Bitcoin and Ether both ripped higher
Bitcoin briefly moved above $77,500, according to OKX market data. It was last trading at $77,100, up about 20% over the past three days. Ether rose above $2,400 and was quoted at $2,412, after gaining more than 25% in the same period.
CoinGlass data showed roughly $1.254 billion in liquidations across the crypto market over the past 24 hours, including about $1.083 billion in short positions. A total of 155,678 traders were liquidated worldwide. The largest single liquidation was a Hyperliquid BTC-USD position worth $23.5968 million.
On August 20, 174,764 traders were liquidated and total wipeouts reached $2.98 billion. The largest single liquidation that day was another BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid, worth $48.8 million. The figure was larger than the roughly $2.23 billion in single-day liquidations during the February 2025 tariff shock and ranked as the eighth-largest liquidation event in crypto history.
Strategy holds 840,447 BTC with an average cost basis of $75,385. At current Bitcoin prices, the company is back in the black and sitting on about $192 million in unrealized profit. BitMine holds 5,815,164 ETH at an average cost of $3,366; based on Ether’s current price, the company is sitting on about $5.792 billion in unrealized losses.
SEC proposes a new crypto issuance regime
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed “Regulation Crypto Assets,” a dedicated securities issuance framework for certain investment contracts tied to crypto assets. The draft includes two Securities Act registration exemptions. One would be a one-time exemption allowing issuers to raise up to $5 million over a four-year period. The other would allow issuers to raise up to $75 million every 12 months.
Both exemptions would require investor disclosures, while the larger one would also require financial statements and ongoing reporting. The proposal also includes a conditional safe harbor under which a crypto asset could stop being treated as subject to an “investment contract” once certain conditions are met. Securities issued under the exemptions, along with some secondary market transactions, would also be exempt from state-level securities registration and qualification requirements. The proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
CFTC keeps pressure on market-structure rules
CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the crypto industry will still get regulatory rules even if Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act, the crypto market-structure bill. He said the CFTC is reviewing multiple crypto-related measures and can use its existing legal authority to write rules.
The Clarity Act is stalled over Senate disputes about ethics provisions and is expected to face a procedural vote in September. The CFTC is also moving ahead with rules for prediction-market event contracts and expects to finish them soon, while seeking public feedback on “compute futures” linked to AI computing power. Selig said the agency will work with the Commerce Department to set standards for AI compute futures so the products meet regulatory requirements.
At a CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee meeting, CME CEO Terrence Duffy said some prediction-market contracts can be manipulated and called for tighter oversight. He said some self-certified contracts, especially political-event markets, could hurt the industry’s credibility. Selig replied that the products Duffy referenced are not listed in the U.S. market. Duffy and Kalshi COO Luana Lopes Lara later clashed over manipulation and supervisory capacity. Regulation of prediction markets remains unsettled, with federal and state regulators competing over the scope of oversight for event contracts, including sports.
Citi, Tether, Kraken and Metaplanet unveil new plans
Citi introduced Custody+, a next-generation custody suite designed for near-real-time and real-time infrastructure across continuous trading, shorter settlement cycles and digital assets. Citi said digital-asset custody is expected to go live later this year, starting with Bitcoin, and will sit inside the same framework as traditional custody services.
The bank said more than 80% of its total custody event volume is already processed in real time. Custody+ will also bring together instant settlement, real-time liquidity management, foreign exchange and Citi Token Services.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company is moving faster beyond financial services and infrastructure and plans to launch basic AI applications aimed at developing markets. He said smartphones are now common even in poorer regions and can run simple on-device AI models, so Tether wants to build tools for health, finance and sports that ordinary users can use in daily life. He did not disclose the business model. Ardoino also said Tether now has more than 650 million users worldwide.
Kraken has opened U.S. stock trading to eligible users in the European Economic Area, giving them access to more than 7,000 U.S. stocks. Users can trade traditional equities, more than 600 crypto assets and more than 700 tokenized stocks, known as xStocks, in one account. The service is offered by Payward Europe Digital Solutions, which is authorized under MiFID II, and is available through Kraken Pro and the Kraken App. Existing EEA users must accept additional terms before gaining access.
Metaplanet, a Japan-listed Bitcoin treasury company, and Nasdaq-listed Super League Enterprise said they reached a definitive agreement under which Metaplanet, through its U.S. subsidiary, will contribute 2,100 BTC worth about $132.1 million plus $2.5 million in cash in exchange for common stock, preferred stock and warrants. The initial investment value is about $134.6 million.
Once the deal closes, Super League will be renamed Superplanet, Inc. and its ticker is expected to change to SUPA. Metaplanet is expected to hold about 95.7% of the common stock. Superplanet will become Metaplanet’s U.S. Bitcoin treasury platform.
Trump says Selig is pushing Hyperliquid into the U.S.
At a White House event with tech leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump said CFTC Chair Mike Selig approved the first “real” Bitcoin perpetual contract on a CFTC-registered exchange in May and is now pushing Hyperliquid to enter the U.S. market in a fully compliant and legal way.
Ondo says tokenization is following the ETF playbook
Ondo Finance product lead John Hoffman said asset tokenization is following a path similar to the early ETF market, moving from skepticism toward adoption. Ondo launched its tokenized Treasury product OUSG in 2023, and the related Treasury products now have about $2 billion in total value locked. Its tokenized stock and ETF platform, Ondo Global Markets, reached $1 billion in TVL within eight months of launch.
Hoffman said Ondo’s perpetuals platform has generated about $9 billion in notional volume in the seven weeks since launch. The company also plans to roll out so-called smart portfolios that bundle multiple tokenized stocks into a single token. The products are currently available only outside the U.S., and Ondo hopes legislation such as the Clarity Act will eventually allow it to offer tokenized products in the U.S.
Binance founder CZ said all assets should be tokenized, calling tokenization one of the best ways for countries to raise funds or attract foreign direct investment. He said governments and companies have an incentive to sell tokenized shares to global investors. CZ said he supports tokenization across all blockchains. That could fragment liquidity, he said, but having multiple parties push the sector at once is the fastest way to scale it. If assets issued by different parties are highly interchangeable, some of that fragmentation can be eased.
Selected funding deals
The Intercontinental Exchange is reportedly planning to keep investing in Polymarket, bringing its cumulative investment to more than $1.6 billion. Etched said it closed a $700 million round at a $21 billion valuation. Ethena and FalconX agreed on a $1 billion secured warehouse financing arrangement. NeoSoul raised $11 million in a pre-A round with participation from MH Ventures and Amber Group. Beldex raised $8 million in a round led by Sigma Capital. More funding deals are listed at crypto-fundraising.info.