Bitcoin Slides As Iran-US Tensions Escalate

Bitcoin slid on Tuesday after investors went into “risk-off” mode following escalating attacks between the U.S. and Iran. 

The largest cryptocurrency had initially shrugged off President Donald Trump’s threats to the Middle Eastern nation, as well as the first strikes. 

But things heated up on Tuesday, and bitcoin’s price slid. It was recently down more than 2% on the day, trading for $77,363. The coin had pushed past as high as nearly $81,282 on Friday. 

The Tuesday attacks from the U.S. were because Iran tried to put mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and also because of an attack on an American military base in Jordan, according to President Trump. 

U.S. Central…

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Bitcoin Defies Seasonal Slump With Third-Best August Ever

Bitcoin is known for its summer slumps. But August was different. 

In fact, the leading cryptocurrency had its third best August ever. 

As highlighted on Tuesday by Bitwise’s European Head of Research, André Dragosch, bitcoin delivered returns of 25% last month. 

“No ‘summer lull’ so far,” Dragosch wrote on X, highlighting that the only better Augusts the coin has had were in 2017 when it gave investors returns of nearly 66%, and 2013, with close to 31%. 

OFFICIAL: August 2026 is in the books and it’s been the 3rd best August in bitcoin’s history. 🔥

August 2017: +65.6%August 2013: +30.7%August 2026: +25.0%

No “summer lull” so far….

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BlackRock’s IShares Bitcoin Trust Is Beating Top S&P 500 ETF

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund has delivered better returns since its 2024 launch than Vanguard’s popular S&P 500 fund. 

That’s according to Bloomberg data highlighted by the firm’s senior ETF analyst, Eric Balchunas, who said that the BlackRock product’s cumulative percentage return was only slightly ahead of Vanguard’s in the time period. 

BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF is up 71% since its January 2024 debut, while Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF up 66% on a total-return basis.  

Hard to believe $IBIT is beating $VOO since inception but it’s true..altho it’s close. And to be fair, IBIT’s path to 70% looks like the El Toro roller coaster at Great Adventure…

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South Korea’s Bitcoin ‘Kimchi Premium’ Is Back

Bitcoin is up this month but there’s one place where it’s more significantly more expensive: South Korea. 

The so-called Kimchi Premium — when bitcoin costs more on Korean exchanges — is back as retail investors pile back into the coin. Bloomberg first reported the news and CoinGecko data shows that bitcoin’s price is nearly 1% higher on Upbit, Korea’s biggest exchange, than Binance. 

Named after a popular dish in the Asian nation, the phenomenon comes down to Korea’s market being partly walled off. Prices have historically run higher there because of strong local retail demand combined with strict capital controls and trading regulations.

As a result, the…

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BlackRock Re-Underwrites Bitcoin, And The Portfolio Math Still Holds

Bitcoin’s roughly 50% decline from its October 2025 high has created a useful test for the institutional investment thesis. It is relatively easy to make the case for a new asset while prices are rising, correlations are favorable and capital is flowing into the market. The more revealing exercise comes after a major drawdown, when investors can revisit the original assumptions and determine which were structural and which were simply products of the preceding cycle.

That is effectively what BlackRock has done in its latest research, Re-Underwriting Bitcoin: Still a Portfolio Diversifier. Rather than treating the recent drawdown as evidence for or against Bitcoin in isolation,…

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Strategy Opposes MSCI Proposal, Claims Unfair Persecution

Bitcoin treasury Strategy has blasted Morgan Stanley Capital International’s proposal to exclude it from its Global Investable Market Indexes, calling it “misguided” and “flawed.” 

Writing in a letter to MSCI Monday, the Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin behemoth’s founder, Michael Saylor, and CEO, Phong Le, said that the company was discriminating against digital asset businesses. 

MSCI said earlier this month that it was consulting on a plan to define “non-operating companies” and make them ineligible for its Global Investable Market Indexes. The removal of such companies would exclude firms like Strategy from indexes visible to a large pool of institutional… Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Bitcoin Unfazed By Trump’s Iran Threats

Bitcoin shrugged off tensions in the Middle East, barely moving despite U.S. President Donald Trump vowing on Monday to hit Iran hard. 

The price of the biggest cryptocurrency recently stood at $79,076, unmoved over a 24-hour period. The coin also hasn’t budged from where it stood seven days ago. 

Bitcoin started a phenomenal run two weeks ago — its best in three years — and is up nearly 30% over the past month. 

Its price started surging after the U.S. Treasury would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations. The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited. 

Positive regulatory news has…

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Strive Becomes Fifth Biggest Bitcoin Treasury, Stock Surges On Latest BTC Buy

Strive’s stock soared on Monday after the company announced a $143 million bitcoin buy, making it the fifth biggest publicly traded crypto treasury. 

The Nasdaq-listed company announced its latest buy of 1,800 bitcoins between August 24 and August 28. It snapped up the coins for an average price of $79,431, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Dallas, Texas-based company now holds 23,156 coins worth $1.8 billion at today’s prices. Its stock (NASDAQ: ASST) was trading 9% higher at about 12.30pm in New York. Year-to-date, Strive’s stock has risen by nearly 40%. 

Strive’s year-to-date Bitcoin yield, a metric that compares growth in…

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Russia’s Sberbank Estimates $46.4B Crypto Trading Volume

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has said it expects trading volume with its new crypto rollout to hit 4 trillion rubles ($46.43 bln) in the first year, according to reports. 

Volumes are also expected to hit 7.5 trillion rubles ($87.06 bln) by 2029, Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board Anatoly Popov was quoted saying, as reported by Tass on Saturday. 

The forecast was deemed “conservative” according to the news report. Sberbank in July revealed plans to debut a Bitcoin and crypto wallet as well as digital asset custody by December. The Bank of Russia in July published draft regulations for crypto trading, and the State Duma is preparing the comprehensive…

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Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buying After 10-Week Hiatus

Bitcoin treasury Strategy resumed its bitcoin buys last week, snapping up nearly $370 million in the leading cryptocurrency, according to a Monday announcement from the company. 

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Strategy bought 4,603 bitcoins for $369.7 million between August 24 to August 30. Each coin was bought at an average price of $80,318, according to the filing. 

The buy comes after Strategy paused its bitcoin buys in June, instead focusing on building a cash buffer, buying back its stock and even sometimes selling some of its holdings. 

“Strategy is evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management,” Strategy…

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