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BlackRock clients have reportedly purchased $38 million worth of Bitcoin, highlighting sustained institutional interest in the digital asset through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). This purchase, although smaller compared to recent larger inflows, suggests ongoing demand for Bitcoin exposure via regulated financial products. BlackRock’s IBIT has been a significant player in the market since its launch, with previous reports indicating substantial asset flows both into and out of the fund. This move comes amidst Bitcoin at approximately $65,001, with BlackRock continuing to expand its digital asset offerings since 2024.

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Key Takeaways The purchase of $38 million in Bitcoin by BlackRock clients suggests ongoing institutional interest. Market behavior appears consistent with scenarios where Bitcoin could experience upward price movements. Current market pricing for Bitcoin reaching $82,500 in July remains speculative with low probability. What to Watch Market participants will be observing whether continued inflows into BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust could further influence Bitcoin’s price trajectory. Key indicators include potential announcements of large Bitcoin purchases by institutions like MicroStrategy, or significant Bitcoin ETF inflows exceeding $500 million. Additionally, any regulatory announcements from the SEC regarding Bitcoin ETFs could impact market sentiment and pricing. As the month progresses, the possibility of Bitcoin reaching higher price targets will remain a topic of interest.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 0.2% — — View market → August 1 2026 44.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 15.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 5.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 5.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.6% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.9% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market →

BancaStato Opens Crypto Trading Through Sygnum PartnershipBancaStato, the cantonal bank serving Switzerland's Italian-speaking Ticino region, has joined Sygnum's business-to-business (B2B) banking platform to offer crypto asset services. The integration allows BancaStato customers to buy, sell, and hold four crypto assets, including $BTC, $ETH, $LTC, and $SOL, through the bank's existing web and mobile banking apps.

Market orders can be entered by asset quantity or cash value, allowing customers to manage crypto positions alongside their traditional portfolios. BancaStato clients gain exposure to these assets through a regulated channel rather than a standalone exchange, and their holdings rest in Sygnum's custody rather than on the bank's own balance sheet.

A Streamlined Technical SetupThe integration connects Sygnum's API directly to Avaloq's platform, allowing customers to access crypto trading from their existing banking app. The setup also removes the need for a separate order management system, which the companies said reduces operational complexity and makes it easier to add new features.

According to Fritz Jost, Sygnum's chief B2B officer, BancaStato is the first bank using Avaloq's software-as-a-service platform to let customers buy, hold, and sell crypto assets through its e-banking platforms using Sygnum's API.

BancaStato joins more than 25 financial institutions using Sygnum's B2B platform to offer regulated digital asset services. Sygnum said its partner banks give more than a third of the Swiss population a route to own digital assets. The move also fits a broader trend among Swiss lenders. Zürcher Kantonalbank, the country's fourth-largest bank, has rolled out Bitcoin trading and custody, while St. Galler Kantonalbank opened Bitcoin buying and custody to retail clients.

Sygnum holds a Swiss banking license and, since June 30, 2026, a Crypto-Asset Service Provider license under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, granted by Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority.

Sources:
Cointelegraph: BancaStato Launches Bitcoin Trading With Sygnum
CryptoAdventure: BancaStato Adds Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin And Solana Trading Through Sygnum

Bitcoin’s price surged from $64,000 to $66,000 over two days, propelled by a spike in leveraged trading rather than a renewed wave of spot buying, according to on-chain data platform CryptoQuant. Analyst Sunny Mom indicated that this recent climb appears fragile, citing a lack of significant spot volume behind the move.

Leverage-backed surge raises concernsOpen interest in Bitcoin futures jumped from $21.2 billion to $23 billion as prices rose, marking a new all-time high. This increase in open interest suggests that traders added new leveraged positions instead of simply closing shorts.

At the same time, spot volume has remained subdued since April, failing to signal genuine buying activity in the spot market. Despite the apparent momentum, Bitcoin’s actual support from direct purchases of the asset remains weak.

As of the latest data, Bitcoin trades at $65,725.07, reflecting a 0.95% dip over the last 24 hours but a 1.89% gain for the week, according to CoinGecko.

Funding rates briefly turned negative on July 18 and July 19, fueling a short squeeze that helped power the rebound toward $66,000. Open interest continued to climb throughout the rally, reinforcing the idea that additional leverage, rather than short covering alone, was at play.

Funding has not reached overheated levels, but the rally lacks robust support. Spot volume needs to strengthen before bulls can feel confident in further upside, suggested the analysis by Sunny Mom.

CryptoQuant’s data shows futures volume in a neutral zone, with no major spike accompanying the rally. This further indicates that the current market conditions are not at an extreme, but a convincing breakout remains elusive without spot activity picking up.

Spot demand remains mutedTrading activity in the spot market has yet to reflect the excitement seen in derivatives. Since April, spot volume has been in a cooling phase, signaling that volatility is largely being driven by traders in the futures market and not by widespread buying on exchanges.

Stablecoin netflows on exchanges turned negative during the rally. While the overall stablecoin market cap has only slowed, capital is moving away from exchanges to the sidelines instead of exiting crypto entirely.

United States spot bitcoin ETFs recorded their second straight week of inflows, with $271 million added on July 20. BlackRock’s IBIT saw the largest single-day inflow, attracting $116.5 million. These figures suggest institutional interest is returning, albeit at a gradual pace. Regardless, these flows have not been strong enough to change the spot market’s subdued state.

DateBitcoin PriceOpen InterestSpot Volume TrendNotable ETF InflowJuly 17$64,000$21.2BCooling–July 20$66,000$23BCoolingIBIT $116.5MMini dictionary: CryptoQuant is a blockchain analytics platform that provides on-chain data and insights for cryptocurrency traders and investors, helping them track important market signals such as open interest, volume, and investor behavior across exchanges.

Traders eye FOMC reversal as Fed meeting nearsTrader Astronomer initiated a countertrend short position after Bitcoin surpassed $66,000, pointing to a recurring price pattern ahead of Federal Reserve policy meetings. This so-called “FOMC reversal” refers to a trend where Bitcoin’s price tends to change direction a few days prior to an official Fed announcement.

Past cycles have shown this pattern to be highly reliable, with the next Fed meeting scheduled for July 29. The trader includes it as one factor among several within a larger trading strategy.

Market participants frequently reduce risk before major Federal Reserve statements, anticipating price swings. This behavior has historically aligned with early reversals, rather than reactions immediately following the announcement.

The recent rally, therefore, combines a leveraged short squeeze, steadily rising open interest, and modest ETF inflows while spot demand remains weak. Analysts at CryptoQuant caution that, while the market does not appear overheated, the price could swiftly correct if leveraged positions unwind in the coming days.

With the Federal Reserve meeting set for July 29, traders are expected to monitor spot volume for signs of genuine buying interest and to gauge if the recent upward move can sustain its momentum beyond leveraged speculation.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

@SuiNetwork has officially launched the Hashi testnet, a protocol designed to put native $BTC to work on the Sui blockchain without requiring holders to bridge or wrap their assets. The move represents one of the more concrete attempts to bring Bitcoin's substantial liquidity into decentralised finance at an institutional scale.

Targeting Dormant Bitcoin CapitalThe scale of the opportunity Hashi is chasing is significant. According to onchain data from DefiLlama cited in a Cointelegraph report, only around 0.22% of Bitcoin's total supply, roughly $3.07 billion, is currently deployed in DeFi protocols. With Bitcoin's market cap exceeding $1 trillion, Hashi's backers argue that the gap between available capital and active deployment is too large to ignore.

First announced in March 2026, Hashi is developed primarily by Mysten Labs, the core contributor to Sui. Its central proposition is straightforward: allow $BTC holders to lend, borrow, and earn yield against their holdings using on-chain smart contracts, without relying on wrapped or synthetic representations of the asset. The collateral stays on the Bitcoin network, while Sui manages the cryptographic and programmatic rights.

Guardian Layer and Institutional BackingThe testnet rollout introduces what the team calls the "Guardian Layer," a defense-in-depth security model built around a 2-of-2 multisig requirement between Hashi validators and independent guardians. The structure is designed to remove the trust assumptions that have historically made institutional capital cautious about DeFi participation.

The institutional line-up behind the project is broad. As reported by KuCoin, Cumberland, SwissBorg, and Fluid are among the latest partners, joining existing backers that include BitGo, Blockdaemon, and Ledger, bringing the total partner count to more than 20. SwissBorg is focused on connecting its high-net-worth client base to BTC-backed lending products, while Fluid is targeting institutional-grade lending markets using Bitcoin collateral on Sui.

The testnet phase is intended to widen testing to institutions, custodians, and DeFi teams under realistic conditions before any significant capital moves to mainnet. Sui-native protocols including Suilend, Scallop, and NAVI Protocol have signalled plans to integrate Hashi once it is live at scale.

For $BTC holders, the pitch is the ability to access credit and yield without selling or moving their Bitcoin off its native network.

Sources:
Sui Blog: A New Era of Bitcoin-Based Finance Begins: Meet Hashi on Sui
TradingView/Cointelegraph: Bitcoin finance protocol Hashi launches on Sui with BitGo, FalconX backing
KuCoin: Sui's Bitcoin financial primitive, Hashi, will launch its testnet in July

S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index, a new crypto benchmark that excludes Bitcoin (BTC) entirely.

CEO Cathy Clay said Bitcoin fails the index’s core test, generating real protocol revenue instead of trading purely on speculation.

How the Index Weighs Its TokensThe index holds 18 constituents. Its five largest holdings are Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), and Hyperliquid (HYPE), a decentralized derivatives exchange.

The benchmark weights holdings by market capitalization and rebalances quarterly. No single token can exceed 35% of the total, and no other holding can top 20%. These caps mirror rules S&P applies to its own equity benchmarks.

Clay wants to bring stock-index discipline into digital assets. She favors protocols with verifiable economic activity over ones that trade on name recognition alone.

Pantera co-developed the methodology with founder Dan Morehead. The firm has managed over $3 billion across three investment strategies since launching its first crypto fund in 2013.

“S&P Dow Jones Indices helps investors cut through market noise with benchmarks you can trust.”
Clay, CEO of S&P Dow Jones Indices

Wall Street Warms to Altcoin SeasonThe exclusion highlights a widening split in how institutions define crypto value. By this measure, revenue beats Bitcoin’s dominant narrative as the market’s largest asset. Pantera’s history with institutional crypto access suggests more revenue-screened benchmarks could follow.

The launch lands as retail altcoin season signals stay unconfirmed but improving. CoinGlass’s Altcoin Season Index climbed to 58 in mid-July, building on a June 4 spike to 64. That reading sits above the neutral midpoint, but it remains short of the 75 threshold that confirms genuine rotation.

Institutional flows tell a parallel story. A March BeInCrypto Expert Council discussion found major allocators narrowing institutional crypto bets to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a short list of DeFi names.

A revenue-screened benchmark like the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index offers portfolio managers a compliant route into that same thesis. It provides exposure to large-cap altcoins with real usage, skipping meme coins and speculative networks entirely.

If other index providers copy the approach, institutional capital could rotate into select altcoins early. That could happen well before retail-driven altcoin season data confirms a broader move.

Bitcoin Provides Defensive ExposureBlue Macellari, T. Rowe Price’s head of digital assets and the ETF’s lead portfolio manager, said the fund reflects the company’s longstanding emphasis on active management and fundamental research.

"We were never going to launch just a Bitcoin ETF," Macellari said during an appearance on the Crypto Prime podcast on Monday.

Its initial portfolio was led by Bitcoin at roughly 41% and ETH at about 18%, followed by positions in BNB, SOL XRP, HYPE and smaller allocations to other assets.

Macellari described the current market as a crypto winter and noted the fund is positioned relatively defensively, explaining its substantial Bitcoin weighting.

‘Tokenization Good, Crypto Bad’ Is A False DivideMacellari argued that Wall Street often tries to separate tokenization from cryptocurrencies by claiming tokenization is valuable while native digital assets are not.

She rejected that distinction.

If stocks, funds and other financial products migrate to public blockchains, their activity could create value for the networks and native tokens underpinning those systems.

The broader portfolio reflects T. Rowe Price’s bullish outlook on what she called "on-chain finance."         

Macellari highlighted Hyperliquid’s revenue model as particularly compelling because it can be understood and valued using metrics familiar to traditional investors.

ETH and SOL may also benefit as financial institutions move tokenized assets and around-the-clock markets onto blockchain networks, she predicts.

Crypto Winter May Approach Its Final StageMacellari explained that the market has been in a persistent downturn since the October 2025 selloff, marking the first crypto winter experienced by many investors through spot exchange-traded products.

Bitcoin has suffered a drawdown of about 50%, while Ethereum, Solana and other altcoins have faced deeper declines.

However, she said the selloff has created more attractive asymmetric opportunities in projects whose underlying adoption and economics remain intact.

The key difference from previous winters is that banks, asset managers and financial platforms have continued developing digital-asset infrastructure rather than abandoning the sector.

Macellari expects choppy conditions and the possibility of further declines through the summer but believes the market could begin emerging from crypto winter heading into Q4.

Image: Shutterstock

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Hyperscale Data, the AI-focused data center company trading under the ticker GPUS on NYSE American, just added another 51.5 Bitcoin to its corporate treasury. The purchase brings its total stash to 1,087.4527 BTC, valued at roughly $70.3 million at a Bitcoin price of $64,691.

The acquisition was made through Ault Capital Group (ACG), a subsidiary, via open-market purchases during the week ending July 19, 2026. It’s the latest move in what has become a steady, methodical Bitcoin accumulation strategy that the company has pursued since early 2025.

A growing Bitcoin pile with a familiar playbook The company uses a two-pronged approach: mining Bitcoin directly and buying it on the open market. Earlier in its accumulation phase, holdings climbed toward 900 BTC. Then a 32.49 BTC purchase pushed the total to approximately 1,032.5 BTC, valued at around $65.8 million at the time. Now, with this latest 51.5 BTC buy, the company sits above the 1,000 BTC mark.

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Executive Chairman Milton “Todd” Ault III has been vocal about what he sees as a disconnect between the company’s market capitalization and the actual value sitting on its balance sheet. With Bitcoin holdings alone exceeding $70 million, and total reported assets reaching approximately $106.7 million as of late June 2026, he argues the market isn’t pricing in what the company actually owns.

The corporate Bitcoin treasury trend keeps expanding The company’s Bitcoin holdings represent a significant chunk of its total reported assets. At $70.3 million out of roughly $106.7 million in total assets, Bitcoin accounts for approximately two-thirds of everything the company owns on paper.

The strategy also includes a notable corporate restructuring on the horizon. Hyperscale Data plans to divest ACG during the second quarter of 2027 through an exchange involving 1,000,000 Series F Preferred shares, which were issued back on December 23, 2024.

What this means for investors With 1,087 BTC, the $70.3 million in Bitcoin represents real, liquid value that the company can point to when making the case that its equity is undervalued. When Bitcoin constitutes roughly two-thirds of total assets, the company’s fortunes become heavily correlated with crypto price movements.

The planned ACG divestiture adds another variable. If the separation goes through in Q2 2027 as planned, investors will need to evaluate how the Bitcoin holdings get allocated between the parent company and the spun-off entity, with the mechanics of the Series F Preferred Stock exchange creating complex valuation dynamics.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Galaxy has launched a new initiative aimed at preparing Bitcoin for the potential threat posed by quantum computing. 

The firm, which is spearheaded by cryptocurrency bull Mike Novogratz, has $5 million in grants to fund those developers who are specifically focused on post-quantum security solutions.

The Galaxy Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative will support efforts to develop new signature schemes, Bitcoin upgrade proposals, wallet migration solutions, and so on. 

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The firm has noted that no quantum computer today can break Bitcoin’s security, but that could change "faster than expected," and the Bitcoin community is too conservative to implement a fix fast. 

The initiative will be built around developer funding, ongoing research through Galaxy Research, and a Quantum Advisory Council composed of experts in quantum computing and cryptography.

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"There’s a gap between the quantum computing world, which is moving fast, and the Bitcoin development world, which is just beginning to engage with post-quantum cryptography in earnest," Alex Thorn, the head of research at Galaxy Digital, said in a statement. 

The company said Bitcoin’s reliance on elliptic curve cryptography creates a long-term risk if sufficiently powerful quantum computers become available. However, Galaxy emphasized that no such quantum computer currently exists and that Bitcoin still has time to prepare.

Quantum risk is real Recently, Galaxy published an insightful report that examines Bitcoin’s potential vulnerabilities related to rapid advancements in the realm of quantum computing. 

According to the report, the main risk comes from the possibility that future quantum computers could be capable enough to break the flagship cryptocurrency's elliptic curve digital signatures. 

Millions of coins could be at risk under certain scenarios, according to some estimates.  

However, the firm argued that the risk is recognized and that developers are currently exploring mitigation strategies.

Slow-moving Bitcoin governance remains a major hurdle. BTC has no central authority, so any quantum-resistance upgrade would require great coordination among developers, miners, and so on. 

Grayscale filed with the SEC on July 20 for a spot Worldcoin (WLD) exchange-traded fund. The fund would trade on Nasdaq under the ticker GWLD.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart confirmed the filing on X. The twist is that Grayscale’s own paperwork spells out why WLD is such a risky bet.

What the Grayscale Worldcoin ETF Filing SaysThe SEC filing shows Grayscale moved fast. It formed the trust on July 10 and filed just 10 days later. BitGo will hold the WLD, and BNY Mellon will run the fund’s books.

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Grayscale knows this path well. Its Bitcoin Trust became a spot ETF in January 2024 after the firm beat the SEC in court. Solana and Dogecoin funds followed in late 2025.

Some details are still missing. The fee is blank, and no trading partners are named yet.

The Risks Grayscale Itself ListsWorldcoin verifies humans by scanning their eyes with a device called the Orb. The filing admits regulators pushed back hard. Spain, Portugal, Germany, Hong Kong, Brazil, Kenya, and Indonesia all took action between 2024 and 2025.

The token math looks rough too. The 100 largest wallets hold about 90% of circulating WLD. Team and investor tokens keep unlocking until around July 2028.

Then there is the price. WLD trades near $0.375, up 3.3% on the day. That is still about 97% below its March 2024 peak of $11.74.

Worldcoin (WLD) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoA June treasury purchase gave the token a brief lift. Meanwhile, Tools for Humanity layoffs at the project’s lead developer dragged it back down.

GWLD cannot trade until the SEC signs off and Nasdaq clears the listing. Easier access may help, but WLD’s path forward likely hinges on those token unlocks.

https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Moscow_Kremlin

Russia is set to finalize its crypto regulation bill, “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” which will create a legal framework for crypto and cross-border settlements. The legislation, expected to be enacted on September 1, 2026, legalizes crypto through licensed intermediaries under the oversight of the Central Bank of Russia. It also bans domestic crypto payments for goods and services, while allowing crypto use for international trade settlements. This development comes as the United States still lacks clear regulation guidance, potentially positioning Russia as a significant player in the international crypto market.

The introduction of this regulatory framework appears to have implications for Bitcoin’s future price predictions. Current market data suggest a low probability of Bitcoin reaching significant price thresholds by the end of 2026, with only a 2% YES probability for reaching $200,000. However, the move by Russia to facilitate international crypto transactions might influence future market confidence and pricing scenarios.

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Market participants seem attentive to geopolitical and regulatory shifts, as these factors could shape the landscape for cryptocurrency globally. The Russian bill could serve as a model for other countries, potentially impacting international adoption and regulatory approaches.

Key Takeaways Russia’s upcoming crypto regulation bill suggests a shift towards establishing a legal framework supportive of international crypto transactions. Market pricing currently reflects a low probability of Bitcoin reaching $200,000 by the end of 2026, with a 2% YES probability. The finalization of the Russian bill may indicate potential adjustments in global crypto market dynamics and regulatory standards. What to Watch As Russia finalizes its bill, market observers will likely monitor the impact on global crypto markets and Bitcoin pricing. Key indicators include how other nations might respond with their regulatory frameworks and whether this influences institutional adoption. Additionally, any developments in U.S. regulatory policies or significant announcements from entities like the Federal Reserve could further shape market expectations for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 2.2% — — View market → December 31 2% — — View market → December 31 2.6% — — View market → December 31 3.5% — — View market → December 31 5% — — View market → January 1 2027 8% — — View market → January 1 2027 21.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.2% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 4% — — View market → January 1 2027 6.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 45.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 10.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 2.6% — — View market → January 1 2027 31.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 16.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 9.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.9% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.9% — — View market → January 1 2027 1.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 1% — — View market → January 1 2027 11.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 22.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 33.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 52.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 76% — — View market →

1alt HD: ETF Turnaround Proves Insufficient to Trigger True Macro Bullish Turnaround for Bitcoin Traders

Bitcoin [BTC] was struggling to scale the $65k local supply zone. Since July 14, the spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have been positive. The injection of capital has not been enough to substantially elevate prices yet.

Source: CryptoQuant Crypto analyst ScenarioX noted a steady drop-off in the 30-day Bitcoin spot demand. The metric recovered to -80k BTC in early July, but has since deteriorated to -170k BTC, the analyst explained in a post on CryptoQuant Insights.

Despite decreased demand, prices have stayed relatively stable around $65k because of short-covering in the derivatives market. Easing short-term holder sell pressure was also a contributing factor.

AMBCrypto reported that the turnaround in ETF flows was not enough to confirm a bullish reversal. A reading of the short-term price structure highlighted the importance of the $67.3k local swing high.

Lack of new investors growth signals stabilization, not reversal Source: Axel Adler Jr. The Bitcoin New Investors metric remained near its yearly lows. It measures the share of capitalization concentrated among coins younger than 1 month [not moved in a month or less].

Crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr. used this metric to gauge new capital activity and short-term demand. The analyst observed a reading of 8.1, with the lower boundary at 7 and the upper at 50.

This meant an increase in new capital, but not in enough strength to point toward a BTC trend reversal.

Source: Axel Adler Jr. Further evidence of a local stabilization instead of a reversal came from the short-term holder spent output profit ratio [STH SOPR]. The metric measures the average profitability of short-term Bitcoin holders.

Its 7-day moving average was at 0.99, below the 1.0 mark that separates profitability from realized losses.

A sustained recovery in the metric above 1.0 would signal market sentiment has shifted. As things stand, the lack of significant participation from new capital and short-term holders realizing losses meant that bears were still in control.

Final Summary Bitcoin has not yet found the momentum to take prices above the $65k-$67k local supply zone. The bounce toward $65k was only a brief respite from selling, and not the beginning of a bullish recovery, the metrics showed.

A wave of institutional investment in XRP is taking shape as eight public companies have pledged almost $2 billion for dedicated XRP treasuries. Notably, leading firms are formalizing substantial commitments to XRP as an asset on their balance sheets, with full public disclosure in line with regulatory requirements. This shift echoes the path that propelled Bitcoin into corporate finance circles.

The companies and their commitmentsTrident Digital Tech Holdings, a Singapore-based technology firm listed on Nasdaq, tops the list by planning to raise $500 million for one of the largest corporate XRP treasuries to date. Webus International, active in cross-border payments, is seeking $300 million in non-equity financing to establish an XRP-backed reserve supporting its global network.

VivoPower International, a sustainable energy company, raised $121 million in private funding, allocating $100 million for XRP and staking those funds on the Flare Network. Other participants include Wellgistics Health, which secured a $50 million equity line drawn specifically for an XRP treasury; and Japan’s Gumi Inc., introducing a $17 million program split between XRP and Bitcoin.

Nature’s Miracle Holding, a supplier of agricultural products, announced a $20 million XRP treasury initiative, becoming the first U.S.-listed non-financial public company to do so. Hyperscale Data committed $10 million to XRP, while Worksport, a manufacturer in the automotive sector, allocated up to $5 million derived from its existing operational cash flow.

Mini dictionary: Flare Network – A decentralized, interoperable blockchain designed to bring smart contract functionality to various tokens and facilitate staking and bridging between blockchains.

CompanyCountrySectorXRP Treasury CommitmentTrident Digital Tech HoldingsSingaporeTechnology$500 millionWebus InternationalUndisclosedPayments$300 millionVivoPower InternationalGlobalEnergy$100 millionWellgistics HealthUndisclosedHealthcare$50 millionGumi Inc.JapanGaming/Tech$17 million (XRP & BTC)Nature’s Miracle HoldingUSAAgriculture$20 millionHyperscale DataUndisclosedData/Technology$10 millionWorksportUSAAutomotiveUp to $5 millionThe blueprint that brought Bitcoin into mainstream company treasuries is now increasingly being applied to XRP, with eight public firms announcing nearly $2 billion in in-house XRP reserves.

Strategic objectives and funding modelsUnlike speculative trading, these allocations are long-term treasury strategies embedded into the companies’ financial planning. Trident Digital and VivoPower have financed their positions with capital raised from investors, while Webus International opted for debt-based facilities. Worksport redirected surplus cash, and Hyperscale mixed direct acquisitions with DeFi-based lending mechanisms.

Soon Huat Lim, CEO of Trident Digital Tech Holdings, stated that digital assets are central to the changing global financial landscape, indicating the firm’s conviction in holding XRP for strategic purposes.

According to Soon Huat Lim, embracing digital assets within the company’s treasury is aligned with their long-term vision for global finance.

XRP follows the corporate bitcoin playbookThe trend mirrors the playbook initiated by Strategy, previously MicroStrategy—a US-based business intelligence company—in 2020, which famously allocated billions into Bitcoin. With approximately $2 billion in planned corporate XRP treasuries, institutional adoption is accelerating along similar lines.

Legal clarity around XRP’s regulatory status has improved, encouraging public companies to make significant, publicly disclosed investments. Each new treasury signals growing institutional acceptance and helps reinforce XRP’s profile as a reserve asset among listed firms.

Notably, Evernorth, a Ripple-supported digital asset treasury company, currently holds nearly 0.5% of XRP’s total token supply but is not included in the current tally of public commitments.

Mini dictionary: Evernorth – An institutional-grade digital asset treasury manager focused on helping large organizations allocate digital assets for long-term holdings, with particular expertise in XRP-based reserves.

The sustained accumulation by multiple public companies underlines structural demand for XRP and could have long-term effects on its price stability as institutions scale up their positions.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

For years, Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin [BTC] strategy looked nearly impossible to challenge. Every capital raise financed another Bitcoin purchase. Every rally reinforced the model. Shareholder dilution also seemed justified because the corporate treasury kept expanding.

Yet, success gradually introduced a different challenge. The financial engine behind the relentless accumulation is now demanding more from the treasury it was built to grow. At press time, Strategy held 843,775 BTC, worth about $54.5 billion. This milestone comes after adding 171,278 BTC this year.

Source: Bitcoin Treasuries However, those holdings carry a $63.69 billion cost basis, with an average purchase price of $75,482. That gap has shifted attention from accumulation toward the sustainability of the model. Reflecting that transition, the recent sale of 3,588 BTC was used to support STRC dividends and strengthen $3 billion in cash reserves.

That said, the real question remains. Can Bitcoin‘s future appreciation continue offsetting dilution, financing costs, and an increasingly self-dependent capital structure?

The engine behind Strategy Dependence on the rising price of Bitcoin is no accident; it has been the foundation of Strategy’s accumulation engine since day one.

Meanwhile, the Market to Net Asset Value (mNAV) has slipped to just 1.03x. The metric gauges how the market values a Digital Asset Treasury (DAT). Previously, it spiked as high as 2.51x, but the sharp decline has eroded the premium that once made equity issuances highly accretive.

Rather than relying on operating cash flow, the company depended on maintaining an enterprise mNAV above 1, allowing it to issue shares at a premium and recycle fresh capital into Bitcoin purchases.

For years, that formula worked remarkably well in favor of the DAT. As mNAV climbed to 3.89x, Strategy raised $25.3 billion during 2025 and accelerated its treasury expansion without materially weakening shareholder exposure. However, currently,  the math has changed.

Source: Strategy Therefore, Strategy will likely have to shift its focus away from adding to its Bitcoin holdings and toward creating flexibility within its balance sheet. Still, not everyone views the recent pressure as evidence that the model is failing.

 Lead Information Compliance Assurance Manager at SpaceX, Vincent Peters, observed,

People often confuse volatility with failure. Bitcoin has experienced extraordinary appreciation punctuated by significant corrections.

He added that while those corrections create headlines, they “don’t necessarily invalidate a long-term strategy.” Unless Bitcoin regains sustained upward momentum, rebuilding the premium may prove more important than acquiring the next Bitcoin.

The per-share challenge That changing reality is also reshaping how Strategy measures success. The company was never trying to own more Bitcoin for the sake of it. Instead, the objective was to ensure every shareholder owned more Bitcoin over time. Such a distinction made BTC Yield and Bitcoin per share the clearest measures of whether the model was truly creating value. For several years, the model delivered on that promise.

BTC yield reached 9.4% in early 2026, while Bitcoin per share climbed to 207,776 satoshi (sats), supported by 171,278 BTC in net accumulation. Yet, the BTC yield has fallen off slightly, hovering around 6.6% as of press time. Although the flywheel has slowed down considerably, that same slowdown has started to impact how well Strategy is performing, according to those same metrics.

As enterprise mNAV compressed toward 1.03x, each new share issued generated less incremental Bitcoin ownership than before.

Source: Strategy More importantly, investors are no longer watching Strategy solely for the size of its Bitcoin treasury. They are watching whether it can continue funding future purchases. That debate has also attracted criticism from longtime Bitcoin skeptic Peter Schiff, who questioned Strategy’s capital allocation. He argued,

The model needlessly destroyed shareholder value by selling discounted MSTR shares instead of Bitcoin.

That shift matters. Rather than being simply the largest owner of Bitcoin, Strategy has become a proxy indicator for institutional demand for Bitcoin.

Therefore, the debate is moving beyond treasury growth alone, with the focus now on whether Strategy can maintain investor confidence in its ability to generate shareholder wealth over the long term by continuing to fund future purchases.

The cost of conviction Building the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin treasury has given Strategy its greatest financial burden. That trade-off is becoming harder to ignore as Strategy’s capital structure grows more complex.

The DAT has approximately $1.76 billion annually in Stretch (STRC) dividend obligations. In addition to those, it also has convertible notes and continuing equity financing. Meanwhile, its software business generates only about $500 million in annual revenue.

Source: Strategy Therefore, there exists a large funding gap. This funding gap explains why, currently, capital markets are equally important to the price of Strategy’s Bitcoin.

As Andrew Bahlmann, founder of Deal Leaders International, noted,

Having conviction with respect to an asset does not equate to having confidence in the ability to finance it.

He added that lenders ultimately favor collateral that remains stable across market cycles rather than assets whose value fluctuates sharply.

Strategy has approximately $2.5 to $3 billion in cash reserves. Therefore, it retains some financial flexibility. Still, prolonged mNAV compression may limit access to accretive capital. This would increase reliance upon reserves or selective sales of the Strategy’s Bitcoin to meet obligations. As such, this challenge is evident when compared to peers.

Metaplanet continues to expand through lower-cost yen-denominated financing. This is by accepting currency risk in exchange for cheaper capital despite mNAV near 0.92x. In contrast, Semler Scientific has adopted a more conservative approach, relying on lower issuance and minimal preferred obligations.

Source: Bitcoin Treasuries Strategy still commands unmatched scale with 843,775 BTC, yet its funding model is also the most demanding. The comparison highlights a growing trade-off across Bitcoin treasury companies.

All in all, aggressive accumulation can accelerate growth, but resilient capital structures ultimately determine how well that growth survives prolonged market stress.

Final Summary Bitcoin accumulation alone no longer guarantees Strategy’s long-term success. BTC treasury growth now hinges on sustainable capital, not just larger holdings.

Bitcoin

19 July 2026 | 17:33 Bitcoin’s rebound has reduced the losses carried by active on-chain traders, but the broader ownership data still stops short of confirming a trend reversal.

Key Takeaways Bitcoin’s on-chain trader loss margin has improved to -11%, returning to the neutral range used in the analysis. The realized prices of 1-3 month and 3-6 month holders have converged in the low-$70,000 area. Old whales realized approximately $297.3 million in losses on July 14, their second-largest daily loss event since September 2025. The reset becomes more convincing only if BTC absorbs the released supply and reclaims recent-holder cost bases. Different datasets describe different parts of the same adjustment. Recent investors have lowered their collective cost basis as coins changed hands during the decline. Older whales have started realizing unusually large losses, showing that the pressure has moved beyond the market’s newest participants. Bitcoin, however, remains below the price at which two important recent-holder groups would return to break-even.

The result is an on-chain structure that looks less damaged than it did at the June lows, but one that still needs demand to prove that the released supply has found durable buyers.

Recent Holders Have Repriced Lower but Remain Underwater CryptoQuant analyst reported that Bitcoin’s On-Chain Trader Profit/Loss Margin had recovered to -11%. The analyst classified the reading as neutral after it moved back inside the -12% boundary separating the bearish zone in this model.

Bitcoin on-chain trader realized price and profit/loss margin. A smaller loss margin can reflect a price recovery, but it can also develop when coins purchased or last moved at higher levels are sold and transferred again at lower prices. That second process reduces the realized price of the active cohort even without a complete market recovery.

ShayanMarkets found the same adjustment in the Realized Price UTXO Age Bands. Realized price values a group’s coins according to the market price when they last moved on-chain, making it a useful proxy for the cohort’s average cost basis rather than a record of every investor’s exact purchase price.

Bitcoin realized price by UTXO age bands. The realized prices of the 1–3 month and 3–6 month groups have converged in the low-$70,000 area. Continued trading during the downturn gradually pulled both readings lower, even though the cohorts entered the market at different stages.

These two analyses should not be treated as independent bullish confirmations. Both are capturing the same repricing among relatively recent holders: losses have been realized, coins have moved at lower values and the market’s collective break-even level has declined.

That adjustment reduces the distance Bitcoin must recover before recent investors return to profit. It also concentrates potential selling in the same area. Holders who endured the decline may use a rebound toward the low-$70,000s to exit near break-even, turning the shared realized price into an on-chain resistance zone.

Old Whales Are Now Participating in the Loss-Taking The third analysis shows that the stress has reached a more established part of Bitcoin’s holder base.

According to CryptoQuant analyst Moreno, old whales realized approximately $297.3 million in losses on July 14, when Bitcoin traded near $65,000. It was the second-largest daily negative reading for this cohort since September 2025.

BTC whale profit-taking activity chart / Source: CryptoQuant, Moreno. The only larger event occurred on January 20, when old-whale losses reached roughly $334.3 million with BTC near $88,300. That earlier event came before another severe stage of the downturn, so the size of the latest loss cannot be treated as evidence that capitulation has ended.

Older whales generally have greater capacity to withstand volatility than recent entrants. Their decision to move coins at a loss indicates that the drawdown has lasted long enough, or reached far enough, to force some mature holders to reassess their exposure.

They are not responsible for most of the capitulation. New whales, recently active whales and the 10,000-BTC balance cohort have recorded substantially larger losses at several points in the decline. The July 14 event shows that old whales have joined the process, while newer and more reactive capital continues to generate the heavier pressure.

Old whale Bitcoin profit-taking analysis. The Three Signals Describe an Ownership Reset The sequence across the datasets is more informative than any individual reading.

Active traders have already realized enough losses to pull their cost basis lower. Two recent-holder groups now share a similar break-even level, while some older whales are only beginning to accept losses of unusual size.

Coins are therefore being transferred from holders with higher reference prices to buyers receiving them closer to the current market. That can create a healthier base because the new owners need a smaller recovery to return to profit and may be less likely to sell after a modest bounce.

The data cannot identify those buyers or establish that they have stronger conviction. Realized losses confirm that ownership is changing; price must show whether the incoming demand can absorb the supply without another breakdown.

What Would Turn the Reset Into a Reversal? Three developments would provide stronger confirmation:

Whale losses begin to fade: The market should absorb the July 14 event without a cluster of larger losses from old or recently active whales. Bitcoin holds while supply changes hands: Avoiding new lows during continued loss realization would indicate that buyers are taking the released coins without requiring progressively lower prices. BTC reclaims the low-$70,000 area: A move above the converged 1-3 month and 3-6 month realized prices, followed by a successful retest, would show that recent-holder selling has been absorbed. Reclaiming the on-chain trader realized price would also return that cohort’s profit/loss margin above zero, shifting active traders from an aggregate loss into profit.

The bearish interpretation remains valid if large whale-loss events continue to cluster, BTC establishes new lows or another rebound fails below the recent-holder cost bases. Under those conditions, the lower realized prices would reflect ongoing capitulation rather than the foundation of a sustained recovery.

Bitcoin’s ownership structure is adjusting, but the market has not completed the final step. Losses have been realized and cost bases have moved lower; demand must now carry price through the low-$70,000 supply zone.

Even a move above the low-$70,000 area would not fully confirm a trend reversal on its own. Bitcoin would also need to hold above the recent-holder cost bases, absorb renewed selling and avoid a quick return below them. Until those conditions are met, the data supports an on-chain reset, not a reversal.

This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal or investment advice.

Author

Alexander Zdravkov is a market analyst and crypto journalist with interests in economics, broader financial markets and digital assets. His journey into crypto began more than four years ago, driven by a fascination with the rapid evolution of blockchain technology and the transformative potential of decentralized finance. He began analyzing market cycles and identifying emerging trends before they reach the mainstream. He holds a degree in International Relations - a background that helped shape his broader perspective on global economics, geopolitics, and the interconnected nature of modern financial markets. Whether covering the latest developments in the crypto sector or exploring broader macroeconomic themes, Alexander focuses on giving readers context rather than simply repeating headlines. During his career, he has authored more than 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, traditional finance, and global market developments. His work spans everything from Bitcoin and altcoins to macroeconomic trends influencing risk assets worldwide.

TLDR: BlackRock crypto ETF inflows reached $343.4 million across IBIT, ETHA and ETHB during the five trading days ending July 17. IBIT attracted $204.1 million despite opening the period with a $185.5 million outflow before recording four positive sessions. BlackRock’s Ethereum products added $139.3 million, with ETHA supplying nearly all the new capital received during the week. The figures represent net investor flows into BlackRock-managed ETFs, rather than cryptocurrency purchases for BlackRock’s corporate balance sheet. BlackRock crypto ETF inflows approached $350 million during five trading sessions as demand returned for regulated Bitcoin and Ethereum products. The asset manager’s three major crypto funds attracted a combined $343.4 million from July 13 through July 17.

The total included $204.1 million for the iShares Bitcoin Trust, known as IBIT. BlackRock’s Ethereum funds, ETHA and ETHB, received another $139.3 million. The activity followed several weeks of unstable flows across the wider digital asset ETF market.

BlackRock Crypto ETF Inflows Rebound After Early Outflow IBIT started the week with a $185.5 million withdrawal on July 13. That loss placed the fund under pressure as all U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a combined $424.7 million daily outflow.

Demand shifted during the following session. IBIT gained $138.9 million on July 14, followed by $80.8 million on July 15. It then collected $33.4 million on July 16 and $136.5 million on July 17.

Those four sessions produced $389.6 million in gross inflows. They erased the opening redemption and left IBIT with $204.1 million in net weekly additions. Farside Investors’ data also shows IBIT supplied the largest Bitcoin ETF inflow on the final trading day.

The figures describe capital entering the ETF rather than a direct BlackRock Bitcoin purchase. Authorized participants create new fund shares as demand rises, while the trust adjusts its Bitcoin holdings to support those shares.

Source: Coinglass Bitcoin ETF inflows also recovered across the wider market. U.S. funds posted positive totals during each session from July 14 through July 17 after the sharp Monday withdrawal.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Funds Drive BlackRock ETF Demand Ethereum ETF demand added another source of growth for BlackRock. ETHA received $58.3 million on July 14 before adding $45.3 million the next day.

ETHB attracted $4 million on July 15. ETHA later recorded $31.7 million on July 17, bringing its five-day total to $135.3 million. The two funds therefore collected a combined $139.3 million.

BlackRock crypto ETF inflows were especially concentrated in ETHA during the final session. The fund supplied $31.7 million of the $36.7 million entering all U.S. Ethereum ETFs that day. Historical inflows into ETHA have reached about $11.3 billion.

ETHB gives brokerage investors exposure to Ethereum and staking rewards, while ETHA offers spot Ethereum exposure without direct wallet management.

Source: Coinglass The ETF activity arrived as BlackRock reported record assets under management of $15.3 trillion. The company collected $192 billion in net inflows during the second quarter and $321 billion during the first half of 2026. ETFs, private markets, and fixed-income products supported those results.

BlackRock’s iShares business collected $178 billion during the quarter. Total companywide net inflows reached $868 billion over the previous 12 months, showing that crypto products represent a small but expanding part of its broader ETF operation.

Cardano price hovered at $0.1650 on Sunday after the Van Rossem hard fork officially activated across the mainnet. ADA gained during the previous 24 hours as traders assessed the upgrade’s impact on network performance. 

The broader cryptocurrency market also improved, rising 0.54% to reach a $2.2 trillion valuation. Bitcoin price was still trading over $64,000, with Ethereum at $1,860 and XRP price showing a small gain. 

Market sentiment may strengthen further if Bitcoin maintains support above $63,500 and approaches the $69,000 resistance level.

Van Rossem Hard Fork Strengthens Cardano Mainnet The Protocol Version 11 upgrade of Cardano was implemented once all the necessary governance groups gave it adequate approval. The proposal passed ratification levels in Epoch 643 on July 13. It was automatically enacted in the next epoch boundary, which is July 18, 2026.

The upgrade comes with new Plutus features that aim to enhance the execution of smart contracts. Faster processing, reduced costs and updated cost models can be enjoyed by developers. 

These modifications can make decentralized applications run in the growing ecosystem of Cardano more efficient.

NEWS: V11 (van Rossem) hardfork is now officially live on Cardano $ADA mainnet.

It brought new Plutus capabilities, faster/cheaper smart contracts, and protocol prep for Leios.

Congratulations to the entire Cardano ecosystem on another successful upgrade! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/KLJtAaV9Uy

— Cardanians (CRDN) (@Cardanians_io) July 19, 2026

Van Rossem also enhances ledger consistency and enhances node security. The upgrade includes improved primitives, special VRF keys, and new reference input regulations. 

The hard fork governance action was given precedence by the ledger of Cardano over other proposals during the ratification. There were however no rival governance actions that were withheld, stifled or lapsed.

The upgrade is also gearing Cardano towards the proposed transition to the Dijkstra era. That future hard fork should bring in Ouroboros Leios, the significant Cardano scalability framework. The goal of Leios is to maximise throughput without compromising network security and decentralisation.

Whale $100K Activity Falls While ADA Price Holds Steady Cardano price looks at recovery because whale transactions have not been high as compared to spikes that have been noticed earlier in the year. The current participation of major holders is limited and would show large ADA transfers above 100,000. 

The whale activity had earlier spiked to more than 200 transactions in January and then went down in the months that followed. The highest brief increases were observed in February, March, June, and July, but none of them was as high as the first peak. 

Santiment data The fact that this slowdown persists implies that large investors are acting cautiously until they can see through the fog before they can venture more into Cardano.

Cardano Price Outlook Signals 20% Rally Toward $0.20 The ADA price surged to $0.165, extending its recovery from the $0.160 support zone during four-hour trading. 

Buyers are trying to gain control, but short-term resistance is close to $0.17 according to the Cardano future outlook.

An emphatic four hour close above that line may help build momentum towards $0.180. A break of $0.18 can lead to a break of $0.20, which is about 20% increase over the current.

Source: Tradingview The MACD is still a bit positive but narrow lines indicate that momentum still requires more volume. In the meantime, the Chaikin Money Flow value of approximately 0.13 indicates that capital is still flowing into the market.

Cardano price must defend $0.16 to preserve this bullish structure and prevent another pullback. Any failure at the support may reveal $0.15 before the buyers get confidence back.

There is $1.6 trillion in Bitcoin sitting idle, earning nothing, doing nothing. Charles Hoskinson has a plan to put it to work on Cardano, and the plan quietly requires every transaction to burn a little ADA. Whether that saves Cardano or exposes its central problem is the whole question.

Summary

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has laid out a strategy to bring Bitcoin into Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem through a platform called Pogun, targeting the roughly $1.6 trillion in idle Bitcoin. Pogun rolls out in three phases across 2026: a non-margin credit market in the second quarter, a yield application in the third, and a BitVM-based trust-minimized bridge in the fourth. The mechanism that matters for ADA holders: every transaction in the system requires ADA for fees, paid invisibly by Bitcoin users, creating a demand driver that Cardano’s token has lacked. It leans on Midnight, Cardano’s privacy partner chain, for confidential transactions, and on Cardano’s EUTXO architecture, which shares design lineage with Bitcoin’s own UTxO model. The sharp objection, raised by Cardano’s own community: if Bitcoin can be lent, earn yield, and settle without users noticing ADA, why hold ADA at all? The plan may build against its own token. Cardano has a problem it has had for years, and it is not a technology problem. ADA trades around 94% below its 2021 high, the network’s DeFi activity has long lagged its ambitions, and its founder spends a meaningful share of his time denying rumors that he is quitting. What Cardano has never lacked is engineering and ideas.

What it has lacked is a reason for capital to show up. Charles Hoskinson’s answer, laid out across 2026, is audacious: stop trying to attract crypto capital to Cardano and go get Bitcoin’s instead. There is roughly $1.6 trillion in Bitcoin sitting idle in wallets, earning nothing, and Hoskinson wants to route a slice of it through Cardano’s infrastructure, with every transaction quietly paying fees in ADA. It is the most concrete demand thesis Cardano has produced in years. It also contains a contradiction its own community has already spotted.

The idle-Bitcoin thesis The premise starts with a real and large number. Something on the order of $1.6 trillion in Bitcoin sits in wallets doing nothing productive. Bitcoin is superb as a store of value and poor as a financial instrument: it does not natively lend, earn yield, or plug into decentralized finance without wrapping, bridging, or handing custody to an intermediary. That gap, enormous dormant capital with no native way to work, is what every “Bitcoin DeFi” project is chasing, and Hoskinson has decided Cardano should chase it hard.

His framing, delivered publicly in May 2026 and reiterated through the year, is that Bitcoin holders would be able to access lending, yield, and privacy tools through Cardano without surrendering control of their assets. A dedicated team, described at various points as around 19 people, is building it. The pitch to Bitcoin holders is straightforward: keep your Bitcoin, but make it productive, through infrastructure that does not require you to trust a centralized custodian.

The pitch to Cardano holders is different and more important to the ADA investment case. Hoskinson has been explicit that the entire system runs on ADA underneath. In his own words, every single transaction requires ADA to happen; the Bitcoin user pays a fee in ADA but does not see it. The idea is to make ADA the invisible fuel of a Bitcoin-DeFi economy, generating persistent, usage-based demand for the token regardless of whether anyone is speculating on ADA itself. For a token whose central weakness has been the absence of a demand driver, that is the whole game.

What Pogun actually is Pogun is the platform that operationalizes the thesis, and its structure is more concrete than Cardano’s roadmaps usually are.

It rolls out in three phases across 2026. The first, targeted for the second quarter, is a non-margin credit market: lending against Bitcoin without the liquidation-cascade risk that leveraged lending carries. The second, targeted for the third quarter, is a yield-focused application that lets Bitcoin holders earn returns.

The third, targeted for the fourth quarter, is a BitVM-powered bridge, a trust-minimized way to move Bitcoin onto Cardano infrastructure without the custodial risk that has plagued wrapped-Bitcoin products. Input Output Group sought treasury funding for the effort, with figures around 12.3 million ADA cited, as part of a larger proposal slate that also funded the Leios scaling upgrade.

The architecture leans on two Cardano-specific pieces. The first is Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused partner chain, which launched its mainnet in early 2026 and serves as the confidential coordination layer, letting Bitcoin holders use DeFi tools without exposing their positions publicly. Hoskinson has framed Midnight as proof of Cardano’s partner-chain model, specialized chains operating alongside the main network while drawing on its security.

The second is Cardano’s EUTXO accounting model, which shares design lineage with Bitcoin’s own UTxO model. That shared lineage is not incidental; it is part of the technical argument that Cardano is a more natural home for Bitcoin DeFi than account-based chains like Ethereum, because the two systems think about transactions in a similar way.

The sequencing is deliberate. The team has described building the credit market and liquidity first, so that by the time the consumer-facing products launch, there is already a functioning market underneath them instead of an empty shell waiting for users.

JUST IN: Cardano enables thousands of onchain signature checks at lower cost

Plutus smart contracts can now verify signatures natively using BLS12 381 cryptography pic.twitter.com/9Mqk9B6J9V

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) July 18, 2026 The bull case The strongest version of this argument is that Cardano has finally identified the right target and built a credible, differentiated way to reach it.

The demand mechanism is genuinely elegant. Cardano’s problem was never capability; it was that ADA had no structural reason to be in demand beyond speculation and staking. Embedding ADA as the mandatory fee layer of a Bitcoin-DeFi economy creates exactly the kind of usage-based demand that speculation cannot provide, and that does not evaporate when sentiment turns. If Bitcoin DeFi on Cardano generates real volume, ADA demand rises mechanically with it, transaction by transaction, whether or not anyone is bullish on ADA as a trade. That is a far healthier demand base than the memecoin-and-narrative cycles driving other chains.

JUST IN: Cardano reduces reliance on creator input output

Key infrastructure will be handed to external teams with community oversight starting in August pic.twitter.com/72NTpukLYb

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) July 18, 2026 The target is also the right one. Every serious chain is chasing Bitcoin DeFi because the prize, a fraction of $1.6 trillion in dormant capital, is the largest untapped pool in crypto. Cardano bringing brokerage-grade patience, a privacy layer, and UTxO compatibility to that chase is a real differentiator against the wrapped-Bitcoin approaches that have dominated and repeatedly failed on custody and trust. A BitVM bridge that reduces custodial risk addresses the exact failure mode, hacked or insolvent custodians, that has burned wrapped-Bitcoin users before.

And it fits Cardano’s identity rather than betraying it. Cardano’s whole brand is methodical, research-driven, security-first engineering, often criticized as too slow. Bitcoin holders are, as a group, the most conservative and security-conscious in crypto. A careful, peer-reviewed, custody-minimizing approach to Bitcoin DeFi is arguably better matched to Bitcoin holders than the move-fast culture of other DeFi ecosystems. For once, Cardano’s slowness could be a feature aimed at exactly the audience that values it.

The bear case The skeptical case starts with a question a Cardano community member asked Hoskinson directly, and it is devastating in its simplicity: what would be the point of holding ADA over Bitcoin? Are we building against our own core token?

The concern is real and structural. If the system is designed so that Bitcoin users pay fees in ADA without seeing it, then the design goal is explicitly to make ADA invisible. A Bitcoin holder using Pogun holds Bitcoin, earns yield in Bitcoin, and never needs to acquire, hold, or think about ADA. The fees are abstracted away. If ADA is successfully hidden from the user, then ADA is a backend utility token that the end user has no reason to hold as an investment, which means the demand is limited to whatever float the protocols need to operate, not the broad holder demand that supports a token’s price.

Making ADA the invisible plumbing is good for usage and potentially bad for ADA as an asset people want to own. Hoskinson’s answer, that transactions require ADA regardless, addresses mechanical demand but not the deeper question of why anyone holds ADA rather than the Bitcoin it is helping to mobilize.

The second problem is execution and timeline. Cardano has a long history of ambitious roadmaps that arrive late or underdeliver relative to the promise. Pogun’s phases are targeted across 2026, and Cardano’s governance has been visibly deadlocked, with treasury votes for exactly this kind of initiative facing friction and Hoskinson warning that rejecting research funding could drive engineers away. A plan that depends on multiple new components, Midnight, the BitVM bridge, the credit and yield layers, all shipping and integrating on schedule, is a plan with substantial execution risk in an ecosystem that has struggled to convert roadmap into adoption before.

The third problem is competition. Cardano is not alone in chasing Bitcoin DeFi; it is late to a crowded race. Bitcoin layer-2s, wrapped-Bitcoin protocols on Ethereum, and Bitcoin-native DeFi efforts are all pursuing the same idle capital, several with more liquidity, more developers, and more existing integrations than Cardano has managed to attract. Cardano’s DeFi TVL has sat around $1.1 billion at times, a fraction of Ethereum’s or Solana’s, which raises the question of why Bitcoin holders would route their capital through the ecosystem that has struggled most to attract capital in the first place. Being a natural technical home for Bitcoin DeFi does not help if the liquidity and developers are elsewhere.

LATEST: Bitcoin is heading natively to Cardano. The Cardinal protocol aims to wrap BTC UTXOs into Cardano native assets with a one-to-one peg, unlocking liquidity for Cardano DeFi without custodians pic.twitter.com/hEhZzGzefV

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) April 28, 2026 The token question at the center Everything about this plan comes back to one unresolved tension, and it is worth stating plainly because it is the crux of whether Pogun helps ADA or merely helps Bitcoin.

Cardano is trying to solve its demand problem by making ADA essential but invisible. Those two properties are in tension. Essential means every transaction needs ADA, which creates mechanical demand proportional to usage. Invisible means users never consciously hold or value ADA, which suppresses the discretionary demand that actually drives a token’s price above its pure utility floor. A token that is essential-but-invisible tends to trade at its utility value, the minimum float the system needs to function, rather than at the premium that comes from people wanting to own it. Ethereum resolved this tension by making ETH visible and desirable as an asset in its own right, through staking, through the ultrasound narrative, through being the reserve asset of its own economy. Cardano’s Pogun design points the other way, toward ADA as backend infrastructure.

The optimistic resolution is that sufficient usage makes even utility-value demand large. If Bitcoin DeFi on Cardano processes enormous volume, the mechanical ADA demand could be substantial even if no one holds ADA for love of it. The pessimistic resolution is that Cardano will have built a successful piece of Bitcoin infrastructure whose value accrues to Bitcoin holders and Pogun’s operators, while ADA captures only the thin utility margin, which is not the outcome ADA holders are hoping for when they cheer a Bitcoin-DeFi announcement.

Which resolution wins depends on numbers that do not exist yet, because the products are still launching. The second-quarter credit market and third-quarter yield app are the first real tests. If they generate meaningful Bitcoin volume and ADA demand rises visibly with it, the thesis has legs. If they launch quietly into the same low-liquidity environment that has characterized Cardano DeFi, then Pogun becomes another well-engineered Cardano initiative that did not move the token, and the community member’s question, why hold ADA over Bitcoin, will have answered itself.

Why Cardano needs this to work To understand why Hoskinson is betting so heavily on Bitcoin DeFi, you have to understand how much pressure Cardano is under, because Pogun is not an opportunistic add-on. It is a response to an existential question the market keeps asking.

The pressure is visible in the numbers and the noise around them. ADA trades roughly 94% below its 2021 high, deep in the ranks of large-cap tokens that led the previous cycle and never recovered. Cardano’s DeFi total value locked, around $1.1 billion at times, is a fraction of Ethereum’s or Solana’s despite Cardano having been live since 2017 and commanding one of the most committed communities in crypto. Hoskinson has spent 2026 denying rumors that he is leaving the project and calling them fiction, which is not a thing founders of thriving networks typically have to do. And the governance apparatus, the CIP-1694 on-chain system Cardano is genuinely proud of, has been deadlocked over treasury proposals, with Hoskinson warning that rejecting research funding could push engineers out.

Underneath all of it is a criticism Hoskinson himself has accepted in his own framing: Cardano’s problem is not technology. He has said explicitly that it is not a node problem, not a problem of imagination, not a problem of execution capability, but a problem of governance, coordination, and ultimately getting capital and users to show up. That is a striking admission from a founder, and it reframes Pogun. Bitcoin DeFi is not just a product; it is Hoskinson’s answer to the accusation that Cardano builds impressive technology that nobody uses. If he can route Bitcoin’s enormous, idle capital base through Cardano, he solves the adoption problem and the demand problem at once, and he does it without needing to win the crypto-native DeFi users who have consistently chosen other chains.

That is why the stakes are higher than a normal roadmap item. Cardano has tried narratives before: smart contracts, then DeFi, then real-world assets, and none produced the adoption inflection the community keeps waiting for. Bitcoin DeFi is the biggest swing yet, aimed at the biggest target, and it arrives at a moment when patience with the slow-and-steady thesis is visibly thinning. If Pogun works, it vindicates the entire methodical approach. If it lands quietly like its predecessors, it will be much harder to argue that the next initiative will be different. Hoskinson has effectively staked the credibility of Cardano’s whole strategy on reaching an audience that has never been Cardano’s, which is either the boldest possible move or a sign of how few options remain.

What to watch Three concrete markers will tell you which way this breaks.

The first is whether the Pogun phases actually ship on their 2026 timeline. The credit market was targeted for the second quarter and the yield app for the third; slippage on those dates, in an ecosystem already criticized for slow delivery, would be an early negative signal. Shipping on time, with working products, would be a genuine and somewhat unexpected positive given Cardano’s track record.

The second is Bitcoin volume through the system, not ADA price. The entire thesis rests on attracting idle Bitcoin, so the metric that matters is how much Bitcoin actually flows into Pogun’s credit and yield products once they are live. ADA price will be noisy and driven by the broader market; Bitcoin TVL on Cardano is the clean read on whether the idle-Bitcoin thesis is working.

The third is whether ADA demand becomes visible in the data as usage grows. This is the crux question made measurable. If Bitcoin volume rises and on-chain ADA demand rises with it in a legible way, the essential-and-invisible design is working as a demand driver. If Bitcoin volume rises and ADA does nothing, then the community’s fear was correct, and Cardano will have built valuable infrastructure for someone else’s asset. Hoskinson has made the boldest, most concrete bet of Cardano’s recent history. The next two quarters start to settle whether it was aimed at the right target or against his own token.

Frequently Asked Questions What is Cardano’s Bitcoin DeFi plan? It is a strategy, led by founder Charles Hoskinson, to bring Bitcoin into Cardano’s DeFi ecosystem and tap the roughly $1.6 trillion in idle Bitcoin. The centerpiece is Pogun, a platform letting Bitcoin holders lend, borrow, and earn yield through Cardano infrastructure without surrendering custody. Crucially, every transaction in the system requires ADA for fees, creating usage-based demand for Cardano’s token.

What is Pogun? A three-phase Bitcoin DeFi platform rolling out across 2026: a non-margin credit market in the second quarter, a yield-focused application in the third, and a BitVM-based trust-minimized bridge in the fourth. It integrates Midnight, Cardano’s privacy partner chain, for confidential transactions, and builds on Cardano’s EUTXO architecture, which shares design lineage with Bitcoin’s UTxO model. Input Output Group sought around 12.3 million ADA in treasury funding for it.

How does this benefit ADA holders? Through embedded demand. Hoskinson has stated that every transaction in the system requires ADA for fees, paid by Bitcoin users who may not even notice. If Bitcoin DeFi on Cardano generates real volume, ADA demand rises mechanically with it, independent of speculation. For a token whose main weakness has been the lack of a structural demand driver, that is the core of the investment argument.

What is the main criticism? That the design makes ADA essential but invisible, which are properties in tension. If Bitcoin users pay fees in ADA without seeing it, they have no reason to hold ADA as an investment, so demand may stay limited to the minimum the protocols need instead of the broad holder demand that lifts a token’s price. A community member asked Hoskinson directly what the point of holding ADA over Bitcoin would be, capturing the concern that Cardano may be building against its own token.

How is this different from wrapped Bitcoin? Wrapped Bitcoin typically requires trusting a custodian to hold the underlying Bitcoin, a model that has failed through hacks and insolvencies. Pogun’s fourth phase is a BitVM-based bridge designed to be trust-minimized, reducing reliance on a custodian. Combined with Cardano’s UTxO compatibility with Bitcoin and the Midnight privacy layer, the pitch is a more secure, more private way to make Bitcoin productive than existing wrapped approaches.

Why does Cardano think it can win Bitcoin DeFi? Three arguments: its EUTXO architecture shares design lineage with Bitcoin’s UTxO model, making it a technically natural fit; its methodical, security-first culture matches Bitcoin holders’ conservatism; and its Midnight privacy chain offers confidentiality that Bitcoin holders value. The counterargument is that Cardano is late to a crowded race with lower liquidity and fewer developers than competitors, which may outweigh any technical fit.

When does Pogun launch? Its phases are targeted across 2026: the credit market in the second quarter, the yield application in the third, and the BitVM bridge in the fourth. Given Cardano’s history of ambitious roadmaps arriving later than promised, and ongoing governance friction over treasury funding, whether these dates hold is itself a meaningful signal to watch.

Will this fix ADA’s price? Unknown, and it depends on the essential-versus-invisible tension. If Bitcoin volume through Pogun is large, mechanical ADA demand could be substantial even without holders wanting ADA for its own sake. If volume is modest, or if ADA is so well hidden that demand stays at the minimum float the system needs, the plan could succeed as Bitcoin infrastructure while doing little for ADA as an asset. The next two quarters of launches are the first real test.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. It describes a development roadmap whose components are still launching and whose outcomes are uncertain. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 17, 2026.

The SEC has approved a NYSE Arca rule change that raises position and exercise limits for options on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, giving institutional traders more room to hedge and express larger views around the spot Bitcoin ETF market.

The change increases limits for IBIT options from 250,000 contracts to 1,000,000 contracts, according to the SEC release. That is a fourfold increase, and it reflects how quickly Bitcoin ETF options have become part of the market’s trading infrastructure.

This is not the kind of update that grabs attention like a new ETF launch. But for market structure, it matters.

Options limits decide how large positions can become. Larger limits can support deeper institutional trading, more complex hedging, and better liquidity around ETF-linked Bitcoin exposure.

Reference: SEC

TL;DR The SEC approved a NYSE Arca rule change raising IBIT options limits. Position and exercise limits move from 250,000 to 1,000,000 contracts. The change gives larger traders more room to hedge Bitcoin ETF exposure. Bitcoin ETFs Are Becoming Trading Infrastructure The first phase of the spot Bitcoin ETF story was access.

Investors wanted to know whether they could buy Bitcoin exposure through ordinary brokerage accounts. Asset managers wanted products that could fit inside existing portfolios. Advisers wanted a structure that did not involve exchanges, wallets, private keys, or direct custody.

That phase is now maturing.

The next phase is market structure. Once an ETF becomes liquid, traders want options, hedging tools, arbitrage routes, and larger position limits. Those pieces make the product more useful for institutions that manage risk actively rather than simply buying and holding.

IBIT has become one of the most important Bitcoin ETF products in the market, so options activity around it matters. If traders can hold larger options positions, they can manage larger underlying exposures, hedge portfolio risk more efficiently, or build more sophisticated volatility strategies.

That does not mean the change is automatically bullish for Bitcoin. Options can be used for bullish, bearish, and neutral strategies. But it does mean the market around Bitcoin ETFs is becoming deeper.

Why Position Limits Matter Position limits exist to prevent excessive concentration and reduce market-manipulation risk.

If limits are too low, large institutions may find the product less useful. If limits are too high, regulators may worry about market integrity. Raising the limit suggests the exchange and regulator believe the product can support larger activity without creating unacceptable risk.

For IBIT options, moving from 250,000 to 1,000,000 contracts is a meaningful shift.

It allows larger traders to operate with more flexibility. A fund with substantial Bitcoin ETF exposure may need options to hedge downside. A market maker may need room to support liquidity. A volatility trader may want to build positions that were previously constrained by the lower cap.

The result can be a more efficient options market.

Better options liquidity can also improve the underlying ETF market because traders have more ways to manage risk. In mature asset classes, options are a normal part of the ecosystem. Bitcoin ETFs are now moving closer to that model.

A Sign Of Institutional Normalisation The larger point is that Bitcoin is increasingly being absorbed into traditional market infrastructure.

Spot ETFs brought Bitcoin into regulated fund wrappers. Options brought a derivatives layer around those wrappers. Higher position limits now give larger institutions more operational room.

This is exactly how financial markets mature. First comes access, then liquidity, then hedging, then more complex institutional strategies.

For Bitcoin, that is a major shift from earlier cycles, when much of the market was concentrated on offshore exchanges, spot exchanges, and crypto-native derivatives venues. Those venues still matter, but the ETF market has changed the balance.

More regulated options activity could also affect volatility. In some cases, deeper options markets help smooth risk because traders can hedge more efficiently. In other cases, options positioning can create sharp moves around expiries, strikes, and dealer hedging flows.

Either way, Bitcoin traders will increasingly need to watch ETF options data alongside spot flows.

The SEC approval does not guarantee higher Bitcoin prices. It does not remove volatility. It does not change the underlying supply schedule. But it does make the institutional Bitcoin market more functional.

That may be the most important takeaway. Bitcoin ETFs are no longer just products people buy for exposure. They are becoming part of a larger trading and risk-management system.

This article is based on SEC release SR-NYSEARCA-2026-76 and Federal Register materials.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

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The quiet reversal is the one that often gets ignored until it isn’t. After a grinding multi-month stretch of outflows that bled through May and June, Bitcoin ETFs have flipped back to positive territory, registering $264.4 million in net inflows over the past two weeks as BTC reclaimed the $64,000 level. The Santiment update shows the demand shift is not just a headline number—it’s spread across multiple issuers, making the turnaround harder to dismiss as a one-off event.

The post-outflow tape had been defined by apathy. Daily redemptions chipped away at assets, and the narrative that ETF demand had peaked in March was cementing into conventional wisdom. That assumption now looks premature. The two-week figure includes some of the largest single-day flows since early summer, and the fund-level breakdown points to buyers easing back in rather than front-running.

A Two-Week Turnaround Led by Major Issuers Fidelity’s FBTC did the heaviest lifting early on, drawing roughly $166 million as July’s reversal began. ARKB added about $91.8 million, and BlackRock’s IBIT later stepped in with a $138.9 million day that anchored a $181.1 million total Bitcoin ETF inflow session. The distribution matters: when massive flows concentrate in a single fund, the market often treats it as tactical positioning. A spread across Fidelity, ARK, and BlackRock suggests broader re-engagement, not a single mandate.

The multi-fund pattern also weakens the argument that these inflows are merely mechanical—say, rebalancing or basis trades. While basis trade flows can still be part of the mix, genuine spot demand appears to be returning alongside a more forgiving macro backdrop. The timing is consistent with traders who had been waiting on the sidelines for inflation signals to clear.

Macro Tailwinds and Policy Hopes The macro picture provided the spark. Encouraging CPI data softened rate expectations and renewed traders’ risk appetite, while the Fed’s tone cemented a faint but real pivot narrative. On the policy side, a sense of incremental optimism around Washington’s approach to crypto added another reason for sidelined capital to move. Banks are trying to kill the biggest crypto bill in US history four days before the Senate vote, and that fight itself has forced a conversation about what a clearer regulatory framework could look like—whether or not the bill passes immediately.

What remains uncertain is whether this flow trend can persist beyond a short macro window. A single CPI print and a softer Fed do not guarantee sustained buying, and Bitcoin’s price still needs to clear proven resistance zones for conviction to solidify. The ETF market has shown it can generate large daily inflows that vanish just as quickly when risk sentiment sours. The next critical test is weekly fund flow data throughout the rest of July: if the positive streak extends, the narrative could shift from “dead cat bounce” to a genuine demand recovery.

For now, the data point is tangible: Bitcoin ETF flows are positive, the selling pressure that defined the spring has paused, and the buyers are not concentrated in one vehicle. That alone is enough to force a reassessment of the institutional demand story.

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Michael Saylor built his reputation on a simple thesis: buy Bitcoin, keep buying Bitcoin, never sell. CryptoQuant thinks it’s time to complicate that playbook.

On June 23, the on-chain analytics firm published a report urging Strategy, the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, to pump the brakes on its aggressive accumulation strategy. The core argument is less about Bitcoin and more about basic financial hygiene: the company’s liquidity position has deteriorated to a point where buying more Bitcoin before shoring up cash reserves is a meaningful risk.

The numbers that are making analysts nervous Strategy’s USD cash reserves dropped 38% in 2026, falling to roughly $1.1 billion by mid-June. At the same time, annual dividend obligations on its STRC preferred shares have quadrupled to approximately $1.2 billion per year.

The dividend coverage ratio tells the story most clearly. Strategy went from having over seven years of dividend runway to just 14 months, essentially in the span of one market cycle. CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, specifically recommended that the company rebuild reserves to around $2.8 billion, which would represent 24 months of coverage, before resuming any Bitcoin purchases.

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STRC preferred shares were trading around $82.50 in mid-June, roughly 17.5% below par value.

CryptoQuant estimates that Strategy is sitting on approximately $10.6 billion in aggregate unrealized Bitcoin losses, with every purchase made between 2024 and 2026 currently underwater relative to prevailing market prices.

847,000 Bitcoin and a structural dilemma Strategy currently holds roughly 847,000 Bitcoin, a position that makes it the dominant force in corporate treasury Bitcoin ownership. CryptoQuant pegs Strategy’s share at approximately 76% of all Bitcoin held by corporate treasury entities globally.

CryptoQuant explicitly advised against selling to improve cash reserves, noting that divesting at current loss levels would simply crystallize the damage rather than fix the underlying problem. The firm’s preferred solution is to focus on raising capital through dividends or new share issuance rather than liquidating Bitcoin holdings.

The recommendation to develop a model for potential sales during future market rallies is the sharpest departure from Saylor’s public doctrine. Saylor has been categorical about never selling Bitcoin. CryptoQuant is suggesting the company needs at least a contingency plan, a set of conditions under which selling would be the rational move, even if that plan is never triggered.

What this means for the broader market CryptoQuant’s warning is partly about Strategy specifically and partly about the model it represents. A number of companies have followed Saylor’s playbook, adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets as a treasury reserve asset. If the originator of that strategy runs into a liquidity wall, it raises questions about whether smaller imitators have stress-tested their own positions.

The risk of intermediate Bitcoin cycle peaks is a specific concern Moreno flagged. If Bitcoin rallies hard and then corrects before Strategy has rebuilt its cash position, the company could find itself caught between the need to service preferred dividends and a Bitcoin treasury worth less than the peak valuations it was carried on.

Strategy’s ability to issue new equity or preferred shares at favorable terms depends heavily on market confidence. If that confidence erodes, the capital raise option that CryptoQuant sees as the cleanest solution becomes more expensive precisely when the company needs it most.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

18h48 ▪ 4 min read ▪ by Ghiles A.

Summarize this article with:

Exchange-traded funds backed by spot Bitcoin show a new sign of stability after several months marked by capital outflows. In the United States, investors recorded a third consecutive session of net inflows, confirming renewed interest in this category of products. This development comes as the market tries to regain better balance after a difficult start to the year. Meanwhile, data show a gradual improvement in flows, despite a context where price performance remains under pressure.

In brief US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded 368 million dollars of net inflows in three consecutive sessions. The cumulative inflows of these funds now reach 51.2 billion dollars, with 77.7 billion dollars in assets under management. Bitcoin briefly crossed 65,000 dollars while July flows returned to positive territory. Despite this improvement, spot ETFs still show a net flow deficit of 5.4 billion dollars since the beginning of 2026. Bitcoin: Spot ETFs Post Three Consecutive Sessions of Inflows US spot ETFs linked to Bitcoin recorded 79.2 million dollars of net inflows on Thursday. This performance extends a positive streak after 181 million dollars recorded on Tuesday, then 108 million dollars on Wednesday. In total, these three sessions represent about 368 million dollars of new capital, according to SoSoValue data.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs record several consecutive sessions of net capital inflows, bringing cumulative flows to over 51.2 billion dollars by mid-July 2026. Source: SoSovalue. Moreover, cumulative net inflows since the launch of these products now reach 51.2 billion dollars. Assets under management also increase to reach 77.7 billion dollars. At the same time, the price of bitcoin briefly exceeded the 65,000 dollars threshold on Wednesday, a first since the end of June. This price movement coincided with flows toward ETFs returning to a more favorable trajectory.

Flows Turn Positive After Several Challenging Months Recent investments have allowed monthly flows of spot Bitcoin ETFs to return to positive territory during July. This improvement follows net outflows of 4.51 billion dollars in June and 2.4 billion dollars in May. If this momentum continues until the end of the month, July will become the first positive month since April, during which ETFs recorded 1.97 billion dollars of net inflows.

However, the annual balance remains negative. On Friday, net flows of US ETFs still showed a deficit of about 5.4 billion dollars since the beginning of 2026. At the same time, Bitcoin was trading around $63,400 at the time of writing, a decrease of about 28% since the start of the year. These figures show that the recovery of flows is not yet accompanied by a sustainable return in market performance.

The next sessions will allow verification of whether this investment resurgence is confirmed. Continued inflows could reinforce the momentum observed in ETFs, while bitcoin’s evolution will remain a key indicator to measure the strength of this trend. Market participants will also monitor the funds’ ability to maintain positive flows in the coming weeks.

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Ghiles A.

Journaliste et rédacteur web passionné par l’univers des cryptomonnaies et des technologies Web3. J’y traite les dernières tendances et actualités afin de proposer un contenu de haute qualité à un large public du secteur.

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

Institutional investment in $XRP continues to accelerate as Brookstone Capital Management, a financial advisory firm based in Illinois, revealed a significant stake in the Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF (XRPI) through its latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Brookstone’s XRP ETF positionCrypto market commentator Xaif drew attention to the disclosure, noting that Brookstone now holds 12,380 shares of XRPI valued at approximately $71 million. He characterized this activity as evidence of growing institutional participation in XRP.

Brookstone Capital Management has confirmed a $71 million position in the Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF, holding 12,380 shares according to its recent SEC filing. This move adds to a pattern of institutional entry into regulated XRP products.

The 13F filing, a quarterly report required by the SEC, documents asset positions of professional investment managers. Unlike an ETF launch application, a 13F filing shows positions that firms already hold in their portfolios.

Several months earlier, similar filings indicated that Goldman Sachs had become the largest holder of spot XRP ETF shares among institutional investors.

Brookstone’s participation highlights their growing interest in products that offer regulated access to cryptocurrencies without necessitating direct asset custody.

Mini dictionary: 13F filing, a quarterly disclosure form that must be submitted by institutional investment managers with over $100 million in assets under management, detailing their holdings in equities and certain ETFs.

The Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF, listed on Nasdaq, launched in 2025 as an actively managed fund focused primarily on XRP futures contracts. The ETF aims for capital appreciation by allowing investors to gain regulated exposure to XRP market movements, removing the need for direct self-custody of digital assets.

The fund provides a bridge for institutions and retail investors seeking exposure to XRP in a manner compliant with U.S. financial regulations.

Multiple U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs debuted in November 2025, each structured to allow shareholders to invest in XRP markets with reduced exposure to custody risks and regulatory uncertainty.

ETFLaunch DatePrimary AssetStatusVolatility Shares Trust XRP ETF2025XRP FuturesActiveSpot XRP ETFs (multiple)Nov 2025XRPActive, traded in U.S.Institutional adoption and inflow trendsBrookstone’s filing adds to an ongoing trend of financial institutions seeking crypto exposure through regulated investment vehicles. Spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. reported no net outflow days in their first month after launch. By early December 2025, combined assets under management for these funds had surpassed $1 billion.

Industry data shows that cumulative net inflows into spot XRP ETFs reached $1.44 billion since their launch, underlining persistent appetite from institutional investors.

XRP ETF inflows outpace other crypto fundsThe resilience of XRP ETFs stands out against the backdrop of declining flows in other major digital asset funds. In June, U.S. Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows exceeding $4 billion, while Ethereum ETFs saw investors withdraw $528.99 million. XRP ETFs, however, attracted $59.4 million in fresh inflows during the same period. This inflow streak for XRP spot ETFs extended for eight consecutive weeks through June 26, underscoring their strong institutional demand.

While capital pulled away from Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in June, XRP ETFs added $59.4 million, continuing an eight-week streak of positive inflows. This momentum indicates a strategic pivot among institutional investors toward diversified crypto exposure.

ETFJune 2026 Net FlowBitcoin ETFs-$4 billionEthereum ETFs-$528.99 millionXRP ETFs+$59.4 millionImplications for XRP holdersBrookstone’s 13F filing is the latest signal that a wider array of investment firms, from multinational banks to smaller advisors, are adopting regulated crypto products such as XRP ETFs to diversify client portfolios. The steady inflows and absence of major outflows reflect a pattern of longer-term allocation, rather than speculative trading.

By using products like the Volatility Shares XRPI fund, investors gain efficient, regulated access to the XRP market, further legitimizing the asset within institutional finance circles.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

TL;DR U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $79.15 million in net inflows on July 16, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT led all Bitcoin ETFs with $33.44 million in fresh inflows. Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $28.04 million in total net outflows during the same trading session. Bitwise’s ETHW posted the largest single-day inflow among Ethereum ETFs at $2.28 million. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) returned to positive territory on July 16, recording $79.15 million in net inflows, even as spot Ethereum ETFs continued to face investor withdrawals. The latest data from SoSoValue shows BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led Bitcoin fund inflows with $33.44 million, while Bitwise’s ETHW posted the largest inflow among Ethereum funds despite the sector finishing the day with an overall $28.04 million net outflow.

According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of USD 79.15 million on July 16, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with USD 33.44 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs posted total net outflows of USD 28.04 million, although Bitwise’s ETHW recorded the largest… pic.twitter.com/jgejDWUYgs

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 17, 2026

The mixed performance underscores how institutional investors continue to favor Bitcoin exposure while remaining more cautious on Ethereum after several weeks of uneven ETF demand.

BlackRock Leads Bitcoin ETF Recovery According to SoSoValue data, the July 16 session saw Bitcoin ETFs attract fresh capital after a volatile stretch that has featured alternating days of inflows and outflows throughout July. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for the largest share of new investments, adding $33.44 million, helping the sector finish the day with a net gain of $79.15 million.

The accompanying SoSoValue chart shows Bitcoin ETF assets standing at approximately $77.72 billion, with the daily inflow occurring as Bitcoin traded around the $64,000 mark.

Although the latest inflow is modest compared with the billion-dollar sessions seen earlier in the ETF market’s history, it suggests institutional demand has not disappeared despite recent market consolidation. Recent trading sessions have been characterized by rapidly shifting investor sentiment as macroeconomic uncertainty and crypto-specific developments continue to influence fund flows. 

Ethereum ETFs Remain Under Pressure While Bitcoin products attracted fresh investment, Ethereum ETFs moved in the opposite direction despite a good market day for Ethereum the day before.

The group posted a combined $28.04 million in net outflows for the day, extending the uneven pattern that has defined Ethereum fund performance in recent weeks.

Despite the overall decline, Bitwise’s ETHW stood out by recording the day’s largest individual inflow at $2.28 million, suggesting that selective investors continue accumulating exposure even as broader sentiment toward Ethereum funds remains cautious.

The divergence between Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs highlights how institutional capital is currently flowing unevenly across digital assets, with Bitcoin continuing to attract relatively stronger demand. 

ETF Flows Remain a Closely Watched Market Indicator Spot ETF activity has become one of the crypto market’s most closely monitored indicators since the products launched, offering insight into institutional appetite for digital assets.

While one day’s inflows do not establish a long-term trend, analysts often view sustained ETF demand as a sign of growing investor confidence because these products provide regulated exposure to cryptocurrencies through traditional brokerage accounts.

BlackRock remains the world’s largest asset manager, and IBIT has consistently ranked among the most actively traded spot Bitcoin ETFs since its launch. Continued inflows into the fund are frequently interpreted as evidence that institutional participation remains resilient despite short-term price volatility.

Investors will now be watching whether the latest inflows develop into a broader recovery after weeks of fluctuating demand.

Earlier this month, Bitcoin ETFs experienced several sessions of significant outflows before returning to positive territory on multiple occasions, reflecting an increasingly volatile institutional landscape rather than a sustained buying or selling trend. Ethereum ETFs have likewise alternated between inflows and outflows, although recent sessions have generally shown weaker momentum than their Bitcoin counterparts.

JPMorgan analysts report improved prospects for Bitcoin as financial services company Strategy has expanded its dollar reserves and institutional demand strengthens in futures markets. The analysts point to these developments as key factors shaping recent shifts in the cryptocurrency’s environment.

Institutional futures demand strengthensFutures and perpetual contract flows have turned positive at the CME, signaling renewed interest from institutional and professional traders. This uptick contrasts with the volatility seen in US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, where inflows and redemptions have marked recent weeks.

JPMorgan, a global banking giant, notes that institutional positioning through derivatives often provides a more stable outlook for Bitcoin, even when direct spot purchases fluctuate. This trend suggests that some large market participants are gradually increasing their exposure in spite of inconsistent demand from spot Bitcoin ETF investors.

Flows into leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to Strategy have also remained positive over the past seven weeks, with retail investors believed to be major contributors. As a result, Strategy’s stock continues to trade at a premium compared with the underlying value of its Bitcoin holdings.

Flows into CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual contracts have turned positive, indicating that some institutions are rebuilding their Bitcoin exposure despite weak and uneven interest on spot ETFs, according to JPMorgan’s analysis.

This premium allows Strategy more flexibility in raising new capital through equity sales, reducing pressure to sell Bitcoin and thereby providing an extra buffer against market downturns.

Strategy’s cash reserve expansionStrategy announced a $450 million increase in its US dollar reserve, raising the total to $3 billion as of July 12. This influx was accomplished by selling approximately 4.82 million common shares in just one week, generating $466.7 million in proceeds.

The company, which is publicly listed and known for its extensive Bitcoin treasury strategy, now holds enough cash to cover about 20 months of preferred dividend payments. While JPMorgan’s analysts maintain that reserves covering two to three years would deliver more robust protection, they recognize the current increase as a positive measure for short-term obligations.

With these additional reserves in place, Strategy may avoid selling digital assets to meet commitments, instead managing dividends and interest expenses during periods of price volatility.

At the end of the latest reporting period, Strategy maintained its Bitcoin holdings at 843,775 BTC, representing a total purchase cost of approximately $63.69 billion. The company made neither additional Bitcoin purchases nor sales during the reported week.

Chief Executive Phong Le emphasizes that Strategy intends to continue as a significant long-term Bitcoin acquirer, describing the company’s balance sheet as secure. He further states that debt-related pressure would only become problematic if Bitcoin’s price fell sharply to the $8,000 to $10,000 range.

The company has also indicated that it may issue more preferred shares if their value returns to target levels, using the proceeds to purchase additional Bitcoin or to further grow its dollar reserves.

JPMorgan analysts say that, although it is difficult to determine how the recent reserve increase has impacted overall Bitcoin sentiment, these moves have alleviated immediate concerns about forced Bitcoin sales. For now, the derivatives market and robust cash holdings provide more supportive signals for Bitcoin compared to spot ETF flows.

Mini dictionary: Strategy refers to a company publicly known for holding significant amounts of Bitcoin on its balance sheet as part of its treasury strategy, often issuing new shares to raise capital for further Bitcoin purchases.

MetricPrevious LevelCurrent LevelStrategy cash reserve$2.55 billion$3 billionStrategy BTC holdings843,775 BTC843,775 BTCAggregate BTC purchase cost–$63.69 billionDisclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

@BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has accumulated 734,762 $BTC valued at approximately $47.1 billion, as institutional appetite for regulated Bitcoin exposure continues to drive inflows into the fund.

A Dominant Force in Spot Bitcoin ETFs IBIT has established a commanding lead over rival spot Bitcoin ETF products since launching in January 2024. BlackRock's fund commands roughly 49% of total US spot Bitcoin ETF assets, placing it well ahead of competitors including Fidelity's FBTC and Grayscale's GBTC. IBIT's cumulative inflows since its January 2024 launch stand at approximately $62 billion, underscoring the scale of institutional commitment to the product over its relatively short life.

BlackRock's Bitcoin position, held primarily through IBIT, represents one of the largest institutional Bitcoin treasuries globally. The ETF structure means BlackRock does not technically own these bitcoins outright. They are held in custody for IBIT shareholders. The shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol IBIT, with Coinbase Custody Trust Company serving as custodian for the fund's Bitcoin holdings.

Institutional Demand and a Volatile 2026 The road to $47 billion has not been without turbulence. US spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $1.97 billion in April 2026, the best month of the year, with BlackRock's IBIT leading institutional demand. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust accounted for the bulk of April flows, attracting roughly $2 billion in net subscriptions. However, sentiment shifted sharply in the weeks that followed. US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $4.06 billion in net outflows during June 2026, the largest monthly redemption since the products launched in January 2024, with BlackRock's IBIT accounting for roughly $3.3 billion, or approximately 75% of the monthly total.

Despite those outflows, the fund's total Bitcoin treasury has held at a historically significant level, reflecting the ongoing structural demand from institutional allocators seeking regulated exposure to $BTC. Spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have become one of the most important signals for institutional Bitcoin demand in 2026, making IBIT's accumulation figures a closely watched metric across traditional finance and crypto markets alike.

Sources:
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Holdings Hit Record 806,700 BTC Worth $63.7 Billion, Yahoo Finance
Spot Bitcoin ETFs Pull $1.97 Billion in Biggest Monthly Surge Since November, Yahoo Finance
BlackRock's IBIT Led $4.06B June Exodus After BTC ETF News, ICObench