Cypher Tank, the Bitcoin-focused pitch competition backed by Plan ₿ VC Fund and the Plan ₿ Foundation, has opened applications for its 2026 edition after last year’s event drew more than 4,000 participants from 64 countries. The format returns with a Shark Tank-style negotiation setup and documentary-style production that records real founder pitches, dealmaking and judge deliberations for an online series. This year, the finalist pool expands to 12 projects from 11, including eight for-profit ventures and four nonprofit teams. Finalists will negotiate directly with a judging panel known as the honey badgers and compete for three $100,000 prizes tied to incubation, acceleration or relocation services. The process runs in four phases, with applications open from Aug. 13 to Sept. 25, finalist notices starting Sept. 30, and finals scheduled for Oct. 25-27 at PoW Space Lugano after the Plan ₿ Forum. Recorded episodes are set to air online in January 2027, while post-win support begins at the end of February after NDAs expire.

PANews’ weekly funding roundup showed a pickup in crypto deal activity from Aug. 3 to Aug. 9, with 12 disclosed blockchain financing events totaling more than $94.9 million. Capital was concentrated in infrastructure, stablecoins, real-world assets and centralized finance, while DePIN, GameFi and rewards platforms also logged fresh deals. The headline M&A transaction came from Mastercard, which said it had completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK, a deal previously reported in March as being worth up to $1.8 billion. On the financing side, Yellow Card announced a $40 million strategic round backed by SC Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital. Other disclosed transactions included rounds for Blockspace, MAGNE.AI, InvestiFi, JPYC, Dow Protocol, Vangrid and Bundle. PANews also tracked a separate wave of AI and robotics funding, where large checks continued to cluster around infrastructure, cloud capacity, optical networking and enterprise agent platforms, with Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and the newly launched 224 Ventures also stepping up commitments to the sector.

137 SPAR supermarkets in Switzerland now support ADA payments through Cardano wallets via DFX.swiss, with merchants settled in CHF and fees about two-thirds lower than traditional card payments.

Swiss institutional staking provider Luganodes publicly reaffirms commitment to TRON as Super Representative, managing over $2.5B with zero slashing. TRONDAO amplifies the move amid stablecoin regulation progress and sustained network activity. TRX holders may benefit from stability and deflationary burn.

Lugano has launched the second phase of Plan ₿ with Tether, targeting blockchain infrastructure, digital identity, decentralized AI and resilient city services, backed by up to CHF 5 million over five years.

Starknet is framing Bitcoin as the clearest test case for two problems it says onchain finance still has not solved: full public visibility of asset flows and the long-term security risks posed by quantum computing. Its answer is strkBTC, an ERC-20 on Starknet backed by BTC locked on the Bitcoin network and built on StarkWare’s STRK20 privacy framework. The token can operate in a standard public mode or a shielded mode that hides selected balances and transfers from public view, while allowing selective disclosure through compliance infrastructure run by Financial Privacy Inc. The current bridge is operated by a trusted consortium that includes Twinstake, NEAR Intents, Luganodes, UTXO Management and Xverse. The article also ties the product to Starknet’s broader post-quantum positioning. It cites a March report from Google Quantum AI, co-authored by Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and Stanford professor Dan Boneh, which estimated that about $100 billion in the Ethereum ecosystem is at risk and said Starknet stands out among major L2s because its proving system relies on hash-based STARK assumptions rather than elliptic-curve cryptography. Even so, the piece says Starknet is not fully post-quantum today. Risks inherited from Ethereum, the consortium bridge model, and the real-world use of viewing keys all remain open questions as the network pushes its roadmap toward end-to-end security before a future “Q-day.”

Tether leads a strategic investment in Eight Sleep, valuing the sleep tech firm at $1.5 billion as it pivots to an AI-powered predictive health platform and pursues FDA clearance.

Crypto hedge fund Split Capital, which delivered over 100% net returns since inception, has been wound down. Founder Zahir Ebtikar joins Plasma, a stablecoin-focused L1 blockchain, as Chief Strategy Officer to lead the launch of Plasma One digital banking app.