Summary
gm, Kraken relocated its global headquarters to Wyoming due to the state's favorable regulatory environment, highlighting the growing importance of crypto-friendly jurisdictions in the US. In a separate Wyoming development, the state's Stable Token Commission selected Aptos and Sei for its stablecoin pilot program, with Wyoming's state-backed WYST stablecoin scheduled to launch on August 20. Ethereum developers continue to prepare for the upcoming Fusaka fork, focusing on performance enhancements including increased gas limits and blob submission regulations, potentially boosting transaction capacity by over 11%. Meanwhile, CoinMarketCap addressed a security breach by removing a malicious popup notification that prompted users to verify their wallets, underscoring ongoing security challenges in the ecosystem as staked Ether reached a record high with over 35 million ETH locked, reflecting growing institutional confidence despite market fluctuations.

News Headlines
📈 Bloomberg Analysts Raise Altcoin ETF Approval Odds to "90% or Higher"

  • Bloomberg analysts Erich Balchunas and James Seyffart have dramatically increased their confidence in the approval of several cryptocurrency ETFs, including those for Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and Dogecoin, raising the odds to "90% or higher."
  • The optimistic outlook follows the SEC's apparent categorization of these cryptocurrencies as commodities, moving them beyond the SEC's immediate jurisdiction, though analysts caution that approval timelines could extend beyond October.

🧮 Bitcoin Knots Gains Traction: Node Count Surges 638% in 2025

  • Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core, has seen its node count explode from 394 to 2,909 in 2025, now representing 13.24% of all Bitcoin nodes, signaling growing distrust among technical participants regarding Core's unilateral decisions.
  • The tension has escalated with Bitcoin Core's announcement of a "minimally permissive" relay policy, raising concerns about a potential chain split by October 2025 if changes create incompatibility with non-Core clients, reminiscent of the Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash split in 2017.

👨‍💻 ZachXBT Accuses Garden Finance of Laundering Hacked Funds

  • On-chain investigator ZachXBT has alleged that Garden Finance, self-described as the fastest Bitcoin bridge, is facilitating the laundering of funds connected to major crypto thefts, including the Bybit hack.
  • According to ZachXBT, over 80% of Garden's recent fee revenue comes from illicit transactions linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group, though co-founder Jaz Gulati has denied these claims, stating that a portion of the fees were collected before the Bybit incident.

🏦 Nakamoto Holdings Raises $51.5M to Expand Bitcoin Treasury

  • Nakamoto Holdings, led by David Bailey, has secured $51.5 million in just 72 hours through a private equity placement to enhance its Bitcoin acquisition strategy, demonstrating strong investor interest in Bitcoin treasury strategies.
  • The funding contributes to KindlyMD's total of approximately $563 million and will primarily be used for Bitcoin purchases as part of their merger plan, though analysts remain cautious about the long-term sustainability of companies adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

🌍 Samson Mow Aims to Drive Bitcoin Adoption Across Europe

  • Jan3 founder Samson Mow is focusing on promoting Bitcoin adoption among European nations, following a meeting with French lawmaker Sarah Knafo during BTC Prague where he received an invitation to discuss enhancing Bitcoin regulations in France.
  • The initiative comes as France increases its Bitcoin engagement, though concerns remain about Europe's overall lag in crypto adoption compared to other regions due to regulatory challenges and lack of clear strategies regarding Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

Market Metrics

Fundraising & VC
1. Stackup (Seed, $4.2M) - Open-source toolkit for building Web3 apps
2. Nook (Seed, $2.5M) - Mobile savings application

Regulatory
🏛️ UK Falling Behind in Crypto Regulation

  • A new report by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum criticizes the UK for its vague regulatory approach to digital assets, while the EU has implemented MiCA and the US advances with the Genius Act.
  • The Financial Conduct Authority has yet to confirm when its 'Crypto Roadmap' will be enacted, causing uncertainty among market participants and potentially compromising the UK's position in financial innovation.

👁️ Reddit Explores Iris-Scanning for User Verification

  • Reddit is considering implementing iris-scanning technology from World (developed by Tools for Humanity) for user verification, sparking significant backlash from privacy-concerned users.
  • CEO Steve Huffman indicated that Reddit needs to collect more user information to comply with regulatory requirements while emphasizing they don't wish to know users' actual identities.

🔍 Elliptic Partners with IWF to Fight Crypto-Financed Child Abuse

  • Blockchain intelligence firm Elliptic has teamed up with the Internet Watch Foundation to combat the financing of child sexual abuse material through cryptocurrency.
  • The partnership grants Elliptic access to real-time data on crypto transactions associated with CSAM, addressing concerns that over 60% of child abuse websites now offer cryptocurrencies as payment options.

💰 Czech Government Survives No-Confidence Vote Over Bitcoin Donation

  • The Czech government withstood a no-confidence vote triggered by its acceptance of a controversial $45 million bitcoin donation from a convicted criminal.
  • Critics accused the government of potentially facilitating money laundering due to the uncertain origins of the 468 bitcoin, highlighting regulatory challenges around cryptocurrency donations in governance.

Technical Analysis
Bitcoin - Bitcoin has broken down from an approximate horizontal trend channel in the short term. This signals a continued weak development, and the currency now meets resistance on possible reactions up towards the floor of the trend channel. The currency is testing support at points 102400. This could give a positive reaction, but a downward breakthrough of points 102400 means a negative signal. The volume balance is negative and weakens the currency in the short term. RSI diverges negatively against the price, which indicates danger of a reaction downwards. The currency is overall assessed as technically slightly negative for the short term.

Ethereum - Ethereum has broken down from an approximate horizontal trend channel in the short term after investors have sold at ever lower prices. A negative signal has been triggered and further decline for the currency is indicated. The currency has support at points 1800 and resistance at points 2490. Volume tops and volume bottoms correspond well with tops and bottoms in the price. This weakens the trend break. The currency is overall assessed as technically slightly negative for the short term.