VIRTUAL gains 10% as whale activity, trading volume and spot buying strengthen the bullish setup toward $0.68.

Cryptocurrency has changed more than just the way people move money online. It has also influenced what users expect from digital platforms, from payment speeds to data security and overall transparency. As blockchain technology becomes more familiar, many consumers have grown used to being able to verify transactions, understand where their money is going, andContinue reading "How Crypto Culture Is Forcing Online Casinos to Ditch Heavy Wagering Rules"

Hyperion DeFi reported a record profit of $31.0 million for the second quarter of 2026, nearly quadruple the $8.8 million it booked three months earlier. Gains from the company’s Hyperliquid (HYPE) treasury accounted for almost all of that figure.

The Nasdaq-listed company sits in rare territory. Most digital asset treasury (DAT) firms booked heavy losses over the same period as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) both fell.

HYPE Rally Powers a Second Record Quarter

Treasury gains reached $54.8 million during the quarter, up from $21.5 million in the first quarter. The Dallas firm, which switched to a HYPE treasury after operating as eye-care company Eyenovia, now holds 2.04 million tokens worth $132.6 million at quarter’s end. Token count has risen 56% since June 2025.

“Our model is no longer a concept that we ask investors to envision; it has become reality,” the earnings report read.

Meanwhile, per-token value climbed from $36.6 to $65.0 over the period, according to the release. HYPE has since eased, trading near $56 with a market capitalization of around $12.5 billion.

The operating business improved as well. Adjusted gross profit rose 20% to $1.15 million. In addition, operating expenses excluding stock compensation fell 21% to $2.3 million.

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Peer Treasuries Stay Deep Underwater

The contrast with the rest of the sector is stark. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, reported a net loss of $8.22 billion for the same quarter. An unrealized loss of $8.32 billion on its Bitcoin holdings drove the figure.

SharpLink recorded a $394.3 million loss on Ethereum markdowns. Both results stem from fair-value accounting, which forces firms to mark treasury assets to market each quarter.

That mechanism cuts both ways. Hyperion booked a profit for the same reason its peers booked losses, because its chosen asset moved higher.

Artemis data shows Hyperion and Hyperliquid Strategies as the only DAT vehicles currently holding unrealized treasury gains. Both hold HYPE.

Meanwhile, Hyperion shares closed at $2.69 on Wednesday, up 1.89%, ahead of the after-hours results. The stock then climbed 5.53% to $2.84 in after-hours trading. Still, HYPD remains down roughly 24% this year.

The company guided to $5 million to $7 million in adjusted gross profit for 2026. It also expects operating cash flow to turn positive by year’s end.

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The post Hyperion DeFi Books $31 Million Profit While Peer Crypto Treasuries Bleed appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Threat intelligence researchers built a fake Decentralized Finance (DeFi) startup, hired suspected North Korean IT workers as developers, and watched them from the inside.

The operation reversed the usual infiltration playbook. Instead of catching operatives trying to break in, researchers watched them work after they cleared interviews.

How the Fake Startup Exposed North Korean IT Workers

The investigation was a joint effort by BCA LTD’s Mauro Eldritch, NorthScan’s Heiner García, and ANY.RUN. Researchers registered Ballena Azul LTD as a protocol serving cryptocurrency whales.

They gave it a website, corporate branding, and a matching UK company registration to look legitimate. They then posed as founders and a team lead. 

The researchers used the ANY.RUN sandbox platform as the work environment. It recorded every move of the operatives. Angelo Cruz, a recruiter the team met on GitHub, supplied the first developer. 

That hire recommended a second, who brought in a third. All three cleared interviews and received access to virtual desktops that were actually controlled recording environments.

The operatives are described throughout the report as suspected members of Famous Chollima, a unit linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group that specializes in placing fake IT workers at Western firms.

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What the Researchers Found

The developers submitted forged US credentials during onboarding. This includes driver’s licenses, stolen Social Security numbers, and accounts at Lead Bank, Citibank, and Wise. 

Metadata on one license showed it had been processed with Google Gemini and carried an embedded SynthID watermark. This exposed the forgery almost immediately.

“By now, we had fake identities, stolen SSNs, mule bank accounts, possible facilitator safe houses, and cryptocurrency wallets with transaction history,” the researchers wrote.

The workers leaned heavily on artificial intelligence. They used ChatGPT to write code they appeared not to understand and to complete assignments. Live translation tools also ran during interviews and daily standups.

The operation also surfaced supporting infrastructure. Researchers logged AstrillVPN exit nodes, servers hosted on Vultr and Gorilla Servers, and cryptocurrency wallets holding transaction history. One operative server was already tagged across threat intelligence feeds, a sign it had been recycled from earlier campaigns.

“The findings show that DPRK IT worker schemes are not only a hiring risk. Once inside, operatives can gain legitimate access to code, systems, intellectual property, and trusted business processes,” the report read.

North Korean hackers have posed a persistent threat to the crypto industry. TRM Labs attributed 76% of 2026 crypto-hack losses through April to DPRK crews. Theft reached $2 billion in 2025.

The infiltration tactic works differently. North Korean workers pose as engineers to win remote jobs, then steal secrets or plant a way back in. One Ethereum (ETH)-funded project previously identified 100 suspected North Korean IT workers across 53 crypto projects.

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The post A Fake DeFi Startup Hired 3 Suspected North Korean Developers: What Happened Next? appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Harmony, a Layer-1 blockchain network, is moving forward with a blockchain rollback approach (emergency process that rewinds a blockchain’s history to a previous state, erasing or altering confirmed blocks and transactions to fix major bugs, hacks, or consensus errors) after an exploit that led to the illegal minting of roughly 4 billion ONE tokens, representing about 26% of the token supply. The rollback has emerged as the most feasible and practical solution as Harmony coordinates with validators and exchanges to understand the path ahead. The project has also begun a mint bug fix and said a full list of exploiter wallets will be out soon.

We’re working on a rollback approach, with alignment from validators and exchanges on the specific path forward.

The mint bug fix has been activated, and a full list of exploiter wallets will be released soon. https://t.co/aIwkRf4CY3

— Harmony (@harmonyprotocol) August 13, 2026

The attack has put Harmony under pressure as the attacker rapidly moved billions of unauthorized minted tokens towards exchanges. Harmony is now planning to control the remaining funds, complete the emergency validator upgrade, and understand how this blockchain activity can be reversed.

Harmony Prepares for a Reversal After the ONE Exploit

Harmony mentioned it is working with validators and exchanges on a specific rollback approach after the exploit allowed unauthorized ONE tokens to enter circulation. As per the information provided by Harmony, the project recorded 10,288 transfers across 409 wallets where unauthorized minted tokens landed. 

But roughly 2.8 billion ONE quickly funneled to exchanges and the token’s price plunged. The attacker is estimated to have around 115 million ONE left to sell on-chain, representing about 2.9% of 4 billion tokens minted. The extensive majority, around 97%, has already reached exchanges, and has either been sold or remains in deposit wallets for sale. Harmony’s answer is now focused on containing the illegal supply. The project had previously said it was working on a patch and rollback options, with the rollback now appearing to be the most feasible support as the practical solution.

Harmony’s Response to Emergency Minting Bug

The mint bug fix has now been activated, with the blockchain working to restrict further unwanted minting. Simultaneously, the validators upgrade to the emergency patch. Four hours after the patch was released, 53% of Harmony’s validator had completed the upgrade. Harmony thanked validators for their help as the emergency upgrade continued, while saying more details on the rollback plan would be out within a few hours. The team is also planning to release a comprehensive list of exploited wallets.

The blockchain has been founded by Stephen Tse and its mainnet was launched in 2019. The blockchain uses Secure Random State Sharding as its core technology. The project was placed as a better and cheaper layer-1 alternative to Ethereum. Harmony was on its peak in the year 2021, when early-year MetaMask integration helped drive interest in the blockchain. In September that year, it announced a $300 million development fund, while ONE reached an all-time high of nearly $0.38 in October.

The price of the ONE token plunged by more than 30% as soon as the news of the exploit broke out yesterday, August 12, 2026. Interestingly, as of now, ONE is trading at $0.0008167 with an uptick of 6.7% in the last 24-hours as per CoinGecko. 

ZachXBT Denies Tracking the Exploit

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has denied tracking the Harmony hack incident. He describes it as freeloading investigators and other assistants. He also emphasizes that he would not track the incident or encourage others to help the blockchain for free. ZachXBT pointed to the $100 million Horizon Bridge exploit in 2022, reporting that Harmony had previously failed to reward people who helped with major freezes. They offered no monetary help and said, “good job.”

As per now, Harmony’s immediate priorities are fulfilling the emergency validator upgrade, limiting the remaining exploiter funds, and reaching agreement with validators and exchanges on a better rollback path. The result of the process will determine how the network handles unauthorized minted ONE and whether the affected transactions can be feasibly reversed.

According to Lookonchain data, today, August 12, 2026, Metaplanet (Japanese Bitcoin Treasury company) has transferred 3,881 BTC, worth about $247.3 million. The company owns 43,000 BTC at an average purchase price of $96,191. With this transfer, Metaplanet currently holds unrealized losses of around $1.4 billion, or 34%. Moreover, Lookonchain also highlighted that Hut 8 has also transferred 493 BTC, worth roughly $31.36 million.

 Bitcoin is under pressure as its price drops, even though trading activity remains steady in the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market. Data from SoSoValue shows that on August 11, Eastern Time, spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in a total net inflow of $4.89 million. But that is not a big number given the overall size of the market, and among the funds in the data, only BlackRock’s IBIT posted a net inflow. Meanwhile, large Bitcoin moves by companies like Metaplanet and Hut 8 have caught the market’s attention. 

Metaplanet (@Metaplanet) transferred a total of 3,881 $BTC ($247.3M) over the past 3 hours.

Metaplanet bought a total of 43,000 $BTC at an average price of $96,191 and is currently sitting on a loss of $1.4B(-34%).https://t.co/HGljOETBsX pic.twitter.com/L0JeP8wHxv

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 12, 2026

According to crypto YouTuber That Martini Guy, Metaplanet has reportedly moved these BTCs to the company’s cold wallet. The transfer has sparked speculation about a potential sale, but there is no staunch evidence that Metaplanet sold the Bitcoin, as the funds were not sent to exchange. The move seems more like a shift in custody rather than a confirmed sell-off. 

After Metaplanet’s Move, Strategy’s Bitcoin Sale Adds to the Focus

Meanwhile, Strategy, which is a major company in the Bitcoin treasury space, has also made changes to its holdings. According to Santiment Data, Strategy’s recent Bitcoin sale at 1,690 BTC for $108.6 million, as highlighted by one of the crypto analysts, has delivered a loss of over $102 million after the company went weeks without buying Bitcoin.

Strategy’s CEO Phong Le said the company will get back to accumulating Bitcoin later this year. The CEO also stated that since the year began, Strategy has acquired around 175,000 BTC and has sold 7,000 BTC, meaning that there have been more purchases (25 times the sales) than sales. Le noted the proceeds from sales went to support preferred stock dividends, buy back company shares, and U.S. dollar reserves. He also said that buyers shouldn’t read the recent sales as a change in the company’s strategy, as they still plan to buy more Bitcoin as the year goes on.

Bitcoin ETF Inflows Remain Positive

Along with the activity of large Bitcoin treasury companies, spot Bitcoin ETFs also continue to see money flowing in. As per the data reported presented by SoSoValue, Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $4.89 million on August 11, Eastern Time. BlackRock’s IBIT saw the largest daily net inflow at $50.2 million, bringing its total to $61.17 billion over time.

Franklin’s EZBC, on the other hand, had the biggest daily outflow at $16.46 million, though its net inflow still stands at $309.75 million all time. In the month of August, the spot Bitcoin ETFs products saw an outflow on August 10, 2026 (worth -$144.67 million), whereas the rest of the days saw significant inflows. 

At the time these numbers came in, spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively held $77.46 billion in assets, with a net asset ratio of 6.06% and historical cumulative inflows at $52.04 billion. Even so, the daily $4.89 million ETF inflow is a fraction of the amounts being shifted around by major treasury holders lately.

Bitcoin Price Falls

All of this is transpiring amidst choppy Bitcoin price action. At the time of writing, the price of the token stands at $64,143.38 with a dip of 0.2% in the last 24-hours as per CoinGecko. The decline is putting a greater focus on the major gap between Bitcoin’s current price and what major corporate holders paid, like Metaplanet’s average of $96,191, far above the current market level, contributing to their paper loss to $1.4 billion. With prices falling, large transfers unfolding, Strategy’s recent sale, and steady ETF inflows, there’s a lot for investors to watch as they try to figure out where the Bitcoin market is heading next.

Coinbase has launched futures, options, and perpetuals for professional clients in the United Kingdom, expanding its derivatives offering through its MiFID authorization.

The rollout is not for UK retail users. Eligibility is limited to users classified as Professional Clients, which means they must meet criteria tied to trading activity, portfolio size, or relevant professional experience.

That is the most important detail.

Crypto derivatives can offer hedging, leverage, and more sophisticated trading strategies, but regulators draw a clear line between professional and retail access. Coinbase’s UK expansion gives qualifying clients more tools, while keeping retail users outside the product set.

For more details, visit the official Coinbase platform.

TL;DR

• Coinbase has expanded derivatives access for UK Professional Clients.
• Products include futures, options, and perpetuals.
• The offering is not available to ordinary UK retail users.

Why UK Derivatives Access Matters

The UK has a complicated relationship with crypto derivatives.

Retail access has been heavily restricted, but professional and institutional markets continue to develop through regulated structures. Coinbase’s move fits into that gap: more advanced products for clients who meet professional standards.

For qualifying users, derivatives can be useful.

They allow traders to hedge spot exposure, manage risk, express views without holding the underlying asset, or structure more complex strategies around volatility and timing.

For Coinbase, the offering helps deepen its institutional and professional trading business in a major financial market.

Professional Client Status Is The Gate

The eligibility criteria matter because “professional” is not just marketing language.

Elective professional status typically requires users to meet certain thresholds. These can include trading frequency, portfolio size above €500,000, or relevant professional experience in financial markets.

That means a casual UK crypto user should not expect access.

This distinction protects the accuracy of the story and the regulatory framing. Coinbase is not reopening crypto derivatives to everyone in the UK. It is expanding access within a defined professional-client framework.

That may still be commercially meaningful, but it is not a retail mass-market launch.

Derivatives Deepen Market Structure

Spot trading is only one part of a mature market.

Derivatives are where many professional traders manage exposure. Futures and options can support hedging, basis trades, volatility strategies, and risk transfer. Perpetuals, while crypto-native, are also central to liquidity and price discovery in digital assets.

Offering these products to UK professionals gives Coinbase a more complete trading stack.

It also helps the exchange compete with other venues serving institutional and sophisticated crypto clients.

The more regulated venues offer derivatives, the more professional flow may move away from purely offshore platforms.

Why This Matters For Ethereum And Major Assets

The announcement may be especially relevant for larger assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, because professional derivatives demand usually starts with the most liquid markets.

Institutions are more likely to trade products where spreads are tight, liquidity is deep, and risk models are mature. That tends to favor BTC and ETH first, before moving further into altcoins.

Over time, derivatives access can help build more efficient markets around major crypto assets.

But efficiency cuts both ways. Leverage can support liquidity, but it can also amplify volatility when positioning gets crowded.

A Regulated UK Crypto Market Is Taking Shape

Coinbase’s expansion is another sign that the UK crypto market is becoming more segmented.

Retail users face one set of rules. Professional clients face another. Regulated firms are building inside those boundaries rather than waiting for a single open market.

That may frustrate some users, but it is likely how crypto integrates into traditional finance.

The immediate takeaway is clear: Coinbase is giving UK professional clients access to a broader derivatives suite, but ordinary retail investors are not included.

Crypto derivatives are expanding in the UK, but only through the professional lane.

This article is based on Coinbase’s official UK derivatives announcement.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released by Coinbase. at Coinbase

Riot Platforms has signed a long-term data center lease agreement tied to Anthropic, giving the Bitcoin miner another route into AI and high-performance computing as miners continue looking beyond block rewards.

The company’s filing describes a 20-year lease agreement for 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity at its Rockdale campus. The deal carries total revenue potential of up to $16.1 billion if extension options are exercised.

That is a huge number, but it needs careful framing.

This does not mean Riot is abandoning Bitcoin mining. It means the company is using its power portfolio and data-center footprint to diversify into AI compute, a strategy more miners are exploring as energy assets become valuable beyond crypto.

For more details, visit the official Sec platform.

TL;DR

• Riot signed a 20-year data center lease agreement tied to Anthropic.
• The agreement covers 191 MW of critical IT capacity at Rockdale.
• Total revenue potential could reach $16.1 billion if extension options are used.

Why AI Compute Appeals To Bitcoin Miners

Bitcoin miners are energy infrastructure companies as much as crypto companies.

They own or lease power capacity, operate large facilities, manage cooling, negotiate grid relationships, and build data-center environments. Those skills overlap with AI and high-performance computing, even if the hardware and customer base are different.

AI companies need power. They need data centers. They need long-term capacity.

Miners already have some of the hardest pieces in place.

That is why the sector has spent the last few years exploring whether mining sites can be repurposed or expanded for AI workloads.

Rockdale Gives Riot A Strategic Asset

Riot’s Rockdale campus has long been one of its key infrastructure assets.

A 191 MW lease tied to critical IT capacity shows how valuable that infrastructure can be when pointed at AI demand. Unlike Bitcoin mining, where revenue depends heavily on BTC price, network difficulty, block rewards, and fees, long-term compute leases can create more predictable contracted revenue.

That predictability is attractive.

Bitcoin mining is cyclical. AI compute demand is currently intense. A miner that can serve both markets may be better positioned than one relying on mining alone.

The risk is execution. AI data-center customers require different standards, capital expenditure, service-level expectations, and operational reliability.

This Is Diversification, Not A Full Exit

The market should avoid overreacting in either direction.

This is not proof that Bitcoin mining is dead. It is also not a guarantee that every miner can become an AI data-center company. Power access gives miners a head start, but AI infrastructure is not just mining with different machines.

Customers like Anthropic need high reliability, networking, cooling, uptime commitments, and specialized buildouts.

Still, Riot’s agreement shows that the mining industry’s power assets have optionality. In a world where AI companies are desperate for energy and capacity, miners may have more leverage than the market once assumed.

The Revenue Potential Is Conditional

The headline revenue potential of up to $16.1 billion is striking, but investors need to remember the “if.”

That figure depends on extension options and long-term execution. It should not be treated as immediate guaranteed revenue. The base lease, customer demand, buildout milestones, and future options all matter.

Long-term contracted capacity can be valuable, but the value unfolds over time.

For investors, the key questions are capital cost, margin profile, timing, counterparty obligations, and how the AI business sits alongside Riot’s mining operations.

Bitcoin Mining Is Becoming Power Monetization

The larger shift is that miners are starting to think less like pure BTC producers and more like power monetization platforms.

Sometimes the best use of power is mining Bitcoin. Sometimes it may be AI compute. Sometimes it may be grid services, hosting, curtailment programs, or hybrid models.

That flexibility could reshape the sector.

Miners with strong power assets may be valued differently from those with only machines and thin margins. Riot’s Anthropic-linked lease points in that direction.

Bitcoin mining remains part of the story. AI compute is becoming another chapter.

This article is based on Riot Platforms’ August 2026 corporate filing and data-center lease disclosure.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

This report is based on information released by Sec. at Sec

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Nasdaq unveiled a partnership to drive the modernization of Europe’s capital markets infrastructure through tokenized trading and settlement, bringing together its European trading venues with Seturion, Boerse Stuttgart Group’s platform for tokenized assets.

The February 2026 edition of Regulatory Roundup provides a comprehensive overview of the most significant global regulatory priorities shaping capital markets in 2026, drawing on official workplans, examination priorities, policy statements, and recent enforcement activity from regulators worldwide. It focuses on what is new or evolving in regulatory attention, rather than repeating long‑standing, high‑level themes.

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Wednesday rose +0.26%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) fell -0.04%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) rose +0.74%. September E-mini S&P futures (ESU26 ) rose +0.31%, and September E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQU26 ) rose...

Companies In The Article Are:WEN,NBIS,EAT and KTB

In trading on Wednesday, shares of the Tradr 2X Long APP Daily ETF (Symbol: APPX) entered into oversold territory, changing hands as low as $12.42 per share. We define oversold territory using the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which is a technical analysis indicator used to

In trading on Wednesday, shares of the TCAN ETF (Symbol: TCAN) entered into oversold territory, changing hands as low as $16.755 per share. We define oversold territory using the Relative Strength Index, or RSI, which is a technical analysis indicator used to measure momentum o

The S&P 500 Index ($SPX ) (SPY ) on Wednesday rose +0.26%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DOWI ) (DIA ) fell -0.04%, and the Nasdaq 100 Index ($IUXX ) (QQQ ) rose +0.74%. September E-mini S&P futures (ESU26 ) rose +0.31%, and September E-mini Nasdaq futures (NQU26 ) rose...

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Interest-rate differentials, inflation trends and trade balances are usually thought of as drivers of foreign-exchange movement — but increasingly, the drivers in the currency market are companies looking to expand their offerings in artificial intelligence.

Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment could be as much as 3.6% in 2027.