Crypto Markets & On-Chain Ecosystem Developments

A petitioner surnamed Jo filed a National Assembly petition on the 17th requesting a 2-year delay in South Korea's virtual asset taxation, proposing implementation in 2029 instead of the government's planned January 2027 start date. The petition introduces a new economic argument: individual

Kakao added stablecoin-related information services to its corporate business purposes at a March shareholder meeting, according to a corrected semi-annual report filed on the 19th. The South Korean tech company cited plans to

Maple Finance has emerged as the second-largest institutional crypto lender globally, ranking behind only Tether, following a strategic transformation that began after the 2022 crypto credit collapse. The platform currently holds approximately $1.9 billion in active loans and has maintained a

Singapore's Police Force Online Criminal Harms Act Office issued a Code of Practice on August 17 requiring Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to block financial-services advertisements from reaching Singapore users unless advertisers hold required local authorization, with a compliance deadline of

According to Seoul National University's Korean Political Research Institute, a June 2026 research paper found that infrastructure concerns from crypto industry professionals and investors carried more weight than public opinion in South Korea's three decisions to delay digital asset

According to Rain, a stablecoin payments company, 26 founding members across payments, stablecoins, blockchain, and AI sectors launched the Agentic Payments Alliance on August 18. The alliance aims to build infrastructure for AI agent-driven commerce, where agents execute transactions on users'

According to Axios citing White House sources on August 18, prediction market companies were excluded from a private meeting between President Trump and technology industry leaders scheduled for August 19. The White House confirmed the companies will not be invited and will not attend the

According to a petition filed with the South Korean National Assembly on August 17, a lawmaker requested postponing virtual asset taxation from 2027 to 2029, citing concerns that the policy could reduce overall government tax revenue. The petitioner noted that Dunamu, operator of Upbit exchange,

On August 18, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed new regulations exempting certain digital asset investment contracts from registration requirements under the Securities Act of 1933. According to the SEC's proposal for "Regulation Crypto Assets," issuers meeting specific

According to AWS, on August 18, Amazon introduced Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments, enabling AI agents to autonomously settle transactions using stablecoin infrastructure. The feature integrates wallet technology from Coinbase and Stripe, allowing developers to enable payment capabilities through t

According to Bitget, Bitcoin broke above 67,000 USDT on August 19, reaching 67,088 USDT with a daily gain of 3.65%.

According to its amended interim report filed on August 19, Kakao added "other information services" to its business scope and is pursuing stablecoin and digital asset services in partnership with subsidiaries. The company said the initiative aims to support a multi-asset digital wallet and create s

President Donald Trump stated that Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is working to bring perpetuals-focused trading platform Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion during a Wednesday press conference with technology leaders and federal

According to Trump on Wednesday, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig is working to bring perpetuals-focused platform Hyperliquid into the United States in a "fully compliant and legal fashion." Trump made the comments during a press conference with federal agency chairs and

According to Onchain Lens, a large whale has unstaked 300,660 HYPE tokens worth approximately $21.02 million and entered the unstaking queue this week. A total of 726,300 HYPE tokens, valued at around $50.4 million, are scheduled to be unstaked this week.

From 20:00 to 20:15 on August 19, 2026 (UTC), BTC/USDT edged up over the 15-minute period, with the return reaching +0.37%. The price ranged from 68,386.0 to 68,710.0 USDT, with an amplitude of 0.47%. As this period fell between major global trading sessions, market volatility was low, although market attention increased somewhat. The primary driver of this move cannot be clearly identified. The official attribution tool returned no valid news-event data, and there is no independent evidence of

Chainlink and MemeToro advanced AI cryptocurrency infrastructure through separate technical developments. Chainlink's AI-agent infrastructure work contributed to a 6% rise in LINK price, while MemeToro released over 1,100 lines of MIT-licensed code for its trend-to-proposal pipeline. The development

Chainlink's renewed focus on AI-agent infrastructure contributed to LINK rising 6%, driven by the network's oracle and interoperability services and integrations such as S&P Global's Stablecoin Stability Assessments on-chain. The protocol also converts revenue into LINK purchases through its

On August 19, 2026, from 20:00 to 20:15 (UTC), ETH/USDT surged 0.51% over the short term, trading within a range of 2,101.99–2,119.57 USDT, with a fluctuation range of 0.84%. The price decisively broke above the psychologically significant $2,000 level and held there, while market activity remained strong. The primary driver of this move was the decisive breakout above the $2,000 psychological level. ETH quickly rose from a low of $1,967 to a high of $2,117. After the key round-number level was

US President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act at a Wednesday press conference with crypto company executives including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Trump said lawmakers should pass 'a fair