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U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow of $265.4 million on July 31st, led by BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) with $122.7 million redeemed, followed by Fidelity's FBTC with $54.8 million. This contrasted sharply with the previous day, July 30th, which recorded a net inflow of $233.1 million, largely driven by IBIT. Meanwhile, spot Ethereum ETFs moved in the opposite direction, attracting a net inflow of approximately $9.03 million, with BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) leading. This divergence is part of a broader rotation of institutional interest toward altcoin-linked products, with observers linking the renewed interest in Ether to its role in tokenization and stablecoin settlements. The July 31st outflow continues a longer-term trend, marking the third consecutive quarter of net outflows for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Overall assets under management remain around $105 billion, but uncertainty surrounding crypto regulation and Bitcoin's price volatility have heightened investor caution. As the largest fund, IBIT's daily flows are expected to set the tone for the broader Bitcoin ETF market.

Cryptocurrency analytics firm Santiment reported that negative sentiment toward Bitcoin on social media has reached a historically high level. The ratio of positive to negative comments about Bitcoin on platforms like X, Reddit, and Telegram has fallen to its lowest point since the firm began using its modern social monitoring system. A key driver of this sentiment is a vulnerability discovered in the firmware of Coldcard hardware wallets, shaking investor confidence in personal storage and cold wallets—previously considered the safest method for securing crypto assets. Santiment noted that while past crises like the collapses of FTX and Mt. Gox were larger in scale, the Coldcard incident uniquely shifted discussions toward hardware security and cold storage vulnerabilities, rather than centralized exchanges or leveraged trading platforms. Data shows only 0.58 positive comments for every negative one, indicating fear has significantly outweighed greed. Although the data covers just one day, Santiment stated the current panic level exceeds peaks seen earlier this year regarding war concerns and surpasses social media panic recorded during previous major crypto crises.

Michael Saylor stated that it has become mathematically impossible for BIP-110 to achieve the 55% voluntary support threshold within the current Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment cycle. Based on his analysis of 946 blocks generated up to block 960,561, only 24 blocks contained version field signals supporting BIP-110. Saylor claims all these signals came from DATUM miners sharing rewards via the OCEAN mining pool, with no supporting signals from non-OCEAN miners. He argues this situation prevents BIP-110 from reaching the required consensus level and that the current signals do not represent broad miner agreement. BIP-110 is a proposal aimed at making it more difficult to embed large data like images or text into the Bitcoin network, beyond simple monetary transactions. Its proponents argue Bitcoin should be used primarily for sending money to avoid network congestion. Saylor opposes this, believing the Bitcoin network should not dictate which transactions are necessary and that rules shouldn't change based on the preferences of a few. He also suggests that high support metrics may be inflated by automated signaling software rather than reflecting genuine miner consensus.

The article discusses using dice rolls to generate secure Bitcoin wallet seeds, providing entropy independent of potentially flawed hardware random number generators. It explains that each fair dice roll offers about 2.585 bits of entropy, with around 50 rolls needed for a standard 12-word seed phrase and 99+ recommended for higher security. This method gained attention after a vulnerability was revealed in some Coldcard hardware wallets, where a faulty firmware RNG (dating back to 2021) compromised generated keys. The analysis notes that while a dice-generated main seed was safe from this specific flaw, other Coldcard functions (like creating paper wallets, backup keys, or passwords) could still be vulnerable if they used the defective RNG. The piece argues that while dice-based entropy is technically robust, the manual process is error-prone, tedious, and unrealistic for most new users, who might make mistakes in recording or inputting rolls. It concludes that while manual entropy generation should remain an option for advanced users, the long-term goal is to develop reliable, user-friendly hardware and software that securely generates randomness without requiring specialized knowledge. Coldcard users are advised to check their firmware version and replace any secondary secrets (like paper wallet keys) created with vulnerable devices, while also considering multi-signature setups with devices from different manufacturers for added security.

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warns in an interview that the current AI boom shows classic bubble characteristics, which could lead to significant economic downturns as seen in past cycles like 1929 or 2000. He explains that speculative enthusiasm, fueled by debt and overvaluation, often precedes a crash when rising rates or taxation force asset sales, causing widespread losses and recession. Dalio also outlines his "Big Cycle" theory, describing an approximate 80-year pattern where widening wealth gaps, massive government deficits, and shifting geopolitical power (like China's rise) create internal conflict and global instability. He emphasizes that we are in a late-cycle, transitional phase where traditional powers like the US and UK face decline. For personal wealth protection, Dalio advises diversification beyond cash into assets like stocks, bonds, real estate, and particularly gold, which he prefers over Bitcoin. While he holds about 1% of his portfolio in Bitcoin as a non-printable hard asset, he views gold as more secure from technological or governmental threats. Regarding AI's impact, Dalio believes it will disproportionately benefit capital owners, worsening inequality by replacing both physical and cognitive labor. He suggests that human intuition and emotional intelligence, combined with AI, will be key for future workers. On taxation, Dalio argues that wealth taxes are impractical and risk triggering asset sell-offs, reducing productive investment. He points to the UK as a cautionary example of debt, low productivity, and political strife. Geopolitically, Dalio foresees a more regionalized world, with the US showing weakness in prolonged conflicts like with Iran, akin to past imperial declines. The ideal outcome, he suggests, is coexisting powerful blocs (e.g., Americas, China-Asia Pacific) without major war.