
The Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the Algorand layer-1 blockchain network, announced on Wednesday that it is laying off 25% of its staff.
The foundation described the decision as “difficult” and attributed it to the downturn in the crypto market. “This decision was not taken lightly and is in response to the uncertain global macro environment as well as the broader downturn in crypto markets,” it said.
Describing the affected employees as “best-in-class contributors,” the foundation said it would support them through the transition. Following the layoffs, the foundation believes it is now more closely aligned with its long-term business, technology, and ecosystem goals.
Founded in 2019 by MIT professor and Turing Award winner Silvio Micali, the Algorand Foundation is responsible for guiding, funding, and growing the Algorand blockchain ecosystem.
The aim of the foundation is to make real-world adoption of blockchain technology easier, and to build an open and accessible system where digital assets can be transferred instantly and securely. The foundation is often described as building infrastructure for the future of finance and the broader digital economy.
The Algorand Foundation offers a diverse suite of blockchain-related products that serve both end users and developers in the crypto space. Some of its products include:
While the crypto industry is known for offering some of the highest-paid and most sought-after jobs, it has recently experienced a wave of layoffs, with many companies re-pivoting and restructuring due to changing market conditions.
Just last month, Block Inc., the company behind Square, Cash App, and Afterpay, cut approximately 40% of its workforce, laying off about 4,000 employees. The layoffs were part of a broader restructuring and a shift toward artificial intelligence (AI).
More recently, this month, the crypto exchange Crypto.com laid off around 20% of its staff as part of a strategic shift toward AI-focused operations. Web3 infrastructure company Eclipse Labs also laid off about 65% of its workforce during a major restructuring in August.

Tally, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) governance platform built on Ethereum, is shutting down after five years of operation in the crypto industry.
The decision, according to co-founder and CEO Dennison Bertram, was driven by a lack of sustainability in the decentralized governance tooling industry. Despite its success as a DAO governance platform, Bertram said Tally had not yet realized its original vision.
“We have spent years championing the DAO vision. But at some point, you have to accept the world as it is, not as you hoped it would be. The reality is that we can no longer build a viable business around this,” he said.
Bertram also said Tally will not move forward with its ICO plans, adding that the team was not confident it could fulfill any promises it would make to token holders if it sold them tokens.
Prior to the announcement, Tally had built a notable presence in the crypto space, including:
Reflecting on these successes, as well as Tally’s ability to avoid major security incidents and navigate regulatory uncertainty under the previous SEC chair, Tally CEO Dennison Bertram said he was “incredibly proud” of what the team had accomplished.
Although the team will wind down operations by the end of the month, it is working with major partners to ensure its enterprise clients continue to be served and will keep its interface live until the transition is complete.
The announcement of Tally’s shutdown was met with disappointment across the crypto community, with some describing it as the “end of an era” and others recounting their experiences using the platform during the early days of Arbitrum and Uniswap governance.
“I still remember writing governance proposals for Uniswap on Tally back in 2021. Those were fun times. It’s disappointing that DAOs didn’t meet expectations. While stablecoins have achieved the strongest product-market fit in crypto, I still believe DAOs will ultimately get there, though perhaps not for another three to 10 years,” said Getty Hill, CEO of DeFi trading platform Oku Trade.
“Human labor coordination is one of the hardest problems. DAOs will need to evolve, and their applications must improve. The 2020–2021 era of DAO governance was a lot of fun,” he added.

Mastercard has agreed to acquire BVNK, the London-based stablecoin infrastructure company, for up to $1.8 billion in a deal that includes $300 million in contingent payments tied to future performance milestones. The agreement, announced Tuesday morning, is expected to close before the end of 2026, pending regulatory approvals.
The deal is the latest and largest chapter in a stablecoin acquisition frenzy that has gripped traditional finance and crypto alike, and it carries a backstory messier than most. BVNK didn't end up at Mastercard's door by accident. It got there after a months-long bidding war with Coinbase, exclusivity agreements, a very public deal collapse, and a detour that briefly had Mastercard chasing a different company entirely.
The Road to This Deal Was Anything But Clean
Back in October 2025, Fortune reported that both Mastercard and Coinbase had separately held advanced acquisition talks with BVNK, with the price tag floating somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion. At the time, Coinbase looked like the clear front-runner. Three sources familiar with the matter told Fortune that the crypto exchange had the inside track, and by late October, BVNK had entered into exclusivity with Coinbase, meaning the startup legally couldn't entertain other offers.
It seemed like a done deal. Then it wasn't.
In November, Coinbase and BVNK quietly called off talks. The deal had gotten as far as due diligence and exclusivity before the two sides parted ways. Coinbase issued a carefully worded non-statement about "continuously seeking opportunities to expand on our mission," and BVNK was suddenly back on the market.
Meanwhile, after losing out to Coinbase in the first round, Mastercard had pivoted and was reported to be in serious discussions to acquire Zerohash, a Chicago-based crypto infrastructure firm, for somewhere between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. That deal apparently didn't close either, and Mastercard eventually circled back to the startup it had wanted all along.
The result is the deal announced today: Mastercard gets BVNK for a price that, at $1.8 billion, comes in below the $2 billion Coinbase had been pursuing and meaningfully below the top of the original $2.5 billion range. Whether that represents a discount, a reflection of changed market conditions, or simply the realities of a second negotiation is hard to say. But for a company that was valued at around $750 million as recently as mid-2025, it is still a remarkable outcome.
Who is BVNK and Why Does It Matter
Founded in 2021 by Chris Harmse, Jesse Bernson-Struthers, and Donald Jackson, BVNK was built with a specific problem in mind: enterprises wanted to use stablecoins, but the plumbing didn't exist to make that happen at scale. The company's pitch was never about building a consumer wallet or launching its own token. It was about becoming the invisible layer that lets other financial businesses actually move money using stablecoins.
The platform operates across more than 130 countries and supports payments on all major blockchain networks. Its customers include Worldpay, Deel, Flywire, Rapyd, Thunes, and a growing list of enterprise clients that process real commercial volume. In its own end-of-year review published in January 2026, BVNK said it was processing $30 billion in annualized stablecoin payment volume, up 2.3x from the prior year, across 2.8 million transactions. A year before that, its volumes were reported at roughly $12 billion when Visa was announced as an investor.
One third of that volume now comes from the U.S. market alone, where BVNK launched operations at the start of 2025 and scaled from essentially zero to $10 billion in annualized volume by year end. The company opened two San Francisco offices and a New York outpost in just twelve months.
The investor roster reads like a who's who of institutions that have come around to stablecoins as strategic infrastructure rather than speculative technology. Haun Ventures led BVNK's $50 million Series Bin December 2024. Coinbase Ventures participated. Tiger Global was already in. And then Visa Ventures and Citi Ventures both made strategic investments, a signal that even the largest incumbent financial networks were willing to bet on the startup they might otherwise consider a competitive threat.
Bernson-Struthers described BVNK as the "global leader" in stablecoin infrastructure in a December 2024 interview, citing the company's banking relationships and financial licenses as the harder-to-replicate moat. That licensing infrastructure, built out painstakingly across multiple jurisdictions including full U.S. state-level coverage and comprehensive EU authorization, is likely a substantial part of what Mastercard is paying for.
What Mastercard Is Actually Buying
Jorn Lambert, Mastercard's Chief Product Officer, put it plainly in the company's announcement Tuesday: "We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits. We want to support them and their customers with a best in class, highly compliant, interoperable offering that brings the benefits of tokenized money to the real world."
That framing says a lot about how Mastercard is positioning this acquisition. The company isn't buying BVNK because it thinks stablecoins will replace its core business. It's buying BVNK because it wants to be the network that connects stablecoin rails to everything else, the way it currently connects card networks to merchants and banks around the world.
The logic is straightforward, if you squint at it. Mastercard's entire business model is built on being the trusted intermediary between different financial systems. Stablecoins create new rails that, without an orchestration layer, are isolated from the broader financial system. BVNK's core product is precisely that orchestration layer: the infrastructure that lets money move fluidly between dollars, stablecoins, blockchains, and traditional bank accounts. Mastercard plugs that into its global network and, theoretically, becomes the interoperability layer for the next generation of payments.
Lambert added that adding on-chain rails to Mastercard's network "will support speed and programmability for virtually every type of transaction," pointing to use cases beyond just consumer payments including capital markets, treasury management, B2B transactions, and cross-border remittances. That's a broader canvas than most people associate with stablecoins today, but it reflects where the industry is headed.
Mastercard cited a Boston Consulting Group figure showing digital currency payment use cases hit at least $350 billion in volume in 2025. The company also pointed to the growing regulatory clarity around digital currencies in multiple jurisdictions as a catalyst for financial institutions and fintechs that are now looking to build stablecoin-enabled payment products for their own customers.
The Stablecoin Acquisition Parade
This is the latest in a series of major acquisitions that have reshaped how the payments industry thinks about stablecoin infrastructure.
The deal that started the current wave was Stripe's acquisition of Bridge, another stablecoin infrastructure startup, for $1.1 billion. That deal closed in early 2025 and set a new benchmark for what stablecoin infrastructure could fetch. BVNK's volumes at the time of Bridge's acquisition were already significantly larger, which is part of why the bidding quickly escalated into the multi-billion dollar range.
Since then, MoonPay acquired Iron, stablecoin M&A activity has continued to accelerate, and the market cap of all stablecoins combined crossed $300 billion. Circle's IPO on the NYSE in June 2025 added further legitimacy and brought mainstream investor attention to the sector. The U.S. GENIUS Act, signed by President Trump in July 2025, provided the regulatory framework that large institutions had been waiting for before fully committing to stablecoin strategies.
That legislative clarity changed the calculus for traditional finance almost overnight. JPMorgan launched its JPMD deposit tokens. Citigroup announced a Citi stablecoin. Banks that had previously treated stablecoins as a fringe curiosity started treating them as product lines they needed to support.
For a payments network like Mastercard, the pressure is acute. The company's stock was reportedly hit when the GENIUS Act passed, with investors worried that stablecoins could erode the interchange fee model that underpins Mastercard's revenue. Buying BVNK is, in part, a direct response to that concern. Rather than cede the stablecoin payments market to crypto-native competitors or fintech newcomers, Mastercard is acquiring the infrastructure to own a piece ofit.
A Telling U-Turn on Stablecoins
There is a certain irony in today's announcement. As recently as July 2025, Raj Seshadri, Mastercard's chief commercial payments officer, told analysts on an earnings call that the company expected most payment flows to "begin and end in fiat," and that stablecoins would be "just one more currency for some specific use cases." That is a significant shift in tone from announcing a near-$2 billion acquisition to get into the middle of those flows.
To be fair, Mastercard's position has been nuanced. The company has been quietly building its crypto infrastructure for years, having acquired blockchain analytics firm CipherTrace back in 2021. It later shut down many of CipherTrace's key products, suggesting that early acquisition didn't pan out as planned. The company also joined a consortium focused on stablecoin technology alongside Robinhood and K:raken, and launched its Crypto Partner Program to foster collaboration in the space.
But the BVNK deal is a different order of magnitude. This is not a defensive data play or a consortium membership. This is Mastercard paying top dollar for the most battle-tested stablecoin infrastructure business in the world and betting that the orchestration layer between fiat and on-chain money will be one of the most valuable positions in payments over the next decade.
What Happens Next
The deal is expected to close by end of 2026, and both companies will presumably spend the intervening months navigating regulatory reviews across multiple jurisdictions. Given BVNK's existing licenses in the U.S. and EU and Mastercard's regulatory relationships globally, the path to approval is probably cleaner than it might be for a crypto-native acquirer.
The more interesting question is how BVNK's existing enterprise clients will react. Worldpay, Deel, Flywire and others built integrations with an independent infrastructure provider. Being absorbed into one of the world's largest payments networks changes the dynamic. Mastercard will need to make the case that the independence and product velocity those customers rely on will survive the acquisition intact.
And then there is the competitive landscape. Stripe now has Bridge. Mastercard will have BVNK. Coinbase, having walked away from the deal, will presumably continue building or find another infrastructure target. PayPal, which just announced the expansion of its own stablecoin PYUSD to 70 markets worldwide, is clearly not sitting still either. The scramble for position in the stablecoin payments stack is only getting more crowded, and today's announcement is more an acceleration of that competition than a resolution of it.
For BVNK's founders, who built the company from scratch in 2021 into a $1.8 billion exit in under five years, it is an extraordinary outcome. For Mastercard, it is a significant bet that the future of payments runs on both rails at once, fiat and on-chain, and that the company that controls the bridge between them will be in a very strong position.
Whether that bet pays off depends on whether stablecoin payment volumes continue their current trajectory or whether the technology hits the kind of adoption ceiling that has frustrated crypto advocates before.
The contingent $300 million in the deal structure suggests both sides are hedging a little on that question. Which, all things considered, is probably the right instinct.


An X user with the username "Sillytuna" has reportedly lost $24 million in Aave Ethereum USDC (aEthUSDC) in an attack that involved a combination of violence, sexual assault, weapons, and threats to life.
"Bruised, held off while I could, but can't do that much with axes over your hands and feet," Sillytuna wrote. The user further stated that he was, at this point, done with crypto. In his words, "And now... definitely out of crypto ****ers."
While the matter has already been reported to law enforcement, no official statement has been issued by the authorities. However, the X user has announced a 10% bounty for whoever helps recover the stolen funds.
Shortly after the news went viral, the crypto community reacted with mixed feelings, with many commiserating with the user over their loss. Some also raised awareness about the deplorable state of security in the United Kingdom. Apparently, the victim is a UK resident.
Amid the sympathy from the global crypto community, some, however, doubted the authenticity of the victim's story.
According to YokaiCapital, an X user, the victim had not posted anything about crypto before. He also alleges that the victim's account appears to have been bought recently.
"He will probably shill the coin at some point or say that he will take donations from the coin," YokaiCapital went on to write.
However, the victim has denied allegations that he intentionally wanted to trend and claims the stolen funds were long-term holdings.
Tracking the stolen funds, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence said that the attackers moved the funds across Layer 2 networks, Bitcoin, and Monero, obviously to evade trail.
Roughly $20 million of the stolen funds were stored in two Ethereum addresses as DAI, a stablecoin on the Ethereum network, while $2.48 million was bridged to USDC on Arbitrum.
Arkham reported that the attackers sent $2.47 million to Hyperliquid through 19 separate Wagyu accounts, which were used to convert the funds to Monero (XMR).
The attackers also bridged $1.1 million to the Bitcoin blockchain using LiFi, noting that 0.5 BTC was deposited into a mixing service, Arkham added.

Tether is writing another big check, and this one says a lot about where stablecoins are headed.
The company behind USDT has made a $100 million equity investment in Anchorage Digital, valuing the U.S. crypto bank at around $4.2 billion. It is not a flashy deal by crypto standards, but it is an important one, especially now that stablecoin regulation is no longer theoretical in the United States.
The investment deepens a relationship that has been building quietly for years. It also puts Tether right alongside one of the few crypto firms operating fully inside the U.S. banking system.
Tether and Anchorage have been working together long before this deal.
Anchorage Digital runs one of the most unusual businesses in crypto. Through Anchorage Digital Bank N.A., it operates as a federally chartered crypto bank under U.S. regulators. That status lets it custody digital assets and support stablecoin activity within a traditional banking framework, something very few firms can offer.
For Tether, that matters more than it used to.
As regulators sharpen their focus on stablecoins, the days of issuing dollar tokens without close oversight are coming to an end, at least in the U.S. market. Anchorage gives Tether a partner that already lives in that regulatory world.
The backdrop to this deal is the GENIUS Act, passed in 2024, which finally laid out clear rules for payment stablecoins in the U.S. The law introduced tighter requirements around reserves, disclosures, custody, and governance.
Soon after, Tether and Anchorage revealed plans to launch a U.S.-focused stablecoin, often referred to as USA₮. Unlike USDT, which operates globally, this token is designed specifically for the U.S. regulatory environment and would be issued through Anchorage’s federally regulated bank.
That announcement made it clear the two companies were getting closer. The $100 million investment makes that commitment financial as well as strategic.
Tether has been more active as an investor than many people realize.
Over the past couple of years, the company has put money into everything from infrastructure and mining to agriculture and commodities. The strategy seems straightforward: reduce reliance on stablecoin fees alone and build exposure to assets and systems that can last through market cycles.
Anchorage fits that strategy neatly.
This is not a bet on a new token or a speculative protocol. It is a bet on regulated plumbing, the kind institutions actually use. As more banks, funds, and corporates step into crypto, that plumbing becomes more valuable.
Tether’s leadership has consistently framed these investments as long-term positioning, not short-term trading. This deal feels very much in that category.
For Anchorage Digital, the money is helpful, but the signal may matter even more.
The firm has been expanding its stablecoin operations, adding staff focused on compliance, engineering, and product development. It has also been linked to plans for a major funding round and a potential IPO, possibly as early as 2026.
Having Tether as a strategic shareholder strengthens Anchorage’s credibility with both institutional clients and regulators. It also ties the company more closely to the largest stablecoin issuer in the world at a moment when stablecoins are becoming core financial infrastructure.
There is nothing flashy about this deal. No new token, no rebrand, no sudden pivot.
But it says a lot about where crypto is right now.
Stablecoins are drifting away from their roots as trading tools and toward something closer to regulated digital cash. That shift pulls crypto firms toward banks, charters, audits, and long-term capital, whether they like it or not.
Tether’s $100 million investment in Anchorage Digital is a clear sign it understands that reality. The future of stablecoins, at least in the U.S., is going to look a lot more institutional than the past.

Bitcoin was back on the biggest screens in global sports as the 24 Hours of Daytona marked the unofficial start of the year’s major sponsorship season. From that point forward, weekend after weekend, major sporting events once again became prime real estate for high profile brand exposure.
With the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Daytona 500, and the Formula 1 season opener approaching in the following weeks, Bitcoin, crypto, exchanges, and NFT companies were once again looking to maximize their advertising dollars by attaching their brands to the world’s most watched events.
This cycle had become familiar. It started years earlier with Matt Damon, Tom Brady, a crypto exchange, and a Super Bowl commercial. Since then, at least one crypto project had aimed to make a major splash during big game advertising season every year.
Racing and crypto sponsorships had proven to be a natural fit. It was fast, loud, bright, and made for the big screen, exactly where crypto wanted to be.
Three years earlier, PolkaDot took a shot at the IndyCar Championship with Conor Daly driving for Dreyer Rheinbold Racing. Kraken and Pudgy Penguins appeared on the wings of the Williams Formula 1 cars. Ed Carpenter Racing ran a Bitcoin-branded car in the Indy 500.
In Formula 1, Red Bull secured season-long sponsorships with SUI and Bybit. McLaren landed a season-long deal with OKX and later minted NFTs on Tezos. The overlap between motorsport audiences and crypto culture continued to deepen.
That weekend, Meyer Shank Racing set out to potentially make history by bringing Bitcoin to victory lane at the birthplace of speed. The team ran the Bitcoin MAX sponsored Acura LMDh Prototype in one of the most demanding races in the world.
Bitcoin Max was a community-driven, decentralized digital currency project. The partnership centered on the global launch of OnlyBulls, a finance super app, and the establishment of BitcoinMAX, a Swiss-based Bitcoin trust launching in January 2026. BitcoinMAX was designed to democratize the digital economy and allow people to participate in the Bitcoin economy through a secure, regulated trust.
The task was never going to be easy. The Daytona 24 Hours was notoriously one of the toughest tests of man and machine. It was twice around the clock on one of the world’s fastest tracks, against the best drivers on the planet.
Bitcoin supporters entered the weekend as long odds contenders, despite Meyer Shank Racing having taken victory in the race in 2022 and 2023 with Acura. The team was also looking to rebound after finishing second the previous year behind Porsche.
Porsche, however, had pulled factory support from endurance racing that season, leaving Penske and JDC Miller Motorsports to compete as privateers using modified versions of the previous year’s car. Acura’s continued factory backing of Meyer Shank Racing offered a potential advantage, though not against a strong Cadillac effort that entered the season with momentum as they prepared to run a Formula 1 team.
The field was stacked. Cadillac arrived hungry to start fast. Aston Martin debuted the highly anticipated Valkyrie prototype. BMW remained a factory threat. Victory was never guaranteed.
Meyer Shank Racing assembled one of the strongest driver lineups in the field. Tom Blomqvist, a veteran endurance champion. Colin Braun, a young endurance ace who had consistently delivered results since arriving on the scene. Scott Dixon, a former IndyCar champion. A.J. Allmendinger, the “Dinger,” a road course specialist with major wins across NASCAR, IndyCar, and prototype racing.
If that group could cross the line first after 24 hours, they would become the first team to bring a Bitcoin-sponsored car to victory lane, a surprising milestone that had not happened since Bitcoin’s creation.
Qualifying went the way of Porsche and Cadillac, leaving the Bitcoin MAX Acura starting fifth for the 24-hour race.
Midway through the night, heavy fog rolled over Daytona, forcing a yellow flag period that lasted a record six and a half hours. When the sun rose and the fog finally lifted, the Bitcoin Acura was still firmly in contention for the overall win.
At the restart, the car ran fourth and even held the lead with more than three hours remaining. In the end, the pace of Felipe Nasr in the Penske Porsche proved just too strong. Meyer Shank Racing eventually slipped back to a sixth-place finish after pitting early in hopes that a late caution might shuffle the order. That caution never came.
Once again, a Bitcoin-sponsored car narrowly missed victory lane.
The good news was that Bitcoin MAX secured a full-season sponsorship with Meyer Shank Racing. The goal remained clear, to finally bring Bitcoin to victory on the biggest stage in motorsports.
The opportunity would come again. And when it did, Bitcoin would once more be right where it wanted to be, fast, loud, and on the world’s biggest screens.


Crypto has never been great at answering a simple question: what do token holders actually get?
For a long time, the answer was basically “number go up.” You bought a token because you believed the protocol would matter someday, and if that happened, the token would be worth more. Sometimes much more. And you could sell those tokens to someone else who believed that same as you, just a bit later in the timeline. That was enough in a market driven by growth, hype, and reflexivity.
But, now the industry is older, and presumably more mature. DeFi protocols generate real revenue. Some of them generate a lot of it. And once real money starts flowing through systems, people start asking uncomfortable but reasonable questions. Who benefits from this? Where does the value go? And why should I hold the token instead of just trading it to the next guy?
There are answers that show up again and again: burns, buybacks, and dividend-style payouts.
Each one says something different about how a protocol thinks about ownership.
Burning tokens is crypto’s comfort food. It is simple, emotionally satisfying, and easy to explain on social media. Fewer tokens, more scarcity, higher price. Well, in theory.
And to be fair, burns can work, especially in strong markets. They create a sense of discipline. They tell holders that supply is being managed, that inflation is not running wild.
But burns do not actually give anyone anything. No cash, no yield, no participation in revenue. You are still relying on the market to do the rest of the work.
That can be fine if demand is strong. It is much less convincing when demand is uncertain. Scarcity alone does not create value, it only amplifies it if something else is already there.
Burns feel like an answer from an earlier era of crypto, when optics mattered more than fundamentals.
Buybacks feel like crypto growing up and borrowing language from public markets.
Instead of destroying tokens automatically, protocols use revenue or treasury funds to buy their own tokens on the open market. The signal is clear: the protocol believes the token is undervalued and is willing to spend real money to prove it.
That matters. Buybacks introduce actual demand. They are less abstract than burns. They also force protocols to think more carefully about treasury management and sustainability.
But at the end of the day, buybacks still work through price. If the market reacts, holders benefit. If it does not, they do not. There is no guarantee, no direct transfer of value, no moment where a holder can say, “I received this because the protocol performed well.”
In traditional finance, buybacks are often paired with dividends. In crypto, they are usually positioned as the whole story. That gap is something worth paying attention to.
Dividend-style payouts in crypto tend to make people uncomfortable. They feel a bit too close to traditional finance. And the instinctive reaction is usually something like, aren’t we supposed to be reinventing all of this?
In some ways, yes. There are definitely parts of the financial system that deserve to be challenged or rebuilt entirely. But that does not automatically mean everything old is useless. Some mechanisms stuck around because they solved real problems. Dividends are one of those.
At its core, the idea is pretty simple. If a protocol makes money, some of that money goes back to the people holding the token. Maybe you have to stake. Maybe you have to lock tokens for a while. Maybe the payout changes over time. The specifics can vary, but the relationship is clear enough. When the protocol does well, holders benefit.
That alone changes the dynamic. You are no longer just holding a token and hoping it becomes more desirable later. You are actually participating in the economics of the thing you own.
It also forces a kind of honesty. If revenue drops, payouts drop. If the protocol grows, holders feel it directly. There is not much room to hide behind supply tweaks or clever treasury narratives.
The objections are predictable. Regulation. Complexity. Governance risk. And to be fair, those are not imaginary concerns. Once you start sharing revenue, it starts to look a lot like ownership, and ownership comes with responsibilities that crypto has historically tried to sidestep.
But pretending that reality does not exist does not really help. And once protocols manage capital and distribute value, they are already doing financial work, whether they want to admit it or not.
Dividends do not invent that reality. They just stop dancing around it.
Burns, buybacks, and dividends are not just technical choices. They are statements about what a protocol wants to be.
Burns prioritize simplicity and narrative. Buybacks prioritize signaling and market mechanics. Dividends prioritize alignment and accountability.
None of them are universally right or wrong. Early-stage protocols probably should not be paying out revenue. Infrastructure layers may prefer reinvestment. Some tokens are governance tools first and economic assets second.
But as DeFi matures, it is becoming harder to justify tokens that never touch the value they help create.
At some point, holders stop asking how clever the tokenomics are and start asking a simpler question: what do I get if this works?
Crypto does not need to become traditional finance. But it probably does need to answer that question more directly. Whether that leads to dividends, something like them, or an entirely new model is still open.
But what is beginning to feel increasingly outdated is pretending that question does not matter.
You can stay up to date on all News, Events, and Marketing of Rare Network, including Rare Evo: America’s Premier Blockchain Conference, happening July 28th-31st, 2026 at The ARIA Resort & Casino, by following our socials on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.


Crypto enters 2026 without the drama that once defined the start of a new year. Prices are steady but not euphoric. The timelines are calmer. The noise has faded. And yet, beneath that surface calm, the industry feels more focused and more self-assured than it has in a long time.
This does not feel like a market losing relevance. It feels like one that has stopped trying to prove itself every day.
After a tough reset in 2025, crypto is no longer driven by momentum alone. It is being shaped by infrastructure, regulation, and a growing sense that digital assets are slowly becoming part of the financial background rather than a constant headline.
The pullback that closed out 2025 forced a hard reset across the industry. Excess leverage was flushed out. Projects built purely on narrative struggled to survive. Capital became more cautious, and in many cases, more serious.
Entering 2026, the market feels leaner and more selective. Bitcoin and Ethereum remain central, not because they promise overnight gains, but because they sit at the core of a system that is gradually being integrated into global finance.
Volatility has not disappeared, but it feels more tied to real catalysts. Flows, macro conditions, regulatory developments. This is no longer a market reacting to every rumor or viral post.
For investors who think in cycles rather than weeks, this is often the phase where foundations quietly form.
Institutional involvement is no longer a future narrative. It is an active force shaping how crypto evolves.
ETFs, custody platforms, tokenized funds, and on chain settlement tools are becoming familiar concepts inside traditional finance. What stands out is how little of this activity is happening in public. Much of it is operational, slow, and deliberate.
That shift is noticeable at industry conferences and in private meetings. The energy is different. Fewer grand predictions. More conversations about compliance, liquidity, risk frameworks, and long term deployment. More handshakes, fewer hype decks.
Institutions do not move quickly, but when they start building infrastructure, they tend to stay.
Regulation is still controversial, but the tone has softened. Clearer rules are beginning to replace uncertainty, especially around stablecoins, custody, and reporting.
For many market participants, this clarity is not restrictive. It is enabling. It allows companies to plan, investors to allocate, and builders to focus on execution instead of interpretation.
Crypto does not need to be unregulated to grow. It needs to be understood. 2026 feels like a step in that direction.
One of the strongest signals for crypto’s future is how little attention some of its most important developments receive.
Stablecoins are increasingly used for payments and settlement, especially in cross border contexts where traditional systems are slow and expensive. This is not a speculative use case. It is a practical one.
Tokenization is following a similar path. Real world assets like funds, bonds, and private credit are being tested on chain. The goal is efficiency, transparency, and liquidity, not buzz.
These are the kinds of changes that rarely reverse once they gain traction.
DeFi is no longer trying to reinvent finance overnight. It is focusing on doing specific things better. Automation, interoperability, and capital efficiency are the priorities now.
AI, meanwhile, is becoming part of the background. It shows up in analytics, trading strategies, monitoring tools, and security systems. Less hype, more utility.
This maturation may feel less exciting, but it is exactly what long term systems tend to look like before they scale.
Crypto in 2026 does not feel like a peak. It feels like a setup.
Builders are still building, even without constant attention. Institutions are committing resources, not just headlines. Regulators are engaging instead of reacting. Investors are meeting in person again, comparing notes, and thinking beyond the next quarter.
The industry feels more grounded, but also more aligned.
What makes 2026 particularly interesting is not what happens this year, but what it enables next.
If infrastructure continues to solidify, regulation continues to clarify, and real usage keeps expanding, crypto may enter its next growth phase from a position of strength rather than speculation. The next cycle, whenever it arrives, is likely to be driven less by hype and more by inevitability.
Markets tend to move fastest when most people are no longer watching closely. Crypto may be entering that phase now.
It does not need to shout. It just needs to keep working.
And if it does, the years beyond 2026 may end up being the ones that finally justify everything that came before.
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The crypto market has seen a sharp rise in volatility and price movement, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading the rally. This surge has not come out of nowhere. It is tied closely to speculation surrounding the latest Federal Open Market Committee decision. As traders positioned themselves for potential changes in U.S. monetary policy, the crypto market responded with a wave of buying, short liquidations, and renewed bullish sentiment.
The move is another clear example of how deeply connected crypto has become to broader macroeconomic conditions.
In the days leading up to the meeting, expectations grew that the Federal Reserve might soften its stance on interest rates. Even the possibility of a rate cut or a more dovish tone tends to shift investors toward higher risk assets. Crypto is usually among the first to react.
Lower interest rates reduce the appeal of cash and bonds, while making speculative and growth oriented assets more attractive. That dynamic has long played out in equities. Now it is becoming increasingly visible in crypto as well.
Bitcoin and Ethereum both climbed into short term highs before the decision. As prices moved up, heavily leveraged short positions began to unwind. This added fuel to the rally as forced liquidations pushed prices even higher. It was a feedback loop that often appears during major macro events and is especially common in the crypto market due to its high leverage environment.

Even though crypto operates independently of government control, the industry still reacts strongly to the tone and trajectory of central bank policy.
A few things are becoming clear:
Traders treat FOMC guidance as a direct indicator of risk sentiment.
Expectations alone can drive price action before the decision is released.
Liquidity conditions continue to shape the strength of crypto market rebounds.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are increasingly acting like macro assets rather than purely speculative ones.
As the market leaned toward a more accommodative outlook, traders began rotating capital back into large cap cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and Ethereum benefited the most, but the effect spilled into altcoins as well.
Short term, this created a volatile environment. Longer term, it signals a deeper connection between crypto and global financial cycles.
While investors always react to big economic events, this moment feels different. The alignment of easing inflation, slower economic pressure, and the possibility of rate cuts creates a setup where risk assets could see more sustained inflows.
Crypto is no longer operating separately from traditional finance. If liquidity improves across the economy, that liquidity tends to find its way into high growth and high volatility markets. Bitcoin and Ethereum fit that profile perfectly.
This raises a question that many in the industry are now considering. Is this the beginning of a broader shift where crypto consistently responds to macro cycles the same way equities and bonds do?
If so, price behavior may become more predictable around central bank events than it was in the early years of the industry.
If the Fed follows a path of easing or signals greater flexibility, crypto markets could experience a sustained wave of inflows.
Investors may shift back toward risk, viewing Bitcoin and Ethereum as core components of a diversified macro portfolio.
Lower interest rates increase liquidity across financial markets, which historically supports larger moves in non traditional assets.
A clearer link between crypto and macro conditions could attract more institutional traders who specialize in macro driven strategies.
If the Fed holds rates higher for longer or delivers a hawkish message, the market could see an immediate reversal.
Liquidations can cut both ways. The same leverage that amplifies rallies can intensify declines.
Uncertainty in global markets, geopolitical pressure, or a sudden risk off event could stall any recovery.
Crypto may remain highly sensitive to macro shifts, reducing the independence that once drove speculative surges.
This moment serves as a reminder that crypto does not move in isolation. Bitcoin and Ethereum now sit within the larger financial ecosystem. When central bank policy shifts, these assets feel the impact quickly. That connection is growing stronger, not weaker.
For traders, FOMC weeks will continue to be periods of heightened volatility. Positioning before and after the decision may offer opportunities, but it also increases risk.
For long term investors, understanding macro cycles is becoming just as important as understanding blockchain fundamentals.
For the market as a whole, this could signal a shift toward a more mature ecosystem. If crypto continues to move with global financial cycles, it may attract more institutional interest, more capital, and more stability over time.
The surge before the FOMC decision is not just another short term rally. It is a signal of where the market is heading and how interconnected crypto has become with traditional finance.
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The crypto industry is moving into a new phase, and Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan believes the shift is much larger than the market realizes. His view is that the combination of regulatory changes, institutional interest, and the rise of on chain financial infrastructure is creating an environment that could redefine how global markets function.
What is striking is not just his optimism, but the level of detail behind it. Hougan is not talking about the next bull run or a temporary upswing. He is talking about a structural change that could reshape how assets move and how financial services are delivered.
For years, regulation has been the main obstacle standing between crypto and traditional finance. That has started to change in a very real way. In a recent address, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins presented a plan known informally as Project Crypto. Instead of focusing primarily on enforcement, the initiative outlines a path for integrating traditional markets with public blockchains.
Hougan called this the most optimistic regulatory stance he has ever seen and said it forced him to revise not just the scale of crypto’s potential, but the timeline as well. His point is straightforward. The market has not fully absorbed what a cooperative regulatory regime could unlock. Investors have priced in caution for so long that they have not adjusted to the possibility of acceleration.
Hougan identifies three categories where he sees the strongest potential.
1. Layer 1 blockchains and core crypto networks.
If financial activity continues to move on chain, the blockchains that support settlement, tokenization, stablecoins, and decentralized financial rails could see massive growth. Hougan mentions networks like Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, Avalanche, Aptos, Sui, NEAR and others. His view is that the right approach is not to pick a single winner, but to build a diversified basket of networks that are gaining real world usage.
2. Decentralized finance protocols.
With clearer regulatory treatment, DeFi could move from a niche set of applications to the backbone of a new financial system. Protocols that automate trading, lending, borrowing, derivatives, and stablecoin issuance could scale far beyond their current user base. Hougan believes that once regulatory friction drops, institutional participation could flow in rapidly.
3. Financial super apps.
This is one of the most ambitious parts of the projection. Hougan believes new platforms will combine traditional finance and crypto into a single interface. Instead of having brokerage accounts in one place, bank accounts in another, and crypto apps somewhere else, users could interact with all financial assets through one unified system. He thinks a company in this category could become the largest financial services firm in the world, potentially passing a one trillion dollar valuation.
Hougan has consistently argued that crypto could deliver ten to twenty times growth over the next decade. His reasoning is not based on hype. It is based on the idea that crypto is entering a period where cycles driven by halving events or speculative trading matter less than structural factors. He believes the “four year cycle” narrative has lost relevance. What now matters is the maturation of the asset class and the integration of crypto with global finance.
In his view, the size of the market today reflects years of hesitation driven by legal uncertainty. Once that uncertainty lifts, capital could move faster than analysts expect. Institutions that have been watching from the sidelines may feel more comfortable allocating real budget to crypto infrastructure, tokens, or tokenized assets.
There is no guarantee that the optimistic scenario plays out. Hougan acknowledges both sides.
What could go right:
Regulatory clarity could remove the largest barrier to institutional adoption.
Layer 1 networks with real usage could become the settlement layers of a digital financial system.
Super apps could reduce friction for everyday users, pulling millions more into on chain ecosystems.
The industry could attract capital at a scale closer to major traditional asset classes.
What could go wrong:
Regulatory implementation may move slower than expected, or shift again under new political leadership.
Some networks or protocols may fail to scale, or may lose out to competitors.
Macroeconomic conditions could suppress risk assets even if fundamentals improve.
Volatility could remain a psychological barrier for mainstream investors.
If Hougan is right, the industry is not just entering a new market cycle. It is entering the early stages of a long transformation in how financial markets operate. Investors who once tried to time cycles may need to rethink their approach and focus more on diversified exposure to infrastructure. Builders may find themselves working in an environment that is more supportive than anything they have experienced so far. Policymakers may influence the shape of global finance for decades based on decisions they make in the next few years.
It is possible that crypto still has years of volatility ahead. It is also possible that the industry is standing on the edge of the most meaningful phase of its development. Hougan’s message is that the market may be thinking too small. He believes the shift underway is not incremental. It is transformative.
You can stay up to date on all News, Events, and Marketing of Rare Network, including Rare Evo: America’s Premier Blockchain Conference, happening July 28th-31st, 2026 at The ARIA Resort & Casino, by following our socials on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

In early December 2025, Indiana surprised a lot of people by stepping directly into the world of digital assets. A new proposal, House Bill 1042, was introduced by state representative Kyle Pierce, and it does something pretty groundbreaking. It requires public retirement programs to offer crypto linked exchange traded funds, or ETFs, as part of their standard investment lineup.
This means that many public employees, including teachers, government workers, and possibly police and firefighters, would now see crypto related funds sitting right next to traditional retirement options. Instead of crypto being something you explore on your own, Indiana wants it to be a normal part of the overall retirement system.
The bill also outlines a set of protections for everyday crypto users. It limits how much local governments can restrict or interfere with digital asset activity. That includes mining, payments, self custody, and private wallet use. Unless restrictions also apply to traditional financial assets, cities and counties would not be allowed to single out crypto for special limitations.
If this becomes law, Indiana would be the first state in the country to require Bitcoin linked ETFs in public pension systems. That alone sets a bold precedent for how states might approach retirement investing in the future.
Indiana might feel like it is out ahead, but the move fits into a larger trend. Several other states have already been exploring crypto exposure in different ways.
For example, some states have passed laws allowing retirement systems to purchase Bitcoin ETFs. Others have focused more on legal protections, such as protecting self custody, clarifying how digital assets are classified, or encouraging blockchain adoption within government departments.
What makes Indiana stand out is not the idea of crypto exposure itself, but the fact that the bill attempts to make it a standard part of public retirement offerings. This goes beyond optional access and moves toward normalizing crypto as a core part of long term, institutional investing.
Backers of House Bill 1042 believe this is simply a reflection of financial reality. Crypto is becoming a bigger part of the global economy, and Indiana residents should have access to it in the same way they do to other investments.
Supporters argue that this gives people more financial flexibility, especially younger workers who want exposure to assets they believe will appreciate over the next several decades. They also point out that Bitcoin ETFs remove much of the risk and complexity of direct crypto ownership, since they function inside the regulated ETF structure.
The bill also proposes pilot programs to test blockchain technology within state agencies. That includes using distributed ledgers for record keeping, identity management, and improving government transparency and efficiency. Supporters say this could modernize the way public systems operate.
Not everyone is excited about crypto appearing in pension plans. Critics bring up several concerns.
One of the biggest issues is volatility. Cryptocurrencies can swing up or down rapidly, and pension systems are normally built around stability and long term reliability. Some people worry that exposing retirement funds to such unpredictable markets may not serve the best interests of retirees.
There are also questions about long term regulation. National rules around crypto continue to shift, and that uncertainty could create complications for publicly managed funds. Critics say lawmakers should move slowly and avoid building pension plans around assets that still feel risky to many households.
Another concern is whether the state should be responsible for promoting exposure to crypto at all. Some people feel that these decisions should be optional and entirely individual, rather than part of a default menu in a public benefits system.
If Indiana does pass House Bill 1042, the impact could go far beyond state borders.
It would accelerate the mainstream acceptance of crypto within public institutions. At the same time, it would create a legal framework that protects wallet access, mining, payments, and self custody rights. That combination of investment access and personal rights could easily serve as a template for other states.
It also encourages conversation about what public retirement investing should look like in the future. Some believe this is an opportunity for long term growth. Others feel the risks are too high. Either way, the bill forces the debate into the spotlight.
There are several things worth paying attention to in the months ahead.
First, lawmakers may modify the bill. They could adjust the requirement to offer crypto ETFs or turn it into an optional feature instead. They might also place limits on how much of a pension portfolio can be allocated to digital asset funds.
Second, pay attention to how pension administrators respond. Even if the bill passes, the practical process of integrating crypto ETFs will require careful planning.
Third, other states may begin crafting similar laws. Indiana’s move could spark a wave of legislative activity across the country as states look at whether they want to follow the same path.
Finally, federal regulatory changes will play a major role. As national crypto rules evolve, they could strengthen or weaken the long term viability of crypto pension investments.
Indiana’s proposal captures a pivotal moment in the evolution of digital assets. Crypto is no longer viewed as a fringe experiment. It is now part of serious, institutional conversation. Whether this turns out to be a smart long term shift or an overly ambitious leap is something only time will reveal, but it is clear that the landscape of public finance is changing quickly.


If you’ve been watching the crypto market lately, it has not felt great. Bitcoin dipping into the low 90s usually sparks panic, threads full of doom and plenty of “it’s over” takes. But this time, the headlines do not tell the full story. Something different is happening underneath the surface. Something that actually looks pretty promising.
A few major shifts are lining up at once, and together they point in one direction.
We might be closing out the long, grinding downtrend that has weighed on crypto for nearly two years.
The Federal Reserve formally ended quantitative tightening on Dec. 1, coinciding with the New York Fed conducting approximately $25 billion in morning repo operations and another $13.5 billion overnight, the largest injections that we've seen since 2020.
For years, crypto’s biggest obstacle has not been technology or innovation. It has been access. Most big financial institutions treated crypto like a guest they did not want at the party.
That wall is finally cracking.
The clearest sign is Vanguard, managing roughly $9 trillion to $10 trillion in assets, opened its brokerage platform to third-party crypto ETFs and mutual funds tied to BTC, ETH, XRP, and SOL for the first time, creating immediate demand pressure.
This is a firm that has historically avoided anything remotely risky. They did not just ignore crypto; they actively rejected it. And now they are letting clients buy regulated crypto ETFs through the same accounts they use for retirement and index funds.
That is not a small change. When a company managing trillions finally decides that crypto belongs on the menu, it means something fundamental has shifted.
Even if only a small percentage of Vanguard’s clients add exposure, it creates a slow, steady flow of long term capital. That type of investor does not FOMO in or panic out. They allocate, rebalance and hold. That is the kind of capital that helps stabilize a market.
You can talk narratives all day, and crypto certainly loves its narratives. But the thing that consistently moves this market more than anything else is global liquidity.
And for the first time in a long while, liquidity is starting to return. The era of aggressive tightening looks like it is ending. If central banks start easing, capital gets cheaper, markets loosen up and investors take on more risk. Crypto usually reacts quickly.
The money supply had been shrinking for months. Now those indicators are stabilizing and, in some cases, ticking upward.
Look back at previous bull runs. They did not start because of tweets or new coins. They all aligned with periods of easier monetary policy.
We are entering one of those periods again.
One of the underrated shifts happening right now is how investors access crypto.
Before ETFs, getting into Bitcoin or Ethereum meant dealing with exchanges, wallets, seed phrases and a bunch of complexity that ordinary investors simply did not want.
Now it is as simple as buying an index fund. ETFs are often part of automated portfolios. When crypto drops, the system buys more to rebalance. When it rises too fast, it trims. That smooths out volatility.
Investors trust the platforms they already use. If crypto is right there next to S&P 500 funds, the hesitation disappears. Those regulated products bring in the kind of capital that sticks around. Not tourists. Not gamblers. Long term investors.
This shift alone could reshape how crypto behaves during both rallies and corrections.
The last couple of years have been rough for risk assets across the board. Higher rates, reduced liquidity and tighter financial conditions made it hard for anything speculative to breathe. Crypto got hit hardest.
Now that cycle is ending.
When quantitative tightening slows, liquidity flows back into the system. Banks lend more. Investors take more risk. Capital moves faster. Crypto is one of the first beneficiaries because it lives so far out on the risk curve.
Put simply, crypto does not need a hype cycle to turn around. It needs liquidity.
And liquidity is finally returning.
People are tired. They are skeptical. And that is usually when markets quietly shift direction.
Think about the setup right now:
Institutions are entering.
ETFs are creating new pipelines.
Liquidity is stabilizing.
Rate cuts look increasingly likely.
Crypto is oversold and structurally stronger than it was in past cycles.
This is the kind of macro environment where bottoms form, often long before sentiment catches up.
Downtrends do not end on good news. They end when conditions change behind the scenes while everyone is too focused on the price chart.
That is what seems to be happening now.
The end of quantitative tightening is not just another headline. It is the kind of shift that has historically marked the beginning of major reversals in risk assets. And with crypto gaining easier access, stronger infrastructure and broader institutional acceptance, this could be the setup for something bigger than most people expect.
Crypto might not just recover.
It may be preparing for a stronger, more mature cycle than anything we have seen before.