PayPal reported its second-quarter results on July 28, saying total payment volume reached $486.4 billion for the three months ended June 30. 

That was up 10% from a year earlier, or 9% on a currency-neutral basis. The company also placed stablecoins inside its formal innovation plan and confirmed a three-business structure that includes Payment Services & Crypto.

The organizational shift gives crypto a clearer place inside PayPal, but it is not a stand-alone digital asset business. The division also includes Braintree, small-business processing and value-added merchant services. PayPal said the model is designed to combine those capabilities with crypto products, including PayPal USD.

PayPal’s Q2 results give the crypto unit a larger base

Net revenue rose 5% to $8.68 billion, while transaction margin dollars increased 1% to $3.9 billion. Adjusted free cash flow reached $1.83 billion. However, GAAP net income fell 12% to $1.10 billion, and GAAP operating margin contracted to 16.4% from 18.1% a year earlier.

Non-GAAP earnings were $1.38 per share, down 1% year over year. PayPal raised its full-year non-GAAP earnings guidance to about $5.38 per share and lifted its transaction margin dollar outlook to roughly $15.6 billion. Shares gained about 4% on earnings day as investors reacted to the results and updated guidance.

The company also recorded $81 million in net losses on strategic investments and crypto assets held for investment. That figure combines two categories. PayPal did not disclose how much came from crypto alone, so the entire $81 million should not be presented as a digital asset loss.

PayPal said the combined portfolio reduced GAAP earnings by about $0.07 per share during the quarter. It excludes those gains and losses from non-GAAP results because it says it does not actively trade the investments or use them to fund normal operations.

PayPal stablecoin strategy now sits inside a dedicated division

PayPal’s earnings presentation listed stablecoins alongside agentic commerce and identity and biometrics under its “innovating with discipline” plan. The presentation said the company intends to use its consumer and merchant network, risk systems and trust infrastructure across those areas.

During the earnings call, CEO Enrique Lores said PayPal plans to launch more merchant products supported by PYUSD and agentic payments over time. He said those capabilities “can support future growth,” making the statement a company forecast rather than a confirmed financial result.

PayPal formally announced the three-business model in April. Payment Services & Crypto now sits alongside Checkout Solutions & PayPal and Consumer Financial Services & Venmo. The crypto division combines PYUSD with Braintree, merchant processing and other platform services.

However, PayPal has not started reporting separate revenue, profit or transaction volume for the crypto portion of the division. The new structure shows a larger strategic role for stablecoins, but the company has not yet provided figures showing how much PYUSD contributes to its financial performance.

PYUSD expansion continues despite lower on-chain supply

PYUSD’s circulating supply stood near $2.7 billion in early August, according to DefiLlama. That was below the more than $4 billion recorded in March and about 4.9% lower over the previous month. The decline shows that wider distribution has not produced uninterrupted supply growth.

On-chain supply is not the same as PayPal revenue or customer adoption. Tokens can be minted or redeemed as demand changes across exchanges, wallets and decentralized finance platforms. Therefore, the lower supply does not establish that PayPal’s stablecoin business is losing money.

PayPal expanded PYUSD access to 70 markets in March. Eligible users can buy, hold, send and receive the stablecoin through PayPal, while some can earn rewards. Paxos issues PYUSD and publishes monthly reserve reports and third-party attestations.

As crypto.news previously reported, PYUSD also became native on Polygon on July 9 through the network’s Open Money Stack. The integration combines wallets, fiat ramps, compliance tools and blockchain settlement for businesses seeking cross-border payment and payout services.

In related coverage, crypto.news reported that PayPal and MoonPay launched PYUSDx, allowing developers to create application-specific stablecoins backed by PYUSD. The platform could broaden PYUSD’s role beyond PayPal’s consumer wallet, although adoption remains unconfirmed.

What comes next for PayPal’s crypto push

PayPal expects to deliver “at least $1.5 billion” in gross annualized cost savings over the next two to three years, including about $400 million by year-end. Those targets are forward-looking and depend on the company completing its reorganization, technology upgrades and spending changes.

The next measurable checkpoints will be PayPal’s third-quarter results, any separate disclosure on Payment Services & Crypto, and monthly PYUSD reserve and supply data. New merchant integrations would also show whether the stablecoin is gaining use beyond trading and incentive-driven decentralized finance activity.

The U.S. angle centers on whether a large public payments company can turn a regulated dollar token into a merchant service. Paxos issues PYUSD under a national trust charter supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. That structure may support institutional acceptance, but regulatory status alone does not guarantee transaction growth.

For now, PayPal has made stablecoins more visible in its operating model while its core payments network continues to grow. The company still needs to show how PYUSD contributes to revenue, merchant retention or transaction margins before investors can measure the financial value of the strategy.

Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn identified a suspected fourth coordinated Coldcard attack wave on Aug. 3, with his running estimate later rising to 448.7 Bitcoin moved from 709 potential victim addresses.

Thorn described the addresses as “LIKELY Coldcard victims,” saying their unspent outputs and transaction behavior matched the vulnerable-wallet pattern. The wording matters.

Galaxy’s findings come from blockchain analysis, not device records or a final law-enforcement attribution. Coinkite had not separately confirmed the fourth-wave total in its latest public advisory.

Coldcard attack activity rose 45 times above baseline

Thorn’s first snapshot covered blocks 960,778 through 960,792. It identified 218 transactions involving 462 possible victim addresses and about 388.9 BTC. His updated estimate later expanded the event to hundreds of transactions affecting 709 addresses and moving 448.7 BTC.

Galaxy measured 13.8 sweeps per block, compared with 0.3 during a pre-incident control period. Most transactions sent each victim’s funds to a fresh destination rather than one shared collection wallet. Some funds had already moved to second-hop addresses, making the flow harder to follow.

Before the latest activity, Galaxy had mapped three suspected waves involving 1,367.05 BTC across 4,585 addresses.As crypto.news reported, the first wave alone moved 1,082.65 BTC from 1,196 addresses during a 41-minute period on July 30.

Adding the fourth-wave estimate would bring the observed total to about 1,815.75 BTC across 5,294 addresses, assuming the groups do not overlap. That figure is an arithmetic estimate, not a loss total confirmed by Coinkite, police or every wallet owner. Galaxy has also said blockchain data cannot prove whether one operator conducted every wave.

Unconfirmed transactions may offer a narrow escape

Thorn said similar transactions remained in Bitcoin’s mempool awaiting confirmation. A user who still controls the affected keys may be able to broadcast a conflicting transaction that pays a higher fee and sends the funds to a secure wallet.

Bitcoin Core documentation says opt-in Replace-by-Fee transactions can be replaced while they remain unconfirmed. That option disappears once a transaction enters a block. A replacement is also “not guaranteed” to win, so the warning applies only to users who can identify an unconfirmed spend and act before miners confirm it.

Coldcard users still need completely new seeds

Coinkite traced the problem to an RNG integration error introduced during a March 2021 firmware change. The company estimates that affected Mk2 and Mk3 seeds may have about 40 bits of effective entropy. Seeds generated on affected Mk4, Mk5 and Q releases may have about 72 bits rather than the intended 128.

Block’s engineering team independently found that the firmware called a deterministic MicroPython fallback instead of the intended hardware random-number generator. Block cautioned that it had “not done full empirical testing to confirm exploitability,” while saying active theft reports justified early disclosure.

Coinkite has released fixed firmware: version 4.2.0 for Mk2 and Mk3, 5.6.0 for Mk4 and Mk5, 1.5.0Q for Q, and 6.6.0X or 6.6.0QX for Edge releases. Updating alone does not repair an existing vulnerable seed. Users must generate a new seed on fixed firmware, verify a receiving address, send a small test and then migrate the balance.

The company says seeds created with at least 50 fair, private dice rolls are not considered exposed by this RNG issue alone. A strong, unique BIP-39 passphrase adds another barrier, but Coinkite still recommends migration. TAPSIGNER, OPENDIME and SATSCARD use different codebases and are not covered by the advisory.

In related coverage, crypto.news detailed the migration steps after Galaxy’s prior estimate reached $88.6 million. The next verified updates will come from Galaxy’s address mapping, Coinkite’s promised technical review and any public action by exchanges or law enforcement.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission kept Nasdaq PHLX’s proposed Bitcoin index options on hold after granting CME Group’s petition for a full Commission review. 

The SEC issued the order on July 29, and its Aug. 3 publication in the Federal Register set Aug. 24 as the deadline for written statements supporting or opposing the earlier approval.

The order does not decide whether CME’s jurisdictional challenge is correct. It accepts the matter for review and leaves the May 22 approval stayed until the Commission issues another order.

SEC review leaves Nasdaq Bitcoin options unable to launch

Nasdaq PHLX proposed cash-settled, European-style options under the ticker QBTC. The contracts would track the CME CF Bitcoin Real Time Index divided by 100. Final settlement would use the New York variant of the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, also divided by 100.

The proposed rules set a 24,000-contract position and exercise limit. Unlike options on spot Bitcoin ETF shares, QBTC would reference an index tracking Bitcoin itself. That distinction created the central dispute because ETF shares are securities, while Bitcoin is treated as a commodity for federal derivatives regulation.

SEC staff approved the rule change through delegated authority on May 22. CME filed notice of its planned appeal on June 11, automatically staying that decision. It submitted its formal petition on June 18 and asked the commissioners to vacate the approval.

CME says the contracts belong exclusively under CFTC rules

CME argues that Bitcoin is a non-security commodity and an option based directly on Bitcoin’s value is a commodity option swap. On that basis, it says the Commodity Exchange Act gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission exclusive authority over the contracts.

The exchange operator called the SEC staff’s legal interpretation “erroneous” and argued that the Division of Trading and Markets exceeded its delegated authority. Those remain CME’s claims. The SEC’s review order did not endorse them or make findings on the merits.

CME also said the approval could expose its exchanges and clearing business to new regulatory costs while allowing a competing product. It asked the full Commission to withdraw the staff approval rather than await the separate CFTC exemption process.

Nasdaq says joint oversight offers a compliant route

The May approval took the opposite legal view. SEC staff reasoned that Dodd-Frank Section 717 could permit concurrent SEC and CFTC jurisdiction when the CFTC grants appropriate relief. Nasdaq also said the product could let spot Bitcoin ETF investors hedge exposure on a national securities exchange within the same margin framework.

However, SEC approval alone was never enough to begin trading. Nasdaq acknowledged that it must obtain all necessary CFTC exemptions, including relief allowing the Options Clearing Corporation to clear the contracts without registering as a CFTC derivatives clearing organization. OCC must also update its standardized options risk disclosure.

As previously reported, Nasdaq has continued expanding its crypto infrastructure by distributing exchange order-book data through Pyth. In related coverage, Nasdaq and CME partnered on crypto index futures tracking several digital assets. The current dispute is narrower because it concerns options tied directly to Bitcoin rather than Bitcoin ETF shares.

Aug. 24 filings will shape the SEC’s next decision

Interested parties now have until Aug. 24 to file statements. After reviewing those submissions, commissioners will determine whether the staff approval should stand. The order provides no deadline for a final Commission decision.

The case could affect more than QBTC. CME warned that approval could create a route for securities exchanges to list derivatives tied to other non-security commodities under SEC rules. That is a forward-looking legal argument, not an outcome established by the Commission.

For now, Nasdaq’s Bitcoin index options remain stayed. Even if the SEC later restores the approval, Nasdaq would still need the required CFTC relief and OCC approvals before listing the contracts.

South Korea extended a long-running outflow trend as stablecoins continued to leave the country for offshore trading platforms. In June, the nation recorded net stablecoin outflows of 560.3 billion won (about $367 million), keeping South Korea’s streak of monthly net outflows at 18 consecutive months.

The latest numbers, reported by Yonhap News Agency using data from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), point to large-scale transfers by South Korea’s biggest crypto venues. Yonhap said the five major exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax—sent 2.7 trillion won (about $1.81 billion) in stablecoins overseas in June while receiving 2.2 trillion won (about $1.44 billion) from foreign platforms.

Key takeaways

• June net stablecoin outflows from South Korea totaled 560.3 billion won (about $367 million), extending 18 straight months of monthly net exits.
• South Korea’s five largest exchanges collectively transferred 2.7 trillion won in stablecoins offshore in June while receiving 2.2 trillion won from abroad.
• Yonhap reported that demand for products unavailable or restricted domestically—such as certain derivatives, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), DeFi, and staking—was cited as a driver of the transfers.
• Opposition lawmakers and regulators are calling for stronger oversight and updated investor protection rules as cross-border activity continues.
• Policy proposals discussed alongside the outflows include interim stablecoin licensing guidance and potential phasing of stablecoin regulation before a broader Digital Asset Basic Act is finalized.

Stablecoin exits keep growing despite ongoing regulation work

According to Yonhap, the June figure comes directly from FSS data shared with a lawmaker. The data was obtained through People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-wook, who has repeatedly raised concerns about how the government supervises cross-border crypto activity.

While the net outflow headline is negative, the underlying exchange-level flows highlight a more nuanced picture. Yonhap said local exchanges exported stablecoins to offshore platforms at a higher pace than they imported them—2.7 trillion won sent versus 2.2 trillion won received—resulting in the net outflow position.

Market participants quoted by Yonhap tied the transfers to practical constraints for users operating within South Korea’s market structure. They pointed to demand for services or token products that are restricted, not yet available, or otherwise limited on domestic venues. Those categories included overseas derivatives, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), decentralized finance, and staking products.

Lawmakers push for a fresh look at investor protection

The stablecoin outflows have drawn renewed pressure on regulators to address investor protection gaps. Lee Jong-wook urged the government to re-examine its supervisory framework for how investors are protected when activity shifts offshore and users access services subject to different rules and oversight.

As reported by The Korea Times, Lee said authorities must “comprehensively examine” investor protection and supervisory frameworks and “move swiftly to improve regulations” in response to continuing stablecoin outflows.

The core tension for policymakers is straightforward: if domestic rules or product availability are slower to develop than offshore options, users may route capital abroad rather than use locally supervised services. That dynamic can leave regulators chasing activity after it has moved to less directly controlled venues—especially when stablecoins are used as on-ramps for broader crypto strategies.

Proposed stablecoin rules and reporting expansions

The outflows are unfolding while South Korea works toward a fuller legal framework for digital assets. Cointelegraph reported earlier that Thursday’s policy report recommended authorities introduce interim licensing guidance and phase in stablecoin regulations before the Digital Asset Basic Act is finalized, rather than waiting for the full law to take effect.

Under the proposed approach referenced by Cointelegraph, the Digital Asset Basic Act would aim to create South Korea’s first comprehensive digital asset framework, covering stablecoin issuance, disclosure standards, and market activity rules. However, the report also underscores that lawmakers have yet to reconcile multiple proposals—particularly disagreements about which institutions would be authorized to issue won-pegged stablecoins, a point flagged as a contributor to delays.

Separately, Cointelegraph noted that South Korean regulators have sought to expand reporting requirements for crypto transfers. On June 22, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) proposed extending Travel Rule reporting requirements to transactions below 1 million won (roughly $650). The Travel Rule proposal is part of an effort to improve traceability of crypto transfers across jurisdictions, reducing the ability to move value without the expected reporting coverage.

Yonhap’s coverage also reflected the FIU’s broader concern: it urged stronger action against unregistered overseas exchanges serving South Koreans. The FIU argued that licensing and supervision can vary widely across jurisdictions, creating opportunities for regulatory arbitrage—an issue that the continuing stablecoin outflows bring into sharper focus.

What investors and traders should watch next

As South Korea’s stablecoin outflow streak continues, the next milestones will likely be the details of how interim stablecoin licensing is implemented and how quickly reporting rules and enforcement measures are tightened for cross-border activity. For market participants, the key question is whether regulatory changes will narrow the gap between what users can access domestically versus offshore—without simply pushing activity into new, less supervised channels.

Prediction markets recorded $50.59 billion in combined monthly trading volume in July, setting a new high across Kalshi, Polymarket and Polymarket US, according to data published on Aug. 3.

The total rose 7.8% from the dashboard’s revised June figure of $46.95 billion. Kalshi remained the largest venue with $37.7 billion, while Polymarket’s international and U.S. platforms generated a combined $12.9 billion. The figures measure taker notional volume rather than exchange revenue or money deposited by customers.

Prediction market volume reaches a new monthly record

Kalshi’s July volume increased about 14% from the previous month. The platform supplied roughly 74.5% of the three exchanges’ combined total, extending its lead over both versions of Polymarket.

The latest data also revise the comparison with June. The Block initially reported $44.8 billion across the three venues shortly after June ended, including $31.5 billion from Kalshi. The current dashboard uses a higher June baseline of $46.95 billion, showing that historical totals were updated as more trading data became available.

Notional volume should not be treated as platform income. Traders can buy and sell the same contract several times before settlement, causing the recorded volume to rise without an equal amount of new capital entering the exchange.

Therefore, July’s record shows greater contract turnover and liquidity. It does not establish that traders deposited $50.6 billion or that the three platforms earned an equivalent amount.

Polymarket US grows while offshore activity falls

Polymarket US posted the strongest monthly growth of the three venues. Its volume increased 54% to $5 billion. In contrast, volume on Polymarket’s international platform declined 26% to $7.9 billion.

Combined volume across the two Polymarket businesses fell from about $14 billion in June to $12.9 billion in July. The U.S. platform therefore gained activity without fully offsetting the drop recorded by the international exchange.

Polymarket US opened more widely to eligible U.S. users after removing its initial app waitlist in May. The CFTC lists QCX, operating as Polymarket US, as a designated contract market. Kalshi has held the same federal designation since November 2020.

The opposing volume trends are consistent with some demand shifting toward Polymarket’s regulated U.S. exchange. However, monthly totals cannot prove that individual traders moved between the two platforms.

Rutgers University statistician Harry Crane previously estimated that about 30% of Polymarket’s offshore volume could originate from U.S. users. His wider estimated range was 19% to 48%. Crane stressed that blockchain transactions do not reveal traders’ locations, making those figures indirect estimates rather than verified customer data.

World Cup trading boosted volume before activity cooled

The FIFA World Cup, which ran from June 11 through July 19, provided a large group of frequently settling contracts. Kalshi’s market on the final between Spain and Argentina recorded approximately $1.89 billion in volume. Spain won the match 1–0.

Chainalysis separately estimated that World Cup-related blockchain prediction markets generated $20 billion from January through the tournament’s conclusion. About 400,000 wallets produced $5.7 billion during the five-week competition, while World Cup markets represented approximately 63% of prediction-market activity during that period.

Those figures are not directly comparable with the $50.6 billion monthly total. Chainalysis examined on-chain markets, while The Block’s dataset combines centralized Kalshi activity with Polymarket’s international and U.S. venues.

As crypto.news previously reported, Chainalysis also found that activity exceeded $300 million on the day of the final. Its $20 billion estimate included qualifying and pre-tournament contracts beginning in January, rather than trading conducted only during the tournament.

Open interest across Kalshi and the two Polymarket platforms fell from around $2 billion near the start of July to approximately $1.2 billion by month-end. The decline shows that many positions settled or closed as the tournament ended, even though total monthly turnover reached a record. Earlier weekly data had already shown sports activity retreating from its early-July peak.

U.S. court fights could shape August activity

The platforms reached the volume record while facing conflicting decisions over whether federal derivatives regulation blocks state gambling enforcement.

On July 31, New York sued Kalshi and accused it of running an “illegal, unlicensed gambling operation.” The state is seeking an order stopping the platform from offering unlicensed event contracts, along with fines, forfeiture and customer restitution. Those claims remain allegations and have not produced a final judgment.

Four days earlier, a Minnesota federal judge temporarily stopped the state from enforcing its prediction-market law against Kalshi and Polymarket US. The court found that the platforms were likely to succeed on part of their federal-preemption case. However, the judge warned that not every event contract necessarily qualifies as a federally regulated swap and that any permanent order could be narrower.

In related coverage, crypto.news reported that the Minnesota injunction allows both platforms to continue operating while the underlying cases proceed. The ruling did not settle whether states can regulate sports or entertainment contracts that fall outside the federal swap definition.

August data will provide the first full-month test without the World Cup. The next question is whether sports, politics and economic contracts can preserve July’s trading pace while the New York and Minnesota cases move through court.

If you’ve been tracking crypto markets, you’ve likely seen analysts flag bitcoin’s BTC$62,731.27 200-week moving average (200W MA) as a key inflection line where the broader trend can turn decisively higher. This line represents bitcoin’s average closing price over roughly four years.

Strategy is now tracking the same indicator, along with bitcoin’s premium (or discount) to that average. The firm’s Founder, Michael Saylor, announced it on X on Sunday, reinforcing the long-term average as a pivotal level for traders and investors alike.

“We’re now tracking Bitcoin’s 200-week moving average and its premium to that level on http://Strategy.com. Since the 200W MA became available, Bitcoin has traded above it 92% of the time. Today, it sits almost exactly on the line,” Saylor said Sunday on X.

However, in the hours since the post, prices have come under pressure, likely over concerns about a delay in the passage of the long-awaited Clarity Act, which is expected to unlock a significant institutional bid for digital assets. According to reports, the Senate did not list the Clarity Act in Monday’s agenda.