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Bitcoin Drops Below $77K After the First Inflation Report of the Week

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The first major economic event in the United States for the next week or so just came live, as the Producer Price Index (PPI) showed a 0.4% increase for the month, which was pretty much in line with expectations.

The annual jump is quite high at 5.4%, which is well above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve. Moreover, it’s 0.1% higher than what experts anticipated, which could be the main reason behind BTC’s immediate decline.

CryptoPotato noted earlier that the cryptocurrency had already dropped from over $80,400 to $78,400 in anticipation of the upcoming key economic events. However, the PPI data pushed it south hard, with bitcoin dropping by $1,000 in minutes after the report went live.

BTCUSD September 10. Source: TradingView
BTCUSD September 10. Source: TradingView

Excluding more volatile sectors like food and energy, the core PPI showed an increase of 0.2%, which actually beat the expectations of a 0.3% jump.

As reported earlier, the next week or so is likely to be a fundamental one in terms of global economic activities. Aside from the PPI data today, the Consumer Price Index for August will be published tomorrow, which will be the last stop before the Federal Reserve meeting on September 15-16.

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The central bank will announce its rate decision on September 16, with odds of a hike rising sharply over the past 10 days.

The post Bitcoin Drops Below $77K After the First Inflation Report of the Week appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Arya.ag to Store Grain Ownership Records on Avalanche in India

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Crypto Breaking News

Indian agricultural warehousing and lending provider Arya.ag is running tests for a tokenization system that would turn electronic warehouse receipts for stored grain into transferable on-chain tokens. The pilot is built on a dedicated Avalanche layer-1 network and is designed to connect digital records with the real-world lending workflow.

According to Arya.ag and its partners, the approach links grain deposits, warehouse receipts, collateral commitments, and loan status through Finternet’s infrastructure. Devika Mittal, Avalanche’s head of India at Ava Labs, told Cointelegraph that testing is underway and that each tokenized receipt would represent ownership of the stored commodity.

Key takeaways

  • Arya.ag is testing tokenized warehouse receipts for grain storage on Avalanche’s dedicated layer-1, aiming to strengthen the link between physical collateral and on-chain lending records.
  • Finternet will combine farmer, commodity, warehouse, and insurance data into a “composite token” intended to help banks evaluate collateral risk.
  • The pilot focuses on improving shared transparency for lenders—such as whether grain is already pledged and what debt is outstanding—rather than immediately expanding the scale of Arya.ag’s existing loan book.
  • Verification still depends on accurate confirmation of the underlying physical grain, keeping operational controls central to the model.
  • The Finternet concept traces back to a 2024 BIS paper calling for unified ledgers for tokenized assets alongside legal and regulatory support.

Tokenizing grain collateral on Avalanche

Arya.ag’s system targets a long-standing bottleneck in commodity-backed lending: lenders need reliable, up-to-date information about what collateral exists, who owns it, and whether it has already been pledged elsewhere. Electronic warehouse receipts can help by enabling financing against stored commodities without requiring immediate sale after harvest. But translating those receipts into shared, verifiable digital records becomes the next hurdle.

In the testing described by Arya.ag and Ava Labs, tokenized warehouse receipts would act as digital representations of ownership in stored grain. Mittal said each receipt token would correspond to the commodity stored in the warehouse network. The intent is for the ledger to function as a shared reference point for lenders, borrowers, and related stakeholders.

Finternet’s role is to bridge more than ownership records. Sanmesh Kalyanpur, a director at Finternet Labs, said Arya.ag’s sampling and verification process collects information about stored grain and feeds it into the company’s portal. Finternet then aggregates multiple types of data—farmer, commodity, warehouse, and insurance—into what Kalyanpur described as a “composite token” that banks can use to assess collateral risk.

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How the pilot ties receipts, commitments, and loan status

The announcement frames the system as an end-to-end linkage between deposits, collateral commitments, and lending outcomes. Arya.ag and Finternet say their network connects grain deposits, warehouse receipts, commitments made as collateral, and the evolving status of loans tied to those receipts.

That design matters because collateral risk is not only about existence—it’s also about exclusivity and exposure. A lender needs to know whether the grain behind a particular receipt is already pledged, and whether related debt is already outstanding. The companies said their system is intended to provide lenders with a shared record covering what is stored, who owns it, whether it is already pledged, and what debt remains.

However, the companies also stressed that the system’s effectiveness still depends on accurate verification of the physical commodities represented by the digital records. In practice, that means operational checks and sampling procedures remain crucial. Tokenization can improve the traceability of collateral and the speed of information sharing, but it cannot replace the underlying verification that proves the stored grain exists and matches the receipt’s claims.

Arya.ag reported that it stores about $2 billion in agricultural commodities across its warehouse network and supports roughly 120 billion Indian rupees (about $1.26 billion) in loans annually. Its lending arm, Arya Dhan, issues about $230 million in loans each year. The announcement clarifies that these figures describe Arya.ag’s existing business and do not represent assets or loans already brought on-chain.

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Finternet’s deeper architecture and the regulatory question

The Finternet framework behind the pilot is not presented as a purely new idea. The concept traces back to a 2024 paper from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), co-authored by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and then-BIS General Manager Agustín Carstens. The paper proposed interconnected unified ledgers for tokenized assets, while emphasizing that legal and regulatory frameworks would be required to support such systems.

According to BIS, the model is meant to enable tokenized assets to move through a connected system of records rather than isolated databases. The paper also underscored that technical alignment alone is insufficient; arrangements for legal recognition, operational responsibility, and oversight are central to adoption.

That focus on governance is particularly relevant for collateralized lending, where institutions require clarity on custody, ownership, enforcement, and dispute resolution. In a warehouse receipt context, the “source of truth” cannot be purely software if physical commodity verification is required.

Finternet’s background aligns with wider activity around tokenization on Avalanche. Earlier coverage by Cointelegraph reported that the value of tokenized real-world assets on Avalanche exceeded $1.3 billion at the end of 2025, driven by loans and tokenized money-market funds, illustrating that tokenization is already being used in parts of the on-chain finance stack.

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Warehouse-backed lending momentum in India

India has been building momentum around warehouse-backed agricultural financing. The core mechanism—electronic warehouse receipts—allows farmers and businesses to borrow against stored commodities instead of selling immediately after harvest. That can help stabilize income and improve access to capital during seasonal price fluctuations.

The policy environment also matters. In 2024, the Indian government launched a 10 billion-rupee credit-guarantee program aimed at encouraging financing against electronic negotiable warehouse receipts, particularly among small and marginal farmers. This kind of program is designed to reduce risk for lenders, making warehouse receipt financing more accessible.

Arya.ag’s test can be seen as an effort to modernize how those electronic receipts are represented and shared when collateral moves into digital lending workflows. If tokenized receipts and composite collateral records function as intended, banks could gain a more synchronized view of pledged assets and associated exposure.

Still, the companies have not disclosed an expected launch date or the initial deployment’s scale—such as how much grain or lending it would cover—so investors and builders will likely need to monitor the pilot closely to understand performance, verification reliability, and how it integrates with existing lending operations.

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For now, the most important question is whether the tokenized receipt model can deliver faster, more reliable collateral assessment without weakening controls over physical verification and pledge status; the next public updates from Arya.ag, Finternet, and Ava Labs will likely determine whether this remains a technical test or evolves into a productized pathway for warehouse-backed lending.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Ethereum Price Analysis: Consolidation at $2.5K Tests Momentum as On-Chain Activity Surges

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Ethereum has been consolidating near $2.5K after a sharp recovery from the summer lows. The broader structure has improved considerably, but ETH is now approaching a meaningful resistance area, making the reaction at the current range important in determining whether the rally can extend toward higher levels.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

The daily chart shows a significant structural recovery from the $1.5K area. ETH subsequently reclaimed the $1.9K zone and, more importantly, broke above the declining 100-day and 200-day moving averages that had capped the market for the first half of the year.

The breakout accelerated once ETH moved through the $1.9K region, with the price almost surging vertically. The market is now trading around $2.43K and has established a consolidation just below the $2.5K area. The moving averages have also turned more constructive, with both now rising, but yet to print a bullish crossover.

A strong daily breakout above the $2.5K zone would strengthen the bullish structure and could expose the next major resistance around $3K. Beyond that, the larger supply zone sits around $3.3K.

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On the downside, the $2K area is the first major structural support because it represents the area, and below it, the $1.9K zone remains the most important area to hold, as it is the base of the parabolic rally. A deeper move beneath this area would weaken the current recovery structure considerably and could reopen the path toward the $1.5K region, putting the mid-term future of the market in jeopardy.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The 4-hour chart shows a clear sideways consolidation inside a relatively tight range at $2.5K. This area has effectively become the battlefield between buyers and sellers. The price has repeatedly tested the upper portion of the range without producing a sustained breakout, suggesting that supply remains present around $2.5K.

Yet, as long as ETH continues to hold the lower portion of the current consolidation, the setup can be interpreted as a potential continuation pattern following the sharp upside impulse. A clean break above $2.5K could therefore trigger another leg higher toward $3K and potentially higher.

Conversely, losing the lower boundary of the consolidation would increase the probability of a deeper retracement. The $2.25K bullish order block is the next notable short-term support visible on the chart. A decline below it and toward the $2K area would not necessarily invalidate the broader recovery, but it would indicate that ETH needs much more time to rebuild momentum before attempting another breakout.

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On-Chain Analysis

The transaction-count chart shows a notable improvement in Ethereum network activity compared with the 2025 values. Total transaction count recently jumped above $2M, marking a sharp recovery from approximately 1.5M last year this time.

This increase is particularly interesting because it coincides with ETH’s bottom formation and recovery toward $2.5K. Rising transaction activity alongside an advancing price generally provides a healthier backdrop than a price rally occurring while network usage continues to deteriorate.

However, the latest increase in activity should be interpreted cautiously. The transaction count has recovered significantly, but it might also point to increased profit-taking by holders, out of fear that another leg lower might be on the horizon. Still, it can be claimed that the on-chain picture is improving rather than providing unequivocal confirmation of a new expansion phase.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: Consolidation at $2.5K Tests Momentum as On-Chain Activity Surges appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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OKX launches 10x OpenAI, Anthropic X-Perps in Europe

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What OKX users need to know about the Solana USDC suspension

OKX has introduced pre-IPO derivatives tied to OpenAI and Anthropic alongside 100 tokenized stock markets for eligible European traders.

Summary

  • OpenAI and Anthropic pre-IPO X-Perps offer long and short positions with up to 10x leverage.
  • OKX has launched 100 tokenized markets, including Google, Nvidia, Palantir, SPY, and QQQ.
  • Tokenized positions trade around the clock but carry no direct ownership or shareholder voting rights.
  • Eligible traders can use supported stock tokens as collateral or withdraw them to self-custody wallets.

The Sep. 10 announcement from OKX said its new pre-IPO X-Perps allow eligible European customers to trade changes in the implied valuations of OpenAI and Anthropic before either company goes public.

Traders can open long or short positions at any time and apply leverage of up to 10x. However, the contracts do not represent shares in either private company or give their holders an economic claim against the referenced business.

Prices may also differ from valuations set during private funding rounds or from any price established through a future initial public offering. According to the company’s product disclaimer, an IPO could be delayed, canceled, or never take place.

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OKX pre-IPO markets track private company valuations

Unlike a direct private-market investment, an X-Perp is a derivative through which traders speculate on the direction of a referenced company’s implied value. Opening the products with OpenAI and Anthropic gives European customers exposure to two closely followed private technology companies without placing their names on a shareholder register.

OKX said traders can enter and exit positions at any time, while each market will open with liquidity intended to support larger trades. Additional pre-IPO contracts will be introduced when the company considers them relevant.

Although the products extend access beyond conventional private markets, leverage raises the potential size of both profits and losses. OKX warned that customers trading X-Perps could lose part or all of their invested funds, particularly when leveraged positions move against them.

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Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, said pre-IPO markets have generally remained unavailable to most European traders through traditional brokerages and regulated platforms. He linked the launch to rising demand for the exchange’s perpetual products following the end of Europe’s MiCA transition period in July.

“X-Perps volume in Europe has grown fourfold since MiCA’s transition period ended in July, and these markets are built for those same traders,” Ghoos said.

According to Ghoos, the company intends to give European users enough liquidity to trade larger positions without requiring them to move to an unregulated venue. OKX did not provide a trading-volume figure or the initial implied valuations assigned to OpenAI and Anthropic in its announcement.

Tokenized stocks add 100 round-the-clock markets

Alongside the pre-IPO contracts, OKX has opened 100 tokenized stock and exchange-traded fund markets. The initial list includes products linked to SpaceX, Google, Nvidia, and Palantir, as well as the SPY and QQQ ETFs.

Customers can buy, sell, or convert the tokens and trade them continuously, including when the traditional markets for their referenced assets are closed. Supported order types include limit, market, stop, time-weighted average price, and Iceberg orders.

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Stock tokens can also operate inside OKX’s dollar-cost averaging and Grid trading bots. For customers using multiple products, eligible tokenized positions may serve as collateral for X-Perps, allowing the same account balance to support stock-linked and crypto-linked derivatives.

On-chain transfers give the products another feature not normally available through a standard brokerage account. OKX said supported tokens can be deposited to the platform or withdrawn to external addresses, including self-custody wallets.

Round-the-clock access does not remove the pricing issues created when traditional exchanges are closed. OKX’s disclosure states that the tokens track the price of a referenced share, but holders do not directly own that share and receive no shareholder voting rights.

Company names used for the products do not indicate a partnership or endorsement, the disclosure added. Stock-token holders, therefore, gain price exposure through the instrument issued or supported by the platform rather than membership in the shareholder base of Google, Nvidia, Palantir, or another referenced company.

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Ownership rights remain central to tokenized stocks

The distinction between price exposure and direct share ownership has become a central issue as trading platforms list more third-party stock tokens.

In September, crypto.news previously reported that AMC Entertainment objected to a Robinhood token linked to its shares. AMC CEO Adam Aron said his company had neither approved nor participated in the product, while Robinhood maintained that it stood behind its stock-token service.

Robinhood’s product documents described its tokens as debt securities issued by a Jersey entity rather than shares issued by the companies they follow. Buyers received economic exposure but no ownership, voting rights, or direct claim against AMC, creating a distinction similar to the one stated in OKX’s disclosure.

OpenAI raised a related concern in July 2025 after Robinhood distributed tokens offering exposure to the private company. OpenAI said at the time that it had not partnered with Robinhood, did not endorse the tokens, and had not approved a transfer of its equity.

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For traders, the structure of each product determines whether a token represents an actual security, a contractual claim against an issuer, or a derivative that follows a reference price. Counterparty and insolvency risks can also differ from those attached to shares held through a conventional regulated broker.

OKX’s pre-IPO disclaimer states that its X-Perps provide no ownership or economic claim in the private company being referenced. Its tokenized stock disclosure separately says those instruments confer neither direct ownership nor shareholder rights.

US regulators are considering a different model

The OKX products have been launched for eligible European traders, leaving American investors outside the stated rollout. In the United States, regulators have been considering how round-the-clock tokenized equity trading could operate under federal securities rules.

On Aug. 17, earlier coverage detailed work by the Securities and Exchange Commission on a limited exemption that could allow selected platforms to test tokenized securities. No final eligibility criteria or implementation date had been announced when that report was published, and existing federal securities requirements remained in force.

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SEC staff has distinguished between tokens issued with the involvement of the company whose shares they represent and third-party instruments that merely track a security or provide a claim against another issuer. According to the agency’s position covered in that report, placing a stock on a blockchain does not remove it from U.S. securities law.

Ownership records, custody, disclosures, market surveillance, and investor claims during issuer insolvency remain among the matters U.S. regulators are assessing. Trading outside regular exchange hours also raises questions about price discovery and execution when the underlying cash market is closed.

A regulated model has already entered limited testing in the United States. In March, Nasdaq received SEC approval for eligible participants to trade certain securities in either conventional or tokenized form.

Nasdaq’s pilot covers eligible Russell 1000 stocks and major index-linked ETFs. Under the approved structure, the traditional and tokenized versions carry the same pricing and shareholder rights, unlike products that only follow a company’s market value.

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For European customers, OKX has placed the new instruments in the same account as its crypto spot, X-Perps, trading bots, Earn, and Pay services. Users can apply the platform’s order types, automated strategies and margin balance across the supported products without maintaining a separate brokerage account.

Financial instruments and related investment services are offered through OKX Europe Markets Ltd., which the company said is authorized and regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority under Malta’s Investment Services Act.

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US CPI forecast at 3.4% as tariff risks build

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Warsh Jackson Hole keynote puts financial innovation first

Truflation has forecast that annual U.S. headline inflation will remain at 3.4% in August as higher gasoline prices, tariffs and producer costs threaten to keep price pressure above the Federal Reserve’s target.

Summary

  • Truflation expects headline CPI to rise 0.3% monthly and remain at 3.4% annually.
  • Core CPI is forecast to increase by 0.2% monthly and slow to 2.4% annually.
  • Gasoline prices rose 3.4% in August, adding fresh pressure to headline inflation.
  • Truflation’s forecasts have deviated from BLS releases by an average of 0.09 percentage points.

Truflation said in its August inflation report that the softer July CPI reading was driven mainly by falling energy prices rather than a clear easing of underlying costs. The company expects the reversal of that energy decline, along with tariffs and higher input prices, to shape Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics release.

The Cleveland Federal Reserve and market consensus also forecast an annual headline CPI of 3.4% and a core CPI of 2.4%. However, both expect headline prices to rise 0.4% from July, compared with Truflation’s 0.3% estimate. All three forecasts place monthly core inflation at 0.2%.

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July headline CPI rose 0.1% month over month after falling 0.4% in June, while the annual rate eased from 3.5% to 3.4%. Core CPI increased 0.2% during the month and slowed from 2.6% to 2.5% year over year.

Energy has kept headline CPI above core inflation

Gasoline provided the clearest source of new pressure in Truflation’s August data, rising 3.4% from July and 27.6% from a year earlier. The report attributed the increase to high crude prices, tight fuel inventories, and limited spare capacity at refineries.

Retail gasoline remained above $4 per gallon and moved past $4.10 in early September, according to the report. Truflation said crude prices and supply risks in the Middle East could prevent consumers from receiving material relief unless oil prices fall or U.S. inventories recover.

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“The principal reason headline inflation is running above core is the renewed pressure from energy,” Oliver Rust, head of data at Truflation, told crypto.news.

Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices added another 0.5% in August and rose 2.8% over the year. Restaurant prices led the monthly increase, with food away from home climbing 0.7% as operators passed on costs tied to ingredients, wages, utilities and property.

Grocery prices increased more slowly, although Truflation said tight beef supplies and high wholesale food costs limited the decline. Higher gasoline prices could also raise transportation and distribution expenses, adding another source of food-price pressure.

Apparel and communications provided some relief. Clothing prices fell 1% during August as retailers used back-to-school and end-of-summer discounts, while communications prices dropped 0.9% amid competition among mobile carriers and lower effective data costs.

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Services costs have remained high despite lower core CPI

Although core inflation is forecast at 2.4%, U.S. service companies continued to report high operating costs. The ISM Services Prices Index increased from 70.3 to 72.6 in August, reaching its highest level since August 2022.

Rust said businesses were paying more for labor, logistics, energy, and other operating needs, but the increases did not pass directly into consumer prices. Productivity has offset part of the wage pressure by allowing companies to produce more with each hour of work.

“While compensation may be growing around 3.5%–4.0%, productivity growth of approximately 2.0%–2.5% means that the increase in labor costs per unit of output can be closer to 1%–2%,” Rust said.

Technology and artificial intelligence have improved output per worker in some industries, he added, reducing the inflation effect of higher wages. Truflation therefore expects services inflation to remain persistent rather than accelerate sharply.

Housing produced a mixed reading. Truflation’s measure rose 0.15% in August but remained 2.32% lower than a year earlier. Rental inflation increased as the supply of newly built apartments started to slow, while high mortgage rates continued to limit home purchases and transactions.

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Owned housing prices remained under pressure from weak affordability, elevated listings, and price cuts. Rental concessions stayed common, especially in Sun Belt markets, although the report said slower construction could allow asking rents to rise faster than effective rents.

Tariffs have raised the risk of higher goods inflation

Costs entering the production chain were running well above consumer goods inflation. Goods producer prices rose 6.5% year over year in July, while core goods PPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 4.9%.

Nonfuel import prices advanced 0.4% during July and 4.5% from a year earlier, their strongest annual increase since 2022. Imported capital goods rose 0.9% for the month, goods from China added 0.8%, and prices for imported vehicles and parts increased 0.2%.

Manufacturers also faced high raw-material costs. The ISM Manufacturing Prices Index stood at 71.1 in August, extending a run of rising prices to 23 consecutive months. Truflation linked the pressure to steel, aluminum, petroleum products, imported goods, and tariffs.

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The average statutory tariff rate reached about 11% in August and is scheduled to rise to 11.8% by year-end, according to the report. Truflation said importers could delay the effect on consumers by accepting lower margins, selling inventory purchased before the tariff increases, changing suppliers, or negotiating lower prices.

As older inventories are replaced, Rust expects more of the higher landed costs to enter retail prices. Truflation’s analysis found that the effective tariff rate had its strongest correlation with core goods inflation when tariffs led prices by about four months.

U.S. tariff policy has already affected digital-asset markets. A Sep. 4 report on trade policy noted that an earlier tariff announcement covering 60 trading partners had sent Bitcoin below $65,000 as Treasury yields rose and leveraged long positions absorbed most crypto liquidations.

Truflation data have led BLS CPI by 41 days

To construct its U.S. inflation measure, Truflation collects more than 15 million price observations from over 40 data partners. The company maps the observations into BLS spending categories and then applies the weights used in the official CPI.

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The resulting index serves as the input for Truflation’s BLS forecasting model. According to Rust, the company’s data have led movements in official CPI by approximately 41 days, or about six weeks.

Since 2011, Truflation’s measure and the BLS CPI have recorded a correlation of 0.955. Moving Truflation’s data forward by 41 days raises the correlation to 0.962, although Rust said the exact lead varies by inflation environment and spending category.

Since the company began publishing BLS CPI forecasts, its estimates have recorded an average absolute deviation of 0.09 percentage points from the eventual government releases, Rust said.

The August reading will also influence expectations for the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 15–16 meeting. A recent Bitcoin market report found that BTC had fallen below $78,000 as hotter producer inflation and rising expectations of a September rate increase reduced demand for risk assets.

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August headline producer inflation reached 5.4%, slightly above the 5.3% forecast, while core PPI increased to 4.6%, its highest level since June. CME FedWatch data cited in the report placed the probability of a quarter-point September rate increase at about 60%.

Truflation expects headline inflation to remain around 3.3%–3.4% during the quarter, with monthly readings ranging from roughly 0.2% to 0.4%. By year-end, the company projects a possible decline into the 2.8%–3.2% range if energy prices ease, housing disinflation continues, and businesses pass higher goods costs to consumers gradually.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said before the payroll report that the next inflation release would carry considerable weight in his September decision. The BLS is scheduled to publish August CPI data on Sept. 11, five days before the Federal Open Market Committee announces its interest-rate decision.

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Former Ripple CTO Makes Surprising XRP Prediction

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XRP Briefly Surpassed Ethereum by Market Cap in 2018. Source: Forbes

David Schwartz, the longtime architect of the XRP Ledger and Ripple’s Chief Technology Officer emeritus, said publicly this week that XRP could one day overtake Bitcoin by market capitalization.

Speaking during a recent X Spaces discussion, Schwartz answered a direct question about whether such a “flippening” was possible. “Yeah, I do,” he replied, adding a key caveat.

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Why Schwartz Thinks Growth, Not Collapse, Could Do It

It wouldn’t happen from Bitcoin shrinking, Schwartz said. It would happen from XRP growing faster than Bitcoin.

He framed the scenario within a broader expansion of the digital-asset market, arguing that in a future where crypto as a whole becomes far larger, top assets could all rise in value rather than simply competing for a fixed share of capital.

“But I think it wouldn’t happen from Bitcoin shrinking. It would happen from XRP growing faster than Bitcoin,” David Schwartz said.

The advantages he highlighted center on technical design. The XRP Ledger was built from the start as a faster, more scalable payments network than Bitcoin, with higher transaction speed and functionality that Bitcoin’s base layer cannot support.

Those characteristics, Schwartz argued, could let XRPL attract users and capital seeking capabilities beyond simple store-of-value transfers.

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Historical context supports the idea that XRP has closed large gaps before. In late 2017 and early 2018, XRP briefly became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, surpassing Ethereum and narrowing the distance to Bitcoin during that bull run.

XRP Briefly Surpassed Ethereum by Market Cap in 2018. Source: Forbes
XRP Briefly Surpassed Ethereum by Market Cap in 2018. Source: Forbes

The Math Behind a Bitcoin Flip Today

Schwartz has also recalled selling some XRP near $0.10 because the price already felt extraordinarily high relative to earlier levels around $0.006, much as $100 Bitcoin once seemed absurd.

Today, the numerical gap remains substantial. Bitcoin traded near $77,165 on September 10, with a market cap of around $1.54 trillion, while XRP traded near $1.35, with a market cap of around $85 billion, putting Bitcoin roughly 18x larger.

Matching Bitcoin’s current valuation would require XRP to trade near $24.50, assuming Bitcoin’s market cap holds steady and using XRP’s circulating supply of approximately 62.7 billion tokens. Should Bitcoin continue growing, the target price for a flip would rise accordingly.

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Bitcoin vs XRP - Market Cap (YTD). Source: CoinGecko
Bitcoin vs XRP – Market Cap (YTD). Source: CoinGecko

Schwartz did not present the outcome as inevitable or imminent. His comments amount to a conditional possibility rooted in relative technological strengths and overall market expansion, rather than any expected collapse of Bitcoin.

The remarks have nonetheless energized parts of the XRP community, even as they underscore the still-wide gulf separating the two assets today.

The post Former Ripple CTO Makes Surprising XRP Prediction appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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MoneyGram's Stablecoin Visa Card Goes Live In Colombia

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MoneyGram Brings Cash-To-Crypto Ramps To Solana


MoneyGram launched the MoneyGram Card on Thursday, a virtual Visa card that spends a stablecoin-backed dollar balance held in the MoneyGram app. It is live in Colombia, with more markets promised in the coming months. The card keeps remittance money inside MoneyGram after it arrives. Recipients who… Read the full story at The Defiant

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Ripple Treasury expands governed AI tools for finance

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Ripple targets $2 trillion payment network with Notabene deal

Ripple Treasury has expanded its GSmart platform with policy-controlled AI tools for forecasting, liquidity, risk, reconciliation, and reporting, as 60% of eligible customers use its Risk Insights feature.

Summary

  • GSmart keeps financial calculations separate from AI-generated explanations and recommendations.
  • Human approval remains mandatory before the platform carries out financial transactions.
  • 60% of eligible customers use Risk Insights, while 44% use Forecast Insights.
  • Ripple Treasury will present the expanded platform at Sibos 2026 in Miami.

According to a Ripple Treasury announcement, the updated GSmart system uses specialized AI agents to examine treasury data while enforcing controls set by each company.

Rather than allowing AI models to calculate financial results and act on them without review, the platform separates the underlying calculations from the AI layer. Deterministic engines handle the financial calculations, while GSmart reads company policies, identifies patterns in treasury data, and explains its recommendations.

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Finance teams retain control over each transaction because the system requires a person to approve any financial action. Ripple Treasury said the setup gives companies access to more automated analysis without handing final authority to an AI agent.

Ripple Treasury keeps humans in control of transactions

GSmart’s agents focus on defined treasury functions, including cash forecasting, liquidity management, financial risk, account reconciliation, and reporting. Each agent examines information related to its assigned function instead of operating as a general-purpose assistant across the company’s financial systems.

When an agent detects activity that may breach an internal rule, it can alert the treasury team and identify the policy behind the recommendation. Users can then review the relevant clause and the supporting data before deciding whether to proceed.

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Ripple Treasury said the feature is designed to make AI recommendations easier to trace. Instead of giving users an unexplained warning or proposed action, GSmart can show which internal control produced the result.

Knowledge Studio acts as the governance layer for the agents. Treasury teams use it to define the policies, permissions, and internal controls that guide how GSmart examines financial information.

Within Analytics Studio, Ask GSmart provides a conversational tool for treasury data. Users can submit questions in everyday language and retrieve information without creating a separate report or manually reviewing several data sets.

The company said its system does not give AI final control over payments or other financial transactions. GSmart can find an issue, explain the supporting policy, and recommend an action, but an authorized employee must approve the transaction.

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GSmart adoption reaches 60% for risk monitoring

The expanded features are already available across Ripple Treasury’s enterprise customer base rather than being tested through a limited pilot, according to the company.

Ripple reported that 60% of customers eligible for Risk Insights have activated the feature. Risk Insights searches for unusual exposures and possible policy breaches, giving treasury teams a way to examine issues before approving related activity.

Forecast Insights has reached 44% of eligible customers. The feature compares expected cash flow with actual results and identifies differences that may affect a company’s liquidity planning.

By examining those gaps, the platform can bring potential cash shortages or excess balances to the attention of treasury staff. The employees responsible for the company’s finances can then assess the information and decide whether to move funds, adjust forecasts, or leave existing plans unchanged.

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Reconciliation tools form another part of the update. Ripple Treasury said GSmart can help users find differences between financial records while its reporting functions organize treasury information for review.

The company has presented the agents as tools for specific work processes, with policy controls applying across the recommendations they produce. Its approach places automated analysis before the approval stage rather than allowing software to authorize and complete transactions on its own.

AI governance concerns drive demand for policy controls

Ripple Treasury introduced the update as companies increase their use of autonomous software across finance and other business functions.

Citing Gartner research, the company said an average Fortune 500 business could operate more than 150,000 AI agents by 2028. Yet only 13% of organizations believe they currently have the governance needed to manage such agents properly, according to the same research cited in the announcement.

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Ripple Treasury positioned GSmart’s policy references and approval requirements as controls for finance departments that must explain how decisions are reached. The model gives employees a record of the policy used by an agent before they accept or reject its recommendation.

“Every CFO is under pressure to embrace AI,” Ripple Treasury Senior Vice President Renaat Ver Eecke said.

Ver Eecke added that financial decisions also need to be explainable, governed, and compliant. GSmart’s design addresses those requirements by keeping the AI interpretation separate from the engines that calculate financial results.

Finance departments often work with payment instructions, liquidity forecasts, debt positions, foreign exchange exposure, bank balances, and other sensitive records. Under Ripple Treasury’s stated model, agents can examine such data and flag an issue, but the company’s authorized staff remain responsible for approving the related action.

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Ripple builds GSmart on its GTreasury business

Ripple Treasury grew out of GTreasury, the treasury management software company that Ripple acquired in 2025. Following the purchase, Ripple renamed the business and placed its established corporate treasury operations under the Ripple Treasury brand.

The company said the platform handled more than $13 trillion in transaction value during 2025 across over 1,000 customers. The figure covers activity recorded through the former GTreasury business and does not represent XRP settlement volume.

Separating the figures is important because Ripple Treasury serves corporate finance functions that extend beyond blockchain payments. Its platform covers cash management, forecasting, reconciliation, risk oversight, reporting, and other treasury processes, while Ripple operates separate digital-asset and payment services.

The GSmart expansion adds governed AI functions to those existing treasury workflows. Ripple said the product is already active among enterprise customers, as shown by the adoption rates reported for Risk Insights and Forecast Insights.

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In the United States, Ripple Treasury plans to demonstrate the expanded system at Sibos 2026, scheduled for Sep. 28 through Oct. 1 in Miami. The event is expected to bring together banks, payment companies, and corporate treasury teams for discussions covering AI, payments, and digital finance.

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How the U.S. Treasury’s Sanctions on Iran Extend Beyond Tehran

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How the U.S. Treasury's Sanctions on Iran Extend Beyond Tehran

The OFAC also suspended three Iran-related aviation authorizations that “allowed for overflights, and for non-U.S. airlines to fly U.S.-origin or U.S.-controlled commercial aircraft into Iran.”

The sanctions, and their international reach, are intended to “intensify Iran’s economic isolation, to further degrade their military capability, and push them to some kind of a concession or settlement that favors the United States,” Jack Roush, a PhD candidate affiliated with the Iranian History Initiative at the London School of Economics, tells TIME.

Here’s what to know about the latest sanctions, how they extend beyond the borders of Iran, and the economic pressure mounting against Tehran. 

Aviation sanctions target Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and UAE-based firms 

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The U.S. Treasury has accused Iran of using front companies and other pass-through entities in third countries in an attempt to evade aviation links back to Tehran and has extended sanctions to nine internationally-based entities it alleges have aided these efforts.

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Coinbase Wallet returns as Base App shifts to trading

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Coinbase opens Luxembourg MiCA hub as EU deadline nears

Coinbase has restored the Coinbase Wallet name just over a year after replacing it with Base App, positioning the self-custodial product around multichain trading, perpetual futures, prediction markets and tokenized stocks.

Summary

  • Coinbase Wallet will serve as a testing ground for assets unavailable on the company’s centralized exchange.
  • Hyperliquid supplies more than 290 perpetual markets, with leverage reaching 50x for eligible users.
  • The wallet supports 10 networks, including the newly added Robinhood Chain and Monad.
  • U.S. users remain unable to access some products because of geographic restrictions.

Coinbase confirmed through its official Google Play listing that the Base App has returned to the Coinbase Wallet name as the product focuses on multichain trading, transfers, and earning features.

Ryan Kass, head of Coinbase Wallet product, said in a statement that the wallet would function as a “test kitchen” for products and assets that Coinbase may not list on its centralized exchange. Long-tail tokens will appear once they are minted on supported networks, while the company plans to connect additional chains after they launch.

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Trading inside the wallet takes place onchain, according to Kass. Users can also follow selected traders and view their activity, a feature he said may help them find trading opportunities.

Coinbase will keep the product self-custodial, meaning customers retain control of their private keys and assets. According to Kass, the wallet automatically identifies and hides tokens classified as scams or malicious assets.

Coinbase Wallet puts trading ahead of social features

Coinbase renamed Coinbase Wallet as Base App in July 2025, combining trading and payments with messaging, social feeds and mini-apps. The company promoted the product as an “everything app” built around its Base layer-2 network.

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After the social features failed to attract the expected use, Coinbase began rebuilding the app around financial products. CEO Brian Armstrong said in March that the company’s social experiment “didn’t quite work,” while Base creator Jesse Pollak later acknowledged that creator-focused products had fallen short.

In July, Pollak handed leadership of the app to Jordan “Cobie” Fish and returned his attention to the Base blockchain. As crypto.news reported, Pollak said demand for social products had “disintegrated completely,” leaving Base behind competitors in prediction markets and perpetual futures.

Kass said Coinbase can change direction quickly when a product strategy fails to deliver the intended result. He described Base App as an “opinionated experiment” and said the restored name better explains its place within Coinbase’s product lineup.

“The Coinbase Wallet name better captures the product’s role as Coinbase’s self-custodial front door to the ‘everything exchange,’” Kass said. “While Base app was an opinionated experiment, Coinbase Wallet gives users access to all of onchain finance.”

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Although the app is taking back its old name, Coinbase is retaining trading and financial features developed during the Base App period. Messaging and other selected functions will also remain available.

Hyperliquid perpetuals lead the trading push

Perpetual futures powered by Hyperliquid are the first example of the wallet’s testing-ground model. Coinbase added the integration in August, giving eligible users access to more than 290 markets and leverage of up to 50 times on certain contracts.

The Hyperliquid perpetuals launch covered contracts tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, stocks and commodities. Hyperliquid executes the trades while users open and manage positions through the Coinbase interface.

Perpetual contracts allow traders to take leveraged long or short positions without owning the referenced asset. Unlike traditional futures, they do not expire, while funding payments between traders help keep contract prices close to spot prices.

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Coinbase said the integration is unavailable in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, among other restricted markets. Leverage also depends on the selected asset, so not every contract carries the advertised 50x maximum.

For American customers, Coinbase operates a separate regulated futures service through Coinbase Financial Markets, a futures commission merchant registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a member of the National Futures Association. The regulated service is separate from Hyperliquid trading inside Coinbase Wallet.

Under the new branding, Coinbase is promoting the wallet with the phrase “no KYC, no waiting, and no borders.” Its website states, however, that individual products remain subject to location-based limits, making access dependent on a user’s jurisdiction.

Coinbase earns revenue from trading and product fees inside the wallet. The company did not provide details about the fee structure or figures showing whether the trading focus has increased user numbers.

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Tokenized stocks and prediction markets face product reviews

Coinbase Wallet also gives eligible customers access to prediction markets and tokenized stocks. According to Kass, Coinbase applies “vigorous product and compliance reviews” before adding a new market or asset class to the app.

Individual tokens follow a different process. Assets become available by default after they are minted on a supported chain, although the wallet’s detection system can hide tokens linked to scams or harmful activity.

Coinbase brought four tokenized U.S. stocks to Base in August, offering eligible non-U.S. investors onchain exposure to Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. The 1:1-backed stock tokens were issued through a Coinbase-controlled company in the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Each token represents a beneficial interest in an underlying share held through a segregated custody arrangement, according to the product prospectuses. The securities are not registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and cannot be offered or sold to U.S. persons.

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Prediction markets carry separate access questions in the United States. Coinbase Financial Markets has argued that federally regulated event contracts fall under the CFTC’s authority, but several states have challenged sports-related contracts under their gambling laws.

In August, a federal judge denied Coinbase relief against enforcement by Michigan officials. The preliminary ruling left the underlying lawsuit unresolved while allowing the state to continue defending its sports betting authority.

Coinbase Wallet adds Robinhood Chain and Monad

Following the name change, Coinbase Wallet supports Base, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Monad, and Robinhood Chain. Robinhood Chain and Monad were not included on the Base App’s previous list of supported networks.

Multichain support reduces the app’s earlier focus on Coinbase’s own layer-2 network, although Kass said Base would remain central to the wallet. Assets issued on Base may appear as they gain market attention, alongside tokens from other supported networks.

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“Base remains central to Coinbase Wallet, and you’ll see Base assets naturally appear in the app as they trend,” Kass said.

According to Kass, displaying Base assets beside products from other networks will give users additional ways to discover tokens available through the self-custodial app.

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Valinor Launches Tokenized BDC Fund On Superstate

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Valinor Raises $25M Seed Round to Bring Private Credit Onchain


Valinor Digital launched a tokenized fund that holds a basket of publicly traded business development companies, offering qualified purchasers exposure to a private credit return profile with daily subscriptions and redemptions, the firm said on Thursday. The Valinor BDC Exposure Fund, ticker VBDC,… Read the full story at The Defiant

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