pol

According to a report by Reuters, American companies have invested a record $517 million in the congressional elections for the House and Senate in 2026 over the 15 months ending in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the previous high of $461 million during the two-year 2024 election cycle. The cryptocurrency, technology, and online betting industries contributed at least $294 million, becoming a major force in shaping the midterm elections.The Fairshake super PAC, primarily funded by Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z, had $193 million in funding at the beginning of the year and currently has about $130 million remaining; a16z has donated over $81 million to cryptocurrency and AI-related PACs. Elon Musk has invested over $90 million, and Meta has donated $65 million to four super PACs. The AI-related organization Leading the Future has raised $140 million, and Anthropic has donated at least $40 million through dark money non-profit organizations. Online betting companies like DraftKings and FanDuel have donated over $72 million.AdImpact expects total political ad spending for this round of midterm elections to reach a record $11.6 billion. Related industries are making unlimited expenditures through super PACs, affiliated PACs, and dark money non-profit organizations for advertising, voter mobilization, and more, with critics arguing that this amplifies the influence of niche issues such as cryptocurrency regulation, data center energy, and betting regulation.

Uber launches Baidu's fully driverless Apollo Go in Dubai, marking the birth of the world's first multi-party cooperative autonomous driving network.

Institutional-level on-chain financial infrastructure developer Blueprint Finance announced the completion of strategic financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Bullish, Keyrock, BitGo, FalconX, G-20, Flowdesk, JPEG Trading, Sentient Capital, Andes, and 2Square. Blueprint Finance is the core developer of Concrete, a full-stack treasury infrastructure aimed at institutions, protocols, and asset managers, used to launch, manage, and allocate capital through complex on-chain strategy configurations, integrating execution, accounting, risk control, rebalancing, and protocols into a unified treasury system.This round of financing will support its continued expansion of Concrete and promote collaboration with protocols, asset issuers, networks, and institutional allocators to build a treasury that supports on-chain yield products and acts as core liquidity infrastructure. In addition to treasury infrastructure, Blueprint Finance is also expanding the Concrete ecosystem, launching on-chain financial primitives such as AssetCX and concUSD.Blueprint Finance CEO and co-founder Nic Roberts-Huntley stated that DeFi is moving beyond merely chasing the highest advertised yields; the next phase concerns infrastructure, providing professional allocators with control, transparency, automation, and risk management while retaining on-chain market advantages.

According to the official announcement from MSX, the platform has officially opened the redemption application for the Pre-IPO Phase II projects Anthropic and Polymarket.Official data shows that as of the latest valuation, the subscription price for Polymarket has risen from $152 per share to $202.67 per share, with a floating profit of 33.3%; the latest valuation of Anthropic is also higher than the subscription price.After this redemption opening, users can choose to apply for redemption and settle in USDT at the latest market price according to their own needs, or continue to hold until the target completes its IPO.Previously, MSX had completed the trading loop from subscription to listing for the Pre-IPO Phase I projects $CBRS and $SPCX. Users can log in to the MSX platform page to view specific redemption rules and asset status.

PPP prediction market tool monitoring shows that the probability of "ETH reaching $1900 in August" on Polymarket has dropped to 7%, a 43% decrease in 24 hours. Additionally, the probability of rising to $2400 has increased to 42%, a 40% increase in 24 hours. This market is based on the Binance ETH/USDT trading pair.During the specified month in the title (from 00:00 on the 1st of the month to 23:59 on the last day, Eastern Time), if the highest price of any 1-minute candlestick is equal to or higher than the specified price in the title, it will be settled as Yes; otherwise, it will be No. Only the 1-minute candlestick High price of Binance ETH/USDT will be used; prices from other exchanges or trading pairs will not be counted.

PPP prediction market tool monitoring shows that the probability of SOL on Polymarket reaching $90 in August has risen to 52%, with a 24-hour increase of 46%. Additionally, the probability of reaching $100 has risen to 16%, with a 24-hour increase of 15%.According to the settlement rules, this market is settled based on the Binance SOL/USDT trading pair. If the highest price of any 1-minute K-line during August reaches or exceeds the corresponding target price, it will be settled as "Yes"; otherwise, it will be "No". OKX market data shows that after a morning surge breaking through $87, SOL has pulled back, with a 24-hour increase of over 9%.

At the SALT conference held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, CZ discussed the previously mentioned "super cycle" of Bitcoin at the Davos Forum, stating that this claim has yet to materialize. From the data, the market still follows a relatively strict four-year cycle, currently in the bear market phase; however, as the total market capitalization continues to expand, the price volatility will tend to narrow, similar to the price fluctuation patterns of large companies like Amazon and Facebook.Regarding the regulatory environment in the United States, CZ stated that this is the friendliest industry environment he has seen in his 12 years of work, and he believes that the U.S. regulatory framework has a demonstrative effect globally, with many countries' securities laws and exchange regulatory structures referencing the U.S. At the same time, Hong Kong is accelerating its legislative efforts to align with U.S. regulatory thinking. Additionally, CZ discussed the allocation situation of his investment firm YZi Labs, stating that currently about 70% of the funds are directed towards the core tracks of crypto and blockchain, about 20% towards AI, and the remaining portion towards fields like biotechnology.YZi Labs uses its own funds and is not constrained by external LP return cycles, placing more emphasis on the positive impact of projects and the execution capability of founding teams rather than purely on financial return models. Regarding Hyperliquid, CZ mentioned that there is a misunderstanding in the industry, believing that as a shareholder of Binance, he would only maintain a CEX position, but his entry into this industry was precisely because he believes in decentralization. If platforms like Hyperliquid, which do not require KYC, can enter the U.S. market in a compliant manner, it will open the doors for the entire industry, allowing more Perp DEX and decentralized services to reach users in the U.S. and globally, thus providing American consumers with better liquidity and pricing. This will not only benefit Hyperliquid itself but also international centralized trading platforms, including Binance.

Yesterday, the cryptocurrency market experienced the strongest single-day performance of the year. Bitcoin reached a high of $70,000, marking the first time in two months; Ethereum peaked at $2,300; Solana rose by about 12%. The Bitget Research Institute analyzed that the core driving force behind this round of market activity comes from a dual breakthrough in policy and regulation: the White House convened a meeting with the president, executives from the cryptocurrency industry, and heads of the SEC and CFTC, marking the formal entry of digital assets into the national financial strategy discussion level; on the same day, the SEC proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets," establishing a clear channel for token financing and introducing the "investment contract safe harbor" mechanism for the first time, which is expected to promote the emergence of more U.S.-native projects.From a market structure perspective, when the first two catalysts were realized, the market was in a bearish position, and the price increase triggered a chain reaction of liquidations. On that day, 126,000 traders across the network had a total of $1.92 billion in positions liquidated, setting a record for the largest short liquidation day in history, further amplifying the price increase. The Bitget Research Institute believes that since a considerable proportion of this round of price increase comes from concentrated short liquidations rather than spot buying, there is a short-term pressure for market correction. However, from a medium to long-term perspective, the cryptocurrency market is迎来政策与流动性的双重转折点, with the clarification of regulatory pathways and the improvement of the long-end liquidity environment together forming the foundation for a new cycle.

On August 20, CZ retweeted his views on Hyperliquid's introduction to the United States and stated that many people overlook the bigger picture. Policies cannot apply only to a single company or project; a favorable policy benefits the entire industry.Previously, CZ commented on "the Trump administration potentially introducing Hyperliquid to the United States in a compliant and legal manner," stating that this would open up more Perp DEX and decentralized services to U.S. users, which would be a significant boon for the entire industry.

Tim Duy, Chief U.S. Economist at SGH Macro Advisors, stated that it has become common for several Federal Reserve officials to cast dissenting votes on interest rate decisions recently. Duy believes that the core concern for the market is how widespread the officials' worries about inflation are, especially when inflation is above target levels.The labor market is stabilizing, and some officials believe that interest rate hikes are necessary to curb inflation. The market will focus on the consensus within the Federal Reserve regarding concerns about inflation and the degree of policy divergence.

According to Caixin, a large number of mainland and Hong Kong investors participated in the Hong Kong IPO "new share subscription" through ZD Group, and the related funds cannot be redeemed on time. The Hong Kong police stated that as of August 17, 24 investors have reported the case, which has been treated as "fraud" and is being followed up by the Wan Chai District Major Crime Unit, with no arrests made yet.Previously, several investors were informed that the bank accounts of entities associated with ZD Group had been frozen, resulting in the inability to redeem funds, with the scale of involvement reaching the billion Hong Kong dollar level, some of which are cross-border investment funds from the mainland to Hong Kong.

Moody's expects NVIDIA (NVDA.O) balanced capital allocation policy to support its "exceptionally strong net cash position and credit metrics."

According to a report by the Korea United News Agency, the Gwangju Police Agency's Cyber Crime Investigation Team will arrest and transfer three suspects led by A (in their 60s), who are suspected of establishing offices in Seoul, Gwangju in South Jeolla Province, and Gunsan in North Jeolla Province since November 2024. They allegedly deceived over 100 elderly individuals aged 70 to 80 into investing in virtual assets with false promises such as "guaranteed principal" and "potential profits of hundreds of billions of Korean won," accumulating approximately 500 million Korean won in fraud.The police stated that there are likely still unreported victims and are continuing to expand the investigation, reminding the public to remain vigilant against investment offers that promise guaranteed principal and high returns.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) held a meeting of the Communications Review Subcommittee and determined that the overseas prediction market platform Polymarket provided illegal betting, deciding to implement access blocking measures against it. The committee judged that Polymarket's business model is based on the outcomes of events that users cannot control, such as politics, sports, elections, and weather, adopting a "winner takes all" profit and loss structure that fosters speculative psychology; the platform operator is responsible for market establishment, trading rule setting, and overall operational management, providing a virtual asset acceptance and settlement system, which effectively creates an environment for raising and delivering user funds, and profits by charging transaction fees through share trading, violating South Korea's Criminal Law and the National Sports Promotion Act.Polymarket argued that the platform operates based on non-custodial peer-to-peer trading and smart contracts, and does not directly raise funds, manage funds, or issue sports promotion voting rights. However, the committee responded that one cannot evade the applicability of domestic laws in South Korea based on technical characteristics such as whether Korean language services are provided, decentralized technology, or centralized trading interfaces. Given that the platform has actually provided illegal betting to South Korean users, access blocking is unavoidable to protect domestic users.

The PPP prediction market tool monitoring shows that in the Polymarket "OpenAI Astra Release Date" prediction market, the probability of OpenAI releasing Astra before August 31 has risen to 24%, an increase of 8% in 24 hours; the probability of it being released before September 15 is currently reported at 61%, an increase of 6% in 24 hours. According to the settlement rules, if OpenAI releases Astra before the corresponding deadline, or releases a product confirmed to be the same model as Astra and makes it publicly available, the market will settle as "Yes."Public testing or open waitlists qualify, but closed testing and private access do not count; the main settlement basis is OpenAI's official information. Previously, OpenAI disclosed that it would slow down the development process of Astra until appropriate safety measures are established. However, OpenAI founder Sam Altman also stated that Astra is a powerful model, and the company is working hard to make it available to a broader range of users.

According to Protos, the latest disclosure from 21Shares' Polkadot ETF (TDOT) shows that in the second quarter of 2026, for every $1 in distribution income generated through the sale of DOT tokens to pay staking rewards, there was an accompanying realized loss of approximately $4.52.According to regulatory documents, TDOT sold 98,505 DOT in the second quarter, generating about $107,500 in cash to pay staking rewards to shareholders. However, due to a significant drop in DOT prices, these sales confirmed a loss of approximately $485,600.Data shows that DOT fell by about 34% in the second quarter of 2026, with a cumulative decline of 76% over the past 12 months as of June 30. Since TDOT shareholders receive distributions in USD rather than directly receiving DOT staking rewards, the fund needs to sell DOT to convert to cash payments, thereby locking in losses in a low-price environment. In the second quarter, TDOT paid shareholders a cumulative distribution of approximately $0.14698 per share, but during the same period, the fund's share price dropped from $14.95 to $9.86, a decline of about 34%, and the staking rewards did not offset the losses caused by the decline in asset prices.

According to PR Newswire, digital asset infrastructure company Fireblocks announced the appointment of former Acting Chairman and Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Elad Roisman as Chief Regulatory and Policy Officer and General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, effective immediately.Roisman will be responsible for Fireblocks' regulatory strategy, policy communications, and related legal matters, and will serve as the company's primary liaison with regulators and standard-setting organizations.

According to ibtimes, JPMorgan Chase terminated its banking partnership with the prediction market platform Polymarket last year due to regulatory risks, but the bank has not completely cut ties with this rapidly growing company and still maintains various forms of cooperation, expressing interest in participating in the underwriting of Polymarket's initial public offering (IPO) in the future.A person close to Polymarket stated that JPMorgan "does not want to burn all bridges." Polymarket denied that the relationship between the two parties has significantly weakened, stating that the company still maintains a "close and active cooperative relationship" with JPMorgan, involving multiple entities, operational integration, and client fund flow management, among other areas.

The Hyperliquid Policy Center announced that it has submitted a joint comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with Douro Labs, supporting the proposal to repeal Regulation NMS Rule 611 (the "Trade-Through Rule") and calling on regulators to establish a clearer best execution regulatory framework for on-chain markets.The Hyperliquid Policy Center believes that the current trade-through rule is clearly incompatible with blockchain-native trading models, which are based on traditional securities market structures, and has proposed three recommendations: support the SEC in repealing the trade-through rule, the SEC should establish clear best execution guidance for on-chain trading, and the regulatory framework should adopt a principles-based approach and recognize independent price reference mechanisms.