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Bitcoin was little changed during the European morning, sitting around $64,500 following a slump to $62,500 on Thursday. That's near its 50-day moving average, which remains a tactical support line for traders. “If the decline develops, dynamics around the $63K and $61K levels, near where the 50 and 200-day moving averages are, will be important,” Alex Kuptsikevich, an FxPro senior market analyst, told CoinDesk in an email. “A failure of this support will open the way to $55K, which is quite frightening.” August has been a losing month for BTC eight times and a winning one five times, he added. "The average decline was 15.4% and the average rise was 26%."

Cathie Wood's ARK Invest sold $14.8 million of COIN shares on Thursday, the biggest single-day divestment since May 7 , ahead of Coinbase's second-quarter earnings announcement. The sale means the fund-management company sold more Coinbase shares on the first day of August than in the previous two months combined. After the market closed, Coinbase reported second-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street analysts' expectations. Profit, however, came in lower than the consensus. The exchange's shares, which fell 5.2% to $212.64 during regular trading, rallied briefly after the report and were little changed in pre-market trading. ARK sold a total of 69,069 COIN shares across two of its ETFs.

Hong Kong stock broker Futu Securities has introduced bitcoin and ether trading, and is offering shares in Alibaba and Nvidia as rewards to new clients. The company, which calls itself Hong Kong’s largest tech broker, is working on "expanding our crypto offerings in the near future," according to a report by the South China Morning Post. Futu is offering the crypto trading services through a partnership with cryptocurrency exchange HashKey Exchange, one of only two licensed in Hong Kong. It is also seeking a license to offer the same services for its subsidiary, Panthertrade. The entity is currently deemed-to-be-licensed by Hong Kong's regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission, which allows it to offer crypto services while it awaits full approval.

Chart of the Day

• The chart shows the U.S. Conference Board's leading, coincident and lagging economic indicators.
• Leading indicators trend lower as the other two rise, indicating economic weakness and a potential recessionary phase ahead.
• Crypto analysts said a Fed rate cut implemented against the backdrop of an economic swoon may not help bitcoin.

- Omkar Godbole

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