August 16, 2026 @ 3:00 pm By Michael Wong  |  

New Zealand artificial intelligence startup Sterling has raised NZ$3.8 million ($2.2 million) in a funding round led by trans-Tasman venture capital firm Blackbird, as it looks to expand its AI-powered automation platform for finance teams. The round also attracted investors including Rowan Simpson and Eliot… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 2:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin’s circulating supply has reached approximately 20.07 million coins, leaving roughly 929,465 BTC still to be issued under the protocol’s hard cap of 21 million. That remaining portion will take more than a century to enter circulation because of the network’s programmed halving schedule, which… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 2:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Recent findings from a European Central Bank (ECB) survey highlight a striking lack of progress in cryptocurrency adoption among businesses across the euro area. While digital payment options continue to expand in popularity, cryptocurrencies and related digital assets remain almost entirely absent from everyday commercial… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 2:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Roman Storm, co-founder of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency protocol Tornado Cash, has directly challenged the legal reasoning behind his conviction by pointing to the widespread use of mainstream artificial intelligence tools by the same sanctioned actors the government cited in his case. In a post published… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 1:51 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Gen Z users are leading net accumulation across direct equities, bStocks and traditional finance perpetuals, while trading less frequently than other working-age generations, according to new research from Binance Research. The market research arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance said 77% of Gen Z direct-equity accounts… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 12:08 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitwise Asset Management has entered into a partnership with Superstate, a fintech specializing in bringing securities onto blockchain platforms, to investigate the possibility of allowing investors to hold shares of select Bitwise funds in tokenized form. The crypto-focused asset manager indicated that its Bitwise Solana… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 9:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Chinese robotics company Unitree is finalizing preparations for its initial public offering (IPO) on the Shanghai STAR Market. The firm has priced shares at 150.80 yuan each, or about $22.37, implying a company valuation of roughly $9 billion. Trading is expected to start between August… Read More

August 16, 2026 @ 12:58 am By Michael Wong  |  

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the central bank of the Philippines, said lowering transaction costs could encourage greater use of digital payments in the Philippines, but stressed that affordability is only one of several barriers preventing Filipinos from participating fully in the formal financial… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 11:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ireland has unveiled its inaugural national strategy to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing, with a particular emphasis on tightening controls within the cryptocurrency sector. Announced on 13 August 2026 by Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris, the National Anti-Money Laundering, Countering… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 10:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cboe BZX Exchange, which is part of Cboe Global Markets (Cboe: CBOE), has submitted a formal request to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking authorization to list and trade a new series of leveraged exchange-traded funds, including products designed to deliver three times… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 8:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Bitcoin treasury firm Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), which is led by tech billionaire Michael Saylor and formerly known as MicroStrategy, has publicly opposed a fresh proposal from index provider MSCI that could force its removal from major global equity benchmarks. Digital assets are assets. Index providers should measure… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 6:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Arizona residents who fell prey to cryptocurrency ATM scams have begun reclaiming their funds thanks to a state consumer protection measure. Attorney General Kris Mayes recently revealed that her office has assisted 35 individuals in securing complete reimbursements amounting to $171,332. These recoveries stem from… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 2:42 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Kalshi, one of the largest US prediction markets platforms, has reportedly removed its sports-related “mention markets” following the launch of a review by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) into this category of contracts. The agency is examining whether these markets are particularly vulnerable to… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 12:48 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Banks, insurers, and takaful operators in Malaysia will get new guidance to support implementation of the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF), as regulators seek to make sustainability-related disclosures more robust, consistent, comparable, and purposeful. The Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3), co-chaired by Bank Negara… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 11:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Payward, the parent company of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, saw a sharp drop in second-quarter profits as reduced trading volumes across the digital asset sector weighed on results during a prolonged market downturn. In the three months ended June 30, 2026, the firm recorded adjusted… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 8:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) has officially completed its acquisition of Cursor, the rapidly growing artificial intelligence coding platform developed by Anysphere. The deal, valued at $60 billion in an all-stock transaction, closed on August 14, 2026, marking a significant step in the rocket company’s broader push into… Read More

August 15, 2026 @ 8:24 am By Michael Wong  |  

Funding for Southeast Asia’s native artificial intelligence startups has reached $4.1 billion so far in 2026, already more than double the amount raised for the whole of last year, although the surge was driven largely by a single $2.8-billion round, according to data intelligence platform… Read More

August 14, 2026 @ 4:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Figure Technology Solutions (Nasdaq: FIGR; OPEN: FGRS), a capital markets blockchain firm founded by Mike Cagney, reported Q2 earnings, delivering net revenue of $226 million, up 113% from the same period the prior year. The consumer loan marketplace booked $4.3 billion in volume during the… Read More

August 14, 2026 @ 1:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tokyo-listed Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet has formally entered Japan’s domestic bond market by launching a new continuous corporate bond program known as BitBonds and completing its first issuance under the framework. On August 13, 2026, the company disclosed that it had established BitBonds as an… Read More

August 14, 2026 @ 1:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A King County Superior Court judge has ordered the prediction market platform Kalshi to halt most of its offerings available to users in Washington state. The ruling stems from a finding that the company likely breached the Washington Gambling Act along with the Consumer Protection Act by conducting… Read More