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Trump Announces U.S. Control Over 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuela Oil Reserves
55d ago · reuters
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Edition · 2026-08-29
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An ongoing attack on the Solana‑based crypto card platform Avici has resulted in more than $1 million being transferred from user collateral accounts, while its AVICI token dropped 49 % to a record low of $0.2175. The suspected attacker held 10,005 SOL and about $11,600 in stablecoins at a checkpoint, according to on‑chain data. Solana transaction logs showed that the wallet repeatedly called functions that added an administrator and then withdrew collateral. First, the wallet submitted a signature through Avici’s authorization program and used Solana’s Ed25519 verification. Next, it executed an AddCollateralAdmin call, registering an additional administrator for the account. Finally, a WithdrawCollateralAsset transaction transferred assets to an address controlled by the attacker, moving 2,346.77 USDT in one instance. The wallet signed 14,672 transactions, of which 2,344 failed. During an 11‑minute window, its SOL holdings rose by roughly 2,595 tokens, worth about $277,000. An anonymous analyst created a live tracker that identified 125 sending accounts with transfers ranging from under $10 to more than $26,000. Avici acknowledged the issue in an X post about 1 hour and 53 minutes after the first transaction, stating that it was monitoring a problem affecting card balance withdrawals and working with partners. The company did not confirm the loss amount, the number of affected users, or whether the activity had ceased. Questions remain about whether the program flaw, compromised credentials, or an exposed signing authority caused the withdrawals. Avici’s self‑custody model, which claims users retain control of funds, was called into question because the ability to add an administrator and remove collateral suggests potential centralization. A technical review will be required to explain why the attacker’s signature submissions were accepted. Avici, a U.S. company incorporated in Delaware with a San Francisco address, raised $3.5 million in a MetaDAO token sale in October 2025. The incident has also drawn attention to broader trends of compromised keys and infrastructure, which accounted for 88.3 % of roughly $764 million stolen in the second quarter of 2026, according to a Hacken report. The attack highlights the risks of upgradeable smart‑contract programs that share a single upgrade authority.
An accounting flaw in the Cosmos EVM software was exploited for four months before attackers stole nearly $6 million across six blockchain networks, according to a Cosmos security postmortem. The vulnerability, which affected chains using the Cosmos SDK with Ethereum‑compatible functionality, was first reported on April 25, Cosmos Labs said. The firm initially concluded the bug was unlikely to impact production networks because those networks used 18 decimal places while the flaw required six‑decimal networks.
After further research indicated the vulnerability was exploitable regardless of decimal configuration, Cosmos Labs issued a silent public patch on May 15 and released updated versions on August 19. The flaw combined an unsigned‑integer underflow that created an abnormally large balance with an integer overflow that allowed extraction of legitimate balances without increasing total token supply, the postmortem explained.
Attackers moved about 720.9 million MANTRA tokens, valued at roughly $3.6 million, from a burn address and a legacy multisig, Cosmos Labs reported. No new tokens were minted; the exploit increased circulating supply by making previously inert balances transferable.
MANTRA absorbed the largest disclosed hit, with roughly 600 million tokens moved from a burn address and 120.9 million from a legacy genesis‑era multisig. The chain halted 14 minutes after a second unauthorized debit, resulting in an outage of about 30 hours, the postmortem said.
Other networks, including TAC and KiiChain, reported exploitation about 45 hours and shortly after the MANTRA incident, respectively. Cosmos Labs contacted 40 networks and coordinated patches, halts, or mitigations for 13 additional chains before they were compromised, the firm said. Security communications uncovered 11 previously unknown Cosmos EVM deployments, it added.
The Cosmos ecosystem, valued at more than $7 billion according to CryptoSlate data, was affected, though the theft did not directly impact all projects. About 38 million tokens remained immobilized in the attacker’s address while the remainder were traced through exchanges and referred to platforms and law enforcement, Cosmos Labs reported.
The incident prompted Cosmos Labs to revise its vulnerability triage and disclosure procedures after a flaw initially judged unlikely to threaten production chains ultimately reached six networks and forced emergency action across dozens more.
Bitcoin fell below $77,000 on Friday, dropping about 4% from its recent peak. The move occurred as Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh warned that inflation remains high and policy may stay tight. Crypto markets entered the session with substantial leveraged positions after Bitcoin rallied above $80,000 earlier in the week. The decline accelerated a deleveraging that erased nearly $488 million from derivatives traders. Warsh said at the Jackson Hole conference that underlying inflation is still above the Fed’s 2% target, citing a 3.7% year‑over‑year personal consumption expenditures price index and a 4.1% annualized six‑month pace. He added that financial conditions were not especially restrictive, noting strong labor markets, robust consumer spending, and solid business investment. Traders revised the odds of a September rate hike to roughly 60% from about 35% before the speech. The two‑year Treasury yield rose to a one‑month high and the dollar strengthened, reflecting heightened expectations for tighter monetary policy. CoinGlass recorded $487.68 million of liquidations across crypto derivatives in the prior 24 hours, affecting 97,691 traders, with Bitcoin and Ethereum accounting for most of the losses. The largest single liquidation was an $11.66 million ETH‑USDT position on Binance. Gold and silver markets reported a loss of more than $700 billion in value following the remarks. Higher Treasury yields and a stronger dollar increased the appeal of dollar‑denominated assets and tightened conditions for speculative crypto positions. Warsh did not commit to a specific September decision, leaving the path of future rate moves to incoming economic data. The episode illustrated how quickly macro‑policy expectations can reshape risk assets such as Bitcoin.
Meta announced new limits for teenage users of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp on Wednesday as part of a $18 billion settlement with U.S.
By · 55d ago · Source: bbc
Meta announced new limits for teenage users of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp on Wednesday as part of a $18 billion settlement with U.S. states. The restrictions include a daily two-hour usage cap, hidden like counts, disabled video autoplay, muted push notifications during school hours and a ban on extreme make-up filters. The company also updated its age verification process, expanded parental controls and agreed to an independent auditor to monitor implementation.
The settlement, which involves 48 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. territories, was reached after a lawsuit alleging that Meta designed its platforms to be addictive and violated children’s privacy laws. The agreement does not include an admission of fault.
Elizabeth Cardner said the measures might reduce arguments at home but are unlikely to solve long-term issues. Paige, her 14-year-old daughter, said the changes could promote more real-life interaction and hide like counts, but she expects teenagers to find new ways to alter content.
Andria Rose called the changes 'fantastic' yet said they do not address the underlying problem, noting her own sleeplessness from social media use. Joanie Story said the settlement’s financial terms are insufficient, describing them as 'throwing a couple of dollar bills at a problem.' Mark SooHoo, a founder of the Wait Until 8th campaign, said parents should sign a pledge delaying smartphone ownership until the end of eighth grade, arguing that a communal approach is needed.
The effectiveness of the new policies remains uncertain as other social media services have not matched Meta’s measures.
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act before its September 15 cloture vote, saying that delayed crypto regulations could weaken financial and national security. The House approved the bill 294‑134 in July 2025, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced its market‑structure text 15‑9, with two Democrats joining Republicans. Esper argued that clear rules for digital assets would improve oversight of transactions, preserve the dollar’s role in global finance, and strengthen sanctions enforcement, while offshore activity could hinder U.S. agencies’ ability to track illicit flows. He cited threats from sanctioned networks and North Korean cyber groups such as the Lazarus Group, and warned that China’s development of payment systems independent of U.S. control could diminish Washington’s influence.
The legislation would assign primary oversight of digital commodities to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and securities oversight to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and would give the Treasury expanded authority under the USA PATRIOT Act to restrict transfers tied to foreign jurisdictions posing money‑laundering concerns. Supporters say the measure would make it harder for criminals and foreign adversaries to misuse the U.S. financial system, while industry groups warn that overly strict limits could push customers toward less regulated services. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad quoted Esper on X, urging lawmakers to act with urgency.
Political and market reactions include banking organizations requesting revisions to Section 404, Circle’s share falling more than 2% in premarket trading, and prediction‑market traders lowering passage odds to about 10% after a decline from 82% earlier in the year. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the agency can continue developing digital‑asset proposals under existing authority, though any regulations would remain confined to the Commodity Exchange Act and would focus on derivatives, disclosure and market integrity rather than full spot‑market powers.
The bill now faces a 60‑vote threshold for cloture, requiring bipartisan support that has so far been difficult to achieve, and its ultimate passage remains uncertain.
Solana validators voted to adopt proposal SGP-0002, which raises the network’s annual disinflation rate from 15% to 30%. Voting results showed 67% in favor, 25.16% opposed and 7.84% abstaining, with 60.7% of eligible stake participating. The change shortens the time to reach the 1.5% long‑term inflation target from about 5.7 years to roughly 2.8 years and is projected to reduce total SOL issuance by 18.9 million over the next six years. Large validators such as Figment voted against the measure, while Helius and Jupiter supported it; Kraken reversed its position after initially opposing, ultimately contributing more than 90% of its 8.9 million SOL voting weight to the winning side. The proposal forms part of Solana’s first binding governance process, which also approved a Solana Constitution and rejected a separate proposal on resource and inclusion fees. In parallel, Solana‑linked investment products have attracted substantial capital, with Bitwise’s Solana ETF surpassing $1 billion in assets and total net inflows into U.S. Solana ETFs reaching about $1.7 billion.
Bitcoin climbed above $80,000 this week, lifting crypto equities and extending its weekly gain past 23%, while ether rose about 30% to trade above $2,500. The rally reflects broader market recovery driven by the U.S. Treasury’s decision to double long‑dated bond buybacks, which lowered yields and increased risk appetite, as well as renewed discussion of regulatory clarity and potential government Bitcoin purchases. Crypto stocks such as Canaan, MARA Holdings, Strive, Coinbase and Robinhood posted double‑digit gains, tracking the price movement. Analysts noted that Circle’s USDC supply rose roughly $2 billion in seven days, expanding its share of adjusted transaction volume from about 40 % in 2025 to more than 60 % in 2026, surpassing Tether’s USDT on that metric; the firm maintained an outperform rating and a $140 price target for Circle shares, which have climbed about 40 % in the past month. Bernstein analysts highlighted the potential for continued growth tied to crypto momentum, regulatory clarity, tokenized capital markets and payments adoption, with early demand from AI agents. Strategy’s holdings of 840,447 Bitcoin, valued at $66.7 billion against a cost basis of $63.36 billion, support $22 billion in debt and preferred claims; the company’s stress tests indicate Bitcoin would need to fall about 96 % to jeopardize its ability to meet annual obligations of $1.76 billion, and its cash reserves equal 2.6 times those obligations. Strategy has sold Bitcoin four times since May while accumulating 25 times more, and the firm plans to resume purchases. A Regime Intelligence report identified capital‑market access as Strategy’s primary risk, not Bitcoin price volatility. Solana processed a record 4.2 billion on‑chain transactions in July, a 40 % price increase that pushed SOL above $100, and tokenized real‑world assets on the network reached nearly $4 billion, up 11.8 % in the past month. The recovery highlights the increasing integration of traditional finance with crypto markets, while the sustainability of the rally will depend on continued macro‑economic conditions, regulatory developments and the pace of institutional participation.
An Abu Dhabi royal and his partners hold a 49% stake in the holding company behind World Liberty Financial’s proposed U.S. trust bank, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The trust bank would manage issuance, redemption and custody of World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin under a federally supervised venture that has received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Aug. 14. If final approval is granted, the bank would operate under OCC supervision.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of AI company G42, leads the group that owns the 49% stake through StringZ Holding RSC. An entity tied to Donald Trump’s family owns an additional 38% of WLTC Holdings, the people familiar with the matter said.
The investment follows a $500 million purchase of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial that Tahnoon made previously. Democratic senators have called for hearings to examine the transaction and any potential influence on U.S. policy toward the UAE.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s decision does not identify Tahnoon as the bank’s backer or disclose the size of his investment. The trust bank must satisfy pre‑opening requirements and obtain final OCC approval before it can begin operations.
Cointelegraph contacted the Trump Organization for comment but did not receive a response before publication. The final outcome of the venture remains pending.
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil film is projected to earn $40 million to $50 million during its opening weekend in September, which would make it the highest‑grossing opening weekend for any Resident Evil movie released in theaters. Box Office Pro, a trade publication affiliated with the National Association of Theater Owners, compiled the figures based on current market models. The previous record for a Resident Evil opening weekend was set by Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010, when it earned $26.65 million. Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Extinction each opened with about $23 million, while the original 2002 film opened with $17.7 million. The 2021 entry Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City earned less. Cregger said he chose not to create a direct adaptation of the video games. At San Diego Comic Con, he told IGN that he ‘took liberties’ with the source material and that he was not trying to replicate the games. ‘I am not trying to adapt a video game,’ he said. ‘I am not using the characters from the games. I am not telling a story that the games tell because I would not be able to improve on what the games already do.’ He added that the film follows an average person caught up in the Raccoon City incident, and that the script includes references to game elements such as shotgun shells from Resident Evil 4, first‑person action sequences, a typewriter, and the Umbrella Corporation. The movie runs one hour and 35 minutes and is being promoted as an uninterrupted thrill ride. The release is scheduled for September 18, and box office analysts will monitor actual attendance when the weekend arrives.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Project Helix will consist of a family of devices, during a BBC interview at Gamescom 2026. The platform, first announced in March, promises PC gameplay capabilities but has remained largely undisclosed as Microsoft cuts jobs in its gaming division. The previous console generation launched two models, a disc‑equipped Series X and an all‑digital Series S. Sharma said the company is working on a next‑generation hardware line for Helix and will share more details soon. She noted that consumers are unlikely to spend thousands of dollars on a new console generation and that Microsoft will explore new business models. The platform will let users digitize their game libraries, though specifics about physical disc support have not been provided. The company has not announced a release date or pricing for the new devices.
This edition was assembled from neutral, agent-rewritten summaries of the day's aggregated news.
Why it matters: Every article was reviewed for loaded language, partisan framing, and missing attribution before publication.
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