WEEKLY BRIEF Jul 26–Aug 2, 2026

Headlines
• Circle acquires IBM’s blockchain patent portfolio to expand its IP holdings
• HashKey to acquire Singapore-based Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX)
• Stripe in discussions for $10B acquisition of AI platform OpenRouter
• Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged at 3.5-3.75%
• Aave to deprecate 50 asset reserves and wind down multiple L2 deployments
• Citadel acquires majority of Situational Awareness assets following fund liquidation
• Ondo Finance evaluating potential acquisitions valued between $250M and $500M
• Coinbase to launch US500 equity index perp-style futures on August 17
• Coldcard MK3 exploit results in over 1,367 BTC (~$88.6M) stolen from 4,500+ addresses
• Uniswap launches 'Earn' in partnership with Morpho for idle crypto yield

Weekly ETF Flows
• BTC: -$49.9M net outflows
• ETH: -$1.7M net outflows
• SOL: -$18.1M net outflows
• HYP: -$11.8M net outflows

Exchange Listings
• Bithumb: $BANK (spot), $GEOD (spot), $O (spot), $RLUSD (spot), $AEON (spot), $GRVT (spot)
• Upbit: $GEOD (spot KRW), $RLUSD (spot KRW), $META2 (spot KRW), $USDG (spot KRW), $CFX (spot KRW)
• Bybit: $GRVT (spot)
• Coinbase: $GRVT (spot)
• Robinhood: $FET (spot)
• Binance: $GRVT (futures)

Regulatory
• Binance obtains Philippines sandbox license; website unblocked with fiat channels pending
• Binance.US plans to apply for a Designated Contract Market license with the CFTC
• Circle receives New York Trust Charter from the NYDFS

Market Flows
• Odds of U.S. government banning open-source AI in 2026 fall to 19% on Polymarket
• Strategy conducts $25M stock buyback of STRC shares
• Crypto industry funding begins flowing into Michigan and Iowa Senate races