Author: John Smith

Ripple has named Academy Award winner and Water.org co-founder Matt Damon as a keynote speaker for Swell 2026, scheduled for Oct. 27–29 at The Shed in New York City. Summary Matt Damon will deliver a keynote at Ripple Swell 2026, scheduled October 27–29 in Manhattan. Ripple will combine Swell and XRPL Apex for the first time across three stages together. Organizers expect more than 1,500 attendees, 75-plus speakers and over 50 sessions in total overall. New speakers include executives from Aviva, Susquehanna Crypto, Water.org and PEAK6 across finance sectors globally. Ripple supports Water.org’s Get Blue campaign, using RLUSD to transfer…

Vietnam has not issued its first crypto exchange license, but five companies have passed an initial assessment under the country’s five-year digital asset market pilot. Summary Vietnam has not licensed any crypto exchange, although five applicants passed an initial assessment stage. Applicants need 10 trillion dong in charter capital and Level 4 information-system security certification before licensing. Decree 284 takes effect September 1, establishing penalties for crypto-market violations during Vietnam’s pilot program. Domestic traders face no immediate offshore-platform fines because a separate six-month transition period applies first. Vietnam’s six-month transition starts only when the Ministry of Finance licenses its first…

Solana Foundation Vice President of Technology Jacob Creech outlined several upcoming Solana upgrades on Aug. 30. Transaction V1 is scheduled for Sept. 9, while the first stage of a network rent reduction is expected during the week beginning Aug. 31. Summary Solana plans to activate Transaction V1 on September 9, increasing transaction size to 4,096 bytes. The first rent reduction stage begins next week, starting a five-step path toward 90% savings. Solana already cut target slots to 350 milliseconds, with 300, 250 and 200 planned later. Alpenglow remains targeted for October, with Solana aiming for approximately 150-millisecond finality after mainnet…

Bitcoin’s realized capitalization increased by more than $4.6 billion during the week ending Aug. 30, according to CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost. The increase accompanied BTC’s sharp recovery from around $63,000 earlier in August to above $80,000. Summary Bitcoin’s realized capitalization increased by more than $4.6 billion during the latest seven-day measurement period. The 30-day average growth rate remained only 0.4%, leaving the developing liquidity shift unconfirmed overall. Bitcoin traded near $78,024 after retreating from its three-month high above $81,200 earlier this week. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $2.57 billion across seven consecutive positive sessions through August 25. Realized capitalization can also…

Ripple has hired London Metal Exchange treasury executive Joseph Thompson for its trading and markets team, according to an Aug. 28 report. Summary Ripple appointed Joseph Thompson to the trading and markets team, focusing on tokenization strategy and delivery. Thompson leaves LME on August 31 after nearly ten years working at the metals exchange. He previously held liquidity, funding and risk positions at Deutsche Bank, ICAP and LCH respectively. Ripple recently launched Delta One swaps covering U.S. equities, indices and digital assets for institutions. The appointment itself does not confirm any new commodity tokenization product or XRP-related market launch. Thompson…

Ripple pledged $300,000 on Aug. 29 to support emergency relief following catastrophic floods across Nepal and China’s Tibet region. Summary Ripple pledged $300,000 to World Central Kitchen and Mercy Corps for Nepal-Tibet flood relief operations. World Central Kitchen’s local restaurant partners are distributing meals across Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Mercy Corps is coordinating emergency water and sanitation support after operating in Nepal since 2005. Authorities reported 750 deaths and over 3,000 missing across Nepal and Tibet by Sunday morning. The glacier collapse damaged roads, bridges and hydropower facilities while isolating communities from emergency assistance. The San Francisco-based blockchain company…

Cumulative stablecoin card spending has surpassed $10.9 billion, according to Paymentscan data cited by payment provider RedotPay on Aug. 25. Summary Paymentscan data cited by RedotPay placed cumulative stablecoin card spending above $10.9 billion worldwide overall. July 2026 produced a record month, with card spending exceeding $1 billion for first time. RedotPay predicts annualized spending will reach $50 billion by 2028, but independent confirmation remains unavailable. RedotPay reported more than eight million users and over $14 billion in annualized payment volume. Visa has expanded stablecoin-linked card access through its network spanning more than 175 million location. Paymentscan recorded more than…

A federal appeals court ruled on Aug. 28 that Kalshi had not shown Nevada’s regulation of its sports-event contracts was likely preempted by federal commodities law. Summary Ninth Circuit judges held Kalshi unlikely to block Nevada regulation of sports-event contracts through preemption. The ruling did not invalidate CFTC rulemaking or resolve any future Administrative Procedure Act challenge. A conflicting Third Circuit decision increases the possibility that the Supreme Court reviews Kalshi’s cases. Nevada’s election-contract challenge returns to district court while sports-contract enforcement may continue during litigation proceedings. The CFTC proposed ninety-day reviews for certain event contracts, including products involving gaming…

OCEAN co-founder Luke Dashjr left the Bitcoin mining pool on Aug. 29 after reaching a mutual separation agreement with its parent company, Mummolin Inc. He resigned as chairman, chief technology officer and director. Summary OCEAN co-founder Luke Dashjr resigned as chairman, chief technology officer and director by mutual agreement. Mummolin repurchased all Dashjr’s equity, ending his ownership interest in the Bitcoin mining pool entirely. Dashjr will establish CONVOY to continue promoting decentralized Bitcoin mining; launch details remain undisclosed today. OCEAN said it will continue operating its transparent, non-custodial pool for Bitcoin miners without Dashjr. The parties cited differing visions after…

Tokenized stock transfer volume climbed more than 415% over the 30 days ending Aug. 29, reaching $29.5 billion as Coinbase brought four equity tokens to Base. Summary Tokenized stock transfer volume increased 415% over 30 days, reaching $29.5 billion, RWA.xyz data showed. Monthly active addresses rose 209% to 1.3 million as onchain equity activity accelerated sharply globally. Coinbase launched four initial tokenized stocks on Base, each backed one-for-one by an underlying share. Coinbase currently restricts Base stock tokens to eligible non-U.S. users under Regulation S offering rules. Onchain tokenized stock value reached $2.54 billion, rising about 637% from one year…