Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $80,000 into Tuesday’s Wall Street open as crypto and gold gave way to gains in US equities.

Key points:

• Bitcoin upside momentum fizzles as $80,000 proves difficult to flip to support.
• Gold joins BTC price downside after multimonth highs of $4,697 per ounce as US 30-year bond yields target three-week lows.
• Attention switches from bonds to US inflation data and Nvidia earnings tomorrow.

Bitcoin price struggles to cement $80,000 reclaim

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD falling as low as $78,111 on Bitstamp after reaching new 14-week highs of $81,265.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The $80,000 zone, which traders previously earmarked as an area of strong sell pressure, proved difficult to reclaim as US trading hours appeared to increase downside across both Bitcoin and gold. XAU/USD saw local lows of $4,605 per ounce, down nearly 2% on the day. 

XAU/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

US stocks moved inversely to gold and crypto last week, coming under pressure as both rallied. This divergence has continued this week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index posting modest daily gains of 0.2% and 0.5%, respectively.

Nasdaq Composite Index one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The comparative strength appeared to mostly brush off a brewing trade-tariff spat between the US and Canada in which negotiations recently broke down. In his latest posts on Truth Social, US president Donald Trump accused Canada of “ripping off” the US.

“Over the last 10 years, the United States lost, on average, 60 Billion Dollars a year with Canada. No more!” he pledged.

US government bond yields continued to cool on the day, with 30-year yields dropping below 5.2% and eyeing their lowest levels since Aug. 7. Last week’s crypto surge came as yields hit heights not seen since January 2007 and the US Treasury announced bigger debt buyback operations to tame the upside.

US 30-year bond yield one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Commenting on the prospect of further bond-market interventions in the future, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter suggested that interest-rate cuts — a key potential liquidity driver for crypto markets — were not an option in the current inflation environment.

“The reality is that the Fed cannot cut rates in this environment and the Trump Administration knows this. So, direct bond market intervention is the only solution to drive interest rates and yields lower over the short-run,” it wrote in a post on X. 

“Our view? Don’t fight the Treasury.”

As Cointelegraph reported, market consensus calls for an ongoing rate-hike freeze at the Fed’s September meeting, with the odds of this outcome currently at 61.9%, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Fed target-rate probabilities for September FOMC meeting (screenshot). Source: CME Group

PCE, Nvidia earnings on the radar

Discussing the immediate macro outlook, trading firm QCP Capital shifted the focus away from the Treasury toward fresh US inflation data and the Fed’s Jackson Hole economic symposium, taking place from Aug. 27-29.

Related: First bear-market trend line reclaim since 2025: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

Wednesday will see the July print of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, known as the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which saw its first month-on-month decrease since 2020 past June. Tech giant Nvidia, meanwhile, will also report earnings on Wednesday, adding another potential risk-asset volatility catalyst.

SpaceX stock has gained about 2% after JPMorgan retained its Overweight rating and $240 price target, implying roughly 75% upside from recent trading levels.

SpaceX stock gets a $240 price target

JPMorgan analyst Doug Anmuth has maintained an Overweight rating on SpaceX and a $240 price target, telling investors that the bank has become “increasingly positive” about the prospects for Grok following the Cursor acquisition.

Based on SpaceX’s recent share price, the target indicates potential upside of about 75%. SPCX rose around 2% in Tuesday’s premarket session and traded near $138 during the regular session, compared with its previous close of $135.

Anmuth said the completed purchase of Cursor represents an important step in the development of SpaceX’s enterprise artificial intelligence business. JPMorgan has already observed “tangible improvements” after Cursor data was added to supplemental training for recent Grok models, according to the analyst note.

Grok’s ability to generate revenue from business customers could become a more important part of SpaceX’s AI operations if corporate adoption increases, the bank said. JPMorgan based its positive view partly on the performance and pricing of Grok 4.6, which it believes could help the model compete for enterprise clients.

Bernstein has also described Grok as a possible “wildcard” for SpaceX, according to a separate analyst assessment. The firm said Cursor and the latest Grok model could strengthen the company’s AI services, although the assessment remains an analyst projection rather than a financial result reported by SpaceX.

Cursor gives Grok access to enterprise users

SpaceX completed its $60 billion stock-based acquisition of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor, on Aug. 14. As crypto.news reported after closing, Anysphere became a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary through a merger involving X67 Inc., an entity created to carry out the transaction.

An Aug. 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Cursor investors were entitled to receive about 389.3 million SpaceX Class A shares. The companies had signed the merger agreement on June 16, shortly after SpaceX completed its public listing.

Cursor provides AI tools that help developers write, edit, and debug software. The platform has more than 50,000 business customers, while reports cited by JPMorgan said nearly two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies use its products.

Access to that customer base could help SpaceX sell Grok tools to companies already using Cursor, according to the bank. Cursor’s developer data has also supported additional model training, giving JPMorgan an early basis for assessing how the acquisition may affect Grok’s performance.

SpaceX recently released Grok 4.6 for tasks including research, data analysis, software engineering, and application development. JPMorgan said the model’s capabilities and lower costs relative to some competing services could support adoption among business customers.

Financial benefits from the combination have not yet been established in SpaceX’s reported results. The acquisition closed after the end of the company’s second quarter, meaning investors will need later filings to assess Cursor’s contribution to revenue, costs and operating losses.

SpaceX share unlock could raise the public float

The bullish call arrives before another large release of SpaceX shares. JPMorgan estimates that approximately 370 million shares could become eligible for trading across Sept. 9 and Sept. 10, potentially increasing the company’s public float by around 20%.

Eligibility does not mean every unlocked share will immediately be sold. Investors covered by an expired restriction may continue holding their positions, while the actual effect depends on how many shareholders decide to sell.

SpaceX faced a similar event on Aug. 20, when around 319 million shares became eligible for trading. An earlier release on Aug. 6 covered as many as 911.5 million shares, but the feared wave of selling did not immediately materialize.

During the session following the first expiration, SPCX climbed 14.09% to $131.06 as lockup concerns eased. Argus also assigned the stock a Buy rating with a $160 target, providing a more cautious valuation than JPMorgan’s current $240 objective.

The September release could still affect trading by increasing the number of shares that insiders and other early investors are permitted to sell. JPMorgan’s projected 20% expansion in the float also indicates that the event is smaller than the combined August releases, although selling pressure cannot be determined until trading begins.

Retail sentiment remained bearish on Stocktwits over the preceding 24 hours, according to the supplied report. Individual users offered bullish views, including one prediction that SPCX would reach $250 by the end of 2026 and another assessment that the shares were oversold. Such posts represent personal opinions rather than professional price forecasts.

U.S. investors weigh AI growth against valuation

SpaceX entered the Nasdaq under the SPCX ticker on June 12 after selling 555.6 million Class A shares for $135 each. The offering raised $75 billion and valued the company at roughly $1.75 trillion, according to its U.S. securities filings.

An earlier report on the IPO identified JPMorgan as one of the banks in the underwriting syndicate, alongside Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Securities, and Citigroup. The U.S. listing gave retail and institutional investors direct access to SpaceX’s rocket, satellite internet, and AI operations.

SPCX later reached an intraday record of $225.64 before falling below its IPO price during July. The stock traded as low as $119.79 after seven consecutive losing sessions, according to July market coverage, before recovering during August.

JPMorgan’s $240 target sits above the June record and would require the shares to regain all losses from their post-IPO peak. The price objective also depends partly on revenue growth from an AI unit that now includes Grok and Cursor, making subsequent earnings reports important for testing the bank’s assumptions.

Morningstar offered a much lower assessment after the IPO, estimating fair value at $63 per share. Oppenheimer had assigned a $190 target, while Morgan Stanley retained a $300 target and a $600 bull-case estimate after the Cursor transaction closed. Each target is based on the respective firm’s valuation method and should not be treated as a guaranteed future price.

Institutional ownership has also expanded since the listing. A U.S. regulatory filing showed that Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo held nearly 5.66 million SpaceX shares worth about $966 million as of June 30, according to Reuters. The position was the bank’s largest disclosed U.S. equity holding at the end of the second quarter.

Starlink seeks another approval in India

Outside the AI business, SpaceX’s Starlink unit has submitted a fresh request to Indian regulators for permission to deploy its second-generation satellite constellation, Reuters reported on Aug. 20, citing an Economic Times report and people familiar with the application.

The proposed Gen 2 network would include direct-to-device connectivity, allowing compatible mobile phones to connect with satellites without dedicated Starlink terminals.

Starlink already holds a telecom license in India but still requires approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre for the constellation. The latest application covers satellites designed to operate in low Earth orbit at altitudes ranging from about 340 to 615 kilometers.

Your feet can stay on the floor

World Liberty Financial has rolled out its USD1 stablecoin in native form on the Canton Network, positioning the token to act as the “cash leg” inside transactions that also involve tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The move targets institutional workflows where settlement often needs to occur alongside issuance, redemption, and collateralization rather than through separate payment rails.

In a Tuesday announcement, the project said institutions can use USD1 on Canton for settlement across activities such as derivatives collateral, institutional lending, and asset issuance and redemptions. The company emphasized that native issuance is designed to let USD1 clear alongside tokenized assets within the same transaction while leveraging Canton’s privacy and permissioning controls.

Key takeaways

• USD1 is now available natively on the Canton Network, aiming to streamline settlement for tokenized real-world assets.
• The stablecoin is positioned for institutional use cases including derivatives collateral, lending, and asset issuance/redemptions.
• World Liberty says native issuance enables USD1 to settle in the same transaction as tokenized assets while using Canton’s privacy/permissioning features.
• USD1’s circulating market capitalization is about $4.05 billion, making it the sixth-largest stablecoin per DeFiLlama.
• USD1 is managed by BitGo Bank & Trust for reserve oversight and for minting/redemption processing.

Why native settlement matters for tokenized RWAs

The practical value of launching a stablecoin “natively” on a blockchain geared toward institutional finance is that it reduces the friction between tokenized assets and payment settlement. Rather than treating cash settlement as an off-chain or external step, native issuance supports the idea that stablecoin flows can occur in parallel with asset transfers, issuance events, or contract-based collateral movements.

World Liberty’s framing is that USD1 can be used for settlement where tokenized RWAs are involved—specifically as a cash leg in transactions spanning derivatives collateral and institutional lending. That matters because many tokenization efforts hinge not only on representing assets on-chain, but also on how reliably and efficiently the corresponding payment leg can be executed under the constraints institutions require.

The company also pointed to Canton’s privacy and permissioning controls. For investors and institutions evaluating tokenized asset infrastructure, these features are often central: they can determine what data is visible, who can interact with what components, and how compliance-oriented workflows are structured within blockchain systems.

USD1’s current scale and who operates it

USD1 has a market capitalization of about $4.05 billion, according to DeFiLlama stablecoin data, where the token is described as the sixth-largest stablecoin by market cap. In terms of issuer and operations, World Liberty said USD1 is issued by BitGo Bank & Trust, which manages reserves and handles the minting and redemption process.

That operational separation—stablecoin reserve management and issuance processing handled by a named bank entity, while on-chain usage is enabled through a network integration—underscores how the stablecoin business model often blends traditional treasury controls with blockchain distribution. For participants on Canton, this structure can affect assumptions around redemption processes and reserve oversight, especially when stablecoin settlement is intended for regulated or institutional settings.

Canton’s institutional focus and the network’s tokenized-asset activity

Canton positions itself as a public, permissionless blockchain designed for institutional finance, and the company says it handles large volumes of tokenized asset movement. In the update accompanying the USD1 integration, Canton claimed it processes and issues more than $9 trillion in tokenized assets each month. It also cited more than $350 billion in onchain US Treasurys moving across the network daily.

Those figures are not direct guarantees about future USD1 usage on Canton, but they do help contextualize why a stablecoin integration is strategically meaningful. If tokenized securities and RWA instruments are already being transferred with significant frequency, the settlement layer becomes a key bottleneck—or a competitive advantage—depending on how efficiently it can match payment timing and compliance requirements.

By placing USD1 into that environment, World Liberty appears to be aiming for deeper integration with institutional token flows rather than limiting USD1 to a standalone stablecoin role within broader DeFi markets.

Integration timing: part of a wider push on Canton

The USD1 launch follows another expansion announcement for Canton reported last week. According to the earlier coverage, Digital Asset and former US House Speaker Paul Ryan’s American Idea Foundation unveiled plans to pilot a Canton-based system for distributing state-administered benefits across three US states, with an anticipated start in 2027.

While the USD1 initiative and the benefits distribution pilot are clearly different in purpose, they both point to Canton’s broader ambition: attracting enterprise-grade use cases and institutional participants. For observers, the sequence is important because it suggests the network is actively positioning its rails for multiple categories of on-chain activity—ranging from financial settlements involving tokenized assets to non-traditional public distribution workflows.

What to watch next for USD1 on Canton

With USD1 now live natively on Canton, the key question for market participants is how quickly institutions move from testing to sustained on-chain settlement for tokenized asset transactions. Watch for evidence of USD1 being used in the specific workflows World Liberty highlighted—especially collateral and issuance/redemption flows—as that will indicate whether native settlement delivers measurable operational advantages in real transactions.