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Ripple, Galaxy Execs Loaned $160M to Moonpay So That They Could Support TRUMP Memecoin Launch

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Loans from Galaxy and Ripple played a pivotal role in helping crypto exchange MoonPay handle the demand stemming from the launch of Donald Trump’s official memecoin after its Jan.18 issuance, a new podcast reveals.

TRUMP launched days before the President’s swearing-in ceremony. The token launch was a surprise move that made him the first-ever president to be directly related to a memecoin.

The token’s market capitalization zoomed from nearly $200 million at issuance to over $10 billion within 48 hours — bagging spot and futures listings across exchanges and over $20 billion in trading volumes over two days.

The massive demand came on a Saturday, when MoonPay’s fiat accounts were inaccessible due to the weekend with a public holiday on the following Monday for the swearing-in.

The situation meant MoonPay could not readily access over $100 million in liquidity required to meet TRUMP’s trading demand — leaving a short term loan as the only option to ensure business went as usual.

MoonPay president Keith Grossman, along with CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Siala, estimated the company needed around $100 million worth of USD Coin stablecoin.

That’s when Novogratz was contacted for a loan. After securing an agreement, MoonPay quickly prepared the necessary documentation and verified their ability to repay after vetting with a BlackRock executive, where MoonPay held its reserve funds.

However, demand for the TRUMP token continued to escalate and first lady Melania Trump’s MELANIA tokens were, too, launched, leading to the $100 million being insufficient to meet liquidity requirements. That pushed MoonPay to seek another $60 million in funds. Grossman then connected with Ripple’s Garlinghouse, stating he had “underestimated the demand of this Trump token.”

Ripple contributed the additional $60 million needed after a thorough vetting, including a pledge of MoonPay’s Wright for his entire personal assets. MoonPay further had to prove there were no liens on its reserve capital.

MoonPay repaid all loans in full on Jan.21, a Tuesday after the long weekend when it could finally access its reserve funds. The company onboarded 750,000 new users that week.

Prices of TRUMP, despite its blockbuster launch, are down 79% since its Jan. 19 peak.

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CoinDesk 20 Performance Update: Index Drops 2.5% as Nearly All Constituents Decline

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CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 4248.74, down 2.5% (-109.09) since 4 p.m. ET on Monday.

One of 20 assets is trading higher.

9am CoinDesk 20 Update for 2025-09-15: vertical

Leaders: AVAX (+0.6%) and BCH (-0.8%).

Laggards: UNI (-9.9%) and LINK (-7.0%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

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Pantera-Backed Solana Treasury Firm Helius Raises $500M, Stock Soars Over 200%

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Helius Medical Technologies (HSDT) announced on Monday it’s raising more than $500 million in a private financing round to create a Solana-focused treasury company.

The vehicle will hold SOL, the native token of the Solana blockchain, as its reserve asset and aims to expand to more than $1.25 billion via stock warrants tied to the deal, the press release said.

The financing was led by Pantera Capital and Summer Capital, with participation from investors including Animoca Brands, FalconX and HashKey Capital.

Shares of the firm rallied over 200% above $24 in pre-market trading following the announcement. Solana was down 4% over the past 24 hours.

The firm is joining the latest wave of new digital asset treasuries, or DATs, with public companies pivoting to raise funds and buy cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH) or SOL.

Helius is set to rival with the recently launched Forward Industries (FORD) with a $1.65 billion war chest backed by Galaxy Digital and others. That firm confirmed on Monday that has already purchased 6.8 million tokens for roughly $1.58 billion last week.

Helius’ plan is to use Solana’s yield-bearing design to generate income on the holdings, earning staking rewards of around 7% as well as deploying tokens in decentralized finance (DeFi) and lending opportunities. Incoming executive chairman Joseph Chee, founder of Summer Capital and a former UBS banker, will lead the firm’s digital asset strategy alongside Pantera’s Cosmo Jiang and Dan Morehead.

«As a pioneer in the digital asset treasury space, having participated in the formation of the strategy at Twenty One Capital (CEP) with Tether, Softbank and Cantor, Bitmine (BMNR) with Tom Lee and Mozayyx as well as EightCo (OCTO) with Dan Ives and Sam Altman, we have built the expertise to set up the pre-eminent Solana treasury vehicle,» Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera Capital, said in a statement.

«There is a real opportunity to drive the flywheel of creating shareholder value that Michael Saylor has pioneered with Strategy by accelerating Solana adoption,» he added.

Read more: Solana Surges as Galaxy Scoops Up Over $700M Tokens From Exchanges

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American Express Introduces Blockchain-Based ‘Travel Stamps’

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American Express has introduced Ethereum-based ‘travel stamps’ to create a commemorative record of travel experiences, as part of the firm’s revamped travel app.

The travel experience tokens, which are technically NFTs (ERC 721 tokens), are minted and stored on Coinbase’s Base network, said Colin Marlowe , VP, Emerging Partnerships at Amex Digital Labs.

The travel stamps, which can be collected anytime a traveler uses their card, are not tradable NTF tokens, Marlowe explained, and neither do they function like blockchain-based loyalty points – at least for the time being.

“It’s a valueless ERC-721, so technically an NFT, but we just didn’t brand it as such. We wanted to speak to it in a way that was natural for the travel experience itself, and so we talk about these things as stamps, and they’re represented as tokens,” Marlowe said in an interview.

“As an identifier and representation of history the stamps could create interesting partnership angles over time. We weren’t trying to sell these or sort of generate any like short term revenue. The angle is to make a travel experience with Amex feel really rich, really different, and kind of set it apart,” he said.

The Amex travel app also includes a range of tools for travels and Centurion Lounge upgrades, the company said.

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