Wall Street giant Wells Fargo revealed massive crypto holdings via exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and stocks. The banks revealed exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), Solana, Strategy (MSTR), Bitmine (BMNR) and other crypto stocks.
Wells Fargo Reveals Bitcoin, ETH, Solana ETFs Exposure In its latest SEC filing, $2.5 trillion AUM Wells Fargo disclosed 6.5 million shares in BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). It also revealed a new call position and an increase in put position in IBIT amid growing uncertainty during the US-Iran war.
IBIT holdings dropped by 75,102 shares compared to the Q4 quarter. Moreover, the Wall Street giant cut its exposure to the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, and the Fidelity Bitcoin ETF (FBTC).
While Wells Fargo decreased holdings in IBIT, Bitcoin exposure increased in Grayscale Bitcoin Mini ETF, Bitwise’s BITB, and GBTC. Notably, BITB holdings climbed 24% quarter-on-quarter.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo boosts Ethereum ETF holdings with a 65% rise in BlackRock Ethereum ETF (ETHA) shares. The bank now holds more than 1.10 million ETHA shares worth $17.56 million.
In addition, the banking firm holds 257,157 Bitwise Ethereum ETF, 4,637 Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF, and 623 VanEck’s ETHV shares.
Also, Wells Fargo disclosed new exposure to Solana ETFs. It scooped 13,280 in Grayscale’s GSOL and 1,638 in Fidelity Solana Fund (FSOL).
Holding in Strategy’s MSTR, Bitmine, and other Crypto Stocks On the crypto stocks side, Wells Fargo significantly ramped up its position in Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR). The bank boosted its MSTR shares by 125% to almost 726,000 shares, adding an estimated $41.5 million in exposure. Notably, Strategy plans sell Bitcoin, but Grayscale claims Strategy’s Bitcoin sales are good for markets.
It also revealed new holdings in the Trump family’s American Bitcoin Corp (ABTC) and Strive (ASST). This move highlights a preference for established Bitcoin treasury companies over direct mining or trading firms.
The bank significantly increased its holdings in Bitmine Immersion’s BMNR from 2,323 to 21,547 stocks. This makes an 828% rise in Ethereum treasury exposure to $426K.
Robinhood (HOOD) shareholdings jumped from 65% to 2.56 million shares. Wells Fargo also opened put option positions for almost $116K. As CoinGape reported earlier, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev sold HOOD shares earlier this week.
In contrast, the bank sharply reduced its stake in Galaxy Digital by about 97% and 25% in Coinbase (COIN). This signals a strategic shift away from certain crypto stocks.
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Wells Fargo has expanded its exposure to Strategy while reducing part of its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF position, according to its latest regulatory filing that also shows larger investments across Ethereum and Solana-linked products.
Summary
Wells Fargo increased its Strategy stake by 125% while trimming its BlackRock Bitcoin ETF holding. The bank boosted Ethereum ETF exposure, added Solana funds, and expanded positions in Bitmine and Robinhood. SEC filings also show reduced stakes in Coinbase and Galaxy Digital despite broader crypto market exposure. According to the bank’s latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the $2.5 trillion asset manager increased its holding in Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR) by 125% to nearly 726,000 shares, adding roughly $41.5 million in exposure.
At the same time, the filing shows the bank reduced its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) by 75,102 shares compared with the previous quarter, while also opening a new IBIT call position and increasing its put exposure during a period of heightened market uncertainty linked to the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Bitcoin ETF exposure has been rebalanced rather than cut outright Although Wells Fargo trimmed its IBIT position, the filing indicates it did not reduce its Bitcoin exposure across the board. The bank also lowered its holdings in the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).
However, it added to positions in the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), with its BITB stake rising 24% from the previous quarter.
Ethereum-linked investments moved in the opposite direction. Wells Fargo increased its holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) by about 65%, taking its position to more than 1.10 million shares valued at approximately $17.56 million, according to the filing.
The bank also reported ownership of 257,157 shares of the Bitwise Ethereum ETF, 4,637 shares of the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF, and 623 shares of VanEck’s Ethereum ETF (ETHV).
The filing also disclosed the bank’s first reported positions in Solana investment products. Wells Fargo purchased 13,280 shares of Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) and 1,638 shares of the Fidelity Solana Fund (FSOL), adding Solana exposure alongside its existing Bitcoin and Ethereum allocations.
Crypto stock buying has favored treasury companies Beyond exchange-traded funds, Wells Fargo increased investments in several crypto-related companies. Its position in Bitmine Immersion (BMNR) climbed from 2,323 shares to 21,547 shares, an increase of about 828%, lifting its exposure to the company’s Ethereum treasury strategy to roughly $426,000.
The filing also shows new positions in American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC), the Trump family-backed Bitcoin treasury company, and Strive Asset Management’s treasury vehicle (ASST). At the same time, Wells Fargo expanded its Robinhood (HOOD) holding by 65% to about 2.56 million shares while opening put option positions valued at nearly $116,000.
Robinhood has recently attracted interest from other institutional investors as well. As crypto.news reported on June 27, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest bought approximately $25.54 million worth of shares across Coinbase, SpaceX, Circle, Bullish, and Robinhood through several of its exchange-traded funds. Robinhood was one of the companies added during that round of purchases.
Not every crypto-linked stock received additional capital. Wells Fargo cut its stake in Galaxy Digital by roughly 97% and reduced its Coinbase (COIN) position by about 25%, according to the SEC filing, indicating the bank adjusted individual equity holdings while continuing to maintain exposure across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and crypto treasury companies.
Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
With the introduction of Robinhood Chain, a new Layer-2 network created with Arbitrum technology, Cashcat (CASHCAT) has rapidly emerged as one of the most talked-about memecoins in the cryptocurrency space. Some traders are wondering if CASHCAT could become for Robinhood Chain what Shiba Inu became for Ethereum, given the token's quick ascent, increasing whale activity, and compelling story.
The most recent catalyst was a wallet called 'Ansem-2,' which spent about $233,000 in a matter of hours to obtain 2.79 million CASHCAT tokens. The wallet is connected to a Solana address that is said to contain millions of dollars' worth of ANSEM tokens and has made significant profits from prior trades involving memes. It remains to be seen if this purchase will be successful, but it has certainly drawn attention. The SHIB comparison is not wholly irrational.
The story, community involvement, and timing of Shiba Inu's rapid expansion were more important than its practicality. The ingredients in CASHCAT seem to be similar. With the official launch of Robinhood Chain on July 1, a completely new ecosystem without a well-known flagship memecoin was created. Traders have historically rushed to find the "native meme" of a new blockchain before it is widely adopted. Additionally, CASHCAT benefits from a well-known narrative.
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The token has a stronger identity than the numerous animal-themed tokens that are introduced every week because it makes use of the "Cash Cat" lore connected to Robinhood's branding heritage. The arrangement has produced a potent speculative cycle when combined with high trading volume and growing social media attention. SHIB and CASHCAT, however, differ significantly.
During one of the most exciting periods in cryptocurrency history, Shiba Inu first appeared and went on to develop a sizable community, ecosystem, and brand awareness. The main focus of CASHCAT is still the narrative trade associated with the Robinhood Chain hype. The fact that there is no formal connection between Robinhood and CASHCAT poses the greatest risk. Although the chain was started by Robinhood, the company has not endorsed the token.
Furthermore, there are several CASHCAT tokens on various blockchains, which raises the possibility of traders purchasing the incorrect asset and causes confusion. One thing that SHIB had at the start makes CASHCAT a potential successor to SHIB. However, billion-dollar valuations are rarely sustained indefinitely by narratives alone.
Ethereum picks up momentumWhen compared to many other significant digital assets that are still struggling below crucial resistance levels, Ethereum is exhibiting what may be its strongest recovery attempt in months. While the broader market remains uncertain, ETH has managed to reclaim short-term momentum and is beginning to separate itself from weaker performers. On the daily chart, Ethereum recently bounced from the $1,500 region after a sharp sell-off in June.
ETH has successfully recovered above its 50-day moving average and is currently challenging the 100-day EMA around the $1,800 level, in contrast to many other altcoins that were unable to maintain their gains. This is a significant difference. The majority of large-cap cryptocurrencies are still stuck below short- and medium-term resistance levels. But Ethereum is putting them to the test.
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Additionally, after the June low, the asset produced a higher low, indicating that buyers are progressively re-entering the market. The RSI supports this view. Momentum is now comfortably above neutral territory after recovering from oversold conditions, suggesting that bullish pressure is increasing without reaching overbought levels.
In the past, this kind of setup frequently emerges in the early phases of more significant trend reversals. Ethereum's relative performance is another positive sign. Assets like XRP and numerous speculative altcoins are still having trouble below significant resistance levels, but ETH has shown a stronger capacity to withstand selling pressure and attract new demand.
This indicates that Ethereum is still one of the healthier assets in the current market climate, but it does not imply that a bull market has returned. The next obstacle is located close to the $1,950-$2,000 area, where the 200-day moving average and earlier support levels meet.
The bullish outlook would be greatly strengthened by a successful break above that zone, which could pave the way for a more extensive recovery phase. Among the major cryptocurrencies, Ethereum seems to be at the forefront of the current recovery. Although the trend has not completely reversed yet, ETH's current rebound appears to be the most convincing when compared to most other assets attempting the same move.
Will Bitcoin bounce?One of the most significant technical turning points for Bitcoin in recent weeks may be near. Even though the market is still under pressure and Bitcoin is currently trading close to $62,000 following a recent rejection, a number of indicators point to an impending attempt at a reversal. The most notable development is Bitcoin's ability to hold above the local lows established during June.
Buyers intervened forcefully to stop a further collapse following the steep sell-off that drove Bitcoin below $60,000. Since then, the asset has experienced a series of higher lows, indicating a progressive weakening of selling pressure. Additionally, the daily chart shows Bitcoin continuously testing the 50-day EMA around $63,000. Bulls have yet to secure a clear breakout, but the gap between price and short-term resistance is getting smaller.
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After prolonged compression, markets frequently produce stronger moves, and Bitcoin seems to be entering this phase. This interpretation is reinforced by momentum indicators. The RSI has recovered from oversold conditions and is now moving toward neutral territory. It shows that panic selling has mostly subsided and the market is starting to stabilize, even though it is not yet exhibiting significant bullish momentum.
The cluster of moving averages above price continues to be the primary barrier. Bitcoin is still trading well below the 200-day moving average, which is close to $75,000, and below the 100-day EMA, which is around $66,000.
Whether the current recovery turns into a true trend reversal or just another relief rally will probably depend on those levels. Additionally, volume merits consideration. Although it hasn't been strong enough to cause a breakout, recent buying activity has been adequate to maintain support. A surge in participation would significantly improve the chances of Bitcoin reclaiming higher levels.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Ethereum price today: $1,740Onchain activity indicates that bulls have returned to action at a modest pace.ETH ETFs posted four straight days of inflows, but volume stays weak.ETH is testing the 20-day EMA after a rejection at the 50-day EMA near $1,800.Ethereum (ETH) has slowly seen a return of bullish dominance over the past few days after a lengthy period of bearish pressure. However, buying pressure remains weak despite registering nearly a 10% gain since the beginning of the month.
The Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) metric has eased from -0.46 to -0.30, indicating that while recent price gains have reduced investors' losses, their holdings remain underwater. A larger price gain, fueled by strong buying pressure, will be needed to lift those holdings back into profit territory.
ETH NUPL. Source: CryptoQuantWhales or wallets with a balance of 10K-100K ETH saw inflows of roughly 100K ETH over the past week, but their balance remains largely unchanged on the three-week timeframe. On the other hand, retail wallets holding 100-1K and 1K-10K ETH saw negligible changes in their balances, with their holdings remaining largely unchanged over the period.
Meanwhile, US spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have posted four consecutive days of net inflows for the first time since early May, per SoSoValue data. The inflows across the four days totaled $91.5 million, not strong enough to spark a major upward price surge.
A similar move is observed in the Coinbase Premium Index, which measures the sentiment of US investors. The metric has retreated from a low of -0.169 to -0.076, indicating that while US demand has improved compared to previous weeks, it remains weak overall. Notably, the index hasn't spent more than 50 days in positive territory since the beginning of the year.
ETH Coinbase Premium Index. Source: CryptoQuantHistorically, the Coinbase Premium Index and spot ETH ETF inflows have to stay elevated to spark a major upward price move.
On the derivatives side, open interest has remained flat over the past week, indicating caution among leveraged traders, who have yet to commit capital to the market despite recent price gains.
Ethereum Price Forecast: ETH tests 20-day EMAEthereum saw $61.6 million in liquidations over the past 24 hours, led by $51.5 million in long liquidations.
The move comes as ETH maintains a bearish near-term bias, holding below the 50- and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) at $1,803 and $1,965, respectively. Price is clinging just above the 20-day EMA support at $1,714. Momentum shows easing buying pressure with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) declining toward 51 and 70, respectively.
On the downside, the 20-day EMA at $1,714 offers immediate support, ahead of more substantial floors at $1,524 and $1,404, while a deeper slide would expose the longer-term base near $1,155.
ETH/USDT daily chartOn the topside, initial resistance is the cluster formed by the 50-day EMA at $1,803 and the $1,806 horizontal line. A sustained break above this area would be needed to open the way toward $1,909 and the 100-day EMA at $1,965, with higher hurdles appearing at $2,018 and $2,107.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
According to its official page, Polymarket has launched a derivatives trading feature, currently supporting 10 assets including BTC, ETH, SOL, HYPE, gold, silver, the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, WTIOIL, and SPCX, with a maximum leverage of 20x.
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SMIC surpassed Kweichow Moutai in market capitalization.
According to Bitget data, SMIC’s A-share price rose nearly 15%, pushing its total market capitalization to 1.49 trillion yuan. Kweichow Moutai is currently down 1.43%, with a total market cap of 1.48 trillion yuan. (Jinshi)
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Bitcoin breaks through $63,000
According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has broken through the $63,000 mark, with a 0.74% rise in the past 24 hours.
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US tech stocks are experiencing one of the most volatile periods in history, with the volatility ratio of the Nasdaq 100 to the S&P 500 hitting a 23-year high.
The Kobeissi Letter noted in a post that tech stocks are experiencing one of the most volatile periods in history. The ratio of the Nasdaq 100 Volatility Index (VXN) to the S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) has risen to 1.7, its highest level in 23 years. This marks the first time the ratio has topped 1.5 since 2018. By comparison, the metric peaked at around 1.6 during the 2008 financial crisis. Currently, VXN stands at 28 points, while VIX is at 16 points – the latter is 43% lower than the former. VXN has remained above the 20-point threshold for five consecutive months, the longest such stretch since the 2022 bear market. Markets are pricing in significant volatility risk for tech stocks.
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A crypto whale closed a $100 million BTC short position, earning a profit of $5.28 million.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a whale closed a $100 million Bitcoin (BTC) short position, earning a profit of $5.28 million. Wallet address 0xcf9 opened the short on June 2 at $68,859 and closed it one hour ago at $62,314, holding the position for 36 days.
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Nvidia will collaborate with Hugging Face to develop open-source robotics models.
NVIDIA has announced a partnership with Hugging Face to co-develop open-source foundation models for robotics, combining its GPU ecosystem and CUDA technology, along with Hugging Face’s extensive model library and developer community, to significantly lower the barriers to AI training and deployment for robotics. (Jinshi)
Ethereum advocates are confident that the fundamentals are bullish, but investors in the asset remain extremely bearish.
“The Summer of Ethereum Love is gaining steam,” said co-founder Joseph Lubin on Wednesday. The Consensys exec said this was due to credibly neutral steward organizations like Ethlabs launching to accelerate ETH’s capabilities through parallel efforts beyond the embattled Ethereum Foundation.
He highlighted Ethereum’s 11-year 100% uptime, censorship resistance, permissionlessness, and global neutrality as core advantages for corporations and governments building sovereign network platforms.
“Ethereum’s and ETH’s long-term high-value proposition is powerfully coming into focus for many major financial institutions. They are building on Ethereum.”
Execs Bullish, Traders Bearish The big endorsement came in response to a post on X by Sharplink CEO Joseph Chalom, who said that Ethereum is entering a new phase, with “organizations focused on infrastructure, go-to-market, and more are launching to accelerate the growth of the coming institutional supercycle.”
The Summer of Ethereum Love is gaining steam:
– New credibly neutral steward organizations to magnify capabilities and accelerate through parallel tracked activities. These will grow and others will emerge.
– Impactful reports and a new organization to help the incumbent… https://t.co/388IWUqgoc
— Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) July 8, 2026
Two Ethereum-focused organizations, Ethlabs and Ethereum Institutional, have been launched recently, backed by EF developers and Ether treasury companies.
However, despite all of the bullish sentiment coming from executives, investors, and traders don’t agree or appear split on the underlying asset.
CryptoQuant analyst ‘Darkfost’ said on Thursday that there are two very different reactions behind the ETH panic. “The crypto market is currently going through a phase of total indecision.”
You may also like: Charles Hoskinson Says Ethereum Is Adopting Cardano Ideas Without Credit Bitmine Buys Another 42K ETH as 5% Supply Goal Comes Within Reach Staking Surge Tightens Supply, But Negative Sentiment Still Dominates Ethereum “Assets like ETH find themselves in a particularly fragile position,” due to swings in the US-Iran conflict and the threat of Fed rate hikes this year.
“In this climate, the slightest market fluctuation is enough to trigger panic moves, as was the case when ETH came to test the $1,500 level.”
However, the analyst also observed exchange flows that exhibit a “dual movement” which “reflects a split in how market participants are reading the situation.” Some are giving in to panic and selling, while others see it as an opportunity to increase their ETH exposure, they said.
ETH Price Weakens Panic and selling have prevailed again over the past 24 hours as the asset lost 1.8%, falling to $1,720 during the Thursday morning Asian trading session.
ETH has hit resistance at $1,800 three times this week, each time being rejected. It is now back at a weekly low and poised to drop below $1,700 unless broader market momentum returns. Zooming out, the asset is at a bear market bottom, down 65% from its peak.
“ETH has spent years below the 2021 high, failed multiple reclaim attempts, reset sentiment, and returned to the same exhaustion zone for the third time,” said analyst ‘Cryptollica.’
This is “not early distribution,” but “late compression,” they said before adding that if this zone holds, “the next move will surprise people still reading it as weakness.”
Bitcoin slipped to near $62,000 mark on Thursday as geopolitical risks weighed on market sentiment, while ETF inflows offered support. The cryptocurrency was trading at $62,038 mark.
Ethereum was down 1% to trade at $1,733 mark. Bitcoin also declined 1% in the past 24 hours. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Tron, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and Cardano fell up to 3%.
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Akshat Siddhant, Lead quant analyst, Mudrex said Bitcoin is trading around the $62,000 level as renewed geopolitical tensions, following President Trump’s announcement ending the ceasefire, have pushed investors toward a risk-off stance and at the same time, Japan’s 10-year government bond yield has climbed to a 30-year high, prompting a broader rotation of capital across global markets.
He further said that despite these headwinds and persistent inflation concerns, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $143 million in net inflows, providing support to prices and the $60,000 level now remains a critical support zone.
The global crypto market capitalisation edged down 1% to $2.14 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. The fear and greed index slightly drops to 25, while the market sentiments remain under fear, said CoinDCX Research Team.
In the past week, Bitcoin and Ethereum were up 2% and 6.5% respectively. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Tron, Hyperliquid, and Cardano rallied up to 8% whereas Solana and Dogecoin fell 0.9% and 0.7% respectively.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said Bitcoin slipped to around $61.5K after Trump declared the US-Iran ceasefire "over” and the turmoil raised odds of a September Fed rate hike, adding pressure on risk assets like crypto. $61K remains a crucial level, with traders expecting a reversal once talks resume.
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What other analysts say
Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange
Crypto markets are in a macro-led risk-off phase. Bitcoin’s fall toward the $61,500–$62,000 zone reflects pressure from U.S.–Iran escalation, rising crude oil, higher bond yields, Japan bond-market stress, and Strategy-related Bitcoin sale concerns. ETF flows are supportive but limited. BTC spot ETFs saw around $21.4 million of inflows, while Ethereum ETFs saw around $26.9 million.
Nischal Shetty, founder, WazirX
Bitcoin trades near $62,014, with the daily technical outlook remaining cautious as the market consolidates. Moving averages indicate near-term weakness, while balanced momentum signals suggest traders are awaiting the next major catalyst.
Vikram Subburaj, CEO, Giottus
The broader crypto market cap stood near $2.14 trillion. Bitcoin dominance held around 58%. This indicates that traders remain defensive. They are not yet rotating aggressively into altcoins. On-chain signals remain mixed. Long-term holders appear to have resumed gradual accumulation, with net buying estimated in the 50,000-100,000 Bitcoin range.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP bounced after US President Donald Trump said that Iran had called him and wanted to make a deal. US stock futures also turned green following the completion of strikes confirmed by the US Central Command on Thursday.
President Trump Claims Iran Seeks Deal After Second Set of Strikes Stocks and crypto markets reacted positively to President Trump’s latest comments that Iran called him, saying “they want to make a deal so badly.” However, he is unsure about making a deal with Iran again amid ceasefire violations and strikes against US forces in the Middle East.
“I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honor the deal. That’s the problem,” Trump said. The White House is preparing for a multi-day or even weeks of strikes against Iran over the Strait of Hormuz control.
Bitcoin and XRP bounced after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said U.S. forces completed strikes on nearly 90 Iranian military targets. These included air defense systems, coastal surveillance sites, missile and drone storage areas, naval assets, and logistics infrastructure
The strikes come after previous operations targeting Iranian military capabilities following attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM says its forces remain on alert and ready to respond.
Meanwhile, sources told CoinGape that Iranian officials rejected Trump’s claim that they are “begging for a deal,” stating that the Trump administration is repeatedly asking Iran to hold back and request talks.
Iran’s IRGC even attacked and hit US military infrastructure in Kuwait’s Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem base in retaliation. It also carried out strikes on the US Fifth Fleet HQ and Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain in a joint missile and drone operation, as per Tasnim.
BREAKING: Iran's IRGC announces it has attacked and hit US military infrastructure in Kuwait's Camp Arifjan and Ali Al-Salem base, along with the US Fifth Fleet HQ and Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain in a joint missile and drone operation, per Tasnim.
The IRGC calls this the "first…
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) July 9, 2026
Bitcon and XRP Climb Higher Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP bounced from recent lows as traders saw Trump’s remarks on Iran as signs of negotiations. BTC dipped near $61,500 earlier amid renewed US-Iran war tensions, but buy-the-dip sentiment triggered a bounce above $62,500.
XRP also recovered, holding near $1.09 after sliding from $1.16 amid US-Iran ceasefire violations. This rebound also comes amid positive developments, including Ripple signing XRP jersey patch deal with Kansas Jayhawks.
In addition, FOMC Meeting Minutes revealed that Fed officials support holding interest rates steady for longer, despite a rate hike still on the table. Bitcoin and XRP trading volumes remain in the red as traders await macro and clear technical catalysts.
Bitcoin has started July on a solid footing, consistent with its historically strong seasonal performance. Supportive comments from President Trump, including remarks that the US is “taking over crypto” and SEC pro-crypto rules changes, have helped sentiment. BIT predicted Bitcoin faces initial resistance at $65,955.
#BTC
If history repeats, things are likely going to pick up for Bitcoin and its Summer relief rally in the second half of July$BTC #Bitcoin
— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) July 8, 2026
If you want to easily, efficiently, and quickly swap one crypto to another crypto, check out these 10 Best Crypto Swapping Sites.
Robinhood (@RobinhoodCrypto) Chain has rapidly established itself as a major force in decentralized finance, recording $500 million in 24-hour trading volume on Uniswap (@Uniswap) on July 8. The milestone makes it Uniswap's highest-volume deployment outside of Ethereum mainnet, just days after going live.
A Fast Start for a New Chain Robinhood Chain launched its public mainnet on July 1, 2026, built on the Arbitrum (@arbitrum) technology stack with 100-millisecond block times. The chain is designed for tokenized real-world assets and 24/7 financial services, with Stock Tokens tracking listed equities such as NVIDIA, Alphabet, and Apple available through Robinhood Wallet in more than 120 countries. The volume figure on July 8 was roughly 10 times higher than what the chain recorded the previous day, pointing to a sharp acceleration in user activity.
Trading was driven by a mix of wrapped Ethereum (WETH), memecoins, and tokenized stocks. Uniswap deployed all of its major protocol versions from day one, including v2, v3, v4, and UniswapX, establishing itself as the chain's primary automated market maker from the outset. According to the official Uniswap blog, Uniswap serves as the primary public AMM on Robinhood Chain with support across the Uniswap web app, wallet, and API from launch day.
Broader Context The launch is part of a wider push by Robinhood into on-chain financial infrastructure. Alongside Uniswap, day-one ecosystem partners include Chainlink for oracle infrastructure, as well as Alchemy and BitGo for additional DeFi services. The chain also introduced Robinhood Earn, a lending product targeting an estimated 7% APY on dollar-backed USDG, built on the Morpho protocol.
For Uniswap, the deployment adds another revenue-generating venue to its growing multi-chain footprint. The $UNI token rose between 11% and 14% around the time of the chain's launch as traders priced in higher protocol usage.
The key question going forward is whether the chain can sustain meaningful volumes beyond its launch week. The $500 million single-day figure is notable, but longer-term activity levels and total value locked will be more telling indicators of whether Robinhood Chain becomes a durable fixture in DeFi.
Sources:
Uniswap Blog: Uniswap is Live on Robinhood Chain
Robinhood Newsroom: Robinhood Chain Mainnet Launch
Crypto Briefing: Robinhood Chain Hits $500M in 24-Hour Uniswap Volume
TL;DR Bitcoin ETFs recorded $84.86 million in net outflows on July 8, signaling continued caution among institutional investors. Spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $70.48 million in net inflows, extending their positive streak to five consecutive trading days. The contrasting ETF flows suggest institutional capital is showing stronger interest in Ethereum than Bitcoin in the short term. Analysts continue to monitor ETF activity as a key indicator of institutional sentiment and broader crypto market direction. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) returned to negative territory on July 8, recording $84.86 million in net outflows after signs of improving investor sentiment earlier in the week. The latest figures suggest institutional demand for Bitcoin remains uneven as investors continue responding to broader macroeconomic uncertainty and crypto market volatility.
While Bitcoin products lost assets, spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $70.48 million in net inflows, extending their positive run to five consecutive trading days. The sustained inflows point to renewed institutional interest in Ethereum, even as Bitcoin funds continue to experience intermittent selling pressure.
The latest ETF flow data follows a difficult period for Bitcoin investment products. Just last week, spot Bitcoin ETFs posted more than $526 million in weekly net outflows, ending one of the weakest stretches of the year before briefly recovering with several days of fresh inflows. However, Wednesday’s withdrawals indicate investors remain cautious rather than fully returning to the market.
Ethereum Continues to Outperform in Institutional Flows Ethereum has recently shown stronger momentum among institutional investors. The latest $70.48 million in inflows builds on several consecutive days of positive demand, suggesting investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with ETH exposure despite ongoing market volatility.
Market participants have pointed to Ethereum’s expanding role in tokenization, decentralized finance, and institutional blockchain infrastructure as factors supporting demand. At the same time, several asset managers continue to increase their focus on Ethereum-based investment products, helping sustain inflows even as Bitcoin funds fluctuate.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, remains sensitive to macroeconomic developments. Investors continue to monitor interest rate expectations, global geopolitical risks, and overall risk appetite, all of which have contributed to inconsistent ETF flows in recent weeks.
Ethereum and Bitcoin ETF Flows Remain a Key Market Indicator Spot ETF activity has become one of the clearest gauges of institutional sentiment toward digital assets. Strong inflows typically signal growing confidence from professional investors, while sustained outflows often reflect a more defensive approach.
Although Bitcoin ETFs experienced another day of redemptions, the relatively modest size of the withdrawals compared with previous weeks may indicate that selling pressure is beginning to stabilize rather than accelerate. Meanwhile, Ethereum’s five-day inflow streak suggests capital is selectively rotating toward assets that investors believe offer stronger near-term opportunities.
With Bitcoin trading around the $62,000 level and market conditions remaining highly sensitive to economic developments, ETF flow data is expected to remain one of the most closely watched indicators for institutional participation in the crypto market over the coming weeks.
Key Highlights Ethereum has rallied approximately 10% throughout July, yet underlying demand signals remain subdued Binance holdings expanded by 221,000 ETH from late June onward, adding to tradable inventory Large holder transaction volumes have fallen to “Whale Left” territory according to CryptoQuant metrics Spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States recorded consecutive inflows over four sessions, accumulating $91.5 million A decisive move above $1,803 resistance (the 50-day EMA) is necessary for ETH to target $2,400 Ethereum has managed to climb roughly 10% since July began, yet the upward momentum appears increasingly precarious. Evidence from various market indicators suggests buyer participation exists but lacks conviction.
Ethereum (ETH) Price The Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) indicator has improved from -0.46 to -0.30, signaling that while holders remain underwater on their positions, losses have contracted somewhat compared to previous levels.
Spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds in the United States experienced their first streak of positive net flows since early May, recording four straight days of capital entry. SoSoValue data confirms these combined inflows reached $91.5 million.
While encouraging on the surface, historical patterns indicate sustained ETF capital influx over extended periods is required to catalyze significant price appreciation. Current activity falls short of that threshold.
Crypto analyst Ash Crypto noted on X that ETH has retreated 6% from recent peaks following rejection at the 50-day moving average. He highlighted critical support zones at $1,670 and $1,500, emphasizing that reclaiming the MA 50 and breaking through $1,850 are essential steps toward reaching $2,400.
$ETH down 6% from recent high after rejection from resistance and the daily MA 50.
Next Supports:
– $1,670
– Strong support at $1,500
ETH needs to jump back above the MA 50 and $1,850 for further bullish momentum toward $2,400. pic.twitter.com/eCWlrcEBhO
— Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto) July 8, 2026
Large Holder Activity Contracts Data from CryptoQuant reveals that average whale transaction size declined from approximately 1,500 ETH per trade in mid-May to roughly 1,000 ETH currently, entering territory the analytics platform designates as “Whale Left.”
This retreat by institutional and high-net-worth participants reduces the volume of substantial orders flowing through markets. The resulting environment leaves pricing more vulnerable to smaller transactions, potentially amplifying near-term price swings.
Addresses containing between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH did absorb approximately 100,000 ETH during the previous week. However, total balances in this cohort have remained essentially unchanged across the past three weeks, indicating accumulation has not intensified.
Growing Supply on Trading Platforms Binance’s Ethereum reserves expanded from 3.64 million ETH to 3.87 million ETH since late June concluded—a notable addition of 221,000 ETH representing one of the more substantial reserve buildups observed in recent months.
Source: CryptoQuant Expanding exchange inventories signal greater availability of ETH for immediate market transactions. While this doesn’t guarantee imminent selling, it introduces additional supply-side pressure into a market already demonstrating fragility.
The Coinbase Premium Index, which measures sentiment among United States-based traders, has recovered from -0.169 to -0.076. Despite improvement, the negative reading indicates American buyers continue transacting at discounts relative to international markets.
ETH currently trades in the $1,740 to $1,777 range, maintaining position above the 20-day EMA situated at $1,714. Open interest in derivatives markets has remained stagnant, suggesting leveraged participants are adopting a wait-and-see approach.
On July 8, spot Bitcoin ETF flows in the United States returned to negative territory, with ETFs seeing net outflows of 84.86 million dollars for the day. Despite some modest signs of recovery earlier in the week, the numbers revealed that institutional investors remain cautious when it comes to Bitcoin.
Divergence between Bitcoin and Ethereum funds widensOn the same day, spot Ethereum ETFs attracted 70.48 million dollars in net inflows, extending their positive streak to five consecutive trading days. Recent data indicates that, at least in the short term, institutional capital is showing greater interest in Ethereum than in Bitcoin.
Data for July 8 shows net outflows of 84.86 million dollars from spot Bitcoin ETFs, contrasted by inflows of 70.48 million dollars into spot Ethereum ETFs. Notably, Ethereum has now logged five straight days of positive inflows.
An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, allows investors to gain exposure to an asset’s price movements without holding the asset directly. Spot ETFs, as distinct from futures-based products, track the real-time market price of the underlying asset rather than derivatives contracts.
Bitcoin fund weakness persists following last week’s routThe recent trend in Bitcoin investment products has already been under considerable strain. Cumulative net outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded 526 million dollars last week. Though there were several days of inflows that briefly slowed the exodus after a historically weak period, the renewed pullback on July 8 suggests that many investors are reluctant to re-enter the market with confidence.
Volatility in Bitcoin has been fueled by ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. Shifting interest rate expectations, global geopolitical tensions, and changing risk appetites are among the key drivers of ETF flows in recent weeks.
Institutional interest in Ethereum gathers momentumEthereum has shown stronger momentum with institutional inflows over the last week. The latest 70.48 million dollar addition builds on a series of consecutive positive days, indicating that, despite market volatility, some investors are carving out larger positions in ETH.
Market participants cite Ethereum’s expanding role in tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi), and institutional blockchain infrastructure as key factors fueling demand. The growing interest from asset managers in Ethereum-based products is helping to sustain inflows even as Bitcoin funds experience turbulence.
Spot ETF movements continue to be one of the most closely watched indicators for measuring institutional sentiment toward digital assets.
ETF flows offer insight into market directionSpot ETF figures have become a crucial barometer for reading how professional investors view digital assets. Robust inflows are often interpreted as a sign of growing confidence, while sustained outflows point to a defensively oriented market stance.
Though Bitcoin ETFs posted another day of net outflows, the retreat was less dramatic than in previous weeks, suggesting that selling pressure may be stabilizing rather than intensifying. In contrast, Ethereum’s five-day inflow streak reveals that capital is being selectively deployed into areas perceived to offer more compelling short-term opportunities.
With Bitcoin trading around 62,000 dollars, ETF flows are expected to remain a leading indicator of institutional participation in the ever-sensitive and rapidly shifting crypto market in the weeks ahead.
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.
A crypto user has lost nearly $1 million after approving a malicious Ethereum transaction that gave scammers access to drain almost the entire wallet balance, adding to hundreds of millions of dollars in phishing losses recorded this year.
Summary
A crypto user lost nearly $1 million after approving a malicious Ethereum transaction that allowed scammers to drain the wallet. Phishing scams caused $723 million in losses across 248 incidents in 2025 as approval based attacks continued targeting crypto users. The latest theft follows another multimillion dollar onchain loss, highlighting separate risks from phishing approvals and flawed transaction routing. According to blockchain security platform Scam Sniffer, the victim lost 999,999 Tether (USDT) in an Ethereum phishing token approval scam on Wednesday after signing a malicious approval request.
— Scam Sniffer | Web3 Anti-Scam (@realScamSniffer) July 9, 2026 On-chain data showed the attackers first attempted to withdraw a rounded $1 million through multicall transactions, but the transfer failed because the wallet held slightly less than that amount.
Seconds later, the attackers adjusted their script and successfully withdrew the wallet’s exact remaining balance.
“The script recalculated and pulled the exact remaining balance,” Scam Sniffer said.
Phishing approvals continue draining crypto wallets Security researchers say approval phishing remains one of the most common social engineering attacks in crypto because users unknowingly grant unlimited spending permissions while believing they are approving a harmless transaction.
According to blockchain security firm CertiK, phishing scams caused $723 million in losses across 248 incidents during 2025. In these attacks, victims are typically tricked into signing malicious token approvals, allowing attackers to move funds from their wallets without requiring another signature.
The latest incident follows another major wallet compromise reported earlier this month. In that case, a crypto holder lost about $1.65 million after connecting to a fake exchange and signing a malicious smart contract.
“The approval gave attackers unlimited access, enabling an automated sweeper to drain funds,” researcher Ryan Coleman said on Friday.
A wallet holder lost $1.65M after connecting to a fake exchange and signing a malicious contract. The approval gave attackers unlimited access, enabling an automated sweeper to drain funds. Always verify contracts and revoke unused token approvals. pic.twitter.com/MbwJx2CHSe
— Ryan C. Coleman (@RyanColeXBT) July 3, 2026 The latest phishing loss comes only days after another high-profile onchain incident highlighted a different risk facing crypto users. Earlier this week, a trader lost nearly $2 million after a decentralized exchange routed an Ether swap through a low-liquidity pool, allowing a same-block arbitrage trade to extract most of the transaction’s value.
According to GoPlus Security, the loss was caused by transaction routing rather than phishing, prompting researchers to urge users to review execution paths carefully before confirming onchain transactions.
Scam Sniffer advised users to carefully review every signature request, avoid rushing approvals and use scam detection tools or browser extensions before signing wallet transactions.
Leading cryptocurrencies fell alongside stocks on Wednesday as the U.S. strikes against Iran threaten peace negotiations.
Crypto Market ShakesBitcoin slipped under $61,500, then climbed back above $62,000 overnight. Ethereum oscillated within the $1,700 region, even as the 24-hour trading volume saw an uptick. XRP and Dogecoin sank lower.
Over $330 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with $261 million in bullish long positions alone wiped out, according to Coinglass data.
Nearly $400 million in Bitcoin longs risked liquidation if the apex cryptocurrency falls to $60,000.
Bitcoin’s open interest slid 1.40% over the last 24 hours. Smart money sentiment, which refers to the collective outlook and capital allocation of institutional investors, turned "extremely bearish” on Binance.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.15 trillion, contracting 1.67% over the last 24 hours.
Stocks Dive As Iran Strikes IntensifyStocks slipped further on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 576.76 points, or 1.09%, to end at 52,348.39. The S&P 500 lost 0.28% to close at 7,482.71. The Nasdaq Composite was the outlier, rising 0.2% to close at 25,870.65.
President Donald Trump reposted news of strikes on Iran’s southeastern city of Chahbahar on his Truth social, saying, “This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse.”
Earlier in the day, he declared that the tentative ceasefire and memorandum of understanding with Iran is "over," sending markets reeling.
Bitcoin To Struggle In Short Term?On-chain analytics firm Santiment highlighted a sharp jump in “war-related crypto chatter,” anticipating increased volatility in the days ahead.
“If tensions keep rising, Bitcoin and altcoins may struggle short term, but if fear spikes too far too fast, it can also set up sharp relief rallies when headlines cool,” Santiment added.
Ali Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, identified $63,000 as the major wall bulls need to break.
“Many holders who bought near $63,000 may use a return to their cost basis as an opportunity to exit at breakeven, adding selling pressure around this zone,” the analyst added.
Martinez also flagged downside risks, including potential declines to $46,000 or $37,870 if Bitcoin loses $59,000 as support.
Photo Courtesy: Marc Bruxelle on Shutterstock.com
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Robinhood’s freshly launched Layer-2 blockchain just posted the kind of debut numbers that make other chains quietly close their analytics tabs. On July 8, Uniswap recorded $500 million in 24-hour trading volume on Robinhood Chain, making it the highest-volume Uniswap deployment outside of Ethereum mainnet itself.
Robinhood Chain went live on its public mainnet around July 1-2, built on the Arbitrum technology stack with 100-millisecond block times. Uniswap deployed aggressively from day one, rolling out v2, v3, v4, and UniswapX across the new chain. Within the first week, Uniswap processed over $250 million in volume on Robinhood Chain alone.
Then came July 8, when the 24-hour volume figure surged to $500 million. The volume was largely driven by two categories: wrapped Ethereum (WETH) and memecoins. Throw in tokenized versions of equities like NVIDIA, Apple, and Google, and you’ve got one of the more eclectic order books in DeFi.
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The total value locked on the chain also crossed $100 million within that first week. Roughly $90 million of that TVL sat in Morpho’s lending protocol, suggesting that users weren’t just swapping tokens. They were actively borrowing and lending.
The chain is designed to facilitate continuous trading of tokenized real-world assets — fractional shares of big tech companies alongside crypto tokens, 24/7, without waiting for the NYSE to open. Chainlink is providing oracle infrastructure for the network, which is critical when you’re pricing tokenized equities. Morpho’s dominance in the TVL breakdown also tells a story, with nearly $90 million flowing into its lending protocol within days of launch.
Uniswap’s governance token, UNI, climbed between 11% and 14% amid the launch excitement and volume surge. In the weeks following the launch, daily trading volumes on Robinhood Chain began settling into the tens of millions, a significant step down from the half-billion-dollar peak.
The $500 million figure is eye-catching, but the more important metric to watch is where volumes and TVL settle over the next 30 to 90 days. For UNI holders specifically, the Robinhood Chain deployment adds another revenue-generating venue to Uniswap’s growing multi-chain footprint. Robinhood’s reported push into the European market suggests the company sees regulatory tailwinds abroad that could accelerate adoption further.
Regulatory scrutiny around tokenized securities remains intense in the US, and a single enforcement action could chill activity on the chain overnight. The concentration of TVL in a single protocol, Morpho, also represents a vulnerability. Investors watching this space should track whether new protocols deploy on Robinhood Chain in the coming weeks and whether the TVL diversifies beyond its current narrow base.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Grayscale, a leading digital asset investment firm, highlighted 8 crypto with the most important narratives shaping the market today. Each asset carries a distinct story driving adoption, developer activity, and investor interest.
Here is a closer look at each narrative, its current price, and how far it sits from its all-time high.
Every asset has its narrative:$BTC → Digital money$ETH → World Computer $XRP → Global payments$SOL → High performance $HYPE → Onchain trading 24/7$LINK → Tokenization & oracles$SUI → Next gen infrastructure$AVAX → Mass customization
— Grayscale (@Grayscale) July 8, 2026 What the 8 Grayscale Crypto Narratives Actually MeanEach crypto carries a distinct narrative, from Bitcoin’s digital money to Ethereum’s world computer, driving adoption and investor interest across the market.
Bitcoin (BTC) – Digital MoneyBitcoin remains the original narrative of decentralized digital money and a hedge against fiat debasement. Its fixed supply and growing institutional adoption through ETFs and corporate treasuries reinforce its role as a store of value.
Furthermore, it anchors the entire crypto market as the reserve asset. BTC trades around $62,000, roughly 51% below its all-time high near $126,000, yet long-term conviction stays strong.
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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoEthereum (ETH) – The World ComputerEthereum powers smart contracts and decentralized applications, earning it the title of the programmable world computer. Its dominant DeFi and NFT ecosystems, combined with staking and Layer-2 scaling, sustain relevance despite fierce competition.
Moreover, ongoing upgrades and institutional flows continue to support the network. ETH trades near $1,732, about 65% below its all-time high close to 4,878 dollars from the 2025 cycle.
Ethereum (ETH) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoXRP – Global PaymentsRipple’s XRP focuses on fast, low-cost cross-border payments for financial institutions. Regulatory clarity in the United States has meaningfully boosted its utility and adoption potential.
As a result, banks and payment providers increasingly view it as a viable settlement infrastructure. Trading around $1.09, XRP sits roughly 72% below its all-time high near $3.84, with upside tied to expanding payment adoption.
XRP Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoSolana (SOL) – High PerformanceSolana stands out for its high-throughput blockchain, enabling fast, cheap transactions ideal for memecoins, DeFi, and consumer apps. Despite past network outages, its ecosystem continues to expand through new projects and institutional interest.
Furthermore, ETF launches and treasury strategies have added fresh demand. SOL trades near $77, about 74% below its all-time high of $293, yet developer activity remains consistently strong.
Solana (SOL) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoHyperliquid (HYPE) – Onchain Trading 24/7Hyperliquid powers a high-performance Layer-1 optimized for decentralized perpetual futures and spot trading. It has captured a major share of the on-chain derivatives market while generating substantial real revenue.
Moreover, consistent fee buybacks remove tokens from circulation, increasing scarcity and supporting the price. HYPE trades near $67, only about 13% below its all-time high of $76.70, showing remarkable resilience versus peers.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoChainlink (LINK) – Tokenization and OraclesChainlink provides essential oracle services, connecting blockchains to real-world data and powering the tokenization of assets. As real-world asset tokenization gains traction across finance, its role in infrastructure becomes increasingly critical.
Furthermore, partnerships with major banks strengthen its long-term positioning. LINK trades near $7.59, roughly 85% below its all-time high close to $53, but is positioned for RWA-driven growth.
Chainlink (LINK) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoSui (SUI) – Next-Generation InfrastructureSui offers a high-speed, object-centric blockchain designed for scalability in gaming, DeFi, and next-generation applications. Its performant architecture has attracted meaningful developer interest as an alternative to older networks.
Moreover, its technical foundations remain strong despite recent price weakness. SUI trades near $0.70, about 87% below its all-time high of around $5.35, reflecting the broader altcoin correction.
Sui (SUI) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoAvalanche (AVAX) – Mass CustomizationAvalanche enables custom subnets for tailored blockchain solutions, appealing to enterprises and specialized use cases. This flexibility supports mass adoption across gaming, finance, and institutional sectors seeking dedicated infrastructure.
Furthermore, subnet-driven growth offers a distinct path toward real-world deployment. AVAX trades around $6.42, roughly 95% below its all-time high near $146, with recovery tied to institutional adoption.
Avalanche (AVAX) Price Performance. Source: BeInCryptoGrayscale’s emphasis comes as the crypto market transitions toward fundamentals such as usage, revenue, and regulatory clarity. Most assets fell sharply from their 2025 peaks. However, their distinct value propositions position them for potential recovery, provided execution follows the narrative.
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Aptos just posted its biggest single-day transaction count of the quarter. The Layer-1 blockchain processed over 16 million transactions in a single day in early July, a number that doubles as evidence that its April governance overhaul is doing exactly what it was designed to do.
That governance upgrade was, frankly, a big deal. Aptos raised gas fees tenfold, instituted a hard supply cap of 2.1 billion APT, cut staking rewards, and mandated that 100% of transaction fees be burned. The Aptos Foundation also permanently locked 210 million APT.
The numbers behind the milestone Despite the tenfold gas fee increase, average transaction costs held at $0.0005.
In June 2026, Aptos recorded 83.7 million transactions in a single week, its strongest weekly performance of the year.
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The token burn numbers are becoming material. In the 30 days leading up to this report, 235,200 APT were burned. Since the mainnet launched in October 2022, cumulative burns have reached 1.4 million APT.
Monthly emissions from staking sit at roughly 1.6 million APT. The current burn rate is offsetting approximately 15% of that.
Staking rewards were also trimmed as part of the April upgrade, coming down to approximately 2.6%.
Why the governance changes matter beyond the headline The April 2026 upgrades essentially borrowed a page from Ethereum’s EIP-1559 playbook, where base fees are burned rather than paid to validators or a treasury, creating a direct mechanical link between network demand and token supply reduction.
The hard cap of 2.1 billion APT puts a ceiling on total supply that did not exist before. Combined with the Foundation’s decision to permanently lock 210 million APT, the circulating supply trajectory has changed in a way that is difficult to reverse.
Aptos launched its mainnet in October 2022 with a Move programming language and a parallel transaction execution model. The April governance vote addressed the economic side of that equation.
What investors should watch from here Monthly emissions of 1.6 million APT remain higher than the current burn rate, meaning the net supply is still growing. The crossover point, where burns exceed new issuance, depends entirely on sustained or growing transaction volumes.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Yesterday, the total net inflow into U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs stood at $70.5 million.
According to Farside's monitoring, U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded a total net inflow of $70.5 million yesterday, among which Fidelity's FETH had a net inflow of $69.2 million.
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Goldman Sachs: China's AI has become one of the most notable growth narratives in today's tech sector.
In the report titled "Investment Strategy: Long China's AI Value Chain", Goldman Sachs analyst Louis Mille wrote: "China's AI industry has officially come into our focus." This is attributed to "an unprecedented combination of massive state support, surging global demand, and structural capital rotation, which has made China's AI one of the most compelling growth stories in today's tech sector." Goldman Sachs put forward three key points to support its investment thesis: a severe mismatch between the market capitalization of Chinese AI firms and their market potential, leaving ample valuation upside; China's AI industrial chain has unique competitive advantages undervalued by the market; and the Chinese AI sector has outperformed other Chinese assets, with capital being structurally incrementally allocated to it.
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For the first time, the US Federal Reserve has listed AI investment as one of its three major inflation risks.
The Federal Reserve released its meeting minutes on Wednesday, with officials at last month’s gathering generally agreeing they would need to raise interest rates if inflation remains persistently high this year. At the same time, they also concurred that rates could be held steady if upward price pressures fade quickly. Notably, Nick Timiraos—known as the “New Fed Wire” reporter—spotted an interesting detail in the documents: Fed officials are increasingly focusing on an inflation driver barely mentioned in debates just months ago: the boom in AI investment. Per the minutes, this is categorized as one of three key forces pushing inflation higher, alongside the Middle East conflict and tariffs—factors that could keep prices elevated and prompt the Fed to pivot to rate hikes. The minutes, released three weeks behind schedule, reflect growing concerns over inflation outlooks. More officials pointed out that robust business investment in AI infrastructure is a new force that could sustain price pressures. The minutes noted: “Several participants commented that price pressures have become more broad-based, with a large share of goods and services… experiencing significant increases.”
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Sony plans to launch its stablecoin issuance business in 2027, having secured conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank.
Sony has obtained conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank in the United States. The company plans to launch its subsidiary Connectia Trust this month, with an aim to kick off U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin issuance and management operations in 2027.
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Yesterday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $84.9 million.
According to Farside’s monitoring, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net outflows of $84.9 million yesterday, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone seeing total net outflows of $59.1 million.
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10% of fees from Robinhood Chain and other Arbitrum Layer 2 (L2) networks will be allocated to the Arbitrum ecosystem, while 8% will flow to the token holders' treasury.
Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder stated that 10% of fees generated by Robinhood Chain and other Arbitrum Layer 2 (L2) networks will flow to the Arbitrum ecosystem. Of that total, 8% will go to a treasury controlled by ARB token holders, while 2% will be earmarked for development funding. This mechanism gives the ARB token holder treasury a steady revenue stream, with the relevant funds potentially used for ecosystem grants, token buybacks, or staking rewards in the future. Should Robinhood Chain’s trading volume continue to grow, it could further strengthen the Arbitrum ecosystem’s revenue-generating capacity.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Ethereum has been testing the crucial $1,800 resistance level in recent days, drawing attention from market observers. On-chain data indicates that around 4.3 million ETH were transacted at this price point in previous sessions. This high level of trading activity has turned $1,800 into a pivotal threshold for determining the cryptocurrency’s short-term direction.
The $1,800 level shapes near-term momentumIf buyers can reclaim control over the $1,800 zone, technical charts point to subsequent resistance levels at $1,980 and $2,079. Clearing these hurdles would suggest a stronger recovery is underway and some of the selling pressure has been mitigated.
Analyst Ali Charts highlights the significance of this high-volume area near $1,800. Some investors who bought here may take profit as prices rise, while others could wait for a more decisive breakout to maintain their positions.
Ali Charts’ data reveal that nearly 4.3 million ETH changed hands around $1,800, making this region one of the most critical short-term thresholds for Ethereum.
Glossary: URPD refers to on-chain distribution data that shows the volume of assets traded at specific price levels. As it reveals areas of investor concentration, it is widely used to evaluate support and resistance zones.
Conversely, failure to overcome the $1,800 barrier could trigger a loss of momentum. In such a scenario, Ethereum may retreat to areas with lower trading volume, with the $1,237 level emerging again as the first major support line.
Cautious outlook prevails in broader analysisMore cautious assessments continue to dominate the technical outlook. The analyst team at More Crypto Online notes that Ethereum has yet to confirm a sustained long-term bottom with a strong technical formation. According to their analysis, it may be premature to declare that the broader downtrend is over.
On the daily chart, Ethereum is trading near both a significant Fibonacci resistance zone and its long-term downward trendline. In the short term, following $1,815, resistance is identified at $1,926, $2,045, and $2,226 as further key levels to monitor.
More Crypto Online emphasizes that while the current bullish move is notable, it does not in itself confirm a full trend reversal. A more robust structure is needed to signal a weakening in the larger downtrend.
On the downside, $1,554 is tracked as the next crucial support level. If Ethereum fails to hold after a rejection at resistance, the bearish setup may gain renewed strength.
The analyst adds that historic correction rates and RSI behavior do not completely rule out the possibility of a deeper bottom, with risks potentially extending as low as the $1,000 region. For a more optimistic picture to emerge, analysts point to the need for a clear five-wave upward structure on higher timeframes.
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.
Ethereum has been trying to recover from its early June sell-off, but the rebound is getting rejected from a technically significant resistance area. While short-term momentum still remains constructive, both the daily structure and the Coinbase Premium Index suggest buyers still have work to do before confirming a broader trend reversal.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart The daily chart shows ETH trading around $1.74K after bouncing from the major demand zone at $1.5K. That area once again attracted buyers and produced a sharp recovery, allowing the asset to attack the $1.85K region once more.
Despite the rebound, Ethereum remains below the long-term descending trendline that has capped it since last year. The recovery has also stalled beneath the resistance at $1.85K, which almost aligns with the trendline and represents the first major barrier buyers must overcome.
Adding to the bearish higher-timeframe picture, the price continues to trade below both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, with the 200-day MA positioned considerably higher near the $2.2K area. This indicates that the broader trend remains bearish despite the recent recovery.
A decisive daily close above the $1.85K resistance could trigger a move toward the next supply zone around $2K to $2.2K, where the moving averages are also located. Until then, the current advance appears to be a recovery within a larger downtrend rather than a confirmed trend reversal. On the downside, losing the $1.5K support would expose the market to a much deeper decline and an overextension of the bearish trend.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart The 4-hour chart highlights improving short-term market structure following the strong impulsive rally from the $1.5K region. ETH successfully reclaimed the previous short-term highs around $1.6K, which now acts as bullish order block support following the breakout.
The latest price action shows Ethereum consolidating below the $1.85K resistance zone after failing to extend higher. Recent candles indicate mild profit-taking, while the RSI has cooled from overbought conditions and has fallen back toward the midline, suggesting bullish momentum has weakened in the short term without completely disappearing.
As long as the price holds above the $1.65K order block, the current pullback appears to be a healthy correction within the ongoing recovery. A successful breakout above $1.85K would likely open the path toward the psychological $2K region.
However, failure to defend $1.65K could shift momentum back in favor of sellers and increase the likelihood of another test of the $1.5K support area.
Sentiment Analysis The Coinbase Premium Index continues to provide a cautious backdrop. The indicator remains below the neutral zero line, with the latest reading around -0.07, indicating that ETH is still trading at a discount on Coinbase relative to other major exchanges.
Historically, sustained positive readings have reflected stronger buying activity from U.S.-based institutional participants. In contrast, the current negative premium suggests institutional demand remains relatively subdued despite Ethereum’s recent rebound.
The chart also shows repeated failed attempts to establish a lasting positive premium throughout recent months, implying that rallies have generally lacked consistent institutional accumulation. While the latest recovery in the index hints at improving sentiment, it has yet to reclaim positive territory, making it difficult to argue that large U.S. buyers have returned in force.
For the broader recovery to gain greater conviction, a breakout above the $1.85K resistance accompanied by the Coinbase Premium Index moving back into positive territory would provide stronger confirmation that institutional demand is beginning to support the advance. Until then, Ethereum’s recovery appears constructive but remains technically vulnerable to renewed selling pressure.
Despite months of market volatility, Ethereum and Bitcoin holders continue showing little interest in returning coins to exchanges. This does represent much more than decreased investor trading enthusiasm.
Persistent withdrawals continued reducing the amount of liquid supply available on the market.
As of press time, the total number of Bitcoins stored on exchanges was at an all-time low for any time period since 2017. At the same time, the total number of Ethereum [ETH] stored on exchanges was also at an all-time low for any time period since 2015.
Source: Santiment Simultaneously, ongoing negative Netflows indicate that institutional and longer-term holders prefer to store their coins using self-custody models such as ETFs or corporate treasuries rather than storing them on exchanges.
Therefore, this migration will remove additional coins from potential sales. Yet in turn, it will provide even less selling pressure in the short term to further increase the conviction behind buying. While lower exchange balances may result in lower prices for investors, they do create scarcity.
If demand continues recovering, limited liquid supply could amplify price discovery and support a more structurally driven market cycle.
Long-term holders reinforce Bitcoin’s supply floor Behind the continued decline in exchange balances, Bitcoin [BTC] Long-Term Holders are steadily absorbing the circulating supply. That behavior reflects growing conviction rather than defensive positioning, as experienced investors continue accumulating during market weakness.
Long-Term Holder Net Position Change has returned to positive territory, confirming a shift from distribution toward renewed accumulation.
Meanwhile, HODL Waves and rising illiquid supply show older coins remaining dormant despite recent volatility.
That behavior further reduced Bitcoin’s availability for active trading. On top of that, the Accumulation Trend Score indicated continued buying across smaller and medium-sized wallets.
Supply held by Long-Term Holders approached 15 million BTC.
By contrast, Short-Term Holder supply declined to roughly 16.75 million BTC. The shift suggested Bitcoin continued moving from shorter-term participants into stronger conviction holders.
Source: Glassnode Even so, tightening supply alone may not sustain Bitcoin’s recovery.
A lasting uptrend would still require stronger buying demand to absorb available liquidity. Without that support, Bitcoin could struggle to maintain momentum despite increasingly scarce exchange balances.
Final Summary Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] exchange supply continues tightening, reinforcing long-term accumulation. Bitcoin needs stronger demand to sustain its recovery amid shrinking supply.
Russia has taken another step toward easing restrictions on cryptocurrency payments. The Financial Markets Committee of the State Duma has approved the updated draft law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” for its second reading. If passed, the regulation would legalize the exchange of certain cryptocurrencies for others and permit crypto asset payments in specific situations.
Broader scope for crypto paymentsThe latest version of the bill would allow investors to use digital assets for the purchase of securities outside of public offerings. In addition, it lays a legal foundation for swapping between different cryptocurrencies and for using crypto to pay transfer fees on various blockchain networks.
The Russian Federation will permit the use of digital currencies and digital rights as means of payment for securities, other digital currencies, or digital rights.
The Russian ruble, including the digital ruble, remains the country’s only official payment instrument. However, the bill previously granted exceptions for crypto mining rewards and sanctioned international trade activities, and the latest amendments have further broadened the scope of these exemptions.
Criteria for market entry remain in placeBasic requirements for listing cryptocurrencies on regulated Russian markets remain unchanged. A digital asset must have had an average market value exceeding 5 trillion rubles over the past two years, a daily average trading volume above 1 trillion rubles, and at least five years of trading history on a licensed foreign platform.
Currently, only leading assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum meet these thresholds. Nonetheless, the updated text gives the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia the authority to approve cryptocurrencies that do not fulfill all three criteria.
The bill’s definition of digital currency may mean that major stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC will not qualify as digital currencies. The language specifies that a digital currency should not have a mandatory issuer.
Expanded access for qualified investorsUnder the new framework, trading platform operators will be able to offer nearly any cryptocurrency to professional investors without prior approval from the central bank. Restrictions remain for retail, or non-qualified, investors, who can purchase only highly liquid crypto assets pre-approved by the monetary authority.
Previously, this group was limited to annual purchases of up to 300,000 rubles in cryptocurrency and could do so through only a single intermediary. Nonetheless, the new regulation somewhat widens access, as under the current structure only highly qualified investors in Russia can acquire digital assets in practice.
The draft law introduces a licensing regime for service providers such as exchanges, brokerages, custodians, and depositories. Furthermore, intermediaries and portfolio managers will be able to conduct transactions with foreign exchanges to link the Russian crypto market to global platforms.
Financial Markets Committee Chair Anatoly Aksakov announced that the committee had approved the bill.
Initially, draft law number 1194918 8 was slated to take effect on July 1. However, proposed amendments delayed the process, pushing the implementation date back to September 1. The regulation now awaits approval by the Federation Council and the signature of Russian President Vladimir Putin to become law.
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.
The AscendEX collapse didn’t arrive with fireworks. It arrived with frozen withdrawals, a shutdown notice, and a lot of uncomfortable questions. After operating since 2018, the centralized crypto exchange permanently halted trading, deposits, staking, and swap services effective July 1, 2026, while placing all remaining withdrawals under mandatory manual review.
Officially, the exchange blamed the full enforcement of the European Union’s MiCA regulations and the failure of a strategic liquidity transaction. Together, those developments left the platform unable to continue normal operations.
Shutdown Raises Bigger Liquidity QuestionsThe regulatory explanation doesn’t tell the entire story. Independent on-chain observations by ZachXBT had already raised concerns weeks before the closure.
Public hot wallets across Ethereum, Tron, and Solana reportedly showed significantly reduced balances of major assets including ETH, SOL, and USDT. That fueled concerns that liquidity issues may have existed well before the July deadline. The exchange had also previously suffered a $78 million hack in December 2021, adding to speculation that financial pressure had been building for years.
Meanwhile, reports suggested users could still deposit funds while withdrawals were delayed or blocked, creating further uncertainty around the platform’s financial condition.
Manual Withdrawals Offer Little CertaintyPerhaps the most worrying detail lies inside the exchange’s own shutdown terms. Loading profile preview acknowledged that it cannot guarantee either the timeline or the final amount users may receive through the manual withdrawal process.
That’s hardly reassuring. Manual reviews can be expected during extraordinary events, but uncertainty over payout amounts has intensified concerns among users whose assets remain locked.
Some investors have reportedly been unable to obtain transaction IDs for pending withdrawals, leaving them waiting without a clear resolution.
Raisons officielles : pas de licence MiCA, obligatoire en Europe depuis le 1er juillet et un accord de liquidité qui a échoué, la contrepartie n'ayant jamais exécuté
Le plus inquiétant : sur leur propre site, ils écrivent…
— Hasheur (@PowerHasheur) July 8, 2026 AscendEX Collapse Rekindles Custody DebateThe AscendEX collapse is another reminder that centralized exchanges remain dependent on operational resilience, liquidity, and regulatory compliance. As stricter frameworks like MiCA reshape the industry, platforms unable to satisfy those requirements may face increasing pressure.
For users affected by the shutdown, the immediate priority remains recovering their funds. For everyone else, the episode reinforces an old lesson the crypto market keeps repeating: exchange access and asset ownership aren’t always the same thing.
Story Ends Here
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Ethereum is trading near $1,740 at the time of writing after stabilizing above a key support area, but the daily chart still shows a market trapped below its main moving averages. The current setup is not a clean bullish reversal yet; it is a consolidation phase where ETH has stopped falling, while on-chain activity has not shown enough strength to confirm a stronger recovery.
Summary ETH is holding above the $1,700–$1,750 support area. The 50-day SMA near $1,787 remains the first major recovery test. Binance’s Ethereum reserve is moving sideways near 3.86M ETH. Lower velocity and falling volatility point to a wait-and-see market. The Chart Shows Stabilization, Not Strength Yet Ethereum’s latest move on the TradingView daily chart looks like a pause after a steep decline, not a confirmed trend reversal. The price has stopped making aggressive lower lows and is holding above the lower part of its recent range, but it remains below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day simple moving averages.
That matters because the first real test is no longer the downside wick. It is whether ETH can reclaim the 50-day SMA near $1,790 and hold above it. Until that happens, the move looks more like a relief bounce inside a broader downtrend than the start of a sustained recovery.
The Support Zone Is Doing the Heavy Lifting For now, the support area around $1,700–$1,750 is the level keeping the chart constructive. As long as ETH holds that zone, the market can keep building a base and attempt another push toward the 50-day SMA.
A break below that area could change the setup. It might suggest that the consolidation failed and that sellers are still controlling the structure. In that case, the previous swing-low region around $1,505–$1,550 becomes the next important downside area to watch.
CryptoQuant Data Confirms the Waiting Game The on-chain picture supports the same conclusion. According to CryptoQuant analysis, Binance’s Ethereum exchange reserve stands near 3,857,896 ETH and has moved sideways over the past few weeks.
That is important because exchange reserve data often shows whether coins are being moved toward trading venues or withdrawn into longer-term storage. A sharp rise in reserves can suggest more ETH is available to sell. A clear decline might point to stronger accumulation or reduced exchange-side supply. The current sideways movement shows neither side has taken control.
Ethereum’s velocity is also weak, sitting near 9.85 after trending slightly lower in recent months. Lower velocity means ETH is circulating more slowly across the network, which points to weaker on-chain economic activity and a slower demand impulse.
The volatility signal points in the same direction. CryptoQuant’s chart shows ATR declining to around 15,362 on the tracked series, suggesting movement has narrowed rather than expanded. In practical terms, ETH is not showing the kind of volatility expansion that usually confirms a new directional phase.
Why the 50-Day SMA Matters The 50-day SMA is the nearest technical barrier because it sits just above current price and near the top of Ethereum’s recent consolidation zone. A daily close above that level may show that buyers are strong enough to push ETH out of the lower range and challenge the next resistance area.
The problem is that the larger trend is still heavy. The 100-day SMA is near $2,024, while the 200-day SMA is around $2,245. That means even if ETH breaks the 50-day average, it can still face a wider resistance band before the daily structure turns convincingly bullish.
What Might Change the Setup For the bullish case to strengthen, ETH needs more than another short bounce. Price needs to reclaim the 50-day SMA, exchange reserves would need to decline more clearly, and velocity would need to recover. That combination can suggest buyers are absorbing supply while network activity improves.
The bearish case may strengthen if ETH loses the $1,700–$1,750 support area while exchange reserves rise. That could point to more coins moving onto exchanges at the same time price support is weakening.
For now Ethereum is in a low-volatility range, not a confirmed recovery. The chart is holding support, but the on-chain data does not yet show strong accumulation or renewed network demand.
The clean bullish signal can be a daily close above the 50-day SMA, supported by falling exchange reserves and improving velocity. The bearish signal might be a rejection near $1,787 followed by a move back below the current support zone. Until one of those happens, ETH remains in consolidation rather than a confirmed trend reversal.
Ethereum just got its own lobbying arm for the suit-and-tie crowd. On July 1, Ethereum Institutional launched as an independent nonprofit designed to do one thing: make it easier for banks, asset managers, and financial giants to build on Ethereum’s blockchain.
The organization is funded by contributors including Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Sharplink, and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin. Its board features Thomas Lee of Bitmine, Joseph Chalom of Sharplink, and Executive Director David Walsh. The mission is straightforward: take the institutional engagement work previously scattered across the Ethereum Foundation and consolidate it under one roof with a broader global mandate.
The numbers behind the push Ethereum currently holds between $161 billion and $180 billion in stablecoins, representing over 50% of the global supply. In the world of real-world asset tokenization, where traditional financial instruments get minted as blockchain tokens, Ethereum commands roughly 53% market share.
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Ethereum Institutional claims connections with over 500 institutions and has hosted what it calls the Institutional Ethereum Forum, a gathering of executives collectively managing around $250 trillion in assets under management.
Who’s already building BlackRock has deployed over $122 million in AUM through on-chain products via Securitize, built on Ethereum’s infrastructure. Visa has been experimenting with Ethereum-based settlement. Coinbase, already one of the largest crypto exchanges globally, continues to expand its Ethereum-native products and services.
The network itself has been running without interruption for over a decade now.
Complementing the Ethereum Institutional launch are other recent ecosystem developments. Ethlabs, a separate entity focused on research and development, has been established to handle the technical side. Ethereum’s protocol has also undergone significant upgrades in 2026, including the Glamsterdam and Hegota updates, which have improved network performance and scalability.
What this means for investors When institutions tokenize real-world assets on Ethereum, they need ETH for gas fees. When stablecoin issuance grows on the network, it deepens Ethereum’s liquidity moats. Every new institutional product built on the chain creates structural demand for the underlying infrastructure.
Ethereum’s 53% share of RWA tokenization and its dominance in stablecoins suggest that institutions prioritize security, liquidity, and track record over raw speed.
Traders and long-term holders should monitor stablecoin supply growth on Ethereum as a leading indicator. If Ethereum Institutional succeeds in its mission, the $161 billion to $180 billion in stablecoins currently on the network could grow substantially.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
In brief Bitcoin fell 2.89% this week, closing at $61,749 after failing to break resistance in the $64–65K range—the key zone bulls needed to reclaim to change the short-term narrative. Ethereum confirmed a weekly death cross for the first time in years, with its 50-week EMA now below its 200-week EMA, and prediction market traders now pricing a 72.3% chance ETH hits $1,500 before it sees $3,000 again. The broader crypto Fear & Greed Index sits at 23 (extreme fear), spot Bitcoin ETFs just ended a 10-day, $2.7 billion outflow streak. The crypto market enters the second week of July in rough shape.
Bitcoin is holding on, but just barely, in the low $60,000s after briefly touching 21-month lows under $58,000 last week. Ethereum is below $1,750, down around 4% on the day, and more than 30% in the last year. The broader market is down, of course, and altcoins are down harder.
The total crypto market cap excluding BTC and ETH shed 30% since January. Crypto IPOs—Gemini, Bullish, BitGo—have imploded since their debut.
The mood is, understandably, grim.
But grim moods have a long history of being wrong at exactly the wrong time. Every major Bitcoin bear cycle since 2009 has ended with a flush, an extreme fear reading, and a moment where the obvious trade looked like going short.
Bitcoin has now been through four such cycles, and in nearly every case, a pre-halving compression phase—where price grinds lower and sentiment deteriorates before the next supply shock—preceded the next leg up. The next halving—when mining rewards, and therefore the supply of newly minted Bitcoin, are cut by 50%—is roughly 21 months away, which historically is when accumulation starts making uncomfortable sense.
The difference this cycle? Crypto is now mainstream.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs, institutional balance sheets, formal accounting standards changes, and a legislative framework for digital assets have all arrived since the last halving. Bitcoin now has a fundamentally different institutional status than it did when BTC was a niche hobby. That doesn't eliminate volatility—it just means the players in this bear market are wearing different suits than last time. Whether that speeds up or delays the bottom is an open question. The charts, for now, have their answer.
Bitcoin price: optimism with an asterisk
Bitcoin opened the week at $63,587, hit a high of $64,657, then closed lower, meaning that the bulls showed up, tried to push through, and failed. Bitcoin is trading hands at $61,749, down 2.89% in the week.
It’s important to note that BTC fell to $58,035 just days ago—a 21-month low—before bouncing.
The resistance zone that stopped the spike is exactly the one everyone was watching. The $64–65K area has been acting as a ceiling since early June, and this week's candle barely kissed it before retreating. On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders are placing nearly 73% odds that Bitcoin touches $55,000 before $84,000. The sentiment among predictors flipped on June 2—before that, the smart money was leaning bullish.
Zooming out on the weekly chart, the Fibonacci retracement (natural support and resistance zones that happen during a trend) of that entire downleg from $82,833 places the $73,245 and $70,284 zone as with the most activity.
The Average Directional Index, or ADX, is at 30.7. The ADX measures trend strength regardless of direction on scale from 0 to 100. When it’s above 25, this tells traders that an actual trend is in place, and 30.7 is solidly there. Based on directionality, bears are in control.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, sits at 36.8. RSI measures momentum, similarly on a 0–100 scale: Above 70 signals overbought conditions and usually triggers profit-taking; below 30 signals oversold conditions that typically attract buyers. At 36.8, Bitcoin is close to oversold but hasn't crossed the threshold yet. The technical setup suggests selling pressure may be approaching exhaustion—but "approaching" isn't "done." Right now markets appear to be panic selling.
One note of caution for the bears: The picture painted by the exponential moving averages remains bullish. Bitcoin's 50-week exponential moving average, or EMA, is still above its 200-week EMA. When this happens, it forms a pattern that traders refer to as a “golden cross,” which in this case is technically still intact. But it's narrowing fast. The inverse of a golden cross is a death cross, and if it forms on the weekly chart it would represent a structural shift that very few Bitcoin cycles have survived without a deeper flush first.
Thankfully for permabulls, this has not happened in a while.
Reasons for the bullish case are mostly fundamental:
Spot Bitcoin ETFs just snapped a 10-day, $2.7 billion outflow streak with a $221.7 million single-day inflow on July 2, and have since pulled in roughly $510 million. On-chain data from Glassnode shows long-term holders have returned to accumulation after an extended period of distribution, with buying activity broadening across wallet cohorts.
The Fear & Greed Index at 23, registering “extreme fear,” is historically a contrarian signal—not a guarantee, but a pattern. Some indicators approaching oversold from the weekly chart suggest the selling may be closer to exhausted than just starting.
$BTC has seen a series of bullish patterns broken, evidence of the power of the downtrend. Will this 'W' be the one that breaks the trend?
— John Bollinger (@bbands) July 2, 2026
For the bearish scenario, the technicals are more apparent for those focusing on shorter time frames:
Bitcoin failed to break the exact resistance everyone was watching. ADX at 30.7 with bearish directional index confirms an active downtrend with real momentum. Year-to-date ETF outflows are still negative. Citi downgraded its 12-month Bitcoin forecast to $82,000 with a bear case at $53,000. The Fibonacci target below current price at $57,735 is still the most visible technical magnet on the chart. Myriad's prediction market—where money, not opinions, speaks—says 72.3% chance of $55K first.
Ethereum price: The death cross nobody wanted
Ethereum is trading at $1,729.7, down 3.06% from its $1,784 weekly open. That number is painful enough. But the bigger story isn't the weekly candle—it's what just happened on the weekly chart under the hood.
Ethereum has just confirmed a weekly death cross. The 50-week exponential moving average has crossed below the 200-week EMA for the first time in years. The upcoming days/weeks will be key to define positions for long-term trades if the cross extends and is not invalidated.
On shorter timeframes, death crosses happen regularly and can reverse quickly. On the weekly chart, they represent months of structural deterioration, and they tend to define entire market phases rather than single moves.
Ethereum's daily chart has been in death cross since November 2025, when ETH peaked near $4,100 before beginning its extended decline. That daily bearish structure has now propagated to the weekly frame—a longer-timeframe confirmation that the bear trend isn't a blip.
Traders on Myriad appear as bearish on ETH as they do on BTC, likewise pricing in a 72% chance Ethereum hits $1,500 before $3,000. These odds flipped in May—before that, the market was closer to 50-50 between the two outcomes. The gap between options is now at its largest since June, suggesting conviction has moved firmly into the bearish camp among traders putting actual money on the line.
The Fibonacci retracement on ETH's downleg from $2,465.8 to $1,505.1 defines the zone between $2,098.9 and $1,985.5 as the ones with the most activity to watch for. Current price at $1,729.7 is pinned near the Fib level at $1,731.8. Below that, the next meaningful technical reference is the $1,500 price zone. That's exactly the doom scenario Myriad traders are betting on.
The ADX reads 26.5 with bearish directionality—same story as Bitcoin, just more pronounced. A trend is confirmed, the direction is down, and the bears have the momentum. RSI at 36.9 mirrors Bitcoin's reading almost exactly: bearish, approaching oversold but not there yet.
Some hopium for the bulls: Weekly death crosses on Ethereum have historically appeared around the final stages of bear market cycles—not the middle of them. In prior cycles, the three-day death cross frequently coincided with or immediately preceded significant bottoms. In other words, this is the panic zone in which many people wait to buy the asset for cheap.
If that pattern holds, the pain may be closer to ending than beginning. ETH spot ETFs turned positive on July 2 with $29.1 million in inflows. RSI is approaching oversold on the weekly—a zone that has historically been a strong accumulation signal for patient buyers.
Now for the bears: A weekly death cross is a new structural reality, not a temporary signal—it took months to form and typically takes months to reverse. US spot ETH ETFs logged a record 17 consecutive days of net outflows totaling $401 million in May, followed by another 10-day streak in June.
The Fibonacci target of $1,500 is technically the next major level, and it's the exact number Myriad's 72.3% majority is betting on. Citi's bear case for ETH is $1,094. The weekly structure doesn't give bulls much to work with until the price of Ethereum reclaims the $2,000 area—a 15.6% climb from current levels that would require a sustained trend reversal that no indicator yet confirms.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
In brief Bitcoin fell 2.89% this week, closing at $61,749 after failing to break resistance in the $64–65K range—the key zone bulls needed to reclaim to change the short-term narrative. Ethereum confirmed a weekly death cross for the first time in years, with its 50-week EMA now below its 200-week EMA, and prediction market traders now pricing a 72.3% chance ETH hits $1,500 before it sees $3,000 again. The broader crypto Fear & Greed Index sits at 23 (extreme fear), spot Bitcoin ETFs just ended a 10-day, $2.7 billion outflow streak. The crypto market enters the second week of July in rough shape.
Bitcoin is holding on, but just barely, in the low $60,000s after briefly touching 21-month lows under $58,000 last week. Ethereum is below $1,750, down around 4% on the day, and more than 30% in the last year. The broader market is down, of course, and altcoins are down harder.
The total crypto market cap excluding BTC and ETH shed 30% since January. Crypto IPOs—Gemini, Bullish, BitGo—have imploded since their debut.
The mood is, understandably, grim.
But grim moods have a long history of being wrong at exactly the wrong time. Every major Bitcoin bear cycle since 2009 has ended with a flush, an extreme fear reading, and a moment where the obvious trade looked like going short.
Bitcoin has now been through four such cycles, and in nearly every case, a pre-halving compression phase—where price grinds lower and sentiment deteriorates before the next supply shock—preceded the next leg up. The next halving—when mining rewards, and therefore the supply of newly minted Bitcoin, are cut by 50%—is roughly 21 months away, which historically is when accumulation starts making uncomfortable sense.
The difference this cycle? Crypto is now mainstream.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs, institutional balance sheets, formal accounting standards changes, and a legislative framework for digital assets have all arrived since the last halving. Bitcoin now has a fundamentally different institutional status than it did when BTC was a niche hobby. That doesn't eliminate volatility—it just means the players in this bear market are wearing different suits than last time. Whether that speeds up or delays the bottom is an open question. The charts, for now, have their answer.
Bitcoin price: optimism with an asterisk
Bitcoin opened the week at $63,587, hit a high of $64,657, then closed lower, meaning that the bulls showed up, tried to push through, and failed. Bitcoin is trading hands at $61,749, down 2.89% in the week.
It’s important to note that BTC fell to $58,035 just days ago—a 21-month low—before bouncing.
The resistance zone that stopped the spike is exactly the one everyone was watching. The $64–65K area has been acting as a ceiling since early June, and this week's candle barely kissed it before retreating. On Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, traders are placing nearly 73% odds that Bitcoin touches $55,000 before $84,000. The sentiment among predictors flipped on June 2—before that, the smart money was leaning bullish.
Zooming out on the weekly chart, the Fibonacci retracement (natural support and resistance zones that happen during a trend) of that entire downleg from $82,833 places the $73,245 and $70,284 zone as with the most activity.
The Average Directional Index, or ADX, is at 30.7. The ADX measures trend strength regardless of direction on scale from 0 to 100. When it’s above 25, this tells traders that an actual trend is in place, and 30.7 is solidly there. Based on directionality, bears are in control.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, sits at 36.8. RSI measures momentum, similarly on a 0–100 scale: Above 70 signals overbought conditions and usually triggers profit-taking; below 30 signals oversold conditions that typically attract buyers. At 36.8, Bitcoin is close to oversold but hasn't crossed the threshold yet. The technical setup suggests selling pressure may be approaching exhaustion—but "approaching" isn't "done." Right now markets appear to be panic selling.
One note of caution for the bears: The picture painted by the exponential moving averages remains bullish. Bitcoin's 50-week exponential moving average, or EMA, is still above its 200-week EMA. When this happens, it forms a pattern that traders refer to as a “golden cross,” which in this case is technically still intact. But it's narrowing fast. The inverse of a golden cross is a death cross, and if it forms on the weekly chart it would represent a structural shift that very few Bitcoin cycles have survived without a deeper flush first.
Thankfully for permabulls, this has not happened in a while.
Reasons for the bullish case are mostly fundamental:
Spot Bitcoin ETFs just snapped a 10-day, $2.7 billion outflow streak with a $221.7 million single-day inflow on July 2, and have since pulled in roughly $510 million. On-chain data from Glassnode shows long-term holders have returned to accumulation after an extended period of distribution, with buying activity broadening across wallet cohorts.
The Fear & Greed Index at 23, registering “extreme fear,” is historically a contrarian signal—not a guarantee, but a pattern. Some indicators approaching oversold from the weekly chart suggest the selling may be closer to exhausted than just starting.
$BTC has seen a series of bullish patterns broken, evidence of the power of the downtrend. Will this 'W' be the one that breaks the trend?
— John Bollinger (@bbands) July 2, 2026
For the bearish scenario, the technicals are more apparent for those focusing on shorter time frames:
Bitcoin failed to break the exact resistance everyone was watching. ADX at 30.7 with bearish directional index confirms an active downtrend with real momentum. Year-to-date ETF outflows are still negative. Citi downgraded its 12-month Bitcoin forecast to $82,000 with a bear case at $53,000. The Fibonacci target below current price at $57,735 is still the most visible technical magnet on the chart. Myriad's prediction market—where money, not opinions, speaks—says 72.3% chance of $55K first.
Ethereum price: The death cross nobody wanted
Ethereum is trading at $1,729.7, down 3.06% from its $1,784 weekly open. That number is painful enough. But the bigger story isn't the weekly candle—it's what just happened on the weekly chart under the hood.
Ethereum has just confirmed a weekly death cross. The 50-week exponential moving average has crossed below the 200-week EMA for the first time in years. The upcoming days/weeks will be key to define positions for long-term trades if the cross extends and is not invalidated.
On shorter timeframes, death crosses happen regularly and can reverse quickly. On the weekly chart, they represent months of structural deterioration, and they tend to define entire market phases rather than single moves.
Ethereum's daily chart has been in death cross since November 2025, when ETH peaked near $4,100 before beginning its extended decline. That daily bearish structure has now propagated to the weekly frame—a longer-timeframe confirmation that the bear trend isn't a blip.
Traders on Myriad appear as bearish on ETH as they do on BTC, likewise pricing in a 72% chance Ethereum hits $1,500 before $3,000. These odds flipped in May—before that, the market was closer to 50-50 between the two outcomes. The gap between options is now at its largest since June, suggesting conviction has moved firmly into the bearish camp among traders putting actual money on the line.
The Fibonacci retracement on ETH's downleg from $2,465.8 to $1,505.1 defines the zone between $2,098.9 and $1,985.5 as the ones with the most activity to watch for. Current price at $1,729.7 is pinned near the Fib level at $1,731.8. Below that, the next meaningful technical reference is the $1,500 price zone. That's exactly the doom scenario Myriad traders are betting on.
The ADX reads 26.5 with bearish directionality—same story as Bitcoin, just more pronounced. A trend is confirmed, the direction is down, and the bears have the momentum. RSI at 36.9 mirrors Bitcoin's reading almost exactly: bearish, approaching oversold but not there yet.
Some hopium for the bulls: Weekly death crosses on Ethereum have historically appeared around the final stages of bear market cycles—not the middle of them. In prior cycles, the three-day death cross frequently coincided with or immediately preceded significant bottoms. In other words, this is the panic zone in which many people wait to buy the asset for cheap.
If that pattern holds, the pain may be closer to ending than beginning. ETH spot ETFs turned positive on July 2 with $29.1 million in inflows. RSI is approaching oversold on the weekly—a zone that has historically been a strong accumulation signal for patient buyers.
Now for the bears: A weekly death cross is a new structural reality, not a temporary signal—it took months to form and typically takes months to reverse. US spot ETH ETFs logged a record 17 consecutive days of net outflows totaling $401 million in May, followed by another 10-day streak in June.
The Fibonacci target of $1,500 is technically the next major level, and it's the exact number Myriad's 72.3% majority is betting on. Citi's bear case for ETH is $1,094. The weekly structure doesn't give bulls much to work with until the price of Ethereum reclaims the $2,000 area—a 15.6% climb from current levels that would require a sustained trend reversal that no indicator yet confirms.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
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After its recent attempt to rally, Ethereum is once again flashing signs of technical weakness. While the ETH price remains above a critical support zone, trading indicators now suggest that buying power has lost momentum compared to previous periods, raising caution among market participants.
Pressure increases in the technical outlookOn July 8, 2026, the cryptocurrency analyst known as BATMAN reported that Ethereum had formed a hidden bearish divergence. This pattern is observed when the price fails to reach new highs while certain technical indicators test higher levels—a classic warning sign that, although the bullish trend may not be fully over, buyer strength is waning.
BATMAN noted that the hidden bearish divergence on Ethereum’s chart does not necessarily signal an imminent sharp decline, but emphasized that it creates a technical setup which could make further recovery attempts more challenging.
At the time of reporting, ETH changes hands at $1,714.17. Its 24-hour trading volume stands at $13.12 billion, while its market capitalization is $208.21 billion. Over the past 24 hours, the asset has lost 4.33% of its value.
According to Bollinger Band data, the upper band is at $1,839.76, the middle band at $1,677.38, and the lower band at $1,515.01. Ethereum recently approached the upper band before retracing, though it is still trading above the middle band, suggesting a key area for technical support.
MACD stays positive but momentum fadesThe MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence) indicator still remains in positive territory. The MACD line stands at -4.01, the signal line at -30.17, and the histogram at 26.16. While the green bars on the histogram reveal lingering bullish momentum, they have begun to narrow, highlighting a softening in market demand.
Ethereum holds its position as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value. It serves as the foundational infrastructure for decentralized finance applications, tokenization, NFT transactions, and a wide array of blockchain-based solutions. As a result, shifts in the ETH price are closely followed across the broader digital asset market.
Key support and resistance levels aheadWhile technical signals alone do not dictate price direction, they are crucial for identifying potential breakout zones. Should buying appetite recover, Ethereum could break above the $1,840 resistance, making the latest pullback a temporary pause.
If selling pressure continues and ETH falls below the middle Bollinger Band at $1,677, analysts warn that attention may turn quickly to the key support at $1,515.
In the near term, the trajectory of Ethereum’s price will depend on which side—buyers or sellers—gains the upper hand in the next several trading sessions. Although ETH continues to hold above a critical technical support, weakening indicators mean that market players are adopting a more cautious approach.
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.
Three years ago, roughly 8% of tokenized fund assets sitting on Ethereum had any meaningful interaction with DeFi protocols. That number is now 25%.
What it means practically: the money market funds, Treasury products, and other traditional finance instruments that major institutions have been quietly tokenizing on Ethereum are no longer just sitting there looking pretty. They are being put to work as collateral, as liquidity, as productive on-chain capital inside the same DeFi ecosystem that Wall Street spent years dismissing.
The institutions showed up, and then they stayed BlackRock’s BUIDL fund is probably the cleanest example of how this evolution looks in practice. Launched in 2024, BUIDL is a tokenized U.S. Treasury product that did not just get listed and forgotten. DeFi protocols like Ethena and Spark began using it as collateral, giving the fund a second life beyond its yield-bearing face value.
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Then, early in 2026, BlackRock took another step and enabled BUIDL trading directly on Uniswap.
BlackRock is not alone. JPMorgan Asset Management introduced its tokenized money market fund JLTXX in May 2026, following an earlier fund seeded at $100M. UBS entered the market with its uMINT money market token. VanEck launched its own tokenized fund in May 2026, designed specifically to function as DeFi collateral rather than as a standalone product.
Why Ethereum and why now Ethereum remains the dominant blockchain for tokenized real-world assets, tracked by platforms like RWA.xyz, though its share of the overall market has shown signs of softening as the ecosystem expands. Standard Chartered analysts have projected that the broader tokenized asset market could eventually reach into the trillions.
The 24/7 settlement capability that tokenization enables also matters more than it sounds. Traditional money market fund redemptions operate on business-day cycles. An on-chain version settles continuously, which means DeFi protocols can use these assets as collateral without worrying about settlement windows creating gaps in coverage.
What this means for investors and the DeFi ecosystem For crypto-native investors, the 8% to 25% jump in DeFi utilization of tokenized assets signals something important: the yield-bearing collateral available inside DeFi is becoming higher quality. When a DeFi lending protocol accepts a BlackRock Treasury token as collateral instead of a purely speculative asset, the risk profile of that protocol changes.
Protocols that move early to integrate tokenized real-world assets as accepted collateral are positioning themselves as the on-ramps for institutional capital. Spark and Ethena’s early moves with BUIDL suggest they understood this before most.
The risks are real and worth naming. Regulatory frameworks around tokenized securities interacting with permissionless DeFi protocols remain unresolved in most jurisdictions. Smart contract risk does not disappear because BlackRock’s name is attached to the underlying asset. And the concentration of tokenized assets on a single blockchain creates a single point of systemic exposure if something goes wrong at the infrastructure layer.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
SharpLink (Nasdaq: SBET) pulled in 449 ETH in staking rewards for the week ending July 5, 2026. That brings the company’s total Ethereum stash to 887,174 ETH, a pile worth well over $2 billion at current prices and growing larger every single week.
Here’s the thing about SharpLink: it’s essentially turned itself into a publicly traded Ethereum staking machine. And unlike buying an ETH ETF, this one actually generates yield.
The numbers behind the staking engine Since launching its Ethereum-focused treasury strategy on June 2, 2025, SharpLink has accumulated 22,991 ETH purely from staking rewards. That’s ETH earned just by locking up existing holdings and validating transactions on the network.
The company stakes nearly 100% of its ETH through institutional partners Liquid Collective and Figment. A portion of the company’s assets has also been deployed to Linea, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, as part of a broader yield diversification strategy.
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The 449 ETH earned this week translates to roughly a 2.6% annualized yield on the total holdings, which tracks closely with typical Ethereum staking returns.
From gaming company to Ethereum treasury vehicle If you’re wondering how a company called “SharpLink Gaming” ended up holding nearly 900,000 ETH, the answer is a dramatic corporate pivot. The company rebranded in February 2026 to ditch the gaming association entirely and lean fully into its identity as an Ethereum treasury company.
The playbook should look familiar. It’s the same strategy MicroStrategy pioneered with Bitcoin, just applied to Ethereum with an added twist: staking yield. While MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin sits in cold storage generating zero passive income, SharpLink’s ETH actively earns rewards by participating in network validation.
That distinction matters. Traditional ETH exchange-traded products, including spot ETH ETFs, don’t offer staking rewards to holders due to regulatory constraints. SharpLink has positioned itself as the workaround: buy the stock, get exposure to ETH plus the yield that ETFs can’t touch.
The market has noticed. Institutional ownership climbed to 46% by late 2025. The Russell index inclusion in June 2026, when SharpLink was added to both the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000, likely accelerated that institutional buying as index funds were forced to pick up shares.
The discount problem investors should understand SharpLink shares have displayed significant volatility and frequently trade at a discount to the company’s net asset value calculated from its ETH holdings. In simple terms: if you add up all the ETH SharpLink owns and multiply by the current ETH price, the number you get is higher than what the stock market says the company is worth.
Because SharpLink’s value is almost entirely tied to ETH’s price, the stock amplifies Ethereum’s moves. When ETH drops 5%, SBET might drop 7% or 8% as the discount widens.
The 22,991 ETH in cumulative staking rewards since launch is real yield generated from a real on-chain activity. For investors weighing SBET against alternatives, the calculus comes down to whether the staking yield premium, roughly 2-3% annually, compensates for the risks of holding a small-cap equity instead of the underlying asset directly.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Bitcoin gave up its gains from the previous two sessions as escalating geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran sparked a broader risk-off move across cryptocurrency markets.
Notable Statistics:
Coinglass data shows 128,517 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $369.27 million. SoSoValue data shows net inflows of $21.4 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Tuesday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $26.9 million. In the past 24 hours, top losers include Jupiter, Aerodrome Finance and Pi. Notable Developments:
Trader Notes:
Analyst Kevin expects Bitcoin to sweep long liquidity between current levels and $44,000 during the third phase of the bear market.
He plans to aggressively accumulate BTC if leveraged long positions are liquidated and also take additional profits on the short position initiated at $79,000.
Trader KillaXBT says sentiment between bulls and bears remains surprisingly balanced.
He believes bears have roughly two months to drive Bitcoin lower in line with the four-year cycle.
This will potentially create what he sees as the final opportunity to buy BTC in the $50,000 range before a longer-term recovery.
Trader Jelle noted Bitcoin has formed a weekly bullish divergence on both the regular RSI and stochastic RSI, with the latter beginning to turn higher.
These are signs that selling pressure is weakening and the setup reinforces the strategy of continuing to dollar-cost average into Bitcoin while accumulating more.
Image: Shutterstock
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Input Output Global (IOG) CEO Charles Hoskinson has criticized Ethereum’s staking mechanism, arguing that Cardano provides a better alternative.
In a recent commentary, Hoskinson took aim at several aspects of Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) architecture, particularly its staking design. According to him, Ethereum forces users to navigate unnecessary fund lockups, slashing risks, bonding periods, with liquid staking solutions built around derivative assets such as Lido.
“You have to lock your funds, and have slashing and bonding, and all this garbage, and create synthetic assets like Lido,” Hoskinson said.
He contrasted Ethereum’s approach with Cardano’s staking model, emphasizing that Cardano does not require users to lock their assets to earn staking rewards.
“There’s no locking in Cardano,” Hoskinson said.
Ethereum and Cardano Take Different Approaches to Staking Although Ethereum and Cardano both rely on the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism to secure their networks, they implement staking in fundamentally different ways.
Ethereum requires validators to stake 32 ETH to operate a validator node. The network also incorporates slashing penalties to discourage malicious behavior and uses withdrawal queues that can delay access to staked funds.
Since Ethereum staking traditionally involves locking assets while awaiting withdrawals, many investors have turned to liquid staking platforms such as Lido. These services issue derivative tokens that represent staked ETH, allowing users to trade or deploy those assets across decentralized finance (DeFi) applications while the underlying ETH remains staked.
Conversely, Cardano employs a native liquid staking model that allows ADA holders to delegate their tokens without locking their funds. Users retain full control of their ADA throughout the staking process and can spend or transfer their holdings at any time while continuing to earn rewards through Cardano’s Ouroboros consensus mechanism.
In Hoskinson’s view, this design eliminates unnecessary complexity while making staking more accessible to everyday users.
Ethereum EUTXO Dispute Hoskinson’s remarks come shortly after he accused Ethereum of borrowing key ideas from Cardano without acknowledging their origin.
As previously reported, he criticized an Ethereum Foundation proposal that seeks to introduce native UTXO-style payments through “one-shot” objects. The proposal aims to reduce Ethereum’s state bloat by up to 99.8%, while preserving the network’s existing account-based architecture.
According to Hoskinson, the proposal replicates Cardano’s Extended UTXO (EUTXO) model, which has been a core component of the blockchain since its launch. He argued that Ethereum adopted concepts pioneered by Cardano over 10 years ago without giving the project proper credit.
Hoskinson Expects More Cardano Innovations to Influence Ethereum Looking ahead, Hoskinson suggested that Ethereum could eventually adopt additional innovations pioneered by Cardano.
He predicted that the network may embrace Cardano’s on-chain governance framework, Ouroboros consensus protocol, and treasury system as it continues evolving its architecture.
His latest comments extend a long-running rivalry between the two leading Proof-of-Stake blockchains, with Hoskinson continuing to position Cardano’s staking design and broader architecture as more efficient, accessible, and sustainable than Ethereum’s current model.
DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
Cardano (ADA) founder Charles Hoskinson made noteworthy statements regarding the scalability roadmap for the Cardano ecosystem. Hoskinson stated that by the end of the year, Cardano will be 60 times faster than its current state.
Hoskinson stated that Cardano aims for nearly unlimited scalability at the decentralized application level with its Hydra technology, and that other networks can be included in the ADA ecosystem through partner chain structures. Hoskinson said, “We will be 60 times faster by the end of the year. With Hydra, we have a great strategy for infinite scalability at the dApp level, and we can invite all these other networks into the ecosystem through partner chains.”
Hoskinson, also commenting on Ethereum’s recent interest in the UTXO model, argued that the Ethereum ecosystem is beginning to adopt approaches that Cardano has been working on since 2016. Hoskinson stated that the ADA community has overcome significant technical challenges over many years to properly implement this structure.
Hoskinson also argued that Cardano wasn’t being given enough credit regarding Ethereum’s UTXO orientation. The ADA founder stated, “We invented the infrastructure for this. Instead of saying ‘We should be like Cardano’ and giving credit to us, they don’t mention it at all. You can’t say ADA on Ethereum.”
Hoskinson also touched upon the cryptocurrency market’s performance in 2025, arguing that US-originated developments disrupted the market cycle. According to Hoskinson, without the US influence, the crypto market could have followed a more normal cycle, and an altcoin season could have occurred in 2025.
*This is not investment advice.
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Hoskinson argues Cardano's years of research deserve recognition as Ethereum explores similar technical approaches.
Charles Hoskinson has accused Ethereum of adopting ideas pioneered by Cardano without acknowledgment.
The Cardano co-founder made the claim following a proposal by Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter to bring native UTXOs to the network as a way of cutting long-term state storage for payment transactions.
Ethereum Is Revisiting Cardano’s Work According to Hoskinson, Wahrstätter’s research closely mirrors concepts Cardano has been developing since its launch.
“It’s literally a crime in the Ethereum inner circle to mention Cardano,” he wrote on X. “EUTXO is the biggest innovation of the smart contract world and Ethereum cannot mention it as they literally try to copy it.”
Wahrstätter’s proposal describes a payment model that stores only a small “spent” marker in Ethereum’s state while keeping the rest of the payment data in blockchain history. According to the research, this approach could reduce the permanent state required for payment workloads by as much as 99.8% without abandoning Ethereum’s account-based architecture.
The proposal borrows the one-time payment structure used by Bitcoin’s UTXO model while allowing Ethereum accounts and smart contracts to keep on operating. It also relies on the proposed EIP-8141 transaction framework to let users spend UTXOs without first holding ETH for gas fees.
Hoskinson followed up his post on X with a livestream on the same platform, where he read a tweet by Wahrstätter announcing the proposal and pointed out that it made no reference to Cardano despite his network spending years solving many of the engineering problems that Ethereum is now exploring.
“For ten years, we’ve worked on extended UTXO, smart contracts on UTXO,” he said. “We wrote a paper called Chimeric Ledgers to show how to run these two systems in parallel.”
He argued that Ethereum developers had in the past dismissed UTXO-based smart contracts as impractical before now putting similar ideas on their long-term roadmap.
You may also like: Staking Surge Tightens Supply, But Negative Sentiment Still Dominates Ethereum Ethereum Execs Launch Non-Profit to Accelerate Institutional Adoption Bitmine Buys Another 27,000 ETH Despite Market Slump, Nears 5% of Ethereum Supply Long-Running Rivalry Returns to the Spotlight During the livestream, Hoskinson expanded his criticism beyond Wahrstätter’s proposal, claiming that Ethereum has been regularly adopting ideas after dismissing them when they first appeared on Cardano.
Some of the areas he claimed such behavior had happened in included Cardano’s governance system and treasury model, which he said the Ethereum Foundation had been forced to drift toward after losing staff and money.
He also suggested that Ethereum would look to revisit Cardano’s work on privacy and post-quantum cryptography through IOHK’s privacy-focused blockchain project, Midnight, as well as its early embrace of formal verification tools like Lean. According to him, Ethereum will eventually adopt both without acknowledgment as well.
This is not the first time Hoskinson has used a livestream to vent about how he or Cardano is being treated. In June, he announced plans to move the Cardano community away from X and onto Discord, saying the social platform had become dominated by hostility and personal attacks. However, he said that he would keep using X for livestream broadcasts, the exact same format he used today to make his case against Ethereum.
Data from @SantimentData shows that $USDT on Ethereum recorded a $5.03 billion net outflow from exchanges on July 8, the largest single-day withdrawal the network has ever seen. The previous record was a $4.43 billion outflow on June 19, 2022. According to Santiment, the move reflects large wallets shifting stablecoin liquidity into self-custody, DeFi protocols, or OTC desks. In other words, a significant pool of ready-to-trade dollar liquidity just left centralized exchanges.
Santiment also flagged that USDT's network realized profit and loss hit a five-month high of $2.92 million on the same day, driven largely by the sheer volume of tokens moving at once rather than any meaningful change in USDT's value. For context, this kind of signal can cut both ways: less stablecoin liquidity on exchanges may reduce immediate dip-buying power and put short-term pressure on $BTC and altcoins, but if the capital is being repositioned rather than exiting crypto entirely, it could rotate back in once confidence improves.
A Burn That Complicates the Picture The outflow landed a day after a separate but related development. According to CryptoQuant, Tether burned $2.5 billion worth of $USDT on the Ethereum network on July 7, marking its largest single burn since February 2026. The burn reduced the circulating supply by about 1.3% and was driven by large customer redemptions rather than a strategic move to cut supply, with the USDT peg remaining stable around $1.00.
A large Tether burn can reflect redemptions, treasury management, or cross-chain rebalancing and is not, on its own, enough to call the move bearish. The important part is the timing: the burn came while aggregate stablecoin supply was falling and Binance's Tron-based USDT liquidity was also shrinking. Binance's USDT balance on TRON fell to about $806 million in July, dropping below $1 billion for the first time in months. The macro backdrop added another layer: Bitcoin fell sharply from above $64,000 to near $62,000 between July 7 and 8, driven by geopolitical tensions after Iran fired on commercial vessels and the U.S. retaliated.
Dry Powder or an Exit? The broader stablecoin picture urges caution. Active stablecoin addresses fell 36.2% and average daily transfer volume dropped 47.5% over the past 30 days, on-chain data shows. Falling aggregate stablecoin capitalization, Binance's Tron reserve moving below $1 billion, and one of the largest Ethereum USDT burns in months all point to weaker liquidity conditions unless new minting or exchange inflows reverse the trend.
Whether the $5 billion outflow represents dry powder waiting to be deployed or capital heading for the exit remains the key question for traders to watch in the days ahead.
Sources:
Coinpedia: Tether Sees Historic $5B Exchange Outflow
Coindoo: Stablecoin Supply Tightens as Tether Burns $2.5B USDT
CoinReporter: Tether USDT Supply Contracts Across Ethereum and TRON Networks
The latest data published by Dune Analytics reveal an important fact: stablecoins are entering a new phase of their development. Indeed, USDT and USDC are no longer seeking to dominate the same markets. The former establishes itself as the reference for payments. The latter, on the other hand, consolidates its place at the heart of DeFi. Analysts therefore agree on one point: this evolution could permanently transform the crypto ecosystem. More details in the following paragraphs!
In Brief Stablecoins no longer engage in a direct war: their uses are specializing. USDT concentrates the bulk of crypto payments, with nearly 95 billion dollars in commercial transactions observed. USDC maintains its lead in DeFi, exchanges, and dApps. The Tron, Ethereum, and Base networks play a decisive role in this distribution. This evolution could redefine global stablecoin adoption and accelerate their integration into financial infrastructures. USDT Establishes Itself as the King of Stablecoin Payments The data compiled by Dune Analytics indicate that USDT issued by Tether reigns supreme in the commercial transactions segment. Just in the first half of 2026, it represents about 95 billion dollars in stablecoin payments (compared to only 14 billion dollars for USDC). This amounts to a ratio close to 7 to 1.
That’s not all! The Tether stablecoin also captures nearly 92% of the 48 billion dollars in inter-company payments (B2B) volume alone during the same period.
Crypto analysts agree on this: if USDT currently outperforms its competitors in the stablecoin payment market, it is mainly thanks to the success of the Tron crypto network. About 93% of Tether’s total circulating supply is indeed held in private wallets rather than on exchanges or within complex protocols.
Breakdown: USDT stablecoins primarily serve as an accessible store of value, cross-border fund transfer instrument, and direct payment method for international trade. This illustrates concrete adoption. More importantly, this performance shows that Tether is now establishing itself as the monetary infrastructure of emerging markets.
Good to know: in June, USDT briefly surpassed Ethereum in terms of market capitalization.
USDC Becomes the Preferred Stablecoin of DeFi According to the Dune analysis report, Circle’s USDC rises to the rank of reference asset for:
liquidity providers; lending platforms; algorithmic traders. Specifically, the data report a massive concentration of USDC stablecoins on the Ethereum networks as well as its main growth layer 2, Base. In June 2026, for example, the USDC transfer volume on the Base crypto network reached a historic peak of 2.6 trillion dollars. This is the highest figure of all token-blockchain pairs tracked by Dune.
Even more interesting! During the same period, this digital asset processed 1.6 trillion dollars in transactions on Ethereum.
But Dune’s analysis reveals another key indicator: financial velocity. On Base, USDC indeed records a daily velocity equivalent to about 20 times its circulating supply. This means that a single digital dollar unit from Circle is reused on average twenty times per day across various smart contracts, yield loops, and DEX.
Unlike USDT, USDC stablecoins circulate mainly within an ecosystem where capital is constantly reallocated between different protocols. Simply put, they primarily feed on on-chain liquidity.
Chart showing the velocity of stablecoins (Source: Dune) A Historic Concentration That Redefines the Crypto Market Structure The Dune analysis result confirms an important point: the stablecoin market is entering a maturity phase. The days when USDT and USDC fought a sterile duel are now over. Today, the two main stablecoin issuers no longer compete for the same market shares. They extend their respective monopolies over distinct territories. Thus, each asset gradually develops a specialization.
Note that together, Tether and Circle now control nearly 83% of a global sector market capitalization amounting to 315 billion dollars. This calculation is based on tracking more than 200 stable assets across multiple blockchain networks.
To summarize this reversal, Dune CEO Fredrik Haga declared at the ETHCC 2026 held in Cannes:
The train is now moving.
For investors, the evolution of the stablecoin market shows that several players coexist today by responding to distinct needs:
On one side, USDT establishes itself as the preferred asset for international payments, fund transfers, and daily settlements. On the other, USDC becomes an essential component of DeFi protocols, trading platforms, and new financial services built on the blockchain. The key indicators now include transaction volumes, token circulation speed, liquidity depth, as well as diversity of use cases. In other words, stablecoin adoption no longer depends solely on their size. It also (and especially!) depends on their capacity to respond effectively to specific needs within the crypto ecosystem.
This Segmentation of the Stablecoin Market Complicates the Task for US Regulators Signed in June 2025, the GENIUS Act creates the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. Thanks to this law, banks have the possibility to issue digital assets pegged to the dollar. The CLARITY Act, meanwhile, defines the intervention areas of the SEC and the CFTC. It was adopted by the Senate banking committee in May by a vote of 15 to 9. Since then, it has faced persistent resistance.
Three unresolved disagreements indeed prevented the vote before July 4:
ethical obligations; protection of DeFi developers; stablecoin yield rules. The Senate resumes activity on July 13, with about three useful weeks before the August recess. Without a clear framework distinguishing a payment stablecoin from a stablecoin massively used in DeFi, regulatory uncertainty could weigh on the entire sector.
What Future for Stablecoins Facing Growing Institutional Demand? According to the Dune analysis report, the evolution of the stablecoin market towards segmentation by use is probably just a stage. It could even intensify further in the coming years, propelled by:
the rise of digital payments; asset tokenization; the arrival of new institutional players. These are all factors that should reinforce differentiated uses of the main stablecoins.
That’s not all! The boundary between payment and DeFi could also be redrawn if new issuers target specific niches like inter-company payments or institutional liquidity.
For Tether, the challenge will be to consolidate its lead in payments while supporting the expansion of digital economies. For Circle, the priority will probably remain the integration of USDC into decentralized finance infrastructures and regulated financial services.
In any case, the split in the stablecoin market demonstrates the maturity of the crypto ecosystem. It remains to be seen whether the emergence of CBDCs will disrupt this perfectly orchestrated private equilibrium. Knowing that the latter are not unanimous either.
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Ariela R.
My name is Ariela, and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago, but it is a universe that greatly interests me. The topics covered on the platform allow me to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also cultivate a great passion for music and reading (and animals!)
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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.
A wallet named Ansem-2 spent $233,000 to buy 2.79 million Cash Cat (CASHCAT) tokens within three hours. On-chain data links the wallet to a Solana address tied to trader Ansem (@blknoiz06).
The Solana address, CLM6E4zpTviEC77nWKogpVLQoXx9tgoQCYJ8NibxKg1Q, holds 10.5 million The Black Bull (ANSEM) tokens. It has generated roughly $2.6 million in past ANSEM profits. Ansem has not confirmed any link to the purchase.
A Fast, Targeted CASHCAT BuyBlockchain analytics firm Lookonchain flagged the transaction on July 8. The wallet, labeled “Ansem-2” and starting with 0x6f5b, moved quickly, accumulating 2.79 million CASHCAT tokens in under three hours.
CASHCAT trading volume topped $73 million in the past 24 hours, underscoring active speculative interest. The token ranks 283rd by market capitalization and carries a circulating supply of nearly 1 billion coins. The purchase, therefore, represents a meaningful slice of daily volume, not a token launch bet.
Meanwhile, Solana’s meme coin sector has stayed active through July. That backdrop gives fresh CASHCAT buying extra visibility among traders who track large wallets.
CASHCAT Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsWallet Trail Points to AnsemInvestigators tied the EVM wallet to CLM6E4 through shared transaction patterns. Neither address carries an official label. The Solana wallet’s 10.5 million ANSEM tokens are worth roughly $3.2 million at current prices.
That stake sits inside The Black Bull’s recent volatility. The token surged earlier after Ansem pledged weekly creator fee airdrops to holders. It has since fallen 28% in a day yet remains up more than 130% over the past week.
Historically, the wallet has turned a $2.6 million profit trading ANSEM. Lookonchain reported that figure alongside the wallet’s current holdings. That record suggests the CASHCAT purchase may follow a similar pattern, not a random bet. Traders who monitor Ansem-linked wallets often treat his moves as an early signal.
Speculation Without ConfirmationNo public statement from Ansem confirms the wallet belongs to him. Attribution therefore stays speculative, resting entirely on on-chain analysis rather than a verified claim.
Ansem has stayed active elsewhere. He recently pushed Pump.fun to approve a $300 million token airdrop. He argued that Ethereum faces a worse spot than 2023, a view some traders disputed.
If the wallet does belong to him, the CASHCAT position adds another data point. Traders already watch his record closely, and confirmation, so far, has not arrived. That gap between suspicion and proof keeps CASHCAT under the spotlight for now.
Bitcoin and altcoins continue to experience volatile movements due to both geopolitical and macroeconomic factors.
While predicting both bullish and bearish trends for BTC and altcoins, the latest analysis comes from expert analyst Michaël van de Poppe.
Poppe, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, shared his analysis from his X account.
Ethereum is a Better Investment Option Than Bitcoin! First, he stated that Ethereum is a better investment option than Bitcoin in the future.
The analyst noted that Ethereum has been remarkably resilient despite recent declines, returning to an uptrend for the first time in a year.
In this context, Poppe added that Ethereum maintained its position without experiencing a significant drop during Bitcoin’s recent correction.
Secondly, the analyst who examined Bitcoin stated that there is still no problem with the outlook for BTC.
According to the analyst, the BTC price continues to trade above $60,000 despite the renewed outbreak of war in the Middle East.
At this point, the analyst stated that the critical level for BTC is $61,000.
The analyst also said that Bitcoin has either reached its bottom or is going through an accumulation phase.
Finally, the analyst stated that he expects a correction in Bitcoin and altcoins in September/October, followed by a new major uptrend across all markets in the fourth quarter.
What’s the Situation in Solana? Poppe recently reviewed Solana and stated that he maintains his positive outlook for SOL.
The analyst notes that Solana is still in an uptrend, stating that the year-long downtrend against Bitcoin has been broken.
In this context, the analyst stated that he does not expect this trend to stop, and believes it is only a matter of time before the SOL price trades above $100 again.
The analyst, who argued that SOL should be in everyone’s portfolio, said that the situation is actually simple:
“SOL is in an uptrend against the Dollar and BTC.
Buy the dip when it falls 10-30% against BTC.”
*This is not investment advice.
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The fragile calm between the US and Iran didn’t survive the week. Fresh American airstrikes ended what had been a tenuous ceasefire, sending oil prices sharply higher and triggering a broad selloff across every asset class that carries even a whiff of risk. Crypto, predictably, was not spared.
Bitcoin dropped below $62K on Wednesday, shedding 3.3% in 24 hours. Ethereum fared worse, falling 4.2% to trade near $1,700. Solana took the hardest hit among major tokens, sliding 6.8% to around $76. XRP dipped below $1.10. The Fear & Greed Index, which measures overall crypto market sentiment, sits at 20, firmly in “Extreme Fear” territory.
What happened and why it matters Here’s the thing about geopolitical shocks: they don’t need to directly involve crypto to crush crypto. The transmission mechanism is straightforward. Military escalation in the Middle East pushes oil prices up. Higher oil prices mean higher inflation expectations. Higher inflation expectations mean the Federal Reserve is less likely to cut rates anytime soon. And rate cut expectations are basically rocket fuel for risk assets, crypto included.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dropped on Wednesday as traders recalibrated their positions. When equities sell off on geopolitical fear, crypto tends to follow with extra volatility, like a smaller boat getting tossed around in the same storm that rocks the larger ships.
The correlation between Bitcoin and traditional risk assets has been a persistent theme this cycle. For all the talk of Bitcoin as “digital gold” or an uncorrelated hedge, it continues to trade like a high-beta tech stock when fear spikes. Wednesday was a textbook example.
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Oil’s jump is particularly important to watch. Energy prices feed directly into consumer price data, which feeds directly into Fed policy decisions, which feeds directly into how much liquidity is sloshing around for speculative assets. It’s a chain reaction, and the first domino just got knocked over.
The broader context Look, this selloff didn’t happen in a vacuum. The crypto market was already on shaky ground. The Fear & Greed Index was at 11 just last week, which is about as terrified as the metric gets. It’s now at 20. In English: sentiment went from “hiding under the bed” to merely “extremely nervous.” Progress, technically, but not the kind anyone celebrates.
Bitcoin’s 7-day change actually shows a 3.6% gain, according to CoinGecko data, which means the token had been climbing before Wednesday’s geopolitical news wiped out a chunk of those gains. That’s the frustrating part for bulls. The market was trying to recover, and then the real world intervened.
The top-performing crypto category over the past seven days was DeFi, which managed a grand total of 0.0% change. When the best sector in your market is the one that didn’t move at all, you know conditions are rough.
Solana’s 6.8% daily decline is worth noting because it illustrates how lower-cap majors tend to amplify Bitcoin’s moves. When BTC drops 3%, SOL drops nearly 7%. That leverage works both ways, of course, but during risk-off episodes it’s cold comfort to SOL holders.
What this means for investors The immediate question is whether this escalation represents a one-off shock or the beginning of a sustained period of elevated geopolitical risk. Markets can digest single events relatively quickly. An extended military campaign between two major powers is a different beast entirely, one that would keep oil elevated, inflation expectations high, and central bankers hawkish for longer than anyone in crypto wants to think about.
For crypto specifically, the $62K level for Bitcoin becomes a key area to watch. If it holds as support on a closing basis, the dip could end up being a buying opportunity in hindsight. If it breaks convincingly lower, the next leg down could get ugly fast, especially with sentiment already deep in fear territory.
There’s also the matter of positioning. Extreme Fear readings on the sentiment index have historically preceded local bottoms in crypto. Warren Buffett’s old line about being greedy when others are fearful gets thrown around a lot, but it’s worth remembering that the index was at 11 last week and the market still found a way to get worse. Fear can persist longer than contrarian traders expect.
The risk-reward calculus here depends almost entirely on variables outside crypto’s control. Oil prices, diplomatic developments, and Fed rhetoric will drive the next move more than any on-chain metric or technical pattern. For investors who believe the geopolitical situation will de-escalate, current prices could look attractive in a few weeks. For those who think this is just the opening chapter of a broader conflict, capital preservation becomes the priority.
Either way, Wednesday was a reminder that crypto doesn’t exist in a bubble. When jets fly, tokens fall.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ethereum has weakened for a second straight session as a bearish rounding-top pattern and renewed selling pressure threaten a move toward $1,650.
Summary
Ethereum fell below $1,750 after failing to break above key resistance near the 50-day EMA around $1,800. A bearish rounding-top pattern, weakening momentum indicators, and liquidation clusters point to $1,650 as the next support. Despite four straight days of spot ETF inflows, analysts say the recent rally has been driven mainly by spot demand rather than leverage. According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) was trading near $1,737 at press time, down nearly 2% over the past 24 hours after a wallet linked to a large holder transferred roughly $26.9 million worth of Ether to a centralized exchange.
The move triggered fresh profit-taking after Ethereum’s recent recovery stalled just below a major technical resistance zone between $1,800 and $1,806, where the daily Supertrend indicator and the 50-day exponential moving average converged.
Geopolitical tensions have added another layer of pressure. Oil prices climbed after fresh U.S. military action targeting Iranian energy infrastructure, reviving inflation concerns and lifting Treasury yields. Risk assets weakened across global markets as technology stocks retreated, with cryptocurrencies moving lower alongside equities.
Exchange-traded fund demand has nevertheless remained constructive. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs have now posted four consecutive days of net inflows, while Coinbase Premium has continued recovering from recent lows, suggesting institutional demand has improved even as price struggles to reclaim overhead resistance.
Source: SoSoValue Derivatives positioning also paints a mixed picture. According to analyst Rain, Ethereum’s recent advance has come primarily from spot buying rather than leveraged speculation.
“$ETH is up 10% this week and open interest barely moved: the actual signal,” Rain wrote on X. “Leverage ratio hasn’t recovered from June, this bounce comes from spot demand.”
$ETH is up 10% this week and open interest barely moved: the actual signal.
Leverage ratio hasn’t recovered from June, this bounce comes from spot demand.
Net Taker Volume flipped positive June 28 and ETH’s gained 14% since.
The prior drop happened under negative readings the… pic.twitter.com/Qgy4snQ59w
— Rain (@raintures) July 8, 2026 Rain added that net taker volume turned positive on June 28, while roughly $76.2 million in positions were liquidated over the past day, with long traders accounting for most of the losses after ETH failed to hold above $1,800.
Ethereum technical structure favors a move toward $1,650 Ethereum’s 4-hour chart has formed a bearish rounding-top pattern after the recovery from late June stalled near $1,830. Price has already broken below the ascending trendline that supported the rally and slipped beneath the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level around $1,724 after repeated rejection near the 78.6% level at roughly $1,772.
Ethereum price is forming a rounding top pattern on the 4-hour price chart — July 8 | Source: crypto.news Momentum indicators have also turned weaker. The 4-hour RSI has fallen to around 44 after approaching overbought territory earlier this week, while the MACD remains below its signal line with expanding negative histogram bars. If sellers maintain control, the next major technical objective sits near the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement at approximately $1,657, aligning closely with the projected rounding-top target around $1,650.
The daily chart offers little relief for bulls. Ethereum remains below the 50-, 100-, and 200-day moving averages near $1,789, $2,025, and $2,247, respectively, keeping the medium-term trend under pressure. Chaikin Money Flow has stayed slightly above zero, suggesting spot demand has not disappeared entirely, but buyers have yet to generate enough momentum to reclaim key moving averages.
Ethereum daily price chart — July 8 | Source: crypto.news CoinGlass liquidation data also identifies an important support zone between $1,700 and $1,720, where a large concentration of leveraged long positions remains. A decisive break below that range could force another wave of liquidations and accelerate a decline toward the $1,650 region.
Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass Holding above $1,700 remains critical for bulls Analyst Ted Pillows believes Ethereum has already lost an important technical level.
“$ETH has lost the $1,750 support zone. A daily close below the level would be really bad for Ethereum.”
A sustained close below the $1,700-$1,720 support band would strengthen the bearish setup and expose Ethereum to additional losses toward $1,650, with the June low near $1,550 becoming the next major support. Renewed geopolitical tensions, elevated bond yields, or another wave of whale selling could add further pressure if risk appetite weakens again.
The bearish outlook would lose momentum if ETH quickly reclaims the $1,800-$1,806 resistance area. A breakout above that zone would invalidate the rounding-top pattern, shift attention back to the recent high near $1,833, and improve the chances of another attempt toward the psychological $1,900 level, particularly if ETF inflows continue and leverage returns to the futures market.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Crypto futures trading in India saw significant growth from smaller cities. Women traders showed lower leverage and preferred specific digital assets. Bitcoin and Ethereum comprised a smaller portion of futures volume. Tamil Nadu led regional participation in crypto futures trading. Traders demonstrated tactical approaches and risk awareness in leveraged products.
ET OnlineWomen investors accounted for over 13% of crypto futures traders and their average leverage remained lower than that of male traders, according to a release by Giottus analysing its 1.3-million-strong customer base during the September 2025-May 2026 period.
The release further said that women traders also showed a stronger preference for XRP, Bitcoin, and gold-linked assets.
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Nearly half of the country’s crypto futures participation now comes from tier-2 cities even as futures trading has overtaken spot volumes. Crypto Futures contributed 57.22% of total platform trading volume, ahead of spot at 42.78%. At the same time, 48% of futures participants came from tier-2 cities, compared with 31% from tier-1 locations, and 21% from other locations.
The figures point to a broader shift in Indian crypto trading behaviour. Leveraged products (like futures) are no longer driven mainly by metro traders. The smaller-city participation is now emerging as a major force in crypto derivatives activity.
The report also showed strong acceleration in user growth during 2026. Futures participation grew 42.5% in February. It rose another 28.5% in March. April recorded 35.3% growth. In May, it was 30.3%.
Futures users currently account for only 24% of Giottus’ active user base. The data suggests there is still considerable expansion headroom within existing platform users.
“India’s crypto participation story is becoming geographically broader. We are seeing increasing engagement from smaller cities in products that were once viewed as niche or high-complexity,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
The dataset further showed unusually high engagement intensity among active traders. Average trades per active user peaked at 330 trades in January 2026. Even after moderation in April, users still averaged more than 51 trades a month. The figure was 45 in May.
Another major behavioural trend emerged in trading preferences. Bitcoin and Ethereum together accounted for only 15.35% of total Futures volume during the review period.
Ethereum accounted for 7.07% of the traded Futures volume. Solana accounted for 5.76% and XRP contributed 5.24%.
The figures suggest Indian retail traders are increasingly moving beyond Bitcoin exposure into higher-volatility altcoin opportunities. Trading behaviour appears to be becoming more tactical and event-driven.
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Tamil Nadu emerged as the dominant regional market in the dataset. The state contributed 46.6% of all futures traders. It also accounted for 59.26% of the platform’s total Futures trading volume. Kerala contributed 10.23% of the total trading volume.
The report also showed relatively balanced market positioning among traders. Long positions accounted for 52.79% of trades and short positions accounted for 47.21%.
Average leverage among Giottus Futures traders stood at 10x. More than 30% of trades used leverage above 10x. Despite that, monthly liquidation ratios ranged between 0.55% and 2.52% during the review period.
“The liquidation trends are important because they suggest participation is not entirely speculative or reckless. Users are showing greater awareness around position sizing and risk management while using leveraged products,” Vikram said.
The report further showed that Indian retail traders were most active between 7 pm and 10 pm. The lowest trading activity was recorded between 3 am and 6 am. The pattern reflects post-work retail participation and overlap with US market hours.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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Ethereum’s climb back above $1,800 is getting a twin lift from the smallest and largest wallet cohorts, according to on-chain supply distribution data. A Santiment update shows that over the past month, retail addresses holding less than 0.01 ETH raised their share of total supply by 1.82%, while key stakeholder wallets—those containing 100 to 100,000 ETH—increased their collective slice by 1.73%. The accumulation is not equal across the board, however. Instead, the data points to a supply squeeze coming from the middle of the holder base.
The shift leaves swing traders, exchange liquidity providers, and less committed mid-range positions as the probable source of the ETH that is being absorbed at both ends. This kind of redistribution can weaken the influence of short-term speculators and hand more of the float to entities with longer time horizons, but it also reduces the readily available supply that active markets often rely on for tight spreads and deep order books.
Supply Shifts at Both Ends The simultaneous growth of the smallest and largest holder bands stands out because these groups typically move in opposite directions during rebounds. Retail often buys late, while large addresses may take profits early. Here, both are adding exposure as price reclaims a level it hasn’t held comfortably in months. The small-wallet metric—wallets with less than 0.01 ETH—includes a high number of genuinely tiny positions, but the growing share suggests fresh retail interest is not just returning; it is deepening. Meanwhile, wallets holding between 100 and 100,000 ETH—a bracket that sweeps in everything from serious individual accumulators to institutional-sized positions—are also raising their reported share. That bracket’s increase of 1.73% is a strong signal that conviction is extending beyond short-term price action.
Santiment’s supply distribution charts also capture a relevant nuance: the middle ground is shrinking. While the bottom and top added over 3.5 percentage points of supply share combined in one month, mid-tier holders reduced their relative presence. The identity of those sellers can’t be pinned down precisely through on-chain heuristics alone, but the pattern fits profit-taking by swing traders, unwinding of structured positions, or rebalancing by liquidity providers who hold larger balances but not deep enough to fall into the key stakeholder bracket.
What the Middle Sellers Signal The emptying of the middle raises an important question about market structure. A holder base dominated by tiny retail wallets and a handful of large stakeholders can look stable on the surface—fewer jumpy mid-tier positions mean less reflexive selling on dips—but it also changes the character of order flow. When supply is disproportionately held at extremes, the marginal buyer and seller become less representative of the broad market. That can make price discovery bumpier, especially if the large-stakeholder conviction begins to waver. For now, the accumulation at the top end suggests large players are not just holding; they are adding.
There is no guarantee that the pattern persists. A single month of data reflects positioning that could reverse quickly if macro conditions sour or if the recovery above $1,800 stalls. The supply distribution tells a story about where ETH is moving right now, not where it will trade next month. But when a rebound coincides with wallet expansion on both the retail and whale sides, it tends to strengthen the floor under price, because the new buyers have higher cost bases and are less likely to exit on a small pullback. Combined with Ethereum’s continuing lead in developer activity—something covered in recent weeks by a BlockchainReporter analysis of blockchain developer metrics—the supply shift adds another layer of resilience to the narrative heading into the second half of the year.
The obvious risk is that if the largest stakeholders change their posture, the bid that supported the move above $1,800 could fade as fast as it appeared. But for the moment, the supply distribution data shows that the ETH market is not just reclaiming a price level; it is quietly reorganizing who holds what, and that reorganization looks structurally different from the distribution seen during the most recent period of weakness.
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Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have again dropped more than 2% today after U.S. President Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran was “over.” This came after the U.S. launched strikes in response to Iran’s attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
Following this news, as oil jumped 6%, Bitcoin fell to $61,700, and Ethereum slipped below $1,740.
Speaking at the NATO summit, U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire agreement with Iran was now finished.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. Dealing with Tehran is a waste of time.”
According to the U.S. military, more than 80 targets were hit after Iran attacked three commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, including ships linked to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Iran quickly responded by accusing the U.S. of violating the agreement. Parliament Speaker Mohamad Bagher Ghalibaf said the U.S. had broken the ceasefire agreement by launching fresh attacks, bringing back oil sanctions, and continuing military action in the region.
Major MOU Violations by the US:
Violating Iranian adjustments in the Strait
Persistent threats of further strikes
Reinstating oil sanctions
Attacks on southern Iran
Continued Zionist aggression on🇱🇧
The era of bullying and extortion is over. It leads nowhere. We don’t fold.
Stablecoin Supply Adds More PressureThe U.S.-Iran conflict is not the only reason behind the Bitcoin price drop. Stablecoins, which are often called the cash of the crypto market, have seen a shrink in the cash flow.
Since 2020, Bitcoin has gained an average of 5.2% in 30 days and 18.9% in 90 days when the stablecoin supply was growing. But when the supply shrank, those gains dropped to 1.1% and 8.4%
Since its $321 billion peak, stablecoin supply has fallen about 4.4%. During the 2022-23 bear market, stablecoin supply dropped 34%, while Bitcoin lost 43%.
For now, the drop is much smaller than in 2022, and trading is slowly improving. But if stablecoin supply keeps falling, Bitcoin could see more selling and further price declines.
Bitcoin Will Drop To $56.5KAnalyzing the recent market conditions, well-known crypto analyst Ali Martinez said Bitcoin is still trading inside a descending channel on the four-hour chart after facing rejection near the upper resistance around $63,600.
He says that, if selling pressure continues, “Bitcoin could trigger a pullback toward $59,700, with $56,550 as the next downside target.”
Bitcoin $BTC is getting rejected at the top of its channel.
This could trigger a pullback toward $59,700, with $56,550 as the next downside target. pic.twitter.com/GvI9fMFQbD
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) July 8, 2026 However, if Bitcoin reclaims $63,600 with strong buying volume, it could invalidate the bearish setup and signal the start of a bullish move.
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