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Massive Bitcoin derivatives gap between CME and Coinbase threatens violent position shakeout

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Massive Bitcoin derivatives gap between CME and Coinbase threatens violent position shakeout
Leveraged funds held a 41,252 BTC-equivalent net short across CME Bitcoin futures, including standard and Micro contracts on Aug. 25, while the CFTC snapshot showed the same category net long just 151 BTC in Coinbase’s nano Bitcoin perpetual-style contract. For the next forced unwind, the important distinction is scale rather than an evenly matched directional … Read more

Bitcoin on course for best August since 2017 despite renewed US-Iran hostilities

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Bitcoin on course for best August since 2017 despite renewed US-Iran hostilities
Bitcoin is on track to log its best August performance since 2017, demonstrating remarkable resilience against back-to-back macro shocks as escalating US-Iran hostilities and a hawkish pivot from the Federal Reserve test the durability of the digital-asset rebound. Data from CryptoSlate shows that the largest cryptocurrency is trading near $78,400 as of press time, bringing … Read more

XRP’s next rally could put this 115 million-token short under pressure

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XRP’s next rally could put this 115 million-token short under pressure
Leveraged funds more than doubled their CME XRP net short as open interest surged nearly 40% in one week. Last week, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported that XRP open interest increased by 2,206 from a week earlier, to 7,783 futures-equivalent contracts. At 50,000 XRP per standard contract, the increase represented about 110.3 million … Read more

Why the SEC’s $75 million crypto path is not the same deal Congress is offering

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Why the SEC’s $75 million crypto path is not the same deal Congress is offering
The SEC’s proposed Regulation Crypto Assets offers a $75 million fundraising ceiling. A Senate market-structure framework starts with a greater-of-$50-million-or-10% formula. Those numbers look comparable, but they attach to different legal mechanisms. The SEC proposal would create exemptions by rule for certain crypto-asset offerings. Section 103 of the Senate’s version of the CLARITY Act would … Read more

DeFi protocols just lost $83 million to an attack financial regulators already warned about

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DeFi protocols just lost $83 million to an attack financial regulators already warned about
Malicious actors exposed two decentralized finance (DeFi) lenders to over $84 million in losses over four days, using variations of a price-manipulation strategy previously targeted by US regulators. The larger incident hit Tectonic on the Cronos blockchain, where security firm GoPlus estimated roughly $75 million was affected. Three days earlier, Moonwell’s MAMO lending market on … Read more

CEO Jeremy Allaire says Circle built “the platform for the internet financial system”, but cirBTC has only 40 BTC

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CEO Jeremy Allaire says Circle built “the platform for the internet financial system”, but cirBTC has only 40 BTC
Circle’s wrapped Bitcoin product entered the market with unusually strong institutional credentials and almost no visible scale. The company paired cirBTC with segregated reserves, a federally supervised custodian, direct minting and redemption for eligible businesses, and the distribution infrastructure behind USDC. Circle’s Aug. 27 reserve panel nevertheless showed just 40.02450077 cirBTC outstanding about 11 weeks … Read more

US treasury relies on stablecoins to fund short-term debt, but they can’t fix its $28B long-bond problem

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US treasury relies on stablecoins to fund short-term debt, but they can’t fix its $28B long-bond problem
Stablecoin demand is becoming consequential in the U.S. government debt market, but the maturity of that demand matters more than the headline total. Washington now has two debt-market stories running at once. The federal framework for permitted payment stablecoins channels reserves into cash-like instruments and Treasuries with no more than 93 days remaining. Farther out … Read more

Treasury proposed GENIUS change forces US exchanges to audit foreign stablecoin or face delisting

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Treasury proposed GENIUS change forces US exchanges to audit foreign stablecoin or face delisting
Treasury’s proposed rules under the GENIUS Act, the new US stablecoin law, would let US exchanges and other digital-asset service providers keep offering some foreign-issued payment stablecoins, but only if they can defend why they trusted the issuer’s promise to comply with lawful US orders. Under the proposed rule, a provider could rely on a … Read more

Bitcoin miner IPO demands 99.8% of funds from public buyers while handing them just 10% equity

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Bitcoin miner IPO demands 99.8% of funds from public buyers while handing them just 10% equity
Bitari Inc., a Bitcoin mining host pursuing a planned Bitcoin mining IPO and Nasdaq listing, is asking public buyers to provide nearly all of the consideration shown in its prospectus table while receiving about 10% of the company after the deal. The company’s preliminary S-1 proposes selling 4,285,715 shares at an expected $7 each, producing … Read more