled in Stablecoins, Venezuela Turns USDT into a Second Dollar

marsbit01/13 12:09

Brother Sun and CZ Jointly Endorse, New Stablecoin United Stables (U) Emerges

New stablecoin United Stables (U) has been launched on multiple exchanges including Binance, Gate, and BitMart, with HTX listing it earlier on December 18 alongside a 20% APY earnings campaign. Positioned as a next-generation stablecoin for trading, payments, wealth management, and AI-native ecosystems, U aggregates liquidity across different chains and assets. It is currently issued on BNB Chain and Ethereum, with a total supply of 409 million tokens. The project gained significant attention due to public support from two major industry figures: CZ (Binance founder) and Justin Sun. Both followed United Stables’ official X account, and CZ referred to U as a “second-generation stablecoin” during an AMA. Sun promoted U through a livestream and offered financial incentives via HTX. United Stables is backed 1:1 by a mix of USD and major audited stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and USD1. It features real-time Proof of Reserves (PoR) and monthly audits. The token is fully integrated into the BSC ecosystem, supported by DeFi protocols such as PancakeSwap and wallets like Trust Wallet and SafePal. The coin is also linked to Athena Y, a co-founder who previously served as Executive Director of the Binance Charity Foundation.

marsbit01/13 11:22

Brother Sun and CZ Jointly Endorse, New Stablecoin United Stables (U) Emerges

marsbit01/13 11:22

Coin Stock Barometer丨Strategy Invested $1.25 Billion Last Week to Add 13,627 BTC, Total Holdings Unrealized Profit Exceeds $10.55 Billion; Bitmine Holdings Increase to 4.168 Million ETH, Unrealized Loss of $3.225 Billion (January 13)

Crypto Market Weekly Roundup: Strategy Invests $1.25B in Bitcoin, BitMine Expands ETH Holdings Last week saw traditional equities and precious metals rally, while crypto-linked stocks remained subdued with only a few like BKKT and RIOT posting gains. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) invested $1.25 billion to acquire 13,627 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 687,410 BTC. With an average cost of $75,353, its unrealized profit now exceeds $10.55 billion. Institutional analysis suggests digital assets are transitioning from speculative instruments to financial infrastructure in 2026, driven by clearer stablecoin regulations and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. South Korea lifted its nine-year ban on corporate crypto investments, now allowing listed firms to allocate up to 5% of net assets to top cryptocurrencies. On the Ethereum front, BitMine increased its ETH holdings by 24,266 tokens, bringing its total to 4.167 million ETH. However, its position shows an unrealized loss of $3.225 billion with an average cost of $3,862. The company's chairman urged shareholders to approve a proposal to authorize more shares to prevent a slowdown in its ETH accumulation strategy. Other notable moves include Bit Digital holding over 155,000 ETH, ALT5 Sigma maintaining its WLFI token treasury, Bakkt acquiring stablecoin infrastructure firm DTR, and AIxCrypto planning a $10 million strategic investment in Faraday Future.

marsbit01/13 10:57

Coin Stock Barometer丨Strategy Invested $1.25 Billion Last Week to Add 13,627 BTC, Total Holdings Unrealized Profit Exceeds $10.55 Billion; Bitmine Holdings Increase to 4.168 Million ETH, Unrealized Loss of $3.225 Billion (January 13)

marsbit01/13 10:57

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