After several days of trading mostly sideways, or even charting new losses, bitcoin’s price finally headed in the opposite direction at the start of the new business week, topping $64,500 for the first time in 7-8 days.

However, this rather minor rally has been jeopardized long before it had the opportunity to grow into something more spectacular, as the selling pressure has mounted on several fronts. There’s also a dark horse outside the on-chain data, showing another threat.

Bull Trap in the Making?

Starting with miners, popular analyst Ali Martinez outlined the growing concern within the community about the increasing selling pressure. The backbone of the Bitcoin network has been taking profits lately as BTC rose to $64,600 earlier. Data from CryptoQuant shows that they have disposed of 1,648 BTC over the past ten days or so, which, according to the analyst, adds “roughly $106 million in potential selling pressure.”

Second, he listed the spot Bitcoin ETFs. As recently reported, investors gaining exposure to BTC through these financial vehicles withdrew almost $400 million worth of the cryptocurrency last week, in stark contrast to the over $850 million in net inflows the previous week.

Third, Martinez referred to Strategy’s recent behavior. The company has not only paused its BTC purchases indefinitely, but it has also made multiple sales over the past few months. Its total holdings have declined by more than 3,300 in just weeks.

The analyst noted that a worrisome portion of BTC’s supply has hit exchanges recently, as their balances have increased by 24,700 units over the past ten days. This means that $1.6 billion worth of BTC has increased the potential sell-side liquidity.

Lastly, he outlined the Coinbase Premium metric, which continues to be in the negative for well over three months now. Such a reading means that “BTC is trading cheaper on Coinbase than Binance, signaling weaker US demand or active selling from US-based participants.”

Consequently, Martinez believes BTC’s rally toward $64,600 won’t last long and brought up the next potential support zones that could halt a potential nosedive. The first is located between $63,110 and $61,850, where more than two million BTC were previously transacted, and makes it a notable support. If it breaks, though, Martinez warned that the next one could be all the way down at $54,300.

The Dark Horse

There’s no need to sugarcoat this – it’s the war in the Middle East and the volatile developments. Whenever something big happens, it tends to impact the crypto market. However, there have been conflicting announcements and reports from both sides (as usual) lately.

For instance, reports claimed yesterday that the US and Iran had extended their ceasefire on the day it was supposed to expire. Meanwhile, Trump reportedly threatened to bomb Oman, which is a US ally.

More recent information on the matter came from the POTUS himself, who just claimed that there are no ongoing or scheduled peace talks between the two. Moreover, he added that the Naval Blockade remains in full force, while the Strait of Hormuz, which he also said is now a US territory, is “open and operating.”

For now, BTC remains calm around $64,000, but these developments could quickly increase the volatility.

The post Bitcoin Surges Past $64K as Warning Signs Mount: Is This a Bull Trap? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Interstice Digital has launched a cross-chain swap engine with FalconX connecting the Canton Network with Ethereum, Solana and Robinhood Chain. 

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the non-custodial engine allows assets to be swapped across the four networks without Interstice taking custody or executing transactions on users’ behalf. 

FalconX, a digital asset prime brokerage serving institutional investors, provides liquidity for the engine, which is designed to connect Canton’s institutional markets with assets and trading activity on public blockchains, giving users a route between tokenized assets on Canton and liquidity on networks such as Ethereum and Solana.

Canton is a public blockchain built for institutional finance, with privacy and permissioning controls designed for regulated transactions and tokenized assets. Its ecosystem includes major financial institutions such as JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas.

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

Related: FalconX cuts 10% of workforce amid prolonged crypto market slump: Report

Canton expands institutional tokenization activity

The integration comes as more traditional financial institutions use Canton for tokenized assets and blockchain-based settlement.

In July, electronic trading platform Tradeweb executed an onchain US Treasury trade in which Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash.

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Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while Canton synchronized settlement between the two assets in real time. Tradeweb said it was the first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton, with other participants including Societe Generale, Digital Asset and Blockdaemon.

Societe Generale has also deployed its euro- and dollar-denominated stablecoins on Canton for tokenized collateral, repo financing and institutional settlement, while Visa has tested private stablecoin settlement on the network.

Other initiatives include a Japanese government bond collateral pilot involving Mizuho and Nomura and S&P Dow Jones Indices placing its iBoxx US Treasuries Index on Canton.

PoC trial for digital collateral management using Japanese government bonds. Source: JPX

Magazine: Solana’s fee overhaul increases burn and makes resource hogs pay

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[PRESS RELEASE – Dubai, UAE, August 18th, 2026]

BNB Chain, one of the largest blockchain ecosystems worldwide, today announced BNB Agent Studio v2, an update to its AI agent development platform. The release expands what autonomous agents can do with money, from earning their own income to operating inside owner-defined financial limits enforced onchain.

BNB Agent Studio launched in July, allowing developers to describe an AI agent in a single prompt and deploy it to BNB Smart Chain (BSC). In its initial release, agents could spend but not earn. v2 closes that gap: agents can now be hired and paid directly, with funds settling to their wallet through a standard receiving interface that completes the ERC-8183 commerce flow end to end.

The update also introduces Altana, a new self-custodial wallet option built to resolve one of the central constraints in agent design: how much authority an agent should hold over a user’s funds. Agents using Altana operate through scoped session keys governed by spending limits, allowlists, and time bounds set by their owner in advance. These permissions are recorded onchain, allowing anyone to verify what a given agent is authorized to do, and can be revoked instantly without key rotation or downtime.

Altana joins TWAK (Trust Wallet AgentKit), the platform’s existing wallet option for agents that require continuous, autonomous signing without a person in the loop. With both options now available, builders can match the wallet architecture to the agent’s purpose: TWAK for always-on autonomous operation, or Altana for agents that require clear, verifiable boundaries around fund access. A yield agent, for instance, can harvest and restake earnings without holding access to principal; a lending agent can top up collateral without the ability to withdraw it.

v2 also adds TypeScript support alongside the platform’s existing Python SDK, and introduces a Paymaster that covers gas on BSC Testnet, removing the manual funding step previously required to begin testing an agent.

Key updates in v2:

• Agents can now be paid for their work, completing the ERC-8183 commerce flow end to end.
• Altana, a new self-custodial wallet option, enforces spending limits, allowlists, and time bounds onchain.
• TypeScript is now supported alongside Python.
• A Paymaster covers testnet gas, removing manual wallet funding for testing BNB Agent Studio.
• A standard provider interface replaces per-provider integration work for cloud deployment.

BNB Agent Studio v2 is live now, with existing agents continuing to run without migration. BNB Chain currently hosts more registered AI agents than any other network.

BNB Agent Studio is available at bnbchain.org/en/bnb-agent-studio.

About BNB Chain

BNB Chain is one of the largest and most active blockchain ecosystems in the world. Its multi-chain architecture spans BNB Smart Chain (BSC), opBNB, and BNB Greenfield, giving developers the flexibility to choose the environment best suited to their application. With high throughput, low transaction costs, and full EVM compatibility, BNB Chain is built for high-speed trading, AI agents, privacy, and instant payments. It is the blockchain with superior distribution and deep liquidity, built for global markets and the next billion users. For more information, users can visit www.bnbchain.org.

The post BNB Chain Launches BNB Agent Studio v2, Giving AI Agents the Ability to Earn appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Regulation Crypto Assets on Aug. 18, a framework that would let token issuers raise up to $75 million a year without registering the offering and, under a separate safe harbor, remove some tokens from the definition of a security altogether. The… Read the full story at The Defiant

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For over two months, bitcoin has struggled below $70,000, hovering around $62,000 to $65,000. Still, experts believe that the broader macro market condition is moving in favor of the apex crypto.

Crypto exchange Bitfinex stated in its latest edition of the Bitfinex Alpha report that two of the three conditions that can support a BTC rally have been met. If successful, this can supercharge the next market phase, which is expected to be more favorable for the bulls.

Two of Three Conditions Met

The Bitfinex report outlined “lower expected rates and already-loose financial conditions” as the two conditions that have already been met.

The inflation rate fell from 3.50% in June to 3.40% in July, partly due to a drop in energy prices. It is expected that the Federal Reserve may not raise interest rates in the coming weeks. With short-term Treasury yields dropping and stocks like the S&P 500 soaring, investors have increased their appetite for risk assets.

Meanwhile, tech-focused hardware and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure have brought in “a separate source of supply-driven inflation.” However, this capital has failed to flow into the crypto market.

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

The Bitfinex Alpha report claims that if the capital flowing through the equities market, the tech sector, and the AI market can enter the crypto ecosystem, a price surge for the largest digital asset will naturally follow. This is what it tags as the third condition to be met for a smooth rally.

Presently, capital flow through spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has decreased. For instance, the fund lost around $385 million in weekly flow during the same week that equities like the S&P 100 soared.

Additionally, corporate Bitcoin treasuries have turned negative. Strategy, the leading BTC holder, has slowed down its bitcoin acquisitions. It even sold some of its holdings in separate weeks this year alone.

Stablecoin supply has also reduced, staying below its May record.

“In such a thin market, relatively small changes in flows could produce an outsized move in either direction,” Bitfinex explained.

This indicates that if capital flows favor the crypto market, BTC could once again attain or surpass $70,000. Conversely, a prolonged negative flow can send bitcoin to a lower support level, around $57,000.

The post Bitcoin Now One Step Away from Exiting Bear Market: Bitfinex Alpha appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Following institutional trials, the HKD-pegged asset is being put to work to capture part of Hong Kong’s $49 billion trade corridor with the United Arab Emirates

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This is the first time a U.S. government entity has publicly replaced its blockchain infrastructure specifically on security grounds.

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