Cryptocurrency
Senate stalls on CLARITY Act as August recess approaches
The prospect of a weekend vote on the CLARITY Act evaporated Thursday after Senate leadership omitted the crypto market structure bill from the chamber’s procedural schedule. With no cloture filing on the docket, the legislation remains sidelined while senators prioritize government funding and high-level nominations ahead of the looming August recess.
Zeus Wallet Shuts Down Infrastructure Following Cybersecurity Breach
Zeus Wallet has pulled its infrastructure offline to conduct a comprehensive security audit after suffering a targeted cyberattack. While the company confirmed that no customer funds were compromised, the self-custodial Bitcoin Lightning provider has yet to establish a timeline for when services will return to normal operation.
Crypto 'Wrench Attacks' Surge as Physical Violence Targets Holders
Violent physical attacks against cryptocurrency holders netted more than $30 million globally during the first half of 2026, according to Chainalysis. While the digital realm remains the primary theater for cybercrime, criminals are increasingly shifting toward home invasions and kidnappings to force victims into transferring their assets.
Plume Joins DTCC Tokenization Working Group
Plume has secured a seat in the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Digital Assets Solutions Industry Working Group, aligning itself with major financial institutions including Nasdaq, Charles Schwab, and Alpaca as the organization prepares for an October 2026 service launch.
Blockchain.com Secures Full VASP Custody Licence in Cayman Islands
Blockchain.com has secured a definitive Virtual Asset Service Provider custody licence from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, transitioning from conditional status to full regulatory compliance. This milestone allows the platform to offer institutional-grade custody, staking, and exchange services to both retail and corporate clients within the jurisdiction.
Few and Far Founder Indicted in $10 Million Fraud Scheme
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged Taj Tarsha, the 34-year-old founder of NFT startup Few and Far, with securities and wire fraud. Authorities allege that Tarsha misappropriated over $10 million raised from 67 investors, funneling the capital into personal gambling, speculative crypto trades, and luxury housing costs.
Bitget Targets Bhutan Expansion With Gelephu Mindfulness City Deal
Bitget has signed a cooperation agreement with Bhutan’s Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority to establish a local presence and pursue a Financial Services Licence. The deal marks a shift in the exchange’s global strategy, focusing on building a regulated ecosystem within the Himalayan nation's emerging special administrative region.
Move-to-earn platform Step App to cease operations on August 21
Step App will shutter all global services on August 21, ending a four-year run that once saw the project enlist Olympic champion Usain Bolt as its global ambassador. The move-to-earn platform provided no specific financial or regulatory reasoning for the sudden closure, leaving users to scramble to secure their digital assets.
Fun Coffee Crypto Scam Hits HK$104 Million in Investor Losses
Hong Kong police have received 255 reports tied to the Fun Coffee cryptocurrency scheme, with total losses reaching HK$104 million. The platform, which masqueraded as a high-tech Vietnamese coffee venture, promised astronomical annual returns of up to 278% before abruptly halting all withdrawals in late July.
BNB Overtakes Ether and Solana in Grayscale Smart Contract Fund
Grayscale Investments has reshaped its Smart Contract Fund, assigning BNB a 30.6% portfolio weight as of August 3. This strategic rebalancing pushes BNB ahead of Ether at 29.47% and Solana at 29.15%, marking a significant shift in the asset manager’s allocation strategy for its multi-asset crypto product.
PowerCompute Refinances $18M Debt Using Bitcoin Collateral
PowerCompute has consolidated $18 million in outstanding debt into a new Bitcoin-backed credit facility, leveraging 307 BTC to secure more favorable lending terms. The deal replaces three existing loans and drops the company's annual interest rate to approximately 2%, freeing up capital without forcing a liquidation of its treasury.
Coinbase Expands UK Platform to Include U.S. Equities Trading
Eligible UK users can now trade nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks directly through Coinbase, marking a significant step in the exchange’s strategy to consolidate traditional financial assets and digital currencies into a single, around-the-clock application.
Real-World Asset Deposits Triple to $7.4B as DeFi Markets Contract
While the broader decentralized finance sector struggled with a 15% decline in deposits during the second quarter of 2026, tokenized real-world assets bucked the trend. According to a report by CoinShares, deposits in these instruments surged to $7.4 billion, more than tripling from the $2.3 billion recorded just one year prior.
StrongBlock Drained of $72K After Abandoned Governance Hijack
An attacker seized control of StrongBlock’s dormant governance system to siphon $72,000 in tokens, proving that abandoned protocols remain vulnerable to hostile takeovers. By accumulating a majority of the nearly worthless STRONG governance tokens, the perpetrator forced through a malicious proposal that granted them full administrative authority over the contract.
Block Expands Bitcoin Treasury to 9,117 BTC Following S&P 500 Entry
Jack Dorsey’s fintech firm Block Inc. has bolstered its corporate treasury with an additional 85 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 9,117 BTC. This incremental acquisition secures the company’s 15th-place ranking among publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holders, further cementing its commitment to the asset following its recent induction into the S&P 500.
JPYC Secures $38 Million to Drive Japanese Stablecoin Adoption
Logistics giant AZ-COM Maruwa Holdings has injected 1 billion yen into JPYC, bringing the stablecoin issuer’s total Series B funding to 6 billion yen. The move signals a shift for the blockchain firm as it moves beyond crypto-native use cases toward real-world commercial settlements for Japan’s corporate sector.
Guangdong targets cross-border digital yuan expansion
Guangdong is positioning its free trade zone as a hub for financial innovation, proposing an expansion of digital yuan pilots and cross-border payment systems. The draft development plan for 2026–2030, released by the provincial Department of Commerce, aims to integrate offshore finance and advanced settlement infrastructure into the region’s economic framework.
EU Regulators Warn of Impersonation Scams Following MiCA Rollout
Criminals are exploiting the European Union’s new crypto licensing landscape by posing as financial watchdogs and authorized firms. As the MiCA transition forces thousands of users to migrate assets to compliant platforms, fraudsters are leveraging forged documents and fake websites to intercept funds from unsuspecting investors.
Bitcoin Red Team Uncovers Thousands of Vulnerabilities After Coldcard Breach
A volunteer security initiative has identified 4,962 potential software flaws across 390 Bitcoin projects in just under 30 hours of AI-assisted auditing. The group, mobilized in the wake of a devastating Coldcard wallet exploit, reports that 720 of these findings carry high or critical severity ratings.
Uniswap enters memecoin market with Pools.trade on Robinhood Chain
Uniswap Labs has expanded its ecosystem by launching Pools.trade on the Robinhood Chain, a platform designed for the rapid creation and trading of memecoins. By integrating directly with Uniswap v4, the service locks liquidity permanently, aiming to mitigate common risks associated with rug-pulls and developer withdrawals in the volatile token market.
Russia Sets Regulatory Framework for Cryptocurrency Trading
President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation establishing a regulated path for retail and qualified investors to trade cryptocurrencies through licensed intermediaries. While the law brings digital assets under formal oversight starting September 2026, it maintains a strict prohibition on using cryptocurrency as a legal tender for domestic payments.
Upbit expands CAP token access with triple-market launch
South Korean exchange Upbit opened trading for the CAP token on August 6, launching pairs across its Korean won, Bitcoin, and Tether markets. The move follows a June listing on Bithumb, marking a significant expansion for the credit platform’s governance token within the South Korean digital asset ecosystem.
Move Creator Sam Blackshear Leaves Mysten Labs for Anthropic
Sam Blackshear, the cofounder and CTO of Mysten Labs, is stepping down to join Anthropic, where he will focus on defensive security research. The move marks a pivot for the creator of the Move programming language as he looks to address the shifting balance of power between cybersecurity attackers and defenders.
GSR Shifts Portfolio Toward Bitcoin as Solana Slumps
A 40.21% year-to-date slide for Solana has prompted a strategic pivot within GSR’s Core3 model portfolio. As market volatility cools and trading activity stagnates, the firm has aggressively reallocated capital, slashing its Ether exposure to bolster its Bitcoin holdings in search of more stable forward-looking opportunities.
Circle Extends Coinbase Partnership, Prioritizes Reinvestment Over Dividends
Circle Internet Group has secured a three-year extension of its strategic USDC agreement with Coinbase, locking in the existing commercial terms through 2029. Alongside this operational continuity, the company signaled a clear growth-oriented fiscal strategy by rejecting calls for quarterly shareholder dividends in favor of aggressive capital reinvestment.
Coldcard Theft Update: Large Stash Remains Still as Mixing Begins
While the primary perpetrator behind the Coldcard wallet exploit sits on a massive 1,159 BTC fortune, a secondary attacker has begun routing stolen assets through a mixer. On-chain investigators continue to monitor the stagnant funds, which remain flagged across exchanges and law enforcement databases to prevent liquidation.
Lido DAO Price Bounces as NEST Governance Vote Commences
Lido DAO’s LDO token climbed 5.2% on Thursday, reaching $0.293 after an intraday dip to $0.275. The recovery follows the launch of an on-chain vote for the NEST automated buyback system, though market sentiment remains constrained by debates surrounding potential changes to Ethereum’s staking issuance rewards.
Pi Network Gains 10% as Protocol 26 Deadline Approaches
Pi Network (PI) tokens surged over 10% this week, trading near $0.0872 as increased volume and new integration news bolstered market sentiment. The asset is currently testing a critical $0.09 resistance level, a hurdle that has repeatedly capped recovery attempts since late July.
Lummis Pushes for Pre-Recess CLARITY Act Vote
With the Senate calendar shrinking before the August recess, Senator Cynthia Lummis is ramping up pressure to force a floor vote on the CLARITY Act. Despite nearly a year of bipartisan negotiation, the legislation still lacks the confirmed cloture filing necessary to guarantee its arrival on the Senate floor.
Coinbase Trims Trading Pairs Amid Market Consolidation
Coinbase will terminate six cryptocurrency trading pairs on August 6, following a periodic assessment of market health. The exchange transitioned five of these markets into limit-only status as part of an effort to concentrate liquidity and improve order book conditions for its institutional and advanced trading platforms.