WTI crude tops $82 a barrel, adding inflation pressure and weighing on risk assets as bond yields rise.

PayPal (PYPL) stock moved higher into the close after the WSJ reported that the company is in talks with Stripe and private-equity firm Advent about a sale.

It was Stripe and Advent in July that offered $60.50 per share for PayPal, with PayPal reportedly rejecting that amount as too low.

They’ve since been in negotiations, according to the story.

PYPL closed Friday’s session higher by 1.8% at $61.66.

A lot of crypto names will be in Washington next week for a pair of administration meetings, first with the White House and then for a scheduled meeting of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s new innovation committee, of which they're inaugural members.

Crypto CEOs are expected to meet White House officials at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House on Wednesday afternoon, sources say. Then the following afternoon, they'll be at the CFTC’s first meeting of the new committee, talking about “Crypto’s Regulatory Evolution: From Uncertainty to Clarity.”

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday afternoon announced that Cipher Digital (CIFR), along with Amazon, and Lancium, will comply with data center standards laid out by his administration.

“I established clear guardrails to ensure data centers protect our electric grid, conserve our water, respect our neighborhoods, and pay their own way,” said Governor Abbott. "They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life.”

The news would seemingly pave the way for continued data center growth in that state.

CIFR is leading neoclouds higher with an 8.15% gain on Friday. Other movers include TeraWulf (WULF), Keel Infrastructure (KEEL), Hut 8 (HUT), and CleanSpark (CLSK), with gains closer to 5%.

Two Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds held onto their large positions in BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF through the second quarter despite sliding crypto prices during that period.

Mubadala Investment Company reported owning 14.72 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as of June 30, worth about $490 million at the time, according to a Friday regulatory filing. The position was unchanged from the previous quarter and ranked as the second-largest holding in Mubadala’s 13F portfolio.

That followed a Thursday filing from the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), which held 8.22 million IBIT shares worth $273.6 million at the, also unchanged from the first quarter. IBIT was the largest position disclosed in ADIC’s 13F portfolio.

Stocks tied to bringing traditional financial assets onto blockchains are taking a hit Friday morning after the anticipated “innovation exemption” for tokenized securities trading gets delayed.

Bullish (BLSH), the crypto exchange that owns CoinDesk and is acquiring transfer agent Equiniti as it builds infrastructure for issuing and servicing tokenized securities, dropped 9% in the early session, reversing gains on its second-quarter earnings report.

Securitize (SECZ), BlackRock’s tokenization partner and the issuer of its BUIDL fund, fell more than 5% extending its Thursday 27% plunge after missing earnings. Now the stock trades 60% off its late June-early July high following its public debut.

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), which pursues its own tokenized-stock plans and recently picked Abu Dhabi as its offshore tokenization hub, declined 3%.

Circle (CRCL) also dropped 4.2%. While the company is best known as the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle also has a growing footprint in tokenized U.S. Treasuries through USYC, which has the largest market share with roughly $3 billion in assets.

CoinDesk reported late Thursday that the SEC is set to further delay the innovation exemption, which was expected to make it easier for firms to offer trading in tokenized securities. Concerns from both the White House and Wall Street about the proposal’s legal footing and potential impact on markets have held up the plan.

Strategy (MSTR) pushed back against MSCI’s proposed rules for excluding “non-operating” companies, arguing index providers should measure markets rather than dictate which assets businesses can own.

Strategy said on X, “Digital assets are assets. Index providers should measure markets, not decide which assets companies are allowed to own. MSCI’s proposal puts it out of step with regulators, markets, and its own customers. Bitcoin doesn’t need MSCI. Neither does Strategy”.

The response echoes its December objection to MSCI’s earlier digital asset proposal, which Strategy said unfairly treated bitcoin treasury companies like passive investment vehicles in global indexes.

Crypto prices continue to drift somewhat lower ahead of the opening of the U.S. stock market on Friday.

Bitcoin (BTC) is now down 1.7% over the past 24 hours to $62,600, extending its week-over-week decline to just shy of 4%. Ether (ETH) is down similarly.

Bitcoin’s low for August was roughly $62,300.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, appears poised for another record high, with futures pointing to a modest opening gain.

The interest rate outlook is boosting all risk markets except crypto. Odds of a September rate hike — which were nearly 70% just one month ago — have pulled back to just 30%.

Retail sales fell 0.6% in July, according to a government report released minutes ago. Econoimst forecasts had been for a rise of 0.1% and June retail sales were higher by 0.2%.

Ex-autos, retail sales dipped 0.3% in July, missing forecasts for a rise of 0.2% and versus a drop of 0.2% in June.

With credit card data now fully available to big shops well in advance of the government report, Wall Street had been bracing for a miss, so — for the moment — there’s little market reaction.

Nevertheless, it’s yet another data point suggesting the Fed does not need to be in a rush to hike rates.

Payward, the parent of crypto exchange Kraken reported $508 million in adjusted revenue for the second quarter, up 17% from a year earlier.

Adjusted ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) was $23 million, a 71% drop from Q2 2025 when Kraken reported $80 million.

Funded accounts rose 42% to 6.6 million, while platform assets reached $40 billion. Payward also said its DeFi Earn Bitcoin Vault has drawn about $400 million in deposits.

“As crypto spot volumes declined across the industry, Payward's traditional futures, equities and tokenized equities activity grew, and the company gained spot market share for the third consecutive quarter,” the company said.

Strive’s (ASST) perpetual preferred stock, SATA, closed at $99.65, its highest close since June 18, when it last traded at its $100 par value. SATA subsequently fell as low as $79 but has since rebounded by 25%.

Meanwhile, Strategy’s STRC closed above $95, its highest level since June 12 and up 34% from its $71 low.

Cronos (CRO), the native utility and governance cryptocurrency of the Cronos blockchain and the Crypto.com ecosystem, has surged by nearly 5% to 5 cents since midnight UTC.

That’s the best performance since July 16 when the token spiked 10%.

The latest bounce from record lows follows news that Crypto.com is rolling out tokenized equities, facilitating exposure to U.S. stocks through its own app.

Users can access 1,500 underlying stocks and funds for as little as $1.

Bitcoin is trading near $62,800, a key level at the lower edge of the Ichimoku cloud on technical charts.

A break below this point would push prices under the cloud, which is seen as a bearish signal for the market.

The Ichimoku cloud is a technical analysis tool created by Japanese journalist Goichi Hosoda and published in the 1960s. It helps traders quickly spot trends, support, resistance, and momentum through a shaded area on the chart.

Crossovers above and below the cloud are said to represent bullish and bearish trend reversals.

Bitcoin fell below $63,000 as rising oil prices and bond yields weighed on risk assets.

WTI crude climbed above $82 a barrel, while the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury advanced to 4.660%.

Why it matters:

Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.