USDC

Bitcoin crossed $80,000 on August 24 for the first time since late 2025, capping a week that will go down in the history books: a 23% weekly gain — the largest weekly dollar gain in the asset’s history — powered not by retail FOMO but by the machinery of US fiscal and monetary policy. Ethereum traded back above $2,500, roughly $1.2 billion in leveraged shorts were liquidated in 24 hours, and XRP just posted its best week in 21 months. ...

The stablecoin shakeout is no longer a prediction — it is a timeline. Banking regulators are racing to finalize the GENIUS Act’s implementing rules before the November 2026 midterms, and the public comment period now open on stablecoin issuance rules has turned into a de facto audition: issuers that fit the new regime are consolidating power, while everyone else is scrambling to survive. For US investors, the next 90 days will decide which stablecoins are safe to hold, which yield products stay legal, and which tokens quietly become compliance liabilities on your tax return. ...

More than a decade after Bitcoin’s first block, the biggest question for many American investors is no longer whether to own it — it’s where to own it. And increasingly, the answer is inside a retirement account, where Bitcoin’s long-term upside can compound without an annual tax bill. Adding Bitcoin to an IRA in 2026 is easier than most people assume, but the rules are uniquely American: the IRS sets contribution limits, the SEC decides which products you can buy inside a brokerage IRA, and a specialized industry of self-directed IRA custodians exists to hold the rest. Get the details right and you can defer — or eliminate — taxes on Bitcoin’s gains. Get them wrong and you can trigger penalties, disqualify your account, or end up with an unexpected reporting obligation. ...

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted World Liberty Financial a conditional national trust bank charter on August 14, 2026, a move that pushes the Trump-family-linked firm and its USD1 stablecoin straight into the middle of the US banking system. The charter, approved for a “World Liberty National Trust” entity, is built around USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that has already grown past roughly $4 billion in circulation. Reuters, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, The Block, Politico, and Fox Business all covered the decision within a day, and for good reason: a national trust charter is not a crypto exchange license. It is a banking charter, and it changes what a stablecoin issuer is allowed to be in the United States. ...

Three separate moves landed in the same news cycle this week, and together they tell one story: the US crypto regulatory map is being redrawn in real time, and no single agency is driving the pen. The SEC canceled a key crypto regulatory meeting, the CFTC signaled it will join the SEC in exploring crypto rules without waiting for the CLARITY Act, and a crypto coalition threw its weight behind Custodia Bank in a Supreme Court fight over Federal Reserve master-account access. For US investors, the combined message is that jurisdiction, banking access, and tax reporting are all on the table at once. ...

On August 13, the City of Baltimore sued prediction-market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket, opening what legal observers are calling the first case in which a US city government has taken prediction markets to court. The lawsuit pulls three of the biggest names in American retail investing into the fight, because Kalshi runs event-contract offerings through Coinbase, Robinhood, and Webull. For US crypto investors, the case matters far beyond one city: it will help decide whether sports-style event contracts belong under federal CFTC oversight or under a patchwork of state gaming laws. ...

Fidelity is adding Ether ETF staking to its flagship Ethereum fund, unlocking a steady stream of yield for US shareholders. The Fidelity Ethereum Fund (ticker: FETH), which holds close to $900 million in assets, will begin staking a portion of its Ether and passing the rewards to investors as quarterly distributions. It is one of the first major yield-bearing crypto ETFs in the US market, and it turns a passive Ethereum position into an income-producing asset inside a standard brokerage account. ...

Ten years ago, buying Bitcoin meant navigating clunky exchanges, wiring money to sketchy overseas platforms, and crossing your fingers. In 2026, buying your first cryptocurrency is about as hard as opening a checking account — if you know which platform to use and what steps to follow. Whether you’re looking to invest $50 or $5,000, this guide walks you through the entire process, from picking the right exchange for your state to making your first purchase. We’ll cover the US-specific details that matter: which platforms work in New York, how ACH deposits work, what the IRS expects from day one, and how to avoid the mistakes that trip up most beginners. ...

If you’ve spent any time in crypto, you’ve seen the ticker: USDT. Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin is the most traded cryptocurrency in the world — yes, more than Bitcoin — processing over $50 billion in daily volume. As of August 2026, USDT’s market cap sits above $120 billion, making it the third-largest crypto asset behind only BTC and ETH. But how does Tether actually keep its price at $1? And for US-based users, what are the real regulatory, tax, and practical considerations? This guide covers it all — with special focus on the US market. ...