EDX Markets, a cryptocurrency exchange focused on institutional investors, has raised $76 million in a Series C funding round led by Japan’s SBI Holdings, marking one of the larger funding rounds this year for crypto market infrastructure as institutional adoption continues to expand.

The company said Monday it will use the proceeds to expand its spot trading, clearing and settlement services, develop new products and grow internationally. EDX operates a US-focused institutional spot exchange and a Singapore-based perpetual futures venue for eligible non-US institutional clients.

The latest round builds on previous backing from traditional financial companies, including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Virtu Financial and Charles Schwab, highlighting continued investor appetite for institutional crypto infrastructure despite a slower venture funding market.

Source: EDX Markets

EDX has quietly expanded its institutional footprint over the past year. In May, Ripple Prime integrated with the exchange, allowing institutional clients to access EDX’s spot and perpetual futures liquidity through Ripple’s prime brokerage platform, with the companies also planning to support RLUSD as a settlement and collateral asset.

The exchange has processed as much as $685 million in daily trading volume, underscoring growing demand for institutional crypto trading venues. 

Related: Ripple co-founder backs venture launched by US senator’s son: Report

Crypto infrastructure continues to attract capital despite bear market conditions

The latest funding round reflects continued investor interest in institutional crypto infrastructure, even as digital asset trading volumes have softened and venture funding remains below the industry’s 2021 peak. 

Investors have increasingly backed companies building trading, payments and settlement infrastructure, betting that institutional adoption will continue to expand as the US regulatory environment becomes more accommodating.

San Francisco-based Framework Ventures, an early investor in several crypto startups, recently raised $400 million for a new fund targeting frontier technologies, including blockchain networks and decentralized finance, according to Fortune.

Other crypto infrastructure startups have also secured fresh capital. Fomo, a crypto trading startup focused on cross-chain trading, recently raised $75 million at a $550 million valuation. Meanwhile, Trace Finance, a startup building stablecoin-based cross-border payment and settlement infrastructure for businesses, raised $32 million to expand its platform.

Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves

A decentralized exchange swap worth $2.01 million ended in a steep loss for one trader after a liquidity router routed the trade through a thin market, enabling an Ethereum block builder to capture profits from a same-block arbitrage. According to GoPlus Security, the order effectively turned into a “backrun extraction” rather than a fair swap outcome—one that left the victim with only about $14,500 in the resulting tokens.

The episode highlights how maximal extractable value (MEV) activity and routing mechanics can combine to produce outsized losses when trades are executed through low-liquidity pools. It also underscores a practical lesson being shared in the community: users should review the transaction route before signing DEX actions, not just confirm the trade.

Key takeaways

• A $2.01 million ETH swap on a DEX resulted in a near-total value drop, landing at roughly $14,500 after execution via a low-liquidity pool.
• GoPlus Security described the event as same-block backrun extraction, not a conventional “sandwich” attack.
• Titan Builder was identified as the largest beneficiary, receiving about $1.8 million as a builder reward from the transaction.
• The victim’s route involved routing into an AVAIL/WETH pool that executed at around 120x the later sell price, enabling an imbalance to be monetized.
• Traders are being urged to verify swap routes before confirming, since clicking through without inspecting routing can lead to irreversible execution outcomes.

A swap that was rerouted into a low-liquidity trap

GoPlus Security said the trader swapped 1,126.44 ETH on Monday at 1:59 am UTC but received only 5,776 Lighter (LIT) tokens. The security firm framed the result as a “textbook case of same-block backrun extraction,” where the trade’s execution path created an exploitable price discrepancy within the same block.

In the assessment, this was not portrayed as a classic sandwich attack. Instead, the core mechanic was that a router directed the swap through a pool with insufficient depth, allowing another actor—working with block-building capabilities—to profit from the temporary mispricing and the order’s same-block lifecycle.

The incident was publicly discussed via on-chain analysis referenced in earlier community posts, including Lookonchain, and GoPlus’s commentary identifying the nature of the extraction.

How the route imbalance drove a ~99% loss

GoPlus Security’s breakdown points to the swap’s intermediate routing. The firm said the victim’s transaction routed roughly 1,117 ETH into a low-liquidity AVAIL/WETH pool on Uniswap v3. Once executed, the swap price was reportedly around 120 times higher than what the received AVAIL tokens could later be sold for.

That pricing mismatch becomes a leverage point when a trade is executed in a way that creates a temporary window for extraction. After the trader received nearly 6.67 million AVAIL tokens at an inflated price, the router involved—identified by GoPlus as “0x router”—reportedly sold a small amount of externally sourced AVAIL back into the same pool. The purpose, according to GoPlus, was to extract approximately 1,072 WETH before paying out 1,018 ETH, worth about $1.8 million, to Titan as a builder reward.

After these internal steps, the AVAIL was swapped for LIT tokens valued at roughly $14,200. That translated to a reported 99.3% loss for the trader, based on the amounts described in GoPlus Security’s analysis.

For users, the key takeaway is that the harm didn’t come from a smart contract “hack” in the typical sense. It came from execution conditions—specifically, routing into a pool where trade size relative to liquidity could severely distort outcomes, while MEV-aware infrastructure could monetize that distortion before the victim can unwind.

Why this is more than “just a bad swap”: MEV and routing mechanics

The episode fits a broader pattern in decentralized trading: as long as block builders can influence transaction ordering and routing can route through multiple liquidity venues, the same block can contain both the victim’s swap and the counter-trade needed to extract advantage from temporary imbalances.

The article’s framing also connects the event to ongoing concerns about MEV bots and liquidity routers atop a landscape that already faces risks from scams and exploits. While the details here are specific, the implication is general—traders may believe they are placing a straightforward order, but routing behavior and transaction ordering can turn the execution into a target.

From an investor or trader perspective, this means diligence has to extend beyond token and protocol selection. Execution parameters—including route, intermediary hops, and whether a swap is likely to interact with thin liquidity—can determine whether the trade results in the expected price or in an unfavorable extraction scenario.

Community warning: read the route before you click confirm

In response to incidents like this, crypto trader Ruslan Khairullin advised that traders should read the transaction route before signing the transaction. He described the event as what happens when someone “clicked confirm faster than you read the route,” calling it a “painful lesson” after the fact.

This kind of guidance is practical because it targets the behavioral failure mode: users often focus on the expected output shown by interfaces while ignoring what the route actually does under the hood. In low-liquidity conditions, the route’s intermediate steps can matter as much as—if not more than—the end pair.

Where the mechanics are especially risky is when routing can pull a large trade into a pool with limited depth, because the price impact can be severe enough to create an exploitable imbalance. If the resulting swap path lets MEV-capable actors profit within the same block, victims may not have a straightforward opportunity to recover at a reasonable price.

Titan Builder’s role and what to watch next

GoPlus Security identified Titan Builder as the biggest beneficiary, stating it received about $1.8 million from the transaction as a builder reward. Cointelegraph reported that it reached out to Titan but did not receive an immediate response. Separately, DefiLlama data shows Titan has made $112.6 million in revenue from block building services this year.

The firm’s profitability is not limited to this case. Cointelegraph noted that Titan’s biggest day this year came in March, when it extracted around $34 million in arbitrage profit from a MEV bot incident involving the CoW Protocol.

For market participants, the immediate question is not whether these mechanics exist—they do—but how often they are triggered by routing into low-liquidity pools and whether future tooling will make route inspection easier for ordinary users. The next developments to watch are whether DEX interfaces or aggregators tighten route transparency by default and whether users get better warnings when a trade path passes through thin liquidity that could be targeted by same-block extraction.

Solana has extended its July rally after record on-chain activity, tokenized stock issuance, and steady ETF inflows revived bullish sentiment.

According to data from crypto.news, Solana (SOL) extended its recovery this week, gaining roughly 11% over several sessions to trade around $81 after briefly reclaiming the $82 level. The rally accelerated as institutional adoption on the network continued to expand, led by Securitize tokenizing $295 million worth of New York Stock Exchange-listed common stock on Solana following its SPAC debut.

The development arrived alongside the launch of the Solana Foundation’s Governance Proposals framework, introducing formal on-chain validator voting and adding another utility milestone for the ecosystem.

Network activity has expanded at the same time. Solana processed more than one billion weekly non-vote transactions for the first time, while tokenized asset spot volume reached an all-time quarterly high of $5.77 billion, reinforcing the network’s growing role in real-world asset issuance.

Institutional demand also remained positive, with spot Solana ETFs recording approximately $5.75 million in net inflows even as several other crypto investment products experienced persistent capital outflows.

Technical structure has shifted back in favor of buyers

The daily chart shows Solana recovering from its June selloff after buyers defended the long-term support zone near $73, close to the 0.786 Fibonacci retracement level referenced by many traders during last month’s decline. Price has now reclaimed the previous breakdown area around $80.14 and is attempting to convert it into support while approaching horizontal resistance near $83.13.

Momentum indicators have improved alongside the rebound. The daily RSI has climbed above 62 after recovering from oversold conditions in June, while the Supertrend indicator has remained bullish with dynamic support near $69.6. A successful close above $83 could expose the next resistance around $90, whereas failure to hold above $80 may invite another test of the $75.4 support region.

Shorter-term charts also favor bulls. On the 4-hour timeframe, SOL continues trading above its 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-period moving averages, with the 20 SMA near $81.4 providing immediate dynamic support. The moving average alignment remains constructive even as price has entered a brief consolidation after last week’s sharp advance. The Aroon indicator still favors buyers, although the slight decline in Aroon Up suggests momentum has slowed while the market waits for another catalyst.

Derivatives positioning presents a similar picture. CoinGlass liquidation heatmaps show one of the largest nearby short liquidation clusters sitting around the $84 level. A decisive move through that zone could trigger forced short covering and accelerate upside toward the upper liquidity pocket near $87. On the downside, dense long liquidation levels have accumulated between $78 and $79, making that area an important support if profit-taking intensifies.

Analysts target triple-digit prices while key resistance remains intact

Market participants have also become more optimistic after Solana strengthened against Bitcoin. Commenting on the latest structure, analyst Michaël van de Poppe wrote that SOL “is still in an uptrend here,” adding that it has broken its year-long downtrend versus Bitcoin.

“I don’t think that we’ll stall, I do think that we’ll continue to see strength happening here,” he wrote, adding that he would buy lower levels if a deeper correction develops before concluding that “it’s a matter of time until $SOL regains the $100+ levels.”

Despite the improving technical backdrop, Solana remains roughly 74% below its all-time high near $293 and more than 40% lower year to date. Macro uncertainty surrounding future Federal Reserve policy, geopolitical risks, and relatively thin crypto spot liquidity continues to limit aggressive positioning. Until bulls establish sustained closes above the $90 and $100 resistance zones, the current recovery is likely to remain vulnerable to renewed selling pressure despite the network’s strengthening institutional fundamentals.

Yield Guild Games (YGG) has moved to shut down its crypto game publishing arm, YGG Play, while cutting 35 employees and redirecting resources toward AI-focused datasets. The restructuring comes as the company cites a prolonged downturn in crypto markets alongside a difficult environment for video game publishing.

In an update posted Monday, YGG said it is sunsetting the web-based publishing activities under YGG Play because it no longer expects consumer demand in crypto gaming or the broader Web3 publishing market to recover “sufficiently” in the near term. The company also attributed the shift to how a major market crash on Oct. 10 “fundamentally altered retail market psychology.”

Key takeaways

• Yield Guild Games is sunsetting YGG Play, ending its publishing website, web app experience, and community rewards support.
• The company will lay off 35 employees, pointing to weak crypto consumer conditions and an unsustainable publishing market.
• YGG says the restructure extends its operating runway to four years, citing $20.6 million in treasury funds as of the end of the first quarter.
• Instead of publishing games, YGG plans to build “AI data economy” pipelines using behavioral datasets generated by its global community through gameplay.

Sunsetting YGG Play amid market stress

According to YGG’s announcement, the decision is driven less by product performance and more by the economics of Web3 game publishing under current conditions. The company said YGG Play “cannot be commercially sustainable,” blaming both a continued crypto market slump and what it called a “similarly brutal” video game publishing landscape.

In a brief statement included with the update, YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon framed the move as a response to market realities. She said sunsetting YGG Play is a “market decision, not a product decision,” adding that she was “proud of what this team achieved under such tough conditions.”

As part of the shutdown, YGG said it will close the YGG Play website, discontinue its web app used to launch games, and end marketing support for third-party titles. That includes taking down specific games listed as browser-based offerings, while other Web3 versions are set to remain accessible.

What ends—and what stays live

YGG said it will remove LOL Land, a browser game described as a “game in the style of a board game,” and also take down the puzzle game Waifu Sweeper.

However, YGG indicated that Web3 versions of two other titles would continue as normal. Those are the baseball game GIGACHADBAT and the battle game Ragnarok Breaker. The company’s update suggests that it will focus on maintaining certain blockchain-based game experiences while stopping the publishing and support layer that sits behind YGG Play’s broader web infrastructure.

The company also said it would end marketing support for third-party games distributed through YGG Play, signaling that the restructure is not limited to internal game development but also affects the broader publishing and promotion function.

From publishing to AI training data pipelines

While sunsetting YGG Play, Yield Guild Games says it is pivoting toward “the AI data economy.” The company’s plan is to use its community to create datasets designed to help train AI systems.

YGG stated it will initially build a pipeline for gaming datasets and that its global community “can generate these behavioral datasets just by playing.” In other words, rather than monetizing publishing as a standalone activity, YGG is positioning gameplay behavior as a raw input for AI model training.

The company also argued that games create complex, real-time decision-making environments. In YGG’s framing, video game players continually make split-second choices, often involving “human irrationality and emergent behavior,” which it says AI networks could benefit from learning.

This shift reframes YGG’s role in the Web3 ecosystem: from distributing and promoting games to contributing structured behavioral information that can support AI development.

Runway extended, layoffs align with broader crypto job cuts

YGG said the sunsetting of YGG Play and the associated restructuring will extend its operating runway to four years. The company added that it held $20.6 million in treasury as of the end of the first quarter.

The layoffs at YGG are part of a wider wave of workforce reductions across the crypto sector. Data cited in the reporting shows that crypto companies have cut more than 5,000 jobs this year, with many employers citing difficult market conditions and a redirection of budgets toward artificial intelligence initiatives.

Examples highlighted include Block Inc.’s large February layoff round in which it cut 4,000 staff, roughly half its workforce at the time, according to earlier coverage from Cointelegraph. BitGo later laid off about 15% of staff (estimated at 90 people), while Robinhood reportedly reduced its workforce by 10%. Earlier in the year, Kraken said it cut 150 roles and Coinbase reduced 700 employees, with Gemini also cutting 200 employees in February and Crypto.com reducing about 180 staff the following month—again citing the role of AI in shaping staffing priorities.

For investors and builders, the pattern suggests companies are not only tightening costs, but also changing what they view as the most durable growth lever. In YGG’s case, that lever is shifting from Web3 entertainment publishing toward data production tied to AI training—an approach that may be less dependent on immediate consumer spending on new crypto game launches.

What remains to be seen is how YGG will translate community gameplay into usable datasets in practice, and whether its AI data direction can generate sustainable revenue or partnerships at scale. Readers should watch for details on the pipeline, how YGG measures dataset quality and value, and which of its current game experiences remain central to that data strategy as the YGG Play transition continues.

Institutional-focused crypto exchange operator EDX Markets has raised $76 million in a Series C funding round led by Japan’s SBI Holdings, the company announced Monday. The raise underlines sustained institutional demand for regulated market infrastructure even as broader venture activity in digital assets remains more subdued than it was during the 2021 boom.

EDX said it plans to use the proceeds to expand its spot trading, clearing, and settlement offerings, introduce new products, and increase its international presence. The exchange runs a US-based institutional spot venue and a Singapore-based perpetual futures platform designed for eligible non-US institutional clients.

Key takeaways

• EDX Markets secured $76 million in a Series C round led by SBI Holdings, supporting growth of its institutional spot, clearing, and settlement services.
• The company operates both a US institutional spot exchange and a Singapore perpetual futures venue, targeting different segments of global institutions.
• EDX’s funding momentum comes despite softer digital asset trading volumes and a still-cautious venture market versus 2021 levels.
• Backers already include major traditional finance names such as Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Virtu Financial, and Charles Schwab.
• Recent partnerships, including Ripple Prime integration, point to expanding access to EDX liquidity through institutional prime brokerage channels.

Why EDX’s Series C matters for institutions

Large funding rounds in crypto are often tightly linked to market participation and infrastructure needs. In EDX’s case, the focus is on the plumbing that institutional desks typically require—order execution, custody-adjacent operational workflows, and settlement and clearing processes—rather than consumer-facing products.

EDX’s latest round arrives during a period when crypto trading activity has cooled from its earlier highs and venture funding remains below the industry’s 2021 peak. Even so, the investment signal remains clear: capital continues to flow toward entities that can support institutional participation as regulation, market structure, and compliance practices evolve in the US.

EDX also emphasizes that it is expanding beyond a single offering. By pairing spot trading growth with clearing and settlement capability, the company is positioning itself as a more complete venue for institutions that need end-to-end execution and post-trade processing.

Building on existing investor support

EDX said the Series C follows previous investment from traditional financial firms, including Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Virtu Financial, and Charles Schwab. That roster is notable because it reflects ongoing interest from established market participants in crypto infrastructure, even when venture capital overall is less aggressive.

The company’s backers also highlight a broader shift in how institutions approach crypto. Instead of directly integrating into fragmented trading ecosystems, larger players often prefer venues designed around institutional workflows—liquidity access, operational readiness, and risk controls that can be more straightforward to integrate into existing systems.

Partnership-driven expansion and liquidity access

EDX has also expanded its institutional footprint over the past year through strategic integrations. In May, Ripple Prime integrated with EDX, enabling institutional clients to access EDX’s spot and perpetual futures liquidity via Ripple’s prime brokerage platform.

According to EDX’s announcement, the partnership also includes plans to support RLUSD as a settlement and collateral asset. The development matters because settlement and collateral treatment can be a decisive operational variable for institutions: it affects capital efficiency, transaction processing, and the overall complexity of moving value through market infrastructure.

EDX said it can process as much as $685 million in daily trading volume, suggesting that demand for institutional-grade execution venues remains intact even if overall market activity is less frenzied than in prior cycles.

For readers tracking institutional adoption, the key question is whether these integrations lead to sustained growth in client onboarding and deeper liquidity rather than only incremental access through partners. EDX’s strategy appears aimed at embedding itself into prime brokerage distribution pathways—an approach that can reduce friction for institutions that already rely on established counterparties for connectivity and compliance.

Institutional infrastructure still attracts capital

EDX’s Series C is part of a wider pattern: investors continue to fund companies building trading, payments, and settlement infrastructure despite a less bullish risk appetite than in 2021.

As one comparison point, Fortune reported that San Francisco-based Framework Ventures recently raised $400 million for a new fund targeting frontier technologies including blockchain networks and decentralized finance. Other infrastructure-adjacent funding also continued during the same general period referenced in the article, including:

• Fomo, a cross-chain trading-focused startup, raised $75 million at a $550 million valuation, according to Cointelegraph’s coverage.
• Trace Finance, which builds stablecoin-based cross-border payment and settlement infrastructure for businesses, raised $32 million to expand its platform, according to Cointelegraph’s coverage.

Taken together, these moves suggest that while crypto venture funding may be slower than the peak era, investors are still willing to place significant bets on infrastructure that can serve institutional requirements—especially where regulation and operational design reduce uncertainty for larger counterparties.

Looking ahead, investors should watch whether EDX’s expansion plans translate into measurable increases in new institutional clients, sustained trading volumes, and broader settlement/collateral support through partnerships like Ripple Prime. The funding itself is only one milestone; the next test is whether institutional demand continues to deepen enough to justify the scale-up of clearing, settlement, and product development.

AEREDIUM has joined the Lava Tokenization Sandbox with Lava Foundation and BHL to explore future infrastructure models for tokenized assets.

AEREDIUM, the blockchain infrastructure company building the security and settlement layer for tokenized assets, today announced that it has joined the Lava Tokenization Sandbox alongside Lava Foundation and Bretagne Holding Limited (BHL). Together, the companies will explore how future tokenized asset infrastructure may interact with both traditional and digital financial systems, using Alba Bay, a large-scale master-planned development in the Dominican Republic, as a real-world innovation framework through which future infrastructure models can be evaluated.

As real-world asset (RWA) tokenization accelerates, one challenge continues to slow institutional adoption: payments and settlement. Creating a token is relatively straightforward. Enabling investors to purchase tokenized assets using the currency and payment method they already hold, while allowing developers to receive secure, compliant settlement without managing fragmented digital asset treasuries, remains one of the industry’s biggest infrastructure gaps.

The collaborative sandbox initiative was designed to explore how these challenges may eventually be addressed through emerging infrastructure.

As part of the initiative, participants are exploring potential real-world applications using Alba Bay as one of several reference environments for evaluating future infrastructure models. Unlike conventional tokenization pilots, the sandbox is built around a real, capital-backed development, allowing participants to test tokenization, payments, and settlement under real-world conditions rather than in isolated blockchain environments.

Within the sandbox, AEREDIUM is testing payment-agnostic settlement infrastructure designed to simplify how tokenized real estate is purchased while removing operational complexity for developers.

Each partner contributes a distinct layer to the initiative.

Bretagne Holding Limited contributes development expertise and provides a real-world project framework through which future innovation models can be evaluated.

Lava Network provides the decentralized RPC and API infrastructure that powers blockchain connectivity without a single point of failure.

AEREDIUM provides payment and settlement infrastructure that allows future market participants to interact with tokenized asset infrastructure using a wide range of payment methods, including bank transfers, payment cards, stablecoins, or digital assets across multiple blockchain networks. Through atomic settlement, the platform converts the buyer’s payment into the asset the developer chooses to receive, delivering a single, secure, and auditable transaction across blockchain networks, banking systems, and enterprise platforms.

For developers, this removes one of the biggest operational barriers to adopting tokenized assets. Rather than managing fragmented treasuries across multiple chains and digital assets, developers receive clean settlement while maintaining a verifiable payment trail and reducing the operational and compliance complexity associated with accepting digital asset payments.

Beyond settlement, AEREDIUM’s infrastructure combines institutional-grade cryptographic security, proof-of-reserve verification, verifiable payment trails, and atomic settlement into a unified platform for tokenized assets. The company has filed three U.S. patent applications covering core components of its security architecture, including its patent-pending AERKey technology, and is developing TRUSTCORE, a post-quantum security framework designed to strengthen future digital asset infrastructure.

“We joined the sandbox to solve one of the biggest obstacles preventing tokenized assets from reaching institutional adoption: payments,” said Albert Dadon, Founder and CEO of AEREDIUM. “A buyer should be able to pay with any currency, on any rail, while the developer receives secure, auditable settlement in the asset they choose. Developers shouldn’t have to manage fragmented treasuries or carry the compliance burden that comes with accepting multiple digital assets. That’s exactly what we’re testing through this initiative.”

“At BHL, we believe emerging technologies will continue transforming how large-scale development projects are financed and accessed globally. Through this exploratory initiative, we are interested in understanding how future innovation may improve efficiency, transparency, and accessibility within the broader real estate ecosystem,” said Yossi Abadi, Partner and CEO at Bretagne Holding Limited.

“Tokenized assets are only as reliable as the infrastructure beneath them,” said Nimrod Knoller, Head of Foundation at Lava Foundation. “By combining decentralized infrastructure, settlement innovation, and real-world development perspectives, we are exploring what future institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure may look like.”

The partners believe the initiative represents the next phase of RWA adoption. While the first generation of tokenization focused on bringing assets onchain, the next will depend on infrastructure that makes tokenized assets as easy to buy, pay for, and settle as traditional financial products.

Through the Lava Tokenization Sandbox, led by Lava Foundation and BHL, AEREDIUM aims to demonstrate how payment-agnostic settlement can remove one of the final infrastructure barriers to institutional-scale adoption of real-world assets.

The partners believe the initiative shifts the RWA conversation from token issuance toward the infrastructure that real ownership actually needs: secure settlement, verifiable payments, and a buying experience that works with the money people already hold.

This initiative is exploratory in nature and is intended solely for evaluating potential future infrastructure models and technological interoperability. No public offering, sale of securities, token issuance, or formal tokenization structure is currently being launched through this collaboration.

Key Highlights

• Amazon is pursuing a $25 billion bond offering structured across eight tranches, featuring one floating-rate option and seven fixed-rate securities.
• Funds raised will support general corporate objectives, with emphasis on AI infrastructure development, capital investments, and refinancing existing obligations.
• Corporate debt markets are experiencing historically favorable conditions, with average spreads approaching record lows not seen in nearly three decades.
• Amazon’s total 2026 bond issuance now exceeds $72 billion, incorporating a $37 billion U.S. offering from March and approximately C$14 billion in Canadian bonds from June.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on AMZN shares, with an average target of $312.79 representing significant upside from the current $247.03 level.

Amazon (AMZN) is returning to debt markets with another substantial capital raise. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant submitted a 424B5 filing Tuesday, detailing plans for a minimum $25 billion bond sale structured across eight separate tranches—comprising one floating-rate note and seven fixed-rate securities.

Amazon.com, Inc., AMZN

Shares of AMZN closed at $247.03 on Tuesday, gaining $2.87 during the session, though remaining considerably below the 52-week peak of $278.56.

This offering represents the latest chapter in an aggressive debt-raising campaign. Amazon secured $37 billion via a U.S. bond sale during March, subsequently adding approximately C$14 billion through Canadian dollar-denominated bonds last month. With Tuesday’s announcement, the company’s 2026 debt issuance surpasses $72 billion.

The strategic timing appears calculated. Corporate bond spreads—representing the additional yield investors demand above U.S. Treasury rates—reached 73 basis points on June 15, marking the tightest levels since June 1998. In an environment where capital costs hit generational lows, aggressive borrowing makes financial sense.

Amazon indicates the capital will address “general corporate purposes,” encompassing business investments, capital expenditure programs, and refinancing maturing obligations. The underlying message is clear: substantial AI infrastructure investments are planned.

Technology Sector Borrowing Surge

Amazon’s debt activity mirrors broader industry trends. Nvidia completed a $25 billion bond offering in June. Alphabet executed a ¥576.5 billion yen-denominated bond sale in May—establishing a record as the largest yen bond issuance by any foreign entity. Morgan Stanley research indicates approximately $236 billion in global debt was issued through May specifically for AI-related initiatives, representing more than quadruple the comparable 2025 period.

Morgan Stanley projects hyperscaler capital expenditure will exceed $1 trillion by 2027. Amazon clearly intends to secure substantial positioning within that forecast.

Institutional investment activity reflects continued confidence in AMZN. Matrix Asset Advisors expanded its position by 8.1% during Q1, acquiring 10,150 additional shares to reach 135,469 total units valued near $28.2 million. Several additional investment firms increased holdings in Q4, notably Arrowstreet Capital, which raised its stake by 21%. Institutional ownership collectively represents 72.2% of outstanding shares.

Analyst Perspectives and Price Targets

Wall Street sentiment toward Amazon remains decidedly bullish. Among 60 tracked analysts, 57 maintain Buy ratings while three hold neutral positions. The consensus price target stands at $312.79—approximately 27% above current trading levels.

Recent analyst actions include New Street Research elevating its target to $350, while Truist increased its objective to $320. Both firms maintained Buy recommendations.

Amazon’s latest quarterly results, released April 29, significantly exceeded market expectations. Earnings per share reached $2.78 versus consensus estimates of $1.63. Revenue totaled $181.52 billion, representing 16.6% year-over-year growth and surpassing projected $177.28 billion.

Technical indicators show the 50-day moving average at $254.57, positioned above the current $247.03 trading price. The 200-day moving average registers at $234.65.

Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, has won a $22 million arbitration award against former auditor Mazars USA and asked the Delaware Court of Chancery to enter judgment on the award, according to a letter published Tuesday by co-CEO Arjun Sethi.

Payward said Mazars withdrew from the exchange’s nearly completed 2022 audit despite finding no fraud, raising no concerns about management’s integrity and reporting no disagreements with the company.

“An audit is not a favor. It is oxygen,” Sethi wrote, arguing that independent audits are essential for obtaining banking services, licenses and other business relationships.

Sethi said Mazars’ resignation was part of what he described as Operation Chokepoint 2.0, a broader campaign that pressured banks, auditors and other institutions to cut ties with lawful crypto companies.

The letter cited a series of regulatory developments from 2023 as evidence supporting that claim. These included joint guidance from US banking regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s since-rescinded Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121 and the collapse of crypto-focused banking networks Silvergate SEN and Signature’s Signet.

Sethi also called on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, arguing that a comprehensive market structure framework would provide clearer rules for digital asset companies and reduce reliance on regulatory enforcement.

Related: Kraken lets traders use tokenized stocks as collateral for leveraged trades

Kraken executives reflect on auditor dispute

Kraken co-CEO Dave Ripley said on X Tuesday that “this story is worth surfacing despite its PTSD-inducing nature,” adding that “only a fraction of the stories from that era have ever been told.”

Ripley described the $22 million arbitration award as compensation for financial harm caused by what he called a coordinated campaign against the crypto industry.

Meanwhile, US regulators continue to address concerns around crypto-related debanking. In February, the Federal Reserve sought public feedback on a proposal to formally remove “reputation risk” from bank supervision, following its 2025 directive to stop pressuring banks to close customer accounts over reputational concerns. Critics said the move could help bring an end to Operation Chokepoint 2.0.

Source: Dave Ripley

Kraken was founded in 2011 and has been widely expected to pursue an initial public offering. In November 2025, the company said it had confidentially submitted a draft Form S-1 registration statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, it was reported in May that its public debut may not come until 2027, citing weaker crypto market conditions and the exchange’s ongoing cost-cutting efforts.

Magazine: China’s 107 Bitcoin memory thief, Bithumb CEO booked: Asia Express

MemeCore has surged more than 150% over the past week after recovering from a sharp selloff that erased more than 80% of its value in late June, with renewed buying driven by security updates and improving market sentiment.

According to the MemeCore team, the rebound followed a series of public clarifications addressing concerns that emerged after the token’s steep decline. The developers said the network had become the target of a coordinated campaign involving phishing websites and a fake project using the MemeCore name on another blockchain.

They also warned users about fraudulent airdrop pages impersonating official channels, drawing a distinction between the Layer-1 network and malicious copycat platforms.

Security updates helped restore confidence

Those statements came after MemeCore plunged to about $0.51 in late June from levels above $2.80, wiping out billions in market value within days. The collapse fueled speculation over insider activity and market manipulation, leaving traders reluctant to re-enter positions while uncertainty dominated sentiment.

As the development team responded to those concerns, buyers gradually returned. The recovery accelerated as traders viewed the clarification campaign as a sign that the project was actively addressing security risks rather than remaining silent during the crisis.

The rebound also gathered momentum in derivatives markets. After the violent selloff left the token deeply oversold, bearish traders were caught off guard when prices began climbing.

As MemeCore broke above resistance around $0.80 before clearing the $1.20 region, short sellers were forced to buy back positions, adding fuel to the rally. The token eventually reached a weekly high near $1.79 before easing into consolidation around $1.48.

Although early dip buyers locked in profits near the local top, selling pressure faded quickly enough for buyers to defend higher price levels. Instead of revisiting the June lows, MemeCore has so far maintained a sequence of higher lows, suggesting demand has remained active after the initial recovery.

Technical indicators point to stabilizing momentum

The 4-hour chart shows that the recovery has entered a consolidation phase rather than another sharp reversal. MemeCore is trading around $1.48 after holding above the $1.35-$1.40 support area, while immediate resistance remains near $1.60, followed by the recent swing high around $1.80.

Momentum indicators have also improved. On the 4-hour timeframe, the relative strength index has climbed to about 58, placing it above the neutral 50 level without entering overbought territory.

Meanwhile, the MACD histogram has turned positive, with the indicator approaching a bullish crossover, suggesting downside momentum has weakened following several days of sideways trading.

Even after the recent recovery, MemeCore remains well below its all-time high of $4.84, illustrating how much ground the token lost during June’s collapse. The rapid swing from a market capitalization below $700 million to roughly $1.9 billion within days also underscores how quickly liquidity and investor sentiment can change in smaller crypto assets.

Looking ahead, the next stage of the recovery will depend on activity beyond price action. Market participants are likely to watch whether MemeCore can expand on-chain usage, attract sustained capital inflows, and grow its ecosystem of decentralized applications.

Without continued network growth, the recent gains could face renewed pressure if crypto market volatility increases, while a decisive move above the $1.80 region would strengthen the case for another leg higher toward the $2.20 area.