News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: Binance Pay, the payment service under cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has integrated with the domestic QR code network of Bhutan's bank DK Bank, now supporting payment collection from over 3,700 merchants in Bhutan. Users scan existing merchant QR codes and make payments priced in Bhutanese Ngultrum, with transactions settled in USDT via automatic foreign exchange conversion. Applicable scenarios include tourism, accommodation, dining, and retail—covering all consumer spending supported by DK Bank's domestic QR code network. During the promotional period, users are not charged any additional fees, and this offer is expected to last until December 31. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to the official announcement, HTX will open NiuLai/USDT spot trading and grid trading on August 17 at 22:00 (UTC+8). NiuLai deposit service is now open, and withdrawal service will open on August 18 at 22:00.
Bitget launches a new CandyBomb round with a total prize pool of 20,000 USDT. This event is exclusive to new futures users. The participation period is from 20:00 on August 17 to 20:00 on August 27 (UTC+8).
According to the official announcement, the Bitget TradFi Quanto Perpetual Contract has listed LENOVO (Lenovo), supporting up to 20x leverage and 7×24-hour trading. The TradFi Quanto Perpetual Contract supports users in directly using USDT to trade Hong Kong stocks and other non-USD denominated overseas stocks, without the need to exchange foreign currency throughout the process. The contract itself is quoted in local currencies such as HKD or JPY, while margin deposits and profit and loss settlements are both completed in USDT, effectively avoiding additional risks caused by exchange rate fluctuations while simplifying the trading process.
According to the official announcement, Huobi HTX launched ZHONGJI/USDT and NET/USDT perpetual contracts on August 17, supporting 1-20x long and short trading.
Odaily News: According to the official announcement, Bitget's stock perpetual contracts have been listed for CXMT (ChangXin Memory Technologies). These contracts are settled in USDT and support up to 20x leverage with 7×24 trading. As of now, Bitget supports a total of 273 stock contract instruments.
According to the official announcement, OKX will list MOONSHOT/USDT Pre-IPO pre-market perpetual contracts on August 17 at 17:00.
According to Binance's official announcement, Binance will support cash dividends for Applied Materials (AMAT) and Microsoft (MSFT) to be distributed to holders of AMATB and MSFTB in the form of bStocks. After deducting withholding tax and related fees, the dividends will be reinvested and returned in the form of corresponding bStocks tokens. The snapshot time is 00:00 on August 20, 2026 (UTC), and users holding AMATB or MSFTB at that time are eligible to participate. The AMATB/USDT and MSFTB/USDT trading pairs will remain unaffected; however, deposit, withdrawal, and 1:1 token conversion services will be suspended at 23:30 on August 19, 2026 (UTC) and will resume after the distribution is completed.
Odaily News According to the official announcement, Gate's Event Market has recently launched a leaderboard incentive system, alongside the debut of an esports zone and the "Top Five Leagues Kickoff" campaign, further expanding diversified interactive scenarios such as sports and esports. The first phase of the points campaign will officially begin on August 17 at 18:00 (UTC+8). Users can participate after upgrading the Gate App to version v8.32 or above. The campaign adopts a "trade to earn cards—scratch cards for prizes—climb the points leaderboard—weekly settlement" mechanism. Users who complete valid event contract trades can earn scratch cards and have the opportunity to win USDT, event points, and experience vouchers. Additionally, the top 100 users on the weekly leaderboard will share the points prize pool based on their rankings.Meanwhile, the Gate esports zone aggregates popular tournaments such as Dota 2, League of Legends, CS2, and Valorant, providing centralized access to matchups, live scores, prediction odds, and trading information. It also supports event subscriptions and match start reminders, helping users easily browse and engage in event interactions.Furthermore, from August 12 at 16:00 to August 31 at 16:00 (UTC+8), Gate is hosting the "Top Five Leagues Kickoff Carnival" campaign with a total prize pool of 200,000 USDT. Users who participate in designated football event contracts can enjoy benefits such as kickoff gifts, loss compensation, and leaderboard rewards, further enhancing the interactive experience between football events and event contracts.
According to the official announcement, the Binance Futures platform will sequentially launch 6 USDT perpetual contracts based on traditional finance underlying assets from August 17 to 18, 2026, as follows: • GDXUSDT (Underlying: VanEck Gold Miners ETF) — August 17, 13:30 UTC • NETUSDT (Underlying: Cloudflare Class A Common Stock) — August 17, 13:35 UTC • VSTUSDT (Underlying: Vistra Corp Common Stock) — August 17, 13:40 UTC • SHOPUSDT (Underlying: Shopify Class A Shares) — August 17, 13:45 UTC • LYTEUSDT (Underlying: Roundhill Photonics & Optical ETF) — August 17, 13:50 UTC • CXMTUSDT (Underlying: ChangXin Memory Technologies, SSE 688825) — August 18, 05:00 UTC The above contracts all support up to 20x leverage, 24/7 trading, and multi-asset mode, with funding rates settled every 8 hours, capped at ±2%.
Stable releases version 2.0 whitepaper, positioned as institutional-grade stablecoin settlement infrastructure, where the mainnet will use USDT as native Gas and primary settlement asset, and support PYUSD. STABLE total supply is 100 billion tokens, with the remaining 82% to be unlocked in phases starting from the end of 2027.
Odaily News: Stable has released an updated whitepaper, with its core design philosophy centered on rebuilding blockchain infrastructure around stablecoins. Unlike traditional public chains that treat stablecoins as application-layer assets, Stable uses USDT as its native gas asset and primary settlement asset, allowing users to complete transactions without holding additional volatile tokens. Additionally, the network supports PayPal-issued PYUSD as a first-tier settlement asset.In terms of tokenomics, the total supply of STABLE is 100 billion tokens. Of this, approximately 18 billion (18%) entered circulation at token generation, including 10% from the Genesis Distribution and 8% from the Foundation's first-day unlock; the remaining 82 billion (82%) are placed into a consolidated lock-up pool (Universal Lock).According to the whitepaper, the 82 billion locked tokens will adopt a unified release mechanism, unlocking gradually across 7 phases:Phase 1: 5% (4.1 billion) released on December 8, 2027Phase 2: 5% (4.1 billion) released on March 8, 2028Phase 3: 10% (8.2 billion) released on June 8, 2028Phase 4: 15% (12.3 billion) released on September 8, 2028Phase 5: 15% (12.3 billion) released on December 8, 2028Phase 6: 20% (16.4 billion) released on March 8, 2029Phase 7: 30% (24.6 billion) released on June 8, 2029All locked tokens will be unlocked through a daily linear release mechanism, with all tokens expected to fully enter circulation by December 8, 2029 at the latest. In addition, the whitepaper includes a price protection mechanism: if the 30-day volume-weighted average price of the token falls below $0.025 before the designated release date, the corresponding unlock phase may be delayed by up to 9 months.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated that Tether is not currently developing its own blockchain, nor does it have related plans. The company will continue to remain chain-neutral and support multiple blockchains as transfer networks for USDT.
Dubai cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has launched pre-market perpetual contracts linked to Chinese robotics company Unitree and AI startup Moonshot AI. The contracts are denominated and settled in USDT and do not involve ownership of shares in the respective companies. Bybit stated that its traditional finance perpetual contract product lineup has grown to over 200 since its launch in April, covering stocks, ETFs, commodities, indices, and pre-market companies. Unitree received approval from Chinese securities regulators in July to list on the Shanghai STAR Market. RWA.xyz data shows that the distribution value of tokenized stocks has reached $2.38 billion, with 1.31 million holders, a 123.62% increase in the latter over the past 30 days. (Cointelegraph)
According to an official tweet from Coinbase (@coinbase), Coinbase has officially launched a series of financial services for AI Agents, declaring that "the era of Agent Finance (AiFi) has arrived." This agent economy encompasses three participants: users who use agents, businesses that sell to agents, and developers who build tools for agents. Specific products include: • Coinbase for Agents: AI agents can access the platform via Claude or ChatGPT, and after setting guardrails, autonomously conduct research, decision-making, and trading on assets such as cryptocurrencies, stocks, and derivatives; • Coinbase Advisor: An AI investment advisor built into the App, it is one of the first AI advisors globally registered with the SEC, offering services such as real-time portfolio analysis and automatic tax-loss harvesting, launched for Coinbase One members; • Coinbase Business: Supports receiving USDC and USDT payments from AI agents via the native x402 protocol, featuring no chargeback risk, idle USDC earning 3.35% yield, and supporting one-stop management, reconciliation, and withdrawal.
According to crypto.news, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was re-elected as an MP with 63.34% of the vote in the Clacton by-election, and the UK Parliamentary Standards Commissioner subsequently reopened an investigation into his undeclared financial interests. The investigation covers two items: first, personal payments of approximately $6.7 million (approximately £5 million) received from Christopher Harborne, a billionaire investor and shareholder of stablecoin issuer Tether; second, benefits provided by long-term advisor George Cottrell, including drivers, security, social media staff, and a five-story luxury mansion in London. Farage previously denied wrongdoing on the grounds that the "gifts occurred before taking office as an MP," and resigned in July this year, causing the investigation to be suspended. After this re-election, he must redeclare financial interests within one month, and disclose registrable interests received within the 12 months prior to the election. Meanwhile, UK Labour Party MPs are pushing to upgrade the temporary ban on crypto political donations into permanent legislation.
According to Bitget's official announcement, the platform's Stock Dual Investment products are officially launched, initially covering over 20 popular US stocks and ETF-related underlying assets, including rNVDA, rTSLA, rAAPL, rMETA, and others. This upgrade adjusts the product settlement time to 23:30 (UTC+8), better aligning with market trading hours following the US stock market open. In addition, Bitget is simultaneously launching two limited-time campaigns. During the campaign, new users who participate in Bitget Dual Investment for the first time and complete designated tasks such as net deposit will have a chance to receive Dual Investment trial funds rewards, up to 3,000 USDT; the campaign ends on August 21. Meanwhile, purchasing Dual Investment products during the campaign can also earn limited edition merchandise such as Bitget camping kits and commemorative gold coins; the campaign ends on August 28. For more details, please visit the Bitget official website.
According to the official announcement, Bitget has listed 6 stock perpetual contracts: ZHONGJI (Zhongji Innolight), HANMI (Hanmi Pharmaceutical), LGELECTRONICS (LG Electronics), NAVER (NAVER), SAMSUNGEM (Samsung E&A), and KR200 (KOSPI 200 Index). All the above contracts are settled in USDT, supporting up to 20x leverage and 7×24-hour trading. As of now, Bitget supports a total of 278 stock contracts. For more details, please refer to the official Bitget platform.
Odaily News The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on Friday granted initial conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, bringing Trump-backed World Liberty Financial one step closer to obtaining a national trust bank charter.In its letter, the OCC stated that World Liberty's charter application met certain regulatory and policy requirements, leading to the initial conditional approval. However, this does not constitute final approval, and the OCC may still rescind the approval.Earlier this year, World Liberty Financial established a new trust company with the aim of applying for a bank charter from the OCC. The company has previously stated that the charter would support its provision of services including stablecoin issuance and redemption, fiat on/off ramps, custody, and exchange. WLF currently issues the stablecoin USD1, which has a market cap of approximately $4 billion, making it the fourth-largest stablecoin after Tether and USDC.WLF CEO Zack Witkoff said on X on Friday that the company aims to build "the world's most trusted and widely used digital dollar" while strengthening the dollar's role in the global economy. Zack Witkoff is the son of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Overall, this approval could further strengthen WLF's position in the U.S. stablecoin and digital asset banking infrastructure, though its political ties may continue to raise regulatory and ethical concerns.
Odaily News Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, in an interview with The Block, responded to ongoing criticism from outsiders even after KPMG U.S. completed its first full financial audit. He stated that some critics are unwilling to admit their past misjudgments about Tether, adding, "Honestly, I don't care."Ardoino noted that Tether has repeatedly demonstrated its resilience. He mentioned that in 2022, Tether processed $7 billion in redemptions within 48 hours—equivalent to roughly 10% of its reserves at the time—without pausing redemptions. He argued that many traditional financial institutions would struggle to handle withdrawals of a similar scale in such a short timeframe.He also said criticism itself is not a bad thing, as it makes Tether better and stronger. Even if some critics view the company as a "villain," he does not mind as long as Tether can continue serving the 650 million users who rely on USDT, particularly those in emerging markets.According to sources familiar with the matter, Tether, as a private company, does not publicly share audited financial statements. The company plans to conduct one full audit per year going forward while continuing to publish quarterly attestation reports. Overall, the KPMG audit marks a significant step forward for Tether in enhancing transparency, but controversies surrounding its reserves, level of disclosure, and systemic impact have not fully subsided. (The Block)