Link Crypto

The number of people holding tokenized stock reached over 1.31 million, and monthly trading volume rose 179% to $23.13 billion.
According to data from RWA.xyz, the number of people holding tokenized stock more than doubled over the past month, reaching 1.31 million. Monthly transfer volume increased by nearly 180% over the same period to $23.13 billion, while the number of active monthly addresses rose 34.62% to nearly 572,000 addresses.

Trump and CFTC Chair Selig are expected to meet with Coinbase, Ripple, and Kalshi executives at the White House on Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to attend a meeting at the White House on Wednesday with leaders in the cryptocurrency industry and market participants, according to two sources familiar with the plans who spoke with The Block. CFTC Chair Michael Selig is also expected to be in attendance, one of the sources said.

JPMorgan cuts ties with Polymarket from October 2025 but still wants to underwrite the company if it IPO, according to FT.
JPMorgan Chase ended its banking relationship with the Polymarket prediction market in October 2025 and asked the company to find a new banking partner, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday. Since then, Polymarket has moved its accounts to another lending institution, although the FT could not identify the institution.

Ireland has unveiled its first national AML strategy, applying enhanced checks to personal wallets under FATF transfer rules.
Ireland on Thursday announced its first national anti-money laundering (AML) strategy, including measures for crypto assets, focusing on wallets held outside regulated entities.
The country’s Ministry of Finance said the remaining provisions of the EU Funds Transfers Regulation set out new obligations for crypto asset service providers (CASPs), requiring “enhanced checks” for transfers involving personal crypto asset wallets, while applying stricter due diligence procedures when dealing with crypto asset companies abroad.

Bank Leumi partners with Galaxy Digital to offer Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana trading through the Leumi Trade app, scheduled to launch in early 2027.
Bank Leumi and Galaxy Digital said on Thursday that the two sides will bring digital asset trading services to Israel’s largest banks through Pepper, Bank Leumi’s digital investment arm. According to an official press release, customers of Leumi and PEPPER, the bank’s mobile digital banking platform, will be able to buy, hold, and sell a selection of crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana, directly within Leumi Trade’s capital markets app.

SharpLink deposits 200 million USD worth of Ethereum via Lido in the form of wstETH, equivalent to 12% of the total ETH the company holds.
SharpLink, the company that manages reserves for encoded assets, headquartered in Miami, said Thursday that it will place a deposit of 200 million USD worth of Ethereum via Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol on Ethereum. The tokens will be received as staked ETH wrapped (wstETH), a receipt token representing the amount of ETH staked along with the accrued rewards, while Anchorage Digital will handle custody.

A hacker is selling tax data of more than 678,000 French people, increasing the risk of scams and extortion attacks targeting Bitcoin holders.
A hacker is advertising for sale a data repository of French taxes, which could cause more than 678,000 individuals and businesses, including people who hold Bitcoin, to face risks of phishing scams, identity theft, and targeted attacks.

Apple combines its own AI model with Alibaba’s Qwen, after clearing regulatory hurdles set by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
Apple is moving closer to bringing Apple Intelligence to iPhones in the Chinese market, after successfully training an artificial intelligence (AI) model specifically for this region with support from Alibaba.
According to Reuters, citing three sources familiar with the matter, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) registered Apple’s generative AI service last month. This is an important step that helps the company overcome legal hurdles that until now have prevented competitors such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude from reaching Chinese users.

The OCC granted preliminary approval for a banking license for World Liberty, paving the way for the issuance of the USD1 stablecoin, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. The application requires at least $20 million in minimum capital.
On Thursday, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted a conditional preliminary approval to a national trust bank affiliated with World Liberty Financial, a crypto-asset company backed by President Donald Trump and his family.
The decision removes an important legal barrier for USD1, the company’s USD-pegged stablecoin. The organization, expected to be formed under the name World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, will be headquartered in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.

Four MUFG-affiliated companies are partnering with Canton Network to pilot putting Japanese government bond repo transactions on-chain, aiming for 24/7 settlement.
Four MUFG-affiliated companies plan to put repurchase transactions of Japanese government bonds on-chain through Canton Network, as part of a new concept-proof pilot project.
According to a statement released on Thursday, four firms including MUFG, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking, and MUFG Bank will work with Digital Asset Holdings and Progmat to implement the project. The companies said the goal is to improve operational efficiency through automating the entire transaction lifecycle, enabling same-day settlement in real time 24/7, while also improving capital-raising and capital-usage efficiency.

CFTC meeting of the Innovation Advisory Committee on August 20 to discuss the management of crypto assets, AI, and prediction markets, in the context that the CLARITY Act has not yet been passed by the Senate.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced it will hold a committee meeting to advise the agency on key policy issues, including the possibility of reviewing how crypto assets should be regulated in the context of Congress not having taken legislative action. In a notice released Thursday, the CFTC said it will hold a meeting of the Innovation Advisory Committee on August 20 to discuss regulatory issues related to crypto assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets.

DigitalX, the operator of Korbit, which was acquired by Mirae Asset in July, is preparing to raise around 50 billion won through a new capital increase round.
DigitalX, the operator of the South Korean crypto asset exchange Korbit, and a newly acquired subsidiary of Mirae Asset Group, is reported to have decided to raise around 50 billion won (KRW), equivalent to 35.3 million USD, through a capital increase round.

A South Korean court convicted CEO Delio Jeong Sang-ho of fraud, causing damage of approximately 49.2 million USD, and acquitted him of an indictment alleging fraud involving 175.6 million USD.
The Nam Seoul District Court, presided over by Judge Jang Chan, is said to have sentenced Jeong Sang-ho, CEO of Delio, to 15 years in prison on charges related to fraud involving crypto assets.
According to local news agency Newsis, the court found the defendant guilty of most of the allegations of deceiving customers, causing damage of about 70 billion won (approximately 49.2 million USD) using crypto assets. The court also found that the defendant was largely guilty of allegations of embezzlement and using forged documents to register as a supplier of virtual asset services.

The FCA accuses HTX of promoting illegal crypto assets in the UK, in violation of Section 21 of the Financial Services Act. The two sides are negotiating a settlement until the end of August.
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the HTX exchange are negotiating to reach a settlement agreement in a case involving the illegal promotion of crypto assets to consumers in the UK. According to court records cited by Reuters, the High Court of London has stayed the legal proceedings until the end of August to give the two sides time to agree on the terms. The two sides began exchanging emails in March, launching three months of negotiations, and on June 25 they granted a further two-month extension.

President Trump signed a memorandum allowing vetted U.S. companies to carry out cyberattack campaigns targeting transnational criminal organizations.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a memorandum directing the federal government to mobilize vetted U.S. companies to take part in cyberattack campaigns targeting foreign criminal networks. The President’s National Security Memorandum, dated August 12, establishes a program under the National Coordination Center of the Department of Homeland Security’s special operations forces.

KPMG confirmed that Tether’s 2025 financial statements, the entity that issues USDT, received an unqualified audit opinion after years of being questioned about reserves.
Tether said KPMG, one of the four largest audit firms in the world, issued an unqualified audit opinion on Tether International’s 2025 financial statements— the company behind USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin. An unqualified audit opinion is an audit-industry term used to indicate the best possible audit result, marking a milestone after many years of questions surrounding the reserve assets backing its stablecoin.

Anthropic began embedding an invisible watermark into every piece of Claude text starting August 2, 2026, while programmers have found ways to disable this mechanism.
Anthropic has begun embedding an undetectable watermark image—unrecognizable to the naked eye—into all text produced by its latest Claude models. The change takes effect for models released in the European Union starting August 2, 2026, and the company says it will be applied worldwide.

Co-founder of 6th Man Ventures Mike Dudas believes Solana’s high-performance infrastructure could bring hundreds of millions of users access to crypto assets.
Solana could become the platform for the next wave of growth in the crypto assets industry as applications move into the mainstream phase, according to Mike Dudas, co-founder of venture capital firm 6th Man Ventures, in a recent episode of the Fomo Hour podcast program by Decrypt. He said Solana could bring hundreds of millions of users to crypto assets, with most of them even not realizing they are using a blockchain.

Grayscale believes AI will create three new sources of demand for public blockchains: programmable finance, digital identity, and decentralized AI.
Grayscale’s research arm has just released a report stating that the increasingly widespread adoption of artificial intelligence could become one of the main drivers of demand for public blockchain networks—especially in financial transactions, verifiable data storage, and the development of decentralized AI networks. According to Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale and the report’s author, this demand will focus on three key use cases.