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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suddenly canceled the meeting originally scheduled for last Friday. The meeting was planned to advance the formulation of cryptocurrency regulatory rules and to announce the repeatedly postponed innovation exemption arrangements, which may be related to the Clarity Act.Earlier last week, the SEC announced it would hold a public meeting where commissioners would discuss the Reg Crypto proposal, which involves how companies can raise funds through tokens and ultimately exit SEC oversight after issuing their own digital assets. The SEC had originally planned to announce at least some of the innovation exemption arrangements, concerning how security token issuers handle the underlying securities. Both of these arrangements did not proceed as scheduled.

Founder of Strategy, Michael Saylor, stated that Bitcoin integrates computers, digital networks, and cryptography to create the first currency network in human history designed in a digital manner. It completely dematerializes monetary assets, with supply controlled by public protocols rather than decisions, transforming economic value into information that can be securely transmitted across global communication networks.Compared to gold, Bitcoin is harder to inflate, easier to integrate with software, faster in transmission, and every participant has the incentive to maintain network security. The proof-of-work mechanism anchors it in the physical world, making the cost of tampering with history high by consuming real energy for ledger security, attracting miners, energy providers, and investors to collaboratively build a defense system. Bitcoin is digital gold, but understanding it as digital currency is more fitting.The Bitcoin network is not static software; it is an adaptive system composed of miners, nodes, developers, capital, and users. Bitcoin deliberately maintains functional simplicity, focusing solely on maintaining a secure and reliable ledger of scarce digital assets, leaving complexity to higher-level applications.This layered design of underlying integrity and upper-level functionality allows it to serve as a foundation for transmitting monetary energy across time and space while supporting continuous innovation in payments, credit, and financial services.The more profound impact is that Bitcoin creates a new form of digital sovereignty: private keys empower individuals to control economic energy without permission, with ownership verified by mathematics rather than institutions. Companies, banks, trusts, and applications can build a complete economic system around it, and social networks can introduce real costs and responsibilities into the digital space.Gold monetized physical scarcity, while Bitcoin monetizes digital scarcity. It is not merely a payment tool but an engineering solution to humanity's problems of energy preservation and guidance—currency is energy, and Bitcoin is the currency energy of the digital age.

The SEC has postponed the "innovation exemption" plan for tokenized securities and canceled the cryptocurrency rules meeting, causing concept stocks such as Bullish, Coinbase, and the UNI token to drop.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will once again delay the launch of its innovative exemption program for tokenized assets due to concerns raised by Wall Street and the White House. The exemption was originally intended to provide U.S. crypto companies with a regulatory sandbox of 12 to 36 months, allowing them to issue and trade tokenized securities.The core controversy lies in whether the exemption terms allow third parties to issue stock tokens without the consent of the listed company. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce defended on the X platform that the framework is limited in scope, only facilitating the digital representation trading of existing equity securities, rather than synthetic products.

Neutrl announced on the X platform that it has temporarily suspended minting, redeeming, and other protocol functions due to circumstances affecting the protocol's reserves.The team stated that this measure was taken in the interest of users upon the advice of legal counsel, aiming to maintain an orderly process during the assessment of the impact. Users will receive clear follow-up arrangements at the appropriate time, and information regarding the timeline and next steps will be announced as soon as possible.

According to Decrypt, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to launch two crypto-related initiatives in the coming days, while the Congressional CLARITY Act remains stalled until at least September. The SEC intends to propose "Regulation Crypto" at a public meeting on Friday, allowing projects to raise funds through token sales without completing a full securities registration.The SEC also plans to introduce an "innovation exemption" for tokenized stocks, with details potentially announced on Friday. This exemption will allow tokenized versions of stocks like Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia to be traded on the blockchain around the clock, supporting fragmented trading and near-instant settlement.Such tokens typically track stock economic exposure but do not carry voting rights or dividend rights. This initiative is part of SEC Chairman Paul Atkins' "Project Crypto" agenda, with Robinhood Chain, Solana, and Base already advancing related on-chain markets.

According to a report by Decrypt, Israeli cybersecurity company ASecurity released a report stating that a researcher used publicly available AI models to discover multiple vulnerabilities in the Zoom annotation tool in less than 24 hours with fewer than 20 prompts, and constructed an exploitable attack chain. The vulnerabilities are numbered CVE-2026-53413, CVE-2026-53414, and CVE-2026-53415, allowing attackers to remotely execute code in meetings without any action from the victim, control their devices, steal data, and activate the microphone or camera.The attack was tested successfully on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS versions of Zoom. ASecurity claimed it reached a "national-level" standard, whereas previously constructing such exploitation tools required months of work and a substantial budget from professional teams. ASecurity reported the first vulnerability to Zoom on June 10, and Zoom released fixes between June 22 and July 20, but the server-side protections in end-to-end encrypted meetings could not filter malicious messages, requiring users to update manually. A Zoom spokesperson confirmed that the issue has been resolved and advised users to keep their versions up to date.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, as Bitcoin rises, a certain address previously held 1,793 BTC short positions, worth 114.4 million USD, which were close to liquidation. The address preemptively closed part of its positions to avoid liquidation. Currently, the address holds 1,543 BTC short positions, worth 98.97 million USD, with a new liquidation price of 64,225.35 USD.

According to CoinDesk, the Pokémon trading card market is currently estimated to be between $10 billion and $15 billion, leading to queues at retailers like Costco. A Pikachu Illustrator card owned by Logan Paul once sold for $16.5 million.Sales at large chain stores like Target and Walmart, along with eBay's projected card sales of $26.2 billion in 2025, indicate that trading cards have become an important alternative asset class, recently outperforming the S&P 500 index and Bitcoin.The blockchain startup Deadstock, launched by ATH Labs, is attempting to tokenize high-grade cards and store them in a vault to address issues of market fragmentation and slow transaction speeds. The project still faces liquidity challenges and the network effect advantages created by existing platforms like eBay.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued an internal letter that explicitly exempts asset-backed securities (ABS) related to AI data centers from the core investor protection regulations established after the 2008 financial crisis, including the "risk retention" requirement that issuers retain a portion of the debt. The SEC determined that data centers are not financial assets that are liquidated over time, and therefore the securities linked to them should not be subject to the same regulatory constraints as ABS related to auto loans or mortgage loans.Although this move is not an official amendment to the law, the substantial impact should not be underestimated, as companies have previously adhered to relevant regulations out of compliance prudence. In terms of market size, the annual issuance of data center ABS has surged from $2.4 billion in 2020 to $15.5 billion in 2025, growing more than sixfold over five years, with the potential to set a new historical high in 2026.

According to a16z crypto, the monthly spending on crypto payment cards has grown from a niche scale to $759 million. These cards allow users to pay with cryptocurrency in all scenarios that support traditional card organizations, with stablecoins converted to local currency at the point of sale, making it no different for merchants than regular card transactions.As of July 31, looking at the spending composition from various card programs, RedotPay has long held the majority share, while EtherFi, KAST, Karta, and others have gradually increased their share since the end of 2025. a16z crypto states that crypto cardholders do not need traditional bank accounts and can deposit stablecoins with the issuer or hold them directly through self-custody. These cards have expanded global users' access to dollar accounts and provided a convenient spending method for stablecoin holders.

According to CoinDesk citing informed sources, the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX spent two years discussing potential sales with multiple buyers, including competitor exchanges and payment platform Exodus, before announcing its shutdown, but ultimately failed to reach a deal. Informed sources indicated that potential acquirers were deterred mainly by the holding structure led by the company's founder, the ongoing shrinking of the business, and lingering reputation issues.Reports state that the company had hired investment bank Broadhaven to manage the sale process in early 2025. Informed sources said that although co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed had already exited the business after facing U.S. criminal charges in 2020, the three still controlled the vast majority of the company's equity, which made some buyers uneasy and complicated negotiations, as buyers typically hope to secure management's retention post-transaction through partial acquisition consideration.Additionally, during the sale process, BitMEX continued to lose market share as trading activity flowed to larger centralized exchanges and decentralized perpetual contract platforms, making potential acquirers reluctant to pay the revenue multiples typically offered to growth companies.

According to the American media MS NOW, two Middle Eastern diplomats familiar with the negotiations stated that Oman has agreed to reach a framework agreement with Iran to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian government official said that the agreement will establish a new shipping route by allowing commercial vessels to enter the Persian Gulf via Iranian-controlled routes and exit via Omani-controlled routes. The agreement does not include charging tolls for commercial vessels seeking safe passage through the waterway. This proposal is a "temporary agreement" that will lay the groundwork for Washington and Tehran to announce a new ceasefire and restart nuclear negotiations.According to Iranian officials, the United Nations International Maritime Organization and the United States will participate in the formal announcement of the agreement. A government official from a Gulf country stated that the arrangement has been recognized by the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Officials have not disclosed when the agreement will be announced. However, whether the United States will support the management agreement for the strait will depend on the final details. An American official stated that Washington only supports a temporary agreement to reopen the strait on the premise of no tolls and unobstructed passage.

According to the Procuratorial Daily, an employee of a company in Shenzhen, under the pressure of over 400,000 yuan in online loans, stole the company's core research and development materials and disguised himself as an overseas hacker, demanding a ransom of 0.88 bitcoins and 90,000 USDT from the company. He was ultimately sentenced to three years and three months in prison for attempted extortion and fined 10,000 yuan.

The cross-chain bridge protocol Across Protocol published an update on platform X regarding the progress of the ACX exchange plan related to "The Bridge Across." It stated that the team is working with legal advisors to address the final obstacles, and the timeline has been slightly delayed, with the exchange portal expected to go live by the end of August.This plan is part of Across's efforts to advance the exit and structural transformation of the ACX token, allowing holders to choose to exchange ACX for equity in the new entity or redeem it through the exchange portal. Across noted that some exchanges may begin delisting ACX, which is a normal expectation and does not affect the exchange plan. Users are advised to transfer their tokens to a self-custody wallet to participate when the portal goes live.

According to Bloomberg, informed sources revealed that a recent wave of complex cyberattacks targeted several large asset management firms on Wall Street, with attackers attempting to infiltrate the information systems of the relevant companies. Several large hedge funds globally became targets of the attacks, including Two Sigma Investments, Citadel, and Point72 Asset Management. In addition, several private equity firms were also attacked.It is currently unclear who the attackers are, the methods used in the attacks, and whether any sensitive data has been compromised. Informed sources requested anonymity due to the involvement of undisclosed information. This incident has once again raised market concerns about the cybersecurity risks faced by financial institutions. As asset management companies increasingly rely on complex information systems, algorithmic trading, and cloud infrastructure, the financial industry is becoming a primary target for cyber attackers.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut, three men from St. Louis, Missouri, Sedric Louis (32), John Davis (34), and Martel Williams (27), have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of "conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery" (Hobbs Act Robbery), facing up to 20 years in prison.The three are accused of being hired by a mastermind in August 2024 to travel to Connecticut to track and attempt to kidnap an individual who had been involved in the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin and his parents, in order to coerce him into transferring cryptocurrency. The three withdrew midway due to concerns about being captured on surveillance cameras, after which another group from Florida took over and carried out the actual kidnapping. All three have appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.

According to Jinshi reports, Fed's Schmid stated that the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index is the best way to measure inflation.