August 2: Trump Calls Off Iran Strikes — BTC Reclaims $63K Over the Weekend, Alts Rally With ADA Up 9%, Morgan Stanley Staking ETF + Fidelity's 260K ETH Move Ignite the ETH Story, BTC ETFs Bleed $265.4M While ETH Snaps Up $9.03M, Coldcard's Third Wave Nears $89M Stolen, BitMEX to Shut Down
BTC reclaimed $63K over the weekend on the back of war de-escalation: after sliding to an 18-day low near $62,100-$62,200 on Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social he was calling off planned strikes on Iran — a deal framework including an immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — and BTC bounced ~$1,500 to ~$63,500 by Sunday morning, lifting total market cap ~$40B to ~$2.25T. Altcoins rallied broadly, with Cardano up 9% to $0.185. Ethereum's institutional side came alive: Morgan Stanley's MSSE staking ETF (0.14% fee) is live, and Fidelity-linked wallets moved 260K ETH (~$500M) into custody addresses. ETF flows diverged — BTC ETFs bled $265.4M while ETH ETFs added $9.03M. Coldcard was hit by a third wave of attacks, with cumulative theft nearing $89M. BitMEX announced it will shut down Sept 23. 24h liquidations hit ~$257M, ETH longs taking the brunt ($68.86M).
August 2 Crypto Market Highlights
| Event | Key Points |
|---|---|
| 🕊️ Trump Calls Off Iran Strikes | US military "locked and loaded" but Iran requested a pause — new deal includes "full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz" — Israel on board |
| 📈 BTC Recovers $63K Over the Weekend | Fell to an 18-day low near $62,100 on Saturday — rebounded ~$1,500 to ~$63,500 Sunday morning |
| 🚀 Altcoins Rally Broadly | ADA leads with ~9% to $0.185 — XLM/DOT/AVAX/NEAR/PEPE/WLD up to 4% — total market cap +$40B |
| 🏦 Ethereum Institutional Undercurrent | Morgan Stanley's MSSE staking ETF launches (0.14% fee) — Fidelity-linked wallets move 260K ETH (~$500M) to custody |
| 📉 ETF Flows Diverge | BTC ETFs bleed $265.4M — ETH ETFs snap up $9.03M — IBIT still holds 739,066 BTC |
| 🛡️ Coldcard Hit by Three Attack Waves | ~$89M stolen (1,367 BTC, 4,585 addresses) — traced to a 2021 firmware flaw |
| 💥 $257M Liquidated in 24 Hours | 66.5% longs — ETH longs hit hardest ($68.86M) — largest single print: Binance ETHUSDT $9.21M |
| 🏛️ BitMEX to Shut Down in September | Perp-swap pioneer closes Sept 23 — Hyperliquid×Coinbase puts USDC front and center |
| 🇰🇷 Korea's Stablecoin Exodus Hits 18 Months | June net outflow of 560.3B won (~$367M) — KRW stablecoin race heats up |
1. 🕊️ Core Story: Trump Calls Off Iran Strikes — BTC Reclaims $63K
The crypto market endured a brief scare on Saturday evening (August 1): as new US strike plans against Iran surfaced, BTC slid to an 18-day low near $62,100–$62,200. Hours later the narrative flipped — Trump announced on Truth Social that he was calling off the planned military strikes, the latest twist in the US-Iran saga we tracked in our August 1 news review.
| Key Developments | Details |
|---|---|
| Trump's statement | US military remains "locked and loaded" — but Iran and regional nations requested a pause — shift to negotiations |
| Deal framework | A new agreement would include "immediate, complete and total opening of the Strait of Hormuz" plus "an end to Iran's nuclear threat" |
| Israel's position | Israel joined the commitment |
| Market reaction | BTC rebounded ~$1,500 to ~$63,500 Sunday morning — reclaiming the prior day's losses |
| Market cap | BTC back to $1.270T — dominance below 57% |
| Total market cap | Crypto market cap up ~$40B to ~$2.25T |
Analysts caution that thin weekend liquidity amplified the move, and the full impact of the de-escalation will likely only show on Monday's (August 3) open. Bloomberg's crypto desk lists the Iran situation among this week's key variables for risk assets.1
2. 🚀 Altcoins Rally Broadly — ADA Leads With 9%
The return of risk appetite on the de-escalation news delivered a long-overdue bounce to altcoins. Cardano (ADA) led the way with a ~9% surge back to $0.185.
| Coin | Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ADA (Cardano) | ~+9% | To $0.185 — top performer |
| XRP | Modest gain | Holding $1.05 support |
| SOL (Solana) | ~+1% | Weekend bounce |
| ETH | Modest gain | Following the market recovery |
| XLM/DOT/AVAX/NEAR/PEPE/WLD | Up to +4% | Most altcoins turned green |
Morning data confirmed the broad rally: ADA +6.81%, AVAX +6.53%, LINK +4.04%, XLM +3.18%, SUI +2.25%. That said, South Korea still showed a -0.62% reverse Kimchi premium, a sign local retail sentiment has yet to fully thaw.
One caveat: this altcoin rally rests on a single catalyst — the war de-escalation. If geopolitics flare up again on Monday, high-beta alts tend to give back more than BTC.2
3. 🏦 Ethereum's Institutional Undercurrent — Morgan Stanley's Staking ETF + Fidelity's 260K ETH Move
ETH's price action was muted (around $1,875, +1.7%), but on-chain and institutional activity told a busier story.
Morgan Stanley's staking ETF hits the market
Morgan Stanley's Ethereum Trust (MSSE) began trading on NYSE Arca on July 28 with a 0.14% expense ratio — the lowest in its class, undercutting Grayscale's Mini Ethereum Trust (0.15%) and BlackRock's ETHB (0.25%). Its headline feature is staking: the fund intends to stake 50%–80% of its ETH, targeting a base yield of ~1.7%, with 95% of staking rewards flowing to shareholders on a monthly basis — mechanics detailed in Ethereum's official staking docs.
| MSSE Key Parameters | Data |
|---|---|
| Listing date | July 28, 2026 (NYSE Arca) |
| Fee | 0.14% — lowest in class |
| Staking ratio | 50%–80% of ETH |
| Revenue split | 95% of staking rewards to shareholders — monthly distribution |
| First-day trading | Opened ~$20/share — 933,700 shares — $5.15M net inflows |
| Custody | Coinbase + BNY Mellon |
Fidelity's 260K ETH shuffle
On-chain tracker Onchain Lens found that on August 1, Fidelity-linked wallets moved 260,000 ETH (~$499.55M) to three fresh addresses (95K + 87K + 78K ETH), all initially funded by Fidelity about six months ago. Crucially, none of the funds hit an exchange deposit address — analysts read this as "custody rebalancing / internal wallet housekeeping" rather than a distribution intent.
Around the same time, a Bitmine-linked wallet bought 10,460 ETH (~$19.48M) via FalconX, and ETH exchange net outflows extended to six straight days — institutions accumulating at these levels rather than distributing.3
4. 📉 ETF Flows Diverge: BTC Bleeds $265.4M, ETH Snaps Up Inflows
ETF flows for July 31 (reported August 1) showed a sharp divergence: spot BTC ETFs saw net outflows of $265.4M while spot ETH ETFs posted net inflows of $9.03M.
| ETF Flows (July 31) | Data |
|---|---|
| BTC ETFs total | -$265.4M — reversing the prior day's +$233.1M |
| IBIT (BlackRock) | -$122.7M — largest outflow |
| FBTC (Fidelity) | -$54.8M (~870 BTC) |
| GBTC (Grayscale) | -$52.63M |
| BITB / ARKB | -$17.77M / -$17.54M |
| ETH ETFs total | +$9.03M — ETHA +$15.38M, with ETHW/ETH/FETH slight outflows |
Notably, even as IBIT led outflows, its net assets remain high at $46.52B with a 739,066 BTC position. The combination of ETF outflows with a recovering price suggests selling pressure is coming from leveraged and speculative books rather than holders.
Combined with the MSSE staking ETF and Fidelity's custody rebalancing, institutional attention appears to be shifting from BTC ETFs toward the Ethereum track — ETH ETFs absorbed inflows even as BTC ETFs logged a third consecutive quarter of net outflows. That's a structural shift worth watching.4
5. 🛡️ Coldcard Hit by Three Attack Waves — Nearly $89M Stolen
The security story of the week continues to grow: a targeted attack on Coldcard hardware wallets has drained 1,367 BTC ($89M) across 4,585 Bitcoin addresses. Galaxy Research calls it one of the largest hardware-wallet losses on record from a flawed random-number generator.
| Coldcard Attack Timeline | Data |
|---|---|
| Root cause | March 2021 Mk3 firmware v4.0.1 flaw — seed generation bypassed the hardware TRNG |
| Wave 1 (July 30) | 1,083 BTC — 1,196 addresses — in just 41 minutes |
| Wave 2 | Continued sweeping remaining weak addresses |
| Wave 3 (early Sunday) | 208 BTC — 1,912 addresses — shifted to unique destination addresses to evade tracking |
| Coinkite disclosure | Flaw made public July 31 — emergency updates issued for Mk4/Mk5/Q |
Key warning: updating the firmware does not save an already-compromised wallet — as long as the private key derives from a weak-entropy seed, it stays exposed. Coinkite advises affected users to generate a brand-new seed phrase with secure randomness, migrate all funds, and add a strong BIP-39 passphrase as extra protection. The Bitcoin protocol itself was not broken — the failure was in the process that created the secrets. For deeper on-chain research, see Messari's research portal.5
6. 📜 Industry Moves
BitMEX to shut down in September
BitMEX, the pioneer of perpetual swaps, announced it will shut down on September 23 — a platform that once held 57% of the global derivatives market. BitMart also announced closure, signaling consolidation, while Hyperliquid now carries 57%+ of on-chain perp open interest (~$9.5B).
Hyperliquid × Coinbase partnership
On August 1, Hyperliquid announced a partnership with Coinbase to make USDC its canonical stablecoin, replacing its native USDH. As part of the deal, Circle staked 500,000 HYPE tokens. It marks USDC's further push into the perp-swap arena.
Korea: 18 months of stablecoin outflows + KRW stablecoin race
South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service data shows 18 consecutive months of net stablecoin outflows from the country's five major exchanges, with June's net outflow at 560.3B won (~$367M) as capital flows to offshore derivatives, RWA, and DeFi products. Meanwhile, the KRW stablecoin race is heating up: Naver is pursuing a comprehensive stock swap with Upbit's parent Dunamu (Hana Bank taking a 6.55% stake), while Kakao is assembling a consortium with major commercial banks and signed an MOU with Circle.6
7. ⚠️ Risk Checklist
- Geopolitics can re-flare: the strike cancellation is conditional on "rapidly making a deal" — a breakdown would bring risk-off back quickly
- Hawkish Fed overhang: July FOMC held at 3.50%–3.75%, and CME FedWatch shows >80% odds of a September hike
- BTC ETF outflows: $265.4M left on July 31 — institutional flows are mixed
- Cold-wallet security: the Coldcard attack is still spreading — self-custody users should check their wallet's originating firmware
- Weekend liquidity trap: the bounce rests on thin liquidity — Monday's open could go either way
⚠️ Risk warning: This is a news roundup and commentary, not investment advice. Trump calling off Iran strikes helped BTC reclaim $63K over the weekend with alts broadly higher, yet the hawkish Fed and BTC ETF outflows remain headwinds. Crypto markets are highly volatile — manage your risk carefully.
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📚 Further reading: On-chain Guide – Learn Blockchain from Scratch — blockchain fundamentals and on-chain data tutorials
📖 Related reads:
- August 1, 2026 Crypto Market Deep Analysis
- August 1, 2026 Crypto News Review
- July 31, 2026 Crypto News Review
Footnotes:
Footnotes
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Source: Reuters/AP geopolitical coverage; CryptoPotato weekend market review, Aug 2, 2026 ↩
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Source: CoinMarketCap/CoinGecko price data; IT Times Korea premium data, Aug 2, 2026 ↩
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Source: Onchain Lens/Arkham on-chain data; BlockBeats flash news, Aug 1, 2026 ↩
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Source: Farside/SoSovalue US spot ETF flow data, Jul 31, 2026 ↩
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Source: Galaxy Research cold-wallet attack report; Coinkite official disclosure, Jul 31–Aug 2, 2026 ↩
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Source: ChainCatcher/Coinglass liquidation data; Korea FSS stablecoin outflow statistics, Aug 2, 2026 ↩