News & Research

HSBC has tested AI agent payments using tokenized deposits with Ant Digital Technologies, according to Crypto Briefing. For the test, HSBC integrated its Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS) with Ant Digital’s Anvita Flow network, while the transactions were executed on the Jovay testnet, a layer-two blockchain environment. The payments were processed in real time and were generally under $2. Ant Digital Technologies is the blockchain-focused subsidiary of Ant Group, China’s largest fintech company.

Four wallets believed to be tied to the Ledger fund theft transferred a combined 430.2 ETH, worth about $1.07 million, to Tornado Cash, according to Onchain Lens. After Tether froze part of the related funds, the hackers began swapping USDT for USDD through SUN.io and the USDD PSM, while some of the funds were also said to have moved into a Binance hot wallet. The suspected hacker wallets currently hold about $70.6 million in assets, including ETH, BTC, USDD and USDT.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target for Coinbase to $258 from $250 while maintaining a neutral rating, CoinGape reported.

New York state has reached a settlement with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky over investor fraud allegations, The Block reported. The deal includes up to $35 million in conditional restitution and a permanent ban on participating in the securities, commodities, and cryptocurrency industries. New York Attorney General Letitia James sued Mashinsky in 2023, alleging he misled investors about the platform’s stability and investment strategy while Celsius was taking on risky investments and concealing losses. The state said the conduct harmed hundreds of thousands of investors. Mashinsky is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in federal prison and had previously faced sanctions and industry bans from the U.S. FTC and CFTC. Separately, Celsius creditors have recovered more than $3.4 billion so far through the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.

Amid a wave of user complaints on X and Reddit over unauthorized crypto outflows tied to Ledger devices, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said users should wait a few weeks after buying a hardware wallet or downloading a new software wallet before transferring large sums. In a post on X, Zhao added users should keep checking for news about hacks during that period and afterward, noting hardware can be tampered with and even official software websites can be compromised. Zhao also stressed that while self-custody gives users greater control over their assets, it also leaves users with greater security responsibility. Meanwhile, Ledger said it is investigating devices sold through official distributor CryptoBilis in connection with asset theft cases involving users in Southeast Asia.

John Koudounis, CEO of Calamos Investments, reiterated his long-term outlook that BTC could reach $1 million by 2030. Koudounis said broader BTC-backed lending, lower price volatility and the launch of new ETF products could encourage large global asset managers to enter the market.

XRP Ledger has enabled Permission Delegation, a feature that lets companies and institutions authorize other accounts to perform specific on-chain tasks without sharing a master key, CoinDesk reported. The feature allows institutions to retain control over core assets while assigning functions such as payments and asset management to separate accounts, and it is expected to improve security and operational efficiency for institutional stablecoin operations and crypto custody services.

The coming tokenization supercycle will likely be led by tokenized stocks and stablecoins pegged to currencies other than the U.S. dollar, Base founder Jesse Pollak said in an interview at TOKEN2049 in Singapore, according to The Block. Pollak said the market is underestimating the growth potential of non-dollar stablecoins. Pollak added countries will seek to preserve monetary sovereignty and continue using their own currencies for everyday payments, which would make the role of non-dollar stablecoins increasingly important.

A Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) address transferred 100.41 BTC, worth about $8.33 million, to a Coinbase Prime deposit address at 1:16 p.m. UTC today. Whether the transfer led to an actual sale has not been confirmed.

Kraken is investigating an issue that incorrectly displayed margin-related information for some app and web users, Cointelegraph reported. The exact cause of the error and the scope of any impact have not yet been confirmed.