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Arcium Ecosystem Surpasses $7.5M Raised as Bench and Crafts Go Live, Bringing Private Opportunity Markets and Sealed-Bid Auctions to Solana

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Arcium Ecosystem Surpasses $7.5M Raised as Bench and Crafts Go Live, Bringing Private Opportunity Markets and Sealed-Bid Auctions to Solana

Privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure startup Arcium is moving beyond backend cryptography tools and into live consumer-facing applications, as projects built on its encrypted computing network begin launching products for fundraising, information markets and private finance on Solana.

The company said its ecosystem now includes more than a dozen projects that have collectively raised over $7.5 million, while applications built on its encrypted execution layer are beginning to process live user activity.

The latest launches include Bench, an encrypted “opportunity market” for investment and hiring intelligence, and Crafts, a sealed-bid token auction platform designed to reduce front-running and price manipulation in token sales.

The expansion marks a shift for Arcium from infrastructure provider to a network supporting production-grade applications. The company’s technology uses Multi-Party Computation, or MPC, allowing multiple nodes to process encrypted data without exposing the information to any single participant.

The push comes as privacy infrastructure gains renewed attention across crypto markets.

Developers and institutional investors have increasingly argued that fully transparent blockchains create risks for trading, fundraising and enterprise adoption because transaction data, bids and wallet activity can be monitored in real time.

Bench is attempting to address that issue through encrypted information markets.

The platform allows users, referred to as scouts, to privately stake on opportunities such as startup investments or potential hires. Market creators receive the submissions after the bidding period closes, while Arcium’s encrypted infrastructure prevents competitors from viewing activity during the process.

“There’s a significant gap between the people who hold valuable information and the decision-makers who need it,” Erik Plaumann, co-founder of Bench, said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain. “Encrypted staking on Arcium lets us close that gap.”

Arcium said Bench attracted more than 4,000 signups during its first week on Solana Devnet.

Crafts is targeting another long-standing crypto market issue: token launch manipulation.

The platform introduces sealed-bid token auctions on Solana, where bids remain encrypted until the auction window closes. The model is designed to limit front-running and coordinated pricing strategies that have historically affected token sales across decentralized markets.

ReFiHub, a real-world energy asset platform with a reported $35 million asset pipeline, is the first project using the Crafts launchpad. Arcium said the launch generated more than 1,000 waitlist signups, while over 140 companies have joined the broader Crafts discovery platform.

“Token launches today are coordination games dressed up as price discovery,” Philipp Fock, co-founder of Crafts, said. “Sealed bids fix that at the architectural level.”

The broader Arcium ecosystem now spans encrypted wallets, confidential OTC trading, private prediction markets, peer-to-peer payments and privacy-focused DeFi infrastructure.

The company has positioned itself as part of a wider movement toward “confidential computing” in blockchain networks, where sensitive data can remain encrypted while still being processed onchain.

That market has drawn increasing investor interest over the past two years, particularly as AI applications and institutional finance require privacy-preserving computation tools.

Arcium raised a $5.5 million strategic funding round led by Greenfield Capital in 2025, bringing total funding at the time to $9 million. Investors included Coinbase Ventures and several Solana ecosystem backers.

The company was originally developed from Solana privacy project Elusiv before evolving into a broader encrypted computing platform.

Industry competition in the sector has intensified as projects explore alternatives to public blockchain transparency.

Several blockchain teams are working on technologies combining MPC, fully homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs to support confidential trading, AI model training and private financial infrastructure.

Arcium’s infrastructure currently operates with four independent node operators on Solana Mainnet Alpha, according to the company.

The firm is also expanding into AI-focused encrypted computation through its Manticore protocol, which aims to support encrypted inference, federated learning and collaborative machine learning applications.

“No other project in the industry is making encrypted compute a reality at the pace the Arcium ecosystem is,” Arcium Chief Executive Yannik Schrade said.

The developments reflect a broader shift in crypto infrastructure from speculative consumer applications toward institutional-grade tooling around privacy, execution and data protection.

While public blockchains were originally designed around transparency, developers increasingly view selective privacy as necessary for capital markets, fundraising and enterprise adoption.

The article “Arcium Ecosystem Surpasses $7.5M Raised as Bench and Crafts Go Live, Bringing Private Opportunity Markets and Sealed-Bid Auctions to Solana” was first published on AlexaBlockchain. Read the complete article here: https://alexablockchain.com/arcium-ecosystem-surpasses-7-5m-raised-as-bench-and-crafts-go-live/

Read Also: MoneyGram, Pairpoint and eToro Back Midnight’s Privacy Blockchain Before Mainnet

Disclaimer: The information provided on AlexaBlockchain is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Read complete disclaimer here.

Image Credits: Arcium, Shutterstock, Canva, Wiki Commons

Anthropic signs Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Colossus 1 compute ahead of June IPO

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Anthropic signs Elon Musk’s SpaceX for Colossus 1 compute ahead of June IPO

Anthropic just made Elon Musk’s SpaceX a key supplier to its AI ambitions, and the timing is hard to miss.

The Claude maker said Wednesday it had signed a deal to tap all of the compute capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center, locking in access to more than 220,000 NVIDIA GPUs within the month.

The agreement directly expands what Anthropic can serve to Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers, with Claude Opus API rate limits raised significantly and Claude Code’s five-hour rate limits doubled for Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, all effective Wednesday.

The Colossus 1 deal is the latest in a growing stack of Anthropic compute partnerships.

The company has previously signed an up to 5 gigawatt agreement with Amazon that includes nearly 1 gigawatt of new capacity by year-end, a 5 gigawatt deal with Google and Broadcom that comes online in 2027, a Microsoft-NVIDIA strategic partnership covering $30 billion of Azure capacity, and a $50 billion U.S. AI infrastructure investment with Fluidstack.

Anthropic also flagged interest in partnering with SpaceX on orbital AI compute capacity, expanding the relationship beyond terrestrial data centers.
The timing matters because SpaceX is weeks away from going public.

The Musk-led firm filed confidentially with the SEC on April 1 for an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion to $2 trillion valuation, with the public S-1 expected by late May and the roadshow set for the week of June 8.

Adding Anthropic as a named compute customer ahead of the listing strengthens SpaceX’s pitch as more than a launch and Starlink business, with AI infrastructure now a disclosed revenue line.

The deal also lands as Anthropic continues international expansion to meet data residency requirements in regulated industries.

Bitcoin Hits 3-Month High As Iran Truce Holds

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Bitcoin Hits 3-Month High As Iran Truce Holds

BTC hit an intraday high of $82,800, even as Strategy’s chairman opened the door to selling Bitcoin to fund preferred dividends.

Crypto markets rallied for a third day as Middle East de-escalation and accelerating ETF inflows pushed Bitcoin to its highest level in three months.

Bitcoin is changing hands at $81,696, up 6.4% for the week, while the total crypto market capitalization is 0.6% higher at $2.79 trillion, according to CoinGecko.

BTC Chart

Among large caps, Solana (SOL) is the standout at $89, up 4% over 24 hours. BNB added 2.7% to $648.5, and XRP is 1.3% higher at $1.43. Ether (ETH) is the sole laggard among the top six, slipping 0.9% to $2,358.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token, trading at $43.52, leads the seven-day tape among majors with a 9.6% rally.

ETF Flows

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds added another $467 million on Tuesday, extending a three-session streak that has pulled in roughly $1.63 billion, per SoSoValue data. Cumulative net inflows since the January 2024 launch now stand at $59.72 billion, with total net assets across the 11 funds at $109 billion.

Spot Ether ETFs have joined in after a stretch of outflows through late April, taking in $260 million across the same three trading days and lifting cumulative net inflows to $12.17 billion.

Saylor Curveball

The rally’s most notable speed bump arrived from the company that built its identity on never selling a satoshi. On Monday’s Q1 earnings call, Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor told investors the firm will probably sell a portion of its Bitcoin to fund preferred dividends, framing the move as designed to “inoculate the market.”

Strategy reported a $12.54 billion net loss for the quarter, driven entirely by mark-to-market accounting on its 818,334 BTC stack. The company faces roughly $1.5 billion in annual preferred-dividend obligations across its STRK and STRC instruments and has about 18 months of dividend coverage from existing USD reserves.

LexisNexis Whitepaper Examines AML Control Effectiveness

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LexisNexis Whitepaper Examines AML Control Effectiveness

LexisNexis Regulatory Compliance has released a new whitepaper examining how evolving anti-money laundering standards are reshaping compliance expectations across the United Kingdom and European Union, as regulators increasingly focus not only on whether policies exist, but whether controls are embedded, tested and effective in practice.

Global organisations are being urged to transform legal obligations into robust operational controls, as the whitepaper explains that recent legislative reforms and supervisory intensification are turning AML compliance into an exercise in demonstrable control effectiveness. The report delineates how, while the UK continues to adopt a risk-based, yet increasingly prescriptive framework anchored in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the EU is moving toward a single rulebook that centralises supervision under its 2024 AML package.

“Regulators expect that controls not only exist on paper but are operationally embedded and resilient against emerging risk,” the whitepaper states. This emphasis on practical evidence of control effectiveness is driven by the surge in digital on-boarding, embedded finance, and cross-border payment challenges. The whitepaper highlights that UK supervisory measures, exemplified by the introduction of the SPSS model and enhanced guidance on digital identities, are set to transform compliance from a regulatory checkbox exercise into a strategic, evidence-based program.

According to the whitepaper, the EU’s approach seeks to harmonise customer due diligence and internal controls, with its AMLA set to directly supervise high-risk financial institutions from 2028. This strategic move is expected to make supervisory practices more consistent and reduce the divergence in compliance evidence across different Member States. Meanwhile, both regimes are challenged by dynamic risks posed by cryptoasset activity, which now demands closer scrutiny and more rigorous internal protocols.

A crucial theme of the whitepaper is that “organisations must now ensure that controls are proportionate, timely and — crucially — supported by verifiable governance,”. With the rapid modernization of financial services, regulatory enforcement has increasingly scrutinised whether screening engines, risk assessments, and escalation protocols are not only documented but demonstrably effective in real-time operations.

The whitepaper concludes that the frontier AML risk does not arise from a lack of legal understanding but from the failure to operationalise legal change into clear obligations and accountable oversight. For institutions operating in both the UK and the EU, this regulatory shift signals a pressing need to build common control taxonomies, robust data frameworks, and shared documentation standards that can dynamically keep pace with evolving supervisory expectations.

To download the full whitepaper, Evolving AML Standards: UK flexibility vs EU centralisation in an era of heightened enforcement, click here.

Boltz Launches Non-Custodial USDC Swaps, Bridging Bitcoin Directly To Circle’s Regulated Dollar

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Boltz Launches Non-Custodial USDC Swaps, Bridging Bitcoin Directly To Circle’s Regulated Dollar

Boltz, a leading non-custodial swap provider for Bitcoin, today announced the launch of USDC Swaps, enabling instant conversion between Bitcoin and USDC, the regulated stablecoin issued by Circle. Swaps are supported across all major Bitcoin layers, including the Lightning Network, and are live now at boltz.exchange.

“USDC Swaps mark a turning point for the Bitcoin ecosystem. For the first time, anyone can move between Bitcoin and the dollar most trusted by the regulated financial world without opening an account, completing KYC, or trusting a custodian in the process,” said the team in a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. 

A Non-Custodial Bridge

Exchanging Bitcoin for USDC is not new. What is new is doing it without giving up custody. Today, users who want to move between Bitcoin and a regulated dollar are typically funneled through centralized exchanges and brokerages that require account creation, identity verification, and full custody of user funds. A subset of services offer the same conversion without an account upfront, but because those services still take custody of user funds during the swap, they retain the ability to pause settlement and request identity documents if a transaction is flagged for review, with funds potentially getting confiscated in the meantime. The trade-off, in either case, has been the same: trust, surveillance, and friction in exchange for access.

Boltz removes that trade-off. USDC Swaps execute trustlessly, with no account, no sign-up, and no KYC at any stage. Funds remain under user control until the moment USDC arrives in the user’s wallet. This is the core innovation, and it is what separates Boltz from every other path between Bitcoin and Circle’s regulated Stablecoin.

Bridging Two Financial Worlds

For more than a decade, Bitcoin and the stablecoin economy have evolved on parallel tracks. Bitcoin built the open, permissionless side of the internet’s financial layer. Circle and USDC built the compliant, audited dollar that institutions require for operations. The two rarely connected directly.

USDC Swaps close that gap. With a single transaction, value can move between Bitcoin and a fully reserved, monthly-attested dollar that is already integrated into the products of Stripe, Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Robinhood, Revolut, Nubank, and a long list of banks, fintechs, and payment processors worldwide.

“The momentum is unmistakable,” wrote the Boltz team. USDC is the stablecoin that Stripe and Paradigm placed at the center of Tempo, their new payments-focused blockchain. It is the dollar on which Coinbase built its institutional infrastructure. It is the dollar that regulated card networks, asset managers, and global fintechs reach for when they need a digital dollar they can defend to a regulator. Boltz USDC swaps mean plugging Bitcoin directly into the rails that the regulated world is already standardizing on.

“Bitcoin and the regulated financial system have always been adjacent worlds, separated by intermediaries that demand custody and identity,” said Kilian Rausch, CEO of Boltz. “USDC Swaps remove that separation. A merchant accepting Bitcoin, a freelancer paid in sats, a treasury team managing operating capital, all of them can now reach the regulated dollar economy on their own terms, in seconds.”

Powered by the Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol

USDC Swaps are built on Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP), the native infrastructure that allows USDC to move across blockchains without wrapping or third-party bridges. Every USDC delivered through a Boltz swap is genuine, Circle-issued USDC, the same USDC accepted by regulated payment partners around the world.

By building on CCTP, Boltz is able to serve users across every USDC-supported network, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Polygon, and others, from a single, focused liquidity provider.

Use Cases Across Consumer and Business

Boltz believes that USDC Swaps unlock a broad set of practical applications, including:

  • Off-ramping Bitcoin into the banking system through regulated partners that already accept USDC, such as Stripe, Coinbase, and Bridge.
  • Day-to-day operations for Bitcoin-native businesses, such as paying vendors, funding payroll, and settling recurring bills in regulated dollars without leaving non-custodial infrastructure.
  • Merchant settlement for Bitcoin-accepting businesses that need to book revenue in compliant, accountant-friendly USDC.

All of the above are now unlocked without having to use crypto wallets outside of Bitcoin. Users send Bitcoin through Boltz and the recipient can receive USDC.

Bitcoin First, by Design

Boltz emphasized that the launch does not change the company’s Bitcoin-first orientation. All swaps remain non-custodial, all swaps settle atomically, and a “Bitcoin-Only Mode” continues to be available for users who prefer a stripped-down interface. USDC Swaps simply extend the reach of Bitcoin into a part of the financial system that, until now, has been difficult to access without trusted intermediaries.

USDC Swaps are available immediately to all users at boltz.exchange. Integration into various SDKs and the Boltz BTCPay Plugin is planned to follow in the coming weeks, according to the company.

Ethereum Whales Accumulate Aggressively as ETH Price Rises to $2.4K

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Ethereum Whales Accumulate Aggressively as ETH Price Rises to $2.4K

Ethereum accumulation addresses witnessed a surge in daily inflows on Wednesday, suggesting growing confidence in Ether’s (ETH) long-term price trajectory following its latest rise to $2,400.

Key takeaways:

  • Accumulation addresses absorbed about $592 million in ETH on Wednesday, signalling aggressive long-term buying.
  • Ether’s ascending triangle projects an ETH price rally to $3,315.

Ethereum accumulators add $592 million in ETH

Ether’s investor confidence has returned following its 39% recovery from a multi-year low below $1,750.

Data from CryptoQuant showed daily inflows into accumulation addresses have increased steadily since mid-2025, reaching an all-time high of 1.14 million ETH in November 2025. The inflows have continued to climb in 2026, averaging 200,000 ETH per day.

These addresses received 246,620 ETH on Tuesday, worth approximately $592 million at current rates.

ETH inflows into accumulation addresses. Source: CryptoQuant

Accumulation addresses are wallets that continuously receive ETH without making any outgoing transactions. They may belong to long-term holders, institutional investors, or entities strategically accumulating Ethereum rather than actively trading it.

As a result, the total ETH held by these long-term holders reached a record 25 million ETH, marking a 20.36% jump so far in 2026. 

Large spikes in inflows to these addresses often signal strong confidence in Ether’s long-term potential, with past trends showing that such surges frequently precede price rallies.

For example, on June 22, 2025, Ethereum accumulation addresses recorded a daily inflow of over 380,000 ETH. Nearly 30 days later, ETH’s price rose by almost 85%. A similar price rally followed November 2025’s inflow spike into the accumulation addresses.

Whale wallets are also showing bullish signals. The chart below shows that whale wallets with a balance of 10,000-100,000 ETH have seen their holdings rise to an all-time high of over 19.5 million tokens, after rapid accumulation over the last 30 days.

Wallets with over 100,000 ETH have also increased their holdings to 4.7 million ETH, a 30% increase in 2026. 

Ethereum: Balance by holder value

As Cointelegraph reported, Ether’s spot taker cumulative volume delta, which has been increasing since early April, also suggested growing confidence among buyers.

How high can the ETH price go?

Ether’s liquidation heatmap shows the price eating away liquidity around $2,400, with large bid orders still sitting at $3,000, and between $3,350 and 3,500.

“If $ETH breaks through $2,500, a steady rise to $3,000 will follow,” crypto analyst CW8900 said in a Wednesday post on X, adding:

“There is almost no resistance for short positions.”

ETH liquidation heatmap. Source: CoinGlass

From a technical perspective, the ETH/USD pair is seeking to break above the horizontal trend line of an ascending triangle at $2,400.

A daily candlestick close above the 200-day exponential moving average at $2,700 will confirm the continuation of the uptrend toward the measured target of the triangle at $3,315. Such a move would bring the total gains to 40%.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Technical analyst XForceGlobal shared a chart suggesting that Ether’s macro bottom could be in, with an Elliott Wave analysis projecting a rally to $3,500 once resistance at $2,600-$2,700 is broken.

ETH/USD daily chart. Source: XForceGlobal

As Cointelegraph reported, a close above the $2,600-$2,700 region would confirm a trend change, paving the way for the ETH/USD pair to rally toward $3,000.

This article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or recommendations. All investments and trades carry risk; readers are encouraged to conduct independent research.

Merchant Payments Ecosystem Announces Winners of MPE Awards 2026

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Merchant Payments Ecosystem Announces Winners of MPE Awards 2026

Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) announced the winners of the MPE Awards 2026, recognizing the companies and individuals driving innovation, leadership and measurable impact across the merchant payments value chain. Presented during the MPE Awards Gala in Berlin on March 18, the annual awards celebrated excellence across payment acceptance, orchestration, embedded finance, open banking, fraud and compliance, identity, settlement, merchant-led innovation and more. The central theme of this year’s awards was “Transformation through Trust & Resilience.”

“The MPE Awards 2026 winners demonstrate that the future of merchant payments will be shaped not just by innovation, but by trust, resilience and measurable value for merchants. We are proud to recognize the companies and leaders who are helping move the industry forward and setting new benchmarks across the ecosystem,” said Andy Ivanis, Partner at MPE 2026.

The winners of the MPE Awards 2026 are: 

  • Merchant Payment Acceptance of the Year — Checkout.com
  • Most Innovative Payment Solution — Prommt
  • Best Cross-Border Payment Solution — Thunes
  • Best Payment Orchestration Solution — APEXX Global
  • Best Embedded Finance / BaaS Solution — finmid
  • Best Platform / Marketplace Provider — Shopify
  • Best Open Banking / A2A Payments Solution — Token.io
  • Best Use of AI & Data for Commerce & Customer Empowerment — Shopify
  • Best Risk, Fraud & Compliance Solution — Elavon
  • Best Identity, Onboarding & Authentication Solution — ID-Pal
  • Best Local or Alternative Payment Method — Bumper Iberia
  • Best International Settlement & Liquidity Solution — Fireblocks
  • MPE Influencer of the Year — Christian Pirkner
  • Best Startup / Scaleup Innovation Award — Unetix
  • Chairman’s Award: Merchant Payments Initiative of the Year — Air Europa & Hands In

This year’s program also included several Highly Commended recognitions, underlining the quality and competitiveness of the 2026 awards. During the gala, the awards positioned winners not simply as successful entrants, but as the innovators, builders, protectors and visionaries shaping the next phase of merchant payments. 

The MPE Awards continue to spotlight the breadth of transformation taking place across the payments landscape, from merchant acceptance and fraud prevention to AI, open banking, embedded finance and international settlement. Together, the 2026 winners reflect a market focused on performance, trust, adaptability and long-term merchant success. 

To see the complete list of the MPE Awards winners and winners’ interviews, please visit www.merchantpaymentsecosystem.com/awards.

Kevin O’Leary says Wall Street’s tokenization boom is all talk without crypto rules

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Kevin O’Leary says Wall Street’s tokenization boom is all talk without crypto rules

Miami Beach, FL — Kevin O’Leary says Wall Street’s tokenization boom is mostly hype until Congress finally gives the crypto industry the rules it has been waiting for.

“Tokenization will never be adopted by institutional indexers, ever. Neither will bitcoin, which is still a fringe asset to the big guys,” O’Leary said at Consensus in Miami, arguing that large investors still see most digital assets as uninvestable without clear federal regulation.

Speaking at Consensus Miami 2026, the investor and “Shark Tank” personality argued that regulatory uncertainty is still preventing large financial firms from fully embracing blockchain-based assets.

He said the turning point will come only when the U.S. establishes a formal legal framework for digital assets. “It has to become compliant globally within the [Securities and Exchange Commission] with an actual passage of a bill,” he said. “When that occurs, it’s going to change everything.”

The comments come as Wall Street firms increasingly experiment with tokenization — the process of turning assets like stocks, bonds or funds into blockchain-based digital tokens that can trade continuously and settle instantly. Advocates argue the technology could modernize financial infrastructure by reducing settlement times and lowering costs.

But O’Leary said institutions still need legal certainty before committing significant capital.

He pointed to stablecoins as an example of how regulation can accelerate adoption. Referring to recent U.S. legislative efforts, O’Leary said stablecoins were adopted “almost immediately” once policymakers passed the GENIUS Act.

“Instead of wasting three days, we’re transacting in minutes at a fraction of the cost with full compliance and transparency,” he said, describing cross-border payments using stablecoins.

O’Leary also argued that institutional investors have sharply narrowed their focus within crypto markets. “97% of the entire value of the entire market is simply BTC and ether (ETH),” he said, adding that many smaller tokens have been “slaughtered.”

He described a growing divide between speculative crypto assets and blockchain infrastructure with real enterprise adoption.

The biggest long-term opportunity remains finding a blockchain platform that large corporations standardize around for applications such as logistics, contract management or inventory systems, according to O’Leary.

“You show me the adoption onto the platform that becomes a moat,” he said.

The investor also tied the future of blockchain and AI to infrastructure more broadly, arguing that energy and data centers may ultimately prove more valuable than the digital assets themselves.

“Power is more valuable than bitcoin,” O’Leary said.

The Future of Payments is Bespoke, Embedded, and Instant

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The Future of Payments is Bespoke, Embedded, and Instant

Colm Lyon from Fire provides an inside look at the strategic movements driving the business and the wider payments landscape.

Lyon begins by emphasising Fire’s core operating principle: recognising that every single customer requires a bespoke arrangement. While the underlying product may be consistent, the implementation must be tailored to the customer’s specific business model, whether they need one account or ten thousand. This commitment necessitates Fire being an API-first company, and the necessary support to ensure seamless, easy integration for clients, which Lyon considers vital for long-term customer success.

A key topic addressed by Fire is the transformative trend of account-to-account (A2A) payments, which allows businesses to receive funds directly from their customers’ bank accounts without needing to accept cards. Lyon explains that this push payment method is a major revolution because it offers attractive benefits for businesses, including lower costs, less fraud, and greater security compared to the traditional pull method of card payments.

In the UK and Ireland, Fire serves over 1,500 clients, including some of Europe’s largest financial institutions and Lyon shares two examples that demonstrate Fire’s value: aiding a large UK bank in expanding their services to include open banking payment acceptance for merchants; and helping a scaling organisation called Just Tip to compliantly and efficiently disburse hospitality staff gratuities on a regular, integrated basis. For both clients, Fire provides the underlying technology, collection, reconciliation, and settlement of funds as a regulated party.

Looking ahead, Lyon describes the payment landscape as evolving towards embedded payments, the ability to initiate a transaction directly within a third-party application, such as tipping an artist on Spotify, without ever opening a banking app. To stay at the forefront of this embedded payments shift, Lyon explains that Fire is focused on connecting deeply into payment schemes, such as SEPA Instant, which will allow their customers to pay and get paid in as little as 10 seconds across Europe.

Lyon concludes by outlining three major interconnected forces driving this transformation in the financial world:

  • Regulation: New rules are opening up access for non-bank firms to join payment schemes and enabling consumers and businesses to access their bank accounts outside of their primary bank with consent.
  • Technology: The pervasive presence of APIs and embedded access means payment functionality is being integrated directly into third-party applications, offering real-time data like seeing a bank balance on a Point of Sale (POS) device.
  • Instant Expectations: Both individuals and businesses now demand and expect instant payment and real-time confirmation.

The Biggest XRP Treasury Company Is Adopting A New Strategy, Here’s What It Is

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The Biggest XRP Treasury Company Is Adopting A New Strategy, Here’s What It Is

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

XRP treasury firm Evernorth’s CEO, Asheesh Birla, has explained how his company differs from other digital asset treasuries (DATs). He stated that they intend to actively generate yields for investors as soon as they list on the Nasdaq under the ticker ‘XRPN.’

Evernorth CEO Comments On How The XRP Treasury Company Stands Out

During an interview on the Paul Barron Network, Birla said that Evernorth is an easy way for institutions to get exposure to XRP and that they are an active digital asset treasury. He explained that when they finalize their public listing, they will generate yields, which is what their active treasury management system will focus on. 

It is worth noting that the XRP treasury company is currently among the stakeholders in the XRP community pushing for the XLS-66 amendment, which will enable an institutional lending protocol from which investors can earn yields. The Evernorth CEO also commented on potential products from his company that could be similar to Strategy’s Bitcoin-backed security, Stretch.

He opined that there would be several use cases for companies like Evernorth, Strategy, and other digital asset treasuries. Although he didn’t mention a particular product his company is working on, Birla noted that there is an “ocean of opportunities” to explore and move into. As for what makes his company the leading XRP treasury, he noted that there hadn’t been a breakaway success before they launched. 

Birla opined that the XRP ecosystem needs a company like Evernorth to bring traditional capital on-chain. He added that many institutions would never hold crypto, but they could get comfortable gaining XRP exposure through a stock like XRPN. The Evernorth CEO also expressed excitement about the on-chain products being built in the XRP ecosystem, especially as they relate to DeFi. 

Evernorth To List With Up To 473 Million XRP On Its Balance Sheet

The company’s latest SEC filing shows that it plans to launch with corporate XRP holdings of at least 473 million at closing. This includes 126.8 million XRP that Ripple contributed to the company as part of its primary backers. The XRP treasury revealed that it had also purchased 84.3 million XRP using $214 million in aggregate cash proceeds from a funding agreement. It purchased these tokens at an average price of $2.5 per XRP. 

Ahead of the public listing, Evernoth has also unveiled four directors who are expected to join the board once the business combination closes. These directors include Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Stuart Alderoty, OpenAI Foundation’s CFO Robert Kaiden, Ted Janus, and Antalpha COO Dr. Derar Islim. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.41, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

XRP
XRP trading at $1.43 on the 1D chart | Source: XRPUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com

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