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UK FCA Publishes Review of AI Impact on Retail Financial Services

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UK FCA Publishes Review of AI Impact on Retail Financial Services

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a broad regulatory blueprint for retail financial services, warning that retail financial services are hurtling toward total automation driven by autonomous “agentic AI.”

The landmark report, “AI and the future of retail financial services,” spearheaded by executive director Sheldon Mills, details a structural shift away from periodic, human-led decisions toward continuous, automated financial services that could increasingly rely on programmable financial infrastructure.

“The central shift is from human-led, episodic financial activity towards services that are AI-enabled, continuous and delegated,” Mills wrote. In January, the FCA launched a review into the implications of advanced AI on consumers, retail financial markets and regulators.

The 147-page report comes at an inflection point where generative AI meets institutional crypto adoption. As financial systems transition to autonomous portfolio and cash management, legacy fiat banking rails are seen as structurally incapable of matching machine transaction speeds. This positions systemic stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits as potential settlement infrastructure for AI-driven financial services.

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It outlines seven recommendations for the FCA to consider, including enabling “the foundations for agentic finance,” which would support the development of trusted agent protocols that would underpin use of agentic AI and “scaling up the FCA’s AI Lab to support AI models and system innovation in financial services.”

Related: UK plans payments rule changes for stablecoins, tokenized deposits

FCA envisions agents on “autonomy spectrum”

The Mills Report suggests that the catalyst is the rapid evolution of AI from predictive models into independent agents operating on an “autonomy spectrum.” At the far end of this spectrum, humans act as mere “observers” while AI continuously manages capital.

Screenshot of table header that sets out how FCA sees operator activities may change as they move across the AI autonomy spectrum. Source: Financial Conduct Authority.

The acceleration of this shift has outpaced prior regulatory timelines, with more than 20 frontier models released since late 2025 alone.

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“Firms are moving from systems that recommend actions to systems empowered and trained to take them, and consumers will soon gain agents that act on their behalf,” Mills said in the report’s foreword. FCA research shows that 20% of UK adults are already open to letting AI make autonomous financial choices.

For these AI agents to execute multi-layered transaction strategies seamlessly, they require programmable, instantaneous settlement mechanisms. Traditional multi-day settlement latency remains an operational bottleneck. Because systemic stablecoins and tokenized assets live natively on programmable ledger networks, they provide the friction-free, atomic settlement needed for automated protocols to move capital instantly without human clearance.

However, this automation introduces severe corporate governance risks regarding legal accountability.

The review highlights growing industry anxiety over this ambiguity, noting that one CEO observed that the financial sector may eventually require a “Turing test” to accurately distinguish between human intent and autonomous algorithmic behavior in the market.

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“The FCA’s Mills Review reinforces that firms should treat agentic AI as an accountability and governance issue now, while providing greater confidence to innovate responsibly as AI adoption accelerates,” Emma Banymandhub, CEO of The Payments Association, said in a statement. “AI has enormous potential for financial services, but realising that potential will depend on strong governance, clear accountability and maintaining consumer trust.”

Mills, who is leaving after eight years at the FCA, told The Financial Times ahead of the report’s release that managers would still need to be accountable for the actions of their AI models. “You need a human on the hook for what they’re doing,” he said.

Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto

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The ‘Huge’ Macro Week Is Here: Will This Data Finally Spark a Crypto Breakout?

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Bitcoin, the altcoins, and the broader financial markets face another eventful week, with geopolitical developments, key US labor data, major earnings reports, and fresh economic indicators all capable of influencing investor sentiment.

The cryptocurrency market is in a fragile place once again. The weekend moves on the war front in the Middle East did little to boost BTC and the alts higher, and Trump’s reassuring words about an upcoming deal for the Strait of Hormuz are taken with a grain of salt.

Key Events in Focus

The first market reaction was expected to be a larger one, after US President Donald Trump canceled the planned military strikes against Iran over the weekend. Moreover, he claimed on a couple of occasions that there’s a Hormuz deal in the making, but Iranian officials denied it.

Admittedly, the US stock futures markets indeed rose after Trump’s promises, while oil prices plunged. The impact in the crypto space, though, was limited to a brief surge from BTC to $63,500 yesterday, only to be halted and driven below $63,000 on Monday morning.

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The next big thing in focus would be the manufacturing and labor data. The July ISM Manufacturing PMI, one of the first major indicators of the US economy’s health, will be announced later today. Tuesday will see the release of the June JOLTS Job Openings report, which, aligned with Wednesday’s ADP Nonfarm Employment Change, will provide a glimpse into employment conditions ahead of Friday’s official jobs report.

Friday’s July Nonfarm Payrolls report is considered one of the Fed’s most closely watched economic releases. A stronger labor market could reduce expectations for policy easing, and vice versa.

Earnings Season Is Here

Nearly 20% of S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, providing additional insight into corporate profitability and investor sentiment. Some of the most anticipated names this week are SpaceX and AMD on Tuesday, followed by SanDisk on Wednesday.

Although these companies do not have a direct connection to the crypto market (aside from SpaceX’s BTC holdings), strong earnings from major tech firms have frequently boosted appetite for higher-risk assets.

This week, described as ‘huge’ by the analysts at the Kobeissi Letter, combines geopolitical developments, labor-market data, manufacturing activity, and corporate earnings, and it comes shortly after the Fed delivered one of its most closely watched monetary policy decisions in years.

A slowing economy, paired with contained geopolitical risks, could benefit BTC and the rest of the market. However, stronger-than-expected data or another major escalation in the Middle East could push the market leader toward $60,000 again.

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Binance to delist 6 tokens on Aug. 17

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Binance to delist 6 tokens on Aug. 17

Binance will remove Across Protocol, Hashflow, PIVX, Vulcan Forged PYR, Vanar and Viction from spot trading on Aug. 17, 2026, at 03:00 UTC after completing its latest asset review.

Summary

  • Six tokens will leave Binance spot trading on August 17 after the exchange’s periodic review.
  • Futures positions will settle August 7, while token withdrawals remain available through October 17, 2026.
  • Binance will not support VANRY’s Base migration, requiring holders to use Vanar’s migration portal themselves.

The exchange said every spot pair tied to ACX, HFT, PIVX, PYR, VANRY and VIC will close. Outstanding spot orders will be canceled. Binance did not identify a separate reason for each asset. Instead, it cited its broader review framework, which covers liquidity, development activity, network safety, team conduct, transparency, tokenomics and regulatory changes.

Binance delisting begins with an Aug. 7 futures cutoff

The first major deadline arrives before the spot removal. The company Futures will prevent users from opening new positions at 08:30 UTC on Aug. 7. It will close and automatically settle remaining contracts at 09:00 UTC. The exchange may also change leverage, margin tiers, funding rates or index components before settlement if markets become unusually volatile.

Loans and several payment services will also close that day. Binance Pool and Binance Pay will stop supporting the assets at 03:00 UTC. VIP Loan and Flexible Loan positions will close at 07:00 UTC, while cross and isolated margin positions will be settled at 10:00 UTC. Margin borrowing will already be suspended from 06:00 UTC on Aug. 4.

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Spot Copy Trading will remove the affected pairs on Aug. 10. Remaining assets may be sold at market prices or transferred to users’ spot accounts when they cannot be sold. Simple Earn will redeem flexible and locked positions after 07:00 UTC on the same day and transfer the assets and accrued rewards to spot accounts.

Four Binance delistings followed earlier risk warnings

The decision was preceded by Monitoring Tags on four of the six tokens. The exchange added PIVX to the tag list on June 18, followed by PYR and VANRY on July 3. ACX received the tag on July 24. The exchange states that tagged assets carry greater volatility and risk and may be removed if they no longer satisfy its listing standards.

As crypto.news previously reported, the ACX warning came days before the latest removal decision. Monitoring Tags do not guarantee delisting, but they require users to pass a risk quiz every 90 days and notify holders that the exchange is conducting closer reviews.

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In related coverage, Binance removed 20 tokens from its Alpha platform in May while preparing five other assets for spot delisting. The Alpha removals and full spot delistings were separate processes, but both followed reviews against the exchange’s platform standards.

ACX also entered Binance’s delisting process after Coinbase suspended its trading on July 28. Coinbase said the project team was winding down the token and directed holders to Across documentation.

Across previously proposed replacing its token-based DAO with a U.S. C-corporation. The published plan set out an equity exchange and a USDC buyout at $0.04375. However, legal restrictions apply to the equity option, and the proposal said its estimated timetable could change.

VANRY holders must complete the Base migration themselves

VANRY presents an extra operational issue. The exchange said it will not support Vanar’s contract swap. Holders seeking the replacement token must use the project’s migration portal rather than expecting Binance to complete the conversion automatically.

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Vanar announced a 1:1 migration to Base and said the new token would have a supply of 10 billion. The project previously told users that participating centralized exchanges would handle the swap automatically. Binance’s new notice confirms that it is not one of those supporting venues.

The exchange will keep current VANRY withdrawals open through Ethereum and Polygon PoS. That gives Binance users a route to remove their tokens before completing the migration through Vanar’s official portal.

Vanar has warned holders to rely only on links distributed through its verified channels. The project advised users to ignore unsolicited messages and never share wallet seed phrases while completing the migration.

Withdrawals remain open until Oct. 17

The exchange Convert will remove the six assets at 02:00 UTC on Aug. 17, one hour before spot trading ends. Its low-value asset conversion feature will stop supporting them on Aug. 14. Deposits made after 03:00 UTC on Aug. 18 will not be credited.

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Withdrawals will remain available until 03:00 UTC on Oct. 17. The exchange may convert balances left on the platform into stablecoins after Oct. 18, but the exchange said that conversion is “not guaranteed.” It will issue another notice where conversion is possible.

When conversion is not feasible, Binance said withdrawals may remain open, subject to network availability. Users should not rely on that possibility because the exchange has not committed to providing an extended withdrawal window.

The removal covers six tokens facing different project conditions rather than one shared event. Binance’s announcement gives users a common timetable but no token-by-token findings. The next confirmed developments will come from project responses, settlement notices and any changes to the withdrawal or migration arrangements.

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Coldcard Flaw Exposes Hardware Wallet Testing Blind Spot: Kraken

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Coldcard Flaw Exposes Hardware Wallet Testing Blind Spot: Kraken

Coldcard’s five-year seed-generation flaw has exposed a broader weakness in how hardware wallets are independently tested, according to Kraken chief security officer Nick Percoco. 

In an X post on Sunday, Percoco said the incident should be a “wake-up call” for hardware-wallet makers, calling for independent testing to verify that the approved source of randomness is the one actually used by production firmware. 

“Consumers are asked to trust a manufacturer’s implementation of the single most critical function in the system, with no independent verification that the approved entropy path is the one actually executing,” said Percoco. 

His comments follow an ongoing attack that is believed to exploit weak seed phrases generated by affected Coldcard devices. As of Sunday, over 4,500 addresses have been impacted, draining nearly $90 million in Bitcoin

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Coldcard RNG flaw remained undetected for five years

On Thursday, Coinkite disclosed a software flaw that has existed since March 2021, when Coldcard changed its seed-generation process as it integrated a new cryptographic library. 

The migration inadvertently routed wallet creation to a weaker MicroPython generator that existed in the codebase, rather than Coldcard’s intended true random number generator (TRNG). 

“The bulk of randomness on the COLDCARD was coming from a PRNG that I didn’t know was actually in the source code base,” Coinkite said in its postmortem. “At the same time the carefully crafted TRNG code I wrote was being used, but just by chance, and only for less important things.”

The presence of the intended random number generator allowed the vulnerability to slip through undetected. Code reviews would confirm the existence and functioning of Coldcard’s TRNG code, but there was no check to ensure this was the RNG actually being called. 

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Such checks are already standard across the rest of the security industry, said Percoco, referencing NIST SP 800-90B, a US government standard specifying requirements for designing, testing and validating physical true random number generators for cryptographic security and BSI AIS-31, a similar standard created by the German Federal Office for Information Security.

“Hardware wallets have no equivalent process. We have Common Criteria on secure elements, some CSPN certifications, and vendor-sponsored audits. None of them systematically force end-to-end verification that the validated entropy source is what production firmware actually calls,” he said. 

“The payments industry does not let PIN entry devices ship without independent lab testing. The US government does not accept cryptographic modules without entropy source validation. Digital asset self-custody should not be the exception,” said Percoco. 

Related: Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

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Coldcard said Sunday it has halted all device shipments since confirming the vulnerability on Thursday, and has destroyed all remaining units at its facilities containing the affected firmware

However, Coinkite has advised users with affected devices not to dispose of them as “it may become essential if funds are recovered.”

“Our legal team will coordinate as warranted with law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions to support efforts in identifying those responsible.” 

Related: Coldcard exploit sparks Bitcoin flight, ‘bullish’ crypto consolidation: Hodler’s Digest, August 2

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Coldcard’s 5-Year Flaw Shows Hardware Wallet Testing Gaps, Kraken Chief

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Crypto Breaking News

Coldcard’s five-year seed-generation issue has turned into a wider debate over how hardware wallets are independently verified, according to Kraken’s chief security officer Nick Percoco. In an X post on Sunday, Percoco said the incident should prompt makers of self-custody devices to require end-to-end checks that confirm the randomness source reviewed in testing is the same one actually executed by production firmware.

The comments arrive amid an ongoing exploit believed to target vulnerable Coldcard devices by abusing weak seed phrases. By Sunday, more than 4,500 addresses had reportedly been affected, with losses estimated at nearly $90 million in Bitcoin, according to Cointelegraph’s reporting linked in the original article.

Key takeaways

  • Kraken’s Nick Percoco argues hardware wallet certification should include verification that the approved entropy path is what production firmware uses in practice.
  • Coldcard’s RNG-related flaw allegedly persisted for years after a seed-generation change introduced an unintended reliance on a weaker generator.
  • Percoco cited existing standards used in the broader security and payments industries—such as NIST SP 800-90B and BSI AIS-31—as models for what should be standard for crypto self-custody.
  • Coinkite says affected firmware has been halted in shipments and that remaining units containing the vulnerable code were destroyed, while it advised users not to discard certain devices.

A hardware wallet “wake-up call” for entropy verification

Percoco’s central point is about trust boundaries. Hardware wallet users are asked to rely on a manufacturer’s implementation of the randomness function that ultimately underpins seed phrase generation—yet, he said, there is often no independent method to confirm that the verified randomness source is the one the device will actually call in production.

“Consumers are asked to trust a manufacturer’s implementation of the single most critical function in the system, with no independent verification that the approved entropy path is the one actually executing,” Percoco wrote in his Sunday post.

He described this gap as an industry-wide weakness rather than a one-off mistake, noting that while some certifications exist for hardware components and secure elements, they do not “systematically force end-to-end verification” of the entropy source through to production code execution.

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Percoco contrasted the crypto self-custody space with practices in other sectors. He pointed to the payments industry’s use of independent lab testing for devices that collect sensitive inputs, and to government expectations in the US around cryptographic module validation and entropy source testing.

How the Coldcard flaw allegedly slipped through

According to the original reporting, the vulnerability traces back to a software change disclosed by Coinkite. The company said the relevant issue has existed since March 2021, when Coldcard altered its seed-generation process as it integrated a new cryptographic library.

The update, per Coinkite’s postmortem referenced in the article, unintentionally routed wallet creation to a weaker MicroPython generator already present in the codebase. Coinkite’s explanation indicated that Coldcard’s intended true random number generator (TRNG) code existed and could be present and functioning, but was not reliably the one used for the core randomness needed for seeds.

In other words, reviewers could verify that the TRNG code was present and worked—but, without a mechanism to ensure the device actually called that TRNG during seed generation, the system could still produce outcomes derived from a different generator than intended.

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The practical consequence is that seed phrases generated under the affected conditions may become more predictable than they should be. That predictive weakness is widely viewed by the security community as especially dangerous in wallet designs because compromised seeds can enable theft without needing to break keys directly.

Attack fallout and what’s changing for users

The ongoing exploit believed to target weak seed phrases generated by affected Coldcard devices has already resulted in extensive on-chain activity. As of Sunday, Cointelegraph’s figures cited in the original article reported over 4,500 impacted addresses and losses approaching $90 million in Bitcoin.

Coldcard (Coinkite) said it has halted all device shipments since confirming the vulnerability on Thursday. It also stated it destroyed remaining units at its facilities that contained the affected firmware.

At the same time, the company advised users with affected devices not to dispose of them immediately, saying doing so might become “essential if funds are recovered.” The company also indicated its legal team would coordinate with law enforcement across multiple jurisdictions to support efforts identifying those responsible.

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For affected owners, the new information underscores a key operational point: device handling decisions may need to be aligned with recovery processes rather than treated as purely disposal or cleanup tasks. While that doesn’t eliminate the security risk of continuing exposure, it suggests an active incident-response posture where retaining evidence or workable hardware could matter.

Standards exist—what’s missing is enforcement

Percoco’s critique points to a tension that many investors and builders may recognize: crypto security often emphasizes reviewing code paths and cryptographic primitives, but not always the end-to-end behavior under production conditions—especially the specific entropy source used at runtime.

He referenced NIST SP 800-90B, which sets requirements for designing, testing and validating physical true random number generators for cryptographic security, and BSI AIS-31, a similar standard from Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security. In his view, such frameworks make it more difficult for systems to “pass review” without proving that the approved randomness pathway is actually used for critical operations.

Whether regulators and certifiers will adapt those expectations to consumer self-custody products remains uncertain. However, the Coldcard case demonstrates why the distinction matters: even when a correct TRNG implementation exists in the codebase, the seed-generation workflow can still be compromised if production firmware routes randomness differently than what independent review assumes.

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Next, investors and users should watch for two things: clarification from Coinkite on exactly how to identify which devices/firmware are affected and what remediation steps best reduce future risk, and whether independent testers or certifiers move toward stronger “entropy source at runtime” validation—an area Percoco argues should not remain optional in digital asset custody.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Micron’s 39% Plunge and SK Hynix, Samsung’s $1.3T Spending Worries US Chipmakers

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Micron has seen substantial growth, but also a decline, in the last six months.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) closed at $823 per share on Friday, July 31, down 5.90% on the day and as much as 39% below its high this year.

The slide is rattling more than one US chipmaker. SK Hynix and Samsung’s plan to spend up to $1.3 trillion combined on new capacity is adding pressure, just as SanDisk, another US memory maker, has fallen 41% in the past month.

Why Rivals Are Racing to Add Capacity

South Korean officials have tied the expansion to a national plan to secure the country’s position in AI-era chip supply. Reports on the combined Samsung and SK Hynix investment have ranged from $575 billion to $1.3 trillion, reflecting how quickly spending plans have escalated this year.

Micron has seen substantial growth, but also a decline, in the last six months.
Micron has seen substantial growth, but also a decline, in the last six months. Image Source: Trading View

Demand for high bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators has outpaced supply for more than a year, a shortage Micron’s own management does not expect to ease before 2028.

That squeeze helped push SK Hynix stock down 13% on capex concerns even as Samsung posted an 1,800% profit jump last quarter, and it is also fueling the rise of Chinese challenger CXMT, whose stock has kept climbing since its IPO.

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What It Means for US Chipmakers

Micron trades at a forward price to earnings ratio near 19.8, with a market capitalization of about $930 billion. Wall Street analysts rate the stock a strong buy, even as short-term technical indicators point toward a sell signal.

SanDisk faces a similar squeeze. Its stock crash has erased much of a euphoric rally, though the company still holds a year-to-date gain of about 362%, a sign of how fast memory stocks moved before this pullback.

Coverage of Micron itself is split, though. One analysis modeled a path to roughly $1,000 per share by mid-2028 if pricing power holds. Another warned that rising AI infrastructure costs could force hyperscalers to slow spending before Micron’s new capacity, including plants in Idaho and New York, comes fully online.

Micron’s next earnings report, due September 29, will show whether US chipmakers can hold their pricing power as SK Hynix, Samsung, and CXMT race to close the capacity gap.

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South Korea Records $367M in Stablecoin Outflows

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South Korea Records $367M in Stablecoin Outflows

South Korea saw 560.3 billion won ($367 million) in stablecoin outflows to overseas exchanges in June, extending the country’s streak of monthly net stablecoin outflows to 18 consecutive months. 

The figure comes from Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) data obtained by Yonhap News Agency through People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-wook. South Korea’s five major crypto exchanges — Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax — transferred 2.7 trillion won ($1.81 billion) in stablecoins offshore in June and received 2.2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) from foreign platforms.

Market participants cited by Yonhap attributed the transfers to demand for products restricted or unavailable on domestic exchanges, such as overseas derivatives, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), decentralized finance and staking products. 

Lee has called on the government to reassess how it protects investors and supervises cross-border crypto activity as stablecoin outflows continue. “The government must comprehensively examine its investor protection and supervisory frameworks again and move swiftly to improve regulations,” he said, according to The Korea Times.

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South Korea weighs tighter rules for offshore activity

The outflows come as South Korea works to complete a broader legal framework for digital assets. On Thursday, a policy report recommended that authorities introduce an interim licensing guidance and phase in stablecoin regulations before the Digital Asset Basic Act is finalized. 

The proposed act would create the country’s first comprehensive digital asset framework, including rules for stablecoin issuance, disclosures and market activity. However, lawmakers have yet to reconcile multiple proposals, with disagreements over which institutions should be allowed to issue won-pegged stablecoins contributing to delays. 

Related: South Korea plans stablecoin rules as opposition pushes crypto tax repeal

South Korean regulators have also sought to expand reporting requirements for crypto transfers. On June 22, South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) proposed extending Travel Rule reporting requirements to transactions below 1 million won (about $650).

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The FIU also called for stronger action against unregistered overseas exchanges serving South Koreans. The agency said uneven licensing and supervision across jurisdictions created opportunities for regulatory arbitrage, a concern underscored by the country’s continued stablecoin outflows.

Magazine: The real reason DeFi projects that survived 2022 crash are shutting down now

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

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CLARITY Act faces Wednesday deadline for Friday vote

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CLARITY Act hits its final window on May 21

The CLARITY Act was absent from the U.S. Senate’s published schedule for Monday, Aug. 3, leaving lawmakers with only days to begin floor proceedings before the chamber’s summer break.

Summary

  • Monday’s Senate schedule lists only a spending vote, with no CLARITY Act floor action scheduled.
  • Wednesday is the ordinary filing deadline for a possible Friday vote on proceeding to CLARITY.
  • Seven Democratic votes remain crucial as ethics disputes and election pressure complicate bipartisan negotiations further.

The official Monday schedule lists a 5:30 p.m. vote on cloture for the motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, a vehicle for a continuing resolution. It includes no scheduled action on H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The Senate’s cloture ledger, updated through July 31, also records the July 30 filing for H.R. 6500 but no CLARITY Act petition.

The absence does not formally block the crypto market-structure legislation. However, it leaves Senate leaders without a publicly confirmed vehicle or procedural timetable before the Senate begins its tentative state work period on Aug. 10. That break is scheduled to run through Sept. 11.

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CLARITY Act needs a Wednesday filing for Friday action

Under the Senate’s ordinary Rule XXII process, a cloture petition requires 16 senators’ signatures. The cloture question is normally presented one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one. Therefore, a filing on Wednesday, Aug. 5, could produce a Friday, Aug. 7, vote, provided the Senate remains in session and meets that day.

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That vote would not pass the CLARITY Act. It would determine whether the Senate ends debate on the motion to proceed to the legislation. Invoking cloture generally requires three-fifths of senators duly chosen and sworn, normally 60 votes when all seats are filled.

Even after successful cloture, Rule XXII permits up to 30 hours of consideration before the Senate votes on the underlying motion. Senators would then need to debate the bill, consider amendments and eventually vote on passage. A second cloture process could become necessary to end debate on the legislation itself.

Faster routes require bipartisan cooperation

Senate leaders could use a faster version of the cloture procedure, but it requires unusually broad cooperation. The petition must include the majority leader, minority leader, seven additional senators not affiliated with the majority and seven not affiliated with the minority.

Under that procedure, the cloture vote occurs one hour after the Senate meets on the next calendar day. If cloture succeeds, the Senate immediately votes on proceeding without further debate. The rule could shorten the timeline, but assembling the required bipartisan group would itself demonstrate that negotiators had made substantial progress.

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A unanimous-consent agreement could compress the process further by setting debate limits and scheduling votes. However, any senator may object. No official filing or leadership notice reviewed for this update confirms that either expedited route has been secured.

Ascrypto.news previously reported, Sen. Cynthia Lummis said Majority Leader John Thune had maintained space for the legislation before the recess. Lummis nevertheless framed that outcome as her belief rather than a confirmed schedule, saying she believed Thune intended to proceed.

Seven Democratic votes remain the central barrier

Republicans control 53 Senate seats, so they would likely need at least seven Democrats to reach the ordinary 60-vote threshold if every Republican supported the motion.

Seven Democratic negotiators — Catherine Cortez Masto, Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock — said on July 22 that the Republican draft “falls short.” They called for stronger language covering ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest and market integrity, while saying negotiations would continue.

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Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren has taken a harder position. Warren called the updated legislation “dead on arrival” and argued that its ethics provisions would not adequately restrict President Donald Trump’s crypto interests. Those are Warren’s political and legal assessments, rather than findings by a court or independent regulator.

Meanwhile, Lummis released a merged proposal on July 22 combining work from the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees. She said lawmakers remained committed to reaching an agreement with Democrats. The Banking Committee had advanced its version by a 15–9 vote in May.

In related coverage, Sens. Thom Tillis and Ruben Gallego reportedly proposed letting state authorities enforce restrictions on federal officials issuing or sponsoring digital assets. The White House has not publicly approved final language, leaving the status of that compromise uncertain.

What happens next could shape the midterm fight

The next verified signal will be a cloture filing, leadership floor notice or unanimous-consent request identifying the legislative vehicle. An ordinary filing by Wednesday would keep a Friday procedural vote possible. A later filing would likely require an expedited agreement or additional Senate session days.

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Even a successful Friday vote would only begin the process. The Senate could continue considering the bill after the recess, but lawmakers would return to a crowded September calendar. Any amended version must also return to the House, which passed H.R. 3633 by 294–134 in July 2025. The House vote included support from 78 Democrats.

The shrinking window also carries an electoral dimension. A procedural vote would force senators to create a public record before the 2026 midterms. Without one, campaigns and crypto political groups have less evidence for judging whether lawmakers supported advancing the bill.

Axios reported that more than $125 million in crypto-linked political funds remained available as negotiations continued. Separate groups had already announced $1.5 million in advertising supporting Republican Senate candidates in Michigan and Iowa. Fairshake remained neutral during the negotiations, while some Republican operatives wanted the Senate to force a vote and place Democrats on record.

That pressure does not determine the bill’s outcome. However, missing the pre-recess window would move the debate closer to the election, when campaign spending, vulnerable Senate seats and party control could become more closely tied to the legislation’s remaining path.

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Ethereum’s Network Is Booming, So Why Is ETH Still Underperforming?

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On-chain data shows that the Ethereum blockchain has developed a lot in the past few years, currently processing more activity than ever before.

At the same time, the underlying asset has failed to benefit, as it continues to struggle below $2,000. One analyst believes this disconnect has become one of the biggest debates surrounding the altcoin and the network behind it.

Ethereum Activity Rockets

Aside from the highly anticipated Merge upgrade deployed several years ago, the team behind Ethereum has completed several other, perhaps less hyped but similarly impactful updates over the years that have managed to scale the network. The blockchain is seemingly handling significantly more activity than it did during its proof-of-work years.

Data shared by popular analyst Tanaka claims that Ethereum’s layer-1 generated over $88 million in Real Economic Value (REV) during Q2, up 7% from the previous quarter. However, it’s still down by nearly 70% year-over-year.

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Applications built on the world’s second-largest blockchain generated $1.8 billion in fees, meaning that Ethereum itself, which recently celebrated its 11th birthday, captured only around 4.9% of the economic value created by its application layer. The contrast becomes even more apparent when examining the network activity.

Ethereum rollups are currently processing around 1,270 user operations per second, compared to roughly 20.4 UOPS on the mainnet. Robinhood Chain is reportedly processing almost 5 times as many operations as Ethereum’s layer 1.

The analyst described the technical progress as impressive, but questioned how much of that growing activity ultimately benefits ETH holders. Current data shows:

– Total ETH supply: approximately 121.88M

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– ETH in the Beacon Chain: approximately 41.10M

– Roughly 33.7% of the total ETH supply is securing the network

– Staking issuance yield: around 2.6%

– Recent annualized supply growth: around 0.85%

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– Seven-day blob fee burn: only around 0.22 ETH

Changed Bull Case

The analyst doesn’t believe Ethereum is broken, but noted that ETH’s long-term investment thesis is undergoing a substantial change. Instead of “more users leading to more fees and more ETH burn,” the focus now is gradually shifting toward tokenized finance.

The value of Real-World Assets (RWAs) on Ethereum has recently exceeded $17 billion, while the broader stablecoin market is up to almost $300 billion. The analyst argued that Ethereum’s competitive advantage is no longer cheap transactions but its position as the leading settlement layer for institutional finance.

Going forward, they said the key questions are whether layer-2 activity will eventually make blob space economically valuable, whether stablecoins and RWAs generate meaningful on-chain turnover, and whether institutions increasingly hold the underlying asset as reserve collateral for the Ethereum ecosystem.

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The analyst will continue to hold and accumulate ETH as they remain optimistic about its near- and long-term future, especially since Ethereum has already solved its scaling problem.

The post Ethereum’s Network Is Booming, So Why Is ETH Still Underperforming? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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As Earnings Season Peaks, Jim Cramer Highlights These 10 Rules for Investing

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SEC Moves to Scrap Rule 611: Here’s What It Means for Tokenized Stocks

Jim Cramer used a recent Mad Money segment on CNBC to restate his personal rules for investing. He argues that discipline, not luck, separates investors who survive market swings from those the market wipes out.

The segment landed as Wall Street works through the busiest stretch of the second-quarter earnings season. Big banks and mega-cap technology firms have already reported. Nvidia is still to come in late August.

Where Earnings Season Stands

The Q2 2026 season is running hot. Data shows a blended S&P 500 earnings growth rate of 47.4% year over year. That marks the second straight quarter of growth above 20%, and the fastest pace since Q2 2021.

With 61% of S&P 500 companies reporting so far, 86% have topped profit estimates. That beat rate sits well above the five-year average of 78%, according to FactSet.

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Big Wall Street banks opened the season in mid-July. A wave of mega-cap technology reports followed in the back half of the month. Samsung’s record AI-chip quarter showed how strong artificial intelligence (AI) demand flowed into corporate results this quarter.

About 136 more S&P 500 companies are due to report in the coming week. Not every result has landed well, though. Roblox shares fell sharply after new child safety measures weighed on its outlook, despite a revenue beat. That drop shows strong headline growth has not shielded every company from a rough market reaction.

Nvidia is due to report in late August. Investors see it as the season’s biggest remaining test, given lingering questions over whether heavy AI capital spending is turning into revenue.

Cramer’s 10 Rules, Distilled

Against that backdrop, Cramer laid out the rules he says have kept him out of trouble over a long career.

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He started with quality over price. Cramer argues that investors should buy “best of breed” companies even when their stocks look expensive. He said chasing cheap, lower-quality names rarely pays off.

He pointed to Apple and Nvidia as stocks where paying a premium multiple worked out over time. That view echoes a separate Mad Money segment where Cramer compared parts of the AI rally to the dot-com bust, warning that not every high-flying AI stock deserves the same benefit of the doubt.

From there, Cramer turned to patience. He said giving up on a high-quality stock during a rough patch is a mistake investors repeat constantly. He cited his own 2016 call on Apple as proof, when the stock traded near a low price-to-earnings ratio and later rallied hard.

His third rule looks past equities entirely. Cramer said investors ignore the bond market at their own risk, since bonds compete directly with stocks for capital. That rule carries extra weight now. The 30-year Treasury yield sits near its highest level since 2007, as traders question the Federal Reserve’s rate path.

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The remaining rules cover portfolio discipline. Cramer said unexplained CEO or CFO resignations are almost always a sell signal. He also urged investors to expect corrections instead of treating each one as a shock. He tracks a proprietary overbought and oversold indicator to help decide when to raise or deploy cash.

Cramer also warned against buying a stock on hope alone. He said too many investors hold a falling stock and wait for it to climb back to their purchase price, instead of judging the business on its own merits.

He added that every investor should be able to explain a stock pick to another person before buying it. If an investor cannot describe how a company makes money, Cramer said, that signals unfinished homework. He pointed to speculative biotech and meme stocks as examples of positions people often hold without understanding the underlying business.

Cramer paired that rule with a broader skepticism toward hype. He said the internet has amplified Wall Street’s promotional machine. He also said money managers who pitch stocks on television are usually talking their own book rather than offering neutral advice.

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His final two rules cover portfolio housekeeping. Cramer said investors should never sell winning positions to fund losing ones, since that habit lets weak stocks drag a portfolio down while investors trim strong ones too soon.

He also said investors should avoid speculating on a takeover just because a struggling company’s stock looks cheap. Acquirers target strong businesses, he argued, not weak ones.

What Comes Next

Cramer’s framework treats this earnings season as a live test of his own rules. Strong results from best-of-breed names would support his core argument. Any stumble from Nvidia in late August would test his patience-over-hope philosophy in real time.

For now, double-digit earnings growth and a jittery bond market give investors plenty of chances to apply both halves of Cramer’s playbook at once.

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Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

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Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

Suspected 4th Coldcard attack wave sweeps 389 Bitcoin: Galaxy’s Thorn

Galaxy research head Alex Thorn warned that unconfirmed transactions may give some Coldcard users a narrow opportunity to save their funds.

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