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Ripple invests in Flutterwave, bringing RLUSD and XRP Ledger to payments in Africa

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Ripple invests in Flutterwave, bringing RLUSD and XRP Ledger to payments in Africa

Ripple, the blockchain firm closely associated with the XRP Ledger (XRP) network, invested in African payments company Flutterwave as part of its Series E funding round, a deal centered on expanding the use of stablecoins for cross-border payments.

Flutterwave said Tuesday that the funding round values the company at $3.2 billion. Financial terms of Ripple’s stake were not disclosed.

The deal will integrate Ripple’s U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, into Flutterwave’s payments infrastructure, allowing businesses to settle some international transactions using digital dollars rather than relying solely on traditional banking networks.

Flutterwave will also connect to Ripple Payments, Ripple’s global payments network, and use the XRP Ledger blockchain to process transactions.

The companies said the goal is to make it easier and cheaper for businesses across Africa to send and receive money internationally.

The deal points to the growing role of stablecoins in international payments, one of the digital asset industry’s fastest-growing use cases. While cryptocurrencies are often associated with trading, stablecoins are increasingly being used by businesses and everyday people to move money across borders and manage U.S. dollar liquidity in regions where access to foreign currencies can be limited.

Binance Reportedly Faces EU Exit As MiCA Bid Is Rejected

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Binance Reportedly Faces EU Exit As MiCA Bid Is Rejected

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is on the brink of losing access to the European Union after its application for a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license in Greece faces rejection, according to Reuters reporting on the matter.

The decision, if confirmed, would prevent Binance from offering services across the 27-member bloc when the MiCA transition period ends on July 1. Under the new regulatory framework, crypto firms must secure approval from a national regulator to gain passporting rights across the EU.

Binance submitted its application through a Greek entity earlier this year, positioning the country as its regulatory base in Europe. The exchange pointed to Greece’s workforce and operating environment as factors behind the choice. Co-CEO Richard Teng had expressed confidence that the firm would meet the requirements ahead of the deadline.

Two sources told Reuters that Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission is set to reject the application. The regulator declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules. Binance said it has received no formal notice of a denial and maintains that its submission meets MiCA standards.

The firm said they believe it complies with the framework and has not been told otherwise by the Greek authority.

Despite that stance, the timeline leaves little room for delay. Without a license in place by the end of June, Binance would need to halt services to EU clients or risk enforcement action from national regulators. That could include fines or restrictions that limit access across key markets such as France, Germany, and Italy.

After the report came out, Binance sought to reassure users on X over its regulatory status in Europe. In a series of posts, the exchange said it remains committed to the region and is working to minimize disruption while it navigates the approval process.

“Binance remains committed to its European users and will continue to operate in compliance with applicable law,” the exchange posted.

EU, MiCA, Binance, and crypto protections

The EU has emerged as a major test case for global crypto regulation. MiCA introduces a single rulebook for digital asset firms, covering areas such as consumer protection, capital requirements, and governance. The regime is designed to replace a patchwork of national rules with a unified system.

Binance has faced regulatory pressure in several jurisdictions over the past few years, including the United States and the United Kingdom. The outcome in Europe could shape its global strategy as it seeks to align operations with stricter oversight.

Rivals that have secured MiCA licenses, including Coinbase and Kraken, stand to benefit if Binance exits the region. A shift in market share could follow as users migrate to platforms that can offer uninterrupted access under the new regime.

The potential loss of the EU market also raises questions about liquidity and product availability on Binance’s platform. Europe represents a large base of retail and institutional users, and any disruption could affect trading volumes and token flows.

Binance says its European regulatory application is compliant despite report of Greek rejection

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Binance says its European regulatory application is compliant despite report of Greek rejection

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, may be unable to serve customers in Europe if its regulatory license application in Greece is turned down, as Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Binance’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license application, which has to be approved by a deadline at the end of this month, is going to be rejected by the Greek financial watchdog Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), according to the report, which cited two people familiar with the situation.

Binance said it has been pursuing a MiCA license over the past 18 months, including through a comprehensive application process with the HCMC in Greece.

“Our understanding is that the HCMC completed its review of the application and considered it compliant with MiCA requirements, and that the application was also reviewed at ESMA level,” a Binance spokesman told CoinDesk via email.

The spokesman also said that “HCMC informed ESMA that it was their view that the application was compliant and that they intended to progress the licence and move to authorise at an upcoming Board meeting.”

Bitcoin Tops $67,000 to Two-Week High After Trump Declares US-Iran Deal Complete and Hormuz Reopening

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Bitcoin Tops $67,000 to Two-Week High After Trump Declares US-Iran Deal Complete and Hormuz Reopening

Bitcoin climbed past $67,000, its highest level in roughly two weeks, after President Trump declared the US-Iran deal “complete” and authorized reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Oil fell about 4% and around $150 million in crypto short positions were liquidated.

Bitcoin pushed above $67,000 on Monday, its highest level in roughly two weeks, after President Trump said the US-Iran deal was “complete” and that he had authorized reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The largest cryptocurrency traded around $67,170, up 4.9% over 24 hours, touching an intraday high over $67,200, per CoinGecko. The move tracked a broad risk-on rally, with the S&P 500 rising about 1.5% and Treasury yields falling as war-risk premia unwound. Roughly $150 million in crypto short positions were liquidated as the price advanced, per Coinglass data, squeezing traders who were positioned for further downside.

Trump declared the agreement done in a Truth Social post, writing that he “fully authorized the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz” and ordered “the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade.” He added: “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” CNBC and Bloomberg reported that the US and Iran had reached terms to end nearly four months of war, with both sides agreeing to halt military operations.

The terms center on the waterway and on sanctions. A draft memorandum has the US lifting oil sanctions in exchange for Iran committing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days, according to Bloomberg. Trump also said ships, “many loaded up with Oil,” were already starting to move out of the strait.

The Oil Channel

The clearest market signal came from crude. Brent fell about 4% to around $83 a barrel, with US crude sliding toward $80 as traders priced in the return of tanker traffic through a waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.

Lower oil cools one of the inflation inputs that has kept the Federal Reserve cautious. Bonds rallied alongside equities and crypto, with Treasury yields falling as rate-hike bets receded, per Bloomberg. Bitcoin has spent the spring trading as a high-beta proxy for that risk appetite, selling off on escalation and bouncing on every step toward de-escalation.

A Recovery From the June Lows

Monday’s high marks a sharp turn from earlier this month. Bitcoin had cracked $60,000 on June 5, its lowest level since October 2024, as the war ground on and ETF outflows mounted. It remains down about 15% over the past 30 days and roughly 47% below its $126,080 October record, per CoinGecko.

The de-escalation arc has driven Bitcoin’s price for weeks. The Defiant reported on June 11 that Bitcoin rose above $63,000 after Trump canceled scheduled strikes on Iran and signaled a peace deal was close. The latest leg extends that move as the framework firms up.

The Hormuz question has whipsawed the market all spring. Bitcoin touched $78,000 in April when Iran declared the strait “completely open,” then stalled below $80,000 as geopolitical risk returned and triggered $288 million in long liquidations. Each shift in the conflict has registered in the price within hours.

What’s Not Locked In

The deal is not signed. Trump said the formal agreement would be signed Friday, June 19, in Switzerland, with the strait reopening to follow. Earlier in the week the two sides gave conflicting accounts of the draft terms, and Trump accused Iran of misrepresenting the memo before talks settled.

European governments welcomed the agreement and signaled openness to sanctions relief, urging a swift Hormuz reopening, per CNBC. For now the short squeeze has cleared out the most bearish positioning, but the price still sits well below where it traded before the conflict began.

Sui Processes $65 Billion in Stablecoin Transfers in Five Days After Zeroing Out Fees

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Sui Processes $65 Billion in Stablecoin Transfers in Five Days After Zeroing Out Fees

The Layer 1’s gasless stablecoin design pushed transfer throughput to nearly $65 billion since June 10, recasting Sui as a fee-free settlement rail for institutional and agentic payments.

The Sui blockchain has moved nearly $65 billion in stablecoins in five days, the payoff from a protocol change that made those transfers cost nothing. The figure measures transfer throughput over the window, and it lands as Mysten Labs pitches the network as a replacement for traditional payment rails.

CertiK Skynet, a data dashboard by the blockchain security firm, reported that Sui settled close to $65 billion in stablecoin transfers since June 10 without users paying fees. The same data put cumulative stablecoin volume on the network above $2.27 trillion since early 2024. The catalyst was a protocol-level change that Mysten Labs, Sui’s founding contributor, rolled out on May 20, dropping stablecoin transfer fees to $0.00 and removing the need to hold the native SUI token to move funds.

The $65 billion measures transfer volume cleared over a five-day window. Sui’s standing stablecoin supply sits near $470 million, per DefiLlama, which ranks the chain outside the 15 largest by stablecoin market capitalization. A sub-$500 million float turning over tens of billions in days reflects dollars recirculating as payments, the behavior the fee-free design was built to encourage.

Sui stablecoin market cap, Jan 17 – Jun 15 2026. Peak $606M; trough $466M; latest about $486M. Source: DefiLlama.

How the Gasless Design Works

Sui’s change covers single and batched peer-to-peer transfers of supported stablecoins, with the network absorbing the gas cost. Supported assets at launch included USDC, USDY, AUSD, FDUSD and the Bridge-issued USDsui and Ethena-issued suiUSDe. Mysten Labs framed the mechanism as structural rather than promotional, calling it “not a subsidy, sponsorship program, or temporary promotional initiative.”

Fireblocks, the custody and infrastructure platform that says it secures more than $14 trillion in digital asset transactions, integrated the feature before the rollout. That integration is what routes the design toward enterprises and financial-service providers rather than retail wallets alone.

The Institutional Pitch

For institutions, the friction Sui targets is operational overhead. Adeniyi Abiodun, Mysten Labs co-founder and chief product officer, argued that gas fees impose overhead far beyond their face value. “Even at 1/1000th of a cent, gas forces you to hold reserves, build payment logic, monitor balances, and account for a second asset just to move the first,” he wrote. “For any service provider, that overhead is infrastructure, headcount, and audit scope.”

Abiodun has positioned the feature as a bid to displace correspondent-banking rails. At launch he described the goal as making Sui “the global rail for payments, whether they are for businesses, AI agents, and consumers.” Ran Goldi, Fireblocks’ senior vice president of payments and network, said the design “removes a major point of friction for enterprises building onchain payment flows.”

$1 Trillion

The throughput surge builds on momentum the network had already booked. Sui passed $1 trillion in cumulative stablecoin transfer volume since August 2025, a milestone reached before fees went to zero. Removing the per-transfer cost lowered the floor for micropayments and high-frequency machine-to-machine transfers, the use cases Mysten Labs has tied to agentic commerce.

The model leans on Sui’s parallel-execution architecture, which processes independent transactions simultaneously rather than in sequence. That throughput headroom is what lets the network absorb gas on stablecoin transfers without congestion pricing pushing costs back onto users.

Sui is separately testing private-by-default stablecoin transfers on its devnet, a feature that would add confidential transfer amounts with controlled visibility for compliance. The foundation has not set a mainnet date for that change.

BlackRock launches bitcoin income fund as investors seek cash flow from crypto

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BlackRock launches bitcoin income fund as investors seek cash flow from crypto

The new fund offering comes as bitcoin struggles to break out of a bear market, trading around $67,000, down about 23% year to date. IBIT, which debuted in January 2024, has amassed nearly $49 billion in assets, making it the largest spot bitcoin ETF on the market. The fund has seen significant outflows since the beginning of the year, though, amid lower bitcoin prices and excitement around other asset classes, including the highly anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs) of SpaceX (SPCX) and Anthropic.

But Jacobs said BlackRock sees several potential audiences for the new fund.

One group consists of income-focused investors looking to diversify beyond traditional sources such as dividend-paying stocks and bonds. Another includes bitcoin holders who remain bullish on the cryptocurrency but want to generate cash flow from their positions.

“You could imagine this could be people who have a significant portion of their wealth in bitcoin but would like to have an income stream to support their lifestyle,” Jacobs said.

A third group may be investors who have historically avoided assets such as bitcoin or gold because they do not produce cash flow.

“We’ve encountered this type of investor for years,” Jacobs said. “How can I own gold in a portfolio if it’s not generating cash in any way? This product seeks to help address that market as well.”

Glassnode data shows aggressive bitcoin buying between $59,000 and $67,000

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Glassnode data shows aggressive bitcoin buying between $59,000 and $67,000

Bitcoin’s BTC$66,455.13 drop below $60,000 earlier this month spurred investors to pile into the largest cryptocurrency, with almost 260,000 BTC bought over 10 days and one measure of demand increasing to its highest possible level.

Investors have bought a net 259,298 BTC since June 5, paying between $59,000 and $67,000, according to Glassnode UTXO Realized Price Distribution data. Glassnode’s Accumulation Trend Score by Wallet Cohort, which measures the relative strength of purchasing fervor based on both the size of buyers and the amount acquired over the previous 15 days, stands at 1.0, the top reading.

Buying has been broad-based across wallet cohorts, ranging from holders with less than 1 BTC, typically retail investors, to those with as many as 1,000 BTC. Notably, from March through May, most groups were net distributors, or sellers, as bitcoin stagnated around $70,000.

The aggregate Accumulation Trend Score has now remained at a peak level for more than two weeks, indicating aggressive buying across cohorts and marking the strongest accumulation behavior observed during the current drawdown.

Accumulation Trend Score by Cohort (Glassnode)

Tether Gold now has a dedicated options market on Bybit

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Tether Gold now has a dedicated options market on Bybit

Bybit, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, has launched options trading on Tether Gold (XAUT), a token that provides you ownership of real physical gold.

The XAUT options are now live and allow traders to hedge risk, speculate on gold price movements, trade volatility, and build custom strategies through Bybit’s Request for Quote (RFQ) system for over-the-counter (OTC) deals.

Bybit partnered with Orbit Markets, a leading crypto options market maker, to ensure deep liquidity from the start. Orbit’s team brings significant expertise, including former senior executives from precious metals trading desks, notably the ex-APAC Head of Currencies and Precious Metals at Deutsche Bank.

“As tokenization accelerates, we believe the distinction between crypto and TradFi will continue to narrow,” said Jimmy Yang, co-founder of Orbit Markets. “Gold options are a cornerstone of traditional derivatives markets, and we are excited to see growing interest in TradFi derivatives within crypto.”

The XAUT options are European-style contracts settled in dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT, with each options contract corresponding to one XAUT token, which itself represents one troy ounce of physical gold.

What Are Options?

Options are derivative contracts that give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the underlying asset at a set price before or on a specific date. A call option gives the right to buy, while a put option gives the right to sell.

US Government Watchdog Urges FDIC Address Crypto Oversight

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US Government Watchdog Urges FDIC Address Crypto Oversight

The US Government Accountability Office has urged the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to make an effort to coordinate with other federal agencies to address risks from blockchain technology.

GAO made a June 8 letter to FDIC Chairman Travis Hill public on Monday, which said that it first flagged priority recommendations with the regulator in May last year, including addressing blockchain technology risks.

It said that blockchain technology was an area of concern that it put on its “High Risk List,” as it deems that regulators have struggled to oversee blockchain-based financial products and the risks they could pose to US markets.

Under the GENIUS Act passed last year, the FDIC is the main regulator for stablecoin issuers that are subsidiaries of the banks it supervises. Senate lawmakers are currently looking to pass a bill that would outline how federal agencies would regulate the wider crypto market.

Source: U.S. GAO

In its letter to Hill, the GAO said that it found in 2023 that financial regulators “lacked an ongoing coordination mechanism for addressing blockchain risks” and in the meantime, “blockchain-related financial products and services have grown substantially.”

“Establishing such a mechanism, as we recommended, would help FDIC and other regulators collectively identify risks and develop and implement a regulatory response in a timely manner,” it added.

The GAO also urged that the FDIC rotate case managers assigned to banks to strengthen supervision of the sector.

Related: FDIC moves to regulate stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act

It said it found in 2024 that the agency did not require supervisors to rotate to different banks, which “could compromise their independence and interfere with supervision outcomes,” and a rotation requirement “could mitigate threats to independence.”

The GAO said that the failure of multiple crypto and tech industry-linked banks in 2023 “raised questions” about whether the bank watchdogs took enough action to ensure institutions “promptly addressed supervisory concerns.”

Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank, which all had significant exposure to the crypto industry, all collapsed in less than a week in March 2023 in the fallout of the bankruptcy of FTX, which sent crypto markets tumbling.

Magazine: Does ‘Paper Bitcoin’ mean there’s an unlimited supply of BTC?

Strategy (MSTR) Spends $100 Million On 1,587 Bitcoin, Lifts Total Holdings To 846,842 BTC

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Strategy (MSTR) Spends $100 Million On 1,587 Bitcoin, Lifts Total Holdings To 846,842 BTC

Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) has purchased 1,587 bitcoin for approximately $100 million, bringing the company’s total bitcoin holdings to 846,842 BTC, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday morning.

The purchase, executed between June 8 and June 14, was made at an average price of $63,024 per bitcoin and funded through at-the-market sales of the company’s Class A common stock. Last week, Strategy sold approximately 1.73 million MSTR shares, raising about $209 million through the ATM program. As of June 14, $25.75 billion worth of MSTR shares remain available under that program.

Strategy’s 846,842 BTC was acquired at an average cost of $75,656 per coin, for a total outlay of roughly $64.1 billion including fees and expenses. 

At current prices near $66,000, the company carries approximately $8 billion in paper losses. The position represents more than 4% of bitcoin’s hard-capped supply of 21 million coins, making Strategy by far the largest corporate bitcoin holder on the planet.

In addition to the bitcoin purchase, Strategy confirmed its USD Reserve rose to $1.1 billion as of June 14, up from $1 billion the previous week. The reserve, established in December 2025, exists to cover dividend payments on the company’s preferred shares and interest on its debt. 

Strategy ‘spooked’ the markets 

JPMorgan analysts flagged the reserve last week, noting that Strategy’s rare sale of 32 BTC on June 1 “spooked” markets and that the company needed to rebuild the dollar cushion to restore confidence — at the time, the buffer only covered about 6.3 months of dividend obligations.

The announcement came with a familiar signal. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor posted his bitcoin acquisition tracker chart on Sunday with the caption “Still adding dots” — a phrase the market has come to recognize as a preview of a Monday purchase disclosure.

The STRC preferred stock, a variable-rate, cumulative offering with monthly dividends designed to hold near its $100 par value, had been the primary engine for bitcoin accumulation earlier in 2026, offering an annualized rate of 11.5%. 

However, STRC has struggled to reclaim par since mid-May and has not been used for bitcoin purchases over the past month. 

At last week’s annual shareholder meeting, investors approved shifting STRC dividend payments from monthly to twice monthly. “Paying dividends on STRC twice a month is designed to stabilize price, dampen cyclicality, drive liquidity, and grow demand for STRC, while giving STRC holders a faster reinvestment opportunity,” Strategy President and CEO Phong Le said in a statement. 

Strategy also recently expanded its ATM programs to include up to an additional $21 billion of MSTR shares, alongside $21 billion of STRC preferred stock and $2.1 billion of STRK preferred stock.

Bitcoin catches a bid

Bitcoin itself climbed over the weekend, touching above $66,000 on Sunday after President Donald Trump announced a peace deal with Iran, set to be signed June 19. The agreement includes the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which sent oil prices down roughly 5% to around $80 per barrel. 

Bitcoin’s 24-hour advance was concentrated in the hours after Trump’s Saturday announcement, with the asset trading around $65,600 to $66,300 as of Monday morning — still below the $75,656 average price at which Strategy holds its stack. 

Technical notes from Bitcoin Magazine Pro show that bitcoin bounced off the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement level near $60,000, but the RSI remains weak at 37, and a sustained weekly close above $66,000 would be required to signal a credible trend change. 

A break higher would face resistance at $68,900 and then the $80,000 to $82,500 zone. MSTR shares rose roughly 6% in pre-market trading Monday as the purchase was disclosed alongside the broader market rally.

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