Autor Cointelegraph By Andrew Fenton

Bitcoin ‘anti-spam’ BIP goes nowhere fastSupporters of the BIP-110 soft fork hoped to eradicate spam from the blockchain, but after a lengthy and heated debate the proposal has been pronounced Dead On Arrival. After securing just 2.5% support ahead of entering mandatory signaling on Saturday, it split off into a minority chain that mined just two blocks in eight hours before stalling.This is probably no surprise given it’s just as difficult and expensive to mine on the new chain as it is on Bitcoin — but without any hope of being able to sell the block reward to recoup the costs. The difficulty would have adjusted downward if they’d managed to mine through another 2,014 blocks.BIP-110 aimed to rid Bitcoin of non financial transactions, such as Ordinals, but opponents saw it as imposing censorship on the chain and it faced opposition from prominent Bitcoin advocates. Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor said he shared the proposal’s objectives but argued that its approach threatened Bitcoin’s neutral rules and consensus. Blockstream CEO Adam Back warned that the consensus-level change could damage Bitcoin’s credibility and potentially make certain unspent transaction outputs unspendable. Bitcoin Core developer Murch has subsequently proposed removing BIP-110 backer Luke Dashjr from his position as a BIP Editor.Clarity vote gets punted to SeptemberSenator Tim Scott, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, said on Thursday a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act should happen before the August recess “without any question.”Senator Cynthia Lummis also raised hopes of a last minute vote. But despite hopes the Senators would locked in a room and forced to compromise before leaving for the August break, Senate Majority Leader John Thune declined to force the issue and later scheduled the cloture vote for September 15.“The Dems are insistent on no Clarity vote,” Thune told Cointelegraph. “I worked with sponsors of the bill. Senator Lummis was great, and we’re getting that queued up first thing when we come back.”Crypto lobbyists have until then to shore up the 60 votes required by negotiating on ethics rules, the stablecoin yield issue, and protection for developers in the BRCA. The real question though is whether it will be a serious attempt to pass the legislation, or if the vote has been called simply “to get people on the record” ahead of the mid-term elections as Lummis suggested. Bitcoiners form ‘red team’ to battle AI-assisted hacksA Bitcoin security group made up of 16 volunteers said mid-week it had found nearly 5,000 potential issues during a rapid AI-assisted review of projects in the Bitcoin ecosystem. By the weekend that number had grown to 7,958 issues, with 168 critical flaws and 1,120 high severity issues.Bitcoin Red Team is a volunteer security effort that includes Rob Hamilton, CEO of AnchorWatch and Bitcoin developer Calle, which has been using AI tools and human review to scan open-source Bitcoin-related repositories for vulnerabilities. “We’re averaging on the order of 1 critical exploit per hour per person,” said Calle in a post.The team sprang into action as a result of the Coldcard hardware wallet hacks, which developer Coinkite suggested were the result of an AI analysis of its source code. More than $100 million has been stolen by 7300 wallets, due to flaws in the random number generated used to generate seed phrases. It has become the third largest crypto hack in 2026 and helped push July’s crypto thefts total to $247 million. The incident helped shine a light on the trust required with using a hardware wallet, and led many Bitcoiners to wonder if any wallet was truly safe?Many are now determined to use at least 100 manual dice rolls to generate their own seed phrase.Ethereum researchers want to rein in staking; critics say it could backfireA group of Ethereum researchers and developers have proposed changing the network’s issuance policy to cut validator rewards more sharply as the proportion of staked ETH rises.Tapered Issuance Burn (AKA EIP-8363) would cut rewards entirely as the percentage of supply staked crossed the 50% mark. It’s currently at 34% with a huge queue of ETH waiting to enter, and there are fears this may continue to snowball while providing progressively less benefit for the security of the network.Despite offering some compelling arguments in favor of the proposal, it has been met with a fierce backlash, especially from DeFi protocols. Ether.fi founder Mike Silagadze suggested Ether.fi would get out of staking entirely if it goes through. He said:“This is so disappointing on every level. […] This is bad for decentralization, this is bad for Ethereum adoption, and this is bad for the credibility of the network.” Happy days are here again as Bitcoin ETFs see best week in four monthsThe spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds registered their third-strongest showing since October as institutional demand showed signs of renewed momentum.The haul of $853.54 million in inflows was five times the amount they netted across all of July, and was the best week since April. The Ether ETFs took in another $243.7 million.Some industry figures believe the large inflows may be related to the Coldcard hack, which has made institutional custody more attractive than using a potentially insecure hardware wallet. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested there may be a connection, while Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said point blank: “It is statistically safer to store coins on exchanges than to self custody.”Winners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is up 2% to trade at $64,814, Ethereum (ETH) is up 1.7% to trade at $1,908 and XRP (XRP) is down 5% to $1.02. The total market cap is at $2.21 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Pump.fun (PUMP) with a 27.6% gain, LayerZero (ZRO) on 17.6%, and Curve DAO (CRV) on 16.2%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Injective (INJ) which was down 15.1%, Canton (CC) down 13.8% and Cronos (CRO) down 13.7%.Prediction of the WeekBitcoin will never fall below $60K again: Nansen founderNansen founder and CEO Alex Svanevik says the Bitcoin market may be approaching a bottom, suggesting that the current level around $60,000 could mark Bitcoin’s cycle low.“My personal view is that I don’t think Bitcoin’s gonna go back below $60,000,” Svanevik says. “I think that’s the past… I think forever,” he says.He bases this on the belief that Bitcoin serves as a hedge against central bank money creation, and he doesn’t see the global monetary expansion cycle coming to an end anytime soon.Top FUD of the WeekCrypto wrench attacks net more than $30M so far in 2026Criminals stole more than $30 million through physical attacks on crypto holders in the first half of this year, putting 2026 on pace to surpass the record $58 million stolen in 2025.Chainalysis reports that 46 violent crypto-related incidents had been documented globally through late June, up from 40 during the same period in 2025. The incidents include kidnappings, home invasions and hostage situations, collectively known as “wrench attacks.” Only 12 of the 46 attempts resulted in payment, giving attackers a 26% success rate, down from 49% in 2025.ElizaOS token sinks 19% to record low after founder declares it ‘dead’ElizaOS fell 19% over 24 hours to an all-time low after Eliza Labs founder Shaw Walters said the token was “dead” and that the Eliza Foundation was winding down. CoinGecko data showed the token now has a market capitalization of $2.1 million.“The token is dead. Completely,” Walters said, adding that he no longer owned or supported the token. The decline represents a stark reversal for one of the AI-agent sector’s former breakout tokens. Before the project rebranded as ElizaOS, the token, then known as AI16Z, reached a peak market capitalization of $2.5 billion in January 2025, according to CoinGecko. Walters said the development of the open-source Eliza software would continue without the token or the foundation. CEX perpetual futures volume falls to $4T, lowest since late 2023Crypto perpetual futures trading volume on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs) fell to $4 trillion in July, marking a 31-month low.Binance led CEXs with $1.4 trillion in monthly perpetual futures volume, followed by OKX with $607 billion and Bybit with $300 billion, analytics platform CryptoRank said in a Friday X post.Perpetual trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) fell to $531 billion in July, the lowest level since June 2025, and a 21% decline from the $676 billion seen in June 2026, according to data aggregator DefiLlama.Best Magazine Features of the WeekThe Coldcard entropy flaw caused a crisis of confidence in hardware wallets. Here’s the details you need to know before you entrust Ledger, Trezor or Foundation with your Bitcoin.Tokenized cows may have gone viral, but they’re just the latest in a long line of strange things to find a home onchain, from farts, to human skin and destroyed artworksEthereum’s proposed EIP-8363 staking overhaul aims to reduce issuance, but critics say it could hurt DeFi, decentralization and institutional adoption.Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

HONG KONGRomance scams in Hong Kong net $9M in a single weekAn insurance agent in Hong Kong was fleeced out of $3.3 million after her fake online boyfriend convinced her to invest in a fraudulent crypto application. There were 25 similar romance-linked fraud cases reported to Hong Kong police between July 24 and July 30, which collectively defrauded lonely hearts of $9 million.Scammers typically connect with victims through dating or messaging apps and sometimes spend months building a rapport before dropping the idea of investing in crypto. They direct victims to a site that appears to be a legitimate trading application. It displays fake profits to encourage victims to invest more and more funds. Victims typically realize they have been scammed when they are unable to withdraw funds. Hong Kong news in brief— Hong Kong-licensed cryptocurrency exchange HashKey Exchange received approval from JPMorgan Chase to open a client money account, its parent company said.— A Vietnam-linked scheme called Fun Coffee that promised annual returns of up to 222% has imploded in Hong Kong. Authorities say it was a virtual currency scam. MALAYSIAMalaysia withdraws support for Blockchain Week after OnlyFans controversyFresh from booting out the Network School over hosting Israelis, Malaysia’s Government withdrew its support for Malaysia Blockchain Week over an after-party featuring an influencer previously known for adult content. A conservative social media scandal erupted after promotional material for an after party featuring local DJ and actress Siew Pui Yi circulated. She built up a large following on OnlyFans, but hasn’t been on the platform since 2022. That said, don’t go searching for her name on X if you are at work, as some pretty NSFW content shows up. She now 22 million followers on Instagram. Event organizers cancelled the performance.Source: JavithCHINAChinese newspaper warns of Bitcoin extortion scam using its nameChina Business Journal, a state-affiliated newspaper, has warned that fraudsters have been impersonating the publication to extort companies by demanding Bitcoin in exchange for suppressing damaging reports.The newspaper said scammers used a Proton Mail address to contact businesses, falsely claiming they had uncovered negative information through undercover investigations and threatening to publish the material unless paid in Bitcoin.China news in brief:— Researchers from China’s national police academy claim to have invented a new AI system that can detect illegal crypto transactions with nearly 90% accuracy.—China detained 16 people for crypto money laundering tied to telecom fraud. SINGAPOREFalconX cuts 50% of Singapore staff amid prolonged crypto market slump: ReportCrypto prime brokerage FalconX has laid off 10% of its global workforce as it prepares for a prolonged downturn in the cryptocurrency market, Bloomberg reported Monday.Citing people familiar with the matter, the publication reported FalconX is slashing staff and reshaping its strategy in Singapore by focusing on crypto derivatives trading. It plans to withdraw its license application with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The company intends to maintain its presence in Asia while expanding its European business.FalconX employed about 350 people across the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong before the layoffs.Singapore news in brief— Hashkey Holdings has signed an agreement to potentially acquire Singapore’s APEX, which is one of just three firms in the city state to hold both a brokerage and exchange license from MAS.SOUTH KOREASouth Korea plans stablecoin rules as opposition pushes crypto tax repealSouth Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) reportedly plans to draft a consolidated Digital Asset Basic Act in conjunction with the ruling Democratic Party.The proposal would reportedly cover stablecoin issuance and circulation, digital asset business rules, exchange entry requirements, disclosures, internal controls and system-resilience standards.At the moment, 10 separate digital asset and stablecoin bills are pending in Parliament, while disagreements have prevented South Korea from settling key elements of its second-stage crypto legislation. Separately, the opposition’s bill to abolish Korea’s planned crypto taxes has moved to a committee. The Government this week vowed the changes would go into force on January 1 2027 despite being postponed on three other occasions.Seoul, Source: PexelsSouth Korea news in brief— A report from Hashed and the Solana Policy institute recommends that South Korea should allow greater flexibility for stablecoin issuers, provide interim licensing guidance and phase in stablecoin regulation, before completing its Digital Asset Basic Act.— South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said Monday it plans to apply for a preliminary listing review in 2027 and complete an initial public offering in 2028.—South Korea saw 560.3 billion won ($367 million) in stablecoin outflows to overseas exchanges in June, extending the country’s streak of monthly net stablecoin outflows to 18 consecutive months. —South Korean police have formed a 41 member crypto tracing and investigations unit focused on cracking down on drug trafficking via Telegram groups.—A fake Flare Network staking scheme defrauded $8.5 million from 71 investors.JAPANBitget to exit Japan, close remaining positions after Dec. 31Crypto exchange Bitget said it will stop providing services to residents of Japan and phase in account restrictions. The exchange announced Monday that it had stopped accepting new registrations from residents of Japan, while account restrictions will begin Nov. 1. Any positions still open on Dec. 31 will be forcibly closed.Japan news in brief:— Japanese game developer Gumi is launching an $18.3 million crypto asset fund on Saturday with SBI Financial Services and backing from Daiwa Securities Group and other investors. The fund will invest primarily in Bitcoin and major altcoins, using staking, portfolio rebalancing and hedging strategies. — Concerns over US Treasury markets were behind the US decision to intervene in the Japanese yen last week.INDIANews in brief:— A Madras High Court Ruling has recognized cryptocurrency as “property” that is capable of being the subject of trust obligations. — Binance APAC Head SB Sekar argues that India needs to develop its own rupee backed stablecoins to reduce dependence on USD backed coins like USDT and USDC. Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

Cold storage fears after Coldcard users lose $90M in BitcoinAfter $90 million in Bitcoin was drained from Coldcard wallet users, small hodlers desperately sought refuge on centralized exchanges and via alternative custody methods. Bitcoin transfers below 1 BTC climbed to their highest daily level since 2022 on Friday, with 39,600 BTC moved, according to data shared by CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno on Saturday.The figure was just 300 BTC below the 39,900 BTC transferred on Nov. 16, 2022, days after FTX filed for bankruptcy.Galaxy Research, the research arm of crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, reported Saturday that the third wave of attacks on users of the hardware wallet on the weekend brought estimated losses to 1,367 BTC ($88.6 million) across 4,585 addresses.Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research, warned in an X post on Sunday that the attack was still ongoing and urged users to move funds from Coldcard-generated addresses immediately if they had not already done so. The exploit reportedly targets a flaw in the Coldcard seed generation process, that did not employ a genuinely random number generator. Source: Alex ThornClarity Act clock running out: No vote, or ‘no’ vote? President Donald Trump is considering a revised ethics proposal for the Clarity Act that was devised by Senator Thom Tillis and Senator Ruben Gallego. The original proposal Trump signed off on would have prevented elected officials from endorsing or profiting from crypto projects and would have been enforced by the Department of Justice. The Democrats don’t trust the DoJ and want the State Attorney Generals to enforce it.The compromise proposal would allow the State AGs to sue the DoJ if it does not properly enforce the rules, rather than allow them to sue elected officials *cough, Trump* directly. With just five days left on the clock, the chances of any kind of Senate vote on the legislation are receding, much less the multiple separate votes required to pass the bill. Trump’s $1.4 billion in crypto profits are a particular sticking point, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introducing a bill (with little hope of passing) called the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act that targets “executive branch corruption.”Ethics isn’t the only outstanding issue, with the banks still up in arms over paying any kind of yield on stablecoins, and law enforcement groups divided over the impact of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. Designed to protect blockchain developers, some argue it would thwart investigations into money laundering and fraud. Changes to the BRCA proposed by the National Association of Assistant US Attorneys and the National District Attorneys Association look dead in the water. White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt scoffed at the proposals and the claim they resulted from “productive negotiations.””This is not even close,” he said. Crypto ‘no earnings’ reportsNobody is making much money in crypto right now it seems, at least according to this week’s corporate earnings reports for the second quarter.Coinbase generated roughly $1.2 billion in net revenue, down 19% from a year earlier. It reported a net loss of $359 million, significantly wider than analysts’ expectations for a $122 million loss. Transaction revenue, subscription and services revenue, and adjusted EBITDA all fell short of consensus estimates.Strategy’s habit of smash-buying every Bitcoin top, helped it to record an $8.22 billion loss in the second quarter, driven almost entirely by its unrealized losses on its Bitcoin holdings. However, the company also said it has now built a $3.75 billion U.S. dollar reserve, which is enough to cover more than two years of preferred dividend payments and interest obligations. Online brokerage Robinhood is making loads of money, but not much of it is attributable to crypto. The firm posted record second-quarter revenue and earnings, even as cryptocurrency transaction revenue fell 38% from a year earlier, from $160 million to $100 million.Crypto enters biggest consolidation phase in historyARK Invest analyst Lorenzo Valente says the cryptocurrency industry is entering its biggest consolidation phase yet, with revenue increasingly concentrated among a handful of dominant protocols.Valente noted that perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun account for roughly 67% of total crypto application revenue between them. Including synthetic dollar protocol Ethena raises the top three’s combined share to nearly 80%.Valente added that he expects the trend to accelerate in the coming months, leading to more mergers and acquisitions, Chapter 11 bankruptcies, project shutdowns and acqui-hires. Somewhat surprisingly, he concluded that “this is extremely bullish for the space.”World Cup generated $20B in blockchain prediction market volumeThe 2026 FIFA World Cup drove $20 billion in blockchain-based prediction market volume and $24 million in digital collectible trades, with more than 400,000 wallets participating in blockchain-based betting, according to a report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.The $20 billion figure includes trading before and during the tournament, with bettors placing roughly $5.7 billion in wagers over the five-week World Cup itself. World Cup-related markets accounted for about 63% of all prediction market activity during that period, the report said.Winners and LosersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is down 3% to trade at $63,350, Ether (ETH) is down 3.5% to trade at $1,879 and XRP (XRP) is down 2.3% and is changing hands for $1.08. The total market cap is at $2.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Cardano (ADA) at 14.7%, Uniswap (UNI) at 8%, and Pi (PI) at 3.2%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are Stable (STABLE) at -16%, Venice Token (VVV) at -14.6% and Lido DAO (LDO) at -14.1%.Prediction of the WeekBitcoin may have bottomed before its traditional cycle lowCrypto-focused asset manager Grayscale said that Bitcoin’s price may have bottomed earlier than the traditional four-year cycle, which would imply a cycle low in September or October. Head of research, Zach Pandl, argued that Bitcoin (BTC) has “grown up” as an asset and is increasingly driven by macroeconomic factors. “If the Fed forgoes rate hikes and economic growth holds up well, Bitcoin’s price may already have bottomed,” Pandl wrote in a report.However, people have been peddling this hopium for months now. Earlier in July, crypto brokerage K33 pointed to more than 50% of the Bitcoin supply being held at a loss as another signal of an imminent market bottom. In June, Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten told Cointelegraph that the holdings of long-term investors, which reached an all-time high of 14.7 million Bitcoin, were another signal of an imminent Bitcoin bottom.Sooner or later, someone will be right. Top FUD of the WeekThe Russians… and the Australians… are after Telegram’s Pavel DurovRussian authorities have placed Telegram founder Pavel Durov on an international wanted list as they escalate a criminal case accusing him of facilitating terrorist activity.Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and issued an international warrant for his arrest, local news agency Interfax reported.The FSB alleged that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats and bots that Ukrainian intelligence services, alleged terrorist groups and extremist organizations used to coordinate attacks, recruit operatives and conduct cyber fraud.A defiant Durov said on Thursday the Russians had become “confused about who can ban whom from the Internet.”Meanwhile the Australian eSafety Commisioner has launched court proceedings against Telegram seeking civil penalties, alleging the platform failed to remove terrorism-related content.Pump.fun laid off workers before they received millions in PUMP tokensSolana-based memecoin launchpad Pump.fun reportedly fired employees two months before they were due to receive PUMP tokens worth millions of dollars.According to a Friday Sandmark report, at least one Pump.fun worker was due to receive PUMP tokens worth in the seven-figure range. The employees were reportedly fired in April, just two months before they were due to start receiving the company’s tokens based on agreements signed in 2025. Trump teleprompter operator accused over Kalshi bets leaves governmentA White House teleprompter operator accused of using inside knowledge to profit from prediction market bets on President Donald Trump’s speeches no longer works for the federal government, according to the Associated Press.Perez was accused of using nonpublic information to make more than $100,000 betting on Kalshi prediction markets tied to Trump’s speeches, according to an earlier ABC News report.Best Magazine Stories of the WeekCrypto’s fundamentals have never been stronger, yet degens keep chasing hot new narratives. Behavioral finance may explain why get-rich-quick stories continue to beat substance.DeFi projects that survived the fallout from the Terra and FTX collapses in 2022 are dying out in 2026. But analysts say it’s not a case of industry consolidation — but the opposite.Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Some articles contain affiliate links, from which Cointelegraph may earn a commission. These relationships do not influence which products we review or our editorial conclusions. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

Binance ‘red teams’ its own staff every month to keep hackers outCryptocurrency exchange Binance has been running simulated phishing attacks against its own employees for the past four years and can fire staff who repeatedly fail the tests, according to Binance chief security officer Jimmy Su.The fake attacks are conducted by Binance’s red team, an internal ethical hacking unit whose job is to break into systems to identify vulnerabilities.“We do phishing attacks on our own employees on a monthly basis just so we understand if our security hygiene is improving,” Su told Cointelegraph. “The ones that have failed it, we will do remediation training.” In February, AMLBot estimated that 65% of crypto security incidents in 2025 were driven by social engineering.India’s BitChat GitHub takedown order ‘unconstitutional’India’s Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has condemned a government order directing GitHub to remove repositories for Jack Dorsey’s decentralized messaging app BitChat, calling the move unconstitutional and warning it threatens free speech and open-source software.The statement came a day after India’s cybercrime agency ordered GitHub to disable access to three BitChat repositories within three hours, saying the decentralized messaging app could be used to bypass internet shutdowns, evade lawful surveillance and facilitate unlawful activities.BitChat is a decentralized messaging app that routes encrypted messages between nearby devices over Bluetooth without relying on internet connectivity or centralized servers.Since its release in July 2025, the app has gained traction during periods of unrest and internet outages in countries including Madagascar, Nepal, Uganda, Jamaica and Iran.More crypto news from India:— India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued guidance directing crypto exchanges to report all transactions on their platforms to the Income Tax department.Balaji’s Network School turns to Kazakhstan amid Malaysian setbackBalaji Srinivasan’s utopian Network School looks set to move to Kazakhstan after Malaysian authorities revoked its business license over alleged premises-use violations. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development and Srinivasan to establish a campus in the country which has been positioning itself as an emerging technology hub, and has plans for Central Asia’s first “crypto city” in Alatau.The Network School had been at the centre of a scandal involving hosting Israeli citizens given the Muslim majority country has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The US State Department called in the Malaysian envoy to ask for an explanation about the country’s apparent policy of deporting dual citizens with Israeli passports. Source: The Times of Israel/ReutersSouth Korea crypto volumes shrink as retail investors shift to stocksSouth Korea’s five major crypto exchanges have seen their combined trading activity fall by 89% year over year, even as the country’s stock market surged.The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark more than doubled over the period, while volumes across the country’s largest won-based crypto platforms fell off a cliff.Cointelegraph reviewed CoinGecko’s historical 24-hour volume readings for Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, comparing seven-day periods in July 2025 and July 2026.On a combined basis, average daily volume fell about 89%, to $305 million from $2.82 billion in the comparable July 2025 period. More crypto news from Korea:— South Korean crypto exchange Korbit will reportedly rebrand as Digital X after becoming part of Mirae Asset Group. — South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank will launch a blockchain-based cross-border payment service for import and export businesses in August using JPMorgan’s Kinexys network.— South Korean regulators have removed 29 unlicensed crypto exchange apps from the Google Play store. Affected apps include those from OKX, Bybit, MEXC, Kucoin, Gemini, Backpack, and BitMEX.— North Korean authorities have reportedly arrested a group of former state cyber operators and IT specialists accused of hacking two state banks and laundering stolen funds through cryptocurrency.Thailand SEC files complaint against Bitkub over alleged false disclosuresThailand’s SEC filed a criminal complaint against Bitkub and two former directors over alleged false disclosures linked to a 2021 cyberattack involving $50 million in assets.The complaint names former Bitkub directors Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, who the SEC said were responsible for submitting company reports during the period under investigation.The case comes as Bitkub’s parent company considers a potential public listing, putting renewed attention on transparency and governance at one of Thailand’s most prominent crypto businesses.More crypto news from Thailand:— Thailand’s Kbank has signed a memorandum of understanding with BPMG and HashKey Group to develop stablecoin-based cross-border remittance services.— Thailand authorities have raided seven illegal Bitcoin mining operations after uncovering large scale electricity theft. More than 1900 crypto mining machines were seized. One of two Bitcoin mining warehouses in Samut Sakhon alleged to be stealing power. Source: DSI Facebook page.Philippine bank BPI plans stablecoin payments pilotThe Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is planning to pilot a stablecoin-based settlement rail for cross-border payments to freelancers, virtual assistants and other workers receiving overseas income.Developed with global digital clearinghouse Meridian, the system is intended to reduce the cost and processing time of inbound payments while retaining safeguards used in traditional banking transactions, according to ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer.Stablecoins would be used as a settlement instrument before the funds are converted to Philippine pesos and credited to recipients’ BPI accounts. Coinbase to expand Singapore office headcount by 25%: ReportCryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to expand its presence in Singapore and grow its headcount from 150 to about 200 staff members by the end of 2026. The cryptocurrency exchange is mainly looking to hire more engineers, customer service, relationship management staff and institutional sales representatives for its Singapore office, which opened at One Raffles Quay on Wednesday. Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s country director for Singapore, told the Business Times the exchange plans to expand its operations in Singapore because the city state is increasingly becoming a strategic hub for cryptocurrency innovation.More Singapore crypto news:— The Singapore Police Force and the U.S. FBI signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen joint operations on online scams including crypto related scams, cyber fraud, and money laundering cases.— Singapore based payments firm Triple-A reportedly lost $11.8 million after its hot wallet was drained. The firm said it was investigating but no customer funds were affected.— The Monetary Authority of Singapore has tightened monetary policy, which will lead to the Singapore dollar appreciating by about 1% per year.Hong Kong crypto giant HashKey merges regional exchange into oneHong Kong digital asset services business HashKey Holdings has merged its HashKey Exchange and HashKey Global exchanges into a single platform and application.Core jurisdictional hubs including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East (Dubai) and Bermuda have been merged under a single platform.The idea is that all users download the same application wherever they are, while the platform manages compliance on the back end with local regulatory frameworks.News in brief from China— A Hunan man was penalized under the Anti-Telecom and Online Fraud Law for reselling virtual currency for profit and for lending out his relative’s payment accounts to others so they could receive and transfer funds.—Authorities in Shenzen have closed down numerous social media accounts for hyping up cryptocurrencies.Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.

Clarity may get a vote, but don’t get your hopes up yetDespite wealthy memecoin entrepreneur Donald Trump agreeing to an ethics deal, the Clarity Act is floundering as the August recess deadline looms. Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn’t believe the Act has the votes to pass just yet, but may bring it to a vote anyway to “get Clarity started. We’ll see where the votes are.”The ethics deal would prohibit all US officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, but contains some “get out of jail free” provisions for the President that the Democrats are unhappy with, including the fact the rules expire the day he is scheduled to leave office in 2029. The ethics provisions will also be enforced by the Attorney General that Trump appointed. The Democrats instead want state Attorney Generals to enforce it — but Trump seems unlikely to agree to empower dozens of state AGs to attempt to prosecute him. The White House described the bill as the “most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history,” while Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego described it as a “piece of shit” and “not a serious effort.”Negotiations are continuing to find a deal both sides can live with, but given the lack of trust, it’s not going to be easy to find a compromise. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon conceded the bill is “not perfect” but has supported it anyway, along with Fidelity and Charles Schwab who represent many trillions in assets under management each. Law enforcement organizations have also begun to signal support, with The National Fraternal Order of Police representing hundreds of thousands of members, stating the latest version of the BRCA (which protects developers of decentralized protocols) would not impede investigations into money laundering and fraud. The odds of the bill passing this year are at 38% on Polymarket. BitMEX to shut down after 11 years as class action launched against itBitMEX, one of the pioneers of cryptocurrency derivatives trading, announced it will shut down operations in September after 11 years.BitMEX launched in 2014 and became known for introducing the 100x leverage perpetual swaps. In recent years volumes have tanked increased competition from major exchanges like Binance and decentralized protocols like Hyperliquid. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said BitMEX’s share of the Bitcoin futures market has fallen to just 0.08%, with roughly $84 million in daily trading volume.“It was a great exchange that helped shape the industry, and now it is passing the torch to the next generation of exchanges it inspired,” Ju said.BitMEX’s utility token BMEX collapsed in value after the announcement. That same day, news emerged of a class action lawsuit accusing the crypto derivatives platform of fraudulently engineering customer liquidations to seize traders’ collateral. BitMEX denied the allegations and said it had successfully defended itself against similar claims in the past.Restructuring adviser Roshan Dharia told Cointelegraph the exchange’s demise shows the industry is consolidating.The top five platforms now control an estimated 80% of global spot volume, leaving mid-tier and regional exchanges with shrinking margins and no viable path to scale… The headwinds are structural, not cyclical.As if to undescore the point, BitMart subsequently announced it would also close in the coming months.S&P launches blockchain fundamentals index for digital assetsS&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched a digital asset index that tracks the major crypto assets — but doesn’t include Bitcoin or XRP.The S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index is designed to be the benchmark crypto index for institutions, but it screens out blockchains based on minimum thresholds for protocol revenue, market capitalization and liquidity.The index launched with 18 constituents, with Ether (ETH), BNB (BNB), Solana (SOL), TRON (TRX) and Hyperliquid (HYPE) as its five largest holdings, while Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP (XRP) are the largest non-constituents.The latest index follows a broader industry push to develop institutional-grade benchmarks for digital assets, with similar products including the Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, the Franklin Crypto Index ETF and the the Coinbase Store of Value Index among others.Robinhood to expand prediction markets as CFTC issues new warningRobinhood is reportedly discussing plans to expand its existing prediction markets offerings with crypto exchange Crypto.com.According the Wall Street Journal the talks involve integrating yes-or-no event contracts supplied by Crypto.com. Robinhood launched its prediction markets in March 2025, initially facilitated by Kalshi in order to comply with regulatory requirements from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Bernstein analysts last week raised its price target on Robinhood (HOOD) stock to $160 from $130 per share, based on the company’s outlook for prediction markets and tokenized equities.Meanwhile the CFTC, which aims to become the primary regulator of prediction markets, issued a shot across the bow of providers last week, telling platforms they need to get a lot more specific about event contracts certifications. The advisory addresses concerns about the practice of submitting broad, template-style certifications that combine many potential event contract variations into a single certification. Carl Kennedy, a partner at New York law firm Katten Muchin, also told a House Agriculture Committee hearing last week, that the CLARITY Act could help the CFTC’s efforts to oversee the “explosive growth of prediction markets.” Balaji’s Network School turns to Kazakhstan amid Malaysia setbackBalaji Srinivasan’s Network School, a community of “digital nomads,” is eyeing a new campus in Kazakhstan after its Forest City campus had its business license in Malaysia revoked over alleged premises-use violations. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Kazakhstan’s relevant Minister Zhaslan Madiyev and Srinivasan to establish the first Network School campus in the country, which aims to become a digital hub. The School was forced out of Johor in Malaysia, following a controversy in Malaysia over allowing Israeli dual citizens to attend. The Muslim majority country has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Despite an investigation finding no visa violations, the Network School was ordered to shut down on another pretext.Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi said the drama has validated Balaji’s Network State thesis.“The whole idea of a network state is taking a dense group of talent and capital, and collectively negotiating with states. The Malaysia drama set up Balaji to negotiate better terms with another state to copy and paste the network there.“Winners and losersAt the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $65,395, Ether (ETH) is at $1,958, and XRP (XRP) is at $1.11. The total market cap is at $2.24 trillion according to CoinMarketCap.Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin winners of the week are Audiera (BEAT), which gained 53%, Shinba Inu (SHIB) with a 29% gain, and Venice Token (VVV), which increased 19%.The top three altcoin losers of the week are DeXe (DEXE), which lost 89%, Midnight (NIGHT), which fell 26%, and Pyth Network (PYTH), which dropped 10%.Prediction of the WeekBitcoin will get ‘lift’ from Hyperliquid, Robinhood in next crypto bull marketBitcoin (BTC) is “finally showing signs of a bottom,” according to Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise.Houghan predicts that TradFi integrations, particularly Hyperliquid and Robinhood, will drive the next crypto bull market, and the resulting tide should “lift” the largest cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether.Houghan believes crypto is bringing major benefits like 24/7 trading to traditional markets, and noted that today “nearly half the volume on Hyperliquid is in conventional assets like oil, silver, and the S&P 500 [and] it’s expanding into spot commodities, prediction markets, and options,”Bitwise data also suggests apparent demand for BTC is showing signs of reversal. The metric measures the difference between newly-mined BTC and the supply inactive for at least one year. Source: Matt HouganTop FUD of the WeekHome invasions became most common crypto wrench attack in H1 2026: CertiKHome invasions became the most common form of crypto wrench attacks during the first half of 2026, rising to 20 publicly reported incidents from just one a year earlier, according to blockchain security firm CertiK. On Thursday, CertiK said it verified 52 wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, up 33.3% from 39 incidents during the same period in 2025. Kidnappings rose to 16 from 12, while robberies declined from five incidents to one. CertiK said the recorded financial exposure linked to the attacks reached about $124.1 million, up from $10.5 million a year earlier. The increase in home invasions suggests criminals are increasingly bypassing digital safeguards by physically coercing crypto holders and their families.Hackers steal $31.6M in 2 crypto bridge attacks within 7 hoursHackers stole more than $31.6 million across two unrelated crypto bridge exploits spaced just hours apart, targeting bridges operated by decentralized perpetual exchange AFX and Verus Protocol. According to Blockaid, AFX, a decentralized perpetual exchange operating on Arbitrum, reportedly lost $24.15 million on Wednesday through a hack targeting one of its cross-chain bridges. Hours later, Blockaid said it detected an exploit targeting the Verus Ethereum Bridge that resulted in about $7.5 million in crypto being stolen. “Another bridge, another exploit. Bridges will always be a weak link, until security is upgraded,” onchain investigator TheCrypticWolf said in a post on X. Ethereum ETFs close week in red, end 5-day inflow streakUS-listed spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) logged $70.62 million in net outflows on Friday, ending a five-day inflow streak.Ethereum funds saw $211.25 million in net inflows over the previous five sessions from July 17, according to SoSoValue data. They still posted $103.9 million in net inflows for the week ended Friday.Despite the outflows, Ethereum ETFs extended their weekly inflow streak to three straight and have attracted $337.74 million in net inflows so far in July.The Bitcoin ETFs reversed gains made earlier in the week to end up with $33.9 million of inflows. Top Magazine Stories of the WeekBoth parties say they want US crypto market structure legislation, but a dispute over ethics rules and who enforces them is becoming the bill’s biggest obstacle.A Bitcoin development roadmap that addresses quantum computing risks could see the price surge by “double digits” very quickly, according to Charles Edwards.Are the fears of an AI driven hacking epidemic totally overblown, or is this just the lull before the storm?Cointelegraph publishes long-form journalism, analysis and narrative reporting produced by Cointelegraph’s in-house editorial team with subject-matter expertise. All articles are edited and reviewed by Cointelegraph editors in line with our editorial standards. Content published in here does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals where appropriate. Cointelegraph maintains full editorial independence.