The Defiant
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DeFi and decentralized finance news and analysis
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News•Feb 27, 2026
Crypto Worth $580 Million Seized From Chinese Transnational Criminal Networks
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the seizure of more than $580 million in cryptocurrency tied to Chinese transnational criminal groups. The operation was driven by the DC Scam Center and the Strike Force, a joint law‑enforcement initiative targeting cross‑border crypto fraud. In a three‑month window, authorities froze, seized, and forfeited the digital assets, marking one of the largest crypto takedowns to date. The announcement highlights the DOJ’s aggressive stance against illicit finance that exploits American victims.
By The Defiant
News•Feb 27, 2026
Barclays Evaluates Blockchain-Based Settlement
Barclays is assessing blockchain‑based settlement platforms to integrate stablecoins and tokenized deposits, with a vendor expected to be chosen by April 2026. The move marks a reversal from its earlier cautious stance on crypto toward active blockchain investment. Barclays also...
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News•Feb 27, 2026
MoonPay and M0 Launch PYUSDx Stablecoin Development Framework
MoonPay and M0 have introduced PYUSDx, a development framework that lets developers launch application‑specific stablecoins backed by PayPal’s PYUSD. The platform combines M0’s universal stablecoin engine with MoonPay’s distribution network, offering branded tokens, cross‑chain support, rapid time‑to‑market and transparent reserve...
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News•Feb 26, 2026
Decibel Perpetuals Exchange Launches on Aptos
Decibel, an Aptos‑incubated perpetual derivatives DEX, went live on the Aptos mainnet alongside its Amps points incentive program. The platform debuted with a central limit order book model, on‑chain risk engine, and cross‑chain support for Ethereum and Solana deposits. Testnet...
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News•Feb 26, 2026
Korean CEX Listings Continue to Boost Altcoins
South Korean centralized exchanges Bithumb and UpBit have again demonstrated their power to move altcoin prices, with recent listings of Centrifuge’s CFG and Espresso’s ESP driving 177% and 103% gains respectively. The spikes, however, are typically short‑lived as trading volumes...
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News•Feb 26, 2026
PIPPIN Jumps 23% as AI and Meme Tokens Gain Momentum
PIPPIN, an AI‑driven memecoin on Solana, surged 23% in the last 24 hours, outpacing major cryptocurrencies. The token now trades around $0.87, marking a 70% weekly gain and a 169% rise over the past month. Its market cap sits near...
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News•Feb 26, 2026
Circle Reveals Plans for Native Arc Token
Circle’s chief executive Jeremy Allaire announced on the Q4 2025 earnings call that the firm is actively exploring a native token for its Arc blockchain. The Arc network, launched on a public testnet in October 2025, is tailored for stablecoin issuance with...
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News•Feb 26, 2026
Resolv and Centrifuge Launch $100 Million Tokenized Credit Strategy on Aave
Centrifuge and Resolv are deploying up to $100 million of JAAA, a tokenized AAA‑rated credit fund, as leveraged collateral on Aave Horizon, creating the largest real‑world asset loop in DeFi to date. Resolv will lock JAAA to generate yield for its...
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News•Feb 25, 2026
ETH Slides 35% in a Month as ETF Flows Turn Negative
Ethereum’s spot ETFs saw a sharp contraction, with holdings falling from over 6.1 million ETH in late January to about 5.8 million ETH by Feb. 23, trimming total assets from $18.6 billion to roughly $11.9 billion. The price of ETH dropped about 35% over the...
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News•Feb 24, 2026
Fluid Proposes Establishing a Foundation Funded by $3M Annual Grant From DAO
Fluid DAO’s governance has put forward a proposal to create a Cayman‑registered non‑profit foundation that would own the protocol’s smart‑contract code, front‑end, domains and trademarks. The foundation would be funded by a $250,000 monthly grant—about $3 million a year—drawn from the...
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News•Feb 24, 2026
21Shares Launches TSUI ETF on Nasdaq
21Shares has launched the TSUI exchange‑traded fund on Nasdaq, giving U.S. investors a regulated, spot‑based way to own the Sui (SUI) token. The ETF trades alongside traditional equities, allowing brokerage accounts to access crypto without custodial hurdles. At launch, SUI...
By The Defiant
News•Feb 24, 2026
Crypto Markets Struggle as BTC Slips Below $64K
Bitcoin slipped below $64,000 on Feb. 24, pulling the total crypto market down 2.5% to roughly $2.27 trillion. The decline marked a 3% daily drop for BTC and a 6% weekly loss, with Ethereum and other top‑10 tokens also posting losses. Analysts...
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News•Feb 24, 2026
Meta Explores Stablecoin Revival, Eyes Partnership with Stripe
Meta has issued a request for proposals to launch a new stablecoin this year, signaling a revival of its earlier Libra/Diem ambitions. The company is reportedly exploring a partnership with payments leader Stripe to tap its infrastructure and expertise. This...
By The Defiant
News•Feb 23, 2026
Crypto Traders Attempt to Frontrun ZachXBT’s Upcoming Exposé
Crypto traders dumped high‑revenue altcoins MET, HYPE and PUMP after on‑chain analyst ZachXBT announced a forthcoming exposé on insider trading within a major DeFi business. MET fell 6.5%, HYPE 4.4% and PUMP 6.6% as investors rushed to exit. A Polymarket...
By The Defiant
News•Feb 23, 2026
Crypto.com Secures Conditional Approval for National Trust Bank Charter
Crypto.com has secured conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to charter Foris Dax National Trust Bank, operating as Crypto.com National Trust Bank. The bank will deliver custody, staking and trade‑settlement services under OCC supervision,...
By The Defiant
Deals•Feb 20, 2026
Kraken Acquires Magna for Early Token Support
U.S.-based exchange Kraken announced the acquisition of token‑management platform Magna, with the deal closing on Friday. Terms were undisclosed, but Kraken co‑CEO Arjun Sethi said the purchase will enable early support for token issuers as the exchange readies for a...
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Deals•Feb 18, 2026
Hyper Foundation Invests $1M HYPE in New DC DeFi Policy Center
Hyper Foundation announced a $1M HYPE grant to launch a new Washington, DC‑based policy center aimed at clarifying DeFi regulations. The Hyperliquid Policy Center will lobby policymakers to shape clearer rules for the decentralized finance ecosystem, underscoring the foundation’s commitment...
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Deals•Feb 16, 2026
Flying Tulip Announces Public Token Sale for Feb 16
DeFi protocol Flying Tulip, founded by Yearn Finance’s Andre Cronje, is set to launch its public token sale on Feb 16, with the token trading on Feb 23. The sale follows prior fundraising rounds that raised over $290 million, and prediction markets value...
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Deals•Feb 5, 2026
Tether Makes $100M Strategic Equity Investment in Anchorage Digital
Tether announced a $100 million strategic equity investment in Anchorage Digital on Feb 5, 2026, aiming to bolster secure, regulated crypto‑banking infrastructure. The deal underscores a partnership between the leading stablecoin issuer and the first federally chartered crypto bank in the U.S.
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Deals•Dec 10, 2025
ETHZilla Takes 15% Stake in Zippy for $21M to Tokenize Manufactured Home Loans
Nasdaq‑listed ETHZilla Corporation announced a $21 million investment to acquire a 15 % fully‑diluted stake in Zippy, a digital platform for manufactured‑home loans. The deal includes cash and ETHZilla stock, and gives ETHZilla a board seat as the companies partner to tokenize...
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Deals•Dec 4, 2025
Galaxy Acquires Alluvial Finance to Boost Institutional Staking Infrastructure
Galaxy announced the acquisition of Alluvial Finance, aiming to expand its institutional liquid‑staking infrastructure. The deal will keep Liquid Collective under the oversight of its non‑profit foundation, signaling a strategic move into the crypto staking market.
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Deals•Dec 3, 2025
Ostium Labs Secures $24M Series A Funding Led by Jump Crypto and General Catalyst
Ostium Labs, a decentralized tokenized RWA exchange, announced a new Series A round raising $24 million, including a $20 million lead from Jump Crypto and General Catalyst. The round also saw participation from Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Crucible Capital and early users,...
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Deals•Dec 2, 2025
Sonnet BioTherapeutics Merges with Rorschach LLC to Form First HYPE Treasury Company
Sonnet BioTherapeutics announced a merger with Rorschach LLC, creating the inaugural major HYPE treasury company. The deal, valued at approximately $888 million, was approved and is expected to boost HYPE’s market presence.
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Deals•Nov 26, 2025
SpaceComputer Secures $10M Seed Funding to Build Secure Blockchain Compute Satellites
SpaceComputer announced a $10 million seed round to develop an orbital network for secure blockchain computing. The round was co‑led by Maven11 and Lattice, with participation from Superscrypt, the Arbitrum Foundation, Nascent, Offchain Labs, Hashkey, Chorus One and several individual investors.
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Deals•Nov 18, 2025
0xbow Secures $3.5M Seed Funding to Expand Privacy Pools
DeFi privacy platform 0xbow announced a $3.5 million seed round to grow its Privacy Pools technology. The round was led by Starbloom Capital and included investors such as Coinbase Ventures, BOOST VC and Status Research & Development GmbH. Funds will be used...
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Deals•Nov 10, 2025
Monad Announces $187 Million Public Token Sale on Coinbase Platform
Monad, a Layer‑1 blockchain, unveiled its tokenomics and announced a public sale of 7.5% of MON tokens on Coinbase’s new token‑sale platform, targeting a $187 million raise at a $2.5 billion valuation. The announcement sparked community backlash over allocation ratios but signals...
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Deals•Nov 7, 2025
Immunefi Announces $5M ICO on CoinList Ahead of 2026 Token Generation Event
Immunefi, the leading Web3 bug bounty firm, unveiled a public token sale on CoinList to raise $5 million, with the sale running Nov 12‑19. The offering will allocate 374 million IMU tokens at $0.01337 each, targeting a token generation event in February 2026. Proceeds...
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Deals•Oct 31, 2025
Securitize to Go Public via $1.25B SPAC Deal with Cantor Equity Partners II
Securitize announced it will become a publicly listed company through a business combination with SPAC Cantor Equity Partners II, valuing the combined entity at about $1.25 billion. The transaction is expected to list the new company on Nasdaq under the ticker...
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Deals•Oct 30, 2025
MegaETH ICO Set to Raise up to $50M as over $1B in Bids Compete for MEGA Tokens
MegaETH is closing its initial coin offering on 2025-10-30 with a $50 million cap, though more than $1 billion in commitments have been placed for MEGA token allocations. The sale is run via Sonar, allows token lockups for discounts, and...
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Deals•Oct 24, 2025
Ripple Completes $1.25B Acquisition of Hidden Road, Rebrands It as Ripple Prime
Ripple has completed its acquisition of global prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and rebranded the business as Ripple Prime. The deal expands Ripple into institutional prime brokerage and supports greater use of its stablecoin RLUSD and XRP in...
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Deals•Oct 24, 2025
Pumpfun Acquires Multichain Memecoin Trading Terminal Padre
Pumpfun has acquired Padre, a multichain memecoin trading terminal operating on Solana, Base, Ethereum, and BNB Smart Chain, expanding Pumpfun's memecoin trading stack and challenging trading bots. The deal was announced on 2025-10-24; no financial terms were disclosed.
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Deals•Oct 23, 2025
Aave Labs Acquires Stable Finance to Simplify Stablecoin Savings
Aave Labs has acquired San Francisco fintech startup Stable Finance, bringing founder Mario Baxter Cabrera and the full engineering team into Aave Labs to accelerate consumer-facing DeFi products and simplify stablecoin savings. The Stable app will be phased out as...
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Deals•Oct 23, 2025
Kalshi Raises $300M From Paradigm, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz
Kalshi raised $300 million from venture firms including Paradigm, Sequoia, and Andreessen Horowitz to support its crypto and on‑chain expansion. The funding backs Kalshi's push into on‑chain prediction markets and integrations such as its partnership with oracle RedStone.
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Deals•Oct 23, 2025
Hyperliquid Strategies Files S-1 to Raise up to $1B in Public Offering
Hyperliquid Strategies filed an S-1 prospectus on Oct 22, 2025 outlining plans to offer up to $1 billion in a public offering of 160 million shares to build a digital asset treasury. The filing signals the company's intent to go...
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Deals•Oct 22, 2025
Kinetiq Raised $1.75M From Hyperliquid‑ecosystem Investors
Kinetiq (the Kinetiq Foundation) raised $1.75 million from investors active within the Hyperliquid ecosystem, the Foundation revealed. The funding was disclosed alongside the launch of Kinetiq's KNTQ governance token and follows the protocol's rapid TVL growth since launching in July...
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Deals•Oct 22, 2025
DraftKings Acquires Railbird to Launch DraftKings Predictions
DraftKings announced the acquisition of Railbird as it prepares to launch a new prediction markets platform, DraftKings Predictions. Polymarket Clearing will serve as the designated clearinghouse for the product's backend infrastructure.
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Deals•Oct 21, 2025
Coinbase Acquires Echo for $375 Million to Expand On‑Chain Fundraising
Coinbase has acquired blockchain fundraising platform Echo in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $375 million. The acquisition will integrate Echo’s Sonar public token sale platform into Coinbase’s on‑chain capital formation tools and bring Echo co‑founder Jordan “Cobie” Fish to...
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Deals•Oct 20, 2025
Turtle Raises $5.5M to Expand Programmable DeFi Liquidity Infrastructure
On‑chain liquidity distribution protocol Turtle raised $5.5 million, bringing total funding to $11.7 million. The capital will fund engineering hires, product infrastructure, and cross‑chain integrations; investors include GSR, FalconX, Anchorage VC and founders from Polygon, 1inch and Gnosis.
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Deals•Oct 20, 2025
Greenlane Raises $110M Private Placement to Fund BERA DAT with Polychain Lead
Greenlane Holdings announced a $110 million private placement to fund its new BERA digital asset treasury (DAT), led by Polychain Capital and including institutional/crypto investors such as Blockchain.com, Kraken, North Rock Digital, CitizenX and dao5, supported by the Berachain Foundation....
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Deals•Oct 19, 2025
Kalshi Raises $300M in Growth-Stage Financing as Prediction Markets Go Mainstream
Kalshi secured $300 million in financing as it positions itself as a regulated, institutional prediction market; the raise accompanies broader investor interest in the space as incumbents and exchanges eye the market.
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Deals•Oct 17, 2025
Stripe-Backed Tempo Raises $500M Series A at $5B Valuation
Tempo, a payments-focused blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm, raised $500 million in a Series A round led by Thrive Capital and Greenoaks, valuing the company at $5 billion. Additional participants included Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, and SV Angel; Stripe and...
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Deals•Oct 16, 2025
Ventuals Raises $38M in HYPE Deposits Within 30 Minutes to Fund HIP-3 Markets
Ventuals launched a HYPE liquid staking vault to fund its HIP-3 permissionless derivatives market, collecting roughly $38 million (just over 1 million HYPE) within the first 30 minutes and reaching 1.29 million HYPE by time of reporting. The launch included...
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Deals•Oct 10, 2025
Umbra Completes Oversubscribed ICO, Caps Raise at $3M After $150M+ Commitments
Privacy protocol Umbra concluded its ICO on 2025-10-10, pricing UMBRA at $0.30 and capping the raise at $3 million (roughly $8.55M FDV) after more than $150M in commitments. The token launched on secondary markets trading ~5x ICO price; the sale...
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Deals•Oct 8, 2025
Plume to Acquire Dinero to Add Liquid Staking and Compliance Infrastructure
Plume announced plans to acquire Dinero to integrate liquid staking products and compliance infrastructure into Plume’s real-world asset blockchain. The acquisition aims to strengthen Plume’s DeFi capabilities and compliance features for tokenized assets.
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Deals•Oct 7, 2025
Intercontinental Exchange Invests $2 Billion in Polymarket
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) made a $2 billion investment in decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket, signaling major corporate backing for the sector. The investment was highlighted amid record trading volumes across prediction markets and increased mainstream partnerships.
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Deals•Oct 7, 2025
ICE Invests $2B in Polymarket to Expand Into Prediction Markets
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has invested $2 billion in Polymarket in a strategic corporate funding round, making ICE a global distributor of Polymarket data and supporting Polymarket's expansion into prediction markets. The partnership positions ICE to distribute Polymarket's data while providing...
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Deals•Oct 3, 2025
Orange Cap Games Acquires Moonbirds Ahead of BIRB Token Launch
Moonbirds, the NFT collection, was acquired by Orange Cap Games and is set to launch its BIRB token on Solana amid a surge in trading volume. The article notes the collection’s trading volume rose over 1,000% in 90 days and...
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Deals•Oct 2, 2025
Avalanche Treasury Co. To Merge with Mountain Lake Acquisition in $675M Deal
Avalanche Treasury Co. announced a planned $675 million merger with SPAC Mountain Lake Acquisition. The transaction includes $460 million in assets and a discounted purchase of AVAX tokens from the Avalanche Foundation, effectively bringing Avalanche Treasury public via the SPAC...
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Deals•Oct 1, 2025
IHC Backs ADI Chain to Launch Dirham-Backed Stablecoin
Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate IHC has backed ADI Chain, an L2 blockchain project building a dirham-backed stablecoin to onboard the region’s financial system onto blockchain. The backing is a corporate investment to support ADI Chain’s development and stablecoin launch; financial terms...
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