Strategy posts an $8.2 billion Q2 loss. JPMorgan, Citi and UBS move real money on-chain. And a fake staking site drains $8.5 million in XRP.
Strategy (MSTR) reported an $8.2 billion second-quarter net loss, driven almost entirely by an $8.32 billion unrealized markdown on its bitcoin holdings under fair-value accounting. The company now holds 843,775 BTC — up 25% since the start of the year — worth roughly $54.8 billion at current prices against an acquisition cost of $63.7 billion. The results arrived amid growing investor scrutiny over whether Strategy can sustain a capital structure built around multiple classes of preferred stock, convertible debt, and common equity. To address those concerns, the company has expanded its U.S. dollar reserve to $3.75 billion — enough to cover more than two years of preferred dividends and interest — and raised $17.06 billion through stock offerings this year. It also sold $218.4 million in bitcoin under a new BTC Monetization Program, breaking from its long-standing no-sell policy. CFO Andrew Kang framed the reserve as a buffer; Executive Chairman Michael Saylor said Strategy is pressing ahead with expanding what he calls its "Digital Credit" business and separately authorized a $1 billion share repurchase program for MSTR common stock, though no buybacks have been executed.
The only NYSE-listed crypto exchange, regulated by NYDFS, HKSFC, Bafin, and GFSC. Built for institutional trading, on the infrastructure regulated markets require.
One global order book, open 24/7, serving institutions in 50+ jurisdictions, with deep liquidity that holds in volatile markets.
Top 3 for BTC and ETH volume among the exchanges in the CME CF benchmarks. (CoinDesk Data)
Not investment advice. Digital assets and related products are high risk. Visit bullish.com/legal for more important information and risk warnings.
Twenty-eight commercial banks — including JPMorgan, Citi, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered — alongside five central banks completed real cross-border payments using tokenized money in a BIS-led test called Project Agorá. The pilot moved roughly $1 million (CHF 800,000) across six currencies — the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and South Korean won — settling in an average of about 80 seconds on a shared ledger. Rather than stablecoins issued by private companies, the project tokenized two traditional forms of bank money: central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits. By placing both on a single ledger, banks could complete transactions and foreign exchange settlements simultaneously instead of sequentially, reducing the risk that one party sends funds without receiving the other currency. The BIS said the platform also improved end-to-end payment traceability and operated alongside existing systems rather than replacing them — a key design choice meant to ease adoption by institutions with deeply entrenched infrastructure.
Seoul police say scammers stole 3.4 million XRP worth roughly $8.5 million from 71 investors last year by impersonating Flare Network, a legitimate blockchain project with deep roots in the XRP ecosystem. The fraudulent site, which ran for just eight days in October 2025, lured victims with promises of monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%, and was promoted through Naver blogs, online news articles, Wikipedia, and YouTube. Authorities believe the actual take could be as high as $19 million. Two suspects have been detained on aggravated fraud charges; police have secured an arrest warrant and filed an Interpol Red Notice for a third alleged accomplice believed to be overseas. The case is part of a broader surge in crypto impersonation fraud — Chainalysis estimated that as much as $17 billion in crypto was lost globally to scams and fraud in 2025, with criminals increasingly relying on AI and impersonation tactics to industrialize their operations.
Bitcoin spot ETFs have pulled in just $205 million in net inflows in July — the lowest monthly total on record, and a stark contrast to the $4.52 billion that exited in June. Ether ETFs are outperforming at $342.85 million, roughly on par with April and well ahead of any other crypto fund. Neither BTC nor ETH has moved decisively in the past 24 hours despite the Fed delivering what analysts described as a hawkish hold. Analysts at Marex are watching the 200-week moving average near $63,300 as the key line: hold it and today’s flatness reads as strength; lose $62,500 and bears target $60,000. Volatility may pick up with the release of U.S. core PCE inflation and GDP data today. Bollinger Bands on BTC’s daily chart are at their tightest since January — a squeeze that often precedes a sharp move in either direction. Stay alert.
Senators ready to send stricter ethics rules on Trump’s crypto ventures to White House.
Senators Thom Tillis (R) and Ruben Gallego (D), the bipartisan duo tasked with salvaging the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act’s ethics section, have finalized their compromise language and are preparing to send it to the White House, according to people briefed on the effort. The ethics provision — which would limit senior U.S. officials including President Trump from direct ties to crypto projects — has been the primary obstacle to Democratic support. Trump recently agreed to a narrow version of the rule, but Democrats argued it was structured so he would face little obligation to comply. The new Tillis-Gallego language is expected to tighten those restrictions, though details have not emerged publicly. The bill still faces a brutal timeline: just seven days remain before the Senate’s August 8 recess, and any contentious bill requires days of cloture floor time. Senate Majority Leader Thune has already begun other cloture processes. The Clarity Act could still survive to September, but a miss before recess risks losing momentum heading into midterm-focused politics. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong declared on X that crypto is “at the one yard line.”
Bitcoin and ether markets are ruled by perps. SpaceX showed how far their influence can go.
The European Union has deployed its 21st package of sanctions against Russia, and crypto is at the center of the most consequential new measures. The package targets the A7 cross-border payments network — which Chainalysis estimates has processed nearly $120 billion to date and was purposely built for Russian sanctions evasion — along with the A7A5 stablecoin that operates on it. Fourteen unnamed crypto-related service platforms based in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus have had their transaction access to EU entities banned. The most significant new instrument in the package is a mechanism that would allow the EU to impose a blanket ban on any transaction between an EU crypto provider and any crypto service used by Russia — the first time the EU has introduced the possibility of a full third-country crypto ban of this kind. High Representative Kaja Kallas framed the package broadly: “We’re hitting over a hundred banks and crypto operators, 40+ vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet, and several oil refineries in Russia and Belarus.” Alongside the digital asset measures, the EU is imposing asset freezes and transaction bans on 94 banks and major financial institutions and extending its ban to 33 additional Russian credit institutions. The package arrives three days after Russia’s State Duma passed its own first comprehensive crypto regulation framework, which takes effect September 1 — raising the question of whether Russia is building domestic crypto infrastructure partly in anticipation of further Western isolation from international networks.
CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets.
L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal.
Crypto Daybook Americas: A newsletter from CoinDesk
