Crypto Markets & On-Chain Ecosystem Developments

According to The Block, South Korea's two largest cryptocurrency exchanges Upbit and Bithumb reported approximately 50% revenue declines in the first half of 2026, reflecting a significant slowdown in the local crypto market. Upbit parent company Dunamu's consolidated operating revenue fell 49.1%

Google Cloud and Solana Foundation are hosting the finals of the 'Google Cloud X Solana AI Agentic Hackathon' Demo Day on the 21st in Seoul. Approximately 10 finalist teams that passed preliminary rounds will present services combining artificial intelligence (AI) agents with blockchain payment

Kim Min-seok was elected as the new leader of South Korea's Democratic Party on May 17 at the Daejeon Convention Center with a final vote share of 54.07%. Kim proposed digital asset reforms including stablecoin introduction and the Digital Asset Basic Act as part of his '4+1 reform tasks'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on August 8 for the CLARITY Act, scheduling a procedural vote for September 15 at 2:15 PM to advance the digital asset legislation to the Senate floor. The motion came just before the Senate entered its August 10 to September 11 recess

Ethereum Korea consortium is recruiting applicants for a fellowship program targeting Korean Ethereum researchers and builders. On the 18th, Ethereum Korea announced it will accept applications until the 23rd, with selected participants to be announced on the 31st. The program will provide

Ripple and Jeonbuk Bank signed a strategic partnership on the 18th to support the development of a next-generation digital financial ecosystem. The signing ceremony was attended by Fiona Murray, Ripple's Asia Pacific (APAC) head and core executives, alongside Park Chun-won, president of Jeonbuk Bank

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, on August 17, the agency released proposed rules for the Genius Act that ban unlicensed stablecoin issuance starting January 18, 2027. From that date, individuals and entities without federal or state authorization cannot issue payment stablecoins in the U.

According to reports, South Korean politician Kim Min-seok was elected as the new leader of the Democratic Party on August 17 with 54.07% of votes cast at the party convention in Daejeon. Kim has prioritized digital asset reform as a key policy agenda, proposing the introduction of won-denominated s

According to the U.S. Senate website and White House officials, a cloture vote on the CLARITY Act, a comprehensive digital asset regulatory bill, is scheduled for September 15 at 2:15 p.m. ET. Senate Republican Whip John Thune filed for cloture on August 8, advancing the legislation after concerns i

Ethereum Korea announced on August 18 that it is opening a Fellowship Program to support Korean Ethereum researchers and developers, with applications closing on August 23. Selected fellows will be announced on August 31 and will receive funding to cover travel and accommodation for participation in

According to Google Cloud, the company and Solana Foundation are jointly hosting the finals of the Google Cloud X Solana AI Agentic Hackathon on August 21 in Seoul. Approximately 10 teams that advanced through the preliminary round will showcase AI agent services integrated with blockchain

According to the Ethereum Foundation, some wallets, indexers and gas estimators must be updated before the Glamsterdam upgrade activates on Thursday, Aug. 21. The EF's Protocol DevOps team warned on Monday that any tool relying on a hardcoded maximum gas limit "will break" and urged developers to te

According to Foresight News, Deel stablecoin wallet has launched across Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific regions, covering more than 80 countries. Users can acquire, hold, earn, and spend DLUSD. The feature is supported by partners including Stablecoin, Privy, Tempo,

According to Foresight News, BitBox released the Dixence security update, fixing multiple firmware vulnerabilities in its hardware wallet including bootloader issues, Multi version memory corruption, and a silent payments bug that could lock funds to unintended addresses. The company reported no

According to Cointelegraph, the Ethereum Foundation launched the Platåberget testnet on August 18 ahead of the Glamsterdam upgrade scheduled for August 20, opening public testing in preparation for the

According to Odaily星球日报, the largest long position holder in LONG has accumulated approximately $5.48 million in profits since establishing positions on July 15, with the current position value at $13.22 million. Of the total profit, roughly $2.2 million comes from funding fees, accounting for appro

According to Fundstrat Global Advisors, Bitcoin's 30-day volatility has hit historic lows. Analysis of 8 similar cycles shows median price swings of 30.2% over the next 60 days, with 4 upswings and 4 downswings. At current levels near $64,000, a 30% upside move would target $83,200, while a 30% down

According to a Bank of America 13F filing, the bank reduced its MicroStrategy (MSTR) position by approximately 70% in Q2, cutting holdings from about 3.97 million shares at the end of Q1 to roughly 1.18 million shares as of June 30. Concurrently, Bank of America increased its Blackrock Spot

According to ChainCatcher, the probability that OpenAI will release Astra before August 31 on Polymarket's prediction market rose to 24% in the last 24 hours, up 8%. The probability of release before September 15 stands at 61%, up 6% over the same period. Under the market settlement rules, OpenAI

The U.S. Treasury Department released a notice of proposed rulemaking on August 17, establishing regulatory requirements for payment stablecoin issuers and setting conditions for foreign-issued tokens offered to U.S. customers. The proposal implements Section 3 of the GENIUS Act, which President