While most market participants were resting, several landmark events occurred in the industry at once. From a strategic alliance between a South Korean giant and the payment system Visa to serious statements about hardware wallet security and new details about a crypto bank linked to the Trump family. I break down the key moments that will set the tone for the coming days.
Market: cautious growth and ETF inflows
Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated near the $79,815 mark by the morning of August 28, showing a 1.28% gain over the day and trading in the $78,600–$81,200 range. Ether (ETH) remained virtually unchanged, adding a symbolic 0.14% and holding near $2,498 within the $2,480–$2,535 corridor.
Buyers dominated among the top 25 by market capitalization. The growth leaders were Solana (SOL) with a 5.48% gain, Monero (XMR) at 2.73%, and Gram (GRAM) at 1.95%. Only a few assets were in the red zone: Canton (CC) lost 2.6%, Litecoin (LTC) dropped 0.94%, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) declined by 0.71%.
Among the top 100, the meme coin Official Trump (TRUMP) stood out, surging an impressive 23.73%. Ethena (ENA) and Jupiter (JUP) also distinguished themselves, gaining 11.81% and 8.39%, respectively. The laggards were SPX6900 (SPX) with a 5.2% drop and Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), which lost 3.92%.
Institutional interest remains steady. Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $242.24 million over the day, Ethereum funds brought in $234.51 million, and products on Solana, Hyperliquid, and XRP added $60.91 million, $24.42 million, and $18.47 million, respectively. This indicates sustained risk appetite among major players.
Over the day, $424.84 million in positions were liquidated, of which $253.77 million came from short positions. The largest liquidation order, totaling $12.40 million, was triggered on Binance for the ETHUSDT pair.
Dunamu and Visa: a new look at stablecoins
Dunamu, the company operating South Korea's largest exchange Upbit, has entered into a strategic partnership with Visa. The parties intend to jointly develop stablecoin payments, international transfers, and AI-based financial services. Business models based on the dollar stablecoin OUSD under the Open Standard are also being discussed. Specific products have not yet been defined, but the very fact of an alliance with a payment giant is a powerful signal of the legitimization of digital currencies in traditional financial infrastructure.
Critical vulnerability in Ledger
OneKey founder under the alias Yishi stated that his team reproduced a transaction substitution attack in the laboratory on the Ledger Ethereum application version 1.22.1. The essence of the problem: due to a conflict between the display logic and the transaction buffer, an attacker can rewrite the operation while the user is reviewing it on the screen. As a result, the person confirms one transaction, while the device signs another without showing it.
Ledger confirmed that the vulnerability affects applications based on the Ledger Secure SDK and has already been fixed in SDK version 26.6.1, released on August 21. Users are strongly advised to update their applications via Ledger Live. No signs of active exploitation of the vulnerability in the wild have been detected, but this incident is yet another reminder: even the most secure hardware wallets are not immune to software errors.
Middle Eastern footprint in World Liberty Financial
UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his partners own 49% of WLTC Holdings, the holding company for the future World Liberty Financial bank. The stake is structured through StringZ Holding RSC, while about 38% belongs to a company linked to the Trump family. Earlier, in January 2025, the sheikh had already invested $500 million in World Liberty Financial, receiving 49% of the company itself.
In August, the OCC granted World Liberty preliminary conditional approval to create a national trust bank that will issue, redeem, and custody the USD1 stablecoin. Before launch, a number of regulatory requirements must still be met and a final review passed.
My view: The Dunamu partnership with Visa and ETF inflows confirm that institutional integration of cryptocurrencies is accelerating. However, the Ledger incident is a serious reminder that security requires constant vigilance. As for World Liberty Financial, the emergence of such a player with state-level support could radically change the stablecoin landscape. Keep an eye on developments — the market is entering a phase of structural change.