Author: Jeremy Ryan

Enjoyed this article? Share it with your friends! Most crypto holders face the same dilemma: should I sell to access cash, or hold and potentially earn nothing? Figure provides compromises for both, and even adds a $50 bonus for new users who deposit $500. The platform currently offers two financial products that were traditionally limited to banks and institutional investors. Users can either earn up to 8.5% yield on their crypto via Democratized Prime or borrow cash by taking out Crypto-Backed Loans with an interest rate starting at 8.91%.Earn Up to 8.5% on Your CryptoDemocratized Prime is a decentralized lending…

October 9, 2026 – MEXC,a pioneer in 0-fee digital asset trading, and Payward, the parent company of Kraken, shared their perspectives on the convergence of crypto and traditional finance during a TOKEN2049 Singapore panel. MEXC CEO Vugar Usi Zade and Payward Co-CEO Arjun Sethi, discussed how broader market access, retail demand and collaboration between platforms could shape the future of global trading. Crypto and TradFi Move Closer Together An important theme was the shift toward more connected, always-on markets. Vugar said blockchain infrastructure is challenging traditional market structures built around fixed trading hours, while users increasingly expect access to different…

Immutable X was an Ethereum layer-2 network built for NFT games, launched by the Australian company Immutable in 2021 so that players could mint and trade in-game items without paying gas. It no longer runs as a separate chain. Immutable shut it down on 11 February 2026 and moved its assets onto Immutable zkEVM, now a single network called Immutable Chain, and the IMX token carried on there. This article explains what Immutable X was, why it was merged, what IMX does today and what to check if you still hold assets from the old network. Risk note: IMX is…

The number of active blockchain addresses also declined, averaging about 322,000 a day in the latest week, down 31% from mid-September. That suggests less activity, though it doesn’t necessarily mean 31% fewer people are using the network. One person can control multiple addresses, and automated trading programs can generate thousands of transactions.Robinhood Chain transactions have fallen 42%. (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)Less trading, steady balancesSpot exchanges, where users buy and sell tokens directly, handled $7.45 billion during Oct. 2–8, down 21% from $9.46 billion the week before, according to CoinDesk calculations using DefiLlama. Uniswap, an app that lets people swap tokens with each…

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky has agreed to a permanent ban from the securities, commodities, and crypto business under a New York settlement announced on Oct. 9. The agreement also sets conditional state payment obligations of up to $35 million, without creating a new payout to Celsius creditors.The deal resolves New York’s civil suit, filed in January 2023, and adds state obligations to a separate federal criminal case. Mashinsky is serving a 12-year prison sentence.What the $35 million figure meansThe first obligation is $25 million in damages to New York. Under paragraph 2 of the annexed consent order, that obligation is…

Alexander S. Blume, co-founder and CEO of Two Prime, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor, pointed to one especially popular version of that trade, called call overwriting. Investors sell call options on bitcoin they already own, giving up some of the upside in exchange for steady income from selling the call options.”I believe that, despite tempered volatility on the whole, the heavy increase in derivatives markets positioning allows for large moves to still occur somewhat frequently. At present, call overwriting is a highly crowded trade. When we see a move up, like the past month, it creates a short squeeze that amplifies…

Glamsterdam follows the Fusaka upgrade, advancing Ethereum’s L1 scaling roadmap with enshrined proposer-builder separation, block-level access lists, and changes to gas pricing that better reflect the cost of execution and state growth. The Glamsterdam network upgrade is scheduled to activate on Sepolia at epoch 353,024, slot 11,296,768 (October 6, 2026, 13:53:36 UTC). See the activation table below for the deployment schedule. Hoodi and mainnet activation dates have not yet been decided. Sepolia-compatible client versions will be added to the client release tables as they are confirmed. Node operators must update both their execution and consensus layer clients before activation. Glamsterdam…

Robinhood Chain, the popular Layer-2 blockchain tailor-made for tokenized real-world financial assets, is evaluating a transaction-ordering system that would allow users to pay a fee to prioritize certain trades, according to a person familiar with the matter.The technology is being developed by Arbitrum, which provides the infrastructure behind Robinhood Chain. The system, which isn’t affiliated with the chain, had been offering a paid-for transaction-ordering technology called “Timeboost” that gives users a priority-sequencing advantage in the form of a 200-millisecond head start. However, on September 24, Arbitrum replaced its Timeboost transaction-ordering system with a new model, Priority Gas Auctions, that allows…

Fireblocks’ research chief has identified exposed public keys as the main factor in Bitcoin’s future quantum risk, citing public estimates that roughly 6.7 million to 7 million BTC sit behind keys already visible onchain. Summary Older Bitcoin outputs and reused addresses can leave funds behind public keys that are already exposed. Fireblocks recommends fresh deposit and change addresses, with continuous tracking of exposed balances. Bitcoin’s BIP 360 proposal reduces long-term key exposure but does not provide complete quantum protection. Fireblocks has cut Ethereum post-quantum signature verification from 8.09 million to 1.23 million gas. Fireblocks Vice President of Research Michael Gutkin…

MapleStory Universe announced it is replacing permissionless smart contract access with a system called Action Modules Third-party developers can no longer deploy custom contracts that interact with player assets, accounts, items, or payment flows Action Modules are pre-vetted, audited contract functions covering the core transaction types: logins, item trading, payments, and asset custody Developers retain full freedom to build games, apps, and tools on the application layer The announcement came from Gi Hyuk Ryu, head of blockchain at MapleStory Universe, in a Leaders’ Note drawing from his NDC 2026 presentation The change reflects five years of tension between openness and…