Ripple pledged $300,000 on Aug. 29 to support emergency relief following catastrophic floods across Nepal and China’s Tibet region.

The San Francisco-based blockchain company will divide its support between World Central Kitchen and Mercy Corps. The organizations are providing meals, clean water and sanitation support to affected communities.

Ripple donation supports two established aid partners

Ripple said World Central Kitchen is distributing meals in the hardest-hit areas. Mercy Corps is coordinating water, sanitation and other humanitarian work with local authorities and partner organizations.

Both organizations had worked with Ripple before the disaster. Ripple has supported World Central Kitchen since 2020 and has partnered with Mercy Corps on projects using blockchain technology for humanitarian finance.

World Central Kitchen said its local restaurant partners were already serving meals in Nepal’s Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Members of its relief team were also traveling to the area to expand the response.

Mercy Corps has operated in Nepal since 2005. Its previous work has included earthquake, flood and landslide responses alongside disaster-preparedness and early-warning programs.

Nepal and Tibet face rising casualties

Authorities reported that the death toll had reached 750 by Sunday morning, while more than 3,000 people remained missing across Nepal and Tibet, according to a Reuters update.

Nepal recorded 734 deaths and 2,498 missing people. Officials in Tibet’s Gyirong County reported 16 deaths and 546 missing. Those figures may change as rescue workers reach isolated locations.

The Red Cross estimated that more than 90,000 people were affected. Roads, bridges, power infrastructure and entire settlements were damaged or destroyed, restricting access to food, water and emergency services.

Hundreds of workers were also believed to be trapped inside damaged hydropower tunnels. Nepal requested international assistance for tunnel rescues, forensic identification, DNA testing and storage of recovered bodies.

A glacier collapse triggered the flooding

Scientists linked the disaster to a glacier collapse that released ice, rock, mud and debris into the mountain river system on Aug. 26. The resulting torrent moved through communities on both sides of the Nepal-China border.

World Central Kitchen said an ice-rock avalanche temporarily blocked the Lhende Khola River before releasing a sudden surge downstream. The flood destroyed villages and infrastructure along the Bhotekoshi and Trishuli river corridors.

Rescue operations have faced repeated interruptions because of rain, rising water and lakes formed behind landslide debris. Drones later identified another natural dam and a new pool of water downstream from the original lake.

Chinese state media attributed the collapse to glacier instability linked to long-term warming. Scientists continue to study the event, and the exact contribution of climate change requires further assessment.

Ripple has used aid partnerships beyond donations

Ripple previously provided cash and XRP to World Central Kitchen for responses to hurricanes and other disasters. The company reported more than $200 million in charitable donations between 2018 and the end of 2024.

Its Mercy Corps partnership has also tested blockchain-based aid distribution. As Ripple used RLUSD for drought-relief payments in Kenya, smart contracts were designed to release assistance when satellite data detected defined drought conditions.

Ripple did not say that XRP, RLUSD or another cryptocurrency would be used for the Nepal and Tibet donation. Its announcement described a $300,000 contribution without identifying the payment method.

World Central Kitchen and Mercy Corps continue to accept public contributions through their official websites. Neither organization has announced when its emergency response will end.

Ripple has hired London Metal Exchange treasury executive Joseph Thompson for its trading and markets team, according to an Aug. 28 report.

Thompson will leave the LME on Aug. 31 after nearly a decade at the exchange. His work at Ripple will focus on tokenization strategy and delivery. Ripple has not disclosed his exact title, starting date or reporting structure.

Bitcoin’s realized capitalization increased by more than $4.6 billion during the week ending Aug. 30, according to CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost. The increase accompanied BTC’s sharp recovery from around $63,000 earlier in August to above $80,000.

Darkfost described the increase as the strongest short-term realized-cap movement since the current bear market began. However, the analyst warned that the 30-day average growth rate remained just 0.4%, meaning the data does not yet confirm a sustained liquidity expansion.

Bitcoin realized cap points to returning activity

Realized capitalization values each Bitcoin at the price recorded when it last moved onchain. This differs from standard market capitalization, which values the entire circulating supply at the latest market price.

When older coins move at higher prices, realized cap generally increases. Analysts often interpret that change as capital entering the market because coins are transferring to buyers with higher cost bases.

The latest $4.6 billion increase followed an extended period of declining or weak realized-cap growth. Darkfost said the reversal suggests incoming liquidity helped support Bitcoin’s recent price advance.

The analyst nevertheless stopped short of identifying the move as a confirmed market regime change. “This move still needs confirmation,” Darkfost said, pointing to the modest 30-day growth rate.

The $4.6B increase does not represent only new money

Realized-cap growth is not a direct measurement of cash deposited into cryptocurrency exchanges. Changes can also occur when existing investors transfer coins or sell them at prices different from their previous recorded cost bases.

Darkfost noted that some investors who bought Bitcoin at higher prices may have capitulated during the recent downturn. Their sales created new unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, carrying lower realized prices.

That process can affect the metric without representing entirely new capital. A rising realized cap therefore supports the liquidity argument but does not prove that the complete $4.6 billion came from first-time or external buyers.

Price behavior offered some supporting evidence for demand. Bitcoin recorded a historic weekly dollar increase of $14,775 during the week ending Aug. 23, according to a Galaxy Research report. The 23.5% advance was its largest weekly dollar gain on record, though short liquidations and momentum trading also contributed.

ETF demand supported Bitcoin’s recovery

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded seven consecutive sessions of net inflows through Aug. 25. The funds attracted approximately $2.57 billion over that period, providing an independently measured source of spot-market demand.

BlackRock’s IBIT contributed $284.4 million of the $314.3 million recorded on Aug. 25. As Bitcoin ETF inflows supported demand during the price recovery, Bitfinex analysts argued that the rally was not driven solely by leveraged speculation.

Bitcoin also benefited from a weaker U.S. dollar and renewed concerns about fiscal policy. The U.S. Treasury expanded purchases of longer-dated government debt, encouraging investors to consider scarce assets under the so-called debasement trade.

BTC climbed above $81,200 on Aug. 25, its highest price since mid-May, before surrendering part of the advance. Bitcoin traded near $78,024 on Aug. 30, up about 0.6% over 24 hours but still below the resistance area around $81,000.

Bitcoin’s liquidity rebound still needs confirmation

The realized-cap pattern resembles periods observed during Bitcoin’s previous bear market, according to Darkfost. Historical resemblance alone does not establish that Bitcoin has reached the same stage of its market cycle.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju previously argued that realized capitalization had grown by $467 billion over two years without producing comparable price appreciation. As realized-cap growth became less efficient at lifting Bitcoin, Ju said increasingly large inflows may be required to produce another parabolic advance.

The next confirmation would be continued positive realized-cap growth over several weeks rather than one strong observation. A rising 30-day rate would offer broader evidence that new cost bases are being established consistently.

Traders will also monitor U.S. ETF flows and Bitcoin’s attempt to reclaim the $81,000 area. Renewed realized-cap contraction, ETF outflows or another rejection at resistance would weaken the liquidity-recovery interpretation.

OCEAN co-founder Luke Dashjr left the Bitcoin mining pool on Aug. 29 after reaching a mutual separation agreement with its parent company, Mummolin Inc. He resigned as chairman, chief technology officer and director.

Mummolin also repurchased all of Dashjr’s equity, according to a joint statement. Neither party disclosed the value of the repurchase or Dashjr’s former ownership percentage.

OCEAN and Dashjr cite different mining visions

OCEAN and Dashjr attributed the separation to “different visions for the future of Bitcoin mining following the recent protocol developments.” The statement did not identify the developments or explain the areas of disagreement.

The wording therefore does not confirm whether a single Bitcoin protocol proposal caused the split. Dashjr has participated in public debates about transaction policies, mining decentralization and alternative Bitcoin software. Connecting the departure to any particular dispute would require further confirmation from the parties.

Dashjr had already stepped back from his OCEAN responsibilities earlier in August. His permanent departure now removes him from the company’s leadership and ownership structure.

The company did not announce a replacement chairman or chief technology officer. It also provided no details about how Dashjr’s former technical responsibilities will be distributed.

Luke Dashjr will pursue Bitcoin mining through CONVOY

Dashjr plans to create a new venture called CONVOY. The joint statement said the project would continue his mission of decentralizing Bitcoin mining.

No official website, technical documentation or launch schedule was available at publication time. The statement did not explain whether CONVOY will operate a mining pool, develop mining software or pursue another infrastructure model.

Dashjr previously founded Eligius, an early Bitcoin mining pool, before helping launch OCEAN in 2023. OCEAN was designed to give miners greater visibility into block templates and deliver block rewards directly to miners through a non-custodial system.

The new venture suggests Dashjr intends to pursue those decentralization goals independently. However, claims about CONVOY’s architecture, mining policies or commercial model remain unverified until the project publishes further information.

OCEAN will keep its non-custodial pool operating

OCEAN said it will continue serving miners through its transparent, non-custodial mining pool. Its model sends mining rewards directly to participating miners instead of holding payouts in a pool-controlled account.

The company operates through Bitcoin Ocean LLC, a subsidiary of Wyoming-based Mummolin. It raised $6.2 million to develop decentralized mining infrastructure in a 2023 seed round led by Jack Dorsey and other investors.

OCEAN later introduced DATUM, a protocol intended to let individual miners construct their own block templates while still participating in pooled mining. The approach seeks to reduce the control large pool operators exercise over transaction selection.

In April 2025, Tether committed mining hashrate to OCEAN, including capacity from its operations in Africa and other regions. OCEAN has not announced any change to that arrangement following Dashjr’s departure.

What happens next for OCEAN and CONVOY

OCEAN must clarify its leadership structure and technical roadmap after losing its co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer. The company has not announced deadlines for those decisions.

Miners can continue using the pool, according to the joint statement. There was no reported service suspension, custody event or change to its payout system linked to the separation.

CONVOY’s next step will be publishing details about its team, technology and intended services. No launch date or funding information has been confirmed.

The equity repurchase completes Dashjr’s corporate separation from OCEAN. Still, the limited announcement leaves the underlying technical disagreement unresolved. No verified market reaction was directly attributable to the news.

I contacted Curry and asked him what he thought about the value and opportunities for kindness in what feels like an incredibly hostile world. “Humans are naturally kind, under the right circumstances,” he tells me.

Indeed, according to research across diverse cultural and economic settings, from the U.S. and Canada to Uganda, India, and South Africa, the well-being rewards one experiences from helping others appears deep-rooted in human nature. 

Jonathan Passmore, a psychologist and coach in the U.K., has developed a positive psychology coaching technique called CAKE, which stands for consistent acts of kindness and empathy. I asked him how engaging in CAKE can help teach someone how to spread kindness. “The list of possible actions is limitless,” he says. “I advocate for folks to initially commit to a one-week plan—choosing to engage in one act of kindness per day.” On Monday, for example, you can greet the barista at your local coffee shop by name, and wish them a pleasant day, he offers. On Tuesday, “you could write a handwritten card to a colleague and thank them for something they have done.” Do this for a week, and “one often gets hooked and begins to hold an empathic stance towards most they meet.”

Vietnam has not issued its first crypto exchange license, but five companies have passed an initial assessment under the country’s five-year digital asset market pilot.

To Tran Hoa, deputy standing head of the Digital Asset Trading Market Board under Vietnam’s State Securities Commission, disclosed the progress at the Vietnam RWA Summit 2026, according to an Aug. 30 Vietnam News Agency report.

The authorities did not name the five applicants or confirm when final licensing decisions will be issued. Passing the initial assessment does not authorize any company to operate an exchange.

Vietnam crypto exchange applicants face a $383 million threshold

Vietnam’s Resolution No. 05/2025/NQ-CP requires each exchange applicant to have at least 10 trillion Vietnamese dong, approximately $383 million, in contributed charter capital. Contributions must be made in Vietnamese dong.

At least 65% of that capital must come from institutional shareholders. More than 35% must be contributed by at least two qualifying organizations, including commercial banks, securities companies, fund managers, insurers or technology companies.

Applicants must also obtain an appraisal showing that their technology meets Level 4 information-system security standards. The Ministry of Public Security handles the required security assessment before an exchange can begin operating.

Other licensing requirements cover management qualifications, custody, transaction monitoring, internal controls, conflict management and customer complaints. Applicants must also maintain systems for anti-money laundering and investor-identity verification.

The 10 trillion dong requirement is charter capital, not an additional investment fee paid to the government. Vietnam has not said whether all five preliminary applicants have already secured the full amount.

New crypto penalties take effect September 1

Decree No. 284/2026/ND-CP takes effect on Sept. 1 and will remain applicable while Resolution 05 governs the crypto market pilot. The decree establishes penalties for unlicensed services, improper issuance, weak customer checks and anti-money laundering failures.

Organizations providing crypto services or advertising an exchange without a license face fines of between 180 million and 200 million dong. Authorities can also order the removal of websites, software and trading systems involved in violations.

Licensed service providers face fines for failing to separate customer assets, monitor transactions or protect account information. Failure to verify customers can attract organizational fines ranging from 50 million to 70 million dong.

The decree generally states organizational fine levels. Individuals committing the same violation ordinarily face half the stated amount. The maximum penalty is 200 million dong for an organization and 100 million dong for an individual.

Domestic traders do not face immediate platform fines

Article 9 sets an organizational fine of 30 million to 50 million dong for domestic investors trading outside a Ministry of Finance-licensed provider. The general half-rate provision indicates an individual could face between 15 million and 25 million dong.

However, that penalty does not automatically begin on Sept. 1. Article 7 of Resolution 05 states that domestic investors become subject to the licensed-platform requirement six months after the first crypto asset service provider receives approval.

Because Vietnam has not licensed any provider, the six-month transition clock has not started. Domestic investors therefore will not be fined from Sept. 1 solely for continuing to use an overseas or otherwise unlicensed platform, according to experts cited by VNA.

Other violations covered by Decree 284 can still become enforceable on Sept. 1. These include operating or advertising an unauthorized platform, improper token issuance and certain failures involving customer data or anti-money laundering controls.

The first license will start Vietnam’s six-month countdown

Vietnam introduced the pilot through Resolution 05 on Sept. 9, 2025. As crypto.news previously reported, the five-year regulated crypto market pilot created rules for issuance, custody, trading and licensed service providers.

The framework initially permits locally issued crypto assets to be offered only to foreign investors. Eligible tokens must be backed by real-world assets and cannot represent securities or fiat currencies under the pilot.

Vietnam previously indicated that only a limited number of exchanges would receive licenses. The report that five companies passed the first assessment does not confirm that each will ultimately receive approval.

The next event is the Ministry of Finance’s first license. That decision will start the six-month period after which domestic investors must route covered crypto trading through licensed Vietnamese providers.

No licensing deadline has been announced. Investors will need to watch official Ministry of Finance and State Securities Commission notices rather than treating preliminary assessments as operating authorization.