US stocks hit all-time highs across all three major indices, while WTI crude tumbled 5.4%, easing inflation expectations. The CLARITY Act stalled over its ethics clause as the $TRUMP memecoin drew calls for an SEC probe; Morgan Stanley launched staked ETH and SOL spot ETFs, and Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 19% from its yearly peak.
1. US Stocks Hit Record Highs
The Dow surged 940 points (+1.8%), the S&P 500 gained 1.8% to close at 7,600.5, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.6% to 28,776.8 — all three closing at record highs. Treasury Secretary Bessent's comments drove the broad risk-on rally, accelerating cross-asset capital inflows.
Assets to watch: SPX500 NAS100
2. CLARITY Act Stalls Over Ethics
Senators Warren and Blumenthal sent a letter to SEC Chair Atkins on August 4 demanding a formal investigation into $TRUMP memecoin, citing potential fraud risk across nearly 1 million wallet addresses. The same day, Senators Tillis and Gallego submitted a CLARITY Act ethics compromise to the White House, but the bill's passage odds have fallen to 27% ahead of the August recess. The regulatory standoff is weighing on broader crypto market sentiment.
Assets to watch: TRUMP BTC ETH
3. WTI -5.4%, Inflation Ebbs
WTI crude settled at $75.68 on August 4, down 5.40% in a single session. Brent followed, dropping 5.21% to $79.39. The sharp decline in oil prices pulled inflation expectations lower, with traders scaling back bets on further Fed rate hikes. The transmission — easing inflation → lower rate expectations → risk asset price recovery — supports BTC through the improved macro backdrop.
Assets to watch: CL BZ BTC
4. BTC Difficulty Plunges, AI Pivot
Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen to 126.23 trillion, down 19% from this year's high and below year-ago levels for only the second time in history. Hashprice hovers near the $33/PH/day breakeven zone. A basket of mining equities has gained 56% year-to-date while BTC has dropped 17% — the historical correlation has broken as miners convert idle data center capacity to AI compute, driving structural demand for Nvidia GPUs.
Assets to watch: BTC NVDA
5. MS ETH, SOL Staked ETFs Go Live
Morgan Stanley has officially launched its Ethereum Trust and Solana Trust spot ETFs, both carrying a 0.14% expense ratio with 100% of staking rewards passed through to investors. The two products extend the firm's crypto spot ETF lineup following its BTC ETF launch in April, marking Wall Street's full-scale entry into the staked crypto ETF market.
Assets to watch: ETH SOL
6. Coldcard Security Incident Nears $89M
Galaxy Research confirmed a third security incident involving a firmware pseudo-random number flaw in Coldcard hardware wallets that allows private keys to be mathematically reconstructed. A cumulative 1,367 BTC was transferred from 4,585 cold-storage addresses, valued at approximately $88.6 million. The vulnerability can be exploited without physical access to a device, making this a serious recent hardware-wallet security event.
Assets to watch: BTC
7. MS Cuts Circle to $38
Morgan Stanley downgraded Circle (CRCL) from Equal-weight to Underweight, slashing its price target by 64% from $106 to $38 and cutting USDC supply forecasts through 2028. CRCL shares fell approximately 6% on Monday. The report argues that yield-bearing stablecoin alternatives are eroding USDC's market share. Separately, Circle partnered with Hyperliquid to make USDC its canonical stablecoin, staking 500,000 HYPE tokens on the network.
Assets to watch: CRCL HYPE
8. Aerodrome Dominates Base DEX
Aerodrome now accounts for the majority of Base chain DEX trading volume, with four of Base's top ten DeFi pools on its platform, led by BTC and ETH pairs. Base has simultaneously completed two upgrades: Base V0 unified repository and deployment pipeline, plus Flashblock access lists to accelerate transaction processing. L2 ecosystem expansion supports ETH on-chain settlement demand.
Assets to watch: AERO ETH
Market Snapshot
BTC: $63,865 | ETH: $1,874.77
Gold: $4,138.6 | Silver: $60.06
WTI: $75.68 | Brent: $79.39
S&P 500: 7,600.5 | Nasdaq: 28,776.8