The U.S. Department of Defense says the ban on Anthropic remains in effect, after Lutnick earlier stated the company had reached a settlement with the government.

Jiang Zhuoer, founder of B.TOP (Lianbit Mining Pool), shared his recent trading moves, revealing that he sold his entire BTC position when Bitcoin’s price hit approximately $82,050. Jiang stated that his shift from his prior stance of "not shorting ETH" to shorting BTC was driven mainly by ETH’s high volatility. Meanwhile, after BTC ETF funds showed weakness and recorded their first outflow, Bitcoin instead rallied to near the upper boundary of the $81,500 range, creating a solid selling opportunity. He added that this round of Bitcoin consolidation has only lasted around 13 days, which is insufficient time to break through the key resistance zone of $83,000 to $84,000. The short-term upward wick pattern that emerged after BTC broke above $82,000 also serves as a strong trading signal. For Bitcoin’s future trend, Jiang outlined a scenario: BTC will first pull back to the $70,000–$72,000 range, which he considers the "last entry opportunity". It may then consolidate between $76,000 and $82,000 while identifying take-profit levels. If the price rises further to the $83,000–$84,000 zone, he will use $82,300 as a stop-loss reference.

According to Bitget market data, Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened higher: the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.27% at opening, SoftBank gained 5.8%, Kioxia rose 0.70%; South Korea’s KOSPI index opened up 1.2%, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both rising more than 2%.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the August nonfarm payrolls report tonight. Market forecasts show nonfarm payrolls will rise by just 56,000, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%. Market consensus views the U.S. labor market as currently "stable but weak"; weaker employment data will not necessarily directly prompt the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, as policy focus will remain on inflation trends. JPMorgan’s trading desk forecasts that if nonfarm payrolls exceed 95,000, the S&P 500 index could fall by 0.5% to 1.25%; if payrolls rise by only 5,000 to 35,000, the S&P 500 could gain 0.25% to 0.75%. Markets expect this nonfarm data to be a key variable influencing the Federal Reserve’s September policy outlook and short-term U.S. stock market moves. Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials indicate the labor market is not currently a policy focus. Fed Governor Barr described the employment situation as "stable" earlier this week, while Governor Waller called the jobs outlook "satisfactory" on Thursday. These assessments do not signal a strong labor market; instead, they mean that with inflation yet to ease further, the Fed could consider raising interest rates while minimizing any negative impact on employment.

US Vice President JD Vance said today that despite the recent renewed clashes between the United States and Iran, he does not consider the current situation a "war" and did not provide a clear timeline for an end to the conflict. Vance stated that the US has concluded major combat operations against Iran, and is now focused on preventing Tehran from further disrupting commercial oil shipping. The US will not negotiate as long as Tehran continues attacking commercial shipping. Meanwhile, Vance renewed his call for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, arguing that lower rates would help improve US housing affordability, and noted the White House is taking steps to push rates down, adding "it would be even better if the Federal Reserve could assist." This stands in contrast to recent remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Wash, who has emphasized controlling inflation and bringing it down to the 2% target.

US Vice President Vance held a press conference at the White House on Thursday local time. When addressing Iran, he stated: "Approximately 15 million barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. Gasoline prices are high because Iran is firing on ships. We are taking a range of measures to pressure Iran to halt its attacks on vessels. My advice to Iranians is: stop acting like maniacs, and stop firing on merchant ships. We have a number of additional tools at our disposal regarding the Iran issue, some that Trump would use, others he would not. Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has nearly returned to pre-conflict levels. However, we will not engage in talks with Iran unless it stops attacking ships. We are not currently carrying out major military operations."

U.S. stocks closed on Thursday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.18%, the S&P 500 gained 1.06%, and the Nasdaq advanced 1.4%. Tesla (TSLA.O) climbed 5.4%, Nvidia (NVDA.O) rose 1.8%, and SpaceX (SPCX.O) jumped 6.4%. In crypto-themed concept stocks, MSTR surged 17.56%, CRCL gained 16.44%, COIN advanced 10.14%, BMNR climbed 14.66%, SBET rose 10.86%, and PURR jumped 12.81%.