Category: Business

Tenev argued that focusing only on ownership structure misses the broader market-structure shift. Tokenized assets can potentially trade around the clock, settle in real time and move between compatible wallets and platforms without relying on the transfer systems used by traditional brokers.

For Tenev, the strongest case is settlement.

He pointed to the 2021 GameStop (GME) trading frenzy, when Robinhood restricted purchases of some stocks after clearinghouse collateral demands surged. The episode has remained central to Tenev’s argument that legacy settlement infrastructure can create acute pressure during periods of market stress.

“On the blockchain, Stock Tokens can trade, settle, and move in real time. Real-time settlement means much less risk and pressure on the system, particularly in times of severe market stress,” Tenev said.

U.S. stock settlement has since moved from two business days to one, known as T+1. Tenev argued that tokenization could further reduce that delay, thereby lowering the risk and collateral requirements that arise between a trade and its settlement.

He also said tokenization could address two other longstanding frictions in traditional markets: limited trading hours and cumbersome asset transfers.

Robinhood currently offers 24/5 stock trading in the U.S., but Tenev said blockchain infrastructure could make 24/7 trading native rather than requiring brokers to connect multiple exchanges and alternative trading systems.

The U.S. standard-setting organization accounting made an important proposal for stablecoins on Tuesday, answering uncertainties about whether stablecoins could be considered the same as cash under common accounting practices.

Stablecoins that have liquid reserves (whose contents are disclosed each year) at least equal to the circulating tokens, which can be cashed in for dollars at will, can be considered “cash equivalents,” the Financial Accounting Standards Board said in the proposal.

“The amendments in this proposed update would clarify, through illustrative examples, how the current definition of cash equivalents applies to certain digital assets,” the board said in its proposal, which was issued in answer to an ongoing dispute over how stablecoins are viewed, which it said could create different accounting treatments depending on the source.

FASB sets the industry standards for generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), and its proposal would add stablecoins to the array of highly liquid, cash-like assets, also including Treasuries, commercial paper and money market funds.

Ripple announced the completion of a $275 million private bond issuance through its non-bank prime broker subsidiary, Ripple Prime. The company will use the funds to strengthen working capital and expand its operations in the United States.

Ripple Prime announced that the initially planned amount for its senior unsecured bonds has been increased following strong investor demand. Institutional investors from various major financial markets participated in the bond issuance.

The issuance also received an investment-grade BBB credit rating from credit rating agency KBRA. With this new funding, Ripple Prime plans to further expand its multi-asset swap, financing, and prime brokerage services.

Ripple Prime President Noel Kimmel said the strong demand for the bond issuance demonstrated confidence in the company’s current business model and long-term growth strategy.

Kimmel stated that with the completion of the funding, Ripple Prime has secured an additional source of capital, which will be used for team and technology investments. The company aims to accelerate its growth in the space where traditional finance and digital asset infrastructure intersect and to strengthen its position as one of the world’s largest non-bank prime brokers.

*This is not investment advice.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has signaled strong conviction in the future of x402, an open payment protocol designed to let artificial intelligence agents autonomously pay for digital services. In a social media post, Armstrong wrote that “x402 is going to be huge eventually,” adding that AI agents will need to make payments for goods and services, and that their numbers will eventually “far outnumber humans.”

What is x402?

x402 is an open protocol built around HTTP 402, the “Payment Required” status code that has existed in the HTTP specification for decades but was never widely adopted. The protocol aims to give AI agents a standardized way to request and complete payments for API access, digital content, or other online services. It primarily supports stablecoin-based onchain payments, allowing agents to pay instantly for services without needing separate accounts, subscriptions, or human intervention.

Unlike traditional payment methods that require login credentials or manual approval, x402 enables machine-to-machine payments. An AI agent that needs to access a premium API or purchase data can simply send a payment request, receive a payment address, and settle the transaction in stablecoins—all in a matter of seconds. This approach could remove significant friction for automated systems that operate at scale.

Why this matters for the crypto and AI industries

Armstrong’s comments come at a time when the intersection of AI and cryptocurrency is attracting growing attention. AI agents are increasingly capable of performing complex tasks, but they often hit a wall when they need to pay for third-party services. Traditional payment rails are not designed for autonomous, high-frequency, low-value transactions.

Stablecoins are a natural fit for this use case because they offer fast settlement, low fees, and programmability. By combining stablecoins with the HTTP 402 standard, x402 could become a foundational layer for the emerging “agent economy.” If AI agents are to operate independently—booking travel, purchasing software licenses, or paying for cloud compute—they need a reliable way to transact. Protocols like x402 aim to provide that infrastructure.

Potential impact on payments and digital commerce

For the broader payments industry, the rise of AI-driven payments could introduce new competition to traditional card networks and payment processors. Stablecoin-based protocols like x402 offer an alternative that is open, permissionless, and globally accessible. This could be particularly valuable in regions with limited access to traditional banking or cross-border payment systems.

However, the protocol is still in its early stages. Adoption depends on both developers building x402-compatible services and AI platforms integrating the standard. Armstrong’s endorsement may help spur interest, but widespread use will require more than just a CEO’s prediction.

Conclusion

Brian Armstrong’s belief in x402 highlights a growing consensus that AI agents will need their own payment infrastructure. While the protocol is nascent, its alignment with stablecoin technology and the HTTP 402 standard gives it a solid technical foundation. Whether x402 becomes the de facto standard for AI payments remains to be seen, but its potential to enable a new wave of autonomous digital commerce is significant.

FAQs

Q1: What does x402 stand for?
x402 is a protocol named after HTTP 402, the “Payment Required” status code. It is designed to allow AI agents to request and make payments for digital services automatically.

Q2: How does x402 work?
An AI agent sends a request to a service that requires payment. The service responds with a payment address, and the agent sends a stablecoin payment onchain. Once the payment is confirmed, the service grants access.

Q3: Why is Brian Armstrong optimistic about x402?
Armstrong believes that AI agents will eventually need to transact autonomously and that their numbers will far exceed humans. x402 provides a standardized way for these agents to pay for services, which he sees as essential for the future AI economy.

Bitcoin ($BTC) hit $65,000 after Tuesday’s Wall Street open as US stocks rebounded in spite of geopolitical pressure.

Key points:

• Bitcoin reaches $65,000 for the first time since Aug. 10 as risk assets navigate fresh US-Iran signals.
• Analysis warns of surging US 30-year bond yields, which hit 29-year highs of 5.34%.
• $BTC price analysis flags decision time on a head-and-shoulders bottoming structure.

Bitcoin diverges from US stocks as Trump says Strait of Hormuz “open”

Data from TradingView showed $BTC/USD building on the week’s gains as the S&P 500 bounced from 7,696, its lowest level since Aug. 4.

$BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

This came after US president Donald Trump posted a map of the closed Strait of Hormuz oil route to Truth Social where it was labeled “new US territory.”

Both the US and Iran lay claim to control of Hormuz, with Trump threatening US ally Oman with military action over its plans to work with Iran on charging tolls to shipping traffic. In a subsequent post, Trump confirmed that further diplomacy with Iran was not on the agenda.

“There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated,” he wrote.

S&P 500 one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

As on Monday, oil avoided major volatility, with WTI crude down 1% at the time of writing at $84 per barrel. US government bonds continued to show strain, with the 30-year yield hitting 5.34%, its highest since January 2007.

“Bond prices are sending warnings,” BNY Mellon analyst Geoff Yu wrote in a research note quoted by the New York Times. Yu said that the surge came as “investors demand more compensation for inflation risk,” while also attributing the upside to government borrowing.

US 30-year bond yields one-month chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

$BTC price faces crunch rebound test

Updating X followers on $BTC/USD, trader and analyst Aksel Kibar eyed the culmination of a potential reverse head-and-shoulders pattern at $62,300.

Related: Bitcoin price spike to $64.5K was ‘low-volume liquidity trap’: Analysis

“If $BTCUSD is going to rebound, it has to come from here,” he argued on Monday.

Kibar offered a $53,000 target in the event of the head-and-shoulders structure failing, with $76,000 a potential upside target should the rebound sustain.

$BTC/USD one-day chart. Source: Aksel Kibar on X.com

Previously, Cointelegraph reported that underwater investors were contributing to Bitcoin’s inability to break higher. Its rebound to $64,500 also stopped short of an overhead trend line, the 50-month exponential moving average (EMA). This moving average is now in place as resistance at $65,827.

Asset manager Neuberger has launched its first tokenized fixed-income fund through Securitize, offering an actively managed high-yield strategy across four blockchains, Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI).

The Neuberger Securitize High Income Tokenized Fund (HINC) will invest primarily in high-yield bonds, with additional exposure to collateralized loan obligations and leveraged loans, according to an announcement Tuesday.

The launch comes as investors are demanding higher yields amid heated competition for corporate and government funding.

“The previous market regime rewarded investors for assuming that capital would remain cheap and plentiful,” Saxo chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said in a Tuesday client note. “The emerging regime may reward investors for recognising that capital has a price again.”

The new fund is available to qualified investors, with Securitize providing the infrastructure to issue and manage tokenized shares across the four blockchain networks.

Neuberger will serve as subadvisor to a tokenized fund for the first time. Its fixed-income platform manages more than $230 billion in assets, while the firm manages about $613 billion overall.

Securitize has about $4.96 billion in distributed asset value across 26 tokenized real-world assets, according to RWA.xyz data. Its products include BlackRock’s $2.7 billion BUIDL fund, a $355 million tokenized AAA CLO fund and a $95 million Apollo diversified credit fund.

The company’s shares rose around 5% in Tuesday morning trading, giving the company a market capitalization of about $838 million. Despite the gain, the stock remains down more than 50% from levels reached shortly after its public debut in July.

Securitize’s distributed asset value. Source: RWA.xyz

An effort by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, to convince a federal court to vacate his 12-year sentence for fraud and market manipulation faces pushback from US prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

In a Friday filing, SDNY Attorney James McDonald and Assistant US Attorney Allison Nichols said that the court should deny Mashinsky’s petition to vacate his conviction and sentence, saying that many of his legal arguments were “without merit” and pushing back against claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.

The former Celsius CEO informed the court in May that he would be proceeding pro se — that is, representing himself in the case — and filed a motion to vacate, including claims about cryptocurrency exchange FTX and his former colleague, the company’s chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon.

“Mashinsky has not even submitted a sworn declaration in support of these baseless allegations, and his petition should be denied without a hearing or further fact-finding,” said prosecutors, adding:

“[…] He presents a litany of complaints, blaming others for problems at Celsius and rehashing the evidence presented at his sentencing hearing. Though Mashinsky stops short of claiming that he is factually innocent, he blames his lawyers for failing to press certain arguments on his behalf.”

As of Tuesday, the judge overseeing the case had not responded to the federal prosecutors’ filing. Mashinsky was sentenced in May 2025 to 144 months in prison, having pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud related to “manipulative and deceptive devices” at Celsius. Cohen-Pavon, who according to the government provided “substantial assistance” to the prosecutors case again Mashinsky, was sentenced to time served in May.

Celsius was one of a slew of crypto companies to file for bankruptcy in 2022 amid a market downturn starting with the collapse of Terraform Labs. Authorities indicted Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon in 2023 and both subsequently pleaded guilty. The former CEO was ordered to pay $48 million in forfeiture at sentencing and agreed to pay $10 million as part of a separate settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission.

Mashinsky banned from commodities markets trading

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced in June that the former Celsius CEO was permanently banned from trading in markets within the commodities regulator’s purview.

The CFTC case was one of the last against Mashinsky and Celsius to be resolved following the company’s collapse in 2022. However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil action against the co-founder, first filed in 2023, was still ongoing despite the court reaching a judgment against the platform months after the initial complaint.

As of July 30, the SEC reported that its attorneys and Mashinsky were “engaged in settlement discussions.“ The regulator asked the court for 60 days to file a status report on the matter, pushing any potential resolution to the end of September.