South Korea's KOSPI index closed up nearly 18% on Friday, marking its largest single-day gain ever, after a week of extreme volatility that saw multiple market-wide circuit breakers. The index ended at 6,595.44, with SK Hynix surging 30% to its daily limit and Samsung Electronics jumping nearly 27%. Despite the rebound, the KOSPI is still down 22.4% for July, its second-worst monthly drop since 1997, and has tumbled 30% from its June peak.

Japan's central bank maintained its target interest rate at 1%, in line with market expectations. The decision comes amid a volatile global backdrop and as Asia's major economies navigate divergent monetary policy paths. The hold provides some stability for yen-denominated assets and may influence regional risk appetite.

A total of 149,000 BTC options (notional value $9.6 billion) and 435,000 ETH options ($830 million) expired on July 31, according to Greeks.live. The BTC put-call ratio was 0.28 with a max pain price of $64,000, while ETH's ratio was 0.63 and max pain at $1,850. Analysts noted that crypto has underperformed despite U.S. stock rallies, with some crypto-related equity products now trading higher volumes than the underlying assets. The market remains in an eight-month bear phase, with attention shifting toward U.S. equity momentum for near-term cues.

Bitcoin's price has entered a narrow trading range, sending volatility to its lowest in six months and daily average volume to $2.2 billion, the least since November 2023, per CoinDesk. The Bollinger Band width indicator dropped to 5.66 points, its tightest since January. Analysts warn that such prolonged calm often precedes a sharp directional move—similar to January's pattern when Bitcoin later surged to near $98,000 before plunging to about $60,000.

South Korean media and financial regulators have begun reviewing measures to effectively block unregistered foreign crypto exchanges from providing services to domestic traders, The Block reports. The move aligns with the country's stricter stance on offshore platforms that bypass local licensing rules, potentially affecting major exchanges that target Korean users without proper registration.

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced it will speed up the legislative process for an artificial intelligence law, following breakthroughs across the AI supply chain. Domestic firms like DeepSeek and Moonshot AI have released trillion-parameter open-source models, with global downloads of Chinese large language models surpassing 10 billion. The government aims to balance high-quality development with security, ensuring the AI sector "runs fast but steadily."

During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), China's computing power network construction will add an estimated 4 trillion yuan ($559 billion) in direct investment, according to NDRC spokesperson Jiang Yi. The investment, primarily driven by private enterprises, will create significant opportunities for the private sector, with the government promising better planning and resource support to foster market growth.

Alibaba's large language model, Tongyi Qianwen, has entered deep testing on Tesla's in-car systems in China, sources told Jiemian News. The AI assistant is expected to enable natural conversation, vehicle control, navigation, and other smart features, potentially surpassing simple voice commands. This comes shortly after Bytedance's Doubao model was integrated into Tesla's software update in China. Neither Alibaba Cloud nor Tesla China has officially commented on the timeline for a full rollout.

Malaysia's government revoked its support for "Malaysia Blockchain Week 2026" after promotional material for an after-party featured former OnlyFans content creator and local DJ Siew Pui Yi, sparking backlash in the predominantly Muslim nation. The incident highlights the country's increasingly conservative social climate, where moral issues now heavily influence the organization of large international events.

The share of Bitcoin's realized cap held by short-term holders has fallen to 23.5%, a multi-year low seen only 4% of the time historically, while long-term holders now control 52.5%, approaching the 2018 peak of 55%, per CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr. This shift indicates reduced speculative churn and limited new capital inflows. However, the analyst cautions that such supply aging does not constitute a buy signal—if demand fails to return, low activity and further price declines could persist, similar to the 2022-2023 bottoming phase.