Crypto World
New Crypto Casino With 275% Welcome & 75 Free Spins!
ZunaBet is a new crypto casino and sportsbook that launched in 2026. The platform combines traditional casino gaming with cryptocurrency payments and modern features. With over 11,000 games and a full sports betting section, it aims to serve players looking for a crypto-friendly gambling destination.
Here’s our full review!
Quick Verdict: ZunaBet is a crypto casino offering over 11,000 games from 63 providers, extensive sports betting options across traditional and eSports, and a generous welcome package of 250% up to $5000 with 75 free spins,
Quick Facts
| Category | Information |
|---|---|
| Launch Year | 2026 |
| License | Government of Anjouan, License No. ALSI-202510047-FI2 |
| Operator | Strathvale Group Ltd., Belize |
| Number of Games | 11,294+ |
| Game Providers | 63 providers |
| Cryptocurrencies | 20+ including BTC, ETH, USDT, SOL |
| Sports Betting | Traditional sports and eSports |
| Welcome Bonus | 250% up to $5000 + 75 Free Spins |
| Loyalty Program | Dragon Evolution System with 6 tiers |
| Mobile Access | Responsive design plus downloadable apps |
| Customer Support | Email at support@zunabet.com |
| Supported Languages | English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Indian |
Casino Games
ZunaBet hosts an impressive collection of 11,294 casino games. This extensive library comes from 63 different software providers, giving players access to a wide variety of gaming styles and themes. The selection covers all major casino game categories that players expect from a modern online casino.
The slot game section makes up the majority of the casino’s offerings. Players can find everything from classic three-reel slots to modern video slots with complex bonus features. The games come with different volatility levels and return-to-player percentages to suit different playing styles.
Table game fans have access to multiple versions of blackjack, roulette, baccarat, and poker. These games range from standard versions to variants with special rules or side bets. The variety ensures that both casual players and experienced table game enthusiasts can find options that match their preferences.
Live dealer games bring the casino floor experience to your screen. The platform includes live versions of popular table games where real dealers run the games in real-time. Players can interact with dealers and other players through chat functions while placing their bets.
The game providers list reads like a who’s who of the online casino industry. Pragmatic Play and Hacksaw Gaming feature prominently, offering their popular slot titles. Playtech contributes both slots and table games to the collection. Evolution Gaming powers the live dealer section with their industry-leading live casino products.
Other major providers include BGaming, Booming Games, Endorphina, Evoplay, Ezugi, Habanero, and Yggdrasil. Each provider brings their own unique style and game mechanics to the platform. This diversity means players can explore different themes, features, and gameplay styles without leaving the site.
The casino doesn’t require downloads to play games. All titles run directly in web browsers using HTML5 technology. This means players can access games from any device with an internet connection and a modern browser.
Sports Betting
The sportsbook at ZunaBet covers a comprehensive range of sporting events. Traditional sports betting includes football, which features leagues and matches from around the world. Bettors can place wagers on major European leagues, international tournaments, and regional competitions.
Tennis betting includes ATP, WTA, and Grand Slam events. The platform offers markets on match winners, set betting, and game handicaps. Basketball coverage includes both NBA action and international leagues, with 3×3 basketball also available for betting.
Ice hockey fans can bet on NHL games and international competitions. Baseball betting focuses primarily on MLB, with markets on game winners, run lines, and totals. Volleyball and beach volleyball provide options for fans of court sports.
Rugby betting covers both rugby union and rugby league competitions. The platform includes markets on Six Nations, Rugby Championship, and club competitions. Other traditional sports include badminton, table tennis, handball, Australian football, and futsal.
Water polo, snooker, and darts provide options for fans of these sports. Combat sports coverage includes boxing and MMA, with betting available on major promotions. The platform also added Power Slap, reflecting its commitment to covering emerging combat sports.
Cricket betting serves fans in countries where the sport is popular. Chess betting offers a unique option for those interested in wagering on intellectual competitions. Bowls, cycling, Formula 1, lacrosse, and golf round out the traditional sports offerings.
eSports coverage includes all major competitive gaming titles. Counter-Strike betting covers tournaments from around the world. Dota 2 and League of Legends, two of the biggest eSports titles, have dedicated betting markets. The platform includes major tournaments like The International and the League of Legends World Championship.
Other Products
The loyalty program stands out as a unique product. Built around a dragon theme, it gamifies the player experience. New members choose an elemental egg when joining. This egg evolves as players wager, eventually hatching into a personalized Zuna Dragon.
The dragon mascot, named Zuno, serves as the casino’s brand ambassador. According to the casino’s lore, Zuno is a dragon who grew up in the ZunaBet vaults surrounded by casino games. The character adds personality to the platform and features in promotional materials.
Players can install dedicated apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS. These apps provide quick access to the casino without opening a web browser. The apps mirror the functionality of the website, giving players a seamless experience across devices.
The platform includes social elements through its community features. Players can interact through the VIP club, which becomes available at higher loyalty tiers. Random promotions add an element of surprise to the player experience.
A wheel spin feature gives players additional chances to win prizes. This becomes a double wheel spin at certain loyalty levels. These extra features create more engagement opportunities beyond standard casino games and sports betting.
Welcome Bonuses
ZunaBet offers a substantial welcome package for new players. The promotion is structured across three deposits, giving new members multiple opportunities to claim bonus funds and free spins. The total potential value reaches $5000 in bonus money plus 75 free spins.
- The first deposit triggers a 100% match bonus up to $2000. This means if a player deposits $2000, they receive an additional $2000 in bonus funds. The first deposit also includes 25 free spins that can be used on selected slot games.
- The second deposit comes with a 50% match bonus up to $1500. A player depositing $1500 would receive $750 in bonus funds. This deposit also awards 25 free spins, bringing the total to 50 free spins across the first two deposits.
- The third deposit provides a 100% match bonus up to $1500. Combined with another 25 free spins, this completes the welcome package. When fully claimed across all three deposits, players receive the maximum $5000 in bonuses plus 75 free spins total.
The casino markets this as a “250% Match bonus up to $5000 + 75 FS” for new players. This calculation adds together the percentages from all three deposit bonuses. The structure encourages players to make multiple deposits to unlock the full value.
Free spins awarded as part of the welcome package apply to specific slot games. The casino determines which games are eligible for free spin use. Players should check the promotion terms to see which slots are included.
How to Signup
Creating an account at ZunaBet follows a straightforward process:
- Visit the ZunaBet website at zunabet.com
- Click the registration or sign-up button, typically located in the top right corner of the homepage
- Enter your email address and create a secure password for your account
- Choose your preferred cryptocurrency for deposits and withdrawals
- Select your elemental egg, which starts your journey in the dragon loyalty program
- Agree to the casino’s terms and conditions and confirm you meet the minimum age requirements
- Complete any verification steps required, which may include email confirmation
- Make your first deposit using one of the supported cryptocurrencies
- Claim your welcome bonus if you want to participate in the promotion
- Start playing games or placing sports bets
The registration process takes only a few minutes. The casino uses email verification to confirm account ownership. Once your email is verified and your first deposit is made, you can access the full range of games and betting options.
Regular Promotions and Loyalty Program
The loyalty program at ZunaBet uses a tiered system with six levels. Each level offers increasing rewards and benefits. Players progress through levels based on their total wagering volume. The system tracks all bets placed on casino games and sports betting to calculate advancement.
- The first tier is Squire, which is the starting level for all new players. Squire members receive 1% rakeback on their bets. This level requires no minimum wagering and provides no free spins. However, it grants access to random promotions and the double wheel spin feature.
- Warden is the second tier, requiring $1,000 in total wagers. The rakeback increases to 2% at this level. Warden members receive 20 free spins as a tier reward. All the benefits from Squire continue, including random promotions and wheel spin access.
- Champion tier requires $5,000 in total wagering. Rakeback jumps to 4% for Champion members. The tier awards 50 free spins. Players maintain access to all previous benefits while enjoying the improved rakeback rate.
- Divine tier becomes available at $20,000 in total wagers. Members receive 5% rakeback and 150 free spins. The increased rakeback means players get more value returned on every bet they place, whether in the casino or on sports.
- Knight tier is for serious players with $200,000 in total wagering. The rakeback rate reaches 10%, providing substantial returns on play volume. Knight members receive 400 free spins. Access to VIP club benefits becomes more valuable at this level.
- Ultimate tier represents the highest achievement in the loyalty program. It requires $1,000,000 in total wagering. Ultimate members enjoy 20% rakeback, the maximum rate available. The tier awards 1,000 free spins. These players receive the best treatment available at the casino.
Rakeback is a valuable benefit that returns a percentage of all wagers to players. Unlike traditional bonuses, rakeback typically has fewer restrictions. Players receive rakeback regularly based on their betting activity, providing a steady stream of value.
The free spins awarded at each tier can be used on selected slot games. These spins provide opportunities to try new games or play favorites without risking additional funds. Free spins from tier advancement are separate from promotional free spins.
Random promotions add an element of surprise to the loyalty program. The casino runs special offers that vary based on seasons, events, or promotional calendars. These might include deposit bonuses, free spin packages, or tournament entries.
The double wheel spin feature gives players two chances instead of one when using the wheel feature. This doubles the potential for winning prizes from the wheel, which may include bonus funds, free spins, or other rewards.
VIP club access becomes more meaningful at higher tiers. VIP members may receive personalized customer service, faster withdrawal processing, and exclusive bonus offers. The casino tailors VIP benefits to reward its most loyal players.
The dragon evolution theme ties the loyalty program together. Your chosen egg evolves as you progress through tiers. The visual representation of your dragon growing provides a fun way to track loyalty progress. Each tier brings your dragon closer to its ultimate form.
Payment Methods
ZunaBet operates as a cryptocurrency casino, accepting 20 different digital currencies for deposits and withdrawals. The platform’s crypto-first approach means all transactions use blockchain technology. This provides fast processing times and lower fees compared to traditional banking methods.
The supported cryptocurrencies include:
- Bitcoin (BTC) – The original cryptocurrency remains the most popular option
- Ethereum (ETH) – The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap
- Binance Coin (BNB) using the BSC network
- Ripple (XRP) – Known for fast transaction speeds
- Tron (TRX) – Popular for low transaction fees
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – A Bitcoin fork with larger block sizes
- Litecoin (LTC) – Often called the silver to Bitcoin’s gold
- Dogecoin (DOGE) – Originally a meme coin, now widely accepted
- Cardano (ADA) using the Cardano network
- Solana (SOL) – Known for high-speed transactions
- Toncoin (TON) – The blockchain associated with Telegram
- Polygon (POL) – A scaling solution for Ethereum
The casino also accepts multiple stablecoins pegged to the US dollar. These include USDC on Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana networks. USDT (Tether) is available on Ethereum, Polygon, TON, Tron (TRC20), and Solana networks. Stablecoins provide price stability while maintaining the benefits of cryptocurrency transactions.
Players select their preferred cryptocurrency during account registration. Deposits require sending the chosen cryptocurrency to the wallet address provided by the casino. The platform generates unique deposit addresses for each player to ensure funds reach the correct account.
Cryptocurrency deposits typically process within minutes, depending on blockchain confirmation times. Bitcoin transactions may take longer during periods of network congestion. Faster blockchains like Solana and Tron often complete deposits in seconds.
Withdrawals follow a similar process. Players request a withdrawal to their personal cryptocurrency wallet. The casino processes the request and sends funds to the provided wallet address. Blockchain transactions provide transparency, allowing players to track their transfers.
The casino plans to introduce fiat currency payment options during 2026. This expansion will allow players to deposit using traditional currencies through methods like credit cards, bank transfers, or e-wallets. The addition of fiat options will make the casino accessible to a broader audience.
Is it Legit?
ZunaBet operates under a gambling license from the Government of the Autonomous Island of Anjouan, Union of Comoros. The license number is ALSI-202510047-FI2. This license authorizes the casino to offer games of chance and wagering to players in permitted jurisdictions.
The casino is owned and operated by Strathvale Group Ltd., a company registered in Belize. The registration number is 000050881, and the registered address is San Victor Street, Orange Walk Town, Belize. This information is publicly available and can be verified.
The Anjouan license allows the casino to operate legally within its regulatory framework. The Government of Anjouan regulates online gambling operators under its jurisdiction. Licensed casinos must meet certain standards to maintain their authorization.
The casino states it has passed all regulatory compliance requirements. This includes verification of gaming systems, fairness of games, and proper business practices. Licensed operators undergo review processes to ensure they meet licensing standards.
The team behind ZunaBet brings over 20 years of combined experience in online casino operations. This experience suggests the operators understand the industry and how to run a gambling platform. Experienced operators are more likely to maintain professional standards.
Design & Usability
ZunaBet features a modern design with a dark color scheme. The black background creates a sleek appearance that reduces eye strain during extended gaming sessions. Green accents throughout the interface tie into the casino’s brand colors and logo design.
The dark theme has become popular among online casinos and gaming platforms. It provides a contemporary look that appeals to modern players. The green highlights stand out against the dark background, making important buttons and features easy to locate.
The layout follows current web design principles with clear navigation menus. The homepage showcases featured games, popular slots, and current promotions. Players can quickly access different sections without searching through complicated menus.
The casino organizes games into categories for easy browsing. Players can filter by game type, provider, or popularity. A search function allows finding specific titles quickly. This organization helps players navigate the large game library of over 11,000 titles.
The sports betting section maintains the same design aesthetic. The sportsbook interface shows available events and markets clearly. Live betting features are accessible, with real-time odds updates displayed prominently.
Visual elements throughout the site reflect the dragon theme. The Zuno mascot appears in various places, adding personality to the platform. The dragon imagery creates a cohesive brand experience that makes ZunaBet memorable.
Members Area
The members area serves as the hub for account management. After logging in, players access their dashboard showing account balance, recent activity, and available bonuses. The dashboard provides an overview of account status at a glance.
Account settings allow players to update personal information and preferences. This includes email address, password changes, and communication preferences. Players can manage how they receive notifications from the casino.
The loyalty program status displays prominently in the members area. Players can see their current tier, progress toward the next level, and available rewards. The dragon evolution visual shows how close the dragon is to its next stage.
Transaction history is accessible through the members area. Players can review all deposits and withdrawals with dates, amounts, and transaction IDs. This transparency helps players track their gambling activity and verify transactions on blockchains.
Mobile Offering
ZunaBet provides full mobile access through multiple channels. The website uses responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes. Players can access the casino through mobile web browsers on smartphones and tablets without any loss of functionality.
The responsive design ensures games display properly on smaller screens. Touch controls work smoothly for navigation and gameplay. The mobile web version includes all features available on desktop, from casino games to sports betting.
Dedicated mobile apps are available for multiple operating systems. iOS users can install the app on iPhones and iPads. Android users have an app optimized for Android devices. The availability of native apps improves performance and convenience.
Windows and MacOS apps extend mobile access to laptops and desktop computers. These apps provide quick access without opening a web browser. Installing the app creates a shortcut that launches directly to the casino.
The apps mirror the website’s functionality completely. Players have access to the full game library, sportsbook, and account features. There’s no compromise in available features between web and app access.
Mobile gameplay performs well across games. Slots are optimized for touch controls with easy tap-to-spin functions. Table games work smoothly with touch-based betting interfaces. Live dealer games stream in good quality on mobile devices.
Customer Support
ZunaBet provides customer support through email at support@zunabet.com and also the live chat area of the website. Players can contact the support team with questions, issues, or feedback. Email support allows for detailed explanations of problems and provides a written record of communications.
The support team assists with account issues including login problems, password resets, and verification questions. They can help troubleshoot technical issues if players experience problems with games or the website.
Deposit and withdrawal inquiries are handled through customer support. If transactions are delayed or players have questions about cryptocurrency transfers, the support team can investigate. They can provide updates on pending withdrawals or verify deposit confirmations.
Bonus-related questions are common support inquiries. The team can explain wagering requirements, bonus terms, and eligibility for promotions. They can verify bonus crediting and help resolve issues if bonuses don’t appear correctly.
Game-specific issues can be reported to customer support. If a game malfunctions or a round doesn’t complete properly, the team can investigate. They can review game logs to determine what happened during a disputed session.
Conclusion
ZunaBet enters the online casino market with a strong offering. The platform combines over 11,000 games from 63 providers with comprehensive sports betting coverage. The cryptocurrency focus provides fast transactions and lower fees for players comfortable with digital currencies.
The welcome bonus package offers good value with up to $5000 in bonuses plus 75 free spins across three deposits. The structure encourages new players to make multiple deposits to unlock the full value. This compares favorably with welcome offers at other crypto casinos.
The dragon-themed loyalty program adds a unique element to the player experience. The six-tier system with increasing rakeback rates rewards regular players. The gamification aspect makes progress feel more engaging than standard VIP programs.
The game selection is impressive in both quantity and variety. Having 63 providers ensures diverse gaming options from established names and innovative newcomers. Players will find popular titles alongside games they might not encounter at other casinos.
Sports betting coverage is thorough across traditional sports and eSports. The inclusion of lesser-known sports and extensive eSports options broadens the appeal. Live betting functionality allows action on events as they happen.
The modern design with dark theme and green accents creates a contemporary feel. The platform performs well with responsive design across devices. Mobile apps for multiple operating systems provide convenient access for players on the go.
For players seeking a crypto casino with extensive games, solid sports betting, and rewarding loyalty benefits, ZunaBet delivers. The platform provides entertainment value with enough variety to keep regular players engaged. The combination of features positions it well in the competitive crypto casino space.
FAQs
What cryptocurrencies does ZunaBet accept?
ZunaBet accepts over 20 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Solana, Cardano, and multiple stablecoins like USDT and USDC on various networks. The platform also accepts BNB, XRP, TRX, BCH, ADA, TON, and POL.
How does the loyalty program work?
The loyalty program has six tiers from Squire to Ultimate. Players progress through tiers based on total wagering volume. Each tier offers increased rakeback percentages from 1% to 20%, free spins, and access to random promotions and VIP benefits. Your dragon evolves as you advance through tiers.
What is the welcome bonus at ZunaBet?
New players receive a welcome package worth up to $5000 plus 75 free spins across three deposits. The first deposit gets 100% up to $2000 plus 25 free spins, the second deposit gets 50% up to $1500 plus 25 free spins, and the third deposit gets 100% up to $1500 plus 25 free spins.
Can I play on my mobile device?
Yes, ZunaBet is fully mobile-compatible with responsive web design that works on any mobile browser. The casino also offers downloadable apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and MacOS devices for convenient access.
How many games are available at ZunaBet?
ZunaBet offers over 11,294 games from 63 different software providers. The library includes slots, table games, live dealer games, and various specialty games. Major providers include Pragmatic Play, Hacksaw Gaming, Evolution Gaming, and many others.
Zunabet
Pros
- Massive game library with over 11,000 titles from 63 providers
- Generous welcome bonus package
- Unique dragon-themed loyalty program
- Extensive cryptocurrency support
- Comprehensive sports betting
Cons
- Currently crypto-only payments
- New casino without established track
At Kaiko’s Cannes conference, S&P DJI and Kaiko unveiled plans to tokenize the iBoxx U.S. Treasury index on Canton, turning it into programmable on-chain IP.
Summary
- iBoxx U.S. Treasuries is being brought natively on Canton alongside DTCC’s on-chain Treasuries to support index-linked product issuance on the same infrastructure.
- S&P will distribute the index as a smart contract token embedding full index data, IP rights, licensing terms, fees and access controls.
- The model treats index data “like a financial asset,” enabling traceability, automated fee collection and reusable, scalable licensing on-chain.
At the Agora Kaiko conference in Cannes on March 31, S&P Dow Jones Indices’ Chief Product and Operations Officer Cameron Drinkwater and Kaiko CEO Ambre Soubiran unveiled a partnership to tokenize one of S&P’s flagship fixed-income benchmarks, the iBoxx U.S. Treasury index, on the Canton network, turning the index itself into a programmable on-chain IP product rather than a simple price feed.
New Canton, Kaiko and S&P DGI partnership announced
Kaiko CEO Ambre Soubiran announced that “Kaiko and S&P DGI, we’ve been partnering now in tokenizing one of the biggest S&P benchmarks, the iBoxx index, and bringing that onto the Canton Network.” The move follows DTCC’s decision to bring U.S. Treasuries natively onto Canton (CC), which Drinkwater described as “a natural opportunity for us to bring the iBoxx Treasury index also on Canton to give product developers or counterparties a tool to use with the physical underlying also on that chain.”
Soubiran emphasized this is “not just publishing the price of the benchmark on the network.” Instead, S&P is “actually creating a smart contract token that contains all of the index data,” so that clients receive “a smart contract containing the index data but also explicitly having licensing and fees and access control all embedded into a smart contract.” She framed it as “more about a distribution play rather than a data play,” delivering the full index product on-chain.
Drinkwater said choosing iBoxx was a “total no-brainer” because with DTCC putting U.S. Treasuries on Canton, “you have the underlying” and “a very active kind of treasury institutional trade landscape on Canton” plus “real demand for the iBoxx Treasury index to be used as a underlying for product issuance on the Canton chain.”
On-chain IP and data-as-asset
For S&P, tokenizing indices as full IP products changes how licensing and economics work. Drinkwater argued that “one of the great advantages for an IP issuer like ourselves on chain is we actually have better auditability, visibility in how IP is being used, reporting on that use case and… instantaneous reporting and potentially commercial exchange based on that smart contract.” In traditional markets, he noted, S&P is “dependent on delayed reporting on volumes,” often disputed, followed by “multiple months on contract settlement,” whereas on chain “the whole timeline pulls in quite considerably” with “far less opportunity for dispute.”
Soubiran linked this to a broader shift: “the more we bring capital markets applications on chain, the more we bring data on chain, especially private and IP protected data, the more we need to treat data like a financial asset.” Blockchain infrastructure, she said, enables “traceability of data and treat data like a financial asset and trace where that data goes,” which is “great from a IP protection standpoint” and for “programmatically” managing monetization of IP in financial products.
Drawing on Kaiko’s own index business, she noted that many index fee arrangements are tied to AUM and turnover, with end-of-year reconciliations still “quite heavily manual.” Moving indices on-chain allows firms to “on chain verify what is the AUM related to the financial product that is linked to your index or your benchmark” and enable “daily fee collection based on daily turnover.” It is, she said, “not necessarily a novel product, it’s just a novel way of distributing” existing benchmarks.
Composability, evergreen contracts and Canton
Both speakers highlighted composability as a key benefit of this design. “The idea of tokenizing an index is for product issuers… to consume that index product natively on chain and wrap it into a index-linked financial product,” Soubiran explained, calling the application of composability to data products “extremely new and powerful.”
Drinkwater described the structure as layered: “you can think of the token being the index and then the smart contract being wrapped around it and that’s the use case, the use case specific terms and conditions, audit rights, etc.” That wrapper “can be tailored to whatever use case clients come to us for, but then it’s repeatedly usable. It’s evergreen. It’s on chain.” Compared with today’s model, where “clients have to come to us for every use case, it’s a new schedule on their MSA,” he said this offers “a very frictionless process of getting new product issued on chain, massively speeding up timelines,” and a “reusable infrastructure that really benefits all parties.”
On why Canton matters, Drinkwater pointed to its ability to straddle public and private workflows. On fully public chains like Ethereum, “that reporting is going to be public,” which does not fit “a lot of our use cases” such as “private exchange swaps… between institutions and they don’t want that public.” Canton’s setup, he said, lets reporting be “private when it needs to be private, public where it can be public, but back to us nonetheless,” unifying reporting across use cases in a way that “in TradFi is not the case.”
Soubiran framed the broader aim as servicing “almost a new addressable market that is your existing clients moving to an infrastructure that is programmatic and a little bit more disintermediated,” stressing that “a lot of great things exist in our current financial system,” but that the opportunity lies in “making things more automated… more programmatic in the transfer of information, the transfer of data.”
S&P’s broader digital roadmap
Drinkwater placed the Kaiko and Canton partnership within S&P’s longer digital asset strategy. He recalled that SPY “was not SPY for the first decade of its life, but it flag planted,” and said S&P understands “the power of moving first and establishing real use cases in new technology.” With a brand “known and trusted by institutions and retail alike,” S&P wants “to move first and early when we have conviction in new products and new technologies because we need our brand to be firmly planted there as an established entity.”
Over the last year, he said, S&P has “very selectively” chosen “high quality players as partners and putting IP on chain where we saw very discrete and tangible use cases,” citing the on-chain S&P 500 token with Centrifuge and the Digital Markets 50 index with Genari that bundles blockchain-exposed equities and cryptocurrencies in a structure “hard to replicate in TradFi.” Even so, he signaled he is “most excited about the innovation that we’re pushing today” with tokens wrapped in smart contracts that are “tailored to use cases, but extensible and evergreen on chain,” because this “unlocks so many use cases and scalability of our IP.”
The US Senate could soon hear testimony to confirm financier Kevin Warsh as the new chair of the Federal Reserve.
Warsh, who previously served on the Fed’s Board of Governors from 2006 to 2011, has criticized the central bank’s policies under current chair Jerome Powell. Warsh has called for “regime change” and lower interest rates.
Regarding crypto, Warsh has a somewhat nuanced approach. He hails Bitcoin as a sustainable store of value, but claims it doesn’t function as money.
Lower interest rates and a fairly open attitude toward crypto could be good news for digital asset prices, which most investors perceive as risk-on. But even if Warsh passes his nomination, there’s no guarantee he’ll affect the changes expected.
Warsh wants to lower Fed interest rates, but can he?
Warsh, a graduate of Stanford and Harvard, started his career at Morgan Stanley, where he eventually became a VP and executive director. He then served as an executive secretary of the White House National Economic Council under President George W. Bush.
Bush nominated him to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in 2006, where his hawkish views on inflation often differed from his colleagues. He was critical of the aggressive use of its balance sheet, which he said led to a period of “monetary dominance” that artificially depressed rates.
Some of this appears to have changed in recent years. In a November 2025 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Warsh criticized Powell’s leadership at the Fed, claiming that “inflation is a choice, and the Fed’s track record under Chairman Jerome Powell is one of unwise choices.”
He said “credit on Main Street is too tight” and that the Fed’s balance sheet, which is “bloated” due to past crisis-management efforts, “can be reduced significantly.”
“That largesse can be redeployed in the form of lower interest rates to support households and small and medium-size businesses,” he said.
Plans for cutting interest rates come at an economically fraught time. The US and Israel’s joint attack on Iran, which could soon escalate into an invasion if US President Donald Trump so decides, has wreaked havoc on oil prices.
Increasing oil prices had a direct effect on the core inflation metrics the Federal Reserve uses when considering rate changes. This could put the damper on any plans for rate cuts, at least certainly under Powell.
Warsh told Barron’s that the “core theory of inflation that the Fed is using” is “mistaken.” He said that “we need to fundamentally rethink macro, which is a fundamental rethink of the core economic models that the Fed is using.”
In his accounting, rising wages and commodity prices are not to blame for inflation. Rather, “at the core, I think inflation comes about when the government spends too much and prints too much.”
Returning to monetarism, as well as dumping some of the debt held by the Federal Reserve, could help address inflation concerns, in his view.
Bankers and former Bush administration officials have congratulated Warsh on the nomination. Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Fed would “benefit from his steady, principled leadership.”
“He understands the central bank’s key role for the United States and our allies around the world,” she said.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has also welcomed Warsh’s nomination. He said that he knew both Powell and Warsh well, and that “They’re both very qualified.”
Qualifications aside, Warsh may find it difficult to enact his preferred policies.
Roger W. Ferguson Jr., the Steven A. Tananbaum Distinguished Fellow for International Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Maximilian Hippold, a research associate for international economics at CFR, wrote that Warsh won’t revolutionize the Fed.
They said that the chair alone does not make inflation rate decisions. “They are determined by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a twelve-member body that includes seven Fed governors and five regional Fed presidents.” The chair can’t change policy without convincing a majority.
Others argue that Warsh’s interest in lowering interest rates is a recent pivot and may not be a core conviction around which he will focus central bank policy. A December 2025 analysis from Deutsche Bank noted Warsh’s response to the global financial crisis in 2008, when he was a Governor at the Fed.
“His views while he was a Governor around the GFC [global financial crisis] at times skewed more hawkish than his colleagues,” the report read. “Although Warsh has argued for lower rates recently, we do not view him as structurally dovish.”
They further questioned Warsh’s plans to lower interest rates and cut assets on the Fed balance sheet. “This trade-off would only be feasible if regulatory changes are made that lower banks’ demand for reserves. While several Fed officials have made this argument recently, including Vice Chair of Supervision Bowman and Governor Miran, it is not obvious these changes are realistic in the near-term.”
“The chair has just one vote amongst a particularly divided committee.”
Warsh’s nomination and Fed independence
Commentators have also drawn attention to Warsh’s connection to the Trump administration. Warsh’s father-in-law, Ronald Lauder, is a classmate of Trump and a major donor to his political campaigns.
His relatively recent opinions on low interest rates also make him uniquely suited to the role, at least in Trump’s eyes. Ferguson and Hippold wrote, “Trump believes he has found a successor who will align with his economic priorities in Warsh.”
The president has long bemoaned Fed officials who supposedly promise rate cuts, but then raise them once in office. “It’s too bad, sort of disloyalty, but they got to do what they think is right,” he said in a speech at Davos last year.
Trump has long pushed for lower interest rates, claiming that they are needed to spur his economic development plans. Powell’s refusal to acquiesce to the White House’s request led to political scandal.
Last year, the Department of Justice (DoJ) opened a criminal investigation into Powell, alleging that he misappropriated billions of dollars for new offices for the Federal Reserve.
A federal judge recently quashed the DoJ’s subpoenas in the case. Judge James Boasberg wrote in a memorandum opinion, “A mountain of evidence suggests that the dominant purpose is to harass Powell to pressure him to lower rates. For years, the President has publicly targeted Powell because the Fed is not delivering the low rates that Trump demands.”
Regarding his pick, Trump said in a January press event in the Oval Office that it would be “inappropriate” to ask Warsh about his stance on interest rates. “I want to keep it nice and pure, but he certainly wants to cut rates, I’ve been watching him for a long time.”
Just a couple of weeks later, in an interview with NBC, Trump said Warsh understands that he wants to lower interest rates. “But I think he wants to anyway. If he came in and said ‘I want to raise them’ […] he would not have gotten the job.”
But Warsh hasn’t “gotten the job,” at least not yet. He will face tough questioning from Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, possibly as soon as April 13.
In a letter lambasting Warsh’s role in bailing out banks in 2008, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who serves on the committee, said, “I have no doubt that you will serve as a rubber stamp on President Trump’s Wall Street First agenda.”
Warren expected written responses to this, and to Warsh’s opinion about Trump’s “witch hunts” against Powell and Fed Governor Lisa Cook, by April 2.
Magazine: Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work
Hong Kong’s first stablecoin licences failed to materialize by the expected end of March target, with the HKMA saying only that it is still advancing the process.
Hong Kong has missed an earlier end of March target for awarding its first stablecoin licences, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority saying only that the licensing process is advancing and decisions will be announced shortly.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) told Cointelegraph that the HKMA is “actively taking forward the licensing matter and will announce further details in due course,” without offering a revised timetable.
The HKMA’s public register still showed no licensed stablecoin issuers at the time of writing.
The March timetable had been set out earlier by HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue, who reportedly told lawmakers in February that only a very small number of issuers would be approved initially and that reviews were focusing on use cases, risk management, anti-money laundering controls and backing assets.
HKMA misses March stablecoin target
Earlier reports indicated that global banking giants HSBC and a Standard Chartered-backed venture were among the frontrunners to receive approvals in the initial cohort, although the HKMA did not confirm the names of any successful applicants.
Hong Kong’s caution is partly a function of how strict the regime is. Cointelegraph previously reported that the city’s stablecoin framework requires issuers to fully back tokens with high-quality liquid reserves, process redemptions within one business day and maintain a physical presence in Hong Kong, alongside broader Know Your Customer and transaction monitoring controls.
The missed deadline comes as Hong Kong places stablecoin regulation at the heart of its strategy to become a global crypto and fintech hub.
China pressure clouds Hong Kong rollout
Cointelegraph previously reported that major fintech players, including Ant International, were preparing to seek Hong Kong stablecoin licenses as the city rolled out its new regime.
Related: How Hong Kong is turning tokenized bonds into real market infrastructure
In October 2025, the FT reported that Ant Group and JD.com had paused their Hong Kong stablecoin plans after regulators in mainland China, including the People’s Bank of China and the Cyberspace Administration of China, raised concerns about privately controlled digital currencies.
Big Questions: Is China hoarding gold so yuan becomes global reserve instead of USD?
Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) looks set to restart its Bitcoin (BTC) accumulation engine after a short pause, with its STRC preferred stock likely funding fresh crypto purchases this week.
Key takeaways:
-
Strategy may purchase at least $76.25 million in Bitcoin this week.
-
Combined with a technical setup, Bitcoin may rise to $80,000 in April.
Strategy may buy at least 1,111 BTC this week
On Tuesday, STRC closed at $100.02, just above its $100 par value. Trading at or above par gives Strategy room to issue new shares, raise fresh capital and deploy the proceeds into Bitcoin.
Estimates from STRC.LIVE suggest Strategy had raised enough by Tuesday’s close to fund the purchase of more than 1,085 BTC, with the weekly total rising to over 1,111 BTC. That is equivalent to around $76.25 million.
This is a shift from the previous week, when STRC traded mostly below par and generated no estimated BTC purchases.
As of late March, the company held 762,099 BTC at an average acquisition price of about $75,694, according to its latest filings.
BTC rebounds as Strategy’s buying window reopens
The renewed buying window has coincided with a bounce in Bitcoin prices.
Since Tuesday, BTC/USD has climbed more than 5%, briefly reaching nearly $69,300. The move mirrors earlier gains seen during periods when Strategy was actively raising capital through STRC to buy Bitcoin.
One example came in the week ending March 15, when Bitcoin rose more than 10% despite weak broader risk sentiment. Over the same period, Strategy purchased 22,337 BTC worth about $1.57 billion.
The opposite dynamic emerged afterward. Bitcoin fell 14.55% over the next two weeks, roughly aligning with Strategy’s pause in purchases as STRC slipped below its $100 par value.
On March 23, Strategy unveiled a $44.1 billion capital-raising capacity to buy more Bitcoin via the sales of STRC and other preferred stocks, indicating that it would remain a meaningful source of Bitcoin demand in the coming months.
Stretch Dividend Rate maintained at 11.50% for April 2026. $STRC pic.twitter.com/8Jl0QlfNhK
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) April 1, 2026
Bitcoin eyes $80K after bouncing from flag support
From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin’s rebound began after it retested the lower boundary of its prevailing bear flag pattern as support.
BTC could advance toward the flag’s upper trendline near $80,000 in April if the recovery gains further traction, particularly if boosted by renewed Strategy buying and signs of easing Iran war tensions.
The $80,000 upside target also aligns with the 50-period exponential moving average on the three-day chart, making the area a key near-term resistance zone.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs post $1.3B in March inflows, first monthly gain of 2026
Conversely, Bitcoin risks losing the flag’s lower trendline support and confirming the pattern’s typical bearish breakdown if those supportive catalysts fade.
In that scenario, the measured downside target would come in near the $49,000–$50,000 zone. That aligns with the downside projections shared by multiple analysts in the past.
This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research before making any decisions. Cointelegraph makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information presented, including forward-looking statements, and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content.
Global asset manager Franklin Templeton is set to expand its crypto footprint by acquiring a spinoff of the crypto-native investment firm CoinFund.
Franklin Templeton said Wednesday it plans to acquire 250 Digital, a CoinFund spinoff that runs liquid crypto investment strategies, expanding the asset manager’s digital asset business. The deal will form part of a new unit called Franklin Crypto once it closes.
The move follows CoinFund’s decision earlier this year to spin out its liquid strategies business into 250 Digital as the company sharpened its focus on venture investing.
Christopher Perkins will lead the new Franklin Crypto, and Seth Ginns will serve as chief investment officer alongside Franklin Templeton digital assets veteran Tony Pecore, as the company broadens its crypto investment platform for institutional clients.
The deal will incorporate BENJI tokens, which represent ownership shares in the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), a regulated money market fund tokenized by Franklin Templeton in 2021.
Acquisition involves all liquid strategies previously run by CoinFund
Franklin said the undisclosed transaction includes the 250 Digital investment team and all liquid cryptocurrency strategies previously run by CoinFund, and that it will also invest in those strategies as part of the agreement.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, subject to the execution of definitive transaction agreements, client consents and other customary closing conditions.
Franklin Templeton’s digital asset arm manages around $1.8 billion in assets and is a major institutional player in the crypto industry, where it has been building a presence since 2018.
The company is known for being one of the first to launch a US-listed spot Bitcoin ETF alongside other major asset managers such as BlackRock in 2024.
Related: Franklin Templeton, Ondo to launch tokenized ETFs with 24/7 trading via crypto wallets
The acquisition comes during a prolonged slump in the crypto market, with Bitcoin down around 45% from its peak above $126,000 recorded in October 2025.
However, Franklin Templeton says the environment is attracting talent and creating opportunities to build long-term infrastructure.
Franklin’s head of innovation, Sandy Kaul, told The Wall Street Journal the recent market selloff helped create an opening to expand.
“This big selloff that we had in the crypto markets is creating a very unique opportunity that really made us all decide that this is the right time to pull the trigger,” Kaul said.
Ripple has added digital asset capabilities to its treasury management platform, allowing corporate finance teams to hold, track and manage cryptocurrencies and fiat balances within a single system, the company said.
According to a company announcement, the update introduces Digital Asset Accounts and a unified dashboard that aggregates balances across bank accounts, custody providers and onchain wallets, giving treasury teams real-time visibility into both cash and digital assets.
The system supports assets including XRP (XRP) and Ripple USD (RLUSD), with balances updated in real time and recorded alongside fiat transactions. APIs connect external custodians and sync activity into the platform, according to Ripple.
Ripple said the update embeds digital asset functionality directly into its treasury system, rather than requiring separate crypto platforms. The company said this could reduce reliance on manual reconciliation and fragmented reporting across banking and custody systems.
Mark Johnson, chief product officer at Ripple, told Cointelegraph the shift is about making digital assets “a core part of treasury operations,” allowing companies to manage them alongside traditional balances while enabling use cases such as stablecoin settlement and yield on idle cash.
The launch follows Ripple’s October acquisition of GTreasury for $1 billion. The company said the product is already live for customers in beta ahead of a broader rollout, with availability varying by jurisdiction depending on regulatory requirements and geography.
Related: Ripple CEO says stablecoins could be crypto’s ‘ChatGPT moment’ for businesses
Digital assets move into financial infrastructure
A survey published by Ripple in March found that 72% of more than 1,000 global finance leaders believe companies must offer digital asset solutions to remain competitive, reflecting growing focus on custody, security and infrastructure.
The findings point to a broader shift from adoption to integration, as institutions look to incorporate these assets into existing financial systems rather than manage them separately.
That transition is driving increased activity across financial infrastructure. In July, Visa expanded its settlement platform to support additional stablecoins and blockchain networks, building on its initial use of USDC (USDC) for settlement in 2021.
Banks have also begun integrating tokenized money into their operations. In November, JPMorgan expanded access to its JPM Coin deposit token, allowing institutional clients to move funds on blockchain networks for real-time settlement.
Similar efforts are emerging in credit and capital markets. In October, Securitize and BNY said they would collaborate to bring instruments such as collateralized loan obligations onchain.
Magazine: XRP yet to ‘price in’ 3 bullish catalysts, Bitcoin to $80K? Trade Secrets
XRP crypto is trading at $1.32, and while the price chart looks fragile, the on-chain data underneath it is telling a different story.
Chain’s scarcity indicator for XRP on Binance has hit 0.59 – its highest reading since 2024 – as coins leave exchanges at a pace that is mechanically compressing the available sell-side pool.
The magnitude is not subtle. On March 10 alone, approximately $738 million worth of XRP was withdrawn from major platforms in a single 24-hour window, described by analysts as one of the most substantial single-day net outflows recorded year-to-date.
February saw 7.03 billion XRP exit centralized exchanges entirely, with Binance accounting for roughly 3.38 billion of that volume. The supply mechanics are shifting – but the price hasn’t fully priced it in yet.
Discover: The best pre-launch token sales
XRP Crypto Price Prediction: Can $1.40 Hold as Exchange Balances Drop?
XRP is pressing against the $1.40 resistance zone that analysts have flagged as the critical battleground. Below it, the $1.27–$1.30 band represents the next meaningful support cluster.
The RSI on the daily is hovering near 42 – not oversold, but not generating momentum signals either. The 50-day EMA sits just above spot price, capping intraday recovery attempts.
The on-chain divergence is the real tension here. Whale wallets accumulated approximately 40 million XRP in March even as US-listed XRP spot ETFs – now holding a combined $1.02 billion in assets – recorded $30.12 million in net outflows over the same period.
CoinShares data puts global XRP fund outflows at $130 million for the month. Institutional selling and whale buying are colliding directly at $1.40.
On the chart, $1.27 is the line that really matters, because as long as price holds above it, the accumulation story stays intact, especially with whales stepping in and ETF flows starting to stabilize, which could open the door for a push through $1.40 and a move higher if momentum follows.
But right now it is more of a tug of war, with XRP likely chopping between $1.27 and $1.40 while the market figures itself out, because you have strong accumulation on one side and lingering sell pressure on the other, and neither has fully taken control yet.
If that $1.27 level breaks clean with volume, the whole setup starts to fall apart fast and opens the door for a deeper pullback, because at that point price is no longer respecting the accumulation zone, and that always takes priority over any on chain signal.
What makes this cycle different is the institutional layer, with players like Bitwise holding massive chunks of XRP through ETF products, meaning even small outflows can hit the order book hard, while Ripple keeps building out its infrastructure in the background, which is exactly the kind of long term story bigger players tend to front run.
Explore: Best crypto assets to diversify your portfolio
The post XRP Crypto Holders Pull Coins Off Exchanges, On-Chain Data Signals Supply Shock appeared first on Cryptonews.
Pearl is Olas’s consumer gateway to a future where narrow AI agents quietly trade, curate and create prediction markets at a scale humans will never touch, says co‑founder David Minarsch.
Summary
- Olas co‑founder David Minarsch traces Pearl back to early agent work at Fetch.ai and Valory, then pivots from B2B DAO tools to a consumer app for owning AI agents.
- Pearl backs tightly scoped, long‑running agents like Polystrat, which filters Polymarket markets, applies prediction tools and has at times outperformed human traders by 2–3x.
- Minarsch sees prediction markets as economic training grounds for AI, with agents already a large share of activity and the long tail of markets increasingly served by machines, under real regulation.
David Minarsch sat down with crypto.news on March 31 on the sidelines of ETHCC to explain why Pearl’s narrow, long‑running AI agents are remaking prediction markets from the inside out.
From Fetch.ai to Pearl
Minarsch’s route into autonomous agents is textbook crypto‑AI convergence. “I got drawn into the space by my background in economics and game theory,” he told crypto.news, recalling his move into crypto after several years working on machine learning applications.
At Fetch.ai, where he spent two years, his team built one of the first agent frameworks in crypto, anchored on a simple but loaded idea: wallets controlled by machines, not humans.
“We actually wrote a detailed paper on this, which was way ahead of its time,” he adds. In 2021, he spun those lessons out into Valory, the core lab behind Olas, which has since experimented with a range of applications and go‑to‑market strategies.
The first bet was B2B: autonomous agents sold to DAOs such as CowSwap, Balancer and Ceramic. “That went okay but never sort of really took off,” Minarsch concedes. The real pivot came in 2023, when “general purpose usable large language models like ChatGPT” landed and Olas “switched more to B2C.” Pearl is the result: “a B2C application which has different agents in it,” built for users, not governance forums.
By the time Pearl launched in February 2025, the rest of the industry had caught up to Olas’s early agent thesis. “The crypto space and the AI space had moved towards agents, now everyone is building agents or using agents or both,” Minarsch says. But he argues most people’s idea of an agent is still shaped by chat interfaces like ChatGPT: “a co‑pilot synchronous experience” where you prompt and it replies, in front of you, in real time.
Olas is explicitly betting against that dominant pattern. “When you have long long‑running agents with like autonomy but tightly scoped so they can’t just do anything but they can do interesting things within a certain scope. That’s where it becomes very interesting,” he says. Pearl is designed around those tightly scoped, background processes rather than generalist assistants, Minarsch points out.
“With Pearl we intentionally go very narrow in terms of the capabilities of an agent,” he explains. He points to new tools like OpenClaw—as both validation and warning. “OpenClaw validated a lot of our core assumptions that people do want llocal first experiences with AI agents,” he says, but “the product can do too much, which causes a bunch of problems, including secruity, but also just a problem for the user.”
In his view, that kind of system is built for tinkerers “who just sort of want to mold this thing into something that’s useful to them.” The “low friction user” wants to “just press a button” and get a consistent result. “I have one and I asked it to send me daily report and half the time it’s broken,” he says of OpenClaw. “That’s not a good product experience.” Pearl’s agents, by contrast, are designed to do one thing—trading, yield seeking, market creation—reliably. Limited scope, high definition, low problem latency.
Polystrat is the cleanest demonstration of that philosophy. Polystrat is an example because here’s just the idea: provide some capital, have it trade in prediction markets,” Minarsch says. Instead of facing Polymarket’s UX—wallet setup, funding, market selection, position sizing—the user delegates funds to Polystrat and lets the agent do the work.
“Polystrat is just like a user of Polymarket,” he stresses. “If you want to use Polymarket you as a human need to set up a wallet, fund it and then you’re faced with the decision of what market to trade in. Polystrat abstracts all this and the idea is for it to simply trade on your behalf.” The agent focuses on geopolitical and political news markets, “not so short‑lived” and generally closing “within the next four to five days.”
Technically, the flow is simple but ruthless. The agent filters markets using rules like liquidity and time to close, then applies “prediction tools,” which Minarsch describes as “workflows that sit on top of models and data sources.” “There’s many different prediction tools and the agent learns over time which ones to take and which ones not to take,” depending on the market. A local pricing and sizing engine converts those predictions into positions and the system trades autonomously on your behalf.
Performance wise, Polystrat ranges between 56 and 69% accuracy, Minarsch says. As a fleet, “our agents… have performed two to three times as well as human traders,” although they are “not yet at a fleet‑wide break even.” Individual Polystrat instances, however, can deliver “up to 100% ROI overall and like several 100% ROI per individual trade.” The goal is not anecdotes but a statistical edge: “to have a Polystrat fleet on average a positive ROI.”
Trading is only half the story. As more agents enter Polymarket and its predecessors, Minarsch sees prediction markets becoming “early prototypes for these market‑driven AI systems… environments that encode truth discovery at an economic scale.”
He doesn’t pretend the rails are clean. On controversial questions—or markets with contested outcomes—information lags and disputed outcomes are common. Polystrat nor other agents on Pearl attempt to solve that. “Polystrat itself is just a trading agent on top of Polymarket,” it’s neither consensus building nor a truth serum.
But AI is already reshaping participation, creation and policing. “It’s unclear exactly how many traders in prediction markets are already AI agents but it’s probably more than 30%,” Minarsch believes. “Potentially already more than half,” he adds. As such, humans have limited attention, so “the whole long tail of prediction markets will basically be served to AI agents,” he predicts.
Crucially, Minarsch breaks from crypto libertarianism on governance. “We take the view that there should be regulation of prediction markets,” he says flatly, citing markets that “effectively look like assassination markets” or “incentivizing bad behaviors.” With “a certain degree of regulation or self‑regulation,” more markets and more AI participants should “drive prices to equilibrium” and “improve the information embedded in the markets,” opening the door to derivatives, hedging and other instruments built on top.
Asked whether Olas agents could become “data liquidity providers operating autonomously across multiple networks,” Minarsch shrugs off the distinction. “Liquidity provision is effectively also trading strategy,” he says.
In that framing, Pearl is less a single app and more an operating system for narrow, long‑running agents: Polystrat for prediction markets, Optimus for yield, Omenstrat for market creation and whatever comes next for liquidity across venues. The consistent design choice is scope: each agent does one thing, over long horizons, with as little human intervention as possible.
“We were just very early to something that a lot of people are now doing,” Minarsch says of the agent wave. The difference now is that Pearl is pushing those agents into retail‑facing products, turning prediction markets into both a playground and a proving ground for AI‑driven liquidity and truth discovery.
Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX has reportedly filed confidentially for an initial public offering, moving it closer to what could be the biggest public listing in US history.
SpaceX submitted its IPO confidentially to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The IPO could be finalized as early as June, the sources said.
SpaceX could seek a valuation exceeding $1.75 trillion in the IPO, sources told Bloomberg in February. A valuation of that size would make the aerospace company more valuable than Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA) and Bitcoin (BTC).
SpaceX could also raise up to $75 billion from the IPO, a size that would more than double Saudi Aramco’s record $29 billion debut in 2019.
SpaceX’s potential IPO follows its acquisition of Musk’s AI startup xAI in early February, putting the company in an AI race against OpenAI, Anthropic and other private AI startups.
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, closed its last funding round with $122 billion in committed capital on Tuesday, bumping its valuation to $852 billion.
IPO investors to be briefed on more details this month
SpaceX reportedly told prospective IPO investors to expect briefings from company executives later this month, Bloomberg noted.
SpaceX is weighing a dual-class share structure that would give insiders, including Musk, greater voting control.
The IPO is expected to allocate up to 30% of shares for individual investors.
Wall Street firms Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are expected to be involved in SpaceX’s transition to a public company.
SpaceX also continues to hold 8,285 Bitcoin worth more than $565 million on its balance sheet.
However, the company shifted its Bitcoin to a new wallet address in October, prompting speculation over whether it intends to hold the cryptocurrency in the long term.
Related: OpenAI kills off AI video app Sora after 6 months
Trading platforms such as Robinhood and Kraken have been seeking to offer tokenized shares in high-profile private companies like SpaceX, OpenAI and others on the blockchain, giving retail investors a way to invest in nonpublic companies.
Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev said in February 2025 that investors have had limited access to these private tech firms, but that blockchain tokenization could help broaden participation.
However, OpenAI is expected to file for an IPO in 2026, and Anthropic is also exploring a public listing, which would make their shares available for trading on regular stock exchanges.
Magazine: IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket — AI Eye
Opinion by: Francesco Mosterts, co-founder of Umia.
Crypto prides itself on being a market-driven system. Prices, incentives, and capital flows determine everything from token valuations to lending rates and blockspace demand. Markets are the industry’s primary coordination mechanism. Yet, when it comes to governance, crypto suddenly abandons markets altogether.
Recent governance disputes at major protocols have once again exposed the tensions inside DAO decision-making. Participation remains extremely low and influence is highly concentrated. A study of 50 DAOs found “a discernible pattern of low token holder engagement,” showing that a single large voter could sway 35% of outcomes and that four voters or fewer influence two-thirds of governance decisions.
This is not the decentralized future crypto originally set out to build. The early vision of the industry was to remove concentrated power and replace it with systems that distributed influence more fairly. Instead, DAO governance often leaves most tokenholders passive while a small group determines the protocol’s direction.
Token voting was crypto’s first attempt at decentralized governance. It is a broken incentive system, and it needs to change.
The promise of token governance
The original “DAO” launched in 2016 as a decentralized venture fund where token holders would vote on which projects to finance. The earliest DAOs were inspired by the idea that organizations could run purely through code.
At crypto’s conception, token voting felt intuitive. It borrowed from familiar concepts like shareholder voting, yet DAOs promised a new form of management called “decentralized governance.” Tokens would represent both ownership and decision rights, meaning anyone who held them could participate in shaping the direction of a protocol.
Related: ‘Raider’ investors are looting DAOs
Token voting was supposed to solve problems seen across many industries, including centralized control, opaque decision-making, and misalignment between teams and users. It offered a simple promise: if the community owned the token, the community would run the project. In practice, however, this miraculous solution hasn’t delivered on its promise.
The reality of why token voting fails
Token voting comes with three core problems: participation, whales, and incentives.
Participation is self-explanatory: most token holders don’t vote. With lots of material to review, particularly when many governance decisions need to be made, governance fatigue is a real problem. The result of this, which we now see every day in crypto, is that most token holders are ultimately passive and a small minority decides the outcomes.
When it comes to whales, it is obvious that large holders are dominating. It’s demoralizing for ordinary voters who feel like their opinions don’t matter, even though the original promise of DAOs was that they would have a real voice. What is the point of voting if whales have the final say?
Finally, there’s an incentive problem. Voting has no economic signal. Votes hold the same weight whether you’re informed or not. There’s no cost to being wrong and no incentive for being right. There’s nothing motivating participants to research and vote according to their beliefs.
Realistically, in current governance, voting simply expresses opinions. It does not express conviction.
The missing piece lies in pricing decisions
Crypto is fundamentally market-driven, and it works remarkably well. Markets aggregate information, price risk, and reveal conviction in ways few other systems can. The industry has built markets for practically everything, including tokens, derivatives, blockspace, and lending rates. They sit at the core of how crypto coordinates economic activity. Yet when it comes to governance, the system suddenly abandons markets entirely.
Decision markets introduce pricing into governance. Instead of merely voting on proposals, participants trade outcomes, pricing the possible decisions and backing their views with capital. This transforms governance from a system of expressed preferences into one of measurable conviction.
By tying decisions to economic incentives, participants are encouraged to research proposals and think carefully about outcomes. The result is a governance process that reflects informed expectations rather than passive opinion.
This matters now
Crypto is reaching a turning point in how it coordinates decisions. Governance conflicts, treasury disputes, and stalled proposals have exposed the limits of token voting. Even major protocols struggle to translate tokenholder input into clear, effective action. This has left governance slow, contentious, and dominated by a small group of participants.
At the same time, interest in market-based coordination is resurging across the ecosystem. Prediction markets have demonstrated how effectively markets can aggregate information, while broader discussions around mechanisms like futarchy are returning to the forefront. These systems highlight markets as powerful tools for revealing conviction and aligning incentives.
If crypto believes in markets as coordination engines, the next step is applying that same logic to governance. The next phase of crypto coordination will move beyond simply trading assets and toward pricing and executing decisions themselves.
Token voting was crypto’s first attempt at decentralized governance, and it was an important experiment. It gave tokenholders a voice, but it didn’t solve the deeper incentive problem.
Markets already power nearly every part of the crypto ecosystem. They aggregate information, reveal conviction, and align incentives at scale. Extending that same mechanism to decisions is the natural next step.
Decision markets also extend beyond governance votes into capital allocation itself. If markets can price decisions about a protocol’s direction, they can also price decisions about what to build and fund. This opens the door to a new generation of ventures built directly on crypto rails, where projects can raise capital and allocate resources through transparent, incentive-aligned mechanisms from day one. Instead of relying on passive token voting, markets can actively guide how onchain organizations form and grow.
Governance without pricing is incomplete. If crypto truly believes in markets as coordination engines, the future of onchain organizations cannot be decided by votes alone, but by markets.
Opinion by: Francesco Mosterts, co-founder of Umia.
This opinion article presents the author’s expert view, and it may not reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. This content has undergone editorial review to ensure clarity and relevance. Cointelegraph remains committed to transparent reporting and upholding the highest standards of journalism. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the company.
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