Crypto Market Update: Cloudflare, Western Union Unveil New Payment Layers

Bitcoin price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$64,842.31, up by 1.2 percent over the past 24 hours.

According to crypto market intelligence and on-chain analytics platform Glassnode, heavy selling by long-term holders was a major part of the downtrend. Selling pressure has cooled, but buyers have yet to emerge.

Exchange-traded fund demand remains weak, trading volumes are thin and the Bitcoin price has not reclaimed the key cost-basis levels that would show a real trend reversal.

Bitcoin price chart

Ether and altcoin price update

• Ethereum (ETH) was priced at US$1,918.44, trading 2.4 percent higher over the last 24 hours.

• XRP (XRP) was priced at US$1.07, trading 0.5 percent lower over the past 24 hours.

• Solana (SOL) was trading at US$74.41, trading 0.8 percent higher over the past 24 hours.

Today's crypto news to know

Read on for a round-up of the biggest crypto market news:

• Coinkite issues warning after US$130 million hack
• US$1.8 billion in dormant Bitcoin linked to UK fraud case
• BNY Mellon launches crypto staking in Galaxy Digital partnership
• Western Union and Rain collaborate on stablecoin payment platform
• Cloudflare introduces programmable wallets

Coinkite issues warning after US$130 million hack

Coinkite issued a warning to crypto industry participants on July 30 after hackers exploited a software flaw in its Coldcard hardware wallets to steal up to US$130 million in Bitcoin.

The company said artificial intelligence failed to detect a critical vulnerability dating back to March 2021. The flaw forced affected firmware to rely on a deterministic pseudo-random generator rather than a hardware-backed true random number generator, enabling attackers to reconstruct master seed phrases without physical access to the devices.

On-chain analysis from Galaxy Research confirms that hackers drained up to 2,055 BTC from roughly 7,300 user addresses across multiple attack waves. Coinkite CEO Rodolfo Novak urged all affected users to move their funds immediately and install the latest firmware updates.

The company destroyed the remaining inventory manufactured with the flawed code and halted all shipments after confirming the exploit. Because installing the new firmware only protects newly generated seeds, existing wallet owners must completely replace their seed phrases to secure their assets.

Coinkite has shared attacker addresses with law enforcement and crypto exchanges; investigations continue, and the company notes that nearly 90 percent of the stolen Bitcoin have not been moved.

US$1.8 billion in dormant Bitcoin linked to UK fraud case

According to a recent X post, on-chain investigator Specter has uncovered a cluster of dormant Bitcoin wallets holding 28,555 BTC worth US$1.8 billion; they are tied to one of the largest money laundering cases in UK history.

The investigation began when a wallet untouched since 2017 suddenly moved 1,020 BTC worth US$60 million and scattered the funds across multiple addresses. Specter traced those transaction trails directly to wallet clusters linked to the UK prosecution of Qian Zhimin. Qian defrauded more than 128,000 victims in China out of US$800 million between 2014 and 2017 before converting the proceeds into Bitcoin. She subsequently fled to the UK under a forged passport and attempted to launder the stolen assets through luxury London real estate purchases.

UK authorities eventually staged the country's largest crypto seizure by confiscating over 60,000 BTC, leading to Qian's conviction and a nearly 12 year prison sentence.

Transfers made by police during that 2021 seizure left distinct on-chain trails that enabled analysts to identify the connected US$1.8 billion wallet cluster.

BNY Mellon launches crypto staking in Galaxy Digital partnership

BNY Mellon (NYSE:BK) has partnered with Galaxy Digital (NASDAQ:GLXY) to allow institutional clients to earn staking rewards directly on cryptocurrencies held within the bank's custody platform.

The collaboration integrates proof-of-stake capabilities into BNY’s existing digital asset custody system, eliminating the need for institutions to transfer funds to external providers.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Digital provides technical expertise in proof-of-stake blockchain networks while serving as a design partner for BNY’s broader digital asset infrastructure. The new staking feature will operate alongside BNY’s existing servicing suite, including fund accounting, tax reporting and payment processing.

BNY currently oversees US$62.6 trillion in assets under custody and serves over 90 percent of Fortune 100 companies.

Western Union and Rain collaborate on stablecoin payment platform

Western Union (NYSE:WU) and Rain, a global stablecoin payments platform, launched Stablecard, a digital wallet plus Visa card that receives remittances in USDPT and lets users spend the balance at Visa merchants or ATMs.

“Stablecard represents the next step in making global financial services more accessible to our customers,” said Devin McGranahan, president and CEO of Western Union, in a Tuesday (August 4) press release. “By combining the stability of a dollar-backed digital asset with the scale of Western Union’s global network and Visa’s acceptance footprint, we’re giving consumers a new way to hold value, move money and spend confidently across borders.”

“Western Union is putting stablecoin efficiency in the hands of people who have never thought about onchain money and never need to,” added Farooq Malik, CEO and co-founder of Rain.

“With Rain's enterprise infrastructure underneath both the wallet and card, users enjoy a modern experience that just works with all of the compliance and protections built in.”

The product is live in 37 markets, with Western Union aiming for over 60 markets by the end of 2026.

Cloudflare introduces programmable wallets

Cloudflare (NYSE:NET) on Tuesday introduced Cloudflare wallets and cloudflare.pay, a new identity and payment layer for artificial intelligence agents on its network. The system gives each Cloudflare account a stable web identity and lets users create account wallets and agent-specific virtual wallets with spending guardrails set by the human owner.

Cloudflare said wallet handle reservation is live now, while funding, onramping/offramping and full wallet functionality will roll out in the coming months. According to the company, the goal is to make agentic commerce safer by letting businesses know exactly who authorized transactions that are driven by artificial intelligence, and by giving agents a controlled way to pay for APIs and online content.