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South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has finalized its 2026 tax revision plan without including a deferral of virtual asset taxation, The Asia Business Daily reported. Under the current Income Tax Act, income from virtual asset trading exceeding 2.5 million won ($1,800) a year is taxed at 20% on the excess amount, or 22% including local income tax. If the revision plan is finalized after parliamentary deliberation, taxation on capital gains from virtual assets will formally take effect in January 2027. The first filing and payment will take place in May 2028. The tax framework is already in place, and under the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, or CARF, South Korea is set to secure overseas virtual asset trading databases from the tax authorities of 48 countries, including Japan, Germany and France, starting next year, which could substantially reduce tax gray areas.

A code flaw in Bitcoin hardware wallet maker Coldcard has led to the theft of about 1,367 BTC, and a fourth attack is now underway that could push cumulative losses to 1,816 BTC, or $114 million, CoinDesk reported. Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn explained the hacker is using replace-by-fee, allowing the attacker to pay a higher fee and move the funds first if victims confirm unconfirmed transactions. Earlier, Coldcard had already suffered thefts of more than 1,359.88 BTC tied to a random number generation flaw, while some devices were also reported to have been bricked by an emergency firmware release.

Ripple has made strategic investments in ZILO and Licuido, The Block reported. Through the deals, the company plans to bring compliance-focused transfer agency services, along with asset issuance and collateral movement functions, to the XRP Ledger.

South Korean exchange Bithumb announced the suspension of SEI deposits and withdrawals starting at 9:00 a.m. UTC on Aug. 4 to support the Sei network upgrade.

Bernstein said the U.S. SEC and CFTC are likely to move faster to establish cryptocurrency rules if the chances of passing the CLARITY Act this year fade, The Block reported. Bernstein said regulators, through Project Crypto, will draw up guidelines on token classification standards, DeFi, self-custody and innovation exemptions. The initiative is being pushed by President Donald Trump in line with a policy goal of making the U.S. the global hub for cryptocurrency.

About 14.9 trillion won ($10.8 billion) in stablecoins was net withdrawn to overseas exchanges from South Korean won-market exchanges over the past 18 months, Digital Asset reported, citing data from the office of People Power Party lawmaker Lee Jong-wook. The data showed that about 14.9245 trillion won was net transferred abroad from South Korean exchanges Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax between January 2025 and June 2026. Net withdrawals refer to the amount withdrawn minus deposits, indicating the volume of stablecoins that actually left for overseas exchanges. By exchange, Upbit accounted for 9.0914 trillion won ($6.6 billion), followed by Bithumb at 2.6502 trillion won ($1.9 billion), Coinone at 2.5662 trillion won ($1.9 billion), Korbit at 604.2 billion won ($437.4 million) and Gopax at 12.5 billion won ($9.1 million). The largest monthly net outflow was recorded in February 2025 at about 1.2049 trillion won ($872.7 million).

A CoinNess analysis found Bitcoin’s share of unrealized losses has recently fallen below 40%, moving under the deep-stress zone. CryptoQuant contributor Zizcrypto said the volume of underwater holdings remains elevated, but the share of unrealized losses is now below the 40% stress threshold, indicating on this metric alone that the market has not entered a capitulation phase.

Bithumb targets IPO by 2028 South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb announced it is pursuing an initial public offering with a target completion date of 2028. Bithumb said it plans to strengthen internal controls and adopt K-IFRS accounting standards this year, then file for a preliminary listing review and proceed with the screening process next year.

Four addresses withdrew a total of $5.22 million worth of KAITO from Coinbase and Binance over the past 24 hours, according to ai_9684xtpa. Exchange withdrawals are generally interpreted as a sign of holding intent.

Smarter Web Company, a London Stock Exchange-listed firm that is strategically accumulating Bitcoin, has purchased an additional 11.89 BTC. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the company now holds a total of 2,712 BTC, ranking 28th among public companies holding the cryptocurrency.

Crypto fundraising reached $2.235 billion in July, up 148.9% from $889 million in June, according to RootData. A total of 46 funding deals were recorded during the month. By sector, centralized finance, or CeFi, drew the most capital with nine deals worth $1.23 billion, followed by infrastructure with 12 deals totaling $413 million. DeFi logged 11 deals, but the total amount raised was limited to $34.25 million.

Arthur Hayes bought 6 million ENA worth $525,000 at an average price of $0.09, according to Lookonchain.

South Korea’s Government Public Ethics Committee approved the employment of retired officials from the National Police Agency and the National Tax Service at Bithumb affiliates facing trading suspensions and delisting risks, Yonhap News Agency reported. According to the committee’s July review results for retired public officials released on Aug. 3, Bucket Studio hired a former police lieutenant-level officer who left the National Police Agency in June last year as a full-time auditor in June. Vidente, an affiliate of Bucket Studio, also plans to hire a former grade-four National Tax Service official who retired in June 2024 as an auditor after the official was deemed eligible for employment in the review. After conducting the review on July 24, the committee concluded that the two officials’ new roles were not closely related to the duties they handled during the five years before retirement and approved the hires. Bucket Studio and Vidente, both KOSDAQ-listed companies, are affiliates of crypto exchange Bithumb.

The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 47.71% long, 52.29% short - Binance: 49.44% long, 50.56% short - OKX: 45.71% long, 54.29% short - Bybit: 47.14% long, 52.86% short

Four of the eight Chart Masters affiliated with CoinNess projected a decline in Bitcoin this week, while the other four forecast gains. Their price targets ranged from a low of $58,500 to a high of $70,000. Note: Vote through the link for the price direction and target most aligned with your own view. We will give coffee coupons to 100 selected participants through a drawing.

A Reddit user in a Bitcoin-focused community claimed Anthropic’s AI model Claude identified the Coldcard code vulnerability tied to the theft of about 1,367 BTC in roughly eight minutes. Using the ID Impressive-Gene-421, the user said in the subreddit that Claude Code was simply asked to check for vulnerabilities and, after about eight minutes of reasoning, identified the critical flaw behind the hack. The user added it was hard to believe someone using AI could steal about $100 million worth of BTC simply because no one had properly reviewed the source code. Meanwhile, the attacker behind the Coldcard vulnerability had carried out a fourth attack targeting hardware wallet users as of this morning, bringing cumulative losses to 1,367 BTC, or about $86 million.

SBI Holdings said weakness across the cryptocurrency market, including XRP, reflects investor caution as the market waits for progress on the U.S. CLARITY Act, according to The Crypto Basic. At a recent earnings presentation, SBI Holdings Director Yasuo Nishikawa said investors were watching how the U.S. bill would proceed, leaving both the broader crypto market and XRP prices subdued, while confidence in XRP remained unchanged. SBI holds 6.6 trillion yen ($42.2 billion) worth of XRP. Despite the market downturn, Nishikawa also said the company’s crypto market-making business remained profitable and that SBI was continuing to expand the business, including by pursuing the acquisition of Japanese exchange Bitbank.

CoinDesk analysis suggests Trump Media may now hold only the Bitcoin pledged as collateral for its convertible notes, amid estimates that the company may have sold 2,628 BTC worth $165 million. Trump Media currently holds 4,261 BTC worth $268 million, according to the report. CoinDesk noted that amount is nearly identical to the 4,260.73 BTC the company said it had posted as collateral for first-quarter convertible notes. Trump Media bought a total of 11,542 BTC last year at an average price of $118,522, for $1.37 billion at the time, but later transferred out 7,281 BTC. Lookonchain had previously estimated that Trump Media sold its holdings at an average price of $74,855, realizing a loss of about $318 million. CoinDesk added that whether a sale took place is expected to be confirmed through the company’s second-quarter filing. Trump Media has meanwhile said the 2,628 BTC deposited to Crypto.com had not been sold.

Upbit announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for BERA on Aug. 5 at 11:00 a.m. UTC.

Anonymous investors are seeking to take control of Nasdaq-listed Chinese company Zhibao Technology (ZBAO) through a private investment in public equity deal valued at $154.7 million, payable in 2,380 BTC, CryptoSlate reported. If completed, the deal would allocate 44.2 million units, each consisting of one common share and one warrant with a two-year maturity, to 10 investment firms that would each pay 238 BTC. The investors would then gain the right to appoint four of the company’s five directors and install a new CEO and CFO. The BTC price for the transaction was fixed at $65,000 as of July 30, and the companies aim to close the deal within 12 business days of July 31.

The spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) chart analyzes the order book for the BTC/USDT spot pair. The top section shows the Volume Heatmap, while the bottom displays the CVD. - The Volume Heatmap at the top tracks the volume of trades at specific price levels. The background color brightens when the price remains in a particular range for an extended period or moves significantly. These brighter areas may act as potential support or resistance levels. - The CVD indicator at the bottom represents buy and sell orders categorized by trade size. As buy orders increase, the corresponding colored line rises. This includes the yellow line for orders between $100 and $1,000 and the brown line for large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

A miner using the Solo CK mining pool has successfully mined a Bitcoin block independently, earning a reward of 3.157 BTC, according to data from Mempool.space. The block, with height 960,804, was mined approximately two hours ago. Based on the current price on the South Korean exchange Upbit, the reward is valued at 283.86 million won (approximately $205,000).

Bitcoin's price volatility is now lower than that of the South Korean stock market, BeInCrypto reported on Aug. 3, citing Bloomberg data. The publication noted that this year, the standard deviation of daily fluctuations for the KOSPI index has been 63%, while Bitcoin's has been only 48%. This metric measures how much daily returns deviate from their average, indicating the degree of market turbulence. BeInCrypto added that this lower volatility for Bitcoin stems from its steady downtrend since reaching an all-time high in October of last year, with its price down approximately 29% year-to-date.

Concerns over extreme downside risk in the Bitcoin options market are gradually easing, according to crypto options trading platform BIT (formerly Matrixport). The platform noted that while the negative spread of the option skew—the difference in implied volatility between call and put options—has widened again, this could be part of a trend toward forming a higher low. However, a rebound is contingent on Bitcoin maintaining the $62,000 support level. BIT suggested that current market participants hold relatively small positions, which should limit further selling pressure. The trend in the options market this week will be critical, as a narrowing of the negative option skew could revive Bitcoin's upward momentum. Geopolitical risks and rising U.S. Treasury yields remain the primary macroeconomic risks, BIT added.

The Viction Foundation (VIC) has clarified that its network operations and development roadmap remain unchanged despite Binance's decision to delist the token. In a statement on X, the foundation explained that its mainnet has been operating for eight years and network upgrades are proceeding as scheduled. It added that it continues to cooperate with existing exchange partners and will secure additional listings to enhance liquidity and reduce its dependence on any single exchange. Binance previously announced it would delist VIC along with five other cryptocurrencies. Following the announcement, VIC initially fell by about 27.5% and is currently trading at $0.0273, down approximately 20.87%.