Fox Business crypto reporter Eleanor Terrett said on X that a small group of crypto executives met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick before President Donald Trump and industry leaders spoke at the White House on Wednesday. According to two people familiar with the matter, the meeting included Brian Armstrong, Chris Dixon, Brad Garlinghouse and Arjun Sethi. The group discussed the importance of passing the Clarity Act, its potential implications for US jobs and economic growth, and whether it could bring crypto founders and companies back to the United States. They also talked about remaining obstacles to passage, including ethics issues, and how the White House might help secure bipartisan support.

Fortune reported that Coinbase has chosen Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates as its “international tokenization hub.” The exchange plans to use the center to advance tokenization of real-world assets, or RWA, and bring more traditional financial assets onto blockchain rails. The report said the move is also seen as a step forward for Abu Dhabi as it works to attract global crypto and fintech companies. Coinbase will look to the emirate’s regulatory environment and policy support as it expands in the Middle East and beyond. Abu Dhabi has spent recent years building out its digital asset rulebook and drawing more crypto firms to the market.

Supporters of BIP-110 are discussing another hard fork that would switch the stalled minority chain’s mining algorithm from SHA-256d to BLAKE2b. The issue drawing the most attention is replay risk: both chains still share transaction history from before the split, and if transaction and signature rules stay aligned, the same transaction could be copied and executed on the other chain. BIP-110’s miner support peaked at about 2.53%, and after the consensus rules took effect on Aug. 8, the minority chain produced only two consecutive blocks before stalling while the Bitcoin main chain continued and widened the block-height gap. The BIP-110 proposal was later marked closed, and discussion shifted to a BLAKE2b proof-of-work approach. Bitcoin Knots plans to add a new signature hash option, but RDTS is expected to keep compatibility with Bitcoin Core’s existing signature hash types. That means ordinary transactions may still remain valid on both chains, leaving users dependent on the new option and on wallets or hardware-signing firmware that support it in order to separate assets. Luke Dashjr said on Aug. 18 that Bitcoin should take responsibility for replay protection, calling it “Spamcoin.” If a BLAKE2b fork moves forward around Sept. 1, exchanges, wallets and holders would need to distinguish between cross-chain transactions and chain-specific ones.

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.

Ondo Finance said its recently launched Ondo Perps platform has crossed $100 million in open interest, marking an early milestone for the product after its July debut. The company’s latest ecosystem update said the platform reached that level within weeks of launch. Separately, data from DefiLlama shows Ondo Perps has already climbed into the top three RWA perpetual contract trading platforms. Ondo Finance also shared an update on Ondo Stocks, saying the product has surpassed 270,000 cumulative holders since going live in September 2025. The figures outline growth across multiple parts of the Ondo ecosystem, with Perps gaining traction shortly after launch and Ondo Stocks continuing to add holders over a longer period.

Crypto-aligned political action committee Fairshake and its affiliated groups posted a largely successful night in US primaries, with four of five candidates backed by their advertising either winning or advancing in races across Alaska, Florida and Wyoming. The committees, Protect Progress and Defend American Jobs, spent about $3.6 million in total on House and Senate contests. The clear exception came in Florida’s 24th congressional district. There, Democrat Oliver Gilbert won with 34.4% of the vote despite being targeted by more than $2 million in negative advertising funded by Protect Progress. The race drew attention over whether the crypto industry could shape Democratic primaries through outside spending. The results arrive as Fairshake continues to expand its political footprint ahead of the 2026 midterms. The PAC reported a $193 million war chest in January and had spent more than $82 million on 2026 races as of June. With Congress set to return in September and the Senate expected to take up a cloture motion on the CLARITY Act, the makeup of the next Congress could carry direct consequences for digital asset legislation.

ChainCatcher reported that Trump is expected to attend a White House crypto meeting and push the Senate toward a final vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The brief update points to a narrow but important sticking point: the bill’s ethics provisions remain the main area of disagreement. No further details were provided on the meeting agenda, timing of the vote, or the specific provisions under debate. The development places attention on whether the White House meeting can help move the legislation forward, even as unresolved ethics language continues to weigh on the process.

OpenAI is aiming to become a publicly listed company in 2027, according to Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, who said the timetable could move up if the business grows faster than expected. Friar described an initial public offering as both a milestone and a financing channel for the company. She also pointed to OpenAI’s fundraising in March, when the company completed a $122 billion financing round, saying the deal gives it greater flexibility for future development. The comments outline a tentative listing goal rather than a fixed deadline, with earlier timing still possible if growth accelerates.