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First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Starts August in the Red After Losing Ground in July
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for August 1, 2023.
Updated Aug 1, 2023, 4:52 p.m. Published Aug 1, 2023, 12:25 p.m.
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This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Bitcoin (BTC) starts August losing ground, declining 2% Tuesday morning to add to July’s 4% retreat. The price dropped to as low as $28,800, its weakest level since mid-June, while altcoins took a larger hit with Solana’s SOL falling 5%, Optimism’s OP 8% and Stellar XLM 6%. The broad CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) is off 1.9%. In traditional markets, U.S. stock futures retreated slightly from 16-month highs as caution prevailed after a five-month winning streak. The pull back came after a number of companies reported disappointing second quarter earnings.
Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, stepped in to support the Curve Finance (CRV) token price in a move that could protect a massive loan tied to the decentralized exchange’s founder Michael Egorov from being liquidated. Blockchain data from Tuesday shows Sun purchased about 5 million CRV from a wallet tagged “Curve.fi Founder” at an average price of $0.40 (just over $2.3 million) in an over-the-counter transaction. While Sun paid well below curve’s $0.59 trading price at writing time on Tuesday, it is more than the $0.37 price level at which Egarov’s loan could be liquidated. Curve Finance, a stablecoin swapping giant, suffered a Sunday exploit that drove down the price of the CRV token, putting $168 million of Egorov's holdings at risk of being liquidated.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued internet marketer Richard Schueler, known online as Richard Heart, and his projects Hex, PulseChain and PulseX, alleging he raised over $1 billion across three different unregistered securities offerings. Heart also defrauded his investors, the SEC alleged in its Monday lawsuit, by using investor funds for personal goods. "Heart continually touted these investments as a pathway to grandiose wealth for investors, claiming that Hex, for example, 'was built to be the highest appreciating asset that has ever existed in the history of man,'" the lawsuit read. "Although Heart claimed these investments were for the vague purpose of supporting free speech, he did not disclose that he used millions of dollars of PulseChain investor funds to buy luxury goods for himself."
Chart of the Day
- The chart shows 1% market depth for decentralized exchange Curve's CRV token in U.S. dollar terms and native token terms.
- The market depth – the market's ability to absorb large orders at stable prices – has declined in the dollar terms and is only slightly up in the native token terms.
- A potential liquidation of Curve founder Micheal Egorov's multi-million dollar worth of CRV backed loans could thus have an outsized impact of CRV's price.
- Source: FalconX Research, CoinMetrics
- Omkar Godbole
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Bitcoin’s weakness versus gold and equities puts quantum computing fears back in focus
Some investors have revived concerns that quantum computing could threaten bitcoin, but analysts and developers say recent price weakness reflects market structure.
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- Bitcoin’s recent price stagnation has sparked a renewed debate over quantum-computing risks, with investor Nic Carter arguing that quantum fears are already shaping market behavior.
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- Most bitcoin developers still view quantum attacks as a distant, manageable threat, noting that proposed upgrades like BIP-360 provide a path to quantum-resistant security and are unlikely to explain short-term price moves.
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