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French semiconductor company Sequans Communications has sold its last 314 bitcoins, completing its exit from the bitcoin reserve strategy, having previously held over 3,200 BTC. Sequans stated that this exit was conducted after the redemption of convertible bonds completed in May, allowing it to refocus on its core cellular IoT and software-defined radio business.Sequans CEO Georges Karam stated that the company used the proceeds from the bitcoin sales to pay off convertible bonds and strengthen its balance sheet. Currently, Sequans holds no cryptocurrency and has no outstanding debts other than government-funded R&D obligations. Sequans launched its bitcoin reserve strategy in June 2025, announcing a $384 million equity security and convertible secured bond issuance, with Karam at the time calling bitcoin a primary asset and an attractive long-term investment.The company began to reduce its holdings less than six months later, selling 970 BTC in November to redeem half of the convertible bonds. By May 2026, Sequans indicated that it would no longer pursue the reserve strategy and would gradually liquidate the remaining bitcoins. During the 2026 crypto bear market, an increasing number of digital asset reserve companies abandoned or scaled back their accumulation strategies. VanEck's head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, noted at the end of July that at least nine companies had completely liquidated or abandoned their bitcoin and cryptocurrency reserve strategies in 2026.

A family in the northern French town of Vendin-le-Vieil was invaded and taken hostage by four masked men early Sunday morning. According to BFMTV, the suspects entered the house around 4 AM, binding the couple and their two children with tape, and held them for over three hours. The 40-year-old father, an IT expert in the local cryptocurrency industry, was taken to another room, beaten, and forced to give up access codes, resulting in approximately 40,000 euros (about 46,000 dollars) worth of cryptocurrency being transferred away.According to the Béthune prosecutor's office, the four suspects fled the scene by car and are still at large. The 12-year-old daughter was struck in the face with a car key during the incident, and the victims are in a state of shock; they have been sent for forensic examination and are receiving support from the victims' assistance association. The case has been filed under organized gang kidnapping and extortion and is being jointly investigated by the regional judicial police and the French Cybercrime Office.France is the country most severely affected by such "ransom attacks" globally. Records from the national prosecutor's office for organized crime show that over 70 kidnapping and illegal detention incidents related to cryptocurrency have occurred in the first eight months of 2026, with 88 people already prosecuted in earlier crackdowns this year. Previous similar cases often targeted wealthy individuals, including the father of a cryptocurrency millionaire, the wife of a co-founder of The Sandbox, and the CEO of Binance France, while the victim in this case is merely an ordinary IT professional. Chainalysis reported that global ransom attacks in 2026 resulted in approximately 30 million dollars in losses, while CertiK stated that losses over six months reached 124 million dollars, a 12-fold increase.

The French Council of State rejected the urgent application filed by the cryptocurrency companies Bull Bitcoin and Paymium, refusing to immediately suspend the implementation of the French decree enforcing the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation No. 8 (DAC8).The applicants argued that the centralized collection of personal and financial data from digital asset users could lead to data breaches, extortion, and personal safety risks. The court found that the applicants failed to demonstrate an urgent situation sufficient to support an emergency suspension. The lawsuit seeking to fully revoke the decree by Bull Bitcoin is still under review. DAC8 will take effect in the EU on January 1, 2026, and registered service providers must complete their first declaration for the year 2026 by September 30, 2027.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, the French company Capital B announced the purchase of 376 BTC for 25.3 million euros.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that last month's expansion of the U.S. Treasury bond buyback program was aimed at calming the frenzied sentiment in the bond market and pushing market prices back to equilibrium. She denied that the Treasury's buyback of government bonds was equivalent to the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing, stating that the measure was similar to the Federal Reserve's past distortion operations.

According to Euronews, Taiwan's stock market surged by 59% in the first half of this year due to a spike in demand for AI hardware, with chip giants like TSMC being the main drivers. Driven by high return expectations, a large number of ordinary people borrowed money to enter the market through bank loans and mortgage properties, with the scale of margin trading increasing by nearly 20% compared to the first half of the year.Some investors have made substantial profits, such as Mr. Chen, a real estate practitioner, who borrowed 5 million New Taiwan dollars and quadrupled his assets within six months; however, others have suffered significant losses, with one anonymous user claiming to have invested over 10 million New Taiwan dollars (including 6 million in mortgage loans) and lost nearly half, even experiencing mental health issues.Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission stated that the overall credit risk remains within a controllable range and has released videos on social media to warn young investors about the risks of loan defaults.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform stating that France disclosed this month that its tax administration department was hacked, with approximately 678,000 individuals and businesses' related data stolen. The stolen data reportedly includes names, addresses, income, and property information.An analysis of the alleged database found that 26,805 records showed incomes exceeding 100,000 euros, including 386 records over 1 million euros. According to CertiK data, in the first half of 2026, France accounted for 33 out of 52 verified cryptocurrency wrench attacks globally. French prosecutors also accused a tax department employee of using the government database to identify cryptocurrency investors and selling personal information to criminals involved in personal attacks and extortion.The latest data breach incident has no publicly linked personal attack events, but the sensitive financial and location data of hundreds of thousands of individuals may no longer be under government control.

According to Cointelegraph, the SEC has released proposed rules for the "Regulation Crypto Assets," setting two exemptions for specific investment contracts involving crypto assets: allowing startups to raise up to $5 million in a one-time financing within four years; and allowing qualified issuers to raise up to $75 million within any 12-month period, with the possibility of conducting different rounds of issuance in subsequent years.Drew Hinkes, a partner at Winston & Strawn, stated that as long as each round of financing is an independent issuance, projects could theoretically raise $75 million every 12 months. Lilya Tessler, head of Sidley's fintech and blockchain practice, noted that subsequent financing is not automatically approved; issuers must resubmit offering documents, undergo SEC staff review, continuously submit annual and semi-annual reports, and disclose funds raised through the exemption in the past 12 months to confirm they have not exceeded the financing cap. The proposed rules also limit the participation scale of non-qualified investors, with their purchase amount not exceeding 10% of the higher of their personal income or net worth.Lee Reiners, a financial regulation expert at Duke University, indicated that the limited first-round cap may make early token allocations more attractive, but the rule is unlikely to replicate the ICO boom of 2017. Among projects that raised funds through ICOs from 2017 to 2019, as many as 90% ultimately failed.The SEC expects that approximately 130 issuances per year will utilize the above two exemptions, with about 475 issuers potentially using a broader investment contract safe harbor. The proposed rules will provide token issuers with a clearer path for financing in the U.S. compared to the current system, but secondary market trading may still exist in a gray area of securities attributes. The proposal stipulates that investment contracts related to crypto assets may continue to trade in the secondary market along with token transfers until the asset is separated from the issuer's statements or commitments.Drew Hinkes stated that if non-security tokens transfer investment contracts from seller to buyer, such transactions may still be considered securities transactions, impacting trading platforms. Lee Reiners also mentioned that some issuers may meet the formal requirements for exemptions but still influence token value through team management efforts, concentrated insider holdings, and aggressive promotion.

As the cryptocurrency market continues to rebound, Bitcoin mining companies and digital asset treasury company stocks rose over the weekend. The market believes that the U.S. Treasury's announcement to expand the long-term Treasury bond repurchase program has improved liquidity expectations, boosting risk asset sentiment and further enhancing the performance of crypto-related stocks.Bitcoin mining company Canaan's stock price rose over 25%; MARA Holdings continued to rise after gaining nearly 16% on Thursday. Digital asset treasury company Strive, which holds over 20,000 Bitcoins, rose more than 16% on Friday. Additionally, Trump stated that the U.S. government may purchase Bitcoin in a "large-scale" manner in the future.The market's rise is also driven by improved expectations for U.S. regulation. U.S. President Trump again called on Congress on Thursday to advance the CLARITY Act, which aims to further clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S., delineating the regulatory responsibilities of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the cryptocurrency market.

The French Minister of Finance confirmed that hackers breached the French Public Finance Directorate system at the end of June and stole personal and corporate taxpayer data. According to the platform FrenchBreaches, which tracks cyberattacks in France, this incident affected approximately 678,437 people, equivalent to about 1% of the French population, but the exact number is still under investigation and has not been finally confirmed.The leaked data reportedly includes sensitive information such as names, birth dates, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, tax identification information, and income data. Among them, nearly 27,000 individuals had tax incomes of at least 100,000 euros, 386 exceeded 1 million euros, and another 8 exceeded 10 million euros. Reports indicate that the database has been sold on the dark web market for thousands of euros. The attackers, calling themselves ZeroBytes, claimed they extracted the relevant records using an internal search tool, which was only discovered later when access was cut off.This incident has raised concerns in the cryptocurrency industry, as there has been a noticeable increase in "wrench attack" violent robbery incidents targeting cryptocurrency holders in France in recent years. If high-income individuals' addresses and contact information are leaked, it could provide criminals with a more precise target list.

According to The Block, a couple in the Somme department of France faced three break-ins in less than a month after purchasing the former home of a cryptocurrency millionaire. The incidents were triggered by the previous owner's tax information and address being leaked to the dark web, leading criminals to mistakenly believe that the new residents held approximately 1 million euros in cryptocurrency assets.The first break-in was thwarted by a dog, the second intruder subdued the residents and live-streamed the attack on Snapchat, and after confirming the target was incorrect, fled; the third break-in was scared off by the alarm system. The Amiens Criminal Court subsequently convicted two men (aged 20 and 21) involved in the third break-in, sentencing them to 3 years and 18 months in prison, respectively.

Bitcoin Treasuries.NET posted on platform X that the French Bitcoin treasury company Capital B ALCPB has been listed on Cboe Europe, the largest pan-European stock exchange.This move further expands institutional investors' access to Capital B shares.

According to market news, the French listed telecommunications company Sequans Communications has sold 344 bitcoins and plans to sell the remaining 314 bitcoins as previously announced. Its Bitcoin 100 ranking is 73rd.

According to Jinshi reports, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for a de-escalation of the situation in the Red Sea and points out that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will have an impact on the global economy.

According to INBi, consultant François Garcin, who assisted in building MARA's business in France, filed a lawsuit against MARA Holdings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 22, seeking over 11 million euros in compensation.Garcin claims that after MARA terminated the contract on March 6, 2026, it failed to pay 2.4 million euros in consulting fees and approximately 5.92 million euros in success commissions (based on 4% of the 148 million euro investment in Exaion). Exaion is a subsidiary of EDF, and this investment accounts for 64% of the capital for the relevant project.Garcin's previous tasks included recruiting former Engie CEO Gérard Mestrallet, obtaining an invitation to the Choose France summit, and arranging a meeting with former President François Hollande, among others.

According to a report by Reuters, the French National Gaming Authority (ANJ) has stated that it has requested French internet service providers to block the prediction market platform Polymarket, citing that it promotes illegal betting services, which may lead to significant losses for users, and that some bets may be subject to manipulation risks.Polymarket will remain blocked until it complies with French betting regulations.