Blockchain
Standard Chartered Pushes for Wider Adoption of RippleNet Across Asia
Ripple technology is of great interest to financial service providers around the world. Standard Chartered is one of the many companies experimenting with these new tools. The firm has made it clear they want to expand the use of RippleNet to different countries. This is great news for the remittance-oriented payment tool.
RippleNet Brings Home the Bacon
In the world of finance, there is a growing demand for cheaper and faster cross-border payment solutions. Remittance companies do an adequate job but remain a bit cumbersome. Banks are looking for a different kind of solution in this regard. Blockchain-based ventures are of keen interest, and it seems RippleNet is on a lot of company’s radar right now.
Standard Chartered has experimented with RippleNet for some time now. The Singaporean financial firm is pleased with the service and functionality so far. So much even they aim to bring this technology to five additional countries as early as 2019. Streamlining cross-border payments is of great importance to this financial institution.
Positioning Singapore at the heart of remittance transfers will not be easy. Opening up new payment corridors between various regions is of great importance. At this time, Standard Chartered uses RippleNet for cross-border payments to India. That concept seemingly works well, and adding more supported countries to this venture makes a lot of sense. Standard Chartered is a well-respected entity in the Asian finance sector, which should make this expansion a relatively smooth process.
Shaking up Payments Across Asia
For now, it remains unclear which countries Standard Chartered wants to tackle. No information regarding this development was provided at this time. Ripple’s technology seemingly opens up a lot of new opportunities previously inaccessible. With a strong focus on instant settlement, low fees, and transparency, solutions such as RippleNet will continue to attract a lot of attention. Standard Chartered’s Gautam Jain expresses his feelings regarding this technology:
“The successful launch of our commercial cross-border payment service marks a significant milestone in the financial industry’s progress in applying distributed ledger technology for corporates. We are incredibly proud to be leading the way in this area. This affirms our commitment to digitisation and innovation as we continuously look at new way”.
It will take some time until solutions such as RippleNet truly disrupt Asia’s cross-border payment industry. By bringing this service to more regions, Standard Chartered heads in an interesting direction. Whether or not other financial firms will follow its lead, is a different matter. Blockchain-based ventures will continue to make an impact in this part of the world for some time to come.
Blockchain
Uniblock Raises $5.2M to Operate Blockchain Infrastructure
Uniblock, the managed infrastructure layer for blockchain applications, has raised $5.2 million in funding ($7.5M to date). The round brings together investors across the US, Japan, India, Singapore, and the Solana ecosystem, including SBI, AllianceDAO, CoinSwitch, Blockchain Founders Fund, Hustle Fund, AAF Management, NGC Ventures, Alchemy, MoonPay among others, with angel participation from executives at Kraken, Uber, and CoinList.
Alongside the raise, Uniblock has shipped a suite of AI-native developer tools built for how blockchain development actually happens today.
The Infrastructure Problem
Blockchain infrastructure has entered a new phase. Stripe has entered the crypto arena in a big way with its $1.1B acquisition of Bridge for stablecoins, Privy for wallets and now Tempo, its own Layer 1 blockchain for payments, with Mastercard, Visa, and UBS already testing on the network. Mainstream media networks broadcast Polymarket prediction market odds in live news tickers alongside war coverage and election results. Tokenized assets trade on regulated exchanges.
At the same time, AI agents are beginning to read and write blockchain data autonomously, and developers increasingly build through AI coding assistants rather than reading documentation line by line.
No single blockchain data provider covers every chain an application may need. No single provider can guarantee uptime. Without a managed orchestration layer, every team builds and maintains its own routing and fallback system. AI agents face the same fragmentation with less tolerance for it.
Uniblock Today
Uniblock operates the managed infrastructure layer between blockchain applications and the 55 data partners they depend on. One API key provides access to over 300 blockchains and more than 3,000 APIs, with patented auto-routing that handles provider selection, failover, and data normalization. Over 3,000 projects and 4,000 developers run on the platform. Customers including Plume Network, Stellar Blockchain, Hypernative, Oku Trade, nReach, and Apechain run production workloads. Plume Network and Apechain run Uniblock as managed RPC infrastructure through ecosystem partnerships.
AI-driven API consumption is a growing segment on the platform. It accelerates Uniblock’s own development, powers the product’s intelligent routing engine, and represents a new category of infrastructure consumer.
AI-Native Developer Tools
Alongside the raise, Uniblock has shipped a suite of AI-native developer tools designed for how blockchain development happens today:
- MCP Server. AI agents call Uniblock’s unified APIs directly with no humans in the loop. Live at a public endpoint.
- LLM-Optimized Documentation (llms.txt). Structured API reference built for AI consumption. When a developer’s AI assistant queries Uniblock integration details, the answer is accurate.
- Agent Skills. Ready-to-paste context for Claude, Codex, Cursor, and other AI coding environments. Developers drop these into their IDE so the AI writes correct Uniblock integration code on the first attempt.
“Two shifts are happening at once. Mainstream companies are bringing production workloads to blockchain, and AI agents are starting to read and write chain data autonomously. Both need the same thing: reliable infrastructure across hundreds of chains. That’s what Uniblock runs.”
Kevin Callahan, CEO and Co-Founder, Uniblock
“The next wave of blockchain adoption will depend on infrastructure that simplifies an increasingly complex ecosystem while maintaining dependable performance. Uniblock is building exactly that through a single API layer that simplifies multi-chain access for developers, enterprises, and AI-driven applications, and we are pleased to support the team as it enters this next phase of growth.”
Eiichiro So, CEO & Managing Director of SBI Ven Capital
“Stripe bought Bridge for $1.1B. Visa is embracing onchain. AI agents are transacting autonomously. All of them need reliable multi-chain infrastructure. Uniblock built it. 3,000 projects already run on the platform and that number only grows from here.”
Aly Madhavji, Managing Partner, Blockchain Founders Fund
Use of Funds
Capital will accelerate platform expansion: deepening chain coverage, scaling the intelligent orchestration engine, and building new API categories including stablecoins, wallets, and prediction markets. Investment continues in AI developer tooling, enterprise go-to-market, and ecosystem partnerships across the US, Japan, India, Singapore, and the Solana ecosystem. The team is scaling engineering and operations from its Canadian headquarters.
About Uniblock
Uniblock is the managed infrastructure layer for blockchain applications. A single API connection provides access to 300+ blockchains and 55 data partners through patented auto-routing with intelligent orchestration. AI-native developer tools, including an MCP server, LLM-optimized documentation, and Agent Skills, are live and in production. 3,000 projects and 4,000 developers run on the platform. Headquartered in Canada. Visit uniblock.dev.
Blockchain
OmenX Secures Multi-Million Dollar Seed Funding to Launch Industry-First Leveraged Prediction Market; Public Testnet Now Live
Led by a robust background in leverage executives, OmenX introduces perpetual-style mechanics to the $1B+ forecasting sector, enabling institutional-grade hedging and capital efficiency.
OmenX, a prediction trading platform that turns real-world events into tradable markets, today announced the successful close of its multi-million dollar angel funding round. The announcement marks the official launch of the OmenX Public Testnet, bringing in one of the world’s first leverage mechanics to the rapidly expanding prediction market industry.
The funding round saw participation from a strategic consortium of North American and global venture firms, including Paramita VC, Penrose Ventures, and M77 Ventures, alongside the founders of several centralized exchanges.
While platforms like Polymarket have high volumes, the sector remains hindered by capital inefficiency, often requiring users to lock up substantial liquidity in static positions until settlement. OmenX transforms this experience by introducing a high-performance event based trading environment where capital works harder. By integrating the seamless, high velocity mechanics of crypto perpetuals, OmenX allows traders to amplify their conviction through leverage while maintaining the flexibility to enter and exit positions instantly. This shift from static betting to a fluid, capital efficient marketplace significantly lowers the barrier to entry, enabling users to manage global risk and capture market movements with the speed and seamless action on the platform.
“The world has seen what prediction markets can do for price discovery. Now, OmenX is showing what they can do for professional traders,” remarked James, Founder of OmenX and Former Head of Futures at Binance and Bybit. “We aren’t just building a prediction market; we are building the infrastructure to treat global events as a liquid, tradeable asset class with institutional-grade leverage.
The OmenX team, composed of experts in the scaling leverage ecosystem, has engineered a matching engine capable of handling the volatility of global news cycles. Following the Testnet launch, OmenX will introduce AI-driven forecasting agents, further decentralizing the “truth layer” of the internet.
The OmenX Public Testnet is now open to the global community. Participants are invited to join the OmenX Points System, a rewards framework designed to incentivize the stress-testing of the platform’s leveraged mechanics and liquidity depth. OmenX is positioning itself for a comprehensive Mainnet launch on Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Coinbase. By building on the Base ecosystem, OmenX ensures institutional-grade security and high-speed execution for every trade. Further details will be released via official channels.
ABOUT OMENX
OmenX is the foundational infrastructure for the next generation of event-based derivatives. By merging the speed of top-tier exchange engines with the transparency of on-chain data, OmenX makes outcome-based trading liquid, flexible, and accessible to a global audience.
To learn more about OmenX, please visit: https://beta.omenx.com/
Blockchain
TradFi-DeFi Convergence Accelerates as Real-World Asset Tokenization Gains Institutional Momentum
I-ON Digital, Instruxi and RAAC partnership illustrates emerging infrastructure linking gold-backed assets, stablecoins, and on-chain liquidity markets
The convergence of traditional finance (“TradFi”) and decentralized finance (“DeFi”) is moving from concept to implementation, as real-world asset (RWA) tokenization begins to establish a new foundation for global capital markets.
For small-cap investors and institutional observers alike, this shift represents a critical inflection point: the emergence of infrastructure capable of connecting regulated, asset-backed financial systems with blockchain-based liquidity and settlement networks.
From Fragmentation to Integration
Historically, TradFi and DeFi have operated in parallel:
- TradFi offers regulatory structure, institutional trust, and deep capital markets
- DeFi delivers programmability, continuous liquidity, and capital efficiency
Bridging these systems has remained a central challenge until the recent rise of tokenized RWAs, which allow tangible assets to be represented, financed, and deployed on-chain.
Market participants increasingly view RWA tokenization as one of the most significant growth vectors in digital finance, with long-term projections ranging into the hundreds of billions, and potentially trillions, of dollars.
Infrastructure in Practice: I-ON Digital and RAAC.io
A growing number of platforms are now moving beyond theory, building integrated systems that connect asset origination, stablecoin issuance, and decentralized liquidity.
I-ON Digital Corp., in partnership with Instruxi (https://www.instruxi.io/) RAAC (https://raac.io), provides a case study in how this convergence is being operationalized.
At the core of this model:
- Digitized Gold-Backed Assets (IONau): Real-world gold exposure is structured into a blockchain-compatible financial instrument designed to align with traditional secured asset frameworks.
- Stablecoin Layer (pmUSD): These assets support the issuance of pmUSD, a stablecoin engineered to maintain stability through structured collateralization tied to underlying real-world value.
- Liquidity Infrastructure: pmUSD is deployed across established decentralized finance protocols and liquidity pools, enabling yield generation, market depth, and continuous capital deployment.
This vertically integrated approach, linking asset backing, issuance, and liquidity, addresses one of the primary limitations of earlier digital asset models: the disconnect between real-world value and on-chain utility.
The Role of Liquidity: From Concept to Market Depth
A defining feature of the next phase of digital finance is not simply tokenization, but liquidity at scale.
Deep, programmatic liquidity pools surrounding instruments like pmUSD are critical for:
- Efficient price discovery
- Scalable yield generation
- Institutional-grade entry and exit pathways
- Reduced volatility through structured collateral frameworks
By establishing liquidity infrastructure alongside asset issuance, platforms can move beyond static token models toward dynamic financial ecosystems capable of supporting meaningful capital flows.
Why It Matters for Small-Cap Investors
For investors focused on emerging growth sectors, the TradFi-to-DeFi bridge represents a foundational shift comparable to the early development of electronic trading or exchange-traded funds.
Key considerations include:
- Early Infrastructure Positioning: Companies building compliant, scalable rails may capture disproportionate value as adoption accelerates
- Institutional Tailwinds: Evolving regulatory clarity around stablecoins and digital assets is lowering barriers to institutional participation
- Expanded Addressable Markets: Tokenization introduces liquidity and accessibility to asset classes historically constrained by geography or structure
- Compounding Network Effects: Integrated ecosystems—combining asset backing, stablecoins, and liquidity—can scale rapidly as usage increases
A Structural Shift in Capital Markets
The integration of TradFi and DeFi is increasingly being viewed not as a replacement of existing systems, but as an extension that enhances efficiency, transparency, and capital mobility.
As real-world assets move on-chain and liquidity infrastructure matures, the ability to seamlessly connect regulated financial assets with decentralized markets may define the next generation of financial leaders.
About I-ON Digital Corp.
I-ON Digital Corp. is a U.S.-based digital asset infrastructure company focused on real-world-asset tokenization, regulated gold-backed digital instruments, and digital asset banking services. The Company’s platform enables institutions to digitize, tokenize, manage, and distribute physical and in-situ assets within compliant, treasury-grade frameworks.
Blockchain
Mansory Partners with LUKSO to Bring Luxury Automotive Culture Onchain with Universal Profiles
A strategic partnership brings Mansory into the LUKSO ecosystem through validator participation, economic alignment, Universal Profile onboarding, strategic introductions, and early product testing.
For three decades, Mansory has built its name around custom automotive craft, material precision, and a clear sense of identity. Through a strategic partnership with the Foundation for the New Creative Economies, or FNCE, and LUKSO, the company is now bringing that same standard into web3.
This partnership is built around participation. It brings Mansory into the LUKSO ecosystem through validator participation, economic alignment around Mansory utility token and LUKSO, Universal Profile onboarding, strategic introductions, and early product testing. That mix matters because it ties brand presence to infrastructure and product.
Mansory brings a premium brand standard to onchain identity
Mansory has always operated with a strong point of view. The brand is known for custom builds where finish, materials, and detail are part of the product itself. A move into digital identity only makes sense if that same level of control and authorship can carry across.
That is where LUKSO fits. LUKSO was built for digital identity, brand-owned presence, and new forms of community participation. Universal Profiles give brands a native way to hold assets, publish identity, manage permissions, and interact across applications without reducing the brand to a wallet address.
For Mansory, that matters because digital presence cannot be a side layer. It has to feel official, intentional, and connected to the standards the brand already applies in the physical world.
“We built Universal Profiles so that digital ownership actually means something. Mansory understands that. They have spent decades making sure every detail of a car is intentional. That is the same philosophy. When a brand like Mansory puts identity onchain, it is not a tech experiment. It is the next logical step for how they already think about craftsmanship.” – Fabian Vogelsteller, Co-Founder of LUKSO
FNCE also matters here. As the independent Swiss foundation backing the LUKSO ecosystem, FNCE sits at the point where cultural use cases, ecosystem growth, and partner development meet. Its role gives this partnership a clear frame: bring a premium cultural brand into the ecosystem in a way that can support actual product and identity work.
What the partnership includes
The partnership can be explained through four main working parts. Together they show how Mansory enters the LUKSO ecosystem at both the brand level and the infrastructure level.
Validator participation and network alignment
The first part is validator participation and network alignment. The announced partnership includes Mansory contributing to validator participation on the LUKSO blockchain network through Stakingverse. That places the brand inside the network rather than at the edge of it.
The partnership also includes economic alignment around Mansory’s utility token (MNSRY) and LUKSO. LUKSO will become a staker of the Mansory token, which creates a shared incentive structure across both ecosystems.
Strategic introductions and advisory
The second part is strategic introductions and advisory. Mansory brings decades of access across luxury automotive, fashion, and high-net-worth lifestyle circles. LUKSO brings access to a builder-led ecosystem of creative brands, developers, and digital-native communities.
That two-way access is one of the strongest parts of the story because it makes the partnership useful in both directions. Mansory gains proximity to new onchain tools and communities. LUKSO gains a partner with real brand reach in premium cultural sectors that are often discussed in web3 but rarely engaged in a serious way.
Universal Profile onboarding
The third part is Universal Profile onboarding. Mansory will onboard onto Universal Profiles on LUKSO and establish an official onchain brand identity. Creating a brand-owned presence that can travel across applications and community touchpoints.
Universal Profiles are smart-contract based digital accounts designed for identity, assets, metadata, permissions, and interaction across platforms. For Mansory, that creates a base layer for authenticated brand presence, direct community connection, gated experiences, and future digital touchpoints tied to the brand.
Early product testing
The fourth part is early product testing. Mansory will act as an early tester for LUKSO’s upcoming product releases and give feedback from the perspective of a premium global brand. That matters because LUKSO is not only gaining a recognizable partner. It is gaining product input from a company known for exacting standards around finish, presentation, and user expectation.
This feedback loop is also useful for the ecosystem. Products shaped with demanding brand input are more likely to meet the needs of cultural brands, premium communities, and teams that care about the full user experience rather than a narrow technical feature set.
“We have always pushed boundaries in automotive design. Partnering with LUKSO is a natural extension of that mindset, bringing the same standard of excellence to our digital presence. Universal Profiles give us a way to connect with our community that matches the exclusivity of what we build.” – Matthieu Humbert de la Touche, Head of Growth at Mansory
What this means for collectors, communities, and brands
For collectors and communities, the value of this partnership is not abstract. A brand like Mansory carries a strong identity and a defined relationship with its audience. Bringing that relationship onchain creates room for clearer brand verification, closer community touchpoints, and new forms of participation that feel native to the brand rather than bolted on later.
For LUKSO, the story is also wider than one brand announcement. It shows that culture-led infrastructure can attract partners who care about presentation, authorship, and community standards. That does not mean every luxury brand will move the same way. It does mean there is now a clearer example of how a premium brand can enter web3 through identity, infrastructure, and product collaboration at the same time.
Onchain presence works best when it reflects how a brand already thinks about ownership, community, and value. Mansory is not changing its standards to fit the medium. It is testing whether the medium is mature enough to carry the standards it already has.
About Mansory
MANSORY is a luxury automobile modification company that has spent more than three decades shaping a distinct position in the automotive world through custom design, premium materials, and close attention to detail. The brand works across some of the best-known names in the sector, including Aston Martin, Audi, and Bentley.
Its recent move into web3 through the MNSRY token gives Mansory a growing digital community layer. Source materials describe token-holder access to community benefits, merchandise discounts, exclusive events, a virtual garage, and limited-release opportunities. Final public wording for those benefits should match the latest approved Mansory copy.
About LUKSO
LUKSO is a Layer 1 blockchain built for digital identity, creativity, and culture. Founded by Fabian Vogelsteller and Marjorie Hernandez, LUKSO introduces standards and tools designed to help brands, creators, and communities build expressive and verifiable digital presence onchain.
About FNCE
The Foundation for the New Creative Economies, or FNCE, is the independent Swiss foundation backing the LUKSO ecosystem. Its role is to enable, nurture, and expand creative, cultural, and identity-centric onchain innovation built on LUKSO.
Blockchain
Rain Launches an OpenClaw and AI Agent-Ready SDK for Building Independent Prediction Market Platforms and a $5M Grant Program
Rain, the decentralized prediction markets protocol, announces the launch of its AI agent-ready SDK and a $5 million grant program to support developers and creators worldwide in building, launching, and monetizing their own independent prediction market platforms. Open to builders and creators globally, the initiative aims to accelerate the growth of decentralized prediction markets by giving builders access to the funding and infrastructure needed to launch new platforms on top of the Rain protocol.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang recently described OpenClaw as part of a broader shift in AI, from systems that answer questions to ones that can actually perform work. OpenClaw lets us have a personal agent, much like Microsoft let us have a personal computer. Rain is built precisely for this shift, exposing the full stack of prediction markets – creation, pricing, trading, liquidity, and resolution – as simple, composable primitives. With Rain, builders using OpenClaw agents can take a single prompt and generate a live prediction market without manual coding or centralized gatekeepers. This allows anyone with an idea to turn it into a functioning market product more quickly than traditional development would allow.
Prediction market platforms have dominated public discourse over the past few months and have quickly gained unprecedented popularity. Yet even as platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi pursue valuations approaching $20 billion and present themselves as part of a more open financial future, much of the ecosystem remains far more centralized than it appears. Most platforms offer APIs and SDKs that limit interaction to markets the platform itself created. This creates an environment where developers can build discovery, analytics, or trading tools around these markets, but they cannot create new ones independently.
As interest in prediction markets continues to grow, Rain is opening the system up to a wider group of builders. Developers and AI agents will have access not only to existing markets, but also to the infrastructure needed to create and launch their own applications and prediction markets directly on the protocol. The $5 million grant program will allocate $3 million directly to development building on the protocol, while the remaining $2 million will fund a daily rewards system designed to incentivize ongoing activity across the ecosystem. Rain is the first protocol in the industry that lets anyone create and launch fully functional prediction markets on any topic, in any language. Builders maintain full control over their product, branding, and regulatory strategy, while using Rain as the underlying technology layer.
The program also gives builders a direct path to participate in the category’s growth. Every builder earns a flat 0.5% share of the trading volume they generate. The commission is paid directly from Rain’s token allocation, creating a predictable revenue stream for builders who drive activity on the platform.
“In the past year, prediction markets have become one of the most talked about sectors in the market, and Rain is now changing how these platforms are built,” says Roy Shaham, CEO of Rain. “We designed our SDK specifically for OpenClaw and AI agents, allowing anyone to take an initial prompt to a fully live, functional platform. With a $5M pool that is nearly double the industry standard, we give creators the resources to move beyond just pulling data and actually launch their own platforms and create their own markets. By making it easy for anyone to bring their ideas to life with OpenClaw and Rain’s SDK, we are building a colorful ecosystem that pushes the boundaries of what prediction markets can become.”
About Rain:
Rain is a decentralized protocol that provides the infrastructure for anyone to build their own prediction market platforms or applications. Using the machine-readable Rain SDK, developers and AI agents can launch independent markets and niche apps. Rain features private, invitation-only markets, AMM, account abstraction, AI market and dispute resolution, cross-chain support, and more. For more information, visit: https://www.rain.one/.
Blockchain
Frigg expands tokenized renewable energy investment platform
Frigg, a Swiss fintech startup focused on bringing renewable energy infrastructure investments on-chain, announced continued expansion of its platform following recognition at the European Blockchain Convention startup competition, where the company received second prize.
The platform connects institutional investors with renewable energy developers, facilitating investments in solar, wind, battery storage, and hydropower projects globally. According to the company, Frigg has already supported several multi-million-dollar financing deals in renewable energy infrastructure.
Tokenized infrastructure as a real-world asset category
While many tokenized real-world asset (RWA) initiatives have focused on sectors such as real estate, commodities, and art, Frigg addresses renewable energy infrastructure. These infrastructure projects often generate revenue through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) and electricity sales.
Frigg’s platform is designed to support the full investment lifecycle, including project sourcing, due diligence, financial modeling, and post-investment monitoring. The company’s internal risk analysis framework, known as the Frigg Score, evaluates project economics using metrics such as projected internal rates of return (IRR) and debt service coverage ratios.
Multiple investment structures
The platform supports different types of investment structures depending on investor risk profiles. These include senior secured debt positions backed by operational renewable assets, as well as equity or junior debt positions in development-stage projects.
According to Frigg, senior secured infrastructure debt positions can offer projected yields in the 8–10% range, depending on the structure of the financing and contractual revenue arrangements. Development-stage investments may offer higher potential returns but also carry additional construction and market risks.
The platform’s tokenization framework allows investors to access fractional exposure across multiple projects, geographies, and financing structures.
Example project financing
One example of a project facilitated through the platform is a 5 MW solar photovoltaic installation with battery storage in Norway.
Project details include:
- Project: 5 MW Solar PV + 2 MWh Battery Storage, Norway
- Structure: senior secured debt
- Minimum investment: $100,000
- Target yield: approximately 9.5% annually
- Term: 7 years
- Collateral: operational solar and battery storage assets supported by power purchase agreements
Recent infrastructure financing
Frigg recently facilitated CHF 4.5 million in construction financing for Hydropower AS, a Norwegian developer building a 9.8 MW solar park combined with battery storage capacity.
The Vikersund project has since moved from financing to operation, and the company reports that it is currently working with the developer on refinancing and potential expansion opportunities.
Institutional due diligence framework
All projects on the platform undergo technical, financial, and legal review before being made available to investors. The platform provides project documentation including financial projections, cash flow models, and risk assessments.
While investments are tokenized for settlement and fractional ownership, the company states that the underlying legal structures remain aligned with institutional financing standards.
Qualified investors interested in renewable energy infrastructure opportunities can review current projects and platform information through Frigg’s platform. The company provides project documentation, technical specifications, and investment terms for each opportunity prior to participation.
About Frigg
Frigg is a Swiss fintech company developing blockchain infrastructure for renewable energy financing. The platform connects institutional investors with renewable energy developers and supports tokenized investments in infrastructure projects worldwide.
Blockchain
Former JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort Traders Launch Crypto Prop Firm After Paying Out USD2.5 Billion in Fintech
Velotrade enters the crypto funded trading market with institutional foundations, aligned incentives, and a rule set built from scratch for crypto traders
Velotrade, founded by former institutional derivatives traders from JP Morgan, Dresdner Kleinwort, and Bank of America, today announced the launch of its crypto funded trading platform. The firm offers traders the opportunity to operate a prop trading account without risking their own capital. The account sizes range from $5,000 to $200,000, with considerable profit splits.
Velotrade is not a rebrand, a pivot from forex, or a first venture. The founding team brings combined decades of experience in capital markets, risk management, and financial technology. Their previous company, Velotrade Management Limited, operates a fintech trade finance platform that has paid out more than $2.5 billion to clients worldwide since 2016. That business continues to operate today as a separate legal entity. The founding team and the Velotrade name carry a track record covered by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq. The crypto funded trading platform is operated by Velotrade Re Limited, a separate Hong Kong company incorporated in November 2025.
The decision to enter the crypto prop market came from a simple observation: most firms in the space are not built by or for traders.
“We looked at the crypto prop market and found firms run by people with little experience in trading, in risk management, or in running a financial services company,” said Gianluca Pizzituti, CEO and co-founder of Velotrade. “That shows. It shows in the rules, in the structure, in the fine print. We thought: there is an opportunity to build something the industry actually needs.”
A Different Business Model
Most prop firms generate the majority of their revenue from challenge fees. The more traders fail, the more fees they collect. Velotrade is built on the opposite logic.
The firm uses institutional liquidity bridges and AI driven hedging to mirror selected trader positions in real markets. When a funded trader is profitable, Velotrade earns alongside them. The business model only works if traders succeed.
“We are not here to collect challenge fees and hope people fail,” Pizzituti said. “Our revenue model is tied to trader performance. That changes everything about how you design rules, and how you treat the people trading your capital.”
Rules Written for Crypto, Not Borrowed from Forex
The majority of prop firms offering crypto instruments today were originally built for forex. Their evaluation frameworks reflect that: trailing drawdowns calibrated for pip range volatility, consistency rules, weekend holding bans, and restricted news trading windows. Applied to a 24/7 asset class with a fundamentally different liquidity and volatility profile, these rules create avoidable breaches that end funded accounts for reasons unrelated to trading skill.
Velotrade was designed from the ground up for crypto. The evaluation framework includes:
- No consistency rule. Traders are not penalised for having one large winning day or for varying position sizes based on conviction.
- No time limit. There is no cap on evaluation duration. Traders move at their own pace.
- News trading permitted. No restricted windows around market events.
- Weekend holding permitted. Positions can be held through weekends across all account tiers.
Two evaluation formats are available. The 2 step challenge targets traders who want maximum drawdown room (10% overall, 5% daily). The 1 step challenge offers a faster path to funding with tighter parameters (7% overall, 4% daily). Both run on DXtrade.
The full rule set is published on velotrade.com and written with institutional grade clarity. The stated standard: a trader should be able to read the rules once and know exactly where they stand.
Crypto Only
Velotrade does not offer forex, indices, or equities. The platform trades a wide range of cryptocurrencies with leverage of up to 6x on BTC and ETH. The decision is deliberate: build for one asset class and do it properly, rather than bolt crypto onto an existing infrastructure.
Payout Structure
Funded traders can request their first payout after 14 calendar days. Subsequent payouts are available weekly on request. All payouts are processed within 24 hours in USDC or USDT.
About the Founders
Gianluca Pizzituti, Chief Executive Officer
Formerly at the derivatives desk at Dresdner Kleinwort in London. Founded and ran a proprietary high frequency trading firm in FX and equity indices out of Singapore. In 2016, he founded Velotrade in Hong Kong and scaled the trade finance platform to over USD 2.5 billion in disbursements worldwide.
Vittorio De Angelis, Executive Chairman
Over 30 years in capital markets and risk management. Traded equity derivatives at JP Morgan and Dresdner Kleinwort in London, rising to Co Head of Equity Derivatives at Bank of America. Later served as Head of Brokerage at a global broker in Hong Kong.
About Velotrade
Velotrade Re Limited is a Hong Kong based company operating a crypto funded trading platform for disciplined traders. The founding team previously built Velotrade Management Limited (est. 2016), a trade finance platform that has paid out over $2.5 billion to clients worldwide and has been covered by Bloomberg, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq. The two companies are separate legal entities.
Challenge options, pricing, and the complete rule set are available at http://velotrade.com.
Blockchain
AIntuition Collection: Turning NFTs Into Real Access and Digital Privileges
The NFT industry continues to mature, evolving far beyond simple digital collectibles. Today’s most compelling projects are those that combine scarcity, community, and real-world utility. The AIntuition Collection is a strong example of this new generation of NFTs, offering holders a digital asset that doubles as a gateway to exclusive benefits within a growing ecosystem.
The collection is designed around a clear vision: NFT ownership should unlock tangible value. Rather than existing purely as art or speculative tokens, AIntuition NFTs function as membership keys that activate special privileges inside the AIntuition platform.
With a limited supply, gamified reveal mechanics, and a structured reward system, the project introduces an engaging model that could appeal to both NFT collectors and users interested in Web3 utility.
A Carefully Limited Supply
Scarcity has always been a core driver of value in the NFT space, and the AIntuition Collection follows this principle with a carefully controlled release structure.
The full collection is capped at 15,000 NFTs, ensuring long-term exclusivity. However, the launch will take place in multiple phases.
The first season introduces 5,000 NFTs, allowing the community to grow organically while maintaining demand for future releases. Each NFT is priced at 250 USDC, positioning the collection at an accessible entry point compared with many premium NFT projects.
This structure ensures that early participants can become part of the ecosystem before later seasons expand the collection.
A Unique “Mystery Chest” Purchase Experience
One of the most engaging aspects of the AIntuition Collection is the way NFTs are distributed.
Instead of immediately receiving a visible NFT rarity, buyers purchase a digital chest containing an unrevealed NFT. The rarity remains hidden until the holder decides to open the chest.
When revealed, the NFT randomly becomes one of three rarity levels:
- Bronze – 3,000 NFTs
- Silver – 1,500 NFTs
- Gold – 500 NFTs
This system introduces an element of excitement similar to opening a digital loot box. Collectors may purchase multiple chests, hoping to uncover one of the rarer NFTs.
At the same time, the rarity distribution ensures that higher-tier NFTs remain scarce within the ecosystem.
Simple Participation Through OpenSea
Joining the AIntuition ecosystem is designed to be straightforward.
Participants simply connect their wallet to OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces in the world, and purchase an NFT chest.
Once the NFT is revealed, it appears in the user’s wallet and can then be linked to their personal account within the AIntuition platform.
This connection activates the privileges associated with the NFT’s rarity level.
Importantly, the platform automatically checks the wallet daily to confirm the NFT is still present. If the NFT is transferred or sold, the associated privileges are removed. This mechanism ensures that benefits always belong to the current holder.
Utility That Starts Immediately
AIntuition NFTs are designed to provide value from the moment they are connected to the platform.
Each rarity tier unlocks specific benefits, creating a structured reward system.
Bronze NFTs
Bronze NFTs provide entry-level access to the ecosystem and include:
- Access to the private AIntuition club
- Priority support
- $250 worth of AIN tokens
- Access to exclusive deposit opportunities
This tier ensures that even the most common NFTs deliver meaningful participation.
Silver NFTs
Silver NFTs introduce a higher level of service and rewards.
Benefits include:
- Access to the private club
- A personal manager
- $500 worth of AIN tokens
- Access to exclusive deposits
This tier offers a more personalized experience, making it particularly attractive to users who want deeper involvement in the platform.
Gold NFTs
The rarest NFTs in the collection are Gold, limited to just 500 units.
Gold holders receive premium privileges such as:
- Access to the private club
- A personal VIP manager
- Invitations to offline events
- $750 worth of AIN tokens
- Access to exclusive deposits
These NFTs represent the highest level of engagement within the AIntuition ecosystem.
Building a Community Around Utility
Beyond rewards and rarity, AIntuition emphasizes community building.
All NFT holders gain entry to a private club where they can interact with other members of the ecosystem.
This community-driven approach encourages collaboration, discussion, and networking between participants.
Offline events for Gold members further strengthen this connection by bringing the digital community into real-world interactions.
A New Direction for NFTs
As the Web3 landscape evolves, the most successful projects are those that go beyond hype and deliver lasting value.
The AIntuition Collection reflects this shift by combining scarcity, gamification, and practical utility into a single NFT ecosystem.
With its limited supply, reward structure, and membership-style benefits, the collection represents a forward-looking approach to how NFTs can function.
For collectors and Web3 enthusiasts searching for NFTs with real privileges, AIntuition offers a model that highlights the growing role of utility-driven digital ownership.
Blockchain
Investio Launches New Trading Platform With Enhanced Security and AI-Driven Risk Tools
- Retail trading continues to account for a significant share of global market activity, with industry observations indicating that execution-related factors — including timing errors, exposure misjudgment, and slippage during volatility — contribute to a substantial portion of retail trading losses.
- As trading environments become faster and more information-dense, platform structure and execution clarity are increasingly seen as critical elements influencing outcomes.
- Against this backdrop, Investio has recently launched a new trading platform designed to strengthen execution transparency, enhance system stability, and introduce AI-supported risk visibility tools for retail traders operating in volatile market conditions.
Investio’s newly launched platform focuses on improving system reliability and helping traders better understand exposure before executing orders. The platform is designed to operate consistently during periods of market volatility while reducing cognitive overload caused by dense real-time information flows.
Key features of the platform include:
- Enhanced security infrastructure designed to strengthen account protection and transaction integrity.
- AI-supported exposure insights, helping traders assess position risk before execution.
- Improved execution stability during periods of high market activity
- Streamlined information hierarchy to support faster and more informed decision-making.
These capabilities aim to support traders operating in fast-moving markets where execution timing and system predictability play an increasingly important role in trading outcomes.
Executive Commentary
“Retail participation remains strong, but market conditions continue to place pressure on trading outcomes,” said the CEO of Investio.
“The new platform was developed to improve execution clarity, strengthen system reliability, and provide tools that help traders understand risk more clearly before making decisions.”
He added that technological expectations among retail traders have evolved alongside market conditions.
“Traders today operate in faster, more information-dense environments,” the CEO said. “Features such as AI-driven risk insights and enhanced security protections are increasingly expected as standard components of modern trading platforms.”
Market Context
Retail trading remains a meaningful contributor to overall market liquidity, supported by widespread access to digital trading infrastructure.
At the same time, volatility surrounding macroeconomic developments, liquidity shifts, and rapid price movements has increased the importance of consistent execution performance and clear exposure visibility.
Within this environment, trading platforms are increasingly evaluated based on how reliably they perform during periods of market stress and how clearly they present risk information prior to trade execution.
About Investio
Investio is a trading platform provider focused on delivering secure, transparent, and technology-driven solutions for retail market participants. The company develops infrastructure designed to support reliable execution, clear risk visibility, and user-focused trading environments across global financial markets.
For more information, visit: https://investio.uk/
Blockchain
Voltage Launches First Payment-Volume Line of Credit: Bitcoin Finality, USD Settlement
Voltage Launches Industry’s First Programmatic Revolving Line of Credit: Bitcoin Finality with USD Settlement
Voltage, a leader in Bitcoin infrastructure, today announced the launch of Voltage Credit, the first revolving line of credit that delivers instant payment finality and the capability to settle entirely in USD. The product lets businesses send payments that clear in seconds, not days, while paying back their credit line in dollars from a standard bank account, or in Bitcoin.
For enterprises frustrated by settlement delays, chargeback exposure, and the cost of legacy payment rails, Voltage Credit offers a new model: tap a revolving credit line on demand, move value instantly over Bitcoin rails, and never touch cryptocurrency on your balance sheet. The result is working capital efficiency without treasury complexity.
Voltage Credit arrives on the heels of the company’s role powering the first publicly reported $1 million Lightning Network payment between Secure Digital Markets and Kraken, a milestone that demonstrated Lightning’s readiness for institutional-scale settlement. With Voltage Credit, the company extends that infrastructure to address one of the most persistent barriers to enterprise Bitcoin adoption: working capital efficiency.
“Businesses shouldn’t have to choose between the speed and cost advantages of Bitcoin rails and the financial flexibility they need to operate,” said Graham Krizek, CEO of Voltage. “Until now, using Bitcoin for payments meant managing cryptocurrency on your balance sheet. Voltage Credit eliminates that tradeoff. Send payments instantly over Lightning, denominated in USD or Bitcoin based on what fits your business, and deploy your capital toward growth. That’s what Bitcoin infrastructure should look like for the enterprise.”
Deferred Settlement In Dollars with a USD Line of Credit
Unlike traditional Bitcoin lending products that focus on retail holders borrowing against static collateral, Voltage Credit is built for operational business needs. The product functions as a true revolving credit line: businesses draw only what they need, pay interest only on what they use, and restore their available credit immediately upon repayment. Credit limits can grow with usage, scaling alongside the business as transaction volume increases. And because Voltage Credit is natively integrated into the Voltage Platform, their credit line is instantly accessible wherever the business already operates, programmatically available across the same rails that power your payments:
Key capabilities include:
- USD settlement flexibility. Credit can be repaid in dollars from a standard bank account, eliminating forced BTC liquidations and simplifying accounting.
- Revenue-based underwriting. Because Voltage powers the underlying payment infrastructure, credit limits can scale based on actual transaction volume—not just static collateral.
- Works with Lightning and on-chain. Businesses can move value via whichever Bitcoin rail fits their use case.
“For CFOs and treasury teams, this solves a real problem,” said Bobby Shell, VP of Marketing at Voltage. “You get the instant settlement and near-zero fees of Lightning without the treasury complexity. No forced crypto exposure, no guessing how much capital to lock up. Just a revolving credit line you can tap on demand, denominated in USD or Bitcoin based on what fits your business. It’s the flexibility finance teams have been asking for since Bitcoin entered the enterprise conversation.”
Bitcoin Rails for Any Business
Voltage Credit is attracting interest from both cryptocurrency-native companies and traditional enterprises exploring Bitcoin payment infrastructure for the first time. For businesses outside the crypto ecosystem, the appeal is straightforward: Lightning Network offers instant, global settlement at a fraction of the cost of legacy payment rails, and Voltage Credit means they can access those benefits while keeping their treasury and accounting entirely in USD, if desired.
For enterprises already operating in digital assets, whether exchanges, payment service providers, or miners, traditional financing has presented a structural problem. Banks typically do not recognize Bitcoin revenue as an asset for underwriting purposes, while existing crypto lending products require businesses to lock up BTC as collateral, creating tax events and exposing corporate treasuries to volatility.
Voltage Credit addresses both audiences by treating payment flows as the high-quality signal they are. Businesses processing consistent volume through Voltage infrastructure can access working capital that scales with their operations, bridging the gap between Bitcoin-denominated revenue and USD-denominated expenses without liquidating assets.
The product features no origination fees and a simple fixed APR on outstanding balances. Voltage Credit is currently available to qualified businesses in the United States.
About Voltage
Voltage is a Bitcoin infrastructure company providing enterprise-grade solutions for regulated, high-volume businesses. The Voltage platform enables enterprises to integrate Bitcoin payments with enterprise SLAs, managed infrastructure, and capital-efficient liquidity solutions. From powering instant settlement to providing revenue-based lines of credit, Voltage builds the operational engine for businesses moving value on Bitcoin rails.
More information is available at voltage.cloud.
-
Blockchain2 weeks agoUniblock Raises $5.2M to Operate Blockchain Infrastructure
-
Blockchain3 weeks agoMansory Partners with LUKSO to Bring Luxury Automotive Culture Onchain with Universal Profiles
-
Blockchain2 weeks agoTradFi-DeFi Convergence Accelerates as Real-World Asset Tokenization Gains Institutional Momentum
-
Blockchain2 weeks agoOmenX Secures Multi-Million Dollar Seed Funding to Launch Industry-First Leveraged Prediction Market; Public Testnet Now Live
-
News1 week agoSoma Energy Emerges from Stealth with $7 Million in Funding to Unlock Power for the AI Economy
-
Technologies5 days agoHoonartek Launches ClearView – An Agentic Decision Layer That Activates the Data Estate and Replaces SaaS Bloat
-
Business4 days agoSandmark Crypto Intelligence Report Shows Credible Insight Drives Investment Confidence
-
News2 days agoTrintech Advances Financial Close with Agentic AI Built for Finance

You must be logged in to post a comment Login