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Here’s the good news: Deaths due to ischemic heart disease — when coronary arteries are blocked — fell by more than half from 1990 to 2023 in the United States, thanks to better control of up to a dozen risk factors. What’s still on the table: Almost 9 out of 10 of the most recent deaths could have been prevented by better managing those risk factors.

Much of the progress recorded since the start of the Global Burden of Disease study, published Wednesday in JAMA Cardiology , stemmed from drops in deaths from smoking (down 33.3%) and particulate air pollution (down 74.9%). But in the last year of the study, 419,000 of the estimated 473,000 coronary artery disease deaths — or 88.8% — were still linked to modifiable risk factors.

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Bitcoin Magazine

VerifiedX and BitGo Sign MOU to Deliver Qualified Custody for vBTC, Expanding Institutional Access to Native Bitcoin Utility, and with Immediate Support for Non-Synthetic Canonical on Base

VerifiedX today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with BitGo to provide qualified custody support for vBTC, with immediate support for vBTC.b , the non-synthetic canonical Bitcoin asset issued through the VerifiedX Network and deployed on Base. The partnership represents a significant milestone in bringing institutional-grade custody, compliance, and security standards to programmable Bitcoin while preserving direct redemption to native Bitcoin.

Under the agreement, institutions, asset managers, family offices, corporations, and professional allocators will be able to custody vBTC upon final integration and can now immediately custody vBTC.b through BitGo’s qualified custody infrastructure while accessing the utility of Bitcoin across decentralized finance, payments, collateralization, treasury operations, and on-chain vaulting with recovery features.

Unlike traditional wrapped Bitcoin products, vBTC.b is designed as a fully collateralized non-synthetic on-chain and consensus embedded Bitcoin token with native redemption built directly into the asset architecture without any counterparty or federation reliance . Holders can redeem directly back to Bitcoin without requiring the asset to first be unwound back through the VerifiedX network, creating a seamless institutional experience across Base and Bitcoin liquidity ecosystems.

“Institutions have consistently told us they want two things: qualified custody and non-synthetic productive Bitcoin,” said Jay Pollak, Head of Strategy at the VerifiedX Foundation. “This partnership delivers both. With BitGo’s best-in-class institutional custody infrastructure and vBTC.b’s native Bitcoin redemption model, allocators can maintain institutional-grade security while activating their Bitcoin across a growing ecosystem of applications and opportunities.”

Institutional Bitcoin Without Synthetic Risk

As Bitcoin continues to mature as a treasury and reserve asset, institutions increasingly seek ways to generate utility from their holdings without sacrificing security, transparency, or redemption certainty.

vBTC.b addresses these requirements through a framework that combines:

Native Bitcoin

Direct Bitcoin redemption

Qualified custody support

Institutional-grade compliance tooling

On-chain transparency

Self-custodial programmability

Cross-ecosystem interoperability

The result is an asset that enables institutions to move beyond passive Bitcoin ownership and participate in productive and programmable financial infrastructure while maintaining real native ownership to the underlying Bitcoin asset.

Activating Bitcoin Capital

Through vBTC.b, institutions can utilize Bitcoin across a broad range of applications including:

Curated institutional yield vaults

Bitcoin-backed lending and borrowing

Treasury optimization

Digital collateral management

Settlement infrastructure

Automated payment workflows

Agentic and AI-powered financial systems

Cross-chain liquidity deployment

Bitcoin-native commerce and payments

Because vBTC.b remains redeemable to Bitcoin at the protocol level, institutions can maintain confidence that utility does not come at the expense of redemption rights or trade-offs, while reducing counterparty risks and smart contract vulnerabilities, and eliminating rehypothecation at the protocol level.

Security and Compliance First

The partnership combines VerifiedX’s programmable Bitcoin infrastructure with BitGo’s industry-leading custody platform.

BitGo currently safeguards more than $49 billion in Bitcoin under custody , with an overall estimate of digital asset custody levels exceeding $100 billion during peak periods , making it one of the largest digital asset custodians globally. The company provides regulated qualified custody services, institutional security controls, cold storage infrastructure, and insurance protections utilized by some of the world’s largest digital asset participants.

VerifiedX complements this foundation through integrated compliance tooling, transaction monitoring capabilities, auditability features, and institutional controls designed to satisfy modern operational and regulatory requirements.

Building the Financial Operating System for Bitcoin

The BitGo relationship represents another step in VerifiedX’s mission to build the financial operating system for Bitcoin and intelligent assets.

Through the VerifiedX ecosystem, Bitcoin can be transformed from a passive store of value into a programmable financial asset capable of supporting payments, lending, settlement, collateralization, tokenization, AI-driven automation, and next-generation financial infrastructure.

As institutions increasingly seek secure native plumbing to deploy Bitcoin capital, the combination of BitGo qualified custody and vBTC.b provides a framework designed to meet institutional standards without sacrificing Bitcoin’s core principles of ownership, redemption, and utility.

Additional details regarding custody availability, onboarding, and supported institutional products will be announced as the partnership progresses.

About VerifiedX

VerifiedX is a financial operating system for Bitcoin and intelligent assets, enabling self-custodial ownership, instant settlement, programmable finance, native Bitcoin utility, and agentic financial infrastructure. Through products including vBTC, BFLY, and PulseXAI, VerifiedX connects institutions, users, and autonomous systems through a unified blockchain ecosystem framework.

Its ecosystem includes:

vBTC & vBTC.b (BTC)

BFLY payments and click to earn infrastructure

SwitchBlade wallet technology

PulseXAI generative and tokenized intelligence

Institutional settlement architecture

Privacy-enabled transactions and programmable assets

Canonical interoperability systems

Further VerifiedX Inquiries:

Website: https://verifiedx.io/

Discord: https://discord.gg/7cd5ebDQCj

Twitter (X)): https://twitter.com/vfxblockchain

Github: https://github.com/verifiedxblockchain

Email: info@verifiedx.io

PulseXAI and BFLY are trademarks of VerifiedX. Copyright 2026 VerifiedX. All rights reserved.

This post VerifiedX and BitGo Sign MOU to Deliver Qualified Custody for vBTC, Expanding Institutional Access to Native Bitcoin Utility, and with Immediate Support for Non-Synthetic Canonical on Base first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine .

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Mathellaneous is one of several free museums that can be found on the Emporia State University campus. However, one could argue that a similar space can not be found within at least a 1000-mile radius of it. Better than a museum, this space is completely interactive where visitors are allowed to investigate and explore everything on exhibit.

Designed by ESU students and faculty, this humble space only fills two rooms, yet could take several hours to fully digest. Various 3D-printed puzzles are the main attraction with a wide range of difficulties. Elementary age children and older can solve simpler puzzles, while dedicated puzzlers can tackle more difficult challenges, including some puzzles created specifically for Mathellaneous.

The historical section includes textbooks from the 1800s and authentic calculating devices dating back to 1908. Reproductions draw from the creations of Pascal, Napier, and Ancient Egypt and Babylon.

But wait - there's more! Mathellaneous also includes pieces of mathematical art and illusions. Visitors can see examples of anamorphic art and ambiguous 3D images, and also try their hand at creating their own mathematical art.

After a visit, hopefully you will agree with the motto of Mathellaneous:

Mathematics is... Everywhere, Important, and Fun!

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Credit: Android Headlines

TL;DR

A massive new leak has revealed practically all key specifications for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is said to feature a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch main display, while the Fold 8 Ultra could up the ante with a 6.5-inch cover display and an 8-inch main display.

Both devices will reportedly use a new titanium display substrate to reduce screen creasing, enabling ultra-thin profiles of 4.5mm and 4.1mm, respectively.

Regulatory listings pitch the phones with a 1,200-cycle battery life, which may raise questions about overall longevity.

Samsung is preparing to officially pull back the curtain on its next-generation foldables on July 22, and leaks have practically given us the full picture of what’s coming , including US prices . We also have a fair idea of the foldables’ specifications, but if you’d like more specifics, a massive new leak is adding corroborating weight and giving us practically all the details on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 leaked specifications