Crypto Markets & On-Chain Ecosystem Developments

According to ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood, centralized crypto companies generated roughly $70 billion in annual revenue in 2025, compared to about $8 billion for on-chain protocols and blockchains, according to analysis from ARK analyst Lorenzo Valente on August 18. Wood endorsed Valente's findings

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service warned cryptocurrency holders recently that they may receive fraudulent letters impersonating official IRS correspondence. The letters direct recipients to a fake "Digital Asset Compliance Portal" and contain QR codes that link to a fraudulent IRS website designed t

According to actu, a couple in France's Landes department was kidnapped overnight and tortured by criminals demanding their Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency holdings. The abductors broke into their home around 4 a.m., threatening the victims to surrender crypto assets. The man was later found

According to BlockBeats, on August 20, Bitcoin approached forming a golden cross, a technical pattern typically viewed as a bullish long-term momentum signal. The formation would complete if Bitcoin breaks above its current 50-day simple moving average and subsequently surpasses the 200-day SMA at $

According to BlockBeats, on August 20, Coldcard released firmware 5.6.1 for Mk4/Mk5 devices and 1.5.1Q for Q devices following a three-week security review after a July 31 emergency patch. The update strengthens mnemonic phrase generation by requiring users to contribute entropy through at least

According to BusinessWire, BitGo Korea received Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from South Korea's Korea Financial Intelligence Unit on August 18, becoming the first newly established entity of a global digital asset company to secure direct VASP approval in the country. The regis

XRP broke out of a two-week trading range as large holders added 190 million XRP in a single day, according to on-chain data highlighted by crypto analyst MRCAULIMANN. The token is trading at $1.23, up 22.4% over the past seven days, per CoinCodex data cited by market analyst Xaif

According to market analysts Xaif Crypto and MRCAULIMANN, XRP broke out of its two-week trading range in the past 24 hours, with whale-tier addresses (holding 1M-10M XRP) adding roughly 190 million tokens combined. XRP is trading at $1.23, up 22.4% over the past seven

According to ChainCatcher, per Arkham monitoring, BlackRock customers bought $122 million worth of ETH 2 hours ago, marking the largest single purchase in the past 7 months. The previous largest single ETH purchase by BlackRock customers occurred on January 15, 2026, when they acquired $149 million

According to BlockBeats, on August 20, Hyperliquid's native perpetual open interest stood at approximately $8.18 billion, representing 66.97% of combined OI with Trade.xyz at $4.035 billion (33.03%). The crypto perpetual share increased 2.79 percentage points in 24 hours compared to 64.18%

Bitcoin surged above $71,000 on Thursday as President Donald Trump renewed efforts to push Congress to pass the Clarity Act, digital asset market legislation designed to establish clearer U.S. regulatory rules. The world's largest cryptocurrency was trading at $71,880, up 5.2%, while Ethereum

According to CoinDesk, X is exploring stablecoin payouts for its creators, including Circle's USDC, as part of plans to route royalty payments onto blockchain rails. The discussions remain active, with a person familiar with the plans confirming the initiative also advises other social platforms

According to MetaversePost, the HSC Conference held a panel titled "Moving Beyond Pilots into Real Financial Infrastructure" on August 15 in Ho Chi Minh City. The session featured speakers from major institutions including Julie Pham (Varmeta), Dr. Minh Nhat Nguyen (RMIT University Vietnam), Ivan Po

According to ASIC, the regulator removed 3,106 fake cryptocurrency platforms and 19,400 total online scams in the 2025-26 financial year, announced on August 17. Crypto takedowns surged nearly 30% from the prior year, while total scam removals jumped 182%. Criminal syndicates are deploying