Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm Bit Origin acquired around $10 million in Dogecoin (DOGE).
The firm announced a raise of up to $500 million last week to fund its meme coin treasury.
Bit Origin shares are up 386% from their July starting point.
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Thailand’s SEC proposes easing knowledge test rules for retail crypto investors, allowing them to skip repeat tests if already passed, replacing the current 3-month retesting requirement.
New rules would mandate suitability tests for all digital token investors, reviewed every two years, to ensure alignment between investor risk tolerance and product risk.
The proposed regulations aim to reduce burdens on investors and ICO portals while aligning with existing securities oversight standards.
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The GENIUS Act, now signed into law, gives stablecoin issuers like Ripple a clear regulatory path but is expected to have limited direct impact on XRP’s price.
Ripple’s new stablecoin, RLUSD, positions the company to compete domestically with USDC and PayPal USD as a native U.S. liquidity provider.
Legal ambiguity around XRP’s classification persists, with future clarity hinging on the proposed CLARITY Act’s passage.
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Streaming giant Netflix has revealed that it used generative AI for a VFX sequence in its show “The Eternaut.”
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos called generative AI “an incredible opportunity to make films and series better, not just cheaper.”
There is widespread concern among film industry professionals over the threat posed by AI to their jobs.
A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.
Back in the day, you could raise millions with just a whitepaper and a Telegram group. That was the golden era of token launches, massive hype, zero revenue, and a whole lot of hope. But we’ve seen how that story ends: ecosystems with flashy promises and no real business underneath. Fast-forward to today, and the market is smarter. It demands proof.
That’s where Spheron flips the script.
While most projects wait until after their token generation event (TGE) to figure out how to make money, Spheron already did the hard part first. They built the product. They signed real customers. And Spheron Network has already hit $10 million in ARR, before the $SPON token even hits the market.
This isn’t another “maybe one day” Web3 story. It’s a network with real users, real traction, and real demand. Now ask yourself: if this is what Spheron achieved before the token launch, what happens after $SPON goes live?
To understand why Spheron’s approach matters, look at what happened to the biggest ICOs and TGEs in history. EOS raised a staggering $4.1 billion in its ICO between June 2017 and June 2018. Block.one supported it with more than a billion dollars in funds, but the network never built a sustainable business alongside the token. Over time, developer interest waned, users dropped off, and the token lost much of its early promise.
Many examples follow the same pattern: massive capital raises before TGE, but no working revenue engine in place. The token launched, speculation peaked, and a crash followed. Users lost trust. Developer activity dried up. The next wave of hype died.
Spheron did not follow the typical pattern. Instead of selling a dream and hoping the product would come together later, Spheron focused on building first.
Spheron launched a real, working GPU and CPU marketplace. The team released ecosystem products like Fizz Nodes, Skynet, KlippyAI, Supernoderz, and developer console. They made onboarding easy and pushed adoption across 170 regions. Spheron didn’t just talk about compute. They delivered it.
As a result, Spheron now generates $10 million in annual recurring revenue. That figure came before the token launch, not after. This sets Spheron apart from 99 percent of Web3 infrastructure projects. It’s not just revenue. Spheron is already powering over $24 million worth of distributed compute. With more than 8,300 GPUs and almost 600,000 CPUs connected, the network is global and growing.
The $SPON token is not launching into a speculative vacuum. It is launching into a live, revenue-producing ecosystem. It already has clear utility and built-in demand.
$SPON will be used to pay for compute, stake for higher rewards, and govern the protocol. GPU and CPU providers will stake it to join the network. Developers will use it to run jobs. Agent frameworks like Skynet will use it to rent compute resources autonomously.
Staking will reduce the circulating supply. Spheron also plans to buy back $SPON from marketplace fees, creating natural deflation. This is not hype-first tokenomics. It is real, functional economics powered by live infrastructure. At the ”Road to TGE” launch, over 800,000 people have already signed up to be part of the TGE campaign. More than 200,000 are already whitelisted. That’s a massive base of early users and contributors ready to push adoption from day one.
This is where the flywheel starts to spin. More agents and apps using the compute means more demand for the marketplace. More compute usage means more $SPON payments, which increases staking and scarcity. That draws more providers into the network, which makes the compute even more available and affordable.
KlippyAI already proved this at launch. In just three days, it powered nearly 5,000 AI-generated videos. That workload ran on decentralized compute. Skynet’s no-code agent platform is also ready to roll. The marketplace for autonomous agents will go live in Q3 2025.
The same underlying network powers all of these apps. That network is governed and fueled by $SPON.
The global AI compute market is projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2030. Today, giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft dominate the space, charging high fees and locking developers into closed ecosystems.
Spheron offers an open alternative. It gives developers, researchers, and companies access to flexible, decentralized compute. And it gives individuals the ability to monetize idle hardware and contribute to something much bigger.
You’re not just going to hold a share in the network itself. When you buy $SPON, you’re not betting on speculation. You’re becoming part of the world’s largest community-powered compute stack. You’re helping fuel permissionless AI at scale, across geographies, industries, and devices.
Imagine a future where agents run tasks using your gaming PC. Or your spare server in the garage powers an AI model. And you get paid for it, all in $SPON. That’s not science fiction. That’s the near-term roadmap. You’re not just early to an idea. You’re early to a movement that’s already generating revenue, onboarding partners, and launching real products.
Spheron’s two-to-five-year plan is loaded with momentum. Spheron plans to grow Spheron AI to $30 million in ARR. The team aims to scale KlippyAI and Skynet to $2-5 million ARR each. They will launch a borrowing and lending layer for GPU providers and bring 10,000 gaming rigs online as edge compute.
All of this adds value to the network. All of it adds utility to $SPON. And all of it creates opportunity for early supporters. While most crypto projects chase hype first and try to deliver later, Spheron is already delivering. They built the hard stuff first. And now, they’re giving the community a way to own it.
The decentralized compute space has seen many projects try to build large-scale infrastructure powered by community hardware. Some promised to disrupt centralized cloud giants, while others aimed to create the world’s first web3 decentralized project in some niche. However, many of these projects struggled to build real demand for their tokens or networks. They lacked practical products or had incomplete ecosystems. Some fell short on delivering actual revenue, while others faced adoption problems due to poor user experience or lack of integration with applications.
Spheron stands apart because it combines a full-stack approach with real-world products that already generate revenue. Its four key components, KlippyAI, Skynet, Supernoderz, and Aquanode, are designed to create immediate and sustainable demand for $SPON, the native token powering the ecosystem. Together, these products build a powerful flywheel that links compute supply, developer demand, and user engagement. This article explores how each product contributes to $SPON demand from day one and why Spheron’s approach is more promising than past attempts in decentralized compute.
In recent years, many Web3 projects have attempted to build decentralized infrastructure layers for cloud compute, storage, and node services. These efforts came with bold visions: disrupt Big Tech, enable cheaper alternatives, and power the next generation of decentralized applications. While the ambition was there, the execution often fell short. These networks lacked real-world usage that would create continuous demand for the token.
One major shortcoming was the lack of an integrated product suite. Many of these Web3 infrastructure projects offered only raw compute or isolated services. They didn’t build the user-facing applications needed to drive daily activity or to give developers a reason to stay. Without real use cases layered on top of the infrastructure, tokens became speculative rather than demand-driven. Users held them, hoping for future upside, not to use the network.
There was also a lack of vertical integration. Projects built a compute layer but failed to onboard AI startups or Web3-native applications that could meaningfully use that power. They created supply without solving for demand. Others leaned too heavily on centralized intermediaries or cloud providers to fill in the gaps. This reduced the permissionlessness and decentralization that Web3 originally promised.
Despite high-profile fundraising rounds and significant capital raised from top-tier investors, many of these projects launched without live products or revenue. The result was a chicken-and-egg problem. Without usage, there was no token demand. Without token demand, the network couldn’t grow. And without growth, the ecosystem couldn’t create economic incentives strong enough to retain providers or builders.
Below are some of the Web3 infrastructure projects that aimed to establish themselves as foundational layers across compute, node hosting, or AI services. Despite receiving large amounts of venture funding, most struggled to sustain momentum or justify long-term token value.
Such as ShuttleFlow by Conflux Network, focused on enabling cross-chain communication or multichain node services, hoping to become the backbone of decentralized application infrastructure. ShuttleFlow, launched in 2021, was meant to simplify DeFi onboarding across multiple blockchains. Yet by late 2023, the team shut it down and handed over operations to another company, Web3Q. Despite initial usage, the platform couldn’t maintain traction or justify continued funding.
In another notable failure, Cloudwatt, a French state-backed decentralized cloud initiative, was launched in 2012 with nearly €75 million in government subsidies. It aimed to achieve digital sovereignty by offering a national cloud solution. But within just a few years, the project failed to attract significant business. Revenue remained negligible, and it was eventually merged into telecom giant Orange before being shut down entirely in 2020. The gap between public investment and market adoption was staggering.
Even technically sophisticated efforts like Nebula One, a startup founded by former NASA engineers, didn’t survive. It aimed to offer private cloud appliances using open-source OpenStack tools. Despite raising over $35 million and promising a plug-and-play experience for enterprises, the company folded in under two years, by 2015. It simply couldn’t compete with the scale and pricing of established cloud providers, and adoption never reached meaningful levels.
Other decentralized infrastructure platforms like ZeroNet, launched in 2015, offered peer-to-peer website hosting using Bitcoin key-based identities. It was initially promising as an uncensorable, decentralized internet alternative. However, development stalled after its last stable release in 2019. The project eventually became inactive, with only forks maintained by the community.
Failure ReasonsDescription
No Real-World AdoptionProjects built infrastructure but failed to launch live apps or ecosystems.
Token Without UtilityTokens lacked immediate demand drivers; price was driven by speculation.
High Hardware BarriersParticipation often required expensive or complex hardware setups.
Dependence on Web2 InfraMany relied on centralized hosting or bridges, undercutting decentralization.
Lack of RevenueFew projects generated revenue early on, leading to unsustainable burn.
Failed Go-To-MarketProjects couldn’t attract Web3 or AI startups to build on top.
Over-promisingGrand claims without delivering usable, reliable products.
Short Development CyclesSeveral projects folded within 1–2 years due to poor retention or funding.
The takeaway is simple. Building a decentralized network is not enough. You need real products, real usage, and clear incentives for people to participate from day one. Spheron solves these challenges by launching a full-stack ecosystem from day one. It combines a decentralized compute marketplace with enterprise-grade infrastructure and user-friendly AI tools. The $SPON token will power all key products, creating a natural demand loop.
And this is where Spheron stands out. It launched with a live ecosystem already in motion. At the time of writing this article, the platform reached $10.6 million in annual recurring revenue before the $SPON token even went live. The compute marketplace is real. The tools are ready. KlippyAI, Skynet, Fizz Nodes, and the full developer stack are already bringing in thousands of users.
Spheron didn’t wait for a token to justify its existence. It built the engine first. Now the token becomes the fuel.
Let’s explore how each product drives $SPON demand.
KlippyAI is an AI-powered video generation tool that lets anyone create high-quality videos from text prompts. It uses decentralized GPUs from the Spheron network to process heavy AI workloads cost-effectively. Most AI video tools today depend on expensive centralized cloud GPUs, driving high costs and limited accessibility. KlippyAI flips this by leveraging the community-powered decentralized compute layer, significantly lowering costs.
Users can pay in $SPON tokens to access KlippyAI’s video generation services. This direct token usage creates immediate demand from content creators, marketers, and educators who want affordable AI video tools.
KlippyAI users have already minted nearly 5,000 AI-generated video NFTs in just three days on the Base Layer 2 network. This success shows real user demand, not just speculation. As AI-generated content continues to grow, KlippyAI positions Spheron as a key infrastructure provider for the creator economy, driving ongoing $SPON usage.
Skynet is a groundbreaking platform that allows anyone to build, deploy, and manage autonomous AI agents without coding. Autonomous agents are software that can independently perform tasks, interact with other agents, and make decisions. Many AI projects have focused only on training models or providing APIs. Skynet takes the next step by offering a no-code platform that opens AI agent development to a much wider audience.
Agents running on Skynet consume compute resources from the Spheron network, paid in $SPON tokens. This creates recurring demand from developers, businesses, and end-users who want AI-powered automation. The platform supports agent-to-infrastructure communication, enabling agents to scale GPU resources dynamically. This real-time compute orchestration ensures efficient token usage and network resource allocation.
Skynet is launching its agent marketplace in Q3 2025, where users can buy, sell, and deploy agents powered by $SPON. This marketplace will drive further token velocity and ecosystem growth.
Supernoderz is a Node-as-a-Service platform that lets anyone deploy a decentralized compute node with just one click. The onboarding process is frictionless, requiring only a Gmail login or similar easy authentication. Historically, setting up decentralized nodes was technical and time-consuming. This complexity limited participation and network scale. Supernoderz eliminates those barriers, enabling thousands of new nodes to join the Spheron network quickly.
Node operators can stake $SPON tokens to join, unlocking higher reward tiers. This staking creates token demand and aligns incentives for node performance and network security.
Currently, Spheron has over 44,000 active Fizz Nodes and is growing. The network pays over 1-5 Million FN Points daily to providers, showing the ecosystem’s scale and financial flows. As more gaming rigs, data centers, and individuals join Supernoderz, token demand grows with network usage. This wide distribution also increases decentralization and robustness.
Aquanode specializes in running inference workloads for AI models efficiently on decentralized hardware. Inference is the process of applying trained AI models to new data, often requiring large compute resources. While training AI models is one-time, inference is ongoing and drives sustained compute demand. Aquanode provides optimized infrastructure for AI inference, paid in $SPON tokens.
This product targets AI startups and enterprises needing scalable inference without cloud lock-in or exorbitant costs. By integrating Aquanode into the ecosystem, Spheron addresses a critical market segment often ignored by other decentralized compute projects.
Aquanode’s presence strengthens the Spheron stack and diversifies token demand across multiple use cases.
Unlike many projects that launch tokens before products, Spheron already operates a live, monetized network generating millions in annual recurring revenue.
With four mature products tied to the $SPON token economics, demand is natural and continuous:
Users pay $SPON to access AI services (KlippyAI, Skynet, Aquanode).
Node providers stake $SPON to join and earn rewards (Supernoderz).
The token powers network governance and buy-back mechanisms, adding deflationary pressure.
Because $SPON integrates deeply into product usage, speculation is only a fraction of the token demand. Real economic activity underpins token value.
The global AI compute market is expected to reach over $1.8 trillion by 2030. Cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure currently dominate with centralized infrastructure.
However, rising costs, data privacy concerns, and the need for scalable, permissionless compute are driving demand for decentralized alternatives.
Spheron is uniquely positioned to capture a significant share of this market by offering:
The lowest GPU pricing through decentralized supply
Permissionless access to compute from anywhere
Integrated AI developer tools and applications
A token-driven economic model aligning incentives
Spheron’s ecosystem of KlippyAI, Skynet, Supernoderz, and Aquanode creates an immediate and powerful demand engine for the $SPON token. By combining real products with an integrated decentralized compute network, Spheron overcomes the pitfalls of past projects that launched tokens without live demand.
The live revenue before TGE, broad product adoption, and massive market opportunity position Spheron to lead the decentralized AI compute revolution. For anyone looking to invest or participate in the AI infrastructure of the future, $SPON offers a real, usage-driven token with strong growth potential from day one.
This is not just speculation. It is the execution of a vision where permissionless compute and autonomous AI agents reshape the global technology landscape, powered by the world’s largest community-owned supercloud.
The following is a guest post and opinion of Vitaliy Shtyrkin, Chief Product Officer at B2BINPAY.
Staking has quickly become crypto’s “poster child” for easy rewards. According to on-chain data, over 35 million ETH has been staked on Ethereum alone. For many newcomers, it feels like a no-brainer: just lock up some tokens, walk away, and watch your wallet grow. No charts, no stress, no trading — all the promise of passive income without the sleepless nights.
However, staking may look like a shortcut to crypto profits, but under the hood, it’s a lot less passive than it seems. Amid market volatility, validator penalties, security risks, and regulatory crackdowns, those steady-looking returns can come with caveats.
And yet, that doesn’t mean staking should be rejected — far from it. It’s a fact that staking is becoming one of the most dynamic and misunderstood pillars of Web3. Whether you’re just stepping into the space or already reaping the benefits of staking, it’s worth asking: is it really the easiest way to earn in crypto, or is it a more complex system than it appears? Let’s dig deeper.
Staking is often branded as the low-risk, low-effort entry point into the crypto world. It’s even compared to a savings account: park your assets, earn interest back, and let the protocol do the work. The familiarity of that comparison makes it feel safe, especially for those coming from traditional finance.
Yes, at first glance, the concept is simple: you deposit tokens into a blockchain network and, in return, receive rewards for supporting its operations. You’re not trading. You’re not speculating. You’re helping secure the network while earning passive income in the process.
Crypto platforms, in turn, play into that appeal with various perks, such as beginner-friendly interfaces and automated staking options. A few clicks, some APY numbers, and you’re in. No need to master sophisticated concepts of tokenomics or track DeFi trends. Just stake and relax — or so the story goes.
So, for someone new to crypto, it’s hard not to be drawn by such an enticing idea — especially when friends or influencers casually mention how they’re making money “just by staking.” Compared to the chaos of NFTs, volatile trading pairs, and ever-changing protocols, staking feels like a safe harbor in a storm.
But what makes staking accessible is also what makes it misleading. Because under the surface, the risks are still present — they just look a little different.
At first, not all staking risks are obvious. While price volatility is the most talked-about threat, it’s not the only one. In fact, your staking setup is tested by what happens behind the scenes — and how prepared you are for it.
Take slashing, for example. If a validator behaves incorrectly or goes offline, the network may penalize both the validator and the user staking with it. That could mean losing a small percentage of your stake or, depending on the protocol, something much larger. Yes, it’s a harsh mechanism, but it helps keep networks honest.
Also, platforms can be just as fragile. If you’re staking through a third-party service, your rewards and your assets rely on someone else’s infrastructure and security. A sharp reminder of this risk came with the Bedrock exploit, where a vulnerability in a synthetic Bitcoin token led to losses of over $2 million. Flashy interfaces don’t guarantee safe custody.
Of course, regulation plays its part in the staking picture, too. Staking-as-a-service is drawing attention from global regulators, especially in the U.S. and EU. Platforms can be geo-blocked or shut down with little warning, leaving users locked out of their funds entirely.
Does all of this mean that staking should be avoided? Not at all — it means you need to treat it with the same seriousness as any financial decision. Know your validator. Focus on the lock-up rules. Don’t ignore platform terms. Once you understand how staking works, you can start thinking more broadly about actual utility.
While most staking models center around earning yield, some take a different approach — one that’s less about passivity and more about utility. A good example is staking on the Tron network.
Instead of simply locking up TRX for rewards, users can stake to gain direct access to Bandwidth and Energy. These are two resources needed to process transactions and interact with smart contracts on the Tron blockchain. They refresh every 24 hours and, if used wisely, can eliminate transaction fees altogether. That turns staking into a way to reduce costs rather than just collect payouts.
Sure, the passive APY from TRX staking seems modest — often under 10% annually. But the real return comes from usage. For active users, those fee savings can add up quickly, in some cases equating to over 100% value annually in saved costs. It turns staking into a real-world tool, not just a reward mechanism.
Looking ahead, that distinction will become more important — especially given how fast the crypto ecosystem progresses. Staking shouldn’t be treated as a passive income fantasy or a high-risk gamble. It’s becoming clear that staking can be a strategy — a real way to participate in a network, secure it, and get real utility in return.
Mentioned in this article
You can now get Bitcoin transactions added to the blockchain for a lot cheaper than before.
Mining pools cut the rate as Bitcoin blockchain activity has been low.
Bitcoiners disagree over whether the coin should be used for everyday payments or primarily to hold value.
I love seeing sub-1 sat/vbyte transactions in my mempool.
Most of my early Bitcoin transactions were 0-fee, and they confirmed within a couple blocks.
I’m not miner. I want to pay as little as possible when I’m not using LN.
— Mandrik (@Mandrik) July 17, 2025
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A 74-year-old man disappeared in May after leaving home without his phone.
Authorities believe the disappearance is linked to the man’s family’s crypto fortune. They’ve found evidence of fraudulent activity and impersonation of him to communicate with family members.
The man’s son, a hedge fund executive, believes someone stole his father’s identity and drained over $1 million from his accounts.
A worrying trend
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SharpLink Gaming shares fell more than 20% on Friday.
The decline came a day after the company submitted a regulatory filing to increase its stock sales target by $5 billion.
The company purchased $48 million worth of ETH on Monday and $225 million on Tuesday.
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