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World Liberty Financial (WLFI) announced that the company has appointed Ryan Ballantyne as Chief Business Officer.Ryan Ballantyne has over thirty years of experience in capital markets, derivatives, asset management, and digital assets. Previously, he served as the Head of Institutional Client Strategy at Coinbase Institutional, where he was responsible for assisting public companies and institutions in adopting digital asset fund management, trading, and custody solutions. Earlier, he held senior positions at Osprey Funds and Blackforce Capital, and worked at institutions such as Susquehanna, Deutsche Bank, and Smith Barney.

On August 13, WEEX announced the launch of the "Global Asset Trading Season" event. Users trading gold and stock perpetual contracts can participate in a prize pool of $100,000. Event duration: 8/13 16:00 - 8/31 23:59:59 (UTC+8).During the event, the first spot trade (GOLDXAUT or SPCXX) with a trading volume of ≥ 50 U will receive a bonus of 10 USDT; any stock perpetual contract trade with a volume of ≥ 100 U will receive an additional 100 USDT position airdrop. During this period, new users' first TradFi contract trade that results in a loss will be covered; both new and existing users whose cumulative TradFi contract trading volume reaches 100,000 U can participate in sharing a cash prize pool of 50,000 USDT and unlock VIP2 membership benefits. Trading volumes of 300,000 U and 500,000 U will unlock VIP3 and VIP4 membership benefits, respectively.

The digital asset trading platform Gate has completed the functional upgrade of the Gate Card product, officially launching the card balance withdrawal feature. After users recharge to the Gate Card, in addition to being used for global consumption, they can also exchange the card balance for USDT at real-time exchange rates and transfer it to the Gate spot account, which can be used for subsequent trading, wealth management, or other asset allocation, further enhancing the flexibility of fund usage and management with the card.Currently, the Gate Card has integrated with the Visa and Mastercard global payment networks, covering over 200 countries and regions, and can be used at approximately 150 million merchants worldwide. It supports online consumption, offline payments, ATM withdrawals, and payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. With the launch of this withdrawal feature, the Gate Card further connects the complete chain from fund recharge, consumption use to balance return, providing users with a more flexible digital asset payment and fund management experience.

The digital asset trading platform Gate released its transparency report for July 2026. The report shows that the platform has maintained growth in multiple areas including trading, TradFi, and innovative businesses, strengthening the global multi-asset ecosystem that connects digital assets with traditional capital markets. In July, Gate launched zero-fee trading for US stocks and ETFs, and introduced features such as gStocks, stock copy trading, and account asset interest generation, covering over 12,500 stock and ETF assets, with the number of ETF products increasing to 386 trading pairs and a monthly trading volume of approximately $20 billion. Meanwhile, the cumulative subscription amount for Pre-IPOs of OpenAI exceeded $260 million, indicating a continued increase in global demand for high-quality pre-IPO asset allocation.Gate's innovative business also continued to strengthen in July. The average daily trading volume in the event contract market increased by over 13% month-on-month, with daily trading volume consistently ranking among the top three globally, and market share once exceeding 36%, setting a historical record; CandyDrop contracts surpassed $4.6 billion, and the cumulative staking amount for Launchpool reached $490 million, with SLX peak APR exceeding 135%, breaking the platform's historical record. According to CoinDesk data, Gate has also made significant achievements in promoting the integration of traditional finance and digital assets, with the trading volume of RWA perpetual contracts across the network rising to $460 billion in July, setting a historical high. Gate holds a 4.39% market share, ranking among the top three global centralized trading platforms, becoming an important leader in this sector. Additionally, Gate's futures trading volume reached $276 billion in July, with a derivatives market share of 9.08% and an open interest market share of 11.2%, firmly maintaining its position among the top two retail trading platforms. As stocks, ETFs, gStocks, Pre-IPOs, direct IPOs, and innovative trading products continue to improve, Gate is constantly expanding its global asset trading and investment service capabilities.

According to Cryptopolitan, cybersecurity company Malwarebytes discovered that a user on a cybercrime forum is selling a "scam toolkit" for $500, which can set up a fake $TSLA token presale website with almost no technical background required.The scam process is as follows: after visitors enter an X username, the page displays their real avatar to create the illusion of a "targeted invitation," combined with a countdown and price increase warnings to create a sense of urgency. If victims choose the "15% reward link wallet" option, they will be asked to enter a 12-word recovery phrase, resulting in their wallet being emptied; if they choose to "invest" directly, they must send cryptocurrency assets to an address controlled by the scammers, and then see a fabricated balance on a fake dashboard. The toolkit's control panel allows operators to track victims in real-time, collect recovery phrases, and check wallet balances in advance to decide whether to strike. Malwarebytes discovered this toolkit on May 16, and recently IRS and Ledger users have also encountered similar phishing attacks.

As the Qixi Festival approaches, the globally leading digital asset trading platform Gate has launched a Qixi-themed limited edition gift box, specifically for global partners and VIP users, to strengthen interaction and connection with users and partners worldwide through festive gifts.The Qixi gift box contains Gate's Qixi limited edition couple pajamas, with an overall design that cleverly blends elements of traditional Eastern culture with Gate's brand characteristics. Through this thoughtful gift, it conveys festive blessings and deep sentiments, enriching the communication methods between the brand and its core users and partners.As a global digital asset platform, Gate has always valued communication with users and partners, and strengthens community and ecosystem partner interactions through diverse methods such as festive gifts and brand activities. This Qixi limited edition gift box not only reflects Gate's attention to traditional cultural festivals but also further conveys the warmth of the brand and festive blessings.

According to Cointelegraph, Mauro Eldritch, the founder of cybersecurity company BCA LTD, and Heiner García, a network threat intelligence analyst at Telefónica Tech, jointly established a fake cryptocurrency startup "Ballena Azul," successfully luring suspected North Korean IT workers to work in a controlled virtual desktop environment for up to five weeks while monitoring their behavior throughout.Investigations show that the external servers used by the workers are linked to North Korean cyber operations that previously distributed malware such as InvisibleFerret, BeaverTail, and OtterCookie; the workers also heavily relied on ChatGPT for programming assistance and Google Gemini to forge identity documents. Researchers pointed out that North Korean IT workers obtained remote jobs by faking U.S. identities, with their earnings ultimately flowing into Pyongyang's weapons of mass destruction programs. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, such programs are expected to generate nearly $800 million for North Korea in 2024.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has lowered its global oil demand forecast for this year, primarily due to ongoing export disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and high fuel prices. The IEA expects global oil demand to decline by 1.56 million barrels per day by 2026, reaching 103.29 million barrels per day. It is anticipated that global oil demand will decrease by 4.9 million barrels per day year-on-year in the second quarter, with a recovery in the fourth quarter, increasing by approximately 580,000 barrels per day.

Global venture capital firm Accel announced that it has raised a new fund of $3.5 billion for early-stage investments worldwide. A total of four funds were raised, including a global expansion fund of $1.35 billion for larger early rounds and follow-on investments; the U.S. fund and the European and Israeli funds are each $800 million, while the Indian fund is $550 million.Accel partner Harry Nelis stated that companies are raising funds more quickly in their early stages than ever before, which presents opportunities for investors, although the scale of risk still exists. Accel has invested in AI companies such as Anthropic, Cursor, and Perplexity.

The Gate Research Institute recently reported on "The TradFi Battle of Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Gate CFD's Path to Cross-Asset Breakthrough," indicating that since 2026, cryptocurrency trading platforms represented by Gate have been accelerating their breakthrough of digital asset boundaries, with CFD business becoming the primary trading entry point connecting stablecoin funds and global traditional assets. As user demand for trading and hedging in gold, foreign exchange, stocks, indices, and commodities grows, industry competition has shifted from merely competing on leverage and trading varieties to a comprehensive contest of asset coverage, liquidity, execution quality, risk management, and capital efficiency.In this round of TradFi expansion, Gate is forming a clear first-mover advantage. According to publicly available data, Gate accounts for approximately 39.4% of the trading volume among the five platforms that have disclosed TradFi transaction amounts, completing its transition from catching up to leading in just two months, becoming the largest top-tier platform. More notably, Gate's layout is no longer limited to increasing CFD categories but is based on USDT and a unified account entry, connecting CFDs, perpetual contracts, stocks, ETFs, IPO Access, and wealth management, while further accommodating professional and institutional funds through tools such as API, copy trading, OES, and CrossEx. Whether Gate can convert its temporary transaction advantage into long-term liquidity, capital retention, and professional service capabilities in the next phase will be key to whether its TradFi strategy can form a sustainable barrier.

Coinbase posted on the X platform stating that the company has designated the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) as its international tokenization center. After obtaining the new FSRA license, the company can now offer global securities to any user with a wallet.Coinbase stated that the next frontier of global finance is the on-chain space, and the company is advancing related developments from the UAE.

The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is exploring how tokenized gold can be incorporated into the wholesale market, including whether it can be used as collateral. The discussions involve regulatory approaches aimed at the institutional market, with relevant rules expected to be announced in the coming months.This regulatory discussion comes as London seeks to solidify its position as a global gold trading hub. Data from the World Gold Council shows that London currently accounts for about 70% of global gold trading volume, while Shanghai and Hong Kong are vying for a larger share of wholesale business. HSBC launched a tokenized gold product for retail investors in Hong Kong over two years ago and reported that the cumulative trading volume has exceeded $2.2 billion, with more than 276,000 transactions. The FCA does not directly regulate physical gold trading but oversees gold derivatives and publicly traded products in the market.

According to The Defiant, the monthly fund flow report released by 21Shares on August 10 shows that in July, global cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) had a net inflow of $600 million, marking the first month of net inflow since April. Among them, Ethereum-native products attracted $350 million, about twice that of Bitcoin-native products at $176 million, while XRP, Solana products, and a basket of products saw inflows of $34 million, $13 million, and $7 million, respectively.The report states that July reversed the previous brief and intense redemptions. Bloomberg data shows that $2.5 billion and $4.4 billion flowed out of cryptocurrency ETPs and ETFs in May and June, respectively, following a net inflow of $2.9 billion in April. Although Ethereum led in subscriptions, Bitcoin products still dominated trading, with a global trading volume of cryptocurrency ETPs and ETFs in July reaching $133.3 billion, of which Bitcoin accounted for 78.5%, Ethereum 11.1%, other assets 9.1%, and Solana 1.3%. The inflow of funds into Ethereum is based on a much smaller active base, rather than a large-scale withdrawal from Bitcoin products.

U.S. AI data center startup Global AI announced the completion of $441 million (approximately 626 billion Korean won) in funding, led by JPMorgan Chase.Founded in 2024, Global AI positions itself as "the world's first sovereign AI hyperscale service provider," specifically designing, building, and operating dedicated AI data centers that are physically isolated (Air-gapped) from external networks for national and enterprise clients, focusing on high-security sensitive task processing scenarios.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, in the Polymarket event "Baltimore Orioles vs. Minnesota Twins," the sub-market "First 5 Innings Spread -1.5" for the "Baltimore Orioles" option has experienced significant fluctuations in winning probability, soaring from 31.5% an hour ago to the current 49.5% (a fluctuation of 18%). Please note the impact of related breaking news.

Grayscale Research Director Zach Pandl stated that the global alternative asset market has grown nearly 7 times since the 2008 financial crisis, with the share of private equity, private credit, hedge funds, physical assets, and cryptocurrency in global portfolios continuing to rise. According to the data he cited, within alternative assets, private equity accounts for about 29%, hedge funds about 23%, and cryptocurrency about 13%.Zach Pandl mentioned that differences in intergenerational allocation preferences may further strengthen this trend. According to a Bank of America survey of high-net-worth individuals, investors aged 21 to 43 allocate about 53% of their assets outside of traditional stocks and bonds, while the proportion for those aged 44 and above is 26%. With over $100 trillion in wealth expected to transfer to younger generations in the coming years, their stronger preference for alternative assets may provide ongoing tailwinds for cryptocurrency.He added that the lowering of entry barriers to alternative assets is one of the reasons for this shift, with cryptocurrency developing along similar paths; regulated products like Bitcoin ETPs and institutional-grade market infrastructure provide more convenient access to exposure.

According to the data panel on the ChainCatcher official website, regarding BTC wallet balances, in the past 7 days, among the top 10 exchanges by balance, Bithumb saw the largest decrease at 11.67%; Kraken had the largest increase at 1.24%.In terms of exchange asset transparency proof, in the past 7 days, the top three net outflows of reserve assets were Bitfinex (-$109 million), Deribit (-$40.7954 million), and OKX (-$14.5321 million); the top three net inflows were Binance (+$441 million), Gate (+$11.9 million), and Bitget (+$7.50389 million).