🤖 Grayscale Says AI Could Drive New Demand for Public Blockchains

AI could create new demand for public blockchain networks as AI systems become capable of making payments, managing assets, and acting independently on behalf of users, according to research from Grayscale.

📝 In a report, Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s Head of Research, argued that AI and public blockchains could address complementary infrastructure needs that traditional systems were not originally designed to handle.

The research identifies three areas where Grayscale believes AI adoption could increase demand for blockchain technology: agentic finance, verifiable digital records for computation and reputation, and decentralized alternatives to centralized AI systems.

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🇺🇸 Trump Enlists Private Sector to Boost Cyber-Offensive Arsenal

The US government is partnering with private-sector firms to launch cyber attacks abroad, expanding the scope of national security operations that until now have been largely conducted by government agencies.

📝 Through Executive Order 14390 of March 6, 2026 (Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes Against American Citizens), I directed the Federal Government to take various actions to combat cyber‑enabled crime harming American citizens.

This memorandum expands the fight against TCO-perpetrated cybercrime by incorporating the ingenuity of the private sector.

Private companies under the direct control and oversight of the federal government will be able to conduct offensive cyber operations aimed at disrupting criminal organizations that target Americans, according to a National Security Presidential Memorandum signed by President Donald Trump.

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🤑 Marketnode to Offer BNY Investments Funds on Stellar Network

Marketnode, Asia-Pacific’s trusted digital market infrastructure operator, will offer on-chain access to select BNY Investments’ funds on The Stellar Network, expanding its shelf of multi-asset investment opportunities for institutional and accredited investors.

🔜 This collaboration builds on Marketnode’s strategic alignment with Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), which is designed to securely integrate real-world investment products on-chain and establish scalable pathways for investor access.

🔜 Extending the synergies of this collaboration, Marketnode will introduce tokens to represent select BNY Investments funds on-chain through its digital infrastructure, supporting distribution efficiency and enhancing security.

"This collaboration is another step towards bringing the world's financial system on-chain. The Stellar network offers institutions the configurability they need to issue and manage assets and blockchain infrastructure they can count on with 99.99% uptime.

The Stellar network was where the first tokenised money market fund was launched and has become the network for regulated finance because Stellar can help institutions save time and money in a way that is more efficient than with traditional financial systems," — said Raja Chakravorti, Chief Business Officer at SDF. 🚀

#Stellar

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🇷🇺🛰 ‘Much faster than originally planned’: Ukraine warns of Russian rival to Musk’s Starlink

Russia is rolling out its own version of the Starlink satellite internet system faster than expected and plans to have nearly ​300 satellites in orbit by 2027, according to a Ukrainian intelligence ‌official. Russia launched the first 16 satellites of Rassvet in March. Bureau 1440 reported the successful launch of a second package of satellites in July.

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🇳🇬🏦 Nigeria Central Bank Widens Access to Open Market Operations

Nigeria’s central bank expanded eligibility for participation in Open Market Operations, allowing individuals, corporates and non-bank financial institutions, in addition to banks, to trade in the securities.

The Central Bank of Nigeria also lifted its suspension of tenored repo operations, and may now inject liquidity into the market for anything from four to 90 days. In addition, it removed limits on access to the bank’s discount window for participants in the foreign-exchange market and government bond auctions.

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🇺🇸 Trump Trade Enforcers Deploy AI to Crack Down on Tariff Dodging

The Trump administration is developing an AI-powered “detective border” to crack down on trading partners suspected of enabling China to skirt tariffs on US imports.

📝 In a report, the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy accused dozens of countries of being part of China’s “shadow transshipment network,” sorting them “according to the scale of China-linked trade, the depth of their economic integration with China, and the weak-link advantages that make them susceptible to rerouting activity.”

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🇧🇲🤑 Bermuda Adopts Stellar Blockchain for Financial Infrastructure

Bermuda is advancing its use of blockchain technology by integrating the Stellar network into its financial infrastructure, a move that could strengthen the reliability and efficiency of financial services on the island.

➡️Denelle Dixon highlighted Bermuda’s adoption as an example of how blockchain infrastructure can become embedded within financial operations.

She indicated that the technology is intended to operate reliably in the background, allowing financial services to benefit from blockchain capabilities without requiring users to interact with the underlying technology directly.

❗️The development is significant for Bermuda, which has established itself as a financial center with a regulatory framework that can support experimentation with emerging financial technologies.

➡️ By incorporating blockchain into existing financial infrastructure, the jurisdiction could demonstrate how distributed ledger technology can be applied to conventional financial services at an institutional level.

The Bermuda initiative could provide a practical model for other jurisdictions exploring how blockchain networks can be integrated into regulated financial systems and used to improve efficiency. 🚀

#Stellar

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❤️ WhatsApp rolls out new feature that flags potential scam messages

WhatsApp has begun rolling out a new optional "Scam Alert" feature, which uses a local machine learning model to warn users when scammers are targeting them.

"Today, we're sharing an early look at Scam Alert, a new, optional feature that runs an on-device machine learning model to alert a user about potential scam messages," — WhatsApp said.

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🤑 XRP Holders Can Now Trade Options Using Flare’s FXRP as Collateral

XRP holders can now use Flare’s FXRP as collateral to trade options and perpetual futures on decentralized exchange Derive.

❗️According to Flare, users mint FXRP, a token representing XRP on the Flare blockchain, through its FAssets bridge that converts tokens like Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogecoin into ERC-20 tokens on the Flare network. They can then deposit the token into a Derive Portfolio Margin V2 account and trade derivatives from their own wallets.

“Options are often the last major market to develop around an asset, and XRP has been waiting for the infrastructure,” — founder and CEO of Derive, Nick Forster, said in a statement.

“FXRP gives one of crypto’s largest holder bases a credible path onchain, and adding Derive’s options markets means that capital can now be hedged, used to earn premium and traded with the same sophistication available around other major assets.”

#Stellar

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⚡️🇺🇸🇦🇺Trump Agreed to Consider Australia Tariff Request, Albanese Says

US President Donald Trump has agreed to Australia’s request to “consider full exemption or, at the very least, no increase” to the tariffs imposed by the US, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Albanese said he discussed Australia’s free trade agreement with the US, as well as the country’s record dealing, during a phone call with Trump on Thursday night.

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🤑 Stellar Protocol 28, Adapter, is on the way 🚀

This upgrade introduces enhancements that make it easier to write smart contracts on Stellar, as well as a change under the hood that helps the network reach consensus faster as it continues to scale.

What this upgrade includes:

💸CAP-83 improves consensus performance under load.
💸CAP-85 introduces atomic upgrades for fleets of contracts.
💸CAP-86 makes contract data migrations easier.

❗️The full timeline:

→ Aug 13: Core stable release
→ Aug 13-21: Infra and SDK releases
→ Aug 27, 1700 UTC: Testnet vote
→ Sept 16, 1700 UTC: Mainnet vote

#Stellar

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🤖 IBM Partners with OpenAI to Accelerate Secure AI Deployment for Enterprises Across Core Operations

IBM announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to help enterprises deliver business outcomes by deploying AI at scale across core business operations and complex workflows, while strengthening cyber defense and resilience through programs like OpenAI Daybreak.

The partnership includes joint-go-to market initiatives and creating industry-specific solutions for financial services, government, telecommunications, and retail, as well as key enterprise domains such as finance, procurement, customer operations, and HR.

The partnership embeds OpenAI frontier models like GPT-5.6 and products like Codex and ChatGPT Work into IBM Consulting Advantage, IBM’s AI platform for delivering consulting services to clients, combining AI agents, industry assets, and cybersecurity capabilities to help organizations securely deploy AI at scale, drive business outcomes, and create new commercial models.

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💊 FDA approves Bristol multiple myeloma treatment, marking debut of novel drug class

The U.S. FDA approved Bristol Myers Squibb's oral combination treatment for patients ​with a rare form of blood cancer whose illness had relapsed or ‌not responded to other treatments. Full approval for the drug for this condition will be contingent ​on the verification of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials.

“With the Zenbexus approval, Bristol is the first company to bring a novel class of drugs to patients with multiple myeloma, opening venues for many more potential combinations,” — said Cristian Massacesi, Bristol’s chief medical officer.

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⚡️🤝 SpaceX Completes Its $60 Billion Cursor Acquisition

SpaceX has completed a $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor, a key part of Elon Musk’s bid to gain ground on rivals Anthropic PBC and OpenAI. The deal became effective on Aug. 14, according to a regulatory filing.

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⚡️🇮🇱 Israel’s largest bank to offer crypto trading with Galaxy

Bank Leumi, Israel’s largest bank, will offer cryptocurrency trading to customers from early 2027 becoming the first Israeli bank to announce such a service. Customers of Leumi and its mobile banking unit, Pepper, will be able to buy, hold and sell BTC, ETH and SOL through a section of the Leumi Trade app.

Galaxy Digital (GLXY) will provide trading and services through GalaxyOne Institutional, its platform for banks and asset managers. Leumi has also signed an agreement to use Galaxy’s custody infrastructure, formerly known as GK8, to support the offering.

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