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The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Vladimir Chistyukhin, stated that the country's cryptocurrency industry may have the necessary conditions to operate legally by the end of the year, with relevant regulations progressing as planned. According to the International News Agency, Chistyukhin mentioned that significant and large-scale secondary regulatory rules are currently being formulated, and the "fine-tuning" of internal rules is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.This year, Russia has continued to advance cryptocurrency legislation. President Putin signed a law in August that establishes a regulatory framework for digital currencies and digital rights, but the use of Bitcoin for payments remains prohibited. The central bank has approved the public to trade Bitcoin on the country's cryptocurrency exchanges, and non-qualified investors can purchase Bitcoin and other assets worth 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,582) through a single intermediary, while qualified investors face no restrictions.Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, plans to launch Bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets and digital asset custody services in December. The bank expects that the trading volume of its new cryptocurrency business could reach 40 trillion rubles (approximately $4.7 billion) in its first year. Since 2022, Russia has prohibited the use of digital assets as a means of payment or legal tender, but lawmakers have made exceptions for international payments, likely aimed at circumventing Western sanctions. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the U.S. and Europe excluded Russia from the SWIFT system, and the Russian Finance Minister stated that the country's enterprises have been using Bitcoin to bypass related restrictions.

Recently, discussions surrounding the shutdown of projects invested by a16z have intensified. According to RootData's investment and financing data, after deduplication by project, five institutions—Coinbase Ventures, YZi Labs, Pantera Capital, a16z, and Paradigm—cover a total of 993 independent invested projects, of which 216 are marked as shut down, accounting for a cumulative ratio of 21.75%.Looking at the institutions individually, Pantera has a shutdown rate of 24.76% (51/206), Coinbase Ventures at 22.69% (98/432), a16z at 20.09% (43/214), Paradigm at 19.49% (23/118), and YZi Labs at 13.56% (32/236).Although a16z is at the center of public opinion, it is not the institution with the highest shutdown rate in the sample. Among its 148 lead investment projects, 29 are marked as shut down, accounting for 19.59%, including Linera, which recently announced its closure, and Universal, which has announced its entry into the shutdown process, indicating that even leading institutions cannot eliminate operational risks for projects.

Vietnam plans to issue licenses to the first batch of cryptocurrency service providers under a pilot legal framework in 2026, allowing the first digital asset platforms to begin operations. Nguyen Duc Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance of Vietnam, met with Mariana Kuhnel, Executive Director of the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA), in Vienna to discuss bilateral cooperation and the exchange of financial regulatory experiences.Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairwoman of the State Securities Commission of Vietnam, stated that the regulatory mechanism will cover service providers and investor transactions, focusing on risk management, investor asset protection, and anti-money laundering. Kuhnel proposed that both parties hold an online technical seminar and strengthen coordination through the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

Layer1 public chain Linera team members announced on Discord that their token sale on Sonar received nearly $900,000 in token fundraising commitments, but did not reach the minimum threshold required to complete the sale, and all token sale funds have been refunded to users. The team then attempted to seek emergency financing to maintain project progress towards the mainnet launch but was unable to raise the necessary funds.Currently, the team is gradually shutting down applications and the Discord community. User point balances will be retained, but the team cannot promise any future rights for the points. The team still hopes to complete protocol development and launch applications in the future.According to the tokenized asset platform RootData, Linera has raised a total of $12 million in funding, with investors including a16z Crypto, GSR, Tribe Capital, Flow Traders, Laser Digital, and others.

According to Cointelegraph, in response to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal regarding European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde pressuring Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to block Binance's MiCA license application, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph that they "do not comment on speculative reports" and reiterated their intention to seek long-term compliance under the EU MiCA framework.Previously, Binance applied for a MiCA license in Greece in January 2026. In mid-June, reports indicated that the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) planned to reject the application. Binance subsequently withdrew the application a few days before the MiCA deadline on July 1, stating that they would seek authorization from other EU member states. The European Central Bank and the Hellenic Capital Market Commission have not responded to the related reports.

Amazon announced that it will raise the minimum starting hourly wage for core operations employees in the U.S. (delivery drivers and fulfillment center employees) to $20, with an average hourly wage approaching $24, and a $1 increase for eligible employees.Udit Madan, Amazon's Senior Vice President, stated in the company blog: After accounting for the value of industry-leading benefits, the average total compensation exceeds $32 per hour. This pay raise investment exceeds $1.5 billion.New benefits include Day 1 Financial low-cost banking system, eligibility for First Tech Federal Credit Union membership, a 20% in-store discount at Whole Foods Market, and a 10% discount on Amazon grocery orders. Existing benefits include free Prime membership, prepaid education programs, and healthcare coverage.

Crypto In America host Eleanor Terrett reported that seven Democratic senators, including Kirsten Gillibrand, Mark Warner, Ruben Gallego, and Angela Alsobrooks, stated that they are "committed to passing the Clarity Act in a bipartisan manner."This statement comes as both sides are making initial efforts to restart bipartisan negotiations and assess the willingness of all parties to return to the negotiating table and push for the passage of the Clarity Act before the end of the year. This information comes from three informed sources.

According to CoinDesk, Latin American telecom operator VIVA has become the first operator to launch the Iris network. Iris is a telecom settlement network based on Avalanche, founded by former IBM blockchain partner Jules Miller, which helps operators integrate identity, billing, and distribution systems into financial services without replacing existing telecom systems. VIVA has been operating in Bolivia for over 25 years and has recently expanded into the Mexican market.VIVA conducts transaction settlements using the US dollar stablecoin USDi issued by stablecoin infrastructure company Agora, and can hold eligible operational reserves in US dollars instead of local currency. Iris operates on a dedicated Avalanche Layer 1 to control settlement, operations, and compliance requirements. At the launch of Iris, it secured a commitment of $43 million from Balesia Group, a family office that has telecom operations in the Americas.Ava Labs Chief Business Officer John Nahas stated that the initial expansion of Iris will focus on Latin America and parts of Africa and Asia. He mentioned that the super app product used by VIVA has helped reduce the churn rate of prepaid mobile users by 33% and increase customer lifetime value by 35%. Iris is currently in discussions with more telecom operators worldwide to onboard additional operators and services.

According to EU-Startups, Hackuity, an AI-driven vulnerability operations center based in Lyon, France, announced the completion of a €16 million (approximately $19 million) funding round, led by Forgepoint Capital International, with follow-on investments from Bright Pixel, Bpifrance, and Seventure Partners, bringing the total funding to €32 million.The funds will be used for product innovation, enhancement of AI capabilities, and expansion into European and Asian markets. The Hackuity platform integrates data from over 130 security tools and automates vulnerability prioritization and remediation through a proprietary risk scoring engine. It currently serves over 6,000 users, protecting more than 2 million assets and managing 1 billion security findings, with clients including large enterprises such as ENGIE, BPCE, and Orange Cyberdefense.

According to a report by Reuters, informed sources say that South Korea's SK Hynix is in talks with Intel for a deal to produce memory chips in the United States for the first time. One possible option is for SK Hynix to lease part of Intel's long-planned chip manufacturing facility in Ohio; another option is to establish a joint venture with Intel and major cloud service companies eager to secure memory chip supplies.The deal would alleviate pressure on Intel and be a significant victory for the Trump administration. However, sources say that potential opposition from the South Korean side could be a major obstacle, as these technologies are considered sensitive. One source stated that the negotiations are still exploratory, emphasizing that no decisions have been made yet. If an agreement is reached, it is still unclear what type of chips SK Hynix would produce in Ohio.Its product line includes DRAM for servers, PCs, and smartphones, as well as NAND flash memory for long-term storage, and it is also a leading supplier of high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI processors.

Polymarket founder and CEO Shayne Coplan announced on X that Collin McKinney Hill has joined Polymarket as Vice President of Operations.Coplan introduced that Hill previously served as General Manager at DoorDash, overseeing one of the company's largest business units. Prior to that, he was Chief of Staff to Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates.

Cisco (CSCO.O) and Nvidia (NVDA.O) expand the Splunk Intelligent Agent artificial intelligence cooperation agreement.

Feixiaohao has united with Open Genesis (OG) and m&W to achieve a strategic cooperation, jointly promoting the collaborative development of the AI & Web3 ecosystem. Feixiaohao's core positioning is as a "data entry + market database + project/exchange information repository" aimed at the cryptocurrency market, and it is currently actively laying out the AI & Web3 ecosystem with the OG community.m&W is committed to building a trustworthy collaborative network in the AI era, starting by aggregating, filtering, and solidifying the core capabilities of the AI & Web3 ecosystem. m&W utilizes the DAO mechanism to achieve project cold starts, completing the recruitment of the first batch of nine genesis nodes, joining the Dragon AI accelerator initiated by Draper Dragon Fund, and receiving coverage from Binance News.m&W is currently collaborating with Open Genesis (OG) incubated by Feixiaohao on ecosystem cooperation. OG is focusing on long-term ecological layout around AI applications, community consensus, and on-chain value networks, while exploring the integration paths of AI technology and the Web3 value system. Both parties will combine OG's global community resources with m&W's narrative capabilities in AI & Web3 to co-build the ecosystem.

According to the Chosun Ilbo report on September 15, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix's third-quarter operating profit consensus has been raised again within three months. Based on reports from major brokerages and overseas investment banks, Samsung Electronics' estimated operating profit for the third quarter is approximately 114 trillion won, an increase of 12.2836 trillion won (12%) from 101.9052 trillion won three months ago, and a 28% increase from 89.4 trillion won in the second quarter. SK Hynix's estimate for the third quarter is 78.8035 trillion won, a 4% increase from 75.7249 trillion won three months ago, and a 30% increase from 60.5426 trillion won in the second quarter.TrendForce expects the fixed transaction prices for general DRAM in the third quarter to rise by 13% to 18% quarter-on-quarter, while NAND flash is expected to rise by 10% to 15%. The securities industry is paying attention to Samsung Electronics' HBM4 revenue share, which expanded from 5% in the first quarter to about 35% in the second quarter, along with improvements in yield rates. SK Hynix maintains the largest market share in HBM, but improvements in Samsung's HBM4 mass production may dilute its supply premium. Citigroup Securities has lowered SK Hynix's third-quarter operating profit estimate from 76.7 trillion won to 74 trillion won due to the strengthening of the won. Micron will announce its fourth-quarter results for fiscal year 2026 (June to August) on the 30th, with revenue guidance of $49 billion to $51 billion.

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx announced that, in the context of a prolonged downturn in the cryptocurrency market, a significant shrinkage in overall industry trading volume and liquidity, and the continuous rise in regulatory requirements and compliance costs in major jurisdictions, it has decided to cease operations and initiate an orderly shutdown process.CoinEx will stop new user registrations on September 15, and will adjust contract trading to only allow position reduction; it will cease non-spot services such as contracts, wealth management, staking, and lending on September 22; all spot trading will stop on September 29; and withdrawals will cease on December 22, officially closing the platform. CoinEx was launched on December 22, 2017, and has been in operation for nearly nine years.

According to Reuters, Mexican authorities discovered an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation in a remote mountainous building in Tehuacán, Puebla, where 300 GPUs, 80 medium-voltage terminals, and 8 satellite antennas were found on-site. Authorities are investigating whether the operation is stealing electricity from a nearby hydroelectric power station.This is the fourth similar crypto farm discovered in the area since early last year, with three others found near a hydroelectric power station in northern Puebla last year. Local residents reported that the noise from the equipment can be heard from a kilometer away. Mexican security analyst David Saucedo stated that drug trafficking groups seem to have reached a new level of sophistication, as establishing such operations requires technical expertise and support from well-funded groups.Chainalysis Latin America expert Caio Motta pointed out that such operations are usually located in areas with extremely low electricity prices or within the reach of organized crime to steal electricity and establish large-scale mining infrastructure.

According to a report by Reuters, the Swiss cryptocurrency company Bitcoin Suisse plans to lay off up to 60 of its 120 employees in Switzerland to restructure its business. The company stated that software development and backend functions will gradually be integrated into an international center to accelerate expansion, acquire a broader talent pool, and invest more effectively in future products. The layoffs will take effect after the consultation period ends on September 20, and the company is also closing its IT development site in Copenhagen.

According to the official page, Robinhood Crypto has launched INDEX and COOPERATIVE.

The Central Bank of Russia and the Reserve Bank of India are collaborating to establish a mechanism for settling bilateral trade using digital currencies to improve the efficiency of cross-border payments. Russia has launched the digital ruble, and India's digital currency is also used for government projects.Both parties will discuss digital currency trade settlement with BRICS countries at the summit in New Delhi.

AI entity operation platform Motive announced the completion of a $1.3 billion financing round, with General Catalyst participating through its Customer Value Fund; specific valuation data has not yet been disclosed.In addition, the company also disclosed that it has withdrawn its previously submitted S-1 registration statement, officially abandoning its plan to list on the New York Stock Exchange.