Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

From SBI's expanding Ripple partnership to potential crypto ETF reforms, Japan's role is growing.

Even in times when XRP and the company behind it were not in good shape in their home country, Japan has long stood out as a major ally. However, the most recent regulatory and institutional developments suggest that the country could play an even bigger role in their future.

Over the past several months, Japan has accelerated efforts to modernize its digital asset framework and has proposed legal reforms to classify many cryptocurrencies as financial instruments, paving the way for spot ETFs. It also introduced a more investor-friendly tax regime.

Although the legislation still needs to complete the entire process before such financial vehicles are allowed to launch, the direction has become increasingly clearer. This could be significantly beneficial for XRP.

XRP, Ripple, and Japan For starters, SBI continues with its pro-Ripple initiatives. Both parties have been tangled for years through SBI Ripple Asia to expand cross-border payments across the region. Meanwhile, SBI VC Trade remains one of Japan’s largest XRP-friendly exchanges.

Most recently, Ripple and SBI announced that the former’s stablecoin, RLUSD, has launched in the country after receiving approval from the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA), which expanded their partnership into the regulated stablecoin market.

SBI has also filed for a product that could eventually become the first Japan-based XRP ETF. Instead of pairing the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, the proposed products went for BTC and XRP, highlighting the firm’s conviction that Ripple’s token could become a core institutional asset in the country.

Institutional Demand Given the relatively short history of the cryptocurrency industry and the lack of regulation in most jurisdictions, proper regulatory frameworks can open the door for additional investments from larger players and institutions. Japan has been at the forefront of crypto regulation, and XRP has generally benefited from this.

You may also like: Circle Receives Final Green Light to Establish National Trust Bank Ripple Rolls Out New XRPL Upgrade, but Less Than Half of Nodes Have Upgraded Ripple Lands Major XRP Partnership as Garlinghouse Shares Rare Personal Moment Unlike the prolonged legal battle Ripple endured in the US against the SEC, Japanese regulators have long treated its token as a crypto asset rather than a security. Combined with SBI’s banking relationships and Ripple’s growing enterprise presence, that regulatory certainty has helped create one of XRP’s strongest international footholds.

If Japan indeed approves spot crypto ETFs, XRP could be among the earliest beneficiaries, thanks to its history and the infrastructure already in place there.

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The Ethereum Foundation said it used AI agents to uncover a real vulnerability, which could be the new way of improving blockchain security.

The organization behind the second-largest blockchain network revealed it had employed a coordinated army of AI agents to identify vulnerabilities in Ethereum’s critical infrastructure.

The team said one major bug was successfully discovered and patched before it could become a larger problem. But that could be just the start of this major story.

AI and Ethereum The blog post published by the Ethereum Foundation reveals that the Protocol Security team disclosed that AI-powered agents found a remotely triggerable vulnerability in libp2p’s Gossipsub networking layer. This is a core component used by the blockchain’s consensus clients to communicate with each other.

The AI agents were deployed against the protocol code, cryptographic software, and smart contracts that underpin the network. The most significant issue the team faced was not finding the bug itself, but filtering genuine issues from the overwhelming number of false positives generated by the agents.

The team published its findings only after fixing the issue, but researchers said the bigger breakthrough lies in the process of finding it rather than the bug itself. AI has become highly effective at identifying potential weaknesses, but without a human touch, the process is still far from being good enough for such major tasks.

The Foundation compared AI agents to modern fuzzing tools. They won’t replace human auditors, but can dramatically expand the search process by generating proof-of-concept exploits, tracing attack paths, and testing assumptions at a scale that would be challenging to achieve manually.

Is This the Future? The cryptocurrency community has wondered for a few years how and why the cryptocurrency industry can be linked to artificial intelligence. The EF said that one of the most important connections between the two is now through AI-assisted auditing, which can fundamentally change how blockchain security operates.

You may also like: Analyst Sees Upside for ETH Ahead of Glamsterdam Upgrade ‘Summer of Ethereum Love’ Gaining Steam, Says Lubin, But When Will ETH Price Follow?  Charles Hoskinson Says Ethereum Is Adopting Cardano Ideas Without Credit Development teams may deploy more and more AI agents to continuously probe protocol code for vulnerabilities before malicious actors discover them. This could be the opposite of numerous examples in which bad actors employed such agents to hack different blockchains.

Nevertheless, the Foundation cautioned that today’s systems remain far from autonomous as they still generate reports that are duplicates, contain false alarms, or describe attack paths that cannot actually be exploited. The team doubled down that every serious finding still requires careful human review before developers can act on it.

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BNB Agent Studio launched on July 1, 2026, on BNB Smart Chain, integrating Amazon Bedrock’s AgentCore as its managed cloud runtime. The result is autonomous AI agents that stay live around the clock, billed only when active, and completely independent of whatever machine a developer happens to be running.

Here’s the core pitch: a developer writes a single prompt inside familiar tools like Cursor or Claude Code, and a fully operational on-chain AI agent is live in under 15 minutes. Deploying autonomous agents on blockchain infrastructure historically involved days of configuration work, sometimes weeks, covering identity management, payment rails, task interfaces, and compute provisioning separately.

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Nina Rong, Executive Director of Growth at BNB Chain, framed it directly: with BNB Agent Studio, developers can dedicate their creativity and focus toward agent logic as the platform streamlines the underlying infrastructure requirements.

In practice, three open standards are doing the heavy lifting underneath. ERC-8004 handles on-chain identity, giving each agent a permanent, ownable digital presence on BNB Smart Chain. ERC-8183 defines the task interface, standardizing how agents receive and execute instructions. The x402 protocol manages self-funded payments, meaning agents can pay for their own operations without a developer manually topping up wallets.

The AWS Bedrock AgentCore integration is what makes the persistence story credible. Rather than running on a developer’s local machine or a self-managed server, agents execute inside isolated cloud environments managed by Amazon’s infrastructure. BNB Chain uses microVM technology for agent isolation, meaning each agent runs in its own sandboxed environment. The billing model follows a pay-per-use structure, with agents only charged for compute when they’re actually doing something.

AWS joins Trust Wallet and PieVerse as the platform’s anchor partners. Trust Wallet handles wallet integration, giving agents a native interface with the BNB Chain ecosystem. PieVerse provides payment infrastructure, sitting alongside the x402 protocol to support the agent economy.

Over 120,000 AI agents have already been created on BNB Smart Chain using the platform. A follow-up update on July 7, 2026, added real-time CoinMarketCap data access through Binance Pay’s B402 integration, meaning agents can now query live market data natively as part of their decision logic without developers building separate data pipeline connections.

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

Sui, a Layer 1 blockchain developed by Mysten Labs and known for its scalability features, is gaining momentum as new data from its AI-powered network test reveals record-breaking transaction processing speeds. The SUI token, the native asset of the network, is trading at $0.7464 with a 24-hour volume of $157.76 million, pushing its market capitalization to $3.02 billion. After climbing 1.34% in the last 24 hours, analysts are watching closely for a potential bullish breakout.

SUI price approaches resistance, eyes breakout targetAs SUI steadily recovers from previous dips, crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe observed that the coin maintains a bullish momentum. He noted that sustained buying activity and increasing trading volumes reflect growing investor confidence in the blockchain’s future. If SUI surpasses the pivotal $0.82 resistance level, analysts believe the price could retest the $1 mark, with $1.20 identified as a further upside target.

Sustained accumulation and a surge in trading activity could pave the way for SUI to break above $0.82 and initiate a new uptrend, potentially pushing the price to $1 and higher resistance levels at $1.20.

Key resistance points remain at $0.82, $1.00, and $1.20, historically significant marks from previous rallies. Market sentiment and overall strength in assets like BTC are contributing to renewed optimism.

Investors and traders are closely following SUI price action, looking for technical confirmation of a breakout that could establish a new bullish trend.

Price LevelStatusSignificance$0.82ResistanceBreakout trigger$1.00ResistancePsychological mark$1.20ResistancePrevious rally peakAI-powered Sui network test sets TPS recordSui recently completed a high-profile experiment using its Tunnels AI agent, aiming to showcase the network’s scalability under AI-driven workloads. The initial target for the test was 1 million transactions per second (TPS), a figure that would already place Sui at the top tier among blockchains. However, the AI agent achieved 6,086,766 TPS in the test environment, demonstrating the network’s capability to handle unprecedented throughput levels.

These results highlight Sui’s aim to support large-scale, high-performance Web3 applications that leverage artificial intelligence. The test was conducted off-mainnet, but developers view it as a major step toward bringing advanced AI and agentic operations to decentralized networks. The platform’s commitment to integrating artificial intelligence is seen as a driver for both price and technological growth.

Mini dictionary: Tunnels AI agent — An artificial intelligence-driven module developed for Sui to automate and maximize blockchain throughput by orchestrating high-frequency transaction processing. AI agents like this serve as a proof of concept for advanced smart contract and infrastructure automation within Web3 ecosystems.

Outlook: Adoption, upgrades, and key levelsBeyond technical performance, Sui continues to work on implementing AI enhancements across its network. The blockchain’s ability to achieve high TPS figures and support complex, AI-driven applications may attract further attention from developers and investors.

The next moves for SUI depend on a successful breach of the $0.82 resistance. If achieved, traders might expect moves toward $1.00 and $1.20. The broader market trend, especially upward momentum in BTC, could also play an important role in the asset’s trajectory.

Investors will monitor ongoing network developments, trading dynamics, and sentiment shifts as they assess the prospects for continued bullish price action.

Network scalability and AI integration will be crucial drivers for SUI’s appeal among both developers and financial markets, making the project a focal point in ongoing blockchain innovation discussions.

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.

XRP ETFs Break Four-Day Outflow StreakSpot $XRP ETFs recorded a modest net inflow of around $107,000 on Friday, July 10, breaking a four-consecutive-day run of outflows. While the figure is small in absolute terms, it marks the first positive daily flow the products had seen in nearly a week.

Despite the brief recovery, the funds remain in negative territory for the month. The latest withdrawals had pushed cumulative flows into a net outflow of $2.61 million for July 2026. That reversal comes after a strong finish to June, when the funds pulled in $15.34 million on June 29, building on an equally impressive $15.63 million net inflow recorded just days prior on June 26.

Three-Month Inflow Run Now Under PressureThe July softness interrupts what had been a sustained period of investor appetite for the regulated products. According to data from Yahoo Finance, XRP ETFs ended April with roughly $82 million in net inflows, marking the funds' best month since the late-2025 launch period, a reverse of what happened in March, which ended with $31 million in outflows. May then topped that, with May's inflow of $118.29 million surpassing April's $81.59 million to become the strongest month of 2026.

The broader picture for the products remains constructive. Cumulative net inflows across all approved XRP spot ETFs continue to hover around a healthy $1.40 billion mark. As of July 11, 2026, seven XRP spot ETFs are trading in the United States with combined assets under management of around $1 billion and 964.5 million XRP tokens locked.

The leading products include the Bitwise XRP ETF (1XRP) with around $245.3 million in assets, followed by the Canary XRP ETF with approximately $225.9 million and the Franklin XRP ETF with about $167.9 million. Whether the July 10 inflow signals a genuine turn or merely a brief pause in the current negative run remains to be seen, but the month's performance will be closely watched given the three-month positive streak that preceded it.

Sources:
U.Today: XRP ETFs Log One of Biggest Outflows of 2026
Yahoo Finance: XRP ETFs Snap Longest Inflow Streak of 2026
Coinpedia: Spot XRP ETFs Record Largest Outflow Since March

On July 6, Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, upgraded Ripple’s preliminary Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization into a full license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. The approval means Ripple can passport regulated crypto services across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area, from Lisbon to Helsinki, under a single national authorization. Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s managing director for the UK and Europe, framed the moment plainly: the company enters the post-transitional MiCA era fully compliant and ready to scale.

Summary

Ripple secured a full MiCA license in Luxembourg, allowing it to offer regulated crypto services across the European Economic Area. While Europe has given Ripple regulatory certainty, XRP’s legal classification in the U.S. still depends on the CLARITY Act. The article explores whether Ripple’s expanding regulatory footprint can eventually translate into stronger XRP demand. Five days later, on the other side of the Atlantic, the legislation that would finally tell American regulators what XRP actually is remained stuck in the Senate. A merged draft of the CLARITY Act is expected the week of July 13, floor action is penciled in for the week of July 20, and the whole effort still needs roughly 7 Democratic votes it does not currently have. Galaxy Research has cut its odds of passage in 2026 to a coin flip.

That is the strange position Ripple occupies in the summer of 2026. A company born in San Francisco, hardened by a 4-year fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and lobbying harder than almost anyone for American crypto legislation, is now more comprehensively regulated in Europe than it has ever been at home. The Luxembourg license is not just a compliance milestone. It is a measuring stick for how far apart the two largest Western markets have drifted, and a live experiment in whether regulatory certainty actually converts into business, and eventually into token demand.

What Ripple actually won in Luxembourg The July 6 approval was the second half of a two-part regulatory build that Ripple has been assembling in the Grand Duchy for most of a year. The first half arrived on February 2, when the CSSF granted Ripple full approval as an Electronic Money Institution. The EMI license lets the company issue electronic money and run regulated fiat payment services across the European Union. It followed a preliminary EMI approval a month earlier and came shortly after Ripple picked up an EMI license and a cryptoasset registration from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, extending the same regulated posture to Britain.

The CASP license completes the picture on the crypto side. Under MiCA, a Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization covers custody, exchange, transfer, and related services for cryptoassets. Ripple received preliminary CASP approval from the CSSF on June 23, then satisfied the remaining conditions in under 2 weeks, converting the in-principle nod into a full license just after MiCA’s transition period closed on July 1. As crypto.news reported, the timing put Ripple inside the licensed perimeter at the exact moment the perimeter became a hard wall.

The combination matters more than either license alone. With the EMI approval, European banks, fintechs, and corporates can move regulated fiat and e-money through Ripple. With the CASP approval, the same clients can move cryptoassets and stablecoin flows through the same provider under the same rulebook. Ripple Payments, the company’s cross-border settlement product, has processed more than $100 billion across more than 60 markets globally. The Luxembourg stack gives that product a clean legal wrapper in a bloc of roughly 450 million people, with one regulator to answer to and 30 countries to sell into.

Ripple says its global license count now exceeds 75 authorizations, registrations, and approvals, a portfolio that spans Singapore, Dubai, New York’s BitLicense regime, and now the heart of the EU. Few crypto-native companies carry anything comparable. That was a deliberate strategy long before MiCA existed: sell to banks, and you must look like something a bank compliance department can approve.

The graveyard on the other side of the deadline The value of a MiCA license is easiest to see in what happened to the companies that do not have one. The regulation’s transition period ended on July 1, 2026. From that date, any firm offering covered crypto services in the EEA without CASP authorization must limit or stop those services. The European Securities and Markets Authority added 57 newly approved firms to its register right after the deadline, bringing the total to around 300 authorized providers. Set that against the more than 1,200 firms that operated in Europe under the old patchwork of national regimes, and the scale of the cull becomes clear. By some counts, only around 210 of those incumbent companies completed the licensing process in time.

The casualty list includes names that would have seemed untouchable 2 years ago. Binance, the largest exchange in the world by volume, failed to secure authorization in time through its Greek application and has told customers in several European markets that services are suspended while it seeks approval elsewhere. Tether chose not to apply at all, citing objections to MiCA’s stablecoin requirements, and USDT has been delisted from European venues as a result. Hundreds of smaller firms now face a choice between merging with licensed competitors, shrinking to non-covered activities, or exiting the region entirely.

The passporting mechanism is what makes a single national license so valuable. Under MiCA, a firm authorized in one member state can offer covered crypto services throughout the EU and the wider EEA without seeking separate national approvals, the same single-market logic that has governed European banking and investment services for decades.

Before MiCA, a crypto company wanting continental coverage needed a patchwork of national registrations, each with its own rules, timelines, and supervisory quirks, and each revocable on its own schedule. After MiCA, the choice of home regulator became a strategic decision, because one supervisor now stands behind a firm’s entire European footprint. That concentration cuts both ways.

A company with a Luxembourg license answers to a regulator with a long institutional finance pedigree and a reputation for rigor, which reassures bank counterparties. It also means a single supervisory dispute could, in theory, imperil access to 30 markets at once. Firms accepted that trade because the alternative, 30 separate relationships, was worse.

Luxembourg, meanwhile, has become one of the main gateways for the firms that made it through. Coinbase won its MiCA license from the CSSF in June 2025, opened a physical hub in the country, and migrated its EU operations into a dedicated Luxembourg entity.

Standard Chartered received its authorization through the same regulator. B2C2 took the Luxembourg route for its European trading business. Ripple now joins that group, which turns the Grand Duchy into something like the institutional crypto capital of the EU, a jurisdiction that courted the industry with dedicated blockchain legislation and a regulator willing to process serious applications quickly.

For Ripple specifically, the competitive math is straightforward. Every payments client it pitches in Europe now faces a shrunken menu of fully licensed providers. The company spent years and considerable money building a compliance posture that most rivals treated as optional. MiCA just made it mandatory, and Ripple crossed the line while much of the field did not.

The license lands on top of an institutional build-out The Luxembourg approval did not arrive in isolation. It caps 12 months in which Ripple assembled more institutional infrastructure than in the previous decade combined, which is what makes the token’s indifference so striking and the license so strategically loaded.

Start with the prime brokerage. Ripple closed its $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road in October 2025, folding a multi-asset prime broker into the company and rebranding the operation as Ripple Prime. On March 2, 2026, Ripple Prime appeared in the participant directory of the National Securities Clearing Corporation, the DTCC subsidiary that clears the vast majority of American equity trades.

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation processes transactions measured in the quadrillions of dollars annually and safeguards roughly $100 trillion in assets. Having XRP-linked infrastructure inside that machine is the kind of positioning that takes years to arrange and cannot be improvised later. DTCC has since named Ripple Prime to the industry working group of more than 50 firms shaping its tokenization service for Russell 1000 stocks, major ETFs, and US Treasuries, scheduled to launch in October 2026.

Then the ledger itself. Tokenized real-world assets on the XRP Ledger grew from $991 million at the start of 2026 to roughly $3.5 billion by midsummer. In early May, JPMorgan, Mastercard, Ondo Finance, and Ripple completed the first cross-border tokenized US Treasury redemption on XRPL, clearing in under 5 seconds.

Daily transactions on the ledger hit 3 million on March 15, roughly triple the averages of mid-2025. RLUSD, the stablecoin at the center of Ripple’s settlement strategy, reached a market capitalization of $1.72 billion in under a year, with more than $18 billion in transfer volume in the first quarter of 2026 alone. And in July, Ripple joined Open USD, the consortium dollar stablecoin backed by Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and more than 140 other companies, hedging its own stablecoin bet with a seat at the industry table.

Every item on that list is the kind of development that, in a friendlier market, would have carried its own rally. Instead, each landed on a chart grinding lower, which is a useful reminder of how much of crypto pricing in 2026 is macro beta and how little is project-specific fundamentals. The relevance to the Luxembourg story is this: the license is not a standalone trophy. It is the regulatory layer of a stack that now includes clearing access, tokenization rails, a stablecoin, and a prime broker. Europe is where that full stack can operate legally today.

Meanwhile in Washington: a bill, a deadline, and seven missing votes The contrast with the United States is not subtle. The CLARITY Act, the market structure bill that would sort digital assets into commodity and security buckets and hand spot market oversight of digital commodities to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has traveled further than any crypto legislation in American history. The House passed it 294 to 134 in July 2025. The Senate Banking Committee advanced its version 15 to 9 on May 14, 2026, with Democrats Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks crossing over. The bill sits on the Senate Legislative Calendar, eligible for a floor vote whenever leadership schedules one.

And there it sits. A unified draft merging the Banking and Agriculture Committee texts, reportedly more than 70 pages longer than the earlier versions and heavier on consumer protections, is expected as soon as the week of July 13, with floor action targeted for the week of July 20. The Senate breaks for recess on August 7.

Senator Cynthia Lummis has warned that failure in this window likely means no market structure law before 2030. Galaxy Research has lowered its passage odds for 2026 to 50%, down from 75% right after the committee vote, and Stifel’s Washington strategist has written that the bill’s prospects deteriorate materially if it misses the recess deadline.

The blockage is not primarily about crypto. It is about ethics. Senate Democrats have demanded language barring senior government officials, including the president, from holding business interests in the crypto industry, a demand aimed squarely at the Trump family’s estimated $2.3 billion in crypto exposure across memecoins, World Liberty Financial, and mining ventures.

The White House has said it will accept rules that apply across the board but not language that singles out one officeholder. A tentative compromise involving state attorney general enforcement fell apart. Even Gallego and Alsobrooks have said their floor votes depend on the ethics fix. As crypto.news covered, disputes over vacant SEC and CFTC commissioner seats have layered a second standoff on top of the first.

Two more fault lines complicate the count. Senator Amy Klobuchar has proposed an amendment that would block new CFTC rules from taking effect until at least four commissioners are confirmed, effectively turning the agency staffing dispute into a statutory switch on the entire regulatory framework the bill would create. CFTC Chair Selig has pushed back, arguing on July 9 that the bill is being derailed by matters extraneous to its substance and that the agency does not need a quorum to write rules.

And law enforcement groups have raised objections to Section 604, the developer protection language drawn from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, worried it could complicate illicit finance cases. Senator Ron Wyden countered on July 8 with a letter to Senate leadership urging that the BRCA provisions be preserved, giving the DeFi industry its one clear win of the month. Lummis, for her part, has answered the illicit finance critique by pointing to more than 16 safeguards in the text and $150 million in dedicated enforcement funding.

Add it together, and the arithmetic is unforgiving. Three working weeks remain in July, a defense spending bill competes for floor time, and every unresolved dispute needs to close simultaneously for 7 Democrats to move. The committee vote on May 14 offered a preview of what passage would be worth: within an hour of the 15-9 result, Bitcoin jumped to $81,449, and XRP gained 4.5% on the day. Citi has a $143,000 Bitcoin target and Standard Chartered a $150,000 target contingent on the bill becoming law. Markets have, in other words, priced regulatory clarity as a real asset. The Senate simply has not delivered it.

So the American question that matters most to Ripple, whether XRP is a digital commodity under CFTC oversight or something the SEC can still reach, remains formally unanswered. The 2023 court ruling in the SEC’s case against Ripple found that programmatic sales of XRP on exchanges were not securities transactions, and the SEC case itself ended in a settlement in 2025. But a court ruling in one district and a dropped enforcement action are not a statute. They are precedents that a future administration, a future commission, or a future judge could narrow. That is precisely the uncertainty the CLARITY Act exists to remove, and precisely the uncertainty Europe has already removed for Ripple’s payments business.

Does a license move a token? Here is where the bull case and the bear case split, and both deserve a fair hearing.

The bear case is blunt: the Luxembourg license is a company milestone, not a token catalyst. Ripple’s own announcement barely mentions XRP. The approval covers Ripple’s regulated payments services, not its tokens, and MiCA runs a separate authorization track for stablecoins that RLUSD has not yet cleared. Until that happens, Ripple’s own dollar token cannot be offered to the European public, a gap rivals like Circle’s USDC do not have.

Most Ripple Payments volume today settles in RLUSD or fiat, not XRP, and where XRP does route payments across the XRP Ledger, the fees burned per transaction amount to fractions of a cent. When the preliminary CASP approval landed in June, XRP fell about 3% that week alongside the broader market. The market looked at the news and, quite rationally, did not treat it as a buy signal.

The token’s price action through 2026 supports that reading. XRP peaked near $3.65 in July 2025, closed last year around $1.90, and has spent this summer defending the $1 level, trading recently in the $1.05 to $1.13 range. None of Ripple’s regulatory wins arrested the slide, because the slide was never about Ripple. It tracked a market-wide drawdown that pulled Bitcoin below $60,000 and cut altcoins far deeper.

The bull case asks for a longer clock. Regulatory moats compound slowly. Ripple can now sell regulated crypto payments to European banks and corporates at a moment when much of its competition legally cannot, and enterprise procurement cycles that begin in 2026 produce volume in 2027 and 2028. If that volume increasingly touches the XRP Ledger, whether through On-Demand Liquidity corridors, RLUSD flows that settle on XRPL, or tokenized asset activity, the token accrues usage that exists independently of speculative sentiment.

Institutional demand channels are also open in a way they were not a year ago: spot XRP ETFs have logged roughly $1.49 billion in cumulative net inflows since launching in November 2025, and as crypto.news noted, that streak recently stretched to 8 consecutive weeks even as the price languished. Standard Chartered and JPMorgan have both projected $4 to $8.4 billion in first-year ETF inflows if the CLARITY Act passes and unlocks allocators who cannot touch unclassified assets.

The honest synthesis is that the license changes Ripple’s revenue trajectory with high confidence and XRP’s demand trajectory with low confidence. The link between the two runs through actual ledger usage, and that is a metric to watch, not a headline to trade.

The deeper pattern: Two systems, two bets Step back from Ripple and the transatlantic gap looks like two different theories of how to regulate an industry.

Europe chose comprehensiveness first. MiCA is a single rulebook, written once, applied across 30 countries, with a hard deadline and real exclusion for non-compliance. Its critics have a point: the regime’s stablecoin rules, including a blanket ban on interest and heavy bank-deposit reserve requirements, pushed the largest stablecoin issuer on earth out of the market, and the European Commission has already opened a consultation on whether parts of the framework need repair. A rulebook that excludes Tether and stalls RLUSD is not obviously optimized for growth. But it exists, it is enforceable, and a company that clears it knows exactly where it stands.

The United States chose litigation first and legislation later, maybe. The SEC’s enforcement campaign defined the rules by lawsuit, Ripple’s case being the canonical example, and the current Congress is attempting to replace that regime with statute under intense time pressure and presidential conflict-of-interest baggage that no other financial bill has ever carried. The fallback if CLARITY fails is the SEC’s administrative framework known as Regulation Crypto, which Chair Paul Atkins has described as a bridge to legislation. A bridge built by one commission can be dismantled by the next, which is exactly the problem statutes exist to solve. Similar dynamics played out in the stablecoin fight that preceded this one, where, as crypto.news reported, even a bill that eventually passed spent months hostage to fights over state versus federal authority.

For a company like Ripple, which sells to the most conservative buyers in finance, the European bet pays off immediately, and the American bet pays off only if Congress acts. Cross-border payments are also a business where network effects follow regulatory access. Japan already shows what deep institutional integration looks like, with SBI running XRP-based remittance corridors that have no real American equivalent, a story crypto.news has examined in depth. Europe is now the second major bloc where Ripple can attempt that playbook with full regulatory cover. The United States, the company’s home market, is the one place where it still cannot.

There is one more wrinkle worth naming. If the CLARITY Act does pass before the August recess, the transatlantic gap closes fast, and it closes in a way that favors assets with existing institutional plumbing. XRP would enter CFTC jurisdiction as a digital commodity with ETFs already trading, a prime brokerage arm already inside the DTCC’s clearing ecosystem, and a European license portfolio already generating regulated volume. The pieces would connect. If the bill dies, the gap becomes the story for another year at minimum, and Ripple’s center of commercial gravity keeps shifting toward jurisdictions that gave it an answer.

What to watch from here Three markers will tell the story faster than any press release.

First, RLUSD’s European stablecoin authorization. The EMI license gives Ripple the corporate foundation to seek approval for its stablecoin under MiCA’s separate e-money token rules. Until that clears, the most natural settlement asset in Ripple’s European stack stays off the shelf for public offering, and the license story remains half finished.

Second, disclosed European client wins. Licenses are permission, not demand. The proof that regulatory certainty converts into business will arrive as named banks, payment providers, and corporates routing volume through Ripple Payments in the EEA. Watch for whether those announcements specify XRPL settlement or quietly settle in fiat and RLUSD, because that distinction is the entire XRP investment case in miniature.

Third, the Senate floor in the last 2 weeks of July. The merged CLARITY draft, the ethics compromise or its absence, and the 7-Democrat math will determine whether the United States joins Europe in giving Ripple a rulebook or hands the company another year of asymmetry. Either outcome is informative. One of them is also tradable.

The Luxembourg license will not move XRP this week, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something. What it does is quietly settle an older argument. For years, skeptics said Ripple’s compliance-heavy strategy was expensive theater in an industry that rewarded speed over permission.

In Europe, in July 2026, permission became the product. The companies that skipped the theater are locked out of a market of 450 million people, and the company that endured 4 years of litigation from its own government is, for the moment, more welcome in Brussels than in Washington. That inversion says less about Ripple than it does about the two systems that produced it, and the next month will reveal whether the American half of the story finally catches up.

BNB Chain reported that its Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network has achieved a benchmark throughput of approximately 5,200 transactions per second (TPS) by June 2026, almost doubling its TPS from 2,800 at the beginning of the year. BNB Chain is a leading blockchain platform recognized for prioritizing scalability and speed across its ecosystem.

BSC performance improves in 2026The network reduced its block interval from 750 milliseconds to 450 milliseconds in the first half of 2026, decreasing the time users wait for new blocks to be added and resulting in faster transaction confirmations for developers and applications. BNB Chain also reported that its memory finality improved from 1,125 milliseconds to 650 milliseconds, further reducing the time required to consider transactions as finalized.

BNB Chain highlighted a significant year-to-date rise: “Block intervals: 750 ms to 450 ms, memory finality: 1,125 ms to 650 ms, benchmark throughput: 2,800 to 5,200 TPS. H2 goes further, targeting another 2x throughput increase.”

In parallel, network throughput reached the 5,200 TPS milestone, allowing the BSC to process far more transactions per second than at the start of 2026. This growth serves BNB Chain’s growing user and developer base, which requires higher performance for both decentralized applications and token transfers.

Mini dictionary: Block interval refers to the time between the creation of two consecutive blocks in a blockchain, impacting how quickly new transactions can be processed. Memory finality is the time it takes for a transaction to be confirmed as irreversible on the network.

MetricJanuary 2026June 2026Block Interval750 ms450 msMemory Finality1,125 ms650 msBenchmark TPS2,8005,200Key engineering upgrades fuel gainsBNB Chain attributed its recent performance improvements to a series of technical upgrades. Key enhancements included the Block-Level Access List (BAL), which enables transaction data to be prepared before execution, increasing efficiency and laying the groundwork for parallel processing in future updates.

Another key upgrade, Incremental Snapshot, allows new or delayed nodes—computers responsible for helping operate the blockchain—to synchronize more quickly with the active chain. Enhancements to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), known as EVM SuperInstruction, seek to reduce unnecessary repeat executions, boosting overall throughput. The introduction of Extended Voting Rules is designed to maintain transaction finality even under challenging network conditions.

Mini dictionary: BSC, or Binance Smart Chain, is a blockchain network built for running smart contract-based applications with high throughput and lower transaction fees, operating alongside Binance Chain.

H2 roadmap aims for further scalingFor the second half of 2026, BNB Chain is targeting another twofold increase in throughput on BSC’s mainnet, forming part of a broader multi-year strategy to achieve a tenfold performance boost. The roadmap outlines plans to implement BEP-675 upgrades and additional fine-tuning of the BAL to further raise network capacity.

Additional roadmap goals include more robust congestion control measures to ensure stable network performance during periods of high demand. The decision to introduce dedicated lanes aims to limit interference between different applications operating on the blockchain.

BNB Chain is also preparing new gas fee models designed for specific business segments, aiming to optimize transaction cost structures for various user groups. The team is developing a new Layer 1 chain architecture with the ambition of reaching over 100,000 TPS and achieving sub-50 millisecond transaction preconfirmation times.

Mini dictionary: BEP-675 is a proposed protocol enhancement for the BSC, aiming to optimize transaction execution and throughput by enabling improved parallel processing and resource management.

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.

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, paid Coinbase $908 million in distribution costs and revenue sharing during 2024. That figure represents roughly 54% of Circle’s total revenue for the year, making Coinbase less of a distribution partner and more of a landlord collecting majority rent.

The arrangement, formalized through a Collaboration Agreement that took effect on August 18, 2023, is approaching its first major renewal window in August 2026.

The economics of a lopsided partnership Coinbase earns 100% of the reserve interest generated on USDC held directly on its platform. For USDC held anywhere else in the world, Coinbase still collects 50% of that interest income.

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For Coinbase, stablecoin-related revenue is projected to reach approximately $1.35 billion in 2025. USDC-related activities accounted for roughly 13.8% of Coinbase’s total revenue in 2024, a figure large enough that any disruption to the partnership would show up clearly in quarterly earnings.

How we got here The current arrangement replaced a previous structure called the Centre Consortium, a joint venture that both companies operated together. When they restructured in August 2023, Circle took sole governance and issuance control of USDC.

As part of that restructuring, Coinbase also took an equity stake in Circle. The Collaboration Agreement runs on an initial three-year term through August 2026, with automatic three-year renewals that depend on performance metrics.

Coinbase’s wandering eye In June 2026, Coinbase endorsed Open USD, a rival stablecoin project. The market reaction was swift: Circle’s stock price dropped more than 17%.

What this means for investors The August 2026 renewal window is the most important date on the calendar for anyone with exposure to either company or to USDC itself. A renegotiation that shifts more revenue toward Circle would hurt Coinbase’s stablecoin income, while a deal that maintains the current structure keeps Circle’s margins under pressure.

For Coinbase investors, the $1.35 billion in projected stablecoin revenue for 2025 represents a substantial revenue stream. Stablecoin demand tends to persist even during bear markets, since traders use stablecoins to park capital, making this revenue line more resilient than Coinbase’s trading fee income.

If Coinbase actively promotes rival stablecoins on its platform, the 50% revenue share on off-platform USDC becomes less valuable as total USDC circulation potentially shrinks. Circle would then face the worst of both worlds: paying high distribution costs on a shrinking asset base.

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

Avalanche Stablecoin Supply Jumps 46% in Seven DaysAvalanche's stablecoin supply has posted one of its sharpest weekly gains on record. According to data shared by @BSCNews, the total stablecoin supply on @Avax surged 46% in just seven days, pushing the figure above $1.8 billion at time of writing. The move has lifted $AVAX into 11th place among all stablecoin networks globally, overtaking both @Plasma and @ripple's $XRP Ledger in the process.

The milestone is notable not just for its speed but for the broader trajectory it reflects. According to Token Terminal data, the combined market cap of stablecoins and tokenized funds on Avalanche climbed from roughly $1.2 billion in January 2024 to just above $2 billion in January 2026, representing a roughly 70% increase over two years. The latest weekly spike suggests that pace is now accelerating.

Institutional Momentum and Network Growth Behind the MoveThe stablecoin surge does not exist in isolation. Avalanche has been building institutional momentum across several fronts in 2026. Avalanche formally launched the Avalanche Payments Collective, an alliance of 28 major organisations including Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and Paxos, aimed at unifying stablecoin settlement, treasury infrastructure, and foreign exchange into a single blockchain-based framework spanning more than 150 countries.

Major financial institutions such as J.P. Morgan, Apollo, and Citi are also using Avalanche for real-world asset tokenization and backend infrastructure. That institutional engagement has helped attract deeper stablecoin liquidity to the network, providing a structural foundation beneath the latest supply figures.

On the technical side, Avalanche's C-Chain can process roughly 88% more transaction throughput than Ethereum while pricing transactions at approximately one-fiftieth of the cost, and it can rapidly increase block size during periods of high demand. Those performance characteristics make it a practical choice for stablecoin issuers and settlement-focused applications looking for speed and low cost.

The credit for building the infrastructure that underpins these results sits largely with the @AvaLabs team, whose continued development work has positioned Avalanche as a credible institutional-grade settlement layer heading into the second half of 2026.

Sources:
Yahoo Finance: Avalanche posts 70% surge in stablecoin and tokenized fund market cap in 2 years
VanEck: Avalanche 201, The Institutional Platform
DefiLlama: Avalanche Stablecoin Market Cap and Supply

Five Democratic senators have formally requested congressional hearings to investigate US President Donald Trump’s extensive cryptocurrency revenues and potentially undisclosed foreign involvement. The senators cited concerns regarding the influence of international investors on American policy and the possibility of national security risks.

Financial disclosures reveal massive crypto earningsThe investigation request follows Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, which reported a total income of more than $2.24 billion for the year. This included over $1.4 billion related to cryptocurrency activities. His earnings came from dealings with the memecoin sector and World Liberty Financial, a blockchain-focused financial platform.

Detailed figures in the filing attributed roughly $515 million to World Liberty Financial token sales, $65 million to an ownership stake in its parent entity, and $635 million from royalties tied to Trump-branded memecoin initiatives.

Senators Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Gary Peters (Michigan), Dick Durbin (Illinois), and Ron Wyden (Oregon) initiated the call for hearings. These five serve as senior members of various Senate committees but lack the authority to organize official hearings without Republican cooperation.

Scrutiny over UAE investment in World Liberty FinancialThe senators drew attention to a United Arab Emirates–linked company’s alleged acquisition of a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial. The transaction reportedly involved an entity connected to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the UAE’s national security adviser and an influential figure in the Gulf region.

In their correspondence, the senators demanded full transparency regarding the “Third Parties” named in Trump’s financial disclosures. They also questioned whether foreign interests—including the UAE government—have possibly influenced the shaping of US digital asset regulations.

Earlier this year, Representative Ro Khanna initiated a House inquiry into the UAE’s role, probing whether its investment related to policy changes covering US export restrictions on artificial intelligence chips. World Liberty Financial described that inquiry as politically motivated.

Trump addressed questions about these transactions in a CNBC interview, where he stated that his earnings complied fully with all laws. He said his son Eric is responsible for overseeing business operations, while outside companies manage his portfolio.

The White House maintained that Trump’s assets are contained within a trust managed by his children, a structure designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

Mini dictionary: World Liberty Financial, a blockchain-focused platform known for issuing financial instruments and crypto tokens, operates internationally and has attracted significant investments from global entities.

The senators pointed to foreign ownership stakes and demanded that Trump reveal whether any UAE government or third-party interests have shaped US cryptocurrency policies or legislation.

Upcoming crypto legislation and political falloutThe Democratic lawmakers also highlighted the timing of the anticipated Senate vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The act, aimed at clarifying the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, is set to move to the Senate floor in the coming weeks.

Senate rules require 60 votes to advance most legislation, making Democratic support essential for Republicans to overcome a filibuster and pass the bill. While some Republicans like Senator Cynthia Lummis support prompt approval, others such as House Financial Services Committee chair French Hill acknowledged that Trump’s deep involvement in cryptocurrency businesses has complicated the legislative process.

In a separate development, a law blocking the Federal Reserve from introducing a central bank digital currency until the end of 2030 has advanced. Trump did not veto the legislation or hold the planned signing event, allowing the measure to automatically become law after a ten-day period.

IssueCurrent StatusImpacted PartiesTrump’s crypto earnings$1.4 billion for 2025Trump, World Liberty FinancialUAE investment49% stake in World Liberty FinancialUAE-linked entity, Trump portfolioCBDC BanEnacted, in effect until Dec 31, 2030Federal Reserve, US consumersClarity ActAwaiting Senate voteLawmakers, crypto industryRepublicans continue to control both chambers of Congress and, so far, have not answered requests from Democratic senators to hold investigative hearings into these matters.

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.

Key Takeaways XRP registered a 1.27% gain to reach $1.10, with critical resistance positioned at $1.12 The CLARITY Act successfully cleared the House and progressed through the Senate Banking Committee A procedural Senate vote could occur during the July 13–17, 2026 window Market experts EGRAG CRYPTO and Crypto Patel both highlight $0.85–$1.20 as a strategic accumulation range XRP ETF products recorded $1.48 billion in cumulative inflows, with combined net assets reaching $989 million XRP posted gains on Friday, reaching $1.10 with a 1.27% increase while the cryptocurrency market overall expanded by 1.54% to achieve a $2.19 trillion aggregate market capitalization. Bitcoin advanced 1.48% to settle at $64,002, while Ethereum demonstrated stronger momentum with a 3.03% climb to $1,790.

XRP Price Technical analysis of the four-hour timeframe reveals purchasing activity returning to the market, though upward momentum remains constrained beneath the $1.12 resistance threshold. The Relative Strength Index registers at 47.48, positioned marginally below the neutral 50 benchmark. The MACD histogram has shifted into positive territory at 0.0018, with the MACD line executing an upward cross above the signal line, suggesting potential price recovery.

A decisive breach above $1.12 would establish a pathway toward $1.15, subsequently targeting $1.20. Conversely, $1.07 represents the critical support foundation. Should this level fail to hold, XRP faces potential downward pressure toward $1.05 or the psychologically significant $1.00 threshold.

Market analyst Celal Kucuker shared insights via Twitter, emphasizing that “smart money accumulates when everyone is bored.” His technical framework identifies $0.85–$1.20 as the accumulation territory, $1.65 as the momentum inflection point, $3–$3.50 as the macro breakout region, and establishes a cycle objective of $15. His core thesis: strategic patience outweighs reactive trading.

Most people will buy $XRP after it breaks ATHs.

Smart money accumulates when everyone is bored.

🔹$0.85–$1.20 = Accumulation
🔹$1.65 = Momentum returns
🔹$3–$3.5 = Macro breakout
🔹$15 = Cycle target

Patience pays. pic.twitter.com/fk8bt6FdH4

— Celal Kucuker (@CelalKucuker) July 11, 2026

CLARITY Act Legislative Timeline The CLARITY Act secured House approval on July 17, 2025, garnering 294 affirmative votes. The Senate Banking Committee pushed the legislation forward on May 14, 2026, through a 15-9 decision. The Senate reconvenes following its recess on July 13, with procedural voting potentially scheduled between July 13 and July 17.

House-Senate reconciliation proceedings may commence during the July 20–24 period. Should both legislative chambers approve identical versions, the legislation could land on President Trump’s desk before August concludes. Failure to meet this timeline would shift expectations to September.

Senate Democrats have voiced apprehensions regarding Trump’s cryptocurrency investments and are demanding committee hearings, pointing to potential conflict-of-interest complications connected to the CLARITY Act. The ethics component continues to represent a contentious negotiation point.

The proposed legislation would establish a comprehensive national infrastructure for digital asset commerce and oversight, distributing regulatory authority between the SEC and CFTC. Enhanced regulatory clarity could diminish ambiguity surrounding XRP’s asset classification and facilitate expanded institutional market participation.

Expert Accumulation Price Targets Cryptocurrency analyst EGRAG CRYPTO has designated $0.85–$1.20 as a historically significant macro support band. According to his assessment, XRP could retreat to $0.85 while preserving its long-term structural integrity. His price objectives include $1.65 for momentum confirmation, $3.00–$3.50 as substantial resistance barriers, and $15 as the complete cycle destination.

#XRP – BENT FORK 🍴 – $15 (Accumulation Band):

Right now, $XRP is sitting near the historical accumulation band around:

▫️ $0.85–$1.20

This zone has acted as macro support in previous cycles.

Can $XRP wick lower toward $0.85? Yes.

But as long as this band holds, the macro… pic.twitter.com/LQ6mMPdcUb

— EGRAG CRYPTO (@egragcrypto) July 10, 2026

Analyst Crypto Patel establishes the accumulation window between $0.70 and $1.10. His MACD technical evaluation indicates an emerging bullish crossover pattern. Patel referenced comparable technical configurations that preceded price surges exceeding 1,000%, projecting a trajectory toward $9 or beyond if XRP maintains present support levels and penetrates the $3 threshold.

Regarding exchange-traded fund developments, XRP products registered zero net daily inflows on July 9. Aggregate inflows total $1.48 billion, while combined net assets measure $989.46 million. Bitwise commands the leading position with $308.15 million in assets under management, trailed by Canary at $252.97 million and Franklin at $249.54 million.

Ripple (XRP) price is up slightly by 0.02% today, July 11, to trade at $1.10 at the time of writing. The slight gain comes as trading volumes cool into the weekend, with CoinMarketCap showing that XRP’s volume are down by 25% to $762 million.

Traders are now bracing for volatility in the coming week with the CLARITY Act coming back in focus as the US Congress resumes sessions on July 13 after the July 4 recess.

Congress Schedules CLARITY Act Hearing Data from the US Congress website shows that the House Financial Services Committee will have a field hearing in New York regarding the CLARITY Act on July 17.

CLARITY Act Hearing This hearing was even confirmed by Congressman French Hill during an interview with FOX, where he said that lawmakers want to ensure that CLARITY can be merged with old legislation.

“We’ve got to get this market framework in place to be combined with the GENIUS Act”,” Hill said.

The Congressman’s remarks come after a CoinGape report revealed that the final draft for the CLARITY Act could drop between July 13 and July 17 and potentially move the XRP price.

Pro-crypto senators like Cynthia Lummis say that this final draft will be the last chance that the CLARITY Act has to pass before the mid-term elections happen in November.

The resumption of the US Senate from the July 4 holiday recess has also caused a slight increase in the odds of the CLARITY Act being approved from 40% on July 8 to 44% today, July 11.

XRP Price Eyes Wedge Breakout as Bearish Momentum Fades The price of XRP trades within a falling wedge pattern. This pattern has a depth of 22%, and it usually appears when the trend is about to change from a bearish one to a bullish one.

The RSI reading of 47 also suggests that bears might be losing their grip. This RSO has moved from 32 on June 30 to 47 on July 11, suggesting that buyers are slowly replacing sellers.

This RSI needs to make a higher high above 50 to confirm that the momentum has changed to bullish.

XRP value faces resistance at $1.16. Moving above this obstacle could pave the way for a 22% gain to $1.42.

XRP Price Chart But if XRP fails to close above $1.16, bears might force it back into consolidation within the falling wedge pattern, and the price could drop to the support of $1.03.

XRP Ledger Activity Hits Rare Lows SWIFT recently partnered with several banks affiliated with Ripple, but that did not increase network activity like is usually the case.

Instead, data from Santiment shows that the level of activity on the XRP Ledger is at the second-lowest level in 2026.

XRP Ledger saw only 25,350 active wallets on July 11 and 2,130 new wallets.

The number of new wallets on XRP Ledger is at the lowest point since November 2024, with Santiment saying that buyers are hesitating until there is a real catalyst that can push the price up.

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The sheer scale of Ethereum’s energy reduction after The Merge is no longer just a community talking point — it now has the weight of a Cambridge audit behind it. The latest figures from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) put annual electricity use at just 7.87 GWh, a decline of more than 99.9%. Emissions have followed a similarly dramatic path downward, settling around 2.37 ktCO₂e annually. For a network that once drew comparisons to medium-sized countries, the numbers represent a complete re‑write of the environmental script.

But the report, built from an infrastructure audit of roughly 8,522 nodes, doesn’t stop at the headline drop. It surfaces a structural reality that market participants and regulators will need to weigh carefully: how the network’s remaining footprint is distributed and who ultimately controls the hardware.

The numbers that reset the conversation Before The Merge, Ethereum’s proof‑of‑work consensus consumed power at a level that made institutional ESG committees uncomfortable. The 99.9% cut changes the calculus for any fund or corporate treasury that had dismissed ether exposure on environmental grounds. The CCAF’s estimate of 56.4% sustainable electricity sourcing further strengthens a story that is increasingly about grid mix rather than the consensus mechanism itself. That subtlety matters because it shifts the burden of scrutiny from the protocol to the geographies where validators operate.

The emissions figure — roughly 2.37 kilotonnes of CO₂‑equivalent — is so low that it practically invites comparisons to small‑scale data centre operations rather than global financial infrastructure. And yet, Ethereum’s developer activity remains among the highest in the industry, as recent ecosystem metrics continue to show. That gap between environmental cost and economic output is precisely the kind of metric that draws serious institutional capital over time.

Provider concentration and geographic clustering The audit’s infrastructure mapping is where the comfort zone narrows. The United States, Germany, Finland, and France host approximately 62% of Ethereum full nodes. Even more concentrated is the service provider layer: Hetzner, Amazon Web Services, and OVH together run roughly 40% of all nodes the researchers examined. For a network that prizes decentralisation as a security property, that level of physical co‑location on a small set of commercial cloud operators raises non‑trivial tail‑risk questions.

A coordinated outage or a regulatory intervention at one of those providers could temporarily reshape network participation. The Dencun upgrade cycle has already sharpened the focus on client diversity; node hosting geography now joins that conversation. The CCAF data makes it explicit that the environmental victory is partly built on layers that are not themselves permissionless.

What the shift means for institutional positioning ESG dynamics in crypto have often been reduced to a binary: Bitcoin’s energy hunger versus everything else. The Cambridge study gives asset allocators a concrete figure to slot into sustainability reports. It also arrives at a moment when on‑chain real‑world asset volumes are swelling beyond $20 billion, a trend documented in a recent tokenisation roundup. Most of that activity lives on Ethereum or its layer‑2 networks, meaning the updated energy footprint directly undercuts a longstanding objection to deploying regulated instruments on public rails.

Policymakers in Washington have been wrestling with crypto market structure legislation, and banking interests are pushing against a landmark Senate bill that could reshape the regulatory perimeter. In that context, verifiable environmental data is not decorative — it is ammunition. A network that can demonstrate a 99.9% energy reduction with audited, third‑party data is harder to dismiss on the basis of vague climate concerns.

What remains uncertain The CCAF report rightly emphasises that the remaining footprint is now a function of local grid carbon intensity. That implies energy‑mix volatility: a shift in the sourcing profile of a single large cloud region could measurably change Ethereum’s overall environmental scorecard. The research does not, however, model how liquid staking protocols or restaking layers might redistribute the validator set across providers and jurisdictions over the next 12 months. The interaction between infrastructure concentration and the rapid evolution of the staking industry is still poorly mapped.

Nor does the report address the energy footprint of layer‑2 rollups posting blobs to mainnet, an increasingly relevant variable as activity migrates off the base layer. For now, the headline is clear: Ethereum’s energy era has ended. The harder conversation about who runs the nodes and where they plug in is just beginning.

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With over five years of experience in crypto, blockchain, and tech content, Ishtiyaq makes complex topics easy to understand. He simplifies blockchain and digital currency concepts for a wide audience, ensuring that beginners and experts alike can grasp key ideas. His clear and engaging writing helps readers stay informed about the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the crypto space. Whether explaining blockchain technology, digital assets, or DeFi, Ishtiyaq breaks down complicated ideas into simple, digestible content. His goal is to help people navigate the fast-changing world of cryptocurrency with confidence, clarity, and a deeper understanding.

Hedera’s native token HBAR has fallen more than 2% after blockchain security researchers reported that a suspected exploit had moved more than $5.8 million in assets from the Hedera network to Ethereum.

Summary

Suspected Hedera exploit moved more than $5.8 million in assets to Ethereum, according to blockchain security researchers. Specter and PeckShield said the attacker bridged funds through LayerZero before swapping WBTC for ETH. HBAR fell more than 2%, trading near $0.069 as the reported exploit unfolded. According to blockchain security researcher Specter, the suspected attacker had already bridged more than $3.7 million worth of assets from Hedera to Ethereum before continuing to move additional funds.

There appears to be an ongoing hack involving @hedera Network, with over $3.7M already bridged to Ethereum by the attacker.

The stolen funds are currently being swapped from WBTC for ETH after being bridged from the Hedera network via Layerzero.

Theft addresses:… pic.twitter.com/KSxd3K2vlu

— Specter (@SpecterAnalyst) July 11, 2026 Specter said the stolen assets were being swapped from Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) into Ether (ETH) after crossing chains through LayerZero. The researcher also published two wallet addresses believed to be linked to the incident.

At the time of writing, CryptoBull360 reported that the wallet’s estimated value had increased to roughly $5.8 million, indicating that more assets had reached Ethereum after the initial transfers. The shared wallet data showed holdings of about 3,203 ETH, representing nearly 80% of the portfolio, alongside roughly 20% in WBTC.

According to data from crypto.news, Hedera (HBAR) price traded around $0.069, down more than 2% following the reports of the suspected exploit.

Cross-chain transfers have continued after the initial breach As additional transactions appeared on-chain, blockchain security firm PeckShield said the suspected exploit had already transferred approximately $5.25 million from the Hedera mainnet to Ethereum. The firm added that the wallet held around 2,360 ETH, valued at roughly $4.25 million, and 15.58 WBTC, worth about $1 million, at the time of its analysis.

PeckShield also reported that the wallet had originally been funded with 1 ETH from Tornado Cash, citing on-chain transaction history. The observation identifies the source of the wallet’s initial funding but does not establish who controls the address or who carried out the alleged attack.

The wallet screenshots shared by both Specter and PeckShield showed a series of inbound transfers arriving within a short period before the assets were converted into ETH.

Investigation remains ongoing as official details are limited Neither Specter nor PeckShield identified the party responsible for the suspected exploit, and no official estimate of the total losses had been released at the time of writing. The reported value of the stolen assets continued to change as additional funds were observed moving through the wallet.

The incident is still developing, with blockchain security researchers continuing to monitor the addresses and publish updates as new transactions appear on-chain. Meanwhile, market participants are watching for an official statement from the Hedera team regarding the reported exploit and any measures taken to contain its impact.

The Hedera incident comes amid a series of security-related developments reported by crypto.news in recent weeks. Blockaid recently said it detected an active exploit targeting Summer.fi, estimating losses of about $6 million at the time of its alert.

Separately, Ctrl Wallet announced it will permanently shut down after a security exploit affecting some Cardano wallets, giving users until Aug. 3 to withdraw their assets. Meanwhile, crypto.news also reported that Secret Network has proposed migrating SCRT from Cosmos to Arbitrum, with the team citing security risks, weaker liquidity, and an aging codebase in its July 7 governance proposal.

Hedera-based lending protocol Bonzo Lend lost about $9 million after an attacker manipulated the price of SAUCE used as collateral, allowing the account to borrow assets far beyond the value deposited.

In a preliminary incident report published Saturday, Bonzo said the attacker deposited 250 SAUCE, worth only a few dollars, before submitting a price update that inflated the token’s value by roughly 12 orders of magnitude. The wallet then borrowed 6.63 million USDC and 34.5 million wrapped HBAR from the lending pool.

The case illustrates how oracle failures can turn low-value collateral into a tool for draining large amounts of liquidity from lending protocols, even when the application and underlying network continue operating as designed. 

Bonzo attributed the incident to a flaw in Supra’s on-chain oracle verifier, which accepted a manipulated SAUCE price carrying a zeroed signature. The protocol said Supra acknowledged the issue and deployed a fix, while stressing that the incident was not a vulnerability in Bonzo Lend’s contracts or Hedera’s core network.

Estimated economic impact of the incident. Source: Bonzo Finance

DeFi hacks continue to pressure the sector The incident adds to a growing number of exploits targeting decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in 2026. 

The second quarter had become the most-hacked quarter on record by incident count, with 83 exploits and about $755 million stolen. Cross-chain bridge exploits accounted for $351 million, while compromised administrator attacks and fake token price manipulation represented 37% of quarterly losses. 

In 2026, DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) had fallen 39% to over $70 billion in June from about $115 billion in January. CryptoRank recorded 121 hacks and roughly $942 million in losses over the period, saying repeated security incidents likely weighed on user confidence and reinforced capital outflows.

The Bonzo incident also follows a similar collateral-pricing exploit on Stellar. In February, attackers drained roughly $10 million from a YieldBlox DAO-managed lending pool after manipulating the price path used to value USTRY collateral, allowing them to borrow assets beyond the token’s real worth. 

Magazine: Will the crypto lobby's $189M campaign get CLARITY over the line?

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Uniswap just crossed $1 billion in cumulative trading volume on Robinhood Chain. It took nine days.

To put that in perspective, the chain’s public mainnet launched around July 1, and by July 10 the leading decentralized exchange had already processed a billion dollars in trades. Daily active traders surpassed 220,000 during the same stretch.

The numbers behind the surge The trajectory was steep from the start. Uniswap racked up roughly $250 million in trading volume during its first week on Robinhood Chain, then saw a single-day explosion to approximately $500 million on July 8. That one-day spike ranked the chain’s Uniswap activity second only to Ethereum mainnet.

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Uniswap’s total value locked on Robinhood Chain topped $30 million by July 10. The broader chain’s TVL cleared $106 million during the same window.

All four of Uniswap’s protocol versions, v2, v3, v4, and UniswapX, were live from day one as the primary public automated market maker.

The trading activity wasn’t driven by a single catalyst. Two categories dominated: tokenized stocks and memecoins.

Why Robinhood Chain matters for DeFi Robinhood Chain is built on Arbitrum’s Layer 2 technology, giving it 100-millisecond block times.

The UNI governance token responded accordingly, climbing as much as 14% during the volume surge.

What this means for investors The tokenized stocks angle deserves particular attention. If traders on Robinhood Chain can seamlessly swap between memecoins and tokenized equities using the same DEX interface, that blurs the line between traditional brokerage services and DeFi in ways regulators will almost certainly want to examine.

The $106 million in total chain TVL is still modest compared to established L2s like Arbitrum One or Base, which hold billions.

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

Pendle just made cross-chain DeFi a whole lot less painful. The yield-trading protocol announced a full upgrade to BungeeExchange V3, bringing faster routing, lower fees, and a feature that sounds almost too convenient: single-click cross-chain token swaps that don’t require users to hold native gas tokens on the destination chain.

In English: you can now swap any token on any chain directly into Pendle’s principal tokens (PT) or yield tokens (YT) without first scrambling to acquire ETH, MATIC, or whatever gas currency the receiving network demands. The protocol picks up that tab automatically.

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What the upgrade actually changes Bungee, powered by SOCKET infrastructure, functions as a bridge aggregator, scanning multiple bridges and DEX routes to find the cheapest and fastest path for a swap. Pendle describes it as “the most powerful bridge aggregator,” and the numbers offer some backing for that claim: Bungee has facilitated over $25 billion in cumulative transaction volume across its lifetime.

The V3 upgrade specifically improves three areas. Routing speed has been enhanced, meaning the protocol can find optimal swap paths more quickly. Transaction fees have been reduced, though Pendle hasn’t disclosed specific percentage improvements. And the gasless execution feature eliminates what has long been one of the most annoying onboarding hurdles in multi-chain DeFi.

Why Pendle is betting big on cross-chain Pendle’s core product lets users split yield-bearing assets into two components: principal tokens (PT) and yield tokens (YT). PT represents the underlying asset’s value at maturity, while YT captures the yield generated over a given period.

By embedding a bridge aggregator directly into the swap flow, Pendle removes the multi-step process that previously required users to leave the platform, bridge manually, and return. The entire journey from holding Token A on Chain X to holding PT or YT on Chain Y now happens in one click.

Prior to this upgrade, community-built tools had already started enabling PT token trading through Bungee’s SOCKET infrastructure. The V3 release formalizes and expands that functionality.

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

Hyperliquid announces the launch of contract trading for the meme coin CASHCAT on Robinhood Chain, with support for up to 3x leverage.

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CASHCAT's market capitalization briefly surpassed $200 million, surging over 22% intraday.

Per GMGN market data, CASHCAT, a meme coin on Robinhood Chain, briefly hit an all-time high in market capitalization, currently trading at $200 million with an intraday increase of over 20%. Meme coins are highly volatile, so investors should exercise caution regarding associated risks.

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The White House confirms Trump has 'emptied' the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The White House confirmed on the 10th that U.S. President Donald Trump has removed two incumbent members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission from their posts. In a statement sent to media on the same day, the White House said the president "reserves the right to remove relevant personnel who may not be fully committed to safeguarding U.S. election security and ensuring every legal vote is counted." The statement did not give a specific reason for Trump's move. However, U.S. media reported that the Election Assistance Commission had rejected an executive order signed by Trump, which required voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship on the national voter registration form. (Xinhua News Agency)

11 minutes ago

A crypto whale shorted Ethereum (ETH) with 25x leverage, holding a position worth $12.43 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale deposited approximately $500,000 into Hyperliquid to open a short position of 6,914 ETH (valued at $12.43 million) with 25x leverage. The entry price was $1,790.36, liquidation price stands at $1,825.58. The position currently has an unrealized loss of around $50,700, with only a 1.55% gap to liquidation.

11 minutes ago

A trader has earned more than $1 million in profits on CASHCAT, achieving a staggering return of up to 1183 times.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, a trader has reaped over $1 million in profits from CASHCAT. The trader spent 0.49 ETH (valued at $838) to purchase 15.04 million CASHCAT tokens, then sold them for 580 ETH (worth $1.04 million), generating a profit of over $1 million (a 1183x return). Had the trader held the tokens until now, the profit would have reached $2.9 million.

11 minutes ago

A crypto whale bought the dip, acquiring 14,007 ETH valued at approximately $25.18 million.

According to monitoring by OnchainLens, a whale purchased 14,007 ETH at an average price of $1,798, with a total value of approximately $25.1 million.

11 minutes ago

After weeks of watching money walk out the door, US spot Bitcoin ETFs finally caught a break. On June 12, roughly $86 million flowed back into the funds, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) doing most of the heavy lifting.

IBIT alone pulled in approximately $57.7 million of that total, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the day’s inflows. In Bitcoin terms, the collective haul translated to about 1,350 BTC purchased across all spot ETFs, with IBIT responsible for roughly 907 of those coins.

The $86 million came after a stretch of more than $1.67 billion in net outflows from Bitcoin ETFs.

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BlackRock’s growing Bitcoin empire IBIT isn’t just the biggest Bitcoin ETF. The fund now holds over $46 billion in assets under management.

BlackRock recently launched BITA, a Bitcoin Income ETF designed to generate yield from Bitcoin exposure.

What this means for investors The single-day inflow reversal carries a few implications worth unpacking for anyone with skin in the Bitcoin game.

First, institutional demand hasn’t evaporated. BlackRock’s $57.7 million purchase on a single day suggests otherwise.

Third, BlackRock’s expansion into yield-generating Bitcoin products like BITA signals that the firm is building infrastructure for long-term holders, not just speculators chasing momentum.

One green day doesn’t constitute a trend reversal. A single $86 million inflow following $1.67 billion in outflows is encouraging but mathematically modest. That’s about 5% of the outflow recouped in a day.

IBIT’s dominance in capturing nearly two-thirds of the day’s inflows suggests that capital is consolidating around the BlackRock brand.

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

Cardano has emerged as one of the most active networks in blockchain development, recording 233 GitHub code commits over the past seven days. This activity placed Cardano among the leading Layer-1 projects according to data from Token Terminal, which showed that the network accounted for approximately 6.2% of all code contributions across Layer-1 blockchains, a segment that gathered a total of 3,700 commits during this period.

Rising Developer Activity and Ecosystem GrowthEverstake, a prominent staking service provider, recognized Cardano as having one of the most stable foundations in the cryptocurrency sector. The company highlighted increasing engagement from developers, improved project metrics, and sustained ecosystem expansion as factors that could push Cardano back into the ranking of the world’s top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Despite Cardano’s smaller market cap compared to some major competitors, the project continues to maintain strong interest from the developer community. Such activity is seen as a significant indicator of potential network growth and innovation.

Ongoing developer engagement, ecosystem expansion, and improved on-chain metrics may support Cardano’s efforts to reclaim a spot among the top ten digital assets.

Analysis of weekly activity showed that Cardano’s development efforts were not uniformly distributed. The number of code commits began relatively high on July 2, tapered to a low point by July 4, then rose sharply to reach the week’s peak on July 6 before leveling off. This pattern of fluctuations corresponds with open-source development cycles, where activity often varies depending on scheduled releases and coordinated team efforts.

Notably, despite these mid-week dips, the network’s daily commits did not fall below previous weekly lows, highlighting persistent developer commitment. Similar trends were also observed in other leading Layer-1 blockchain networks during the week.

BlockchainWeekly Code CommitsShare of Total (%)Cardano2336.2Other Layer-1s (aggregate)3,46793.8Total3,700100Cardano Foundation Advances Governance InitiativesBeyond development statistics, Cardano has been advancing its governance structure. The Cardano Foundation, a non-profit supporting the Cardano protocol, is developing an open, off-chain discussion forum to encourage better collaboration among governance participants. This initiative follows the adoption of the Cardano Constitution, scheduled for implementation in February 2025.

Foundation representatives described the importance of building a transparent and inclusive platform that allows verified users to interact through identity credentials tied to on-chain data. Features under consideration include independent moderation, publicly accessible communication channels, and compliance with open standards for interoperability.

The proposed forum would support separate spaces for ADA token holders, Delegated Representatives (DReps), proposal authors, and committee members. Optional user profiles could include individuals’ voting records and declared governance interests, aiming to improve transparency and stakeholder engagement.

The foundation suggested that selecting the platform for this forum could be achieved via on-chain voting, reflecting Cardano’s ongoing move toward decentralized decision-making and active community involvement.

Mini dictionary: Cardano Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the Cardano blockchain ecosystem, facilitates sustainable development, governance initiatives, and educational programs to foster ecosystem growth.

Cardano’s governance system continues to evolve as the foundation explores new platforms for community discussion and transparent voting, aiming for a more advanced phase of decentralized oversight.

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.

Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

The official Shiba Inu (SHIB) token account on X, which has an audience of 3.8 million followers, has suddenly shifted away from its usual focus. Instead of covering the SHIB token and the development of its own ecosystem, the project's media infrastructure has begun actively promoting third-party meme tokens with extremely low market capitalizations.

Two unusual posts appeared on the profile one after another. In a reply beneath another account's post, the Shiba Inu account left a brief comment openly claiming that a new, little-known frog-themed token was superior to PEPE, a genuinely major project. The post it replied to included the micro-token's smart contract address.

Official X account of Shiba Inu (SHIB) cryptocurrency project, Source: XShortly afterward, another promotional reply appeared on the account, this time supporting a third-party meme coin launchpad and its native token. The publication was presented in SHIB's signature style, including grandiose slogans about a "mission to save meme culture" and emojis.

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The attention economy and three possible scenariosAmid fierce competition for liquidity, particularly during the summer slump, the entire crypto industry operates according to the rules of the attention economy. Major projects usually try to keep their audience focused on their own products rather than direct valuable traffic toward third-party assets, especially competing meme tokens.

The promotion of micro-cap assets to an audience of 3.8 million followers by a multibillion-dollar giant appears highly unusual and fits three possible scenarios:

Because this third-party launchpad has appeared in Shiba Inu's feed more than once, the publications may be part of an official commercial agreement. However, this raises the question of why the account's management would deliberately dilute its community's attention to promote highly speculative assets.It is also possible that individual SHIB developers or managers with access to the main account decided to monetize the project's enormous audience for personal gain.The possibility of an account compromise also cannot be ruled out. Publishing contract addresses in replies and encouraging users to buy new tokens are classic warning signs of a hacker attack.  You Might Also Like

At the time of publication, official ecosystem representatives, including lead developer Shytoshi Kusama, had not commented on the situation. Until the context of these publications is clarified, SHIB investors and holders should exercise extreme caution and avoid rushing to follow links posted through the project's account.

Ethena’s synthetic dollar token USDe has accumulated $323.7 million in deposits on the Morpho lending protocol in under four weeks. The number represents a substantial jump from the $225 million to $235 million in Ethena-related total value locked on Morpho that was recorded between March and April 2026. In other words, deposits have grown by roughly 40% in a matter of weeks.

What’s actually driving the growth Morpho’s integration with Ethena dates back to March 2024. That early partnership gave the protocol a head start in building curated lending markets around USDe and its staked counterpart, sUSDe. The staked version acts as productive collateral, meaning it generates yield while simultaneously backing borrowing positions.

In June 2026, Coinbase launched a high-yield USDC vault on Morpho that leverages USDe, giving retail users access to lending strategies that were previously the domain of institutional desks. Ethena has also been strategically allocating its backing assets, including USDT, into Morpho vaults. When the issuer of a synthetic dollar is actively deploying its reserves into the same protocol where users are depositing, it creates a self-reinforcing loop of liquidity and confidence.

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The bigger picture for USDe supply Ethena’s total USDe supply has stabilized between $4.5 billion and $6 billion in 2026. The token previously peaked above $10 billion, meaning current supply levels still represent a roughly 40% to 55% drawdown from all-time highs.

USDe maintains its dollar peg through a delta-neutral strategy: Ethena holds spot crypto positions and simultaneously shorts equivalent futures contracts. The spread between those positions generates yield. When funding rates are positive, this works well; when they’re not, it gets complicated.

Ethena forged a partnership with Janus Henderson in June 2026, bringing traditional asset management credibility to a protocol that lives entirely on-chain.

What this means for DeFi investors The Coinbase USDC vault integration creates a bridge between traditional stablecoin holders and USDe’s yield mechanics. Users deposit USDC, the vault strategy interacts with USDe on Morpho, and retail participants capture returns they couldn’t easily access before.

USDe’s yield depends on funding rates remaining positive across perpetual futures markets. During sustained bearish periods, those rates can flip negative, compressing or eliminating the protocol’s yield advantage. Ethena’s decision to diversify backing assets by deploying USDT into Morpho vaults reflects an awareness of concentration risk.

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

Strive CEO Matt Cole just said something you almost never hear from a corporate Bitcoin maximalist: he’s willing to sell.

Cole confirmed that Strive is open to offloading Bitcoin if doing so benefits shareholders, even as the firm commits to being a net buyer of the asset over time. The goal, Cole says, is to outperform Bitcoin itself, not just hold it and hope.

Nearly 20,000 BTC and counting Strive, which trades on Nasdaq under the ticker ASST, held 19,882 BTC as of early July 2026. That puts it among the top 10 public corporate holders of Bitcoin globally.

The accumulation has been swift. The company’s stash grew from roughly 5,000 BTC in fall 2025 to nearly four times that amount through a combination of equity raises and structured financial instruments. In early June 2026 alone, Strive scooped up 2,500 BTC for $185 million.

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Strive carries zero debt. No encumbered holdings. Cole has emphasized that Strive’s balance sheet could theoretically survive Bitcoin dropping to $0.01.

The firm also holds enough reserves to cover 18 months of dividend obligations.

The preferred stock play One of the more interesting tools in Strive’s toolkit is its Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock, trading under the ticker SATA. The instrument currently yields a 13% dividend rate.

Rather than selling Bitcoin to fund operations or pay dividends, Strive uses structured products like SATA to generate capital. That capital then gets deployed to buy more Bitcoin, amplifying the amount of BTC attributable to each common share.

Cole has also set a base case Bitcoin price target of $120,000 by year-end 2026. The firm wants to generate alpha over a simple buy-and-hold Bitcoin strategy. Cole’s background managing large fixed-income portfolios is clearly influencing how he thinks about Bitcoin treasury management, treating Bitcoin as the benchmark against which all capital allocation decisions are measured.

Acquiring the competition Strive made waves earlier by acquiring Semler Scientific, becoming the first public Bitcoin treasury company to buy another listed Bitcoin treasury business.

By absorbing Semler Scientific’s Bitcoin holdings and operations, Strive increased its total BTC position without relying solely on open-market purchases or additional equity raises.

What this means for investors The debt-free approach stands out in a market where several Bitcoin treasury companies have taken on significant leverage. If Bitcoin were to experience a sharp correction, the leveraged players would face margin calls and forced liquidations. Strive’s structure is designed to avoid that entirely.

The 13% yield on SATA preferred stock deserves scrutiny as well. A double-digit yield from a company whose primary asset is a volatile cryptocurrency should raise questions about sustainability, even with the current buffer of 18 months of dividend coverage. Investors should watch whether Strive can maintain that payout without eventually being forced to sell Bitcoin at inopportune times, which would undermine the entire “net buyer” thesis that Cole is pitching.

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

Ripple released roughly $1 billion worth of XRP from its escrow this week, an amount large enough to catch the attention of traders watching the token’s price action closely.

Asked how to interpret the timing, given XRP’s recent price weakness, one analyst pushed back on the idea that the unlock signals anything unusual. “This is just the standard playbook for Ripple. We’ve seen this for years,” the analyst said, describing it as part of a broader redistribution of XRP into the hands of people who will actually use the underlying technology.

Ripple unlocks roughly 1 billion XRP tokens from its escrow, every single month. On a high-volume month, the company typically sells between 180 million and 300 million tokens, while Ripple typically relocks 70 to 80 percent of that supply right back into escrow. “It’s not as if Ripple sees the writing on the wall,” the analyst said. “This is standard business practice for the company.”

The bank narrative behind the numbers

The analyst pointed to a bigger story developing alongside the CLARITY Act, the PACE Act, separate legislation that could give Ripple direct access to the Federal Reserve system, too. Citing a previous interview, the analyst argued Ripple has “every incentive in the world” to lock up its remaining escrow and use it as collateral to become the first digital bank chartered in the United States.

A co-host on the discussion noted the relock percentage matters for gauging Ripple’s intent. A 90 percent relock this month would show Ripple is flush with capital, he said, pointing to active ETF inflows and corporate revenue as signs the company does not need to dilute the market by selling more tokens than necessary.

Reading the charts

Beyond the unlock, the hosts flagged a possible technical catalyst: XRP may be breaking out of a year-long descending channel, a move they said could align with historically favorable seasonal trends for the token heading into the fall.

Story Ends Here

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Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

According to recent data from Ripple Stablecoin Tracker, Ripple USD (RLUSD) supply on the Ethereum network has shrunk to about $692 million as Ripple continues to adjust the stablecoin's circulating supply through token burns.

At the start of July, RLUSD supply on Ethereum was above $727 million; now this figure has decreased, with millions in Ripple USD burned on the Ethereum network in the last seven days.

$115.4 million was burned on the Ethereum blockchain in the last seven days as seen on the Ripple Stablecoin Tracker website, while $49.3 million was minted in the same timeframe. On July 29 alone, $25.9 million was burned on the Ethereum blockchain while $6.2 million in RLUSD was minted.

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The last 30 days saw significant RLUSD redemptions on the Ethereum blockchain; a total of $369.4 million was burned while $167.6 million was minted.

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On the XRP Ledger, a total of $324.1 million was minted in the last 30 days and $217.6 million was burned. The total circulating supply of the RLUSD stablecoin is currently $1.556 billion.

RLUSD expands footprint on XRP LedgerWith RLUSD supply on Ethereum shrinking to $692 million, XRP Ledger remains ahead, hosting more RLUSD than Ethereum network. RLUSD's footprint on XRP has increased significantly, overtaking Ethereum supply for the first time in June.

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RLUSD in circulation on the XRP Ledger grew from roughly $20 million at the end of 2024 to about $800 million by late June 2026, which is a 40-fold rise, with the largest increase occurring in May and June 2026.

Ripple USD is currently one of the most-traded issued assets on XRP. Its share of all on-chain trading climbed from under 1% to about 12% in 2026, and the RLUSD/XRP pair alone has cleared roughly $900 million over the last six months.

This week, Ripple received authorization of its Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license from Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). The authorization confirms Ripple as fully MiCA-compliant, with its solutions underpinned by XRP and RLUSD made available to financial institutions, corporates and businesses across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area.