This Friday, we examine Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid in greater detail.
Ethereum (ETH) Ethereum managed to bounce off support at $1,500 and recovered last week’s losses. This is also why it closed the week with an impressive 10% rally, as buyers regained control of price action.
To be confident in a sustained recovery, the price will need to eventually break the current resistance at $1,800. Anything less than that would only be a short relief before sellers return to dominate.
Looking ahead, Ethereum has a real chance here to set a local bottom and attempt a rally. The question is if buyers have the volume and strength to sustain it and break the key resistance in the days and weeks to come.
Source: TradingView Ripple (XRP) This week, buyers managed to defend $1, sending the price 6% higher. However, there is resistance at $1.1, which has managed to hold off the bulls, at least as of this post.
Similarly to Ethereum, XRP needs to make the best of this bounce and turn it into a sustained rally if it wants to break away from its current downtrend. Even if the $1.1 resistance falls, the price still has to claim $1.3 to confirm a breakout.
Looking ahead, the price reaction at $1 was somewhat expected since it’s a key psychological level. If buyers fail to capitalize on this in the coming days and weeks, then sellers will likely return to put pressure again.
Source: TradingView Cardano (ADA) This week, ADA impressed with a 16% bounce after the price briefly fell under the $0.15 support. With the support secured, this cryptocurrency has a good shot at moving higher. However, as of this post, the price formed a lower high.
To be confident in a sustained recovery, Cardano will have to move beyond its previous high of 19 cents. Anything less than that would make this a bearish bounce, eventually leading to ADA falling lower.
Looking ahead, sentiment across the crypto market has improved with the start of July, but the month is only just beginning, and it is too early to say whether the current price action will be sustained. At a macro level, ADA remains bearish.
Source: TradingView Binance Coin (BNB) Compared to the other coins on our list, Binance Coin remained flat this week. This is atypical and rather bearish because the price failed to reclaim its support at $580. Because of that, sellers retain the upper hand and may aim for $500 next.
The $500 support hasn’t been tested yet, but it’s the next major level if bears continue to dominate the chart. Moreover, Binance failed to secure a MICA license in the EU at the start of July, which made it lose a key market to competitors.
Looking ahead, any weakness for Binance, the exchange, will likely translate to its token, BNB. The current chart seems to confirm this, as it remains in a bearish trend with no bounce or recovery in sight.
Source: TradingView Hype (HYPE) HYPE found good support above $60 and bounced by 6% this week. This has placed it in flat price action since early June. This consolidation is also forming a large pennant. Once that is resolved, we will know where this cryptocurrency is headed next.
When a pennant forms, the price tends to respect the underlying trend, which, in this case, is bullish. Therefore, the higher probability is for the price to break away and aim for new highs.
Looking ahead, HYPE will have to secure $68 as a key support and hold above it if it wants to challenge the current all-time high at $77. Anything less than that, or a break below $60, would be a bearish signal with lower lows likely.
This is a general announcement and marketing communication. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Fellow Binancians, Binance is thrilled to launch a Gram (GRAM) Trading Tournament where eligible users will have a chance to share a total prize pool of 500 BNB in token vouchers! In addition, Binance is introducing an “Sprint Reward” for a limited period – the more you trade, the higher your extra rewards! Promotion Period: 2026-07-03 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-07-10 10:00 (UTC) Join Now Eligibility: All verified new, regular users and all Binance VIP users can participate.Liquidity providers in the Binance Spot Liquidity Provider Program and Binance Brokers are not eligible to participate. Eligible Altcoin Trading Pair(s) Trading pair(s): GRAM/USDT, GRAM/USDC How to Participate: Click the [Join Now] button on the landing page to register.Total Trading Volume reaches at least 500 USD equivalent in any of the aforementioned eligible pair(s) on Binance Spot during the Promotion Period. Users who do not meet this threshold will not qualify for any reward under this Trading Volume Tournament. Main Reward Structure: Statistical Period: 2026-07-03 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-07-10 10:00 (UTC)Rankings Based on the Cumulative Trading VolumeReward per Eligible Participant (in BNB Token Vouchers)1st Place15 BNB2nd Place12.5 BNB3rd Place10 BNB4th Place7.5 BNB5th Place5 BNB6th - 20th PlacesAn equal split of 50 BNB21st - 50th PlacesAn equal split of 50 BNB51st - 200th PlacesAn equal split of 80 BNB201st - 1,000th PlacesAn equal split of 70 BNBAll Remaining Eligible ParticipantsAn equal split of 100 BNB, capped at 0.01 BNB per user Sprint Reward Structure: Binance is introducing a “Sprint Reward”. For a limited period, users will receive extra rewards based on their ranking by cumulative trading volume. The more one trades during the respective Statistical Periods, the higher the extra rewards can be. Please note that users can earn from both the "Sprint Reward" and the "Main Reward" pools at the same time. Rankings Based on the Cumulative Trading VolumeRound 1 Statistical Period: 2026-07-03 10:00 (UTC) to 2026-07-05 10:00 (UTC)Round 2 Statistical Period: 2026-07-05 10:01 (UTC) to 2026-07-07 10:00 (UTC)Reward per Eligible Participant (in BNB Token Vouchers)1st Place15 BNB15 BNB2nd Place12.5 BNB12.5 BNB3rd Place10 BNB10 BNB4th Place7.5 BNB7.5 BNB5th Place5 BNB5 BNB Promotion Rules: Trading volume of any zero-fee trading pairs is excluded from the final trading volume calculation.Transaction or gas fees will be excluded from the final trading volume calculation for the tournament.All eligible buy and sell orders will be counted towards the cumulative total trading volume.Token vouchers will be distributed to winners by 2026-07-24, and will expire within 21 days after distribution. Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub.The Spot Trading Volume leaderboard is updated at least once every 24 hours. The Main Reward leaderboard and Sprint Reward leaderboard will be displayed on the separate Sub-Spot landing page respectively. Data sync times vary daily but will always be completed by the end of the day.Only users who have met the minimum qualifying trading volume threshold will be displayed on the leaderboard along with their trading volume. Don’t miss out on this opportunity and share in the rewards now! To view more promotions for new listings on Binance, stay tuned to this page for the latest updates and exclusive opportunities. Guides & Related Materials: How to Spot Trade (App / Web) Terms & Conditions: These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the activity above (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity Terms, and the following additional terms: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice; all of which are incorporated by reference into these terms and conditions. In the case of any inconsistency or conflict between these Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity Terms shall prevail, followed by the following in this order of precedence, and to the extent of such conflict: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice.Only verified users who complete the aforementioned criteria for the tournament by the end of the Promotion Period may receive rewards.This Trading Volume Tournament is available to verified new, regular and VIP users enabled for Binance Spot Trading, subject to product (and where relevant, deposit methods’) availability in users’ regions, and may be restricted in certain jurisdictions or regions, or to certain users, due to legal and regulatory requirements.Reward Distribution:All token voucher rewards will be distributed to eligible, winning users by 2026-07-24.Users will be able to login and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub. All token voucher rewards will expire within 21 days after distribution. Winning users should claim their vouchers before the expiration date, and no replacement reward will be provided. Learn how to redeem a Binance voucher.Please note that the actual value of rewards received by a user is subject to change due to market fluctuation.Token voucher rewards are subject to additional terms and conditions.Rewards are not negotiable nor transferable.Once the available rewards have been allocated to users, no further rewards will be provided notwithstanding that an eligible user may have completed the missions.A user’s trading volume in this Trading Volume Tournament will be calculated after the user has opted-in and will be based on the trading volume (i) in their master and sub-accounts, and (ii) on all Spot products, including Spot Trading, Spot Copy Trading and Trading Bots. API trades are allowed. Binance’s calculation of a user’s trading volume is final.Binance reserves the right to disqualify a user’s reward eligibility if the account is involved in any dishonest behavior (e.g., wash trading, illegally bulk account registrations/logins, self dealing, or market manipulation). Binance further reserves the right to disqualify any participants who tamper with Binance program code, or interfere with the operation of Binance program code with other software. Rewards that have already been disqualified will not be returned to the prize pool.Binance reserves the right at any time in its sole and absolute discretion to determine and/or amend or vary these terms and conditions without prior notice, including but not limited to canceling, extending, terminating, or suspending these activities, the eligibility terms and criteria, the selection and number of reward recipients, and the timing of any act to be done, and all participants shall be bound by these amendments.The commencement and operation of the campaign (including the commencement of the Promotion Period) are subject to the successful listing of the relevant token on Binance Spot. If the listing is postponed or cancelled for any reason, the campaign (including the Promotion Period and reward distribution) may be delayed, amended or withdrawn at Binance’s discretion. Binance will not be liable for any loss or inconvenience caused by such changes.There may be discrepancies between this original content in English and any translated versions. Please refer to the original English version for the most accurate information, in case any discrepancies arise. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-07-03 Disclaimer: USDC is an e-money token issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (https://www.circle.com/). USDC’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Circle using the following contact information: +33(1)59000130 and [email protected]. Holders of USDC have a legal claim against Circle SAS as the EU issuer of USDC. These holders are entitled to request redemption of their USDC from Circle SAS. Such redemption will be made at any time and at par value.
Stellar (XLM) price holds above its 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.197 on Friday after rallying more than 14% this week. The recovery is supported by robust on-chain activity, with Stellar’s stablecoin market capitalization climbing to a record high and TVL continuing to rise. In addition, improving momentum indicators and a strengthening technical outlook suggest XLM could have room to extend its gains.
Strengthening on-chain activity supports a bullish biasCrypto intelligence tracker DefiLlama data shows that Stellar’s stablecoin market capitalization surged to a record high of 4834.98 million on Friday. This surge indicates continued growth in on-chain liquidity and stablecoin usage, which could support XLM’s long-term price outlook.
Stellar stablecoin market capitalization chart. Source: DefiLlamaIn addition, Stellar’s TVL increased from $199 million on Monday to $223 million on Friday, indicating growing activity and interest within the ecosystem. It suggests that more users are depositing or utilizing assets within XLM-based protocols, adding further bullish credence.
Stellar TVL chart. Source: DefiLlamaStellar Price Forecast: XLM closes above key 200-day EMAStellar price trades above $0.199 on Friday, up over 15% so far this week. XLM is holding a modestly bullish near-term bias as price sits above the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), which cluster between roughly $0.186 and $0.197, suggesting underlying demand on dips.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at about 53 keeps a neutral-to-positive tone, while the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator hovers around the zero line, hinting at a consolidative phase rather than an impulsive breakout.
On the topside, initial resistance is defined by the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement at $0.200, with further barriers at the 50% retracement near $0.218 and subsequent Fibonacci levels at $0.237 and $0.260.
On the downside, immediate support is seen at the 200-day EMA around $0.197, followed by the 50-day EMA near $0.190 and the 100-day EMA at $0.186; a deeper pullback would expose the horizontal support at $0.177 and the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $0.173, ahead of a more distant floor near $0.142.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool.)
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Standard Chartered and Circle are bringing USD Coin [USDC] closer to traditional banking. This new partnership will help institutions mint and redeem USDC through bank-led rails, starting in Dubai’s DIFC.
USDC minting moves to Standard Chartered’s banking platform Standard Chartered and Circle have created a way for institutional clients to mint and redeem USDC through a bank-led process. This would be instead of setting up separate accounts directly with Circle.
The financial giant has stated that it is the first Global Systemically Important Bank to offer this kind of USDC service. According to its statement, the company announced,
By embedding USDC access directly within Standard Chartered’s institutional offering, Standard Chartered will bring together banking, custody, and digital asset services within one integrated offering…
The first rollout will happen through the Dubai International Financial Centre, with expansion to other markets planned. The service is said to also support payment-related use cases later.
The scale makes it that much important This development comes at a good time though, especially since stablecoins are no longer a niche product. In fact, Artemis showed that USD-pegged stablecoin supply has nearly doubled over the past 24 months. We went from about $160 billion to around $300 billion by July 2026.
Source: Artemis While USDT [Tether] still leads the market, Circle’s USDC is still the second-largest stablecoin. It is also one of the greater corporate plays in the space. That becomes important when you think of Standard Chartered’s move, with the bank building access around a stablecoin that already has scale.
USDC supply has stayed around the $70 billion-$80 billion range in recent months, so that demand has held up even with new issuers entering the market. So, while stablecoins may have multiple long-term winners, Circle is still one of the names institutions are most likely to work with.
Final Summary Standard Chartered and Circle will let institutions mint and redeem USDC. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin, with 70B-$80B in supply.
Circle, the fintech platform that issues $USDC, has partnered with Standard Chartered, a renowned multinational financial and banking services entity. The partnership aims to enable institutional access to the $USDC stablecoin for redemption and minting via a compliant banking method. As Circle disclosed in its official press release, the development is set to expand stablecoin adoption among financial companies. Hence, the exclusive functionality permits qualified institutional consumers to leverage $USDC via an inclusive service and onboarding experience.
Circle 🤝 Standard Chartered@StanChart has launched institutional USDC minting and redemption through DIFC, becoming the first G-SIB to offer institutional access to USDC through a regulated banking channel.
A major milestone for institutional stablecoin adoption.… pic.twitter.com/SufjFOqjyk
— Circle (@circle) July 2, 2026 Standard Chartered Becomes First G-SIB to Support USDC Minting In partnership with Standard Chartered, Circle is permitting institutional clients to enjoy $USDC redemption and minting. With this rollout, Standard Chartered has become the earliest Global Systematically Important Bank (G-SIB) to deliver these services. At first, the offering will go live through the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) operations of the bank. The development underscores the rising demand for a compliant digital asset framework that seamlessly integrates blockchain-native financial services with conventional banking.
Particularly, the integration of the stablecoin infrastructure of Circle permits Standard Chartered to streamline the stablecoin accessibility for institutional users while keeping risk management, compliance, and governance intact. Rather than navigating diverse platforms for banking and crypto services, qualified consumers can now accomplish the onboarding process to access $USDC via the bank.
Apart from that, the incorporated solution lets institutions shift capital more effectively between blockchain ecosystems and conventional financial mechanisms. It backs wide-ranging enterprise use cases, taking into account on-chain settlement, liquidity management, and treasury operations. The infrastructure also focuses on supporting payment-related apps in the future amid the continuous expansion of the stablecoin adoption across the financial markets worldwide.
Advancing Regulated Stablecoin Architecture for Wider Adoption According to Kash Razzaghi, Circle’s Chief Commercial Officer, integrating the compliant $USDC model into Standard Chartered allows institutions to use stablecoins for treasury operations, settlement, and payments. Additionally, Roberto Hoornweg, Standard Chartered’s CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking, mentioned that the addition of the new service is poised to elevate the standards of regulatory oversight, governance, and trust. Overall, this initiative permits institutions to use stablecoins while also ensuring risk management and compliant benchmarks.
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Umair Younas is a cryptocurrency-related content writer linked with this work since 2019. Here, at Blockchainreporter, he serves as a news and article writer. He is a crypto, blockchain, NFTs, DeFi, and FinTech enthusiast. He has strong command over writing authentic reviews about brokers and exchanges and he has collaborated with our education team to write educational content as well. He has a dream to raise awareness among people about digital currencies. His works are well-researched and brimmed with information hence they provide fresh insights. Stay tuned to his posts if you want to stay up-to-date with the crypto-verse.
This is a general announcement. Products and services referred to here may not be available in your region. Terms and conditions apply. Fellow Binancians, Binance is excited to launch the July Referral Tournament! Invite friends to join Binance and complete required tasks to compete for a share of the 50,000 USDC leaderboard prize pool or unlock up to 100 USDC in milestone rewards. Top referrers can win up to 5,000 USDC in token vouchers. Promotion Period: 2026-07-03 08:00 (UTC) to 2026-07-31 23:59 (UTC) Join the Tournament Now! Promotion A: Invite Friends & Compete for Up to 5,000 USDC Eligible Binance users can participate in the Leaderboard Competition by inviting the highest number of Qualified New Traders during the Promotion Period. How to Participate: Step 1: Click [Join Now] on the activity page.Step 2: Invite new users to register using your Referral Pro Link/ID.Step 3: Encourage your referrals to become Qualified New Traders to climb the leaderboard. *A Qualified New Trader is a new user who registers via the participant's Referral Pro Link/ID during the Promotion Period and completes all of the following tasks: Logs in to the Binance App at least once;Top up at least 20 USD equivalent via Fiat deposit, Buy Crypto or P2P; andCompletes at least 100 USD equivalent in trading volume via Convert or Spot. Leaderboard Reward Structure To qualify for leaderboard rewards, participants must meet both the minimum number of Qualified New Traders and the minimum cumulative trading volume generated by new referred friends. The leaderboard is updated by T+2 basis. The final leaderboard, reflecting the total number of new traders after completing risk check, will be confirmed by 2026-08-03 (T+2). Eligible Users’ Rankings Based on the Number of Qualified New Traders Invited During the Promotion PeriodReward Per Eligible User(in USDC Token Voucher)Eligible Referrer’s RequirementsMinimum Qualified New Traders invited During the Promotion PeriodAndMinimum Cumulative Trading Volume (USD) via Spot & Convert Generated by New Referrals Invited During the Promotion Period 1 Place5,000 USDC300$1,000,0002 Place4,000 USDC250$800,0003 Place3,000 USDC200$600,0004 - 10 Places1,500 USDC each100$300,00011 - 30 Places625 USDC each50$100,00031 - 50 Places450 USDC each25$50,000Remaining Eligible ParticipantsEqually share 6,000 USDC (capped at 100 USDC each)5$3,000 Notes: Participants will be ranked based on the number of Qualified New Traders invited during the Promotion Period.If two or more participants invite the same number of Qualified New Traders, the participant who joined this promotion earlier will rank higher. Promotion B: Invite Friends & Unlock Milestone Rewards During the Promotion Period, eligible Binance users (excluding Affiliate users) can invite Qualified New Traders to unlock milestone rewards. Rewards are limited and available on a basis based on the participation time. Milestone Reward Structure Qualified New Traders Invited During the Promotion PeriodReward Per Eligible Referrer (in USDC Token Voucher)Reward Cap15 USDCFirst 1,000 Eligible Referrers320 USDCFirst 500 Eligible Referrers10100 USDCFirst 200 Eligible Referrers Notes: Each participant may receive one Milestone Reward only. Rewards are not cumulative.Participants who qualify for multiple milestones will receive the reward for the highest milestone achieved.Promotions A and B are mutually exclusive, and users who qualify for rewards under both promotions will only receive the reward with the higher value. Promotion C: New Referral Exclusive – Complete Tasks to Receive Up to 15 USDC The first 10,000 eligible new users who register using a participant's Referral Pro Link/ID and complete all required tasks will be able to claim a reward valued between 2 USDC and 10 USDC on the activity page during the Promotion Period, while supplies last. How to Participate: Eligible new users must complete all of the following tasks during the Promotion Period and pass Binance's risk assessment: Log in to the Binance App.Top up at least 20 USD equivalent via Fiat deposit, Buy Crypto or P2P; andCompletes at least 100 USD equivalent in trading volume via Convert or Spot. Earn Extra 5 USDC in Reward by Competing bStocks Trade Tasks: In addition to the above, the first 5,000 eligible new referrals who complete all required tasks and subsequently trade at least 50 USD equivalent of bStocks during the Promotion Period will each receive an additional 5 USDC token voucher. Terms & Conditions: Only users in certain regions are eligible to join this Promotion. Users may refer to the activity page for their eligibility to participate. Users in restricted regions are disqualified from participating in the Binance Referral Program as referrers or referred users.These terms and conditions (“Activity Terms”) govern users’ participation in the Referral Campaign (“Activity”). By participating in this Activity, users agree to these Activity Terms, and the following additional terms: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice; all of which are incorporated by reference into these terms and conditions. In the case of any inconsistency or conflict between these Activity Terms, and any other incorporated terms, the provisions of these Activity Terms shall prevail, followed by the following in this order of precedence, and to the extent of such conflict: (a) Binance Terms and Conditions for Prize Promotions; (b) Binance Terms of Use; and (c) Binance Privacy Notice.Rewards from this Promotion are mutually exclusive with certain Affiliate-exclusive campaign rewards. If a user earns a reward in an Affiliate-exclusive campaign, they will not be eligible to receive rewards from this Promotion. Binance reserves the right of final decision.Binance will use the price of the USDC trading pair at the time of trading to calculate the value of the trades completed on Binance Spot and Convert during the Promotion Period. If there is no USDC pair for a specific cryptocurrency, it will be converted to another token or coin with a USDC pair to determine its value. Trading volume from Spot zero-fee trading pairs and the excluded token conversion via Convert during the Promotion Period will not be counted toward the leaderboard calculation and new user’s trade task. Excluded Spot zero-fee trading pairs: FDUSD/USDT，AEUR/USDT，BTC/U，EUR/EURI，EURI/USDT，FDUSD/USDC，KGST/USDT，RLUSD/U，RLUSD/USDT，TUSD/USDT，U/USDC，U/USDT，USD1/U，USD1/USDC，USD1/USDT，USDC/USD，USDC/USDT，USDP/USDT，USDT/USD，XUSD/USDTExcluded Convert trade: FDUSD/USDT，USDC/USDT，TUSD/USDT，U/USDT，BUSD/USDT，USDP/USDT，DAI/USDT，GUSD/USDT，EURS/USDT，USDN/USDT，RSV/USDT，U/USDC，USDC/BUSD，BUSD/USDP，USDC/TUSD，DAI/USDC，FDUSD/TUSD，DAI/TUSD，FDUSD/USDC，DAI/FDUSD，AEUR/EUR，BUSD/FDUSD，EUR/EURIIf multiple users have an equal achievement in Promotions A & B, their rankings will be determined by the time they opted in, with earlier opt-ins receiving higher priority. And if a user at a certain rank on the leaderboard does not meet the minimum criteria required for that rank, the reward for that rank will be forfeited. The user will instead receive the reward for the highest rank for which they meet the minimum criteria, and all subsequent ranks will be adjusted accordingly.Each new user can only be referred to Binance via one referral mode. If a new user registers for a Binance account via Referral Pro mode, the referrer will not be eligible for any rewards from limited-time activity referral ID/link nor Referral mode.Sub-accounts cannot be used to participate in this Promotion as either a referrer or a referral. Spot trades that are completed with a sub-account will not count toward the trading volume requirement.Any references to “$” means “United States Dollar”, unless otherwise stated.Reward Distribution:Eligible users must complete account verification (KYC) during the Promotion Period to receive the corresponding rewards. Rewards for Promotion A & B and the additional 5 USDC rewards will be distributed in token vouchers by 2026-08-21 after the Promotions end. Users will be able to log in and redeem their token voucher rewards via Profile > Rewards Hub. The rewards worth up to 10 USDC for new invited referrals in Promotion C are available to be claimed on the activity page during Promotion Period on a first-come, first-served basis, determined by user’s task completion time. The validity period to claim the token voucher is set at 7 days from the day of distribution. Users should redeem the token vouchers before the expiry date. Thereafter, the token vouchers will become invalid. Learn how to redeem a voucher. Binance reserves the right to disqualify any participants who tamper with Binance program code, or interfere with the operation of Binance program code with other software.Binance reserves the right to disqualify and revoke rewards for participants who engage in dishonest or abusive activities during the Promotion, including but not limited to registering from the same IP or device, bulk-account registrations to farm additional bonuses and any other activity in connection with unlawful, fraudulent, or harmful purposes.At Binance's sole discretion, user participation will be considered without effect and users will automatically be excluded, disqualified and prevented from accumulating benefits, in cases where it is identified: Any violations of Binance's Terms of Use and other legal terms, as well as attempted or proven fraud, human and/or through the use of technology; Manipulation of results or failure to fulfill the requirements and provisions set forth in these Terms and Conditions; Completion, by the user, of incorrect, outdated, mistaken information or filled with untrue information, and may also be liable for the crime of ideological or documental falsehood; Registrations and participations for which any technological means have been used or there are indications of their use, whether electronic, computerized, digital, robotic, repetitive, automatic, mechanical and/or analogous, with the intention of automatic and/or repetitive reproduction of registrations, identical or not, which will also result in the nullity of all registrations and participations made by the user who has used one of the aforementioned means or for one of the aforementioned purposes, even if not all registrations or participations have resulted from the use of such means and/or were carried out with such purpose.Binance reserves the right at any time in its sole and absolute discretion to determine and/or amend or vary these terms and conditions without prior notice, including but not limited to canceling, extending, terminating, or suspending these activities, the eligibility terms and criteria, the selection and number of winners, and the timing of any act to be done, and all Participants shall be bound by these amendments.There may be discrepancies between this original content in English and any translated versions. Please refer to the original English version for the most accurate information, in case any discrepancies arise. Thank you for your support! Binance Team 2026-07-03 Disclaimers: USDC is an e-money token issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS (https://www.circle.com/). USDC’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Circle using the following contact information: +33(1)59000130 and [email protected]. Holders of USDC have a legal claim against Circle SAS as the EU issuer of USDC. These holders are entitled to request redemption of their USDC from Circle SAS. Such redemption will be made at any time and at par value.EURI is an e-money token issued by Banking Circle S.A (https://www.bankingcircle.com/). EURI’s whitepaper is available here. You may contact Banking Circle using the following contact information: +44 (0)7867254482 and [email protected]. EURI purchasers can exchange their EURI at par value for funds denominated in the official currency that the EURI is referencing (EUR) for the monetary value of the EUR held by Banking Circle for the purchaser of the EURI. Trade on-the-go with Binance’s crypto trading app (iOS/Android) Find us on TelegramXFacebookInstagram Binance reserves the right in its sole discretion to amend or cancel this announcement at any time and for any reasons without prior notice. Disclaimer: Digital asset prices are subject to high market risk and price volatility. The value of your investment can go down or up, and you may not get back the amount invested. You are solely responsible for your investment decisions and Binance is not liable for any losses you may incur. Past performance is not a reliable predictor of future performance. You should only invest in products you are familiar with and where you understand the risks. You should carefully consider your investment experience, financial situation, investment objectives and risk tolerance and consult an independent financial adviser prior to making any investment. This material should not be construed as financial advice. For more information, see our Terms of Use and Risk Warning. BStocks Tokenized Securities are Certificates representing Financial Instruments (paragraph 92, Schedule 1 to FSMR), traded on Nest Exchange Limited. BStocks represent an interest in underlying securities held by the Issuer and do not confer direct ownership of the underlying shares or stock. Ensure trading is lawful in your jurisdiction before proceeding. Tokenized Securities are high-risk products subject to market, liquidity, and price volatility risk — you could lose your entire investment. They do not represent ownership of, or any affiliation with, the underlying asset's issuer. Redemption, fees, and pricing adjustments are subject to the relevant Prospectus. This is not financial advice; seek independent advice before trading. See Responsible Trading page, Terms of Use, Exchange Rules, Exchange Procedures, relevant Prospectus, Admission to Trading Notice and Risk Warning.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is reportedly preparing to lead a new funding round for Mesh, a company developing crypto payment and settlement infrastructure. Sources familiar with the matter say this could push Mesh’s valuation to as much as 2 billion dollars. Neither Binance nor Mesh have yet publicly confirmed the details of this potential deal.
Rapid rise in company valuation expectedIn its Series C round, completed in January 2026, Mesh raised 75 million dollars based on a 1 billion dollar valuation. That round was led by Dragonfly Capital and included investors Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, SBI Investment, Liberty City Ventures, and Moderne Ventures.
According to reports, Binance is considering leading Mesh’s latest funding round, potentially doubling the company’s valuation to 2 billion dollars.
If this upcoming round closes at the targeted valuation, Mesh will have doubled its company value in roughly half a year. This leap stands out as a striking example of the surge in capital flowing into payment infrastructure and stablecoin-focused firms recently.
PeriodValuationInvestment AmountJanuary 20261 billion dollars75 million dollarsUpcoming round2 billion dollarsNot disclosedWhat is Mesh’s business focus?Previously operating under the name Front Finance, Mesh develops infrastructure solutions that connect digital wallets, crypto exchanges, stablecoins, and traditional payment channels. The company specializes in facilitating payments, conversions, and settlements across a variety of asset types.
Quick glossary: Settlement infrastructure refers to the technical and operational systems that finalize exactly what asset and amount is exchanged between transaction parties. Tokenization is the process of creating a blockchain-based digital representation of assets such as money, deposits, or securities.
This system aims to bridge the gap between the digital assets users hold and the payment types merchants wish to accept. In doing so, it provides a transition layer linking crypto assets with traditional financial systems.
Mesh is focused on building the infrastructure that eases value transfer between wallets, exchanges, digital assets, and classic payment systems.
Stablecoin interest pushes infrastructure companies into the spotlightSoaring interest in stablecoins is fueling investments into companies providing payment and settlement infrastructure. This acceleration is largely driven by clearer regulatory frameworks and a boom in tokenization initiatives across financial markets.
Recently, Circle launched regulated stablecoin settlement services in Luxembourg after winning regulatory approval. The firm now offers USDC, USDG, and EURI for institutional conversions between fiat and crypto assets.
In the US, major financial institutions are collaborating under The Clearing House initiative to develop tokenized deposit infrastructure, with a target to go live in early 2027. This framework aims to allow banks to perform tokenized deposit transactions seamlessly within regulatory boundaries.
Strategic partnerships and the potential impact of investmentIn 2024, Mesh partnered with Italy-based crypto wallet provider Conio, making it possible for users to expand their access to multiple exchanges and withdrawals through Mesh’s connectivity infrastructure. These collaborations have bolstered Mesh’s position in the payment connectivity landscape.
Should Binance indeed lead the upcoming round, it could signal that major crypto platforms now see payment and settlement infrastructure as the next frontier for growth. Lately, capital has been shifting away from traditional trading apps and token projects towards more compliant payment, cross-border transfer, and asset settlement solutions.
A timeline for completing the investment round has yet to be disclosed.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
TLDR: Ironwood testnet activates with two independent consensus implementations built by separate teams. Zcash reduced ten-note wallet migration times from around 15 minutes to about 2.5 minutes. Multi-transaction signing now supports more than 11 transactions through a single QR code. Mainnet activation could occur around July 21 as audits and ZIP specifications near completion. Zcash is moving forward with its Ironwood network upgrade after confirming a scheduled testnet activation. The update introduces new consensus changes and major wallet performance improvements ahead of a planned mainnet deployment.
Development teams have also completed two independent consensus implementations for the upgrade. The work marks one of the most advanced testnet preparations recorded for a Zcash network upgrade.
Zcash Ironwood Testnet Upgrade Brings Dual Consensus Implementations Zcash developer Dev announced that the Ironwood testnet upgrade would activate on July 4. The release includes two independently developed consensus implementations.
One implementation came from Valar Group, while the other was built by the Zcash Foundation. According to Dev, the Valar Group version has already entered the audit process.
Zcash testnet is updating for Ironwood tomorrow!
We have two independently developed consensus implementations of it. One by @valargroup, and another by @ZcashFoundation. @valargroup's is in audit as well.
We have a desktop wallet fork with migration code you can try! If you…
— Dev 🧪 (@zkDragon) July 2, 2026
The teams also released a desktop wallet fork that supports migration testing on the testnet. Users with Keystone development devices can update firmware and test migration functions before the mainnet launch.
The upgrade introduces multi-transaction signing through a single QR code. Dev said the feature required extensive work behind the scenes and represented a major technical milestone for the testnet.
Contributors from zodl also participated in the process. The group worked on technical specifications, wallet libraries, circuit updates, and application programming interfaces supporting Ironwood.
Zcash Wallet Performance Improves Ahead of Mainnet Activation Development updates shared by Dev showed major gains in wallet migration performance. The time needed to complete a ten-note migration fell from around 15 minutes to approximately two and a half minutes.
Inbound QR scanning dropped from three minutes to one minute. Loading and transaction review declined from two minutes to 45 seconds.
The signing process posted the largest improvement. Signing time fell from roughly nine minutes to about 37 seconds.
Outbound QR scanning also became faster. The process now takes about 10 seconds compared with roughly one minute previously.
In a separate update, Zcash developer Sean Bowe said all Ironwood consensus rule changes had been implemented and were undergoing audits.
He added that the specifications and Zcash Improvement Proposals, known as ZIPs, were approaching their final state.
UPDATE: Over the last couple weeks we've made huge progress on Ironwood activation in Zcash!
1. All of the consensus rule changes have been implemented, and have been undergoing auditing for some time now. Specifications / ZIPs are published and nearing their final state.
2.… https://t.co/rjQSHM1uox
— Sean Bowe (@ebfull) July 2, 2026
Bowe also said developers expected readiness for a mainnet activation around July 21. He confirmed that the official testnet activation was scheduled for the following day and noted that the Zebra release supporting Ironwood should become available around the same time.
According to Bowe, sufficient mining hash rate already signals technical readiness for the mainnet upgrade. He noted that some wallets may not support Ironwood immediately, although alternative options and testnet preparation time remain available before activation.
Shielded Labs has raised the possibility of delaying Zcash's Ironwood network upgrade, warning that ecosystem participants like exchanges, mining pools and wallets may not have enough time to prepare their systems for the planned activation in late July.
Jason McGee, executive director of Shielded Labs, said in a Zcash community forum post that two major projects are moving forward at the same time. Alongside Ironwood, infrastructure providers are being asked to replace Zcash’s longstanding node and wallet software, zcashd, with a new collection of tools known as the Z3 stack.
The concerns highlight the trade-off between quickly restoring confidence in Zcash’s shielded supply and giving ecosystem participants enough time to deploy and audit the new infrastructure safely.
Ironwood was proposed after researchers discovered an “infinity” bug in Orchard, Zcash’s main private transaction pool. The flaw could theoretically have allowed an attacker to create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC tokens inside the pool without detection. Developers said there was no evidence that the pool had been exploited. However, Orchard's privacy features make it impossible to prove that no fake coins were created.
Source: Zooko Wilcox
Ironwood rollout collides with Zcash software migrationIronwood would open a replacement private pool and prevent new activity inside the existing Orchard pool. Funds leaving Orchard would have to pass through an accounting checkpoint that prevents more ZEC from exiting than what originally entered. This would allow users to verify that the circulating supply remains within Zcash’s intended limits.
At the same time, Zcash is retiring zcashd, the software used by many ecosystem participants to connect to the network and process transactions. Its replacement stack includes Zebra for operating a network node, Zaino for supplying blockchain data to applications and Zallet for wallet functions.
The network's official guidance documents said operators may need to modify their systems as some zcashd functions will not have direct replacements.
McGee said Zallet and Zaino were still under development and not ready for production use. Feedback gathered from infrastructure providers suggested that some expect to be ready by late July, while others need more time, he added.
McGee said no delay has been finalized.
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox said security reviews had found no additional serious bugs so far and that developers are also working to verify the new system before Ironwood activates.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Shielded Labs has raised the possibility of delaying Zcash's Ironwood network upgrade, warning that ecosystem participants like exchanges, mining pools and wallets may not have enough time to prepare their systems for the planned activation in late July.
Jason McGee, executive director of Shielded Labs, said in a Zcash community forum post that two major projects are moving forward at the same time. Alongside Ironwood, infrastructure providers are being asked to replace Zcash’s longstanding node and wallet software, zcashd, with a new collection of tools known as the Z3 stack.
The concerns highlight the trade-off between quickly restoring confidence in Zcash’s shielded supply and giving ecosystem participants enough time to deploy and audit the new infrastructure safely.
Ironwood was proposed after researchers discovered an “infinity” bug in Orchard, Zcash’s main private transaction pool. The flaw could theoretically have allowed an attacker to create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC tokens inside the pool without detection. Developers said there was no evidence that the pool had been exploited. However, Orchard's privacy features make it impossible to prove that no fake coins were created.
Source: Zooko Wilcox
Ironwood rollout collides with Zcash software migrationIronwood would open a replacement private pool and prevent new activity inside the existing Orchard pool. Funds leaving Orchard would have to pass through an accounting checkpoint that prevents more ZEC from exiting than what originally entered. This would allow users to verify that the circulating supply remains within Zcash’s intended limits.
At the same time, Zcash is retiring zcashd, the software used by many ecosystem participants to connect to the network and process transactions. Its replacement stack includes Zebra for operating a network node, Zaino for supplying blockchain data to applications and Zallet for wallet functions.
The network's official guidance documents said operators may need to modify their systems as some zcashd functions will not have direct replacements.
McGee said Zallet and Zaino were still under development and not ready for production use. Feedback gathered from infrastructure providers suggested that some expect to be ready by late July, while others need more time, he added.
McGee said no delay has been finalized.
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox said security reviews had found no additional serious bugs so far and that developers are also working to verify the new system before Ironwood activates.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
It has been an exciting year for space stocks. Coming into June, Planet Labs (PL 0.60%) stock had surged to over $51 per share and was up an eye-opening 162% year to date. However, the stock recently pulled back 37% from its all-time high just over one month ago.
Planet Labs has been riding high on the wave of strong top-line growth and a surge in government spending on space and defense. However, the company's recent earnings forecast and equity raise have taken the air out of the balloon. Here's what investors need to know.
Today's Change
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Planet Labs' stock has gone on a tear over the last year Planet Labs operates a massive constellation of small satellites that capture daily high-resolution imagery of the planet. The company provides geospatial imagery, data archives, and analytics to intelligence, agricultural, and commercial customers for applications such as national security, crop yields, and deforestation monitoring.
The stock has soared over the last year, surging 432% as investors flock to booming space stocks. The company showcased solid top-line growth while teaming up with Nvidia to incorporate its GPUs into its satellites and deliver real-time AI insights to customers like never before. It is also riding a wave of contract wins, including awards with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the Swedish Armed Forces, and selection as a prime contractor under the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SHIELD framework.
Image source: Getty Images.
Planet Labs stock surged following its previous three earnings reports, but its first-quarter results (for the period ending April 30) sent the stock tumbling. Part of its decline was driven by margin compression and a high forecast for capital expenditure for the year. During the earnings call, Planet Labs guided its margin down from 56% in the first quarter to between 52% and 54% for the full year, with heavy capital investment totaling between $80 million and $95 million this year.
The biggest driver of the stock's decline was its $1.5 billion at-the-market equity offering, which was also announced during its earnings call. Planet Labs entered into an agreement to sell up to $1.5 billion of its Class A common stock through at-the-market offerings, meaning it could sell shares in smaller portions over time. The proceeds would be used to expand manufacturing capacity and further build out its Earth-imaging infrastructure.
Should you buy the dip in Planet Labs? Planet Labs is growing nicely and expanding its reach with its growing satellite platform. However, the equity offering highlights the risks of investing in high-growth, early-stage companies, and the $1.5 billion raise is a massive amount for a company with a market capitalization of $11.7 billion.
The company is spending big in hopes of a larger payoff long-term, and analysts project its revenue could grow by 34% compounded over the next three years. That said, Planet Labs stock is far from cheap, priced at 31.2 times sales, and analysts covering the company don't foresee profitability until 2028 at the earliest.
Investors must balance growth with spending and recognize that Planet Labs is still an early-stage, rapidly growing company. If you do buy the stock, make sure it's part of a diversified portfolio and size your position accordingly.
Companies Showcase Ongoing Buildout of Manufacturing Infrastructure at K2 to Address Growing Demand for NAND Flash
TOKYO & MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kioxia Corporation, a subsidiary of Kioxia Holdings Corporation (TOKYO: 285A) and Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) today announced the start of production for their 10th-generation 3D Flash memory technology at Fab2 (K2) at the Kitakami Plant in Iwate Prefecture in Japan. The milestone comes as the companies continue to drive meaningful, multi-year bit growth to address the strong demand for their innovative flash memory technology.
In conjunction with the start of production, the companies held an unveiling ceremony for the K2 facility. Opening in September 2025, the facility has produced the companies’ 8th-generation 3D flash memory products and will begin to scale production with the introduction of their 10th-generation products. Both generations of 3D flash memory adopt innovative CBA (CMOS directly Bonded to Array) technology and offer high performance, high capacity, and low power consumption.
The Fab2 facility has an earthquake-absorbing architectural structure and a design that utilizes state-of-the-art energy saving manufacturing equipment. The facility uses artificial intelligence for enhanced production efficiencies and employs a space-efficient facility design that enlarges the space available for manufacturing equipment in its clean rooms.
Kioxia and Sandisk recently announced the extension of their joint venture framework through December 2034. The Sandisk-Kioxia partnership has driven decades of NAND flash memory innovation. Continued investments in the K2 fab will fuel the joint venture’s long-term success and ability to deliver leading-edge flash memory innovations at scale and with stability, in line with each company’s previously stated target bit growth.
Koichiro Shibayama, President and CEO of Kioxia Iwate Corporation, which operates the Kitakami Plant, said, “We are pleased to begin production of our advanced 10th-generation flash memory here in Kitakami. The eighth and further generation flash memory products produced at the Fab2 will deliver new value to the rapidly growing AI market. Leveraging the partnership and scale advantages, Kioxia will continue to manufacture leading-edge flash memory products and achieve sustainable corporate growth. Kioxia will continue to contribute to the advancement of the semiconductor industry and the development of local and domestic economies.”
“For decades Sandisk and Kioxia have driven innovation in NAND flash memory,” said Alper Ilkbahar, Chief Technology Officer of Sandisk Corporation. “Beginning production of our 10th-generation 3D flash memory at our Kitakami facility marks an important milestone for the two companies as demand for high-performance flash technologies continues to increase. Through our K2 facility we will continue to support our customers with the world’s leading NAND technology, while providing new economic opportunities for the communities we operate in and serving as an example of strong U.S.-Japan economic relations.”
Kioxia and Sandisk have shared a successful joint venture partnership for over 25 years and will continue to strengthen synergies and competitiveness through joint development of 3D flash memory and capital investments.
About Sandisk
Sandisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) delivers innovative Flash solutions and advanced memory technologies that meet people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. Follow Sandisk on Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, YouTube. Join TeamSandisk on Instagram.
Kioxia is a world leader in memory solutions, dedicated to the development, production and sale of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). In April 2017, its predecessor Toshiba Memory was spun off from Toshiba Corporation, the company that invented NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia is committed to uplifting the world with “memory” by offering products, services and systems that create choice for customers and memory-based value for society. Kioxia's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH™, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems.
Forward-Looking Statements
Sandisk
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws, including statements regarding expectations for: Sandisk Corporation’s and Kioxia Holdings Corporation’s product roadmap, production scaling plans, and continued ability to drive multi-year bit growth; demand for high-performance flash technologies; the performance, capacity and capabilities of the companies’ 3D flash memory technology; the capabilities and efficiencies of the Fab2 facility; Sandisk’s continued investment strategy in its long-standing joint venture with Kioxia; and the joint venture's long-term success, operational synergies, capital efficiency, competitiveness, and ability to deliver leading-edge 3D flash memory innovations at scale. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Key risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements include: adverse changes in global or regional economic conditions, including the impact of evolving trade policies, tariff regimes and trade wars; volatility in demand for Sandisk’s products; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; exposure to execution, financial and market risks due to long-term agreements; inflation; changes in interest rates and a potential economic recession; the impact of business and market conditions; the impact of competitive products and pricing; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and management of technology transitions; risks associated with strategic initiatives, including restructurings, acquisitions, divestitures, cost saving measures and joint ventures; risks related to product defects; difficulties or delays in manufacturing or other supply chain disruptions; reliance on strategic relationships with key partners, including Kioxia Corporation; the attraction, retention and development of skilled management and technical talent; risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence in business operations; changes to relationships with key customers or consolidation among the customer base; compromise, damage or interruption from cybersecurity incidents or other data system security risks; reliance on intellectual property; fluctuations in currency exchange rates; actions by competitors; risks associated with compliance with changing legal and regulatory requirements; and other risks and uncertainties listed in Sandisk’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on August 21, 2025 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 1, 2026, to which your attention is directed. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and Sandisk undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events, except as required by law.
FTT, the token of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, experienced a surge followed by a sudden drop today following a rumor that emerged.
In the cryptocurrency market, FTT experienced a brief but sharp rise following rumors of an amnesty circulating ahead of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and Independence Day on July 4th.
Rumors circulating in the market suggest that the White House is considering a proposal to grant presidential pardons to 250 people as part of the 250th anniversary celebrations. These rumors quickly translated into interpretations of the “pardon concept” within the cryptocurrency community, and the FTT token, formerly associated with the FTX exchange, was also affected by these speculations.
The FTT price surged by 27% in a short time, climbing above $0.30. However, the rise was not sustainable, and the token gave back all of its gains. The latest data shows FTT’s 24-hour performance is down 1.43%.
A graph showing the rise and fall of FTT prices. FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is in prison for fraud, officially applied for a presidential pardon last month, but it is not currently thought that US President Donald Trump will approve the application.
*This is not investment advice.
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NEW YORK, July 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Futu Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:FUTU) and certain of the Company’s senior executives for securities fraud after its significant stock drop resulting from potential violations of the federal securities laws.
If you invested in Futu, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/futu-class-action-lawsuit.
Key Details of the Futu ($FUTU) Class Action:
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 25, 2026Alleged Misconduct: Securities fraud relating to Futu’s business operations in China without regulatory approval which subjected it to regulatory penalties and finesLargest Alleged Stock Drop: May 22, 2026 – 27.5% Stock DropCourt: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New YorkAction: Contact BFA Law to discuss your rights Investors have until August 25, 2026 to ask the Court to be appointed to lead the case. The complaint asserts securities fraud claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors in Futu securities. The class action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It is captioned Tang v. Futu Holdings Limited et al., No. 26-cv-05453.
Why is Futu Being Sued for Securities Fraud?
Futu is a financial technology company that operates fully digitalized securities brokerage and wealth management platforms. Headquartered in Hong Kong, the company primarily acts as an online broker connecting retail and institutional investors to global financial markets. In December 2022, China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) issued a statement that Futu has conducted cross-border securities businesses with domestic investors in mainland China without regulatory consent. As a result, Futu was banned from opening new accounts from mainland Chinese investors and soliciting new business from mainland investors.
Throughout the relevant period, Futu allegedly misrepresented its business operations and risks by continuing its business in mainland China, subjecting the company to additional penalties and fines.
Why did Futu’s Stock Drop?
On May 22, 2026, Reuters published an article indicating that Futu would be penalized for soliciting business in China without a license. The same day, Futu announced that the CSRC would be issuing penalties and fines in the aggregate amount of RMB1.85 billion (approximately USD271 million) due to operating its business in mainland China without regulatory approval.
This news caused the price of Futu stock to drop $34.10 per share, or 27.5%, from a closing price of $123.86 per share on May 21, 2026, to $89.76 per share on May 22, 2026.
On May 28, 2026, Futu announced its Q1 2026 results. Futu announced disappointing results due to the CSRC penalties in the amount of RMB1.85 billion (approximately USD271 million).
This news caused the price of Futu stock to drop $5.31 per share, or 4.8%, from a closing price of $110.22 per share on May 27, 2026, to $104.91 per share on May 28, 2026.
Click here for more information: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/futu-class-action-lawsuit.
What Can You Do?
If you invested in Futu, you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm.
All representation is on a contingency fee basis; there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses.
BFA is a leading international law firm representing plaintiffs in securities class actions and shareholder litigation. It has been named a top plaintiff law firm by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and ISS SCAS, and its attorneys have been named “Elite Trial Lawyers” by the National Law Journal, “Litigation Stars” by Benchmark Litigation, among the top “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” by Lawdragon, “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360 and “SuperLawyers” by Thomson Reuters.
Most recently, The Legal 500 awarded BFA the most client satisfaction accolades of any plaintiff’s securities litigation law firm, with clients noting: “[t]here is no better service provider in the practice area,” “[t]he interest of the client is always front and center,” and “[t]here isn’t a better firm in this space.” One testimonial described the firm as “nimble and entrepreneurial,” with a “relentless focus on adding value for clients.”
Among its recent notable successes, BFA recovered over $900 million in value from Tesla, Inc.’s Board of Directors, as well as $420 million from Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd.
For more information about BFA and its attorneys, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Aave [AAVE] is no longer just growing through deposits and lending activity; they’re also also building new revenue streams. With the launch of Aave’s Global Dollar Hub and a rise in user activity, the project is picking up steam again.
Aave DAO’s swap revenue crosses $1 million! Aave DAO’s swap revenue has crossed $1 million since the launch of Aave Will Win. The cumulative expected partner fees has risen from April, with a jump around early June and sustained growth throughout the month.
Source: X Most of this revenue has been coming from Ethereum [ETH], while Arbitrum [ARB] and a few other chains have added smaller contributions too. Interestingly, this gives Aave another income stream beyond its usual AUM-based fees from lending markets.
With more features planned – including leverage tools, transaction builder support, and V4 support in Aave Pro – this revenue base could keep growing.
New wallet growth outlasts AAVE’s price Beyond this, Aave’s on-chain activity jumped too. Around the launch of its V4 Global Dollar Hub, AAVE’s price moved from nearly $72 to about $95, before falling back towards $85.
Source: Santiment However, what stands out is that user growth did not fade with the price. New AAVE addresses reached 1,806 on 30th of June, far above the usual spring pace of around 200 per day.
New address growth was also well above baseline throughout this week. In fact, active addresses were above 2,200 and at 3,144 at their highest.
AAVE holds above pullback zone Here’s a bit of balance to this story. After the move towards the $95-$100 area, AAVE fell back below $90 on the charts.
Source: TradingView However, the token has not fully lost its pace either. It was trading at around $87 at press time, with a small recovery attempt.
The RSI was at 58, so the rally was no longer overheated. There seemed to be some strength left still. The CMF was also positive at 0.10, indicating some buying interest.
Final Summary Aave DAO crossed $1 million in swap revenue, adding a new income mode. AAVE’s price hit the brakes on the charts, but new addresses hit 1,806 too.
Aave recent rally may have cooled, but its network activity suggests adoption is still accelerating.
AAVE price rose close to 30% from June 24 to 26. During this period, the cryptocurrency jumped from around $72 to nearly $95 before correcting to about $85.
Since then, the DeFi token has consolidated. However, on-chain data show that user growth has continued.
What’s Happening With Aave?On June 30, Aave added 1,806 new wallet addresses. This represents nine times its average of around 200 new addresses per day in the spring, Santiment reported.
Interestingly, the surge was not confined to a single day, unlike many short-lived spikes in crypto activity.
From June 24 to June 30, the creation of new addresses remained between four and nine times its baseline every day. This means that the demand for the protocol is ongoing rather than just a short-lived speculative interest.
Network engagement also increased over the period. Daily Active Addresses (DAA) remained above 2,200 throughout the week, peaking at 3,144 on June 26, around the time of AAVE’s price breakout.
June 30 also marked Aave’s largest single-day jump in new wallet creation since October 2021, when decentralized finance activity was near its previous cycle high.
The jump came on the back of the launch of Aave V4’s Global Dollar Hub on Ethereum.
For those unfamiliar, the new infrastructure allows users to post Pendle Principal Tokens backed by Paxos’ USDG stablecoin as collateral to borrow assets such as USDC and USDT, expanding the protocol’s functionality for institutional and advanced DeFi users.
Deposit Rise in the HubAt the time of writing, data from AaveScan shows the PT-USDG Global Dollar Hub held approximately $14.8 million in supplied assets shortly after launch.
While deposits increased steadily throughout the day, the market experienced a late-session jump. This pushed the total supplied liquidity to nearly $15 million.
For context, the PT-USDG market currently allows users to supply Pendle Principal Tokens backed by USDG as collateral.
As more liquidity enters the hub, borrowers gain deeper access to stablecoin liquidity, potentially increasing borrowing activity and overall protocol utilization as adoption expands.
Therefore, the continued rise in new wallets, despite the pullback in the price of AAVE, suggests that the recent growth may be more due to protocol adoption.
Should the trend continue, increasing network activity may help AAVE remain a key pillar, despite the broader crypto market remaining under pressure.
What It Means for the AAVE PriceIn the meantime, the rise in new wallets does not promise higher AAVE prices. However, it is generally viewed as a positive signal for the cryptocurrency.
The persistent growth of new and active addresses indicates real network activity. This contradicts the speculative short-term trading the token experienced for some time.
Historically, times of increasing user adoption have provided a stronger basis for price appreciation.
What is notable about Aave is the timing. If the V4 Global Dollar Hub continues to attract borrowers and liquidity providers, this on-chain activity could translate into increased protocol revenue and increased investor confidence over time.
However, the AAVE price will likely need to reclaim the $90 region in the short term to confirm that buyers are back in control going forward.
A breakout above that area could lead to another try at the key $100 level.
On the downside, a loss of support around $80 could see further profit taking and stall any sustained recovery, even if network fundamentals remain strong.
Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
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TechnologyIn this article
SpaceX stock rose in the holiday-shortened week after joining the Russell 1000 index. (Dreamstime)
SpaceX stock had a good first week in the Russell 1000 and the index was all the better for it, too.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted AI agents haven't progressed the way the social-media company hopes but that doesn't mean he's giving up on the technology.
Ilika PLC (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF, FRA:I8A), the UK developer of solid-state battery technology, has raised £4.56 million before expenses through an oversubscribed share placing and subscription.
Solid-state batteries replace the flammable liquid electrolyte found in conventional lithium-ion cells with a solid material, which promises greater safety, energy density and a longer lifespan.
The AIM-listed company issued 16.3 million new ordinary shares at 28 pence each, with Cavendish acting as bookrunner.
It plans to raise up to a further £500,000 through a retail offer to existing shareholders at the same price.
The net proceeds will fund the commercialisation of Ilika's two battery lines, the small-format Stereax and the large-format Goliath.
Up to £2 million will support the rollout and scaling of Stereax, which is designed for active implantable medical devices such as pacemakers and neurostimulators.
That work includes product optimisation with Cirtec Medical, a US medical device manufacturer, alongside testing and validation of the M300 battery to enable sales and trigger initial royalty payments.
Ilika described those royalties, which would be triggered by delivering M300 batteries into customer testing programmes, as a critical commercial milestone that would validate its licensing model.
Up to £3 million will support Goliath, the company's electric vehicle battery, as it moves from finalising technical specifications towards licensing.
That budget covers prototype and production optimisation, the purchase of battery formation equipment, test programmes and delivery of a 10 ampere-hour minimum viable product.
Ilika expects that product to generate initial revenues from Goliath in markets including defence and consumer electronics, ahead of wider commercialisation in electric vehicles.
The company is also progressing discussions with electric vehicle manufacturers over a 10 ampere-hour cell, which alongside earlier development work opens up options to license the technology in the automotive market.
The company said the Goliath roadmap had reached an intersection point with what it called the urgent sovereign needs of the defence sector.
Graeme Purdy, chief executive, thanked new and existing investors and said the money would help optimise Goliath prototypes and fund equipment for the company's first Goliath product.
Ilika held cash and cash equivalents of £5.3 million as at 30 April, and said the fundraising would provide working capital to reach several technical and commercial milestones.
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) delivered 480,126 vehicles in the second quarter, a 25% jump on a year earlier and a decisive beat against a consensus of roughly 406,000. On any conventional reading, it was the rebound the company badly needed after a bruising start to the year. The stock fell about 7.5% anyway. Understanding why means looking past the headline to the three things investors actually care about.
The number beat, but the reason for the beat is the problem
Part of the surge was not new demand. It was Tesla clearing a backlog. In the first quarter, the company built 50,363 more cars than it sold, stacking up inventory as US demand cooled after the $7,500 federal EV tax credit expired. A chunk of the second-quarter total is that stockpile finally moving off the lot.
Selling inventory is not the same as selling growth. If Tesla shifted those cars using discounts, cheap financing or other incentives, the volume comes at the expense of margin. That distinction is the whole story, and investors will not learn the answer until the company reports full financial results on 22 July.
This is now a pattern, not a surprise
The reaction fits a habit. Tesla shares have fallen on each of the past three quarterly delivery reports, a classic sell-the-news response where a strong print is already priced in before it lands. The stock walked into Thursday around $425, up roughly 24% from its April low, which told you the market had positioned for a beat.
When expectations are set that high, clearing them is not enough. A beat has to be large enough and clean enough to justify a rally, and a beat built partly on inventory liquidation does not clear that second test.
Bar was set low, and Tesla set it
There is a structural reason the beat looks bigger than it is. Tesla compiles and publishes its own consensus on its investor relations page, aggregating sell-side estimates into the number it will be measured against. That creates an obvious incentive for the bar to sit at a level the company can comfortably clear.
Even so, Tesla missed its own Q1 consensus. And the full-year picture remains flat. Analysts model roughly 1.65 million deliveries for all of 2026, barely 1% growth on last year, and that figure has already been trimmed by about 35,000 units since March. A company once growing at 50% a year is now modelled for essentially no growth, and one quarterly beat does not rewrite that.
A $1.4 trillion valuation the cars cannot explain
Here is the deeper reason a delivery beat moves the stock less than it once would. At a market value near $1.4 trillion, the vehicle business accounts for only a fraction of the price. The rest is the robotaxi and humanoid robot story, and no delivery print can validate or disprove that. The report that matters for the narrative is 22 July, when Tesla updates on margins, cash flow and its autonomy program.
The energy business offered a genuine bright spot that tends to get overlooked. Storage deployments hit 13.5 gigawatt hours against 9.6 a year earlier, topping expectations. That segment carries roughly double the gross margin of the car business, so it punches above its weight in profit terms. It was not enough to offset the caution around vehicles.
Questions the report left unanswered
One detail investors flagged is what Tesla did not say. SpaceX, which owns xAI, bought $269 million of Tesla Megapacks in April to cut power costs at its data centres, and last year spent $131 million on Cybertrucks. Tesla did not disclose whether such related-party transactions flattered the quarter's numbers.
The underlying demand picture is also lopsided. Europe rebounded, helped by higher fuel prices and easing of the backlash tied to Elon Musk's politics, with registrations more than doubling in France in June. US sales, by contrast, tracked down around 15% to 20% as buyers leaned toward hybrids and Chinese rivals such as BYD, Nio and Xiaomi kept up the pressure. A recovery leaning this heavily on one region is exactly the kind of beat the market treats with suspicion.
Autonomous driving has been a hot topic for stock market investors for several years. As more cities approve driverless vehicles, what was once science fiction is rapidly becoming reality. Naturally, investors want in on what could be an important industry.
An obvious choice for investment dollars is Tesla (TSLA 7.35%), which has been making progress toward full self-driving for years. However, there's another well-known company that could be the better bet for making autonomous driving a mass-adopted reality.
Waymo is way ahead While it may not be the first company investors think about when it comes to autonomous driving, Alphabet (GOOGL 0.23%)(GOOG 0.37%) is actually the leader in this space. According to Alphabet's Q1 2026 earnings call, Waymo surpassed 500,000 fully autonomous, driverless rides per week, a number that has doubled in less than a year. Waymo is also operating in 11 major cities, with six new cities added in 2026 alone.
Compare this with Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD), which is still not operating without human drivers in the vehicles. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, driverless autonomy is expected to roll out in the fourth quarter of this year.
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Autonomy with a side of AI While Tesla offers more to investors than autonomous driving, Alphabet is a leader in what is perhaps the most transformative technology of our lifetimes, artificial intelligence (AI). With its frontier large language model (LLM), Gemini, Alphabet also offers investors exposure to the leading edge of the AI revolution.
AI is progressing too rapidly to predict a winner, but Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, and OpenAI's ChatGPT will be jockeying for position for the foreseeable future as each company releases more advanced models.
But that's not all It would take too long to list all the other aspects of Alphabet's business, but while autonomous driving and AI drive the headlines, it's important to remember that advertising (on Google Search and YouTube, primarily) and Google Cloud Services provide the bulk of the revenue and profit that allow Alphabet to invest in new technologies.
In Q1 of 2026, advertising represented 70% of revenue, while Google Cloud accounted for another 18%. Alphabet is the leader in search on both Google and YouTube, and it's one of the top cloud infrastructure providers in the world.
Mega-cap value Considering Alphabet's leadership position in so many aspects of our tech economy, one might think shares are prohibitively expensive, but that's not the case. Alphabet stock trades at a trailing P/E ratio of 30, which is right around its 10-year average and 16% below its late-2025 high.
One can be fairly confident that Alphabet will present cheaper and more expensive buying opportunities over time, but adding shares or starting a position at today's valuation seems reasonable when compared to the company's historical averages.
As Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock attempts to regain a macro uptrend, several Wall Street analysts have reiterated their bullish outlook for the coming 12 months.
On Thursday, July 2, five Wall Street analysts reiterated their bullish outlook on Tesla stock over the next 12 months. William Stein, an analyst at Truist Securities, raised his 12-month price target for Tesla stock from $400 to $430 but reiterated a ‘Hold’ rating.
Andrew Percoco, an analyst at Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), maintained a Hold rating for TSLA stock. Percoco set his 12-month price target for Tesla shares at $415.
Jed Dorsheimer, an analyst at William Blair, reiterated a Hold rating for the company but did not issue a 12-month price target. Rajat Gupta, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), maintained a Hold rating for Tesla stock and set a 12-month price target of $475.
Meanwhile, Tom Narayan, a Wall Street analyst at RBC Capital, maintained a Buy rating for TSLA shares. Narayan set his 12-month price target for Tesla stock at $475.
Why are Wall Street analysts bullish on Tesla stock? Wall Street analysts may be signaling bullish sentiment for Tesla shares after the company posted strong second-quarter results. On July 2, Tesla announced that it produced 451,758 vehicles and delivered 480,126 units during the past three months.
Ahead of this month’s Tesla earnings call, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest purchased 96,935 TSLA shares. Wall Street analysts could also be betting on a bullish outlook for the company after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Model Y passed its safety rating.
Following the recent rating review of Tesla shares, the company’s stock had an average 12-month price target of $404.86, according to TipRanks.
TSLA stock price forecast. Source: TipRanks Amid the moderate Buy rating from Wall Street analysts, TSLA shares have dropped 10% year to date (YTD), trading at $393.45 at press time. As such, the company had a market capitalization of approximately $1.5 trillion.
Tesla stock YTD chart. Source: Finbold With TSLA shares signaling a potential reversal since early April, the analyst’s forecast could be met in the near term.
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Two Very Different Compounders Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction) and Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) both make money for investors by owning irreplaceable brands, but the mechanics could not be more different. Alphabet generates cash from an ad and cloud machine now retooled around artificial intelligence (AI). Ferrari generates cash by refusing to sell a car unless the model mix, personalization, and waitlist criteria are all satisfied.
Alphabet spent the past decade evolving from a pure search-ad giant into a diversified AI, cloud, and subscriptions business. Google Cloud revenue grew 63% year over year to $20.03 billion in Q1 2026, with backlog over $460 billion. The Gemini App hit 900 million monthly active users, and 2026 capital spending is projected to reach $180 billion to $190 billion. FY2025 revenue crossed $400 billion for the first time.
Ferrari, meanwhile, has doubled down on scarcity. CEO Benedetto Vigna’s value-over-volume playbook produced FY2025 revenue of €7.2 billion ($8.2 billion) and a 29.5% EBIT margin, with the order book stretching toward the end of 2027. The Ferrari Luce, its first full-electric car, premiered in Rome in 2026.
What $1,000 Actually Did Period GOOGL Value RACE Value S&P 500 Value 1 Year $2,020 (+102.05%) $801 (−19.85%) $1,200 (+20.04%) 5 Year $2,899 (+189.9%) $1,974 (+97.37%) $1,717 (+71.72%) 10 Year $10,225 (+922.51%) $10,208 (+920.76%) $3,548 (+254.79%) Over a decade, the two produced almost identical returns and both crushed the index. The past year is where the paths split. Alphabet roughly doubled on four consecutive EPS beats and accelerating cloud growth. Ferrari fell on a model changeover, shipments dipping to 3,436 units from 3,593, and worries about U.S. tariffs on EU cars. Holding through that gap took conviction.
The Verdict Alphabet looks compelling here if AI infrastructure spend converts into durable Cloud share and Search stays defensible as Gemini scales. At a forward P/E near 25 with 38.9% ROE, that’s a reasonable price for a business compounding at this rate. The bear case rests on whether the capital expenditures plan starts crushing free cash flow (Q1 FCF already fell 46.63% year over year) or antitrust rulings force structural remedies.
Ferrari looks attractive if the Luce launch works and the 2030 plan for about €9.0 billion revenue and a €3.5 billion buyback deliver. The risk at a forward P/E of 33 increases if tariffs bite or EV integration stumbles.
On balance, Alphabet looks like the safer, more reliable bet right now. The valuation is more forgiving, the numbers are accelerating, and Ferrari’s premium leaves less margin for error after a rough year.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Google didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Amazon (AMZN +0.55%) stock has bounced off its 52-week low but remains a ways off from its all-time high of $278 a share. The company has had quite a turbulent past couple of years. The e-commerce giant has navigated tariff drama and fluctuating consumer sentiment. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence (AI) is boosting Amazon's cloud business, but those tailwinds have come with soaring capital expenditures.
Despite these bumps in the road, e-commerce and AI remain central growth engines for Amazon. Here's why Amazon is probably the best growth stock you can buy in July.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Amazon turns in a solid Prime Day Most people who shop on Amazon know about Prime Day, the company's annual flagship summer retail event. Prime Day is important for Amazon's e-commerce business and a litmus test for consumer spending across the economy.
According to data from Adobe, U.S. e-commerce spending clocked in at $26.4 billion during the Prime Day event, from June 23 to June 26. That's a 9.3% increase versus a year ago, and puts the Prime Day event on a similar footing with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Americans spent $32.45 billion online across those holidays in 2025.
The strong online spending data signals a successful Prime Day for Amazon, which needs healthy e-commerce volume to drive efficiency in its supply chain. Additionally, consumers need an Amazon Prime membership to participate in Prime Day sales, which is another strong indicator of Amazon's lucrative Prime membership ecosystem, which has over 180 million members in the United States.
AI upside makes Amazon a compelling buy now Amazon is in a somewhat unique position to capitalize on AI. Of course, there's AWS, Amazon's cloud computing ecosystem. The company's close ties with Anthropic are helping drive continued cloud growth, which clocked in at 28% in the first quarter, putting quarterly revenue at $37.6 billion. Amazon's entrenched cloud relationships with enterprise customers make cross-selling agentic AI and other AI technology a no-brainer.
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Additionally, AI could revolutionize e-commerce, which has historically relied on human workers to pick and pack orders and deliver packages to consumers. Humanoid robots and other physical AI innovations could replace hundreds of thousands of humans, a game changer for Amazon's e-commerce profit margins.
The stock is middling within its 52-week range, but a strong growth outlook makes Amazon stock a table-pounding buy. Wall Street analysts estimate that Amazon will grow its earnings by an average of 17% annually over the next three to five years. That's more than enough growth to justify buying one of the world's most dominant companies at 27 times its 2026 earnings estimates.
There might be cheaper stocks out there, but Amazon's combination of quality, future potential, and valuation is difficult to top right now.
Justin Pope has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe and Amazon. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2028 $330 calls on Adobe and short January 2028 $340 calls on Adobe. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
More than a decade ago, before we were talking about "AI agents," Amazon launched its digital voice assistant Alexa and the smart speaker branded Echo.
I remember using one and thinking there was definitely a future here for these kinds of devices. Fast forward to now, with huge leaps in AI models, Alexa has received an upgrade and Amazon is thinking about a world where its voice assistant can be with you everywhere.
Driving the current gadget and AI push is Amazon's hardware and services chief, Panos Panay, who's the latest guest on The Tech Download.
Panay laid out his vision of Alexa+, the latest souped up AI version of Alexa. The idea is this assistant will learn about your life, with context and carry out tasks.
"Now it's more contextual. You just say what you're thinking and your assistant is there to help you through the day and help you do what you want to do," Panay said.
Amazon's foray into devices has seen it jump into speakers, doorbells and now wearables with its acquisition of Bee, a startup developing a wristband device. Alexa is at the heart of tying all of those together in a world where "we might be moving away from a world of apps and screens," Panay said.
The smartphone has been at the center of our digital life for so long. Now with more advanced AI, what if a screen isn't needed and instead you could do more with voice? This is what Amazon, along with other device companies are thinking about. What the best future gadgets look like is still up for debate. But Amazon is certainly cooking a few things up.
"I have a lab full of devices," Panay said, adding that there is a "whole roadmap of on-the-go devices."
My final big takeaway from the conversation was about semiconductors. For those of you who know me, you know chips are one of my favorite topics. For the first time publicly, Panay discussed Amazon's semiconductor efforts for its consumer electronics.
"On some of the more critical devices right now, our focus is end-to-end silicon," Panay said.
This means that Amazon is designing the chips that go into its devices. It's right out of the Apple playbook. By having more control over the hardware and software integration, Amazon will be able to deliver more differentiated experiences around Alexa.
There is so much more to unpack in the podcast. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.
Latest updatesAutonomous defense startup Quantum Systems raised $1.2 billion in a Series D funding round, the company announced on Thursday, giving it a valuation of around $8 billion on a post-money basis.
Europe's top court on Thursday upheld Google's fine of around 4.1 billion euros ($4.67 billion) over alleged anti-competitive practices.
Anthropic said on Tuesday that U.S. export controls on its Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models had been lifted, ending the latest dramatic standoff between the AI company and the Trump administration.
OpenAI, Anthropic backer MGX announced on Wednesday it had raised one of the biggest AI funds ever as it closes at $49 billion.
Trump bought Apple, Nvidia and other tech giants before tariff reversal fueled rebound, according to a CNBC analysis.
Stock of the week
Tesla stock.
Tesla stock sank on Thursday despite the automaker reporting vehicle deliveries and production levels for the second quarter that far exceeded Wall Street expectations.
NEW YORK, July 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and certain of the Company’s senior executives for securities fraud after its significant stock drop resulting from potential violations of the federal securities laws.
If you invested in Microsoft, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit.
Key Details of the Microsoft ($MSFT) Class Action:
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: August 11, 2026Alleged Misconduct: Securities fraud alleging that Microsoft misled investors regarding its Azure cloud computing platform and AI chatbot CopilotStock Drop: January 28, 2026 – 10% Stock DropCourt: U.S. District Court for the Western District of WashingtonAction: Contact BFA Law to discuss your rights Investors have until August 11, 2026 to ask the Court to be appointed to lead the case. The complaint asserts securities fraud claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors in Microsoft common stock. The class action is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. It is captioned City of St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System, et al., No. 26-cv-02071.
Why is Microsoft Being Sued for Securities Fraud?
Microsoft is a multinational technology company that develops software, cloud services, and devices. In recent years, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform named Azure has been Microsoft’s main growth driver. A key reason for Azure’s recent growth is Microsoft’s multi-billion-dollar investment into AI, including the development of its own generative AI chatbot named Copilot.
According to the complaint, during the relevant period, Microsoft consistently touted Copilot’s best-in-class capabilities, which purportedly drove widespread and growing user adoption. Copilot’s apparent success allowed Microsoft to report surging Azure-related revenue.
As alleged, in truth, Copilot suffered from severe functionality issues that caused user adoption to decline and put Microsoft’s Azure revenue at risk.
Why did Microsoft’s Stock Drop?
On January 28, 2026, Microsoft announced disappointing 2Q 2026 financial results and that Azure growth had slowed suddenly. Microsoft also allegedly revealed for the first time that the number of Microsoft 365 Copilot premium customers totaled only 15 million, materially below analyst estimates.
This news caused the price of Microsoft common stock to decline $48.13 per share, or 10%, from $481.63 per share on January 28, 2026, to $433.50 per share on January 29, 2026.
Additionally, on February 3, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported in an article titled “Microsoft’s Pivotal AI Product Is Running Into Big Problems” that severe challenges and functionality issues had plagued Copilot, causing the application to lose market share. Specifically, The Wall Street Journal reported that “[c]onfusing brand positioning and interoperability problems have frustrated users.”
Click here for more information: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/microsoft-class-action-lawsuit.
What Can You Do?
If you invested in Microsoft, you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm.
All representation is on a contingency fee basis; there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses.
BFA is a leading international law firm representing plaintiffs in securities class actions and shareholder litigation. It has been named a top plaintiff law firm by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and ISS SCAS, and its attorneys have been named “Elite Trial Lawyers” by the National Law Journal, “Litigation Stars” by Benchmark Litigation, among the top “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” by Lawdragon, “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360 and “SuperLawyers” by Thomson Reuters.
Most recently, The Legal 500 awarded BFA the most client satisfaction accolades of any plaintiff’s securities litigation law firm, with clients noting: “[t]here is no better service provider in the practice area,” “[t]he interest of the client is always front and center,” and “[t]here isn’t a better firm in this space.” One testimonial described the firm as “nimble and entrepreneurial,” with a “relentless focus on adding value for clients.”
Among its recent notable successes, BFA recovered over $900 million in value from Tesla, Inc.’s Board of Directors, as well as $420 million from Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd.
For more information about BFA and its attorneys, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com.
Nvidia (NVDA 1.39%) is the world's largest company by market cap, and many investors are a bit worried that its stock may have reached a point where it can't grow fast for much longer. I think that's just not true, and expect that several tailwinds will push the stock to new heights over the next few years.
The biggest of those tailwinds is the tech sector's soaring spending on the data center build-out. If this trend keeps up as Nvidia projects, then it should be a great stock to own in the coming years.
Image source: Getty Images.
Nvidia isn't alone in its projections On multiple occasions, Nvidia has made the bold assertion that global data center capital expenditures will reach $3 trillion to $4 trillion annually by 2030. For reference, the big four AI hyperscalers plan to spend around $650 billion on capex this year. That total doesn't include companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, or anything in China. So, the figure for the data center sector as a whole is likely several hundred billion dollars more. Next year, Nvidia expects the hyperscalers to spend around $1 trillion. It likely already has many of the orders for the AI processors they want on hand, giving it a privileged degree of insight into the pace of the growth trend.
Additionally, suppliers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing have already told investors to expect major growth for several more years, which is why they are spending big on increasing their production capabilities this year. One of the AI hyperscalers, Alphabet, told investors during its Q1 conference call that they should expect "significantly" higher capital expenditures in 2027 than the $180 billion to $190 billion it plans to spend in 2026.
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There simply isn't enough AI computing power to meet demand, and with everyone in the AI industry convinced that more computing power will solve problems, spending will trend that way, benefiting Nvidia. But just how much can Nvidia's stock rise by 2030?
Nvidia has major upside potential For simplicity's sake, let's assume that 2026's total data center expenditures globally will total $900 billion. That means that spending will increase by about fourfold in 2030. But how much of that growth will Nvidia capture?
There are two trends, each pulling in a different direction. One that is pulling in Nvidia's favor is that data centers are being built all across the world. Right now, that includes a lot of land costs, permitting, infrastructure, and other things necessary to get a data center operational. However, a significant number of the chips that will eventually go into these facilities haven't been purchased yet. So, it's safe to assume that as we get closer to 2030, a larger slice of the capex pie will be devoted to chips.
On the flip side, many companies are starting to develop custom AI chips so that they don't have to rely so heavily on Nvidia's products. While the hyperscalers will never completely get away from Nvidia's powerful general-purpose GPUs, the application-specific integrated circuits they are designing can provide significant cost-performance benefits when deployed for the narrow AI workloads they are optimized to handle.
As a result, in the future, custom chips are likely to account for a growing percentage of the AI data center processors being sold. So Nvidia's market share will shrink.
NVDA Net Income (TTM) data by YCharts.
Overall, I expect these two countervailing trends to nearly cancel each other out. If that proves to be the case, Nvidia should be able to increase its revenue and earnings fourfold between now and 2030. If Nvidia's earnings quadruple and it trades at that time at 20 times earnings (a pretty cheap valuation), that would give the company a $12.8 trillion market cap. That would be a 172% gain from today's stock price to about $530 per share.
Normally, to beat the market, a stock would have to double in less than seven years. Based on these premises, Nvidia could do that easily, making it a no-brainer stock to buy.
Walmart (WMT +2.90%) collected $177.8 billion in revenue during its fiscal 2027 first quarter (ended April 30). This gargantuan figure is second only to Amazon, which has its hands in various other industries.
The market might not view Walmart as an exciting business. But its performance is cheered by shareholders. If you'd invested $10,000 in this retail stock 10 years ago, here's how much you'd have today.
Image source: Getty Images.
Walmart's earnings growth is consistent Over the past decade, Walmart put up a total return of 463% (as of June 30). This gain is significantly better than the S&P 500's showing. And it means that an initial $10,000 investment in the Bentonville, Arkansas-based enterprise would be worth $55,220 today.
Between fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2026, Walmart's diluted earnings per share increased by 6% on an annualized basis. This is a tailwind that propels stock returns. The company's profits have benefited from robust e-commerce penetration, soaring advertising revenue, and the successful launch of the Walmart+ membership program.
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Investors shouldn't overlook improving market sentiment, however, which has contributed greatly to the return profile. Over the last 10 years, Walmart's price-to-earnings ratio has increased by 149%. Currently at 39.9, the P/E multiple is unmistakable evidence that shares are extremely expensive right now.
If you're looking to buy Walmart stock, think again. It's best to wait for a much cheaper entry point.
Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Walmart. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
SummaryExxonMobil Corporation has declined 13% in three months, aligning with my prior hold rating due to valuation and oil price volatility.XOM is approaching oversold territory, presenting renewed buying opportunities as its valuation becomes more attractive.Strong fundamentals and overlooked market opportunities underpin XOM’s resilience despite recent price weakness.Technical indicators and robust business prospects support a constructive outlook as XOM’s shares become reasonably cheap again. ridham supriyanto/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Barely three months after my previous coverage, ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) has already weakened by -13%. This justifies my hold rating in line with its valuation and oil price volatility. Now, buying opportunities are reopening as it becomes reasonably cheap again. Technicals also
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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of XOM either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.
Hedera’s native token HBAR returned to the spotlight on Tuesday, July 2, after a recent rebound brought it closer to a crucial resistance zone. As market watchers speculated on whether buyers could maintain momentum, spot and derivatives data painted a mixed picture for the digital asset’s short-term prospects.
Price stalls in critical rangeAt the time of reporting, HBAR was trading at $0.07404. The asset posted a 3.38% gain over the past 24 hours and registered a weekly increase of 2.79%. However, 24-hour trading volume dropped by 10.28% to $60.22 million compared to the previous period, highlighting waning activity.
Analyst More Crypto Online noted that HBAR is currently testing the resistance zone within wave 2 of wave 3, according to the yellow scenario. The analyst emphasized that the $0.074 to $0.08 range stands out as the most critical short-term area to watch.
Surpassing the $0.074 to $0.08 range could alter the short-term technical outlook and pave the way for either a larger correction or a new bullish phase.
A decisive move above this range would indicate a potential shift in HBAR’s short-term trend. If that occurs, the price may enter a broader trading band and prompt the emergence of new technical targets in alternative scenarios.
Support and resistance levels gain importanceIn the short term, initial support is located at $0.0642, while immediate resistance stands at $0.0793. Should HBAR break above this threshold, the next resistance to monitor is $0.0882. If upward momentum builds, $0.1009 could also come into play as an additional target.
On the other hand, if the upward recovery loses steam, support levels will become increasingly significant. A drop below $0.0642 could see the market focusing on the next support near $0.0548 as a new potential base.
Technical indicators and futures show mixed signalsAccording to TradingView data, HBAR continues to face pressure from its short-term moving averages. The 20-day exponential moving average stands at $0.07574, while the 50-day EMA is at $0.08097, both acting as overhead resistance. On longer timeframes, the 100-day average is at $0.08704 and the 200-day average at $0.10253, maintaining the downward pressure.
Bollinger Bands data show the mid-level at $0.07643, with the upper band at $0.08482 and the lower band at $0.06805. HBAR’s price hovers below the middle band but remains above the lower band, signaling continued indecision in the short-term direction.
Futures market data likewise show a mixed structure. Trading volume in the derivatives market fell 6% to $96.39 million, but open interest climbed 2.99% to $95.03 million, with the open interest-weighted funding rate at 0.0099%.
In the past 24 hours, a total of $35,980 in positions were liquidated, with $5,240 from long positions and $30,740 from shorts. This distribution indicates ongoing uncertainty among traders regarding the short-term direction as both bullish and bearish bets persist.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Hedera has announced that Fireblocks now supports the Hedera Token Service (HTS), opening up institutional-grade custody for native HTS assets through the Fireblocks platform.
What the Integration CoversThe move allows Fireblocks clients to hold HTS tokens alongside their existing digital asset portfolios, with no separate infrastructure or additional setup required. USDC support is live globally from day one, and new wallets no longer need upfront $HBAR funding to get started, removing a longstanding friction point for institutions entering the Hedera ecosystem.
The Hedera Token Service is Hedera's native token issuance and management layer. According to Hedera, it enables the creation of fungible and non-fungible tokens using simple APIs, without relying on smart contracts, and is built for high-throughput operations with predictable fees and fast settlement. Built-in compliance controls include KYC, freeze, and wipe functions, all handled at the consensus layer.
Why Fireblocks Matters for Institutional AccessFireblocks is one of the most widely used institutional digital asset infrastructure platforms available today. The company provides custody, payments, tokenization, treasury management, and network connectivity across 150-plus blockchains to more than 2,400 organizations. Its client base includes major banks, asset managers, and fintechs that rely on the platform for custody and settlement at scale.
For Hedera, landing a Fireblocks integration puts HTS assets directly in front of that institutional client base. The simplified onboarding, particularly the removal of the upfront $HBAR wallet funding requirement, should reduce the operational overhead that has historically made Hedera accounts more cumbersome to provision at scale.
The announcement reflects a broader push by Hedera to build institutional-grade infrastructure partnerships as demand for regulated, on-chain asset management continues to grow.
Sources
Hedera Token Service, Hedera.com
Fireblocks: Leader in Public Blockchain Support Coverage, Fireblocks Blog
HBAR has shown signs of recovery after a round of renewed buying over the last 24 hours. While the price has rebounded in the short term, technical indicators are now increasingly tilting in favor of the bulls. Nonetheless, analysts emphasize that the confirmation of a broader upward trend awaits a decisive break above a key resistance level.
Resistance zone could determine next moveTechnical analysis highlights that HBAR is once again approaching the resistance area that capped its previous rally. Although overall market momentum appears positive, analysts observe that a strong breakout in this region is required to establish a clear and sustainable uptrend.
According to More Crypto Online, the $0.074–$0.08 range on the four-hour chart remains in sharp focus. This area is viewed as a vital technical threshold that could dictate whether the recovery continues.
Mini glossary: Elliott Wave Theory is a technical analysis approach that studies price movements as recurring wave patterns. Fibonacci levels are ratios used to identify possible support and resistance zones.
Based on Elliott Wave counts, HBAR faces resistance at the second stage of a potential third wave pattern. The convergence of multiple Fibonacci levels in this region raises its technical significance. Analysts suggest that a move above this band could open the door to a wider recovery scenario.
Analysts note the current setup has improved, but stress that a solid breakout above resistance is needed to confirm a definitive upward trend.
Short-term indicators support bullish momentumOn the 30-minute chart on TradingView, HBAR’s short-term momentum has strengthened. Following the latest rebound, the coin has established higher lows and higher highs, indicating continued dominance by buyers in the immediate term.
The MACD indicator remains above the zero line, and both the MACD and signal lines continue to move upward. While the histogram is showing some loss of momentum, the overall bias remains positive.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has climbed to around 67, signaling HBAR is nearing the overbought zone, but has not yet triggered a strong reversal warning. This setup points to continued appetite for buying, even as the risk of stagnation around resistance keeps a period of sideways movement on the table.
The move to 67 on the RSI shows strong buying momentum but signals caution in the event of a pause near resistance.
Price action supports recovery outlookAccording to market data, HBAR was trading at approximately $0.074. Over the last 24 hours, the asset gained about 3%, while the daily high hovered near $0.0747. Despite some selling pressure during the session, the price managed to remain above its opening level, marking a steady intraday recovery.
IndicatorLevelKey resistance zone$0.074–$0.0824-hour changeUp about 3%Daily highNear $0.0747RSIAround 67While the overall technical outlook remains positive, the recovery is still incomplete. HBAR has returned to test a pivotal resistance area, and the price’s reaction here is expected to steer its next direction.
Short-term momentum stays supportive of further gains, and all eyes are now on whether HBAR can convincingly break above the $0.074–$0.08 band. A clear move above this region could signal the next stage of the recovery.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
NEW YORK, July 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that it is investigating Barry Diller’s bid to buy MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM). MGM is incorporated in Delaware.
Barry Diller is a member of MGM’s board of directors. People, Inc. (“People,” f/k/a/ IAC, Inc.), a company that Diller founded and controls, is MGM’s largest single stockholder. On June 1, 2026, People made an unsolicited bid to buy the remaining MGM stock for $48.30 per share.
If you are a current shareholder of MGM, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting: https://www.bfalaw.com/cases/mgm-resorts-investigation.
Key Details of the MGM ($MGM) Investigation:
Investigation Overview: Breaches of Fiduciary Duty in connection with Barry Diller’s offer to acquire the remaining stock of MGM for $48.30 per shareAction: Contact BFA Law to discuss your rights Why is the MGM Transaction being Investigated?
As a director, Diller owes fiduciary duties to MGM and its stockholders. People also recently entered a governance agreement with MGM that gave People the right to designate two MGM directors going forward. Because Diller “stands on both sides” of the proposed deal, and because other MGM fiduciaries could potentially receive benefits that other stockholders do not receive, these facts create a create conflicts of interest under Delaware law. If MGM and Diller reach an agreement, they must comply with Delaware’s strict requirements for “cleansing” these conflicts and ensuring the deal is fair to MGM’s stockholders.
In a news release on June 1, MGM stated that the board of directors “will carefully review and consider the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the Company and all of its shareholders.”
BFA is investigating whether the potential agreement complies with Delaware law.
If you are a current holder of MGM stock, you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm.
All representation is on a contingency fee basis; there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses.
BFA is a leading international law firm representing plaintiffs in securities class actions and shareholder litigation. It has been named a top plaintiff law firm by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, and ISS SCAS, and its attorneys have been named “Elite Trial Lawyers” by the National Law Journal, “Litigation Stars” by Benchmark Litigation, among the top “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers” by Lawdragon, “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360 and “SuperLawyers” by Thomson Reuters.
Most recently, The Legal 500 awarded BFA the most client satisfaction accolades of any plaintiff’s securities litigation law firm, with clients noting: “[t]here is no better service provider in the practice area,” “[t]he interest of the client is always front and center,” and “[t]here isn’t a better firm in this space.” One testimonial described the firm as “nimble and entrepreneurial,” with a “relentless focus on adding value for clients.”
Among its recent notable successes, BFA recovered over $900 million in value from Tesla, Inc.’s Board of Directors, as well as $420 million from Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd.
For more information about BFA and its attorneys, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com.
Bitcoin recovered to $61,600, up 6.5% from Tuesday's low of $57,750, after weak U.S. jobs data lowered expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike and lifted Nasdaq 100 futures by 1.9%.Ether dominated the derivatives picture, accounting for $160 million of the $417 million in 24-hour liquidations as heavily bearish positioning was squeezed out, with ETH open interest climbing to its highest since June 10 alongside bullish funding rates and the strongest cumulative volume delta among majors.Uniswap (UNI) was the standout altcoin, surging 11% on doubled trading volume after being confirmed as the primary AMM for Robinhood's layer-2 network, while Solana extended its weekly gain to 17% and AI tokens FET, RENDER and TAO posted modest gains after weeks of selling pressure.The crypto market is ending the week in a healthier position than where it started, with bitcoin BTC$61,657.03 trading at $61,600 after having risen by 6.5% from Tuesday's almost two-year low of $57,750.
Still, the largest cryptocurrency's gains on Friday were muted in comparison with Thursday's 2.6% advance, which benefited from weak U.S. job data that lowered expectations for a Federal Reserve interest-rate increase.
The interest-rate outlook echoed for a second day as the U.S. entered a long weekend with stock markets closed. Ether (ETH) rose for a third straight day to add 11.5% since Tuesday and 2.6% on Friday alone. Other altcoins also advanced, with ADA$0.1689, zcash (ZEC) and dash (DASH) all gaining between 2.2% and 3.1%.
Still, the broader market structure remains bearish across the majority of crypto tokens following a succession of lower highs and lower lows. For bitcoin to reverse the downtrend, it needs to trade back above $67,000 and then take out $81,000, which was the local high in May.
Derivatives positioning Ether replaced bitcoin as the biggest token for 24-hour liquidations. A total of $417 million worth of crypto futures bets were liquidated in 24 hours, of which $160.80 million are from the ether market. BTC, a distant second, notched $97 million. This shows just how bearish positioning on ether was.Ether futures' open interest (OI) still stood at 14.31 million, the most since June 10, with annualized funding rates of nearly 10% and the highest 24-hour cumulative volume delta (CVD) among majors. The combination points to growing demand for bullish exposure in the market, a sign traders are anticipating continued price gains.OI in DOGE futures tallied 14.13 billion tokens, the highest since May 16. The number has been growing since June 28, a sign of renewed demand for leverage. The DOGE situation is similar to ether's bullish picture. While ETH and DOGE have led OI growth over 24 hours, futures tied to HBAR and ZEC have seen the opposite. HBAR has the most negative 24-hour CVD among majors, a sign bears are becoming more aggressive in shorting at market orders than passive limit orders.Most tokens have positive CVD, a sign of bulls' leadership in the market.Both bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility indexes continue to slide, reversing the June pop, signaling market calm and potential for continued bullish price action.On Deribit, the most traded BTC options of 24 hours are calls at strikes ranging from $60,000 to $70,000. Call options represent a bullish bet on the market. Ether options show a similar bullish mood, with the $2,500 call seeing the most activity. Block flows featured a large BTC long call condor, a strategy betting on a range play between $66,000 and $68,000 till July 17.Token talkUniswap (UNI) led gains in altcoins following Thursday's announcement confirming that it will be the primary automated market maker (AMM) for the Robinhood layer-2 blockchain.UNI is up by more than 11% in the past 24 hours with daily trading volume doubling to $320 million, still reaping the benefits of its tie-up with Robinhood announced July 1.AI tokens FET, RENDER and TAO also demonstrated positive signs on Friday, rising by between 1.5% and 2.3% since midnight UTC after weeks of sell pressure.CoinMarketCap's "Altcoin Season" indicator is at 46/100, still firmly in the neutral zone it has occupied for the past month as the market awaits a return to risk-on sentiment.Solana (SOL) is leading the rally among crypto majors. It has now surged by more than 17% over the past week, trading at $80 after dropping to as low as $68 the week before.Related Assets
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Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness
Building the Zcash Machine: Tachyon and Quantum Readiness
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Jun 30, 2026
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Why it matters:
Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.
Retirement is often imagined as the season of life when you finally have time for the things you always wanted to do: fishing, gardening, quilting, photography. The reality is that hobbies require more than free time. They require money. Some retirees discover that after paying for housing, healthcare, insurance, and groceries, there is not much left for the activities they spent years looking forward to. Others find themselves taking part-time jobs to fund the hobbies retirement was supposed to make possible.
Planning for a hobby portfolio addresses both problems. It can provide the income needed to pay for the activity itself while also reducing the need to trade retirement hours for extra income. The goal is not simply funding a hobby. It is creating the freedom to enjoy it.
The Hobby Budget, Translated Into Capital The equation is simple: annual hobby cost divided by yield equals the capital you need parked in income-producing assets. Three hobbyists, four yield tiers:
Hobby Budget 3.5% yield 5% yield 7% yield 10% yield $5,000 (fishing, quilting, photography, gardening) $142,857 $100,000 $71,429 $50,000 $10,000 (golf, RV travel, horseback riding, art retreats) $285,714 $200,000 $142,857 $100,000 $20,000 (classic cars, aviation, boats, extensive travel) $571,429 $400,000 $285,714 $200,000 For reference, the 10-year Treasury sits near 4.5%, so anything above that is compensation for credit, equity, or call-writing risk.
Hobbies Need More Than Money A retiree who takes a 10-hour-per-week job to cover hobby costs surrenders about 520 hours a year. Push it to 15 hours and the toll climbs near 750. The financial side of retirement freedom is one half of the equation. Time is the other, and the part-time paycheck quietly converts hobby years into work years.
Buying Back Ten Hours Per Week Median full-time pay sits around $1,235 a week, which implies roughly $30 an hour. A part-time retirement gig pays less, but the math holds. At a 5% blended portfolio yield, replacing the paycheck requires:
$10,000 income: $200,000 in capital, returning 520 hours per year. $15,000 income: $300,000 in capital, returning 520 hours per year. $20,000 income: $400,000 in capital, returning 520 hours per year. What 500 Hours Looks Like Five hundred hours is more than sixty full eight-hour days. It is roughly 125 rounds of golf, 80 fishing trips, a season of quilting or painting classes, hundreds of hours in a woodworking shop or garden, a major genealogy project, or a full RV season across the national parks. Recreation is already a real budget line for households: recreation services spending hit $864.2 billion in April 2026. The hours are the scarcer resource.
The Hobby Portfolio A retiree funding a $10,000 golf habit, RV hobby, horseback-riding program, or series of art retreats and replacing a $15,000 part-time job needs $25,000 in portfolio income. At 5% that is $500,000. At 7% it drops to about $357,000. The portfolio is doing two jobs: paying the greens fees and reclaiming the Tuesday morning tee time.
The Evidence: Building the Income The conservative tier pulls from dividend-growth compounders. NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE | NEE Price Prediction) yields about 2.7% with management targeting roughly 10% dividend growth, and the stock returned 25% over the past year. Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) yields 2.8% backed by 70 consecutive annual raises. Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) pays 2.6%, and Johnson & Johnson yields 2.2% with 64 straight years of increases.
The moderate tier raises the current cash. Realty Income (NYSE:O) pays monthly at a 5.3% yield on a portfolio that is 98.9% occupied. Verizon yields 6.0% with a forward P/E of 9.
The aggressive tier (8% to 12%) lives in covered-call equity funds, business development companies, mortgage REITs, and high-yield bond funds. The current income is generous, but distributions can be cut and principal often erodes.
The trap is choosing yield over growth. A 3.5% yield growing 8% annually doubles in about nine years; a flat 10% payout often shrinks the underlying capital. Over a 20-year hobby horizon, the slower starter usually wins.
What to Do Next Add your annual hobby budget to your current part-time income. That combined number is the income the portfolio actually has to replace. Run the capital figure at 3.5%, 5%, and 7% before assuming a 10% strategy. The conservative number often surprises people who priced only the hobby. Compare a decade of total return on a dividend-growth name like NextEra against a flat high-yield product to see how compounding changes the answer. Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
When a stock by close to 40%, investors usually assume something has gone wrong with the company. Perhaps sales are slowing. Maybe customers are leaving. Or perhaps the company's competitive advantage is fading. That's a reasonable assumption.
In Palantir Technologies's (PLTR +2.99%) case, however, it's largely the wrong one.
Despite the sharp decline in its share price since its late-2025 peak, Palantir's business has arguably never been stronger. Revenue continues to grow rapidly, demand for its AI software remains robust, and the company continues to win large commercial customers.
So what happened to trigger this tumble? The answer has less to do with Palantir's business -- and almost everything to do with how Wall Street values great companies.
Image source: Getty Images.
The business keeps getting stronger If you looked only at Palantir's operating results, you'd probably struggle to explain why the stock has sold off from its November peak. The company has been delivering some of the strongest results in its history.
In the first quarter of 2026, revenue jumped 85% year over year to $1.6 billion, and management raised its full-year guidance as U.S. demand continued to accelerate.
Even more encouraging was the commercial business.
For years, skeptics argued Palantir was little more than a government contractor. That argument is becoming increasingly difficult to defend. Its U.S. commercial revenue surged more than 130% year over year, highlighting just how quickly enterprises are adopting the company's software.
Palantir also remains highly profitable, with a 46% operating-income margin and a 57% free-cash-flow margin even as it continues to invest heavily in growth.
By almost every operating metric, the business is stronger today than it was when the stock was making new highs in 2025.
Today's Change
(
2.99
%) $
3.76
Current Price
$
129.49
The market isn't questioning the state of the business Here's where many investors get caught out. A falling stock price doesn't always mean a weakening company.
Sometimes the opposite happens. The business keeps improving while the stock falls. That's because investors have moved from asking, "Is this a great business?" to asking a much harder question: "Is this business worth this price?"
That's exactly what appears to have happened with Palantir.
During the early phases of the AI boom, investors were willing to pay extraordinary premiums for the companies they believed would dominate the next generation of software. Eventually, expectations became so high that even outstanding business results were insufficient to justify those stocks' valuations.
We've seen this movie before.
Companies like Microsoft and Amazon have experienced periods when their businesses continued to improve while their stocks corrected sharply, as investors became less willing to pay extreme multiples to own them.
Why valuation matters when investing in a stock Imagine buying a business that's expected to earn $1 next year. If you're willing to pay $100 for it today, you're basing that price on the assumption of years of exceptional growth.
Now imagine the company performs exactly as you expected. Revenue grows. Profits improve. Customers keep coming. But investors later decide they're only willing to pay $60 instead of $100. Nothing has changed inside the business. Yet the stock still falls 40%.
That's essentially what happened to Palantir. The company continued executing. The market simply became less willing to pay an extraordinary premium for the hope of future growth. For perspective, Palantir -- as of Thursday down by 37% from its peak -- still trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 146.
For long-term investors, that's an important lesson. A declining stock doesn't always signal a deteriorating business. Sometimes it simply reflects a reset in expectations.
What does it mean for investors? Palantir remains one of the most compelling enterprise AI companies in the market today. Its commercial business is expanding rapidly, its products are gaining traction across industries, and management continues to execute at a high level.
But investing has never been just about finding great companies. It's also about understanding what expectations are already built into the stock price.
On one end, an average business can deliver outstanding returns for shareholders if expectations for it were previously low. Likewise, after expectations become unrealistic, even an exceptional business can disappoint investors if the market loses some of its undue optimism.
Palantir's recent sell-off is a timely reminder that business performance and stock performance don't always move together.
Tokenization platform Securitize rallied on its New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday, as it brought tokenized versions of its shares to two blockchains.
The company, which is backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on Thursday after merging with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company to take it public.
Securitize said Thursday that it simultaneously launched tokenized versions of its shares on the Avalanche and Solana blockchains, which will be available to eligible US investors on its platform.
It marks the first time a newly public company has also offered tokenized stocks, an area of crypto technology that has quickly gained attention among major institutions drawn to the idea that it can bring deeper liquidity and longer trading hours.
Securitize has carved out a lead in the tokenization space for institutions. It partnered with the NYSE in March to create tokenized assets for the exchange’s upcoming tokenized securities platform.
US laws allow for tokenized stocks, Securitize saysSecuritize said that tokenizing its stock demonstrates that tokenized securities “can be issued and accessed in the US under existing securities laws and market structure,” adding that access will be subject to onboarding, eligibility, and customer ID and money-laundering checks.
“We have long said that public equities are moving on-chain, and there is no stronger validation of that belief than tokenizing our own public stock on Day 1,” said Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo.
“SECZ is not a synthetic token or offshore wrapper. It is issuer-sponsored tokenization of the same common stock trading on the NYSE, made available through regulated infrastructure,” he added. “This is how tokenization should scale: with real ownership, regulatory clarity and the issuer at the center.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission clarified in January that issuer-sponsored tokenized securities are still subject to US securities laws.
In mid-May, the SEC was reportedly ready to announce an exemption for the trading of tokenized stocks, but delayed the plan later that month after stock exchange officials raised concerns over how it would be implemented.
Securitize shares rise on debutShares in Securitize (SECZ) hit a high of $13.70 in trading Thursday but retracted slightly and ended the day at $12.30, a gain of 4.4%. The share price continued to climb 2.4% after-hours to $12.60.
Securitize ended its debut trading day on Thursday at a gain of nearly 4.5%. Source: Google Finance
Securitize raised $400 million from its public offering at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
The market for tokenized real-world assets currently exceeds $43 billion, the majority of which is tokenized money market funds, while tokenized commodities account for nearly $7 billion and tokenized stocks account for $1.6 billion, according to Token Terminal.
Analysts expect the tokenization market to grow quickly in the coming years, with Citigroup predicting last month that it could grow to between $5.5 trillion and $8.2 trillion by 2030.
Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
Securitize Corp. began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, July 2, 2026 under the ticker SECZ, making it the first newly public company to bring its own stock onchain at the start of its life as a listed entity.
The listing resulted from a merger with Cantor Equity Partners II, a SPAC that raised approximately $400 million and valued Securitize at $1.25 billion pre-deal. About 71% of the SPAC's cash pool remained in the merger rather than being withdrawn by investors – a signal of relative sponsor confidence in the deal structure at a time when many crypto-adjacent listings have stalled.
Shares rose roughly 3% on debut after pre-market trading saw SECZ fall briefly below its IPO price.
The onchain debut
On the same day as its NYSE listing, Securitize made tokenized versions of its common stock available to eligible US investors through its regulated platform, initially on Avalanche and Solana. The company claims this makes SECZ the world's largest tokenized stock at launch, based on expected shareholder participation, it said in a statement.
Tokenized SECZ is designed to represent the same common stock trading on the NYSE, not a separate share class. Tokenization changes the form of ownership; it does not alter the underlying share rights or override legal and transfer restrictions. Access on the platform requires standard KYC/AML checks and jurisdictional eligibility verification.
Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize, framed the move as a deliberate statement of confidence in the regulatory pathway his firm has built. "SECZ is not a synthetic token or offshore wrapper," he said in a press release. "It is issuer-sponsored tokenization of the same common stock trading on the NYSE, made available through regulated infrastructure. This is how tokenization should scale: with real ownership, regulatory clarity and the issuer at the center."
Brett Redfearn, Securitize's president, was more direct at the NYSE bell ceremony: "We're at a tipping point in tokenization."
Context: a patchy year for crypto listings
Securitize's debut stands out against a broader slowdown in crypto-adjacent IPOs. Circle completed its IPO in June 2025, followed by Gemini in September 2025 and BitGo in January 2026. But the anticipated wave has not materialized. Kraken put its multibillion-dollar IPO on hold in March 2026, citing hostile market conditions, according to CoinDesk. Tokenization-focused listings have faced particular skepticism given the nascent state of secondary market infrastructure for digital securities.
That context makes Securitize's simultaneous onchain launch commercially significant. It is not just a public company listing—it is a proof of concept for issuer-sponsored tokenization at scale, with the same asset existing on a traditional exchange and on-chain rails from day one.
The 24/7 question
The NYSE partnership announced in March 2026 is worth revisiting here. Under that agreement, Securitize became the exchange's first digital transfer agent for tokenized securities, and both parties outlined plans for a 24/7 trading platform for tokenized equities. That would represent a structural departure from current US equity market hours, which run roughly 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on weekdays. A closing bell ceremony is scheduled for July 6.
Securitize currently manages over $4 billion in assets under management across tokenized funds, including the BlackRock BUIDL tokenized money market fund. The firm counts Apollo, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck among its partners. In 2024, BlackRock led a $47 million investment into the company.
The dual-nature of SECZ – living on both blockchain infrastructure and a traditional exchange – creates compliance and operational questions that the market has not yet stress-tested at scale. How tokenized SECZ behaves relative to its NYSE counterpart around corporate actions such as dividends or stock splits remains to be seen.
Securitize has made history by becoming the first newly public company to debut on the New York Stock Exchange and simultaneously launch tokenized versions of its own shares on both Avalanche and Solana, opening a new chapter for blockchain-based equity markets.
A Landmark Day for Tokenized Equities Securitize began trading on the NYSE on July 2, 2026, under the ticker SECZ, following the completion of its merger with Cantor Equity Partners II. Shares opened at $12.45 and closed the day at $12.30. The listing also came with an unusual twist: on the very same day, the company tokenized approximately $295 million of its Class A common stock on Solana and Avalanche, making it what the company describes as the largest issuer-sponsored tokenized stock ever launched at debut.
The tokens are intended to represent the same common stock trading on the NYSE rather than a synthetic product, offshore wrapper, or separate share class. Access to tokenized SECZ requires onboarding, identity verification, and KYC/AML checks, the same compliance process that applies to any regulated securities platform.
CEO Carlos Domingo framed the move as a statement of intent. "Bringing SECZ onchain is not just a milestone for Securitize," Domingo said. "It is a blueprint for public companies that want to use tokenization to create more efficient, transparent and useful ownership experiences for their shareholders."
What It Means for the Broader Market Securitize, a tokenization specialist backed by BlackRock and ARK Invest, is no newcomer to the space. The company manages more than $4 billion in tokenized assets and counts Apollo, BlackRock, BNY, Hamilton Lane, KKR, and VanEck among its asset manager partners. Earlier this year, NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) partnered with Securitize to develop infrastructure for tokenized equities.
The choice of two blockchains rather than one is deliberate. Avalanche has developed subnet infrastructure specifically for regulated financial applications, while Solana's speed and low transaction costs make it attractive for high-frequency settlement scenarios. Company executives say the dual-chain approach enables 24-hour trading and broader global access to SECZ shares, and have suggested that tokenized IPOs could become common within the next year.
The move comes amid growing efforts to bring public equities onto blockchain rails, as Wall Street embraces tokenization and the debate over tokenization models intensifies. Citi has projected that tokenized securities could reach $5.5 trillion by 2030, while Boston Consulting Group and Ripple estimated the market could grow to $18.9 trillion by 2033.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Securitize Tokenizes $295M of Its Own Stock on Solana and Avalanche Amid NYSE Debut
Decrypt: Securitize Begins Trading on NYSE as Tokenized Shares Land on Solana, Avalanche
TheStreet Crypto: Securitize Brings Its Own Stock Onchain on Solana at NYSE Debut
Crypto influencer Ansem (@blknoiz06) has laid out an ambitious goal for his $ANSEM token, framing it not simply as a speculative asset but as a tool for bringing ordinary users into crypto.
Speaking on a recent podcast, Ansem said the driving purpose behind the token is onboarding. "If I can get a million holders of this coin that I can direct to real things on chain, teaching them how to trade better, teaching them about stablecoins, that's what I really want to use it as, a funnel to onboard people into important things," he said.
One Million Holders, One Clear GoalAnsem argued that profitable onchain events naturally attract fresh capital and attention, and he wants to channel that momentum constructively. His target is a community of one million holders, whom he plans to guide toward practical blockchain applications including stablecoins and decentralised trading.
He also addressed the question of accountability, arguing that controlling the token supply gives him greater responsibility than simply promoting projects run by anonymous developers, a dynamic he has previously acknowledged can lead to misaligned incentives.
Ansem has already airdropped roughly $7 million worth of $ANSEM to Solana users and said he will continue distributing tokens as the price rises in a push to grow the holder base toward that one million target. The primary catalyst behind the token's momentum has been his commitment to redistribute Pump.fun creator fees to the community through weekly random airdrops, rather than launching a separate personal token.
Token Background and Market Performance The dominant version of the token, branded "The Black Bull," was launched on Pump.fun around June 17, 2026, with a developer spending roughly $6,300 to create it before transferring 650 million tokens to Ansem's wallet. Ansem did not originate the token but later embraced it rather than launching his own coin.
$ANSEM has risen more than 75,000% over the past seven days, significantly outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market. At the time of writing, the token was trading around $0.18 and had gained roughly 15% in the prior 24 hours. Market capitalisation stood above $73 million, based on approximately 420 million tokens in circulation.
Rugcheck.xyz has flagged a risk of market manipulation due to a large concentration of tokens held in one or more unidentified wallets. Multiple tokens share the ANSEM name, liquidity remains relatively limited, and wallet concentration could contribute to heightened volatility. Users should verify token contracts and understand the associated risks.
Sources
The Defiant: Ansem Airdrops $7M of $ANSEM Memecoin in Bid to Reach 1M Holders
CoinGecko: The Black Bull ($ANSEM) Live Price and Market Data
Crypto Briefing: Solana Daily Token Launches Hit 80-Day High as ANSEM Memecoin Debuts
Upbit and Bithumb, two of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, announced new trading support for Metaplex (MPLX) and Nexus (NEX). However, following its initial announcement, Upbit stated that it had changed the trading start times for both assets.
Accordingly, the trading start date for Metaplex (MPLX), previously scheduled for July 3, 2026 at 3:00 PM, has been postponed to 7:00 PM, while the start time for Nexus (NEX), previously announced as 6:00 PM, has also been moved to 7:00 PM.
According to Upbit’s announcement, MPLX will be traded on the Solana network for BTC and USDT, while NEX will be traded on the Ethereum network for USDT. Deposits and withdrawals for both assets are planned to open within two hours of the announcement’s release. The exchange also stated that the trading start time may be postponed again if sufficient liquidity is not available.
The new listings will also implement various trading restrictions for users. Accordingly, buy orders will be restricted for approximately 5 minutes after the trade opens. During the same period, sell orders cannot be placed at levels more than 10% below the previous day’s closing price. In addition, all order types except limit orders will be temporarily restricted for the first two hours.
Bithumb also announced on the same day that it would add MPLX and NEX to its South Korean won (KRW) market. According to the exchange, MPLX trading was scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM on July 3rd, and NEX trading at 6:00 PM on the same day. Bithumb shared a reference price of 32.09 won for MPLX and 0.0028 won for NEX.
Metaplex is among the prominent projects offering NFT and token infrastructure within the Solana ecosystem, while Nexus stands out as a layer-1 blockchain project combining verifiable computing infrastructure with financial applications. Following their listings, both assets are expected to be closely watched in the South Korean market.
*This is not investment advice.
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Luka Modrić, arguably the greatest Croatian footballer ever to lace up boots, has dropped the kind of teaser that sends both sports media and crypto speculators into overdrive. “It’s not the time to talk about that now,” the midfielder said about his future. “You will know soon.”
From the pitch to the blockchain Modrić left Real Madrid on May 22, 2025, closing the book on a 13-season run. Multiple Champions League titles, individual awards including the Ballon d’Or, and the kind of midfield vision that made highlight reels feel inadequate.
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Since his departure from Madrid, reports have linked him to AC Milan, though the bigger story for crypto audiences is a different kind of partnership entirely. On April 9, 2026, Modrić was announced as a global brand ambassador for CoinW, the crypto exchange.
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has also reportedly expressed interest in offering Modrić a post-playing role at the club. Reports from June 2026 indicate Modrić is leaning toward calling it quits after the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which would coincide with his 41st birthday in September of that year.
The $MODRIC token situation Several Solana-based meme coins have already appeared under the $MODRIC ticker. None of them are affiliated with the player. None of them carry any official endorsement. And all of them have market caps generally sitting below $100K.
This pattern has become almost formulaic in the meme token space. A celebrity says something ambiguous, token creators rush to Solana’s low-fee infrastructure, pump.fun or a similar launchpad spits out a coin, and early buyers hope for a momentum trade before liquidity evaporates. The $MODRIC tokens are following this playbook precisely.
The lack of any connection to Modrić himself means there’s no fundamental floor, no utility, no roadmap. Modrić hasn’t endorsed these tokens. He likely doesn’t know they exist. Yet retail traders are buying them anyway, because the name recognition alone is enough to generate speculative interest.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The historic volatility of cryptos once again reminded market operators that short-term certainties do not exist in this universe. This Thursday, July 2, the ecosystem recorded a technical reversal, inflicting dry financial losses on investors positioned short. Indeed, this sudden surge, occurring after several days of bearish pressure, redefines the short-term price dynamics for the main market assets. Understanding the mechanisms of such a purge is essential today, as it illustrates the extreme sensitivity of the crypto market to leverage effects and global macroeconomic indicators.
In brief The crypto market rebound triggered a massive liquidation of short positions, with over 600 million dollars wiped out in just 24 hours. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP saw a clear rebound, driven by a strong short position coverage movement. The latest US economic indicators, notably the slowdown in employment, revived hopes of a Fed monetary policy easing. Shares of major crypto-related companies, like Strategy, Coinbase and Circle, also benefited from this renewed optimism. Bitcoin: cleaning up short positions in the derivatives market The crypto market rebound, after a violent drop, observed over the last 24 hours, completely caught bearish investors’ strategies off guard, causing major price movements and massive losses on derivatives products :
Bitcoin (BTC) surge : the top market crypto surpassed the $62,000 mark for the first time in over a week, reaching a local high at $62,078 after having plunged below $58,000 earlier in the week (a 21-month low). It then stabilized around $61,650, up 3% on the day and 4% on the week ; The scale of global liquidations : the technical purge totaled $602 million in 24 hours, with short positions representing the majority of the carnage with $400 million in net losses ; The case of Ethereum (ETH) : notably, ETH surpassed bitcoin as the top contributor to forced liquidations with $187 million wiped out by its traders, versus $184 million for BTC, taking its price to $1,701 (nearly 5% increase) ; The performances of Solana (SOL) and XRP : Solana jumped nearly 5% for the day to $81, becoming the biggest weekly gainer in the top 10 with over 22% gain. XRP increased over 3% to trade at $1.09. This exceptionally large technical purge demonstrates how quickly forced liquidations can feed into each other. The simultaneous reversal of major altcoins confirms that the market was trapped by an excessive accumulation of highly leveraged short positions, turning a simple technical resistance into a powerful global short position cover rally.
Macroeconomic catalysts and US employment indicators This bullish turnaround in capital markets stems directly from the latest economic releases and the monetary policy directions in the United States. The rebound began following statements by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, who deliberately maintained ambiguity on the institution’s future intentions. Indeed, investors reacted positively when the leader “declined to say whether the agency planned rate hikes, but later this year”.
Following this intervention, interest rate traders now estimate almost equal probabilities regarding the Fed decision to hold or raise rates at the September meeting. However, they still project a 64% probability that a rate hike will occur by the October FOMC meeting.
The upward movement intensified Thursday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that US employers created only 57,000 jobs in June. This figure was much lower than the initial target of 115,000. Moreover, it is a clear decline compared to the revised 129,000 jobs recorded in May.
This marked slowdown in US employment paradoxically boosted global risky assets in particular bitcoin, easing fears of a prolonged monetary tightening by central bankers. While traditional markets reacted mixedly, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing lower and the Dow Jones remaining in the green, the crypto sphere took advantage of this slowdown to initiate its technical relief rally.
Stock market reaction and the surge of Web3-linked stocks The impact of this price rebound was not limited to retail investor portfolios; it also shook the shares of listed crypto sector companies. Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which remains the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder, saw its stock appreciate nearly 7% to reach $100.
This recovery is all the more significant because the stock had dropped to nearly $80 the previous week. In the same bullish momentum, the American exchange platform Coinbase’s stock rose 3.35% to $165. Circle, issuer of the USDC stablecoin, completed this positive picture by recording a nearly 5% increase to reach $65, showing strong resilience.
However, the future implications of this global movement invite a nuanced analysis of the market’s macroeconomic structure. While this technical rebound validates cryptos’ immediate responsiveness to Fed signals and illustrates the constant danger of leverage for sellers, the overall trend calls for real ethical caution. Taking the necessary perspective, bitcoin still shows a 16 % decline over the last month and trades approximately 52% below its all-time high near $126,000 set in October 2025.
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Luc Jose A.
Diplômé de Sciences Po Toulouse et titulaire d'une certification consultant blockchain délivrée par Alyra, j'ai rejoint l'aventure Cointribune en 2019. Convaincu du potentiel de la blockchain pour transformer de nombreux secteurs de l'économie, j'ai pris l'engagement de sensibiliser et d'informer le grand public sur cet écosystème en constante évolution. Mon objectif est de permettre à chacun de mieux comprendre la blockchain et de saisir les opportunités qu'elle offre. Je m'efforce chaque jour de fournir une analyse objective de l'actualité, de décrypter les tendances du marché, de relayer les dernières innovations technologiques et de mettre en perspective les enjeux économiques et sociétaux de cette révolution en marche.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
THEA has raised $8 million in strategic funding to expand its predictive behavioral AI infrastructure and build a Solana-based coordination layer for real-time risk markets.
The round was led by Maven11 Capital, Spartan Group, ManifoldTrading, HackVC and Fisher8 Capital, according to company and market reports. THEA said the capital will be used to scale its operational AI systems and develop THEA Network, an on-chain coordination layer designed to route inference requests, manage accounting and settle transactions on Solana while keeping heavy computation off-chain.
Founded in 2024 and based in the Cayman Islands, THEA describes itself as a predictive behavioral AI network focused on high-volatility environments where decisions carry immediate economic consequences. The company says its AI models are trained on more than 35 billion real-world decision data points and that its applications process more than 400 million inference queries a month across more than 30 jurisdictions. Crypto Briefing reported that THEA serves over 3,000 enterprise customers, while some summaries put the figure at more than 3,500.
THEA’s core business is predictive behavioral intelligence for risk markets. Its models analyze how users, markets and counterparties behave under stress, then generate real-time predictions that clients can use for risk scoring, retention, liquidity management or operational decision-making. The company has said some clients have seen customer-retention improvements of up to 30% using its systems.
Hybrid AI Infrastructure Moves Onchain THEA’s planned Solana layer reflects a growing trend in AI-crypto infrastructure: using blockchains for coordination, settlement and incentives rather than attempting to run large AI computation directly on-chain.
In practice, THEA Network is expected to coordinate requests and economic flows, while the actual inference and data processing remain off-chain. That design matters because AI workloads are computationally intensive and unsuitable for most smart-contract environments. A hybrid architecture can use blockchain rails for transparent settlement, access control, payments or auditability without forcing models to execute inside the blockchain itself.
Solana’s role is tied to throughput and cost. A network handling hundreds of millions of monthly inference requests needs low-latency infrastructure if it wants to coordinate payments, permissions or usage accounting at scale. Solana’s high-speed settlement environment makes it a natural target for projects trying to connect AI agents, data services and financial applications.
THEA has also signaled plans to introduce a utility token that would tokenize access to its autonomous systems. If implemented, that could turn the network into a tokenized access and settlement layer for AI services, although the details of token economics, governance, eligibility and regulatory structure have not yet been disclosed.
Funding Signals AI-Crypto Convergence The investor lineup shows continued venture interest in the intersection of AI, crypto infrastructure and real-world business workflows. Unlike purely speculative AI-token projects, THEA is positioning itself around enterprise risk markets, where predictive systems can be tied to measurable outcomes such as fraud reduction, customer retention, pricing, liquidity and risk control.
That gives the project a clearer commercial narrative, but execution risk remains high. THEA must prove that a Solana-based coordination layer improves performance, transparency or monetization compared with conventional cloud infrastructure. It must also show that tokenizing access to AI systems creates real utility rather than unnecessary complexity.
Regulatory questions will also matter. A network serving clients across more than 30 jurisdictions and operating in risk markets may face scrutiny around data use, automated decision-making, financial-risk modeling and token distribution. If THEA’s systems influence credit, trading, insurance, gaming, prediction or other high-stakes decisions, transparency and compliance will become central to adoption.
The broader market impact is that AI infrastructure is becoming one of the most active frontiers for crypto capital. Solana is increasingly being used not just for DeFi and payments, but also as a settlement and coordination layer for machine-driven networks. THEA’s $8 million round reinforces that shift.
For investors, the key question is whether blockchain-based AI networks can move beyond narrative and deliver production-grade usage. THEA already claims large-scale query volume and enterprise demand. The new funding will test whether those off-chain AI systems can be connected to on-chain settlement in a way that creates durable network value.
Key Highlights Solana has surged more than 10% over the last seven days, currently trading near $80.88 Major crypto investors have expressed bullish sentiment, labeling SOL a “massive opportunity” Forward Industries has grown its Solana holdings to exceed 7.5 million SOL tokens Tokenized money market funds managed by Amundi (€2.4T AUM) launched on Solana through Spiko Critical resistance level identified at $94 (200-day MA); immediate support established at $75.85 Solana has demonstrated impressive strength throughout the past week, climbing more than 10% and currently changing hands around $80.88. The blockchain platform, ranked seventh by market capitalization, has delivered better returns than many competing large-cap cryptocurrencies during this timeframe.
Solana (SOL) Price This upward momentum follows SOL’s successful defense of the $70–$72 price floor, marking the third time this year that buyers have protected this critical support zone. Following each successful defense, bullish traders have driven prices higher, with the latest rally pushing SOL back toward a significant multi-month downtrend line.
Prominent crypto analyst Daan Crypto Trades highlighted this technical development on social media, observing that SOL was making an attempt to reclaim its previous trading range — a consolidation zone where it spent approximately four months. He emphasized that when the price fell through this range in early June, it triggered a sharp 20%+ decline. Now that SOL has successfully reclaimed the $78 threshold, he views this as a possible reversal pattern pointing toward the upper boundary of the range, stating that he’s monitoring for sustained closes around that price level.
$SOL Is attempting to retake its previous range which it spend about 4 months consolidating in.
We were tracking this range and expecting a large move to occur once broken, that did happen at the start of june and was quickly followed by a 20%+ down move.
With price now… pic.twitter.com/75vlaAmZMc
— Daan Crypto Trades (@DaanCrypto) July 2, 2026
Corporate and Institutional Adoption Accelerates Forward Industries has significantly expanded its exposure to Solana, bringing its total treasury position to more than 7.5 million SOL after purchasing over 500,000 additional tokens in its most recent fiscal quarter. This pattern of corporate treasury accumulation mirrors a broader movement among companies embracing digital asset strategies.
🚨BREAKING: Forward Industries (@FWDind) is back to buying $SOL.
The largest Solana treasury by holdings bought over 500K $SOL ($39.5M) in fiscal Q3 at an average price of $79, taking its total holdings to 7.55M $SOL. pic.twitter.com/iGHUJBORPv
— SolanaFloor (@SolanaFloor) July 1, 2026
In another major development for institutional adoption, Spiko has introduced tokenized money market funds operating on the Solana blockchain. These funds are administered by Amundi, the largest asset management firm in Europe, overseeing €2.4 trillion in total assets. This initiative represents meaningful progress in bringing traditional financial instruments onto Solana’s blockchain infrastructure.
On-Chain Metrics Remain Robust Solana’s network maintains its position as one of the most active blockchains, consistently handling approximately 100 million transactions each day. The total value locked across the ecosystem currently stands at roughly $4.8 billion, based on data from DeFiLlama.
Metrics tracking active wallet addresses and net capital inflows have shown notable increases in recent sessions. Simultaneously, open interest in SOL futures contracts has expanded alongside the price rally, indicating that new capital is flowing into derivatives markets.
The increase in short liquidations provides additional evidence of the strength behind this move, as bearish traders who positioned against SOL were compelled to exit their positions as prices climbed.
Technical Analysis and Price Targets Solana successfully breached its 50-day moving average at $75.85, converting this previously resistant level into immediate support. The Relative Strength Index currently reads 63.8, indicating healthy bullish momentum while remaining below overbought conditions.
Source: TradingView The immediate technical challenge lies in the $80–$82 zone, where descending trendline resistance intersects with a previous supply area. A decisive daily close above this region would likely clear the path toward $90, with $100 representing the next psychological milestone.
The more significant technical obstacle appears at the 200-day moving average, currently positioned at $94.07. As of the latest update, Solana was trading at $80.88, reflecting a 4.42% gain over the previous 24-hour period.
Key Highlights Securitize (SECZ) launched on the New York Stock Exchange following a SPAC merger with Cantor Fitzgerald The firm made history by tokenizing its stock on both Solana and Avalanche blockchains on its first trading day Launch day saw $295 million worth of tokenized SECZ shares held by investors The public offering generated $400 million in capital, pushing the company’s valuation beyond $1 billion Industry analysts at Citigroup forecast the tokenization sector could balloon to $5.5 trillion-$8.2 trillion by decade’s end On Thursday, Securitize officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol SECZ. The company’s public market entry came through a combination with a special-purpose acquisition company supported by Cantor Fitzgerald, generating $400 million in proceeds and achieving a valuation exceeding $1 billion.
Securitize Holdings Inc (SECZ) The shares concluded their inaugural trading session with a 4.4% gain, settling at $12.30 after reaching an intraday peak of $13.70. Extended trading hours saw additional momentum, with shares advancing another 2.4% to close at $12.60.
In an unprecedented move coinciding with its market debut, Securitize converted its own equity into digital tokens on both the Solana and Avalanche blockchain networks. This milestone marked the first instance of a newly listed public company tokenizing its stock immediately upon going public.
Blockchain analytics from RWA.xyz revealed that investors possessed $295 million in tokenized SECZ equity on the opening day. According to the company, these digital tokens correspond to the identical common stock available on the NYSE, rather than constituting a distinct security class.
The Unique Nature of This Tokenization Most tokenized equity offerings currently available come from third-party issuers or operate beyond U.S. jurisdiction. Securitize emphasizes that its approach is issuer-sponsored, granting the company direct oversight of the tokenization mechanism.
Qualified U.S. investors can obtain the tokenized equity through Securitize’s digital platform following identity verification procedures and compliance with securities regulations.
“SECZ is not a synthetic token or offshore wrapper,” said CEO Carlos Domingo. “It is issuer-sponsored tokenization of the same common stock trading on the NYSE.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced in January that issuer-sponsored tokenized securities fall under existing U.S. securities regulations. Reports from May indicated the SEC was developing an exemption framework for tokenized equity trading, though the initiative was postponed following objections from traditional exchange operators.
Securitize’s Position in Tokenization Infrastructure Established in 2017, Securitize has developed tokenization technology for leading financial institutions such as BlackRock, Apollo, KKR, Hamilton Lane, and VanEck.
The platform counts BlackRock and Morgan Stanley among its institutional investors.
In March, Securitize formed a strategic alliance with Intercontinental Exchange, the parent organization of the NYSE, to build infrastructure supporting tokenized equity securities. Additional partnerships with transfer agents Computershare and Continental aim to facilitate blockchain-based share issuance for public corporations.
Current Market Landscape The aggregate value of tokenized real-world assets has surpassed $43 billion. Tokenized money market instruments dominate this space, while tokenized commodities represent approximately $7 billion and tokenized equities account for $1.6 billion, based on Token Terminal data.
Citigroup’s recent analysis suggests the tokenization industry could expand to a range of $5.5 trillion to $8.2 trillion by 2030. Boston Consulting Group and Ripple offer an even more optimistic projection, estimating $18.9 trillion by 2033.
Securitize’s market entry establishes it as a significant participant in this anticipated expansion, with its own equity immediately accessible on two leading blockchain platforms from the outset.
