The U.S. Treasury jolted markets by doubling liquidity buybacks for 10- to 30-year Treasurys from a maximum of $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, a move that helped pull long-dated yields lower after a sharp bond selloff. The 30-year yield fell by more than 9 basis points on the day, while the 10-year yield slipped back toward 4.64%. The dollar index dropped 0.86% to 98.69, spot gold surged through $4,500 an ounce, and Bitcoin briefly climbed to $70,064, its highest level since June 2, according to OKX data. At the same time, minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting struck a hawkish tone. Rates were left unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75%, but three voters — Logan, Hammack and Kashkari — dissented in favor of an immediate 25-basis-point hike. The minutes also showed officials discussing AI-driven inflation pressure in chips, steel, power and data-center materials, while warning that aggressive borrowing and overly optimistic profit assumptions could leave AI valuations vulnerable. Equity leadership shifted sharply. A successful Phase 3 personalized mRNA cancer vaccine trial from Moderna and Merck ignited a rally in drugmakers and biotech, while semiconductor, storage and optical-networking names tied to AI momentum selling continued to weaken. Crypto-linked stocks also jumped, helped by stronger Bitcoin prices and comments tied to Hyperliquid’s possible compliant U.S. entry.

Moderna and Merck said their jointly developed mRNA melanoma vaccine trial met its goal, setting off a sharp rally in biopharma stocks. Moderna shares surged as much as 176.97% on Wednesday and closed at $174, marking the company’s biggest single-day gain on record, according to ABMedia. Merck also rose more than 12.60% to $152.20. The report said the vaccine candidate, Intismeran Autogene, used in combination with Merck’s Keytruda, reduced the risk of recurrence for some melanoma patients. Leerink Partners analyst Daina Graybosch called the Phase 3 trial result “historic.” ABMedia also said the move lifted shares of BioNTech, AbbVie, Amgen, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson. The outlet added that Moderna’s latest progress came after weaker COVID-19 vaccine demand had left investors watching its transition strategy closely, while recent sector rotation had started bringing capital back into healthcare and biotech stocks.

Moderna and Merck said an interim Phase 3 analysis of their personalized mRNA cancer therapy, intismeran autogene, used with Keytruda in melanoma patients, met both its primary and key secondary endpoints. The update sent Moderna shares up 176.97% on Aug. 19 to $174.38, lifting the company’s market value from about $25 billion to roughly $69 billion in a single session, while Merck rose more than 9% intraday. The regimen is designed as adjuvant therapy after surgery for resected stage IIB to IV cutaneous melanoma, aiming to reduce recurrence and distant metastasis rather than treat widely metastatic end-stage disease. The trial, INTerpath-001, enrolled 1,137 patients in a 2:1 randomized, double-blind design. Still, the companies have not yet released hazard ratios, confidence intervals, p-values, event counts, absolute recurrence rates, or Kaplan-Meier survival curves from the Phase 3 readout. Earlier Phase 2 data from KEYNOTE-942 showed a 49% reduction in recurrence or death risk and a 59% reduction in distant metastasis or death risk, but overall survival was not statistically significant. Questions around durability, manufacturing scale, pricing, reimbursement, expansion into other tumor types, and long-term safety remain unresolved.

Moderna shares surged about 131% on Wednesday after the company and Merck said their Phase 3 INTerpath-001 trial met key goals in patients with surgically removed stage IIB-IV melanoma. The study tested intismeran autogene, also known as V940 or mRNA-4157, in combination with Keytruda. According to the companies, the regimen met recurrence-free survival and distant-metastasis-free survival endpoints, marking the first positive Phase 3 result for a personalized neoantigen therapy and the first for an mRNA-based cancer treatment. Moderna stock nearly reached $148 after hitting an intraday high of $163, setting a record one-day jump, while Merck shares also rose. The report said the therapy works by sequencing a patient’s tumor, identifying unique mutations, and using mRNA to help the body generate neoantigens that train the immune system to attack cancer. ORTEX co-founder Peter Hillerberg said losses of nearly $100 per shorted share could create the kind of pressure that triggers a squeeze. The trial will continue to track overall survival and other secondary endpoints that have not yet been reported.

Cypherpunk Technologies, a Zcash treasury company backed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, said it plans to shift its focus toward its cancer drug candidate after reporting a net loss of $37.8 million for the first six months of 2026. The company said it expects operating losses to continue for the foreseeable future and warned that it may need to raise substantial capital for upcoming FDA trials unless the price of ZEC rebounds soon. The company holds roughly $157 million worth of ZEC, yet Nasdaq traders value the whole business at about $74 million, leaving the stock at around 0.47x mNAV on its base asset value. Even using the company’s own enterprise value framework, which includes prefunded warrants and other incentives, the multiple rises only to 0.96x, still below the value of its ZEC holdings. Cypherpunk’s cancer candidate, the anti-DKK1 antibody sirexatamab, failed to beat the control arm on progression-free survival in all patients in a randomized Phase 2 study. Still, the FDA granted Fast Track designation in May and agreed to a Phase 3 colorectal cancer trial design involving about 270 patients. As of June 30, the company held $7.6 million in cash and cash equivalents, had an accumulated deficit of $500 million, and owned 323,394 ZEC, or 1.92% of circulating supply.

NYSE Arca approved Morgan Stanley’s spot Solana and Ethereum ETFs on July 24, 2026, marking what the source article describes as a major shift in the structure of U.S. crypto exchange-traded products. The approval is notable on two fronts in the original report: it is presented as the first time a top Wall Street investment bank has issued a non-Bitcoin crypto ETF, and as the first time U.S. regulators have allowed native public-chain staking to be built directly into a tightly regulated spot ETF structure at scale. According to the source, both ETFs carry a 0.14% management fee, below several cited peers. Morgan Stanley’s S-1 filing states that the Ethereum trust plans to stake 50% to 80% of its ETH holdings, while the Solana trust may stake up to 100% of its SOL. The article says Figment and Coinbase Canada are among the node service providers, taking 5% of staking rewards as a service fee. The report argues that this structure changes how crypto ETFs are priced by adding a recurring income layer on top of price exposure. It also links the launch to broader market shifts, including fund flows moving beyond Bitcoin-only allocations and a possible change in regulatory treatment of staking from a prohibited feature to a disclosure-based product template.

Cypherpunk Technologies, a ZEC treasury company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CYPH, reported net income of $39.39 million for the second quarter of 2026, equal to diluted earnings per share of $0.18. In the same period a year earlier, the company posted a net loss of $16.64 million. The company also recorded an operating loss of $4.69 million, while research and development expense fell to $0.2 million from $10.54 million, which it attributed to the completion of clinical trials. General and administrative expense rose by $2.75 million year over year to $4.49 million, mainly due to higher stock-based compensation. As of June 30, cash stood at $7.6 million. Cypherpunk said the main driver of quarterly profit was a $46 million non-cash unrealized gain tied to its ZEC holdings, as the token’s price rose from $243.35 to $400.09 during the quarter. As of Aug. 11, 2026, the company held 323,394.38 ZEC at an average cost of about $341.83, representing roughly 1.92% of circulating supply and a market value of about $129 million.

DAPPOS announced on X that claims for the second phase of its airdrop are now open, and said the third-phase airdrop claim will open soon. As reported by Foresight, the project provided no further details on the upcoming phase, including its exact start time, eligibility rules, or token amounts. Users can proceed to claim the second-phase airdrop now.