Live updates: Bitcoin flirts with $64,000 as stocks start strong in August

coverage endedAug 3, 2026, 9:00 PM

ARP Digital’s Yusuf Fakhro said bitcoin’s weakness reflects stalled participation more than forced selling, with ETF flows turning negative, CME open interest back at 2023 levels and Strategy idle for a fifth straight week.

Schwab says bitcoin’s rising hashrate makes 51% attacks increasingly costly

Bitcoin's growing hashrate is making it harder for hackers to gain enough mining power to launch what's known as a 51% attack. According to Schwab, an attacker would need billions of dollars in specialized mining equipment, access to enormous amounts of electricity and years to build the required infrastructure in order to facilitate a successful hack. By that time, the Bitcoin network would likely have grown even larger, making the attack even more difficult.

The rising costs and competition among miners help strengthen Bitcoin's security and could support its long-term value, argued Schwab, alongside factors such as demand, liquidity and network activity.

"As the Bitcoin network continues to grow, its security potentially becomes self-reinforcing,” the firm’s director of digital asset research and strategy, Jim Ferraioli wrote.

S&P 500 just posted its best start to a month in nearly 4 years

The S&P 500 gained 1.5% on Monday. According to Bespoke, it’s that benchmark’s best opening day to a month since it rose 2.6% on the first trading day of October 2022.

The Nasdaq rose 2.1% Monday, and the DJIA added 1.3%.

Bitcoin flirted with the $64,000 level for most of the afternoon, and is currently higher by 0.8% over the past 24 hours at $63,850.

Coinbase launches WTI and Brent crude oil perps for non-U.S. traders

Coinbase has added WTI and Brent crude oil perpetual futures to its derivatives offering for traders outside of the U.S.

The contracts are USDC-settled and trade round-the-clock with no expiration date, allowing traders to hold positions without having to roll them over like traditional futures.

Until now, users were able to trade gold and silver perps.

Bitcoin bridge Botlz disabled until further notice

“Over the past months we have seen a steady rise in automated, AI-assisted probing of our infrastructure, and we have dealt with several exploits,” said Boltz in an X post earlier this afternoon.

“The pattern is clear: attackers now iterate faster than a team our size can find and patch. In the past few days alone we saw a drastic acceleration, and we do not believe this asymmetry will reverse.”

“What we are seeing is a major paradigm shift for Bitcoin services operating on an open source stack, and it needs careful analysis.”

The team added that no user funds were ever at risk; any losses were the company’s alone.

FalconX reportedly has cut 10% of global staff

Responding to the persistent crypto bear market, FalconX has cut 10% of its roughly 350 global staff, according to a Bloomberg report.

This includes the Singapore office, where about half of employees were dismissed, the story continued.

The layoffs continue a recent trend in crypto, with Coinbase, Gemini, and Crypto.com, among others, trimming staff.

TD Securities says new CFTC proposal could fuel all-in-one crypto platforms

TD Securities analyst Reid Noch said a new rule proposal by the CFTC could make it easier for crypto companies to build all-in-one trading platforms.

The CFTC last week proposed rules that would let firms operate multiple parts of the derivatives market while preventing conflicts of interest through safeguards.

Noch said this could encourage more crypto-native platforms to expand their offerings beyond crypto. "Retail platforms may continue exploring more vertically integrated models," he wrote, adding that Robinhood (HOOD) is one company to watch as it could eventually bring together “distribution, tokenization, settlement and affiliated liquidity provision within one ecosystem" as it builds infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets.

He also pointed to Coinbase (COIN) which has made it its mission to become an “everything exchange” that offers not just crypto but also stocks and derivatives on its platform.

Noch said tokenization isn’t just creating new digital assets, but changing how financial markets are built as firms increasingly combine services and products under one roof.

'One saver to another': Saylor explains his 'never sell your bitcoin' statement

“I speak as one saver to another,” said Michael Saylor moments ago on X. “I have never sold [my bitcoin]. Not one satoshi.”

Strategy, explained Saylor, is a public company, not his personal wallet. “Since 2020, it has disclosed it may buy or sell bitcoin to manage capital.”

“Our shared conviction in Bitcoin remains unchanged.”

Read more: Strategy sold another $105 million of bitcoin last week, repurchased $81.2 million of STRC

Crude extends loss to below $80; Nasdaq now ahead 2%

WTI crude oil is now lower by more than 6% and beneath $80 per barrel after the U.S. and Iran — for the moment — appear to be moving closer to talks rather than military attacks.

The Nasdaq has extended its gain to more than 2%, with Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft all higher by 4% or more.

Bitcoin is now ahead 1.3% over the past 24 hours to $63,900. Crypto-related stocks like Galaxy Digital, Bullish, and Robinhood are up 4%-5%. Lagging a bit are Coinbase (COIN) and Strategy (MSTR), each higher by about 2%.

Not participating in the advance today is Circle, lower by 4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded to underweight.

Strategy's STRC rises to six-week high as USD Reserve hits $4 billion

Strategy (MSTR) announced earlier on Monday additional bitcoin sales, additional common stock sales and the repurchase of nearly 1 million shares of its high-yielding preferred stock, STRC.

The company’s so-called USD Reserve now stands at a new high of $4 billion — that’s enough cash in the bank to pay two years and four months of dividends on Strategy’s outstanding preferred shares.

STRC is responding, rising nearly 3% and back above $92 for the first time since mid-June.

The common stock, MSTR, is up 1.5%. Bitcoin is ahead 1% over the past 24 hours to $63,700.

Mastercard CPO says stablecoins are moving into mainstream payments

Mastercard has completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK which it agreed to buy for $1.8 billion in March.

The firm’s chief product officer, Jorn Lambert, said digital assets are entering a phase now where stablecoins, tokenized deposits and traditional money will coexist and increasingly work together.

"As these new forms of money become part of everyday commerce, the question is no longer whether they will emerge, but how they become trusted, scalable and connected to the systems, networks and experiences people and businesses already rely on," he said in a statement.

Mastercard said financial institutions, payment providers and businesses are looking for more ways to move money across payment networks. "Across all of these conversations, the objective is remarkably consistent: expanding choice and capability while keeping the experience simple," Lambert said.

U.K.-based BVNK enables businesses to move money between traditional financial systems and blockchain networks in seconds across more than 130 countries. It processes over $30 billion a year, it said in a blog post earlier this year.

Bitcoin climbs back above $63,000 as U.S. stocks start with big gains

A bit less than an hour into the first trading day in August, the Nasdaq is higher by 1.3%, with the S&P 500 and DJIA both also ahead by more than 1%.

The AI-related chip favorites are continuing their July swoon, with Micron, Intel, and Lam Research among those down roughly 3%.

The Mag 7 names, though, are leading the rally. Meta is up 6.4%, while Microsoft and Amazon are higher by more than 4%. Nvidia, Google, and Tesla are seeing gains closer to 2%-3%.

Down overnight, bitcoin has risen to $63,300, now up 0.4% over the past 24 hours.

ISM rises to highest level in more than four years

The U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 55.6 in July, the strongest print since May 2022.

June’s read was 53.3, and economist forecasts had been for a rise to just 54.

The Prices Paid subindex dipped to 71.1 from 73, but was slightly higher than forecasts for 70.3.

Interest rates ticked a hair higher on the news, but remain lower for the day, with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield down 5.7 basis points to 4.688%.

Circle lower by 6% as Morgan Stanley downgrades to underweight

Sell (or sell equivalent) ratings are rare on Wall Street, but stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) is the recipient of one on Monday morning.

“USDC contraction exposes reserve income sensitivity and points to a lower-margin shift toward transaction revenue,” wrote Morgan Stanley’s James Faucette, downgrading to underweight from equalweight.

“We cut our USDC assumptions by approximately 33% in 2027 and 44% in 2028, driving GAAP EPS estimates approximately 3% and 20% below consensus, respectively. Tokenized money market funds and deposits threaten both USDC balances and take rates, while USYC carries structurally weaker economics.”

CRCL shares are down 6% pre-market.

Trump family-linked American Bitcoin (ABTC) misses second quarter earnings estimates

American Bitcoin (ABTC), the bitcoin mining venture founded by President Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr., reported a loss of $57.15 million for the quarter-ended June 30.

Earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter was a loss of $0.80, missing estimates of a gain of $0.15, while revenue of $67 million missed expectations of $73.8 million.

ABTC shares showed little response in pre-market trading following the earnings announcement, 0.36% higher at $5.54.

The company said mining production in the quarter improved from the previous three-month period, but revenue per coin fell around 5% from $76,000 to $71,900.

Bitcoin's crazy low volatility could mean it's time to buy

“Bitcoin just flashed a signal that only shows up once or twice a year,” wrote Luke Martin on X. “[Its] realized volatility now lower than tech stocks for past 30 days,” he continued.

“Everything else is trading like crypto, except for crypto. Historically has been a very good time to buy.”

Tom Lee's Bitmine added 10,399 ether last week, bought back more shares

The company now holds just shy of 55.8 million ether (ETH), with total crypto + “moonshots” on the balance sheet of $11.3 billion.

Led by Chairman Tom Lee, Bitcoin (BMNR) also repurchased another 4.5 million shares of common stock last week, bringing total buybacks of late to more than 16 million shares.

BMNR is lower by 2.1% pre-market as ETH declined over the weekend to $1,842.

Matt Cole's Strive adds another 20 bitcoin

It’s a small buy, but nevertheless significant, given many other bitcoin treasury companies are selling. Strive (ASST) added 20 bitcoin last week at an average price of $63,191 each, bringing total holdings to 20,020 BTC.

The funds appear to have been raised via the sale of 110,000 shares of common stock, according to an SEC filing.

Read more: Strategy sold another $105 million of bitcoin last week, repurchased $81.2 million of STRC

Wallet moves 16,000 BTC worth $1 billion to a new address

A bitcoin wallet holding 16,400 BTC, worth about $1.04 billion, moved its entire balance to a new address on Mondayafter seven months of inactivity, Lookonchain said in an X post.

The transfer comes as bitcoin consolidates near $63,000. The coins did not move to a known exchange wallet, such as Binance, Coinbase or Kraken, which would more likely signal an imminent sale. Moving them to a fresh address may instead indicate a custody change or an over-the-counter transaction in which a buyer takes delivery in a new wallet.

Saylor's Strategy sold another $100 million in bitcoin last week

Strategy (MSTR) minutes ago disclosed the sale of 1,638 bitcoin last week at an average price of $63,957 each, raising $104.73 million. Total bitcoin holdings were trimmed to 842,138.

The company also repurchased 912,143 shares of its high-yielding preferred stock STRC for $81.2 million.

Additionally, the company raised $290.6 million via sales of its common stock, MSTR.

MSTR is lower by 1.9% pre-market alongside a decline in the price of bitcoin to $62,400.

Fed's Williams says the bank will raise rates if inflation doesn't cool to 2%

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said Monday that he expects inflation to ease gradually, but if it doesn’t, then the bank will not hesistate to raise interest rates.

“My forecast ‌personally ⁠is for inflation to come down in the second half of this year and come down further next year,” he said.

Williams is closely monitoring the trajectory of core inflation over the coming months. He wants to see whether the data remains consistent with a disinflationary path that brings inflation sustainably back to the 2% target by 2028.

Bitcoin is holding $60,000 not on strength but on exhaustion, ARP Digital says

The market that dragged bitcoin off $65,000 this week didn't sell it hard. It just stopped showing up.

Bitcoin closed the week near $62,600 after failing to reclaim $65,000, and Yusuf Fakhro, a partner at Bahrain-based ARP Digital, reads that through the market's plumbing rather than the Fed headline that nudged it lower. The ETF bid that powered July's recovery has stalled, flipping to net outflows of nearly 4,000 BTC on the week after a run of steady inflows.

The rest of the tape has gone quiet to the point of dormancy. July logged the lowest average daily spot volume since November 2023. CME open interest sits at 2023 levels. Perpetual-futures positioning has stalled near 300,000 BTC.

It's a market that has stopped participating, Fakhro said, and even Strategy has paused its bitcoin buying for a fifth straight week, so the biggest structural buyer is sitting on its hands too.

The July 29 Fed meeting held rates and offered no easing signal, stripping out the catalyst bulls had leaned on.

The week's real jolt came from custody. A Coldcard firmware flaw dormant since 2021 was exploited to drain roughly 1,367 BTC, about $89 million, from thousands of self-custodied wallets, and some holders have since moved coins back onto exchanges and into regulated products.

Bitcoin traded near $62,700 on Monday, down 3.5% on the week. Watch the next inflow print: if the ETF bid stays flat while price holds, Fakhro's exhaustion read is right, and if fresh outflows can't push it under $60,000, the sellers really are done.

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The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

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Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

Why it matters:

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

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