Riot Platforms sold 9,665 $BTC worth $732.46M in first half 2026

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) stated in its annual economic report that optimism around artificial intelligence (AI) has underpinned global growth and risk assets over the past year, accelerating semiconductor procurement, data center construction, and power infrastructure investment while keeping financial conditions loose. However, as AI investment scales up, risks are extending from stock market valuations to corporate bonds, private credit, and supply chain financing. The BIS warns that valuations of core AI companies are already at high levels, with the market’s implied long-term earnings growth rate significantly exceeding historical benchmarks. At the same time, risk premiums for large U.S. equities have narrowed notably, indicating that investors are receiving less risk compensation. If AI investment returns fall short of expectations, or if inflation forces interest rates to rise again, stock markets will face more intense revaluation pressure. The BIS also specifically noted that insufficient transparency in AI financing could amplify risks. Some chipmakers and cloud providers have formed "circular financing" through equity investments, long-term procurement commitments, computing power leasing, and data center sale-leaseback arrangements, with some assets potentially facing double-pledging risks. If equity markets adjust sharply, corporate credit risks will be reassessed, credit spreads may widen, and financing conditions could tighten further.

Per an official announcement, Binance will support Conflux Network (CFX)’s upcoming network upgrade and hard fork. To accommodate this upgrade, Binance will suspend deposit and withdrawal services for CFX-related tokens starting at 23:00 (UTC+8) on August 24, 2026 (equivalent to 07:00 UTC on August 25, 2026). The network upgrade is scheduled to occur at 00:00 UTC on August 25, 2026, during which trading of the relevant tokens will continue as normal. Binance will handle all technical work required for the upgrade, and will restore deposit and withdrawal services once the upgraded network stabilizes; no additional announcements will be issued thereafter.

Ethereum developer kevaundray has submitted EIP-12188 to GitHub, proposing to reduce the consensus layer (CL) block retention window to ease node storage pressure. The proposal is now in public review and has garnered support from several Ethereum client developers. Developer dapplion voiced backing for the idea, while Lighthouse client contributor michaelsproul stated the adjustment will not cause significant issues for Lighthouse’s operation. The proposal notes that as Ethereum’s historical data requirements evolve, cutting the retention period of consensus layer historical blocks can optimize node resource utilization. Discussions have flagged that execution layer (EL) historical data pruning may impact some long-running nodes that supply old block data, but developers argue this will not threaten network security or normal node functionality. EIP-12188 has not yet been merged and remains subject to further review and community debate.

According to Bitget's market data, South Korea's KOSPI index dropped more than 1% intraday, after earlier surging over 2%.

China's A-share market continues to decline: the Shenzhen Component Index falls more than 1%, the ChiNext Index drops 1.27%, and the Shanghai Composite Index declines 0.28%.

According to an official announcement, Bitget has launched three stock and ETF perpetual contracts—GDX (Gold Mining ETF), NET (Cloudflare), and LYTE (Photonics & Optical ETF)—to meet users' diversified investment needs. All contracts are settled in USDT, support up to 20x leverage, and operate 24/7. As of now, Bitget supports a total of 276 stock contract underlyings.