Pi Network price gained more than 10% this week as rising volume, the Protocol 26 upgrade, and a new RoboPay integration improved short-term demand.

Pi Network price tests $0.09 resistance

According to data from crypto.news, Pi Network (PI) price traded near $0.0872 on Wednesday after gaining more than 10% over the past week. The token rose as high as $0.0902 during the latest daily session before giving back part of the move.

Trading activity also increased. PI’s 24-hour volume rose 75% to approximately $11.5 million, showing that the recovery attracted more market participation than earlier low-volume moves.

The 4-hour chart shows PI pressing against the upper Bollinger Band at $0.08824. That level overlaps with the $0.088–$0.090 resistance zone that has limited several recovery attempts since late July.

A 4-hour close above $0.090 would provide the first clear sign that buyers have broken the immediate ceiling. Until that happens, the latest advance remains a resistance test rather than a confirmed breakout.

PI’s 4-hour Relative Strength Index stood at 61.97, above its signal average of 53.98. The reading points to strengthening momentum but remains below the conventional overbought threshold of 70.

Protocol 26 deadline supports sentiment

The recovery comes as Pi Network prepares to complete its Protocol 26 Mainnet upgrade. The Pi Core Team has given node operators until Aug. 11 to install the update through the Pi Node software.

Operators who fail to upgrade risk losing their connection to the Mainnet, according to the project’s official announcement.

Protocol 26 follows eight upgrades completed during recent months. Pi Network has described it as a major step before Protocol 27, the final update currently planned in this upgrade cycle.

The upgrades are intended to bring the network’s protocol features and functionality up to date. However, they do not guarantee greater demand for PI or a sustained price recovery. Traders will be watching whether the technical work leads to increased development and activity across the ecosystem.

The Aug. 11 deadline may remain a short-term sentiment driver. Price volatility could rise around the event if node participation or the upgrade process differs from market expectations.

RoboPay adds a potential PI payment use case

Fabric Foundation also announced that Pi Network had joined RoboPay as a payment partner. The group said PI would be used to pay for robot services across the Fabric network.

“Pi will be used to pay for robot services across the Fabric network,” the Fabric Foundation said.

RoboPay is designed to let developers assign prices and execution rules to robotic tasks. A payment-authorized request can trigger a robot to perform an action and return a structured result once the task is completed or rejected, according to Fabric Foundation documentation.

Potential services include deliveries, security patrols, industrial inspections and interactions with humanoid assistants. These examples describe the planned scope of the system, however, and do not establish that each service is already widely available to PI holders.

The integration gives PI another proposed utility route beyond transfers and ecosystem applications. Its effect on token demand will depend on the availability of RoboPay services, user adoption, and the number of transactions ultimately settled with PI.

PI price faces larger moving-average barriers

The daily chart offers an improving short-term picture but shows that PI has not reversed its wider downtrend.

PI closed around $0.08727, above its 20-day simple moving average of $0.08513. Reclaiming that line gives buyers an initial support level following the rebound from July’s low near $0.070.

Chaikin Money Flow increased to 0.07, moving above zero as capital flows shifted modestly toward buyers. A sustained positive reading would add support to the recovery case.

The larger moving averages remain well above the market, however. PI trades below its 50-day SMA at $0.10218, the 100-day SMA at $0.12807, and the 200-day SMA at $0.15230. Their bearish alignment reflects the decline that has continued since the first quarter.

If PI closes above $0.090, the psychological $0.10 level and the 50-day SMA near $0.1022 would form the next resistance area. That would represent an advance of roughly 17% from $0.0872.

On the downside, the Bollinger Band midpoint and 20-day SMA create initial support around $0.0845–$0.0851. Losing that zone could expose the lower 4-hour band near $0.08085. A deeper reversal would put the July base between $0.070 and $0.075 back in focus.

For US traders, the setup also carries venue risk because PI access and supported trading pairs can differ by platform and jurisdiction. The displayed price comes from the OKX PI/USDT market, so spreads and available liquidity may not match those on other venues.

PI’s immediate outlook therefore depends on whether buyers can convert the current volume increase into a close above $0.090. Protocol 26 and RoboPay have improved sentiment, but the token must still clear its longer-term moving averages to establish a broader reversal.

Circle posted second-quarter results for fiscal year 2026 that showed revenue growth but a slight miss versus Wall Street’s expectations. The stablecoin issuer reported $701 million in total revenue and reserve income, up 7% year-over-year, alongside net income from continuing operations of $48 million.

In parallel, the company is pushing toward the next phase of its business: a public mainnet launch for Circle’s Arc blockchain scheduled for Sept. 16. Circle also disclosed its founding validator cohort and said it has more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders lined up ahead of the debut.

Key takeaways

• Circle reported $701 million in Q2 fiscal 2026 total revenue and reserve income, up 7% year-over-year, narrowly below the average estimate of $713.32 million compiled by Yahoo Finance.
• Reserve income totaled $668 million, growing 5% year-over-year, driven primarily by a 25% increase in average USDC circulation.
• Net income from continuing operations rose to $48 million, a $530 million improvement year-over-year.
• Guidance for “other revenue” in the current fiscal year was raised to $310 million–$330 million from $150 million–$170 million, including Arc token presale revenue.
• Arc’s launch remains scheduled for Sept. 16, with Circle naming a founding validator cohort that includes BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa.

Revenue growth, with reserve income still the driver

Circle’s quarterly performance centered on its reserve income stream. The company said it earned $668 million in reserve income in the quarter, representing a 5% increase compared with the same period a year earlier. Circle attributed the uptick primarily to a 25% rise in average USDC circulation.

Alongside reserve income, Circle reported total revenue and reserve income of $701 million. While the headline number reflected continued business momentum, it fell short of consensus forecasts, according to Yahoo Finance’s compilation of Wall Street analyst estimates.

On the profitability side, Circle reported net income from continuing operations of $48 million. The company framed this as a substantial year-over-year improvement, with a $530 million increase compared to the prior year period.

Guidance raised as Arc moves closer to mainnet

Although Circle’s earnings print missed the average consensus, management boosted its outlook for multiple metrics. Most notably, Circle increased its guidance for other revenue for the current fiscal year to $310 million–$330 million, up from the previous range of $150 million–$170 million. Circle stated that the higher range includes Arc token presale revenue.

The timing matters for investors and market participants because Circle’s financial narrative increasingly hinges on the Arc rollout. Circle has already set a public mainnet launch date for Sept. 16, and the company is using the period ahead of launch to position Arc as a broader platform rather than a one-off experiment.

Circle said Arc has more than 100 ecosystem and institutional builders lined up ahead of the debut. That includes not only developers, but also organizations expected to support early network activity and liquidity-related infrastructure.

Arc validator cohort signals a mainstream integration push

Circle’s Wednesday update also named the founding validator cohort for Arc. The list includes major financial and payments-focused firms: BlackRock, DTCC, Galaxy, Global Payments, ICE, Mastercard, MoneyGram, SBI Group, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Corporation, and Visa. Circle provided the validator list in a separate press announcement alongside details about major integrations for Arc ahead of September’s mainnet launch.

From an investor standpoint, the practical significance of naming validators is less about headlines and more about operational readiness. Validator involvement can be interpreted as an attempt to reduce perceived onboarding friction for institutional participation—especially in a market where regulated entities typically prefer familiar counterparties and proven compliance frameworks.

Still, readers should note what remains unknown: Circle did not indicate any changes to the Sept. 16 timing in its earnings release. The key follow-up will be whether the company’s ecosystem commitments translate into sustained activity once mainnet goes live.

Stablecoin supply slump adds pressure to the sector

Circle’s results landed during a broader stablecoin market slowdown. CryptoQuant data cited in the report showed total stablecoin supply declining to $153 billion as of June 30, down from $156 billion on April 1.

Even in a relatively soft supply environment, Circle continues to play a prominent role. The company issues USDC, described in the report as the world’s second-largest stablecoin by circulating supply, with $72 billion in circulation. Tether’s USDt (USDT) remains first with $183 billion in circulation, based on CoinMarketCap data referenced in the article.

A stablecoin supply pause can influence issuance-linked revenue expectations, which makes Circle’s USDC circulation growth in the quarter particularly important. Circle’s reserve income growth was tied to higher average USDC circulation—suggesting that while the overall stablecoin market was not expanding rapidly, Circle found a way to move in the opposite direction within its own product line.

The broader market impact also includes usage intensity. According to a spokesperson from Talos, USDC remains dominant for on-chain settlement even as supply growth has stalled. The spokesperson cited that USDC accounted for 72% of $15.6 trillion in adjusted on-chain transfer volume, and they added that USDC supported roughly eight times more transfer volume per dollar of supply than USDT.

What to watch next

With Arc’s Sept. 16 mainnet launch approaching and management having raised guidance to include Arc token presale revenue, the next signals investors should track are Circle’s ability to convert pre-launch ecosystem commitments into measurable on-chain activity—and whether the stablecoin supply backdrop improves enough to support continued growth in USDC circulation and reserve income.

Lido DAO price rebounded more than 5% on Thursday as holders voted on the NEST automated buyback system, although concerns over Ethereum’s proposed staking changes kept LDO under pressure.

Lido DAO price rebounds after 16% weekly decline

According to data from crypto.news, Lido DAO (LDO) price traded near $0.293 at the time of writing. The token moved between $0.2757 and $0.3048 over the previous 24 hours before recovering about 5.2%.

Despite the rebound, LDO remained down approximately 16.7% over the past week. It underperformed the broader cryptocurrency market, which gained about 1.3% over the same period.

The monthly performance was more positive. LDO remained about 5.1% higher over 30 days after rallying during July. The token had gained roughly 65% at one point last month before encountering resistance around $0.40.

Trading volume reached about $62.2 million over 24 hours. However, volume was 11% lower than the previous day, suggesting that participation eased after the initial sell-off.

Ethereum staking proposal pressures LDO

LDO’s weekly decline accelerated as the Ethereum community debated EIP-8361, a proposal called the Tapered Issuance Burn.

The proposal would burn a growing portion of validator issuance rewards as the share of ETH committed to staking increases. Issuance-based rewards could eventually approach zero if approximately 50% of Ethereum’s supply becomes staked.

EIP-8361 remains a draft and has not been approved for implementation. However, traders appear to be pricing in its possible effect on liquid-staking providers.

Lower Ethereum staking rewards could make products such as Lido’s stETH less attractive. Reduced demand could affect the protocol’s total value locked, fees and DAO revenue.

Critics participating in the Ethereum Magicians discussion warned that lower rewards could force higher-cost solo validators out before large providers that can spread expenses across thousands of validators. The proposal’s authors argue that ending issuance incentives beyond a 50% staking ratio would limit ETH issuance and reduce the risk of excessive staking concentration.

NEST vote links Lido revenue with LDO

Lido DAO opened the final on-chain vote for its NEST automated buyback and liquidity system on Aug. 5. The main voting phase will close on Aug. 8 at 2:00 p.m. UTC.

NEST, short for Network Economic Support Tokenomics, would allocate part of Lido’s eligible revenue surplus to LDO purchases and DAO-owned liquidity.

The proposed mechanism uses a $40 million annual staking-revenue baseline. When daily revenue exceeds the equivalent baseline, 50% of the eligible surplus can enter NEST, subject to a $50,000 daily limit and a rolling annual cap of $10 million.

Under the initial LP configuration, half of the eligible budget would purchase LDO through CoW Swap. The other half would be converted into wstETH and paired with the acquired LDO in a Curve liquidity pool.

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Lido DAO would retain ownership of the resulting liquidity-provider tokens. The purchased LDO would not be burned.

A previous Snapshot vote approving the final NEST design passed with 52.37 million LDO, or 94.5% of participating tokens, in support.

LDO price remains below key resistance

The daily chart shows that LDO recovered after briefly falling to $0.2751. The resulting lower wick indicates that buyers entered near the $0.275–$0.280 support area.

However, price remains slightly below the lower Bollinger Band at $0.2946. The Bollinger midpoint at $0.3577 is well above the current price, while the upper band sits near $0.4208.

Daily RSI has fallen to 37.57 and remains below its signal average of 53.56. The reading shows that bearish momentum has weakened the July uptrend, although LDO has not yet reached deeply oversold territory.

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A close below $0.275 could expose $0.250 and the June low near $0.235. Conversely, reclaiming $0.305 would mark the first recovery signal. LDO would then face resistance around $0.320–$0.330 and the Bollinger midpoint near $0.358.

The NEST vote provides a potential token-value mechanism, but its future buying capacity depends on Lido producing sufficient staking revenue. That leaves EIP-8361 and the wider Ethereum staking debate as key risks for LDO holders.

BlackRock’s newly launched tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock Daily Reinvestment Stablecoin Reserve Vehicle (BRSRV), has received the highest principal stability fund rating from S&P Global Ratings. The decision underscores how major TradFi players are attempting to translate money-market fundamentals—credit quality, liquidity, and short maturities—into tokenized structures aimed at stablecoin ecosystems.

At the same time, S&P’s latest Stablecoin Stability Assessments show limited upward movement across the stablecoin market: two of the 11 stablecoins it covers saw their scores revised lower over the prior three quarters, while the rest were unchanged. Notably, Tether’s USDt (USDT) remains among the lowest-rated assets in S&P’s framework.

Key takeaways

• S&P Global Ratings assigned an “AAAm” principal stability fund rating to BlackRock’s tokenized stablecoin reserve fund, BRSRV, on Monday.
• The AAAm assessment cited factors including investment and counterparty creditworthiness, short maturity design, and management’s ability to maintain a stable net asset value.
• S&P reported it found “no weaknesses” in its qualitative review of BlackRock Advisors’ management and organization, credit analysis, risk management, and compliance.
• S&P’s separate Stablecoin Stability Assessments framework still places USDT in the weakest category (“weak,” score of 5), and two other assessments were lowered during the previous three quarters.

S&P awards top principal stability rating to BlackRock’s tokenized reserve

S&P Global Ratings awarded BRSRV its highest principal stability fund rating—“AAAm”—emphasizing the fund’s focus on preserving principal rather than chasing yield. According to S&P, the rating was supported by the creditworthiness of the fund’s investments and counterparties, its maturity structure, and the demonstrated capacity of management to maintain a stable net asset value.

In addition, S&P said its qualitative assessment of BlackRock Advisors identified “no weaknesses,” covering areas such as management and organizational setup, credit research and analysis, risk management, and compliance practices.

S&P also highlighted the fund’s tokenization approach as “operationally resilient,” pointing to controls designed to mitigate cyber, smart contract, and blockchain network risks. The fund uses a permissioned architecture that restricts transactions to whitelisted wallets, a design choice intended to limit the operational surface area that public network tokenization can introduce.

What BRSRV holds—and how the fund is structured to support stability

BRSRV launched on Monday as an open-end management investment company, with the explicit goal of operating so that its shares may qualify as eligible reserve assets for payment stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act. The article of record notes that this linkage is part of a broader policy push to formalize how reserve assets can support stablecoin redemption expectations.

Per the fund’s described investment policy, BRSRV will hold cash, U.S. Treasury securities maturing in 93 days or less, and overnight repurchase agreements secured by Treasury instruments. The fund will also target a weighted average maturity of no more than 60 days and a weighted average life of no more than 120 days.

For market participants, these constraints matter because they directly influence how quickly risk can be re-priced and how sensitive the portfolio is to longer-duration credit and interest-rate dynamics. In principal stability frameworks, those short-duration characteristics typically play a central role in limiting exposure that could threaten stable net asset value.

Why “principal stability” is different from S&P’s stablecoin scores

While BRSRV’s “AAAm” rating is tied to the fund’s ability to keep a stable net asset value and limit principal losses from credit risk, S&P’s stablecoin scores are not the same product. The company’s Stablecoin Stability Assessments evaluate stablecoins themselves—how well they can maintain their pegs to fiat currencies—using a wider set of considerations.

S&P said that its stablecoin assessment framework currently covers 11 stablecoins. In its latest summary, six of those stablecoins have an “adequate” or stronger ability to maintain their pegs, while the remaining five do not meet that bar. S&P also noted that two assessments were revised lower over the previous three quarters, while the other nine stayed unchanged.

USDT remains in S&P’s lowest category, but several major coins score higher

According to S&P’s Stablecoin Stability Assessments, Tether’s USDt (USDT) remains at a score of 5, described as “weak.” This is despite S&P lowering its assessment from 4 (“constrained”) in November 2025. In the same section, TrueUSD (TUSD) and Ethena USD (USDe) are also assessed at 5.

By contrast, several widely used stablecoins fall into stronger categories. S&P assigned a score of 2 (“strong”) to Euro Coin (EURC), USD Coin (USDC), Global Dollar (USDG), and Paxos USD (USDP). Gemini USD (GUSD) and EUR Convertible (EURCV) received a score of 3 (“adequate”).

Other constrained outcomes still appear for First Digital USD (FDUSD) and Sky Dollar/Dai (USDS/DAI), each assessed at 4 (“constrained”).

S&P launched this assessment framework in December 2023, and the methodology—based on the summary provided—considers backing assets, liquidity, governance, redemption arrangements, legal and regulatory protections, technology dependencies, and the issuer’s track record. Assessments range from 1 (“very strong”) to 5 (“weak”).

For readers trying to interpret what these scores mean operationally, the key point is that the principal-stability rating applied to BRSRV does not directly translate into a stablecoin’s peg robustness. A reserve fund can be highly rated on principal stability even if a stablecoin’s broader system design, redemption mechanisms, and governance introduce additional peg risk.

What investors and builders should watch next

BRSRV’s AAAm outcome suggests tokenized reserve vehicles can meet stringent principal-stability expectations when portfolio composition, counterparty quality, and operational controls are tightly defined. Investors should watch whether additional tokenized reserve providers achieve comparable ratings—and whether S&P’s stablecoin assessments for top issuers move materially in subsequent quarters, especially given that some scores were revised lower despite an otherwise largely unchanged assessment set.

Most of the Bitcoin stolen through the COLDCARD wallet flaw remains unmoved, but on-chain investigators have detected a separate attacker beginning to route smaller amounts through a mixer.

COLDCARD attacker leaves 1,159 BTC untouched

Galaxy Research said the largest known theft connected to the COLDCARD vulnerability involved 1,159 BTC. The funds remain spread across seven addresses associated with the attacker and have not moved since the initial sweep.

The Bitcoin was stolen within 41 minutes, according to the latest on-chain monitoring cited by Bitcoin News. Investigators have not detected transfers from the seven addresses to exchanges, mixers or other services commonly used to obscure stolen funds.

The assets are therefore better described as unmoved rather than technically frozen. Bitcoin transactions cannot be stopped at the protocol level merely because an address has been flagged.

However, the attacker could face difficulties converting the funds into fiat or other assets. Law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchain analytics companies have reportedly flagged about 600 addresses connected with the wider theft.

Any transfer to a compliant exchange could trigger transaction monitoring controls and requests for information about the account receiving the Bitcoin.

Smaller attacker begins mixing stolen Bitcoin

Separate on-chain activity suggests another attacker has started attempting to obscure part of the stolen funds.

Analysts tracked 64 BTC entering a transaction flow linked to a mixer. Approximately 10 BTC was initially mixed, while about 54 BTC returned as change. The remaining funds were subsequently divided into outputs of roughly 7 BTC each for further mixing.

Mixers combine or restructure transactions to make it harder to connect the original source of cryptocurrency with its eventual destination. However, they do not guarantee that funds will become untraceable.

Analysts said the relatively large and consistently sized outputs make this laundering attempt easier to follow. Investigators can continue monitoring the transactions as the Bitcoin passes through additional addresses.

The activity also appears separate from the seven-address cluster holding 1,159 BTC. Previous reporting found that multiple attackers may have exploited the same wallet weakness, meaning movements from one cluster should not automatically be attributed to every COLDCARD theft.

Galaxy previously tracked 1,596 stolen BTC

As previously reported by crypto.news, Galaxy Research confirmed that attackers stole 1,596 BTC from approximately 7,300 addresses across three attack waves. It also identified 14 smaller incidents connected to the same seed-generation flaw.

A suspected fourth wave could raise the total to approximately 2,055 BTC, although Galaxy had not confirmed those additional losses through sufficient victim reports.

The vulnerability resulted from a firmware error that weakened the randomness used to generate wallet seed phrases. Attackers could reproduce possible seeds offline, derive their Bitcoin addresses, and compare them with addresses visible on the blockchain.

They did not need physical access to the devices, their PINs, or the Bitcoin network itself. The underlying Bitcoin protocol was not compromised.

Coinkite has released corrected firmware, but an update cannot secure a seed phrase generated using a vulnerable version. Affected users must create an entirely new seed and transfer their Bitcoin to addresses derived from it.

US investigators monitor flagged addresses

Galaxy previously said it shared confirmed attacker and victim addresses with US law enforcement agencies, exchanges and cyber-investigation groups. The expanding address list could help authorities identify stolen funds when attackers attempt to use regulated services.

Still, recovering the Bitcoin remains uncertain. An attacker may move funds through several addresses, mixers, decentralized platforms or services outside US jurisdiction before attempting to convert them.

The latest mixer activity gives investigators a new transaction trail to follow, while the 1,159 BTC held by the largest known attacker remains exposed to continuous public monitoring.