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Crypto infrastructure, mining and investment firm Phoenix Group, a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and publicly listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), has established a $150 million crypto treasury.Photo by Jievani Weerasinghe on UnsplashFirst ADX-listed firm to establish crypto treasuryThe development emerged as the company released its results for Q2 2025. Phoenix Group explained in a press release that its activities in Q2 led to it becoming the first ADX-listed company to establish a strategic crypto treasury with Bitcoin (BTC) and Solana (SOL) holdings valued at $150 million. Phoenix asserted that unlike its competitors which are burdened by debt, it has a healthy balance sheet, with debt of just $16 million. This has enabled it to pursue the establishment of a strategic crypto reserve. The company is also expanding into AI-related activities, with plans to repurpose part of its U.S. infrastructure. That adjustment will allow the firm to establish a multi-use compute facility, enabling it to build out its AI vertical. Phoenix Group Co-Founder and CEO Munaf Ali said that Phoenix is working towards building out one gigawatt of hybrid infrastructure by 2027. Ali also commented on the pursuit of a crypto treasury, stating:“Holding Bitcoin and other strategic digital assets isn’t just about exposure. It’s about alignment. We believe in the long-term value these networks represent, and our treasury strategy reflects that belief.”DWF Ventures, the ventures arm of crypto market maker DWF Labs that relocated its headquarters from Singapore to Abu Dhabi earlier this year, released a report in June revealing that publicly-listed companies that have adopted a crypto treasury strategy have amassed holdings of $76 billion in crypto. Phoenix Group has disclosed that to date, it has accumulated 514 Bitcoin and over 630,000 Solana with a view towards holding these digital assets in the long term. Earlier this year, American digital asset investment firm Sarson Funds outlined that the UAE is playing a significant role in advancing Bitcoin adoption at a corporate level in the context of the ongoing trend towards the pursuit of a Bitcoin corporate treasury strategy. Miners accumulatingPhoenix Group isn’t the only company involved in crypto mining to establish a crypto corporate treasury recently. In June, American miner BitMine Immersion Technologies disclosed that it was raising $18 million through a public share offering to buy Bitcoin. Since then, it has been accumulating Ether (ETH). As of July 24, the firm held over 300,000 ETH, with plans to raise $4.5 billion to fuel further ETH purchases. MARA Holdings, a publicly-listed American Bitcoin miner, has also confirmed that its treasury now extends beyond Bitcoin that it mined itself. Phoenix Group confirmed that it mined 336 BTC in Q2, with 689 BTC mined over the course of H1 2025. Founded in 2017, the firm debuted on the ADX in December 2023 with its stock immediately surging by 50% from its initial public offering (IPO) launch price. The firm’s share price has also performed well in 2025, surging 72% from April to June.

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, has teamed up with local partners in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in order to launch a dirham (AED)-backed stablecoin. In a statement published to the firm’s website on Aug. 21, Tether outlined that the stablecoin is being launched in partnership with Dubai-based technology conglomerate Phoenix Group and Green Acorn Investments, a company that describes itself as “a socially responsible investment firm dedicated to supporting critical sectors and supporting the generation of sustainable wealth and financial literacy.”Photo by DrawKit Illustrations on UnsplashFully backed by AED reservesThe stablecoin issuer outlined that each token will be “fully backed by liquid UAE-based reserves.” Tether further maintained that the back-end management of the new token will adhere to the firm’s “transparent and robust reserve standards,” and that “every Dirham-pegged token is tied to the value of the AED, providing stability and confidence in its value.”  Tether dominates the stablecoin market where USDT accounts for $117 billion, against a backdrop of an overall stablecoin market valued at $169 billion.  Perennial skepticsThe company has perennially faced criticism for a lack of transparency relative to the backing of its USDT stablecoin, given its policy of providing attestation reports instead of fully comprehensive audits from a top-tier auditing firm. One of the firm’s critics, the pseudonymous X account @OccamiCrypto took to the social media platform to provide its reaction to this most recent development, stating: "This Tether UAE stablecoin 'launch' will likely be as real as Tether’s promised audit and real time reserve reporting." The Tether critic went on to claim that the announcement is nothing more than "Tether spin," and that Tether has never attempted to become regulated in any market and that nothing would come of it. Another Tether critic, freelance journalist Jacob Silverman, commented on the development on X, stating:”Russian businessmen in UAE must be rejoicing.” His comment is suggestive of a common assertion that Tether is being used to facilitate the circumvention of sanctions. According to the firm’s press release, it believes that the product will enable users locally to access the benefits of the AED in digital form. The company claims that it will “streamline international trade and remittances, reduce transaction fees, and provide a hedge against currency fluctuations, thus playing a crucial role in the financial ecosystem of the UAE and beyond.” Tether’s partner Phoenix Group has been active in the crypto-sphere in recent times through mining. In December of last year, the company sealed a $380 million deal with Chinese mining equipment manufacturer MicroBT. Earlier that month, the company went public on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). On face value, this development appears positive. However, UAE-based crypto and blockchain lawyer Irina Heaver recently warned that tightening regulations within the UAE may shut down crypto payments within the country. Heaver specifically cited the use of USDT as being under threat, with the potential for stablecoin-based transactions to be prohibited as new rules are ushered in.  

Untangled Finance Launches Tokenized RWA PlatformUntangled Finance has officially launched its tokenized real-world asset (RWA) marketplace on the Celo network, according to a report by CoinDesk.Photo by Blake Wheeler on UnsplashVietnamese rootsThe platform’s inauguration follows a successful $13.5 million venture capital funding round, with Fasanara Capital, a London-based asset management firm, serving as the lead investor. Untangled is also London-headquartered, with most of its employees from Vietnam.Private tokenized credit poolsIn addition to its investment, Fasanara Capital has initiated two private tokenized credit pools on the Untangled platform, focusing on off-chain operations and underwriting loans.Untangled’s expansion plans are ambitious, aiming to extend its reach to the Ethereum (ETH) network and the layer 2 scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) via Chainlink’s Cross Chain Interoperability Protocol. This strategic move transforms Untangled into a multi-chain and interoperable RWA credit protocol, catering to a broader spectrum of users and assets.Untangled Finance’s specific focus lies in the private credit market, a sector valued at over $1 trillion. The platform aims to bridge the gap between traditional private credit and blockchain technology by tokenizing these assets. Currently, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms account for only $550 million of private credit assets, according to data from rwa.xyz.To achieve this, Untangled is concentrating on fintech lending, including services like invoice financing and consumer loans based on salary advances. The platform also targets “green assets,” such as working capital or development loans for eco-friendly infrastructure projects like battery swapping stations.Untangled serves as the infrastructure to host blockchain-based credit pools. Investors, including certified investors, firms, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), can deposit funds into these pools to lend and earn a yield. In return, depositors receive an ERC-20 token representing their positions in the pool.Asset tokenization potentialAsset tokenization, the process of representing traditional financial assets on a blockchain, has emerged as a key growth opportunity in the digital asset space. This trend comes as the industry grapples with the aftermath of a challenging bear market and the fallout from high-profile implosions witnessed in recent years.Tokenization has the potential to transform various real-world assets, such as credit, real estate, or bonds, into blockchain-compatible tokens.Untangled Finance is attempting to set itself apart from other RWA lending protocols through innovative product features, including a built-in liquidation engine designed to auction off collateral assets if the pool’s health falls below a certain threshold. The platform also employs a credit assessment model to monitor borrowers’ future default risks and offers an auction-based withdrawal mechanism for investors seeking an early exit from the pools.Francesco Filia, CEO and CIO of Fasanara Capital, commented on the significance of this development, stating:“We see an upcoming merging of worlds. “On one side, fintech lending which fills the gap in underserved SME and consumer markets and, on the other, the way values are being transferred within the new world of digital assets.”