Category: Business

Ripple’s developer arm RippleX has declared the $XRP Ledger’s Batch amendment ready for activation, publishing a technical review on Monday that explains how the feature was rebuilt after a critical security flaw was found in the original version. The corrected Batch V1.1 ships in xrpld v3.3.0 and will let multiple transactions from different accounts settle atomically in a single ledger close — a capability RippleX frames as foundational for atomic swaps and multi-party coordination on the network.

Why the Original Batch Was Pulled

The original Batch amendment, XLS-56, was set aside after security researchers and Cantina AI flagged a critical flaw in its signature-validation routine on Feb. 19, 2026. The checkBatchSign function, which confirms each inner-transaction account has authorized a batch, contained an early-return bug: when it hit a signer whose account did not yet exist on the ledger, it returned success and skipped validation of every remaining signer. RippleX said the flaw could have let an attacker execute transactions on behalf of victim accounts without their private keys. Because the amendment was still in its voting phase and had not activated on mainnet, no funds were at risk.

How Batch V1.1 Was Hardened

Batch V1.1 is a replacement amendment that eliminates the early-return bug. RippleX said the root-cause fix was merged through pull request #6446 and reviewed by four senior engineers, with additional assurance from a Sherlock Batch Attackathon contest, a Halborn re-assessment and a Common Prefix audit. An AI-assisted static analysis pipeline that includes a Cantina scan has been folded into the release process, alongside regression testing on devnet and testnet. The amendment ships in the xrpld v3.3.0 release, which bundles it with five other proposals.

Atomic Transactions and What Comes Next

Batch is designed to let several XRPL transactions execute as a single all-or-nothing unit, so a batch either fully succeeds or fully reverts — a design aimed at atomic swaps and coordinated settlements. Like every $XRP Ledger amendment, Batch V1.1 must hold an 80 percent validator majority for 14 consecutive days before it activates, according to the network’s amendment tracker, so it remains in its voting phase for now. The ledger has drawn wider attention this month: the Bank for International Settlements recently tested the network to anchor official statistics on-chain, while $XRP has pushed deeper into traditional finance as ETF demand and derivatives access expand.

Korea’s first won-backed stablecoin, KRW1, is moving into global payments through an integration with stablecoin payments provider Rain. The transaction will enable businesses to accept cards issued in won that can be used at over 175 million Visa merchant outlets around the world.

British banking giant Standard Chartered continues to keep an eye on altcoins with upside potential, in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

At this point, one of these altcoins was $ARB, the token of Ethereum’s second-layer network, Arbitrum.

According to The Block, Standard Chartered recently evaluated Arbitrum and predicted that the $ARB token, currently trading at approximately $0.14, will reach $10 by the end of 2030.

This represents an increase of more than 70 times from its current level of approximately $0.134.

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital asset research, described Arbitrum as “Blockchain for Traditional Finance,” noting that its business model, which helps traditional finance firms move to the blockchain, is well-positioned to benefit from the rapid growth in tokenized assets.

Kendrick also sees Robinhood Chain as a major growth driver, early evidence that Arbitrum could become a significant blockchain infrastructure provider for traditional financial institutions.

“We are seeing a shift in digital assets from a situation where revenue was still insignificant to one where it is critical. Arbitrum’s business model is largely revenue-focused, and therefore the $ARB token will benefit from this. Furthermore, the early success of Robinhood Chain increases the likelihood of similar TradFi chains being launched on the Arbitrum technology infrastructure. Therefore, the Robinhood Chain launch demonstrated Arbitrum’s potential to become the number one choice in traditional finance for moving assets to the chain.”

In this context, Geoff Kendrick stated that the bank predicts $ARB will outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum throughout its forecast period. The bank estimates that ETH will reach $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by the end of 2030, while BTC is projected to reach $100,000 by the end of 2026 and $500,000 by the end of 2030.

Standard Chartered also added that the tokenized real-world asset market is expected to reach $4 trillion by 2030, and that Arbitrum has a significant competitive advantage in this environment.

*This is not investment advice.

Though she’s been on the sidelines of the negotiations, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Senate Banking Committee’s top Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday that the legislation pushed over the weekend by Republicans “was not negotiated with the Democrats.”

“It was between the Republicans and White House, and the changes were nonsense,” said Warren, who has been a steady critic of the legislation and of the industry behind it. “In each case, they put in some new words that pretended to solve the problem, and then just either left the problem intact or expanded it later on.”

Washington policy analysts were affixing long odds on the voting process Tuesday.

“With Democrats largely skeptical of the GOP’s latest offer, it’s unlikely they will provide the necessary votes to advance the bill later today, barring significant changes,” Beacon Policy Advisors wrote in a client note. “While the party could hypothetically vote to advance the bill to continue negotiations — reserving the ability to vote it down if things move further in their direction this month — we think that pathway is narrow.”

Some hours remain before the 2:15 p.m. planned vote, and such legislative negotiations have been known to strike deals in the final seconds. But some industry insiders are unsure whether the talks can be salvaged, and leaders like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong have spent recent days arguing that a failed bill won’t halt regulatory progress.

BlackRock has remained relentless in expanding its Bitcoin holdings as it continues to fortify its position as one of the largest Bitcoin-holding corporations.

Amid its consistent Bitcoin accumulation, the latest data from Arkham Intelligence shows that BlackRock has seen steady demand for its Bitcoin investment product among institutional investors.

BlackRock’s IBIT records steady capital influx

Notably, the data shows that BlackRock has made a total Bitcoin purchase of about $1.08 billion over the last 20 days as its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw a large capital influx during the period.

This reflects heightened demand for Bitcoin among institutional investors who have chosen to gain exposure to the asset through BlackRock.

The data further showed that the Bitcoin buying activity from BlackRock occurred on seven days out of the last monthly ETF trading sessions.

With over $1 billion now added to BlackRock’s Bitcoin stash, the firm now boasts a massive 785,900 BTC worth about $61 billion in its holdings.

Grayscale sells Bitcoin

Unlike BlackRock, Grayscale’s trading performance moved in the opposite direction over the same period, suggesting that investors are less convinced about its Bitcoin investment product.

Notably, the data showed that the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust recorded about $254.7 million in net outflows over the same period as investors continued to move money out of the fund.

This suggests that Grayscale and other major funds have continued to face heightened selling pressure amid unstable market conditions, while BlackRock continues to dominate with consistent Bitcoin accumulation.

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is trading at $76,900 a day before the Fed’s September interest rate decision. While a cautious and downward trend prevails for $BTC, a new report has emerged from Coinbase.

$16.6 Billion Worth of Options Approaching Expiration in the Crypto Market!

While the market is monitoring the Fed and macroeconomic developments, the third-quarter options expiration date, which can affect prices, is also approaching.

According to data shared by Coinbase Markets, there is approximately $16.6 billion in open positions in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options markets with days remaining until the expiration of third-quarter contracts.

According to Coinbase Markets analysts, the significant weighting of call options over put options in both Bitcoin and Ethereum reflects investors’ expectations that prices could rise to higher levels.

These options are expected to expire on September 25, 2026.

$14.73 Billion Worth of Positions Held in Bitcoin Options!

According to data shared by Coinbase Markets, the total in-depth value of Bitcoin options is approximately $14.73 billion, while the number of open contracts is around 186,000. The put/call ratio in Bitcoin is 0.52, indicating that long positions are stronger in the market.

According to the data, the “maximum pain” price for Bitcoin is calculated at $72,000. The most concentrated call option positions are around $70,000. In addition, there are significant long-term open positions at the $85,000, $90,000, and $100,000 levels.

Ethereum’s $3,000 Level Attracts Attention!

In Ethereum options trading, the total in-depth value is approximately $1.92 billion, while the number of open contracts exceeds 756,000. The put/call ratio is stated as 0.57, and the maximum open price is around $2,200.

The largest concentration of call options on Ethereum is observed at a strike price of $3,000, with approximately 43,000 contracts.

The fact that call options outnumber put options in both ETH and $BTC suggests that investors are expecting higher price levels ahead of the third-quarter expiration. However, as option expiration approaches, volatility may increase, particularly around strike prices where large open positions exist.

*This is not investment advice.

PayPal, M0 and MoonPay have launched PYUSDx, a platform that allows companies to issue custom stablecoins backed by PayPal USD ($PYUSD). The platform has already processed more than $100 million in volume since its launch.

Saturn, Concrete, and Cap are the first projects using PYUSDx. They apply the same infrastructure to different products in credit, investments, and DeFi.

• Saturn is a structured finance protocol focused on Bitcoin-backed digital credit. Its USDat stablecoin, issued through PYUSDx, is used for liquidity and settlements. Around $65 million of USDat is currently in circulation.
• Concrete provides infrastructure for on-chain vaults and uses automated systems to manage DeFi strategies. Through PYUSDx, the company launched ConcUSD, a reward-bearing stablecoin that allows users to receive part of the returns generated by its strategies.
• Cap operates a credit platform where depositors provide capital and institutional borrowers use it to generate returns. Part of Cap’s cUSD stablecoin was migrated to PYUSDx. The total circulating supply of cUSD is around $92 million.

M0 provides stablecoin issuance technology, while MoonPay handles token issuance and distribution. PYUSDx combines both systems with PayPal’s $PYUSD infrastructure.

Image: Magnific

Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US have recorded net inflows again after four trading days. According to SoSoValue data, a total net inflow of approximately $159.9 million was recorded into Bitcoin ETFs on September 14th, ending a four-day uninterrupted series of net outflows from the portfolio.

The strongest performer of the day came from BlackRock’s IBIT fund, which saw a net inflow of $134.3 million. Fidelity’s FBTC fund saw a net outflow of $53.3 million. Franklin Templeton’s EZBC fund added $4.6 million, while Morgan Stanley’s MSBT fund saw a net inflow of $9.7 million. In contrast, ARK Invest’s ARKB fund experienced a net outflow of $42 million.

Ethereum ETFs also maintained a positive outlook. According to Farside Investors data, spot Ethereum ETFs in the US saw net inflows of approximately $121.1 million on September 14th. This figure marked the second consecutive day of net inflows for the products.

Among Ethereum ETFs, BlackRock’s ETHA fund stood out with an inflow of $80.5 million. BlackRock Staking ETHB saw inflows of $14.4 million, Fidelity’s FETH fund $8.9 million, 21Shares’ TETH fund $6.5 million, and Grayscale’s Mini $ETH fund $16.2 million. Invesco’s QETH fund, however, experienced a net outflow of $5.4 million.

The inflows recorded in both asset classes indicate a renewed strengthening of institutional investor demand for cryptocurrency investment products, while ETF flows continue to be closely monitored in terms of market sentiment.

*This is not investment advice.

Caroline D. Pham engaged in a significant discussion about regulatory clarity with leaders from OKX and the Digital Chamber. This dialogue, highlighted in her recent tweet, underscores the progress made in crypto regulation. Pham emphasized the importance of collaboration in shaping effective policies, and the implications of these discussions could lead to more streamlined operations in the crypto sector. For more details, check out her official tweet here.

The Key Development

The broader crypto landscape is currently experiencing mixed signals, reflecting varying momentum across major assets. Pham’s discussion with OKX and Digital Chamber leaders illustrates a proactive approach toward addressing regulatory challenges. By focusing on clarity, stakeholders aim to foster a more robust framework for crypto operations. This cooperation could pave the way for enhanced compliance and innovation within the industry.

Key Takeaways

• Caroline D. Pham is actively engaging with industry leaders. The discussion centers on regulatory clarity for the crypto industry. Pham’s remarks highlight the significance of collaboration among stakeholders. The focus is on creating a more effective regulatory framework. This initiative could influence future crypto policies and operations.

By the Numbers

Current market sentiment reflects a cautious approach among traders, as the crypto sector adapts to evolving regulatory conditions. The recent interactions between Pham and key industry figures like OKX are indicative of a broader trend towards collaboration and transparency. This could result in enhanced guidelines that benefit both regulators and market participants, fostering a more stable trading environment.

Caroline D. Pham serves as a prominent figure in the regulatory landscape, focusing on policies affecting the cryptocurrency sector. The Digital Chamber is an organization that advocates for blockchain innovation and regulatory clarity. Pham’s jurisdiction allows her to influence key regulatory frameworks shaping the future of digital assets, highlighting the importance of collaboration within the industry.

Key Levels to Watch

Traders should closely monitor developments stemming from this dialogue, particularly regarding new regulatory frameworks and guidelines. The potential for increased clarity could significantly impact trading strategies and compliance efforts. As the situation unfolds, stakeholders will be vigilant about how these discussions translate into actionable policies, shaping the future landscape of the crypto market.