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U.S. Federal Judge Rita Lin issued a partial summary judgment in a 59-page ruling regarding Anthropic's lawsuit against the Trump administration, determining that the government's punishment of Anthropic for publicly refusing to allow the military to use its Claude large model for mass surveillance of U.S. citizens and lethal autonomous operations constituted illegal retaliation, violating the First Amendment, due process clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The judge also revoked the related designations and Defense Secretary Hegseth's injunction, issuing a permanent injunction.The controversy arose from the Pentagon's demand that Anthropic remove all usage restrictions and accept terms allowing "all lawful uses," while Anthropic maintained its last two bottom lines. On February 27, 2025, Trump ordered all federal agencies to cease using the company's technology, and Hegseth subsequently prohibited any military contractors from doing business with it. During this process, the government abandoned its core claims, acknowledging that Anthropic had no backdoor access to the deployed models and that the risks of Claude were no greater than those of other "black box" systems. Lin pointed out that the government's punishment under the guise of "national security" was not a blank check, and that the government had been operating under the preliminary injunction since March without indicating any harm.Anthropic did not achieve a complete victory, as its claim that Trump's directive exceeded presidential authority was dismissed. Anthropic informed the court that if the relevant measures continued, its defense-related revenue would decrease by 50% to 100%, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars in overall revenue by 2026.

The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken recently temporarily locked some customer accounts due to nearly 12,000 small transfers sent from wallets marked by Arkham Intelligence as belonging to competitor HTX to Kraken-associated addresses between August 17 and 24. Each transfer ranged from a few cents to several dollars. Kraken stated that this method, known as dusting attacks, exploits the arbitrary transfer characteristics of public blockchains to associate sanctioned funds with unrelated users, thereby triggering sanction screening mechanisms.The Kraken compliance team has restored user access while continuing to freeze the relevant sanctioned funds and cooperating with authorities to ensure the attack does not achieve its intended effect. HTX responded that an internal review found no official accounts involved in the related small transactions and is investigating whether the sending wallets were misidentified or operated by third parties. The UK sanctioned HTX in May, and the EU included it in a trading ban in July, which took effect on August 23, coinciding with the timing of the attack.

AI assistant startup Instinct announced the completion of a $250 million Series B financing round, co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark. After this round of financing, the company's total funding amount reached $350 million, with a valuation rising to $2.5 billion.Instinct was launched by Spear Street Technology, led by 23-year-old founder Noah Shinn. The product is still in private testing. Users can connect it to personal applications and devices, and interact with the AI assistant via text messages and phone calls for planning trips, purchasing goods, booking events, and managing subscriptions among other daily tasks.

UPBIT will list Polyswarm (NCT) on August 26 at 21:00 and support KRW trading. During the trading support period, the trading fee will be reduced from 0.05% to 0%, and the event will last until August 27 at 20:59.

The Iranian rial fell to a historic low this week, with the open market exchange rate dropping to about 202,000 rials for 1 US dollar, compared to about 1.53 million rials in the first quarter. During the same period, the US government launched the "Economic Outcast Initiative," adding more than 60 entities to the Treasury Department's blacklist and for the first time designating digital assets as a sanctionable area.State-owned farms associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) control about 65% of Iran's Bitcoin mining capacity. Iranian miners have accounted for about 3% to 7% of global Bitcoin hash power since 2019, with the mined Bitcoin valued at approximately $1.35 billion to $3.15 billion at different stages. Iran legalized Bitcoin mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use industrial electricity at about $0.004 per kilowatt-hour and sell the mined tokens to the Central Bank of Iran.Chainalysis estimates that by the fourth quarter of 2025, IRGC-associated wallets will receive over $3 billion; Elliptic states that the Central Bank of Iran holds at least $507 million in USDT. In June, the US Treasury sanctioned Nobitex, Wallex, Bitpin, and Ramzinex. Nobitex had previously handled more than half of Iran's digital asset inflows; in April, the US Treasury seized nearly $500 million in crypto assets related to Iran.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced this week that it will include Iran's digital asset industry in the same sanctions framework it has long used to sanction the oil, banking, and financial sectors, further tightening Iran's ability to evade sanctions through cryptocurrency. This action is part of "Operation Economic Outcast," referred to as "Economic D-Day" against Iran, and represents a significant escalation of global risks for cryptocurrency enterprises.According to the new action, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has the authority to impose sanctions on individuals anywhere. OFAC stated that Iran is increasingly using cryptocurrency as a preferred tool to evade sanctions, supporting transactions related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and insiders of the Iranian regime. Foreign exchanges, over-the-counter desks, payment processors, and infrastructure providers that knowingly support transactions in Iran's digital asset industry will face the risk of being added to the sanctions list and losing access to the U.S. financial system.OFAC also sanctioned members of a group within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) accused of representing Iran in attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure and published their wallet addresses. The group's co-leader Behzad Mesri and members Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh and Arman Kahzadian's Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency addresses have been added to the sanctions list. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Iran had launched Bitcoin-backed insurance services for shipping companies, and the U.S. also froze cryptocurrency assets related to the Iranian regime in July, most of which were Tether stablecoins.

The U.S. Treasury Department has expanded its sanctions framework against Iran to include the digital asset sector, stating that the relevant cryptocurrency payments exceed $100 million, which were used to assist in the sale of Iranian oil. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the U.S. Treasury, has also imposed sanctions on nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels involved in nuclear energy, missiles, cyber activities, and the oil network.The sanctions in the digital asset sector allow OFAC to sanction foreign individuals and companies operating in Iran's digital asset sector or providing support services to the relevant field. The U.S. Treasury stated that Iran is increasingly using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, including transactions related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and insiders within the government. The U.S. Treasury noted that Ukrainian broker Ivan Obukhov, a UAE national, has processed over $100 million in cryptocurrency payments since 2023 to assist the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force in oil sales. OFAC has added Ivan Obukhov and his UAE company Foscom FZE to the sanctions list.

The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels related to Iran, involving nuclear, missile, cyber, and oil networks.Potential secondary sanctions have been implemented against five industries, including digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping; a general license has been suspended for certain remittances to Iran.

According to comprehensive reports from authoritative media such as Reuters, U.S. Treasury Secretary Becerra will announce details of sanctions against Iran at 2 PM Eastern Time, "which is 2 AM Beijing time tomorrow." As the cryptocurrency market has been strong for several days prior to these sanctions, if the details exceed market expectations, the stock market and cryptocurrencies may experience significant volatility.Previously, Becerra stated in an article for the Financial Times that the U.S. is entering a decisive phase. At dawn, an economic "D-Day" against Iran is about to arrive ------ this is the largest financial offensive ever launched against hostile forces. While explaining the relevant sanctions measures, Becerra specifically added that "large-scale" military action is not expected to be necessary anymore.

As the market awaits U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen to announce a new round of sanctions against Iran, international oil prices fell on Monday. WTI crude futures dropped about 1.3%, settling at $85.93 per barrel; Brent crude fell 1.24%, to $93.22 per barrel.Yellen previously stated that the U.S. would launch "the largest financial offensive in history" against Iran, urging allies and other countries to sever economic ties with Iran. Iran, on the other hand, has claimed it is capable of coping with the sanctions and maintaining its foreign economic relations. Commonwealth Bank of Australia predicts that if U.S. actions to isolate Iran are effective, the risk of Iran taking more aggressive actions may rise, further exacerbating volatility in the energy market.

Federal Reserve's Kashkari downplayed market concerns about rising U.S. Treasury yields, stating that the market is functioning well and the recent surge is unlikely to affect discussions on monetary policy.Kashkari noted that trading in the U.S. Treasury market is proceeding normally, liquidity is ample, and the federal funds rate remains the primary tool for reducing inflation.

The Sandbox official stated that the team has confirmed and fully controlled the recent SAND cross-chain bridge vulnerability incident, involving the Base and BNB Smart Chain (BSC) networks.The official said that the impact of this incident is limited, involving less than 0.01% of the total supply of SAND tokens. SAND on Ethereum and Polygon is unaffected, and user wallets have not been compromised; related token holders and liquidity providers do not need to take action.According to disclosures, the attacker minted uncollateralized SAND tokens on the Base and BSC networks through the vulnerability. Currently, The Sandbox has disabled the SAND cross-chain functionality on both networks, and SAND on Base and BSC has been isolated, temporarily unable to be transferred or exchanged.The Sandbox reminds users not to buy, sell, or trade SAND on the Base and BSC networks, as liquidity on these networks has been affected.The team stated that they have completed a snapshot before the incident and are formulating a compensation plan for affected liquidity pool (LP) users, while continuing to investigate the scope of the vulnerability's impact. A complete incident report and technical review will be released subsequently.

On August 20, JustLend DAO announced the launch of the "Buy Energy" one-stop energy direct purchase service, providing TRON ecosystem users with a more efficient and economical way to acquire resources. This feature focuses on short-term energy needs, with funds arriving within 10 seconds after placing an order, eliminating the traditional 14-day staking lock-up and redemption waiting time, achieving "buy and use immediately."Single orders support bulk purchases of energy for up to 50 addresses, enhancing the convenience of multi-account operations. Compared to directly burning TRX to obtain energy, Buy Energy can save about 63% in costs, lowering the interaction threshold on the TRON chain.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Becerra stated that a press conference will be held next Monday to discuss actions related to the economic sanctions on Iran. The maximum economic pressure regarding Iran means that military action is unlikely to be restarted. The oil market has misunderstood the implications of economic pressure.

BounceBit posted on platform X that the team has discovered an issue affecting the BounceBit Chain and has suspended node deployment to fix the problem. BB trading and exchange deposits and withdrawals are temporarily unavailable.The official statement emphasizes that the issue is limited to the chain itself, and CeDeFi applications, smart contracts, and vaults are not affected. There has been no private key leakage or damage to user wallets. The chain upgrade is scheduled for August 23 at 17:00 UTC+8.

U.S. President Trump announced the most severe economic sanctions against Iran in history, stating that this will be an unprecedented economic war and isolation.

The China Gold Association issued a stern statement regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inclusion of certain domestic gold enterprises in the "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" (UFLPA) entity list, which led to the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) suspending the qualified delivery status of related enterprises. The association stated that the U.S. "forced labor" accusations lack factual basis and are an attempt to politicize human rights issues and promote trade protectionism.The LBMA, without sufficient factual verification, accepted false information and suspended qualifications, harming the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese gold enterprises and disrupting the stability of the global gold market. The association stated that the Chinese gold industry chain has the ability to withstand external risks and will work together with the industry to protect rights, strengthen compliance self-discipline and traceability system construction, and support the Chinese government in taking necessary countermeasures, urging the U.S. to lift sanctions and calling on the LBMA to correct related decisions.

The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform NoOnes announced yesterday that it will begin to gradually shut down operations after more than three years of operation. The official statement indicated that it had previously sought to resolve and lift the sanctions against NoOnes, but ultimately was unsuccessful.NoOnes stated that the related sanctions led to the loss of key partners, while blockchain monitoring agencies marked transactions related to NoOnes as high risk, making it increasingly difficult for the platform to continue normal operations.According to the official schedule, the business contraction was initiated on August 17, and the P2P market will close on August 21 at 23:59 UTC. Services such as Swap, NoOnes Visa, fiat withdrawals, gift card store, and Bitcoin Lightning Network will also be gradually discontinued. After that, the platform will only support withdrawals, and users will still be able to log in, check their balances, and withdraw remaining assets.The official recommended that users complete asset withdrawals as soon as possible, no later than August 23.Previously, the peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading platform NoOnes revealed that the platform had encountered a significant security breach, resulting in a loss of approximately $8 million in crypto assets. CEO Ray Youssef confirmed this news after on-chain detective ZachXBT disclosed the hack on his Telegram channel.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) warns that changes to the Gas model in the Glamsterdam upgrade may cause some wallets, indexers, and Gas estimation tools to become ineffective. The EF Protocol DevOps team stated that tools relying on hard-coded maximum Gas limits will fail, and developers need to update relevant systems and test on the Plataberget public testnet.Plataberget went live on August 13 and is planned to run for several months. The Glamsterdam fork is scheduled to activate on the Ethereum network on Thursday, followed by deployment to the Sepolia and Hoodi testnets. EIP-8037 will introduce an independent state Gas dimension for operations that create new states. Transferring ETH to existing accounts will still require 21,000 Gas, while transferring to new accounts will incur additional state Gas; developers should also re-evaluate software that considers 21,000 Gas as the total cost for all ETH transfers or only uses a single Gas dimension to estimate transaction fees.

On July 23, the European Union passed the 21st round of sanctions against Russia, expanding the trading ban to 14 cryptocurrency service platforms located in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, and adding 4 new sanctions measures targeting the A7 Russian ruble network. The new regulations will take effect on August 25, prohibiting Russian and Belarusian citizens from holding, controlling, or serving in positions within MiCA cryptocurrency asset service providers in the EU, with the scope extending to services such as consulting, portfolio management, and transferring cryptocurrency assets on behalf of clients.The new regulations also allow the EU to impose a comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency transactions against third countries that have not prevented relevant sanction evasion activities. The list of relevant countries is currently empty and only includes third countries identified by the EU Council as having continuously and systematically failed to prevent the provision of cryptocurrency asset services or the operation of related platforms.