SEC Greenlights Nasdaq Push Into Tokenized Securities Trading

A new feature called Smart Cashtags is being developed by Elon Musk's X app to link ticker symbols in posts to real-time financial data. Users can specify assets like stocks and crypto by using cashtags like $BTC or $NVDA. The tool aims to reduce ambiguity around tickers and smart contracts, especially in crypto markets.

XRP exchange-traded funds have attracted over $1 billion since November, with institutional investors favoring Ripple's compliance approach. Despite this, XRP is trading 37% below its July all-time high. Brian Huang of Glider believes XRP lacks serious industry recognition.

VanEck's long-term outlook predicts Bitcoin could reach $53.4 million by 2050 in a bullish scenario where it captures a significant portion of global trade. Even the base case forecasts a substantial rise to $2.9 million per BTC by 2050, with central banks potentially allocating 2.5% of their balance sheet to Bitcoin.

Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, has raised over $15 billion across five venture funds to support American technology, representing more than 18% of all U.S. venture funds in 2025. The firm's focus includes AI, crypto, biology, health, defense, public safety, education, and entertainment.

BNY announced plans to issue digital representations of customer deposits on the blockchain, using a private and permissioned blockchain for tokenized deposits. The move aims to enhance liquidity efficiency and reduce settlement friction for clients, with a focus on collateral and margin use cases.

Truebit, an Ethereum-based verification protocol, fell victim to a $26 million exploit due to a bug in its code. The incident highlights a trend of hackers targeting older DeFi protocols with known vulnerabilities.

Vitalik Buterin publicly supports Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, emphasizing the importance of privacy as a fundamental human right. Storm faced legal issues due to the misuse of the privacy-preserving software he developed.

Ripple has been granted permission by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority to expand its payments platform in the country, allowing UK companies to utilize its services for cross-border payments with digital assets. The approval comes ahead of new regulations in 2027, requiring all crypto firms to undergo FCA oversight.

Altcoins like XRP and Solana are gaining momentum, with some tokens seeing weekly gains of up to 17%. Experts attribute this surge to capital rotation into riskier assets amid macroeconomic uncertainties, while Bitcoin and Ethereum experience consolidation.

Polygon is introducing a new stablecoin payments framework to enhance DeFi ecosystem accessibility. The Open Money Stack aims to provide seamless money movement across blockchains, reducing reliance on traditional financial intermediaries.