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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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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Carmaker Volkswagen has deployed a herd of 100 sheep to keep grass under control at a solar farm that powers one of its factories in Poland, providing a greener alternative to mechanical mowing.

The project, which is being run in partnership with a local university, will also contribute to research on agrivoltaics, the name given to the use of land for both solar generation and agriculture. Scientists will assess the impact of the practice on animal welfare and the wider ecosystem.

In 2016, Volkswagen opened a major plant near Poznań, Poland’s fifth-largest city. The facility employs around 3,000 people and mainly produces VW’s Crafter van.

In 2023, the company opened a solar farm next to the plant. On sunny days, its 31,000 photovoltaic panels can power the whole factory, though over the year as a whole it supplies around 25% of its electricity.

Volkswagen has now announced that, earlier this year, it welcomed around 100 sheep to the solar farm. They are grazing the 27 hectares of land around the panels as an alternative to mechanical mowing.

“The animals adapted very well to the new conditions,” says Justyna Nowak-Gajek, the owner of the flock. She explains that the sheep are splitting into smaller groups and “grazing peacefully”, whereas herds that feel unsafe tend to stick closer together.

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Meanwhile, scientists from the Poznań University of Life Sciences (UPP) are studying the impact of the project on the animals’ welfare and behaviour, as well as the functioning of the entire ecosystem.

“We are checking, among other things, whether shade created by the panels reduces heat stress in animals, improving their comfort and living conditions,” says Joanna Składanowska-Baryza, from the university’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences.

“At the same time, we are analysing changes in the microclimate, vegetation and soil to identify solutions that facilitate the effective combination of energy production with agricultural activities.”

Volkswagen has chosen Poland as the location for a new €1.7bn plant producing materials for electric vehicle batteries.

The investment has been welcomed by the Polish government, which is providing €350 million in grants for the project https://t.co/xh0LuzHOyq

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 10, 2023

The study is expected to inform the wider practice of agrivoltaics, which aims to “create [solar] installations that coexist with their surroundings and bring additional benefits to the environment and local communities”, says Quanta Energy, the firm that constructed Volkswagen’s solar farm.

“The photovoltaic farm now produces more than just green energy,” adds Maarzena Pillich-Grońska, director of the Volkswagen plant. “It has also become a place where we support biodiversity, local agriculture, and the development of scientific knowledge.”

In recent years, a number of Polish cities, including Kraków and Katowice, have also recruited sheep and goats as a greener alternative to mechanical cutting of grass on municipal land.

Various firms operating in Poland have been investing in renewables to supply themselves with energy. In 2024, the largest chocolate maker in Poland, Mondelez Polska, said it would spend $1 million (3.8 million zloty) on solar installations at its production sites in the country.

Successive Polish governments have also been seeking to bolster green energy. Last year, the country generated 29.4% of its electricity from renewables , up from 9.4% a decade earlier. Onshore wind led the way with 14.2%, followed by solar at 12.1% and biomass at 1.8%.

However, in 2023, a group of business associations and international companies, including Google, Amazon, Mercedes and Ikea, warned the government that there must be more rapid development of green energy in order to attract continued investment in Poland.

However, since then, figures show a period of stagnation , despite the current government pledging to accelerate Poland’s green transition after taking power from its conservative predecessor in 2023.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: VW (press materials)

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Musical roads reward drivers who maintain the posted speed limit.

Groove spacing creates different musical notes through tire vibrations.

Only a handful of these unusual roads exist in the United States.

Infrastructure exists mostly to keep people safe and to help them get where they’re going efficiently. On some rare occasions, it can add just a touch of fun to the drive as well. That’s exactly the intersection where musical roads come into existence. Instead of producing an obnoxious buzz, these special rumble strips play a song. The only catch is that you must be going the speed limit to hear it.

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If you’ve never experienced one, it almost sounds like an urban legend. Drive too slowly, and the tune drags. Go too fast, and it becomes an unintelligible mess. Hit exactly the right speed, though, and suddenly your tires become part of the world’s largest vinyl record. Let’s break down how that works.

More: How Do You Listen To Music In Your Car?

The concept behind a musical road is surprisingly simple. Vibrations produce every sound, and the pitch depends on how frequently those vibrations occur, says Road-Tunes.com . Engineers create a melody by cutting grooves into the pavement at carefully calculated intervals. As your tires pass over those grooves, they generate vibrations that travel through the suspension and into the cabin. The spacing between each groove determines the musical note.

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For example, an E note requires roughly 330 vibrations per second. At 45 mph (72 km/h), that means the grooves need to be spaced about 2.4 inches (61 mm) apart. Different notes simply require different spacing, while longer notes are created by extending that pattern over a greater distance. The result is essentially a giant mechanical music player embedded in the road itself.

Their True Purpose

While they might seem like roadside novelties, musical roads are typically built with safety in mind. Most are installed to encourage drivers to maintain a consistent speed, especially on rural highways where speeding and driver fatigue can become serious problems. If motorists want to hear the song correctly, they have to obey the speed limit. That’s a much friendlier incentive than another flashing speed camera .

One of the best-known examples sat along historic Route 66 near Tijeras, New Mexico. Installed in 2014 with support from National Geographic, the quarter-mile section played America the Beautiful when drivers traveled at exactly 45 mph (72 km/h). Unfortunately, the grooves gradually wore away, and the New Mexico Department of Transportation ultimately decided restoration would be too expensive.

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Where To Find Them

The United States has hosted only a small number of musical roads, each with its own personality. Lancaster, California , opened America’s first musical road in 2008. Originally built to play the finale of the William Tell Overture, it quickly drew complaints from nearby residents over the constant noise. The city eventually relocated it farther from homes, although many visitors have noted the tune has never sounded quite right thanks to a design miscalculation.

Auburn University took a more collegiate approach in 2019 by installing a short stretch that plays the opening notes of the Tigers’ famous “War Eagle” fight song as fans arrive on campus. Unlike earlier examples, it was designed using a surface application that avoided cutting deeply into the pavement.

The newest addition arrived in 2023 in Palmdale, California , where a 2,500-foot (762 m) section of R. Lee Ermey Avenue honors the late Marine, actor, and Full Metal Jacket star by playing approximately 30 seconds of the Marines’ Hymn. Drivers hear the tribute only when traveling around 45 mph, turning an ordinary stretch of pavement into a rolling memorial and tourist attraction.

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Outside The U.S.

Musical roads have appeared in more than a dozen countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Hungary, India, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates. Some play folk songs, others perform national anthems, and a few even feature famous movie themes. Japan alone is home to more than 30 “Melody Roads,” many created as tourist attractions, while countries like South Korea and China have leaned more heavily on their safety benefits.

Whether they’re encouraging drivers to slow down, helping keep sleepy motorists alert, or simply giving road-trippers something unexpected to smile about, musical roads prove that even something as mundane as rumble strips can be transformed into an engineering curiosity.

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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