Category: Business

Bitcoin’s price surpassing the $65,000 level triggered liquidations in highly leveraged short positions. According to on-chain data, a large whale holding approximately $117 million worth of Bitcoin short positions had $23.36 million of those positions forced to close during the surge.

It was reported that the whale in question continues to hold a short position of approximately 1,440 $BTC, currently valued at $93.21 million, following the liquidation. The current liquidation price of the open position is stated to be approximately $65,042. It is assessed that if the Bitcoin price remains above this level or continues its upward trend, the liquidation pressure on the position may increase.

On the other hand, the on-chain analytics platform Glassnode shared noteworthy data regarding long-term investor behavior in the Bitcoin market. According to Glassnode, the “strong hands” in the market, i.e., investors who tend to hold onto their assets long-term despite price fluctuations, continue to accumulate Bitcoin.

The platform stated that market bottoms typically form when profit-taking slows and investors with high confidence begin buying. It noted that the current market structure, in some aspects, resembles the bottom formation process seen in 2022.

According to Glassnode data, the largest increase in the amount of Bitcoin held by high-trust investors occurred when the $BTC price fell to around $60,000 in January.

*This is not investment advice.

LendProtocol, a centralized lending service, has launched a fixed-rate lending platform for $XRP and $RLUSD holders on the $XRP Ledger. The service offers a 12% annual rate. Borrowers must provide collateral worth 120% of the loan amount.

LendProtocol operates as a centralized lending service rather than a native $XRP staking platform. The $XRP Ledger does not use Proof-of-Stake and does not distribute staking rewards. Users who want to earn returns on $XRP therefore need to use third-party lending, exchanges, or other yield products.

According to LendProtocol, the platform has facilitated more than 743 million $XRP in loans and currently serves over 13,713 active lenders. The company says borrowers pay 12.7% APR, while depositors receive 12%, with the difference covering the platform’s operating spread.

Users can deposit $XRP or $RLUSD, while collateral can include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, $XRP, $RLUSD, and USDT. LendProtocol says it takes direct lending exposure if a borrower defaults. The platform also uses cold storage, data encryption, and two-factor authentication.

Image: Magnific

L4VA, a programmable capital markets infrastructure, has launched the Toto Finance Silver Vault on the Cardano blockchain. The new vault gives users access to tokenized physical silver backed by the underlying asset.

The vault allows participants to acquire tokens representing a proportional share of the physical silver. These tokens can be traded through decentralized liquidity pools, creating an on-chain market for the asset. Eligible users can also receive L4VA ecosystem rewards for qualifying activity, while liquidity providers can earn trading fees.

L4VA provides infrastructure for turning real-world assets into digital financial products. Toto Finance focuses on asset-backed products and is working with L4VA to expand access to physical commodities through blockchain technology.

Image: Magnific

Despite still experiencing significant upward movement in XRP price, Ripple aims to solidify its leading position in the blockchain ecosystem.

At this point, Ripple is expanding its corporate digital asset services by forging new partnerships to continue its global growth.

Accordingly, Ripple announced that it has established a strategic partnership with Jeonbuk Bank, one of South Korea’s most important regional banks.

The bank, which operates under the umbrella of JB Financial Group, will use Ripple Payments infrastructure for cross-border commercial payments.

According to Ripple’s official statement, Jeonbuk Bank will be the first regional bank in South Korea to use Ripple Payments.

The partnership aims to provide faster cross-border payment services, particularly to corporate clients such as import-export companies, technology startups, and online content creators who make international payments.

Thanks to Ripple, payments will be processed in minutes!

The statement indicates that Ripple Payments’ infrastructure can enable payments to be processed within seconds or minutes, 24/7.

The statement explains that Jeonbuk Bank’s use of Ripple Payments could reduce the numerous intermediary steps involved in the current SWIFT-based international money transfer process and support real-time payments in seconds.

Ripple Asia-Pacific General Manager Fiona Murray stated that the partnership demonstrates the growing interest of South Korea’s corporate finance sector in digital asset infrastructure.

JB Jeonbuk Bank Chairman Park Choon-won stated in his announcement that through this collaboration, the bank plans to enhance its digital financial competitiveness and expand its global financial services.

*This is not investment advice.

Toyota’s finance arm is launching a tokenized bond that retail investors can buy directly through the Japanese carmaker’s mobile payment app, Toyota Wallet.

Toyota Finance said Tuesday that applications have opened for the one-year bond, with investments starting at 100,000 Japanese yen ($676). The new bond will be distributed directly by Toyota Finance, allowing investors to buy it without opening a securities account.

The 1 billion yen bond carries a 1.72% annual interest rate and will be managed on blockchain infrastructure provided by Japanese security-token firm BOOSTRY.

The carmaker said the direct distribution model will allow it to integrate applications, communications with bondholders and investor benefits within the same ecosystem.

Investors may also receive Toyota Wallet balances and qualify for benefits including Fuji Speedway tickets and test-drive experiences, including in Lexus and selected classic Toyota vehicles.

The offering is Toyota Finance’s second security token bond following its debut issuance in March 2025, which was sold through securities companies.

New developments continue to emerge regarding planned regulations for the US cryptocurrency market. First, a meeting scheduled for Friday by the SEC, where a new regulatory framework for initial public offerings of crypto assets was to be discussed, was canceled at the last minute. The SEC was expected to initiate the formal rule-making process for this new framework, dubbed “Regulation Crypto Assets,” at that meeting.

One of the first to announce the cancellation of this meeting was American journalist Eleanor Terrett, who stated in her post that the SEC’s official reason was “an unforeseen programming problem.”

While speculation continues in the market about why the meeting was canceled, some sources are now pointing the finger at Wall Street.

Is the SEC Under Pressure from Wall Street?

According to Decrypt, Wall Street played a role in the cancellation of the SEC’s Friday meeting. Sources say that pressure from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), a major Wall Street organization, was instrumental in the cancellation.

According to sources who spoke to Decrypt, SIFMA opposed the SEC’s creation of a framework that could provide crypto companies and tokenization firms with broad exemptions from existing securities regulations.

The report states that SIFMA’s main objection centers on whether the SEC can create such a broad regulatory framework using its existing statutory powers.

Sources also reported that SIFMA signaled that it could take legal action if the SEC took such a step. This is said to have influenced the SEC’s decision to postpone the planned meeting.

At this point, sources indicate that the real debate behind the scenes is the SEC’s regulatory authority over the cryptocurrency market and Wall Street’s objections to that regulation.

It is noteworthy that these developments come immediately after the US Senate failed to make progress on the CLARITY Act before going on recess in August, and the CLARITY Act was postponed until September.

According to experts, the SEC’s independent efforts to develop comprehensive regulations for the cryptocurrency market, coupled with Congress’s attempt to create a legal framework through the Clarity Act, make the debate over which institution and under what authority will shape cryptocurrency regulations in the US even more significant.

It remains unclear when the SEC will reschedule the meeting and whether the “Regulation Crypto Assets” process will continue.

*This is not investment advice.