Executive brief
The digital asset market is navigating a complex convergence of macro-economic shifts and internal technical friction. Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded their strongest performance since April, attracting over $1.1b in weekly inflows. This resurgence in institutional demand coincides with disappointing US employment data, showing a loss of 23,000 jobs in July, which has significantly cooled expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes. While this creates a bullish directional tailwind for risk assets, internal industry risks remain elevated. A contentious attempt to soft-fork Bitcoin via BIP-110 resulted in a brief chain split before a lack of miner support stalled the enforcing branch at block 961,633.
Meanwhile, the never-sell corporate treasury narrative is facing a stress test as Empery Digital offloaded 1,635 BTC to manage debt obligations. Regulatory uncertainty also persists, with the White House warning that the Clarity Act faces a critical deadline on 15 September, requiring at least seven Democratic votes to proceed. For investors, the current landscape offers an opportunity to capitalise on shifting interest rate expectations, but requires caution regarding the solvency of leveraged corporate holders and the ongoing technical debates regarding Bitcoin’s protocol evolution. The industry continues to mature through a dot-com style shakeout, weeding out unsustainable projects as Wall Street deepens its integration through tokenized funds and regulated products.
1) Top 20 news headlines
- Bitcoin split into two chains overnight, but a silent miner boycott just halted the enforcing BIP-110 chain; the enforcing branch stalled after producing only 2 blocks with less than 3% miner support.
- White House warns CLARITY Act will die Sept 15 unless 7 Democrats vote yes; procedural advancement requires a 60-vote threshold to end Senate debate.
- U.S. unexpectedly shed 23,000 jobs in July, putting Fed rate hikes in question; the job loss far missed forecasts which had predicted a gain of 80,000.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs break $1B in their best week since April; BlackRock funds IBIT and ETHA accounted for over 80% of the cash entering the market.
- Hyperliquid’s RWA perps boom is eating into the revenue that backs HYPE; revenue has fallen for four consecutive quarters despite open interest hitting a record high.
- Crypto is going through a massive dot-com style shakeout as over 100 projects fold in 2026; an industry reckoning is weeding out unsustainable startups with no cash flow.
- Another Bitcoin infrastructure exploit hits, this time draining Lightning payment servers; attackers stole credentials from LND nodes to control wallets and move funds.
- Michael Saylor reveals how ChatGPT helped Strategy unlock $15 billion for its Bitcoin machine; AI helped design a new class of preferred stocks to raise $10.5b via a single instrument.
- Wall Street put $7B into tokenized funds, but under 1% is actually being used in DeFi; BlackRock’s BUIDL fund has a utilization rate of only 0.67% within decentralized protocols.
- Never sell treasury model cracks again as 1,635 BTC is offloaded shrinking Empery reserves by 76%; the firm sold $102.2m of Bitcoin to manage debt and collateral calls.
- AI financial advisers carry a hidden Bitcoin bias activated by a single specific switch; amplifying an internal model feature raised Bitcoin allocations by 5.2 percentage points.
- A $1.8 billion leverage trap is building on Solana as traders pay 11-month high rates; funding rates on perpetual futures have hit their highest level since September 2025.
- New XRP Ledger amendments target $530 million in tokenized Wall Street assets; the XLS-68 proposal would allow sponsors to cover transaction fees and reserves for users.
- Trump Media pulls back from crypto, scraps Crypto.com’s CRO token treasury deal; the company is refocusing on its pending merger with a fusion energy firm.
- Russia cracks down on 9 crypto exchanges in Moscow City; the FSB alleges the platforms helped move scam proceeds abroad through call centres.
- Brazil’s central bank orders exchanges to delay large crypto transfers abroad; the new rule mandates delays for all transfers above $10,000.
- Bybit sues North Korea and Lazarus Group over $1.5 billion hack; the exchange secured a preliminary injunction to freeze stolen assets following the 2025 incident.
- CleanSpark misses Wall Street revenue estimates as shares sink; the miner reported $138m in quarterly revenue, missing consensus targets.
- MARA swings to Q2 loss as Bitcoin’s slump masks higher output; quarterly production was overshadowed by a 28% decline in the average price of Bitcoin.
- Stripe-owned Bridge joins EU MiCA register after Luxembourg approval; the issuer enters the register as a regulated crypto provider under the bloc framework.
2) BTC and ETH ETF flows
| Metric | BTC | ETH |
|---|---|---|
| Net inflow | $98,845,326.995 | $49,601,034.6 |
| Value traded | $1,571,984,411.32 | $484,831,749.83 |
| Net assets | $79,497,427,558.30309 | $10,743,698,230.46 |
| Cumulative net inflow | $52,178,043,463.147995 | $114,551,674,83.876 |
3) X trending news
- Berkshire Hathaway bullish turn; Warren Buffett began deploying a $397.4b cash pile, making $19.8b in net equity purchases during Q2.
- Chinese Yuan strength; the Yuan has reached its strongest level against the US dollar in over 3 years.
- X monetization overhaul; X is ending its current creator program to be replaced by an Original Content Rewards Program on 8 September.
- S&P 500 earnings beat; companies are beating EPS estimates by an aggregate 29.2%, more than 4 times the 5-year average.
- S&P 500 record close; the index added $2.5 trillion in market cap this week to finish at its highest level on record.
- Trump Iran negotiations; President Trump may walk away from war without a nuclear deal if Iran reopens the Strait of Hormuz.
- Bank of America warning; the bank warns investor bullishness is at its highest since 2021 and suggests selling risk assets.
- Bitcoin dollar pressure; President Trump stated that Bitcoin takes a lot of pressure off the US dollar.
- Big Tech debt concerns; Oracle’s 5-year credit default swap surged 70 basis points this year as bond issuance hit $200b.
- Gold ETF recovery; global gold-backed ETFs saw $3.0b in inflows in July, pushing total holdings to 4,068 tonnes.
