The Trump administration has shifted to a long-term economic war against Iran, dashing expectations of a quick victory, as the oil blockade has not yet completely cut off Tehran's revenue.

Official French data shows that between January 1 and mid-August 2026, France recorded 90 cryptocurrency-related cases of kidnapping, extortion, threats and violent theft, averaging roughly one incident every 2.5 days. Over the same period, police made 223 arrests, with 126 people imprisoned between January and July. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis counted 30 publicly recorded cryptocurrency-related violent attacks in France as of mid-2026; security firm Gart.io, meanwhile, tracked 73 real-world attacks in France that year — more than the 66 recorded in the U.S. and 27 in the U.K. Eric Jardine, Chainalysis’ head of research, attributed the surge in attacks to large-scale data breaches. Breaches of French tax records and user data from crypto tax reporting platform Waltio in 2026 likely allowed attackers to obtain cryptocurrency holders’ identities, home addresses and asset information. The report also noted that over 40% of the relevant attacks in France involved victims’ relatives or acquaintances, with criminals likely targeting victims in advance via social media, on-chain data and leaked information. French authorities are coordinating investigations through specialized judicial bodies focused on organized crime.

Crypto hardware wallet maker Ledger is investigating a fund theft incident affecting Southeast Asian users who purchased devices through reseller CryptoBilis. Ledger has ordered CryptoBilis to suspend sales and shipments, and advised users who bought devices from the reseller in the past 90 days to hold off on initializing their devices. For those who have already set up their Ledger devices, they should create a new Ledger signing device using a new recovery phrase and transfer their assets to the new wallet. On-chain investigator Specter estimates the incident has led to the theft of hundreds of wallets on the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tron networks, with losses exceeding $86 million. Security researcher tanuki42 previously put losses at over $72 million, adding that the total is still rising. The specific cause of the incident and whether the affected devices have security vulnerabilities remain under investigation and unconfirmed.

U.S. long-term Treasury yields continue to rise, shifting market focus from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike path to term premiums. The New York Fed’s model shows that the term premium on 10-year U.S. Treasuries has risen by a cumulative 40 basis points since mid-September to around 0.98%, hitting its highest level since 2014; over the same period, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries has increased by roughly 30 basis points. Another model incorporating economists’ interest rate forecasts puts the term premium at 1.08%, its highest since 2010. Term premiums reflect the additional returns investors demand to compensate for uncertainties such as long-term inflation, fiscal risks, bond supply, and market liquidity. Analysts note that the recent rise in long-term yields may no longer be driven solely by Federal Reserve policy expectations, but rather reflects the higher risk compensation investors require for holding long-term U.S. Treasuries. The U.S. annual fiscal deficit stands at roughly $2 trillion, with the government continuing to issue Treasuries; meanwhile, AI infrastructure development has pushed tech giants to ramp up debt financing. According to Reuters data, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Oracle have issued approximately $220 billion in debt this year, more than double the level of the same period last year. The simultaneous competition for long-term capital between the government and corporations could further drive up financing costs. If term premiums continue to rise, even if the Fed pauses interest rate hikes or lowers its future rate expectations, long-term U.S. Treasury yields may not decline significantly, exerting sustained pressure on housing mortgages, corporate loans, and economic activity. Analysts believe that fiscal expansion, increased debt supply, and geopolitical uncertainty may signal a structural shift in the environment of persistently low long-term rates over the past decade.

According to monitoring by Ai Yi, two addresses linked to the same crypto whale have accumulated long positions in BTC and ETH totaling around $50.3 million on Hyperliquid. The address diamondbull.eth opened 11,500 ETH long positions with 25x leverage during the market rebound, with a position value of about $28.72 million, placing it among the top seven ETH long holders on Hyperliquid. It currently has an unrealized loss of roughly $109,000. Its funding source address samurai.eth holds an additional 200 BTC and 2,000 ETH long positions, with a total position value of approximately $21.58 million, and is currently posting an unrealized profit of around $753,000.

U.S. stock markets opened, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.05%, S&P 500 up 0.27%, and Nasdaq up 0.54%. Apple (AAPL.O) fell 2.6% amid reports the company is cutting orders for the iPhone 18 Pro due to weak demand. Storage-related concept stocks rose broadly: Micron Technology (MU.O), SK Hynix (SKHY.O), and SanDisk (SNDK.O) gained around 1.5%, while Seagate Technology (STX.O) and Western Digital (WDC.O) rose roughly 1%.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, an address sold 262.78 ETH, converted the proceeds to approximately 643,000 USDC, and deposited the funds into Hyperliquid. Around 40 minutes ago, the trader opened a 40x leveraged short position on BTC, with a size of 305.51 BTC, a notional value of roughly $25.4 million, entry price of $83,067.70, liquidation price of $84,086.03, and is now holding an unrealized profit of $17,000.