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.

Credit card giant Visa has made a substantial splash on its emergence into the nonfungible token (NFT) space with a $150,000 acquisition of a CryptoPunk, the collective of digital artworks that pioneered the mainstream culture of the space back in 2017. In a blog post announcement released on Monday, Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa and self-proclaimed NFT enthusiast, shared his views on the value of purchasing NFT assets in the digital economy, the vast growth of the market in the past few years, as well as Visa’s commercial incentives in this investment. Sheffield claimed, “To help our clients and partners participate, we need a first-hand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT.”

Yet another blow has been dealt to China’s cryptocurrency community, with news of a new high court ruling in the Shandong province that has drawn out the consequences of crypto’s lack of legal status in the country. As the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, the case in question was an appeal against a ruling this January by an intermediate court in the city of Jinan. The plaintiff in the case had lost 70,000 yuan (roughly $10,750) by investing in unnamed crypto tokens back in 2017, which friends of his had reportedly endorsed. Following the People’s Bank of China’s doubling down on its anti-crypto measures in 2018, the involved accounts were closed, leading to the loss of the tokens. Shandong’s high court has now ruled this weekend against the plaintiff's case, which rested upon allegations of fraud, by affirming that “investing or trading cryptocurrency isn’t protected by law.”

Liquidity market protocol BENQI has reached $1 billion in total value locked, or TVL, less than a week after launching on the Avalanche (AVAX) network, a major milestone that highlights the explosive growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) lending services.  Benqi Finance announced the milestone on Twitter late Sunday, where it thanked its community for the overwhelming support. Absolutely speechless...Thank you everyone for the overwhelming support. @avalancheavax #AvalancheRush #Avalanche $QI pic.twitter.com/36zRSrvHSs

Bybit has secured new contracts with esports organizations Astralis and Alliance that will see the cryptocurrency exchange expand its footprint in the video game industry.  Bybit will have its logo featured on gaming jerseys and twitch.tv streams as part of a broader strategic initiative targeting more expansive player engagements, carbon neutrality initiatives and financial education programs, the exchange announced Monday. Ben Zhou, co-founder and CEO of Bybit, said his company “is in it for the long run,” referring to esports. He believes there is a “special connection” between the esports and cryptocurrency communities for their high degree of competitiveness and rapid adoption curves.

Coinbase president and COO, Emilie Choi, has announced that the reserves backing the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) will be consolidated into cash and U.S. government treasuries. An Aug. 22 blog post from CENTRE Consortium, the entity that was collaboratively established by top U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain financial services company Circle that issues USDC, stated that USD Coin’s reserves will soon be entirely held in “cash and short duration U.S. Treasuries.” On Twitter, Choi attributed the change in policy to backlash against USDC’s reserves expanding beyond cash, cash equivalents, and U.S. treasuries in May. The changes to USDC’s reserves had not reported until July, exacerbating public concern regarding the stable coin’s backing.

Emerging economies like Vietnam, India and Indonesia are leading the charge when it comes to cryptocurrency adoption, underscoring important use cases for digital assets tied to remittances and financial inclusion.  Finder’s survey of 42,000 people across 27 countries revealed that Vietnam had the highest adoption rate, with 41% of respondents claiming they had purchased cryptocurrency. Twenty percent of Vietnamese said they had purchased Bitcoin (BTC), which was the highest among all countries polled. Although Vietnam’s strong outperformance may appear surprising at the surface, Finder’s survey corroborated other data showing that the southeast Asian country is punching above its weight when it comes to crypto adoption. As Cointelegraph reported in June, Vietnam ranked 13th in realized Bitcon gains for 2020 — despite having only the 53rd largest economy based on gross domestic product.

Over the course of 2020 and 2021, the cryptocurrency industry has attracted a notable amount of mainstream attention. In line with the growing awareness of the crypto industry, Intel, a tech company with history dating back to the 1960s, revealed an investment in crypto exchange Coinbase.  Although a number of specifics remain unknown such as when the purchase occurred, required Q2 financial disclosure from Intel showed the outfit carrying 3,014 COIN shares at Q2’s conclusion, according to a Friday article from Barron’s. “Intel was obligated to disclose the stake to the Securities and Exchange Commission because it owns more than $100 million in publicly traded investments,” Barron’s noted. The disclosure from Intel went public on Friday, according to the article.

New filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, reveal that four wealth management companies have acquired shares of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust, offering further evidence of institutional adoption of digital assets.  As first reported by MacroScope, a Twitter feed devoted to institutional trading and asset management, the firms disclosed their GBTC holdings in new filings for the period ending June 30, 2021. Clear Perspective Advisors, an Illinois-based wealth manager, revealed direct ownership of 7,790 GBTC shares on Friday.

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is579,333.94 GH/s，mining difficulty is7,714.93T. ETH's price ：$ 3,307.20 Avg Gas Price：21.20Gwei Pending Txs ：172034

The United States Treasury Department is reportedly seeking to clarify the definition of brokers in the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last week, offering cautious reassurance that the new legislation won’t impact innovation and growth in the blockchain industry.  As reported by Bloomberg, the Treasury Department is preparing guidance on what types of crypto companies will be required to comply with new IRS reporting requirements. The report indicated that the definition of “broker” could be narrowed from what many fear would include protocol developers and wallet providers that currently operate in the cryptocurrency industry. A Treasury official reportedly told Bloomberg that developers, miners and wallet providers won’t be subjected to the new reporting requirements, provided they don’t also act as brokers. “The Treasury’s guidance won’t grant blanket exemptions based on how firms identify themselves and instead focus on whether a firm’s activities qualify it as a broker under the tax code,” wrote Christopher Condon and Laura Davidson.

U.S. telecom giant T-Mobile is looking into an alleged massive data breach that may have compromised more than 100 million users. According to Vice's Motherboard, T-Mobile is investigating an alleged data breach claimed by the author of the post on an underground forum. The Aug. 15 report says the hacker claims to have obtained data on more than 100 million customers from T-Mobile servers. The seller is asking for 6 BTC — approximately $287,000 at current prices, in exchange for some of the data.

Bitcoin (BTC) rewards company GoSats has launched a new cashback rewards card for customers in India, potentially setting the stage for wider mainstream adoption of digital assets in the world’s second-most populous country.  The new product is being introduced in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India, also known as NPCI, which is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting digital payments and settlement systems across the country. The organization was founded in December 2008 and is under the direct ownership of the Reserve Bank of India. The GoSats rewards card, which is accessible through mobile app and browser extension, allows users to earn cashback paid in BTC while shopping at major brands such as Amazon, Starbucks and Flipkart. GoStats was built on Stacks, which provides smart contracts and apps for Bitcoin. Namely, the rewards card utilizes Stacks' Clarity smart contracts and "stacking," which provides users with a way to earn BTC through the STX token.

According to data from eth.btc.com，ethereum network's hashrate is572,536.32 GH/s，mining difficulty is7,651.53T. ETH's price ：$ 3,178.87 Avg Gas Price：21.20Gwei Pending Txs ：155833

The latest craze in animal themed nonfungible tokens has been such a big hit that it has become the top burner of Ethereum transaction fees over the past 24 hours. CyberKongz, which started as a collection of 1,000 unique NFTs in early March 2021, has surged in popularity recently. So much so that it has today usurped NFT marketplace OpenSea and the world’s most popular decentralized exchange, Uniswap, in terms of Ethereum fee burning. The achievement was noted by the Chinese blockchain outlet Wu Blockchain which reported that it had burned 1,240 in ETH, or around $4 million in just 5 hours.

Being a crypto-friendly country has paid off in terms of adoption, as a new study about Singapore revealed.  “The State of Crypto in Singapore Report 2021,” conducted by crypto exchange Gemini in partnership with CoinMarketCap and Seedly, found that more than two-thirds of Singaporeans who have financial investments currently hold crypto. The report, which sampled 4,348 Singapore-based adults who self-identify as having or being interested in personal finance and investment products, shows that 67% of the respondents currently own crypto assets.

Mike Novogratz’s investment management firm Galaxy Digital has reportedly participated in a $50 million funding round for Figment, a crypto staking startup. According to Bloomberg on Monday, Galaxy Digital joined investors like Anchorage and Bonfire Ventures in a Series B funding round led by Senator Investment Group and Liberty City Ventures. The company is now reportedly worth about $500 million following the fresh injection of investment capital.

Australian crypto influencer and Nuggets News founder Alex Saunders is facing backlash over his non-fungible token (NFT) sale from late last year. Nuggets News is a paid group providing technical analysis and crypto tips to subscribers that was founded by Saunders in 2017. As of Aug.17, Nuggets News had roughly 146,000 subscribers on YouTube. In November 2020, Saunders minted 100 NFTs comprising tokenized tickets he said would grant holders access to an exclusive Nuggets News community headquarters being developed in the crypto-powered virtual metaverse, Decentraland.

The latest craze in animal-themed nonfungible tokens (NFT) has been such a big hit that it has become the top burner of Ethereum transaction fees over the past 24 hours. CyberKongz, which started as a collection of 1,000 unique NFTs in early March 2021, has surged in popularity recently. So much so that it has today usurped NFT marketplace OpenSea and the world’s most popular decentralized exchange, Uniswap, in terms of Ethereum fee burning. The achievement was noted by the Chinese blockchain outlet Wu Blockchain, which reported that it had burned 1,240 in Ether (ETH), or around $4 million in just five hours.

Automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Balancer announced Monday that it had partnered with DAO-based staking platform Lido to introduce a MetaStable Pool incentive program. MetaStable Pools are liquidity pools specifically designed to work with highly correlated (but not hard-pegged) tokens, like wrapped assets. Users will be able to create swaps between MetaStable pools and assets integrated with other liquidity pools while benefiting from cheaper swap prices and eliminating the need for individual swap-specific stable pools. They will also prevent the dilution of liquidity from existing pools and increase maximum trade amounts, according to the release. The first pool listing, of staked Ether (stETH) and wrapped staked Ether (wstETH), aims to offer liquidity for stakers on the Ethereum network. The pool will be sponsored by both LDO and BAL rewards at an allocation of 2500 BAL per week and an additional 25,000 LIDO per week for the first month. The first distribution is set to take place on August 24 via the Balancer claim portal.