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Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competition

Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competition

<p class="text-left mb-4 ">Visa and Mastercard, two of the world’s largest payment companies, announced separate partnerships on the same day to expand their <a href="https://jrkripto.com/tr/category/stablecoins" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="text-primary underline">stablecoin </a>infrastructure. Visa is integrating zerohash technology into the Visa Direct network, while Mastercard has launched a new pilot aimed at improving trust and compliance in cross-border stablecoin payments.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The two initiatives focus on different areas. Visa is expanding stablecoin funding and payout capabilities, while Mastercard aims to verify participants in blockchain transactions.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Visa Direct Opens Up to Stablecoin Payments</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Visa will expand the stablecoin capabilities of Visa Direct through a collaboration with blockchain infrastructure provider zerohash. Eligible Visa Direct clients will be able to prefund merchant accounts with stablecoins and send stablecoin-denominated payouts to recipients.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">zerohash will provide both the technical infrastructure and regulatory compliance support for the service. However, the companies have yet to disclose which stablecoins and blockchain networks will be supported or where the service will initially become available.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Visa Direct connects to more than 18 billion endpoints across over 195 countries and territories, including cards, bank accounts and digital wallets. The integration could therefore bring stablecoin-based payments to a broader group of institutional clients.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Mastercard Focuses on Trust and Compliance</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Mastercard, meanwhile, has launched a Crypto Credential pilot with Borderless.xyz. The companies will test Mastercard’s existing framework to verify participants and standardize compliance checks in cross-border stablecoin transactions.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Crypto Credential generates assurance signals confirming that institutions involved in blockchain transactions meet specific security and compliance standards. Companies participating in the Borderless.xyz network will be able to incorporate these signals into transaction approvals, risk management and compliance procedures.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Infinia, Walapay and Koywe are among the first stablecoin payment companies to join the pilot. Borderless.xyz says its infrastructure connects more than 15 licensed stablecoin providers across over 100 countries.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Stablecoin Payments Race Accelerates</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Visa’s initiative aims to simplify stablecoin funding and transfers, while Mastercard is strengthening the trust and identity verification layer surrounding these transactions. The two payment giants are therefore addressing different challenges within the stablecoin market.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Mastercard recently completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK. Visa, meanwhile, introduced the Visa Stablecoin Platform in July, enabling financial institutions to issue, manage and transfer stablecoins.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The series of developments shows that stablecoins are becoming increasingly embedded in traditional payment networks. Visa and Mastercard are moving beyond crypto-linked cards, creating a place for stablecoins within the underlying infrastructure of cross-border money transfers.</p>

5 Aug 2026
$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Support

$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Support

<p class="text-left mb-4 ">AI16Z, once at the center of the AI-focused cryptocurrency frenzy, has gone from a multibillion-dollar valuation to the brink of closure in just 19 months. Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs, announced that the project was ending all support for its successor token, ELIZAOS, and told holders to sell their tokens.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">In an Aug. 4 post on X, Walters said ELIZAOS no longer had a future. The ElizaOS Foundation is winding down, while the team will no longer pursue token buybacks, supply reductions or other measures designed to support the price.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 "> <figure class="my-6"> <img src="https://minio-api-1.jrkripto.com/blog/ekran-g-r-nt-s-2026-08-05-161649-38602ed8.webp" alt="Ekran görüntüsü 2026-08-05 161649.png" width="auto" height="auto" class="w-full rounded-lg border" /> </figure> </p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">“The token is dead. Completely,” Walters wrote. He said he would continue developing the ElizaOS software but made it clear that he had no plans to launch another token to fund the project.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">ELIZAOS lost 97 percent of its value</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Following the announcement, ELIZAOS traded near $0.00031, giving the token a market capitalization of approximately $2.3 million. That level represented a decline of roughly 97 percent from its peak.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The project’s original token, AI16Z, reached a market capitalization of $2.39 billion on Jan. 2, 2025. Daily trading volume climbed to $291 million at the time, making AI16Z one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the AI token sector.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The team later launched a migration that replaced <a href="https://jrkripto.com/tr/coin/ai16z" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="text-primary underline">AI16Z </a>with ELIZAOS. Despite the transition, CoinGecko continues to list the abandoned AI16Z contract as a separate asset. Its market capitalization stood at around $375,000 in the early hours of Aug. 5.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Walters said the tokens held in his personal wallet were once worth approximately $25 million. According to the founder, their value fell toward zero as the project encountered mounting problems and lost market confidence.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Lawsuit drained the foundation’s treasury</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">A proposed class-action lawsuit played a decisive role in the closure of the ElizaOS Foundation. Walters said the foundation transferred its remaining tokens and available cash to settle with a group of holders represented by Burwick Law.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Burwick Law filed the proposed class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in April. The plaintiffs raised allegations of false advertising, deceptive business practices, negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">According to the complaint, the team marketed the project as an “autonomous, AI-managed venture fund.” The plaintiffs, however, alleged that Walters and other insiders retained control over the project and its investment decisions.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The lawsuit also addressed the dilution of existing holders during the migration from AI16Z to ELIZAOS. The plaintiffs claimed that entities controlled by the project’s managers received 40 percent of the newly minted tokens.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Walters described the holders’ claims as “ridiculous.” Still, he said the ElizaOS Foundation lacked the capital required to fight a prolonged legal battle and therefore chose to settle.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The financial terms of the settlement remain undisclosed. Eliza Labs and Burwick Law have yet to provide detailed information about how much holders received or the current status of the federal case.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">The AI16Z name had also sparked controversy</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The project launched on Solana under the AI16Z name in October 2024. The name was an apparent reference to “a16z,” the widely used abbreviation for Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Andreessen Horowitz objected to the use of the name, contributing to the project’s decision to rebrand as ElizaOS. Walters and his team later changed the token’s name to ELIZAOS and began moving holders to the new contract.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The transition aimed to achieve more than resolving a branding dispute. The team also sought to emphasize its open-source ElizaOS AI agent framework and move the project away from its identity as a speculative token.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">However, falling prices, criticism of the token migration and the lawsuit disrupted that strategy. Walters argued that investors ignored the software tools developed by the team because the token’s price continued to decline.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">The AI agent frenzy proved short-lived</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">AI16Z became one of the leading projects in the rapidly growing AI agent token category in late 2024. It attracted attention with a venture capital model in which token holders participated as partners while an AI agent supposedly made investment decisions.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Truth Terminal and the GOAT token launched around it played an important role in the rise of this market narrative. GOAT reached a market capitalization of $1.2 billion within days of its October 2024 launch, fueling demand for tokens linked to AI agents.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Projects such as Virtuals Protocol and AI16Z subsequently reached multibillion-dollar valuations. The sector promised to build a new crypto economy around software agents capable of controlling their own wallets, posting on social media and making independent decisions.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The open-source ElizaOS software will continue operating despite the token’s collapse. ELIZAOS holders, meanwhile, have been left without foundation support, a buyback program or another migration plan.</p>

5 Aug 2026
A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETF

A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETF

<p class="text-left mb-4 ">The US spot Bitcoin ETF market is preparing for its first closure. Crypto asset manager Hashdex has decided to liquidate its Bitcoin fund, which trades under the ticker DEFI, after the product failed to attract sufficient investor interest.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">According to a filing submitted to the SEC, the fund will cease trading on NYSE Arca on August 17, 2026. Hashdex will then sell the <a href="https://jrkripto.com/tr/coin/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="text-primary underline">Bitcoin </a>held by the fund and distribute the remaining proceeds to investors in cash.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 "> <figure class="my-6"> <img src="https://minio-api-1.jrkripto.com/blog/ekran-g-r-nt-s-2026-08-05-140259-a655be3d.webp" alt="Ekran görüntüsü 2026-08-05 140259.png" width="auto" height="auto" class="w-full rounded-lg border" /> </figure> </p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">DEFI will stop trading on August 17</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Hashdex said it decided to liquidate the fund after evaluating its assets under management, trading liquidity, operating costs and investor demand. DEFI held only $14.48 million in net assets as of August 3.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">That figure is considerably smaller than the roughly $47 billion held by BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest US spot Bitcoin ETF. The gap suggests that investors increasingly favor larger and more liquid products when choosing between funds that provide similar exposure.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">August 17 will be DEFI’s final trading day. The fund will also stop accepting new share creation orders after that date.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Hashdex will begin converting the portfolio into cash on August 18. Investors who still hold shares after the final trading day are expected to receive a cash distribution on or around August 24.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Bitcoin will be sold during the liquidation</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">DEFI’s portfolio consists entirely of Bitcoin and held $14.48 million in net assets as of August 3.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Based on the current Bitcoin price, Hashdex could liquidate approximately 225 BTC during the process. The final amount may change depending on investor sales before August 17 and movements in Bitcoin’s price.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The sale could create limited short-term pressure. However, 225 BTC is not large enough to disrupt the broader market when compared with Bitcoin’s daily trading volume.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The decision still carries symbolic weight. While cryptocurrency ETFs based on futures contracts have closed before, DEFI may become the first US spot ETF holding Bitcoin directly to enter liquidation.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Concentration is increasing in the Bitcoin ETF market</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Hashdex’s decision shows that growth in the spot Bitcoin ETF market has not been distributed evenly among issuers. A large share of investor capital has flowed into highly liquid funds operated by companies such as BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Smaller funds face higher operating costs when trading activity remains low. As a result, other Bitcoin ETFs that fail to reach sufficient scale could also face closure, even if their issuers reduce management fees.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Bitcoin was trading at around $64,150 on August 5. BTC had gained 1.12% over the previous 24 hours, moving between $63,558 and $64,467.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Bitcoin’s daily trading volume stood at approximately $23.1 billion during the same period. The estimated 225 BTC that Hashdex could sell was worth about $14.4 million based on the fund’s current size.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The potential sale therefore represents approximately 0.06% of Bitcoin’s daily trading volume. Hashdex will also begin selling the fund’s assets on August 18, meaning the current price action does not yet reflect the actual liquidation transactions.</p>

5 Aug 2026
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum

World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum

<p class="text-left mb-4 ">BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, launched its first tokenized fund access in Europe on Tuesday. Working with JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform, the company created onchain share classes on the <a href="https://jrkripto.com/tr/chains/ethereum" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="text-primary underline">Ethereum </a>blockchain.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The initiative covers funds from BlackRock’s Institutional Cash Series (ICS) money market range. These funds held a combined $311 billion in assets under management as of June 30, so this is far from a small pilot project.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">According to BlackRock, Kinexys acts as a translation layer between onchain transactions and the funds’ traditional recordkeeping systems. Each token represents a share in an ICS fund, while the official shareholder register remains with the fund’s transfer agent.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">In other words, blockchain does not change the legal ownership structure. It digitizes the access and transfer layer.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">A total of 12 tokenized share classes across six fund families are now available: Euro Government Liquidity, Sterling Government Liquidity, U.S. Treasury, Euro Liquidity, Sterling Liquidity and U.S. Dollar Liquidity.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Smart contracts allow approved investors to transfer shares directly between wallets around the clock, seven days a week. The structure continues to generate yield, while fund movements can be tracked onchain in near real time.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Hannah Winter, head of BlackRock’s Digital Cash business, said tokenized money market funds bring short-term investment instruments into a digital format without compromising capital preservation, liquidity or risk management standards.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">How will institutions use the funds?</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">According to the announcement, the tokenized share classes can support institutional cash management, digital collateral management, bank distribution channels and integration with broader tokenized financial ecosystems. Access is currently limited to 15 markets.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The onchain share classes are available to investors in Bermuda, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Singapore and the United Kingdom.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Lithuania’s inclusion on the list indicates that the country’s digital asset infrastructure is also becoming an attractive destination for institutional players.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Tokenization has been on BlackRock’s agenda for years</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 ">This step is not a one-off experiment for BlackRock. In an article published by The Economist in December 2025, CEO Larry Fink and COO Rob Goldstein argued that tokenization could accelerate transaction settlement, reduce operational friction in private markets and expand investment access by recording asset ownership on blockchain-based ledgers.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The European launch came only one day after BlackRock unveiled two tokenized money market products designed for stablecoin reserves. BRSRV is a newly established fund, while BSTBL tokenizes share classes of the company’s existing Select Treasury Based Liquidity Fund.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Both products invest primarily in cash, short-term U.S. Treasury bills and overnight Treasury-backed repurchase agreements.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The move also aligns with the objective outlined last month by BlackRock Chief Financial Officer Martin Small. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call, Small said BlackRock’s ultimate goal was to allow investors to access tokenized Treasury funds, iShares ETFs and private-market investments through digital wallets alongside crypto assets and stablecoins.</p>

4 Aug 2026
Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs

Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs

<p class="text-left mb-4 ">Delisting announcements have become an almost routine part of the calendar at cryptocurrency exchanges. Still, every new notice raises the same concern for users holding the affected tokens: what will happen to my assets? Binance’s latest announcement has brought that question back into focus.</p><h2 class="text-left text-foreground text-3xl font-bold mb-3 mt-1">Binance bids farewell to four trading pairs</h2><p class="text-left mb-4 "><a href="https://jrkripto.com/tr/exchanges/binance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="text-primary underline">Binance </a>announced that it will remove four spot trading pairs on August 7, 2026, at 03:00 UTC. The affected pairs are QNT/BTC, RPL/USDC, SIGN/BNB and SKL/USDC.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 "> <figure class="my-6"> <img src="https://minio-api-1.jrkripto.com/blog/ekran-g-r-nt-s-2026-08-04-144400-38b72f9f.webp" alt="Ekran görüntüsü 2026-08-04 144400.png" width="auto" height="auto" class="w-full rounded-lg border" /> </figure> </p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The exchange cited its usual reasons for the decision: low liquidity and insufficient trading volume. Binance periodically reviews all spot trading pairs and removes those that no longer meet its requirements. This announcement is one of many similar decisions made by the exchange.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">There is one important detail. Binance is removing only these four trading pairs, rather than delisting the tokens themselves. Although QNT/BTC will no longer be available, users will still be able to trade QNT through other pairs on the exchange, such as QNT/USDT.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">The same applies to RPL, SIGN and SKL. Tokens held in user accounts will remain there; only these specific trading pairings will close.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Binance will also terminate Spot Trading Bot services for the affected pairs at the same time. The exchange advised users with active bots to update or cancel them before the removal takes effect. If a bot stops while it still has open orders, the shutdown could lead to an unwanted outcome.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Looking briefly at the affected tokens, Quant is a project built around blockchain interoperability for institutional users. Its QNT token supports licensing and access mechanisms within the network.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Rocket Pool is a decentralized Ethereum staking protocol. Its RPL token serves governance and utility functions within the ecosystem. The project is known for infrastructure that allows users to operate validators with less than 16 ETH in capital.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">SKALE develops scalability infrastructure for Ethereum and stands out for its zero-gas-fee transaction model. SIGN is a newer project compared with the other three and positions itself as an identity verification and digital signature infrastructure platform.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Delisting announcements are common in the cryptocurrency market, but they frequently prompt investors to consider whether the affected token is performing poorly. In most cases, the removal of a single trading pair does not provide enough evidence to support that conclusion.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Removing a pair because of low trading volume does not mean the token has become worthless or has lost its place on a major exchange. It only shows that traders are not using that particular pairing enough to justify keeping it active.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Even so, such announcements can create mild short-term pressure on token prices. Some investors automatically interpret any delisting-related notice as a negative signal, even when the exchange is removing only one trading pair.</p><p class="text-left mb-4 ">Timing is the main concern for users with open orders or active bots on the affected pairs. They should complete the necessary adjustments before August 7 at 03:00 UTC. Binance has not clearly explained how the bot termination process could affect any outstanding activity, so users may want to take the exchange’s warning seriously.</p>

4 Aug 2026
Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competition
Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competitionabout 4 hours ago
$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Support
$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Supportabout 7 hours ago
A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETF
A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETFabout 9 hours ago
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum1 day ago
Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs
Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs1 day ago
Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competition
Visa and Mastercard Step Up Stablecoin Competitionabout 4 hours ago
$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Support
$2.4 Billion AI Coin Is Now a History as Founder Pulls Supportabout 7 hours ago
A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETF
A First in the US: Hashdex Is Closing Its Spot Bitcoin ETFabout 9 hours ago
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum
World’s Largest Asset Manager Brings $311 Billion Fund Suite to Ethereum1 day ago
Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs
Binance to Delist Four Spot Trading Pairs1 day ago

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