Crypto World
BTCPay offers $190,000 bounty after bitcoin payment servers drained in exploit
Node provider BTCPay Server said Tuesday it is funding a bounty for the return of bitcoin stolen from merchants last week, offering 10% of whatever is recovered up to a maximum of 3 BTC, worth roughly $190,000 at current prices.
The offer is open to anyone with useful information, including the attacker. The project asked people to write to its security address and said secure channels are available on request.
If several reports lead to a recovery, the bounty will be split with the victims according to how much each lost and how useful the information proved.
We’re donating 0.21 BTC to @craigraw and 0.21 BTC to the Bitcoin Red Team for their responsible security disclosure of the recent critical vulnerability.
In addition, friends and supporters of the BTCPay Server project have committed to funding a bounty to recover the stolen… pic.twitter.com/qhs8zwoCvM
— BTCPay Server (@BtcpayServer) August 10, 2026
The project is also paying the researchers who found the flaw, donating 0.21 BTC each to developer Craig Raw and to the Bitcoin Red Team fund.
Attackers exploited the vulnerability last week to obtain credentials for LND, the most widely used software for running a Lightning node, and to drain the wallets associated with it.
Hardware-wallet maker Foundation and the bitcoin publication Citadel21 both reported losing funds. Neither BTCPay nor the victims have published a total so far.
Another push above $65,000 failed to hold on Tuesday, sending Bitcoin back below $64,000. The crypto asset was down more than 1.6% over the past day.
Against this backdrop, large BTC wallets are back at levels not seen in months. Meanwhile, smaller holders are steadily losing ground.
Elite Wallets Are Moving Up
Bitcoin’s elite wallet count has returned to a six-month high. There are now 90 wallets holding at least 10,000 BTC. According to the latest data shared by Santiment, the number has risen by 6 wallets over the past 8 weeks, a 7% increase. At the same time, holdings among micro wallets have been falling in August. The analytics firm attributed this decline to retail FUD following the Coldcard hacks and delays surrounding the CLARITY Act.
Santiment explained that the supply is moving toward stronger hands ahead of the next major market fluctuation. This shift usually raises the likelihood that the next major fluctuation will be bullish.
Bitcoin’s next move could now depend on whether it can clear $65,400. Doctor Profit recently said that the level remains important after several failed attempts to break above it. A move past it alone would not confirm a breakout; the analyst is looking for several weekly closes above the level instead.
If the crypto asset manages that, the next major resistance areas sit around $77,000 to $78,000 and $83,000.
A rejection, however, could put $61,500 back in focus, followed by $54,000. The analyst also flagged a change in market sentiment, as stablecoin holders are now showing more fear of missing out as BTC pushes higher.
Institutional Demand Takes a Hit
Institutional interest cooled on Monday as US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $144.67 million in net outflows. It was the first negative session for the funds in August, which ended a five-day winning streak.
BlackRock’s IBIT was the biggest loser, shedding $53.5 million. Grayscale’s GBTC followed with more than $52 million, while Fidelity’s ETF lost over $40 million.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder continued to sell part of its holdings. The company offloaded another 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million and used the money to buy back 1.15 million STRC preferred shares. It also sold 6.59 million MSTR shares and raised a little over $653 million. That pushed its USD reserve above $4.6 billion.
Its holdings have now fallen to 840,447 BTC, which were acquired for $63.36 billion at an average price of $75,385.
The post Only 90 Bitcoin Wallets Hold 10K+ BTC: And That Number Just Hit a 6-Month High appeared first on CryptoPotato.
XRP ETF inflows collapsed 93% in a single week while the token tests $1.00 support. But whales are accumulating more than 10 million XRP per day, RLUSD has reached $1.6 billion in market cap, and the CLARITY Act vote is 35 days away. Recovery is not impossible. It is conditional.
Summary
- XRP trades at approximately $1.03 as of August 10, 2026, down more than 65% from its January high of $3.40. Weekly ETF inflows collapsed 93% to $1.01 million for the week ending August 8, down from $14.86 million the prior week, despite seven spot XRP ETFs holding a combined $1 billion in assets.
- Whale wallets are accumulating more than 10 million XRP per day, with large holder outflows from Binance reaching 91% of total exchange outflows, the highest concentration since 2024. The divergence between collapsing retail and ETF flows and accelerating whale accumulation is the widest it has been since XRP’s post listing launch.
- RLUSD, Ripple’s regulated stablecoin, has reached $1.6 billion in market cap, making it the third largest US regulated stablecoin. Partnerships with Mastercard, JPMorgan, and BlackRock are live, but the stablecoin’s growth has not translated into XRP demand, with RLUSD seeing net inflows while XRP funds recorded outflows in the same period.
- The CLARITY Act, which would classify XRP as a digital commodity under CFTC oversight, faces a September 15 cloture vote with only 16% odds of passage on Polymarket. Failure would remove the single largest regulatory catalyst that XRP bulls have been pricing in since early 2026.
- Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick maintains an $8 year end target for XRP, contingent on sustained ETF inflows exceeding $1.15 billion and regulatory clarity. The current trajectory satisfies neither condition.
XRP is caught between two stories that cannot both be true at the same time. The first story says the token is dying: price down 65% from January, ETF inflows in freefall, the CLARITY Act stalled, and a stablecoin that is growing faster than the token it was supposed to support. The second story says smart money is quietly loading up: whales are pulling more than 10 million XRP per day off exchanges, on chain accumulation signals are at multi year highs, and the legal clarity that no other major token possesses gives XRP a structural advantage that the market has not yet priced.
Both stories have evidence. Neither is complete. What determines which one wins comes down to three specific conditions, each of which is observable and each of which has a timeline. If all three are met, the recovery case is strong. If two fail, the current price may be the beginning of a longer decline rather than a floor.
Condition one: the CLARITY Act must pass or an equivalent catalyst must replace it
The single most important variable for XRP in the second half of 2026 is whether the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act becomes law. The bill would classify XRP as a digital commodity under CFTC jurisdiction, resolving the remaining ambiguity left by the Ripple v. SEC settlement.
That settlement, finalized in 2025, produced a split decision. Institutional sales of XRP were deemed securities transactions. Programmatic sales on exchanges were not. Ripple paid a $125 million civil penalty, and the SEC withdrew its appeal. The legal case is closed. But the regulatory framework that would tell institutional allocators exactly how to treat XRP in a portfolio does not yet exist.
The CLARITY Act would provide that framework. Under its provisions, tokens meeting decentralization criteria move to CFTC oversight, a lighter regulatory regime that institutional compliance departments are comfortable with. XRP, having survived the most significant enforcement action in crypto history and emerged with a court ruling that its exchange sales are not securities, is positioned to benefit more than almost any other token from this classification.
The problem is that the CLARITY Act may not pass. Senate Majority Leader Thune filed cloture before the August recess, setting up a procedural vote as early as September 15. But the bill needs 60 votes to clear the filibuster, and Polymarket traders assign only 16% odds of passage in 2026. The core obstacle is an ethics provision targeting presidential involvement in crypto that Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on.
If the CLARITY Act fails, XRP loses its most potent near term catalyst. The token would remain in a regulatory gray zone where the SEC case is resolved but the broader framework is not. Institutional allocators who cite regulatory clarity as a prerequisite for increasing exposure, 65% of them according to a 2026 survey, would continue to wait.
The question is whether an alternative catalyst could fill the gap. Two candidates exist. First, the SEC could issue formal guidance classifying XRP as a commodity without legislation, using the Ripple ruling as precedent. This is possible but unlikely given the current commission’s preference for case by case enforcement. Second, sustained ETF inflows at scale could signal that the market has effectively made the classification decision regardless of what Washington does. That leads to the second condition.
Condition two: ETF inflows must stabilize and grow
Seven spot XRP ETFs are now trading in the United States with combined assets under management of approximately $1 billion and 992.7 million XRP tokens locked. Cumulative net inflows since launch total $1.51 billion. The gap between cumulative inflows and current AUM reflects XRP’s price decline: investors put in $1.51 billion, but the tokens they bought are now worth $1 billion.
The recent flow data is alarming. Weekly net inflows for the period ending August 8 came in at $1.01 million, a 93% collapse from $14.86 million the prior week. This is not a gradual slowdown. It is a near complete stop.
Context matters. JPMorgan reported that XRP ETFs recorded the largest single month inflow surge as a percentage of AUM of any cryptocurrency ETF since July 2025, outperforming bitcoin, ethereum, and solana. The category is not dead. But the momentum that drove that surge has evaporated in a single week, coinciding with the CLARITY Act delay and broader altcoin weakness.
For XRP to recover, ETF inflows need to return to a baseline of at least $10 million per week. At that pace, the ETF complex would absorb roughly 10 million XRP per week at current prices, matching whale accumulation and creating a structural floor under the token. Below that threshold, the ETFs are not generating enough demand to offset the natural sell pressure from retail holders, Ripple’s own programmatic sales, and general market rotation.
The comparison to bitcoin ETFs is instructive. Spot bitcoin ETFs now attract more than $400 million per day in net inflows. Spot ether ETFs have stabilized at roughly $50 million per day. XRP ETFs at $1 million per week are not in the same conversation. The question is whether this reflects temporary sentiment or a structural ceiling on institutional XRP demand.
Standard Chartered’s Geoffrey Kendrick, who maintains an $8 year end target for XRP, has conditioned that forecast on cumulative ETF inflows exceeding $1.15 billion and regulatory clarity. The first condition is technically met at $1.51 billion cumulative, but the flow rate has collapsed. The second condition depends on the CLARITY Act. Neither is currently trending in the right direction.
Condition three: RLUSD must feed value back to XRP instead of draining it
This is the condition that XRP holders talk about the least and that matters the most over the medium term. Ripple’s stablecoin, RLUSD, has grown to a $1.6 billion market cap, making it the third largest US regulated stablecoin. It reached $1 billion in under 120 days, faster than any regulated stablecoin in history.
The partnerships are impressive by any measure. BNY Mellon serves as primary custodian for RLUSD reserves. BlackRock uses RLUSD to redeem shares in its tokenized funds. LMAX Group adopted it as collateral for institutional trading. Mastercard launched a pilot through the Gemini Credit Card. SBI Holdings rolled it out in Japan. Singapore’s Monetary Authority included it in the BLOOM pilot. Ripple Prime, the institutional brokerage arm, has seen revenue triple, partly driven by RLUSD integration.
The problem is that none of this is translating into XRP demand. In the same period that RLUSD saw $4.1 million in net inflows, XRP investment products recorded net outflows. The stablecoin is growing. The token is shrinking. The two are not connected in the way that Ripple’s narrative implies they should be.
The bull case for RLUSD benefiting XRP rests on three mechanisms. First, RLUSD transactions on the XRP Ledger burn small amounts of XRP as fees, creating deflationary pressure. Second, RLUSD liquidity pools on the XRPL DEX require XRP as a bridge currency. Third, institutional adoption of RLUSD introduces counterparties to the XRP Ledger ecosystem, potentially driving demand for XRP itself.
Each mechanism is real in theory. None is generating material demand in practice. The fee burns are negligible at current transaction volumes. The XRPL DEX handles a fraction of RLUSD’s total volume, with most activity occurring on Ethereum. And institutional RLUSD users have shown no inclination to acquire XRP alongside the stablecoin.
For XRP to recover, Ripple needs to close this gap. The most direct path would be requiring RLUSD transactions to settle through XRP as a bridge asset on the XRPL, generating sustained buy pressure proportional to stablecoin volume. Whether Ripple will make this architectural decision is unknown. The current design does not mandate it.
The whale accumulation signal
While retail flows and ETF inflows have weakened, on chain data tells a different story at the whale level. Large wallets are accumulating more than 10 million XRP per day. On Binance, 91% of XRP outflows are coming from wallets classified as large holders, the highest concentration since 2024. Across all centralized exchanges, whale driven outflows exceed 90%.
This divergence, collapsing retail interest paired with accelerating whale accumulation, has historically preceded significant price moves in both directions. Whales accumulating while retail sells can signal informed buying ahead of a catalyst. It can also signal large holders averaging down into a position that continues to deteriorate.
The distinguishing factor is what happens next. If whale accumulation is followed by a catalyst, such as CLARITY Act passage or a resumption of ETF inflows, the accumulated positions become the foundation for a rally. If no catalyst arrives, the whales are simply the last buyers before a further decline.
The on chain data does not tell you which scenario is correct. It tells you that someone with significant capital believes XRP is undervalued at $1.00. Whether they are right depends on the three conditions outlined above.
The Robinhood UK factor
A development that has received less attention than it deserves is Robinhood’s UK launch, which includes XRP among more than 50 tradeable digital assets with zero trading and custody fees. This is the first time a major retail brokerage has offered commission free XRP trading in a G7 market outside the United States.
The significance is not the trading volume itself, which is likely to be modest in the initial months. It is what the listing represents about XRP’s regulatory standing. Robinhood’s compliance team approved XRP for a regulated UK platform. This is an implicit statement about the token’s legal status that carries weight with other brokerages and exchanges considering similar offerings.
If Robinhood UK generates meaningful XRP volume, it provides a template for other European and Asian brokerages to follow. This would create a new demand channel independent of the US ETF complex and the CLARITY Act. It is not a substitute for either condition, but it could provide a floor under prices while the larger catalysts play out.
https://x.com/cryptodotnews/status/2043284997013164208
What the bears get right
The bearish case for XRP is straightforward and currently winning. The token is down 65% from its January high. ETF inflows have collapsed. The regulatory catalyst is stalled. And Ripple’s most successful product, RLUSD, is growing without generating XRP demand.
Bears also point to Ripple’s own XRP sales. The company holds billions of XRP in escrow and releases portions monthly. While Ripple has reduced its programmatic sales in recent quarters, the existence of a large, concentrated holder with the ability to sell at any time creates a persistent overhang that no other major cryptocurrency faces.
The structural comparison to ethereum is unflattering. Ethereum’s fee burn mechanism creates deflationary pressure proportional to network usage. XRP has no equivalent. Its fixed supply and Ripple’s escrow releases create a dynamic closer to a company selling treasury stock than a protocol with organic tokenomics.
This critique deserves its full weight because it identifies the central question: what is XRP for, specifically, that RLUSD cannot do better? If the answer is “nothing except price speculation,” the recovery case rests entirely on external catalysts rather than intrinsic demand. That is a fragile foundation.
What would prove this analysis wrong
If all three conditions are met simultaneously, the analysis shifts from conditional recovery to probable recovery. The specific signals are:
The CLARITY Act passes the Senate cloture vote on or after September 15 with 60 or more votes. This would be the strongest single catalyst XRP has received since the SEC case resolution.
Weekly ETF inflows return to and sustain above $10 million for four consecutive weeks. This would indicate that the August collapse was a temporary sentiment event rather than a structural ceiling.
Ripple announces an architectural change to RLUSD settlement that generates XRP demand proportional to stablecoin volume. This would close the gap between RLUSD growth and XRP price and is the condition most within Ripple’s control.
Any one of these conditions met in isolation would likely produce a short term bounce. All three met within a 90 day window would change the fundamental trajectory.
What to watch
September 15 cloture vote. The single most important date on XRP’s calendar. A successful vote effectively guarantees the CLARITY Act becomes law. A failed vote removes the catalyst for 2026 and probably 2027.
Weekly ETF flow reports. Published by CoinGlass and multiple trackers every Monday. Four consecutive weeks above $10 million in net inflows would signal a trend reversal. Four consecutive weeks below $5 million would confirm the August collapse is structural.
RLUSD transaction volume on the XRPL versus Ethereum. If RLUSD volume shifts toward the XRP Ledger, the bridge currency mechanism begins generating real XRP demand. If volume remains concentrated on Ethereum, RLUSD growth continues to be XRP neutral.
Whale accumulation rate. Daily exchange outflow data from Santiment and Glassnode. Sustained accumulation above 10 million XRP per day indicates large holders maintain conviction. A slowdown below 5 million per day would suggest even whales are losing confidence.
Ripple escrow releases and sales. Ripple’s monthly escrow unlock and subsequent market sales are trackable on chain. Any increase in the pace of sales during a period of price weakness would be a bearish signal that outweighs whale accumulation.
Why has XRP dropped 65% from its January high?
XRP reached approximately $3.40 in January 2026 on optimism around ETF launches and the CLARITY Act. The decline reflects a combination of regulatory delay, collapsing ETF inflows, broader altcoin weakness, and the failure of RLUSD’s growth to generate proportional XRP demand. The token currently trades near $1.03, testing its most significant support level.
How many XRP ETFs exist in the United States?
Seven spot XRP ETFs are currently trading in the US with combined assets under management of approximately $1 billion. Cumulative net inflows since launch total $1.51 billion, but the gap reflects XRP’s price decline since the funds launched. Weekly inflows collapsed 93% in the week ending August 8, falling to $1.01 million from $14.86 million.
What is the Ripple v. SEC case status?
The case is fully resolved. Ripple paid a $125 million civil penalty. The SEC withdrew its appeal in March 2025. The court ruled that institutional XRP sales were securities transactions but programmatic sales on exchanges were not. No further legal proceedings are pending between Ripple and the SEC.
What is RLUSD and why does it matter for XRP?
RLUSD is Ripple’s regulated USD stablecoin with a $1.6 billion market cap, making it the third largest US regulated stablecoin. It has partnerships with BNY Mellon, BlackRock, Mastercard, and JPMorgan. RLUSD matters for XRP because its growth was expected to drive XRP demand through fee burns and bridge currency usage, but this connection has not materialized in practice.
Are whales buying XRP?
Yes. On chain data shows large wallets accumulating more than 10 million XRP per day as of August 2026. On Binance, 91% of XRP outflows come from large holder wallets. However, whale accumulation alone does not guarantee a price recovery. It indicates conviction among large holders but requires catalysts to translate into sustained price appreciation.
Will the CLARITY Act help XRP?
If passed, the CLARITY Act would classify XRP as a digital commodity under CFTC oversight, providing the regulatory clarity that 65% of institutional allocators say they need before increasing crypto exposure. The bill faces a September 15 Senate cloture vote with approximately 16% odds of passage on Polymarket. Failure would remove XRP’s most significant near term regulatory catalyst.
What price do analysts predict for XRP in 2026?
Forecasts range from Standard Chartered’s $8 year end target, contingent on sustained ETF inflows and regulatory clarity, to more conservative projections of $2.65 to $5.13 from algorithmic models. Current conditions do not support the bullish end of these estimates. Most analysts describe 2026 as a bottoming and consolidation year with meaningful recovery potentially extending into 2027.
Could XRP drop below $1.00?
The $1.00 level is XRP’s most significant psychological and technical support. A sustained break below $1.00 would likely trigger stop loss selling from leveraged positions and could push the token toward $0.75, which is the realized price level where whale accumulation has been concentrated. A break below $1.00 would also undermine the narrative that the post SEC settlement floor is secure. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile and carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions. Published August 10, 2026.
Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) posted a $238.1 million net loss for the second quarter of 2026, with unrealized markdowns on its crypto and equity holdings accounting for most of the shortfall.
The Truth Social parent narrowed its deficit from the $405.9 million loss recorded in the first quarter. Non-cash items again dominated results, as the company reported just $1.7 million in revenue against a $223.5 million adjusted EBITDA loss.
Crypto Markdowns Drive the Quarterly Loss For Trump Media
The bulk of the loss stemmed from $190.4 million in unrealized losses. This included digital assets, pledged digital assets, and equity securities held on the balance sheet.
Accounting rules require companies to mark down holdings when prices fall below their carrying value. That mechanism turned Trump Media’s crypto exposure into the dominant line item.
The result marks a second straight quarter shaped by digital asset volatility. In the previous filing, similar markdowns reached $368.7 million.
Shares closed at $9.39 on August 10, down 8.03% for the session from a prior close of $10.21. The stock slipped a further 0.53% to $9.34 in after-hours trading.
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McGurn Points to TAE Merger and Data Licensing
Interim CEO Kevin McGurn framed the planned merger with fusion energy firm TAE Technologies as the key value driver. McGurn expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter.
The new revenue stream arrives as Trump Media retreats from earlier crypto ventures, including a terminated CRO treasury plan with Crypto.com.
“We’re making meaningful progress toward our proposed merger with TAE Technologies, which we believe is the most important driver of long-term shareholder value and a natural extension of our commitment to building durable, un-cancellable infrastructure, this time in energy security,” he said.
The firm also launched Truth API, its first data licensing product, on August 1. It has since signed more than 10 customer agreements. The rollout drew scrutiny over data plans tied to Truth Social.
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The post Trump Media Books $190 Million Paper Loss Across Crypto and Equities appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Riot Platforms has signed a 20 year data center agreement worth an expected $9.1 billion for 191 megawatts of computing capacity at its Rockdale campus in Texas, marking another major step away from relying solely on Bitcoin mining.
Summary
- Riot signed a 20 year lease for 191 MW, expected to generate $9.1 billion initially.
- Bloomberg identified Anthropic as Riot’s unnamed frontier AI tenant, citing people familiar with the matter.
- Riot expects full deployment by June 2028, after delivering 96 MW initially in December 2027.
- Extension options could raise total contract revenue to $16.1 billion if Anthropic exercises both periods.
- Riot secured $573 million from Morgan Stanley to fund initial construction while final financing progresses.
Riot described the customer in its Aug. 10 SEC filing only as a leading frontier AI lab.
Bloomberg subsequently identified the tenant as Anthropic, developer of the Claude artificial intelligence models, citing people familiar with the transaction. Neither company publicly confirmed Anthropic’s identity when Bloomberg contacted them. Riot declined to comment, while Anthropic did not respond. The distinction means the contract itself is confirmed, but the customer’s identity currently rests on Bloomberg’s reporting.
Riot Platforms turns Rockdale power toward AI
Riot’s official release says the agreement covers 191 MW of critical IT capacity at Rockdale. The first 96 MW is scheduled for December 2027, followed by another 95 MW by June 2028. The initial contract runs through June 2048.
The company says the agreement is “expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion” over its initial term. That figure is a company forecast rather than revenue already earned. Two optional five year extensions, exercisable by the tenant, could raise potential contract revenue to about $16.1 billion. Riot estimates cumulative net operating income of $7.3 billion to $8.2 billion during the base term, another forward looking projection dependent on construction and operating performance.
Rockdale was built around large scale Bitcoin mining. The Texas campus has 700 MW of developed, energized power capacity, along with existing fiber and electrical infrastructure that Riot says can be repurposed for high density computing. The company has said it intends to convert the site’s full gross capacity toward data center tenants over time.
The shift builds on a trend covered in earlier Riot coverage, when activist investor Starboard Value pushed the miner to accelerate its AI data center strategy. Starboard argued that Riot’s large U.S. power portfolio could command greater value when leased to computing customers.
Anthropic deal follows Riot’s AMD expansion
Riot already has another major technology tenant at Rockdale. AMD initially signed for 25 MW in January and exercised an additional 25 MW option in April. Riot completed delivery of the first 25 MW during the second quarter and expects another 10 MW in November 2026 and 15 MW in May 2027.
Combined with the newly announced 191 MW contract, Riot now has 241 MW of critical IT capacity under signed leases at Rockdale. Its earnings deck puts total expected contracted revenue from the two tenants at about $9.8 billion. AMD retains options that could expand its footprint further.
As crypto.news reported in previous earnings coverage, Riot began generating meaningful data center revenue this year as its AMD deployment moved online. Q2 data center revenue reached $23.2 million, including $4.9 million from operating leases and $18.3 million from tenant fit out services.
The broader strategy reflects how Bitcoin miners are monetizing access to scarce U.S. power infrastructure. In related industry coverage, Riot and several other miners were identified as potential beneficiaries because their existing grid connections can shorten development timelines compared with entirely new data center projects.
Bitcoin remains important as Riot funds the buildout
Riot has not exited Bitcoin mining. It produced 1,587 BTC during Q2, up from 1,426 BTC a year earlier. However, mining revenue fell to $113.7 million from $140.9 million as average Bitcoin prices declined and global network hash rate increased. Riot’s cost to mine one Bitcoin, excluding depreciation, was $49,912.
The company’s Bitcoin holdings are also helping finance its AI expansion. Riot ended June with 11,380 BTC valued at about $666 million, including 5,821 BTC held as collateral, alongside $548.9 million in cash. Its investor presentation explicitly says continued Bitcoin inventory sales are being used as a primary funding source for the equity portion of its data center spending.
That strategy follows earlier sales and transfers documented in recent Bitcoin reserve coverage. The company has increasingly treated its Bitcoin balance as a source of capital while maintaining an active mining operation.
Morgan Stanley backs construction as Riot targets 2028
Building the 191 MW project will require far more capital than Riot’s earlier AMD deployment. Management estimates construction spending of about $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion. Morgan Stanley has provided a $573 million interim financing facility to cover early development costs while an investment grade credit backstop is finalized.
Riot expects debt to fund 80% to 90% of the project’s costs, leaving an estimated equity requirement of $210 million to $460 million before capital recycled from its AMD financing. Those estimates remain subject to financing terms and construction costs.
Investors initially reacted strongly to Bloomberg’s identification of Anthropic. Riot shares jumped about 25% to $24.40 in late trading following the report. The move came after Riot reported Q2 revenue of $174.2 million, up 14% year over year, although the company also posted a $237.2 million quarterly net loss.
The next fixed milestones are the planned 96 MW delivery in December 2027 and full 191 MW deployment in June 2028. Riot must also finish the longer term financing package. Separately, its SEC filing says the company has a nonbinding letter of intent involving its Corsicana, Texas campus, giving Riot another potential route for converting former Bitcoin focused power infrastructure into U.S. AI capacity.
South Korea will expand its crypto Travel Rule to all transfers between registered virtual asset service providers (VASPs), removing the current 1 million won (about $700) threshold.
The country’s Cabinet approved amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information on Tuesday.
Under the changes, the Travel Rule will apply to all transfers between registered crypto service providers regardless of value. Receiving platforms will also be required to obtain sender and recipient information and may request missing information or reject transactions when required data is unavailable.
Removing the threshold is intended to prevent users from circumventing the rule by splitting transfers into smaller amounts, according to the Financial Intelligence Unit.
It cited one case in which a user bought Tether USDt (USDT) after depositing about 200 million won into a crypto exchange and then made 216 withdrawals, each worth less than 1 million won.
Related: South Korea plans stablecoin rules as opposition pushes crypto tax repeal
South Korea tightens rules for overseas exchanges, personal wallets
The amendments also introduce new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements for transfers involving overseas crypto exchanges and personal wallets.
Registered local VASPs will be required to determine which transfers they allow based on the risk posed by the counterparty. Transfers to low-risk overseas exchanges will be permitted, while transfers involving other foreign exchanges and personal wallets will generally be allowed when the sender and recipient are the same person.
However, transactions involving counterparties deemed high risk will be prohibited.
Crypto platforms will also have to establish their own suspicious transaction monitoring systems for transfers worth at least 10 million won involving foreign exchanges or personal wallets.
South Korean authorities said suspected money laundering involving overseas exchanges and personal wallets has increased as gaps in existing AML rules governing such transfers have been exploited.
The decree also strengthens registration requirements for crypto service providers, including financial health, internal controls, staffing and infrastructure standards, while expanding scrutiny of major shareholders.
The VASP registration provisions will take effect on Aug. 20, although existing providers will have an additional year to comply with some financial, staffing, infrastructure and internal control requirements. The expanded Travel Rule and other transfer-related AML requirements will take effect six months after the decree is promulgated.
Asia Express: Thailand’s 0% crypto tax. Bitcoin Red Team forced to use Chinese AI
Payments platform Decta will use USDC to settle its own funds internationally, bringing stablecoins into its back-end treasury operations.
Decta said Tuesday that it will use OpenPayd, a financial infrastructure company, to convert company funds into USDC for international settlement, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
“This is a proprietary treasury use case rather than a customer-facing payments flow,” Lux Thiagarajah, chief commercial officer at OpenPayd, told Cointelegraph.
“Decta transfers its own funds into OpenPayd’s regulated infrastructure, where they are converted into USDC via OpenPayd’s over-the-counter capabilities to support international operational settlements,” he added.
The integration shows how stablecoins are moving into traditional payments infrastructure as a tool for internal treasury and liquidity management, without making stablecoins part of its customer-facing payment services.
Stablecoins move into payments firms’ treasury operations
Decta said the integration will help it move funds between its entities internationally, manage liquidity and streamline treasury operations.
Scott Dawson, CEO of Decta UK, said the company wants technology to make its financial operations faster, simpler and more resilient while maintaining its existing controls and regulatory discipline.
Founded in 2015 in London, Decta is a payments platform that provides payment processing, acquiring, card issuing, banking and other financial infrastructure to businesses. The company operates across 32 countries and serves hundreds of companies, according to its announcement.
Related: Circle Q2 revenue falls short of Wall Street estimates
Decta has also explored stablecoin issuance in the past. In August 2024, Decta Limited and France-based Next Generation said they were exploring a potential euro-pegged stablecoin that Decta could issue under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), subject to regulatory approval.
OpenPayd, founded in London in 2018, provides financial infrastructure connecting fiat and digital assets. The company secured authorization under MiCA in June, allowing it to provide crypto services across the European Economic Area, including fiat-to-stablecoin on- and off-ramps. It counts Kraken, eToro, OKX and B2C2 among its clients.
Magazine: BIP-110 ends with a whimper, CLARITY vote punted: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 9
[PRESS RELEASE – London, UK, August 10th, 2026]
CT3 has announced the start of comprehensive preparations for the future listing of the CT3GB token. The company has begun scaling its data storage infrastructure, building financial and infrastructure reserves, and preparing its own tokenized economy, in which CT3GB will become the platform’s primary settlement asset. At the same time, the transition to a new data storage architecture based on specialized smart contracts is underway, while an independent audit of the entire core smart contract infrastructure will be conducted ahead of the listing.
Over the past several months, CT3 has significantly expanded the capabilities of its platform. One of the most important milestones was the implementation of automatic backup technology, following which demand for data storage services increased substantially. The growth in data volumes confirmed the platform’s readiness to support continuous data storage scenarios and became a signal to move on to the next stage of ecosystem development.
The company notes that further scaling cannot be considered separately from the platform’s economy. For this reason, preparations for the CT3GB listing began before the token enters the open market.
Transition to an In-House Settlement System
Today, most internal CT3 operations are carried out using the Polygon infrastructure. Following the launch of CT3GB, the company plans to transition all major financial processes within the platform to its own token.
CT3GB will be used to pay for data storage services, settle payments with infrastructure owners, distribute rewards, facilitate internal settlements between network participants, and carry out other operations required for the functioning of the CT3 Cloud ecosystem.
Thus, the token will become not merely an additional means of payment, but a fundamental element of the platform’s economy, facilitating the flow of value between users, storage infrastructure, and CT3 services.
Preparing the Economy Before the Listing
According to CT3, the sustainability of a tokenized economy is determined not by the moment of listing itself, but by the degree to which the infrastructure is prepared to operate after the listing.
That is why the company has already begun expanding its data storage network, increasing available computing capacity, and building reserves that will enable the platform to continue scaling without compromising performance.
Part of this strategy is being implemented through the Storage Contracts program. The company views it not as a separate stage of product development, but as one of the tools for building financial and infrastructure reserves. This approach makes it possible to gradually increase the network’s capacity while maintaining a high level of commercial utilization and, at the same time, creating the resource buffer required for the continued growth of the ecosystem after the listing.
A New Network Architecture
In parallel, CT3 continues to modernize its technology platform.
One of the key areas of development is the segmentation of the storage infrastructure into separate specialized smart contracts. Instead of relying on a single architecture, different products within the ecosystem are gradually being assigned their own contracts with independent capacity limits and resource accounting.
According to the company, this model will enable more efficient platform scaling, improve transparency in infrastructure utilization, and provide greater flexibility for developing new services without affecting products that are already operational.
Independent Audit Before the CT3GB Launch
Another mandatory stage of the preparation process will be an independent audit of the smart contracts.
Before CT3GB enters the public market, the company plans to complete a comprehensive review of the smart contract infrastructure that will support the token and the platform’s key services. The audit will focus on verifying the security of the contracts, the correctness of their business logic, and compliance with industry standards.
CT3 notes that the audit is considered an essential part of preparing for the public launch of the project’s economy and one of the factors that can help strengthen trust among users, partners, and cryptocurrency exchanges.
The Next Stage of CT3’s Development
The preparation for the CT3GB listing is part of CT3’s long-term development strategy aimed at creating a fully autonomous data storage infrastructure with its own economic model.
Once the preparations are complete, CT3GB will become the platform’s primary settlement asset and will be used for all internal operations across the ecosystem. At the same time, the value of the token will be driven not only by market demand but also by its practical utility in the day-to-day operation of CT3 Cloud services.
Infrastructure expansion, reserve creation, the implementation of a new storage architecture, and preparation for an independent audit are all part of a unified strategy designed to ensure that CT3GB launches within an ecosystem that is already prepared for further scaling and growth.
About CT3
CT3 is a technology company developing next-generation decentralized data storage infrastructure. The company’s ecosystem combines a distributed storage network, NFT-based access keys, automatic backup technologies, and a scalable smart contract architecture. CT3 solutions are designed for both individual users and the corporate sector, providing secure long-term data storage, backup, and protection of digital information.
The post CT3 Begins Preparing Its Ecosystem for the Launch of the CT3GB Economy appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Onchain investigator ZachXBT named a US-based threat actor, Tiffany Milanovich, who is tied to at least $5 million in crypto theft through fake support calls.
According to his findings, Milanovich worked as a “caller,” phoning victims while posing as support staff and talking them into surrendering access to their funds. He said she recorded herself taunting victims after draining them.
How the Impersonation Scheme Worked
Milanovich worked as part of a group. As the caller, she impersonated the hardware wallet and centralized exchange support.
A separate actor using the aliases “bled” and “harm” supplied the phishing-panel infrastructure, according to the report.
In June 2026, a victim lost $1.2 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) after the group drained the victim’s Trezor wallet. The attack began with a spoofed BitcoinIRA email sent under the alias “Patricia Massie.” ZachXBT said the bulk of the stolen funds remain dormant onchain.
An earlier theft in October 2025 cost a victim $500,000 in Bitcoin after the group drained a Coinbase account. ZachXBT said Milanovich complained about her cut and posted a screenshot of the withdrawal herself.
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How Milanovich Spent the Stolen Crypto
Milanovich openly displayed stolen proceeds, luxury purchases, and casino gambling on social media, the investigator said. She allegedly gambled a victim’s funds at a casino. He added that some “flex” videos appear to have been altered to inflate the apparent size of the thefts.
The report also ties Milanovich to John “Lick” Daghita, whom ZachXBT exposed in January for allegedly stealing crypto seized by the US government. Daghita was later arrested in Saint Martin in March.
“Tiffany, who was already close to John, recorded him on a call and shared it to troll him. In retaliation, John posted her name in his public Telegram channel,” the crypto sleuth said.
These scams sit within a growing wave of impersonation fraud. FBI data logged more than 80,000 tech-support and government-impersonation complaints in 2025, with losses above $2.9 billion. Chainalysis separately reported that crypto impersonation scams jumped nearly 1,400% that year.
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The post ZachXBT Traces $5M Crypto Thefts to US-Based Support Impersonation Scammer appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Twelve Nasdaq 100 stocks have more than doubled in 2026, and none of them belong to the Magnificent Seven.
The Magnificent 7 stocks all have different primary focuses, even though they are grouped together as large, influential tech-adjacent powerhouses heavily tied to trends like artificial intelligence. But the biggest leaders was SanDisk, up 411% year to date, while Micron and Intel also more than doubled this year.
All 12 Nasdaq 100 Stocks That Doubled
The rest of the list skews heavily toward companies that build AI infrastructure hardware rather than software platforms.
- Sandisk (SNDK) +406%
- Micron (MU) +207%
- Intel (INTC) +175%
- Arm Holdings (ARM) +159%
- Marvell Technology (MRVL) +157%
- Western Digital (WDC) +152%
- Lumentum (LITE) +142%
- AMD (AMD) +126%
- Nebius (NBIS) +125%
- Applied Materials (AMAT) +110%
- Fortinet (FTNT) +101%
- Astera Labs (ALAB) +101%
The Magnificent Seven Are Sitting This Out
Returns vary widely inside the group. Amazon leads with a 20% gain this year, followed by Nvidia at 14%, Apple at 13%, and Alphabet at 12%.
Microsoft has managed just a 4% gain. Meta has fallen 10%, and Tesla is down 27%, the group’s weakest performer. The S&P 500 has gained roughly 13% over the same period.
Ed Yardeni, founder of Yardeni Research, has tracked the reversal for months.
“The Impressive-493 has outperformed the Magnificent-7 since last November.”
Nvidia and Amazon are the only members keeping pace with the broader market this year with much expected from Nvidia as it continues to propel the AI chip market.
The gap leaves five of the seven trailing the broader index. It also leaves them behind the semiconductor suppliers that once traded in their shadow.
Why This Is Happening
Investors have rotated out of the Magnificent Seven and into companies building the physical AI infrastructure. Semiconductor and memory suppliers have absorbed capital that once flowed straight into mega-cap tech.
Wall Street’s own strategists have pushed the trade further. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan have all said in recent weeks that the group’s underperformance has gone too far.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s chief investment officer, Lisa Shalett, still called the semiconductor rally “meaningfully overbought.” She argued investors should now rebuild diversified exposure to the Magnificent Seven as AI infrastructure winners.
Why the AI Trade Moved Downstream
Most of these winners sell the physical building blocks of the AI boom. Sandisk and Western Digital make flash memory chips that AI servers, phones, and hospital scanners are now competing for.
That shortage has pulled in retail traders. Buyers kept adding to AI memory stocks even during a summer selloff in the sector.
Wall Street is split on how to trade the theme. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley disagreed in July over the AI chip trade.
Jim Cramer took a side. He named five chip suppliers as the market’s preferred AI bet over Big Tech platforms.
The split leaves the Magnificent Seven trailing hundreds of smaller stocks in the S&P 500 this year. Whether that gap closes likely depends on how upcoming earnings treat AI hardware demand versus AI capital spending.
The post 12 Nasdaq Stocks Doubled in 2026, But None Are Magnificent Seven appeared first on BeInCrypto.
OpenAI has released GPT-5.6-Cyber, a cybersecurity-specific model that gives approved defenders tools for exploit development and vulnerability research.
The company positioned the launch around a shrinking window for defense. It argues that threat actors will increasingly use AI to run attacks at greater speed and scale, including in fully autonomous ways.
OpenAI Gives Trusted Defenders Frontier Cyber Tools
GPT-5.6-Cyber is built on GPT-5.6 Sol, OpenAI’s standard model. Notably, the model reduces refusals for requests involving exploit chain development, authentication bypass, privilege escalation, and other advanced cybersecurity scenarios.
OpenAI says it completes 95% of these requests, compared with 1.5% for its general-purpose GPT-5.6 Sol model.
The company said the model found two vulnerabilities in the V8 engine that powers Google Chrome. It reported them to Google as CVE-2026-15903. The model also surfaced more than 400 kernel vulnerabilities linked to privilege escalation.
Meanwhile, OpenAI said it’s expanding Daybreak to two access tiers. Daybreak Blue offers general-purpose models with defensive safeguards. Daybreak Red provides access to purpose-trained cybersecurity models, including GPT-5.6-Cyber.
“Our answer is to put frontier intelligence in the hands of trusted defenders everywhere before attackers deploy offensive AI capabilities at scale,” the team said.
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Rogue AI Incidents Sharpen the Stakes
The release lands shortly after AI models breached outside systems during testing at three companies. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta each disclosed such an incident.
OpenAI’s agents escaped a sandbox and broke into AI startup Hugging Face. Anthropic said its Claude models reached three organizations’ systems.
Meta confirmed one of its models breached an outside company’s systems. OpenAI stresses that GPT-5.6-Cyber was not involved in the Hugging Face breach.
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The post OpenAI Ships GPT-5.6-Cyber Through Gated Daybreak Red Access Tier appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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