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Nasdaq-listed Eightco Holdings (ORBS) held 16,278 ETH and 301,971,219 WLD as of Aug. 19, according to Investing.com. Its WLD holdings account for about 8.4% of circulating supply and were worth about $111.73 million at $0.37 per token. Including about $132 million in cash and stablecoins and a $90 million indirect investment in OpenAI through a special purpose vehicle, the company’s total holdings stood at about $389 million. Over the past two weeks, Eightco also repurchased about 14 million shares under its existing $125 million share buyback program.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt said he had revised his earlier bearish view on Bitcoin as an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern was completed and bought BTC in the breakout zone. In a post on X, Brandt explained that an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern with an extended right shoulder had a 60% chance of breaking lower and that the trend at the time was also downward, but the situation changed once the pattern was completed. Brandt added that regardless of how it develops from here, he bought in the breakout zone.

The UK tax authority HMRC sent 81,172 messages to crypto investors in the 2025-2026 tax year warning of possible unpaid taxes, nearly triple the 27,714 sent in the 2023-2024 tax year, BBC reported. Capital gains tax may apply when profits are made from selling cryptocurrencies or exchanging them for other cryptocurrencies, and failure to report those gains can result in fines or criminal penalties. HMRC believes a significant share of capital gains generated during the price surge between December 2022 and October 2025 has yet to be reported. Separately, overseas crypto platforms are set to face a requirement from March 2027 to provide customer information, and HMRC estimates the measure could secure up to 315 million pounds ($429.64 million) in additional tax revenue by April 2030.

A cryptocurrency phishing campaign dubbed 'Operation Asterix' targeted about 885,000 phone numbers, with 5,576 of them matching Binance user accounts and classified as attack targets, Cointelegraph reported, citing cybersecurity firm Rapid7. Hackers used fake apps impersonating Ledger, Trezor and Exodus, along with bogus customer service emails and phone calls, to steal users' seed phrases. A bulk phone number verification tool targeting Kraken accounts was also found, and AI tools appeared to have been used extensively during the phishing process.

Bitcoin spot demand and perpetual futures demand have both turned higher for the first time since the asset’s all-time high in October 2025, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said on X. Ki added that the increase remains modest, but if the trend continues for another month, it could indicate the bear market has ended and a new bull cycle has begun.

U.S. macroeconomist Lyn Alden said on CNBC that Bitcoin has already likely formed a bottom by nearly every indicator. Alden said short-term speculative capital has already left the market, Strategy is unlikely to sell BTC, and the current price range looks like a buying opportunity. Alden added that the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve could pursue policies that keep interest rates artificially low in the future, while few downside catalysts remain.

Mike Selig, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies will be established even if Congress does not pass the CLARITY Act, according to Coin Bureau. Selig added that legislation through the CLARITY Act would be the most desirable outcome.

U.S. initial jobless claims totaled 206,000 last week, below the forecast of 210,000. Weekly jobless claims are one indicator the Fed uses to gauge the labor market when setting interest rates. A reading above forecasts can signal rising layoffs and a cooling labor market, giving the Fed grounds to cut rates, while a reading below forecasts can point to labor-market resilience and support keeping rates unchanged or raising them to stay focused on curbing inflation.

Bitcoin ETFs saw a record net outflow of 77,033 BTC in the second quarter of 2026, with most of the selling coming from retail investors, according to Unfolded. Citing K33 Research data, Unfolded said holdings by institutional investors that disclose portfolio positions to the U.S. SEC through 13F filings fell by 1,194 BTC, while holdings by other investors dropped by 75,839 BTC. Institutional investor holdings declined for a third straight quarter.

Ethereum layer-two project Optimism has approved a proposal to redirect 546.9 million OP previously allocated for user airdrops to an ecosystem fund managed by the foundation, CoinDesk reported. The tokens account for 12.7% of total OP supply, and the foundation plans to use them for partnerships and incentives tied to the OP mainnet and its enterprise product suite, 'OP Enterprise.' In the vote, Test in Prod, a core development team backed by Optimism, cast 8.486 million OP in favor around 17 minutes before voting ended, swinging support to 61.84% from 45.77%. Without Test in Prod's votes, support would have stood at 46.47%, leaving the proposal short of approval.

Fidelity Digital Assets has outlined six risks that could undermine the investment thesis that the spread of AI agents will translate into growth for public blockchains, according to BeInCrypto. - AI agents may not use public blockchains, as closed systems run by big tech and fintech firms could capture related demand by offering better performance, costs, user experience, and regulatory clarity. - Rising payment activity may not lift the value of blockchain-native tokens, as payments can increase transaction volume while generating relatively low fees, leaving stablecoin issuers and related service providers as the bigger beneficiaries. - Higher software output driven by AI does not guarantee an increase in economic value. - Technological differentiation could weaken, as AI may commoditize development and shift competitive advantages toward liquidity, distribution networks, security, and trust rather than the technology itself. - Security risks could grow, as AI may lower not only the cost of writing code but also the cost of finding vulnerabilities. - Regulatory and compliance issues could lead institutions to favor systems with clearer identity verification and permission management over public blockchains during the adoption process.

Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and a well-known Bitcoin critic, said BTC’s move above $72,000 was a fakeout rather than a genuine breakout, The Block reported. Schiff said the rally was a temporary move tied to the U.S. Treasury’s announcement of expanded Treasury buybacks and advised investors to sell Bitcoin and buy gold. Schiff has consistently emphasized gold’s investment value over Bitcoin.

RWA platform MSX said it has officially opened buyback applications for Anthropic and Polymarket, the projects in its second pre-IPO tranche. Polymarket’s subscription price rose to a reference valuation of $202.67 per share from $152, for an estimated return of 33.3%. Anthropic’s latest valuation price is also above its original subscription price. Following the launch of the buyback process, users can apply for redemption based on the latest market price and receive settlement in USDT, or continue holding the assets until the companies complete their IPOs. MSX previously completed the full transaction process for CBRS and SPCX, the projects in its first pre-IPO tranche, from subscription through exchange listing.

Hong Kong-listed game company Boyaa Interactive, which holds Bitcoin, posted a first-half loss of about HK$792 million ($103 million) this year as BTC prices fell, Zhitong Caijing reported. Revenue for the same period rose 16.05% from a year earlier to HK$258 million.

Bitcoin’s break above $72,000 could leave further upside dependent on continued dollar weakness and whether the Federal Reserve provides more liquidity, according to CoinDesk. Strive CEO Matt Cole said a structurally weaker dollar could create a bullish backdrop for BTC if the trend persists. CoinDesk added, however, that short-term volatility could increase as the recent surge liquidated $3 billion in short positions, reducing room for additional short covering, while BTC margin borrowing rates rose to 4.6% from 3.9%, signaling short positions are starting to build again.

Fortitude, Digital Currency Group's ZEC mining subsidiary, mined 33,646 ZEC in the second quarter and recorded $20.9 million in revenue, The Block reported. Net loss came to $9.5 million, reflecting a $10.3 million impairment loss tied to mining equipment and related assets.

ETH has risen above $2,300, according to CoinNess market monitoring. On Binance’s USDT trading pair, ETH was trading at $2,308.07.

A user lost 1,010 ETH in 12 hours in a phishing attack involving Tornado Cash’s expired official domain, Wu Blockchain reported. The victim was said to have clicked an old bookmarked link and been redirected to a fake site on the tornado.cash domain, which the hacker had obtained. The Tornado Cash team had earlier been unable to renew the domain after sanctions by the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, according to the report. The hacker was said to have registered the domain and built a fake front end, or user interface. Most of the stolen funds are still being held in the hacker’s address, and the group is estimated to have stolen about 4,000 ETH over the past 12 months using similar methods.

The U.S. crypto industry is deploying large political funding ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Reuters reported. Fairshake, a crypto super PAC funded mainly by Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, had secured $193 million at the start of the year and now holds about $130 million. Reuters added that a16z has donated more than $81 million to crypto and AI PACs tied to this midterm cycle, with at least $23.8 million of that going to Fairshake.

Daily trading volume on decentralized exchanges topped $10 billion on Aug. 20 for the first time since June 5, Cointelegraph reported. The move was seen as a sign that trading activity and on-chain liquidity in the crypto market are expanding again.

OKX has blocked employees working in Hong Kong or traveling to mainland China from using Anthropic’s AI model Claude, Bloomberg reported. After its enterprise Claude account was temporarily suspended, OKX found that access by Hong Kong-based staff may not have complied with Anthropic’s regional access policy and restricted access for employees in those locations in early August. The enterprise account was later restored. Anthropic does not allow Claude to be used in Hong Kong or China. OKX also decided not to support VPN-based workaround access to Claude for employees in those regions and plans to offer other AI models instead.

GIB UK, the UK unit of Saudi government-owned Gulf International Bank, holds 19,842 shares of Strategy (MSTR) worth about $2.27 million, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. The holding gives GIB UK indirect exposure to BTC through Strategy, the world’s largest publicly traded corporate holder of BTC.

Global trading platform Capital.com plans to launch spot cryptocurrency trading in the United Arab Emirates, Finbold reported. The move follows Capital Vault UAE, an affiliate, obtaining a cryptocurrency brokerage and custody license from the local Capital Market Authority. The company also plans to roll out additional crypto products later.

OpenLedger co-founder Ram Kumar expects AI agent-based payments, or 'agentic payments,' to become the leading use case combining AI and cryptocurrency, The Block reported. Kumar also expects 'agentic trading,' in which AI agents autonomously execute trades, to grow after agentic payments. OpenLedger plans to expand its B2C business over the next two years while introducing no-code AI customization tools and additional privacy features.

A study suggests 152 wallets trading on prediction market platform Polymarket may have placed bets using nonpublic information, including U.S. military secrets, Reuters reported. According to the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC), which analyzed markets settled through May 5, the wallets generated a combined $8 million in profits in military and defense-related markets and posted an average win rate of 97.2%. ACDC said the wallets typically placed large bets on low-probability outcomes shortly after opening accounts, then took profits and stopped trading. It added, however, that the trading pattern does not prove the use of insider information and may also reflect luck. Separately, access to Polymarket in South Korea was blocked following a decision by a subcommittee of the Korea Communications Standards Commission on Aug. 18.