On Aug. 12, the luckiest 15 million people in the world were those living in a narrow band measuring approximately 5,100 miles long and 180 miles wide, stretching from northern Russia, down through Greenland, then Iceland, then Spain, then a tiny nip of Portugal, before passing into the Mediterranean Sea. That strip represented the path of totality for the recent total solar eclipse—the first visible from Europe in 27 years.

The eclipse did not take long to play out, lasting just 4.4 hours before it at last extinguished its fires in the Mediterranean waters. But it made an enduring impression—and will continue to, thanks to the uncounted astronomers and lay folk who photographed the event with ordinary cameras, great observatories, and even a NASA chase plane. Here is just a sampling of the work these eclipse-watchers produced.

It was only later that I realized how rare such an event had become, where I spoke to somebody with a very different education profile, occupation, and interests from mine. This made me consider what would have happened if, on my other side at the bar, there had been somebody with a Ph.D. and an occupation similar to mine (academic, financier, consultant, lawyer, etc.). Whom would I have chosen to initiate a conversation with? Whom would the participants in the workshop I attended have chosen? The answer seemed almost too obvious, and not completely unrelated to why the plight of manual workers was less than top of mind for many college-educated policymakers, activists, and civil servants.

I later embellished the choice a little and offered it to several friends and participants at various conferences: If stranded at an airport, with a professional with a Ph.D. from a faraway land (China, India, Brazil, Nigeria) on one side and an American high school graduate on the other, to whom would you look forward to talking for the next hour? Many took the question to be rhetorical, because the answer was, again, too obvious.

Mamdani’s Approval Ratings

Robinhood’s partnership with Uniswap is helping the brokerage rapidly build liquidity on its new blockchain, potentially removing a key obstacle to attracting users and assets, according to Standard Chartered.

In a recent note, Standard Chartered analyst Geoffrey Kendrick said Robinhood Chain has grown to nearly $1 billion in total value locked (TVL), which he described as the fastest growth of any blockchain by that measure. Virtually all of Robinhood Chain’s liquidity needs are being met through Uniswap V2, V3 and V4, Kendrick said.

The arrangement gives Robinhood access to established decentralized finance infrastructure as it scales its blockchain, potentially strengthening its ability to attract users without having to build liquidity from scratch.

The partnership is also having a significant impact on Uniswap’s token economics. According to Standard Chartered, protocol fees generated through Robinhood are now the largest source of UNI token burns.

The UNI burn rate has roughly doubled since a Robinhood-linked fee switch was activated on July 27, reaching an annualized pace of about $90 million. At UNI’s current price of roughly $3.50 apiece, that would translate to 25 million UNI tokens, or just over 4% of the circulating supply, being burned annually.

Robinhood Chain’s liquidity sources. Source: Standard Chartered

Robinhood Chain launched on July 1 with a focus on bringing real-world assets onchain. Adoption accelerated quickly after launch, reaching 194,000 daily active users during its first week.

Related: Robinhood Chain sees over $70M in ETH bridged during first week

Robinhood’s crypto push expands into tokenization and prediction markets

Robinhood Chain is part of the brokerage’s broader push beyond traditional stock trading, with the company expanding into crypto, prediction markets and tokenization. The strategy has drawn attention from Wall Street, with analysts at Bernstein raising their price target for Robinhood (HOOD) stock to $160 per share and identifying tokenization and prediction markets as key growth drivers.

HOOD shares were up more than 4% on Thursday, extending six-month gains to almost 30%. Source: Yahoo Finance.

The expansion has coincided with mixed trends across Robinhood’s crypto business. The company reported record revenue and earnings in the second quarter, even as crypto trading volumes and revenues declined. 

Related: Robinhood in talks with Crypto.com over prediction markets: WSJ

The Blockchain Association urged the US Supreme Court to hear Custodia Bank’s challenge to the Federal Reserve’s denial of its application for a master account, which would give the crypto-focused bank direct access to the Fed’s payment system.

In an amicus brief filed Wednesday, the industry group argued that federal law requires the central bank to make its payment services available to eligible nonmember banks and that the Fed should not have broad discretion to deny access.

The association said the appeals court’s decision effectively gives the Fed veto power over state-chartered banks by allowing it to withhold services needed to operate independently. It also linked Custodia’s case to alleged crypto debanking under “Operation Choke Point 2.0,” arguing that federal regulators discouraged banks from serving the digital asset industry.

Custodia, a Wyoming-chartered bank focused on digital assets, applied for a Fed master account in 2020, seeking direct access to the central bank’s payment services without relying on an intermediary bank.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City denied Custodia’s application in 2023, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled that the regional Fed bank had discretion to reject its request. In March, the appeals court voted 7-3 against rehearing the case, leaving the Supreme Court as Custodia’s only remaining avenue for review.

The Blockchain Association said the Tenth Circuit interpreted the Fed’s authority too broadly, potentially allowing it to deny payment-system access to eligible state-chartered banks serving the crypto industry.

Blockchain Association backs Custodia’s Supreme Court petition. Source: US Supreme Court filing

Related: Goldman Sachs CEO backs ‘not perfect’ CLARITY Act as vote expected soon

Crypto companies push deeper into US banking

Custodia’s challenge comes as other crypto companies are gaining greater access to the US banking system, including federal charters and, in one case, direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails.

In March, Kraken Financial became the first crypto banking unit to receive a limited-purpose master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, giving it direct access to Fedwire. The approval contrasts with Custodia’s rejection by the same regional Fed bank in 2023.

In April, Coinbase received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust company, bringing its custody business under federal oversight without allowing it to take retail deposits or operate as a commercial bank.

Circle received final OCC approval for its national trust bank in July, while Kraken parent Payward applied for its own national trust company charter the following month. The OCC also conditionally approved national trust bank applications from Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos in December.

The trend has drawn resistance from traditional banking groups. The Independent Community Bankers of America opposed Coinbase’s approval in April, arguing that crypto companies are seeking the benefits of bank charters without being subject to the full regulatory framework applied to traditional banks.

Magazine: Bitcoin will never fall below $60K again: Nansen founder

What exactly does the lawsuit say?

Key takeaways

• XLM remains under pressure at $0.160.
• Positive funding rates for both tokens offer limited hope of a recovery.
• XLM must reclaim the $0.176–$0.180 area to improve its outlook.

XLM continues to trade below several major moving averages. Mixed derivatives and on-chain signals reveal uncertainty among traders, leaving XLM exposed to further losses despite tentative signs of improving sentiment.

XLM traders show mixed positioning

CoinGlass derivatives data points to a more bearish outlook for Stellar. XLM’s long-to-short ratio was notably weaker at 0.92, approaching its lowest level in more than a month. 

A reading below one indicates that short positions outnumber longs, reflecting expectations of further downside.

Funding rates for both tokens have improved despite their weak price performance. XLM’s funding rate climbed to 0.0092%. 

Positive funding means traders holding long positions are paying short sellers, generally indicating bullish demand in the perpetual futures market.

The figures suggest that some traders are willing to maintain bullish exposure while prices remain under pressure. However, continued declines could leave those long positions vulnerable to liquidations.

CryptoQuant data presents a mixed picture for Stellar. XLM’s futures market shows selling-side dominance across both spot and futures markets. 

The presence of large whale orders adds uncertainty, but the broader data continues to favor caution while sellers control trading activity.

Stellar remains below major moving averages

Stellar traded near $0.160 on Thursday, maintaining a bearish short-term outlook below all three major EMAs.

The 50-day EMA is positioned at $0.176, while the 100-day and 200-day EMAs stand at $0.180 and $0.190, respectively. 

Their convergence above the current price creates a dense resistance zone that buyers must overcome before a meaningful recovery can develop.

Momentum indicators also remain weak. XLM’s RSI is near 33, placing it close to oversold territory, while the MACD continues to trade in negative territory.

Although the low RSI could eventually support a relief rally, it does not by itself confirm that XLM has reached a bottom.

The first important resistance zone for Stellar sits between the 50-day EMA at $0.176 and horizontal resistance at $0.177.

A break above this area could ease selling pressure and open the way toward the 100-day EMA at $0.180. Bulls would then need to clear the 200-day EMA at $0.190 to establish a stronger recovery.

If XLM remains below these levels, the bearish outlook will persist. Continued selling could send the token toward its next meaningful horizontal support at $0.142, where buyers may attempt to defend the price.

For now, XRP’s slight bullish positioning provides limited recovery hope, but both tokens remain technically vulnerable while trading below their major moving averages.

Crypto hardware wallet Trezor revealed today that the personal details of 13,689 of its customers have been leaked. 

The breach at Trezor’s mailing partner, ShipMonk, impacted users across the UK, US, Sweden, Colombia, Brazil, Italy, and Portugal, who ordered a Trezor product between May 10 and August 8, 2026.

Nearly 12,000 customers had their full name, physical address, phone number, and email address leaked, while almost 2,000 saw their name, city, and email address leaked. 

Trezor says private keys are safe 

Trezor claims someone gained “unauthorized access” to ShipMonk’s systems, and that Trezor infrastructure, such as its devices and private keys, is unaffected. 

It warned that leaked users are now at risk of phishing scams via phone, email, or post, and stressed that “Nobody from Trezor ever asks for a wallet backup.” 

Read more: Search engines fix Claude leak but Perplexity users’ files still online

The wallet firm says only users who received a warning email from Trezor today are impacted by the leak. 

Trezor says it’s yet to decide on ShipMonk partnership

Trezor told Protos that it was informed of ShipMonk’s breach on August 10.

It said it’s still gathering information on the incident and that, only when it has the full picture, will it “decide on the future” of its partnership with ShipMonk. 

Trezor emphasised how its 90-day data policy helped mitigate the leak with its ability to “delete or anonymize order data 90 days after delivery.”

It claims that it is also pushing an “anonymous delivery” this year, and noted that it will share more details of the ShipMonk breach once a full report is ready. 

Wallet data leaks lead to targeted scams 

Crypto wallet maker Ledger suffered similar customer data leaks back in 2020 and 2026. 

Following the 2020 breach, hackers sent fake Ledger devices that were designed to upload malware into a user’s computer.

Scammers used this same leaked data five years later to send fake Ledger letters that attempted to trick recipients into handing over their recovery phrases.

Trezor customers have previously been targeted with phishing campaigns that used phoney stories of quantum vulnerability disclousres to trick victims.