Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

Trump Media and Technology Group terminated its planned Cronos (CRO) treasury venture with Crypto.com and Yorkville Acquisition Corp., abandoning an initiative intended to create a publicly traded vehicle to accumulate and stake billions of dollars in tokens. Crypto.com's native token CRO fell as much as 5% to $0.051 following the news. Under interim CEO Kevin McGurn, the company is unwinding its 2025 crypto expansion—which included $105 million in direct CRO purchases—after crypto markdowns contributed to a $406 million quarterly loss earlier this year. The partners also scrapped plans to integrate "Truth Predict" prediction markets into Truth Social, replacing back-end infrastructure development with a simple marketing agreement that refers users to Crypto.com. Saturation in corporate digital asset treasuries drove the retreat. Instead of managing complex crypto vehicles, Trump Media is focusing on data licensing for high-frequency trading clients and completing its planned merger with fusion energy company TAE Technologies before the end of 2026. The firm remains the 14th-largest corporate Bitcoin holder with 9,542 BTC on its balance sheet, though it transferred 2,628 of those tokens—worth $165 million—to Crypto.com custody addresses without selling them.

BTCPay Server restricted public remote connections to Lightning Network nodes after an exploit enabled attackers to obtain node credentials and sweep funds, according to cointelegraph.com. The security flaw targeted Lightning Network Daemon (LND) software running on Docker deployments. Unauthenticated remote attackers captured "macaroon" files, the authentication tokens used to control node operations. With those credentials, intruders took complete command of affected nodes, force-closing payment channels and draining stored Bitcoin. To stop the leak, BTCPay cut external access for third-party wallets like Zeus connecting through BTCPay Server domains or Tor onion addresses. The project pushed version 2.4.2, which installs LND version 0.21.1 and automatically regenerates macaroon credentials on standard deployments. However, operators using custom reverse proxies or independent Tor routes must rotate their keys manually. The breach caused immediate damage across the ecosystem. Hardware maker Foundation had its Lightning channels closed and swept overnight, though CEO Zach Herbert confirmed its hot wallet was unaffected. Bitcoin publisher Citadel21 also reported its Lightning node was completely drained.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune delayed a vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act until mid-September 2026, defeating efforts led by Senator Cynthia Lummis to force a vote before the August recess. The legislation requires 60 votes to clear a Senate filibuster, but leadership failed to assemble a majority following opposition from both parties. Democrats refused to advance the bill without tighter ethics restrictions targeting public officials, citing President Donald Trump's disclosure of earning more than $1 billion from digital asset ventures in 2025. Concurrently, banking lobbyists pushed back against stablecoin provisions, arguing that unconstrained stablecoin rewards would drain core bank deposits. That banking opposition split the Republican conference, with Senators Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran publicly withholding support. The bill lacks the votes to proceed. The postponement leaves digital asset firms without a federal market structure framework and forces lawmakers to revisit the bill during a narrow three-week session starting September 14, 2026, just weeks before the midterm elections.