Crypto World
The True Story Behind Tony

Before Anthony Bourdain was a famed chef with eight Emmys for his travel series Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, he started out as a dishwasher in Cape Cod’s hippie enclave Provincetown in the mid-1970s. Tony, out in theaters Aug. 7, explores this period in Bourdain’s life, imagining how that kitchen job whet his palate for working in the restaurant industry.
In the movie, Dominic Sessa portrays Anthony Bourdain, a student at Vassar College who follows his crush Nancy Putkoski to Provincetown, where she works in the summer at a pizza shop. She doesn’t exactly feel the same at first, and so one night, a heartbroken Bourdain drowns his sorrows at a casual seafood restaurant and gets into a fight there, ending up too drunk to go home. The restaurant’s chef (Antonio Banderas)—known simply as “Chef” in the film—brings him back to his house. The chef lets him stay for the summer because he has nowhere to go and puts him to work as a dishwasher in his restaurant.
The staff is full of miscreants, who are snorting lines of cocaine left and right. But the chef becomes a mentor, showing Bourdain the particulars of running a Provincetown kitchen: how to shuck oysters and make homemade salt out of seawater. Bourdain arrives looking for love and ends up finding it in food and kitchen culture—a passion that would shape the rest of his life.
The real Bourdain died by suicide in 2018 at the age of 61. Tony, taking place over one summer, does not delve into questions about his death. “We wanted to remind people why they loved him in the first place, focus on the beginning of his life where he figured out how to share his superpower with the world of curiosity, empathy and connecting people through food,” says Lou Howe, one of the Tony screenwriters.
Here’s the real dish from Bourdain’s time in Provincetown, where he decided to become a chef.
Bourdain’s real Cape Cod shenanigans
When Bourdain went to Provincetown for the first time, he wasn’t craving lobster rolls, but the company of one particular woman. As he wrote in his 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential, he was 18 and “unhappily in love” when he went there to find his high school crush and future wife Nancy.
They were both students at Vassar, and they shared a house with roommates, where he says there was a lot of cocaine, pot, acid and sunbathing nude—in other words, as he put it, “healthy teenage activities.”
Nancy worked at Spiritus Pizza, and while Bourdain didn’t actually move in with a chef, as the movie depicts, he did sleep in the crawl space over a walk-in refrigerator at Spiritus Pizza at one point.
One of the roommates hooked Bourdain up with a dishwashing gig at the Flagship, best known for serving up fried seafood to summer tourists.
“He was forced to get this job. He didn’t have any money in Provincetown,” says Todd Bartels, one of the Tony screenwriters.
The rag-tag kitchen crew included an ex-con and part-time methadone dealer who worked the salad station. They nicknamed Bourdain “Mal,” short for “mal carne,” which is what they called bad meat. Bourdain was doing all of the grunt work at the Flagship, scrubbing pots and pans, scraping plates, peeling potatoes, and cleaning shrimp.
Bourdain was attracted to a certain kind of swagger that the kitchen crew boasted. In one dramatic example in Kitchen Confidential, he wrote that when he watched a chef at the Flagship rear-end a bride celebrating her wedding at the restaurant, “I knew then, dear reader, for the first time: I wanted to be a chef.”
Chefs at the restaurant were hailed for “total number of waitresses screwed, cocktails consumed without visible effect.” He gushed about the chefs, not only for their ability to churn out so many dinners in a sweltering kitchen, but also because they were “sexual athletes” who lived a life of “adventure, looting, pillaging, and rock-and-rolling through life with a carefree disregard for all conventional morality.”
Bourdain dishing on Bourdain
In Tony, Sessa as Bourdain is obnoxious, talking himself up and lying to everyone he meets, even pretending that he’s writing a book about the restaurant to impress Nancy. The real Bourdain was definitely known as an arrogant kid in Provincetown. Per Kitchen Confidential, back then he was “angry” and “undisciplined,” writing, “I treated the world like my ashtray.”
“He was very brutally honest in critiquing his younger self, so that gave us some free rein to paint this wayward young man in all his warts,” says Howe.
As one of the Flagship’s chefs, Alex Getmanov, said in Laurie Woolever’s Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography, Bourdain “didn’t know anything, and he had this attitude that he could do anything, which doesn’t get you far in a working kitchen.”
Working in the Flagship’s kitchen, Bourdain wrote, “essentially pushed me down the path I still walk to this day.”
In an episode of his food travel series Parts Unknown, Bourdain described the Flagship as the place “where my cooking career started, where I started washing dishes, where I started to have pretensions of culinary grandeur.”
True to life, the movie ends with Bourdain dropping out of Vassar to enroll at the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York.

What Bourdain learned from the Cape Cod food scene
The chef and mentor in Tony (Antonio Banderas) is a composite of different chefs who inspired Bourdain.
One chef he especially looked up to in Provincetown was Howard Mitcham, author of the Provincetown Seafood Cookbook (1975), who would host an annual clambake like the one in the movie. As Bourdain wrote in a 2018 introduction for Mitcham’s cookbook, “He understood always that the best place to enjoy seafood was on the beach, among friends, in a pretense-free zone, preferably accompanied by many drinks.” Mitcham also taught him that “there is no difference between the joys of a great meal at a three-star Michelin and at a humble fisherman’s bar—as long as it’s made with love and with pride.”
More than that, he learned a passion for food. “Howard showed us how to cook for ourselves, for the pure pleasure of eating, not just for the tourist hordes,” he wrote in Kitchen Confidential, “that food could be a calling. That the stuff itself was something we could actually be proud of, a reason to live.”
He also learned that you don’t need to do much to fresh seafood to make it taste good. As the movie shows, local foodies would swarm the ocean whenever striped bass appeared, reeling them in with pieces of Wonder Bread and then whacking them on the head. In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain described filleting the fish under gas lamps—covered in gore—and broiling the fish with lemon and butter to make “a meal that made me feel better about things, made me better for eating it, somehow even smarter.”
He left Cape Cod with an appetite for food and vice. As he said in Parts Unknown, “I left Provincetown with restaurant experience, a suntan, and an ever deepening relationship with recreational drugs.”
Provincetown also gave Bourdain, an aspiring writer, something to finally write about, says Bartels. “He found a purpose. I don’t know if there’s anything more profound than that.”
Crypto World
India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat Code

India's Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an arm of the Ministry of Home Affairs, ordered GitHub to remove three code repositories of Bitchat, the Bluetooth mesh messaging app backed by Block CEO Jack Dorsey, giving the Microsoft-owned platform three hours to comply. Dorsey published the… Read the full story at The Defiant
Crypto World
XRP ETF sees $3.58 million outflow and price plunge; how XRP holders can earn $7,000 daily
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
XRP faces renewed pressure after its first ETF outflow, while EX DeFi gains attention from investors seeking cloud mining and yield opportunities.
Summary
- XRP ETF records its first monthly outflow as weakening price action raises concerns over short-term market sentiment.
- EX DeFi gains attention from XRP holders seeking cloud mining and yield strategies amid ongoing market volatility.
- Despite recent ETF outflows and price weakness, long-term optimism for XRP remains supported by institutional adoption.
XRP price has recently remained weak, and the first significant outflow from XRP ETF since their launch has further heightened market caution.

Recently, XRP has underperformed relative to other top-ten digital assets by market capitalization; its price has repeatedly retested previous support levels, and upward momentum has slowed noticeably. Meanwhile, the latest data from SoSoValue indicates that XRP spot ETF recorded a net outflow of approximately $3.58 million during the last trading session — the first such outflow in nearly a month — sparking market attention regarding shifts in short-term capital sentiment.
Driven by market sentiment, XRP price briefly dropped to a recent low, causing its market capitalization to retreat and resulting in the temporary loss of its position as the world’s fourth-largest digital asset. Intensified short-term volatility has prompted some investors to re-evaluate their future investment strategies for XRP.
At the same time, an increasing number of XRP holders are considering alternatives: while maintaining a long-term bullish outlook on XRP, is there a way to mitigate the impact of short-term price volatility while generating continuous additional returns on their holdings?
It is against this backdrop that the EX DeFi cloud mining platform has garnered increasing attention from investors seeking to hedge against market volatility and boost their earnings through cloud mining and yield aggregation mechanisms.
XRP ETF outflows occur, yet the long-term growth thesis remains intact
Although the initial net outflow from XRP ETF has raised concerns among some market participants regarding short-term capital flows, many industry analysts believe this primarily reflects a decline in current market risk appetite rather than a fundamental shift in XRP long-term fundamentals.
In recent years, as the global regulatory environment has matured, Ripple has continued to build out its global payment network and expand into areas such as Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, cross-border payments, and digital financial infrastructure, thereby providing new growth momentum for the XRP ecosystem.
Despite a recent dip in secondary market trading activity and cautious sentiment among retail investors, institutional demand for long-term digital asset allocation persists, and the market’s overall foundation for growth remains fundamentally unchanged.
As XRP volatility increases, EX DeFi emerges as a new option for investors
Amidst recent heightened volatility in XRP prices, an increasing number of XRP holders are turning to EX DeFi. They seek to explore more stable and sustainable yield models — leveraging cloud mining and yield aggregation mechanisms — while maintaining their long-term digital asset holdings.
Unlike high-volatility leveraged trading or strategies relying solely on price appreciation, the EX DeFi cloud mining platform offers a more convenient way to engage with digital assets. Users do not need to deploy mining rigs or maintain hardware; they simply select a hashrate contract to participate in mining services. This allows them to maximize the utility of their digital assets while keeping an eye on the long-term prospects of XRP.
About EX DeFi
Founded in 2021 and headquartered in the UK, EX DeFi operates in compliance with European regulatory frameworks such as MiCA and MiFID II. The platform continuously enhances transparency, operational standards, and user protection mechanisms to deliver a secure and seamless cloud mining experience.
The platform employs a multi-layered security architecture, featuring:
- Annual financial and security compliance audits by PwC;
- Digital asset custody insurance from Lloyd’s of London;
- Enterprise-grade network protection via Cloudflare and McAfee® security systems;
- Multi-layered encryption, AI-driven risk management, and 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication).
EX DeFi currently supports a wide range of mainstream digital assets — including XRP, BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC, DOGE, LTC, and SOL — offering users flexible and diversified services.
How to start earning daily returns?
Step 1: Register an Account
Visit the official EX DeFi website and sign up using an email address to receive a $17 trial bonus.
Step 2: Select a mining package
Choose a cloud mining contract that suits a particular budget and timeframe, then start automated mining with a single click.
Step 3: Start earning returns
Once the contract is activated, the system automatically allocates hashrate, and earnings are settled on a 24-hour cycle. Users can withdraw their earnings at any time or continue participating to achieve long-term asset management goals.
Popular yield contracts
BTC (Beginner Trial Contract): Investment $100, Duration: 2 days, Daily Return: $4, Total Profit: $100 + $8
DOGE (Golden Shell Mini-Doge Pro): Investment $500, Duration: 6 days, Daily Return: $6.5, Total Profit: $500 + $39
BTC (Canaan-Avalon-A1466): Investment $1,000, Duration: 10 days, Daily Return: $13.4, Total Profit: $1,000 + $134
LTC (Bitmain Antminer L7): Investment $5,000, Duration: 20 days, Daily Return: $73.5, Total Profit: $5,000 + $1,470
BTC (Bitmain S19K-Pro): Investment $10,000, Duration: 30 days, Daily Return: $161, Total Profit: $10,000 + $4,830
Please visit the official EX DeFi website to view more yield-generating mining contracts.
Summary
Although XRP ETF recently saw a net outflow of approximately $3.58 million — impacting short-term market sentiment — long-term prospects remain supported by a maturing regulatory environment, increased institutional participation, and ongoing development within the XRP ecosystem. The general market consensus is that short-term volatility will not alter the long-term growth trajectory of the digital asset industry.
For long-term XRP holders, the market focus is shifting from a reliance on price appreciation alone toward more diversified ways of engaging with the asset. EX DeFi cloud mining services offer users additional options for long-term participation in the digital asset ecosystem, allowing them to explore more stable and sustainable yield management strategies while focusing on the asset’s long-term value.
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.
Crypto World
Perp DEX Dango to Wind Down, Will Halt Trading July 29

Dango, a perpetuals exchange built on its own Layer-1 blockchain, said it will shut down, halting trading on July 29 and switching off its chain on Aug. 13. "Despite our best effort, various reasons have led us to conclude there is no viable path to a lasting commercial success," the team posted on… Read the full story at The Defiant
Crypto World
Where Everyone Ends Up in the Series Finale of The Bear

Ever since executive chef Carmen Berzatto attempted to transform the Original Beef of Chicagoland into a Michelin-starred restaurant, the Bear (and, to an extent, The Bear) survived as a chaotic, quixotic idea—a fine-dining mirage built on dysfunction in an arid restaurant landscape. But in the show’s fifth and final season, Carmy, Sydney, Richie, and the rest of their bruised-but-breathing kitchen staff get one last shot at keeping their aspirational vision alive. Which is to say: They bicker, they cook, and they try not to drown during a torrential downpour for a final dinner service that might determine everything.
This time, though, Carmy isn’t in charge. Season 5 picks up the morning after the Season 4 finale, when Sydney has taken reluctant control alongside Richie and Natalie, attempting to orchestrate an impeccable multi-course meal for the Michelin inspector they’re convinced is arriving that night. All they have is a dwindling supply of ingredients, a flooded building, and staff aware that their jobs are in jeopardy. And yet, in their quest for culinary perfection, and as Carmy evaluates his decision to retire, the group pulls together without resorting to the profane, deafening chaos that characterized their previous work, almost entirely thanks to Sydney’s opposite-in-every-way leadership style. Every dish gets out, every table leaves happy, and the math finally works, even if just barely.
So, what does that mean for the Bear going forward? In the Season 5 finale, titled “The Original Beef of Chicagoland,” the restaurant’s fate shines brighter than expected. The next morning, Carmy discovers that the Michelin “Star Man” never showed up the previous night. Instead, during a call, he learns the real inspector, Peter Clark, had quietly visited months earlier. His verdict: the food was “exceptional and creative,” the “talent was undeniable,” and the dining room “felt alive without being precious or tryhard.” When Carmy relays the news to Sydney, she can’t help but ask: “Did we get a star?”
Carmy slowly shakes his head, before breaking into a soft smile.
“We got two.”
After processing this enormous badge of honor, Sydney and Carmen eventually share an intimate, meaningful embrace in the dining room (sorry Reddit theorists, no kiss), bathing in the morning sunlight and realizing a dream that sometimes never seemed possible between them. “You did it,” Carmy tells her.
Over the next week, the rest of the staff sinks into stability, making good on all the sweat, ambition, and belief it took to get there. The restaurant has a real foundation now—it has leadership, vision, a seal of excellence that will guarantee an endless flood of reservations, and a franchised sandwich shop. And, as Luca (Will Poulter) notes, the Bear has something even more difficult to find in a fine dining establishment: family. It’s a sweet, satisfying ending that makes it hard to say goodbye to this tight-knit, trauma-bonded kitchen staff. Here’s where each “family” member stands now that series creator Christopher Storer has closed up shop.
Carmen Berzatto

Carmy leaving the Bear right as the restaurant earns its Michelin stars feels like a bittersweet personal decision—and risky considering that he’s never worked a “real job” in his life. “Do you have any skills outside of this?” Sydney asks him, slightly concerned. “Have you ever had to write down a real resume?” The standout chef has his reasons for quitting. He also hopes to become an architect, or at least, for now, an intern at an architecture firm, where he lands a job interview thanks to an assist from Stevie (John Mulaney).
During the interview, he shares a moving monologue about his entire existence as a chef. “I didn’t want to know my coworkers. I didn’t care to care for them,” he says. “I saw them as tools to help me survive in the kitchen.” The previous night’s service, in which the entire kitchen pulls together under Sydney’s leadership, crystallized his need to move on. As Carmy shares with Jimmy (Oliver Platt) earlier, leaving the Bear is the only way he can end the vicious traumatic cycle that threatened to devour everyone in his life. “Lee was right,” Carmy says of his belligerent uncle. “To break patterns you have to break patterns.” Who knows? Maybe he’ll design the next great restaurant.
And yes, for those wondering about his love life: Claire Bear shows up to Richie’s daughter’s birthday party in the final scene, offering hope that their relationship is on the road to repair.
Sydney Adamu

It was always clear that Sydney was the brains behind the Bear, thanks to her dexterity and creativity in the kitchen. But even she can’t believe the Michelin stars bestowed upon the restaurant. Never one to take credit, she enjoys a few quiet moments taking in the individual praise and team’s achievements—further validation that staying at the Bear instead of jumping to Adam Shapiro’s new venture last season was the right choice. As revealed by her uber-proud father over breakfast, Sydney’s photo graces a front section of a Chicago newspaper celebrating the Bear’s turnaround. After doubt about her future caused strain in their relationship, it appears Sydney has finally found the place she belongs with the dad she always wanted.
Richie Jerimovich

This season started out poorly for Richie when his car got T-boned on the way to work in a surprise pre-season episode. Luckily, it ended much better for him—and in an upgraded mode of transportation. Earlier in the day, Natalie informs him that he’s been invited to an international hospitality seminar in Japan, which initially causes a panic attack. Richie has never left the country, let alone flown in a plane. Thanks to some rocky reassurance from Carmy, and full clearance from Sydney to miss a week of work as long as he brings her back stickers and weird snacks, Richie ultimately relents and takes the next big step in his career.
Luckily, Jess (Sarah Ramos) eases his fear of flying and journeys with him, with a few subtle hand touches all but confirming a budding romance that most of the kitchen had already sussed out. Before they go, Richie, now a master of hospitality, throws a surprise birthday party for his daughter Eva (Anabelle Toomey), convening the whole family—including Lee (Bob Odenkirk), Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs ), her husband Frank (Josh Hartnett), and even Claire Bear (Molly Gordon)—in celebratory harmony.
Natalie Berzatto

While everyone has been fussing in the kitchen and dining room, Natalie a.k.a. Sugar has been quietly managing the books in the back, making sure the lights stay on. That was a near-impossible task with Carmen in charge, especially when her brother demanded that the restaurant’s menu change every night (a mandate that required new, expensive ingredients and made profitability impossible). As she notes in the finale, the rain-soaked dinner service didn’t net them any extra revenue. Still, with Sydney in charge, she seems more optimistic about the restaurant’s future. “Usually, I’m filled with dread with numbers, but today I’m not worried, because we have a captain,” she tells Sydney. And with a healthy baby, a loving husband and doting father (Chris Witaske), and a reformed mother trying to finally be of service, Natalie looks like she’s forging the family and business she’s always wanted.
Marcus Brooks

Throughout the previous night’s dinner service, Marcus was in a bad headspace spurred on by his estranged father’s solo visit to the Bear. It impacted his mood, his work, and his relationship with Luca, turning a typically even-keeled, good-natured pastry chef into an anxious, defensive liability. But after sharing some meaningful time with his father (which included a special candle-poured dessert) and Sydney (who commiserates with him about losing their respective mothers), Marcus finds some catharsis and begins to make inroads with his dad. As he drops Luca off at the airport for his return to Copenhagen, he admits he plans to spend his off day in the lab, attempting to create another otherworldly confection. It’s the kind of grind that’s made him one of the most exciting new chefs in the city.
Tina Marrero

Tina came dangerously close to jumping ship and pursuing another, more secure chef job, but Sydney convinced her that she’d be her right-hand woman in the kitchen should they make their restaurant a profitable endeavor. It’s a fitting end to Tina’s evolution—from someone who joined the Beef with hardly any skills to middle-aged culinary craftswoman. In the weeks after learning about their Michelin status, Tina fantasizes about her new life as the Chef de cuisine with her husband beside her (played by the actor’s real-life husband David Zayas). “You think I can do it?” she asks him. “I know you can,” he replies.
Ebraheim

Ebraheim stayed in the margins of the show this season, but it’s clear his prospectus on the sandwich business and its franchising plan will be key to keeping the Bear alive. Despite the fact that Ebra anxiously rehearsed his pitch for hours, Carmy cuts him off and tells him that his plan to franchise the Beef side window into a few suburban locations is a perfect idea, having been tipped off by his Uncle Jimmy. “I want you to do it,” Carmy tells him and the Beef staff. “You guys are the reason this place is what it is.” The next step will be furnishing their “ghost kitchens” and bringing their signature sandwiches to the greater Chicago area.
Neil Fak (and family)

In what turns out to be the biggest moment in Neil’s young serving career, the handyman and Berzatto family friend keeps his composure and colorfully chats up the diner everyone believed was the Michelin-star inspector. The superb, improvisational interaction only bolstered Neil’s confidence as a server, setting him down a hospitality path he never realized could bring him so much joy. As for his brother Theodore (Ricky Staffieri) and the rest of the extended clan, there’s easy reason to believe that they’ll continue to shadow the Berzattos wherever they go.
Jimmy Kalinowski

It’s hard to count how many times Uncle Jimmy and Computer uttered the words “air rights” this season, but the repetitive phrase should seemingly be useful now that the Bear is a Michelin-certified restaurant. The financial investment into the restaurant has sunk Jimmy’s bank account, but Ebra’s franchise projections give him reason to hope there’s light at the end of this dark, clogged tunnel. (He also has his sights set, romantically, on Deedee, with whom he interacts affectionately at Eva’s shindig.) Then again, the Bear might still work out, too. “This place is going to be OK. She’s the real deal,” Carmen says of Sydney. “How do you know?” Jimmy asks him. Carmy replies matter of factly: “I’ve been in a few of them.”
Crypto World
ChangeNOW Review 2026: Fast Crypto Swaps With Real Trade-Offs
Despite all its progress, crypto still has a big learning curve. And trading complexities and fear are often the first reasons why many still don’t want to commit to this space. ChangeNOW is one of the many exchanges trying to solve this through simplicity.
A crypto swap on ChangeNOW starts with a familiar promise: choose what you are sending, paste a wallet address, and wait for another asset to arrive. There is no order book to learn and, for many crypto-to-crypto swaps, no account to open.
That stripped-down flow is the product’s strongest argument. It makes moving between blockchains feel closer to a transfer than a trade.
However, simplicity has limits. ChangeNOW folds its fee into the quote, relies on outside companies for fiat payments, and can request identity checks after a user has sent funds.
ChangeNOW works best when convenience and pair coverage matter more than seeing every component of the price. Large, fee-sensitive swaps and users who want predictable verification rules deserve a closer look at the terms before sending anything.
The Short Verdict
| Best for | Direct wallet-to-wallet swaps and less common cross-chain routes |
| Main strengths | Simple flow, broad asset coverage, fixed or floating quotes, permanent exchange addresses |
| Main drawbacks | Embedded rather than itemised pricing, regional limits, recovery fees |
| Account | Usually unnecessary for standard swaps in permitted regions; required for Pro and some users |
| Operator | CHN Group LLC, registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
| Bottom line | A convenient swap router whose least visible details matter most when a transaction stalls |
Key Takeaways
- ChangeNOW advertises access to more than 1,500 assets across 110+ blockchains, although availability changes by pair, network and region.
- Its price is easy to see as a final receiving amount, while the service does not break out a standalone swap fee. Comparing live quotes is essential.
- Standard swaps usually require no account, but compliance checks can still pause a transaction, making regional eligibility and refund terms worth reviewing before sending funds.
The Swap Screen Gets to the Point
ChangeNOW’s crypto super app has operated since 2017. The company says it has served eight million clients and now connects more than 1,500 crypto assets across over 110 blockchains. That reach is the practical reason to use it: a route that would otherwise require a bridge, a centralised exchange, or several wallet steps may appear in one interface.
The standard flow is straightforward. A user selects the two assets, enters a receiving wallet address, and sends funds to the deposit address generated for the transaction. ChangeNOW then sources the conversion and pays the new asset to the destination wallet.
The service describes this as non-custodial because users do not leave an ongoing account balance on the platform. That distinction matters, though it should not be stretched too far. ChangeNOW still handles the deposited funds while the swap is being executed, and its terms allow it to hold them during a compliance review.
Self-custody also leaves less room for error. The asset, network, destination address, and any required memo must match.
Pricing is Simple to Read and Hard to Audit
ChangeNOW offers floating and fixed rates. A floating quote follows the market while the swap is processed, so the final payout can move. A fixed quote reserves enough room to protect the displayed receiving amount, although that certainty can produce a less favourable rate.
The service includes its remuneration and the relevant routing costs inside the quoted rate. That keeps the confirmation screen clean, but it prevents users from separating the platform’s margin from liquidity-provider charges and network fees.
For a user, the useful number is the amount expected in the destination wallet. Compare that figure across providers at the same moment, using the same amount and network. A percentage advertised elsewhere may look cheaper while producing a worse final payout.
ChangeNOW says its average exchange takes about one to two minutes and that 98% of swaps beat the estimate or finish within a 0.5% deviation. Those are company figures rather than independently audited performance data.
Its own FAQ gives a wider normal range of five to 30 minutes, and blockchain congestion can push a transaction beyond it.
The Accountless Promise Has a Catch
Many users can start a crypto swap without the lengthy onboarding, where every transaction still passes through automated risk screening. ChangeNOW can request an identity document and proof of funds when a transfer is flagged, when local rules require it, or when a fiat partner asks for it.
Under the current terms, if a transfer gets flagged, it stays paused until identity checks are complete. If a user chooses not to verify, a 3-day refund window is opened. However, suspicious activity may cause payout delays.
Geography changes the experience as well. The terms prohibit standard access for UK users. US users can use the service only after creating an account under separate terms. Availability may differ elsewhere, so the eligibility check belongs before the deposit, not after it.
ChangeNOW is operated by CHN Group LLC, which is registered in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The company’s own AML document says the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit does not supervise companies that provide cryptocurrency services. Users seeking the protections of a locally licensed exchange should treat that as a material distinction.
Fiat Access Adds Convenience
ChangeNOW connects card and bank payments through providers such as Transak, Simplex, Banxa, and Guardarian. Its wider platform advertises support for more than 70 fiat currencies, with methods that can include Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, SEPA, Pix, ACH, and Revolut.
The list looks broad, but the actual offer depends on the country, currency, payment method, and asset. The third-party provider sets its own KYC checks, limits, fees, and processing rules.
This setup gives newcomers a familiar way to buy crypto. It also divides responsibility across more than one service when a payment is delayed or rejected.
Permanent Addresses Solve a Real Repeat-Use Problem
The permanent exchange address is one of ChangeNOW’s more practical features. A user chooses a pair and destination once, then reuses the same deposit address for future conversions. That can simplify mining payouts, recurring transfers, or regular treasury movements.
Feature Updates in 2026
ChangeNOW expanded its product range during 2026 with several additions covering market research, tokenized assets, private transfers and more advanced trading. These features extend the platform beyond instant crypto swaps while remaining accessible from the same interface.
Price Predictions
ChangeNow has recently integrated prediction markets, which means users can directly access major platforms like Polymarket through the exchange. This adds an extra layer of convenience as users can access different trading functions directly from their ChangeNOW wallets.
Real-World Assets
The Real-World Assets section focuses on tokenized versions of traditional financial assets, including gold, government bonds, real estate and other asset classes. Users can explore this category in one place and exchange supported RWA tokens alongside more established cryptocurrencies.
- Private Transfers
Private Transfers route transactions through ChangeNOW before funds reach the destination wallet. This reduces the visible connection between the sender and recipient on public blockchains and gives users additional transaction privacy. The company describes the feature as a privacy tool rather than a guarantee of anonymity.
Crypto Trading
The Crypto Trading section expands the platform beyond instant swaps with additional trading tools. Users can access features such as limit orders, transaction history, portfolio tracking and cashback through ChangeNOW Pro, giving active traders access to more functionality within the same ecosystem.
ChangeNOW Pro Changes the Risk Model
A free Pro account adds transaction history, cashback, staking access, one monthly AML address check, and crypto loans. Paid plans lift some limits and add more screening tools.
Plan
Monthly price
Cashback
AML address checks
VIP
$0
0.1%
1
Emerald
$15
0.1%
40 per month
Brilliant
$100
0.2%
Unlimited
The paid subscriptions are charged in NOW tokens at the current dollar-equivalent price and renew monthly. Cashback also arrives in NOW. That token exposure is small for some users and relevant for others, especially when calculating whether a plan pays for itself. The full plan details sit on the ChangeNOW Pro page.
Pro’s reduced-cost off-chain conversions require users to fund an account balance. That is a different arrangement from the standard no-balance swap flow. The convenience improves, while the user accepts custody and account risk that the basic product was designed to avoid.
NOWLoans currently advertises a fixed 50% loan-to-value ratio and 10% annual interest, paid when the loan closes. The open-ended term may look flexible, but the user still gives up control of collateral and takes liquidation and counterparty risk. The feature deserves the same scrutiny as any other crypto-backed loan.
Support Scores Well, but Edge Cases Define the Experience
ChangeNOW offers round-the-clock support. As of July 24, 2026, its Trustpilot page showed a 4.6 rating from 13,555 reviews. Eighty-seven percent were five-star reviews and 6% were one-star reviews. Trustpilot also said the company replied to all negative reviews and typically responded within 24 hours.
The review feed contains many reports of fast, simple swaps. Recent criticism also mentions slower execution, weaker rates, and the $50 recovery fee for deposit mistakes. User reviews are useful signals rather than controlled tests, and the strongest rating cannot remove the need to read the terms.
Who Should Use ChangeNOW?
ChangeNOW makes the most sense for users who:
- already understand wallet addresses, memos, and network selection;
- need a direct cross-chain route or an asset that is awkward to find elsewhere;
- value a simple receiving quote more than an itemised fee schedule.
A centralised exchange, regulated broker, or on-chain aggregator may fit better when a user needs:
- transparent trading fees and an order book;
- advanced orders, portfolio tools, or deep liquidity for a large trade; or
- consumer protection under a specific local licence.
Final Verdict
ChangeNOW succeeds at the part users see first. The exchange flow is clean, the asset range is broad, and fixed or floating quotes make the immediate choice easy to understand. Permanent addresses and transaction records give the service more value for repeat users.
The important weaknesses sit behind that interface. Pricing is embedded rather than itemised. Compliance checks can interrupt the accountless experience. Fiat payments depend on third parties, and recovery from a deposit mistake can be costly.
For a straightforward, modest swap, those trade-offs may be acceptable.
For a large transfer, the sensible approach is slower: confirm regional eligibility, compare final receiving amounts, read the onboarding requirements, and test the route with an amount the user can afford to have delayed.
Review basis: Public product pages, legal terms, pricing pages, and recent user-review data checked on July 24, 2026. BeInCrypto did not independently execute a live swap for this assessment.
The post ChangeNOW Review 2026: Fast Crypto Swaps With Real Trade-Offs appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
Bybit sues North Korea over $1.5B Lazarus hack
Bybit has sued North Korea, its intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group in a U.S. federal court as the exchange seeks to recover assets stolen in the record $1.5 billion crypto hack.
Summary
- Bybit filed its case against North Korea, the RGB and Lazarus Group in Washington, D.C.
- A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction freezing certain stolen assets held by unidentified defendants.
- The FBI previously attributed the $1.5 billion February 2025 attack to North Korean actors.
- Bybit said the civil case remains separate from ongoing U.S. criminal investigations.
Bybit takes Lazarus Group to US court
Bybit filed the civil lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, its Reconnaissance General Bureau intelligence agency and the Lazarus Group as defendants.
The case concerns the Feb. 21, 2025, breach that drained more than 400,000 Ether (ETH) and staked Ether from the Dubai-based exchange. The assets were valued at about $1.5 billion at the time, making the incident the largest recorded cryptocurrency theft.
The FBI attributed the attack to North Korea shortly after the breach. U.S. authorities track the actors involved under the name TraderTraitor and urged exchanges, validators and blockchain firms to block transactions connected to addresses identified in the laundering operation.
Bybit co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou said the exchange had worked with investigators, regulators, other trading platforms and law enforcement agencies since the attack.
“Our focus has never changed: protect our users first, recover what we can, and make sure the people behind these attacks are held accountable,” Zhou said.
Court freezes assets linked to Bybit hack
Alongside the lawsuit, Bybit secured a preliminary injunction covering certain stolen assets held by unidentified individuals and entities listed as John Doe defendants.
The order prevents those defendants from transferring, selling or otherwise disposing of the identified assets while the litigation continues. A preliminary injunction preserves property during a case but does not represent a final ruling on liability or ownership.
Bybit said it would seek further relief as the lawsuit progresses. The company is pursuing the civil claim separately from criminal investigations being conducted by U.S. law enforcement agencies.
The order gives Bybit another route to pursue the stolen funds after months of relying on blockchain tracing, voluntary freezes by industry participants and a bounty program for information leading to recoveries.
Stolen funds became harder to trace
Crypto.news reported in March 2025 that 88.87% of the stolen funds remained traceable, while 7.59% had gone dark and 3.54% had been frozen.
The traceable share later declined as the attackers converted assets into Bitcoin and dispersed them across thousands of wallets. By April 2025, Zhou said 27.6% of the stolen funds could no longer be tracked.
Lazarus-linked wallets used services including cross-chain protocols and crypto mixers to make the transaction trail harder to follow. Bybit previously offered rewards to platforms and investigators that helped identify or freeze the funds.
The exchange also covered the shortfall following the attack through Ether purchases, loans and deposits from industry counterparties, allowing it to continue processing customer withdrawals.
Lawsuit adds to US action against North Korean hackers
The case gives Bybit access to a U.S. civil process while federal agencies continue investigating North Korea’s crypto operations. Any recovery will depend on whether the defendants, exchanges or custodians controlling the identified assets comply with the court order.
North Korean groups stole an estimated $2.02 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025, according to Chainalysis data previously covered by crypto.news. The Bybit attack accounted for most of that amount and pushed the country’s estimated cumulative crypto theft to about $6.75 billion.
The threat continued into 2026. As reported by crypto.news, Lazarus-linked attacks allegedly drained another $577 million from Drift Protocol and KelpDAO in April.
Bybit’s next step will be seeking permanent relief and attempting to recover the assets covered by the injunction. The court has not yet issued a final judgment in the civil case.
Crypto World
BitMart to Wind Down Exchange, End Trading by Aug. 26

BitMart, a cryptocurrency exchange, said Saturday it will begin an orderly wind-down of its trading platform, halting all trading on Aug. 26 and ceasing operations entirely on Jan. 31, 2027. The exchange attributed the decision to "a careful evaluation of the Company's operating conditions, market… Read the full story at The Defiant
Crypto World
161,000 Idle ETH May Soon Be Staked: What Grayscale Just Changed
Some 161,000 ETH sit idle in Grayscale’s $1.6 billion Ethereum Staking Mini ETF (ticker ETH). A new trust agreement aims to shrink that pile toward zero.
The rewrite makes staking the default for nearly every coin the fund holds. It also guarantees shareholders regular cash payouts, and it landed just before a key tax deadline.
Staking Becomes the Default, Not the Target
Grayscale signed the new trust agreement on August 6, according to an SEC filing. It was cutting things close. An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deadline to make such changes expired August 10, four days later.
The IRS rules, published last November, let crypto funds stake without triggering fund-level tax. There is one big string attached. Rewards must flow out to shareholders at least quarterly.
Grayscale’s rewrite delivers that and more. Rewards will convert to cash, with monthly payments planned. Moreover, where conditions hold, the agreement states the trust shall,
“engage in Staking with respect to all of the Trust’s Ether at all times, except for a short list of carve-outs.”
Those cover practical needs like fees, redemptions, and network emergencies.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
Grayscale Ethereum ETF Already Stakes Most of Its Ether
Grayscale has form here. It became the first US issuer to switch on staking in its spot crypto funds in October 2025.
The bet has paid. The Mini ETF has earned $27.3 million in net rewards since then, per Grayscale data. Net staking rewards currently run at 2.61% a year after fees.
As of August 6, the fund had staked 80.8% of its 839,556 ETH. Roughly 161,000 ETH sits idle as a buffer for redemptions, fees, and daily operations.
Meanwhile, rivals are competing on cost and yield. Morgan Stanley launched Ethereum and Solana funds charging just 0.14%, undercutting Grayscale’s 0.15%. Institutions such as Intesa Sanpaolo have rotated toward staked Ethereum products this year.
Ethereum trades near $1,915, up 0.4% over 24 hours. Therefore, staking yield remains a modest but steady sweetener on top of price exposure.
Whether payouts grow now hinges on that idle buffer. If the staked share climbs from 80.8% toward full deployment, distributable rewards should rise with it. Upcoming disclosures will show how fast that happens.
The post 161,000 Idle ETH May Soon Be Staked: What Grayscale Just Changed appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Crypto World
CLARITY Ethics Deal Could Cut Trump Taxes by Millions
A bipartisan ethics proposal aimed at unlocking progress on the US crypto market-structure bill could also produce a large potential tax advantage for President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The reported benefit centers on how taxes would be handled if the president is required to divest from crypto-related interests under the ethics plan.
According to Bloomberg, an ethics addendum that has not been made public would require Trump to divest from crypto-related businesses. The filing reportedly includes a mechanism that would allow the president to defer capital gains taxes tied to those divestitures, potentially resulting in tax savings in the millions.
Key takeaways
- Bloomberg reports the proposed ethics addendum would require presidential divestment from crypto-related businesses as a condition for advancing the market-structure bill.
- The same proposal reportedly includes a tax-deferral feature that could reduce capital gains taxes, creating a potential windfall for Trump.
- Democrats have raised conflict-of-interest concerns as a major barrier to passing the bill, and the reported tax benefit could renew scrutiny.
- Trump’s most recent financial disclosure (for 2025, released in late June) shows substantial crypto-related earnings tied to licensing of memecoin brands and token sales via World Liberty Financial.
Ethics rules meet a tax question
The market-structure legislation has faced political resistance, largely because of Democratic worries that Trump’s financial involvement in crypto could conflict with the White House’s position on the bill. In an effort to overcome the stalemate, senators have been working on an ethics addendum intended to clarify and narrow potential conflicts.
Bloomberg’s report suggests that the addendum goes beyond divestment requirements by also addressing the tax treatment of any assets the president would have to sell or transfer. “People familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg wrote, indicated the plan would permit Trump to defer capital gains taxes on mandated divestitures, which could translate into substantial savings.
That structure could become a point of contention. While divestment requirements are designed to reduce perceived conflicts, a tax deferral that benefits the president may lead Democrats to argue the ethics safeguards are not strong enough—or not strong in the ways they prefer—despite the divestment trigger.
Why Democrats’ concerns remain central
Democratic objections to Trump’s crypto relationships have been described as a key obstacle to moving the market-structure bill forward. The ethics addendum was reportedly conceived to address those concerns directly, but Bloomberg’s account indicates the reported tax angle may reintroduce doubt about whether the measures genuinely neutralize the president’s incentives.
For readers tracking the bill, the key issue is not only whether divestment occurs, but how effectively the proposed framework separates presidential actions from personal financial exposure—and whether the tax treatment is viewed as consistent with that separation.
Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
What Trump’s filings show about crypto exposure
Trump’s disclosures provide context for why the ethics debate has been so politically combustible. His annual financial disclosure report for 2025, released at the end of June, showed Trump received about $1.4 billion in income from crypto-related ventures last year.
According to the 927-page disclosure, the largest share of income came from licensing and sales tied to memecoin activity. Trump reportedly earned roughly $635 million from “royalties” in a “license agreement with Celebration Coins,” with “Official Trump (TRUMP)” cited as an example.
The filing also identified World Liberty Financial as the second-biggest source, generating about $588 million through “proceeds from token sales.”
Beyond those major categories, the disclosure reportedly included $197 from the sale of an equity interest in a stablecoin venture.
Those numbers are likely to shape how lawmakers assess whether any divestment requirement would materially reduce Trump’s financial connection to crypto. If the president’s exposure is largely tied to licensing and token-sale-related income, divestment details—such as what must be sold, what can be retained, and how quickly—become crucial.
World Liberty ownership details add complexity
Alongside the financial disclosure, additional information connected to World Liberty Financial’s corporate structure appears to reinforce the idea that Trump-adjacent entities maintain significant involvement. Disclosures on World Liberty’s website indicate that DT Marks DEFI LLC, described as an entity affiliated with Trump and certain family members, holds “approximately 38% of the equity interests” in the parent company of World Liberty.
This matters for the ethics argument because divestment requirements—if they apply broadly—may need to cover not only direct business operations, but also equity stakes and other positions that could benefit from the success of crypto-related initiatives.
At the same time, the reported tax deferral mechanism highlighted by Bloomberg introduces a separate layer of complexity: even if divestment reduces future exposure, how taxes are handled in the transition could still be perceived as aligned with the president’s personal financial interests.
As senators continue negotiating the bill and the ethics addendum, the next thing readers should watch is whether the divestment and tax-handling provisions are finalized and publicly clarified—and whether Democrats, who have already questioned Trump’s conflicts, accept that the safeguards adequately change the underlying incentives around the market-structure legislation.
Crypto World
SpaceX stock rallies 14% as lockup fears fade
SpaceX stock surged 14% on Friday after an analyst upgrade, softer U.S. jobs data, and limited insider selling eased pressure on the recently listed company.
Summary
- SPCX climbed 14.09% to $131.06, extending its rebound from an August low near $105.
- Argus upgraded SpaceX to Buy and maintained a $160 price target.
- Up to 911.5 million insider shares became eligible for sale without triggering the feared sell-off.
- Weak U.S. payroll data reduced expectations for another short-term Federal Reserve rate hike.
SpaceX stock jumps after Argus upgrade
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. traded at $131.06 as of 3:26 p.m. EDT, up $16.14 for the session. The stock opened near $115 before rising above $120 and accelerating toward $131 during afternoon trading.

Friday’s rally followed a 6.1% gain on Thursday, reversing part of the 13.6% decline recorded after SpaceX released its first quarterly results as a public company.
Argus Research helped drive the latest move by upgrading SpaceX from Hold to Buy. The firm maintained a $160 price target, implying further upside from the stock’s Thursday close.
Argus pointed to SpaceX’s second-quarter performance despite concerns about its planned spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company reported $7.8 billion in revenue, up 92% from a year earlier and above the roughly $6.8 billion expected by analysts.
SpaceX also recorded $3.5 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, exceeding Wall Street expectations of about $2.1 billion.
Lockup expiration fails to trigger heavy selling
Relief over SpaceX’s first post-IPO lockup expiration also contributed to the rally.
Up to 911.5 million shares held by employees and early investors became eligible for sale on Thursday. The expiration increased the potential public float from about 4.9% to 11.8%, raising concerns that additional supply would push SPCX lower.
That selling pressure did not immediately appear. SpaceX shares instead gained on Thursday and extended the move on Friday, suggesting the market had already priced in much of the unlock risk.
As such, the absence of large-scale insider selling removed a key overhang for the stock. However, more shares are scheduled to become eligible for trading in later lockup tranches.
Short covering may have amplified the rally. Short interest had risen ahead of the company’s earnings and lockup expiration, leaving bearish traders exposed when the anticipated sell-off failed to occur. The scale of short covering during Friday’s session has not been confirmed.
Weak jobs report lifts U.S. growth stocks
A softer U.S. labor report provided a broader market tailwind.
Nonfarm payrolls fell by 23,000 in July, compared with economist forecasts for an increase of about 86,000. The result reduced concerns that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates again in the near term.
Lower rate expectations tend to support growth companies because they reduce the discount applied to projected future earnings. SpaceX is particularly sensitive to changes in borrowing costs because of its planned spending on launch systems, Starlink infrastructure and AI computing capacity.
The Nasdaq Composite and semiconductor stocks also advanced during the session, indicating that at least part of the SPCX rally reflected a broader return to technology and growth shares.
ARK Invest added further support by purchasing 181,830 SpaceX shares after Wednesday’s decline. The position was valued at approximately $19.7 million based on that session’s closing price.
SPCX approaches key resistance at $131
SpaceX stock reached an important technical area following Friday’s advance.
The 4-hour chart places the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement near $130.67, close to the latest market price. A sustained move above that level could allow buyers to test the next retracement near $138.63.

SPCX also moved above the upper Bollinger Band near $128.20, showing strong short-term momentum but raising the possibility of a pullback if buyers fail to hold the breakout.
The 4-hour relative strength index rose to 59.93, above its signal average of 43.39 but below the 70 level generally associated with overbought conditions. Immediate support sits near $128, followed by the $119.34 Fibonacci level and the moving average around $115.24.
Despite the rebound, SpaceX stock remains well below its June peak above $225. The next test will be whether the shares can reclaim the company’s $135 IPO price while the market absorbs additional insider unlocks.
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