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du has unveiled its Envision 2025 agenda, signalling a decisive push towards an AI-first future. The event is scheduled for 9 September 2025 at Atlantis, The Royal, and is designed to mobilise public and private sector leaders around AI-enabled smart communities and sovereign digital innovation.

The Envision 2025 blueprint brings together a distinguished roster of sponsors and partners. Oracle is confirmed as Host Sponsor, contributing expertise in cloud and sovereign AI capabilities. Cisco, as Platinum Partner, reinforces commitments to digital advancement. Gold Partners include HPE, Huawei, Akamai Technologies and CyberKnight, while Silver Partners—Dell Technologies, Fortinet, Accenture, Hexaware and Palo Alto Networks—support AI and cybersecurity resilience. Equinix and Joy Smart Technologies join as Bronze Partners, emphasising a collaborative approach to transformation. du charts AI-first future with Envision 2025 echoes this collaborative vision, emphasising alignment between leadership and technological innovation.

The threefold Envision platform will host both an exhibition and a conference, spotlighting cutting-edge domains: AI Data Centres, Sovereign Cloud, Generative and Agentic AI, GPU-as-a-Service, Industry 4.0, Advanced Robotics, and Cloud Computing. It seeks to provoke strategic alliances and stimulate discourse aligned with the UAE’s National AI Strategy and National Digital Government Strategy 2025.

Fahad Al Hassawi, Chief Executive Officer of du, underscored the alignment with national vision, referencing the leadership of H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who asserted that “future is not something we wait for, but something we make.” Al Hassawi emphasised that converging leadership with advanced technology will underpin the creation of a scalable, secure, and AI-first UAE.

Jasim Al Awadi, Chief ICT Officer at du, described Envision 2025 as more than a technology event—but as a national platform uniting future shapers to align vision, innovation and execution. He stressed that the collaborators are vital to delivering secure, scalable, sovereign digital solutions that enhance smart communities, economic growth and quality of life.

Miguel Vega, Senior Vice President for Database Platform & Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, said Oracle’s participation will centre on advancing sovereign AI and cloud functions, aiming to help public and private sectors unlock greater levels of innovation, security and efficiency.

Tether is weighing entry into the gold industry by initiating discussions with mining, refining, trading and royalty firms to channel its crypto-generated profits into bullion-linked ventures. The company holds US $8.7 billion in gold reserves stored in Zurich as collateral, and already holds a minority stake in a royalty firm, with talks underway to expand that involvement. This move marks a strategic shift toward physical assets, seeking to broaden its exposure across the gold supply chain and diversify beyond the cryptocurrency market. While CEO Paolo Ardoino has likened gold to “natural bitcoin”, the gold sector has responded to the overture with caution and scepticism.

Tether’s consideration of investments in new realms of the gold industry underscores a calculated attempt to strengthen its position beyond USDT’s dollar peg. The firm has reportedly held talks with multiple royalty companies and even mining investment vehicles—but not all discussions have yielded results. Notably, Tether’s efforts include growing its exposure via Elemental Altus, a Toronto-listed gold royalty company in which it holds a minority stake, with potential for further investment. Talks with Terranova Resources reportedly ended without agreement.

Tether already anchors its stablecoin operations with nearly US $8.7 billion in gold backing, using physical bullion to support its broader digital asset ecosystem. The gold-backed token XAU₮ remains modest in scale compared to its dollar-pegged counterpart, holding a market value of approximately US $880 million.

Parallel to these strategic talks, Tether’s gold-backed offering—Tether Gold —demonstrates measurable growth. As of the end of June 2025, around 246,524 XAU₮ tokens were in circulation, each representing one fine troy ounce of physical gold; the total backing equates to more than 7.66 metric tonnes of gold. A paraphrase of the headline above encapsulates the thrust: Tether eyes gold mining expansion.

Astana International Exchange and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange have activated a direct connection between their central securities depositories, enhancing post-trade infrastructure and extending investor access across markets. The move, under the October 2021 memorandum of understanding that brought AIX into the Tabadul digital hub, expands on the existing Tabadul network and enables fully operational CSD-to-CSD communication.

The newly established arrangement builds on Tabadul’s digital trading network, which launched in mid-2023 when AIX formally joined and began enabling bilateral trading with ADX. Tabadul, introduced in 2022, operates on a mutual market access model, facilitating cross-exchange trading across member markets.

Under the framework established in October 2021, AIX had integrated into Tabadul, paving the way for today’s deeper integration via its direct CSD link with ADX.

Assel Mukhanova, chief executive of AIX, welcomed the formalisation, noting that this will bring tangible benefits to participants through more efficient trading corridors and deeper cross-border investment flows. Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi, group chief executive of ADX, emphasised that the direct CSD connection supports capital markets accessibility, post-trade connectivity, and opens new avenues for both global and regional investors.

This development underscores a strategic commitment from both exchanges to deepen connectivity, bolster liquidity, and accelerate regional capital market integration. By complementing the stronger ties forged through Tabadul, the new ADX–AIX direct CSD link strengthens market access for issuers and investors alike.

Samsung has introduced its newest Galaxy S25 FE handset and Tab S11 tablet series, underlining an ambition to deliver flagship-level features to a broader audience. The Galaxy S25 FE arrives at around $650, equipped with a 6.7-inch AMOLED display, Exynos 2400 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 4,900 mAh battery—paired with Galaxy AI enhancements such as Instant Slow-Mo, Generative Edit, and Audio Eraser. The Tab S11 models—the 11-inch base and the 14.6-inch Ultra—feature One UI 8, Android 16, S Pen support, 120Hz AMOLED screens, MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ chips, and AI-enabled enhancements including Samsung DeX’s new Extended Mode.

At the event held alongside IFA 2025, Jay Kim, one of Samsung’s corporate executive vice-presidents, noted that Galaxy AI is now live on more than 200 million devices, and the company expects to double that by year’s end. The Galaxy S25 FE delivers the longest battery life yet for an FE phone and debuts with improved cooling via a larger vapour-chamber system, alongside a build featuring Armor Aluminium and Gorilla Glass Victus+, with IP68 dust and water resistance.

The Tab S11 Ultra matches the iPad Pro’s 5.1 mm thinness and brings Wi-Fi 7 support, anti-reflective coating, enhanced DeX features, and promising multitasking capabilities. Together, these devices reflect Samsung’s approach to combine premium hardware with smart, AI-powered functionality at competitive prices.

Samsung’s announcement suggests a deliberate strategy: expanding access to its AI ecosystem, offering extended software support—seven years of OS and security updates for the S25 FE—and positioning these devices ahead of major rival launches.

The Galaxy S25 FE is now available and begins around $650 in the US, while the Galaxy Tab S11 line starts from $799 for the base model and $1,199 for the Ultra.

Samsung’s timing—introducing value-oriented yet AI-driven phones and tablets just before its biggest mobile competitor’s next launch—signals a sharp push to attract consumers with strong hardware, intelligent software, and long-term support.

In Bangalore and beyond, industry observers note that the S25 FE’s offering of Galaxy AI tools, robust support lifespan, and competitive price point could challenge rivals in emerging markets. The Tab S11 series, with its stylus-enabled productivity enhancements and tablet-as-laptop flair, appears aimed at professionals and creatives seeking seamless workflows on Android.

Echoing its messaging, Samsung is enhancing its Galaxy ecosystem, aiming to envelop users in its AI capabilities—whether through smartphones or tablets—while ensuring that cutting-edge features are no longer confined to its flagship devices alone.

Falcon Finance has reached a new milestone as the circulating supply of its decentralized stablecoin, USDf, climbs to an all-time high of $1.5 billion, signalling sharply increased adoption and confidence in its DeFi infrastructure. The expansion tracks a surge from $1.12 billion over approximately one month, a performance driven by a blend of yield innovation, enhanced transparency, and risk-mitigation frameworks.

The $10 million on-chain insurance fund plays a pivotal role in strengthening institutional trust. Seeded initially with USD1 and replenished via protocol fees, the fund is structured to act as a financial buffer during market stress—supporting yield commitments, offsetting rare instances of negative returns, and serving as a fallback bidder for USDf to uphold its peg. Premium collateral strategies further bolster systemic resilience.

Yield generation remains a cornerstone: the yield-bearing counterpart of USDf, sUSDf, has delivered a standout 30-day APY of 9.30 per cent as of 30 August, outperforming notable competitors such as Ethena’s sUSDe, Maple’s SyrupUSDC, Sky’s sUSDS, Ondo’s OUSG, and BlackRock’s BUIDL.

To deepen engagement and expand utility, Falcon Finance launched the frxUSD–USDf Curve liquidity pool, which offers participants more than 20 per cent APR and rewards denominated as “40× Miles.” The community-oriented Yap2Fly campaign—run in partnership with Kaito—distributed $50,000 in rewards to its top 50 users in August, further stimulating active participation.

Transparency remains central to the protocol’s ethos. Falcon now publishes full reserve breakdowns and supports these with weekly third-party attestations. As per the latest reporting, USDf reserves amount to $1.29 billion—comprising $640.16 million in bitcoin, $375.65 million in stablecoins, with remaining allocation across Dogecoin, Fetch. ai, TRON, TON, and Ethereum. Custody spreads across Fireblocks, Ceffu, and multisignature setups, with 72.2 per cent held under multisig, fostering verifiable security.

These developments are underpinned by earlier strategic investments and roadmap expansions. A $10 million funding from World Liberty Financial in July accelerated technical integration with the fiat-backed USD1 stablecoin, facilitating liquidity sharing and conversion infrastructure. By mid-2025, USDf had already breached the $1 billion supply threshold, demonstrating steady growth ahead of its latest benchmark.

Falcon portrays USDf as more than a synthetic dollar; it is positioned as a global liquidity solution. The protocol’s architecture permits any custody-ready asset—including crypto, stablecoins, and real-world tokenised assets—to be turned into USD-pegged on-chain liquidity. This dual-token model is geared towards unlocking yield while safeguarding against volatility, effectively merging traditional risk frameworks with DeFi innovation.

Market observers note that USDf’s climb to $1.5 billion is emblematic of a broader shift in DeFi: users and institutions are increasingly seeking stable, yield-bearing alternatives to both fiat and traditional stablecoins. Falcon’s layered risk-management systems, institutional-grade safeguards, and developer partnerships appear to answer that demand with growing credibility.

Abu Dhabi will host the BRIDGE Summit from 8 to 10 December 2025 at the ADNEC Centre, uniting heads of state, media executives, policymakers, technologists and content creators in an ambitious bid to redefine the global media landscape. Announced in Washington by Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Butti Al Hamed, chairman of the National Media Office, alongside Dr Jamal Mohammed Obaid Al Kaabi, director-general of the NMO, the summit pledges to foster dialogue, innovation and sustainable growth across the sector. Attendance is expected to exceed 5,000 participants, underpinning its status as a global media landmark.

Preparatory efforts have extended worldwide. In June, a roundtable in London convened Al Hamed and Al Kaabi with media experts during London Tech Week to reinforce the summit’s commitment to transparency, accountability and cross-sector collaboration in an increasingly digital era. In Asia, the BRIDGE roadshow landed in Shanghai, following stops in New York, London and Osaka, each event contributing insights to shape the summit’s agenda. A mission to Seoul in August further advanced partnerships with technology and media firms, including I-ON Communications on AI and data storytelling; Dentons on regulatory frameworks; Lotte Caliverse on immersive media; and SM Entertainment on cultural collaboration. These discussions cemented shared goals around content credibility, technology ethics and investment in creative startups.

The BRIDGE Summit is embedded within a broader ecosystem spearheaded by the National Media Office. Alongside the summit lies the BRIDGE Foundation, a non-profit body dedicated to empowering media professionals, funding research and supporting startups. This aligns with the UAE’s pursuit of media as a force for societal development and economic progress. A recently published fact sheet outlines the summit’s six thematic zones—Academy, Diplomacy, Forum, Marketplace, Impact and Spotlight—designed to foster skills, policy engagement, tech innovation, social impact and cultural exchange across a three-day programme.

AI and ethics feature prominently among the summit’s themes. Organisers emphasise human values in storytelling amid accelerating digital disruption and algorithmic influence. Al Hamed has characterised media as a humanitarian force that must uphold integrity and cohesion, not merely chase clicks. The summit will address responsible AI’s potential and pitfalls, ethical journalism, and media business models fit for the digital age.

Beyond content and tech, BRIDGE seeks to bridge policy and practice. With roundtables and forums designed to foster international dialogue, policymakers, creators and academics will collaborate on frameworks that safeguard credibility while embracing innovation.

The summit’s global scope is reflected in its steady itinerary of international engagements. From Washington to London, Shanghai to Seoul, each stop has contributed regional perspectives and partnerships that will inform the summit’s structure, themes and participant networks.

The activation points to the investor’s decision to hold steadfast—“…patently holding their BTC holdings for over 12 years,”—a remarkable example of long-term strategic patience in the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency space.

Blockchain tracking services and on-chain analysts, while not identifying the holder, confirm that the bitcoin moved from a cold storage wallet first funded around 2012 has now matured into a substantial fortune thanks to the soaring bitcoin price. Historical price data indicates that the $4,400 stake likely purchased the bitcoin when its value was in the low-hundreds of dollars or even under $100 per coin.

This event occurs amid renewed upward momentum in bitcoin markets, where price action above the $111,000 level hints at a potential breakout to surpass $112,500. Analysts caution that maintaining momentum will be key, noting that the current ascent could falter under resistance.

While stories of dormant wallets awakening to deliver vast profits are not unprecedented, this case underscores the dramatic impact of time in cryptocurrency investing. Earlier this year, another long-term bitcoin holder netted nearly $30 million in profit after liquidating 300 BTC originally acquired in 2013 for around $60,000—a 496-fold return after more than a decade. In August 2025, yet another investor moved 300 BTC mined in 2013, transforming a $50 valuation per coin into a $30 million gain.

These developments highlight three evolving trends:

Firstly, long-term holding remains a potent strategy. The volatility of crypto is tempered by the compounding power of holding through cycles when the asset appreciates significantly over time.

Secondly, dormant wallets serve as markers of early adoption, especially during bitcoin’s infancy around 2010–2013. Their reactivation often signals profound gains to long-forgotten investors.

Thirdly, current market dynamics favour such histories. With bitcoin approaching and testing six-figure levels, such reawakenings may become more visible as early investors reclaim their positions.

The ethics of reporting such cases demand sensitivity. Without identifying individuals, disclosures should remain factual and avoid speculation about motives. What matters most is the concrete data: time-stamped transactions, verified wallet histories, and precise investment-to-return comparisons.

Private firms are allocating an average of 22 per cent of their profits into Bitcoin, as revealed by a new analysis from River, a specialist in Bitcoin financial services. The move underscores an accelerating wave of adoption from traditional companies across sectors from real estate to hospitality, driven by favourable regulation, strengthened accounting clarity, and a buoyant bull market.

River’s data shows that real estate businesses are leading this charge, with nearly 15 per cent reinvesting profits into Bitcoin, while hospitality, finance, and software firms direct between 8 per cent and 10 per cent. Even smaller, diverse businesses—including fitness studios, painting outfits, roofing contractors, and religious nonprofits—are joining the trend. By 2025, these private firms have quietly amassed 84,000 bitcoins, amounting to roughly a quarter of what institutional fund managers and corporate treasury holders combined have acquired.

The underlying conditions for this surge are clear. River attributes the shift to improved Bitcoin accounting standards, regulatory certainty, growing institutional acceptance, and a strong bull market that has seen Bitcoin’s value surge—creating an “ideal environment for widespread adoption”.

Smaller businesses, typically with fewer than 50 employees, account for 75 per cent of River’s clients, and appear to find Bitcoin adoption simpler than larger corporations. Those with complex, committee-based governance are more cautious, often awaiting peer precedent before committing—even when convinced of Bitcoin’s long-term value.

Adoption patterns also vary in scale. Over 40 per cent of the businesses allocate between 1 per cent and 10 per cent of profits to Bitcoin, while just 10 per cent invest more than half of their net income into the cryptocurrency.

This wave of grassroots participation complements broader institutional demand. River reports that public and private firms—the latter including treasury-managed corporations—are purchasing approximately 1,755 BTC per day on average in 2025. Exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles are acquiring about 1,430 BTC per day, and governments add another 39 BTC daily. These figures stack up sharply against miner output, which is only around 450 BTC per day—raising the likelihood of a supply squeeze if exchange inventories continue to deplete.

Institution-grade buyers are also piling in. Bitcoin treasury firms accounted for 159,107 BTC acquired in the second quarter of 2025, pushing the total corporate and business-held Bitcoin to around 1.3 million BTC. Michael Saylor’s company Strategy remains the dominant corporate holder, with more than 630,000 BTC under its control.

Parallel developments illustrate the growing strategic shift toward Bitcoin within corporate finance. In the United States, investor Anthony Pompliano orchestrated a $1 billion SPAC merger to launch ProCap Financial, a new Bitcoin treasury firm with an ambition to manage up to $1 billion in cryptocurrency holdings. The firm plans to monetise its holdings through lending, derivatives, and other services, pushing the boundaries of Bitcoin treasury strategies.

Across the Atlantic, UK markets are witnessing their own momentum. At least nine London-listed companies—from technology to mining ventures—have either acquired Bitcoin or announced plans to do so, seeking similar boosts in investor appeal. Despite historical resistance from regulators concerned about money‑laundering risks, the Financial Conduct Authority appears open to easing restrictions, offering a potential regulatory tailwind to adoption in Britain.

This widespread movement mirrors and builds upon earlier corporate Bitcoin trends. As of mid‑2025, nearly 130 publicly traded companies held about $87 billion in Bitcoin, or 3.2 per cent of the total supply, driven by the ‘Bitcoin treasury’ blueprint pioneered by Strategy. Firms including Tesla, Metaplanet, Twenty One Capital, Block, GameStop, and Trump Media & Technology Group have followed suit, deploying equity issuance, bonds, and convertible debt to fund their Bitcoin accumulation.

Analysts also project an enormous potential inflow of corporate capital: Bernstein Research estimates that corporate demand could funnel as much as $330 billion into Bitcoin by 2029, with up to $124 billion attributable to Strategy alone.