News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Odaily, the Iranian rial hit a record low this week, with the open market exchange rate falling to approximately 2.02 million rials per US dollar on August 24, compared to around 1.53 million rials in the first quarter. During the same period, the US government launched "Operation Economic Exodus," adding more than 60 entities to the Treasury Department's blacklist and, for the first time, designating digital assets as a sanctionable category.State-controlled farms linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) control approximately 65% of Iran's Bitcoin mining capacity. Iranian miners have accounted for roughly 3% to 7% of global Bitcoin hashrate since 2019, with the mined Bitcoin valued at an estimated $1.35 billion to $3.15 billion at various stages.Iran legalized Bitcoin mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use industrial electricity at approximately $0.004 per kilowatt-hour and sell the mined tokens to the Central Bank of Iran. Chainalysis estimates that IRGC-affiliated wallets received over $3 billion in Q4 2025; Elliptic states that the Central Bank of Iran holds at least $507 million in USDT.The US Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex in June. Nobitex had processed more than half of Iran's digital asset inflows; in April, the US Treasury seized nearly $500 million in Iran-linked crypto assets. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: As of August, cumulative top-ups on USDC- and USDT-linked stablecoin cards have reached $13.8 billion, an increase of nearly $10 billion over the past 12 months. Stablecoin cards are shifting USDC and USDT from trading balances toward everyday consumer use cases.USDC currently leads in tracked card spending, while USDT is accelerating its catch-up. The two follow different adoption paths: USDC benefits more from fintech integrations and payment infrastructure, whereas USDT is more active across exchanges, remittances, and emerging markets.On-chain settlement also reflects a multi-chain distribution, with Base leading at approximately $1.2 billion, followed by Solana at $635 million, Polygon at $544 million, and Optimism at $509 million. Networks such as Arbitrum, Scroll, Ethereum, and Stellar are also carrying significant activity.Stablecoin cards still rely on traditional payment networks like Visa and Mastercard, shifting the competitive focus toward custody, FX costs, cashback, and capital efficiency. Meanwhile, Circle has renewed its USDC partnership with Coinbase under the original terms, excluding any dividend arrangements. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News - Standard Chartered's global head of digital asset research, Geoffrey Kendrick, stated that the bank's year-end Bitcoin price target of $100,000 may be too conservative. Bitcoin rose to $79,500 on August 21, its highest level since May; he predicts the price could climb from this level to $126,000, a gain of 58%.Kendrick noted that during the rally from August 19 to 21, Bitcoin short liquidations totaled nearly $1.44 billion, the largest on record in Coinglass data since June 2021. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of approximately $1.92 billion over five consecutive trading days.The U.S. Treasury announced on August 19 that it would expand its long-term Treasury buyback program, raising the maximum size of a single operation from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. Standard Chartered lowered its Bitcoin year-end target from $150,000 to $100,000 in February this year, while outlining a long-term trajectory of $500,000 for Bitcoin and $40,000 for Ethereum by 2030. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News A anonymous whale sold a total of 7,700 Bitcoin between August 19 and 22, worth approximately $577 million at current prices. Among these, a single transaction earlier today sold 2,700 Bitcoin, worth approximately $212 million.Bitcoin rose to $79,500 this week before pulling back to around $77,000, posting a weekly gain of over 20% and approaching $80,000. This sale comes after large holders accumulated approximately 43,000 Bitcoin over the past 60 days.Another whale sold 7,513 Bitcoin over a three-week period ending August 9, worth approximately $487 million. The U.S. Treasury announced that starting September 9, the scale of its long-term Treasury buyback operations will increase from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News – HYPE reached an intraday high of $82 yesterday, rising 38% over the past week, with 24-hour trading volume exceeding $2 billion and a market cap of approximately $17.17 billion. Hyperliquid's 30-day trading volume surpassed $176 billion, with open interest exceeding $8 billion.On August 19, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is pushing to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. market in a compliant and lawful manner. On August 20, a wallet associated with venture capital firm Multicoin Capital transferred 308,884 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $19.8 million, to institutional custody and trading platform Coinbase Prime within seven hours.During the same period, the wallet also transferred 172,710 and 62,700 HYPE tokens, valued at approximately $10.15 million and $4.37 million, respectively. Since February 2026, Multicoin Capital has transferred over $100 million worth of HYPE to Coinbase Prime. Meanwhile, Hyperliquid has been using approximately 99% of its perpetual and spot market fee revenue to continuously buy back HYPE through the Assistance Fund. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News – Hyperliquid's native token HYPE is approaching $73. Crypto trader Pentosh1 noted that its fee burn mechanism will expand after the AQAv2 upgrade, potentially supporting continued outperformance in the next bull cycle.Since November 2024, Hyperliquid has repurchased and burned 462 million HYPE, worth approximately $1.27 billion, with about 99% of protocol fees allocated to buybacks. The platform's annualized protocol revenue currently stands at roughly $600 million to $950 million.AQAv2, or Aligned Quote Asset v2, is scheduled to begin on August 26, channeling approximately 90% of the yield generated from the platform's over $5 billion in USDC reserves into the Assistance Fund, with the first payment expected to arrive on October 3.Market observers estimate that AQAv2 could add an additional $135 million to $160 million in annual buyback volume. Coinbase and Circle—designated as Hyperliquid's official USDC fund deployment partners in May—have both committed to staking a significant amount of HYPE to help launch the mechanism. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News Over the past 24 hours, 28 long-dormant Bitcoin wallets collectively transferred 1,314.41 BTC, worth approximately $94.03 million. Among them, a wallet created in 2014 moved 1,214.42 BTC, accounting for 92.4% of the total, valued at around $86 million.Of these, 21 transactions were sent out in batches of 50 BTC each, with funds consolidated from legacy P2PKH wallets into new P2WPKH addresses, and some transactions were completed within the same block. Arkham entity labels currently show no association between these addresses and any exchanges.The 2014 wallet holder's estimated purchase price for Bitcoin ranged from $310 to $427, meaning the related holdings have appreciated by at least 16,645%. Additionally, three wallets from 2016 transferred 79.99 BTC, and two addresses from 2017 moved 20 BTC. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that large Bitcoin holders have accumulated approximately 43,000 BTC over the past 60 days, valued at around $2.75 billion. This group excludes exchange and mining pool wallets, and this accumulation marks the end of a net selling phase that had lasted for several months. After Bitcoin fell to around $60,000, large holders resumed buying; since then, Bitcoin has rebounded to approximately $65,000, with trading mostly ranging between $62,000 and $65,000 in recent weeks. During the same period, the balances of "dolphin" holders as defined by CryptoQuant also increased, indicating that accumulation is not limited to the largest wallets. Spot trading volume in August fell to its lowest monthly level since August 2021. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase's x402 payment protocol has processed approximately 14 million AI agent transfers over the past 30 days, with the Base network handling 7.3 million transfers and the Polygon network processing 5.6 million. USDC covers nearly all of these transfers. x402 utilizes the HTTP 402 "Payment Required" mechanism, enabling software to automatically request and complete payments. Coinbase has expanded its related payment services to the Base, Solana, and Polygon networks, supporting USDC as the settlement asset. In July, Coinbase launched Coinbase Business, allowing enterprises to directly receive USDC payments from AI agents, with support for payment collection, reconciliation, and withdrawals. Coinbase has described agent payments as one of its "high-conviction bets." (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: A bitcoin wallet created in 2012 has moved 212 BTC after remaining dormant for 14 years, valued at $13.72 million based on the price at the time of transfer. The wallet address was created on August 10, 2012. These bitcoins were originally worth $2,346, with a per-coin price of $11.07; at the article's quoted price of $64,761, if sold in full, the holder would realize a gain of 584,725%. The wallet owner's identity remains unknown. The 212 BTC has been transferred from a legacy P2PKH wallet to an unlabeled Bech32 wallet, arriving in multiple batches before being consolidated. A Coldcard vulnerability led to the theft of nearly 2,000 BTC, which may have prompted some long-term holders to move their assets, but this address has not been linked to any known entity. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Since the launch of Sui's Hashi Bitcoin lending protocol testnet on July 22, it has processed over 1.1 million Bitcoin deposits and 165,000 withdrawals within three weeks. As of last week, more than 25 institutions had participated in the system's stress testing. Participating institutions include digital asset custodian BitGo, trading firm Cumberland, as well as Swissborg, Fluid, and Ledger, covering areas such as trading, custody infrastructure, and wealth management platforms. Hashi allows users to deposit native Bitcoin, which is confirmed by Sui validators before minting hBTC for on-chain lending and stablecoin borrowing. Deposits utilize a 2-of-2 multi-signature mechanism with MPC validator signatures, while withdrawals require review by the Guardian Layer; the project team will proceed with the 2026 mainnet launch only after this security layer completes its security audit. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News – Crypto market analysis firm Santiment Intelligence disclosed on August 17 that Bitcoin balances on exchanges have risen to their highest level since June 15. Balances recovered from approximately 1.304 million BTC on July 28 to about 1.332 million BTC on August 16, an increase of roughly 28,000 BTC, erasing approximately 84% of the previous six weeks' outflows.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allows in-kind creation for spot Bitcoin ETFs, permitting authorized participants to deliver Bitcoin directly to eligible funds in exchange for shares. ETF capital can source Bitcoin from over-the-counter trading desks, existing holders, and other off-exchange channels, without necessarily corresponding to a decline in exchange wallet balances.In the first full week of August, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of $853.54 million, with net inflows for five consecutive trading days, while BlackRock's IBIT attracted $693.5 million. On August 12, these ETFs recorded net outflows of $61.16 million, primarily from Fidelity and BlackRock; exchange balances have since stabilized at around 1.332 million BTC. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Asset management firm BlackRock has lowered the minimum threshold for in-kind Bitcoin conversions of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from $25 million to $1 million, a 96% reduction. This mechanism allows authorized participants to exchange Bitcoin for IBIT shares instead of settling in cash. Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV that Bitcoin holders can now convert BTC to IBIT in kind with a minimum amount of $1 million. Previously, the threshold was $25 million, primarily targeting large market makers and institutional trading desks. Over the past three consecutive trading days last week, IBIT attracted $479 million in inflows, accounting for approximately 76% of total spot Bitcoin ETF inflows during the same period. In early August this year, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows for five consecutive trading days, accumulating over $750 million for the week. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: An anonymous Bitcoin holder has sold 7,513 BTC over the past three weeks, valued at approximately $487 million based on prices at the time. The wallet transferred another 1,019 BTC, worth about $66.4 million, roughly 7 hours before blockchain data analytics firm Lookonchain issued its alert. During the relevant selling period, the price of Bitcoin remained relatively stable overall, trading in a narrow range recently, without triggering the cascading liquidations typically seen in prior cycles from moves of similar size. Strategy, the Bitcoin reserve company led by Michael Saylor and another major Bitcoin holder this month, sold 1,638 BTC between July 27 and August 2, generating approximately $105 million at an average price of $63,957 per BTC. Strategy's Bitcoin monetization plan has been approved for up to $5 billion in sales to fund preferred stock dividends and other obligations. The company's average acquisition cost is $75,419 per BTC, meaning sales below that price would result in book losses. (Bitcoin.com News)
On July 13, Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow of $424.66 million, with Fidelity's FBTC net outflow of $245.62 million, Blackrock's IBIT net outflow of $185.5 million, and Grayscale's GBTC net outflow of $53.06 million. Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust had a net inflow of $53.38 million, while Vaneck's HODL posted a net inflow of $6.14 million. The total trading volume of Bitcoin ETFs was $2.06 billion, with total net assets of $74.79 billion. Ethereum ETFs recorded a net outflow of $15.41 million, mainly from Fidelity's FETH, with total trading volume of $430.91 million and net assets of $9.46 billion. HYPE ETFs saw a net outflow of $3.93 million, all from Bitwise's BHYP, with total trading volume of $14.79 million and net assets of $327.79 million. XRP and Solana ETFs had no trading activity that day. Glassnode indicates that the trading volume of US spot ETFs has dropped by 78% from its peak and is now below 2024 levels. (Bitcoin.com News).
Cryptoquant indicates its 365-day PnL Index signal continues to decline, suggesting the current BTC cycle may not have reached its peak. BTC is currently trading at approximately $62,656, down about 50% from its all-time high of around $126,000 in October 2025. Cryptoquant’s bull-bear cycle indicator turned green on May 12, 2026, marking the first bullish signal since March 2023.Cryptoquant stated that the indicator produced a false positive in 2022, and the green signal itself does not guarantee a sustained upward trend. A whale purchased BTC worth $98.9 million at the June 5 low of $59,734, securing a profit of $3.5 million within two days as the market rebounded. BTC has since remained above $60,000 and was trading at approximately $62,550 at the time of writing. (Bitcoin.com News).
According to Bitcoin.com, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis launched a nighttime special operation in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Department, seizing multiple luxury vehicles using forged or unregistered license plates, with drivers all claiming to be cryptocurrency and forex "traders". Among them was a Mercedes-AMG GLE valued at over $153,000 (approximately 2.5 million South African rand), which was fraudulently registered as a white BMW. Authorities pointed out that such "financial influencers" are accustomed to flaunting wealth with luxury cars on social media platforms like TikTok, luring victims into investing in fraudulent platforms. A report released in March had previously identified Cape Town and Johannesburg as hubs for organized crypto fraud, where criminal groups employ technologies such as deepfakes and cloned apps to commit fraud, and illicit funds are laundered through crypto wallets and physical assets. To address increasingly complex financial crimes, the mayor has established an independent Metropolitan Police Detective Unit to enforce the law independently, bypassing the under-resourced national police system.
: Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently participated in a municipal police night operation targeting individuals claiming to be cryptocurrency and forex traders who were driving luxury vehicles with fake or no license plates. During the operation, police seized a silver Mercedes-AMG GLE, falsely registered as a white BMW and valued at over $153,000, and arrested a driver of an unregistered BMW 3-Series. Local officials stated that fraudulent crypto syndicates use TikTok to display assets and employ luxury cars as status symbols to lure victims into fake investments. A report released in March revealed that corporate fraud centers operated by international crime syndicates have formed clusters in Cape Town and Johannesburg, using deepfakes, cloned apps, and fake investment platforms to commit fraud. The illicit funds are typically laundered through crypto wallets, money mules, and physical assets such as unlicensed high-end vehicles. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily Odaily Planet Daily reported that Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Asset Research at Standard Chartered, stated that the market has misinterpreted Michael Saylor's adjustments to Strategy Inc.'s bitcoin strategy, and the recent selling pressure stems from confusion over this strategy rather than a change in bitcoin's long-term outlook. Strategy Inc. is shifting bitcoin from being a reserve accumulation asset to serving as collateral to support its STRC preferred stock. Kendrick maintains the bitcoin price forecast of $100,000 by the end of 2026. As of press time, BTC was trading at $64,322.89, and Strategy's stock MSTR closed at $94.64 on Friday. The outstanding notional value of STRC is approximately $10 billion, which Kendrick believes makes the preferred stock heavily overcollateralized due to its bitcoin backing. (Bitcoin.com News).
Polymarket traders estimate a 23% probability that the U.S. government, through legislation, executive orders, export controls, or other formal actions taken before December 31, 2026, will prevent the American public from accessing major Chinese AI models. Multiple departments within the U.S. Department of Commerce have already banned employees from using Deepseek on work devices due to data security concerns, and Virginia, Texas, and New York have also imposed Deepseek device bans on state employees. (Bitcoin.com News).