Telegram Revenue Climbs 65% to $870M Fueled by Toncoin Activity
Telegram reported $870 million in revenue for H1 2025, up 65% from the prior year, driven largely by Toncoin-related activity despite a net loss of $222 million.
By Daniel Brooks | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
, Updated:
Telegram's H1 2025 revenue rose 65% to $870M | Photo: Unsplash
Telegram reported operating revenue of $870 million for the first half of 2025, reflecting a 65% increase from $525 million in the same period last year. Approximately $300 million of this total came from Toncoin-related exclusivity deals, highlighting the increasing contribution of cryptocurrency-linked income streams.
While advertising revenue grew modestly to $125 million and premium subscriptions reached $223 million, Toncoin transactions through Telegram’s Fragment marketplace now represent a significant share of the company’s financial performance. The messaging platform achieved an operating profit near $400 million, indicating profitability before accounting for cryptocurrency losses.
Impact of Toncoin Decline on Net Results
Despite strong revenue growth, Telegram posted a net loss of $222 million, compared with a net profit of $334 million in H1 2024. The swing is largely attributed to a write-down in Toncoin holdings after the token declined roughly 69% over 2025.
Telegram’s total digital asset holdings decreased to $787 million from $1.3 billion year-over-year due to both token depreciation and ongoing asset sales, which included more than $450 million worth of Toncoin. Toncoin remains near $1.93, well below its all-time high of $8.25, though up 60% over the past year.
Debt and Regulatory Considerations
Telegram’s growth comes alongside financial and regulatory pressures. Roughly $500 million of the company’s bonds are frozen in Russia’s central securities depository due to Western sanctions, though the firm plans repayment at maturity. Founder Pavel Durov’s exploration of an initial public offering has been delayed by legal proceedings in France related to platform content moderation.
The combination of rising Toncoin-linked revenue, subscription growth to 15 million, and ongoing user expansion (over 1 billion monthly users) demonstrates the firm’s scale, yet regulatory and market risks continue to influence strategic financial decisions.
Ethereum Working Group Launches Open Standard to End Blind Signing and Boost Security
A coalition of wallet developers, security firms, and the Ethereum Foundation has introduced ERC-7730 and a new clear-signing infrastructure to transform hexadecimal transaction data into human-readable intent.
By David Walker | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
, Updated:
The Ethereum Working Group unveils a new standard to eliminate blind signing. Photo: Pexels
The Ethereum Working Group, a coalition including wallet developers, security firms, and the Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, has officially launched an open standard designed to eliminate blind signing. This major user experience (UX) and security upgrade aims to make human-readable transactions the default across the Ethereum ecosystem.
The initiative builds upon existing work, specifically the ERC-7730 standard pioneered by Ledger. It introduces a comprehensive framework that combines a descriptor schema, a neutral registry, a flexible attestation model, and developer libraries. Together, these tools allow transaction data to be verified and clearly described before a user ever confirms a sign request.
High Cost of Hexadecimal Transactions
For years, the lack of transaction legibility has been a primary vulnerability in the ecosystem, contributing to billions of dollars in losses. Blind signing occurs when a user is forced to approve a transaction represented only by a string of hexadecimal code, which requires significant technical expertise to interpret.
The 2025 Bybit hack is a stark example of the dangers of this status quo. In that instance, a single contract change that was not legible on a hardware device resulted in a $1.5 billion loss. By implementing ERC-7730, the working group aims to replace these confusing strings with plain language, showing exactly who the user is interacting with, what their intent is, and what parameters are being executed.
“Blind signing has been responsible for billions in user losses. When transaction data appears as hexadecimal code, users approve transactions they don’t understand. Attackers exploit this relentlessly. Malicious smart contracts are indistinguishable from legitimate transactions, users unknowingly sign them, and lose everything. Clear Signing directly addresses this by making transactions human-readable before approval,” explained Tomáš Sušánka, CTO of Trezor.
Four-Pillar Solution for Clear Signing
To resolve the fragmentation of proprietary solutions, the working group has introduced a four-part infrastructure:
Updated ERC-7730 (an open standard for describing transactions in human-readable formats);
Decentralized registry (an off-chain registry neutrally hosted by the Ethereum Foundation for distributing these descriptors);
Integrity and attestation framework (ERC-8176 and the Ethereum Attestation Service (EAS) allows independent auditors to verify descriptors while letting wallets define their own trust policies);
Developer SDKs (tools for wallet integration and auditor verification workflows in languages such as React and Rust).
Ecosystem-Wide Collaboration
The effort is supported by a broad spectrum of industry leaders. Contributors include hardware and software wallets such as Ledger, Trezor, MetaMask, and Zknox; infrastructure providers like Fireblocks and Zama; and security firms such as Cyfrin. The Ethereum Foundation serves as a neutral steward for the project.
According to the information received by CoinScreamer, Trezor is planning to implement the Ethereum Foundation’s Clear Signing standard across its products over the coming months. ” We’re targeting the beginning of Q2 2026 for Clear Signing transaction decoding, converting complex hex data into a readable format, and the end of Q2 2026 for full human-readable signing implementation. We’re implementing this standard because it’s the right thing to do for our users. We hope that everyone in the industry implements this standard as well so the whole web3 ecosystem becomes safer for all users,” stated its CTO.
The working group is calling for immediate action across the industry: protocols are urged to provide human-readable descriptions, auditors are encouraged to attest to transaction behaviors, and wallet developers are expected to integrate these new signing experiences. The project’s ultimate goal is to ensure that users never sign a transaction they cannot meaningfully interpret.
Starknet Launches strkBTC: New Wrapped Bitcoin Token with Built-In Privacy
Starknet has officially deployed strkBTC, a zero-knowledge Bitcoin wrapper that enables private balances and confidential transfers on Ethereum’s Layer 2.
By Matthew Clarke | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
, Updated:
By wrapping Bitcoin in ZK-STARK proofs, Starknet is turning the public ledger into a private digital cash system. Photo: Pexels
Starknet, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by StarkWare, officially launched strkBTC. This new Bitcoin-based asset is designed to provide what many in the industry consider the “missing piece” for Bitcoin: institutional-grade privacy combined with decentralized finance (DeFi) composability. By utilizing Starknet’s zero-knowledge cryptography, strkBTC allows users to shield their balances and transactions while remaining fully integrated with the broader ecosystem.
1/ It’s finally time for Bitcoin to get privacy.
Introducing strkBTC [₿]: a new wrapped Bitcoin token with built-in privacy capabilities.
The launch comes at a critical time for blockchain security. According to data from CertiK, there were 34 verified “wrench attacks” and physical identity compromises globally through early May 2026, which is a 41% increase compared to the previous year. The rise of sophisticated AI tools has allowed attackers to connect public wallet addresses to physical identities with up to 90% precision.
Damian Chen, VP of Growth at the Starknet Foundation, emphasized the urgency of this shift during the launch:
“Bitcoin is the most sovereign money ever created, and also the least private money most people have ever used. For fifteen years, we told ourselves the public ledger was a feature. But in 2026, it has become a map into our private lives. We are launching strkBTC because the world has changed since 2008.”
How strkBTC Works: Shielding and Compliance
Unlike traditional “mixers” or privacy coins that have faced regulatory headwinds, strkBTC is built for a “compliance-ready” future. It functions as a technical wrapper on Starknet, employing several key features, such as shielded balance and auditable screening.
Eli Ben-Sasson, CEO of StarkWare and a co-founder of Zcash, noted that strkBTC represents a significant evolution of the concepts he helped pioneer. He described the asset as “private digital cash—the way it should be.”
Roadmap: From Federation to BitVM
At launch, strkBTC operates through a federated bridge supported by five major institutions: Twinstake, NEAR Intents, Luganodes, UTXO, and Xverse. However, this is only the first phase of a broader roadmap.
Future upgrades aim to move toward a fully trustless model. This includes integrating BitVM to reduce trust assumptions and eventually leveraging a potential OP_CAT soft fork on the Bitcoin mainnet. Such an upgrade would allow Bitcoin to natively verify Starknet proofs, creating a seamless, trustless bridge for private Bitcoin transactions.
XYO Launches AI SDK: Bringing Vibe Coding to Blockchain for First Time
XYO has launched a groundbreaking AI SDK and Data Lake infrastructure, allowing developers to deploy products on-chain using natural language and AI tools without writing a single line of Solidity.
By Matthew Clarke | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
XYO is opening its Layer One to millions of non-blockchain developers. Photo: XYO
Blockchain development has long been the walled garden of the tech world, guarded by a specialized priesthood of Solidity engineers and complex protocol internals. On May 12, 2026, XYO, the original Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN), officially tore down those walls. With the launch of the XYO AI SDK, developers can now use vibe coding environments like Claude and Codex to deploy products directly onto XYO Layer One using natural language, no blockchain experience required.
Era of On-Chain Vibe Coding
The term vibe coding refers to the shift toward software development where AI handles the syntax while the human provides the intent. While this has revolutionized traditional software over the last two years, blockchain has remained stubbornly resistant due to its unforgiving security requirements and niche languages.
The XYO AI SDK changes the math. By providing a natural-language interface to XYO Layer One, the SDK allows the broader developer population to build on-chain products in hours rather than months. As XYO co-founder Markus Levin noted:
“Provenance, sovereignty, identity. These are working cryptographic answers AI has not used because putting anything on a blockchain has always been too hard for anyone outside a small group of specialist engineers. We have removed that barrier.”
Solving the Identity Crisis for AI Agents
One of the most immediate beneficiaries of this launch is the burgeoning AI agent economy. Currently, an agent that wants to book a flight or pay for a service faces a structural dead end: no bank will give a bot an account, and no government will issue it a passport.
The XYO AI SDK provides these agents with a sovereign stack including on-chain wallets, verifiable identity, and accountability records.
XYO Data Lakes: Killing AI Hallucinations
Alongside the SDK, the network launched XYO Data Lakes, a storage system designed to solve AI’s dirty data problem. Most AI models today are trained on scraped data with no clear chain of custody, leading to frequent hallucinations.
XYO Data Lakes provide cryptographically secured off-chain storage with on-chain proofs of integrity. This ensures that data, whether it’s blood test results for a health app or location telemetry for a phygital” game, has cryptographic provenance. By training AI on data with an auditable chain of custody, developers can dramatically reduce errors and increase the reliability of autonomous systems.
Mainstream DePIN Powerhouse
Founded in 2018, XYO has grown into one of the largest DePINs in existence, boasting over 10 million nodes worldwide. Unlike many crypto-native projects, 80% of XYO’s users come from outside the traditional crypto space, largely through its COIN App. With its token already listed on major exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, XYO is leveraging its massive real-world footprint to become the foundational layer for the intersection of AI, robotics, and decentralized infrastructure.
Anthropic Disavows Tokenized Stock Markets as Implied Valuations Hit $1.5 Trillion
Anthropic has issued a stern warning to investors, stating that any unapproved transfer of its private shares, including those via tokenized platforms and SPVs, is void and will not be recognized on its books.
By Laura Mitchell | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
Anthropic warns that tokenized pre-IPO products are invalid. Photo: Pexels
In the high-stakes world of frontier AI, owning a piece of the next big thing has become a retail obsession. However, Anthropic, the San Francisco-based powerhouse behind the Claude model, is officially hitting the brakes on the secondary market’s attempts to democratize its equity. On May 12, 2026, the firm updated its investor-warning page with a blunt message: if you bought tokenized Anthropic shares, you might actually own nothing at all.
Void Clause: Shutting Down the SPV Bridge
Anthropic’s latest warning centers on the legal plumbing used by many crypto-adjacent platforms to offer private market exposure. The company explicitly stated that it does not permit Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to acquire its stock. In the world of private equity, SPVs are often used to pool capital from smaller investors to buy into hot startups.
“Any transfer of shares to an SPV are void under our transfer restrictions,” the company wrote. This means that even if a platform claims to have “secured” shares for a tokenized offering, Anthropic will not recognize that transfer on its official cap table. For an investor, this creates a catastrophic scenario where their digital token represents an “economic interest” that the underlying issuer considers legally non-existent.
Synthetics vs. Reality: The Derivative Trap
The warning highlights a growing divide in the 2026 crypto landscape between synthetic perpetuals and asset-backed tokens. Some exchanges offer pre-IPO perps, which are essentially gambling products where traders bet on a reference price without any actual shares being held. While these don’t technically violate Anthropic’s transfer rules (because no stock moves), they offer no actual equity rights.
The greater concern involves platforms like PreStocks, which claim to offer 1:1 economic exposure. Anthropic warned that these mechanisms, whether direct sales, forward contracts, or tokenized securities, are likely either fraudulent or offer investments that have no value due to existing governance restrictions. Florida-based crypto lawyer John Montague suggests that private unicorns like Anthropic may soon turn to the courts, alleging violations of shareholder agreements and bylaws.
Trillion-Dollar Valuation Mirage
Beyond the legalities, Anthropic is battling a narrative risk created by thin-liquidity markets. Recently, the PreStocks dashboard showed Anthropic with an implied valuation of over $1.5 trillion. To put that in perspective, the platform reportedly holds only about $23 million in total assets.
When a few million dollars in trading volume generates a trillion-dollar headline, it creates a massive headache for the company’s actual board and future funding rounds. Speculative token prices can warp investor expectations and force the company to manage a public image that doesn’t align with its negotiated private valuations. By disavowing these markets, Anthropic is attempting to reclaim its status as a private entity, untethered from the vibe-trading of the crypto-retail world.
Arthur Hayes Forecasts Bitcoin Surge to $126,000 Amid AI Arms Race and Global Conflict
Crypto veteran Arthur Hayes argues that a combination of the US-Iran war and an unprecedented AI CAPEX build-out will force central banks into massive fiat expansion, propelling Bitcoin toward new all-time highs.
By Michael Turner | Edited by Julia Sakovich
Published:
, Updated:
Arthur Hayes predicts Bitcoin will blast through $90,000 toward a $126,000 target. Photo: Pexels
In his latest provocative essay, “The Butterfly Touch,” BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes declares that the crypto bull market has entered a manic phase. Hayes argues that the intersection of AI nationalism and global military conflict is creating a perfect storm for digital assets. He contends that the world is witnessing an unprecedented expansion of fiat credit, driven by the existential need for nation-states to achieve machine intelligence supremacy and secure physical resource chains.
AI Nationalism and the Credit Orgy
Hayes identifies the current AI infrastructure build-out as a primary engine for money printing. He notes that both the US and China view AI dominance as integral to national security, leading to a Red Queen Effect where massive capital expenditures (CAPEX) must constantly increase just to maintain parity with rivals. This race creates Jovan’s Paradox: as the cost per unit of intelligence declines, the demand for compute, and the credit required to fund it, increases exponentially.
According to Hayes, this orgy of construction is no longer funded solely by corporate cash flows. In China, banks are being directed away from real estate and toward tech, while in the US, the Federal Reserve and commercial banks are loosening financial conditions to support data centers and electricity generation. For crypto investors, this means a rapidly accelerating supply of fiat currency that will inevitably seek refuge in fixed-supply assets like Bitcoin.
War, Inflation, and the End of Just-in-Time Logistics
The essay points to the US-Iran conflict, which began in earnest on February 28, 2026, as the definitive starting gun for the current bull run. Hayes argues that war is inherently inflationary and forces a fundamental shift in global sovereign investment strategies.
Nations that previously saved their surpluses in “fugazi” dollar financial assets (like US Treasuries) are now liquidating those holdings to build pipelines, defense systems, and stockpiles of food and energy. Hayes suggests that the just-in-time logistics model is dead, replaced by a just-in-case philosophy. To prevent a financial crisis caused by foreigners dumping US debt, Hayes expects the US Treasury to leave financial conditions loose, using dollar swap lines to provide liquidity without dampening domestic markets.
Bitcoin’s Path to $126,000 and the Shitcoin Narrative
Regarding price action, Hayes is unapologetically bullish. He notes that Bitcoin has outperformed gold and tech stocks since the war’s onset, signaling its extreme sensitivity to fiat liquidity. He predicts that Bitcoin will retake its $126,000 target as a foregone conclusion, with the rally intensifying once the price punches through $90,000, triggering a massive short-covering surge.
Beyond Bitcoin, Hayes revealed that his fund, Maelstrom, is pivoting toward high-conviction shitcoins. He specifically highlighted NEAR, citing a thesis that the “privacy narrative” combined with “Near intents” will create a positive cash flow situation for the protocol. He also maintained large positions in Hyperliquid (HYPE) and Zcash (ZEC), urging investors to “close your eyes and press the button” as the liquidity wave peaks before the 2028 election cycle.
