The past week in the crypto world has been a mixed bag of developments, with market volatility, corporate strategies, and regulatory dynamics taking center stage.
The leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, experienced a slump leading to crypto liquidations exceeding $900 million. This downturn, attributed to macro political and economic factors, wiped out hundreds of millions in crypto derivative positions, demonstrating the high-risk nature of the crypto market and the need for robust risk management strategies.
On the corporate front, MicroStrategy's plan to raise an additional $4.2 billion with the goal of owning a significant portion of the total Bitcoin supply signals a strategic move towards crypto asset accumulation. This trend is mirrored by Metaplanet's plan to raise $3.7 billion to buy Bitcoin, highlighting the growing institutional interest in cryptocurrencies.
In regulatory news, the surge in crypto hacks, with crypto exchanges losing over $100 million in July, underscores the urgent need for improved security measures and regulatory oversight in the crypto space. The security breaches at CoinDCX and GMX, resulting in substantial losses, point to the vulnerability of crypto exchanges and the potential regulatory implications.
The exponential increase in tradable crypto tokens, primarily attributed to Solana, Base, and BNB, indicates a shift towards high-throughput networks. However, the lack of liquidity for most of these tokens presents a significant challenge, highlighting the importance of demonstrating durable demand to attract liquidity in a saturated market.
In conclusion, the past week's developments underscore the importance of strategic planning, risk management, and regulatory compliance in navigating the volatile and complex crypto market. As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, legal and financial professionals need to stay informed and adapt to changing market dynamics.
The following article summaries have been sourced from Decrypt, CryptoSlate, NewsBTC, and Crypto Briefing. Each summary includes a direct link to the original source.
The leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, have been experiencing a slump, which has led to crypto liquidations exceeding $900 million. The majority of these liquidations, worth over $823 million, were long positions. The downturn is attributed to various macro political and economic factors, including a disappointing U.S. jobs report, new global tariffs from the Trump administration, and rising tensions with Russia.
Bitcoin, which nearly reached $120,000 earlier in the week, has dropped to $113,411, a fall of approximately 5.6% from its recent peak. Ethereum took a steeper plunge, falling from around $4,000 to $3,518, marking a 10.5% downturn. XRP followed a similar trend, peaking at $3.32 before dropping to $2.98, a 10.2% dip. These declines have wiped out hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto derivative positions in the last 24 hours, with $905 million in positions being liquidated since last evening, according to CoinGlass data.
Despite the current turmoil, many users remain optimistic about the price of Bitcoin. Predictions suggest that the price of Bitcoin is more likely to rise to a new peak of $125,000 than drop back down to $105,000, with the climb to $125,000 given a more than 53% chance. However, analysts have warned that Bitcoin's price could continue to fall over the course of August and September, potentially as low as $80,000, before surging back in Q4.
MicroStrategy is planning to raise an additional $4.2 billion through preferred stock offerings with the goal of owning between 3% to 7% of the total Bitcoin supply. The company's CEO, Michael Saylor, stated in an interview that they are not aiming to own all of Bitcoin, but rather a significant portion. If Bitcoin reaches the $225,000 target that Benchmark has forecasted for the end of 2026, MicroStrategy's current holdings of 628,791 BTC would be worth $141 billion.
On the other hand, Metaplanet, a company 5% the size of MicroStrategy, is also planning to raise $3.7 billion to buy Bitcoin. The company aims to hold at least 210,000 BTC by the end of 2027, which would require a twelvefold increase in its current holdings. Despite the ambitious plan, news of the raise did not seem to excite investors, with Metaplanet's share price dropping 7.65% during Friday's session.
In other news, Coinbase's Q2 earnings report revealed a shift in crypto dynamics. The company's revenue fell 25% to $1.5 billion, missing analysts' forecasts. However, XRP surprisingly overtook Ethereum as a transaction revenue driver, accounting for 13% of consumer transaction revenue. Despite the earnings miss, Bernstein analysts remain optimistic about Coinbase, maintaining their outperform rating and $510 price target. They highlighted the company's partnerships with leading banks and its potential to drive improved trading volumes in H2.
A Bitcoin wallet that had been dormant for over a decade was recently emptied, with its owner moving 306 Bitcoin. The wallet was first funded in 2013 when Bitcoin was trading at around $75. The recent rally in Bitcoin's price seems to have awakened some long-term holders, with this particular wallet's Bitcoin now worth a staggering $34.8 million, given the cryptocurrency's recent price just below $114,000.
This movement of Bitcoin does not appear to be an isolated incident. Two weeks ago, a once-dormant address transferred $4.7 billion to crypto exchange Galaxy Digital. Following further transfers, the firm reported it had sold 80,000 Bitcoin worth $9 billion on behalf of a client. Another tranche of 50 Bitcoin, worth $5 million, was activated in April. These funds were acquired in 2010 when Bitcoin was priced at around $0.10. CryptoQuant, an on-chain data firm, has warned that Bitcoin could be entering a months-long correction phase as long-term holders cash in. This would mark the third major sell-off from large holders, or 'whales', since 2024.
The Bitcoin moved on Friday was split between two wallets, holding 106 and 200 Bitcoin respectively. The original wallet did not receive the Bitcoin from mining, and it was first funded via a CoinJoin address, a method used to enhance the privacy of Bitcoin transactions by combining multiple users' Bitcoin into a single transaction. This makes it harder to track the flow of transactions by obfuscating their origins and destinations.
The number of tradable crypto tokens has seen an exponential increase since 2022, with CoinMarketCap now tracking approximately 18.9 million digital assets, a significant leap from just over 20,000 in 2022. This represents an astonishing 945x increase in a span of three and a half years. The surge is primarily attributed to three high-throughput networks: Solana, Base, and BNB, which collectively account for about 90% of the new supply. These networks have been driven by low fees, turnkey launchpads, and a culture of rapid experimentation.
Solana has emerged as the epicenter of this growth, with approximately 18 million new tokens minted on the chain over the past year. This has been facilitated by memecoin factories and no-code issuers, which have significantly lowered the barrier to creation. Base, on the other hand, has seen the deployment of more than 8.4 million fungible tokens on its network in just a year. Binance Smart Chain (BSC), which initiated the cheap-token boom in 2021, continues to contribute significantly to new token launches, with nearly 4.7 million BEP-20 token contracts on BNB Chain.
However, this explosion of tokens has not been matched by liquidity. Average stablecoin liquidity per token has drastically dropped from around $1.8 million in 2021 to roughly $5,500 in early 2025. Consequently, most of the 18.9 million tokens are illiquid, thinly traded, and highly susceptible to manipulation. Despite the proliferation of assets, value continues to concentrate in a few hundred names, with Bitcoin's and Ethereum's dominance climbing as capital consolidates into proven networks. This suggests that the mere existence of a token no longer confers value, and protocols must demonstrate durable demand to attract liquidity in a saturated field.
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) hit a milestone in July, reaching $1 trillion in monthly trading volume for the first time, as per data from DefiLlama. Spot trading volume grew by 29.4% to nearly $514 billion, only surpassed by January's record of $568 billion. Perpetual futures also saw a significant increase, with a 33.6% rise to a new record of $487 billion. Hyperliquid set a new record in monthly perpetual trading. BNB Chain continued to dominate spot trading volumes for the third consecutive month, with volumes increasing by 15.3% to $196.3 billion, accounting for 38.2% of the total monthly volume.
PancakeSwap was the primary driver behind this growth, contributing $188.2 billion to the spot trading volume. This volume from the BNB-native exchange was larger than the combined volume of the other four top DEXs, which totaled approximately $168 billion. Uniswap registered the second-largest spot volume among DEXs in July, with $96.4 billion. Solana-based decentralized exchanges, including Raydium, Meteora, and Orca, also made it to the top five. Ethereum registered the second-largest monthly volume at nearly $86 billion, a 49.3% increase from June, while Solana slid to third place despite a 36.6% growth to reach $85.1 billion.
Hyperliquid became the first blockchain to surpass the $300 billion mark in perpetual volume, reaching $323.4 billion in July, a 48.3% growth. This volume significantly surpassed Ethereum’s $48.7 billion, which held the second-largest chain in perpetual trading volume last month. Hyperliquid dominated the market with $313.4 billion, accounting for 64.3% of the market and posting 16 times the volume of Jupiter, which stood at $19.4 billion. Solana, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum rounded out the top five in perpetuals with $37.2 billion, $21.6 billion, and $19 billion in volumes, respectively.
The month of July saw a significant surge in crypto hacks, with crypto exchanges losing over $100 million within the span of 30 days. This increase aligns with a worrying trend that has been developing throughout the year, suggesting that theft from digital asset services could reach a new high by the end of 2025. The total losses from crypto hacks in July reached $142 million, with crypto exchanges CoinDCX, GMX, and BigONE accounting for 80% of the total losses. The Indian exchange CoinDCX suffered the highest loss of the month, losing $44 million in USDT due to a security breach.
The breach at CoinDCX was executed by compromising an employee's login credentials. The employee was tricked into a fake job task and persuaded to download and use his CoinDCX-designated laptop to complete tasks, unknowingly downloading files with malware. GMX, a perpetual and spot crypto exchange, recorded the second-largest hack of the month, losing around $42 million due to a vulnerability in the protocol’s first version on Arbitrum. However, the hacker later accepted a white-hat bounty and returned most of the funds.
According to data from PeckShield’s previous reports, Q2 showed a diminishing trend in total crypto losses. However, this trend reversed in July, with the total value of stolen funds surging 27.2% from June’s $111.6 million. The total number of major incidents also increased slightly by 13.3%, from 15 in June to 17 in July. This aligns with a broader trend developing this year, as Chainalysis explained in its “2025 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update” report. The report revealed that crypto theft this year has been more devastating than the entirety of 2024, with over $2.7 billion worth of funds stolen from crypto services in the first half. If this trend continues, the report forecasts that we could see 2025 end with more than $4.3 billion stolen from services alone.
Bitcoin (BTC) is currently facing a downward pressure, struggling to maintain levels above $115,000. At the time of reporting, the cryptocurrency was trading around $115,745, marking a 2.2% drop in the past 24 hours and a nearly 6% fall from its all-time high of $123,000 in July. This recent market movement has sparked questions about the short-term price stability of Bitcoin, especially considering the growing concerns over weak structural support in the current trading zone.
Data from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant suggests a shift in short-term sentiment despite long-term holders remaining largely profitable. The Bitcoin Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) metric, which tracks coins being spent either in profit or at a loss, indicates that many investors are beginning to react to smaller price drops, potentially signaling increased market uncertainty. Historically, Bitcoin has seen a dominance of UTXOs spent in profit, with patient holders benefiting from long-term appreciation. However, this ratio has recently declined, suggesting that some investors are now closing positions at a loss even with minor price retracements. This change may indicate short-term selling pressure despite the overall profitable status of most holders.
Another CryptoQuant analyst highlighted structural weaknesses in Bitcoin’s recent price surge. On July 10, BTC rapidly climbed from $112,000 to $115,800, but this upward move left little on-chain support in the price range. The analyst explained that the price could fall just as fast as it rose if momentum drops or sellers step in. With Bitcoin now hovering just above its last known on-chain support zone, analysts caution that a failure to hold this level could accelerate the decline.
The recent plunge of Bitcoin below $115,000 has resulted in a loss of $700 million in crypto longs, according to a report by Keshav, a senior writer at NewsBTC. Keshav, who has been with NewsBTC since June 14, 2021, has a diverse writing background, having written in various niches including fiction. However, his longest stint has been in the cryptocurrency industry.
Keshav holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Delhi. His initial career plans were to pursue a career in Physics, but the onset of COVID-19 and the subsequent shift to online classes led him to explore other passions. This exploration led him to writing, a hobby he had always enjoyed. He completed his Physics degree in 2022 and has been focusing on his writing career since then, although he maintains a keen interest in Physics and plans to pursue a master's degree in the field.
Keshav has been fascinated by blockchain and its concepts since 2020, and his articles for NewsBTC often involve on-chain analysis. He believes in explaining concepts clearly and consistently so that readers can learn something new from his pieces. Apart from writing, Keshav is passionate about football, anime, and video games. He is also a fitness enthusiast, focusing on agility and acceleration-related workouts due to their relevance in football, and maintains a traditional strength-based program for overall fitness.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, offloaded approximately $13 million worth of Ethereum (ETH), Ethena (ENA), and Pepe (PEPE) tokens during a recent market downturn. The sale included 2,373 ETH, 7.7 million ENA, and nearly 39 billion PEPE tokens, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain. The sales occurred as Ethereum's price fell by 5% to below $3,600, while both PEPE and ENA saw a decline of about 2%, as per CoinGecko data.
The sale comes after ENA had seen a significant gain of over 40% to $0.7 in the past week, following the launch of USDtb, the first stablecoin compliant with the US GENIUS Act, by Anchorage Digital and Ethena Labs. Additionally, the Ethena Foundation announced a $260 million ENA token buyback. Hayes had accumulated over 2 million ENA tokens after these developments, building his position to 7.7 million tokens before the sale. The market downturn that prompted Hayes' sale was marked by Bitcoin's drop to $113,000 following President Trump's announcement of new tariffs, triggering a wave of risk-off sentiment.
American Bitcoin Corporation (ABC), a Bitcoin mining company backed by the Trump family and Hut 8, is on the brink of going public. This comes as Gryphon Digital Mining, a Nasdaq-listed firm, has scheduled a shareholder vote on its proposed stock merger with ABC for August 27, following the SEC's approval of the Form S-4 registration statement. This approval has provided the necessary regulatory clearance for the transaction.
The merger, first announced in May, will result in the new entity operating under the American Bitcoin brand and trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker 'ABTC'. The move is aimed at boosting American Bitcoin's capacity for low-cost Bitcoin accumulation and infrastructure growth in the US. The company currently controls approximately 10.17 EH/s of Bitcoin hashrate, with a goal to reach 25 EH/s of hashrate capacity. After the merger, American Bitcoin stockholders will hold about 98% ownership, with Hut 8 maintaining a majority stake and continuing as the exclusive infrastructure and operations partner.
Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler has announced her resignation, effective August 8, to return to a faculty position at Georgetown University. Kugler, who has been serving as governor since September 13, 2023, has been a part of multiple committees, including the Financial Stability Committee, Federal Reserve Bank Affairs Committee, Board Affairs Committee, and the Subcommittee on Smaller Regional and Community Banking. She expressed her honor in serving the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, especially during a critical time in achieving the dual mandate of reducing prices and maintaining a strong, resilient labor market.
Kugler's departure comes amidst a tense period, with President Trump pressuring the Fed to reduce interest rates and continuously criticizing Chair Jerome Powell publicly. Her resignation opens up a vacancy on the Board that must be filled by a new nomination from President Trump. This provides Trump with an opportunity to nominate a replacement for the influential central bank board, less than two years after Kugler was appointed by the previous administration. Trump has recently called Powell stubborn and demanded immediate interest rate cuts, suggesting that the Board should take control if Powell refuses to act.
