World Gold Council: Driven by Geopolitical Risks, More Central Banks Will Increase Gold Holdings

According to official announcements, OKX has upgraded its RLUSD rewards program. Eligible VIP users will earn a 10% APR on their first 10,000 RLUSD holdings, an increase from the previous program’s cap of 2,000 RLUSD. Balances exceeding 10,000 RLUSD will accrue rewards at a 4.2% APR, while regular users continue to enjoy a 3.5% APR. Notably, users do not need to subscribe, redeem, or lock RLUSD to automatically earn rewards, and may choose to receive payouts in either RLUSD or XRP.

Bitcoin surges past $75,000, hitting a three-month high. The rally was primarily driven by the U.S. Treasury’s announcement to expand the scale of its long-term U.S. Treasury bond liquidity support repurchase operations. The Treasury had earlier stated it would at least double the size of these operations for long-term nominal coupon securities with maturities of 10 to 30 years. Additional factors boosting market sentiment include the SEC’s latest crypto regulatory proposal and a White House meeting between Trump and crypto industry executives. The sharp rally has triggered massive short liquidations. Data from Coinglass shows that Bitcoin’s rise on Wednesday led to over $2.75 billion in BTC short positions being liquidated. In the past 24 hours, an additional $783.2 million in Bitcoin positions were liquidated, of which $747.7 million were short positions. However, analyst Shawn Young believes the current rally may be overinterpreted by the market. He noted that the crypto market is “assigning far more significance to the U.S. Treasury’s intervention measures than their actual impact,” adding that bond market changes are forcing shorts to cover quickly rather than improving Bitcoin’s macro fundamentals. U.S. Treasuries are still competing with Bitcoin for marginal capital, and the current rise is largely driven by the market’s previously overcrowded short positions. He called Bitcoin’s break above $70,000 “premature.” Zeus Research analyst Dominick John said short liquidations could still push prices higher in the short term, but as forced buying fades, future moves will need to be supported by real spot demand, liquidity conditions, and macro fundamentals. He added that the key for the market’s next phase is whether new capital can enter, turning this short squeeze into a sustained uptrend. Additionally, smooth passage of the Clarity Act in September could serve as an important catalyst for further crypto market growth.

MANTRA Chain officials have announced that the network is currently experiencing an incident impacting its on-chain operations. The team has suspended the blockchain as a preventive measure and is conducting an investigation. All interfaces and transactions have been frozen, and users’ deposit and withdrawal functions on MANTRA Chain are temporarily affected. The root cause of the incident has not yet been confirmed, nor has a recovery timeline been released. Subsequent updates will be issued via official channels once verified information is obtained.

Whale codenamed "Set 10 Big Goals" has reopened short positions on Ethereum (ETH), currently shorting 1,211.812 ETH at an entry price of $2,346.83. It also added to its short positions on Bitcoin (BTC), bringing the total to 202.265 BTC at an entry price of $74,506.57. Previous reports showed the whale pocketed $20 million from long positions on August 19, while $6.28 million in profits were wiped out by its recent short trades, leaving a net profit of $13.72 million from the round of long-short transactions.

According to monitoring by TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight), the fourth-largest ETH long address on Hyperliquid – with the top three all linked to Matrixport – has seen its unrealized profit expand to $7.3 million, at an entry price of $2,027. Data shows the address first deposited funds into Hyperliquid on August 7, began building positions on the evening of August 19 when ETH rose to $2,057, generated roughly $8 million in profit within two days, and completed its first position reduction on the morning of August 20, locking in $864,565 in gains.

Bitget’s Launchpool project Aligned (ALIGN) is now open for staking, with a total reward pool of 9,666,666 ALIGN. The staking period closes at 11:00 UTC+8 on August 27. This round of Launchpool offers two staking pools: - BGB Staking Pool: Total airdrop allocation: 8,333,333 ALIGN; VIP user staking cap: 50,000 BGB; Regular user staking cap: 5,000 BGB - ALIGN Staking Pool: Total airdrop allocation: 1,333,333 ALIGN; Individual staking cap: 33,333,333 ALIGN