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The U.S. SEC on Aug. 18 formally proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create two tailored exemptions from securities-law registration requirements for certain crypto investment contracts and lower regulatory barriers to capital raising. Under the proposal, issuers could choose between two exemption tracks based on the scale of fundraising. Smaller projects would be allowed to raise up to $5 million over four years without complex disclosure procedures. Larger offerings, meanwhile, could qualify for an exemption for up to $75 million a year if they meet stricter requirements, including principles-based disclosures, financial statements, and periodic reports. The proposal also includes a conditional safe harbor that would allow qualifying offerings to avoid treatment as strict securities-law investment contracts, as well as a preemption measure aimed at reducing differences among state-level rules. The SEC said the measure remains at the proposal stage and will go through a 60-day public comment period. The source added the announcement is unlikely to trigger immediate price swings or broad market fallout.

TikTok is testing a feature that would let users send money to each other through direct messages, Bloomberg reported. If launched, the feature is expected to process transactions through TikTok Pay, which is already available in Southeast Asia. Bloomberg said traces of the planned addition were found in hidden code in the latest U.S. iPhone version of the TikTok app. The report did not mention cryptocurrency. Earlier in July, X launched its financial app XMoney.

Ethereum developers are set to discuss a way to encrypt transaction details until their order for inclusion in a block is finalized, aiming to keep bots from seeing them, CryptoSlate reported. At a mempool encryption meeting on Aug. 19, local time, developers plan to review new defenses against bots that exploit pending transactions. The issue arises in Ethereum’s public mempool, a public waiting area where transactions sit before being included in a block, and is mainly tied to MEV bots such as those used in sandwich attacks. No currently known crypto technology is understood to meet all requirements at Ethereum’s scale.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on social media, "x402 is going to be huge eventually." He said all AI agents will need to make payments to buy or use something, and added that AI agents will eventually far outnumber humans. x402 is an open payments protocol built around HTTP 402, "Payment Required," allowing AI agents to automatically pay for API access or digital services. It mainly supports stablecoin-based onchain payments, enabling agents to pay immediately for needed services without separate accounts or subscriptions.

Swiss hardware wallet maker BitBox has deployed a security update after an AI-assisted internal security audit found two critical vulnerabilities in BitBox02 firmware. One flaw could have allowed an attacker to install malicious firmware and steal funds if a user was tricked by phishing into installing a fake BitBox app and then unlocked the device. The other involved memory corruption in the BitBox Multi Edition, which could have enabled arbitrary code execution when connected to a malicious computer. BitBox said both issues were fixed in the latest firmware, v9.26.5, and no cases of real-world exploitation or theft of user funds or wallet seed phrases have been confirmed.

Kalshi traders see 29% chance of 25-basis-point Fed hike in September Users on crypto-based prediction market Kalshi are pricing in a 70% chance that the Federal Reserve will hold rates steady in September, alongside a 29% chance of a 25-basis-point hike and a 1% chance of a 25-basis-point cut.

Binance’s XRP open interest has climbed to its highest level in two months, according to CryptoQuant. The increase signals rising participation and speculative trading in the XRP derivatives market, making upcoming price moves more important.

Telegram has formally applied for the .gram top-level domain, and if the bid is approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, the platform’s roughly 1 billion users will be able to obtain personalized second-level domains, founder Pavel Durov said on his personal channel. Durov said Telegram usernames such as @durov and @monk could become domains including durov.gram and monk.gram. He added users are also expected to be able to create and host interactive websites directly on Telegram through command inputs.

White House crypto council Executive Director Patrick Witt said at the SALT 2026 conference he is optimistic about the Senate’s planned vote next month on the Clarity Act, The Block reported.

Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty said at the SALT 2026 conference that cryptocurrencies are having a significant economic impact on everyday life and that more Americans own crypto than own pet dogs, The Block reported.

Bitcoin whales have resumed buying, Watcher.Guru reported, citing Bloomberg. According to the report, Bitcoin whales accumulated more than $2.9 billion worth of BTC over the past 60 days.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott said at the SALT conference that lawmakers still have not narrowed differences over the CLARITY Act, including concerns about President Donald Trump’s crypto-related conflicts of interest and the issue of stablecoin rewards. Scott added the stablecoin rewards issue will need another round of intense coordination.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said tokenization is the next major market trend, according to Forbes. He said that after nearly a decade of hype, multiple launch setbacks and promising pilot projects, mainstream financial institutions are now moving real-world assets onto blockchains in earnest, adding that tokenization is a market trend.

U.S. senator says Senate procedural vote on Clarity bill remains set for Sept. 15

VanEck said stress in the BTC market has reached an extreme and may be signaling a rebound ahead. According to a recent report, eight of the 12 capitulation indicators tracked by VanEck have now been triggered. Based on past cases, that level of market stress has more often appeared ahead of price recoveries than before further sharp declines. VanEck’s analysis of the eight capitulation indicators showed worsening profitability for miners, rising realized losses for investors, and broader signs of sell-side exhaustion that typically emerge near the end of a bear market. Bitcoin’s current 30% to 45% decline from its peak also aligns with that historical pattern. VanEck said the simultaneous activation of two-thirds of its tracked capitulation indicators suggests the market has moved beyond a simple profit-taking phase and entered a broader stop-loss and panic-selling stretch. According to VanEck, markets have often posted positive returns after similar capitulation phases in the past. Through its ChainCheck report, VanEck has interpreted such capitulation less as a risk warning and more as a contrarian buy signal. The firm added that miner capitulation and bear markets are not signs of Bitcoin’s structural failure, but recurring features of its roughly four-year halving cycle. In an earlier report, VanEck also said a 4% drop in mining hash rate has historically acted as a bullish signal.

U.S. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig said anti-crypto forces, pessimists and groups seeking to slow technological progress had suppressed innovation for years, and the agency is now turning the page and working with innovators to forge a new path for the frontiers of finance, according to Watcher.Guru.

Blockchain Association backs proposed changes to U.S. SEC trade-through rule Blockchain Association said it submitted a comment letter to the U.S. SEC supporting proposed amendments to the trade-through rule, or Rule 611. According to AMB Crypto, the group argued the rule has led to higher costs, greater market-structure complexity, limits on order handling and execution choice, exchange proliferation, and fragmentation in exchange-based stock trading. It also said the proposed changes align with the administration’s intention to strengthen U.S. leadership in cryptocurrency and financial technology. Rule 611 is designed to prevent orders from being executed at worse prices by requiring venues to protect better-priced quotes posted on other exchanges and markets. Concerns have been raised that applying the rule directly to the crypto market may not fit the structure of DeFi, decentralized exchanges, and tokenized securities markets.

NoOnes said it is gradually winding down operations after sanctions-related efforts to resolve the issue failed. The P2P cryptocurrency trading platform said sanctions cost it key partners, while blockchain monitoring firms classified NoOnes-related transactions as high risk, making normal platform operations increasingly difficult. NoOnes had previously been added to the EU’s sanctions list related to Russia. The business drawdown began on Aug. 17, and the P2P marketplace is scheduled to shut down at 11:59 p.m. UTC on Aug. 21. Services including swaps, fiat withdrawals, gift card sales and the Bitcoin Lightning Network are also being phased out, after which the platform will transition to supporting withdrawals only. NoOnes advised users to withdraw their assets by Aug. 23.

Ripple has completed a private offering of $275 million in senior unsecured notes through Ripple Prime, its prime brokerage platform for institutional investors, with the proceeds set to be used for operations and expansion in the U.S., according to Wu Blockchain. The notes received an investment-grade BBB rating from credit rating agency KBRA. On that basis, Ripple Prime plans to expand its multi-asset clearing and settlement, financing, and prime brokerage services.

Cryptocurrency payment card spending reached $759 million in July, up 2.5 times from about $306 million a year earlier, according to Unfolded. The tally, based on on-chain data and card issuer data from PaymentsScan, showed RedotPay led the overall growth trend. The data suggests cryptocurrencies are spreading quickly as a means of payment for real-world goods and services. Even so, the crypto card market remains a niche segment compared with the traditional credit and debit card market.

CryptoQuant said Bitcoin spot demand is showing signs of turning positive for the first time since February. Based on past cases, BTC posted a median gain of 18.1% over the following 60 days after such a shift, with a 78% probability of extending its advance. CryptoQuant added that the probability rises to 87% when valuations are significantly depressed, as they are now.

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the issuer of the USD1 stablecoin tied to the Trump family, said it does not own or operate Hong Kong AI platform WorldClaw and has no control over the AI models offered on the platform, while declining to provide details on any financial relationship between the two companies. Reuters had earlier reported on links between World Liberty and WorldClaw, and said WorldClaw could provide access to AI models from some Chinese companies that are under U.S. national security scrutiny. World Liberty said the two companies are separate businesses. Speaking to CoinDesk, World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman said WorldClaw is an independent company not owned or operated by World Liberty and uses USD1 as a payment method, as do various other projects in the ecosystem. Wachsman did not answer whether World Liberty or related entities hold an equity stake in WorldClaw, have funded it, or receive licensing fees or a share of revenue.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest bank, has increased its stake in Strategy, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net. Recent filings show RBC bought an additional 46,001 MSTR shares worth about $4.45 million, bringing its total holdings to 385,002 shares valued at roughly $37.2 million. RBC had already expanded its position to 339,001 shares after buying 295,829 MSTR shares in the first quarter of this year, according to the data. Strategy is widely known as a major Bitcoin treasury company that holds large amounts of Bitcoin using corporate funds, and MSTR is used by institutions as one of the main ways to gain indirect Bitcoin exposure through the stock market.

HashKey plans to use the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin HKDAP for trade transactions between Hong Kong and the UAE, as well as for commercial insurance premium payments, according to CoinDesk. Trade between Hong Kong and the UAE totaled about $48.95 billion in 2025, roughly double the volume between Hong Kong and other Middle Eastern countries at about $24 billion, CoinDesk reported. The exchange also plans to use HKDAP for business insurance premium payments with OneDegree, a Hong Kong-based digital asset insurer.

Kalshi is seeking to launch perpetual futures tied to U.S. stock indexes, CNBC reported. On Aug. 18, Kalshi filed documents with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission requesting approval for the products. Unlike standard futures, perpetual futures have no expiration date and let traders bet on price moves without directly holding the underlying asset. The contracts are designed to track the underlying price through funding fees. Kalshi’s proposed US500 perpetual futures would use the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index, which tracks 500 large-cap U.S.-listed stocks, as the underlying index. Kalshi also applied the same day for regulatory approval for perpetual futures linked to copper, an industrial metal. In July, the company also moved to launch products tied to precious metals such as gold and silver. Kalshi began expanding beyond prediction markets into the broader derivatives market after receiving regulatory approval for cryptocurrency-linked perpetual futures in late May.