News linked to this event type.
Dubai cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has launched pre-market perpetual contracts linked to Chinese robotics company Unitree and AI startup Moonshot AI. The contracts are denominated and settled in USDT and do not involve ownership of shares in the respective companies. Bybit stated that its traditional finance perpetual contract product lineup has grown to over 200 since its launch in April, covering stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, and pre-market companies. Unitree received approval from Chinese securities regulators in July to list on the Shanghai STAR Market. RWA.xyz data shows that the distribution value of tokenized stocks has reached $2.38 billion, with 1.31 million holders, a 123.62% increase in the latter over the past 30 days. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News: Russia's Ministry of Energy, pursuant to Government Decree No. 936, has banned cryptocurrency mining and participation in mining pools in Moscow and parts of the Kursk Oblast, with the ban lasting until December 31, 2032. The year-round restriction aims to alleviate electricity capacity shortages, as energy-intensive mining facilities continue to strain regional power grids. Russia legalized registered mining in 2024, and has since imposed related bans in 10 other regions due to rising electricity demand. (CoinDesk)
Crypto startups completed USD 11.2 billion in funding in the first half of 2026, with all disclosed capital flowing to regulated, licensed enterprises. Payments and stablecoins, prediction markets, exchanges, and trading platforms received the most funding. Major backers include Wall Street and large global financial institutions, whose investment focus is on licensed and compliant companies. Investors and founders increasingly view regulatory licenses as scarce and defensive assets, while retail investors still primarily trade on unlicensed or alternative platforms. (CoinDesk)
Odaily News: Bank Leumi, Israel's largest and oldest commercial bank, has announced a partnership with cryptocurrency company Galaxy Digital, planning to launch Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana trading services on the Leumi Trade investment app and mobile banking platform PEPPER in early 2027, subject to approval from the Bank of Israel. Customers will be able to buy, hold, and sell related crypto assets through their bank accounts, without needing to open accounts on separate exchanges or use personal wallets. Galaxy Digital will provide institutional trading platforms and custody infrastructure, while Bank Leumi intends to operate under a white-label model where customers do not hold private keys. Bank Leumi previously announced a partnership with Paxos in 2022 to offer crypto trading services, but it did not receive regulatory approval. Fees, trading limits, the asset list, and external wallet withdrawal rules for this service have not yet been disclosed, and custodied crypto assets do not enjoy the same deposit insurance coverage as shekel deposits. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to the UK's Financial Times, China plans to lift exit restrictions on the founders of AI agent company Manus. Previously, Manus CEO Xiao Hong and Chief Scientist Ji Yichao were required to travel to Beijing for investigation and were restricted from leaving the country in March this year, as the company's acquisition by Meta for $2 billion was suspected of violating investment regulations. According to two informed sources, Xiao Hong recently told employees that he plans to return to Singapore, where the company's headquarters is located, in the near future. Manus announced this week that it will soon resume independent operations, stating that this move is "part of the separation from Meta to comply with regulatory requirements in specific regions." The divestiture transaction still requires final approval from China's National Development and Reform Commission (the NDRC had halted Meta's acquisition in April).
According to The Decoder, a self-represented plaintiff Matthew Elliott in Connecticut embedded invisible AI instructions in court documents, attempting to influence potential AI automatic review systems. These instructions were presented in white font size 3 on a white background, barely perceptible to the human eye, but fully readable by AI. The content aimed to guide the AI output to align with his claims and overturn the clerk's previous dismissal decision. The court discovered clues due to abnormal blank areas in the document, thereby exposing the manipulation. Judge Walter Spader Jr. compared this act to "secretly communicating with jurors," and pointed out that Connecticut courts actually do not use AI to review documents, so it did not affect the outcome, but the intent to manipulate itself constituted an issue. As a sanction, the court revoked Elliott's electronic filing privileges, requiring all his documents to be submitted in person in paper form.
According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb announced its financial report for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue for the first half of 2026 was 168.8 billion won (approximately 109 million USD), plummeting 48.7% year-on-year; operating profit was 14.9 billion won (approximately 9.6 million USD), dropping significantly 83.4% year-on-year; net loss reached 108.7 billion won (approximately 70.1 million USD). Specifically, second-quarter revenue was 86.3 billion won (approximately 55.7 million USD), down 35.8% year-on-year; operating profit was 12.1 billion won (approximately 7.8 million USD), a year-on-year decrease of 44.0%. Bithumb stated that the performance decline was mainly due to the continued high interest rate policy in the United States, causing Korean and global investors to shift their funds and attention to stock markets such as AI and semiconductors, leading to a subsequent decline in the activity of the virtual asset trading market.
According to crypto.news, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was re-elected as an MP with 63.34% of the vote in the Clacton by-election, and the UK Parliamentary Standards Commissioner subsequently reopened an investigation into his undeclared financial interests. The investigation covers two items: first, personal payments of approximately $6.7 million (approximately £5 million) received from Christopher Harborne, a billionaire investor and shareholder of stablecoin issuer Tether; second, benefits provided by long-term advisor George Cottrell, including drivers, security, social media staff, and a five-story luxury mansion in London. Farage previously denied wrongdoing on the grounds that the "gifts occurred before taking office as an MP," and resigned in July this year, causing the investigation to be suspended. After this re-election, he must redeclare financial interests within one month, and disclose registrable interests received within the 12 months prior to the election. Meanwhile, UK Labour Party MPs are pushing to upgrade the temporary ban on crypto political donations into permanent legislation.
The X platform announced further enhancements to algorithm transparency, officially open-sourcing the code relevant to the exposure ranking of posts in the "For You" recommended timeline, and launching new transparency tools that enable users to check whether their accounts or posts have been assigned labels that may limit visibility. X stated that this move aims to enable users to determine for themselves whether the platform restricts their content distribution, whether the recommendation system is fair, and why they see specific content. The two features released this time were described by X as "complementary pieces of a puzzle": the open-source code demonstrates the generation mechanism of the "For You" timeline, including content tags affecting post exposure and their functions; the transparency tool allows users to check whether their own accounts or posts have restriction labels affecting visibility. It is reported that this feature is still in the pilot phase and is available only to randomly selected eligible accounts. Initial test subjects include users who have been registered for over a year and have posted more than 10 times in the past month. X plans to gradually expand coverage based on user feedback. Third-party recommendation system experts have been invited to review and test this code release in advance to ensure information disclosure is clearer and more practical. The company stated that going forward, as the recommendation algorithm continues to evolve, it will regularly update the relevant transparency mechanisms.
Grayscale Research Director Zach Pandl stated in a post on platform X that Ethereum is like a "small country," while ETH has only one core "government function": protecting property rights and value exchange within the system. Unlike traditional countries that provide public services through taxation, Ethereum mainly relies on "seigniorage," i.e., issuing new ETH, to fund network security. Under this framework, stakers responsible for maintaining network security are equivalent to the group providing public services, receiving rewards through newly issued ETH. Therefore, Ethereum's staking mechanism and ETH issuance policy essentially constitute the network's fiscal policy and monetary policy simultaneously; more security guarantees usually mean stronger property rights protection, but at the cost of higher ETH issuance volume and potential other risks. Some community members believe that Ethereum's monetary and fiscal policy design should consider the security trade-offs brought by these key ratios, but the current mechanism has not yet fully incorporated these factors. Zach Pandl added that the above analogy may not be entirely accurate as it does not yet involve other important factors such as the ETH burn mechanism, MEV, governance, etc.; how the future ETH issuance policy will be adjusted remains to be seen based on community governance results.
Odaily News The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday granted initial conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, bringing Trump-backed World Liberty Financial one step closer to obtaining a national trust bank charter.In its letter, the OCC stated that World Liberty's charter application met certain regulatory and policy requirements, leading to the initial conditional approval. However, this does not constitute final approval, and the OCC may still rescind the approval.Earlier this year, World Liberty Financial established a new trust company with the aim of applying for a bank charter from the OCC. The company has previously stated that the charter would support its provision of services including stablecoin issuance and redemption, fiat on/off ramps, custody, and exchange. WLF currently issues the stablecoin USD1, which has a market cap of approximately $4 billion, making it the fourth-largest stablecoin after Tether and USDC.WLF CEO Zack Witkoff said on X on Friday that the company aims to build "the world's most trusted and widely used digital dollar" while strengthening the dollar's role in the global economy. Zack Witkoff is the son of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Overall, this approval could further strengthen WLF's position in the U.S. stablecoin and digital asset banking infrastructure, though its political ties may continue to raise regulatory and ethical concerns.
Odaily News, Mizuho analysts lowered the price target for crypto custodian BitGo from $14 to $11, while maintaining an "Outperform" rating. At the time of the report, BitGo's stock was trading at approximately $5.61.Mizuho believes that the market generally views the delay of the U.S. crypto market structure bill, the Clarity Act, as bearish, but for BitGo, this could actually be an advantage. This is because BitGo already operates the first federally chartered digital asset trust bank owned by a public company, and its regulatory standing does not depend on the passage of new legislation.Analysts noted that the Clarity Act aims to establish a framework for the U.S. digital asset market structure and clarify the division of powers among different regulatory agencies. However, due to repeated negotiations on key issues, the bill has faced ongoing delays.In Mizuho's view, the longer regulatory uncertainty persists each quarter, the more BitGo's existing licenses and first-mover compliance advantages accumulate, and the higher the barriers for new entrants. In other words, the later regulation is finalized, the more "trusted and already licensed" becomes BitGo's core competitive strength.
Odaily News: The French Finance Minister has confirmed that hackers breached the systems of the French Public Finance Directorate in late June and stole taxpayer data belonging to individuals and businesses. According to FrenchBreaches, a platform that tracks cyberattacks in France, this incident affects approximately 678,437 people, roughly 1% of France's population, though the exact number is still under investigation and has not been finalised.The compromised data reportedly includes sensitive information such as names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, tax identification details, and income data. Among those affected, nearly 27,000 individuals had taxable income of at least €100,000, 386 exceeded €1 million, and another 8 surpassed €10 million.Reports indicate that the database has been listed for sale on dark web marketplaces for several thousand euros. The attacker, going by the name ZeroBytes, claims to have extracted the records using an internal search tool before being detected and having access cut off.The incident has raised concerns within the crypto industry, as France has seen a noticeable increase in "wrench attacks" targeting crypto holders in recent years. If high-income individuals' addresses and contact details are exposed, it could provide criminals with a more precise list of targets.
Odaily News: Cboe BZX Exchange is seeking approval from the U.S. SEC to list a group of leveraged commodity ETFs, including daily leveraged products with 3x long exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum.According to a proposed rule change filed on Friday, Cboe plans to launch a 3x Gold ETF, 3x Silver ETF, 3x Bitcoin ETF, 3x Ether ETF, 3x Crude Oil ETF, and 3x Natural Gas ETF. These funds will primarily hold CME or COMEX futures contracts, with cash and cash equivalents as collateral, aiming to achieve 3x the daily performance of the corresponding underlying assets.Since these products do not meet the restrictions on leveraged products under the exchange's general listing standards, Cboe needs to obtain approval through a special rule filing. Such highly leveraged funds are typically geared toward sophisticated investors for short-term tactical trading and are not suitable for long-term holding.The filing also shows that these funds will operate as "commodity pools" and fall under CFTC regulation, rather than being structured as investment companies under the 1940 Act regulated by the SEC, as many traditional ETFs are. Commodity pools typically pool capital from multiple investors to trade derivatives or other commodity-related instruments.
The Irish Government has released its first National Anti-Money Laundering Strategy, proposing stricter scrutiny on private crypto wallet transfers and overseas crypto enterprises, with plans to implement industry standards related to cryptocurrency gambling funds in the second half of 2027.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted World Liberty Trust Co. preliminary conditional approval. The company may operate national trust banking business.
英国议会标准专员恢复对 Reform 党领袖 Nigel Farage 接受加密货币行业捐赠的调查，涉及金额达 670 万美元。
Odaily News: Goldman Sachs has disclosed the acquisition of ETF management firm NEOS Investments in a deal valued at up to $2.25 billion, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027 pending regulatory approval. The market views this move as a way for Goldman Sachs to quickly enter the Bitcoin yield ETF space, potentially putting it ahead of BlackRock in the Wall Street crypto asset competition.NEOS currently manages approximately $30 billion in assets, with its most notable product being the Bitcoin yield ETF BTCI (NEOS Bitcoin High Income ETF), which holds about $1.1 billion in assets. The fund generates monthly income for investors by holding Bitcoin-related ETFs and selling call options, currently offering a distribution yield of approximately 27%.Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that by acquiring NEOS, Goldman Sachs gains BTCI, effectively bypassing the need to build a similar product from scratch and "beating" BlackRock's previously launched Bitcoin yield ETF product, BITA.Goldman Sachs' deal is seen by the market as a new phase in Wall Street's crypto asset positioning. Industry insiders believe that Bitcoin spot ETFs represent the "first phase," while active management products based on Bitcoin, such as yield enhancement and options strategies, will become the focus of competition in the next phase.However, BTCI's high yield comes with risks. The product does not directly hold Bitcoin but instead generates returns by selling call options on Bitcoin-related ETFs, potentially sacrificing some upside when the market rallies. Analysts note that BTCI's net asset value has fallen approximately 43% over the past year, and part of its high distribution yield may come from return of capital.BlackRock has already launched a competing product, BITA, but its current scale is approximately $59 million, significantly lower than BTCI's roughly $1.1 billion in assets. The market is watching whether Goldman Sachs will maintain BTCI's existing structure after the acquisition is completed and further expand its competitive advantage in the Bitcoin yield product market. (Forbes)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that Galaxy Digital, Compass Datacenters, and Montera Infrastructure have committed to complying with new standards and regulatory requirements established by Texas for data center construction.It is understood that these guidelines are being implemented across data center projects statewide, aiming to ensure that data center expansion does not add burdens to residents, nor affect grid stability, water supply, or community quality of life. Under the new rules, data center operators must meet several requirements, including: bearing the costs of power infrastructure themselves without shifting construction and operational costs onto Texas households and small businesses; implementing water recycling for their own use to reduce pressure on public water resources; taking measures to lower overall electricity costs; avoiding disruption to residential communities by reducing noise, light, and traffic impacts; and reducing dependence on government subsidies and taxpayer funds to achieve self-sustaining project operations.Additionally, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) will review data center projects, requiring companies to disclose project ownership structures, government subsidy details, electricity demand forecasts, self-built power generation plans, water usage plans, and community impact mitigation measures.
Gina Rinehart, Australia's first female billionaire, saw her investment company purchase approximately 8 million shares of SpaceX in the second quarter. As of June 30, the investment was valued at approximately $1.37 billion, making it the largest single holding in her portfolio.According to regulatory filings, Rinehart's increased position in SpaceX shares reached a value of $1.37 billion, accounting for a significant proportion of her overall portfolio. SpaceX remains a privately held company, with investors primarily gaining exposure through private equity transactions.In addition to SpaceX, Rinehart's investment vehicle also poured hundreds of millions of dollars into U.S. equity markets in the second quarter, further expanding its allocation to U.S. stocks. (Bloomberg)