Bitcoin stumbles, Coinbase misses, and stablecoin regulation gains momentum | Weekly Recap

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From market jitters sparked by tariffs to new moves in crypto regulation and ETFs, it was a packed week across the digital asset landscape.

Summary

Bitcoin retreated on macro fears, Coinbase posted underwhelming Q2 earnings, and institutional interest in crypto deepened with Mill City’s $450M SUI play.
Hong Kong launched its first stablecoin licensing regime and Solana ETFs edged closer to approval in the U.S.
The U.K. quietly reversed part of its crypto ETN ban.
Professionals from the crypto space lauded Atkins’s speech and predicted that crypto will go mainstream within two years.

Trump throws tantrum over jobs report

Bitcoin (BTC) dominance is on a downtrend, and it continued to fall as President Trump’s tariffs raised concerns about an economic slowdown and triggered risk-off sentiment.
Weak U.S. jobs data—just 73,000 jobs added in July—fueled further market anxiety; Trump responded by firing the BLS commissioner.
Also, the Coinbase Premium Index has turned negative for the first time in two months, signaling weaker demand from U.S. investors compared to international buyers.

Coinbase Q2 revenue rose 3.3% year-over-year to $1.5B but dropped 26% from Q1, missing expectations amid weak retail trading.
Stablecoin revenue jumped 12% to $332M, helping drive 9% growth in subscriptions and services, despite EPS missing estimates at $0.12 vs. $1.19 forecast.

Mill City Ventures launched a $450M crypto treasury strategy with 76.3M SUI tokens, becoming the first public firm to partner with the Sui Foundation.
Backed by hedge fund Karatage and the Sui Foundation, Mill City now holds $277M in SUI, offering daily liquidity to retail and institutional investors.

Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance took effect on Aug. 1, creating the region’s first licensing framework for fiat-backed stablecoin issuers; applications are open until Sept. 30.
The HKMA expects to grant only a few licenses in the initial batch, with firms like JD.com and Standard Chartered expressing early interest.

At least seven asset managers have filed amended registration statements for their proposed spot Solana ETFs with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as potential approval draws closer.
Bitwise, Canary Capital, Fidelity, CoinShares, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck have submitted updates to their S-1 registration statements.

The Financial Conduct Authority announced that retail investors in the United Kingdom will gain access to crypto exchange-traded notes beginning October 8, but only those listed on approved exchanges.
The move quietly overturns part of the regulator’s 2021 crackdown on crypto derivatives for retail traders, while leaving the broader ban firmly in place. According to the FCA’s Friday press release, firms offering ETNs must comply with strict financial promotion rules, ensuring investors receive clear risk warnings without aggressive marketing tactics.

Paris-listed Crypto Blockchain Industries and its shareholder Ker Ventures announced an all-equity deal to buy 2,000 BTC from the Turkish crypto exchange SAFEbit.
The deal gives Ker Ventures and CBI the option to exchange CBI shares for the Bitcoin, in a transaction potentially worth more than €200 million. The swap price will be based on the two-day volume-weighted average price of CBI shares and the prevailing market rate for Bitcoin.

On July 31, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Chairman Paul Atkins gave a 30-minute speech in which he outlined the SEC’s plans to improve the regulatory climate surrounding the cryptocurrency industry significantly.
The crypto community declared Atkins’s speech “the most bullish news for crypto in a decade.”