BTCC Daily (8.24) | U.S. to Announce New Iran Financial Sanctions, Samsung Electronics Falls 8.70%

Top Highlights

• Bitcoin traded near $77,300, rising more than 23% over the past week, while total crypto market capitalization climbed to about $2.62 trillion.

• U.S. long-term Treasury yields remained elevated, with the 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields near 4.71% and 5.25%, respectively.

• Korea’s KOSPI Index closed down 3.10%, while Samsung Electronics plunged 8.70% after its shareholder return plan fell short of expectations.

Macro & Policy Outlook

Today’s Key Events

• U.S. July Chicago Fed National Activity Index

• U.S. 3-month and 6-month Treasury bill auctions

• U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent holds press conference on Iran sanctions

Macro Headlines

1. U.S. long-term Treasury yields remain elevated, 30-year yield near 5.25%

After the U.S. Treasury expanded long-term Treasury buybacks, pressure in the bond market has still not fully eased. The 10-year Treasury yield remained near 4.71%, while the 30-year yield was around 5.25%. The Treasury plans to raise the size of each 10-year to 30-year Treasury buyback operation from at least $2 billion to at least $4 billion, with the arrangement set to begin in September.

2. U.S. prepares to announce new financial sanctions on Iran

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent plans to hold a press conference to announce a new round of financial sanctions against Iran. Iran said that if the measures continue to escalate, it may take action to restrict oil exports from the Gulf region. Markets took profits while awaiting details of the sanctions, and international oil prices pulled back.

3. U.S.-Canada trade talks break down, Canada to impose retaliatory tariffs in September

After the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, U.S.-Canada trade talks failed to make progress. Canada announced that it will impose equivalent retaliatory tariffs starting September 8. The Canadian dollar fell about 0.3% against the U.S. dollar, while North American supply-chain and inflation risks returned to focus.

4. Samsung Electronics shareholder return plan disappoints, shares fall 8.70%

Samsung Electronics proposed a shareholder return range of about KRW 90 trillion to KRW 110 trillion, but did not announce a more aggressive free-cash-flow return ratio or treasury-share cancellation arrangement. Markets viewed the plan as weaker than expected. Samsung Electronics closed down 8.70%, weighing on Korean semiconductor stocks and the broader market index.

5. U.S. PCE, Nvidia earnings, and Jackson Hole in focus this week

The U.S. will release the PCE inflation data closely watched by the Fed, while Nvidia will also publish quarterly earnings. The Jackson Hole global central bank symposium will be held from August 27 to 29. Fed Chair Warsh is expected to deliver his first keynote speech as chair, and markets will watch his comments on inflation and the rate path.

Global Asset Performance

• Equities: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.74%. Korea’s KOSPI Index closed down 3.10%, with Samsung Electronics falling 8.70% and SK Hynix dropping 3.41%. In U.S. premarket trading, at press time, Nasdaq 100 futures were down about 0.71%, S&P 500 futures fell about 0.22%, and Dow futures declined about 0.07%.

• Crypto: The CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear & Greed Index stood at 78, in the greed zone. Total crypto market capitalization was about $2.62 trillion, up about 1.78% over the past 24 hours. BTC traded near $77,300, up about 1.3% in 24 hours. Today’s trending cryptocurrencies: PENGU rose about 18.1%, while AAVE gained about 17.9%.

• Energy & Metals: Brent crude fell about 1.7% to $91.01 per barrel, while WTI crude fell about 2.1% to $85.20 per barrel. Spot gold rose about 0.8% to $4,653 per ounce, while spot silver fell about 0.8% to $69.01 per ounce.

(Data as of August 24, 15:00 HKT)

Crypto Market Snapshot

1. Futures Capital Flow Analysis

On August 24, according to Coinglass data, BTC, ZEC, ETH, XAU, XAG, AAVE, and other contracts led net inflows in futures trading over the past 24 hours, potentially signaling trading opportunities.

2. Bitcoin Liquidation Heatmap

On August 24, according to Coinglass data, based on the current reference price of $77,453 on the Bitcoin exchange liquidation map, if Bitcoin falls below $75,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major CEXs could reach $1.15 billion. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $80,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity across major CEXs could also reach $1.15 billion. Traders are advised to manage leverage prudently to avoid large-scale liquidations during market swings.

3. Bitcoin Long/Short Ratio

According to Coinglass data, as of 17:00 HKT on August 24, the overall Bitcoin long/short ratio stood at 1.1353, indicating that bulls currently hold a relative advantage.

4. Stock Futures Performance

On August 24, stock contracts weakened across the board. SNDK and SAMSUNG both fell 4.10%, leading declines, while SKHY, SKHX, and SOXL all dropped more than 3%. Trading volume increased sharply, with SKHX and SAMSUNG volume up 1,656.73% and 1,259.82%, respectively. In terms of open interest, SNDK OI rose 16.77% and SAMSUNG rose 5.02%, while SKHX fell 19.42%, showing clear capital divergence.

5. On-Chain Monitoring

• According to Lookonchain, Abraxas Capital, Fasanara Capital, and Wintermute collectively held short positions of about 138,600 ETH and 3,425 BTC, with a total size of about $603 million.

• According to Onchain Lens, whale address 0x2684 sold 15,765 ETH and 110 WBTC over the past three days, realizing a cumulative profit of about $9.5 million.

• According to Onchain Lens, Ceffu withdrew about 120 million USDC in six transactions from Ethena’s Coinbase Prime custody address over the past 24 hours.

Blockchain Headlines

• On August 21 ET, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $307.45 million, marking the fifth consecutive trading day of net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT saw about $239 million in net inflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC saw about $30.19 million.

• U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $184.93 million over the same period, with BlackRock’s ETHA seeing about $150.8 million and Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust seeing about $11.51 million.

• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded weekly net inflows of about $1.918 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT contributing about $1.331 billion. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw weekly net inflows of about $697 million.

• DeFi protocol Term Finance suffered a governance attack, resulting in a loss of about $8.5 million. Term Labs has closed the affected Meta Vault and revoked the related governance permissions. The team said the underlying lending markets of Term Protocol were not affected.

• Phantom announced that it will end support for the Sui network on September 24. Affected users must complete asset migration before the deadline. Phantom said it will waive some migration fees during the transition period.

• Ledger Chief Technology Officer Charles Guillemet said a vulnerability involving specific plaintext-signing scenarios in Ethereum apps has been fixed, with the updated version deployed about two weeks ago.

• Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is advancing POL staking and tokenomics reforms. The preliminary plan shows that POL staking yields may increase, while the network fee allocation mechanism will also be adjusted.

• Over the past seven days, Circle’s stablecoin supply increased by about $1.7 billion, higher than the increases from Ripple and Tether over the same period. By network, Tron, HyperEVM, and Solana led stablecoin supply growth.

• The TRON network’s total number of accounts has surpassed 400 million, with on-chain stablecoin transfers and payment activity continuing to serve as key sources of account growth.

• Tether ended its Bitcoin mining project in Uruguay. The project had previously seen two mining sites lose power due to electricity-fee disputes and had laid off most local employees.

• Over the coming week, H, HUMA, XPL, and other tokens will face concentrated unlocks. The H token unlock is worth about $19.9 million, and markets are watching for price volatility caused by increased circulating supply.

• River survey data shows that about 49.6 million U.S. adults hold Bitcoin, higher than the roughly 28.8 million who hold gold. Younger investors remain an important part of the Bitcoin holder base.

Institutional Insights · Daily Picks

• Goldman Sachs strategists said that amid the U.S. current-account deficit, fiscal financing pressure, and increased Treasury buyback intervention, the dollar may become the main channel for markets to release pressure. A weaker dollar also provides support for alternative assets such as gold and Bitcoin.

• Morgan Stanley analysts said Samsung Electronics’ proposed shareholder return scale is still substantial but slightly below market expectations. Investors are more focused on whether the company will raise its free-cash-flow return ratio and announce clearer share buyback and cancellation arrangements.

• Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio said U.S. sovereign debt risks may become more visible in the coming years. Portfolios need to reduce concentrated exposure to debt assets and diversify through non-debt assets such as gold and a small amount of Bitcoin.