A $250 million medical clinic launched by Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson is shutting down after scaling too quickly and burning through cash left it “no longer financially sustainable.”

When the Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic opened in Wyoming in 2023, Hoskinson claimed it would become the “Mayo Clinic of the West,” where a wide variety of specialised healthcare would be available to locals from the rural region.

However, despite the fanfare, in December 2025, two concreting firms created by Hoskinson, which were helping to expand the clinic, announced 136 layoffs. The clinic itself then announced a further 40 job cuts in January.

The clinic, which was decorated with some of Hoskinson’s favourite knicknacks, including talking robots, space NFTs, and Roman coins, subsequently admitted that it had scaled too quickly and was burning through cash.

Hoskinson said at the time, “The blame for growing too fast falls on the Hoskinson family. We moved too quickly because we wanted to say ‘yes’ to every request for help.”

Five months on, the Cowboy State Daily reports that the clinic’s leaders informed staff on Friday that the clinic would shut down on July 31.

Read more: Cardano crisis: senior dev quits after Hoskinson calls in the feds

A spokesperson said, “We have reached the difficult conclusion that the organization is no longer financially sustainable in its current form.”

The clinic posted on Facebook, “We set out to create something very ambitious: a place where patients in our rural community could access advanced care, specialty providers, prevention programs, and modern medical technology without having to leave the region.”

Patients, staff, and the community will supposedly see “an orderly, compassionate, and responsible transition.”

“Our last day of patient appointments is July 31, 2026. Between now and then, our full team remains committed to your care. We strongly encourage you to establish care with a new provider before our closing date so there is no interruption to your healthcare,” it posted.

Hoskinson leaves patients and doctors scrambling for help

Hoskinson claims that his clinic was serving between 18,000 and 20,000 patients. Cowboy State Daily spoke with some of these patients who will be impacted by the closure. 

Shawnna Langdon, who lives with aggressive rheumatoid arthritis, relied on the clinic’s vicinity to her home to help with her pain. The next nearest clinic is in South Dakota.

She planned to transfer all her rheumatology care to the clinic this summer, but is now rushing to find new doctors and reschedule surgery that was cancelled.

Other patients took to online forums to express their sadness over the closure. Doctors who were slated to start work at the firm in January were also hung out to dry and told there was no job for them. 

One anonymous doctor claimed they completed their background check and fulfilled all the relevant requirements before their offer was withdrawn. 

They said, “When I asked them why the offer was withdrawn, they told me it’s a business organization decision. The team decided not to open the position.”

“This has been extremely difficult for me, like right now, personally and professionally,” they claimed, adding that they were preparing to relocate for the job.

“It’s a very hard time for me now,” the doctor added. 

The clinic housed Roman coins, NFTs, and robots

Cowboy State Daily describes the clinic as a “personal museum of Charles Hoskinson’s globe-trotting life.”

Dotted throughout the clinic are Hoskinson’s favourite works of art, Roman coins, a replica of the Book of the Dead, and an NFT that was “flown” into space, all on display. 

The waiting room is modeled on his favorite Swedish hotel, there’s an “infinity room” that uses mirrors to display your reflection an infinite number of times, and another infinity statue in the waiting room.  

There were replica robots from the sci-fi series Lost in Space and The Forbidden Planet, and plans to install several exotic fish and dart frog enclosures. 

Read more: Cardano whale slams Charles Hoskinson, calls for voting revolt

The building was also going to include a private “napatorium” where Hoskinson could sleep. The room was inspired by Thomas Edison and his attempts to enter a semi-lucid state where he could come up with creative ideas. 

Hoskinson’s mum, Patricia Hoskinson, claimed when showing reporters the clinic that, “He takes power naps, OK, and so that’s where he gets all these brilliant ideas.”

Plans for the clinic also included hanging dinosaur fossils from the ceiling and the inclusion of Godzilla and Mothra figures. 

The decision to fill the facility with oddities left some Cardano supporters angry at Hoskinson’s decisions to torch billions of his ADA on a “vanity clinic.”

The X account belonging to former Cardano crypto project Meshnet Capital said, “Talking robots, a napatorium, space NFTs, Roman coins on the walls. Now closing. His bailout token flopped because he already burned the community. Cardano was the slow rugpull.”

Other users complained that Hoskinson spent millions on “personal pet projects,” while some compared him to a “snake oil salesman.”

One former Cardano supporter who goes by the X username “@thecardanotimes,” said yesterday that they devoted their life to the project, and that they’ll “never forgive Charles Hoskinson for his greed, his ego, and now his desperation.”

Read more: Cardano has lost $15B since Trump reneged on Strategic Reserve promise

Hoskinson has yet to address the clinic’s closure on his X account. 

He has, however, suggested how to reset the project’s governance structure and put himself forward as a DRap, someone who can vote on governance proposals on behalf of others. 

Last November, one of Hoskinson’s senior developers, Roman Kireev quit Input | Output after Hoskinson expressed his support for an FBI investigation into a staking pool operator who “accidentally broke” the network while “vibe coding.”

Protos has reached out to the Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic for comment and will update this piece should we hear anything back.

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Decentralized perpetual futures exchange Grvt will work with Plume to launch three tokenized real-world asset (RWA) yield products, offering users access to fixed-income and structured credit strategies through self-custodial wallets.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the products will be integrated directly into Grvt’s platform and include exposure tied to tokenized institutional-grade assets, including the $2.2 billion in assets iShares AAA CLO Active ETF.

The integration adds three investment products, the Base Yield Fund, Balanced Fund and Opportunistic Fund, to Grvt’s trading platform, allowing users to access tokenized yield strategies from the same self-custodial balance they already use for trading, without transferring assets across separate wallets, brokerage accounts or custody providers.

Plume is a blockchain platform focused on tokenized real-world assets. According to the announcement, the products combine tokenized fixed-income exposure with onchain yield infrastructure built through Plume’s network.

Perpetual futures contracts, or perps, are financial instruments that traders use to speculate on price changes of an asset without actually owning the underlying asset. Unlike traditional futures contracts, perps have no expiration date and investors can maintain their positions for as long as they want.

The total perpetual DEX trading volume in the 24 hours through 8 p.m. UTC on Monday, was $15.2 billion, according to CoinGecko. Grvt’s trading volume was $1.23 billion.

Source: CoinGecko

In February, Grvt integrated the Aave lending protocol to let traders earn yield on margin collateral while keeping perpetual futures positions open.

Related: Banks will run RWAs on two blockchain rails, says RedStone co-founder

Platforms increasingly integrate tokenized RWAs

Data from RWA.xyz shows the tokenized real-world asset sector has grown to more than $34 billion in onchain value, up from about $5.8 billion at the start of 2025.

That growth has coincided with moves by crypto exchanges, trading platforms and tokenization companies to bring blockchain-based versions of traditional financial products onchain.

Source: RWA.xyz

In March, EtherFi allocated $25 million to Plume’s Nest protocol to give users exposure to tokenized yield strategies tied to institutional assets and government securities. The same month, Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets said it notified the country’s securities regulator of plans to apply for a markets license to offer tokenized real-world assets, including equities and bonds.

In February, Binance added tokenized equities and exchange-traded funds from Ondo Finance to its Binance Alpha platform, including blockchain-based versions of stocks, ETFs and commodities. Also in February, Securitize partnered with Hamilton Lane, OKX Ventures and stablecoin infrastructure company STBL to launch a stablecoin backed by tokenized private credit assets.

Boston Consulting Group said in a report earlier this month that tokenized funds, collateral and fixed-income products are among the blockchain-based financial products most likely to see broader institutional adoption over the coming decade.

The report said digital assets are increasingly shifting beyond speculative trading toward infrastructure tied to payments, settlement and capital markets.

Magazine: Crypto scammers face death, Aussie CGT makes Asian hubs attractive: Asia Express

Bitcoin’s BTC$77,166.67 rebound is running into a demand problem.

CryptoQuant’s 30-day apparent demand metric has fallen to minus 147,000 BTC, its weakest reading since December 2025, even as bitcoin holds in the mid-$70,000s after bouncing from its April lows near $65,000.

The metric compares new miner supply and older coins returning to circulation with the amount of bitcoin the market is absorbing. A positive reading means buyers are taking down new and reactivated supply, while a negative reading means more coins are coming to market than buyers are absorbing on-chain.

The latter is the issue with the current rally.

Bitcoin has recovered sharply from April, but the move has not yet produced the kind of spot demand that usually supports a more durable uptrend. Earlier this month, data showed apparent demand had improved from -91,000 BTC in April to roughly -11,000 BTC, close to balance. The latest slide back toward -147,000 BTC suggests that improvement has faded.

Other signals have been suggesting the same. The Coinbase Premium has stayed negative since late April, showing U.S. spot buyers have been less aggressive than offshore traders.

It means futures market buyers have largely led the price bounce from $65,000. It matters because futures-led rallies are easier to unwind. Perpetual positions can close quickly when funding shifts or liquidations start. Spot accumulation is usually stickier because buyers put up full capital and take actual BTC, making that demand less likely to disappear on the first pullback.

None of this means bitcoin has to break lower immediately. Weak demand can sit under a range for days or weeks. But it does make the market more dependent on fresh spot buying if bulls want to push beyond the current zone.

If that bid does not show up, the $70,000 area remains the level to watch. CryptoQuant identifies it as the short-term trader realized price, where recent buyers’ paper gains largely disappear, and the incentive to take profit starts to fade.

CME Group has rolled out new futures contracts tied to Avalanche and Sui, extending Wall Street’s regulated crypto derivatives beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum and deeper into the high-throughput layer-1 trade.

The Avalanche and Sui contracts join a growing suite of CME crypto products that now includes Bitcoin and Ether futures and options, as well as more recent listings on Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM). CME has said that beginning May 29, its cryptocurrency futures and options will trade on a continuous 24‑hour, seven‑day schedule, a shift clearly aimed at matching the always‑on nature of spot crypto markets and making its products more usable for global funds.

In a detailed explainer titled “Introducing Avalanche and Sui Futures,” CME pitched the new contracts as tools for relative‑value and inter‑commodity spreads, noting that traders can pair AVAX or SUI futures against Solana or against Bitcoin and Ether to “isolate specific architectural risks and capture performance divergence driven by network adoption.” The same document highlights arbitrage and basis trading as key use cases, with centrally cleared futures offering “a transparent benchmark for basis trading, capturing the spread between spot market prices and the futures curve.”

Key Takeaways

• AST SpaceMobile’s stock climbed approximately 17% on renewed enthusiasm for satellite-to-smartphone connectivity
• Rocket Lab achieved record highs following its Q1 2026 earnings, climbing over 400% year-over-year
• Redwire shares leaped more than 22% riding broader industry tailwinds
• SpaceX IPO anticipation and a Starship test mission fueled widespread space sector optimism
• Major wireless carriers AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile revealed plans for a satellite collaboration, strengthening the direct-to-device market outlook

The space industry is capturing renewed attention from Wall Street. Following an extended period of cautious investor sentiment, businesses specializing in satellite technology, orbital launch platforms, and space-related infrastructure are experiencing significant upward momentum.

Three companies have emerged as frontrunners: AST SpaceMobile, Rocket Lab, and Redwire. Each posted substantial gains in recent trading sessions, offering investors distinct exposure to the expanding commercial space marketplace.

Much of the sector enthusiasm stems from growing speculation surrounding a potential SpaceX public offering. The company shared IPO-relevant information and successfully executed another Starship test mission within a similar timeframe, directing market attention squarely toward space-focused investments.

While the Starship trial produced varied results — including both anticipated achievements and certain setbacks — market participants responded favorably to the demonstration of ongoing technological advancement in launch capabilities.

AST SpaceMobile’s Direct-to-Smartphone Strategy

AST SpaceMobile has emerged as a focal point in the current space stock momentum. The enterprise is constructing a satellite constellation engineered to communicate directly with standard mobile devices — eliminating the need for specialized equipment.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc., ASTS

This approach distinguishes the company from conventional satellite communications providers. Rather than marketing proprietary terminals or antenna systems, AST pursues partnerships with wireless network operators to expand service availability in regions beyond terrestrial tower coverage.

The carrier partnership strategy received validation when AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile unveiled their intention to establish a satellite-focused collaboration targeting U.S. coverage deficiencies. Given AST’s pre-existing agreements with both AT&T and Verizon, market observers interpreted the development as confirmation of legitimate demand for direct-to-device satellite services.

Shares appreciated roughly 17% during the recent sector rally. However, significant challenges remain. The company requires additional satellite deployments, regulatory clearances, and demonstrated commercial revenue generation to validate its business approach.

Rocket Lab’s Momentum and Diversified Operations

Rocket Lab has delivered exceptional performance for shareholders. The company’s stock reached unprecedented levels this month following a substantial 40%-plus spike in just several trading sessions after releasing Q1 2026 financial results.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc., RKLB

During the trailing twelve-month period, shares had appreciated more than 400% at that juncture, per Investing.com data.

Rocket Lab initially established itself as a launch service provider but has systematically expanded into spacecraft manufacturing, defense contracting, and space infrastructure development. This diversified operational profile positions it as considerably more than a single-service launch operator.

Market participants view Rocket Lab as among the most transparent pathways to gaining exposure to commercial space activities through publicly traded securities. Its demonstrated operational history and expanding contract pipeline provide legitimacy that many developmental-stage space ventures lack.

A successful SpaceX IPO commanding premium valuations could create positive spillover effects for Rocket Lab through sector comparison, potentially channeling increased capital toward publicly accessible space companies.

Redwire Gains on Infrastructure Expansion

Redwire manufactures subsystems, mission-critical hardware, and specialized technology deployed in spacecraft, satellite platforms, and defense applications. The company represents a distinct category within space stocks — emphasizing infrastructure rather than the launch or connectivity models of AST or Rocket Lab.

Company shares surged beyond 22% in recent sessions despite the absence of significant company-specific announcements. The Motley Fool observed that the appreciation derived primarily from sector-wide enthusiasm following Redwire’s quarterly business update.

Such price action illustrates how rapidly smaller-capitalization, growth-oriented stocks can move when their sector attracts concentrated investor interest.

Redwire is positioned to capitalize on expanded government, defense, and commercial space spending. Yet like comparable smaller space-focused enterprises, it experiences heightened volatility and remains substantially dependent on contract awards and funding schedules.