The focus has now turned to the upcoming FOMC meeting at the end of the month.
Bitcoin dipped on a couple of occasions below $62,000 during the previous business week, prompted by Strategy’s largest sale to date and the renewed attacks in the Middle East. However, it recovered a lot of ground by the weekend and spent it trading sideways at around $64,000.
Monday began with another nosedive to under the aforementioned level as the market priced in the new attacks between the US and Iran from Saturday and Sunday. Nevertheless, the bulls showed strong conviction and managed to defend that level.
All eyes turned to the US CPI data for June, which went live on Tuesday. Most market experts believed there would be a significant reduction from the May multi-year record, from 4.2% to somewhere around 3.8%-3.9%. However, the actual data was even more promising, showing a drop to 3.5%.
The primary cryptocurrency reacted immediately to the seemingly slowing inflation, rocketing to $64,000 within hours and up to $65,500 on Wednesday. The latter became its highest price tag in approximately three weeks.
However, BTC’s rally came to a halt at that point. The cryptocurrency started a gradual decrease, which pushed it south to $62,400 earlier today. Although it has recovered about a grand since then, it’s still down by more than 2% weekly. Many altcoins have shown even more profound losses, with HYPE leading this adverse trend.
Hyperliquid’s native token has plunged by more than 12% since this time last Friday, followed by SOL’s 6.5% drop and ADA’s near 6% decrease. In contrast, ONDO has jumped by almost 12%, while ZEC is up by 3.7%.
This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss Trump’s New Iran Strategy Revealed: Will Bitcoin Pay the Price Again? After the ceasefire breakdown, reports emerged during the past week outlining Trump’s new strategy against Iran. The new wave of attacks will reportedly involve strikes with a wider scope than the previous ones, which increases the pressure on risk-on assets like BTC.
CRO Surges as Crypto.com Secures $400M in Citadel Securities-Led Funding. In its first-ever institutional funding round, the popular crypto exchange secured a $400 million investment from Citadel Securities. Its native token jumped immediately by 25%, but it was quickly halted and returned to its starting point.
Ripple (XRP) Peaked at $3.65 Exactly a Year Ago: What Went Wrong? It was a year ago today that the cross-border token flew to $3.65 to set a new all-time high. The following 12 months, though, have been quite painful, with the asset dumping by 70%. Nevertheless, the company behind it continues to make major moves. Here are many of them.
Jesse Pollak Leaves Base Leadership After Failed Social Strategy. Base creator Jesse Pollak admitted to adopting the wrong strategy when developing the network, focusing mainly on the social side of the market. Consequently, he decided to step down from his leadership position.
Peter Schiff: Bitcoin Holders Will Soon Regret Not Selling at Current Levels. The full-time BTC critic did in the past week what he has been doing for many years. He used the opportunity to urge bitcoin investors to offload their positions at current levels, as they might regret not doing so soon.
Saylor’s Strategy Boosts USD Reserves by $450M Without Selling BTC: Here’s How. Mondays have become quite intriguing lately due to Strategy’s pivot. After the previous week’s sale, investors expected new controversial announcements from the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. Instead, the firm simply boosted its USD reserve and refrained from making any BTC-related moves.
Eight weeks. That’s how long investors spent yanking money out of Bitcoin funds in what became the longest outflow streak on record. According to CoinShares, that brutal $8 billion exodus has officially ended, with Bitcoin products pulling in roughly $287 million in fresh capital last week.
The numbers behind the reversal CoinShares, which publishes weekly tracking data on digital asset fund flows across the ETP and ETF landscape, reported that broader weekly inflows hit approximately $1.03 billion. Of that total, around $790 million flowed specifically into Bitcoin products.
That’s a sharp contrast to the prior eight weeks, where outflows accumulated to roughly $8 billion. The streak began in early May and persisted through early July, making it the most prolonged period of net selling pressure in the history of digital asset investment products.
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Bitcoin wasn’t the only beneficiary of the mood shift. Ethereum products attracted approximately $84 million in inflows during the same period, suggesting the recovery extends beyond just the largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Year-to-date flows for digital asset products sit at approximately $188 billion according to CoinShares’ data.
What drove the selling, and why it stopped The extended outflow period coincided with broader market pressure throughout much of 2026. Forced selling, portfolio rebalancing, and what CoinShares describes as capitulation dynamics all contributed to the sustained exodus from digital asset funds.
The week ending around July 10 marked the inflection point. Bitcoin fund inflows during this period ranged from $197 million to $312 million depending on the specific product category, with the headline figure landing at $287 million.
CoinShares has emphasized that the data suggests a possible turning point in investor sentiment. The firm tracks fund flows with updates published each Monday and Friday, giving market participants near-real-time visibility into how capital is moving through the ecosystem.
What this means for investors When capital flows back into multiple asset categories simultaneously rather than concentrating in a single token, it typically indicates a broader improvement in risk appetite rather than a one-off event driven by a single catalyst.
Traders should pay close attention to the next two to three weeks of CoinShares data. If inflows persist and potentially accelerate, the case for a genuine sentiment shift becomes much stronger.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Why Lee Thinks This Is Ethereum’s 1.0 To 2.0 TransitionAmazon went from $6 to $241 after AWS scaled. Nvidia went from $1 to $197 after ChatGPT arrived. JPMorgan went from $58 to $334 after becoming a truly global bank.
Each took years of sideways price action before the addressable market expanded enough to move the stock.
Lee said ETH at $1,800 sits in that same window, with Ethereum co-creator Joe Lubin seeing a path to $250,000 as the fully realized version of that thesis.
What Is Actually Building On Ethereum Right Now?Lee pointed to Robinhood Chain as the clearest proof that ETH is becoming money.
The Layer-2 network launched in July on Arbitrum, crossed $1 billion in daily volume within weeks, and uses ETH as its native gas token with all transaction fees denominated in ETH and settled on Ethereum’s base layer.
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) has 27 million users paying fees in ETH without necessarily thinking of it as crypto.
Ethereum also carries nearly 7,000 developers on the EVM stack, more than any other chain, and leads every major continent in developer activity according to Electric Capital data.
The AI Agent Economy and Why Tom Lee Is Betting on ETH as Its Settlement LayerLee argued that AI agents will eventually generate more income than the humans who deploy them, creating a trust problem only decentralized blockchain infrastructure can solve.
He called this the “uncanny valley of wealth” and said blockchain becomes the barrier between humans and AI, with ETH as the working capital layer of that economy.
Marc Andreessen of A16Z framed it similarly, calling AI and crypto a grand unification.
Arthur Hayes Reverses His ETH Position Within Three WeeksOn-chain data tracked by Onchain Lens showed Arthur Hayes accumulating 1,939 ETH in a single day through OTC transactions with Galaxy Digital and FalconX, spending roughly $3.72 million combined.
The purchases reverse a position he exited in late June when he sold 6,000 ETH at an estimated $606,000 loss alongside exits from Worldcoin, Zcash, NEAR, and Hyperliquid.
Ethereum Technical Analysis: Where ETH Stands Right NowETH remains down 47.86% over the past 12 months with the November 2025 death cross still in place.
The 50-day SMA at $1,740 sits below the 200-day SMA at $2,194, keeping overhead supply intact.
Key levels for ETH:
$1,753 — 20-day SMA acting as near-term support $1,740 — 50-day SMA, first level to hold on any pullback $2,194 — 200-day SMA where longer-term overhead supply sits Photo via Shutterstock
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PANews July 17 news, according to CoinDesk, Robinhood is betting on the decentralized finance (DeFi) market with its self-built blockchain Robinhood Chain, aiming to bring over 10 million active users into the on-chain ecosystem. However, the network's trading activity is still mainly driven by Meme coin speculation, and the initially touted vision of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization has yet to reach scale.
Robinhood Chain's trading volume recently surged briefly. On July 12, the chain's 24-hour DEX trading volume reached about $878 million, briefly surpassing Coinbase Base and Ethereum, vaulting it to the top ranks of decentralized trading volume and drawing attention from the crypto community.
Seong Seog Lee, head of product at Robinhood Crypto, said the company's goal is not to poach users from existing crypto trading platforms, but to leverage Robinhood's enormous retail user base to bring ordinary investors who have never touched on-chain finance into tokenized assets and on-chain derivatives markets. Robinhood currently provides access to on-chain financial services through Robinhood Wallet, covering assets such as gold, silver, forex and crypto perpetual contracts, allowing users to directly access related products via the wallet. However, Robinhood Chain is still in its early stages. Data shows:
On July 13, perpetual contract trading volume on the chain was only about $5.9 million, while leading on-chain derivatives platform Hyperliquid saw $8.9 billion in volume over the same period; Robinhood Chain shows a bridged TVL of about $734 million, but actual on-chain total value locked (TVL) is about $211 million, with some assets still sitting in wallets and not entering lending or yield protocols; the market cap of RWA tokenized assets is currently only about $12.66 million.
Most of the trading heat on Robinhood Chain currently comes from Meme coins. The recently issued CASHCAT token on the chain surged over 2,100% within a week, once reaching a market cap of $156 million — 12 times the size of the entire on-chain RWA market — a phenomenon that has sparked market discussion. Previously, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev had said that Meme coins are "assets with no real utility," but after CASHCAT's explosive rise, he remarked that Robinhood Chain is "equally suitable for Meme coin development."
Analysts believe that Robinhood Chain's development path resembles the early stages of some new public chains: initially relying on speculative trading for traffic, and then needing to prove whether it can convert that into long-term users, a developer ecosystem, and real financial applications. The key going forward is whether Robinhood can use its massive retail user base to turn the short-term Meme coin frenzy into a continuously growing on-chain financial ecosystem.
Institutional investment in $XRP continues to accelerate as Brookstone Capital Management, a financial advisory firm based in Illinois, revealed a significant stake in the Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF (XRPI) through its latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Brookstone’s XRP ETF positionCrypto market commentator Xaif drew attention to the disclosure, noting that Brookstone now holds 12,380 shares of XRPI valued at approximately $71 million. He characterized this activity as evidence of growing institutional participation in XRP.
Brookstone Capital Management has confirmed a $71 million position in the Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF, holding 12,380 shares according to its recent SEC filing. This move adds to a pattern of institutional entry into regulated XRP products.
The 13F filing, a quarterly report required by the SEC, documents asset positions of professional investment managers. Unlike an ETF launch application, a 13F filing shows positions that firms already hold in their portfolios.
Several months earlier, similar filings indicated that Goldman Sachs had become the largest holder of spot XRP ETF shares among institutional investors.
Brookstone’s participation highlights their growing interest in products that offer regulated access to cryptocurrencies without necessitating direct asset custody.
Mini dictionary: 13F filing, a quarterly disclosure form that must be submitted by institutional investment managers with over $100 million in assets under management, detailing their holdings in equities and certain ETFs.
The Volatility Shares Trust XRP ETF, listed on Nasdaq, launched in 2025 as an actively managed fund focused primarily on XRP futures contracts. The ETF aims for capital appreciation by allowing investors to gain regulated exposure to XRP market movements, removing the need for direct self-custody of digital assets.
The fund provides a bridge for institutions and retail investors seeking exposure to XRP in a manner compliant with U.S. financial regulations.
Multiple U.S.-listed spot XRP ETFs debuted in November 2025, each structured to allow shareholders to invest in XRP markets with reduced exposure to custody risks and regulatory uncertainty.
ETFLaunch DatePrimary AssetStatusVolatility Shares Trust XRP ETF2025XRP FuturesActiveSpot XRP ETFs (multiple)Nov 2025XRPActive, traded in U.S.Institutional adoption and inflow trendsBrookstone’s filing adds to an ongoing trend of financial institutions seeking crypto exposure through regulated investment vehicles. Spot XRP ETFs in the U.S. reported no net outflow days in their first month after launch. By early December 2025, combined assets under management for these funds had surpassed $1 billion.
Industry data shows that cumulative net inflows into spot XRP ETFs reached $1.44 billion since their launch, underlining persistent appetite from institutional investors.
XRP ETF inflows outpace other crypto fundsThe resilience of XRP ETFs stands out against the backdrop of declining flows in other major digital asset funds. In June, U.S. Bitcoin ETFs recorded outflows exceeding $4 billion, while Ethereum ETFs saw investors withdraw $528.99 million. XRP ETFs, however, attracted $59.4 million in fresh inflows during the same period. This inflow streak for XRP spot ETFs extended for eight consecutive weeks through June 26, underscoring their strong institutional demand.
While capital pulled away from Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in June, XRP ETFs added $59.4 million, continuing an eight-week streak of positive inflows. This momentum indicates a strategic pivot among institutional investors toward diversified crypto exposure.
ETFJune 2026 Net FlowBitcoin ETFs-$4 billionEthereum ETFs-$528.99 millionXRP ETFs+$59.4 millionImplications for XRP holdersBrookstone’s 13F filing is the latest signal that a wider array of investment firms, from multinational banks to smaller advisors, are adopting regulated crypto products such as XRP ETFs to diversify client portfolios. The steady inflows and absence of major outflows reflect a pattern of longer-term allocation, rather than speculative trading.
By using products like the Volatility Shares XRPI fund, investors gain efficient, regulated access to the XRP market, further legitimizing the asset within institutional finance circles.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Crypto markets slipped on Thursday as two forces weighed on sentiment simultaneously: a Senate hearing on the CLARITY Act revealed the legislation may slip further than expected, while a Chinese AI model triggered a global equity selloff wiping $1.8 trillion from stock markets worldwide.
Bitcoin fell to $63,367, down 1.78% over 24 hours, Ethereum dropped to $1,830 and XRP slid to $1.08. The total crypto market cap declined to $2.18 trillion as the Fear and Greed Index held at 31.
CLARITY Act: One Yard Line, No Touchdown Yet
The House Financial Services Committee opened a field hearing in New York examining how the CLARITY Act could unlock innovation across digital assets. The session was informational only with no vote impact, but it marked one of the final formal steps before the bill can reach a Senate floor vote.
Representative Timmons struck a positive tone. “We’re on the one yard line, we just gotta score the touchdown,” he said, describing the legislation as “incredibly important in maintaining the U.S. economy as the centre of the global economy.”
The excitement was tempered by developments on Capitol Hill. Updated legislative text has still not been released following a Trump-Senate Republicans meeting focused on ethics provisions. Industry leaders are privately bracing for the rollout to slip into next week, according to reporter Eleanor Terrett.
Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act passing crashed to a record low of 31%, even as Trump met with senators in what was described as a last-ditch push to advance the bill before the August recess.
The AI Model That Moved Global Markets
The broader selloff arrived from an unexpected direction. Chinese laboratory Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, a 2.8 trillion parameter open-source model, the largest ever built, surpassing DeepSeek’s previous record of 1.6 trillion parameters. On independent benchmarks it performed close to Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6, while pricing its services at a fraction of the cost.
The implication was immediate. The AI trade has been priced on the assumption that staying competitive requires massive, growing spending on chips and data centres. When a Chinese laboratory builds something nearly as capable for far less, that assumption gets challenged and capital committed to AI infrastructure gets repriced simultaneously.
Asian markets absorbed the initial blow. Japan’s Nikkei fell 4%. Taiwan’s Taiex crashed 6.5% with TSMC down 7.3%. The global semiconductor index fell 3%, entering bear market territory after losing more than 24% from its June peak. Global chip stocks have shed over $2 trillion since June 22.
What to Watch
Two catalysts will determine crypto’s next move. The first is whether CLARITY Act text emerges before the August recess. A confirmed delay removes one of the few remaining positive catalysts in the near-term outlook. The second is whether the AI-driven equity selloff stabilises, given crypto’s current 80%-plus correlation with major equity indices.
Story Ends Here
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Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee is convinced Ethereum (ETH) has become the key decentralized component of the "second wave" of AI, as investors redirect capital away from the overheated semiconductor sector.
While chipmakers are entering a correction, Ethereum has outperformed the computer memory sector (DRAM) by 55% over the past month, triggering inflows into spot crypto ETFs such as BlackRock's ETHA, Lee said in a fresh X post.
Of course, the analyst is far from a neutral observer, as Lee outlined his AI strategy in an official letter to shareholders of BitMine Immersion Technologies, where he serves as chairman of the board.
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Ethereum is a key AI downstream story:
- AI will need guardrails
- Consumers unlikely to trust govts, big tech, or banks to protect consumershttps://t.co/N39ACKzHjV
— Thomas (Tom) Lee (not drummer) FundstratDirect.com (@fundstrat) July 17, 2026 BitMine has accumulated 5.77 million ETH on its balance sheet — 4.8% of the cryptocurrency's total global supply — becoming the largest corporate holder of Ethereum in the world and making Tom Lee a major beneficiary of his own forecast.
Why Tom Lee is betting on Ethereum over AI chipsIn his letter, the entrepreneur highlighted two pragmatic reasons why AI and blockchain will inevitably merge into a single ecosystem:
Machines need rules: Emerging autonomous AI agents, which are beginning to execute transactions and transfer funds without human involvement, require a secure and immutable settlement environment. Ethereum serves as an independent digital framework, or set of guardrails.A crisis of trust: Users are unlikely to entrust the security of their data and wallets in the AI era to governments, banks, or Big Tech corporations. A decentralized network remains the only neutral alternative for protecting consumer rights. Venture capital firm a16z has already described this technological symbiosis as the "great convergence."At the same time, Ethereum's position is being strengthened by traditional finance, according to Lee. The explosive success of Robinhood Chain, where all transaction fees are settled in ETH, is effectively turning the asset into global digital money.
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The Fundstrat co-founder also pointed to BlackRock's Ethereum-based BUIDL fund, which has already surpassed $2.6 billion, and to JPMorgan moving its products onto Ethereum's public rails while developing its own tokenized MONY fund there.
Lee considers the current pessimism among retail investors a mistake, describing the mass sell-offs as "rage quitting at the bottom." According to the analyst, Ethereum's current position is comparable to Amazon's early years, when temporary stagnation on the chart concealed the potential for future multi-fold growth.
Ethereum is under pressure again as traders reassess how much of the ETF optimism has already been priced into the market.
The move is not simply about ETH losing momentum on a chart. Ethereum has been trading at the intersection of several stories at once: spot ETF expectations, regulatory timing, network fundamentals, institutional demand, and broader risk appetite. When one of those pillars weakens, price can struggle even if the long-term thesis remains intact.
This time, the pressure appears to be tied to a cooler policy backdrop and a market that is less willing to chase risk while legislative uncertainty hangs over digital assets.
That does not mean the Ethereum ETF story is over. It does mean traders may be less willing to pay up for the narrative until there is clearer follow-through.
TL;DR Ethereum has weakened as ETF optimism meets a less supportive policy and market backdrop. Traders are watching whether ETH can hold key support while futures and spot flows reset. The long-term institutional case remains alive, but short-term price action is being driven by caution. ETF Optimism Has Limits Ethereum’s ETF story is powerful because it changes the access model.
A spot ETF can bring ETH exposure to investors who do not want to manage wallets, private keys, exchanges, or direct custody. It can also make Ethereum easier to include in model portfolios, adviser platforms, and institutional allocation frameworks.
That is why ETF headlines can move the market.
But ETF optimism does not move in a straight line. Traders often buy the expectation before the product is fully live, then reassess once timing, fees, demand, and market conditions become clearer. If the broader backdrop weakens, even a strong ETF narrative can struggle to support price.
That is what Ethereum appears to be facing now. The market is not rejecting the institutional story, but it is asking whether near-term demand will be strong enough to justify the previous excitement.
The answer is still uncertain.
ETF products can create durable demand over time, but first-day or first-week trading does not always tell the whole story. Bitcoin’s ETF experience showed that flows, rotations, and issuer competition can take time to settle. Ethereum may face a similar adjustment period.
Policy Uncertainty Still Weighs On ETH Ethereum is also more exposed to regulatory interpretation than Bitcoin.
Bitcoin’s role as a commodity-like macro asset is relatively easier for institutions to understand. Ethereum is more complex. It is a settlement layer, a smart-contract platform, a staking network, a DeFi base layer, and an asset that sits inside multiple regulatory debates at once.
That complexity can be a strength, but it also gives policymakers more to examine.
If Washington remains divided on market-structure rules, staking treatment, DeFi oversight, or the classification of digital assets, ETH traders may hesitate. The market can believe in Ethereum’s long-term role while still discounting the asset in the short term because the rulebook is unfinished.
That is why the policy backdrop matters for price.
A clean regulatory environment would make Ethereum easier for institutions to underwrite. A messy one does not stop the network from operating, but it can slow allocation decisions, product design, and the confidence of more conservative investors.
What Traders Are Watching Now For ETH price action, the next phase comes down to support, positioning, and whether buyers return with conviction.
If futures open interest cools while spot selling slows, that can be healthy. It suggests leverage is being cleared without destroying the broader structure. If price keeps falling alongside rising bearish positioning, the market may be bracing for a deeper move.
Exchange flows also matter. Outflows can suggest investors are moving ETH into custody or long-term storage. Inflows can point to potential selling pressure. Neither signal is perfect on its own, but combined with price and derivatives data, it can help explain the tone.
The key for Ethereum is whether the market can separate short-term disappointment from the longer-term access story.
A weaker session does not erase Ethereum’s role in DeFi, stablecoins, tokenization, and smart-contract infrastructure. It does, however, remind traders that narratives need fresh demand to keep working.
If ETF flows improve and policy risk cools, ETH could recover its footing. If risk appetite stays weak, traders may keep fading rallies until stronger evidence appears.
For now, Ethereum sits in a familiar position: the long-term case remains broad, but the short-term market wants proof.
That proof will not come from headlines alone. It will come from flows, support levels, derivatives positioning, and whether institutions treat ETH as a serious allocation after the initial ETF excitement fades.
Until then, caution is likely to remain part of the trade.
This article is based on information from Arkham Intelligence.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee has identified Ethereum as a fundamental component of what he calls the “second wave” of artificial intelligence (AI), as capital shifts away from the highly valued semiconductor sector. Lee, a prominent Wall Street strategist and current chairman of BitMine Immersion Technologies, shared his views in a recent shareholder letter and a public post.
Ethereum’s role in AI and blockchain integrationLee emphasized two core reasons why the integration of AI and blockchain technology appears inevitable. First, he noted that the emergence of autonomous AI agents, which now perform transactions and move funds independently of human input, necessitates a robust and tamper-proof settlement layer. He suggested Ethereum fulfills this role, acting as the neutral digital framework required to manage machine-to-machine interactions securely.
Second, Lee cited a growing crisis of trust in established institutions such as governments, banks, and major technology companies. He argued that in the era of autonomous AI, individuals are unlikely to entrust sensitive data or digital assets to centralized organizations. Instead, he presented Ethereum’s decentralized nature as the only viable alternative for safeguarding consumer interests. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has previously described the confluence of AI and blockchain as the “great convergence.”
Mini dictionary: BitMine Immersion Technologies is a technology company specializing in cryptocurrency mining using immersion cooling to enhance efficiency and scalability in blockchain operations.
BitMine’s strategic Ethereum accumulationBitMine Immersion Technologies, chaired by Lee, has accumulated 5.77 million ETH, representing 4.8% of Ethereum’s total global supply. This makes BitMine the world’s largest corporate holder of Ethereum, further aligning the company’s financial interests with Lee’s bullish predictions for the network.
Lee disclosed that Ethereum has outperformed the computer memory (DRAM) sector by 55% over the past month. This impressive rally has increased inflows to spot crypto ETFs, including BlackRock’s ETHA, as some investors reduce their exposure to chipmakers catching a sector-wide correction.
Asset1-Month PerformanceCorporate HoldingsEthereum (ETH)+55% vs DRAM sectorBitMine: 5.77M ETH (4.8% global supply)DRAM SectorCorrection phaseNot applicableTraditional finance boosts Ethereum adoptionAccording to Lee, Ethereum’s ecosystem is also being reinforced by new initiatives in legacy finance. He pointed to Robinhood Chain, a blockchain network where all transaction fees are denominated in ETH, promoting Ethereum’s function as a global medium of exchange. Lee also highlighted BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, an Ethereum-based fund that has surpassed $2.6 billion in assets. Additionally, investment bank JPMorgan has transitioned some of its products onto Ethereum’s public chain while working on its own tokenized money market product, MONY fund.
Lee considers this accelerated adoption by financial institutions a validation of Ethereum’s expanding role within both the AI and finance industries.
Investor sentiment and future outlookDespite these developments, Lee observed considerable pessimism among retail market participants. He referenced significant sell-offs by smaller investors, dismissing such exits as “rage quitting at the bottom.” Lee drew parallels between Ethereum’s current trajectory and Amazon’s early years in public markets, a period marked by prolonged stagnation that preceded sustained growth. He suggested that current market weakness may be obscuring Ethereum’s underlying potential.
Lee highlighted that “machines need rules” and a secure infrastructure for transactions, which is why Ethereum’s independent digital framework is positioned to become the guardrail for the growing autonomous AI economy.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Ethereum’s [ETH] attempted rebound faced rejection at $1,944 three days ago. The pullback pushed ETH to $1,819 before it recovered slightly.
At press time, Ethereum traded near $1,823 after falling 3.6% over 24 hours. The decline attracted substantial whale activity, although sellers retained control of the market.
Are whales buying the ETH dip? CryptoQuant’s Spot Average Order Size recorded large whale orders for seven consecutive days.
However, the metric captured both buying and selling activity. Therefore, it confirmed whale participation without establishing a clear direction.
Lookonchain also reported that two newly created wallets withdrew 20,000 ETH from Coinbase Prime. The withdrawal was worth $37.72 million and occurred in two batches of 10,000 ETH.
Source: CryptoQuant According to the tracker, the associated whale had accumulated aggressively during the previous three days.
On the 16th of July, the whale purchased 30,000 ETH, worth $57.6 million. Its three-day accumulation reached 89,396 ETH, valued at approximately $164.88 million.
Buying during a decline suggested that the whale expected stronger prices. However, one entity’s activity could not confirm broader confidence.
Source: CoinGlass CoinGlass data showed that Ethereum’s Spot Netflow remained negative for two consecutive days.
At press time, Spot Netflow stood at -$23.6 million, compared with -$49 million the previous day. Therefore, net outflows continued but slowed considerably.
Negative Spot Netflow indicated that more ETH left exchanges than entered them. This trend aligned with the reported whale withdrawals. Even so, Exchange Outflows alone could not establish that every withdrawal represented accumulation.
Can whales defend $1.8K? Whales absorbed some selling pressure, but Ethereum’s broader structure remained weak.
The Balance of Power fell from 0.93 to -0.61, shifting into negative territory. That reading indicated that sellers controlled short-term price action despite the whale demand.
Source: TradingView Continued weakness could push Ethereum [ETH] below $1,800 and toward $1,774. However, sustained buying could help Ethereum defend $1,800 and reclaim $1,928. A recovery above $1,928 could reopen the path toward $2,000.
Final Summary A whale accumulated 89,396 ETH, worth $164.88 million, over three days. Ethereum remained vulnerable below $1,944 despite whale demand and continued Exchange Outflows.
Ethereum outsourced scaling to L2s. Now native proof verification and fast finality can bring them back into the fold.
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One of the critiques of Ethereum's rollup era is that Layer 2s were supposed to be extensions of Ethereum, but they've drifted into being de facto chains that just buy data availability from the L1.
It's a fair critique, even if there's room for nuance.
Yet over the past 18 months, two research arcs have been maturing that could dissolve this argument entirely. The first arc is native rollups, i.e. packaging L2 blocks as proof-carrying transactions that Ethereum verifies directly.
How Native Rollups Scale Ethereum | Uma Roy & Justin Drake on Bankless
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This concept has bounced around the Ethereum community in recent years (originally known as "enshrined rollups"), and then the EIP-8079 draft formalized an initial approach in November 2025. To understand why it matters, consider how things work now.
Today, every rollup deploys and maintains its own verifier contracts on L1, i.e. bespoke stacks of code that prove the L2's blocks are valid. These verifiers are complex, gas-heavy, and risky to upgrade. For example, Taiko's stack alone spans six contracts.
In contrast, L2BEAT's Head of Research Luca Donno has estimated that major rollups could shed in the ballpark of ~39% of their onchain verifier code under a native approach:
Specifically native rollups would delete that extra load by making Ethereum the verifier, and L2s built this way would inherit L1 security and every future EVM upgrade automatically, with no migration scrambles required. And this architecture is no longer just theory, either.
Earlier this year, the ethrex client team released a full demo of an L2 settling to L1 via re-execution and with working deposits and withdrawals. And per L2BEAT's new dedicated Native Rollups tracker page, ecosystem-wide development milestones are slated through 2027, including a devnet targeted for this December.
All that said, the second key arc here is fast finality. Right now, Ethereum blocks arrive every ~12 seconds, though finality, i.e. the point where a block becomes practically irreversible, takes roughly 15 minutes. That lag caps how "final" any L2 settling to Ethereum can feel.
Ensuring that we have an expressive proof verification interface, native to the Ethereum protocol, should be one of our highest design goals.
Paired with fast finality, it will be a powerful force in the world. https://t.co/kYTpTAwcIm
— punk5736 (@punk5736) July 16, 2026 The fix has long been on the roadmap in the form of single slot finality research, and breakthroughs are nearing.
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For instance, researcher Francesco D'Amato, one of the minds behind Ethereum's SSF and PeerDAS work, just announced his move from the Ethereum Foundation to Ethlabs with a stated mission of making Ethereum "finalize much faster, as soon as possible."
This vision is also not a distant dream. D'Amato's fast confirmation rule, already running on Glamsterdam's devnets, was replayed against a full year of mainnet data and produced zero false confirmations while delivering 1-slot confirmation more than 95% of the time.
Goal is fast *finality* asap, but in the meantime fast confirmation (https://t.co/vFVtjqULOa) is already here and gives a *very strong* confirmation in seconds, 98% faster than finality! Now on Glamsterdam devnets https://t.co/o3cez3gQ6s pic.twitter.com/5LYQgBSWcI
— Francesco (@fradamt) July 16, 2026 In other words, near-instant strong assurances are demonstrably achievable without sacrificing safety.
Now, of course, native rollups and fast finality are great in their own rights, but combined they're transformative. Native verification makes L2 blocks something Ethereum personally checks, and fast finality will make these checks land in seconds rather than minutes.
In this paradigm, an L2's state could finalize with full L1 security almost immediately, i.e. not like a separate chain posting data to Ethereum but more like Ethereum simply having more blockspace.
Ethereum researcher Barnabé Monnot recently pushed this framing even further, noting that the L1 itself will likely eventually verify its own blocks via proofs, effectively becoming "a rollup of itself." If this pans out, the L1-vs-L2 distinction will blur into a matter of how composable everyone's state is, and more composability on Ethereum should accrue more value to Ethereum.
Riffing on this, many analogies collapse when you consider that L1 is likely to eventually turn into a rollup/L2 of itself.
So it's not the fundamental nature of a rollup to not be "value accretive" to ETH or Ethereum.
And the right lens to think about it is state, and one's… https://t.co/OBXRkXvXIH
— Barnabé Monnot | barnabé.eth (@barnabemonnot) July 15, 2026 To be sure, it will take time for these advances to actualize and synergize. EIP-8079 is still just a draft, and so on. The earliest this full meld could come together is likely late 2027. And there's also the sovereignty angle to consider. Today's major L2s differentiate partly through their custom stacks, so some may simply decline tighter integration.
Overall, then, the big open question is how much tighter technical coupling will translate into how much economic flowback for Ethereum. For his part, Monnot summed up the optimistic case well:
"The more external domains/sequencers have the ability to compose with L1 state, e.g., leveraging its liquidity, the more value accrues to it, vs 'islands of state' bootstrapping their own economies without Ethereum's added value."So Ethereum may have spent years outsourcing its scaling, yes, but now it's definitively building the machinery to bring its offspring back into the fold, faster and more unified than ever before. Keep these arcs and their potential on your radar accordingly.
Ethereum processed 18,658,277 transactions in the past week, marking its third-highest weekly transaction total in the network’s history, according to data from blockchain staking services provider Everstake, which cited research by Blockworks Research.
Ethereum use rises despite low market volatilityThis milestone occurred during a period of limited price movement in the broader cryptocurrency market, underscoring consistent growth in on-chain activity regardless of short-term volatility. Everstake observed that, historically, such high transaction volumes have typically aligned with strong market speculation. However, the recent surge was not accompanied by a significant price rally, indicating independent traction in network usage.
Everstake shared the update in a recent post on X, stating that while market cycles are inevitable, infrastructure development persists across all conditions. The company emphasized, “Ethereum’s progress shouldn’t be measured by price action alone. Network adoption and infrastructure development continue to advance regardless of short-term market sentiment.”
Blockworks Research, a blockchain analytics platform known for tracking on-chain data across major crypto networks, provided the transaction figures referenced in the analysis.
Mini dictionary: Everstake is an international blockchain infrastructure provider that operates staking nodes on multiple proof-of-stake networks, allowing users to earn rewards by participating in network validation.
Institutional and real-world adoption fuel network activityThe sustained uptick in transactions reflects broader trends in Ethereum’s development, as the platform increasingly supports real-world applications and not just speculative trading. Active sectors on Ethereum include decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoin transfers, tokenized assets, NFT infrastructure, and Layer-2 rollups, all contributing to consistent blockchain activity regardless of market sentiment.
According to data from DefiLlama, Ethereum continues to lead all smart contract platforms by total value locked (TVL), a metric indicating the sum of assets deposited in DeFi protocols. This dominance positions Ethereum as the primary smart contract blockchain for both retail and institutional usage. Traditional financial institutions have expanded their use of Ethereum-based infrastructure, seeking new avenues for asset tokenization and settlement processes.
Use CaseImpact on TransactionsDeFi protocolsGenerates ongoing transaction volume with lending, swaps, and stakingStablecoin transfersDrives frequent payments and settlementsNFT infrastructureAdds transactions for minting, trading, and transfersLayer-2 rollupsAbsorbs high volume, helps to scale mainnet trafficLong-term development priorities highlightedEverstake stated that ongoing infrastructure growth happens independently of shifts in investor sentiment. The company summarized this insight by noting, “Markets move in cycles but infrastructure compounds continuously,” reflecting an industry-wide focus on network fundamentals over day-to-day price swings.
Network adoption and infrastructure development continue to advance regardless of short-term market sentiment, according to Everstake, with transaction growth serving as a core indicator of ecosystem health beyond token price fluctuations.
For both developers and institutional participants, the rise in transaction counts signals robust demand for block space, decentralized applications, and payment settlement. However, market analysts commonly advise considering additional factors such as active wallet addresses, total fee income, validator activity, and Layer-2 adoption when evaluating the network’s long-term performance.
Implications for ETH investors amid rising institutional interestSustained on-chain activity may shape how investors view Ethereum’s long-term prospects. The consistent growth in transactions supports the perception that ETH’s user base, developer engagement, and institutional participation are expanding, despite changes in broader crypto market conditions.
The debut of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States earlier this year has further increased institutional attention to the network. Although the recent surge in network use is not directly linked to ETF inflows, analysts suggest that continued growth in core activity could strengthen ETH’s investment case as critical digital asset infrastructure evolves.
The current transaction milestone suggests Ethereum’s usage extends well beyond retail speculation, with ongoing activity in DeFi, tokenization, and enterprise applications driving network demand.
Market observers are expected to track whether these transaction levels hold steady in coming weeks, viewing them as potential indicators of Ethereum’s underlying strength as both a technological platform and a digital asset investment.
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.
BNB Chain just crossed a threshold that puts it firmly in the conversation alongside Ethereum for real-world asset tokenization. The network’s total RWA value has hit $5.2 billion, according to data from RWA.xyz, marking a new all-time high and a 32.26% jump over the past 30 days alone.
That makes BNB Chain the second-largest blockchain for tokenized real-world assets, trailing only Ethereum at $15.5 billion. Not bad for a network that sat at $3 billion just four months ago.
A growth curve that keeps steepening The trajectory here is worth paying attention to. BNB Chain’s RWA value sat at $3 billion in March 2026, climbed to $4 billion by May, and has now vaulted past $5 billion in mid-July.
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The network currently hosts 665 tokenized assets, giving it a 14.91% share of the overall RWA market across blockchains.
The ecosystem powering the growth BNB Chain has assembled a roster of tokenization platforms that includes Avalon Finance, OpenEden, Brickken, Bitbond, Securitize partnered with VanEck, and Ondo Finance. Those projects span treasuries, credit products, real estate, commodities, and equities.
Ondo Finance launched its tokenized equities offering on BNB Chain in late 2025, giving users on-chain exposure to traditional stock market instruments and adding liquidity and DeFi composability to the network, allowing tokenized equities to interact with lending protocols, yield strategies, and other DeFi primitives.
BNB Chain has also been building out stablecoin infrastructure to serve as the settlement and liquidity layer for tokenized assets.
What this means for investors BNB Chain has nearly doubled its RWA value in four months. BNB Chain added roughly $2.2 billion in RWA value over the past four months, while Ethereum’s $15.5 billion in RWA value still leads by a significant margin.
Tokenized RWAs introduce dependencies on off-chain custodians, legal frameworks, and traditional financial infrastructure. A regulatory shift in key jurisdictions could affect how these assets function across any blockchain. Rapid TVL growth can also sometimes be driven by a small number of large depositors. With platforms spanning treasuries, credit, real estate, commodities, and equities, however, BNB Chain’s growth appears distributed across multiple verticals and participants.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Sovereign debt just showed up onchain. BitGo announced custody and off-exchange settlement services for USDM1, a USD-denominated bond issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands and structured as the first natively issued onchain sovereign bond in history.
This is not a tokenized version of an existing bond. USDM1 was born onchain, designed from the ground up to live on Stellar, Ethereum, and Solana simultaneously.
What USDM1 actually is USDM1 is fully collateralized, structured under New York law, and backed 1:1 by short-duration U.S. Treasuries held in a bankruptcy-remote structure. Every USDM1 token has a real Treasury bill sitting behind it in a legally isolated account. If the issuer goes under, the collateral does not go with it.
The bond accrues value daily and comes with enforceable par redemption, meaning holders can redeem at face value under defined conditions. That feature alone separates it from most yield-bearing stablecoins, which offer similar economic exposure without the legal enforcement mechanisms.
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USDM1 has potential compatibility with Level 1 High-Quality Liquid Asset treatment, subject to regulatory determinations. That is the same classification U.S. government bonds currently hold under Basel III liquidity rules. If regulators eventually agree, institutions could use USDM1 to satisfy liquidity buffer requirements.
What BitGo brings to the table BitGo’s role here is custody and settlement infrastructure. Institutional clients can hold USDM1 in segregated, regulated cold storage with offline key management.
BitGo enables T+0 off-exchange settlement around the clock. Traditional sovereign bond markets typically settle on a T+1 or T+2 basis. T+0 means settlement happens the same session, without requiring assets to move onto an exchange first. It reduces counterparty exposure during the settlement window and opens the door to using USDM1 in margin trading and treasury workflows.
BitGo also confirmed the arrangement includes industry-standard legal documentation, which matters for institutional prime brokers and custodians that have strict requirements around documentation before they will accept an asset as eligible collateral.
The Marshall Islands and a genuinely unusual use case The Republic of the Marshall Islands is a small Pacific island nation spread across more than 1,200 islands. The RMI embedded USDM1 directly into its 20-year nationwide Universal Basic Income program. The bond is actively being used to distribute government payments to citizens across islands that, in some cases, have limited access to conventional banking.
That dual function—yield-bearing institutional asset and government disbursement rail—is genuinely novel. It demonstrates that a sovereign government can issue debt natively on public blockchains, use that debt to fund domestic programs, and simultaneously offer it to institutional investors through regulated custody channels.
What this means for institutional crypto and sovereign finance Rather than tokenizing an instrument that already exists in traditional markets, the RMI issued the bond directly onchain from day one. A natively onchain sovereign bond does not require a bridge between legacy settlement systems and blockchain rails. The asset starts onchain, settles onchain, and accrues yield onchain.
The multi-chain deployment across Stellar, Ethereum, and Solana is a deliberate choice. Stellar has deep roots in cross-border payment corridors. Ethereum remains the dominant layer for institutional DeFi and tokenized assets. Solana offers throughput and low transaction costs that make it viable for high-frequency settlement operations.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The US government has moved millions in Ethereum from seized crypto wallets tied to a major exchange collapse straight into a leading institutional trading platform.
Officials transferred roughly 4,820 ETH worth about $9.29 million at time of publishing, from FTX and Alameda Research-linked addresses to Coinbase Prime.
The blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence first spotted the transaction.
“ALERT: The US Government has just moved another $9M ETH seized from FTX/Alameda.
The US Government just deposited $9.29M ETH to Coinbase Prime. Will they be selling this, or returning it to creditors?”
The deposit adds to previous government sales of confiscated digital assets recovered from the failed exchange amid the continued liquidation of assets seized from FTX bankruptcy proceedings.
Curve DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization known for its automated market maker optimizing stablecoin trading, may be positioned for a trend change as CRV’s selling pressure shows signs of exhaustion and market participants start to return to the buying side. Recent stability in CRV price action and notable growth within the Curve protocol ecosystem have sparked renewed optimism among traders and analysts.
CRV market structure signals potential reversalCRV is currently priced at $0.2142, exhibiting a 24-hour trading volume of $40.96 million and a total market capitalization of $329.78 million. Although overall market conditions for altcoins remain subdued, technical patterns are generating hopes for an imminent bullish reversal.
Crypto With Gopal, a digital asset analyst who focuses on DeFi trends, has observed that the CRV price is moving inside a falling wedge pattern, commonly considered a precursor to a breakout. After undergoing an extended price correction, the narrowing band implies that downward momentum is waning and that bullish interest is gradually returning.
Analysts have highlighted that if CRV can maintain support at lower wedge levels and resist further downside movement, this would strengthen the potential for an upside breakout. Should the price move decisively above wedge resistance with accompanying high volume, it could open the door for a rally towards the $0.23 resistance.
Sustaining current support zones remains critical for bullish sentiment. Unless CRV closes above its descending trendline, a broader upward move may remain delayed.
LlamaLend V2 brings new lending features to Curve ecosystemCurve Finance reported that its decentralized lending protocol, LlamaLend V2, is approaching launch on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol is expected to introduce risk-isolated lending markets, flexible asset pairing, and integration with the Curve liquidity network.
A key update includes the ability to use Curve LP tokens as collateral, allowing liquidity providers to unlock value from their deposits without needing to exit their positions.
Mini dictionary: LlamaLend is a decentralized lending platform developed by Curve Finance, enabling users to borrow against liquidity pool tokens while minimizing protocol-wide risks.
LlamaLend V2’s rollout will be governed by Curve’s decision-making process, emphasizing a gradual and coordinated launch of venues and features.
FeatureLlamaLend V1LlamaLend V2Collateral optionsLimitedExpanded, including Curve LP tokensLending marketsMainly pooledRisk-isolated, customizableIntegrationStandaloneTighter Curve ecosystem integrationRolloutSingle releaseGradual, governance-ledBroader market pressure and outlookDespite Curve’s positive developments and analysts’ bullish forecasts, the CRV price continues to track broader negative sentiment in the digital asset market, closely mirroring price declines in leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
If CRV breaks out from its falling wedge and overcomes key resistance levels, a rapid surge in buying activity may follow. Such a move could amplify the impact of upcoming protocol upgrades and provide renewed momentum for Curve DAO’s market presence.
LlamaLend V2’s introduction is anticipated to improve lending efficiency and expand collateral use cases across the DeFi ecosystem, potentially strengthening user engagement and liquidity on Curve.
Market observers believe the next decisive price movement in CRV will hinge both on overcoming technical resistance and the successful rollout of LlamaLend V2, which could reshape lending within the platform.
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.
Eligible E*TRADE clients can now buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through Zero Hash at a 0.5% fee.
Original image credit: Tada Images / Shutterstock.com
Posted July 17, 2026 at 6:32 am EST.
Original image credit: Tada Images / Shutterstock.com
Morgan Stanley has completed the rollout of spot crypto trading on E*TRADE, giving eligible clients the ability to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana directly on the retail brokerage. The bank announced the launch Thursday, partnering with digital-asset infrastructure provider Zero Hash.
Trades execute through a linked Zero Hash account, which also custodies the assets, at a fee of 0.5%. Clients can view their crypto holdings alongside stocks and other investments, and Morgan Stanley said transfer functionality would arrive later this year. Digital-asset services are set to move to the bank’s own trust entity, Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, once it is operational.
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Morgan Stanley is betting that trust and integration matter more to its users than novelty, citing a survey by its wealth management arm that found the top factor investors cited when choosing a crypto platform was an established company they can trust. The crypto rollout arrived alongside new retirement-planning tools, fractional-share trading, and an updated IPO center.
The launch caps a year of steady crypto expansion at Morgan Stanley. The firm filed for spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs at market-low fees, introduced a money market fund for stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, and has received conditional approval for a national trust bank charter to custody digital assets. Morgan Stanley first disclosed plans to bring crypto to E*TRADE in September 2025, naming Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana as the initial assets.
Related Listen: Why You No Longer Have to Choose Between TradFi and Crypto
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
A startup most people hadn’t heard of a week ago just vaporized $589 billion from a single company’s market cap. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI lab based in Hangzhou, released its R1 and V3 reasoning models on January 27, 2025, and the shockwave rippled through global markets.
Nvidia bore the brunt of the carnage, suffering what appears to be one of the largest single-day market cap losses in the history of publicly traded companies. The logic was brutal and simple: if a Chinese startup can build AI models that rival OpenAI’s GPT-4o using a fraction of the hardware, maybe the world doesn’t need quite as many $40,000 GPUs as everyone assumed.
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The hardware math that broke Wall Street DeepSeek’s V3 model was trained using just over 2,000 Nvidia H800 GPUs. For context, leading Western AI labs typically throw tens of thousands of cutting-edge chips at training runs of comparable scale. The H800 itself is a downgraded chip that Nvidia specifically designed to comply with US export controls on advanced semiconductors to China.
DeepSeek claims its models match the capabilities of systems built by companies with access to the most advanced chips money can buy. Futures tumbled. Chip stocks across the board sold off. The entire thesis underpinning semiconductor valuations, that AI development requires ever-larger capital expenditures on the most advanced silicon, suddenly looked a lot less certain.
What this means for the AI investment thesis DeepSeek’s valuation has reportedly climbed above $50 billion, underscoring the market’s recognition that Chinese AI development has reached a competitive inflection point. This is happening despite, or perhaps partly because of, US export restrictions that were designed to slow China’s AI progress.
Crypto’s predictable response: scam tokens everywhere Within hours of DeepSeek making headlines, a swarm of tokens branded as “DeepSeek AI” appeared on Solana and Ethereum. None of them have any affiliation with the actual company. DeepSeek has no official crypto product, no token, no blockchain integration. Every “DeepSeek” token trading right now is, to put it plainly, a scam.
The pattern isn’t new. We saw it with ChatGPT-themed tokens in early 2023. The playbook works because it exploits a narrow window where excitement outpaces due diligence. By the time most buyers realize the token has no connection to the company, the deployers have already cashed out.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Robinhood Chain has been live for exactly one week, and aggregators are already racing to plug into it. Velvet Capital’s trading terminal, VelvetX, announced support for Robinhood Chain on July 7, enabling single-transaction cross-chain swaps from networks like Solana, Base, BNB Chain, and Ethereum, no manual bridging required.
For anyone who’s ever watched their tokens disappear into a bridge for 20 anxiety-filled minutes, that last part matters. The integration means traders can move assets directly onto Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based Layer 2 through VelvetX without the usual multi-step headache that makes cross-chain activity feel like filing taxes.
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What VelvetX actually does here VelvetX is Velvet Capital’s AI-driven trading terminal. It handles spot trading, perpetuals, and yield strategies across multiple chains, essentially trying to be a one-stop shop for DeFi traders who don’t want twelve browser tabs open at once.
The cross-chain routing is powered by the 0x protocol, which was selected as the swap and liquidity infrastructure provider for Robinhood Chain itself. In English: 0x acts as the plumbing that finds the best prices and routes trades across different blockchains, so users don’t have to manually hop between networks.
Velvet Capital is backed by notable investors including YZi Labs and DWF Labs. The project has a native token, VELVET, with a circulating supply of roughly 421 million tokens against a maximum supply of 1 billion.
Robinhood Chain’s first week Robinhood Chain launched its public mainnet on July 1, built on the Arbitrum technology stack. The chain’s pitch goes well beyond simple token swaps. Robinhood is using it to offer stock tokens accessible across 120 countries. The chain also supports DeFi applications, including lending solutions powered by Morpho.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Cover image via youtu.be Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
As the tokenization boom and a fundamental reassessment of the role of public blockchains go on, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley shared his "hot take" on the utility of Ethereum and Solana. Despite skepticism toward cryptocurrencies in the summer of 2026, the fund's chief mounted a forceful defense of the leading networks, calling doubts about the value of their native tokens a repetition of Wall Street's biggest historical mistakes.
The head of one of the largest crypto funds directly stated that the attempt to separate RWA infrastructure from the economic value of base-layer coins is simply the "2026 version of the 'blockchain, not Bitcoin' thesis".
Bitwise CEO calls out the market's biggest mistakeThe industry has irreversibly entered an "on-chain versus off-chain" phase, and attempting to develop tokenized assets while denying the value of native tokens is an old mental error of the market, Horsley contends.
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2026 version of "blockchain not bitcoin":
I like tokenization and stablecoins, but I still don't see how Ethereum, Solana, etc are useful.
— Hunter Horsley (@HHorsley) July 17, 2026 Fresh data from analytics platform RWA.xyz clearly supports this position. The leading networks now effectively host nearly the entire global real-world asset infrastructure:
Ethereum is the absolute leader, with $15.5 billion in distributed value across 915 projects.Solana ranks third, with $3.0 billion and already 707 active products.Any transactions, dividend distributions, or transfers of tokenized shares within these massive ecosystems are technically impossible without the use of ETH and SOL. The coins are spent on gas and secure the networks through staking, meaning their value is directly tied to the growth of the tokenization sector.
Top-10 blockchain networks in total value of tokenized real-world assets, Source: rwa.xyzHowever, behind this public defense of the giants lies a pragmatic commercial interest and a bet on alternative infrastructure. Bitwise has its own favorite in this race — Hyperliquid.
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While traditional on-chain tokenization remains stalled by compliance requirements, decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid, in whose development the fund has a direct interest, is demonstrating explosive expansion.
According to the platform's latest reports, open interest in RWA derivatives on Hyperliquid has reached a record $3.6 billion. By this metric, the specialized blockchain alone has surpassed the entire spot RWA market on Solana, valued at $3.0 billion, while the exchange's total open interest has reached an all-time high of $11 billion.
By defending the economics of ETH and SOL against superficial interpretations, Bitwise is skillfully directing investor attention toward more flexible infrastructure solutions, and the fund's capital structure shows that Hyperliquid is becoming their primary instrument for extracting maximum value from the changing structure of the crypto market.
ETRADE, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, has enabled the purchase of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana for its users, routing these activities through ZeroHash infrastructure at a 0.5% fee. This new service allows ETRADE clients to engage with cryptocurrencies directly within their brokerage accounts without the need for separate wallets or third-party exchanges. While the service does not yet support external transfers and lacks FDIC/SIPC protections, Morgan Stanley plans to expand these capabilities by the end of 2026. This initiative represents a significant move by a traditional finance institution into the crypto market, potentially increasing accessibility and demand for these digital assets.
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Key Takeaways Market data suggests that the integration of Solana on E*TRADE appears to support an increased demand scenario, potentially impacting its price positively. The new service is consistent with expanding traditional financial channels into the crypto space, leveraging Morgan Stanley’s investment in ZeroHash. Current constraints like lack of external transfer capability and custody limitations indicate potential areas for future service enhancements. What to Watch The market will be observing Morgan Stanley’s further developments regarding external transfer capabilities and full service rollout to its 8.6 million E*TRADE users. The impact on Solana’s price will be closely monitored, especially considering its inclusion alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum. Additionally, market participants may look for regulatory updates or strategic moves by Solana Labs and other key actors that could influence Solana’s adoption and valuation. The evolution of crypto offerings by traditional financial institutions remains a key indicator of broader market trends.
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Term Structure
Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h August 1 2026 7.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.4% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.8% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.8% — — View market → August 1 2026 2.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 8.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 1.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.1% — — View market → August 1 2026 55.5% — — View market → August 1 2026 0.2% — — View market →
Ondo Extends Always-On Access to 16 Tokenized Assets@OndoFinance has activated 24/7 minting and redemption for 10 additional tokenized stocks, including $AMD, $INTC, and $SPCX. The move brings its total lineup to 16 institutional-grade assets available for real-time settlement across @Solana, @BNBChain, and @Ethereum.
The expansion builds on a push that began in late June 2026, when Ondo became what it described as the first platform to offer true around-the-clock minting and redemption for tokenized U.S. equities. Until that point, minting and redemption had paused over weekends in line with traditional U.S. equity markets. The latest rollout eliminates one of the last restrictions linking tokenized assets to conventional trading schedules.
Ondo Stocks lists more than 430 tokenized stocks and ETFs across Solana, Ethereum, and BNB Chain, and is the first platform in the category to surpass $1 billion in total value locked.
Primary Issuance, Not Just Secondary TransfersA key distinction in Ondo's model is how liquidity is sourced. Ondo has argued that many platforms advertising 24/7 tokenized stock trading primarily enable transfers between users rather than continuous access to underlying liquidity. Its architecture enables primary issuance around the clock, effectively bypassing traditional banking and stock exchange downtime.
Ondo's tokenized stocks draw liquidity directly from public markets, where trading depth is substantial. Other platforms rely on onchain liquidity pools, which are limited in depth by design, meaning larger trades, especially over weekends when markets are thinner, can move prices significantly and cost traders far more.
Ondo's tokenized securities can also be used as collateral across platforms, including Ondo Perps, Morpho, Euler, and other DeFi ecosystems. The announcements follow Ondo surpassing 180,000 on-chain asset holders, indicating increasing demand for access to traditional financial products through blockchain solutions.
Tokenized stock transfers have surged roughly 105 percent month over month to approximately $8.4 billion in value, with Ondo leading the space at around $846 million in distributed value, ahead of other platforms like xStocks and Securitize.
Sources
TheStreet Crypto: Ondo Launches True 24/7 Minting and Redemption for Tokenized Stocks
Crypto Briefing: Ondo Introduces 24/7 Minting and Redemption for Tokenized Stocks and ETFs
The Defiant: Ondo Finance Launches 24/7 Minting and Redemption for Tokenized US Stocks and ETFs
Morgan Stanley has completed the rollout of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading on E*TRADE, charging eligible clients a 0.50% fee on each transaction.
Summary
E*TRADE now allows eligible clients to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana for a 0.50% fee. Morgan Stanley plans crypto transfers and a move to its Digital Trust bank later this year. The rollout complements Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin holdings, crypto ETFs and Galaxy Digital lending arrangement. E*TRADE announced in a press release that supported customers can now buy, sell and hold the three digital assets directly through its brokerage platform. Zerohash provides the underlying crypto infrastructure and holds the assets in linked customer accounts.
Each transaction carries a 50-basis-point fee, according to E*TRADE. While the current service covers trading and custody, the brokerage expects to introduce crypto transfers later this year, allowing clients to move supported assets into and out of their accounts.
Following a pilot launched in May, the completed rollout makes the service available to all eligible E*TRADE customers. Morgan Stanley had first disclosed plans to add direct spot crypto trading in 2025.
Morgan Stanley is expanding several crypto services at once E*TRADE’s launch comes as Morgan Stanley prepares to add two exchange-traded funds tied to Ethereum and Solana. As previously reported by crypto.news, amended S-1 filings for both products indicated that their launches were approaching, although the filings did not provide a confirmed trading date.
Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley also launched a spot Bitcoin ETF, becoming the first bank to offer such a product, according to the original report. SoSoValue data showed that the fund had accumulated $384 million in net assets at the time of reporting.
Direct trading gives E*TRADE customers another route to crypto exposure alongside Morgan Stanley’s investment funds. Unlike ETF shares, the new service allows eligible users to hold the underlying Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through Zerohash, while the planned transfer feature would give customers more control over moving those assets.
Morgan Stanley had also increased its tracked Bitcoin balance by nearly 1,000 BTC over the two weeks preceding July 11, according to a crypto.news report published that day. The purchases lifted its reported holdings above 5,700 BTC at the time.
Digital Trust is set to take over the crypto service Later this year, E*TRADE expects to move the crypto offering from Zerohash to Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, the group’s planned national trust bank. The brokerage linked that transition to the introduction of transfer services but did not provide a specific launch date.
Morgan Stanley applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency earlier this year for a crypto-focused national trust bank charter. Its application placed the firm alongside Coinbase, Crypto.com and Ripple, while the OCC has already granted Ripple conditional approval.
Circle has also received OCC approval to establish a national trust bank focused on digital assets. The USDC issuer had secured conditional approval in 2025 alongside BitGo, Fidelity and Paxos.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management added another crypto route in June through a referral agreement with Galaxy Digital. Under the arrangement, eligible high-net-worth clients can lend Bitcoin, Ether and Solana to Galaxy and receive shares in spot crypto investment products, including the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust.
Taken together, the ETRADE rollout, pending ETF launches and Digital Trust application place trading, investment products, lending referrals and custody infrastructure within Morgan Stanley’s disclosed crypto plans. Each service remains subject to separate eligibility rules, fees and regulatory arrangements set by the companies involved.
BitGo Adds Qualified Custody and Off-Exchange Settlement for USDM1@BitGo has launched institutional-grade qualified custody and off-exchange settlement for USDM1, described as the world's first natively issued onchain secured sovereign bond. The deployment spans @StellarOrg, @Ethereum, and @Solana, giving professional firms a regulated path to hold dollar-denominated sovereign debt with 24/7 liquidity and near-instant finality.
USDM1 is issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands and is backed 1:1 by short-duration U.S. Treasury instruments held in bankruptcy-remote custody. Structured in the style of a fully collateralized Brady bond under New York law and advised by Cleary Gottlieb, the instrument gives holders a perfected first-priority security interest in the underlying collateral under the UCC. It is regulated and supervised by the Marshall Islands Monetary Authority.
Unlike tokenized or wrapped instruments, USDM1 is issued directly on public blockchains against segregated Treasury reserves, with minting and burning corresponding to bond issuance and redemption. The instrument pays a sovereign coupon and is compatible with standard derivatives, repo, and securities lending frameworks, making it viable as institutional collateral alongside existing legal netting structures.
Go Network Integration Targets Real-Time Collateral and SettlementBitGo's move integrates USDM1 into the Go Network to support real-time collateralization and settlement. The architecture is designed to cut the multi-day settlement cycles typical of traditional fixed-income markets, replacing them with T+0 finality and programmable transfer across three major public blockchains.
The institutional case for USDM1 has been building for some time. M1X Global, the sovereign financial infrastructure company behind USDM1's development, closed an oversubscribed seed round led by Paradigm in July 2026, bringing total funding to $8.5 million. Paradigm partner Arjun Balaji noted that "24/7 markets require collateral that can move 24/7," citing USDM1 as a reference model for natively issued sovereign debt.
Beyond institutional markets, USDM1 also serves as the disbursement rail for the Marshall Islands' ENRA universal basic income program, described as the world's first nationwide on-chain UBI initiative, launched in November 2025.
Sources:
USDM1 Official Site: Sovereign USD-Denominated Financial Instrument
PR Newswire: USDM1 Now Available on Anchorage Digital
PR Newswire: M1X Global Announces Further Funding Led by Paradigm
Venice AI updates its token economics: introduces a buyback mechanism and raises the supply cap for DIEM.
Venice AI has issued an announcement updating its token economics, with two primary changes: First, a new programmed burn mechanism: For every $100 worth of API credits purchased, $5 will be allocated to buy VVV on the open market and permanently burn the tokens. Second, DIEM’s supply target has been raised for the first time, from 38,000 to 40,000 (an increase of 2,000 units). The adjustment will be rolled out in phases, with the full target expected to be achieved by September 14.
25 minutes ago
Trump Media Company prices exclusive early access to Trump’s posts at $100,000 per month.
According to the Financial Times, Trump Media & Technology Group is pitching a $100,000 monthly service to clients that delivers fast access to former President Donald Trump’s posts. Earlier reports noted that Trump Media would sell premium, faster access to posts on its Truth Social platform; the new service allows traders and investors to pay for real-time pushes of Truth Social content. This data feed service will launch next month for institutional clients, including high-frequency algorithmic trading firms.
25 minutes ago
Cardano will hand over control of its core software to an external team starting in August.
Cardano developer Input Output will transfer control of key blockchain components—including Haskell nodes, the Plutus platform, and the Daedalus wallet—to external professional teams starting in August, as part of its multi-year decentralization initiative. Independent firms such as Se7en Labs and Teragone will oversee portions of the core infrastructure. At least three Cardano implementations will be maintained in Haskell, Rust, and Go, under community oversight and formal specification management. Cardano is currently grappling with weak network activity and a sharp drop in the ADA token’s price. Founder Charles Hoskinson framed the restructuring and ecosystem-related setbacks as necessary "growing pains" on the path to full decentralization.
25 minutes ago
France blocks prediction market Polymarket.
French gambling regulator ANJ announced on July 17 that Polymarket’s website will be blocked in France, following its November 2024 ban on financial transactions with the platform. The ANJ stated that the site’s ongoing operation—with real-time updated odds for various events—qualifies as advertising. Even after banning French accounts from conducting trades on Polymarket, accesses to the platform from French internet addresses have continued to rise, reaching 578,751 visits in June.
25 minutes ago
Meta is in talks with Anthropic over a computing power leasing agreement, with the potential deal valued at up to $10 billion.
According to The New York Times, Meta Platforms is in talks with Anthropic over a computing power leasing agreement, with the potential deal size reaching up to $10 billion for a two-year term. The negotiations remain in the early stages. Additionally, market data from BIT (bit.com) shows Meta's share decline has narrowed to 3%.
25 minutes ago
Serenity: Its investment portfolio has posted a nearly 50% drawdown this month, and it firmly believes that the current round of adjustment is merely leverage-driven volatility, with its growth logic remaining intact.
Serenity posted a statement noting that their portfolio suffered a 49.4% drawdown this month, with main holdings concentrated in AI bottleneck sectors including memory, photonics, robotics, and upstream semiconductors. Serenity acknowledged pressure from the short-term market crash, but maintained that the volatility stems from liquidity and leverage rather than a breakdown in the structural growth logic of these fields.
Maestro is live on Robinhood Chain, the new Ethereum layer-2 built on Arbitrum that has quickly become one of the busiest spots in crypto for memecoins and new launches. Attention around the chain continues to rise, led by CASHCAT and the new tokens launching in its wake.
The market moves fast, and Maestro keeps you ahead.
Maestro runs entirely in Telegram, so there’s no separate app or extension standing between you and a trade. Everything happens in one place, from your first buy to managing an open position. Decide to trade and you’re in, no delay, no detours.
What is Robinhood Chain Robinhood Chain is Robinhood’s own Ethereum layer-2, built on Arbitrum. Robinhood positioned the chain around tokenized stocks and real-world assets, but memecoin trading took off just as quickly. Low fees and quick transactions make it a natural fit for high-frequency trading, and that’s the version Maestro is built for: fast, permissionless, and running around the clock.
Here’s everything the Robinhood Chain trading bot puts in a trader’s hands.
What you can do on Robinhood Chain Maestro arrives fully loaded on Robinhood Chain, with fast execution, extensive DEX and launchpad coverage, and all the tools you need to move first.
Speed comes first. Quick buys and swaps get you into a position while a token’s still running, buying the moment you click, with no approval step in the way. When a token’s moving, every second counts, and Maestro can get you there first.
For the moves you’d rather not sit and watch, limit orders let you set your price and step away. Maestro executes the moment the market hits it. Catch a dip you’ve been waiting on, or take profit at your target while you’re nowhere near the screen.
When the smart money’s already positioned, copy trading puts you on the same side. Track any wallet worth following and Maestro copies every trade that wallet makes in real time, so you’re never the last one in.
Coverage that keeps growing Robinhood Chain’s onchain activity has exploded, and new tokens don’t all launch in the same place. Miss where one launches and you miss the trade. Maestro gives you the fastest access to every launchpad and DEX that matters. Trading is live across Uniswap v2, v3 and v4, with launchpad support across Virtuals, Bankr, Flap.sh, Livo.trade, Trench.today, Bags.fm, RobinFun, LeaveHood, HoodFun, ApeStore, Noxa, Printr, Pons and more. New integrations land as fast as they launch, so you’re covered wherever the next run starts.
More money back with every trade Cashback is Maestro’s way of paying you back for trading. Every trade returns up to 30% of your trading fees, and on a chain built for fast, high-volume trading, that adds up quickly. Cashback applies on every chain Maestro supports, Robinhood Chain included, so the more you trade, and the more chains you trade across, the more of that cost comes back to you. Few trading bots make staying active this rewarding.
Bridge in without leaving the chat Moving funds onto Robinhood Chain has never been simpler. Maestro handles bridging directly in the bot, and offers two routes depending on what matters most. Relay Protocol is the fast, lower-cost option when you just want funds on the chain and ready to trade. Houdini Swap is the private one, routing your funds so there’s no link left between your wallets. Either way, bridging is part of the same flow as your first trade, not a separate errand before it.
Trading Robinhood Chain, start to finish Getting in is quick. Open Maestro in Telegram, bridge funds onto Robinhood Chain through Relay Protocol or Houdini Swap, and you’re ready to trade. Paste a token’s contract address, set your buy amount, and the order goes through at the best available price in a couple of taps. From there, you manage everything in the same chat. Set a limit order to take profit, add to a position that’s working, or sell whenever you want. No tab-hopping needed.
The original bot, on a new chain Maestro didn’t just show up for Robinhood Chain. The first Telegram trading bot has spent years proving itself on the fastest, most competitive chains in crypto, and all of that experience came to Robinhood Chain from day one. Traders here get the same engine that’s earned trust everywhere else Maestro runs, with the full toolkit ready from the start.
Another chain, another edge Robinhood Chain is one of the fastest-evolving markets in crypto, and Maestro is all hands on deck to give traders the edge they deserve. That means deeper coverage and faster execution as the chain evolves. That’s how Maestro has always operated, and how it keeps setting the standard for trading bots everywhere.
Start trading on Robinhood Chain with Maestro today.
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A detailed breakdown of the performance of ADA, SOL, and ETH and some of the latest forecasts.
Cardano’s ADA has been struggling to remain in crypto’s top 20, and its recent performance has been quite concerning (to say the least). Even so, analysts continue to float optimistic price targets for it.
Solana’s native token has flashed signs of an uptrend, while Ethereum (ETH) might be heading toward the biggest crash in its history.
ADA’s Latest Forecasts The asset’s price has slipped well below $0.20 and is among the most severely affected by the prolonged bear market. X user The Boss noted the downward structure but reminded that the strongest reversals begin during such a negative environment when “almost nobody is paying attention.”
CryptoJack and Celal Kucuker also chipped in. The former spotted the formation of an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern on ADA’s chart, which has historically been a precursor of a rally, while the latter envisioned a parabolic increase to a new all-time high of $5.
The whale activity supports the bullish perspective. Investors holding between 100,000 and 100 million ADA have boosted their total possessions to more than 25.6 million coins, while those owning fewer than 100 units have reduced their exposure. This combination represents a healthy setup for the token, yet it can’t 100% guarantee a short-term pump.
Of course, not everyone is so optimistic. X user Alexander Legolas believes that Bitcoin (BTC) may soon tumble to $48,000, dragging ADA to around $0.10 along the way.
SOL’s Targets Solana’s native cryptocurrency currently trades at around $75 (per CoinGecko), but some market observers think it may soon head north to much higher levels.
You may also like: Ethereum Drops 4%, but Analysts Still See a Path Toward $2,245 and Beyond Arthur Hayes Buys ETH Above $1,900 Weeks After Selling at $1,700 Ethereum Tops $1,900 in a Six-Week High, Where to Next For ETH? Ali Martinez recently argued that the Average True Range (ATR) stop has flipped below price, marking the first SuperTrend buy signal on the asset since October 10. That said, he projected a possible rise to $96 and even $121.
Michael van de Poppe suggested that SOL could stage a decisive comeback should it stay above $73, while the rising fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) around the project may also be considered good news. After all, this means that most weak-hand investors have already exited, potentially setting the stage for a meaningful recovery.
ETH Crash Incoming? Earlier this week, the second-largest cryptocurrency tried to reclaim the $2,000 psychological mark, but failed and now trades at approximately $1,830. And while many investors eagerly await a substantial rebound, certain analysts warned that a major collapse could be on the way. Crypto Rover told his 1.6 million followers on X that ETH might repeat previous cycles that ended in “devastating sell-offs.”
“The worst may still be ahead,” he added.
Ash Crypto is in the completely opposite corner. They reminded that every time the Russell 2000 hits a new all-time high, ETH has followed with a parabolic move in the next 12-18 months.
“We are seeing the same setup now. If history repeats, ETH could be gearing up for one of its biggest runs yet,” the analyst concluded.
Bitcoin slipped nearly 2% in the past 24 hours to trade at the $63,000 mark on Friday as geopolitical tensions weighed on crypto markets. The cryptocurrency was trading at the $62,907 mark.
Ethereum fell 3.98% in the past 24 hours to trade at the $1,828 mark. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Tron, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and Cardano corrected up to 11.31%.
Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus, said softer U.S. price data reduced expectations of an immediate Federal Reserve rate increase. However, renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities, higher oil prices, and weaker risk appetite limited demand for cryptocurrencies.
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US spot Bitcoin ETF demand remains volatile. Funds recorded a $424.7 million outflow on July 13, followed by inflows of $181.1 million on July 14 and $107.7 million on July 15. July 16 showed a preliminary $45.7 million inflow, Subburaj further said.
The global crypto market capitalisation edged down 1.67% to $2.18 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. After witnessing billions in outflows in May and June, Bitcoin ETF flows dump green with nearly $289M inflows. On the other hand, whales continue to accumulate ETH, said CoinDCX Research Team.
In the past week, Bitcoin was down 1.62% and Ethereum was up 3.15%. Among the major altcoins, BNB, XRP, Solana, Tron, Hyperliquid, Dogecoin, and Cardano fell upto 13.83%.
Riya Sehgal, Research Analyst, Delta Exchange said Bitcoin’s rejection from $65,200–$65,500 and decline towards $63,500 signals weakening momentum; below $63,000, the next support lies around $62,300–$61,800. Ethereum has corrected from the $1,910–$1,940 supply zone but remains structurally constructive above $1,790–$1,835.
Market perspective
Nischal Shetty, founder, WazirX: The crypto market remained resilient despite heightened regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. Bitcoin traded near $63,352, while Ethereum held around $1,844, reflecting cautious sentiment after a strong weekly recovery.
Akshat Siddhant, Lead quant analyst, Mudex: Bitcoin pulled back to the $63,500 levels from its three-week high, as a broader sell-off in technology stocks weighed on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies. Despite the decline, on-chain data from Glassnode suggests selling pressure may be easing, with realized losses among long-term holders having peaked and now beginning to decline, a sign that the worst phase of capitulation could be over.
Also Read | Planning retirement & child's education through mutual funds? Expert explains SWP, taxation, portfolio rebalancing
CoinSwitch Markets Desk: BTC remained range-bound between $64K and $65K as on-chain indicators pointed to a gradual reduction in selling from investors who bought near the market peak. Geopolitical uncertainty continues to restrain risk appetite.
Avinash Shekhar, Co-Founder & CEO, Pi42: Bitcoin is currently trading around $63,600, continuing to hold above an important support zone despite short term fluctuations. Renewed ETF inflows and improving institutional participation indicate that long term conviction remains intact, while the market is increasingly responding to structural demand rather than speculative momentum.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
President Trump delivered a primetime address to the nation on July 16, 2026, mixing an economic progress report with a lengthy, controversial announcement about declassified intelligence tied to elections.
Trump opened by touting economic gains under his administration. “Our country is safer, stronger, and far wealthier than it has ever been before,” he said, contrasting it with what he called “the worst inflation in 48 years” at the start of his term.
He cited a recent inflation reading: “This week it was announced that inflation saw the largest monthly decline in more than 6 years.” He also pointed to stock market highs, tax provisions in his “Big Beautiful Bill” eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, and a drug pricing initiative he calls “Most Favored Nations.” “Drug prices are coming down by 70, 80, and 90%,” he said.
Declassifying Election Intelligence
The core of the speech centered on a set of documents Trump said his administration would begin releasing that night. “I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure,” he said.
Trump claimed the documents show China “carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history,” alleging the country acquired 220 million U.S. voter files. He also alleged that intelligence officials suppressed this information from him and Congress, saying one internal email described efforts to “deliberately massage daily briefings to withhold Chinese briefings regarding the election.”
This claim arrives after federal investigators previously concluded foreign interference had no practical impact on the 2020 election’s outcome, and numerous state audits found no evidence supporting the broader fraud claims Trump has made since his 2020 loss.
Trump also referenced a Department of Homeland Security review he said identified “approximately 278,000 noncitizens who are registered to vote in federal elections,” and alleged a fraudulent voter registration operation in Michigan tied to a 2020 FBI investigation.
Targeting the Media
Trump criticized NBC and ABC for declining to air the speech. “In a rare move, NBC and ABC fake news have both said that they would not cover this speech,” he said, adding, “Fraud like this should mean a revocation of their licenses.”
The Push for the Save America Act
Trump closed by calling on Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would require photo voter ID and proof of citizenship for voter registration, and would largely eliminate mail-in ballots except for cases involving illness, disability, military deployment, or travel.
“This landmark bill requires all voters must show a photo voter ID,” he said, urging Americans to “pick up your phone tomorrow, call your representatives in the House and Senate, and demand they pass the Save America Act without delay.”
Crypto Markets Slip During the Speech
The crypto market pulled back, with total market capitalization falling 1.41% to $2.19 trillion. Bitcoin held relatively steady near $63,450, down 1.95% on the day, while altcoins took a harder hit. Ethereum slipped toward $1,848, XRP fell to $1.08, and Solana dropped to $75, each down roughly 2% to 3%. The Fear and Greed Index sat at 33, still in “Fear” territory, with the Altcoin Season Index at 52 out of 100.
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Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) came under renewed selling pressure during the second half of the week after staging a modest recovery earlier in the week. BTC trades below $63,600 on Friday, while ETH slips below $1,860 after facing rejection at key resistance levels. Meanwhile, XRP continues to hold above a crucial support zone, keeping its recovery outlook intact.
Bitcoin extends correction after facing rejection from 50-day EMABitcoin price trades at $63,557 on Friday, retaining a bearish near-term bias as it holds beneath the key exponential moving averages (EMAs). BTC is capped first by a nearby horizontal resistance at $64,004, followed by the 50-day EMA at $65,039, while the 100-day and 200-day EMAs at $68,339 and $74,359 sit higher overhead, reinforcing the downside skew.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) around 50 hints at neutral momentum, and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) remains positive but fading, suggesting that bullish attempts are losing traction under these structural ceilings.
On the topside, immediate resistance is seen at the horizontal level of $64,004, ahead of the 50-day EMA at $65,039, which forms the next cap for any recovery attempt. Above there, the 100-day EMA at $68,339 and the 200-day EMA at $74,359 define a broader resistance band, with a more distant horizontal barrier at $84,410 marking a medium-term upside objective only if the pair can reclaim and hold above the clustered moving averages. With no nearby technical supports defined in this dataset, any pullback from current levels would leave price reliant on emerging demand rather than established chart floors.
Ethereum fails to close above the 100-day EMAEthereum price trades at $1,852 on Friday, holding above the 50-day EMA at $1,811 while still capped below the 100-day EMA at $1,943. This alignment hints at a neutral-to-bullish near-term bias, with price trying to build a base but facing a broader corrective structure under the higher EMAs at $1,943 and $2,188. The RSI at 58 stays in positive territory without being overbought, while the MACD remains above zero but is easing, suggesting that upside momentum is constructive yet not aggressive.
On the topside, immediate resistance emerges at the 100-day EMA near $1,943, followed by the horizontal barrier at $2,000, before the longer-term 200-day EMA at $2,188 reinforces a broader supply zone.
On the downside, initial support is seen at the 50-day EMA at $1,811, with a deeper structural floor only coming in at the horizontal level around $1,385. As long as ETH holds above the 50-day EMA, dips are likely to attract buying interest, but a sustained break above $1,943 would be needed to unlock a more decisive bullish phase toward the $2,000 region.
XRP support holds strongXRP trades at $1.09 on Friday, keeping a bearish near-term bias as price remains decisively below the 50-day, 100-day and 200-day EMAs at $1.15, $1.24 and $1.45, respectively. XRP remains within a broader downward channel, with spot trading above the channel top near $1.03. The RSI at 45 sits in neutral territory, while the MACD is marginally positive, hinting at modest stabilization rather than a sustained bullish reversal, with these key EMAs capping the topside.
On the downside, immediate support is clustered around the channel top at $1.03, a key level that could prevent a deeper slide in the prevailing downtrend.
On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 50-day EMA at $1.15, followed by the 100-day EMA at $1.24 and the horizontal barrier at $1.30; above there, the 200-day EMA at $1.45 and the distant horizontal line at $1.90 define a broader supply zone that would only come into play if XRP can decisively break out of its current bearish structure.
(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.
Large Wallets Pull Nearly 90,000 ETH From Coinbase PrimeA cluster of newly created wallets has withdrawn a combined 89,396 $ETH, valued at roughly $164.9 million, from Coinbase Prime over the past three days, according to on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain. The latest batch alone accounted for 20,000 $ETH, worth approximately $37.7 million.
The pattern is drawing attention because the wallets involved were created shortly before each withdrawal, a behaviour that analysts often associate with institutional players setting up fresh custody addresses rather than routine retail transfers. Large withdrawals from centralized exchanges like Coinbase typically suggest accumulation strategies by major holders, possibly in anticipation of price moves or to shift assets to decentralised wallets for security or staking purposes.
The latest transactions suggest that whale activity is increasing just as Ethereum begins recovering from its recent correction. Supporting that narrative, Binance's Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) has climbed to its highest level in nearly three months, reflecting sustained spot buying rather than a rally driven purely by leveraged futures traders.
Abraxas Capital Adds to Its ETH PositionAbraxas Capital has also been active. The fund recently withdrew an additional 8,452 $ETH, worth around $16 million, from Binance and Bybit, continuing a months-long pattern of exchange outflows. Pulling Ethereum off two separate exchanges suggests Abraxas wants those tokens in cold storage or a self-custodied wallet, not on a trading desk.
Earlier in 2025, Abraxas reportedly accumulated over $477 million in ETH through a series of purchases, partially financed by borrowing stablecoins. The firm has continued that strategy into 2026, and if Abraxas is genuinely trimming Bitcoin exposure to build Ethereum positions, it joins a growing chorus of institutional capital that has been warming to Ethereum's ecosystem developments.
The broader context matters too. The U.S. government moved nearly $300 million in Ethereum to Coinbase Prime earlier this week, yet private whale wallets have continued accumulating in parallel, suggesting demand is absorbing available supply. Whether the current wave of outflows reflects genuine institutional conviction or simple wallet reorganisation remains unconfirmed, but the scale and frequency of transfers is keeping market participants alert.
Sources:
Crypto Briefing: Abraxas Capital deposits $40M in Bitcoin to Kraken, pulls $15M in Ethereum off exchanges
The Coin Republic: US Moves Nearly $300M in ETH and BTC, But Whales Keep Buying
TradingView: Ethereum Price Breaks $1,900 as Whales Fuel Next ETH Rally
Another Friday is upon us, bringing another Bitcoin and Ethereum options expiry event as spot markets have made some progress.
Around 19,500 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, July 17, with a notional value of roughly $1.23 billion. This expiry is much smaller than usual events, so it is unlikely to have any impact on spot markets.
Crypto markets have gained later in the week following cooler-than-expected US inflation data, but have lost those gains by Friday.
Bitcoin Options Expiry This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.87, meaning that sellers of long (call) contracts and short (put) contracts are almost evenly matched. Max pain is around $62,500, which is lower than current spot prices, so some will be out of the money on expiry.
Open interest (OI), or the value or number of Bitcoin options contracts yet to expire, remains highest at the $70,000 strike price on Deribit, with $1.6 billion, but short sellers still have $1.1 billion in OI at $60,000. Total BTC options OI across all exchanges has ticked up a little to $30 billion, according to Coinglass.
“Puts continue to trade at a premium to calls across all major tenors, although the magnitude of that premium has become increasingly uniform,” said crypto derivatives provider Greeks Live this week.
This suggests that overall, the market is less panicked about an immediate crash than before, though people still pay a bit more for “drop protection” than for “rise bets” — just not as extremely as they did recently.
“The proportion of large-scale bullish trades continued to increase this week, primarily consisting of short-term bull spreads.”
Meanwhile, Deribit said, “This floods the market with liquidity and volatility, creating prime conditions for trading short-dated options on Deribit.”
You may also like: The $65.5K Rejection: What Top Analysts Are Saying About Bitcoin’s Next Move Don’t Obsess Over Bitcoin’s Bottom as $38K Low Comes Into Focus: Analyst Crypto Social Activity Just Hit a Multi-Month Low: Why That Could Be Bullish for Bitcoin At 08:00 UTC tomorrow, ~$1.45B in BTC and ETH options are set to expire on Deribit.$BTC : ~$1.23B notional | P/C: 0.86| Max Pain: $62.5K$ETH : ~$218M notional | P/C: 1.54| Max Pain: $1.75K
This floods the market with liquidity and volatility, creating prime conditions for… pic.twitter.com/OlYg6LQsls
— Deribit (@DeribitOfficial) July 16, 2026
In addition to today’s tiny batch of Bitcoin options, around 131,000 Ethereum contracts are expiring, with a notional value of $242 million, a max pain of $1,750, and a put/call ratio of 1.5.
Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is low at around $4.8 billion. This brings the total notional value of crypto options expirations to around $1.4 billion, a very small event.
Spot Market Outlook Crypto markets bounced to a mid-week high of $2.3 trillion, but those gains had started to erode by the end of the week.
Bitcoin has fallen around 2% from its intraday high of $64,800 to $63,300 during the Friday morning Asian trading session. It appears to be heading for the weekly resistance area, which is around $62,000.
Ether has also broken down from its six-week high in an almost 4% decline to around $1,850 at the time of writing.
The semiconductor sector has been hit by sell-offs, with Kimi K3 sparking concerns over AI valuations and chip spending.
The semiconductor sector is under pressure, and investors are reassessing AI-related trades. Moonshot AI claims its Kimi K3 model can compete with models from OpenAI and Anthropic, sparking renewed market concerns over AI firms' valuations and the outlook for chip spending. Despite the sell-off in chip stocks, the overall market breadth remains healthy; the recent moves are more likely a reflection of capital rotating out of the semiconductor sector rather than a broad market pullback.
8 minutes ago
Amid the closure of South Korean stock markets, SK Hynix’s ADR premium narrowed by 4 percentage points, and a crypto whale’s convergence portfolio swung to a profit of $340,000.
According to Hyperinsight monitoring, after the South Korean stock market closed, SK Hynix (SKHY) ADR (US-listed) on Hyperliquid continued to decline, currently trading at $148.5, with a 24-hour drop of around 10.5%; during the same period, South Korean-listed SK Hynix (SKHX) traded at 1,134 won, down about 8.9%. Calculated based on the ratio of 0.1 underlying Korean shares per SKHY ADS, the current ADR premium is around 30.8%, narrowing by roughly 4 percentage points from yesterday. The steeper decline of SKHY compared to SKHX has further narrowed the spread between the two. The previously tracked whale wallet 0x257 still maintains a convergence trade of "long SKHX, short SKHY", with total bilateral positions of around $7.893 million and a net floating profit of approximately $343,000: SKHX: 2,903 long positions with 10x isolated leverage, position value of about $3.288 million, average entry price of $1,196, floating loss of around $186,000, return rate of roughly -53.4%; SKHY: 31,014 short positions with 10x isolated leverage, position value of about $4.605 million, average entry price of $165.5, floating profit of around $529,000, return rate of approximately 103.0%. The funding fee structure remains bilateral. The hourly funding rate for SKHX is around -0.00303%, while for SKHY it is approximately 0.00185%; under the current portfolio, both the SKHX long position and SKHY short position are funding fee recipients, meaning the whale is expected to collect a total net of around $185 per hour.
8 minutes ago
SK Group Chairman responds to SK Hynix's stock price plunge: Avoid frequent trading and hold for the long term.
SK Group Chairman and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Choi Tae-won responded to the sharp plunge in SK Hynix’s stock price, saying that while he cannot predict SK Hynix’s share price movement next month, investors should avoid frequent trading, as long-term holding may be more conducive to preserving assets. Choi believes that as the AI industry develops, demand for memory will continue to expand. He noted that AI is currently like a "4-year-old child," and as it matures into a full-fledged industry, it will inevitably require more memory, with related demand potentially growing exponentially. He also pointed out that SK Hynix’s stock had risen rapidly earlier, leading to a sharp pullback when market expectations shifted, adding that prices that surge too quickly sometimes need adjustments to align with reality. When discussing South Korea’s AI industry strategy, Choi stated that South Korea cannot compete with China on cost nor surpass the U.S. in model quality, so it should build infrastructure, develop applications suited to domestic needs, and explore niche markets, with a long-term shift from exporting memory chips to exporting computing power and "intelligence."
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Institutions: U.S. corporate executives are offloading stocks at a nearly record pace.
US corporate executives are offloading stocks at the second-fastest pace in over two decades. For some investors, this is a classic warning sign, as it signals that those with the deepest insight into a company’s operations are taking a cautious stance on the current market. Data from EPFR Global Market Intelligence shows that in the first half of 2026, US corporate insiders collectively sold $776 billion worth of stocks, a 20% increase from the same period last year. Over the past 20+ years, only 2021 saw larger sell-offs, when the market was fueled by massive pandemic-era stimulus funds. EPFR analysts including Winston Chua wrote in a report: “Insider trading activity indicates that at current valuation levels, corporate executives have no strong willingness to increase their stock holdings.” Additionally, insider buying activity remains sluggish. In the first half of 2026, insiders purchased just $69 billion worth of company stock, barely above the seven-year low of $67 billion set in the same period last year. (Jin10)
8 minutes ago
US semiconductor, storage, and optical communication stocks extended their pre-market losses, with SanDisk and Applied Materials both falling more than 6%.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US semiconductor stocks were broadly lower in pre-market trading. Applied Materials fell 6.10%, Lam Research dropped 5.46%, TSMC declined 4.70%, KLA slipped 4.68%, Arm and Intel both fell 4.52%, AMD dropped 4.42%, Micron Technology fell 4.24%, and Nvidia was down 2.95%. The storage sector led losses: SanDisk fell 6.10%, Western Digital dropped 5.75%, Seagate Technology declined 5.63%, Micron Technology slipped 4.24%, and SK Hynix fell 3.49%. Optical communication concept stocks plunged collectively: Coherent fell 6.26%, Applied Optoelectronics dropped 6.00%, Credo declined 5.76%, Corning slipped 5.51%, Ciena fell 5.17%, and Astera Labs was down 5.08%.
8 minutes ago
The "Big Short" Michael Burry: Now an excellent time to bottom-fish Hong Kong stocks
The Big Short protagonist Michael Burry said today that with the appeal of South Korean and Japanese markets and the SOXX semiconductor sector waning, now is an ideal time to turn to the Hong Kong market to seek undervalued stocks. He believes some low-valued Hong Kong stocks are poised to perform well once capital flows shift away from South Korea, Japan and the semiconductor sector.
TL;DR U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $79.15 million in net inflows on July 16, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s IBIT led all Bitcoin ETFs with $33.44 million in fresh inflows. Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $28.04 million in total net outflows during the same trading session. Bitwise’s ETHW posted the largest single-day inflow among Ethereum ETFs at $2.28 million. U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) returned to positive territory on July 16, recording $79.15 million in net inflows, even as spot Ethereum ETFs continued to face investor withdrawals. The latest data from SoSoValue shows BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led Bitcoin fund inflows with $33.44 million, while Bitwise’s ETHW posted the largest inflow among Ethereum funds despite the sector finishing the day with an overall $28.04 million net outflow.
According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of USD 79.15 million on July 16, led by BlackRock’s IBIT with USD 33.44 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs posted total net outflows of USD 28.04 million, although Bitwise’s ETHW recorded the largest… pic.twitter.com/jgejDWUYgs
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 17, 2026
The mixed performance underscores how institutional investors continue to favor Bitcoin exposure while remaining more cautious on Ethereum after several weeks of uneven ETF demand.
BlackRock Leads Bitcoin ETF Recovery According to SoSoValue data, the July 16 session saw Bitcoin ETFs attract fresh capital after a volatile stretch that has featured alternating days of inflows and outflows throughout July. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for the largest share of new investments, adding $33.44 million, helping the sector finish the day with a net gain of $79.15 million.
The accompanying SoSoValue chart shows Bitcoin ETF assets standing at approximately $77.72 billion, with the daily inflow occurring as Bitcoin traded around the $64,000 mark.
Although the latest inflow is modest compared with the billion-dollar sessions seen earlier in the ETF market’s history, it suggests institutional demand has not disappeared despite recent market consolidation. Recent trading sessions have been characterized by rapidly shifting investor sentiment as macroeconomic uncertainty and crypto-specific developments continue to influence fund flows.
Ethereum ETFs Remain Under Pressure While Bitcoin products attracted fresh investment, Ethereum ETFs moved in the opposite direction despite a good market day for Ethereum the day before.
The group posted a combined $28.04 million in net outflows for the day, extending the uneven pattern that has defined Ethereum fund performance in recent weeks.
Despite the overall decline, Bitwise’s ETHW stood out by recording the day’s largest individual inflow at $2.28 million, suggesting that selective investors continue accumulating exposure even as broader sentiment toward Ethereum funds remains cautious.
The divergence between Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs highlights how institutional capital is currently flowing unevenly across digital assets, with Bitcoin continuing to attract relatively stronger demand.
ETF Flows Remain a Closely Watched Market Indicator Spot ETF activity has become one of the crypto market’s most closely monitored indicators since the products launched, offering insight into institutional appetite for digital assets.
While one day’s inflows do not establish a long-term trend, analysts often view sustained ETF demand as a sign of growing investor confidence because these products provide regulated exposure to cryptocurrencies through traditional brokerage accounts.
BlackRock remains the world’s largest asset manager, and IBIT has consistently ranked among the most actively traded spot Bitcoin ETFs since its launch. Continued inflows into the fund are frequently interpreted as evidence that institutional participation remains resilient despite short-term price volatility.
Investors will now be watching whether the latest inflows develop into a broader recovery after weeks of fluctuating demand.
Earlier this month, Bitcoin ETFs experienced several sessions of significant outflows before returning to positive territory on multiple occasions, reflecting an increasingly volatile institutional landscape rather than a sustained buying or selling trend. Ethereum ETFs have likewise alternated between inflows and outflows, although recent sessions have generally shown weaker momentum than their Bitcoin counterparts.
Key Takeaways ETH surged more than 5% following favorable CPI numbers before retracing from $1,930 back to approximately $1,850 Critical support established at $1,850, with analysts targeting $2,000 as the next resistance level Cascading liquidations of leveraged long positions intensified the downward correction after bullish momentum faded Large holders withdrew approximately $165M in ETH from Coinbase Prime across a three-day period Geopolitical concerns including Middle East tensions and climbing oil prices are pressuring markets Ethereum experienced a brief surge past $1,930—marking its highest point in recent weeks—after the release of softer US inflation figures, only to slide back toward $1,850 as market participants secured gains and geopolitical concerns resurfaced.
Ethereum (ETH) Price According to CoinGecko statistics, ETH reached a daily peak of approximately $1,931 on July 15, representing its most robust performance in several weeks. During the current trading session, the asset declined roughly 3.5%, while maintaining a seven-day gain exceeding 4%.
Multiple catalysts fueled the initial price surge. Softening employment figures from the United States increased speculation about potential Federal Reserve interest rate reductions, boosting demand for higher-risk investments. Additionally, spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds broke their outflow pattern, with BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust documenting renewed capital inflows around mid-July.
When ETH broke through the $1,800–$1,840 resistance zone, bearish traders were compelled to exit their positions. This forced covering propelled ETH momentarily beyond $1,900 before upward momentum dissipated.
Geopolitical Headwinds Emerge Escalating tensions between the United States and Iran sparked a widespread flight to safety across financial markets. Increasing petroleum prices reignited inflationary worries, diminishing expectations for imminent Fed policy easing. Yields on US Treasury securities also climbed higher, reducing the appeal of speculative assets.
BREAKING: US stock market futures extend losses as the US announces its sixth consecutive night of strikes on Iran. pic.twitter.com/yrMCawP0Yn
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 17, 2026
Given that significant portions of the rally were fueled by leverage, the correction proved swift. Ethereum dropped beneath $1,880, compelling bullish traders to exit their positions and driving the price back into the mid-$1,800 range.
From an on-chain perspective, analyst Ali Charts highlighted that ETH has successfully reclaimed the 0.8 MVRV Pricing Band as a foundation—a technical configuration that has historically preceded advances toward the Realized Price, presently positioned at $2,245. According to Ali Charts, this behavior has demonstrated consistency throughout the past six years.
Ethereum has followed the same pattern for years.
Every time it reclaims the 0.8 MVRV Pricing Band as support, it has gone on to rally toward—or even above—its Realized Price.
That pattern has repeated consistently over the past six years.
After briefly trading below the 0.8… https://t.co/LNkygeXO5n pic.twitter.com/N5gKQPhy2o
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) July 16, 2026
Large Holders Increase Positions Data from Lookonchain revealed substantial ETH withdrawals from trading platforms by major investors. Throughout a 72-hour window, seven freshly established wallets extracted a combined 89,396 ETH—valued at approximately $164.88M—from Coinbase Prime. Such exchange exodus activity generally indicates accumulation behavior by sophisticated investors.
Market analyst Ted Pillows characterized the pullback as a constructive consolidation phase. “Provided Ethereum maintains its position above the $1,850 threshold, the subsequent price movement should target $2,000.” Meanwhile, analyst Michaël van de Poppe framed the current market conditions as favorable for accumulation, stating “Significantly more upside potential remains for this asset.”
Critical support zones to monitor on the downside include $1,823 and the $1,750–$1,785 range. A decisive breach below $1,850 support would redirect attention toward these lower price levels.
The anticipated Glamsterdam network upgrade, designed to enhance blockchain scalability, has been postponed to late Q3, leaving ETH without significant near-term technical catalysts.
After years of lagging behind Bitcoin, altcoins may finally be approaching a turning point. Several market indicators are beginning to align, with Ethereum sitting at the center of the discussion. Analysts say the next major move in the ETH/BTC chart, along with improving macro conditions, could determine whether altcoin season finally see a broader recovery.
Here are four scenarios that could shape the next altcoin season.
Scenario 1: Ethereum Finally Breaks Out Against BitcoinEthereum (ETH) has been underperforming Bitcoin since December 2021, but that trend is now approaching a critical level.
According to one market analyst:
ETH/BTC is testing long-term resistance around 0.028.Ethereum bottomed against Bitcoin in April 2025, nearly 15 months ago.A similar pattern appeared in 2019 before Ethereum broke higher in early 2021 and triggered the last major altcoin rally.Meanwhile, analyst Michaël van de Poppe noted that Ethereum has posted its first meaningful move against Bitcoin in over a year. He expects a short consolidation before another leg higher, although a strong Bitcoin rally could temporarily delay altcoin outperformance.
Great move on $ETH vs. $BTC and it's the first real upwards move in over a year.#Altcoins have suffered a lot and a ton of people will likely still have PTSD from it.
However, in the short-term, I think $ETH vs. $BTC might be consolidating and correcting for a bit.
Why?
I… pic.twitter.com/QTTrDBPiMa
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) July 16, 2026 Scenario 2: Softer Inflation Keeps Risk Assets MovingThe latest U.S. CPI report added another positive signal for crypto markets.
Recent data showed:
Core inflation posted its biggest decline in more than four years.Expectations for another Federal Reserve rate hike dropped sharply.Bitcoin, Ethereum, gold and silver all rallied following the inflation report.Lower inflation improves the chances of easier monetary policy, creating a more supportive environment for risk assets like cryptocurrencies.
Scenario 3: Liquidity Starts Supporting Crypto AgainAnother factor the analyst noted is the global liquidity.
Japan’s M2 money supply has historically led Bitcoin moves by roughly 84 days.The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) is testing resistance, which could support additional liquidity if the dollar weakens.Improving liquidity has often coincided with stronger crypto performance in previous cycles.If those trends continue, the second half of 2026 could provide a stronger backdrop for digital assets.
Scenario 4: Altcoins Begin Catching UpBitcoin (BTC) has rallied nearly 660% from its 2022 lows, while Ethereum has only recently started reclaiming lost ground. That gap has left most altcoins well behind.
The analyst also points to improving internal market data.
Altcoins vs Bitcoin have recovered roughly 23% since December.On the top, altcoins outside the top 10 bottomed in February and have rebounded around 17%.Meanwhile, the “Others vs Bitcoin” chart is beginning to resemble Ethereum’s breakout pattern.According to the analysis, Bitcoin may still lead the market higher first, but Ethereum’s breakout against Bitcoin could ultimately determine whether crypto finally enters a full-fledged altcoin season rather than another Bitcoin-only rally.
Story Ends Here
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Gate DEX announced its full integration with Robinhood Chain, becoming one of the first mainstream exchange onchain gateways to support the ecosystem. This feature covers core scenarios such as asset discovery, wallet management, onchain trading, cross-chain interaction, and market tracking, providing users with a more complete and efficient Web3 experience for exploring emerging onchain ecosystems, and further expanding Gate DEX’s multi-chain layout and infrastructure capabilities. For a smoother experience, please update the Gate App to v8.27.0 or above.
As the onchain gateway of the Gate ecosystem, Gate DEX integrates wallet, cross-chain, trading, airdrops, Earn, and DApps, continuously building an open and interconnected full-scope Web3 ecosystem. With the rapid development of emerging public chains, users’ demand for asset discovery, project exploration, and onchain interaction continues to increase. By supporting Robinhood Chain, Gate DEX further connects emerging onchain ecosystems, providing users with a more convenient entry point to popular assets and innovative applications.
In terms of asset discovery, Gate’s main platform Alpha has newly added support for the display and trading of Robinhood Chain ecosystem assets, and has integrated ecosystem launch platforms such as Noxa.fun and Bankr. As an important exploration gateway for emerging assets on Gate, Alpha will connect users with popular assets and innovative projects in the Robinhood Chain ecosystem, helping users discover onchain opportunities more efficiently and improving the efficiency of exploring emerging ecosystem assets.
In terms of asset management and onchain interaction, Gate Wallet has newly added support for Robinhood Chain, enabling functions such as asset display, transfers, and DApp interaction, helping users manage onchain assets more conveniently. At the same time, Gate DEX Swap supports single-chain swaps and cross-chain swaps on the network, improving asset circulation efficiency.
In terms of trading and market services, Gate DEX professional trading supports Robinhood Chain market order trading, while the market module also supports the display of related tokens, helping users view ecosystem asset information and participate in onchain trading more conveniently. In addition, the chain scanning function has newly added support for this ecosystem and covers projects such as Noxa.fun and Bankr, helping users discover onchain hotspots promptly.
The integration of Robinhood Chain expands the boundaries of Gate DEX’s multi-chain ecosystem and enhances cross-chain interoperability. Relying on Across and LayerZero cross-chain solutions, Gate DEX enables asset circulation among BSC, Ethereum, Base, and Robinhood Chain, providing users with a more efficient and smooth multi-chain interaction experience.
Currently, Gate DEX has formed comprehensive onchain service capabilities covering asset discovery, wallet management, trading and swaps, cross-chain connections, and ecosystem applications. This ecosystem expansion is an important measure by Gate to continuously strengthen Web3 infrastructure and connect high-quality public chain ecosystems, and also reflects the platform’s continued investment in multi-chain connectivity and onchain product innovation. In the future, Gate will continue to deepen the development of the Gate DEX ecosystem, accelerate connections with more high-quality onchain networks and innovative applications, promote the continuous upgrading of Web3 product capabilities, and create a more open, efficient, and convenient onchain experience for global users.
How to Explore the Robinhood Chain Ecosystem?
Please update to Gate App v8.27.0 or above to access the new features.
About Gate Gate, founded in 2013 by Dr. Han, is one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency and integrated financial services platforms. Serving over 58 million users globally, it supports trading across 4,800+ digital assets and 12,500+ stock assets, while providing access to a comprehensive range of TradFi assets, including metals, stocks, indices, forex, and commodities, delivering users a one-stop, multi-asset trading experience and blockchain-related services. As an industry benchmark, Gate was among the first platforms to implement 100% Proof of Reserves. Its ecosystem includes Gate Wallet, Gate Ventures, Gate for AI Agent, and a wide range of products and services.
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Ethereum advanced past $1,820 for the first time in nine months, reigniting discussions among analysts about a potential market trend reversal. The move follows a prolonged period of lower lows and repeated failed recoveries, as traders watch for signals that could validate a stronger upward shift.
Key support and resistance levels come into focusOver recent sessions, Ethereum reclaimed two significant price levels: $1,750 and $1,820. Traders view these levels as essential markers for any upcoming market structure changes.
Daan Crypto Trades, a well-known cryptocurrency analyst, stated that ETH has flipped the $1,750 level from resistance back into support. He pointed out that a similar pattern occurred during Ethereum’s 2025 recovery phase, though he cautioned that current market conditions differ from that period.
Daan Crypto Trades highlighted that Ethereum has reclaimed a horizontal level that previously acted as resistance during its downtrend. He emphasized that this marks the first support-to-resistance reclaim since the beginning of the current bearish cycle, drawing a comparison to the 2025 rally but warning not to expect an identical scenario.
Turning prior resistance into support is a classic technical analysis signal often interpreted as a potential trend change. Traders are now closely monitoring whether ETH can solidify its position above these levels or if it will falter once again.
Support and resistance analysis is a fundamental approach in cryptocurrency trading. These levels act as psychological markers where buying or selling interest may increase, influencing price movement in either direction.
$1,820 reclaim stirs bottom formation debateMerlijn The Trader, another widely followed analyst, pointed to Ethereum’s ability to regain the $1,820 zone, which the asset lost in June. He noted that this is the first such move in nine months, making the current technical structure distinct from previous breakdowns, when Ethereum failed to reclaim lost lows during declines.
According to Merlijn The Trader, Ethereum had not previously reclaimed a lost low during the recent downtrend, yet did so for the first time in July, which he considered a significant shift from its typical bearish behavior since the last cycle peak.
In earlier periods of weakness, ETH broke through support and continued declining without quickly surmounting former breakdown zones. This time, regaining the $1,820 area has brought renewed speculation about whether a firmer bottom is in place for the asset.
Still, analysts cautioned that reclaiming a lost level does not necessarily confirm a broader turnaround. Sustained movement above the key $1,820 level on longer time frames is required for greater confidence among market participants.
$2,100 resistance remains the next major hurdleWith the $1,750 and $1,820 levels now acting as support, attention has shifted to Ethereum’s next major resistance zone at $2,100. Daan Crypto Trades identified this horizontal level as a key barrier through several previous market cycles.
A successful push above $2,100 could reinforce the case for continued recovery and potentially open the door to higher price targets. Alternatively, failure to clear this resistance may leave ETH range-bound or vulnerable to new selling pressure.
Risk thresholds remain well-defined. For Daan, a drop below $1,750 would threaten the bullish thesis, while Merlijn warned that a sustained three-day close under $1,820 would invalidate his outlook.
Support LevelResistance LevelBullish InvalidationAnalyst$1,750$2,100Drop below $1,750Daan Crypto Trades$1,820$2,1003-day close below $1,820Merlijn The TraderEthereum is an open-source, decentralized blockchain known for its smart contract capabilities, enabling a broad range of decentralized applications (dApps) and services worldwide. Its price trends are closely followed as a benchmark for the broader cryptocurrency market.
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.
This $28 million ether market bet aims to profit from pure market chaos. (Unsplash)Summary
A trader placed a roughly $28 million notional long straddle on ether, buying 7,500 calls and 7,500 puts at a $1,875 strike that expire July 24.The bet is a high-conviction wager on sharp ether price volatility in either direction, with profit driven by big moves rather than by a specific price target.The trader paid about $852,000 in premium, which is the maximum loss if ether stays range-bound.A massive bullish ether volatility bet hit the tape this week, designed to pay off handsomely from sharp price swings in either direction by July 24.
The trade, a monstrous 15,000-contract "long straddle," involved the simultaneous purchase of 7,500 calls and 7,500 puts at the $1,875 strike price level, expiring on July 24, according to data source Laevitas. It’s like buying two lottery tickets at once: One that pays out if prices explode higher, and another that pays if they collapse. So any massive move, either way, can make money.
The trade, therefore, represents a high-conviction bet that ether's price is likely to move rapidly in either direction over the next nine days. As of this writing, ether changed hands at $1,825, down 2% since midnight UTC, according to CoinDesk data. Prices recently hit highs above $1,900, having put in a low near $1,500 in late June.
Profit from volatility and not price directionThe straddle buyer is essentially saying, "I don't know where the price is going, but I know we aren't staying here, and there will be a big move in either direction."
It shows that major participants are not just "long-only" or "short-only" speculators; they are increasingly treating volatility as a separate asset class and using complex options Greeks, specifically vega (sensitivity to volatility) and gamma (sensitivity to price acceleration), to extract profit from market turbulence.
Inside the $28 million straddleNotional value represents the total market value of the underlying asset controlled by the trade, rather than the cash paid to enter it.
The straddle involved the purchase of 15,000 contracts, with each contract representing 1 ETH. The notional value, therefore, is calculated by multiplying 15,000 by the market price of ETH on the day of execution. That amount comes to roughly $28 million.
According to Laevitas, the trader paid a premium of $852,000 to establish this $28 million notional straddle. That premium represents the maximum amount at risk if ether remains range-bound or quiet through the July 24 expiry, leading to a "time-decay" in option value.
Now, turning to the maximum possible gain: it is theoretically unlimited. This stems from the fact that volatility itself has no upper bound, as asset prices can, in principle, move dramatically in either direction.
CaveatWhile the prospect of profiting from a move in either direction is enticing, the high cost of entry and the relentless decay of time value serve as a stark warning.
Without a professional-grade risk plan and a deep mastery of the "Greeks," an investor’s capital can evaporate just as quickly as the market’s volatility.
Former Ethereum Foundation researcher Francesco D’Amato has joined independent protocol research group Ethlabs, extending the movement of core Ethereum developers into organizations operating outside the Foundation.
Summary
Former Ethereum Foundation researcher Francesco D’Amato has joined Ethlabs after five years to continue Ethereum protocol research. D’Amato said he will keep working on faster Ethereum finality while helping Ethlabs expand its protocol research team. The move adds to a growing number of independent Ethereum organizations formed by former Foundation researchers following the Foundation’s restructuring. According to a statement shared by Ethereum Foundation researcher Francesco D’Amato on X, he has left the Ethereum Foundation after five years to join Ethlabs, a nonprofit protocol research organization established by former Foundation researchers to continue Ethereum core development.
Status update: I am moving from the Ethereum Foundation to Ethlabs @ethlabs_org, joining the team to accelerate protocol work in the age of Ethereum adoption.
In 5 years at EF Research, I have worked on research and specification of a wide range of Protocol R&D: mev, consensus,…
— Francesco (@fradamt) July 16, 2026 During his time at EF Research, D’Amato said he worked across several protocol research areas, including maximal extractable value (MEV), consensus mechanisms, data availability sampling, and execution layer pricing. He described the decision to leave as difficult but said the current period of change made it the right moment for “a new beginning.”
“Leaving that behind is hard, but after 5 years this time of great change seems right for a new beginning,” D’Amato wrote.
He added that, for the first time since beginning Ethereum protocol research, he believes there is “a credible shot” for core research to advance outside the Ethereum Foundation.
At Ethlabs, he said he will work alongside former EF colleagues to expand the organization’s protocol research efforts, bring new researchers into the ecosystem, and continue contributing to Ethereum’s long-term technical roadmap.
Among his priorities, D’Amato said he intends to keep working on reducing Ethereum’s transaction finality time, stating that he plans to focus much of his effort on helping Ethereum “finalize much faster, as soon as possible.”
Ethlabs expands its research team Ethlabs launched in June as an independent nonprofit research organization founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma. The organization said its research spans settlement speed, network capacity, native asset issuance, cross-chain interoperability, and Ethereum’s monetary design.
Backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, Bitmine, SharpLink, Anchorage, Octant, SNZ, and other Ethereum ecosystem participants, Ethlabs has said its research priorities are tied to growing institutional use of Ethereum for stablecoins, tokenized assets, investment products, and AI-driven commerce.
The group has also stated that research decisions remain independent despite corporate funding, with contributions managed through an external grants administrator.
When the organization launched, executive director Ansgar Dietrichs said Ethlabs was created to advance Ethereum’s core technology while providing a long-term home for protocol researchers outside the Ethereum Foundation. Lubin described the organization as another stewardship body working alongside the Foundation and other independent contributors to Ethereum’s development.
Ethereum development spreads beyond the Foundation D’Amato’s move comes as the Ethereum Foundation continues reshaping its internal structure and as more protocol work shifts to independent organizations.
Last month, the Foundation reduced its workforce by 54 positions, or about 20%, following a review of its staffing and long-term responsibilities. It later dissolved its Protocol Support team while reorganizing its remaining work into dedicated divisions covering protocol development, users, community, access, and institutional activity.
The restructuring has also led to the creation of new Ethereum-focused organizations. Earlier this month, former Foundation employees Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén, and Aaryamann Challani launched EthSystems, a for-profit company building confidential infrastructure for regulated financial institutions on Ethereum with backing from Bitmine, SharpLink, and Lubin.
Robinhood Crypto has rapidly crossed 1 million active addresses on its newly launched Ethereum Layer 2 network, according to data from blockchain staking platform Everstake. The achievement marks a significant milestone for Robinhood, a widely used brokerage that recently entered the blockchain space by launching its own Layer 2 chain.
Active address milestone highlights rapid adoptionBlockchain analytics firm Everstake reported that Robinhood Crypto now counts over 1 million active addresses since the network’s launch. These active addresses represent unique wallets that have interacted with Robinhood Chain’s ecosystem in the initial weeks of its public availability.
Active address metrics are widely regarded as an indicator of real user engagement beyond simple wallet creation. Sustained growth in this metric often points to strong organic demand on a new network.
Weiss Crypto, a digital asset research firm, also noted Robinhood Chain’s quick rise among new blockchain projects. The platform highlighted that, within just two weeks, the network joined the ranks of the busiest launches in the Layer 2 segment.
Robinhood Chain has become one of the busiest new networks in the crypto industry, reaching more than 1 million addresses and processing over 38 million transactions within days of its launch.
This momentum suggests that the platform’s entry into the blockchain ecosystem has attracted considerable attention from users and developers alike.
Transaction volume and DEX activity surgeAccording to Everstake, Robinhood Crypto’s Ethereum Layer 2 chain has processed 68.7 million transactions since its launch. These transactions encompass transfers, swaps, and activity from decentralized applications built on the network.
Weiss Crypto previously identified more than 38 million transactions in just the first phase, indicating ongoing and growing usage over time. The continued uptick highlights consistent engagement rather than a short burst of early activity.
The latest data shows 68.7 million transactions completed, with decentralized exchange (DEX) volume climbing to $2.4 billion as users actively interact across the network.
This transaction volume translates into strong activity on decentralized exchanges, with reported DEX volume now totaling $2.4 billion. Higher DEX trading typically reflects greater liquidity and escalating user demand on the protocol.
The relationship between transaction count and DEX volume points to a network where users are not simply establishing wallets but are also participating in active trading and application use.
MetricReported ValueActive addresses1 million+Transactions68.7 millionDEX volume$2.4 billionLayer 2 networks drive Ethereum scalingEverstake described Robinhood Chain as a rising force among Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, which are designed to boost transaction throughput and reduce congestion on the Ethereum mainnet.
Layer 2 systems process transactions off the main Ethereum chain before ultimately settling them on the core blockchain, enabling faster and cheaper activity while expanding overall capacity.
Growth in user metrics like active addresses, transaction counts, and trading volumes are widely seen as positive signals for the broader Ethereum ecosystem, supporting greater scalability and adoption of decentralized finance applications.
Observers now turn to whether Robinhood Crypto can maintain its pace of new user growth and trading activity, potentially establishing itself as a central player in the evolving landscape of Layer 2 blockchain infrastructure.
Mini dictionary: Robinhood Crypto is the cryptocurrency division of Robinhood, a major U.S.-based brokerage known for commission-free stock trading. Its Layer 2 blockchain, Robinhood Chain, extends decentralized crypto services to users while reducing transaction fees and improving network efficiency by connecting to Ethereum.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Ethereum News: BlackRock, JPMorgan Builds Make ETH a Wall Street Asset, Tom Lee Argues
Ahmed Barakat
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Ahmed Barakat is a journalist and copywriter based in Georgia with a growing focus on blockchain technology, DeFi, AI, privacy, digital assets, and fintech innovation.
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In the lastest Ethereum news, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee is arguing that Ethereum’s next major move has nothing to do with crypto-native speculation, and everything to do with institutional capital that is already deployed and building.
Writing in Bitmine’s July Chairman’s message, Lee pointed to BlackRock BUIDL, JPMorgan MONY, and Robinhood Chain as concrete evidence that Wall Street has moved from observation to construction on Ethereum’s rails. The ETH price currently sits near $1,880, about 60% below its 2025 peak near $5,000.
The gap between that peak and current levels is the central question Lee addresses. His read is that it reflects a regime change, not a structural ceiling, the first era of ICOs, NFTs, ETFs, and stablecoins has run its course, and the institutions now building on Ethereum represent a fundamentally different demand base with longer time horizons and larger capital pools.
Discover: The Best Token Presales
Ethereum News: BlackRock, JPMorgan, and the Tokenization Build-OutLee’s institutional case rests on names that move markets in traditional finance. BlackRock BUIDL, the asset manager’s tokenized Treasury fund, now holds roughly $2.6 billion and has earned Moody’s top money-market rating (Moody’s cited).
JPMorgan MONY extended the bank’s tokenization push that began with Onyx in 2020, adding another institutional-grade vehicle to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Electric Capital data cited by Lee puts nearly 6,000 developers on the EVM stack, ranking Ethereum first among all chains for new builders, a metric that matters more to institutions evaluating long-term platform risk than short-term price momentum.
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1/
Bitmine released its July Chairman's Message titled
"ETH is the Cure for the Uncanny Valley of Wealth"
– Two exponential tailwinds for Ethereum
– The crypto headwinds of 2026 are ending
– Bitmine primed for next bull cycle
Linkhttps://t.co/RHYkprmhCD
— Bitmine (NYSE-BMNR) $ETH (@BitMNR) July 16, 2026 Wall Street is building on Ethereum, Lee argues in the Chairman’s message, contrasting 2022’s crypto bear-market backdrop with continued institution-led development.
In 2025 and 2026, institutional crypto infrastructure has continued to expand even as ETH price fell sharply from its cycle highs. That divergence between on-chain institutional activity and spot price is the core of his thesis. For more on how BlackRock’s ETF flows are reinforcing this dynamic, see this analysis of BlackRock ETF inflows and their ETH price implications.
Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio
Robinhood Chain: ETH as Settlement MoneyRobinhood Chain, launched July 1 on Arbitrum, handed Lee one of his more striking data points. Within two weeks of going live, it ranked third among all networks by DEX volume at about $811 million daily, briefly surpassing Ethereum itself according to DefiLlama. Ethereum has since reclaimed that position, and cumulative Robinhood Chain volume has crossed $1 billion.
In the Chairman’s message news, Lee argues that Robinhood Chain’s use of ETH (as described in his discussion of the network’s fees and how it settles) makes it a meaningful Ethereum use case.
Source: Robinhood Chain TVL / DefiLlamaThe counterargument is equally straightforward. Artemis CEO Jon Ma has noted that Robinhood Chain’s volume spike is predominantly meme coin-driven, not institutional flows.
And the fee economics cut against Lee’s framing, Robinhood Chain pays Ethereum’s base layer almost nothing in fees. High DEX volume on an Arbitrum-based chain does not translate 1-for-1 into ETH fee burn at the L1 level.
The Amazon Analogy, and the Conflict It CarriesLee frames the current ETH setup through an Amazon analogy: the stock traded near a split-adjusted $6 for 12 years before climbing to $241 as its total addressable market expanded beyond what early investors could model. He also describes the psychology around sellers at depressed prices.
He also concedes the bearish read directly. ETH has failed twice at the $5,000 level, and skeptics argue that the top of the range could limit upside this cycle.
Source: ETHUSD / TradingviewThe conflict of interest embedded in Lee’s thesis deserves direct acknowledgment. Bitmine’s latest weekly disclosure shows 5.77 million ETH, about 4.8% of the 120.7 million total supply. Lee is among the biggest beneficiaries if institutional adoption confirms his thesis.
That does not make his argument wrong, but it reframes every price target he issues as coming from a holder with an extraordinary financial stake in the outcome.
The institutional infrastructure Lee cites is real. BlackRock BUIDL’s Moody’s rating, JPMorgan’s MONY fund, and Robinhood Chain’s early volume numbers are all verifiable facts, not projections.
Whether they are sufficient to drive ETH from $1,880 back through $5,000 and beyond depends on whether institutional capital deepens from product launch into sustained secondary market demand, a step that none of these programs has yet demonstrated at scale.
Trades Ethereum, and Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit
Crypto Winter Over?In his latest message to shareholders, Lee said that the “crypto spring is here.”
He cited the research of Tom DeMark, a popular technical analyst and Bitmine Immersion’s timing advisor for cryptocurrency acquisitions, who believes everything is set for a “market bottom” and that the “Ethereum risk-reward is to the upside.”
DeMark’s model sees Ethereum today as analogous to the S&P 500 in 1987, projecting around $2,200 for the cryptocurrency in August
Lee said Ethereum’s future market is primed for “exponential” growth, adding that it’s transitioning to its 2.0 phase.
“I think people are rage-quitting at the bottom for Ethereum here,” the Wall Street analyst said.
Lee said that, unlike the 2022 bear market, “Wall Street is now building on Ethereum” and accelerating tokenization efforts on the blockchain.
Earlier this week, Lee said that Ethereum is “grossly undervalued” compared to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), gold and stocks.
BitMine Records Unrealized LossesBitmine holds 5.77 million ETH worth $10.2 billion, the largest ETH treasury in the world and the second-largest cryptocurrency treasury overall behind Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR).
The company posted $46.5 million in revenue for the quarter ended May 31, a 22x jump from a year earlier. On the other hand, it reported a $9 billion loss as falling ETH prices hit the value of its holdings on paper.
Price Action: At the time of writing, ETH was exchanging hands at $1,828.40, down 4.72% over the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. The coin has gained 3.22% over the week, but is down nearly 40% year-to-date.
BitMine shares were down 5.92% in Friday’s pre-market trading after closing 2.22% lower at $23.02 during Thursday’s regular session.
The BMNR stock exhibited weaker short-, medium-, and long-term price trends, according to Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings
Photo courtesy: Zakharchuk on Shutterstock
Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
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.
Tether’s USDT stablecoin user base expanded by 30 million wallets in the second quarter of 2026, maintaining a strong trend of quarterly growth. This increase follows several quarters of rising adoption and highlights continuing demand for stablecoins among users seeking payment, remittance, trading, and savings solutions.
Consistent Growth and User MilestonesTether reported that its USDT wallet count surpassed 534 million in early 2026, continuing a pattern of rapid expansion. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tether recorded about 35 million new wallets. CEO Paolo Ardoino emphasized that USDT continues to onboard more than 30 million wallets each quarter, reflecting consistent user growth.
Paolo Ardoino noted that USDT’s user base expands by over 30 million wallets every quarter, underscoring the stablecoin’s appeal across various markets.
Earlier data from Tether showed that in the third quarter of 2024, 36.25 million wallets were added, indicating average quarterly growth close to 9%. By the end of 2025, Ardoino suggested that the total number of USDT users had reached about 500 million, and projections put the number above 530 million in early 2026.
QuarterWallets AddedTotal WalletsQ3 202436.25 millionNot specifiedQ4 202535 million500 million+Q2 202630 million534 million+Expansion Across Blockchain NetworksUSDT operates on multiple blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum, Tron, TON, and several layer-2 solutions. Its presence on these networks has enabled adoption in diverse global markets, especially for cross-border payments, day-to-day transactions, and as a store of value amid local currency volatility.
Tether’s prominence extends beyond blockchain statistics. More than 100 million people interact with USDT wallets via centralized exchanges, according to market data. As USDT remains the main trading pair on numerous international exchanges, its growing user base has contributed to higher overall market liquidity.
Mini dictionary: TON (The Open Network) is a decentralized blockchain originally developed by Telegram’s team. After the project’s handover, it evolved into a community-driven network supporting smart contracts, NFTs, and decentralized applications.
The widespread use of USDT has established it as an essential asset in digital finance, both for individuals in developed countries and users in emerging economies aiming to safeguard savings from depreciating local currencies.
Stablecoin Market and Financial BackingTether’s financial disclosures reveal that, in the first three quarters of 2025, around 174.4 billion USDT tokens were in circulation. These stablecoins are predominantly backed by US Treasury securities, forming the core of Tether’s reserves.
Rival stablecoin USDC continues to experience growth by focusing on regulatory compliance and institutional adoption. Meanwhile, Tether has secured its position as the leading stablecoin among a broad base of grassroots users in regions with limited access to dollar-pegged assets.
The expanding reach and volume of stablecoins underscore their growing significance in global digital finance, providing more than just trading pairs for crypto markets.
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.
Amid the closure of South Korean stock markets, SK Hynix’s ADR premium narrowed by 4 percentage points, and a crypto whale’s convergence portfolio swung to a profit of $340,000.
According to Hyperinsight monitoring, after the South Korean stock market closed, SK Hynix (SKHY) ADR (US-listed) on Hyperliquid continued to decline, currently trading at $148.5, with a 24-hour drop of around 10.5%; during the same period, South Korean-listed SK Hynix (SKHX) traded at 1,134 won, down about 8.9%. Calculated based on the ratio of 0.1 underlying Korean shares per SKHY ADS, the current ADR premium is around 30.8%, narrowing by roughly 4 percentage points from yesterday. The steeper decline of SKHY compared to SKHX has further narrowed the spread between the two. The previously tracked whale wallet 0x257 still maintains a convergence trade of "long SKHX, short SKHY", with total bilateral positions of around $7.893 million and a net floating profit of approximately $343,000: SKHX: 2,903 long positions with 10x isolated leverage, position value of about $3.288 million, average entry price of $1,196, floating loss of around $186,000, return rate of roughly -53.4%; SKHY: 31,014 short positions with 10x isolated leverage, position value of about $4.605 million, average entry price of $165.5, floating profit of around $529,000, return rate of approximately 103.0%. The funding fee structure remains bilateral. The hourly funding rate for SKHX is around -0.00303%, while for SKHY it is approximately 0.00185%; under the current portfolio, both the SKHX long position and SKHY short position are funding fee recipients, meaning the whale is expected to collect a total net of around $185 per hour.
4 minutes ago
SK Group Chairman responds to SK Hynix's stock price plunge: Avoid frequent trading and hold for the long term.
SK Group Chairman and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Choi Tae-won responded to the sharp plunge in SK Hynix’s stock price, saying that while he cannot predict SK Hynix’s share price movement next month, investors should avoid frequent trading, as long-term holding may be more conducive to preserving assets. Choi believes that as the AI industry develops, demand for memory will continue to expand. He noted that AI is currently like a "4-year-old child," and as it matures into a full-fledged industry, it will inevitably require more memory, with related demand potentially growing exponentially. He also pointed out that SK Hynix’s stock had risen rapidly earlier, leading to a sharp pullback when market expectations shifted, adding that prices that surge too quickly sometimes need adjustments to align with reality. When discussing South Korea’s AI industry strategy, Choi stated that South Korea cannot compete with China on cost nor surpass the U.S. in model quality, so it should build infrastructure, develop applications suited to domestic needs, and explore niche markets, with a long-term shift from exporting memory chips to exporting computing power and "intelligence."
4 minutes ago
Institutions: U.S. corporate executives are offloading stocks at a nearly record pace.
US corporate executives are offloading stocks at the second-fastest pace in over two decades. For some investors, this is a classic warning sign, as it signals that those with the deepest insight into a company’s operations are taking a cautious stance on the current market. Data from EPFR Global Market Intelligence shows that in the first half of 2026, US corporate insiders collectively sold $776 billion worth of stocks, a 20% increase from the same period last year. Over the past 20+ years, only 2021 saw larger sell-offs, when the market was fueled by massive pandemic-era stimulus funds. EPFR analysts including Winston Chua wrote in a report: “Insider trading activity indicates that at current valuation levels, corporate executives have no strong willingness to increase their stock holdings.” Additionally, insider buying activity remains sluggish. In the first half of 2026, insiders purchased just $69 billion worth of company stock, barely above the seven-year low of $67 billion set in the same period last year. (Jin10)
4 minutes ago
US semiconductor, storage, and optical communication stocks extended their pre-market losses, with SanDisk and Applied Materials both falling more than 6%.
According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US semiconductor stocks were broadly lower in pre-market trading. Applied Materials fell 6.10%, Lam Research dropped 5.46%, TSMC declined 4.70%, KLA slipped 4.68%, Arm and Intel both fell 4.52%, AMD dropped 4.42%, Micron Technology fell 4.24%, and Nvidia was down 2.95%. The storage sector led losses: SanDisk fell 6.10%, Western Digital dropped 5.75%, Seagate Technology declined 5.63%, Micron Technology slipped 4.24%, and SK Hynix fell 3.49%. Optical communication concept stocks plunged collectively: Coherent fell 6.26%, Applied Optoelectronics dropped 6.00%, Credo declined 5.76%, Corning slipped 5.51%, Ciena fell 5.17%, and Astera Labs was down 5.08%.
4 minutes ago
The "Big Short" Michael Burry: Now an excellent time to bottom-fish Hong Kong stocks
The Big Short protagonist Michael Burry said today that with the appeal of South Korean and Japanese markets and the SOXX semiconductor sector waning, now is an ideal time to turn to the Hong Kong market to seek undervalued stocks. He believes some low-valued Hong Kong stocks are poised to perform well once capital flows shift away from South Korea, Japan and the semiconductor sector.
4 minutes ago
US stock futures fall, with intensified selling pressure on semiconductor stocks driving investors to shift to other sectors.
U.S. stock index futures fell, with selling pressure on semiconductor stocks intensifying, prompting investors to seek investment opportunities in other market segments. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped more than 2%, while S&P 500 futures fell over 1%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) led losses among the "Magnificent Seven" in pre-market trading, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is nearing a bear market and set to extend Thursday’s declines. However, even though the S&P 500 closed 0.5% lower on Thursday, 369 of its constituent stocks advanced and 132 declined, indicating the market’s overall breadth remains healthy. Barclays strategist Venu Krishna stated, "Enthusiasm for AI capital expenditure is starting to cool, but the semiconductor sector still significantly outperforms the broader market in stock price performance, while software stocks continue to lag. This shows recent market rotation is gradual rather than decisive." (Jinshi)
Key Highlights TKNZ represents T. Rowe Price’s inaugural actively managed spot cryptocurrency ETF, now trading on NYSE Arca Initial assets total approximately $15 million, distributed across Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Solana, XRP, and Hyperliquid Portfolio composition features Bitcoin as the largest holding at 40.75%, while Hyperliquid comprises 6.45% Expense ratio stands at 0.75% until May 2027, subsequently increasing to 0.90% Active management strategy allows portfolio adjustments based on ongoing market analysis and research insights Baltimore-headquartered investment powerhouse T. Rowe Price, which manages $1.9 trillion in client portfolios, made its official debut in the cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund space Thursday by introducing TKNZ — positioned as the market’s inaugural actively managed multi-asset digital currency ETF.
🚨JUST IN: T. Rowe Price’s TKNZ Active Crypto ETF began trading TODAY with about $15 million in assets.
The fund debuted with about 41% allocated to BTC, 18.4% to ETH, and sizeable positions in BNB, SOL, and XRP.
Hyperliquid’s HYPE accounted for nearly 6.5% of the portfolio. https://t.co/zTh1kq8ATD pic.twitter.com/YNcMtRQbD1
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 16, 2026
Trading commenced on NYSE Arca following a nearly nine-month approval process after the company submitted its initial application in October 2025. The fund opened with roughly $15 million in starting capital.
Distinct from single-asset offerings such as standalone Bitcoin or Ethereum ETFs, TKNZ provides exposure through a diversified cryptocurrency portfolio. The initial allocation breakdown showed Bitcoin commanding 40.75%, Ethereum at 18.42%, BNB representing 11.01%, Solana accounting for 9.44%, XRP at 9.37%, and Hyperliquid comprising 6.45%.
Additional holdings feature Stellar Lumen at 3%, Dogecoin at 1.28%, along with a modest cash reserve.
Dynamic Portfolio Management Defines Strategy TKNZ’s distinguishing characteristic lies in its active management framework. Fund managers possess the flexibility to rebalance holdings according to evolving market dynamics, proprietary analysis, and risk evaluation rather than adhering to a predetermined index structure.
According to T. Rowe Price, this methodology aims to capitalize on shifting momentum patterns as capital flows between various digital assets throughout market cycles.
Blue Macellari, who has directed T. Rowe Price’s digital asset division since 2022, manages the fund with support from four additional co-portfolio managers. The organization developed proprietary digital asset trading systems and established partnerships with institutional service providers ahead of the product launch.
Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas observed that the opening portfolio composition appeared to underweight Bitcoin while maintaining heavier positions in alternative assets, especially Hyperliquid.
Hyperliquid Allocation Generates Market Interest The 6.45% allocation to Hyperliquid has captured attention considering the token’s recent market trajectory. Hyperliquid reached a peak price around $74.50 in the previous month and presently trades near $65.60, representing approximately 38% appreciation over the trailing twelve months. Bitcoin, conversely, has declined roughly 45% during the identical timeframe.
According to fund documentation, the ETF will not implement staking for any proof-of-stake assets initially, though staking participation may be incorporated down the line.
The expense structure is set at 0.75% through May 2027 via a provisional fee waiver, before escalating to 0.90%. Detractors of actively managed investment vehicles typically cite elevated fees as a disadvantage relative to passive index alternatives.
T. Rowe Price’s entrance follows BlackRock’s recent introduction of a Bitcoin income ETF earlier this month, demonstrating that major asset management firms continue diversifying and refining their cryptocurrency product portfolios.
With nearly 90 years of asset management history, TKNZ represents T. Rowe Price’s maiden direct exposure vehicle in the digital currency sector.
Key Highlights E*TRADE now offers direct cryptocurrency trading to qualified customers for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana Each transaction incurs a 50 basis point charge, processed via connected Zero Hash accounts The service expansion comes after a trial phase that started in May 2026 Digital asset holdings lack FDIC or SIPC insurance coverage Morgan Stanley continues advancing its Ether and Solana ETF applications Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform has successfully launched spot cryptocurrency trading capabilities for qualified retail customers. The brokerage now enables users to purchase, sell, and store Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through its interface.
JUST IN: Morgan Stanley completes crypto spot trading rollout on E*Trade
All 8.6 million clients can now buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana at 50 basis points in partnership with zerohash, per Morgan Stanley. pic.twitter.com/46UBQba0jA
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 16, 2026
The offering operates via a collaboration with Zero Hash, a digital asset infrastructure company. Customer crypto holdings reside in connected Zero Hash accounts, maintaining separation from their conventional brokerage portfolios.
E*TRADE applies a 50 basis point transaction fee for each crypto trade. The platform currently serves 8.6 million household accounts and managed approximately $1.56 trillion in customer assets as of March 31, 2026.
Customers can monitor both their cryptocurrency positions and traditional investment portfolios within a unified platform interface. Withdrawal and deposit features, enabling customers to transfer digital assets to and from the platform, are scheduled for release later this year.
The cryptocurrency accounts operate without FDIC or SIPC insurance protections. Morgan Stanley explicitly highlighted this limitation in its official statement.
The platform-wide launch follows a testing period initiated in May 2026, during which the company evaluated the service with a select customer group. All qualifying E*TRADE customers now have access to the feature.
E*TRADE additionally announced that crypto operations are planned to transition to Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, its national trust banking entity currently undergoing establishment procedures with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Morgan Stanley’s Comprehensive Cryptocurrency Strategy This platform addition represents one component of Morgan Stanley’s expansive digital asset initiative. Earlier in the year, the financial institution introduced a spot Bitcoin ETF featuring a 0.14% management fee, establishing it as the most cost-effective Bitcoin ETF available in the US market upon release.
The Bitcoin ETF commenced trading on NYSE Arca, marking the inaugural spot Bitcoin ETF from a leading US commercial banking institution. The fund captured over $100 million in net capital inflows during its initial six trading sessions. Current data from SoSoValue indicates the fund has accumulated roughly $385 million in total net inflows.
In April, Morgan Stanley introduced a stablecoin reserve product. This service permits stablecoin providers to maintain their backing assets in one of the firm’s money market fund vehicles while generating yield.
During June, Morgan Stanley updated its regulatory filings for proposed spot Ether and Solana ETFs, establishing management fees at 0.14%. The banking institution initially submitted applications to list these investment products in January 2026.
The company has applied for a cryptocurrency-focused national trust bank charter through the OCC, joining other industry applicants such as Ripple, Crypto.com, and Coinbase. Circle, which issues USDC, recently secured OCC authorization to establish its own national crypto banking institution.
Morgan Stanley has also implemented non-cryptocurrency enhancements to ETRADE, incorporating fractional share trading capabilities, an upgraded retirement planning interface, and additional functionality for its Power ETRADE Pro desktop trading platform.
The integration of retail spot trading access, ETF investment vehicles, and stablecoin reserve services represents one of the most comprehensive cryptocurrency infrastructure developments from a major US banking institution to date.
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.
