Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies held onto significant gains during the week ending Aug. 28, despite a late-week decline. The digital asset sector benefited from a rally over the prior 10 days, during which Bitcoin's price climbed 25% and Ethereum increased more than 30%. This surge coincided with rising concerns about the U.S. fiscal situation, as America's debt hit $40 trillion U.S. and Treasury yields rose to their highest level in nearly 20 years.
In late afternoon trading on Friday, Bitcoin was down 3% and trading at $77,500 U.S., while Ethereum fell 3% to $2,430 U.S. The drop followed comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh stating his commitment to lowering inflation. Throughout the rest of the week, Bitcoin traded right around $80,000 U.S., briefly rising above that level several times.
Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) kept its Bitcoin position steady during the period, even as the coin's value jumped 24% from $63,000 U.S. to near $80,000 U.S. In other corporate actions, Strategy issued 18.26 million common shares, boosted its cash reserves to $5.1 billion U.S., and bought back $136.4 million worth of its preferred stock (NASDAQ: $STRC).
Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: $COIN) debuted tokenized stocks on its Base blockchain network, allowing eligible investors outside the U.S. to trade tokenized versions of Apple (NASDAQ: $AAPL), Nvidia (NASDAQ: $NVDA), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: $GOOGL). These tokens represent shares held 1:1 on Base, a low-cost Ethereum Layer 2 network run by Coinbase.
A survey by the National Institute on Retirement Security found that 53% of Americans oppose employers offering cryptocurrencies in workplace retirement plans. Additionally, 77% of respondents view crypto such as Bitcoin as risky investments, with 46% considering them "very risky" in that context.
Brazil's central bank plans to implement a real-time crypto threat alert system to connect banks and domestic stock exchanges for around-the-clock surveillance. This move follows an estimated $180 million U.S. in crypto thefts from digital wallets in the country during 2025.
Public Citizen reported that investors in President Donald Trump's crypto ventures are $4.7 billion U.S. underwater, largely due to unrealized losses. Trump himself has earned at least $1.4 billion U.S. from these ventures, with the biggest investor losses seen in the $TRUMP memecoin launched in January 2025.
Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL) struck a sponsorship deal with Chelsea soccer team worth $88 million U.S. per year, adding its USDC stablecoin to the front of player jerseys ahead of Chelsea's first home game on Aug. 30.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: $BMNR) acquired an additional 32,447 ETH at a cost of $81 million U.S., its largest purchase since early July. The company is close to its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum's circulating supply.
Gemini (NASDAQ: $GEMI) partnered with Apex Fintech Solutions to expand distribution of its prediction markets to brokerage firms, focusing on sports, politics, and cryptocurrency trades.
Ethereum developers are taking steps to secure the blockchain from potential quantum computer attacks by targeting the deposit contract and retiring old deposit-processing systems in favor of newer frameworks.