Coindesk

Google Cloud is moving forward with plans to launch its own layer-1 (L1) blockchain, positioning the network as neutral infrastructure for global finance at a time when fintech competitors are developing out their own distributed ledgers.In a LinkedIn post published Tuesday, Rich Widmann, Google’s head of Web3 strategy, provided fresh details on the project, known as the Google Cloud Universal Ledger (GCUL). He described the platform as a credibly neutral, high-performance blockchain designed for institutions, supporting Python-based smart contracts to make it more accessible to developers and financial engineers.“Any financial institution can build with GCUL,” Widmann said, arguing that while companies like Tether may be unlikely to adopt Circle’s blockchain and payment firms like Adyen may hesitate to use Stripe’s,...

By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)As August draws toward a close, bitcoin (BTC) bulls may welcome the end of a modest pullback, with the largest cryptocurrency down around 4% for the month and 12% off its all-time high of $124,500. For now, it's little changed around $110,580, up less than 0.5% over 24 hours while ether (ETH) has added 3.4%. The CoinDesk 20 index, a measure of the broader market, rose 2.7% in the same period.A negative end to August would halt a streak of four consecutive green months, the longest run since March last year. Encouragingly, August has held up better than in the past three years, and September should bring a pickup in trading...

Bitcoin (BTC) long-term holders (LTHs) have already realized more profit in this cycle than in all but one previous cycle (2016 to 2017), according to data from on-chain analytics platform Glassnode.This underscores elevated sell-side pressure and, when combined with other signals, suggests the market has entered the late phase of the cycle".Since the start of 2024, LTHs (defined as investors who have held bitcoin for at least 155 days) have realized 3.27 million BTC in profits. This figure has now surpassed the 2021 bull run (just over 3 million BTC) and is far ahead of the 2013 cycle. However, it still trails the 2017 bull run, when realized profits reached 3.93 million BTC.For context, bitcoin’s average price was around $1,000...

KindlyMD (NAKA), the Nasdaq-listed health-care company that recently merged with bitcoin (BTC) treasury firm Nakamoto, is set to offer as much as $5 billion in equity to fund the purchase of more BTC.The Salt Lake City-based firm filed a shelf registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an at-the-market equity offering program.The program will allow the company to sell common stock with timing and amounts to be determined by a variety of factors, including market prices, the company said on Tuesday. The funds also be used for general corporate purposes, such as acquisitions of businesses, assets or or technologies.KindlyMD commenced its bitcoin treasury strategy earlier this month, making its first acquisition of 5,743.91 BTC ($635.4 million)...

News BackgroundCME Group recently said its crypto futures suite surpassed $30 billion in notional open interest for the first time, with XRP futures crossing $1 billion in just over three months — the fastest pace for a new contract.Broader crypto sentiment improved after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, which boosted expectations of policy easing later this year.XRP continues to trade under the shadow of U.S. regulatory uncertainty, even as corporate treasuries explore cross-border payment pilots with Ripple’s technology.Price Action SummaryFrom August 26 at 03:00 to August 27 at 02:00, XRP gained 3.60%, rising from $2.89 to $2.99 within a $0.20 intraday band.The sharpest move came at 19:00 GMT on August 26, when XRP pierced $3.08 on extraordinary 167.60...