New developments extend BASIS across real-world asset and AI-native infrastructure while introducing automated reward restaking for BTC, ETH, SOL, and PAXG participants

BASIS, the institutional-grade crypto yield and staking platform built on market-neutral execution infrastructure, is continuing to expand its institutional footprint with three new developments: an ecosystem partnership with XDC Network, a collaboration with Zypher DAO, and em-dash (Auto Earn an automated) reward restaking feature now live for BTC, ETH, SOL, and PAXG participants.

Yield Infrastructure Meets Real-World Financial Infrastructure

BASIS and XDC Network have announced a new partnership exploring opportunities at the intersection of crypto yield, real-world assets (RWAs), and the broader on-chain economy. XDC Network is an EVM-compatible Layer-1 blockchain powering payments, trade finance, and real-world asset solutions.

By combining BASIS's market-neutral yield and staking infrastructure with XDC Network's high-throughput, enterprise-oriented blockchain, the two teams are exploring how disciplined yield execution can connect with real-world financial infrastructure from tokenized assets to trade-finance ecosystems.

Verifiable AI Meets Market-Neutral Yield

BASIS has also entered into a collaboration with Zypher DAO (Zypher Network), an AI and Zero-Knowledge (ZK) powered Web4 ecosystem building AI-native blockchain infrastructure and intelligent digital economies.

The collaboration brings together Zypher's verifiable AI and ZK capabilities with BASIS's market-neutral yield infrastructure, with both teams exploring new possibilities across intelligent finance, verifiable execution, and on-chain asset management.

Auto Earn Automates Reward Restaking

Separately, BASIS has launched Auto Earn, an automated process that restakes eligible unclaimed staking rewards into a user's existing position every Monday at 00:00 UTC.

Auto Earn touches accrued-but-unclaimed rewards only. It does not create a new position, add a new lock-up, reset the lock-up timer, or change the original maturity date or booster schedule. The feature is enabled by default, and users can turn it off or back on at any time in account settings. Full documentation is available at docs.basis.pro/economics-and-rewards/auto-earn.

About BASIS

BASIS is an institutional-grade crypto yield and staking platform for BTC, ETH, SOL, and PAXG, where participants can earn rewards by staking their assets on basis.pro with rates following the platform's live Dynamic Reward Rate (DRR), which varies with market conditions and is not fixed or guaranteed. The platform executes market-neutral strategies designed to reduce directional exposure, with capital-preservation controls including risk constraints and circuit breakers embedded across its execution and operating framework. BASIS is operated by BASIS DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE LTD, a Seychelles-registered IBC (LEI: 254900IX2F2KCWNSSS64), under ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018 certified management systems, with execution research, systems modeling, and risk design contributed by Base58 Labs, a London-based independent research and engineering institution.

About XDC Network

XDC Network is an EVM-compatible Layer-1 blockchain powering payments, trade finance, and real-world asset solutions.

About Zypher Network (ZDAO)

Zypher Network (ZDAO) is an AI and Zero-Knowledge (ZK) powered Web4 ecosystem building the next generation of AI-native blockchain infrastructure and intelligent digital economies.

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BingX today announced its strategic evolution into a multi-asset trading platform and will further its strategy through "Connect Markets. Unlock Opportunities.", bringing crypto and traditional markets together through an integrated trading experience. The move reflects BingX's ambition to help traders identify emerging market opportunities, understand the forces shaping them and act across asset classes through a united platform.

Guided by its mission to empower traders to navigate and act on global markets, BingX envisions a world where every market is within reach. The company’s expanded offering reflects this vision, bringing together crypto and traditional markets in one place as the boundaries between asset classes continue to narrow.

As economic developments, market narratives and investment opportunities become increasingly interconnected, monetary policy, macroeconomic conditions and market sentiment can influence both digital and traditional assets. BingX is expanding beyond its crypto-native foundations, combining broader market access with deep liquidity, AI-powered trading tools and market expertise.

The BingX multi-asset platform is built around four strategic pillars:

Trading: Trade Confidently with Multi-Asset Market Access

BingX combines its crypto-native offering, including crypto futures, spot and copy trading, with an expanding range of TradFi products across stocks, forex, indices and commodities. The platform offers one of the industry's broadest perpetual futures selections across traditional assets, alongside deep order-book liquidity across selected major TradFi futures assets.

Experience: Connecting Market Intelligence with Execution

AI-powered insights, signals and trading tools help traders navigate market developments and identify potential opportunities. TradingView integration provides advanced charting and analysis, while deep liquidity supports execution across key markets. Together, these capabilities give traders a more direct path from market analysis to execution.

Opportunities: Capture What's Moving Across Markets

BingX brings together market research, industry expertise, educational resources and community engagement to give traders a broader view of developments across crypto and traditional finance. By covering the narratives and forces shaping different markets, BingX aims to make it easier for users to identify areas of interest and explore opportunities beyond a single asset class.

Reliability: Built on Trust

As BingX broadens its market coverage, reliability remains a core foundation of the platform. BingX supports its trading environment with 100% Proof of Reserves and its Shield Fund. These measures reflect the company's continued focus on security, transparency and operational resilience as it evolves into a multi-asset trading platform.

"Our evolution into multi-asset is a natural progression for BingX as markets become increasingly interconnected," said Kevin Lee, Chief Strategy Officer at BingX. "Traders today are not necessarily thinking in terms of one asset class. They are looking at the broader market and considering where conditions, narratives and opportunities are developing. Our role is to give them access, infrastructure and perspective to navigate that landscape from one platform."

About BingX

Founded in 2018, BingX is the world's leading multi-asset trading platform, serving more than 40 million users worldwide. From crypto to traditional markets, BingX connects users with a broad range of assets and opportunities across global markets through one unified platform.

With perpetual futures, TradFi offerings, spot trading and copy trading, alongside AI-powered innovations, BingX delivers a reliable, intelligent, and responsive trading experience designed to help traders navigate evolving markets and act on opportunities with greater confidence and efficiency.

BingX has been the Principal Partner of Chelsea FC since 2024 and became the Official Team Partner of Scuderia Ferrari HP in 2026.

For media inquiries, users can contact: media@bingx.com

For more information, users can visit: https://bingx.com/

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The appointment brings a veteran of regulated digital-asset and brokerage businesses to a firm turning its focus from growth alone to the foundations that sustain it.

Tag Markets today announced the appointment of Craig Lund as Chief Executive Officer. Lund will lead the company's executive team and its next phase of development, working alongside the firm's founders and existing stakeholders.

Lund brings more than fifteen years of experience across financial services, regulated digital assets, operations and governance, with senior leadership roles at Merrill Lynch, M2, MidChains, BitOasis, and Property Finder. He has helped take multiple regulated financial businesses from formation to licensing across several jurisdictions, has led teams numbering in the hundreds, and has worked within organisations responsible for several billion dollars in trading volume. His experience spans risk, regulatory engagement, cross-border settlement, product infrastructure and the building of executive teams.

At BitOasis, he was part of the leadership team that scaled the business many times over and contributed to securing one of the first in-principle approvals granted by Abu Dhabi Global Market to a digital asset exchange and custodian. At MidChains, he helped build an over-the-counter desk that reached multi-billion-dollar volume within its first year. At M2, he led the group operational structure that took a globally regulated exchange and custody platform from a standstill to launch within months, under multiple global regulated frameworks.

The appointment comes as Tag Markets turns its attention to the part of a brokerage that clients experience most directly. Spreads and platforms are compared in an afternoon; a client's view of a firm is formed by how quickly a withdrawal is processed and how promptly a support question is answered. Lund's brief places those measures at the centre of the firm's priorities and treats them as standards to be defined, measured and continuously improved.

“A broker earns trust in the moments a client feels, not in the ones it advertises,” Lund said. “The next chapter for Tag Markets is defined less by how fast it grows than by how well it runs. My focus is on the operating discipline, the governance and the client experience that let a firm grow across markets without losing the confidence of the people it serves.”

Three priorities define the agenda. The first is operating discipline: clear operating standards and escalation thresholds across the business, so that decisions are taken at the right level and are visible after the fact. The second is the resilience of execution, from order routing and pricing through to the controls that govern how changes reach live trading environments. The third is client service treated as management information, with feedback recorded, measured and reviewed so that patterns are seen early and acted on.

As Tag Markets grows across markets, the demands on its internal systems, its governance and its regulatory engagement grow with it. Lund's background at the intersection of regulated finance, operational scale and technology reflects the capabilities that matter most at that stage.

About Tag Markets

Tag Markets is an online trading services provider offering access to foreign exchange, commodities, indices and other markets through leading trading platforms. Tag Markets is the trading name of “T.M. Financials Ltd”, incorporated in Mauritius (Company No. C185265), and regulated by the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius as an Investment Dealer (License No. GB21026474). Further information is available at tagmarkets.com.

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Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is the company’s first live proof point for regulated fund tokenization on ZIGChain focused on GCC private credit.

Zamanat today announced its sponsorship of Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited (the “Fund”), a DIFC-domiciled tokenized private credit fund with a target size of up to USD 100 million. The Fund targets the GCC’s estimated $250 billion SME financing gap, with only 11 percent of SMEs across the region having access to credit.

Closing a $250 billion structural gap in GCC SME credit

Across the GCC, SMEs are central to economic growth yet remain significantly underserved by traditional financing. In the UAE, SMEs generate more than half of GDP and employ the majority of the private-sector workforce, yet receive less than 10 percent of total bank lending.

The Fund will invest in private credit across the region, directing capital towards strong homegrown companies whose financing needs are not fully met through traditional lending channels. The strategy supports national ambitions to expand SME participation, private-sector growth and access to alternative financing, including priorities set out under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE Centennial 2071.

“Strong businesses across the GCC still struggle to access growth capital despite sound fundamentals. Zamanat sponsored the Fund to create a credible route between those businesses and institutional capital. With a target size of up to USD 100 million and interests issued as Investment Tokens, it is our first live proof point for bringing GCC private credit into a regulated digital structure for Professional Clients,” said Umair Tariq, Founder and CEO of Zamanat.

Bringing GCC private credit into digital markets

Tokenization expands the infrastructure around traditionally hard-to-access private-market assets without changing the underlying investment or credit profile.

The Fund combines a regional private credit strategy, a DIFC fund structure, institutional administration and digital issuance on ZIGChain. It provides a first live demonstration of how regional private credit can be brought into a DFSA-regulated tokenized structure for Professional Clients.

The Fund is a DFSA-regulated closed-ended fund registered as an Exempt Fund and classified as a Credit Fund. It is managed by Truleum Venture Partners Limited and administered by Apex Group. Fund interests will be issued as ZM1 Investment Tokens on ZIGChain within a regulated, whitelisted environment.

As sponsor, Zamanat brings its regional private credit, investment structuring and institutional partnership expertise to the Fund’s development. Truleum retains responsibility for all regulated fund-management activities.

The ZM1 Investment Token structure provides a blockchain-native ownership and settlement layer within the Fund’s regulated framework. It also allows qualifying investors who meet the DFSA Professional Client criteria to participate alongside institutional investors.

Zamanat is backed by Disrupt.com, a MENA-based, operator-led AI-native venture builder and lead investor in the business.

Building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets

Global Islamic finance assets are projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029, yet demand for digital and Shariah-aligned assets is growing faster than the institutional infrastructure connecting them with global capital.

Zamanat continues to build the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. Its wider operating model combines investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes and digital distribution to bring real-world assets to market through traditional and digital channels.

The DIFC-domiciled Fund evidences the regulated fund-tokenization, digital ownership and partner-orchestration capability within that wider build. Zamanat is progressing a separate pipeline of Digital Shariah Assets across private credit, receivables, real estate and other asset classes.

Institutional partnerships

Apex Group acts as Fund Administrator, providing institutional fund administration and controls from the outset.

“Zamanat is supporting the creation of a new category in Digital Assets. Bringing institutional structure and digital distribution together within a DFSA-regulated framework sets the standard for how this market should be built, and this fund shows the model working at institutional scale. We are proud to support the infrastructure behind it, and we look forward to partnering further on the projects Zamanat already has in motion,” said Peter Hughes, Founder & CEO, Apex Group.

The global market for Digital Shariah Assets does not yet exist as an institutional category. Zamanat is building it.

Notes to Editors

Sources

LSEG and ICD, 2025 Islamic Finance Development Indicator Report, 14 October 2025 (global Islamic finance assets projected to reach $9.7 trillion by 2029); World Bank, Competition in the GCC SME Lending Markets: An Initial Assessment (estimated $250 billion GCC SME credit gap; 11 percent of SMEs with access to credit); Kearney, GCC Retail Banking Radar 2024.

Investor notice

This communication as related to Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited is approved by Truleum Venture Partners Limited in the DIFC (DFSA License Number: F008013).

This release is for information only. It is not an offer, invitation or recommendation to subscribe for interests in Zamanat Fund CEIC Limited or acquire ZM1 Investment Tokens. Any participation will be made only through the Fund Manager, final offering documents and applicable Professional Client eligibility requirements. For avoidance of doubt, this communication is intended for and directed only to investors who meet the requirements to be considered Professional Clients as specified under the Dubai Financial Services Authority Conduct of Business Rulebook, Rule 2.3.3. The Fund is an ‘Exempt Fund’. Accordingly, the ZM1 Investment Tokens are available only to Professional Clients.

This release and the information contained herein does not constitute, and is not intended to constitute, a public offer of securities in any other jurisdiction and accordingly should not be construed as such. The ZM1 Investment Tokens are only available to a limited number of investors from the DIFC. The ZM1 Investment Tokens have not been approved by or licensed or registered with any other relevant licensing authority or governmental agency. No transaction will be concluded in onshore UAE outside the DIFC.

The Fund is not an Islamic Fund and is not marketed as Shariah-compliant. References to Shariah in this release relate to Zamanat’s broader platform and market ambition and not to the Fund.

About Zamanat

Zamanat is building the global market for Digital Shariah Assets. The company connects asset originators with global capital through investment structuring, Shariah expertise, regulated partner routes, tokenization and distribution across traditional and digital channels.

Zamanat also sponsors and develops institutional investment products through appropriately licensed partners. Each product follows its own legal and regulatory framework and, where presented as Shariah-aligned, its own product-specific Shariah review and governance process. Website: www.zamanathq.com

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Tech entrepreneur and angel investor Alessio Vinassa today announced the expansion of his investment framework focusing on the convergence of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, applying strategic risk-mitigation model lessons derived from managing high-pressure financial turnarounds to emerging enterprise technologies. Before he began investing across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, Web3 and innovative finance, he faced a financial collapse that changed how he understood risk.

Alessio reached a point where approximately €180,000 was due while only about €2,200 remained in his bank account. The situation left him facing the possibility of bankruptcy and forced him to confront the consequences of growth without sufficient protection, diversification or structural discipline.

The experience became more than a difficult chapter in his entrepreneurial career. It influenced how he would later evaluate businesses, support founders and approach emerging technology.

Today, Alessio has more than fifteen years of operating and investment experience and has backed more than 40 ventures across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, Web3 and innovative finance. His current work reflects a strategic reality that businesses can no longer afford to ignore artificial intelligence and cybersecurity are becoming increasingly intertwined.

Artificial intelligence is changing how companies interpret information, automate work and make decisions. Each capability can also introduce another form of dependence. Systems require access to data. Automated tools may influence customer interactions, financial activity and internal operations. The more authority companies give these technologies, the more important security, transparency and accountability become.

For Alessio, this is where innovation must meet discipline.

“AI should amplify executive judgment, not replace it,” he says.

Technology can increase speed and capability, but leaders remain responsible for determining how that capability should be used, which risks are acceptable and where human oversight must remain.

Cybersecurity provides part of the foundation for that trust. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in important business processes, security extends beyond protecting networks from external threats. Companies must also understand who can access information, how automated actions are monitored and what happens when a system produces an unexpected result.

Businesses that address these questions early may be better positioned to earn the confidence of customers, investors and commercial partners. Those that treat security as an addition after adoption risk allowing operational exposure to grow alongside their success.

Alessio’s technology and investment perspective was shaped by learning what can happen when momentum is mistaken for stability. His financial collapse revealed that creating value and protecting it require different capabilities. A company may appear successful while becoming increasingly dependent on favourable conditions, concentrated decisions or systems that have not developed at the same rate as its growth.

The same lesson applies to emerging technology. A product can attract attention and investment before proving that it can operate securely, respond to failure or sustain customer trust.

Alessio evaluates opportunity through more than technical novelty. His approach considers whether a technology addresses a meaningful problem, whether customers can adopt it consistently and whether the company has the governance required to support expansion. In his published investment commentary, he has identified cybersecurity, artificial intelligence governance, identity solutions and enterprise automation as areas where technology is addressing essential infrastructure needs.

The leadership teams behind these products are equally important. Alessio has spoken about the value of founders who can identify where their businesses are exposed, explain how their systems will respond under pressure and recognise which evidence would require them to change direction.

“Good governance makes companies faster, not slower,” Alessio says.

Governance is sometimes treated as a restriction on innovation. Alessio views it as the structure that allows innovation to scale responsibly. Clear decision rights, reliable reporting and defined accountability enable companies to move without depending on one person to resolve every issue.

This perspective has particular relevance as businesses adopt artificial intelligence at increasing speed. Competitive pressure can encourage companies to introduce tools before they fully understand the information those tools access or the decisions they influence.

Alessio does not argue that innovation should slow by default. His position is that speed becomes commercially valuable only when the systems supporting it can be trusted. The objective is not to eliminate every possible risk. It is to understand exposure before customers, employees and operations become dependent on the technology.

His progression from financial collapse to investing across emerging technology also informs his broader work on leadership. The lesson was not simply that an entrepreneur can recover after losing money. Recovery became meaningful because it changed the structures and decisions that followed.

Alessio is developing these ideas further in his book, No One Is Coming: The Mental Operating System for Leaders Under Pressure. The book examines how founders, executives and operators make consequential decisions when certainty is unavailable and responsibility cannot be transferred to someone else.

As artificial intelligence and cybersecurity continue to converge, that responsibility will extend beyond technology teams. Investors will need to examine the security behind innovation. Boards will need to understand the systems on which their organisations depend. Founders will need to build trust as deliberately as they build capability.

The €180,000 turning point gave Alessio’s investment philosophy a personal foundation. It taught him that unmanaged exposure can remain hidden while confidence is high and growth is still visible. His work today applies that lesson to a new technological era: innovation creates lasting value only when the structures protecting it are built to endure.

About Alessio Vinassa

Alessio Vinassa is an entrepreneur, angel investor, technology builder and author with more than fifteen years of experience across cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, Web3, innovative finance and business leadership. He has backed more than 40 ventures and works with founders and executives on investment, strategy, organisational development and leadership under pressure. He operates between the UAE and Europe.

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1win is expanding its crypto offering by introducing USDC deposits and withdrawals via the Solana network and by participating in new Web3 community initiatives, including Sona’s fundraising campaign supporting emergency efforts in Nepal. The developments come as the company continues to broaden the role of digital assets across its products, with 1win Token also approaching its upcoming TGE.

1win users can now make both deposits and withdrawals in USDC via the Solana network, with the functionality available across all geographies currently serviced by the platform. The integration provides users with another option for moving stablecoins onto and off the platform while benefiting from Solana's high-speed, low-cost infrastructure.

USDC deposits via Solana start at 5 USDC, while SOL deposits are available from approximately 0.0099353 SOL, equivalent to around $1 at the time the threshold was set. These are almost the lowest minimum deposit requirements currently available on 1win.

The update comes as 1win continues to develop its broader crypto offering. The company has also announced that 1win Token is set to launch on Solana, with further details on the upcoming TGE and listing to be shared through the project’s official channels, including the @1winToken account on X.

Alongside its latest crypto product updates, 1win has also joined a fundraising initiative launched by the Solana Foundation following the major flooding emergency in Nepal on August 26.

The campaign turned the profile picture of Solana’s official X account into a charity auction, divided into nine zones that companies and Web3 projects could bid on for logo placements. All funds raised through the initiative were directed toward emergency relief efforts in Nepal.

1win secured the Top Center placement with a $16,276 contribution, the second-largest donation made through the initiative. Overall, the auction raised $166,946.50 for relief efforts in Nepal. In parallel, 1win has supported relief efforts on the ground through separate donations to the charitable organization Mountain Heart Nepal.

The new payment option and participation in the Nepal initiative add to 1win’s expanding crypto activities, while further developments around 1win Token are expected to be announced closer to its TGE

About 1win

Founded in 2016, 1win is a global crypto entertainment platform operating across Asia, Latin America, and Africa. 1win offers a wide range of products adapted to regional audiences. The brand has active collaborations with international public figures, including football legend Luis Suarez. In 2026, 1win welcomed rapper Tyga, UFC legend Ilia Topuria, Olympic champion and UFC fighter Gable Steveson, and reggaeton star Nicky Jam as members of the 1win VIP community.

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CoinRabbit has been named Best Crypto Lending Platform 2026 by International Business Magazine, highlighting a lending product that has issued more than $1.45 billion in loans since 2020.

About the International Business Magazine Award

The International Business Magazine Awards recognize companies and executives making a significant impact across global industries. The selection process combines public nominations with jury review, with nominees assessed on their work, progress, and contribution to their respective industries.

For CoinRabbit, the award comes at an important stage in the company’s development. It is moving beyond borrowing against crypto and building a broader ecosystem for managing digital-asset capital.

Why CoinRabbit Was Named the Best Crypto Lending Platform

The Best Crypto Lending Platform 2026 award recognizes the work CoinRabbit has put into its ecosystem. The platform provides borrowers with fast access to liquidity and confidence that their funds remain secure. CoinRabbit maintains a clear no-rehypothecation policy, giving clients greater certainty that their collateral is not being reused or lent out elsewhere.

That focus on a predictable borrowing experience has remained central as CoinRabbit has expanded the product. There is no traditional credit check because crypto collateral does the underwriting, and the lending process takes about 10 minutes whether a client is borrowing a few hundred dollars or managing a six-figure position.

The award jury also highlighted CoinRabbit’s Private Program as a high-touch approach for clients with significant balances. Designed for portfolios of $500,000 and above, it offers a more personalized way to manage assets around each client’s financial goals, liquidity needs, and timing. As part of CoinRabbit’s broader digital-asset ecosystem, the program gives clients a more private banking-style experience.

Capital Preservation at the Core

CoinRabbit is expanding into capital management, but lending remains at the core of the business. By giving clients access to liquidity without a need to sell their crypto, it helps preserve capital and keep assets invested for the long term.

Walter Barrett, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at CoinRabbit, commented:

"We’ve spent years building and refining the product, and it’s rewarding to see that work recognized. At the same time, CoinRabbit is becoming more than just a lending platform. With the Private Program, we’re bringing a private credit approach to managing crypto. Clients can work directly with a success manager to find the right strategy for their needs, with a more tailored way to build crypto capital. We also continue to improve the core lending product, keeping it simple. For us, the goal is to make both sides of the business stronger as we grow."

As CoinRabbit evolves, capital preservation remains a central idea behind the company’s products and services.

About CoinRabbit

CoinRabbit is a crypto asset management platform built for long-term capital preservation. It provides flexible liquidity management across multiple environments. Instant payments and lending, yield and trading products, and also the Private Program are available from a single platform. Since 2020, CoinRabbit has maintained a 100% capital reserve model, ensuring that client assets are fully reserved and never rehypothecated.

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Liquid Mercury today announced that ACQUA1, LLC completed the initial closing of its MERC exchange offering on September 1, 2026.

ACQUA1 is a Liquid Mercury subsidiary that operates Liquid Mercury’s Lab Company program, licensing Liquid Mercury technology to companies primarily tokenizing real-world assets and receiving fees plus a minority equity stake in return. Liquid Mercury is the majority holder and Manager.

“Over the past 18 months, dozens of companies have approached Liquid Mercury seeking to tokenize their assets," said Tony Saliba, CEO and founder of Liquid Mercury. "Many assumed they would need to raise capital and build this infrastructure from scratch. Licensing Mercury RWA lets them launch on systems that were already live and proven, at a fraction of the time and cost. ACQUA1 token holders now own a slice of the business that earns equity, plus fees from the companies in the Lab Company program.”

Verified accredited investors subscribed by exchanging MERC for non-voting Class B units of ACQUA1 at the initial conversion rate of 10 MERC per unit. Under its operating agreement, ACQUA1 must burn 100% of the MERC it receives at each closing within five business days and may not transfer, trade, lend, stake, pledge, or otherwise deploy it. 

On September 2, all 563,230,000 MERC received at the initial closing were burned via a transfer to the dead address, as the offering documents require.

Initial Closing Highlights

• Initial closing: September 1, 2026
• MERC burned: 563,230,000
• Transferred to the dead address September 2, 2026
• Units issued: 56,323,000
• Non-voting Class B units of ACQUA1, LLC under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D
• 10 MERC per unit
• Evidenced on-chain by ACQUA1-C tokens
• ACQUA1-C tokens convert one-for-one into ACQUA1 tokens upon issuance
• Remaining closings: On or about October 30 and December 31, 2026
• ACQUA1 may skip or terminate at its discretion
• The conversion rate at subsequent closings may differ

Verification Links

Burn transaction

ACQUA1-C contract

Verified accredited investors can request full terms at acqua1.liquidmercury.com/contact.

About Liquid Mercury

Liquid Mercury powers professional crypto trading and digital asset marketplaces. The company delivers institutional-grade infrastructure, access to deep liquidity, and best-in-class trading tools and workflow automation across its Pro, OTC, and RWA platforms. Through Mercury RWA, Liquid Mercury is extending that infrastructure into tokenized real-world assets, with $MERC serving as the access and platform layer token. For more information, visit www.liquidmercury.com.

Investor Notice

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Class B units of ACQUA1, LLC and the ACQUA1 tokens representing them are offered and sold in reliance on the exemption from registration provided by Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, solely to verified accredited investors as defined in Rule 501(a) of Regulation D, and solely pursuant to ACQUA1’s confidential private placement memorandum, as supplemented, and definitive subscription documents, which contain important information, including risk factors. ACQUA1 tokens are restricted securities, are subject to transfer restrictions under ACQUA1’s operating agreement and may remain illiquid indefinitely; investors should not assume that Rule 144 will be available. Statements regarding future revenues, valuations, portfolio performance, and subsequent closings are forward-looking and subject to risks and uncertainties; actual results may differ materially. The MERC contract has no burn function; tokens are removed from circulation by transferring to the dead address. Supply outstanding excluding the dead address is 5,436,770,000 MERC, as of the date of publication.

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DWF Labs, an established, market-tested investor and market maker built to strengthen digital asset market infrastructure at scale, today announced an expansion of its global regulatory footprint with a group entity granted Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regulatory approval from the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC).

Granted under the BVI's Virtual Assets Service Providers Act 2022, the approval authorizes DWF Labs as a registered VASP, to provide the exchange of one or more forms of virtual assets, as well as to participate in, and provide financial services related to an issuer's offer and/or sale of a virtual asset.

The approval enables institutional clients access to DWF Labs’ integrated OTC trading and market making capabilities, including spot trading across thousands of digital assets and stablecoins, through a regulated BVI entity. It also strengthens the company’s ability to deliver investment, incubation and ecosystem development services to support token issuers and digital asset projects on a global scale. 

The BVI has established itself as a leading jurisdiction for decentralized ledger deployments and structured real-world asset (RWA) tokenization. The territory now represents nearly 10% of the global tokenization US treasuries market, with $1.5 billion in distributed value. BVI-domiciled entities also facilitate more than $1.2 billion in active, circulating stablecoins - figures underpinned by more than 24,700 stablecoin asset holders and weekly transfer volumes of $694.1 million. These figures (Source: rwa.xyz treasuries and stablecoins) reflect the strength of both the regulatory and market infrastructure DWF Labs is now positioned to operate within. 

Heng Lee, Managing Director and Partner at DWF Labs said, “The Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) approval from the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission (BVI FSC) is a key step in responsibly expanding and delivering DWF Labs’ regulated digital asset services to international institutional clients.” 

“As the digital asset market and industry continue to mature, and adoption increases, this addition to our regulatory framework will enable us to deliver a broader range of solutions, products, and services, while reinforcing our focus upon transparency and governance.”

DWF Labs will continue to expand its regulatory footprint across key global markets, supporting its international growth strategy and commitment to operating within robust regulatory frameworks.

About DWF Labs

Established in 2022, DWF Labs is an investor and market maker, focused on giving builders the capital, liquidity, expertise, and partnerships needed to take ideas from concept to scale. DWF Labs is among the world's largest high-frequency digital asset trading organizations, active on more than 80 centralized and decentralized exchanges. The firm supports over 20% of CoinMarketCap's Top 100 projects and 35% of its Top 1,000, and has worked with more than 1,000 blockchain companies across Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks, DeFi, gaming, AI, payments, infrastructure, and tokenization.

The firm's work is organized across four business lines: Liquidity (institutional market making and liquidity provision), Investment and Incubation (strategic capital and token advisory for emerging projects), Ecosystem Development (go-to-market support), and OTC and Structured Markets (tailored trading solutions for institutions, funds, and protocol treasuries). DWF Labs also founded and incubated Falcon Finance, a synthetic dollar and universal collateralization protocol.

DWF Labs operates a globally distributed team on a 24/7/365 basis. 

For more information, visit www.dwf-labs.com, or follow DWF Labs on X, LinkedIn, and Telegram.

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Aster, the privacy-first onchain trading platform backed by YZi Labs, today announced the kickoff of USD1 RWA Boost: Phase 1 with World Liberty Financial (WLFI), featuring 125,000,000 $WLFI and 6,250,000 USD1 in rewards.

The campaign builds on AOS-2, Aster's earlier expansion of its Aster Open Standards (AOS) framework from spot markets to perpetuals.

Leonard, CEO at Aster, said: "AOS-2 is turning Aster from a decentralized perp exchange into an open infrastructure layer where anyone can launch and operate their own perpetual markets on top of Aster Chain. The first USD1 RWA perpetuals show that model is already working."

AOS-2: A Published Standard for Perpetual Listings

AOS-2 is Aster’s standardized, onchain framework for initiating perpetual market listings, enabling projects to propose new markets through a transparent and automated process.

Applicants stake 1 million $ASTER, locked for four years with no early exit, before the proposal goes to an onchain validator vote. If approved, Aster's risk team configures the market and the perpetual can go live as early as T+1; if rejected, the stake is returned in full. 

Listing access runs on published onchain rules, while leverage and other trading parameters stay under Aster's risk controls, letting Aster bring new markets to traders faster without giving up risk management.

USD1 RWA Boost Phase 1: 125M $WLFI + 6.25M USD1 in Rewards

The campaign runs from August 31 through December 31, 2026, covering SPCX/USD1, CL/USD1, XAU/USD1, SNDK/USD1, SKHYNIX/USD1, and MU/USD1. 

Users earn Trading Points through taker volume on eligible USD1 pairs, which determine their share of the USD1 reward pool, while Open Interest (OI) Points are earned by holding eligible positions and determine their share of the $WLFI reward pool. Traders using Single Asset Mode with USD1 as collateral receive a 2x boost on OI Points. Rewards are calculated across weekly epochs and distributed the following week.

"When real-world assets trade onchain, the settlement asset matters as much as the market itself. Perpetuals on gold, energy, and equities, all denominated in USD1, give traders one dollar instrument across every one of these markets, and that is what stablecoins were built to do. We are supporting these markets because this is where onchain market structure is heading, and Phase 1 is only the start,” said Zach Witkoff, Co-Founder and CEO at World Liberty Financial.

Building the Frontier of Onchain Trading

AOS-2 gives Aster a repeatable, onchain path for bringing new markets to the platform, and the first USD1 RWA perpetual listings show that path is already at work. Paired with the ecosystem support from Aster and WLFI, the launch turns a new listing framework into real trading activity from day one.

As more real-world and crypto-native assets move onchain, Aster aims to become a leading venue for bringing new asset markets onchain. The map gets bigger from here.

About Aster

Aster is a privacy-first onchain trading platform backed by YZi Labs, with unique features like Hidden Orders to protect user trading activity. It pioneers the frontier of on-chain trading through perpetual futures, spots, and earn products for top-trending assets, including RWAs, memes, and core crypto markets. It is powered by Aster Chain, a Layer 1 blockchain built to power the future of decentralized finance.

Users can learn more about Aster on the official website or follow Aster on X.

*Disclaimer: Eligible pairs, reward parameters, and campaign rules are subject to change during the campaign. Please refer to the official campaign page for the latest eligible pair list and campaign details. Trading cryptocurrencies and leveraged products involves significant risk and may result in the loss of capital. This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment or financial advice.

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