Latest Crypto News | Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoin Updates

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju says the Bitcoin bear market may be over after the platform’s Bull/Bear Market Cycle Indicator turned positive for the first time since October 2025. The indicator reached 0.042 on 26 August, moving into its “bull” range after falling to -1.244 on 5 February, when BTC/USD dropped to about $60,000. The metric combines the MVRV ratio, NUPL and SOPR through CryptoQuant’s P&L Index, comparing the result with its 365-day moving average. A move from negative to positive previously helped identify the end of Bitcoin’s bear market in early 2023. However, the signal is not confirmation of a sustained rally. Analysts continue to question whether Bitcoin has enough demand and market liquidity to support a lasting macro trend reversal. Liquidity hurdles remain above spot prices, while trader Rekt Capital said the August monthly close could be pivotal for any breakout from a downward resistance trend line established in October 2025. For traders, the indicator is a medium- to long-term bullish signal, but short-term Bitcoin price action may remain volatile. Confirmation through stronger demand, improved liquidity and a decisive breakout would be important before treating the Bitcoin bear market as definitively over.

Charles Schwab plans to add Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX) and Chainlink (LINK) to Schwab Crypto in the coming months. The move will expand the platform beyond Bitcoin and Ether, although the brokerage has not announced a specific launch date. Schwab Crypto operates through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB and charges a 75-basis-point fee per trade. The service is unavailable in New York, Louisiana and US territories. The brokerage said it will continue adding cryptocurrencies and digital assets over time. The listing could broaden access to SOL, AVAX and LINK among traditional investors. Schwab reported $13.04 trillion in client assets and 39.9 million active brokerage accounts at the end of July. However, the announcement is unlikely to create an immediate trading catalyst because availability will be phased in and no launch date has been confirmed. Schwab has also expanded its crypto offering through spot Bitcoin and Ether trading, 24/7 crypto futures on Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP via thinkorswim, and planned S&P 500 event contracts with Cboe. The firm continues to warn that digital assets are speculative and are not FDIC-insured deposits or protected by SIPC.

Tokenized Nvidia shares continued trading on Aerodrome, a decentralised exchange on Coinbase’s Base network, after the Nasdaq closed on 26 August. The NVDAc/USDC pool recorded about $4.5 million in volume during the four hours after the closing bell. NVDAc rose from about $209.87 to a high of $220.66 after Nvidia reported second-quarter earnings, then ended the period at $219.80. Nvidia reported earnings per share of $2.22 and revenue of $96.2 billion, while forecasting roughly $108 billion in current-quarter revenue. Its Nasdaq-listed shares had closed at $209.66 before rising about 5% in after-hours trading. Aerodrome CEO Alex Cutler said on-chain markets can discover prices outside traditional market hours, describing the price gap as “the feature, not the bug”. He also highlighted the programmability of tokenized stocks and integrations with DeFi protocols including Aave, Morpho and Euler. However, oracle coverage and weekend liquidity remain risks. Chainlink’s stock-price feed currently operates on a 24/5 schedule, potentially creating collateral and liquidation problems when traditional markets are closed. Cutler said continuous oracle coverage may arrive soon and suggested that lending protocols could eventually use on-chain pool prices. Coinbase launched tokenized Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet shares on Base on 24 August. The products are backed one-for-one by shares held with a regulated custodian but are unavailable to US users. Aerodrome’s Nvidia pools traded roughly $19.5 million over 24 hours, although the overall market remains small and faces competition from other tokenization platforms.

Bitcoin is trading near $80,000 ahead of a Deribit options expiry involving about 81,000 contracts with a combined notional value of $6.36 billion. The options market’s max-pain level is $69,000, while major call positions are concentrated between $70,000 and $80,500. The 0.85 put/call ratio indicates slightly greater call exposure than put exposure. The Bitcoin options expiry could trigger sharp short-term price swings as traders close, roll or hedge positions. If BTC holds above $80,000, dealer hedging may add buying pressure. Selling pressure could instead push Bitcoin towards $70,000 or lower. A stable range between $75,000 and $80,000 remains possible if positions are settled without major repositioning. Bitcoin recently gained more than $16,000 in less than a week and was up about 25% over the past month. QCP Research said short covering contributed to the rally, while falling open interest raised concerns about the durability of demand. ETF inflows were near the 95th percentile of the past year, but sustained spot buying may be needed to support further gains. The Bitcoin options expiry is therefore a key near-term volatility catalyst, but it does not reliably predict the settlement price.

Taiwanese ABF substrate maker Unimicron Technology (3037) was searched on 28 August by investigators led by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office. Two vice-presidents and an accountant were reportedly taken in for questioning, while four laptops, mobile phones and accounting documents were seized for digital and financial examination. The investigation has not confirmed allegations of accounting fraud, insider trading, breach of trust, asset stripping, money laundering or illegal fund transfers. Unimicron disclosed possible involvement under Taiwan’s “obstruction of agriculture, industry and commerce” provisions, which can cover false statements about a product’s country of origin. Market reports alleged that China-made substrates may have been routed through Taiwan and relabelled “Made in Taiwan” to avoid US tariffs, but neither prosecutors nor the company confirmed these claims. Unimicron said it would fully co-operate with the investigation and that its operations remain unaffected. Its shares had reached a record high of NT$1,230 earlier in the session before closing at NT$1,110, down 5.93%. The stock had risen sharply from a six-month low of NT$389 on demand for AI servers, advanced ABF substrates and advanced packaging. For traders, the investigation creates near-term event risk, with attention likely to focus on further prosecutor disclosures, potential regulatory action and possible portfolio adjustments by actively managed ETFs holding Unimicron among their top positions.

A GitHub repository impersonating Qwen distributed a 487 KB ZIP file advertised as a 27B-parameter local AI model. Instead of the expected model weights, the archive contained three files: a Windows launcher, a renamed LuaJIT interpreter and an obfuscated Lua script. Security researchers from SlowMist’s MistEye system found that the script collected hostnames, usernames, system identifiers, operating-system details and screenshots. It sent the data to attacker-controlled infrastructure and could download and execute additional payloads. A Polygon smart contract was also used to provide a fallback command-and-control address, making infrastructure blocking more difficult. Further analysis identified a second-stage StealC information-stealing Trojan. The malware targets Chrome, Edge, Brave and Firefox data, including passwords, cookies and browsing history. It can also collect Outlook, Foxmail, WinSCP and Steam credentials, screenshots, system information and potentially cryptocurrency wallet data controlled by server-side tasks. Its capabilities include persistence, secondary downloads, privilege escalation and encrypted data exfiltration. MistEye identified 29 similar ZIP files across 23 repositories. Researchers stressed that the official Qwen project was not compromised and that the analysis was based on static evidence and simulated requests; samples were not executed on real hosts. For crypto traders, the StealC malware poses a direct account and wallet-security risk. Users should avoid unofficial model repositories, verify file sizes and sources, and rotate credentials or wallet access if suspicious files were opened.

AXT (NASDAQ: AXTI) has been rated Sell by First Principles Partners despite strong AI-related demand for indium phosphide (InP), a semiconductor material used in high-speed optical links for AI data centres. AXT’s gross margin rose to 44.9% in Q2 2026, but the analyst expects this improvement to be temporary. Contractual pricing caps and easing supply shortages could pressure margins back towards historical levels. The industry is also moving towards larger 6-inch InP wafers. The shift may benefit competitors with stronger production yields and greater manufacturing consistency, while AXT is viewed as lagging in scale-up execution. The analyst estimates a base-case fair value of $45 per share, substantially below the company’s current market valuation. The report identifies margin compression, weaker pricing power and competitive pressure as key risks for AXTI investors. Although AI-driven optical demand remains a long-term growth theme, the AXT investment case depends on whether the company can sustain elevated margins and successfully expand 6-inch InP production.

Elastic reported strong fiscal first-quarter results, raised its full-year guidance and saw its shares rise about 15% after the earnings release. The company’s consumption-based model may reduce exposure to per-seat software risks while benefiting from higher data usage and artificial intelligence adoption. Elastic’s net expansion rate exceeded 110%, indicating that existing customers are increasing their spending. Backlog growth also outpaced revenue growth, improving visibility into future sales. The company has nearly $1 billion in net cash and authorised a $500 million share buyback. Analyst Gary Alexander said Elastic continues to offer high-teen growth and margins at an attractive valuation, maintaining a “Buy” view. Elastic’s results add to the broader rebound in software stocks as concerns about a technology-sector “SaaSpocalypse” fade and investors reassess AI-related growth opportunities.

Calamos Investments said small-cap stocks extended their market leadership in the second quarter of 2026. The Russell 2000 Index rose in each month of the quarter despite elevated geopolitical tensions and expectations for a more hawkish US Federal Reserve. Calamos’ Timpani Small Cap Growth Strategy outperformed its benchmark during the period. The investment manager attributed the result to its focus on companies with sustainably fast, yet underestimated, earnings growth. Calamos said the outlook for small-cap growth remains positive. It cited improving fundamental earnings momentum and attractive valuations as key supports for the asset class. For traders, the commentary signals continued investor interest in smaller companies, although the strategy remains sensitive to interest-rate expectations, Federal Reserve policy and broader risk sentiment.

US spot Bitcoin ETF inflows accelerated in August, with funds recording $1.92 billion in net inflows during the week ending Friday and a further $242.3 million on Aug. 27. The latest figure extended the positive streak to nine trading sessions, beginning Aug. 17, with cumulative Bitcoin ETF inflows reaching about $3.04 billion. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led demand. It attracted about $1.33 billion over five consecutive sessions and added $277.6 million on Aug. 27. ARKB, Bitwise’s BITB and Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust also recorded inflows. Fidelity’s FBTC posted an $83.6 million outflow, while Grayscale’s GBTC lost $27.2 million. US spot Ether ETFs attracted about $700 million during the earlier weekly inflow wave. Bitcoin briefly climbed above $81,000 after previously moving through $78,000 and $79,000, but later fell below $80,000 to around $79,074. BTC remained about 2% higher over the week. Strong institutional demand supports the short-term Bitcoin price outlook, although spot funds remain roughly $2.91 billion net negative for 2026. Traders are also watching Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech for interest-rate signals. ETF demand may provide support, but macro policy guidance could increase volatility. The October 2025 inflow surge, which preceded a sharp market sell-off, also highlights the risk of treating strong Bitcoin ETF inflows as a standalone bullish signal.

Bitcoin price prediction analysis points to a key decision zone between $81,500 and $83,000. Bitcoin was trading near $79,800 after recovering from below $78,000, but technical indicators suggest momentum may be weakening. Jesse Olson identified bearish divergence on the four-hour chart and warned that Bitcoin could form a lower high. The setup remains unconfirmed. A break below the rising trendline would strengthen the correction scenario, with potential support around $71,700-$72,500 and then $66,500-$69,800. Ali Charts compared the current market structure with Bitcoin’s recovery after the 2022 bear-market bottom. That analysis highlights the May 2026 high near $83,000 as a major resistance level. Failure to hold above it could support a deeper pullback, while a sustained breakout would weaken the bearish fractal comparison. For traders, Bitcoin price prediction signals remain conditional. A decisive move above $81,500 and sustained acceptance above $83,000 would favour trend continuation. Rejection near those levels, followed by a loss of four-hour support, would increase downside risk.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is due to deliver his first Jackson Hole speech on Friday, making the Jackson Hole Fed speech the key near-term event for interest-rate and crypto traders. Markets want clarity on the Fed’s 2% PCE inflation target, its policy reaction function and how it will respond to inflation, growth and labour-market data. The latest update shows stronger expectations for monetary tightening. July headline PCE inflation was 3.7% year on year, while core PCE inflation was 3.3%, both above target. Markets price about a 35% chance of a September rate increase and have fully priced a December hike. Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack have also backed tighter policy. Goldman Sachs previously expected Warsh to reaffirm the 2% target without signalling a September decision, while suggesting rates could remain unchanged through year-end. Deutsche Bank said Warsh must address conflicting pressures from tariffs, energy prices, artificial intelligence demand and productivity gains. The speech may therefore clarify whether higher long-term Treasury yields reflect inflation risk, policy uncertainty or stronger growth. The 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields were recently near 4.68% and 5.20%. A hawkish Jackson Hole Fed speech could lift yields and the US dollar, while weighing on equities, commodities and cryptocurrencies. Softer oil prices and stronger technology shares may limit some pressure. Traders should watch Warsh’s reaction function rather than only the tone of the speech, as clearer guidance could reduce longer-term risk premiums even if short-term crypto volatility rises.

CoinGecko’s Crypto Security Report found that cryptocurrency platforms lost more than $3.63 billion in 245 documented incidents from January 2025 to July 2026. The 10 largest attacks caused 72.5% of total losses, led by the $1.44 billion Bybit breach. Other major incidents involved KelpDAO, Drift Protocol and Cetus. Infrastructure and supply-chain failures caused more than $1.8 billion in losses. Decentralised applications lost about $546 million through smart-contract exploits, while private-key compromise remained the leading risk for centralised exchanges. Oracle failures, market manipulation and internal system errors also affected platforms including Bitget, Binance and Hyperliquid. The Crypto Security Report found that conventional audits provided limited protection. Audited platforms were linked to 147 incidents and 88.44% of losses, but only about 11% of all incidents involved vulnerabilities normally covered by smart-contract audits. External infrastructure, unaudited updates, governance and operational controls were more common attack routes. Active coverage from major on-chain insurance protocols fell 20.2%, from $163.2 million to $130.2 million, while cumulative claims remained near $33 million. By August 2026, five of nine tracked protocols had shut down or pivoted. Centralised exchanges are increasingly relying on self-funded protection reserves, which are not equivalent to regulated insurance. For traders, the findings highlight counterparty, custody, bridge and protocol risks. Exchange reserves, withdrawal controls, private-key management, audit scope and insurance terms remain important when assessing market exposure.

Stock-paired meme coins are gaining traction on Robinhood Chain, led by the AI token, whose market capitalisation briefly reached $100 million after rising almost tenfold in a week. AI is paired with the tokenised NVIDIA stock NVDA and has built a community treasury. Creator fees and 50% of trading fees are used to buy back and burn AI, with 0.82% of its supply already destroyed. The growth was supported by LONG, a Robinhood Chain meme launchpad that has promoted stock-paired tokens. LONG reportedly ranks third among the chain’s meme platforms by daily trading volume, accounting for 8.5% of total Robinhood Chain meme activity. It also previously airdropped NVDA tokens to AI holders. In a stock-paired meme pool, a tokenised stock such as NVDA, TSLA or AAPL replaces ETH, SOL or BNB as the pricing and liquidity asset. Traders still use ETH through the interface, but the transaction is routed through the stock token before reaching the meme pool. The model exposes traders to both meme-token performance and movements in the underlying stock. It does not provide a 1:1 redemption right or intrinsic value floor. LONG says it plans to launch LongX, which would package leveraged stock tokens as ERC-20 assets, with automated position management and Lighter providing execution and liquidity infrastructure. The trend is also increasing demand for Robinhood Chain’s real-world assets (RWA). The chain reportedly holds about $45.4 million in RWA value across 202 assets. Stock-paired meme activity contributes roughly 34% of RWA trading volume. LONG has processed more than $94 million in NVDA volume, while 23% of Robinhood Chain’s NVDA is reportedly held in AI’s community treasury.

South Korea’s crypto market still has strong retail liquidity, with trading volumes on Upbit and Bithumb reportedly rebounding 2.5 to 3 times when sentiment improves. However, the Korean crypto market’s broader industry has lost ground since the 2022 Terra collapse. Global blockchain growth is increasingly concentrated in four areas: perpetual contracts and prediction markets, which are driven by speculation, plus stablecoins and real-world assets (RWA), which connect crypto with traditional finance. South Korea currently lacks clear legal pathways for all four sectors. Perpetual crypto derivatives have no formal domestic framework, prediction markets are generally treated as gambling, stablecoin legislation remains delayed, and the country has no comprehensive RWA regime. The gap between South Korea and global crypto markets may therefore be wider than it was in 2021. Financial institutions are preparing stablecoin initiatives, while some RWA projects are seeking overseas issuance. Analysts say South Korea could scale quickly if regulators establish clear rules, but continued uncertainty risks pushing innovation and institutional capital abroad.

BlackRock digital assets head Robert Mitchnick said the CLARITY Act is less important to Bitcoin than to other crypto sectors, including decentralised finance (DeFi). He said Bitcoin has already achieved relatively strong regulatory acceptance, while rules for DeFi and other complex digital assets remain unsettled. His comments came as US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $232.1 million in net inflows on Wednesday, extending an eight-day streak to $2.8 billion, according to CoinGlass. SoSoValue data showed cumulative net inflows of $54.6 billion and total net assets of $98.6 billion. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed the US House of Representatives by 294-134 in July 2025. The Senate Banking Committee advanced an amended version in June 2026, but the bill has not yet passed the Senate. Mitchnick said institutional investors are not treating further legislation as essential to Bitcoin’s long-term investment case. Instead, he cited US debt, persistent fiscal deficits and demand for Bitcoin as a store of value as larger structural drivers. BlackRock’s IBIT remains popular with institutions, advisers and direct investors. The firm also offers Ethereum products, including staking exposure, and a Bitcoin premium-income product. For traders, the CLARITY Act remains a key regulatory catalyst for DeFi and other digital-asset categories, but current Bitcoin momentum is being driven more directly by ETF demand, institutional adoption and macroeconomic concerns.

The Jackson Hole economic symposium is putting crypto assets closer to the centre of monetary-policy discussions. The Kansas City Federal Reserve’s 2026 event, themed “Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy”, will examine stablecoins, tokenised securities, instant payments, artificial intelligence in finance and bank deposits on shared ledgers. The event follows a Wyoming blockchain meeting attended by executives, investors and lawmakers, including Galaxy Digital’s Michael Novogratz, Kraken co-chief executive Arjun Sethi, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon, and US senators Cynthia Lummis and Tim Scott. The Jackson Hole symposium’s agenda and speaker list had not yet been released, although Kevin Warsh was scheduled to deliver the keynote speech. Stablecoins are the main link between crypto and central-bank policy. Their reserves, often consisting of cash and short-term US Treasuries, connect them to government debt demand, bank deposits, payment systems and monetary stability. BIS data showed that stablecoins had a combined market capitalisation of about $320 billion at the end of May, while reported 2025 transaction volume reached $28 trillion, though adjusted effective activity was much lower. US stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act could define how privately issued digital dollars coexist with commercial-bank money. OCC regulations expected later this year may also determine reserve, redemption, custody and banking-access standards. For traders, the immediate market risk is still interest rates. Warsh’s comments on inflation, employment and future policy could move real yields, the dollar, liquidity and Bitcoin. Stablecoin and tokenisation adoption will likely have a slower, multi-year impact on crypto market structure.

NBA star Kevin Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman reportedly invested about $250,000 in open-source AI platform Hugging Face through Thirty Five Ventures. The investment included roughly $100,000 in the company’s 2018 seed round and $150,000 in its 2019 Series A. Hugging Face was valued at $4.5 billion in its latest reported funding round. The Information has reported that Nvidia may acquire the company for $12.9 billion. If the deal closes at that valuation, the investment could generate more than $60 million in paper gains, or a return of over 240 times the original capital. Durant’s venture portfolio also includes Coinbase, Robinhood, Whoop, Mercury and Overtime. A circulating estimate compares their entry valuations with later peak valuations, but it does not account for equity dilution, actual ownership percentages or exit timing. The figures therefore represent potential valuation gains rather than confirmed profits. For crypto traders, the story highlights continued investor interest in AI infrastructure and crypto-related platforms. However, it has no direct effect on cryptocurrency prices and should be viewed mainly as a sentiment signal for AI, fintech and digital-asset investment themes.

Crypto exchange Bullish plans to provide USD.AI with a $100 million debt facility to support loans secured by GPUs and other high-performance computing assets. The financing will provide liquidity for AI infrastructure lending on the USD.AI protocol, developed by Permian Labs. USD.AI connects AI infrastructure financing with on-chain capital and reportedly has more than $225 million in total value locked. Bullish also plans to list trading pairs linked to sUSDai, USD.AI’s yield-bearing token, creating a secondary market for GPU-backed debt exposure. The deal strengthens the connection between crypto lending, real-world assets and the artificial intelligence sector. However, its direct impact on major cryptocurrency prices is likely to be limited because the initiative targets a specialised financing market.

HyperEVM smart contract deployments have exceeded 800,000, reaching a new record, according to monitoring by HyperliquidNews on 28 August 2026. The milestone highlights continued developer activity and ecosystem expansion on the HyperEVM network. Rising contract deployments can indicate growing interest in decentralized applications, trading infrastructure and on-chain experiments. However, the figure alone does not confirm higher transaction volume, user activity, total value locked or token demand. Traders should therefore track follow-up data such as daily active addresses, gas usage, liquidity and applications launched on HyperEVM before treating the milestone as a strong market signal.

MANTRA reported that an attacker exploited an integer underflow vulnerability in Cosmos EVM to transfer MANTRA tokens worth about $3.6 million. The attack did not compromise validator or administrator keys. According to the report, the attacker moved tokens from a burn address and a genesis multisignature address. The first suspicious transfer occurred on 21 August at 11:06 UTC+8. MANTRA Chain halted at 15:13 and restarted on 22 August with version 8.4.0. The vulnerability had been fixed on a development branch on 15 May and was merged into the release branch on 19 August. MANTRA said 68.3 million tokens had been sent to exchange deposit addresses, while 37.96 million OM tokens were frozen. Recovery efforts have entered a law-enforcement investigation. The incident highlights smart-contract risk, exchange monitoring and potential selling pressure for OM traders.

An unidentified crypto wallet bought 5,425 ETH on-chain within 30 minutes on 28 August 2026, according to blockchain analyst Ember. The purchase was valued at approximately $13.55 million, with an average price of about $2,498 per ETH. The ETH whale transaction highlights significant buying activity in the Ethereum market, although the wallet’s identity and investment strategy remain unknown. Traders should monitor whether the address continues accumulating ETH, moves the funds to exchanges, or holds the tokens off-market. A single whale purchase can support short-term sentiment, but it does not by itself confirm a broader Ethereum trend.

Trust Wallet has released version 4.8.0, introducing a fix for key retrieval methods that previously did not handle failures clearly. The update changes these methods to return nullable types when key retrieval fails, allowing the wallet software to manage missing or unavailable key data more safely. The change was submitted by developer Sergei Boiko in pull request #4849. Trust Wallet 4.8.0 is primarily a technical reliability update and does not announce new assets, trading features or security incidents. For users and developers, the Trust Wallet update may improve error handling and reduce unexpected failures in wallet-related operations. Traders should monitor compatibility before upgrading, especially if they rely on integrations or automated workflows connected to Trust Wallet. The release itself is unlikely to affect cryptocurrency prices directly.

AI tokenomics offers useful visibility into model usage and spending, but token consumption is not a reliable measure of productivity, value or efficiency. The article argues that tokens from different AI models are not interchangeable: a million tokens used by an orchestrator may have very different business value from a million tokens used by a specialist model. AI costs must be assessed in the context of the workflow, model quality, architecture, latency, reliability and business outcome. A cheaper model may produce poor results, trigger retries and increase total costs, while a more expensive model may complete a task successfully on the first attempt. This makes the total cost of achieving an objective more important than token volume alone. The issue is similar to database FinOps, where infrastructure metrics do not show whether a database is essential to a critical transaction or unnecessarily expensive. As AI systems combine frontier models, local models, specialist services and existing hardware, spending may increasingly involve licensing, compute, seats, requests and minutes rather than only tokens. The article does not reject token accounting. Instead, it calls for tokenomics to be connected to workflow performance, output quality, architecture and business results. For traders, the development highlights a broader AI infrastructure trend: cost controls and efficient inference may support demand for local models and self-hosted systems, but token usage alone should not be treated as a valuation or productivity signal.

The Coinbase Premium turned positive on 28 August for the first time since May, indicating that Bitcoin demand among US-based buyers has strengthened relative to Binance and overseas markets. The shift coincided with Bitcoin’s advance towards $80,000 and renewed buying through spot Bitcoin ETFs. Data from SoSoValue showed that major Bitcoin ETFs, led by BlackRock’s IBIT, attracted $3.51 billion in recent inflows, the highest level since October 2025. Several of these funds use Coinbase as their asset custodian, linking the ETF demand to activity on the exchange. The Coinbase Premium is closely watched because sustained positive readings can signal stronger institutional and regulated US demand. Analysts said Bitcoin must break above its 50-week simple moving average near $81,000 to confirm a potential shift from a bear market to a new bullish phase. Traders will therefore monitor whether the premium remains positive and whether ETF inflows continue.

Deepcoin will join FUTUREMODE 2026, the upgraded successor to Taipei Blockchain Week, as a Gold Sponsor from 4 to 6 September 2026 in Taipei. The event will focus on Web3, artificial intelligence and emerging technology trends. Deepcoin Taiwan head Ryan is scheduled to discuss Taiwan’s Web3 market opportunities, ecosystem development and industry outlook. The exchange will also host a badminton-themed Web3 activity with retired national players, influencers and guest participants. It plans to launch an event-specific badminton contract, allowing users to customise matchups involving selected key opinion leaders. Deepcoin will additionally co-host “The Pengu Garden: Taipei Edition” with Pudgy Penguins and 0xmedia. The company said its participation is intended to deepen its understanding of Taiwan, strengthen regional partnerships and support its wider Asian expansion. The announcement is primarily a sponsorship and marketing development. It does not disclose new trading products, user growth, transaction volume or financial results. Deepcoin also highlighted its partnership with the Argentina national football team as part of its global branding strategy.

Google launched Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash on 27 August, adding video continuation to its AI video-generation API. Each generation remains limited to 10 seconds, but users can add further 10-second segments for a maximum total length of 40 seconds. The main model improvement is continuity. Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash can reference up to 10 seconds of the preceding footage, compared with just the final second in the previous version. This may improve consistency in characters, movement and scene layout. The model also supports first-and-last-frame control and up to three seconds of external video for style reference. Pricing ranges from $0.03 per second for 360p to $0.30 for 4K. Google says 1080p and 4K outputs are upscaled rather than natively generated. A full 40-second video would cost about $1.20 at 360p, $4 at 720p and $12 at 4K. Google also warns that character consistency and text rendering remain unresolved, while audio and voice editing are not yet available. Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash is accessible through Google AI Studio, its developer API, Flow and selected Gemini subscriptions. All generated clips include SynthID watermarking.

Sharpa, a general-purpose robotics company founded by three Hesai Technology co-founders, has disclosed more than 4.5 billion yuan ($670 million) in cumulative funding. Its post-money valuation reached 22 billion yuan ($3.27 billion), exceeding Hesai Technology’s current market value. Investors include Alibaba, Meituan, Tencent, JD.com, Sequoia China and Qiming Venture Partners. Founded in late 2024, Sharpa develops dexterous hands, humanoid robots and physical AI models. Its first commercial deployment is in Dairy Queen stores, where a robot uses existing staff equipment to complete about 55 steps in making a Blizzard. Training took less than five months, although the robot currently works at about half the speed of a human employee. Sharpa says practical robots must operate without environmental modifications, work autonomously and complete complex, economically valuable tasks. Its Wave hand has 22 active degrees of freedom, while the North humanoid robot has 67. The company’s CraftNet model combines vision, touch, language and movement. Sharpa plans to expand into restaurants, hotels and retail before exploring household applications from 2028. For crypto traders, Sharpa is primarily a venture-capital and physical AI signal. The Sharpa funding news has no direct impact on cryptocurrency prices or blockchain markets. Any longer-term effect would likely come indirectly through broader technology investment sentiment.

The Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted despite President Donald Trump’s claim that the waterway is “very functioning” and under US control. Commercial traffic has fallen to about 12 vessels a day from roughly 130 before the conflict, a decline of more than 90%. An oil tanker was reportedly hit by an unidentified projectile on August 27. The Strait of Hormuz carries about 20% of global petroleum shipments and is a key export route for Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE. Brent crude rose above $91 a barrel in mid-August as traders priced in supply risks and the possibility of further escalation. Iran says it will not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US lifts sanctions and ends what Tehran calls a blockade of Iranian ports. A June agreement linking sanctions relief with maritime security has lapsed. Trump has ruled out renewed direct talks, while Iran and Oman continue discussions without a confirmed deal. The disruption is also affecting LNG markets. QatarEnergy extended force majeure on deliveries for another month because of uncertainty over tanker access. Earlier missile damage at Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility removed about 12.8 million tonnes per year of capacity, or 17% of Qatar’s output. Buyers in Asia and Europe are seeking alternative cargoes, including US LNG, while spot prices rise. For crypto traders, the Strait of Hormuz crisis adds geopolitical, inflation and risk-off pressure. Bitcoin and other high-beta digital assets could face volatility if energy prices, interest-rate expectations or broader market risk aversion increase.