Wu Blockchain

US July Unadjusted CPI at 3.4% YoY, in Line With Expectations The annual inflation rate in the US slowed for a second consecutive month to 3.4% in July 2026, from 3.5% in June, in line with market expectations and easing further from the 2023 high of 4.2% reached in May. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.1%, rebounding from a 0.4% decline in June, which marked the first monthly drop since May 2020, also as expected.

Solana Saw 28.83% of Staked SOL Go Offline, Nearing Finality Halt Threshold Marinade Finance said 28.83% of staked SOL went offline earlier today after a routing failure at infrastructure provider Teraswitch, approaching the 33.34% threshold at which Solana would stop finalizing transactions. The incident affected about 90 validators, with AS20326 alone hosting 118.9 million SOL, or 27.34% of network stake, 94% of which went offline simultaneously. Traffic recovered after roughly 33 minutes, with affected validators losing about 333 SOL in rewards. Marinade said the incident highlighted concentration risks across ASNs, data centers and validator failover infrastructure, and plans to review its concentration limits.

Wintermute Plans $1B Investment in HFT and AI Infrastructure to Expand Into Traditional Markets According to Bloomberg, crypto market maker Wintermute plans to invest about $1 billion in high-frequency trading and AI data-center infrastructure over the next five years, funded through retained earnings, while expanding into equities, commodities, foreign exchange and prediction markets. CEO Evgeny Gaevoy said average daily trading volume has fallen from about $15 billion last year to $10 billion this year. Non-crypto markets currently generate around 10% of revenue, with Wintermute targeting more than 50% by the end of 2027. Its U.S. affiliate has registered as a broker-dealer, allowing it to trade equities and equity options and act as an authorized participant for exchange-traded products. Wintermute also plans to double its 17-person New York team next year and expand its global headcount by 40%.

Strategy’s BTC Credit Model Puts STRC’s Undercollateralization Floor at $16,184 Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor shared data from the company’s BTC Credit model, based on a reference case of a 10% BTC annual return, a BTC price of $63,701 and 40% volatility. The model shows $53.54 billion in BTC reserves and $4.65 billion in USD reserves. It puts STRC’s BTC floor—the price below which the instrument would become undercollateralized—at $16,184, with BTC risk of 8.84% and a credit spread of 115 basis points. Strategy’s debt and preferred stock have a combined notional value of $21.95 billion, with an overall BTC floor of $20,587.

Fidelity Plans to Add Staking and Quarterly Cash Distributions to Nearly $900M Ether ETF Fidelity plans to add ETH staking and quarterly cash distributions to the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), which has $898 million in net assets. Under normal conditions, the fund may stake up to 100% of its ETH holdings, with no minimum requirement, while retaining some ETH for redemptions, expenses and other liquidity needs. The fund will retain 85% of gross staking rewards, with the remaining 15% paid to the sponsor, custodians and node operators. Net rewards will first cover fund expenses, with the remainder distributed quarterly in cash. The fund may sell ETH to fund distributions if necessary.

Coinbase Launches New Deribit Matching Engine Capable of Processing Over 100k Orders per Second Coinbase has launched a new high-performance matching engine on Deribit, capable of processing more than 100k orders per second with sub-millisecond matching latency. The upgrade brings Deribit onto the same core execution infrastructure as Coinbase International Exchange. The engine will also introduce brief delays for aggressive orders on selected instruments, allowing liquidity providers more time to adjust quotes during fast-moving markets. Coinbase plans to migrate all of its perpetual futures to the engine later this year.

Grant Cardone: Bitcoin Is Real Estate You Can Take Anywhere Grant Cardone @GrantCardone , CEO of U.S. real estate investment firm Cardone Capital, said in an August 8 DraperTV interview that he has invested in real estate for 40 years and believes there is "never a bad time to buy real estate" if you hold long enough, avoid excessive leverage, and maintain cash flow. He compared Bitcoin to "real estate without the gutters" - no HVAC, roof or siding to maintain, no termites or tenants, and no evictions or property taxes. Cardone said that while publicly known as a real estate investor, he has privately supported Bitcoin for 13 years and views it as "portable digital property."

According to SoSoValue, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $4.8862 million in net inflows on August 11 (ET), with only BlackRock’s IBIT seeing net inflows. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw $1.7644 million in net outflows, led by Fidelity’s FETH with $2.3283 million in net outflows. x.com/WuBlockchain/status/2087…

JUST IN: Harmony Exploited in Unauthorized Mint of 4 Billion ONE Harmony, a Layer 1 blockchain launched in 2019, said it is working with exchanges to stop and freeze funds following a suspected exploit, while developing a patch and evaluating rollback options. On-chain analyst Juiceberg reported that roughly 4 billion ONE, equivalent to about 26% of the token supply, was minted without authorization via empty blocks, with around 2.8 billion ONE quickly routed to exchanges as the token price plunged. Harmony has yet to disclose the root cause or confirm the amount involved. The network previously suffered a roughly $100 million exploit of its Horizon Bridge in 2022.

OCC Chief Says Digital Asset Firms Should Have a Path to U.S. National Bank Charters U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said entities engaged in legally permissible activities, including those involving digital assets and other novel technologies, should have a path to becoming national banks, adding that “America and the OCC are once again open for business.” The OCC said it has received 40 de novo applications over the past 18 months, including applications for national trust banks, and has made decisions on many complete applications within 120 days.

Strategy CEO Phong Le: Company to Resume Bitcoin Purchases Later This Year According to FOX Business, Strategy CEO Phong Le stated that the company plans to resume accumulating Bitcoin later this year, despite recent sales of portions of its holdings that drew market scrutiny. Le noted that Strategy has purchased around 175,000 Bitcoin since the beginning of the year while selling roughly 7,000 BTC, making its buying volume about 25 times greater than its sales. He emphasized that proceeds from recent sales were used to support preferred stock dividends, share repurchases, and US dollar reserves, and the company will return to buying more Bitcoin throughout the course of the year.

GSR: Crypto Bull Run Return Requires Cooling AI Investment and Fed Rate Cuts Spencer Hallarn, Head of Markets at GSR, stated in a recent interview that the current crypto market slowdown is partly driven by capital rotating into AI, as big tech companies issue equity to fund AI infrastructure and tighten broader market liquidity. In this environment, clients are showing increased focus on long-term budget planning, OTC hedging structures, and RWAs. Regarding tokenization, Hallarn noted that many walled-garden tokenization platforms with heavy KYC requirements lack meaningful transaction volume, emphasizing that the true opportunity in tokenization is fixing traditional banking and settlement plumbing rather than merely wrapping assets into tokens. He added that if AI-related investments cool off and the Federal Reserve begins cutting rates, liquidity could return to support higher Bitcoin prices.

Bitcoin Core Developer: What truly made Bitcoin successful wasn't the white paper Summary: On July 28, 2026, Bitcoin core developer Jeff Garzik @jgarzik stated on the Bitcoin Treasuries podcast that Bitcoin's initial ascent did not stem from its white paper, but rather benefited from the widespread exposure brought by a Slashdot post in July 2010. Without practical implementation, Bitcoin might have simply become just another ecash or Hashcash-style white paper. What truly made the decisive difference was the operating and testable source code released into the real world. People first confirmed that Bitcoin worked through actual use, and only then did they read the white paper and consider it a work of genius.

SEC Could Unveil Tokenized Stock Trading Exemption as Soon as Friday The SEC plans to advance two major crypto regulatory initiatives in the coming days, Bloomberg reported. The agency will hold an open meeting Friday to consider a tailored offering regime for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets and could unveil an “innovation exemption” for tokenized securities as soon as the same day. The exemption could pave the way for 24/7 blockchain-based trading of tokenized stocks, while allowing public companies to object to third parties tokenizing their shares and introducing tighter anti-money-laundering safeguards, potentially including a requirement that trading platforms be US entities.

July 2026 Exchange Spot Volume Report: total $429.0 billion, MoM decreased 21.7% Spot trading volume across 14 major exchanges totaled $429.0 billion in July 2026, down 21.7% from $547.9 billion in June, with all 14 exchanges recording month-over-month declines. Binance ranked first with $196.5 billion in volume, accounting for 45.8% of the total, followed by OKX with $41.6 billion and Bybit with $36.3 billion. The top three exchanges together accounted for 64.0% of total spot volume. Among the 14 exchanges, Uniswap recorded the smallest month-over-month decline at 9.8%, followed by Kraken at 13.4% and Gate at 15.9%. Bitfinex posted the steepest decline at 59.7%, followed by Coinbase at 26.4% and Bybit at 24.5%.

Russia Proposes $3,645 Annual Crypto Purchase Cap for Retail Investors, Limited to BTC, ETH and USDT The Bank of Russia has proposed rules that would cap crypto purchases by non-qualified investors at 300,000 rubles, or about $3,645, per year through each broker, crypto exchange operator or asset manager. Eligible assets would currently be limited to BTC, ETH and USDT, based on criteria including market capitalization, average daily trading volume and at least five years of overseas price history. Qualified investors would face no purchase limit for crypto traded on exchanges or OTC markets. All investors would be required to pass a risk assessment before trading, with public consultation on the draft open until August 24.

Aster Launches AOS-2 Perpetual Listing Framework With 1M ASTER Staking Requirement Aster announced that Aster Open Standards (AOS) Phase 2, or AOS-2, is now live, extending its open listing framework from spot markets to perpetual futures. Eligible applicants must stake 1 million ASTER for four years with no early exit before proceeding to an onchain validator vote. If approved, Aster will configure the market’s risk parameters and target a T+1 listing; if rejected, the stake will be fully returned. Aster said the application and voting rules will be publicly governed, with AOS-3 to follow.

Crypto Public Token Sales Raise $1.42B in 2026, Led by Ethereum According to CryptoRank, crypto projects have raised about $1.42 billion through public token sales so far in 2026. Ethereum leads with $334 million, followed by BNB Chain at $288 million, Base at $269 million, Solana at $241 million and Sonic at $206 million. The top five ecosystems account for roughly $1.34 billion, or about 94% of the total, highlighting the high concentration of public token-sale fundraising.

NYTIMES: Former UAE Head of Notorious Crypto MM Web3Port Identified as Figure Behind Aqua 1, Which Invested $100M in WLFI The New York Times identified Chinese businessman Guren “Bobby” Zhou, formerly in charge of Web3Port’s UAE operations, as the figure behind Aqua 1, which invested $100 million in World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token in June 2025, making it one of the project’s largest buyers. Under World Liberty’s revenue-sharing arrangement, as much as roughly $75 million of the investment could have flowed to entities controlled by Donald Trump and his three sons, while also benefiting the family of co-founder Zach Witkoff. The report said Zhou’s source of funds and motivation for the investment remain unclear. Separately, Web3Port-related parties previously controlled about 5% of MOVE’s supply through Rentech, with roughly 66 million MOVE sold after launch for about $38 million in USDT proceeds. Web3Port was also linked to alleged irregular market-making involving GoPlus (GPS) and MyShell (SHELL).

KuCoin Achieves ISO 22301:2019 Business Continuity Management Certification KuCoin announced that it has achieved ISO 22301:2019 certification for its Business Continuity Management System (BCMS). The standard assesses an organization’s ability to identify operational risks, respond to disruptions, and maintain or restore critical services. KuCoin said the certification, together with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II, forms part of its security and operational trust framework covering information security, operational reliability, and business continuity.

Binance Adds GLMR, ICX, MOVR, RARE and SOPH to Monitoring Tag List Binance has added Moonbeam (GLMR), ICON (ICX), Moonriver (MOVR), SuperRare (RARE) and Sophon (SOPH) to its Monitoring Tag list. Binance said tokens carrying the tag exhibit relatively higher volatility and risk and are subject to periodic reviews, with potential delisting if they no longer meet the platform’s listing standards. Other services related to the tokens will not be affected.

USDT Supply Shrinks by $4B Over 60 Days as Investors May Be Exiting Crypto According to CryptoQuant data, USDT’s 60-day rolling supply change has declined by about $4 billion, including an $870 million drop over the past 11 days alone. Analyst Stacy Muur said some investors appear to be exiting crypto altogether by converting stablecoins back into fiat, while changing stablecoin yields may also be contributing to the decline.

CZ: Every country will ultimately need to have its own stablecoin On July 31, 2026, Binance founder CZ @cz_binance stated in an interview at the ASEAN Tech Summit that the development of the blockchain industry depends on communication with regulators. As demand grows for more efficient payment systems in areas such as cross-border payments and AI, stablecoins are expected to become an important infrastructure for the digital economy. CZ believes that every country will eventually need to have its own stablecoin to support the development of its domestic digital finance ecosystem.

U.S. Bitcoin ETFs See $145 Million Outflow; Ether Funds Lose $14.6 Million U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $145 million in net outflows on Aug. 10, while spot Ethereum ETFs posted $14.59 million in net outflows, according to SoSoValue. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) bucked the trend with the largest Bitcoin ETF inflow of the day at $37.06 million, while its Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) led Ether products with $8.59 million.

OpenGradient Co-Founder Alleges BitMart Insolvency as Funds Remain Frozen OpenGradient co-founder and CEO Matthew Wang said his market-making team has funds stuck on BitMart that it is unable to withdraw, alleging that the crypto exchange is insolvent. He also accused BitMart of asking token holders to lock assets on the platform roughly a week before announcing its shutdown, claiming the campaign was primarily aimed at attracting liquidity. The allegations have not been independently verified, and BitMart has not directly responded to Wang’s claims.