The Wire PM: August 13, 2026

The Wire PM: August 13, 2026

Tether says KPMG completed the first full audit of its financial statements

KPMG U.S. issued an unqualified opinion on Tether International's full 2025 financial statements, according to the stablecoin issuer. The examination covered the finances behind roughly $180 billion of USDT and included a physical count of the company's gold holdings. A full audit is materially broader than the quarterly reserve attestations Tether has published for years, but it still describes the company at a past reporting date rather than guaranteeing the quality or liquidity of every reserve today. For stablecoin depositors, the result adds transparency without removing issuer, custody or redemption risk. Source: CoinDesk, published August 13.

The CFTC will explore crypto rules without waiting for the CLARITY Act

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission scheduled an August 20 meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee to discuss crypto assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. The move puts the agency alongside the Securities and Exchange Commission in examining rules that do not depend on Congress first passing the CLARITY Act. Agency action can clarify how existing statutes apply, but it cannot provide the same durable market structure as legislation. For DeFi products offered to U.S. users, the practical question is whether regulators align on jurisdiction, disclosures and the treatment of decentralized intermediaries. Source: Cointelegraph, published August 13.

Fidelity filed to add staking and quarterly cash payouts to its Ether ETF

Fidelity proposed letting its approximately $900 million Ethereum fund stake as much as 100% of its ETH. Under the filing, the fund would retain 85% of staking rewards and convert the remainder into quarterly cash distributions for shareholders. If approved, the structure would turn protocol staking income into a familiar fund payout while leaving investors exposed to ETF fees, ETH price moves and the operational risks of staking. The proposal is another step toward packaging native blockchain yield inside regulated securities rather than asking investors to manage validators or liquid-staking tokens. Source: Unchained, published August 13.

MUFG plans to test Japanese government bond repos onchain

MUFG is preparing a proof of concept for Japanese government bond repo transactions onchain. The bank says the experiment will test round-the-clock settlement along with potential capital and operational efficiencies. Repos are secured short-term funding instruments, so moving their settlement rails onchain targets one of the plumbing layers behind institutional liquidity rather than a retail token product. The trial does not prove that public-chain yields will inherit sovereign-market safety. Counterparty rules, collateral valuation, custody and settlement finality still determine the actual risk. Source: Cointelegraph, published August 13.

Numbers (Updated)

• BTC: $63,343 (-0.3%)
• SOL: $76.16 (+0.4%)
• ETH: $1,885 (-0.1%)

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