Top Stories of The Week

SEC Chair Aktins calls to ‘reshore crypto’ as companies move back to the US

Crypto companies are beginning to return to the United States as top officials signal a shift toward friendlier regulation and domestic growth.

In a Thursday speech at the America First Policy Institute, SEC Chair Paul Atkins called on the country to “reshore the crypto businesses that fled,” reinforcing a broader effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to position the US as a global hub for digital assets.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the US has entered the “golden age of crypto” and issued a direct call to builders: “Start your companies here. Launch your protocols here. And hire your workers here.”

Backed by clearer regulations and high-level political support, crypto companies are beginning to respond, with some relocating operations to the US from abroad, and others, like Kraken and MoonPay, expanding their domestic footprint in response to the policy shift.

US SEC rolls out ‘Project Crypto’ to rewrite rules for digital assets

US SEC Chair Paul Atkins has announced “Project Crypto,” an initiative to modernize the agency for the digital finance age and establish clear regulations for digital assets in the United States.

Atkins said Project Crypto was in direct response to recommendations in a recent report by the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets.

Atkins proposed easing licensing rules to allow for multiple asset classes or instruments to be offered by brokerages under a single license, while also creating a clear market structure separating commodities, which most cryptocurrencies fall under, from securities.

Regulatory exemptions or grace periods should be afforded to early-stage crypto projects, initial coin offerings, and decentralized software to allow these projects enough room to innovate, without crushing them under the weight of litigation or fear of reprisal by the SEC, Atkins said.

99% of CFOs plan to use crypto long term, 23% within two years: Deloitte

Cryptocurrency is becoming a financial planning priority, with 99% of chief financial officers at billion-dollar firms expecting to use it for business in the long term, according to Deloitte’s Q2 2025 survey of CFOs.

The survey, conducted among 200 CFOs at companies with over $1 billion in revenue, revealed that 23% expect their treasury departments to use crypto for investments or payments within the next two years. This figure climbs to almost 40% among CFOs at firms with revenue of more than $10 billion.

Despite the momentum, finance chiefs remain cautious. Concerns about price volatility top the list, with 43% of respondents citing it as a primary barrier to adopting non-stable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.

Other major concerns include accounting complexity (42%) and regulatory uncertainty (40%), the latter of which has been compounded by shifting US policy.

UK regulator lifts ban on crypto ETNs for retail investors

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has lifted the ban on retail access to cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (cETNs).

Companies in the UK will soon be able to offer retail consumers cETNs, with regulatory changes effective Oct. 8, according to an FCA announcement on Friday.

The new development in the UK’s regulatory approach on crypto comes after the FCA banned crypto ETNs in January 2021, citing the extreme volatility of crypto assets and a “lack of legitimate investment need” for retail consumers.

“Since we restricted retail access to cETNs, the market has evolved, and products have become more mainstream and better understood,” David Geale, FCA executive director of payments and digital finance, said in the announcement.

CoinDCX employee arrested in connection with $44M crypto hack: Report

An employee of CoinDCX, a cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked for $44 million in mid-July, was arrested in India in connection with a security breach, according to multiple local reports.

Bengaluru City police detained CoinDCX software engineer Rahul Agarwal after hackers allegedly managed to compromise his login credentials to siphon the exchange’s assets, The Times of India reported on Thursday.

The arrest followed a complaint and internal investigation by CoinDCX operator Neblio Technologies, which determined that Agarwal’s credentials had been compromised via his work laptop, allowing unauthorized access to the company’s servers.

During questioning as his laptop was seized, Agarwal, 30, denied involvement in the crypto theft, but admitted to taking on part-time work for up to four private clients while still employed at CoinDCX.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $113,936, Ether (ETH) at $3,527 and XRP at $3.01. The total market cap is at $3.71 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Four (FORM) at 12.96%, Toncoin (TON) at 11.49% and Story (IP) at 10.00%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) at 30.55%, Bonk (BONK) at 28.08% and Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) at 23.03%. For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Memorable Quotations

Ted Pillows, crypto investor and entrepreneur:

“I think BTC could break above this level next month which will start the next leg up.”

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates:

“[If] you were optimizing your portfolio for the best return-to-risk ratio, you would have about 15% of your money in gold or Bitcoin.”

The DeFi investor, crypto analyst:

“Stablecoins are the product that can onboard the first billion people on-chain.”

Standard Chartered Bank:

“We think they [Ether treasury firms] may eventually end up owning 10% of all ETH, a 10x increase from current holdings.”

Phong Le, president and CEO of Strategy:

”We’re capitalized on the most innovative technology and asset in the history of mankind, on the other hand, we’re possibly the most misunderstood and undervalued stock in the US and potentially the world.”

Joe Lubin, CEO of Consensys and chairman of SharpLink Gaming:

“We believe that we’ll be able to accumulate more Ether — per fully diluted share — much faster than any other Ethereum-based project, or certainly faster than the Bitcoin-based projects.”

Top Prediction of The Week

XRP’s ‘bullish divergence’ raises 20% price rally potential in August

XRP may be gearing up for a short-term rebound, with signs pointing to a potential 20% price jump by the end of August.

On its four-hour candle chart, XRP shows a bullish divergence, a common signal often hinting at a potential trend reversal. 

In this case, XRP’s price has been making lower lows, while the relative strength index, a momentum indicator, is making higher lows. Such a disconnect suggests that the recent selling pressure has been losing strength.

Top FUD of The Week

Crypto hacks top $142M in July, with CoinDCX leading losses

Bad actors and scammers stole at least $142 million from the crypto space in July across 17 separate attacks, with the exploit of crypto exchange CoinDCX accounting for the most significant loss. 

The total monthly losses represented a 27% increase from the $111 million in June, blockchain security firm PeckShield said in an X post on Friday.  

However, it’s still a 46% drop from the same time last year, when July 2024 saw $266 million taken by hackers, with the $230 million breach of Indian crypto exchange WazirX accounting for the lion’s share at the time.

Tornado Cash co-founder faces jury after closing arguments wrap

Jurors will now decide the fate of Roman Storm, co-founder of cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, after prosecutors and the defense delivered closing arguments on Wednesday.

The closing arguments phase of a trial is when both sides summarize a case before a judge or jury, making their cases and trying one last time to persuade before the fact-finder goes off to deliberate.

Storm is standing trial in the Southern District of New York in a case that could set a precedent for how much responsibility developers have for decentralized software that is used illegally.

US prosecutors allege that Storm conspired to launder money, violated US sanctions and operated an unlicensed money-transmitting business. If convicted, Storm could face up to 40 years in prison.

Indonesia raises taxes on crypto exchange sales and miners

The Indonesian government updated its tax policies for the crypto industry, raising levies on traders and miners while removing value-added tax obligations for buyers.

On Monday, Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance issued multiple regulatory updates, including regulations No. 50/2025 and No. 53/2025, which amend crypto tax rates and compliance requirements effective Aug. 1.

According to Reuters, the new framework has increased the income tax on crypto asset sales made on domestic exchanges from 0.1% to 0.21%.

The new taxes are significantly higher for crypto sales made on foreign crypto exchanges, up from the current 0.2% to 1%, the report noted.

Top Magazine Stories of The Week

Ethereum’s roadmap to 10,000 TPS using ZK tech: Dummies’ guide

Everything you need to know about how zkEVMs and real time proving will scale Ethereum up to the needs of the entire world.

China mocks US crypto policies, Telegram’s new dark markets: Asia Express

China’s half-hour TV special lashes US crypto dysfunction, Huione shares infrastructure with rising Telegram dark market, and more.

Training AI to secretly love owls… or Hitler. Meta + AI porn? AI Eye

Researchers discovered AIs can encode secret messages in random numbers that make other AIs love owls … or possibly Hitler. Plus other weird AI news.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/xrp-eyes-20-surge-in-august-crypto-returns-to-us-hodlers-digest-july-27-aug-2/feed/ 0 51175 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sec-takes-crypto-roundtables-nationwide-opens-with-aug-4-stop-in-berkeley/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sec-takes-crypto-roundtables-nationwide-opens-with-aug-4-stop-in-berkeley/#respond Sat, 02 Aug 2025 11:41:22 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/sec-takes-crypto-roundtables-nationwide-opens-with-aug-4-stop-in-berkeley/

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will expand its series of crypto roundtables and take its crypto policy outreach on the road beginning Aug. 4 in Berkeley, California.

According to an Aug. 1 statement, the tour is meant to give founders and developers, especially teams with 10 or fewer employees and less than two years old, face time with the Commission outside Washington, D.C. 

Crypto Task Force lead Hester Peirce stated the agency wants to hear from stakeholders who could not attend prior sessions, adding:

“The Crypto Task Force is acutely aware that any regulatory framework will have far-reaching effects, and we want to ensure that our outreach is as comprehensive as possible.”

Teams can request a slot by emailing [email protected] with the subject line “Crypto on the Road,” naming the city of interest and including one or two attendee names along with a brief description of the project and team. 

To promote transparency, the Task Force plans to publish a list of participating projects.

The new “Crypto on the Road” schedule runs through December. The Task Force plans to visit Berkeley on Aug. 4, Boston on Aug. 19, Dallas on Sept. 4, Chicago on Sept. 15, New York City on Sept. 25, Irvine on Oct. 3, Cleveland on Oct. 24, Scottsdale on Oct. 29, New York City again on Nov. 12, and Ann Arbor on Dec. 5. 

Dates are tentative and may shift as logistics are finalized.

Expanding efforts

The roadshow builds on the SEC’s spring engagement with industry players. The Commission held its first Crypto Task Force roundtable on March 21 in Washington.

Panelists ranging from advocates to skeptics concurred that there is a pressing need for regulatory clarity for digital assets, despite the diverging opinions on how to establish it.

Much of the debate centered on token classification and whether existing securities laws adequately address decentralized systems. 

Advocates pointed to decentralization as a key gauge for determining when a token should fall outside securities laws. At the same time, skeptics argued the Howey test remains workable, noting the SEC’s track record in recent motions. 

Following the first roundtable, the SEC decided to host four additional events, ranging from regulation clarity to decentralized finance’s role in US innovation.

By moving conversations into local hubs, the Commission is seeking a wider sample of real-world experience, from smart contract developers and tokenization teams to early-stage consumer apps, before it advances proposals that could define how crypto fits under federal securities law.

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