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Two anonymous whale addresses starting with 0x6de and 0xc63 opened ETH short positions worth a combined $98 million on decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid (HYPE), Lookonchain reported. The two positions total 50,838 ETH. Of that, the 0x6de whale is holding a short position of about 25,750 ETH with 10x leverage, while the 0xc63 whale opened a short position of about 25,080 ETH with 20x leverage. Their liquidation prices are $2,273 and $2,146.55, respectively.

HSBC and Standard Chartered have completed the first interbank deposit token transaction using the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication’s (SWIFT) blockchain-based Shared Ledger, Crypto Briefing reported. The system links each bank’s deposit token platform to support 24/7 cross-border transfers without intermediaries. A total of 17 global banks are currently participating in the related pilot consortium.

Grayscale has filed an amended S-3 registration statement with the U.S. SEC for a spot ZEC ETF. Under the key changes, the ETF’s share creations and redemptions would be handled primarily in cash.

Point72, the hedge fund led by billionaire investor Steven Cohen, sold all 72,431 shares of Strategy (MSTR) it held as of June 30, according to a 13F filing with the U.S. SEC. The filing also showed the fund initiated a new position in 163,419 shares of Strive (ASST), valued at about $2.1 million.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened higher today. - S&P 500: +0.43% - Nasdaq: +0.4% - Dow Jones: +0.34%

The U.S. Treasury has decided to double its purchases of long-term government bonds to at least $4 billion as yields on 10-year to 30-year Treasuries rose rapidly. Spot On Chain said total U.S. debt is nearing $40 trillion and that an energy shock tied to the Iran war, alongside fiscal expansion, drove the surge in Treasury yields and ultimately prompted the intervention. According to Spot On Chain, the move directly injects liquidity into the long-term Treasury market and eases financial conditions, while risk assets generally tend to rise when the Treasury intervenes. BTC has also extended gains since the news emerged, with Spot On Chain adding the Treasury's bond purchases are providing an additional fundamental tailwind to Bitcoin's existing upward momentum.

A whale holding a large BTC short position is once again at risk of liquidation as stocks and crypto markets strengthen on news of increased purchases of long-term U.S. Treasurys, AmberCN reported. The short position is currently valued at $93.24 million, with a liquidation price of $65,045. As BTC has moved to within around $200 of that level, further gains could trigger a forced liquidation of the position.

Bitcoin volatility has fallen to a historically low level, according to a CoinNess analysis of comments from Fidelity Digital Assets. Fidelity said current volatility is near the lowest range in history and ranks in the bottom 1.5% since BTC price data began to be tracked. Fidelity added that the longer volatility stays subdued, the greater the chance of a large price move once that period ends.

Yield Basis, a decentralized BTC yield protocol launched by Curve Finance (CRV) founder Michael Egorov, posted $1.97 billion in trading volume in the first half of this year, The Block reported. That amounted to about 8% of Curve’s total trading volume. Over the same period, the protocol’s average net total value locked stood at about $166 million, while fees generated for liquidity providers reached $10.98 million.

Strategy said it plans to issue digital credit products each year worth 10% to 20% of its Bitcoin reserves, depending on market conditions. Based on current holdings, that would amount to roughly $5.4 billion to $10.8 billion. The company said it would raise funds through preferred stock products including STRC, STRF, STRK, STRD, and STRE, and increase BTC exposure per share if long-term Bitcoin returns exceed funding costs. Strategy added it aims to build a long-term Bitcoin financial institution model.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes, now CEO of Flop Labs, the developer behind Flop Network, said FLOP tokenomics will be released next week. In a post on X, Hayes said the FLOP white paper has not yet been published because Flop Labs is still discussing the technical design and tokenomics with stakeholders. Hayes added the project was disclosed first to gather more feedback, and infographics including the tokenomics will be released in stages starting next week. Flop Labs is developing a blockchain network for AI agents and is preparing to launch the FLOP token.

Centrifuge (CFG) has integrated Symbiotic’s liquidity network for three fund tokens with a combined value of about $1.6 billion and will offer a service that lets investors quickly exchange those fund tokens for USDC, Cointelegraph reported. The products covered are Janus Henderson’s JAAA and JTRSY, and New York Life Investment Management’s HYB. At the center of the service is Symbiotic’s Liquid Relay. When an investor seeks to sell a fund token, a market maker first provides USDC using liquidity secured in a vault. The market maker can then resell the received fund token to the issuer later or sell it to another counterparty. The structure allows eligible investors to recover funds without waiting for the standard redemption process to be completed.

China has expanded the number of banks offering digital yuan-related services to 30 from 10 at the start of the year, CoinDesk reported. The People’s Bank of China added eight banks this week, including Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, Bank of Shanghai and Bank of Hangzhou. The newly added banks have been connected to the central digital yuan system and are expected to begin services after completing operational and technical preparations. The People’s Bank of China added 12 institutions on April 12, raising the total to 22, and the latest addition of eight brought the number of new participating operating institutions this year to 20.

Cantor Fitzgerald plans to offer Kalshi prediction market trading to about 3,000 institutional clients, including family offices and hedge funds, The Wall Street Journal reported. Clients will be able to trade event contracts tied to weather, commodities, and corporate earnings, while Susquehanna International Group will provide quotes and liquidity for the related trades. The newspaper said Cantor Fitzgerald would act as a broker to support clients’ large event-contract trades and could also distribute related positions to other investors through private negotiations. Kalshi has expanded its institutional client base in recent months and has already completed its first block trade this year, according to the report. It has also entered into a partnership with Interactive Brokers.

Institutional holdings of spot Bitcoin ETFs rose 7.5% in the second quarter to 535,723 BTC from 498,389 BTC even as BTC fell 14.2% over the period, Wu Blockchain reported. The number of institutions disclosing Bitcoin investment exposure through U.S. SEC 13F filings fell to around 1,900 from about 2,000. Banks and quant funds increased their allocations, while sovereign wealth funds and endowments mostly maintained existing levels. Wu Blockchain added it is difficult to accurately determine hedge funds’ actual BTC exposure because options positions are included.

Trading volume for Solana-based memecoin ANSEM jumped 4.7-fold in a day while social media mentions showed little change, highlighting a clear gap between trading activity and market interest, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment. ANSEM’s volume rose from about $9 million on Aug. 16 to about $44 million on Aug. 17. Despite the one-day surge, it was still only about 43% of the peak reached on July 8. Social media mentions were tallied at 67 on the same day. Santiment added that such a sharp rise in volume would typically be accompanied by stronger market attention, but this time social media activity did not keep pace with the increase in trading volume.

Curve Finance said it completed a security audit of its Llamalend V2 lending system in the first half of this year, marking progress in core protocol development and the expansion of its cross-chain infrastructure. Curve said Llamalend completed an external security audit by ChainSecurity and was first deployed on Optimism. Contracts were later deployed on the Ethereum mainnet on Aug. 13. Llamalend V2 supports the use of LP tokens and PT as collateral. It also allows lending markets to be formed using assets other than crvUSD, with administrator fees generated in those markets going directly to Curve DAO.

Blockchain data platform Sentora said 55% of stock token trading volume occurs when the U.S. stock market is closed. Sentora said this suggests price discovery is shifting on-chain and stressed that separate risk management systems suited to 24-hour trading are needed, as collateral and liquidation systems must continue operating even when the traditional stock market is shut.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 63% of Americans viewed it as inappropriate for President Donald Trump and his family to have earned more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency businesses last year, while 32% said it was appropriate. The poll also found 69% of respondents said Trump’s private business interests affect policy decisions, with half of Republican supporters sharing that view. The White House pushed back, saying there was no conflict of interest and Trump’s investments are managed by independent financial institutions.

BTC has traded in a $61,500-$66,900 range for a sixth straight week since July 8, with a sharp rise in global government bond yields seen as a key drag on the market. CoinDesk said the yield on the U.S. 30-year Treasury briefly hit 5.333%, the highest level in around 20 years, while long-term yields in Japan, Germany and France also reached levels not seen in decades. The market is also watching the Federal Reserve’s July FOMC minutes due later today for clues on the future rate path.

TRON is moving ahead with an upgrade to the TRON Virtual Machine, or TVM, to strengthen compatibility with Ethereum, Crypto Briefing reported. The upgrade centers on adding Ethereum-supported CLZ operations and P-256 signature verification, which would improve compatibility with Ethereum-based smart contracts and support mobile and hardware-based authentication more efficiently. TRON’s 27 super representatives are set to vote on whether to activate the features on Aug. 25.

CRIPCO, which is facing rug-pull allegations, was identified as the initial issuer and developer of Mini Coin (MINI), Bloomberg Bit reported. A previous white paper linked through the European Securities and Markets Authority registry listed CRIPCO as MINI’s issuer and the platform’s lead developer, conflicting with earlier claims by MINI backer GLLUE that the two projects were unrelated. After the controversy emerged, the white paper was replaced with a version that removed references to CRIPCO, but the latest ESMA registry still lists CRIPCO as the party that submitted the white paper.

South Korean exchange Bithumb announced the temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals for ONT, ONG and MBL starting at 10:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 20 to support the Ontology network upgrade.

The KITE Foundation said it has deployed a new KITE ERC-20 contract on Ethereum mainnet in response to a recent token security incident. Total token supply remains unchanged, and existing KITE tokens will be migrated one-for-one to tokens based on the new contract. Addresses linked to the hacker are excluded from the migration and will not receive the new tokens. The snapshot for the migration is based on Ethereum mainnet block height 25,692,498. Users holding tokens in personal wallets will receive the new tokens directly without any separate redemption or approval process. Token transfers for exchange users will be handled through cooperation between each exchange and the KITE team. Cross-chain channels will remain suspended until the migration and verification process is completed. A hacking incident occurred at KITE on Aug. 6, but no user or project assets were lost.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has signaled a more flexible stance on the possibility of an initial public offering, U.Today reported. Speaking at the 2026 Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Garlinghouse said in English, "Ripple has been very happy as a privately held company for a long time" and was now "a little more neutral" on the IPO question. Ripple had previously said an IPO was not a near-term priority and had no specific plan or timeline, but the latest remarks suggest the company is no longer ruling out a listing, the outlet added.