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Regulators at the Federal Reserve are moving to formalise rules for stablecoins, signalling a shift in how banks may soon treat these digital assets under supervision. The Vice Chair for Supervision at the Fed, Michelle Bowman, emphasised that banks should be able to engage with digital currencies — including stablecoins — under new regulatory guardrails. She argued that existing regulations, many crafted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, may no longer be appropriate given how much the economy and technology have evolved. Her remarks came against the backdrop of recent legislation that lays the groundwork for stablecoin regulation, prompting an overhaul of existing frameworks to encourage innovation while managing risk.

The regulatory momentum follows the passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U. S. Stablecoins Act — known as the GENIUS Act — which establishes a comprehensive legal framework for payment stablecoins. Under the law, issuers of stablecoins must back tokens on a one-to-one basis with U. S. dollars or other low-risk assets, provide regular disclosure of reserves, and maintain transparent redemption processes. This marks a turning point: stablecoins officially enter the regulated financial system, opening the door for banks and other financial institutions to participate under defined standards.

Bowman has signalled that the Federal Reserve, alongside agencies such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC, intends to craft tailored supervisory guidelines rather than impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory model. She has called for regulators to abandon what she described as an “overly cautious mindset” that has slowed the banking sector’s ability to embrace digital innovation. According to her, banks seeking to engage in stablecoin activities must separate those assets from their traditional banking operations. This segregation, she said, is necessary to preserve the safety and soundness of the banking system even as banks expand into digital asset services.

The move has drawn cautious optimism from some quarters of the financial world, particularly among proponents of digital assets and stablecoin issuers, who view increased regulatory clarity as critical for broader adoption. They argue that a well-designed framework will enable mainstream financial institutions to offer digital asset services, increasing legitimacy and liquidity in the stablecoin market. Analysts point to academic research suggesting stablecoins have evolved from niche cryptocurrency experiments to integral components of payments infrastructure worldwide — with stablecoins’ market capitalisation estimated to exceed several hundred billion dollars. Some experts have proposed hybrid models that combine fiat-backed stablecoins with central-bank anchored systems to mitigate liquidity risks and improve stability, particularly in volatile market conditions.

At the same time, concerns remain about potential threats to financial stability. Regulators such as the Fed must weigh the risk of deposit outflows, competition between banks and non-bank issuers, and the challenge of preventing money-laundering or illicit finance through digital assets. Financial supervisors globally are wrestling with how to calibrate capital requirements and risk-weighting rules for banks engaging with stablecoins and digital tokens — taking into account factors like volatility, liquidity stress, and redemption risk.

Strategy, the publicly traded firm widely known for holding the largest corporate stash of Bitcoin, has drawn a line under doubts over its ability to meet dividend and debt obligations without selling crypto by creating a $1.44 billion U. S.-dollar reserve backed by share sales. This move reflects a deeper shift in the company’s risk management as the digital-asset market endures sharp price swings.

According to disclosures, the cash reserve was funded through the company’s at-the-market sales program, under which Strategy issued new Class A common stock in November, raising nearly $1.5 billion. Those proceeds now serve to fund preferred stock dividends and interest payments on outstanding convertible debt, obligations that had sparked investor concern amid a steep slide in Bitcoin valuations.

Alongside the cash build-up, Strategy added another 130 Bitcoin to its holdings, raising its total cache to 650,000 BTC — reaffirming its long-term bullish stance even as market conditions deteriorate. Executive chairman Michael Saylor reiterated commitment to Bitcoin as core to the firm’s identity, signalling confidence that the underlying asset remains a compelling store of value despite pressure.

Still, Strategy trimmed its fiscal-year 2025 guidance on operating income and diluted earnings per share, reflecting the volatile environment. Earlier projections assumed a markedly higher Bitcoin price range; the company now expects end-of-year BTC valuations between $85,000 and $110,000, a significant downgrade from prior assumptions near $150,000. Analysts caution this wide range introduces considerable uncertainty for cash-flow forecasts and valuation models.

The need for a cash reserve stems from one of the harshest drawdowns Bitcoin has faced this year. Bitcoin surged past $126,000 in early October but surrendered those gains over the subsequent weeks. The broader crypto sell-off, combined with liquidity constraints and high correlation between digital assets and riskier financial instruments, has erased much of the 2025 rally.

Industry-wide, firms that built large digital-asset treasuries this year are now navigating amplified risk. A recent study modelling “Digital Asset Treasury” companies warns that those relying solely on mark-to-market gains are especially vulnerable in bear markets — a problem compounded when accounting for debt and fixed-income obligations. The authors argue that cash-flow generation independent of crypto price swings, such as fee-based services on payment rails, could offer a path to stability; for now, Strategy’s cash reserve seems to be its principal line of defence.

Market reaction was swift. Shares of Strategy dropped more than 10 per cent following the announcement, extending a decline that has taken the stock down over 50 per cent in 2025. Some investors remain unconvinced that the company’s liquidity buffer is sufficient, pointing to its substantial convertible debt load and the challenge of generating recurring operational revenue. Others see the reserve as a pragmatic step — a signal that Strategy is prioritising financial resilience over ideological purity.

Crypto markets endured a sharp shake-out as leveraged positions worth roughly $800 million were liquidated within a single 24-hour span, wiping out a wave of long bets across major digital assets.

The dump was triggered when Bitcoin slipped below a key price threshold, pressuring highly leveraged long positions on futures markets and prompting a cascade of forced sell-offs. Platforms such as Hyperliquid and Bybit reportedly absorbed the majority of the liquidations, underscoring how overextended trader leverage remains widespread even after prior volatility.

Data compiled by derivatives-monitoring firms shows hundreds of thousands of traders saw their positions wiped out, reflecting a broad-based unwind rather than a handful of large outliers. Long positions accounted for the lion’s share of the losses, a pattern that analysts argue deepens near-term downside risk while simultaneously resetting excessive leverage.

Market participants suggest the liquidation sequence was worsened by macroeconomic uncertainty. Signals from major central banks hinting at tighter monetary policy have quelled risk appetite, undermining speculative crypto bets built on hopes of renewed easy capital. A stronger dollar and rising bond yields weighed on crypto sentiment and intensified pressure on leveraged positions.

Declines weren’t limited to Bitcoin. Ethereum and other large-cap altcoins also suffered sharp drawdowns as falling prices triggered liquidation cascades across the derivatives market. As leverage unwinding rippled through the system, traders who had bet on a sustained rebound found themselves among the hardest hit.

Some investors framed this purge of leverage as a potential reset for the crypto market. Clearing out excessive long exposure might pave the way for more stable price action if broader buying support returns. Others, however, cautioned that forced liquidations could destabilise confidence and deepen volatility — especially if macro headwinds persist.

Security analysts working on China-linked cyber espionage have deepened scrutiny of two Beijing-based organisations that appear to support the country’s intelligence infrastructure. The Beijing Institute of Electronics Technology and Application and its subsidiary Beijing Sanxin Times Technology Co., Ltd. are now under particular focus for allegedly supplying advanced steganography tools and network-penetration services to agencies tied to the Ministry of State Security.

BIETA has built a decades-long publication record in information hiding research, with around 40–46 percent of its 87 peer-reviewed papers between 1991 and 2023 devoted to steganography methods. Observers note that those outputs align with covert-communication and data-exfiltration requirements typical of state espionage missions. CIII, meanwhile, boasts copyright registrations for software capable of disguising malicious code within images, audio and video files, and has offered foreign-developed network simulation and penetration-testing tools that are frequently repurposed by advanced persistent threat actors.

Officials familiar with the intelligence landscape argue that BIETA and CIII function less like independent private firms and more like technology-enablement arms of China’s state-security apparatus. Evidence cited includes overlapping leadership — several BIETA executives have held or continue to hold roles within organisations tightly linked to the MSS — and a shared location: BIETA’s headquarters sit adjacent to the MSS First Research Institute in Beijing, a facility believed to be behind China’s mass surveillance infrastructure in regions such as Xinjiang.

The role of front organisations like BIETA and CIII expands beyond development of steganographic tools. According to analysts, these firms provide a bridge between Western technical innovation and China’s intelligence needs by acting as intermediaries for acquiring or licensing foreign cybersecurity and network-monitoring products. Through such supply-chain activity, capabilities like deep network simulation, cyber-range training and payload obfuscation may be imported under the guise of legitimate commercial transactions.

Linking BIETA and CIII’s activities to actual APT campaigns remains difficult, in part because those campaigns rely on clandestine infrastructure and rarely include public attribution. Nevertheless security researchers point to historical patterns: Chinese-linked APTs have employed image, audio and video steganography to deploy malware or smuggle exfiltrated data; such techniques were documented in operations as far back as 2013. These precedents match the capabilities now associated with BIETA and CIII’s publicly disclosed research and product catalogue.

Last year’s exposure of another contractor, i‑Soon, offered insight into how the wider ecosystem operates: leaked internal communications and product manuals revealed use of malware management platforms tied to major intrusion campaigns against governments and companies globally. That development affirmed concerns that front organisations could serve as staging grounds for supply-chain attacks, with steganographic delivery mechanisms functioning as invisible carriers for payloads.

A sophisticated attack on the liquidity pool of yETH — the liquid staking token index offered by Yearn Finance — drained millions of dollars in assets when an attacker minted an effectively unlimited amount of yETH and exchanged the bogus tokens for real ETH and other liquid-staking assets. Blockchain data indicate close to 1,000 ETH — roughly US$ 3 million — was swiftly moved through mixing service Tornado Cash in a single transaction, while the wider financial impact may scale significantly higher.

The exploit hinged on a critical flaw in the smart contract underpinning yETH’s “stableswap pool,” which permitted the creation of an unbounded number of yETH tokens. Immediately after minting, the attacker used those tokens to withdraw real ETH and other assets from liquidity pools tied to yETH, rapidly draining the pool. Multiple helper contracts deployed for the attack self-destructed soon after, making tracing efforts challenging.

Shortly after the event, Yearn Finance confirmed the breach and clarified that its core vault offerings — including V2 and V3 vaults — remain unaffected, noting the issue appears isolated to the legacy yETH pool. That distinction may have prevented a broader protocol-wide collapse, although internal assessments are ongoing to fully understand the exploit’s scope.

Further on-chain analysis by security firms suggests total losses could approach US$ 9 million, once damage to auxiliary pools — including a yETH–WETH pool — are accounted for. Nearly US$ 3 million in stolen ETH has already been funneled through Tornado Cash, rendering recovery difficult as funds are mixed and dispersed.

Market reaction was immediate: major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether slid sharply during Asian trading hours, signalling heightened investor anxiety about DeFi security vulnerabilities. The incident has reignited scrutiny over legacy smart-contract code within decentralised finance platforms and underscored persistent risks associated with innovation outpacing security audits.

Dubai Duty Free registered its highest-ever monthly sales with AED 876.56 million in November, marking a major breakthrough in the retailer’s 42-year history. By mid-November the operation had already surpassed the US$2 billion threshold for the year, underscoring a powerful run of commercial momentum across its global travel-retail network.

Sales surged by 16.8 per cent compared with the same month last year, pushing average daily revenue to ~AED 29.21 million, compared with AED 26.51 million in December 2024. High-value purchases — defined as transactions above AED 500 — have accelerated, growing 15.2 per cent in count and 20.5 per cent in value over prior-year levels, forming roughly three-quarters of total spend.

Luxury and lifestyle categories remain the backbone of this growth. Perfumes again led the charts with AED 160.6 million in sales, followed by liquor at AED 103.6 million. Gold sales rose sharply to AED 87.7 million, reflecting strong demand for jewellery and precious metals among departing travellers. Confectionery recorded a striking 42.9 per cent increase, with the retailer’s “Dubai Chocolate” brand alone contributing AED 35.7 million — equivalent to over 80 tonnes of product across multiple luxury brands.

Electronics posted robust gains as well, with AED 67.2 million in sales, fuelled by a standout performance for new smartphone launches. The luxury fashion segment saw its strongest month of the year: brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Gucci and Cartier — along with the pre-owned luxury concept store REKLAIM — witnessed a 40 per cent plus rise in sales. Notable transactions included a high-end watch priced over AED 200,000 and multiple Hermès handbags.

The growth was broad-based across concourses and markets. Concourse A led with a 38 per cent jump in sales, while arrivals stores rose 14 per cent despite intensified competition from other retail outlets. Regional spending grew across the board, with Europe up 23.6 per cent, Russia 27.6 per cent, and Africa 16.5 per cent. The Indian subcontinent contributed modestly with a 6.3 per cent uptick.

Tracking year-to-date performance, Dubai Duty Free’s cumulative sales reached AED 7.75 billion, up nearly 9.6 per cent compared with the same period last year. Management credits this growth to strategic expansion of luxury offerings, optimized retail footprint at Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport, and enhanced engagement with travellers from emerging and traditional markets.

Japan’s 10-year government bond yield jumped to 1.84 percent, marking its highest level since 2008, sending ripples across global financial markets. Equities and risk assets came under pressure while investors reassessed portfolios built on cheap Japanese funding.

The surge reflects an abrupt shift away from decades of near-zero rates in Japan, transforming the dynamics of global capital flows. Long considered a foundation of stability, Japanese government bonds are now drawing fresh interest, prompting capital repatriation as investors seek higher yields at home. This shift threatens to unwind the entrenched “yen carry trade,” where investors borrowed yen cheaply to pour money into higher-yielding markets abroad — including equities and cryptocurrencies. With yen-denominated debt now offering compelling returns, such cross-border funding strategies are losing appeal.

As liquidity conditions tighten, markets for risk assets are being reshaped. Cryptocurrencies and tech stocks, once buoyed by easy global credit, have borne the brunt of investor risk aversion. Traders point out that this yield shock was partly triggered by a shift in market expectations around the Bank of Japan, which has signalled the possibility of further rate increases in its upcoming policy review. That, combined with concerns over Japan’s sizeable fiscal obligations and growing government borrowing, is pushing bond yields across the maturity curve higher — including 20-, 30- and 40-year maturities that recently recorded historic highs.

For global investors, the implications are stark. Funds and hedge-fund managers that relied on yen-funded carry trades now face rising funding costs and diminishing returns. Emerging markets and growth-oriented sectors that thrived on abundant liquidity may see capital outflows as investors retreat to safer, yield-bearing bonds. Currency markets have already reacted: the yen has strengthened sharply, adding pressure on exporters and raising the cost of dollar-denominated investments for Japan-based holders.

Analysts note that this yield shock does not necessarily spell widespread collapse — but signals a structural recalibration. Portfolios will need to adapt to a world where Japanese bonds are no longer a funding tool, but a competing asset class in their own right. For risk assets to recover, markets will need fresh capital inflows rather than the easy money of the past.

China’s central bank has reaffirmed its prohibition on cryptocurrency use and announced a renewed enforcement drive targeting stablecoins and underground trading networks. At a high-level interagency meeting convened in Beijing by the People’s Bank of China, officials declared that all virtual currencies remain outside the legal tender framework and insisted that any related business activity constitutes illicit financial conduct.

The PBOC underscored heightened concerns over what it described as a resurgence in speculative trading and misuse of stablecoins. According to the statement delivered at the meeting, stablecoins fail to meet mandatory requirements for identity verification and anti-money-laundering safeguards — deficiencies that increase their vulnerability to use in fraud, money laundering and unauthorised cross-border transfers.

China outlawed trading and mining of cryptocurrencies in 2021, with regulators barring financial institutions and intermediaries from facilitating such activity. The current announcement makes explicit that the ban also extends to stablecoins — digital assets whose value is typically pegged to fiat currencies or other claims — signalling a shift from broad prohibition to more specific targeting.

Officials from thirteen government agencies, including judicial and cyberspace regulatory bodies, participated in the enforcement meeting, indicating that anti-crypto efforts are being treated as a coordinated, cross-sector priority. The agencies pledged to intensify monitoring, crack down on underground trading platforms, clamp down on illicit payment flows and coordinate information sharing across law enforcement and regulatory bodies.

The renewed clampdown comes even as some on-the-ground activity suggests partial revival of mining in certain energy-rich provinces, driven by low electricity costs and data-centre growth. Reports indicate that a segment of cryptocurrency miners have quietly restarted operations despite the 2021 ban, suggesting enforcement may be uneven across China’s vast terrain.

Regulators framed the move as necessary to safeguard financial and economic stability, citing recent upticks in speculation, fraud and illegal cross-border capital flows linked to virtual currencies. The articulation of fresh enforcement measures and explicit inclusion of stablecoins reflects a shift in China’s regulatory approach — from discouragement to active suppression.

Given the global ripple effects of China’s policy, observers expect tightening enforcement to influence not only domestic underground markets but also international crypto platforms, stablecoin issuers and cross-border payment flows that might involve Chinese users or capital.

Abu Dhabi is preparing to host what organisers describe as the world’s largest debut media and entertainment gathering, with the BRIDGE Summit 2025 scheduled to run from 8–10 December at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The summit is expected to draw more than 60,000 participants from around the globe and bring together over 400 speakers and 300 exhibitors under a single roof.

Organisers envisage BRIDGE as an immersive platform that merges content, technology, culture, and commerce, structured across seven thematic tracks: Media; Creator Economy; Music; Gaming; Tech & AI; Marketing; and Picture — the latter covering film, streaming, and visual storytelling. The schedule includes more than 300 activities: roughly 200 panels, 50 workshops and interactive showcases, masterclasses and matchmaking zones designed to connect creators, investors, policymakers and media platforms.

Participation confirmed by high-profile figures signals the summit’s global ambition. International actor, filmmaker and DJ Idris Elba will join the line-up, bringing his cross-sector experience in entertainment and advocacy to the Summit’s discussions. Alongside traditional media heavyweights and cultural leaders, the Summit aims to spotlight emerging voices in the digital creator economy. The Creator Economy track alone is slated to feature more than 80 global contributors across 50 sessions investigating how influence, ownership and monetisation are reshaping creative industries worldwide.

Central to the Summit’s narrative is the challenge facing modern media: trust, credibility and sustainability. As traditional broadcast gives way to streaming and social platforms, and as generative AI reshapes production, issues of editorial independence, content verification, audience dynamics and revenue stability are moving to the forefront. The Media track is expected to convene over 100 global editors, founders, policymakers and investors to discuss funding models, algorithmic distribution, content integrity and the very ethics of influence in media today. The Summit’s ambition is to provoke debate and propose frameworks that can guide media’s future in an era of rapid technological disruption.

Beyond content and discussion, BRIDGE is designed as a marketplace for partnerships — blending culture, commerce and policy. Conversations already under way include cross-sector collaborations between media companies, tech firms, venture capital, and energy and infrastructure players. For example, recent talks involving global tech leadership have highlighted an alignment of media innovation with digital infrastructure capacity and clean energy, reflecting how foundational resources are becoming integral to media’s next frontier.

For countries and organisations navigating the tension between creative independence, monetisation and regulatory frameworks, the Summit offers a testbed. Delegates include creators seeking sustainable revenue, investors eyeing cultural-sector returns, technology firms exploring policy-driven AI integration, and governments looking to harness media’s influence in soft power projection. That diversity suggests the Summit could influence not just entertainment and content markets, but regulatory norms, global standards, and potentially the geopolitics of information dissemination.

Attendance projections and speaker rosters aside, the Summit’s scale poses logistical and structural challenges. Managing 60,000 attendees across multiple tracks, workshops and networking zones demands rigorous coordination. Questions around equitable representation — of global South artists, independent creators and regional media voices versus established global brands — remain. Observers are watching whether BRIDGE can balance commercial ambition with inclusivity and whether media integrity and creative freedom will be genuine priorities.

If execution aligns with vision, BRIDGE Summit 2025 could mark a turning point for the media and entertainment industry — reimagining how content, community, technology and commerce converge in the coming decade.

By Ashok Nilakantan Ayers SILICON VALLEY / SAN FRANSISCO / CALIFORNIA: The numbers are staggering. Microsoft has spent over $20 billion building data centres stuffed with the most powerful computer chips ever made. Meta is burning through billions more, weaving artificial intelligence into Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Google and Amazon are locked in a cloud-computing […]

The article The Great AI Gold Rush By US Big Tech Companies Through Huge Investment appeared first on Latest India news, analysis and reports on Newspack by India Press Agency).

Stock market information for Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a crypto in the CRYPTO market.
The price is 91117.0 USD currently with a change of -180.00 USD from the previous close.
The intraday high is 91871.0 USD and the intraday low is 90476.0 USD.

Stock market information for Ethereum
Ethereum is a crypto in the CRYPTO market.
The price is 3017.08 USD currently with a change of -6.16 USD from the previous close.
The intraday high is 3042.57 USD and the intraday low is 2986.89 USD.

A substantial volume of cryptocurrency derivatives — exceeding $15.4 billion in notional value of Bitcoin and Ethereum options — are due to expire today, marking one of the largest monthly expiries of the year. This event may influence market dynamics as traders on major platforms close or roll over positions, potentially triggering volatility in spot prices.

Options from the leading derivatives exchange Deribit are included in today’s expiry, with roughly $13.4 billion in Bitcoin-denominated contracts and an additional $1.7 billion in Ethereum options scheduled to contract. The put/call ratio for BTC sits at approximately 0.58, signalling that calls outnumber puts — a structure often interpreted as mildly bullish when prevailing price levels are below key strike thresholds. For Ethereum, the put/call ratio is at 0.50, indicating an even balance between put and call positioning.

Max pain points — the strike prices at which the greatest number of options expire worthless — are calculated at about $100,000 for Bitcoin and near $3,400 for Ethereum. Both levels lie above the current trading prices, suggesting that many options might expire out-of-the-money unless the underlying assets rally.

Market observers note that this expiry arrives after a turbulent period of price slides. Bitcoin has shed more than 20 percent over the month, reflecting pressure from liquidity outflows, shrinking stable-coin pools, and forced deleveraging across derivatives platforms. Ethereum has struggled to regain momentum, and broader crypto sentiment has been cautious.

Some analysts say the large open-interest unwind could act as a cleansing event, reducing overhang and setting the stage for potential accumulation. Others caution that if a large number of holders close call positions without rolling them over, downward pressure on spot markets could deepen — particularly if liquidity remains muted around the expiry window.

Derivative-market data indicates that open interest has contracted sharply in the days leading up to expiry, signalling a wave of liquidations. That said, clustering of residual open interest at strike ranges between $80,000 and $100,000 for Bitcoin suggests that some investors are hedging or anticipating a rebound, possibly anchoring expectations for volatility post-expiry.

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange saw roughly $36 million drained from its hot wallet linked to the Solana network in what officials describe as an “abnormal withdrawal”. The breach triggered an immediate freeze on deposits and withdrawals. The operator, Dunamu, moved remaining assets into cold storage and pledged to fully reimburse all affected users.

Authorities in Seoul identified the hacking group Lazarus Group — long associated with previous crypto thefts — as the prime suspect behind the intrusion. Investigators plan an on-site inspection of Upbit’s systems to determine how attackers bypassed security protocols.

The tokens siphoned off included SOL alongside several Solana-ecosystem assets. Observers noted that the attack bears striking resemblance to a prior Upbit breach in 2019 — when 342,000 ETH disappeared under circumstances later attributed to Lazarus and associated groups.

Security firms monitoring on-chain flows report that the speed and pattern of withdrawals mirror those from Lazarus-linked incidents. Analysts warn that the hack underscores persistent vulnerabilities when hot wallets — the always-online accounts exchanges use for frequent transactions — remain exposed to governance failures or credential compromises.

The timing of the incident coincided with a corporate milestone for Dunamu: the day saw the public announcement of a planned merger with technology firm Naver. Some security experts speculate that the attackers might have deliberately chosen the moment to maximise impact on market confidence and regulatory attention.

Upbit’s management emphasised that user assets held in cold storage remained untouched. The company began working immediately with token issuers and blockchain-analytics firms to freeze traceable stolen funds. Officials involved in the probe noted the laundering techniques — rapid mixing of tokens across multiple wallets and networks — reflect a refined modus operandi honed over several high-profile attacks.

Organisers DMCC and Bybit have selected five winning projects from their global Web3 Unleashed #3 hackathon, granting a total prize pool of US$140,000 to the top teams. The live finale took place at S/O Uptown Dubai where finalists pitched across six tracks — DeFi, Web3 Gaming, SocialFi, Infrastructure, Tokenisation, as well as two new areas, DeFAI and DeSci.

More than 90 teams applied from around the world and ten were chosen to present before a panel of industry experts and investors. Judges assessed the entries on technical execution, innovation, business potential and real-world impact. The five winners were Yumi Finance, Glint Analytics, Sorachain AI, Aurayale and Spout Finance.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman and CEO of DMCC, said the Web3 Unleashed programme has evolved from a regional initiative into a global benchmark for Web3 innovation, and adding new tracks this year reflects organisers’ commitment to technological evolution and decentralised transformation.

Helen Liu, Co-CEO of Bybit, noted the growing technical depth and global calibre of hackers joining the competition. She underscored that despite volatility in crypto markets — with major tokens facing pullbacks — the exchange remains committed to backing builders working on utility-driven Web3 solutions.

Support for the hackathon came from partners including DWF Labs, Hacken, CV Labs, Blockchain for Good Alliance, Verse8, CROSS and Cointelegraph, which contributed mentorship, technical guidance and exposure to participating teams.

The hackathon’s broadened scope this year, especially with DeFAI and DeSci categories, highlights widening interest in merging blockchain with artificial intelligence and decentralised scientific research — areas gaining traction among developers worldwide. The winners’ projects are expected to benefit from access to mentors, potential backing from investors and integration into DMCC’s expanding Web3 ecosystem.

Stakeholders consider the outcome indicative of a maturing Web3 landscape in Dubai and beyond, where decentralised technologies are increasingly judged on real-world utility, technical robustness, and cross-sector applicability.

Dogecoin has attracted fresh attention as price action strengthens in tandem with the debut of its first U. S. spot ETFs, even though initial institutional demand appears muted. Trading volume surged and chart patterns suggest growing bullish conviction among some market participants.

The first U. S.-listed spot Dogecoin ETF, Grayscale GDOG ETF, began trading on the NYSE Arca with a zero-fee structure for early investors. Its opening-day volume totalled just $1.41 million—well below some analyst estimates—but the listing nevertheless marks a milestone, signalling growing institutional interest in meme-coins like Dogecoin. The ETF’s modest start prompted tempered expectations, yet it underscores a desire among asset managers to provide regulated exposure to DOGE beyond speculative retail trading.

Parallel to the ETF launch, DOGE’s price behaviour has drawn attention. The token has been defending a support zone around the $0.15 level. Technical indicators show a compression of exponential moving averages and the formation of a falling wedge on daily and 12-hour charts—structures often interpreted by analysts as consolidation preceding a potential breakout. Should DOGE clear the resistance zone near $0.154–$0.16 with convincing volume, traders believe a move toward $0.18–$0.20 could follow.

Some traders cite the emergence of “higher lows” in recent trading sessions as evidence that buying pressure is gradually building. That pattern reflects increasing confidence in the token’s support base, potentially signalling a shift away from prolonged downtrends that have weighed on many altcoins over recent months.

Still, scepticism persists among observers. The low launch volumes of both the Grayscale ETF and comparable products highlight caution among institutional players. Compared with high-visibility fund flows into leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the uptake of DOGE appears subdued—underscoring doubts about the token’s long-term appeal beyond meme status.

Macroeconomic conditions and broader market sentiment remain uncertain. Elevated volatility in crypto markets, combined with macroeconomic headwinds, may continue to dampen aggressive accumulation strategies. For DOGE to sustain upward momentum, technical breakout must align with renewed investor conviction.

At present, DOGE’s trajectory appears to hinge on whether it can secure a decisive breakout above the $0.16 resistance zone backed by volume. A successful move could ignite a rally toward $0.18–$0.20 and possibly higher; failure to do so may leave the token vulnerable to further consolidation or declines.

Stock market information for Dogecoin