Night crypto digest: JPMorgan distanced itself from Polymarket, Gemini is drowning in losses, and Norway found a loophole to ETH
While the market consolidated in narrow ranges, several landmark events occurred in the industry that will determine the balance of power for the coming months. The relationship between traditional financial giants and crypto projects is becoming increasingly complex, and institutional players are seeking new ways to enter digital assets.
Market in a sideways trend: bitcoin and ether without momentum
At the time of writing this review, bitcoin (BTC) was trading near the $63,167 mark. During the night, quotes held in the $63,000 – $63,550 range, but by morning selling pressure increased slightly, and the price slid to the lower boundary. Ether (ETH) showed similar dynamics, fluctuating in the $1,874 – $1,890 corridor, and at the time of analysis was around $1,877.
Altcoins from the top 20 showed minimal volatility but mostly turned red. The leaders of the decline were TRON (TRX) and Dogecoin (DOGE), losing 1.12% and 1.02%, respectively. The remaining assets fell by less than one percent.
In the top 100, the situation was more interesting. The absolute leader of growth was the Velvet (VELVET) token, which gained 28.78%. Ether.fi (ETHFI) and Cosmos (ATOM) also showed impressive dynamics, rising by 11.95% and 11.54%. The day's outsiders were Lighter (LIT) with a drop of 6.03%, Stable (STABLE) — down 5.80%, and LayerZero (ZRO) — down 4.47%.
ETFs: divergent flows and pressure on bitcoin
Flows into spot crypto ETFs continue to show a mixed picture. Ethereum funds attracted $6.72 million over the day, and XRP products — $2.25 million. However, bitcoin ETFs faced significant outflows, losing $131.13 million. This signals continued caution among institutional investors regarding the leading cryptocurrency.
Against this backdrop, over the past 24 hours, positions of 69,417 traders were liquidated for a total of $210.53 million. The largest liquidation order was on the BTCUSDT pair on the Bybit exchange and amounted to $1.98 million.
JPMorgan and Polymarket: severed ties
One of the main news of the night was the report that banking giant JPMorgan severed banking relations with the prediction platform Polymarket a year ago. The reason was regulatory risks. The bank offered the company to find a new partner, and Polymarket ultimately moved to another financial institution.
Notably, the parties retained other business ties. JPMorgan even invited Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan to a closed conference for clients and also claims the role of organizer of a potential IPO. Polymarket itself is now raising more than $1 billion at a valuation of $20 billion — twice as high as a year earlier.
Gemini: fourth consecutive loss-making quarter
The crypto exchange Gemini reported a net loss of $107.7 million for the second quarter. This is already the fourth consecutive loss-making period, although revenue grew 37% year-over-year, reaching $45.5 million. The volume of assets on the platform fell by 54%, to $8.4 billion, which the company attributes to falling prices and an outflow of institutional clients.
In response, Gemini is actively developing prediction markets and stock trading, and the operating loss was reduced by 18% compared to the previous quarter. This shows that the exchange is trying to diversify revenue but has not yet been able to turn a profit.
Norway: indirect access to ETH
The Scandinavian giant — Norway's sovereign wealth fund — disclosed an investment of approximately 6.15 million shares in BitMine Immersion Technologies worth about $81.87 million as of June 30. Thus, the fund gained indirect access to ETH through a public company rather than through a direct purchase of digital coins.
BitMine was not listed in the report for the end of 2025, and the fund did not disclose the date and purchase price of the shares. BitMine itself previously reported that as of August 9 it held about 5.805 million ETH, of which approximately 5.067 million were in staking.
My comment: The Norwegian fund's decision is a classic example of an institutional "loophole" that allows bypassing internal restrictions on direct investments in cryptocurrencies. This creates a precedent for other major players who will be able to follow the same strategy, increasing corporate pressure on the ETH market. As for JPMorgan and Gemini, these cases clearly demonstrate: even with growing revenue and interest in the industry, regulatory uncertainty and operational costs remain the main brakes on mass adoption.