Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has reported it holds more than $20 billion in digital assets, making the company one of the largest in decentralized finance. In a Tuesday announcement, Celsius said its holdings had grown more than 1,900% in less than a year, from $1 billion in June 2020 to $20.3 billion as of Aug. 13. The company conducted an internal audit using technology provided by analytics firm Chainalysis, also determining it was adding roughly $1 billion in new digital assets monthly. According to Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, the platform’s growth could be attributed to its “low-cost lending and high-interest yield on 43 cryptocurrencies” as well as its community-centric model. The Celsius website shows the platform currently has more than 962,000 users, or roughly 1% of its goal “to bring the next 100 million people into crypto.”

MicroStrategy has once again purchased more Bitcoin (BTC), with the company adding 3,907 BTC to its holdings. According to a Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission published on Tuesday, the business intelligence upped its Bitcoin holdings by 3,907 BTC between July 1 and Monday, Aug. 23. The SEC filing also revealed that MicroStrategy spent an average of $45,294 to acquire the additional Bitcoin.

In an interview with CNBC’s Street Signs Asia released Tuesday, Sam Bankman-Fried expressed optimistic caution surrounding the pace of nonfungible tokens’ (NFT) growth over the last year, warning investors that they could become vulnerable to the volatile market dynamics if improperly educated in the space. The 29-year-old crypto entrepreneur and founder of trading company Alameda Research and crypto derivatives exchange FTX intimated that conversions have occurred with his own clients regarding their intent to purchase digital assets, but those same clients can become tentative when challenged on the genuine utility of their new asset. “It’s almost going mainstream faster than the mainstream understands what it is they’re adopting, which is a weird phenomenon,” Bankman-Fried claimed.

The results of a recent survey undertaken by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of Politico suggest that a plurality of the British adult population hold visceral concerns surrounding a Bank of England (BOE)-issued central bank digital currency (CBDC). The 2,500 British adults surveyed in the study in early August expressed doubts and concerns on the inherent societal benefits of the issuance of a CBDC by the Bank of England. According to the data, 30% of participants believe that a “Britcoin” CBDC is “more likely to be harmful than beneficial to the UK,” with 24% believing that it could be beneficial, while the remaining participants at 46% were undecided.

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is613,610.93 GH/s，mining difficulty is8,143.78T. ETH's price ：$ 3,198.35 Avg Gas Price：178.00Gwei Pending Txs ：169128

Major South Korean cryptocurrency company Upbit has reportedly submitted a business report with the Korean Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). Upbit reported its digital asset business to the FIU, which operates under South Korea’s top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Upbit’s operator, Dunamu, announced the news on Friday, The Korea Economic Daily reported. Upbit is one of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges alongside Bithumb, Coinone and Korbit, and reportedly makes up more than 80% of the local cryptocurrency market. FSC vice chairman Doh Gyu-sang said that the authority will be ready to accept more reports from the most popular South Korean exchanges in the near future. The official said that the FSC expects one or two more crypto exchanges to have filed reports by the end of August.

Iran will once again allow Bitcoin and crypto miners to operate in the country from the last week of September. According to a report by Iran’s Financial Tribune, Tavanir, the country’s power generation organization, made the decision known earlier in August. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, Iran’s government banned Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto mining operations back in May. At the time, the decision was reportedly made to prevent miners from overburdening the grid during the hot summer months.

Crypto derivatives exchange, FTX, has purchased the naming rights to California University’s Cal Memorial Stadium with a view to introducing its own branding. The Sam Bankman-Fried owned derivatives exchange is delving deeper into sports after signing a 10-year, $17.5 million naming rights deal with the university.  The stadium's home team, the Cal Golden Bears, will now play their games on newly rebranded FTX Field this football season, according to Bloomberg. The $17.5 million will also be paid to the university in the form of crypto assets.

Regulators from Yingjiang County in Yunnan, China have issued strict warnings to hydroelectric plants against supplying power to enterprises involved in Bitcoin (BTC) mining.  A recent report claimed that the Office of the People’s Government of Yingjiang County issued notice to hydropower plants to strengthen oversight on Bitcoin mining operations. According to the announcement, the power plants have been given until Tuesday, Aug. 24, to delist mining companies from their grid’s “illegal” supply. After the given deadline, the county reportedly plans to “forcibly dismantle” the power supply to Bitcoin mining establishments within its jurisdiction.

Xiaomi India, the subcontinent’s branch of the major mobile phone manufacturer, is interested in the cryptocurrency industry but needs regulatory clarity from the government. The firm’s managing director, Manu Jain, said in an interview with The Economic Times, “We will want to wait for all the regulatory things. Of course, crypto is an area, which is extremely interesting, and is the biggest buzzword and is doing exceptionally well. But, we would want to understand more on the regulation side.”  Jain’s latest remarks come after the company’s financial service business returned to growth in 2021, seeing a 35% year-on-year surge in the first quarter due to expanding into more financial products.

An integration with payment processor OpenNode will allow content platform Substack to accept Bitcoin (BTC) payments on-chain and use the Lightning Network. In a Monday announcement, OpenNode said it had partnered with Substack “to make it easy for writers and publications to get paid in Bitcoin.” According to OpenNode and Substack, the integration will only be available to “a select group of crypto-focused publications” on the platform. The publishing platform, which allows writers to send their work directly to readers, has more than 500,000 paid subscribers, with the most popular writers reportedly earning more than six figures annually. The select Substack readers will be able to pay for their subscriptions in Bitcoin, with certain publications allowed to keep their earnings in crypto as well.

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is pushing back against allegations of market manipulation and working against the interest of its users. In a Monday Twitter thread, Binance seemingly laid the blame for any claims of manipulating the crypto market on publications spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt, as well as certain individuals impersonating employees at the exchange. The firm said it “reserves the right to take legal action to protect its interests,” but was not opposed to “responsible whistle-blowing that protects the trust of our community.” “Binance has never traded against our users nor manipulated the market, and we never will,” said the exchange.

Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador and the principal figure behind the country’s adoption of Bitcoin (BTC), said residents will have the opportunity to convert their crypto to fiat immediately after Bitcoin is recognized as legal tender.  In a Sunday announcement on Twitter, Bukele said 4.5 million adults in El Salvador would have the option of HODLing their Bitcoin once the country officially accepted the cryptocurrency as legal tender or “withdraw[ing] it in cash at any of the 200 ATMs.” According to the El Salvador president, there will also be 50 branches capable of withdrawing or depositing fiat for residents to hold crypto or immediately liquidate their salaries. Bukele previously said that the government would be building the infrastructure to support a state-issued Bitcoin wallet, called Chivo. The president claimed that “Chivo ATMs” will eventually be “everywhere” and allow El Salvadorans to withdraw cash 24 hours a day without paying commissions on their holdings, but no one will be forced to use them.

Dawn Stump, one of four commissioners currently serving at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has released a statement clarifying the agency's authority with respect to digital assets.  In a Monday statement, Stump said the CFTC is empowered with both regulatory and enforcement authority for commodities. She did not specifically say that digital assets were cash-like commodities in the eyes of the regulatory body, but “even if a digital asset is a commodity, it is not regulated by the CFTC.” According to the commissioner, however, the agency is within its power to regulate derivatives on digital assets, “such as the futures contracts on Bitcoin and Ether listed for trading on various CFTC-regulated exchanges.” U.S. government agencies including the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are largely responsible for handling digital asset regulation and enforcement in the country. However, each has different jurisdictional claims regarding crypto, often leading to confusion for companies trying to operate within the law.

Institutional investors are loading up on Solana (SOL), with one-third of inflows to crypto investment products being invested in instruments tracking Solana this past week. According to CoinShares’ Aug. 23 Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly report, $7.1 million flowed into Solana investment products between Aug. 15 and Aug. 20. While the price of SOL gained a megre 1.4% on the spot markets over the same period, SOL has gained 110% from $35.58 since the start of August to trade for $75 as of this writing.