Compiled by: Jerry, ChainCatcher
Key News:
- Thailand to Launch Crypto Exchange Plan for Foreign Tourists on August 18
- Binance Alpha to List Reservoir (DAM) on August 18
- Binance Wallet to List 34th TGE Project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18
- OKB to Upgrade Smart Contract on August 18
- Brazil to Hold Hearing on Bitcoin Strategic Reserve on August 20
- Wyoming Stablecoin WYST Planned for Release on August 20
- Decentralized Data Platform Sapien to Conduct TGE on August 20
- Hong Kong Stock Exchange to List Two New Spot Virtual Asset ETFs on August 21
August 18 (Monday)
Thailand to Launch Crypto Exchange Plan for Foreign Tourists on August 18
According to Crowd fundinsider, Thailand will launch the "TouristDigiPay" plan on Monday, allowing foreign tourists to exchange cryptocurrencies for Thai baht for electronic payments within a regulatory sandbox framework, with a monthly account spending limit of 500,000 baht (about $14,000), aimed at reviving the tourism industry.
Under the plan, foreign tourists must open accounts with digital asset enterprises and electronic money providers regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bank of Thailand.The plan operates within a regulatory sandbox to ensure oversight and prevent direct use of digital assets as a payment method.The service is limited to foreign tourists temporarily staying in Thailand. Participants must complete KYC verification according to the standards of Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office.The service allows tourists to exchange digital assets for Thai baht and make electronic payments via QR code scanning.
Previous report, Thailand's SEC and central bank plan to launch a "crypto sandbox" to support foreign tourists exchanging crypto assets for Thai baht for consumption.
Binance Alpha to List Reservoir (DAM) on August 18
According to the official announcement, Binance Alpha will be the first platform to list Reservoir (DAM).
Alpha trading opens: August 18, 2025, 19:00 (UTC+8).
Contract trading opens: August 18, 2025, 20:30 (UTC+8).
Eligible users can go to the Alpha event page to claim airdrops using Binance Alpha points after Alpha trading opens. Specific details will be announced later.
Binance Wallet to List 34th TGE Project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18
According to official information, Binance Wallet will list the 34th TGE project Rice AI (RICE) on August 18.
The event will be held on Binance Wallet through PancakeSwap from 16:00 to 18:00 on August 18, 2025. Eligible users need to use Binance Alpha points to participate.
The official will also provide an additional 40 million RICE for subsequent events, with more details and event entry to be announced later.
Coinbase Derivatives to Launch Nano XRP and SOL Perpetual Futures for US Traders on August 18
According to cryptobriefing, Coinbase Derivatives will launch nano XRP and SOL perpetual futures for US traders on August 18.Both futures contracts will be cash-settled, track spot prices, and have position limits and trading hours.
OKB to Upgrade Smart Contract on August 18
According to the official announcement from OKX, the specific timeline for the X Layer PP upgrade and OKB Gas Token economic model optimization is as follows (Beijing time):
August 13, 2:10 PM: OKT trading stops on the OKX trading platform, but OKTChain will continue to produce blocks and process on-chain transactions
August 13, 3:00 PM: OKX trading platform will stop withdrawing OKB to ETH L1
August 15, 10:00 AM: Platform will automatically exchange users' OKT accounts for OKB according to rules
August 15, 2:00 PM: One-time OKB burn and smart contract call for on-chain burn
August 18, 2:00 PM: Upgrade OKB Smart Contract, remove minting and burning functions
August 19 (Tuesday)
Coinbase to Conduct Maintenance on August 19
According to official information, Coinbase will conduct maintenance at 8 AM Beijing time on August 19.
During maintenance, sending and receiving of BTC, LTC, BCH, ZEC, and DASH will be delayed. Sending and receiving of all ERC20 tokens, Ethereum (ETH), and Ethereum Classic (ETC) networks will also be delayed, but transactions will not be affected.
Deribit to Launch USDC-Settled Bitcoin and Ethereum Linear Options on August 19
According to The Block, Deribit announced the launch of USDC-settled Bitcoin and Ethereum linear options and periodic futures contracts on August 19. The product will use 0.01 BTC and 0.1 ETH minimum order sizes to improve trading flexibility.
Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers stated that USDC settlement can provide higher capital efficiency and fiat equivalent structure for institutional and individual investors. The exchange's trading volume last month reached $185 billion, a historical high. Coinbase recently completed the acquisition of Deribit for $2.9 billion.
New York Court to Hold Hearing for LIBRA Project Advisor Hayden Davis on August 19
According to Argentine media Clarín, LIBRA project advisor Hayden Davis recently submitted documents to the US court, first acknowledging LIBRA as a meme token and denying it as an investment project with a business plan, contradicting President Javier Milei's claim that it would "help the Argentine economy".
Davis's defense lawyer admitted that the meme token "is not an investment, has no intrinsic value, but is an unsecured, uncollateralized affinity and collectible with extremely high market volatility." Meanwhile, another fund transaction was exposed. On January 30 this year, during a meeting with Milei at the presidential palace, Davis's associated wallet transferred nearly $500,000 in USDC to the centralized exchange Kraken, suspected to be related to project fund flow. Records also show that the purpose of the January 30 meeting at the presidential palace was to "analyze blockchain and decentralized technology".
The case involves approximately $280 million in frozen assets, and the New York court will hold a hearing on August 19 to examine whether Hayden Davis and his partners are suspected of manipulating LIBRA for profit. Previously, on January 30 this year, during a meeting with Javier Milei at the presidential palace, Davis's associated wallet transferred nearly 500,000 USDC to Kraken, suspected to be related to project fund flow.
August 20 (Wednesday)
Brazil to Hold Hearing on Bitcoin Strategic Reserve on August 20
According to CoinDesk, Brazil will hold a public hearing on August 20 to discuss establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve.
Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas disclosed on X platform that ProShares and Bitwise have submitted ETF applications to the US SEC tracking Circle stock, namely: ProShares Ultra CRCL ETF and Bitwise CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF
The trading codes are currently pending, with an expected effective date of August 20.
Wyoming Stablecoin WYST Planned for Release on August 20
According to Cointelegraph, the Wyoming Stablecoin Committee announced plans to officially launch its official stablecoin WYST at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium in Jackson on August 20, 2025.
Decentralized Data Platform Sapien to Conduct TGE on August 20
According to CoinDesk, the decentralized data platform Sapien announced it will conduct a TGE on Base on August 20.
This will use a fair distribution model, initially unlocking 25% of the total 1 billion tokens to support AI decentralized data minting business.
August 21 (Thursday)
US to Announce Initial Jobless Claims for Week Ending August 16 on August 21
On August 21 at 20:30 Beijing time, the US will release initial jobless claims for the week ending August 16.
Upbit and Bithumb to Delist STRIKE on August 21
According to official announcements, Korean crypto trading platforms Upbit and Bithumb will delist STRIKE at 15:00 local time on August 21.
Hong Kong Stock Exchange to List Two New Spot Virtual Asset ETFs on August 21
According to East Net, based on HKEX documents, MicroBit's Bitcoin Spot ETF and Ethereum Spot ETF will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next Thursday (August 21), with management fees of 0.5% of net asset value annually, which is relatively low among existing crypto spot ETFs.
BOCI Prudential Trustee will serve as custodian and administrator, HashKey Exchange as the virtual asset trading platform, Hash Blockchain Limited as virtual asset sub-custodian, with participating securities firms including China Merchants Securities (Hong Kong), AETOS Securities Futures, Future Asset Securities (Hong Kong), Huaying Oriental (Asia), Huasheng Capital Securities, and Victory Securities.
August 22 (Friday)
Listed Company BTC Digital Postpones Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting to August 22
According to PRNewswire, Nasdaq-listed BTC Digital Ltd. announced the postponement of its extraordinary shareholders meeting to August 22, 2025. The company previously announced plans to fully embrace Ethereum (ETH) as its core asset and operational foundation, and plans to convert all BTC reserves to ETH, with related plans expected to be discussed and voted on at the shareholders meeting.
August 24 (Sunday)
According to the Brazilian Central Bank website, the bank recently released a draft regulatory resolution and initiated public consultation on accounting recognition, measurement, derecognition, and disclosure standards for financial institutions' virtual assets and utility tokens. The move aims to enhance the transparency, comparability, and quality of related accounting information. The public can submit comments and suggestions through the central bank's website or the government's "Participa + Brasil" platform by August 24, 2025.
Blockchain Game TOKYO BEAST Announces Complete Service Termination on August 24
Blockchain game project TOKYO BEAST announced it will officially terminate all services on August 24 at 08:00 (UTC).
Producer Naoki Motohashi stated that due to difficulties in balancing operational costs, the team decided to cease operations. To avoid price impact on the ecosystem token TGT, the official will compensate players in USDC. The team also confirmed that TGT and the TOKYO GAMES Foundation behind it will continue to operate, and revealed that a second new game is in preparation.
Previously, TGT was listed on Binance Alpha on May 21. TOKYO BEAST is the first game in this ecosystem, launched by a top Japanese mobile game company.
