Strive CEO Reaffirms Bitcoin Bull Market Has Only Just Begun, Long-Term Conviction Remains Unshaken

As investor enthusiasm for AI trading cools and regulators step up measures to curb demand, South Korea’s chip-linked leveraged ETFs have posted nearly $1 billion in outflows this month. So far, leveraged products tracking Samsung Electronics have recorded $381 million in August outflows, while those tracking SK Hynix have seen $601 million—marking the first monthly outflow for these products since their launch in late May. Notably, during the July sell-off in global AI assets, South Korea’s Kospi index suffered a historic 22% plunge in a single month. In response, South Korean regulators raised the minimum margin requirements for new investors buying such products and mandated a five-day simulation trading period for investors.

On-chain analyst Murphy discusses right-side trading strategies after Bitcoin’s breakout above $80,000. Some traders may wonder: if they buy now, what if BTC drops back to $58,000? A 20% pullback could lead to further declines of 30% or even 40% — this is a common "fear of heights" delusion in right-side trading. Right-side buying typically requires setting stop-loss levels in advance, tailored to each trader’s technical indicators, actual position size, and risk tolerance. Murphy states he frequently uses STH-RP (Short-Term Holder Realized Price) as a key reference metric. Historical data shows that once BTC breaks above STH-RP in the latter half of a bear market, a small uptrend is highly likely to emerge. If the price pulls back to test STH-RP and holds above it, the trend is deemed to continue; if it breaks below, the trend is over. Currently, STH-RP stands at around $70,000 (dynamic). If BTC drops back to $70,000, traders should exercise caution; a daily close below this level warrants a stop-loss. In theory, the stop-loss range for right-side position building is roughly around -10%, rather than waiting for a 25% or larger decline to act. Murphy concludes that trading friction is normal and even necessary, as avoiding such friction could cause traders to miss out on major trends.

According to TradingBeats monitoring, among top whales with sharp recent growth in account funds, HYPE’s largest long position holder still leads with an unrealized profit of ~$58.14 million; BIT-associated addresses have fully liquidated their ETH positions, locking in a net profit of ~$31.26 million. BTC OG insider whale (BTC’s largest long position holder): 1,268.3 BTC long positions carry an unrealized profit of ~$5.6 million, but ZEC short positions in the same period show an unrealized loss of ~$13.4 million, bringing total positions to an overall unrealized loss of ~$7.8 million — still unprofitable. BIT-associated whale (ETH’s largest long position holder): 4 related addresses previously held a total long position of ~120,000 ETH, and have now fully liquidated, netting ~$31.26 million after funding fees and transaction fees. HYPE’s largest long position holder: holds 1.38 million HYPE long positions worth ~$112 million, at an average cost of $38.68, with an unrealized profit of ~$58.14 million. Funding fees and other related costs amount to ~$5.1 million. The "819 ETH Insider Whale": bought 20,000 ETH at an average price of $1,936 and has not reduced positions since, with current position value ~$49.97 million and an unrealized profit of ~$11.25 million. ZEC’s largest long position holder: opened positions 39 days ago, holds 20,800 ZEC, with an unrealized profit of ~$6.58 million and a total cumulative profit of ~$8.44 million over the full cycle. Maji: combined unrealized profit from ETH, BTC and HYPE long positions is ~$2.04 million, with a cumulative profit of ~$10.26 million in the past 30 days; however, total cumulative loss over the full cycle remains ~$25.71 million, with a significant rebound recently but still yet to return to profitability.

CryptoQuant analyst Moreno noted that Bitcoin’s "new whale" group has realized over $1.2 billion in profits over the past three days, marking the largest profit-taking event in the group’s history. Of this total, roughly $614 million was earned on August 20 alone, the highest single-day profit on record. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has rebounded above the short-term whale realization price of around $68,900. On August 23, BTC traded near $77,700, approximately 12.8% higher than the total cost basis of these "new whales". In prior months, some large whales that recently accumulated Bitcoin were sitting on long-term unrealized losses. This rally has completely reshaped their position structure, giving previously trapped capital a sudden opportunity to exit at break-even and lock in substantial profits. The current trend thus constitutes an important demand test. If BTC can hold steadily above the whale cost basis of around $70,000, while profit-taking gradually returns to normal levels, it signals that new demand is effectively absorbing distribution pressure, laying a foundation for the rally to continue. Conversely, if profit-taking remains elevated and the price falls back below this cost basis, the rally may be closer to a "break-even exit rally", with previously trapped holders turning into fresh selling pressure above. The market has now regained profitability; what remains to be proven is whether it can absorb the pressure unleashed by this profit release.

US bitcoin treasury firm Strive (ticker: ASST) CEO Matt Cole has once again reaffirmed that the bull market has only just begun. He stated that while ASST’s stock hit a bear market low in February 2026 and external sentiment was extremely pessimistic, Strive’s team’s long-term conviction never wavered. “We clearly recognize the value of our bitcoin holdings,” Cole said. Executives and directors have been buying additional stock with their own capital, and some directors have joined the company full-time. This highly aligned internal conviction and execution capability laid the foundation for the performance delivered in the subsequent six months. Strive will not forget the steadfast shareholders who supported the company during its toughest times. Now, with the stock surging and market sentiment running high, the team’s core focus remains unchanged: the bitcoin bull market has only just begun, and we will continue to go all-in. Yesterday, Cole published a lengthy bullish article on bitcoin, citing the bitcoin/gold ratio chart. He pointed out that bitcoin has broken through against both the U.S. dollar and gold, signaling the end of the bear market and reinforcing that the next cycle will be the strongest in history. Cole believes three converging forces are creating an unprecedented favorable market environment for bitcoin: the long-term weakening of the U.S. dollar, rising demand for scarce assets in the AI era, and the re-strengthening of the BTC/gold ratio. According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Strive’s U.S. stock price nearly doubled in the past week, breaking above $20. Strive announced yesterday that it purchased 1,110 bitcoin last week at an average price of approximately $73,409, a significant increase from its prior weekly purchase volume. As of August 21, Strive holds a total of 21,356 bitcoin, plus 505,000 preferred shares of Strategy STRC (with a fair value of about $48.57 million) and roughly $171.9 million in cash.

The US crypto industry’s leading unified advocacy group, the Blockchain Association, announced today it has submitted a comment letter backing the stablecoin issuer rules jointly proposed by the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) under the GENIUS Act. The Blockchain Association’s core position is clear: it supports limiting Customer Identification Program (CIP) obligations to direct transactions between primary market issuers and customers, rather than extending identity verification duties to downstream secondary market activities. This means routine peer-to-peer transactions would not fall under stablecoin issuers’ CIP compliance scope, balancing anti-money laundering (AML) objectives while avoiding undue burdens on decentralized trading environments. The group also called for clearer definitions of key terms including “account”, “customer”, and “digital asset service providers”, recommending excluding one-time redemptions and activities unrelated to stablecoins. It further demanded avoiding redundant compliance requirements and clarifying that stablecoin issuers have flexibility in how they verify customer information. On effective timing, the Blockchain Association suggests aligning the effective date of the proposed CIP rules with separate AML rules to be implemented under the GENIUS Act.