On Friday, U.S. stock indices opened, with the Nasdaq index rising by 0.7% intraday, the S&P 500 index rising by 0.6%, and the Dow Jones index rising by 0.2%. JPMorgan expects the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates three times in September 2025, each by 25 basis points, whereas the previous forecast was for one rate cut in December.
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On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order allowing alternative assets, such as private equity, cryptocurrencies, and real estate, to enter workplace retirement plans. Lawyer Jerry Schlichter stated that the goal for ordinary people is to have a safe and reliable retirement plan, and new fields like cryptocurrencies or private equity are fraught with various dangers for investors. Economist and cryptocurrency critic Peter Schiff stated that most Americans' savings are far from sufficient to support retirement living. By allowing Americans to invest their limited retirement savings in BTC and other cryptocurrencies through their 401(k) accounts, Trump may only exacerbate this issue. The long-standing legal battle between the SEC and Ripple Labs has officially ended. Both parties submitted a joint statement to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday, announcing their voluntary withdrawal of the appeal against the July 2023 first-instance judgment. Each party will bear its own litigation costs. The SEC, under former director Jay Clayton, sued Ripple Labs in 2020, accusing it of violating securities laws through the sale of XRP. Standard Chartered Bank stated that its joint venture company, Anchorpoint Financial Limited, with Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecommunications, has formally expressed its intention to apply for a stablecoin license to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. U.S. publicly traded company Fundamental Global Inc. indicated in an S-3 filing with the SEC that it plans to periodically issue securities totaling up to $5 billion, with most of the proceeds used to acquire ETH. The company's current market value is only $46.02 million.
Vincent Liu, chief investment officer of Kronos Research, stated that the clear attitude of the U.S. towards cryptocurrency regulation and institutional accumulation has boosted interest in ETH. The cumulative value of ETH held by U.S. publicly listed companies has exceeded $7.5 billion, and the surge in on-chain activity has not yet fully reflected in the price of ETH. If ETH staking ETFs are approved, it could further unlock the potential for price increases. Matrixport reported that short-term sentiment is becoming cautious, with the premise of a bearish scenario being a continued weakening of the U.S. economy. These market phenomena further reinforce the view of a potential rate cut in September. Since the Federal Reserve has not yet released clear signals, the market may continue to maintain a wait-and-see approach, entering a consolidation phase, waiting for clear bottom signals to appear or market momentum to recover. CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr. stated that since the end of July, the SMA-120 line has reversed upward after a long-term bearish trend and has touched the zero axis. The market has now transitioned from an aggressive bearish pressure phase to a neutral bullish one. If the SMA-120 can remain above the zero axis in the next two days, it will confirm this trend reversal.
On August 7, U.S. BTC spot ETFs saw inflows of $277.4 million, while ETH spot ETFs saw inflows of $222.3 million. The daily trading volume of ETH reached a historical high of 1.74 million transactions on August 5, surpassing the previous record of 1.65 million transactions set on May 12, 2021. Sharplink Gaming increased its holdings by 21,959 ETH, accumulating a total of 568,000 ETH since early June, currently valued at $2.215 billion.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, stated that since early June, both ETH Treasury companies and ETH spot ETFs have acquired approximately 1.6% of the current total supply of ETH. On August 7, 2025, a move destined to leave a significant mark on U.S. financial history quietly took place. Trump signed an executive order allowing 401(k) pensions to invest in alternative assets such as private equity, real estate, and cryptocurrencies. This executive order will require the Department of Labor to reassess the investment guidelines for alternative assets in retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will be tasked with facilitating alternative asset investments for participants in self-directed retirement plans. Cointelegraph reported that the Federal Reserve's latest report explored using the U.S. gold reserves' valuation gains to fund the U.S. strategic BTC reserves.
The U.S. 401(k) retirement market is extremely large; as of the end of the first quarter of 2025, the total assets of 401(k) plans offered by U.S. employers amounted to about $8.7 trillion, while the total assets of the entire U.S. retirement market (including 401(k), IRA, etc.) reached as high as $43.4 trillion. Analyst Jake Ostroyskis states that the impact of this move cannot be underestimated; a 2% allocation to the crypto market would equal 1.5 times the cumulative ETF inflow to date, while a 3% allocation would more than double the dollar inflow to the entire market. Trump stated that he has chosen current Economic Advisory Committee Director Stephen Miran to serve as a new board member of the Federal Reserve. During his tenure as the director of the White House Economic Advisory Council, Stephen Miran clearly supported Trump's friendly policies towards cryptocurrencies. He believes that cryptocurrencies have the potential to stimulate economic growth, drive financial innovation, and combat inflation. Trump also mentioned that the interview process for the next Federal Reserve head has begun, with the candidate list currently narrowed down to three, all from Wall Street. JPMorgan expects the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates three times in September 2025, each by 25 basis points, whereas the previous forecast was for one rate cut in December. CryptoQuant's research director Julio Moreno indicated that a rate cut at the Federal Reserve's September meeting could become a new catalyst, which aligns with the market's general expectations.
Federal Reserve's Daly: Once the U.S. labor market shows signs of weakening, it tends to decline rapidly and severely. Considering the slowdown in the labor market and that tariffs only pose a short-term threat to inflation, it is believed that the Federal Reserve will soon need to cut interest rates. On Friday, U.S. stock indices opened, with the Nasdaq index rising by 0.7% intraday, the S&P 500 index rising by 0.6%, BTC falling by 0.2%, and ETH rising by 3.5% to reach $4,000. Trump nominated Stephen Miran, the director of the White House Economic Advisory Council, to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, which could strengthen the market's expectations for interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve within the year. It is important to note that the new board member's demands for interest rate easing may not be as simple as a 25 basis point cut in September and three cuts within the year; Trump has previously called for the Federal Reserve to cut rates by 300 basis points to alleviate the pressure of $36 trillion in U.S. debt. There is a lot of news today. In fact, Trump may not necessarily favor the crypto market; his friendly policy releases might be more about leveraging the market cap growth of stablecoins to take over U.S. debt. His continuous demands for the Federal Reserve to cut rates also include the objective of alleviating interest pressure on U.S. debt. Currently, the probability of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September is 92.7%, and the momentum appears to be building, hoping for a smooth bull market ahead.