Decentralized AI project Swarm Network has raised $13 million, including $10 million through NFT-based agent licenses and $3 million from strategic investors. Decentralized artificial intelligence protocol Swarm Network raised a total of $13 million to build an AI verification protocol. According to a Wednesday announcement shared with Cointelegraph, $10 million of the raised funds was secured through the protocol’s licenses to operate agents. A project spokesperson told Cointelegraph that each license is a non-fungible token (NFT) that allows its holder to obtain daily rewards for operating agents and maintaining the network. The remaining funds comprise a $3 million strategic investment from investors, including Sui (SUI), Ghaf Capital, Brinc, Y2Z and Zerostage. The investments by Sui, Ghaf and Brinc were secured by Swarm’s participation in SuiHub’s Dubai-based global accelerator. Read more
The PSG1 comes with gaming-ready specs, a built-in crypto wallet and fingerprint security, marking Solana’s latest push into consumer hardware and Web3 gaming. The Solana ecosystem is taking a leap into hardware with the forthcoming launch of its first handheld gaming console. Play Solana, a project dedicated to building a Web3 gaming device on the Solana blockchain, announced that it will start shipping its Play Solana Gen 1 (PSG1) device on Oct. 6. The device comes with gaming-ready specs, including an octa-core ARM processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity and a touch LCD display. It also includes a built-in hardware wallet and fingerprint authentication, allowing users to store crypto assets while playing games. Read more
USDT0 expands to 11 networks with Polygon integration, while XAUT0 grows following its TON debut and HyperEVM integration. Polygon, a layer-2 (L2) scaling solution for Ethereum, is about to upgrade to the USDT0 standard, the unified liquidity network that introduced the omnichain versions of Tether’s USDT and XAUT. USDT0 (USDT0) and XAUt0 (XAUt0), cross-chain liquidity stablecoins enabled by LayerZero's Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT), are launching on the Polygon blockchain, USDT0 operator Everdawn Labs announced to Cointelegraph on Wednesday. The integration marks a milestone for XAUt0, with Polygon becoming its third blockchain integration following XAUt0’s debut on TON and Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM. Read more
Four whales realized a cumulative $47.5 million profit on Hyperliquid, spurring price manipulation allegations related to XPL’s 200% rally. Update (Aug. 27 at 5:44 pm UTC): This article has been updated to reflect that a blockchain analyst retracted a claim linking Justin Sun to a whale wallet. Four whales, or big cryptocurrency investors, were accused of price manipulation that resulted in a $4.59 million loss for one unfortunate trader, raising questions about the reliability of decentralized trading platforms over their centralized counterparts. Four whale addresses profited a combined $47.5 million after the recently launched Plasma blockchain’s (XPL) token soared 200% to over $1.80 in minutes on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. Read more
Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, a16z and others pressed the Senate to add explicit protections for developers and non-custodial services in the market structure bill. A coalition of 112 crypto companies, investors and advocacy groups has called on the US Senate to include protections for software developers and non-custodial service providers in upcoming market structure legislation. A letter sent Wednesday to the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, authored by the DeFi Education Fund and its coalition partners, said the industry spoke “with one voice,” urging lawmakers to ensure developers and non-custodial actors are not misclassified as intermediaries under outdated financial rules. “Provide robust, nationwide protections for software developers and non-custodial service providers in market structure legislation,” the letter said. “Without such protections, we cannot support a market structure bill.” Read more
Crypto has the potential to make ordinary people hilariously rich. Here’s three real life tales, and one guy who sold free Bitcoin too early. A surprise manila folder with millions of Bitcoin, a memecoin that went to the moon and a series of high-stakes poker games these are some true-life tales of people who struck it rich with crypto. While there are many stories of skilled traders, miners and gamers who became self-made crypto millionaires, the more interesting ones are those who stumbled into crypto and accidentally struck digital gold. It was 2013. Two freshman students were sitting at a bar. The guy, a nerdy computer type, was interning at Goldman Sachs. He told the girl lets call her Anna You should invest in Bitcoin. The girl, who had the resources, said, Sure. $10,000 was exchanged, and Anna forgot about it. Read more
China’s control over crypto liquidity and its buying power gives Beijing unprecedented leverage over the Trump family’s digital fortune. Opinion by: Joshua Chu, co-chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association China’s control over cryptocurrency liquidity in Hong Kong gives it unprecedented power over the Trump family’s crypto wealth. This leverage lets Beijing influence the family’s financial fate — and potentially US-China relations — through market moves. As Eric Trump visits Hong Kong, this crypto-political nexus signals a new era of global power. Cryptocurrency is no longer seen as just the new financial innovation around the block. Virtual assets have become powerful geopolitical instruments determining the fates of nations. Read more
Crypto has the potential to make ordinary people hilariously rich. Here’s three real life tales, and one guy who sold free Bitcoin too early. A surprise manila folder with millions of Bitcoin, a memecoin that went to the moon and a series of high-stakes poker games these are some true-life tales of people who struck it rich with crypto. While there are many stories of skilled traders, miners and gamers who became self-made crypto millionaires, the more interesting ones are those who stumbled into crypto and accidentally struck digital gold. It was 2013. Two freshman students were sitting at a bar. The guy, a nerdy computer type, was interning at Goldman Sachs. He told the girl lets call her Anna You should invest in Bitcoin. The girl, who had the resources, said, Sure. $10,000 was exchanged, and Anna forgot about it. Read more
Ether's bullish Augusts in the past have preceded major rallies into year-end, raising hopes of ETH price reaching $7,000 by January. Key takeaways: ETH eyes record monthly close, unlocking potential for a year-end rally. History shows August’s average 60% gains into December despite September dips. Read more
Private OTC token deals give funds discounted allocations and predictable profits, while retail investors face hidden sell pressure and little transparency. Crypto funds and market makers are buying tokens at steep discounts through private over-the-counter deals and hedging them with shorts, locking in double-digit returns while retail traders take the risk. Venture capitalists, funds and market makers can often secure allocations at roughly a 30% discount with three- to four-month vesting, then hedge by shorting the same amount on perpetual futures markets, according to Jelle Buth, co-founder of market maker Enflux. This structure largely guarantees profits that can annualize to as much as 60%-120%, regardless of where the token price moves. Read more
Crypto.com-backed CRO jumped 40% on the announcement of the Trump Media Group CRO Strategy, reaching levels not seen since May 2022. Cronos, the native cryptocurrency of the Crypto.com-backed Cronos Chain, surged to multi-year highs following news of the Trump Media Group CRO Strategy launch. On Tuesday, Trump Media and Technology Group announced launching a joint $6.4 billion Cronos treasury with Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition. Cronos (CRO) surged 25% to $0.20 within hours after the announcement, before climbing past $0.23 on Wednesday, its highest level since May 2022, according to CoinGecko data. Read more