August 2, 2026 @ 9:34 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Freehand lands $75M for AI agents Freehand’s AI agents manage supply-chain spend for Fortune 500 enterprises. The round was co-led by Battery Ventures and NewRoad Capital Partners, with participation from former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker’s venture capital PSP Growth, Nexus Venture Partners and others…. Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 9:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Former US Representative George Santos has agreed to pay more than $35,000 to resolve allegations by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) that he engaged in manipulative trading on the prediction market platform Kalshi. The case centered on event contracts concerning whether he would attend… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 7:38 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore-based investment firm GMA Capital Partners and ACMF Group have launched a fund that will provide up to 7 billion baht, or about $207 million, in structured financing to companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand and their principal shareholders. The Thai SET Fund… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 6:01 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Total deposits held with Hong Kong’s authorized institutions rose 0.1% in June from the previous month, as growth in Hong Kong dollar deposits offset a decline in foreign currency deposits, while bank lending continued to strengthen, official data showed. Figures released by the Hong Kong… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 5:33 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) have launched an industry-wide taskforce to strengthen the financial sector’s cyber and technology resilience against threats posed by frontier artificial intelligence (AI) models. The AI-Driven Cyber and Technology Risk Taskforce (ACT),… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 5:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The XRP Ledger is advancing toward its next core software release, xrpld version 3.3.0, expected in the coming week. This update will place five proposed amendments before network validators, expanding support for tokenized assets, institutional operations, privacy protections, and more flexible transaction handling. Two of… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 5:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Elliptic has pointed out that A7A5 emerged as a specialized digital asset designed to help Russian firms navigate international restrictions. Pegged to the ruble and launched in early 2025 by entities tied to sanctioned Russian interests, including a state-linked bank and a controversial figure with… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 5:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), the Bitcoin treasury company led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, has confirmed it will keep the annual dividend rate on its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock (STRC) steady at 12% for the August period. This decision comes even as the… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 4:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Blockchain security firm CertiK has noted that on July 23, 2026, an attacker successfully targeted the Ethereum cross-chain bridge of the Verus Protocol, extracting roughly $7.44 million in assets that included ETH, tBTC, various stablecoins, and MKR. The exploit hinged on a fundamental difference in… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 3:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on two Iranian companies central to what it describes as an illicit insurance program targeting commercial ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz. Announced on July 29, 2026, the designations target… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 3:03 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL), the company issuing the widely adopted USDC stablecoin, has taken another significant step in strengthening its regulatory standing. On July 31, 2026, the firm announced that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) granted a limited purpose trust charter to its… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 2:39 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Singapore-based Airwallex has emerged as Southeast Asia’s most heavily funded payments startup, raising a total of $1.9 billion in disclosed equity funding, according to a new report by market intelligence platform Tracxn. The report, titled Southeast Asia’s Payment Startups Powering the Future of Digital Commerce,… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 1:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CoinGecko declares that crypto exchanges are no longer confined to digital assets as these platforms diversify their services. A recent research report, developed in collaboration with MEXC, shows how leading centralized platforms are aggressively expanding into traditional finance (TradFi) products—including stocks, precious metals, commodities, and… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 12:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

BNB Chain has announced it is taking legal steps against a former employee who allegedly used a wallet originally set up for an educational video to release a new memecoin without any company approval. The blockchain network, linked to the Binance ecosystem, stressed that it… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 11:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chainalysis has indicated that the 2026 FIFA World Cup stood out not only for record attendance of 6.8 million spectators, $10.5 billion in advertising revenue, and 66 million U.S. television viewers for the final, but also for unprecedented blockchain activity. According to blockchain analytics research,… Read More

August 2, 2026 @ 10:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Russian officials have enacted a significant expansion of restrictions on digital currency mining, targeting the nation’s capital and nearby territories in a move driven by concerns over electricity demand. Under a government resolution, activities involving the extraction of cryptocurrency, including involvement in mining pools, will… Read More

August 1, 2026 @ 6:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The xStocks platform has announced that it has exceeded $600 million in assets under management. This figure encompasses tokenized shares, exchange-traded funds, and initial public offering-related instruments. The achievement highlights accelerating interest in bringing conventional equity exposure onto blockchain networks. Over the preceding twelve months,… Read More

August 1, 2026 @ 6:56 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Visa (NYSE: V) CEO Ryan McInerney declined to position the Open USD stablecoin as a direct competitor to Tether’s USDT or Circle’s USDC during the company’s fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. He instead emphasized a deliberately neutral stance focused on supporting the broader stablecoin… Read More

August 1, 2026 @ 6:55 pm By Michael Wong  |  

TBC Bank Group said its acquisition of OLX Uzbekistan is a long-term strategic investment that will help expand its digital ecosystem beyond banking while opening the door to future embedded finance offerings on one of the country’s largest online marketplaces. The comments came in an… Read More