Bitcoin Steadies Near $65,000 as SEC Rulemaking, Exchange Hacks, and Tokenization Deals Shape Crypto News
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Bitcoin hovered above $65,000 over the past 24 hours as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission prepared to vote on its first major crypto rulemaking, while exchange security exploits, corporate treasury moves, and tokenization initiatives kept digital-asset markets active.
ADI Chain and Shipfinex are partnering to tokenize commercial ships, a move aimed at opening the $680 billion ship-finance market to a wider capital pool. The collaboration gives a new blockchain rail to a $2 trillion asset class. Separately, BTCPay is offering a $190,000 bounty after a security exploit drained bitcoin payment servers last week. The project said it will pay 10% of recovered funds, up to 3 BTC, after attackers stole LND credentials and emptied merchant Lightning wallets.
On the technical side, Bitcoin’s BIP-110 fork is falling further behind the main network. The breakaway chain has produced only two blocks since splitting off on Saturday, while Bitcoin has generated more than 300 in the same stretch. The fork now sits 300 blocks behind BTC and faces a six-year wait to fix itself. In market action, XRP and ether led crypto losses as traders eyed $70,000 for bitcoin next. Bitcoin failed to hold $65,000 for a fourth day as an oil rally revived inflation worries ahead of Wednesday’s U.S. price data.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a meeting to propose a new framework called Reg Crypto, which would support certain digital asset offerings. The commission will vote this week to begin its first major crypto rulemaking process. On-chain data, meanwhile, show bitcoin’s “strongest hands” are back, with the number of elite wallets holding over 10,000 BTC hitting a six-month high of 90, building on earlier accumulation by mid-sized whales amid the Coldcard fallout and delays around the CLARITY Act.
Trump Media’s bitcoin holdings have shrunk as crypto losses reached $361 million. The Truth Social parent held 9,477 BTC worth $557 million at the end of June, while its Cronos position also suffered a steep drop in value. Bitwise’s Ryan Rasmussen said Circle is mispriced as stablecoins head toward trillions, arguing that investors are underestimating the company as stablecoins expand and its payments infrastructure develops. Elsewhere, Strategy is building a $4.75 billion cash cushion after learning that only bitcoin isn’t enough for investors; the company is holding billions in cash because traditional investors don’t necessarily view its massive bitcoin reserves as a substitute for dollars.
Grayscale has quietly dropped its planned ETF offerings for Cardano, Polkadot and Hedera. The asset manager said it no longer intends to proceed with the offerings, none of which became effective, and no securities were issued or sold. In decentralized finance, Solana lending giant Jupiter now lets the same dollar earn twice through its new Lend v2 product, which turns deposits and borrowed assets into trading liquidity, with higher returns tied to whether Jupiter’s router can send enough swap flow to the new vaults. Bitmine’s ether buying is slowing as Tom Lee’s firm shifts capital into share buybacks; Lee said easing financial conditions could support crypto, even as the CLARITY Act failed to reach a Senate vote before the August recess.
Solana received its first Strategy STRC product through Solstice Finance, a vault that splits income from Strategy’s preferred stock into a lower-risk senior token and a higher-risk junior token. Strategy also sold 1,690 bitcoin, raising $653 million from MSTR shares, and increased its USD reserve to $4.65 billion while cutting its bitcoin holdings to 840,447 BTC. In a security incident, crypto exchange Coinsbuy lost $8 million in a coordinated two-blockchain attack, with onchain forensics tying a single actor to the drain across TRON and Ethereum; most funds were routed through FixedFloat, and the attack vector remains unknown. Meanwhile, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said it will regulate tokenized gold to preserve London’s position as the top hub for bullion, adding that it will “have more to say on” its approach to tokenization as it draws up rules for putting assets on the blockchain.
Bitcoin’s BIP-110 episode is being described as free-market capitalism in its purest form, according to a day-ahead look for Aug. 10, 2026. Prices steadied above $65,000 as reports of a potential Iran-Oman deal eased concerns about the Strait of Hormuz and lifted risk assets; BTC rose to $65,209, and Nasdaq 100 index futures gained 0.45% on the news. Volatility is in meltdown, but downside protection still commands a premium: the BVIV volatility index hit its lowest level since 2025 as option demand collapsed, while overwriting surged and downside protection remained expensive. On the CME, a rare shift is underway as hedge funds abandon structural shorts to bet on a bitcoin rally, with CME leveraged funds turning net long as weak futures yields undermine the once-popular basis trade.
In other announcements, CertiK’s H1 2026 Wrench Attacks Report found $124 million in losses as physical coercion attacks surged 33%. WOO X signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Payward Services, and CoinW named UFC icon Conor McGregor as global brand ambassador. In market data, the CD20 index fell 1.38% to 1,742.42, with bitcoin down 1.25% at $64,095.46, ether down 1.92% at $1,878.04, XRP down 2.35% at $1.00, and Solana down 1.02% at $75.71.