The Crypto Basic

Real Trump Coins said it had no role in launching, promoting, or authorizing Trump Digital GOLD, distancing itself from the Solana-based token after it appeared across its online presence and subsequently collapsed.

In an X post on Saturday, Real Trump Coins attributed the promotion to “third-party bad actors” and said authorities were involved as it worked to determine what had happened.

Lookonchain Flags Concentrated GOLD Holdings

Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain reported that, before the sell-off, 82.45% of GOLD’s total supply was held across the developer wallet and newly created addresses.

The firm also said 15 of those wallets, which it identified as being associated with the team, subsequently offloaded their tokens for about $330,000, booking an estimated profit of $312,000.

Meanwhile, questions over the token’s promotion centered on its appearance across multiple Real Trump Coins online platforms. For context, on Saturday, GOLD appeared in promotional posts on the company’s X account, which pointed users to RealTrumpCoins.com. The website also featured the token. However, the X posts were later deleted.

Crypto observer Rune subsequently questioned how both the X account and the domain could have been compromised.

Real Trump Coins Domains Raise Further Questions

The Real Trump Coins X account now links to TrumpCoins.com, a separate domain. However, the account had directed users to RealTrumpCoins.com as recently as Aug. 25 in a post that remained online at the time of publication. 

RealTrumpCoins.com also continued to display the GOLD promotion at the time of publication.

Separately, Trump continued to follow the Real Trump Coins X account, one of 53 accounts he followed on the platform.

DeFi protocol More Markets had about $9.3 million of digital assets drained from a lending reserve on Flow EVM, according to blockchain security firm Blockaid, which linked the incident to the use of a liquid staking token and an efficiency-mode borrowing feature.

Blockchain data shared by Blockaid on Monday showed about 15.5 million Wrapped Flow (WFLOW) tokens were taken from the mFlowWFLOW reserve. The security firm valued the assets at roughly $9.3 million.

More Markets had not publicly confirmed the incident or said whether users incurred losses at the time of the initial report.

Blockaid Links Drain to ankrFLOW and E-Mode

Blockaid said the attacker used Ankr Staked FLOW (ankrFLOW), a liquid staking token, together with E-mode to borrow more assets from the reserve.

E-mode, or efficiency mode, is a feature introduced in Aave V3 that allows greater borrowing capacity for assets expected to maintain correlated prices, including a liquid staking token and its underlying asset.

August Crypto Hack Losses Reach $139.7 Million

The incident added to a string of crypto exploits in August. Cryptocurrency hack losses for the month reached $139.7 million, the third-highest monthly total of 2026, according to DefiLlama data. That remained below the $254 million recorded in July. 

The broader security concerns extended into the weekend. On Sunday, Cronos halted its blockchain after an exploit involving the lending protocol Tectonic. The Tectonic incident was estimated at $75 million, though the protocol had not confirmed the amount.

Sberbank expects cryptocurrency trading on Russia’s regulated exchanges to reach 3.5 trillion to 4 trillion rubles ($40.6 billion-$46.4 billion) during the initial 12 months after the country’s new digital-asset rules take effect on Sept. 1, Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told state news agency TASS.

The lender’s SberCIB Investment Research unit estimates exchange-based volume could rise to between 4.75 trillion and 5.25 trillion rubles by 2028 and reach about 7.5 trillion rubles ($87.1 billion) in 2029.

Popov cited Russian Finance Ministry data showing cryptocurrency transactions in the country at about 50 billion rubles a day as of February, equivalent to roughly 18 trillion rubles annually. SberCIB expects only about 20% of that activity to move onto regulated exchanges initially, with a substantial share continuing through other crypto exchange services.

Sberbank Prepares Crypto Lending and Wallet Services

Sberbank also plans to expand lending secured by digital assets under the new regulatory framework. Popov said the lender intends to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and the USDT stablecoin as collateral, adding that Ethereum and USDT would be introduced after the Bank of Russia permits their public circulation.

The bank has already gained experience with cryptocurrency-backed lending and plans to adapt its existing products as the regulatory provisions take effect, Popov said.

Sberbank is separately preparing cryptocurrency infrastructure for customers. The lender plans to integrate a crypto wallet into its Sber and Sber Investments applications and have digital-asset depository infrastructure ready by early December.

The bank has offered qualified investors structured bonds and digital financial assets linked to Bitcoin and Ethereum since 2025.

Russia’s Crypto Framework Takes Effect Sept. 1

President Vladimir Putin signed legislation on Aug. 4 establishing Russia’s first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital currencies and digital rights. Its core provisions take effect on Sept. 1, 2026, while other requirements will be phased in during 2027.

Under the framework, non-qualified investors can purchase approved cryptocurrencies through regulated intermediaries, subject to an annual limit of 300,000 rubles per intermediary and investor testing requirements. Qualified investors can buy cryptocurrencies without that investment cap after completing required testing.

Russia will continue to prohibit cryptocurrency as payment for goods and services domestically. The legislation permits certain exceptions, including crypto settlements under foreign-trade contracts between Russian residents and non-residents.

Existing crypto service providers have until July 1, 2027, to comply with registration requirements. A separate transition deadline of March 1, 2027, applies to existing digital financial asset exchange operators, while certain technical provisions governing digital financial assets take effect on Sept. 1, 2027.

Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has fueled expectations that the company could resume buying Bitcoin after posting “We’re Back” on X, following a roughly two-month pause in its accumulation program.

The message did not disclose a purchase or specify the size or timing of any potential transaction. Saylor has previously posted brief weekend messages ahead of Strategy’s Monday treasury disclosures, prompting market participants to interpret the latest post as a possible signal of renewed buying.

Strategy Built Dollar Liquidity During Buying Pause

Strategy shifted its focus to liquidity and balance-sheet management during its recent pause in Bitcoin purchases.

Specifically, the company increased its U.S. dollar reserve to $5.1 billion and established a separate $1.59 billion cash pool using proceeds from common-stock sales. The additional liquidity can be used for purposes including Bitcoin purchases, while the existing reserve is primarily intended to cover preferred-stock dividends and interest obligations.

Strategy currently holds 840,447 Bitcoin acquired at an average cost of about $75,385 per coin, giving it the largest Bitcoin position among publicly traded corporate holders.

Bitcoin Recovery Lifts Strategy Holdings Above Cost

Saylor’s post came after Bitcoin recovered above Strategy’s average acquisition price, reversing paper losses on the company’s holdings. 

Bitcoin recently moved above $80,000 after trading below Strategy’s cost basis during the summer. The rebound put the company’s Bitcoin position back into unrealized profit.

Any resumption of purchases remains unconfirmed until Strategy reports a transaction. Saylor’s post did not provide a purchase price, Bitcoin amount, or other transaction details.

Cronos halted its blockchain on Sunday after detecting an exploit involving the decentralized lending protocol Tectonic, while on-chain researcher Weilin Li estimated that about $75 million in assets were affected.

Tectonic advised users not to interact with the protocol while it investigates the exploit. Neither Tectonic nor Cronos had confirmed the cause or total losses, and no timetable for restarting the network had been announced. 

Researcher Traces Exploit to TONIC Price Manipulation

Li attributed the exploit to manipulation of TONIC, Tectonic’s governance token, which had a 20% collateral factor despite limited market liquidity.

According to Li, the attacker drove TONIC’s price roughly 100-fold higher in about 20 minutes, then used the inflated collateral value to borrow other assets from Tectonic. He characterized the method as similar to the pump-and-borrow strategy used in the Mango Markets exploit.

Li initially estimated that about $66 million was affected. He said roughly $6 million was bridged to Ethereum before Cronos stopped the network, leaving about $60 million on Cronos. His estimate later rose to approximately $75 million after he found an additional address linked to the attacker that held about $8 million.

Crypto.com Says App and Exchange Unaffected

Crypto.com Chief Executive Kris Marszalek said the company’s app and exchange continued operating normally and that funds held through those services were safe.

Cronos and Tectonic had not disclosed whether they planned to restrict the identified attacker addresses, seek the return of the funds, or reimburse users affected by the exploit.