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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced today that the original novel "Snowmoon" has been completed, consisting of 32 chapters.The novel unfolds in a speculative science fiction setting, depicting a world that heavily relies on cryptography and decentralized governance. The story focuses on the ideological conflicts between societies such as Veridia and the Arctic Empire, involving elements like zero-knowledge proofs, second voting, privacy technologies, and content-oriented tax mechanisms, integrating themes of mechanism design and digital sovereignty that have long been of interest to Vitalik.The work is released under the GPL v3 license. Vitalik stated that adaptations into films, animations, and other derivative works are allowed, but requires the related production pipeline (including AI prompts, scripts, and other non-generic materials) to be open-sourced. He declared that all text was written by him, with AI assistance only used for spelling and grammar checks, consistency verification, and webpage formatting, and noted "Snowmoon was written with love."

According to Blockaid monitoring, Meter.io's Meter Passport on the BNB Chain is under attack. The attackers are minting a large amount of uncollateralized wrapped tokens wMTRG through cross-chain channels and have already sold some of the tokens on PancakeSwap.Currently, the attackers have minted approximately $2.3 million worth of wMTRG through about two transactions, and the attack is still ongoing.

The Chief Information Security Officer of the blockchain security company SlowMist, 23pds, stated that attackers are exploiting the Darksword vulnerability to bypass iOS security mechanisms through Safari, gaining control of devices and extracting private keys and other data from self-hosted cryptocurrency wallets. This vulnerability has been used in attacks targeting users in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, and Ukraine. The Google Threat Intelligence Group previously disclosed that Darksword initially only affected iOS versions 18.4 to 18.7.23pds noted that attackers have adapted it to iOS 26.5, but this assessment has not yet been officially verified. Attacks typically begin with social engineering, where users click on malicious links sent via social media or messaging applications, potentially granting Root access to the device and extracting wallet data. Users should promptly update their mobile systems and avoid visiting website links sent by strangers; additionally, three investors have lost nearly 1.8 million dollars in Bitcoin due to downloading fake wallet applications from the official Apple App Store and have filed a lawsuit against Apple.

According to on-chain analyst PeckShield (@PeckShieldAlert), the same attacker successively exploited vulnerabilities in the SingularityNET bridging contract to illegally mint 260 million AGIX and 53.83 million WMTx on Ethereum.Currently, the attacker holds approximately 16.77 million USD in crypto assets, including 198.3 million AGIX (approximately 14.42 million USD), 649 ETH (approximately 1.67 million USD), and 33.58 million WMTx (approximately 627,000 USD).

SlowMist released a security warning stating that it has recently received multiple reports of FomoPeek users' assets being stolen. After a joint investigation with the OKX security team, it was found that some affected users had previously installed or used FomoPeek versions 1.1 to 1.2, which contained malicious code. SlowMist stated that there are modules in FomoPeek unrelated to normal business, one of which includes a kernel exploit framework targeting the iOS system, supporting eight different attack methods that can automatically select the exploitation method based on device model and iOS version. Affected systems include iOS 12 to 18.7 and iOS 26 to 26.1. If the exploitation is successful, the application may break through the iOS sandbox and access and decrypt Keychain data, leading to the leakage of private keys, mnemonic phrases, login credentials, and other sensitive files. In addition, FomoPeek also connects to hidden servers unrelated to its public services and can receive remote commands. SlowMist indicated that its analysis of captured plaintext traffic shows that the related attack functions are currently enabled and will run automatically on a regular basis. SlowMist recommends that users who have installed or used FomoPeek versions 1.1 to 1.2 immediately check for any anomalies in their assets, generate new private keys and mnemonic phrases on trusted devices that have never installed the application, and transfer assets to new accounts as soon as possible, while also upgrading to the latest iOS version and not continuing to use or reinstall FomoPeek.

According to SlowMist's security alert, the AtomicQueue contract of ether.fi was exploited due to the lack of access control in the solve() function, resulting in approximately 15.45 ETH being stolen.The attacker created malicious requests using updateAtomicRequest(), forcing the victim's address to act as the solver. Subsequently, AtomicQueue called the victim's finishSolve and executed want.transferFrom, abusing the victim's existing ERC-20 authorization to transfer funds. SlowMist has privately disclosed the attacker’s address and the vulnerability contract address to the ether.fi team.

According to SlowMist's monitoring, the GebProxyActions contract suffered a loss of approximately 5.9436 ETH due to a lack of caller access control. Affected users previously called GebProxyActions.quitSystem directly instead of through a DSProxy delegated call, resulting in ownsSAFE[safe] being set to the GebProxyActions contract.The attacker directly called GebProxyActions.quitSystem(manager, safe, dst), bypassing the safeAllowed check of GebSafeManager and transferring the collateral to themselves.

According to Digital Asset, Park Soo-young, a member of the Korean National Power Party, criticized the government's plan to tax virtual asset gains, stating that it is "a threat of a tax bomb if one does not invest in the domestic stock market," and demanded an immediate withdrawal.Member Park Soo-young stated on her YouTube channel: "I hope this punitive tax plan that puts 13 million digital asset users in danger can be withdrawn immediately." She added, "This does not mean that people will invest in domestic stocks; on the contrary, it will only accelerate the outflow of national wealth." She cited that approximately 124 trillion won flowed into overseas digital asset exchanges from January to September last year.

According to Bitcoin.com, Gurinder Singh Josan MP and Lord Vaizey, co-chairs of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Crypto and Digital Assets (APPG), have written to the CEOs of major UK banks requesting clarification on whether they provide account services to crypto businesses, what restrictions are placed on digital asset transactions, and whether these policies will be adjusted with the implementation of the new regulatory framework in the UK.The MPs pointed out that access to banking may be the single biggest obstacle to the development of crypto and digital asset businesses in the UK. If licensed crypto businesses are still unable to obtain basic banking services, the competitive goals of the new regulatory system will be difficult to achieve.Lucy Rigby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has previously stated that banking service restrictions should not be imposed on FCA-authorized crypto businesses solely due to the nature of the industry. The deadline for submitting written evidence for this inquiry is August 31, and the APPG will use this to make policy recommendations to the government.

According to MBN, South Korea's People Power Party member Jeong Seong-guk plans to propose a bill to postpone the implementation date for taxing virtual asset income by three years, from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2030. The member pointed out that by delaying the implementation date until a comprehensive review of related systems, including the taxation of virtual assets, is completed, a safeguard can be established to enhance taxpayer expectations and prevent system chaos.According to current regulations, starting from January 1 of next year, income generated from the transfer or lending of virtual assets will be classified as "other income" and will be subject to income tax. Therefore, the portion of annual profits exceeding 2.5 million won will be taxed at a rate of 22%, which includes 20% for other income tax and 2% for local income tax. Amid recent stock market turmoil and soaring real estate prices triggering public attacks on the government and ruling party, the People Power Party seems to be trying to gain public support by actively proposing legislation aimed at protecting the interests of virtual asset market investors. The People Power Party has consistently opposed the government, advocating for the abolition of this tax.

According to Bloomberg, to advance the landmark cryptocurrency legislation "Clarity Act," bipartisan senators have proposed an ethical provision to Trump that may include a clause allowing the president to defer capital gains tax on his cryptocurrency assets. The proposal requires the president to divest from cryptocurrency-related businesses, and the relevant terms are still being negotiated between the White House and lawmakers. In June 2025, Trump reported that his family's cryptocurrency business generated over $1.4 billion in revenue, indicating that most of his income has come from digital assets benefiting from his own policies. Democratic senators have made strong ethical provisions a condition for supporting the bill, which aims to clarify the regulatory authority over the cryptocurrency industry.

According to Gate market data, as gold prices approach a one-month high, U.S. gold mining stocks generally rose in pre-market trading. Newmont Corporation (NEM.N) rose by 3.5%, Gold Fields Limited (GFI.N) rose by 5.4%, and Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (HMY.N) rose by 4.6%. The SPDR Gold ETF increased by 2.1%.

The FBI submitted data disclosure to the legislative committee, revealing that losses related to cryptocurrency kiosks in Texas amounted to $56.8 million in 2025, involving 1,179 complaints, making it the highest loss among all states in the U.S. The total number of related complaints nationwide was 13,460, with reported losses increasing by 58% year-on-year to $389 million. Cryptocurrency kiosks can accept cash and exchange it for cryptocurrency, typically set up at gas stations and convenience stores.Statistics from the Texas Tribune show that there are about 4,000 such devices in Texas, where scammers induce victims to withdraw money from their bank accounts and deposit it into the machines. Jesse Saucillo, Deputy Commissioner of the Texas Department of Banking, stated that once funds are transferred out, recovering them is nearly impossible, as the money typically flows into unhosted wallets and then into mixers. He added that AI-generated police and state agency impersonation content makes phone inducements more deceptive.Data from AARP indicates that since 2023, approximately 30 states in the U.S. have enacted laws related to cryptocurrency kiosks. Indiana fully banned such devices in March, followed by Tennessee and Minnesota. Texas House Committee Chairman Rep. Cole Hefner stated that the state will consider measures beyond regulatory scope.

According to official news, OKX, in collaboration with Elliptic, SlowMist, and OttoSec, has released the "Web3 Security and Risk Control Report for the First Half of 2026." The report points out that the focus of Web3 attacks is gradually shifting from smart contract code to more complex scenarios such as signature processes, user devices, operational infrastructure, and AI Agents.Data shows that in the first half of 2026, the OKX risk control system intercepted over 5.7 million high-risk transactions, including approximately 2.41 million transactions related to hacking and theft, about 1.48 million transactions related to phishing, and around 990,000 transactions related to fraud. The OKX Web3 on-chain intelligence label library currently has over 1 billion labels, covering more than 420 chains, and has integrated capabilities such as address screening, transaction monitoring, and sanction address control into infrastructures like DEX and Exchange OS.In addition, in terms of user protection, OKX has intercepted over 7 million visits to risky websites, completed over 200,000 device risk assessments, identified over 60,000 high-risk apps, and intercepted or alerted on over 4 million high-risk signature operations. The report also introduces the "risk control pre-positioning" design in scenarios such as Exchange OS, Outcomes, RWA, and Agentic Wallet.

U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres has requested the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate whether the upcoming Truth API from Truth Social's parent company Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) violates federal securities laws, and to assess whether it involves issues such as market manipulation, investor protection, and conflicts of interest.According to previous reports, the Truth API will launch on August 1, providing paying customers with real-time data access to public posts from popular Truth Social accounts, with authorization fees reaching up to $100,000 per month.

According to BLOCKMEDIA, the South Korean police are investigating a case of political interference in the competition of the cryptocurrency market. A former assistant to independent lawmaker Kim Byung-ki is accused of pressuring the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in February last year to force Upbit to terminate its fee waiver activities for $USDC and $USDT, in order to alleviate the financial pressure on its competitor Bithumb, which was suffering due to a zero-fee promotion.The suspicion arises from the fact that the assistant obtained an informal advisory position at Bithumb months after the interference, while at the same time, the lawmaker's son was also hired by the exchange as an intern. Bithumb denies any knowledge of political interference and insists that the fee adjustments were independent business decisions.

Several individuals familiar with the discussions on the "Digital Asset Market Structure Act" have stated that U.S. lawmakers plan to release an updated version of the cryptocurrency market structure bill this week. The new text combines the provisions previously approved by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and the Agriculture Committee, and was negotiated by the two committees on multiple terms.

According to Cointelegraph, the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority (BFA) is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Wednesday regarding the issuance of $100 million in Bitcoin-backed bonds. The plan was approved by the BFA in November 2025 and requires final approval from the governor and a five-member executive council.The bonds are secured by collateral from the private borrower CleanSpark, with no recourse to state funds or taxpayers. Moody's assigned a preliminary rating of Ba2 (speculative grade) to the bonds in March. New Hampshire is the first state to pass a strategic Bitcoin reserve law, allowing 5% of public funds to be invested in digital assets.