On August 5, Cencora (NYSE:COR) reported results for its fiscal third quarter, which closed on June 30, and the headline numbers looked clean. Revenue rose 5.1% to $84.8 billion, adjusted earnings per share climbed 12.0% to $4.48, and management raised its full-year adjusted EPS outlook to $17.75 to $17.95. The company also repurchased $1 billion of its own stock during the quarter. But the profit story has moving parts, and a few of them pull in opposite directions.

Profits Are Outrunning Sales

Start with the gap between profit growth and sales growth. Adjusted operating income rose 17.0% while revenue grew only 5.1%. Much of the help came from gross profit, which jumped 23.2% on an adjusted basis as both segments contributed and the OneOncology acquisition in February lifted margins in the US business. In plain terms, adjusted gross margin widened 61 basis points to 4.16%, so the company keeps more gross profit from every dollar it sells.

The strength was not confined to one corner, either. US Healthcare Solutions grew operating income 15.9% on higher pharmaceutical sales and the OneOncology deal, while specialty volume to health systems and physician groups lifted its revenue. International Healthcare Solutions did better still, with operating income up 20.8% on strength in European distribution and global specialty logistics. Management also put cash to work, completing in one quarter the $1 billion of buybacks it had expected to finish by the close of calendar 2026. The board declared a $0.60 quarterly dividend as well, payable August 31, to holders of record on August 14.

The Bill Behind the Growth

Growth is costing more than it first appears. Adjusted operating expenses jumped 26.8%, faster than adjusted gross profit, because OneOncology brought expenses along with its profits. Even so, adjusted operating income amounts to just 1.46% of revenue, a thin cushion on a business this large. Financing adds weight too. Cencora funded part of the purchase with new senior notes plus variable-rate term loans, and net interest expense rose $58.9 million from a year earlier.

The sales mix carries its own drag. GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss are adding to revenue, but they earn lower gross margins, so each dollar of that growth is worth less to profit. Meanwhile, an oncology customer Cencora lost in 2025, and lower sales to a large mail order customer both held back US revenue, as did lower manufacturer prices on some brand pharmaceuticals. Cencora is also exploring strategic alternatives for a group of other businesses, and its April divestiture of US Consulting Services trimmed consulting sales.

Funds Inch In, Shorts Stay Away

Hedge fund ownership edged up to 63 funds from 61 in the prior quarter, a small sign that more institutions want in. Short interest stands at 2.70% of the float. That is a low reading, so little money is organized against the company. At 15.55 times forward earnings, as of September 18, you pay roughly $15.55 for each dollar of profit expected over the next year. That change in fund count is a nudge, not a stampede.

One Question Left Standing

The quarter leaves one tension unresolved: profit is growing far faster than sales, but the margin gain leans heavily on a single acquisition that also brought higher costs and more debt. The optimistic reading looks sturdier if those margins survive once the added expenses and interest bills settle into a steady pace. The skeptical one hardens if lower-margin GLP-1 volume keeps crowding the mix and the customer losses in the US business keep weighing on sales.

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XRP jumped roughly 7% over the weekend, pushing the token back above $1.41. Spot trading volume surged to about $1.36 billion in 24 hours, and total tracked turnover across markets climbed close to $4.9 billion. The rebound followed a broader crypto rally after Bitcoin broke through $80,000.

The gains stemmed largely from a short squeeze rather than fresh buying pressure. Traders holding bearish XRP positions lost roughly $8 million as prices reversed higher. Long positions absorbed far smaller losses, near $2.4 million, confirming the move mainly punished short sellers.

Futures Activity Still Outpaces Spot Trading

XRP futures volume reached about $5.7 billion, more than four times the spot figure. That gap leaves the rally exposed if leveraged positions unwind quickly. Futures activity had already hit a six-month high in August, a pattern that previously came before sharp price swings.

The rally also arrived without any major fundamental trigger. XRP had slipped toward the $1.23 to $1.30 range earlier in September. That decline followed a failed Senate cloture vote on the CLARITY Act, which fell one vote short of advancing. Saturday’s bounce therefore looks more like a technical relief move than a shift driven by new developments.

ETF Demand Offers Support, But Whale Deposits Raise Risk

US spot XRP ETFs have now drawn in more than $1.7 billion in inflows. That steady institutional demand gives the token a measure of underlying support. Still, roughly 1.6 billion XRP moved into Binance wallets over the past 30 days, a six-month high for such deposits.

Analysts have suggested the deposits could reflect repositioning rather than an imminent sell-off. Binance’s XRP reserves, however, sit near a 69-day high, and further gains could still trigger new selling pressure. Ripple’s broader business case keeps building regardless, with XRP and its RLUSD stablecoin now integrated into payment platforms including Stripe and Tempo.

A new derivatives venue adds another variable. The Moscow Exchange plans to launch XRP perpetual futures contracts on September 22. That expansion could bring additional leverage into the market just as XRP works to hold its ground above the $1 mark.

Whether XRP can sustain the current move depends on volume holding above $1 billion through the week. Continued ETF inflows and slowing Binance deposits would support a push toward $1.45 and $1.50. Without that, the rally risks becoming another short-lived bounce within XRP’s recent $1.23 to $1.50 trading range.

“The dead cat continues to bounce,” wrote investor Jason Calacanis as bitcoin returned to the $80,000 level on Friday.

“What is Bitcoin, 17 years later?”

Calacanis went on to argue that Bitcoin isn’t great for transactions or smart contracts, has an intimidating user experience, and no longer captures the public’s imagination.

“If it comes up at the dinner party,” said Calacanis, “it’s followed by a hearty ‘remember that!’”

“Folks expect bitcoin to be stable and that it’s no longer a way to get rich quick,” he continued. “It’s boring … Advocates went from pirates to suits in orange ties, awkwardly sharing cringe memes — just like the cool kids do!”

“If Bitcoin were going to reach mass adoption and an important use case, it does better than anyone else, it would have by now.”

‘Preserving wealth across generations’

“You’ve watched Bitcoin grow since 2011,” responded Michael Saylor. “It’s now a $1.6 trillion success and the world’s most valuable digital asset.”

“Digital Capital is the killer app,” Saylor continued. “Preserving wealth across generations is a bigger ambition than entertaining a dinner party.”

“The orange tie stays.”

Stablecoin infrastructure provider Bastion says the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted it preliminary, conditional approval to establish a national trust bank charter. The move would bring Bastion’s existing state-licensed trust activities under federal supervision—an important development for a sector that is increasingly expected to operate like regulated financial plumbing rather than experimental software.

Under the structure described by Bastion, the proposed entity—licensed as Bastion Platforms National Trust Company—would not function like a traditional commercial bank. Instead, it would be limited to activities such as stablecoin custody and wallets, payment infrastructure, and white-label issuance, according to the company’s statement.

Key takeaways

• Bastion received preliminary conditional approval from the OCC for a national trust bank charter, adding federal oversight to its state trust licenses.
• The charter would be housed in a federally regulated entity, but it would not allow the institution to accept deposits or make loans.
• Bastion’s planned offering is centered on stablecoin custody, wallet services, payment infrastructure, and white-label issuance.
• The company has been working toward federal supervision after acquiring a New York trust charter in February 2025.

What the OCC’s conditional approval changes

According to a news release, the OCC’s approval is conditional and preliminary, meaning it is an early regulatory step rather than a final operational green light. Still, the practical significance is clear: the charter would extend federal supervision from the OCC over operations that Bastion already conducts under state licensing.

The OCC structure also clarifies the scope of what this “trust bank” model is meant to do. Bastion said the proposed institution would be unable to accept deposits or make loans—distinguishing it from conventional banks and keeping the focus on stablecoin-related services and related financial infrastructure.

A custody-first model built for stablecoin rails

Bastion’s charter plan is tightly tied to stablecoin infrastructure use cases. If approved, it would support stablecoin custody and wallet offerings, provide payment infrastructure, and enable white-label issuance through a single federally regulated entity.

Bastion frames the charter push as a response to the industry’s maturation. In the company’s statement, CEO Nassim Eddequiouaq said: “Stablecoins have moved from emerging technology into core financial infrastructure, and that requires a different standard of trust, governance and regulatory rigor.”

That perspective matters for market participants who increasingly treat stablecoins as settlement and payments infrastructure rather than niche tokens. For custodial and issuance providers, being under the OCC umbrella could also make compliance processes more standardized, potentially simplifying how clients assess regulatory posture—though the final contours will depend on how the bank charter terms are implemented and supervised.

Bastion’s path toward federal oversight

The conditional approval does not appear out of thin air. Bastion said it has been moving toward federal supervision since it acquired its New York trust charter in February 2025. By first establishing trust licensing at the state level and then seeking federal alignment, the company has followed a staged approach that mirrors how other regulated crypto infrastructure providers have sought to scale compliance readiness alongside product expansion.

Earlier reporting by Cointelegraph also placed Bastion on the radar as a steadily funded stablecoin infrastructure company. In September 2025, Cointelegraph reported that Bastion raised $14.6 million in a round led by Coinbase Ventures, with participation including Japanese tech giant Sony, the crypto-related investment arms of Samsung (through its investment subsidiary), Andreessen Horowitz, and Hashed.

While funding does not replace regulatory approval, it does help explain why companies like Bastion can pursue complex chartering processes. It also highlights how stablecoin infrastructure has become a priority for major investors, particularly those positioned to support regulated financial rails.

Broader trend: more crypto firms pursuing OCC trust charters

Bastion’s conditional approval arrives amid an ongoing wave of OCC charter activity involving crypto infrastructure firms. Cointelegraph has reported that Ripple received conditional approval for a similar charter, while Circle and BitGo have received final approval. Cointelegraph also noted applications from Kraken parent Payward, Zerohash, and Block (Jack Dorsey’s company), among others.

This matters because the trust bank charter pathway is one of the more concrete ways for stablecoin and digital-asset infrastructure providers to fit into existing U.S. banking oversight frameworks. However, the differences in approval status—conditional versus final—and in each applicant’s planned scope (such as whether deposits or loans are involved) may result in uneven timelines and uneven expectations across the industry.

For readers watching the sector, Bastion’s announcement underscores a practical reality: stablecoin infrastructure is increasingly being built around regulatory architecture, not just technology. The next key step will be whether the conditional approval progresses to full approval and how regulators define the operational boundaries of the chartered trust bank.

Investors, builders, and business partners should watch what happens after this preliminary stage: whether Bastion’s application clears final OCC requirements, how the bank charter’s scope is implemented for custody, wallets, payments, and issuance, and whether other applicants in the same pipeline receive similar milestones.

Treasury desks at major institutions are juggling three systems for the same job, said Jerald David, CEO of Lynq Network. A JPMorgan tokenized deposit for one client, a regulated stablecoin for another, a conventional correspondent account for a third. They move money on for the same reasons, but on different infrastructure.

“What clients can’t afford are separate pools of liquidity locked up on every network they access, because idle liquidity fragmented across five networks is five times the capital inefficiency of idle liquidity sitting in one place,” he said.

Unlike a stablecoin, a tokenized deposit remains a claim on the bank that issued it. It can bear interest, remain within the regulated banking system and potentially be programmed to settle against tokenized assets. The question is whether banks can deliver those benefits to consumers while maintaining privacy, compliance and control over who holds the deposit.

Interest-bearing deposits

Bhandari said Monument, unlike stablecoin issuers, holds a banking licence that allows it to pay interest on deposits and plans to offer tokenized savings accounts that earn yield.

President of the Midnight Foundation Fahmi Syed said public blockchain infrastructure presents a separate challenge: banks cannot expose clients’ transaction data and commercial relationships.

“Once you create a private blockchain, how do you then speak to another private blockchain? You then have to use a bridge or some other mechanism, and at that point, you have data leakage.” JPMorgan and Citibank have recognized this themselves, Syed said.

 Stablecoin infrastructure provider Bastion said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) had granted it preliminary conditional approval for a US trust bank charter.

The charter adds federal supervision from the OCC to the state licenses Bastion already holds, according to a news release on Friday. Still, the proposed bank could not accept deposits or make loans, separating it from a conventional commercial bank.

Licensed as Bastion Platforms National Trust Company, it will offer stablecoin custody and wallets, payment infrastructure and white-label issuance from a single federally regulated entity.

“Stablecoins have moved from emerging technology into core financial infrastructure, and that requires a different standard of trust, governance and regulatory rigor,” said Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO of Bastion.

The company has been building toward federal supervision since acquiring its New York trust charter in February 2025.

Cointelegraph reported in September 2025 that Bastion had raised $14.6 million in a funding round led by Coinbase Ventures, with participation by Japanese tech giant Sony, the investment subsidiary of South Korean phone maker Samsung, the crypto arm of venture capital (VC) firm Andreessen Horowitz and crypto VC firm Hashed.

 Ripple has received conditional approval for a similar charter, while Circle and BitGo have received final approval. Kraken parent Payward, crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash and payments company Block have also submitted applications, Cointelegraph has reported.

Related: Jack Dorsey’s Block seeks US trust bank charter for Bitcoin, stablecoin

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

MultiversX has opened an investigation into a potential issue on its mainnet and said it expects to provide another update within 12 hours or sooner if the team reaches a clear finding.

MultiversX has begun reviewing the mainnet issue

MultiversX said in a Sep. 19 X post that its team was examining a potential issue detected on the network’s live blockchain. The notice, published at about 10:00 a.m. UTC, described the matter as an active investigation and placed user protection at the top of the team’s response.

Keeping the disclosure narrow, the project said it was working to ensure that the network continued to operate securely and reliably. MultiversX did not classify the issue as an exploit, outage, or consensus failure, and the post did not report stolen funds, affected wallets, or a financial loss.

The team also did not tell users to pause transactions, withdraw funds, or take any other action in the initial notice. Without a technical assessment, the public statement supports only the description MultiversX used: a potential mainnet issue that remains under review.

A second update is due within 12 hours of the original notice, according to the project. MultiversX said it could publish sooner if investigators establish a clear conclusion, leaving the timing tied to either the stated window or the completion of its review.

Why the MultiversX mainnet matters to EGLD users

MultiversX operates as a layer-1 blockchain, meaning its mainnet records live transfers and smart-contract activity rather than test transactions. EGLD serves as the network’s native asset and is used for transaction fees, staking, and governance, according to the project’s wallet information.

Any confirmed fault could have different effects depending on where it sits in the network stack. A problem involving block production would differ from an issue affecting an application, wallet interface, bridge, or third-party service, but MultiversX had not assigned the incident to any of those areas in its first post.

The distinction also matters for user assets. Tokens can remain recorded onchain even when an interface has trouble displaying balances, while a consensus or block-production problem can affect the processing and finality of new transactions. MultiversX has not said which, if either, applies to the issue under investigation.

The network uses a proof-of-stake design and a sharded architecture built to divide transaction processing across parts of the chain. Validators secure the protocol, while EGLD holders can delegate tokens for staking. An incident involving validators, shard coordination, or smart-contract execution would require a different response, which is why the promised technical update will carry more weight than the initial alert.

Earlier integrations expanded MultiversX access

The investigation concerns a network that has spent years adding wallet, compliance, and application infrastructure. In July 2024, crypto.news reported that a SafePal wallet integration gave the provider’s users direct access to MultiversX through its hardware and mobile wallets, with a browser extension also planned.

At the time, SafePal served more than 13 million users across over 200 countries and supported more than 100 blockchains. The report said the integration covered EGLD access through both cold-storage hardware and a mobile interface, showing how third-party products can connect holders to the underlying mainnet.

Security and compliance tooling formed another part of that buildout. In May 2022, an AnChain.AI analytics integration added transaction monitoring intended to support fraud prevention and regulatory compliance across payments, decentralized finance, and other applications on the network, then known as Elrond.

An earlier MultiversX network explainer described EGLD as the protocol’s native coin and outlined its use of adaptive state sharding. Published in February 2022 under the former Elrond name, the report also covered the chain’s role in smart contracts and decentralized applications.

The project later adopted the MultiversX name, while EGLD remained the native token. Its functions tie the asset to network activity: users need it to pay fees, validators and delegators use it in staking, and holders use it in governance where the protocol makes that process available.

U.S. EGLD holders await technical details

For U.S. holders using self-custody wallets, the operational question is whether the investigation affects their ability to submit or settle onchain transactions. MultiversX has not announced a restriction for American users, and its first notice did not identify any country-specific impact.

Trading EGLD on a centralized platform is also separate from moving the asset on its native chain. An exchange can continue matching internal buy and sell orders while changing deposit or withdrawal access if it detects network instability, although MultiversX’s post did not identify any exchange that had taken such a step.

American users who hold EGLD through a wallet remain exposed to movements in the token’s market value even when they do not initiate an onchain transfer. Users who stake directly or through a service also depend on the network’s validator system, though the project has not reported a staking interruption or instructed delegators to alter their positions.

No SEC, CFTC, Treasury, or Justice Department action was cited in the team’s notice. The investigation is therefore an operational matter led by MultiversX unless a later disclosure identifies conduct or losses that bring in a regulator or law-enforcement agency.

EGLD trades inside a $3.99 to $4.20 range

EGLD traded near $4.12 during the reporting period, up about 1% from its previous close. Market data placed the token’s intraday low at $3.99 and its high at $4.20, a range of roughly 5.3% from bottom to top.

The available price data does not establish that the mainnet notice caused the move. In July 2024, EGLD rose 11% to $32.93 after MultiversX announced its SafePal integration, while a January 2024 selloff placed it among several tokens that fell between 17% and 18% during a period of weak market sentiment.