1inch launches native cross-chain swaps between Solana and EVM chains

Bullish, a digital asset platform, has completed its initial public offering (IPO) in a way that could shape the future of capital markets. Instead of relying only on banks and wires, a large portion of the IPO proceeds was settled using stablecoins, including Ripple’s RLUSD, minted on the XRP Ledger. 

This marks the first-ever public listing to integrate stablecoins directly into the settlement process.

A First-of-Its-Kind IPO Settlement

Bullish raised $1.15 billion in its IPO, and much of this sum was delivered in stablecoins. Traditionally, IPO settlements involve only cash and banking intermediaries. 

While the majority of funds were settled in USDC on the Solana network, Ripple’s RLUSD represented a portion of the settlement, making history for the XRP Ledger. Other stablecoins like PayPal’s PYUSD, Paxos’s Global Dollar, and Societe Generale’s Euro-backed tokens were also part of the mix.

By bringing settlement onchain, Bullish showed how stablecoins can add speed, transparency, and efficiency to financial markets that have long depended on slower, costlier methods.

Why It Matters for Crypto and Finance

Ripple highlighted that using RLUSD in this IPO wasn’t just symbolic, it set a precedent for how future listings might work. For investors, it’s proof that blockchain-based settlement is moving from theory to real-world adoption.

Bullish’s Chief Financial Officer, David Bonanno, said the company already uses stablecoins internally for fast, secure fund transfers. This IPO was simply a larger stage to demonstrate how blockchain can power global finance at scale.

Looking Ahead

Bullish’s IPO sets a precedent for others to follow. With regulatory clarity improving and companies willing to embrace blockchain innovation, the role of stablecoins in financial markets is likely to grow. 

Ripple’s RLUSD debut in this historic event adds another win for the XRP Ledger and demonstrates how crypto is slowly becoming part of mainstream finance.

KindlyMD, a healthcare firm turned bitcoin treasury vehicle after its merger with David Bailey’s Nakamoto Holdings, purchased 5,744 BTC for about $679 million to kick off its ambitious bitcoin accumulation plan.

The firm completed its merger with Nakamoto in mid-August, combining capital from an upsized $540 million PIPE financing and a concurrent $200 million convertible note offering. After buying its first tranche of BTC at an average price of $118,204, the newly merged entity trading under the ticker NAKA says it now holds a total of 5,764.91 bitcoins.

The acquisition enters KindlyMD into the growing landscape of institutional bitcoin holders. While Michael Saylor’s Strategy still leads with more than 629,376 BTC value at over $72 billion, the addition positions KindlyMD in the top 20 publicly tracked Bitcoin treasury holders, according to The Block’s data dashboard. Indeed, the firm holds more BTC than incumbents like Semler Scientific, GameStop, and Cango Inc.

Nakamoto aims to eventually accumulate up to 5% of bitcoin’s 21 million hard-capped supply, a feat that would require purchasing over 1 million BTC. “Our long-term mission of accumulating one million Bitcoin reflects our belief that Bitcoin will anchor the next era of global finance,” said NAKA CEO and Chairman David Bailey. 

The aggressive accumulation approach comes amid rising institutional demand for Bitcoin exposure and the expansion of digital asset treasuries as a new asset class.

Pioneered by Strategy, these public companies raise capital through public equity, debt, and preferred instruments that traditional investors can easily understand and hold. They then park the cash in BTC or other crypto assets as part of a corporate crypto balance sheet. So far, public entities have amassed almost 4% of BTC’s supply, or about 771,850 BTC worth roughly $89 billion, The Block’s data shows.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Thumzup (ticker TZUP), the social media firm with a recently announced crypto treasury play backed by Donald Trump Jr., will acquire Dogehash Technologies in an all-stock deal. The purchase appears to be part of Thumzup’s new direction into crypto mining.

Dogehash is an industrial‑scale blockchain miner focused exclusively on the Scrypt algorithm used by Dogecoin and Litecoin. Last week, Thumzup said it would use capital from a $50 million all common stock offering to put assets like BTC, ETH, DOGE, LTC, and XRP on its balance sheet while also funding a new mining division.

“The combined company aims to become the world's leading Dogecoin mining platform and will leverage Dogecoin Layer-2 infrastructure via staking in DeFi products within the DogeOS ecosystem to enhance miner economics and amplify yield beyond base block rewards,” Thumpzup wrote in a release.

DogeHash currently has 2,500 Scrypt ASIC miners in operation in North America using mostly renewable electricity sources, according to the announcement. It has plans to expand this fleet.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dogehash shareholders will exchange 100% of their holdings for 30.7 million shares of Thumzup stock. The company will be renamed "Dogehash Technologies Holdings, Inc." and trade on the Nasdaq under the new symbol "XDOG." The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

In the registration statement for its $50 million offering in July, Thumzup reported that Donald Trump Jr. was a large shareholder in the company. The Trump family has an ever-growing web of relationships across the crypto industry, including in the mining sector through the American Bitcoin treasury and mining play.

TZUP is down over 30% at press time to $5.89, though remains up 132.77% over the past six months.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

A Spanish decentralized finance (DeFi) investor was hit with 9 million euros ($10.5 million) in back taxes for taking out a crypto-backed loan, according to a local media report.

In a Thursday report, Spanish news outlet Periodista Digital said it obtained documents showing the investor had already declared all cryptocurrency operations and paid $5.84 million in taxes.

Three years later, authorities issued an additional bill tied not to undeclared profits, but to the act of depositing assets into a DeFi protocol in exchange for a loan. The assets were not sold, and no profit was realized, the report said.

A tax adviser quoted in the report said that the local tax agency “has taxed something that, from any economic or legal perspective, is not income.” The adviser added that the movement of assets in the DeFi protocol was treated as realized gains and was “an interpretation with no legal basis in Spanish or European legislation.”

Nasdaq-listed healthcare service provider and Bitcoin treasury firm KindlyMD has acquired $679 million worth of Bitcoin for its corporate reserve.

KindlyMD acquired 5,744 Bitcoin for approximately $679 million at a weighted average price of $118,204 per Bitcoin, the company announced Tuesday.

The purchase was made using private investment in public equity (PIPE) proceeds and reflects KindlyMD’s “disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy,” the company said.

The $679 million buy marks the company’s first Bitcoin investments since completing its merger with David Bailey’s Bitcoin firm, Nakamoto Holdings, last Friday.

KindlyMD’s purchase is more than 13 times larger than the latest acquisition by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which said Monday it had bought $51.4 million worth of Bitcoin at an average price of $119,666. Strategy remains the largest public Bitcoin holder.

Still, the 5,769 Bitcoin represents a small fraction of KindlyMD’s plan to acquire 1 million BTC.

Peter Brandt has been around long enough to see hundreds of Bitcoin models come and go. This week, however, he singled out one that caught his eye.

"Analyst Colin Talks Crypto" shared the chart, which uses Tether’s market share to predict Bitcoin tops on an inverted log scale. Brandt did not just nod politely; he called it "outstanding" and "brilliant," adding that the only thing that matters now is whether it actually predicts the next peak.

Colin’s setup goes back about a decade. Each time Tether dominance pushed against the upper curve of his chart, Bitcoin was close to reaching a major peak. This has been true at the double peak of 2021, the failed run at $70,000 in 2024 and the push over $100,000 last December. 

He now expects another touch later this year, which, according to his calculations, could coincide with Bitcoin trading in the $140,000–$150,000 range around October.

But there's a twist

The catch is that this model does not predict prices — it signals timing. It tells when the market looks overheated, not how high it will go. Regardless of other metrics, the analyst says he will take profits on the next touch, although he still cross-checks with sentiment, liquidity and his broader CBBI index. 

For now, he argues that the mood is still too muted for this to be the cycle's final top, which is why he thinks there is more room left to run.

It is unusual for Brandt to publicly praise a local indicator, and it raises the question of whether Tether dominance can really serve as a market compass. If Bitcoin hits Colin’s October target, this chart could transition from an experiment to a front-page reference.