Fractal: Boost Miner Revenue. Power the Future of PoW.

Fractal is a Bitcoin-native scaling solution with full Bitcoin compatibility – helping miners earn more using the same hardware, wallets, and energy they already rely on. Lowered pool fees. Direct FB rewards. Zero setup.

We’re also a founding member of the newly launched Proof of Work Alliance — a global coalition of mining pools, blockchain projects, miners, service providers, and hardware manufacturers advancing PoW innovation, energy efficiency, and infrastructure growth.

The goal: strengthen and scale Proof of Work for the next generation of builders.

Founding members include: F2Pool, SpiderPool, ElphaPex Miner, Ipollo, Bitmars, Fortitude Mining, StandardHash, BIT Exchange, ETC Cooperative, and Psy Protocol.

🔗 Explore the Alliance or join us at PoWAlliance.com

Lightning operator reveals 10% APR on routing fees

At the Vegas Bitcoin Conference, Miles Suter of Jack Dorsey’s Block announced a 9.7% annualized yield on its Lightning node service, c= routing. Per Lightning Labs Ryan Gentry, the node has an estimated $10 million in BTC. — link

OUR TAKE: Gentry went on to call this the biggest news of the conference, which I find compelling. While the Microstrategy (yes, it's ‘Strategy’ now) playbook is the defining theme of Bitcoin 2025, Suter’s announcement proves a few points:

First, news of Lightning’s death has been greatly exaggerated. Rather, the plumbing behind the only permissionless Bitcoin L2 is in a sweet spot: ahead of US Treasury bill rates, but less than TerraLuna Anchorbox rates. It's a plausible rate. 

Second, 10% yield is attractive for other companies to get into the routing business. If you’ve followed the Lightning disgruntlement campaign on Twitter, you’ll remember most of the grievances have been around UI/UX and failed payment routing. But guess what? Healthy yields will bring in new service providers, which will fix both of these problems. Incentives matter!

Lastly, it’s exciting to see a Bitcoin business stick it out. Most projects in crypto lose focus after 15 minutes, but Lightning developers have kept the faith. With this announcement, Bitcoin-based payments look far more promising than ever before.

-WF

SEC Abruptly Drops Binance Lawsuit

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao, signaling a regulatory shift under the Trump administration. The move, praised by industry leaders, marks a key turning point toward a more favorable U.S. stance on digital assets. - link

OUR TAKE: Less than a year after getting out of prison for a four-month sentence after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, CZ proves he’s still on top. Post-release, Zhao expressed a desire to “chill for a bit” and focus on investments but now both his literal and metaphorical shackles have been shaken off.

The SEC lawsuit & Bank Secrecy Act violations may still have lasting impact on Binance’s American arm. As part of his plea agreement, Zhao paid a $50 million fine and stepped down as CEO of Binance. He still retains significant control over the company but one wonders if the reduction in direct operation will hamstring the company’s 8 years of unrelenting expansion.

Perhaps the CZ “Four" meme referred to the imminent 4 years of regulatory relief under the Trump administration?

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Gamestop buys $512.6M in bitcoin

Gamestop announced this week that it’s taking the plunge – the company purchased 4,710 BTC, worth $512.6 million at the time of purchase. The OG memestock company, which had $4.76 billion in cash as of the end of 2024, announced earlier this year that it was actively evaluating a bitcoin treasury strategy. Gamestop’s stock has fallen 17% since the announcement.

Square to integrate bitcoin payments 

In a move that’s perhaps long overdue, point-of-sale platform Square – a subsidiary of Jack Dorsey’s Block – will soon enable a bitcoin payment option. Square will begin the rollout in the second half of 2025 and will make it available to all merchants in 2026. The integration will leverage Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, but it’s unclear if it will also include on-chain payments.

Judge orders pause in Swan lawsuit against former mining employees

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has ordered a stay on Swan’s lawsuit against its former bitcoin mining employees and contractors. The defendants filed a motion for the stay in April 2025, citing precedent in Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski. With the stay is granted, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California will pause the case while the Ninth Circuit Court reviews the defendants’ appeal to move the case to arbitration, an appeal which the California court denied earlier this year.

Bitmain unveils the Antminer S23 series

Leading ASIC manufacturer Bitmain unveiled its new ASIC miner series, the Antminer S23, at its World Digital Mining Summit in Las Vegas this week. The new series will be the first-ever with a sub-10 J/TH energy efficiency, and it includes the air-cooled S23, water-cooled S23 Hydro, and the immersion-cooled S23 IMM.