Gate Crypto Flash News and Market Updates

According to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), natural gas speculators increased their net long positions by 1,807 contracts to reach 92,522 contracts during the week ending August 18.

According to the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), speculative net long positions in Brent crude oil increased by 11,149 contracts to 251,897 contracts in the week ended August 18.

According to French presidential officials, French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet in Paris on Monday to hold bilateral talks and sign agreements. The two leaders are expected to discuss alternative transport routes following shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, with focus on diversifying energy and logistics pathways through multiple channels including maritime routes, alternative pipelines, and regional rail projects.

Michael Saylor's Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has swung from a $13 billion unrealized loss in July to a $1.4 billion gain following a five-day Bitcoin rally that pushed BTC above $77,000. Strategy holds 840,447 BTC acquired at an average price of $75,385; the position is now worth approximately $64.97 billion with 2.4% unrealized gains. The turnaround follows Bitcoin's fall to roughly $58,000 in July, which drove Strategy's holdings deeply underwater. Strategy shares rose approximately 10%

According to The Block, bitcoin's biggest weekly gain in two years reached approximately $79,000 on Friday, lifting altcoins broadly across the sector. XRP led the surge with a 39% weekly gain and briefly crossed $1.40 for the first time in months, while Hyperliquid (HYPE), Zcash (ZEC), and Chainlink (LINK) each posted gains exceeding 30%. Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) also recorded sharp gains for the week, with bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) up between 24% and 28%. Nexo Dispatch analyst Iliya Kal

According to PPP prediction market tool, a wallet address (0xcd30f4698c6f5f3829893e68e183a8e5ea18f316) bought $155,000 worth of prediction contracts on Polymarket betting Spirit to beat Vitality in the CS2 EWC Cup match. The position was opened at an average price of 42.9 cents per share, with 360,316.9 shares acquired. The match began on August 22 at 1:00 AM; Spirit currently leads 11-9 in Game 1.

According to ChainCatcher, SpaceXAI announced recently that it has expanded the availability of its Grok AI bot, adding support for SuperGrok Plus, Cursor Pro+, and Cursor Teams plans.

Brent crude oil reached $93 per barrel on August 21, gaining 1.41% during the day and marking its highest level since July 24.

The Nevada Department of Transportation approved autonomous vehicle network applications from Tesla, Waymo, and Aviari today (August 21). Tesla received authorization to deploy up to 5,000 autonomous vehicles in the state.

The Federal Reserve's overnight reverse repo (RRP) facility saw usage of $200 million on Friday, August 21, with one counterparty, down from $225 million on the previous trading day.

Walmart Inc. (WMT) shares extended declines on Friday after posting their worst single day in four years, with a 9% plunge triggered by disappointing quarterly earnings. According to financial data from Koyfin, U.S. same-store sales grew just 2.6% for the quarter, marking the slowest pace since early 2020. Federal drug pricing regulations and elevated fuel costs contributed to the weakness. Despite the sell-off, major Wall Street firms maintained bullish stances. JPMorgan analyst Christopher Hor

According to market data, Upbit processed $1.84 billion in cryptocurrency transactions over the past 24 hours, a 273% increase and its highest daily volume since mid-March. Bitcoin rose 8% to $78,554 during the same period. XRP generated the most activity on the exchange with $418.9 million in trades, followed by Bitcoin, USDT, and Ether, indicating renewed interest is spreading beyond the largest cryptocurrency.

According to CNBC, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command announced on August 21 that the U.S. military has facilitated the passage of over 660 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz since early May, with more than 1,300 commercial vessels transiting the waterway. However, U.S. government estimates vary significantly. Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated on August 11 that daily crude oil flow reached 9 million barrels, while Axios reported on August 19 citing government officials

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio advised investors today to reduce bond holdings and allocate up to 15% of portfolios to gold as a hedge against an impending U.S. debt crisis. Dalio estimates the U.S. government faces a $2 trillion annual budget gap, with revenues of $5.5 trillion against spending of $7.5 trillion. Dalio warned the debt crisis could arrive "within roughly three years, with a margin of error of two years." He expects "non-government-issued currencies such as gold and Bitcoin" to per

According to Ukrainian state media, Russian airstrikes on the city of Kryvyi Rih today killed 14 people.

U.S. natural gas drilling rigs totaled 127 in the week of August 21, down one from 128 in the prior week, according to weekly industry data.

U.S. total rig count fell to 588 for the week of August 21, down 5 from the prior week's 593, according to energy sector data.

U.S. oil rigs for the week of August 21 totaled 452, down 3 from the prior week's 455, according to weekly rig count data.

BounceBit shut down its standalone blockchain following a protocol-level security breach that allowed an attacker to move approximately 286.5 million BB tokens, valued at roughly $3.3 million. Rather than patch the core vulnerability, the YZi Labs-backed project chose to retire the chain entirely. BounceBit plans to reissue BB tokens on BNB Chain using a snapshot of holdings taken before the attack. Tokens moved by the attacker will be excluded from the new issuance.

According to Jin10, on August 21, Ibrahim Azizi, chairman of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, stated via social media that the US has demonstrated it does not understand diplomatic language and will not voluntarily lift sanctions on Iran, release Iranian assets, or end its alleged "piracy." Azizi said history will prove that "the language of strength" will force the US to take such measures.