Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

In contrast, BEAT and DEXE have marked big gains. PI, though, continues to dig new lows.

After a relatively quiet weekend, bitcoin’s price dipped by nearly two grand on Monday morning as the market priced in the new attacks in the Middle East.

Most larger-cap alts have followed suit with similar daily losses, with XRP dropping below the crucial $1.10 support, and ETH failing at $1,800.

BTC Slipped Below $63K Bitcoin reacted well to the July 1 dip below $58,000 and quickly reclaimed the $60,000 line. It kept climbing in the following days and jumped to $64,000 on July 6. However, Strategy’s latest and biggest sale resulted in a major leg down, as BTC slumped to $61,200 in hours.

Unlike the previous such occasion, though, the cryptocurrency rebounded swiftly after the initial FUD and jumped to $64,400 on Tuesday. Another rejection followed after the US and Iran broke their ceasefire and launched new rockets against each other.

This time, BTC was able to halt the free-fall at $61,600 and went on a minor rally at the end of the week. The culmination came on Saturday morning with a surge to $64,600, which became a new multi-week peak. BTC stood at around $64,000 for most of the weekend, but dipped earlier today to $62,400 as the consequences of the latest set of attacks between the US and Iran were felt across all markets.

It has rebounded to just over $63,000 as of now, but its market cap has dropped to $1.265 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the alts has increased slightly to 56.7%.

BTCUSD July 13. Source: TradingView PI, APX Dump Hard Pi Network’s native token doesn’t seem to be able to catch a break these days, marking consecutive all-time lows. The latest came hours ago with a nosedive to $0.086, solidifying its major correction as the asset is down by over 97% since its ATH marked last year.

APX is the other big loser today, dropping by over 25%. In contrast, BEAT has gained 20% while DEXE has doubled down on its major rally as of late.

ETH failed at $1,800, BNB is back to $570, while XRP dipped to a multi-day low at $1.07 before it rebounded slightly. HYPE, RAIN, DOGE, ZEC, and XLM are also slightly in the red, while SOL and XMR are with insignificant gains.

The total crypto market cap has shed over $20 billion in the past 24 hours and is now below $2.240 trillion on CG.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview July 13. Source: QuantifyCrypto

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2 hours ago

The stablecoin market has lost more than $10 billion since May, but it might not be a warning sign. Instead, money is flowing into memecoins as investors chase higher returns on Robinhood chain. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the CLARITY Act are now driving price sentiment, with lawmakers expected to unveil an updated version of the bill next week.

Japan added to the optimism during WebX 2026. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged stronger backing for Web3 through funding and friendlier policies. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee also grabbed headlines after calling Ethereum the settlement layer for the AI economy, a view that continues attracting institutional attention.

🇯🇵 HUGE: JAPAN PM SANAE TAKAICHI REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR STARTUPS AND WEB3 AT WEBX 2026

In a video address at WebX 2026, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to strengthen support for Web3 startups through increased funding from government-backed institutions and further… pic.twitter.com/N9vMDTUKK2

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 13, 2026 Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit

CLARITY Act Progress Lifts Bitcoin Price SentimentThe CLARITY Act could reach Congress as early as July 17, giving the crypto industry one of its biggest regulatory moments in years. Supporters believe the proposal will finally define which digital assets fall under securities laws and which qualify as commodities. If passed, the CLARITY Act could remove one of the biggest crypto obstacles.

Nevertheless, the Bitcoin price slipped below $63,000 over the weekend amid geopolitical tensions that rattled markets. The drop triggered more than $14 million in long liquidations, yet buyers quickly stepped in before losses snowballed. By Sunday, Bitcoin had settled back into the $63,000 to $64,000 range.

Fresh demand is also showing up elsewhere, with the Coinbase Premium Index climbing back toward neutral after spending 55 straight days in negative territory, showing U.S. buyers are becoming more active again. Not just that, spot Bitcoin ETFs also recorded net inflows after nine weeks of withdrawals, giving bulls another reason for confidence.

As of today, however, Fidelity’s Jurrien Timmer still expects one more shakeout before the next rally, with $60K acts as the bottom. Michael Saylor also fueled speculation of another purchase after sharing his latest Bitcoin tracker update. Another orange dot from him might come soon, as usual.

As for Bitcoin, it too may be in an accumulation zone (in my view). At $60k it’s getting ever closer to its power law support line. pic.twitter.com/M3T3rDGFMx

— Jurrien Timmer (@TimmerFidelity) July 10, 2026 Another talking point is BIP 110, a proposal that would limit arbitrary data stored in Bitcoin transactions. Critics, including Adam Back and Michael Saylor, argue the change could split the community without solving a meaningful problem. So far, traders have shown little concern as attention stays fixed on the CLARITY Act.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

Ethereum Price Draws Institutional AttentionEthereum price has been moving in a tight range around $1,800 despite a quieter weekend across the crypto market. Price action has slowed, but institutional interest has not.

Speaking at WebX 2026, Tom Lee described Ethereum as the foundation for the coming AI economy. He pointed to growing adoption from financial firms, the Robinhood Chain launch, and improving macro conditions as reasons that Ethereum price may be entering a new cycle.

Bitmine, ArkhamNot just the talk, Tom Lee’s firm, Bitmine, now holds 5.74 million ETH, or about 4.8% of the total supply, and plans to increase that stake. Agreeing with Lee,Ethereum whales also bought another $20.6 million worth of ETH even after several days of exchange outflows.

But that’s not all, ETH network development has also stayed active. The Ethereum Foundation confirmed one of its AI agents detected a validator crashing bug before human researchers verified the issue. A separate Cambridge study found Ethereum’s shift to Proof of Stake reduced electricity consumption by more than 99.9%, strengthening its case among institutions focused on sustainability.

So, with all that news, what should we be expecting this week?

The next few days could prove important for the market. We are watching the CLARITY Act for signs of regulatory progress while tracking institutional buying across both major coins. If those trends continue, Bitcoin and Ethereum price could build on their recent resilience. For now, the move out of stablecoins looks less like an exit from crypto and more like traders rotating into assets with higher upside, while the Ethereum price keeps finding support from long-term buyers.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit

When crypto last boomed in 2024 and 2025, memecoins were all the rage. Traders flocked to blockchains like Solana or the app Pump.fun to launch their own dog-themed, cat-themed, or frog-themed tokens. Even two presidents got involved. (While President Donald Trump’s memecoin made a killing, Javier Milei’s landed the Argentine president in hot water.)

Then, the “memecoin trenches,” as traders jokingly called them, started dozing off. Some investors caught on that the game was often rigged, and others started chasing other speculative assets like perpetual futures or prediction markets. But, last week, the trenches appeared to have woken up—if even just a little bit.

In early July, the online brokerage Robinhood, which has made serious investments into crypto, publicly launched its own blockchain, a layer-2 network built on top of Ethereum. The initiative was a long time coming and part of the public company’s broader thesis that financial institutions will increasingly tokenize assets, or issue products like stocks within blockchain wrappers.

Trading volume on Robinhood Chain exploded out of the gate, rising from just over $200,000 on July 1 to more than $500 million nine days later, according to data from the crypto analytics provider DefiLlama. But that volume wasn’t from real-world assets, another term for tokenized financial products. Instead, trading came from the trenches. 

Within days of Robinhood Chain’s launch, memecoins became some of the most traded assets on the network. One memecoin, Cash Cat, notched a market capitalization of around $150 million on Friday, according to the crypto analytics provider CoinGecko. (The name is a callback to the early days of Robinhood, when Tenev and his cofounder Baiju Bhatt first called their company CashCat, according to a New Yorker profile.)

That Robinhood’s newest crypto product is now a haven for memecoin trading shouldn’t be a surprise. The company has repeatedly profited off of joke-inspired investing. In 2021, the online brokerage was at the center of the improbable rise of GameStop’s stock. And, in the second quarter of that year, 62% of the company’s crypto revenue came from purchases and sales of the original memecoin, Dogecoin. 

Still, Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s senior vice president of crypto, remained on message when I reached out for comment. “We are laser-focused on one mission: building the most secure, scalable, and seamless foundation for real-world assets,” he said.

But, in a post on X, Tenev appeared to lean into memecoin mania: “While we’re building Robinhood Chain to be the best chain for RWA [real-world assets]… it works great for memes, too.”

Ben Weiss
[email protected]
@bdanweiss

DECENTRALIZED NEWSMichael Saylor’s Bitcoin behemoth sold $216 million in crypto, which is Strategy’s largest Bitcoin sale ever. (Fortune)

Founded in 2018, the DeFi veteran Gauntlet raised $125 million from the Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings in a Series C funding round. (Fortune)

The Justice Department sent a memo to attorneys in June, advising them that they should expect less cooperation from Binance on crypto cases. (The Information) 

The prediction market Polymarket submitted an application to the CFTC to offer margin trading to U.S. users. (Bloomberg)

The public company that the Trump sons worked with to stockpile their crypto firm's token is looking to sell its core business. (WSJ)

MAIN CHARACTER OF THE WEEK

Matt Huang (left), cofounder and managing partner of Paradigm.Jesse Grant—Getty Images/Breakthrough Prize

Matt Huang, the managing partner of the crypto VC Paradigm, announced Wednesday that his firm raised $1.2 billion for a new fund focused on crypto—as well as AI, robotics, and “other areas of the technical frontier.”

MEME O' THE MOMENT

Even Bitcoin bulls eventually sell their crypto.@BitMEX

Never sell your Bitcoin… unless you decide to sell $216 million worth of Bitcoin.

Report: Stablecoin cross-border payment exchange rates were consistently lower than interbank rates in Q2, with routing optimization emerging as the largest cost variable.

Cross-border payment infrastructure platform Borderless.xyz released its Q2 2026 Benchmark Report, showing that stablecoin cross-border payments throughout the quarter had actual exchange rates better than the Interbank FX Rate, achieving a rare negative premium in the traditional cross-border payment system. Data shows the median "Parity Gap" for stablecoin payments in Q2 was -3.2 basis points, further widening to -5.9 basis points in June, meaning users’ final transaction rates were more favorable than the interbank mid-rate. Meanwhile, the average cost of sending a $10,000 cross-border payment remained around $27, staying largely stable for five consecutive months. The report notes that as stablecoin cross-border payment costs converge, payment routing has become the largest area for enterprises to optimize costs. If enterprises rely long-term on a single payment provider instead of dynamically selecting the best quote, they will pay an average of ~$2,330 extra per $1 million transferred, a phenomenon Borderless terms the "Routing Tax." Additionally, price differences between stablecoins across payment corridors remain significant. For example, in Peru’s payment corridor, USDC has long maintained a ~99 basis point price advantage over USDT; in the Brazilian real corridor, the lowest-quote provider changed 34 times in 88 days, an average of every 2.6 days. Regionally, payment costs in Latin America and Asia remained stable, while Africa saw the most volatility. Notably, the Malawi payment corridor’s spread once widened to 1,975 basis points, and the spread for Ghana’s USDC payment corridor rose 596% quarter-over-quarter. Borderless states that stablecoin cross-border payments have entered a competition-driven phase, and payment providers’ smart routing capabilities will be a key competitive advantage for enterprises to reduce costs going forward.

1 seconds ago

Jito Network announced that it will use all revenue from JTX to repurchase JTO over the next year.

Jito Network announced it will allocate 100% of its JTX platform revenue sharing proceeds to repurchase and burn JTO tokens for at least the next year. Per the announcement, all gains from JTX revenue sharing will be continuously used to buy back JTO on the secondary market, with the repurchased tokens permanently burned to reduce circulating supply.

1 seconds ago

Bank of Thailand tightens stablecoin regulation, focusing on investigating large abnormal USDT transactions.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has begun using data analysis tools to screen for anomalous large-value transactions in the stablecoin market, focusing on Tether-issued USDT, to crack down on illegal fund flows and "gray economy" activities. BOT Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said initial screening has found some transactions suspected of deliberately evading disclosure requirements or transferring funds by bypassing the traditional banking system. As regulatory authority over digital assets falls under Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the BOT will refer relevant leads to the SEC for further investigation. The stablecoin probe is part of Thailand’s campaign to combat the "gray economy". Since April this year, Thailand has required banks to verify the purpose of cash withdrawals exceeding 5 million baht (about $150,000) per transaction, leading to a roughly 35% drop in large cash withdrawals. Starting in the fourth quarter, large cash deposits will also be required to declare their source of funds. Regulators have also tightened oversight over gold trading, large cash exchanges, and "money mule accounts" linked to online gambling, with monthly gold withdrawals falling from around 4,000 kg to roughly 700 kg. In recent years, Thailand has stepped up its crackdown on crypto-related crimes. Police recently dismantled a cross-chain money laundering network, where the involved wallets transferred over $122.5 million in funds within 10 months, and are still investigating a $300 million cross-border money laundering case and illegal crypto mining operations. Meanwhile, Thailand is advancing the development of a compliant crypto market: the Thai SEC has proposed a three-year development plan covering tokenized assets and crypto ETFs, while the BOT is pushing forward research and development of a baht-pegged stablecoin as part of financial infrastructure upgrades.

1 seconds ago

U.S. semiconductor equipment sector sees broad declines, with KLAC down 3.38%.

According to Bit.com market data, the US semiconductor equipment sector saw broad declines, with individual stocks performing as follows: Applied Materials (AMAT) fell 3.34%, Onto Innovation (ONTO) dropped 4.00%, Lam Research (LRCX) declined 4.64%, KLA (KLAC) fell 3.38%, Teradyne (TER) dropped 3.28%, and Entegris (ENTG) declined 4.95%.

1 seconds ago

The US stock market's optical communication sector fell broadly, with MRVL dropping more than 7%.

According to Bit.com's market data, the U.S. optical communications sector saw broad declines, with individual stocks as follows: MRVL down 7.01%, LITE down 4.59%, Nokia down 5.99%, Corning down 3.76%, and AXTI down 11.85%.

1 seconds ago

Houthi armed forces accused Saudi Arabia of airstriking Sanaa Airport, claiming the first direct flight from Iran in nearly a decade was blocked.

According to a Reuters report, Yemen’s Houthi forces accused Saudi Arabia of launching an airstrike on Sanaa International Airport, claiming the attack aimed to prevent a passenger plane from Iran from landing. The Houthis noted this was the first publicly announced direct Iran-Sana flight in nearly a decade. Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed carrying out the airstrike. Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea stated that Saudi Arabia launched multiple airstrikes on Sanaa Airport, marking the end of the previous de-escalation phase between the two sides, and warned Saudi Arabia would bear corresponding consequences. The Houthis subsequently announced full mobilization, warning that if further military strikes were launched, they might target airports and strategic facilities in Saudi Arabia. The report added the incident occurred shortly after an Iranian passenger plane arrived at Sanaa Airport. The Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition believe the flight is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and violates relevant UN resolutions; the Houthis, however, said the flight was for civilian and humanitarian purposes. Analysts believe the incident could further undermine the relatively fragile ceasefire that has held since 2022 and raise risks to Red Sea shipping.

1 seconds ago

Victoria, Seychelles, July 13th, 2026, Chainwire

MEXC, a pioneer in 0-fee digital asset trading, announced the addition of five Ondo tokenized stock and ETF trading pairs to its spot market, the latest expansion of its ongoing collaboration with Ondo Finance. The new pairs cover the semiconductor, energy and AI infrastructure sectors, expanding the range of tokenized U.S. equities available to users and allowing them to trade these assets using USDT.

The trading pairs include tokenized stocks and ETFs tracking Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X ETF (SOXLON/USDT), Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF (SOXSON/USDT), Halliburton (HALON/USDT) and Core Scientific (CORZON/USDT), all now open for trading on MEXC’s spot market.

SK hynix completed its Nasdaq listing on July 10, 2026, raising $26.5 billion in one of the largest U.S. listings this year, with shares initially trading under the ticker SKHYV before switching to SKHY on July 13, 2026. The company is a leading global supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a component in high demand amid the expansion of AI infrastructure. To meet user demand for trending U.S. stocks, MEXC will add SKHYON/USDT, tracking SK hynix (Nasdaq: SKHY), to the spot market at 13:30 on July 13, 2026 (UTC).

Ondo Finance focuses on bringing traditional financial assets on-chain through compliant infrastructure, allowing users to access assets such as U.S. Treasuries, stocks and ETFs in a blockchain-native format, with each tokenized asset backed by the corresponding underlying security held through regulated custodial brokers. This deepened collaboration with Ondo reflects MEXC’s continued build-out in the tokenized real-world asset space. As a one-stop trading platform, MEXC provides users with diverse access to global markets, offering both Ondo’s tokenized stocks and RealStocks, a product that allows users to hold real share ownership and dividends.

About MEXC

MEXC is the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchange, trusted by more than 40 million users across 170+ markets. Built on a user-first philosophy, MEXC offers industry-leading 0-fee trading and access to over 3,000 digital assets. As the Gateway to Infinite Opportunities, MEXC provides a single platform where users can easily trade cryptocurrencies alongside tokenized assets, including stocks, ETFs, commodities, and precious metals.

MEXC Official Website｜ X ｜ Telegram ｜How to Sign Up on MEXC

For media inquiries, please contact MEXC PR team: [email protected]

Risk Disclaimer:

This content does not constitute investment advice. Given the highly volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors are encouraged to carefully assess market fluctuations, project fundamentals, and potential financial risks before making any trading decisions.

Five ranking Democrats want to investigate the national security implications of the president's crypto holdings, citing foreign influence and conflicts of interest.

Posted July 13, 2026 at 6:18 am EST.

Five of the Senate’s most senior Democrats called on Friday for congressional hearings into President Donald Trump‘s cryptocurrency holdings, after financial disclosures showed his family’s crypto ventures generated roughly $1.4 billion during the first year of his second term.

The lawmakers, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Gary Peters of Michigan, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Ron Wyden of Oregon, are the ranking members of the Banking, Investigations, Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Finance committees, respectively. In a joint statement, they said the filings revealed that unknown “third parties” hold a stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture, and pointed to reports that a UAE royal purchased a 49% stake in the firm.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

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The demand escalates a conflict-of-interest fight that has shadowed crypto policy all year. The same five senators demanded hearings in June over the reported $500 million UAE investment. Their concern is that Trump has pressed Congress to pass crypto legislation favoring an industry he profits from, while his administration has moved to weaken oversight, including by disbanding the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.

The filing, released July 1 by the Office of Government Ethics, showed roughly $636 million in royalties from Trump’s memecoin, about $594 million from World Liberty Financial token sales, and close to $197 million from a stablecoin venture linked to Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Trump also holds tens of millions of dollars in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The renewed scrutiny arrives at a sensitive moment for the industry’s top legislative priority. The CLARITY Act, the crypto market structure bill, short on time to pass this year has stalled, in part over provisions targeting the president’s ability to issue and endorse digital assets while in office.

Related Listen: Tokens vs Equity, Lighter x Robinhood – The Chopping Block

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.

DTCC plans to demonstrate blockchain-based real-time stock trade settlement processes this week.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to demonstrate blockchain-powered real-time stock trading processes this Wednesday. Market participants believe this technology can streamline the clearing, settlement, and record-keeping workflows underlying Wall Street stock trades, boosting capital market operational efficiency. The test is viewed as a key step for traditional financial systems in exploring on-chain securities infrastructure. However, the project remains limited in scale during its initial phase. After years of research and development, DTCC—one of the largest U.S. securities clearing institutions—this demonstration is more of a verification exercise rather than a full-scale push to migrate the entire stock market to blockchain. Analysts note that while tokenized securities and on-chain settlement are seen as having the potential to reduce costs and enhance trading efficiency, migrating traditional financial infrastructure to blockchain still faces challenges including regulation, compliance, system compatibility, and coordination among market participants. Earlier, Joseph Spiro, DTCC’s Director of Digital Asset Products, said in a May webinar that DTCC plans to launch its tokenized services this year, will demonstrate relevant use cases in a production environment in July, and officially roll out the service in October.

9 minutes ago

U.S. stocks opened with mixed performance across the three major indexes, with SK Hynix falling more than 8% and SanDisk dropping over 6%.

U.S. stock market opens: Dow Jones rises 0.08%, S&P 500 falls 0.32%, Nasdaq declines 0.73%. Tech stocks are mostly lower, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) dropping over 8%, SanDisk (SNDK.O) down more than 6%, Micron Technology (MU.O) falling 5%, Qualcomm (QCOM.O) down 1%, and Intel (INTC.O) declining 4%.

9 minutes ago

Coinbase Ventures emerged as the most active crypto venture capital firm in the first half of 2026, with DeFi, AI, and payment sectors being its most favored investment areas.

CryptoRank data shows Coinbase Ventures, with 30 investments completed in H1 2026, is the most active crypto venture capital firm. Animoca Brands, a16z, and Tether followed with 19, 18, and 15 investments respectively. Over the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures has closed a total of 75 investments, ranking first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, and a16z. Despite the crypto market remaining in a slump, industry financing volumes continue to shrink. Total funding for crypto firms fell to $1.4 billion in June, a 63% drop from $3.8 billion in April; the number of financing rounds also decreased from 89 in May to 61. Meanwhile, the number of independent investment firms participating in deals dropped from 452 in October 2025 to 242 in June this year. By sector, DeFi, payments, and AI remain the most capital-favored segments over the past year, with 216, 131, and 128 financing rounds respectively. Coinbase Ventures has focused its investments on payment protocols, DeFi, infrastructure, and RWA tokenization projects.

9 minutes ago

U.S. Senate enters critical window for Clarity Act; next four weeks could decide the bill’s fate this year.

After the U.S. Congress reconvened, the Clarity Act (Crypto Market Structure Act) has entered a critical legislative window. Industry insiders say the next four weeks will determine whether the bill can complete Senate review before Congress adjourns in August and be formally enacted this year. According to reports, the Senate is expected to release this week the latest version of the bill, which integrates texts from the Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee. Currently, the bill faces two core sticking points: one is the final language of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act concerning regulatory liability for non-custodial software developers; the other is ethical provisions on conflicts of interest among government officials, particularly those related to Trump’s crypto business. Sources familiar with the matter noted that the White House and Congress have yet to reach an agreement on the ethical provisions, a key factor in the bill’s effort to hit the 60-vote threshold. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said the next four weeks could be the Clarity Act’s last chance to pass in the current congressional session; if the bill fails to become law, the U.S. may further lag behind overseas markets in the race for digital asset innovation.

9 minutes ago

US pre-market news roundup: Intel plans to invest €5 billion to expand its Irish factory; storage and semiconductor equipment sectors fall across the board in pre-market trading.

Key pre-market news for U.S. stocks is as follows: 1. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs will kick off Q2 earnings reports on Tuesday, while Morgan Stanley will release its results on Wednesday. Markets expect U.S. large banks’ investment banking and trading revenues to surge, driven by SpaceX’s IPO, rising M&A activity, and market volatility sparked by the Iran situation; 2. Trump claimed Iran always breaks agreements, so the U.S. will strike hard at Iran, take control of the strait, and likely dominate it in the future; 3. SK Hynix’s U.S. ADR trades at a 23.4% premium to its South Korean shares; 4. Semiconductor equipment and storage sectors fell across the board pre-market, with KLAC down 3.7%, SanDisk and Western Digital both dropping over 5%; 5. Spot gold and silver fell broadly, with gold down 1.32% and silver down 2.23%; 6. Crude oil markets fell broadly, with U.S. crude up 3.35% and Brent crude up 3.53%; 7. Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin holdings last week, selling 4.82 million units to raise $467 million; 8. Bitmine added 27,801 ETH to its holdings last week, bringing its total staked ETH to 4.917 million, with an estimated annual staking income of $242 million.

9 minutes ago

South Korean stock market faces a margin trading crisis, with forced liquidations totaling 344.2 billion won in July.

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the recent sharp decline in South Korea's stock market has triggered accelerated deleveraging of margin trading positions. The total forced liquidation volume in July has reached 344.2 billion won, with the single-day forced liquidation amount on July 9 hitting 142.2 billion won. As forced liquidation data lags by two trading days, the clearing pressure from the nearly 9% plunge in the KOSPI on July 13 has not yet been fully reflected, and the market expects subsequent liquidation volumes to rise further. On July 13, South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 8.95%, triggering the Sidecar (seller order suspension mechanism) and Level 1 Circuit Breaker during intraday trading. The semiconductor sector plummeted, with SK Hynix falling 15.37%—its largest single-day drop in history—and Samsung Electronics down 10.7%. Meanwhile, South Korean retail investors' margin sizes, margin loan balances, and investor deposits have all continued to decline, with the market trapped in a deleveraging cycle of "stock price drop—forced liquidation—further decline".

9 minutes ago

DTCC plans to demonstrate blockchain-based real-time stock trade settlement processes this week.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to demonstrate blockchain-powered real-time stock trading processes this Wednesday. Market participants believe this technology can streamline the clearing, settlement, and record-keeping workflows underlying Wall Street stock trades, boosting capital market operational efficiency. The test is viewed as a key step for traditional financial systems in exploring on-chain securities infrastructure. However, the project remains limited in scale during its initial phase. After years of research and development, DTCC—one of the largest U.S. securities clearing institutions—this demonstration is more of a verification exercise rather than a full-scale push to migrate the entire stock market to blockchain. Analysts note that while tokenized securities and on-chain settlement are seen as having the potential to reduce costs and enhance trading efficiency, migrating traditional financial infrastructure to blockchain still faces challenges including regulation, compliance, system compatibility, and coordination among market participants. Earlier, Joseph Spiro, DTCC’s Director of Digital Asset Products, said in a May webinar that DTCC plans to launch its tokenized services this year, will demonstrate relevant use cases in a production environment in July, and officially roll out the service in October.

9 minutes ago

U.S. stocks opened with mixed performance across the three major indexes, with SK Hynix falling more than 8% and SanDisk dropping over 6%.

U.S. stock market opens: Dow Jones rises 0.08%, S&P 500 falls 0.32%, Nasdaq declines 0.73%. Tech stocks are mostly lower, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) dropping over 8%, SanDisk (SNDK.O) down more than 6%, Micron Technology (MU.O) falling 5%, Qualcomm (QCOM.O) down 1%, and Intel (INTC.O) declining 4%.

9 minutes ago

Coinbase Ventures emerged as the most active crypto venture capital firm in the first half of 2026, with DeFi, AI, and payment sectors being its most favored investment areas.

CryptoRank data shows Coinbase Ventures, with 30 investments completed in H1 2026, is the most active crypto venture capital firm. Animoca Brands, a16z, and Tether followed with 19, 18, and 15 investments respectively. Over the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures has closed a total of 75 investments, ranking first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, and a16z. Despite the crypto market remaining in a slump, industry financing volumes continue to shrink. Total funding for crypto firms fell to $1.4 billion in June, a 63% drop from $3.8 billion in April; the number of financing rounds also decreased from 89 in May to 61. Meanwhile, the number of independent investment firms participating in deals dropped from 452 in October 2025 to 242 in June this year. By sector, DeFi, payments, and AI remain the most capital-favored segments over the past year, with 216, 131, and 128 financing rounds respectively. Coinbase Ventures has focused its investments on payment protocols, DeFi, infrastructure, and RWA tokenization projects.

9 minutes ago

U.S. Senate enters critical window for Clarity Act; next four weeks could decide the bill’s fate this year.

After the U.S. Congress reconvened, the Clarity Act (Crypto Market Structure Act) has entered a critical legislative window. Industry insiders say the next four weeks will determine whether the bill can complete Senate review before Congress adjourns in August and be formally enacted this year. According to reports, the Senate is expected to release this week the latest version of the bill, which integrates texts from the Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee. Currently, the bill faces two core sticking points: one is the final language of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act concerning regulatory liability for non-custodial software developers; the other is ethical provisions on conflicts of interest among government officials, particularly those related to Trump’s crypto business. Sources familiar with the matter noted that the White House and Congress have yet to reach an agreement on the ethical provisions, a key factor in the bill’s effort to hit the 60-vote threshold. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said the next four weeks could be the Clarity Act’s last chance to pass in the current congressional session; if the bill fails to become law, the U.S. may further lag behind overseas markets in the race for digital asset innovation.

9 minutes ago

US pre-market news roundup: Intel plans to invest €5 billion to expand its Irish factory; storage and semiconductor equipment sectors fall across the board in pre-market trading.

Key pre-market news for U.S. stocks is as follows: 1. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs will kick off Q2 earnings reports on Tuesday, while Morgan Stanley will release its results on Wednesday. Markets expect U.S. large banks’ investment banking and trading revenues to surge, driven by SpaceX’s IPO, rising M&A activity, and market volatility sparked by the Iran situation; 2. Trump claimed Iran always breaks agreements, so the U.S. will strike hard at Iran, take control of the strait, and likely dominate it in the future; 3. SK Hynix’s U.S. ADR trades at a 23.4% premium to its South Korean shares; 4. Semiconductor equipment and storage sectors fell across the board pre-market, with KLAC down 3.7%, SanDisk and Western Digital both dropping over 5%; 5. Spot gold and silver fell broadly, with gold down 1.32% and silver down 2.23%; 6. Crude oil markets fell broadly, with U.S. crude up 3.35% and Brent crude up 3.53%; 7. Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin holdings last week, selling 4.82 million units to raise $467 million; 8. Bitmine added 27,801 ETH to its holdings last week, bringing its total staked ETH to 4.917 million, with an estimated annual staking income of $242 million.

9 minutes ago

South Korean stock market faces a margin trading crisis, with forced liquidations totaling 344.2 billion won in July.

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the recent sharp decline in South Korea's stock market has triggered accelerated deleveraging of margin trading positions. The total forced liquidation volume in July has reached 344.2 billion won, with the single-day forced liquidation amount on July 9 hitting 142.2 billion won. As forced liquidation data lags by two trading days, the clearing pressure from the nearly 9% plunge in the KOSPI on July 13 has not yet been fully reflected, and the market expects subsequent liquidation volumes to rise further. On July 13, South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 8.95%, triggering the Sidecar (seller order suspension mechanism) and Level 1 Circuit Breaker during intraday trading. The semiconductor sector plummeted, with SK Hynix falling 15.37%—its largest single-day drop in history—and Samsung Electronics down 10.7%. Meanwhile, South Korean retail investors' margin sizes, margin loan balances, and investor deposits have all continued to decline, with the market trapped in a deleveraging cycle of "stock price drop—forced liquidation—further decline".

9 minutes ago

https://gemwallet.com/learn/beginners-guide-to-hyperliquid-trading-platform/

Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange, has reached a new all-time high in real-world asset (RWA) open interest, hitting $3.6 billion. This development is part of a broader surge in the platform’s total open interest, which has peaked at $11 billion for 2026. The increase in RWA open interest highlights Hyperliquid’s growing dominance in the market for tokenized assets like oil futures and equities. As the on-chain RWA market expands, Hyperliquid’s competitive position as a leading venue for RWA-perp activity has strengthened significantly.

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Key Takeaways Hyperliquid’s RWA open interest reaching $3.6 billion suggests increased confidence in the platform’s capabilities. The total open interest for Hyperliquid has risen to $11 billion, indicating a significant rise in derivatives activity on the exchange. Market participants appear to view these developments as supportive of a scenario where Hyperliquid could reach the $100 price target by the end of 2026. What to Watch Market participants will closely monitor Hyperliquid’s continued performance and any further increase in open interest, which could influence its price trajectory towards the $100 target. Key indicators will include announcements of new partnerships, technological advancements, or any significant shifts in market sentiment. Observers should also watch for changes in regulatory landscapes or security issues that could impact Hyperliquid’s competitive position.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 41.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 4% — — View market → January 1 2027 70.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 9.2% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market →

https://coinness.com/ja/media/hyperliquid-how-to-use

Activity on Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures platform, has surged to a new peak with over $11 billion in open positions, marking the highest level for the year. This development reflects growing interest in the platform, which operates on its proprietary Layer 1 blockchain. The increase includes significant engagement in non-crypto markets, such as gold and equities, through its HIP-3 markets. Hyperliquid already accounts for about 70% of all on-chain perpetual futures volume, highlighting its dominant role in the sector. This milestone comes as the platform continues to attract interest amid a backdrop of robust global market activity.

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Key Takeaways The surge in open positions on Hyperliquid suggests increased confidence and engagement from market participants, indicating a potential upward trend in user activity. Pricing within related prediction markets shows a minor increase in the likelihood of Hyperliquid reaching the $100 target by the end of 2026, now at 41.5% YES. The platform’s ability to capture a substantial share of both crypto and non-crypto markets appears to support its continued growth and relevance in the sector. What to Watch Market participants will be observing whether Hyperliquid can sustain this level of engagement and whether it will translate into further price increases, particularly towards the $100 target by December 31, 2026. Key developments to monitor include potential partnerships, technological advancements, and institutional interest, which could further influence market confidence. Additionally, any security incidents or regulatory challenges could impact market sentiment and alter current pricing expectations.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 41.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 4% — — View market → January 1 2027 70.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 9.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market →

DTCC plans to demonstrate blockchain-based real-time stock trade settlement processes this week.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to demonstrate blockchain-powered real-time stock trading processes this Wednesday. Market participants believe this technology can streamline the clearing, settlement, and record-keeping workflows underlying Wall Street stock trades, boosting capital market operational efficiency. The test is viewed as a key step for traditional financial systems in exploring on-chain securities infrastructure. However, the project remains limited in scale during its initial phase. After years of research and development, DTCC—one of the largest U.S. securities clearing institutions—this demonstration is more of a verification exercise rather than a full-scale push to migrate the entire stock market to blockchain. Analysts note that while tokenized securities and on-chain settlement are seen as having the potential to reduce costs and enhance trading efficiency, migrating traditional financial infrastructure to blockchain still faces challenges including regulation, compliance, system compatibility, and coordination among market participants. Earlier, Joseph Spiro, DTCC’s Director of Digital Asset Products, said in a May webinar that DTCC plans to launch its tokenized services this year, will demonstrate relevant use cases in a production environment in July, and officially roll out the service in October.

9 minutes ago

U.S. stocks opened with mixed performance across the three major indexes, with SK Hynix falling more than 8% and SanDisk dropping over 6%.

U.S. stock market opens: Dow Jones rises 0.08%, S&P 500 falls 0.32%, Nasdaq declines 0.73%. Tech stocks are mostly lower, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) dropping over 8%, SanDisk (SNDK.O) down more than 6%, Micron Technology (MU.O) falling 5%, Qualcomm (QCOM.O) down 1%, and Intel (INTC.O) declining 4%.

9 minutes ago

Coinbase Ventures emerged as the most active crypto venture capital firm in the first half of 2026, with DeFi, AI, and payment sectors being its most favored investment areas.

CryptoRank data shows Coinbase Ventures, with 30 investments completed in H1 2026, is the most active crypto venture capital firm. Animoca Brands, a16z, and Tether followed with 19, 18, and 15 investments respectively. Over the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures has closed a total of 75 investments, ranking first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, and a16z. Despite the crypto market remaining in a slump, industry financing volumes continue to shrink. Total funding for crypto firms fell to $1.4 billion in June, a 63% drop from $3.8 billion in April; the number of financing rounds also decreased from 89 in May to 61. Meanwhile, the number of independent investment firms participating in deals dropped from 452 in October 2025 to 242 in June this year. By sector, DeFi, payments, and AI remain the most capital-favored segments over the past year, with 216, 131, and 128 financing rounds respectively. Coinbase Ventures has focused its investments on payment protocols, DeFi, infrastructure, and RWA tokenization projects.

9 minutes ago

U.S. Senate enters critical window for Clarity Act; next four weeks could decide the bill’s fate this year.

After the U.S. Congress reconvened, the Clarity Act (Crypto Market Structure Act) has entered a critical legislative window. Industry insiders say the next four weeks will determine whether the bill can complete Senate review before Congress adjourns in August and be formally enacted this year. According to reports, the Senate is expected to release this week the latest version of the bill, which integrates texts from the Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee. Currently, the bill faces two core sticking points: one is the final language of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act concerning regulatory liability for non-custodial software developers; the other is ethical provisions on conflicts of interest among government officials, particularly those related to Trump’s crypto business. Sources familiar with the matter noted that the White House and Congress have yet to reach an agreement on the ethical provisions, a key factor in the bill’s effort to hit the 60-vote threshold. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said the next four weeks could be the Clarity Act’s last chance to pass in the current congressional session; if the bill fails to become law, the U.S. may further lag behind overseas markets in the race for digital asset innovation.

9 minutes ago

US pre-market news roundup: Intel plans to invest €5 billion to expand its Irish factory; storage and semiconductor equipment sectors fall across the board in pre-market trading.

Key pre-market news for U.S. stocks is as follows: 1. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs will kick off Q2 earnings reports on Tuesday, while Morgan Stanley will release its results on Wednesday. Markets expect U.S. large banks’ investment banking and trading revenues to surge, driven by SpaceX’s IPO, rising M&A activity, and market volatility sparked by the Iran situation; 2. Trump claimed Iran always breaks agreements, so the U.S. will strike hard at Iran, take control of the strait, and likely dominate it in the future; 3. SK Hynix’s U.S. ADR trades at a 23.4% premium to its South Korean shares; 4. Semiconductor equipment and storage sectors fell across the board pre-market, with KLAC down 3.7%, SanDisk and Western Digital both dropping over 5%; 5. Spot gold and silver fell broadly, with gold down 1.32% and silver down 2.23%; 6. Crude oil markets fell broadly, with U.S. crude up 3.35% and Brent crude up 3.53%; 7. Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin holdings last week, selling 4.82 million units to raise $467 million; 8. Bitmine added 27,801 ETH to its holdings last week, bringing its total staked ETH to 4.917 million, with an estimated annual staking income of $242 million.

9 minutes ago

South Korean stock market faces a margin trading crisis, with forced liquidations totaling 344.2 billion won in July.

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the recent sharp decline in South Korea's stock market has triggered accelerated deleveraging of margin trading positions. The total forced liquidation volume in July has reached 344.2 billion won, with the single-day forced liquidation amount on July 9 hitting 142.2 billion won. As forced liquidation data lags by two trading days, the clearing pressure from the nearly 9% plunge in the KOSPI on July 13 has not yet been fully reflected, and the market expects subsequent liquidation volumes to rise further. On July 13, South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 8.95%, triggering the Sidecar (seller order suspension mechanism) and Level 1 Circuit Breaker during intraday trading. The semiconductor sector plummeted, with SK Hynix falling 15.37%—its largest single-day drop in history—and Samsung Electronics down 10.7%. Meanwhile, South Korean retail investors' margin sizes, margin loan balances, and investor deposits have all continued to decline, with the market trapped in a deleveraging cycle of "stock price drop—forced liquidation—further decline".

9 minutes ago

https://gemwallet.com/learn/beginners-guide-to-hyperliquid-trading-platform/

Open interest in real-world asset markets on the Hyperliquid platform has surged to a new high of $3.6 billion, according to The Block. This represents a significant increase from the previous record of $2.6 billion set in May 2026. The overall open interest on Hyperliquid has also reached a 2026 peak of $11 billion. This growth is attributed to increased accessibility and interest in tokenized real-world assets, with Hyperliquid offering 24/7 access to synthetic tokens for various equities, commodities, and forex markets. The platform’s real-world asset (RWA) markets now comprise about 30% of its total activity, reflecting a broader trend of institutional and retail adoption of decentralized derivatives.

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Key Takeaways The record $3.6 billion open interest in Hyperliquid’s RWA markets suggests increasing engagement with tokenized real-world assets. Hyperliquid’s total open interest peak at $11 billion indicates robust activity and confidence in decentralized derivatives platforms. Market pricing appears supportive of the view that Hyperliquid’s growth could contribute to potential further increases in its price by the end of 2026. What to Watch Watch for Hyperliquid’s continued expansion and integration into traditional financial markets, which could further influence its price movement. Announcements of major partnerships, especially with Fortune 500 companies, could be pivotal in shaping market sentiment. Additionally, any regulatory developments or technological innovations related to decentralized derivatives could significantly impact the platform’s trajectory and investor confidence.

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Term Structure

Contract Odds Δ since publish Volume 24h December 31 41.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 5.4% — — View market → January 1 2027 4% — — View market → January 1 2027 70.5% — — View market → January 1 2027 9.1% — — View market → January 1 2027 4.5% — — View market →

A hacker rug pulled a token called SCATMAN after reportedly seizing control of the SpaceXAI and Starlink accounts on X, walking away with roughly $125,000 in Ethereum (ETH).

On-chain tracker Lookonchain traced the stolen funds across two wallets. The scheme mirrors a run of high-profile account takeovers aimed at promoting fraudulent tokens.

Inside the SCATMAN Rug PullAccording to Lookonchain, the attacker promoted the SCATMAN meme coin after allegedly compromising the SpaceXAI and Starlink X accounts. Screenshots widely shared on social media appeared to show both accounts reposting content from the SCATMAN account.

Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens 

Lookonchain said the attacker minted 10 trillion SCATMAN. They then sold the entire supply for 59 ETH, worth about $108,000.

The analytics platform also identified a second wallet linked to the same attacker that sold an additional 59.28 million SCATMAN tokens for 14.7 ETH, worth approximately $27,000.

In total, the two wallets generated nearly $125,000 in ETH. Lookonchain identified the following addresses as belonging to the attacker:

0xfee50d4ce48f2d05f520ce04c875647e4870a8ba 0xdd9f6d3e16ebda7f35cb694ceadb50af3eebba89 As of press time, the reposts were no longer visible on the SpaceXAI and Starlink accounts, and BeInCrypto could not independently verify the claims. BeInCrypto has reached out to SpaceX for comment and will update this story if it receives a response.

Account Hacks Fuel a String of Rug PullsHijacked social media accounts have become a common vehicle for rug pulls. Scammers borrow the credibility of trusted brands to lure buyers.

In February 2025, hackers seized Pump.fun’s X account to push a fake PUMP token. One wallet earned over $135,000 within a minute.

Political figures have faced the same tactic. Attackers hijacked former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s account to promote a token, stealing $1.7 million.

Myanmar’s junta leader and World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff faced similar breaches earlier that year.

Victims range from crypto platforms to heads of state. The common thread is a trusted account weaponized for a single, fast payout.

Each case follows the same pattern. A breach, a fast token launch, and a quick sell-off before the platform regains control.

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This trader has made over $9M on @Aster_DEX in less than a month — an 806% return!

He made just one trade: a 1x short on $ESPORTS.

On June 18, he deposited 1M $USDT into Aster and opened 1x short on $ESPORTS.

He has already realized $4.28M by closing part of the position and still holds a 137.73M $ESPORTS($1.95M) short, with another $4.77M in unrealized profit.

The trader then withdrew his $1M initial capital from #Aster. The remaining $9.05M in the account is all profit.

https://www.asterdex.com/en/explorer/address/0x89C3E5068d29Bdc3F25EC1044169C5CC7fd4A013

DTCC plans to demonstrate blockchain-based real-time stock trade settlement processes this week.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to demonstrate blockchain-powered real-time stock trading processes this Wednesday. Market participants believe this technology can streamline the clearing, settlement, and record-keeping workflows underlying Wall Street stock trades, boosting capital market operational efficiency. The test is viewed as a key step for traditional financial systems in exploring on-chain securities infrastructure. However, the project remains limited in scale during its initial phase. After years of research and development, DTCC—one of the largest U.S. securities clearing institutions—this demonstration is more of a verification exercise rather than a full-scale push to migrate the entire stock market to blockchain. Analysts note that while tokenized securities and on-chain settlement are seen as having the potential to reduce costs and enhance trading efficiency, migrating traditional financial infrastructure to blockchain still faces challenges including regulation, compliance, system compatibility, and coordination among market participants. Earlier, Joseph Spiro, DTCC’s Director of Digital Asset Products, said in a May webinar that DTCC plans to launch its tokenized services this year, will demonstrate relevant use cases in a production environment in July, and officially roll out the service in October.

4 minutes ago

U.S. stocks opened with mixed performance across the three major indexes, with SK Hynix falling more than 8% and SanDisk dropping over 6%.

U.S. stock market opens: Dow Jones rises 0.08%, S&P 500 falls 0.32%, Nasdaq declines 0.73%. Tech stocks are mostly lower, with SK Hynix (SKHY.O) dropping over 8%, SanDisk (SNDK.O) down more than 6%, Micron Technology (MU.O) falling 5%, Qualcomm (QCOM.O) down 1%, and Intel (INTC.O) declining 4%.

4 minutes ago

Coinbase Ventures emerged as the most active crypto venture capital firm in the first half of 2026, with DeFi, AI, and payment sectors being its most favored investment areas.

CryptoRank data shows Coinbase Ventures, with 30 investments completed in H1 2026, is the most active crypto venture capital firm. Animoca Brands, a16z, and Tether followed with 19, 18, and 15 investments respectively. Over the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures has closed a total of 75 investments, ranking first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, and a16z. Despite the crypto market remaining in a slump, industry financing volumes continue to shrink. Total funding for crypto firms fell to $1.4 billion in June, a 63% drop from $3.8 billion in April; the number of financing rounds also decreased from 89 in May to 61. Meanwhile, the number of independent investment firms participating in deals dropped from 452 in October 2025 to 242 in June this year. By sector, DeFi, payments, and AI remain the most capital-favored segments over the past year, with 216, 131, and 128 financing rounds respectively. Coinbase Ventures has focused its investments on payment protocols, DeFi, infrastructure, and RWA tokenization projects.

4 minutes ago

U.S. Senate enters critical window for Clarity Act; next four weeks could decide the bill’s fate this year.

After the U.S. Congress reconvened, the Clarity Act (Crypto Market Structure Act) has entered a critical legislative window. Industry insiders say the next four weeks will determine whether the bill can complete Senate review before Congress adjourns in August and be formally enacted this year. According to reports, the Senate is expected to release this week the latest version of the bill, which integrates texts from the Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee. Currently, the bill faces two core sticking points: one is the final language of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act concerning regulatory liability for non-custodial software developers; the other is ethical provisions on conflicts of interest among government officials, particularly those related to Trump’s crypto business. Sources familiar with the matter noted that the White House and Congress have yet to reach an agreement on the ethical provisions, a key factor in the bill’s effort to hit the 60-vote threshold. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said the next four weeks could be the Clarity Act’s last chance to pass in the current congressional session; if the bill fails to become law, the U.S. may further lag behind overseas markets in the race for digital asset innovation.

4 minutes ago

US pre-market news roundup: Intel plans to invest €5 billion to expand its Irish factory; storage and semiconductor equipment sectors fall across the board in pre-market trading.

Key pre-market news for U.S. stocks is as follows: 1. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs will kick off Q2 earnings reports on Tuesday, while Morgan Stanley will release its results on Wednesday. Markets expect U.S. large banks’ investment banking and trading revenues to surge, driven by SpaceX’s IPO, rising M&A activity, and market volatility sparked by the Iran situation; 2. Trump claimed Iran always breaks agreements, so the U.S. will strike hard at Iran, take control of the strait, and likely dominate it in the future; 3. SK Hynix’s U.S. ADR trades at a 23.4% premium to its South Korean shares; 4. Semiconductor equipment and storage sectors fell across the board pre-market, with KLAC down 3.7%, SanDisk and Western Digital both dropping over 5%; 5. Spot gold and silver fell broadly, with gold down 1.32% and silver down 2.23%; 6. Crude oil markets fell broadly, with U.S. crude up 3.35% and Brent crude up 3.53%; 7. Strategy did not add to its Bitcoin holdings last week, selling 4.82 million units to raise $467 million; 8. Bitmine added 27,801 ETH to its holdings last week, bringing its total staked ETH to 4.917 million, with an estimated annual staking income of $242 million.

4 minutes ago

South Korean stock market faces a margin trading crisis, with forced liquidations totaling 344.2 billion won in July.

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, the recent sharp decline in South Korea's stock market has triggered accelerated deleveraging of margin trading positions. The total forced liquidation volume in July has reached 344.2 billion won, with the single-day forced liquidation amount on July 9 hitting 142.2 billion won. As forced liquidation data lags by two trading days, the clearing pressure from the nearly 9% plunge in the KOSPI on July 13 has not yet been fully reflected, and the market expects subsequent liquidation volumes to rise further. On July 13, South Korea's KOSPI index closed down 8.95%, triggering the Sidecar (seller order suspension mechanism) and Level 1 Circuit Breaker during intraday trading. The semiconductor sector plummeted, with SK Hynix falling 15.37%—its largest single-day drop in history—and Samsung Electronics down 10.7%. Meanwhile, South Korean retail investors' margin sizes, margin loan balances, and investor deposits have all continued to decline, with the market trapped in a deleveraging cycle of "stock price drop—forced liquidation—further decline".

4 minutes ago

While Bitcoin continues to fluctuate around the $62,000 level, macro investor Jordi Visser pointed out a positive development for BTC.

Accordingly, Jordi Visser pointed to a notable development in Bitcoin’s technical outlook, stating that a bullish RSI divergence has occurred for the first time since the end of last year, and that this has changed his expectations for the coming months.

Visser states that the change in the RSI indicator positively affects expectations and argues that this should be seen as a buying opportunity.

Speaking on Anthony Pompliano’s YouTube channel, Visser stated that he detected this technical signal on the 4-hour RSI chart, indicating the possibility of a significant recovery after Bitcoin’s recent decline.

Bitcoin May Be Near Its Bottom! According to the analyst, even though Bitcoin broke the $60,000 level and the price formed a new low, the RSI indicator remained above the previous low. This is considered a bullish divergence in technical analysis, indicating that selling pressure is weakening and buyers are beginning to gain strength.

Visser states that this technical outlook offers an attractive risk-return ratio for investors, arguing that a move above $60,000 could be considered a buying opportunity, while potential risks can be limited with stop-loss levels.

“As an investor, I think, ‘Okay, now that we get above 60, I can buy something and close myself off with a stop loss back below the lows.'”

Visser also stated that he believes Bitcoin is near its lowest point, but a drop to $50,000 or even $45,000 is not out of the question. “Do I think we’ll be above $100 in a year? Yes. So what difference does it make whether I bought something at $60 or another price?” he said.

FED Decision Has Critical Importance for Bitcoin! At this point, Visser stated that he sees a 35% to 40% probability that the US Federal Reserve (FED) will raise interest rates at its July 29 meeting. However, he added that the assessments of FED officials regarding the possibility that artificial intelligence could increase inflation in the short term while having a deflationary effect in the long term indicate that they may be reluctant to raise interest rates.

In this context, according to the analyst, a scenario where the Fed keeps interest rates unchanged could support Bitcoin’s rise back above the $70,000 level.

*This is not investment advice.

Follow our Telegram and Twitter account now for exclusive news, analytics and on-chain data!

Trump Says the US will Control Hormuz, Crypto at His Mercy Bitcoin (BTC) Market

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Ahmed Barakat

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Aug 2025

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Ahmed Balaha 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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Last updated: 

48 minutes ago

President Trump declaration that the United States would “probably” take control of the Strait of Hormuz, and should be compensated for doing so, landed on crypto and markets like a macro grenade. Bitcoin was already trading near $64,000 before the comments added another geopolitical headache to an already fragile market. The full effect on crypto is still playing out.

Trump’s remarks, made on Monday, hint at a possible U.S. shift toward direct control of one of the world’s busiest oil chokepoints. Around 20% of the global oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz each day. Unsurprisingly, risk assets reacted first, with crypto traders stepping back alongside sellers in tech stocks.

🇺🇸TRUMP: COUNTRIES WILL PAY THE US “A LOT OF MONEY” FOR GUARDING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

"We're going to keep the Strait and we'll probably run it."

"We'll become the Guardian of the Strait. Maybe you'll call it the Guardian Angel of the Strait."

"And we should be reimbursed for… pic.twitter.com/9aPHAXcsAi

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 13, 2026 At the same time, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced a crypto market structure bill along party lines. It marked another regulatory step forward, although the split vote showed Washington still cannot agree without a fight. Politics and crypto have never exactly been best friends.

Both developments are now feeding the same trade: risk off. Trump influence on crypto policy has repeatedly moved markets, and his Hormuz comments only raise the stakes. For now, traders seem more interested in protecting capital than chasing the next green candle.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

Can Bitcoin Hold Its Crypto Support as Trump Geopolitical Risk Mounts?Bitcoin price prediction has turned cautious after BTC slipped below $64,000. The weekly low sits near $61,700, making the $61,500 to $62,000 zone the line in the sand. If that level fails, the next stop could be the upper $50,000s. Two weeks ago, that sounded far-fetched.

Even so, the recent selling has not been driven by crypto alone. Money has also flowed out of other risk assets, showing this is a wider market move. That is a small comfort, though. If fear came through the front door together, confidence may need a macro spark before it walks back in.

The bullish case remains straightforward. If Hormuz tensions ease and crypto legislation regains momentum, Bitcoin could reclaim the $64,000 to $65,000 area. That would likely catch late bears leaning the wrong way. Markets have a habit of making the largest crowd look clever, right before proving them wrong.

The base case is less dramatic. Bitcoin may keep chopping between $62,000 and $64,000 while traders wait for clearer signals. That kind of price action often tests patience more than conviction. Sideways markets can feel longer than they really are.

The bear case stays valid if Bitcoin closes below $61,500 on strong volume. Fresh escalation around Hormuz or disruption to oil supplies could deepen risk aversion. Previous oil shocks have kept Bitcoin under pressure for longer than many expected.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

Bitcoin Hyper Eyes Early-Mover Positioning as BTC Tests Critical SupportWith Bitcoin stalling below $64,000 and macro risk dominating sentiment, spot BTC upside at the current market cap requires a significant catalyst to materialize quickly. Traders looking to express Bitcoin conviction at an earlier point in the risk curve are increasingly eyeing infrastructure plays.

Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER) is positioning itself at that intersection. It is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 with Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) integration. Hyper’s smart contract execution speed that competes with Solana itself, while anchoring to Bitcoin’s security layer.

The presale has raised $33 million to date at a current price of $0.013683, with staking incentives live. Features include a Decentralized Canonical Bridge for BTC transfers and sub-second transaction finality, directly addressing Bitcoin’s core friction points around speed, fees, and programmability.

For traders who want Bitcoin ecosystem exposure without chasing spot BTC at a $1.4 trillion market cap, the risk/reward calculus is structurally different. Research Bitcoin Hyper before the presale window closes.

Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit

CROWDFUNDINSIDER: Pakistan's Bitcoin and Crypto Trading Sector Faces Religious Scrutiny Following Scholar's Fatwa on Digital Assets

DECRYPT: Bitcoin Trades at $63K Amid Risk-off Sentiment Following U.S. and Iran Airstrikes

Why Did A Dormant Bitcoin Wallet Draw Market Attention? A long-dormant bitcoin whale moved 2,931 BTC to a new wallet address on Sunday, ending more than seven years of inactivity and drawing attention from onchain analysts watching older supply re-enter circulation.

The transfer was worth roughly $188 million at the time of movement. The whale address had last moved the bitcoin on Oct. 23, 2018, when bitcoin traded near $6,475. Based on that reference price, the holdings have increased nearly tenfold in value since the wallet’s last activity.

Onchain Lens, citing Arkham data, said the wallet identified as “356my…BAsmK” transferred the 2,931 BTC to an unmarked address, “bc1qn…8gp25,” at around 3:41 p.m. ET. The recipient wallet had not moved the bitcoin again after receiving the funds.

The reason for the transfer remains unclear. Dormant whale movements can reflect custody changes, internal wallet restructuring, inheritance planning, collateral preparation, or a potential intention to sell. Without movement to an exchange or identifiable trading venue, the transfer alone does not confirm that a sale is imminent.

What Does The Transfer Say About Older Bitcoin Supply? Large dormant-wallet activity is closely watched because older bitcoin supply is often treated as high-conviction holding. When coins remain untouched for years, analysts tend to view them as less likely to enter active market circulation. A sudden movement can therefore attract attention even when there is no immediate selling pressure.

This case is notable because of the length of inactivity and the change in market value. The wallet last moved coins during the 2018 bear-market period, when bitcoin traded below $7,000. Moving the same holdings after a nearly tenfold increase highlights how much unrealized profit long-term holders can still carry across older wallet cohorts.

For traders, the key question is not the transfer itself but the next destination. A move to a fresh unmarked address usually leaves several possibilities open. A later transfer to an exchange would carry a stronger market signal because it could indicate preparation for liquidation. A continued hold in the new wallet would suggest custody rotation rather than immediate distribution.

Investor Takeaway The whale transfer is a monitoring event, not proof of selling. The market impact depends on whether the 2,931 BTC remains in the new wallet, moves into custody infrastructure, or is sent to an exchange where liquidity could be tapped.

Why Do Whale Wallets Matter For Bitcoin Market Structure? Bitcoin whale movements can influence sentiment because large holders control enough supply to affect order books if they decide to sell. A $188 million transfer is not large enough to define the market on its own, but it can still shape short-term positioning when liquidity is thin or when traders are already sensitive to macro pressure and ETF flows.

Old-wallet activity also matters because it can challenge the assumption that dormant supply is permanently inactive. Bitcoin’s long-term holder base includes early miners, early adopters, institutional custodians, lost wallets, and entities that have held through several market cycles. When a wallet reactivates after years, the market does not immediately know which category it belongs to.

That uncertainty is why onchain labels are important. In this case, the receiving wallet is unmarked. The absence of a known exchange label weakens the case for an immediate bearish interpretation, but it does not remove the need to track follow-on transactions.

During periods of elevated prices, dormant whale movements tend to become more visible because long-held coins carry larger dollar values. The same number of bitcoin that looked modest in earlier cycles can now represent hundreds of millions of dollars in potential supply.

How Should Investors Read The Move? The transfer fits a broader pattern in which older bitcoin holders occasionally move assets after long periods of inactivity, especially when prices are near historically high levels or when market liquidity allows large holders to rebalance more easily.

During bitcoin’s all-time high period last year, several large holders moved coins after decade-long dormancy. One individual or entity moved more than $8.7 billion worth of bitcoin in July 2025 after 14 years of inactivity, showing that dormant-wallet reactivations can occur at much larger scale.

For investors, the main takeaway is that whale movement should be interpreted in stages. A wallet reactivation shows that old supply is no longer completely dormant. A transfer to a new private address suggests repositioning. A move to an exchange or broker would carry stronger selling implications. A sale confirmed through exchange inflows or order-book activity would be the clearest market event.

Until then, the 2,931 BTC transfer remains an onchain risk marker rather than a confirmed supply shock. It shows that long-term holders can become active after years of silence, but it does not yet show that the whale has decided to exit the position.

15h05 ▪ 5 min read ▪ by Mikaia A.

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You don’t often hear such news in the crypto mining world. Yet, when they arise, a breath of hope sweeps through the entire community. A bitcoin miner just hit the jackpot with a low-end machine. A story that defies all statistics and questions the very nature of chance.

In brief A solo miner using a 150-dollar Bitaxe Gamma mined a bitcoin block on July 9, 2026. The total reward amounts to 3.1382 BTC, approximately 200,000 dollars at the time of mining. The Bitaxe had been running for eight hours with a hashrate of 995.2 GH/s versus the network’s 874 EH/s. In the past year, solo miners have found 24 blocks, up 41% compared to the previous year. 874 EH/s vs 1 TH/s : the Bitaxe takes on bitcoin’s giants Again the same story with a low-price device? On July 9, 2026, at 03:30 UTC, a small box about the size of a palm beat the mining giants. A solo miner using a Bitaxe Gamma mined block #957382 via Public Pool, claiming 3.1382 BTC, approximately 200,000 dollars.

The device, sold between 60 and 150 dollars, had been running for eight hours with a hashrate of 995.2 GH/s.

Meanwhile, the bitcoin network was deploying 874 exahash per second. The comparison to an ant facing a herd of elephants is no exaggeration. The Bitaxe is powered by the BM1370 chip, consumes 15 to 21 watts, and plugs into a household outlet. 

This toy for enthusiasts, designed for learning, just proved that mining lottery remains accessible to all. How could such a modest device beat industrial machines? The answer lies in the very essence of the bitcoin protocol: every hash has an equal chance to solve the block. 

The mining difficulty does not affect the individual probability of each attempt.

Solo mining explodes : 24 bitcoin blocks in one year, a dream for small crypto miners Since the beginning of 2026, solo crypto miners have found 12 bitcoin blocks. Over the last twelve months, the total reached 24 blocks, up 41% compared to the previous year. Total rewards amount to 75.44 BTC, with an average interval of 15.2 days between each discovery. 

This success is not a matter of chance: mining difficulty dropped by 5% on July 12, falling to 127.17 T.

At the same time, Public Pool, which charges 0% fees in solo setup, is becoming a preferred choice for enthusiasts. 

Meanwhile, mining giants like Bitdeer and MARA Holdings are turning to AI, freeing up symbolic space for smaller players. This economic paradox raises questions: why are the big players abandoning the ship when small ones find their place? The answer lies in electricity costs and profitability.

Small BTC miners, with their low energy expenses, can still pull through in this challenging environment.

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t mine a block ! The Bitaxe story spread like wildfire on the X platform. Under the hashtags #Bitaxe and #SoloMining, the crypto community celebrates this feat with contagious enthusiasm. “Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t mine a block!!!” proclaims a post that went viral.

However, this success also fuels a sometimes misleading fantasy. Most solo crypto miners mine for years without ever finding anything. Sites tracking solo successes, like Soloblocks.io, log a handful of wins among thousands of participants. 

The Bitaxe faced odds of 1 in 874 million, a staggering figure. A miner with 70 TH/s on CKpool, meanwhile, has odds of 1 in 100,000 per day. The gap between these probabilities remains abyssal and reminds us that exceptions do not make the rule.

Key figures of the jackpot: Total reward: 3.1382 BTC (200,000 dollars); Device hashrate: 995.2 GH/s; Network hashrate: 874 EH/s; BTC price at the time of writing: 62,996 dollars. Bitcoin mining has long generated losses for small miners, faced with increasing difficulty. Yet, a new wind now blows across the sector. Mining difficulty has just declined, offering welcome relief for those who persevere.

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Mikaia A.

La révolution blockchain et crypto est en marche ! Et le jour où les impacts se feront ressentir sur l’économie la plus vulnérable de ce Monde, contre toute espérance, je dirai que j’y étais pour quelque chose

DISCLAIMER

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

Strategy (MSTR) sold about $466.7 million worth of its stock last week and put the proceeds toward cash rather than bitcoin, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The move lifted the company’s U.S. dollar reserve to $3 billion and marked another week without a purchase from the largest corporate holder of bitcoin.

Between July 6 and July 12, the Michael Saylor–led firm sold 4,818,781 Class A common shares through its at-the-market equity program. It issued no preferred stock under its other ATM facilities during the period. 

The company said the fresh cash pushed its dollar reserve up by some $450 million, and that it holds the reserve to cover dividend payments on its preferred stock and interest payments on its outstanding debt.

Strategy neither bought nor sold bitcoin over the week. Its holdings stand at 843,775 BTC, a position the company acquired for an aggregate price of about $63.69 billion including fees and expenses, at an average of $75,476 per coin. 

At current prices near $63,000, that stack is worth about $53 billion, which leaves the firm with roughly $10.7 billion in paper losses. The holdings equal around 4% of bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap.

Markets read the filing without much enthusiasm. MSTR fell close to 3% in premarket trading on Monday, extending a slide that has erased 38% of the stock’s value since the start of the year. Bitcoin dropped through the weekend to trade around $62,500, a decline that pulled the so-called bitcoin proxy lower with it.

A shift in Saylor’s posture For most of Strategy’s history, the pattern ran one direction: raise capital, buy bitcoin, repeat. This year has broken that rhythm. The company has leaned on a wider capital structure, and its recent disclosures show cash building rather than coins.

The clearest break came on July 5, when Strategy sold 3,588 BTC for $216 million — the largest bitcoin sale in its history. The disposal followed a Sunday post from Saylor on X, part of a weekly ritual that market watchers treat as a signal. 

In the past, captions such as “A good time to add more dots” and “Looks better with more dots” landed ahead of purchase announcements. The tone has turned harder to read. A June 28 message reading “We’re gonna need more charts” preceded a new capital framework instead of a buy, and Sunday’s post, captioned “Orange dots tell only part of the story,” arrived before a filing that showed no purchase at all.

The building block behind the change is STRC, a preferred instrument that expanded the company’s capital structure and created new obligations to service. That structure is what makes the cash reserve matter. Dividend and interest commitments now form a fixed cost that 

Strategy must meet whether bitcoin rises or falls, and the dollar reserve exists to keep those payments funded.

How much runway does Strategy have? For now, the near-term picture looks manageable. A $3 billion reserve gives Strategy a cushion against its dividend and interest commitments, and Monday’s filing shows the company can raise cash without touching its bitcoin. 

Selling stock dilutes shareholders but leaves the treasury whole; selling coins does the opposite. This week, Strategy chose the first path.

The open question is what happens if the choice starts to narrow. As long as the equity market absorbs new share sales at prices the company finds workable, the ATM program can fund its obligations. A sustained slide in MSTR, or a longer bitcoin downturn, would tighten that math and could turn optional sales into forced ones.

The firm’s paper losses give the shift its weight. Strategy sits on about $10.7 billion in unrealized losses, and its stock has surrendered 38% this year. Against that backdrop, the pivot from buyer to cash-builder reads less as a retreat than as a company managing a capital structure that now carries fixed costs of its own.

Bitcoin traded flat near $62,500 in the hours after the disclosure.

Micah Zimmerman

Micah first discovered Bitcoin in 2018 but remained a skeptic on the sidelines for too long. Since 2021, he has covered crypto and business and now works as a news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

Bitcoin’s long-term valuation model suggests it could have significant upside potential, with its next investor-top target set near $437,000. In the near term, however, analysts point to possible short-lived price advances before a reversal towards lower support levels.

Cycle Model Signals Potential for Six-Figure BitcoinAccording to a model constructed on Bitcoin’s two-year simple moving average (SMA), the major cryptocurrency may be far from its projected cycle top. The model, followed by market analyst Michaël van de Poppe, sets the upper boundary for the ongoing cycle at around $437,000, with van de Poppe indicating that a move above $500,000 cannot be excluded if momentum builds.

The two-year SMA model measures Bitcoin’s long-term valuation by identifying underlying accumulation and overheated phases. The lower band, which follows two times the SMA, is viewed as a region where large investors tend to accumulate Bitcoin during market lows. The upper band, calculated at five times the same moving average, has historically coincided with cycle tops and periods of extreme euphoria.

Currently, Bitcoin trades close to the lower investor band near $64,000, positioning it well beneath the cycle’s upper limit, according to the chart shared by van de Poppe. Despite this distance, there is no assurance that Bitcoin’s price will reach $437,000 during this cycle, as market factors and investor sentiment can shift unexpectedly.

Van de Poppe, a well-known Dutch market analyst and educator in the cryptocurrency sector, stated that the last market cycle ended with a more modest advance than many traders had anticipated. He argued that this may prompt investors to remain cautious and take profits early, potentially missing out if the current bullish trend strengthens further.

Van de Poppe has explained that many may use the previous cycle as a psychological anchor, which could trigger premature sell-offs in the event of stronger upward momentum.

A move to the $437,000 target would require an expansion in demand, deeper liquidity, and increased risk-taking from market participants. Bitcoin would also need to hold above prior highs and maintain a robust long-term uptrend, while avoiding any decisive drops below the model’s lower boundary.

While the model provides an ambitious projection, it does not specify a timeline nor guarantee a breakout to new all-time highs. The target should be interpreted as a cyclical estimate rather than a predetermined outcome.

Mini dictionary: Two-year simple moving average (SMA): A technical analysis tool that tracks the average closing price of an asset over a two-year period. In Bitcoin’s case, it is often used to identify long-term trends and potential support or resistance zones in market cycles.

Short-Term Resistance and Support LevelsOn a shorter timeframe, Bitcoin may attempt to sweep above recent highs near $64,664 as traders position themselves before the consumer price index (CPI) data release. The analysis projects that this move could encounter resistance between $64,700 and $65,200, followed by a sharp reversal if buyers fail to establish support above that range.

The zone above $64,664 contains a liquidity pool likely filled with short stop-losses and breakout buy orders. A rapid move through this area could trigger a brief price spike as liquidity is collected, but may not result in a sustained rally if sellers regain control.

Van de Poppe indicated that the CPI release may provide the volatility needed to trigger such a sweep. However, for the outlined bearish scenario to play out, Bitcoin’s price would need to drop back below $64,664 after the run-up, signaling that the breakout failed to attract enduring buying pressure.

The analysis highlights that Bitcoin’s initial downside support is near $62,100, with heavier support between $59,700 and $61,000 if the retracement deepens.

If sellers maintain momentum below $62,100 and especially under $61,000, analysts foresee that the lower liquidity targets closer to $59,700 may become relevant. Conversely, should Bitcoin clear $65,200 and stabilize above these former highs, the outlook could turn bullish as buyers demonstrate enough strength to absorb existing liquidity and push the market higher.

LevelKey ActionImplication$64,700-$65,200Potential resistance, possible price sweepRejection could trigger reversal$62,100First supportHolds if minor retracement$59,700-$61,000Deeper support/liquidity zoneTarget if correction accelerates$437,000Cycle model topRequires major breakoutDisclaimer: 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.

Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASST) bought 18 bitcoin last week, a modest addition that lifted the Dallas-based company’s treasury to 19,900 coins, according to an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

The purchases ran from July 6 through July 10 at an average price of about $64,028 per bitcoin, including fees and expenses, for a total of some $1.2 million. The buy is small next to Strive’s earlier moves this year, and it tracks a bitcoin price that has fallen well below the levels the firm paid in prior rounds.

Alongside the purchase, Strive reported cash and cash equivalents of $154.1 million as of July 10, up $700,000 from July 2. The company still holds 505,000 shares of Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock, known as STRC, with a fair value of $44.2 million, down $202,000 over the same stretch. 

Its own preferred instrument, the Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock that trades as SATA, remains at 7.83 million shares outstanding.

Strive’s jump from an asset manager to treasury company Strive traces its bitcoin strategy to a fast run of moves that began last year. Vivek Ramaswamy and Anson Frericks founded Strive Asset Management in 2022, and in 2025 the firm went public through a reverse merger with Asset Entities, taking the ASST ticker and reframing itself as the first public asset-management bitcoin treasury company. Its stated aim is to accumulate bitcoin and outperform the asset over the long run.

The accumulation came in bursts. Strive bought 1,567 bitcoin in late 2025 at an average of $103,315 and funded the effort through preferred-stock offerings. In January 2026, it added 123 more at $91,561 and won Semler Scientific shareholder approval for an all-stock acquisition that would bring about 5,048 bitcoin onto its balance sheet. 

The combined company would hold close to 12,800 coins at that time, a total that would rank among the largest corporate holders and place it ahead of names such as Tesla and Trump Media. By May 1, Strive’s own treasury had reached 15,000 bitcoin.

A smaller step in a lower market Monday’s filing shows a different pace. An 18-coin purchase at $64,028 stands in contrast to the six-figure prices Strive paid a few months ago, a gap that reflects a broad decline in bitcoin through the first half of the year.

The measured addition, paired with a cash balance that held near $154 million, points to a company adding to its position at a slower cadence while it works through the Semler deal.

Micah Zimmerman

Micah first discovered Bitcoin in 2018 but remained a skeptic on the sidelines for too long. Since 2021, he has covered crypto and business and now works as a news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

XRPL validator Vet (Hussein Zangana) has argued that the XRP Ledger’s consensus mechanism is better suited for long-term sustainability than Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) model.

According to Vet, Bitcoin’s mining system was highly effective at distributing BTC in the network’s early years. However, he believes it could face economic challenges as block rewards continue to decline.

In a post on X and an accompanying video presentation, Vet compared the supply dynamics of Bitcoin and XRP. He argued that “supply distribution is only a short-term challenge, while consensus algorithms are permanent.”

Bitcoin Early Success Came With Long-Term Trade-Offs Zangana explained that Bitcoin’s PoW mechanism originally served two purposes. It secured the blockchain while distributing new BTC through mining rewards.

Bitcoin launched with a 50 BTC block reward, which halves roughly every four years. Vet noted that about 95.5% of Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply has already been distributed, leaving relatively little new issuance over the coming decades. 

He acknowledged that PoW helped democratize Bitcoin’s early distribution because users could mine coins with relatively modest hardware. However, he argued that the system becomes more expensive and less efficient as new issuance declines.

According to Vet, Bitcoin will increasingly rely on transaction fees to incentivize miners once block rewards become negligible. He also argued that wider adoption of Layer-2 networks could reduce on-chain activity, making it harder for miners to earn enough fee revenue over the long term.

XRP Ledger Was Built for Long-Term Efficiency Meanwhile, Vet contrasted this with the XRP Ledger, which did not use its consensus mechanism to distribute XRP. Instead, the network created its entire 100 billion XRP supply at genesis, with tokens distributed over time.

Because XRPL has no mining rewards, Vet said its consensus mechanism focuses solely on validating and settling transactions. This allows for low costs, fast confirmations, and minimal transaction fees.

He argued that this approach made XRP’s early distribution more difficult. However, it also removed the long-term burden of maintaining an expensive mining incentive once token distribution is complete.

According to Zangana, Bitcoin prioritized efficient early distribution, while the XRP Ledger accepted a more challenging launch in exchange for a consensus model built for long-term operation.

Network Performance Will Matter More Than Launch History Vet also argued that future users will care less about how a cryptocurrency was originally distributed.

Whether Bitcoin relied on mining rewards or Ripple distributed XRP over time, he said most new users will judge a network by how well it works today rather than by its launch history.

He added that the XRP Ledger has grown into a mature ecosystem with numerous developers and applications. As a result, he believes it is now well positioned to benefit from its consensus design after overcoming its initial distribution challenges.

Concluding his analysis, Vet said the next five to ten years will be a key test for Bitcoin as block rewards continue to shrink and the network relies more heavily on transaction fees. 

By contrast, he argued that the XRP Ledger can continue operating efficiently without facing the same structural pressures.

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.