Japan has formally urged the Trump administration to stop using iconic Japanese characters such as Mario, Pokémon and Naruto in official government social media posts, turning what began as a series of internet memes into an unusual diplomatic dispute over intellectual property.

Scammers are using AI deepfakes to impersonate OnlyFans creators, tricking fans into paying for fake exclusive content before blocking them and disappearing. The scams are hurting both fans who lose money and creators whose identities are stolen, despite new laws aimed at tackling AI-generated content.

Crypto exchange Bitget is seeking an early foothold in Bhutan's emerging digital asset sector after signing a cooperation agreement with the Gelephu Mindfulness City Authority (GMCA), becoming the latest crypto firm to target the country's ambitious Bitcoin-backed financial hub.

Kathleen Allman has sued to take control of Ondo Finance, arguing Ian De Bode was not legally appointed CEO after founder Nathan Allman's death. The Delaware Court of Chancery will decide who has the legal authority to lead the company while the dispute remains unresolved.

The Ethereum Foundation is hiring an AI security researcher to find and verify vulnerabilities across Ethereum's core protocol before they reach the network. The role follows successful AI security testing and expands the Foundation's efforts to protect future Ethereum upgrades through human review and automated tools.

Western Union is expanding beyond traditional money transfers with the launch of Stablecard, a Visa-backed payment card and digital wallet that allows customers to receive, hold and spend its USDPT stablecoin.

Volunteer developers filed 4,962 security findings across 390 Bitcoin projects in approximately 30 hours — only one codebase came back clean

Uniswap Labs has launched Pools, a meme token launchpad on Robinhood Chain with permanently locked liquidity. It offers two launch models, automatic liquidity growth and protections against early bot buying.

Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs, has declared the ELIZAOS token “completely dead,” leaving holders without a treasury, buyback plan or any future project support after a class-action lawsuit settlement exhausted the foundation’s remaining funds. The announcement effectively closes the chapter on one of the most recognizable AI-agent tokens from the 2024 boom, with Walters making clear there will be no attempt to revive the asset.

Coinbase has begun rolling out access to nearly 4,000 U.S.-listed stocks for eligible UK customers, marking the exchange’s biggest step yet toward becoming an all-in-one investment platform where users can trade stocks, cryptocurrencies and cash from a single account.

U.S. stocks gave back part of their gains, and the Nasdaq 100 Index briefly turned lower. According to Jin10, the Nasdaq 100 Index once fell into negative territory.

According to Jin10, Baker Hughes said the impact of the Iran conflict on some projects and supply chains is expected to be offset by strong performance in other regions.

Anthropic nearly tripled its federal lobbying spend to $3.53 million, outpacing OpenAI by more than $1 million in the first half of 2026. According to BeInCrypto, federal disclosures show Anthropic added the Treasury Department to its list of lobbied agencies for the first time this quarter, while OpenAI nearly doubled spending to a record $2.22 million. Issue One counted $41 million in combined spending from January to June across 11 major technology, social media and AI companies and their trade associations, with Kalshi also spending $990,000 on lobbying in the first half of 2026.

Lido has started consolidating 8 million ETH in staked ether and will cut its validator count by a third as part of a broader node-operator overhaul. According to CoinDesk, the liquid staking protocol is also requiring its professional node operators to post bonds for the first time.

According to Jin10, Baker Hughes said regional facilities are expected to face higher logistics and inflation pressure due to the Middle East conflict.

Blueway Photoelectric said on July 27 that it is planning to issue shares and pay cash to buy assets while raising matching funds, with Suzhou Lancan Technology Co. as the target. The company's shares were suspended from the start of trading on July 27, 2026, because the transaction remains uncertain, and Blueway Photoelectric expects to disclose the deal plan within no more than 10 trading days, according to Jiemian News.