Bitcoin (BTC) hit an intraday high of $82,108 before easing to trade near $81,050. That is up 4.5% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

The move extends an August rally. Fidelity Digital Assets says the jump alone does not confirm the bear market has ended.

Why Fidelity Is Still Cautious

Bitcoin logged its strongest monthly gain since November 2024 in August. Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) climbed even harder over the same stretch.

Fidelity’s Chris Kuiper points to a pattern seen before past bull runs. Low volatility tends to precede a sharp upward move. That is roughly what played out from June into late August, he says.

Some traders are also watching bitcoin’s four-year cycle theory. The idea holds that bear-market bottoms have historically landed about four years apart. That points to a possible bottom near November 2026, based on the November 2022 low.

Kuiper cautions the pattern has never repeated on a precise schedule and should not be used to time entries. This cycle’s low may already have formed in July, he adds, or a fresh low could arrive later this year.

Others Are Ready for a Bitcoin Bull Market

Not every analyst agrees. Eric Crown argues in a recent bear market call that the downturn already ended in August.

“The more important point for investors is that adoption of digital assets has happened in waves, which can perpetuate cycles.”
— Chris Kuiper, Vice President of Research, Fidelity Digital Assets

Kuiper adds that recent negative headlines failed to drag prices lower. A hardware wallet security incident is one example he cites. He calls this a sign that sellers may be running low on room to push the market down.

The CLARITY Act, a bill meant to clarify federal oversight of crypto, remains stuck in the Senate. A voting day cut makes quick passage unlikely. Separately, the SEC’s Regulation Crypto Assets, a framework for early-stage crypto offerings, remains open for public comment.

Fidelity points to growth in stablecoins and real-world assets, tokenized versions of things like bonds and real estate. That growth shows network fundamentals held up even as price lagged, it says.

It argues adoption and Bitcoin’s price action are now moving back in step. Whether that holds through the rest of the year is what Fidelity says investors should watch next.

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Every major token gained on Friday as traders cut bets on a September Federal Reserve rate increase to a coin flip, though most of the majors are barely changed on the week.

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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted a provisional charter to the new full-service bank, adding it to the growing mix of crypto-native institutions.

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Adobe (ADBE) named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and CEO on Thursday. He replaces Shantanu Narayen, who is stepping down after 18 years as AI concerns weigh on Adobe’s stock.

Narayen will become executive chair and support Chakravarthy through the handover, which takes effect Dec. 1. Chakravarthy will also join Adobe’s board at that time.

The Leadership Handoff

Chakravarthy most recently led Adobe’s customer experience orchestration unit and its worldwide field operations. He joined Adobe nearly seven years ago after serving as chief executive of Informatica, an enterprise data management company. That company had partnered with Adobe under Narayen.

“Adobe’s opportunity ahead is limitless with our track record in creating new market categories and world-class products. Anil is an experienced transformational leader who leads with values, integrity and a deep knowledge of our business.”

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s outgoing CEO, in a statement

“A lot of the reason I came was the opportunity to work with him and work with the leadership team at Adobe.”

Anil Chakravarthy, Adobe’s incoming CEO, in a 2021 interview with CNBC

In contrast, David Wadhwani announced he will leave Adobe after leading its creativity and productivity business for nearly five years.

Observers once viewed him as a top CEO contender for his role in Adobe’s bid to acquire design firm Figma. Regulators forced the companies to scrap that deal in 2023.

Why Adobe Stock Keeps Falling

The CEO change comes as Adobe shares remain under pressure. The stock fell 25% in 2024 and another 21% in 2025, and it is down 18% so far in 2026. Shares slipped roughly 2% in extended trading following Thursday’s announcement.

Meanwhile, the decline mirrors a wider retreat among software stocks slumping on AI fears. Investors worry generative AI tools could erode demand for subscription software.

Software peers have faced similar pressure as free or low-cost AI tools threaten legacy subscription models.

However, whether Chakravarthy can reverse the trend depends on Adobe’s own AI tools. He will need to show they can outpace cheaper rivals starting in December.

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Adam Aron said AMC has no connection to Robinhood’s tokenized shares, reviving questions around how stocks are brought onchain.

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Senator Bernie Sanders staked out opposite ends of US AI regulation on Thursday. Zuckerberg called a national regulator flawed, while Sanders moved to ban advanced AI.

Those two positions now bracket the fight in Washington. One camp wants industry to police itself while the other wants the government to stop building.

Zuckerberg Says AI Regulation Would Hand China the Lead

Trump called Zuckerberg the week of August 17, POLITICO reported Thursday. Zuckerberg opposed a proposed watchdog modeled on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

FINRA polices US brokerages and is funded by the firms it oversees. The AI version would test frontier models for risk before release. Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis popularized the idea in July.

Zuckerberg had already argued that superintelligence should reach everyone rather than a few labs.

“Any policy that slows American model releases … could add significant risk to American leadership while letting foreign models race ahead,” Zuckerberg said in August.

Sanders Sets the Bar at Human Level

Sanders and Representative Greg Casar announced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act on Thursday. It would outlaw systems that match or exceed human cognitive performance.

That bar sits lower than the name suggests. Matching human performance would trigger the ban.

The bill would also freeze advanced AI work until a new federal regulator writes rules. Violators face up to 20 years in prison.

Sanders has pressed Congress on AI before without moving legislation.

“The future of humanity cannot be left in the hands of a handful of Big Tech oligarchs,” Sanders said in a statement.

Zuckerberg did not kill the proposal. Officials are still weighing the FINRA-style body against a voluntary industry group. Adviser David Sacks favors the lighter option and has dismissed AI safety fears as storytelling.

Both camps now accept some kind of referee. The fight is over whether anyone stops building while it gets built.

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Nasdaq-listed Lululemon Athletica (LULU) stock dropped 18% in after-hours trading on September 3. Shares fell to under $100 after the company’s third guidance cut of 2026 overshadowed a profit beat.

The decline pushed shares to their lowest level in roughly eight years, below the 52-week low. LULU now trades about 80% under its all-time high of $511.29, set in December 2023.

Lululemon’s Third Guidance Cut of the Year

Lululemon has trimmed its full-year outlook three times since March. Each cut followed a quarter that beat earnings estimates but missed on sales.

March guidance called for $11.35 billion to $11.50 billion in revenue. June guidance was cut to $11.00 billion to $11.15 billion. September guidance now stands at $10.35 billion to $10.50 billion.

Second-quarter revenue fell 4% year over year to $2.42 billion, missing forecasts. Comparable sales dropped 10% globally and 12% in North America.

Lululemon Under Pressure

The repeated cuts have coincided with a turbulent year for the brand. Founder Chip Wilson waged a proxy fight against the board, and former chief executive Calvin McDonald departed in January.

In May, a Great Wall of China event featured a drum mistaken for a Japanese instrument, sparking backlash. Rivals Alo Yoga and Vuori have continued to take share in North America.

Interim co-chief executive and chief financial officer Meghan Frank pointed to reputational damage as a factor behind the latest slowdown.

“We faced negative commentary in the media and social channels, which impacted traffic and softer than planned response to some new product launches.”

(Meghan Frank, interim co-CEO and CFO, Lululemon Athletica)

Incoming chief executive Heidi O’Neill starts next week and inherits a turnaround plan that has yet to show results. Lululemon guided third-quarter revenue down 10% to 11% year over year.

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South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.14 percent at Friday’s open. The rally tracked a broad Wall Street advance after Fed Governor Christopher Waller signaled a rate hold this month.

The benchmark index rose 74.88 points to 6,650. It extended a rebound after a sharp slide earlier this week tied to Middle East tensions.

Waller Comments Cool Rate Hike Worries

Waller made the remarks Thursday, saying he would be inclined to support a hold. He backed keeping rates in the current 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent range at the Fed’s Sept. 15-16 meeting.

Treasury yields eased on the remarks, feeding into falling rate hike odds tracked on prediction markets this week.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also opened higher. South Korea’s small-cap Kosdaq index advanced even more sharply.

Thursday’s rally set the tone across US markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.18 percent. It was the index’s best day since Aug. 4.

The S&P 500 added 1.06 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.4 percent. All three indexes are on pace for a positive week.

Jobs Report Looms as Next Catalyst

Traders are now watching Friday’s August nonfarm payrolls report, the same data point that has repeatedly moved risk assets after recent monthly releases.

Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 53,000 jobs added. That compares with a loss of 23,000 jobs in July. Unemployment is expected to hold at 4.1 percent.

José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, said labor weakness should push the Fed toward easier policy.

Ongoing decreases in employment should be enough for the central bank to start considering the labor side of its mandate when prescribing policy.

— José Torres, Interactive Brokers, CNBC

Torres is also watching next week’s inflation reports. He flagged the consumer price index and producer price index.

The session rounded out a broadly positive day across the region. Friday’s jobs data could reinforce the dovish case or revive rate hike concerns. Either way, it will help set the tone heading into the Fed’s September meeting.

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The crypto industry today is almost unrecognizable from 7 years ago, both in size and scale. Just for decentralized exchanges (DEX), trading volume grew roughly 9,260x from 2019 to a record $4.7 trillion in 2025.  In 2026, however, activity moderated to $1.63 trillion year-to-date. 

It’s not down to one chain or sector. Liquidity is now distributed across more blockchains, venue types, protocols, and execution environments, without one clearly replacing the others.

SwapSpace recently published its State of Crypto Swaps 2026 report, which shows the massive extent of this growth. One of the clearest findings comes from its own platform data. Over 90.12% of its users interacted with more than one blockchain network in 2026. 

At the same time, survey respondents did not identify DEXs, CEXs, or aggregators as universally offering the best rates.

The findings clearly show that the market today offers more execution options, and no single venue, network, or liquidity source dominates every transaction. 

90% of SwapSpace Users Are Multichain

SwapSpace is a crypto exchange aggregator that lets users compare rates across different swap services and exchange different crypto through a single interface. So, the platform has a notable vantage point of how users today interact across different chains.

Among SwapSpace users, multichain activity is not marginal. Between 2022 and 2026, the share of users interacting with more than one network ranged from 72.50% to 93.66%. 

It reached its lowest point at 72.50% in 2024, before rising to 90.12% in 2026. Even at the low point of the observed period, nearly three-quarters of users interacted with more than one blockchain.

These figures provide a platform-level view of how users operate in a market where assets and liquidity are spread across multiple networks.

The broader DEX market shows a similar redistribution of activity. According to DeFiLlama data cited in the SwapSpace report, Ethereum accounted for 46.2% of global DEX volume in 2021, while BNB Chain represented another 39.6%.

By 2025, Ethereum’s share was 19.3% and BNB Chain’s 15.3%, while Solana accounted for 33.3% and other chains collectively represented 32.1%. 

SwapSpace’s internal activity data shows a similar lack of a permanent leader. Ethereum led platform activity from 2020 through 2024, Solana moved into first place in 2025, and BNB Chain led in 2026. 

Taken together, the data shows that multichain activity is taking place in a market where liquidity leadership continues to shift between ecosystems. 

Fragmentation Does Not Stop at the Blockchain Level

The multichain picture captures only one layer of fragmentation. Liquidity is also distributed within individual blockchain ecosystems. The report cites DeFiLlama tracking of around 1,950 protocols on Ethereum, more than 1,200 on BNB Chain, and more than 1,000 each on Arbitrum and Base.

Those protocols can contain different pools, assets, and execution mechanisms. A user operating on Ethereum, for example, is not necessarily accessing one unified liquidity environment.

That creates two layers of complexity: liquidity is distributed between blockchain ecosystems and again between protocols and pools within them.

The distinction matters because the number of possible execution paths can expand even without adding another network. A transaction may involve not only choosing a chain, but also navigating several potential sources of liquidity within that chain.

In that sense, describing the market as simply “multichain” understates how fragmented the execution layer itself has become.

DEX Growth Has Produced a Hybrid Market

DEX trading has grown sharply, but it has not replaced centralized exchanges.

After reaching a record $4.7 trillion in 2025, DEX activity remains significant in 2026, even as the broader crypto market has cooled. Centralized exchanges still handle most spot trading, while DEXs are gaining ground in areas such as perpetual futures.

The result is a more hybrid market. Traders now move between centralized and decentralized venues depending on liquidity, asset availability, transaction size, and market conditions. Crypto trading is becoming more fragmented rather than shifting toward one dominant model.

Best Rate Still Matters — But It Is Not the Only Variable

Price remains central to how users evaluate swaps. Based on the report’s latent class analysis, SwapSpace estimates that 61.86% of survey respondents valued best rate, compared with 52.51% for multichain access and 39.91% for support for rare tokens.

The differences become clearer across user segments. Among crypto-native power users, 97% valued multichain access, 91% best rate, and 87% rare-token support. Traders and business users placed the greatest emphasis on best rate at 88%, while 61% valued multichain access and 52% rare-token support. Mainstream generalists were more balanced, with 76% valuing both best rate and multichain access.

The figures suggest that price remains important, but users can evaluate a transaction through several variables at once. The quoted rate may matter alongside access to a particular network or asset.

The same ambiguity appears when respondents are asked which venue type offers the best rates in their experience. Answers were distributed across DEXs, CEXs, aggregators, and “depends on the situation,” with no single category emerging as an overwhelming choice.

SwapSpace’s provider data adds another layer of context. Among users who completed at least two exchanges, 70% selected a different liquidity provider for their next transaction, while 30% returned to the same one.

The findings suggest that “best” can be transaction-specific rather than a permanent property of one venue or provider.

Swaps are Serving More Than Trading

The survey also shows that crypto swaps take place in different contexts.

Receiving funds and personal payments were the most common reported crypto use cases among respondents, followed by short-term and long-term trading, while business payments ranked lower.

When respondents were asked which additional platform capabilities they valued, payments for goods and services ranked highest, followed by cashback and automatic swaps. Fiat withdrawal, Telegram functionality, and lending and borrowing ranked lower.

Transaction triggers were similarly varied. Sudden price movements and portfolio rebalancing were the leading triggers for swaps, while news and emergency needs also appeared and influencer signals ranked last.

These findings mean that the same exchange infrastructure can support different objectives, from responding to price movements and managing a portfolio to receiving funds or making payments.

That also means execution requirements are not necessarily identical across transactions. A trader reacting to a sudden market move may prioritize different conditions from someone exchanging assets as part of a payment.

Intent-Based Execution Moves Complexity Behind the Interface

One emerging response to this fragmented environment is intent-based execution.

Instead of choosing an exchange, blockchain, or trading route, users simply state what they want to achieve. Competing systems then find a way to complete the trade.

Platforms such as UniswapX, 1inch Fusion, and NEAR Intents already use versions of this model. As crypto liquidity spreads across more venues and networks, this approach could make trading easier by moving routing decisions into the background.

The market can stay fragmented while the user experience becomes much simpler. But that means more of the complexity has to be handled behind the scenes. 

How platforms handle that complexity may differ. Intent-based execution is one approach, but not the only one. Ultimately, what matters is whether users can access the networks and liquidity they need without having to navigate the underlying complexity themselves. 

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