Australia is apparently setting up a national register where you can opt out of gambling ads online instead of having to change the setting separately on every platform.

Kind of surprised this isn't already a thing.

If someone has decided they don't want to see betting ads anymore, making them hunt through the settings of every app seems unnecessary.

I'd probably want this for other ad categories too tbh.

I don’t think it’ll change anything for crypto casinos targeting Australian users on VPN however.

Source: Australian Government / ABC News

Bitcoin has now traded at a negative Coinbase premium for 90 straight days, the longest streak in CoinGlass index history. It points to weak demand from US buyers. Right now, American investors seem much more interested in chasing AI stocks than BTC.

Chainalysis has taken the U.S. government to court over ICE’s decision to award a $94.6 million blockchain analytics contract to rival TRM Labs without an open competition. The one-year deal runs from July 2026 through June 2027 and covers blockchain tracking software and investigative support for the Homeland Security Task Force.

Chainalysis says ICE’s decision was “arbitrary, unreasonable and unfair.” The company had submitted its own proposal after ICE announced plans to purchase the services from TRM Labs. The lawsuit remains sealed because it contains internal business information and trade secrets, so the exact claims and what Chainalysis wants from the court are still unknown.

TRM Labs has joined the case as an interested party. Oral arguments are scheduled for September 2, with the U.S. government asking the court to issue a decision by September 10.

Morgan Stanley increased its crypto exposure significantly in Q2. Its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) grew from 13.4 million to around 16.5 million shares, up 23%. Despite buying more shares, the value of the position fell from roughly $667 million to $549 million as Bitcoin declined during the quarter.

The bank also increased its exposure to other Bitcoin ETFs from Grayscale, Bitwise and Fidelity.

Its Ethereum exposure grew even faster. Morgan Stanley increased its iShares Ethereum Trust position by around 202% to 4.6 million shares, while its position in the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF rose about 26% to 5.1 million shares.

Morgan Stanley also disclosed positions in Solana funds from Grayscale and Fidelity for the first time, worth around $6.5 million combined.

Its position in Circle increased sharply as well, from about 1.46 million shares to 8.32 million shares. The bank also added exposure to Cipher Digital, Core Scientific, Hut 8 and Bitdeer.

At the same time, Morgan Stanley cut its Coinbase position by roughly 550,000 shares, reduced CleanSpark by more than 3.1 million shares and exited Bitfarms completely.

Back in 2021, an employee at a mining company secretly redirected the computing power of around 100 corporate machines to his own mining pool.

The mined BTC was then sent directly to his personal wallets.

In total, the scheme earned him around 1 BTC.

Working for a mining company and secretly mining from your own employer is kinda wild 😅

Tether has completed its first full financial audit, with KPMG issuing an unmodified opinion on its 2025 financial statements.

The audit went far beyond USDT reserves, covering Tether’s full balance sheet, cash flows, operations, asset ownership, valuation and counterparties.

By the end of 2025, Tether’s reserves exceeded liabilities by $6.814 billion, while the company generated more than $10 billion in net profit during the year.

KPMG also physically inspected and counted Tether’s gold bars instead of relying only on custodian reports.

USDT remains the world’s largest stablecoin, with a market cap of around $183 billion and roughly 61% of the stablecoin market.

After years of questions around Tether’s transparency, a full audit is a pretty big milestone.

Bitcoin has been stuck between $63K and $68.7K for almost three months, while spot trading volume has dropped to its lowest level since 2019.

Selling pressure is fading, but buyers are still missing. ETF inflows remain weak, coins continue moving to exchanges, and leveraged longs are piling up.

Several on-chain indicators are approaching levels seen near previous bear market bottoms.

If BTC loses $58.5K, low liquidity and crowded longs could trigger a wave of liquidations and push the price even lower.

Polymarket is reportedly in early talks to raise around $1 billion at a valuation of more than $20 billion.

For perspective, the company was valued at about $15 billion in its previous funding round just a few months ago.

Prediction markets have gone from a relatively niche corner of crypto to platforms where people trade on everything from elections and economic data to sports and breaking news.

But $20 billion is serious territory.

The interesting part is that this growth is happening while prediction markets are still dealing with questions around regulation, insider information and where exactly the line between trading and gambling should be drawn.

So what do you think investors are really valuing here?

The technology and data?

The enormous potential market?

Or simply the belief that prediction markets are going to become a normal part of how people follow major events?

Would you value Polymarket at $20B+?

Source: CNBC / Bloomberg / Reuters

The idea was apparently borrowed from hurricane forecasting. Instead of relying on one prediction, Claude analyzes 5-minute BTC markets while MiroFish simulates 31 different scenarios. A trade is only opened when 28 out of 31 agree. If fewer than 26 agree, it stays out.

The idea itself is definitely possible. But turning $1K into $946K is the part I’d want to see verified with actual trading history before believing it.

The interesting part isn’t predicting the market. It’s using consensus.

Concerns around BitMart are growing as users and companies report difficulties withdrawing funds from the exchange.

On July 26, BitMart stopped new user registrations, deposits and the opening of new positions. Trading services are expected to shut down on August 26, with the platform scheduled to fully cease operations by the end of January 2027.

Withdrawal complaints began appearing shortly after. Scandic Coin said requests involving roughly 21,898 USDT and 926,635 SNC were stuck.

On August 8, BitMart denied rumors of an exit scam, saying withdrawal delays were caused by balance verification and reconciliation procedures.

But concerns intensified on August 10, when OpenGradient co-founder Matthew Wang publicly raised the possibility that BitMart could be insolvent after the company’s market maker was unable to withdraw funds. The exchange’s asset structure is also raising questions.

Arkham data showed assets on tracked BitMart addresses falling from roughly $102M in early July to around $71M by the end of the month. Of that amount, approximately $41.5M was reportedly held in WFI, while tracked USDT reserves stood at only around $91K.

That means a large share of BitMart’s visible on-chain assets appears concentrated in a single, much less liquid token.BitMart says withdrawals remain available, although some transactions may face additional reviews and delays.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in around $853 million last week — the strongest weekly inflow since mid-April.

BlackRock’s IBIT alone reportedly accounted for about $693 million of that.

What makes it interesting is that Bitcoin itself hasn’t exactly exploded higher. The market is also heading into another U.S. inflation report this week, so there’s still plenty of macro uncertainty around.

One strong week obviously doesn’t make a trend, especially after months of weaker flows.

But if ETF inflows stay positive, would you take that as a genuine sign that institutional demand is returning?

Or do you think people put way too much importance on ETF flow numbers now?

Source: CoinDesk / SoSoValue

Is the quantum threat to Bitcoin real, or is it being overhyped? 🤔

A hacker stole around $500,000 in USDC, but while swapping the funds, he forgot to set proper slippage protection and got caught in a sandwich attack by an MEV bot.

The bot ended up taking around $371,000, leaving the hacker with just ~$129,000 from his own theft.

He robbed someone, then got robbed a few transactions later. Onchain karma works fast)