🟠 Saylor used ChatGPT to design preferred stocks that raised $15B for Bitcoin
Michael Saylor says Strategy turned to AI to engineer a new class of preferred stocks after its existing financing channels — common-stock sales and convertible bonds — became harder to scale.
Using ChatGPT, the company designed the new instruments, which ultimately allowed Strategy to raise approximately $15 billion to fund its ongoing Bitcoin accumulation.
The disclosure highlights how AI tooling is being applied not just to software or trading, but to corporate capital structure design at one of the largest institutional Bitcoin holders in the world.
On Feb. 21, 2025, Bybit lost funds during what appeared to be a routine cold-to-warm wallet transfer. Authorized signers approved the transaction — but their screens had been compromised, displaying false destination data. The signers unknowingly authorized a malicious transfer.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of the crypto industry's reliance on "audited" badges as a trust signal. Smart contract audits examine code — they do not protect against interface manipulation, social engineering, or compromised signing environments. A clean audit report would not have caught what happened to Bybit.
The broader concern: investors and institutions often treat audit badges as a broad security guarantee, when in reality they cover a narrow technical scope. As attack vectors shift from code to infrastructure and user interfaces, the gap between what an audit certifies and what users assume it covers is becoming a meaningful risk.
🟠 MARA Pledges 18,750 BTC for $600M Expansion Loans
Bitcoin miner MARA (NASDAQ: MARA) has secured $600 million in new debt, using 18,750 BTC as collateral to fund its next growth phase.
The company is directing the capital toward expansion into power generation and AI infrastructure, broadening its business beyond traditional Bitcoin mining.
The move signals a growing trend among crypto-native firms leveraging Bitcoin treasury holdings to raise capital without selling their holdings outright.
Bybit has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau and the Lazarus Group following the $1.5 billion hack of the exchange.
A US court granted Bybit a preliminary injunction blocking unnamed defendants from moving or selling the identified stolen crypto assets. The case is drawing attention to a core limitation of blockchain finance: while transactions are traceable, they are effectively irreversible once executed.
The legal action highlights the growing use of US courts to pursue state-linked crypto theft, even when enforcement against sanctioned nations remains practically difficult.
🔐 Coldcard Exploit Triggers $116M Loss and Bitcoin Wallet Surge
A firmware exploit targeting Coldcard hardware wallets has drained more than $116 million, prompting a sharp spike in Bitcoin on-chain activity as users rushed to move funds.
Bitcoin logged 2.27 million new wallets and 751,000 active wallets this week — its strongest on-chain activity in months, according to Santiment data. Analysts describe the surge as security-driven, not demand-led.
The incident highlights the risks of firmware vulnerabilities in hardware wallets and underscores the importance of monitoring device integrity for self-custody holders.
💵 IMF: Domestic Stablecoins May Lift Dollar Token Demand
The IMF's first deputy managing director Dan Katz has suggested that the rise of domestic stablecoins could actually increase demand for dollar-backed tokens rather than displace them.
Katz argued that users may prefer digital dollars due to their superior liquidity, stronger network effects, and wider cross-border acceptance — advantages that locally issued stablecoins may struggle to match.
The observation highlights a key dynamic in the evolving stablecoin landscape: even as more countries explore sovereign or domestic digital currencies, the dollar's structural advantages in global finance may continue to anchor stablecoin demand around USD-pegged tokens.
Spot Bitcoin trading volume reached $8.4 billion in July, according to a report from Aerodrome, reflecting notable activity across major exchanges.
The figures point to sustained market participation, though the source does not break down volume by individual exchange or compare the figure to prior months.
Monthly volume data remains a key indicator of market engagement and liquidity conditions in the Bitcoin market.