CoinDesk
Bitcoin held near $64,300 on Friday while South Korea's Kospi index staged its biggest rebound in years, with the index surging as much as 17% on the day. Samsung and SK Hynix both jumped more than 23%, and Taiwan Semiconductor rose 10%, making chipmakers the biggest contributors to a broad Asian advance. Crypto markets barely registered the move, with ether at $1,907, XRP at $1.08, solana at $74 and dogecoin at $0.07, and roughly $27 billion changing hands in bitcoin and $7 billion in ether. BNB was the exception, up 3% to $590 and the only major holding a meaningful weekly gain.
Why it matters
Bitcoin tracked semiconductors closely through July, rising and falling with the chip trade. It held through last Thursday's $797 billion drop in U.S. megacap technology, held through Korea's record two-day crash midweek, and has now sat out the rebound as well. The Kospi move followed the largest rally in U.S. chip stocks in more than a year, with the Nasdaq 100 snapping a six-day losing streak, Amazon up nearly 10% after hours on strong cloud earnings, and Apple down 6% as supply shortages hit its sales forecast. Decoupling after months of correlation is the signal worth watching.
Market impact
The weekly picture stays soft. Hyperliquid's HYPE is down 5% over seven sessions, solana and XRP are each off 3%, and bitcoin has lost 2%. Ether and dogecoin are up 1%. A major security breach also failed to register on price, with about 594 bitcoin, worth roughly $38 million, swept from around 500 wallets through a flaw in Coldcard hardware wallet key generation. In currencies, the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan left rates unchanged, treasuries rose alongside the dollar, and oil extended its decline.
Frequently asked questions
-
Why didn't bitcoin move with the Kospi's 17% rally?
Bitcoin tracked semiconductors closely through July, but held through the two-week selloff and now also sat out Friday's rebound. The decoupling after months of correlation is the signal worth watching.
-
What happened to Coldcard hardware wallets?
A flaw in Coldcard key generation let hackers sweep roughly 594 bitcoin, worth about $38 million, from around 500 wallets on Thursday. The exploit did not visibly affect bitcoin's price.
-
How did major altcoins perform this week?
BNB was up 3% on Friday to $590 and the only major holding a meaningful weekly gain. Hyperliquid's HYPE was down 5%, solana and XRP each off 3%, bitcoin down 2%, while ether and dogecoin gained 1%.
-
What drove the Kospi's record rebound?
The index bounced as much as 17% from a three-day rout that had taken it more than 40% below its June peak. Samsung and SK Hynix both jumped over 23%, with Taiwan Semiconductor up 10%.
-
What did the Bank of Japan decide on rates?
The BoJ left rates unchanged on Friday, as economists had expected. The yen weakened afterward, giving back part of Thursday's gain, its largest against the dollar in more than two years, which followed another round of intervention by Japanese authorities.
CryptoSlate
Crypto News
Benjamin Cowen
Crypto Capital Venture
TheBlock
CoinTelegraph