The AI funding boom continues, with U.S. investment-grade bond issuance hitting a record high for August.

Products associated with Farcaster, Clanker, and Neynar have now launched the process of seeking new ownership and operational teams. The relevant teams stated that earlier this year, these products aligned well with their development direction, but as circumstances changed, the current team determined they were no longer suitable for the next phase of operational needs. They are currently in discussions with several teams capable of operating decentralized social applications and related developer products. Relevant team members noted that the focus of this adjustment is to find appropriate long-term ownership for Farcaster and its related products, and ensure the projects can sustain development. This decision was not made lightly; the team’s relative silence over the past month stemmed primarily from internal reflection. The team believes Farcaster boasts a strong community foundation and high user recognition, and is confident that after the next phase of adjustment, the project will find a more suitable long-term development path. Meanwhile, the relevant companies will return funds from their balance sheets, with most funds still on the books, and team members will move on to new projects. The team emphasized that this adjustment will not disrupt the normal operation of related applications and developer products, adding that Farcaster has sufficient community support and is unlikely to disappear.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, the attacker behind the Pando Rings hack has reactivated after two months of inactivity, converting 3 million DAI into approximately 1,570 ETH via CoW Protocol, valued at around $3 million. The address then transferred 800 ETH (worth roughly $1.52 million) to Tornado Cash in eight separate transactions. Pando Rings suffered an oracle manipulation attack in November 2022, resulting in losses of approximately $20 million.

According to Bitget's market data, SoftBank Group's stock price rose by 5.5%.

According to official announcements, the Monad Foundation recently completed a liquidity program. Under the initiative, the foundation offered select early Monad investors the opportunity to purchase their locked MON tokens at a discounted price reflecting the applicable four-year lock-up period. Any MON tokens acquired by the foundation through this program will remain subject to the same lock-up terms. The total maximum purchase amount for the program is $60 million. It is designed to provide an orderly liquidity exit route for early investors whose liquidity needs or investment goals have shifted, while upholding long-term interest alignment among remaining token holders. Nearly all contacted holders opted not to participate, and the program has now concluded. The Monad Foundation has never sold, offered to sell, or sought to sell any MON tokens via over-the-counter (OTC) transactions or other methods, and no related sale processes are currently in progress. Any claims to the contrary are untrue.

Japan’s 5-year government bond yield rose by 2 basis points to 2.18%, hitting a new all-time high.

According to Bitget market data, South Korea’s KOSPI index opened 156.82 points higher on Tuesday, August 18, a 2.25% gain to 7134.76 points. Samsung Electronics rose 3%, and SK Hynix advanced 5.8%.