Brazil’s largest bitcoin BTC$63,396.12 treasury firm, OranjeBTC, is preparing to list a monthly income exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would initially put 95% of its portfolio in Strategy’s (MSTR) preferred stock, STRC, and the rest in Strive’s (ASST) equivalent, SATA.

STRC and SATA pay recurring U.S. dollar distributions. The companies’ bitcoin remains on their balance sheets and is not pledged to the preferred shareholders. Yields are currently at 12.5% and 13.1%, respectively.

The Digital Yield ETF, or DIGY11, is planned to trade on Brazil’s B3 in the country’s fiat currency, the real, and distribute income monthly.

OranjeBTC, which holds 3,950 BTC ($250 million), expects annual distributions to be equivalent to Brazil’s risk-free rate, the Interbank Deposit Certificate (CDI), of 14.15%, plus roughly 3–5 percentage points, net of the fund’s estimated 1.30% total cost.

The estimate depends on the preferred-share distributions and the interest-rate difference between Brazil and the U.S., OranjeBTC Director of Strategy and Research Sam Callahan told CoinDesk. It excludes changes in DIGY11’s share price and does not guarantee returns.

Figure Technology Solutions posted a sharp jump in its consumer loan marketplace activity for the second quarter, reporting $4.3 billion in marketplace volume—up 132% year over year. The company also highlighted improved profitability, with quarterly profit nearly tripling and net income rising 192% to $87 million.

In its latest quarterly update, Figure said net revenue more than doubled to $226 million. It also reported an expanded net income margin of 38.8%, an increase of 10.5 percentage points from the prior year period.

Key takeaways

• Figure reported $4.3 billion in consumer loan marketplace volume for Q2 2026, up 132% year over year.
• Net income surged 192% to $87 million, while net revenue rose to $226 million.
• Third-party loans on Figure Connect made up $2.8 billion (65%) of the quarterly volume.
• Figure expects Q3 consumer loan marketplace volume between $4.8 billion and $5.2 billion.
• The company says weekly loan applications exceeded $1 billion in July.

Marketplace volume accelerates, profit improves

Figure’s growth was driven by expansion across the products routed through its loan origination system and its trading activity on Figure Connect. The company defines marketplace volume as including home equity lines of credit, debt-service coverage ratio loans, and personal loans processed through its origination platform, as well as third-party loans traded on Figure Connect.

According to Figure, third-party loans accounted for $2.8 billion of the $4.3 billion total in Q2—representing 65% of marketplace volume. That mix matters because it suggests the marketplace’s scale is not only dependent on Figure originating loans itself, but also on external participants using Figure Connect to trade.

Figure also said marketplace volume increased 262% compared with the same period last year. The company launched its consumer loan marketplace in June 2024, and it is now scaling both its underlying origination network and its partner-driven trading ecosystem.

Partner growth and the “application” signal

Beyond the topline numbers, Figure tied its momentum to supply-side expansion. During the quarter, it added 102 loan-origination partners, bringing the total to 489.

The company’s CEO, Michael Tannenbaum, also pointed to demand and throughput indicators. He said weekly loan applications surpassed $1 billion in July. While applications are not the same as funded volume, the figure is often used by consumer finance marketplaces as a forward-looking signal for how much loan demand is entering the system—particularly in an industry where conversion from application to funded loan can fluctuate based on underwriting and capital availability.

For investors and market participants, these details provide a more complete picture than quarterly volume alone: volume is the outcome, while applications and partner counts can help explain what might drive the next quarters’ results.

What to watch in Figure’s outlook

Looking ahead, Figure expects consumer loan marketplace volume of between $4.8 billion and $5.2 billion for the third quarter. The midpoint implies continued growth from the reported $4.3 billion in Q2, suggesting Figure believes current momentum can carry into the next reporting period rather than being a one-quarter acceleration.

The company’s guidance also gives traders and lenders a measurable benchmark to monitor. If actual volume tracks toward the top end of the range, it could reinforce the idea that the marketplace’s scale effects—more partners, steady application flow, and a larger trading share from Figure Connect—are compounding. If results fall toward the low end, it may indicate that growth is increasingly constrained by underwriting capacity, pricing dynamics, or the availability of capital through its ecosystem.

Why blockchain-linked transparency is part of the narrative

Figure’s quarterly report arrives amid continued investor interest in how blockchain-based marketplace activity could be monitored. Bernstein analysts, in a prediction made in May and cited in the company’s reporting, said Figure’s Q1 results demonstrated the “uniqueness” of blockchain marketplaces. They also argued that live blockchain data could increasingly allow investors to track Figure’s lending activity in real time.

That framing is relevant because it suggests Figure is not only competing as a consumer finance platform, but also as a system designed to make certain marketplace activity more observable. If that transparency thesis holds up, it may help investors evaluate momentum with less delay than traditional financial reporting—though the extent of what can be reliably inferred from on-chain activity is still something markets will test over time.

Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph had highlighted the Bernstein view about the potential for real-time monitoring via blockchain data. As Figure scales, the industry will likely watch whether that observability translates into better risk assessment, stronger participation, or improved market confidence in marketplace performance.

For now, the most immediate checkpoints are Figure’s next quarterly volume print versus its $4.8 billion–$5.2 billion Q3 outlook, whether third-party participation on Figure Connect continues to hold a majority share, and how application momentum reported in July translates into funded loans over subsequent weeks.

Figure Technology Solutions reports strong second quarter 2026 (investor relations)

While critics focus on her meltdowns, fans, friends, and rivals appreciate that what you see is what you get. “At the end of the day, she’s a very authentic person,” says fellow pro Paula Badosa of Spain, Sabalenka’s closest friend on tour. “She always shows the way she is. That’s one of the things that makes her unique.” Even as she has acknowledged that her emotions sometimes get the better of her, Sabalenka refuses to disavow her passion. “I will never be completely in control,” she says. “When I hold that negativity inside, it keeps growing, growing, growing, growing. It destroys you from the inside to the point that you don’t have any energy and power to compete and to fight. So I’ve found it really helpful to just yell something. I have to release it.” She would love a designated racket-bludgeoning area at tournaments. “Between the sets, you just go to that room, you let it go, and you come back as a new person,” she says.

Ethereum current price and solana ETF flows are stuck in neutral, see why BlockDAG’s stage 1 math makes it the best crypto to buy this month.

The Ethereum current price is parked near $1,913, a jaw-dropping 61% below its 2025 all-time high, with traders leaning on a CPI report just to justify the next 2% move. Solana ETF inflows told a similarly unimpressive story for most of August, only perking back up after weeks of stalling, while SOL is still stuck in the same $74 to $78 range it has traded in for a month. Two giants, both going nowhere fast.

BlockDAG (BDAG) is not going nowhere. While Ethereum and Solana grind out single-digit moves, BlockDAG’s stage 1 price of $0.002 against a $0.10 launch reference is a 50x spread built directly into the math, not wishful thinking, wrapped in an ecosystem already generating real utility for anyone building a best crypto to buy list right now.

BlockDAG: The stage 1 math nobody else can touch

Write this number down: $0.002. That is where BlockDAG sits right now, in stage 1 of 25 total stages. Now write down $0.10, the project’s own launch reference price. That gap is a 50x spread, and it exists before BlockDAG has even listed on a single exchange, while Ethereum and Solana are fighting over a few percentage points of daily movement.

That price is not floating on hope. The BlockDAG Super App is in development can will mine coins through the X1 Miner, pay out staking rewards, and let holders spend BDAG on real purchases through payment cards, while BlockDAGX is preparing to go live as a full exchange with sub-second execution and deep AMM liquidity.

There is also no team allocation quietly waiting to dump on early buyers, and BlockDAG plans to launch with $100 million in liquidity behind it, the kind of structural discipline that rarely shows up on any best crypto to buy list this early in a project’s life, let alone one still selling at stage 1 pricing.

Presales that promise the moon rarely deliver anything close. What BlockDAG offers instead is a documented 50x spread, a functioning ecosystem, and zero insider dilution, and that combination is exactly why experts have termed it a best crypto to buy with legitimate potential to do a 5000x climb like Bitcoin or other tier 1 networks have done in their early days.

Ethereum current price still chasing its old highs

The Ethereum current price sits around $1,913 today, virtually unchanged from where it traded a week ago and still nearly 61% below the almost $5,000 peak ETH hit back in 2025. Ethereum’s $233 billion market cap sounds massive until you remember it represents a token that has spent the better part of a year failing to reclaim territory it already owned once, even with staking, layer-2 activity, and a stablecoin ecosystem all working in its favor.

Traders are currently glued to the July CPI report, hoping softer inflation data finally gives the Fed cover to ease up, because right now the Ethereum current price needs outside help just to keep grinding higher. Staking yield and ETF flows offer some support, but this is a chart leaning on macro tailwinds, not conviction, and macro tailwinds can turn just as fast as they arrive.

Solana ETF momentum keeps stalling and restarting

Solana ETF flows have spent most of August stuck in stall mode, only breaking that streak with an $8.8 million inflow day on August 10, the category’s best single session in three months and still a modest number for a chain this size. SOL itself is trading near $76, up modestly on the week and holding above its 50-day EMA, but still trapped in the same $74 to $80 range it has fought for weeks.

A fresh MoneyGram integration and Jupiter’s Lend v2 launch are genuine wins for the ecosystem, and solana ETF issuers like Morgan Stanley entering the space adds real institutional weight. But weight is not the same as movement, and SOL has yet to prove it can turn any of this into a decisive breakout rather than another round of range-bound chop.

The bottom line: Idle giants vs. real math

For more information, visit the official website, presale, Telegram and Discord.

The women in the new study were prescribed estrogen only, and not the combination of estrogen and progesterone that is more commonly used to treat menopausal symptoms. Progesterone is prescribed to protect the uterus, but women who have had a hysterectomy, like those in the study, can safely be prescribed estrogen. This population provides a good way to study the effects of estrogen itself, since researchers believe it’s the hormone with more wide-ranging effects on the body, including in the brain.

Hadi Hosseini, an associate professor of psychiatry at Stanford and co-author of the study, says the results don’t establish a cause-and-effect link between estrogen and Alzheimer’s disease, but they do provide a reason to further study the role of the hormone in the neurodegenerative disease. “Previous studies,” including the Women’s Health Initiative, “showed that hormone therapy—estrogen plus progesterone—had a negative effect on Alzheimer’s disease risk and memory outcomes,” he says. “These data are bringing awareness to the fact that maybe we need to reconsider some of the previous findings, since we can now look properly at Alzheimer’s disease outcomes, different formulations of hormone therapy, different times of initiating the therapy, and different durations of use.”

The CFTC has scheduled a three-hour meeting for Aug. 20 to examine crypto assets, artificial intelligence, prediction markets, and its recent work across the three sectors.

CFTC meeting will put crypto and AI policy on the agenda

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in an Aug. 11 Federal Register notice that its Innovation Advisory Committee will hold its inaugural meeting on Aug. 20, bringing members together to discuss crypto assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets.

Scheduled to run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the meeting will take place in person for committee members in Washington. Members of the public will be able to follow the proceedings virtually, and the session may finish before 4 p.m. if the committee completes its business early.

The CFTC said recent agency activity involving the three areas will also form part of the discussion. Its notice does not identify a proposed rule that members will vote on, nor does it state that the meeting will produce immediate policy changes.

Rather, the IAC advises the commission on issues where technology, law, policy and finance overlap. Its recommendations may inform the agency’s work, but the committee does not independently adopt or enforce CFTC regulations.

Chairman Michael S. Selig, who sponsors the committee, announced the meeting separately on Aug. 10. According to the CFTC announcement, the group consists of U.S. entrepreneurs, researchers, industry participants, and other specialists chosen to give the agency input on changes in financial markets.

Selig’s announcement described the subjects under review as part of a “new frontier of finance.” However, the release did not include a detailed regulatory proposal for crypto, AI or prediction markets, leaving the committee’s specific discussion points to the meeting agenda and presentations.

Crypto oversight has become a larger CFTC responsibility

Digital assets enter the meeting as Congress continues to consider giving the CFTC a more extensive role in U.S. crypto markets. Existing law already gives the agency authority over commodity derivatives, including futures and options tied to assets such as Bitcoin, while the SEC oversees securities and securities transactions.

Pending market-structure legislation could expand the CFTC’s responsibilities in digital commodity spot markets. A recent crypto.news review of CFTC capacity reported that the agency had 556 employees and a $365 million budget, compared with about 4,200 staff and a $2.149 billion budget at the SEC.

The CFTC’s Office of Inspector General identified digital asset regulation as its leading management and performance challenge for 2026, according to the same report. Any expansion of the agency’s authority would therefore place staffing, technology and funding questions alongside decisions about registration, market surveillance and customer protection.

Work on crypto policy has continued while lawmakers debate the agency’s future remit. In March, the CFTC joined the SEC in issuing an interpretation on how federal securities laws apply to certain crypto assets and related transactions. The two regulators also signed a memorandum of understanding covering coordination between their agencies.

The commission has taken separate action in crypto derivatives markets. In May, it approved KalshiEX’s Bitcoin perpetual futures contract and issued staff relief involving Coinbase Financial Markets and certain foreign crypto perpetual products.

As reported at the time, the Kalshi decision opened a federally regulated route for U.S. traders to access a Bitcoin perpetual futures product. The related Coinbase letter allowed specified customer-owned digital commodities and payment stablecoins to be transferred to an affiliated foreign broker as margin, subject to the conditions set by CFTC staff.

Prediction markets face federal and state disputes

Prediction markets will give the committee another unresolved U.S. regulatory issue to examine. The platforms offer event contracts whose payouts depend on the outcome of elections, sporting events, economic data releases, and other measurable events.

CFTC-registered exchanges maintain that eligible event contracts fall under federal derivatives law. State gaming regulators and other critics have challenged some sports-related products as unlicensed betting, leading to litigation over whether federal derivatives oversight displaces state gambling rules.

During 2026, the commission reaffirmed its view that it holds exclusive federal jurisdiction over prediction markets within the derivatives framework. It also withdrew a 2024 proposal that would have restricted contracts involving political contests, sports, and other listed categories.

In March, the CFTC started another public process focused on event-contract regulation. Submissions came from prediction market operators, crypto companies, venture investors, and state gambling authorities, according to a May policy report.

More recent requests show that the disagreement extends beyond the basic question of federal authority. On Aug. 3, the NFL asked the CFTC to require a minimum age of 21, stronger controls against insider trading, and closer reviews of sports contracts, according to the league’s comments covered in a prediction-market filing.

The commission has also addressed how event contracts are presented to customers. In an Aug. 7 staff letter, its Division of Market Oversight and Market Participants Division reminded regulated entities that their pricing displays and marketing must clearly distinguish derivative products from bookmaker-style wagering.

AI discussion follows the CFTC’s own use of the technology

Artificial intelligence will be considered both as a financial-market tool and as technology already being used inside the regulator. The CFTC has applied AI to tasks that include reviewing registration materials and examining trading data, according to public statements from Selig.

Such use raises questions about data quality, automated analysis, and regulatory accountability within the agency’s operations. The official meeting notice does not list individual AI systems, potential safeguards, or a planned enforcement policy, so any recommendations will depend on the presentations and committee discussion on Aug. 20.

The IAC works alongside the CFTC’s Innovation Task Force, which Selig created in March to develop policy involving crypto and blockchain technology, AI and autonomous systems, and prediction markets and event contracts. Michael J. Passalacqua leads the task force with staff drawn from several parts of the commission.

When announcing the task force, Selig said clear rules could support “responsible innovation at home” and prevent U.S. market participants from being “left on the sidelines.” The CFTC also said the team would coordinate with other federal bodies, including the SEC and its Crypto Task Force.

Public participation in the IAC meeting will remain open after the livestream ends. The Federal Register notice allows interested parties to submit written statements until Aug. 27 through Regulations.gov, by mail to CFTC Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick, or by hand delivery to the commission’s Washington headquarters. Submissions must identify the “Innovation Advisory Committee,” and the CFTC said qualifying statements will become part of the public record.

Tether has completed its first independent financial statement audit, with KPMG U.S. issuing an unqualified opinion after reviewing its 2025 accounts and a reported $6.814 billion reserve surplus.

Tether said Thursday that KPMG U.S. conducted the audit of Tether International, S.A. de C.V. under applicable professional standards and issued an unqualified opinion on the company’s financial statements.

KPMG’s opinion covers Tether’s full 2025 accounts

Rather than examining only a reserve report at a particular date, KPMG reviewed the company’s financial position as of Dec. 31, 2025, along with its operating results and cash flows for the full year. The audit covered the balance sheet, income statement, statement of changes in equity, and cash flow statement.

According to Tether, KPMG concluded that the statements “present fairly, in all material respects” the company’s financial position and results under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

An unqualified opinion means the auditor did not attach reservations, exceptions, or qualifications to its conclusion. Tether described the result as a clean audit, although the opinion applies specifically to the audited 2025 financial statements and the related evidence examined by KPMG.

The audit also tested the records supporting individual balance-sheet entries. KPMG examined transactions, internal systems, asset ownership, valuations, counterparties, and documents used to prepare the accounts, according to the announcement.

Tether CFO Simon McWilliams said the audited statements reported that reserves exceeded the liabilities connected to issued tokens by $6.814 billion at the end of 2025. The company said the result was consistent with the reserve figures it had disclosed through earlier attestations.

KPMG separately inspected Tether’s physical gold holdings. Auditors counted every bar and checked its identifying information instead of depending only on statements supplied by custodians or other counterparties.

Tether audit goes beyond quarterly attestations

Tether has published independent reserve attestations for several years, but an attestation has a narrower purpose than a full audit of annual financial statements. Reserve reports generally address management’s presentation of assets and liabilities at a set reporting date, while the KPMG engagement covered Tether’s accounts and underlying evidence for an entire financial year.

The company began the process in March after appointing an unnamed Big Four accounting firm. As crypto.news previously reported, the engagement followed an initial review of Tether’s systems, internal controls, and financial reporting procedures.

Tether later identified KPMG as the auditor. CFO McWilliams had joined the company in early 2025 with responsibility for developing the internal finance structure needed to complete a full audit.

At the time of the March engagement, USDT had a market capitalization above $184 billion and more than 550 million users, according to Tether. In its latest announcement, the company put its user base above 650 million, largely across emerging markets where people use USDT for payments, savings, remittances, and access to U.S. dollars.

CEO Paolo Ardoino said KPMG did not limit its work to headline reserve figures. According to Ardoino, the firm examined the assets, records, transactions, systems, and other evidence supporting the financial statements under standards set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Tether called the engagement the largest inaugural financial audit in history. KPMG’s opinion, however, addresses whether the statements were fairly presented under U.S. GAAP; the claim about the audit’s record size came from Tether.

Reserve figures changed after the 2025 audit date

Because the audited statements cover the year ending Dec. 31, 2025, the $6.814 billion surplus is separate from the reserve figures disclosed in Tether’s quarterly reports during 2026.

At the end of the first quarter, Tether reported $191.8 billion in assets and $8.23 billion in excess reserves. Its second-quarter attestation, prepared by BDO and released July 31, later placed assets at $187.75 billion against liabilities of $183.64 billion.

July reserve data showed that Tether generated about $1.5 billion in second-quarter net operating profit while its excess reserve cushion fell to $4.11 billion. USDT supply stood at about $184.6 billion at the end of June, and the token accounted for more than 60% of the global stablecoin market.

Tether’s asset mix had also continued to change after the audited year closed. The Q2 attestation showed physical gold holdings of about 146.2 metric tons and Bitcoin holdings of 98,933 BTC, while the company reduced its secured lending exposure during the quarter.

Gold formed part of the KPMG verification work for the 2025 statements. By March 31, 2026, Tether reported roughly 707,747 fine troy ounces backing its XAUT token, up from about 520,000 ounces at the end of 2025. Earlier, Tether Gold figures valued the token’s bullion reserves at more than $3.3 billion.

U.S. stablecoin rules keep audit requirements in focus

KPMG’s use of U.S. GAAP gives American investors and counterparties a familiar accounting basis for reviewing Tether’s 2025 financial statements. An unqualified audit opinion does not, by itself, determine whether USDT complies with U.S. stablecoin law or qualifies for continued listing on American trading platforms.

The GENIUS Act established federal rules for payment stablecoin issuers, including reserve, disclosure, and supervisory requirements. President Donald Trump signed the legislation in July 2025, with several provisions requiring agencies to complete implementing rules before the framework takes full effect.

Tether operates USDT through an issuer outside the United States, making the law’s treatment of foreign stablecoins relevant to its access to American centralized exchanges. Legal experts have said foreign issuers may need to follow lawful freeze and seizure orders once the law becomes effective, while other conditions tied to exchange listings have a longer implementation period.

A July review of USDT access found that the general transition period runs into 2028, although the timing of some obligations for foreign issuers remains subject to regulatory interpretation. Tether has said it intends to comply with the law, but federal agencies have not completed all rules governing foreign stablecoin issuers.

Alongside USDT, Tether has introduced USAT as a separate dollar-backed token built for the American market. Anchorage Digital Bank issues USAT under a U.S.-regulated structure, while Cantor Fitzgerald serves as reserve custodian.