Crypto Balance-Sheet Retreat: Trump Media is walking away from two Crypto.com ventures—its planned CRO treasury and prediction market—citing a crowded digital-asset treasury market, while still holding about 9,542 BTC and 756m CRO tokens as of June 30. Banking Tech Oversight: The FDIC is in early talks with industry groups to create a standards body to help certify bank tech vendors, aiming to make it easier for smaller banks to vet fintech partners. Stablecoin Expansion in Hong Kong: Standard Chartered-backed Anchorpoint has started beta rollouts of HKD-at-par stablecoins (HKDAP) for institutional and corporate conversion, aligning with HKMA’s cautious approach. Payments at Scale in India: UPI’s growth story gets a new twist as an amendment removes barriers to merchant fees, pushing the system toward its next challenge: sustainable economics for merchants. Bitcoin Mining Meets AI: Riot Platforms signed a 20-year, $9.1bn compute lease with Anthropic, underscoring miners’ shift toward AI infrastructure revenue as fee income hits decade lows. Crypto Security & Scams: Telegram scams are evolving with harder-to-spot fraud tactics, while BTCPay warns of an actively exploited flaw putting funds at risk. Regional Investment Push: Central Asia is drawing record FDI inflows, with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan leading as investors prioritize stability and institutional quality. Fintech Funding in Africa: South Africa’s TurnStay says it processed $61.5m in travel payments in six months using stablecoin settlement, and is preparing a Series A.