BTCC Daily (8.27) | Bank of Korea Raises Rates for Second Straight Meeting, Nvidia Q2 Revenue Doubles Year Over Year

Top Highlights

• Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $96.22 billion, up 106% year over year. Data-center revenue rose 117%, and the company expects third-quarter revenue of about $108 billion.

• U.S. July PCE rose 3.7% year over year, above market expectations. Market pricing for a Fed rate hike in September rose to about 40%.

• The Bank of Korea raised rates by 25 basis points for the second consecutive meeting, lifting the benchmark rate to 3.00%, while sharply raising its 2026 growth forecast.

Macro & Policy Outlook

Today’s Key Events

• Jackson Hole global central bank symposium opens

• U.S. initial jobless claims

• U.S. July goods trade balance and wholesale inventories

• U.S. August Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index

Macro Headlines

1. Nvidia Q2 revenue doubles year over year, Q3 guidance beats expectations

Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $96.22 billion, up 106% year over year and above market expectations of about $92.3 billion. Data-center revenue reached $89.0 billion, up 117% year over year, while adjusted earnings per share were $2.22. The company expects third-quarter revenue of about $108 billion and projects fiscal 2028 revenue growth of about 70%, above the market’s previous expectation of roughly 45%. Nvidia rose about 4.7% after hours, lifting U.S. tech futures and global semiconductor stocks.

2. U.S. July PCE rises 3.7% year over year, rate-cut expectations cool further

The U.S. July PCE Price Index rose 0.2% month over month and 3.7% year over year, with the annual reading above the market expectation of 3.6%. Core PCE rose 0.2% month over month and 3.3% year over year. U.S. Q2 annualized GDP growth remained at 1.5%, but consumer spending growth was revised up from 3.2% to 3.4%. After the data, market pricing for a Fed rate hike in September rose to about 40%.

3. Bank of Korea raises rates for second straight meeting, benchmark rate rises to 3.00%

The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 3.00%, marking its second consecutive rate hike. The central bank raised its 2026 GDP growth forecast from 2.6% to 3.3%, while keeping its inflation forecast unchanged at 2.7%. The latest rate dot plot shows 3.25% as the concentrated forecast level for the policy rate at year-end, though the central bank said the pace of future rate hikes will be more gradual.

4. China’s industrial profits above designated size rise 17.6% in first seven months

China’s industrial profits above designated size rose 17.6% year over year from January to July, slowing from 18.7% in the first half. July profits rose 11.2% year over year. Profits in computer, communications, and other electronic equipment manufacturing grew 1.1 times, while the nonferrous metals industry grew 91.8%. However, profits in automobile manufacturing fell 20.4%, showing that sector divergence remains clear.

5. Middle East diplomatic mediation continues, Brent crude falls for fourth straight day

Iran and Oman continued to discuss temporary shipping arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, while Qatar’s prime minister plans to visit Tehran and push for renewed U.S.-Iran talks. Expectations of supply disruption cooled, and Brent crude fell for a fourth consecutive trading day. A 95,000-barrel increase in U.S. crude inventories also pressured oil prices.

Global Asset Performance

• Equities: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.20% at 66,131.76. Korea’s KOSPI Index closed up 1.53% at 6,912.37, with Samsung Electronics rising 1.34% and SK Hynix gaining 1.90%. In U.S. premarket trading, Nasdaq 100 futures were up about 0.7%, S&P 500 futures rose about 0.5%, and Dow futures gained about 0.4%.

• Crypto: The CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 80, in the extreme greed zone. Total crypto market capitalization was about $2.68 trillion, up about 0.93% over the past 24 hours. BTC traded near $79,700, up about 0.84% in 24 hours. Today’s trending cryptocurrencies: SOL rose about 5.62%, while LINK gained about 3.25%.

• Energy & Metals: Brent crude pulled back to around $86.46 per barrel, while WTI crude fell about 0.6% to $81.70 per barrel. Spot gold rose about 0.4% to $4,611.16 per ounce, while spot silver gained about 1% to $68.77 per ounce.

(Data as of August 27, 15:00 HKT)

Crypto Market Snapshot

1. Futures Capital Flow Analysis

On August 27, according to Coinglass data, BTC, ETH, SOL, SNDK, MU, and other contracts led net inflows in futures trading over the past 24 hours, potentially signaling trading opportunities.

2. Bitcoin Liquidation Heatmap

On August 27, according to Coinglass data, based on the current reference price of $79,681 on the Bitcoin exchange liquidation map, if Bitcoin falls below $78,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $640 million. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $82,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $700 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 17:00 HKT on August 27, the overall Bitcoin long/short ratio stood at 1.0771, indicating that bulls currently hold a relative advantage.

4. Stock Futures Performance

On August 27, stock contracts strengthened across the board. SNXX led gains with a 15.04% rise, while SOXL and SNDK rose 9.37% and 7.27%, respectively. Nvidia trading volume surged 490.52%, while open interest rose 27.83%, showing a clear return of bullish capital. However, SNXX’s funding rate rose to 0.1318%, suggesting short-term trading has become crowded.

5. On-Chain Monitoring

• According to Lookonchain, whale address 0x6436 bought a total of 387,952 HYPE over the past two days through Hyperliquid, OKX, Bybit, and Gate, worth about $31.5 million.

• According to Lookonchain, a trader who had been inactive for two years bought 95,928 SOL again, worth about $9.74 million. The address previously made about $4.95 million in cumulative profit from two SOL swing trades.

• According to Lookonchain, an address that previously lost about $12 million trading ETH bought 2,165 ETH again at an average price of about $2,463, involving about $5.33 million.

Blockchain Headlines

• On August 26 ET, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $232.2 million, marking the eighth consecutive trading day of net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT saw $200.8 million in net inflows, Fidelity’s FBTC saw $25.6 million, while Grayscale’s GBTC saw $50.4 million in net outflows.

• U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $192.4 million over the same period, also marking the eighth consecutive trading day of net inflows. BlackRock’s ETHA saw $115.7 million in net inflows, while Fidelity’s FETH saw $32.0 million.

• U.S. spot Solana ETFs recorded single-day net inflows of $9.1351 million. Morgan Stanley Solana Trust saw $5.5132 million in net inflows, while Bitwise Solana Staking ETF saw $2.649 million. Total ETF net assets were about $1.262 billion.

• The U.S. SEC’s proposal to amend investment adviser digital-asset custody rules has been submitted to the White House for review. The changes could redefine qualified custodians and digital-asset custody requirements.

• StarkWare announced the completion of the first quantum-resistant Bitcoin mainnet transaction. The method did not modify Bitcoin’s consensus rules, but a full solution to quantum-computing risks may still require protocol-layer upgrades.

• Coinbase and Better Mortgage formally expanded token-backed home loan services. Eligible users can pledge Bitcoin as collateral for down-payment loans and receive up to $10,000 in closing-cost credits.

• Hyperliquid Policy Center and TradeXYZ sent a letter to the U.S. CFTC recommending a technology-neutral regulatory framework for energy perpetual contracts such as crude oil and allowing related products to trade compliantly 24 hours a day in the U.S.

• DeFi Development Corp. launched the “State of Solana” real-time data platform, which aggregates Solana price, staking, validator, yield, and ecosystem indicators. The company currently holds about 2.3 million SOL.

• The U.S. state of Connecticut sued prediction market platform Kalshi, asking a court to bar it from offering unlicensed sports-event contracts in the state. Kalshi said it will defend against the allegations.

• Solana’s first formal on-chain governance vote entered its final stage. The three proposals involve a network constitution, raising the annual deflation rate from 15% to 30%, and a resource-based fee and fee-burn mechanism.

• Solana mainnet has reduced slot time from 400 milliseconds to 350 milliseconds. The next phase plans to reduce it to 300 milliseconds. If the block-skip rate rises significantly, later upgrades may be paused.

Institutional Insights · Daily Picks

• CryptoQuant said Bitcoin’s bull-market score has risen from 30 to 80, with eight of 10 indicators turning bullish. However, BTC still needs to decisively move above the 365-day moving average near $83,000 to confirm a new bull-market phase. Short-term unrealized profit rose to 20.5%, showing that profit-taking pressure is increasing.

• Bernstein expects Bitcoin could rise to $150,000 by mid-2027 in its base case and reach about $300,000 by 2029. At the same time, due to equity dilution and cycle-expectation adjustments, it lowered its Strategy price target from $450 to $350.

• JPMorgan analysts said Nvidia’s strong long-term revenue outlook and about $160 billion in supply commitments could improve expectations for Asia’s upstream technology supply chain and memory-chip demand, though rising component costs may still compress margins for some companies.