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Asset switching is spreading in Seoul’s housing market despite the government’s tough lending curbs, with buyers selling existing real estate and financial assets such as cryptocurrencies to purchase homes, Maeil Business Newspaper reported in an exclusive. According to the report, citing an analysis by South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport based on home purchase financing plans submitted to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jong-yang across 17 cities and provinces, proceeds from sales of stocks, bonds and cryptocurrencies accounted for 7.6% of home purchase funds used by individual buyers in Seoul from January through May, up from 2.9% in 2021. Funds from gifts and inheritances also rose to 6.4% from 3.8%, while proceeds from real estate sales accounted for 32.6%. The share funded by loans from financial institutions stood at 22.7%, with little change in recent years.

Deribit retained the largest share of the cryptocurrency options market in the first half, according to CoinGlass. BTC and ETH options volume across five major crypto options exchanges reached about $864.6 billion in the first half. Deribit led with a 49.3% market share, followed by Bybit at 22.3%, Binance at 13.4%, and OKX at 13.3%. Those four exchanges accounted for more than 98% of the overall options market. Deribit’s monthly market share also fell markedly to 41.8% from 56.3% in January, while Bybit overtook Deribit to rank first in ETH options trading volume.

Onchain Lens said on X that thefts targeting users of Coldcard hardware wallets are continuing, with total losses now estimated at 1,816 BTC, or $114 million. The analytics firm said a fourth attack matching the pattern of the first three left an additional 462 users affected and led to the theft of 388.93 BTC. The hacker has not yet moved the stolen funds to other addresses, according to Onchain Lens, while new transfers were still occurring from addresses tied to the attack as recently as a few minutes ago. Galaxy Research had earlier estimated total losses from the Coldcard incident could rise to as much as 2,055 BTC.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced the addition of Squid (QUID) for KRW, BTC and USDT trading at 2:00 p.m. UTC today.

Two Democratic U.S. senators sent a formal letter to the U.S. SEC urging an investigation into possible illegal conduct and fraud involving President Donald Trump’s meme coin Official Trump (TRUMP), CNN reported. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal delivered the letter to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins on Aug. 3, local time, according to the report. In the letter, the senators raised the possibility that TRUMP could amount to a rug pull. Separately, blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs said TRUMP does not appear to have been designed for a rug pull, but its high concentration of insider-held supply warrants close oversight. TRM Labs added that early buyers and token issuers made profits, while most investors who bought later suffered heavy losses, and said a structure in which nearly 1 million retail investors were left holding losses could increasingly appear problematic over time even if it does not qualify as a rug pull. Trump is also known to have collected about $636 million in royalty income tied to TRUMP last year alone.

South Korean exchange Upbit announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals on the STEEM, SBD, HIVE and HBD networks from 1:00 p.m. UTC on Aug. 12 for a wallet upgrade.

Binance announced it will delist four spot trading pairs — QNT/BTC, RPL/USDC, SIGN/BNB and SKL/USDC — at 3:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 7, according to a notice on its official website.

Coinbase BTC premium stays negative for record 78 straight days The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has remained in negative territory for 78 consecutive days from May 19 through today, according to CoinGlass. As of 9:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 4, the latest reading stood at -0.1145%. The previous longest stretch of negative premium lasted 40 days, from Jan. 16 to Feb. 24 this year. With buying pressure from U.S. investors relatively subdued, the duration of the negative premium has continued to set new records. Historical data show that extended periods of negative premium have often coincided with slower buying by U.S. investors and weaker institutional demand.

Bernstein said valuations for Texas-based Bitcoin miners and AI infrastructure companies with secured power capacity are likely to rise as the U.S. state of Texas begins auditing grid interconnection projects for data centers, The Block reported. Citing growing political opposition to new data centers and potential limits on new power supply under state regulations, Bernstein said the scarcity value of already approved megawatts would increase, making it reasonable to expect higher returns per MW. Based on that view, the investment bank maintained its outperform rating on Cipher Mining (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), Core Scientific (CORZ), IREN (IREN), Riot Platforms (RIOT) and TeraWulf (WULF), while assigning a market-perform rating to MARA Holdings (MARA).

Bitcoin is showing on-chain indicators similar to those seen in past bottoming phases from a four-year cycle perspective, according to an analysis by crypto analyst Crypto Dan. Crypto Dan said the share of coins held for one week to one month based on Bitcoin’s realized market capitalization has fallen to around 5%, while the price has been moving sideways after a correction. Crypto Dan added that it is still too early to be certain a cycle bottom has formed, but, as in past bottoming phases, investor participation has clearly weakened and market interest has cooled. If a new upcycle resumes in 2027, the current range could be viewed as undervalued, Crypto Dan said.

South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has rejected a consumer dispute mediation proposal calling for a total of 3 billion won ($2.2 million) in compensation for victims of an automated trading, or API, event, the Seoul Economic Daily reported in an exclusive. In June, the Korea Consumer Agency’s Consumer Dispute Mediation Commission had decided that Bithumb should waive trading fees worth 100,000 won for each claimant. The Seoul Economic Daily said the dispute could escalate into civil litigation, adding to regulatory risks including financial authorities’ sanctions and delays in the review of Bithumb’s virtual asset service provider, or VASP, renewal, which could weigh on its push for a 2028 IPO.

Trezor warned users not to share recovery seeds with anyone as phishing attempts exploiting the Coldcard security vulnerability have been increasing. In a post on X, Trezor said recovery seeds should be entered directly on a Trezor device only when restoring a wallet, and the company does not ask users for recovery seeds under any circumstances. Trezor added users should also ignore wallet migration instructions sent by email, message, or phone, and said it was not affected by the Coldcard security incident. According to Galaxy Research, a total of 1,596 BTC has been stolen from 7,300 addresses so far in the Coldcard incident, and the total could rise to as much as 2,055 BTC.

India expands tax reporting rules to include crypto holdings India’s tax authorities have revised reporting standards to include cryptocurrencies and tighten customer verification requirements for financial institutions, according to The Economic Times. The updated compliance framework applies to investment institutions including banks, mutual funds, insurers and custodians, while accounts with balances over $1 million will face enhanced customer verification and due diligence procedures.

If BTC falls below $63,106, about $479.2 million in long positions on major centralized exchanges would be liquidated. If BTC rises above $64,426, about $305.32 million in short positions would be liquidated, according to CoinGlass data.

Bithumb, KB Kookmin Bank seek 1-year renewal after 6-month conditional extension

Bitcoin has re-entered a high-stress zone as its BTC UTXO stress indicator rose back above 70 to 71.58, on-chain analyst Axel Adler Jr. said on his blog. Adler said the indicator was around 41 a year earlier, a neutral range, while a significant share of supply is now sitting at a loss. Stress had gradually eased over the past month, Adler said, but weekly momentum has turned positive at +3, signaling stress is starting to build again. Adler added that stress would ease if the indicator falls back below 70 and momentum stays negative. If BTC drops below its monthly low of around $61,500 and the indicator climbs above 90, deterioration in market stress could accelerate.

Cardano’s ADA has surged about 24% over the past week amid approval of a roadmap aimed at strengthening its financial structure and accumulation by whales, Watcher.Guru said. The outlet said Cardano has now entered the "Dijkstra" era of its development roadmap. It added that a recently approved community roadmap includes a treasury support protocol that formally allows funds accumulated through network fees and similar sources to be used for protocol development. Watcher.Guru also said ADA whales added 240 million ADA over the past five days, adding that large-scale whale accumulation is typically seen as a bullish signal reflecting expectations for further price gains.

South Korea’s launch team for the Major Crimes Investigation Office said its organizational plan announced today includes a joint virtual asset investigation division dedicated to cryptocurrency, or digital asset, probes in Seoul, Digital Asset reported. According to the report, the new unit will be established under the Seoul office and the staffing plan also reflects personnel seconded from other agencies, including South Korea’s Financial Services Commission and National Tax Service. The structure places a financial crimes investigation bureau under the first deputy chief of the Seoul office, with the joint virtual asset investigation division under that bureau. The Major Crimes Investigation Office is set to launch on Oct. 2.

Coinbase plans to transfer institutional clients’ accounts, balances and positions to Deribit on Sept. 9, CryptoSlate reported. Clients who decline the transfer must close their positions and accounts by Aug. 28.

BlackRock has launched a tokenized share class for a European money market fund, The Block reported. The share token is based on Ethereum and uses technology from Kinexys, JPMorgan’s blockchain payments platform. The tokenized assets are selected from Institutional Cash Series, an institutional platform with $311 billion in assets under management. BlackRock has recently been rolling out tokenized money market products as it expands its cash management business.

Crypto venture capital firm Spartan Group sold all cryptocurrencies worth $3.92 million held in one of its addresses, EmberCN reported. The address transferred 2.045 million PENDLE worth $2.74 million, 5.377 million SYRUP worth $860,000, and 813,000 ETHFI worth $320,000 to Coinbase Prime. The tokens were all acquired by Spartan Group through vesting after making investments.

A U.S. court denied a request by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to halt New York State’s case against prediction market platform Kalshi, The Block reported. New York State prosecutors had earlier sued Kalshi, alleging it operated an unlicensed illegal gambling venue. The CFTC pushed back, arguing federal agencies hold exclusive regulatory authority over event contracts. With the latest court decision, the state’s lawsuit against Kalshi is expected to proceed for now.

Bitcoin miner Sphere 3D said it plans to launch a $10.3 million at-the-market common stock program to secure operating funds. Under the program, the company can issue and sell common shares from time to time at market prices through designated sales agents or brokers. Sphere 3D also said it plans to raise funds by selling mined BTC when needed.

European and UK financial institutions are sharply increasing investment in crypto infrastructure as the regulatory environment becomes clearer, Bitcoin.com reported. Fireblocks, a crypto infrastructure company, recently surveyed about 600 executives at financial institutions in Europe, and found that most expect crypto regulation to expand adoption. The survey showed that institutions in Europe, where regulatory standards were established earlier, are focusing on investment and the launch of tokenized funds, while those in the UK, where regulation is still being introduced, are actively pursuing the issuance of their own stablecoins.

Kenya’s National Examinations Council is introducing blockchain-based certificate verification and will move 15 million academic records to the Avalanche (AVAX) network, The Block reported.