PayPal’s Crypto Checkout & Plasma’s $373 Million Sale

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Hi! In today’s edition:

• 🔴 Plasma ends $373 million token sale, beats target by 7x

• 💳 PayPal lets U.S. merchants accept 100+ cryptos

• 🏦 Interactive Brokers explores stablecoin launch

• 📉 Binance offers crypto buys below market price

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Plasma Public Sale Ends With $373 Million in XPL Commitments 

Bitcoin-stablecoin-focused sidechain Plasma has raised $373 million in an oversubscribed public token sale of XPL, surpassing its original $50 million target by more than sevenfold.

The conclusion of the 10-day sale, which saw participation from over 2,900 wallets, values Plasma at $500 million.

“Plasma mainnet beta will launch with $1B in stablecoin TVL, the fastest chain to reach this number in history,” said the Plasma team on X.

XPL is Plasma’s native token that secures the network, while also powering transaction fees and validator rewards. The token has an initial supply of 10 billion at mainnet beta launch, with 25% earmarked for the team and another 25% allocated towards investors.

Notable investors backing Plasma include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Framework Ventures, and Bitfinex. U.S. investors will face a 12-month lockup on their tokens, while investors outside the U.S. will receive unlocked tokens upon launch.

PayPal to Let U.S. Merchants Accept Over 100 Crypto Tokens at Checkout

Payments giant PayPal is rolling out a new service called "Pay with Crypto" that allows U.S. merchants to accept payments in over 100 different digital assets.

The service connects shoppers' crypto wallets directly at checkout, enabling them to pay with their digital assets while merchants receive the payment in U.S. dollars. 

PayPal will automatically convert the crypto payment into fiat currency or its own stablecoin PYUSD for the merchant. Those merchants can also hold funds in PYUSD and earn yield on those balances within PayPal accounts.

PayPal aims to facilitate faster and cheaper cross-border payments, decreasing the cost of transactions by up to 90% when compared to international credit cards.

Interactive Brokers Considers Stablecoin Launch: Report

Interactive Brokers, a well-established online brokerage firm, is considering launching its own stablecoin to provide customers with 24/7 funding options for brokerage accounts and facilitate crypto transfers, according to a Reuters report. 

The move aligns the firm with other major financial institutions investing in digital assets as U.S. regulations around crypto become more accommodating.

The company is reportedly exploring various possibilities, including allowing clients to use stablecoins from other issuers. 

Currently, Interactive Brokers collaborates with crypto platforms like Paxos and Zero Hash to enable crypto trading for users on its platform. 

Interactive Brokers is a Nasdaq-listed company worth $110 billion.

Binance Earn to Let Users Buy Crypto Below Market Price

Binance Earn has launched a new high-yield structured product called “Discount Buy” that lets users buy crypto at a pre-set target price that is below the current market price or earn fixed Annual Percentage Rate (APR) rewards if the conditions aren’t met.

Users subscribe to Discount Buy with stablecoins such as USDC or USDT, selecting a fixed-term product that specifies a target buy price, knockout price, fixed APR, and a settlement date. The settlement price is calculated as the average market price over a 30-minute window on the Settlement Date.

If the price is at or below the target buy price, the user’s entire investment will convert to crypto at the discounted price. If the price lies between target buy and knockout, 50% is put towards buying crypto, while the other half will be returned as stablecoins.

On the other hand, if the price meets or exceeds the knockout price, the full principal will be returned, including fixed APR rewards.

“Discount Buy is well-suited for users who anticipate limited price fluctuations and want to accumulate crypto at a discount without needing to time the market or monitor prices closely,” said Jeff Li, VP of Product at Binance, in a statement. 

Currently, the Discount Buy feature supports BTC, ETH, BNB, and SOL.

• 🏭🇨🇳 Bitmain revealed plans to open its first U.S. facility in either Texas or Florida by Q3 2025, aiming to assemble mining rigs locally and hire 250 workers as it navigates U.S. tariffs, border scrutiny, and Trump’s push for domestic Bitcoin dominance.

• 🇮🇳🤝 Coinbase is reportedly negotiating to acquire Indian exchange CoinDCX for under $900 million—less than half its 2021 valuation—after a $44 million exploit earlier this month, as part of a strategic push into India’s crypto sector. However, the Indian company denied it. 

• 📲 MetaMask’s new feature lets users earn passive income on USDC, USDT, and DAI directly from their wallets via Aave, simplifying DeFi access for its 100+ million users and enabling real-world spending through a Mastercard-linked yield card.

• 🧻🐸 Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko dismissed memecoins and NFTs as “digital slop” with no intrinsic value, despite Solana generating $776 million in revenue from nearly 12 million tokens launched through meme platform Pump.fun.

• 🛡️ The Arbitrum Foundation will distribute 30 million ARB tokens—worth $14 million—over the next year to cover audit costs for vetted early-stage and upgrading projects, following DAO approval of the security-focused program.

• 🏅 Billionaire investor Ray Dalio urged a 15% portfolio allocation to gold and bitcoin as a hedge against rising U.S. debt, which he says has hit unsustainable levels with $1 trillion in annual interest payments and no feasible spending cuts.

• 🇺🇸⏳ The SEC postponed its decision on Truth Social’s proposed Bitcoin ETF until September 18, adding more uncertainty to Trump’s expanding crypto ventures, which now include a DeFi project and memecoins.

• 🧑‍⚖️ The White House abruptly halted a key committee vote that would have advanced Brian Quintenz’s nomination to lead the CFTC, delaying Trump’s effort to install a crypto-friendly watchdog for a second time in one week.

• 🇭🇰📜 Hong Kong’s central bank published the full rulebook for its upcoming stablecoin licensing regime launching in August 2025, urging early applicants to engage regulators by August 31 and file by September 30 for priority review.

• 💸 Zodia Markets secured $18.25 million in new funding led by Pharsalus Capital, reducing Standard Chartered’s stake from 84% to 60% as the bank aims to free the crypto unit from restrictive Basel III capital rules.

• 📈 Amsterdam-based D2X garnered $5 million from Circle Ventures, Point72, and others to expand its fully regulated crypto derivatives platform, which recently launched bitcoin and ether futures for institutions under the EU’s MiFID II framework.

• 🌀 Tron Inc., which recently rebranded and listed on Nasdaq via a reverse merger, filed to offer up to $1 billion in mixed securities to expand its TRX holdings—already at 365 million tokens—solidifying itself as the largest public holder of the Tron token.

• 🚬 Colorado-based VAPE, a small-cap nicotine company, is pivoting into crypto by raising $500 million through a PIPE deal with 10X Capital to establish the largest publicly traded BNB treasury in the U.S., with CZ’s YZi Labs backing the effort and ex-Galaxy Digital co-founder David Namdar set to lead.

• 💰 Upexi secured a $500 million equity line from A.G.P. to fund its growing Solana treasury, which now includes over 1.8 million SOL—mostly staked—with unrealized gains of $58 million and potential annual rewards of $26 million.

• 🪙 Mill City Ventures raised $450 million in a private deal led by hedge fund Karatage and the Sui Foundation to create the first public SUI treasury vehicle, with Karatage founders taking over top executive roles after the raise.

• 📊 ETH Strategy raised 12,342 ETH ($47.5 million) ahead of its STRAT token launch, planning to allocate nearly all funds to staking and liquidity while promising “leveraged” Ethereum exposure without liquidation risks or volatility loss.

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