Bitcoin’s BRC20 token protocol has been upgraded to support Ethereum-style smart contracts, marking a major shift in how programmable applications can run on the network.

World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token began trading Monday, valuing President Trump and his family’s holdings in the billions as the family controls just under a quarter of the supply. Those tokens remain locked, but public trading sets a price.

Metaplanet won shareholder approval to issue up to 555 million preferred shares, opening a path to raise as much as 555 billion yen ($3.8 billion) to buy more bitcoin. 

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin’s BRC20 Protocol Adds Ethereum-Style Smart Contracts in BRC2.0 Upgrade
• WLFI Debut Puts Trump Family’s Crypto Stake Near $5B as Trading Starts on Binance
• Metaplanet Holders OK 555B Yen Preferred Share Plan to Fund Bitcoin Buys

Bitcoin’s BRC20 Protocol Adds Ethereum-Style Smart Contracts in BRC2.0 Upgrade

Bitcoin’s BRC20 token protocol has been upgraded to support Ethereum-style smart contracts, marking a major shift in how programmable applications can run on the network.

The upgrade, dubbed BRC2.0, adds the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to the protocol’s core logic. This makes BRC20 “Turing complete,” allowing developers to build complex contracts and decentralized apps on Bitcoin, much like they do on Ethereum.

BRC20 uses the Ordinals protocol to issue fungible tokens by inscribing data on individual satoshis. 

WLFI Debut Puts Trump Family’s Crypto Stake Near $5B as Trading Starts on Binance

World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token began trading Monday, valuing President Trump and his family’s holdings in the billions as the family controls just under a quarter of the supply. Those tokens remain locked, but public trading sets a price.

WLFI opened around 30 cents on Binance before easing toward 20 cents, with roughly $1 billion changing hands in the first hour, per CoinDesk Data. Early buyers paid 1.5 cents and can sell only a fifth of their tokens at first.

WLFI is a governance token that lets holders vote on some operations, with no claim on profits. The venture also issues a dollar-pegged stablecoin, USD1, and plans a mobile app.

Metaplanet Holders OK 555B Yen Preferred Share Plan to Fund Bitcoin Buys

Metaplanet won shareholder approval to issue up to 555 million preferred shares, opening a path to raise as much as 555 billion yen ($3.8 billion) to buy more bitcoin. 

President Simon Gerovich announced the vote on X after an extraordinary meeting Monday in Tokyo.

The plan adds to a push to diversify funding after a sharp pullback in the stock. Metaplanet last week outlined a separate underwritten overseas stock sale of about 130 billion yen.

It has already raised more than 242 billion yen this year through a moving strike warrant deal with Evo Fund, but will suspend all exercises of those warrants from Sept. 3 to Sept. 30 as it lines up new options.

Metaplanet holds about 20,000 bitcoin, per its website, and aims to reach 100,000 by the end of 2026 and 210,000 by the end of 2027. Preferred shares, a hybrid of equity and debt, could give the company a lower-cost way to fund that buildout.

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