Suspected Sonic Labs-Related Address Transfers 11.78 Million S Tokens to Binance, Valued at Approximately $5.55 Million

According to Bitget market data, the Nikkei 225 index opened 461.11 points higher on Thursday, August 20, with a 0.71% gain to 65,787.53 points. South Korea’s KOSPI index opened 3.2% higher, with SK Hynix surging over 7% and Samsung Electronics climbing more than 3%.

New public blockchain Linera, founded by former Libra employees, announced today that it aims to become the "next Hyperliquid" and teased an upcoming LNRA token sale. Linera said it is following Hyperliquid’s playbook: building its own dedicated chain, focusing on consumer products, operating with a small team, generating real revenue first, and prioritizing user rewards. Its core product is a real-time prediction market at app.linera.xyz, which can launch, operate, and settle within one minute. The project uses a parallel microchains architecture, supporting thousands of small markets to run simultaneously, with final confirmation times typically under one second—solving congestion and high fees that plague general-purpose blockchains in real-time use cases. All markets operate on a pure player-versus-player (PvP) model, with no house and no external market makers required. The core team numbers just five members. Users who earn badges by engaging with the product will get priority access to an exclusive subscription pool for the LNRA sale. Detailed sale information will be announced at a later date.

As industry giants begin to accept compute power as a tradable asset, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is seeking public comments on compute power futures contracts. Multiple exchanges, including CME Group (CME), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), and emerging fintech firm Architect Financial Technologies, have announced plans to launch such contracts once regulatory approval is secured. These exchanges argue that establishing a compute power futures market would help end-users and speculators hedge against risks like energy shortages or other issues that could hinder technological progress for AI developers. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said in a Wednesday statement: "Without a robust compute power derivatives market, the U.S. cannot win the AI race. This public comment period is the first step toward establishing clear rules for the U.S. compute power market." One of the issues covered in the CFTC’s public comment process is how compute power futures differ from other derivatives or underlying commodities already regulated by the agency. If compute power futures are permitted to list on CFTC-regulated exchanges, further standardization of variables affecting compute power prices may be required, including price indices used for settlement reference and other related factors.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), U.S. stocks closed on Wednesday: the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially rose 0.22%, the S&P 500 gained 0.21%, and the Nasdaq advanced 0.16%. Moderna (MRNA.O) surged 176.9%, while Merck (MRK.N) climbed 12.6%. Moderna and Merck announced that their jointly developed personalized mRNA cancer vaccine intismeran autogene (formerly mRNA-4157/V940), in combination with Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab), met both the primary endpoint and key secondary endpoints in the Phase III clinical trial (INTerpath-001) for patients with high-risk melanoma (skin cancer). Marvell Technology (MRVL.O) rose over 9.8%, SK Hynix (SKHY.O) gained 0.35%, SanDisk (SNDK.O) fell 3.5%, and Micron Technology (MU.O) dropped 0.39%. In terms of crypto-related stocks: Strategy’s share price rose 11.95% to $103.58, having surged more than 13% intraday; Coinbase climbed 9.05% to $159.47; stablecoin issuer Circle increased 9.44% to $78.50; and Ethereum reserve firm BitMine gained 9.68% to $20.05.

U.S. President Donald Trump met with executives from crypto and fintech firms including Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood, Gemini, and Chainlink at the White House’s Roosevelt Room on Wednesday local time, delivering a speech in support of cryptocurrencies. Trump said his administration has “completely ended the war on cryptocurrencies,” noting the industry is thriving, and the U.S. must retain its “undisputed leadership” in areas such as Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, prediction markets, and artificial intelligence, while committing to becoming the “world’s crypto capital.” He added that the U.S. government has discussed accumulating “significant quantities” of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, claiming crypto assets “have greatly eased pressure on the U.S. dollar.” Meanwhile, he urged Congress to pass a “fair version” of the Clarity Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act) promptly, arguing this would keep the U.S. ahead of China and other countries. Trump also noted that the SEC Chair is working to bring Hyperliquid to the U.S. market in a compliant manner, and highlighted policy achievements including the signed Genius Act (stablecoin legislation), strategic Bitcoin reserves, and the ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Prediction market platform Kalshi has submitted an application to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch copper price-linked perpetual futures contracts. According to an August 18 filing, the proposed COPPERPERP contract will track copper spot prices priced in U.S. dollars per pound, utilizing price data from blockchain data service provider Pyth Network. The contract will be cash-settled with no physical copper delivery involved. Unlike traditional futures, perpetual futures have no expiration date, enabling traders to hold positions long-term without rolling over, and maintain price alignment with the spot market via a periodic funding rate mechanism between long and short parties. This application signals Kalshi’s further expansion beyond the bounds of traditional event prediction markets into the commodities and financial derivatives space. Earlier this May, Kalshi secured CFTC approval to launch bitcoin perpetual futures. Additionally, the firm has recently submitted applications for stock index perpetual futures. Copper, a critical raw material for infrastructure including power grids, construction, electric vehicles, electronic devices, and AI data centers, is already widely traded on exchanges such as CME COMEX, London Metal Exchange (LME), and Shanghai Futures Exchange.