Crypto’s August rally put corporate conviction to the test. Bitcoin (BTC) miners that spent much of the crypto downturn courting AI investors are once again trading like leveraged bets on BTC, while Strategy and Strive are adding thousands more Bitcoin to their balance sheets. 

The same concentration is playing out elsewhere. Bitmine is closing in on owning 5% of  Ether’s (ETH) circulating supply despite billions in unrealized losses, while 21 major financial institutions are taking a different approach by developing stablecoins for payments and settlement.

Bitcoin rally puts miners back in the spotlight

Bitcoin’s August rally lifted beaten-down mining stocks by as much as 67%, reversing a trend that had favored miners pivoting to AI and underscoring the sector’s continued sensitivity to BTC market conditions.

BlocksBridge Consulting reported in a recent newsletter that Bitcoin’s roughly 23% rally in late August outpaced most AI-linked infrastructure stocks. Canaan, American Bitcoin and Cango gained between 41% and 67%, compared with about 21% for CoreWeave, 17% for Nebius and 15% for IREN. Meanwhile, some miners with greater exposure to AI and high-performance computing were flat or declined.

BlocksBridge cited three catalysts for the rally: an expansion of US Treasury liquidity-supporting buybacks, renewed regulatory optimism following a White House crypto meeting and a sharp short squeeze that liquidated more than $1.6 billion in positions.

The outperformance suggests investors may once again be rewarding direct Bitcoin exposure, although the sector still faces risks from the high costs of building out AI data-center capacity.

Strive, Strategy add to Bitcoin holdings as BTC rallies

Strive and Strategy added billions of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin to their corporate treasuries in the final week of August, with Strive buying 1,800 BTC for approximately $143 million and Strategy acquiring another 4,603 BTC.

Strive’s purchases between Aug. 24 and Aug. 28 lifted its holdings to 23,156 BTC, making it the fifth-largest publicly traded corporate Bitcoin holder. The company paid an average of $79,431 per BTC, including fees and expenses, after buying 1,110 BTC the prior week at an average price of $73,409.

Strategy, meanwhile, resumed buying, acquiring 4,603 BTC at an average price of $80,318 and lifting its holdings above 845,000 BTC after four sales since May.

The purchases coincided with a broader digital asset recovery that began Aug. 19, after the US Treasury announced plans to double certain long-term bond buybacks. 

21 financial institutions plan a G7 stablecoin venture for 2027

A consortium of 21 major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Citi, plans to establish a new company to develop and issue stablecoins, marking another sign of traditional finance’s push into digital dollars as regulatory frameworks take shape. 

The group intends to launch a US dollar-denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027 before expanding to other G7 currencies, with a euro offering next. The stablecoin will target wholesale, institutional and retail markets for cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. 

The venture builds on an initiative announced last October by 10 banks exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed digital money on public blockchains. The consortium now spans North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and intends to comply with both the US GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA regulation.

Bitmine nears 5% of Ether supply after 65-week buying streak

Bitmine has extended its Ether buying streak to 65 consecutive weeks, adding 53,501 ETH last week as a broader crypto market recovery lifted the value of its digital asset portfolio. 

The latest purchase brought Bitmain’s holdings to more than 5.9 million ETH, valued at roughly $14.8 billion based on an Ether price of $2,511 as of Sunday. The company now owns 4.9% of Ethereum’s 120.7 million circulating supply, putting it within striking distance of its stated 5% goal.

Bitmine chairman Tom Lee said Ether, Bitcoin and Solana have been the three best-performing major assets since June 30, with ETH leading gains. 

“We believe this sets the stage for institutions to add to their crypto holdings given the substantial outperformance versus other macro assets,” Lee said. 

Despite the accumulation, Bitmine is sitting on roughly $5.1 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings, according to DropsTab data, reflecting sustained buying through the downturn that began in late 2022.

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Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has launched a stablecoin donation channel for Nepal’s official disaster fund, with Blockchain for Impact pledging $100,000 to the campaign.

Stablecoins provide a route into Nepal’s disaster fund

Sandeep Nailwal said in a Sep. 4 X post that he had opened a cryptocurrency donation route for people seeking to support relief and reconstruction in Nepal.

Rather than sending digital assets directly to a government-controlled wallet, the system collects cryptocurrency and converts the proceeds into Nepalese rupees. The local currency then enters the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund through recognized financial channels, according to Nailwal.

Polygon’s Open Money Stack provides the routing, bridging and conversion infrastructure behind the campaign. Coinme and Cross River Bank are also supporting the payment pathway, while Blockchain for Impact has pledged $100,000.

The campaign website says donors can contribute USDC through Ethereum or Polygon. Engage Nepal, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, handles the collection and accounting process before delivering the converted funds to Nepal’s official disaster fund.

By accepting a dollar-backed stablecoin, the system avoids exposing the donated amount to the price swings associated with assets such as Bitcoin or Ether. Nailwal described stablecoins as suitable for cases in which money must reach people quickly, although the final transfer still relies on conversion services and conventional banking infrastructure.

Public blockchain records can show when a donation enters a listed wallet and when the assets move to another address. Nailwal’s announcement did not provide a schedule for converting the contributions or state when the government fund would receive each batch of proceeds.

Nepal crypto donations follow a deadly flood

The fundraising drive follows severe flooding caused by a glacier collapse in the Himalayan region on Aug. 26. Ice, rock, mud, and other debris entered the mountain river system, sending floodwater through settlements and damaging roads, bridges, and power infrastructure.

Authorities had reported at least 750 deaths and more than 3,000 missing people across Nepal and China’s Tibet region by Aug. 30. Nepal accounted for 734 of the reported deaths and 2,498 of the missing, according to figures cited in a recent relief report.

The Red Cross estimated that more than 90,000 people had been affected. Flooding also isolated some communities from food, clean water, and emergency services, while hundreds of workers were believed to be trapped in damaged hydropower tunnels.

World Central Kitchen said local restaurant partners were providing meals in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts. Mercy Corps, which has worked in Nepal since 2005, began coordinating food, water, and sanitation assistance with local organizations and government agencies.

Ripple committed $300,000 on Aug. 29 to support the work of both relief groups. The San Francisco-based blockchain company did not say whether XRP, its RLUSD stablecoin, or a conventional payment method would be used for the contribution.

Elsewhere in the crypto sector, the Solana Foundation and NFT marketplace Mallow sold nine advertising spaces on Solana’s X profile image through an auction. Bidders used USDC, and the organizers reported that the sale generated $166,946.50 for Nepal relief.

Under the auction process, Mallow was responsible for receiving the proceeds, moving them into USDC on Ethereum, and transferring the funds to Engage Nepal. The U.S. nonprofit would then deliver the money to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund.

U.S. organizations handle part of the payment route

For donors in the United States, the Polygon-backed campaign uses several organizations operating within the country’s financial and nonprofit systems.

Engage Nepal operates as a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) organization and is led by former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Scott DeLisi. Its role connects public crypto wallets with a legal entity that can convert and transfer funds through channels recognized by Nepal’s government.

Cross River Bank adds a regulated banking component to the arrangement. The New Jersey-based institution provides financial services to fintech and payment companies, placing a conventional bank between the onchain collection system and the fiat transfer.

Coinme, another U.S. participant, operates cryptocurrency cash and payment infrastructure. Nailwal did not break down the duties assigned to Coinme or Cross River Bank, though he identified both as supporters of the campaign alongside Polygon’s Open Money Stack.

Nepal’s government has not listed a cryptocurrency address on its official disaster-relief donation page. Its established options include bank transfers, cards, remittance services, and international payment systems, which means the campaign serves as an intermediary for donors who hold digital assets.

The structure also limits what blockchain records can prove. Onchain data can verify transactions involving the public donation wallet, but it cannot independently show how converted funds are spent after they enter a bank account or government relief program.

In response to the disaster, Nepalese officials have warned the public against unauthorized payment codes and personal accounts claiming to collect relief money. Donors using cryptocurrency face a similar verification issue because a public wallet address does not, by itself, confirm who controls it.

Nailwal returns to crypto-funded humanitarian work

The Nepal campaign extends Nailwal’s involvement in relief projects that began during India’s COVID-19 crisis in 2021. At the time, he created the India COVID-Crypto Relief Fund to collect digital assets from donors around the world.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin later sent 50 trillion Shiba Inu tokens to the fund. The contribution was valued at about $1.2 billion when the transfer occurred, although converting a donation of that size required managing market liquidity, price volatility, and local rules.

In June 2023, Buterin and Nailwal directed another $100 million toward COVID-19 research and medical infrastructure in India. Under the arrangement, Crypto Relief supplied $90 million in USDC, while Buterin contributed the remaining $10 million, as previously covered here.

Crypto Relief was later reworked into Blockchain for Impact, the organization now contributing $100,000 to the Nepal campaign. BFI has concentrated on healthcare, biomedical research, and public-health programs in India.

As crypto.news reported in March 2025, BFI had allocated over $90 million to healthcare and research programs while pledging another $200 million for future projects. Its plans included work with more than 15 medical colleges, support for 50 research projects, and programs involving over 600 researchers.

Nailwal said at the time that combining blockchain transparency with collaborative funding could help ensure “every dollar is accounted for and maximized for impact.”

In his Nepal announcement, Nailwal also cited his personal connection to the region. Born in Kumaon in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, which borders Nepal, he said his maternal family came from the same area. Communities across the India–Nepal border have long maintained family, cultural, religious and commercial ties commonly described as roti-beti ka rishta, or a relationship built through shared livelihoods and marriage.

The National Sheriffs’ Association has withdrawn its opposition to the CLARITY Act, adopting a neutral position 12 days before the Senate’s scheduled Sep. 15 procedural vote.

Why the sheriffs withdrew their CLARITY Act opposition

The National Sheriffs’ Association said in a Sep. 3 letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that it had changed its position on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act from opposition to neutral.

NSA President Sheriff Troy Wellman and Executive Director Justin Smith said the bill covers a complex area in which lawmakers, the White House, and interested organizations have spent months considering unresolved details. The group decided that Congress should continue its work rather than face continued opposition from the sheriffs’ organization.

“We believe the most appropriate course is to step back and allow the legislative process to proceed to establish a clear, effective, and much-needed regulatory framework,” Wellman and Smith wrote.

The letter removes a vocal law enforcement objection before senators decide whether to begin formal debate on the legislation. Neutrality does not amount to an endorsement, and the NSA did not say that all its earlier concerns had been resolved.

Instead, the organization recognized the work undertaken since it first challenged the bill and said remaining questions should be handled through negotiations. Its decision gives Senate leaders more room to discuss illicit-finance provisions without an active opposition campaign from one of the country’s main sheriffs’ groups.

Law enforcement organizations had not taken a single position on the proposal. In July, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives endorsed the legislation, while the NSA and the International Association of Chiefs of Police raised concerns about its treatment of decentralized services and software developers. The dispute created a law enforcement split over whether the proposal would preserve investigators’ existing powers.

Section 604 drove the anti-money laundering dispute

In a May letter to the Senate Banking Committee, the NSA warned that Section 604 could provide what it called a “blanket exemption” from anti-money laundering requirements for mixers, tumblers and decentralized finance platforms.

The group argued that criminals could use developing software, algorithms, and agentic artificial intelligence to transfer crypto without traceable records or responsible intermediaries. According to its May assessment, such tools could assist money laundering, terrorism financing, and sanctions evasion.

“Some will use evolving software, algorithms, and agentic AI to help transfer digital assets without tracing or accountability, launder money, finance terrorism, and evade sanctions,” the organization wrote at the time.

Section 604 addresses when developers and providers of non-custodial crypto software may be treated as money transmitters. Under the proposed protection, a developer who creates software without taking control of customer assets would not automatically face the licensing and Bank Secrecy Act duties imposed on a business that transmits funds for users.

Supporters have argued that publishing code is different from operating a financial service or controlling customer money. Law enforcement critics, however, have said the distinction could reduce the number of companies required to verify customers, file suspicious activity reports, and retain records that investigators can obtain through subpoenas.

After the NSA’s May warning, the White House invited concerned law enforcement organizations to discuss the proposal’s treatment of illicit finance. The meeting focused on objections involving DeFi, anti-money laundering enforcement, and the legal protections available to developers who do not hold user funds.

The Blockchain Association later disputed the NSA’s interpretation. In July, CEO Summer Mersinger called the measure an important consumer-protection effort, while the industry group maintained that businesses controlling customer funds would remain subject to financial-crime laws.

Senate Republicans also released a 616-page merged draft on July 22. As crypto.news previously reported, the text combined provisions developed by the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees and added a law enforcement title alongside 25 sections dealing with sanctions and anti-money laundering gaps.

The CLARITY Act would divide SEC and CFTC oversight

H.R. 3633 would set federal rules for deciding whether a digital asset falls under the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The proposal would leave securities and investment contracts under SEC oversight while giving the CFTC authority over qualifying digital commodities and parts of the spot market.

For U.S. investors, the regulator assigned to an asset could determine the disclosure, trading, and customer-protection rules that apply to it. The legislation would also establish registration requirements for crypto businesses and create a process for qualifying networks to show that an asset should receive commodity treatment rather than remain governed as a security.

The House passed its version of the CLARITY Act by 294-134 in July 2025. In May 2026, the Senate Banking Committee advanced an amended proposal by a 15-9 vote, with two Democrats joining all 13 Republicans on the committee.

Committee approval did not settle the bill’s path through the full Senate. Republicans hold 53 seats, while the chamber requires 60 votes to invoke cloture and overcome a filibuster. At least seven Democrats would therefore need to support the procedural motion if every Republican voted for it.

Several Democratic senators said in July that they wanted stronger language covering illicit finance, consumer protection, market integrity, and conflicts of interest. Their objections included the bill’s ethics rules for elected officials who hold crypto assets or maintain financial ties to digital-asset businesses.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren also criticized the July draft, saying its ethics provisions would still permit President Donald Trump to hold and trade crypto while taking official action on digital-asset policy. Warren’s statement said the text would not prevent Trump-affiliated entities or family members from launching crypto products that use his name or image.

Senate vote faces a shortened congressional calendar

Senate leaders delayed the vote in August after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement before leaving Washington for recess. Thune later filed a cloture motion on the motion to proceed, setting up a Sept. 15 vote that could open formal consideration of the legislation.

Clearing cloture would not pass the CLARITY Act. Senators could still debate the proposal, offer amendments, and hold more procedural votes before deciding whether to approve the full bill.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said on Sept. 2 that he expected movement within two weeks as the Senate prepared for the procedural test. Atkins has also said the SEC can pursue crypto exemptions and other rule changes under its existing legal powers if Congress does not enact the bill.

Separate SEC work includes a proposed framework that would address token offerings, disclosure requirements, and the conditions under which some crypto assets may leave securities status. Agency rules can be revised by later SEC leadership, while an act of Congress would establish requirements in federal law.

Even if senators approve an amended version, the House would need to accept the changes or negotiate a common text with the Senate before the proposal could reach the president. House Republican leaders have canceled voting sessions during the weeks of Sept. 21 and Sept. 28, leaving Sept. 17 as the chamber’s final scheduled voting day before lawmakers depart for the November midterm election campaign.

Robinhood Chain has stopped producing blocks for more than 14 minutes, preventing the Ethereum layer-2 network from confirming token transfers and smart contract transactions.

Robinhood Chain stopped confirming transactions

Robinhood Chain block explorer data showed that the network stopped adding blocks at around 12:57 p.m. UTC on Sept. 4, leaving submitted transactions without confirmation for more than 14 minutes.

Transfers, smart contract calls, and router interactions could not move forward while the chain remained at the same block height. New transactions continued to appear in the explorer, but several stayed pending because the network was not producing blocks to process them.

News aggregator Aggr News was among the first to report the interruption on X.