TheStreet Roundtable

Ripple verstehen, XRP und XRPL (3:17)
Ein Angreifer hat innerhalb von 97 Minuten am 9. August knapp 200.000 XRP aus der Coreum-Cross-Chain-Bridge abgezogen, indem er eine Schwachstelle ausnutzte, die betrifft, wie die Bridge Einzahlungen bestätigte – nicht irgendeine Schwäche im XRP Ledger selbst.
Eine Cross-Chain-Bridge verbindet zwei getrennte Blockchains und ermöglicht es Nutzern, Vermögenswerte zwischen Netzwerken zu verschieben, die nicht direkt miteinander kommunizieren können.
Die Coreum-Bridge ermöglichte es Nutzern, XRP auf dem XRP Ledger zu sperren und eine äquivalente Anzahl von Tokens in Coreums Netzwerk zu erhalten.

‘People are putting money behind the outcome’ — Polygon CEO on Polymarket (4:35)
Italy's heat waves have put the country's "cheese banks" at risk, which store wheels as collateral to grant loans, Euro News reported on Aug. 11.
Italy has the largest variety of cheeses of any nation in the world, with over 2,500 traditional varieties. The Mediterranean country's economy is also deeply tied to its cheese industry.
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The country has a long tradition of "cheese banks," the climate-controlled vaults in the Emilia-Romagna region where enormous quantities of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese are kept as collateral for farm loans.
Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan is a hard and granular cheese produced from cow's milk and aged at least 12 months. The variety is named after the Italian provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia where it is produced. Parmigiano is the Italian adjective for the city and province of Parma and Reggiano is the adjective for the province of Reggio Emilia.
The logo of Parmigiano Reggiano is pictured on a wheel of cheese at the Casearia Castelli, member of Lactalis Group, at the Caseificio Tricolore in Reggio Emilia, Northern Italy, on April 19, 2023.
Getty Images
Blockchain technology digitizes cheese loan process
Credito Emiliano is an Italian bank well-known for storing wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as collateral for loans since 1953.
Its subsidiary, Magazzini Generali delle Tagliate, matures the cheese in Reggio Emilia and Modena, holding more than half a million wheels worth well over €300 million. Cheese producers can secure 60%-80% of a wheel's value upfront when they collateralize it.
The industry is also using blockchain technology to digitize the loan process, the Euro News report said.
Blockchain technology is a decentralized digital ledger that stores data across a network of computers. Information is grouped into blocks and linked together in a chronological chain. Once recorded, the data cannot be changed without the network consensus, making it safe from tampering.
Thanks to this technology, farmers can even pledge wheels onchain while the cheese stays in their own stores.
However, "cheese banks," which store wheels in vaults as collateral, are still prevalent.
Related: What is blockchain? Explained
Italy's extreme heat puts 'cheese banks' at risk
But the extreme heat in the region this summer is making it risky to keep the inventory at the right temperature, the report said.
Daily power consumption at the cheese vaults rose roughly 30% at the peak of this summer, which forced the bank to upgrade cooling and other systems.
As wheels sometimes mature for three years, every hot summer compounds the cost long before the cheese can be sold, as per the report.
This year's summer is turning out to be one of the hottest in the country's recorded history.
Here is how things get worse. As the temperature hits 40°C, cows rest more and eat less, due to which milk yields reduce by as much as 10%.
"Extreme heat impacts milk's quality and quantity," said the Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium's president Nicola Bertinelli.
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Polymarket traders bet on temperature
Launched in 2020, Polymarket is the world’s largest prediction market. It is built on Polygon, the Ethereum-based layer-2 blockchain network.
The prediction market lets traders predict events like future Bitcoin (BTC) prices, election results, temperature, etc., by paying with cryptocurrency.
Users can deposit Circle's USDC stablecoin, a type of digital dollar, and trade shares that represent the likelihood of specific future outcomes.
As Italy put all 27 of its major cities on the highest heat alert last week, Polymarket traders are betting on the highest temperature in Milan.
Milan is not only Italy's economic capital, it is also a global fashion capital and an international tourist destination. Tourists flocking to the city seek famed Italian cheeses, and the delicacies are a major part of the food tours.
As the tourist city, like other parts of the country, sees its temperature soaring, authorities have warned people to avoid direct sunlight between peak daytime hours, to stay indoors where possible, and to drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day. Tourists could also rethink their Milan plans due to the heatwave.
Highest temperature in Milan on August 13, Source: Polymarket
Amidst these conditions, Polymarket traders are betting on the highest temperature in Milan on Aug. 13.
41% of the Polymarket traders think the city's temperature will go as high as 35°C, 37% of them think 34°C, and 16% of them are betting it will be as high as 36°C.
Less than 1% of the traders think Milan's temperature on Aug. 13 will reach 39°C or higher.
As per the World Meteorological Organization, Milan's temperature stood at 34°C at the time of writing on Aug. 11.
Milan, Italy temperature, WMO
Weather-related markets face criticism
However, such weather-related markets have also faced criticism.
For instance, some U.S. senators recently urged a ban on wildfire-related bets in the wake of Oregon wildfires because they incentivize traders to commit arson or act mischievous to make sure their bets are successful.
"When tragedy unfolds, people turn to the news for commentary and they come to Polymarket for information," A Polymarket spokesperson then told TheStreet Roundtable. "While we are not blind to the risks, removing these markets does not prevent a tragedy but makes the most accurate information less accessible to the people who need it most.”
As reported earlier, a trader betting on Paris temperature in April was found to be manipulating a sensor device to ensure they win the related market.
So, Polymarket trades are highly sensitive and aren't immune to unfair practices.
Related: U.S. senators seek ban on wildfire betting

How Elon Musk became important for crypto (2:59)
Elon Musk made a statement in April that most people filed under AI policy and moved on. Reading it again in August, with Bitcoin trading near $64,000 and AI eliminating jobs at a rate of 27,000 cuts per quarter, it lands differently.
"If AI and robots increase output," Musk wrote on X, "then you must issue dollars to people or there will be massive disinflation."
His core argument is straightforward, automation could expand production so dramatically that prices collapse unless purchasing power is distributed to match the new supply.
More goods, same number of dollars, means each dollar buys more. That sounds good. For an economy built on debt and consumption, it is destabilizing.
The problem with issuing more dollars
Musk's proposed fix, a form of universal high income funded by government, immediately runs into the problem every monetary economist flags.
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Shankar Sanyal, who pushed back directly on X, called the plan likely to "bankrupt any government that attempts it."
The IMF, in its latest World Economic Outlook, has separately warned that elevated public debt and declining institutional trust are increasing fragility across economies.
More dollars, regardless of what productivity is doing, erodes the purchasing power of the dollars already in circulation.
That is not a theory. It is the documented history of every currency that has been printed to solve a structural economic problem.
Where Bitcoin enters the equation
This is precisely the scenario Bitcoin was designed for. While governments debate whether to print more currency to distribute, Bitcoin has already answered the question, its supply is fixed at 21 million coins.
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No AI productivity surge changes that number. No government can issue more of it to smooth over a disinflation problem. No political consensus is required to protect it.
Musk's dilemma, print dollars and risk inflation, or do not print and risk disinflation, is a fiat currency problem, not a Bitcoin problem. The 21 million cap does not flex to accommodate either outcome. That inflexibility is the point.
According to data, employers cut more than 27,000 jobs linked to AI in Q1 2026 alone, up 40 percent year over year.
The pace of displacement is accelerating. Musk is right that the economy will need a response. Whether that response is government-issued dollars or a fixed-supply asset that governments cannot dilute is the most important monetary question of the next decade.
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Inside Tether: How the USDT issuer works and why it is questioned (4:10)
Tether has given the last users of its gold-backed lending platform just weeks to pull their assets out before it closes for good.
The company is best known for USDT, the world's largest stablecoin, a digital token designed to trade at a fixed value, in this case one U.S. dollar.
Related: Popular gold holder shuts down dollar experiment
That peg is maintained by a large reserve portfolio. As of Tether's second-quarter 2026 attestation, reviewed by accounting firm BDO, the reserves totaled about $187.8 billion and were held mostly in U.S. Treasury bills and cash-equivalents (roughly 80%), alongside about $18.8 billion in gold, roughly $7 billion in Bitcoin, and a smaller pool of secured loans and other investments.
That gold pile is what makes Tether unusual. The company reported holding more than 146 metric tons of physical bullion at the end of the second quarter — worth roughly $18.8 billion and stored in a private Swiss vault — after adding 14 tons during the quarter.
That makes Tether the largest known private holder of physical gold outside of central banks and sovereign governments, with more bullion than many national reserves.
What Tether is shutting down
In June, Tether said it would wind down Alloy, a separate platform it launched in 2024 that let users mint a dollar-pegged token called aUSDT. New minting has already closed.
Unlike USDT, aUSDT was not backed by dollars or Treasuries. It was backed by Tether Gold (XAUT), Tether's token that represents ownership of physical gold, with each XAUT standing for one troy ounce of a London Good Delivery bar held in a vault.
Alloy's design was unusual. Rather than holding cash reserves, it let users lock up their Tether Gold tokens as collateral and mint aUSDT against them — an "overcollateralized" model, meaning the gold backing was always worth more than the dollars issued, to cushion against gold's price swings.
The countdown to Sep. 17
Alloy users now have until Sep. 17 to return their aUSDT and reclaim their underlying XAUT tokens representing gold ownership.
As of Aug. 11, that leaves 37 days on the clock.
After the deadline, anyone who has not returned their aUSDT will lose the ability to recover their XAUT gold from the platform, making the coming weeks the last window to act.
For all the finality, the data shows how small the experiment stayed.
Alloy's statistics page lists just five open positions remaining, with about 399,089 aUSDT still owed against 194.41 units of Tether Gold, worth roughly $836,000, held as collateral.
The platform has drawn 209 addresses holding aUSDT over its lifespan.
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Nearly all the outstanding balance sits with three holders: one owes about 300,750 aUSDT, another 95,308, and a third 3,008.
Set against Tether Gold as a whole, the amount locked in Alloy is tiny. By one illustration from when the wind-down was announced, for every $10,000 of Tether Gold in circulation, only around $3 sat inside Alloy, leaving the vast majority of the token untouched.
Tether Alloy Statistics
Gold stays, the experiment goes
Tether has been clear that it is not stepping away from gold. Tether Gold (XAUT) remains one of the products the company says it wants to focus on. What is ending is Alloy and the aUSDT token built on top of it.
Tether called the decision as a way to "focus resources on areas where it is seeing stronger user demand, deeper liquidity, and broader long-term market opportunity, including XAUT and other core products across its ecosystem."
Related: Bitcoin miner pledges 18,750 BTC for $600M, here's what it means

MoneyGram brings cash-to-crypto (3:32)
MARA Holdings Inc. (formerly known as Marathon Digital Holdings) just made one of the most significant corporate Bitcoin financing moves of 2026.
The publicly listed miner secured $750 million in combined loan facilities through two term loans that closed on August 4, according to the company's quarterly SEC filing, collateralized entirely by 18,750 BTC worth approximately $1.2 billion at current prices.
However, only $600 million represents new borrowing. Coinbase Credit provided a $450 million facility, consisting of $300 million in fresh funding and the refinancing of MARA's existing $150 million credit line. Two Prime Lending separately provided a fully drawn $300 million term loan.
The collateral picture
The 18,750 BTC pledged represents approximately 53% of MARA's total Bitcoin holdings.
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At current prices the loan-to-value ratio sits at roughly 50%, meaning MARA borrowed $600 million against $1.2 billion in Bitcoin.
That cushion sounds comfortable. The risk becomes real if Bitcoin declines substantially from current levels.
At a 50% LTV, a significant Bitcoin drawdown would compress the collateral value and could force MARA to either post additional Bitcoin as margin or reduce its loan position.
With more than half its holdings already pledged, the margin for error is thinner than the headline numbers suggest.
What the deal actually signals
The proceeds are earmarked for energy infrastructure investment, not Bitcoin purchases. That is a notable shift.
Rather than using leverage to accumulate more Bitcoin in the style of Strategy, MARA is using its Bitcoin holdings as a balance sheet instrument to fund operational expansion.
This is what institutional Bitcoin treasury management looks like at scale. Bitcoin is no longer just an asset to be bought and held, it is collateral, a financing tool, a balance sheet instrument.
The 18,750 BTC pledged to Coinbase Credit and Two Prime Lending will not move. But their value changes every day.
With Bitcoin trading around $63,510 today, the cushion is adequate. The question is what happens if that number moves significantly in the wrong direction with 53% of your stack already spoken for.
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Understanding Ripple, XRP and XRPL (3:17)
The National Bank of Canada, the sixth largest commercial bank in Canada, revealed in a 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it has XRP exposure through ETFs in its portfolio.
The bank also holds Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) through ETFs and shares of popular crypto stocks in its portfolio.
Related: Another major ETF discloses massive XRP sale
XRP
With a market cap of $63 billion, XRP is the sixth largest cryptocurrency.
Bitwise XRP ETF: $3,848
Bitcoin
With a market cap of $1.27 trillion, Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF: $6,831
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund: $55,644
Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF: $2,596
Proshares Bitcoin ETF: $42,321
Ethereum
With a market cap of $224 billion, Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency.
Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF: $105
Solana
With a market cap of $43.6 billion, Solana is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency.
Grayscale Solana Staking ETF: $498
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Strategy
Founded by billionaire entrepreneur Michael Saylor, Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) is the world's largest Bitcoin treasury company.
The firm has sold Bitcoin several times this year, bringing down its holdings to 840,447 BTC.
Strategy: $104.97 million
Coinbase Global
Founded by billionaire entrepreneur Brian Armstrong, Coinbase Global (Nasdaq: COIN) is the largest crypto trading exchange in the U.S.
Coinbase: $98.47 million
Block, Inc.
Block (NYSE: BLK) is a Bitcoin-focused fintech company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Block: $28.76 million
Circle Internet Group
Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) is a crypto company best known for its USDC stablecoin.
Circle: $471,500
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Crypto hacks drain out $3.4B in just one year (3:33)
BTCPay Server, the free, self-hosted software many merchants use to accept Bitcoin, disclosed on Aug. 7 that a critical vulnerability was being actively exploited against live servers — and that some users had already lost funds.
The project said the vulnerability allowed an attacker to obtain LND admin macaroon credentials from affected instances and gain access to connected Lightning Network wallets.
In simple terms, the flaw handed attackers the keys to the Lightning node behind a merchant's payment server, letting them move the money out. The bug affects every version before 2.4.2, and confirmed victims include the maker of the Passport hardware wallet, Foundation, and the publication Citadel21, whose nodes were swept before the public warning went live. BTCPay has not said how much was stolen or how many servers were hit.
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Technical details and remediation steps have been published in a security advisory on X.
Users who have not updated are urged to move immediately to version 2.4.2, which also refreshes LND and regenerates the admin macaroon. Crucially, the project warns that updating alone is not enough: the patch stops new access but does not invalidate credentials already stolen, so operators must also revoke their LND macaroons and move funds out of any BTCPay-generated hot wallet.
"To the users who lost funds: we are sorry. We will examine our mistakes, but regret alone will not help affected users or secure the project. There is no time to waste. We have to learn, improve, and act quickly."
Recovery bounty details
Friends and supporters of the project have committed funds for a bounty equal to 10% of any amount recovered, capped at a maximum of 3 BTC — roughly $190,000 at recent prices — if the full sum is returned.
The offer is open to anyone with actionable information that could lead to recovery, including the attacker. Secure channels such as Signal can be arranged on request. If multiple tips contribute, the bounty will be split based on usefulness of the information, amounts lost and recovered, and other factors, in coordination with the victims.
Separately, the BTCPay Server Foundation is donating 0.21 BTC to Sparrow Wallet developer Craig Raw and another 0.21 BTC to the Bitcoin Red Team for their responsible disclosure of the flaw. Raw discovered the issue and reported it privately, giving developers time to prepare a fix before details became public.
"The BTCPay Server Foundation will donate 0.21 BTC to Craig Raw and 0.21 BTC to the Bitcoin Red Team fund for their responsible security disclosure of the vulnerability. These are modest contributions."
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Next steps for affected users
Impacted users who have not yet reported are asked to email the project's security address with on-chain addresses and transaction details. The project also advises filing reports with local authorities and contacting any exchanges or services where the stolen funds may appear; individual reports help build a clearer evidence trail and raise the chance of freezes.
BTCPay Server said it is working with exchange security teams, blockchain analytics firms and law enforcement. Going forward, the project will prioritize security patches and hardening over new features, and it recommended keeping excess funds in cold storage rather than in hot wallets connected to a payment server.
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The team said the incident underscores the growing challenge of defending open-source Bitcoin software as AI tools make vulnerability hunting faster and cheaper. It also lands during a rough stretch for Bitcoin infrastructure, coming just days after a separate exploit tied to a firmware flaw drained tens of millions of dollars from Coldcard hardware-wallet users.
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What is a stablecoin? Explained (3:33)
KAST, a financial platform built on stablecoin technology, has appointed Connor Fitzgerald as its U.S. general manager, tapping a payments-industry veteran to drive its expansion in the world's largest financial market.
KAST is a company that lets people and businesses send, receive, and convert money across borders using stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to a currency like the U.S. dollar, rather than traditional banking networks.
Founded in July 2024 by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, it offers dollar-denominated accounts and payments across more than 170 countries.
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What Fitzgerald will take on
In the new role, Fitzgerald will lead KAST's U.S. operations, scaling its core platform, launching a business-focused product called KAST Business, building a local team, and bringing new consumer and business offerings to the market.
The company said it has grown to about 250 full-time employees across engineering, product, and compliance, reached more than one million users, and is processing roughly $5 billion in annualized transaction volume.
"We're excited to have Connor as part of our exceptional KAST team to scale in the world's biggest financial market," said Pathy, KAST's founder and CEO, adding that Fitzgerald knows how to drive growth across fintech.
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A résumé built in payments and crypto
Fitzgerald joins from Bridge, now part of Stripe, where he was head of partnerships for cards and helped build its global stablecoin card program from scratch, expanding it to more than 100 markets.
Earlier, he led business development and product strategy at Coinstar and was an early employee at the fintech app Dave, helping scale it through its 2022 public listing.
Fitzgerald said stablecoins require rebuilding finance "from first principles," and that KAST stood out for investing early in hard areas like licensing and compliance, real infrastructure, and greater ownership of the underlying rails.
The hire follows KAST's $80 million Series A round, which the company said is funding expansion across North America, Latin America, and the Middle East.
KAST also noted that global stablecoin volume hit a record $33 trillion in 2025, exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined, citing Bloomberg and Artemis Analytics.

So handeln Sie Krypto (4:26)
Letzte Woche unterzeichnete der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin ein Gesetz, das erstmals eine umfassende Regulierung von Kryptowährungen im Land vorsieht.
Nach seinem Nicken hat die Zentralbank des Landes den Handel an einer Börse mit drei Kryptowährungen vorgeschlagen, nämlich Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) und dem Tether-<n/>stablecoin USDT.
Verwandt: Putin geht einen seltenen Schritt, da Russland neue finanzielle Ziele für die Ukraine nennt
Was das neueste Gesetz für russische Krypto-Händler bedeutet
Das richtungsweisende Gesetz, das Putin am 4. August unterzeichnet hat, ermöglicht Privatanlegern (nicht-qualifizierten) den Kauf der liquidesten Kryptowährungen, die bei 300.000 Rubel (3.700 US-Dollar) jährlich pro Vermittler gedeckelt sind, aber es verhängte keine derartigen Beschränkungen für qualifizierte Anleger.

Missing Jobs data sends markets reeling (1:57)
Bullish, the institutional-focused cryptocurrency exchange backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, heads into its second-quarter earnings report with Wall Street seeing significant upside despite a difficult quarter for crypto trading businesses.
The company is scheduled to report results before the U.S. market opens on Aug. 13, exactly one year after its blockbuster stock-market debut.
Wall Street analysts expect Bullish to report adjusted earnings of $0.09 per share and roughly $87.4 million in revenue, according to Yahoo Finance data.
Revenue is projected to rise about 53% from a year earlier, though the consensus earnings estimate has slipped from $0.15 about three months ago.
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Analysts remain relatively optimistic
FactSet data cited by The Wall Street Journal shows five analysts with "Buy" ratings and six at "Hold," with an average price target of $40.75, roughly 66% above the recent share price of about $24.60.
Citi's Peter Christiansen reiterated a "Buy" on July 28, though he cut his target to $50 from $65. Clear Street's Owen Lau initiated coverage with a "Buy" and a $40 target on July 24, and Deutsche Bank's Brian Bedell holds the most bullish target among recent calls, maintaining a "Buy" on May 15 while trimming his to $61 from $63.
Supporters point to Bullish's institutional client base, its fast-growing derivatives business, and an early push into tokenization and stablecoins.
However, JPMorgan has stayed on the sidelines with a "Neutral" rating and cut its price target this year.
For context, Bullish is a digital-asset exchange aimed largely at institutional traders, offering both spot and derivatives trading. It is led by CEO Tom Farley, a former president of the New York Stock Exchange, and is backed by Thiel's venture firm Founders Fund, BlackRock and Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management also bought into its IPO.
It also owns CoinDesk, the long-running crypto news publication.
Bullish acquired CoinDesk in November 2023 from Digital Currency Group — which had put the publication up for sale after the bear market battered its parent — in an all-cash deal reported at around $75 million. CoinDesk continues to operate as an independent subsidiary.
Bullish's Aug. 13, 2025 IPO was one of the year's hottest. It priced at $37 a share — above its expected range, then opened at $90, spiked as high as $118 (triggering a volatility halt), and closed its first day up more than 80% near $68. A year later, the stock sits around $24.60, well below both its IPO price and its debut close, as the crypto downturn cooled the frenzy around newly public digital-asset names.
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A brutal quarter for crypto firms
Bullish reports after a punishing stretch for the industry, as falling digital-asset prices squeezed both trading activity and balance sheets.
The exchange handled $130.7 billion in total spot and derivatives volume in the quarter ended June 30, down 33% from the prior quarter.
Coinbase reported a $359.5 million net loss for the second quarter as softer markets weighed on its business. And Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, booked an $8.32 billion unrealized loss on its Bitcoin as prices fell, driving an $8.22 billion net loss for the quarter.
Bullish itself entered Q2 on the back foot, having missed Wall Street expectations in the first quarter: its adjusted earnings of $0.13 per share came in below the $0.17 estimate.
Bullish shares were trading around $24.47 at the time of writing, down roughly 0.5% on the day.
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Krypto-Startup wirbt für zinsfreie Kredite, die nicht liquidiert werden können (6:25)
Die meisten Analysten, die sich derzeit mit Bitcoin befassen, sprechen über Tiefs und Erholung. Alessio Rastani spricht darüber, was nach dem Rückprall kommt – und das Bild, das er zeichnet, ist deutlich düsterer als der Konsens.
Der erfahrene Trader und Marktanalyst ist der Ansicht, dass Bitcoin in den nächsten drei bis sechs Monaten auf eine Rally im kurzen bis mittleren Zeithorizont zusteuert. Danach – so seine Sicht – wird es schwierig.
Erst ein Rückprall, dann der echte Abverkauf
Rastanis Rahmenwerk trennt das, was jetzt passiert, von dem, was er für 2027 erwartet.

Explained: What is Bitcoin mining? (6:23)
Riot Platforms (Nasdaq: RIOT), the data infrastructure company well-known for its Bitcoin (BTC) mining and artificial intelligence (AI) operations, signed a 20-year lease with a leading AI lab on Aug. 10. Bloomberg identified the AI lab as Anthropic.
Riot announced the data center lease with Anthropic for 191 MW of critical IT capacity at its Rockdale campus. The deal is expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in total contract revenue over the initial 20-year term, the firm said.
Related: What is Bitcoin mining? Explained
The lease also includes two five-year extension options at the tenant’s election, representing a total potential contract value of approximately $16.1 billion if both extensions are fully exercised.
In January, Riot also signed a lease with another AI giant, Advanced Micro Devices, for its Rockdale facility.
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Needham raises Riot stock's price target on Anthropic deal
Needham raised its price target on the Riot stock from $28.50 to $30 on Aug. 10.
The firm cited the 191-MW lease agreement Riot signed with Anthropic for its decision to hike the price target. Meanwhile, it reiterated a buy rating on the stock.
As the Riot stock closed at $19.40 on Aug. 10, Needham's price target of $30 represents an upside of 54.6%.
What Q2 financials reveal
During the second quarter of 2026, Riot generated a revenue of $174.2 million, including $23.2 million from data centers.
However, its Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $113.7 million due to the market downturn and growing network competition.
The company also reduced its Bitcoin holdings by 4,300 BTC during the quarter, with the figure now standing at 11,380 BTC.
Related: Analysts reveal investors are underestimating Bitcoin miners

Solana wird zum „Onchain-Nasdaq“, sagt ein Solana-Foundation-Manager (2:25)
MoneyGram hat seinen Crypto-On- und -Off-Ramp-Dienst auf Solana gestartet und ermöglicht es Menschen im Netzwerk, sich über das globale Netzwerk des Zahlungsunternehmens zwischen digitalen Vermögenswerten und Bargeld zu bewegen.
MoneyGram ist ein Zahlungsunternehmen mit mehr als 85 Jahren Erfahrung und betreut über 60 Millionen Kunden über fast eine halbe Million Filialen im Einzelhandel weltweit.
Sein Produkt, MoneyGram Ramps, ist ein Tool, das Apps dabei hilft, Nutzer mit Cash-to-Crypto- und Crypto-to-Cash-Diensten zu verbinden. Ein „Ramp“ ist dabei die Brücke zwischen herkömmlichem Geld und digitalen Assets.

Mit dem BlackRock-Bitcoin-ETF sind Erwachsene da (0:57)
Der Leiter digitaler Assets von BlackRock, Robert Mitchnick, trat am 10. August zu einem Interview auf Bloomberg auf, in dem er deutliche Worte zu der Stimmung teilte, die derzeit unter Bitcoin-Investoren vorherrscht.
BlackRock startete im Januar 2024 in den Vereinigten Staaten den iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), seinen Spot-Bitcoin-Exchange-Traded-Fund (ETF). Seitdem hat der Fonds seine Position als größter Bitcoin-ETF trotz der Höhen und Tiefen beibehalten.
Laut SoSoValue hält IBIT Nettovermögenswerte in Höhe von 48,51 Milliarden US-Dollar per 7. August.

‘Crypto must earn trust’: Crystal Intelligence CEO on scams and security (5:25)
Russell Wilson is the billionaire founder of CoinSpot, one of Australia’s largest cryptocurrency trading exchanges. Founded in 2013, CoinSpot reported a $270 million net profit in the 2025 financial year.
On Aug. 10, a local media outlet reported that he has sued an ex-employee for allegedly stealing around $500,000 from the exchange.
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The court documents filed by CoinSpot’s parent company, Casey Block Services, claim that customer support team member Iresh Pawan Perera moved $478,932 out of the company into his personal bank account across 76 transactions in the two years to March.
The lawsuit claims Perera converted CoinSpot’s digital currency for “his own use by exchanging it” into cash. His job was terminated immediately on March 9 because the alleged misappropriation of funds amounted to “material breaches” of his employment agreement. Perera is yet to file a defence.
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Wilson’s company is seeking damages worth $478,932, in addition to interest. The case will resume in September.
A CoinSpot spokeswoman told the publication that she could not reveal more details about the crypto exchange’s legal battle with its ex-employee while the matter is sub judice.
“CoinSpot enforces robust safeguards to ensure operations and assets remain secure,” she said. “We take the security of our customers’ holdings extremely seriously and have not had customer funds impacted on our platform. CoinSpot has zero tolerance for fraud and will always work closely with law enforcement to protect our users."
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Solana Policy Institute president on stablecoin rules (3:13)
Solana has become one of the busiest homes for stablecoins, with the value of these tokens on the network climbing sharply over the past three years.
Solana is a blockchain built for fast, low-cost transactions, qualities that make it well suited to stablecoins, digital tokens pegged to a currency like the U.S. dollar and used to move money or trade without the swings of other crypto.
According to data from analytics firm Artemis, the total stablecoin supply on Solana grew from about $1.5 billion three years ago to roughly $16.7 billion today.
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Outpacing the wider market
That is an 11-fold increase. Over the same stretch, the overall stablecoin market grew about 2.5 times, meaning Solana expanded several times faster than the sector as a whole.
The network now ranks third among all blockchains by stablecoin supply, behind only Ethereum and Tron, according to Artemis. Its data shows Solana handled more than $500 billion in gross transfer volume in July alone, a sign the tokens are not just sitting on the network but actively moving through it.
On-chain analysis shared on X by blockchain researcher @solana_sailor citing Artemis data.
A market still early in its growth
Solana's surge comes as stablecoins draw growing attention as a payments technology. Investment research firm Morningstar estimates the global stablecoin market could swell to $1.45 trillion by 2035, up from around $300 billion today.
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It points to crypto trading, business-to-business payments, deposits in emerging markets, and cross-border remittances as the uses most likely to drive that growth.
If that forecast holds, the networks that can move stablecoins cheaply and quickly stand to benefit most, and Solana's low fees and fast settlement have positioned it as one of the venues capturing that demand. Its rise up the rankings suggests issuers and users are increasingly choosing it as a place to hold and transfer dollar-pegged tokens, even as far larger growth in the overall market may still lie ahead.
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Book Review: Changpeng Zhao's 'Freedom of Money' (2:34)
How much money does a person actually need? Changpeng Zhao, the crypto billionaire better known as CZ, has a number in mind, and it is a lot smaller than his own fortune.
In a May 9 interview on the show Crypto Banter with host Ran Neuner, Zhao argued that wealth stops buying happiness far earlier than most people assume.
"You don't need that much money to have a decent life," he said, "and also having luxury watches doesn't make you happy."
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The number that counts as 'enough'
Pressed on where "enough" begins, Zhao put a figure on it.
"I think USD 10 million is enough for financial freedom if you live a normal life," he said. Above that, he argued, the benefits fade fast: a jump from $10 million to $20 million might still make a small difference, but "beyond 50 million? Zero difference."
He set $100 million as the ceiling where money stops mattering entirely.
"If you have 100 million dollars and you say, 'oh, I am not happy, 200 million dollars would make me happier,' that is just craziness," he said.
Why chasing more backfires
Zhao's larger point was that treating money as the source of happiness is a trap.
"I don't think you should make it your goal to enjoy your money," he told Neuner, "and then you're working for the money. And then your money controls you."
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The billionaire offered himself as proof. Asked what his wealth actually buys him that he enjoys, Zhao pointed to a collection of camera gadgets he rarely touches.
"I use them once, I put them away, but it doesn't make me happy," he said, adding that once someone has enough, "you shouldn't rely on having more money to make you happy. That doesn't work."
Changpeng Zhao, famously known as CZ, attends the 'CZ meets Italy' at Palazzo Brancaccio on May 10, 2022, in Rome, Italy.
Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
His personal style backs up the philosophy. Despite his fortune, Zhao is known for dressing simply, usually in Binance-branded hoodies and T-shirts rather than the luxury trappings his wealth could easily afford.
What matters more, he said, is family and health.
The advice is striking coming from its source. Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and built it into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Forbes pegs his real-time net worth at $109.7 billion as of August 10, the 17th-largest fortune in the world, and by his own math, more than 1,000 times what a person needs.
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Fehlende Jobdaten versetzen die Märkte in Aufruhr (1:57)
Der US-Arbeitsmarktbericht von Freitag landete wie eine Überraschung. Ökonomen, die von Bloomberg befragt wurden, hatten für Juli 80.000 neue Jobs prognostiziert. Die tatsächliche Zahl war negativ: minus 23.000, was bedeutet, dass die Wirtschaft Stellen abgebaut hat statt neue zu schaffen.
Laut dem U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ist die Arbeitslosenquote auf 4,1 Prozent gesunken, auch wenn dieser Rückgang teilweise durch eine schrumpfende Erwerbsbevölkerung und nicht durch stärkeres Einstellen ausgelöst wurde.
Innerhalb weniger Minuten nach der Veröffentlichung durchbrach Bitcoin 65.000 US-Dollar – eine Marke, die ihm seit Wochen widerstanden hatte – und erreichte zudem ein August-Hoch von 65.300 US-Dollar.

Crypto Startup Pitches Interest-Free Loans That Can't Be Liquidated (6:25)
Every loan in history has come with an interest rate, a due date, and someone who can take your collateral.
"When you say credit or debt, it's a loaded term and people assume certain things," Colin Sinclair, chief business officer at Mayflower said to TheStreet Roundtable. "You're gonna have to repay somebody by this point in time. Until you repay them, there's gonna be interest payments. And if the value of your collateral goes down, they're gonna liquidate you so they don't lose money."
None of that is malice, it's what lending between humans requires. His answer is to remove the human. The Assured Value Machine, or AVM, is what he calls "the core innovation of our whole stack."
"It charges a one-time borrow fee. There's buy, sell and borrow fees, but there is no ongoing interest," he said.
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A vending machine with a floor
"Think of it like a vending machine," Sinclair said. "I put my dollars in, I get my token out."
Every dollar that buys in stays inside the machine, creating a bonding curve that is itself the entire market for the token.
"Now it has a full view of the supply. So using math, some calculus and code, it can establish a floor price. If everyone who just bought their tokens decided to turn and sell, the last one sold would still fetch that floor price," he said.
Because the machine knows the minimum every token can be redeemed for, it can lend against that minimum with no fear of a shortfall.
"There's no need for a liquidation engine. It doesn't even have one. This is trustless. You could leave and go to Mexico and spend your money on the beach, and your tokens are locked until you repay that debt. But if you don't repay that debt, everything else functions as normal," Sinclair said. "Think of it like a perpetual loan where no other holder of those tokens cares or relies on anyone else to be a good steward of that debt."
It's worth being precise about what the borrower gives up. The loan is capped at the floor value, which sits below market price, and the tokens stay locked until repayment.
In practice, "obligation-free credit" resembles a partial redemption with an option to buy back in. The obligation hasn't vanished so much as been prepaid in collateral.
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'Tell that to the guy who bought Nakamoto'
To explain what the AVM actually fixes, Sinclair pointed to one of crypto’s biggest trades in 2025: digital asset treasuries.
More specifically, he pointed to Nakamoto ($NAKA), the Bitcoin treasury formed through a merger with KindlyMD. Nakamoto’s stock has fallen roughly 95% from its May 2025 peak, and its market cap sits at around 25-30% of the value of its Bitcoin holdings.
Many would use this extraordinarily low multiple of net asset value (mNAV) to argue that NAKA was undervalued and a good investment. Sinclair doesn’t see any reason to think that.
"There's zero actual connection between the NAV and what the shares are worth," Sinclair said. "Tell that to the guy who bought Nakamoto 40% below."
The AVM, he argues, is what a treasury company would look like if the discount were impossible.
"Think of it like an on-chain reserve, a digital asset treasury, where it cannot trade below the NAV. It can trade above it, and there's an area of volatility above this floor price. But that floor price is a hard stop. Math and code doesn't care what anyone thinks or says," he said. "If you think you could sell one of these AVM assets below the floor, that would be the equivalent of saying: watch this, I'm going to take my calculator and type in 4 plus 4 and it's not going to equal 8. Good luck with that.”

SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) gab am 12. Juni 2026 sein Debüt an den öffentlichen Märkten, nachdem es die Aktien zu 135 US-Dollar bepreist hatte – was zum größten Börsengang der Geschichte wurde.
Die Kurse stiegen in der ersten Sitzung bis auf 225,64 US-Dollar, bevor sie bei 184 US-Dollar schlossen.
Weniger als zwei Monate später lieferte Elons Musk’ Raumfahrtunternehmen seine ersten Quartalsergebnisse als börsennotiertes Unternehmen. SpaceX meldete für Q2 einen Umsatz von 7,81 Milliarden US-Dollar (Aug. 4), das ist ein Plus von 92% gegenüber dem Vorjahr, während sich der Nettoloss auf 541 Millionen US-Dollar verringerte – von etwa 1 Milliarde. Das bereinigte EBITDA stieg um 191% auf 3,5 Milliarden US-Dollar.