Crypto World
Anchorage Digital Enables Institutional Access to Frgmnt fUSD
Anchorage Digital has partnered with stablecoin protocol Frgmnt to expand institutional access to fUSD and its staked version, sfUSD, via Anchorage’s regulated custody platform. The new integration is designed to let qualified clients hold, mint and redeem fUSD, and stake or unstake it without setting up additional custody infrastructure, according to a Friday announcement from Frgmnt (linked below).
The partnership is notable not just for broadening the range of stablecoin services Anchorage offers, but also because Frgmnt’s token structure ties rewards to active lending strategies. For institutions, the move reduces operational friction around custody while keeping the yield component inside an established compliance workflow.
Key takeaways
- Anchorage Digital will offer institutional custody access to Frgmnt’s fUSD (mint/redeem) and sfUSD (stake/unstake) through its platform.
- Frgmnt issues fUSD against USDC on Base, with backing deployed across onchain lending markets.
- Frgmnt’s protocol is currently in a capped, invite-only beta with roughly $100,000 in total value locked (per DeFiLlama data).
- Frgmnt said sfUSD was generating 13.32% APR as of Sept. 4, while noting that yield varies with underlying lending conditions.
- Frgmnt plans to open public access and raise its deposit cap on Sept. 15, potentially increasing institutional interest ahead of that date.
What the Anchorage–Frgmnt integration changes for institutions
Under the collaboration, institutional clients using Anchorage’s custody infrastructure can manage Frgmnt’s stablecoin products directly inside Anchorage’s environment. The announcement describes support for core lifecycle actions: holding tokens, minting and redeeming fUSD, and staking and unstaking fUSD to receive sfUSD.
Operationally, the key benefit is avoiding a separate custody arrangement. For regulated firms and large allocators, custody is often the limiting step when adding new tokenized products—especially those that involve staking mechanics—because each additional venue can introduce new compliance, settlement, and control requirements.
Frgmnt’s model also embeds strategy-based yield into the staked wrapper. Rather than treating staking as a purely token-native reward, the protocol links rewards to the performance of lending positions where fUSD backing is deployed.
How fUSD and sfUSD work in Frgmnt’s system
Frgmnt is positioned as a stablecoin protocol built on Base. It issues fUSD against USDC, with the backing deployed across onchain lending markets. That setup matters because it explains why sfUSD staking can reflect not only protocol parameters, but also changing conditions in the lending ecosystem.
The protocol’s design includes a staking mechanism: users can stake fUSD to obtain sfUSD and earn rewards generated by Frgmnt’s underlying strategies. Frgmnt said sfUSD was generating 13.32% APR as of Sept. 4; however, the protocol also emphasized that yields can move as lending conditions change.
Frgmnt’s current growth stage is reflected in its access model. DeFiLlama data shows the protocol has about $100,000 in total value locked, and Frgmnt is operating under a capped, invite-only beta. Those constraints indicate the integration arrives while the protocol is still scaling distribution and liquidity rather than operating at full public capacity.
Timing: invite-only beta now, public access on Sept. 15
Alongside the Anchorage partnership, Frgmnt outlined plans to open public access and raise its deposit cap on Sept. 15. That timeline can be important for institutional adoption, because token access and deposit limits often determine whether large allocators can scale positions.
While the Anchorage integration is immediately relevant for custody workflows, the protocol’s invite-only structure suggests that not all interested institutions may be able to deploy significant capital right away. Still, having Anchorage support in place could reduce setup delays once public access begins, allowing firms to move faster when deposit capacity expands.
Investors and treasury teams may also want to watch how sfUSD yields trend through the transition from capped beta to broader access—especially given Frgmnt’s own note that APR varies with conditions across the lending markets used to back the system.
Anchorage’s push toward regulated stablecoin and staking infrastructure
This latest partnership fits a broader pattern: Anchorage Digital has been positioning itself as a regulated “gateway” for institutional stablecoin exposure and staking-related services. The Frgmnt integration adds another stablecoin-native staking flow on top of existing capabilities.
Anchorage’s stablecoin involvement goes beyond custody. In January, Tether tapped Anchorage Digital Bank to issue USAt, a US-focused stablecoin described as operating under the GENIUS Act. That move put Anchorage on the issuance side of the stablecoin market, not just the custody layer.
Beyond issuance, Anchorage has pursued infrastructure for dollar-related activities, including a May partnership where Mexico’s Grupo Salinas worked with Anchorage to support blockchain-based dollar transfers, cross-border settlement and treasury activity through Coinpro, its digital asset subsidiary. The company’s goal in these partnerships appears consistent: bring stablecoin functionality closer to institutional treasury and settlement needs while staying within a regulated framework.
On the staking side, Anchorage has also expanded its institutional staking offerings across different chains and reward mechanisms. Earlier integrations cited in the announcement include an April connection with Marinade Finance for Solana staking strategies, and later expansion to include native staking for TRX in July.
For market participants, the underlying theme is that stablecoins are becoming more than “hold and settle” instruments. Increasingly, they are being wrapped into yield-bearing structures—often via onchain lending—and institutions want those capabilities delivered with custody controls they already trust.
Readers should monitor two items next: whether Frgmnt’s Sept. 15 public access and cap increase materially changes TVL growth, and how sfUSD staking yields evolve after broader access begins, given the protocol’s stated dependence on underlying lending market conditions.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has disclosed owning between $1 million and $5 million in Coinbase shares while the Trump administration advanced policies affecting the U.S. crypto industry.
Summary
- Hassett reported between $1 million and $5 million in Coinbase stock at the end of 2025.
- The disclosure does not confirm whether he still owns the shares.
- Hassett advised Coinbase until January 2025, when he entered the White House.
- A former SEC ethics lawyer said the investment presented a serious conflict of interest.
Coinbase shares remained in Hassett’s disclosed portfolio
CNBC, citing Hassett’s latest annual financial disclosure, reported that the National Economic Council director held between $1 million and $5 million in Coinbase Global stock as of Dec. 31, 2025.
Federal disclosure forms report assets within value ranges rather than giving exact amounts. The filing, therefore, does not show the number of Coinbase shares Hassett owned or the precise value of the position.
Because the document only covers assets held through the end of 2025, it also does not establish whether Hassett retained, reduced, or sold the investment during 2026.
Before joining the Trump administration, Hassett served on Coinbase’s Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council from 2021 until January 2025. His relationship with the company ended when he entered the White House, according to CNBC.
An earlier disclosure reported in June 2025 had already placed the value of Hassett’s vested Coinbase stock within the same $1 million-to-$5 million range. It also showed that he had received more than $50,000 in compensation from Coinbase for advisory work.
Coinbase trades on Nasdaq under the ticker COIN, giving U.S. investors direct exposure to the country’s largest publicly listed crypto exchange. Changes in federal rules covering token trading, stablecoins, banking access and securities oversight can affect the company’s operations and its appeal to shareholders.
White House crypto policy gave the NEC a central role
Hassett’s investment has drawn attention because the National Economic Council helps coordinate economic policy across the administration, including decisions that can affect digital-asset companies.
Three days after President Donald Trump returned to office, he signed an executive order creating the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets. The group received instructions to develop proposals covering crypto regulation, stablecoins and a possible national digital-asset stockpile.
In January 2025, crypto.news covered the executive order, which also directed federal agencies to review rules affecting digital assets and recommend changes. Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal bodies received seats in the working group.
The executive order placed White House artificial intelligence and crypto adviser David Sacks in charge of the group. Although Hassett was not its chair, CNBC reported that the National Economic Council played an important part in developing the administration’s crypto agenda.
Policy work under the group extended to market regulation, access to banking services, stablecoin rules, and the tax treatment of digital assets. Each area carries possible financial consequences for Coinbase because the company operates a U.S. trading platform, provides custody services, and earns revenue from stablecoin-related activity.
Later in 2025, the working group published recommendations for federal agencies and Congress. The report called for clearer divisions of authority between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, federal legislation for digital-asset markets, and updated banking guidance for crypto companies.
Hassett says he has avoided crypto-related matters
Hassett told CNBC that he had stayed away from cryptocurrency matters after consulting government ethics officials. The White House also defended his conduct, saying he “has always and continues to fully comply with all ethical requirements.”
The available disclosure does not show whether Hassett received a formal waiver, sold the Coinbase position after December 2025, or placed restrictions on his ability to trade the shares.
Federal ethics rules generally require executive-branch employees to avoid participating personally and substantially in matters that could have a direct and predictable effect on their financial interests. How the rules apply depends on the employee’s duties, the type of government matter involved, and any recusal or waiver approved by ethics officials.
Former SEC ethics lawyer Shira Pavis Minton Kantor told CNBC that the size of Hassett’s holding represented a “significant conflict of interest” or, at minimum, created the appearance of one.
Her assessment concerned the overlap between Hassett’s financial exposure to Coinbase and the NEC’s role in policy discussions affecting the crypto sector. The report did not say that Hassett had violated a federal ethics law or participated in a specific decision benefiting the company.
Any finding of an ethics breach would require evidence about the matters Hassett handled, the steps he took to recuse himself, and the advice provided by White House ethics officials. The disclosed ownership alone establishes a financial interest but does not prove misconduct.
Coinbase has built a large role in U.S. crypto politics
Coinbase entered the Trump administration’s second term after spending heavily on U.S. political advocacy during the 2024 election cycle.
The exchange joined Ripple, Andreessen Horowitz, and other crypto companies in backing Fairshake, a bipartisan super PAC supporting candidates viewed as favorable to digital-asset legislation. A November 2024 report on Fairshake’s political funding said crypto businesses and investors had put millions of dollars into the PAC and its affiliates.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong described the 2024 election as a win for the industry, arguing that voters had elected what he expected to become the most pro-crypto Congress in U.S. history. At the time, Armstrong called for legislation that would set clearer rules for crypto companies and their customers.
Armstrong has also met Trump and other senior administration officials during discussions about digital-asset policy. Coinbase contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, while its policy team continued lobbying Congress over market-structure and stablecoin legislation.
During Trump’s second term, federal policy changes directly affected the company. In February 2025, the SEC voted to dismiss its civil enforcement case against Coinbase, ending litigation that had accused the exchange of operating as an unregistered securities platform and offering an unregistered staking service.
The SEC said its dismissal was intended to support the agency’s work on a new regulatory approach and did not express a view on the merits of Coinbase’s legal arguments. Commissioners approved the dismissal with prejudice, preventing the agency from bringing the same claims again.
Coinbase had denied the allegations and argued that the SEC had failed to provide a workable registration route for crypto businesses. No penalty, admission of wrongdoing, or change to the company’s business model formed part of the dismissal.
Nasdaq (NDAQ) is investing $100 million in the parent company of crypto platform Kraken, in the stock exchange’s latest step to expand to round-the-clock trading. The investment in Payward by Nasdaq Ventures, the company’s strategic investment arm, deepens a collaboration that began in March with plans for an equity token system that can move equities across different market environments while…
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A member of technical staff on OpenAI’s Safety Oversight team put the odds of human extinction at 70% within three years unless AI labs slow down or regulators step in.
Marcus Williams, who joined the company in May 2025, made the call on X. He posted the warning first, then attached a number when another user pushed him for one.
How the Human Extinction Estimate Landed
Without AI regulation or a coordinated slowdown between labs, Williams wrote, human extinction in the next few years looks very likely.
Another user then turned it into a wager, offering $10,000 in Microsoft shares against OpenAI stock over five years. Williams answered with a percentage.
“70% in the next 3 years if there isn’t regulation/slowdown although i think regulation/slowdown is very possible”
However, the hedge matters as much as the number. Williams calls a regulation or a slowdown very possible, so he does not treat the outcome as settled.
Washington Is Already Moving on AI Risk
The post lands in a week that pushed lab safety into mainstream politics. On September 9, an Anthropic researcher resigned and accused Anthropic and OpenAI of gambling with human lives.
US lawmakers responded within a day. A fresh push to pause AI followed, including a Senate bill that would ban superintelligence outright.
Voices outside the labs have echoed the alarm. The UN human rights chief called advanced AI an existential risk earlier this week in Geneva.
Williams still sits at the extreme end of these forecasts. Evan Hubinger, who leads alignment science at Anthropic, puts the odds above 10% this decade. Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton has cited a range of 10% to 20%.
Meanwhile, crypto traders now track these warnings directly. Polymarket pushed Williams’s post to its own followers within hours, and its bettors already price elections and macro events alongside token odds.
Therefore, the near-term test is political rather than technical. Whether regulators act inside Williams’s three-year window remains open, and his own answer so far is that they still can.
The post OpenAI Safety Researcher Puts Human Extinction at 70% Within 3 Years appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the AI cybersecurity scare serves the industry that is selling the cure. He made the claim Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco.
The timing is awkward. Security vendors and AI labs have warned for months that AI-driven attacks are accelerating. Crypto platforms absorbed much of that damage.
Huang Reads the AI Cybersecurity Panic as a Sales Pitch
Huang offered a blunt explanation for the noise. Vendors talk loudly about threats, he argued, because they are preparing product launches.
“The reason why there’s so much conversation today about cybersecurity is because the industry is getting ready to launch some products, and what better way to create demand than to create a problem?” Huang said, per Axios.
He pushed the point further. Huang asked who would not want a hysterical market queuing around the corner for their product.
However, he called cybersecurity the next major use case for AI and a strong business opportunity. His complaint targets the fear, not the market itself.
Crypto Keeps Paying for the Threats He Dismisses
The record complicates his reading. Attacks on crypto platforms climbed roughly 50% in the first half of 2026 even as stolen sums shrank, SlowMist found.
More than 100 companies signed an open letter in August warning that AI-enabled attacks would spread within months. OpenAI and Anthropic both added their names.
Budgets followed that warning. CrowdStrike stock jumped 20.5% in late August after record earnings showed AI threats lifting enterprise security spending.
Security researchers see the same pressure inside crypto. OpenZeppelin co-founder Manuel Aráoz argues that AI agents probe contracts faster than human reviewers can clear them.
Huang has a habit of confident calls that happen to suit Nvidia. Days earlier he declared human-level AI had arrived, before OpenAI claimed anything of the sort.
Both readings can hold at once. Vendors do sell fear, yet the attacks keep landing. Crypto security teams will judge Huang by the next quarter of loss reports.
The post Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Calls AI Cybersecurity Panic a Sales Pitch appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers challenged the exclusion of evidence about customer losses and argued that his $11 billion forfeiture was excessive.
Four U.S. financial regulators have proposed new third-party risk guidelines that would let banks and credit unions tailor oversight to each outside relationship while replacing existing guidance.
Summary
- Four federal regulators have opened the proposed guidelines to public comment.
- The nonbinding framework would replace third-party risk guidance issued in 2023 and 2024.
- Community banks with less than $30 billion in assets would receive a separate practical guide.
- Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr dissented, warning of supervisory gaps and added financial risk.
Proposed bank guidelines favor risk-based oversight
The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Credit Union Administration, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced the proposal on Sep. 11, saying financial institutions should match their controls to the risks posed by each third-party relationship.
Under the proposal, banks and credit unions would consider both the possible harm from an outside provider and the likelihood of the harm occurring. Institutions could use less detailed checks, standard contracts, or less frequent monitoring when a relationship carries limited risk.
The framework would also let a financial institution accept some residual risk after considering its risk appetite, tolerance, and ability to operate safely. According to the agencies, the principles would not impose enforceable requirements, and a bank would not face supervisory action solely for failing to follow the guidance.
Comments will remain open for 60 days after the proposal appears in the Federal Register. Once finalized, the agencies plan to withdraw the current third-party risk framework and replace it with the revised version.
Federal Reserve staff said existing guidance has sometimes been applied too broadly, encouraged process-heavy reviews, and failed to give enough weight to differences among vendors. Staff also said banks have read the current framework as discouraging work with newer service providers.
As technology has become more central to banking, institutions have outsourced more functions to vendors that can lower costs or improve efficiency. Outside providers may handle payment processing, cybersecurity, online banking, fraud detection, card programs, and anti-money laundering systems, leaving banks responsible for risks tied to services they do not operate themselves.
Community banks would receive a separate guide
Alongside the main proposal, the Federal Reserve has requested comments on a companion guide for traditional community banking organizations under its supervision. The central bank defines eligible institutions as locally focused banks with less than $30 billion in assets.
The proposed guide covers four main areas: operational resilience, information security, legal compliance, and financial resilience. It also explains how banks could assess eight common vendor groups, including core service providers, payment processors, digital banking companies, cybersecurity firms, and financial-crime platforms.
For each category, the document sets out issues that smaller banks may consider during due diligence, contract negotiations, monitoring, and a possible move to another provider. Federal Reserve staff said smaller institutions had asked for more practical information than the high-level principles in the existing framework provided.
Complex bank-fintech arrangements would not fall under the community bank guide. The Federal Reserve memo identifies such arrangements as cases in which one or more fintech companies market, distribute, or provide access to a bank’s products.
A separate statement on core providers addresses vendors that supply systems needed for transaction processing, account management, payments, compliance, customer relations, and online banking. The Fed, FDIC, and OCC said a small number of large companies control much of this market, limiting the negotiating power of community banks.
According to the statement, banks have reported difficulty obtaining due diligence records, negotiating suitable contract terms, and monitoring vendors. Regulators said they may consider a provider’s transparency, contract practices and technology investment when deciding the scope and frequency of examinations.
The agencies may also examine whether providers disclose security incidents on time, supply audit and security records, maintain aging technology, and allow clients to connect services from other companies. Opaque pricing, retroactive billing, and undefined fees for leaving a platform may also influence supervisory decisions.
Barr warns the proposal could leave oversight gaps
Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr opposed the two proposals, arguing that their wording could weaken oversight rather than help institutions manage vendor risks.
Barr objected to a proposed “material financial risk” standard for supervisory action. According to his dissenting statement, the threshold could make banks less likely to correct problems before they become material to the institution.
The governor also questioned language saying regulators would give due consideration to a bank’s reasonable decisions. Barr said institutions could interpret the passage as requiring supervisors to defer to a bank’s judgment instead of making an independent assessment.
Consumer compliance presents another concern, according to Barr. He said the proposals could result in existing guidance being removed without a clear replacement for consumer-protection issues, or force banks to follow two sets of standards.
Barr also noted that the community bank guide excludes institutions with complex business models and vendor relationships, including some bank-fintech partnerships. In his view, banks using such structures may have an especially strong need for detailed third-party risk instructions.
“I dissent,” Barr said.
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook supported reviewing the current framework but requested feedback on whether the final version should say more about cybersecurity, record management, consumer protection and the division of anti-money laundering duties in bank-fintech partnerships.
Cook also backed the separate guide for traditional community banks, describing it as a resource for institutions dealing with complex and critical vendor relationships. She asked community banks to comment on any extra resources they may need when evaluating technology companies and core providers.
Crypto service providers could fall within bank reviews
Although the proposal does not create rules written only for digital assets, its scope can cover technology companies that provide crypto custody, stablecoin, payment, or blockchain services to regulated banks. The agencies’ framework requires institutions to evaluate third parties according to the service and risk involved, regardless of the technology used.
The proposal follows earlier U.S. regulatory action that gave banks more room to conduct permitted digital-asset business. In April 2025, crypto.news reported that the Federal Reserve had removed prior-notification expectations for certain crypto and dollar-token activities.
Federal regulators later issued a July 2025 statement explaining how existing risk-management principles apply when banks safeguard crypto assets. The OCC’s related bulletin said banks should assess outside service providers before offering custody, while noting that the statement created no new supervisory expectations.
The new all-bank proposal permits institutions to use shared due diligence through consortia, standard contracts, certification bodies, and outside consultants. Federal Reserve staff presented such methods as possible ways for banks to gain expertise or reduce repeated work when evaluating service providers.
Consumer compliance issues are not directly covered by the proposed framework, according to the Fed memo, though third-party relationships may still create duties under existing consumer laws. The traditional community bank guide likewise states that consumer compliance falls outside its scope.
Ethereum developers have tentatively scheduled the Glamsterdam upgrade for Ethereum’s Sepolia testnet on October 6 at 13:53 UTC, even as private devnet testing continues to uncover bugs.
The date gives developers a path toward a December mainnet release, but it remains conditional on whether the next testing phase can produce a stable network.
Glamsterdam Date Depends on Devnet Testing
Protocol specialist Christine D. Kim noted in her latest newsletter that developers agreed to the October 6 Sepolia date while acknowledging several caveats, the biggest of which is that Glamsterdam has yet to run successfully on a stable private devnet.
Glamsterdam-Devnet-9 launched on September 1 with 1,000 validator nodes, making it the largest devnet of its kind by node count so far. But the network is not finalizing, meaning too few validators are correctly proposing and attesting to the chain head.
Ethereum Foundation (EF) developer operations engineer Stefan Starflinger said the size of the network exposed problems, noting it “showed that there are still quite a few edge cases and issues” left to address. He added that the previous devnet, Devnet-8, had an even more serious flaw, a bug that could freeze the entire network if a validator proposed a block sharing its parent’s hash.
Separately, EF researcher Maria Silva flagged a bug tied to EIP-8037, the State Creation Gas Cost Increase, which will require every execution-layer client to update its code.
Because of those fixes, another devnet is coming, and as of this week, the one to watch is Devnet-11, not 10 as originally planned. Parithosh Jayanti, the Ethereum Foundation developer operations engineer who chaired the call, said that if the new devnet fails again, “we’d have to take it case by case” on whether October 6 still works.
Hoodi and Mainnet Dates Remain Uncertain
Developers have also held off on setting a date for Hoodi, Ethereum’s second public testnet in the rollout, with Enrico del Fante of Consensys arguing that waiting a few more weeks before committing to Hoodi would be sensible given the problems found on Devnet-9.
The uncertainty extends to the main network. Developers still hope that the upgrade can reach Ethereum mainnet before the end of 2026, but the Sepolia date does not make the outcome more certain, especially since client implementations are not yet considered ready for mainnet.
As CryptoPotato reported previously, Ethereum’s broader roadmap has penciled in Glamsterdam’s mainnet activation for December 2026, ahead of a separate push toward quantum-resistant infrastructure targeted for 2029.
That plan, tied to the Hegotá upgrade that follows Glamsterdam, points to Ethereum shipping major changes roughly twice a year, a pace it kept last December when Fusaka activated on schedule.
The post Ethereum Targets October 6 for Glamsterdam Sepolia Fork appeared first on CryptoPotato.
August 2026 was the month Zoomex took its expansion story from announcement to delivery. Where July was about rolling out new stock perpetual contracts and locking in event partnerships, August was about crossing the finish line on both fronts.
The platform pushed its tokenized equity lineup past the 50-contract milestone and backed it with a week-long Zero-Fee TradFi promotion, while its Coinfest Asia 2026 Gold Sponsorship in Bali moved from a save-the-date press release to an actual beach-side gathering of traders, builders, and Web3 community members.
Beneath that marketing calendar, Zoomex’s verified on-chain reserves continued to sit in the same well-managed, multi-chain range that has defined its transparency reporting all year. This report reviews Zoomex’s on-chain reserves, chain and token composition, and platform metrics as tracked through DefiLlama, CoinMarketCap, and CoinGecko, alongside the product and partnership developments that shaped the month.
Zoomex Overview
Founded in 2021, Zoomex has grown into a global cryptocurrency trading platform serving over 3 million registered users across more than 35 countries and regions. The platform operates on its core philosophy of “Simple – User-Friendly – Fast,” a guiding principle that informs everything from its matching engine architecture to its user interface design.
July was defined by continued expansion of ZoomexStocks, the platform’s tokenized-equity perpetuals line. Building on the initial rollout of 50 USDT-settled stock contracts covering names like TSLA, NVDA, AAPL, META, MSTR, and COIN, Zoomex added further pairs through the month, including names such as GE, JPM, WMT, SONY, COST, and meme-adjacent tickers like GME and AMC all trading 24/7 with leverage up to 20x and entry from as little as 5 USDT.
This steady cadence of new listings underscores Zoomex’s push to position itself as a unified trading ecosystem bridging digital assets and traditional equity markets, rather than a single-product exchange.
The platform’s technical backbone is engineered for performance. Zoomex maintains sub-10ms order matching latency, and execution tests confirm that a 1 BTC market order on Zoomex results in approximately 0.03% slippage. This infrastructure maturity, combined with Zoomex’s regulatory registrations and third-party security audits, forms the foundation for everything documented in this report.
Exchange trade volume
Zoomex’s exchange trade volume through August followed a shape almost the inverse of July’s choppy, range-bound pattern, a quiet first half of the month gave way to one sharp, sustained spike around the Coinfest Asia window, followed by a longer grind back down to baseline. Volume opened the month subdued, holding in a tight $210-230M band from August 12 through 15, before easing to the month’s low point of roughly $130-140M around August 16-17.
From there, it climbed back to around $230M by August 19, still well within the quiet range that had defined the first half of the month.
The real move began on August 20, the opening day of Coinfest Asia 2026 and the Zoomex Summer Bay Party in Bali, when volume broke sharply higher, roughly $650M on August 20 and $730M on the 21st, before peaking at approximately $1.02 billion on August 22, by far the highest single reading of the period and more than four times the mid-month baseline.
That peak lines up closely enough with Zoomex’s Bali activations that the timing is hard to ignore, though a single exchange’s volume spike coinciding with a sponsorship event isn’t proof of causation on its own. The move unwound quickly: volume fell to around $430M by August 24, then spent the rest of the month oscillating in a lower, choppier band between roughly $370M and $600M through August 25-30, closer in character to July’s cyclical swings, before dropping to a secondary trough of about $260M on August 31.
September opened in that same $260-460M range, with volume drifting between roughly $300M and $460M through the first week before climbing back to around $350M by September 9, the most recent reading available. On the pair side, BTC/USDT continues to dominate Zoomex’s trading activity at 43.4% of volume, followed by USDC/USDT at 15.7% and ETH/USDT at 12.4%; HYPE/USDT, SOL/USDT, XRP/USDT, and ENA/USDT together with a longer tail of “Others” round out the remainder.
Notably, essentially all of that volume, 100% by CoinGecko’s currency breakdown, continues to settle in USDT, underscoring the stablecoin’s role as Zoomex’s near-exclusive quote and settlement currency across both spot and the newer stock-perpetual products.
On-chain reserves
Where July’s reserve story was a sharp, double-peaked spike that fully unwound within about a week, August looks like a genuine, sustained step-up in Zoomex’s treasury floor. DefiLlama’s CEX Transparency tracker shows total assets opening the month right around the $21 million baseline that had held since June, essentially flat through the first eleven days of August. The first move came around August 12-13, when total assets stepped up sharply from roughly $20 million to about $27-28 million, a jump that held rather than reverted, plateauing in that $27-28 million range through August 20.
A second, larger step followed from roughly August 21 through 25, when reserves climbed steadily from about $28 million to a peak near $37 million. Unlike July’s spikes, this level has proven durable: total assets have held in a tight $34-37 million band for the two-plus weeks since, through August 29, into September, and up to the $35.37 million reading as of this report on September 9.
Taken together, the two-step climb suggests a deliberate rebuild of the treasury’s on-chain float rather than a one-off deposit that came and went, a meaningful contrast to the mid-year pattern of the reserve base snapping back to its $21-24 million baseline after each spike. As always, this figure reflects verifiable cold and hot wallet holdings tracked by DefiLlama and sits alongside, not in place of, Zoomex’s separately maintained $50 million insurance fund.
Assets by chain
Ethereum remains Zoomex’s largest chain by a clear margin, holding $15.93 million, or close to 45% of tracked assets. XRPL is the second-largest chain at $6.76 million, followed by Tron at $3.05 million, Mantle at $2 million, BSC at $1.87 million, Base at $1.45 million, Solana at $1.38 million, and Arbitrum at $1.22 million.
Bitcoin holds $763,180.61, OP Mainnet $412,250.10, and Polygon $389,585.74. Vaulta, Doge, and Sonic round out the smallest positions at $78,480.02, $55,887.70, and $10,270.57, respectively.
In total, Zoomex’s on-chain reserves remain distributed across 14 separate blockchain networks, the same multi-chain footprint the platform has maintained throughout 2026, though the specific smaller chains represented, OP Mainnet, Polygon, Vaulta, Doge, and Sonic among them, point to some rotation at the margins even as the larger Ethereum, XRPL, and Tron positions anchor the total.
Token balances
Read purely in unit terms rather than USD value, the picture shifts: PEPE dominates by raw count (7–9 billion units, consistent with its low per-unit price) and shows a stepped upward trajectory through most of the month, likely tracking deposit volume rather than any deliberate accumulation strategy, since meme-coin balances on an exchange typically mirror user activity more than treasury decisions.
TBY’s intermittent, block-shaped presence, appearing and disappearing rather than persisting, is the more analytically interesting signal here, as it’s more consistent with temporary custody, a bridging/settlement cycle, or a recurring but non-continuous product flow than with a held position.
The sharp late-window drawdown in USDT0/TRON balances (dropping from roughly 4b to a markedly lower level in the first days of September) stands out as an active reallocation rather than passive drift, and would be worth flagging for the report as the most recent notable balance-sheet movement, even though it falls just outside the August window proper.
USD inflows
The aggregated inflow series is the clearest single confirmation of the month’s underlying dynamic: three large, concentrated deposit events (~$5m, ~$3.5m, ~$2.9m across mid-to-late August) account for the overwhelming share of net inflow, against a noisy but low-amplitude baseline of ordinary daily activity (peak single-day outflow of -$879,979).
This structure, a small number of large events driving total growth, rather than a rising baseline of everyday flow, is worth naming explicitly in the report, since it has a direct implication for how growth should be framed to readers: August’s balance-sheet expansion was event-driven and front-loaded into three identifiable windows, not the product of sustained organic momentum.
That framing also dovetails with the broader market backdrop, a month in which both gold and Bitcoin staged well-documented breakouts, making it plausible the platform’s large depositors were repositioning in step with, rather than independently of, the wider risk-on shift.
Inflows by token
August’s inflow pattern was not organic accumulation, but a series of discrete, large-ticket deposit events layered on top of routine low-volume activity.
The standout was the ~$5.7m XAUT inflow around August 12 — notable given that gold itself was mid-rally through the month, gaining roughly 10% from near $4,000 to post its best monthly performance since January, and pushing to its highest level since early June by mid-month on Treasury liquidity support and a weakening dollar.
That timing suggests the deposit may reflect a counterparty or treasury repositioning into a gold-tracking asset precisely as the metal was breaking out of its summer range, rather than a coincidental transfer.
The subsequent ~$3.5m USDT/TRON inflow (~Aug 15) and ~$2.9m inflow (~Aug 24) point to at least two further concentrated settlement events, likely institutional deposits, OTC settlements, or a market maker topping up working capital ahead of the BTC breakout later in the month.
Outside these three spikes, day-to-day flow stayed shallow and mixed, with small net positive and negative days, with a maximum single-day outflow of -$990,382, which is consistent with normal client withdrawal/deposit churn rather than any stress signal. The overall read is a platform whose net asset growth in August was driven by a handful of large, identifiable deposit events rather than broad-based retail inflow.
Token values (USD)
Viewed by asset rather than by chain, the same mid-August inflection is visible: USDT roughly doubled (~$6m to ~$12m) in a matter of days before plateauing, confirming that stablecoin liquidity, not a directional token bet, absorbed the bulk of the new capital.
More interesting is the shape of the XAUT and WETH curves, both of which show sustained, gradual accumulation across the full month rather than a single jump, implying steady programmatic buying or repeated smaller deposits rather than a one-off transfer.
The XAUT build in particular lines up with gold’s broader August tailwind, during which the metal reached a three-month high near $4,710 by late August, so the token’s rising USD value on the balance sheet reflects both accumulation and price appreciation, a distinction worth flagging in the report since it affects how “growth” should be attributed.
Taken together, the composition, a stablecoin base for liquidity, XRP as a stable core holding, and a growing gold/ETH allocation, reads as a fairly conservative treasury posture: liquidity-first, with measured diversification into a macro hedge (gold) and a blue-chip base asset (ETH) rather than into higher-beta altcoins.
Token breakdown
The composition snapshot reinforces that read: USDT (27.96%), XRP (19.10%), XAUT (14.94%) and WETH (12.45%) together account for nearly three-quarters of total holdings, meaning the portfolio’s risk profile is dominated by a stablecoin, a large-cap payments token, a gold-backed asset, and ETH exposure — a combination weighted toward capital preservation and liquidity rather than speculative upside.
The remaining quarter is spread thinly across MNT, ETH (additional native holding beyond WETH), USDT0, USDC, BTC, AAVE, SOL, BNB, and a handful of smaller tokens (ASTER, RENDER, TRON, and an “Others” bucket at 3.34%).
Notably, direct BTC exposure is modest (2.16%) despite Bitcoin’s own strong August, which broke out of a stagnant low-$60,000s range with an 8% single-session jump on August 19–20 and continued to a surge above $80,000 by late August on Treasury buyback news and heavy short liquidations, suggesting the platform’s treasury did not meaningfully lean into that rally, which is either a conservative choice or simply reflects that BTC isn’t a primary deposit asset for its user base.
This long-tail structure, a handful of core holdings plus dozens of marginal positions, is typical of an exchange balance sheet that reflects genuine user deposit diversity rather than a curated investment portfolio.
Proof of reserves
Zoomex’s publicly disclosed reserves stand at $30,237,863.65, reported directly by the exchange and cross-referenced against on-chain wallet addresses across at least four networks, Ethereum, Tron, XRPL, and Bitcoin, which gives the disclosure a verifiable, multi-chain backbone rather than resting on a single custodial address.
By allocation, stablecoins remain the anchor of the reserve base at 35.73% (USDT), split across an Ethereum-based wallet, a Tron wallet, and a smaller Arbitrum/Optimism-tagged position, a deliberate liquidity spread across chains that reduces single-network dependency for withdrawals.
Notably, gold-backed XAUt (19.62%) and ETH (19.26%, split across two wallets) together represent nearly 39% of reserves, a materially larger allocation than the 10.41% held in BTC or the 10.56% held in XRP, indicating the exchange’s reserve composition leans toward gold and ETH as its principal non-stablecoin backing rather than Bitcoin. The remaining 4.42% (“Others,” including a smaller AAVE position) rounds out a portfolio that is broad but concentrated at the top: five assets account for over 95% of total reserves.
Platform community and user metrics
Zoomex ended August 2026 with over 3 million registered users across more than 35 countries and regions. The platform’s Telegram community has grown from 74,199 members to 76,277 reflecting active engagement among Zoomex’s core retail trading base.
Zoomex’s daily active trader count consistently exceeds 1 million users according to independent review data, TradersUnion, making it one of the most actively used mid-tier exchanges globally by session volume.
The platform regularly adds new assets based on market demand combined with rigorous vetting, as of this report, Zoomex lists 486–495 cryptocurrencies and operates across 518–575 trading pairs depending on the market segment (spot or derivatives), a figure that has grown steadily through 2026.
The post Zoomex Monthly On-Chain Report: August 2026 appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Six weeks after AI bets nearly wrecked his hedge fund, Leopold Aschenbrenner is putting money into the same companies again. His hedge fund, Situational Awareness, bought call options on AMD, Bloom Energy, CoreWeave, SK Hynix and SanDisk, CNBC reported, citing sources. The trades ran from late last week into this week.
The former OpenAI researcher became famous for a 2024 essay arguing that AI could reach human-level intelligence by 2027. He built an investment business around that belief, backing companies supplying the computing capacity and electricity AI needs.
July exposed how dangerous that bet had become. Borrowed money magnified falling share prices, triggering demands for cash the fund could not meet. Assets shrank from a peak above $45 billion to roughly $10 billion, according to CNBC.
What July Cost Leopold Aschenbrenner
Ken Griffin’s Citadel bought distressed holdings at a discount. Situational Awareness kept private investments, including Anthropic. The SEC later subpoenaed Wall Street banks over their dealings with the fund. The reported inquiry carried no allegation of wrongdoing.
His return uses call options: contracts that let buyers purchase shares at a fixed price before a deadline. When paid for upfront without borrowing, their losses are capped at the purchase cost. That entire amount can still disappear if the options expire worthless.
The familiar names have drawn attention. On Friday, CNBC’s Jim Cramer wrote:
“Someone is shooting against all the Situational Stocks!”
Friday’s trading was mixed: Bloom rose nearly 7% and AMD almost 3%. SanDisk and CoreWeave fell.
AMD’s outstanding put options also recently outnumbered calls, though those contracts can reflect investors protecting existing holdings.
It remains unclear whether Aschenbrenner is using surviving cash or fresh investor money. He is again betting on the companies behind the AI boom, with contracts that put a deadline on the payoff.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens.
The post Former OpenAI Researcher Bets on AI Stocks After $35 Billion Wipeout appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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