Shiba Inu has continued to trade on a downward trajectory amid prolonged broader market volatility. However, its exchange activity over the last 24 hours has provided a different signal.
With its price still struggling to reclaim its recent high around the $0.000005 mark, the latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant has provided investors with a glimpse of hope for a possible price recovery soon.
44 billion $SHIB in demand
Per the data, the Shiba Inu exchange netflow has drawn attention amid the market downturn after projecting a negative balance of 44.1 billion $SHIB as of Thursday, August 13.
While a netflow of 44 billion $SHIB may seem modest, its timing makes it significant as it shows a major divergence between the $SHIB trading price and its exchange activity.
Notably, the metric shows that the amount of $SHIB tokens moved out of exchanges amid growing demand is significantly greater than the amount of $SHIB returned to exchanges for sell-off purposes over the last day.
While the difference in both activities stands at -44 billion $SHIB, it means that the amount of $SHIB available for sale on exchanges has been reduced substantially, gradually cooling the intense sell pressure facing the Shiba Inu ecosystem.
Where’s $SHIB headed?
Although the Shiba Inu exchange flow provides a bullish outlook for $SHIB, the asset is still struggling to recover near its recent high, consistently trading in the red zone.
However, analysts believe there is still a chance for a potential price reversal for $SHIB if investors remain resilient and it is able to sustain demand even amid such weak market conditions.
$HTX’s situation has appeared increasingly precarious as both the European Union Council and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth, & Development Office have chosen to sanction the exchange.
Since then, it’s made some big changes to how it manages users’ reserves.
Its June proof of reserves report was the first that acknowledged that it had moved huge swaths of its reserves to an undisclosed “ThirdParty.”
$HTX moved $1.3 billion from reserves to undisclosed ‘ThirdParty’
$HTX claims on its website that you can verify these balances by reaching out to the custodian; unfortunately, it doesn’t tell users who that custodian is. As a result, Protos has been unable to verify most of those balances.
Further complicating this, TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence firm, released a report in which it detailed how $HTX has begun churning through its wallets at a prodigious rate.
Ari Redboard, the global head of policy for TRM, described this behavior as an attempt “to stay a step ahead of screening built on static lists.”
TRM claims $HTX is rotating wallets to ‘stay ahead of screening’
$HTX, for its part, previously claimed that this was totally normal cybersecurity behavior.
Since then, Protos was able to track a substantial portion of $HTX’s staked ETH (stETH) through Poloniex addresses.
Now, we can add that various other $HTX assets have also recently passed into Poloniex.
Is Justin Sun mixing $HTX’s reserves with Poloniex?
First, $HTX distributes a tool that used to enable people to gain greater insight into its reserves, even including which addresses the reserves were held in.
We can use these past reports to determine where certain assets were claimed to be at a certain time and can use the blockchain transactions to follow some portion of the reserves as they move.
Consider 0x18709e89bd403f470088abdacebe86cc60dda12e, which was an address that $HTX used to hold many of the Ethereum-based DeFi positions it maintained, for some reason.
On May 30, immediately before we get the transition to ThirdParty, we can watch the Sun-advised wrapped BTC (WBTC) move from this $HTX address to 0xeB245796376912af7Fadd4986f73743feEA61e6E.
These funds were then transferred to 0x8fCA4adE3a517133fF23ca55CdAea29C78C990b8, an address that Etherscan labels as Poloniex 7.
These funds were then quickly sent to 0x29065a4C1f2F20d1E263930088890d6F49Fe715a, an address that Etherscan labels as Poloniex 10.
Finally, this WBTC was sent to 0x176F3DAb24a159341c0509bB36B833E7fdd0a132, an address that Etherscan labels as Poloniex 9.
This WBTC which came from $HTX, is still stored in this Poloniex address.
The $HTX to Poloniex pattern repeats
The May PoR for $HTX had a problem. It claimed that it had a bunch of STEAK-$USDC, but it was wrong; there was no STEAK-$USDC in that address on that date.
However, there was a matching amount of Sky Savings USDS (sUSDS) in that address, suggesting that while $HTX failed to accurately label its own reserves — troubling on its face — it did have another position that represented that value.
We start with approximately $200 million worth of sUSDS moving to 0x7fed2E5e06CF7B8918bB93158C4E990794da33b8.
These funds are then sent onward to Poloniex 7.
These were then forwarded in three transactions to Poloniex 10.
Finally, these funds were forwarded to Poloniex 9.
Similar patterns can also be observed for various Spark positions, some of which may have been since redeemed.
These related-party transactions, involving many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of value, raise serious questions about the internal controls and management of both of these Sun-owned exchanges.
They furthermore raise questions about Poloniex’s role in interacting with this repeatedly sanctioned entity.
Protos reached out to $HTX with questions about these transfers, but it didn’t respond before publication.
Tether said KPMG issued an unqualified opinion, the best outcome, on Tether International’s 2025 financial statements.
The company called it the “largest inaugural financial audit in history.”
The audit follows years of scrutiny over USDT’s backing and Tether’s push to expand in the U.S.
Tether said Thursday that Big Four accounting firm KPMG issued an unqualified audit opinion—industry jargon for the best possible result—-on the 2025 financial statements of Tether International, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT.
In a post announcing the audit, Tether called the review the “largest inaugural financial audit in history,” saying KPMG examined Tether’s assets, liabilities, income, cash flows, internal systems, records, counterparties, and supporting documentation.
“Despite our company being subject to several years of detractors’ false claims, competitors’ lies, political attacks and misinformed coverage by several mainstream newspapers trying desperately to discredit us for the benefit of their friends in the tall ivory towers, Tether delivered what it promised,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino wrote on X.
An unqualified opinion means auditors found no major problems with the way the financial statements were presented. It does not, however, mean auditors are endorsing Tether’s business or guaranteeing it can meet its obligations.
Tether’s reserves and disclosures have faced sustained scrutiny.
In February 2021, Tether settled with the state of New York over a lawsuit, paying an $18.5 million fine, regarding a hole in its finances. In October of that same year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined Tether $41 million over claims that USDT was fully backed by U.S. dollars.
Earlier this year, in March, the company said it had hired a Big Four accounting firm but declined to name it at the time. Days later, KPMG was identified as the firm auditing USDT, while PwC helped prepare Tether’s internal systems.
“As part of the process, KPMG physically counted and inspected every individual gold bar held by Tether, verifying the existence and identifying information of each bar rather than relying solely on reports from custodians or counterparties,” Tether wrote.
Tether framed the audit as evidence that its governance and financial controls have kept pace with its growth.
“Our company has evolved into one of the most financially significant and operationally sophisticated private companies in the world,” Ardoino wrote. “This audit demonstrates that our financial infrastructure and governance have evolved alongside that responsibility.”
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The Blockchain Association filed an amicus brief supporting Custodia Bank’s petition for Supreme Court review.
Custodia is challenging a ruling that upheld the Fed’s denial of its master account application.
The group says the case could shape how much power federal regulators have over state-chartered banks.
The Blockchain Association is urging the Supreme Court to take up Custodia Bank’s fight with the Federal Reserve, arguing the central bank should not have the broad power to deny payment system access to eligible state-chartered banks.
In the amicus brief filed on Wednesday supporting Custodia’s petition, the crypto trade group said a lower court ruling in favor of the Fed gives federal regulators a quiet way to cut lawful businesses out of the banking system.
“The decision ratifies the Fed’s misuse of its payment services to further an impermissible policy goal—debanking the digital-asset industry,” the Blockchain Association wrote.
An amicus brief is a legal filing from someone who is not a party to a case but wants to give the court additional arguments or context. Here, the Blockchain Association is supporting Custodia’s request that the Supreme Court review the dispute.
At issue is Custodia’s bid for a Federal Reserve “master account.” Custodia is a so-called crypto bank based in Wyoming, offering services including digital-asset custody, payments and settlement infrastructure, and dollar-backed stablecoin-related products to institutional clients. It has spent years seeking a master account, which would allow it to settle payments directly with the central bank. In October, an appeals panel ruled that eligibility alone did not entitle Custodia to an account. In December, the bank asked the full Tenth Circuit to rehear the case.
The Blockchain Association argues the Fed’s denial threatens the dual banking system, where both state and federal authorities can charter banks. If the ruling stands, the association says, federal regulators could override state banking decisions by denying access to the payments system.
“Whether federal regulators, based on their own discretionary whims, can intrude on state prerogatives and debank lawful businesses is a question of exceptional importance with broad consequences for the national economy,” they wrote.
The brief said Custodia’s fight is the latest phase of Operation Choke Point 2.0, invoking the Obama and Biden-era program critics said pressured banks to cut ties with unfavorable industries.
“In a well-documented campaign termed Operation Choke Point 2.0, the federal government under the prior administration ‘used vague rules, excessive discretion, informal guidance, and aggressive enforcement actions to pressure banks away from serving digital asset clients’ and engaging with digital assets,” the brief said.
While the Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case, for now, the brief asks the justices to decide how much control the Fed should have over access to the U.S. payments system.
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Barça Mobile, the telecom platform linked to FC Barcelona, is adding a digital wallet to its mobile app through partnerships with Wirex, Crossmint and the Stellar Development Foundation. New Era Visionary Group, the official telecom operator and partner of FC Barcelona, is working with the three companies to build the wallet infrastructure. The new feature will combine mobile services with payments, rewards, travel and other digital services for users worldwide.
Wirex will provide payment and card infrastructure for the wallet. Crossmint will provide wallet infrastructure and onboarding technology. Stellar will serve as the blockchain layer for the wallet. Its network will support digital transactions and cross-border value transfers, allowing Barça Mobile to build services for users in different markets.
The wallet will not operate as a separate product. Instead, it will become part of the existing Barça Mobile app. The initiative is part of Barça Mobile’s broader plan to develop a global connectivity platform. The company says the service is aimed at FC Barcelona fans, travelers, and mobile subscribers looking for access to telecom and digital services through a single interface.
Chiba Institute of Technology has joined Theta Network’s global academic network through a partnership with Theta EdgeCloud. The collaboration will give the university’s Takagi Laboratory and its Web3 club (which has more than 250 student members) access to decentralized computing resources for AI research, simulations, and student projects.
Theta Network is a decentralized computing network. Its EdgeCloud platform provides access to distributed GPU capacity through more than 30,000 edge nodes, offering an alternative to traditional cloud infrastructure.
The partnership includes Professor Toru Takagi and his laboratory, which researches systems using mathematical models that can be processed and simulated by computers. The lab also works on game theory, AI-based automated proving, and the modeling of cellular activity.
The cryptocurrency market has seen a surge in on-chain activity from large investors. Recent data indicates strong accumulation and selling activity in Hyperliquid’s native token, $HYPE, while also showing millions of dollars in transfers in Chainlink ($LINK)-connected wallets.
According to on-chain data, a crypto whale bought another 40,000 $HYPE from Coinbase today, worth approximately $2.3 million.
It was stated that the wallet in question increased its total $HYPE holdings to 260,000 tokens through purchases made from Coinbase, Bybit, and other sources over the past two months. At current prices, the whale’s $HYPE position is worth approximately $15.1 million.
Another Hype Whale Goes on Sale
Another major investor reportedly invested 60,000 $HYPE in Hyperliquid and has begun selling.
The whale has so far earned approximately $1.77 million in exchange for 31,560 $HYPE. Additionally, it’s noted that two TWAP orders for selling $HYPE are still active in the wallet.
It was reported that one of the active orders is worth approximately 40,000 $HYPE, or $2.1 million, and has about 15 hours left to be completed.
The same wallet also sent approximately 1.67 million USDC to Coinbase.
On the Chainlink side, a different whale movement was observed. A large investor transferred approximately 213,810 $LINK, worth $1.87 million, to their Gnosis Safe wallet.
The whale withdrew the aforementioned amount of $LINK from Binance approximately two weeks ago. The transfer of the tokens from the centralized exchange to a self-custody platform like Gnosis Safe could be interpreted as an indication that the assets are not being held for short-term sale on the exchange. However, wallet transfers alone do not provide a definitive signal regarding an investor’s future transactions.
Bill Swearingen’s noRecognition project generates patterns that stop camera software from classifying what it covers—people, faces, or cars.
The patterns defeated all 11 open-source detection algorithms he tested, including the software behind Flock license plate readers, Axon body cameras, and Clearview AI.
The first public test came Friday at Def Con in Las Vegas: a 2009 Toyota Yaris wrapped in the pattern, driven past a Flock camera.
Bill Swearingen spent the past year running one experiment over and over from his home in Kansas City, where he co-founded the SecKC security meetup. About 31 million tests later, he says he can produce patterns on demand that hide whatever they cover from the detection software wired into Flock cameras—the controversial surveillance system being rolled out across America.
He showed it in public for the first time Friday at Def Con, working with the YouTube channel Donut Media to cover a 2009 Toyota Yaris in one of his newest patterns and roll it past a Flock camera.
“We proved it was effective,” Swearingen told TechCrunch, though he said the wheels were a challenge. Donut Media said video of the demo lands in the next few weeks.
The pattern doesn’t blind the camera. Footage still records normally, and a human watching the screen sees a car. What breaks is the layer on top—the object-detection model that decides “that’s a vehicle, that’s a plate, log it.”
So basically, feed an AI detector with enough visual noise engineered against its own math and it logs nothing. The car goes back to being a needle in a haystack.
Image credit: Donut Media
That’s adversarial machine learning, and it works because computer vision doesn’t see what you see. A wrap that reads as loud graphic design to a person can read as nothing at all to a classifier.
Swearingen built it with a reinforcement learning model that grades its own homework. Pattern gets detected, model adjusts, tries again—what he described as teaching the model “how to paint.” It now spits out fresh patterns every minute, and he’s keeping the strongest ones offline so camera vendors can’t train against them.
“Privacy is a fundamental right,” he said, calling the patterns a way for people to “opt out of being tracked.” He said the idea took hold last year when he wanted to attend a protest and worried about the cameras logging everyone who showed up.
The long tail of hiding from machines
People have been improvising against detection systems for years, usually with hardware store solutions. San Francisco activists put traffic cones on the hoods of Waymo and Cruise robotaxis to freeze them in place, an exploit that needed no code at all.
During last year’s Los Angeles immigration raids, protesters went further and torched several Waymos. Masks, hoods, and brimmed caps remain the default on protest lines. Adversarial clothing labels have been selling face-confusing prints for years, and anti-recognition eyeglasses have arrived with thin evidence they do much.
What separates Swearingen’s project, which he calls noRecognition, is the target list. Swearingen tested against the specific stacks in wide deployment, and Flock is the one drawing heat. The company is facing a growing backlash on Capitol Hill, and internal documents show it pitched a plan to turn 350,000 Uber and Lyft dashcams into a rolling plate-scanning fleet.
Swearingen’s noRecognition project is running a crowdfunding campaign to fund early merchandise—T-shirts and hoodies now, vehicle skins later. Swearingen said the goal is resolution high enough to work at a distance and design good enough that people will actually wear it.
Driving a wrapped car on public roads is its own legal question, and plate obstruction statutes vary by state. The patterns cover bodywork, not plates.
“Every failure improves my model, and so [the patterns] keep getting better and better,” Swearingen said.
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Pools.fun, the token issuance platform developed jointly by decentralized exchange SushiSwap and automated trading agent Bankr, is preparing to launch its own protocol token. Bankr founder 0xDeployer revealed the plans on X, outlining a structure that includes token buybacks, burns, an airdrop, and a points program.
Tokenomics and Fee Allocation
According to 0xDeployer, 30% of protocol fees generated by Pools.fun will be allocated to token buybacks and burns. This mechanism is designed to reduce circulating supply over time, potentially benefiting long-term holders. The founder also confirmed that fees intended for buybacks are already being accumulated ahead of the token’s official launch.
The announcement detailed a points program that rewards user activity. Trading volume on the platform and the trading volume of tokens issued by users will both factor into the points system. While the exact conversion rate between points and token allocations has not been disclosed, the program is expected to play a role in the upcoming airdrop.
Context and Platform Background
Pools.fun emerged from a collaboration between SushiSwap, one of the oldest decentralized exchanges in the DeFi space, and Bankr, an automated trading agent focused on on-chain strategies. The platform aims to simplify token issuance, allowing users to create and trade tokens with built-in liquidity mechanisms. Its positioning draws comparisons to other issuance platforms like pump.fun, but with a distinct emphasis on automated trading integration.
The decision to launch a protocol token follows a broader trend in DeFi where platforms introduce native tokens to incentivize usage and align stakeholder interests. However, such launches also carry risks, including regulatory scrutiny and market volatility.
Implications for Users and the DeFi Ecosystem
For active users of Pools.fun, the points program and airdrop could provide tangible rewards for early participation. The buyback-and-burn mechanism may also create a deflationary pressure on the token’s supply, which some investors view positively. Yet, the success of such initiatives depends on sustained platform activity and market conditions.
Industry observers note that token launches of this nature often generate short-term speculation. Long-term value will hinge on the platform’s ability to attract and retain users beyond initial incentives. The integration with Bankr’s automated trading tools could offer a unique utility, potentially distinguishing Pools.fun from competitors.
Conclusion
Pools.fun’s protocol token launch represents a significant step for the SushiSwap-Bankr collaboration. With a clear fee allocation strategy and user-centric incentives, the platform is positioning itself to reward early adopters. However, as with any emerging DeFi project, potential participants should conduct thorough research and remain mindful of market risks.
GSR shifted its Core3 model toward Solana on Aug. 12, raising $SOL to 43.6% of the portfolio and making it the model’s largest allocation.
Ether fell to 39.5%, while Bitcoin dropped to 16.9%, the smallest weight among the three assets.The firm said the change reflected a move in its relative alpha signals toward Solana as $SOL showed stronger near term price momentum. GSR’s written commentary lists the Solana weight at 43.7%, while the accompanying allocation table shows 43.6%. This article uses the table figure.
Solana allocation jumps 7.1 points in one week
The latest allocation marks a sharp reversal from the prior week. On Aug. 5, GSR assigned 36.5% to Solana, 44.1% to Ether and 19.3% to Bitcoin. Solana therefore gained 7.1 percentage points in the model within seven days, while Ether lost 4.6 points and Bitcoin lost 2.4 points.
As crypto.news previously reported, the prior weekly allocation tilted toward Bitcoin as trading activity weakened and volatility eased. The Aug. 12 update reversed part of that move. GSR said its latest positioning reflected proprietary relative signals rather than a simple ranking of recent returns.
The distinction matters because Core3 is not presented as a live investment recommendation. GSR says the weekly publication is a model framework intended for professional investors and does not constitute advice or a recommendation to allocate to the three assets.
Solana leads weekly returns while Ether leads the month
Solana delivered the strongest seven day return in GSR’s latest table, gaining 2.98%. Bitcoin declined 1.02% over the same period, while Ether slipped 0.20%. Over 30 days, however, Ether remained ahead with a 7.88% gain, compared with 3.19% for Bitcoin and 2.44% for Solana.
The Core3 model itself returned 0.85% over one week and 5.30% over one month, ahead of the equal weight basket at 0.59% and 4.68%, respectively. Longer periods remain weaker. Core3 was down 35.58% year to date and 70.28% over one year, compared with losses of 32.22% and 63.44% for the equal weight basket.
Volatility also remained relatively subdued. GSR put 30 day volatility at 26.82% for Bitcoin, 39.75% for Ether and 35.26% for Solana. The firm said Solana trading volume had softened over both seven and 30 day periods, meaning its larger model weight did not coincide with stronger volume across those windows.
U.S. Solana access expands as GSR favors $SOL
The model shift comes as U.S. investors gain more exchange traded routes to Solana exposure. Morgan Stanley Investment Management announced on July 28 that it had launched the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, MSOL, on NYSE Arca alongside an Ether product. The release said MSOL carries a 0.14% expense ratio and seeks to track $SOL while staking a portion of its holdings.
Morgan Stanley expanded its crypto ETP lineup after launching a Bitcoin product earlier in 2026. An SEC prospectus says the Solana trust may stake up to 100% of its $SOL under normal market circumstances, subject to liquidity needs and legal or regulatory considerations. The filing also details risks tied to staking, custody and concentration in one digital asset.
Competition among U.S. products has also increased. A 21Shares filing dated July 27 said the issuer would waive TSOL’s 0.21% sponsor fee for one year beginning July 28. The company said the product can capture staking rewards, while warning that rewards can fluctuate and staking creates operational and liquidity risks.
Those product developments do not prove that U.S. investors share GSR’s preference for Solana. They do show that regulated U.S. exchange traded access to $SOL has broadened and become more competitive while the Core3 model has shifted exposure away from Bitcoin and Ether.
What traders will watch next
GSR publishes the Core3 model weekly, making the next allocation an immediate test of whether the Solana overweight persists or reverses. Recent updates show how quickly the weights can move. Bitcoin rose from 9.2% on July 15 to 19.3% on Aug. 5 before falling back to 16.9% in the Aug. 12 model.
Volume, relative momentum and volatility will therefore remain useful measures to watch alongside the next model update. GSR has already cautioned that its opinions and estimates can change without notice as market conditions change.
The firm also warns against treating Core3 results as returns available from a live strategy. Its published figures are hypothetical, gross of transaction and management fees and exclude staking rewards. GSR further states that it may trade the assets for its own account and may hold positions that differ from the views expressed in its commentary.
