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🌐Digital asset firm LevelField acquires FDIC insured Burling Bank🌐
February 05, 2023
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On Wednesday, digital asset startupĀ LevelField FinancialĀ said it was acquiring Chicago community bankĀ Burling, whose deposits are FDIC insured and is Illinois state-chartered. LevelField wants to be a full service bank offering both traditional banking and compliant digital asset services.

The news comes just days after the Federal Reserve BoardĀ denied Custodia Bank’s applicationĀ to become a member of the Federal Reserve System. The Fed also said it aimed to prevent uninsured state banks from holding most cryptocurrencies.

Regulators will have a say about whether the LevelField acquisition can proceed, hence the six to nine months completion period, which could be on the optimistic side.

ā€œWith this acquisition, LevelField will become a traditional bank, albeit one serving customers interested in the digital asset class,ā€ said Gene A. Grant II, CEO of LevelField Financial. ā€œWe are thrilled to have the Burling executives join our leadership team, and together we intend to deliver fantastic customer service and well-designed products to customers who have an interest in accessing the digital asset class through a traditional bank.ā€

Talking to Coindesk, Grant said that the bank would not directly hold cryptocurrency. The terms and conditions on LevelField’s current website imply that the existing LevelField Financial entity acts as principal for certain crypto transactions and agent for others, and it offers crypto borrowing and lending services.Ā 

Burling Bank has $197 million in assets, and MarketWatch reported that LevelField is paying $50 million for the acquisition. Levelfield raised an $8m Series A funding round in 2021 and last year sought to raise $50 million, according to an SEC filing, although only $1 million of funding was confirmed at the time.

Before starting LevelField in late 2017, Grant worked for BBVA for eight years in Madrid and Houston, Texas where LevelField is based.

On the one hand, it may be an opportune time to create a crypto bank, given others are heading in the opposite direction. However, regulators will take some persuasion.

Signature BankĀ announced it is reducing its level of deposits from digital asset firms, although the bank has diversified activities and is reasonably conservative in its approach.Ā Silvergate, which continues to be crypto-focused, suffered a $1 billion quarterly loss, mainly because it had to sell securities to repay depositors withdrawing funds following the FTX debacle. Bloomberg reported that U.S. Prosecutors are considering a fraud probe into Silvergate’s role in processingĀ Alameda wire transfersĀ for FTX customers.

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šŸ‘‰ Coinbase just launched an AI agent for Crypto Trading

Custom AI assistants that print money in your sleep? šŸ”œ

The future of Crypto x AI is about to go crazy.

šŸ‘‰ Here’s what you need to know:

šŸ’  'Based Agent' enables creation of custom AI agents
šŸ’  Users set up personalized agents in < 3 minutes
šŸ’  Equipped w/ crypto wallet and on-chain functions
šŸ’  Capable of completing trades, swaps, and staking
šŸ’  Integrates with Coinbase’s SDK, OpenAI, & Replit

šŸ‘‰ What this means for the future of Crypto:

1. Open Access: Democratized access to advanced trading
2. Automated Txns: Complex trades + streamlined on-chain activity
3. AI Dominance: Est ~80% of crypto šŸ‘‰txns done by AI agents by 2025

🚨 I personally wouldn't bet against Brian Armstrong and Jesse Pollak.

šŸ‘‰ Coinbase just launched an AI agent for Crypto Trading

Notice of Objection to the Internal Revenue Service’s Authority and Jurisdiction

Title: ā€œObjection to Foreign Administrative Encroachment by the IRS and Its Commercial Beneficiariesā€

Jurisdictional Challenge, Demand for Proof of Lawful Delegation, and Formal Notice of Foreign Agent Conflict

Jurisdictional Objection and Constitutional Challenge

To Whom It May Concern:

This Notice is a formal and lawful Objection to the Assumed Authority of the entity known as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It is issued under rights secured by the U.S. Constitution, including but not limited to the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments, and in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act (5 U.S.C. § 551 et seq.), Federal Register Act (44 U.S.C. § 1505), and the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. § 3501 et seq.).

The undersigned demands immediate production of proof of lawful jurisdiction, including the statutory enactment in the Statutes at Large that creates the Internal Revenue Service as ...

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āš”ļøANTHROPIC TO ACQUIRE COINGECKO

Anthropic is set to acquire CoinGecko and roll out Claude Crypto, an AI-powered personal portfolio manager aimed at helping crypto investors track, manage, and make data-driven decisions.

āœļø New Pyth Pro user: @BitMEX

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https://x.com/i/status/2011423138060566870

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🚨David Grusch on The Megyn Kelly Show🚨

Earlier this week, UFO/UAP whistleblowerĀ David Grusch appeared on The Megyn Kelly ShowĀ for a brief but revealing interview. During the conversation, Grusch named individuals he claimed were involved in managing the alleged UFO/UAP Legacy crash retrieval program, statements that immediately drew attention across the disclosure community.

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Grusch also named former Director of National IntelligenceĀ James Clapper, stating that Clapper was not only aware of the crash retrieval issue, but managed it and helped place individuals into key roles, both publicly and behind the scenes. These are serious assertions that warrant scrutiny and further investigation, given their potential implications for disclosure.

PleaseĀ watch the full interviewĀ and consider its significance within the broader context of the disclosure conversation. Please note that the interview concludes with a paid promotional pitch, and Grusch does not provide any additional comments after the pitch.

Ā 

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Stellar CEO Reveals Where Real Opportunity Lies in Crypto Market: Details

In a recent tweet, Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) CEO and Executive Director Denelle Dixon defines what "real opportunity" is in blockchain as a new financial future beckons.

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Real opportunity defined

While Wall Street’s biggest names betting on blockchain might be one of the most significant adoption milestones in the digital asset market, Dixon defines what real opportunity is and what it is not.

According to the SDF executive director, real opportunity is not replicating old systems on new rails but rather building open networks that fundamentally expand global finance participation.

"But the real opportunity isn’t replicating old systems on new rails—it’s building open networks that fundamentally expand who gets to participate in global finance. That’s the opportunity," Dixon tweeted.

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The protocol timeline testnet vote is anticipated for Jan. 7, 2026, while the mainnet vote is expected for Jan. 22, 2026.

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XDC Network's acquisition of Contour Network

XDC Network's acquisition of Contour Network marks a silent shift to connect the digital trade infrastructure to real-time, tokenized settlement rails.

In a world where cross-border payments still take days and trap trillions in idle liquidity, integrating Contour’s trade workflows with XDC Network Blockchains' ISO 20022 financial messaging standard to bridge TradFi and Web3 in Trade Finance.

The Current State of Cross-Border Trade Settlements

Cross-border payments remain one of the most inefficient parts of global finance. For decades, companies have inter-dependency with banks and their correspondent banks across the world, forcing them to maintain trillions of dollars in pre-funded nostro and vostro balances — the capital that sits idle while transactions crawl across borders.

Traditional settlement is slow, often 1–5 days, and often with ~2-3% in FX and conversion fees. For every hour a corporation can’t access its own cash increases the cost of financing, tightens liquidity that could be used for other purposes, which in turn slows economic activity.

Before SWIFT, payments were fully manual. Intermediary banks maintained ledgers, and reconciliation across multiple institutions limited speed and volume.

SWIFT reshaped global payments by introducing a secure, standardized messaging infrastructure through ISO 20022 - which quickly became the language of money for 11,000+ institutions in 200 countries.

But SWIFT only fixed the messaging — not the movement. Actual value still moves through slow, capital-intensive correspondent chains.

Regulated and Compliant Stablecoin such as USDC (Circle) solves the part SWIFT never could: instant, on-chain settlement.

Stablecoin Settlement revamping Trade and Tokenization

Stablecoin such as USDC is a digital token pegged to the US Dollar, still the most widely used currency for trade, enabling the movement of funds instantly 24*7 globally - transparently, instantly, and without the need for any intermediaries and the need to lock in trillions of dollars of idle cash.

Tokenized settlement replaces multi-day reconciliation with on-chain finality, reducing:

  • Dependency on intermediaries
  • Operational friction
  • Trillions locked in idle liquidity

For corporates trapped in long working capital cycles, this is transformative.

Digital dollars like USDC make the process simple:

Fiat → Stablecoin → On-Chain Transfer → Fiat

This hybrid model is already widely used across remittances, payouts, and treasury flows.

But one critical piece of global commerce is still lagging:

šŸ‘‰ Trade finance.

The Missing link is still Trade Finance Infrastructure.

While payments innovation has raced ahead, trade finance infrastructure hasn’t kept up. Document flows, letters of credit, and supply-chain financing remain siloed, paper-heavy, and operationally outdated.

This is exactly where the next breakthrough will happen - and why the recent XDC Network acquisition of Contour is a silent revolution.

It transforms to a new era of trade-driven liquidity through an end-to-end digital trade from shipping docs to payment confirmation – one infrastructure that powers all.

The breakthrough won’t come from payments alone — it will come from connecting trade finance to real-time settlement rails.

The XDC + Contour Shift: A Silent Revolution

  • Contour already connects global banks and corporates through digital LCs and digitized trade workflows.
  • XDC Blockchain brings a settlement layer built for speed, tokenization, and institutional-grade interoperability and ISO 20022 messaging compatibility

Contour’s digital letter of credit workflows will be integrated with XDC’s blockchain network to streamline trade documentation and settlement.

Together, they form the first end-to-end digital trade finance network linking:

Documentation → Validation → Settlement all under a single infrastructure.

XDC Ventures (XVC.TECH) is launching a Stable-Coin Lab to work with financial institutions on regulated stablecoin pilots for trade to deepen institutional trade-finance integration through launch of pilots with banks and corporates for regulated stable-coin issuance and settlement.

The Bottom Line

Payments alone won’t transform Global Trade Finance — Trade finance + Tokenized Settlement will.

This is the shift happening underway XDC Network's acquisition of Contour is the quiet catalyst.

Learn how trade finance is being revolutionised:

https://www.reuters.com/press-releases/xdc-ventures-acquires-contour-network-launches-stablecoin-lab-trade-finance-2025-10-22/

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