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World Foundation raises $52.5M to expand World ID as AI verification demand grows
Edgen Crypto·Jul 24 2026, 15:29Share to
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[1] World Foundation Raises $52.5M to Expand World ID (https://cointelegraph.com/news/world-foundati ...)[2] World Foundation raises $52.5M in Pantera-led funding to expand World ID infrastructure (https://cointelegraph.com/news/world-foundati ...)[3] World Foundation Raises $52.5M to Scale Sam Altman’s ‘Proof of Human’ ID (https://decrypt.co/374216/world-foundation-ra ...)[4] Film Financiers & Producers Flock To Inaugural African Film Investor Roundtable In Cape Town (https://deadline.com/2026/07/inaugural-africa ...)[5] Sam Altman-backed World Network secures $52.5 million in fresh funding to fight online AI deepfakes (https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/24/ ...)
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Jul 24 2026, 17:09
Strategy STRC sees $756M institutional inflow as funds boost positions 105%
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Jul 24 2026, 16:57
Lido DAO approves Core Upgrade to mainnet with zero vetoes
**Lido's biggest protocol overhaul cleared every governance hurdle and heads to mainnet.** Lido DAO approves its Core Upgrade on July 23, bundling CSM v3 and Curated Module v2, with zero vetoes across Dual Governance. "Lido DAO has approved the vote, which includes upgrading CSM to v3 and adding a new Curated Module v2 on-chain," the Lido team said in a statement. "Given no veto, it will be enacted and deployed to mainnet." The Core Upgrade bundles two components. Community Staking Module v3 expands permissionless node operator access, while Curated Module v2 introduces bond-based security — node operators post collateral as a performance guarantee instead of relying on governance-managed reputation. The upgrade passed Dual Governance, Lido's highest-level approval mechanism, with no vetoes from any stakeholder. For stETH holders, the upgrade operates entirely at the protocol layer — no migration steps required. Lido controls a significant share of total staked ETH on Ethereum, meaning infrastructure changes ripple across lending protocols, liquidity pools, and structured products that have integrated stETH. The upgrade strengthens Lido's security model by making node operator alignment structural rather than reputational. The upgrade did not arrive overnight. Lido ran the components through testnet phases before the DAO vote opened, and multiple independent security audits assessed the smart contracts and governance logic. Existing stakers do not need to take any action. stETH holders wake up on mainnet deployment day with the same holdings and no migration steps required. Lido is the dominant liquid staking protocol on Ethereum, competing with platforms like Rocket Pool and Coinbase's cbETH. Its stETH token is one of the most widely integrated assets in DeFi, used across Aave, Curve, and MakerDAO. The bond-based security model in Curated Module v2 changes the economic incentives for node operators — when operators have skin in the game through posted collateral, the protocol's alignment with good validator behavior becomes structural. LDO, the governance token of the Lido protocol, gives holders voting power in the DAO. The DAO manages fee parameters, node operator selection, and other protocol decisions. The clean passage through Dual Governance shows broad stakeholder alignment on the upgrade's direction. The Core Upgrade represents Lido's biggest architectural overhaul since liquid staking became a major DeFi category. By reducing governance overhead per operator and introducing bond-based security, Lido is building infrastructure for the next phase of Ethereum staking growth. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 24 2026, 15:25
Bloomberg probe ties Tether to GENIUS Act with 3 favorable provisions
A Bloomberg investigation published July 24 alleges that Tether Holdings Ltd. shaped three provisions of the GENIUS Act through lobbying by Trump administration aides Howard Lutnick and Bo Hines, who later received financial benefits from the stablecoin issuer. "Had this been the law before Trump started his crypto activities, the only thing this ethics provision would do is create some mild paperwork burdens," Corey Frayer with the Consumer Federation of America told the American Prospect, describing the broader conflict-of-interest concerns surrounding crypto legislation. The investigation, based on interviews with current and former US officials, court filings, and financial disclosures, details how Tether secured what critics call a "regulatory equivalence loophole" — allowing the Treasury secretary to deem El Salvador's oversight sufficient for USDT to operate in the US market. The final bill also includes a three-year compliance grace period for foreign issuers and exempts stablecoin companies from liability for token misuse in secondary decentralized finance markets. **The Lutnick-Tether Pipeline** Howard Lutnick, now Commerce secretary, was chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald when the Wall Street bank began managing Tether's reserve assets in 2021. In April 2024, Cantor purchased $600 million in convertible notes granting an option to acquire 5% of Tether — a stake valued at roughly $6 billion based on Tether's $13 billion net profit that year, according to Bloomberg. Tether Chairman Giancarlo Devasini described the deal as "ridiculously cheap" to associates, court filings show. Throughout 2024, Lutnick acted as Tether's de facto representative in Washington, lobbying lawmakers against bills the company opposed and publicly defending its reserves on Bloomberg TV at the Davos forum in January 2024. "They have the reserves they claim to have," Lutnick said at the time. After Trump's election, Lutnick was appointed co-chair of the presidential transition committee. **Bo Hines and the 'Non-Negotiable' Red Line** Bo Hines, a 29-year-old White House aide appointed executive director of the President's Digital Asset Advisory Council, told negotiating parties that retaining the three-year compliance transition period was a non-negotiable red line set by the White House, three sources told Bloomberg. One month after Trump signed the GENIUS Act on July 18, 2025, Hines was hired as an executive at Tether. The GENIUS Act, which Trump called a "major advance in cementing America's dominance in global finance and crypto technology," established the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. Tether, which controls about 60% of the global stablecoin market, has since expanded its operations from its new headquarters in El Salvador. **Illicit Finance Concerns Persist** Despite Tether's stated cooperation with 340 law enforcement agencies across 67 jurisdictions, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic tracked more than $40 billion in USDT circulating in fraud-related black markets in 2025. Data shows $507 million in USDT was purchased by Iran's sanctioned central bank, and $2.5 billion flowed to wallets linked to Russian sanctions-evasion networks in July 2025 alone — the month the GENIUS Act was signed. Since July 2025, federal prosecutors have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to seize at least $172 million in USDT tied to criminal activity, court records show. Timothy Massad, former US Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman under the Obama administration, warned that the regulatory equivalence provision creates unfair competition. "If we want the dollar to maintain its central global reserve currency status, we cannot allow terrorists, sanctioned individuals, and criminals to anonymously transfer dollar funds," Massad told Bloomberg. Tether denied any improper conduct in its lobbying activities, stating it has engaged in "legal and transparent communication with regulators, lawmakers, and law enforcement." A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick adhered to his ethics agreement, divested all assets including those related to Tether, and "did not participate in any work on the stablecoin provisions of the GENIUS Act." The White House declined to comment. The investigation raises questions about whether the GENIUS Act's framework — particularly the regulatory equivalence provision still being drafted by the Treasury — will allow Tether's core USDT token to permanently escape direct US oversight, even as it remains the most widely used stablecoin for both legitimate and illicit transactions globally. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.