Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Dips to $113,000 as White House Proposes Crypto Regulation Strategies

Digital gold experienced a decline, dragging the rest of the market down with it, while the U.S. continued to push for cryptocurrency regulation. The Federal Reserve maintained its key interest rate, ChatGPT faced scrutiny for leaking conversations through search engines, and other notable events unfolded over the past week.

On Monday, Bitcoin started off with a rise to $119,000, but failed to maintain the upward trend.

By midweek, Bitcoin was trading within the range of $115,000 to $118,000. Despite a brief uptick following the Fed meeting, the cryptocurrency began to drop, largely influenced by statements from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the imposition of 25% tariffs on India due to its trade relations with Russia.

A wave of selling began Thursday evening, pushing the asset down to $112,000. At the time of writing, it had rebounded slightly to $113,800, marking a weekly loss of 3.5%.

The decline in prices was also accompanied by outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs, with a net withdrawal of $643 million reported.

In contrast, Ethereum funds saw a positive shift, gaining $154 million.

However, the cryptocurrency itself mirrored the performance of Bitcoin over the past week. Following the previous rally, its drop was even steeper, at 8.5%.

All major digital assets also fell into the «red zone,» with SOL (-13%) and DOGE (-16%) suffering significant losses.

The overall market capitalization dropped by approximately 6% throughout the week, decreasing to $3.76 trillion, while Bitcoin’s dominance now stands at 60.3%.

On July 30, the Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged in the range of 4.25-4.5%.

«While fluctuations in net exports continue to impact indicators, the latest data show a slowdown in economic activity during the first half of the year. The unemployment rate remains low, and the job market is stable. Inflation continues to be elevated,» according to the Fed’s commentary.

The decision aligned with market expectations, but the majority (80.3%) are predicting a 25 basis point rate cut at the next meeting.

Nonetheless, Friday’s labor market data (Non-Farm Payroll) dulled the outlook, as it fell short of forecasts, with the number of unemployed rising from 14,000 to 73,000 over the month.

Potential delays in the Fed’s policy shift may stem from Trump’s trade tariffs. During a press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell stated:

«High tariffs have begun to more clearly reflect on the prices of certain goods, but their overall effect on economic activity and inflation remains to be assessed.»

Previously, Powell had emphasized that any rate cuts would depend on inflation and labor market indicators.

On July 30, the Ethereum mainnet celebrated its tenth anniversary since its launch. In honor of this milestone, the Ethereum Foundation team released free NFTs and announced a series of events.

Later, developer Justin Drake shared the foundation’s plans for blockchain development, highlighting the 100% uptime of the protocol since its inception, the variety of clients, and 35.7 million ETH worth $130 billion staked.

Drake identified scaling and the development of Layer 1 as the primary goals for the network. He anticipates minor performance improvements within the next 6-12 months, with a long-term objective of transitioning the blockchain into «beast mode»:

The Ethereum team is focusing on enhancements in the three main components of the protocol — consensus, data, and execution.

Co-founder Vitalik Buterin also shared his vision for the project’s future, emphasizing that the key goal is to ensure the network operates smoothly to maintain users’ digital autonomy.

He stated that the mission for the coming years will be to create applications «that push humanity forward and improve cooperation,» while also safeguarding users’ digital rights.

«In the next five to ten years, Ethereum will evolve from a leading platform for smart contracts to the foundation of a next-generation world economy,» he asserted.

The U.S. continues to actively promote cryptocurrency regulation. This week, the White House’s working group on digital asset markets released recommendations for overseeing the industry.

Included in the group were Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins. The document aims to usher in a «golden age of cryptocurrency.»

The authors proposed establishing a «taxonomy» of digital assets that clearly defines which cryptocurrencies should be considered securities and which should be treated as exchange-traded commodities. Oversight would be shared between the SEC and the CFTC.

«A rational regulatory framework is the best way to spur American innovation, protect investors from fraud, and keep our capital markets the envy of the world,» noted Atkins.

The report also recommends simplifying banking regulations to allow financial institutions to legally hold cryptocurrencies and offer services related to digital assets.

The group also emphasized the need to support stablecoins to maintain the dominance of the U.S. dollar. Congress is urged to create a specific tax policy that recognizes the unique characteristics of the digital asset class, including staking.

Following the release of the report, the head of the SEC announced the launch of «Project Crypto» — a comprehensive initiative to modernize regulations and turn the country into a «global crypto hub.»

According to Atkins, the SEC is shifting from a «regulation by enforcement» approach to fostering a favorable environment for innovation. He assured that clear rules for cryptocurrencies would be established, stating that most of them do not qualify as securities.

«In essence, this marks the beginning of the normalization of crypto finance in the U.S.,» concluded the expert.

This week, ChatGPT by OpenAI generated buzz after it indexed public dialogues through search engines. By filtering results on Google, Bing, and others, it was possible to find public conversations between users and the AI.

Often, these dialogues were of little consequence, with users asking for advice on bathroom repairs, understanding astrophysics, or seeking recipes.

By default, the chatbot did not make conversations public. The /share format only appeared if a user manually clicked the «Share» button in the chat and confirmed their action with «Create Link.» Names, instructions, and any messages added after publication remained private.

OpenAI explained that this was a short-term experiment that posed an excessive risk of unintended data disclosure. The sharing capability has since been removed from the app.

Previously, CEO Sam Altman stated in a podcast that personal conversations with ChatGPT do not have legal protection. As a result, courts can request all information shared by users with the chatbot if needed.

«Your conversations with a therapist, lawyer, or doctor are protected by confidentiality laws. We have not yet established similar norms for interactions with ChatGPT,» Altman acknowledged, recognizing the issue.

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