Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

BNB Chain schedules security-focused Pasteur hard fork for Aug. 25

BNB Chain has scheduled its Pasteur hard fork for Aug. 25, introducing three changes intended to strengthen cross-chain transfers, tighten validator controls, and raise tested transaction capacity from 1,237 to 2,324 transactions per second.　　SummaryPasteur will activate on BNB Smart Chain at 2:30 a.m. UTC on Aug. 25.Node operators must install BSC software version v1.7.7 before the upgrade.Two changes address cross-chain security, validator permissions, and governance voting.Internal tests raised transaction capacity from 1,237 to 2,324 TPS.　　BNB Chain said in an Aug. 14 announcement that Pasteur will go live on BNB Smart Chain at 2:30 a.m. UTC on Aug. 25 after running on its test network since July 21.　　Node operators must install BSC software version v1.7.7 before the activation time. The network also instructed operators to remove an outdated setting called EnableBAL from their configuration files because the updated software will not start if it remains in place.　　Pasteur includes three proposals: BEP-682, BEP-695, and BEP-675. The first two address security and validator permissions, while the third changes how transactions are processed when new blocks are prepared.　　You might also like:　　Microsoft flags ClickFix malware using BNB Chain to fetch attack instructions　　Pasteur will strengthen BNB Chain bridge checks　　BEP-682 changes how BNB Smart Chain confirms transfers

14 hours agoIndustry

Justin Sun Addresses Binance HTX Blacklist: Are Your Funds Actually Affected？

Justin Sun says the Binance restrictions on HTX reach only users in the UK and the European Union. Binances own notice sets no such limit.　　The HTX founder made the claim as the August 23 cutoff approaches. He also said HTX is already in settlement talks with British and EU authorities.　　Sponsored　　Sponsored　　What Sun Said　　The comments came in a late Friday post, only hours after Binances blacklisting announcement.　　“Ive communicated with Binance, and it only involves Binance UK and EU users. Huobi itself does not conduct business in the UK or EU. Our settlement negotiations with the UK and EU regulatory authorities are already underway,” he wrote.　　Sun added that affected users can contact HTX customer service, and that the exchange will help resolve individual cases.　　Where the Claim Meets the Record　　Binance addressed its notice to all users and named no country. It said transactions involving the listed platforms may be held for compliance review after the effective dates. Binance restricted 11 platforms in that announcement.　　Suns second claim is harder to square. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) alleges HTX drew 4.6 million UK visits in 2023. That ranked it sixth among virtual asset firms accessed from Britain. HTX limited new UK sign-ups only after the regulator

14 hours agoIndustry

World Liberty Wins Bank Charter From Trump-Appointed Regulator for $4 Billion Stablecoin

President Donald Trumps family is set to own a federally chartered bank. A regulator he appointed conditionally cleared World Liberty Trust Company, issuer of the $4 billion USD1 stablecoin.　　The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) published its national trust charter decision Friday. Final approval would let the firm issue USD1 itself and hold the dollar assets backing it.　　Trumps Own Appointee Cleared the World Liberty Bank Charter　　Trump appointed Comptroller Jonathan Gould to run the OCC last year. World Liberty Trust filed its application in early January, and congressional Democrats spent the months since warning that approval would create a conflict of interest.　　The agency answered that criticism inside the letter itself. Career staff handled the review, the OCC said, and Gould met his statutory duties and ethical obligations. Nonpolitical examiners will supervise the bank once it opens.　　The regulators structure matters here. The OCC sits inside the Treasury Department and has no bipartisan board to check a single appointee. Democrats pressed Gould at a February hearing to release the unredacted filing. The public version left out capital structure and business plan specifics.　　The financial stakes explain the pressure. Reuters put Trump family earnings from USD1 at roughly $50 million through June 2026.

14 hours agoIndustry

France Tax Data Leak Could Fuel Scams, Attacks Targeting Bitcoin Holders

In briefA reported breach of Frances tax authority exposed data tied to 678,437 people and businesses.The records allegedly include income figures, addresses, tax identifiers, and family information.The data could help criminals craft targeted scams against wealthy taxpayers and Bitcoin holders.　　A hacker is selling a trove of French tax records that could expose more than 678,000 people and businesses, including Bitcoin holders, to phishing, identity theft, and targeted attacks.　　According to a report by French cybersecurity outlet FrenchBreaches, a hacker is selling records allegedly stolen from Frances tax authority, the DGFiP, during a June breach for several thousand euros.　　Myriad: Bitcoins next move？ Click to make your prediction.　　“More bad news for Bitcoiners living in the leading country for wrench attacks,” Chief Security Officer at Bitcoin security platform Casa Jameson Loop wrote on X. “The French tax authority has been hacked, and 678K records leaked.”　　FrenchBreaches said the database contains records on 392,867 individuals and 285,570 professionals, including 26,805 people with reference tax income of at least $116,000, 386 above $1.16 million, and eight above $11.6 million; the hacker is reportedly offering the file for several thousand dollars.　　FrenchBreaches said a sample of the leaked data included names, birth details, home and email addresses, phone numbers,

14 hours agoIndustry

Ireland AML strategy tightens crypto wallet checks through 2030

Ireland has introduced its first national anti-money laundering strategy through 2030, placing enhanced checks on private-wallet transfers and overseas crypto firms among its main digital-asset controls.　　Irelands crypto strategy increases transfer checks　　Irelands Department of Finance said on Thursday that the national AML strategy will coordinate the countrys response to money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing until 2030.　　For crypto firms, the plan completes Ireland‘s implementation of the remaining provisions under the European Union’s Transfer of Funds Regulation. The measures require crypto-asset service providers to conduct enhanced checks on transfers involving self-hosted wallets and apply stricter due diligence when working with crypto businesses based outside the EU.　　Under the regulation, information about a transfers originator and beneficiary must accompany the transaction when a regulated provider is involved. Required details can include names, distributed-ledger addresses, crypto account numbers, and unique transaction identifiers.　　Tánaiste @SimonHarrisTD has today launched Irelands first National Anti-Money Laundering, Countering Financing of Terrorism & Countering Proliferation Financing Strategy.　　— Department of Finance (@IRLDeptFinance) August 13, 2026　　Transfers to or from self-hosted addresses remain permitted, although the provider handling the transaction must collect information about both parties. For transfers exceeding €1,000, the firm must take steps to assess whether its customer owns or controls the

15 hours agoIndustry

Bitcoin price drops to $62.5K as trader warns weekly close may spark more losses

Bitcoin (BTC) declined into Fridays Wall Street open as traders increasingly saw a BTC price breakdown next.　　Key points:Bitcoin stays below $63,000, heading steadily closer to new August lows while US stocks build on record highs.Analysis says that $63,220 must be reclaimed by the weekly close to avoid a deeper rout.Markets look to PCE inflation data as the next key test for risk assets.　　Bitcoin price sags with stocks at all-time highs　　Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD down 1.3% on the day at $62,570, near its lowest levels month-to-date.BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView　　Despite encouraging US inflation data lifting risk assets and reducing the odds of interest-rate hikes, Bitcoin failed to follow US equities, which closed Thursdays session at all-time highs. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index were both green at the time of writing, up 0.11% and 0.14%, respectively.BTC/USD vs. S&P 500 one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView　　Commenting on Bitcoin price performance, trader and analyst Rekt Capital warned that Sundays weekly close needed to be above $63,220.　　“A Weekly Close below the orange level would probably set price up for a breakdown,” he wrote in a post on X.　　The analyst noted that $63,000 was now failing as support after weakening throughout August, having previously

15 hours agoIndustry

Dartmouth endowments crypto exposure drops by $2M amid falling prices

The value of crypto-related investments held by Ivy League university Dartmouth Colleges $9 billion endowment fell by more than $2 million in three months.　　In a Thursday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the trustees of Dartmouth College reported that the university endowment held about $12.4 million worth of the Bitwise Solana staking exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Grayscale Ethereum staking ETF and BlackRocks iShares Bitcoin ETF as of June 30. The endowment held the same number of shares of each ETF, but the overall value dropped by about 15% since it reported holding $14.6 million as of March 31.　　The drop in value roughly corresponded to falling crypto prices tied to each ETF. Since March 31, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell 7.7% to $62,915, Solana (SOL) by 9.6% to $75.11 and Ether (ETH) by 10.8% to $1,875.　　Dartmouth reported adding crypto exposure to its endowment‘s portfolio in 2025, making it one of the first US universities to invest in digital assets. Harvard, with a $57 billion endowment, had not disclosed its second-quarter 2026 holdings as of Friday, but reported liquidating the entirety of its $87 million worth of BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum as of March 31.　　Related: Harvard endowment reduces stake

15 hours agoIndustry

China's Z.AI Ships GLM-5.3, Calling It the Top Open-Weight Coding Model

In briefZhipu AI (now Z.ai) released GLM-5.3 on Thursday through its GLM Coding Plan and ZCode.The lab calls it the “most capable open-weights model for coding,”.GLM-5.3 is a 743-billion-parameter model built by scaling post-training on the GLM-5.2 base.　　Chinese AI lab Z.ai released GLM-5.3 on Thursday, a sizable coding model its pitching as the strongest open-weights coder on the market. The model is live now through the GLM Coding Plan subscription and ZCode, with API access and downloadable weights following after a safety review.　　“Scaling post-training is all we did for GLM-5.3,” the company wrote in its launch post. “With GLM-5.2 we built the stack... Over the past month we kept scaling on this stack: more environments, more diverse tasks, and more compute spent training on them.”　　Myriad: When will OpenAI release GPT-6？ Click to make your prediction.　　The team focused more on token efficiency, not raw dominance. GLM-5.3 stands at 743 billion parameters and consumes a lot less tokens per task than its predecessor. Parameters are the amount of dials a model handle while processing information while tokens are the basic unit of information a model can consume or generate.　　Z.ai says GLM-5.3 clears 34.5% on its in-house Z.ai Code Bench at Max effort

15 hours agoIndustry

Mizuho cuts BitGo price target to $11, but says Clarity Act delays could prove advantageous

Quick TakeMizuho analysts cut their stock price target for BitGo in a research note published Thursday to $11 from $14.They view the company as a “high-growth/recurring revenue business,” citing a 27% year-over-year increase in the customer base.　　Delays to U.S. crypto market-structure legislation could benefit crypto custodian BitGo Holding by extending its regulatory head start over competitors. Thats according to Mizuho analysts, who, despite cutting their price target for the companys shares, maintained their Outperform rating.　　Mizuho analysts cut their stock price target for BitGo (BTGO) to $11 from $14. BTGO was changing hands at $5.61 as of 2:47 p.m. EST, according to The Blocks price data.　　“Consensus reads US market-structure delay as an overhang. We believe it might quietly help BitGo,” Mizuho analysts wrote in a research note to clients. The company already runs the first federally chartered digital asset trust bank owned by a publicly traded company, so its regulatory standing doesnt hinge on new legislation passing.　　The Clarity Act is intended to establish a federal market-structure framework for digital assets and clarify how authority is divided between regulators. The legislation has faced repeated delays amid negotiations over several key issues.　　The delay could give BitGo an advantage while competitors wait for the

16 hours agoIndustry

'Honestly, I don't care': Tether CEO dismisses critics following first KPMG audit

Quick TakeTether CEO Paolo Ardoino dismissed continued criticism following KPMG U.S.s audit, saying some critics cannot admit they were wrong.A source with direct knowledge told The Block that Tether does not publicly share its audited statements because it is a private company.Tether plans to conduct full audits annually while continuing quarterly attestations.　　Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino brushed off continued criticism of the stablecoin issuer following its first full financial audit, saying some critics are unable to admit that they were wrong about the company.　　“Honestly, I dont care,” Ardoino said in an exclusive interview with The Blocks The Starting Block show on Friday. “We proved ourselves many times.”　　Ardoino said Tether (USDT) had already shown it could handle large redemptions. In 2022, the company redeemed $7 billion in 48 hours, or about 10% of its reserves at the time, without stopping redemptions, he noted.　　He said many traditional financial institutions would struggle to handle withdrawals of that size in such a short period.　　“Im happy to get the criticism because it makes us better, makes us stronger,” he said.　　He added that he was comfortable being viewed as a “villain” by some critics if Tether could continue serving the 650 million users the company claims rely

16 hours agoIndustry

13 4 5

...

1000