Latest news with #Polygon
Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The Bad Batch Returns In a New ‘Star Wars' Novel
It's been over a year since Star Wars: The Bad Batch ended, but it was a given Clone Force 99 would eventually live on beyond the screen. Next month, we'll check back in with the team in their first novel, Sanctuary. Written by Lamar Giles (Ruin Road), the tale takes place towards the end of season two after the episode 'Pabu.' Now that they're working with pirate hunter Phee, the Clones—Hunter, Omega, Wrecker, and Tech—are on resource gathering duty after the planet's recent tsunami. That leads to them running two different jobs pretty close to each other: stealing a relic from an auction to return it back to its people, and ferrying a pregnant couple on the run. Hunter wants to be sensible and just do one job at a time, but that's not doable, and to further complicating matters, there's an ISB agent gunning for the couple, who are due to give birth any day told Polygon he hopes the novel feels like 'the feeling of an extended bonus episode where our favorite characters got exciting moments that felt fresh and familiar. I wanted it to feel like seeing old friends after some time apart amid an intense adventure.' You can read an excerpt here, which features the Clones trying to get the relic through conventional auction means before things inevitably pop off. Sanctuary: A Bad Batch Novel releases August 5. If you're looking to revisit other Star Wars eras through books, there's also Finn and Jannah's YA story The Last Order coming October 21 from Kwame Mbalia. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Economic Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
This little-known stablecoin just surged 337%, and it's turning heads in the business world
USDC experienced a remarkable 337% surge in usage, driven by Europe's MiCA regulations, positioning it as a leading cryptocurrency for payments, even surpassing Tether. Bitcoin rebounded as a top payment choice, while Layer-2 networks like Polygon and Base gained traction. Businesses increasingly retain crypto payments, viewing them as valuable assets, with USDC dominating merchant payouts. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads USDC's Rise: A 337% Surge That No One Saw Coming The Catalyst: Europe's MiCA Regulation Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Bitcoin Rebounds as a Payments Leader Layer-2 Networks Gain Momentum Businesses Are Holding Their Crypto, Not Cashing Out FAQs While Bitcoin continues to make headlines with its latest price swings, the real surprise in the crypto world this year hasn't been about volatility, but one that could reshape how businesses and consumers think about cryptocurrency transactions, and leading that shift is a stablecoin , as per a to CoinGate's H1 2025 Crypto Payments Report, USDC saw a 337% jump in usage during the first half of the year, as reported by Benzinga. That surge pushed it into the top five most-used cryptocurrencies for payments, capturing 68% of all crypto payout activity and even overtaking longtime leader Tether (USDT) by June, as per the reason for USDC's rise wasn't hype, but it was because of regulation, according to the report. Europe's new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework forced payment processors to cut back on USDT support because of compliance concerns, as reported by Benzinga. That gave USDC an opportunity to step up as businesses and consumers migrated to the Circle-issued stablecoin for its regulatory compliance and multi-blockchain availability, according to the said, 'This regulatory shift didn't just change the rules—it revealed who was truly ready for the institutionalization of crypto,' as reported by READ: AI stocks in bubble trouble - are Nvidia, Microsoft in danger? Economist says it's worse than the Dot-Com crash of 1999 Meanwhile, Bitcoin made an unexpected comeback, despite predictions that newer coins and faster networks would render it obsolete for everyday use, according to the report. Bitcoin reclaimed its spot as the most-used cryptocurrency for payments in the second quarter, accounting for over 23% of total transaction volume, as reported by significant technical development was the massive growth of Layer-2 networks, as reported by Benzinga. Polygon rose 117% in transactions compared to 2024, while newcomer Base, which was launched in February, quickly captured attention with 59% of its transactions involving USDC, as reported by Arbitrum accounted for more than 9% of total USDC transactions, according to the report. These networks improved transaction speed, reduced costs, and also made crypto payments accessible to a broader range of businesses and consumers who previously found blockchain transactions too expensive or slow, as reported by READ: Why can't this Wells Fargo banker leave China? The Chenyue Mao case everyone's talking about In the first half of 2025, 40.9% of all crypto payments were settled in digital currency, which is a 14% increase over last year, and a strong signal that businesses are starting to view crypto as more than just a payment rail, they're treating it like an asset worth holding, according to the led the way in merchant payouts with a 68% share, followed by Bitcoin at 17%, this suggests that regulatory compliance and price stability are driving business preferences, as per the in Europe made Tether harder to use, so businesses switched to the more compliant It saw a 337% jump in payment use in just six months.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Securitize Takes Tokenized Hamilton Lane Credit Fund Multichain, Bringing It Closer to DeFi
Real-world asset platform Securitize upgraded its tokenized private credit fund with Hamilton Lane, an investment firm with $956 billion of assets under management and supervision, expanding its reach across multiple blockchains and adding features aimed at decentralized finance (DeFi) users. Introduced in 2023 on Polygon (POL), the Hamilton Lane Senior Credit Opportunities (SCOPE) Fund is now available on Ethereum and Optimism (OP), with blockchain interoperability enabled by Wormhole (W). This means investors can move fund units across chains, unlocking wider participation and liquidity in different DeFi ecosystems. Securitize also added support for daily net asset value (NAV) pricing through RedStone oracles and made the fund instantly accessible through its investor portal. Redemptions can be processed in two ways: on-demand through a built-in liquidity pool capped at 5% of the fund's NAV, or through monthly scheduled withdrawals. A key addition is the new sSCOPE token, designed specifically for DeFi composability in a regulated manner, allowing holders to deploy the asset in on-chain lending platforms or liquidity pools depending on future integrations. The Apollo Diversified Credit Securitize Fund (ACRED) received the same treatment earlier this year, with leveraged DeFi strategies built around it. The update arrives as the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market surpasses $25 billion, with private credit making up $14 billion of that total, data shows. Securitize has been one of the most active participants in the sector, issuing nearly $4 billion in tokenized assets to date, including BlackRock's digital money market fund BUIDL. A recent S&P report identified tokenization and private credit as intersecting forces that could reshape capital markets over the next years, a trend that the Hamilton Lane fund aims to capture. "DeFi can actually make an existing offering better, but still making it compliant. That's a game changer," Victor Jung, head of digital assets at Hamilton Lane, said in an interview with in to access your portfolio
The Citizen
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Donkey Kong Bananza launches on Switch 2, but there are limits
The game can be played solo or in co-op with a friend. An all-new 3D platforming game, Donkey Kong Bananza, is launching exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17th. Donkey Kong punches, grabs, tosses, climbs, smashes and flexes his strength as he explores the depths of this wild action adventure together with his new friend Pauline. Donkey Kong The game can be played solo or in co-op with a friend. Pauline's vocal blasts can be unleashed using the Joy-Con 2 controller's mouse functionality. Players can also use GameShare to share the game and play in co-op with another player locally, even if they don't have the game themselves. As Donkey Kong, you will be able to utilise powerful abilities to smash your way through obstacles and enemies and even unearth discoveries. Features These abilities can be combined for maximum mayhem. Additionally, Pauline can enhance Donkey Kong's destructive abilities and temporarily transform him into new animal forms through the power of her singing. Collecting gold builds up Bananergy, which allows Pauline's singing to activate the transformations. They include Kong Bananza, which makes Donkey Kong super strong, Zebra Bananza, which makes him faster and lets him dash for short distances and Ostrich Bananza, which allows DK to fly and drop Egg Bombs on enemies. ALSO READ: NAG magazine launches winter edition with Doom: The Dark Ages on cover [VIDEO] Nintendo specs Meanwhile, despite the Switch 2 being a massive upgrade over Nintendo's previous console, technically, the portable hardware is still less powerful than Xbox Series X or the PS5, which means that, despite being a much newer piece of tech, the Switch 2 is lagging behind its theoretical competition. While most owners may not care about this, the Switch 2 should be strong enough to run most modern third-party games. However, based on recent statements made by the people working on Switch 2's exclusive Donkey Kong Bananza, it seems that even Nintendo is impacted by the Switch 2's specs, Polygon reported. During an interview with Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Bananza director Kazuya Takahashi acknowledged the technical hiccups — but cautioned that one had to consider 'various factors' at play. NOW READ: WATCH: 'Resident Evil Requiem' release date revealed: A new era of survival horror begins
Coin Geek
14-07-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
Tether creates 'Stable' blockchain built just for USDT economy
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Tether, the company behind the world's most commonly used USD stablecoin of the same name, is set to run on its own blockchain. The chain, called 'Stable,' will use forms of USDT for both settlement and 'gas' fees. Tether has cited 'unpredictable and high fees,' inadequate speed and privacy, and 'complex user experience' among its grievances with operating the stablecoin on multiple public blockchains. Other stablecoin operators will likely be interested in Tether's latest moves. There is now over US$250 billion in value circulating in the digital economy, with some projections claiming that number will double and more over the next couple of years. Over 62% of that total is in Tether (or USDT) at $159 billion, with Circle's USDC coming in second at 24% ($62.2 billion). There are several others to account for the remaining billions, though their market share percentages are in the single digits. USDT tokens exist on multiple blockchains. Most Tether 'lives' on TRON (TRC-20), which accounts for around 37% of the total supply. Ethereum (ERC-20) is just behind that with ~31%, and there are smaller shares of USDT on Polygon, Solana, Avalanche, and BNB Chain (as well as several others). Though exchanges will generally allow USDT holders to withdraw on any network they choose, you can't send ERC-20 Tethers to a TRC-20 address without using a 'bridge' between networks, and having the know-how to do so. The same situation applies to USDC. Tether transactions make up a large proportion of network traffic on these blockchains, particularly TRON—it's more than half of TRON's total transaction volume. A native USDT token also works as a marketing and credibility boost for these networks, attracting users and developers who may want to try their other features. For example, TRON's USDT traffic share largely results from being faster and cheaper than Ethereum, while USDT on Ethereum attracts DeFi builders/traders and token creators. If Tether and other stablecoins move to their blockchains, those blockchains may start to lose their appeal. Why are stablecoins important? One of Bitcoin's most enduring slogans promises it will be 'the money of the future'. However, most BTC and other blockchain tokens sit idle in cold wallets and on exchanges as owners hoard (or 'HODL') in the hope of exponential value gains. Daily price volatility, network congestion, and high transaction fees have provided extra disincentives to using these assets as payment currencies. Starting with Tether's initial launch (as 'Realcoin') in mid-2014, stablecoins have emerged as a compromise option for those seeking digital financial networks independent of the existing global banking system, but with familiar-sounding unit names and less speculative volatility. Along with greasing the financial transfer machinery for digital asset exchanges and their customers, stablecoins also streamline international remittances and cross-border trade. There are even some (as-yet-unproven) theories that the U.S. Treasury may tacitly approve of stablecoins as an eventual replacement for the non-U.S.-controlled, offshore proxy-dollar economy historically known as 'Eurodollars.' That stablecoin operators are buying up billions of dollars in T-bills to back their tokens probably doesn't hurt either. The common definition of a stablecoin is a digital asset (generally blockchain-based using a token protocol) with a value pegged 1:1 to an existing fiat currency or precious metal. Operators use various techniques to retain their pegs, with varying degrees of success. Backing by equal-value real assets is the most common, while maintaining pegs via algorithmic trading has led to the occasional catastrophe. Although Tether is frequently criticized for failing to publish detailed audits of its exact real-asset holdings, it largely retains its users' trust by holding its 1:1 value peg with USD (notwithstanding a few brief hiccups) over its 11-year history. In theory, stablecoins are always redeemable for the asset they represent. USDT and USDC 'back' their digital tokens with a combination of USD cash balances, the aforementioned U.S. Treasuries, and other bonds/debts, as well as other digital assets. The solidity of this redeemability guarantee is less important than the perception it exists—similar to how we assume we can withdraw all our money from our bank accounts should we need to, but banks hope we don't all try at once. As with fiat currencies themselves, exactly what 'backs' a stablecoin's real-world value is just another part of the financial world's complexity. All this leads us back to the original topic of this article, which is Tether's decision to create its own blockchain network. Let's find out some more about how it works. Stable chain for a stablecoin Like other blockchain users and developers, Tether cites scalability, network traffic, and uncertainty over fees and settlement speed as its primary motives for finding an alternative. In its introduction to Stable, Tether stated: 'With over $150 billion in circulation and more than 350 million users globally, USDT leads the stablecoin market, powering centralized exchanges, decentralized finance (DeFi), and international payments. Yet, current infrastructure struggles to meet increasing demands for lower costs, higher speeds, and greater reliability.' — Stable (@stable) July 1, 2025 For those users experiencing stablecoins for the first time, the concept of a digital dollar that exists on multiple (and incompatible) blockchain networks is complex and confusing. For starters, there wasn't a universal 'USDT address,' and you couldn't simply send Tethers from one network to another. Additionally, USDT transactions require 'gas fees' in that blockchain's native currency. You could transfer it from an exchange, but then be stuck with unmovable Tethers in your wallet until you acquire a separate balance in ETH, TRON, SOL, etc. These issues create a learning curve even for previous Bitcoin users, and may baffle complete newcomers. If a stablecoin wants to be the world's currency of choice for daily and international commerce, the user experience should be as simple and streamlined as possible. Tether's Stable network doesn't completely remove complexity from the experience, but it at least puts everything in one place… sort of. There are a few quirks in the architecture, and still some yet-to-be-made decisions on some of the exact technologies it will utilize. According to Tether's Stable roadmap, these will come as upgrades and improvements as the network matures. How Tether's network-of-its-own will function Tether describes Stable as 'a network dedicated to USDT' and 'the definitive home for USDT,' with sub-second block times (with finality) and full compatibility with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) contracts and tools. Stable has a 'dual chain parallel' model consisting of the Stable Public Chain and the Plasma Chain. Stable Public Chain is the main Layer 1 blockchain, where all final settlements are made. Plasma Chain runs in parallel and is designed to process large volumes of small transactions and micropayments more efficiently, settling at certain intervals on the Public Chain. Their relationship is similar to that of BTC's main chain and Lightning Network, although Plasma has its own consensus mechanism, while Lightning uses pre-funded payment channels. For consensus, Stable Public Chain uses a custom delegated proof-of-stake (dPOS) mechanism called StableBFT. This is built on the CometBFT consensus engine (itself a fork of Tendermint), where stakeholders select a smaller group of validators to produce, vote on, and produce blocks. StableBFT decouples 'transaction gossiping' and 'consensus gossiping,' meaning all raw transactions broadcast are public, while consensus validators communicate separately to finalize which transactions to include in the next block and in what order. This is designed to prevent network congestion during high-volume periods. Stable's stack also includes 'Stable EVM,' its execution layer fully compatible with Ethereum to interact with its tools and wallets. The roadmap also looks at introducing StableVM++, an alternative written in C++ with an improved 'optimistic parallel execution' (OPE) engine and 'optimistic block processing' (OBP). Additionally, 'StableDB' aims to speed up blockchain data storage by keeping recent data in memory and writing it to disk later. The stack also has an RPC (remote procedure call) layer that promises faster response times from nodes. Future enhancements and upgrades to the Stable network include more efficient protocols for handling transactions and consensus, as well as confidentiality (or at least, privacy) features using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). Private transfers mask the transaction amounts in on-chain records, while keeping sender/receiver addresses visible 'for regulatory compliance and auditability.' Also on the future roadmap are: transaction bundling with the USDT Transfer Aggregator, and 'Guaranteed Blockspace' to provide institutional USDT users with a more predictable environment. Tether is still considering various candidates for these functions. Paying fees, sending Tethers everywhere USDT is the native token on Stable. The standard token is used the same way it always has been, as a 1:1 pegged U.S. dollar asset. However, there are two variations of USDT on Stable. One is 'USDT0,' a bridging token that allows users to move USDT value between Stable and USDT balances on other blockchains. The other is 'gasUSDT,' a non-transferable native asset that holders use to pay Stable's network fees (gas). Both variations have a 1:1 value peg to 'standard' USDT, and Stable users can swap between all variants without incurring any extra fees. This ensures Stable is not just another standalone version of USDT, but one with immediate deep liquidity that plays well with all other blockchain variants of the token. USDT0 is an ERC-20 token based on the Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard by LayerZero. Although the interactions between different variations of USDT sound complex on the surface, most of this complexity is handled on the back end, unseen by everyday users. A Stable Wallet user would simply send USDT value anywhere they like, regardless of the recipient's preferred blockchain. Stable as a sign and warning of financial technology trends There's no doubt Stable's creation required extensive investment and other resources from Tether. This should be taken as a sign that Tether/USDT isn't going away any time soon, and Tether, the company, sees little to no risk of regulators attempting to remove it from the digital asset market. It's also a sign (as if we couldn't see it already) that stablecoins are a very serious business, with Tether as the benchmark for how large the market could become. There are also Tether tokens for other national currencies, but they're almost an afterthought. USDT dominates, and making it simple and accessible to the world—for daily purchases and large-scale international trade—could also buttress the U.S. dollar's position as the world's reserve currency. Could Tether (the company) become a Federal Reserve for the rest of the world? Having its dedicated network, and one optimized for large-scale and institutional use, may deflect accusations that Tether is just another token running on clunky, 'hobby project' architecture. However, it also signals a move from using public, multi-use blockchains as the base network layer for vital financial infrastructure. This is both a warning to all blockchains seeking to be the digital economy's one universal truth ledger and an indication that large institutions see existing blockchain tech as inadequate for the purpose. Stablecoins themselves could shift the balance of power in financial sectors, and any trend towards proprietary networks for popular assets suggests blockchain protocols need to get serious about providing real… stability. Watch: How do you build a successful ecosystem? 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