Crypto World
ElizaOS Token Drops 19% to Record Low After Founder Says It’s Dead
ElizaOS, a token tied to the open-source Eliza AI-agent framework, has plunged to a fresh all-time low after its creator, Shaw Walters, said the asset is effectively “dead” and that the Eliza Foundation is winding down.
CoinGecko data shows ElizaOS trading around $0.000285 at the time of writing, after briefly hitting a record low of $0.000284 on Thursday. The token’s market capitalization was about $2.1 million, following a reported 19% drop over 24 hours.
Key takeaways
- Walters says ElizaOS has no future token support, describing the token as “dead” and stating he no longer owns or backs it.
- The Eliza Foundation is winding down, removing an expected institutional backstop for the token ecosystem.
- A legal dispute is central to the founder’s explanation, with a settlement referenced and parts of the case dismissed in July.
- Eliza’s software work is expected to continue even if the token is abandoned.
- The token’s collapse reverses a major prior run-up, when the project’s earlier version peaked at about $2.5 billion market cap in January 2025.
A sharp reversal after the founder’s “token is dead” message
The latest selloff follows a direct statement from Walters that he views ElizaOS as finished. In a post on X, Walters said, “The token is dead. Completely,” adding that he neither owns nor supports the token. He also indicated that development of the open-source Eliza software would continue independently of both the token and the Eliza Foundation.
For many participants, the announcement marks a rare moment where an AI-agent category token is explicitly disavowed by its founder—rather than merely experiencing a typical liquidity or adoption slowdown. The market reaction was immediate, with ElizaOS falling to a new low on CoinGecko.
It is also a striking reversal compared with the token’s prior peak. CoinGecko shows that before rebranding as ElizaOS, the asset—then known as AI16Z—reached a peak market capitalization of about $2.5 billion in January 2025, underscoring how quickly sentiment can turn when expectations about continuity and ecosystem support collapse.
Legal pressure and “no capital to keep fighting” claims
Walters tied the project’s current state to ongoing legal problems and said the team privately settled with a group of tokenholders represented by Burwick Law. He said the settlement involved giving the represented tokenholders the project’s remaining treasury and funds.
According to Walters, the lawsuit was “ridiculous,” but he argued the project lacked resources to continue defending itself. The dispute, filed in April, named Eliza Labs, Walters, Sebastian Quinn-Watson, and the AI16Z DAO as defendants. The complaint alleged false advertising, deceptive practices, negligent misrepresentation, and unjust enrichment—claims described earlier in reporting by Cointelegraph in connection with the filing.
Court docket information referenced in the article indicates that the named plaintiff’s claims were dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on July 8, while proposed class claims were dismissed without prejudice.
Cointelegraph reported that it reached out to Walters and Burwick Law founder Max Burwick for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication. That leaves an open question for investors: while settlement and dismissals are documented, the broader dispute narrative—particularly whether any additional claims or future litigation could arise—remains less clear from the available details.
What Walters says will (and won’t) happen next
Beyond describing the token as unsupported, Walters said there would be no remaining funds for token buybacks. He also said there would be no foundation and no future supply intervention to support the asset.
Walters further indicated he would not allow another token to be associated with Eliza while he continues building the underlying operating system. In the X post, he wrote that he is “starting over” because he owns the intellectual property, and that he would “never” let a token come close to Eliza again.
For holders, those remarks matter because they point to a fundamental shift in the project’s economic model: instead of token-driven incentives or treasury-backed market measures, the software may proceed as a standalone open-source effort.
ElizaOS itself is described as an open-source framework for building and managing AI agents. The project launched in October 2024 as ai16z with an initial goal of raising $75,000 for what was described as an autonomous investor.
In January 2025, the project rebranded to ElizaOS, according to the article’s account of an earlier development. The change followed concerns raised by Andreessen Horowitz about potential confusion with its “a16z” brand. The token later underwent a migration as well.
All of these steps show how the ecosystem evolved quickly—but the current announcement suggests the latest stage will be different: the token component may be intentionally severed from the broader building effort.
Why this matters for AI-agent token investors
AI-agent tokens have often been marketed around long-term narratives: an ecosystem matures, a product ships, and token utilities follow. In this case, the story is less about technical progress and more about governance, funding, and the legal/branding realities that can decide whether a token survives as an ongoing mechanism.
Walters’ comments also highlight a tension common in crypto projects: even when the underlying software remains open-source and continues, the token can still lose its perceived support structure. With ElizaOS described as having no future foundation intervention, investors are left to reassess what determines value—development alone, market liquidity, and any remaining community coordination—especially when the figure most directly tied to the token’s origin says he will not support it.
Finally, the token’s trajectory—from a reported January 2025 peak market capitalization to a new all-time low—illustrates how quickly the market can reprice perceived credibility and continuity in token-managed ecosystems. The current move may become a reference point for how founders handle legal disputes and whether open-source continuity can compensate for the loss of an active token mandate.
Investors watching ElizaOS next should focus on whether any additional on-chain activity or ecosystem announcements emerge after the winding-down claim—particularly around the settlement outcome, any remaining treasury controls, and how the Eliza software roadmap proceeds without token-linked incentives.
Dunamu has secured a one-year contract to take custody of digital assets seized by South Korea’s National Police Agency after winning the agency’s public tender process.
Summary
- Dunamu has won a one year contract to custody digital assets seized by South Korea’s National Police Agency.
- Seized cryptocurrencies will be stored through Upbit Custody using offline cold wallets and round the clock monitoring.
- The police tender followed earlier incidents in which Bitcoin held by South Korean authorities went missing.
- Dunamu received the highest technical evaluation before securing the final contract after negotiations.
- The custody platform uses MPC, DKG and multi signature security with separate wallets for different asset types.
According to a statement released by Dunamu on Aug. 7, the Upbit operator was named the final winner of the Korean National Police Agency’s project to store and manage confiscated digital assets following technical negotiations that concluded the procurement process.
The announcement completes a bidding process that began earlier this year, with the company moving from preferred bidder status to the final contractor after negotiations with the police agency. The one-year agreement will place seized cryptocurrencies from police investigations under Dunamu’s custody platform.
Upbit Custody will manage seized crypto assets
Procurement documents show the contract was awarded through an open competitive tender administered by South Korea’s Public Procurement Service. Dunamu said it received the highest technical evaluation score of 94.14 before being selected as the final contractor. The company had previously been designated as the preferred negotiating bidder on July 8.
Earlier procurement records valued the contract at 267 million won, or about $195,000, for one year of custody and management services covering digital assets confiscated during criminal investigations.
Under the agreement, seized cryptocurrencies will be stored and managed through Upbit Custody, Dunamu’s digital asset custody service. According to the company, the platform operates within a 24-hour, 365-day monitoring system that continues running during nights, weekends, and public holidays so custody operations remain uninterrupted.
The custody platform also uses a security environment built around 100% offline cold wallets that remain isolated from the public internet. According to Dunamu, its infrastructure incorporates Multi-Party Computation (MPC), Distributed Key Generation (DKG), multi-signature technology and wallet segregation, allowing assets to be separated according to their type and intended use while reducing the risks associated with a single compromised private key.
A Dunamu representative said the company would use its security technology and operational controls to support the stability of South Korea’s public safety and digital policing infrastructure.
Police custody contract followed competitive bidding
Before becoming the final contractor, Dunamu ranked first during the evaluation stage of the tender process.
Procurement records released in July showed the company received a combined score of 94.73, including full marks for its bid price and 84.73 points in the technical assessment. Korea Digital Asset Custody (K-DAC) finished second with 91.29 points, while Hecto Wallet One placed third with 87.27 points.
Industry participants questioned whether the tender requirements favored larger market operators. According to local media reports published at the time, bidders were required to accept immediate custody of seized cryptocurrencies, maintain a round-the-clock response system and guarantee full compensation if assets were lost through hacking.
Several custody industry officials told local media those requirements were easier for a large exchange operator with an established infrastructure to satisfy than for standalone custody providers. One industry official described competing under those conditions as difficult from the outset.
The National Police Agency, however, rejected suggestions that the outcome had been predetermined. According to local media, the agency said the contractor had been selected through a fair competitive process.
Previous Bitcoin losses increased focus on digital asset custody
The police custody project comes after multiple incidents involving missing cryptocurrencies held by South Korean authorities.
In February, South Korea’s Gangnam Police Station confirmed that 22 Bitcoin worth approximately 2.1 billion won, or about $1.6 million, had disappeared from police custody. Authorities said the coins had originally been surrendered during a 2021 investigation before investigators discovered during a nationwide review that they had been transferred from the storage wallet without authorization.
Police said the physical cold wallet remained in their possession, suggesting the private keys had been accessed even though the storage device itself had not been removed. The Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency subsequently opened an internal investigation examining access logs, key management procedures and blockchain transaction records.
Attention had already turned to law enforcement’s handling of digital assets after an earlier case involving the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office, where local reports said 320 Bitcoin seized in a criminal investigation was lost. Local media also reported another incident in 2022 in which police confirmed that seized Bitcoin had gone missing.
Against that backdrop, South Korean authorities moved to place custody responsibilities with an external institution capable of maintaining dedicated security controls for seized digital assets. The finalized agreement now places those assets under Upbit Custody for the next year while the National Police Agency oversees the arrangement under the terms of the awarded contract.
Crypto market maker Wintermute has secured broker-dealer status in the U.S., giving the firm a regulated route into Wall Street as crypto trading and traditional securities markets draw closer together.
New York-based Wintermute USA LLC registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). The unit will operate as a proprietary trading firm rather than a retail broker.
The registration lets Wintermute trade stocks and equity options, provide liquidity to exchanges and over-the-counter counterparties, and act as an authorized participant for exchange-traded funds (ETFs), including crypto-linked funds.
Authorized participants create and redeem large blocks of ETF shares, a process that helps keep an ETF’s market price close to the value of its holdings.
Wintermute described the unit as proprietary-only and did not announce retail brokerage services.
Authorized participants create and redeem blocks of ETF shares directly with fund issuers, helping keep fund prices aligned with their underlying assets.
The registration also lets Wintermute seek market-making roles on exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. The firm has already lined up ETF issuers to work with, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Bitcoin’s price recovery to over $64,000 could be in trouble as the backbone of the entire network and ecosystem has gone on a substantial selling spree.
Data from Lookonchain shows that two of the largest BTC miners, namely MARA and Riot Platforms, have deposited significant portions of the cryptocurrency to exchanges, with the likely intention of selling.
More specifically, MARA, which posted over $600 million in losses in Q2 but continues to hold more than $2.3 billion in BTC, deposited 200 units to NYDIG on Thursday evening.
Riot Platforms, on the other hand, used the same platform to deposit another 381 BTC (worth $24.5 million) approximately at the same time.
Bitcoin mining companies are selling $BTC.
MARA, which holds 36,303 $BTC($2.34B), deposited 200 $BTC($12.86M) into NYDIG 10 hours ago.
Riot Platforms also continues to send $BTC to NYDIG, depositing another 381 $BTC($24.51M) 10 hours ago.https://t.co/fTOd8FQMxR… pic.twitter.com/cgjHgfXGJG
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 7, 2026
This behavior from MARA and Riot comes just a month after reports claimed that BTC miners had disposed of a record 32,000 units in the first quarter of 2026, which triggered a painful decline in the blockchain’s hash rate.
Separately, the prolonged bear market continues to harm smaller BTC miners, pushing some out of business. Poolin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey and sought approval for a $52 million sale of its Texas mining properties.
On the positive side, a solo miner managed to solve the puzzle recently and secured the 3.125 BTC prize, worth around $200,000 at that time.
The post Bitcoin Miners Are Selling Again: Here’s How Much BTC Was Reportedly Offloaded appeared first on CryptoPotato.
XRP fell on August 7 after the US Senate delayed a vote on the CLARITY Act until September, adding new pressure to a token that had already been losing ground against Bitcoin (BTC) for weeks.
The setback has renewed attention on historical price trends, with analyst ChartNerd arguing that August has consistently been a difficult month for XRP during US midterm election years.
XRP Faces Selling Pressure After Senate Delays CLARITY Vote
ChartNerd wrote on X that XRP was “already bleeding” after news emerged that the Senate had postponed consideration of the CLARITY Act until after the summer recess.
Journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that sentiment across the crypto industry was mixed following the decision to push the vote into September, with some participants frustrated while others remained hopeful that lawmakers would make the bill a priority when Congress returns. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said the industry would continue working to secure enough support for a successful vote after the recess.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan had said that failing to pass the CLARITY Act before Congress leaves for recess would likely weigh on sentiment in the near term, although he contended that clearer expectations could leave the market better positioned later in the year. He also noted that regulatory action from the SEC could still provide guidance even if the legislation is delayed.
“Weak hands are selling today,” noted ChartNerd, as Hougan’s assessment became a reality. However, he argued that Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) had yet to see similar selling and warned that XRP could face more downside before conditions improve.
In another post, he described the move as typical for August, telling traders to focus on historical data rather than emotion. The historical data he shared showed that the Ripple token posted negative August returns during every previous US midterm year, falling 5.7% in August 2014, 23.0% in 2018, and 13.7% in 2022. This produced an average drop of about 14%.
According to the analyst, the current weakness fits that historical pattern and does not represent any new development.
Analyst Keeps Long-Term View Despite Near-Term Weakness
CoinGecko data showed XRP trading at around $1.02 at the time of writing, down 3.0% in 24 hours and nearly 6% across the week. Trading volume climbed more than 14% to about $1.33 billion, suggesting that selling activity picked up as prices slipped.
The broader crypto market was also slightly weakened, with the total market cap down 0.6%, while BTC held around $64,000 and Ethereum sat close to $1,900 with barely any movement.
Even with the latest decline, ChartNerd has not abandoned his longer-term outlook. Earlier this week, he argued that XRP is inside a large cup-and-handle formation stretching back more than eight years, with possible long-term targets at $8, $13, and $27 if the broader pattern eventually plays out.
At the same time, he acknowledged that short-term trading could be difficult and has previously said that the asset could spend much of the rest of the year consolidating around the $1 level before any sustained recovery can start.
The post XRP Price Slides on CLARITY Delay as Analyst Flags Weak August Trend appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Dow Protocol has completed a $10.5 million seed funding round to expand its blockchain-based financing model that advances working capital to e-commerce merchants against pending receivables.
Summary
- Dow Protocol has raised $10.5 million in a seed funding round led by crypto focused investors.
- The company provides working capital to e commerce merchants against pending receivables using a PayFi RWA model.
- Merchant repayments are collected automatically through integrations with e commerce platforms.
- The funding comes as tokenized real world assets continue expanding across blockchain based financial markets.
Dow Protocol announced the funding round on X, saying the investment was backed by MH Ventures, Mapleblock, Animoca Brands, Arcane Group, HSKChain, Essentia Partners, and Quartet Group. The company said it is building a PayFi real-world asset (RWA) structure that lets merchants receive financing before online marketplaces release their sales proceeds.
Unlike conventional merchant financing, which often requires businesses to wait for platform settlements or lengthy underwriting, Dow Protocol said its asset servicing partners provide funding based on merchants’ outstanding receivables and credit risk data. Repayments are then collected automatically through integrations with e-commerce platforms, where funds are deducted from merchants’ platform balances.
The company did not disclose its valuation or how it plans to allocate the newly raised capital.
Dow Protocol says merchants can receive funds within seconds
Explaining its model, Dow Protocol said e-commerce merchants usually wait between 14 and 28 days before platforms release payments from completed sales. During that period, merchants often need cash to replenish inventory, pay suppliers, or finance daily operations.
To shorten that delay, the protocol said asset servicers advance funds against pending platform receivables after assessing platform-integrated credit risk data. According to the company, merchants can receive financing within seconds, while cross-border settlements can be completed as fast as the same day.
Dow Protocol contrasted its approach with traditional financing, which it said can take between two and three months before businesses receive capital.
Because repayment instructions are built into participating e-commerce platforms, the company said loan repayments are deducted automatically once merchants receive platform payouts. Dow Protocol said this process improves repayment discipline by linking settlements directly to merchant balances instead of relying on separate repayment collections.
The company also described the addressable market as a $2.8 trillion global working capital opportunity, adding that merchants are willing to pay higher financing costs in exchange for faster access to funds.
PayFi RWA model combines receivables with on-chain lending
Dow Protocol said its financing framework applies PayFi principles to real-world assets by using merchants’ accounts receivable as the foundation for on-chain lending.
According to the company, programmable loan terms on blockchain networks can simplify operational processes that traditionally require manual administration, including repayment management, accounting, and default handling. It argued that working capital financing could become one of the earliest financial sectors to migrate on-chain because these processes can be automated within blockchain-based lending systems.
The announcement positions the protocol within a growing segment of blockchain projects that tokenize financial claims or connect real-world assets with decentralized infrastructure rather than focusing solely on cryptocurrency-backed lending.
Unlike tokenized Treasury products or blockchain-based money market funds, Dow Protocol’s model is centered on financing commercial receivables generated by online merchants.
RWA activity has continued expanding across on-chain finance
Dow Protocol’s fundraising comes as tokenized real-world assets continue gaining traction across decentralized finance.
A CoinShares report published on Aug. 6 said RWA deposits across decentralized lending platforms and exchanges reached $7.4 billion during the second quarter of 2026, more than tripling from $2.3 billion a year earlier. During the same period, total DeFi deposits declined by about 15%, while the on-chain market value of tokenized funds, equities, and commodities exceeded $40 billion, according to the report.
CoinShares said much of the deposit growth came from tokenized Treasury products, private credit strategies, and yield-bearing assets that continue generating returns while being used as collateral in lending markets. The report added that Ethereum-based lending protocols accounted for most RWA collateral activity because of their established liquidity.
Trading activity also expanded during the quarter. According to CoinShares, spot trading volume for tokenized real-world assets climbed roughly 220% year over year even as aggregate decentralized exchange spot volume declined by about 70%, suggesting that tokenized financial products are developing secondary markets beyond primary issuance.
Institutional firms have continued adding tokenized financial products
Institutional asset managers have also introduced new blockchain-based financial products in recent weeks.
Earlier this month, BlackRock launched two tokenized money market offerings, BSTBL and BRSRV, extending its digital asset strategy beyond cryptocurrency investment products. The funds invest in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury securities, and overnight repurchase agreements while allowing eligible institutional investors to access tokenized fund structures under regulated conditions.
BNY Mellon serves as transfer agent and tokenization provider for BSTBL, while Securitize performs the same role for BRSRV. BlackRock has also joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s pilot program for tokenized stocks and U.S. Treasuries alongside several major financial institutions.
Rand Hindi, CEO of the fully homomorphic encryption firm Zama, said the company reached 1,000 confidential transfers per second on GPUs, a self-reported benchmark he described as a milestone for the privacy technology. Fully homomorphic encryption, or FHE, lets computations run on encrypted data… Read the full story at The Defiant
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Memory-chip maker Sandisk (SNDK) late Wednesday beat Wall Street’s targets for its fiscal fourth quarter as demand from AI data centers remains strong, but it disappointed with an in-line outlook. Sandisk stock fell in extended trading. The Milpitas, Calif.-based company earned an adjusted $39.25 a share on sales of $8.97 billion in the quarter ended July 3. Analysts polled by…
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Ether.fi has captured roughly $223 million in annualized fees and about $51 million in annualized revenue. In the second quarter, it earned $41 million in gross revenue and nearly $10 million in earnings after rewards and other costs, with only $30,000 of value distributed to ETHFI holders through buybacks.
The split lands as Ethereum’s staking economics are under debate.
A group of Ethereum researchers, one from the Ethereum Foundation, proposed this week that the network stop paying people to stake once half of all ether is locked up. Under the current setup the payment never falls to zero no matter how much gets staked, so there is always a reason to stake more, and they argue that concentrates ether with a handful of large custodians.
Their proposed fix destroys a growing share of the rewards until the payment disappears entirely at around 60 million ether. About a third is staked today.
Ether.fi founder Mike Silagadze was among the proposal’s critics, arguing it would push out smaller stakers and weaken the products built on staking rewards, his own among them.
DoorDash (DASH) stock wavered late Wednesday after the food-delivery company’s second-quarter earnings slightly missed estimates, despite easily beating revenue forecasts. For the June-ended quarter, DoorDash earned 46 cents per share, down 29% from a year earlier. That missed the 47 cents per-share earnings that analysts polled by FactSet were forecasting. Sales increased 36% to $4.5 billion, easily beating analyst estimates…
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