Odaily News The inside story behind stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK's acquisition by Mastercard for $1.8 billion has recently come to light. According to Concentric, an early investor in BVNK, during the bidding process, US crypto exchange Coinbase once held an advantageous position and reportedly submitted a bid as high as $2.5 billion, but ultimately withdrew from the competition due to insufficient strategic and cultural alignment between the two parties.

Kjartan Rist, founding partner of Concentric, stated that BVNK's founding team did not focus solely on the offer price when selecting an acquirer, but placed greater emphasis on long-term partnership and corporate culture fit. "Coinbase may have offered a higher price, but the chemistry between the two sides was not ideal." In contrast, Mastercard, as a traditional financial services company, is more likely to create synergies with BVNK in payment infrastructure and stablecoin applications.

It is understood that Mastercard participated in acquisition discussions with BVNK at an early stage, and after Coinbase failed to advance the deal, Mastercard re-emerged as the primary buyer, ultimately completing the acquisition for $1.8 billion.

Visa also participated in the competition. Having previously invested in BVNK and holding a board observer seat, Visa once had an advantage. However, Visa ultimately chose not to pursue a direct acquisition, instead adopting an open strategy of partnering with multiple stablecoin companies.

Founded in 2018, BVNK provides enterprises with stablecoin payment, cross-border settlement, and treasury management infrastructure. Its early investor Concentric invested in the company at a valuation of $4 million in 2019, and this transaction has generated substantial returns.

The acquisition also reflects a new round of competition between traditional payment giants and crypto companies over stablecoin infrastructure. Previously, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge for $1.1 billion, prompting payment giants such as Visa and Mastercard to accelerate their expansion into the stablecoin sector.

Currently, the global stablecoin market size has approached $300 billion. As enterprise payments, cross-border settlements, and treasury management use cases grow rapidly, stablecoin infrastructure is becoming a critical gateway for traditional financial institutions to capture. (CoinDesk)

Odaily News: On-chain detective ZachXBT has disclosed that a threat actor codenamed "Tiffany" is suspected of involvement in multiple crypto asset thefts, using stolen funds from victims for gambling on crypto casinos, and even making calls to taunt the victims. The platform Shuffle has frozen related accounts based on evidence submitted by ZachXBT. Tiffany previously shared a Connecticut search and seizure warrant, with a document date earlier than some of the incidents involved in this case. ZachXBT has obtained chat logs, recordings, and on-chain evidence, and predicts that this individual may face further legal consequences. The threat actor is also linked to the case of John Daghita (Lick), who is suspected of stealing over $46 million in crypto assets from a wallet seized by the U.S. government.

Odaily News: According to market sources, after cars, rockets, and humanoid robots, Musk is now setting his sights on the core of chip manufacturing—EUV light sources. Compared to the currently mature and commercially used LPP technology, Musk has shown a clear preference for free-electron lasers (FEL). In theory, FEL could significantly reduce the production costs of advanced chips, but it is still in the early stages of research and development.

Odaily Planet Daily News The National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center and the National Engineering Laboratory for Computer Virus Prevention Technology, relying on the National Computer Virus Collaborative Analysis Platform, have discovered multiple incidents of users being attacked by the "Sorry" ransomware virus within China. After users' important files are encrypted, the file names are changed to the original file name plus a ".sorry" suffix. The attackers also leave a ransom note on the user's host machine, demanding that users download encrypted communication tools to contact them. This virus belongs to the "Sorry" ransomware family, which emerged as a new ransomware family in 2026. It is written in the GO language by attackers and primarily targets Linux web servers exposed to the internet. (CCTV News)

Odaily News: Standard Chartered Bank's Head of Global Digital Assets Research, Geoff Kendrick, stated that as the tokenization of Real World Assets (RWA) accelerates, the price of Chainlink (LINK) tokens could rise to $200 by the end of 2030, representing an increase of over 25 times from its current level of approximately $8.

In his latest report, Kendrick predicts that the scale of tokenized RWA will reach $4 trillion by the end of 2028. As more traditional assets are brought on-chain, the demand for secure and reliable off-chain data is expected to increase significantly, which could further boost Chainlink's fee revenue and drive up LINK's valuation.

The report also projects that by the end of 2030, the scale of tokenized assets and crypto-native assets deployed in decentralized finance (DeFi) will grow approximately 37-fold to reach $2.7 trillion. Kendrick believes these assets require trusted data, cross-network interoperability, privacy-preserving compliance mechanisms, and integration with the existing financial system—infrastructure that Chainlink currently has the capability to provide.

Demand for RWA tokenization has continued to grow recently. Data shows that trading volume of tokenized RWAs on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) hit an all-time high of $14.1 billion in July, up 19.5% month-over-month, driven primarily by public market assets such as tokenized stocks.

Currently, Chainlink remains one of the largest decentralized oracle service providers in the crypto industry, with a Total Value Secured (TVS) of approximately $34.4 billion—significantly higher than second-ranked Chronicle's $7.36 billion.

However, Kendrick also noted that the prediction of LINK reaching $200 still faces risks, including institutional tokenization projects progressing slower than expected, intensified competition from specialized oracle service providers, and potential technical issues. (Cointelegraph)

Odaily News: Technology cloud services company Cloudflare plans to issue $2.175 billion in convertible senior notes through a private placement, including $1.5 billion in principal amount of convertible notes due 2031, along with a $750 million over-allotment option on principal. The notes will be unsecured debt, convertible into Cloudflare common stock, with terms such as interest rate and conversion price to be determined at the pricing stage of the offering. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. (Bloomberg)

Odaily reported that Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy, stated on the X platform that the company recently increased its USD reserves by $650 million and repurchased $109 million worth of STRC preferred stock.

Saylor noted that this move extended Strategy's USD Duration by 143 days to approximately 2.7 years, while also narrowing the BTC Credit Spread on STRC by 10 basis points.

As of August 9, 2026, Strategy holds 840,447 BTC as its corporate BTC reserve asset. Meanwhile, the company's USD reserves stand at $4.65 billion.

In recent years, Strategy has consistently raised capital through issuing stock, bonds, and preferred shares to expand its bitcoin holdings, establishing itself as one of the largest corporate bitcoin holders globally. The latest move to bolster USD reserves and repurchase STRC is viewed by the market as a step to further strengthen liquidity management and optimize its capital structure.

Odaily News: Less than two weeks after its listing, Zhongji Innolight's H-shares have become the Hong Kong stock with the highest net buying amount by Korean investors in the past month. Data from SEIBro, operated by the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), shows that from July 8 to August 7, Korean investors' buy settlement amount for Zhongji Innolight H-shares reached $45.067 million, with sell settlement at $1.6729 million and a net buy settlement of $43.3942 million, equivalent to approximately HK$340 million, ranking first among Hong Kong stocks in net buying by Korean investors during the same period. Zhongji Innolight H-shares began trading on July 30, and within just seven trading days, their net buy settlement amount was nearly four times that of the second-place stock on the list. (China Securities Journal)

Odaily News: According to market sources, Strategy disclosed the sale of 1,690 Bitcoin at an average price of $64,262 last week, valued at approximately $108 million, reducing its current holdings to 840,447 BTC.

Odaily News: According to market reports, Anthropic, Macquarie Asset Management, and Singapore's GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) have announced the establishment of a strategic partnership.

Odaily Planet Daily News: Bitget's Head of Greater China, Xie Jiayin, stated in a post that in response to the abnormal price marking incident involving three trading pairs, including TUT, on August 9, Bitget will compensate eligible affected users, with total compensation amounting to nearly $40 million. The compensation will be calculated based on users' account equity at 15:00 that day, addressing losses incurred from forced liquidation of short positions during the period of abnormal price fluctuations.

Xie Jiayin also stated that Bitget will continue to uphold its philosophy of being a "exchange with heart," ensuring user rights protection for retail investors, VIPs, and institutional clients alike. Following the resolution of the incident, the platform will continue to conduct a thorough review and drive continuous iteration of its products and related mechanisms.

Odaily News Nasdaq-listed institution Strive has released its Q2 financial report for the period ending June 30, 2026. The company acquired a total of 6,236 Bitcoin in Q2, bringing its first-half total to 12,237 Bitcoin, with a Q2 Bitcoin yield of 23.9% and a first-half yield of 37.7%. Between July 1 and August 7, it added another 303 Bitcoin. The Q2 GAAP net loss was $257.6 million, of which 94.1% was attributable to the decline in the fair value of its Bitcoin holdings and STRC shares; the non-GAAP adjusted net loss attributable to common shareholders was $275 million.

Since June 16, the company has initiated daily floating distributions on its SATA series perpetual preferred stock, distributing dividends 44 consecutive times as of August 7. Strive has now fully repaid all long-term and short-term debt, achieving zero leverage. As of August 7, it held $154.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, with the fair value of its Strategy STRC preferred stock at $48 million. The company has also launched an updated financial dashboard to enhance disclosure related to SATA products. (Globenewswire)

Odaily News - Bitfinex's latest report indicates that Bitcoin (BTC) buying pressure is returning, but the current rebound remains primarily dependent on improvements in the macroeconomic environment rather than catalysts within the crypto market itself. While institutional demand continues to strengthen, weakening U.S. employment data has lowered the likelihood of a Fed rate hike in September, yet corporate treasury selling and persistently high long-term U.S. Treasury yields continue to cap Bitcoin's upside potential.

The report shows that driven by eased geopolitical tensions, falling oil prices, and a cooling U.S. job market, risk assets have rebounded broadly, with Bitcoin's price approaching the upper range of $62,000 to $65,000. Spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded net inflows for five consecutive trading days, attracting approximately $865.3 million in cumulative inflows, corresponding to the absorption of roughly 13,300 BTC, while the network's newly issued supply during the same period was only about 3,150 BTC.

However, Bitfinex noted that Strategy's sale of 1,638 BTC last week, along with on-chain data showing that approximately 1.79 million BTC have cost bases concentrated in the $62,000 to $65,000 range, still forms significant overhead supply pressure—a key reason for Bitcoin's relatively subdued price reaction. Meanwhile, continued inflows into Ethereum ETFs signal that institutional capital is returning to the crypto market, albeit with more concentrated and cautious investment preferences.

On the macro front, U.S. July non-farm payroll data showed slowing employment growth, and downward revisions to previous months' figures indicate a cooling labor market. Despite the unemployment rate falling to 4.1%, this is primarily due to a declining labor force participation rate rather than clear improvement in the job market. Bitfinex believes that low layoff levels and declining initial jobless claims suggest the U.S. labor market remains in a "cooling, not recessionary" phase, but slowing wage growth, falling participation rates, and a narrower hiring scope all reflect weakening momentum in the job market.

Markets have now lowered expectations for a Fed rate hike in September to 43.9%, pushing short-term Treasury yields and the dollar lower while supporting gains in equities and crypto assets. However, long-term Treasury yields remain elevated, with the 30-year yield holding above 5.2%, reflecting persistent investor concerns over inflationary pressures and government debt expansion.

Bitfinex points out that if the Fed holds rates steady in September, it would more likely represent a wait-and-see policy stance rather than the start of a rate-cutting cycle. The current macro environment continues to provide support for Bitcoin, but a sustained breakout above the range would require ETF inflows to consistently outpace market selling pressure, alongside further easing of inflation data to push long-term yields lower. Until both conditions emerge, Bitcoin will likely continue to trade within its current range.

Odaily News: White House National Economic Council Director Hassett stated that U.S. President Trump will decide how long to hold Intel (INTC.O) shares. (Jin10)