Good morning everybody.
It’s Friday, August 14th, 2026, and Bitcoin has slipped below $63,000.
We’re sitting around $62,667, liquidity remains weak, ETF flows aren’t providing much support, and the Fear & Greed Index has fallen to 36, firmly in fear.
XRP is also sitting right on the edge of losing $1.
So yes, welcome to Friday in a crypto bear market.
Let’s get into the news.
MSCI Could Kick Strategy and Metaplanet Out of Major Indexes
MSCI has opened a consultation that could exclude certain non-operating companies from its Global Investable Market Indexes.
The proposed screen could affect major Bitcoin treasury companies including Strategy and Metaplanet.
This matters because inclusion in major indexes creates automatic demand from funds and other investors that track those indexes.
Remove a company and that process can work in reverse.
It’s also another question for the Bitcoin treasury model. At what point does a company stop being viewed as an operating business that owns Bitcoin and start being viewed primarily as an investment vehicle for Bitcoin?
That distinction could become increasingly important.
Gemini Continues Getting Crushed
Gemini fell again following second-quarter results that showed continued weakness in the exchange business.
And yes, I bought the IPO.
My cost basis is somewhere around $25, and the stock is now trading around $4 and change.
So I basically set a couple thousand dollars on fire.
Great investment, Matt.
The Winklevoss twins deserve credit for being early Bitcoin advocates. They were orange-pilled before most people had any idea what Bitcoin was, built one of the early regulated exchanges, and helped onboard people into crypto.
But at some point, being a pioneer isn’t enough.
You still have to build a good business.
So guys, chop chop.
Pump my bags.
Crypto.com Pushes Into Tokenized Stocks
Cronos, the token associated with the Crypto.com ecosystem, jumped approximately 5% to around five cents, its strongest performance since mid-July, after Crypto.com expanded into tokenized equities.
Users can now gain exposure to approximately 1,500 U.S. stocks and funds, with investments starting at $1.
This is another example of the line between crypto exchanges and traditional brokerages disappearing.
Robinhood is adding more crypto.
Crypto exchanges are adding stocks.
Traditional financial institutions are tokenizing funds.
Eventually, these categories may not look nearly as separate as they do today.
The SEC Cancels Its Reg Crypto Meeting
The SEC canceled today’s scheduled meeting on proposed cryptocurrency rules.
The meeting was expected to include proposals covering crypto fundraising and potentially an innovation exemption for certain digital-asset business models.
The proposed fundraising rules reportedly could have made it easier for crypto companies to raise capital through token sales without satisfying all of the requirements associated with traditional public offerings.
The SEC canceled the meeting late Thursday afternoon.
So we’re waiting again.
Crypto has spent years asking for actual rules instead of regulation through enforcement.
Getting those rules written apparently remains the difficult part.
The CFTC Keeps Moving While CLARITY Stalls
The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet August 20 to discuss digital assets, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets.
That discussion could include regulatory actions designed to complement future legislation while the CLARITY Act remains stalled in Congress.
Congress can’t seem to get this done.
Meanwhile, the agencies still have an industry to regulate.
That means we’re going to continue seeing regulators attempt to build pieces of the framework while lawmakers fight over the larger legislation.
JPMorgan Reportedly Debanked Polymarket
According to reporting discussed in today’s show, JPMorgan ended its banking relationship with Polymarket in late 2025over regulatory concerns.
Polymarket had previously agreed to a $1.4 million CFTC settlement in 2022 and was barred from serving U.S. customers before eventually returning to the American market in late 2025.
I don’t like debanking.
And the reason isn’t simply sympathy for the company.
Debanking can create problems for everybody using that company’s services.
I’ve seen this happen personally with someone working in crypto. His company had a legitimate bank account and legitimate contracts. The bank simply decided it didn’t want the business anymore, closed the account, and mailed him a check.
Meanwhile, he had outstanding contracts and money people were trying to pay him.
That’s the problem.
If somebody is committing fraud, prosecute the fraud.
If a business is illegal, shut it down through the legal process.
But simply removing banking access from lawful businesses because banks don’t like the industry creates another set of problems.
Is DeFi Really Decentralized Anymore?
There’s also a growing argument that much of what we call decentralized finance isn’t particularly decentralized.
Many DeFi protocols now rely on intermediaries, upgrade controls, circuit breakers, governance interventions, and other mechanisms that allow people or organizations to step in when something goes wrong.
Meanwhile, DeFi’s total value locked has reportedly fallen from approximately $167 billion in early October 2025 to around $75 billion today.
Welcome to the bear market.
But the larger question is legitimate.
At what point does DeFi become simply on-chain finance?
If somebody can pause the protocol, change the code, intervene in governance, or reverse decisions, then the word “decentralized” starts requiring a few more qualifications.
World Liberty Delays Its Maldives Resort Token
World Liberty Financial has reportedly delayed plans involving a token tied to a Maldives resort.
And this is exactly why the ethics fight surrounding the CLARITY Act isn’t going away.
Donald Trump’s family has significant financial interests in cryptocurrency while his administration and Congress are simultaneously determining the rules governing that industry.
I’ve criticized Democrats repeatedly for being too hostile toward crypto.
But they’re right to raise the conflict-of-interest question.
The President of the United States controls an enormous amount of political and military power. Allowing a sitting president or their family to raise money through crypto ventures involving international businesses and foreign interests creates obvious ethical problems.
That doesn’t mean crypto is bad.
It means presidents shouldn’t be using the office to create financial opportunities that could intersect with the decisions they make while holding power.
Those are two completely separate arguments.
And Congress should be able to understand both at the same time.
Crypto Prices
Bitcoin: $62,667, down 1.6%
Ethereum: $1,871, down approximately 0.8%
Tether: #3
BNB: $603, down approximately 0.8%
USDC: #5
XRP: $0.999, down approximately 0.5%
Solana: $75.35, down approximately 1%
TRON: $0.332, down approximately 0.3%
Hyperliquid: $56.09, down 2.6%
Dogecoin: $0.069, down 1.3%
Total Crypto Market Cap: $2.16 trillion
Fear & Greed Index: 36, Fear
My Take
Bitcoin is weakening again, but today’s more interesting stories are about what the crypto industry is becoming.
MSCI is questioning whether Bitcoin treasury companies such as Strategy and Metaplanet should even be treated like normal operating companies inside major indexes.
Crypto.com is offering exposure to 1,500 traditional stocks and funds.
The CFTC is moving ahead on crypto, AI, and prediction-market regulation while Congress remains stuck on the CLARITY Act.
And DeFi itself is increasingly looking less like completely decentralized finance and more like conventional financial services operating on blockchain infrastructure.
That’s probably where we’re headed.
The technology isn’t disappearing.
The boundaries between crypto and traditional finance are.
Have a great weekend.