The US approved high-leverage Bitcoin trading while crypto founders remain legally blocked from raising funds

On May 29, the CFTC approved a Bitcoin perpetual contract for a regulated US exchange. Almost three months later, on Aug. 18, the SEC proposed a legal route through which crypto projects could someday raise money from the public under rules written for token networks. That's a pretty unusual order in which Washington is rebuilding the American crypto market. The rules for trading and hedging an established asset are already producing live products, while the rules that would let founders finance new assets still have to pass through public comments and another SEC vote.Bitcoin traded around $77,000 on Aug. 21, up about 22% over seven days, while CoinGlass recorded roughly $154.6 billion in 24-hour Bitcoin futures volume and $56.2 billion in open interest. Its latest rolling window also showed about $840 million of Bitcoin futures liquidations, while the previous day’s snapshot captured $3.1 billion of bearish crypto liquidations as BTC broke through $72,000. The windows overlap, so they describe stages of the same rally rather than separate totals.Both sets cover global platforms, including offshore markets, but they show how heavily a fast Bitcoin repricing travels through derivat...