Live Feed

Crypto custody firm BitGo (BTGO) has completed its virtual asset service provider registration for its South Korean unit. According to Yonhap News, BitGo Korea received approval for a VASP license from the Financial Intelligence Unit under South Korea’s Financial Services Commission on Aug. 18. BitGo said it met the regulatory requirements directly, rather than acquiring an existing VASP, to build a long-term business foundation in South Korea.

Bitcoin has moved back above its 50-day moving average and the average cost basis of short-term holders, two key indicators used to gauge the market’s near-term direction, Crypto Briefing reported. According to the outlet, when BTC trades above both levels, investors who recently bought Bitcoin tend to move back into profit, easing fear-driven selling pressure and increasing the likelihood of further gains. It added that when BTC falls below the short-term holder cost basis, losses among short-term investors tend to deepen and raise the risk of panic selling, while a move above that level tends to support continued holding or additional buying. Crypto Briefing said a similar pattern appeared in May, when BTC rose after breaking above the short-term holder average entry price of around $79,000.

Singapore-based blockchain platform DigiFT has partnered with Arco, an institutional onchain operating infrastructure provider, to expand distribution of tokenized real-world assets to institutional investors in Asia. The two companies selected South Korea as their first strategic expansion market and plan to advance institutional distribution of regulated investment products and links to onchain capital markets. Through the agreement, DigiFT plans to combine its regulated marketplace with Arco’s Issuer OS and institutional capital-routing infrastructure to build a compliant distribution framework connecting traditional financial products with onchain capital markets.

South Korean payment company NHN KCP has signed a memorandum of understanding with global Web3 platform company LINE NEXT Inc. to expand stablecoin-based payment services, according to a Newsis report. The initiative is intended to broaden real-world use cases for stablecoins by linking NHN KCP’s domestic merchant and payment infrastructure with Unifi, the global digital asset wallet operated by LINE NEXT. The two companies also plan to build the technical and business foundation to extend a won-pegged stablecoin, in whose distribution NHN KCP participates, across LINE NEXT’s global wallet network.

The People’s Bank of China announced it left the loan prime rate, which is treated as the country’s de facto benchmark interest rate, unchanged. The one-year LPR, the benchmark for general loans, was kept at 3.0%, while the five-year LPR, which serves as the benchmark for mortgage loans, was maintained at 3.5%.

Coinbase has chosen Abu Dhabi Global Market, an international financial center in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, as its international tokenization hub to move more traditional financial assets onto blockchain networks, Fortune reported. Coinbase has obtained a license from the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority, allowing it to arrange trades and provide crypto custody, and it plans to launch security tokens.

Leading cryptocurrency industry executives held a private meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick before a separate meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, according to Crypto in America host Eleanor Terrett. Terrett said attendees included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, a16z partner Chris Dixon, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi. The discussion focused on the importance of passing the CLARITY Act and reshoring crypto firms that had moved overseas. Participants also reviewed remaining issues blocking the bill’s passage, including ethics concerns, and discussed in depth how the White House could help build bipartisan consensus.

pension-usdt.eth, a whale that had once posted $49 million in profit and 23 straight winning trades, took a $23.9 million loss after a 50,000 ETH short position worth $106 million was forcibly liquidated.

Hyperliquid burned $4.24 million worth of HYPE over the past 24 hours, according to Onchain Lens. Trading fees generated on Hyperliquid totaled about $4.4 million during the same period.

Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Huang, known as Machi Big Brother, is sitting on a $3.34 million unrealized gain on a 25x ETH long position, according to AmberCN. The position is valued at $48.22 million, with an entry price of $2,097 and a liquidation price of $2,253. Huang had previously logged cumulative losses of more than $80 million by the end of last month. More recently, Huang also sold BAYC NFTs at a steep loss to raise collateral.

CoinMarketCap’s in-house Crypto Fear and Greed Index came in at 55, up 14 points from yesterday, while remaining in neutral territory. The index indicates extreme fear when it is closer to zero and extreme optimism when it is closer to 100. According to CoinMarketCap, the index is calculated based on price movements among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives-market indicators including the put/call ratio, the stablecoin supply ratio, or SSR, and CoinMarketCap’s own search data.

Daily short liquidations triggered by today’s early-morning rally reached a record high, with $2.738 billion wiped out from 9:00 a.m. on Aug. 19 through the current reading on Aug. 20, according to Coinglass data. That surpassed the previous daily record of $2.467 billion set on Oct. 10 last year. Including long positions, however, total liquidations ranked as the third-largest on record. On Oct. 10 last year, total liquidations reached $19.25 billion, while about $3.616 billion in positions were liquidated on Sept. 22 last year. As of today, total liquidations stood at about $2.985 billion.

Improving sentiment driven by expectations for crypto-friendly U.S. policies and expanded Treasury liquidity measures lifted the digital asset market, Bloomberg analyzed. Bloomberg said BTC surged nearly 8% in a short squeeze, triggering the biggest short-position liquidation since 2021, with more than $1 billion in short positions liquidated in one hour. BTC also jumped to $69,500, the highest level since early June, and posted its biggest daily gain since March. ETH also rose as much as 12%, while crypto-related stocks including Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR) posted sharp gains. Bloomberg said buying across the broader market was supported by U.S. policy moves seen as favorable, including regulatory discussions under President Donald Trump, the U.S. SEC's proposal to exempt crypto issuance startups from securities registration, and the U.S. Treasury's expanded bond buyback scale.

Crypto prime brokerage FalconX deposited 198,750 HYPE worth $14 million to Gate, according to Onchain Lens. Exchange deposits are typically interpreted as a sign of selling intent. Multicoin Capital had previously also deposited HYPE to an exchange. Onchain Lens said several buyers that had accumulated HYPE through over-the-counter trades over the past few months now appear to be selling.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 20 a set of economic sanctions on Iran that he described as the strongest ever imposed. Trump said Iran had been given more chances than anyone to reach a deal but failed to take them, and added that the new measures would amount to an unprecedented economic war and isolation campaign against the country. He also claimed Iran’s navy had disappeared, its air force had been destroyed, its military production facilities had been reduced to ruins, its currency had lost value, and the country as a whole was in a precarious स्थिति. Trump added that any country providing support to Iran in any form through its financial institutions, companies, airports, or government agencies would face a steep economic cost. He also called for the immediate blocking of all circumvention routes, including oil smuggling, currency swaps, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registrations, and paper companies. Framing the move as an economic version of D-Day, Trump urged all allies to join the U.S. in isolating and repelling the Iranian threat, adding that Iran would never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on X, "오는 9월 15일 클래리티법(CLARITY)에 초당적 투표가 나오고, 업토버(10월 상승장)과 다음 상승장이 올 것." Bitcoin rebounded around 7% early on Aug. 19, and the market is pointing to the U.S. SEC’s proposed rules on crypto assets, increased liquidity tied to expanded U.S. Treasury bond purchases, and comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about possibly buying multiple cryptocurrencies as factors behind the move.

Grayscale, a crypto investment firm and issuer of a spot BTC ETF, said the U.S. SEC’s proposed crypto asset rules could support activity on major networks including ETH, SOL, and BNB. In a blog post on Aug. 19, Grayscale said the proposal would allow crypto projects to raise token-based funding in the United States, which in turn could spur activity across major networks. Grayscale added that a similar phase emerged during the earlier ICO and IDO boom. The U.S. SEC formally proposed the crypto asset framework on Aug. 18, exempting crypto investment contracts from securities-law registration requirements.

Bitcoin could become a neutral global reserve asset that helps address concerns over the dollar losing its reserve-currency status and the current system’s reliance on U.S. sovereign debt, Forbes said. Forbes said the dollar benefits from its reserve-currency role by making funding easier, but faces the Triffin Dilemma, making it difficult to meet both U.S. economic conditions and global reserve demand at the same time. It said the system draws global capital into the United States and lets U.S. consumers buy imports more cheaply, while weakening domestic manufacturing competitiveness and deepening trade deficits. Forbes added the current framework has been barely sustained through U.S. Treasuries since the end of the gold standard, but its core contradiction remains unresolved. It also said stablecoins cannot fully solve the reserve-asset issue because they still rely on U.S. government debt. Gold is neutral, Forbes said, but has limits in transport, verification and settlement efficiency. By contrast, BTC has a fixed supply, does not require any state to guarantee its credit, and is easy to verify, settle and transport globally, which could make it a new neutral reserve asset. Forbes added the dollar could continue serving as the reserve currency for transactions and commerce, while BTC gradually takes on more of the reserve-asset role and reduces reliance on any single country’s debt. It said BTC still needs to overcome issues including price volatility and limited institutional adoption.

Japan-based Bitcoin treasury company Remixpoint increased its holdings by 9.96 BTC and now holds a total of 1,501.27 BTC, ranking 38th among corporate Bitcoin holders, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.

A wallet believed to be linked to crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital deposited 62,700 HYPE worth $4.37 million into Coinbase Prime, according to Onchain Lens. Exchange deposits are typically interpreted as intended for sale. The same entity had also deposited 172,710 HYPE into Coinbase yesterday.

Crypto-linked stocks in the U.S. closed higher as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices advanced. Strategy (MSTR) rose 11.95% to close at $103.58, while Coinbase (COIN) gained 9.05% to $159.47. Circle (CRCL) and Bitmine (BMNR) also closed up 9.44% and 9.68% at $78.50 and $20.05, respectively. The rally came after reports of expanded U.S. Treasury bond purchases and remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump about possible cryptocurrency purchases, alongside large-scale forced liquidations of short positions.

Major exchanges have seen $291 million worth of futures liquidated in the past hour. In the past 24 hours, $2,897 million worth of futures have been liquidated.

Nearly $3 billion in futures positions was liquidated over the past 24 hours, with shorts accounting for most of the total. According to CoinGlass data, $2.9 billion in futures positions was liquidated during the period, including about $240 million in longs and $2.66 billion in shorts. Major cryptocurrencies were all trading higher, with BTC up about 7.5%, ETH up about 18.4%, SOL up about 11.8%, and HYPE up about 21%, amid reports that the U.S. Treasury could expand Treasury bond purchases and comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about a possible cryptocurrency purchase.

ETH has fallen by 3.26% in the past five minutes on the COINNESS market. Currently, ETH is trading at $2,246.86.

Major exchanges have seen $671 million worth of futures liquidated in the past hour. In the past 24 hours, $2,669 million worth of futures have been liquidated.