Gate Crypto Flash News and Market Updates

European stock index futures remained largely flat on Aug 21. Germany's DAX futures fell 0.04%, while France's CAC 40 futures rose 0.17%. Europe's Stoxx 50 futures and UK FTSE 100 futures held steady, showing mixed sentiment across major regional equity markets.

UK public sector net borrowing came in at £1.8 billion in July, significantly below the £16 billion recorded in the previous month and better than expectations of zero, according to official data.

According to SoSoValue data, Ethereum spot ETFs saw net inflows of $221 million yesterday (August 20), extending a four-day inflow streak. Blackrock's ETHA led with $173 million in daily inflows, bringing its historical total to $12.019 billion. Blackrock's Staked ETH ETF ETHB added $35.9 million, reaching a cumulative total of $606 million.

According to Yonhap News, the US nuclear aircraft carrier USS George Washington, stationed in Japan to counter China and North Korea, has been deployed to the Iran war today (August 21). The carrier's departure from its forward-operating position in the Asia-Pacific region has raised concerns among regional observers about a potential power vacuum in the area's defense posture.

According to Coingecko data cited by BlockBeats, the cryptocurrency market capitalization surged to $2.6 trillion on August 21, up 5.8% in 24 hours, as Bitcoin broke above $75,000. Bitcoin's market dominance stands at 58%, while Ethereum accounts for 10.9% of the total crypto market cap.

According to People Power Party lawmaker Eom Tae-young and nine other lawmakers, on Thursday they filed a bill to amend South Korea's financial law and expand the Financial Intelligence Unit's (FIU) authority to investigate unregistered crypto businesses. The proposal would allow public reporting of suspected violations to the FIU and grant the agency power to investigate, analyze, file complaints, and request criminal investigations. The bill comes amid gaps in the current system. Police suspen

According to Bitcoin.com, Hungary's parliament repealed crypto regulations on August 7, removing two criminal offenses from its national penal code. The offenses included "misuse of crypto assets" carrying up to 5 years imprisonment and "providing unauthorized crypto asset exchange services" with sentences of up to 8 years. The law, passed on July 31, eliminates previous requirements for crypto asset conversions to undergo verification checks. Lawyer András Gaál from Schonherr noted the prior ru

According to BeInCrypto, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that data center customers' demand for memory reaches approximately 150% of the company's available supply in Q3 fiscal results. The company reported Q3 revenue of $41.46 billion, compared to $9.3 billion year-over-year, with gross margin rising to 84.6% and expected to further increase to around 86% in Q4. Mehrotra noted that memory has become strategic infrastructure in the AI era, with permanent demand resets reshaping the cyclical ec

UK retail sales grew 1.6% year-over-year in July, falling short of the 2.2% forecast and down from 4.2% in June, according to official data.

UK public sector net borrowing came in at £1.8 billion in July, significantly below the forecast of £0 billion and a sharp decline from £16 billion in the previous month.

UK core retail sales fell to -0.9% month-on-month in July, disappointing forecasts of -0.50%. The previous month's figure was revised down from 1.10% to 0.9%.

UK core retail sales rose 2.3% year-on-year in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, falling short of the 3.3% forecast and down from a revised 5% in June. The reading indicates a deceleration in consumer spending momentum among British households.

UK retail sales (seasonally adjusted) declined 0.5% month-on-month in July, matching the forecast of -0.50%. The previous month's reading was revised downward from 1.00% to 0.7%.

The UK government's fiscal deficit widened to GBP 29.006 billion in July, according to latest data. The previous month's figure was revised upward to GBP 15.635 billion.

According to Jin10, five large forex option contracts on EUR/USD, USD/CHF, and AUD/USD with strikes exceeding 1 billion each are set to expire on August 21 at 10:00 PM Beijing time. Risk management is advised ahead of the expiration.

According to Gate, gold (XAUUSD) broke above $4,550 per ounce, currently trading at $4,551.84, with a 24-hour gain of 1.6%.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, FalconX transferred approximately 1.42 million HYPE tokens (about $104 million) to multiple exchanges over the past 24 hours on August 21. Gate received the largest allocation of 481,000 tokens ($34.14 million), followed by Bybit with 325,000 tokens ($24.15 million) and OKX with 326,000 tokens ($24.17 million). Coinbase received 250,000 tokens ($18.58 million), with smaller amounts going to other platforms, indicating ongoing liquidation of HYPE positions.

According to ChainCatcher, the probability of Ethereum reaching $2,400 before August 31 on Polymarket surged to 82% in 24 hours, up 40%. The odds for ETH hitting $2,500 also rose to 50%, gaining 26% over the same period. The market uses Binance's ETH/USDT trading pair as reference.

According to ChainCatcher, WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff disputed Sun Yuchen's account of the recent court proceedings, stating that multiple claims made by Sun Yuchen were false. While Sun Yuchen claimed the court supported his position and called the outcome a major victory, no ruling was actually issued. Zach stated that Sun Yuchen repackaged a personal request that was temporarily held at the court as a victory, and noted that WLFI's motion to dismiss Sun Yuchen's personal claims remains pend

According to Kpler data, container shipping rates on the Europe line surged over 10% today (August 21), marking the highest level since early June, driven by escalating geopolitical tensions. Vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz fell sharply to 7 on Thursday from 14 the previous day, with no ultra-large tankers or LNG carriers passing through. Separately, Typhoon Baiyudolphin caused Shanghai port container ship congestion to spike, with vessel numbers reaching 188 at one point, disruptin