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The city council of Albuquerque, New Mexico, passed an ordinance on Wednesday prohibiting the operation of cryptocurrency ATMs (cryptocurrency vending machines) within the city limits, while also banning cashier-assisted virtual currency transactions. The city government will notify known operators and retailers hosting the machines, requiring them to remove the relevant equipment within 45 days.The ordinance was jointly initiated by District 1 Councilor Stephanie Telles and District 7 Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. Telles stated that 90% of cryptocurrency ATM transactions in Albuquerque are related to fraud, claiming that these machines are primarily exploited by scammers, organized crime, and human traffickers due to the instant, anonymous, and irreversible nature of transactions. Fiebelkorn remarked that we cannot wait for federal regulators to resolve the crisis. The city council emphasized that residents can still freely hold, mine, and transfer cryptocurrencies through online exchanges and personal wallets.In terms of background, Indiana banned such machines statewide in March, Tennessee in July, and Minnesota in August; Delaware has advanced related legislation, New Jersey is considering it, and Texas is also brewing a ban. One of North America's largest operators, Bitcoin Depot, filed for bankruptcy protection in May and removed about 9,700 machines. According to data from the FBI, nearly 11,000 complaints of vending machine fraud were received in 2024, involving amounts exceeding $246 million.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has released a proposed announcement to suspend the acceptance of new applications for registration of payment system operators (OPS) for 12 months and to implement stricter controls on payment arrangements involving virtual asset service providers (VASP). The BSP stated that this move aims to conduct a comprehensive review of its classification and licensing framework.According to the draft, during the suspension period, the BSP will stop accepting and processing OPS applications. Applications submitted prior to the suspension can continue to be evaluated, but will not be approved or rejected until the suspension ends. Relevant entities are prohibited from conducting business activities that require OPS registration unless they obtain special authorization from the regulatory agency. In addition, BSP-regulated entities providing merchant acquiring services must connect licensed VASPs through direct merchant arrangements, and such relationships will be subject to enhanced due diligence, transaction and settlement limits, and other risk control measures.This requirement applies to virtual asset enterprises licensed, registered, or authorized by the BSP, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, or other regulatory agencies, with VASPs being categorized alongside betting, gaming, adult industry, and money service businesses. If the draft is ultimately approved, it will take effect 15 days after publication, and the BSP is currently seeking public comments.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Friday that former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez has agreed to pay $172,000 to settle allegations of insider trading in the prediction market by using advance knowledge of presidential speeches.Perez was able to access the content before the speeches were released due to his job, allowing him to bet on known outcomes. From December 2025 to February 2026, he profited over $107,500 from this. Under the settlement agreement, he must forfeit $107,539.02 in illegal gains, pay a civil penalty of $65,000, accept a three-year trading ban, and cease further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.The CFTC noted that the fine was significantly discounted under the new cooperation policy and praised Perez for providing exemplary assistance during the investigation, while also thanking exchange operator Kalshi for their cooperation in the case. This case highlights the insider trading risks associated with the growing popularity of prediction markets. Previously, a U.S. soldier was charged with insider trading related to military operations in Venezuela on Polymarket, and a MrBeast video editor was also fired during the Kalshi insider trading investigation.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ordered former White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez to pay a fine of $172,539 this Friday for illegally trading on a prediction market platform using advance knowledge of Trump's speech content.According to a settlement agreement with the CFTC, Perez must return illegal profits of $107,539.02 and pay a civil penalty of $65,000. He also agreed to a three-year trading ban and committed to cease and not violate the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.The CFTC noted that Perez traded Trump "mention market" contracts on the Kalshi platform during his time at the White House from December 2025 to February 2026. These contracts are event contracts that determine payouts based on whether the president uses specific words or phrases in a speech.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform that Core Lightning version 26.06.7 has been released, fixing multiple vulnerabilities disclosed responsibly over the past three weeks. The AI-generated security reports for the open-source Bitcoin project have recently increased, and specific vulnerability information will be kept confidential for two weeks to allow node operators to complete upgrades before the technical details and source code are disclosed.Developers warn that immediate disclosure of the fixes could allow attackers to reverse-engineer the vulnerabilities and subsequently attack nodes that have not yet been updated. All Core Lightning node operators should upgrade immediately. Currently, the Docker image is not available, and developers explicitly warn users not to wait for the Docker image.

Core Lightning maintains that node operators should shut down their nodes unless they upgrade to an unreleased version. This warning was spread via Discord and amplified by Cashu protocol developer Calle, who stated that there is a serious vulnerability. The fix binary has not yet been released, and the details of the vulnerability are under a two-week confidentiality period.This is the fourth security alert for Bitcoin infrastructure in four weeks. Previously, a Coldcard firmware vulnerability led to approximately $114 million in BTC being stolen, and issues have also arisen with Boltz and BTCPay Server. The CLN team stated that they have received multiple AI-generated CVE reports in the past 10 days and are intensifying verification and fixes.

According to Bits.media, Russia's three major telecom operators MTS, Rostelecom, and Megafon announced that they will start accepting digital ruble payments from September 1. MTS will support the use of digital rubles for all services within its payment module MTS Pay, with no category restrictions. Rostelecom will initially only support one-time payments on its official website, and will later expand to personal accounts; regular payments and automatic top-ups will depend on the readiness of the central bank's platform. Megafon will also offer it as an additional payment method.The two major e-commerce platforms, Wildberries and Ozon, also announced the activation of digital rubles on the same day. According to the law, starting from September 1, all large enterprises in Russia must be able to process digital ruble transactions, and the apps of 12 systemically important banks must have an entry point for digital ruble wallets. The central bank plans to impose limits on the recharge of digital wallets, with a maximum of 300,000 rubles per month through a single bank.

On August 26, according to the Korea Herald, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange operator Dunamu has been designated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety as a "Joint Utilization Agency for Administrative Information," becoming the first cryptocurrency exchange operator in South Korea to obtain this qualification. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety completed on-site inspections and qualification reviews in May of this year and made the designation decision this month.Dunamu plans to use this system for user identity verification (KYC), reducing the process of users repeatedly submitting proof materials by accessing relevant administrative information, thereby improving the efficiency of account opening and account verification.

According to Bloomberg, AI data center operator DataVita announced the completion of a $406 million financing round, with participation from ING, ABN AMRO, Banco Santander, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and Siemens Financial Services.The new funds will be used for the AI data center park and a 15-year data center lease agreement with AI cloud service provider CoreWeave.

According to CoinDesk, a South Korean court sentenced a cryptocurrency platform operator to 15 years in prison this week, involving an amount of approximately 50 million USD. This ruling is considered one of the longest sentences handed down in South Korea to date for cryptocurrency fraud.Reports indicate that this case occurred against the backdrop of South Korea strengthening its scrutiny of outbound fund transfers and related platforms like Binance implementing restrictive measures, reflecting the local regulatory authorities' ongoing tightening of efforts to combat cryptocurrency fraud and capital outflows.

Upbit operator Dunamu announced its performance for the second quarter of 2026, with quarterly revenue of 173.5 billion won (approximately 12.3 million USD) and operating profit of 23.5 billion won (approximately 1.665 million USD), a decrease of about 26% and 73% respectively compared to the first quarter.In the first quarter, Dunamu's revenue was 234.6 billion won (approximately 16.6 million USD) and operating profit was 88 billion won (approximately 6.234 million USD). Dunamu stated that the decline in performance this quarter was mainly affected by the overall liquidity contraction in the global digital asset market, leading to weakened investor sentiment.

According to Bloomberg, Kraken operator Payward disclosed that due to a slowdown in industry trading activity, the company's adjusted pre-tax profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $23 million, a 71% decrease from $79.7 million in the same period last year; during the same period, adjusted revenue increased by 17% year-on-year to $508 million.Payward stated that although revenue continues to grow, the overall trading volume in the cryptocurrency market is weak, putting pressure on profitability. Kraken has been continuously expanding its institutional business, derivatives trading, and on-chain services in recent years, but changes in the industry cycle still exert pressure on its core trading business.

According to News1, South Korea will expand the registration review scope of Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) to include major shareholders starting from August 20. If there are changes to the major shareholders or the company's legal compliance framework, operators must notify the financial authorities 30 days in advance.The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced the revised registration manual at a briefing held in Seoul for virtual asset service providers and potential operators. The review targets not only the largest shareholders and major shareholders holding more than 10% of shares but also shareholders with special connections to the largest shareholders. If the largest shareholder is a legal entity, the largest shareholder of that entity and its representatives may also be included in the review scope.

According to Bloomberg, Singapore data center operator DayOne has secretly submitted an initial public offering (IPO) application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to go public in the U.S. as early as next quarter.The company aims to raise approximately $5 billion, with a listing valuation of about $20 billion; however, relevant details are still under discussion, and the scale and timing of the offering may change.

According to CoinPost, the Financial Services Agency of Japan has announced a partial revision of the "Comprehensive Supervision Guidelines for Major Banks and Others," which will unify the reporting format for cybersecurity incidents across 17 regulatory areas, including cryptocurrency exchange operators.A new "Common Format for Other Cyber Attacks and Related Incidents" has been added, which, along with the existing formats for DDoS attacks and ransomware, constitutes a three-category reporting distinction system. As a transitional measure, non-specific social infrastructure operators may continue to use the old reporting format until the end of March 2027, with the deadline for public comments set for September 7, 2026.

A spokesperson for Nvidia (NVDA.O) responded to market rumors about its accelerated entry into the telecommunications operator market and its search for base station manufacturer partnerships in China, stating that the report is unfounded and the description is inaccurate.Previously, there were reports that Shenzhen Jiaxian Communication Co., Ltd. was involved in the collaborative development of Nvidia's 6GAI-RAN base stations.

According to The Block, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the Public Utility Commission (PUCT) and the grid operator ERCOT to conduct audits on all data center projects in the queue within the state this week. ERCOT subsequently suspended the "Batch Zero" large electricity approval process, which was scheduled to announce results this month.Currently, data center applications account for about 90% of the 474 GW interconnected queue of ERCOT.Bernstein analysts noted in a client report released on Tuesday that this regulatory review will suppress speculative development and compress the supply of new electricity capacity, thereby enhancing the scarcity value of approved electricity capacity, benefiting existing Bitcoin mining companies and AI operators.The report specifically mentioned that Cipher Digital (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Core Scientific (CORZ) are significantly affected by the audit, as their recent expansion plans rely on access to the Texas grid; while Terawulf (WULF) has a stronger risk resistance due to its power assets being distributed across multiple states, including Kentucky, Maryland, and New York; Riot Platforms (RIOT) and IREN benefit from already having large-scale approved operating assets in ERCOT.

According to South Korean media Asiae, the operator of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, Dunamu, announced that it has made an additional investment in the medical big data company Inocras through its investment subsidiary Dunamu & Partners, bringing the total investment amount to 14.5 billion Korean won.

According to PR Newswire, stablecoin operator Notabene announced a strategic investment from Ripple, with the specific investment amount not disclosed. The two parties will collaborate on enterprise-level stablecoin payments, including the integration of Ripple's USD stablecoin RLUSD into Notabene Flow B2B stablecoin payment platform.They also plan to further expand the application of RLUSD in institutional payment networks, accelerating the adoption of compliant stablecoin infrastructure by banks, payment institutions, and fintech companies.

According to Jinshi reports, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell stated that sanctions have been imposed on over 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, more than 40 shadow fleet vessels, and several refineries in Russia and Belarus.