CoinDesk

Better Mortgage and Coinbase have introduced bitcoin-backed mortgages that let borrowers use their BTC as collateral. A key feature is that Better can reuse the pledged bitcoin, and borrowers cannot recover their crypto until the underlying conventional mortgage is fully repaid or refinanced.

• The arrangement lets lenders redeploy the collateral rather than holding it idle.
• Borrowers' bitcoin stays locked until the main mortgage is cleared.

A Bank of Korea study finds that dollar-backed stablecoins can push local currencies lower. Buying pressure in Binance-paired currencies correlates with local currency depreciation as market makers balance their positions.

A British investor who believed he had lost roughly $2,000 in bitcoin in 2012 has recovered $4.5 million worth, according to CEL Solicitors. The firm said it identified a wallet holding more than 5,500 BTC linked to former users of the defunct exchange Intersango, where the investor's coins had been stranded.

The recovery illustrates the growing value of early bitcoin hoards lost on closed exchanges and the legal work now devoted to tracing them. No further details on the investor or the recovery process were disclosed.

Blockchain and crypto investment in Southeast Asia rebounded in 2026 to $680 million, with funding concentrated in crypto financial services, according to a new market report. Capital remains heavily skewed toward Singapore and a small number of more mature companies, signaling investors favoring established players over early-stage bets.

President Trump said he does not run the Solana address/token solana:6p6xgHyF7AeE6TZkSmFsko444wqoP15icUSqi2jfGiPN, distancing himself from the digital asset bearing his name. The brief statement, shared by CoinDesk, gives no detail on the token's origins.

• The remark comes amid a wave of Trump-branded memecoins and addresses circulating in crypto markets.
• No wallet, issuance or relationship details were provided.

OpenReserve, the a16z-backed blockchain bank, received preliminary approval from the OCC to charter a full-service national bank. The proposed bank covers deposits, lending, tokenized deposits, digital asset custody and a stablecoin subsidiary. The preliminary/provisional charter is an initial step toward full operation under OCC supervision. OpenReserve joins a growing wave of crypto-native institutions securing federal banking charters this cycle.

Ripple has signed a multi-year partnership with the University of Florida, placing $XRP logos on the field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the Gators' home football venue, starting this weekend. The deal extends Ripple's push into mainstream brand visibility through sports sponsorship alongside its stablecoin and tokenization businesses. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron publicly called on Robinhood to stop trading tokens linked to AMC shares and threatened legal action, arguing the tokenized products could undermine capital raising and deny investors shareholder rights. The criticism revives questions about how traditional equities are brought on-chain and whether tokenized versions compete with or complement the original stock.

Web3 figures, including Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, are kicking off a crypto campaign to support the people of Nepal, with proceeds going to the Government of Nepal's Prime Minister relief effort. The announcement came via a CoinDesk-shared social post, with commitment details and fundraising targets not yet specified.

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron publicly criticized Robinhood's tokenized stock offering, saying synthetic AMC shares could divert demand from the actual stock and strip investors of shareholder rights. Some tokenization executives backed Aron's concerns, reviving questions about how traditional equities are brought on-chain.