A security paper presented at the USENIX Security Symposium found that 63% of the sampled Ethereum EIP-7702 wallet authorization transactions were linked to malicious contracts controlled by attackers, according to a Techub News report citing NewsBTC. The study said those malicious authorization activities have already resulted in more than $2.3 million in confirmed asset theft. The report said the main issue is not an inherent flaw in Ethereum itself. Instead, it centers on malicious authorizations and a broader wallet attack surface created around the way users approve permissions. EIP-7702, as part of account abstraction, lets externally owned accounts gain more flexible functionality through authorized code execution, but that same flexibility can leave users exposed if they sign harmful authorizations. Researchers said wallet interface design has become a critical layer of defense. They suggested wallets may need clearer warnings, stronger authorization displays, and better simulation tools so users can better understand the risks before signing.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is aiming to complete the main final rules under the GENIUS Act by November, according to Comptroller Jonathan Gould. Speaking on Aug. 19 at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson Hole, Gould said the agency had already begun work on the rules and is now reviewing industry feedback on the proposal. The law, signed by President Donald Trump in July 2025, created the first federal framework in the United States for payment stablecoins, covering reserves, redemptions, supervision, custody, and issuer qualifications. Under the current timeline, the GENIUS Act takes effect on Jan. 18, 2027, or 120 days after the main regulators publish final implementation rules, whichever comes first. OCC’s rulemaking is focused on reserve asset management, token redemption, supervisory standards, custody arrangements, and the process for qualifying as a permitted payment stablecoin issuer. Gould also said digital-asset-related bank charter interest has climbed, with 40 new bank charter applications received over roughly the past 18 months and 23 of them involving digital asset business plans. The law also sets a dual federal-state framework, with the $10 billion issuance threshold acting as a key line for state-supervised issuers.

A daily crypto news roundup from WuBlockchain covered five separate developments across geopolitics, regulation, treasury holdings, blockchain operations, and exchange compliance. The first item focused on Washington’s plan to tighten economic sanctions on Iran, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying more measures would be announced next Monday. Iran responded with a warning that any new US threat would face a "devastating" response, while also calling the sanctions "economic terrorism." The report added that pressure on Iranian oil exports has already disrupted shipments to China and raised concern about global energy supply. The second item said Pakistan’s virtual asset licensing regime has formally gone live. The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority said existing virtual asset service providers must file for an NOC by Sept. 5 under Section 70 of the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, or cease operations. PVARA has also opened sandbox and other licensing tracks for different categories of firms and new applicants. Other items included data showing Strategy’s 840,447 BTC position has turned into an unrealized profit of about $192 million, while BitMine’s ETH holdings remain deeply underwater; an unexplained incident that halted MANTRA Chain and froze transactions and endpoints; and a New York Times report that two Binance employees detained in the UAE have now been released.

A report from S&P Global showed that U.S. business growth reached a 52-month high in August. The increase was mainly driven by a sharp rise in services activity and stronger optimism. The report also said price pressures eased. The update points to firmer business activity in the United States during the month, with the services sector acting as the main source of momentum. At the same time, easing price pressures were noted in the same report.

Binance said two employees who had been questioned by authorities in the United Arab Emirates have completed their statements and were allowed to leave, adding that they have been confirmed not to be targets of the related investigation. A Binance spokesperson said the matter involved explaining third-party fund flows that moved through company client fund accounts. According to the exchange, UAE police and other authorities were conducting what it described as 「routine inquiries」, and the employees were released after providing the requested information. Earlier reports had said the two Binance employees were stopped at an airport in the UAE while police examined possible financial crimes tied to a trading platform. Binance said the operating structure for crypto assets and institutional client fund accounts remains a new area in some jurisdictions, and that it is in active communication with Dubai police and regulators in other emirates to establish a clearer coordination mechanism.

Generalist AI has introduced GEN-1.5, a robotics foundation model the company says can execute new manipulation tasks after watching a single 3- to 12-second demonstration, without additional training or fine-tuning. In tests across 10 short-horizon tasks, the company reported an average one-shot success rate of 59% with a standard deviation of ±10%, and an average few-shot success rate of 83% with a standard deviation of ±9% using roughly five minutes of data, about 50 demonstrations, and 10 gradient steps. The release has drawn comparisons from some researchers to the moment GPT-3 arrived in 2020, though the results remain self-reported and have not been independently verified. The timing also intersects with a broader robotics surge. Unitree went public on Aug. 19 with an opening price of 1,100 yuan per share and a market value of about 444.9 billion yuan, while the World Robot Conference opened in Beijing the same week. Generalist AI, whose backers include Fei-Fei Li as a personal investor and Nvidia as a shareholder, completed a $400 million round in June 2026 at a $2 billion post-money valuation and is reportedly discussing another financing at a $3 billion valuation.

The U.S. decision this week to expand Treasury buybacks has stirred market volatility and prompted comparisons with Japan’s past efforts to suppress borrowing costs, a policy approach that was followed by prolonged yen weakness. The U.S. Treasury unexpectedly said midweek that it would double the size of its buybacks for longer-dated government bonds. Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at Brookings, called the move the clearest sign so far that the United States may be heading down a path similar to Japan’s, toward currency depreciation. He said the government was "playing with fire." The dollar is now sitting at a three-month low and is on track for its worst weekly performance of the month. Markets reacted unevenly. Treasuries initially rose after the announcement, then gave back those gains. Gold and other precious metals moved higher. Steven Barrow, head of G10 strategy at Standard Chartered, said using buybacks to push down bond yields would add more pressure on the dollar while doing little to address the core driver behind higher yields: the fiscal deficit.

On Aug. 19, SoSoValue hosted a public Space to discuss Unitree Technology’s first trading day, the commercialization pace of embodied AI, Unitree’s position in the humanoid robotics race, and how value may be distributed across the supply chain. Participants included SoSoValue co-founder Levi, embodied AI investor Adam, and industry practitioner Echo. The central takeaway was that Unitree’s listing has given the sector a visible public-market benchmark, but the stock’s pricing still appears to reflect long-term expectations rather than proof that the business model is already established. Unitree opened at 1,100 yuan on its first day and later closed at 845 yuan, up 460.34% from its 150.80 yuan offering price. Its market capitalization ended the session at about 341.8 billion yuan, with turnover reaching 23.1 billion yuan. Based on Unitree’s prospectus, the company reported 392 million yuan in revenue and 94.5 million yuan in net profit attributable to shareholders in 2024, then 1.167 billion yuan in revenue and 105 million yuan in net profit for the first nine months of 2025. Speakers said the next key test for the sector is not just shipments or pilot programs. What matters more is whether customers place follow-on orders after initial deployments. They also said Unitree’s manufacturing and delivery strengths are clearer today than its long-term platform and model capabilities.