🔥 Jury Convicts Las Vegas Man of $24M AI Crypto Mining Ponzi Scheme.
Source: Decrypt/ShutterstockCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief A federal jury has convicted Brent Kovar of defrauding at least 400 investors of $24 million through his company Profit Connect. He promised fixed returns of 15% to 30% a year, a full money-back guarantee, and reserves of hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto. The SEC shut the company down in 2021, when it put the losses at half that figure.
A federal jury in Las Vegas has convicted a business owner of running a $24 million cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that took money from at least 400 investors, the Justice Department said on Monday. Kovar owned Profit Connect, a Las Vegas company that from late 2017 until July 2021 claimed to run artificial intelligence software on a supercomputer that mined cryptocurrency and verified transactions on other networks. Investors were promised a fixed return of 15% to 30% a year and a full money-back guarantee, and told the company was backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto reserves.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 US Can Now Sanction Anyone Operating in Iran's Crypto Sector.
Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief OFAC has issued a sectoral determination covering digital assets, letting it sanction any person worldwide who operates in that part of Iran's economy. It is one of five determinations issued at once, and builds on earlier ones covering Iran's financial and petroleum sectors. Among nearly 60 designations, one shadow fleet broker is accused of processing more than $100 million in crypto payments for the IRGC's Qods Force. Treasury has given itself the power to sanction anyone in the world operating in Iran's digital asset sector, part of a campaign announced Monday that Secretary Scott Bessent has dubbed Economic D-Day.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control issued five sectoral determinations under Executive Order 13902, covering digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. The digital assets determination means OFAC can now designate any foreign person operating in or providing services to that sector, regardless of where they are based, a reach it previously held over Iran's financial and petroleum industries. Today, at President Trumps direction, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has begun Operation Economic Outcast: an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its enablers.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Franklin Templeton's Tokenized Treasury Fund Lands on HashKey.
Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief HashKey Exchange has begun distributing Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund, grBENJI, through its Earn channel. government money market instruments and dollar cash, with returns tracking short-term Treasury yields. The product is restricted to professional investors, with no offering to the public in Hong Kong. Franklin Templeton has begun distributing its tokenized money market fund through HashKey Exchange, giving the Hong Kong platform's clients access to a blockchain-wrapped pool of U.S.
Government Liquidity Fund, traded as grBENJI, invests primarily in U.S. government money market instruments and dollar cash assets, and is now available on HashKey's Earn channel. Franklin Templeton manages $1.8 trillion in assets and has run a tokenized version of the fund since 2021, when it became the first U.S.-registered mutual fund to use a public blockchain to record share ownership. The product is available to professional investors only and is not available for offering to the public in Hong Kong.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 AI Model Ox Alpha Is Free, Beats Claude Fable, and Nobody Knows Who Built It.
A viral claim that Ox Alpha beats Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol on DeepSWE came from a 10-task sample; two separate full 113-task runs landed near 63%, roughly level with GPT-5.6 Sol. Google, Xiaomi, DeepSeek, and Microsoft's MAI were all floated as the model behind it; but the most popular theory points to Zhipu AI's GLM-5.3 family. AI enthusiasts are getting very excited about an AI model called Ox Alpha, which appeared on OpenRouter on August 20 with no company name attached.
The listing describes it as a reasoning model designed for coding, sustained agentic work, and production workloads, built by a third-party provider that has chosen to stay anonymous during the preview. What's more, the mystery AI model already tops Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol on impressive coding benchmarks. DeepSWEa benchmark that scores how often a coding agent resolves real GitHub issues correctly on its first attempt, measured as a percentage of tasks passed across 113 tasks pulled from 91 repositoriesshows that Ox Alpha is competitive against the best models.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Hyperliquid Hits Record High as $1.2 Billion Token Unlock Looms.
Image: DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief A scheduled unlock will release 14,175,778 Hyperliquid tokens on August 29, worth about $1.2 billion at current prices. The release equals 1.4% of total supply and 2.7% of HYPE's market capitalization. Nearly 47% of the unlocked tokens go to insiders the largest single share of this release. Hyperliquid, the layer-1 blockchain and perpetual futures exchange, is on a tearand investors in the projects native token HYPE are reaping the benefits. Hyperliquid, which trades as HYPE, touched an all-time high of $83.27 on Sunday before slipping to around $77.50, data from CoinGecko shows.
The token's market cap sits near $19.5 billion. That run-up, though, is about to collide with a supply release the tracking site Tokenomics.com lists as the largest of Hyperliquid's monthly unlocks. Every month since the November 2024 launch, Hyperliquid has freed a slice of its 1 billion-token supply on a fixed calendar. The August 29 event is the fourth in a row to send tokens to three recipient groups: community, foundation, and insiders. Insiders (the early investors) take the largest single share of this release46.6%, against 46.3% for the community (grants, rewards, airdrops, etc.) and 7% for the Hyper Foundation.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs Grew $23 Billion Last WeekOnly $2.6 Billion Was New Money.
Image: DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs added $2.6 billion in net inflows for the week ending August 21, their best week since October 2025, while total assets under management jumped roughly $23 billion. Bitcoin ETF assets rose 25.4% to $96.1 billion and Ethereum ETF assets rose 35.9% to $14.3 billion, according to SoSoValue data. Bitcoin gained about 24% and Ethereum about 30% during the week after the Treasury doubled a bond-buyback program and a short squeeze wiped out billions in bearish bets. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs picked up roughly $23 billion in total value last week. Only $2.6 billion of that came from new money.
Everything else came from Bitcoin and Ethereum simply getting more expensive. That distinction may get lost in the euphoria of a market rally. A crypto fund's total valuewhat's called assets under management, or AUMgrows for two separate reasons: fresh cash coming in the door, or the coins already sitting inside becoming worth more. Last week, almost all of the growth was the second kind. Spot Bitcoin ETFs added $1.92 billion in net inflows for the week ending August 21, while Ethereum funds took in $697.2 million. Combined, that $2.6 billion was the strongest week for both fund categories since October 2025, when Bitcoin was closing in on its all-time high.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Bitmine Buys Another $81M in Ethereum as ETH Outperforms Bitcoin.
Image: Andr Beganski/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Tom Lee's Bitmine bought another 32,447 ETH, worth roughly $81 million, last week. Bitmine says its 5.85 million ETH represents about 4.8% of the supply. The price of Ethereum is up more than 30% in the last week. Bitmine Immersion Technologies is another step closer to its goal of owning 5% of Ethereums supply after buying another 32,447 ETH, worth roughly $81 million, last week. The company said Monday that it held 5,847,611 ETH, worth around $15 billion as of August 23. With Ethereums supply at approximately 120.7 million tokens, the 5% mark is about 6.04 million ETH.
That puts Bitmine roughly 187,000 ETH short of its goal. Bitmine's latest buy comes amid renewed interest and excitement in the crypto market, with the price of Ethereum exploding over the last week. ETH is up a whopping 31.5% in the last seven days, outperforming even Bitcoin's impressive gains of nearly 24% in the last week. ETH is currently trading for just under $2,500, up almost 3% in the last day alone. Sentiment around the asset has shifted on prediction markets as well. On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, traders are now pricing in 64% odds that Ethereum hits $3K before dropping down to $1.5K.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
Source: Decrypt/TwitterCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Strategy has not bought Bitcoin since June, and has now gone a second straight week without selling any either. It raised $2.01 billion net selling MSTR stock, six times the previous week's total. Most of that went into USD Cash, a newly created pool the company said may be used to acquire Bitcoin. Strategy raised just over $2 billion selling its own shares last week without touching its Bitcoin, according to an 8-K filed Monday, and put most of the proceeds into a liquidity account it created the same day.
The Bitcoin treasury company sold 18,261,118 MSTR shares for $2.01 billion net, an average of about $109.88 each, against $96.48 a week earlier. Of that, $136.4 million went to buying back STRC preferred stock and $300 million into its dollar reserve, with the remaining $1.57 billion going into the new account. Strategy increased USD Reserve to $5.10B, established additional USD Cash of $1.59B, and repurchased $136M of $STRC . As of 8/23/26: Strategy holds ~4% of Total BTC Supply and has ~0% Net Leverage.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Saylors Strategy Back in Green As BTC Soars to $78k.
Morning Minute: Saylors Strategy Back in Green As BTC Soars to $78k Price data by DecryptNewsOpinionMorning Minute: Saylors Strategy Back in Green As BTC Soars to $78kBitcoin just closed its biggest weekly candle of all time in notional value, and 10 alt leaders put up 50%+ gains in massive crypto rebound.By Tyler WarnerEdited by Stephen GravesAug 24, 2026Aug 24, 20265 min readMichael Saylor. Source: DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Strategy Is Back in the Green on Bitcoin for the First Time Since July Strategy holds 840,447 Bitcoin bought at an average price of $75,385, a position that spent most of the summer deep underwater. Bitcoins five-day run past $78,000 pushed the company back in the green.
At $78,400, the stack is worth about $65.89 billion against $63.36 billion paid, an unrealized gain near $2.53 billion, or 4.0%. That's a swing of roughly $15.5 billion in six weeks. In July, with Bitcoin near $58,000, the position was about $13B in the red. MSTR closed Friday at $119.25, up 27.4% on the month and its highest level in two months, though still 67% below its 52-week high of $365.21. Of course, this reversal comes after Saylor did what he said he wouldnt.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Pakistan Sets September 5 Deadline for Crypto Firms to Register.
Image: Decrypt/UnsplashCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Pakistan's virtual assets regulator has opened its licensing portal, with firms operating on or before March 5 required to file for a No Objection Certificate by September 5 or cease operations. The Virtual Assets Act 2026 sets out 11 license categories covering exchanges, custody, lending, derivatives, stablecoin issuance and mining. Applicants must register a company in Pakistan and clear the Financial Monitoring Unit before a license application. Crypto firms serving customers in Pakistan have less than a fortnight to begin the country's new licensing process or shut down, under a deadline set by the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.
Companies already providing virtual asset services on or before March 5 this year, when the law commenced, are classed as transitional persons and must submit an application for a No Objection Certificate by September 5. Operating without submitting an application after that date is an offense, PVARA said, citing Section 70 of the Virtual Assets Act 2026. The portal is also open for full licenses and for a regulatory sandbox. Chairman Bilal bin Saqib announced the regulations in a televised address on Saturday, telling reporters the framework would protect investors from fraud and bring the market under the rule of law.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 AI Has Made Bitcoin Software a TargetThis Group Is Fighting Back.
Source: Decrypt/ShutterstockCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief In an interview with Decrypt, Bitcoin Red Team member Calle said Chinese AI models are used far more than U.S. models for security research because American models often block cybersecurity-related requests. The group has proactively scanned much of Bitcoin's significant open-source ecosystem and works directly with projects to identify and fix vulnerabilities. Calle warned that AI allows people without advanced security expertise to carry out exploits from beginning to end.
AI is putting powerful hacking capabilities in the hands of people with little cybersecurity expertise, forcing crypto developers into a race to find vulnerabilities before attackers exploit them. One group taking on that challenge is the Bitcoin Red Team, whose pseudonymous member and Bitcoin software developer Calle said formed as an emergency effort to find AI-assisted security threats across the Bitcoin ecosystem. At this point, it is a question about time, Calle, who helps maintain the open-source protocol Cashu, told Decrypt. The reason why the Bitcoin Red Team exists right now is because we need to get ahead of the attackers as fast as possible. The Bitcoin Red Team consists of about 20 to 25 volunteers, according to Calle, many of whom prefer to remain pseudonymous, such as Bitcoin privacy protocol developers Stu, Talip, and fellow Cashu dev thesimplekid.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Coldcard Adds New Security Measures After $130 Million Bitcoin Exploit.
Image: DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Coinkite released new Coldcard firmware after a seed-generation flaw exposed users to more than $100 million in Bitcoin thefts. Coldcard now requires users to add randomness through key presses, dice rolls, or coin flips when generating new seeds. A three-week review also uncovered issues involving transaction signing, USB connections, backups, and other wallet functions. Coldcard maker Coinkite has released a security overhaul for its Bitcoin hardware wallets after a seed-generation flaw allowed attackers to steal more than $100 million in Bitcoin.
In a blog post on Thursday, Coinkite urged Coldcard Mk4, Mk5, and Q users to upgrade to firmware 5.6.1 or 1.5.1Q. The release follows a three-week review of Coldcard's systems that included outside security researchers and AI models including Kimi. We are grateful to the security researchers who went above and beyond over the past weeks, reporting issues, reproducing edge cases, and reviewing our fixes, the company wrote. Their work put this firmware under intense, sustained scrutiny and made this release stronger. In July, attackers began draining Bitcoin from air-gapped Coldcard wallets after exploiting a firmware flaw dating to 2021 that generated some wallet seeds with too little randomness, making their private keys easier to guess.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Wall Street and Washington Fuel Bitcoin Rally: Here's What's Going On.
Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Bitcoin surged above $79,000 Friday as ETF inflows, macro conditions and developments in Washington boosted demand. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $1 billion over two days as institutional demand picked up. Billions of dollars in short positions were liquidated as Bitcoin rallied, accelerating the move higher. Bitcoin surged above $79,000 Friday as renewed institutional buying, improving macro conditions and a friendlier regulatory outlook in Washington collided with billions of dollars in short liquidations. The rally has pushed Bitcoin sharply higher this week, but analysts say the move began taking shape before the latest breakout.
Bitcoin's move looks like a convergence of three forces, Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Decrypt. Those forces, Zhang said, include a more supportive macro backdrop, declining regulatory risk in Washington and stronger spot demand. Zhang pointed to the Treasury's expanded long-dated buyback plan, which she said weakened the dollar and revived the debasement trade across Bitcoin and gold. At the same time, the administration of Donald Trump pushed for crypto market-structure legislation, which helped reduce regulatory uncertainty. The third piece, spot demand, has been reflected in renewed ETF buying.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
Price data by DecryptNewsCoinsSolana Just Got FasterIs It Bullish for SOL?Solana has activated the first reduction in its block timing since launch, speeding up transactions on the network.By Jose Antonio LanzEdited by Guillermo JimenezAug 21, 2026Aug 21, 20264 min readSolana is one of the top crypto assets by market cap. Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief The Agave v4.2 client turned on the first 50ms slot-time cut, from 400ms to 350ms, this week. I- t's step one of four under the approved SIMD-0525 proposal, each gated to a later epoch so the network can pause if block-skip rates rise. Solana's goal is a 2x faster confirmation and tighter leader windows that double as a censorship-resistance measure.
The speedy Solana network just got faster, upgrading the way transactions on the network are processed for the first time since genesis. What it means is applications on Solana will now confirm transactions a bit quickerincreasing the efficiency of its internet capital markets across the network. Does it bode well for investors in the networks native token SOL? First, heres what the upgrade does, from a technical perspective: Solana validators running the Agave v4.2 client flipped on the first of four scheduled slot-time reductions this week, dropping the network's base timing from 400ms to 350ms, meaning confirmations now take a lot less.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Washington Goes All-In on Crypto: Trump Pushes Clarity, SEC Rules, and CFTC Warnings.
Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief In a packed week, Trump hosted crypto executives at the White House and pressed Congress to pass a fair version of the Clarity Acta nod to disputed ethics provisions he says single him out. At the CFTC's inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting, Chairman Mike Selig framed the bill as protection against another Gary Gensler but warned that if Clarity stalls over Democratic obstruction, the agency will use existing authorities to build its own crypto regime, having already directed staff to explore rules. The SEC formally proposed Regulation Crypto Assetsallowing certain offerings up to $5 million over four years or $75 million annually without full registration, plus a conditional safe harbor.
Washingtons usual August lull disappeared this week. The SEC unveiled its first crypto-specific rulemaking proposal on Tuesday, President Donald Trump hosted industry executives at the White House on Wednesday, and the CFTC convened the inaugural meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on Thursday. President Trump had a clear message for the crypto execs invited to the oval office: Pass the Clarity Act Industry executives left Wednesdays White House meeting with renewed optimism about the Clarity Acts prospects.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Strategy Swings From $13 Billion Bitcoin Loss to $1.4 Billion Profit as BTC Rallies.
Image: Swan Bitcoin/YouTube/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Strategy is sitting on roughly $1.4 billion in unrealized gains on its Bitcoin holdings. The company holds 840,447 BTC acquired at an average price of $75,385. Bitcoin's rally follows months of pressure that pushed Strategy's position roughly $13 billion underwater in July. Michael Saylors Bitcoin treasury company Strategy is back in the black on its massive Bitcoin holdings after a five-day rally pushed BTC above the company's average acquisition price. The company holds 840,447 BTC, worth around $64.97 billion.
With Bitcoin trading around $77,000, Strategy is sitting on an unrealized gain of roughly $1.4 billion, or 2.4%. The turnaround is a sharp reversal from July, when Bitcoin fell to roughly $58,000, and Strategy's holdings were about $13 billion underwater. Bitcoin remains well below its October all-time high of $126,000. Strategy shares rose roughly 10% in Friday pre-market trading to $120, their highest level in two months. The rebound follows a shift in how Strategy manages its Bitcoin treasury.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Bitcoin ETFs Just Had Their Biggest Day Since MayBlackRock Took 83% of It.
spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $606 million Thursday, the biggest haul since May. And altcoin funds finally showed up too.By Jose Antonio LanzEdited by Guillermo JimenezAug 21, 2026Aug 21, 20264 min readBitcoin ETF. Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $606.29 million on August 20, their largest single-day haul since May 1 and a fourth straight day of inflows. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for $502.99 million of thatabout 83%, up from 55% the day before, while VanEck's HODL posted an outflow. Ethereum funds added $221 million, XRP $13 million, and Solana $15 million, with every listed asset drawing money.
spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $606.29 million on Thursday, their biggest single-day haul since May 1, according to SoSoValue. That beats Wednesday's $517.19 million and extends the inflow streak to four sessions. The four-day run$297.56 million Monday, $189.30 million Tuesday, then Wednesday and Thursdaycomes to roughly $1.61 billion in all. August now stands at $2.07 billion, the best month of 2026, beating April's $$1.97 billion, with seven trading sessions left to close the gap. Bitcoin ETFs are financial instruments that give investors exposure to an asset without directly owning it. In the case of Bitcoin ETFs, the issuer of the fund holds the coin, and the investor owns a 1:1 equivalent, gaining exposure to the price of Bitcoin in real time.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 XRP Erases Its Most Bearish SignalAnd the Ripple-Linked Coin Is Flying.
Today it closed above both moving averages for the first time since the pattern formed.By Jose Antonio LanzEdited by Guillermo JimenezAug 21, 2026Aug 21, 20264 min readXRP. Image: Decrypt/ShutterstockCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief XRP jumped as much as 14.21% in 24 hours to $1.40, making it the best-performing asset among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap today. The daily candle closed above both the 50-day and 200-day EMAs for the first time since XRP's death cross locked in earlier this month. The move rides the same Bitcoin short squeeze and Treasury-driven liquidity wave that's been ripping through crypto all week. Crypto is having one of its best weeks in months, and XRP just grabbed the wheel.
Bitcoin punched through $72,000 this week on the back of a record short squeezetraders who bet on lower prices getting forced to buy back at higher ones, which pushes the price up even furtherfueled by a U.S. Treasury plan to nearly double its long-bond buybacks starting September 9. Today Bitcon is trading above $77,000 with an intraday high of $79,000. Traders have nicknamed the move QE Lite, since loosening bond markets this way echoes the old Federal Reserve stimulus playbook even though it's coming from a different part of government. Risk assets across the board caught the bid.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
🔥 Bitcoin Climbs Higher as $1.2 Billion in Shorts Liquidated.
Image: Shutterstock/DecryptCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.In brief Bitcoin climbed 7.9% over 24 hours to around $77,137up 23.2% on the weekafter touching an intraday high of $79,320. The rally triggered a short squeeze, with CoinGlass logging about $1.5 billion in total crypto liquidations across 178,777 traders in 24 hoursroughly $1.21 billion of it in shorts. The surge follows a week of bullish Washington sentiment, including Trump backing the Clarity Act and signaling regulators are working to bring Hyperliquid onshore.. Bitcoin extended its rally on Friday, punishing traders who had bet against it and wiping out more than a billion dollars in bearish positions.
The largest cryptocurrency changed hands around $77,137, up 7.9% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data, after touching an intraday high of $79,320. The move capped a strong week that left Bitcoin up 23.2% over seven days, even as it remained down roughly 31.8% from a year ago. The surge steamrolled leveraged short sellers. CoinGlass data showed about $1.5 billion in total crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours across 178,777 traders, with short positions accounting for roughly $1.21 billion of that sum.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.
Morning Minute: CFTC Will Give Crypto Clarity If Congress Wont Price data by DecryptNewsOpinionMorning Minute: CFTC Will Give Crypto Clarity If Congress WontMeanwhile crypto majors and alts continue to soar, with BTC nearing $80k and alts like Pump and ZEC putting up big candles.By Tyler WarnerEdited by Stephen GravesAug 21, 2026Aug 21, 20264 min readCFTC. Source: Decrypt/ShutterstockCreate an account to save your articles.Add on GoogleAdd Decrypt as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. CFTC Chair Says Hell Write Crypto Rules Himself If Congress Wont The Clarity Act has been stuck in the Senate since lawmakers left for August recess without a procedural vote, still short of the roughly six Democratic votes it needs to clear 60.
On Thursday, CFTC Chair Michael Selig told a room full of crypto executives that if the bill stays stuck, his agency will build the framework without them. If Clarity continues to stall because of Democrat obstruction, the CFTC will utilize its existing authorities to begin establishing a regime for crypto asset markets, Selig said at the inaugural meeting of the agencys Innovation Advisory Committee. Staff have been directed to explore rules codifying a CFTC market structure for digital assets, and Selig said hell direct them to formally propose those rules if Congress doesnt move. Rest assured, I will direct CFTC staff to move swiftly. With this new framework, existing CFTC registrants and currently unregistered crypto exchanges could both come under agency oversight.
❓ What's your take is this the start of a bigger move or just noise? Drop it below.