Articles by Khal
Latest from Khal
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XRP Breaks Below Moving Averages as Bitcoin Consolidates at $63K
XRP's symmetrical triangle resolved downside on August 3, with the asset trading at $1.08 and struggling below key moving averages. Bitcoin consolidated around $63,000 after erasing spring gains, with both assets showing low trading volume.
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Central banks boost gold purchases to 289 tonnes in Q2 2026
Central banks purchased 289 tonnes of gold in Q2 2026, marking the largest quarterly addition since Q4 2024 and driven significantly by acquisitions from Poland and China, reflecting ongoing economic and geopolitical considerations.
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Japan and US execute first coordinated yen intervention since 2011
Japan and the US conducted their first joint currency intervention since 2011 on July 31, deploying roughly $53 billion in yen purchases as USD/JPY exceeded 160, pushing the yen to 40-year lows. The move signals shifting market dynamics and heightened volatility for traders.
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Morgan Stanley upgrades South Korea to overweight on AI, industrial recovery
Morgan Stanley upgraded South Korean stocks to overweight on July 22, citing improved risk-reward in AI and industrial sectors after a leverage washout. The firm maintained a KOSPI target of 9,000, signaling substantial upside potential.
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Solana bot cluster shows 3x profit edge via HumidiFi protocol, ASE study finds
An ASE 2026-accepted paper examining 200 addresses from two Solana bot services found that a 12-address cluster routed through HumidiFi with a 62.3% positive return rate versus 21.01% for other transactions in the group—but researchers stressed correlation, not causation.
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Interactive Strength liquidates $50M FET bet, subordinates common shareholders
Interactive Strength wound down its FET token treasury in late 2025 and issued new preferred shares in July, subordinating common equity holders while securing fresh capital through a $2 million convertible note.
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Marc Andreessen calls for permanent US crypto regulatory framework
Marc Andreessen urged a permanent federal crypto regulatory framework on August 1, citing how securities laws built modern capital markets. The CLARITY Act, advancing through the Senate with bipartisan support, would assign oversight to both the SEC and CFTC.
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XRP ETFs Post $15M Weekly Inflows as Bitcoin, Solana Funds Retreat
XRP-focused ETFs recorded $15 million in weekly net inflows while Bitcoin and Solana investment products posted outflows, signaling selective institutional demand across crypto markets.
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XRP ETFs extend longest crypto fund inflow streak in 2024
XRP-focused ETFs attracted $27.29 million in July, extending a four-month inflow streak that has now accumulated over $300 million. The run gives XRP the longest active monthly inflow streak among all crypto funds tracked in 2024, separating it from weaker altcoin competitors.
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Senate Faces Week-Long Window to Advance Digital Asset Clarity Act
The Senate heads into recess in one week with the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act still unresolved. An ethics provision stalemate between lawmakers and the White House is the primary blocker, though a procedural vote this week could position the bill for passage in September.
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US-Iran tensions escalate in Red Sea, threatening global shipping
Escalating US-Iran tensions centered on the Red Sea are creating geopolitical instability that threatens global shipping routes. Prediction markets show declining confidence in near-term normalization of Strait of Hormuz traffic.
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Big Tech data center spending hits $170B in single quarter amid AI arms race
Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft collectively spent $170 billion on data centers in a single quarter, up 72% year-over-year, as capital expenditure on infrastructure and chips is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2027. The surge is reshaping energy markets and creating new dynamics in hardware allocation across tech and crypto sectors.
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Spark Pivots to DeFi Backend for PayPal, Robinhood Stablecoin Rails
Spark, the lending unit of Sky (formerly MakerDAO), abandoned its consumer-facing app to focus on supplying liquidity and yield infrastructure to major fintech platforms. The shift targets $1 billion in OTC lending by year-end, with Robinhood and PayPal already live on its stablecoin rails.
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Senate Has 5 Days to Pass Digital Asset Market Clarity Act
The US Senate faces a tight five-day deadline to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act before lawmakers disperse for summer recess. The bill would establish clear SEC-CFTC jurisdictional boundaries for crypto oversight, with congressional prediction markets estimating only a 30-38% passage probability by year-end.
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Fun CEO: On-Ramps and Bridges Will Disappear as Apps Embed Payments
Alex Fine, CEO of payments infrastructure firm Fun, said legacy crypto infrastructure like on-ramps and bridges will vanish as applications embed payments directly into user experience, abstracting blockchain complexity away.
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XRPL Validators Block Two Flawed Amendments Before Mainnet Activation
The XRP Ledger's validator network disabled two proposed amendments after discovering authorization flaws that could have drained victim accounts through unauthorized transactions and fee exploitation. Both exploits were caught before activation.
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Ripple Issues Critical XRPL 3.2.1 Hotfix for Manifest Flood Attacks
Vijay Khanna, Director of Engineering at Ripple, has urged XRP Ledger node operators to upgrade to version 3.2.1, which contains a critical hotfix preventing manifest flood attacks following an incident observed on July 31.
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Shiba Inu Sees 9.67T SHIB Transferred in 48 Hours; Tests $0.000005
Shiba Inu recorded a 68.75% surge in transaction volume over 48 hours, with whales and retail investors executing a two-step redistribution pattern as SHIB trades near $0.00000497. Extreme whale concentration—764 addresses holding 94.64% of supply—creates competing scenarios for the $0.000005 level.
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MicroStrategy Posts $8.2B Loss as Bitcoin Falls 14%; Saylor Eyes Purchases
MicroStrategy reported a $8.22 billion net loss in Q2 2026 after Bitcoin fell 14%, but chairman Michael Saylor's cryptic "Bitcoin Drive engaged" message hints the company may resume major purchases using its $3.225 billion cash reserve.
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OPEC+ approves 188,000 barrel-per-day production increase starting September
Seven OPEC+ nations agreed to gradually increase oil output by 188,000 barrels per day starting in September, maintaining flexibility to pause or reverse the decision based on market conditions.
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Coldcard firmware exploit drives bitcoin holders back to exchanges
A firmware vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets triggered $70–$90 million in losses and prompted retail bitcoin holders to move smaller balances onto centralized exchanges for safety, marking a sharp reversal from the self-custody migration that followed the FTX collapse.
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XRP Ledger payment volume hits 1.13 billion XRP in single day
XRP Ledger payment volume surged to approximately 1.13 billion XRP in a single day, more than doubling from recent levels and marking the biggest transaction spike of the previous month, though price action has lagged the on-chain gains.
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Craig Wright: Bitcoin Protocol Should Never Be Modified
Craig Wright, who claims to be Bitcoin's creator, has argued that the network's protocol should remain permanently fixed rather than being changed through developer-led upgrades, asserting that stable rules create a level playing field for businesses.
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Bitcoin leveraged shorts cover, but bullish confirmation remains elusive
A sudden 5,500 BTC drop in leveraged short positions across CME futures between July 21 and July 28 signaled potential short covering, but simultaneous pullbacks by asset managers and spot ETF outflows suggest the move doesn't confirm a sustained bullish institutional turn.