Ethereum restaking protocol Puffer Finance has partnered with Anchorage Digital to provide institutional clients with access to pufETH, Puffer’s liquid restaking token, via Anchorage’s regulated custody platform.

The integration allows institutions to gain exposure to Ethereum staking and restaking yields while operating within compliant custody and security frameworks. For institutional players that have historically been cautious about engaging directly with DeFi protocols, the partnership offers a more familiar on-ramp into Ethereum-native yield products.

Puffer differentiates its restaking model by distributing validation across a decentralized set of operators rather than relying on a handful of large validator providers, which the protocol says reduces concentration risk. The protocol also touts slashing penalty protection and a buffer designed to absorb losses before they reach pufETH holders, a feature aimed at satisfying institutional risk models that demand clearly defined downside scenarios.

The collaboration comes at a difficult time for liquid restaking protocols. Apart from etherfi and Kelp, most liquid restaking protocols have struggled to retain users. As points-based incentive programs ended, capital rotated out and consolidated into the most established venues.

Puffer launched in February 2024, attracting nearly $200 million in total value locked (TVL) on its first day as the liquid restaking sector boomed on EigenLayer hype. By October 2024, Puffer’s TVL had grown to over 500,000 ETH, worth more than $1.3 billion at the time.

Today, Puffer’s core protocol TVL sits at just $62 million, according to DeFiLlama. The drawdown mirrors a broader trend across the liquid restaking sector following the initial airdrop-fueled frenzy.

The PUFFER token tells a similar story. The token hit an all-time high near $1.00 in December 2024 but has since cratered, hitting an all-time low of $0.025 just last week, according to Coingecko.

The Anchorage deal signals that Puffer is increasingly focused on the institutional market as a path to sustainable growth, a pivot away from the retail-driven points campaigns that initially powered its TVL.

Customers of a number of well-known UK banks were unexpectedly given the blockchain experience today after a banking app glitch meant their transactions and accounts became public.

The technical issue allowed customers from Lloyds, Halifax, and the Bank of Scotland to view the banking activity of other users. 

Some could see charge notifications from other people’s accounts, while some reported that they could view other people’s National Insurance numbers.

The BBC reports that for 20 minutes, some could see other users’ accounts, while one person was able to view benefit payments from the Department of Work and Pensions.

Read more: UK gov’t committee calls for halt to crypto donations amid foreign interference fears

One user claimed, “I can see another person’s bank account, he got paid £6,000 yesterday. Others, I can see their benefits payments, their National Insurance numbers, I can see where they work, almost their whole identity.”

The issue has reportedly been fixed, and an investigation has been launched, but it’s unclear just how many people the glitch affected.

Lloyds apologized for the incident, while the Bank of Scotland said it may have been caused by a “technical glitch.”

Last year, the UK suffered a major banking outage that left thousands unable to access their accounts. A report from the Treasury Committee later found that the country had suffered a month’s worth of outages in two years.

Glitch is the closest UK banks have got to the blockchain

The hiccup briefly brought a taste of the blockchain to a UK banking industry that’s been famously slow to adopt the technology.

Indeed, many still categorize crypto as a risky, volatile asset that requires enhanced checks. 

Digital crypto-friendly bank Revolut just secured a UK banking license after a four-year wait for a permit.

However, its crypto services will reportedly not be covered under this banking license and will still have to be offered through its Revolut X platform. 

Last September, the UK and the US partnered to launch a regulatory body that would help align each country’s approach to crypto, and help firms access capital markets from each country with greater ease. 

However, Reuters reports that both the US and UK are still split on crypto regulation, with the UK taking a more reserved approach.

The US was reportedly not impressed with the UK’s “sandbox” approach, where tokenised securities are tested in a controlled environment.

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A community-built dashboard that tracks Strategy’s STRC sales in real time suggests that today could produce the largest single-day STRC-funded bitcoin (BTC) purchase in history.

By 11am New York time, the unofficial tracking system estimated that 2.7 million shares of STRC had traded, all at or above its $100 par, also known as its “stated amount” or “quasi-peg.”

This morning’s trading range was $100-100.07.

Because Strategy has previously provided guidance that the company might sell STRC when the stock price is above its stated amount, it’s possible to estimate the number of STRC that Strategy is adding to the circulating supply.

By default, the dashboard speculates that 40% of that volume might involve Strategy itself as the seller. Overall STRC volume figures include both corporate as well as secondary sales and the site allows users to adjust that percentage via a user-configurable slider.

At its default 40%, the site’s model estimated that Strategy had sold over 1 million shares of STRC, funding the purchase of up to 1,500 BTC.

That was, of course, barely 90 minutes into the regular session.

Over 700,000 shares had already traded in pre-market, accumulating an estimated 394 BTC before the opening bell. By 1pm, total volume over $100 per share exceeded 4.6 million shares.

Startup VeryAI has raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Polychain Capital to launch a palm-scan identity verification system designed to distinguish real users from AI-generated accounts.

The platform records identity attestations on Solana and aims to help crypto exchanges, fintech companies and online platforms address growing risks from bots, deepfakes and synthetic identities. The company said zero-knowledge proofs allow users to verify their status across platforms without revealing personal information.

The system captures palm images using a smartphone camera and converts them into encrypted biometric signatures used to confirm that a user is human without storing identifiable data.

According to the company, palm biometrics are highly distinctive and less publicly exposed than facial features commonly used in identity checks. The scans are converted into irreversible feature representations rather than stored images, preventing the original biometric data from being reconstructed.

“We’re entering a period where the internet can no longer assume that every account, message, or video is created by a real person,” Zach Meltzer, founder and CEO of VeryAI, told Cointelegraph. “AI is powerful, but it also breaks many of the trust assumptions that the internet was built on.”

He said crypto platforms are vulnerable to these risks, citing examples such as sybil attacks during onboarding, fake accounts farming token incentives and impersonation scams targeting users and project communities.

The goal isn’t just to prove that a human exists somewhere — it’s to help platforms verify that a real person is present and acting authentically.

The company is already working with organizations including MEXC, Colosseum, Clique and Talus, with other centralized exchanges and wallets preparing to integrate the palm verification system, Meltzer said.

Investors in the round included the Berggruen Institute and Anagram. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of the Solana blockchain, also joined as an angel investor.

Related: Crypto ATM losses surge 33% in 2025 as AI superpowers scams: CertiK

AI-generated identities push demand for proof-of-human systems

As artificial intelligence continues to blur the line between human and automated activity on the internet, some developers say blockchain-based identity systems could help restore trust in digital interactions.

Chris Dixon, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and founder of the venture capital firm’s a16z crypto investment arm, last year warned that an “ocean of AI-powered deepfakes and bots” could erode trust across the internet and suggested blockchain systems could help address the problem through cryptographic verification of identity and digital content.

One company trying to address the problem is World, co-founded by Sam Altman, which uses biometric iris scans to generate a digital identity that allows users to prove they are human without revealing personal data. The system records proof of a user’s uniqueness on a blockchain network while the Orb device scans a person’s face and iris to verify identity, though the biometric approach has drawn criticism from privacy advocates.

As AI advances, interest in these systems appears to be growing. In January, the token linked to World (WLD) jumped about 40% after reports that OpenAI was exploring a bot-free social media platform that would require users to verify they are human before participating.

Some developers argue that identity verification must balance authentication with privacy protections. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has advocated for models that allow users to prove specific attributes, such as uniqueness or eligibility, without revealing their full identity using technologies like zero-knowledge proofs.

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