Global markets pulled back on Friday as the Dow Jones (+0.08%) edged higher while the S&P 500 (-0.29%) and Nasdaq (-0.4%) declined, weighed down by softer US economic data including a surprise drop in University of Michigan consumer confidence and rising inflation expectations to 4.9% amid concerns over tariff impacts. UnitedHealth surged 11.98% on reports of Berkshire Hathaway buying the stock, while financials retreated after Berkshire trimmed its Bank of America stake and Applied Materials plunged 14.07% despite beating earnings due to weak guidance. European markets were mixed with the Euro Stoxx 600 down 0.06% as US-Russia peace talks on Ukraine ended without progress, while UK banks fell sharply with Standard Chartered dropping 7.21% on sanction evasion allegations. Oil prices declined with WTI falling 1.81% to $62.80 and Brent down 1.48% to $65.85 as oversupply concerns persisted, and bond yields rose across major markets as investors positioned ahead of next week's Jackson Hole symposium for Fed guidance on September rate cuts. The global crypto market cap retreated to $3.89tn.  

  • In the past 24 hours, crypto liquidations increased by 315% and totaled $504m. Notably, long positions accounted for 83% of these liquidations. In terms of market share, ETH dominated with 39% of total liquidations, followed by BTC at 21%.
Source: Coinglass
  • According to SoSo Value data, US Spot BTC ETFs experienced their first daily net outflow in over a week with $14.1 million leaving the funds on August 15, driven primarily by Grayscale's GBTC which saw $81.82 million in outflows and Ark's ARKB with $46.71 million in outflows, while BlackRock's IBIT bucked the trend with $114.40 million in inflows. The net outflow marked a reversal from the previous day's $230.9 million inflow, ending a seven-session streak of positive flows. Despite this shift, total assets under management remained substantial at $152 billion with daily trading volume reaching $3.3 billion, led by IBIT's dominant $87.85 billion in AUM and $2.64 billion in daily volume, while most other major ETFs including Fidelity's FBTC and Bitwise's BITB recorded zero flows.
US BTC Spot ETFs. Source: SoSo Value
  • According to data from SoSo Value, US Spot ETH ETFs also experienced a significant daily net outflow of $59.3 million on August 15, representing a 109.3% reversal from the previous day's $639.6 million inflow, driven primarily by major outflows from Fidelity's FETH ($272.23 million), Grayscale's ETHE ($101.7 million), and smaller outflows from Bitwise's ETHW ($15.76 million) and other funds. BlackRock's ETHA bucked the trend with a substantial $338.09 million inflow, maintaining its market leadership with $15.69 billion in assets under management and $2.44 billion in daily trading volume. The outflow marked a notable deviation from recent strong performance, including record inflows of $1.02 billion on August 11 and $729.1 million on August 13. Despite the daily reversal, total ETH ETF assets remained substantial at $28.2 billion with robust daily volume of $3.54 billion, though the concentration of outflows in specific funds suggests selective profit-taking.
US ETH Spot ETFs. Source: SoSo Value
  • Japan's Financial Services Agency is set to approve JPYC as the country's first yen-pegged stablecoin, a development that could reshape demand for Japanese government bonds and mark a significant milestone in the integration of digital currencies into Japan's financial landscape.
  • Blockchain infrastructure platform Centrifuge crossed $1 billion in total value locked, joining BlackRock's BUIDL and Ondo Finance in the exclusive $1 billion RWA club, driven by institutional demand moving from pilots to real deployments and strong interest in products like the JAAA tokenized CLO fund and upcoming S&P 500 tokenized product.
  • Thailand is reportedly set to launch a nationwide crypto payment sandbox called TouristDigiPay on Monday, allowing foreign visitors to convert cryptocurrencies to Thai baht for electronic payments through regulated e-money providers as the country seeks to boost tourism amid a 5% decline in 2025 and a 34% drop in Chinese visitors.
  • MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor signaled the company would "buy the dip" with an impending Bitcoin purchase as BTC traded around $117,000, down from its recent all-time high of over $124,000, following the company's latest acquisition of 155 BTC for $18 million on Monday that brought total holdings to 628,946 BTC worth over $74.2 billion.
  • According to Lookonchain, BitMine Immersion Technology accumulated 106,485 ETH worth $470.5 million over the past 10 hours through major OTC deals, while an unidentified whale quietly amassed 92,899 ETH worth $412 million over the past four days via Kraken withdrawals, totaling nearly $882 million in institutional Ether purchases amid growing corporate treasury adoption.
  • Ethereum's unstaking queue hit a record $3.8 billion (877,106 ETH) with a 15-day wait time on Friday, according to ValidatorQueue data, led by Lido (285,000 ETH), EthFi (134,000 ETH), and Coinbase (113,000 ETH), while strategicethreserve.xyz shows institutional and ETF holdings have surged 140% since May 1 to over 10 million ETH.
  • The Bank for International Settlements proposed a compliance score system for crypto-to-fiat off-ramps that would track transaction history to assign risk scores to digital assets, potentially preventing "tainted" crypto linked to illicit activity from being cashed out and creating discounted trading for flagged stablecoins, which BIS claims now account for 63% of all illicit crypto transactions as of 2024.
  • Hong Kong has introduced strict cryptocurrency custody rules, banning the use of smart contracts for cold wallets and tightening security standards for custodians, in a move to enhance regulatory oversight and security in the region's digital asset market.