Solana-based MonkeDAO acquires zBTC as a Bitcoin reserve
MonkeDAO, a community-owned non-fungible token project on Solana, has announced it’s become the first decentralized autonomous organization to adopt a Bitcoin reserve.
Solana ( SOL )-based MonkeDAO announced on March 28 that it had adopted a Bitcoin ( BTC ) reserve in its strategy by acquiring the APOLLO on Solana token zBTC.
The newly-launched zBTC is a token pegged 1:1 to Bitcoin and native to Solana . MonkeDAO is the first DAO to adopt the token for its treasury reserve.
According to the APOLLO team, the token offers BTC on-chain – not bridged or wrapped but permissionless. Holders can tap into this token to participate in decentralized finance on Solana, earning on-chain yield.
MonkeDAO says it’s adding this zBTC to its treasury.
The 1 zBTC purchased goes into the Strategic Monke Reserve. SMR is the NFT DAO project’s treasury reserve strategy that will help the community foster financial sustainability.
It’s also MonkeDAO’s commitment to a permissionless ecosystem for Bitcoin DeFi, or BTCFi. zBTC allows Bitcoin holders the opportunity to participate in DeFi on Solana via lending, borrowing, and yield farming activities.
“The SMR is our commitment to long term growth and the addition of zBTC diversifies [and] strengthens our current pool of native assets,” MonkeDAO posted on X.
This strategy is nonetheless not the Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, level of play, but it does illustrate the growing confidence in Bitcoin.
As well as the 1:1 peg with Bitcoin, APOLLO says zBTC leverages the trustless two-way peg for security, which it actually achieves via a simple payment verification sidechain. The token also taps into a decentralized validator set on the Zeus Network.
For its role in BTCFi, Apollo and Zeus Network target the “trillions in value” on the Bitcoin network.
Opening up BTC from its underutilized liquidity, with hodlers’ coins idle in wallets, is a big opportunity for growth and use case strengthening. Zeus Network validated its first Bitcoin transaction on Solana in December 2024.
Korean Lawmaker Declares $1M in XRP as Government Crypto Holdings Rise
The Government Public Ethics Committee has released its annual report on public officials’ asset disclosures for 2025, revealing a notable rise in cryptocurrency holdings among high-ranking officials. According to the report, 411 out of 2,047 public officials were required to disclose their assets, and they reported holding virtual assets with a combined total value of 14.41 billion won. This translates to an average holding of 35.07 million won per individual.
Seoul City Council Member Kim Hye-young emerged as the official with the largest cryptocurrency holdings, reporting a total of 1.76 billion won in digital assets. Council Member Kim personally owns 16 different cryptocurrencies, including 0.0014 Bitcoin (BTC), 0.0123 Ethereum (ETH), and 472 Dogecoin (DOGE) . However, the majority of the disclosed holdings come from family members, with 519,004 XRP valued at approximately $1.2 million held by his spouse and 3,336 XRP owned by his eldest son.
Following closely behind, Seoul City Council Member Choi Min-gyu was the second-highest public official in terms of crypto holdings, declaring 1.62 billion won in virtual assets. His portfolio includes 409,551 XRP, 9,402 Artidiums, and 4,701 Ads, all registered under his name.
XRP has firmly established itself as the top choice among South Korean investors. Its strong presence is especially noticeable on South Korean exchanges, with Upbit, the country’s largest exchange, holding around 4-5% of the total XRP supply, making it the largest exchange holder of XRP globally. Additionally, Upbit now accounts for 15% of the total XRP trading volume, recently surpassing Binance’s 12% market share.
Trading volume data further highlights XRP’s strong market presence. Over the past 24 hours, XRP’s trading volume on Upbit reached $325.89 million, accounting for 16.19% of the platform’s total trades. In comparison, Bitcoin’s trading volume stood at $110.55 million, making up just 5.49% of total trades. This difference underscores the high demand for XRP among South Korean traders.
A key factor fueling XRP’s strong trading activity in the country is the Kimchi Premium, a phenomenon where cryptocurrency prices in South Korea trade higher than global averages. This pricing disparity makes XRP appear more valuable, further driving trading volume and investor interest.
According to local media reports , lawmaker Ahn Do-Jae revealed that by the end of last year, over 9.6 million South Koreans held accounts on the country’s five major licensed exchanges, including Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. This represents a 52.6% increase from the previous year, highlighting the rapid growth of cryptocurrency adoption in South Korea.
At the same time, South Korea is intensifying its regulatory efforts to protect investors. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has restricted access to 17 overseas cryptocurrency exchange apps on Google Play due to a lack of proper registration. Among the affected platforms are KuCoin, CoinEx, BitMart, MEXC, Phemex, and Poloniex. As of now, XRP is trading at $2.45, reflecting a 4.79% decrease over the past seven days and a 3.69% drop in the last 24 hours.