Assemble AI

Bitcoin is on track for its best August since 2017 after rising more than 24% this month. Bitcoin was trading near $78,400 as crude oil rose above $90 a barrel after US strikes on Iranian targets and Iran's retaliation in Jordan. Bitcoin also recovered after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish address that lifted the implied probability of a 25-basis-point September rate hike to 60%.

Sony argued in an August 21 federal filing that no reasonable consumer believes they own digital games bought through the PlayStation Store. Four California PlayStation customers filed the proposed class action in June. The customers allege that the store's purchase buttons violate a California disclosure law that took effect in January 2025.

Kalshi permanently banned former U.S. Representative George Santos over allegedly manipulative trades that earned him about $18,000 from betting on his own appearance at Trump's State of the Union speech. The ban is part of wider industry efforts to address abuse on prediction market platforms. Polymarket is also reportedly focused on bad actors who may try to manipulate midterm elections.

Strategy resumed bitcoin purchases last week by buying nearly $370 million of bitcoin. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing said Strategy bought 4,603 bitcoins from August 24 to August 30. Strategy had paused purchases in June while it built a cash buffer and bought back stock.

GameStop stock climbed about 4% after the company paid $358.4 million in cash to stop a share count that could have continued to grow. The payment freezes the deal at roughly 55.5 million new shares, or about 12% of GameStop's 448.7 million shares outstanding. Roughly $2.8 billion of the original $4.2 billion convertible debt remains outstanding.

Intercontinental Exchange and tZERO agreed to collaborate on infrastructure for tokenized securities markets. tZERO will serve as a design partner for ICE's upcoming NYSE-affiliated tokenized securities platform. ICE will invest in tZERO's latest financing round and license its portfolio of 103 blockchain patents.

Bitmine acquired 53,501 ETH worth about $131 million last week. The company said its Ethereum holdings reached 5,901,112 ETH, valued at about $14.8 billion. Bitmine has bought Ethereum every week since launching its treasury strategy on June 30, 2025. Chairman Tom Lee said Ethereum, Bitcoin and Solana were the top-performing assets since then.

Russian crypto trading is expected to generate 4 trillion rubles ($46.4 billion) in volume for regulated domestic exchanges during its first year after legalization. Domestic trading volume could reach about 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029. New Russian crypto market regulations take effect on Sept. 1 under a law signed by President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 4.

The SEC's proposed Regulation Crypto Assets uses a $75 million fundraising route that differs from Section 103 of the Senate's CLARITY Act. The Senate framework uses the greater of $50 million or 10% of an issuer's outstanding ancillary assets, with a $200 million aggregate limit. Neither route is currently available. The SEC proposal is subject to public comment through Oct. 20, 2026, and the congressional framework remains unfinished legislation.

Intercontinental Exchange is tapping tZERO to help build systems for its planned tokenized securities platform. ICE will invest in tZERO's latest financing round and license its portfolio of 103 blockchain patents. The firms will explore whether tokenized assets can serve as collateral at ICE clearing houses. The investment amount was not disclosed.

South Korea reportedly plans to give every citizen free access to generative AI with no token limits. The services will connect to government systems and support tasks such as tax advice and medical appointment bookings. Beta testing will start in September, with a full rollout later this year.

Malicious actors exposed two DeFi lenders to over $84 million in losses over four days. The larger attack affected Tectonic on Cronos, where GoPlus estimated roughly $75 million was affected. Moonwell's MAMO market on Base suffered about $9.1 million in residual debt three days earlier.