Meta’s child safety case has opened in federal court in Oakland, California, with former engineering director Arturo Béjar delivering testimony that cut directly at Instagram’s internal priorities. Béjar told jurors that the company’s posture toward users under 13 was effectively 「don’t ask, don’t tell」 and said Mark Zuckerberg’s 2021 public rejection of claims that Meta put profit ahead of user safety was not true. He also argued that Meta’s internal culture measured success mainly by how long and how often people used its products, even when that came with harm to mental health. The case, brought by California, Colorado, Kentucky, and New Jersey, centers less on specific posts and more on product design. State lawyers said features such as infinite scroll, likes, and optional safety settings were built to keep young users engaged for longer, improving ad targeting and revenue. Prosecutors also said Meta failed to take basic steps after identifying underage users and collected personal data from children under 13 without parental consent. Meta, for its part, said youth mental health and social media use are serious issues, argued it has a responsibility to work with families, and has challenged whether 「social media addiction」 amounts to a recognized psychiatric diagnosis for fraud claims.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released a proposed rule, Regulation Crypto Assets, aimed at creating a tailored issuance framework for investment contracts involving crypto assets. The proposal introduces two Securities Act Section 5 registration exemptions: a Startup Exemption for projects raising up to $5 million over as long as four years, and a Fundraising Exemption for issuers raising up to $75 million in any 12-month period, with audited financial statements and ongoing reporting required under the larger path. It also includes an Investment Contract Safe Harbor that would allow certain crypto assets to fall outside investment contract treatment once the issuer has completed, or permanently stopped, the essential managerial efforts previously promised to investors. The SEC said the proposal reflects longstanding problems with relying on the Howey test and disclosure rules not built for token economics, governance, and code security. The rule was published on Aug. 18 and has entered a 60-day public comment period. The proposal arrives as the CLARITY Act remains stalled in the Senate, leaving the agency to pursue a regulatory route while legislation remains unsettled.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed its first formal crypto rulemaking, Regulation Crypto Assets, creating two registration-free paths for token sales. The smaller track would allow up to $5 million over four years, while the larger would permit up to $75 million in any 12-month period and require financial statements plus ongoing reporting. The proposal also includes narrative disclosure standards, state-law preemption for qualifying offerings and certain secondary trades, and a safe harbor that would end investment-contract treatment once an issuer finishes or permanently stops the essential managerial efforts it promised. Paul Atkins said the framework traces back to Hester Peirce’s Token Safe Harbor proposal from February 2020. The piece says the SEC had spent a decade regulating crypto fundraising through lawsuits rather than published rules, which pushed issuers toward Cayman and Swiss foundations, non-U.S. buyers, Reg D rounds, airdrops and points programs. Tyler Warner’s Morning Minute also notes broader market moves, including Bitcoin ETF inflows, Citi’s planned Bitcoin custody launch, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s call to modernize securities rules for tokenized stocks, and several other market updates.

Nasdaq-listed Bonk, Inc. (BNKK) reported first-half revenue of $5.5 million, up 6,218% year over year, but still posted a net loss of $7.88 million and ended the period with just $214,000 in cash. The company’s filings drew attention not only because auditors and management flagged substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern, but also because most of its revenue came from a related-party arrangement tied to founder Mitchell Rudy. Of the $5.5 million in revenue, $3.921 million, or 71%, came from a revenue-sharing agreement connected to LetsBonk.fun, a Solana-based meme coin launchpad. Rudy, also known as Nom, controls about 40.2% of the common stock through Lucky Dog Holdings and holds all 135,000 shares of the company’s Series C preferred stock, which carries the right to elect half of the board while outstanding. Filings also describe two related-party stock transactions totaling $50 million, both paid for in BONK tokens rather than cash. With digital asset value falling and operating cash burn reaching $4.17 million in the first half, Bonk, Inc.’s balance sheet has become central to the company’s public-market pivot around the BONK ecosystem.

A string of wallet-related security incidents over the past month has sharpened attention on a wider shift in crypto security: the attack surface is expanding well beyond private keys, and AI is making every stage of the attack chain cheaper to run. The article links three separate cases — Coldcard’s random number generation flaw, Trezor’s exposure tied to a third-party logistics service, and SafePal’s risks involving order systems and plugin permissions — to a broader pattern in which code review, phishing generation, target selection and social engineering can all be automated at a much larger scale. It argues that wallet security can no longer be reduced to whether a seed phrase was stolen. Risks now span key generation, hardware, supply chains, user identity data, dApp connections, approvals, support channels and even AI agents. The piece also revisits earlier discussions from imToken on “AI × Web3 security,” outlining a more active defense model in which wallets use AI to review code dependencies, analyze suspicious dApps, simulate transaction outcomes before signing and build dynamic risk models around user behavior. Even so, it stresses that critical actions such as large transfers, new approvals and sensitive contract interactions still need clear user confirmation, least-privilege controls and explainable warnings.

SafeBets, a new prediction market platform, is rolling out a model that does not require users to stake real money, positioning the product as a way to sidestep the regulatory disputes facing platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi. According to executive director J. Tennyson Singer, users do not need a credit card or cash deposit. Instead, they receive 100 virtual tokens from the platform, spend 1 token per prediction, and can earn Unicoin tokens if they make a correct call. If they are wrong, they only lose the virtual token used for that prediction. The company says its business is not centered on user wagering but on collecting data from highly accurate forecasters to generate a “wisdom of the crowd” signal, which it plans to provide as a trading reference to affiliated brokerages in the future. SafeBets describes the setup as market research rather than a traditional prediction market. The project still carries its own controversy. SEC filings from Unicoin show that SafeBets is wholly owned by Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin, and the reward token is directly tied to that company. The SEC has previously sued Unicoin and related executives over alleged misleading statements to investors and registration issues in token sales. Unicoin has denied the allegations and said it will fight the case.

ETHTaipei 2026 will take place on Sept. 13-14 at POPOP Taipei in Nangang, marking the fourth edition of the annual Ethereum-focused developer conference in Taiwan. This year’s event will be split into two themed days for the first time: Cryptonative Day on Sept. 13 for Ethereum developers and technical communities, and Institution Day on Sept. 14 for banks and financial institutions. The first batch of speakers includes teams from Polymarket, Uniswap, the Ethereum Foundation, ChainSafe, LINE NEXT, CertiK, OneSavie Labs, Quantstamp, Across Protocol and PIF12. Organizers said the agenda will span core protocol research, DeFi, Layer 2 scaling, zero-knowledge and privacy, wallets, account abstraction, security, cross-chain systems, RWA, tokenized U.S. stocks, institutional custody, stablecoin risk management and AI Agent-driven machine finance. The event is backed by corporate and institutional sponsors including BSOS, DADRC, Sigmarket, Taishin Shin Kong Financial Holding, Quantstamp and KlickKlack. Registration is now open through the event’s official website.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has released a proposed rule titled “Regulation of Crypto Assets,” marking the agency’s first dedicated rulemaking for crypto asset fundraising and the treatment of investment contracts. The proposal creates two exempt offering paths for token issuers. One is aimed at startups and would allow eligible issuers to raise up to $5 million over four years, subject to public filings at the start and end of the offering and required disclosures to investors. The second would permit offerings of up to $75 million per year, but with tighter disclosure standards, financial reporting, and ongoing reporting obligations. The proposal also addresses a long-running question in the crypto sector: when a crypto asset should be treated as an investment contract, and when it can fall outside that framework. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said a proposed safe harbor would apply if an issuer has completed, or permanently ceased, the “essential managerial efforts” promised under the investment contract. The SEC has opened a 60-day public comment period before moving toward a final rule.