Bitcoin posted its strongest August gain since 2017, rising about 25%, but average investor sentiment remained below July’s level. Santiment said the rally showed no signs of overheating, with sentiment yet to fully catch up.
Bitcoin hashrate has remained below its late-last-year peak for an extended period. Twenty One Capital CEO Rafael Zagury said at Bitcoin Asia 2026 that the network is experiencing its first-ever “hashrate bear market” amid growing competition from AI and HPC.
A fake website claiming to sell an unreleased version of GTA 6 is distributing a wallet drainer targeting Solana and multiple other blockchain networks. Users who approve wallet transactions or permissions risk losing nearly all their balances.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $3.54 billion in net inflows in August, their largest monthly inflow in 13 months. However, they remain in a year-to-date net outflow of approximately $1.7 billion.
The CLARITY Act is scheduled for a Senate procedural vote on September 15, but the crypto industry is increasingly pessimistic about its passage this year. Stablecoin rewards and interest, along with ethics provisions concerning President Trump’s family crypto businesses, remain key sticking points.
Wintermute says institutional and whale funds are moving from Bitcoin into altcoins such as Solana and XRP. Solana- and XRP-related funds recorded their highest inflows of the year, while institutional demand continued for a second consecutive week.
Binance’s traditional-asset-linked perpetual futures volume grew roughly 15-fold from January to July, reaching about $445 billion. Binance accounted for more than 75% of the record $460 billion in RWA perpetual futures volume across centralized exchanges in July.
Russia officially launched the large-scale commercial rollout of its digital ruble on September 1, 2026. Twelve systemically important banks and large retailers with annual revenue above 120 million rubles are required to connect to the system.
Arthur Hayes expects Bitcoin to reach $250,000 in the coming years if the U.S. government continues expanding the money supply. Recent gains have been supported by strong spot Bitcoin ETF inflows and a major short squeeze.
