Crypto Daily｜Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX to Shut Down; Coinbase's Corporate Customers Can Now Accept Payments from AI Agents

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Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX to shut down

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, whose founders were pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump last year, said on Thursday it will shut down its operations in September and urged customers to withdraw their assets.

BitMEX did ​not give a reason for the closure but said in a statement on its ​website that the decision followed a "strategic review of the business and the broader ⁠crypto industry" by its owner, Seychelles-registered HDR Global Trading.

BitMEX called on users to close their open ​positions and withdraw their funds before the closure on September 23.

Coinbase's corporate customers can now accept payments from AI agents

U.S.-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) has moved to close what it sees as gaps in the AI agentic economy, stitching together ways for businesses to be paid by agents, while better accommodating users putting agents to work trading and researching, as well as the developers building for agents.

Rolling out this week, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept payments from AI agents, done via the x402 protocol, developed and incubated by the exchange. This means a business can now let an agent pay in USDC, with no extra setup, powered by Coinbase Payments, according to a press release on Thursday.

BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy in a new group pledging $15 million to prepare Bitcoin for quantum threats

A total of nine companies have formed a consortium pledging a combined $15 million over three years to support Bitcoin’s security research and open-source development.

Companies in the newly formed Bitcoin Security Consortium include major crypto market participants, including BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets and Galaxy.

The group will focus partly on preparing Bitcoin for advances in quantum computing and will publish material tracking the state of Bitcoin security work for investors and the public.

Bitcoin & Ethereum Spot ETF Flow

The overall net outflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF on Thursday was $22.70 million. The total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $79.81 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value compared to total Bitcoin market value) is 2.37%.

The Bitcoin spot ETF with the highest net outflow on July 23 was Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, with a net outflow of $7.03 million, according to SoSoValue.

Source: SoSoValue