The XRP ecosystem is taking a major step forward with the launch of Wrapped XRP (wXRP) on the Solana and Ethereum blockchains. A crypto expert has provided a thorough breakdown of what this new development could mean for XRP, noting that it not only strengthens the cryptocurrency’s credibility among other blockchains but also significantly boosts its utility.  

A Look Into XRP’s Launch On Solana And Ethereum

XRP is expanding its presence beyond its native blockchain with the introduction of Wrapped XRP on Ethereum and Solana. Hex Trust, a regulated institutional digital asset custodian, has issued wXRP, a 1:1 backed representation of the native XRP, on LayerZero’s OFT standard to enable DeFi functionality across multiple blockchains.

This new move marks a significant step in increasing XRP’s utility outside the XRP Ledger (XRPL). According to a press release published on Hex Trust’s official site on December 12, wXRP will launch first on Solana before expanding to other chains, including Optimism, Ethereum, and HyperEVM. The tokenized coin will be available for trade alongside the RLSUD stablecoin on Ethereum and supported chains, further broadening its use cases.

Crypto expert ‘Mr Cauliman’ explained on X that this new development should not be mistaken for a formal partnership between Ripple and Solana. He added that it also does not mean XRP is leaving the XRP Ledger, which continues to operate as intended, or that the wXRP is replacing the native token. He emphasized that wrapped assets are not IOUs but simply a way to access liquidity in other ecosystems. 

Cauliman highlighted that the introduction of wXRP reflects the growing acknowledgment of XRP’s liquidity by other blockchain ecosystems, including Solana. Similar to how Ethereum and Bitcoin have been wrapped for use across multiple networks, XRP is now being made accessible to users outside its native chain. This expansion not only reflects strong demand for XRP in DeFi markets but could also encourage wider adoption across different blockchain networks. 

While wXRP’s launch is a significant milestone, Cauliman has warned that wrapped assets carry considerable risks. These include counterparty, bridge, and custodial risks. He stated that native XRP is free from these risks, remaining a fast, permissionless settlement layer. Despite this, demand for the cryptocurrency in DeFi continues to grow. 

wXRP Unlocks DeFi Rewards With Reliable Pricing

wXRP is set to debut with full support for authorized merchants to mint and redeem the token in a secure and compliant environment. Users will gain access to cross-chain applications, including swaps, liquidity provisioning, and supported DeFi rewards. All of these will be made available while the asset remains redeemable 1:1 for native XRP held in Hex Trust’s custody. 

Hex Trust has revealed that wXRP will launch with over $100 million in Total Value Locked (TVL), providing strong liquidity from day one. This foundation supports smoother trading, reliable pricing, and a healthier market. The wrapped XRP is also designed to serve institutional liquidity providers, DeFi protocols, DAOs, funds, and retail and merchant users.

Crypto expert Crypto Sensei has drawn attention to rumors that Amazon struck a 5 billion XRP deal with Ripple. The expert explained what the deal is really about and what Ripple’s end goal is using the altcoin. 

Expert Clarifies Rumors Of Amazon’s 5 Million XRP Deal With Ripple

In an X post, Crypto Sensei addressed whether rumors that Amazon struck a 5 million XRP deal with Ripple were true. The rumors surfaced as Kendra Hill claimed that Ripple’s endgame is to run the entire derivatives market using the altcoin and that the cross-border transactions are simply a test.  

Related Reading: XRP Rising Against All Odds: Ripple CEO Celebrates These Achievements

However, Crypto Sensei noted that there is no public evidence of Ripple’s 5 million XRP deal with Amazon and that there has been no public announcement from the crypto firm. As such, the expert remarked that this rumored deal remains pure community speculation.  

Meanwhile, he explained that Hill’s core claim was that cross-border payments are just a testing ground and that Ripple ultimately intends to use XRP to process 100% of the transactions on the global derivatives market. Notably, the global derivatives market is said to be a trillion-dollar industry, meaning this move could boost adoption significantly. 

Meanwhile, as to how a rumored Amazon relates to this, Crypto Sensei explained that a screenshot of an old Amazon partnership had resurfaced. Furthermore, Hill had allegedly claimed that another partnership between the two firms has yet to be revealed. Amazon’s AWS had, in 2020, revealed that it was integrating Ripple’s payment system for its rewards program. 

Crypto Sensei also mentioned that Ripple’s CTO, David Schwartz, has stated that there is no evidence that Amazon owns this amount of XRP. There is also no evidence on the XRP Ledger that the company holds this amount in escrow.

Major Adoption News For The Token

In an X post, Hex Trust announced a partnership with LayerZero to launch wrapped XRP (wXRP) across multiple networks, starting with the Solana network. This is expected to boost the altcoin’s adoption as it gains new holders and new liquidity flows into it. Hex Trust noted that the wXRP is designed for DeFi use across these networks. 

Related Reading: Ripple Secures 4 Groundbreaking Wins That Mark An Exciting Phase For XRP

The firm has launched this Wrapped XRP with over $100 million in Total Value Locked (TVL). Hex Trust also explained that the wrapped token’s utility is that it makes it easy to trade XRP alongside Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin as a trading pair on supported chains. As such, the firm believes this move could expand liquidity and utility between XRP and RLUSD. Notably, there are also plans to launch this wrapped token on Ethereum soon. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $2.03, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

To transform cyber risk into economic advantage, leaders must treat cyber as a board-level business risk and rehearse cross-border incidents with partners to build trust. 

The post Cyber Risk is Business Risk: Embedding Resilience into Corporate Strategy  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

The promise of personal AI assistants rests on a dangerous assumption: that we can trust systems we haven’t made trustworthy. We can’t. And today’s versions are failing us in predictable ways: pushing us to do things against our own best interests, gaslighting us with doubt about things we are or that we know, and being unable to distinguish between who we are and who we have been. They struggle with incomplete, inaccurate, and partial context: with no standard way to move toward accuracy, no mechanism to correct sources of error, and no accountability when wrong information leads to bad decisions...

The post Building Trustworthy AI Agents appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Modern internet users navigate an increasingly fragmented digital ecosystem dominated by countless applications, services, brands and platforms. Engaging with online offerings often requires selecting and remembering passwords or taking other steps to verify and protect one’s identity. However, following best practices has become incredibly challenging due to various factors. Identifying Digital Identity Management Problems in..

The post Identity Management in the Fragmented Digital Ecosystem: Challenges and Frameworks appeared first on Security Boulevard.

See how Crédit Agricole Personal Finance & Mobility (CAPFM) uses DataDome to cut bot traffic by 40%, govern AI & LLM crawlers, and restore clean analytics, protecting all their domains without friction.

The post How CAPFM Uses DataDome to Govern AI & LLM Crawlers Without Compromising Security appeared first on Security Boulevard.

The latest S-1 registration submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission has placed Ethereum back at the center of market speculation. A recent SEC document shows that BlackRock’s iShares division has formally filed to launch a staked ETH exchange-traded fund, a move that would give traditional investors access not only to ETH price exposure but also to staking rewards through a regulated product.

A New ETF Structure That Brings Staking Into Traditional Finance

The proposed trust, which is called the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), differs from previous Ethereum filings because it incorporates staking into its core design. According to the S-1 filing, the ETF would hold ether directly while delegating most of its balance to external validators, allowing staking rewards to feed into the trust’s net asset value. This approach offers institutions a pathway to access ETH’s yield component without interacting with on-chain staking infrastructure themselves.

Related Reading: Industry Leader Shares Why Ethereum Price Will Reach $12,000

The structure is bullish for Ethereum, as it shows that major asset managers like BlackRock are looking beyond basic price exposure and toward products that reflect how Ethereum now operates after its transition to proof-of-stake.

The first indication of BlackRock’s interest in ETH staking was in July, when it filed an application to add ETH staking in its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). It seems the fund issuer is now taking proactive action on the staking trust with the recent standalone filing. Under SEC procedure, the new filing begins the review period, although a formal approval timeline does not start until the exchange responsible for listing the ETF submits a Form 19b-4.

If approved, the ETF could influence Ethereum’s circulating supply over time. The plan is to stake between 70% and 90% of the trust’s ETH, and this means that large inflows would steadily route more ether into long-term staking, reducing the volume actively available on the open market.

What This Could Mean For ETH’s Price Outlook

The potentially smaller liquid supply is going to contribute to a bullish ETH price, particularly during periods when demand for ETH rises. The filing itself does not change ETH’s price in the short term, nor does it signal any immediate regulatory approval. 

Related Reading: Ethereum Buyers Have Re-Entered The Arena Below $3,400, Here’s How Much They’ve Bought

What the filing does provide is a clearer picture of how ETH might fit into the next generation of institutional investment products. A staked ETH ETF would formalize staking as an investable feature and increase the types of investors who consider the altcoin a viable long-term asset.

Any eventual impact on Ethereum’s price will depend on how the approval process unfolds and how much capital flows into the product once it launches. BlackRock’s existing footprint in the Ethereum ETF niche shows how influential those inflows can be. Its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has consistently led other spot issuers, including over the past 24 hours, when ETHA recorded $23.66 million in inflows compared to Grayscale’s $11.83 million, while other issuers saw no inflows at all.

Once approved, shares of the iShares Ethereum Staking Trust are expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker ETHB.

Consumers across all 50 states may soon get payments from Google’s $700 million Play Store settlement, covering purchases made between 2016 and 2023.

The post Google Play Users Set for Automatic Payouts in $700M Settlement — Here’s What to Know appeared first on TechRepublic.

Consumers across all 50 states may soon get payments from Google’s $700 million Play Store settlement, covering purchases made between 2016 and 2023.

The post Google Play Users Set for Automatic Payouts in $700M Settlement — Here’s What to Know appeared first on TechRepublic.

Bitcoin’s on-chain activity has shown a sharp slowdown since spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) launched. While institutional inflows into these products have accelerated, the number of active BTC addresses has declined. As Wall Street embraces BTC exposure, the network’s grassroots participation appears to be undergoing a significant transformation.

In an X post, the CEO of SwanDesk, financial analyst Jacob King, pointed out that Bitcoin active addresses have been in a steady decline since the US spot BTC ETFs launched in January 2024, and the irony is obvious.

Why Retail Participation Shows Signs Of Fatigue

 For years, BTC maximalists have pushed for Wall Street adoption, believing institutional involvement would unlock the next wave of mass usage. Instead, on-chain participation has dropped sharply as retail lost interest.

King noted that these Bitcoiners have piled into the ETF for a quick, early FOMO bump, and then bailed, leaving behind a market where the asset is increasingly traded by proxy. According to King, ETF investing kills BTC’s core principles. While investors no longer hold or control their own assets as banks do, which is the very system BTC was designed to challenge, greed always beats ideology.

Market watcher Crypto Seth has revealed that the net inflows into BlackRock and Fidelity’s spot BTC ETFs have been relatively subdued since October 10, when the largest liquidation events happened. Seth believes that this might turn into a momentum reversal soon, as the US stock market is at 1% below new highs despite retail sentiment remaining stuck in extreme fear.

Seth also pointed out that the macro backdrop is shifting in BTC’s favor. This is because the Federal Reserve ended its Quantitative Tightening (QT) program on December 1, 2025, wrapping up a multi-year effort that shaved nearly $3 trillion from the balance sheet since 2022. 

Since the US Fed rate is still at 4.00%, more interest rate cuts are on the horizon, which is higher than both Europe and China. The BlackRock iShares BTC Trust (IBIT), which was launched in January 2024, is currently the firm’s most profitable exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on annual fee revenue, despite being less than two years old.

Unlocking Bitcoin Without Compromising Its Core Principles

Bitcoin is seeing key initiatives that improve its ecosystem. Every market cycle that has promise to unlock Bitcoin for decentralized finance (DeFi), RioSwap is one of the few products built on infrastructure that was capable of unlocking it in a truly decentralized way. 

According to Mintlayer, this was powered by Mintlayer’s native HTLC architecture, as RioSwap introduces a Decentralized Exchange (DEX) that allows BTC to move directly into decentralized markets without wrapping, unbridging, and is fully in the user’s control. With the RioSwap testnet now live, Mintlayer sees this as the start of a new liquidity phase for BTC where the asset will become an active participant in the decentralized market on its own terms.

As we look at the remainder of 2025 and beyond, the pace and sophistication of cyber attacks targeting the financial sector show no signs of slowing. In fact, based on research from Check Point’s Q2 Ransomware Report, the financial cybersecurity threat landscape is only intensifying. Gone are the days when the average hacker was a..

The post How Financial Institutions Can Future-Proof Their Security Against a New Breed of Cyber Attackers appeared first on Security Boulevard.

According to the Thales Consumer Digital Trust Index 2025, global confidence in digital services is slipping fast. After surveying more than 14,000 consumers across 15 countries, the findings are clear: no sector earned high trust ratings from even half its users. Most industries are seeing trust erode — or, at best, stagnate. In an era..

The post The Trust Crisis: Why Digital Services Are Losing Consumer Confidence appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Alan reflects on a turbulent year in DevSecOps, highlighting the rise of AI-driven security, the maturing of hybrid work culture, the growing influence of platform engineering, and the incredible strength of the DevSecOps community — while calling out the talent crunch, tool sprawl and security theater the industry must still overcome.

The post What I’m Thankful for in DevSecOps This Year: Living Through Interesting Times appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Security is reaching a breaking point as growing technical complexity becomes a major risk vector. Learn why modern systems amplify threats—and how to stay ahead.

The post Security is at a Tipping Point: Why Complexity is the New Risk Vector  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Bitcoin Magazine

Btrust Names Bitcoin Core Contributor Abubakar Nur Khalil as New CEO

Bitcoin development nonprofit Btrust has named Nigerian Bitcoin Core contributor Abubakar Nur Khalil as its new chief executive officer, the organization announced today. 

Khalil had previously served as interim CEO while sitting on the board as a non-voting member. Khalil will step down from his board position and report directly to the organization’s directors in the full-time role. 

His three-year term is renewable once.

Founded to support open-source Bitcoin development in the Global South, Btrust has expanded its footprint across Africa, Latin America, and India over the past year. The non-profit received initial funding from Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey.

During his interim leadership, the group increased partnerships with organizations including Bitshala, Vinteum and 2140, and reported record grant distribution. 

Since mid-2024, Btrust says it has issued more than $1.7 million in funding, with over half going directly to developers.

Khalil co-founded Btrust Builders, an initiative focused on growing the open-source developer pipeline in emerging markets. He is recognized as a prominent advocate for Bitcoin development in Africa.

“I’m honored to have led Btrust as interim CEO over the past year,” Khalil said in a statement, adding that he aims to strengthen the organization’s systems and scale its impact in 2026 and beyond. “Ensuring that Bitcoin continues to be a money that works for everyone worldwide.”

Board member Obi Nwosu said Khalil is well-positioned to guide Btrust through its next phase as it builds out long-term programs and developer support infrastructure. 

The organization said continuity will be a major focus as it transitions from early-stage growth to broader execution.

Btrust’s board launched the CEO search in July, citing the need for dedicated leadership as its programming expands globally. The organization said the appointment marks “a meaningful next chapter” in its mission to strengthen decentralized Bitcoin development.

Abubakar Nur Khalil will also be speaking at Bitcoin MENA, happening December 8–9, 2025, at the ADNEC Center in Abu Dhabi.

"BITCOIN IS MONEY."

We're thrilled to announce Btrust CEO, Abubakar Nur Khalil, to speak at Bitcoin MENA! pic.twitter.com/1ozbQyNBoK

— Bitcoin MENA Conference (@bitcoinmenaconf) October 30, 2025

This post Btrust Names Bitcoin Core Contributor Abubakar Nur Khalil as New CEO first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

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Varun Uppal, founder and CEO of Shinobi Security Over the weekend, airports across Europe were thrown into chaos after a cyber-attack on one of their technology suppliers rippled through airline...

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AI agents use the same networking infrastructure as users and apps. So security solutions like zero trust should evolve to protect agentic AI communications.