Category: News

Bank Leumi is stepping into the shadows of DeFi with a spooky cute partnership alongside Galaxy Digital 🖤 to bring Bitcoin (BTC) Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) trading live for about 2.5 million retail users starting early 2027.

Leumi Unlocks Digital Assets Through Galaxy ✨

Customers at Leumi plus its mobile arm PEPPER will dive into trades inside a secured slice of the Leumi Trade app where everything stays regulated and safe. GalaxyOne Institutional powers the platform while custody runs on Galaxy infrastructure that once went by GK8.

Regulator Blocked the 2022 Attempt 🕸️

This whole move still needs the green light from the Bank of Israel. Back in 2022 Leumi tried a similar BTC and ETH offer via Paxos but regulators paused it cold.
Rules have thawed since then with the Banking Supervision Department dropping automatic holds on crypto deposits over NIS 100000 as of mid-July. Israel pulled in roughly $22 billion in on-chain value over the past year according to Chainalysis.
A fresh draft from the Capital Market Authority could soon let licensed firms trade the top 50 digital assets if they clear a $500 million market cap bar plus holder limits and proper registrations in spots like the EU or New York State.

Custody Traces Back to Celsius 🌙

Galaxy snagged its custody tech straight from the Celsius wreckage after the bankrupt firm dropped $115 million on GK8 a Tel Aviv outfit. That purchase added 40 staff and a local office with co-founder Lior Lamesh now steering Galaxy Israel.
“The future of finance will run on open programmable rails and we believe the banks that move first will define the era that follows” stated Lior Lamesh Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Israel.
“This initiative represents a significant pillar of the bank’s innovation strategy and enables us to provide customers with simple secure and regulated access to trading digital assets” said Maya Ravia Head of Strategy at Bank Leumi.

---

Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

---

US President Donald Trump will reportedly attend a high-profile gathering at the White House next week even as Washington’s efforts to establish a comprehensive digital asset framework remain unfinished.

Spooky White House Gathering 🌙

Some of the key industry participants expected at the event will come from Ripple, Coinbase, Chainlink, Paradigm, Kalshi, and a16z 🖤. The meeting scheduled to take place on August 19 will bring some of the most influential US-based crypto companies together with the heads of the two agencies that could ultimately divide responsibility for overseeing the market. Reports claimed that execs from TradFi entities could also participate but there’s no official confirmation on the list of attendees. More recent updates from popular journalist Eleanor Terrett confirmed that SEC Chair Paul Atkins is expected to attend as well.

Eleanor Terrett on X

The event’s timing is quite notable as it comes just a few weeks after the Senate left Washington for its five-week August recess without voting on the CLARITY Act ✨. The key bill faced another setback and Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to be voted on September 15 the second day after the break. The legislation seeks to establish a comprehensive federal framework for cryptocurrencies including defining when tokens should be treated as securities or commodities and clarifying the respective responsibilities of the SEC and the CFTC 🕷️. However senators failed to resolve several outstanding disagreements before leaving Washington. Those include ethics provisions anti-money laundering safeguards and the controversial question of whether digital asset companies should be allowed to offer rewards on customers’ stablecoin holdings.

DeFi Shadows Looming Over September 15 🔮

Although the August 19 meeting is unlikely to resolve any of the aforementioned issues and the Senate’s vote-counting problem by itself it’s still expected to be a major first step in the right direction after the talks stalled 🦇. The odds of an actual bill approval this year continue to decline. Lobbyists and policy experts believe the passage won’t go through this year. However bringing the White House and essentially all parties involved together less than a month before the aforementioned September 15 Senate vote makes the timing difficult to ignore 💀. The Trump administration continues to push for the bill to pass as soon as possible but the upcoming midterm elections cast another dark shadow.

---

Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

---

Bitcoin dipped hard this week and touched a local low at $62,500 before catching support, now hovering near $63,000 🖤.

The Gentle Pause of Bitcoin at $63K 🌙

Larger cap alts mostly chilled out on the 24-hour chart, except LINK and WLFI both pumping over 5%. After the flat weekend Bitcoin tried pushing past $65,400 but got rejected hard and slid to $62,800 in hours. It bounced twice only to stall at $64,400 with every drop feeling heavier than the last. Bears ran the show midweek and pressure kept building until Friday when price slid to $62,500 for the first time in 10 days. The quick recovery stopped short at $63,200 and now lingers around $63,000. Market cap sits at $1.260 trillion on CG while dominance dipped below 57% from its 57.3% peak.

Analysts keep eyeing LINK for huge upside after that rare signal flashed. The first real breakout move showed up with a 5% daily gain reclaiming the $9 zone. WLFI was the other big mover while UNI dropped 5%. XRP, SOL, TRX, HYPE and RAIN all edged lower while ETH, BNB and DOGE barely moved. VELVET crashed the top 100 with a 25% daily surge and 150% weekly run. ETHFI jumped 12% and OKB added 6.5%. Total crypto market cap slipped under $2.230 trillion on CG 🕸️ 💀 🦇 🔮 🌑 🕷️.

---

Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

---

Morgan Stanley just dropped its latest holdings and XRP is still hanging in there despite the recent dip below $1. The asset has shed more than 10% over the past week with yearly losses sitting near 70% 🖤 yet institutions keep playing the long game through ETFs ✨

Institutions Remain Unfazed 🌙

Morgan Stanley has disclosed its XRP exposure in the second quarter of 2026. The Wall Street giant holds positions through three XRP-linked exchange-traded funds: Franklin, REX-Osprey, and Bitwise ETF. Its largest position was in the Franklin fund, with 6,715 shares. The filing showed 255 shares of the REX-Osprey ETF and 67 shares of Bitwise’s.

The 13F filing also shows a larger position in Armada Acquisition Corp II, the SPAC partner of Ripple-backed Evernorth Holdings.

Several investment firms have had exposure to the token through exchange-traded products. For example, Wolverine Asset Management held 199,912 shares of the Bitwise XRP ETF. Gallacher Capital Management held 86,744 shares of Canary’s XRP ETF. Main Street Group had 5,261 shares of the same fund.

Meanwhile, Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo held 964 shares of the Franklin XRP ETF. Additionally, National Bank of Canada revealed 3,848 shares of Bitwise’s XRP ETF.

Opportunity Amid Pressure 🕸️

The picture looks less encouraging when it comes to XRP’s broader market activity. As reported, the Taker Buy/Sell Ratio is around 0.86, its lowest level since last May. The ratio has stayed below 1 for most of the recent period, which means that sellers have generally been more aggressive than buyers in the derivatives market 🦇
There have been short-lived moves above 1, but buyers have yet to establish a clear change in momentum. A move back above that level could be a better sign for XRP, especially if it also starts seeing stronger volume and price action.
For now, however, derivatives traders appear to be leaning toward the sell side. Futures open interest also remains elevated and stands at 435.1 million units, above the 403.6 million 30-day average, with a +1.20σ Z-score, meaning leverage is still stacked. As such, the token is at risk of a liquidation cascade if it dumps further 🔮
But the current weakness may also create a potential setup for a future recovery. ChartNerd highlighted $1.24 as an important level to reclaim. If the asset fails to do so, the analyst identified the $0.90-$0.70 range as a possible area where accumulation could take place.

ChartNerd also expects a retest of the 3-month 40 EMA to help XRP form a stronger base. Similar setups played out in 2023 and 2024, according to the analyst 💀

---

Just another echo from the void by iconofsin.eth 💖

---