The suspect appeared in court after being deported from Fiji to face 25 charges tied to the alleged fraud. Edward Zimbardi is scheduled to face a US court today over an alleged $165 million crypto Ponzi scheme, according to reporting from CryptoBriefing.
Reports diverge on whether Kbank or Jeonbuk Bank is driving Ripple's latest push into South Korea's banking sector Ripple has struck a new payments deal with a South Korean bank, according to reports published this week. The agreement marks one of Ripple’s first confirmed partnerships with a regional Korean lender for cross-border transfers.
Axios reporting, cited by CryptoBriefing and Cryptopolitan, points to a valuation debate across the AI sector. Anthropic's revenue run rate has reportedly hit $65 billion, according to reporting from Axios. The figure comes as the AI company moves toward a public listing.
August 18, 2026
BitMart Founder’s Name and Hack Claim Disputed
Crypto Economy and BlockchainReporter both cover BitMart's unpaid-salary and withdrawal dispute but disagree on the founder's name and on whether he called the claims fabricated rumors or blamed a hacked account. Crypto Economy and BlockchainReporter both cover BitMart's unpaid-salary and withdrawal dispute but disagree on the founder's name and on whether he called the claims…
Ranked by publisher count, the night split cleanly into confirmed regulatory plumbing, a weaker macro undercurrent, and single-source claims that are not yet established fact. Ranked by publisher count, the night split cleanly into confirmed regulatory plumbing, a weaker macro undercurrent, and single-source claims that are not yet established fact.
Rising oil prices and geopolitical concerns pushed major U.S. indexes lower to close the session. Wall Street closed lower on the session as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped approximately 270 points. Investors reacted to renewed tensions between the United States and Iran. The decline touched major indexes, according to reporting from Invezz and CryptoBriefing.
On-chain analytics firm reports exchange reserves nearing their June peak, reversing months of outflows. On-chain analytics firm Santiment has reported that 84% of Bitcoin previously withdrawn from exchanges has now returned to those platforms.
August 18, 2026
Ethereum Reports Disagree on Gas-Repricing EIP Number
All three outlets describe the same Platåberget testnet launch and Glamsterdam fork, but Blockchain.News cites a different EIP number for the gas-repricing feature than Cryptopolitan and Crypto Economy. All three outlets describe the same Platåberget testnet launch and Glamsterdam fork, but Blockchain.News cites a different EIP number for the gas-repricing feature than Cryptopolitan and Crypto…
CryptoBriefing reports that fresh investor demand has pushed the artificial intelligence company's valuation to $2 billion. Wispr Flow has been valued at $2 billion, CryptoBriefing reported on August 17. The report ties the figure to strong investor interest in artificial intelligence startups more broadly.
The platform will wind down operations at the end of August and will not distribute the token or airdrop it had previously promised users. Printr, a crypto project that had built anticipation around a future token distribution, is closing down. Reports from crypto.news and CryptoBriefing indicate the platform will shut its doors by August 31.
The central bank has set a ceiling on how much digital assets can count toward exchange capital requirements. The Bank of Russia has introduced a rule capping cryptocurrency at 25% of the capital that exchanges and market brokers can count for regulatory purposes.
Payward will use Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5 model to help identify software vulnerabilities across its systems. Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, has joined Project Glasswing, an initiative run by artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The program is designed to help participating organizations find software vulnerabilities using advanced AI models.
A $35 million prediction market book shows traders leaning toward the Federal Reserve holding or raising rates rather than cutting them next month. A prediction market covering the Federal Reserve's September policy decision has drawn attention for an unusual set of odds.
Cardano's ADA token trades close to $0.17 even after developers detailed the upcoming Dijkstra network upgrade. Cardano's native token, ADA, traded close to $0.17 following the disclosure of plans for a hard fork called Dijkstra, scheduled for 2026.
Yahoo Finance and Bankless say Stripe's acquisition of OpenRouter is valued at more than $8 billion, while Crypto Economy's headline puts the figure at $7 billion. Yahoo Finance and Bankless say Stripe's acquisition of OpenRouter is valued at more than $8 billion, while Crypto Economy's headline puts the figure at $7 billion.
Trading firm Jane Street disclosed a fresh $630 million move into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, pushing its total position toward the $1 billion mark. Jane Street, one of the world's largest quantitative trading firms, has significantly expanded its exposure to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The bitcoin miner turned data-center operator has delivered the initial phase of a multibillion-dollar agreement to supply AI computing capacity to Microsoft. IREN has completed the first of four AI cloud deployments owed to Microsoft under a $9.7 billion agreement, according to reports from CryptoBriefing and The Block.
The digital asset custody and infrastructure firm hires a former securities regulator to lead its policy and compliance strategy. Fireblocks has hired Elad Roisman, who previously served as Acting Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve as its Chief Regulatory Officer.