SOL Strategies is acquiring privacy-focused cross-chain aggregator HoudiniSwap for $18M in cash, notes, and stock as it builds an institutional Solana treasury and routing stack.

According to reporting from The Block, SOL Strategies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire HoudiniSwap for $18 million as it continues to build out its Solana-centric infrastructure and services stack.

Cash, notes, and stock fund HoudiniSwap takeover

Deal terms include $8.25 million in cash, $5.75 million in six‑month promissory notes, and $4 million in SOL Strategies’ own STKE shares, with the equity component calculated using the volume‑weighted average STKE price over the 90 trading days before closing.

SOL Strategies, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker STKE and on the Canadian Securities Exchange as HODL, describes itself as an institutional Solana validator and treasury platform with roughly $94 million worth of SOL in its own holdings as of late 2025.

The company has previously used acquisitions and structured financing to expand its footprint, including buying Laine, one of Solana’s largest independent validators, and securing up to $500 million in capital commitments to purchase and stake SOL on behalf of institutional clients.

Privacy-focused cross-chain routing comes into a listed vehicle

HoudiniSwap is a non‑custodial, privacy‑focused cross‑chain swap and aggregation platform that lets users route trades privately across centralized and decentralized exchanges as well as blockchain bridges.

The service uses Monero as a “tunnel” asset, breaking the visible on‑chain link between a sender wallet and a recipient wallet by moving funds into XMR and back out into a target asset, making it significantly harder for analytics firms to trace flows end‑to‑end.

Documentation and marketing materials stress that HoudiniSwap “does not take custody of, store, transmit, or route user funds” but instead acts as a liquidity aggregator and conduit between vetted exchanges and bridges, positioning the product as a compliant alternative to illicit mixers.

According to figures cited around the acquisition, HoudiniSwap generated roughly $13 million in revenue over the past year, off the back of rising demand for private, cross‑chain swaps across more than 100 supported networks and assets.

In a recent crypto.news overview, SOL Strategies’ public‑market strategy was described as aggregating Solana infrastructure, validators, and adjacent tooling into a single listed vehicle for institutions.

Another crypto.news analysis detailed how the firm’s $500 million staking facility is intended to turn SOL into “a yield‑bearing treasury reserve asset,” a plan that could now intersect with cross‑chain liquidity from HoudiniSwap.

A separate crypto.news feature on SOL Strategies’ validator and treasury platform noted that the company sees M&A as a “core growth lever,” with privacy‑preserving routing and cross‑chain tools identified as strategic gaps — niches this $18 million HoudiniSwap deal is now set to fill.

The top 3 crypto presales 2026 search keeps growing now that whale wallets bought 270,000 BTC in 30 days, the biggest monthly total since 2013 according to CoinDesk.

One well-timed position can change a whole financial future, and Bitcoin exchange reserves just dropped to a seven year low. While Bitcoin Hyper and IPO Genie draw early attention, Pepeto has passed $9.78 million with a working exchange and an approaching Binance listing where analysts project 100x.

Top 3 Crypto Presales 2026 Search Grows as Whale Accumulation Hits 13 Year Record

Whale wallets holding 1,000 or more BTC added 270,000 coins in April alone, beating every monthly total going back to 2013 per CoinDesk. Bitcoin exchange reserves fell to levels not seen since December 2017, meaning available supply on trading platforms is at a seven year low.

BTC holds $78,370 with the Fear and Greed Index at 39, a zone where large holders have historically started building positions before the next major move.

The search for the top 3 crypto presales 2026 grows during these conditions because capital flowing into presales during fear signals real commitment. The wallets entering now will collect when recovery arrives, and every prior cycle rewarded the positions built during exactly this stage of market sentiment.

Presale Leaders and the Tokens Building Recovery Returns

Pepeto: Leading the Top 3 Crypto Presales 2026

270,000 BTC bought by whale wallets in 30 days proves that large holders see something ahead, and the $9.78 million inside Pepeto proves smaller wallets see the same signal at the presale level. The exchange is not a promise on a roadmap. It is live. PepetoSwap handles trades at zero fees, so a $10,000 position stays at $10,000 from the moment it opens.

Fear brings scams, and manual research cannot keep up when hundreds of new tokens launch daily across every chain. The contract scanner reads each one on chain and catches drain traps before a buyer ever confirms. Meanwhile, 175% APY staking pulls tokens off the market daily, thinning the available supply that will face a wave of demand once the expected Binance listing brings a fresh audience. Fewer coins available and more buyers arriving is the force that separates the earliest positions from everyone who comes after.

The person behind the original Pepe built a token worth $11 billion without a single working product. Pepeto has a working exchange, a contract scanner, a cross chain bridge, and SolidProof verified contracts, all at a presale price of $0.0000001868. A former Binance infrastructure specialist handles the listing preparation.

That is why Pepeto leads the top 3 crypto presales 2026 search. The presale price is temporary. One day of trading on Binance replaces it, and the 100x analysts project is the return that early Pepe holders wish they had accessed with working tools behind it.

Bitcoin Hyper: Presale Active but Infrastructure Missing

Bitcoin Hyper calls itself a Bitcoin Layer 2 scaling solution, but nothing beyond the concept exists today. No live product, no exchange, no audit from a recognized firm, and no listing confirmed on any major platform.

The gap between a roadmap and a working product is where most presales fail, and Bitcoin Hyper has not crossed that gap. The timeline for delivery depends fully on future execution with no verifiable infrastructure running at present.

IPO Genie: Early Stage With No Exchange Layer

IPO Genie aims to tokenize access to pre-IPO deals, but the entire model depends on regulatory approvals that do not exist yet. No trading platform is live, no bridge connects external networks, and no audit from a firm like SolidProof backs the contracts.

Until working infrastructure arrives, IPO Genie is a bet on future delivery with no verified tools operating behind it today.

Conclusion:

Bitcoin Hyper has no product and IPO Genie has no exchange, but Pepeto has both plus a SolidProof audit and a Binance listing approaching, which is why the top 3 crypto presales 2026 search keeps returning to the same answer.

Pepe turned presale pricing into billions, and the same person now runs a project with working tools that the original never carried.

The Pepeto official website shows the presale entry that one day of Binance trading will remove from the table. Every cycle produces a handful of positions that define the returns for years, and the decision to enter during fear at $0.0000001868 or wait until after the listing is the only choice left.

Click To Visit Pepeto Website To Enter The Presale

FAQs

What are the top 3 crypto presales 2026?

Pepeto leads the top 3 crypto presales 2026 with $9.78 million raised, a live zero fee exchange, and an approaching Binance listing targeting 100x from presale pricing.

Why does the top 3 crypto presales 2026 search favor Pepeto over competitors?

Pepeto runs a live exchange with SolidProof verified contracts and the Pepe builder behind it. Bitcoin Hyper and IPO Genie lack working infrastructure and confirmed listing support.

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Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

Decentralized finance protocol Aave filed an emergency motion on Monday in New York to vacate a restraining notice from a US law firm aimed at blocking Arbitrum DAO from transferring 30,766 Ether to the victims of the Kelp exploit. 

Gerstein Harrow LLP served Arbitrum DAO with a restraining notice on Friday, arguing its clients are owed over $877 million in default judgments against North Korea. The law firm claims the North Korean hacker group behind the Kelp exploit had possession of the tokens, giving its clients a legal claim over the Ether.

Aave filed the emergency motion in a New York district court, arguing that a thief doesn’t gain lawful ownership of property by stealing it. It also argued that North Korea is only suspected of being part of the theft, and that the law firm’s argument “defies logic, common sense and the law.”

The Arbitrum DAO has been voting on whether to release the Ether to assist DeFi United, an industrywide coordination effort to make rsETH holders whole and help restore rsETH’s backing following the $292 million Kelp DAO hack on April 18. Voting ends May 7. 

Source: Aave

Delay will cause “irreparable harm” to Aave, crypto ecosystem

Aave argued that if the court upholds Gerstein Harrow’s notice, it could deter future recovery efforts for North Korea-related hacks because of the possibility of additional legal challenges to recover funds. It further argued that it could incentivize bad actors to target more crypto protocols.

Aave’s lawyers also warned that the delay is causing “irreparable harm” to the protocol, its users and the wider DeFi community, “none of which can be later cured by monetary damages.”

“If the immobilized assets remain subject to a freeze and are not made available to restore value to Aave protocol users, the entire DeFi ecosystem risks being destabilized,” Aave’s lawyers said.

“While Aave protocol users cannot retrieve their assets from the Aave protocol, if those assets were being used for collateral for other positions elsewhere then continued restraint on the immobilized assets may render those users unable to meet their related collateral obligations.”

Aave said that if a court upholds Gerstein Harrow’s notice, it could incentivize bad actors to target more crypto protocols. Source: CourtListener

They further argued against Gernstein Harrow’s claim that its clients have a right to the frozen Ether and also said the case is based on unsupported conjecture that the thief is North Korea. 

“Plaintiffs in this case showed up, contending – based on conjecture from posts on the internet – that the thief was North Korea, and that by stealing the assets for a few hours, North Korea somehow became the rightful owner of those assets such that Plaintiffs here could restrain them for their own purposes,” lawyers for Aave said.

“The immobilized assets do not belong to North Korea or any affiliated entities. Instead, the immobilized assets belong to the users of the Aave protocol who were victimized when a third-party thief effectively stole their assets during a cyber exploit April 18, 2026.” 

Related: Google Cloud flags North Korea-linked crypto malware campaign

If the court can’t immediately vacate the notice, Aave’s lawyers are requesting that Gerstein Harrow pay a $300 million bond to maintain the restraining notice until a decision is reached.

A judge hasn’t ruled on the emergency motion yet, and a hearing date hasn’t been scheduled. 

Gerstein Harrow has filed similar cases in the past, arguing its clients have a claim to funds stolen by North Korea and frozen by crypto firms, including assets from the 2023 Heco Bridge hack and the 2025 Bybit exploit.

Magazine: DeFi’s billion-dollar secret: The insiders responsible for hacks  

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Western Union has taken a formal step into blockchain-enabled payments by launching USDPT, a US dollar-denominated stablecoin, on the Solana network. The pilot rollout targets Bolivia and the Philippines, with the company aiming to extend USDPT to more than 40 countries in 2026. The stablecoin is issued by Anchorage Digital, described as the first federally regulated crypto bank in the United States, and Fireblocks is providing the wallet and settlement rails that underpin the on-chain payments component. Western Union also intends to list USDPT on licensed crypto exchanges, integrating them with its broader payments and liquidity infrastructure.

Industry observers view the move as a notable milestone in regulated digital assets entering core remittance rails, particularly as the GENIUS Act fosters a more accommodating regulatory landscape for stablecoins. Other remittance firms have begun dabbling in stablecoins, including MoneyGram’s USDC rollout in Colombia and Zelle’s announced plans for stablecoin-powered cross-border transfers.

Key takeaways

• Western Union launches USDPT on the Solana blockchain, with initial availability in Bolivia and the Philippines and a plan to expand to more than 40 countries in 2026.
• USDPT is issued by Anchorage Digital, the first federally regulated crypto bank in the United States, while Fireblocks provides the wallet and settlement infrastructure.
• The company intends to list USDPT on licensed crypto exchanges and connect them to Western Union’s payments and liquidity network, signaling a move toward regulated digital-asset rails for cross-border payments.
• The deployment arrives amid a broader shift toward stablecoins in remittances, bolstered by regulatory developments and activity from other players in the space.

A regulated stablecoin enters mainstream remittance rails

USDPT’s issuance by Anchorage Digital anchors the stablecoin within a regulated framework, with Fireblocks handling the critical wallet and settlement infrastructure that enables on-chain settlement for cross-border payments. Western Union said the initiative marks a broader evolution in how global payments are built, integrating stablecoins into regulated, enterprise-grade infrastructure. The rollout on Solana emphasizes the balance between transaction speed, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance that Western Union seeks for scale.

Western Union indicated that USDPT would be deployed first in Bolivia and the Philippines, a choice that aligns with its strategy to serve large, underserved corridors where traditional rails can be expensive or slow. The company notes these markets collectively reach about 130 million people, illustrating the potential reach of a regulated digital asset-enabled remittance channel. The move also positions USDPT as a test case for how licensed exchanges and traditional payments networks can interoperate in a hybrid payments ecosystem.

For context, Western Union has publicly framed this launch as part of a broader shift toward regulated digital assets as core infrastructure. The initiative follows supportive signals from the regulatory environment, including discussions around the GENIUS Act, which aims to advance stablecoins within a more workable regulatory framework. The broader industry trend includes MoneyGram’s rollout of USDC services in Colombia and Zelle’s announced plans for stablecoin-powered cross-border transfers, signaling growing acceptance of tokenized rails in mainstream remittances.

Targeted corridors reshape LATAM and APAC remittances

The initial rollout in Bolivia and the Philippines centers on two very different, high-potential remittance corridors. Bolivia represents South America’s Andean region where crypto rails could simplify informal flows, while the Philippines is a major recipient market with significant outbound remittance activity to relatives abroad. By launching in these markets, Western Union is testing how a regulated USD-backed stablecoin can complement or replace parts of the traditional FX and payment chain for cross-border transfers.

Industry voices highlight the potential for underserved routes in the Americas to benefit from crypto-enabled rails. Claudia Wang, formerly the head of marketing at Bybit, has argued that money transmitters could unlock numerous remittance corridors that remain largely untouched by crypto rails, particularly within LATAM. She pointed to US–Central America corridors and intra-Latin American routes, such as Argentina-to-Bolivia, as examples where a regulated stablecoin layer could lower costs and increase transparency for both senders and recipients.

Western Union serves a vast global network, facilitating transfers for more than 150 million customers across more than 190 countries. USDPT’s deployment could create a blueprint for how legacy remittance networks integrate tokenized assets without sacrificing regulatory and consumer protections, potentially accelerating adoption among financial institutions that want an auditable, on-chain settlement layer for cross-border payments.

Regulation, competition, and the push for compliant rails

The momentum behind USDPT sits within a broader regulatory and market context. The GENIUS Act, which has been cited as a catalyst for stablecoin clarity, creates a path for regulated digital assets to play a more central role in payments infrastructure. In parallel, traditional payment networks are experimenting with stablecoins—MoneyGram’s expansion into USDC in Colombia and Zelle’s cross-border plans illustrate the competitive impulse among incumbents to harness tokenized money while staying within regulated rails.

On the market scale, stablecoins have grown into a sizable segment of the crypto economy. CoinGecko data shows the stablecoin market cap at roughly $317.3 billion, underscoring the size of the asset class that Western Union and its partners are seeking to leverage. Meanwhile, analysts and policymakers have noted that stablecoin supply could rise sharply in the coming years, with some estimates from governmental and financial institutions projecting trillion-dollar potential by 2030, depending on regulatory alignment and adoption dynamics. The USDPT project therefore sits at the intersection of regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and the digital-asset payments modernization trend.

Anchorage Digital’s role as the issuer and Fireblocks’ role as the settlement backbone are critical to the project’s credibility and reliability. Anchorage’s status as a federally regulated institution provides a level of oversight that is often cited as a prerequisite for enterprise adoption, while Fireblocks’ custody and settlement infrastructure is designed to meet the stringent risk controls required by large-scale payments networks. Western Union’s stated plan to bring USDPT to licensed exchanges reinforces the interoperability goal: a stablecoin that can move seamlessly across on-chain and off-chain rails within a compliant framework.

What makes the USDPT rollout particularly telling is not just the technology, but the intention to connect on-chain activity with traditional financial rails. If successful, Western Union could demonstrate a replicable model for other regulated payment operators seeking to balance the speed and efficiency of blockchain with the protections and settlement guarantees of conventional finance. The next few quarters will reveal how quickly USDPT is adopted by partner banks, fintechs, and licensed exchanges, and whether the 2026 target for tens of jurisdictions becomes a turning point for regulated stablecoins in cross-border payments.

Readers should watch for updates on the geographic expansion plan, regulatory feedback from supervising authorities, and the pace at which USDPT gains liquidity and usage across partner exchanges and Western Union’s own payment network. While the path to full-scale rollout remains subject to regulatory decisions and market demand, USDPT’s launch signals a clear appetite among a major global payments player to test stablecoins as a regulated, scalable settlement layer for everyday remittances.

Source references: Western Union press materials and statements on USDPT, Anchorage Digital and Fireblocks collaboration details, Bybit alumna Claudia Wang’s commentary on remittance corridors, and CoinGecko market data on stablecoins. For a broader regulatory backdrop, see the GENIUS Act coverage and industry reports on stablecoin adoption in remittances.

Nasdaq-listed DeFi Development Corp has launched a $200M at-the-market equity program, pledging to issue stock only when it boosts “SOL per share” and fuels its Solana reserve strategy.

DeFi Development Corp, a Nasdaq-listed digital asset treasury company focused on Solana (SOL), has entered a sales agreement with broker R.F. Lafferty that allows it to sell up to $200 million of common stock from time to time through an at-the-market offering.

ATM facility tied directly to SOL reserve strategy

According to the 8-K and prospectus supplement, shares will be issued under an effective shelf registration, with the agent earning up to 0.75% of gross proceeds as commission while using “commercially reasonable efforts” to place stock into the market.

The company said net proceeds will go primarily toward “continuing to execute its Solana reserve strategy,” alongside working capital and other strategic initiatives, reiterating that SOL is the principal asset in its digital asset treasury reserve.

Management has emphasized that it intends to sell stock only when doing so has a positive impact on “SOL per share,” stressing that the ATM is designed to be accretive by raising capital above the look-through value of existing SOL holdings and then deploying that capital into additional Solana.

In an April investor briefing, DeFi Development outlined a “North Star” target of reaching one SOL per share by December 2028, saying its strategy is to “acquire as much SOL as possible, as quickly as possible, in a way that compounds value per share.”

Building a listed Solana treasury vehicle

DeFi Development has already used equity capital to grow its SOL reserves.

In August 2025, the firm closed a $125 million equity offering at $12.50 per share, saying the transaction was expected to be “NAV/share accretive” because it allowed the company to buy both spot SOL and discounted locked SOL, thereby expanding its treasury while capturing discounts.

By mid-2025 the company had accumulated around 1 million SOL worth roughly $190 million, and by September that year it reported holdings above 2.02 million SOL — about $412 million at the time — after purchasing 196,141 SOL at an average of $202.76 with the intention of staking the entire amount.

DeFi Development positions itself as “the first public Digital Asset Treasury built to accumulate Solana,” running its own validator infrastructure and deploying roughly 15% of its treasury on-chain to earn what CEO Joseph Onorati has described as an 8%–11% annualized “organic” yield from staking and ecosystem participation.

In a recent crypto.news feature, Onorati said an earlier raise “allows us to add a significant amount of SOL to our balance sheet while still driving NAV/share accretion,” underscoring that every financing step is evaluated through the lens of SOL per share growth.

Another crypto.news overview highlighted how the company has already pushed its SOL treasury toward the $200 million mark, using a mix of credit facilities and equity issuance to scale what it calls a “Solana reserve strategy” for public-market investors.

A separate crypto.news analysis noted that by standardizing reporting around SOL per share and treating Solana as its core reserve asset, DeFi Development is effectively operating as a listed Solana proxy, with this new $200 million ATM providing fresh ammunition to keep expanding that bet.

World Liberty Financial, the crypto project co-founded by President Trump and his family, filed a defamation lawsuit against Tron founder Justin Sun on May 4 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, alleging a “coordinated media smear campaign” after Sun sued the project for fraud in April.

World Liberty Financial sued Justin Sun for defamation in Florida state court on May 4, one day after Consensus 2026 opened in Miami. The filing came in direct response to Sun’s April 21 federal lawsuit in California, in which he accused WLFI of embedding a secret “backdoor blacklisting function” in its smart contract that allowed the project to freeze, restrict, and effectively confiscate investor tokens.

As crypto.news reported, Sun said the project froze all of his tokens, removed his voting rights, and threatened to burn his holdings without cause, and that he had $75 million invested in WLFI since 2024. In Monday’s countersuit, World Liberty alleged that Sun made “straw purchases” by acquiring WLFI tokens on behalf of undisclosed third parties, may have engaged in short selling of the token, and then launched a false public narrative to cover the conduct. “Sun has launched a coordinated media smear campaign against World Liberty Financial and refused to stop even when confronted with the truth,” the project said in a statement on X.

Fortune reported that Sun had written on X: “Every action taken by the WLFI team to secretly implant backdoor controls over user assets, to freeze investor funds without disclosure or due process, and to treat the crypto community as a personal ATM, someone must be held personally accountable for these actions.” WLFI’s suit called those statements false or defamatory and said Sun was “well aware” that the project had the right to freeze his tokens under its terms of sale. Sun responded the same day: “The alleged defamation lawsuit that World Liberty announced on X today is nothing more than a meritless PR stunt. I stand by my actions and look forward to defeating the case in court.”

As crypto.news documented, the dispute escalated in April when Sun accused WLFI of hiding blacklist controls while the project simultaneously faced scrutiny over its use of self-issued tokens as loan collateral and a near-93% utilisation rate in its USDC pool. As crypto.news tracked, Sun’s frozen WLFI wallet had already lost approximately $60 million in value before the lawsuits were filed, tracking the token’s broader 85% decline from its September 2025 highs. Neither lawsuit has reached trial, and no allegations have been proven in court.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted a three-word response on X on May 1 after Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks released the final stablecoin yield compromise text for the CLARITY Act: “Mark it up,” urging the Senate Banking Committee to advance the bill that Armstrong himself put on ice in January.

Brian Armstrong’s endorsement carries unusual weight on this specific bill. As crypto.news reported, it was Armstrong who pulled Coinbase’s support hours before a scheduled January 14 committee markup, causing Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott to postpone the vote indefinitely. The bill has not reached markup since. Armstrong’s January withdrawal also followed a contentious moment in March when Coinbase and Stripe rejected a separate draft — one so unacceptable that Circle’s stock fell 20% in a single session. The May 1 deal, authored by Tillis and Alsobrooks after months of negotiations with the White House, banking groups, and crypto firms, draws a firm line at passive yield while leaving open a regulatory runway for rewards tied to actual platform participation.

Benzinga reported that the SEC, CFTC, and Treasury are directed to jointly issue rules within one year defining a non-exhaustive list of permitted reward activities. Armstrong’s company reported $1.35 billion in stablecoin revenue in 2025, making the yield provisions a direct financial variable rather than a policy preference.

As crypto.news documented, JPMorgan analysts described CLARITY Act passage by midyear as a “key positive catalyst” for digital asset markets, and the stablecoin yield question was the single largest obstacle remaining before the deal landed. Shirzad acknowledged the trade-off: “In the end, the banks were able to get more restrictions on rewards, but we protected what matters.” Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Kim expressed residual concern about the text’s breadth, urging the committee to proceed to markup regardless.

As crypto.news tracked, Galaxy Digital had put overall 2026 passage odds at roughly 50-50 before the deal, with Thorn warning that if the markup slips past mid-May, the probability of enactment drops sharply. The bill still needs to pass the Banking Committee, clear the Senate floor at 60 votes, reconcile with the Agriculture Committee version, and reconcile with the July 2025 House text before reaching Trump’s desk.