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South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service has built a market surveillance system that uses artificial intelligence to detect and analyze unfair trading in virtual assets in real time, Digital Asset reported. The move is intended to quickly identify abnormal trading and determine whether probes are needed, given that thousands of tokens trade around the clock across multiple exchanges. The watchdog developed an AI algorithm in January to automatically identify bid quotes by suspected price manipulators and the periods in which they allegedly influenced prices. In April, it added a function to automatically detect multiple linked accounts used in price manipulation. The agency has now expanded AI use across its broader market surveillance work, including unusual-trading detection and decisions on whether to open investigations. Publicly available online information is also included in the AI monitoring scope. The system can detect illegal front-running through chat rooms, the distribution of videos containing false claims, and posts that incite unfair trading.

A BIT-linked address withdrew 894.72 BTC from Binance, worth about $61.93 million, according to TradingBits. Exchange outflows are typically interpreted as a sign of accumulation.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $1.42 billion liquidated (96.42% shorts) - ETH: $1.13 billion liquidated (90.77% shorts) - SOL: $104.67 million liquidated (94.96% shorts)

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said at a blockchain symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Aug. 19 that the Trump administration’s mention of bringing Hyperliquid (HYPE) to the U.S. was not limited to that platform and that decentralized perpetual futures exchanges, or perp DEXs, and other services available to Americans would increase significantly. Earlier, President Donald Trump said at a White House-hosted tech industry event that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission was pushing the U.S. expansion of perpetual futures, particularly Hyperliquid.

A whale that bought 10,501 ETH worth $20 million a month ago took profit on half of the holdings 15 minutes ago as ETH surged today, EmberCN reported. The wallet deposited 5,250 ETH to Binance, with estimated profit at $3.4 million.

An anonymous whale address beginning with bc1qsy sold 2,000 BTC worth $136.48 million, Lookonchain reported. The address has sold a total of 9,513 BTC worth $623.43 million over the past month.

Domestic access to prediction market platform Polymarket has been blocked in South Korea. The Korea Communications Standards Commission had approved the access block at a subcommittee meeting on Aug. 18, saying Polymarket has a winner-takes-all profit-and-loss structure in which financial gains or losses hinge on the outcome of events users cannot control, such as politics, the economy and weather, and therefore was judged to encourage gambling.

Rabby said via its official X account that it discovered a vulnerability in its browser extension that could allow unauthorized extraction of signatures under certain conditions, and completed a patch on Aug. 11. The issue was found to potentially expose funds if a user connected a wallet to a malicious dApp, set the auto-lock timer to 10 minutes, remained on that dApp for 10 minutes, and then unlocked the wallet again. Rabby added that its mobile app was not affected, no cases of actual fund theft have been confirmed as the flaw occurred only under limited conditions, and users should update the extension immediately.

Industry leaders at a panel during the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026 warned that the rapid spread of autonomous AI agents could improve usability for Web3 users while also giving malicious hackers attack tools on an unprecedented scale. Ryan Kirkley, CEO of Global Settlement Network, said at the event that even multitrillion-won bridge hacks would look minor compared with future AI-driven attacks, The Block reported. Kirkley referenced major bridge hacking cases and explained that attackers had previously avoided targeting individual wallets because the time required made such attacks inefficient. With AI agents, however, simultaneous and automated attacks at scale could be carried out against Wi-Fi networks, passwords and wallets, according to the report. Panelists also identified the lack of a regulatory framework as the biggest obstacle to mass commercialization, saying it remains unclear who would be responsible for recovering funds or bearing ultimate legal liability if autonomous AI agents break the law or cause unexpected financial losses.

Glassnode said Bitcoin’s rebound is only a short-term rally rather than a trend reversal. The firm said BTC remains below both the short-term holder cost basis of around $68,500 and the realized market mean price of $75,800, indicating the market has yet to move out of the capitulation phase. Relative unrealized losses have peaked at 25% from the cycle high, well below the 60% or more seen in previous cycles, while the 90-day realized profit/loss ratio stands at 0.75 and has not fallen below 0.5, a level historically seen during phases of seller exhaustion. Glassnode added that perpetual futures demand has turned positive and ETF inflows have stabilized, but the Coinbase premium remains negative, suggesting U.S. spot demand has not meaningfully recovered.

An unidentified hacker bought 18,272 ETH worth $38.53 million at an average purchase price of $2,109, according to Lookonchain.

Nasdaq-listed AIxCrypto (AIXC) has fully withdrawn its digital asset treasury strategy and plans to gradually liquidate its cryptocurrency holdings while focusing on its robot leasing and operations business, CryptoSlate reported. As of the end of the second quarter, the company held 46 BTC, 616 ETH, 6,659 SOL and 1,308 BNB, along with small amounts of ADA, LINK, TRX, USDT and XRP, and was sitting on an unrealized loss of about 50%.

South Korean exchange Bithumb announced the temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals for BounceBit (BB) starting at 2:55 a.m. UTC on Aug. 20 at the foundation’s request.

Crypto custody firm BitGo (BTGO) has completed its virtual asset service provider registration for its South Korean unit, Yonhap News reported. BitGo Korea, the company’s South Korean subsidiary, received approval for a VASP license from the Financial Intelligence Unit under South Korea’s Financial Services Commission on Aug. 18. BitGo said it chose to meet the regulatory requirements directly, rather than acquire an existing VASP operator, as it builds a long-term business base in South Korea.

Bitcoin has moved back above its 50-day moving average and the average cost basis of short-term holders, two key indicators used to gauge the market’s near-term direction, Crypto Briefing reported. According to the outlet, when BTC trades above both levels, investors who recently bought Bitcoin tend to move back into profit, easing fear-driven selling pressure and increasing the likelihood of further gains. It added that when BTC falls below the short-term holder cost basis, losses among short-term investors tend to deepen and raise the risk of panic selling, while a move above that level tends to support continued holding or additional buying. Crypto Briefing said a similar pattern appeared in May, when BTC rose after breaking above the short-term holder average entry price of around $79,000.

Singapore-based blockchain platform DigiFT has partnered with Arco, an institutional onchain operating infrastructure provider, to expand distribution of tokenized real-world assets to institutional investors in Asia. The two companies selected South Korea as their first strategic expansion market and plan to advance institutional distribution of regulated investment products and links to onchain capital markets. Through the agreement, DigiFT plans to combine its regulated marketplace with Arco’s Issuer OS and institutional capital-routing infrastructure to build a compliant distribution framework connecting traditional financial products with onchain capital markets.

South Korean payment company NHN KCP has signed a memorandum of understanding with global Web3 platform company LINE NEXT Inc. to expand stablecoin-based payment services, according to a Newsis report. The initiative is intended to broaden real-world use cases for stablecoins by linking NHN KCP’s domestic merchant and payment infrastructure with Unifi, the global digital asset wallet operated by LINE NEXT. The two companies also plan to build the technical and business foundation to extend a won-pegged stablecoin, in whose distribution NHN KCP participates, across LINE NEXT’s global wallet network.

The People’s Bank of China announced it left the loan prime rate, which is treated as the country’s de facto benchmark interest rate, unchanged. The one-year LPR, the benchmark for general loans, was kept at 3.0%, while the five-year LPR, which serves as the benchmark for mortgage loans, was maintained at 3.5%.

Coinbase has chosen Abu Dhabi Global Market, an international financial center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as its international tokenization hub to move more traditional financial assets onto blockchain networks, Fortune reported. Coinbase has obtained a license from the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority, allowing it to arrange trades and provide crypto custody, and it plans to launch security tokens.

Leading cryptocurrency industry executives held a private meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick before a separate meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Crypto in America host Eleanor Terrett. Terrett said attendees included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, a16z partner Chris Dixon, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi. The discussion focused on the importance of passing the CLARITY Act and reshoring crypto firms that had moved overseas. Participants also reviewed remaining issues blocking the bill’s passage, including ethics concerns, and discussed in depth how the White House could help build bipartisan consensus.

pension-usdt.eth, a whale that had once posted $49 million in profit and 23 straight winning trades, took a $23.9 million loss after a 50,000 ETH short position worth $106 million was forcibly liquidated.

Hyperliquid burned $4.24 million worth of HYPE over the past 24 hours, according to Onchain Lens. Trading fees generated on Hyperliquid totaled about $4.4 million during the same period.

Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Huang, known as Machi Big Brother, is sitting on a $3.34 million unrealized gain on a 25x ETH long position, according to AmberCN. The position is valued at $48.22 million, with an entry price of $2,097 and a liquidation price of $2,253. Huang had previously logged cumulative losses of more than $80 million by the end of last month. More recently, Huang also sold BAYC NFTs at a steep loss to raise collateral.

CoinMarketCap’s in-house Crypto Fear and Greed Index came in at 55, up 14 points from yesterday, while remaining in neutral territory. The index indicates extreme fear when it is closer to zero and extreme optimism when it is closer to 100. According to CoinMarketCap, the index is calculated based on price movements among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives-market indicators including the put/call ratio, the stablecoin supply ratio, or SSR, and CoinMarketCap’s own search data.

Daily short liquidations triggered by today’s early-morning rally reached a record high, with $2.738 billion wiped out from 9:00 a.m. on Aug. 19 through the current reading on Aug. 20, according to Coinglass data. That surpassed the previous daily record of $2.467 billion set on Oct. 10 last year. Including long positions, however, total liquidations ranked as the third-largest on record. On Oct. 10 last year, total liquidations reached $19.25 billion, while about $3.616 billion in positions were liquidated on Sept. 22 last year. As of today, total liquidations stood at about $2.985 billion.