Crypto Week Ahead: Aug. 17-23

Markets will be watching the Federal Reserve closely this week as policymakers try to lower inflation without triggering a recession or a sharp deterioration in employment. The release of the July FOMC minutes on Wednesday could provide additional insight into the central bank’s thinking on future rate moves.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, sees only a 25% chance of a rate hike in September. He expects the Fed to raise rates next in December, while forecasting that inflation could pick up again in early 2027.

Geopolitical tensions are another factor to monitor, as developments could influence market volatility and oil prices.

Higher interest rates generally create a tougher environment for cryptocurrencies because they reduce the appeal of riskier investments.

In crypto, EU operators have until Aug. 23 to stop transactions involving 14 designated crypto platforms, making the deadline an important regulatory development this week.

Key Events

All times ET

Crypto

• Aug. 18: Coinbase and Circle’s USDC revenue-sharing agreement enters its first three-year renewal period.
• Aug. 23: The EU’s restrictions on transactions involving 14 named crypto-asset service providers take effect.

Macro

• Aug. 17, 8:30 a.m.: Canada’s July CPI report, with annual inflation expected at 2.6% versus 2.8% previously.
• Aug. 18, 9:15 a.m.: U.S. July industrial production, expected to rise 0.3% month over month after a 0.1% increase previously.
• Aug. 19, 2 a.m.: U.K. July CPI, with headline inflation forecast at 3.0% versus 2.6% previously. Core CPI was last recorded at 2.6%.
• Aug. 19, 5 a.m.: Final euro-area July inflation figures, with headline inflation expected at 2.9% and core inflation at 2.5%.
• Aug. 19, 2 p.m.: Minutes from the Fed’s July 28-29 meeting.
• Aug. 20, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. weekly jobless claims for the period ending Aug. 15, expected at 201,000 versus 209,000 previously.
• Aug. 20, 7:30 p.m.: Japan’s July CPI report, with headline inflation previously at 1.7% and core CPI at 1.6%.
• Aug. 21, 2 a.m.: U.K. July retail sales, following a 1.0% monthly increase previously.
• Aug. 21, 4 a.m.: Preliminary August euro-area S&P Global Composite PMI, expected at 51.6 versus 52.0 previously.
• Aug. 21, 9:45 a.m.: Preliminary August U.S. S&P Global Composite PMI, forecast at 53.2 versus 54.5 previously.

Earnings

• Aug. 17: BitFuFu (FUFU), before the open; estimated EPS of $0.01.
• Aug. 18: Canaan (CAN), before the open; estimated EPS of -$0.14.
• Aug. 18: BTCS Inc. (BTCS), after the close.

Governance Votes

• Compound: Proposals 595 and 596 seek to reduce rates on deprecated markets to zero and introduce additional security upgrades for layer-2 networks. Voting ends Aug. 16.
• Frax Finance: FIP-450 and FIP-451 would add Gearbox and Royco yield strategies to sfrxUSD. Voting ends Aug. 17.
• ShapeShift DAO: Members are considering relocating the rFOX staking program from Arbitrum to Ethereum mainnet on Oct. 1 and temporarily raising revenue-sharing rewards to 50%. Voting closes Aug. 18.
• Rocket Pool: A proposal would replace Snapshot with RocketDash as the protocol’s official offchain signaling platform. Voting ends Aug. 19.
• GnosisDAO: Members are voting on converting Gnosis Chain from a standalone layer 1 into an Ethereum-settled rollup with synchronous mainnet composability. Voting ends Aug. 19.
• Decentraland DAO: A proposal seeks to introduce a clearer governance structure and appeals process for platform-wide bans. Voting closes Aug. 19.
• THORSwap: TIP-19 proposes moving THOR tokens to METRO on Ethereum mainnet at a 1:1 conversion ratio. Voting ends Aug. 22.

Token Unlocks

• Aug. 17: Aster (ASTER) — 1.8% of circulating supply, worth approximately $28.3 million.
• Aug. 18: Official Trump (TRUMP) — 4.1%, valued at roughly $40 million.
• Aug. 20: LayerZero (ZRO) — 4.5%, worth about $24.8 million.
• Aug. 20: Kaito (KAITO) — 6.2%, valued at approximately $11.7 million.
• Aug. 21: Avalanche (AVAX) — 0.7%, worth around $23.1 million.
• Aug. 21: Morpho (MORPHO) — 3.9%, valued at roughly $22.7 million.
• Aug. 21: Akedo Games (AKE) — 4.9%, worth approximately $14.1 million.

Token Launches

No major token launches are currently confirmed.

Conferences

• Aug. 17-20: Wyoming Blockchain Symposium 2026 in Wyoming.
• Aug. 20-21: Coinfest Asia 2026 in Bali.