Crypto faces fresh sanctions, lawsuits and stalled legislation, while AI infrastructure deals and open-model politics dominate.
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This week’s headlines turn on accountability: crypto exchanges and lawmakers face fraud suits, sanctions and unresolved legislation, while AI companies lock in multi-billion-dollar infrastructure deals and clash over how open the technology should stay.
In crypto, the EU sanctioned exchange HTX over Russia ties, two former BitMEX customers sued Arthur Hayes and his co-founders alleging a hidden ‘Insider Trading Desk’, and the Senate’s Clarity Act stalled over ethics language. Ether and Bitcoin ETFs both snapped daily inflow streaks, while Samsung said its Wallet app will add stablecoin support.
In AI, AMD agreed to invest up to US$5bn in Anthropic as part of a gigawatt-scale infrastructure deal, Bloomsbury collected millions from Anthropic’s copyright settlement, and Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta urged Washington to protect open-weight models. OpenAI, meanwhile, pushed ChatGPT further into patients’ health records.
Get up to speed with the latest in Web3 and AI with this week’s Pasar Pulse.
Crypto and Web3
ETH, BTC ETFs Snap Daily Inflow Streaks
US spot Ether ETFs logged US$70.6m in Friday outflows, ending a five-day run, while Bitcoin ETFs posted a second straight outflow day. Both funds still extended weekly inflow streaks to three, adding US$103.9m each for the week.
EU Sanctions HTX Exchange Over Russia Ties
The European Council added HTX, formerly Huobi, to a list of 18 entities accused of helping Russia evade EU sanctions over its war in Ukraine. The UK imposed similar sanctions on HTX in May.
House Passes Congressional Stock Trading Ban
The House passed the Stop Insider Trading Act 232-198, barring lawmakers, spouses and dependants from buying stocks, though existing holdings could still be sold with notice. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the bill insufficient, citing major loopholes.
Samsung Wallet to Add Stablecoin Support
The Samsung Wallet will add native stablecoin support, showing a mock-up holding Circle’s USDC at Galaxy Unpacked in London. No launch date, issuer or blockchain was confirmed, and it landed alongside Samsung’s first credit card, made with Barclays and Visa.
Strategy Debuts Net Bitcoin Per Share Metric
Strategy rolled out new metrics stripping out debt and preferred claims, including net Bitcoin per share, which it says has risen from US$13 in 2020 to US$95 today. The firm’s net reserve stands at about US$35bn after US$22.2bn in senior claims.
BitMEX Founders Sued Over Insider Trading Desk
Two former BitMEX customers filed a proposed class action alleging the exchange ran a hidden desk that traded against users and froze servers to trigger liquidations. The suit, filed as BitMEX announced its September shutdown, claims losses of about 623 BTC.
World Foundation Raises US$52.5M for World ID
Sam Altman’s World Foundation raised US$52.5m in a Pantera Capital-led token sale to expand its “proof of human” ID network for people and AI agents. The Foundation says 39 million people have joined and 18 million have been Orb-verified.
Clarity Act Stalls Amid Senate Ethics Fight
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the crypto market-structure bill likely won’t clear the chamber before the August recess. Democrats rejected the GOP’s ethics language barring officials from issuing digital assets, leaving the bill short of votes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Tech Giants Urge Washington to Protect Open AI
Nvidia, Microsoft, Meta and 22 others signed a letter warning against restricting open-weight AI models, arguing it would hand the market to closed labs. OpenAI and Anthropic did not sign the letter.
ChatGPT Adds Health Records Integration
OpenAI launched a Health feature letting logged-in adult users connect Apple Health data and medical records from hospitals, One Medical or Function Health into any ChatGPT conversation. OpenAI says over 300 million people ask health questions weekly.
Nearly 200 Firms Sign Trump’s Datacentre Pledge
Trump announced roughly 200 entities have joined his non-binding Ratepayer Protection Pledge, now covering firms delivering 80% of US power. Critics, including the Sierra Club, called it a paper-thin commitment with no enforcement.
AMD to Invest Up to US$5bn in Anthropic
AMD agreed to invest up to US$5bn in Anthropic, which will deploy up to two gigawatts of AMD Instinct MI450-series capacity starting in 2027. The deal follows AMD’s similar gigawatt-scale agreements with OpenAI and Meta.
Bloomsbury to Receive Anthropic Settlement
Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury will receive about US$19m from Anthropic’s US$1.5bn copyright settlement, covering 14,087 titles at roughly US$3,000 each. Over 91% of the 482,000 works in the case have been claimed.
Trump Admin Pledges US$5bn for AI for Science
The Trump administration said 15 federal agencies will share US$5bn to apply AI to problems like chronic disease and drug discovery, using Department of Energy supercomputers. The plan also shifts research funding toward individual scientists over universities.
Coinbase Lets Businesses Accept AI Agent Pay
Coinbase Business users can now accept USDC payments from AI agents via the x402 standard, alongside new AI trading tools and a developer kit. Coinbase said agent traffic surpassed human traffic on its Base docs pages last month.
Empery Invests US$20M in AI Data Centre Firm
Bitcoin treasury firm Empery Digital invested US$20m for an 8% stake in Cardinal Data Power, backing a 750-megawatt Texas data centre campus. Empery has been selling Bitcoin to fund its shift into AI infrastructure.
That’s all for this week’s Pasar Pulse. Want more insights? Stay tuned to our site or subscribe via email!
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