Ethereum Institutional has announced the completion of its inaugural ecosystem funding round, securing support from more than 100 organizations and prominent industry figures to accelerate institutional adoption of Ethereum.
The fundraising effort is backed by BitMine, SharpLink, Ethereum co-founders Joe Lubin and Mihai Alisie, as well as a wider network of crypto-focused institutions and ecosystem participants. The organization did not reveal the size of the round.
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The initiative aims to convert years of institutional engagement into greater adoption of Ethereum-based financial infrastructure, with a focus on tokenized assets, stablecoins, collateral systems and onchain market infrastructure.
Its supporter coalition includes major names across the Ethereum ecosystem such as 21Shares, Anchorage Digital, Arbitrum, Circle, Consensys, Fireblocks, Galaxy, Ledger, MetaMask, Robinhood, Securitize, Uniswap Labs and zkSync, alongside dozens of other projects and contributors.
Ethereum Institutional said it will now expand outreach to traditional financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, custodians, market infrastructure providers and sovereign entities evaluating blockchain adoption.
The organization also plans to increase investment in institutional education, market intelligence, ecosystem promotion and collaborative initiatives involving layer 2 networks, application developers and infrastructure providers.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The Key Technical LevelsIn a livestream podcast on July 28, pseudonymous analyst DonAlt said Bitcoin needs to move decisively away from the $60,000 region and reclaim $65,000 to improve its technical outlook.
While Bitcoin has managed to hold the zone, he said repeated tests weaken support and increase the risk of a breakdown.
Ethereum Looks Ready To RunEthereum stood out as the most attractive major crypto asset in DonAlt’s analysis as it is displaying relative strength against Bitcoin for the first time in an extended period.
A sustained move above $2,000 would improve Ethereum’s short-term structure, while a breakout above $2,500 could potentially open the door to a rapid return toward its previous all-time high.
DonAlt acknowledged his historical bias toward Ethereum but noted that the improving ETH-BTC chart and widespread investor skepticism create a favorable setup.
He argued that once Ethereum begins gaining momentum, sidelined investors may rush to regain exposure, accelerating the move.
Meanwhile, Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) continues to underperform, with DonAlt identifying the $35 to $40 region as a potential buying zone if the broader market breaks down.
Image: Shutterstock
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In brief Ethereum fell 1.53% to $1,890 on Wednesday, pulling back from a session high of $1,926 as traders froze ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision. Spot ETH ETFs attracted $14.53 million in inflows today, capping three straight weeks of net positive flows totaling $71.17 million in the seven days ending July 28. The "death cross" remains in place, but charts point to growing trend strength. The whole crypto market is in a holding pattern, eagerly awaiting the Federal Reserve’s next move.
Bitcoin is hovering near $64,000 while the Fear & Greed Index sits at 29—deep in "fear" territory. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold rates at 3.50–3.75%, but could rattle risk assets with a hawkish tone from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Equity markets are similarly cautious.
Ethereum, the second largest digital asset by market cap, opened Wednesday at $1,919.80, tagged a session high of $1,926.10, and has since slipped to $1,890.60—down 1.53% on the day. The move is a modest setback after a sharp recovery from 2026 lows reached earlier this month.
That bounce has been quietly supported by institutional flows: According to SosoValue, ETH has registered three consecutive weeks of net inflows, the strongest run since April.
The death cross—where the 50-day EMA (exponential moving average of the last 50 days) trades below the 200-day—is still firmly in place, keeping the structural bias bearish. EMAs show where average price has been over different time periods; when the shorter-term average crosses below the longer one, it's a classic signal that the medium-term trend remains down. Until that flips, the burden of proof is on bulls.
What has changed is the Average Directional Index, or ADX, which now reads 23.2 with buying pressure (DI+) outpacing selling pressure (DI–). ADX measures trend strength regardless of direction; readings above 20 suggest something real may be forming. Right now, bulls are technically "winning" the internal tug-of-war—just not convincingly enough to confirm a real trend yet.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, sits at 54.7—neutral territory showing a small buying interest. RSI measures whether an asset is overbought or oversold on a scale of 0 to 100; readings between 40 and 60 give no strong directional signal. The Squeeze Momentum Indicator has just released after a period of compression, with momentum reading 0.71 positive—a slight lean toward the upside, but one that needs a catalyst to follow through.
The Fibonacci retracement for ETH's recent leg—measured from the $1,846 low to the $1,980 top—puts the golden zone (the highest probability of market cooldown) between $1,897 and $1,913. Price is sitting just below it, making this the critical near-term pivot: resistance on the way up, and the threshold bulls need to reclaim to keep the recovery thesis credible.
On Myriad, the prediction market operated by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, traders remain broadly biased toward a dump to $1,500 before any rally to $3,000.
Sentiment peaked at 83% in favor of the dump in mid-June when ETH was near $1,682, according to Decrypt. The recovery since then has trimmed those odds—but with ETH sitting 58% below $3,000 and just 21% above $1,500, the math still leans bearish.
Why the bullish case could work
A Fed hold paired with a softer-than-expected tone from Warsh could be the macro unlock. ETF inflows are real and sustained. If ETH closes above $1,913 today or in the next session, it reclaims the golden zone and puts $1,944 in play—the 23.6% Fibonacci extension.
Beyond that, $1,980 marks the top of the current Fib leg and the next serious ceiling.
Why the bearish case is more likely
A hawkish Fed or any rate-hike signal sends ETH straight back to test the $1,874–$1,846 support band. The death cross isn't flipping soon—the 200-day EMA is sitting near $2,174, still well above current price. ADX at 23.2 hasn't yet crossed the 25 threshold needed to confirm a genuine trend, but with the Fed as the wild card, direction is a coin flip.
Most of the chart's story still points south until ETH clears $1,980 convincingly.
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 Ethereum fell 1.53% to $1,890 on Wednesday, pulling back from a session high of $1,926 as traders froze ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate decision. Spot ETH ETFs attracted $14.53 million in inflows today, capping three straight weeks of net positive flows totaling $71.17 million in the seven days ending July 28. The "death cross" remains in place, but charts point to growing trend strength. The whole crypto market is in a holding pattern, eagerly awaiting the Federal Reserve’s next move.
Bitcoin is hovering near $64,000 while the Fear & Greed Index sits at 29—deep in "fear" territory. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold rates at 3.50–3.75%, but could rattle risk assets with a hawkish tone from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Equity markets are similarly cautious.
Ethereum, the second largest digital asset by market cap, opened Wednesday at $1,919.80, tagged a session high of $1,926.10, and has since slipped to $1,890.60—down 1.53% on the day. The move is a modest setback after a sharp recovery from 2026 lows reached earlier this month.
That bounce has been quietly supported by institutional flows: According to SosoValue, ETH has registered three consecutive weeks of net inflows, the strongest run since April.
The death cross—where the 50-day EMA (exponential moving average of the last 50 days) trades below the 200-day—is still firmly in place, keeping the structural bias bearish. EMAs show where average price has been over different time periods; when the shorter-term average crosses below the longer one, it's a classic signal that the medium-term trend remains down. Until that flips, the burden of proof is on bulls.
What has changed is the Average Directional Index, or ADX, which now reads 23.2 with buying pressure (DI+) outpacing selling pressure (DI–). ADX measures trend strength regardless of direction; readings above 20 suggest something real may be forming. Right now, bulls are technically "winning" the internal tug-of-war—just not convincingly enough to confirm a real trend yet.
The Relative Strength Index, or RSI, sits at 54.7—neutral territory showing a small buying interest. RSI measures whether an asset is overbought or oversold on a scale of 0 to 100; readings between 40 and 60 give no strong directional signal. The Squeeze Momentum Indicator has just released after a period of compression, with momentum reading 0.71 positive—a slight lean toward the upside, but one that needs a catalyst to follow through.
The Fibonacci retracement for ETH's recent leg—measured from the $1,846 low to the $1,980 top—puts the golden zone (the highest probability of market cooldown) between $1,897 and $1,913. Price is sitting just below it, making this the critical near-term pivot: resistance on the way up, and the threshold bulls need to reclaim to keep the recovery thesis credible.
On Myriad, the prediction market operated by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, traders remain broadly biased toward a dump to $1,500 before any rally to $3,000.
Sentiment peaked at 83% in favor of the dump in mid-June when ETH was near $1,682, according to Decrypt. The recovery since then has trimmed those odds—but with ETH sitting 58% below $3,000 and just 21% above $1,500, the math still leans bearish.
Why the bullish case could work
A Fed hold paired with a softer-than-expected tone from Warsh could be the macro unlock. ETF inflows are real and sustained. If ETH closes above $1,913 today or in the next session, it reclaims the golden zone and puts $1,944 in play—the 23.6% Fibonacci extension.
Beyond that, $1,980 marks the top of the current Fib leg and the next serious ceiling.
Why the bearish case is more likely
A hawkish Fed or any rate-hike signal sends ETH straight back to test the $1,874–$1,846 support band. The death cross isn't flipping soon—the 200-day EMA is sitting near $2,174, still well above current price. ADX at 23.2 hasn't yet crossed the 25 threshold needed to confirm a genuine trend, but with the Fed as the wild card, direction is a coin flip.
Most of the chart's story still points south until ETH clears $1,980 convincingly.
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.
Ethereum just posted 18.7 million transactions in a single week, the highest figure the network has ever recorded. At the same time, the median cost of a transaction fell to $0.008, an all-time low. For context, that’s less than a penny per transaction on the world’s largest smart contract platform.
What’s driving the surge The record-setting week didn’t come out of nowhere. Ethereum’s daily transaction peaks approached 2.9 million back in January 2026, and the network processed over 200 million transactions in Q1 2026 alone.
The fee collapse traces back to network upgrades activated in 2025. The Pectra and Fusaka upgrades were specifically designed to improve layer-1 scalability and reduce transaction costs.
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Stablecoin usage and staking participation have been identified as key drivers of the activity boom.
Token Terminal flagged the milestone figures, and Blockworks had previously reported comparable weekly highs of roughly 18.66 million transactions earlier in 2026. Multiple analytics platforms have confirmed the trend of elevated transaction volumes compared to previous years.
The price paradox Despite all this record-breaking activity, ETH has been trading below $2,400 as of April 2026.
Much of the economic activity happening on Ethereum isn’t directly benefiting ETH’s price. A significant portion of transactions are migrating to layer-2 solutions, which settle on Ethereum but don’t generate the same fee revenue for the base layer.
Stablecoins are among the most-used assets on the network, but their growth doesn’t automatically translate into demand for ETH itself. Users can transact heavily in USDC or USDT without ever needing to hold meaningful amounts of the native token.
The ultra-low fees compound this problem. When median transaction costs are less than a penny, the network burns very little ETH through its fee mechanism. Ethereum’s EIP-1559 burn mechanism, which was supposed to make ETH deflationary during periods of high usage, becomes far less potent when each transaction costs $0.008.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
For years, Ethereum has been synonymous with decentralized finance. It pioneered onchain financial tools like lending protocols and tokenized assets, which today underpin much of the crypto economy. But one of crypto's fastest-growing sectors, perpetual futures, or "perps", has largely flourished elsewhere.
Ask traders where onchain perpetuals live today, and the answer is more likely to be Hyperliquid or Solana than Ethereum. That is because perpetuals demand something Ethereum's base layer was never designed to optimize for: extremely fast, low-cost, high-frequency trading.
"Perps require frequent transactions, fast execution, and deep liquidity," said AJ Warner, chief strategy officer at Offchain Labs, the main developer firm behind the layer-2 Arbitrum. "That makes them a natural use case for the Arbitrum platform."
The distinction has become increasingly important as decentralized perpetual exchanges mature from crypto-native products into markets attracting institutional attention.
Why Ethereum L1 fell behindPerpetuals are one of the most demanding applications in crypto. Their exchanges require thousands of rapid-fire updates, liquidations, funding payments, and order executions, all without interruption.
"Perps onchain are really hard," said Brian Smith of the Jito Foundation. "It's not just the average performance that matters, it's the 99.99% success rate. If your perps platform goes down, that's existential risk."
Ethereum's security-first architecture made it an ideal settlement layer, but historically, its block times and gas costs made it an expensive place to run latency-sensitive trading applications.
When decentralized perps exchange GMX launched on Arbitrum in 2021,, it helped establish a template that many others would follow. "Ethereum mainnet fees were prohibitively expensive, which naturally attracted perps builders to Arbitrum," Warner said. Offchain Labs then leaned into that momentum, actively prioritizing perpetuals as a strategic category.
"By prioritizing the vertical, we were able to attract a concentration of builders and capital to the ecosystem." Today, much of Ethereum's perpetual trading activity lives not on the Ethereum mainnet, but on layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and, increasingly, Base.
Ethereum's layer-2 ecosystem has become something of a compromise: preserving Ethereum's security while dramatically improving trading performance. Networks like Arbitrum and Base have reduced block times while also becoming an increasingly attractive trading destination because of their growing user base and liquidity.
Chris Boulous of Dromos Labs, the main developer firm behind Aerodrome, a decentralized exchange that lives on the Base network, argued that technical performance is only part of the story.
"Trading is effectively a network-effects business," he said. "You have to build where the liquidity and users currently exist." That dynamic has become self-reinforcing: protocols launch where traders already are, liquidity providers follow the traders, and then new applications build around existing liquidity. It's one reason Boulous sees Aerodrome as complementary to perpetual exchanges rather than competitive with them.
"You can kind of think of perps as a customer of spot exchanges," Boulous said. Spot exchanges provide pricing, liquidity and hedging opportunities that perpetual markets depend on. "Spot and perps are two sides of the same liquidity coin."
Why Solana and Hyperliquid surgedStill, Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem isn't the only place where developers can build high-performance trading infrastructure. Hyperliquid built an application-specific chain optimized almost entirely for perpetual trading. Solana, meanwhile, combined low fees with a large base of retail traders already actively trading memecoins and other speculative assets.
According to Smith of Jito, that user base matters as much as the technology. "The most important ingredient for any exchange platform, but especially perps, is retail organic flow," he said. "Solana is the king of retail trading activity."
Smith also argues Ethereum faces an additional challenge: fragmentation. "You need to be able to trade everything in a single spot," he said. "What Ethereum is suffering from is a level of fragmentation."
Ethereum's scaling strategy largely relied on layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Base to handle high-volume activity. While that approach dramatically reduced costs and improved performance, it also dispersed users and liquidity across multiple ecosystems. Traders often need to bridge assets between networks, making the experience less seamless than on single-chain ecosystems such as Solana. Earlier this year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged that the original layer-2 roadmap vision "no longer makes sense" as layer 2s have decentralized more slowly than expected and Ethereum's base layer has itself become more scalable.
Not everyone sees that fragmentation as a fatal flaw, however. Some Ethereum proponents argue the focus on execution misses the network's longer-term role in the onchain financial stack. Matthieu Saint Olive, a staff product manager at MetaMask, argues the framing itself misses what's happening. "I'd push back gently on the premise that it's a competition in the first place," he told CoinDesk.
Purpose-built trading chains may ultimately win on execution speed, but they still require somewhere to source collateral, liquidity, stablecoins, and settlement. "Ethereum's role is the settlement and collateral base where the deepest liquidity, the widest range of assets, the stablecoins, and the most mature DeFi primitives live."
Several leading perpetual trading platforms either operate directly on Ethereum layer 2s or remain closely connected to Ethereum's ecosystem for collateral, settlement, and developer tooling. "L2s are how Ethereum scales into use cases like active trading without giving up the thing that makes the base layer valuable," Saint Olive said.
The institutional questionAs institutions begin paying closer attention to onchain derivatives, the conversation is shifting from whether decentralized perpetuals can work to whether they can compete with traditional infrastructure. "It comes down to execution, custody, and predictability, not ideology," Saint Olive said.
Institutions, Warner of Offchain Labs argued, still need deeper liquidity, more efficient capital usage, and better execution before deploying significant trading volume onchain. "Capital is still fragmented across venues," Warner said. "Institutions will want better access to credit, cross-margining, and the ability to trade across venues without leaving large amounts of capital idle."
For Boulous, the next milestone is straightforward: "You have to be able to do things onchain that you can't do, or can't do as cheaply, in traditional markets."
While much of today's decentralized perpetual volume still revolves around crypto assets, market participants increasingly see the infrastructure supporting perps as the foundation for broader capital markets. Saint Olive believes perpetuals are already demonstrating what programmable markets can become.
"Perps are the leading indicator, the first place you can watch traditional financial activity genuinely migrate onchain," Saint Olive said.
That may also explain why Ethereum's role in the market is evolving rather than diminishing.
Solana and purpose-built chains like Hyperliquid have established themselves as the venues where traders execute high-speed transactions. Ethereum, meanwhile, is increasingly positioning itself as the settlement and collateral layer that underpins those markets through its layer-2 ecosystem and broader DeFi infrastructure.
Whether that division of labor persists will depend on how quickly Ethereum can solve some of the challenges its critics point to: fragmented liquidity across layer 2s, better interoperability between networks, and a smoother user experience. If it can, proponents argue Ethereum doesn't necessarily need to become the fastest place to trade perpetuals. It simply needs to remain the deepest and most trusted place to settle them.
Read more: Perpetual futures could become crypto's next ETF moment
Wall Street’s push into regulated crypto investment continues to gain momentum as Morgan Stanley expands beyond Bitcoin [BTC] into Ethereum [ETH] and Solana [SOL].
The launch of the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust under the ticker MSSE and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust under the ticker MSOL broadens institutional access through exchange-traded products listed on NYSE Arca.
Both products charge a competitive 0.14% sponsor fee, strengthening their appeal against existing crypto ETPs. Meanwhile, this comes after the firm launched its Bitcoin ETP in April this year.
Source: Solana on X Backed by the firm’s nearly $2 trillion in total assets managed, these new offerings provide even greater regulated exposure to SOL and ETH.
Importantly, they do so without requiring direct custody of the underlying asset, instead providing compliant exposure to the markets through traditional investment vehicles. In doing so, they further enable institutional adoption of digital assets.
Network fundamentals support demand Growing institutional access also reflects confidence in the underlying networks rather than new investment products alone.
Ethereum continues to strengthen that case, with staked ETH rising from 38.5 million in Q1 to a record 40.2 million in Q2 2026, representing 33% of total supply worth approximately $63 billion.
Source: Bitwise Meanwhile, 67.9% of Solana’s circulating supply remains staked despite network staking yields declining from 9.1% to 6.3% over five quarters. That resilience suggests long-term holders continue prioritizing network participation over short-term rewards.
Source: Bitwise As more tokens remain locked in staking, liquid supply tightens while institutional conviction strengthens. Together, these fundamentals reinforce the long-term investment case supporting regulated Ethereum and Solana products.
Will inflows keep growing? Those network fundamentals now face their next institutional test. Morgan Stanley’s latest ETPs must attract fresh capital rather than simply redirect existing allocations from competing issuers.
However, while the firm’s earlier Bitcoin product accumulated roughly $389 million in assets, sustained inflows across Ethereum and Solana products will provide the stronger measure of demand.
Source: Morgan Stanley.com All in all, if assets under management continue expanding over successive quarters, institutional adoption will deepen. Otherwise, competition may increase without materially enlarging the overall crypto investment market.
Following the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, declines in the three major U.S. stock indexes narrowed: the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.09%, the S&P 500 edged down 0.15%, while the Nasdaq Composite turned positive. The crypto market rallied, with Bitcoin surging over 0.7% in a short period and Ethereum jumping more than 1.15%. Spot gold climbed $20 to a peak of $4,064 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) dropped nearly 27 points to 101.1.
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AI teacher dreams dashed: US school district pulls plug on robot teacher program after developer’s sex robot ties spark controversy
The Central School District of Salamanca in western New York State, USA, has announced the suspension of its planned pilot program to introduce the AI humanoid robot teacher "Sally" for the new semester. Developed by Realbotix, the robot is priced at approximately $60,000 per unit and was intended to serve as a classroom teaching assistant to interact with students. The project had previously sparked parental concerns over student data privacy, and further controversy arose after parents noted that Realbotix also manufactures sex robots for intimate companionship. Additionally, the local teachers' union has opposed the plan. The school district stated that the program is currently on hold, and it will continue to collaborate with the New York State Education Department to improve student data privacy agreements and maintain communication with the community. District Superintendent Mark Beehler emphasized that robots cannot replace teachers, saying "Teaching is always a human-to-human process" and that replacing teachers with robots is not in the best interest of students.
11 minutes ago
Hyperliquid’s daily revenue exceeded $2.07 million, and it has burned a total of 4.61% of its total HYPE token supply.
According to data from Onchain Lens, Hyperliquid generated approximately $2.07 million in protocol fees over the past 24 hours and burned 21,080 HYPE tokens, equivalent to around $1.16 million at current prices. To date, Hyperliquid has cumulatively burned 46.1 million HYPE tokens, valued at roughly $2.54 billion, accounting for 4.61% of HYPE’s maximum total supply of 1 billion tokens.
11 minutes ago
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady.
The Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.50%-3.75%, marking the fifth consecutive meeting where it held rates steady.
11 minutes ago
FOMC Statement: The interest rate decision was approved by a 9-3 vote.
Federal Reserve FOMC Statement: Committee members approved the interest rate decision by a 9-3 vote, compared to the 12-0 vote at the previous meeting. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.50%-3.75%, marking the fifth consecutive meeting where rates were left unchanged. (Jinshi)
11 minutes ago
Three Federal Reserve officials – Harker, Kashkari, and Logan – cast dissenting votes against interest rate hikes.
Federal Reserve FOMC Statement: Three Fed members voted in favor of a rate hike, with Hammack, Fed’s Kashkari and Fed’s Logan registering dissents. The statement reaffirmed that inflation remains high, in part due to the impact of shocks.
11 minutes ago
Fed's Official Announcement: Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady in a 9-3 vote, marking the first time since 2016 that three unanimous dissenting votes were recorded.
Nick Timiraos, known as the "Fed’s mouthpiece", stated that the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 9 to 3 to keep interest rates unchanged. Three regional Federal Reserve presidents dissented, advocating a 25 basis point rate hike. This marks the first time since 2016 that the Fed has recorded three dissenting votes all supporting a rate hike in a single monetary policy decision, reflecting growing hawkish divisions within the central bank.
TLDR Ethereum miner transfers to Binance have fallen near their lowest level in the past year. Lower miner deposits suggest reduced selling pressure on the Ethereum market. Ethereum price traded near $1,929 and remained below the key $2,000 resistance level. ETH has formed higher lows since recovering from its June low near $1,550. The MACD and RSI show mild bullish momentum without overbought conditions. According to CryptoQuant data, Ethereum miner transfers to Binance have fallen close to their lowest level in the past year. The decline followed a brief rise in June, after which transfer volumes returned near baseline levels by late July.
The drop suggests that miners are sending less ETH to exchanges for possible sale. Lower exchange inflows can reduce immediate supply pressure, although the market still needs stronger demand to support a clear price move.
Miner Transfers to Binance Remain Low Binance remains a key market reference because it handles large spot and futures trading volumes. Low miner deposits on the exchange show that miners are not adding much selling pressure at current levels.
Source: CryptoQuant
Miners often create steady market supply when they move coins to exchanges. With fewer transfers now taking place, buyers face less new ETH entering the market. This setup can support price stability during periods of weak demand.
Ethereum Price Holds Below $2,000 Ethereum price traded near $1,929 on the daily chart after rising about 0.17%. ETH has recovered from its June low near $1,550 and has formed a steady pattern of higher lows.
However, the asset still trades below the $2,000 level. That area remains the main resistance zone. A confirmed move above it could open the way toward $2,050 and $2,100.
The MACD line stands near 40.99, while the signal line sits at 39.77. The histogram remains positive at 1.22, showing that buyers still hold a small momentum advantage.
Source: TradingView
The narrow gap between the MACD lines shows that buying strength has slowed near resistance. The RSI stands near 58.91, which keeps ETH above the neutral 50 level without entering overbought conditions.
Institutional Demand Could Drive the Next Move The current supply setup supports Ethereum price because miner selling pressure remains low. Even so, weak demand has kept ETH within a narrow range and limited a stronger breakout.
A new wave of institutional buying could provide the demand needed for an upside move. Until that happens, traders may continue watching the $2,000 resistance level and the $1,880 to $1,900 support zone.
Institutional inflows could also improve spot market liquidity and strengthen buying activity. Sustained demand would help ETH hold above resistance and build a firmer recovery structure over coming sessions.
A break below support could expose ETH to a pullback toward $1,800. Holding that zone would keep the current recovery pattern active while the market waits for stronger institutional participation.
The next Ontology MainNet upgrade, to v3.1.2, is scheduled for block height 20,800,000. The release focuses on security optimisations and brings four widely adopted Ethereum Improvement Proposals to the Ontology EVM: PUSH0, BASEFEE, MCOPY, and transient storage. For builders, the practical result is smaller contracts, cheaper temporary state, and less friction when porting existing Ethereum code across. For node operators, it means one job: upgrade to v3.1.2 before block height 20,800,000 is reached.
Why opcode parity matters The Ethereum opcode set is not static. It has expanded steadily through successive network upgrades: BASEFEE arrived with London in August 2021, PUSH0 with Shanghai in April 2023, and both MCOPY and transient storage with Cancun-Deneb in March 2024 (Ethereum upgrade history).
Compiler defaults moved with them. Solidity now targets a recent EVM version by default, which means a team compiling a contract today with no special flags produces bytecode that assumes these instructions exist. An EVM chain that has not adopted them forces developers into a workaround: pin an older target EVM version, accept larger and more expensive bytecode, and maintain a separate build configuration for that chain alone.
That is a small tax, but it is paid on every deployment, and it accumulates. v3.1.2 removes it for the four instructions below.
What the Ontology MainNet upgrade includes PUSH0 (EIP-3855) PUSH0 places the value zero directly onto the stack. Before it existed, contracts pushed zero using PUSH1 0x00, which occupies two bytes of bytecode and costs 3 gas at runtime. PUSH0 occupies one byte and costs 2 gas.
The saving per instruction is small; the aggregate is not. The EIP notes that roughly 11.5 percent of all PUSH instructions executed on Ethereum MainNet push the value zero. Every one of those is a byte of contract size and a unit of gas, on a chain where deployment is charged per byte of code.
BASEFEE (EIP-3198) BASEFEE lets a contract read the current block’s base fee directly on-chain, at a cost of 2 gas. Previously a contract that needed to reason about network fee conditions had to be handed that value by an off-chain source, which introduces a trust assumption and a point of failure.
Reading it from the chain itself removes both. It is a prerequisite for gas-aware contract logic: dynamic bounties that scale with network conditions, fee-sensitive automation, and layer-2 constructions that need to verify fee data without relying on an oracle.
MCOPY (EIP-5656) MCOPY copies a region of memory in a single instruction, including where the source and destination regions overlap. Before it, copying memory meant a loop of loads and stores.
The efficiency gain is substantial. Copying 256 bytes cost at least 96 gas using the conventional approach; MCOPY does it for 27 gas. That matters most for the operations that move data around constantly: ABI encoding and decoding, string and byte-array handling, and cryptographic routines.
Transient storage, TSTORE and TLOAD (EIP-1153) Transient storage introduces a state area that behaves like storage but is discarded when the transaction ends. TSTORE writes to it and TLOAD reads from it, each at 100 gas.
The canonical use case is reentrancy protection. A reentrancy guard needs a flag that survives across calls within one transaction and is meaningless afterwards, which is exactly what transient storage provides. Implementing that with persistent storage means writing a value to disk-backed state and then clearing it again, with the gas refund mechanics that go with it. Transient storage makes the same pattern cheap and simple, and the same applies to any temporary state a transaction needs to carry: locks, accumulators, and intermediate values passed between calls.
What this changes for builders Contracts that already compile for Ethereum are closer to running unmodified on Ontology. Common libraries and tooling that assume these instructions no longer need chain-specific handling, and the bytecode a modern compiler emits is smaller than the bytecode it was previously forced to emit.
One practical note: v3.1.2 adds these four instructions specifically, not the complete opcode set of any single Ethereum upgrade. Set your target EVM version explicitly in your build configuration rather than relying on the compiler default, and test deployments against the upgraded network before committing to production.
Node operators: what you need to do Every Ontology MainNet upgrade depends on the node network moving with it. All Ontology node operators, including consensus nodes, candidate nodes, and sync nodes, should complete the upgrade to v3.1.2 as soon as possible, and before block height 20,800,000 is reached.
The release is available on GitHub: ontology v3.1.2.
Timely upgrades across the node network keep MainNet operating stably through the transition and ensure compatibility with the improvements above. Nodes that have not upgraded by the time the block height is reached will fall out of consensus with the rest of the network.
The infrastructure underneath Ontology’s strategy is built on verified human data: identity people own, data given with consent, and a record that holds up to scrutiny. That strategy asks people to contribute data and asks projects to verify it, which means it depends on a network where transactions are fast, inexpensive, and predictable enough that contributing is not a cost decision.
That is what a release like v3.1.2 is for. It is not the headline; it is the reason the headline is possible. Keeping the Ontology EVM current with the standards the rest of the ecosystem builds against is how the trust layer stays usable at scale.
The wider strategy is set out in full here: Verified Human Data: Ontology’s AI-Era Vision at Eight.
Resources Release binaries and notes: github.com/ontio/ontology/releases/tag/v3.1.2 EIP-3855, PUSH0: eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-3855 EIP-3198, BASEFEE: eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-3198 EIP-5656, MCOPY: eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-5656 EIP-1153, transient storage: eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1153 Ethereum upgrade history: ethereum.org/en/history Thank you to all node operators and community members for your continued support of the Ontology ecosystem.
Ethereum Crosses 200 Million Non-Empty WalletsBlockchain analytics platform Santiment reports that $ETH has surpassed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time, marking a significant adoption milestone for the network. The figure has been climbing steadily across multiple market cycles. The network boasts nearly 195 million non-empty wallets, roughly 230% more than Bitcoin's 59 million, extending a lead that has steadily widened throughout multiple market cycles. The crossing of the 200 million threshold, reported in the two weeks to July 29, represents the latest step in that trend.
Non-empty addresses measure wallets holding some amount of ETH, tracking participation rather than short-term speculative activity. Santiment views rising wallet counts as a sign of stronger network participation and long-term adoption, even when price sentiment turns negative. Santiment noted that user adoption has moved in the opposite direction from crowd sentiment, a pattern that has appeared before during periods of peak fear.
XRP Ledger and Chainlink Also Log Fresh RecordsThe milestone rally extends beyond Ethereum. The XRP Ledger has officially crossed the 8 million activated accounts milestone for the first time in history. This count is more rigorous than earlier reports: XRP wallet counts had exceeded 8 million before, but those totals included every wallet ever created, including ones that no longer exist. The new count only includes accounts that are live and funded today. The ledger crossed 7 million activated accounts last September and needed about ten months to add the eighth million, right through one of the roughest markets XRP has ever traded in.
Santiment also notes that $USDC on Ethereum has crossed 8 million non-empty wallets, reflecting the stablecoin's deepening footprint on the network. Meanwhile, Chainlink $LINK has exceeded 900,000 holding addresses, a fresh high for the oracle protocol that underscores growing demand for its decentralised data infrastructure.
Taken together, the figures point to continued structural growth in on-chain participation across several major networks, even as broader market sentiment has remained cautious. Santiment says rising wallet counts indicate stronger network participation and long-term adoption, a view consistent with the divergence between on-chain growth and price performance seen across the sector in 2026.
Sources:
Santiment: Ethereum Still Being Adopted at Rapid Pace Despite Negative Press
The Crypto Basic: XRP Finally Crosses the 8M Activated Accounts Milestone After 13 Years
247 Wall St: XRP Ledger Crosses 8 Million Activated Accounts
The crypto market may be drifting sideways, but a quieter signal suggests participants are not walking away. According to a Santiment update on July 28, Ethereum recently crossed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time, XRP Ledger and USDC on Ethereum both moved past 8 million holders, and Chainlink surpassed 900,000. The on-chain intelligence platform noted the trend across a period of weak price action, framing it as evidence that adoption keeps building beneath flat markets.
Non-empty wallets measure how many addresses hold a positive balance. They are not unique users—one person can control many wallets—but rising counts still map to more addresses holding value, interacting with decentralized applications, or maintaining a stake in the network. When that number climbs while token prices fail to break out, it can signal that market participants are accumulating or simply refusing to sell, rather than leaving the ecosystem.
Ethereum Leads, Stablecoin Growth Stands Out Ethereum’s jump past 200 million non-empty wallets is the most visible headline, but the movement in USDC on Ethereum and XRP Ledger adds texture. USDC’s expansion fits a stablecoin cycle where Circle has been expanding banking, custody, payments, and minting rails alongside major institutions. As a settlement asset, USDC remains one of the most used in crypto, and rising holder counts suggest it is circulating into more hands, not just sitting in exchange reserves.
XRP Ledger crossing 8 million non-empty wallets and Chainlink surpassing 900,000 show a similar pattern: user growth attached to platforms that are expanding their feature sets. Data from blockchain developer activity rankings continues to place Ethereum among the most active networks, reinforcing the idea that the networks seeing the most wallet additions are also those with significant technical development underway. The alignment of user growth and sustained building activity makes these trends harder to dismiss as noise.
Why the Signal Matters When Prices Don’t Move Market observers often look to on-chain metrics when price action decouples from fundamentals. Sustained wallet growth while markets are flat is not a timing tool. It does not predict the next leg up. But it does suggest that the base of participants is widening, not shrinking. That structural shift can matter later if liquidity returns or sentiment flips. For traders, it shifts the question from “is anyone still here?” to “who has been quietly positioning while the crowd was distracted.”
At the same time, holder counts offer no detail about distribution. Fresh wallets could belong to existing participants rotating funds, or a handful of institutions deploying capital. A rise in non-empty wallets does not automatically mean new retail adoption. Caution is warranted before drawing firm conclusions about user demographics from this single metric.
The broader adoption picture is also reflected in related market segments. Recent moves in real-world asset tokenization pushed total on-chain RWA value past $20 billion, demonstrating that institutional engagement with blockchain infrastructure is deepening across multiple fronts. When combined with wallet growth data, a consistent narrative emerges: more capital, more contracts, and more addresses, even when headline prices are idle.
What Comes Next For the networks highlighted in Santiment’s update, the immediate challenge is converting wallet growth into sustained network activity and fee generation. Rising holder counts without rising transaction volumes or active dapp usage can indicate passive holding rather than genuine utility. Still, the direction of travel matters. In a market where price charts offer little clarity, on-chain adoption patterns provide one of the few remaining anchors for gauging ecosystem health.
The coming weeks will show whether this accumulation trend continues or stalls if macro conditions shift. In the meantime, the data confirms that the quiet periods of the cycle are not necessarily empty ones.
AUTHOR
Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.
Ethereum, XRP, USDC, and Chainlink have recorded a surge in the number of non-empty wallets, signaling robust network participation and adoption despite the broader crypto market’s sideways price action. Data from Santiment Intelligence revealed that several leading blockchain networks are seeing consistent growth in address activity as total wallet counts break new records.
Key blockchain networks exceed major wallet milestonesOver the past two weeks, Ethereum surpassed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time in its history. During the same timeframe, the XRP Ledger and USDC on Ethereum each crossed the 8 million mark for funded addresses, while Chainlink exceeded 900,000 active wallets holding LINK tokens.
Analysts view rising non-empty wallet counts as a straightforward metric demonstrating sustained user engagement and broader adoption. Non-empty wallets often reflect users and institutions that continue to store assets, interact with decentralized applications, or participate in various blockchain ecosystems instead of retreating during periods with minimal price movement.
Ethereum’s expanding base of active wallets underlines its dominant role as a leading smart contract and decentralized finance platform. The network remains a backbone for applications in NFTs, tokenized real-world assets, stablecoins, and enterprise blockchain deployments across the industry.
USDC, XRP, and Chainlink holders rise amid new use casesUSDC’s rapid holder growth is attributed to its expanding real-world utility beyond speculative purpose. As Circle broadens its global banking partnerships and payment infrastructure, USDC has emerged as a widely adopted stablecoin for cross-border transactions, settlements, and within DeFi protocols. The trend indicates a shift as more users hold the token for routine activities.
XRP Ledger continues to expand, mirrored by the steady rise in non-empty wallets. The increased adoption coincides with ongoing developments in cross-border payments, tokenization projects, and enterprise blockchain integrations. Hong Kong recently launched its first licensed retail XRP trading platform, granting retail investors regulated access to XRP and advancing the city’s goal to become a prominent digital asset hub in Asia.
In addition to payments, the XRP ecosystem is diversifying with tokenized shares of major companies, AI-powered payment systems utilizing XRP and RLUSD, fresh partnerships with Mastercard, and new developer grants intended to spur further ecosystem expansion.
Chainlink’s growing adoption also reflects the expanding need for reliable decentralized oracles within blockchain environments. As more projects integrate Chainlink’s services to facilitate tokenization, cross-chain operations, and institutional blockchain use, the utility demand for LINK tokens has increased steadily.
Santiment Intelligence highlighted that rising holder counts across Ethereum, the XRP Ledger, USDC, and Chainlink indicate broader adoption, an expanding user base, and the formation of a strong foundation for future market growth cycles despite flat prices.
Tools for tracking and responding to crypto adoptionAs technical indicators highlight continued expansion in non-empty wallets—often used to monitor network health and growth—investors and market participants are placing greater emphasis on platforms that provide real-time data and investment management. CryptoAppsy, which requires no account creation hassle, combines your crypto investments with real-time prices, detailed charts, and multi-currency portfolio management on a single screen. With this all-in-one financial assistant, users can instantly seize opportunities by setting up smart price alerts, filter news specific to selected coins, discover newly listed altcoins as they launch, and monitor critical macroeconomic events such as Fed interest rates to stay ahead of the market.
Altogether, while market prices may remain stable, the consistent increase in non-empty wallets for top blockchain networks illustrates continued growth in user activity and adoption across the crypto sector.
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.
In This Article Morgan Stanley Crypto News: What do MSSE and MSOL Actually Offer?How This Fits Morgan Stanley's Broader Crypto Build-OutWhat It Means for SOL and ETH Morgan Stanley Investment Management has launched two new exchange-traded products tracking Ether and Solana, both with staking rewards passed directly to investors, a first in the crypto ETP space.
This extends a crypto push that began with its Bitcoin fund in April 2026. The move makes Morgan Stanley one of the first major US commercial banks to bring yield-bearing crypto exposure into regulated, exchange-listed wrappers.
These ETPs went live just as SOL and ETH are trading up +1% and +1.6% in the past 24 hours, respectively. ETH is sitting at $1,910, just above support at $1,900, while SOL is at $73.80, holding onto its support level at $70.
BREAKING: Morgan Stanley launches a Solana ETP, $MSOL, on NYSE Arca.
Their first crypto ETP pulled $381M in months. SOL now sits inside a $14B product suite, staked, with every reward passed to investors. pic.twitter.com/WQjmEKnxpE
— Solana (@solana) July 28, 2026
Morgan Stanley Crypto News: What do MSSE and MSOL Actually Offer? The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (NYSE Arca: MSSE) and Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (NYSE Arca: MSOL) each carry a 0.14% expense ratio.
Both funds intend to stake a portion of their holdings, with all staking rewards flowing through to investors. Morgan Stanley said it will not retain any portion of the staking rewards earned by either fund, a notable commitment at a time when fee and yield structures vary widely across competing products.
Staking, in plain terms, means locking up a share of your ETH or SOL to help validate transactions on the Ethereum and Solana proof-of-stake networks and earn protocol-level rewards in return. Those rewards, rather than being pocketed by the fund manager, are passed to shareholders.
For investors tracking Ethereum’s near-term price trajectory, institutional demand of this scale adds a structural demand signal on top of existing spot ETF flows.
BREAKING: Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) launches Ethereum Staking ETP.
MSIM, which manages ~$2 trillion in total AUM, has launched the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (MSSE).
0.14% expense ratio, with an expected 95% of staking rewards passed to investors. pic.twitter.com/1flhuyMtV1
— Ethereum Institutional (@ethereuminsti) July 28, 2026
How This Fits Morgan Stanley’s Broader Crypto Build-Out The Ether and Solana ETPs follow the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (NYSE Arca: MSBT), which launched in April 2026 and had accumulated more than $381M in assets under management as of July 16, according to the company.
That Bitcoin fund carried the same 0.14% expense ratio, positioning the entire suite as a low-cost alternative to incumbents like Grayscale. Earlier in July, Morgan Stanley also rolled out spot cryptocurrency trading on its E*TRADE platform via a partnership with crypto infrastructure provider Zero Hash.
This gives eligible retail clients direct access to Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana. The ETP launches and the trading platform together suggest a coordinated strategy rather than a one-off product decision.
Trade SOL and ETH on ByBit and Join 99Bitcoin’s Exclusive $1000 USDT Airdrop Campaign
What It Means for SOL and ETH $SOL – D1
Very disappointing development for SOL too.
At must hold/bounce or kekusmaximusRIPus.
Likely better to wait for a reclaim of D1 100 MA to chase gap to D1 200 EMA. Personally have a running position that I'll cut if unable to reclaim 74/76 area. https://t.co/jyN8mrpUSL pic.twitter.com/MhugXpaoeV
— Pierre (@pierre_crypt0) July 28, 2026
For Solana, an institutional product that systematically stakes holdings removes supply from active circulation, creating a slow but consistent demand floor. Traders watching for a SOL break above the $80 level will now have an additional institutional catalyst to factor into their analysis.
The competitive pressure on fees is equally significant. At 0.14%, Morgan Stanley’s products undercut many existing crypto ETPs, and the firm’s network of roughly 19,000 financial advisers gives it a distribution advantage that most crypto-native asset managers cannot match, according to background research on the filings.
The central question going forward is whether AUM growth in MSSE and MSOL tracks or outpaces the Bitcoin Trust’s $381 million ramp – and whether sustained inflows translate into ETH and SOL outperforming other large-cap crypto assets over the next several quarters.
EXPLORE: Best Crypto Presales With Asymmetric Upside in the Current Market
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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.
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.
OpenAI CEO expresses support for the AI security bill.
Market news: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke to reporters after meeting with US Republican Senator Ted Cruz. The two sides discussed new artificial intelligence models, with Altman expressing support for an AI safety bill, though he did not disclose specific details.
7 minutes ago
US media reports: Republicans begin considering raising the debt ceiling again as midterm elections approach.
According to Politico, U.S. Republicans raised the debt ceiling by $5 trillion last year. Now, they are already considering how to avoid falling back into a "fiscal cliff" during Trump’s term. Independent forecasting agencies project that the U.S. will reach "X Date"—the final deadline to avert a U.S. debt default—between next summer and early 2028, a period that coincides with the intensification of the presidential primary season. Two sources familiar with the matter said that to avoid high-stakes negotiations with Democrats, White House officials have privately proposed raising the U.S. debt ceiling of $41.1 trillion via a partisan spending bill that many Republicans hope to pass ahead of the November midterm elections. If Republicans lose control of either chamber of Congress in the upcoming midterms, this move could save Trump significant trouble, as Democrats will in any case demand concessions in bipartisan negotiations to prevent an unprecedented national debt default—with the total national debt currently nearing $39.7 trillion.
7 minutes ago
The token Shandi has fallen below the 1,000 yuan mark, logging a cumulative drop of over 50% in the past month.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the crypto asset Shan Di fell below the $1,000 threshold during intraday trading, posting an 8.4% intraday decline and a cumulative drop of over 50% in the past month.
7 minutes ago
Bank of America: Seven Ongoing Risks Plague AI and Semiconductor Sector Stocks
Bank of America’s report flags seven persistent risks for stocks in the AI and semiconductor sectors, detailed below: 1. Hardware trading has turned into a "tourist trade" — even medical tour groups are discussing SNDK. Late buyers of MU may still face a washout, while sharp daily volatility is forcing committed bulls to exit positions. 2. Good news no longer moves markets. TSM, ASML, and INTC have declined even after reporting strong earnings, with intraday rebounds consistently met by selling pressure. Capital expenditure cuts by large-scale players will harm AI suppliers, while hikes will pressure free cash flow; financing activities are also stoking funding concerns. Ordinary upside surprises may no longer be enough to drive gains. 3. Investors are bearish on AI labs but still bullish on their infrastructure. Spending by OpenAI and Anthropic is already embedded in suppliers’ backlogs and financial data. Open-source weighted models may eventually boost compute demand, but the transition process is unlikely to be smooth. 4. Token deflation is a double-edged sword. Cheaper tokens can accelerate adoption but will also compress lab profits and intensify hardware and power optimization efforts. More compute power does not automatically translate to higher profits for every supplier. 5. Memory sector estimates may need to be revised downward. Lower valuation multiples alone may not suffice; stocks that appear cheap based on unrevised projections may not actually be undervalued. 6. Credit has entered the stock market debate. Financing for the entire ecosystem has become a "trillion-dollar game of chicken". 7. The sector’s ongoing correction may stem from position and factor adjustments rather than a single fundamental breakdown. Investors will later apply narratives around open-source models, ROI, financing, and optimization to price movements.
7 minutes ago
Coinbase to list GRVT, with deposits set to open once the project team unlocks transfers.
Coinbase announced it will list Grvt (GRVT). Users can now generate GRVT deposit addresses on Coinbase’s official website, mobile app, and Coinbase Exchange in supported regions, though deposit functionality will be activated only after the project team unlocks token transfers.
PANews, July 29 – The nonprofit Ethereum Institutional announced the completion of its first round of ecosystem financing and the formation of a supporters' alliance. Core funders include BitMNR, Sharplink, and Ethereum co-founders Joseph Lubin and Mihai Alisie, with participants including Aave, Arbitrum, Circle, Consensys, DefiLlama, EigenLayer ecosystem stakeholders, Flashbots, Ledger, Lido, Linea, Optimism, Uniswap Labs, zkSync, and over 100 individuals and crypto-native institutions. The goal is to accelerate institutional-level adoption of Ethereum in areas such as banks, asset management firms, custodians, financial infrastructure, and sovereign entities. The organization will collaborate with L2s, application teams, infrastructure and custody service providers, and others to advance related work, and will recruit regional heads and engineers embedded in banks across multiple regions globally to drive PoC implementation.
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.
Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) remain under pressure on Wednesday after a mild correction earlier this week. BTC slips below a key support zone, and ETH is testing a key resistance zone. Meanwhile, XRP is drifting toward the psychologically important $1.00 support level. The technical indicators of the top three cryptocurrencies suggest that sellers are gaining control, raising the risk of further downside.
Bitcoin price trades at $63,734 on Wednesday, maintaining a bearish near-term tone as it holds below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), clustered between roughly $64,938 and $73,658.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at about 47 stays slightly below the neutral midline. At the same time, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) has slipped deeper into negative territory, suggesting that upside attempts remain vulnerable while the pair trades under these moving averages.
On the topside, immediate resistance emerges at the nearby horizontal barrier around $64,004, ahead of the 50-day EMA at roughly $64,938. Above this zone, the 100-day EMA near $67,606 and the 200-day EMA around $73,658 form successive caps before the higher horizontal resistance level at approximately $84,410, which marks a more distant ceiling if buyers regain stronger control.
On the downside, the lack of nearby supports leaves the current trading zone as an exposed foothold. If BTC continues its correction, it could extend toward the yearly low of $57,800, set on July 1.
Ethereum nears key resistance zoneEthereum price trades at $1,907 on Wednesday, holding a neutral to slightly constructive stance as it remains above the 50-day EMA at roughly $1,845 but still trades beneath the 100-day EMA near $1,935 and the 200-day EMA around $2,177. This configuration suggests a market attempting to base above short-term trend support while facing a capped medium-term structure, with the RSI hovering in neutral-positive territory near 56 and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) slipping marginally below the signal line, hinting at waning upside momentum rather than a decisive bearish reversal.
On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 100-day EMA around $1,935, ahead of the psychological and chart barrier at $2,000 and then the broader bearish pivot defined by the 200-day EMA near $2,177.
On the downside, immediate support is reinforced by the 50-day EMA at around $1,845. At the same time, a deeper pullback would expose the more distant horizontal floor near $1,385, keeping the near-term outlook range-bound unless price can either convincingly reclaim the 100-day EMA or slide back through the 50-day EMA.
XRP’s momentum indicators show bearish biasXRP price trades at $1.07 on Wednesday, maintaining a bearish near-term bias as it holds below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day EMAs, clustered between roughly $1.13 and $1.41. The RSI at about 43 stays in neutral-to-weak territory and the MACD indicator remains marginally negative, together suggesting that downside pressure persists while any recovery lacks strong momentum.
On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 50-day EMA around $1.13, followed by the 100-day EMA near $1.22 and the horizontal barrier at $1.30, with a more distant cap at the 200-day EMA around $1.41 before the major resistance line at $1.90.
On the downside, the next key support is the horizontal level at $1.00, where buyers may attempt to stem further declines if the pair extends its slide.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)
Cryptocurrency prices FAQs Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.
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.
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.
Total value locked in Ethereum Layer 2s has slid back to roughly $5 billion, a level last seen in 2023. The retreat marks a sharp reversal for a sector that drew significant capital only a year ago.
A Reversal of 2024 GainsThe decline undoes most of the buildup from 2024, when mindshare was focused on the successful launches of L2s like Optimism, Arbitrum, and ZKsync. Shifting market conditions, lower yields on DeFi protocols, and reduced speculative activity have contributed to capital outflows.
Despite the contraction, concentration at the top of the sector remains intact. Optimistic rollups such as Optimism, Base, and Arbitrum continue to dominate TVL, accounting for $4.8 billion, or 96% of the total.
Foundation Turmoil Adds PressureThe retreat in TVL has lined up with a rough stretch for Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation has lost several senior leaders since the start of the year, including co-executive directors and broader foundation layoffs.
The Ethereum Foundation entered 2026 under mounting pressure, with developers, investors, and prominent community members criticizing the organization's pace of execution, governance, and technical priorities. Many argued Ethereum's roadmap had become overly focused on layer-2 scaling while neglecting improvements to the base layer.
The foundation has lost at least eight senior figures in five months, further deepening a leadership vacuum at the organization that stewards the second-largest blockchain. The first major shakeup came in February, when co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak stepped down. A few weeks later, the foundation published a new mandate built around the CROPS framework, recasting itself as a long-term steward rather than the ecosystem's primary builder or coordinator.
The instability has not gone unnoticed by markets. Traditional finance, which was expected to validate Ethereum's institutional thesis, has increasingly embraced alternatives alongside $ETH. The exodus has unfolded as Ethereum faces mounting competition from rival blockchains and its native token has badly lagged.
Sources:
The Block: Ethereum L2 ecosystem loses momentum as TVL drops to two-year low
CoinDesk: A timeline of the Ethereum Foundation's ongoing shakeup
Yahoo Finance: Ethereum Foundation's Leadership Exodus Claims Its Second Co-Director
With over four years of experience in covering and tracking the financial markets, Sneha Agrawal is a dedicated Crypto Journalist and Editor with passion for researching and writing the crypto pieces. She is currently leading the Block of Fame, here at CoinGape. She likes to keep track of political, legal and financial happenings all around the world - without which she deems her day incomplete. Apart from her Journalistic endeavours, she is a solo traveler, museum goer, and a keen reader of books.
29 July 2026 | 11:12 Ethereum is trading near $1,913 after defending the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement around $1,870 and rebounding directly into the horizontal resistance.
That shelf has carried weight since July 15, with repeated trading around the same area building a well-established supply zone. ETH has now reached it, and today’s daily close will decide whether the rebound counts as a successful retest.
Key Takeaways Price reached the expected horizontal resistance identified in our previous Ethereum analysis. The harder test sits near $1,950. Ethereum wallets have crossed 200 million. Central-bank decisions could disrupt the setup. The Retest Depends on Today’s Close For the setup to improve, Ethereum needs to finish the session above both the horizontal shelf and the Fibonacci level beneath it.
Closing above the shelf would show buyers absorbing the supply built there since mid-July, and would confirm Tuesday’s defence of $1,870 as something more durable than a short-lived reaction.
Daily Ethereum/USD technical chart and market indicators. A close back under the shelf while price holds above $1,870 would leave the setup unresolved. Dropping beneath the Fibonacci level would weaken it decisively and reopen a way for a move towards $1,800.
Daily RSI stands near 57, above its signal line. Momentum has improved while staying well short of stretched, leaving room for another advance on confirmation.
The Harder Resistance Sits at $1,950 Clearing the current shelf brings the next test into view.
The $1,950 area combines a second horizontal level with the 100-day simple moving average. The horizontal level reflects supply from earlier trading, while the moving average serves as a widely followed medium-term trend gauge.
That overlap gives the zone more weight than either component would carry alone. Buyers would need to absorb existing sell orders while pushing ETH back above an average that has stayed overhead throughout the recovery.
An intraday spike through $1,950 would be encouraging. A close above it, held into the following session, would provide the stronger evidence that this is more than a relief bounce.
The June Channel and $2,000 Form Another Barrier Above $1,950, attention shifts to the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement at $1,985, where the lower boundary of Ethereum’s June ascending channel also sits.
That channel supported ETH through its earlier recovery until price broke beneath it on July 23. Former support approached from below tends to attract sellers.
The psychological level at $2,000 sits immediately above, concentrating the barrier between $1,985 and $2,000.
Ethereum began its broader decline towards $1,500 from this same region on June 2. Traders who bought before that drop may treat another visit as a chance to reduce exposure, adding supply to an already visible zone. Clearing the whole band in a single move would be a tall order, and a pause or rejection near $2,000 would fit the pattern even after a successful break of $1,950.
Wallet Growth Helps Support the Longer-Term Picture The defence of $1,870 comes against a broader expansion in Ethereum’s holder base. Santiment data shows the network crossed 200 million non-empty wallets for the first time during the past two weeks.
Santiment chart tracking holder milestones for Ethereum, XRP Ledger, USD Coin, and Chainlink. The figure covers addresses, not people, since one individual, exchange or institution may control several. What it does show is that more wallets are holding an ETH balance even after the recent decline.
A growing base of balance-holding addresses can help the market absorb supply during pullbacks. Nothing in the data proves those wallets bought at $1,870, though it offers a structural reason why selling around the Fibonacci level met demand instead of cascading.
Holder growth carries no breakout signal on its own. Its relevance grows if ETH converts the current shelf into support and then challenges $1,950.
Days of Macro Risk Ethereum’s technical test arrives inside a tightly packed sequence of central-bank events.
The Federal Reserve decision lands on 29 July. An unchanged rate is the expected outcome and is largely priced in, which leaves the market sensitive to the tone of the accompanying guidance. A hawkish message could lift the dollar and bond yields, weakening demand for risk assets and turning any break above $1,950 into a failed one.
Attention then shifts to the Bank of Japan across Thursday and Friday. As covered in our analysis of how Japan’s rate path affects crypto, any signal of faster tightening could strengthen the yen and pressure the carry trades that fund positions across equities and digital assets.
Friday’s US economic releases close the week. A favourable macro response would give buyers a better chance of clearing $1,950 and testing the $1,985 to $2,000 region, while a hawkish surprise could undo an otherwise sound technical breakout.
The Levels That Matter Now ETH sits below both its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, so the advance remains a recovery inside a weak broader structure.
Upside scenario: A close above the current shelf, held above $1,870, opens the $1,950 test. Clearing the 100-day average from there exposes the $1,985 to $2,000 band, where the June channel and the psychological level converge. Rejection scenario: Failure at the current shelf puts $1,870 back under pressure. Losing that level brings $1,800 into play. The chart might only change character if buyers reclaim $1,950 and prove they can hold the cluster above it. Everything below that is range behaviour inside a downtrend, and three central-bank events over the next three days could decide it either way.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Technical levels may fail, particularly around major central-bank and economic announcements. Methodology: The analysis uses the ETH/USD daily chart, Fibonacci retracement levels, horizontal trading zones, the 100-day and 200-day simple moving averages, RSI and Santiment holder-count data through July 28. Author
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
Leading cryptocurrencies rose slightly on Tuesday as investors weighed renewed tensions in the Middle East and the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates.
Crypto Market GainsBitcoin rallied as high as $64,100 but ran into resistance, with 24-hour trading volume dropping steeply. Ethereum moved in a similar direction, but then met strong selling pressure after reaching $1.20.
Over $330 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with $241 million in bullish long positions erased, according to data from Coinglass.
Bitcoin’s open interest rose slightly by 0.02% over the last 24 hours. Notably, retail and whale derivatives traders on Binance trimmed their BTC long exposure after the spike.
"Fear" sentiment prevailed in the market, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
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The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.22 trillion, following an increase of 1.04% from the previous day.
Dow Rallies Ahead of Fed DecisionStocks were a mixed bag on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lifted 537.24 points, or 1.03%, to 52,747.32. The S&P 500 gained 0.21% to end at 7,428.78. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was the outlier, sliding 0.22% to settle at 24,876.91.
Tensions in the Middle East flared again after U.S. and Saudi forces launched a joint strike against "Iran-aligned terrorists" accused of trying to mount a “surprise attack” on U.S. forces earlier that day.
Investors will also look forward to the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday, with odds around 70% that interest rates will remain unchanged, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Wait for Bitcoin’s Bullish Trend to Go Longer?Ali Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, projected Bitcoin’s “next major market bottom” may arrive in the first half of October, assuming the four-year cycle theory remains valid.
On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant noted a sharp decline in Bitcoin spot volumes on major exchanges compared to late 2024, with the U.S.-Iran war and equity markets absorbing much of the available liquidity.
“Against this backdrop, a return of Bitcoin to a bullish trend seems conditional on a shift in the macro regime, and above all a return of demand, the only real driver capable of pushing volumes back up,” the research firm said.
Photo: KateStock / Shutterstock
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Once again, XRP is getting close to one of its most crucial levels of psychological support. The asset broke out of a tightening symmetrical triangle and is currently trading close to $1.06, putting the $1.00 threshold firmly within reach after failing to maintain its most recent recovery attempt.
XRP is unable to withstand the pressureThe next significant move could see XRP testing a level it has been able to defend throughout the second half of 2026 unless buyers intervene swiftly. After a few days of compression between converging trendlines, the most recent breakdown occurred. XRP eventually lost support, confirming bearish momentum rather than a continuation of the recent bounce, even though such patterns can resolve in either direction.
Selling pressure increased noticeably in tandem with the breakout, giving the move more legitimacy. Over almost all time periods, the technical picture is still poor. The 20-day, 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages are all still above where XRP is trading, indicating a clear bearish trend.
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XRP/USDT Chart by TradingViewMore significantly, buyers have been prevented from gaining sufficient momentum to reverse the market structure by the 20-day EMA acting as dynamic resistance once more. The first support is currently located around $1.00, a level that is both technically and psychologically significant. When stop-loss orders are activated and market sentiment worsens, losing it would probably hasten selling activity.
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If the $1 barrier fails, there isn't much structural support because the next significant support doesn't show up until about $0.95 below that. On the plus side, before any recovery could be deemed credible, XRP would need to reclaim the 20-day EMA around $1.10. Even so, the first significant barrier bulls would have to get past in order to reverse the medium-term trend is the 100-day EMA at $1.22, which remains a much stronger resistance level. Additionally, momentum indicators advise caution.
The RSI has dropped to about 39, which suggests that buying pressure is waning without yet reaching extremely oversold levels. In other words, there is still potential for the market to drop before technical exhaustion turns into a strong bullish argument.
The recent consolidation has seen comparatively low trading volume, indicating that neither buyers nor sellers made significant commitments prior to the most recent breakdown. Because of this lack of conviction, markets are frequently exposed to more aggressive moves once support levels collapse.
Ethereum's rise continuesDespite a slight decline, Ethereum has continued to rise; the second-largest cryptocurrency is currently trading slightly below $1,900 and is setting itself up for another attempt to reclaim $2,000.
ETH has established a series of higher lows after recovering rapidly from the capitulation lows in June, indicating that buyers are still in control even as the market pauses beneath a significant resistance zone.
The 100-day exponential moving average, which has once again capped the most recent rally at $1,930, is the most immediate obstacle. Ethereum made a brief intraday surge above the level but was unable to achieve a strong breakout, indicating that sellers are still actively defending the area.
ETH/USDT Chart by TradingViewNevertheless, the price has remained comfortably above the rising 20-day EMA at $1,845, indicating that the rejection has been rather shallow. That is a positive sign for bulls. Ethereum keeps consolidating just under resistance rather than giving back a sizable portion of the recent gain.
When buyers absorb selling pressure before attempting another breakout, this kind of price action frequently indicates accumulation. A clear close above the 100-day EMA would probably draw attention to the psychological $2,000 barrier.
The 200-day EMA around $2,175, which continues to characterize Ethereum's longer-term decline, is still the next significant technical barrier after that level. It would be the strongest bullish signal ETH has produced in months if both moving averages were reclaimed.
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Despite the recent slowdown, momentum indicators continue to be positive. The RSI is still well below overbought levels, but it is comfortably above neutral territory at 53. This implies that Ethereum still has potential to rise further without experiencing the momentum exhaustion that is usually brought on by intense rallies. Throughout the recovery, volume has also remained comparatively stable.
Although buying activity has decreased in comparison to the sharp recovery from June's lows, it still supports the string of higher lows that have emerged over the last few weeks. The 20-day EMA around $1,845 is the crucial support to watch. The current recovery structure is unaffected as long as Ethereum stays above that threshold. A break below it would probably push the asset closer to the 50-day EMA at about $1,757, where buyers would be put to the test in a more significant way.
Near Protocol's rally is overThe technical framework that helped Near Protocol (NEAR) recover over the last two months has officially been lost. The token broke below its main support cluster after consolidating above important moving averages for a few weeks, ending the previous uptrend and reversing momentum in favor of sellers.
NEAR moved decisively below the 20-day, 100-day, and 200-day exponential moving averages with the most recent decline, pushing it to about $1.63. Throughout July, a strong technical floor was created as those averages converged between $1.81 and $1.88. The asset cut through all three levels in a single move rather than rising again, indicating that buyers are no longer in control of the short-term trend.
NEAR/USDT Chart by TradingViewBecause NEAR had been forming a comparatively stable consolidation following its explosive rally in late May and early June, the breakdown is especially significant. The token briefly surged above $3 during that rally, but momentum gradually waned and each subsequent attempt at recovery resulted in lower highs. The most recent sell-off appears to complete that downward trend.
The 200-day EMA, which frequently divides long-term bullish and bearish conditions, has now failed to hold as support. Losing that level is rarely a good technical signal, especially when there is weakness across shorter-term moving averages as well. Any short-term bounce will probably be viewed by the market as another selling opportunity unless NEAR swiftly reclaims the region above $1.82.
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Additionally, momentum indicators suggest growing weakness. The RSI has dropped to about 33, which is close to oversold territory but still above the extreme levels that usually lead to more robust relief rallies. In other words, while selling pressure has increased, the chart does not yet show that bears have exhausted themselves.
The fact that volume has not skyrocketed during the breakdown indicates that a lack of buying interest rather than outright panic has been the primary driver of the decline. Demand gradually declines rather than collapsing in a single capitulation event, which is often indicative of trend deterioration.
The $1.50-$1.55 range, which served as resistance prior to the May breakout, is the next support worth watching. NEAR may return to the $1.30 area, thereby erasing a large portion of the summer recovery, if buyers are unable to defend that range. On the plus side, reclaiming the moving-average cluster around $1.82–$1.88 is now crucial.
Consistently moving back above those levels would be the only way to refute the current breakdown and rebuild confidence that the broader recovery is still intact. However, the technical data currently favors the bears.
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.
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.
Large blockchain networks including Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Avalanche (AVAX) have recorded notable increases in on-chain activity and reductions in transaction costs over the past year, even as the prices of their native tokens experienced substantial declines.
This divergence between market prices and underlying network fundamentals was highlighted in Bitwise’s inaugural quarterly staking report covering the second quarter of 2026.
According to the analysis, Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche tokens each dropped by approximately half or more compared to levels a year earlier. Yet usage metrics moved in the opposite direction.
Ethereum processed 203.9 million transactions in the quarter, up sharply from 121.1 million in the same period of 2025.
Average throughput rose from 15 to 26 transactions per second following an increase in the block gas limit.
At the same time, the average cost per transaction fell from about $1.08 to $0.31, while dollar-denominated network revenue declined 51 percent to roughly $64 million.
When measured in ETH terms, however, revenue actually increased for the first time in more than a year.Solana demonstrated similar resilience.
The network handled approximately 9.8 billion non-voting transactions, near all-time highs and above the 8.9 billion recorded a year earlier.
Transaction costs dropped dramatically from around three cents to half a cent, contributing to a steep decline in overall revenue from $272 million to $51 million.
Avalanche’s C-Chain saw the most dramatic growth in volume, processing 235.6 million transactions compared with just 58 million previously—an increase of roughly four times.
Costs per transaction plunged from about 2.7 cents to 0.14 cents, with revenue falling accordingly to $330,000.
Bitwise Head of Onchain Research Kam Benbrik described the pattern clearly: there has been a noticeable gap between network fundamentals and broader market sentiment.
Prices are lower than in 2025, yet blockchains are becoming both cheaper to use and more active.
The report attributes much of the fee reduction to deliberate protocol improvements that expanded available blockspace rather than any broad weakening of demand.
Staking participation remained robust across the networks.
Ethereum reached a record 40.2 million ETH staked, representing about 33 percent of total supply, driven largely by institutional inflows from staking ETFs, corporate treasuries, and other large holders.
High staking ratios were also observed elsewhere, with Solana near 68 percent and Avalanche around 41 percent.
Institutional engagement extended beyond staking.
Tokenized assets, real-world applications, and payments activity continued to expand on these chains.
Protocol roadmaps remain active, with upcoming upgrades aimed at further improving scalability and user experience.
The data suggest that lower token prices have not translated into reduced network utilization. Instead, greater efficiency and capacity appear to be supporting higher levels of activity at lower costs, pointing to underlying strength in the infrastructure even amid softer market conditions.
A Quantum Fix That Leaves Wallets UntouchedBlockchain security company AmericanFortress has unveiled a cryptographic scheme that it says could protect existing cryptocurrency wallets from future quantum attacks without requiring users to move funds, rotate keys, or change wallet addresses.
AmericanFortress released the technical paper for Zero-Knowledge Proof of Seed Provenance, or ZK-PoSP, through the International Association for Cryptologic Research's ePrint archive. The company describes the scheme as compatible with seed-based hierarchical deterministic wallets used across Bitcoin ($BTC), Ethereum ($ETH), Solana ($SOL), and other blockchain networks that rely on elliptic curve cryptography.
Rather than relying on traditional digital signatures alone, the scheme uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify ownership of the original wallet seed at the moment a transaction is signed. While a future quantum computer running Shor's algorithm could potentially derive a child private key from a publicly exposed address, it would still be unable to reconstruct the original master seed used to generate the wallet hierarchy.
The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed. The approach remains a proposal and would require node-level upgrades before any blockchain could enforce it. The paper says post-quantum security is "conjectured" because the underlying assumptions have not been tested against a cryptographically relevant quantum computer.
Why Quantum Risk Is Climbing the AgendaDevelopers have increasingly focused on post-quantum cryptography because sufficiently powerful quantum computers could eventually break the elliptic-curve cryptography used to secure Bitcoin, Ethereum, and many other blockchain networks. The concern is gaining urgency. Google researchers have reported that breaking the cryptographic systems underpinning most cryptocurrencies could require significantly fewer quantum resources than previously estimated, with improved methods for compiling quantum algorithms reducing the scale of hardware needed to compromise elliptic curve cryptography.
Researchers estimate that an estimated 6.9 million $BTC tied to early wallets and reused addresses could be at longer-term risk. In recent months, a Strategy-led consortium pledged $15 million to fund Bitcoin quantum security research, the Ethereum Foundation published a proposal for migrating accounts to quantum-resistant cryptography, and Algorand outlined plans to introduce quantum-resistant accounts by 2027.
The AmericanFortress proposal stands out because most competing approaches require users to migrate assets to new addresses. According to the researchers, the only wallets that cannot benefit from the proposed approach are those created without hierarchical deterministic derivation schemes, including certain early Bitcoin wallets. The technical paper is now public, but independent peer review will be the next critical test of whether the scheme holds up under scrutiny.
Wall Street accelerates its offensive on cryptos. Morgan Stanley Investment Management launches two new ETPs backed by Ether and Solana on the NYSE Arca, confirming the growing interest of major banks in smart contract blockchains. Long focused on bitcoin, traditional finance players are now broadening their exposure to other assets. With some of the lowest management fees in the market and a mechanism redistributing staking rewards, this new offer directly targets institutional investors seeking yield and ease of access.
In brief Morgan Stanley launches the MSSE (Ether) and MSOL (Solana) funds on the NYSE Arca exchange. A management fee ratio set at 0.14% for both investment vehicles. The bank formally commits to redistributing all staking rewards to shareholders without charging any commission. This initiative strengthens the attractiveness of altcoins and sets new pricing standards for Wall Street giants. What do the Morgan Stanley MSSE and MSOL ETP funds reveal? After the market launch of a Treasury bond fund, Morgan Stanley Investment Management has officially launched two new exchange-traded products with the following main features :
The Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust (NYSE Arca: MSSE) : a fund designed to replicate the Ether price (ETH) ; The Morgan Stanley Solana Trust (NYSE Arca: MSOL) : a fund designed to replicate the Solana price (SOL) ; A competitive fee structure : the management fee ratio is set at 0.14 % for both investment vehicles ; A full staking redistribution : the aim is to stake part of the underlying tokens and return 100% of the rewards to investors. The bank explicitly states “that it will retain no part of the staking rewards earned by either fund.” Operationally, this financial engineering choice clearly differentiates these instruments from traditional exchange-traded funds. By foregoing an intermediate commission on the flows generated by the validation of the Ethereum and Solana networks, Morgan Stanley guarantees a full transfer of the value from the PoS consensus to the final security holder.
Reference to settlement rates provided by CoinDesk also ensures daily transparency on the net asset value, aligning these instruments with the strict standards required by U.S. securities regulators. Furthermore, the absence of a withholding on staking returns constitutes a direct alignment strategy with investors, offering them access both to the spot price of the asset and to the native yield of the underlying networks without an added fee burden on the gains generated.
The methodical deployment of Morgan Stanley’s crypto ecosystem This launch follows directly from the strategic expansion led by the group in the crypto market over recent months. In April, Morgan Stanley made an impression by launching the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (listed under the ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca), becoming the very first major U.S. commercial bank to issue its own spot Bitcoin ETF. This pioneering product achieved notable financial success, showing over $381 million in assets under management as of July 16.
Alongside this offering aimed at collective management vehicles, the firm expanded its reach into the retail segment earlier this month by deploying spot crypto trading on its E*TRADE platform. This service allows eligible clients to buy, sell, and hold bitcoin, Ether, and Solana directly, thanks to a technical partnership sealed with the financial infrastructure provider Zero Hash.
The combination of brokerage offering and ETP issuance on the NYSE Arca reflects a carefully built two-pronged infrastructure by Morgan Stanley. On one side, the partnership with Zero Hash provides the liquidity and custody required by individual investors desiring to hold tokens directly. On the other, the range of trusts now covering bitcoin, Ether, and Solana offers wealth managers and institutional investors a simplified exposure without the burden of direct private key custody.
With management fees at 0.14%, the positioning is particularly aggressive compared to the whole crypto index fund sector. This operational coherence demonstrates that major banking institutions no longer consider cryptos as a marginal segment but as a fully-fledged asset class requiring segmented access channels based on client profiles.
A staking redistribution: what implications for the industry? The native integration of validation rewards within listed products managed by a leading financial institution changes the competitive balance of crypto funds.
By redistributing 100% of staking yields without deduction, Morgan Stanley puts competing issuers under direct margin pressure while raising the yield standards expected by institutional investors.
In the long term, this initiative could accelerate the adoption of proof-of-stake protocols in traditional wealth management. If the market reception confirms interest in MSSE and MSOL, financial advisors will have optimized tools to diversify allocations beyond bitcoin. The evolution of capital flows over the coming quarters will indicate whether this overall strategy sustainably strengthens the anchoring of altcoins in institutional portfolios.
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Luc Jose A.
Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
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’s Layer 2 ecosystem just lost roughly 90% of its locked value. The total value locked across the network’s scaling solutions has dropped to approximately $5 billion, a figure that would have been impressive in 2023 but looks downright alarming in the context of where things stood just months ago.
Earlier in 2026, L2 TVL exceeded $48 billion as tracked by L2BEAT. That’s not a typo. We’re talking about a decline of more than $43 billion.
The scale of the drop To appreciate how dramatic this contraction is, consider where the major players were sitting not long ago. Arbitrum alone recorded a TVL of approximately $16.8 billion in early 2026. Base, the Coinbase-backed chain that had become a darling of the retail onboarding narrative, held about $10.7 billion. Optimism stood at around $8 billion.
Add those three together and you get $35.5 billion, more than seven times the current total across the entire L2 landscape. And that’s before counting zkSync Era and the rest of the more than 73 active Ethereum L2 rollups that were operating as of April 2026.
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For context, Ethereum’s mainnet DeFi TVL was sitting around $41 billion as of late July 2026. So the L2 ecosystem, which was once approaching parity with mainnet in terms of locked capital, now represents a fraction of its parent chain’s economic activity.
What’s driving the exodus No major protocol team has issued a post-mortem. No data aggregator has published a detailed breakdown of where the capital went.
Bridging dynamics also matter. L2 TVL is inherently more volatile than mainnet TVL because assets need to be actively bridged over. When users lose confidence or spot better opportunities elsewhere, the unbridging process can create cascading outflows that look more dramatic than gradual organic decline.
With over 73 rollups competing for users and liquidity, fragmentation may have reached a tipping point where no single chain could maintain the critical mass needed to sustain deep liquidity pools and attractive yields.
What this means for investors On the tactical side, anyone farming yields or providing liquidity on L2 platforms should be paying close attention to pool depths and slippage conditions. A $5 billion total spread across dozens of chains means individual protocol TVLs could be thin enough to create meaningful execution risk on larger positions.
For token holders in L2-native governance assets, the decline raises uncomfortable valuation questions. Tokens like ARB, OP, and others derive much of their fundamental value from the economic activity happening on their respective chains. When that activity contracts by 90%, the case for holding those tokens gets considerably harder to make.
The gap between Ethereum mainnet’s $41 billion TVL and the L2 ecosystem’s $5 billion also creates a potential opportunity narrative. If rollups are genuinely the future of Ethereum scaling, the current ratio implies either that mainnet is overvalued relative to its scaling layers, or that L2s are significantly underweighted.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
A state-backed Chinese company has started mass production of domestically developed immersion deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines, a critical technology for advanced semiconductor manufacturing previously dominated by Dutch firm ASML.
The development, first reported by The Information and later detailed by Reuters, marks progress in Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-reliance amid ongoing Western export restrictions.
Shanghai Aishengna Electronic Technology Group, a relatively obscure state-owned entity established in 2023 with backing from Shanghai Electric Holding and a subsidiary of Shanghai International Trust, is leading the effort.
It has incorporated teams from Chinese lithography startups, including Yuliangsheng (linked to Huawei-backed SiCarrier) and Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment.
Plans call for roughly five machines in 2026 and about 20 in 2027, with initial deliveries expected this year to major domestic chipmakers such as SMIC, Hua Hong Semiconductor, and ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT).
Immersion DUV systems use a water layer between the lens and wafer to enable finer circuit patterns than dry tools.
While Chinese chipmakers remain barred from ASML’s most advanced extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) systems and face limits on certain high-end DUV equipment, the new domestic tools could serve as a fallback if further restrictions on exports or servicing take effect.
Analysts note, however, that the machines still require extensive testing, lag ASML models in performance, yield, overlay accuracy, throughput, and long-term reliability, and will not pose an immediate commercial threat.
News of the breakthrough rattled global financial markets.
AI and semiconductor stocks declined sharply, with ASML shares dropping as much as 8% initially before partially recovering. Selling pressure extended to broader indices, including the S&P 500.
Cryptocurrencies, which have shown strong correlation with risk assets, also experienced downward pressure: Bitcoin slipped below $64,600 and XRP moved under $1.10, though Solana posted a modest gain.
Ethereum stood out for its relative resilience.
It advanced about 2.3% over 24 hours—the strongest performance among major tokens—while the ETH/BTC ratio has trended higher for a full month. This suggests ongoing capital rotation toward Ethereum within the crypto market.
Decentralized finance tokens also showed comparative stability, benefiting Ethereum as the primary base layer for most DeFi activity. Bitcoin, by contrast, managed only marginal gains.
The episode highlights how semiconductor geopolitics now influence risk appetite across equities and digital assets.
While a handful of early-stage Chinese DUV tools will not upend ASML’s dominance in the near term, the development underscores limits to export-control strategies and keeps markets sensitive to further advances in China’s domestic chip equipment capabilities. Investors continue to monitor whether Ethereum’s relative strength persists amid broader macroeconomic uncertainty.
TLDR EthSystems believes privacy is the main barrier stopping banks from using public blockchains. The startup emerged from the Ethereum Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Task Force. EthSystems helps institutions protect sensitive transaction data while settling activity on Ethereum. The company will advise clients, build custom privacy systems, and publish open-source research. EthSystems plans to work with existing privacy projects instead of creating a new blockchain. Ethereum startup EthSystems has made privacy the center of its plan to bring banks and other institutions onto public blockchains. The company believes confidentiality, rather than network speed, remains the main barrier to institutional use of Ethereum.
The startup emerged from the Ethereum Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Task Force earlier this month. It now operates as a for-profit company focused on banks, asset managers, governments, stablecoins, and tokenized financial assets.
EthSystems helps institutions add privacy controls while settling transactions on Ethereum. Its systems aim to protect sensitive financial data without removing the transparency and security offered by a public blockchain.
Co-founder Mo Jalil said financial institutions need control over who can view transaction details. The company does not treat confidentiality as full anonymity. Instead, it supports limited access based on rules.
The startup does not plan to build a new blockchain or replace current privacy tools. It will advise clients, design privacy systems, build custom infrastructure, and publish open-source research.
EthSystems expects to work with projects such as Aztec, Miden, and other privacy providers. It will select and connect tools based on each institution’s legal and business needs.
Demand Moves Beyond Blockchain Tests The team previously built proof-of-concept systems inside the Ethereum Foundation. Financial institutions later asked whether they could pay the group to turn those tests into working products.
The foundation could not support that type of commercial work. The move to a for-profit structure now allows EthSystems to charge clients, fund development, and meet corporate procurement rules.
Jalil said discussions have shifted from innovation teams to business units that manage trading and assets. These teams now want to move real financial activity onto public blockchains.
EthSystems says institutions no longer need basic proof that blockchain can support finance. They need privacy systems that meet internal controls, regulatory duties, and data protection rules.
The company sits alongside other groups created during the Ethereum Foundation’s wider restructuring. EthLabs focuses on protocol work, while Ethereum Institutional handles enterprise coordination.
EthSystems will focus only on privacy and cryptography for institutional users. Its strategy rests on helping banks use Ethereum without exposing sensitive data to every network participant.
Why ETH Is The Strongest Major Right Now?Trader Pentosh1 said on X that ETH remains the strongest major in the market and sees the $1,700s as a potential accumulation zone if price pulls back there over the next few weeks.
He put short-term upside in the low $2,000s, with some chop expected heading into the midterms.
The ETH/BTC ratio climbed to 0.030, its highest reading in three months.
“We view the rising ETH/BTC ratio, despite the falling odds of passage of the Clarity Act in 2026, as a sign crypto prices are strengthening,” Lee said.
Three Bullish Signals Behind The MoveThe first signal as discussed is the ETH/BTC ratio hitting a three-month high, pointing to Ethereum outperforming on a relative basis regardless of broader market direction.
The second is Ethereum’s validator exit queue dropping to zero after peaking above 2.6 million ETH in September.
Analyst Merlijn The Trader said on X that the clearing of the queue into a 47% drawdown means whoever wanted out is already out.
Meanwhile, roughly 2.5 million ETH is now queued to enter staking with waits near 43 days, locking up supply rather than releasing it.
The third is ETF inflows turning consistently positive. Ethereum ETFs recorded three straight weeks of net buying totaling roughly $294 million, according to SoSoValue data:
Week ending July 24 — $103.90M inflow Week ending July 17 — $105.44M inflow Week ending July 10 — $84.42M inflow ETH Price Today: Key Technical LevelsETH holds at $1,908, sitting inside the 0.382 to 0.5 Fibonacci zone between $1,837 and $1,939.
The Parabolic SAR at $1,852 sits just below price, and a daily close below it immediately re-confirms the downtrend.
The 20-day EMA at $1,860 and 50-day at $1,840 are converging just overhead as near-term resistance.
Holding $1,837 is the key condition for the recovery thesis to stay intact. Losing it opens $1,711 fast, with $1,506 as the next level below that.
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EthSystems, a newly established Ethereum-focused technology company, is prioritizing privacy solutions to attract banks and other financial institutions to public blockchains. The firm contends that confidentiality, rather than network throughput or scalability, remains the most significant challenge for traditional institutions considering the use of Ethereum for settlement and asset management.
Focus on Institutional Privacy SolutionsEthSystems emerged in June 2024 as a for-profit company spun out from the Ethereum Foundation’s Institutional Privacy Task Force. The primary mission is to support banks, asset managers, governments, stablecoin operators, and the tokenization of financial assets by addressing their privacy needs on Ethereum.
The company assists institutional clients in integrating privacy controls that safeguard sensitive transaction data while preserving Ethereum’s inherent transparency and security. Rather than promising total anonymity, EthSystems supports customizable access to transaction details, ensuring that only authorized parties can access confidential information.
Co-founder Mo Jalil explained that these controls are vital to comply with internal protocols and regulatory requirements, especially for banks and asset managers with strict data protection obligations.
EthSystems frames confidentiality not as blanket anonymity but as carefully structured access, supporting privacy in a way that aligns with regulatory frameworks and business controls.
EthSystems does not plan to create a new blockchain or develop entirely new privacy protocols. Instead, the company will focus on consulting, designing privacy systems, customizing technical infrastructure, and sharing open-source research to support institutional users.
Collaboration With Existing Privacy ProtocolsThe company intends to work closely with established privacy projects such as Aztec and Miden. Rather than competing with such efforts, EthSystems plans to select, connect, and integrate a range of privacy tools according to each client’s legal jurisdiction and operational needs.
Aztec and Miden are Ethereum scaling and privacy solutions that use zero-knowledge proofs to shield transaction data while maintaining cryptographic verification and compliance capabilities.
Mini dictionary: Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) — Cryptographic methods that allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any specific data beyond the validity of the statement itself. ZKPs are often used to enhance privacy in blockchain transactions.
EthSystems’ approach involves advising clients on privacy frameworks, tailoring existing privacy solutions, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards for financial data.
Transition From Foundation to Commercial EntityEthSystems’ founding team previously worked within the Ethereum Foundation, where they developed proof-of-concept privacy systems for institutional use cases. Growing demand from financial organizations led to requests for commercial-grade implementations, which the nonprofit Foundation was unable to provide due to its structure.
Transitioning to a profit-driven model now enables EthSystems to enter commercial contracts, secure funding for further development, and better accommodate procurement requirements of large financial institutions.
Jalil noted that discussions with financial institutions have shifted. While early IT innovation teams once focused on exploratory blockchain tests, operational business divisions now seek to migrate real asset trading and settlement onto public blockchains, contingent on robust privacy guarantees.
EthSystems joins other specialist companies arising from the Ethereum Foundation’s recent reorganization, alongside groups like EthLabs for core protocol development and Ethereum Institutional for enterprise engagement. EthSystems’ stated focus will remain the design and implementation of privacy and cryptographic systems for institutional Ethereum users.
Increasingly, institutions no longer need to prove blockchain’s technical viability. They require privacy solutions that meet internal controls, regulatory obligations, and protect sensitive transaction data when operating on public networks.
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.
