Small business owners just got a little less optimistic. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index dropped to 98.7 in August, missing the consensus forecast of 99.3 and sliding from July’s reading of 99.8.
That July number had been the highest since August 2025, fueled largely by improved hiring plans. One month later, the enthusiasm has cooled.
What the numbers actually tell us The NFIB index has been tracking sentiment among US small business owners since 1975. It aggregates ten components covering everything from hiring expectations and capital spending plans to sales forecasts and general economic outlook.
The long-term average sits around 98.0. So at 98.7, the August reading is still technically above that historical baseline. But the direction matters more than the absolute level here.
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The miss relative to expectations is arguably more important than the raw number. Economists had anticipated a modest dip to 99.3, essentially projecting that July’s optimism would mostly hold. Instead, the decline was roughly twice as steep as predicted.
Why small business sentiment matters for the broader economy The NFIB index is particularly sensitive to a constellation of external pressures: labor market tightness, inflation, tax policy, and the broader regulatory environment.
NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg has historically used the monthly release to contextualize what small business owners are experiencing on the ground. The ten-component structure of the index means that a headline decline can mask divergent trends underneath, where some areas like hiring intentions might hold steady while expectations for sales or economic conditions deteriorate.
For context, the index spent extended periods below its 98.0 historical average during past episodes of economic uncertainty. Readings consistently above that mark generally coincide with expansion phases, while sustained dips below it tend to precede or accompany slowdowns.
What drove the pullback July’s jump to 99.8 was largely attributed to better hiring plans among small business owners. That specific catalyst appears to have faded in August, though the NFIB report captures a broad snapshot rather than isolating a single factor.
The fact that the index reversed course so quickly after hitting a 12-month high suggests the underlying confidence was fragile. One strong month driven by hiring optimism wasn’t enough to establish a durable trend.
Market implications and what to watch The September NFIB reading will be the one to watch. If the index stabilizes or rebounds, August becomes a blip. If it continues sliding toward that 98.0 threshold, it starts looking like a trend.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Blockchain security firm Blockaid flagged a Cozy Finance exploit on Optimism early Monday. The attacker drained roughly $170,000 and bridged the funds out within 13 minutes.
Cozy Finance runs protection markets that let users buy cover against DeFi failures. An earlier Optimism attack cost the protocol about $427,000 in August 2025.
Attacker Bridged the Money Out in 13 MinutesThe exploit transaction landed at 05:43 UTC on Monday, according to OP Mainnet explorer data. It moved about 163,326 USDC.e out of the protocol across 63 token transfers.
Meanwhile, the same transaction burned roughly 1.6 million Cozy PToken (CPT). The attacker then approved a token and pushed the funds through a bridge at 05:56 UTC.
That exit came before Blockaid published its alert. Explorer records show no further movement from the wallet since.
The attacker also prepared well ahead. Records show the attack contract went live on September 2, five days before the drain. The wallet drew its first funds from a Relay solver.
Blockaid also named Cozy Set (CSET) as the abused token contract. That contract remains unverified and still holds about $4,168 in USDC.e.
🚨Community alert:
Blockaid detected an ongoing exploit on @cozyfinance on Optimism.
170k$ drained so far.
More details in 🧵
— Blockaid (@blockaid_) September 7, 2026
Blockaid. Source: XCozy Finance Exploit Repeats a 2025 FailureThis is not the protocol’s first loss on Optimism. An attacker took about $427,000 in August 2025, security firm Verichains found.
The flaw sat in the withdrawal code, which never checked who completed a redemption. Cozy Finance now ranks fifth among insurance protocols on DefiLlama, holding about $1.3 million.
DefiLlama listed roughly $172,000 on the Optimism side. Therefore, the attacker appears to have swept close to the entire deployment there.
Similar raids keep landing across DeFi. Notional Finance lost $1.73 million last week to an integer overflow bug. Days earlier, Full Sail wound down operations after an attacker took roughly $91,000.
Monday brought a far larger case as well. Roughly $320 million in Bitcoin left the Liquid Network, and the actors claimed white hat intentions on-chain.
However, early loss figures often move. Blockaid first sized an August Flow exploit at $9.3 million before the network put the damage near $410,000.
Blockaid promised more detail as it traces the money. The sum is small, yet a second breach on the same chain raises harder questions.
Analysis: DRAM industry revenue surged 59.5% quarter-over-quarter in Q2 2026, with AI demand growth still outpacing supply expansion.
TrendForce released its latest memory industry research, showing that in Q2 2026, driven by a sharp rise in contract prices for conventional DRAM, overall DRAM industry revenue rose 59.5% quarter-on-quarter to approximately $154.73 billion. On the demand front, as LLM model training and AI inference continue to fuel demand for AI servers, shipments of HBM3e, LPDDR5X, and high-capacity RDIMM have grown in parallel; agentic AI applications have further driven procurement demand for RDIMMs of various capacity specifications. On the supply side, TrendForce stated that DRAM manufacturers currently hold low inventories, and new production capacity is prioritized for the server market, leading to only a modest increase in overall DRAM bit shipments in the quarter. The pace of supply expansion remains slower than demand growth spurred by AI and other applications.
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South Korea's KOSPI index closed up 4.6%, while SK Hynix rose 8.26% at the close.
According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index closed up 308.19 points on Monday, September 7, with a 4.61% gain to end at 6995.4 points. SK Hynix rose 8.26% in closing, while Samsung Electronics gained 5.68%.
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Ethereum (ETH) fell below the $2,500 mark, posting an intraday gain of 0.79%.
According to HTX market data, Ethereum (ETH) has fallen below the $2500 threshold, currently trading at $2497.3, with a daily gain of 0.79%.
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Jefferies Cuts Zhipu’s Price Target to HK$1,183.79; ARR Guidance Beats Expectations, Though Sustainability Remains In Question
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According to official announcements, OKX Wallet has officially launched its DeFi cycle yield product, integrating operations including deposits, swaps, and borrowings into a single transaction, enabling users to build leveraged yield positions with one click on X Layer. The feature is now available on the "DeFi" page of the OKX App. The product integrates Aave lending, Pendle yield markets, and X Layer liquidity, supports custom cycle counts, and allows users to view estimated returns, borrowing costs, and liquidation prices before placing an order. Separately, OKX Wallet’s USDG interest rate hike campaign has been extended: eligible PT-USDG holdings will automatically retain their rewards, and when combined with the cycle yield strategy, the maximum APY reaches 34.6%.
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Codex reset card allegedly shrunk by 50%? Tibo: It’s the same as the normal limit.
Dongcha Beating AI Flash News: OpenAI recently rolled out GPT-6 Astra in batches, issuing Codex quota reset cards to Plus, Pro, and Business users who received access later. Some users have found their quota depletes significantly faster after using the reset card. A user compared records of 14% of weekly quota consumed before and after the reset: pre-reset, they used around 114 million input tokens and 738 model responses; post-reset, only 63.6 million tokens and 489 responses. Based on this, the user estimated the reset card only provides half of the normal weekly quota. However, the data is not strictly comparable: Astra was used in both periods, but the inference tier and agent usage patterns differed. Codex lead Tibo subsequently denied the claim, stating there is no difference in available quota before and after the reset.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Key Highlights Atlassian shares reached a 52-week peak at $184.22, climbing nearly 7% during Wednesday’s trading session Fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.87 exceeded analyst expectations of $1.50; revenue of $1.77B surpassed the $1.66B consensus Cloud segment revenue jumped 31% from the prior year to reach $1.21B; remaining performance obligations climbed 44% Royal Bank of Canada elevated its rating to “Moderate Buy”; currently 25 Wall Street analysts maintain Buy ratings A total of 21 analysts have recently increased their earnings projections; average price target currently sits at $178.63 Shares of Atlassian (TEAM) touched a 52-week peak of $184.22 during Wednesday’s session, with the stock trading near $184.13 and commanding a market capitalization of $46.45 billion. The collaboration software company’s shares climbed approximately 7% during the trading day and have rallied an impressive 124% over the preceding six-month period.
Atlassian Corporation, TEAM
The impressive rally followed Atlassian’s announcement of robust fiscal fourth quarter results, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.87 significantly exceeding the Street consensus of $1.50. Total revenue reached $1.77 billion, surpassing analyst projections of $1.66 billion and representing a 28% increase compared to the same period last year.
The cloud business segment delivered particularly impressive performance, expanding 31% year-over-year to generate $1.21 billion in revenue. Remaining performance obligations surged 44% to reach $4.8 billion, signaling robust future revenue visibility and customer demand.
The quarter represented a significant milestone as Atlassian achieved its first GAAP operating profit in more than two years, posting a 12% operating margin. This profitability achievement captured considerable attention from the investment community.
Wall Street Analysts Turn Increasingly Bullish Royal Bank of Canada elevated Atlassian to a “Moderate Buy” rating on Tuesday, joining a growing list of optimistic analyst revisions. Truist Financial increased its price objective from $160 to $185 while maintaining its Buy recommendation. Jefferies established a $200 price target. BMO Capital Markets significantly raised its forecast from $95 to $175 accompanied by an Outperform rating.
Bank of America upgraded the shares to Buy and increased its price objective to $175. FBN Securities elevated its target to $170 with an Outperform designation. Robert W. Baird set an ambitious $200 price target.
However, not all analysts share the same enthusiasm. TD Cowen maintains a Hold rating with a $145 price objective, while Zacks Research downgraded the stock to Hold during June.
Currently, 25 analysts assign TEAM a Buy rating, four recommend Hold, and one maintains a Sell rating. The consensus price objective stands at $178.63.
According to InvestingPro analysis, the shares are presently trading below their calculated Fair Value, with 21 analysts having recently revised their earnings projections upward.
Institutional Ownership Remains Elevated Institutional shareholders control 94.45% of outstanding shares. California State Teachers Retirement System dramatically expanded its position by over 7,000% during the second quarter, accumulating more than 17.5 million shares valued at approximately $1.38 billion.
AQR Capital Management increased its stake by 291% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley expanded its holdings by 52.4% during the same timeframe. Norges Bank initiated a new position worth roughly $323 million.
Regarding insider transactions, CRO Brian Duffy disposed of 7,617 shares on August 14 at $163.00 per share, trimming his holdings by 3.35%. CFO James Chuong sold 9,054 shares on August 19 at $172.45 each. Both transactions were executed to satisfy tax withholding requirements on vested equity compensation.
CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes has demonstrated confidence in the company through a personal $250 million stock purchase plan, a development that has garnered attention from analysts including TD Cowen.
The stock’s 50-day moving average is positioned at $110.69 while the 200-day moving average stands at $90.71, both substantially below current price levels. The 52-week low was recorded at $56.01.
On-chain data shows that Aave V4’s user deposits have reached $806 million, surging 30% in seven days to an all-time high, while its active loan volume stands at $216 million. Currently, Aave V4 is deployed across Ethereum, Optimism, and Avalanche, with deposit breakdowns as follows: $378 million in Ethereum Core, $257 million in EtherFi Cash on Optimism, $75 million in Ethereum Global Dollar, and $63 million in Ethereum Prime. Aave V3’s user deposits still total $31 billion, of which Ethereum Core accounts for $25 billion.
Independent OpenZeppelin review of TxFlow’s bridge contract marks another step in TxFlow’s approach to security as its L1, DEX, and builder ecosystem continue to develop.
TxFlow announces the completion of an independent security audit by OpenZeppelin, one of the world’s most established blockchain security firms, trusted by major organizations and protocols including Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, Aave, Arbitrum, ZKsync, Compound, and others.
OpenZeppelin’s review covered TxFlow’s bridge contract, a critical component of the infrastructure supporting the movement of capital between external networks and TxFlow L1. OpenZeppelin’s review identified zero critical and zero high-severity findings. One medium-severity finding was identified and resolved during the audit process.
The independent review forms part of TxFlow’s broader approach to incorporating external security expertise as its financial infrastructure and ecosystem continue to develop. Alongside TxFlow DEX and continued L1 development, TxFlow is also building Builder Code, with additional details to be announced as both initiatives move closer to release. Together, these developments support TxFlow’s broader objective: to build a Layer 1 designed specifically for financial markets, bringing trading, liquidity, and financial applications onto one blockchain where all finance happens.
Security at TxFlow L1 is a continuous responsibility: An Independent Review by OpenZeppelin As part of this commitment, we work with leading independent security experts to rigorously assess our infrastructure. In 2026, OpenZeppelin completed a security audit of Bridge2, the USDC bridge connecting Arbitrum One to TxFlow L1. TxFlow aims to continue to strengthen its security architecture, monitoring, and operational safeguards as the network evolves. The audit report provides the technical scope, findings, and assessment from OpenZeppelin and is available for the community to review directly.
TxFlow’s broader bridge infrastructure supports deposits and withdrawals across Arbitrum One, Ethereum, Base, Polygon PoS, and Solana. TxFlow’s documented bridge flow includes controls around the movement of funds, including validator-approved withdrawals and a built-in safety wait before withdrawals are completed.
These controls form part of TxFlow’s approach to protecting one of the most important functions of financial infrastructure: the movement of capital between networks.
Global-Grade Security from the Ground Up TxFlow is building its security program with the standards expected of serious financial infrastructure in mind. To support that approach, TxFlow engaged OpenZeppelin, one of the world’s most established blockchain security firms. OpenZeppelin has completed more than 900 security audits, identifying more than 10,000 issues, including 700+ critical and high-severity vulnerabilities, across blockchain protocols and financial infrastructure.
Its security work spans major crypto organizations and ecosystems including Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, Aave, Arbitrum, ZKsync, Optimism, and Compound, as well as established financial institutions and infrastructure providers including DTCC, Fidelity Digital Assets, WisdomTree, ANZ, and CACEIS.
For TxFlow, working with globally recognized security specialists at an early stage establishes a clear approach: independently review critical infrastructure as the network and ecosystem grow. Security is not an add-on to financial infrastructure. It is part of the infrastructure itself.
Building Infrastructure for On-chain Finance TxFlow L1 is designed specifically for financial markets and applications.
TxFlow DEX, a fully on-chain central limit order book for perpetual markets, is the first application built on TxFlow L1. The DEX is the first product operating on a broader infrastructure layer. TxFlow L1 is designed to support multiple financial applications and markets on the same network, including perpetuals, spot markets, prediction markets, and new categories of on-chain financial products. Through TxFlow Improvement Protocol (TIP) Liquidity Standards, Channels can connect to common execution, settlement, and liquidity infrastructure rather than operating as isolated applications.
For traders, that means infrastructure designed around markets from the start.
For builders, it creates a foundation for developing new financial applications on a network designed for trading, liquidity, and settlement.
What’s Next: Builder Code Alongside continued development of TxFlow L1 and TxFlow DEX, the team is building two new ecosystem initiatives: TxFlow Builder Code.
Builder Code is being developed to expand how builders and ecosystem participants can contribute to and grow alongside the network. For the TxFlow community, these initiatives represent the next stage of ecosystem growth: more ways for traders to participate, more ways for builders to contribute, and more activity across the TxFlow network.
About TxFlow L1 TxFlow L1 is a high-performance blockchain built for on-chain financial infrastructure, organized around TIP Liquidity Standards that define how financial products are built, composed, and settled on-chain. TxFlow DEX is the first Channel on TxFlow L1, a CLOB orderbook DEX for perpetual trading, processing over 250,000 TPS with one-block finality. Through its TxFlow Improvement Protocol standards and Channel architecture, TxFlow enables spot markets, derivatives, prediction markets and future financial products to operate on the same chain while connecting to shared execution and settlement infrastructure where all finance happens. TxFlow L1 is building an open, composable and community-owned financial ecosystem in which each new application can strengthen the infrastructure available to those that follow.
About OpenZeppelin OpenZeppelin is a leading security partner for on-chain finance, trusted by organizations including DTCC, Fidelity Digital Assets, WisdomTree, Coinbase, Uniswap, Aave, and the Ethereum Foundation. Since 2015, OpenZeppelin has secured more than $35 trillion in value transferred and delivered 900+ security engagements, surfacing more than 10,000 vulnerabilities across critical on-chain infrastructure. Its open-source smart contract libraries are an industry standard used across leading stablecoins, tokenized assets, and blockchain applications.
Test in Prod, a core development team that says it is fully funded by the Optimism Collective, supplied the 8.486 million OP vote that secured approval.
Optimism governance approved a proposal to move 546.9 million OP tokens, valued at roughly $49.7 million at the time of the vote, from an allocation reserved for future user airdrops into a Strategic Ecosystem Fund administered by the Optimism Foundation.
The change removes the remaining dedicated pool for future user airdrops and authorizes the Foundation to deploy the tokens for partnership deals, incentives and other initiatives intended to grow OP Mainnet and OP Enterprise. The proposal said no additional airdrops are currently planned and that tokens already distributed through Airdrops 1 through 5 are unaffected.
Approval hinged on Test in Prod, an Optimism core development team, casting 8.486 million OP in favor with 16 minutes and 52 seconds left. The onchain vote finished with 17.974 million OP supporting the proposal and 10.931 million opposing it.
Test in Prod's vote lifted support to 61.84% from 45.77%, according to CoinDesk's review of the tally. Without the team's position, final support would have been 46.47%.
Test in Prod described itself in a 2025 Optimism Security Council nomination as “a core development team of Optimism Collective” and said, “We are fully funded by the Collective.” The team has worked on the OP Stack since 2022, including its execution client, network upgrades and fault-proof infrastructure, according to the nomination.
Airdrop Control Moves to the FoundationThe Optimism Foundation said it had distributed 269.1 million OP across five airdrops but that broad user acquisition no longer matched its current institutional strategy. The newly designated fund can finance deals involving chains, protocols, institutions and infrastructure, as well as incentives for activity and liquidity on OP Mainnet.
The reallocation drew opposition from delegates who agreed the unused airdrop reserve should be reconsidered but objected to the scope of the replacement fund. L2BEAT's governance team said the mandate was “very open-ended” and called for clearer information about expected deployments, how they would be evaluated and what success would look like.
The approved proposal says the Foundation will update Optimism's public token accounting and report cumulative deployments from the Strategic Ecosystem Fund through its yearly budget report. The 269.1 million OP already distributed in the first five airdrops will not be clawed back or reclassified.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Optimism’s Token House just voted to redirect roughly $49 million worth of OP tokens, and the beneficiary is not the user base. A January 2026 governance proposal passed with approximately 84% support, rerouting half of the Superchain’s net revenue toward recurring OP token buybacks over a 12-month pilot period.
The Superchain, Optimism’s network of OP Stack-based chains, generates net revenue from sequencer fees and related activity. Under the newly approved plan, 50% of that revenue gets funneled into systematic OP token buybacks on a recurring basis across the pilot year.
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The vote cleared through the Token House, Optimism’s primary governance chamber where OP holders weigh in on financial policies and treasury allocation. Getting 84% approval in a governance vote is not trivial. Most contested DeFi governance proposals scrape by with slim majorities. That said, governance participation rates in on-chain systems tend to skew toward larger holders, which means the 84% figure reflects who showed up to vote, not necessarily the sentiment of every OP holder.
Optimism has historically leaned on direct token distributions as a tool for community building. Airdrops, retroactive public goods funding, and user incentive programs have been central to how the protocol attracted and retained participants. This vote marks a deliberate turn away from that playbook, deploying revenue instead to reduce circulating supply.
It also raises a subtler governance question. The team that cast the deciding vote here was funded by the Optimism Foundation itself. When a protocol-affiliated entity holds enough voting power to tip a proposal that redirects tens of millions away from users, the independence of the outcome becomes worth examining, regardless of how the final tally looks.
Optimism’s governance structure will face scrutiny as the buyback program runs. Token House votes on treasury allocation have historically been a place where large holders and affiliated entities can punch above their weight. If the 12-month pilot delivers on price stability without visibly harming developer activity, the model will likely get extended.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Citigroup currency strategists have recently turned bearish on the U.S. dollar, as markets brace for a less hawkish Federal Reserve, the U.S. midterm elections, and the U.S. Treasury’s expanded debt buyback program. In a Thursday research note, the Citi team led by Daniel Tobon said it has cut its three-month forecast for the U.S. Dollar Index from 102.12 to 98.34. The shift follows the bank’s warning that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s latest move to lower long-term borrowing costs—expanding buybacks of 10- to 30-year U.S. Treasuries—could come at the cost of a weaker dollar. The day before, the U.S. Dollar Index had dropped to its lowest level since May before stabilizing around 98.9. Tobon and his colleagues added that their stance on the dollar has been more neutral in recent months, and cautioned that risks may rise in the coming months.
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Franklin Templeton plans to introduce tokenized assets into its traditional funds.
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Peter Schiff: Bitcoin’s rise is just a "false breakout", advises selling BTC and buying gold.
Longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff posted that Bitcoin’s rally to break above $72,000 is a fake breakout, not a genuine one. The U.S. Treasury’s announcement of a repurchase plan caught the market off guard. Bitcoin investors have long believed that a return to loose monetary policy would act as a catalyst for sharp gains in both gold and Bitcoin, but that view is only half correct. Schiff advised selling Bitcoin and buying gold.
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Coinbase publicly calls on X to restore the Bitcoin emoji
Coinbase’s official X account posted that now appears to be a good time to resubmit this request to the X platform, calling out to X: “Restore the Bitcoin emoji.” Previous reports noted that X (formerly Twitter) removed the orange Bitcoin emoji associated with the #Bitcoin tag on July 26, 2024.
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Privacy project Beldex completes $8 million funding round, led by Sigma Capital.
Privacy public blockchain project Beldex has closed an $8 million funding round, led by Sigma Capital with participation from NTC, Nxgen, Digital Consensus Fund, and EAK Ventures. The round will be used to accelerate the development of its privacy infrastructure for Web3 and AI. As it expands its business, Beldex is extending its existing privacy ecosystem further into the infrastructure space to support developers in building private, confidential applications. The company plans to allocate the funds to key areas including developer tools, privacy applications, protocol security, AI infrastructure, and ecosystem development.
For Optimism users who treated airdrops as the default path to OP exposure, the latest governance outcome is a sharp reset. Instead of keeping 546.9 million OP in the user airdrop bucket, token delegates approved a shift into a Foundation-controlled Strategic Ecosystem Fund. The original report describes the move as roughly $49 million in OP value moving away from users.
The allocation is significant not because of one grant, but because it changes the distribution logic. User airdrops are visible, predictable, and relatively easy for retail participants to model. A strategic fund controlled by the Foundation is a different instrument entirely: it can fund builders, liquidity programs, infrastructure work, or partnerships over several quarters, but those choices are not bound to a user-facing schedule.
What the vote actually redirects The plan moves the full 546.9 million OP out of the airdrop bucket. That creates an immediate question about whether future airdrop rounds will shrink. Optimism had used airdrops as both reward and retention mechanics across multiple seasons. Removing such a large block from that pipeline reduces the amount available for direct distribution to users unless the Foundation later reallocates portions back through other campaigns.
The Strategic Ecosystem Fund gives the Foundation more discretion over timing and counterparties. In practice, that can be useful for competing with other Layer 2 networks that are using grants and incentives to court developers. But it also concentrates decision-making. A Foundation-controlled pool is not the same as a programmatically scheduled user allocation, and token holders may not get line-of-sight into every deployment.
Why a single vote became the story According to the report, an Optimism-funded team held the deciding vote. That detail carries governance risk. An entity receiving money or grants from the ecosystem was able to alter the allocation model for the broader community. Whether or not the vote was legitimate under the existing rules, the optics are delicate: delegates with financial ties to a project’s treasury can move resources away from retail users without the same consequences a neutral voter might face.
This type of outcome is part of a wider pattern across Ethereum rollups. Treasury management and grant distribution have become competitive arenas, and developer activity often follows the chain with the most aggressive but credible incentive programs. Chains with the strongest developer activity tend to have active ecosystem funding, so the OP allocation is not just an accounting change; it shapes where builders may decide to commit resources.
Market implications and the transparency test The direct impact on OP’s market price is not straightforward. If fewer tokens flow to airdrop recipients, some of the immediate sell pressure that often follows distribution events may not materialize. But those tokens still exist and may eventually enter circulation through grants, liquidity incentives, or Treasury deployments. The timing is less visible, and that can make it harder for traders to assess supply pressure.
There is also a user sentiment cost. Airdrop communities tend to react badly to decisions that reduce retail allocation, especially when a vote is decided by an ecosystem-funded team. If the move looks like internal reallocation rather than user-facing growth, engagement could weaken, and reduced on-chain activity could offset any benefit from a more strategic deployment of capital.
Some of the redirected OP could eventually flow toward infrastructure and AI-driven Web3 application stacks, similar to the types of partnerships the sector has been courting. But the source material does not provide a public breakdown of specific allocations. That opacity will be the next test for OP holders. The community will likely watch whether the Foundation publishes clear milestones and whether any portion of the 546.9 million OP cycles back to user incentives under a different label.
The vote leaves Optimism with a different distribution profile than many token holders may have expected. A Foundation-controlled Strategic Ecosystem Fund cannot offer the same predictability as a user airdrop allocation, and the deciding vote from an Optimism-funded team ensures that governance process will be scrutinized as closely as the allocation itself.
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Jide Idowu is a skilled freelance writer with expertise in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and digital finance. Known for his ability to break down complex topics into clear, engaging content, Jide crafts articles, blog posts, and analyses that resonate with both beginners and seasoned professionals. His work spans a wide range of subjects, from emerging crypto trends to in-depth explorations of blockchain innovations. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for educating readers, Jide is a reliable voice in the rapidly evolving world of digital assets.
Blockchain Optimism’s governance has approved a proposal to repurpose 546.9 million OP tokens previously reserved for user airdrops to support ecosystem growth and institutional adoption.
OP currently has a market cap of roughly $214 million, with a circulating supply of about 2.29 billion tokens, according to CoinGecko data.
The new Strategic Ecosystem Fund will support partnerships with chains, protocols and institutions, as well as incentives to increase activity and liquidity on OP Mainnet and grow OP Enterprise.
The decision drew pushback from some delegates who argued the tokens had been promised to users and questioned how the foundation would measure returns from the fund. Supporters said the allocation would be better used to compete for enterprise deals and drive growth.
Optimism vote to repurpose 546.9M OP. Source: Optimism
Optimism said it has no additional airdrops planned after distributing 269.1 million OP across five rounds, contending that airdrops were better suited to an earlier phase focused on broad user acquisition than its current institutional push.
Optimism is an Ethereum (ETH) scaling project behind OP Mainnet and the OP Stack, the blockchain framework used by networks including Base, Unichain, Kraken’s Ink and Sony’s Soneium. More than 30 OP Stack chains currently contribute revenue to Optimism, according to the project.
OP rebounds 11% but remains 93% below record highOP traded around $0.09 on Thursday, up roughly 11% over the past 24 hours amid a broader crypto market rally. Despite the rebound, the token remains more than 93% below its all-time high.
At OP’s current price, the 546.9 million-token allocation is worth around $50 million, equivalent to nearly a quarter of the token’s roughly $211 million market capitalization.
Source: CoinGecko
In July, Cointelegraph reported that the blockchain had signed a a memorandum of understanding with Viva Republica, the operator of South Korea-based mobile money transfer app Toss, to on a three-month proof-of-concept to test a Korean won-based stablecoin infrastructure for institutional payments.
Magazine: MiCA cracks down on USDT in Europe... but no one else cares
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.
Blockchain Optimism’s governance has approved a proposal to repurpose 546.9 million OP tokens previously reserved for user airdrops to support ecosystem growth and institutional adoption.
OP currently has a market cap of roughly $214 million, with a circulating supply of about 2.29 billion tokens, according to CoinGecko data.
The new Strategic Ecosystem Fund will support partnerships with chains, protocols and institutions, as well as incentives to increase activity and liquidity on OP Mainnet and grow OP Enterprise.
The decision drew pushback from some delegates who argued the tokens had been promised to users and questioned how the foundation would measure returns from the fund. Supporters said the allocation would be better used to compete for enterprise deals and drive growth.
Optimism vote to repurpose 546.9M OP. Source: Optimism
Optimism said it has no additional airdrops planned after distributing 269.1 million OP across five rounds, contending that airdrops were better suited to an earlier phase focused on broad user acquisition than its current institutional push.
Optimism is an Ethereum (ETH) scaling project behind OP Mainnet and the OP Stack, the blockchain framework used by networks including Base, Unichain, Kraken’s Ink and Sony’s Soneium. More than 30 OP Stack chains currently contribute revenue to Optimism, according to the project.
OP rebounds 11% but remains 93% below record highOP traded around $0.09 on Thursday, up roughly 11% over the past 24 hours amid a broader crypto market rally. Despite the rebound, the token remains more than 93% below its all-time high.
At OP’s current price, the 546.9 million-token allocation is worth around $50 million, equivalent to nearly a quarter of the token’s roughly $211 million market capitalization.
Source: CoinGecko
In July, Cointelegraph reported that the blockchain had signed a a memorandum of understanding with Viva Republica, the operator of South Korea-based mobile money transfer app Toss, to on a three-month proof-of-concept to test a Korean won-based stablecoin infrastructure for institutional payments.
Magazine: MiCA cracks down on USDT in Europe... but no one else cares
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.
Bank of America’s August Global Fund Manager Survey, released Tuesday, shows that among 180 surveyed representatives of asset management firms (with combined assets under management exceeding $500 billion), optimism has hit its third-highest level since 2022. This marks the most bullish sentiment in financial markets in nearly four years. This extreme bullishness is clearly reflected in institutional positioning. The survey found that fund managers’ current cash allocation has dropped to 3.5%, the lowest level since the survey’s launch in 1998. Bank of America chief stock strategist Michael Hartnett noted that per BofA’s “Cash Rule”, a “contrarian sell signal” is typically triggered when cash allocations fall to or below 4%. This means current market positioning is overly crowded; without sustained inflows of fresh capital, any negative shocks to growth, inflation or policy could trigger sharp market volatility. Against this backdrop of extreme optimism, BofA also proposed contrarian investment strategies in the survey. Given that global institutions are generally underweight bonds and gold, contrarian long positions in bonds, undervalued gold or UK stocks could deliver stronger defensive returns if market sentiment reverses.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a key indicator measuring investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency markets, rose to 41 today, signaling a limited improvement in market sentiment.
According to the data, the index rose by 10 points compared to the previous day. However, despite this increase, the indicator is still in the “fear” zone.
The index is used to measure investors’ risk perception and overall sentiment towards the market. As the indicator approaches zero, it shows increased fear and selling pressure in the market; as it approaches 100, it indicates that investors are more optimistic and willing to take risks. Therefore, the current level of 41 reveals that market participants remain cautious but exhibit a more positive outlook compared to previous days.
Analysts note that the rise in the index could signal a gradual recovery in investor confidence. However, the fact that the indicator is still in the fear zone suggests that the market has not fully transitioned to an optimistic outlook and that investors continue to closely monitor macroeconomic developments and price movements in the cryptocurrency market.
*This is not investment advice.
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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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
A Broader Product, Built for Mainstream Users@ether_fi has relaunched its neobank app with a suite of features designed to bring the experience of a traditional fintech product to self-custodied crypto. The updated app went live on August 13, adding tokenized equities, precious metals, and expanded fiat on-ramp coverage across more than 30 currencies.
According to the official announcement, new features include trading in tokenized stocks and metals through xStocks, fiat sending and receiving globally, and programmatic $ETHFI token buybacks funded by every revenue line the app generates. Assets are held in an ether.fi vault protected by social recovery, with users able to buy across chains natively.
xStocks, the tokenized equity infrastructure underpinning the trading feature, backs each token 1:1 through Alpaca Securities, with Chainlink Proof of Reserve providing weekly verification and quarterly ISAE 3000 assurance audits. The platform currently lists more than 100 tokenized stocks and counts over 100,000 holders, operating 24/5 across Solana, Ethereum, and other networks.
Aave on Optimism Powers Portfolio-Backed CreditOn the borrowing side, EtherFi has integrated a dedicated Aave market on Optimism that allows users to borrow against the full value of their portfolio at DeFi rates currently sitting at around 4%. The facility can be used to fund spending on the ether.fi Cash card or to acquire other assets, without requiring users to sell their holdings and trigger a taxable event.
Payments now run through Cash App, Apple Pay, and LemonPay, broadening accessibility for users outside traditional crypto rails. The app is designed to sit alongside everyday fintech tools rather than replace them with something crypto-forward, targeting a broader audience than existing DeFi products typically reach.
$ETHFI traded near $0.41, up 8.8% on the day of the relaunch, as the programmatic buyback mechanism drew attention from the market. All revenue generated within the app feeds directly into those buybacks, tying token performance to product usage in a transparent, on-chain way.
Sources:
ether.fi Launches Next-Generation Crypto Neobank, EIN Presswire
Tokenized Equities 2026: Inside the Future of Global Equity Markets, QuickNode
Neobanks Will Fuel Ethereum's 2026 Growth, Says ether.fi CEO, CoinDesk
Base Takes the Lead in Onchain Card SettlementOnchain crypto card spending surpassed $635 million in July 2026, with settlement activity spreading across multiple blockchain networks, according to data from Paymentscan. @base handled $184.4 million of that volume, placing it ahead of @Optimism at $106.2 million and @solana at $84.8 million for the month.
The momentum has carried into August, which has already logged $285.5 million in onchain card volume, suggesting the full-month total could comfortably exceed July's figure.
The growth in absolute terms is striking when set against recent history. According to a16z crypto, which highlighted Paymentscan data, broader tracked crypto card spending reached $759 million in July across all programs, up roughly 2.5 times from $306 million a year earlier, and up from less than $1 million when tracking began in October 2023.
A Settlement Landscape That Has Shifted QuicklyThe network mix behind crypto card settlement has changed considerably over the past two years. In early 2024, Gnosis dominated, carrying nearly all tracked card spend as the home of Gnosis Pay, one of the first Visa cards connected directly to a self-custodial wallet. By July 2026, Gnosis had fallen to roughly 2% of volume, per Paymentscan, as newer card programs launched and gravitated toward higher-throughput networks.
Dollar-backed stablecoins now drive the majority of card spending. Data highlighted by a16z and Paymentscan shows USDC and USDT accounting for approximately 84% of tracked spending, a sharp reversal from early 2024 when euro-backed stablecoins controlled most of the market.
The cards themselves largely run on Visa's network, with stablecoins typically converted into local currency at the point of sale. Merchants receive payment through familiar card infrastructure without directly handling digital assets. Visa and Stripe-owned Bridge have also announced plans to expand stablecoin card availability to more than 100 countries by end of year, pointing to further growth ahead.
Despite the rapid expansion, the segment remains small relative to traditional card networks, which process trillions of dollars monthly. But the trajectory over the past year leaves little doubt that onchain card payments are becoming an increasingly measurable part of everyday commerce.
Sources:
a16z Crypto: 5 charts on crypto card stablecoin spend
Yahoo Finance: Crypto Card Spending Tops $750 Million, a16z Reports
Cryptopolitan: Crypto card spending hits $759 million as USDC takes 58% of volume
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader: Conflict May Escalate If Conditions Are Not Met
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Ethereum Foundation abandons the Poseidon hash algorithm, shifting to SHA-2 or BLAKE2 to advance its post-quantum cryptography roadmap.
Ethereum Foundation core researcher Justin Drake announced in a post that Ethereum Layer 1 (L1) will abandon Poseidon, the SNARK-friendly hash function that has been dominant since 2019, in favor of traditional hash functions such as SHA2 or BLAKE2s. This reversal stems from a breakthrough in SNARK design, centered on "hash-friendly SNARKs" rather than the prior approach of "SNARK-friendly hashes". By natively aligning Boolean operations in traditional hashes with binary fields, proof performance for traditional hash calls in SNARKs has reached 1 million per second, with overhead of just around 100x—a stark contrast to the previously extremely expensive operations in large prime fields. Drake dubbed this "science-fiction-level cryptography" and named contributors to key research breakthroughs including Binius and Flock. The shift will push Ethereum’s hash-based cryptography to the peak of minimal assumptions, while drastically accelerating deployment: there is no need to wait for years of cryptanalysis maturity for Poseidon. The Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) post-quantum team is advancing rapidly, with a roadmap targeting a production-grade leanVM in 2027, and deployment of the consensus, execution, and data layers in 2028. Drake also noted that AI’s enhanced cryptanalysis capabilities have recently dealt successive setbacks to lattice-based schemes (HAWK) and isogeny-based schemes (SQIsign), while hash-based schemes are emerging as the leading candidates for post-quantum signatures in blockchains. The trend of open-source automated research is also accelerating; SNARK.fast has achieved 1.8 million BLAKE3 proofs per second.
1 minutes ago
USS George Washington aircraft carrier deploys to the Middle East for force rotation; USS Abraham Lincoln’s burnt-out crew prompts US lawmakers to question the Pentagon.
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AMD plans to raise up to $5 billion via bond issuance.
AMD plans to raise up to $5 billion through bond issuance, and has filed a preliminary prospectus supplement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today for the offering of multi-series senior bonds. The bonds will constitute AMD’s senior unsecured debt and will not be guaranteed by any of its subsidiaries. The underwriters include Barclays, BofA Securities, Citigroup, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Franklin Brothers Securities.
Coinbase is pulling the plug on DAI deposits and withdrawals across three major Layer 2 and alternative networks. Starting August 17, 2026, users will no longer be able to move DAI through Avalanche, Arbitrum, or Optimism on the platform.
The stablecoin will still be supported on Ethereum’s mainnet. But for anyone who’s been routing DAI through those faster, cheaper networks, it’s time to rethink the workflow.
What’s actually changing Coinbase first flagged the change back around July 13, 2026, and dropped a reminder on August 12 as the deadline approaches. The mechanics are straightforward: after August 17, any attempt to deposit or withdraw DAI via Avalanche, Arbitrum, or Optimism through Coinbase will simply stop working.
One important wrinkle: DAI isn’t actually listed for trading on Coinbase. The exchange only supports deposits and withdrawals of the token on certain networks. So this isn’t about delisting a trading pair. It’s about narrowing the infrastructure pipes through which DAI can flow in and out of the platform.
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Users holding DAI on those networks will need to either bridge their tokens to Ethereum before the cutoff or find alternative routes. Ethereum remains the one supported highway for moving DAI through Coinbase after the deadline.
And DAI isn’t alone in getting trimmed. Coinbase is also ending support for USDC on the Noble network and cbETH on various Layer 2 networks on the same August 17 date.
Why Coinbase is consolidating DAI, issued by MakerDAO, was designed to be a decentralized stablecoin usable across multiple blockchains. It’s pegged to the US dollar and backed by crypto collateral rather than bank deposits. The token has historically seen the lion’s share of its activity on Ethereum, which makes the decision to keep that network supported while pruning others a logical one from a volume perspective.
Arbitrum, Optimism, and Avalanche are all networks that offer faster and cheaper transactions than Ethereum’s mainnet. They’ve grown substantially as scaling solutions for DeFi users looking to avoid Ethereum’s sometimes painful gas fees. But for a centralized exchange like Coinbase, the question isn’t whether those networks are useful in general. It’s whether enough DAI is moving through them on Coinbase specifically to warrant continued support.
What this means for DAI users The immediate practical impact falls on a specific subset of users: those who deposit or withdraw DAI through Coinbase using Avalanche, Arbitrum, or Optimism. If that describes your setup, you have until August 17 to adjust.
The simplest path is bridging DAI to Ethereum before the deadline. Alternatively, users could withdraw DAI to a self-custody wallet on any of the affected networks and manage it outside of Coinbase entirely.
The bigger signal here is strategic. Coinbase has been methodically trimming its network support across multiple tokens, and the August 17 batch of changes covering DAI, USDC on Noble, and cbETH on Layer 2s suggests this is an ongoing program rather than a one-time adjustment.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Small business owners in the US are feeling noticeably better about their prospects. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index jumped to 99.8 in June, up from 97.4, clearing both market expectations and the index’s long-term historical average of 98.0.
The index surveys roughly 600 member businesses of the National Federation of Independent Business each month, and those businesses collectively represent about half of the US private sector workforce.
What the numbers actually tell us The NFIB index has been running since 1975, giving it one of the longer track records among economic sentiment gauges. Its historical average sits at 98.0, meaning the June reading of 99.8 puts current sentiment solidly above the norm for the first time in recent months.
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The all-time high was 108.8, recorded back in August 2018. The all-time low was 80.1, set in April 1980. A reading just under 100 sits comfortably in the upper half of the index’s historical range.
The index aggregates several components that track different dimensions of running a small business: hiring plans, capital investment intentions, sales expectations, and inventory levels, among others.
What to watch from here One wrinkle worth noting: the consensus forecast for the next release, covering July data and scheduled for August 11, sits around 97.8. That would represent a pullback below the historical average again, which could indicate that the June reading was more of a temporary bounce than the start of a sustained uptrend.
The composition of the index move matters as much as the headline number. If the gains in June were driven primarily by improved sales expectations and hiring intentions, that’s a stronger signal than a reading lifted by, say, a temporary easing in inventory concerns. The NFIB typically breaks out its component readings, and those subindices will tell the more granular story about where confidence is actually building.
If the index holds above 98.0 in the August release, it would mark two consecutive months above the historical average. If it drops back as forecasters expect to 97.8, June’s reading will look more like a blip than a turning point.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
SpaceXAI: The Grok chatbot is already in the testing phase.
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Trend-following funds have taken a record short position in global bonds, with the US CPI report expected to be the key determinant of their profit and loss.
According to Bloomberg, data from UBS Group shows that Commodity Trading Advisors (CTAs), which seek to profit from price movements across various asset classes, tripled their underweight positions in bonds in July from two weeks prior. Since then, these bets have remained stable. If the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) push Treasury prices higher, the CTAs face the risk of losses. Strategist Nicolas Le Roux noted that a 1-basis-point move in the 10-year Treasury yield ahead of inflation data translates to roughly $300 million in profit or loss for CTAs, with this exposure being the largest UBS has recorded since it began compiling relevant data in 1990.
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Brad Lightcap, head of special projects at OpenAI, is set to depart.
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A sudden jump in large-size transactions is rattling a cross-section of crypto assets. Humanity Protocol ($H) saw a 500% spike in $100K+ whale transactions over the past week, while Wrapped Bitcoin on Optimism ($WBTC) recorded a 440% jump and Maker ($MKR) a 400% surge, according to the Santiment update. Other projects rounding out the top ten include TrueUSD ($TUSD) on Ethereum with a 400% rise, along with SPX, SwissBorg, Rocket Pool ETH, Worldcoin on Optimism, Cronos, and Ethereum Name Service.
The list immediately raises questions about liquidity shifts and positioning ahead of potential market moves. The analytics platform underscored that non-stablecoin assets on this list are the most likely candidates for sharp price volatility. While stablecoin transfers could point to redemption events or arbitrage flows, the aggressive uptick in wrapped Bitcoin and DeFi-native governance tokens hints at something beyond routine rebalancing.
Whale transaction counts reflect how big wallets are moving capital. A sudden surge often precedes outsized price swings—either accumulation or distribution. In the case of WBTC on Optimism, the jump may signal liquidity migration to layer 2 venues, where DeFi yields are typically more attractive. Maker’s MKR token, central to DAI’s governance, might be reacting to upcoming proposal votes or collateral adjustments. Meanwhile, new projects like Humanity Protocol are still in early token distribution phases, which could amplify already elevated transactional counts.
An Unusual Mix of Assets What distinguishes this week’s list is the diversity. It spans stablecoins, wrapped Bitcoin, liquid staking derivatives (RETH), layer‑2 native tokens on Optimism, and long-standing DeFi tokens. TrueUSD’s appearance is particularly noteworthy, as high stablecoin transaction counts can indicate both redemption pressure and OTC settlement activity. Rocket Pool’s RETH seeing a 200% rise may reflect staking-related restaking moves or validator exits, while Worldcoin’s presence continues to draw attention around its identity-focused token distribution model.
On-chain metrics like developer activity often provide a more complete picture of network health, and while whale transactions grab headlines, they don’t always translate to sustainable price action. As readers may recall from our coverage of the top blockchains by developer activity, fundamental commitments can underpin long-term value even when large wallets are moving.
What Traders Are Watching Next Santiment’s alert matches a familiar market structure pattern: when large entities begin moving funds on-chain at an accelerating pace, volatility typically follows. However, the signal is directional only—it doesn’t reveal whether whales are accumulating for a rally or positioning for a sell-off. The next layers of analysis matter: exchange netflows, MVRV ratios, and stablecoin supply ratios can help color the picture.
The pattern aligns with how top crypto gainers of the week frequently see whale accumulation precede price runs, though the correlation is far from perfect. A significant unknown is whether the spike in $100K+ transfers will sustain into the coming days or fade as a one-off rebalancing episode. For now, the data raises a clear flag for traders monitoring order books and derivative funding rates across these assets.
AUTHOR
Nicholas Otieno is a fintech writer specializing in cryptocurrency markets. Since 2019, he has written articles to educate readers about cryptocurrency and its substantial positive impact on global prosperity. Nicholas is a Bitcoin holder, believing firmly in its fundamentals. His work has been featured in publications such as Finance Magnates, Blockchain.News, Bitcoin Magazine, Coincub, and among others. When he's not writing, Nicholas enjoys performing domestic tasks, spending time with friends, listening to music, and watching football.
Ethereum’s Layer 2 landscape is increasingly a volume game, and OP Mainnet is playing it well. Monthly transactions on the network are now three times higher than levels recorded in early 2024, a climb that accelerated sharply through what the Optimism team internally tracks as “Year 4.”
That period alone saw monthly transaction counts surge more than 60%, driven by a combination of collapsing fees, high-profile project arrivals, and infrastructure changes that made the network meaningfully faster and cheaper to use.
What’s actually driving the numbers The single clearest catalyst in recent months has been ether.fi’s migration of its non-custodial crypto card product onto OP Mainnet, completed between February and April 2026.
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The move brought roughly $220 million in total value locked to the network, added 300,000 new accounts, resulted in 70,000 Visa debit cards being issued, and is generating around $2 million in daily payment volume.
On February 5, 2026, that load hit a single-day record: 3,823,880 transactions processed in 24 hours.
Fees are a significant part of the story too. By Q4 2024, average transaction costs on OP Mainnet had fallen to $0.03, a direct consequence of EIP-4844’s blob data availability upgrade that reduced the cost of posting transaction data to Ethereum’s base layer.
Infrastructure bets paying off The network has also been making structural changes that go beyond raw throughput. Fault proofs, a mechanism that allows anyone to challenge potentially invalid state transitions without needing to trust a central operator, have been implemented. This matters because it moves OP Mainnet closer to the “Stage 1” decentralization benchmark that researchers like L2Beat use to evaluate rollup maturity.
Starting May 26, 2026, Optimism also kicked off a four-week experiment with stake-based transaction ordering. Under this model, holders of the OP token who stake their tokens gain priority in how their transactions get sequenced.
What this means for the OP Stack ecosystem OP Mainnet does not exist in isolation. It anchors the OP Stack, a shared codebase that powers a growing number of chains including Base, which Coinbase launched in 2023. The relationship is collaborative rather than competitive: chains built on the OP Stack route a percentage of sequencer revenue back to the Optimism Collective, creating a flywheel where more chains mean more funding for Optimism’s development.
The ether.fi migration is a particularly useful data point because it represents a product with genuine consumer adoption, not just protocol-to-protocol liquidity flows. Seventy thousand issued Visa cards generating $2 million in daily payment volume is the kind of traction that turns skeptics into infrastructure customers.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Altcoin piyasasında büyük yatırımcıların işlem hareketliliği dikkat çekici şekilde artıyor. Santiment verilerine göre 100 bin dolar ve üzerindeki balina işlemlerinin haftalık artışında 10 token öne çıktı. Listenin zirvesindeki Humanity Protocol (H) ise yüzde 500’lük sıçramayla dikkat çekti.
Santiment’in son yedi günlük verileri, büyük yatırımcı işlemlerindeki değişimi ortaya koyuyor. Verilere göre H işlemlerinde yüzde 500, WBTC’de yüzde 440, MKR ve TUSD’de ise yüzde 400 artış yaşandı.
Ancak bu veri doğrudan balinaların bu tokenları satın aldığı anlamına gelmiyor. Santiment‘in ölçtüğü gösterge, 100 bin doların üzerindeki işlemlerin sayısındaki haftalık değişimi gösteriyor.
Dolayısıyla listedeki tokenlarda asıl dikkat çeken konu, büyük işlemlerin belirgin şekilde artması.
Balina İşlemleri En Çok Hangi Tokenlarda Arttı? Santiment’in piyasa değeri en az 100 milyon dolar olan projeleri kapsayan verilerine göre ilk 10 şöyle:
Sıra Token Balina işlemlerindeki haftalık artış 1 Humanity Protocol (H) %500 2 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) %440 3 Maker (MKR) %400 4 TrueUSD (TUSD) %400 5 SPX6900 (SPX) %237,5 6 SwissBorg (BORG) %200 7 Rocket Pool ETH (rETH) %200 8 Worldcoin (WLD) %123,08 9 Cronos (CRO) %122,22 10 Ethereum Name Service (ENS) %116,67 Liste, farklı sektörlerden tokenların aynı anda büyük işlem hareketliliği yaşadığını gösteriyor.
Humanity Protocol Neden Listenin Zirvesinde? Listenin en dikkat çekici tokenı Humanity Protocol (H) oldu.
Santiment verilerine göre H’de 100 bin dolar üzerindeki balina işlemlerinin sayısı son yedi günde yüzde 500 arttı. Böylece Humanity Protocol, incelenen varlıklar arasında açık ara en yüksek artışı kaydetti.
İkinci sırada ise Optimism ağı üzerindeki Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) bulunuyor. WBTC’deki büyük işlemlerin sayısı aynı dönemde yüzde 440 yükseldi.
Bu iki tokenın ardından MKR ve Ethereum üzerindeki TUSD yüzde 400’lük artışla geliyor.
Balina İşlemlerindeki Artış Ne Anlama Geliyor? Burada önemli nokta, büyük işlemlerdeki artışın tek başına yükseliş sinyali olarak yorumlanmaması.
100 bin dolar üzerindeki işlemlerin artması, büyük yatırımcıların piyasada daha aktif hale geldiğini gösteriyor. Ancak bu işlemlerin alım mı yoksa satış mı olduğunu yalnızca bu veri üzerinden söylemek mümkün değil.
Bu nedenle listedeki tokenlar için daha doğru ifade, “balina hareketliliği arttı” şeklinde.
Özellikle stablecoin olmayan varlıklarda artan büyük işlem sayısı, önümüzdeki dönemde daha yüksek fiyat oynaklığı ihtimalini de gündeme getiriyor.
Yapay Zekaya Göre Yeni Boğada Hangi RWA Tokenı Öne Çıkacak?
Hangi Altcoinlerde Volatilite Artabilir? Santiment, listedeki stablecoin dışındaki varlıkların yakın gelecekte özellikle yüksek fiyat volatilitesi görme ihtimalinin daha fazla olduğunu belirtiyor.
Bu açıdan H, WBTC, MKR, SPX6900, BORG, rETH, WLD, CRO ve ENS yatırımcıların takip edebileceği başlıca varlıklar arasında yer alıyor.
TUSD ise bir stablecoin olduğu için diğer tokenlardan farklı değerlendirilmeli. Buradaki yüzde 400’lük artış, fiyat yükselişinden ziyade büyük işlem aktivitesindeki değişimi gösteriyor.
Özetle Santiment’in verileri, altcoin piyasasında büyük yatırımcı işlemlerinin bazı tokenlarda hızla arttığını ortaya koyuyor. Humanity Protocol, yüzde 500’lük yükselişle listenin başında yer alırken, WBTC ve MKR de güçlü işlem artışlarıyla öne çıkıyor. Ancak bu veriler doğrudan balina alımı anlamına gelmediği için fiyat yönü konusunda tek başına kesin bir sinyal olarak değerlendirilmemeli.
Bu içerik genel piyasa verilerine dayanır ve yatırım tavsiyesi değildir. Kendi araştırmanızı yapmanızı öneririz.
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Token unlock seasons are rarely frictionless, and Optimism’s Year 5 supply schedule is no exception. The Foundation’s annual budget update projects that 342.9 million OP tokens will enter circulation between May 2026 and April 2027, expanding the liquid supply to 2.504 billion OP—roughly 58.3% of the total 4.29 billion cap. The numbers come from the foundation’s public outlook, not from a new allocation request, and that distinction matters for how markets process the information.
Every vesting cliff that turns into liquid tokens creates a local pricing game between holders who believe in the network’s long-term utility and recipients who may want to rotate into other positions. The OP timeline shows the largest chunk arriving from the Ecosystem Fund—200 million tokens—followed by 47.6 million for early core contributors and 15.3 million for investors. The fact that no new token allocation was sought tempers some dilution fears, but it does not erase the mechanical weight of almost 15% more supply becoming tradable inside twelve months.
Where the Tokens Are Coming From The 200 million OP designated for the Ecosystem Fund are not earmarked for a single program. They will likely flow into grants, liquidity incentives, and developer bounties over the course of Year 5. That category tends to get recirculated into protocols and users rather than being dumped outright, but grant recipients and projects do eventually convert portions to stablecoins to cover costs. The market’s reaction depends heavily on whether those distributions fuel measurable on-chain activity or simply add to sell-side pressure in a sideways market.
Meanwhile, the 47.6 million tokens for early contributors and 15.3 million for investors are more straightforward. Those allocations represent the tail end of vesting schedules that have been pre-planned since the network’s token design was laid out. When similar unlocks have arrived for other Layer 2 tokens, the price action has often been choppy around the settlement windows, even when the news was fully priced in weeks earlier. Optimism’s advantage—if one exists—is that the schedule is transparent and the largest portion is directed toward ecosystem growth rather than individual wallets.
What the Broadening Supply Means for Token Holders Layer 2 tokens do not trade solely on supply mechanics, but supply mechanics can dominate when volume is thin. Optimism’s OP already sits inside a category where the difference between daily active addresses and fully diluted valuation shapes risk perception. Adding close to 343 million tokens over a year will test how much organic demand exists beyond airdrops and incentive campaigns. The Foundation’s note that the increase works within the original allocation framework is accurate, but it also sidesteps the fact that any increase in circulating supply makes the token more expensive to sustain at current prices unless demand rises at the same pace.
There is also the question of sequencing. If grants and liquidity programs concentrate in the first two quarters of the year, the market may have months of lighter supply later—or vice versa. Timing these flows has become a specialized discipline among liquid funds tracking L2 projects, and it is not unusual for the spread between derivative funding rates and spot premiums to widen ahead of known unlock dates. For OP, the broad contours are now public; the granular timing is what traders will try to reverse-engineer from governance proposals and grant announcements.
Comparisons and the Uncertainty Ahead No two L2 token unlocks play out identically. Projects like Arbitrum dealt with their own large supply events and saw sharp volatility followed by stabilization once the market absorbed the initial shock. What matters for OP is less the absolute number of tokens and more whether on-chain metrics—total value locked, transaction volume, developer retention—keep pace with the expanding float. The broader meme of “unlock = dump” oversimplifies things, but the price memory of past events makes it sticky, and that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if sentiment turns.
At the same time, Optimism’s position inside the Superchain narrative gives the ecosystem fund a real job to do. If those 200 million tokens directly seed liquidity on newer chains like Base or Zora, the supply expansion could create enough economic flywheel to offset selling. The open question is whether the market will wait to see evidence before repricing, or whether the sheer size of the projected supply will invite defensive positioning first. That tension will likely define OP’s price action well before the first block of Year 5.
L2 token economics rarely move in a straight line, and the OP schedule is a reminder that even a transparent plan can create friction when it intersects with a cautious market. The foundation’s framing—no new allocation, all from existing buckets—is a nod to investors’ reflex sensitivity around dilution. Whether that framing holds weight once tokens begin to move will depend on how the ecosystem absorbs them in real time.
The on-chain activity across top blockchains continues to underscore which networks attract sustained developer attention, a metric tracked weekly in industry reports on developer activity rankings that often place Ethereum and its rollups among the leaders. For Optimism, keeping developers building after the new OP tokens start flowing will matter more than any single supply figure. The real test of tokenomics is not the number of tokens unlocked, but whether the ecosystem can make itself too useful to sell.
AUTHOR
Nicholas Otieno is a fintech writer specializing in cryptocurrency markets. Since 2019, he has written articles to educate readers about cryptocurrency and its substantial positive impact on global prosperity. Nicholas is a Bitcoin holder, believing firmly in its fundamentals. His work has been featured in publications such as Finance Magnates, Blockchain.News, Bitcoin Magazine, Coincub, and among others. When he's not writing, Nicholas enjoys performing domestic tasks, spending time with friends, listening to music, and watching football.
The Optimism Foundation has proposed converting the remaining unused portion of its User Airdrop allocation into a new Strategic Ecosystem Fund dedicated to accelerating OP Mainnet growth and OP Enterprise adoption.
The proposal, released on Aug. 6, would move 546.9 million OP tokens, worth about $48 million at current prices, into the new allocation category, allowing the Foundation to use them for grants and incentives supporting OP Mainnet and OP Enterprise.
The Foundation said airdrops were one of its most important growth tools during Optimism’s early years, with five campaigns distributing 269.1 million OP to onboard users and contributors.
However, analysis of past campaigns suggests that airdrops no longer match the Collective’s current priorities, which have shifted toward institutional adoption, production-grade blockchain infrastructure, and enterprise customers.
The Foundation said OP Enterprise has created a new growth opportunity by enabling fintechs, exchanges, payment providers, and financial institutions to build on the OP Stack through Fully Managed, Self Managed, and OP Mainnet offerings.
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The Strategic Ecosystem Fund would provide additional resources for partnership deals, ecosystem incentives, liquidity growth, and onboarding of major organizations and brands.
The proposal would leave all existing airdrop distributions untouched while creating a new allocation category for future deployment.
If approved, Optimism will update its token allocation records, apply existing grant oversight processes, and report fund usage through annual Foundation budget updates.
Optimism reduces OP spending as it pivots toward enterprise growth Apart from the proposed reallocation of the unused airdrop tokens, the Foundation on Thursday published its Year 4 budget update and Year 5 outlook outlining how it plans to deploy capital more selectively across the ecosystem.
As detailed, the Optimism Collective said it reduced new OP token commitments by about one-third in Year 4 (May 2025-April 2026), allocating roughly 150 million OP compared with 229.9 million OP a year earlier, as it shifted spending toward growing the OP Mainnet and attracting enterprise customers.
According to the budget update, new OP entering circulation from the Governance Fund declined 53% to 13.4 million tokens, Retro Funding fell 30% to 14.2 million tokens and no user airdrops were conducted.
The Foundation said spending was intentionally redirected away from broad incentive programs toward initiatives tied to revenue generation, enterprise customer acquisition and measurable network activity.
Optimism pointed to the launch of OP Enterprise, growth in institutional partnerships and more than 60% growth in OP Mainnet transactions as evidence of the strategy’s progress. It also noted that governance-approved buybacks have acquired more than 9 million OP using Superchain revenue.
For Year 5, the Foundation projects around 200 million OP from the Ecosystem Fund and 10 million OP from the Governance Fund will enter circulation, while airdrops and Retro Funding remain paused.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Eggs, Livestock, and K-Pop on the BlockchainDB Securities has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Optimism Foundation to build security token offering (STO) and real-world asset (RWA) infrastructure in Jeju, South Korea. The deal puts the Korean brokerage among the first institutions actively sourcing assets ahead of a fast-approaching regulatory deadline.
South Korea's amended Capital Markets Act and Electronic Securities Act are scheduled to take full effect on February 4, 2027, inaugurating the country's first regulated environment for blockchain-based securities. DB Securities is not waiting for the rules to land. Digital asset lead Lee Ju-sik, speaking to Yonhap Infomax, said products won't materialize just because the rules do, so the firm is sourcing assets directly.
DB Securities said it will pursue a platform to tokenize Jeju smart farms, livestock assets, and K-content intellectual property, aiming to become a leading institution in South Korea's market for underlying assets for tokenized securities. Revenue from a 20-farm Jeju egg operation is lined up as its next STO product, with talks also underway with a major entertainment company to tokenize the operating rights of K-pop concerts.
The MOU signing ceremony was held at the Optimism Foundation's headquarters in Manhattan, New York, with Kyle Jenke, the foundation's Chief Business Officer, and Lee Ju-sik, head of DB Securities' digital asset business team, both in attendance.
A Hybrid Multichain Approach via OP StackOn the infrastructure side, DB is building a hybrid multichain setup using @Optimism's OP Stack. The choice of OP Stack is driven by the fact that it allows regulated institutions to operate their own infrastructure rather than sharing space on a third-party chain, settling on Ethereum while maintaining control over their roadmap and risk management.
The agreement will establish domestic and international STO and RWA business models by combining Optimism's blockchain infrastructure with DB Securities' institutional underwriting capabilities, implemented gradually over the next two years as both companies align development with evolving digital asset regulations in South Korea and overseas. DB Securities says the Superchain could carry it into global STO markets further down the line.
Lee said the agreement with @Optimism, whose technology is used by global platforms including Coinbase and which also partners with Upbit, would help bolster the credibility and stability of South Korea's STO and RWA businesses.
Sources:
Optimism Foundation: DB Securities MOU announcement
Coin Edition: DB Securities, Optimism Partner on Jeju-Focused Tokenized Asset Initiative
KoreaTechDesk: South Korea's amended Electronic Securities Act and STO framework
Elon Musk's net worth shrank by $363 billion in July.
Elon Musk's net worth shrank by $363 billion in July alone — a drop larger than the entire net worth of any of the world's 2nd to 10th richest billionaires. The massive volatility stemmed mainly from SpaceX's sharp stock correction of nearly 50% from its peak following its successful IPO in June, paired with Tesla's underwhelming earnings that triggered a sharp decline in its share price, causing a rapid evaporation of the value of Musk's stakes in both companies. Musk briefly became the first person in history to hit a $1 trillion net worth in mid-June when SpaceX went public, peaking at nearly $1.45 trillion. His wealth then quickly retreated amid a broader tech stock correction, Starship launch setbacks, and market jitters over high valuations. Still, he retains his position as the world's richest person.
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An interim plan for the Strait of Hormuz will grant Tehran full control over incoming shipping to its ports.
According to a Reuters report, a senior Iranian source disclosed that Tehran and Oman have reached a temporary plan for the Strait of Hormuz, which will grant Iran full control over all incoming shipping. Additionally, under the proposed arrangement, Oman can only clear outgoing vessels after notifying Iranian officials, ensuring Tehran stays informed and retains the right to intervene. The senior source stated that Iran is unlikely to accept any other plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Barclays said that 85% of S&P 500 constituent companies beat Q2 earnings estimates, well above the long-term average of 76%. Revenue rose 11.2% year-over-year, and earnings per share jumped 25.1% driven by large-cap tech stocks. Despite the strong performance, Barclays noted that both earnings beats and misses have triggered negative reactions in stock prices. This rare pattern indicates that investors had already priced in most of the positive news beforehand.
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Upbit to List QUID Trading Pairs Against KRW, BTC, and USDT
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According to OnchainLens monitoring, the Coldcard wallet vulnerability incident has affected over 5,200 addresses so far, with a total of approximately 1,816 Bitcoin (worth around $114 million) stolen. The confirmed first through third attack waves resulted in combined losses of 1,367.05 Bitcoin (about $88.6 million). The fourth wave of attacks, which leveraged pattern matching, caused 462 suspected victims to lose 388.93 Bitcoin. On-chain data is currently being used to identify related attack clusters; the attackers have not yet transferred the stolen funds. The attack cluster remains active, with its latest transaction recorded just minutes ago.
U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to sign off on the CLARITY Act, even as the crypto bill faces a race against time with the Senate set to go on recess by the end of this week. Optimism also continues to fade, with the odds of the president signing the bill into law this year falling below 30% again.
Trump Yet To Sign Off On CLARITY Act Bipartisan Ethics Proposal In an X post, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that the White House has yet to respond to the bipartisan ethics counterproposal put forward by Senators Thom Tillis and Ruben Gallego. The senators sent a proposal that seeks to empower state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice (DOJ) if it fails to enforce the ethics provision.
The ethics issue is currently one of the major obstacles to securing bipartisan support to pass the CLARITY Act. Democrats had opposed the earlier ethics provision that the White House signed off on, which empowers solely the DOJ to enforce the ethics rules.
As CoinGape reported, the CLARITY Act is eyeing a Friday vote just before the August recess. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has yet to file a motion for cloture on the crypto bill. Based on the Senate proceedings, a final vote on the bill is unlikely to hold until Friday at the earliest.
Odds Of Passage Fall Below 30% Again Optimism over the CLARITY Act passing this year continues to fade. Data from the top crypto prediction market platform Polymarket shows that the odds of President Trump signing the crypto bill into law this year have fallen below 30% again, currently at 27%.
Source: Polymarket Besides the ethics issue, it is worth noting that some prosecutors and law enforcement groups continue to push back against the BRCA provision in the crypto bill, arguing that it will make it harder to crack down on illicit finance. As CoinGape reported, the CLARITY Act drew further law enforcement opposition from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which raised fresh concerns about the DeFi provision.
However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent already pushed back against these criticisms, noting that non-custodial builders and developers are not, and have never been, subject to registration obligations under the Bank Secrecy Act. He explained that the crypto bill simply codifies the Department’s long-standing policy.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
PANews, July 29 – The nonprofit Ethereum Institutional announced the completion of its first round of ecosystem financing and the formation of a supporters' alliance. Core funders include BitMNR, Sharplink, and Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin and Mihai Alisie, with participants including Aave, Arbitrum, Circle, Consensys, DefiLlama, EigenLayer ecosystem stakeholders, Flashbots, Ledger, Lido, Linea, Optimism, Uniswap Labs, zkSync, and over 100 individuals and crypto-native institutions. The goal is to accelerate institutional-level adoption of Ethereum in areas such as banks, asset management firms, custodians, financial infrastructure, and sovereign entities. The organization will collaborate with L2s, application teams, infrastructure and custody service providers, and others to advance related work, and will recruit regional heads and engineers embedded in banks across multiple regions globally to drive PoC implementation.
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.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Seagate rose more than 5% in after-hours trading, with Q4 revenue and adjusted earnings per share both beating expectations.
Storage technology company Seagate Technology announced its fourth-quarter fiscal results, reporting revenue of $3.63 billion, which exceeded market expectations of $3.49 billion. Its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) reached $5.71, also beating the market forecast of $5.08. Seagate’s stock fell 8.53% during regular U.S. trading on Tuesday, and rose 5.44% in after-hours trading.
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Trump plans to waive environmental reviews for space companies to accelerate commercial launch approvals, with U.S. space stocks likely to benefit.
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Jensen Huang reiterated his support for open-weight AI models.
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US stocks close: Sandisk plummeted over 14%, halving from its peak; Micron and SK Hynix dropped around 9%.
U.S. stocks closed on Tuesday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially rose 1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.2%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.2%. Storage-related concept stocks plunged again, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) down 8.98%, Micron Technology (MU.O) falling 8.85%, and SanDisk (SNDK.O) dropping 14%. SanDisk’s share price is now more than 50% lower than the all-time high it hit a month ago.
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Ethereum is up 4%, trading at $1.9K. ETH’s overall macro trend is bullish. The largest altcoin, Ethereum (ETH), is showing renewed strength after confirming a break of structure. Also, it has broken out of a falling wedge pattern and is now testing the upper boundary of a downtrend channel that has capped price action since September 2025.
At the time of writing, ETH is trading at $1,962, up by over 4.43% in the past 24 hours, while trading volume has exploded 120% to $9.33 billion. Technically, Ethereum has already completed a breakout above its long-term downtrend and is now consolidating within a key demand zone.
If ETH buyers continue defending this area, the next upside targets fall between $2,200 and $2,400, followed by $3K if bullish momentum accelerates. A sustained rally could eventually pave the way for a move to $4K, although that would depend on continued buying pressure and favourable market conditions.
Notably, the $2K level remains the most important hurdle. A weekly close above strengthens the bullish outlook and confirms a broader trend reversal. Conversely, a failure to reclaim this range could see Ethereum face renewed selling pressure and increase the risk of revisiting lower support zones.
Will Ethereum’s Bullish Momentum Continue Gaining Traction? The 4-hour price chart of ETH gives a positive outlook, and if it continues, the price could climb to the nearest resistance at around $1,997. As bullish pressure grows higher, the golden cross would take place, likely sending the price above $2,030.
Assuming a momentum reversal of Ethereum, the price could fall to the immediate support at $1,929. Upon a steady correction on the downside, the death cross might emerge, and the bears would take the asset’s price toward $1,895.
Zooming in on the technical chart of the ETH/USDT trading pair, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence line is above the signal line. The short-term momentum is accelerating faster, with buyers pushing prices higher.
Both lines are above zero; the overall macro trend is bullish, and the long-term momentum is pointing up. This hints at strong buying and momentum expansion. As long as both stay above zero, the path of least resistance remains up.
Ethereum’s daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) settled at 73.65, in the overbought territory. The buyers are in strong control and driving prices up. The higher it goes above, the higher the likelihood of a consolidation or price pullback.
However, the action of buying right now carries higher risk. Moreover, the traders wait for a divergence, a drop back below 70, before taking profit or re-entering.
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