Metaplanet turns to Bitcoin amidst Japan's economic challenges

Pyth Network, an oracle network that provides a bridge between blockchain smart contracts and real-world data, has added pricing data related to stocks listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) to its service offering. Data covering 85 stocksIn a social media post, the project stated that it’s “bringing the Hong Kong market onchain.” In building out the future of finance, DeFi application developers need real-world data from traditional finance sources. Pyth Network confirmed that real-time data in the case of 85 stocks listed on HKEX is now live. In announcing the development, the company disclosed that price feed data is updated every 400 milliseconds and sourced from institutional-grade venues. Once added to the Pyth Network, the data is made available on a multi-network basis across in excess of 100 blockchain networks.Photo by Anne Nygård on UnsplashGateway dataHKEX data is perceived to be significant given that it is a major global exchange, while acting as a key gateway between global and Chinese markets. Pyth Network stated: “Whether you’re building trading strategies, structured products, tokenized portfolios, or simply want access to real-world stock prices from Asia’s financial gateway, these feeds bring Hong Kong’s equity market onchain openly, instantly, and permissionlessly.” In a blog post published to its website on July 28, Pyth Network outlined that this data addition accounts for data related to companies that have a combined equity market value of over $5 trillion. The project stated that this new data is “giving builders, traders, and protocols around the world direct, real-time access to one of the largest financial markets on earth.” Improving access to APAC equitiesThe project made the point that for many years, access to real-time data from the primary markets within the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has been cost-prohibitive. It claimed that data terminals with this information can cost in excess of $30,000 per year. Pyth Network feels that with its market offering now incorporating HKEX market data, it is opening up access to this data for developers and DeFi protocol projects. This development is the latest in a string of updates that the project has brought about recently. Earlier this month, the project announced a partnership with tokenized real-world asset (RWA) provider Ondo Finance. The deal sees the duo oversee the launch of a USDY/USD price feed, which will be distributed by Pyth across 65 blockchain ecosystems. Similar to its latest unlocking of HKEX equity data, in June it enabled access to real-time onchain pricing related to the UK’s most actively traded equities. Going forward, the company states that “foundational market data will be open, composably integrated, updated in real-time, and available to anyone with an internet connection.” In March 2024, Pyth’s price feeds went live on Injective inEVM, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible layer-2 rollup developed by Injective Labs. At the time of writing, the unit price of PYTH, Pyth Network’s native utility and governance token, was $0.1204, according to CoinGecko data.

A spot Solana (SOL) exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to debut in Hong Kong next week, according to the South China Morning Post. Managed by ChinaAMC (HK), the Hong Kong subsidiary of Chinese financial services company China Asset Management, the product will begin trading on Oct. 27 and will be available against both Hong Kong and U.S. dollars. The Hong Kong listing comes amid growing global interest in Solana-based investment products. While this marks a first for the city, the first country to trade a spot Solana ETF was Canada, where four products from 3iQ, Purpose, Evolve, and CI Financial went live on the Toronto Stock Exchange in April 2025.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashU.S. institutions await regulatory approvalIn the U.S., institutional interest is also high, though a product has yet to be approved. According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, 23 separate ETP filings for Solana have been submitted in the U.S. This matches Bitcoin, with both assets having the highest number of filings among 35 cryptocurrencies tracked, out of a total of 155 crypto ETP filings overall. The push for exchange-traded products mirrors rising institutional investment in the Solana ecosystem itself. Several firms have recently established corporate SOL treasuries. Forward Industries spent $1.6 billion on its treasury and filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise up to $4 billion from share sales to acquire more SOL. Similarly, Sharps Technology announced a collaboration with Coinbase Global to expand its reserve strategy, and an SEC filing showed that Citadel and its affiliates hold a portion of the outstanding shares in DeFi Development Corp. (DFDV), another SOL treasury firm. Uniswap expands to Solana networkSolana's platform has also seen wider technical integration. On Oct. 16, the decentralized exchange Uniswap began supporting the network, allowing its users to connect Solana wallets and swap SOL tokens. Uniswap stated the move helps address fragmentation issues by supporting both Solana and Ethereum, the two largest DeFi ecosystems. According to DefiLlama data, SOL currently boasts $10.88 billion in total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance, while ETH TVL amounts to $83 billion. Separately, the Solana team recently promoted the network's technical resilience. Following a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, the team shared an analysis on X indicating a 97.6 resilience index, noting that only 77 of its 1,295 nodes were affected, suggesting a 6% dependency on AWS. Market performance lags despite growthDespite these developments, the price of SOL, the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has not reflected the positive sentiment in the short term. Trading at roughly $186, SOL is down 13.74% over the past month, according to Kraken data. The asset remains 36.49% below its all-time high of $293.31, which was reached on Jan. 19, 2025.

Klip Wallet’s WalletConnect Integration Includes Access to OpenSea NFTsGroundX, a blockchain subsidiary of the South Korean messaging app behemoth Kakao, has announced that its digital asset wallet, Klip, now supports WalletConnect, a protocol that enables seamless connections between mobile cryptocurrency wallets and decentralized applications (dApps).Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on UnsplashAccess to OpenSea and beyondThis integration brings new benefits to Klip users, as they can now easily access various platforms, including the popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea. With WalletConnect, users can efficiently manage a wider range of digital assets, making their experience more comprehensive and convenient.PC and mobile compatibilityAnother advantage of Klip’s adoption of WalletConnect is that both PC and mobile users can now access Klip and other blockchain services through this protocol. This ensures a smooth user experience across different devices, allowing for greater accessibility and flexibility.GroundX’s expansion effortsGroundX has been working on improving Klip’s functionality and services. Recently, it forged a partnership with the 1inch Network, a decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregator that offers competitive token swap rates on various decentralized exchanges, enhancing Klip’s token exchange capabilities. Thanks to this collaboration, Klip users can not only exchange Klaytn-based tokens but also tokens based on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. This expanded compatibility adds further value to the Klip wallet, empowering users with more options and opportunities for managing their digital assets efficiently.A spokesperson from GroundX emphasized that these recent enhancements in the Klip wallet will enhance its usability and convenience for users. The spokesperson added that the inclusion of various NFTs and DeFi assets within Klip through WalletConnect will lead to the expansion of the Klip wallet’s ecosystem.