BitGo Expands Custody Push; Bitcoin Hovers Near $80K

Bitcoin traded near $80,000 as $6.4 billion in options contracts expired Friday, with market participants monitoring Fed Chair Warsh's scheduled Jackson Hole speech for policy signals. Bitcoin showed a trading premium on Coinbase after an extended period, a development that analysts view as a potential indicator of institutional demand patterns. Solana led major crypto assets higher in early trading while Bitcoin remained below the $80,000 level ahead of the macro event.

Iris Energy ($IREN) shares declined 8% as the company's transition into AI infrastructure weighed on earnings results. The miner's shift away from traditional Bitcoin mining operations toward AI-focused data center capacity has introduced near-term cost pressures that investors marked down in Friday trading. No other crypto-related equities reported material price movements in the available data.

BitGo completed its acquisition of NYDIG's institutional trading business, adding approximately 30 employees and expanding its derivatives and financing capabilities in a consolidation of custody infrastructure. Visa announced it will work with Dunamu, the parent company of South Korean exchange Upbit, to explore stablecoin payments and remittances, including Open Standard's proposed OUSD among several projects under review. Virtu and Tradeweb completed an on-chain repurchase agreement using a Marshall Islands-issued USDM1 bond as collateral, completing the full repo cycle on the Canton Network in under 10 minutes. According to The Korea Times, South Korean financial group Mirae Asset has laid out plans to build a $109 billion digital asset business spanning crypto, stablecoins, and tokenized assets through its Digital X initiative.

The Ethena Foundation proposed buying token supply held by major early investors and revealed a fee switch to direct 95% of net protocol revenue into ENA token buybacks, driving the token 10% higher. The Sandbox pledged 1:1 repayment to eligible holders on Base and BNB Chain following a bridge exploit, with claims expected to open within two weeks using Ethereum-based SAND from the project's treasury. Solana governance participants are voting on proposals to accelerate supply cuts, with a faster reduction schedule leading over an alternative $800,000 daily burn plan. OneKey said it reproduced an exploit against an older version of the Ledger app in its lab environment, a vulnerability that Ledger fixed in its Ethereum app version 1.22.2 with no user funds lost.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sheikh Tahnoon's group from Abu Dhabi backs a 49% stake in the holding company behind World Liberty's conditionally approved US trust bank venture. Public Citizen released an analysis claiming Trump-associated crypto ventures have cost investors $4.7 billion through various schemes, though the group acknowledged that investors in World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin have not suffered major losses. Kraken users were briefly locked out of the platform after a flood of sanctioned crypto transactions triggered compliance protocols, and Connecticut filed a new lawsuit against Kalshi in an ongoing prediction market legal dispute.

Grayscale published research suggesting Zcash can challenge Bitcoin's network effects as privacy demand grows, noting that ZEC has climbed roughly 19-fold over the past year yet maintains a sub-1% share of Bitcoin's market capitalization, leaving potential room for further appreciation. An XRP treasury company backed by Ripple is one shareholder vote away from a Nasdaq listing, according to CoinDesk. The research and listing developments reflect continued institutional interest in alternative crypto assets beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Market focus will center on Fed Chair Warsh's Jackson Hole speech, with crypto traders monitoring any policy signals that could influence risk asset positioning. The expiration of $6.4 billion in Bitcoin options creates potential for increased volatility as positioning adjusts into month-end. The Sandbox bridge exploit claims process, expected within two weeks, will test the protocol's recovery mechanisms and community confidence in cross-chain infrastructure security.