CZ replies to a riddle-themed meme, leading multiple CZ-themed MEME coins on the BSC chain to surge sharply.

Blockchain security firm Hexens has disclosed a critical vulnerability in Aptos’ Move virtual machine, detected in February this year, that theoretically could put roughly $70 billion in crypto assets at risk. However, the Aptos team patched the mainnet within hours of the vulnerability being disclosed, with no user funds lost. Hexens said the flaw stems from a "stale-cache" issue in the Move VM, which can cause type confusion, letting attackers seize critical permissions including stablecoin minting, cross-chain bridges, and DeFi protocols. In simulation tests, the research team used only a ~$3,000 server to set up the environment, hitting a ~90% attack success rate without requiring validator node permissions or internal access. Aptos responded that it fixed the issue rapidly after receiving the report through its bug bounty program, adding that the vulnerability has very low exploitability in real-world networks and poses no actual harm to users or funds. Hexens warned that malicious exploitation could extend risks beyond the Aptos ecosystem to infrastructure like cross-chain bridges, stablecoins, and centralized exchanges. Independent security firm Grego AI estimates that roughly $250 million in total value locked (TVL) on the Aptos chain was directly affected, with the overall theoretical risk exposure peaking at around $70 billion.

Per monitoring by OnchainLens, whale address 0x2117 saw its 40x leveraged Bitcoin short positions partially liquidated four times in the past 24 hours. The address has had a total of 97.99 BTC liquidated, worth approximately $6.18 million, with a cumulative realized loss of around $298,800. Even so, the trader still holds 67.98 BTC (valued at roughly $4.26 million) in 40x leveraged short positions, with a current unrealized loss of about $179,200. Its liquidation price is only approximately $902 higher than the current BTC market price.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, the address "9oxDc" sold 8.06 million ANSEM tokens approximately 17 days ago at a price of $974.81. At the time of the sale, the project’s market cap stood at roughly $54,000 to $134,000. With ANSEM’s price surging sharply, the batch of tokens is now valued at around $2.39 million. Based on current prices, the trader missed out on approximately $2.389 million in potential profits due to selling too early.

This week, the digital asset industry’s discussions centered on topics including AI, the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, stablecoins, and Bitcoin. On the AI front, multiple industry insiders noted that current market capital is shifting from digital assets to AI infrastructure development, and future value in the AI sector may be captured more by application layers and infrastructure providers rather than just large language model developers. Additionally, some argue that if the U.S. government acquires equity in OpenAI, it could further exacerbate the trend of centralization in the AI industry. On the regulatory side, as MiCA’s transition period has officially ended, EU crypto asset service providers must now obtain full MiCA licenses to continue operating. Industry players believe that regulatory compliance will gradually become a key competitive advantage for crypto payment and digital asset service providers in Europe. Regarding stablecoins, the industry continues to focus on the newly launched Open USD (OUSD). Analysts believe its ecosystem, involving over 140 institutions including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, BlackRock, and BNY, is poised to challenge the existing stablecoin market landscape (such as USDC) by leveraging distribution advantages. However, some point out that OUSD still faces challenges including liquidity cultivation and governance coordination. On the Bitcoin front, market views are divided over recent capital operations by Michael Saylor’s firm Strategy. Some analysts argue that the company’s recent financing arrangements mean it may still sell Bitcoin to meet future funding needs; others believe the move effectively eases market concerns about its liquidity and default risks, representing a positive risk management measure.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a whale address withdrew 4,942 ETH from Binance, valued at approximately $8.83 million, and immediately staked it via Lido to receive around 3,990 wstETH. Additionally, the same address also withdrew 211.5 WBTC from Binance over the past 24 hours, worth roughly $13.25 million. As of now, the whale has withdrawn a total of approximately $22.08 million worth of ETH and WBTC from Binance in the last 24 hours, with all the withdrawn ETH used for on-chain staking.

Despite the U.S. stock market hitting successive new highs, Bitcoin has underperformed so far this year, but asset management firms Hashdex and Charles Schwab both believe this divergence will not persist long-term. Hashdex Chief Investment Officer Samir Kerbage noted that current market capital is flowing more into themes like AI infrastructure, IPOs, and interest rate trading rather than digital assets, a reflection of shifts in capital allocation rather than a deterioration of the crypto sector’s fundamentals. He pointed out that stablecoin trading volume in the first half of this year has already exceeded the full-year 2025 level, the size of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) has grown by over 60% year-to-date, crypto network transaction activity has also hit an all-time high, and the divergence between on-chain fundamentals and market valuations has reached a historic high. Meanwhile, Jim Ferraioli, Head of Digital Assets Research at Charles Schwab, holds that Bitcoin’s current trajectory still aligns with historical cycles following previous halving events. He explained that Bitcoin typically takes over a year to rebound above the production cost of inefficient miners, which currently stands at around $95,000, while the market’s average cost basis is roughly $80,000 – meaning the price may face ongoing selling pressure from investors exiting losing positions during a rebound. Ferraioli noted that while the "four-year halving cycle" is not an absolute rule, this pattern has profoundly shaped investor behavior. As the Bitcoin market matures, the magnitude of volatility in each future cycle may moderate somewhat.