BlackRock Unveils Two New Tokenized Treasury Funds on Ethereum

1 Strategy sold 1,638 BTC below its cost basis at roughly $64k per coin.

This is like a landlord selling the house under purchase price to make mortgage payments. Strategy used the proceeds plus a $291M stock raise for dividends and STRC buybacks. The preferred stock just retook $90, up 24% from its June low. Selling spot to support paper is a signal, not a strategy.

If STRC holds above $90 over the next 7 days while BTC stays below $64k, buybacks are masking weak spot demand. If STRC slips under $80, the support story breaks.

Traders are betting on the asset itself. Will Bitcoin reach $68k in August? sits at 51% yes on Polymarket ($106k traded).

2 Coldcard urges users to move funds as exploit drains $114M from self-custodied wallets.

Galaxy Research counts 1,596 BTC stolen from 7,300 addresses via a 2021 firmware flaw, with a fourth wave possibly near $130M. This is the self-custody equivalent of finding out your safe has a master key under the doormat. Hardware wallets were supposed to be the bunker. Now they're the breach.

If confirmed losses top $130M by Friday, expect a wave of hardware wallet migration to competitors. If Coldcard ships a verified fix and broadcasts it, panic stabilizes.

3 Italy's largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo tripled its staked Ether ETF to $7.1M while cutting Bitcoin ETF shares.

A major European bank is quietly rotating from IBIT to yield-bearing ETH. It's a small position, but it's the canary in the coal mine for institutional preference. When banks chase staking yield, they're betting on ETH as a productive asset, not just a price ticket.

If more euro-zone banks add staked ETH ETFs in the next 30 days, the ETH/BTC narrative gets real. If they revert to IBIT, it was a one-off.

4 An Iran-linked Dubai exchange sent Binance $676M, part of $4B traced to unlicensed flows.

Reuters investigation shows the exchange gave Iran's central bank and a 2,000-site gambling network access to global crypto. This is the crypto version of a smuggler using a flagship bank as a mail drop. Regulatory heat on exchanges just got a fresh log to throw on the fire.

If Binance faces new compliance probes within 30 days, expect frozen corridors or delistings. If no action, the flow stays under the rug.

5 South African lawmakers proposed draft rules on cross-border crypto transactions.

The National Treasury and Reserve Bank want to regulate crypto used for moving money across borders. Think of it as building a customs checkpoint on the blockchain highway. It could legitimize adoption, or it could add friction that pushes volume to peer-to-peer.

If the draft enters public consultation within 14 days, watch for exchange compliance updates. If it stalls, the status quo holds.