Square Crypto, Human Rights Foundation Ramp Up Bitcoin Development Grants
Square Crypto and the Human Rights Foundation are continuing their support for an open source Bitcoin developer community with new contributor grants.

The Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund, launched in June 2020, announced three new grant recipients this week on the heels of a similar announcement by fellow grant distributor Square Crypto.
- Lloyd Fournier became the latest out of nearly a dozen Bitcon contributors sponsored by Square Crypto in some form when the payments firm announced he would receive a grant on Aug. 3. Fournier’s grant proposal said he plans to experiment with payment channels and the Lightning Network, exploring options comparable to the oracles popularized by decentralized finance (DeFi) systems.
- Yet another Lightning developer, Evan Kaloudis, earned a HRF grant for his work on Zeus, an iOS and Android app for using a Lightning node on a phone with privacy tools like a VPN or Tor on Aug. 4.
- With regards to CoinJoins, HRF funded a developer who goes by Openoms, the creator of JoinInbox, that makes it easier for bitcoiners to transact in a relatively private and decentralized way using a Raspberry Pi microcomputer to access JoinMarket, a grassroots CoinJoin option.
- The creator of Fully Noded, who goes by Fontaine, received an HRF grant to continue work on his Tor-friendly iOS app for using a bitcoin node on a regular mobile phone.
- The HRF grants are 1 bitcoin each, or just over $11,000 as of press time.
Read more: OKCoin, BitMEX Sponsor Bitcoin Core Developer Amiti Uttarwar
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KuCoin Hits Record Market Share as 2025 Volumes Outpace Crypto Market

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

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.











