Compiled by: Jerry, ChainCatcher
Key news:
Thailand will launch a cryptocurrency exchange program for foreign tourists on August 18.
Binance Alpha will launch Reservoir (DAM) on August 18.
Binance Wallet will launch the 34th TGE project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18.
OKB will upgrade its smart contract on August 18.
Brazil plans to hold a hearing on Bitcoin strategic reserves on August 20.
Wyoming stablecoin WYST plans to launch on August 20.
The decentralized data platform Sapien will conduct its TGE on August 20.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange will list two new spot virtual asset ETFs on August 21.
August 18 (Monday)
Thailand will launch a cryptocurrency exchange program for foreign tourists on August 18.
According to Crowd fundinsider, Thailand will launch the 'TouristDigiPay' program on Monday, allowing foreign tourists to exchange cryptocurrencies for Thai Baht for electronic payments within the regulatory sandbox framework, with a maximum monthly consumption limit of 500,000 Baht (approximately $14,000), aimed at boosting the recovery of the tourism industry.
According to the plan, foreign tourists must open accounts with digital asset businesses and electronic money providers regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bank of Thailand separately. The plan operates within a regulatory sandbox to ensure oversight and prevent the direct use of digital assets as a means of payment. This service is only available to foreign tourists temporarily residing in Thailand. Participants must complete KYC verification according to the standards of Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office. The service allows tourists to exchange digital assets for Thai Baht and make electronic payments via QR code scanning.
Earlier reports indicated that the Thai SEC and the central bank plan to launch a 'crypto sandbox' to support foreign tourists in exchanging crypto assets for Thai Baht for consumption.
Binance Alpha will launch Reservoir (DAM) on August 18.
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will be the first platform to launch Reservoir (DAM).
Alpha trading opens: August 18, 2025, 19:00 (UTC+8).
Contract trading opens: August 18, 2025, 20:30 (UTC+8).
Eligible users can go to the Alpha activity page to claim airdrops using Binance Alpha points after Alpha trading opens. Specific details will be announced separately.
Binance Wallet will launch the 34th TGE project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18.
According to official news, Binance Wallet will launch the 34th TGE project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18.
The event will be held on August 18, 2025, from 16:00 to 18:00 at Binance Wallet through PancakeSwap. Eligible users must use Binance Alpha points to participate.
The official will also provide an additional 40 million RICE for subsequent activities, with more details and activity entry points to be announced later.
Coinbase Derivatives will launch nano XRP and SOL perpetual futures for U.S. traders on August 18.
According to cryptobriefing, Coinbase Derivatives will launch nano XRP and SOL perpetual futures for U.S. traders on August 18. Both futures contracts will be cash-settled, tracking spot prices, and will have position limits and trading hours.
OKB will upgrade its smart contract on August 18.
According to the announcement released by OKX, the specific timeline for the completion of the PP upgrade and the launch of the OKB Gas Token economic model optimization for this X Layer (Beijing time) is as follows:
August 13 2:10 PM: OKT has stopped trading on the OKX trading platform, but OKTChain will continue to produce blocks and process on-chain transactions normally.
August 13 3:00 PM: The OKX trading platform will stop allowing OKB withdrawals to ETH L1.
August 15 10:00 AM: The platform will automatically convert OKT in user accounts to OKB according to the rules.
August 15 2:00 PM: A one-time destruction of OKB, and the invocation of the smart contract for on-chain destruction.
August 18 2:00 PM: Upgrade OKB Smart Contract, removing the functions of issuance and destruction.
August 19 (Tuesday)
Coinbase will perform maintenance on August 19.
According to official news, Coinbase will perform maintenance at 8:00 AM Beijing time on August 19.
During the maintenance period, sending and receiving of BTC, LTC, BCH, ZEC, and DASH will experience delays. All ERC20 tokens and the sending and receiving on the Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) networks will also experience delays, but transactions will not be affected.
Deribit will launch Bitcoin and Ethereum linear options settled in USDC on August 19.
According to The Block, Deribit announced that it will launch USDC settled Bitcoin and Ethereum linear options and futures contracts on August 19. The product will adopt a minimum order size of 0.01 BTC and 0.1 ETH to enhance trading flexibility.
Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers stated that USDC settlement can provide higher capital efficiency and fiat equivalence structure for institutional and individual investors. The exchange's trading volume last month reached $185 billion, setting a new record. Coinbase recently completed the acquisition of Deribit for $2.9 billion.
The New York court will hold a hearing related to LIBRA project advisor Hayden Davis on August 19.
According to Argentine media Clarín, LIBRA project advisor Hayden Davis recently submitted documents in a U.S. court, acknowledging for the first time that LIBRA is a Meme token and denying it as an investment project with a business plan, contradicting President Javier Milei's claim that it 'supports the Argentine economy.'
Davis's defense attorney admitted that Meme tokens "are not investments, have no intrinsic value, but are unsecured, uncollateralized affinities and collectibles, with extreme market volatility." Meanwhile, another fund transaction has been exposed. On January 30 of this year, during a meeting with Milei at the presidential palace, Davis's associated wallet transferred nearly $500,000 USDC to the centralized trading platform Kraken, suspected to be related to project fund flows. Records also show that the purpose of the meeting held at the presidential palace on January 30 was to "analyze blockchain and decentralized technology."
The case involves approximately $280 million in frozen assets. The New York court will hold a hearing on August 19 to determine whether Hayden Davis and his partners are suspected of manipulating LIBRA for profit. Previously, on January 30 of this year, during a meeting with Javier Milei at the presidential palace, Davis's associated wallet transferred nearly 500,000 USDC to Kraken, suspected to be related to project fund flows.
August 20 (Wednesday)
Brazil plans to hold a hearing on Bitcoin strategic reserves on August 20.
According to CoinDesk, Brazil will hold a public hearing on August 20 to discuss the establishment of a Bitcoin strategic reserve.
ProShares and Bitwise have submitted ETF applications tracking Circle stocks, expected to take effect on August 20.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas retweeted disclosures on X platform, revealing that ProShares and Bitwise have submitted ETF applications tracking Circle stocks, namely: ProShares Ultra CRCL ETF and Bitwise CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF.
The trading code is pending, and the expected effective date is August 20.
Wyoming stablecoin WYST plans to launch on August 20.
According to Cointelegraph, the Wyoming Stablecoin Committee announced plans to officially launch its official stablecoin WYST at a Wyoming blockchain seminar to be held in Jackson on August 20, 2025.
The decentralized data platform Sapien will conduct its TGE on August 20.
According to CoinDesk, the decentralized data platform Sapien announced that it will conduct its TGE on August 20 on Base.
This time, a fair issuance model is adopted, initially unlocking 25% of the total supply of 1 billion tokens to support AI decentralized data minting business.
August 21 (Thursday)
The United States will announce the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending August 16 on August 21.
At 20:30 Beijing time on August 21, the U.S. will announce the number of initial jobless claims for the week ending August 16.
Upbit and Bithumb will delist STRIKE on August 21.
According to the official announcement, South Korea's crypto trading platforms Upbit and Bithumb 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 reports from Dongwang, according to Hong Kong Stock Exchange documents, MicroBit's Bitcoin spot ETF and MicroBit's Ether spot ETF will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next Thursday (August 21), with both ETFs having a management fee of 0.5% per year of net asset value, which is relatively low among existing virtual currency spot ETFs.
CITIC International UK Trustee acts as custodian and administrative manager; the virtual asset trading platform is HashKey Exchange; the virtual asset sub-custodian is Hash Blockchain Limited; participating brokers include China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong), Ade Securities Futures, Future Assets Securities (Hong Kong), Huaying Dongfang (Asia), Huasheng Capital Securities, and Victory Securities.
August 22 (Friday)
The listed company BTC Digital has postponed its extraordinary shareholders meeting to August 22.
According to PRNewswire, Nasdaq-listed company BTC Digital Ltd. announced that it has postponed its extraordinary general meeting to August 22, 2025. The company previously announced that it would fully embrace Ethereum (ETH) as its core asset and operational foundation, and plans to convert all BTC reserves into ETH. The relevant plans are expected to be discussed and voted on at the shareholders' meeting.
August 24 (Sunday)
The Central Bank of Brazil is publicly soliciting opinions on virtual asset accounting standards, deadline August 24.
According to the official website of the Central Bank of Brazil, the Central Bank recently released a draft regulatory resolution on the accounting confirmation, measurement, cancellation, and disclosure standards for virtual assets and utility tokens of financial institutions, and launched a public consultation. This measure aims to enhance the transparency, comparability, and quality of relevant accounting information. The public can submit opinions and suggestions through the central bank's official website or the government's 'Participa + Brasil' platform until August 24, 2025.
The blockchain game TOKYO BEAST announced that it will officially terminate all services on August 24.
The blockchain game project TOKYO BEAST announced that it will officially terminate all services on August 24 at 08:00 (UTC).
Producer Naoki Motohashi stated that due to difficulties in balancing operational costs, the team decided to cease operations. To avoid price shocks to the ecological token TGT, the official will provide compensation to players in USDC. The team also confirmed that TGT and the TOKYO GAMES Foundation behind it will continue to operate and revealed that a second new project is in preparation.
Previously, TGT was launched on Binance Alpha on May 21. TOKYO BEAST is the first game in the ecosystem, launched by a leading mobile game company in Japan.
