It wasn’t a good day to be Switzerland. As Trump’s tariff negotiation period came to an end, the land of cuckoo clocks, chocolate and obliging bankers found itself hit with a 39% levy - one of the steepest rates of all. For a country that has long gone out of its way to avoid pissing almost anyone off, it must have been a bitter blow. But the Swiss aren’t the only ones reeling.
Ever since Liberation Day back in April, the issue of US import tariffs has been hanging over the global economy like an ugly, ominous cloud. Countries have scrambled to negotiate, with some getting off relatively lightly and others… less so. But American businesses and ordinary citizens are also feeling the heat as the new economic reality begins to set in.
In today’s video, we take a look at what the finalised tariffs mean for the economy and for ordinary Americans. We look at how much money they’re generating for the US Treasury, where it’s coming from and how other countries are positioning themselves in this brave new world.
You can watch that video here.
📈 Crypto Market Forecast 📈
Historically, August is a bullish month for BTC in post halving years. And, in case you missed the memo, the last Bitcoin halving was in 2024, so 2025 is a post halving year. To put things into perspective, BTC saw a gain of 30% in August 2013; a 65% gain in August 2017; and a 13% gain in August 2021. So, even in the ‘worst’ scenario, August 2025 could still be double-digits green.
The unprecedented underperformance of altcoins so far has made everyone forget about how capital inevitably flows from BTC to altcoins, starting with ETH. In case you didn’t notice, ETH experienced a 55% gain in July. This foreshadows additional gains for ETH later this month and broader participation from other altcoins, starting with other large caps like XRP and SOL.
Evidence for this can be seen in the Bitcoin Dominance chart, which is in freefall at the time of writing. As a fun fact, Ben Cowen predicted that the top of BTC.D would be around 66%, and he hit the nail right on the head. It has been slowly but surely falling ever since, causing altcoins to outperform Bitcoin more and more. Again, it will start with the large caps, then the others.
But of course, this begs the question of what the catalyst will be for this continued rotation from BTC to altcoins. While it’s impossible to know the exact answer, recent events suggest that anything which gives investors enough confidence to allocate to risk assets is enough to do the trick. Last week, the catalyst was likely the last of Trump’s tariffs going into force on August 7th.
This week, the catalyst could be something that nobody thought was possible, and that’s a ceasefire and possibly even a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The headlines around this have been jaw dropping, and could justify a separate newsletter to summarize. In short, the US and Russia have both confirmed that Trump will meet with Putin to finalize a peace deal.
In case it wasn’t clear enough, this meeting will take place sometime this week. If a peace deal or even just a ceasefire is secured, it would result in oil prices falling much lower (foreshadowing lower inflation, and therefore lower interest rates), and it would also result in the US dollar falling much lower (which would likewise increase global liquidity, and boost risk assets).
On that note, the CPI for July will also be published this Tuesday, August 12th. Real time data from Trueflation suggests there’s a chance that it comes in lower than last month’s print of 2.7%, which you may recall exceeded expectations. A lower than expected CPI print, combined with the weakness in jobs data would set the stage for more easing from the Fed in September.
Speaking of which, another thing that everyone forgets is that the ideal backdrop for assets is an economy that’s weak enough to justify stimulus, but not so weak that it’s about to go into recession. Some would argue we are approaching these conditions now, as we’ve seen a combination of falling interest rate expectations and meme stock speculation akin to 2021.
Now, combine this with the fact that SEC and CFTC are steadily putting out guidance around everything from spot crypto trading to liquid staking, and you have a recipe for lots of this attention and speculative capital moving from meme stocks to cryptos. This won’t happen overnight, but given the macro and crypto backdrop, it could happen sooner than you think…
🤖 Crypto x Robots 🤖
Robots – that is, the idea of walking, talking, thinking machines - have been at the core of science fiction novels and movies for a long time now. Think the Terminator, R2-D2 from Star Wars, WALL-E, or the sentient machines in Isaac Asimov's I, Robot series.
While some of us may think it a modern concept likely popularised by the invention of computers, the truth is that the idea of robots (or rather versions of it) has existed at the heart of human imagination for thousands of years.
Ancient myths and legends, such as Greek tales of the bronze giant Talos - crafted by the god Hephaestus to guard Crete around 700 BC - or early mechanical devices like water-powered automatons in ancient China and Egypt, laid the groundwork for later generations of self-moving machines.
By the Renaissance, inventors like Leonardo da Vinci were designing elaborate clockwork automata that mimicked human and animal movements, for entertainment and practical uses. The Industrial Revolution further advanced this with steam-powered and programmable devices that automated labour.
In the information age, the word robot is typically used to describe intelligent machines (typically humanoid) that exist to serve mankind. In fact, the word ‘robot’ comes from the Czech word ‘robota,’ which roughly translates to ‘forced labour.’ Contextually, it referred to the work a medieval peasant was obliged to do for their lord. In other words, it’s easy to see how this robot business may just be a feeble attempt by man to play god – but that’s a discussion for another day. For most of history, humanoid robots have been nothing more than a cheap imitation of the human original.
However, over the past century, we’ve managed to harness electricity at scale, create microprocessors, develop sophisticated sensors and actuators, and integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms that enable autonomy and human-like interactions. It's safe to say that we have never been closer to a world where the mass-production and use of humanoid robots may be close to as described in sci-fi novels, and as common as the smartphones of today.
In fact, AI chatbot Grok believes we could see mass production of humanoid robots sometime in the next five years. Take that timeline with a pinch of salt though, since Grok seems to be programmed to prioritise the opinions of its overlord Elon Musk. Some of you may recall that Musk has given that same exact timeline for the mass production of Tesla’s humanoid bot Optimus. Nevertheless, it is true that there have been significant advancements made towards fully functional humanoid robots in recent years – courtesy of efforts made by teams such as Boston Dynamics, NVIDIA, Unitree, Figure and 1X.
Notably, chip giant NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang also recently revealed that the company was now exploring "physical AI" - AI-powered systems for robotics, autonomous vehicles, and digital manufacturing. He also claimed that the “ChatGPT moment for general robotics is right around the corner.”
Some believe the robotics market could be as large or larger than the AI market. While future projections about the size of the robotics market vary, the general consensus is that it could be a trillion-dollar industry. For instance, analysts from Morgan Stanley project $5 trillion in annual humanoid robot revenue by 2050, while Goldman Sachs anticipates the global market for humanoid robots could reach $38 billion by 2035.
That said, bottlenecks still exist. The biggest bottleneck for truly functional humanoid robots is that the physical AI needed to power it requires novel data sets and data feeds that extend beyond what conversational LLM models have been trained on. You see, building the infrastructure and software to collect and analyse this data is a capital-intensive process. In other words, left to its own devices, this could extend timelines by years.
Thankfully, crypto - or rather, decentralised blockchain networks - seem to be the best solution for accelerating this process. For instance, physical AI developers can leverage the blockchain by using token incentives to scale motion data collection, turning users into "miners" who earn rewards for contributing high-fidelity datasets. In other words, by leveraging DePIN networks, physical AI companies can abstract away a good portion of the cost in data collection.
We’re already seeing several web3 projects test this model. Some are seeing success without even having deployed token incentives yet. Notably, Reborn - a full-stack, decentralised physical AI (DePAI) platform with 160,000 monthly active users - has already sold over 5,000 units of its consumer-grade motion capture device. The device, named ‘ReboCap’, incentivises users to generate multimodal data through AR/VR gaming and livestreaming. It has also partnered with hardware leaders like Unitree, Swiss-Mile, and Agile Robots to pilot commercial applications. VC firm Hypersphere Ventures projects that Reborn could have as many as two million monthly active users by the end of 2025. Given that Reborn plans to offer token rewards to contributors, this growth may very well be possible.
Speaking of gamified data collection, Frodobots is another early pioneer in this niche. In fact, Frodobots is one of the few DePAI projects to lean heavily into gamification as a core driver of data collection. Specifically, the Frodobots robotics team has gamified the process of data collection by selling tele-operated rovers (small robots meant to explore terrain) to users. Users must drive these rovers around their neighbourhoods to complete quests and earn rewards. The core idea is to capture video data from these journeys and build the most valuable dataset in the world for training sidewalk robots.
Other experiments by Frodobots team include Ultimate Fighting Bots (a service that charges $5 for ten-minute PvP battles using remote-controlled fighting humanoid robots); SAM (an AI agent that plays a real-time geolocation guessing game via video feeds from Frodobot rovers); Robotsdotfun (a launchpad for robotics AI agents in partnership with Virtuals Protocol); and BitRobot, a Bittensor subnet powering crypto-incentivised research dedicated to different robotic experiments - e.g., sidewalk robots, surgical robot arms, human-teleoperated cooking, etc.
As for a more infrastructure-focused DePAI project, GEODNET is a prime example.
You see, one of the most crucial datasets needed to power physical AI involves spatial awareness. Autonomous robots, such as delivery drones and self-driving vehicles, require sub-centimetre positioning accuracy to operate safely and efficiently. Currently, this level of precision is reliably achieved only by RTK (real-time kinematics) systems. However, building and maintaining RTK base stations is highly capital-intensive, leading to a few centralised providers that charge thousands of dollars per tracked device (resulting in limited accessibility and coverage). Projects like GEODNET solve this challenge by leveraging DePIN economics to incentivise independent operators to install RTK base stations and contribute correction data in exchange for token rewards.
In summary, some of the technological advancements needed for the humanoid robot breakthrough seem to be right within reach. We’re still super early to DePAI. The only move here is to play the long game.
🔥 Hot Deal Of The Week 🔥
So far this cycle, most of the massive gains made have been in the on-chain trenches. With altcoins seemingly turning around, you might be looking to position yourself into some on-chain memecoin assets.
The problem with memes is massive slippage and the wild daily volatility which makes getting entries and exits tricky. However, there is a solution to those issues and that would be through using a trading terminal like Axiom. With Axiom, you can set limit orders with ease - if the price hits your order limit then it will trigger automatically and that means you don't need to sit there all day and watch the price like a hawk.
At Axiom we’ve also been able to secure you an exclusive 10% discount for life! A massive benefit to serious memecoin traders.
🔮 Video Pipeline 🔮
* Population Collapse: How it could reshape capitalism & investment strategies?
* Altcoins Dead? Can they recover, and when might altseason arrive?
* White House Report: How the US plans to regulate crypto, stables & banking?
* SEC Project Crypto: The new pro-crypto initiative!
* Coinbase Earnings Report: What can be learnt for broader market trends?
* CFTC Crypto Sprint: Which assets are poised to benefit the most?
🏆 What's New at CoinBureau.com This Week? 🏆
* Mastering Staking on Solflare: A Beginner’s Guide
* Rootstock Explained: Inside Bitcoin’s EVM-Compatible DeFi Ecosystem
* Discover the Top Launchpads for Your Next Memecoin Adventure!
* Discover the Top Alternatives to Trust Wallet!
* Market Caps in Crypto: Understanding Their Significance and Implications
* Crypto Glossary
📖 Quote of the Week 📖
New all time highs are a whisker away - and with that comes our much anticipated altcoin season. Lock in!
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Team Coin Bureau
Disclosure: Authors may own cryptoassets named in this newsletter. These are unqualified opinions, and a Coin Bureau newsletter, is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. Please consult with your investment, tax, or legal advisor.
The Coin Bureau Editorial Team are your dedicated guides through the dynamic world of cryptocurrency. With a passion for educating the masses on blockchain technology and a commitment to unbiased, shill-free content, we unravel the complexities of the industry through in-depth research. We aim to empower the crypto community with the knowledge needed to navigate the crypto landscape successfully and safely, equipping our community with the knowledge and understanding they need to navigate this new digital frontier.
