Tether Gold said its XAU₮ token has received Shariah certification after a review by Amanah Advisors led by Mufti Faraz Adam. Each token represents ownership of physical gold held in secure Swiss vaults and issued by TG Commodities, S.A. de C.V., with the assessment citing clear asset backing, reserve transparency, and no interest based features.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies said it bought nearly 10,000 Ether (ETH) over the past week, taking total holdings to 5.79 million ETH and making Ether a major component of its corporate treasury. In a Monday update, the company said its 5.79 million ETH represents roughly 4.8% of Ether's total supply. About 4.9 million ETH—around 85% of its position—is currently staked through Bitmine's validator operations. Once its full Ether balance is deployed across its own staking infrastructure and partner validators, Bitmine expects annualized staking rewards of about $299 million. Bitmine also reported that its total crypto assets, cash, and marketable securities stood at $11.8 billion as of July 26. The purchases followed a week in which Ether outperformed Bitcoin, supporting a firmer ETH/BTC ratio. CoinGecko data showed ETH up about 2.4% over the last seven days, while Bitcoin fell roughly 0.7%. Chairman Tom Lee said the ETH/BTC ratio is at a three-month high, which he described as a sign of strengthening momentum for Ether. Bitmine positioned itself as one of the most aggressive corporate ETH accumulators, saying it has built the world's largest corporate Ether treasury and that, among public companies, it ranks behind only Strategy by the value of its digital asset holdings. The disclosure also highlights a contrast with Strategy's recent stance. Bitmine has continued adding and staking ETH, while Strategy has paused Bitcoin purchases in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Strategy said it raised $544.5 million through stock sales, repurchased $25 million of its STRC preferred shares, and lifted its U.S. dollar reserve to $3.75 billion, while maintaining holdings of 843,775 BTC. Investors are likely to focus on two near-term catalysts: whether Bitmine completes full staking deployment of its Ether, which underpins the projected $299 million annualized rewards, and whether the company continues to expand its ETH position after the latest buying spree. The update reinforces a broader trend of pairing corporate crypto treasuries with staking operations, turning holdings into an ongoing yield source rather than a pure price-direction bet.

UPDATE: The market value of tokenized assets has jumped to $7.5 billion, according to CryptoRank, marking a more than threefold increase over the past 12 months.

Tether said its gold-backed token XAUt has received Shariah certification, a move expected to broaden access for Islamic financial institutions and investors seeking Shariah-compliant exposure to gold.

Lido has rolled out its biggest Core Protocol upgrade since Lido V2, starting with the migration of more than 8 million ETH to Ethereum's newer "0x02" validator format, the company said Monday in a note shared with Bitcoin.com News. The move covers over 8 million ETH valued at about $16.5 billion, roughly one-fifth of all ETH currently staked. Lido said node operators will consolidate this stake from legacy "0x01" validators into "0x02" validators, a structure enabled by Ethereum's Pectra hardfork earlier this year. Under Pectra, a single validator can hold up to 2,048 ETH versus the previous 32 ETH limit. This allows operators to merge thousands of validators into a much smaller set while maintaining the same amount of staked ETH. Lido estimates the change will lift the share of its staked ETH running on 0x02 validators from about 32% to roughly 52% and, once complete, reduce Ethereum's overall validator count by close to a third. Network impact With fewer validators carrying the same stake, Ethereum's consensus layer has less data to process each slot. Researchers have been pushing for a leaner validator set to speed finality and lower operational costs. Lido described its consolidation as the largest of its kind so far and said it shifts a meaningful portion of the network in that direction. "This is the biggest change to how Lido Core staking works since Lido V2," said Isidoros Passadis, Chief of Staking at Lido Labs Foundation. He added that operators securing most ETH staked via Lido are moving to far fewer validators and, for the first time, backing that stake with their own capital. Curated operators now post bonds The upgrade, Curated Module v2 (CMv2), also changes operator requirements. After five years in which Lido's Curated Module largely relied on operator reputation and track record, CMv2 requires Curated Node Operators to lock ETH as a bond to cover risks such as slashing, execution-layer rewards violations and operational failures. Lido noted that bonding has been used in its permissionless Community Staking Module since its 2024 launch, and CMv2 extends that requirement to professional operators that handle most Lido-staked ETH. Separately, Community Staking Module v3 (CSM v3) introduces a new operator category, Identified DVT Clusters, aimed at verified community stakers who run validators jointly using distributed validator technology from providers such as Obol or SSV. By splitting validator duties across independent operators, DVT can reduce slashing and downtime risk, which in turn lowers the bond needed relative to the stake secured. No action required for stETH holders CMv2 and CSM v3 are now live. Lido said curated operators will migrate validators from 0x01 to 0x02 over the coming months, subject to Ethereum's activation queue. Holders of stETH do not need to take any action, and Lido said their positions are unaffected. Lido also outlined a later phase, expected in Q1 2027, that would launch a marketplace where operators compete for stake allocation based on fees and performance.

Lido has kicked off its biggest staking upgrade since 2023, beginning the migration of more than 8 million staked ETH worth about $16.5 billion to Ethereum's post-Pectra validator architecture. The overhaul is built around consolidating stake across fewer validators while keeping existing professional operators in place. Given Lido's scale, the change effectively turns into an infrastructure-wide trial for Ethereum: the redesign is expected to cut the network's total validator count by roughly one-third. On the consensus layer, consolidation should reduce attestation messages by about 29% per epoch, easing routine coordination load. The shift is not expected to directly lower gas fees or speed up transactions, leaving the benefits mostly invisible to typical users. Operationally, Lido is moving its professional node operators to Curated Module v2. For the first time in the protocol's five-year history, curated operators will be required to post ETH bonds tied to performance. All 34 curated operators are expected to adopt the new module, and none are planning to exit because of the bonding requirement. The goal is to add financial accountability to a model previously anchored in reputation and track record. To limit friction with new validator inflows, Lido plans to use a separate consensus-layer consolidation queue rather than Ethereum's standard deposit and activation queue. The transition is expected to reduce annual staking rewards across the protocol by around 0.28%. Validators will keep earning until they exit, and any missed rewards should be confined to the window before balances reach replacement validators. Lido is effectively accepting a small yield reduction in exchange for a leaner validator footprint and a more enforceable operator framework. Execution will be the final proof point, with $16.5 billion of staked ETH moving through the process without disruption.

Bitmine has expanded its Ethereum treasury with the purchase of 9,946 ETH, lifting total holdings to 5,787,414 ETH worth about $11.3 billion at current prices. The company says the position represents nearly 4.8% of Ethereum's circulating supply, placing it among the largest corporate holders of Ether. Chairman Tom Lee said Bitmine has bought ETH every week since the treasury strategy launched in late June 2025. The latest purchase topped the prior week's 7,430 ETH, indicating a faster accumulation pace despite ongoing market volatility. The move reflects a broader shift among public companies looking beyond Bitcoin and treating Ethereum as a strategic treasury asset, supported by its growing role in decentralized finance, tokenization, and staking. Ethereum has also recently outperformed Bitcoin on a relative basis, with the ETH/BTC ratio strengthening—a trend many investors view as evidence of rising institutional comfort with larger Ethereum allocations. Bitmine also continued its capital return program, repurchasing 6.1 million common shares over the past week, up from 5.5 million in the previous period. Management attributed the larger buyback to improving crypto market conditions and pointed to Ethereum's relative strength even as uncertainty persists around potential U.S. crypto legislation, including the Clarity Act. The company said these signals align with its long-term capital allocation and digital asset strategy.

Spot ether ETFs attracted $103.8 million in net inflows for the week ended July 24, about three times the $33.9 million added by spot bitcoin ETFs, according to Farside Investors. It marks a second straight week in which ether products outpaced bitcoin, extending a shift that began earlier this month after both groups ended an eight-week run of outflows. BlackRock drove most of the divergence. Its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) brought in $96.3 million over the five trading sessions, while the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — the largest crypto ETF — recorded a $95.5 million net outflow. Farside data show consecutive withdrawals of $202.5 million and $212.2 million on Thursday and Friday. Bitcoin ETF flows were heavily front-loaded: $226.8 million came in on Monday and $203.2 million on Tuesday, then reversed sharply later in the week, leaving the group up just $33.9 million. Ether ETFs were more consistent early — $38.0 million, $37.5 million, $72.7 million and $26.3 million from Monday through Thursday — before a $70.7 million outflow on Friday reduced the weekly total. The previous week showed a similar pattern, with ether ETFs adding $105.5 million versus $75.5 million for bitcoin. Week over week, bitcoin's inflows fell 55%, while ether held roughly steady. Fidelity's ether fund (FETH) was an outlier, posting a $6.2 million weekly outflow, leaving ETHA responsible for more than the category's total net gain. On the bitcoin side, Fidelity's FBTC took in $35.2 million, partly offsetting IBIT's withdrawals. The allocation tilt toward ETH is playing out amid muted price action. Ether was last at $1,936, up 1.1% over the past 24 hours and about 2% on the week, per CoinGecko. It remains 61% below its August 2025 all-time high of $4,946, after falling 35% in a month when ETF flows turned negative earlier this year. Bitcoin traded at $64,780, little changed on the day. Beyond ETFs, corporate accumulation is also supporting ether's relative bid. BitMine Immersion, described by CoinGecko treasury data as the largest corporate ETH treasury, added 104,512 ETH over the past 30 days and now holds 5.78 million ETH — about 4.8% of supply. Whether ether continues to lead once bitcoin outflows stabilize will be tested in the next few weekly flow reports. For now, incremental institutional demand appears to be favoring ETH.

Polygon has integrated Mento Protocol's decentralized foreign-exchange infrastructure, adding a USDm/EURm liquidity pool aimed at expanding on-chain stablecoin payments beyond the U.S. dollar. Liquidity at launch is provided by Capa. EURm is supported by Schuman Financial's MiCA-regulated EURØP token, which serves as a reserve asset and strengthens the foundation for regulated euro-denominated settlement and compliant digital payments. The move is designed to help payment providers, fintech companies, and corporate treasury teams access more efficient cross-border FX rails. By enabling currency conversion between stablecoins directly on-chain, the integration targets faster, simpler settlement for businesses operating across regions as stablecoin usage increasingly extends past dollar-only flows. Mento's debut on Polygon marks its first FX market on the network. The setup addresses a persistent gap in digital payments: while USD stablecoins still dominate, many users and businesses transact day-to-day in local currencies such as euros, pesos, rupees, and naira. On-chain FX between stablecoins reduces reliance on traditional banking infrastructure for international payments. Industry estimates put global FX markets at about $9.5 trillion in daily trading volume, with the EUR/USD pair representing roughly $2 trillion. Bringing a portion of that activity on-chain could improve settlement efficiency while retaining blockchain transparency and 24/7 accessibility. Polygon said it has become a major venue for non-USD stablecoin activity, processing more than $11 billion in lifetime transfer volume involving non-dollar stablecoins and accounting for over 43% of such transfers across major blockchain ecosystems. Unlike conventional automated market makers, Mento uses a Fixed Price Market Maker model that references external FX price oracles, aiming to align pricing more closely with real-world currency markets while preserving the composability and efficiency associated with decentralized finance. The addition of regulated euro liquidity via EURØP also reflects Europe's broader push toward compliant digital assets following the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which has supported growing institutional participation in blockchain-based financial services.