Crypto World
The new XRP card is a margin loan with a Visa logo
RedotPay’s RLUSD card lets 8 million users spend against their XRP without selling it: pledge coins at 50% loan-to-value, borrow in Ripple’s stablecoin, swipe anywhere Visa works. It is being sold as convenience. It is, mechanically, collateralized leverage on a token that fell 60% in a year, and the difference matters.
Summary
- RedotPay, a stablecoin payments fintech with more than 8 million users across 100-plus countries and roughly $12 billion in annualized volume, launched an XRP Ledger-powered card that combines XRP-backed credit, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, and Visa’s network.
- The mechanics are a loan, not a payment: users pledge XRP as collateral at a 50% loan-to-value ratio, receive a credit line settled in RLUSD on the XRPL, and spend at any Visa merchant, keeping their XRP exposure intact.
- The pitch, spending without selling, is genuine and genuinely double-edged: it preserves upside and defers taxable disposals, and it converts holders into leveraged borrowers against one of the cycle’s worst-performing major assets.
- The launch is a real distribution event for RLUSD, routing consumer settlement through the XRP Ledger itself, and it arrives on the strength of a real trend: RedotPay reports stablecoin card volume up 80% this year and 250% year over year.
- The unpublished numbers are the ones that decide the product: borrowing costs, liquidation thresholds, and what happens to pledged collateral in the next 40% drawdown. The card’s true test is not adoption. It is the first liquidation cycle.
The most successful trick in consumer finance is making a loan feel like something else. The credit card made borrowing feel like paying; the mortgage refinance made it feel like unlocking; buy-now-pay-later made it feel like nothing at all. This week the trick arrived for XRP holders, wearing Ripple’s stablecoin and Visa’s logo. RedotPay, a Hong Kong-grown stablecoin payments company that has quietly assembled more than 8 million users across a hundred countries, launched what it calls the RLUSD card: pledge your XRP as collateral, receive a credit line at half its value, spend that credit, settled in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, anywhere on earth Visa is accepted. The marketing frame, spend without selling your XRP, is accurate, appealing, and incomplete, because the product it describes has an older and less romantic name. It is a securities-backed line of credit, the margin loan of the wealth-management world, ported to a volatile digital asset and distributed to a retail base of eight million. That porting is a genuine milestone for stablecoin payments, a genuine distribution win for RLUSD and the XRPL, and a genuine risk transfer whose terms nobody outside RedotPay has yet seen. All three things are true at once, and this piece takes them in order.
What the card actually is
Start with the mechanics, because every claim about the product, for and against, lives inside them.
A RedotPay user with XRP does not load the card by selling coins. They pledge the XRP as collateral into RedotPay’s system, and against that pledge the platform extends a credit line at a 50% loan-to-value ratio: a thousand dollars of XRP unlocks five hundred dollars of spending power. The credit is denominated and settled in RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin, with settlement executed on the XRP Ledger before the money reaches the Visa rails, where it spends like any card balance at any merchant. The user’s XRP position remains theirs, still exposed to every tick of the price, while the borrowed RLUSD buys groceries. When they repay, the collateral releases; while they borrow, it is encumbered.
Strip the branding and the structure is instantly recognizable from traditional finance: this is a securities-backed lending product, the same architecture private banks use when a client borrows against a stock portfolio instead of selling it. The appeal there and here is identical and real. The holder keeps upside exposure. No taxable disposal occurs at the moment of borrowing, since a loan is not a sale, which for long-term XRP holders sitting on complicated cost bases is a material feature, not a gimmick. And liquidity arrives instantly, at swipe speed, rather than through the sell-withdraw-wait cycle that still makes exiting crypto positions clumsy in much of the world.
RedotPay is a credible vehicle for the port. The company’s platform numbers, 8 million-plus users, 100-plus countries, roughly $12 billion in annualized payment volume, describe its whole stablecoin card business rather than this product, a distinction worth keeping crisp, but the underlying trend is corroborated and steep: the company reports stablecoin-powered card transaction volume up 80% since January and 250% year over year, and it has an existing Ripple relationship through African remittance corridors plus a May rollout of direct XRP payment features. The RLUSD card is not a startup’s cold launch. It is a proven distribution machine adding a leverage product to its shelf, which is exactly why the product deserves the scrutiny its marketing does not invite.
The half the marketing carries
The bull case for the card is worth making properly, because it is more substantial than launch-week boosterism suggests, and it rests on three distinct legs.
The first is the stablecoin-payments wave, which is real and measurable. Card products that settle in stablecoins have moved from crypto curiosity to functioning consumer infrastructure, particularly in the markets RedotPay concentrates on, where local banking friction makes a dollar-denominated spending instrument valuable in itself. An 80% year-to-date volume increase on a large existing base is not narrative; it is throughput, and every analysis of the sector points the same direction. A card that lets crypto holders join that throughput without liquidating their positions extends the product category along its natural axis.
The second leg is what the launch does for RLUSD and the XRP Ledger, and here the significance runs deeper than one fintech’s product shelf. RLUSD’s short life has been dominated by institutional settings, exchange collateral, treasury products, cross-border settlement, and its circulation has notably concentrated on Ethereum rather than the XRP Ledger it was nominally built to showcase. The RedotPay card is the first mass-market consumer product that routes RLUSD settlement through the XRPL itself, every credit draw an on-ledger transaction, which makes it a distribution event for the home chain in precisely the dimension, ordinary payment volume, where the ledger’s activity metrics have chronically underdelivered. If the card scales, it manufactures the daily, boring, non-speculative XRPL transaction flow that a decade of partnership announcements promised and rarely produced.
The third leg is the honest version of the consumer argument. For a holder who would otherwise sell XRP to fund spending, borrowing at 50% LTV is not obviously the riskier choice; it is a portfolio decision with a respectable pedigree, and the tax-deferral mechanics are the same ones wealthy households have used against equity portfolios for generations. Democratizing an instrument the private-banking class already enjoys is, on its face, exactly what crypto claimed it came to do. The case against the card is not that borrowing against assets is illegitimate. It is about what happens when the asset is this one, the borrower is retail, and the terms are unpublished, which is where the second half begins.
The half it does not
Now run the same mechanics forward through a drawdown, because the product’s defining events will not happen at launch. They will happen at liquidation.
A 50% loan-to-value line against XRP is a bet, embedded in a payment card, that XRP will not fall far enough to impair the collateral, and the recent record of that bet is the uncomfortable part: the token has fallen more than 60% from its 2025 high and traded at fifteen-month lows this month. A user who pledges coins at $1.14 and borrows to the limit has no buffer question until the price falls, and then has only questions the launch coverage does not answer. At what threshold does RedotPay demand more collateral or repayment? At what threshold does it liquidate, selling the pledged XRP into a falling market to close the line? What notice does a user in one of a hundred countries get, on what timeline, in what language of what agreement? None of this is disclosed in the launch materials, and none of it is exotic pessimism; it is the operating manual of every collateralized lending product ever built, and the crypto industry has run this exact experiment before at scale.
The lesson of the 2022 lending collapses was not that crypto-backed loans cannot work; it was that retail borrowers systematically underestimate liquidation mechanics until the first cascade executes them, and that products marketed as spend without selling are experienced, in the drawdown, as sold without asking.
The structural critique goes one layer deeper. A margin loan against a portfolio is typically one instrument inside a diversified balance sheet, extended by a lender whose terms are regulated, disclosed, and court-tested for a century. This product concentrates instead of diversifying: the collateral is a single volatile asset, the borrower base is by construction the token’s most committed holders, and the leverage is being introduced near cycle lows in sentiment, when the marketing pitch, do not sell here, keep your upside, lands hardest on precisely the users least able to absorb a liquidation. There is also a reflexivity worth naming for the asset itself: if the card scales, a meaningful stock of XRP becomes pledged collateral with mechanical sell triggers below the market, which is a new, price-insensitive seller waiting inside every future drawdown, the same structure that turned miner loans and DeFi collateral into accelerants in prior cycles. Individually rational borrowing, aggregated, becomes a market feature.
And the unknowns are not neutral. Borrowing costs are unpublished; whether pledged XRP is rehypothecated, lent onward, or held bankruptcy-remote is unpublished; the custody arrangement behind the collateral is unpublished. These may all resolve benignly, and RedotPay’s operating history earns it the presumption of competence. But a leverage product for eight million retail users, on a drawdown-prone asset, whose core risk terms are absent from its launch communications, has earned exactly one sentence of verdict: the card’s success metric is not sign-ups, and everyone will learn its real design the first month the collateral falls 40%.
The precedent shelf
The card did not invent its category, and its neighbors on the shelf are the fastest way to calibrate both the opportunity and the risk, because each ran a version of this experiment and left a legible result.
The closest structural relative is the crypto-backed loan book of the last cycle, and its lesson is precise, not general. Celsius, BlockFi, and their cohort did not fail because lending against crypto is impossible; they failed at the treasury layer, rehypothecating collateral, mismatching duration, running invisible leverage on the lender’s own balance sheet, while their retail borrowers discovered that liquidation clauses they had never read executed automatically in the March and June 2022 cascades. The two failure surfaces are separable, and the RedotPay product should be examined on each independently: what the borrower signs, which will surface quickly, and what happens to pledged XRP inside the company, which will not. The industry’s post-2022 vocabulary, segregated collateral, no-rehypothecation attestations, proof of reserves, exists precisely because the second surface stayed dark until it ruptured, and a launch that leads with adoption numbers while omitting collateral treatment has, knowingly or not, reproduced the sequencing of the last cycle’s marketing.
The happier precedent is the securities-backed lending business this product is modeled on, roughly a $150 billion book at the major US wirehouses, run for decades with unremarkable loss rates. Its stability rests on three legs worth naming because each is currently absent here: conservative advance rates against diversified, comparatively low-volatility collateral; regulated disclosure of every material term; and margin machinery tested through multiple market cycles with borrowers who mostly have other assets. Single-asset collateral at 50% LTV on an instrument that routinely moves 10% in a week, sold to a retail base whose crypto position may be their principal asset, is the same architecture at triple the stress with none of the disclosure. That does not doom it. It means the product’s safety is an empirical question the traditional version never had to ask, and the first drawdown will answer it in public.
And the nearest crypto-native success, the exchange-issued collateral cards and stablecoin debit products that RedotPay itself sells, offers the final calibration: those work, at scale, precisely because they carry no leverage, which is the feature this launch adds. The category’s entire history compresses into one sentence the marketing will never use: crypto payment cards succeed in proportion to how little borrowing they contain, and this is the most borrowing one has ever contained.
What to watch
Credit issuance volume, when it publishes. The company has indicated reporting on credit volumes will follow. Watch the ratio of pledged collateral to platform XRP balances: a niche convenience product and a system-relevant leverage layer look identical at launch and completely different at scale.
The terms, as users surface them. Interest rates, margin-call thresholds, liquidation procedures, and rehypothecation language will emerge from user agreements even if never press-released. The gap between the marketing and the margin schedule is the product’s honest description, and it will be visible within weeks.
The first drawdown. XRP at fifteen-month lows means the collateral question is not hypothetical for long in either direction. A 30-40% decline from pledge prices is the product’s first real audit: orderly margin management, or the familiar cascade. Every future XRP-collateral product, and competitors will copy this one if it scales, inherits whatever precedent this launch sets.
RLUSD’s chain split. Each card settlement is XRPL-side RLUSD volume. Watch whether the stablecoin’s circulation begins migrating from Ethereum toward its home ledger; if it does, this unglamorous consumer product will have done more for the XRPL’s activity metrics than any institutional announcement this year, which would be its own quiet verdict on where adoption actually comes from.
The card is a genuine innovation, a genuine RLUSD milestone, and a genuine margin loan, and the industry’s habit of celebrating the first two while ignoring the third is how every crypto credit cycle has started. Eight million users are about to learn, in the product’s own language, whether spend without selling survives its first encounter with sell without asking. The answer will arrive with the next drawdown, on schedule, as it always does.
A closing note on the geography, because where this product launches shapes what it becomes. RedotPay’s hundred countries are not a uniform market; the platform’s center of gravity runs through Southeast Asia, the Gulf, Africa, and Latin America, regions where the card’s stablecoin core solves problems a US or EU user does not have: unstable local currencies, thin card penetration, expensive remittance corridors, and banking systems that make holding dollars hard. In those markets the RLUSD card’s leverage feature rides on top of a genuinely useful dollar-spending instrument, which will flatter its adoption numbers and complicate their interpretation, since sign-ups driven by the stablecoin utility will be counted as validation of the credit product.
The regulatory map matters in the same way: crypto-collateralized consumer credit occupies wildly different legal positions across those hundred jurisdictions, from regulated lending to unlicensed gray zones, and a product distributed at this breadth will inevitably become a test case somewhere, most plausibly in whichever market first combines mass adoption with a drawdown-driven liquidation wave and an ombudsman. The US, notably, is where products like this face the sharpest scrutiny and where RedotPay’s footprint is lightest, meaning the card will scale, and its risks will surface, largely outside the regulatory perimeter American observers instinctively assume. That is not an accident of the launch. It is the strategy, and it is the same strategy every offshore crypto credit product has run: grow where the rules are unwritten, and let the first crisis write them.
Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Product terms described reflect launch communications and may change or be incomplete; borrowing against volatile assets carries liquidation risk up to loss of collateral. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 23, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the RedotPay RLUSD card?
A Visa-network payment card launched by RedotPay, a stablecoin payments fintech serving more than 8 million users in over 100 countries. Users pledge XRP as collateral at a 50% loan-to-value ratio to unlock a credit line, which is settled in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger and spendable at any Visa merchant, allowing holders to access liquidity without selling their XRP.
How is this different from a normal crypto debit card?
A debit card sells or converts your crypto at the point of purchase; you spend the asset itself. This card lends against your crypto: your XRP stays yours, remains exposed to price moves, and serves as collateral for borrowed RLUSD. Mechanically it is a collateralized credit line, the crypto equivalent of a securities-backed loan, with the corresponding benefits, retained upside, no taxable disposal at borrowing, and the corresponding risks, margin calls and liquidation.
What does the 50% loan-to-value ratio mean in practice?
You can borrow up to half the market value of the XRP you pledge: $1,000 of XRP supports up to $500 of credit. The ratio is the lender’s buffer against price declines. If XRP falls substantially, the loan can approach the collateral’s value, triggering demands for repayment or additional collateral, and ultimately liquidation of the pledged XRP. The specific thresholds and procedures were not disclosed in launch materials.
Is spending without selling really tax-advantaged?
Generally, borrowing against an asset is not a disposal, so drawing the credit line does not itself crystallize capital gains the way selling XRP would, a genuine feature for long-term holders, subject to local tax law. The offset is borrowing cost: interest on the credit line, whose rate RedotPay has not published, plus liquidation risk. Whether deferral beats disposal depends on those terms and the token’s subsequent path. This is not tax advice.
Why does this matter for RLUSD and the XRP Ledger?
Distribution. RLUSD’s circulation has concentrated in institutional venues and largely on Ethereum, while this card routes consumer settlement through the XRP Ledger itself, every credit draw an on-ledger RLUSD transaction. At scale, it would generate the routine, non-speculative XRPL payment volume the ecosystem has long promised, and shift RLUSD activity toward its home chain, making the card a meaningful test of where the stablecoin’s real usage develops.
What are the main risks for users?
Liquidation is the central one: a significant XRP price decline can force sale of pledged collateral, potentially near market lows, converting a spend-without-selling product into an involuntary sale. Undisclosed terms compound it: borrowing costs, margin thresholds, notice procedures, and whether collateral is rehypothecated are not public. Standard platform risks, custody, jurisdiction, counterparty, apply as with any centralized fintech holding user assets.
Could this product affect the XRP market itself?
At scale, yes. Widely pledged collateral with mechanical liquidation triggers creates a price-insensitive seller beneath the market: drawdowns that breach margin thresholds force sales that deepen the drawdown. Similar structures, miner loans, DeFi collateral, amplified prior cycles. Whether this card reaches system-relevant size depends on issuance volumes the company has yet to report, which is why those numbers are the ones to watch.
Should XRP holders use it?
That is an individual financial decision this article does not make. The honest framing: it is a leverage product with real convenience and tax-deferral features and real, partially undisclosed risks, appropriate in the way margin borrowing is appropriate, for users who understand liquidation mechanics, borrow well below limits, and can repay without selling collateral in a drawdown. Anyone for whom those conditions do not hold is the product’s risk case, not its customer. Always do your own research.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
EX DeFi is gaining attention as investors seek alternative ways to participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem amid improving crypto market sentiment.
Summary
- EX DeFi promotes cloud mining as institutional Bitcoin adoption and U.S. crypto regulation drive market interest.
- The platform highlights cloud mining as Bitcoin adoption grows and U.S. digital asset regulation advances.
- It spotlights cloud mining amid rising institutional Bitcoin demand and evolving U.S. crypto rules.
With new developments in US digital asset regulation and continued institutional inflows into Bitcoin spot ETFs, market sentiment has improved significantly. Bitcoin recently climbed back above the key $66,000 price range, and investors are now watching to see if it can challenge even higher levels and drive the entire digital asset market into a new upward cycle.
Data shows that Bitcoin spot ETFs have been attracting continuous inflows recently, with increasing institutional participation providing new liquidity support to the market. Meanwhile, Ethereum, XRP, and other mainstream digital assets have also strengthened, reflecting a gradual recovery in market risk appetite.
The Clarity Act boosts market expectations
Recently, the advancement of the US Clarity Act has become a focus of attention in the digital asset market. The market generally believes that this act is expected to further clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets, improve the policy environment for the long-term development of the industry, and enhance the confidence of institutional investors.
EX DeFi stated that if the bill proceeds smoothly, the market expects to further clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in the digital asset field, providing the industry with clearer regulatory expectations. While final implementation still requires subsequent legislative procedures, positive policy signals have become one of the important factors in the recent market recovery.
ETF funds continue to inflow, Bitcoin becomes market focus
In addition to the improved regulatory environment, the continued inflow of institutional funds into Bitcoin spot ETFs has further strengthened market confidence. Several market research institutions believe that the development of ETFs not only improves the convenience for institutions to allocate digital assets but also enhances the market acceptance of Bitcoin as a long-term asset allocation.
However, analysts also warn that future market trends will still be influenced by the global macroeconomy, monetary policy, regulatory changes, and market risk appetite, and digital asset prices will still experience some volatility.
Digital asset ecosystem continues to develop, cloud mining receives more attention
As the digital asset market continues to develop, more and more investors are beginning to focus on participation methods other than spot trading. Compared to purchasing, deploying, and maintaining mining equipment independently, cloud mining, with its lower barrier to entry and more convenient user experience, is gradually becoming an important part of the digital asset ecosystem.
Against this backdrop, EX DeFi offers smarter mining services, allowing users to participate in digital asset mining without deploying dedicated equipment and earn up to $13,000 in passive income daily through smart computing contracts.
How does EX DeFi ensure user asset security?
EX DeFi prioritizes fund security as a crucial aspect of its platform operations and has established a multi-layered security protection system to provide users with more robust digital asset services.
According to publicly available information, EX DeFi employs an asset storage system, intelligent risk control, network security protection, and compliance management mechanisms, combining multiple security measures to enhance the overall security of the platform.
Regarding asset storage, the platform uses a combined cold and hot wallet management model, with most digital assets stored in offline cold wallets to reduce network security risks.
According to Yahoo Finance, the platform also incorporates AI-powered intelligent risk control, Cloudflare enterprise-grade network protection, McAfee® security system, multi-factor authentication (2FA), and 24/7 real-time monitoring to further enhance account and asset security.
How to earn daily mining rewards with EX DeFi
EX DeFi is easy to use. Users only need to complete the following four steps to participate in cloud mining:
1. Register an Account
2. Deposit Digital Assets
The platform supports a variety of mainstream digital assets, including BTC, ETH, USDT, XRP, BNB, LTC, USDC, BCH, DOGE, and SOL. The deposit process is convenient, secure, and transparent.
3. Choose a Hashrate Plan
Choose a suitable mining contract plan based on budget and needs. The minimum investment is $100. Once activated, the plan will run automatically.
4. Automatic Daily Earnings
The platform provides 24/7 intelligent cloud mining services. The system automatically handles computing power operation and earnings settlement, allowing users to earn daily earnings without continuous operation.
Popular DeFi Yield Plans
BTC (Beginner Trial Contract): Investment of $100, Term: 2 days, Daily Yield: $4, Total Profit: $100 + $8
DOGE (Golden Shell Mini Dogecoin Pro): Investment of $500, Term: 6 days, Daily Yield: $6.5, Total Profit: $500 + $39
BTC (Canaan-Avalon-A1466): Investment of $1000, Term: 10 days, Daily Yield: $13.4, Total Profit: $1000 + $134
LTC (Bitmain Antminer L7): Investment of $5000, Term: 20 days, Daily Yield: $73.5, Total Profit: $5000 + $1470
BTC (Bitmain S19K-Pro): Investment of $10,000, Term: 30 days, Daily Yield: $161, Total Profit: $10,000 + $4,830
For more details on popular contracts, visit the official website.
Conclusion
As the digital asset market continues to develop, the regulatory environment gradually improves, and institutional funds continue to flow in, more and more investors are beginning to focus on more diversified asset allocation methods. Whether it’s spot investment, ETFs, or Bitcoin mining, different participation methods bring more choices to the market.
In an environment where market opportunities and volatility coexist, EX DeFi stated that it will continue to strengthen platform infrastructure construction and security system protection, and provide more stable and efficient mining services to global users by continuously optimizing computing power contract services and intelligent operation capabilities.
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. Neither crypto.news nor the author of this article endorses any product mentioned on this page. Users should conduct their own research before taking any action related to the company.
Nasdaq, Cboe and the London Stock Exchange are among major exchanges moving toward longer trading hours.
Mirae Asset has completed its takeover of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Korbit after securing regulatory approval, paving the way to raise its ownership stake to more than 97%.
Summary
- Mirae Asset has completed its acquisition of Korbit and plans to raise its ownership stake to more than 97%.
- Korbit said its services, customer assets, and personal data handling will remain unchanged following the ownership change.
- The deal adds to a wave of investments by financial firms and global crypto companies in South Korea’s regulated digital asset market.
According to an announcement from Korbit, Mirae Asset Consulting, an affiliate of Mirae Asset Financial Group, has become the exchange’s largest shareholder after completing the required regulatory reporting process for its acquisition of a controlling stake.
A revised regulatory filing submitted by Mirae Asset on Tuesday showed the firm also plans to acquire an additional 7.35 million Korbit shares worth about 7.2 billion won ($5.32 million), according to the Korea Herald. Once the purchase is completed, Mirae Asset’s ownership will increase from 92.06% to 97.15%. Yonhap News Agency reported that the additional transaction is scheduled to close on Friday.
Korbit told users that the ownership change will not affect its day-to-day operations. The exchange said the operating company, Korbit Co., Ltd., will remain unchanged, allowing customers to continue using login, trading, deposits, and withdrawals without interruption.
The exchange also said customer deposits and virtual assets will continue to be held separately from company assets under South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act. In the same notice, Korbit confirmed it will remain the controller of users’ personal information, with no changes to how personal data is processed or used, meaning customers do not need to take any action.
Earlier this month, South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission approved the acquisition, describing it as the country’s first case of an affiliate of a traditional financial group acquiring a cryptocurrency exchange, according to the Korea Herald.
Mirae Asset Consulting has previously said the acquisition is intended to secure future growth opportunities built around digital assets.
Traditional finance increases exposure to crypto
With the transaction now completed, one of South Korea’s largest financial groups has formally entered the country’s regulated cryptocurrency exchange sector as traditional financial institutions continue increasing investments in digital assets.
According to CoinGecko data, Korbit processed roughly $4.3 million in spot trading volume over the past 24 hours, making it South Korea’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange. Market leader Upbit handled approximately $224.2 million during the same period.
The acquisition also follows a series of investments that have brought established financial institutions closer to the country’s crypto industry.
In May, OKX Ventures agreed to acquire a 19.6% stake in South Korean exchange Coinone through an 80 billion won ($53 million) investment, pending regulatory approval. Coinone said the investment, made alongside Korea Investment & Securities, would combine secondary share purchases with subscriptions for newly issued shares.
As part of that agreement, Coinone and OKX Ventures said they would exchange expertise in user protection, security systems, and risk management, while Korea Investment & Securities said it intends to pursue opportunities involving security tokens and stablecoins as South Korea continues discussions on digital asset legislation.
The Coinone investment came after Binance’s acquisition of rival exchange Gopax, adding to a growing list of global cryptocurrency firms expanding into South Korea’s regulated digital asset market.
Domestic financial institutions have also stepped up activity across the sector. Earlier this year, Samsung subsidiaries announced plans to acquire a combined 4% stake in Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, while several major banks and payment companies, including KB Kookmin, Shinhan and NHN KCP, entered partnerships involving tokenized deposits and stablecoin payment infrastructure.
Korbit continues expanding partnerships
Before the ownership change, Korbit had already been expanding its blockchain partnerships.
In November 2024, the exchange partnered with Coinbase to integrate Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, allowing users to deposit Ether on Ethereum and withdraw it through Base, or complete the process in reverse.
At the time, Coinbase said it would support Korbit through promotional campaigns, community events and initiatives tied to the Base ecosystem. The companies also said they planned to cooperate on developing on-chain technology in South Korea and expanding support for Base network functions.
Korbit Chief Executive Officer Oh Se-jin said the partnership with Coinbase would help the exchange develop services aligned with global industry trends and strengthen its competitiveness. Coinbase Vice President of Business Development Dan Kim said the company planned to work with Korbit on buildathons, hackathons, and educational community events designed to introduce more Korean users to the Base ecosystem.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back dismissed BIP-110 supporters as “idiocracy” on X. They had pushed a “flip the bit” plan to activate the proposal, which would restrict non-financial data on Bitcoin’s network.
BIP-110, or Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110, needs majority miner signaling to lock in by early August 2026. Back said Bitcoin’s main chain faces no threat if that support never appears.
What the ‘Flip the Bit’ Plan Proposes
Bitcoin infrastructure firm Start9 framed the activation as risk-free reconnaissance. The firm argued that flipping the bit costs roughly 0.1% of a miner’s revenue over a year.
Refusing, it warned, risks a chain split, stranded Lightning Network (LN) counterparties, and lost fee-paying users.
The rule targets Ordinals, image and text files embedded directly inside Bitcoin transactions that critics say clutter the chain. However, Back rejected the Start9 framing outright.
He argued that the signal simply expires without broad backing. The clash extends an earlier Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto debate over BIP-110, where Back rejected claims that Satoshi Nakamoto would have supported it.
Back Says Technical Objections Cannot Be Overridden
Back called the pushback circular. He cited what he termed an IETF-like consensus. That practice, he explained, weighs only valid technical objections.
Therefore, he said, no process can accommodate sabotage attempts, regardless of intent. The disagreement follows Bitcoin Core’s earlier removal of default limits on OP_RETURN, a transaction field once capped to discourage large data uploads.
Meanwhile, MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor raised similar concerns in a recent Bitcoin neutrality warning, cautioning that the change could sacrifice protocol neutrality.
Other developers, in contrast, frame the fight as part of a broader Bitcoin anti-spam debate over what the blockchain should carry.
BIP-110 Miner Support Stays Thin Before the August Deadline
Signaling for BIP-110 remains minimal. Major mining pools have largely stayed out of the effort so far. Exchanges and node operators are watching the deadline closely, wary that a contentious activation could split the chain they must support.
Back has previously downplayed a related Bitcoin miner fork claim, rejecting the idea that the network would forcibly exclude miners. He has pointed critics toward his own Bitcoin fork risk warning for further context.
The mandatory signaling window opens in early August 2026.
However, whether the flip-the-bit push fades quietly or drags into a real fork should become clear within weeks.
The post Adam Back Calls Bitcoin BIP-110 Idiocracy appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Elon Musk says OpenAI turned into an $800 billion closed-source company. That is the “exact opposite” of the nonprofit he funded, he told The Economist.
The remarks came in an interview with The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, recorded on Monday before OpenAI disclosed that one of its frontier models went rogue.
Musk Says OpenAI Betrayed Its Founding Mission
Why is Musk not a fan of Sam Altman? His answer was about money and mission, not personality.
“If you started a non-profit that was meant to be an open source AI company owned by the world and it somehow got turned into an $800 billion for-profit company with closed source, I think you’d be like, well, wait a second, that’s the exact opposite of what I donated the money for. That’s my issue. I think it’s a legitimate one.”
The numbers behind the grievance are on record. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as “essentially a counterweight to Google.” By OpenAI’s own account, he donated less than $45 million before leaving in 2018. He is now suing the company over its shift.
The shift is complete. On October 28, 2025, OpenAI restructured into OpenAI Group PBC, a for-profit public benefit corporation, as announced by the company.
Microsoft took a 27% stake. The company’s reported valuation has since climbed past $850 billion as it weighs an IPO.
Musk Points to Anthropic’s Exit as Evidence
Musk argued the distrust runs deeper than his own feud. He pointed to the team that quit OpenAI to build Anthropic, which he called the current leader in AI.
“The reason the Anthropic team left OpenAI is because they didn’t trust Sam [Altman]. Otherwise, Anthropic wouldn’t exist. They would still be at OpenAI.”
He praised its chief executive in rare terms. Dario Amodei “is a very principled person, and he cares about things a lot,” Musk said. No one at Anthropic has “set off my evil detector.”
The timing stings for OpenAI. The company is courting advertisers and just won US approval for its GPT-5.6 rollout. Yet Musk insisted the rivals can still cooperate on safety.
“But at the end of the day, if we have to talk, we’ll talk. I mean, set aside our personal differences for the good of the world.”
The full interview airs at economist.com Thursday evening.
The post Elon Musk Blames OpenAI for Becoming an $800 Billion Closed-Source Company appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato has launched regulated cryptocurrency trading through a new integration with Sygnum and banking technology provider Avaloq.
Summary
- BancaStato clients can now trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana directly through existing banking applications.
- Sygnum provides regulated trading and institutional custody while Avaloq keeps digital and traditional assets together.
- The integration makes BancaStato the first Avaloq SaaS bank to offer API-based crypto trading services.
Clients can now buy, hold and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana from the bank’s existing web and mobile applications.
The service connects Sygnum’s business-to-business digital asset infrastructure directly with BancaStato’s Avaloq core banking environment. Sygnum handles crypto execution and custody, while BancaStato keeps the customer experience inside its current banking channels. The launch makes BancaStato the first bank using Avaloq’s software-as-a-service environment to offer Sygnum-powered crypto trading through an API.
BancaStato adds four cryptocurrencies to banking apps
At launch, BancaStato customers can trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Solana. They can place market orders based on the amount of cryptocurrency or the U.S. dollar value they want to trade. The bank has added the service to the same web and mobile platforms clients already use for traditional banking and investments.
The setup uses Sygnum’s B2B API without requiring BancaStato to operate a separate order management system. Sygnum said this structure reduces technical complexity and allows the bank to adjust trading features while using its existing Avaloq systems. BancaStato serves customers in Ticino and has operated as a Swiss cantonal bank since 1915.
Moreover, Sygnum provides the digital asset trading infrastructure behind the service and holds customer crypto in its institutional custody system. The company said it uses hardware and software controls, governance procedures and external audits. It also holds client digital assets off its own balance sheet under the applicable legal framework.
BancaStato said the integration lets clients manage traditional and digital assets through one banking relationship. Curzio De Gottardi, head of the bank’s Products and Services Division, said:
“We are proud to partner with Sygnum Bank on this strategic initiative,” noted Curzio De Gottardi.
The bank said it plans to use Sygnum’s crypto banking infrastructure as it expands its range of investment services.
BancaStato joins Sygnum’s growing banking network
BancaStato joins more than 25 banks and financial institutions using Sygnum’s B2B platform. The network includes PostFinance, Zuger Kantonalbank, SocGen FORGE, Bordier & Cie and other financial firms. Sygnum says its partner banks give more than one-third of Switzerland’s population access to digital asset services.
The network has expanded steadily. As crypto.news previously reported, Sygnum had already onboarded more than 20 financial institutions by June 2024 to provide crypto trading, custody and related services to customers.
Sygnum’s earlier rollout with PostFinance also showed demand from customers new to investing. The company said 61% of PostFinance customers who bought crypto after its 2024 launch had not previously invested in any asset class through the institution. That experience gave the B2B model an established presence inside Swiss retail banking channels.
PostFinance later expanded its Sygnum-backed services by adding Ethereum staking.Customers gained access to the staking service through the bank’s existing digital platforms.
Sygnum has also worked with traditional banks on blockchain settlement.UBS, PostFinance and Sygnum completed a legally binding interbank payment using tokenized bank deposits on a public blockchain in September 2025.
Sygnum expands regulated bank-to-bank crypto services
The BancaStato launch follows Sygnum’s latest regulatory expansion in Europe. On June 30, Sygnum Europe said it had moved into operation under a Crypto-Asset Service Provider license issued in Liechtenstein under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. The authorization supports its plans to provide digital asset infrastructure to banks and other clients across the EU and European Economic Area.
Sygnum has positioned its bank-to-bank model as an option for financial institutions that do not want to build crypto trading and custody systems from scratch. Its infrastructure allows partner banks to keep their customer interfaces while connecting to Sygnum through APIs. The BancaStato deployment brings that model directly into an Avaloq SaaS setup.
For Avaloq, the project adds crypto trading to a core banking environment already used for conventional financial products. Christian Haux, Avaloq’s managing director for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, said the integration allows BancaStato customers to view and manage digital and traditional portfolios in one place.
BancaStato has not announced plans to add more cryptocurrencies or other digital asset products. The initial service covers BTC, ETH, LTC and SOL. However, the bank now has a direct technical connection to Sygnum’s platform, providing infrastructure that could support additional services if BancaStato later expands its offering.
Stablecoin supply reached approximately $309.7 billion in July 2026, while Visa’s on-chain analytics recorded a 58% increase in adjusted transaction volume over the preceding 12 months.
As stablecoins also process billions of dollars during weekends beyond conventional banking hours, Payment companies have started adding them to existing financial products.
Stripe completed its acquisition of Bridge in February 2025 and later introduced stablecoin accounts across 101 countries, enabling businesses to receive fiat and crypto payments while holding dollar-denominated tokens.
XDC Tech has now integrated Bridge, giving developers on XDC Network access to fiat conversion, virtual bank accounts, and multi-currency custody.
The partnership supports business payments and stablecoin settlement today, while XDC intends to apply the same capabilities to future transactions initiated by AI agents.
XDC Prepares for Payments Initiated by AI Agents
XDC also intends to support AI agents capable of initiating payments as part of automated commercial activity.
An agent could purchase access to data, pay for another software service, or settle a fee during an automated task. Such transactions require payment systems capable of completing transfers within the same digital session, without delays associated with traditional banking hours.
XDC presents its transaction speed and low fees as suitable for this model. The network reports finality of around two seconds, with transaction costs below one hundredth of a cent.
These characteristics become more important when software initiates frequent low-value payments. A human user may tolerate several minutes of settlement time, while an automated service may need to complete payment before continuing its task.
“Every layer of finance is being rebuilt for a world where software, not just people, initiates the payment,” said Atul Khekade, co-founder of XDC Network. “This partnership gives our ecosystem stablecoin infrastructure that already meets that bar.”
Bridge Adds Regulated Banking Access
Bridge contributes the regulated services connecting bank money with stablecoins. Its products cover fiat conversion, virtual accounts, custody, and payment access across the United States, Europe, and Latin America.
This coverage allows developers to enter supported markets through an established provider rather than seeking separate licences and banking relationships in each jurisdiction. XDC and Bridge expect the arrangement to reduce product launch periods from years to weeks in some cases.
“The networks that end up mattering most for stablecoin settlement will be the ones built for speed and finality from day one,” said Mai Leduc Blount, head of product at Bridge. “XDC’s infrastructure is exactly the kind of foundation this space needs as stablecoin volumes keep climbing.”
Bridge also connects traditional payment systems with blockchain settlement. Companies can retain access to established services such as SWIFT, SEPA, and FedNow while using stablecoins to transfer value on XDC.
Finance teams can continue receiving records associated with bank payments, while developers use blockchain settlement within the product. Compliance checks, custody controls, and transaction records become part of the payment setup from the beginning.
Current Payment Products Come Before the Agent Economy
The integration provides payment and settlement services available to developers today. XDC’s plans for a larger agent-focused product suite remain at an earlier stage.
Khekade described the Bridge partnership as one element within an upcoming initiative centred on the agentic economy, although XDC has yet to provide product details or a launch schedule.
The network reached seven years of mainnet operation in June. XDC also reported more than $1 billion in tokenized real-world assets during the same period, alongside the addition of institutional validators.
These existing activities give XDC an entry point into tokenized payments before autonomous software becomes a significant source of transaction volume. Trade finance, treasury transfers, and asset distributions already require faster settlement and access across currencies.
The Bridge partnership extends these capabilities through regulated fiat access and custody. XDC’s longer-term plans depend on growth in AI agents capable of making commercial decisions and completing payments independently.
Development of this market remains at an early stage, while the payment components required to support it are entering production.
XDC is using its current stablecoin products to prepare for a future in which software initiates a growing share of financial activity.
The post Stablecoin Supply Nears $310 Billion as XDC Integrates Stripe-Owned Bridge appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Chainlink whales have increased their activity as LINK attempts to recover from a broader market decline, with large holders reportedly accumulating more than 14 million tokens in less than a month.
Summary
- Chainlink whales accumulated over 14 million LINK as large transactions increased sharply during recent weeks.
- LINK trades near $8.54, with improving RSI and MACD signals supporting its latest recovery attempt.
- Falling exchange reserves reduce available selling supply, though LINK must reclaim $9–$10 for stronger momentum.
LINK traded near $8.54 at the time of writing, down about 0.6% over the past 24 hours. The token had a market capitalization of roughly $6.39 billion and daily trading volume of about $175.24 million. Its 24-hour trading range stood between $8.53 and $8.72, according to crypto.news market data.
Chainlink whale activity rises as large holders accumulate LINK
Onchain data shared by crypto analyst Ali Martinez showed that Chainlink whale activity had increased over the past two weeks. More than 20 transactions valued above $1 million each were recorded during one recent session, which Martinez described as evidence of “growing interest from large holders.”
Separate data shared by the analyst showed that large holders accumulated more than 14 million LINK in less than a month. Their combined holdings reportedly rose from below 170 million tokens to around 182 million to 183 million LINK during the period.
Whale accumulation can reduce available market supply when holders keep their tokens rather than moving them to exchanges, but it does not guarantee that prices will rise.
The latest activity follows earlier accumulation seen across the Chainlink network. Wallets holding more than 1,000 LINK recently reached their highest level of the year, while addresses controlling at least 100,000 LINK rose to a record 805, as previously reported.
LINK price shows short-term recovery signals
The daily chart shows LINK trading inside a broader downtrend after falling from earlier highs near $26–$28. The token has spent recent months largely moving within the $7–$10 region as buyers and sellers compete around the lower end of its longer-term range.
Short-term technical indicators have improved. The MACD line stood near 0.1866, above its signal line at about 0.1267, while the positive histogram pointed to improving momentum. The relative strength index was near 60.43, above both the neutral 50 level and its moving average of about 58.31.
The readings suggest buyers have gained some control without pushing LINK into overbought territory. However, price still faces resistance between $9 and $10. A sustained move above that area could strengthen the recovery structure, while another rejection may keep LINK inside its current consolidation range.
Recent price action has followed a similar setup. LINK rose after Mantle moved its $2.5 billion Super Portal to Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol.
Falling exchange reserves tighten available LINK supply
Chainlink exchange reserves have also moved lower, according to CryptoQuant data. The total has fallen to about 125.4 million LINK, compared with levels commonly ranging between roughly 165 million and 190 million during parts of 2024 and 2025.
Lower exchange balances can mean fewer tokens are immediately available for sale. However, declining reserves alone do not prove that demand will increase. LINK continues to trade near the lower part of its multi-year price range, so stronger buying pressure would still need to appear in the price structure.
Derivatives data also presents a mixed picture. CoinGlass data showed trading volume rising 1.95% to about $233.74 million, while open interest slipped 0.91% to roughly $445.28 million. The combination suggests more trading activity without a matching increase in outstanding leveraged positions.
Chainlink has seen similar periods of tightening supply before. Declining exchange reserves and whale purchases have repeatedly formed part of the bullish case for LINK, though price performance has not always followed immediately.
Chainlink ecosystem activity supports the broader market case
Chainlink continues to expand its role in blockchain infrastructure despite LINK’s weak longer-term price performance. Santiment has ranked the network among the leading real-world asset projects by development activity, placing it alongside Hedera at the top of the sector in recent rankings.
Institutional integrations have also continued. Mantle recently migrated its $2.5 billion Super Portal to Chainlink CCIP, while Aave selected Chainlink infrastructure for automated vault rebalancing. The number of Ethereum wallets holding LINK has also passed 900,000.
Meanwhile, U.S. investors now have regulated exchange-traded exposure to LINK. According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Chainlink ETFs recorded $2.68 million in net inflows on July 22, lifting cumulative net inflows to $127.83 million.
Total trading volume reached $2.99 million for the day, while total net assets stood at $114.78 million. The first U.S. Chainlink ETF received approval to trade on NYSE Arca in December 2025, expanding institutional access to the asset.
Some analysts have set much higher long-term targets. Crypto Patel has pointed to continued ETF demand and suggested LINK could eventually reach between $50 and $100 during another strong market cycle. Those targets remain analyst projections rather than confirmed price outcomes.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
The Smarter Web Company has repaid its $11.7 million Smarter Convert instrument ahead of schedule by selling 177.89 Bitcoin, removing a potential 7.7 million-share issuance while retaining a treasury of 2,700 BTC.
Summary
- The Smarter Web Company repaid its $11.7 million Smarter Convert instrument about two weeks before maturity by selling 177.89 Bitcoin.
- The early repayment removed the potential issuance of more than 7.7 million ordinary shares linked to the financing structure.
- The company continues to hold 2,700 Bitcoin and said convertible instruments are no longer its preferred source of capital.
According to an official announcement from The Smarter Web Company, the London-listed firm settled its Smarter Convert instrument around two weeks before maturity after requesting an early repayment with the support of investment manager TOBAM, whose affiliated entities held the instrument.
The company said it repaid $11,698,540 by disposing of 177.8909127 BTC at an average sale price of $65,762 per coin. The Bitcoin sold represented the holdings originally acquired through the proceeds of the Smarter Convert financing.
Under the original agreement announced in August 2025, at least 98% of the subscription proceeds had to be invested in Bitcoin. The company said it instead allocated the full amount into Bitcoin, making it responsible for returning all of the Bitcoin purchased with those funds when the instrument was repaid.
With the repayment completed, the company said the potential issuance of 7,718,551 ordinary shares linked to the Smarter Convert structure has been eliminated. It also removed those potential shares, along with the 177.8909127 BTC used for repayment, from its fully diluted Bitcoin treasury analytics.
Following the transaction, The Smarter Web Company said it now holds 2,700 BTC.
Company moves away from convertible structure
Chief executive Andrew Webley said the Smarter Convert instrument had provided an alternative source of financing when the company was still building its Bitcoin treasury strategy.
According to Webley, the structure helped strengthen the balance sheet while preserving financial flexibility during the early stages of the company’s Bitcoin accumulation plan. He added that although the company continues to recognize the value of both fiat and Bitcoin-denominated convertible instruments, it no longer considers them the right funding option for its current stage of development.
Webley also thanked TOBAM for supporting the structure and helping develop the financing arrangement.
The repayment comes after the company spent much of 2025 expanding its Bitcoin reserves through repeated purchases under what it calls its “10 Year Plan.”
Earlier in September 2025, The Smarter Web Company appointed Coinbase Institutional as an additional Bitcoin custody partner to work alongside its existing custodians through Coinbase Prime. At the time, the company said the multi-custodian approach was intended to strengthen security, improve risk management, and support the continued growth of its Bitcoin treasury.
When announcing that partnership, the company held 2,470 BTC, following a 30 BTC purchase completed earlier that month.
By October 2025, the company had increased its treasury to 2,650 BTC after acquiring another 100 BTC for approximately £9.08 million ($12.1 million). The purchase formed part of the same long-term accumulation strategy, which management has described as a core element of its corporate treasury policy.
The latest repayment indicates that the company continued adding Bitcoin after October, as its holdings now stand at 2,700 BTC despite disposing of nearly 178 BTC to settle the Smarter Convert obligation.
Bitcoin strategy remains in place
Although the financing structure has now been retired, the announcement does not indicate any change to the company’s long-term Bitcoin treasury strategy.
The Smarter Web Company has repeatedly said it intends to continue building its Bitcoin reserves under its 10 Year Plan. Earlier in 2025, it also raised £17.5 million to support additional Bitcoin purchases while expanding the infrastructure around its treasury operations.
Previous company announcements described the firm as the UK’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin-holding company. It has also climbed the global rankings of corporate Bitcoin holders during the past year as it continued increasing its reserves through regular acquisitions.
The removal of the convertible instrument also simplifies the company’s capital structure by eliminating millions of potential new shares that could have been issued under the agreement. Instead of leaving the instrument outstanding until maturity, the company chose to repay it early using the Bitcoin originally purchased with the financing proceeds.
With the repayment complete, The Smarter Web Company has closed one of the financing arrangements used during the early phase of its Bitcoin treasury expansion while continuing to hold 2,700 BTC on its balance sheet.
BitMEX has announced plans to shut down its cryptocurrency derivatives exchange after its board decided to wind down the business following a strategic review, with trading set to end on Sept. 23.
Summary
- BitMEX will shut down its exchange on Sept. 23 after its board approved the closure following a strategic review.
- Users have been asked to close open positions and withdraw funds before trading ends, with new positions blocked from Aug. 26.
- The closure comes weeks after a leadership overhaul that followed reports the crypto derivatives exchange was exploring a potential sale.
According to an official announcement published by BitMEX on Thursday, owner and operator HDR Global Trading Limited has decided to close the exchange after reviewing both the business and the state of the cryptocurrency industry. The company has already stopped accepting new account registrations and said the platform will cease exchange operations at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 23, 2026.
The exchange urged customers to close open positions and withdraw their assets before the deadline, while assuring them that funds remain under their control during the transition period. Even after trading services end, users will still be able to access their accounts to view wallet balances, transaction history, and withdraw any remaining assets.
Users given two months to exit positions
As part of the wind-down process, BitMEX said trading will continue until the closure date, although restrictions will gradually be introduced.
Beginning Aug. 26 at 04:00 UTC, the exchange will prevent traders from opening new positions, allowing only reductions to existing ones. During the following weeks, BitMEX said it will progressively force close outstanding positions to ensure what it described as an orderly shutdown of its markets. Any positions that remain open when the exchange closes will be liquidated automatically.
The company also said contracts with limited liquidity will undergo early settlement using its existing settlement procedures, with advance notice provided to affected users.
Users who fail to withdraw their assets before the exchange closes will continue to have access to their accounts solely for withdrawals. BitMEX said verified customers leaving funds on the platform after Sept. 23 will be charged either $50 per month equivalent or 1% annually, whichever is greater, with fees deducted monthly. The company added that those charges could increase in the future after prior notice if balances continue to remain on the platform.
Separately, BitMEX warned users to remain alert for phishing campaigns that could attempt to exploit news of the closure. The exchange said no priority withdrawal service exists and cautioned customers against anyone claiming to offer faster access to funds.
Additional withdrawal reviews will also be introduced during the transition period. According to the company, heightened withdrawal demand and blockchain confirmation times, particularly on Bitcoin, could result in processing delays even though withdrawal requests will continue to be handled.
BitMEX added that its reserves exceed customer liabilities, pointing users to its Proof of Reserves and Liabilities page as evidence that customer assets remain fully backed.
Exchange cites legacy as derivatives pioneer
Looking back on its history, BitMEX said it launched in 2014 with the goal of making professional-grade cryptocurrency derivatives available to a wider range of traders. The company credited itself with introducing the 100x leveraged perpetual swap, a product that later became one of the most widely traded instruments across the crypto derivatives market.
The exchange also said it maintained a record of zero customer funds lost to hacks throughout more than 11 years of operation, describing its security practices as one of the platform’s defining features.
In its statement, BitMEX said the platform remained committed to Bitcoin’s principles of neutrality, transparency, and decentralization through its peer-to-peer operating model and continued focus on safeguarding customer assets.
The company acknowledged that shutting down the exchange was a difficult decision but thanked customers for supporting the platform throughout its history, adding that it hopes users will continue trading on other cryptocurrency exchanges.
Closure follows months of restructuring
The announcement comes only weeks after BitMEX carried out another executive reshuffle.
As previously reported by crypto.news, former chief executive Stephan Lutz, chief financial officer Ina Steiner, and chief growth officer Raphael Polansky left the company earlier this month as part of a leadership overhaul. Former global general counsel and chief operating officer Peter Wilkinson subsequently took over as chief executive.
It was reported at the time that the restructuring came while BitMEX was exploring a potential sale, with the management changes viewed as part of efforts to reorganize the business.
Leadership at the exchange has changed several times since 2020, when founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed stepped down after U.S. authorities alleged the company had failed to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls. BitMEX later pleaded guilty to those charges.
Former Börse Stuttgart executive Alexander Höptner became chief executive in 2021 before handing the role to Lutz during the cryptocurrency market downturn in 2022.
The decision to close the exchange now ends more than a decade of operations for one of the earliest cryptocurrency derivatives trading platforms, bringing to a close a business that helped establish perpetual futures as a standard product across the digital asset industry.
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