Global markets and cryptocurrencies weakened last week as escalating Middle East geopolitical tensions coincided with hotter-than-expected U.S. core inflation. Brent crude and WTI rose 8.33% and 9.36%, respectively, returning above $100 a barrel, while August U.S. core CPI increased 0.29% month over month. The data pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.97% and lifted the market-implied probability of a September interest-rate hike to about 86%. Spot gold fell 1.82% to $4,349.42 an ounce. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones dropped 0.80%, 0.66% and 1.57%, respectively. Bitcoin and Ether declined 4.4% and 1.5%, while spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $462.7 million in net outflows and Ether ETFs attracted $197.1 million. The fear index fell from 71 to 57, indicating cooler market sentiment. Industry developments included India's launch of a $107 million tokenized corporate-bond pilot supporting real-world assets (RWA), Gemini receiving a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Philippines central bank's proposal to suspend new payment-system-operator registrations for 12 months. The week saw nine financing deals totaling $158.4 million in disclosed funding, down 88% from the previous week. Gate Ventures said energy prices and inflation expectations remained the key short-term market drivers, while activity around tokenized assets and institutional crypto infrastructure remained strong.