bloomingbit

Citigroup Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser said she wants the Clarity Act to pass, while raising concerns about a provision that would allow some forms of stablecoin yield.
Fraser told Fox Business on August 13 that she had not given up on efforts to improve the bill and hopes a strong version will become law, according to crypto-focused outlet The Block. Passage of the legislation would be “very positive” for the broader system, she said.
The Clarity Act is awaiting a procedural vote in the Senate. A compromise crafted by Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks and Republican Senator Thom Tillis would ban yield payments on simple asset holdings while allowing returns tied to transactions and payments.
Fraser said that provision could affect bank deposits. If deposits develop yield-like structures, money could leave banks, weakening their ability to provide loans and credit in areas beyond the reach of crypto firms and large banks.
The banking industry is split on the measure. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has taken a hard line against the Clarity Act. In a May interview with Fox Business, Dimon criticized the bill and harshly attacked Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Summer Mersinger, chief executive officer of the Blockchain Association, said the yield provision could become a flashpoint again if the Clarity Act passes the Senate and returns to the House. She added that yield-related issues were not discussed during the House review process. Republican senators also continue to face a choice between the traditional banking industry and the crypto sector.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is considering whether to pursue cryptocurrency regulation on its own without waiting for Congress to pass legislation. The step follows a similar move by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 13 that the CFTC will hold a meeting of its Innovation Advisory Committee on Aug. 20 to discuss regulatory direction for digital assets, artificial intelligence and prediction markets. One of the main agenda items is expected to be regulatory steps that could complement congressional legislation.
The move comes after the U.S. Senate failed last week to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, before starting its August recess. The SEC said the same day that it would also hold a meeting to discuss new rules for a tailored offering framework for certain investment contracts related to crypto assets. An SEC spokesperson said the agency supports congressional efforts to pass market-structure legislation, but will pursue crypto regulation within its authority until a law is enacted.
Staffing gaps at the CFTC could also affect the effort. Mike Selig, the agency's chairman, is currently the only Senate-confirmed CFTC commissioner, and there has been no sign that President Donald Trump plans to nominate candidates for the remaining seats. With the five-member bipartisan commission still incomplete, multiple lawmakers are urging the president to move quickly on nominations.

South Korea’s ruling People Power Party has moved to introduce another bill to delay taxation on virtual-asset, or cryptocurrency, investment gains.
Edaily reported on August 13 that People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon plans to sponsor an amendment to the income tax law as early as this month. The bill would delay the start of taxation on crypto investment income from January 2027 to January 2029. The proposal is under review by the National Assembly Secretariat’s legislative office, the report said.
It would be the second crypto-tax delay bill proposed by the party. On August 10, People Power Party lawmaker Jung Sung-kook sponsored a separate amendment that would postpone the tax’s start date from January 2027 to January 2030.
The government, however, has maintained that it will proceed with crypto taxation as scheduled in January 2027. Deputy Prime Minister Koo Yun-cheol, who also serves as finance minister, told the National Assembly’s Planning and Finance Committee in a work report last month that the government would push ahead as planned next year. Any necessary changes could be made after the system is put in place, he added.
The National Tax Service has also recently set up a digital asset division in preparation for the launch of crypto taxation next year. It plans to issue guidelines related to crypto taxation as early as October this year.
Opposition over tax fairness is also growing. Critics say pressing ahead with crypto taxation after the abolition of the financial investment income tax on stock investment gains would undermine tax equity. A recent public petition calling for the repeal of crypto taxation has drawn support from more than 58,000 people and has been referred to the National Assembly.

South Korea will tighten regulatory screening of major shareholders in virtual-asset service providers starting Aug. 20.
The Financial Intelligence Unit, or FIU, under the Financial Services Commission said Aug. 13 it will finalize and implement a revised reporting manual on Aug. 20, when amendments to the Act on Reporting and Use of Specific Financial Transaction Information take effect. The FIU and the Financial Supervisory Service revised the manual to reflect the amended law, its enforcement decree and supervisory rules introduced in January.
The authorities also held a briefing that day to explain the changes to the industry. Attendees included the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance, or DAXA, and 28 virtual-asset service providers registered under the law.
The amended law expands criminal-record screening in the reporting process for virtual-asset service providers to major shareholders, from the current scope of chief executives and executives. It also requires authorities at the review stage to determine whether applicants meet standards on financial condition, social credibility, and the organizational, staffing, equipment and internal-control systems needed to carry out anti-money-laundering duties.
The revised manual provides practical guidance on how companies should prepare for and comply with those requirements when filing. Under the updated manual, reviews of legal violations, financial condition and social credibility will cover major shareholders in addition to the business entity, its representative and executives.
Filings must include all major shareholders subject to disclosure, along with their real names, nationalities, and stock and equity holdings. Changes involving major shareholders will also move from the current requirement to report within 14 days after a change to a system requiring notice 30 days in advance.
Ha Ju-sik, director-general for system operation planning at the FIU, said the virtual-asset market now has a greater impact on the public and financial markets than it did in 2021, when South Korea introduced the reporting regime. To maintain trust in the market, operators and major shareholders need to be thoroughly vetted from the entry stage, he added.

Japan’s government supports an early interest-rate increase by the Bank of Japan, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bloomberg reported on Aug. 13 that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is receptive to an earlier BOJ rate hike, with September or October emerging as the leading candidates for the next move.
The BOJ is concerned that yen weakness is lifting import prices and adding to inflationary pressure. The government also sees a need to reinforce the impact of its recent yen-buying intervention with the U.S., bringing the two sides closer in support of an early rate increase.
The prime minister’s office said, however, that specific monetary policy tools, including rate increases, should be left to the BOJ’s judgment. It added that the central bank should work closely with the government to achieve its 2% inflation target in a stable manner.
After the report, the yen strengthened, with the dollar-yen exchange rate falling to 159.18 from about 159.46. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield also edged higher.
The U.S. and Japan jointly intervened to buy yen late last month for the first time since 1998, but the effect faded quickly. That has fueled market expectations that the BOJ will bolster the currency through a rate increase.
BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda also signaled on July 31 that the pace of future rate increases could accelerate after keeping the policy rate unchanged at 1% and citing upside risks to prices. The report said the Japanese government had conveyed support ahead of that meeting for Ueda to strike a hawkish tone at his press conference.
The BOJ plans to make a final decision after reviewing additional economic and inflation data, though it has not ruled out a move in September. Markets are currently pricing in about a 74% chance of a rate increase at the BOJ’s Sept. 18 meeting.
If the BOJ raises rates again in September or October, it would mark the third increase since Takaichi took office as prime minister. Three rate hikes within 12 months would also amount to Japan’s fastest pace of monetary tightening since 1989, when the country’s asset bubble peaked.

U.S. spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds posted net outflows of more than $60 million.
Farside Investors data released on August 13 showed U.S. spot-Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net outflows of $61.1 million the previous day. The funds swung back to net outflows after just one day of net inflows.
Fidelity's FBTC posted the largest withdrawal, with $46.8 million in net outflows. BlackRock's IBIT saw net outflows of $14.3 million. The remaining products recorded no net flows.

Japan’s producer prices remained elevated in July, lending support to the case for another interest-rate increase by the Bank of Japan.
Bloomberg reported on Aug. 12 that the Bank of Japan’s corporate goods price index rose 7.2% in July from a year earlier. That was slightly slower than the revised 7.3% gain in June, the highest since March 2023, but still marked a strong increase. The index rose 0.1% from the previous month.
Petroleum and coal products, chemical products and non-ferrous metals led the increase.
Persistent cost pressures on companies are raising the chances that higher production costs will be passed on to consumers. That stands to influence the Bank of Japan as it weighs whether to raise rates further while watching upside inflation risks.
The Bank of Japan left its benchmark rate unchanged at 1% last month. Governor Kazuo Ueda had signaled that another rate increase could come as early as September after citing inflation risks.
Corporate bankruptcies are also climbing as some firms struggle to absorb higher costs. Teikoku Databank, a Japanese market research firm, said 556 companies went bankrupt in the first half of this year after failing to fully pass higher raw-material and fuel costs on to selling prices. That was the highest first-half total since the firm began compiling the data in 2018. There were 121 such cases last month, also a monthly record.
Higher global oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict, rising non-ferrous metal and machinery prices amid expanding global investment in artificial intelligence, and wage growth are adding to Japan’s inflation pressures.
A weaker yen is also driving up import costs. The currency fell to near 164 per dollar last month, its weakest level in 40 years, before rebounding after joint US-Japan foreign-exchange intervention. In Tokyo trading on Aug. 12, however, it was back near 159.32 per dollar.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has resumed work on the Digital Asset Basic Act, the second phase of the country’s virtual-asset legislation, and is considering having the government draft introduced as a lawmaker-sponsored bill.
The FSC held private talks in late July with Yoo Dong-soo, chairman of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, and Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sang-hyuk on the direction of the bill, Yonhap Infomax reported on Aug. 13. The discussions covered the bill’s main provisions, who would formally sponsor it, the timetable and how to coordinate views within the ruling party.
The FSC is weighing a lawmaker-sponsored route instead of formal government legislation. A government bill takes longer because it must pass review by the Ministry of Government Legislation and approval at a Cabinet meeting, while a bill introduced by a lawmaker can move faster. Officials are primarily considering having Yoo introduce the government draft under his name, the report said.
The government and the ruling party are aiming to introduce the bill in September. Their plan is to submit it before the annual parliamentary audit and begin a full review during the regular National Assembly session in September.
Even after the bill is submitted, it will have to be reviewed together with existing proposals from lawmakers. More than 10 bills, including the Digital Asset Basic Act and stablecoin-related measures, are pending before the Political Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on bill review.
The key issues are who would be allowed to issue stablecoins and whether to restrict controlling shareholders’ stakes in virtual-asset service providers. Differences reportedly persist within the ruling party over whether such ownership rules are necessary and how strict they should be.
The timetable for the Digital Asset Basic Act could still slip because the FSC’s top legislative priority for the regular session is an amendment to the Capital Markets Act. Regulators are first pushing to establish emergency intervention powers in response to the recent single-stock leveraged ETF issue.

Key Economic Events for Today
▶ Aug. 13: U.K. preliminary second-quarter GDP (3 p.m. Korea Standard Time; 7 a.m. in the U.K.), U.S. July producer price index, or PPI (9:30 p.m. Korea Standard Time; 8:30 a.m. in the U.S.), and U.S. initial jobless claims (9:30 p.m. Korea Standard Time; 8:30 a.m. in the U.S.)
Key Cryptocurrency Events for Today
▶ Aug. 13: None

The yen is approaching 160 per dollar again, sharpening market focus on the possibility of another joint foreign-exchange intervention by the US and Japan.
Bloomberg reported on August 12 that the yen traded at 159.43 per dollar in New York. The Japanese currency has weakened more than 1% against the dollar this month, surrendering part of the gains it made after US-Japan joint intervention earlier in August.
The two countries previously stepped in to buy yen together for the first time since 1998 after the dollar-yen rate approached 164. The exchange rate briefly fell into the 155-yen range, but has since climbed back toward 160.
Investors are still weighing the chance of further intervention.
"It is too early to conclude that the possibility of additional intervention has disappeared," Nathan Tuft, a senior portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management, said. Japanese authorities have already shown their willingness to act jointly with the US Treasury, he added, and investor caution would intensify if the exchange rate moves back toward the levels that prompted the latest intervention.
Still, intervention alone may not be enough to sustain yen strength. Japan's policy rate stands at 1%, while the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate is 3.50% to 3.75%, leaving a wide gap between the two countries.
Shusuke Yamada, a strategist at Bank of America, said the joint US-Japan intervention had bolstered market confidence in Japan's resolve to defend the yen. That confidence has weakened somewhat over the past week, however, as the exchange rate resumed rising without further intervention.
Markets are also focused on further rate increases by the Bank of Japan as the key factor in determining the yen's direction. Derivatives markets are pricing in roughly a 60% chance of a BOJ rate hike in September, while an October increase is largely already reflected in prices.

President Donald Trump said on August 12 that the US had "complete and total control" of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, "The United States now has complete and total control over the Strait of Hormuz. We will keep it that way."
He also asserted that Iran had "no navy, no air force." Its remaining soldiers are not even being paid, he wrote, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, had been largely broken up and was fleeing. Its leadership was, "to put it nicely, in a very uncertain situation," he added.
Trump went on to say Iran had no money and that the country was effectively broken. "All they have left is fake news and 300% inflation," he wrote.

Ends at 6,579, up 3.7%
Foreign investors buy a net 3.4 trillion won of shares, led by semiconductors
Wall Street is increasingly backing away from its skepticism that "chipflation" — a sharp rise in semiconductor prices — would curb demand for artificial intelligence spending. Companies are bringing forward AI investment despite higher memory prices, and neo-cloud providers are raising capital expenditures on top of spending by Big Tech. With market positioning also improving after helping drive the recent selloff in technology shares, expectations are reviving for South Korea's stock market, a major beneficiary of AI infrastructure investment.
The Kospi 200 closed at 6,579.04 on Aug. 12, up 3.68%. It reclaimed its 20-day moving average for the first time in more than a month. Foreign investors led the rally, buying more than 3.4 trillion won of shares on a net basis, mainly in electrical and electronics names including semiconductors. The Kosdaq also recovered from an early decline to close up 0.12% at 858.91.
Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc., which led the market higher, surged 6.7% and 5.5%, respectively. Buying was also strong in AI infrastructure plays, including semiconductor substrates, materials, parts, equipment and power gear. Investor sentiment improved after CoreWeave Inc. and Super Micro Computer Inc. reported overnight results showing revenue, margins and backlog far ahead of market expectations, while also raising their capital spending outlook for this year.
CoreWeave's conference call helped ease recent concerns that demand for AI chips had passed its peak. Asked whether it would expand long-term supply agreements across the supply chain, including memory, management said it was aggressively managing suppliers to secure capacity in time for customers' needs. It added that the value created by computing was rising faster than costs. Margins on recently signed contracts were also 5 to 10 percentage points higher than in the previous quarter.
News that Situational Awareness, an AI-focused hedge fund, had sharply increased its stake in Japan's Taiyo Yuden Co. also supported sentiment. Taiyo Yuden makes high-performance multilayer ceramic capacitors used in AI data centers. Its shares jumped 7.5% in Japan on Aug. 12.
Wall Street has also been reversing calls that rising prices for AI hardware components, led by memory, would suppress demand. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring upgraded his view on the U.S. information-technology hardware sector to neutral from cautious on Aug. 10. In late June, he had warned that chipflation would weaken corporate IT spending and urged caution on AI infrastructure names such as server and storage makers. This time, he acknowledged that call was wrong.
Trading conditions are also improving in ways that could allow stronger fundamentals to feed through to stock prices. Scott Rubner, Citadel Securities' head of equity derivatives strategy, wrote in a report the previous day that deleveraging was largely complete. As volatility declines, systematic funds also have more room to buy equities again.
South Korea's stock market is especially sensitive to those shifts because it is a high-beta market for AI semiconductors and infrastructure investment. With chipmakers accounting for a large share of the benchmark, foreign flows and the broader market tend to swing sharply with global sentiment toward AI spending. That is reviving expectations for a rebound in South Korean equities as confidence in AI investment improves.
Bin Nan-sae, Korea Economic Daily reporter binthere@hankyung.com

Retail investors seeking first-time exposure to single-stock leveraged products listed in South Korea or overseas must complete at least five trading days and five hours of paper trading starting Aug. 19.
The Financial Services Commission said on Aug. 12 that the paper-trading program now required for futures and options trading and short selling will be expanded to domestically and overseas-listed single-stock leveraged investments from Aug. 19. Individual retail investors making new investments in those products must complete the simulation before they can trade.
The paper-trading service is available free of charge on the Korea Exchange website. Investors are given virtual funds and trade at live market prices.
To invest in leveraged products, investors must complete paper trading over at least five trading days, spending at least one hour on each day. Total trading time must come to at least five hours. The FSC said single-stock leveraged products can post losses even when the underlying asset moves sideways because of negative compounding. The simulation requirement is intended to let prospective investors experience that effect before making investment decisions.
The government already tightened investment requirements for single-stock leveraged products on July 31, including raising the minimum deposit to 30 million won ($21,700). With the additional measure, new investors in leveraged products must complete all prerequisites, including one hour of basic training, two hours of advanced training and the paper-trading requirement.
Trading value in domestic single-stock leveraged products has plunged since the minimum-deposit rule was strengthened. The FSC said turnover dropped to 700 billion won ($507 million) on Aug. 11 from 12.4 trillion won ($9.0 billion) on July 30.

Fed Tightening Fears, Middle East Tensions Weigh
Clarity Act Delay Also Hurts Sentiment
Whale Buying Supports Bullish View
Calls for More Losses Persist
Bitcoin has remained volatile, alternating between sharp drops and modest rebounds after a steep selloff. Risk appetite for speculative assets has weakened as investors brace for the possibility of another Federal Reserve rate increase this year and as tensions in the Middle East flare again. Delays in the Clarity Act, a US bill tied to the crypto market, have also weighed on prices. Forecasts in financial markets remain deeply divided, with some calling for Bitcoin to top $1 million and others warning it could slide into the $40,000 range.
String of Negative Catalysts Hurts Sentiment
According to Upbit, Bitcoin traded at 90.322 million won, or about $65,500, as of 9 a.m. on August 10, down 0.8% from a day earlier. After falling to 90.5 million won, or about $65,600, intraday in early June, Bitcoin rebounded and climbed back above 100 million won, or about $72,500, within 10 days. It quickly turned lower again and fell into the 88 million won range, or about $63,800, on August 1. The token then rose gradually to the 97.8 million won range, or about $70,900, before resuming its decline. It has recently traded sideways in the 90 million won range, or about $65,200. That is roughly half its record high from October last year, when it reached the 179 million won range, or about $129,700.
Concern over tighter Fed policy is weighing on Bitcoin, market participants say. The Fed left its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.5% to 3.75% at its regular Federal Open Market Committee meeting in late July, but three FOMC members dissented from the decision. Markets interpreted the move as a hawkish hold that signaled possible rate increases ahead. Even Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who backed the decision at the time, has recently mentioned the possibility of a rate hike. That has kept risk appetite subdued. Middle East tensions have added to the pressure after Iran recently moved to advance legislation that would bar ships linked to hostile countries, including the US and Israel, from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Delays to the Clarity Act have also been cited as a factor behind Bitcoin's decline. Disagreement over ethics provisions related to President Donald Trump has pushed consideration of the bill back to after September. The Clarity Act would classify digital assets as either securities or commodities and split oversight authority between the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Strategy's repeated Bitcoin sales have further hurt sentiment. The company said on August 3 that it sold 1,637 Bitcoin. Half of the proceeds were used to pay preferred-stock dividends. Strategy is the world's largest publicly traded corporate holder of Bitcoin. Cantor Fitzgerald recently cut its price target on Strategy to $186 from $212 and lowered its Bitcoin target to $98,000 from $111,000.
Bears and Bulls Remain Split
Bullish and bearish views on Bitcoin continue to coexist in financial markets. Bulls point to stronger buying by whales, or large holders, as evidence that the bear market may be nearing an end. In a report published on August 5, crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant wrote that investors holding large amounts of Bitcoin, Ether and XRP continued buying through the recent correction. It said the pattern resembled the typical accumulation phase seen late in a bear market.
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, said Bitcoin could rise above $1 million once the boom in artificial-intelligence investment cools. Writing on newsletter platform Substack, he said the investment frenzy around AI data centers and power infrastructure had taken on the character of a credit bubble. After that bubble bursts, governments may inject massive liquidity to stabilize the financial system, he wrote, pushing Bitcoin above $1 million.
Renewed institutional inflows are also supporting the bullish case. According to crypto data firm SoSoValue, US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have drawn net inflows of about $853 million so far this month. That is nearly five times the $172 million recorded last month, indicating that the pace of inflows has accelerated. In June, by contrast, the funds saw net outflows of $4.51 billion.
Bearish forecasts calling for further declines are also widespread. Global crypto exchange Bitfinex said in a recent report that the market's core demand engine had disappeared. If investor withdrawals continue, Bitcoin could fall into the $40,000 range by the end of this year, it said. Reed Harvey, an analyst at Wolfe Research, said Bitcoin remained in a downtrend and that its recent rebound to around $65,000 had begun to lose momentum. He expects the token to enter a new leg lower.
Kim Soo-hyun, Hankyung.com reporter ksoohyun@hankyung.com

US spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds returned to net inflows after one day.
Farside Investors data showed the funds took in a combined $7.8 million on Aug. 11. That reversed the previous trading day's $144.6 million in net outflows.
BlackRock's IBIT led the gains with $50.2 million in inflows.
Franklin Templeton's EZBC posted $16.5 million in outflows. Ark Invest's ARKB and VanEck's HODL saw net outflows of $11.5 million and $10.3 million, respectively. Fidelity's FBTC also lost $4.1 million. The remaining products were unchanged.

The US and Japan have jointly intervened in foreign-exchange markets to support the yen, but a policy gap over whether the Bank of Japan should raise interest rates is emerging as a key variable for the currency's stability.
Bloomberg reported on August 11 that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has consistently argued that the BOJ needs to tighten monetary policy to counter yen weakness. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, by contrast, has warned that overly rapid rate hikes could undermine the economic recovery.
The BOJ has raised rates twice since Takaichi took office in October 2025, but its benchmark rate remains at 1%. Even last month, when the US joined yen-buying intervention for the first time since 1998, the BOJ kept rates unchanged.
Market participants say the effect of the intervention has been weakened because foreign-exchange operations and monetary policy have not moved in the same direction. After initially strengthening following the joint US-Japan action, the yen surrendered much of its gains and is again approaching 160 per dollar.
Peter Vassallo, a portfolio manager at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said the BOJ missed "a golden opportunity" by not raising rates at the time.
That has fueled expectations that the BOJ could deliver another rate increase in September or October. The last time Japan raised rates three times within a 12-month period was 1989, when asset-market bubbles were near their peak.
Mark Dowding, chief investment officer at RBC Global Asset Management, said Takaichi wants an accommodative policy stance to maximize growth. But inflation driven by yen weakness risks damaging her approval ratings. If the yen falls further without a BOJ rate increase, he added, currency intervention would be seen as a failure.
Bessent has also signaled that the BOJ should move more aggressively to normalize monetary policy given Japan's inflation backdrop. In August 2025, he said the BOJ was "behind the curve." In October 2025, he said the Japanese government should ensure that the central bank has enough policy space to respond to inflation.
Takaichi, meanwhile, has long been wary that excessive tightening could cool the recovery. Still, there is a growing view that she may accept additional rate increases as the burden from yen weakness and higher living costs intensifies.
Shinichiro Kobayashi, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, said Takaichi may not generally favor rate hikes. Even so, he said, she is becoming more willing to accept them under current conditions.
The US and Japan have officially maintained that they will continue coordinating to stabilize exchange rates. A US government official said the two countries are continuing close consultations on currency issues, including efforts to curb excessive exchange-rate volatility.

Strategy plans to resume buying Bitcoin this year, Chief Executive Officer Phong Le said.
Le told Fox Business in an interview reported by Cointelegraph on Aug. 11 that the company would restart Bitcoin purchases before year-end.
He said Strategy has bought about 175,000 BTC since the start of the year and sold about 7,000 BTC, making its purchases about 25 times larger than its sales. That pushed the company from the world’s second-largest institutional Bitcoin holder to first place, he added.
Strategy now holds more than 840,000 BTC, but it has sold Bitcoin four times since May. Its latest sale totaled 1,690 BTC. The proceeds were used for preferred stock dividends, share buybacks and building dollar reserves.
While the sales were small relative to its total holdings, the company faced criticism for departing from its long-standing policy of never selling. The shift underscores the practical burden on a listed company that is pursuing a Bitcoin-buying strategy while also meeting obligations to common and preferred shareholders.
Corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies more broadly are also under pressure in the bear market. BitcoinTreasuries.NET shows publicly traded companies hold more than 1.26 million BTC, still below the 1.6 million BTC held by funds including exchange-traded funds.
Novak Research said the corporate Bitcoin treasury model has relied on a virtuous cycle in which companies raise capital at a premium to net asset value and use the proceeds to buy more Bitcoin. But when a stock trades below the net asset value of its Bitcoin holdings, new fundraising dilutes shareholder value and makes the model harder to sustain.

Today's Key Economic Events
▶ Aug. 12 (Wednesday): South Korea's July unemployment rate (8 a.m. Korea Standard Time); Germany's July consumer price index (3 p.m. Korea Standard Time, 8 a.m. in Germany); US July consumer price index, or CPI (9:30 p.m. Korea Standard Time, 8:30 a.m. in the US)
Today's Key Cryptocurrency Events
▶ Aug. 12 (Wednesday): Aptos (APT) token unlock

Bitcoin has been stuck in a tight range for five weeks, with this week's U.S. consumer price index report emerging as the key variable for its next move.
CoinDesk reported on August 11 that Bitcoin traded at about $63,500, down 0.6% from 24 hours earlier. The cryptocurrency has remained pinned between $62,000 and $66,000 throughout the summer.
Paul Howard, senior director at trading firm Wincent, said recent Bitcoin price action reflects a market in which steady ETF inflows are being offset by over-the-counter selling from miners and Strategy (MSTR). He added that crypto trading volumes have fallen to their lowest level in three years, preventing a decisive breakout in either direction.
Bitfinex analysts described the same pattern. ETFs and companies that hold Bitcoin as a treasury asset remain the two main pillars of price-insensitive demand, but selling tied to recent corporate treasury activity has offset that support. That helps explain why Bitcoin rose only about 2% last week even as ETF inflows were strong and broader risk assets performed well.
Jeff Anderson, managing partner at STS Digital, said both buyers and sellers lack conviction amid extremely thin summer liquidity. Implied volatility has dropped sharply as investors wait for clarity on monetary policy and the outcome of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He added that a break above or below the current range could trigger a sharp move.
Attention is now turning to the U.S. CPI report due on August 12. It will be the first major inflation reading since Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh stressed inflation in his press conference following the July Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Howard said Bitcoin could continue to move sideways until mid-September without a clear catalyst, adding that legislative progress on the Clarity Act may provide the next meaningful upside driver. CoinGlass data show September has historically been Bitcoin's weakest month, with an average decline of about 4% since 2013.

Prospects for passage of the CLARITY Act, a U.S. digital-asset market structure bill, are growing increasingly uncertain.
The Block reported on Aug. 11 that Senate Majority Leader John Thune delayed the cloture vote on the CLARITY Act until Sept. 15. The bill will be taken up again after the summer recess.
The measure has not been shelved, but significant hurdles remain before final passage. TD Cowen Washington Research put the odds of enactment in the coming months at 25%. “The bill is not dead, but the path forward has become more difficult,” Jarrett Seiberg, a managing director at TD Cowen, said.
The main sticking points are stablecoin rewards and ethics provisions. Banks are pushing for tighter rules on stablecoin rewards, while the crypto industry has voiced concern about reopening terms that had already been agreed.
Ethics provisions tied to potential conflicts of interest involving President Donald Trump’s crypto businesses also remain central to the negotiations. Democrats and Republicans are discussing a compromise that would bar public officials and their spouses from issuing digital assets, but they have not reached agreement.
Anti-money laundering, or AML, and consumer-protection provisions also remain unresolved amid opposition from some Democratic lawmakers. They argue the bill lacks sufficient safeguards against illicit finance, while the industry says those concerns are overstated.
The legislative calendar is another challenge. The Senate will reconvene on Sept. 14, but is set to recess for most of October. Budget legislation and defense bills are also due for review, leaving a tighter window for action on the CLARITY Act.
Still, the industry sees encouragement in the fact that the bill remains alive. “There has been meaningful progress in negotiations over the past few weeks, and lawmakers could be ready to support the bill by the time of the September vote,” Blockchain Association Chief Executive Officer Summer Mersinger said.
Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are moving to build a digital-asset regulatory framework independent of the legislation. The SEC plans to discuss whether to introduce new offering rules for crypto investment contracts, while the two agencies are pursuing digital-asset regulatory modernization through Project Crypto.
Patrick Witt, the White House's crypto policy adviser, said on Aug. 11 that the administration is fully committed to passing the CLARITY Act in September.