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South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has resumed work on a second-stage virtual asset law, widely referred to as the Digital Asset Basic Act, and plans to pursue a member-sponsored bill under the name of National Policy Committee Chair Yoo Dong-soo, Yonhap Infomax reported. According to South Korean financial authorities and the National Assembly on Aug. 13, the FSC met privately late last month with Yoo, the ruling Democratic Party’s chair of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, and ruling party floor member Park Sang-hyuk to discuss ways to advance the Digital Asset Basic Act. A financial industry official said the participants agreed that, because the bill involves clear points of contention and differing views, prior coordination within the ruling party would be needed to minimize friction at the subcommittee stage.

The Block reported the launch of Zcash Labs, an independent organization set up to support corporate adoption of ZEC. The group will focus on lowering the technical barriers companies face when integrating ZEC into real-world services, first by providing technical integration and related support and by funding projects that expand ZEC utility use cases.

A whale dormant for about two years moved 1,770 BTC worth about $112.14 million to a new address, according to Onchain Lens.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission warned that designated contract markets are showing a growing number of deficiencies in self-certification filings for incentive programs tied to event contracts, including prediction market products. The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight said the shortcomings have increasingly appeared in filings for programs that reward market-making, liquidity provision, and trading activity, particularly in event contract products. It added that when introducing or changing such programs, exchanges should fully disclose the terms and properly review compliance with CFTC rules.

Metaplanet transfers 5,014 BTC to external address for wallet management

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index rose four points from yesterday to 46. The index compares the price performance of Bitcoin with that of the top 100 coins by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins. An altcoin season is identified when 75% of those top 100 coins outperform Bitcoin over the past 90 days, while the opposite is considered a Bitcoin season. A reading closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

An anonymous whale address beginning with 0x8fEB0 was drained of $25.6 million in crypto assets, on-chain analyst Specter said on X. The hacker swapped the whale’s holdings, including wBTC, cbBTC, LDO, USDS and CRV, into DAI and ETH. Specter added that the same address was also drained of $24.23 million in September 2023, when the hacker later returned about 90% of the stolen funds.

Protect Progress, a U.S. pro-cryptocurrency political group, used fabricated Miami Herald-style headlines in ads attacking a candidate in Florida’s Democratic House primary, the Miami Herald reported. According to the newspaper, the group misquoted three Miami Herald articles to portray Oliver Gilbert, a candidate in Florida’s 24th Congressional District, as a politician who supports President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies. Protect Progress has spent more than $22 million nationwide during this election cycle and reported spending more than $1 million to defeat Gilbert ahead of the Aug. 18 primary. The group is linked to Fairshake, a political action committee backed by crypto companies including Coinbase and other industry figures.

An Ethereum whale address that had remained dormant for about 11 years after մասնակցating in the token’s ICO deposited 2,000 ETH worth $3.77 million to Coinbase, The Data Nerd reported. Exchange deposits are typically interpreted as being intended for a sale.

An anonymous whale address starting with bc1pz deposited 800 BTC worth $50.72 million into crypto market maker Wintermute, ai_9684xtpa said. The address has transferred a total of 2,300 BTC worth $142 million to Wintermute since late June, with an average deposit price of $61,813. The 800 BTC transfer took place six hours ago. Wintermute operates as a market maker and an OTC desk, meaning deposits to the firm may be intended for token sales or liquidity provision.

Hyperion DeFi (Nasdaq: HYPD), a company pursuing a HYPE accumulation strategy, posted a record $31 million in net income for the second quarter, more than doubling from $8.8 million in the previous quarter, The Block reported. The company recorded a net loss of about $9 million in the same period last year, while the total value of its HYPE holdings rose to $133 million from $71 million at the end of the first quarter.

Spot CVD refers to an order-book analysis chart for the BTC/USDT spot trading pair. The upper section shows the volume heatmap, while the lower section shows cumulative volume delta, or CVD. - The volume heatmap tracks trading volume by price range, and the background color becomes brighter when the price stays in a specific range for an extended period or makes a large move. Brighter zones may act as support or resistance. - The cumulative volume delta indicator shows buy and sell orders by fund size. As buy orders increase, the line for the corresponding color rises. The yellow line is based on orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line reflects large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

CoinMarketCap’s in-house Crypto Fear and Greed Index came in at 36, down one point from yesterday, with the market remaining in the fear zone. The index indicates more extreme fear as it moves closer to zero and greater optimism as it approaches 100. CoinMarketCap calculates the gauge based on price movements among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives-market indicators including put-to-call ratios, the stablecoin supply ratio (SSR), and CoinMarketCap’s own search data.

An anonymous whale withdrew 4,650 ETH worth about $8.77 million from Coinbase, FalconX, Galaxy Digital and Cumberland over the past hour, according to Onchain Lens. Such exchange outflows are typically interpreted as a sign of holding intent.

Ethereum’s staking ratio hit a record high of 34.4%, according to Token Terminal.

Hawaii will ban cryptocurrency kiosks and ATMs statewide after Gov. Josh Green signed a bill prohibiting the ownership, operation and management of digital financial asset trading kiosks that accept U.S. dollars and provide crypto, Cointelegraph reported. The move comes amid a rise in crypto-related fraud losses. According to the FBI, such scams caused more than $11 billion in losses across the U.S. last year.

The Blockchain Association is backing Custodia Bank’s lawsuit over access to a Federal Reserve master account, Crypto in America host Eleanor Terrett said. The group filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court arguing the court should directly review whether regional Federal Reserve banks can independently deny master accounts to qualified state-chartered banks. It also warned that if an existing ruling favoring the Fed stands, the central bank could wield broad power to exclude specific industries or companies from the financial system.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest banking group, plans to use blockchain technology to provide instant settlement for some Japanese government bond trades, Nikkei Asia reported. The company plans to conduct blockchain-based repurchase transactions in Japanese government bonds using money market fund tokens and stablecoins, shortening settlement procedures for conventional securities trades.

Tokenization platform Securitize (SECZ) reported a $21.7 million net loss in the second quarter in its first earnings report since listing. Revenue fell 5% from a year earlier to $14.4 million, missing market expectations. SECZ shares plunged more than 20% in after-hours trading after the results, hitting a record low.

Franklin Templeton has received a no-action letter from the U.S. SEC related to an on-chain government money market fund, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said. The letter means the SEC would not recommend enforcement action over a specific activity if the stated conditions are met, even if there could otherwise be concerns about a legal violation. Seyffart said the move opens a path for Franklin’s registered funds, including mutual funds and ETFs, to hold on-chain funds even if they do not technically satisfy custody rules under the Investment Company Act of 1940.

Strategy said its outstanding corporate debt and preferred stock would still be backed by its Bitcoin holdings even if Bitcoin plunged to $21,000.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed mixed today. - S&P 500: +0.26% - Nasdaq: +0.54% - Dow Jones: -0.04%

Video platform Rumble said in a report it bought an additional 82.32 BTC in the second quarter of this year, bringing its holdings to 293.14 BTC. The company increased its Bitcoin holdings for the first time in more than a year.

About 233,000 BTC moved out of long-term holder wallets after the Coldcard firmware vulnerability attack caused roughly $130 million in losses, a volume more than 100 times the stolen amount, according to Decrypt. Decrypt said, "As hackers attacked Coldcard, roughly $15 billion in Bitcoin quietly moved in search of safer storage." The outlet added some of the transfers came from Coldcard users moving funds to multisig wallets, while others came from Ledger and Trezor users who were prompted by the incident to tighten security.

Trump family DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) has appointed former Coinbase executive Ryan Ballantyne as chief business officer, The Block reported. Ballantyne most recently led corporate client strategy at Coinbase Institutional and will oversee WLFI’s global business strategy and partnerships.