News preview:
Fasttoken (FTN) will unlock approximately 20 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on August 18, which is 2.08% of the current circulation, worth about $91.4 million;
Brazil plans to hold a hearing on Bitcoin strategic reserves on August 20;
Wyoming's stablecoin WYST is scheduled to go live on August 20;
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7:00 PM Beijing time on August 20, which is 8.53% of the current circulation, worth about $56.6 million;
The Federal Reserve will release the latest monetary policy meeting minutes at midnight on August 21 Beijing time;
Powell will speak at Jackson Hole on August 22, with the market focused on interest rate cuts and succession trends.
August 18
Policy regulation:
Thailand will launch a cryptocurrency exchange program for foreign tourists on August 18.
Thailand will launch the TouristDigiPay program on Monday (August 18), allowing foreign tourists to exchange cryptocurrency for Thai baht for payments to revitalize the tourism industry. Under this program, foreign tourists must open accounts with digital asset companies and electronic money providers regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bank of Thailand separately. The program operates within a regulatory sandbox to ensure regulation and prevent the direct use of digital assets as a payment method. Only foreign tourists temporarily staying in Thailand can use this service. Participants must complete 'KYC' and customer due diligence according to the anti-money laundering office's standards.
Exchanges:
Binance Alpha will launch Reservoir (DAM) on August 18, supporting spot and futures trading.
Binance Alpha will be the first platform to launch Reservoir (DAM), with spot trading opening at 11:00 (UTC) on August 18 and futures trading opening at 12:30 (UTC) on the same day. Eligible users can use Binance Alpha Points to claim airdrops through the Alpha Events page, and more details will be announced later.
Binance will launch the 34th TGE project RICE (RiceAI) on August 18.
Binance Wallet will hold the 34th RICE (RiceAI) project TGE via PancakeSwap on August 18, with a subscription time from 8:00 to 10:00 (UTC). Users need to use Binance Alpha Points to participate. In addition, the official will provide an additional 40,000,000 RICE for subsequent activities, with specific details to be announced.
Coinbase will conduct system maintenance on August 18.
Coinbase will conduct system maintenance on August 18, during which transfers of Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Zcash, Dash, and Lightning Network will be delayed. All ERC20 and ETH transfers on the Ethereum and Ethereum Classic networks will also be affected, but buying and trading functions will not be impacted.
Coinbase Derivatives will launch SOL and XRP mini perpetual futures on August 18.
Coinbase Derivatives will launch nano SOL and nano XRP US perpetual futures on August 18, further expanding its derivatives product line and providing broader market access for US investors.
Project updates:
OKB destruction and upgrade: Smart contract upgrade on August 18.
According to the official announcement from OKX, in this X Layer upgrade and launch of the OKB Gas Token economic model optimization plan, the OKB Smart Contract is expected to be upgraded at 2:00 PM on August 18, removing the functions of additional issuance and destruction.
Cap will go live on the Ethereum mainnet on August 18, launching a native points system Caps.
The yield protocol Cap will go live on the Ethereum mainnet on August 18, at which point all protocol functions will officially be activated. This launch will kick off a new on-chain yield economy and reward the earliest explorers through the Frontier program. The Frontier program will last up to 5 months and will launch a native points system Caps, which will end early if specific targets are met. The program will be divided into several phases, each providing Caps for various activities.
Kaito Al: Capital Launchpad will open the public sale of RISE tokens at 20:00 on August 18.
Kaito Al announced that its Capital Launchpad will open the public sale of RISE tokens at 20:00 on August 18. The FDV for this round of public sale is $200 million (fixed), with a target financing of over $2 million, and a maximum issuance cap of 4% of the total supply, unlocking 50% at TGE and another 50% 6 months after TGE (fixed).
Token unlock:
Fasttoken (FTN) will unlock approximately 20 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on August 18, which is 2.08% of the current circulation, worth about $91.4 million.
Melania Meme (MELANIA) will unlock approximately 26.25 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on August 18, which is 5.60% of the current circulation, worth about $5.7 million.
August 19
Exchanges:
Deribit will launch USDC-settled Bitcoin and Ethereum linear options on August 19.
Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit announced that it will launch USDC-settled Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) linear options and regular contracts on August 19, further expanding its stablecoin settlement product line. The new contracts have a minimum order size of 0.01 BTC and 0.1 ETH, enhancing trading accessibility. Deribit launched USDC-settled linear options for Solana, Polygon, and XRP last year, and existing MATIC options have been delisted. Deribit stated that the growing demand from institutions and retail for stablecoin-settled derivatives prompted this expansion. The exchange's trading volume exceeded $185 billion this month and was recently acquired by Coinbase for approximately $2.9 billion.
Project updates:
Bless has opened the registration window for the TIME token airdrop, which will close on August 19.
The Solana ecosystem shared computing protocol Bless announced on platform X that the TIME token airdrop registration window is now open. By August 19, users must complete registration by linking social accounts, linking wallets, and other steps to qualify for the upcoming TIME token airdrop. Additionally, importing the current wallet into an OKX wallet or creating a new OKX wallet address during registration can earn a 5% bonus on the token airdrop.
August 20
Policy regulation:
Brazil plans to hold a hearing on Bitcoin strategic reserves on August 20.
The Brazilian Federal Chamber of Deputies has scheduled a public hearing on August 20 to discuss whether to establish a national Bitcoin reserve.
The U.S. temporarily waives some sanctions against Russia, with this authorization valid until August 20.
According to the Global Times, citing the Kyiv Independent report from Ukraine on the 14th, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it will temporarily waive some sanctions against Russia, allowing transactions necessary for preparations for the U.S.-Russia summit held in Alaska to advance the summit preparations. On August 13 local time, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a temporary license, temporarily allowing some commercial activities under the 'Russia-related foreign harmful activities sanctions program' and 'Ukraine/Russia-related sanctions regulations,' but not involving the unfreezing of any frozen Russian assets. This authorization is valid until August 20, and the waiver scope is limited to commercial transactions necessary to provide support for the summit preparations.
Exchanges:
ProShares and Bitwise have applied to launch double-leveraged and income-oriented CRCL ETFs tracking Circle, expected to take effect on August 20.
According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, Circle Internet Group (CRCL), which just IPO'd last Thursday, will welcome two ETFs based on its stock: ProShares plans to launch a 2x leveraged Ultra CRCL ETF, while Bitwise plans to launch a CRCL income ETF mainly based on Covered Call strategy. Both are expected to take effect on August 20, 2025.
Project updates:
Wyoming's stablecoin WYST is scheduled to go live on August 20.
The Wyoming Stablecoin Committee is a government-supported organization responsible for developing the WYST stablecoin. According to its latest monthly meeting records, the committee plans to launch the mainnet on August 20. The organization has not yet determined on which of the eleven blockchains (Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Sei, Solana, Stellar, and Sui) WYST will officially launch. However, the first state-supported stablecoin may be selected for issuance across multiple blockchains.
According to the latest schedule, the organization plans to 'migrate the WYST smart contract to' a designated 'candidate' blockchain. Afterward, the organization will conduct 'production testing' by 'using institutional funds to fund a small WYST procurement and ensuring the end-to-end process is in place' in preparation for the public release scheduled during the Wyoming blockchain seminar in August.
The AI project Sapien will conduct its TGE on August 20, with 5% airdropped to early contributors.
The Sapien Foundation announced that it will hold a SAPIEN token generation event (TGE) on August 20, issuing and distributing tokens for the first time. This token is built on Coinbase's Layer-2 blockchain Base and will support a decentralized data minting platform, providing high-quality data support for AI. This event adopts a fair distribution model, with an initial total unlock of 25%, and 5% of tokens airdropped to early contributors, while CookieDAO community members will receive 0.5% allocation.
It is reported that AI data collection startup Sapien announced last year that it completed a $10.5 million seed round of financing, led by venture capital firm Variant, with participation from Primitive Ventures, Animoca, Yield Game Guild, and HF0. Angel investors including YGG founder Gabby Dizon and SoftBank Vision Fund alumnus Kevin Jiang also participated in this round of financing.
The first phase of the Boundless verification competition will end on August 20 and a snapshot will be taken.
The first phase of the general ZK protocol Boundless verification competition will end at 11:00 Beijing time on August 20. The team will take a snapshot of the leaderboard. Based on this snapshot, 0.5% of the Boundless token supply will be allocated to participating users at the TGE. After August 20, a new leaderboard will start recording until the mainnet goes live. The rewards for this leaderboard will be airdropped after the PoVW mainnet goes live.
Token unlock:
LayerZero (ZRO) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7:00 PM Beijing time on August 20, which is 8.53% of the current circulation, worth about $56.6 million.
KAITO (KAITO) will unlock approximately 23.35 million tokens at 8:00 PM Beijing time on August 20, which is 10.87% of the current circulation, worth about $26.2 million.
ZKsync (ZK) will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens at 7:00 PM Beijing time on August 20, which is 8.53% of the current circulation, worth about $56.6 million.
August 21
Macroeconomics:
At 2 AM, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of the monetary policy meeting.
At 3 AM, 2027 FOMC voting member and Atlanta Fed President Bostic will speak on the economic outlook.
Exchanges:
Upbit will delist STRIKE on August 21.
South Korean crypto trading platform Upbit will delist STRIKE at 15:00 local time on August 21.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will list two new spot virtual asset ETFs on August 21.
According to Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents, MicroBit's MicroBit Bitcoin spot ETF and MicroBit Ethereum spot ETF will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next Thursday (August 21), with a management fee of 0.5% per year of net asset value, which is relatively low among existing virtual currency spot ETFs. Bank of China International acts as the custodian and administrative manager, the virtual asset trading platform is HashKey Exchange, and the virtual asset sub-custodian is Hash Blockchain Limited. Participating brokers include China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong), Everbright Securities and Futures, Future Asset Securities (Hong Kong), Huaying Dongfang (Asia), Huasheng Capital Securities, and Victory Securities.
August 22
Macroeconomics:
Powell will speak at Jackson Hole on August 22, with the market focused on interest rate cuts and succession trends.
Federal Reserve Chairman Powell will speak at the Jackson Hole central bank annual meeting at 10:00 AM Eastern Time on August 22 (10:00 PM Beijing time), assessing the economic outlook and policy framework.
Current tariffs have affected inflation, the job market is slowing, and the market expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September. Trump continues to pressure for rate cuts and is looking for a successor, as Powell's term will expire in May next year.
Project updates:
BTC Digital has postponed its temporary shareholders' meeting to August 22.
NASDAQ-listed company BTC Digital Ltd. announced that it has postponed its temporary shareholders' meeting to August 22, 2025. The company previously announced its full embrace of Ethereum (ETH) as its core asset and operational foundation and plans to convert all BTC reserves into ETH. The relevant plan is expected to be discussed and voted on at the shareholders' meeting.
August 23
Project updates:
BitMEX will migrate its data center to Tokyo on August 23, during which services will be suspended.
The BitMEX platform will migrate its data center from AWS Dublin to AWS Tokyo from 02:00 to 07:00 (UTC) on August 23, during which all services, including the website, mobile application, trading, deposits, and withdrawals, will be temporarily unavailable. After the migration is complete, the system will have at least 15 minutes of 'order cancellation only' mode before resuming normal trading. This migration does not require users to change API connection settings but it is recommended that users test API integration in advance to ensure a smooth transition.
Token unlock:
SOON (SOON) will unlock approximately 41.88 million tokens at 4:30 PM Beijing time on August 23, which is 13.04% of the current circulation, worth about $12.1 million.
August 24
Policy regulation:
The Central Bank of Brazil is publicly seeking opinions on accounting standards for virtual assets, with a deadline of August 24.
According to the official website of the Central Bank of Brazil, the Central Bank of Brazil recently publicly sought opinions on the accounting standards for virtual assets. The main content of the draft resolution is as follows: definitions of initial recognition and subsequent measurement standards, accounting treatment of issued virtual assets and third-party virtual assets under custody, as well as detailed information on the value changes of issued assets, asset nature, and related obligations disclosed in explanatory notes. The public can submit opinions and suggestions through its official website or government platforms before August 24, 2025.
Project updates:
The blockchain game TOKYO BEAST will terminate services on August 24.
