Crypto State of Play

Bitcoin has eased to about $62,600, and six days after the BIP-110 split the main chain runs undisturbed, more than 800 blocks past the fork point.

$62.6k

bitcoin now

814

blocks past the fork

-60%

ether from peak

1. 14 AugSix days after the BIP-110 split at block 961,632, the main chain has extended more than 800 blocks past the fork point with hashrate steady (mempool.space). No disruption inside the network.
2. 11 AugRevolut's app starts selling $ZAMA, a token with an optional confidential mode, to its 70 million users. The EU's 2027 money-laundering rulebook describes exactly that feature, and the ban catches coins where the privacy is optional.
3. 6 AugBitcoin trades near $64,600, up about 3% from July's close near $62,800, back above the $63,800 level desks had flagged as resistance.
4. 3-5 AugThe spot Bitcoin ETFs open the month with back-to-back inflow days, roughly $170m on the 3rd and $211m on the 5th (Farside data), most of it into BlackRock's IBIT.
5. 29 JulThe Federal Reserve holds at 3.50 to 3.75%. Three of twelve votes wanted a hike, and the next meeting is not until September.
6. StandingBitcoin remains roughly half below the October 2025 peak, and no failure inside the network caused it.
7. StandingEther trades near $1,870, just over 60% below its own peak, and the argument about what Ethereum actually earns has never been louder.

Tether's 2025 accounts passed a full KPMG audit with an unqualified opinion, the company says, and Circle now runs a national trust bank with USDC at $73.3bn.

$6.8bn

Tether excess reserves, stated

$73.3bn

USDC in circulation

$310bn

digital dollars

1. 13 AugTether says KPMG has completed the first full audit of its 2025 financial statements with an unqualified opinion, reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.8bn on the company's figure, gold bars physically inspected.
2. 12 AugCircle's cirBTC goes live on Ethereum: an institutional wrapped bitcoin, 1:1 backed, held at Circle National Trust Bank, the company says.
3. 5 AugCircle reports Q2: USDC circulation at $73.3bn, up 19% in a year, and final OCC approval for Circle National Trust, one of the first national trust charters for a stablecoin issuer.
4. 4 AugWestern Union launches Stablecard: a wallet and Visa card spending its USDPT stablecoin, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank and built on Solana, live in 37 markets at launch.
5. 22 JulSamsung tells a keynote audience that stablecoins are coming to Samsung Wallet. No issuer, no blockchain and no date were given.
6. StandingAround $310bn of digital dollars are in circulation, though June's $7.7bn fall was the largest monthly drop since Terra collapsed in 2022.
7. StandingThe US GENIUS Act is law and its rulebook is being written now.

Uniswap's burn has a second engine running and a third queued: v4 fees are live on seven chains and three more fee votes entered governance this week.

186k

UNI burned in a day

~$325k

a day from v4 fees

3

fee votes in flight

1. Early AugThree further fee-activation proposals, covering v2 and v3 deployments across Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum and more, enter Uniswap governance to feed the same burn.
2. 27 JulProposals 99 and 100 execute: v4 protocol fees go live on seven chains including Robinhood Chain, 46.6M UNI voting for against 1.3M opposed.
3. StandingRobinhood Chain pushed $6bn of swaps through its first fortnight.
4. JuneUniswap's fee switch is live: protocol fees buy and burn UNI, a record 186,000 of them in a single day.

Coinbase has opened UK crypto derivatives to professionals, CLARITY's Senate cloture vote ripens on 15 September, and the SEC cancelled its 14 August meeting on the crypto offering regime.

15 Sep

CLARITY cloture ripens

30 Sep

FCA window opens

50x

Coinbase UK pro leverage

1. 14 AugThe SEC cancels its 14 August open meeting, which was to propose the tailored offering regime for crypto-asset investment contracts. The agency's page gives no new date.
2. 11 AugCoinbase opens crypto derivatives to UK professional investors: futures, perpetuals and options across more than 170 contracts at up to 50x leverage, on the MiFID permission won in July. The 2021 ban still keeps every retail saver out.
3. 8 AugSenate Majority Leader Thune files cloture on the motion to proceed to the CLARITY Act, and the chamber leaves for recess without voting. The motion ripens at 2:15pm on 15 September.
4. DiaryThe FCA's application window for the full UK crypto regime opens 30 September and runs to 28 February 2027, with full commencement on 25 October 2027. A perimeter policy statement is expected in September.
5. DiaryThe Bank of England's systemic stablecoin consultation closes 22 September: individual holding limits are dropped in favour of a temporary £40bn per-coin issuance guardrail, with the Code of Practice finalised by end-2026.
6. 30 JulThe Senate shelves the CLARITY Act with no floor vote before the 7 August recess. Democrats' demand for an ethics provision is the sticking point; the next realistic window is September.
7. StandingThe SEC's Regulation Crypto, with its $75m fundraising exemption, is still a proposal rather than law. Europe's MiCA is fully in force.

Bitcoin has slipped to about $62,600, roughly 3% below where it started the month, and the whole crypto market holds near $2.24tn.

$62.6k

bitcoin, 14 Aug

$2.24tn

total crypto market

+$211m

5 Aug ETF inflow day

1. 14 AugBitcoin trades near $62,600 and Ether near $1,870, both off about 3% from 6 August; the total market stands near $2.24tn, down about 1% in 24 hours (CoinGecko, 15:15 UTC).
2. 5 AugRoughly $211m flows into the spot Bitcoin ETFs in a day, over $170m of it into IBIT, the second straight inflow day of the new month (Farside data).
3. 3 AugA $170m net inflow day opens August on the front foot; the spot ETH funds shed $12m the same day.
4. 30 JulStrategy reports an $8.6bn quarterly net loss, $8.3bn of it the unrealised markdown on 843,775 bitcoin under fair-value accounting.
5. StandingIBIT dominates the traffic in both directions.
6. StandingTokenised real-world assets sit at record levels after a year of monthly records, and Strategy now sells bitcoin as well as buying it.