On Aug. 22, HYPE broke above 77 USDT and set another record, while HOOD climbed 11.69% to $106.22. BTC, ETH and SOL all rose in the CEX top-volume list, and coins such as GALA, STX, ENS and BCH posted strong 24-hour gains on OKX. GMGN’s top meme list was led by UP, WWW and Hachi. The update also noted $3 billion in stablecoins minted by Circle and Tether over the past two days, a record $2.739 billion in short liquidations on Aug. 19, and fresh comments from Vitalik Buterin, Brian Armstrong, Tom Lee and CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju.

Crypto markets and adjacent tech news were both active on Aug. 21. Among the most-traded tokens on centralized exchanges, BTC, ETH, SOL and BNB all posted gains over the past 24 hours, while HYPE briefly rose above $73.4, according to OKX data, with a 24-hour increase of 26%. Separate ranking data from OKX and msx.com showed strong moves in spot tokens and crypto-linked equities, including a 60.15% jump in BTCT.M. On the corporate side, Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is preparing for an initial public offering that could match or exceed the record level set by SpaceX, with a public filing possible as soon as the end of August. The report said Anthropic raised capital in May at a $96.5 billion valuation, brought in $6.5 billion in financing, and had reached a $6.5 billion revenue run rate by the end of July. Bloomberg also said the company is working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan and is weighing a super-voting share structure for CEO Dario Amodei. Other developments included ICE signaling openness to joining a new Polymarket funding round, the U.S. SEC proposing two fundraising exemption tracks for crypto projects, Riot Platforms signing AI data center leasing agreements worth about $9.8 billion in long-term revenue, and CZ saying a compliant U.S. entry by Hyperliquid would be positive for the broader industry.

Mesh, which raised $75 million at a $1 billion valuation in January 2026, could now be valued at $2 billion if a new Binance-led round is completed, according to reports.

Under MiCA, only stablecoins with EU-authorized issuers get a clear compliance label. USDC, EURC, EURCV, EURI, EURQ, USDQ lead the list. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major coins don't have official 'MiCA-compliant' status — the regulation targets services, not assets.

Binance Research said in a July 8 report that stablecoins are no longer expanding mainly as liquidity instruments for crypto trading. The report argues that the sector is shifting toward a broader role as digital financial infrastructure, spanning value storage, yield generation, payments, settlement and cross-border treasury management. The report points to several data sets inside the Binance ecosystem and across public blockchains. On Binance, 30% of users with at least $10 in assets now keep more than half of their portfolios in stablecoins, up from 4% in 2020. It also highlights persistent fiat-to-stablecoin premiums across multiple economies, stronger savings demand in emerging markets, and growing use of tokenized Treasury products and structured on-chain yield products. Binance Research also links stablecoin growth to merchant payments, non-dollar stablecoins, weekend settlement activity, AI agent micropayments and on-chain foreign exchange. In its view, the category is becoming less tied to crypto bull and bear cycles and more connected to wider global financial demand. The report says regulation, reserve transparency and macro conditions will still shape how quickly this shift unfolds.

With the EU’s MiCA transition period now over, Europe’s stablecoin market is being reshaped around regulatory eligibility. Tether did not apply for MiCA authorization, effectively leaving USDT outside the region’s main compliant trading channels. Circle, by contrast, secured a French EMI license in advance and brought both USDC and EURC into the MiCA framework, positioning itself to absorb demand from exchanges, institutions, and users seeking compliant dollar-denominated on-chain assets. Major platforms have already adjusted. Binance has removed several non-MiCA-compliant stablecoin pairs for EEA users while retaining USDC and other compliant options, and Coinbase has also moved to limit services for non-compliant stablecoins in the region. Although USDT is not entirely unusable in Europe, its access through regulated exchanges is clearly narrowing. At the same time, the launch of Open USD briefly rattled the market and sent Circle shares sharply lower, as the project claimed backing from more than 140 companies and proposed free minting, free redemption, and reserve-yield sharing. But questions quickly emerged around the credibility of that partner list, and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire argued that stablecoin competition is ultimately driven by network effects, regulatory licenses, liquidity, banking access, and payment infrastructure. In Europe, MiCA appears to be reinforcing that thesis.

Banking Circle has launched regulated stablecoin settlement services after securing a CASP license in Luxembourg, supporting USDC, USDG and EURI as Europe’s MiCA-driven competition in compliant digital payments intensifies.

Banking Circle has launched regulated stablecoin settlement services after receiving a CASP license in Luxembourg, adding support for USDC, USDG and its own EURI amid intensifying MiCA-driven competition in Europe.