JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Stanford professor raises $15 million to launch a layer 2 protocol on Bitcoin BTC adoption is accelerating in 2026

South Korea Builds Legal Framework for Blockchain-Based Securities

Book Publishers Seek Entry Into Google AI Copyright Fight

Belarus authorizes ‘cryptobanks’ combining token operations with traditional banking

Crypto Crime Explodes in 2025 as Losses Top $4 Billion

Crypto whales are aggressively buying low-priced tokens across BSC and SOL

Key Takeaways: Crypto shows relative strength even as global tension rises. XMR drives privacy coin resurgence. Regulation shifts: South Korea opens up, Dubai tightens. Stablecoin rails keep scaling, Visa Direct plus BVNK is another big step. Data as of

DeFi Brief: Lighter announces LIT staking for Liquidity Pool deposits, 1 LIT unlocks 10 USDC of deposit capacity, takes effect in 2 weeks. World Liberty Financial launches World Liberty Markets on Dolomite, enabling supply and borrow across WLFI, ETH, cbBTC, USDC,

️ Major Project Updates: Kaito sunsets Yaps after X cuts API access to InfoFi platforms, pivots to Kaito Studio. Optimism proposes an OP buyback using 50% of incoming Superchain revenue on a monthly basis. Celestia introduces Fibre Blockspace, targeting 1Tb/s across

Narrative of the Week: Privacy Tokens Take Over Monero breaks its 5-year all-time high, clearing $700 for the first time. Ex-Zcash core dev team unveils cashZ, a new Zcash wallet, days after leaving ECC. Dubai allegedly bans privacy tokens and tightens stablecoin