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Cryptocurrency and blockchain
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Two cryptocurrency billionaires have donated £72 million ($97 million) to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party within 48 hours, in what analysts say are the largest individual political donations in British history and a major scaling up of crypto industry political backing.
Hardware crypto wallet maker Trezor has warned customers that a cyberattack on its third-party email provider, Brevo, allowed hackers to send around 347,000 phishing emails targeting Trezor users, marking the second such incident in as many months following a breach at shipping partner ShipMonk.
Italian banking giant UniCredit is looking for a technology partner to build infrastructure for crypto trading, custody and tokenized investment products, according to a report from Bloomberg cited by Cointelegraph. The discussions remain at an early stage, with areas of interest spanning crypto custody and brokerage capabilities, tokenized investment products and stablecoin-based fixed-income securities.
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their largest daily outflow in nearly two months on Thursday, with $282.6 million pulled from the funds, part of a three-day total of $449 million. The withdrawals reverse part of the $3.8 billion in net inflows accumulated during the funds' strongest three-week stretch of 2026.
A revised version of the CLARITY Act, posted by Senator Cynthia Lummis, would require U.S. regulators to determine whether people or groups controlling 'non-decentralized finance trading protocols' must comply with securities, commodities, and anti-money laundering requirements. The bill defines non-decentralized protocols as those whose functionality, operation, or rules can be materially altered by a person or coordinated group, or whose controllers can restrict users, or whose transactions are not governed solely by transparent, pre-established rules.
Europe's securities regulator has warned that deepening links between the crypto sector and traditional finance could increase the risk of shocks spreading across the broader financial system, citing tokenized equities, decentralized finance exploits, and prediction markets as particular areas of concern.
Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, as part of its expansion into tokenized stock products and round-the-clock trading, according to a company announcement.
United States authorities have restrained over $52 million in cryptocurrency linked to Xinbi Guarantee and its vendor network, seizing the scam marketplace's Telegram channels and two wallets as part of a coordinated enforcement operation.
The ringleader of a cybercrime crew that stole and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency has pleaded guilty in the United States. Malone Lam, 22, a Singaporean national living in Miami, admitted to one count of racketeering conspiracy after helping orchestrate the theft of cryptocurrency from wealthy individuals between October 2023 and May 2025. The group's members first met while playing the popular video game Minecraft online.
A 22-year-old man has pleaded guilty to stealing bitcoin worth $339 million and using the proceeds to buy a fleet of sports cars, rent mansions in Miami, and spend millions at nightclubs, including $US569,000 in a single night in Los Angeles.
Visa is connecting its settlement network with onchain lending, enabling stablecoin-linked card programs to access working capital through blockchain credit markets, the company announced. The move comes as stablecoin payment volume on Visa's network jumps nearly 200% year over year.
A hacker stole roughly $340 million worth of bitcoin from Liquid Network, a settlement exchange used by multiple cryptocurrency platforms, in one of the largest crypto heists this year — but has returned most of the funds after the bug that enabled the theft was patched, according to a former Blockstream executive.
Hackers who drained approximately $320 million in Bitcoin from the Liquid Network federation wallet have returned 3,400 of the 4,000 BTC they took, according to a CoinDesk report on Monday. Talks are underway for the remaining 600 BTC, worth roughly $47 million at current prices, as the hackers — who claim to be 'whitehats' — say they will return the funds after the underlying vulnerability is patched.
Liquid, a Bitcoin sidechain developed by Blockstream, suspended operations on Sunday after unidentified actors claiming to be white-hat hackers withdrew approximately 4,000 Bitcoin worth $320 million from the network’s federation wallet, triggering a halt to new transactions and the suspension of L-BTC deposits and withdrawals on exchanges.
US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have recorded their strongest three-week inflow stretch of 2026, drawing a combined $3.8 billion as Bitcoin trades around $80,000, according to data from SoSoValue.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified $12.7 billion in cryptocurrency transactions linked to overseas scam centers, according to a report released Thursday that points to transnational criminal organizations operating from compounds in Southeast Asia as the primary perpetrators of digital asset fraud against US residents.
Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Friday after the US Labor Department reported the economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, nearly triple the consensus estimate of 56,000. The surprise print prompted traders to rapidly reprice the odds of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month, sending the cryptocurrency from $81,300 to a local low of $78,600 before a partial recovery to around $79,500.
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $730.9 million in net inflows on Thursday, the largest single-day haul since January 14, as Bitcoin’s price climbed back above $80,000. The surge in institutional flows comes amid renewed market optimism, though on-chain data indicates underlying demand remains tepid.
Coinbase has launched regulated crypto derivatives trading in Canada, offering eligible users perpetual and dated futures with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and other assets. The products are available through Coinbase Financial Markets, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant operating in Canada under foreign dealer and futures commission merchant exemptions.
The UK's National Crime Agency has frozen £10 million ($13.5 million) in cash under a January 2025 court order from the Westminster Magistrates' Court as part of an investigation into Sorare, the crypto-based fantasy sports platform that sponsors Premier League football clubs.
Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), is proposing amendments to its stablecoin regulations that could allow certain jointly issued cross-border stablecoins to qualify under its regime, reversing an earlier decision to restrict the framework to domestic issuance.
Strive, the publicly traded asset manager and Bitcoin treasury company, has purchased 1,800 Bitcoin for approximately $143 million, boosting its total holdings to 23,156 BTC and making it the fifth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
Sber, Russia’s largest bank, has projected that regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the country could handle more than $46 billion in trading volume during the first year after legalization, with volumes potentially growing to 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029, according to a report by Cointelegraph.
Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has acquired 4,603 Bitcoin for $370 million — its first purchase in two months — ending a pause that began in June, according to Cointelegraph.
Decentralized finance protocol More Markets has suffered a $9.3 million exploit, with an attacker draining approximately 15.5 million Wrapped Flow (WFLOW) tokens from its mFlowWFLOW lending reserve, according to Web3 security firm Blockaid.
The Cronos blockchain has resumed operations after validators halted the network and restored the chain state to just before a price-manipulation exploit on the Tectonic lending protocol. The attacker managed to extract only about $6 million in Ethereum, with the bulk of the funds stranded on the network, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.
Tokenized equities have experienced a dramatic surge in onchain activity over the past month, with monthly transfer volume jumping more than 415% to $29.5 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz.
The Sandbox has pledged to repay users affected by a $700,000 bridge exploit, offering eligible holders on Base and BNB Chain 1:1 compensation in Ethereum-based SAND tokens from the project's treasury. Claims are expected to open within two weeks, according to Cointelegraph.
Evernorth, a Ripple-backed company that holds XRP as its treasury reserve asset, is one shareholder vote away from listing on the Nasdaq after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the paperwork for its merger with a publicly traded shell company. The vote is scheduled for Sept. 30, and a successful merger would place Evernorth on the exchange under the ticker XRPN.
Ethena’s governance token ENA surged on Thursday after the foundation proposed a buyback program and changes to venture capital unlock schedules, aiming to channel protocol revenue to token holders and curb investor selling pressure in a bid to revive growth of its USDe stablecoin.
The Bank of England is set to receive a new innovation mandate that explicitly covers stablecoins and digital payments, signaling the UK government's push to become a global crypto hub while maintaining its traditional focus on financial stability. The move, reported by Cointelegraph, comes as part of broader regulatory reforms under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, giving the central bank a dual role of promoting innovation and safeguarding the financial system.
Shinhan Financial Group, one of South Korea's largest financial conglomerates, has partnered with Visa to pilot a stablecoin issuance and business-to-business (B2B) settlement platform, the companies announced Wednesday. The joint initiative aims to test stablecoin-based remittances and redemptions while developing new AI-powered payment models.
Bitcoin fell below $78,000 on Wednesday after July US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation data came in slightly higher than economists had forecast, reigniting concerns about prolonged tight monetary policy and prompting a broad retreat from risk assets including stocks and gold.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has submitted a revised version of its proposed overhaul of crypto custody rules to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, a significant step toward finalization that could bring much-needed clarity to how investment advisers and funds manage client digital assets.
Ethereum developers have published a draft proposal that would allow validators to submit deposits using quantum-resistant keys, marking the first concrete step toward protecting the network's staking layer from future quantum attacks. If adopted, the upgrade would eventually permanently stop accepting deposits made with the current elliptic curve format, a foundational change to how the blockchain secures billions in staked assets.
A federal jury in Nevada has convicted Las Vegas businessman Brent Kovar on 15 counts of fraud and money laundering for operating a $24 million Ponzi scheme that promised investors extraordinary returns from a non-existent cryptocurrency mining operation powered by an alleged 'AI supercomputer.' The scheme, which ran from 2017 to 2021, bilked approximately 400 investors out of millions by falsely claiming the company held hundreds of millions in crypto reserves and offered a 100% money-back guarantee.
Japan's financial regulators have announced a target to launch a blockchain-based stock and bond settlement system by the early 2030s, aiming to modernize the country's financial infrastructure and stem the outflow of institutional investors and foreign capital to overseas markets, according to a report from CoinDesk.
BlackRock has reportedly cut the minimum size for in-kind swap transactions in its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from $5 million to $1 million, according to a report on Wednesday. The move lowers the barrier for bitcoin whales — large holders of the cryptocurrency — to exchange their self-custodied bitcoin directly for ETF shares, a process that could deepen liquidity and broaden institutional participation in the largest spot bitcoin ETF by assets under management.
The cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index has soared to 74, its highest level since just before a brutal $19 billion market crash in October, signaling a dramatic shift from extreme fear to greed in less than two weeks and prompting warnings of potential overexuberance.
South Korean trading conglomerate POSCO, valued at $22 billion, has tokenized trade receivables on the Avalanche blockchain in partnership with asset tokenization firms Olea and Intain, marking the latest instance of a major Asian corporation adopting blockchain for trade finance.
A public-private initiative coordinated by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has identified more than 7,700 suspect accounts tied to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) after combing through transactions on 11 cryptocurrency exchanges and payment services, the company announced Tuesday. Dubbed Operation Lighthouse, the effort produced 14,300 investigative leads that have been shared with law enforcement agencies globally.
Galaxy Research has tallied losses from the recent Coldcard hardware wallet hack at 1,789 Bitcoin, with 87% of the stolen funds remaining unmoved as of August 25, 2026. The firm analyzed 221 verified victim reports, finding that more than half of those affected lost over 1 Bitcoin each, underscoring the financial impact of the breach on individual holders.
Bitcoin surged past the $80,000 mark on Tuesday, extending a weekly rally of more than 25% that market participants attribute to the U.S. Treasury's expanded bond-buyback program. Meanwhile, Solana led major cryptocurrencies with an 8% gain as validators prepare to vote on a proposal to slow the creation of new SOL tokens and increase the daily burn rate, potentially tightening supply.
Victoria Police detectives have raided the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) Victorian headquarters in Melbourne and arrested five people as part of an investigation into alleged corruption.
A new governance vote on the Solana blockchain could dramatically increase the daily amount of SOL tokens burned through transaction fees, from roughly 650 SOL to as much as 9,000 SOL, potentially reducing supply growth and slowing the creation of new tokens, according to CoinDesk.
Standard Chartered, the London-based multinational bank with $850 billion in assets, has become the first bank to distribute a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, announcing it will distribute Anchorpoint's HKDAP to eligible clients and partners.
Pakistan's cryptocurrency regulator, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), has kicked off a formal licensing regime, requiring all crypto-related businesses to submit applications for a no-objection certificate (NOC) by September 5 or face a shutdown. The move marks a significant step toward regulating the country's previously unregulated digital asset market.
A $4 billion bond buyback plan by Bessent aimed at curbing Treasury yields failed to achieve its goal, with yields remaining elevated while bitcoin and gold surged, according to a CoinDesk report. The operation, designed to reduce borrowing costs, appears to have had the opposite effect on investor sentiment, driving capital into alternative stores of value.