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Ondo Finance Launches 24/7 Minting and Redemption for Tokenized US Stocks and ETFs

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Ondo Finance Launches 24/7 Minting and Redemption for Tokenized US Stocks and ETFs

Ondo Finance has enabled around-the-clock minting and redemption for tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum and BNB Chain, removing the weekday-only constraint that had tied position creation and cancellation to US market hours.

Ondo Finance has enabled around-the-clock minting and redemption for tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum and BNB Chain, removing the prior weekday-only constraint that had tied the creation and cancellation of positions to US market hours. The upgrade, announced by Ondo Finance on Wednesday, applies initially to six of the platform’s most actively traded instruments: SPYon, QQQon, CRCLon, NVDAon, TSLAon, and GOOGLon.

Additional tokenized stocks and ETFs will be added in coming weeks, with Solana support coming next. Ondo described the feature as a first for the sector, noting that rivals offering “24/7 trading” have confined continuous access to secondary-market transfers on centralized and decentralized exchanges, while issuance and redemption remained tied to market hours.

Why It Changes Things

Transfers of Ondo’s tokenized securities have always been available at any hour, letting holders move, lend, or use assets in DeFi protocols regardless of whether US markets are open. What was missing was the ability to create new positions or exit them directly on weekends and holidays. The new feature closes that gap, giving institutional and qualified investors a full lifecycle for tokenized equities on blockchain infrastructure that never closes.

Ondo Global Markets, which now lists more than 430 tokenized stocks and ETFs across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, became the first tokenized-stock platform to surpass $1 billion in total value locked, exceeding the combined TVL of competing platforms, the company said.

Broader RWA Context

The launch comes as the tokenized real-world asset sector has broadened rapidly. Earlier this month, Ondo added 173 stocks and ETFs to its catalog, pushing the platform past 430 assets on three chains. Rival approaches to continuous equity access have varied: Binance launched bStocks on BNB Chain in June, while Coinbase has outlined plans for 1:1-backed tokenized US stocks with on-chain dividends.

Ondo noted that AI agents on the Virtuals protocol can now access the 24/7 minting and redemption feature, extending programmable round-the-clock equity exposure to automated strategies. The Solana rollout of the feature is expected in the near future.

Ethereum Whale Who Shorted October 2025 Crash Returns With $19.7M Short ETH Bet

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Ethereum Whale Who Shorted October 2025 Crash Returns With $19.7M Short ETH Bet

An Ethereum whale who shorted Ether (ETH) during the October 2025 crypto crash has returned after eight months of silence.

Key takeaways:

  • Ethereum whale opens a $19.72 million 20x ETH short near the $1,500 support zone.
  • ETH’s bear flag setup hints at a decline toward $1,375, which may earn the whale roughly $2.39 million in profits.

Ethereum whale opens 20x short after eight-month hiatus

On Friday, wallet ‘0xf83f…6728’ opened a 20x-leveraged ETH short worth $19.72 million as Ether reached the $1,500 support zone after dropping 18.25% over the last two weeks.

The position was opened at an average price of around $1,565, according to data resource Hyperbot. As of this press time, the whale had earned nearly $106,500 in unrealized profits as the ETH price dropped around the $1,550 area.

Ethereum whale’s $19.72M position status as of Friday. Source: Hyperbot

The downside sentiment in the Ethereum market has tracked a broader tech-led risk selloff, with traders cutting exposure to speculative assets as Nasdaq and chip stocks came under pressure.

Ethereum-specific sentiment has weakened further amid renewed scrutiny of the Ethereum Foundation, following reports of budget cuts, staff reductions and a wave of senior departures that have raised questions about the organization’s leadership stability.

Ether is eyeing a decline toward the $1,375 level if it continues the breakdown out of its prevailing bear flag pattern.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking the bear flag breakdown setup. Source: TradingView

If ETH falls to $1,375, the whale’s unrealized profit would rise to roughly $2.39 million before fees and funding, based on the position’s approximate $1,565 entry price.

Same whale shorted ETH near October 2025 crash top

The wallet’s latest move stands out because of its trading history.

Transaction logs show that wallet ‘0xf83f…6728’ last became active on Oct. 27, 2025, when it opened an ETH short near $4,172 as volatility from the October crypto crash was easing.

Related: Are Ethereum OGs jumping ship? Here’s what the data says

The trader later closed the position near $4,133, booking $41,693 in net profit after $5,263 in exchange fees.

Ethereum whale’s filled ETH orders from October 2025. Source: Hyperbot

The whale’s current strategy appears similar: short ETH into weakness, use high leverage, and lean into downside momentum. The scale has changed sharply, however, since the current position carries nearly $20 million in notional exposure, making it far larger than the whale’s October 2025 trade.

ETH double bottom could threaten the whale’s short

The whale’s bearish bet is not without risk.

As of Friday, Ether’s daily chart showed a potential double bottom near the $1,500–$1,512 support area, where buyers stepped in twice in June. The setup remains unconfirmed, but a strong rebound from this zone could shift short-term momentum back toward the bulls.

ETH/USD daily price chart tracking a potential double-bottom breakout setup. Source: TradingView

The key level to watch is the neckline near $1,850. A decisive daily close above that level would confirm the double bottom pattern and open the door to a measured rebound toward roughly $2,190, based on the distance between the neckline and the $1,512 bottom.

That would put ETH close to the whale’s liquidation zone near $2,150, meaning a confirmed bullish reversal could pressure or even wipe out the short position if the trader does not add collateral or reduce exposure.

AAVE jumps 8.9%, leading index higher

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AAVE jumps 8.9%, leading index higher

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 1595.41, up 0.4% (+5.99) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Eleven of 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: AAVE (+8.9%) and SOL (+4.5%).

Laggards: NEAR (-2.5%) and ETH (-1.1%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Michael Saylor Responds To Scrutiny As Strategy Shares And STRC Hit 52-Week Lows

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Michael Saylor Responds To Scrutiny As Strategy Shares And STRC Hit 52-Week Lows

Michael Saylor responded to the deepening selloff in Strategy’s stock and preferred shares Friday with a statement on X.

“Volatility tests every capital structure,” Saylor wrote. “Strategy remains focused on Bitcoin, disciplined capital allocation, credit quality, and long-term value creation. We appreciate our investors and will continue to execute with transparency and resolve. $MSTR”.

The tweet landed as MSTR shares and STRC, Strategy’s variable-rate perpetual preferred, both hit 52-week lows. MSTR has shed more than 80% from its all-time peak. STRC, which carries a par value of $100, traded near $74 — a 26% discount. When preferred shares trade below par, the mechanism that funds bitcoin purchases through preferred issuance breaks down: the company cannot raise capital on favorable terms on instruments trading at a discount.

Bitcoin broke to $58,000 Wednesday for the first time since October 2024, pushing Strategy’s paper losses above $14 billion. The company holds 847,363 bitcoin at an average purchase price of $75,680 per coin — a gap of more than $17,000 per coin at current prices.

MSTR shares, which had shed around 25% over five trading days going into Friday, extended that decline somewhat in pre-market trading as bitcoin’s slide appeared to stagnate. The stock trades at an mNAV below 1.0, meaning the market values Strategy’s shares at a discount to the bitcoin on its balance sheet.

That matters because the company’s model depends on a premium: Strategy issues stock or preferred instruments above NAV, deploys proceeds into bitcoin, and lifts NAV per share in the process. With the premium gone, both capital taps are constrained at the same time.

Strategy’s cash strain deepens further

The pressure on the capital structure extends past bitcoin’s price. Annual dividend obligations on Strategy’s preferred instruments — STRC, STRK, STRF, STRD, and STRE — have risen from $300 million at the start of 2026 to $1.2 billion, a fourfold increase in six months. Cash reserves have fallen 38% this year. Dividend coverage, once above seven years, has compressed to about 14 months.

A Bloomberg report Thursday described investor scrutiny of Saylor’s funding model as the most intense the company has faced. CryptoQuant issued a note this week calling on Strategy to halt bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash to $2.8 billion before resuming accumulation.

Strategy made its first bitcoin sale in four years in early June, offloading 32 BTC at an average of $77,135 per coin. Saylor framed the move as proof the company could cover dividend obligations through asset liquidation. The market’s reaction suggests that framing did not hold.

Last week, Strategy bought 520 bitcoin — a fraction of its prior pace — and put $300 million of a $335.5 million equity raise into cash rather than bitcoin. Saylor has not elaborated on the tweet beyond the statement posted to X.

BlackRock-backed Securitize to raise $400 million nearing public debut; CEPT jumps 8%

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BlackRock-backed Securitize to raise $400 million nearing public debut; CEPT jumps 8%

Securitize, one of the largest providers of tokenization infrastructure for Wall Street, expects to raise about $400 million as it prepares to go public through a merger with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special purpose acquisition company.

The company said Friday that, following lower-than-expected shareholder redemptions, the business combination with Cantor Equity Partners II (CEPT) is expected to generate roughly $400 million in gross proceeds, including private investment in private equity (PIPE) financing.

CEPT was 8% higher following the news.

The transaction is scheduled to close on July 1, pending shareholder approval on June 29 and other customary closing conditions. The combined company is expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange the following day under the ticker SECZ.

Tokenization — the process of representing assets such as funds, bonds and private credit on blockchain networks — has become one of Wall Street’s fastest-growing digital asset initiatives. The market for tokenized real-world assets has grown to more than $30 billion excluding stablecoins, according to rwa.xyz, while Boston Consulting Group and Ripple project it could reach $18.9 trillion by 2033.

Pump.fun Parent Baton Corporation Recruiting CLO at Up to $5M Base Salary

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Pump.fun Parent Baton Corporation Recruiting CLO at Up to $5M Base Salary

Baton Corporation, the development company behind memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, is seeking a Chief Legal Officer at a base salary of $1M to $5M, a compensation band that puts the hire among the best-paid legal executives in crypto.

Baton Corporation, the UK-headquartered development company behind Pump.fun, is recruiting a Chief Legal Officer at a base salary of $1M to $5M, co-founder Alon Cohen posted Wednesday on X.

A $1M base floor for a CLO is well above the median for senior in-house legal executives at most crypto firms; the $5M ceiling rivals packages at major US investment banks. Per the job posting, the hire will lead regulatory engagement, respond to agency inquiries, and represent the company in proceedings alongside outside counsel.

The job posting describes Pump.fun as processing “$300M+ daily volume” and says the platform generated “more than $500M in profit” last year “with a team of fewer than 100 people.”

Baton describes itself as “one of the fastest growing crypto platforms in history” and cites ambitions to build a “global consumer brand that tokenizes the world’s highest potential, early-stage ideas.”

The CLO will sit alongside an existing General Counsel and take on four core domains: US digital-asset regulatory affairs covering SEC, CFTC, FinCEN and OFAC; product and commercial counsel; corporate governance across Baton’s UK parent and any US or international subsidiaries; and cross-border compliance spanning UK FCA, EU MiCA and APAC jurisdictions.

The posting also calls for oversight of AML/KYC programmes and management of litigation, class actions and law enforcement requests.

Pump.fun has previously drawn attention for its content policies after its GO Bounty platform launched to immediate backlash. The Defiant has also covered the platform’s revenue model, including a 50% revenue buyback-and-burn initiative announced earlier. The new CLO hire adds a legal infrastructure layer to what has, until now, been a lean headcount operation.

Hyperliquid Added to Singapore’s MAS Investor Alert List

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Hyperliquid Added to Singapore’s MAS Investor Alert List

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank and financial regulator, has added decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid to its Investor Alert List.

The entry, added on Friday, includes the Hyper Foundation website and the Hyperliquid trading app.

The Investor Alert List is a consumer protection measure that identifies entities that may be wrongly perceived as licensed or regulated by MAS. Inclusion on the list does not constitute a ban or enforcement action.

MAS Investor Alert List. Source: MAS

MAS added crypto exchange Bybit to the list on June 17. KuCoin and Bitget also appear on the list. Cointelegraph reached out to MAS for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

Hyperliquid said that it has never claimed to be licensed or authorized by MAS and that nothing about its permissionless infrastructure has changed.

Related: Ripple joins Singapore sandbox to test RLUSD in trade finance

“The Hyperliquid ecosystem remains committed to engaging collaboratively and constructively with regulators and institutions globally and to supporting clear, well-designed frameworks for onchain finance,” the platform wrote in a Friday X post.

According to CoinGecko, Hyperliquid ranks as the ninth-largest decentralized exchange by trading volume, while DefiLlama estimates it holds about $5.7 billion in total value locked.

Singapore tightens crypto oversight

Singapore has steadily tightened oversight of the cryptocurrency industry in recent years. In May 2025, MAS ordered crypto companies serving overseas customers to either obtain licenses or cease operations, saying the policy reflected a long-standing regulatory position rather than a shift in approach.

The directive closed a regulatory loophole that had allowed some crypto firms based in Singapore to avoid licensing by serving only overseas customers. MAS said it had consistently communicated its position since 2022 and was ending the transition period for firms that had continued operating without a license.

MAS said the measures were intended to strengthen consumer protection and align the Lion City’s crypto framework with international standards on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism.

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Strategy’s STRC Preferred Stock Hits Record Lows as Leverage Cascade Deepens

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Strategy’s STRC Preferred Stock Hits Record Lows as Leverage Cascade Deepens

Strategy’s Series A perpetual preferred stock has fallen to record lows around $73-78, down roughly 25% from its $100 par value in two weeks, as a leverage-driven selloff accelerates despite the company’s bitcoin balance sheet staying intact.

Strategy’s STRC preferred shares have hit a new all-time low this week, trading in the $73-78 range and extending a selloff that began in mid-June.

The preferred shares spent months trading near their $100 par value. On June 18, the stock was at $82.60. By Wednesday, STRC dropped to a fresh all-time low, with the price dropping another ~10% on Thursday. The total drawdown from par is approximately 25% in under two weeks.

The Leverage Cascade

Jesse Myers, head of Bitcoin Strategy at The Smarter Web Company, identified the selloff as a liquidation cascade rather than a change in fundamentals. His account: the stock’s prolonged spell near par encouraged investors to buy on leverage, betting the price would remain above $95. When prices began to slip, hedge funds shorted aggressively, triggering margin calls and feeding a self-reinforcing decline.

“The price action today is a clear liquidation cascade,” the analyst, who goes by Croesus_BTC on X, wrote, “rapidly pushing prices lower, in turn triggering additional liquidations.”

Strategy’s Balance Sheet

Strategy’s bitcoin reserve provides substantial runway for dividend payments. The company holds 847,363 BTC, per a June 22 update that also confirmed the company increased its USD Reserve to $1.4 billion. On the liability side, total debt and preferred obligations stand at roughly $8 billion.

Strategy stated on June 17 that its BTC reserve provides 32 years of dividend coverage at current rates, and indefinite coverage if bitcoin appreciates at roughly 2% per year.

The current STRC dividend rate is 11.50% annualized. The company switched to semi-monthly dividend payouts this month, with the first record date under the new cadence on June 30.

What Buyers Get at Current Prices

At $73-78, STRC offers an effective yield of approximately 15-16%, based on the $11.50 annual dividend on a $100 par security now trading at a steep discount.

Myers sketched the bull case from $82.60 on June 18: holders at that level were getting roughly 13.7% effective yield, with an additional 18% in price upside if the stock returns to par. At current prices, both figures are wider.

He also raised the possibility that Strategy could increase the dividend rate on June 30, potentially to 11.75% or 12%, which would push the effective yield higher for holders who bought during the dip.

Strategy could also repurchase STRC on the open market using proceeds from new MSTR share issuances, which trade at a premium to Strategy’s net asset value. Each dollar of discount captured in a buyback would be accretive to MSTR holders without reducing the bitcoin stack.

Saylor retweeted a post on June 22 from an investor who said they bought $1 million in STRC and would hold until par.

Bitcoin traded at around $59,000 on Thursday, down more than 2% on the day, per CoinGecko. MSTR stock has also sold off sharply alongside bitcoin, falling from highs above $300 earlier this year.

Lower bitcoin prices reduce the mark-to-market value of Strategy’s collateral, even as the absolute coverage ratio for dividends remains wide.

June 30 Dividend Decision

The next scheduled catalyst is June 30, the first semi-monthly record date and the point at which Strategy may announce a new dividend rate. A rate increase would raise the effective yield for current holders and could draw fresh buyers into a stock trading at a roughly 25% discount to par.

Saylor’s June 24 post described STRC as “income for investors who believe in Bitcoin.” As of Wednesday, the company had made no public statement specifically addressing the selloff.

Surging U.S. IPO market still falls short of bubble territory: Goldman Sachs

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Surging U.S. IPO market still falls short of bubble territory: Goldman Sachs

The pullback marks a sharp reversal from expectations at the start of 2026, when many industry executives anticipated a wave of crypto listings following successful IPOs by Circle (CRCL) and CoinDesk’s owner Bullish (BLSH).

Crypto investors also worry that this year’s blockbuster AI-related IPOs are siphoning capital away from digital assets. The successful listing of SpaceX SPCX), along with expectations for additional high-profile AI and technology offerings, has given institutional investors another destination for growth capital at a time when crypto markets have struggled to regain momentum.

Market participants say that rotation has weighed on tokens, crypto-linked equities and the appetite for new crypto IPOs

Snider said the pickup in public listings reflects improving confidence among both corporate executives and equity investors. The key question, is whether the surge signals the kind of market euphoria typically seen at the peak of an asset bubble.

He sees some familiar warning signs. Equity valuations remain elevated, investor confidence is strong, and AI has become a dominant investment theme, echoing the technology-driven optimism that characterized previous market peaks.

But the strategist argued one critical metric tells a different story: the number of IPOs. The U.S. has averaged roughly 100 IPOs a year over the past quarter century, close to the current pace. That compares with more than 250 IPOs in 2021 and nearly 400 during the height of the dot-com boom in 1999.

Bitplanet Signs Agreement With Antalpha To Launch Bitcoin Mining Operations

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Bitplanet Signs Agreement With Antalpha To Launch Bitcoin Mining Operations

Bitplanet Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nasdaq-listed fintech company Antalpha and its mining ecosystem partners to enter the Bitcoin mining business, the company announced.

Under the agreement, Bitplanet will deploy KRW 15 billion (approximately $10.8 million) in Bitcoin mining equipment and begin operations this month. The equipment is set for deployment at colocation sites in Oman and Paraguay — regions the company cited for competitive electricity costs and stable power infrastructure.

Antalpha, which operates the Antalpha Prime technology platform, provides BTC supply-chain and margin lending services to the Web3 industry. The partnership gives Bitplanet access to Antalpha’s global mining network, including supply-chain resources and technical support.

Bitplanet is targeting output of more than 7 BTC per month and over 80 BTC per year from its first phase of equipment. 

The company plans to manage mined Bitcoin as a long-term financial asset, distributing holdings across liquidity reserves, risk-hedging funds, and reinvestment capital — a model the company is calling a Digital Asset Treasury, or DAT.

Bitcoin mining as a means of stacking bitcoin for Bitplanet

The approach differs from corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies that rely on open-market purchases. By mining Bitcoin, Bitplanet adds a production-based acquisition channel alongside its existing system integration business.

“Our partnership with Antalpha is a signal that Bitplanet has entered the global BTC mining ecosystem, and an important milestone marking the point at which the operational model we have presented begins to translate into tangible business results,” said Paul Lee, CEO of Bitplanet. 

“We will continue to collaborate with Antalpha and its ecosystem partners across BTC mining, digital asset infrastructure, and related financial services, expanding the scope of our partnership,” Lee said.

Bitplanet is a South Korea-based company building AI energy infrastructure across Bitcoin mining, GPU hardware distribution, and AI data centers.

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