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Applications for US unemployment benefits edged lower last week, holding near historically low levels and signaling that layoffs remain limited across the labor market, according to Bloomberg. Initial claims fell by 6,000 to 206,000 in the week ended Aug. 15, Labor Department data released Thursday showed, coming in below the 210,000 median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Continuing claims, a proxy for the number of people receiving benefits, rose to 1.80 million in the prior week. The four-week moving average of new applications, which smooths out volatility, increased to 204,000.
The latest reading follows a dip in weekly initial claims to 189,000 in the week ended July 18, the lowest since 1969. The subsequent pickup still leaves applications at a historically subdued level. Bloomberg noted that US employers have been slow to fire but also slow to hire this year, leaving the labor market relatively steady for those with jobs but challenging for people trying to find one.
On an unadjusted basis, initial claims declined, reflecting fewer applications in states including Michigan, South Carolina and California.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the increased buybacks of Treasury securities announced this week could exceed $4 billion per issue, according to Bloomberg. Speaking Thursday on CNBC, Bessent said "we have a big toolkit, so we'll see," adding that part of the move was signaling and intended to show a belief that yields do not reflect underlying fundamentals.
The comments followed the Treasury Department's statement Wednesday that it would increase the size of buybacks for longer-dated securities "by at least double." The market impact was short-lived, with US 30-year bonds erasing gains from the surprise announcement by Thursday. Yields on 10-year and 30-year securities remained higher following his remarks.
Wide fiscal deficits remain a top concern for investors, alongside inflation worries amid the war in Iran and supply pressure from a surge in borrowing in the artificial intelligence industry. The climb in US Treasury yields has increased the cost of servicing the national debt, which hit a record $40 trillion this week.
Bessent said the Trump administration plans to announce "this week, or beginning of next week" an increased focus on fiscal consolidation, adding that the government is examining both revenues and costs

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on Congress to pass legislation bringing clearer definitions to the growing cryptocurrency sector, a top priority for industry executives who gathered at a White House event with the president, Reuters reported. Trump, who has earned more than $1.4 billion from his family's crypto ventures, urged lawmakers to pass a "fair version of the Clarity Act," a bill the industry says would put it on solid legal ground but that has stalled in the Senate with little time left on the congressional calendar. Several top executives spoke alongside Trump, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi and Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, while CFTC Chair Mike Selig, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt also attended.
The Clarity Act aims to define which tokens count as securities versus commodities and which agencies oversee the sector; without it, rules remain vulnerable to shifting politics and court challenges, executives say, according to Reuters. The SEC on Tuesday proposed long-awaited rules exempting certain token offerings from securities regulations, and the CFTC is due to discuss crypto regulation at an industry gathering Thursday. However, many Democrats and some Republicans have said they would not back a bill without strong language barring political officials, including Trump, from profiting off their own crypto ventures. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week found a majority of Americans believe Trump and his family have inappropriately profited from crypto since his return to power and that his policy decisions are influenced by private dealings such as World Liberty Financial and the Trump meme coin. Trump says he has no day-to-day role in the family business and that his investments are independently managed, while the White House dismisses any allegations of impropriety.

The cryptocurrency market roared higher today in a broad, macro-driven rally that broke Bitcoin out of a six-week trading range and triggered the largest short liquidation event since at least 2021. Total market capitalization climbed roughly 7% to about $2.45 trillion, and the Crypto Fear & Greed Index flipped from "Fear" to "Greed" overnight, capturing a sharp reversal in mood after days of quiet, range-bound trading.
According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin led the charge, breaking above $71,000 during the European session for the first time since June before reaching an intraday high of about $72,344, and it was last trading near $71,936, up roughly 11.5% over 24 hours from a session low around $64,996. Ether outperformed decisively, climbing about 20% to an intraday peak near $2,319 from a low around $1,928 before settling near $2,280, with the ETH/BTC ratio strengthening as capital rotated back toward the Ethereum ecosystem. XRP jumped about 18.6% to a high near $1.19 from a low around $1.015, Solana rose roughly 12.3% to an intraday top around $87.97, and BNB added about 6.7% to a high near $648.32. Hyperliquid's HYPE token was the standout gainer, surging about 22% to an intraday high near $74.32 from a low around $58.69.
The advance was powered by a convergence of macro and structural catalysts. The U.S. Treasury, under Secretary Scott Bessent, said it would at least double long-dated bond buybacks to $4 billion, pulling the 30-year yield back from 5.337% — its highest since 2007 — and lifting risk assets. Sentiment was further boosted after President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass the Clarity Act at a White House crypto event, suggested the U.S. may buy sizable amounts of bitcoin, and signaled regulators are working on a compliant pathway for Hyperliquid; the SEC also advanced a "Regulation Crypto Assets" proposal exempting smaller token fundraising (reported thresholds around $5 million over four years and $75 million in twelve months). As the range broke, CoinDesk's Oliver Knight noted the move was "mechanical rather than narrative-driven," as roughly $3 billion of shorts were force-bought back into thin supply — with BTC accounting for $1.67 billion and ETH $1.14 billion of liquidations, and one trader reportedly losing $24 million on an ether short in seconds. Institutional demand reinforced ETH's leadership, with BeInCrypto reporting Ethereum ETFs drew about $189 million in net inflows, their biggest single-day haul in roughly ten months.
Named analysts framed the rally as macro- and liquidity-driven. Analyst Pedro Fontes argued that if the world's largest debt market needs policy support to function, it strengthens demand for scarce, predictable assets not reliant on government-debt expansion — characteristics Bitcoin shares. Strive founder and CEO Matt Cole said the dollar index is in a long-term "structural downtrend," a backdrop he views as favorable for assets like Bitcoin. On positioning, CoinDesk's Senior Analyst James Van Straten, citing checkonchain data, noted BTC has reclaimed the short-term holder cost basis at $67,138 and its 200-day moving average at $68,969, with the next key level the "True Market Mean" at $75,689. Institutions positioned early: in Q2, Jane Street added more than $800 million in combined bitcoin ETF and MSTR exposure, BlackRock roughly $290 million, JPMorgan lifted its IBIT stake by $85.6 million, UBS's bullish IBIT call exposure surged 24-fold, and Paul Tudor Jones reversed a year-long trend to add 18.9% to his IBIT holdings. Several of these observers cautioned that squeeze-fueled moves can retrace sharply.

On Aug 20, 2026, 19:24 PM(UTC). according to Binance Market Data, MRVLB has achieved a new all-time high, trading at 248.8 USDT. The 24-hour increase of 5.66%

On Aug 20, 2026, 09:25 AM(UTC). According to Binance Market Data, Bitcoin has crossed the 72,000 USDT benchmark and is now trading at 72,000 USDT, with a narrowed 11.81% increase in 24 hours.

Bitcoin News said on X that the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed new U.S. accounting guidance that would allow eligible stablecoins to be classified as cash equivalents on corporate financial statements. According to Odaily, the proposal says qualifying digital assets must be redeemable for cash on demand, allow holders to redeem a fixed amount of cash directly from the issuer, and be backed 1:1 by segregated reserve assets made up of short-term, highly liquid assets.
FASB did not change the existing definition of cash equivalents, but clarified how that definition applies to stablecoins and other digital assets. Companies would also need to disclose annually the major components of cash equivalents, including Treasury bills, money market funds and stablecoins. The proposal is open for public comment until November 19, 2026.

According to Jin10, Angola plans to ship 30 crude oil cargoes in October, below the 34 cargoes planned for September.

According to the announcement from Binance, the platform is launching a new referral campaign that lets users invite friends, earn Points, and redeem those Points for a tiered selection of rewards. The campaign includes crypto rewards such as BNB, SOL, and USDC, as well as selected bStocks tokens including SPCXB and NVDAB. Binance said a total of $100,000 worth of token vouchers is available through the promotion. The Promotion Period runs from 2026-08-20 08:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-10 23:59 (UTC), while the Redemption Period runs from 2026-08-20 08:00 (UTC) to 2026-09-13 23:59 (UTC). Any unused Points will expire after the redemption period ends on 2026-09-13 23:59 (UTC). Under Promotion A, users earn 1 Point for each successful referral that becomes a Qualified Referral after completing the required account and trading tasks. The reward tiers include token voucher pools for USDC, SOL, SPCXB, BNB, and NVDAB, with different point requirements and redemption limits for each eligible inviter.
Promotion B offers a welcome reward for the first 5,000 new referrals who register through a Campaign Referral Link/ID and complete the required tasks to become a Qualified Referral. Each eligible new user will receive a token voucher worth between 3 to 10 USDC. Binance said eligible users must complete account verification during the Promotion Period to receive rewards, and redeemed rewards will be available before 2026-09-25 via Profile > Rewards Hub within 48 hours, subject to risk assessment. The announcement also states that referral rewards are limited to one referral mode per new user, sub-accounts cannot participate, and trading volume is calculated using the price of the USDC trading pair at the time of trading. Trading volume from Spot zero-fee pairs and certain excluded Convert trades will not count toward the referral requirements. Binance added that participants must meet the stated eligibility conditions, and the company reserves the right to amend, suspend, or cancel the campaign.

According to the announcement from Binance, the exchange will launch a Pyth Network (PYTH) Trading Tournament that gives eligible users a chance to share a total prize pool of 5,000,000 PYTH in token vouchers. The promotion is scheduled to run from 2026-08-20 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-08-27 10:00 (UTC), and it will be open to verified new users, regular users, and Binance VIP users. Binance said liquidity providers in the Binance Spot Liquidity Provider Program and Binance Brokers are not eligible. The tournament will apply to the PYTH/USDT and PYTH/USDC trading pairs on Binance Spot, and users must register through the campaign page and reach at least 500 USD equivalent in total trading volume during the Promotion Period to qualify for rewards. The announcement also introduces a limited-time “Sprint Reward,” which will provide additional rewards based on cumulative trading volume during separate statistical periods, with users able to earn from both the Main Reward and Sprint Reward pools at the same time.
Reward distribution will be based on cumulative trading volume rankings. For the Main Reward structure, the top-ranked eligible users will receive fixed PYTH token voucher amounts, while users ranked lower will share larger pooled allocations. Binance said the 1st place winner will receive 150,000 PYTH, followed by 125,000 PYTH for 2nd place, 100,000 PYTH for 3rd place, 75,000 PYTH for 4th place, and 50,000 PYTH for 5th place. Users ranked 6th through 20th, 21st through 50th, 51st through 200th, and 201st through 1,000th will each share designated pools, while all remaining eligible participants will receive a proportional share of 1,000,000 PYTH, capped at 800 PYTH per user. Binance said token vouchers will be distributed by 2026-09-10 and will expire within 21 days after distribution. The leaderboard will be updated at least once every 24 hours, and only users who meet the minimum qualifying trading volume threshold will appear on it.

Binance Wallet announced on X that Prediction Markets are available through the Binance App and Binance Wallet Web under the Politics category. In the Binance App, users can navigate to Exchange, then Markets, then Prediction, and select Politics. Another path in the app is Wallet, then Home, then Prediction, then View more, and finally Politics. On the web, users can access the feature through Binance Web, then Trade, then Prediction, and Politics, or through Binance Wallet Web, then Prediction, and Politics. The announcement did not provide additional details about the markets beyond the available navigation paths.
The notice also said that Prediction Markets are available only to users in eligible regions and may not be available to all users. No further information was included about supported assets, trading conditions, or regional availability beyond that restriction.

At Coinfest Asia, Binance co-CEO Yi He joined remotely to share her perspective on where the industry is heading. She used the moment to reflect on Asia's opportunity, the maturing of the industry, and the responsibility that comes with building products for a global user base. Her core message was direct: the industry no longer needs to prove that blockchain works. The task now is to show that it can work for real people, in the real world—and that only happens when users see genuine value, feel protected, and trust what has been built. Across her remarks, Yi He returned to a set of connected ideas: Asia's massive user base as a defining opportunity, the push to bring TradFi into crypto through initiatives like bStocks on BNB Chain, the belief that building for the long term is about responsibility rather than money, and the conviction that every downturn quietly gives birth to the next opportunity.From Proving Blockchain Works to Making It Work for PeopleFor Yi He, the central question facing the industry has changed. The debate over whether blockchain works has been settled. What remains is harder and more human."Innovation can open the door, but adoption only happens when people see the real value, feel protected, and have trust in what we build," she says. "Our challenge is no longer to prove blockchain works. It is to show it can work for people in the real world."That framing sets the tone for how she thinks about Asia, technology, and the next phase of the industry—not as a series of technical breakthroughs to celebrate, but as a test of whether the technology can earn a place in people's daily lives.Asia's Opportunity Starts With Its User BaseWhen the conversation turns to Asia, Yi He returns repeatedly to one idea: scale."We have a huge user base, so we have a huge opportunity," she says. Unlike much of the developed world, where credit cards are already accepted everywhere, many parts of Asia are not locked into legacy payment habits. That gap, in her view, is precisely where blockchain can take hold."You can use blockchain in payments and in investment—it's really everywhere," she says. The absence of entrenched infrastructure becomes an advantage, opening room for crypto to serve as a default rather than an alternative.Bringing TradFi Into the Crypto WorldAsked what Binance has focused on in recent months, Yi He points to two priorities: connecting traditional finance to crypto, and investing in payments."We really try to bring TradFi into the crypto world," she says. "That's why bStocks is rising so fast on BNB Chain." Alongside that, the company has put significant investment into payments, driven by a belief that crypto and blockchain can lower costs and improve efficiency across the industry.Both efforts share a common logic. If the technology can make financial services cheaper and more efficient, adoption follows—not because users are persuaded by the technology itself, but because the experience is simply better.Building for the Long Term Means Building With ResponsibilityFor Yi He, longevity in this industry is not primarily a question of money. It is a question of responsibility."If you want to build a bigger company for the long term, that is not just about money—it's more about responsibility," she says. And responsibility, in her definition, comes back to a simple question: why do people use your product?The answer, she argues, has to be that the product is cheaper, easier to use, and genuinely caring toward its users. "That's what we've been doing for the past nine years," she says. As the industry matures day by day, she believes the standard for startups is no longer storytelling but real adoption, real business models, and a real improvement in users' lives.Going Deeper: Localization and Local PartnersLooking ahead, Yi He describes a next step rooted in going deeper, not just wider."We will look at it country by country, how to help our product localization," she says. Just as important is the community around that effort: she wants to bring more local partners and friends into the fold.Her point is that the conversation should not begin and end with Binance.com. "Let's not just talk about Binance," she says. "Let's include how to use blockchain tech to help the whole world do better"—especially as crypto and TradFi mix together, and as AI enters the picture. In each of those intersections, she sees fresh opportunity rather than saturation.Every Cycle Brings a New OpportunityYi He has heard the funeral notices before. "When people talk about the industry dying or crypto dying—my personal feeling is I've heard that every cycle," she says. Each time, though, she has watched a new opportunity emerge from the challenge.She believes the next cycle will be different in kind, not just degree. "That will not be just another storytelling. That's not just about token price," she says. "It's more about how to use crypto to improve our industry, how to help normal people's lives be better."She points to a familiar pattern from other technologies. When people use a phone or scroll social media, they are not thinking about the underlying technology—they simply use it and enjoy a simple, easy world. For Yi He, that is the destination for crypto too: a moment when people stop talking about blockchain and just use it.The Answer Is in Your HeartYi He closed with a reflection that was less about strategy than about the person doing the building.Her personal advice—the thing she wishes someone had told her early—is to find your passion. If you do your job day by day and something feels wrong, she says, maybe it really is wrong. But once you find your passion, you should give it enough attention and, year by year, make sure you are the best in the industry at what you do.She acknowledged the possibilities open to young people today: to become an influencer, to become a founder. But the real answer, she suggested, lies somewhere quieter. "Finally, the answer is in your heart," she says. "That's who you are."

Quinten Francois — CBO of Lokal, best-selling Bitcoin author, and Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree — joined Binance Square's Inside The Blockchain 100 to share how nine years of surviving every crypto cycle shaped his conviction on Bitcoin, his read on where AI and real-world assets sit in the cycle, and why he has quietly rotated most of his portfolio out of stocks, gold, and silver near their highs. Francois, who began trading stocks at 16 and went full-time on crypto content at 21, framed his central thesis bluntly: Bitcoin is a binary bet with asymmetric odds, and the biggest opportunity now is positioning ahead of the tokenization of everything in Web2.
The Binary Bitcoin Thesis — "$1 Million or Zero," With an 80% Skew to the Upside
Francois's core Bitcoin argument is that the asset has no middle ground. "Bitcoin goes to 1 million or to zero. There is nothing in between," he said — meaning he holds it as a bet on either total success or total failure, with no plan to trim along the way.
What makes the trade compelling, in his framing, is not just the ceiling but the probability he assigns to it. Francois said he believes there is an above-80% chance Bitcoin reaches $1 million, which from current levels implies roughly a 15x return against what he characterizes as very limited downside. He first bought at $950 while working at McDonald's — a position he describes as a 1,000x opportunity with capped risk — and he explicitly frames Bitcoin as a once-per-generation asymmetric bet. "Our parents got stocks, our grandparents got real estate," he said. The logic that drew him in, he added, still stands today: recognize what is undervalued, recognize what the world needs, and recognize when it is a good time to buy.
Portfolio Positioning — Sold Gold and Silver at the Top, Exited Most Stocks, Overexposed to Real Estate
In a disclosure of his actual allocation, Francois said his portfolio is currently roughly 40–50% real estate, around 40% crypto, about 10% cash, and only a small residual in stocks. Notably, he has been an active seller of traditional risk assets near their highs.
He said he sold his gold and silver — never more than about 5% of his book — roughly half a year ago, using a classic sentiment signal to time the exit: "When you saw these pictures of people queuing up at gold shops, you knew the top was near." He has also unwound most of his equity exposure over the past year because he believes "the AI hype is nearly done and factors are not looking very good."
Francois was candid that his heavy real estate weighting is not a deliberate bullish call but a mechanical consequence of his crypto portfolio drawing down over recent years — inflating real estate's share of the total. On real estate broadly, he tempered expectations: he expects it to roughly track inflation and views it as diversification rather than a life-changing return driver.
The AI Cycle — Late in Web2, Still Early in Web3
Francois applies a sentiment-and-cycle lens to narratives, invoking the Wall Street "psychology" cheat sheet. His view on AI is nuanced: in equities, he thinks the trade is "way too far" along and "nearly at euphoria," which is part of why he has reduced stock exposure.
But he draws a sharp distinction between AI in Web2 and AI in crypto. Decentralized AI, he argued, remains undervalued and is "still a good thing." Historically, he noted, hot Web2 narratives spill over into Web3 in tandem — but this time he expects them to move sequentially: Web2 AI runs first, and only afterward does capital rotate to Web3 AI projects, some of which are strong but "get no attention at all" right now. Given his read that the market is in an accumulation phase, he sees the current environment as a reasonable time to buy quality narratives even when the Web2 version looks exhausted.
Real-World Assets — "The Biggest Thing in the Next Few Years"
Francois's highest-conviction forward narrative is real-world assets and tokenization. His framing is that the entire missing piece in crypto is that "everything that is in Web2 needs to be available in Web3" — stocks, real estate, and other assets migrating on-chain.
He positioned this as a thesis he has held for years, not a fresh idea. He said he anticipated tokenized stocks at least five years ago as an inevitability, and cited his 2019 investment in Chainlink as a direct expression of that view — a bet on the infrastructure that facilitates the Web2-to-Web3 transition. "Real-world assets is going to come. It's going to be the biggest thing, in my opinion, in the next few years in crypto. I don't doubt that." The fact that RWA is now a crowded talking point does not deter him: "It's not because everyone is talking about it that I don't believe in it."
Crypto and TradFi Have Merged — a Sign of Maturity, Not a Loss
Reflecting on the convergence of the two worlds he has lived in — beginning in stocks, moving to crypto's early "rebellious" era, and now watching institutions pour back in — Francois offered a candid observation: the emotional distinction has disappeared. "There is no difference anymore between the feeling that I have in stocks and the feeling that I have in crypto," he said, pointing to the involvement of BlackRock, governments, and products like tokenized stocks. While he called the loss of crypto's early counter-cultural character "unfortunate," he ultimately reframed it as validation: "It's a sign of maturity... It shows that we made it."
He also noted a behavioral asymmetry among crypto-native investors moving into equities: they gravitate toward high-conviction, imagination-driven names — Nvidia, TSMC, SpaceX, chipmakers — while avoiding "boring" sectors like pharma and airlines. But crucially, he does not believe their crypto risk appetite carries over. In his experience, crypto natives do not deploy the same leverage or aggression in stocks — "they have a different risk appetite for stocks than for crypto."
Portfolio Construction — Match Risk to Time, and Start at the Top
For newer investors, Francois's framework ties allocation directly to how much time someone is willing to commit. If an investor won't put in at least a few hours a week, he advises sticking with stocks and simply buying. Those willing to research more deeply can allocate more to crypto and gradually move down the risk curve.
His sequencing advice was emphatic and repeated: start with Bitcoin and Ethereum, then larger top-10 to top-20 altcoins, and only move into smaller, higher-risk altcoins once an investor has learned enough and can control their emotions. The failure mode he warned against is the one he sees destroy newcomers: skipping the majors entirely, going "fully blown risk-on" into memecoins, losing everything, and leaving crypto forever. His guardrails — no leverage, no investing money you can't afford to lose, and no emotional attachment — round out the framework. He also suggested a modest 5–10% in gold and silver as diversification, though he has personally exited those positions.
Where He Gets His Edge — and His One Piece of Advice
On information sourcing, Francois said he now gathers intelligence passively, mainly through X and select Telegram groups, rarely watching YouTube unless he wants a deep dive. But he cautioned that X is only an asset for those with high skill: rookies risk treating every account as a guru and acting on conflicting signals. His recommended on-ramp for beginners is following credible voices and watching educational content before attempting to act on real-time chatter.
Asked to pick a side — buy when everyone is scared or sell when everyone is greedy — he chose buying fear, precisely because his framework treats Bitcoin as an asset you can buy and never need to sell. And when asked for a single piece of advice, he distilled his nine-year run into three words: "Be delusional." In his framing, a delusional belief in yourself and what you're building is what keeps investors and founders from quitting — the trait, he argued, that gets people the furthest in life.

According to CNBC, Hyundai Motor plans to expand U.S. production at its new vehicle assembly plant in Georgia and expects to lift planned capacity at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America from 500,000 units to between 700,000 and 800,000 units by 2028. CEO José Muñoz said the previously undisclosed increase is part of Hyundai's $26 billion U.S. investment plan through 2028, and the company aims to produce at least 80% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. domestically, up from roughly 40% in 2024. Muñoz said tariffs, including a 15% levy on imports from South Korea, have helped speed up the localization plan. Hyundai said the Georgia site, which began production of the all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9 as well as the Kia Sportage hybrid, is designated to make hybrid and all-electric vehicles for Hyundai, Genesis and Kia.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on X that the U.S. government has discussed plans to accumulate large-scale Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets. According to Odaily, Trump said the U.S. is studying the possibility of increasing its digital asset holdings, but he did not provide details on implementation, funding sources, or a timeline. The U.S. government has previously advanced policies related to a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and markets continue to watch for any further expansion of government allocations to Bitcoin and other crypto assets.

Sui said on X that AftermathFi Perpetual Futures V2 has launched with a rebuilt perpetual futures engine. According to Odaily, two audit reports have also been published, and 15 markets are now open.

According to Jin10, Micron Technology (MU.O) plans to invest more than $250 billion in the United States and create more than 90,000 jobs. It also launched Micron Research Labs, a U.S.-based R&D center focused on long-term innovation, and plans to invest $10 billion over the next decade to shape the future of memory technology and artificial intelligence.

Bitcoin crossed $69,000 for the first time in nearly three months before pulling back to around $68,500, triggering over $1.3 billion in liquidations across the network in a single hour as the move caught leveraged short positions off guard.
The breach of $69,000 marks Bitcoin's highest price since late May and represents a significant technical milestone: the level sits above the CryptoQuant short-term holder realized price of $67,523 and the
The $1.3 billion in one-hour liquidations reflects the scale of leveraged short positioning that had accumulated below the $66,600 inverse head-and-shoulders neckline — the technical level that, when decisively broken, projected a $76,000 measured-move target per Tech Charts analyst Aksel Kibar. Short sellers who had built positions anticipating a neckline failure were forced to cover as Bitcoin cleared $66,600 and continued through $68,500 and $69,000 in rapid succession, with each level's breach triggering additional forced buying that amplified the move.
The pullback to approximately $68,500 from the $69,000 high. Whether $68,500 holds as support or Bitcoin retraces further toward the $66,600 neckline will determine whether the inverse head-and-shoulders breakout is confirmed as a sustained structural move or a false breakout driven primarily by short liquidation cascades.

According to Jin10, the Federal Reserve minutes did not mention any views supporting rate cuts, indicating a clear shift in policy discussions over the past year. At the start of last year, markets had expected the Fed to lower borrowing costs this year as inflation eased, but price pressures kept building, especially after the Trump administration joined Israel's war against Iran. Nearly six months after the conflict began, oil and gas shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz remained restricted. Recent data showed inflation cooling slightly and companies unexpectedly cutting jobs in July, leading markets to expect the Fed to keep policy rates unchanged again at its September 15-16 meeting. The data have left Fed officials divided over whether another rate hike is needed to further curb inflation, while also making them more cautious about the strength of the labor market and the risks to the goal of full employment. Because Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has been unwilling to discuss the monetary policy path during his term, markets lack clear guidance from the Fed chair.

Sui said on X that it is easy for a model to analyze markets, but harder to let the model use funds to execute trades. According to Odaily, @0xbeepit now supports writing strategies into a text file and handing them to an agent for execution. Sui said it can execute independent trades in parallel, so agents do not need to wait behind other users' transactions.

According to Jin10, sources said Anthropic is expected to match or exceed SpaceX's record IPO size, and the company said it could prepare IPO filing documents as early as the end of August. Anthropic's second-quarter revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, and its annualized revenue reached $65 billion in July.

Macro strategist Mark Connors said the U.S. Treasury’s plan to regularly buy back long-term government bonds could become an important catalyst for Bitcoin’s next rally and help create conditions for BTC to reach $180,000. According to Odaily, he said Treasury intervention in the bond market signals that the government is responding to pressure from rising long-term borrowing costs.
Connors said higher U.S. Treasury yields draw money into the bond market and weaken inflows into risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. He said buybacks that support bond prices and lower yields could ease macro pressure on Bitcoin. He expects U.S. Treasury support could expand to $10 billion to $30 billion per month, compared with the current $4 billion.
He also said a further adjustment to the supplementary leverage ratio rule, which would allow banks to hold more U.S. Treasurys, could help drive a breakout in Bitcoin. Connors said Bitcoin would then begin looking for an initial target of $180,000. He added that the current cycle could eventually put Bitcoin in a range of $180,000 to $360,000 by 2030.
Connors said short-term risk still depends on progress on the U.S. CLARITY Act. He said Bitcoin could face pullback pressure if the bill makes no progress before September 15.

Strategy, the company once called MicroStrategy (MSTR), rose 6.9% to $111.14 on Thursday afternoon, its best price since June 18 and enough to erase a two-month slide. According to BeInCrypto, the move came as Bitcoin topped $70,000 for the first time in 78 days, while the SEC proposed Regulation Crypto Assets and the Treasury doubled long-end bond buybacks.
Strategy still holds 840,447 bitcoin at an average cost of $75,385 per coin, leaving its stack about $4.69 billion underwater at $69,803. The company also paused new bitcoin buying after raising $333.7 million last week without adding coins.

According to Wallstreetcn, LME copper futures fell $13 to $14,036 per ton, aluminum fell $22 to $3,205 per ton, zinc rose $52 to $3,760 per ton, lead rose $14 to $1,902 per ton, nickel fell $233 to $16,880 per ton, tin rose $253 to $55,803 per ton, and cobalt was unchanged at $56,290 per ton.

Public Bitcoin miners are spending billions to pursue artificial intelligence and high-performance computing revenue, but returns have not kept pace with the scale of investment. BlocksBridge Consulting said in its latest Miner Weekly newsletter that a group of 15 Bitcoin miners and AI data-center companies spent a combined $30.7 billion on capital assets in their latest 2026 reporting periods, which is already 42.6% more than the $21.53 billion they spent throughout 2025. According to Cointelegraph, the figures highlight how expensive it is for miners to diversify beyond Bitcoin mining and build businesses around AI and HPC infrastructure. Among Bitcoin miners specifically, the gap remains wide: nine comparable miners spent $5.11 billion on capital assets during the first half of 2026 while reporting just $341.2 million in directly disclosed AI and HPC revenue, a roughly 15-to-1 capex-to-revenue ratio. BlocksBridge said its capital spending estimate is based on cash purchases and allocations to hardware, property, equipment and other productive assets, after accounting for proceeds and refunds from asset sales.
Despite the spending gap, AI and HPC revenue is rising. The nine miners generated $205.8 million from those businesses in the second quarter, up 52% quarter-on-quarter, with Core Scientific, TeraWulf and Bitdeer among the companies reporting gains. BlocksBridge said power contracts and available land may give miners an initial advantage, but turning those assets into AI-ready capacity still requires substations, buildings, cooling systems, networking equipment and, in some business models, GPUs. It remains unclear whether Bitcoin’s latest price recovery will ease pressure on companies that still operate sizable mining businesses. Bitcoin has surged more than 13% this week and climbed back above $72,000 after the US Treasury said it would at least double the maximum size of its long-term bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation, a move aimed at improving liquidity in the Treasury market that initially pushed yields lower and boosted risk appetite. In another sign of the shift toward AI and HPC, CoinShares announced a strategy change for its industry tracking exchange-traded fund this week. The fund, now branded the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining and Digital Power ETF (WGMI), has $222.4 million in assets under management and now includes 29 holdings across bitcoin miners, data center operators, AI semiconductors, power generation and HPC, which CoinShares describes as businesses powering the digital economy.

According to Jin10, foreign central bank holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell by $10.671 billion in the week to August 14, compared with a previous reading of minus $34.257 billion.

BitcoinTreasuries.NET said on X that Strive's SATA has raised enough funds today to buy 200 bitcoin. According to Odaily, the post said the product returned to par on its first day and that its digital credit engine is operating at full capacity.

Christine Hunsicker, founder of fashion-rental and technology company CaaStle Inc., was sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding investors out of $300 million, according to Bloomberg.
The case involved investor losses tied to the company she founded.

According to Wallstreetcn, a key measure of U.S. housing affordability worsened for the first time in nearly three years as higher borrowing costs consumed a larger share of income for new homebuyers. Data released Thursday by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo showed that in the second quarter, monthly payments on a median-priced $410,700 home accounted for 34% of typical household income, up from 32% in the first quarter and reversing some of the improvement recorded since early 2025.

US Treasuries fell a day after the Trump administration unexpectedly increased buybacks of longer-dated bonds, suggesting the move did little to ease concerns about rising government debt. Bloomberg posted on X, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that "anything that happens within a 24-hour period is noise."

Abbott Laboratories agreed to pay $670 million to settle lawsuits alleging it hid the risk that its infant formula for premature babies can cause a deadly bowel disease, according to Bloomberg.

According to Wallstreetcn, of the S&P 500 Index's 11 sectors, consumer staples fell 1.93%, health care dropped 1.89%, consumer discretionary declined 1.77%, communication services lost 0.71%, information technology fell 0.39%, real estate rose 0.15%, and energy gained 0.38%.

Moderna (MRNA) jumped sharply after Leerink raised its 2032 sales estimate by about $200 million and the company said a Phase 3 readout hit its endpoints. The stock also benefited from heavy short interest and a prior selloff, according to BeInCrypto, with shorts facing about $4.8 billion in mark-to-market losses. Analysts now see a wide valuation range, while detailed trial data are expected around the ESMO Congress in Madrid, October 23-27.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked Canada’s provinces to end bans on the retail sale of US alcoholic beverages, according to Bloomberg.
The move is described as a necessary step to getting a trade deal with US President Donald Trump across the finish line.

According to Wallstreetcn, Oxford Economics analyst John Canavan said this week's four-week and eight-week U.S. Treasury bill auctions were strongly bid, and that the Treasury Department's announcement of increased long-end curve buybacks could lead to a small offsetting increase in Treasury bill issuance, but not enough to significantly weaken demand. He also said lower expectations for Federal Reserve rate hikes and the elevated level of money market fund assets, along with their shortening duration, remain supportive for short-term Treasury bills.

A dronemaker backed by US President Donald Trump’s sons signed a $22.3 million deal to sell counter-drone detection equipment to a Gulf-based energy company, according to Bloomberg.
The agreement comes as private firms seek protection amid fallout from the Iran war.

According to CNBC, bond yields edged higher on Thursday morning after the Treasury Department said it planned to increase purchases of longer-dated government debt, and a CNBC Pro screen of the S&P 1500 found energy stocks had the strongest negative 60-day correlations to the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT). ConocoPhillips had the strongest inverse relationship at negative 0.65, followed by Permian Resources and ExxonMobil at negative 0.61 each. Chord Energy and Chevron each posted negative 0.59 correlations, while Devon Energy was at negative 0.58 and Occidental Petroleum at negative 0.57. SM Energy and Ovintiv each came in at negative 0.56, and EOG Resources and Viper Energy were at negative 0.55. APA, Diamondback Energy and Matador Resources also moved opposite TLT. LyondellBasell had a negative 0.51 correlation and Dow was at negative 0.49.

According to Jin10, U.S. crude oil futures settled at $87.83 per barrel, up $2.00, or 2.33%.

Moderna and Merck said on Wednesday that their personalized mRNA neoantigen therapy intismeran autogene, combined with Keytruda, met the primary recurrence-free survival endpoint and the key distant metastasis-free survival secondary endpoint in a Phase III trial in resected high-risk melanoma. According to Sina Finance, this was the first positive Phase III readout for a personalized neoantigen therapy and for an mRNA cancer therapy.
Moderna shares surged 176.97% on Wednesday to $174.38, adding about $44 billion in market value, before falling 23.55% on Thursday to $133.31 on volume of about 97.36 million shares. The company said the trial enrolled 1,137 patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV cutaneous melanoma who had not received prior systemic therapy, and that overall survival was not yet mature.

According to Wallstreetcn, retailers' earnings reports this week painted a mixed picture of U.S. consumers and how major chains are navigating the current spending environment, with Target and Walmart both reporting sales growth while saying consumers remained cautious partly because of rising gasoline prices. Target said same-store sales rose 3.8% in the latest quarter, marking a second straight quarter of solid growth after years of weak quarterly results.