1. The U.S. plans to further upgrade sanctions against Iran, and Iran warns it will respond with a “devastating” measure.

Iran warned on Friday that if the United States issues new threats, it will face a “devastating” response. Previously, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the U.S. would further escalate economic sanctions against Iran and plans to release specific measures next Monday. The goal is to intensify economic pressure on Tehran without significantly driving up oil prices. Iran has branded the related sanctions as “economic terrorism.” Meanwhile, the U.S.’s intensified pressure on Iran’s oil exports has begun to disrupt shipments to China and has heightened market concerns about global energy supply.

2. Pakistan’s virtual asset licensing regime has officially started. Existing service providers must apply for an NOC by September 5.

Pakistan’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) announced that the virtual asset licensing regime has officially launched. According to Article 70 of the (Virtual Assets Act, 2026), existing virtual asset service providers must submit an NOC application by September 5; otherwise, they must cease operations. PVARA has also opened a sandbox and other licensing pathways, catering to different types of virtual asset service providers and new applicants.

3. Data: Strategy’s BTC has broken even and realized an approximately $192 million unrealized profit on its books

The data shows that Strategy holds 840,447 BTC at an average cost of $75,385. Based on the current Bitcoin price of $75,613, Strategy has broken even and recorded an unrealized profit of approximately $192 million on its books. BitMine holds 5,815,164 ETH at an average cost of $3,366. Based on the current Ethereum price of $2,370, BitMine is currently down by approximately $5.792 billion on its books.

4. RWA public chain MANTRA Chain pauses the network due to an incident of unknown cause; all transactions and endpoints are frozen

MANTRA Chain, an RWA Layer 1 blockchain, stated that the network experienced an incident whose cause has not yet been identified. The team has taken preventive measures by pausing blockchain operations; all endpoints and transactions are currently frozen. The team said that deposits and withdrawals related to MANTRA Chain are temporarily affected. The team added that it is currently unable to provide the root cause of the incident or the expected time for recovery, and will release updates after confirming more information. MANTRA Chain focuses on compliant RWA tokenization and previously completed a $11 million funding round. In 2025, it launched a $108.8 million MANTRA Ecosystem Fund, with partners such as Laser Digital and Brevan Howard Digital as both capital and strategic partners.

5. The New York Times: Two Binance employees were recently detained by police in the UAE and have now all been released

According to The New York Times, two Binance employees were recently detained by police in the UAE as part of an investigation into potential financial crimes, and another executive at Binance’s Dubai subsidiary was questioned by police in July. It is still unclear what the authorities are specifically investigating. Binance responded that the relevant employees only provided statements as part of routine inquiries concerning third-party fund flows, and were not the target or subject of the investigation, and that all have been released. The report said Binance had contacted UAE government officials this month for assistance and expressed concern about the safety of its employees.