S&P Global announces crypto ecosystem index blending digital assets and equities

S&P Global announced Tuesday, that it will launch the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, a new benchmark combining cryptocurrencies and publicly traded crypto-linked equities.

The index, developed in partnership with Dinari, aims to provide a diversified view of the crypto ecosystem, spanning blockchain infrastructure, financial services and digital assets. Dinari will also issue a token tracking the benchmark, making the index accessible through blockchain-based instruments.

The index will include 35 companies involved in digital asset infrastructure and applications alongside 15 cryptocurrencies from the existing S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index. S&P Global said the…

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3 Reasons Bitcoin Has Made A New All-Time High

Bitcoin‘s (CRYPTO: BTC) run to new highs is powered by a synchronized wave of inflows and activity across ETFs, spot markets, and derivatives.

What Happened: Glassnode data shows Bitcoin’s ascent is supported by three key pillars:

ETF & Institutional Flows: Cumulative inflows into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hit $2.2 billion, while daily trading volumes exceeded $26 billion, a sharp reversal from September’s outflows and a clear sign of institutional demand returning.

On-Chain Strength: Network activity has surged, with transfer volumes up 39% and active addresses climbing 11%, reflecting organic usage growth. Nearly 97% of all Bitcoin supply is now in profit, underscoring strong holder… Read more on Benzinga

Bitcoin Price Pulls Back From Record High To $122,000 Range

Bitcoin slipped today, retreating from a record high as the U.S. government shutdown entered its seventh day. Bitcoin edged down to the $121,000 range, and remains below Monday’s all-time peak of $126,296, per Bitbio data.

Despite the minor pullback, Bitcoin has surged roughly 30% since the start of the year and is up about 9% over the past week.

Gold, meanwhile, continued its historic rally, briefly topping $4,000 per ounce overnight, with futures trading at $3,980 early Tuesday, reflecting a 50% gain for the year.

At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $122,096. 

Markets appear largely unfazed by the shutdown, even after the Senate failed to pass a Republican…

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Umbra’s ICO and MetaDAO’s ‘Unruggable’ futarchy take center stage

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.

A little-known privacy project, Umbra, launched its initial coin offering (ICO) on Solana yesterday.

As I write this, Umbra is already 1169% oversubscribed over its $750 million raise target.

Source: MetaDAO

The real story here isn’t Umbra — it’s the infrastructure that’s powering its sale: MetaDAO’s “Unruggable ICO” futarchy launchpad.

A lot has already been written on the intersection of crypto and futarchy by people smarter than me, but here’s the gist: Futarchy is the simple idea that governance should be decided by markets, rather than “one man, one vote”…

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KindlyMD Forms Strategic Partnership With Antalpha

KindlyMD, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA), a provider of integrated healthcare services and a Bitcoin treasury vehicle through its subsidiary Nakamoto Holdings, is partnering with Antalpha (NASDAQ: ANTA). 

Antalpha is a fintech firm specializing in financing, technology, and risk management solutions for the digital asset industry. 

A key component of the partnership is a non-binding letter of intent under which Nakamoto plans to issue $250 million in five-year secured convertible notes to Antalpha. 

The convertible notes are intended to provide long-term financing with lower dilution risk for stockholders compared to standard convertible debt. 

The proceeds will also be used to…

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DePIN Grass raises $10M from Polychain, Tribe Capital

Grass, the Solana DePIN project, is raising $10 million in a bridge raise, Blockworks has exclusively learned. 

The project previously raised both a seed and a Series A round. 

The decentralized AI project which allows folks to sell access to idle internet bandwidth — essentially giving you more power to hand over your data rather than having a large company scrape it for profit. 

Polychain and Tribe Capital participated in the bridge round, which is primarily a token purchase, Grass’s Andrej Radonjic told Blockworks.

“Grass is a piece of technology that allows companies to access data at an unprecedented scale,” Radonjic said when asked why Grass was interested…

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What’s Going With IREN Stock On Tuesday – IREN (NASDAQ:IREN)

IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) shares advanced on Tuesday after the data center operator announced a new batch of multi-year agreements with major artificial intelligence companies that are deploying NVIDIA Corporation’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) Blackwell GPUs.

The stock gave up its premarket gains and is trading lower at the time of publication.

IREN said its expanding AI Cloud division remains on track to surpass $500 million in annualized recurring revenue from a combined fleet of 23,000 GPUs that are either active or scheduled to come online by the first quarter of 2026.

The company has locked in customer commitments for roughly 11,000 GPUs—representing about $225 million in annualized cloud…

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LATEST: S&P Introduces Digital Markets 50 Index Expanding Exposure to Crypto Assets

S&P Global has made a bold move into the world of digital assets with the launch of the S&P Digital Markets 50 Index, a groundbreaking benchmark that tracks both cryptocurrencies and publicly traded crypto-related companies. Developed in partnership with U.S.-based platform Dinari, the index features 35 equities and 15 major cryptocurrencies, creating a unified view of the fast-growing digital economy.

Dinari plans to issue a tokenized version of the index through its dShares platform by year’s end, giving investors on-chain access to a diversified mix of crypto and blockchain-linked assets. Each asset will be capped at 5% to ensure balance, and the index will follow S&P’s quarterly governance and rebalancing standards.

This initiative signals Wall Street’s deeper integration with blockchain technology. As crypto markets rebound—with Bitcoin hitting new highs—S&P’s entry offers institutional investors a regulated, rules-based gateway into digital assets, bridging traditional finance and the crypto frontier.

Source

Lava’s Zero-Fee Bitcoin Salary Conversion Gains Backing From USL’s Crognale

Lava, a leading bitcoin fintech company backed by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures, today announced an angel investment from Alex Crognale, the first professional soccer player in the United States League (USL) to receive a portion of his salary in bitcoin. The investment aligns with the launch of Lava’s innovative “Get Paid in Bitcoin” feature, which enables users to seamlessly convert their paychecks into bitcoin with “zero fees”, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine.

Crognale, a defender for San Antonio FC, gained attention in 2021 when he opted to receive part of his salary in bitcoin. Since October 2021, when he publicly…

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Breez, Lightspark, And Tether Launch Time2Build, Global Hackathon With $25K In Prizes To Boost Open-Source Bitcoin Integrations

Breez, in partnership with Lightspark, Tether, and other Bitcoin industry leaders, has launched Time2Build, a global developer challenge and international hackathon to embed Bitcoin payments into open-source software. The initiative offers a $25,000 prize pool in Bitcoin and residencies at Draper University and PlebLab, and is backed by Plan B Network, and Fulgur Ventures, Geyser Fund, according to a press release shared with Bitcoin Magazine. 

This ambitious hackathon looks to create sustainable adoption of peer-to-peer money in applications used by millions. Lead by Breez, Time2Build requires developers to integrate the Breez SDK — a free, open-source toolkit for…

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