Headline
▌Coinbase: Trading functionality for Function X (FX) has been disabled.
Coinbase has announced that it has disabled trading functionality for Function X (FX). After the project team reactivates the smart contract, funds will still be available for normal use, and withdrawal operations will continue.
▌Trump: The stock market is at a historical high.
U.S. President Trump: The stock market is at a historical high.
Market
As of the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data:
BTC price is $117,742, with a 24-hour change of -0.9%;
ETH price is $4,474.88, with a 24-hour change of -3.2%;
BNB price is $834.13, with a 24-hour change of -1.2%;
SOL price is $187.98, with a 24-hour change of -3.3%;
DOGE price is $0.239, with a 24-hour change of +3.0%;
XRP price is $3.09, with a 24-hour change of -0.3%.
TRX price is $0.3537, with a 24-hour change of -1.9%.
Policy
▌New York State plans to introduce a cryptocurrency transaction tax, potentially generating an additional $158 million annually.
According to Decrypt, New York State legislator Phil Steck has proposed a bill to impose a 0.2% sales tax on cryptocurrency transactions across the state, which is expected to generate an additional $158 million annually. The funds will be used for drug prevention and intervention programs in schools in northern New York State. This tax covers digital assets and stablecoins from NFT, mining, and staking income. Currently, eight states, including New York and California, treat cryptocurrencies as cash equivalents for tax purposes and have imposed capital gains tax, gift tax, and estate tax on digital assets.
▌The SEC's investigation into Roblox has concluded as of May.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents show that the investigation into Roblox has concluded as of May.
▌The Presidents of the U.S. and Russia meet in Alaska.
On the 15th at about 11 am local time, U.S. President Trump and Russian President Putin met at the airport of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. They will then hold the first face-to-face talks between U.S. and Russian leaders since June 2021.
▌The Federal Reserve will cancel the plan to specifically regulate banks' cryptocurrency and fintech activities.
The Federal Reserve announced on Friday that it will cancel a so-called 'novel activities' regulatory plan, which aimed to specifically regulate banks' cryptocurrency and fintech activities, instead incorporating such activities into its regular bank supervision. The Fed initiated this new plan in 2023 to focus on how banks interact with these emerging technologies. However, the Fed stated that such a plan is no longer necessary as it has already strengthened its understanding of these risks and how banks manage them.
Blockchain applications
▌Meta Platforms plans to restructure its AI business again.
Meta Platforms plans to restructure its AI business again, expecting to split into four departments.
Cryptocurrency
▌A certain whale has an unrealized loss of $535,000 on UNI and continues to average down.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai 9684xtpa), a certain whale converted 1,090 ETH into 415,005 UNI on August 13. After the UNI price fell, the address purchased an additional 115,005 UNI 10 hours ago to reduce the average cost. Currently, the address has invested a total of $6.26 million in UNI, with an average holding cost of $11.82, currently facing an unrealized loss of about $535,000.
▌Ethereum PoS network exit queue rises to about 818,000, and the joining queue rises to about 362,000.
According to validator queue tracking website validatorqueue data, the current exit queue for the Ethereum PoS network is reported at 818,352 ETH, which is approximately $3.72 billion at current prices. Withdrawal delays are currently reported at 14 days and 5 hours. Meanwhile, the staking demand for newly activated validators has rebounded, with today's admission queue rising to 362,300 ETH, worth approximately $1.649 billion, and the current waiting time for the admission queue is 6 days and 7 hours.
▌ARK Invest deposits 1,268 BTC into Coinbase, approximately $148.88 million.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, in the past 30 minutes, ARK Invest has deposited 1,268 BTC into Coinbase, approximately $148.88 million.
▌BitMine invests another $130 million to acquire 28,650 ETH.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, BitMine has again increased its holdings by 28,650 ETH (approximately $130 million) in the past hour, currently holding 1.174 million ETH (approximately $5.26 billion).
Important economic dynamics
▌Fed's Daly: It would be appropriate to cut rates around two times this year.
After economic reports showed that last month's retail sales exceeded expectations and wholesale prices unexpectedly jumped, 2027 FOMC voter and San Francisco Fed President Daly hinted in an interview that she is still prepared to begin easing policies as early as next month. Daly stated that the job market is softening, the economy is slowing, but not too slowly, and compared to inflation, which is still above the Fed's target, 'there will be reason to cut rates a few times this year at some point.' 'We will wait for more data; perhaps we will cut rates less, or perhaps we will cut rates more, but ultimately, I think two rate cuts this year is still a good prediction.' 'What I don't want to do is to be overly concerned that inflation may rise again or persist, so that we wait for that to clarify while not supporting the labor market.' (Jinshi)
▌The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose by more than 4 basis points this week.
On Friday (August 15), at the close in New York, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose by 3.89 basis points to 4.3238%, a cumulative increase of 4.08 basis points this week. On August 14, shortly after the release of the U.S. PPI data, it dropped to 4.1979%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury bond rose by 2.44 basis points to 3.7568%, with a cumulative drop of 0.55 basis points this week, showing a V-shaped trend, having previously dropped to 3.6513% before the PPI data was released. The yield spread between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury bonds rose by 1.449 basis points to +56.485 basis points, a cumulative increase of 4.429 basis points this week.
▌The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed.
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, all increasing for two consecutive weeks. The Nasdaq fell by 0.4%, with a cumulative increase of 0.81% this week; the S&P 500 fell by 0.29%, with a cumulative increase of 0.94% this week; the Dow rose by 0.08%, with a cumulative increase of 1.74% this week. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 hit intraday all-time highs at one point.
Golden Encyclopedia
▌How has MicroStrategy skyrocketed its stock price by over 1,000 times with BTC?
Corporate treasury is the financial nerve center of companies, responsible for ensuring liquidity, managing risk, and optimizing returns. Traditionally conservative, they rely on fiat currencies, bonds, and other stable investments. However, MicroStrategy has adopted Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset, breaking this mold. The goal of fund managers is to strike a delicate balance between risk and return. Their main objective is to protect the company’s assets from market downturns or liquidity crises while ensuring optimal returns on the remaining funds they manage. They should also manage risks during periods of market volatility and stress. This is the focus of MicroStrategy incorporating Bitcoin into its treasury, challenging traditional norms, and adopting a high-risk, high-return strategy. Therefore, this bold strategy has not only transformed its balance sheet but also its stock performance, cementing the company’s status as a pioneer in cryptocurrency adoption.
MicroStrategy co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor views Bitcoin as a remedy for fiat inflation. He believes that the purchasing power of the dollar is rapidly diminishing, whereas Bitcoin, due to its limited supply, has excellent value preservation capabilities. This strategy has transformed MicroStrategy into a hybrid of a software company and a cryptocurrency investment vehicle. MicroStrategy utilizes financing strategies such as stock issuance, debt financing, free cash flow, and Bitcoin-backed loans to drive its Bitcoin purchases. Its strategy needs to comply with mainstream financial service regulations while ensuring it can handle volatile assets like Bitcoin. MicroStrategy's bold Bitcoin acquisition strategy, utilizing convertible notes and dollar-cost averaging, has transformed it from a struggling software company into a Bitcoin proxy company, pushing its stock price up more than 1,000 times and redefining its market image.
