TL;DR
U.S. Index Performance: Major U.S. stock benchmarks snapped their winning streak, with the S&P 500 falling 1.43% to close at 7,674.37 (from 7,785.76), the Nasdaq Composite dropping 2.05% to 26,180.46 (from 26,729.16), and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declining 0.85% to 53,277.01 (from 53,732.41).
Equity Market Drivers: Risk appetite was weighed down by a sharp rise in long-term Treasury yields, ongoing fiscal deficit concerns, and renewed fears of energy-driven inflation, although a stronger-than-expected Flash PMI report fueled a modest late-week rebound on Friday.
Crude Oil Surge: Energy prices extended their gains for a second consecutive week as U.S.–Iran tensions over the Strait of Hormuz persisted, pushing Brent crude up 4.79% to US$95.21 per barrel (from US$90.85) and WTI crude up 6.21% to US$87.53 per barrel (from US$82.41).
Treasury Yield Pressure: Long-end yields moved higher amid concerns over fiscal supply, with the 10-year Treasury yield rising 5 basis points to close at 4.74% (up from 4.69%), despite the Treasury expanding its bond buyback operations mid-week to support market liquidity.
Gold Breaks Out: Spot gold staged a strong technical breakout, surging 5.17% to close at US$4,603 per ounce (up from US$4,377), driven by safe-haven demand, concerns over U.S. fiscal sustainability, and dollar weakness.
Regulatory catalysts drove some of the week’s biggest moves: the SEC’s proposed crypto framework improved the outlook for fundraising and token regulation, ZEC jumped 70.6% amid expectations of Grayscale’s Zcash ETF launch, while HYPE rose 28.5% after Trump said the CFTC was working on a compliant pathway for Hyperliquid to enter the U.S. market.
Nomura-backed Laser Digital secured Japan’s first new crypto exchange license in four years.
Kraken launched U.S. stock trading for EEA customers.
Ripple raised US$275M to expand Ripple Prime’s U.S. prime brokerage business.
Macro Overview
Yield Spikes and Energy Inflation Pull Equities Off Record Peaks
Global financial markets paused their August advance during the week ending August 21, 2026. Coming off record high levels, U.S. equities pulled back as higher long-term bond yields, elevated crude oil prices, and fiscal sustainability worries weighed on investor sentiment. The benchmark S&P 500 index fell 1.43% on the week to 7,674.37 points, ending a three-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.05% to 26,180.46 points due to profit-taking in long-duration growth and AI tech stocks, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.85% to 53,277.01 points.
A primary source of market pressure was bond vigilantes reasserting concerns over massive U.S. government debt issuance and fiscal deficits. To bolster market liquidity, the U.S. Treasury Department announced an expansion of its long-dated bond buyback operations, offering temporary relief mid-week. Economic data offered mixed signals: while persistent energy inflation stoked hawkish fears, Friday’s U.S. August Flash PMI showed domestic business activity expanding at its fastest pace in over four years, providing a late Friday bump (+0.4% on the S&P 500) to cap weekly losses.
In energy markets, oil prices logged a second consecutive week of steep gains. Diplomatic negotiations regarding shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz remained stalled between the U.S. and Iran, re-injecting a substantial geopolitical risk premium into global supply chains. Below-average U.S. distillate inventories compounded supply concerns, driving WTI crude up 6.21% over the week to US$$ 87.53 per barrel, while Brent crude rose 4.79% to U$$ 95.21 per barrel.
In fixed income and foreign exchange, government bond yields rose across maturities, pushing the 10-year Treasury yield up 5 basis points to 4.74%. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) softened 0.80% to 98.84, weighed down by expanding Treasury buybacks and fiscal concerns. A weaker greenback, coupled with mounting safe-haven demand and physical central bank accumulation, propelled spot gold up 5.17% to settle at US$ 4,602.99 per ounce. (1)
Asset Class Highlights
U.S. Dollar Index
U.S. Dollar Index (DXY)
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) fell 0.80% across the week to close at 98.84 (down from 99.64). The greenback lost ground due to lingering fiscal worries and market digestion of expanded Treasury buyback programs, despite rising long-end Treasury yields.(2)
U.S. 10-Year and 30-Year Treasury Yields
U.S. 10-Year and 30-Year Treasury Yields
Government bond yields moved higher across the curve as markets digested heavy sovereign debt issuance and sticky energy inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield rose 5 basis points to close at 4.74% (up from 4.69% the prior week), while long-end yields remained elevated despite Treasury liquidity support interventions. (3)
Gold
Gold
Spot gold (XAU/USD) recorded a major upside breakout, soaring 5.17% on the week to finish at ~US$$ 4,602.99 per ounce (from U$$ 4,377). Escalating Middle East shipping tensions, persistent central bank accumulation, and institutional hedging against fiscal deficits and inflation fueled massive inflows into precious metals. (4)
Crypto Markets Overview
Main Assets
ETH/BTC Ratio
BTC surged 23.6% over the week, while ETH jumped 31.4%, pushing the ETH/BTC ratio 6.3% higher. ETF flows also accelerated sharply, with BTC ETFs recording $1.9B in net inflows and ETH ETFs $697M, both marking recent highs. (5)
Market sentiment flipped just as quickly, with the Fear & Greed Index surging from 27 (Fear) to 73 (Greed). (6)
The key catalyst was the SEC’s proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets" framework, which would significantly reduce the regulatory burden around crypto fundraising through new exemptions of up to $5M for startups and $75M over 12 months. More importantly, the proposal introduces a clearer investment-contract safe harbor, allowing a token to potentially trade as a non-security once the issuer’s promised managerial efforts are completed or permanently ceased. (7)
Total Market Cap
Crypto Total Marketcap
Crypto Total Marketcap Excluding BTC and ETH
Crypto Total Marketcap Excluding Top 10 Dominance
Total crypto market cap surged 22.1% over the week, while the market excluding BTC and ETH rose 16.0%. The altcoin market excluding the top 10 outperformed further, jumping 22.5%, pointing to a broader rotation into higher-beta assets.
STRC Performance
STRC recorded US$669M in trading volume last week and continued to trade below par, though its price recovered to around US$96.
STRC remained under pressure despite Bitcoin’s strong rally, still ~4.7% below its $100 par value. Multicoin Capital co-founder Tushar Jain argued that STRC’s 12% dividend yield is insufficient compensation for its downside risk, pointing to its roughly 30% drawdown from prior highs. (8)
Strategy has so far preferred buybacks over further dividend hikes, including $132M of STRC repurchases in the latest reported week, while keeping the dividend at 12% and building its USD reserve to around $4.8B.
Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance
Source: CoinMarketCap and Gate Ventures, as of 24th Aug 2026
The top 30 cryptocurrencies surged 18.5% on average last week, Zcash, XRP, and Hyperliquid are the top performers.
ZEC surged 70.6% over the week, with the main catalyst being growing expectations around Grayscale’s planned Zcash ETF launch on August 25. The prospect of a regulated ETF materially improved expectations for institutional access and new capital inflows into ZEC, helping trigger a sharp re-rating in the token. (9)
HYPE surged 38.5% over the week, with the key catalyst coming after President Trump said the CFTC is working on a fully compliant pathway to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. The comments materially increased expectations that Hyperliquid could eventually access the regulated U.S. derivatives market, removing a major regulatory overhang and expanding its potential addressable market. (10)
The Key Crypto Highlights
Nomura-backed Laser Digital secures Japan’s first new crypto exchange license in four years
Nomura-backed Laser Digital has received approval from Japan’s FSA to operate as a crypto asset exchange service provider, marking the country’s first new crypto exchange license in four years. The license will initially allow Laser Digital to provide domestic crypto liquidity, with plans to expand into broader institutional trading services. The approval highlights Japan’s continued push to bring regulated TradFi players deeper into digital assets as the country builds a more institution-friendly crypto market structure. (11)
Kraken launches US stock trading for EEA customers
Kraken has launched trading in more than 7,000 US-listed stocks for eligible customers across the European Economic Area through Kraken Pro and its mobile app, operating under its MiFID II authorization. The stocks will sit alongside more than 600 crypto assets and 700+ tokenized xStocks on the same platform, allowing users to access both conventional and tokenized equities in one account. The expansion highlights Kraken’s push beyond crypto exchange services toward a broader multi-asset investment platform, while strengthening the convergence between traditional equities and tokenized markets. (12)
EU weighs bringing DeFi lending vaults under MiCA
The European Commission is reviewing whether crypto lending and borrowing should be brought under MiCA, with DeFi vaults emerging as one of the hardest areas to regulate. The key challenge is that vaults such as Morpho distribute control across owners, curators, allocators and smart contracts, making it difficult to identify a single regulated service provider. The consultation, which closes on September 30, could determine whether DeFi lending remains outside MiCA or moves into a dedicated regulatory framework focused more on control and economic function than protocol labels. (13)
Key Ventures Deals
Ripple raises US$275M to expand Ripple Prime’s U.S. prime brokerage business
Ripple has closed an upsized US$275 million private placement of senior unsecured notes through Ripple Prime, its non-bank prime brokerage arm. The proceeds will support working capital and U.S. expansion, as Ripple Prime scales its multi-asset clearing, financing and prime brokerage services. The offering also received a BBB investment-grade rating from KBRA, highlighting Ripple’s push to build a more institutional-grade capital markets business around digital assets. (14)
Beldex raises US$8M to expand privacy infrastructure across Web3 and AI
Beldex, a privacy-focused Layer 1 ecosystem, raised US$8 million in a round led by Sigma Capital, with participation from NTC, Nxgen, Digital Consensus Fund and EAK Ventures. The funding will support developer tooling, confidential applications, protocol security, AI privacy infrastructure and ecosystem adoption, including an EVM-compatible sidechain, confidential assets and privacy-preserving AI infrastructure. The raise highlights growing demand for privacy as core infrastructure for Web3 and AI, particularly as AI agents increasingly handle payments, identities, communications and sensitive data. (15)
Blueprint Finance raises strategic round to scale Concrete’s institutional DeFi infrastructure
Blueprint Finance, the core developer of Concrete, raised a strategic funding round led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Bullish, Keyrock, BitGo, FalconX, Flowdesk and other digital asset firms; the funding amount was not disclosed. The capital will support the expansion of Concrete’s full-stack vault infrastructure, which enables institutions, protocols and asset managers to automate execution, accounting, risk controls and capital allocation across on-chain strategies. The raise highlights growing institutional demand for DeFi vaults as programmable asset-management infrastructure, with Concrete also expanding into new financial primitives including AssetCX and concUSD. (16)
Ventures Market Metrics
There were 3 deals closed last week, all in the infrastructure sector.
Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 24th Aug 2026
The total disclosed funding raised last week was $283M, with 1 deal not disclosing its funding amount. Ripple accounted for the vast majority of the total, raising $275M.
Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 24th Aug 2026
Total weekly fundraising surged to $283M for the fourth week of August-2026, an increase of 1329% compared to the week prior.
About Gate Ventures
Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate.com, is focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and applications that will reshape the world in the Web 3.0 age. Working with industry leaders across the globe, Gate Ventures helps promising teams and startups that possess the ideas and capabilities needed to redefine social and financial interactions.
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Reference
https://www.investing.com/rates-bonds/u.s.-10-year-bond-yield, https://www.investing.com/rates-bonds/u.s.-30-year-bond-yield
BTC & ETH ETF Inflow: https://sosovalue.com/tc/assets/etf/us-btc-spot
BTC Greed and Fear Index: https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/
Regulation Crypto Assets framework: https://ncfacanada.org/sec-regulation-crypto-assets-and-us75m-fundraising-rules/
ZCash ETF: https://cryptoslate.com/grayscales-zcash-etf-filing-proposes-a-2-5-fee-and-a-potential-34-dcg-stake/
Trump mention on HYPE: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/hype-jumps-17-trump-backs-225700389.html
Nomura-backed Laser Digital secures Japan’s first new crypto exchange license in four years: https://cointelegraph.com/news/nomuras-laser-digital-japans-first-crypto-exchange-4-years
Kraken launches US stock trading for EEA customers: https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-us-stock-trading-eea-customers
EU weighs bringing DeFi lending vaults under MiCA: https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/mica-is-coming-for-defi-vaults-but-regulation-will-be-difficult
Ripple raises US$275M to expand Ripple Prime’s U.S. prime brokerage business: https://x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2089730548818203125
Beldex raises US$8M to expand privacy infrastructure across Web3 and AI: https://decrypt.co/376084/beldex-raises-8-million-to-expand-privacy-infrastructure-for-web3-and-ai
Blueprint Finance raises strategic round to scale Concrete’s institutional DeFi infrastructure: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blueprint-finance-announces-strategic-funding-round-to-scale-concretes-institutional-defi-infrastructure-302855894.html
