BTCC Daily (8.21) | Bitcoin Nears $80,000, XRP Surges About 20%

Top Highlights

• Bitcoin rose above $78,000, gaining nearly 9% over 24 hours, while total crypto market capitalization climbed to about $2.58 trillion.

• The yield decline triggered by the U.S. Treasury’s expanded long-term bond buybacks quickly reversed, with the 30-year Treasury yield rising back to around 5.25%.

• On August 20 ET, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $606.3 million, while spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $219.5 million.

Macro & Policy Outlook

Today’s Key Events

• Canada June retail sales

• Preliminary U.S. August manufacturing and services PMIs

Macro Headlines

1. U.S. long-end yields rise again, 30-year yield returns to around 5.25%

The market relief from the U.S. Treasury’s expansion of long-term Treasury buybacks lasted only about one day. The 30-year Treasury yield rose back to around 5.25%, while the 10-year yield climbed to about 4.71%. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the Treasury could further increase the scale of long-term Treasury buybacks if needed and also raised the possibility of fiscal consolidation.

2. Japan July core CPI rises 1.8% year over year, reaccelerating from previous month

Japan’s July core consumer price index rose 1.8% year over year, accelerating again from 1.6% in June and matching market expectations. Energy prices and changes in import costs related to the Middle East situation remain key market concerns. The latest inflation data will also serve as an important reference for the Bank of Japan’s assessment of future rate policy.

3. Japan August manufacturing PMI rises to 55.1, new orders grow at fastest pace since 2018

Japan’s preliminary August manufacturing PMI rose to 55.1 from 54.5 in July, with new orders growing at the fastest pace since January 2018. The services PMI rose from 51.2 to 52.3, while the composite PMI climbed to 53.4, the highest since February. Semiconductor and AI-related demand continued to support manufacturing activity.

4. UK July retail sales fall 0.5% month over month

UK July retail sales fell 0.5% month over month, in line with market expectations. Sales grew 1.6% year over year, below the market expectation of 2.2% and also significantly lower than the previous reading. Clothing and footwear sales fell 2.7% month over month, the largest decline since May 2025.

5. U.S. plans to further tighten sanctions on Iran, oil prices stay elevated

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said the U.S. plans to impose tougher sanctions on Iran. Affected by Middle East supply risks, Brent crude briefly rose to around $94.71 per barrel during intraday trading before paring gains. Transportation risks related to the Strait of Hormuz remain a key focus for energy markets.

Global Asset Performance

• Equities: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down about 0.3%. Korea’s KOSPI Index closed up 0.88%, with Samsung Electronics rising 3.87% and SK Hynix gaining 2.31%. In U.S. premarket trading, at press time, Nasdaq 100 futures were up about 0.46%, S&P 500 futures rose about 0.23%, and Dow futures gained about 0.17%.

• Crypto: The CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 72, in the greed zone. Total crypto market capitalization was about $2.58 trillion, up about 7% over the past 24 hours. BTC traded near $78,000, up about 8.47% in 24 hours. Today’s trending cryptocurrencies: XRP rose about 20%, while DOGE gained about 10%.

• Energy & Metals: Brent crude fell about 0.3% to $93.47 per barrel, while WTI crude fell about 0.7% to $86.22 per barrel. Spot gold rose about 1.3% to $4,578 per ounce, while spot silver gained about 2.65% to $69.9 per ounce.

(Data as of August 21, 15:00 HKT)

Crypto Market Snapshot

1. Futures Capital Flow Analysis

On August 21, according to Coinglass data, BTC, ETH, XAU, PUMP, SOL, and other contracts led net inflows in futures trading over the past 24 hours, potentially signaling trading opportunities.

2. Bitcoin Liquidation Heatmap

On August 21, according to Coinglass data, based on the current reference price of $77,514 on the Bitcoin exchange liquidation map, if Bitcoin falls below $75,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $970 million. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $80,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $370 million. Traders are advised to manage leverage prudently to avoid large-scale liquidations during market swings.

3. Bitcoin Long/Short Ratio

According to Coinglass data, as of 16:00 HKT on August 21, the overall Bitcoin long/short ratio stood at 1.1225, indicating that bulls currently hold a relative advantage.

4. Stock Futures Performance

On August 21, stock contracts were broadly stronger. SKHYNIX led gains with a 4.83% rise, while MU and DRAM rose 3.08% and 2.63%, respectively, and SOXL gained 2.18%. SPCX fell against the trend, down 1.89%. In trading volume, SAMSUNG and SPCX increased by 27.54% and 24.96%, respectively. In terms of open interest, DRAM and SAMSUNG rose 9.13% and 11.23%, respectively, while SNDK and SKHY both fell more than 12%, showing that capital further concentrated toward Korean memory names and DRAM.

5. On-Chain Monitoring

• According to Lookonchain, a BTC whale transferred about 3,000 BTC to Binance, worth about $225 million.

• According to Lookonchain, a whale opened leveraged BTC and ETH short positions on Hyperliquid, with a total size of about $81.6 million.

• On-chain data shows that an address related to the Bhutanese government transferred 490.87 BTC to a new wallet, worth about $32.74 million, with the largest single transfer at about 485 BTC.

Blockchain Headlines

• On August 20 ET, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $606.3 million, with BlackRock’s IBIT seeing $503.0 million in net inflows, Fidelity’s FBTC seeing $64.7 million, and Bitwise’s BITB seeing $26.4 million.

• U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $219.5 million over the same period, with BlackRock’s ETHA seeing $173.3 million, ETHB seeing $35.9 million, and Fidelity’s FETH seeing $5.8 million.

• Korea’s Shinhan Asset Management launched a proof of concept for a KRW-denominated tokenized fund with Solana, Etherfuse, and Orca. Shinhan Asset Management has about $96.6 billion in assets under management.

• MANTRA Chain suspended the network and related trading after an unspecified incident. The team said it is investigating the cause and had not released a full incident report as of the announcement.

• Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley said the company is advancing banking infrastructure for AI agents, enabling AI agents to use on-chain, card, and traditional payment channels under compliance controls.

• X is reportedly exploring the use of stablecoins for creator payments, with USDC among the assets discussed in related proposals.

• U.S. CFTC Chair Michael Selig said that even if the CLARITY Act fails to complete the legislative process in Congress, the CFTC will continue advancing digital-asset-related regulatory work.

• The U.S. CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee held a meeting to discuss digital-asset regulation, prediction markets, and related financial innovation topics.

• Trump met with crypto and financial industry executives at the White House and again urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act, which focuses on the division of digital-asset oversight between the SEC and CFTC.

• Solana began the first phase of an upgrade to shorten slot time, initially aiming to reduce slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds, with further reductions in block generation time planned later.

Institutional Insights · Daily Picks

• Zeus Research analyst Dominick John said that after large-scale short liquidations, whether Bitcoin’s rebound can continue still depends on spot buying, new liquidity, and macro fundamentals. The next market focus is whether sustained new capital inflows can emerge.

• Ondo Finance Managing Director John Hoffman said the development path of tokenized assets is becoming similar to the early ETF market. Ondo Stocks reached $1 billion in TVL in about eight months, while stablecoins and tokenized Treasuries took about three years and 18 months, respectively, to reach similar scale.

• Deutsche Bank strategist Steven Zeng said that when the long-term Treasury market faces fundamental pressures such as high debt and high deficits, investors may continue to demand higher yields. If the Treasury continues to expand market intervention, policy costs and the Treasury’s market credibility may also attract more attention.