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Bitcoin Development Boost: FTX Is Donating $450K to Brink

Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange is committing to a three-year sponsorship of the coding nonprofit.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:39 p.m. Published Aug 13, 2021, 2:15 p.m.
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FTX is sponsoring the development of the thing that brought us here: Bitcoin.

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  • The cryptocurrency exchange is committing $150,000 a year for the next three years to Brink, an organization that helps fund Bitcoin's open-source developer community, according to an announcement on Friday.
  • "Bitcoin is foundational to the entire crypto space, and Brink is doing phenomenal work recruiting and supporting a new generation of talent to keep the network strong," FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said in a statement.
  • Brink launched in 2020 with funding from the Human Rights Foundation, Square Crypto and crypto exchange Gemini. Crypto lender Nexo and others have chipped in since then.
  • FTX joins a growing list of crypto firms stepping up to the plate to keep the open-source work of Bitcoin Core contributors well supported. It is the first company to make a multiyear donation commitment.

Read more: Human Rights Foundation, Compass Mining Give $80K to Sponsor Bitcoin Developer

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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.

What to know:

  • KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
  • This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
  • Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
  • Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
  • Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.

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Solana’s new phase is ‘much more about finance,’ says Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante

Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante (CoinDesk)

The Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a financial infrastructure, Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante told CoinDesk.

What to know:

  • Solana’s latest phase looks a lot less flashy than its memecoin-fueled highs, and that may be the goal.
  • Armani Ferrante, CEO of crypto exchange Backpack, told CoinDesk in an interview the Solana ecosystem has spent the past year doubling down on a more sober focus: financial infrastructure. A
  • fter years of experimentation as the wider crypto industry focused on NFTs, games and social tokens, attention is now shifting back toward decentralized finance, trading and payments.