Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Ripple Just Made 2 Moves to Push RLUSD Into Institutions

Ripple has introduced Ripple Mint, a new enterprise platform designed to streamline the minting, management, and redemption of its US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, for institutional clients. The launch aims to provide large-scale financial players with seamless access to RLUSD, enhanced automation tools, and broader blockchain interoperability.

Ripple Mint offers unified stablecoin managementAccording to Ripple, Ripple Mint enables institutional users to access RLUSD through both an intuitive web dashboard and a robust set of APIs. Institutions may manually manage RLUSD balances, carry out minting and redemption transactions, or integrate directly into their backend systems to automate treasury and settlement workflows.

This unified platform is intended to replace previously fragmented and manual processes often used by exchanges, fintech companies, payment providers, market makers, and asset managers engaged with stablecoins. With Ripple Mint, these participants can directly issue and redeem RLUSD, oversee real-time transactions, and bridge assets across supported blockchain networks.

Ripple’s solution also facilitates integration of RLUSD management into key business operations, including treasury, compliance, settlement, and accounting systems.

Ripple stated that Ripple Mint introduces advanced APIs and real-time webhook notifications, giving institutions end-to-end visibility throughout the minting and redemption lifecycle.

The company explained that unified reference IDs are available within the platform to track fiat deposits, mint requests, on-chain settlements, and redemption payouts, a move designed to simplify reconciliation and reduce operational complexity for enterprise clients.

Broader blockchain access for RLUSDRipple has extended RLUSD’s reach beyond its existing blockchains by supporting minting and redemption on Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain, and the XRP Ledger EVM Sidechain. This step is expected to give institutions more flexibility in accessing decentralized finance, cross-border payment infrastructure, digital asset exchanges, and tokenized real-world asset markets.

Ripple described the XRPL EVM Sidechain as a key element in its multichain approach, combining Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility with the performance capabilities of the XRP Ledger.

This configuration allows developers and enterprises to build Ethereum-based applications while utilizing the speed and efficiency of the XRP Ledger environment.

Ripple emphasized that RLUSD is not intended to replace XRP. Instead, the two digital assets are designed to operate together within the ecosystem: RLUSD functions as a regulated digital dollar for payments, settlements, and treasury management, while XRP serves as a core liquidity and bridge asset for cross-chain transfers, decentralized swaps, collateralization, and global payments.

Recent integrations, such as RedotPay’s RLUSD payment card powered by the XRPL, highlight Ripple’s push to build an institutional-grade digital finance ecosystem where stablecoins and XRP jointly support global financial infrastructure.

Mini dictionary: RLUSD is Ripple’s regulated, US dollar-backed stablecoin designed for institutional use in payments, settlements, and treasury management across multiple blockchain networks.

Blockchain NetworkRLUSD Minting SupportedXRP LedgerYesEthereumYesBaseYesOptimismYesInkYesUnichainYesXRPL EVM SidechainYesDisclaimer: 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.

Alphabet July Earnings Reveal $119.8B Revenue, How Will Google Stock React?

Following a merger of Ethereum’s [ETH] Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) into one holistic roadmap, the scaling upgrades seem to be working. For instance, Pectra Upgrade expanded L2 blob throughput, while Fusaka Upgrade increased data availability by 8x.

That is not just heresy. It is backed by the recent on-chain data. Here are the details:

Peak usage meets minimal cost—what does it mean? Overlaying the cost of transactions with the number of activities on the blockchain is a powerful tool for assessing whether the scaling upgrades are working.

The weekly transaction count on Ethereum is at an all-time high of 1.8 million, and at one point, it reached 21 million. This indicated peak usage of the network. It represented a surge of 15% in monthly transaction count.

On the other hand, the median transaction fee was at an all-time low (ATL) of $0.008. This divergence in cost from transaction count suggested Ethereum’s scaling upgrades were working.

Source: Token Terminal To confirm this hypothesis that Ethereum’s scaling upgrades were working, we need to look into activity on L2s.

Other supporting datasets For instance, total blob fees have reached 1.492 million ETH as per Dune Analytics. This shows the adoption of proto-danksharding, an upgrade that saves transaction costs through temporary space-saving data blobs.

It indicates scaling demand has shifted to L2 while settlement remains on the Ethereum mainnet.

Transactions on L2s have also spiked immensely since late June, led by Robinhood Chain. It tops the monthly change in the number of transactions at 30,922% and accounts for 13.9% of all transactions by L2s.

However, the majority of L2 transactions are done on Base, about 248.3 million, which accounts for 29.1%. Base Chain’s transactions have increased by 13.4%, behind Arbitrum One [ARB] and Optimism [OP], at 22.2% and 19.2%, respectively.

Source: Token Terminal Similarly, the Total Value Locked (TVL) of L2s is growing, showing that scaling in the ecosystem is expanding. For L2s, the total is $37.41 billion, almost half of the total TVL on the ETH mainnet.

For instance, Base Chain has the highest TVL, which rose to around $11.86 billion, up 1.04%. It is followed by Arbitrum One, ZKsync, and OP Mainnet, all of which are up except for ZKsync.

Source: L2BEAT Lastly, the number of monthly active users on Ethereum has increased by 2.9%, to around 8.3 million. As such, it meant Ethereum was not only processing more transactions cheaply but also attracting new users and securing more capital.

Final Summary Ethereum’s weekly transaction count peaks at 18M while fees remain at ATL, a sign that ecosystem scaling upgrades are working.  The increase in Blob fees, transactions, and TVL of L2s indicates a holistic upgrade across the whole Ethereum ecosystem. 

Major cryptocurrencies rose on Tuesday as investors digested reports that the White House agreed to an ethics package accompanying the cryptocurrency Clarity Act.

Some Clarity Finally?Bitcoin rallied to a 5-week high above $66,900, and is now up 13% month-to-date. Ethereum hit an intraday high of $1,950, while XRP and Dogecoin also climbed.

The spike followed reports that the White House agreed to add an ethics provision to the Clarity Act, a key sticking point that has kept the bill tied up amid President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency business interests.

Over $200 million was liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours, with $160 million in bearish shorts erased, according to Coinglass data

Bitcoin’s open interest jumped 4.21% to over $50 billion, indicating an influx of new money into the derivatives market. Retail and whale futures traders on Binance were positioned “Neutral” on BTC.

Top Gainers (24 Hours) 

The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.27 trillion, representing a 1.28% increase over the last 24 hours.

Stock Market ReboundsStocks rallied sharply on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average spiked 385.38 points, or 0.74%, to end at 52,224.64. The S&P 500 climbed 0.89% to close at 7,509.20, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite gained 1.29% to end at 25,837.21.

U.S. forces, meanwhile, carried out their eleventh consecutive day of strikes against Iranian military assets, while reiterating that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to commercial shipping.

Ali Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, noted that Bitcoin has faced repeated rejections at the Short-Term Holder Realized Price since November, framing it as the apex cryptocurrency’s biggest test.

“With BTC back near $66,000, all eyes are now on $69,340,” the analyst added. “If history repeats, that’s where the bulls will have to prove themselves.”

On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant said that wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC just accelerated their buying “at the fastest pace in months

“The total balance of this cohort has returned to the same level as before the February drop, 3.09 million Bitcoins, even with the price much lower now,” the research firm said. “This is the type of institutional trading pattern.”

Photo: KateStock / Shutterstock

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune has expressed optimism that they can reach a bipartisan deal to pass the CLARITY Act. This follows an agreement to include an ethics provision in the crypto bill, which aims to curb the involvement of elected officials in crypto.

Senator Thune Expresses Optimism About CLARITY Act Deal In an X post, the Majority Leader said that there is a good chance that they can reach a deal but warned that this could still change. He noted that they were currently working with Democrats to get to a place where Democrats can help deliver the votes they need to get the bill on the floor, but that he is optimistic about it.

Senator Thune had before now said that he hopes to get the CLARITY Act on the Senate floor before August but signaled that he wanted to get a bipartisan deal before he schedules floor time. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the chances of a bipartisan deal have increased following an ethics agreement.

As CoinGape reported, President Trump agreed to ethics provisions in the crypto bill, paving the way for a deal with Democrats. The ethics issue had been a major obstacle as Democrats had been clamouring for an ethics provision in the bill to rein in Trump’s crypto ventures.

Bessent Also Expresses Optimism About Bill’s Passage U.S. Treasury Secretary also expressed optimism about the CLARITY Act’s potential passage, stating that lawmakers were at the “1-yard line” on the crypto bill. He also urged them to pass the bill before leaving for the August recess.

Senator Kevin Cramer also said that the crypto bill is getting clearer as each issue is dealt with. He added that there has been an agreement on the ethics language, which gives the Justice Department power to be the enforcer rather than different state Attorney Generals. “I think we’re almost there,” he said.

The odds of the CLARITY Act passing this year have surged following the ethics agreement. Data from the top crypto prediction market platform Polymarket shows a 50% chance that President Trump will sign the bill into law this year.

Source: Polymarket

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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.

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.

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Table of contents

Asia-Pacific enterprises are moving past the question of whether blockchain works and into deciding where it fits in their core business. From Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities’ Zipangcoin on OP Mainnet to Sony Block Solutions Labs’ Soneium and Upbit operator Dunamu’s planned GIWA Chain, a wave of established consumer and financial platforms is building on the OP Stack. Juntaro Iwase, Managing Director for Japan and Southeast Asia at OP Labs, spoke with blockchainreporter about what’s driving this shift, how OP Enterprise addresses regulatory and operational demands, and why distribution — not just technology — is APAC’s biggest advantage.

1. What is the approach of Asia-Pacific-based enterprises toward blockchain adoption in comparison with Europe and the U.S.? The clearest difference is posture. Many APAC enterprises are no longer asking whether blockchain works. They are asking where it belongs in their core business. The recent examples speak for themselves. Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities launched Zipangcoin on OP Mainnet. Sony Block Solutions Labs built Soneium for consumer and creator applications. Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, plans to use the OP Stack for GIWA Chain, and Toss has announced a proof of concept exploring a Korean won-backed stablecoin.

Europe and the U.S. are progressing too, as Kraken’s Ink and Bitpanda’s Vision Chain demonstrate. What stands out in APAC is the combination of large consumer platforms, digitally sophisticated users, and companies with the distribution to bring onchain products to millions of customers who already trust them.

2. Why are Optimism and other Ethereum L2 solutions gaining preference as infrastructure among APAC enterprises? Enterprises are not choosing an Ethereum L2 for scalability alone. They evaluate the full solution, including the infrastructure, the operating model, the ecosystem, and whether they can integrate the tools their business requires.

Those requirements differ by company. Toss is running a proof of concept on the OP Stack alongside KYC and AML infrastructure and Privacy Boost from Sunnyside Labs. GIWA Chain plans to use the Self-Managed tier of OP Enterprise so Upbit can retain control over its sequencer and configuration while receiving engineering support and backup resilience. Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities launched Zipangcoin on OP Mainnet, which it has said supports its plans to reach investors worldwide.

The common thread is choice. Companies can build on an established public network or deploy dedicated infrastructure, and in either case work with the compliance, custody, monitoring, and privacy providers appropriate for their business.

3. What are the regulatory compliance and privacy demands of the APAC-based entities that are shifting on-chain? Regulated institutions open with questions about accountability, data visibility, operational control, and how blockchain fits into their existing systems. Public blockchains are transparent by default. If a financial product requires transaction details or customer balances to remain confidential, an additional privacy layer may be needed. Institutions may also need KYC, AML, transaction monitoring, custody, permissioning, and reporting tools. A blockchain infrastructure provider does not replace those functions or determine whether a product is compliant. Our role is to provide reliable infrastructure, clear operating models, and the technical integration points needed to work with specialist providers.

The Toss proof of concept demonstrates this layered approach. The OP Stack provides the blockchain infrastructure, Sunnyside Labs provides Privacy Boost, and separate KYC and AML infrastructure supports the compliance requirements. Each layer is handled by the party best equipped to handle it.

4. What is the role of the OP Enterprise in advancing enterprise-scale blockchain adoption across APAC? The hardest part of enterprise blockchain adoption is often not launching the technology. It is establishing an operating model that can support a critical business. Organizations need to know who runs the infrastructure, who responds when something breaks, how upgrades are managed, and how the network fits their internal security and procurement processes.

OP Enterprise is designed around those operational requirements. Companies can use a Fully Managed model or operate the infrastructure themselves through Self-Managed with direct engineering support. They can also begin on OP Mainnet before deciding whether they need a dedicated chain. The organization chooses the level of operational responsibility and control that fits its capabilities, and can change that answer as it matures.

5. How does the rollout of Optimism and Soneium benefit creator and consumer applications in Asia? Soneium shows how blockchain can support consumer experiences without requiring users to understand the technology underneath. Built by Sony Block Solutions Labs using the OP Stack, Soneium gives developers an Ethereum-compatible foundation for entertainment, gaming, creator, and community applications.

Sony has described its goal as making blockchain operate quietly behind the scenes while enabling trust, traceability, digital ownership, and clearer attribution of creative work. For creators and fans, this can support new ways to participate and collaborate, while the OP Stack provides the scalable infrastructure underneath those experiences. That philosophy of keeping the technology in the background and the experience in the foreground is exactly how consumer adoption happens in this region.

6. What is the significance of Upbit’s plan to develop the GIWA Chain via the OP Stack to advance the future of exchange-scale infrastructure? Upbit’s decision to develop the GIWA Chain reflects a broader shift in how major exchanges think about infrastructure. They increasingly want to own the infrastructure through which their users access onchain products. A dedicated chain can provide greater control over performance, transaction policies, user experience, product development, and the economics generated by the ecosystem.

Under the planned partnership between Dunamu and the Optimism Foundation, GIWA Chain intends to become the first chain on the Self-Managed tier of OP Enterprise. Upbit would retain control over the primary sequencer and configuration, while Optimism would provide monitoring, engineering support, and backup resilience.

7. Can you highlight the opportunities and challenges that shape enterprise-level blockchain adoption within the APAC region in comparison with the global markets? APAC’s biggest advantage is distribution. Sony, Upbit, Toss, and Mitsui & Co. Digital Commodities already have established brands, customers, and business relationships. They do not need to build an audience from zero. The challenge is turning blockchain infrastructure into a reliable and sustainable business. Regulations differ across Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and other markets. Companies must also integrate blockchain with existing systems and work with the appropriate providers across custody, identity, monitoring, privacy, and liquidity.

In my experience, local system integrators and trusted vendor relationships also play a major role in markets such as Japan. Technology matters, but local operational credibility often determines whether a project reaches production.

8. How will built-in interoperability for OP Chains facilitate enterprises developing in APAC? Native interoperability is still in development. Today, OP Chains rely on existing bridges and messaging solutions to connect across networks. The longer-term objective is to make participating OP Chains work more like a connected ecosystem. Assets and information could move between them more easily, allowing companies to operate dedicated infrastructure without creating completely isolated networks. This could be particularly valuable in APAC, where products often launch for a domestic market but may later seek international users, applications, and liquidity. 

9. What is OP Stack’s contribution to ensuring resilience and scalability for massive institutional workloads? The OP Stack was designed for the performance, reliability, and flexibility that enterprises require as blockchain moves into production. Its modular architecture allows organizations to tailor infrastructure to their specific operational needs while continuing to benefit from Ethereum’s security and ongoing innovation.

The proof is in production. More than 50 chains run on the OP Stack today, including networks built by Sony, Uniswap, OKX, and Kraken. Rather than building and maintaining a blockchain from scratch, enterprises can deploy infrastructure that has been proven at scale, reducing technical complexity while supporting high transaction volumes and long-term growth.

10. What is Optimism’s strategy to deal with regulatory requirements for compliant financial institutions operating in Asia? Every regulated institution operates under different legal and operational requirements, and those requirements vary meaningfully across APAC jurisdictions. Rather than imposing a single deployment model, OP Enterprise gives institutions the flexibility to configure infrastructure according to their specific needs, including how the chain is operated, who controls the sequencer, and which compliance, custody, and privacy providers are integrated.

That flexibility supports institutions in meeting their own regulatory obligations in their own jurisdictions, while still benefiting from the Ethereum ecosystem’s security and innovation. Compliance decisions remain with the institution and its advisors, and the infrastructure supports a range of deployment and integration requirements.

11. How do fully self-managed tiers of OP Enterprise shape enterprise-focused blockchain strategies within the APAC region? The Self-Managed tier reflects a consistent request from large financial institutions. They want the ability to control their own blockchain infrastructure without taking on the burden of building everything themselves.

For regulated institutions, the appeal is programmable financial infrastructure that combines operational sovereignty, direct control, and dedicated engineering support. The institution decides how the infrastructure is operated, secured, and integrated with its existing systems, while drawing on proven technology underneath. For many APAC institutions, that combination is what finally moves blockchain from the innovation lab into the infrastructure roadmap.

12. What is APAC’s role in accelerating the expansion of Optimism’s network and Optimism’s network globally? APAC has become one of the strongest examples of how blockchain is evolving into enterprise infrastructure. Activity across finance, payments, consumer technology, and entertainment shows that adoption is no longer limited to crypto-native companies.

Across the region, organizations are deploying or exploring the OP Stack, OP Mainnet, and OP Enterprise. In doing so, they are helping define what enterprise adoption could look like at global scale.

Over the next twelve months, I expect the question in APAC boardrooms to shift from “should we pilot this” to “which of our products goes onchain.” The companies with distribution, regulatory discipline, and the right infrastructure partners will be best positioned to answer it.

LayerZero Executor Wallets Undergo Security Breach, $2.4 Million Drained

XRP has become the most bullish major cryptocurrency on social media, according to on-chain analytics platform Santiment.

Despite recent price weakness, retail traders are showing the highest level of fear of missing out (FOMO) in five weeks.

XRP Tops Social Sentiment Rankings Santiment Intelligence reported that XRP recorded a positive-to-negative commentary ratio of 3.02-to-1 on Monday, the highest among the three largest cryptocurrencies it tracks.

Ethereum ranked second at 2.31-to-1, while Bitcoin remained comparatively neutral at 1.40-to-1.

The firm said market sentiment has shifted away from fear, but optimism is not evenly distributed across major assets. XRP has entered what Santiment described as a “major FOMO” zone, while Ethereum shows only mild FOMO.

Bullish Sentiment Rises Despite Price Weakness The surge in bullish commentary comes even as XRP’s price and that of Ethereum have struggled to maintain recent gains. Santiment noted that Bitcoin and Ethereum started Monday’s session higher before giving back those gains. XRP also faced selling pressure despite the rise in positive social sentiment.

For context, XRP’s price reached $1.1180 three days ago but has since fallen to just above $1.05, raising the risk of dropping below $1. XRP is now down 5.56% over the past week and more than 6% over the past month.

The analytics platform warned that rising optimism during a price decline can increase short-term downside risks.

“Crypto typically moves opposite to what the crowd is loudly expecting,” Santiment said.

The firm added that excessive bullishness around XRP or Ethereum while prices are falling could delay a recovery or lead to additional selling pressure.

Unlike XRP, Ethereum’s price still maintains a positive weekly performance and is up 6.24% over the past month. However, on a year-to-date basis, ETH is down 40%, while XRP has fallen even further, declining more than 42%.

Bitcoin Cautious Mood May Be More Constructive By comparison, Santiment said Bitcoin’s more balanced sentiment could provide a healthier setup for future gains.

The firm noted that markets often have more room to rally when retail traders are not overly optimistic. Bitcoin’s lower positive-to-negative commentary ratio suggests investors remain relatively cautious, unlike the stronger retail enthusiasm surrounding XRP and Ethereum.

Santiment’s findings are based on its Positive vs. Negative Commentary Ratio, a social sentiment metric that tracks bullish and bearish discussions across major crypto-related social media platforms.

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $62,500, down 1.2% over the past week and 2.7% over the past month.

Before the latest pullback, the market had shown signs of improvement, with Bitcoin approaching $65,000. However, amid the overall cautious sentiment, the market has started to retrace once again.

DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

Ethereum is quietly rebuilding its bullish case, and this time it’s not just another social media hype cycle. A combination of improving market sentiment, undervalued on-chain metrics, accelerating development, and aggressive whale accumulation is painting a much stronger picture than the price alone suggests.

Sentiment Recovery Gains Real MomentumInvestor confidence has improved notably over the past month. After weighted sentiment plunged to -3.70 in early June 2026, it recovered to -0.61 by July 13, following a brief move into positive territory at +1.50. That steady improvement suggests market psychology is shifting away from extreme pessimism.

The recovery isn’t happening in isolation either. Ethereum’s development activity peaked during June, reinforced by the July 4 unveiling of the Lean Ethereum roadmap. The proposal outlines a long-term redesign of Ethereum’s core architecture through 2030, introducing recursive STARK proofs, post-quantum security, and enhanced privacy while maintaining compatibility with existing decentralized applications.

Ethereum’s On-Chain Data Signals Deep UndervaluationValuation metrics are also flashing interesting signals. Ethereum’s MVRV Z-score currently sits at -1.30, indicating the asset remains deeply discounted relative to its realized value.

Meanwhile, the network’s daily transaction volume profit-to-loss ratio jumped from 0.42 to 2.46. Put simply, profitable transaction volume now significantly outweighs loss-making activity, suggesting healthier underlying network usage despite recent market volatility.

Together, those metrics point toward improving fundamentals even as broader market participants remain cautious.

Whales Continue Pulling ETH Off ExchangesLarge investors don’t appear to be waiting for confirmation. Lookonchain data shows sustained exchange withdrawals as major holders continue moving Ethereum into long-term storage. 

Within one hour alone, a wallet linked to K3 Capital withdrew 10,000 ETH, valued at roughly $17.85 million, from Binance. At nearly the same time, Abraxas Capital removed another 6,948 ETH, worth approximately $12.42 million, from Binance and Bitfinex.

Loading profile preview now finds itself supported by improving sentiment, ambitious protocol development, discounted valuation metrics, and continued institutional accumulation. 

While none of these signals guarantees an immediate Ethereum price rally, together they present one of the strongest fundamental backdrops the network has seen in recent months.

Story Ends Here

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Optimism says Toss is the fourth regulated financial institution in a year to pick the OP Stack, after Bitpanda, Kraken and Mitsui.

Toss, the South Korean fintech app with roughly 30 million registered users, is testing a Korean won stablecoin on Optimism's OP Stack, Optimism said on X Wednesday. The proof of concept also involves Sunnyside Labs, whose "Privacy Boost" tool is meant to shield transaction data on a public blockchain while preserving compliance access.

Optimism, the company behind the OP Stack framework used to build layer-2 networks, called the tie-up the fourth time in a year a regulated financial institution has adopted the OP Stack in a new market, following Bitpanda's Vision Chain in Europe, Kraken's Ink in the US and Mitsui's Zipangcoin in Japan.

Kyle Jenke, chief business officer at OP Labs, said the pilot is "about demonstrating that the OP Stack can meet the compliance, privacy, and performance standards that regulated financial institutions require." Toss chief business officer Q-Ha Steve Kim said the company aims "to build a highly trusted, compliant digital financial infrastructure tailored to the Korean market," using the same post.

Three-Month TestThe arrangement runs as a three-month proof of concept, according to a post from crypto researcher Jay Chan, covering whether a financial institution can manage settlement, meet KYC and anti-money-laundering requirements, and protect transaction privacy on a public chain at the same time. Toss operates over 500,000 online and offline payment networks, per a summary of Kim's comments on the deal.

Optimism's post frames the collaboration as a test rather than a commitment to launch a stablecoin.

The OP Stack already underpins Sony's Soneium, Uniswap's Unichain and OKX's X Layer, among others, giving Toss an established multi-chain ecosystem to plug into rather than building isolated infrastructure. Whether the pilot converts into a live KRW stablecoin will depend on regulatory sign-off in South Korea, which has not yet finalized its stablecoin licensing framework.

South Korea's dominant fintech platform eyes on-chain settlementToss (@toss__official), the financial super-app operated by Viva Republica, has signed a memorandum of understanding with @Optimism and privacy technology firm Sunnyside Labs to explore a Korean won-backed stablecoin built on the OP Stack. The collaboration will begin with a three-month proof of concept evaluating whether the OP Stack can support the compliance, privacy, and performance requirements needed for regulated financial institutions.

Launched in 2015, Toss has grown into South Korea's largest fintech platform, offering payments, banking, investments, credit scoring, ID verification, tax, and insurance. The super-app surpassed 30 million users as of July 2025, representing nearly 60% of South Korea's total population. The scale of that user base makes the pilot notable: a successful launch would place a won-denominated stablecoin in front of one of the largest consumer fintech audiences in Asia.

The proof of concept will focus on three key validation points: whether financial institutions can directly control payment and settlement processes, whether KYC and AML requirements can be technically implemented, and whether individual transaction information can be securely protected on a public network.

Privacy, compliance, and the road to a real productThe companies will evaluate payment settlement, compliance requirements, and privacy protection using Optimism's OP Stack and Sunnyside Labs' Privacy Boost technology. Privacy Boost is designed to address a key limitation of public blockchains, where transaction details are generally visible to all participants. The technology allows sensitive financial data to remain private while still enabling regulated institutions to verify transactions and maintain compliance standards.

The work fits into Toss's "Money 3.0" strategy, which aims to build payment and remittance rails on top of stablecoins instead of relying only on bank transfers. The firm has already registered 24 trademarks for KRW stablecoins, including names such as "TOSSKRW," and is developing a Web3 wallet inside its super-app to deliver on-chain services to regular users.

The pilot is not a product launch. Three months is a short window for a proof of concept, and the gap between technically feasible and regulatorily approved can be measured in years in South Korea. No regulatory approvals have been granted, and no specific token issuance details have been disclosed. The initiative follows similar moves from other South Korean financial institutions, including Shinhan Card, which teamed with the Solana Foundation in late April to test the commercial feasibility of stablecoin payments.

Over the past year, the OP Stack has also been selected by Bitpanda for its MiCA-compliant blockchain in Europe, adopted by Kraken through its Ink network, and used by Mitsui and Co. Digital Commodities in Japan for tokenized precious metals, signalling growing institutional appetite for the infrastructure beyond the decentralized finance sector.

Sources
crypto.news: South Korean super-app Toss partners with Optimism for won-linked stablecoin trial
The Asia Business Daily: Toss Partners with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to Validate Won-Based Digital Financial Infrastructure
The Korea Herald: 6 in 10 South Koreans use Toss app

Viva Republica, the operator of South Korea-based mobile money transfer app Toss, reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with blockchain company Optimism to test a Korean won-based stablecoin infrastructure for institutional payments.

The companies, along with privacy solutions provider Sunnyside Labs, will conduct a three-month proof of concept (PoC) using Optimism's OP Stack and Sunnyside's Privacy Boost protocol to develop a Korean won-based stablecoin and assess whether these technologies can be applied to domestic blockchain-based payment infrastructure for financial institutions, reported Yonhap News on Wednesday.

The PoC will explore whether financial institutions can control the settlement process, the feasibility of implementing know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) verification requirements and whether transactions can remain private on a public blockchain ledger.

Toss plans to use the three-month PoC as the foundation for building compliant stablecoin-based payment infrastructure in the country, according to the report.

Cointelegraph has approached Toss for more details about the stablecoin pilot.

Toss app homepage. Source: Toss.im 

Optimism will provide the blockchain infrastructure, while Sunnyside Labs will provide the privacy-preserving technology to shield transfers. Sunnyside is a core developer for the Optimism Collective and has been building core OP Stack infrastructure.

Seoul-headquartered Toss was launched in 2015 and claims it has more than 30 million users on its mobile application.

Payments giants test stablecoins for improved settlementToss’ PoC follows similar stablecoin-based initiatives from other large financial institutions in the country.

In late April, one of South Korea’s largest credit card providers, Shinhan Card, teamed with the Solana Foundation to test the commercial feasibility of stablecoin payments and the use of non-custodial wallets, after completing a joint pilot project earlier that month.

Shinhan Card said it hoped to eventually develop its own DeFi-linked services that implement blockchain oracles, a technology used to connect information in offchain and onchain environments.

Late last year, payments giant Visa also launched USD Coin (USDC) settlement services for some US-based financial institutions on the Solana blockchain in one of the more advanced examples of stablecoin projects.

Other large payment providers exploring stablecoins for improved payments and settlement include Mastercard and South Korea's BC Card.

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Toss, the fintech super-app with more than 15 million users in South Korea, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to run a proof of concept on a Korean won-pegged stablecoin. The three-month PoC will test whether Optimism’s layer-2 infrastructure can support compliant digital currency payments in one of Asia’s most tightly regulated financial markets.

What the partnership actually involves The MOU, signed on July 8, pairs three organizations with very different skill sets. Toss brings the user base and financial services muscle. Optimism contributes its OP Stack, the modular framework that powers its Ethereum layer-2 network. Sunnyside Labs rounds out the trio with privacy-focused solutions, a critical piece of infrastructure when you’re dealing with regulated payments in a country that takes KYC and AML seriously.

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Kyu-ha Kim, Toss’s Chief Business Officer, emphasized the importance of the collaboration in understanding the feasibility of a KRW-pegged stablecoin. The PoC will specifically assess whether the OP Stack can handle the throughput, compliance, and cost requirements that a payment-grade stablecoin demands.

Back in March 2026, the company announced plans to issue a won-backed stablecoin. Then in June, Toss Bank signed a separate MOU with the Solana Foundation to test stablecoin-based remittance and settlement. The Optimism track focuses on layer-2 Ethereum infrastructure. The Solana track focuses on remittance use cases.

Why South Korea matters for stablecoins That’s precisely why Toss is running a PoC rather than going straight to market. The company operates Toss Bank, a fully licensed digital bank, alongside its payments super-app. A stablecoin that gets shut down would be a reputational catastrophe for a platform that has spent years building trust with Korean consumers.

The risk, of course, is execution. Three months is a short window for a PoC, and the gap between “technically feasible” and “regulatorily approved” can be measured in years in South Korea. No regulatory approvals have been granted, and no specific token issuance details have been disclosed. The PoC could conclude that the technology works perfectly and still sit in regulatory limbo for an extended period.

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

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The crypto market has spent much of an eight-month stretch under pressure, shedding more than $2 trillion since peaking in October 2025. Traders are now more optimistic than ever about a potential rebound, buoyed by the broader market’s performance over the past week and, more recently, by altcoin season indicators signalling that capital flows are gradually stabilizing. The market has climbed 8.93% in the past week alone, with net inflows totaling $152.46 billion as momentum continues to build.

Altcoin Season Index Crosses 53 The clearest signal of a possible rebound comes from the altcoin season index, which has crossed the 53 mark at the time of reporting. The altcoin season index measures the flow of capital into other cryptocurrency relative to Bitcoin. The recent surge marks the index’s highest level in three months, reached on June 3, 2026, and points to renewed investor interest.

Source: CoinMarketCap This does not yet mark altcoin season—the period when a broad set of altcoins post significant gains—a phase the market reaches only when the index climbs above the 75 mark. One notable difference this time is that altcoin market capitalization is moving in step with the index. When the index last reclaimed the 53 mark in early June, altcoin capitalization was falling rapidly, but the two are now trending together.

Altcoin Returns Point to a Narrative-Driven Market An analysis of the returns these other cryptocurrencies generated across the market over the past 90 days shows a market now driven by narrative, with the prevailing story determining which tokens rally. Most of the top 10 performers by return cluster around governance tokens, perpetual DEX tokens, AI tokens and privacy coins, alongside a handful of memecoins carrying little to no utility.

Among perpetual DEX tokens, Hyperliquid [HYPE] and Lighter [LIT] have generated 144% and 93% over the period. On the privacy side, Zcash [ZEC] stands out, while governance tokens Terra Luna Classic [LUNC], Aerodrome [AERO] and Jito [JTO] have posted gains of 71%, 79% and 176% respectively.

Source: CoinMarketCap The pattern points to a market that, even as it rallies, is narrowing, with capital rotating among a small set of tokens. Net flows out of the broader crypto market have fallen roughly 18.4% over the past 90 days, with $430.57 billion removed—a measure of how far these select altcoins have run despite the market’s weakened state.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Underperformance Weighs on the Market The market’s largest cryptocurrencies are still struggling and have yet to post gains. Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH], with market capitalizations of $1.27 trillion and $216.40 billion respectively, have both underperformed over the past 90 days, falling roughly 7.7% and 15%.

With the broader altcoin market still down, one reliable signal that a rebound is taking hold would be a sustained move of capital into Bitcoin, the path altcoins tend to follow. At the time of reporting, Bitcoin is up 1.5% over the past day and 6.7% over the past week, holding firm despite the sentiment that followed a recent $216 million Bitcoin sale by Strategy, the firm chaired by Michael Saylor, to help fund a dividend payment.

Cover image via depositphotos.com 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.

The beginning of July brought local relief to the meme coin market after a failed June, during which the sector lost around 33% of its capitalization. Against the backdrop of broader expectations for a traditional summer rebound, Shiba Inu (SHIB) showed a price recovery.

However, fresh on-chain data from the analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that large players prefer not to take risks and are locking in quick profits at the first opportunity.

The reversal began in late June, when the SHIB price dropped to a low near $0.00000415. Large players immediately used this drawdown for aggressive accumulation: from June 25 to June 29, they massively withdrew coins to cold wallets. 

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The artificial supply shortage worked like a spring — by on July 2, the coin's price bounced upward, reaching the $0.00000430–$0.00000431 area.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) exchange netflow June 25 - July 2 2026, Source: CryptoQuantHowever, the reaction of large holders to the first green candles turned out to be pragmatic, as fresh metrics recorded a lightning-fast reverse inflow of coins to trading platforms. Over the past 24 hours, an impressive 254.4 billion tokens were sent to exchanges, while outflows were almost 50 billion lower.

As a result, dollar reserves on exchanges jumped by 2.67% at once, reaching $375.9 million. This statistic directly proves that whales do not believe in long-term growth and are using any local rise to quickly lock in profits, once again loading the market with selling pressure.

Can retail buying power overcome exchange pressure for SHIB?Given the clash of interests between sellers and buyers opening new positions, on-chain metrics point to two possible scenarios:

Bull case: Retail buyers break through the current resistance at $0.00000431 and continue the upward move that began on July 1.Bear case: Coin inflows to exchanges from sellers continue to grow, neutralizing the current rebound and sending the price back toward the June support at $0.00000415. You Might Also Like

Whether the Shiba Inu coin can build on this minor price success now depends entirely on the resilience of retail investors. So far, small players are coping with the pressure, and the active addresses index has risen by 0.61%, which means that, caught up in July optimism, retail is absorbing whale orders and preventing the price from sinking.

The price has frozen in a narrow range, while the daily net flow of coins to exchanges has almost zeroed out. While retail investors are trying to buy into a full reversal, large participants no longer believe in "moonshots" and opt for a bird in the hand by taking profits on every rebound.

Optimism, Metal L2 네트워크 관련 디지털 자산 입출금 일시 중단 안내 (07/08 23:00 ~)

Most people have never touched a smart contract. The interfaces are confusing, the stakes are high if you get something wrong, and the mental overhead of managing crypto wallets while trying to actually do something productive is, generously speaking, a lot. Karl Floersch thinks AI agents are the answer to that problem.

Floersch, co-founder of Optimism and one of the more influential architects of Ethereum’s Layer-2 ecosystem, laid out a vision in a recent Cointelegraph video where autonomous AI systems handle the heavy lifting of Web3 interaction. Trading, smart contract deployment, economic coordination across Ethereum’s network, all of it managed by agents operating on behalf of users who would rather not learn Solidity to participate in the decentralized economy.

What Floersch is actually arguing Floersch’s argument goes further than just user experience. He positions AI agents as potentially the first class of participants to fully utilize the cryptoeconomic mechanisms that smart contract platforms were designed for. Coordination tools, reputation systems, incentive structures built into protocols, these were always theoretically powerful. The problem was that humans are slow, error-prone, and disinclined to manage the constant micro-decisions those systems require. Agents are not.

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Floersch has previously discussed reputation systems designed specifically for AI agents operating within blockchain environments, suggesting this is less of a passing observation and more of an ongoing research focus.

Optimism’s positioning in the agentic future Optimism runs on the OP Stack, a modular framework that powers a growing number of enterprise and developer-focused blockchain deployments. The launch of OP Enterprise in 2026 extended that infrastructure toward institutional use cases.

If AI agents become meaningful participants in on-chain activity, Layer-2 networks like Optimism stand to benefit in a fairly direct way. More agent-driven transactions mean more throughput demand. More autonomous economic coordination means more use of the smart contract infrastructure those networks provide. Floersch’s thesis, intentionally or not, maps fairly cleanly onto a world where Optimism’s core product becomes more valuable.

What this means for the market and investors There is also a governance angle. Optimism uses tokenized governance models, and if AI agents become meaningful stakeholders in on-chain economic activity, the question of how those agents participate in governance, or whether they should, becomes a live issue rather than a theoretical one.

The risk, as with most convergence narratives, is that the timeline is longer and the path more complicated than the optimistic version suggests. Autonomous agents operating with real economic stakes introduce new failure modes, new vectors for exploitation, and new regulatory questions that have not been answered anywhere in the world yet. An agent that makes a mistake in a smart contract does not get to call customer support.

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

Layer-1 vs. Layer-2: What Is the Difference?

RVN successfully broke above the descending trendline resistance that had capped price action since January 2025 highs. RSI climbed from oversold levels to 66.49 while Awesome Oscillator flipped positive, confirming the trend reversal. Ravencoin’s recent pattern shows a strong indication that the price may be about to change its direction after being stable for some time. As per CMC data, it is currently trading at $0.014735 with an intraday gain of 20%, suggesting bullishness. Moreover, RVN has managed to break through a major descending trendline that had been stopping it from rising since January 2025.

The technical chart shows that the RVN price has been falling since late December 2024. However, after touching a support level of $0.008957, the token showed an impressive bounce. The recent move above the upper resistance shows that the market is turning bullish, backed by the RSI rising from a low of 30 to 66.

Key indicators are pointing in the direction of continued growth. The RSI is currently at 66.49, which means the market is doing well and is not overbought, and the recent crossover above the 50 line indicates that Ravencoin has turned bullish. The AO has changed to a positive reading at 0.002194, meaning that the market’s momentum is now positive, as seen by the green bars.

What’s Next in Ravencoin Price?

Source: Tradingview

Bolinger band analysis shows price breaking above the middle band and coming close to the upper band. The bands are narrowing during consolidation, which usually indicates that the market is quiet before a big change in prices. The current growth in the bands is consistent with the breakout theory.

The AO histogram reveals that more traders are taking part in the market now, as the oscillator has clearly moved into positive territory. The increase in volume confirms the breakout and suggests that institutions or whales may be buying the asset.

Now, the broken trendline acts as a moving support point for the price around $0.012-0.013. If prices stay below this level for a while, the bullish outlook will no longer be valid. Yet, if the current trend holds, the first resistance area is expected at $0.020, which is the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the major fall from the January top.

The technical signs hint that RVN could be starting a new accumulation phase, and its price could rise further if the crypto market stays favourable.

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Binance will support Optimism (OP) and Metal DAO (MTL) network upgrades and hard forks.

PANews reported on November 27th that, according to an official announcement, Binance will support the Optimism (OP) and Metal DAO (MTL) network upgrades and hard forks. The Optimism (OP) and Metal DAO (MTL) networks are expected to undergo upgrades and hard forks on December 3rd, 2025 at 00:00 (UTC+8). Binance expects to suspend token deposits and withdrawals on these networks on December 2nd, 2025 at 23:00 (UTC+8).

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