Good Morning Bitcoin, 26 August
Today's Snapshot
- Bitcoin reclaims $80,000 for the first time since May
- Standard Chartered becomes first bank to distribute Hong Kong's regulated HKD stablecoin
- Fasset hits $1B valuation on $68M SBI round
Bitcoin Reclaims $80,000 as $2.2B in ETF Inflows Flush Out the Shorts
The news
Bitcoin crossed $80,000 on August 25 for the first time since May 2026. This capped a 22% rally in just one week.
Over $2.2 billion flowed into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs between August 17 and August 25. BlackRock's IBIT set a three-month single-day record on August 22, pulling in $503 million.
Traders saw more than $7 billion in shorts liquidated across the crypto market in those seven days. That's a lot of pain for anyone betting against Bitcoin.
Three things fueled the surge: a weaker U.S. dollar narrative, a rush of institutional money into regulated Bitcoin products, and a wave of short liquidations. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index hit 83 on August 25, which lands deep in the extreme greed zone.
Ethereum added 28.6% for the week, landing at $2,460. Solana gained 26.8% to $97.93. Still, Bitcoin led the way.
Cumulative U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have now reached around $52 billion since January 2024.
What's next?
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole address and a possible September Senate vote on the CLARITY Act are the next things to watch. Will $80,000 hold as a new floor? That depends on whether institutional demand sticks around or if ETF flows were just front-loaded before a big macro event.
The Takeaway
Regulated Bitcoin infrastructure is the on-ramp. BSV's unbounded chain is the destination.
A $2.2 billion ETF inflow is not retail. That's fund managers and corporate treasuries making a structural bet that Bitcoin rails matter.
BTC gets the price action and the ETF wrapping. But it can't scale to handle enterprise data, micropayments or on-chain business logic at real-world volume.
Every billion-dollar ETF inflow backs the original-protocol thesis that BSV stands for: a public, transparent, compliant ledger with no protocol ceiling.
As institutions get comfortable with Bitcoin through regulated wrappers, the next question is what the chain can actually do at scale. BSV's Teranode architecture, which processes over a million transactions per second at sub-cent fees, answers that.
Standard Chartered Becomes the First Bank to Distribute a Regulated HKD Stablecoin
The news
Standard Chartered announced on August 24 that it's the first traditional bank to distribute HKDAP, the Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin from Anchorpoint Financial. Anchorpoint, backed by Standard Chartered, HKT and Animoca Brands, holds stablecoin licence FRS01 under Hong Kong's new rules.
The stablecoin started a phased institutional rollout on August 12 and is now live on Ethereum Mainnet.
OSL Group and HashKey Exchange are among the first approved distributors. Standard Chartered's role means an institution with assets in over 60 markets now acts as a live node in a regulated stablecoin network.
The bank plans to add tokenized money market fund settlement in Q4 2026. Anchorpoint wants to expand to retail by late 2026.
What's next?
The Q4 tokenized money market fund use case is the one to watch. If a global bank can settle fund transactions on-chain via a regulated stablecoin in Hong Kong, expect that model to spread to Singapore, the UAE and the EU within months.
Standard Chartered has the balance sheet and the license to move quickly.
The Takeaway
Banks distributing regulated stablecoins prove the on-chain settlement model works. BSV's compliance-ready public chain is built for exactly this volume.
Standard Chartered's move shows that traditional finance is past pilots and into live distribution of regulated digital money.
The current setup is on Ethereum, but the choice of settlement layer isn't final as volumes grow. BSV's fixed protocol, unlimited throughput, sub-cent fees and regulatory focus position it as the natural home for institutional-grade on-chain settlement.
Ethereum's gas costs and limits will become problems at scale. The HKDAP model is the blueprint. The race to settle at scale is just getting started.
Fasset Hits $1B Valuation With $68M SBI-Led Round as Stablecoin Neobanking Goes Global
The news
Fasset, an AI-powered stablecoin neobank, raised $68 million in a Series C led by Japan's SBI Group on August 24. That brings Fasset's valuation to $1 billion.
The company now processes more than $40 billion in annualized transaction volume. It serves 3 million wallets and over 1,000 enterprises across 125 countries.
Fasset's Own Network connects banks, payment providers and liquidity providers across more than 100 banking corridors. The new capital will go toward expanding cross-border stablecoin infrastructure and AI-enabled corridor banking.
This round came just 90 days after a $51 million Series B, bringing total funding to over $150 million. SBI Group's lead is notable: SBI is one of Japan's largest financial groups and a consistent BSV supporter.
What's next?
Fasset's next step is expansion into tokenized assets and AI-powered stablecoin settlement. With $40 billion in annualized volume across 125 countries, Fasset is building the corridor infrastructure that a scalable public blockchain could one day settle natively.
The Takeaway
$40B in stablecoin corridors is the market BSV was built to serve. The settlement layer is the prize.
Fasset's scale - 3 million wallets, 1,000 enterprises, 125 countries - matches the volume where BSV's transaction economics shine.
Proprietary stablecoin rails come with hidden costs: liquidity fragmentation, counterparty risk and compliance headaches per corridor. One high-throughput public chain with predictable sub-cent fees and a fixed protocol clears that stack.
SBI's continued investment in stablecoin infrastructure, alongside its BSV support, reflects a view that the two work together: stablecoins as the asset layer, BSV as the settlement layer underneath.
What to Watch
- Illinois sues over digital asset tax: The Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association just filed a lawsuit against Illinois about the new 0.2% digital asset tax. This case could set a big precedent for how states handle tax on on-chain activity. If the plaintiffs win, it'll boost the argument that public blockchain transactions should get the same treatment as other financial instruments. That would be a clear positive for BSV's enterprise adoption.
- Strive adds 1,110 BTC at $73,409 average: Strive Asset Management picked up 1,110 BTC for $81.5 million. Their average buy price was $73,409, which shows how institutions are still buying BTC as a reserve asset. Corporate Bitcoin treasury moves like this really validate the bigger Bitcoin story and pull more institutional players into the blockchain ecosystem. That's good for BSV too.
- $7 billion in shorts liquidated in a week: Over $7 billion in leveraged short positions got wiped out across crypto this week. When the dust settles, the real demand comes from institutions and ETFs. That's exactly the kind of structural support BSV's enterprise thesis needs to see stick around.
Until tomorrow, keep building on the original protocol.