Markets and security dominated the crypto news cycle today. Zcash saw a major price move amid rising derivatives activity and institutional filings, while significant exploits prompted protocol suspensions and a token reissue. Hardware wallet makers and security firms responded with firmware and tooling updates as research flagged growing use of AI in crypto-enabled crime.
Zcash spikes above prior 2018 high as futures activity surges
Zcash (ZEC) rallied sharply, rising nearly 48% on Saturday to trade above $800 and reach an intraday high of $851, surpassing its previous high set in January 2018. Derivatives activity climbed alongside the price: futures volume reached $4.55 billion on Friday while spot trading volume was $553 million, and open interest neared $1.35 billion. Institutional developments also featured in the Zcash story: Grayscale filed a fourth amendment on August 18 to convert its Zcash Trust into a spot ETF, and a subsidiary of DCG is reported to be in non-binding discussions to acquire roughly 200,000 ZEC.
Sandbox halts bridges after LayerZero OFT exploit
The Sandbox suspended bridging of its SAND token on the Base and BNB Smart Chain networks after an attacker exploited a vulnerability in LayerZero’s OFT standard to mint tokens without collateral. Blockchain security firm Blockaid estimated the nominal value of the newly minted tokens at around $49 billion across more than 400 transactions, while PeckShield identified 14.9 billion SAND split between two addresses. Sandbox said the actual impact was negligible relative to total supply, that SAND on Ethereum and Polygon remained secure, and that no user wallets were compromised. Major exchanges Upbit and Bithumb suspended SAND deposits and withdrawals following the incident.
BounceBit chain to shut down after protocol-level exploit
BounceBit announced it will permanently shut down its layer 1 blockchain after an attacker moved 286.5 million BB from nine accounts by exploiting an authorization vulnerability in the Evmos stack. The project plans to reissue its token as a BEP-20 token on BNB Chain using a pre-incident snapshot; stolen tokens will be excluded from the reissue. The stolen amount represented about 13.6% of the token's maximum supply. BB had hit an all-time low of $0.0079 on August 20 but recovered about 16% on Saturday.
Coldcard firmware update and new tool for weak seed detection
Hardware wallet maker Coinkite released a firmware update to strengthen seed phrase generation for its Coldcard devices. The new requirements combine user-supplied entropy with device randomness and mandate at least 65 keystrokes, 50 dice rolls, or 128 coin flips. Confirmed losses from the Coldcard exploit have reached 1,778 Bitcoin (about $112 million), making it the third-largest crypto exploit of 2026 by confirmed losses. Separately, security firm Coinspect published Unlukey, a free tool designed to detect wallet addresses derived from weak seeds.
AI adoption in cryptocrime climbs sharply, report finds
TRM Labs reported a 40% year-on-year increase in adoption of artificial intelligence in cryptocrime, with use rising to 54 out of 100 entities assessed, up from roughly 28 in 2024. The share of AI-enabled fraud reports, including deepfakes and chatbots, has increased by up to 13 times since 2022. Losses from deepfake fraud in 2026 already exceeded the total for 2025 by 263%. The report also noted that crypto-related hacks reached 201 in the first half of 2026, more than double the count in 2025, and attributed about $600 million of losses to North Korean actors, equal to roughly 61% of the documented loss total in that dataset.
Takeaway: institutional flows, cross-chain fragility and evolving defenses
The day highlighted divergent forces shaping crypto: markets are rewarding assets like Zcash as institutional activity rises, while cross-chain infrastructure and protocol-level flaws continue to create exploitable vectors that can rapidly affect token liquidity. At the same time, firms are rolling out firmware updates and analytic tools to harden wallets and detect weak seeds, even as security researchers warn of growing AI adoption among fraudsters and state-linked attackers.