The crowded fraud recovery market raises concerns over second scams, while this Insight Guard review examines how investigative consulting differs from recovery services.

The market for fraud recovery help is crowded and often predatory. Many services that promise to retrieve lost funds are themselves a second scam. This Insight Guard review examines the firm against that backdrop, and asks what actually separates a legitimate investigation service from the operations that target victims a second time.

Insight Guard is a professional investigative consulting firm based in St. Petersburg, Florida, focused on evidence review and structured case documentation, not fund recovery.

The recovery-scam problem

How Insight Guard differs

The firm’s work centers on organizing a victim’s evidence, reconstructing a verified timeline, and preparing structured documentation for banks, dispute bodies, and legal professionals. That is a fundamentally different proposition from a service that simply promises money back for a fee.

There is also a difference in how the two types of operation make contact. Recovery scams reach out to victims, often repeatedly and through channels the victim never signed up for. A documentation-focused firm works the other way around: the client approaches it, shares what happened, and receives an explanation of whether and how the evidence can be organized. That direction of contact is a small but telling signal of which kind of service someone is dealing with.

What to check before engaging any service

The Verdict

More information is available on the official website. The FTC’s guidance on recovery scams provides further context on how these secondary operations work.

Mumbai, India, 12 August 2026 — Unchained Summit will make its India debut on 5–6 November 2026 in Mumbai, bringing together global and Indian leaders across financial markets, digital assets, trading, Web3 and emerging technology.

Following editions in Dubai and Vietnam, the third edition of Unchained Summit will bring founders, investors, active traders, wealth and financial-market participants, global blockchain companies, technology leaders, policymakers and builders together in one of the world’s most active digital asset and technology markets.

The confirmed speaker lineup includes S B Seker, Head of APAC at Binance; Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder of CoinSwitch; Praneeth Srikanti, Partner at Ethereal Ventures; Eva Wong, General Counsel at Parity Technologies; Prabal Banerjee, Co-Founder of Avail; Sanat Rao, Chief Investment Officer at Monarq Asset Management; Dilip Chenoy, Chairperson of the Bharat Web3 Association; Saumya Saxena, India Lead at Base; Roshan Prabhakar, Head of Product – India at Coinbase; Vineet Budki, CEO of Sigma Capital; Kunaal Patel, Head of Institutional – Asia and MENA at Ondo Finance; and Jaideep Reddy, Partner at Trilegal, among others.

India continues to see strong participation in crypto markets, ranking first in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, while taking a more cautious regulatory approach than several other major jurisdictions. Unchained Summit India will bring international perspectives into this conversation, examining how different markets are approaching regulation, adoption and market development.

At the same time, interest in tokenisation and enterprise blockchain continues to grow. The Reserve Bank of India has explored asset tokenisation through its CBDC sandbox, while the National Blockchain Framework reflects broader government and enterprise interest in blockchain-based infrastructure.

As India’s financial capital, Mumbai provides a natural meeting point for traders, wealth managers, family offices, financial institutions, fintechs and Web3 companies, connecting the country’s active digital asset market with its broader financial and technology ecosystem.

Sharath Kumar, Founder and CEO of Aeternum, the organiser of Unchained Summit, said:

“India has a unique mix of active digital asset participation, growing interest in tokenisation and blockchain, and one of the world’s strongest developer ecosystems. Unchained Summit India brings together the capital, policy and technology sides of that story, with global voices adding perspective to where the market goes next.”

That dual focus will define the two days of Unchained Summit India.

Day One will focus on Markets, Finance & Digital Assets, bringing together traders, investors, wealth managers, family offices, traditional finance participants and digital asset companies for discussions around regulation and policy, trading and markets, tokenisation and real-world assets, stablecoins and payments, wealth and portfolio management, capital markets, custody and liquidity.

For S B Seker, Head of APAC at Binance, India’s importance extends well beyond the size of its market.

“India is a crown jewel for Binance in terms of impact, not just scale. With deep digital penetration and a young, tech-savvy population, it is a market unmatched globally for meaningful blockchain adoption and innovation.”

Alongside the financial-market conversation is another major Indian advantage: its technology talent.

India had 21.9 million developers on GitHub in 2025, making it the platform’s second-largest developer community globally, with more than 5.2 million developers added during the year.

Day Two will focus on Web3, Infrastructure & Emerging Technology, creating a technology-led programme for developers, founders and builders around blockchain infrastructure, AI and Web3, DeFi, scaling, interoperability, security and digital trust, staking, consumer applications and emerging technologies.

Ashish Singhal, Co-Founder of CoinSwitch, said:

“Web3 represents one of the most exciting opportunities to build the next generation of internet infrastructure, and India is one of the world’s largest hubs with talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and technical expertise to play a leading role in shaping the industry’s future.”

The technology itself will be another important part of the discussion.

Uttam Singh from Alchemy said:

“We’re witnessing the financial system become programmable. The next wave of innovation will come from developers building onchain.”

Across two days, wealth managers and traders will interact with digital asset companies. Founders will meet investors. Traditional finance participants will examine tokenisation and new market infrastructure. Enterprises will explore blockchain applications. Developers and builders will engage with global protocols and technology companies, while policy and industry leaders will hear perspectives from jurisdictions taking different approaches to digital assets.

The summit will also bring international speakers, companies and participants into Mumbai, connecting India’s financial and technology ecosystem with global leaders across digital assets and Web3.

For Unchained Summit, the objective is straightforward: create a setting where capital and technology, traditional finance and digital assets, and Indian builders and global markets can meet.

Mumbai will host that conversation on 5–6 November 2026. More information is available on the event’s official website: [unchainedsummit.com/india] (https://unchainedsummit.com/india)

About Aeternum Consulting Ltd

Aeternum organizes business-to-business events in the emerging tech space, provides strategic consulting, and tailored services to a diverse range of clients, from corporations to governments and startups to individuals. Aeternum specializes in crafting impactful B2B platforms that foster meaningful connections, drive business growth, and facilitate knowledge sharing through conferences, exhibitions, and bespoke networking opportunities.

For more information visit: [aeternuminc.com] (https://aeternuminc.com)

For further details about the announcement, please contact:

Maya K V
media@aeternuminc.com | +91 95383 91838
Partnerships Associate, Aeternum

Ethereum price climbed nearly 2% on Aug. 17, rebounding from the $1,872 area as buyers defended short-term support and pushed ETH above $1,900.

Ethereum price action today

According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price traded at approximately $1,908 at the time of writing, up 1.7% on the day. The token had moved between an intraday low of $1,872 and a high of $1,912, according to the Binance daily chart.

The recovery accelerated after ETH reclaimed the $1,890 area, which had limited price advances during the previous three sessions. Buyers then pushed the token through $1,900, although the move had not produced a confirmed break from its wider August range.

Ethereum has traded mostly between $1,850 and $1,960 since late July. Several attempts to clear the upper end of that range have failed, while pullbacks toward $1,850–$1,870 have continued to attract buyers.

The Aug. 17 bounce therefore represents another test of the range ceiling rather than a confirmed return to a broader uptrend. ETH remains roughly 47% below its price one year ago despite recovering from its June low near $1,530.

Whale staking and network research support sentiment

On-chain activity added to the positive tone after an unknown address transferred 32,400 ETH to the Beacon deposit contract, according to Whale Alert monitoring cited by Foresight News. The transaction was worth about $61.46 million, while Arkham data suggested that the address may be associated with Bitpanda.

Depositing ETH into the staking contract reduces the amount immediately available for spot trading, but one transaction alone does not prove that the owner bought the tokens during Monday’s rebound. Staked ETH can also return to circulation after passing through Ethereum’s withdrawal process.

Network development news provided another sentiment catalyst. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pointed to Bitcoin’s Utreexo model as Ethereum researchers examine native UTXOs and recursive STARK proofs.

As crypto.news reported, the proposed approach could allow nodes to verify relevant data without storing the network’s entire state locally. The work remains a research direction rather than a scheduled Ethereum upgrade, but it addresses concerns about the cost and hardware requirements of running nodes.

Ethereum indicators favor buyers above $1,900

Ethereum’s 4-hour chart shows that short-term momentum has shifted in favor of buyers. ETH moved above the Bollinger Band midpoint at $1,884 and briefly crossed the upper band near $1,902.

A move above the upper band reflects stronger momentum, although it can also lead to a short-term pullback if buyers fail to hold the breakout. The immediate support area now sits between the $1,884 midpoint and the lower band near $1,868.

The 4-hour relative strength index rose to 63.66 from a signal average of 50.58. The reading remains below the overbought threshold of 70, leaving room for another advance, but it also shows that momentum has strengthened quickly from neutral levels.

The daily chart presents a more cautious picture. ETH is trading above its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day simple moving averages, located near $1,889, $1,845, and $1,869, respectively. Holding above that group would preserve the recovery structure that has developed since June.

However, the 200-day moving average remains much higher at approximately $2,009. Ethereum would need to clear that level before its longer-term chart shifts more convincingly in favor of buyers.

The daily Chaikin Money Flow reading stood at minus 0.04. A negative reading indicates that selling pressure still slightly exceeds buying pressure, meaning the price rebound has not yet received strong confirmation from capital flows.

Liquidation heatmap puts $1,925 in focus

CoinGlass’ one-week Ethereum liquidation heatmap shows a large concentration of leveraged positions around $1,920–$1,930. The brightest liquidity band sits near $1,925, making it the nearest potential target if ETH maintains its position above $1,900.

A move through that area could force short sellers to close positions, adding market orders to the advance. Another visible liquidity cluster sits near $1,945–$1,950, which aligns with the upper boundary of Ethereum’s recent trading range.

Liquidity is also concentrated below the market. The strongest downside bands appear around $1,860 and $1,850. Losing the 4-hour support near $1,868 could draw ETH toward those levels as leveraged long positions face pressure.

Analyst Ted Pillows said Ethereum’s uptrend remains intact but identified $1,960 as the level required for stronger upside momentum. His chart placed the main breakout zone between approximately $1,945 and $1,960.

BitMart account demands founder explain funds status, Xia calls claims ‘fabricated’

BitMart’s official Chinese-language X account has publicly demanded that founder Sheldon Xia explain the whereabouts of user funds and produce a repayment plan.

It said some users were unable to withdraw funds and some employees have not received their final salary or compensation and threatened Xia that if he does not provide a verifiable asset disclosure and repayment plan by the deadline, it would continue to submit evidence to regulators, law enforcement, lawyers and the media.

Xia called the claims in the post “fabricated rumors” and promised a counter-attack.

“We have collected full evidence of the content on X, all of which is fabricated rumors. During daytime US time, we will file a police report and send a lawyer’s letter to X, demanding technical and data forensics,” Xia said.

Binance bStocks pass xStocks as second-largest tokenized stock issuer

Binance bStocks have overtaken xStocks to become the second-largest tokenized stock issuer by value less than two months after launch.

BStocks reached about $624 million on Aug. 3, surpassing xStocks at roughly $579 million but trailing Ondo Finance at about $927 million, according to Token Terminal data.

The issuer landscape has shifted sharply as the tokenized stock market has grown. A year earlier, xStocks led with $40.7 million, followed by Robinhood at $37.2 million, while Ondo held about $65,000. The total value tracked by Token Terminal has since surged from roughly $80 million to about $2.7 billion.

NORTH KOREA

Inside the fake crypto startup that fooled North Korean IT workers

Suspected North Korean IT workers joined a fake crypto startup — without realizing their every move was being tracked to extract valuable intel. Cointelegraph came along for the ride.

Suspected DPRK IT workers pitch for venture capital backing from the fictitious Definitive Communications, played by Cointelegraph. Source: ANY.RUN

ISRAEL

Israel’s largest bank taps Galaxy to offer Bitcoin, Ether, Solana trading

Israel’s Bank Leumi will become the first local bank to offer crypto trading, after partnering with Galaxy Digital to let customers trade Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through the bank’s investment platform from early 2027.

The companies said Friday that customers of Leumi and Pepper, its mobile banking arm, will be able to buy, hold and sell the three cryptocurrencies through a dedicated section of the Leumi Trade app.

JAPAN

Metaplanet CEO shuts down Bitcoin sale speculation after $322M transfer

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich has shut down speculation that the Japanese Bitcoin treasury company is selling its holdings after the company transferred 5,014 BTC ($322 million) over a 24-hour span last week.

“This was a routine custody operation. No Bitcoin was sold, and our holdings remain 43,000 BTC,” Gerovich said.

Metaplanet is the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company and the largest in Asia. According to Arkham data, it is sitting on an unrealized loss of about $1.4 billion.

MUFG PoC to bring Japanese government bond repo transactions onchain

Four MUFG companies plan to bring Japanese government bond repo transactions onchain using the Canton Network, as part of a new proof of concept (PoC).

The companies said they seek to improve operational efficiency through automation of the transaction lifecycle, enable real-time intraday settlement 24/7, as well as enhance funding and capital efficiency.

SINGAPORE

Singapore introduces mandatory tax reporting

Singapore has finalized regulations that require crypto firms to report user transactions to the tax department. The rules implement the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework into Singapore domestic law and take effect from January 1, 2027 for new users, while existing users can tarry until December 31, 2027.

Singapore. Source: Pexels

Binance and RedotPay stoush heats up

Binance and RedotPay are disputing whether a Singapore case related to their nearly $473 million Hong Kong legal battle is coming to an end. The stablecoin payments card issuer told Cointelegraph it expects Binance to discontinue the Singapore proceedings and will seek legal costs.  

Binance said that’s not going to happen and it “is not abandoning its claims and has informed both the court and RedotPay accordingly.”

The plaintiffs previously alleged in a Hong Kong court that RedotPay diverted more than 470,000 Binance Card users by allowing Binance Pay funds to be used for stablecoin card top-ups outside the terms of a commercial agreement.

Meanwhile RedotPay’s US IPO has reportedly been delayed as it seeks regulatory approvals.

KOREA

Shinhan Asset Management partners with Plume on tokenized fund pilot

South Korea’s Shinhan Asset Management signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with tokenization-focused blockchain network Plume to develop a proof of concept for a Korean won-denominated tokenized fund.

The pilot is intended to test the overseas use of won-denominated financial products in onchain markets that have largely developed around dollar-denominated assets.

HONG KONG

HashKey begins beta distribution of Hong Kong-regulated HKDAP stablecoin

The Standard Chartered-led Anchorpoint Financial has started to rollout the first regulated Hong Kong dollar backed stablecoin called HKDAP. HashKey Exchange will be an authorized distributor, potentially expanding access to the fiat-backed asset as the territory’s stablecoin market takes shape. Retail access will be limited initially, with the focus on institutions.

Meanwhile, the Securities and Futures Commission reportedly identified 65 fraudulent websites impersonating HashKey.

More users than ever. Less capital than ever. That contradiction tells you everything about where crypto actually is and why the entire marketing playbook needs to change.

The Number That Should Be Everywhere

559 million people worldwide now hold or use cryptocurrency.

That’s close to one in ten internet users on the planet.

That’s more than the entire population of the European Union.

That’s more users than Twitter at its peak. More than LinkedIn. More than TikTok had in its first three years.

559 million people. Using crypto. Right now.

And the market is down 48% from its all-time high.

That contradiction should be the most discussed story in crypto. Instead, everyone’s watching the price chart.

What The Numbers Actually Say

Let’s look at both data points together:

559 million users worldwide, the highest adoption number in crypto’s history, driven by regulatory clarity in major markets, spot ETF access in the US, and MiCA implementation across the EU.

$2.19 trillion total market cap, significantly below the October 2025 all-time high of $4.27 trillion.

In any other industry, record users with declining revenue would trigger an immediate strategic pivot. In crypto, everyone just keeps watching Bitcoin’s price.

But the data is telling a clear story if you’re willing to read it:

Crypto stopped being a speculation game. It became infrastructure.

And infrastructure doesn’t pump. Infrastructure just works.

Why More Users With Less Capital Makes Perfect Sense

In crypto’s early years, users and capital moved together. More users meant more buyers. More buyers meant higher prices. Higher prices attracted more users. The cycle was self-reinforcing.

That cycle is breaking, not because crypto is failing, but because it’s maturing.

Here’s what maturity looks like in every industry:

The early internet had millions of users and almost no revenue. Companies were burning cash, valuations were astronomical, and the actual utility was thin.

Then the bubble popped. Valuations collapsed. But users stayed. And the ones who stayed built the infrastructure that made the internet indispensable.

Crypto is at that inflection point.

559 million people using crypto aren’t all speculating. Many of them are using stablecoins for remittances. Using DeFi for savings in countries with broken banking systems. Using NFTs for digital ownership. Using crypto rails for cross-border payments.

They’re not trading. They’re using.

That’s infrastructure adoption. Not speculation adoption. And infrastructure adoption looks completely different on a price chart.

The Marketing Problem Nobody’s Solving

Here’s the strategic crisis that the 559 million number reveals:

Crypto’s entire marketing playbook was built for speculation. It doesn’t work for infrastructure.

Speculation marketing is easy: show price charts going up, promise life-changing returns, create FOMO, drive adoption through greed and fear.

It works. We know it works. It drove crypto from nothing to $4.27 trillion in market cap.

But it attracts the wrong users. Users who leave when the chart goes down. Users who have no loyalty to the technology because their loyalty was to the returns. Users who become critics when the price drops.

Infrastructure marketing is completely different: show reliability, prove utility, build trust slowly, demonstrate real-world use cases that don’t depend on price.

It’s slower. It’s harder. It requires patience that crypto culture was never built for.

But it’s the only marketing that works when your product has 559 million users and a declining price.

The Audience That Exists vs The Audience You’re Marketing To

Right now, most crypto marketing is aimed at a target audience that looks like this:

• Retail investor looking for the next 10x
• Crypto-native who already understands the technology
• Institutional investor looking for portfolio diversification
• Trader looking for volatility to profit from

But the 559 million people actually using crypto look like this:

• A Filipino worker sending remittances home cheaper than Western Union
• A Venezuelan saving in USDC because their local currency lost 80% this year
• A Nigerian freelancer getting paid in crypto because their bank won’t process international wires
• A small business owner in Southeast Asia using stablecoins to pay suppliers
• A European investor holding Bitcoin as a hedge through a Fidelity ETF

These people aren’t reading crypto Twitter. They’re not watching Bitcoin price alerts. They don’t care about the next altcoin cycle.

They care about whether the technology keeps working. Whether the fees stay low. Whether the product is reliable.

That’s a completely different user. And almost nobody is marketing to them.

Why The Price Chart Is The Wrong Metric

Crypto measures success in price. Every project’s homepage has a price chart. Every announcement mentions market cap. Every media outlet covers price movements first.

But with 559 million users, price is increasingly the wrong metric.

Think about how we measure the success of other infrastructure:

We don’t measure the internet’s success by the stock price of backbone providers. We measure it by uptime, speed, users, and transactions.

We don’t measure electricity grids by commodity prices alone. We measure them by reliability, coverage, and consumption.

We don’t measure banking infrastructure by bank stock prices. We measure it by accounts, transactions, and access.

Crypto has 559 million users, trillions in transaction volume, and critical infrastructure for millions of people’s financial lives.

And everyone’s staring at a chart that’s down from its ATH.

The measurement framework is wrong. And until the measurement framework changes, the marketing will keep targeting the wrong people.

The Trust Problem At Scale

Here’s what makes marketing to 559 million users fundamentally different from marketing to speculators:

Speculators need excitement. Infrastructure users need trust.

A speculator buys because they think the price will go up. Trust is almost irrelevant, if the price goes up, the speculator is happy regardless of whether the technology is trustworthy.

An infrastructure user relies on the technology for real financial needs. Trust is everything. A single hack, a single regulatory action, a single project failure can drive them away permanently, not because they lost money speculating, but because they lost something they were actually depending on.

Roughly 559 million people worldwide now hold or use crypto, close to one in ten internet users, largely due to strong regulatory clarity in major markets, spot ETF access in the US, and MiCA implementation across the EU. The audience has grown and moved further into the mainstream, yet trust is harder to earn. They are not looking for the next 100x thread on X. They are researching before they trust, and AI assistants are becoming part of that process.

That last line is critical. The new crypto user isn’t reading a whitepaper or following influencers. They’re asking ChatGPT if the product is safe before they use it.

Marketing that worked in 2021, hype, FOMO, influencer promotion, doesn’t build that kind of trust. It actively destroys it.

What Infrastructure Marketing Actually Looks Like

If you’re building crypto products for the 559 million who are already here and the next 559 million who haven’t arrived yet the marketing has to change completely.

Stop leading with price. Start leading with utility.

“Bitcoin is up 40% this year” speaks to speculators.

“Over 559 million people use crypto for real financial needs, here’s what they’re using it for” speaks to infrastructure users.

Stop creating FOMO. Start building trust.

FOMO drives speculation cycles. Trust drives infrastructure adoption. They require completely different content strategies, completely different channel choices, completely different measurement frameworks.

Stop targeting crypto natives. Start targeting the unmet need.

The Filipino worker sending remittances doesn’t identify as a “crypto user.” They identify as someone trying to send money home cheaply and reliably. Speak to the need. The technology is just how you solve it.

Stop measuring by price. Start measuring by utility.

Transaction volume. Active wallets. Use cases solved. Problems eliminated. These are infrastructure metrics. They don’t spike and crash with market cycles. They grow steadily over years.

The Opportunity In The Contradiction

The gap between 559 million users and a declining market cap isn’t a crisis. It’s an opportunity.

It means there’s an enormous, largely unaddressed audience of people who are already using crypto for real purposes but aren’t being spoken to by crypto marketing.

It means the next wave of adoption won’t come from convincing speculators to buy more. It’ll come from showing infrastructure users that crypto can solve more of their problems.

It means the brands that figure out how to market infrastructure, reliability, trust, utility, accessibility, will build something more durable than any price cycle.

The speculation era made crypto rich. The infrastructure era will make it indispensable.

Those are different goals. They require different strategies. And almost nobody is building the second strategy yet.

The Question Every Crypto Marketer Should Be Asking

Not “how do we make people excited about the price?”

But: “What are 559 million people actually using this for? And how do we make that experience better, more accessible, and more trustworthy for the next 559 million?”

That’s the marketing question crypto needs to be asking in 2026.

The users are already here. The capital will follow, but only if the infrastructure is worth trusting.

What are you actually using crypto for in 2026? Not investing using. Because that answer is more important than any price prediction.

Tom Lee’s Ethereum treasury firm, Bitmine Immersion Technologies, has resumed accumulating Ether, adding 9,926 ETH in the week ending Aug. 16. The latest purchase brings the company’s total holdings to about 5.82 million ETH—around 4.8% of Ethereum’s circulating supply—bringing it close to a long-stated goal of owning 5% of all ETH.

While the move underscores Bitmine’s long-term conviction, the context is difficult. Ethereum’s extended bear market has meaningfully reduced the profitability of the treasury, with industry estimates indicating Bitmine is carrying more than $8.4 billion in unrealized losses on its ETH position.

Key takeaways

• Bitmine bought 9,926 ETH during the week ending Aug. 16, lifting total holdings to roughly 5.82 million ETH.
• That stake is valued at about $11 billion at a referenced ETH price of $1,893, but much of the ETH was reportedly acquired at higher prices.
• With holdings at ~4.8% of circulating supply, Bitmine is nearing its “Alchemy of 5%” target.
• Despite large unrealized losses, the firm continues staking more than 5 million ETH, supporting ongoing yield generation.
• Using a seven-day staking yield of 2.61%, Bitmine projects annualized staking rewards of about $287 million.

Bitmine’s weekly accumulation brings it closer to 5%

According to Bitmine’s disclosure on Monday, the company’s most recent tranche of purchases totals 9,926 ETH. The firm frames this as a continuation of its ETH treasury strategy, one that has led to weekly buying since launching the approach in June 2025.

By the end of the week ending Aug. 16, Bitmine’s ETH position totals roughly 5.82 million ETH. Based on the company’s own framing of Ethereum’s circulating supply, that equals approximately 4.8%. The firm has long described an “Alchemy of 5%” target—an ambition to accumulate 5% of the entire ETH supply—meaning it is now within striking distance of that milestone.

However, the purchase comes at a time when Ethereum’s market environment has punished portfolios built on aggressive accumulation. At an ETH reference price of $1,893, Bitmine’s holdings were valued at approximately $11 billion, but the article notes that a significant portion of the ETH was acquired at substantially higher prices.

Unrealized losses remain a central pressure point

The scale of Bitmine’s treasury continues to draw attention not just because of its size, but because of how far it has moved below prior acquisition costs during a prolonged bearish phase for Ether.

Industry data cited in the report suggests Bitmine is sitting on more than $8.4 billion in unrealized losses related to its ETH holdings. DropsTab’s estimate characterizes these unrealized losses as roughly 43% of the portfolio’s current value, based on the referenced valuation approach in the article.

This matters for investors and market watchers because a treasury strategy of this type is most resilient when it can offset price drawdowns with consistent yield. Without that, extended declines can turn accumulation into capital lock-up—especially when the target is based on a long-term percentage of supply rather than short-term price appreciation.

Staking keeps the treasury productive

Bitmine’s counterweight to unrealized losses is staking. The company said it is staking more than 5 million ETH, which it values at roughly $9.6 billion at current prices. By performing staking activities that help secure the Ethereum network, Bitmine continues to earn protocol rewards—turning part of its holdings into a more predictable cashflow stream tied to network participation.

Bitmine’s disclosure also highlights how staking yield can buffer volatility. Based on a seven-day staking yield of 2.61%, Tom Lee projected annualized staking rewards of roughly $287 million. The article frames these rewards as independent of Ether’s short-term price swings, emphasizing that yield accrues from staking activity even while market value fluctuates.

For readers assessing whether Bitmine’s strategy is sustainable, staking performance is therefore a crucial variable to monitor. If staking yields compress or if operational dynamics change, the balance between “paper loss” and ongoing earnings could shift.

What to watch as Bitmine heads toward 5%

As Bitmine pushes toward its “Alchemy of 5%” target, the next question is how quickly it can close the remaining gap from roughly 4.8% to 5% of circulating supply—while dealing with the reality that market pricing and acquisition costs may keep unrealized losses in focus. Investors should watch whether Bitmine maintains its weekly buying cadence, and whether staking yields remain strong enough to sustain the treasury’s economics during periods when Ether’s price lags.

BitMart’s official Chinese-language X account has demanded that exchange founder Sheldon Xia explain where user funds are, provide a verifiable disclosure of assets, and outline a repayment plan by Wednesday. The dispute comes as the troubled platform continues its wind-down process amid widely reported withdrawal delays and the earlier collapse in BMX token value.

In a Monday post, the account said some users were still unable to withdraw funds and that some employees had not received their final salary or compensation. It urged Xia to publish details including BitMart’s wallets, assets, liabilities, and available reserves, warning it would escalate the matter to regulators, law enforcement, lawyers, and the media if he did not meet the deadline. Cointelegraph previously reported that BitMart announced on July 26 it would wind down the exchange, with trading ending Aug. 26 and operations ceasing on Jan. 31.

Key takeaways

• BitMart’s official Chinese X account is demanding Sheldon Xia disclose BitMart’s wallet holdings and provide a repayment plan by Wednesday.
• The post alleges some users still cannot withdraw and that some employees have not received final compensation.
• BitMart has already entered a formal wind-down process, with trading set to end Aug. 26 and operations scheduled to stop Jan. 31.
• Sheldon Xia rejected the claims, saying the account’s accusations are “fabricated rumors,” and said he would pursue police and legal action.
• Arkham-tracked BitMart-attributed wallets reportedly fell from about $102 million (July 6) to around $36.5 million as of Monday, though the reasons are unclear.

Deadline set amid ongoing withdrawal complaints

BitMart’s latest challenge is framed around user access to funds and transparency. According to a machine translation of the account’s post, it said some users remained unable to withdraw and that internal compensation issues persisted for at least some staff members.

The account’s demand is not limited to a general explanation; it calls for a detailed and verifiable disclosure, including wallets, assets, liabilities, and reserves. It also set a clear escalation threat: if Xia does not deliver by the stated deadline, the account said it would submit evidence to regulators, law enforcement, legal representatives, and media outlets.

Cointelegraph attempted to contact BitMart for comment following the Monday post but did not immediately receive a response. It also remains unclear who authored the message, or whether the account is still operated under BitMart’s corporate control.

Wind-down timeline already in motion

These events are unfolding while BitMart carries out a pre-announced shutdown. As earlier coverage noted, BitMart said on July 26 it would wind down the exchange due to market and operational pressures, including BMX token volatility and user reports of withdrawal delays.

Under the company’s stated plan, BitMart ended new deposits and halted registrations as part of the wind-down. Trading on the platform is scheduled to end on Aug. 26, and the exchange’s operations are set to cease on Jan. 31. BitMart also warned that some withdrawals could undergo additional compliance and security reviews.

That backdrop matters because it suggests the dispute is not simply about whether an exchange will pay, but about the practical mechanics and timing of withdrawals and asset handling during the shutdown window.

Sheldon Xia denies wrongdoing and promises legal action

Sheldon Xia responded to the accusations in an X post on Monday, calling the claims “fabricated rumors” and saying he had preserved evidence. In a machine translation of his remarks, Xia said that during daytime U.S. time he would file a police report and send a lawyer’s letter to X, seeking technical and data forensics related to the post.

Xia further argued that employees were not being prioritized over customers, stating that “everyone is a client” and that there were no special privileges. He also previously denied that BitMart had misappropriated user assets.

In earlier communications, Xia told users not to rely on unverified claims or screenshots purportedly provided by current or former employees, reinforcing his position that the public allegations should be treated skeptically until substantiated.

Arkham wallet tracking shows sharp reductions—but interpretation remains unclear

Wallet movements are also central to what investors and users want to understand during a wind-down. According to Arkham’s on-chain entity tracking, wallets attributed to BitMart held about $36.5 million in crypto assets as of Monday.

Arkham’s data indicates a steep decline from roughly $71 million on July 26 and about $102 million on July 6. Those figures, however, come with important caveats. The tracked wallets may not represent the full set of assets controlled by BitMart, and it remains unclear how much of the reduction reflects customer withdrawals, internal consolidation, or transfers to other addresses.

In disputes like this, a key question is whether reductions in publicly tracked wallet balances reflect legitimate outflows to customers or whether they could suggest asset movement that is not fully explained. Until BitMart or Xia provides the kind of verifiable disclosure demanded by the X account—wallet list, liabilities, reserves, and a repayment framework—readers may be left comparing incomplete public signals.

What to watch next as the deadline approaches

With the promised Wednesday deadline now in focus, market participants will likely look for whether Xia provides a verifiable asset and liability disclosure and whether any repayment plan is detailed in a way that users can test against withdrawal status. Just as importantly, observers should watch how regulators and law enforcement respond to both sides’ public claims, and whether on-chain wallet tracking aligns with the explanations given for balance changes since BitMart began winding down.

Strategy has raised $333.7 million through common stock sales without buying or selling Bitcoin last week, leaving its holdings unchanged at 840,447 BTC.

According to a Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 17, Strategy sold 3.46 million MSTR shares between Aug. 10 and Aug. 16 through its at-the-market offering program.

The company used $52.4 million of the proceeds to fund twice-monthly dividends on its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, or STRC. Another $132.2 million went toward STRC repurchases, while $149.1 million was added to its U.S. dollar reserve.

Strategy reported no Bitcoin purchases or sales during the seven-day period, a week after it sold Bitcoin to help finance another round of STRC repurchases.

Strategy uses MSTR proceeds for STRC buybacks

During the latest reporting period, Strategy repurchased about 1.39 million STRC shares for $132.2 million under its Digital Credit Securities Repurchase Program.

The company made no repurchases of its STRF, STRK or STRD preferred securities and did not buy back any MSTR common stock.

Following the STRC purchases, Strategy had about $653 million remaining under its $1 billion preferred securities repurchase authorization. Another $1 billion remained available under its separate common stock repurchase program.

Both programs were established under a capital framework approved in late June. As previously reported by crypto.news, Strategy’s board authorized up to $2 billion in security repurchases on June 29, split evenly between MSTR common stock and its preferred securities.

The same framework allowed the company to sell up to $1.25 billion of Bitcoin to fund its U.S. dollar reserve, preferred dividends, interest payments and security repurchases. The authorization did not represent a completed Bitcoin sale and gave Strategy the option to use its BTC holdings as a source of liquidity when required.

STRC, meanwhile, remained below its $100 par value. The preferred stock closed Friday at $94.78, down 1.03% during the session, and fell another 0.12% to $94.67 in Monday premarket trading, according to Yahoo Finance.

Strategy has been using several measures to support the preferred security after it fell well below par earlier this year. In June, CEO Phong Le personally bought $1 million of STRC and said he planned to hold the position until the security returned to par, likely longer.

At the time, Strategy had raised $335.5 million through MSTR sales and increased its dollar reserve to $1.4 billion, according to coverage published in June. STRC was trading below $90 when Le disclosed the purchase.

Strategy Bitcoin holdings remain at 840,447 BTC

Strategy’s decision not to buy Bitcoin last week came immediately after two consecutive weeks of BTC sales.

Between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9, the company sold 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million at an average price of $64,262 per coin. Strategy used the entire amount to repurchase about 1.15 million STRC shares.

The Bitcoin-funded STRC buyback reduced Strategy’s holdings to the current 840,447 BTC, while MSTR sales during the same week generated another $653.1 million. Of that amount, $650 million was directed to the dollar reserve and $3.1 million was added to unrestricted cash.

Strategy had sold another 1,638 BTC between July 27 and Aug. 2 for $104.7 million. Proceeds from that transaction were split between $52.4 million in STRC dividends and $52.3 million in preferred stock repurchases.

The two sales followed Strategy’s first Bitcoin disposal since December 2022. Between May 26 and May 31, the company sold 32 BTC for about $2.5 million, with the proceeds expected to help cover preferred stock distributions.

At the time, STRC had fallen below its $100 reference price while its annualized dividend rate had risen to 11.5%. The first Bitcoin sale broke a multiyear period in which Strategy accumulated BTC without selling any of its holdings.

Strategy later raised STRC’s annual dividend rate to 12% as part of its June capital framework. Management has said the dividend can be adjusted as it seeks to keep STRC trading close to its $100 par value.

Despite the recent disposals, Strategy remains the largest publicly disclosed corporate holder of Bitcoin. Its current 840,447 BTC were acquired for an aggregate $63.36 billion, including fees and expenses, at an average purchase price of $75,385 per coin.

Strategy dollar reserve reaches $4.80 billion

While Bitcoin holdings stayed unchanged last week, Strategy continued building the cash reserve used to meet obligations tied to its capital structure.

The company’s U.S. dollar reserve stood at $4.80 billion as of Aug. 16 after another $149.1 million was allocated from MSTR sales. The total includes expected proceeds from common stock transactions that had been executed but had not yet settled by Sunday.

Strategy created the reserve to fund dividends on its preferred securities and interest payments on outstanding debt. Its board retains authority over the use of the funds.

The cash position has increased quickly in recent weeks. Strategy entered August with a reserve of about $4 billion before adding $650 million during the Aug. 3 to Aug. 9 period, taking the total to $4.65 billion.

At the same time, Strategy has continued issuing common shares to provide liquidity. Last week’s sale of 3.46 million MSTR shares generated $333.7 million, following $653.1 million raised from the sale of about 6.59 million shares during the previous week.

The company still has substantial capacity to raise additional capital through its at-the-market programs. Its latest filing showed about $21.70 billion remained available for MSTR issuance and sales as of Aug. 16.

Strategy also reported no sales under its STRF, STRC, STRK or STRD at-the-market programs during the latest week. Remaining issuance capacity stood at about $17.51 billion for STRC, $1.62 billion for STRF, $2.10 billion for STRK and $4.01 billion for STRD.

The U.S. Treasury has proposed new rules defining when payment stablecoins are issued, offered, or sold in the United States as regulators prepare for key GENIUS Act restrictions beginning in January 2027.

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Aug. 17 that its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking focuses on Section 3 of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, opening another public comment process as the government works through the law’s remaining implementation requirements.

Under the proposal, Treasury would set the boundaries for what qualifies as issuing a payment stablecoin “in the United States,” a distinction that determines when an issuer must obtain a federal or state license under the GENIUS Act.

The department is also seeking to define when a digital asset company is considered to have offered or sold a payment stablecoin to a person in the United States. Treasury said the definitions are intended to give companies more certainty over when U.S. licensing and distribution restrictions apply.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department was moving to implement the framework established by President Donald Trump and Congress while seeking feedback from companies and other stakeholders.

Bessent said the rules were intended to provide businesses with “regulatory certainty” while supporting U.S. innovation and maintaining the dollar’s position as the global reserve currency.

GENIUS Act rules would determine which issuers need licenses

Starting Jan. 18, 2027, the expected effective date of the GENIUS Act, companies generally will not be allowed to issue payment stablecoins in the United States unless they hold an appropriate federal or state license, according to Treasury.

Treasury’s latest proposal centers on determining when an issuer’s activities fall within that U.S. requirement. How the agency defines domestic issuance could determine which companies must obtain authorization before continuing to issue stablecoins accessible to U.S. customers.

The licensing requirements form one part of the federal stablecoin regime created after Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law on July 18, 2025. The legislation established separate paths for federally supervised issuers and qualifying state-regulated issuers while introducing reserve, redemption, compliance and disclosure requirements.

Regulators have spent much of 2026 developing the rules needed to put the law into operation.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency outlined its proposed framework in February, covering reserve assets, redemptions, capital, liquidity, custody, risk management and supervision for issuers falling under the agency’s authority. The proposal also included procedures covering applications and the wind-down of stablecoin operations.

Separate rulemaking has dealt with state oversight. In April, crypto.news reported on Treasury’s proposal for determining whether state regulatory systems are sufficiently similar to the federal framework. Under that process, issuers with less than $10 billion in circulation could remain under qualifying state supervision if the state regime meets federal standards.

Foreign stablecoins face separate U.S. restrictions

Foreign-issued stablecoins also fall within the latest proposal, with Treasury working to establish how tokens issued outside the country can continue to reach U.S. users.

Under the GENIUS Act, digital asset service providers generally cannot offer, sell or otherwise make a foreign-issued payment stablecoin available unless its issuer can comply with lawful orders and meets requirements tied to reciprocal arrangements between the United States and the issuer’s home jurisdiction, Treasury said.

The legislation gives Treasury a role in determining whether foreign stablecoin regulatory systems are comparable to U.S. requirements. Foreign issuers operating under qualifying regimes can gain access to the U.S. market if they also satisfy conditions imposed by the law.

Another restriction takes effect later. From July 18, 2028, digital asset service providers generally will not be permitted to offer or sell payment stablecoins to people in the United States unless the tokens were issued by a licensed issuer, according to Treasury.

Treasury’s proposed definitions of “offer or sell” and a person “in the United States” therefore affect exchanges, trading platforms and other digital asset businesses that make stablecoins accessible to American customers.

The agency previously sought industry views on many of the same jurisdictional questions through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in September 2025. The latest proposal moves that process forward by setting out Treasury’s planned implementation of the Section 3 restrictions.

Treasury rule follows other GENIUS Act compliance proposals

Compliance requirements for licensed issuers have been developing separately from the rules governing where stablecoins may be issued and sold.

Treasury proposed AML rules earlier this year that would place permitted payment stablecoin issuers under Bank Secrecy Act requirements and require anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing and sanctions compliance systems.

Under that proposal, issuers would need systems capable of identifying suspicious activity and taking required action against transactions, including blocking, freezing or rejecting them when applicable. Companies would also need a designated U.S.-based person responsible for their compliance systems.

Federal regulators have separately proposed customer identification requirements, while bank regulators have been developing standards covering reserves, capital, redemptions, custody and operational controls.

The rulemaking process has taken longer than the timetable originally set by Congress. Federal regulators missed the July deadline for completing key GENIUS Act regulations, with several packages still in proposed form when the July 18, 2026 deadline passed.

The OCC’s main framework remained unfinished at the time, while Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation rules covering issuers linked to FDIC-supervised banks were also still moving through the regulatory process. Customer identification, anti-money laundering and sanctions proposals had not been completed either.

Missing the one-year rulemaking deadline did not automatically delay the law’s expected Jan. 18, 2027 effective date. As a result, prospective issuers have continued preparing for licensing, reserve management, redemption, customer verification and compliance requirements while regulators complete the remaining rules.

Treasury opens 60-day comment period on stablecoin proposal

For the Section 3 proposal released Aug. 17, Treasury is asking issuers, digital asset service providers and other interested parties to submit feedback on how the restrictions should operate in practice.

The rulemaking focuses specifically on the geographic and transactional boundaries that determine whether stablecoin activity falls under U.S. law, including when issuance occurs domestically and when a sale or offer is made to someone in the country.

Treasury said public comments could address issues raised by the proposed framework and would be considered before the regulations are finalized.

Members of the public will have 60 days from publication of the notice in the Federal Register to submit comments, and responses filed during the consultation will be publicly available through the federal rulemaking system.