Institutional crypto trading platform LMAX Group is working with Morgan Stanley (MS) and investment bank KBW, part of Stifel (SF), to evaluate strategic options, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The company is exploring a sale or public listing that could value the business at up to $5 billion, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

While all options remain on the table, including a sale, SPAC merger and IPOs in the U.S. or Europe, a Nasdaq listing is currently the preferred route, one of the people said.

The company is in no rush to go public as crypto markets remain weak, with its core foreign-exchange business providing insulation from the downturn, another person said.

A company spokesperson said LMAX declines to comment on speculation. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Stifel didn’t respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The London-based firm operates institutional trading venues for foreign exchange and digital assets, providing execution, liquidity and market infrastructure to banks, brokers, hedge funds and asset managers. Regulated by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, it is known for its agency execution model, transparent order books and low-latency trading infrastructure.

Connecting crypto to TradFi

Deal activity across the crypto sector has accelerated this year as exchanges, fintech companies and market infrastructure firms seek to strengthen their digital asset offerings and capture rising institutional demand.

Bitcoin’s quantum-computing threat is once again taking center stage among market watchers, with Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards arguing that developers could quickly relieve a major uncertainty if they publicly set out a practical roadmap for quantum-resistant upgrades.

In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Trade Secrets, Edwards said a clear timeline from the Bitcoin Core team—detailing rough steps and target milestones within “two or three months” and follow-through over the subsequent years—would likely be treated by markets as meaningful de-risking rather than distant theory.

Key takeaways

• Charles Edwards says Bitcoin’s response would likely be swift if developers publish a concrete quantum-hardening roadmap soon.
• He argues that the quantum risk is currently suppressing prices and is “more than priced in,” based on his own valuation framework.
• Edwards estimates the threat’s impact as part of a larger discount, while stressing that today’s pricing may change if timelines shift.
• He points to expert industry timelines for “Q Day” (the point quantum systems could reverse-engineer private keys) as underpinning his assumptions.

Why quantum risk remains a market-moving uncertainty

Edwards’ core concern is that sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually undermine the cryptographic assumptions that secure the Bitcoin network, potentially affecting how wallets protect private keys.

Within the broader Bitcoin community, the question of whether and how to modify Bitcoin to address quantum threats has become contentious. Some argue that major protocol changes could conflict with Bitcoin’s long-standing ethos of minimal, conservative alterations. Others believe quantum computers may be too far away to justify urgent changes—and warn that rushed “cures” could introduce new risks.

Edwards says the uncertainty has already affected investor sentiment. He also noted that large institutional participants have acknowledged long-term quantum risk. According to remarks referenced in the interview, BlackRock has pointed to quantum computing as a potential risk factor in materials for spot Bitcoin ETF investors.

A roadmap, not just debate, could change how markets price the threat

Edwards’ most direct claim is about timing and market psychology: he believes a credible and transparent development plan would be interpreted as a fast-moving improvement in Bitcoin’s risk profile.

He specifically described what he would consider “amazing news” for markets: if the Bitcoin Core team were to outline a roadmap within a couple of months, including rough steps and a multi-year delivery plan, then investors could re-rate the probability of worst-case scenarios.

Edwards added that such clarity could “discount a lot of the risk pretty much overnight,” and he even floated a price-response expectation of “double digits” in that scenario. For him, the quantum question is “on the back burner” and, to date, the Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) addressing the issue are “not really” a genuine solution.

That framing matters because it positions the quantum debate not only as a technical challenge, but as a communications and execution problem. In Edwards’ view, markets have been discounting risk without a concrete mitigation pathway visible to the public—so the moment that pathway becomes legible, repricing could follow.

How Edwards’ valuation links quantum timelines to “Q Day”

Edwards also offered a quantitative perspective on how he sees Bitcoin priced relative to his notion of “fair value.” He estimated that Bitcoin is currently around 40% below fair value when measured against energy value, and he attributed roughly a 30% discount specifically to quantum risk. On that basis, he argued the risk is “more than priced in.”

He stressed that his conclusion is conditional on information available today, rather than unknown future developments. If quantum timelines accelerate or new information shifts expectations about the arrival of “Q Day,” the discount could widen; if mitigation becomes clearer, it could narrow.

In the interview, Edwards said his model is based on timelines discussed by leading quantum computing companies and researchers for when quantum systems could reach the point where attackers might reverse-engineer private keys from public keys. He suggested that this window sits in the “four to five year range, give or take, a few years.”

He further argued that even after the threat window arrives, Bitcoin would still need time to design and implement an effective solution. Edwards pointed to BIP-360 author Ethan Heilman’s view that the development and rollout of a fix could take years.

“If we’re gonna get into maths, it’s pretty simple; it is just an aggregation of those expert opinions. So it’s based on that, and based on the fact that there’s currently no solution for Bitcoin.”

Edwards said the key asymmetry is that while investors have already priced in the quantum risk “today,” the situation could still deteriorate—or improve—depending on whether there is a credible mitigation plan and how external quantum roadmaps evolve.

He also described the resulting distribution of outcomes as “skewed more probabilistically to the upside” from the current level, precisely because a mitigation roadmap would reduce uncertainty that is currently weighing on sentiment.

What other chains’ progress means for Bitcoin

The interview also tied Bitcoin’s preparation to broader sector momentum. Edwards cited that Ethereum is scheduled to complete its post-quantum overhaul by 2029, which he said could bring renewed attention to whether Bitcoin has done enough by then.

For investors, the practical takeaway is not that Bitcoin must copy another network’s approach, but that other ecosystems’ timelines can shift market expectations. When one major platform moves toward quantum-resistance on a defined schedule, it can raise the question of whether Bitcoin is lagging—or simply taking a different engineering path.

As of the time Edwards discussed these claims in the interview, Bitcoin was trading around $65,270, and he compared that to its October all-time highs of about $126,100—underscoring how much of the asset’s prior peak remains unrecovered.

Going forward, the market will likely watch two things closely: whether Bitcoin Core and related development groups publish a concrete, milestone-based plan for quantum-hardening, and whether external quantum roadmaps shift expectations about when “Q Day” could realistically arrive. Until then, Edwards’ argument suggests Bitcoin may continue to carry a quantifiable discount tied to uncertainty—even as the debate over how to preserve Bitcoin’s ethos continues.

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Poised to become the world’s most prominent “real humans’ network”, the project previously known as Worldcoin aims to establish an identity layer to distinguish unique individuals from automated bots. The protocol relies on custom hardware, known as an Orb, to issue credentials without compromising user privacy.

“World’s technology and proof of human and variations are among the most important building blocks to secure and verify interactions in an increasingly digital driven world,” said Tom Lee, an Eightco Holdings board member who also serves as the chairman of Bitmine, in a statement.

World said the investment comes as it shifts from building the network to scaling the utility.

To date, more than 39 million people have joined the World Network, with more than 18 million humans verified by an Orb, World said in the funding announcement press release. The network has utilized more than 475 million World ID proofs since its launch, scaling its capacity alongside the rollout of its updated, enterprise-ready infrastructure, it added.

World, the Sam Altman-backed digital identity project, unveiled in April what it called its most significant upgrade yet to World ID, positioning the system as “full-stack proof of human” infrastructure aimed at consumers, enterprises and AI agents.

This negotiation over the government conflict-of-interest piece had delayed progress on the Clarity Act for months — now potentially beyond the window in which it could most easily become law in 2026. This week’s release of the final working draft of Clarity included the first ethics language openly circulated, so Democrats are now responding — many of them with disdain.

“Donald Trump raked in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, and this bill does nothing to prevent him from vacuuming up his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is her party’s ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, referring to the crypto earnings Trump disclosed for 2025. She said the president will “simply ignore the law” as it’s proposed.

So what does the language do? It temporarily bans senior government officials (including the president, vice president, members of Congress and federal judges) from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies.

However, it excuses activity in the past, and there are plenty of crypto business pursuits that don’t check the boxes of issuance or sponsorship, so it’s unlikely Trump would be forced to abandon some of his most prominent ties, such as his ownership stake in World Liberty Financial. He might have to create some legal distance for himself, such as placing certain investments in trusts that he can’t access directly.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell more than 1.6% on Friday as its latest price correction accelerated after Wall Street opened.

Key points:

• Bitcoin price downside pressure mounts on the back of multiple macro headwinds.
• US bond yields further a hawkish pivot in Fed interest-rate expectations.
• BTC price analysis sees a Binance “plunge protection team” attempting to shore up the market.

Analysis warns US bond yields now “well above” target

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD approaching $64,000 as bulls struggled to preserve recent gains.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic headwinds weighed on crypto markets as appetite for risk assets faded.

Trading firm Mosaic Asset Company said rising US Treasury yields were a key driver of the sell-off.

“Massive moves are underway across the yield curve despite a weaker than expected consumer inflation report,” it wrote, referring to the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report.

Mosaic said the two-year yield was particularly prone to influence the outlook on Federal Reserve interest-rate changes, with risk assets suffering as a result of additional hikes.

“The 2-year yield that tends to lead fed funds is now at 4.31% and sits well above the Federal Reserve’s target range,” it continued.

US two-year Treasury yield one-week chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed that markets still expected the Fed to leave rates unchanged next week, while pricing in a 0.25% hike in September as one of two increases expected before the end of 2026.

Mosaic added that those expectations were “placing downward pressure on stock indexes.”

Fed target-rate probability comparison for September FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group

Bitcoin price “plunge protection team” returns

In ongoing market monitoring, crypto trader Killa said BTC was repeating a familiar short-term trading pattern.

Related: BTC supply in profit eyes 60%, but analysis hints recovery may ‘roll back over’

“Textbook setup on $BTC. Seen this occur numerous times,” they said on X, repeating a post from early June in which they identified a “plunge protection team” active on the largest crypto exchange Binance.

A chart accompanying the post showed layers of bid liquidity below the spot price, with its owners potentially not planning for the positions to be filled.

BTC/USDT chart with order-book liquidity data. Source: Killa on X.com

Analytics account Wealthmanager focused on $64,000, warning that a break below that level would “invalidate” the low-timeframe market structure.

Trader and analyst Rekt Capital, meanwhile, doubled down on the theory that BTC/USD was repeating behavior from its 2022 bear market, rejecting from the 50-month exponential moving average (EMA) at $65,950.

“Bitcoin hasn’t really offered any evidence to the contrary. Still following 2022 historical tendencies,” he summarized.

BTC/USD one-month chart with 21, 50EMA. Source: Rekt Capital on X.com

Crypto influencer and party animal Ansem has been banned from Uber after failing to heed its warnings and improve his 4.2 rating. 

Ansem — real name Zion Thomas — shared Uber’s ban on X yesterday. The car-for-hire firm said that due to Ansem’s low rating, “we’ve had to remove access to your Uber account.”

Uber also claimed that his score hadn’t improved since a prior notification, implying that he’d already been warned. 

He didn’t provide an explanation at first, which left many on X desperate to know exactly what kind of a passenger he is. 

One user guessed that he kept making the drivers wait while his girls get ready. Ansem’s response was, “It’s really not my fault.”

He eventually explained in a little more detail about the reasons for the ban on his Market Bubble podcast.