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Twerk From Home Aims to Become the UFC of Exotic Dancing—With a Crypto Boost – Decrypt

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Twerk From Home Aims to Become the UFC of Exotic Dancing—With a Crypto Boost – Decrypt



In brief

Twerk from Home is kick-starting a weekly twerk-off competition that will finish on October 4 with a $10,000 grand final.
Joe Mahavuthivanij, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, claims he wants to professionalize and legitimatize the sport of exotic dancing, just like the UFC did for mixed martial arts.
Dancers have the option to be paid in crypto due to the high levels of debanking the founder noticed in the industry.

Joe Mahavuthivanij—the co-founder and CEO of Twerk From Home, or TFH—wants to be the Dana White of twerking by legitimizing and growing the sport of exotic dancing. 

The organization’s first tournament bounces into action on Saturday, as a group of dancers thrust themselves towards the final with a $10,000 grand prize. The TFH event will feature dancers from across the world, battling it out in head-to-head twerk-offs via their webcams—hence the “from home” branding.

Meanwhile, viewers will vote with their wallets by purchasing “gifts” for the best dancer. Every cent of those gifts will go straight to the dancer, Mahavuthivanij said, and the individual with the most gifts will win the battle.

Crypto bros can get in on the action by gambling on who will win via sportsbook Bet105. Plus, dancers have the option to be paid in crypto—due to the high levels of debanking the founder noticed in the industry, he said—along with gifts that can be purchased with crypto.

TFH will host weekly livestreamed events through to October 4, when the grand final will take place. 

Mahavuthivanij told Decrypt that the idea for TFH came from meeting exotic dancers in Las Vegas and attempting to understand the challenges they face. Some of the hurdles, he said, were around “legitimacy and professionalism,” and he wanted to fix that.

“Seeing the UFC legitimize and professionalize combat sports,” Mahavuthivanij explained, “I was like, maybe there’s something that we can combine here and leverage from their learnings. Ultimately, I threw all these crazy ideas into a [blender], and out the other side came this crazy idea to turn this into an online battle.”

Mixed martial arts faced a treacherous path to where it is today, with the UFC now looking to host an event at the White House. In fact, MMA was once banned in 36 American states, with Senator John McCain calling it “human cockfighting.” It took the UFC adding weight classes, banning certain techniques, and instituting judges—as well as the creation of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts—before the sport had any sense of legitimacy.

TFH, however, won’t have its competition officiated by judges. Rather, the winner will be decided by the audience, which Mahavuthivanij anticipates will be mostly made up of men—giving a new meaning to the phrase “human cockfighting.”

“We do see how this can be conveyed as a popularity contest, at least at this stage. That’s sort of potentially how we’re thinking about it,” the founder said. “We are not necessarily pioneering this sort of model. If you look at shows like [“American Idol”], the audience texts in and chooses who they want to see move on. They get their audience involved; it’s an interactive experience.”

Of course, twerking and exotic dance competitions already exist. 

International Twerk Champions includes a series of local competitions that lead to an international battle. There are multiple categories of style—such as twerking in heels—and they are judged by twerking teachers. This is done because the average viewer may not understand what constitutes an impressive move—the same reason that sports like rhythmic gymnastics at the Olympics require qualified judges.

Mahavuthivanij argued that the International Twerk Champions is too irregular, has limited prize pools, and small viewership. His goal is to propel TFH to a level the sport has yet to see by hosting regular events.



Still, what the International Twerk Champions has over TFH is proper judges—Mahavuthivanij hopes to iron that out over time with expert commentary. That should help with “educating people” on what to look for, he said, which could lend the competition additional depth and help avoid it being simply a content based on looks or popularity.

“Once people start to understand what they should be looking for, then we can start to evolve it to that next level of objectivity versus strictly subjectivity,” Mahavuthivanij added.

Exotic dancers face immense stigmatization in society, the CEO noted, and he hopes that TFH can expand beyond twerking into other niches after this first tournament. He explained that many dancers have their bank accounts closed down, an epidemic that has swept the sex work industry as well. For that reason, TFH is offering dancers the option to be paid in crypto.

“As I’ve been building this, if I’m honest, I have experienced a lot of that same stigma that they face every single day,” Mahavuthivanij told Decrypt. “This is something that’s been here forever, and will continue to be here. And I think it is about time that we provide legitimacy for it.”

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Dogecoin and BNB Rise as Bitcoin, Ethereum Hit Highest Prices This Month – Decrypt

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Dogecoin and BNB Rise as Bitcoin, Ethereum Hit Highest Prices This Month – Decrypt



In brief

Major altcoins like Dogecoin and Solana surged on Friday, with BNB hitting a new all-time high price.
Their gains came off the back of Bitcoin and Ethereum price jumps, with both at their highest points this month.
Investors are feeling good about the Fed cutting interest rates next week—which could benefit crypto markets.

Crypto markets jumped Friday afternoon New York time, with BNB hitting a new all-time high and other major altcoins posting sizable gains as Bitcoin and Ethereum reached their highest respective marks so far in September.

BNB—the sixth-biggest digital coin by market cap—touched a new high above $926, where it currently sits, CoinGecko data shows. It’s up 3% over the last day.

BNB, an asset launched by Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, has jumped by nearly 9% over a seven-day period. It’s up 70% over the last year and has repeatedly set all-time highs in 2025, as BNB only breached the $800 mark for the first time this year.

Elsewhere, Dogecoin has soared and was recently trading for over $0.27 after a more than 8% jump on the day. DOGE has jumped by 25% over the last week, despite missing out on some of the major gains seen by Bitcoin and Ethereum in recent months.

The original meme coin is currently the biggest winner over the past day despite the first DOGE ETF to launch in the U.S., Rex-Osprey’s Doge ETF, being halted for trading until next week.

Its rise comes as other alts have boomed in price. Solana, the fifth-largest coin, hit its highest price since January on Friday afternoon New York time. It was recently priced at $240 after having jumped by 6% in the last day.



Altcoin markets surged off of Bitcoin and Ethereum gains. The two biggest cryptocurrencies were recently trading for $116,331 and $4,675, respectively, as U.S. investors pile into ETFs giving exposure to the coins. 

Bitcoin on Friday hit its highest price in a month following a stellar week for spot ETFs. The American funds have seen positive inflows all week ahead of Friday, while Ethereum ETFs have seen positive flows the last three days. Ethereum also hit its highest mark so far in September on Friday.

Investor interest in digital assets climbed after data this week showed inflation in the U.S. had cooled, increasing the chances that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, experts told Decrypt. Bitcoin and other digital assets have generally done well in a low interest rate environment.

Meanwhile, digital assets exchange Gemini started trading on the Nasdaq at an approximately $4.4 billion valuation on Friday. It’s the latest crypto company to go public this year after roaring debuts on stock exchanges by stablecoin giant Circle, crypto exchange Bullish, and brokerage platform eToro.

Gemini’s stock opened at $37.01 per share, a 32% increase compared to its upped IPO price of $28. GEMI finished the trading day at a price of $32 per share.

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Public Keys: Crypto IPOs Sizzle, Missing Gensler Texts Grizzle – Decrypt

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Public Keys: Crypto IPOs Sizzle, Missing Gensler Texts Grizzle – Decrypt



In brief

Gemini debuts on Nasdaq with $4.4B valuation, shares up 22.6% amid regulatory drama with CFTC nominee.
Figure launches public trading at $5.3B valuation as crypto lending meets capital markets.
Tokenization gains momentum with BlackRock eyeing ETF tokenization and Nasdaq proposing tokenized stock trading.

Public Keys is a weekly roundup from Decrypt that tracks the key publicly traded crypto companies.

Gemini’s IPO Pop

Crypto exchange Gemini hit a $4.4 billion valuation on its Nasdaq debut Friday. At the time of writing, the company’s shares—which trade under the GEMI ticker symbol—are hovering around $34. That’s a 22.6% gain from when the stock began trading.

Gemini was founded in 2014 and granted a BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Services the following year. The company raised $425 million through its IPO, according to Decrypt calculations based on regulatory filings. Reuters was first to report yesterday that the firm’s IPO was significantly oversubscribed.

But there’s been drama brewing between the company’s founders, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Chair nominee Brian Quintenz.

The CFTC nominee shared screenshots of a July text thread with Tyler on X. The messages show that Quintenz was contacted about a complaint Gemini filed regarding alleged misconduct at the regulator.

Gemini paid $5 million to settle its CFTC lawsuit in January, just a few weeks before the trial was set to begin. But in June, the company’s lawyers filed a complaint alleging the CFTC was wrong to have gone after the exchange in the first place.



“I believe these texts make it clear what they were after from me, and what I refused to promise,” he wrote. “It’s my understanding that after this exchange they contacted the President and asked that my confirmation be paused for reasons other than what is reflected in these texts.”

There were a few people in the thread calling foul on his timing, especially given that his current firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has a large stake in Gemini’s direct competitor, Coinbase.

An Attractive Figure

Gemini is the most recent, but not the only crypto company to make its big public debut this week.

Crypto lender Figure began trading on the Nasdaq under the FIGR ticker Thursday, seeing shares jump 24%. The firm stepped into public trading with an even bigger, $5.3 billion valuation.

Its share price ahead of the closing bell on Friday sits around $33.46, about 33% above its $25 IPO price.

“Our IPO showed what’s possible when blockchain meets capital markets: speed, transparency, efficiency,” the company said Friday on X. “IPO day was a celebration of our people, partners, and the vision driving us forward, and we’re even more excited for what’s next.”

Figure CEO Michael Tannenbaum told Decrypt that the company is showing Wall Street how blockchains can be used to create more efficient markets for real-world assets, while also helping investors better grasp concepts like tokenization.

Tokenization—that is, taking real-world assets such as stocks and creating blockchain-based equivalents—has been getting a lot of buzz lately. According to a recent report in Bloomberg, Blackrock is considering tokenizing its ETFs. No, not just BUIDL, its flagship tokenized fund launched with Securitize in 2024. The scope for this move would be much broader—and bring trillions worth of dollars with it.

Even Nasdaq has expressed interest to the SEC in allowing tokenized stocks to trade on its exchanges. The company proposed that issuers would get to opt in to having tokenized versions of their securities trade.

What Gensler Texts?

Crypto exchange Coinbase has claimed that the SEC has done “irreparable harm” by destroying documents from its Gary Gensler era.

“The Gensler SEC destroyed documents they were required to preserve and produce,” Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote on X Thursday, alongside a link to the court filing. “We now have proof from the SEC’s own Inspector General.”

A report last week by the SEC’s Office of the Inspector General found that nearly a year of then-Chairman Gary Gensler’s text messages were permanently deleted between October 2022 and September 2023.

Coinbase has been pursuing internal SEC documents for a long time through the Freedom of Information Act and sued when the regulator denied its requests.

Other Keys

DAT worked: Newly minted digital asset treasury GameStop notched a Q2 loss in its earnings report—but not as bad as it might have been. The company noted its $500 million worth of Bitcoin increased in value to $528 million by the end of the quarter.

Land of the rising BTC: Japanese Bitcoin treasury Metaplanet wants to raise $1.45 billion to buy more BTC. In the announcement, the company reiterated its laser-eyed thesis by pointing to “elevated levels of national debt, prolonged real negative interest rates, and an ongoing depreciation of the yen.”

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Streamer Gets Slapped by Gym Influencer Bradley Martyn, Pumping Solana Token – Decrypt

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Streamer Gets Slapped by Gym Influencer Bradley Martyn, Pumping Solana Token – Decrypt



In brief

A livestreaming duo made $49,000 on Thursday after gym influencer Bradley Martyn slapped one of the creators for attempting to steal his hat.
It was being livestreamed on Pump.fun under the pair’s token, which pumped in price by more than 2,000% in response.
The Solana meme coin project is led by two unnamed men who say they’ll be attempting to perform viral stunts every day for the next two weeks.

A Pump.fun livestreaming duo made $49,000 in crypto token creator fees while one member got slapped by fitness influencer Bradley Martyn after attempting to steal his hat—something he notoriously hates.

The pair’s Solana token pumped over 2,000%, and they later thanked the gym bro for slapping them.

Bagwork is a Pump.fun meme coin launched by a pair of unnamed youngsters, who livestream goofy stunts to try and pump the price. On Wednesday, one of the devs ran onto the field during a Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game, and hours after the Martyn incident, the other dev shaved their head on-stream. They say they’ll be streaming every day for the next two weeks, attempting to create viral moments every day.

On Thursday, the duo headed over to Martyn’s ZOO Culture gym, where they could see he was livestreaming from—they even interacted with Martyn before the altercation, pitching their meme coin to him.

One of the meme coin devs asked the gym influencer for a picture, but when he attempted to nab Martyn’s hat, he was slapped across the face as the fitness creator exclaimed, “You think that shit’s funny? Get the fuck out of here.” 

Meme coin degens clearly thought it was funny, as the Bagwork token pumped 2,026% from a $131,150 market cap to $2.78 million in just seven hours. It has since dropped to about $2.4 million, according to DEX Screener.

Livestreamers on Pump.fun are paid a percentage of every trade placed on their token, via what the platform calls creator rewards. On Thursday, the day of the viral clip, Bagwork generated $49,330 in creator rewards, according to Pump.fun. All told, they’ve made over $78,000 in fees.



As “creator capital markets” advocates hailed the stunt as a raging success, others pushed back. One X commenter said, “This could easily be a bad thing. We don’t need more harassment, we need more quality content.”

Martyn has a history of people stealing his hat. Last year, Twitch streamer StableRonaldo stole the gym bro’s hat and received a similar treatment—a swift slap to the face.

“That’s what happens, fucker,” Martyn said, as the streamer held his face.

Hours after getting slapped, the Pump.fun streamers recorded an apology video… while thanking Martyn for pumping their bags.

“Thank you so much for slapping me, bro. You made a lot of our guys money, bro,” the slapped creator said, now with a buzzcut.

“No bad blood, bro. We just had to do it, bro. It was part of the narrative. We had to do it,” added the other dev, who was holding the phone during the incident.

Later, one of the devs was stopped by local cops from jumping into the water off what appears to be the Santa Monica Pier. Several people have died from jumping off the Los Angeles pier.

Pump.fun’s history of livestreamed stunts

Pump.fun’s livestreaming culture is no stranger to dangerous stunts

Before livestreaming was a native feature on the platform, a Miami dev called Mikol doused himself in isopropyl alcohol and had fireworks shot at him. He instantly went up in flames, dropping to the floor as his friends struggled to put the fire out. Mikol was then rushed to the hospital with third-degree burns across a large portion of his body

Mikol’s token DARE pumped over 4,000% from a $43,000 market cap to $1.91 million, according to DEX Screener, but he was receiving treatment in the hospital and was unable to sell his stash. This stunt also took place before creator fees were added to the platform. The dev claims to have made no money from the token, aside from the $3,000 donated to him to help pay for hospital bills. 

He later quit the project and has since relaunched a new streamer coin—albeit without the crazy stunts.

That same month, Pump.fun added livestreaming as a native feature. For a while, the feature was extremely buggy, which stunted the streamer community. But by the end of 2024, Pump.fun saw a spike in controversial livestreams.

Animal cruelty, self-harm, drug binges, senseless firing of guns, and a faked suicide took over the platform in November, which resulted in Pump.fun cutting the feature. It gradually reintroduced the functionality at the start of 2025, as the platform updated its terms of use and strengthened its moderation team.

Fortunately, since then, Pump.fun livestreaming has gone largely without controversy. The scene has been professionalized, with the meme coin launchpad funding the frat-bro content collective Basedd House—which is acting as the gold standard for the platform.

Gone are the days of self-immolation; now, creators are attempting to set world records, getting married, and—well, one guy did stream his child’s birth.

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Solana Surges Again as Galaxy Digital Buys Over $700 Million in SOL – Decrypt

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Solana Surges Again as Galaxy Digital Buys Over 0 Million in SOL – Decrypt



In brief

Galaxy Digital has purchased more than $700 million worth of Solana since Wednesday, on-chain data shows.
The buys are likely tied to Galaxy’s backing of Forward Industries, poised to be the largest Solana treasury firm.
Solana hit its highest price since January on Friday, topping $241 and rising 19% in the last week.

Investment firm Galaxy Digital has purchased over $700 million in Solana within the past two days, as part of its investment in SOL treasury firm Forward Industries. And the price of Solana has continued to rise, all the while.

Galaxy has been transferring SOL mostly from Binance—and also from Coinbase—across multiple transactions, with data from Arkham Intelligence indicating that it has bought just over 3 million SOL since Wednesday.

The asset manager may be making these purchases on behalf of Forward Industries, in which it has led a $1.65 billion investment, with participation from Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital.

Incorporated in 1961, Forward is a Nasdaq-listed product design company that’s using the proceeds of this week’s raise to build what will be the world’s largest publicly traded Solana treasury, with Galaxy responsible for acquiring and transferring the bulk of the SOL.



Galaxy’s collaboration with the firm comes as it takes a keener interest in Solana, which it described as “uniquely positioned to power the next generation of capital markets” in a tweet announcing its investment.

Galaxy founder and CEO Mike Novogratz also discussed the merits of Solana in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday, declaring that Solana’s blockchain can process “14 billion transactions” per day.

Summarizing why Galaxy is excited about Solana, he said, “You’ve got a blockchain that’s now fast enough, tailor-made to be the blockchain for financial markets.”

He then referred to remarks made by SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who on Wednesday gave a keynote speech in which he discussed the agency’s Project Crypto push—its “sweeping initiative” to encourage “our markets to move on-chain.”

And because of the alignment of these two factors, Novogratz affirmed that he’s calling the current period “the season of SOL.”

This belief in Solana is reflected in the sheer size of Forward Industries’ $1.65 billion raise, in which Galaxy has taken a leading role. And such belief may ultimately have a snowball effect, with Solflare co-CEO and co-founder Vidor Gencel telling Decrypt that it’s a “clear signal” of institutional conviction in Solana.

“Nearly triple the size of the largest existing Solana treasury, this move marks one of the largest institutional bets on Solana to date, underscoring growing confidence among traditional companies in SOL’s long-term value—and we are already seeing the market position ahead of potential inflows,” he said.

Solana is currently up by 6% in the past 24 hours, rising above $241 for the first time since January on the back of Forward’s announcement of its completed $1.65 billion raise. SOL has risen by nearly 19% over the last week, making it the second-biggest gainer among the top 10 assets by market cap, behind Dogecoin.

According to Gencel, Galaxy’s focus on Solana is a sign that SOL is now being “seriously considered” as a treasury asset for institutions, whereas only Bitcoin and Ethereum had been major contenders.

Other industry figures agree that Galaxy’s new interest in the altcoin is a strong signal to other institutions that Solana is investable at scale.

“The network is seeing record activity, DeFi TVL growth, and major ecosystem traction,” said Satraj Bambra, co-founder and CEO ​​of trading platform Rails. “This isn’t just a trade—it’s a vote of confidence that Solana will be a core layer of the crypto economy going forward.”

This could have a big impact on SOL’s price going forward, with Bambra suggesting that Galaxy’s purchase “kicks off a flywheel.” He added that potential Solana ETFs, which are awaiting SEC approval, “could open the floodgates for new demand.”

When combined with approaching upgrades such as Firedancer—a new validator client that will boost Solana’s throughput and improve network stability—the approval of SOL ETFs could be a major catalyst.

“Near-term, I see SOL tracking flows and ETF headlines; long-term, it’s about usage growth and cementing itself as a top-3 asset,” Bambra concluded.

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Winklevoss Twins Call for $1 Million Bitcoin Price as Gemini Goes Public – Decrypt

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Winklevoss Twins Call for  Million Bitcoin Price as Gemini Goes Public – Decrypt



In brief

Crypto entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss think Bitcoin is still in its early stages.
Tyler Winklevoss said during a CNBC interview that in 10 years, the leading cryptocurrency will be priced at $1 million per coin.
Gemini, the brothers’ crypto exchange, went public on the Nasdaq on Friday.

Crypto entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss—the founders of the newly public crypto exchange, Gemini—have predicted that Bitcoin will hit a price of $1 million per coin as it “disrupts gold.”

Speaking on CNBC on Friday, Tyler Winklevoss said that the price of the leading cryptocurrency had come a long way since they debuted their crypto exchange more than a decade ago.

He noted that the two spoke on CNBC back in 2015, when the digital coin was trading for $350 per coin. Now it’s trading above $116,000.

“We think there’s easily a 10x from here,” he said. “It’s still really early, and I think we’ll be sitting here 10 years from now looking back and saying, ‘Wow, today was really early.'” 

“It’s still very much the bottom of the first inning, because we see Bitcoin trading at $1 million dollars a Bitcoin, if it disrupts gold,” he added. “And we think Bitcoin is gold 2.0.”

Camron and Tyler Winklevoss—arguably best known for their role in the creation of Facebook—founded crypto exchange Gemini in 2014 after being early Bitcoin backers.



Gemini launched its IPO on Friday, pricing the offering at $28 per share. Shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker GEMI on Friday afternoon, with shares trading at $37.01 upon opening, giving the firm a roughly $4.4 billion valuation. As of this writing, the price has dipped to about $34.

New York-based Gemini allows users to buy, sell, and bet on the future price of digital coins and tokens. It also custodies crypto. 

Cameron Winklevoss added in Friday’s interview that he believes Bitcoin will serve more as a store-of-value than a payments system. Other prominent backers like Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Block and Twitter, disagree on that front.

“We don’t think it actually has to be a transactional currency—just like you’re not trying to buy a cup of coffee with gold,” he said. 

The Winklevoss Twins aren’t the only crypto heavyweights to have made big predictions for the future price of Bitcoin as of late. Fundstrat Global Advisors Managing Partner Tom Lee also this week said that Bitcoin can hit $200,000 by the end of this year. 

While BitMex co-founder and billionaire Arthur Hayes has claimed $250,000 for the biggest cryptocurrency is a realistic target in 2025.

Bitcoin was recently trading for $116,507 per coin, according to CoinGecko, up 2% over a 24-hour period. Over the past seven days, the flagship cryptocurrency has risen by more than 5%. Bitcoin sits about 6% below its August all-time high mark of $124,128.

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IMF Insists El Salvador Isn’t Buying Any More Bitcoin—So What’s Going On? – Decrypt

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IMF Insists El Salvador Isn’t Buying Any More Bitcoin—So What’s Going On? – Decrypt



In brief

Four years ago, El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in the country.
The country has been in the spotlight since then as its Bitcoin-loving president becomes a larger player on the world stage.
President Bukele claims he still buys Bitcoin for the country—but the IMF says otherwise.

Bitcoin advocates around the world are enamored with the economic policies of El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, and his embrace of the digital asset. But when looking at his government’s crypto buys, something doesn’t quite add up. 

Back in 2022, the millennial leader said he’d buy one Bitcoin per day. At today’s prices, that’s over $114,000 in so-called digital gold every 24 hours. 

Sometimes, Bukele says he buys even more: The leader over the weekend announced he’d bought 21 BTC to celebrate the fourth anniversary of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law. That’s another $2.3 million worth of Bitcoin he said he put in the government’s new, transparent blockchain coffers, which now hold over $700 million in BTC.



But the IMF says otherwise. Under a deal to get a development grant with the International Monetary Fund, the country was forced to scale back its Bitcoin experiment in December 2024. The IMF now says the Bitcoin buy announcements are all bunk.

“We can confirm that the total amount of government-owned Bitcoin has not increased and that the increase in the Bitcoin Reserve Fund corresponds to movements across government wallets,” IMF Communications Officer Meera Louis told Decrypt in an email. 

The institution wouldn’t answer further questions. 

So, if the IMF says President Bukele isn’t buying more Bitcoin, why is he regularly announcing new buys? And how is El Salvador continuing to add to its Bitcoin Reserve at a rate of 1 BTC per day, as blockchain data shows?

The Salvadoran government’s communications department told Decrypt that the president is, indeed, still buying Bitcoin, but wouldn’t reply to additional questions.

Blockchain data shows El Salvador’s Bitcoin wallets, grouped together and tracked by analytics firm Arkham, are growing by 1 Bitcoin per day, with deposits from cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Bitfinex—and a few other random addresses in the mix. 

The buys are new then? Maybe—but maybe not. 

Before the Bukele Administration announced government wallets for everyone to see, there was little transparency in regard to the buys. The purchases were only traceable via Bukele’s tweets and even then, he would irreverently boast about his buys—even saying he’d bought BTC on his phone “while in the toilet.” 

It’s possible the Salvadoran president’s previous buys, or other procurement of Bitcoin through taxes or payments made to state-run entities prior to the recent agreement with the IMF, are currently funding transfers to the Bitcoin Reserve.

Crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps told Decrypt there’s no way to know for certain based on public blockchain data when the Bitcoin being transferred today was actually purchased. It’s possible the Bitcoin was gained some time ago, before the agreement with the IMF in late 2024, and the BTC sat dormant in a crypto exchange account before arriving to publicly disclosed wallets.

Bubblemaps also said the recent government transactions could have been routed through exchanges, making it look like they were indeed fresh purchases. An analyst for the firm said it’s impossible to know for sure since third parties cannot access an exchange’s ledger of transactions without the exchange releasing the data themselves.

James Bosworth, founder and CEO of Washington D.C.-based risk analysis consultancy Hxagon, told Decrypt that whether or not the Bitcoin buys are new, there should have been more transparency with the buys from the outset. 

“There are good reasons to believe that he is not purchasing all of it on the open market, instead moving funds and coins around as a type of government-backed wash trade,” he said. 

He added: “Bukele’s unprofessional management of cryptocurrency continues to obscure the budget situation. This should be the Salvadoran government’s and people’s resources, not the president’s personal wallets that he can play trading games with.”

The crypto exchanges El Salvador has used—Binance, Bitfinex, and Coinbase—declined to answer Decrypt‘s questions. 

Loved by libertarians for being an anti-establishment maverick who’d insult institutions on social media, Bukele had to scrap some of his beloved Bitcoin experiment to get a $1.4 billion extended fund facility from the IMF. 

Still, he claims he’s doing what he wants, and in defiance of the IMF. “No, it’s not stopping,” Bukele said on X in March, regarding the government’s Bitcoin buys.

“If it didn’t stop when the world ostracized us and most ‘Bitcoiners’ abandoned us, it won’t stop now, and it won’t stop in the future.”

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DeFi Protocol Ondo Finance’s Token Soars Amid Tokenization Hype – Decrypt

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DeFi Protocol Ondo Finance’s Token Soars Amid Tokenization Hype – Decrypt



In brief

Ondo rose nearly 10% Thursday to $1.10, bringing weekly gains to more than 21%, CoinGecko data shows.
Total value locked for Ondo Finance has tripled this year to $1.57 billion.
BlackRock’s move to put ETFs on blockchains is adding credibility to Ondo’s push into tokenized stocks and real-world assets, Decrypt was told.

The token belonging to decentralized finance-focused asset manager and tech firm Ondo Finance is extending gains this week alongside a rising crypto market and fresh headlines related to the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock.

While the crypto market’s broader bullish sentiment is being driven by the strong possibility of a Federal Reserve rate cut decision, the tokens’ rise coincides with BlackRock’s plans to introduce exchange-traded funds onto public blockchains, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

Ondo is up nearly 10% on the day to $1.10 after clocking more than 21% gains this week, CoinGecko data shows.

Thursday’s gains follow last week’s launch of tokenized versions of more than 100 U.S.-listed stocks, ETFs, and other equities on Ethereum via the DeFi protocol’s Global Markets platform.

Lai Yuen, investment analyst at Fischer8 Capital, told Decrypt Ondo’s price rise is likely driven by “excitement around tokenized stocks.” 

Onboarded partners and advisors for Ondo’s Global Markets, which includes the likes of WisdomTree, have helped grow the platform by $160 million in TVL over nine days.

That all but “underscores the project’s strong early traction,” Yuen said.

Ondo Finance’s total value locked, meanwhile, has nearly tripled since the start of 2025, growing from $611 million to $1.57 billion, DefiLlama data shows.

The long-term outlook remains bullish, according to Yuen, who posits that even if the project captures 10% of the stock market, it would translate to “substantial fee generation for Ondo token holders.”

“The project’s regulatory moat, bolstered by its advisory board, provides a durable long-term advantage that will be difficult for competitors to replicate,” he said.

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Bitcoin Briefly Swells to $116K as Macro Tailwinds Lift Trader Sentiment – Decrypt

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Bitcoin Briefly Swells to 6K as Macro Tailwinds Lift Trader Sentiment – Decrypt



In brief

Bitcoin briefly swelled to a 19-day high, driven by cooler U.S. inflation data that has increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut.
The crypto market’s bullish sentiment is also fueled by significant ETF inflows and a decline in selling pressure.
Experts are optimistic about Bitcoin’s future, with expectations of a “big surge” and new highs by the end of the year.

Bitcoin’s bullish start to the week extended on Thursday, hitting a 19-day high, with experts citing slightly cooler inflation data as a tailwind ahead of the Federal Reserve’s September 17 rate cut decision.

The top crypto is up 1.5% in the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data, extending Wednesday’s push that ended a two-week consolidation. Bitcoin is currently trading at $115,680 after climbing to just above $116,300 earlier in the trading session.

“I think this week’s price action has been driven by growing expectations that the U.S. Fed will cut interest rates in their next meeting after producer inflation data was lower than expected,” Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, told Decrypt



The August 2025 U.S. Producer Price Index unexpectedly fell by 0.1%, compared to July’s massive spike that kicked off a market selling spree. 

It marked the first decline for the PPI since April, with the data showing that it was driven by lower prices for unprocessed goods, such as crude petroleum, and easing service costs.

“Markets are up as the odds of a rate cut next week now seem all but certain,” Sean Dawson, head of research at on-chain options platform Derive, told Decrypt. “The Fed is set to turn the money printer on, especially in light of weak jobs growth across the U.S.”

CME’s FedWatch tool shows a 92.7% odds of a 25 basis point rate cut, while a half-point rate cut hovers around 7.3%. 

“We’re probably going to have another big surge up toward the end of the year as the Fed begins its cutting cycle,” Michael Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital, said in a CNBC interview on Thursday. 

Looking to the future, Moreno is bullish, as the downward pressure on prices declines. On-chain data shows that selling pressure from profit-taking has been exhausted.

Dawson is also optimistic and expects Bitcoin to hit new highs in the coming weeks, driven by a surge in ETF inflows.

Although Bitcoin pushed to a 19-day high, key altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana hover around single-digit gains. Dogecoin and Hyperliquid, however, are up 25% and 23%, respectively, in the past 24 hours.

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How to Use Google’s Nano Banana AI to Transform Your Selfies Into Digital Figurines – Decrypt

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How to Use Google’s Nano Banana AI to Transform Your Selfies Into Digital Figurines – Decrypt



In brief

The free Gemini 2.5 Flash Image tool turns selfies into hyperrealistic 1/7-scale figurines, sparking explosive demand.
Users simply upload a full-body photo, paste a detailed prompt, and receive toy-store-ready results in seconds.
Politicians and influencers are adopting the trend, while advanced users tweak materials, poses, and props for personalized dolls.

Google’s latest AI model has sparked another viral transformation trend, with millions of users turning themselves into miniature Bandai-style figurines that look pulled from a Tokyo toy store shelf.

The tool, nicknamed Nano Banana after its internal codename at Google DeepMind, officially launched as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image in late August. Within two weeks, users generated over 200 million images. The Philippines alone accounts for 25.5 million image creations just days after its launch, making it the top region globally for use.

“From photo to figurine style in just one prompt,” Google’s Gemini team posted on X September 1, kicking off tutorials that spread the trend further. Josh Woodward, Google’s VP, reported 10 million new Gemini users joined specifically for the feature.

The digital figurines appear as 1/7 scale collectibles on clear acrylic bases, often displayed next to packaging boxes and computer screens showing 3D modeling software. The AI captures facial features, clothing details, and poses with enough accuracy that results frequently fool viewers into thinking they’re real product photos.

This marks the third major AI portrait trend of 2025. ChatGPT’s GPT-4o sparked the Studio Ghibli wave in March, with users transforming photos into soft, anime-style portraits reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. Sam Altman changed his X profile picture to a “Ghiblified” version of himself as servers struggled under “biblical demand.”

April brought the Barbie Box Challenge through ChatGPT, where people became plastic dolls in blister packaging, complete with accessories like tiny laptops and coffee mugs. LinkedIn professionals embraced it for personal branding, turning themselves into “executive action figures.”

Nano Banana isn’t the only player in this space. Alibaba’s Seedream4, released just a few days after Google’s model, produces outputs with comparable quality and sometimes better consistency in complex poses. For those preferring open-source alternatives, Flux Kontext offers the most powerful option for local deployment. It integrates into complex workflows and remains the only model without content restrictions, though that flexibility comes with the usual responsibilities of self-hosted AI.

How to turn yourself into a figurine, for free

Creating your own Nano Banana figurine takes under a minute. Visit gemini.google.com or open the Gemini app—the basic version is completely free, though your daily generations are limited. 

Click on the option to try Nano Banana, which you can find it in the banner on top. It is also under “tools” as “Create Images.” (Google is showing banana emojis everywhere, so you won’t have any trouble finding it.)



Next, upload your photo or the photo of the person you want to turn into a doll, preferably a full-body photo with good lighting. You can do that by clicking on the “Plus” button next to “tools.” We trust you will be responsible, ok?

Once the image has been uploaded, paste in this prompt:

“Create a 1/7 scale commercialized figurine of the character in the picture, in a realistic style, in a real environment. The figurine is placed on a computer desk. The figurine has a round transparent acrylic base, with no text on the base. The content on the computer screen is a 3D modeling process of this figurine. Next to the computer screen is a toy packaging box, designed in a style reminiscent of high-quality collectible figures, printed with original artwork.”

There are some tweaks you can make to customize your doll.  Specifying materials like “PVC figure” or “polished resin” increases realism. Dynamic poses work better than static standing positions—arms outstretched or mid-action yield more convincing figures.

If you don’t think the model is realistic enough, adding something like “The face is exactly the same” or “the face remains unaltered,” does the trick. But beware, you may end up with something too realistic and not really doll-like.

Don’t go too crazy, though. The free tier offers limited daily edits, while the pro version removes restrictions. Some platforms, like Freepik, give users unlimited iterations (and unlimited Wan 2.2 videos too) with the tradeoff of a small degradation in quality after a very generous threshold is met.

Advanced users chain multiple prompts for complex scenes. After generating the base figurine, you can improve your doll with further iterations—asking it, for example, to change the clothes, add props, alter the pose, etc. Nano Banana’s outstanding character reference makes it a very powerful tool that won’t degrade your face too much after many iterations. This is something that previous models used to struggle with.

The figurine aesthetic has proven particularly sticky on social media. Politicians in India and the Philippines posted their miniature versions, while TikTokers use the hashtag #NanoBanana to share increasingly elaborate scenes with multiple figures and custom dioramas.

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