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Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad criticized a Wall Street Journal editorial on the CLARITY Act as lacking support, saying on X the piece repeated banking-sector arguments and misstated issues related to stablecoins and DeFi. Shirzad said stablecoin rewards under the CLARITY Act would face multiple restrictions and be tied to user activity. Shirzad added there is no evidence to support claims that stablecoins would drive deposit outflows from banks, and said three independent studies, including a report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, had examined the issue. Shirzad said stablecoins and bank deposits have grown together for years. Shirzad also said the CLARITY Act would not grant criminal immunity to DeFi. Instead, the bill would draw a clear line between writing code and acting as a financial intermediary, while fraud, sanctions violations and money laundering would remain punishable. Shirzad urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act, saying the U.S. needs durable federal-level regulation.

An anonymous whale address beginning with 0xff84 opened a $102.63 million Bitcoin short position on decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid (HYPE), according to Lookonchain. The address deposited 2.44 million USDC into Hyperliquid to open a 1,600 BTC short position worth about $102.6 million with 40x leverage. The entry price was $64,202.4, and the liquidation price was $64,888.97. Meanwhile, BTC was trading at $64,013.71, up 1.1%, according to CoinMarketCap.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index stood at 45, down seven points from yesterday. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of Bitcoin with that of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins. A reading is considered altcoin season when 75% of those top 100 coins have outperformed Bitcoin over the past 90 days; otherwise, it is considered Bitcoin season. The closer the index is to 100, the stronger the altcoin-season signal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill bringing the cryptocurrency market into the regulatory fold, local outlet TASS reported. The law sets out rules for crypto exchanges, custodians, mining, and the issuance and circulation of digital financial assets, or DFA, with key provisions taking effect on Sept. 1. It also mandates registration for crypto trading operators, which must join a self-regulatory organization, or SRO, and maintain at least 15 million rubles ($187,339) in minimum capital. However, operators will be allowed to continue doing business without registration until July 1, 2027. Under the law, retail investors will be allowed to buy only highly liquid cryptocurrencies through intermediaries, with an annual limit of 300,000 rubles ($3,700) per firm, while qualified investors will be able to trade without restrictions. Advertising cryptocurrencies or using them as a means of payment for goods and services will remain banned, though exceptions will be allowed for foreign trade settlements and the use of crypto obtained through mining. Banks will also be required to block fund transfers suspected of involving unlicensed crypto trading operators.

The DATA Network Foundation said on its official X account it will extend the lockup period for team, investor and insider-held tokens by an additional 18 months. As a result, part of the supply that had been scheduled to unlock on Aug. 13, 2026 will now unlock on Feb. 13, 2028. Total token supply, individual allocations, vesting terms and legal ownership remain unchanged. In February, the Story Foundation announced a six-month delay to all IP token unlock dates.

Nigeria has approved trading in blockchain-based stock tokens, Bloomberg reported. Companies will be able to issue and trade stock tokens through NASD, Nigeria’s over-the-counter market. NASD said it plans to begin offering the service in early September after receiving approval from the Nigerian SEC. Nigerian authorities also approved NASD in 2023 to develop digital tokens backed by real-world assets.

Cardone Capital’s Bitcoin holdings have surpassed 2,800 BTC, founder Grant Cardone said on X. According to Cardone, the U.S. real estate investment firm acquired a 282-unit apartment property in Naples, Florida, under a hybrid strategy of holding both BTC and real estate. Following the acquisition, the company’s total housing holdings exceeded around 15,000 units and assets under management topped $5.4 billion. Cardone Capital bought 350 BTC yesterday.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake and other core developers have formally submitted EIP-8361, a proposal aimed at curbing excessive staking. The proposal centers on a tapered issuance burn mechanism under which new validator issuance rewards would converge toward 0% once staked ETH reaches 50% of total supply. As the staking ratio rises, part of validator rewards would be burned, and once staking reaches about 60.25 million ETH, or roughly 50% of total supply, all newly issued rewards would be fully burned. The developers plan to discourage unnecessary over-locking of ETH and reduce centralization risks while allowing staking participation to settle organically below 50%. To limit market disruption, the reward reduction would be phased in gradually over 18 months. Previously, Aave founder Stani Kulechov had raised concerns that the proposal could prompt institutional investors focused on stable cash flow to shift attention from ETH to other blockchain networks.

CoinMarketCap’s in-house Crypto Fear and Greed Index rose two points from yesterday to 37, indicating sentiment improved slightly while remaining in the fear zone. The index signals extreme fear when it is closer to zero and extreme optimism when it is closer to 100. CoinMarketCap calculates the gauge based on price moves among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives-market indicators including the put/call ratio, the stablecoin supply ratio (SSR), and CoinMarketCap’s own search data.

The spot CVD chart for 9:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 5 shows order book analysis for the BTC/USDT spot trading pair. The upper section refers to the volume heatmap, while the lower section represents cumulative volume delta, or CVD. - The volume heatmap tracks trading volume at each price level, with the background brightening when the price remains in a specific range for an extended period or moves sharply. Brighter zones may act as support or resistance levels. - The CVD indicator reflects buy and sell orders by capital size, with each colored line rising as buy orders increase. The yellow line represents orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line represents large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

Bitcoin developer Chris Guida said he has reworked 2017 proof-of-work change code to fit the latest version of Bitcoin Knots as a contingency plan if miners do not back the Bitcoin BIP-110 proposal, according to Bitcoin News. The proposal would be used as a last resort to replace the existing mining network if major mining pools are deemed not to support the BIP-110 soft fork. Luke Dashjr said he hopes the measure is never used, but added in verbatim English, "만약의 사태에 대비해 미리 준비해 두는 것이 좋다". Supporters including Mechanic endorsed preparing the code in advance and argued a PoW change threat is needed so miners fulfill their responsibilities to node operators rather than driving Bitcoin's rules. BIP-110 seeks to reduce the amount of data that can be stored in Bitcoin transactions, limiting non-monetary transactions such as Ordinals.

American Bitcoin, a mining company founded by the Trump family, disclosed it reached a $2.5 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations of improperly receiving pandemic relief funds. The matter stemmed from the past record of Gryphon Digital Mining, which American Bitcoin merged with last year. The U.S. Small Business Administration determined Gryphon, then a cannabis-related software company, was not eligible for a Paycheck Protection Program loan and reversed its loan-forgiveness decision in 2024. American Bitcoin mentioned the settlement only in the notes to its quarterly report, limiting the negative impact, and the stock closed up about 5% after the company reported its strongest-ever quarterly Bitcoin mining results.

U.S. Senate reviews adding sports-betting jurisdiction language to Clarity Act As the U.S. Senate moves this week to accelerate progress on the Clarity Act, regional gaming regulators and some lawmakers are considering adding language to preserve state and tribal government jurisdiction over sports betting, The Block reported. During a Senate roundtable, Sen. Tina Smith proposed including the language in the Clarity Act or the Farm Bill, while Sen. John Boozman opposed linking prediction markets to cryptocurrency-related legislation.

South Korea’s planned taxation of virtual assets from next year is expected to have a significant impact on wealthy middle-aged and older investors, EBN reported. The outlet said the tax is likely to hit affluent investors in their 50s and older especially hard, as South Korean financial authorities’ data showed about 59% of high-value virtual asset holders with more than 1 billion won ($722,000) in holdings were age 50 or older, including 3,994 people in their 50s and 2,426 people age 60 and above. EBN said the figures suggest virtual assets have spread beyond being a speculative tool for younger people and have become a key asset-management tool for people in their 50s and 60s. As the government’s tax revision proposal did not include a delay to virtual asset taxation, the likelihood has increased that a 22% tax, including local taxes, will be imposed from next year on annual virtual asset income exceeding 2.5 million won ($1,806).

BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF ETHA will carry out a one-for-three reverse stock split on Oct. 6, a move aimed at improving trading convenience. The split will reduce the number of shares outstanding and raise net asset value per share, while leaving investors’ total holdings unchanged, along with the fund’s total net assets of more than $5 billion. The measure is intended to lift the share price from around $14 and narrow the bid-ask spread to about 2 basis points from roughly 7 basis points. The change is a structural adjustment and does not directly affect Ethereum’s market price.

U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a prominent pro-crypto lawmaker, urged Senate Democrats not to block a vote on the bipartisan CLARITY Act, Cointelegraph reported. Lummis said the bill is essential legislation to protect consumers while preserving the U.S. cryptocurrency industry and fostering domestic innovation.

Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, who is known for approving the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple over unregistered securities sales on the final day of his tenure, has officially been sworn in as director of national intelligence, U.Today reported. The U.S. SEC filed the lawsuit against Ripple in late December 2020, and Clayton’s successor, Gary Gensler, continued to lead the case.

SpaceX did not sell any Bitcoin in the second quarter following its first earnings report as a public company, and its holdings remained at 18,700 BTC as of March 31, according to the report.

U.S. FBI Director Kash Patel said Operation Blackout had seized more than $15 billion worth of cryptocurrency and dismantled a global fraud network, Cointelegraph reported.

The three major U.S. stock indices closed higher today. - S&P 500: +1.79% - Nasdaq: +2.59% - Dow Jones: +1.71%

Cloudflare has launched a stablecoin wallet designed to let AI agents pay for APIs and online content, The Block reported. Only the first phase is now available, with users able to apply for a wallet handle linked to their account. Core wallet features, including stablecoin top-ups and payments, will be added later. The x402 protocol, developed and backed by Coinbase, supports micropayments, allowing agents to make payments and gain access without traditional accounts, subscriptions or API keys.

The Nasdaq’s intraday gain on U.S. markets widened to 2.73%. The S&P 500 was up 1.92%, while the Dow Jones was higher by 1.87%.

Coinbase, Visa, Mastercard and other major investors in OpenStandard said OpenUSD is designed to complement, not replace, USDC, and they plan to support multiple stablecoins rather than back a single token, according to CoinDesk. The remarks came after Circle’s market capitalization fell by billions of dollars following the launch of OpenUSD, or OUSD, by OpenStandard, a group involving more than 140 payments and crypto companies including Visa and BlackRock. During last week’s second-quarter earnings call, Coinbase highlighted its close relationship with Circle. Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas said the company had already met the terms required to renew its business agreement with Circle and would continue expanding the USDC ecosystem. Visa CEO Ryan McInerney said the company’s role is not to pick winners. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said Mastercard already supports USDC and USDG, and described OpenUSD as another coin the company plans to support for use across its network.

Robinhood weathered the crypto market slowdown by successfully diversifying into prediction markets, while Coinbase posted weaker second-quarter results, The Block reported. Robinhood’s cryptocurrency trading revenue fell 37.5% from a year earlier to $100 million in the second quarter, but growth in options, equities and prediction markets helped keep total transaction-based revenue at a record-high $776 million. Its prediction-markets business in particular generated $156 million in revenue on the back of 13.6 billion contracts traded, surpassing its crypto segment for the first time. By contrast, Coinbase’s total second-quarter revenue came to $1.22 billion, its lowest since the third quarter of 2024. Total trading volume fell 24% from the previous quarter to its lowest level since the third quarter of 2023, with institutional and retail volumes both declining by the same rate. The divergence was seen as reflecting Robinhood’s success in reducing its reliance on crypto and broadening revenue sources through products tied to sports and political events.

Telegram was temporarily removed from Apple’s App Store after a user distributed illegal pornographic material in a public group chat, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on his personal channel. Durov said Apple temporarily took Telegram off the App Store after what he described as an organized reporting attack. He said the attacker edited existing posts to secretly insert AI-altered illegal pornographic material into a public group, then reported it directly to Apple. He added that the tactic was a typical extortion scheme in which operators of public groups are asked for money and, if they refuse, illegal content is planted and then reported to platform operators.