Crypto World
Vitalik Buterin Offloads Nearly $6.6M in ETH Amid Price Decline
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold a significant amount of his personal ETH holdings over the past several days.
Summary
- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has sold nearly 3,000 ETH worth about $6.6 million, according to on-chain data shared by Lookonchain, with sales reported to be ongoing.
- The transactions follow Buterin’s disclosure that he has set aside 16,384 ETH to fund long-term open-source and infrastructure projects, easing concerns of an abrupt sell-off.
According to blockchain analytics shared by Lookonchain, Vitalik has offloaded 2,961.5 Ethereum (ETH), worth approximately $6.6 million, at an average price of around $2,228 per ETH. The selling is reported to be ongoing.
Lookonchain’s alert on X highlighted the on-chain movements from an address publicly associated with Vitalik, noting multiple smaller swap transactions likely routed through decentralized protocols to limit market impact.
This activity has coincided with increased market volatility. Ethereum was trading at $2,075 at press time, down 7.5% over the past 24 hours. ETH price has recently traded lower, and sales by major holders can influence short-term sentiment among traders.
Sales by founders and early contributors tend to draw heightened scrutiny in crypto markets, as they are often viewed as confidence signals rather than routine liquidity events. While the amount sold represents a small fraction of Ethereum’s total supply, on-chain transparency means such moves are immediately visible and widely discussed.
Vitalik Buterin’s ETH sales linked to planned long-term funding
The recent ETH sales are not an isolated or abrupt decision. Last week, Buterin publicly announced that he had set aside 16,384 ETH from his personal holdings, roughly $44–$45 million at current prices, to support long-term initiatives.
In a detailed post on X, Buterin said the allocation is part of his broader vision to fund open-source, secure, and verifiable technology, including infrastructure and public-goods research. The disclosure has led some market participants to view the recent sales as part of a planned funding strategy rather than a sudden sell-off.
Gemini has announced it will cease operations in the United Kingdom, marking another high-profile exit as the country transitions to a stricter regulatory regime for digital asset firms.
In a notice sent to customers, Gemini said UK operations will formally end on 6 April 2026, with all UK customer accounts placed into withdrawal-only mode from 5 March 2026.
The exchange advised users to either transfer assets to an external wallet or offboard via a partner platform ahead of the deadline.
Accounts Shift to Withdrawal-Only Mode
Under the transition plan, Gemini said customers will no longer be able to trade or make new deposits after 5 March. Users who wish to liquidate crypto holdings into fiat must do so before that date, while all crypto and fiat withdrawals must be completed by 6 April.
As part of the offboarding process, Gemini has partnered with eToro, offering customers the option to open an eToro account to assist with transferring assets. Gemini also urged users to cancel recurring orders and begin unstaking any staked assets ahead of the shutdown.
The company warned customers to remain vigilant against potential scams, stating that Gemini representatives will not contact users directly by phone or text during the transition.
Regulatory Pressure in the UK Market
Gemini’s exit comes as the UK moves from an interim crypto registration regime into full authorisation under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA). The shift represents a material tightening of expectations around governance, operational resilience, and senior management accountability for digital asset firms operating in the country.
While the UK has positioned itself as open to financial innovation, the new framework introduces deeper regulatory scrutiny and ongoing supervisory engagement — a dynamic that has prompted several global crypto firms to reassess their UK footprint.
A Selective Regime Takes Shape
“Gemini’s decision to exit the UK raises a bigger question than any single firm’s strategy,” said one industry observer. “What does participation look like once the UK moves from a registration regime into full FSMA authorisation?”
The transition, they noted, is not merely about meeting higher standards on paper, but about sustained oversight, historical scrutiny, and personal accountability at the senior management level. For global firms, the calculus increasingly hinges on whether the UK market justifies that level of regulatory exposure in a fast-evolving sector. Some firms will decide the trade-off makes sense. Others may not.
Implications for the UK Crypto Landscape
Gemini’s departure does not necessarily signal failure of the UK’s regulatory approach, but it does suggest the regime is intentionally selective. As authorisation moves from theory into delivery, success may depend less on scale and more on regulatory experience, judgement, and willingness to operate under continuous supervision.
Gemini was contacted for comment at press time but did not respond.
The post Gemini to Exit UK Market, Shifts Accounts to Withdrawal-Only From March 5 appeared first on Cryptonews.
The Kalshi logo arranged on a laptop in New York, US, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.
Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Kalshi on Thursday announced new initiatives to expand its surveillance and enforcement frameworks as skepticism builds around the booming predictions market space.
The announcement comes days before Super Bowl 60, which has already drawn more than $160 million in prediction market trading volume, according to Kalshi. The platform and its peers allow users to buy event contracts for outcomes in politics, pop culture, financial markets and sports.
Prediction trades on predetermined outcomes — like, for example, on which companies will air Super Bowl ads on Sunday — have prompted questions of possible insider trading. New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday issued a warning about what she called “unregulated prediction markets.”
“Being federally regulated means that Kalshi bans market manipulation, insider trading, has limits on the types of markets it lists, runs Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks on every user before they can trade, and publicly reports all trades to the CFTC daily,” the company said in a release. “Kalshi also spent years building custom prediction market trade surveillance and enforcement systems that are similar to those used in the stock market.
Kalshi said Thursday it has taken further steps, forming an independent surveillance advisory committee, which will provide quarterly analysis to the company’s outside counsel and publish statistics on investigations into suspicious activity on its platform. The company also announced surveillance partnerships with Solidus Labs and the Director of the Wharton Forensic Analytics Lab.
The prediction market will also now work with the former Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence to advise Kalshi on “market integrity, trading surveillance and financial compliance matters.”
Kalshi lawyer Robert DeNault has also been appointed to the role of Head of Enforcement, where the company said he will work with the advisory committee to identify insider trading and market manipulation.
Lastly, Kalshi said it has created hubs on its website to provide resources for consumers on responsible trading and market integrity.
In a post on X, CEO Tarek Mansour said if the company finds any wrongdoing, the penalties include fines and referrals to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — which regulates event contracts in the U.S. — and the Department of Justice for prosecution.
“In the past year, we ran over 200 investigations and froze relevant accounts,” Mansour wrote. “Of these, over a dozen have become active cases and several have been referred to law enforcement.”
Mansour added that Kalshi has based its market surveillance system on those used by the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, flagging suspicious behavior by running trades through pattern recognition models.
“All industries have bad actors and no system is perfect, Kalshi’s included,” Mansour wrote. “But we are committed to improving daily. Lots of work ahead!”
Disclosure: CNBC has a commercial relationship with Kalshi.
Most other altcoins like BNB and XRP have joined the ride south with massive declines of their own.
Bitcoin can’t catch a break in the past several days, marking consecutive multi-month lows, with the latest coming minutes ago at well under $67,000.
The last time the cryptocurrency traded at such low levels was in early November, just as the US presidential elections took place and the country elected the so-called ‘crypto president,’ Donald Trump.
The past few weeks have been brutal for BTC. It challenged $90,000 just eight days ago, last Wednesday, but the rejection at that level brought unimaginable pain for the market leader and most of the altcoin followers.
Bitcoin first dumped to $81,000 last Thursday, then continued south to under $75,000 during the weekend, but the bears kept the pressure on. The past several hours have been violent as well, with BTC plunging to $66,900 (as of press time). This means that the asset has lost well over $20,000 in just over a week.
The altcoins have not been spared. ETH continues with its massive decline, with another 9% daily decline to under $2,000 – its lowest level since last April. BNB has plunged by 10% to $660, while XRP is down by a whopping 15% in the past 24 hours alone to $1.32.
Further losses are evident from the likes of ZEC (-19%), MORPHO (-14%), NEXO (-14%), XMR (-12%), LEO (-12%), SUI (-11%), and many others. As such, it’s no wonder that over-leveraged traders have been harmed severely.
Data from CoinGlass shows that the 24-hour liquidations have rocketed to over $1.3 billion. In the past hour alone, the wrecked positions are up to $350 million. The number of wiped out traders is close to 300,000 daily, with the single-largest position taking place on Aster, which was worth over $11 million.
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Multiliquid and Metalayer Ventures have launched a facility that allows instant redemption (liquidity) for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana.
In a press release shared with CryptoNews, the firm said the facility is positioned as the first dedicated vehicle intended to solve one of tokenization’s most persistent challenges: liquidity at redemption.
Raised and managed by Metalayer Ventures with support from Uniform Labs, it is designed to scale over time based on market feedback and performance, offering a blueprint for future redemption-liquidity deployments across tokenized markets.
The RWA Liquidity Gap
The launch comes as Solana’s tokenized RWA ecosystem surpasses $1 billion in on-chain assets, making it the third-largest blockchain network for tokenization.
Despite rapid growth, much of the RWA market—particularly non-Treasury assets such as private credit, private equity, and real estate—remains structurally illiquid. Redemptions are typically limited to issuer-controlled windows, rather than continuous secondary markets.
This mismatch is becoming more visible even in ostensibly “cash-like” products. The Bank for International Settlements has warned that tokenized money market funds face liquidity mismatches between on-chain instruments and off-chain settlement, a dynamic that could amplify stress during periods of elevated redemption demand.
“Traditional finance has repo markets, prime brokerage, and overnight lending facilities. Tokenized markets have had nothing comparable, until now,” said Will Beeson, founder and CEO of Uniform Labs.
How the Facility Works
Metalayer Ventures acts as the capital provider, raising and managing the pool of capital that allows instant redemptions. Multiliquid—developed by Uniform Labs—supplies the smart contract infrastructure, issuer relationships, and liquidity platform that underpin pricing, compliance enforcement, interoperability, and swaps.
Instead of waiting days or weeks for issuer-led redemptions, holders can convert supported tokenized assets into stablecoins instantly, 24/7. The facility purchases assets at a dynamic discount to net asset value (NAV), compensating liquidity providers for offering immediate access to capital.
Institutional-Grade Infrastructure on Solana
Uniform Labs expects a two-layer liquidity ecosystem to emerge: active market participants pricing real-time exits, and larger balance-sheet allocators warehousing assets to redemption for steadier yield.
The model is expected to gain traction as tokenized assets are increasingly used as collateral across DeFi and institutional venues.
The facility will initially support assets from issuers including VanEck, Janus Henderson, and Fasanara, spanning tokenized Treasury funds and select alternative assets. Integrations with Solana DeFi protocols such as Kamino are under discussion.
Nick Ducoff, head of institutional growth at the Solana Foundation, said reliable redemptions are becoming “critical infrastructure” as Solana’s RWA market scales, positioning the network as a leading venue for issuance, trading, and redemption of tokenized assets.
The post Uniform Labs’ Multiliquid and Metalayer Launch RWA Redemption Facility on Solana appeared first on Cryptonews.
Multiliquid and Metalayer Ventures have launched an institutional liquidity facility to provide instant redemptions for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana.
The facility allows holders of tokenized assets to convert positions into stablecoins instantly. The vehicle is raised and managed by Metalayer Ventures, with infrastructure and market support provided by Uniform Labs, the developer behind the Multiliquid protocol, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
“Traditional finance has repo markets, prime brokerage and overnight lending facilities. Tokenized markets have had nothing comparable, until now,” said Will Beeson, founder and CEO at Uniform Labs. “This is the liquidity infrastructure that institutional RWA markets will require at scale.”
Last year, the Bank for International Settlements warned that tokenized money market funds face liquidity mismatches that could amplify stress during periods of elevated redemption demand.
Related: Startale, SBI launch blockchain for institutional FX, RWA trading
Standing buyer delivers instant RWA liquidity
Metalayer’s facility functions as a standing buyer of tokenized RWAs, purchasing assets at a dynamic discount to net asset value.
Metalayer Ventures supplies and manages the capital backing redemptions, while Multiliquid provides the smart contract infrastructure used for pricing, compliance enforcement and settlement.
The vehicle will initially support tokenized assets issued by companies including VanEck, Janus Henderson and Fasanara, covering tokenized Treasury funds and select alternative investment products.
Related: True tokenization demands asset composability, not wrapped bubbles
Solana gains ground in tokenized RWAs
Solana (SOL) has emerged as a growing venue for tokenized RWAs. It ranks eighth among blockchains by total RWA value with about $1.2 billion represented across 343 assets, according to RWA.xyz data. While its market share remains modest at 0.31%, Solana is showing steady momentum, with RWA value up by more than 10% in the past month.
Canton Network, Ethereum (ETH) and Provenance are the three largest blockchains for tokenized RWAs by total value.
Canton dominates the market with more than $348 billion in RWAs and over 88% market share. Ethereum ranks second with $15 billion in tokenized assets, while Provenance also holds $15 billion with fewer assets.
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Tether, issuer of the stablecoin USDT, said it has made a $100 million equity investment in Anchorage Digital, deepening an existing relationship between the two firms.
In a blog post the firm said the investment is being made through Tether Investments and reflects growing focus between stablecoin issuers and federally regulated financial institutions as digital assets continue to integrate into mainstream finance.
Strengthening Regulated Digital Asset Infrastructure
Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. is the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the United States, providing institutions with custody, staking, governance, settlement, and stablecoin issuance services.
Tether said the investment reflects its view that Anchorage plays a critical role in enabling digital assets to operate safely and at scale within established regulatory frameworks.
Both firms said they are focused on the foundational infrastructure that supports institutional participation in crypto markets especially as regulatory scrutiny intensifies globally.
Strategic Focus Beyond Capital
Tether said its growth has been made by a stronger emphasis on regulatory focus and collaboration with institutions operating under clear legal oversight.
Anchorage Digital’s position at the intersection of regulation and security made it a natural partner as Tether looks to support long-term market integrity.
The relationship between the two companies predates the investment. Anchorage Digital Bank is the issuer of USAT giving Tether direct experience operating within Anchorage’s compliance, custody, and banking framework. That operational familiarity has informed Tether’s decision to take an equity stake.
Institutional Confidence in Stablecoin Infrastructure
“Tether exists to challenge the status quo and build global infrastructure for freedom,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Our investment in Anchorage Digital reflects a shared belief in the importance of secure, transparent, and resilient financial systems.”
Anchorage Digital CEO and co-founder Nathan McCauley said the investment validates the firm’s long-term approach. “We’ve believed from day one that digital assets would only scale through secure, regulated foundations,” he said.
Positioning for the Next Phase of Adoption
For Tether the investment reinforces a broader strategy centered on long-term partnerships with regulated institutions that are helping define how stablecoins function within existing financial systems.
As policymakers and institutions continue to shape the future of digital money, infrastructure providers like Anchorage Digital are increasingly seen as critical intermediaries.
Tether and Anchorage Digital said they aim to support broader participation in digital assets while promoting stability, transparency and confidence — pillars they view as essential for the next phase of global digital asset adoption.
The post Tether Makes $100M Strategic Equity Investment in Anchorage Digital appeared first on Cryptonews.
Bitcoin slid under the $68,000 level in U.S. morning hours Thursday, extending a week-long selloff that has tracked weakness across global risk assets and deepened concerns about near-term downside.
Crypto liquidations crossed $1 billion over the past 24 hours, wiping out about $980 million million in bullish leveraged bets as the slide forced traders to close positions they could not keep funded.
Price fel lunder $70,000 earlier in the day, with liquidity heatmaps pointing to further downside.
Liquidity thins out quickly until just under $70,000, per Coinglass data, where another smaller cluster appears. That makes $70,000 a mechanically important level. If price pushes cleanly through it, there’s less forced buying from liquidations to slow the move, raising the risk of a faster flush toward the high $60,000s.
A liquidation heatmap is a map of where leveraged traders are most likely to get forced out. Bright bands mark price levels with lots of estimated liquidation points, which can act like short term magnets for price moves. Traders use it to spot crowded zones and likely volatility pockets, not exact turning points.
Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT said it has invested $100 million in Anchorage Digital, a federally regulated digital asset bank.
Anchorage, which holds a national banking charter in the U.S., offers custody, staking, settlement and stablecoin issuance services to institutional clients.
The two companies already had a working relationship, with Anchorage serving as the banking partner behind Tether’s USAT stablecoin, designed specifically for the U.S. market to comply with local regulations.
The investment gives Tether a foothold in the fast-growing U.S. stablecoin infrastructure, which is moving towards regulated players after the GENIUS Act was written into law last year. Tether, headquartered and regulated in El Salvador, traditionally focuses on offshore users and emerging markets with its $185 billion USDT token.
“Tether exists to challenge the status quo and build global infrastructure for freedom,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said in a statement. “Our investment in Anchorage Digital reflects a shared belief in the importance of secure, transparent, and resilient financial systems.”
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) managed to turn an unrealized bitcoin (BTC) profit of $32.6 billion into a $2.2 billion loss thanks to founder Michael Saylor’s reluctance to sell.
To be specific, four months ago on October 6, the company owned 640,031 BTC acquired for $73,983 apiece but worth $125,000 apiece at prevailing market prices.
As of yesterday’s Nasdaq close, however, Strategy now owns 713,502 BTC acquired for $76,052 and worth just $72,925.
In other words, Strategy had an unrealized BTC profit of $32.6 billion on October 6 that has turned into a $2.2 billion loss.
Even excluding the last four months of purchases to restrict yesterday’s figure to the original 640,031 BTC, that still recalculates to an equally embarrassing swing from a $32.6 billion profit to a $670 million loss on only the BTC the company owned four months ago.
Read more: Michael Saylor is running out of ways to boost Strategy’s BTC per share
New lows across multiple metrics
Management’s choice to not sell means Strategy’s balance sheet has $33 billion less in assets than it could have, less capital gains tax.
This figure also ignores the effects on BTC’s price of Strategy selling such large sums.
As of yesterday’s close, the company’s common stock MSTR had a market capitalization of just 0.82x the value of the company’s BTC holdings — down 75% from its November 2024 high of 3.4x.
In addition to a 76% loss since its November 2024 high, including its latest 52-week decline of 61%, Strategy leadership has also failed to capture those tens of billions of dollars of investment income along the way.
It might seem tempting, given these losses, to point to a reminder of Saylor’s previously devout and confident proclamations that he never intended to sell Strategy’s BTC.
Unfortunately, he did say those things in the distant past, but even that promise has been deteriorating along with most other metrics at Strategy.
Indeed, Saylor now discusses the possibility of selling Strategy’s BTC, including official statements from the company and its CEO, albeit in euphemisms such as raising capital or covering dividend obligations.
Moreover, the company recently diluted equity holders for $1.44 billion with $0 in associated BTC purchases in order to shore up USD, not BTC, for a rainy day. That day might be arriving soon.
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- Playnance unveils Web2-to-Web3 gaming infrastructure after years operating privately at scale.
- The platform processes 1.5 million daily on-chain transactions with over 10,000 active users.
- Playnance focuses on simplifying blockchain access through Web2-style onboarding systems.
Playnance has made its first public announcement, revealing itself as a Web3 infrastructure and consumer platform company that has been operating a live ecosystem aimed at onboarding mainstream Web2 users into blockchain-based environments.
The announcement was made on February 5, 2026, from Tel Aviv, marking the company’s first formal introduction after several years of developing and running its technology and platforms privately.
Founded in 2020, Playnance has positioned itself as a Web2-to-Web3 gaming infrastructure layer.
The company integrates with more than 30 game studios and enables the conversion of thousands of games into fully on-chain experiences, where all gameplay actions are executed and recorded directly on blockchain networks.
Infrastructure built to simplify blockchain adoption
Playnance’s core offering focuses on removing technical barriers commonly associated with blockchain usage.
The company’s products are designed to allow users to interact with on-chain systems without needing direct knowledge of blockchain mechanics.
Instead, users access platforms through familiar Web2-style interfaces, including standard account creation and login processes, while blockchain functionality operates in the background.
The company stated that its live platforms currently process approximately 1.5 million on-chain transactions daily and support more than 10,000 daily active users.
According to Playnance, a significant portion of its user base originates from traditional Web2 environments.
These users are reportedly able to onboard and interact with blockchain-based systems without using external wallets or managing private keys, suggesting continued on-chain engagement from audiences outside the traditional crypto sector.
The company’s ecosystem also includes the G Coin initiative, which is currently operating in pre-sale mode and is accessible through the Playnance official website.
Consumer platforms showcase operational ecosystem
Playnance operates several consumer-facing platforms designed to demonstrate its infrastructure capabilities.
Among these are PlayW3, Up vs Down, and other products that run on shared on-chain infrastructure and wallet systems.
The integrated structure allows users to move between platforms without repeating onboarding procedures.
All user interactions across these platforms are executed and recorded on-chain while remaining non-custodial, aligning with the company’s focus on user control and blockchain transparency.
The shared wallet and infrastructure framework also supports cross-platform engagement within the broader Playnance ecosystem.
“Our focus was on building systems that people could use without needing to understand blockchain mechanics,” said Pini Peter, CEO of Playnance. “We prioritized live operation and user behavior over public announcements, and this is the first time we are formally introducing the company after reaching scale.”
Expansion strategy centred on user behaviour
Playnance stated that its infrastructure is designed to support high-volume consumer activity and continuous on-chain execution.
The company’s approach reflects a broader industry shift toward practical blockchain applications targeting mainstream audiences.
Looking ahead, Playnance indicated that its ecosystem expansion will be guided by observed user behaviour and platform performance.
The company emphasised that its development roadmap will focus on real usage data rather than speculative adoption models.
Playnance describes itself as a company focused on reducing friction between user behaviour and blockchain execution by operating consumer platforms at scale.
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