Cardano and Solana expose competing risks in on-chain governance
Cardano and Solana are testing competing on-chain governance models through simultaneous votes. Cardano's committee renewal had 43% DRep support on Aug. 26, below the required threshold. Stake pool operator support stood at 15.1%, also below its requirement. Solana's SGP-0002 result remains unclear because public rules set different quorum standards.
Jim Cramer named PepsiCo as his next stock idea and highlighted its roughly 4% dividend yield. He based the idea on falling oil prices and his view that inflation is peaking. Cramer said the idea remains a screening result rather than a formal position.
Michael Burry added to his Nvidia short and bought December call options as a hedge. His short stock positions now exceed 21% of his portfolio, excluding puts. Burry also disclosed new shorts in Oracle, Palantir, Nebius, and Caterpillar.
The Bank of Korea raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 3% in its second consecutive increase. Core inflation reached 2.6% in July, the highest since December 2023. Seoul apartment transaction prices rose 2.50% in June from May, the steepest monthly gain since June 2021.
StarkWare says first quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction succeeds
StarkWare says it completed the first quantum-resistant Bitcoin transaction. The method uses signature grinding to reduce the exposure of public key data while transactions wait for confirmation. The transaction required direct delivery to a miner because ordinary Bitcoin nodes would ignore its unusual format.
Nvidia analyst says record results are not “impressive enough” as chips sell out
Nvidia reported second-quarter results that beat estimates, with current-quarter guidance of $108 billion above the $103.9 billion expected. Seaport Research Partners analyst Jay Goldberg said Nvidia's sold-out chip supply leaves little room for further upside this year. UBS analyst Tim Arcuri sees the results supporting Nvidia's earnings path into 2027 and 2028.
Solana cuts mainnet slot target to 350ms in first speed step
Solana cut its mainnet target slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds in its first staged speed change. The new timing took effect when epoch 1020 began on Aug. 21 after a one-epoch delay under SIMD-0525. Trillium measured a 365.4ms slot-weighted mean in post-change epoch 1021, compared with 420.7ms in pre-change epoch 1015. The next 300ms stage remained pending as of Aug. 26.
The SEC submitted a proposed crypto custody rule overhaul to the White House review office on Aug. 25. The proposal could clarify how investment advisers and investment companies hold digital assets for clients.
SHRINCS BIP published to make Bitcoin quantum-secure, with risks
Blockstream published a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal for its SHRINCS signature scheme to make Bitcoin quantum-secure. SHRINCS signatures range from 548 bytes to 4,619 bytes and could support about 3 transactions per second. The proposal warns that its security proof is incomplete and that the design introduces additional complexity.
Bitcoin trades between $75,000 and $80,000 before Friday expiry
Bitcoin is trading between $75,000 and $80,000 ahead of a Deribit settlement involving roughly 81,700 options worth about $6.4 billion. Reported call exposure is concentrated at the $75,000 and $80,000 strikes. Unclear dealer positioning leaves open the possibility of price pinning or an accelerated move through either level.
21Shares changes names, pricing and fees for five crypto ETFs
21Shares made three changes to five crypto ETFs covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin and Polkadot. Two funds received new names on August 25. All five funds will switch to FTSE indices for share valuations on Thursday, August 27. 21Shares will also collect sponsor fees at least quarterly instead of weekly.
Multi-vendor multisig gains support as single-sig faces scrutiny
Bitcoin self-custody advocates are recommending multi-vendor multisig after a Coldcard entropy bug linked to more than $100 million in bitcoin losses. The approach uses keys from different wallet vendors to reduce dependence on one manufacturer. Nick Neuman claimed that 233k bitcoins moved to safety after the Coldcard hack.
Avalanche Treasury approved a $10 million Class A share-repurchase program after reporting a $44.7 million second-quarter loss. About $35.7 million of the loss was linked to AVAX. The company disclosed no completed purchases.
Elon Musk said xAI will make users whole if Grok Bot loses money while managing their bank accounts. A Tesla and xAI investor asked whether anyone had connected Grok Bot to a bank account. xAI's consumer terms cap most claims at the fees paid or $100, whichever is greater.
AI data center backlash is being politically weaponized ahead of midterms
Ankur Crawford warned that the AI data center backlash could become a defining midterm issue. Crawford said political resistance to new data center capacity threatens Nvidia's growth assumptions through 2029. Political ads in Texas, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania blame both parties for electricity bills tied to data center construction.
The S&P 500 edged lower despite NVIDIA reporting $96.2 billion in revenue and July core PCE inflation matching forecasts. NVIDIA's revenue exceeded roughly $92 billion in consensus estimates. NVIDIA reported earnings per share of $2.22 against a $2.09 estimate. Core PCE rose 0.2% month over month and 3.3% year over year.
Okta, Salesforce, CrowdStrike and Veeva outgain Nvidia after Q2 beats
Okta, Salesforce, CrowdStrike and Veeva Systems gained more than Nvidia in after-hours trading after their quarterly results beat Wall Street forecasts. Nvidia gained 4% after hours after reporting fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue above estimates. Okta raised its full-year earnings and revenue guidance.
SEC starts work on U.S. crypto custody rule after earlier failure
The SEC has begun initial work on a proposed U.S. crypto custody rule after an earlier effort failed under Gary Gensler's chairmanship. The agency sent the concept this week to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The proposal is expected to be friendlier to the industry and aims to remove burdens from existing regulations.
Baylor Genetics breach exposes data of 2.8 million people nationwide
Baylor Genetics disclosed a network intrusion that affected 2,810,878 people. The exposed data may have included medical and personal information, including Social Security numbers for a limited subset of patients. The company said it found no confirmed identity theft, fraud or misuse linked to the incident.
Russian network used ChatGPT to masquerade as academic experts
A network originating in Russia used ChatGPT to promote the International Burke Institute, which presented itself as an academic institute. OpenAI banned accounts whose operators generated mostly English social media posts and comments with Russian-language prompts. The campaign reached relatively small audiences, although associated Telegram channels had up to 20,000 followers each.