Socket Protocol Raises $5M in Strategic Partnership

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.

Canaan’s Record Q2 Revenue Amid Profitability StruggleCanaan, a Singapore-based player in the Bitcoin mining sector, has reported a remarkable surge in its Q2 Bitcoin mining revenues, reaching an all-time high of $15.9 million despite continuing to struggle to achieve profitability.The growth, a 43.3% increase quarter-over-quarter, is attributed to the heightened sale of computing power in comparison to Q1, as indicated by the company’s unaudited second-quarter results, which were released on Tuesday.Photo by Rifath @photoripey on UnsplashRevenues boosted by multiple factorsThis surge in revenues was propelled by a range of factors, including the recovery of Bitcoin’s price, amplified computing power, and increased rewards. Notably, Canaan managed to sell 6.1 million TH/s worth of computing power. This marked 44.2% growth when compared with the previous quarter and an 11.7% surge from the same period last year.Despite this surge, Canaan’s overall financial status continues to exhibit challenges in terms of profitability. The company encountered $30.6 million in mining costs during the second quarter, which significantly contributed to a total net loss of $110.7 million for the same period. This net loss reflects a considerable increase from the $84.4 million reported in Q1 and starkly contrasts with the net profit of $90.1 million achieved in the corresponding period of the previous year.Inventory write-downs and impairment chargesThese losses can be attributed to several factors, including an inventory write-down and impairment of property and equipment. Nangeng Zhang, Canaan’s Chairman and CEO, addressed the complexities the company faces in the current market.He noted: “Admittedly, we are still facing a market that has yet to recover with soft purchasing power on the demand front, generating continued pressure on our sales.” Zhang also acknowledged that the company faced challenges stemming from regulatory changes and contractual breaches from a particular partner.Bitcoin mining difficulty and hash rates also proved to be a challenge for Canaan. The Bitcoin network hashrate currently stands at 326.26M by comparison with 226.91M a year ago. An ever higher hashrate is ordinarily a bullish sign for Bitcoin. However, Canaan has to deal with the higher cost of mining even though the Bitcoin unit price has not responded proportionally to meet that all-time high hashrate.While Canaan’s Q2 performance reflected resilience and expansion into new mining projects in Africa and South America, the company’s financial struggles underscore the ongoing volatility and uncertainty in the cryptocurrency space.In terms of cryptocurrency holdings, Canaan disclosed that it held 1,125 Bitcoin with a total carrying value of $28.8 million as of June 30. This inventory included both company-owned Bitcoin and those received from customer deposits. The company also noted an impairment on its cryptocurrency holdings in Q2, amounting to $2.4 million.Looking ahead, Canaan projected its Q3 total revenues to approximate $30 million, acknowledging the persistently challenging market conditions that are prevalent in the industry. The company remains vigilant about its financial outlook as it strives to navigate through the evolving landscape of the cryptocurrency market.In a recent announcement, Canaan unveiled plans to introduce a “groundbreaking, industry-redefining product that will shape the future of Bitcoin mining.” The debut is scheduled for September 12, coinciding with a gala event that commemorates the company’s 10th anniversary.

Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based Web3 company focused on blockchain gaming and NFTs, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with DayDayCook (DDC) Enterprise Limited in a deal that will see Animoca allocate up to $100 million in Bitcoin with that capital to be exposed to yield enhancement strategies operated by DDC.Photo by Erika Fletcher on UnsplashBitcoin treasury strategyIn a press release published to its website, Animoca Brands claimed that the deal accelerates the Bitcoin accumulation strategy pursued by DDC. Back in May, DDC Enterprise, a Chinese company listed on the Nasdaq in the U.S. while headquartered in Hong Kong, became one of many Nasdaq-listed companies recently to add Bitcoin to its balance sheet.  At that time, it made a symbolic initial 21 BTC purchase, bearing in mind the leading digital asset has a supply cap of 21 million BTC. The company has set out an ambitious plan to build up a Bitcoin treasury of 5,000 BTC over the course of three years. DDC Founder Norma Chu described the development as a “pivotal moment.” ‘Pristine monetary asset’On this occasion, Chu described the partnership with Animoca as a “transformative step,” reflecting the companies’ “shared vision to accelerate Bitcoin’s role as a pristine monetary asset.” As part of the partnership, Animoca Brands Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Yat Siu, will join DDC’s Bitcoin Visionary Council (BVC). The company established the BVC recently in order to put strategic leadership and guidance in place so that DDC’s Bitcoin-related treasury operations are conducted in accordance with industry standards so as to maximize value creation in the long term. Siu said that the arrangement enables Animoca Brands “to enhance the value of [its] blockchain technologies and maximize the value of [its] Bitcoin holdings.” Commenting further on the partnership, he added: “We will focus on developing strategies to enhance Bitcoin’s value proposition, leveraging DDC’s commitment to advancing corporate Bitcoin treasury solutions." Siu told Cointelegraph that Animoca Brands' belief in the abilities of the DDC founder played a large part in the company establishing the partnership. He said that her background and experience enable her to “bridge the East and West to successfully navigate markets on both sides of the planet,” adding that “she has good appeal and connections to the Chinese market, one of the largest for crypto adoption, while also running a NASDAQ-listed company.” On BitcoinTreasuries.net, a Bitcoin treasury data hub, DDC is listed as 47th in terms of corporations globally that have adopted a Bitcoin treasury strategy, ranked by the amount of Bitcoin that they have accumulated. The website suggests that DDC currently holds 368 BTC, valued at approximately $43.2 million. Following its initial purchase of 21 BTC in May, the company followed up with the acquisition of 38 BTC in June. On July 1, it announced that it had raised $528 million to expand its Bitcoin holdings, with confirmation of a further purchase of 230 BTC by July 7.