JPMorgan Chase has terminated its banking relationship with Polymarket over regulatory concerns.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, sources familiar with the matter said JPMorgan Chase terminated its banking relationship with prediction market platform Polymarket last October due to regulatory concerns. However, the bank still maintains partial partnerships with Polymarket and other prediction market firms. A Polymarket spokesperson noted that the company currently has "close and active relations" with JPMorgan through multiple entities. Over the past year, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan has attended JPMorgan-hosted events three times. Earlier this year, a major investor in Polymarket assisted the firm in reaching out to large banks including Citigroup and Fifth Third.
Currently, prediction markets are facing heightened scrutiny from U.S. state and federal regulators. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating Polymarket, while the New York City Council is also probing its marketing practices; simultaneously, multiple states are engaged in ongoing litigation over whether prediction markets should be regulated as gambling operations.
JPMorgan has previously come under the Trump administration’s spotlight over so-called "debanking" issues. Trump has ordered regulators to probe whether banks engage in "politicized or illegal debanking" practices, and JPMorgan received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice last month as a result.
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Osman pointed out that Anthropic’s growth is highly impressive, but this also means much of its future success may already be factored into its valuation. The firm filed a confidential IPO application on June 1, and while preparing for its public listing, it must continue pouring massive capital into maintaining its competitiveness in cutting-edge AI models. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion in funding, with a portion earmarked for expanding computing power. The company has secured an additional 5GW computing power deal with Amazon, plus another 5GW next-generation TPU computing partnership with Google and Broadcom, and also has access to SpaceX’s GPU capacity. The report added that Anthropic has committed to investing more than $100 billion in Amazon Web Services (AWS) over the next decade.
Osman believes investors need to focus not only on whether AI technology continues to advance, but also on how future profits will ultimately be split among model developers, chipmakers, cloud service providers, data centers, and software firms. For Anthropic, the critical factors are how much of its revenue can eventually be converted into cash, how much capital must be reinvested to sustain technological leadership, and whether it can preserve pricing power and long-term returns amid intensifying competition.
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32 minutes ago
Federal Reserve’s Goolsbee: CPI Data Is Encouraging, Supports Decision to Hold Interest Rates Steady in July
Fed’s Goolsbee says CPI data is encouraging, but more data is needed to reach a judgment. The latest two productivity readings are very disappointing, backing the decision to hold interest rates steady in July. If productivity continues to decline, expectations around AI will need to be re-evaluated.
Quick Overview ETH declined 2.4% to $1,872 following a reversal after Consumer Price Index data release Exchange holdings increased marginally to 15.13 million ETH, indicating moderate distribution Small wallet holders distributed 160K ETH while large holders absorbed approximately 100K ETH recently Spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States attracted $244.9 million last week but experienced minor outflows this week Critical support level established at $1,875, with overhead resistance concentrated in the $1,920–$1,955 zone Ethereum experienced a 2.4% decline on August 13, sliding from a session peak of $1,918 down to $1,872. The pullback occurred as market participants took profits following the release of US Consumer Price Index figures, wiping out earlier session advances.
Ethereum (ETH) Price July’s inflation report revealed headline CPI increased 0.1% from the previous month and 3.4% year-over-year. The core measure climbed 0.2% monthly and 2.5% annually. These figures aligned precisely with market forecasts, providing no catalyst for sustained upward momentum.
Prior to the announcement, ETH had rallied to approximately $1,918 before encountering resistance and profit-taking activity. After breaking below the $1,887 threshold, limited order book depth facilitated a rapid descent toward $1,872.
Bitcoin maintained its position around $64,000 following the data release, demonstrating that the inflation figures failed to generate significant directional movement across leading digital assets.
Blockchain Metrics Signal Underlying Weakness Blockchain analytics revealed concerning trends preceding the price decline. The 14-day moving average of ETH Exchange Netflow turned positive, signaling a slight bias toward distribution activity. Exchange holdings ticked upward to 15.13 million ETH, a pattern that has previously corresponded with heightened selling activity.
Source: CryptoQuant The Coinbase Premium Index dropped further to -0.081 despite improving conditions in US equity markets. This divergence suggests American cryptocurrency investors maintain a defensive posture.
Smaller wallet addresses holding between 100 and 10,000 ETH collectively distributed approximately 160K ETH during the past seven days. Conversely, whale addresses containing 10K to 100K ETH demonstrated opposite behavior, accumulating roughly 100K ETH during the identical timeframe.
Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the United States registered $244.9 million in net inflows during the previous week. Through the current week, these products have experienced modest outflows totaling $8.9 million.
Cryptocurrency analyst CryptoGoos highlighted on X that despite ETH establishing a fresh low, distribution from long-term holders has diminished while accumulation has intensified, creating a higher low formation. CryptoGoos characterized this pattern as a bullish divergence signal.
$ETH has made a new low,
while selling pressure from long-term holders has decreased and accumulation has increased, forming a higher low.
This creates a bullish divergence, I like it. pic.twitter.com/2UynZpGVf7
— CryptoGoos (@cryptogoos) August 13, 2026
Critical Technical Levels Under Focus Daily chart analysis reveals Ethereum positioned near the $1,875 Murrey Math support zone. The daily Chaikin Money Flow indicator registered -0.04, marginally favoring distribution. The 4-hour Relative Strength Index measured 45.15, below the 50 midpoint, indicating subdued momentum.
CoinGlass liquidation heatmap data identifies substantial leverage concentration between $1,945 and $1,955 above current trading levels. Downside liquidation clusters appear near $1,850 and $1,835.
Trader Ted Pillows emphasized that ETH must recapture the $1,920 level before any legitimate advance toward $2,000 becomes viable. Analyst Daan Crypto Trades concentrated on the ETH/BTC trading pair, pinpointing 0.03 BTC as the critical threshold required to establish relative outperformance versus Bitcoin.
$ETH I am still favouring for this to move higher as long as it holds on to this current support.
Would have expected a quicker acceleration by now but it just takes one candle to get things going. 0.03 is the level to break for continuation. pic.twitter.com/jxCk7PzCEi
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) August 12, 2026
CryptoQuant analyst MorenoDV observed that ETH’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss metric on Binance is nearing the -0.35 threshold, a level that has historically coincided with significant market bottoms during late 2019, March 2020, and throughout 2022.
ETH was trading around $1,879 during publication, maintaining position above the 20-day exponential moving average at $1,884 and the 50-day exponential moving average at $1,865.
Ethereum registered a 2.4% decline to $1,872 on August 13 after briefly reaching a session high of $1,918. The sell-off followed the release of US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, prompting profit-taking that erased the day’s earlier gains.
Inflation data triggers pullbackJuly’s inflation report showed the headline CPI increased by 0.1% from the previous month and 3.4% year-over-year. The core CPI, excluding food and energy, rose 0.2% monthly and 2.5% annually. These numbers matched economists’ expectations, leaving no catalyst for further upward movement in digital assets.
Before the CPI announcement, Ethereum climbed to nearly $1,918, but encountered resistance as traders took profits. Breaking below the $1,887 level, a thin order book contributed to the rapid decline toward $1,872.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin remained steady near $64,000, reflecting a lack of significant reaction to inflation data among leading cryptocurrencies.
On-chain metrics point to distributionBlockchain analytics indicated a shift toward distribution activity before the recent price decline. The 14-day moving average of ETH Exchange Netflow turned positive, signaling a modest increase in coins moving to exchanges. Total exchange holdings rose to 15.13 million ETH, a trend that has previously accompanied accelerated selling periods.
The Coinbase Premium Index fell to -0.081 despite improvements in US equity markets, suggesting a cautious stance among American crypto investors.
Wallet data revealed that smaller addresses holding between 100 and 10,000 ETH offloaded approximately 160,000 ETH over the past week, while larger wallets holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH accumulated roughly 100,000 ETH during the same period.
In the past week, larger Ethereum holders absorbed about 100,000 ETH, while smaller addresses reduced their positions by around 160,000 ETH, indicating a divergence in market sentiment between retail and institutional participants.
Spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States saw net inflows of $244.9 million last week, followed by modest outflows of $8.9 million in the first days of this week.
CryptoGoos, a digital asset analyst, noted that ETH’s latest low coincided with declining distribution from long-term holders and renewed accumulation. This price action, forming a higher low, is characterized as a potential bullish divergence.
Key technical levels and market outlookTechnical analysis shows Ethereum consolidating near the $1,875 zone, seen as a last line of support by chart watchers. The daily Chaikin Money Flow indicator measured -0.04, suggesting a moderate tilt toward distribution. The 4-hour Relative Strength Index printed 45.15, remaining below the neutral 50 level and signaling weak momentum.
CoinGlass liquidation heatmap data indicated significant leverage buildups between $1,945 and $1,955, while notable downside liquidation clusters formed near $1,850 and $1,835.
Market participants said recapturing the $1,920 level is crucial for any meaningful rebound toward $2,000. Analyst Daan Crypto Trades identified 0.03 BTC on the ETH/BTC pair as an important threshold for potential outperformance versus Bitcoin.
Recapturing $1,920 is key for Ethereum to resume an upward trajectory, with further resistance likely around $2,000 and above.
MorenoDV, an analyst at CryptoQuant, observed that Ethereum’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss metric on Binance is nearing -0.35, a mark seen at prior market bottoms during late 2019, March 2020, and throughout 2022.
At last check, Ethereum traded around $1,879, maintaining its position above the 20-day exponential moving average of $1,884 and the 50-day EMA at $1,865.
Mini dictionary: Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) – A technical indicator that measures the volume-weighted average of accumulation and distribution over a specific period, helping identify buying or selling pressure in an asset.
MetricValueReference/CommentETH daily change-2.4%From $1,918 high to $1,872 lowUS CPI YoY3.4%Aligned with expectationsETH on exchanges15.13 millionRaised selling riskETF inflows (last week)$244.9 millionSpot ETH ETFETF outflows (current week)$8.9 millionSpot ETH ETFDisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Bitcoin (BTC) trades below $63,000 on Friday, projecting a downside bias as selling pressure resurfaces. Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) also take a bearish path, risking a drop below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $1,856 and the $1.00 psychological support, respectively. The technical outlook for BTC, ETH, and XRP is bearish, with downside momentum building.
Technical outlook: Will Bitcoin's price drop to $60,000?Bitcoin maintains a bearish near-term bias as the price drops below $63,000, capped below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $64,453 and the 200-day EMA at $73,089. The King Crypto is also trading below the broken upward support trendline around $63,982, suggesting an increase in downside pressure.
Momentum is soft, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 42 and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) declining into the negative territory, hinting that downside pressure persists.
The immediate support for BTC lies at the July 6 low of $61,307, guarding the downside to the July 1 low at $57,800.
BTC/USDT daily price chart.On the upside, a potential rebound in BTC could face resistance at the broken trendline near $63,982, followed by the 50-day EMA at $64,453.
Altcoins technical outlook: Ethereum and XRP risk steeper declineEthereum is trading around $1,873, holding marginally above the 50-day EMA at $1,865, with support from a rising trendline near $1,870. In addition, the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement, measured over the recent upswing from $1,512 to $1,981, at $1,870 supports the 50-day EMA.
From a technical perspective, a decisive close below this cluster could trigger a bearish reversal, with the 50% retracement at $1,746 as the next support level.
Momentum is mixed, with the RSI at 49 hovering around the neutral zone, the MACD and signal line in a downtrend, and a steady negative histogram, suggesting neutral-to-bearish pressure.
ETH/USDT daily price chart.Looking up, a descending trendline near $1,919 guards the way toward the cycle high anchor at $1,981. A sustained break above that broader zone would shift the near-term bias back toward a more decisively bullish stance.
XRP hovers around $1.0075, extending a bearish bias as price holds beneath both the 50-day EMA at $1.0876 and the 200-day EMA at $1.3598. The altcoin has maintained a steady downward trend over the last two weeks, approaching the $1.0000 psychological threshold.
Momentum remains weak, with the RSI near 36, reflecting firm bearish pressure, while the MACD and signal line decline further into negative territory, reaffirming persistent downside pressure.
Looking down, a slippage below the S1 Pivot level at $0.9945, followed by the S2 Pivot level at $0.9271.
XRP/USDT daily price chart.On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 50-day EMA around $1.0876. A sustained breakout above this short-term moving average could signal a bullish shift.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)
Fidelity is preparing to turn its Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) into a yield-generating investment product. The firm has filed an amended registration statement with the U.S. SEC seeking permission to stake up to 100% of the fund’s ETH holdings and pass the resulting net rewards to shareholders through quarterly cash distributions.
The filing is still preliminary, so the changes cannot begin until the registration statement becomes effective.
How FETH’s Staking Model Would WorkFETH held about $898 million in net assets at the time of the filing. Under normal conditions, Fidelity could stake nearly all of its ETH while keeping enough available for redemptions, expenses and other liquidity needs.
The proposed reward structure is straightforward:
FETH would keep 85% of gross staking rewards.The remaining 15% would be shared among Fidelity, custodians and staking operators as fees.Net rewards would first cover fund expenses.Any amount left could be distributed to investors quarterly in cash.Fidelity ($898M Assets Under Management) just filed a massive update with the SEC to enable 100% Staking on its Spot Ethereum ETF.
This turns $FETH from passive ETH exposure into a cash-flowing institutional yield product 👇
Key Details:
• Yield: 85% of rewards paid quarterly… pic.twitter.com/2p6oYHEjA1
— Predictivemoney (@Predictivemoney) August 13, 2026 Fidelity says staking could begin “as soon as practicable” after the registration becomes effective. However, payouts would not be guaranteed, and the fund could sell ETH to generate cash for distributions.
Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs have recorded modest net outflows for two consecutive days, totaling $16.3 million, following $244.9 million of inflows last week, their strongest weekly performance since mid-April. Despite that improvement, total ETF net assets remain relatively subdued at $10.48 billion amid broader weakness in the cryptocurrency market.
Custody, Operators and Staking RisksThe filing names Anchorage Digital Bank, BitGo Bank & Trust and Fidelity Digital Assets as custodians. Blockdaemon, Figment and Galaxy are listed as node operators.
The structure also carries normal staking risks, including slashing penalties and temporary restrictions while ETH is being activated or unstaked. Fidelity says these issues could sometimes require longer redemption settlements or cash redemptions.
Importantly, the filing does not mean FETH is already staking ETH. The registration statement must first become effective.
Why the Move Matters for FETHFETH has attracted around $2.13 billion in cumulative net inflows since launching in July 2024. Adding staking could make the fund more competitive against products already offering ETH rewards.
The regulatory path was helped by an IRS safe-harbor bulletin issued in November 2025, which allows qualifying crypto trusts to stake while maintaining their grantor-trust tax treatment and requires net staking rewards to be distributed at least quarterly.
Grayscale was the first U.S. issuer to add staking to an existing spot crypto ETF, while BlackRock launched a separate staking-focused product, ETHB, in February 2026. If approved, Fidelity would join issuers such as Grayscale and 21Shares using staking within an existing ETH fund.
For investors, the main change is simple. FETH could eventually offer ETH price exposure plus staking income inside the ETF structure, although the yield and distributions remain subject to the fund’s costs, risks and final SEC approval.
Story Ends Here
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Ethereum (ETH) continues to consolidate, trading within the $1,800 to $2,000 band as cautious sentiment among crypto-native investors offsets modest improvements in institutional demand. The ongoing sideways movement underscores both uncertainty and mixed signals across major on-chain and trading metrics.
Exchange flows and selling pressureRecent exchange data reveals that Ethereum’s Exchange Netflow, calculated as the net movement of ETH entering versus leaving centralized exchanges, posted a positive 14-day moving average. This shift signals a mild predominance of inflows, often interpreted as growing readiness among investors to sell.
In addition, a slight uptick in Ethereum’s Exchange Reserves metric has been noted, bringing the total ETH balance on exchanges to approximately 15.13 million—a level reached after little change during the previous week. Historically, increasing exchange reserves are associated with heightened selling pressure, as more coins are readily available for trading. By contrast, falling reserves typically reflect confidence, with holders either moving assets to private wallets or locking them up for longer-term purposes such as staking.
Market analysts point out that although recent rises in exchange inflows and reserves are not large, they align to signal that sellers currently hold a minor advantage in the market.
The cautious trading behavior among crypto-native participants is further supported by these metrics, which together illustrate a market preparing for possible downside, even if overall pressure remains subdued.
US demand signals and ETF inflowsOn the demand side, the Coinbase Premium Index—an indicator comparing ETH’s price on Coinbase to other major platforms—fell to -0.081 over the last two days. Negative values typically suggest softening buying appetite among US-based investors, even as US equities gain strength.
However, US-listed spot Ethereum ETFs exhibited a contrasting trend last week, achieving $244.9 million in net inflows, according to CoinGlass, while registering only $8.9 million in outflows so far this week. This net positive flow implies that institutional and traditional investors may be more optimistic about Ethereum compared to most retail market participants.
Sustained ETF demand could partially absorb market selling pressure and offer price stability near the lower end of the current range.
Wallet distribution statistics indicate a widening divide in investor behavior. Smaller holders, including wallets with 100–1,000 ETH and 1,000–10,000 ETH, collectively sold approximately 160,000 ETH during the past week. Meanwhile, the largest cohorts, or “whales” with 10,000–100,000 ETH, were net buyers, accumulating around 100,000 ETH in the same period.
Whale accumulation often signals that influential investors see value at present levels, even as selling from smaller holders remains persistent. These dynamics have kept Ethereum locked in consolidation, unable to establish a clear directional breakout.
Mini dictionary: Coinbase Premium Index, a metric that measures the price difference of a cryptocurrency between Coinbase and other major international exchanges. A positive premium often signals higher demand from US-based investors.
Investor GroupETH Position Last Week100–1,000 ETH walletsNet sellers1,000–10,000 ETH walletsNet sellers10,000–100,000 ETH wallets (whales)Net buyers (+100,000 ETH)Technical outlook: Key levels for ETHFrom a technical analysis standpoint, the ETH/USD 4-hour chart preserves a cautiously bullish short-term structure, with the price holding above the 20-day EMA at $1,884 and the 50-day EMA at $1,865. Despite the recent consolidation, the Relative Strength Index is positioned at 47, slightly below the neutral midpoint of 50. The MACD also lingers below its equilibrium line, reflecting limited but stable downward momentum.
Immediate resistance is identified at the 100-day EMA, currently $1,922. Should the price close above this mark, further resistance could appear near $1,961, opening the way for a test of the $2,000 psychological threshold. Beyond this, key resistance levels are $2,172 and $2,431.
Support for ETH lies first at the 20-day and 50-day EMAs. Falling below these averages would place $1,809 as the next significant support. A break under this level would likely weaken the bullish perspective in the short term, with additional support coming at $1,701 and $1,507.
Immediate resistance remains at $1,922, with a sustained move above this level potentially shifting the current consolidation phase and paving the way toward $2,000.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
The quantum threat pushes Ethereum to reconsider its cryptographic choices. Poseidon, long considered as a hash function suitable for zero-knowledge proofs and the post-quantum era, has just been discarded by the network’s researchers. Behind this change lies much more than an algorithm choice. Thus, Ethereum is revising the cryptographic foundations of its future architecture. A new approach now promises better performance, enhanced auditability, and safer integration. It remains to understand why Poseidon lost the race, what gains its replacement offers, and at what pace this transition could reach the network.
In Brief
The Ethereum Foundation has officially redirected its post-quantum strategy by abandoning the Poseidon hash function in favor of proven historical standards like SHA and BLAKE.
This pivot is made possible by major advances in SNARKs, whose recent optimizations allow for proof generation speeds multiplied by 2.5.
By favoring algorithms audited for several decades, the network significantly reduces its attack vectors while maintaining maximum operational efficiency.
The roadmap plans for the production launch of leanVM in 2027, followed by a gradual deployment across all blockchain layers by 2028.
The Ethereum Foundation abandons the Poseidon project in favor of historical standards
The Ethereum Foundation has undertaken a formal and significant redirection of its various research efforts. It thus abandons the Poseidon hash function featured in its post-quantum architecture plan. This is why Justin Drake, renowned researcher and key figure of this organization, attested that the foundation wishes to drop this option in order to focus now on alternatives already recognized, tested, and standardized for decades, such as the SHA or BLAKE algorithms.
In practice, the role of the hash function is to convert a set of raw data, regardless of their nature, into a fixed-size digital fingerprint. This conversion will guarantee to the computer system that the information has not been manipulated or altered. Poseidon was considered until now as a fundamental system whose role would be to equip future post-quantum mechanisms like leanVM. It is a virtual environment created for the efficient verification of large volumes of blockchain-related activity not yet deployed on the main network.
To legitimize this unexpected but deliberate decision, Justin Drake highlighted the very rapid and exponential evolution of compact proof technologies. For him, advances achieved on SNARKs, precise and highly sophisticated proofs which allow confirmation of the validity of complex calculations without re-executing all basic operations, contributed to the fading of Poseidon’s theoretical operational superiority that it had at the beginning.
The researcher then explained through statements that the execution performance of classical hash functions is now high to facilitate direct integration into systems without penalizing the network. Thus, this evolution immediately removes the industrial obligation to use recent and probably less mature cryptographic primitives against various attack threats.
Various key elements define this technological break within the protocol :
The complete abandonment of the Poseidon function in favor of proven historical algorithms like SHA and BLAKE ;
The cancellation of the need for experimental primitives thanks to exceptional efficiency gains brought by SNARKs ;
The continued extension of leanVM, now based on universally recognized cryptographic standards.
Security: a priority given to proven algorithms and proof acceleration
Apart from the exclusively technical issue related to raw performance, the reasoning on theoretical security and software maturity holds a predominant place in this algorithmic migration. Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of Eigen Labs, provided useful clarification on such a strategic choice.
He then pointed out that infrastructures relying on established hash functions may present fewer recognized attack paths than other post-quantum approaches designed in recent years. Moreover, he emphatically indicated the traditional primitives. For him, they must be integrated very quickly by developers due to several years of thorough examination they have already undergone by the entire global scientific community.
This change cannot be made at the expense of the operational efficiency of the Ethereum network. Indeed, various research works must be conducted simultaneously by the Ethereum Foundation, the Eigen Labs teams, and the company specialized in zero-knowledge proofs Succinct. These works already offer significant and particularly promising results.
Thanks to the new optimization of data structures and computation circuits, this tripartite partnership contributed to multiplying proof generation speed by 2.5 compared to previous indicators. Such a breakthrough provides proof that it is now possible to combine the necessary processing speed for second-layer architectures with the proven durability of historical cryptographic standards.
A gradual deployment spread from 2027 to 2028 across the entire infrastructure
Regarding operational execution as well as the technical roadmap, the Ethereum Foundation has proposed concise time milestones for the overall realization of this revised infrastructure concerning the quantum threat. Thus, Justin Drake emphasizes that this fully operational version of leanVM available for a productive environment is expressly targeted for 2027. This crucial step will serve as a solid technical foundation to prepare the ground for direct implementations on the main network.
During the second phase, successive deployments are planned throughout the year 2028. It is useful to specify that such structural modifications could target all critical layers of the Ethereum protocol, such as the consensus layer responsible for block validation, the data layer dedicated to information availability, as well as the execution layer managing smart contracts and user transactions. However, the researcher reminds that all these calendar deadlines currently remain strictly preliminary. They must be subject to feedback from the test network.
By opting for the resilience of SHA and BLAKE standards over still experimental innovations, the Ethereum Foundation shows an undeniable pragmatic maturity. Thanks to the elimination of various risks of cryptographic unknowns without any concession of speed thanks to gains recorded on SNARKs, the Foundation proceeds with the secure transition of the network to the post-quantum era with confidence, ensuring the continuity of its infrastructure for years to come.
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Luc Jose A.
Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019.
Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
FG Nexus sold all its digital assets before June 30, ending its Ethereum treasury strategy entirely.
First-half digital asset operations lost $45.207 million, while staking generated only $144,000.
ETH sales brought in $60.956 million cash, with another $14.983 million collected in July.
The company held 50,770 ETH at its peak in September 2025 before starting the unwind.
Management plans to shift capital into manufactured housing real estate, though no FG Communities deal is final.
FG Nexus has closed the book on its Ethereum treasury plan. The Nasdaq-listed company disclosed in an Aug. 12 filing that it sold all of its digital assets before June 30, 2026.
The filing reclassifies the digital asset business as discontinued operations. That means the company no longer counts crypto as part of its core business going forward.
FG Nexus received $60.956 million in cash from ETH sales during the first half of the year. Another $14.983 million was still owed at quarter end, and that amount was fully collected in July.
Nasdaq-Listed FG Nexus Sold All Its Digital Assets by June 30, Ending Its Ethereum Treasury Strategy Less Than a Year After Launch; ETH Holdings Had Peaked Above 50,000
Nasdaq-listed FG Nexus sold all its digital assets by June 30 and held no cryptocurrency at quarter-end,… pic.twitter.com/ZgUuDVNNK3
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 14, 2026
The Cost of the Ethereum Bet
The exit came at a steep price. FG Nexus reported a $45.207 million loss tied to its discontinued digital asset operations for the first six months of 2026.
That figure includes a $41.167 million loss on the ETH holdings themselves. It also includes a $2.793 million impairment on digital intangible assets and $1.789 million in general and administrative costs.
Staking revenue, meanwhile, added up to just $144,000 over the same period. The company’s total consolidated net loss for the first half reached $56.928 million.
The strategy began in July 2025, when FG Nexus said Ethereum would become its primary treasury asset. By Sept. 28, the company held 50,770 ETH, worth about $207 million at the time, with an average purchase price near $3,860.
The plan was funded with $200 million raised specifically for the Ethereum push. The company aimed to generate returns through staking and other opportunities tied to the asset.
By June, FG Nexus was already unwinding the position. A separate report showed the company moving another 10,000 ETH as losses on the treasury kept growing.
New Direction for the Cash
On July 1, FG Nexus announced its board had approved a full exit from digital assets. The plan is to build a real estate subsidiary focused mainly on manufactured housing properties with land leases.
CEO Kyle Cerminara said the company intends to move its capital from digital assets into real estate that produces steady cash flow. That plan is still forward looking and has not been finalized.
FG Nexus is also weighing a possible deal with FG Communities. The filing states that board discussions remain early stage, with no agreement reached yet.
An independent special committee is reviewing the potential transaction. It has hired a financial adviser to provide a fairness opinion before any deal moves forward.
The ETH sales have boosted the company’s cash position. FG Nexus reported $24.9 million in cash and equivalents at June 30.
After collecting the ETH receivable and receiving $15.5 million from the redemption of FG Merger II shares, cash climbed to about $51.4 million by July 31.
The company’s existing property in Quebec remains on its books. An earlier proposal to sell that property is now unlikely to close.
Shares of FG Nexus traded at $7.59 on Aug. 13, up about 8.9% from the prior close. That move follows the company’s earlier July 1 announcement of its crypto exit, so it cannot be tied only to the quarterly filing itself.
TLDRNorway’s Stake TimelineBitMine’s Ethereum HoldingsGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks Norges Bank held 6,151,062 BitMine shares worth $81.87 million as of June 30, according to SEC filings. The stake gives Norway’s fund indirect Ethereum exposure through equity rather than direct ETH ownership. BitMine reported 5,805,238 ETH holdings on August 9, with 5,067,309 ETH already staked. The BitMine position was absent from the fund’s December 2025 filing, and the exact purchase timing remains unclear. Norway’s pension fund reached 22.683 trillion kroner at midyear, with 72.1% invested in global equities. An August 12 SEC filing from Norges Bank showed the fund held 6,151,062 shares in BitMine Immersion Technologies as of June 30. The position was valued at $81,870,635 at the end of the quarter.
Norges Bank reported sole investment discretion over the shares. The fund manages Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.
Norway’s Stake Timeline The BitMine position did not appear in the fund’s December 31, 2025 holdings table. This confirms the shares were added sometime after year end.
The exact timing is still not clear. Norges Bank’s March 31 filing was submitted under a confidential treatment request, so its full first-quarter holdings were not made public.
Because of this, it is not possible to know whether the BitMine shares were bought in the first or second quarter. The June filing also does not show a purchase price or transaction date.
The reported $81.87 million figure reflects the quarter-end market value, not what Norges Bank actually paid. The position made up about 0.0082% of the roughly $1.003 trillion in securities listed in the fund’s June 13F report.
The fund already holds indirect Bitcoin exposure through companies such as Strategy, Coinbase, and various miners. The BitMine stake fits that same pattern rather than signaling a new Ethereum strategy.
BitMine’s Ethereum Holdings BitMine’s balance sheet is what makes the stock sensitive to crypto prices. In an August 10 SEC release, the company reported holding 5,805,238 ETH as of August 9.
That figure equals about 4.8% of the 120.7 million ETH supply number BitMine uses. The company also held 209 BTC and $104 million in cash and marketable securities.
Of its ETH holdings, 5,067,309 tokens were staked. That is about 87% of the total, valued at $9.8 billion using a reference price of $1,928 per ETH.
Norway’s fund does not own a share of BitMine’s actual ETH. It owns equity in the company, and that value depends on BitMine’s debts, share issuance, and other business factors.
BitMine has said it is working toward holding 5% of Ethereum’s total supply, a goal it calls the “Alchemy of 5%.” Its August 10 update put the company at 96% of that target.
Norway’s pension fund ended June with total assets of 22.683 trillion kroner after a 9.4% return over the first half of 2026. Equities made up 72.1% of the portfolio.
The same disclosure showed the fund holding a $1.22 billion stake in SpaceX. Norway’s fund holds positions in roughly 7,100 companies worldwide.
The next update on the BitMine stake will come with a future filing. Until then, it is not known whether Norges Bank has kept, added to, or reduced its position since June 30.
BitMine continues to publish weekly updates on its ETH holdings and staking activity, giving the clearest ongoing picture of the company’s crypto exposure.
FG Nexus, Ethereum hazine stratejisini tamamen sonlandırdı. Nasdaq’ta işlem gören şirket, 30 Haziran’dan önce tüm dijital varlıklarını sattığını açıkladı. Şirketin yılın ilk yarısındaki dijital varlık operasyonları 45,207 milyon dolar zarar ile sonuçlandı.
FG Nexus, Ethereum stratejisini Temmuz 2025’te başlatmış ve kısa sürede 50.770 ETH‘lik bir pozisyona ulaşmıştı. Ancak şirket, yaklaşık bir yıl bile geçmeden yönünü değiştirdi ve sermayesini gayrimenkul yatırımlarına kaydırma kararı aldı.
FG Nexus Neden Ethereum Hazinesini Sattı?
FG Nexus, 12 Ağustos’ta yayımladığı finansal bildirimde dijital varlık faaliyetlerini durdurduğunu ve bu operasyonları “durdurulan faaliyetler” olarak yeniden sınıflandırdığını açıkladı.
Şirket, 2026’nın ilk yarısında Ethereum satışlarından 60,956 milyon dolar nakit elde etti. 30 Haziran itibarıyla tahsil edilmemiş 14,983 milyon dolarlık tutar da temmuz ayında şirkete ulaştı.
Böylece FG Nexus’un hazinesinde haziran sonu itibarıyla herhangi bir kripto varlık kalmadı.
Ancak şirketin Ethereum’dan çıkışı yalnızca bir satış işlemi olarak görülmemeli. FG Nexus, dijital varlık operasyonunu tamamen kapatarak sermayesini farklı bir iş modeline yönlendirmeye karar verdi.
FG Nexus’un Ethereum Stratejisi Neden Tersine Döndü?
FG Nexus, Temmuz 2025’te Ethereum’u şirketin temel hazine varlığı haline getirdi. Dijital varlık operasyonu ise ağustos ayında başladı.
Şirketin Ethereum pozisyonu kısa sürede büyüdü. FG Nexus, Eylül 2025’te 50.770 ETH tuttuğunu açıkladı. O tarihte şirketin verdiği referans fiyata göre bu varlıkların değeri yaklaşık 207 milyon dolardı ve ortalama alım fiyatı yaklaşık 3.860 dolar seviyesindeydi.
Plan yalnızca ETH tutmak değildi. FG Nexus, staking ve Ethereum ekosistemindeki diğer fırsatlardan gelir elde etmeyi hedefliyordu.
Ancak strateji beklenen sonucu vermedi. Şirket, yılın ilk altı ayında staking faaliyetlerinden yalnızca 144.000 dolar gelir elde etti. Aynı dönemde dijital varlık operasyonunun toplam zararı 45,207 milyon dolara ulaştı.
45,2 Milyon Dolarlık Zararın Ne Kadarı ETH’den Geldi?
FG Nexus’un açıkladığı 45,207 milyon dolarlık zarar, yalnızca Ethereum satışlarından kaynaklanan gerçekleşmiş zarar anlamına gelmiyor.
Şirketin finansal tablolarında ETH dijital varlıklarından kaynaklanan zarar 41,167 milyon dolar olarak yer aldı. Buna 2,793 milyon dolarlık dijital maddi olmayan varlık değer düşüklüğü ve 1,789 milyon dolarlık genel yönetim gideri eklendi.
Öte yandan dijital maddi olmayan varlıklardan 398.000 dolarlık kazanç ve staking faaliyetlerinden 144.000 dolarlık gelir elde edildi.
Dolayısıyla 45,207 milyon dolarlık rakamı doğrudan “ETH satış zararı” olarak nitelendirmek doğru değil. Bu tutar, durdurulan dijital varlık operasyonunun toplam zararını ifade ediyor.
FG Nexus’un ilk altı aydaki konsolide net zararı ise 56,928 milyon dolar oldu.
FG Nexus Ethereum’dan Sonra Parayı Nereye Aktaracak?
Şirket, 1 Temmuz’da dijital varlıklardan tamamen çıkma ve sermayeyi gayrimenkule yönlendirme kararı aldığını açıkladı.
Yeni stratejinin merkezinde arsa kiralamaya dayalı imal edilmiş konut (manufactured housing) gayrimenkulleri bulunuyor. CEO Kyle Cerminara, şirketin sermayesini dijital varlıklardan nakit akışı üreten gayrimenkullere kaydırmayı planladığını belirtti.
FG Nexus ayrıca FG Communities ile olası bir birleşmeyi değerlendiriyor. Ancak bu görüşmeler henüz başlangıç aşamasında. Şirket, kesinleşmiş bir anlaşma bulunmadığını ve işlemin gerçekleşeceğine dair nihai bir karar verilmediğini belirtiyor.
Bu nedenle FG Nexus’un yeni gayrimenkul stratejisi şu an için geleceğe yönelik bir plan niteliğinde.
FG Nexus’un Kasasında Ne Kadar Para Kaldı?
Ethereum satışları şirketin nakit pozisyonunu önemli ölçüde artırdı.
FG Nexus, 30 Haziran’da 24,9 milyon dolar nakit ve nakit benzeri varlığa sahipti. Ethereum satışlarından kalan 14,983 milyon dolarlık alacağın temmuz ayında tahsil edilmesi ve FG Merger II hisselerinin geri alımından 15,5 milyon dolar elde edilmesi sonrasında şirketin nakdi 31 Temmuz itibarıyla yaklaşık 51,4 milyon dolara yükseldi.
Şimdi asıl soru, FG Nexus’un bu likiditeyi yeni gayrimenkul stratejisinde ne kadar hızlı gelir üreten varlıklara dönüştürebileceği.
Şirket henüz FG Communities ile kesin bir anlaşma imzalamadı ve yeni strateji kapsamında tamamlanmış bir satın alma da açıklamadı.
Böylece FG Nexus’un kısa süreli Ethereum hazine deneyimi sona ermiş oldu. Şirket bir dönem 50.770 ETH tutarak kurumsal Ethereum yatırımcıları arasında dikkat çekerken, bir yıldan kısa süre içinde tüm dijital varlıklarını sattı. Staking faaliyetleri 144.000 dolar gelir üretirken, dijital varlık operasyonunun toplam zararı 45,207 milyon dolara ulaştı.
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JPMorgan, with AUM of $5.1 trillion, has revealed its quarter two (Q2) report with the U.S SEC. Its latest SEC filing shows a sharp rise in Bitcoin exposure and a 338% jump in Ethereum ETF holdings.
The bank also returned to XRP through two ETF positions and added a new position in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF.
JPMorgan Doubles Down on Bitcoin ETF ExposureAccording to JPMorgan’s Q2 2026 13F filing, the bank held a combined 10.4 million shares of BlackRock’s IBIT, worth about $355.7 million as of June 30. These shares appear across three separate IBIT fund entries in the filing and add up to the reported total.
That marks a sharp increase from the first quarter, when JPMorgan reported about 8.3 million IBIT shares worth nearly $162 million.
JPMorgan’s options position also shifted during the quarter. IBIT call options increased to 3.94 million, while put options dropped from 4.75 million to about 3.5 million.
The increase comes even as Bitcoin ETF flows have remained unstable. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $131.1 million in net outflows on Aug. 13, following a much larger $61.16 million outflow on Aug. 12.
Ethereum ETF Exposure Jumps 338%JPMorgan’s Q2 filing also showed a much larger position in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). The bank held nearly 1.17 million ETHA shares worth about $14.3 million, marking a 338% increase from the previous quarter.
The ETHA position shows that JPMorgan has increased its exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum through U.S.-listed ETF products.
However, the size of the Bitcoin position remains much larger. JPMorgan’s IBIT holdings are more than 20 times the value of its reported ETHA position.
JPMorgan Added XRP Back Through ETFsThe biggest surprise in the filing may be JPMorgan’s return to XRP.
The bank’s Q1 filing showed that its Bitwise XRP ETF position had fallen from 3,870 shares to zero. The latest filing reverses that move, showing fresh exposure through both the Bitwise XRP ETF and Grayscale XRP Trust ETF.
The Bitwise position was worth about $1,356, while the Grayscale XRP ETF holding was valued at roughly $3,763.
JPMorgan also reported 19,894 shares of Armada Acquisition Corp II, worth approximately $207,295. The company is linked to a Ripple-backed deal and trades under the XRPN ticker.
In addition, JPMorgan initiated a new position in the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL), holding roughly 47,500 shares.
The next 13F filing, expected in November, will show whether the bank continued adding Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP exposure during Q3 or reduced its positions.
Story Ends Here
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Ethereum is headed for a potentially significant moving-average crossover, but it is still below resistance as the emerging golden-cross setup arrives. Ethereum's recovery structure may be strengthened by the signal, but price must first do some of the necessary work to generate it.
Right now, ETH is trading at about $1,874. While the 100-day moving average is still falling, close to $1,919, the 50-day moving average has turned upward and is now at about $1,824. As a result, there is less space between them in both directions. A bullish golden-cross configuration would be produced by Ethereum if the 50-day average eventually crossed above the 100-day average.
ETH/USDT Chart by TradingViewThese crossovers show that the more recent price performance has surpassed the slower average, which represents the longer-term trend. The issue is that golden crosses are lagging indicators. Instead of raising the price, they validate an improvement that has already taken place.
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Therefore, in order for the crossover to occur, ETH must continue its recovery. That's not a given. Since July, Ethereum has frequently struggled between $1,900 and $1,950. Additionally, a descending resistance line has formed across the most recent local highs, creating an additional barrier in the same area.
Clear breakout being formedThis region is made even more significant by the 100-day moving average at $1,919. As a result, a clear breakout above $1,920–$1,950 would enhance Ethereum's current price structure and raise the likelihood that the 50-day average will complete its crossover. At the moment, momentum gives neither side much of an advantage.
After cooling from higher readings earlier in the recovery, RSI is currently at about 49.8, which is nearly perfectly neutral. The downside risk is still comparatively clear. The first significant support comes from the rising 50-day average at $1,824. Losing it could result in exposure to the $1,750–$1,800 range and a significant delay in the crossover.
Ethereum would still have to contend with its 200-day moving average at $2,132 even if the golden cross materialized. That continues to be a much bigger test of the long-term trend. As a result, the developing crossover is positive, but it should not be interpreted as an automatic bullish trigger.
However, the resistance must be broken first by Ethereum. Rather than becoming a signal without price confirmation, the golden cross could strengthen an already-improving structure if ETH is able to establish itself above $1,950.
According to The Block, FG Nexus (FGNX) has divested all of its Ethereum assets, according to its latest SEC filing.
US-based digital asset treasury company FG Nexus has completely exited its Ethereum (ETH) focused treasury strategy, which it launched approximately a year ago.
In a recent filing with the SEC, the company announced that it will sell all of its ETH and wrapped staked ETH (wstETH) assets as of June 30, 2026.
According to the company’s latest quarterly report to the SEC, FG Nexus incurred a loss of $45.207 million from its digital asset operations in the first half of 2026. Of this amount, $41.167 million was due to losses on ETH investments.
Their Assets Had Exceeded 50,000 ETH! After FG Nexus decided to make Ethereum its primary treasury asset in 2025, the company’s ETH holdings peaked at 50,770 ETH in September 2025.
However, following the collapse that began in October 2025, the company rapidly reduced its position in the first half of 2026, and completely exited its ETH position by the end of June. At this point, the company added that it planned to redirect the capital obtained from the sale of ETH to cash-generating real estate investments.
*This is not investment advice.
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A closer look at the recent performance of BTC, ETH, and ADA and what could be coming next.
The formation of a certain setup suggests that BTC could be gearing up for a major price move, yet the exact direction can’t be predicted.
One popular analyst believes the current conditions present an ideal opportunity to invest in ETH, while Cardano’s ADA has lost momentum and might be headed for a substantial decline.
Up or Down for BTC? The primary cryptocurrency has been hovering in the narrow range of $63,000-$65,000 over the past week, currently trading just south of the lower boundary. The X account Barchart claimed that the minor volatility has resulted in a huge squeeze of the Bollinger Bands.
The technical indicator, created by John Bollinger in the 1980s, features a moving average framed by two channels (upper and lower) that widen in turbulent markets and contract when things calm down.
Tightening the bands is usually a precursor to a big move, but it remains unclear whether it will be up or down, with historical data showing mixed signals. In March, the Bollinger Bands (on a monthly scale) tightened like never before, and shortly after, BTC plunged from approximately $75,000 to roughly $65,000.
It was a completely different story in May last year. The bands squeezed at a time when the asset was worth around $95,000 and, weeks later, exploded above $110,000.
Time to Buy ETH? The second-largest cryptocurrency has been trading well below $2,000 for the past few months, with many traders and investors perhaps anticipating further declines that can confirm the cycle’s bottom. Analyst Michael van de Poppe believes the moment will never come, arguing that the ideal time to hop on the ETH bandwagon is right now.
You may also like: ‘Crypto Is Dead’ Talk Is Rising; Could Peak Fear Be a Contrarian Signal? Solana Overtakes Bitcoin and Ether in GSR’s Latest Crypto Portfolio Shake-Up Bitcoin Rebound Faces Risk as Futures Demand Outpaces Spot Buying: Analysts “It’s always awkward to be positioning yourself into a position, as that’s the purpose of the markets. Previous breakouts of the market have resulted in generally big returns, as ETH is known for volatile movements. In that sense, last time a 60% breakout in less than a week took place. In 2023, the same happened,” he said.
Ali Martinez and Gerla also gave their two cents on the matter. The former thinks the June fall to $1,580 was the launchpad for a potential uptrend, setting $3,000 as the target. The latter was even more optimistic, envisioning a price explosion to a new all-time high of $10,000.
ADA Hits a Wall Cardano’s native cryptocurrency started August on the right foot, eventually pumping to nearly $0.21 (the highest mark since early June). During its uptrend, the asset was the subject of numerous bullish predictions, with some commentators expecting a surge to $3.
However, the bears regained control, and overall sentiment shifted drastically. Ali Martinez paid attention to factors such as the declining number of whales, the formation of a death cross between Cardano’s MVRC ratio and its 7-day simple moving average, and the sell signal on the TD Sequential indicator to predict a potential plunge as low as $0.145.
Sjuul | AltCryptoGems also presented a cautious outlook. He claimed that ADA had “a nice run, but it seems in trouble now,” as “the structure is breaking bearishly, with a fresh lower low.”
A USENIX Security ’26 study has identified 65,340 high-risk address instances across Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, linking them to 126,982.94 ETH and 17,726.7 BNB in native-token losses.
Summary
Researchers identified 65,340 high-risk address instances across Ethereum and BNB Chain in their large-scale study.
Estimated losses reached 126,982.94 ETH and 17,726.7 BNB, valued by researchers above $574.8 million overall.
Researchers extracted 16.3 million private keys from 63,004 GitHub repositories for their cross-chain analysis dataset.
Their detection framework achieved 99.11% precision after manual sampling validation across both analyzed blockchain networks.
Two newly described attack vectors exploited deterministic contract addresses and EIP-7702 delegated account control mechanisms.
The paper, presented at the 35th USENIX Security Symposium in Baltimore, estimates their dollar value at more than $574.8 million.
The dollar figure needs context. The researchers say they valued the token losses using reference prices of $4,408 per ETH and $847 per BNB rather than prices at the time of every transaction. They describe their findings as a “conservative lower bound” because the analysis covers only native ETH and BNB on the two networks and may miss less obvious cases.
USENIX Security '26 Study Identifies 65,000+ High-Risk Crypto Addresses Linked to $574.8M in Losses
A study presented at USENIX Security '26 identified 65,340 high-risk cryptocurrency addresses involved in abuse across Ethereum and BNB Chain, with estimated losses exceeding… pic.twitter.com/JAX3IR6Kgy
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 13, 2026
Ethereum address misuse spans contract and private-key risks
The researchers divide “Address Misuse” into two categories. Contract Account misuse happens when users treat an address without deployed contract code as a contract address, often because the same address is used in another network context. The study identified 49,344 such instances, associated with losses of 22,738.41 ETH and 8,681.41 BNB.
Externally Owned Account misuse involves addresses whose private keys are exposed or show strong onchain signs of compromised control. Researchers identified 15,996 EOA misuse instances associated with 104,244.53 ETH and 9,045.29 BNB in losses. More than 95% of EOA misuse losses came from the GitHub exposed-key subtype.
Two new attack paths account for about $15.7M
The first newly described attack takes advantage of deterministic contract-address creation. Attackers can promote a contract address on a testnet, wait for users to mistakenly send mainnet funds to the matching no-code address, and later deploy withdrawal code at the same location. Researchers linked 469 malicious contracts to 3,446.37 ETH and 431.79 BNB in losses.
The second uses EIP-7702 against accounts with already exposed private keys. Attackers delegate those EOAs to malicious code that automatically sweeps incoming funds. The paper found 17,270 cases, producing losses of 25.86 ETH and 33.45 BNB. Using the paper’s reference prices, the two newly described vectors together account for roughly $15.7 million.
The 99.11% figure is precision, not universal verification
The team mined 63,004 GitHub repositories created between January 2015 and May 2025, extracting 10.3 million unique candidate addresses and 16.3 million private keys after deduplication. It also used Ethereum Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow data before analyzing transactions on Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
Researchers manually sampled results and reported 99.11% overall detection precision. That does not mean every one of the 65,340 instances was individually manually verified. The authors acknowledge possible heuristic false positives and incomplete data, while ERC-20, NFT and other chains are excluded from the headline loss calculation.
EIP-7702 security concerns are widening
Ethereum’s official guidance warns that malicious EIP-7702 delegation can give hostile contract code control over assets. A separate USENIX Security ’26 study found more than 63% of analyzed EIP-7702 authorization transactions were associated with malicious EOA-targeted attacks, identifying 924 malicious contract accounts across seven supported chains.
As previously reported, EIP-7702 delegations were linked to automated wallet-draining activity after Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade. In related coverage, attackers later drained about $3.1 million from Polymarket users through phishing and malicious delegated execution.
The authors recommend wallet warnings for known exposed keys and cross-chain contract mismatches, stronger secret management for developers and clearer address-to-network documentation. They also propose considering chain identifiers in future contract-address derivation. Those are research recommendations, not adopted Ethereum or BNB Chain protocol changes.
The researchers plan to expand future work to additional chains and token types. Until then, the 126,982.94 ETH and 17,726.7 BNB totals are best read as measured native-token losses within the study’s defined scope, while $574.8 million remains a standardized valuation estimate.
A peer-reviewed study presented at USENIX Security '26 has put a number on one of blockchain's most persistent problems. Researchers identified 65,340 high-risk address instances across Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, with associated asset losses amounting to roughly 127,000 ETH and 17,700 BNB, equivalent to over $574.8 million.
The loss figure was calculated using token prices as of May 2025, at $4,408 per ETH and $847 per BNB, meaning actual losses at the time of each incident may differ. Two active attack vectors described in the paper directly account for about $15.7 million, or 2.7% of the broader estimate.
How Attackers Exploit Address Misuse The study separates the problem into contract-account misuse and externally owned account misuse. Contract-account misuse occurs when someone sends a function call to an address that has no contract code on the selected network. The transaction can still succeed as a simple transfer without executing the intended function, leaving funds stranded at that address unless later-deployed code can move them.
To build their dataset, researchers mined 63,004 GitHub repositories created between January 2015 and May 2025, as well as a Stack Exchange archive. They extracted more than 16.3 million deduplicated private keys from GitHub, then combined direct key matches with transaction-pattern rules and lightweight symbolic execution across Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.
The research also flagged EIP-7702, a relatively recent Ethereum improvement proposal, as an emerging attack surface. With EIP-7702 delegation in place, the assets in a user's account may be entirely controlled by smart contracts. If a user unknowingly delegates their account to a malicious contract, an attacker could gain control and steal funds, according to Ethereum's own developer documentation. Anti-fraud service Scam Sniffer has confirmed that phishing attacks targeting EIP-7702-upgraded addresses have been on the rise.
High Detection Accuracy, Broad Implications The authors reported 99.11% precision for their overall address-misuse detection. The researchers also noted that address misuse is not unique to EVM-based chains. Any account-based blockchain employing the same deterministic address derivation mechanism, such as Solana and its testnet, is susceptible to the same risks.
Both types of address misuse can also affect standard tokens such as ERC-20 and ERC-721 assets. The authors describe their findings as a lower bound for the severity of this risk, with plans to examine a broader range of chains and tokens in future work.
The findings underscore a structural vulnerability that spans two of the largest blockchain networks and reaches well beyond individual user errors, pointing to systemic gaps in how addresses are generated, reused, and verified across platforms.
Sources:
USENIX Security '26: Lost in Blockchain Address Misuse (Official Presentation Page)
CryptoSlate: Risky crypto addresses flagged in USENIX study
Ethereum.org: Pectra EIP-7702 Security Guidelines
This Friday, we examine Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid in greater detail.
Ethereum (ETH) This week, Ethereum hugged the key support at $1,800 with a minor loss of 2%. While this puts sellers in a more favorable position, they will need to break the support if they want to take the initiative.
The current ETH price action shows significant weakness after forming a lower high just below $2,000. Buyers were not able to claim that level as support; this is why bears are returning.
Looking ahead, Ethereum will likely test $1,800 again. If that level fails to hold, this cryptocurrency may revisit the support at $1,500, where buyers finally returned in early July.
Source: TradingView Ripple (XRP) XRP has had a difficult week, struggling to hold above $1. The price also fell by nearly 3% and is inches away from turning $1 into a key resistance. All it takes is one more push by sellers.
If $1 becomes resistance, this will only prolong the current downtrend, which started in August 2025. Since this is also a major psychological level, any loss of support will be costly and see buyers retreat much lower, with the next key support level at $0.80.
Looking ahead, this cryptocurrency has a very low chance of reversing its current downtrend, especially after the price fell from two identical pennants. This only reconfirmed that bears are in total control over the price.
Source: TradingView Cardano (ADA) Cardano started the month well, but now sellers have returned and pushed the price 10% lower this week alone. That’s bad news for bulls, which may have retreated already to the key support at 15 cents.
Should this corrective move continue, then a re-test of $0.15 is very likely. That level has to hold if ADA hopes to avoid new lows. Any weakness there could suddenly see the price spike much lower.
Looking ahead, it appears Cardano could also end up consolidating above the key support if buyers manage to stabilize the price in this area. A consolidation period would be healthy after its prolonged downtrend that started in 2025.
Source: TradingView Binance Coin (BNB) Binance Coin closed the week 3% higher after confirming support at $580. If sellers don’t return here, then BNB has a good chance to continue higher and towards the key resistance at $690.
At the time of this post, this cryptocurrency is trading around $610. As long as the price is above $600, buyers will have an advantage in terms of momentum. However, the buy volume remains low.
Looking ahead, BNB could be forming a large rounded bottom around current levels. That will be confirmed if the price moves above $630. If so, a test of $690 becomes more likely in the future.
Source: TradingView Hype (HYPE) HYPE remained flat on the weekly timeframe and was rejected at the $58 resistance. If nothing changes in the days to come, then the price could revisit the key support at $52.
So far, this cryptocurrency has been making lower lows and lower highs since its all-time high at $76 back in June. Considering its significant rally in the first part of the year, the current correction could also last a while.
Looking ahead, the most decisive level on the chart is found at $52. This key support has stopped sellers from making new lows, but it could be retested again soon, which could be interpreted as bearish. Best to be patient here and follow the price.
Source: TradingView Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
Ethereum Layer2 network Robinhood Chain has recorded abnormal user growth recently, with daily active addresses surging from a previous normal level of around 280,000 to 1.9 million on August 11, and further exceeding 5.2 million on August 12, drawing widespread market attention. On-chain activity indicates this growth is primarily driven by three applications: Uniswap (trading, liquidity pools, and Poolstrade launchpad), StonkPit (stock token trading), and OpenSea (NFT trading), with Uniswap accounting for a large share of the activity. Robinhood Chain integrated Uniswap as its core AMM liquidity infrastructure at launch, and also supports OpenSea trading of stock tokens, NFTs, and community tokens. Robinhood’s key advantage is its native user base: through Robinhood Wallet integration, low-barrier experience, and potential incentive mechanisms, the platform can rapidly convert traditional finance users to on-chain users. When paired with meme trends, new product launches, or ecosystem subsidies, it can easily generate short-term explosive growth. That said, on-chain daily active address data requires cautious interpretation. Such a large short-term surge typically includes a significant number of bot addresses, wash trading accounts, incentive farming participants, and low-quality interaction addresses, meaning the actual number of valid users may be far lower than the reported figure. The market will closely monitor the sustainability of Robinhood Chain’s user growth moving forward. If activity is mainly fueled by meme speculation, short-term events, and gas subsidies, user data could see a sharp decline once the hype subsides.
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Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake has said the network’s layer 1 will leave Poseidon after an eight-year, eight-figure research effort and pursue established hash functions such as SHA-2 or BLAKE2s.
Summary
Ethereum’s L1 roadmap will use traditional hashes instead of the SNARK-focused Poseidon function. Binary-field SNARKs can reportedly prove about 1 million traditional hash calls per second. A production-grade leanVM is scheduled for 2027, followed by layer deployments in 2028. Hash-based signatures form a central part of Ethereum’s planned protection against quantum computers. Ethereum L1 turns away from Poseidon Justin Drake said in an Aug. 13 X post that the Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for its L1 roadmap and moving toward traditional options such as SHA or BLAKE.
“Goodbye, Poseidon!” Drake wrote, describing the decision as the result of an “8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole” in post-quantum cryptography.
Goodbye, Poseidon!
An epic 8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole in post-quantum cryptography reaches its dream conclusion. The Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for L1, pivoting to SHA or BLAKE. This milestone unlocks ultimate security for lean Ethereum and foreshadows a golden…
— Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) August 13, 2026 Poseidon emerged in 2019 as a hash function designed for zero-knowledge proof systems. Its structure made it less costly to process inside Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge, commonly known as SNARKs, than traditional hash functions built around binary operations.
Since 2018, the Ethereum Foundation has invested in specialized hashes as part of its work on zero-knowledge technology. Poseidon later became a common choice across zk-rollups and zkVMs, including systems that secure billions of dollars in crypto assets.
Drake’s announcement concerns Ethereum’s future L1 architecture, rather than an immediate removal of Poseidon from existing applications. Rollups, virtual machines, and other projects that already use the function are not required to replace it because of the roadmap decision.
Advances in proof-system design have now changed the trade-off that initially favored Poseidon. According to Drake, established functions such as SHA-2 and BLAKE2s can match its performance when paired with SNARKs designed around binary computation.
“In hindsight the key was not SNARK-friendly hashes, but hash-friendly SNARKs.”
Binary-field SNARKs make traditional hashes practical Binary fields allow proof systems to process the Boolean logic used by standard hash functions more naturally. Earlier SNARK designs often relied on large prime fields, where bit-based operations such as XOR could be costly to represent.
Working over the smallest prime number, two, allows binary-field systems to align their calculations with the zeros and ones used in conventional computing. Drake said the resulting designs can prove about 1 million traditional hash calls per second on a laptop, with an overhead of roughly 100 times compared with native CPU execution.
Research projects including Binius and Flock contributed to the performance gains, according to the post. Binius applies binary-field arithmetic to zero-knowledge proofs, while Flock focuses on proving large batches of Boolean calculations, including computations involving SHA-256, Keccak, and BLAKE3.
Drake also pointed to SNARK.fast, an open automated research project that uses artificial intelligence to improve proving code. Its strongest result reached 1.8 million BLAKE3 compressions per second, representing a 255% improvement over its starting benchmark.
Using established hashes could reduce Ethereum’s reliance on specialized cryptographic functions that require years of separate analysis. SHA and BLAKE have already received extensive study outside zero-knowledge systems, although their implementation inside Ethereum would still require research, audits and testing.
The decision also changes the relationship between Ethereum’s hash functions and its proof infrastructure. Instead of designing a new hash around the limits of a SNARK, researchers can build the SNARK around hash functions that already have long security records.
Ethereum post-quantum work favors hash-based signatures Drake linked the decision to Ethereum’s post-quantum security program, which is preparing the protocol for computers capable of breaking elliptic-curve cryptography. Ethereum currently relies on such systems for user accounts and parts of its consensus and data infrastructure.
As crypto.news reported in August, co-founder Vitalik Buterin has moved quantum security higher in Ethereum’s updated roadmap. The plan also covers native privacy, formal verification, post-quantum scaling, and possible replacements for parts of the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Drake said recent advances in AI-assisted cryptanalysis have created setbacks for more complex post-quantum systems. He specifically cited HAWK, a lattice-based signature design, and SQIsign, which relies on isogeny-based cryptography.
According to his assessment, the problems strengthen the case for hash-based signatures on blockchains. Such designs use relatively simple and extensively studied assumptions, although individual signatures can be too large for direct use at Ethereum’s present scale.
SNARK aggregation offers one way to address the size problem. A proof system can verify many hash-based signatures and compress the result into one smaller proof for the network, rather than requiring every signature to be placed and checked separately.
The same method could support multisignature arrangements and k-of-n threshold signatures, in which a transaction needs approval from a set number of participants. Drake said the flexibility comes from using the SNARK to prove the authorization rules without placing all the underlying signature data onchain.
Wallet-level preparations are already being tested. In June, an Ethereum researcher demonstrated account protection using a SPHINCS-based signature verifier, with one optimized version requiring about 127,000 gas and carrying a 3,704-byte signature. The researcher estimated the verification cost at roughly $0.07 per account at the time.
U.S. standards add pressure for early preparation For U.S. investors and businesses using Ethereum, the roadmap addresses a security risk that federal standards agencies have already begun treating as a migration issue. The National Institute of Standards and Technology finalized its first three post-quantum cryptography standards in August 2024 and encouraged system administrators to begin integrating them.
NIST’s standards do not direct Ethereum’s protocol choices, and the agency’s selected algorithms do not make the network quantum-safe by themselves. Its migration work shows, however, that American institutions are preparing before cryptographically relevant quantum computers become available.
A Coinbase independent advisory board reached a similar position in a 50-page paper published in April. Its members included Drake, Stanford cryptographer Dan Boneh, EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan, Coinbase cryptography head Yehuda Lindell, and distributed-systems researcher Dahlia Malkhi.
The board concluded that current blockchains remain secure from quantum attacks but warned that replacing vulnerable signatures across networks, wallets, and exchanges could take years. According to the advisory paper, some quantum-resistant alternatives could increase blockchain data requirements by as much as 38 times.
Ethereum’s use of proof aggregation is intended to limit such costs while replacing vulnerable cryptography. Drake said hash-based SNARKs could compress an arbitrary number of post-quantum signatures into a compact proof suitable for inclusion in a block.
LeanVM targets production deployment in 2027 The Ethereum Foundation’s post-quantum team is working on binary-field infrastructure as part of leanVM, a minimal zero-knowledge virtual machine intended to verify and aggregate cryptographic proofs.
Drake said the current schedule calls for a production-grade leanVM in 2027. Deployments involving Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers are planned for 2028, though each protocol change will still require implementation, testing, and agreement among Ethereum’s independent development teams.
The schedule sits within Ethereum’s Strawmap, a technical coordination document extending through 2029 rather than a finalized activation calendar. Earlier Strawmap coverage described seven proposed forks covering faster slots, shorter finality, post-quantum cryptography, privacy, and higher network capacity.
Ethereum’s post-quantum team is now working with Binius, Flock, and related binary-field systems while developing leanVM benchmarks. Drake said the planned 2028 work would apply the resulting proof technology separately across the consensus layer, data layer, and execution layer.
Justin Drake says off-the-shelf hashes can now match Poseidon inside zk-proofs.
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Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake said the EF is ditching Poseidon, the specialized hash function that's long secured L1-bound zk-proofs, in favor of standard hashes like SHA-2 or BLAKE.
Goodbye, Poseidon!
An epic 8-year, 8-figure rabbit hole in post-quantum cryptography reaches its dream conclusion. The Ethereum Foundation is abandoning Poseidon for L1, pivoting to SHA or BLAKE. This milestone unlocks ultimate security for lean Ethereum and foreshadows a golden…
— Justin Drake (@drakefjustin) August 13, 2026 What's the Scoop?The caveat: No formal EF blog post or EIP has followed yet, so for now this is Drake's own framing of an internal research shift rather than a finalized protocol update.The technical flip: New binary-field SNARK designs, building on 2023's Binius and 2026's Flock, let standard hashes match Poseidon's in-proof performance, what Drake calls "hash-friendly SNARKs" rather than "SNARK-friendly hashes." The claimed throughput potential is about 1 million hash calls proven per second on a laptop.Why it matters: Poseidon has secured billions in zkrollup and zkVM value since 2019, but its novel design meant years of cryptanalysis before L1-scale trust. Standard hashes carry no such wait.The roadmap: This feeds Drake's "lean Ethereum" vision, with a strawmap timeline a production leanVM will arrive in 2027 and consensus, data, and execution layer deployments in 2028.
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It’s time to break up with your bank, and join the movement for a better world.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is set to expand its presence in cryptocurrency-linked investment products through a major acquisition of Neos Investments. The Wall Street firm announced an agreement to purchase the specialized ETF provider in a transaction valued at as much as $2.25 billion, combining cash and equity components tied to specific performance and service milestones.
The deal, revealed on August 12, 2026, is projected to finalize in the first quarter of 2027, pending regulatory clearances and standard closing requirements.
Upon completion, three options-driven income funds focused on digital assets will transfer under the umbrella of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
These include the Neos Bitcoin High Income ETF (BTCI), the Boosted Bitcoin High Income ETF (XBCI), and the Ethereum High Income ETF (NEHI).Importantly, none of these vehicles purchase bitcoin or ether outright.
Instead, they secure exposure via exchange-traded products tied to the cryptocurrencies and employ options strategies—primarily covered-call approaches—to generate consistent monthly distributions for shareholders.
BTCI, which debuted in October 2024, stands as the largest of the trio, holding more than $1 billion in net assets.
The other two maintain smaller but growing footprints, with XBCI around $111 million and NEHI exceeding $77 million.
Neos itself, established in 2022 and based in Westport, Connecticut, oversees approximately $30 billion across a suite of 19 systematic options-based income ETFs as of mid-2026.
These products emphasize high monthly payouts, tax efficiency, and portfolio diversification, spanning traditional equity indexes as well as commodities and digital assets.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management already manages about $40 billion in comparable income and outcome-oriented options strategies.
Adding Neos will elevate the combined active ETF holdings to roughly $80 billion within a broader $130 billion global ETF platform, positioning the firm among the top eight active ETF providers according to industry data.
This move builds on Goldman’s earlier acquisition of Innovator Capital Management, further solidifying a comprehensive franchise in derivatives-based ETFs.
Industry observers note that demand for such income-focused vehicles has surged, with the broader derivative income ETF category expanding to around $180 billion in assets and posting compound annual growth exceeding 70 percent since 2021.
David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, highlighted the strategic alignment, describing Neos’ disciplined methodology as highly complementary to existing buffer, managed-outcome, and income capabilities.
The combination, he indicated, will equip investors with a versatile set of tools suited to varying market conditions.
Neos co-founders Troy Cates and Garrett Paolella will transition into partner roles at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, bringing their options expertise and entrepreneurial approach.
The full Neos investment and client-service teams are expected to integrate as well, preserving the firm’s specialized focus while leveraging Goldman’s scale, distribution reach, and operational resources.
The acquisition arrives amid rising institutional interest in structured crypto exposure that prioritizes yield generation over pure price appreciation.
By absorbing an established platform rather than building products from scratch, Goldman gains immediate scale in a competitive niche where rivals have also introduced similar income-oriented bitcoin offerings.
For advisors and investors seeking tax-efficient monthly income alongside indirect digital-asset participation, the integration expands available choices within a familiar ETF wrapper. The transaction underscores Goldman’s broader push into active and outcome-oriented ETFs, reinforcing durable fee-based revenue streams while addressing evolving client needs in volatile markets.
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The crypto industry has been unwittingly hiring North Korean “developers” who are really hackers. But as I found out, an almost incomprehensibly easy question incapacitates them.
Posted August 13, 2026 at 5:06 pm EST.
For a Korean-American whose ancestors had to escape from Pyongyang, North Korea has long been a place of fascination for me.
So when Taylor Monahan, North Korea security expert, and Nick Bax of SEAL Alliance and Ump Labs asked me if I wanted to conduct a job interview with a North Korean crypto developer trying to get a job at Ump Labs, I jumped at the opportunity.
The country’s elite hackers have been stealing crypto for the dictatorship for years — for a total of what TRM Labs estimates to be over $6 billion. Even OG companies like Consensys have accidentally hired what the FBI and DOJ call North Korean “IT workers.”
In 2024, CoinDesk broke the news that this problem was rampant in the industry, with well-known projects such as Cosmos Hub, Fantom, Sushi, and Yearn Finance, among others, having unknowingly hired North Korean state-sponsored hackers.
As Monahan said on a recent episode of Uneasy Money, “ Every single crypto company of any significant size dating back to at least 2020 has had an IT worker. A lot of them have had 10 IT workers.”
My number one goal when I accepted this quest was to ask the developer to say something nasty about the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un. This is widely known as a form of kryptonite to any North Korean, with most of these DPRK devs immediately ending their job interviews upon being asked to do so.
To an American who can tweet at President Donald Trump that he can go fuck himself, it seems almost laughable that North Koreans are unable to comply with this simple request. But this is how the dictatorship maintains its power — by brainwashing the population and controlling their minds and not letting any outside information in … and then by enforcing those rules with draconian physical punishments for infractions. According to International NGO Liberty in North Korea, “Even minor criticism of Kim Jong-un can result in entire families spending the rest of their lives in a political prison camp.”
Even though I’ve known this for over a decade, I was still curious to see it in action.
The Backstory Monahan and Bax presented a document that outlined the IT worker’s Github, various online accounts his email address had, gigs at numerous crypto projects like GameSwap, MetaPlay and Cook Protocol, past links between transactions from his crypto wallets at various employers’ to other North Korean transactions, and a screenshot of an announcement from a team he had allegedly hacked that included his headshot.
While those were all allegations, the dots connected, and as I would see when I got on the call, he was the same person in the photo from the hacking announcement that also connected to those email addresses, profiles, and crypto addresses.
While those parts of his identity seemed accurate and verifiable (with the caveat that it’s common for North Korean IT workers to maintain specific GitHub profiles as a team), two parts did not. First, the fact that he claimed to have a U.S. address — Long Beach, California — and second, his English name: Justin Lim. (Another alias he had was Jikun Liao, which is likely a fake or stolen name, given that the surname is Chinese.) His claimed location was a thread that I could pull on to try to catch him in a lie.
Both Privileged and Unprivileged The fact that he had any online presence at all differentiated him from the vast majority of his fellow North Koreans, who are not only not allowed on the internet, but most of whom don’t even have access to the country’s intranet. Even the North Korean state-issued smartphones do not have free internet — er, intranet — browsing. In “The Hermit Kingdom,” everyday North Koreans famously can face death, the gulag or public shaming if they consume any outside media.
The other thing that set him apart was that some of his internet profiles indicated that he was most likely based in Vladivostok, Russia. Meanwhile, his countrymen and women are not only not allowed to live abroad, but they are also not allowed to travel within the country without a permit.
But the fact that he was privileged could have been deduced simply by the fact that he was employed as one of North Korea’s state hackers — an honor reserved for members of the elite.
Two Koreans Pretending to Be Chinese One other fact that Bax and Monahan dropped was that he had allegedly stolen about $2.7 million from MetaPlay in 2022. So he actually had real crypto dev chops. I worried that he would be able to suss out that I was not an actual recruiter but a journalist — and that he might even hack my systems or figure out who I was.
Bax helped me write questions and gave me a sense of the appropriate answers so I could react properly or make contextually accurate followup questions. We also determined which video conferencing platform would help ensure my own safety and security without a VPN, and gave my recruiter persona a name: Sophie Wang.
I find it hilarious that he and I were two ethnic Koreans pretending to be of Chinese descent with our fake last names.
I was excited and also scared to come face to face (or at least webcam to webcam) with “my” hacker. Nick set me up with an Ump Labs email, arranged the Zoom meeting for a Friday at 2pm ET (which was, weirdly — or not, considering that his job was a form of indentured servitude — Saturday, 4am Vladivostok time). After a dress rehearsal with Bax, I was ready.
Hardened Criminal or Baby-Faced Automaton? The moment arrived, and I was, finally, face to face — virtually — with a person who I had envisioned as a detached, cold-hearted liar, scammer, and thief: a North Korean “IT worker.”
Instead, my first impression was of a quiet, baby-faced, introverted call center employee with a headset and a very buzzy mic, working under fluorescent lighting. He looked maybe 22.
I started with some casual trick questions Bax and I had brainstormed to try to catch him in a lie about things like his supposed Long Beach location, but I had a hard time pressing him on the questions, because they were basically chitchat, and I didn’t want to go full bad cop from the start, since that could blow my cover.
For instance, I asked him how the weather was in Long Beach, about recent events in Los Angeles, whether he ever went to Disney — and then I pretended not to know whether it was called Disney Land or Disney World in California to see if he could fill in the blank. He gave one-word answers, and didn’t respond to my question about the name of the Disney amusement park.
I asked him what he liked to do and he responded, “window shopping.” While that seemed like a weird response, it wasn’t something I could call him out on either.
He seemed more like an indifferent, even emotionless nerd. At one point I even wondered if he was reading his responses. The one bit of lore that seemed perhaps personal was that said he liked playing video games like Dota 2. Then again, was that just a made-up line to make him seem like your typical developer? Regardless, the impression I got was that he was just trying to get by, and even, dare I say, just do his job, which was to get hired so he could send money to the North Korean dictatorship.
Bax and Monahan seemed excited for me to ask what his favorite Disney movie was, telling me in advance that Frozen seemed to be the most popular Disney movie named by North Korean devs. Lim delivered, confirming that his favorite Disney movie was indeed Frozen.
He told me he was from Singapore, which was funny, because the way he said “window shopping” was a dead ringer for a Korean accent, but I wasn’t going to go there yet. I was only in first gear, but still anticipating the climax of the interview.
No Wonder These North Korean Devs Get Hired Then I went through the charade of pretending I was actually trying to hire him for a job at Ump Labs. My takeaway: he’s probably quite a capable blockchain engineer. He seemed proud that he had been able to fix an issue where the indexing speed of the Graph was slower than the block processing speed on Velas network. He had forked Velas network so that it could use The Graph.
I was not only impressed that he seemed to know the answers to my questions, but also that when I asked him about the Seaport protocol on OpenSea, he admitted he wasn’t familiar with it, pulled up the developer documentation right then and there, and analyzed it in real time, so he could answer my questions.
He seemed very intent on getting the job. One other question he admitted not knowing the answer to was about Uniswap v4. He said he was familiar with v2 and v3, and then offered again to check the documents for v4.
Or Was He a Hacking Mastermind? He also seemed to come up with creative responses on the fly. Since Ump Labs was building a marketplace for physical goods,
I guess it’s also possible that he was just very good at using AI to help craft his responses, but except for those few questions, he seemed to know all the answers off the top of his head.
Then I got to the security portion of the interview. These were questions that Bax had come up with because DPRK workers seemed to be stealing money from crypto projects by learning the methods used to secure those projects’ funds. Lim responded that multisig wallets should be the contract owner and then started giving ideas for how to keep smart contracts safe, like preventing re-entrancy attacks.
At this point, I said, “ I’m sure you’re probably aware the crypto industry suffered a big hack when North Korea stole $1.5 dollars from Bybit.” Although I didn’t catch it on video since my video wasn’t set up correctly, a faint smile crossed his face — his only smile throughout our conversation.
The Moment I Had Been Waiting For Bax and I had saved all the questions that we knew would be problematic for him for the end, so we could get as much information as possible before he was likely to leave.
First, I asked him if he could travel to ETH Denver. He said yes, but that he’d like to work remotely for several months first.
Then, we got to my holy grail question, which I had phrased carefully. As a descendant of people who believed that communism was a bad idea and so escaped from what is now modern-day North Korea in order to reach democracy, and as an American journalist who thinks that freedom of speech is an incredibly important pillar of democracy, I was deliberate in choosing the word I would use to describe the North Korean government: dictatorship. In my own way, it was my attempt to open a door in his mind so that he might someday question the cruel, brutal and inhumane system he had been born into.
So for what I believed was likely to be my final question, I asked him, “ As I mentioned earlier, the crypto industry has seen an influx of North Koreans working on behalf of the dictatorship to infiltrate the crypto industry, so we have to do a basic check for that. Can you say something negative about Kim Jong Un?”
There was a silence. Then he very faintly said, “I think it’s not …” or “I think it’s enough” or something like that. Then he was gone.
I emailed him to see if he could rejoin the Zoom, pretending like his connection had dropped. Eventually, nine minutes later, he wrote “me” (aka Sophie Wang) back: “Hi Sophie, My internet is quite unstable today and I am not available for the video call right now. If you share your Discord or Telegram, we can chat there. Thanks.”
Bax, Monahan and I hustled to figure out how I could whip up a fresh TG account for Sophie. Once I did, I reconnected with Lim, who had the username Zero Bit, who asked what the compensation was for Solidity devs at Ump. After I answered, I asked him again to say something negative regarding Kim Jong Un. He responded, “I don’t know much.”
I explained that he didn’t need knowledge – he just needed to say something negative about Kim Jong Un. After a couple minutes of no response, he then wrote, ”It’s quite special question, and never faced with other teams before” — which seems like it could have been an AI generated response.
Either way, he was still trying to get around the requirement. I didn’t respond, and then he may have blocked or reported me, because a short while later, I realized the Sophie Wang account I had created no longer worked, which is why I have no screenshots. (Thankfully, I’d been texting Bax and Monahan about every little update.)
A Sober Ending I agreed to do this undercover job because of an almost morbid curiosity about whether he really wouldn’t be able to say something bad about North Korea’s dictator, but after I had satisfied it, I felt a sense of sad disbelief. I also had so much gratitude for the foresight of my ancestors, in particular my grandfather, and for the right that we Americans have to the freedom of speech.
It also reinforced for me that no crypto company should ever be hiring North Korean developers if they always make sure to ask this one question. These devs truly will abandon all effort.
If so, the regime will not be able to steal crypto due to inside knowledge gained. It’s a basic check that will save the industry and the world a lot of trouble. I hope that crypto companies everywhere use this question in hiring calls so that not another penny of crypto goes to funding DPRK’s nuclear weapons.
As for Justin Lim, or whoever you are, I hope someday you and all your fellow North Koreans are someday freed from the barbaric tyranny of the Kim family dictatorship.
The fund reported holding 6.15 million BMNR shares at June 30, giving it indirect Ethereum exposure through a listed company.
Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global disclosed a 6,151,062-share position in BitMine Immersion Technologies valued at $81,870,635, according to a Norges Bank holdings filing for the quarter ended June 30.
The holding gives the sovereign wealth fund indirect exposure to Ethereum through BMNR stock. It is an equity position in a listed company, not a direct purchase of ETH by the fund.
BitMine was not listed in Norges Bank’s Dec. 31 holdings report but appeared in its June 30 report. The filings do not disclose when the fund acquired the shares or how much it paid for them.
An Equity Stake in an ETH Treasury CompanyBitMine describes itself as an Ethereum treasury and blockchain-infrastructure company. In an Aug. 10 company announcement furnished as an SEC exhibit, BitMine reported 5,805,238 ETH and said its crypto, cash, marketable securities and other investments totaled $11.6 billion as of Aug. 9.
The Norwegian fund’s exposure therefore comes through BitMine’s shares, whose value reflects the company’s ETH holdings as well as its financing and operations. BitMine also said it joined the Russell 1000 index on June 26, though neither company’s disclosure establishes whether the index addition drove the fund’s position.
Norges Bank Investment Management said the Government Pension Fund Global was worth 22.683 trillion kroner at June 30, with 72.1 percent invested in equities. The manager published its total holdings on Aug. 12 alongside its half-year results.
BitMine’s announcement said 5,067,309 of its ETH was staked as of Aug. 9. The Defiant previously reported on the company’s ETH accumulation toward its stated target of holding 5 percent of the token’s supply.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund just quietly bought its way into one of the most aggressive Ethereum accumulation plays on public markets. Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global disclosed a 6,151,062-share position in BitMine Immersion Technologies, valued at $81.87 million, according to a Norges Bank holdings filing for the quarter ended June 30.
The stake gives Norway’s $1.7 trillion fund indirect exposure to Ethereum through BMNR, a company that has pivoted from Bitcoin mining to hoarding ETH like it’s going out of style. As of early August, BitMine held approximately 5.8 million ETH, representing roughly 4.8% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply.
From Bitcoin miner to Ethereum whale BitMine’s transformation has been swift and deliberate. The company launched its ETH treasury strategy on June 30, 2025, raising $250 million in a private placement to fund the pivot. That same day, Thomas Lee was appointed chairman, marking a clean break from the firm’s legacy mining operations.
The playbook borrows heavily from MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin treasury model, but applies it to Ethereum with one crucial twist: staking. Of BitMine’s 5.8 million ETH holdings, more than 5 million are currently staked, generating yield that the company projects will produce hundreds of millions in annual revenue.
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BitMine has been winding down its self-mining operations while maintaining some ancillary Bitcoin holdings. The company now focuses on ETH per share as its primary performance metric, a framework that makes it easier for traditional investors to evaluate the stock as a leveraged bet on Ethereum’s price.
The target is ambitious. BitMine wants to hold 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply, and at 4.8%, it’s nearly there.
Why Norges Bank’s position matters Norges Bank hasn’t publicly commented on its strategic rationale for the BMNR stake, which is typical for the fund. Norway’s wealth fund holds thousands of positions across global equity markets, and individual holdings don’t necessarily reflect targeted conviction bets. The fund’s mandate is broad diversification across public equities, fixed income, and real estate.
Norway’s fund has previous form with crypto-adjacent investments. It has held positions in companies like Coinbase, MicroStrategy, and various Bitcoin mining firms through its broad equity portfolio. But a stake in a company whose explicit corporate strategy is to accumulate and stake as much ETH as possible represents a different category of exposure.
The distinction matters because staking introduces yield dynamics that don’t exist in Bitcoin treasury plays. When MicroStrategy holds Bitcoin, it sits there. When BitMine stakes Ethereum, it earns protocol rewards. That transforms the investment thesis from pure price appreciation to something closer to a yield-bearing digital asset strategy, wrapped in a public equity shell.
Institutional validation and market implications For Ethereum’s market dynamics, having a single entity control nearly 5% of circulating supply creates interesting pressure. That volume of ETH locked in staking reduces available supply on exchanges, which can amplify price movements in either direction.
When the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund shows up in the shareholder registry of an ETH accumulation vehicle, it lowers the perceived career risk for portfolio managers at pension funds, endowments, and family offices considering similar exposure. The logic is straightforward: if Norway’s fund can hold it, the compliance conversation gets easier for everyone else.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Norges Bank Discloses BMNR Stake Worth $81.9 MillionNorway's Government Pension Fund Global, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, has disclosed an $81.9 million position in BitMine Immersion Technologies ($BMNR) as of June 30. The holding, reported by Norges Bank in its half-year filing published Wednesday, covers 6,151,062 BMNR shares. The position did not appear in the fund's December filing, making it a new allocation added in the first half of 2026.
The stake gives the fund indirect exposure to Ethereum rather than a direct on-chain position. BitMine describes itself as the largest Ethereum treasury company, with a focus on holding and staking ETH for yield. As of late June 2026, BitMine held 5,700,040 ETH, representing roughly 4.7% of Ethereum's circulating supply. By August 9, @BitMNR reported that figure had grown to 5.81 million ETH.
Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the fund and was set up to invest revenues from Norway's oil and gas industry, posted a record half-year profit of more than $184 billion, driven by a rally in Asian technology stocks. The fund is an investor in more than 7,000 companies across more than 50 countries and holds stakes in around 1.5% of the world's publicly listed stocks. The BitMine position represents a small slice of that portfolio but is notable given the fund's historically cautious approach to crypto-linked assets.
Russell 1000 Inclusion Complicates the Picture On June 26, BitMine was added to the Russell 1000 Large-cap Index as part of the index's annual reconstitution. The company was simultaneously added to multiple Russell equity indexes, including the Russell 2500 and 3000, highlighting its emergence as a large-cap index constituent with one of the largest Ethereum treasuries and staking operations in the market.
The inclusion is expected to bring hundreds, and potentially thousands, of additional institutional investors into the stock as passive funds and ETFs rebalance to reflect the change. However, the Norges Bank disclosure does not confirm whether index mechanics drove the purchase. NBIM follows a passive index-tracking mandate and typically buys the market, then discloses. The timing is consistent with a passive rebalance following the June 26 reconstitution, though neither filing provides a specific rationale.
BitMine reported that 4.88 million ETH, worth roughly $7.7 billion, was staked mainly via its MAVAN platform, generating an annualized staking yield of 2.75% and projected annualized staking revenues of roughly $211 million. The company has framed its ETH accumulation strategy as a long-term treasury approach modelled loosely on corporate bitcoin strategies pioneered by other public companies.
Sources
Norges Bank Investment Management, official half-year report
CNBC: Norway sovereign wealth fund posts record $184 billion profit
BanklessTimes: BitMine joins Russell 1000 as largest Ethereum treasury
SharpLink will stake $200M in ETH through Lido, receiving wstETH in return.
Anchorage Digital will custody SharpLink’s staked wstETH position going forward.
Lido holds roughly $16.5B in staked ETH, the largest liquid staking protocol.
wstETH integrates across 100+ protocols, with $10B used as active collateral.
SharpLink, the second-largest corporate holder of Ethereum, will stake $200 million worth of ETH through Lido, the largest liquid staking protocol on the network.
The Nasdaq-listed company will receive wstETH, a token representing the staked ETH and its accumulated rewards, with Anchorage Digital serving as custodian.
The move expands SharpLink’s ongoing strategy to generate additional yield from its Ethereum treasury while retaining liquidity across decentralized finance applications and platforms.
SharpLink Expands ETH Treasury Strategy With Lido Allocation
SharpLink announced the $200 million staking allocation on August 13, 2026, describing it as part of a broader effort to make its Ethereum holdings more productive for shareholders.
The company has pursued staking and restaking approaches throughout the year, and the new Lido allocation adds another layer to that ongoing framework.
By staking through Lido, SharpLink gains exposure to Ethereum’s native staking rewards without giving up access to its capital.
The company will receive wstETH in return for its staked ETH. This token tracks both the underlying asset and the rewards it accumulates over time.
Because wstETH remains usable across decentralized finance platforms, SharpLink can theoretically deploy the token elsewhere while its ETH continues earning staking rewards in the background.
Joseph Chalom, Chief Executive Officer of SharpLink, commented on the rationale behind the allocation. “ Chalom said. He added that the move “
Anchorage Digital was selected to custody the staked position, giving SharpLink a regulated framework for holding its wstETH.
The arrangement is consistent with SharpLink’s broader approach of pairing large ETH allocations with institutional-grade infrastructure providers across its treasury operations.
Lido’s Scale and Institutional Reception Shape the Deal
Lido currently holds roughly $16.5 billion worth of ETH staked through its protocol, making it the dominant liquid staking platform on Ethereum today.
Its wstETH token is integrated across more than 100 separate protocols throughout the broader ecosystem. Approximately $10 billion worth of wstETH is actively used as collateral or deployed in other onchain applications.
Vasiliy Shapovalov, Executive Director of the Lido Labs Foundation, welcomed SharpLink’s decision to expand its use of Ethereum staking protocols.
“ Shapovalov said, linking confidence in ETH to confidence in the applications built on top of it.
Kean Gilbert, Head of Institutional Relations at Lido Institutional, described a broader shift underway among corporate treasuries.
“ Gilbert said.
He noted that SharpLink’s allocation shows how a holder of its size can stake “while keeping the flexibility its deployment strategy demands.”
The Ethereum Foundation is moving away from the Poseidon hash function in its planned post-quantum architecture, according to researcher Justin Drake.
On Thursday, Drake said the foundation was abandoning Poseidon and turning to established alternatives such as SHA or BLAKE. A hash function converts data into a fixed digital fingerprint, enabling computers to check that information has not been altered.
Poseidon had been considered for future post-quantum systems such as leanVM, which would help Ethereum efficiently verify large volumes of blockchain activity. Those systems have not yet been deployed on mainnet.
Drake said advances in SNARKs, which are compact proofs used to confirm computations without repeating underlying work, mean conventional hashes can now perform efficiently enough to replace Poseidon in those planned systems.
He said a production-ready leanVM is targeted for 2027, followed by deployments across Ethereum’s consensus, data and execution layers in 2028. The dates remain preliminary.
Eigen Labs founder and CEO Sreeram Kannan said established hash-based systems have fewer known avenues of attack than other post-quantum approaches and could be deployed faster because they have already undergone years of scrutiny.
Kannan said joint work with the foundation and zero-knowledge proof company Succinct had increased proving speeds by 2.5 times.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
The Ethereum Foundation is moving away from the Poseidon hash function in its planned post-quantum architecture, according to researcher Justin Drake.
On Thursday, Drake said the foundation was abandoning Poseidon and turning to established alternatives such as SHA or BLAKE. A hash function converts data into a fixed digital fingerprint, enabling computers to check that information has not been altered.
Poseidon had been considered for future post-quantum systems such as leanVM, which would help Ethereum efficiently verify large volumes of blockchain activity. Those systems have not yet been deployed on mainnet.
Drake said advances in SNARKs, which are compact proofs used to confirm computations without repeating underlying work, mean conventional hashes can now perform efficiently enough to replace Poseidon in those planned systems.
He said a production-ready leanVM is targeted for 2027, followed by deployments across Ethereum’s consensus, data and execution layers in 2028. The dates remain preliminary.
Eigen Labs founder and CEO Sreeram Kannan said established hash-based systems have fewer known avenues of attack than other post-quantum approaches and could be deployed faster because they have already undergone years of scrutiny.
Kannan said joint work with the foundation and zero-knowledge proof company Succinct had increased proving speeds by 2.5 times.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
The Ethereum Foundation has decided to move away from the Poseidon hash function in its strategies for post-quantum security, according to researcher Justin Drake. This change shifts the focus toward well-established cryptographic options like SHA and BLAKE.
Shift from Poseidon to Established AlgorithmsDrake stated that the foundation evaluated Poseidon for adoption in upcoming post-quantum systems, including leanVM, an advanced virtual machine design intended for efficiently validating extensive blockchain transactions. However, he indicated that recent advancements meant earlier plans involving Poseidon will no longer proceed.
Drake emphasized that improvements in SNARKs—succinct proofs enabling verification of computations without redoing the full process—have made it possible for classic hash functions to perform as efficiently as Poseidon in these future systems.
Poseidon, created to be compatible with zero-knowledge proofs, attracted attention as a potential core for next-generation cryptographic infrastructure. Nonetheless, Ethereum will now pursue architectures based on SHA or BLAKE, which both benefit from extensive academic review and decades of real-world usage.
Mini dictionary: Poseidon hash, a cryptographic function designed for efficiency with zero-knowledge proofs and used in advanced privacy and blockchain security applications, is now being reconsidered due to performance enhancements in mainstream hash algorithms.
Timeline and Technical CollaborationDrake reported that the foundation aims for a production-ready leanVM in 2027. Wider integration across Ethereum’s consensus, data, and execution layers is tentatively scheduled for 2028. These milestones remain subject to adjustments as development progresses.
The decision to prefer SHA and BLAKE follows collaborative research with academic and industry partners. Sreeram Kannan, founder and CEO of Eigen Labs, noted that hash-based approaches have consistently endured public analysis, reducing the likelihood of undiscovered vulnerabilities that can threaten newer algorithms.
Kannan added that working jointly with the Ethereum Foundation and Succinct, a company specializing in zero-knowledge proof technology, resulted in a 2.5-fold boost in proving speed.
This collaboration illustrates increasing momentum toward post-quantum readiness in major blockchain platforms, focusing on reliable, extensively tested cryptographic tools.
Hash FunctionMain UseSecurity MaturityPerformance for SNARKsPoseidonZero-knowledge proof efficiencyModerateInitially high, now matched by othersSHA/BLAKEGeneral cryptographic securityHighNow suitable for SNARK integrationExpert Statements on Security and EfficiencyAccording to Kannan, relying on mature hash algorithms like SHA and BLAKE ensures fewer attack vectors and accelerates deployment for Ethereum’s future cryptographic standards.
Improvements in cryptographic proofs allow established hash functions to provide the efficiency needed for large-scale blockchain validation, removing the need for more experimental options.
Research and development in the Ethereum ecosystem continue to prioritize both quantum resistance and efficient blockchain operation, as teams prepare for emerging security risks posed by advances in quantum computing.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Ethereum’s current staked supply has risen to roughly 34 percent of the total circulating ETH. This elevated participation level has intensified debate over the long-term sustainability of native staking yields, particularly for institutions and specialized treasury firms that rely heavily on those returns.
A draft Ethereum Improvement Proposal known as EIP-8363, titled “Tapered Issuance Burn,” seeks to address the issue.
Authored by researchers including pintail, Jérôme de Tychey, dapplion, pa7x1,Ladislaus von Daniels and Ethereum Foundation contributor Justin Drake, the proposal would introduce a mechanism that permanently destroys a rising share of the idealized rewards validators earn for consensus duties such as attestations, block proposals and sync committee participation.
The burn fraction increases with the overall staking ratio and reaches 100 percent once approximately half the ETH supply is staked.
At that saturation point, net consensus-layer issuance for properly performing validators would fall to zero.
Priority fees and maximal extractable value from the execution layer would remain unaffected.
Modeling within the draft indicates that at the current staking ratio near one-third, annual consensus yields would decline from about 2.6 percent to roughly 1.2 percent.
To avoid a sudden shock, the reduction is structured to phase in gradually over an 18-month transition through a temporary elevation of the base reward factor.
While the change would affect the broader staking ecosystem, ETH treasury companies such as Bitmine and SharpLink stand among those most exposed.
These firms treat large staked ETH positions as core yield-generating assets.
At present participation levels, the proposed adjustments could cut their staking revenues by approximately half, with deeper reductions possible if the staking ratio continues climbing toward 50 percent.
Supporters of the proposal argue that the existing issuance curve never fully turns off the incentive to stake more ETH, even at high ratios.
This can lead to excess issuance, greater dilution for non-stakers, and increased concentration among large operators and intermediaries.
By creating a natural ceiling on staking growth, the tapered burn aims to let the market find an equilibrium where net yields simply match the risk premium demanded by participants.
The timing coincides with strong institutional inflows that have driven the recent surge in staked ETH through corporate treasuries, liquid staking products and other yield vehicles.
These flows have already compressed per-validator returns via ordinary dilution of the issuance pool.
If adopted, EIP-8363 would reshape the economics of securing Ethereum.
Solo stakers, liquid staking providers and large treasury operators would face lower expected returns.
Publicly listed firms that function as equity proxies for ETH yield strategies could see material pressure on their income models.
Discussion of the draft continues across the Ethereum community, balancing the goals of monetary restraint and reduced concentration risk against the impact on participants dependent on current yield levels. The proposal underscores the ongoing trade-off between encouraging broad network security and managing the economic consequences of high staking ratios.
Coinglass data shows 74,736 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $232.50 million. SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $61.2 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $7.4 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include Bitway, OKB and Cosmos Hub. Notable Developments:
Crypto’s ‘Revenue Revolution’ Could Double HYPE, UNI, AAVE Valuations, Bitwise Exec Says Bitcoin Ignores Good Inflation Data as Demand Stays Absent: What’s Going On? Bitcoin Bear Market Bottom in Sight? The Next 60 Days Are Key, Analyst Says XRP Network Activity Is Rising but User Growth Stalls: What Is Going On? Ethereum Sentiment Turns Positive but Beware a Final Leg Lower, Analysts Warn Are Bitcoin ‘OGs’ Turning Bullish Again? Yes, but There’s a Catch Trader Notes:
Trader KillaXBT predicts Bitcoin could still fall to the $48,000 to $52,000 historical bear market support zone over the next 1.5 months.
However, if BTC avoids that range through October or November, the analyst believes the cycle bottom is likely already in.
Rekt Capital noted Bitcoin’s 200-week SMA provided strong support and fueled a relief bounce in July, as expected. But, buying pressure around the level has weakened in August, suggesting the key support may be starting to fail and increasing downside risk.
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He says Solana (CRYPTO: SOL), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) and much of the broader altcoin market will likely underperform the former in the future.
Bitcoin Breakout Could RunIn a podcast on Aug. 12, DonAlt said Bitcoin has effectively gone nowhere for six to ten weeks, repeatedly testing resistance while holding support.
He highlighted roughly $65,600 as the key upside level. A convincing breakout above that area could create a momentum trade and potentially trigger a fast move higher.
On the downside, he sees the low $62,000 region as increasingly important. A deeper move toward that area would raise the odds of another test of the range lows.
Despite the lack of momentum, DonAlt said sentiment looks too pessimistic relative to the actual price action.
"People are overly bearish," he said, noting that calls for $40,000 Bitcoin increasingly appear to treat another collapse as inevitable despite BTC continuing to hold its broader range.
His current bias: "Up is probably more likely than down."
Ethereum Outlook Looks StrongerDonAlt said Ethereum is still trading against major resistance around $1,900, but its performance against Bitcoin has improved substantially.
If ETH clears that resistance, he sees the potential for a rapid move toward roughly $2,400 to $2,500.
That leaves him considering buying before confirmation rather than chasing a breakout later.
"I kind of feel like the resistance is more likely to break than not," DonAlt said.
He also prefers Ethereum "not even close" when choosing between ETH, XRP and Solana, arguing that ETH offers the stronger long-term relative setup.
Solana Setup Unclear, XRP Narrative WeakSolana, by comparison, is sitting in what DonAlt described as the "middle of nowhere."
Unlike Ethereum, which has identifiable support and resistance levels offering cleaner risk management, Solana currently lacks an obvious invalidation point.
He sees a more attractive SOL trade emerging if it reclaims roughly $100, potentially opening a move toward $120.
Longer term, however, DonAlt expects Ethereum to outperform Solana.
DonAlt is similarly cautious on XRP as he said the setup that originally attracted him has disappeared.
XRP is now trading around $1 after a brutal decline, and DonAlt sees little compelling technical support until potentially around $0.75.
More importantly, the narrative catalyst that drove his earlier trade has weakened.
While XRP could still rally alongside broader retail participation, DonAlt said he would probably choose another asset if deploying capital today.
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Shiba Inu has effectively hit zero on two important technical achievements: sustained recovery above its short-term trend and meaningful progress toward its long-term moving average. After the explosive late-July attempt to reverse, SHIB has surrendered almost the entire move and returned to approximately $0.00000448.
The first critical threshold is the 50-day moving average. SHIB briefly surged through it during the late-July volatility spike, reaching approximately $0.0000058 at the session's extreme. That breakout ultimately produced zero lasting progress.
SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe 50-day average now sits around $0.00000445, almost exactly where SHIB trades. Instead of converting the moving average into support and building upward, the token has returned to the same technical boundary it was attempting to escape.
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The second threshold is the 100-day moving average around $0.00000493. Here, SHIB's progress has effectively been erased as well. Price briefly traded comfortably above this region during the spike but immediately lost it. The subsequent sequence of lower highs has now placed almost 10% between SHIB and this resistance.
That leaves the token with no confirmed medium-term breakout despite one of its strongest individual daily moves in months.
The broader structure explains why this matters. SHIB's 200-day moving average remains around $0.00000583 and continues declining. Price has not established a sustainable challenge of this level throughout the recent recovery attempt, leaving the long-term trend decisively bearish.
Momentum is also fading. RSI has fallen toward 45 after briefly moving into overbought territory during the July surge. The indicator's average remains higher around 52.6, showing how quickly the latest burst of momentum has dissipated.
There is one level SHIB has successfully protected: the approximately $0.0000041-$0.0000043 bottom established through June and July. As long as that floor remains intact, another recovery attempt remains possible.
Ethereum at the key stateEthereum is approaching one of its most important technical shifts of 2026 as its moving averages begin forming a potential pre-golden cross setup. ETH has not confirmed the bullish crossover yet, but the gap between its major trend indicators is narrowing after months of overwhelmingly bearish positioning.
ETH currently trades around $1,890, almost directly between several moving averages. The 100-day moving average sits near $1,920, while the 50-day average has climbed to approximately $1,818. The shorter-term average is already around $1,877, reflecting the improvement in price momentum since Ethereum bottomed around $1,500-$1,600 in June.
ETH/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe important development is the direction of the 50-day average. After declining for months, it has turned upward and is now beginning to converge with the still-descending 100-day average.
That creates the conditions for a bullish crossover if Ethereum can maintain its recent price range or move higher. Such a crossover would signal that medium-term price action is improving faster than the older data incorporated into the 100-day trend.
There is a catch: ETH remains underneath the 100-day average itself. Price has repeatedly tested the $1,900-$1,950 region since July without establishing a decisive breakout. That makes this resistance zone particularly important. A move through $1,920 and sustained trading above it would strengthen the probability that the moving averages eventually complete their crossover.
Momentum is relatively balanced. RSI sits around 52.6, placing Ethereum slightly on the bullish side of neutral without indicating an overheated market. This gives ETH room for additional upside if buyers return.
The larger trend has not reversed completely either. Ethereum's 200-day moving average remains much higher at approximately $2,135 and continues declining. Even a successful 50/100-day crossover would therefore represent an intermediate recovery signal rather than confirmation of a new long-term bull market.
Hyperliquid breaking outHyperliquid is attempting its strongest short-term recovery in weeks, with HYPE breaking above an important moving-average cluster and returning to approximately $58. The move gives buyers their first meaningful technical advantage since the asset started correcting from its summer highs, although $60-$61 remains the barrier that could determine whether the breakout develops further.
HYPE currently trades around $58.04 after gaining roughly 3.5% during the latest daily session. More importantly, the price has moved above the short-term moving average near $56.93 and the 100-day moving average around $56.66.
HYPE/USDT Chart by TradingViewThat area had repeatedly restricted HYPE during its recent consolidation. Moving through it turns approximately $56-$57 into the first level buyers will want to defend.
Momentum is improving alongside price. RSI has recovered to approximately 52.6 after spending recent weeks below neutral territory. Its signal average remains much lower around 42, highlighting the relatively rapid change in short-term momentum.
The next resistance, however, is already close. HYPE's 50-day moving average sits around $60.85 and continues sloping downward. A push through approximately $60-$61 would therefore carry considerably more technical weight than the current breakout.
The broader structure also gives buyers some protection. The 200-day moving average has climbed to approximately $50.89 and remains well below the current price. HYPE tested the low-$50 region during its August correction without losing this long-term support.
HYPE is therefore beginning to break out of its immediate recovery range, but confirmation still sits overhead. Holding above $56-$57 would preserve the latest improvement. Clearing $60.85 would provide much stronger evidence that the correction from the $70-plus region has run its course.
For now, Hyperliquid has broken through the first barrier. The next one will determine whether this is merely another bounce or the beginning of a larger recovery.
Shiba Inu has retraced nearly all of its late-July rally, giving back previous gains and returning to approximately $0.00000448. Following a brief attempt to break above resistance levels, the token has once again fallen in line with its key short-term average, showing limited progress in reversing its bearish trend.
Shiba Inu stalls below key technical levelsAfter a volatile surge in late July, SHIB spiked as high as $0.0000058, temporarily crossing its 50-day moving average. However, this rally was quickly reversed, and the price fell back to the critical 50-day average, now at roughly $0.00000445—almost exactly matching the latest market price.
Efforts to establish support above this technical marker have failed, with SHIB returning to prior levels rather than building on the upward momentum. The token’s failure to hold this level highlights the persistent selling pressure and indecision among traders.
Attention has also shifted to the 100-day moving average, around $0.00000493. SHIB only briefly traded above this resistance before resuming its downward trajectory. The price now sits approximately 10% below this mark, underscoring that the token’s medium-term bullish momentum has faded.
Momentum has waned rapidly, with the RSI dropping toward 45 following a short spike into overbought territory during July. Moving average values now confirm that SHIB’s progress since the rally has eroded.
Despite the broader bearish backdrop, SHIB has managed to preserve support at the $0.0000041 to $0.0000043 zone—an area tested during June and July. Maintaining this range remains crucial for any renewed recovery attempts.
Long-term outlook and technical indicatorsSHIB’s 200-day moving average stays above current price action at $0.00000583 and remains in a downward trend. The token has not managed a sustainable move above this level, reinforcing the long-term bearish sentiment.
RSI readings further signal the loss of momentum, with the average near 52.6 but currently slipping closer to neutral. This suggests SHIB’s most recent strength has quickly dissipated.
TokenCurrent Price50-day MA100-day MA200-day MASHIB$0.00000448$0.00000445$0.00000493$0.00000583Ethereum targets potential bullish crossoverEthereum stands at a turning point as moving averages approach a possible pre-golden cross formation—a signal watched closely by traders for potential bullish momentum. The asset currently trades near $1,890, positioning itself between major short- and long-term averages.
The 50-day average has shifted upward for the first time in months, now at $1,818, while the 100-day average remains slightly higher at $1,920. The narrowing gap creates the potential for a crossover if the current price trend persists.
If Ethereum can maintain or extend gains above $1,920, a crossover of its 50-day and 100-day moving averages would signal a shift into a medium-term recovery for ETH.
The 200-day moving average, however, stays well above current levels at $2,135 and continues to decline, marking a cautious tone for longer-term recovery hopes. Ethereum’s RSI sits at approximately 52.6, signaling moderate bullish momentum without signs of overheating.
Mini dictionary: Golden cross, a bullish technical pattern that occurs when a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average, often signaling potential upward momentum.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) breaks through resistance clusterHyperliquid, a relatively new entrant in the digital asset market, has posted one of its strongest recoveries in recent weeks. HYPE advanced approximately 3.5% during the last daily session and now trades near $58.04, reclaiming positions above key moving averages at $56.93 (short-term) and $56.66 (100-day).
Overcoming this congested area gives buyers their first technical advantage since the asset’s summer pullback. If HYPE can defend the $56-$57 region, further upside may be possible.
The critical hurdle now lies at $60.85—the position of HYPE’s 50-day moving average. A move through $60-$61 would give stronger evidence that recent corrections from above $70 could be ending.
Supporting the bullish case, the asset’s 200-day average stands at $50.89, well below current prices and still in an upward trend. Alongside price gains, momentum readings have flipped positively, with RSI at 52.6 after an extended period of weakness.
Traders now look to see if HYPE can build on these early gains, hold above new support, and attempt a sustained challenge of upper resistance in the coming sessions.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Charles Schwab has opened direct trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) to its approximately 40 million brokerage account holders, expanding its crypto offerings on August 13. The move gives one of the largest US financial institutions’ clients access to leading cryptocurrencies through the same platforms they use for stocks and bonds.
Schwab’s crypto platform detailsThe Schwab Crypto platform allows eligible clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum using their existing brokerage interface. The service is currently available in 48 US states, with New York and Louisiana excluded for now. Schwab charges a 0.75% fee on crypto trades, which aligns with rates found across the industry.
Charles Schwab Premier Bank handles custody of client assets for the new crypto service, providing oversight and recordkeeping. Paxos, a blockchain infrastructure company regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is responsible for sub-custody and trade execution.
Mini dictionary: Paxos is a blockchain infrastructure company that provides crypto brokerage, custody, and settlement services, operating under regulatory oversight from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).
Jonathan Craig, Head of Retail Investing at Schwab, highlighted new service and research features available to clients trading digital assets alongside traditional investments. He stated that broader financial management and educational resources are intended to make the platform appealing for cryptocurrency investors.
Clients now have access to Bitcoin and Ethereum trading on the same interface as stocks and bonds, with added support, research, and education.
Expansion and future plansSchwab, with over $12 trillion in client assets, initially entered the crypto sector using indirect exposure instruments such as spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded products (ETPs), futures, and related funds. As of May, 39.1 million Schwab retail clients were offered access to crypto trading. The figure has now reached 40 million accounts with the broader rollout.
Joe Vietri, Head of Digital Assets, said Schwab aims to become the primary destination for individual investors looking to include digital assets in their portfolios. The company plans to expand its product range beyond BTC and ETH and eventually enable token transfers from outside wallets and exchanges.
FeatureMay 2026August 2026Accounts eligible for crypto trading39.1 million40 millionTokens supportedBTC, ETHBTC, ETHSupported states48 (excludes NY, LA)48 (excludes NY, LA)Trade fee0.75%0.75%Currently, Schwab clients account for about 20% of all spot crypto ETP holdings, highlighting the firm’s position in the retail crypto market.
Risk messaging and industry contextDespite launching direct crypto trading, Schwab continues to caution investors about the risks of digital assets. A company research report from April found that even a modest 1% to 3% allocation to Bitcoin or Ether can significantly increase a portfolio’s total risk. The firm noted that volatility remains a concern, as both tokens have previously dropped over 70% in some market cycles, and described cryptocurrencies as speculative, high-risk holdings.
Any cryptocurrency allocation is likely to raise portfolio volatility, and there is no single correct level of exposure for every investor.
Schwab’s move matches a broader trend on Wall Street, with institutions such as Morgan Stanley introducing crypto trading on its E-Trade platform and Goldman Sachs seeking regulatory approval to launch a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. These developments are happening as US lawmakers consider the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would divide oversight of crypto between the SEC and CFTC and establish ground rules for tokens, stablecoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is showing its strongest relative momentum in years, although traders caution that this does not necessarily translate to higher prices in the short run.
Will ETH Reclaim Record High Against BTC?While Ethereum has previously reached new all-time highs in dollar terms, Mayne cautioned that ETH may never reclaim its record high against Bitcoin.
However, the ETH/BTC chart is now attempting to establish a higher low following a trendline breakout.
The trader sees a case for short- to medium-term Ethereum strength if ETH/BTC can continue reclaiming key resistance levels. That doesn’t eliminate substantial downside risk.
Mayne believes Ethereum could still trade below $1,000 during the current cycle if Bitcoin experiences another major capitulation.
“If Bitcoin goes to like $50,000 or $45,000, I would not be surprised at all if ETH makes another low,” he said.
Over the past month, ETH is up 1.5%.
Staking To Create Demand?Institutional developments could provide another tailwind for Ethereum.
Fidelity has filed to add staking to its spot Ethereum ETF, potentially allowing the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) to stake up to 100% of its more than 480,000 ETH, currently worth roughly $880 million.
The fund would retain 85% of staking rewards and distribute proceeds to investors in cash quarterly.
Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies (AMEX:BMNR) argued that staking could attract yield-oriented investors to ETH ETFs, potentially creating additional demand for ETH.
BitMine Chairman Tom Lee agreed with the assessment.
Is It Better To Enter ETH Now?Pseudonymous trader DonAlt is also building an Ethereum position despite acknowledging that it is trading near resistance.
He said he has already bought ETH and plans to add more over the coming days as he prefers the risk of entering at a less-than-perfect price to remain completely unexposed.
DonAlt plans to increase the position further if Ethereum retests lower support.
Image: Shutterstock
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Ethereum continues to lack decisive momentum, with the price remaining trapped in consolidation despite its recovery from the June lows. The market is now hovering around the 100-day moving average, while the lower timeframes show ETH compressed between clearly defined support and resistance zones.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart On the daily timeframe, ETH is trading around $1.9K, with the latest candles showing little directional conviction. The most notable development is the horizontal consolidation that has formed around the 100-day moving average, which is currently passing through approximately the same region.
The market has repeatedly fluctuated around this moving average without establishing a sustained move on either side. This lack of momentum suggests neither buyers nor sellers have gained decisive control, leaving ETH in a neutral consolidation phase in the short term.
Nevertheless, the broader structure remains vulnerable. On the upside, the $2.06K-$2.15K zone is the first major resistance area, with the longer-term moving average also converging toward this region. A decisive breakout above it would provide considerably stronger evidence of a bullish structural shift.
Meanwhile, the nearest support sits around $1.81K-$1.84K. Losing this area would weaken the recent recovery and could eventually expose the much more significant $1.53K-$1.57K demand zone. Until either side of the current consolidation is broken with momentum, however, range-bound price action remains the more likely scenario.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart The 4-hour timeframe provides a clearer view of the current range. ETH is oscillating between the $1.80K-$1.84K demand zone and the $1.95K-$1.98K resistance area, with price currently near the middle of this structure at roughly $1.89K.
Importantly, the ascending trendline underneath the recent price action remains intact and is currently acting as dynamic support. The latest selloff briefly tested the trendline around the $1.86K-$1.87K region before buyers stepped in, preserving the sequence of higher lows that has developed since late June.
However, buyers have repeatedly struggled to generate enough momentum to break through the upper boundary. The $1.95K-$1.98K resistance zone has already rejected the market, making it the key obstacle to another bullish leg. A successful breakout could allow ETH to extend toward the upper boundary of the broader ascending channel around $2K and above.
Conversely, a breakdown below the ascending trendline would place renewed pressure on the $1.80K-$1.84K support zone. Losing both would represent a meaningful deterioration in the short-term structure and could open the door to a deeper correction toward the lower support areas.
Sentiment Analysis The two-week liquidation heatmap captures the liquidity structure that has developed during ETH’s recent consolidation phase. With spot price moving sideways, leveraged positions have accumulated on both sides of the range, creating potential targets for short-term liquidity sweeps.
The most prominent nearby concentration appears above the market around $1.94K-$1.95K, almost directly overlapping with the technical resistance identified on the 4-hour chart. This makes the region particularly important, as a push through the recent highs could trigger short liquidations and potentially accelerate an upside move.
At the same time, slight liquidation liquidity is visible below the market, particularly through roughly the $1.80K-$1.85K region. This aligns closely with the 4-hour demand zone and means a downside sweep cannot be ruled out if the ascending trendline fails.
Overall, the heatmap reinforces the technical picture of a market trapped inside a range with liquidity accumulating at both extremes. Until ETH establishes a decisive breakout, sharp moves toward either side may primarily serve to clear leveraged positions before the market selects a more sustainable direction.
Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.
Binance announced it will support users to deposit eligible third-party tokenized stocks and convert them 1:1 into corresponding bStocks. During the event period (ending at 23:59 UTC on August 26), the conversion rate is fixed at 1:1 with zero fees. Four assets are currently supported: Tesla (TSLAon), MicroStrategy (MSTRon), Coinbase (COINon), and Circle (CRCLon), with versions available on both Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchains. The converted bStocks can be traded around the clock or redeemed 1:1 for their underlying stocks.
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Ethereum has regained momentum in recent weeks, climbing nearly 20% from early July lows near $1,580 to trade at $1,892. Market analysts point to renewed bullish signals and price action that suggest the potential for further gains toward the $3,000 mark, but highlight substantial resistance and liquidity challenges along the way.
Technical outlook and bullish signalsAccording to market analyst Ali Martinez, Ethereum’s bounce from the $1,580 level has created a setup similar to previous periods that preceded significant rallies. Martinez identified the July level as a critical launchpad, referencing prior breakouts that resulted in price surges ranging between 35% and over 200%. The largest of those moves took place in 2025.
Ethereum’s price recently surpassed its 0.8 market-to-realized value (MVRV) band, approaching $1,800 by early August. The MVRV ratio, which compares Ethereum’s market capitalization with its realized capitalization, is viewed as a gauge of valuation and investor sentiment. Realized capitalization provides a total cost basis for the network, valuing each coin at its last movement price rather than the current spot price.
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Resistance zones and market liquidityDespite the favorable signals, Ethereum faces strong resistance near the $3,000 level, which on-chain data shows was previously a significant zone of activity. More than ten million ETH exchanged hands around this price, meaning many holders could look to exit positions as ETH approaches this level, potentially slowing upward momentum.
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Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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