Crypto market pullback: Bitcoin and Ethereum led a roughly $200 billion decline this week as capital rotated into blue chips and out of smaller tokens, cooling altseason momentum. BTC’s market-cap
Crypto payments are digital transfers using stablecoins, smart contracts and distributed ledgers to settle transactions. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller says the technology will drive innovation in the US payments
COINOTAG News on August 21 reports that on-chain analyst Cinder flagged an address which previously sold 4,957 ETH on August 15 at an average price of $4,464, and later executed
In a thread on August 19, analyst Miles Deutscher argued that MicroStrategy’s market-implied net asset value (mNAV) premium—the core gear in Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin acquisition flywheel—has compressed sharply, weakening the feedback loop that helped the company outpace Bitcoin through most of the cycle. “Michael Saylor built the craziest BTC flywheel in history. But his buying power is starting to fade. The market is now asking one question: ‘Is the BTC treasury bubble finally popping?’” MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Premium Is Fading Deutscher grounds the discussion in how investors currently value MicroStrategy. “People often overlook that MicroStrategy has a legacy software business, which continues to generate revenue. However, MicroStrategy has essentially become a company whose valuation is primarily influenced by its BTC holdings. The entire system is powered by mNAV (Market-Implied NAV).” In practical terms, the mNAV multiple is the premium investors pay over the company’s look-through Bitcoin value to access leveraged BTC exposure via MSTR. “An mNAV of ~1.58x means the market is paying a 58% premium for their BTC.” According to Deutscher, that premium “was once a 3.4x mNAV” when Bitcoin was surging, but it has “now decreased to 1.58x. Demand is slowing down.” In other words, what had been a powerful flywheel—high premium enabling cheap equity issuance that funded more Bitcoin purchases, which in turn kept NAV rising and the premium elevated—now spins with much less torque. Related Reading: Crypto Founder Predicts The Collapse Of Bitcoin In This Timeframe That shift intersected with a contentious corporate action. “Recently, Saylor sparked controversy by revealing that Strategy had revised its MSTR Equity ATM Guidance to offer greater ‘flexibility’ in executing its capital markets strategy.” The implication, Deutscher argues, is that greater issuance flexibility “may dilute shareholder value and increase financial risk tied to Bitcoin’s volatility.” He notes that “the market is quite divided” on the change. On the constructive side, he quotes @thedefivillain’s take—“Slower concentration of supply in Saylor’s hands,” “Greater leverage to justify mNAV,” and “Reduced buying pressure for BTC in dollar terms”—as reasons the revision could ultimately be benign. But critics worry about “the possibility of a ‘death spiral.’ The removal of the 2.5x mNAV safeguard for equity issuance may allow MicroStrategy to sell shares at lower valuations.” Reflexivity, in Deutscher’s telling, is the operative risk factor: “Reflexivity is a brutal force that operates in both directions.” A Hypothetical Scenario Deutscher then sets up a stress-test to illustrate how that reflexivity could bite if Bitcoin weakens and the premium compresses to parity. “If BTC’s price drops 20% and MicroStrategy’s mNAV multiple falls to 1.0x, the stock might plummet by 46.5%.” He walks through the arithmetic from a notional baseline of $115,000 per BTC, which on a 20% decline would fall to $92,000. On MicroStrategy’s “226,331 BTC,” he calculates that would put look-through NAV at $20.82 billion. To align an mNAV of exactly 1.0x, he backs into enterprise value and market cap under that scenario: “Starting with an enterprise value of $20.82 billion, we subtract MicroStrategy’s $2.2 billion in debt and add its $0.1 billion in cash. This calculation unveils the company’s market cap, hitting $18.72 billion, a significant pullback from its original $35 billion market cap.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull Run Hinges On Trump’s Pick For Fed Chair: Analyst The conclusion he draws from the modeled path—BTC −20% to ~$92,000, mNAV → 1.0x, MSTR market cap −46.5%—is that MicroStrategy’s equity remains a leveraged instrument with an outcome path that can be materially worse than Bitcoin itself when the premium compresses. Beyond the scenario math, Deutscher links recent spot price action to changing marginal demand. “I think BTC’s recent weakness can be attributed to the market starting to price in reduced Saylor demand/tail potential risk of the revised ATM guidance.” In parallel, he highlights how the proliferation of spot ETFs erodes the original rationale for paying a large listed-company premium to own BTC “beta”: “Spot Bitcoin ETFs are plentiful now. Why would you pay a 58% premium for MSTR’s leveraged exposure when you can grab IBIT at a clean ~1.0x NAV?” By his framing, the mNAV premium itself “was indicative of the market’s view that MSTR was going to outperform BTC.” With that view fading, the premium looks less like an enduring structural feature and more like a belief-sensitive variable. “In my opinion, the MSTR premium is essentially a gamble. You’re betting on three fragile things: unwavering market confidence, open capital markets, and Saylor’s leadership. If any of those pillars start to wobble, the premium collapses.” At press time, BTC traded at $113,624. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Buenos Aires has switched on “BA Cripto,” a policy package that lets residents and businesses settle city taxes and administrative fees using cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. Rolled out on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, the program covers municipal levies such as ABL (property tax), Patentes (vehicle tax), and Ingresos Brutos (turnover tax), as well as non-tax procedures like driver’s licenses and traffic fines, payable via a city QR flow. Buenos Aires Goes Crypto City Hall’s move is broader than a payments toggle. Officials unveiled four measures: adding crypto-linked activities to the city’s economic-activity nomenclator to simplify filings; excluding virtual-asset service providers (PSAVs) from certain bank-collection regimes under the turnover tax; shifting the taxable base for crypto trading from gross transaction value to the net spread; and enabling QR crypto payments for both taxes and administrative services. The government framed the package as a regulatory tune-up that reduces frictions while aligning taxation with how digital-asset markets actually operate. Mayor Jorge Macri presented the initiative as an institutional modernization designed to attract investment and make compliance easier. “The goal is for the City to be a world leader in crypto,” he said, adding: “We already have the human capital, and now we are building the tools by reducing bureaucracy to make taxpayer compliance easier and to support the arrival of new companies setting up here.” The remarks were delivered at The Slow Kale in Colegiales, a venue that accepts crypto payments. Macri also argued the package signals a friendlier posture toward the sector: “These measures ensure the crypto world sees that the City is increasingly friendly. The digital economy compels us to update and adapt with a modern, agile, efficient and intelligent State. We want talent to find a place to grow, innovate and lead without obstacles.” The backdrop is growing usage. According to city data cited at launch, roughly 10,000 people in Buenos Aires receive income from abroad via crypto or PayPal , and the use of PIX rails has been rising. Nationwide, Argentina counts “more than 10 million” crypto accounts—about 22% of Latin America’s total—figures the city says justify tailored rules and public-service rails that natively accommodate digital assets. For firms, the classification update matters because it gives crypto activities an explicit slot in the tax nomenclator, improving clarity “without fiscal cost” and easing cross-jurisdiction information matching. Excluding PSAVs from bank-collection regimes is intended to curb automatic withholdings that can tie up working capital, while the new spread-based tax base acknowledges the mismatch between high-volume, low-margin trading and a gross-receipts framework. Together, these steps amount to what the city calls a more “agile” and “transparent” environment for digital-asset businesses to operate in the capital. On the consumer side, the payment experience is meant to be straightforward: scan a city QR and pay the selected tax or fee with a compatible wallet. Officials said only some wallets currently support crypto payments, but a Buenos Aires–provided “aggregator” is in the works to let “neighbors and companies” pay “from any wallet, directly, faster, and simpler.” The government did not publish a technical spec or list of supported assets at launch. Hernán Lombardi, the city’s Economic Development Minister, cast the reforms as a recalibration of legal and tax treatment for digital assets. “These reforms mark a change in the legal and tax treatment of digital assets. Less bureaucracy, greater legal certainty, and clear rules will translate into more investment,” he said, noting the updated nomenclator will help “determine and clarify the activities of companies and individual crypto-asset users, and thus avoid withholdings that compromise the sector’s working capital.” At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $3.77 trillion.
Billions exit crypto despite ‘altseason’ hype. Is the hype itself driving the pullback?
A Solana whale just torched $712K in four hours. He aped into @Solana’s newest memecoin, $YZY, with $768K. The chart ripped. Market cap touched $134M (CMC) before crashing. By the time he rage-sold, his stack was worth just $56K. The wipeout lit Crypto Twitter on fire. NEW: A whale bought $768K of @Solana memecoin $YZY , its market cap spiked to $134M and then dropped instantly. Just 4 hours later, he sold it for $56K — a ~$712K loss. pic.twitter.com/RpTFW2uIw8 — SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) August 20, 2025 Finnbags and the Kanye Play Behind $YZY is @finnbags, Founder & CEO of @BagsApp . Last night he launched the token himself. CT says he pulled a Sahil move: making memes, farming his own referrals, and steering liquidity. hey @kanyewest we made a $YZY coin for you on @BagsApp You get 100% of royalties earned from the trading volume of the coin. $50K has already been raised for you in the first 10 minutes. 70% of the supply is locked and can be transferred to you on a vesting schedule.… — FINN (@finnbags) August 19, 2025 The setup was wild: FINN bought 70% of supply at launch. 100% of trading fees went straight to Kanye West’s wallet. Market went full PvP. Cap nearly hit $13M (CMC) within hours. Then Finn tweeted at @kanyewest, telling him to “claim” the fees. Traders weren’t laughing. The chart nuked. Market cap dumped to $1.5M (CMC) overnight. Theories flew. Some pointed at Wintermute, calling it a money laundering op. Others just said it felt like a clout grab gone wrong. CT Starts Digging The backlash didn’t stop at the token. Clips of Finn’s old stream with @MrBeast resurfaced, no crypto talk in sight. Later, his appearance on @notthreadguy’s stream made things worse. Excuses didn’t land. Trust cratered. Every token tied to him bled. The “launch for Ye” meme collapsed before it even got traction. A few influencers like @SOL_IDNESS defended him, arguing intentions weren’t bad. But the larger CT consensus? If Kanye is already a billionaire, why would he ever need a memecoin fee drop? The Pumpfun Angle To Note As the drama grew, @StalkHQ traced the $YZY chart. Turns out, much of the run was botted. The dev botted the fake $yzy chart and pushed it all the way to $82M market cap, yet only made $3.62K in Pumpfun @pumpdotfun creator rewards. This shows the dev isn’t making much from rewards, meaning their main profit path could be through rugging the token instead. https://t.co/cFstowO0Nm pic.twitter.com/5EMgRiwVGr — Stalkchain (@StalkHQ) August 20, 2025 On Pumpfun , the dev pushed the chart all the way to $82M market cap, but only earned $3.62K in creator rewards. That mismatch tells a story. If devs don’t make money from Pumpfun rewards, their main incentive leans toward rugging. Compare it to imperfect, another Pumpfun token. Market cap sits at just $1.27M (CMC). Yet its creator already pulled $3.53K in rewards. Smaller, but more sustainable. The difference is clear: organic community-driven growth pays creators better. Botted pumps may look strong, but they usually collapse fast, leaving exit scams as the only profit path. What This Shows 1. Pumpfun doesn’t reward fake pumps. When a chart rockets but creator rewards stay tiny, it’s often bot-driven. 2. Organic traction is king. Tokens that build communities see rewards track closely with their growth. 3. Red flag signal. High market cap + low rewards = botting risk, and often rugs. It’s exactly what happened with $YZY. The chart went vertical, but the mismatch gave it away. And when the smoke cleared, the whale’s $768K entry became a $56K exit. The Bigger Picture For CT, the episode blends two familiar storylines: whales getting torched chasing hype, and founders turning launchpads into personal casinos. The Kanye angle just made it messier. What was pitched as a “token for Ye” ended up as another quick pump, another crash, another bag burned. And it leaves a blunt takeaway: If a billionaire like Kanye isn’t claiming it, maybe you shouldn’t either. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news !
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller urged policymakers and bankers to stop fearing DeFi and stablecoins, saying they will drive the next wave of innovation in the US payments system.
With support from TRON DAO, Kraken, and Backed Finance have expanded their tokenized stock product, xStocks, to the TRON blockchain—marking another step forward in the growth of tokenized equities. The move is designed to make global market access faster, cheaper, and more seamless for millions of users. TRON’s high-volume network, known for its low fees and fast settlement times, is well-suited for asset tokenization. With this integration, xStocks extends beyond its initial Solana and BNB Chain launches, giving traders and investors more options and less friction across blockchains. Kraken first introduced xStocks on June 1, 2025, allowing users to trade tokenized shares of leading US companies directly on-chain. Each xStock is fully backed 1:1 by the corresponding underlying equity. Through this latest expansion, eligible clients can soon deposit and withdraw xStocks via the TRON network, offering the same ease as transferring stablecoins. Issued by Swiss-based Backed Finance in the form of TRC-20 tokens, each xStock remains securely tied to its real-world counterpart. TRON DAO will further support adoption by integrating the tokens across its wide ecosystem of applications and partners. Since launch, xStocks has seen rapid adoption, with combined centralized and decentralized trading volumes surpassing $2.5 billion . Kraken’s co-CEO Arjun Sethi emphasized that deploying xStocks on three blockchains in under 60 days demonstrates the power of open, multichain architecture. He added that TRON’s global scale, speed, and low fees significantly value Kraken’s vision for tokenized markets. TRON offers speed, scale, and global access TRON is no stranger to traffic. It already dominates global stablecoin transfers , which it processes daily in the billions. Today, TRON is in the top five blockchains according to total value locked, including over USD 6 billion on its network. This scale and efficiency made the high-volume blockchain an obvious choice for an xStocks app. The founder of TRON, Justin Sun, said the integration would help make finance more inclusive: “Tokenized equities represent a natural evolution for crypto, bridging traditional markets with blockchain. As demand for popular equities meets a global base of previously excluded users, we’ll see a more efficient, flexible, and accessible market.” Adam Levi, co-founder of Backed Finance, said the move aligned with the main strength of high-volume blockchain. He explained that TRON users were already transferring millions in stablecoins at very low cost, and the next step was to extend that use case to tokenized equities. According to him, this shift would allow people worldwide to access traditional markets with the same ease as sending digital dollars. Kraken seizes a global market opportunity The integration of TRON by Kraken is part of its broader goal of replatforming Wall Street on the blockchain. The company already has customers in more than 140 countries. More locations will be rolled out over the coming weeks, providing access to tokenized stocks for an even larger user base. It’s a simple idea: Let people trade stocks the way the internet lives — boundaryless, permissionless, and interoperable for every chain. With multichain yStake, Kraken is knocking down similar walls that have all too often made traditional markets off limits to all. That often represents their first chance to have exposure to US stocks. That could be life-changing in places where savers have limited or costly access to a traditional brokerage account. Sign up to Bybit and start trading with $30,050 in welcome gifts