Binance published its 45th Proof of Reserves report using user balances recorded on Aug. 1, 2026. The snapshot showed customer Bitcoin holdings rising for another month, while Ethereum and Tether balances declined.

Users held approximately 657,000 BTC, up 2.55% from the July 1 snapshot. The increase amounted to 16,349 BTC, according to figures published through Binance’s reserve dashboard.

Ethereum balances moved in the opposite direction. Users held about 3.98 million ETH, down 2.57%, or 105,154 ETH. USDT balances also fell 2.57% to approximately 32.9 billion tokens, a decline of roughly 870 million USDT.

Binance user Bitcoin balances rose for a third month

The August snapshot continued a recent increase in customer Bitcoin balances. Binance users added 25,838 BTC during May and another 7,715 BTC during June.

As crypto.news previously reported, customer Bitcoin holdings had already increased in July even as ETH and USDT moved lower. The latest 16,349 BTC increase was more than twice the amount added during the previous reporting period.

The three monthly reports show users adding nearly 50,000 BTC between the May and August snapshots. However, that change does not establish that customers bought the same amount through Binance’s markets.

Reserve balances can rise through deposits from other exchanges, transfers from private wallets, purchases or movements between Binance products. The report does not separate those activities or identify the reasons behind individual balance changes.

Ethereum and USDT holdings extended their declines

Ethereum balances fell for a second consecutive snapshot after rising sharply in the June report. Users held approximately 4.14 million ETH on June 1 before the total declined to around 4.08 million ETH in July and 3.98 million ETH in August.

The latest decrease of 105,154 ETH was larger than the 58,591 ETH reduction recorded one month earlier. The figures could reflect withdrawals, sales, transfers to staking services or movements into other assets. Binance’s snapshot does not determine which explanation applies.

USDT balances followed a similar pattern. Customer holdings stood near 34.3 billion USDT in June and about 33.7 billion USDT in July. The latest report placed the total near 32.9 billion USDT.

That represents three consecutive monthly reports showing lower USDT balances. Still, the decline does not prove that users converted stablecoins into Bitcoin. Funds could have moved into other stablecoins, external wallets or different trading venues.

A comparable balance pattern has appeared elsewhere. In related coverage, Bybit and OKX reported rising Bitcoin balances alongside lower USDT holdings in their recent snapshots.

Binance reports reserves above customer liabilities

Binance reported reserve ratios of 100.25% for both BTC and ETH. A 100.25% ratio means the exchange reported holding approximately 1.0025 units in its reserve wallets for every unit attributed to users at the snapshot time.

USDT had a higher reported ratio of 103.62%. That ratio would place Binance’s corresponding USDT assets above the 32.9 billion tokens assigned to customers.

Binance says its Proof of Reserves system covers user assets on a 1:1 basis, with additional reserves. It uses Merkle trees and zero-knowledge proofs so customers can verify that their account balances were included without viewing other users’ information.

Customers can download the relevant verification data and compare their records with the published Merkle root. Binance also publishes wallet addresses associated with the assets included in its system.

No distinct BTC, ETH or USDT market movement could be reliably attributed to the reserve publication. The report measures customer and exchange balances rather than trading performance or directional demand.

Proof of reserves remains a limited snapshot

Proof of reserves helps determine whether disclosed on-chain assets cover the user liabilities included in a report. It does not provide a continuous record because asset and customer balances can change immediately after the snapshot.

It also does not independently assess every corporate liability, internal control, loan or off-chain obligation. The process therefore differs from a full financial audit covering an organization’s wider balance sheet and operations.

A crypto.news guide explaining how reserve verification works and where it falls short notes that useful disclosures should include assets, customer liabilities, frequent updates and user-verifiable evidence.

Binance has not announced a fixed date for its 46th report. Its recent monthly schedule suggests the next snapshot could use balances recorded around Sept. 1, although the exchange has not confirmed that timing.

The next publication will show whether customer BTC balances continued rising and whether the declines in ETH and USDT holdings persisted. Any interpretation should remain limited to reported account balances rather than assumed buying or withdrawal behavior.

The euro and British pound are trading cautiously against the US dollar as markets await the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. At its July meeting, the Fed left interest rates unchanged and reiterated that future decisions would depend on incoming economic data.

Investors will pay particular attention to how FOMC members assessed inflation risks, labour-market conditions and the outlook for interest rates. Following softer inflation data and signs of a cooling labour market, a more dovish tone in the minutes could strengthen expectations of monetary easing and weigh on the dollar. Conversely, a continued emphasis on inflation risks and a restrictive policy stance could provide additional support for the US currency.

For sterling, today’s UK inflation figures will provide an additional catalyst. The data will be closely assessed for clues about the Bank of England’s next policy steps. Persistent price pressures could reduce the scope for further monetary easing and support the pound, while a more pronounced slowdown in inflation could reinforce expectations of lower interest rates.

With few major domestic catalysts for the euro, EUR/USD is likely to remain particularly sensitive to movements in the US dollar. As a result, the FOMC minutes could become a key driver of the pair’s next move.

EUR/USD

EUR/USD tested the June highs near 1.1600 yesterday. From a technical perspective, the pair could extend its advance towards 1.1660–1.1680 if the previous session’s high is successfully turned into a support level.

Failure to establish a firm foothold above the current levels, however, could trigger a corrective move and bring the pair back towards the 1.1500 support area.

Key events for EUR/USD:

• today at 12:30 (GMT+3): German 10-year Bund auction;
• today at 17:30 (GMT+3): US crude oil inventories;
• today at 21:00 (GMT+3): release of the FOMC minutes.

GBP/USD

GBP/USD buyers have managed to push the pair above the important 1.3500 resistance level over the past few sessions. If the pair can maintain its position above this threshold, the next upside targets could be found around 1.3600–1.3640.

A decisive move back below 1.3500, on the other hand, could signal the start of a bearish correction towards the 1.3430–1.3470 area.

Key events for GBP/USD:

• today at 09:00 (GMT+3): UK Consumer Price Index (CPI);
• today at 11:30 (GMT+3): UK house price index;
• tomorrow at 15:30 (GMT+3): US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index.

EUR/USD and GBP/USD are both holding close to important technical levels, leaving the next directional move dependent on fresh fundamental signals. UK inflation will be the first major catalyst for sterling, while the FOMC minutes represent the main event for both currency pairs.

A more dovish message from the Federal Reserve could put renewed pressure on the dollar and support further gains in the euro and pound. Conversely, a persistently hawkish stance could strengthen the US currency and trigger corrective declines in both EUR/USD and GBP/USD.

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Interstice Digital has launched a non-custodial cross-chain swap engine with FalconX that connects the Canton Network with Ethereum, Solana, and Robinhood Chain while using FalconX to supply liquidity.

Interstice Digital said in an Aug. 18 announcement that the engine lets users swap assets across the four networks without the company taking custody of funds or executing transactions on their behalf. The company also said the product has been named a Featured App on Canton.

The system is designed to give users a route between tokenized assets issued or traded through Canton and liquidity available on public blockchain networks. FalconX, which provides digital asset prime brokerage services to institutional investors, is supplying liquidity for the engine.

Interstice Digital links Canton with three public-chain markets

Under the new setup, Interstice is connecting Canton’s institution-focused infrastructure with Ethereum, Solana and Robinhood Chain, three networks that provide access to different parts of the digital asset market.

Interstice described Canton as a public, permissionless blockchain built for capital markets, with privacy and permissioning controls intended for regulated transactions. The network is used by financial institutions working with tokenized securities, collateral, and blockchain-based settlement.

For the public-chain side of the connection, Interstice cited the scale of the networks involved. The company said Robinhood has 28 million funded accounts and $369 billion in total platform assets, while Robinhood Chain reached 100 million transactions faster than any other EVM network.

Solana recorded 167 million monthly active addresses in April 2026 and handled $650 billion of stablecoin transaction volume in February, according to figures cited by Interstice. The company described Ethereum as the industry’s deepest developer ecosystem and noted that Robinhood Chain uses Ethereum technology as its base.

“We built the cross-chain swap engine to help connect Solana, Ethereum, and Robinhood Chain to the growing Canton ecosystem where over $9T in tokenized RWA flow monthly,” Interstice Digital CEO Janine Yorio said.

Interstice did not disclose which assets are supported at launch or provide transaction-volume figures for the engine. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Everyrealm and is backed by investors including a16z Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Galaxy and Brevan Howard.

FalconX supplies liquidity without Interstice holding user assets

FalconX’s role centers on liquidity for swaps routed through the engine. Interstice said its non-custodial structure means it does not hold customer assets or act as the party executing transactions for users.

FalconX Head of Trading Strategy Hassan Bassiri said institutional demand for digital assets is increasing and argued that firms will need infrastructure capable of moving capital between different ecosystems.

“The cross-chain swap engine we’ve developed with Interstice Digital is exactly the kind of infrastructure this market needs,” Bassiri said, after describing cross-ecosystem capital movement as an important requirement for institutional firms.

Canton is also being used for live and trial transactions involving government securities, stablecoins and institutional collateral.

Earlier in August, four Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group companies launched a proof of concept to test Japanese government bond repo transactions on Canton, as crypto.news reported on Aug. 13. MUFG, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking and MUFG Bank are working with Digital Asset and Progmat on the project.

The participants plan to test automated processing and real-time settlement available around the clock. The trial forms part of Japan’s Financial Services Agency-backed Payment Innovation Project and includes work on whether blockchain infrastructure can improve funding and capital use in repo markets.

An earlier Japanese trial involving Japan Securities Clearing Corporation, Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings and Digital Asset tested whether rights linked to Japanese government bonds and updates to book-entry records could be handled through Canton while remaining within Japan’s existing legal framework.

Canton has expanded tokenized settlement activity

Canton has also been used in transactions involving tokenized U.S. government securities. In July, Tradeweb said it executed an onchain U.S. Treasury trade in which Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash.

Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while Canton synchronized settlement between the two assets in real time, according to the companies involved. Tradeweb described the transaction as the first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized U.S. Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton.

Societe Generale, Digital Asset and Blockdaemon also participated in the transaction. Societe Generale has separately deployed euro- and dollar-denominated stablecoins on Canton for uses including tokenized collateral, repo financing and institutional settlement.

Payment companies are testing the network as well. Visa tested private stablecoin settlement using Brale’s SBC token on Canton in June and has since included Canton among the blockchains supported by its stablecoin settlement program. A July report on Visa’s program said the settlement pilot supported nine blockchains and had reached a $7 billion annualized run rate by March.

Visa joined Canton as a Super Validator in March before adding the network to its stablecoin settlement work. The company received approval for its validator application that month and later added Canton to its stablecoin settlement pilot.

Digital Asset has raised capital for Canton expansion

Institutional funding has accompanied the increase in activity around the network. Digital Asset, the company behind Canton, raised $355 million in June in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund.

A16z crypto contributed $100 million to the round, while other participants included Citadel Securities, Apollo, BNP Paribas, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, Optiver and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Digital Asset said the capital would support partnerships, acquisitions and expansion of the Canton ecosystem.

The funding followed a $135 million strategic round involving Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, DTCC, BNP Paribas and Tradeweb Markets. Digital Asset has positioned Canton for financial applications that require transaction privacy while allowing different institutions and applications to coordinate settlement.

Canton’s use in government-bond markets has continued in Asia. The MUFG repo proof of concept is examining Japanese government bonds in short-term financing transactions, while a separate Progmat working group has been studying tokenized JGBs, stablecoin settlement, T+0 processing and 24-hour access.

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Kaiko have also placed the iBoxx U.S. Treasuries index on Canton through smart-contract infrastructure, according to the Aug. 13 MUFG report. The index project sits alongside other Canton-based work involving tokenized Treasury products and institutional collateral.

Solana Policy Institute CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine said on Aug. 18 that the CLARITY Act has only a 10% chance of becoming law before the November midterm elections.

Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Whitehouse-Levine described the digital asset market structure bill as being in “August recess purgatory.” He said the narrowing congressional calendar and unresolved industry disputes had made passage increasingly difficult.

His percentage is a personal assessment, not an official forecast. The Senate has taken one procedural step that preserves a September path, but several votes and further negotiations would still be required.

CLARITY Act faces a Sept. 15 procedural test

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 before senators left Washington. The chamber resumes normal business on Sept. 14.

The official Senate schedule says the cloture motion will ripen at 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 15. Approval would allow the Senate to begin considering the legislation.

The vote is not final passage. Senators would still need to debate the measure, consider amendments and approve the resulting text. Any Senate changes could also require further House action before the bill reaches the president.

As crypto.news previously explained, the September procedural vote will test whether supporters have enough bipartisan backing to overcome the Senate’s 60 vote cloture threshold.

Prediction markets remain more optimistic

Polymarket’s live market placed the chance of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 at approximately 20% on Aug. 19. Trading volume had passed $7.2 million.

Kalshi traders placed the probability near 23% on Aug. 18, down from roughly 50% less than a month earlier. Prediction market prices can move quickly and do not guarantee legislative outcomes.

The comparison with Whitehouse-Levine’s 10% estimate requires caution. His prediction covered passage before the November midterms, while the Polymarket contract allows the bill to become law through Dec. 31.

The market therefore includes a possible post election session. That wider deadline partly explains why traders may assign higher odds than Whitehouse-Levine did.

Stablecoin and ethics disputes narrow the path

Whitehouse-Levine said participation by banks, securities companies and derivatives firms had added competing demands to negotiations. Banks remain concerned about provisions involving stablecoin rewards, while other financial firms are focused on sections affecting their existing businesses.

Democratic lawmakers have also sought ethics restrictions covering government officials’ digital asset interests. Those disputes add to negotiations over SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, decentralized finance and customer protection.

Whitehouse-Levine called himself “hopeful, but realistic about its odds.” He also warned that failure would discard more than a year of work by congressional lawmakers and staff.

In earlier coverage, crypto.news mapped how the limited Senate calendar leaves little time for debate and amendments before election politics consume the floor.

SEC moves while Congress remains stalled

The SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on Aug. 18, creating a separate regulatory track while Congress debates the broader market structure bill.

The agency’s proposal includes two exemptions for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets. One would cover offerings of up to $5 million during four years. Another would cover up to $75 million during each 12 month period.

The rules remain proposals and cannot replace every provision in the CLARITY Act. Agency rules also carry less permanence than federal legislation and remain subject to statutory limits and court review.

Whitehouse-Levine said regulators should move because the industry “can’t afford to keep waiting for Congress.” His organization plans to focus on token fundraising pathways and rules allowing more securities and derivatives activity to occur onchain.

The next confirmed event is the Sept. 15 cloture vote. Failure to proceed would sharply reduce the bill’s remaining 2026 path. Success would keep it alive but leave amendments, final passage and possible House coordination unresolved.

Maya Protocol has halted its cross-chain network after an attacker exploited six linked software flaws to steal an estimated $1.7 million in Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Maya Protocol pseudonymous co-founder Aalux said on Wednesday that the attacker took about 20 Bitcoin, worth roughly $1.4 million, alongside another $300,000 in assets before the protocol activated a global halt to stop further losses.