Ripple Announces Payment Expansion As President Touts Its ‘Enterprise Solutions’

Ripple (CRYPTO: XRP) on Tuesday announced a major expansion of Ripple Payments with managed custody and virtual accounts capabilities, positioning itself as the only licensed end-to-end platform for fiat and digital money movement.

The End-to-End Platform

Ripple has integrated recent acquisitions of Palisade for custody and treasury automation and Rail for virtual accounts and collections. 

The platform now allows customers to collect, hold, exchange, and payout in both fiat and stablecoins within a single unified system.

The managed custody capability enables secure collection at scale, facilitating high-speed transaction signing and efficient fund sweeps to operational accounts. 

Unified…

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Why Bitcoin Needed A Remodel With Segwit And Taproot

Segregated Witness (BIP by Pieter Wuile, Eric Lombrozo, and Johnson Lau) and Taproot (BIPs by Pieter Wuille, Jonas Nick, Tim Ruffing, and Anthony Towns) are the two largest changes ever made to the Bitcoin protocol. 

The former fundamentally changed the structure of Bitcoin transactions, and in the process Bitcoin blocks, to address inherent limitations of the previous transaction structure. The latter rearchitectured some aspects of Bitcoin’s scripting language, how complex scripts are structured and validated, and introduced a new scheme for creating cryptographic signatures. 

Those are both massive changes in comparison to say, adding a single opcode like…

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Crypto’s Overlooked Role As A ‘Pressure Valve’ In Iran

New research from Chainalysis shows cryptocurrencies once again acting as a financial “pressure valve” in Iran during crisis conditions.

On-chain data indicates that following the Feb. 28 U.S.–Israeli airstrikes, there was a sharp surge in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) outflows from Iranian exchanges.

Within hours of the news breaking, hourly withdrawals jumped dramatically at times nearing or exceeding $2 million.

By March 2, cumulative outflows since Feb. 28 had reached approximately $10.3 million, well above typical baseline activity.

The pattern mirrors previous crisis-driven spikes, including the 2024 Kerman bombings and protest waves.

During those periods, a collapsing rial, persistent…

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AI Agents Choose Bitcoin Over Fiat, Study Finds

A new study by the Bitcoin Policy Institute shows that frontier AI models overwhelmingly prefer digitally-native monetary instruments, with Bitcoin emerging as the dominant choice. 

Researchers conducted 9,072 controlled experiments across 36 models from five leading providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, and DeepSeek. 

The experiments tested AI agents’ preferences in scenarios involving transactions, store of value, unit of account, and settlement, offering a first-of-its-kind look at how AI approaches monetary decision-making when given full autonomy.

The study presented each model with monetary decisions without any prior context or suggestion toward a…

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Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin Expands Mining By 12% But ABTC Plunges 7% – American Bitcoin (NASDAQ:ABTC)

American Bitcoin (NASDAQ:ABTC) purchased 11,298 ASIC miners adding 3.05 exahash per second to expand owned capacity by 12% to 28.1 EH/s, but the stock plunged 7%, breaking below the critical $1 psychological level.

The 12% Capacity Expansion

The new machines are more efficient at 13.5 joules per terahash compared to the fleet average of 16 J/TH. Lower joule ratings mean less electricity cost per Bitcoin mined. 

The equipment will be deployed in March 2026 at the Drumheller site in Alberta.

Once operational, the company will run 58,999 miners at roughly 25 EH/s. The difference between owned capacity (28.1 EH/s) and operational capacity (25 EH/s) exists because some machines are not yet…

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Paraguay Eyes Seized Miners For Government Bitcoin Project

Paraguay’s state-owned electricity monopoly, Administración Nacional de Electricidad (ANDE), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Morphware, setting the stage for a government-led Bitcoin mining program built around thousands of seized mining machines and unused hydroelectric power.

The agreement formalizes cooperation between ANDE and Morphware, positioning Morphware as a technical and advisory partner for regulated Bitcoin mining operations in Paraguay. 

At the center of the deal is a growing stockpile of confiscated bitcoin miners that Paraguayan authorities have seized from illegal operations across the country.

According to Morphware founder and CEO…

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Forget Iran, Bitcoin’s 2026 Path Will Be Determined By These 2 Factors, Jan Van Eck Says

Jan Van Eck argues that current volatility isn’t just about Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) but reflects a broader move across the entire crypto ecosystem, including large-cap names like Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Circle (NYSE:CRCL).

Why 2026 Is A Bearish Year For Bitcoin

Speaking on CNBC on Monday, Van Eck said geopolitical tensions involving Iran are prompting crypto users to think more seriously about how capital moves globally, particularly as crypto-friendly hubs like Dubai gain importance.

Addressing concerns that stablecoins could make Bitcoin less relevant, especially with BTC still roughly 50% below its October highs, Van Eck highlighted two enduring fundamentals:

Bitcoin’s fixed… Read more on Benzinga

Iran’s Bitcoin Usage Surges After US-Israel Airstrikes

On February 28, 2026, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes struck key targets across Tehran, including nuclear facilities, missile sites, and the Pasteur district, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei resided. 

Hours later, reports confirmed Khamenei’s death and the deaths of other senior officials. Amid the shock, Iranians turned to bitcoin as a channel for preserving value and moving funds outside the country’s collapsing financial infrastructure.

On-chain data compiled by Chainalysis shows a sharp surge in cryptoactivity from major Iranian exchanges in the hours following the strikes. 

Between February 28 and March 2, roughly $10.3 million in crypto assets flowed out of…

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Tether And Lugano Launch Plan ₿ Phase II, Targeting Global Leadership In Digital Infrastructure

Stablecoin-issuer Tether and the City of Lugano today announced the launch of Plan ₿ Phase II (2026–2030), marking an expansion of the city’s initiative to integrate digital assets and decentralized technologies into public and economic infrastructure. 

Building on the pilot projects of the original Plan ₿ launched in 2022, Phase II emphasizes structural development, technological resilience, and long-term digital sovereignty.

Over the past four years, Lugano has emerged as a European leader in real-world adoption of digital assets. More than 400 local merchants now accept Bitcoin, Tether’s USDT stablecoin, and the city’s own LVGA token.

Municipal services have…

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Trump-Linked American Bitcoin (ABTC) Expands Mining Fleet

American Bitcoin Corp. has announced a major expansion of its Bitcoin mining operations, adding 11,298 new miners that will increase the company’s total owned capacity by roughly 3.05 exahash per second (EH/s). 

This move raises the company’s total mining fleet to approximately 28.1 EH/s across 89,242 miners, with an average efficiency of 16 joules per terahash (J/TH).

The new machines, operating at ~13.5 J/TH, are expected to be delivered and deployed at the Drumheller site in March 2026, the company said. Once energized, the operational fleet will consist of 58,999 miners running at an estimated 25 EH/s with an efficiency of ~14.1 J/TH.

American Bitcoin’s strategy…

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