Circle rises over 16% in pre-market trading after securing approval to establish a national trust bank.

According to a Financial Times report, recent moves by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to intervene in the bond market conflict with the Federal Reserve’s goal of curbing inflation. After Bessent’s unexpected intervention in the U.S. Treasury market, yields initially fell before rising again—a reaction that has ramped up pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Christopher Waller ahead of his upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium speech. Waller has long stressed that investors should rely more on economic data and market prices to assess interest rate trends, rather than waiting for central bank officials’ forward guidance. Markets now worry that if Bessent’s efforts to lower yields keep failing, the Fed could also face pressure to intervene. Both Bessent and Waller are protégés of billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller; they meet regularly and have a good relationship, but the market currently perceives that the U.S. Treasury Department (led by Bessent) and the Federal Reserve (led by Waller) are acting in opposite directions.

Gold has remained strong recently, with volatility at high levels rising noticeably. A weaker U.S. dollar, falling U.S. Treasury yields, fiscal deficit concerns, and safe-haven demand have all supported gold prices. However, Citigroup warns that gold’s recent breakout has been driven more by speculative funds in instruments like futures, with physical demand failing to keep pace. Citigroup notes this means gold will be more sensitive to macro events in the short term. Rallies fueled by speculative funds can form trends quickly, but they are also prone to sharp profit-taking when policy expectations shift. Markets are now awaiting speeches at the Jackson Hole Global Central Bank Annual Meeting. If the Federal Reserve signals a hawkish tilt, the U.S. dollar and real rates could rebound, putting pressure on gold’s rally; if policy communications turn dovish, gold prices will have room to extend gains. The backdrop for gold trading has also shifted recently. Fiscal sustainability, long-dated U.S. Treasury yields, and central bank gold purchases remain medium-term supports, but short-term prices have accumulated significant momentum-driven capital. For traders, gold is no longer just a safe-haven asset; it is increasingly acting as a macro high-beta asset sensitive to the U.S. dollar, real interest rates, and fiscal risks simultaneously.

The retrial of Roman Storm, a developer behind Tornado Cash, has been postponed to April 26, 2027, as his motion for acquittal remains pending a ruling. U.S. prosecutors had previously pushed to schedule the retrial for October 2026. Roman Storm is a co-founder of the privacy mixer protocol Tornado Cash; a prior jury deadlocked on some charges in the related case, prompting prosecutors to seek a retrial on the outstanding counts.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, at 06:41 and 13:12 Beijing time on August 26, Circle minted an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana blockchain each time, totaling 500 million USDC across the two minting operations.

According to Bloomberg, SoftBank Group is in talks with investment banks about a potential $10 billion to $20 billion bond issuance to raise funds for its investment in OpenAI. The bonds could be denominated in U.S. dollars and euros, with a possible launch as early as September, though negotiations remain ongoing and the exact size and terms may change. Sources familiar with the matter said part of the bond proceeds will be used to repay the $40 billion bridge loan SoftBank secured earlier this year for its OpenAI investment. SoftBank plans to invest nearly $65 billion in OpenAI by October, with a portion of the capital coming from loans.

According to monitoring by OnchainLens, a crypto whale has withdrawn 27,290 HYPE tokens from OKX, valued at approximately $2.23 million. About two months ago, this same wallet withdrew 47,340 HYPE tokens worth around $3.08 million, bringing its current total holdings to 74,810 HYPE tokens valued at roughly $5.33 million.