Uniswap plans to implement protocol fees for select v4 pools for the first time, with an on-chain vote scheduled for this Sunday.
Uniswap is set to roll out protocol fees on select v4 liquidity pools for the first time, as two proposals move to a final on-chain vote this Sunday. The proposals include activating protocol fees for Uniswap v4 liquidity pools across seven blockchains, and simultaneously enabling protocol fees for Uniswap v2 and v3 liquidity pools on Robinhood Chain. Since July 1, Uniswap’s cumulative swap volume on Robinhood Chain has surpassed $6 billion.
7 hours ago
Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Memorandum of Understanding does not allow the US to open an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to CCTV News, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the 18th local time that Article 5 of the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) prohibits the US from establishing an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-US MoU is based on mutual commitments between the two countries, and as long as the US fulfills its pledges, Iran will abide by its own commitments.
7 hours ago
Binance Wallet now supports multiple Launchpad filtering features on the Robinhood Chain.
According to official announcements, Binance Wallet’s Meme Rush now supports filtering for multiple Launchpad projects on Robinhood Chain, including Virtuals Protocol, Flap, and Bankr. Additionally, users can now track tokens across BSC, Solana, Ethereum (ETH), Base, and Robinhood Chain simultaneously via Meme Rush, allowing them to grasp multi-chain market dynamics and popular trends in a unified feed.
7 hours ago
Next Week's Macro Outlook: Federal Reserve Blackout Period Coincides With Earnings Season, ECB Decisions Take Center Stage
As US-Iran tensions continue to evolve, the Federal Reserve will enter its pre-meeting blackout period next week, with no major US data releases that could influence its rate-setting meeting. Traders will turn their focus to Europe. Below are the key market focus points for the coming week (all times Beijing): - Tuesday 20:15: US ADP employment change for the week ended July 4 - Thursday 20:15: European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision - Thursday 20:45: ECB President Lagarde holds a monetary policy press conference - Friday 07:30: Japan’s June core CPI year-on-year rate Dozens of companies will release their Q2 earnings next week. Tesla will announce its earnings in the early hours of Thursday, July 23 (Beijing time); BlackRock will release its results ahead of US stock market opening on July 23 (Beijing time); Intel will report earnings in the early hours of Friday, July 24 (Beijing time).
7 hours ago
A whale transferred 19,235 ETH to Binance, worth approximately $35.34 million.
According to YuEmber monitoring, geministar.eth transferred 19,235 ETH (worth approximately $35.34 million) to Binance 15 minutes ago.
7 hours ago
Robinhood addresses controversy: Its support for Trump’s account is aimed at inclusive finance, not to encourage gambling-style trading.
According to The New York Times, as Robinhood integrates prediction markets into its app, external concerns have grown over the platform’s potential to exploit young, inexperienced investors. Additionally, many still associate Robinhood with the meme stock craze that swept markets years ago, and the firm was a key driver of that phenomenon. Today, Robinhood aims to be seen as more than those labels. The company has become one of the entities operating the Trump Accounts program, which gives Robinhood the chance to build closer ties with the next generation of investors while further strengthening its relationship with Washington’s political establishment. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded that the move is not to encourage speculation, but to expand financial inclusion and help more U.S. households participate in long-term investing. Currently, Robinhood has adjusted some product designs and is working to transition from a “speculative trading platform” to a broader financial services firm.
Uniswap is about to flip the fee switch on its newest protocol version, and the community seems pretty enthusiastic about it. On-chain voting for two proposals that would activate protocol fees on select v4 pools across 11 chains is set to begin around July 19, 2026, following a temperature check where 93% of voters backed the move.
That temperature check, which ran from July 7-12, saw 13.9 million UNI vote in favor versus just 1 million against.
What the fee activation actually looks like The proposal targets three specific categories of v4 pools: static fee pools without hooks, continuous clearing auction pools, and aggregator hook pools. If you’re wondering what hooks are, think of them as customizable plug-ins that let developers tweak how liquidity pools behave. Uniswap v4, which launched on January 31, 2025, introduced this modular architecture as its signature feature.
The fee structures aren’t uniform across all pools. On Base, stablecoin pools would carry a 10 basis point fee. Certain aggregator hooks would get a 25x multiplier applied. The collected fees won’t just sit around on whatever chain they’re generated on. They’ll funnel into what Uniswap calls TokenJars on their respective chains before being bridged back to Ethereum.
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Once those fees land on Ethereum, they get directed to the 0xdead address for permanent burning, reducing total supply.
This isn’t Uniswap’s first rodeo with fee-driven burns. The December 2025 UNIfication vote initiated protocol fees for v2 and v3 pools, and the results have been tangible. Uniswap recently recorded a single-day burn of 186,000 UNI from v2/v3 fees alone. Now the protocol wants to extend that same economic engine to its latest version.
From governance token to deflationary asset UNI spent years as a token whose primary utility was voting on proposals. The UNIfication package that passed in late 2025 fundamentally changed that equation by creating a direct link between protocol revenue and token supply reduction.
Extending this to v4 pools across 11 chains, including Ethereum and Base, significantly broadens the fee collection surface area. The protocol isn’t just adding fees to a few pools on mainnet. It’s building a multi-chain revenue pipeline that ultimately compresses back to a single deflationary action on Ethereum.
The liquidity provider concern Not everyone’s celebrating. Some community members have raised concerns about what protocol fees mean for liquidity providers. When the protocol takes a cut, that fee comes from somewhere, and that somewhere is often the returns that LPs would otherwise pocket.
The 93% approval rate suggests most governance participants believe the tradeoff is worth it, but governance voters and liquidity providers aren’t always the same people. Large UNI holders who benefit from burns might vote differently than someone running a concentrated liquidity position on a stablecoin pair.
For investors tracking the UNI token specifically, the expansion of fee collection to v4 pools across 11 chains materially increases the burn rate potential. The 186,000 UNI single-day burn from v2/v3 alone demonstrated real economic impact. The on-chain vote starting around July 19 will determine whether that thesis gets tested in production.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Abraxas Capital deposits 3 million USDC into Hyperliquid to add to its short positions.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, Abraxas Capital has deposited 3 million USDC into Hyperliquid. The firm is further ramping up its short positions, including: Bitcoin (BTC) short positions rising to 364.9 units, with a notional value of approximately $23.3 million; Ethereum (ETH) short positions increasing to 19,020 units, with a notional value of around $35.08 million.
6 hours ago
Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Memorandum of Understanding does not allow the US to open an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to CCTV News, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the 18th local time that Article 5 of the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) prohibits the US from establishing an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-US MoU is based on mutual commitments between the two countries, and as long as the US fulfills its pledges, Iran will abide by its own commitments.
6 hours ago
Binance Wallet now supports multiple Launchpad filtering features on the Robinhood Chain.
According to official announcements, Binance Wallet’s Meme Rush now supports filtering for multiple Launchpad projects on Robinhood Chain, including Virtuals Protocol, Flap, and Bankr. Additionally, users can now track tokens across BSC, Solana, Ethereum (ETH), Base, and Robinhood Chain simultaneously via Meme Rush, allowing them to grasp multi-chain market dynamics and popular trends in a unified feed.
6 hours ago
Next Week's Macro Outlook: Federal Reserve Blackout Period Coincides With Earnings Season, ECB Decisions Take Center Stage
As US-Iran tensions continue to evolve, the Federal Reserve will enter its pre-meeting blackout period next week, with no major US data releases that could influence its rate-setting meeting. Traders will turn their focus to Europe. Below are the key market focus points for the coming week (all times Beijing): - Tuesday 20:15: US ADP employment change for the week ended July 4 - Thursday 20:15: European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision - Thursday 20:45: ECB President Lagarde holds a monetary policy press conference - Friday 07:30: Japan’s June core CPI year-on-year rate Dozens of companies will release their Q2 earnings next week. Tesla will announce its earnings in the early hours of Thursday, July 23 (Beijing time); BlackRock will release its results ahead of US stock market opening on July 23 (Beijing time); Intel will report earnings in the early hours of Friday, July 24 (Beijing time).
6 hours ago
A whale transferred 19,235 ETH to Binance, worth approximately $35.34 million.
According to YuEmber monitoring, geministar.eth transferred 19,235 ETH (worth approximately $35.34 million) to Binance 15 minutes ago.
6 hours ago
Robinhood addresses controversy: Its support for Trump’s account is aimed at inclusive finance, not to encourage gambling-style trading.
According to The New York Times, as Robinhood integrates prediction markets into its app, external concerns have grown over the platform’s potential to exploit young, inexperienced investors. Additionally, many still associate Robinhood with the meme stock craze that swept markets years ago, and the firm was a key driver of that phenomenon. Today, Robinhood aims to be seen as more than those labels. The company has become one of the entities operating the Trump Accounts program, which gives Robinhood the chance to build closer ties with the next generation of investors while further strengthening its relationship with Washington’s political establishment. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded that the move is not to encourage speculation, but to expand financial inclusion and help more U.S. households participate in long-term investing. Currently, Robinhood has adjusted some product designs and is working to transition from a “speculative trading platform” to a broader financial services firm.
Uniswap, the decentralized exchange protocol, is moving forward with two major governance proposals that could activate protocol fees on several chains and strengthen the UNI token burning mechanism. The community is set to vote on these initiatives, with the window closing on July 26.
Key proposals target UNI Burn and protocol fee expansionHayden Adams, founder of Uniswap, indicated that the potential approval of these proposals could have a substantial impact on the UNI Burn mechanism. The measures are designed to introduce fee collection for certain liquidity pools for the first time on Uniswap v4 and expand fees on v2 and v3 pools operating on Robinhood Chain.
In a statement on social media, Adams outlined the specifics: one governance proposal seeks to enable protocol fees in Uniswap version 4 liquidity pools across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, BNB Chain, Polygon, Optimism, and Robinhood Chain. A secondary proposal will address additional v4 chains, given Uniswap’s GovernorBravo contract’s technical constraint of 10 actions per proposal.
Both voting initiatives, if approved, will implement protocol fee collection on static fee pools, continuous clearing auction pools, and aggregator hooks pools, providing more streamlined fee management across supported chains for Uniswap’s newest iteration.
Technical structure and planned rolloutUniswap v4 introduces flexible pool fees based on a hook system, allowing fees to vary from block to block for more responsive management. The proposal includes organizing pools into “families,” so standardized rules could dictate fee structures for different pool types, minimizing the need for separate votes on each individual pool.
Uniswap v2 and v3 pools, meanwhile, continue to rely on fixed fee rates per protocol rules. Under the latest proposals, these versions would see fees activated specifically on Robinhood Chain, which is backed by Arbitrum blockchain infrastructure.
Robinhood Chain, launched as an Ethereum Layer-2 mainnet on July 1, is a blockchain secured by Arbitrum technology. It integrates directly with the Robinhood trading ecosystem, and since launch, its decentralized exchange volume reached roughly $3.1 billion within the first week, largely driven by active trading in memecoins.
Mini dictionary: Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain utilizing the Arbitrum architecture, is built to support fast and cost-efficient transactions and is connected to the Robinhood trading platform.
Uniswap VersionFee StructureTargeted ChainsProposal Scopev2/v3FixedRobinhood ChainActivate protocol feesv4Flexible (by hooks)Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, BNB, Polygon, Optimism, Robinhood ChainActivate protocol feesGovernance, UNI burning and network expansionHistorically, Uniswap governance decided in December to burn 100 million UNI tokens from its treasury after a vote passed with 99.9% support, enabling protocol fees for v2 and v3 pools on Ethereum mainnet. However, protocol fees for v4 were delayed as its infrastructure was not yet in place. The recent push expands the fee system across 11 blockchains, reflecting Uniswap’s larger strategy to increase platform revenues and enhance token scarcity through regular burning events.
In the past month, Uniswap set a record by burning nearly 186,000 UNI in a single day. Both new proposals leverage Uniswap’s accelerated governance framework, implemented through the Unification upgrade. This process allows for faster progression to on-chain voting, provided proposals pass an initial five-day Snapshot poll. The expanded protocol fee discussions have been underway since February.
Should the proposals be approved, the resulting fees from operations across multiple blockchains are set to directly support the token burn mechanism, reinforcing a governance upgrade that was already implemented across other versions of the platform.
Since the launch of Robinhood Chain’s Ethereum Layer-2 mainnet on July 1, Uniswap’s cumulative swap volume on the network surpassed $6 billion by July 10, reflecting the high user engagement and liquidity infusion driven by this integration.
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.
On July 19, 2026, MetLife Stadium will host the FIFA World Cup final. Getting through the door will cost you roughly the same as a used car.
The get-in price for the final has crossed $10,000, making it the most expensive ticketed event ever held at that venue. For context, MetLife has hosted Super Bowls. This is more expensive than those.
FIFA quietly rebuilt its entire ticketing infrastructure on the blockchain, and that decision is now shaping who gets in, what it costs, and who profits from the chaos in between.
How FIFA turned tickets into tradable crypto assets In May 2025, FIFA migrated its FIFA Collect platform to the Avalanche blockchain, leaving behind its previous home on Algorand.
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The move introduced two new instruments into the ticketing ecosystem: Right-to-Tickets, known as RTTs, and Right-to-Buy tokens, or RTBs. Both are NFTs, meaning they live on-chain and can be bought, sold, and traded before they ever convert into an actual seat at a match.
The FIFA Collect platform has processed more than $25 million in ticketing volumes. Over 85,000 new wallet addresses have been created on the platform. Some Iconic RTT bundles have traded for more than $12,000. Total mint volume on the platform has exceeded $89 million.
FIFA also built in a 15% resale fee on RTT transactions. Every time one of these digital access rights changes hands on the secondary market, FIFA takes a cut.
The fan access problem hiding inside the innovation Category 3 final seats, which are the more affordable tier, have been discussed in community forums at prices above $7,500. The cheapest tickets across all tournament venues start at $310, but those are not for the final. For the final itself, $10,000 is the floor, not the ceiling.
The Swiss gambling authority has reportedly been reviewing FIFA’s RTB model, flagging potential regulatory concerns around the speculative nature of Right-to-Buy tokens. The RTB essentially gives holders the option, but not the guarantee, to purchase a ticket.
FIFA has also capped purchases at four tickets per household for certain categories. The 2026 tournament is the first to use the expanded 48-team format, which adds more matches across the US, Canada, and Mexico. The final remains a single event with a fixed venue capacity.
What this means for the blockchain ticketing market Traders watching this space should note the 15% resale fee as a meaningful friction cost. In a hot market, that fee gets absorbed into the price and passed to the next buyer. In a cooling market, it becomes a drag that makes RTTs harder to offload without taking a loss. The fee structure creates asymmetric risk depending on timing, and the World Cup final’s fixed date means there is a hard expiry on every position.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, Arsene Wenger, acknowledged on July 18 that the mandatory hydration breaks at the 2026 World Cup have been, to put it diplomatically, a tough sell. Fans don’t love them. Pundits don’t love them. And yet they keep happening, twice per match, like clockwork.
Here’s the thing: the breaks might be framed as player welfare, but the money trail tells a different story. Fox Sports alone stands to earn approximately $250 million from advertising during these stoppages. Globally, the total advertising revenue tied to hydration breaks could exceed $1 billion across all broadcasters during the tournament.
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Three minutes, two breaks, one very large check The format is straightforward. Every match gets two three-minute hydration breaks, one midway through each half. No exceptions, no matter the venue or temperature. FIFA announced the policy on December 7, 2025, positioning it as a response to anticipated high temperatures across the 48-team tournament’s North American host cities.
Wenger claimed the breaks “did not impact” match results. Critics have been less charitable. The traditional rhythm of football, a sport defined by its continuous flow compared to American sports, gets interrupted. Players cool down, coaches relay tactical adjustments, and broadcasters cut to Powerade spots. The official hydration sponsor and other brands receive prominent exposure during every single break, turning what was sold as a health measure into prime advertising real estate.
The Avalanche connection FIFA Collect, the organization’s digital collectibles platform, has officially migrated to the Avalanche blockchain. The move was designed to facilitate quicker and more cost-effective transactions of NFT and digital assets tied to the World Cup.
Wenger confirmed FIFA plans to conduct a full review of the hydration break policy after the tournament concludes. The review will reportedly assess the breaks’ impact on gameplay, player welfare, and fan satisfaction.
What investors should watch FIFA’s decision to run its digital collectibles on Avalanche rather than Ethereum or Polygon signals a preference for transaction speed and cost efficiency at scale. NBA Top Shot, once the poster child for digital sports collectibles, saw trading volumes collapse after initial hype. FIFA Collect needs to avoid the same fate, and its success or failure on Avalanche will be a data point the entire industry watches.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Uniswap plans to implement protocol fees for select v4 pools for the first time, with an on-chain vote scheduled for this Sunday.
Uniswap is set to roll out protocol fees on select v4 liquidity pools for the first time, as two proposals move to a final on-chain vote this Sunday. The proposals include activating protocol fees for Uniswap v4 liquidity pools across seven blockchains, and simultaneously enabling protocol fees for Uniswap v2 and v3 liquidity pools on Robinhood Chain. Since July 1, Uniswap’s cumulative swap volume on Robinhood Chain has surpassed $6 billion.
6 hours ago
Abraxas Capital deposits 3 million USDC into Hyperliquid to add to its short positions.
According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, Abraxas Capital has deposited 3 million USDC into Hyperliquid. The firm is further ramping up its short positions, including: Bitcoin (BTC) short positions rising to 364.9 units, with a notional value of approximately $23.3 million; Ethereum (ETH) short positions increasing to 19,020 units, with a notional value of around $35.08 million.
6 hours ago
Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The Memorandum of Understanding does not allow the US to open an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz.
According to CCTV News, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the 18th local time that Article 5 of the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) prohibits the US from establishing an independent parallel shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iran-US MoU is based on mutual commitments between the two countries, and as long as the US fulfills its pledges, Iran will abide by its own commitments.
6 hours ago
Next Week's Macro Outlook: Federal Reserve Blackout Period Coincides With Earnings Season, ECB Decisions Take Center Stage
As US-Iran tensions continue to evolve, the Federal Reserve will enter its pre-meeting blackout period next week, with no major US data releases that could influence its rate-setting meeting. Traders will turn their focus to Europe. Below are the key market focus points for the coming week (all times Beijing): - Tuesday 20:15: US ADP employment change for the week ended July 4 - Thursday 20:15: European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate decision - Thursday 20:45: ECB President Lagarde holds a monetary policy press conference - Friday 07:30: Japan’s June core CPI year-on-year rate Dozens of companies will release their Q2 earnings next week. Tesla will announce its earnings in the early hours of Thursday, July 23 (Beijing time); BlackRock will release its results ahead of US stock market opening on July 23 (Beijing time); Intel will report earnings in the early hours of Friday, July 24 (Beijing time).
6 hours ago
A whale transferred 19,235 ETH to Binance, worth approximately $35.34 million.
According to YuEmber monitoring, geministar.eth transferred 19,235 ETH (worth approximately $35.34 million) to Binance 15 minutes ago.
6 hours ago
Robinhood addresses controversy: Its support for Trump’s account is aimed at inclusive finance, not to encourage gambling-style trading.
According to The New York Times, as Robinhood integrates prediction markets into its app, external concerns have grown over the platform’s potential to exploit young, inexperienced investors. Additionally, many still associate Robinhood with the meme stock craze that swept markets years ago, and the firm was a key driver of that phenomenon. Today, Robinhood aims to be seen as more than those labels. The company has become one of the entities operating the Trump Accounts program, which gives Robinhood the chance to build closer ties with the next generation of investors while further strengthening its relationship with Washington’s political establishment. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded that the move is not to encourage speculation, but to expand financial inclusion and help more U.S. households participate in long-term investing. Currently, Robinhood has adjusted some product designs and is working to transition from a “speculative trading platform” to a broader financial services firm.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Spain’s Rodri has completed somewhere between 599 and 694 passes at the 2026 World Cup, depending on the match stage.
The World Cup’s passing leaderboard has become intertwined with one of crypto’s most ambitious mainstream marketing campaigns to date, as Kraken leverages its role as the tournament’s Official Crypto Exchange Supporter to push digital assets into the living rooms of billions of viewers.
Spain’s possession machine meets crypto’s attention machine The 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, scheduled for July 19, 2026, features two teams that treat the ball like a precious asset you never want to lose. Rodri sits atop the tournament’s completed passes leaderboard by a comfortable margin. His Spanish teammates Pau Cubarsi and Aymeric Laporte also rank among the top passers. On the Argentine side, Leandro Paredes and Enzo Fernandez have been doing their part to keep the possession-oriented approach alive.
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Kraken’s World Cup play Kraken was named the Official Crypto Exchange Supporter of the 2026 FIFA World Cup across North America and Europe, a deal announced on June 9, 2026. The exchange has been running promotions through July 20, 2026, including Bitcoin giveaways based on trading volume.
Tying Bitcoin giveaways to trading volume incentivizes new users to actually trade rather than just create accounts and disappear.
Memecoins enter the pitch The World Cup has also spawned its own ecosystem of event-themed memecoins on Solana. The most notable, FWC26, launched with a market cap of approximately $1,900.
The fact that these memecoins exist at all on Solana speaks to the chain’s role as the de facto home for speculative token launches. Low transaction fees make it trivially cheap to mint and trade tokens tied to whatever is trending on social media.
What this means for investors Kraken’s visibility during the tournament is a genuine brand-building exercise that could translate into user acquisition numbers in upcoming quarters.
The memecoin ecosystem around the tournament is almost certainly a trap for anyone who isn’t in and out within hours. Tokens with market caps measured in thousands of dollars have essentially zero liquidity, meaning selling any meaningful position would crater the price.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Robinhood Chain launched, filled with memecoins, briefly ranked third among DEXs, and the “Solana killer” talk started immediately. Then you look at the actual numbers. Solana has 27 times the value locked and 2 million more users. This is not a flippening. It is a fair fight over the wrong metric.
Summary
Robinhood Chain launched July 1 and drew roughly $185 million in value locked and over $3 billion in first-week DEX volume, briefly ranking among the top DEXs by volume and prompting Solana comparisons. Solana dwarfs it on every durable metric: around $4.93 billion in value locked, $1.91 billion in daily DEX volume, more than 2 million active addresses, and roughly $3 million in daily app revenue. The gap on value locked is about 27 to 1. On active users, it is larger. Volume alone, the one metric where Robinhood looked competitive, is the least durable measure and is inflated by a memecoin frenzy and a gas subsidy. The real bull case for Robinhood is not flipping Solana on-chain. It is distribution: roughly 28 million existing customers and a decade of retail brand equity that no crypto-native chain can match. The honest verdict is that Robinhood will not flip Solana on DeFi metrics any time soon, but the two are not actually competing for the same thing, which makes the flippening question the wrong one. Within days of Robinhood Chain going live, the comparison wrote itself. A memecoin frenzy sent the chain’s DEX volume past $3 billion in a week; it briefly cracked the top three networks by daily DEX volume, and crypto Twitter did what crypto Twitter does: it declared a Solana killer.
The parallel was tidy. Solana also grew through a memecoin boom, so surely Robinhood was running the same playbook toward the same destination. Then you pull the actual data, and the tidy story falls apart. Solana has roughly 27 times Robinhood Chain’s value locked and millions more users.
The one metric where Robinhood looked competitive, raw volume, is the flimsiest number on the board. This piece is about whether Robinhood Chain can flip Solana, and the short answer is no, not close, and the more interesting answer is that flipping Solana was never the right frame.
The scoreboard Start with the numbers, because the numbers settle most of the argument before it starts.
Solana, as of mid-July 2026, carries around $4.93 billion in total value locked, does roughly $1.91 billion in daily DEX volume, has more than 2 million active addresses, and generates about $3 million in daily application revenue. These are the metrics of a mature, heavily used layer-1 with a deep DeFi ecosystem, years of accumulated liquidity, and a large, sticky user base.
Robinhood Chain, roughly 2 weeks after launch, sits at around $185 million in value locked, having posted more than $3 billion in DEX volume across its first week. Depending on the day and the source, its TVL has been quoted between $185 million and $312 million, with the higher figure heavy on stablecoin deposits. Active addresses are counted in the hundreds of thousands cumulatively, not the millions active.
Line the durable metrics up, and the gap is stark. On value locked, Solana leads by a factor of roughly 27 to one against the lower Robinhood figure, and still around 16 to 1 against the higher one. On active users, the gap is larger still. On application revenue, Solana’s ecosystem earns real fees across a diverse set of protocols; Robinhood Chain’s revenue is concentrated in memecoin trading and inflated by incentives. There is exactly one metric where Robinhood looked competitive in its first fortnight, and that is raw DEX volume, where a memecoin frenzy briefly pushed it into the same conversation as networks many times its size.
That single metric is doing all the work in the flippening narrative, and it is the metric that deserves the least trust.
Why volume is the wrong number Volume is seductive because it is large and it moves fast, and it is misleading for the same reasons.
Robinhood Chain’s $3 billion first week was overwhelmingly memecoin trading. CASHCAT alone generated roughly $98 million in a single day, about 17% of the chain’s entire DEX volume, and the broader wave of Robinhood-themed tokens, Cash Dog in Hood, Little John, Hoodrat, drove most of the rest.
Memecoin volume is the most transient category of on-chain activity there is. It arrives with attention and leaves with it, and it leaves no infrastructure behind. A chain doing $3 billion in memecoin volume this week can do a fraction of that next month, as the 33% single-day CASHCAT drop after its launchpad exited already showed.
Then there is the subsidy. Robinhood Chain ran a 90-day gas fee subsidy from launch, which makes transactions artificially cheap and inflates transaction counts and, indirectly, trading activity. Any volume comparison during the subsidy window is measuring a promotion as much as organic demand. The honest read of that number will only be available once the subsidy expires and users start paying real costs.
Value locked, by contrast, is sticky. It represents capital that has chosen to reside on the chain, in lending protocols, liquidity pools, and asset-management strategies, and it does not evaporate with a memecoin’s attention cycle. Solana’s ~$4.93 billion in TVL is the accumulated result of years of protocols, integrations, and users committing capital. Robinhood’s ~$185 million is a 2-week-old figure heavily weighted toward stablecoin deposits and speculative liquidity. TVL is the metric that predicts whether a chain is durable. Volume is the metric that predicts whether it is currently trending. They are not the same, and the flippening narrative relies entirely on the second.
The bull case for Robinhood The strong case for Robinhood Chain does not run through on-chain metrics at all, and the people making the flippening argument are looking in the wrong place because the actual advantage is off-chain.
Robinhood has roughly 28 million customers across 38 countries and more than a decade as one of the largest retail investment platforms in the United States. That is a distribution asset no crypto-native chain possesses. Solana had to acquire its users one at a time through the slow, expensive work of crypto adoption.
Robinhood already has tens of millions of funded accounts belonging to people comfortable trading both stocks and crypto, and it can put its chain in front of them inside an app they already use. If even a modest fraction of that base becomes active on-chain, the user numbers change quickly. Brand equity and distribution are exactly what earlier tokenization projects lacked, and Robinhood has both in abundance.
The memecoin-as-ignition argument also has real historical support. Solana itself grew through a memecoin cycle: BONK, WIF, and the Pump.fun era, before it produced serious infrastructure and institutional adoption. Base followed a similar arc. Speculative trading bootstraps the liquidity, the market makers, the tooling, and the attention that serious applications later need. In this reading, Robinhood Chain’s memecoin phase is not a failure to attract real activity; it is the normal first stage, and judging a 2-week-old chain by its TVL is like judging Solana by its 2021 numbers.
And Robinhood is playing a different game entirely. Its chain is built for tokenized stocks and real-world assets, a category Solana is also chasing but where Robinhood brings brokerage licenses, custody relationships, and regulatory infrastructure that a crypto-native chain has to build from scratch. If the RWA thesis plays out, Robinhood competes on ground where its traditional-finance credentials are an advantage, not on the DeFi metrics where Solana is years ahead. The flippening question assumes the two chains want to be the same thing. They may not.
The bear case for Robinhood The skeptical case is that Robinhood Chain has attracted exactly the kind of activity that does not convert, and that the gap to Solana is not a head start Robinhood can close but a structural difference it may never close.
The mercenary-liquidity problem is the core of it. Memecoin traders are loyal to activity, not to chains. They arrived on Robinhood Chain because that is where the new-launch action was, and they will leave for the next chain offering quicker profits without a second thought. The Noxa launchpad that powered the entire boom generated roughly $12 million in fees and then stopped accepting launches and went dark within 11 days of the chain’s launch. That is not the behavior of infrastructure settling in; it is the behavior of an extraction cycle moving through. When the memecoin attention leaves, the question is what remains, and right now what remains is roughly $12.8 million in actual tokenized real-world assets, the thing the chain was built for.
The convert-the-traffic problem compounds it. Robinhood’s 28 million customers are a distribution asset only if they can be moved on-chain, and there is no evidence yet that memecoin degens and Robinhood’s retail stock traders are the same people or that 1 becomes the other. The chain’s current users may have almost no overlap with the tokenized-asset investors Robinhood hopes to serve. Distribution is potential, not conversion, and the conversion has not been proven.
Then there is the structural point that on-chain metrics are not a race Robinhood is quietly winning. Solana continues to outperform Robinhood Chain across essentially every DeFi metric despite the new chain’s loud debut, and Solana is not standing still. It has its own institutional momentum, its own tokenized-asset push, its own SBI partnership for on-chain financial markets in Japan. Robinhood is not catching a stationary target. It is entering, 2 weeks old, a competition against a network with a multi-year head start that is itself accelerating. Closing a 27-to-1 TVL gap against a moving, growing competitor is a different proposition than the volume charts suggest.
The Base comparison nobody makes The flippening debate fixates on Solana, but the more instructive comparison is Coinbase’s Base, because Base is the closest thing to a control group for exactly what Robinhood is attempting, and it complicates both the bull and bear cases.
Base launched in 2023 as a corporate-backed Ethereum layer 2, built by a licensed, publicly traded American financial company with a large existing user base, aimed at bringing mainstream users on-chain. That is Robinhood Chain’s template almost exactly. And Base’s early growth, like Robinhood’s, ran heavily through memecoins before it developed into a more diversified ecosystem. So Base is the case study for whether a corporate chain can convert a speculative launch into durable activity, and the answer it offers is genuinely mixed.
On the bull side, Base did convert. It built real DeFi, real stablecoin activity, and real applications on top of the initial speculation, and it became one of the larger L2s by several measures. Coinbase’s distribution, tens of millions of users, mattered, and the memecoin phase did function as ignition rather than as the whole story. That is the precedent Robinhood is betting on, and it is a real one: a corporate chain did turn a speculative launch into something lasting.
On the bear side, Base did not flip Solana either, and it had a 2-year head start on Robinhood plus a parent company that was crypto-native from birth. If Base, with Coinbase’s crypto-specific expertise and a longer runway, sits alongside Solana instead of above it, the idea that Robinhood Chain will vault past Solana looks even less plausible. And Base has its own value-capture questions as an Ethereum L2, the same ones that apply to Robinhood Chain, where the base layer captures little of the economics. Base shows the corporate-chain model can work; it also shows that working means becoming a significant chain, not dethroning the incumbent. That is the realistic ceiling for Robinhood Chain too: not flipping Solana, but earning a durable place alongside it, and only if it converts the way Base did rather than fading the way most launch-frenzies do.
What a flippening would actually require The word “flippening” gets thrown around loosely, so it is worth being precise about what would have to happen for Robinhood Chain to actually surpass Solana, because the specifics show why the headline math is not close.
Flipping Solana is not one event; it is a set of them across separate metrics, and they do not move together. On total value locked, Solana holds roughly $4.93 billion against Robinhood Chain’s ~$185 million, a gap of about 27 times. Closing that does not mean matching Solana’s memecoin volume for a week. It means persuading serious capital, lending markets, stablecoin issuers, restaking protocols, and asset managers to park billions on a corporate L2, which is a trust-and-time problem that speculative volume does nothing to solve. TVL is sticky precisely because it represents commitment, and commitment is the thing a memecoin wave cannot manufacture.
On active addresses, Solana runs above 2 million against a far smaller base on Robinhood Chain, and the composition matters more than the count. Solana’s addresses span DeFi users, NFT traders, payment apps, and memecoin degens across a mature ecosystem. Robinhood Chain’s early activity is concentrated in memecoin speculation and a gas subsidy that inflates the raw transaction figure. An address trading CASHCAT once is not equivalent to an address running a lending position, a payment flow, and a staking allocation. The headline number can converge while the underlying engagement stays a chasm apart.
On application revenue, Solana generates around $3 million daily from a diversified base of protocols. Robinhood Chain’s revenue is thin and skewed toward the launchpad-and-memecoin complex that already showed it can evaporate in days when Noxa went dark. Sustainable app revenue requires applications people use for reasons other than speculation, and building that catalog is measured in years of developer adoption, not weeks of viral trading.
Then there is the structural ceiling nobody in the flippening conversation mentions: Robinhood Chain excludes US persons from its flagship products. Stock Tokens are barred to Americans, wallet perpetuals are barred to Americans, and the chain’s entire regulated-RWA thesis is aimed at a user base that cannot legally touch its marquee offerings from Robinhood’s home market. Solana has no such wall. A chain competing for global L1 dominance with its largest potential market fenced off from its best products is running the race with a weight the incumbent does not carry.
Put those together, and the flippening is not a single line for Robinhood Chain to cross. It is four separate lines, on four metrics that move at different speeds for different reasons, at least one of which is capped by regulation. Memecoin volume, the one number Robinhood Chain can actually post, is the least sticky and least predictive of the set. That is why the honest answer to the headline is not “not yet.” It is “not close, and the gap is wider than the volume charts make it look.”
The verdict So will Robinhood Chain flip Solana? On the metrics that matter, no, and not close, and not soon.
The value-locked gap is roughly 27 to 1. The user gap is larger. The revenue gap is structural. The only metric where Robinhood was competitive is raw volume, which is the least durable measure available, is dominated by transient memecoin trading, and is inflated by a temporary gas subsidy. A chain does not flip a mature layer-1 by winning the one number that evaporates when attention moves on. Every durable indicator points to Solana remaining well ahead for the foreseeable future.
But the question contains a flawed assumption, and that is the more useful thing to say. “Flip Solana” treats the two chains as competitors for the same prize, and they may not be. Solana is a general-purpose, crypto-native layer-1 with a deep DeFi ecosystem built by and for crypto users. Robinhood Chain is a corporate settlement layer built by a licensed brokerage to bring tokenized stocks and real-world assets to a retail base that already trades on Robinhood. Their overlap right now is memecoins, which is precisely the activity neither of them was built for and which will belong to whichever chain is currently paying attention. The lasting competition, if there is one, is over tokenized real-world assets, and that race has barely started.
The honest framing is this. Robinhood will not out-DeFi Solana; that is not a contest it is positioned to win and probably not one it is trying to win. What Robinhood can do is convert a slice of 28 million existing customers into on-chain users of tokenized-asset products, on rails where its brokerage credentials matter more than its DEX volume. If it does that, it does not need to flip Solana, because it will be winning a different game. If it does not, the memecoin volume fades, the chain settles back to its $12.8 million of real assets, and the flippening talk looks like what it probably is: a volume chart mistaken for a verdict. The number to watch is not DEX volume and not the gap to Solana. It is whether tokenized real-world assets on Robinhood Chain grow, and Robinhood’s July 29 earnings are the first real look.
Frequently Asked Questions Is Robinhood Chain bigger than Solana? No, and the gap is large. As of mid-July 2026, Solana holds around $4.93 billion in total value locked against Robinhood Chain’s roughly $185 million, a gap of about 27 to 1. Solana also has more than 2 million active addresses and around $1.91 billion in daily DEX volume from a mature ecosystem. Robinhood Chain briefly matched Solana on raw DEX volume during a memecoin frenzy, but trails badly on every durable metric.
Why do people compare Robinhood Chain to Solana? Because Robinhood Chain’s DEX volume surged past $3 billion in its first week, briefly ranking among the top networks, and because Solana famously grew through a memecoin cycle of its own before maturing. The parallel is that both bootstrapped with speculation. The comparison relies heavily on volume, which is the least durable metric and, for Robinhood, is inflated by memecoin trading and a temporary gas subsidy.
Could Robinhood Chain flip Solana eventually? On DeFi metrics, it is unlikely any time soon, given a 27-to-1 value-locked gap against a competitor that is itself growing. Robinhood’s real advantage is off-chain: roughly 28 million existing customers and strong retail brand equity. If it converts a meaningful share of that base into on-chain users of tokenized-asset products, it could become large without ever matching Solana on DeFi, because it would be competing on different ground.
Why is DEX volume a misleading metric? Because it is transient and easily inflated, Robinhood Chain’s volume was overwhelmingly memecoin trading, which arrives and leaves with attention and builds no lasting infrastructure. A 90-day gas subsidy also made transactions artificially cheap during the launch window. Value locked, which represents capital committed to the chain’s protocols, is a far better predictor of durability, and on that measure Solana leads decisively.
What is Robinhood Chain actually built for? Tokenized stocks and real-world assets. It launched as an Ethereum layer 2 with Stock Tokens as the flagship product, targeting a retail base that already trades equities on Robinhood. Its competitive advantage is brokerage licenses, custody relationships, and regulatory infrastructure. The memecoin activity that drove its early volume is not the use case it was designed for, and only about $12.8 million in real-world assets currently sit on it.
What happened with CASHCAT and the memecoins? CASHCAT, a token named after Robinhood’s original working name, surged to a roughly $156 million market cap and at one point generated about 17% of the chain’s daily DEX volume. It spawned a wave of Robinhood-themed tokens. The launchpad driving the boom, Noxa, earned around $12 million in fees, then went dark within 11 days, and CASHCAT fell more than 33% in a day, illustrating how quickly memecoin activity can leave.
Does Robinhood’s user base guarantee success? No. Roughly 28 million customers is a distribution advantage, but distribution is potential, not conversion. There is no evidence yet that Robinhood’s retail stock traders will become active on-chain users, or that the memecoin traders currently driving activity overlap with the tokenized-asset investors the chain targets. Converting existing customers into on-chain users is the unproven step the entire strategy depends on.
When will we know if the strategy is working? Watch the tokenized real-world asset figure on the chain, currently around $12.8 million, rather than DEX volume or the gap to Solana. If real assets grow substantially while memecoin activity fades, the traffic is converting, and the strategy is working. Robinhood’s second-quarter earnings on July 29 should offer the first real look at Stock Token adoption, and liquidity behavior after the gas subsidy expires will be the next test.
Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. It compares blockchain networks and company strategies, not the merits of any token. Memecoins are highly speculative, and most participants lose money. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy any asset or use any platform. Always do your own research. On-chain figures move quickly and are accurate as of July 17, 2026.
Chelsea has drawn a line in the sand over João Pedro. Despite Barcelona reportedly circling with interest valued around €100 million, the Premier League club has no intention of picking up the phone.
Barcelona’s pursuit and Chelsea’s brick wall Barcelona’s interest in the Brazilian forward isn’t new. The Catalan club has reportedly been scouting João Pedro since his time at Brighton, with the connection partly tied to Deco, who has a longstanding familiarity with the player.
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The speculation has been simmering since at least May 2026 and has carried straight through into the summer transfer window. But Chelsea sources have consistently downplayed the prospect of any deal materializing.
Chelsea has reportedly conveyed that it wouldn’t entertain even a hypothetical world-record bid for Pedro.
Why fan tokens are watching this closely Chelsea operates a Fan Token on the Chiliz and Socios.com platform, a blockchain-based asset that grants holders limited governance rights on selected club matters, like choosing kit designs or voting on matchday music.
Fan tokens are sentiment-driven assets, and general sentiments surrounding Chelsea’s token are influenced by major club activities like transfer spending and squad adjustments.
The bigger picture for crypto and football Platforms like Socios.com have signed partnerships with dozens of major clubs, creating a growing ecosystem where club decisions directly influence digital asset markets.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain is shaping up to be one of the most politically charged matches in recent memory. Fans across Latin America, from Mexico City to São Paulo, are rallying behind Spain’s young squad rather than supporting their continental neighbor Argentina. And that regional animosity, fueled by perceptions that Lionel Messi is “FIFA’s golden boy,” is doing something unexpected: it’s showing up on the blockchain.
Fan tokens tied to both national teams have seen notable trading activity as the mid-July final approaches, turning what looks like a sports culture story into a live case study of how sentiment drives crypto markets.
Fan tokens catch the World Cup fever The Argentine Football Association Fan Token ($ARG), issued on the Chiliz blockchain through the Socios.com platform, has recorded surging trading volumes throughout the tournament. Argentina’s dramatic 3-2 comeback victory, featuring Messi’s continued dominance with eight goals and two assists across the competition, sent $ARG volumes into the millions during peak 24-hour windows.
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Spain’s corresponding fan token (SPAIN) has mirrored that pattern, with price movements correlating directly to match outcomes.
Fan tokens have existed since Socios.com launched on Chiliz, giving supporters governance-lite participation in their clubs and national teams. The 2026 World Cup, hosted across the US, Canada, and Mexico, is the biggest sporting event to coincide with a maturing fan token ecosystem.
Messi’s crypto connection runs deep Messi’s influence on this market extends well beyond his performances on the pitch. In 2022, he signed an ambassador deal with Socios.com valued at over $20 million, making him one of the most prominent athletes directly tied to a crypto platform. That partnership gave Chiliz-based fan tokens a level of mainstream visibility that most blockchain projects can only dream about.
His on-field heroics drive casual fans toward Socios.com, where they discover $ARG and other fan tokens. Those new users generate trading activity, which generates headlines, which generates more users.
Why anti-Argentina sentiment matters for traders The regional backlash against Argentina adds a layer of complexity to the fan token market that pure sports analytics can’t capture. When fans from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and other Latin American nations actively root against a team, some of them are buying SPAIN tokens as a form of financial fandom.
This creates an asymmetry worth watching. $ARG’s trading volume is driven primarily by Argentine supporters and speculative traders betting on match outcomes. SPAIN’s volume, meanwhile, is potentially inflated by a coalition of anti-Argentina sentiment spanning an entire continent.
Liquidity in fan token markets is thinner than in major crypto pairs, meaning slippage can eat into profits quickly. Fan tokens represent a genuinely novel asset class where traditional market drivers—supply, demand, fundamentals—get overwhelmed by something far more primal: the emotions of millions of sports fans making decisions in real time.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Cover image via 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.
Shiba Inu is once again showing signs of heightened activity as exchange outflows surge while price volatility begins to return. According to recent on-chain data, SHIB's seven-day average exchange outflow jumped by more than 126%, one of the largest increases recorded in recent weeks.
The key signal for SHIBExchange outflows measure the amount of cryptocurrency being withdrawn from trading platforms into private wallets. In many cases, rising outflows are interpreted as a bullish signal because they reduce immediately available sell-side liquidity. Investors generally move assets off exchanges when they intend to hold rather than sell.
SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe latest data supports that interpretation. SHIB's exchange reserves declined by 0.03%, while total exchange netflow remained negative at approximately -23.2 billion SHIB. A negative netflow means more tokens are leaving exchanges than entering them, indicating that holders are removing supply from the market despite recent uncertainty.
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The increase in outflows comes as volatility starts returning to SHIB's price action. After several weeks of relatively stable trading, the token has resumed making larger short-term moves. Active addresses increased by more than 1%, suggesting growing network participation as traders and investors react to changing market conditions.
Despite the encouraging on-chain developments, SHIB's chart remains technically weak. The token is currently trading around $0.00000413 and remains below all major moving averages. The 20-day EMA sits near $0.00000420, while the 50-day EMA is positioned around $0.00000426. More significant resistance appears at the 100-day EMA near $0.00000443 and the 200-day EMA around $0.00000447.
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This means that although holders are withdrawing coins from exchanges, buyers have not yet translated that behavior into a sustained price recovery. SHIB continues to form lower highs and lower lows, maintaining its broader bearish structure.
Traders are active againThe Relative Strength Index remains near 40, indicating that selling pressure has eased compared to previous weeks but that bullish momentum is still absent. Volume has also increased alongside recent price swings, confirming that market participants are becoming more active again.
For bulls, the key takeaway is that rising outflows often precede stronger accumulation phases. However, technical confirmation is still needed. SHIB must reclaim the $0.00000430-$0.00000445 resistance zone before the market can begin discussing a larger trend reversal.
Until then, the spike in exchange outflows suggests growing conviction among holders, even as price action remains under pressure.
Shiba Inu [SHIB] has been falling on the charts since hitting $0.00003309 in late 2024, when the whole crypto market rallied to the upside. The same is true for its trading volume too, with the same well below its previous levels.
Why is the popoular memecoin in the news right now though? Well, with daily volumes of $52.68 million at press time, AI models are now projecting modest to moderate upside potential by the end of the year.
Shiba Inu, Claude, and Grok AI models forecast on SHIB As per AI models, SHIB’s price action is expected to pull fair gains by the end of the year.
Shiba Inu AI predicts that the memecoin may see modest upside by the end of the year. While this seems to be a bullish predcition, it’s worth noting that other models are more optimistic than SHIB’s own AI.Claude and Grok AI models, for instance, anticipate moderate gains by the end of 2026.
All the three models agree SHIB will not see an explosive rally this year though.
Both Claude and Grok attribute the projected medium gains to the already existing massive community that continues to grow. Moreover, they agree Bitcoin [BTC] would be a catalyst to SHIB, rallying alongside capital rotation into memecoins.
However, both Claude and Grok believe that adoption across the Shibarium ecosystem is too weak to spark a price breakout. In fact, Grok believes that the ecosystem and broader crypto sentiment will determine SHIB’s direction.
On the other hand, Claude found that network activity has been lagging and token burns have been limited. For instance – As per Shibburn, 4.090 million SHIB worth $17.13 had been burned in the last 24 hours. This alluded to a 19.85% fall in daily burn rate.
Source: Shibburn Can SHIB’s price follow the AI predictions? On the smaller timeframes, SHIB’s price has been ranging above the $0.00000412 zone since late June. This hinted at a quiet market.
At the time of writing, the 24-hour volume and the RSI were declining, showing selling activity in the short term. Holding above the support and breaching resistance at $0.0000045 would open the door for a move to $0.00000510.
Source: SHIB/USDT on TradingView Otherwise, the price action has continued to consolidate in the falling wedge pattern that started in late March 2025. On the daily chart, buyers have been accumulating too, with the CVD indicating that 7.84 billion SHIB tokens were bought in the last 24 hours alone.
Finally, the MACD highlighted buyers in control, although their momentum was minimal.
Source: SHIB/USDT on TradingView These findings only reinforce AI models’ predictions of sizeable gains rather than explosive ones.
Final Summary Three AI models — Shiba Inu, Claude, and Grok — think SHIB’s price may see modest to moderate gains by the end of 2026. SHIB has been consolidating in the short term while the price tanks on the daily chart despite ongoing accumulation.
Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings has gained exposure to a substantial Shiba Inu holding following its acquisition of Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako.
The acquisition, carried out through SBI’s subsidiary, SBI Ventures Asset, received final approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing the transaction to close. As a result, Coinhako has become a consolidated subsidiary of SBI Holdings.
Through the acquisition, SBI gains immediate access to Coinhako’s regulated crypto infrastructure, expanding its digital asset ecosystem beyond Japan while strengthening its regional footprint.
SBI Plans Broader Digital Asset Expansion SBI plans to leverage Coinhako as a gateway to expand its blockchain-based financial services across Southeast Asia. The integration will allow SBI to connect Coinhako’s user base with products such as its yen-backed stablecoin JPYSC and tokenized real-world asset (RWA) offerings.
The acquisition also strengthens SBI’s regulatory position in the region by giving it access to Coinhako’s Singapore-based operations and Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. This provides a compliant foundation for expanding digital asset services without building a new infrastructure from the ground up.
SBI Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao said the move aligns with the company’s goal of creating global digital asset corridors that connect Japan and Southeast Asia through faster blockchain-powered payments and cross-border financial services.
SBI Inherits More Than 1 Trillion SHIB Tokens Beyond the strategic expansion, the acquisition also gives SBI control over Coinhako’s substantial cryptocurrency treasury. According to blockchain intelligence platform Arkham, Coinhako currently holds $160.87 million worth of digital assets across multiple cryptocurrencies.
Among those assets are 1.11 trillion Shiba Inu tokens, valued at $4.62 million at current market prices. While SHIB represents only a portion of Coinhako’s total holdings, it remains one of the exchange’s largest crypto positions.
Arkham data shows that Shiba Inu is Coinhako’s sixth-largest cryptocurrency by dollar value. Ethereum, Binance Coin, Chainlink, Tether, and Pepe lead the exchange’s portfolio.
With Coinhako now operating as an SBI subsidiary, these treasury assets, including the 1.11 trillion SHIB tokens, effectively become part of the broader SBI corporate ecosystem. However, they remain exchange-held assets rather than direct investments by SBI itself.
Coinhako Crypto Holdings What the Acquisition Means for Shiba Inu Meanwhile, the acquisition does not necessarily indicate that SBI has purchased Shiba Inu as an investment. Instead, the company has assumed ownership of an exchange that already custodies significant amounts of SHIB alongside numerous other digital assets.
Nevertheless, the transaction places more than 1 trillion SHIB tokens under the umbrella of one of Japan’s largest financial groups. It is worth noting that SBI’s crypto exchange arm, SBI VC Trade, already supports Shiba Inu trading and has launched several campaigns for users, including staking opportunities and token giveaways.
DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.
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.
Shiba Inu has seen 6.75 million tokens sent to dead wallets in the last 24 hours, with the daily burn rate rising 140%. This continues SHIB's deflationary momentum, which has seen 410,840,395,512,922 Shiba Inu tokens sent to a null address where they can't be retrieved or used, reducing SHIB's supply.
41.08% of Shiba Inu's initial 1 quadrillion supply has been burned, with the dog coin now left with 58.92%.
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This week, as reported, Shiba Inu hit a burn milestone with total burn transactions surpassing 21,000, currently at 21,193. This suggests a consistent burn mechanism by the community, with millions of SHIB being sent to dead wallets at a continuous pace.
In the last seven days, 43.75 million SHIB were burned, adding to a total of 267.58 million SHIB in thirty days.
SHIB priceAt the time of writing, SHIB was up 0.96% in the last 24 hours to $0.00000417 and down 4.87% weekly.
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The mixed price action follows cooler-than-expected producer and consumer price data this week, while U.S. jobless claims for the week ending July 11 came in lower than forecasted, at a seasonally adjusted 208,000.
The University of Michigan's index on consumer sentiment rose to 54.4, topping a Dow Jones consensus of 50.5.
SHIB gets a boost in JapanJapan passed major amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) on July 15, 2026, marking a turning point for the country's crypto market.
The amendments do not classify Bitcoin or Ethereum as securities but rather label cryptocurrencies as investment products. The aim is to provide a regulatory framework that will boost engagement from banks, securities firms, asset managers, and institutional investors while increasing investor protection.
Shiba Inu, which is already on the Japan JVCEA Green List, which makes it easier for regulated platforms in the country to list SHIB, might stand to benefit from the recent move.
Shiba Inu’s deflationary momentum intensified over the past 24 hours, with 6.75 million tokens sent to dead wallets. This action pushed the daily burn rate up by 140% compared to the previous day, highlighting the community’s continued commitment to reducing SHIB’s circulating supply.
Burn milestone and supply reductionSince its launch, Shiba Inu has permanently destroyed 410,840,395,512,922 tokens by sending them to unusable null addresses. This ongoing strategy has resulted in 41.08% of SHIB’s original 1 quadrillion token supply being removed from circulation. Currently, 58.92% of the initial supply remains, demonstrating the significant impact of these regular token burns.
MetricAmountTotal Supply Burned410.84 trillion SHIBPercentage Burned41.08%Current Supply58.92% of initialThe pace of SHIB burns remains consistent, with over 21,000 cumulative burn transactions now recorded. Data shows that these collective efforts, carried out by members of the Shiba Inu community, have reached 21,193 individual transactions, reflecting an ongoing reduction in supply through a decentralized mechanism.
Short-term burn statistics and price movementsIn the last seven days, the SHIB community removed 43.75 million tokens from circulation, while the thirty-day tally stands at 267.58 million tokens. Despite these supply reductions, the price performance has shown modest fluctuations. Over the latest 24-hour period, SHIB edged up by 0.96% to $0.00000417, though it still trades 4.87% lower on the weekly timeframe.
PeriodSHIB BurnedPast 24 Hours6.75 millionPast 7 Days43.75 millionPast 30 Days267.58 millionOver 410 trillion SHIB have now been sent to dead wallets, meaning 41.08% of the original supply is permanently removed, while over 21,000 separate burn transactions have been completed by the community.
Macro factors and regulatory developmentsShiba Inu’s recent price movement followed mixed signals from wider economic data. The latest US producer and consumer price index readings came in softer than expected, while jobless claims for the week ending July 11 totaled 208,000, lower than forecasted figures. The University of Michigan’s latest consumer sentiment index rose to 54.4, surpassing the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 50.5.
Japan implemented major amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) on July 15, 2026. The updated legislation distinguishes cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum from securities and instead classifies them as investment products.
The revisions seek to strengthen investor protection while enhancing engagement from banks, securities firms, asset managers, and institutional investors in Japan’s crypto market.
Shiba Inu is already included on the Japan JVCEA Green List, a status that simplifies listing on regulated domestic platforms. With this regulatory update, SHIB could see improved access and visibility in Japan’s evolving digital asset landscape.
Mini dictionary: JVCEA Green List – A registry maintained by the Japan Virtual and Crypto Assets Exchange Association (JVCEA) that includes cryptocurrencies approved for listing on domestic exchanges, allowing for easier regulatory compliance and onboarding in the Japanese market.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) has fallen to its lowest market cap ranking in history at number 33, down from a peak valuation of $50 billion to just $2.48 billion today.
How Far Has SHIB Fallen?SHIB once ranked in the top 10 during its first cycle, carrying a peak valuation of $50 billion.
It now sits at a $2.48 billion market cap, down 95% from that peak and still falling through the rankings.
Crypto analyst LuckSide Crypto called the drop disappointing but pointed to improving fundamentals beneath the price.
Exchange supply remains at historically low levels and SHIB’s holder count has resumed its gradual climb, adding roughly 1,000 new holders after an unusual one-day spike of 75,000 briefly disrupted the trend.
What Is The Chart Actually Saying?SHIB sitsinside a steep descending channel in place since January 2026, with lower highs and lower lows and no structural break yet.
The setup traders are focused on is a triple RSI bullish divergence. Each time SHIB’s price made a lower low, RSI held higher rather than following price down.
The third divergence is printing now with RSI at 39.12, and the same pattern preceded recoveries in both February and April.
All four major EMAs sit above price and act as resistance, keeping the broader downtrend intact regardless of the divergence signal.
What Needs To Happen For SHIB To Reverse?LuckSide pointed to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) as the deciding factor. BTC is compressing between $62,000 and a longer-term descending trendline, with that range requiring resolution by around July 26.
SHIB’s next directional move depends on which way Bitcoin breaks from that setup.
Geopolitical pressure from Middle East tensions has added another layer of bear market sentiment, with broader uncertainty keeping risk assets including SHIB suppressed across the board.
Key levels for SHIB $0.0000436 — 20-day EMA; a daily close above this confirms the RSI divergence $0.0000471 — 50-day EMA, next resistance above $0.00000400 — channel floor acting as immediate support Image: Shutterstock
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Bitcoin has long been the asset everyone wants exposure to and the network nobody could build on. Stacks was designed to change that, and a new on-chain milestone suggests it is making progress.
The Stacks protocol has recorded 1.6 million total wallets that have ever received a transfer, according to on-chain analytics tracking cumulative user adoption.
What the wallet count actually tells you What the 1.6 million figure tells you is the cumulative reach of the network, the total number of unique addresses that have had at least some interaction with the Stacks ecosystem at any point in its history. Not everyone is logging in daily, but the number sets a ceiling for potential reactivation and signals that the protocol has moved well beyond niche hobbyist territory.
A busy summer of product launches On July 8, 2026, the protocol announced stBTC, a liquid staking token built to generate Bitcoin yield within the Stacks DeFi ecosystem. Instead of simply holding Bitcoin and earning nothing, users can stake it through Stacks and receive a liquid token that can be deployed elsewhere in DeFi while the underlying Bitcoin continues earning yield.
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Five days later, on July 13, a proposal for the PoX-5 upgrade was put forward. PoX, which stands for Proof of Transfer, is the consensus mechanism that connects Stacks to Bitcoin by having miners transfer Bitcoin to participate in block production. The PoX-5 proposal introduces a new staking model and a 15% reserve fund, creating a buffer within the staking system designed to add stability and reduce the risk of yield disruption for participants.
Earlier in the summer, on June 17, Stacks announced an integration with Fireblocks, the institutional-grade digital asset custody and transfer platform. Fireblocks is the infrastructure layer that hedge funds, banks, and crypto-native institutions use to move and secure assets at scale, and the integration opens the door to a class of capital that previously had no clean on-ramp into the Stacks ecosystem.
The Nakamoto foundation The Nakamoto release, completed in 2024, was the most significant technical upgrade in the protocol’s history. Before Nakamoto, Stacks blocks were tied to Bitcoin block production, meaning the network inherited Bitcoin’s roughly ten-minute confirmation window. Post-Nakamoto, the protocol produces blocks at a faster cadence. The two-way peg mechanism, sBTC, allows Bitcoin to move between the Bitcoin base layer and the Stacks layer without relying on a centralized custodian.
stBTC, announced this July, builds directly on top of sBTC.
What investors should watch stBTC is the most direct catalyst to watch. Liquid staking tokens tend to generate flywheel effects: yield attracts deposits, deposits increase total value locked, higher TVL attracts more DeFi protocols, and more protocols attract more users.
The PoX-5 upgrade directly affects the incentive structure for STX holders who participate in stacking. The 15% reserve fund introduces a new variable into that calculus, and the market will need to price in both the stability benefits and any changes to effective yield rates once the upgrade is finalized.
The Fireblocks integration removes one of the primary friction points for funds that want Bitcoin DeFi exposure without building custom infrastructure.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Arbitrum (ARB), a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum, is attracting greater market attention as bullish indicators mount and buying interest increases. Stronger technical signals and expanded infrastructure developments are supporting expectations for a potential upward price movement.
Bullish momentum builds as technicals improveARB is currently priced at $0.08794 with a 24-hour trading volume of $83.15 million and a market capitalization of $560.21 million. The cryptocurrency has displayed stability in the last 24 hours, and its price structure suggests potential for a reversal. Market participants have observed growing signs that ARB could be entering an early bull phase, buoyed by advances in technical patterns and persistence above key daily moving averages.
Crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe noted that technical indicators across several timeframes are strengthening, highlighting bullish divergences relative to both the US dollar and Bitcoin. The formation of a higher low in the ARB price is viewed as supporting evidence that buyers are maintaining control.
Analysts point out that, despite recent consolidation, Arbitrum has defended a key support zone and continues to register increased trading volume, reflecting upward pressure from traders and speculators.
The accumulation phase may be underway, with increased participation suggesting that ARB could be in the initial stages of a new market cycle.
WalletConnect and Arbitrum partnership boosts ecosystemWalletConnect, a widely adopted communication protocol for connecting decentralized applications with mobile wallets, has expanded its integration with Arbitrum. This cooperation aims to make on-chain application development faster and more cost-effective for organizations operating on the Arbitrum network.
The enhanced partnership allows for more seamless wallet interactions, improved user experiences, and lower transaction fees. Developers can now more efficiently deliver services to end users due to these improvements.
Arbitrum supports an ecosystem with over $17 billion locked in its protocols and liquidity exceeding $4 billion in stablecoins, making it a prominent option for larger enterprises seeking blockchain solutions.
Transaction fees on Arbitrum remain below $0.01, further contributing to its suitability for deploying scalable decentralized applications.
Mini dictionary: WalletConnect, a protocol that enables easy and secure connection between decentralized applications and cryptocurrency wallets without requiring users to reveal private keys.
MetricValueCurrent ARB price$0.0879424-hour trading volume$83.15 millionMarket capitalization$560.21 millionTotal value locked (TVL)$17 billionStablecoin liquidity$4 billionAverage transaction feeLess than $0.01Market outlook remains cautiously optimisticDespite optimistic forecasts and new integrations, ARB’s price continues to face downward pressure. Broader market trends, however, are showing signs of improvement, and analysts suggest that a reversal could occur if favorable conditions persist.
Significant resistance levels remain, but renewed accumulation by large holders and expanding ecosystem partnerships—such as the growing collaboration with WalletConnect—are cited as potential catalysts for a new uptrend.
Expectations for increased bullish sentiment rest on persistently high trading volumes, enhanced network partnerships, and signs of continued whale accumulation, all of which support the prospect of a trend reversal for ARB.
Nonetheless, market participants continue to monitor Arbitrum’s progress closely in light of the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency sector.
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.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest increased its exposure to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX) on Friday, July 17. It purchased nearly $18.3 million worth of shares after the stock tumbled to a new post-IPO low. Meanwhile the investment firm also sold off some of its shares in Robinhood Markets on the same trading day.
Cathie Wood Makes Bullish Moves On SpaceX Stock In total, Cathie Wood’s ARK purchased 147,623 shares of SpaceX across four of its actively-managed ETFs, according to the firm’s daily trading report. The SpaceX purchases totalled around $18.3 million based on the closing price of $123.99.
The flagship ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) made the biggest purchase, with 95,129 shares valued at approximately $11.8 million. The ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (ARKQ) bought in $3.78 million worth of 30,464 shares and the ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX) took up 12,611 shares valued at nearly $1.56 million. The ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) also purchased 9,419 shares, valued at approximately $1.17 million.
The buying came as SpaceX shares closed at $123.99, down 5.43% on the day after falling as low as $122.12. The stock is down about 35% from the $135 IPO price, and has weakened since it went public due to lagging interest.
On the other hand, ARK sold off its holdings in Robinhood, selling 20,089 shares via ARKW 5,913 shares from ARKK. The selloff came as Robinhood’s stock closed at $99.96 on Friday with a 5.72% fall.
What’s Next For SPCX Stock? With the Super Heavy booster’s at least two Raptor engines failing to ignite during a series of pre-flight tests, SpaceX canceled its Starship Flight 13 launch minutes before liftoff, ratcheting up selling pressure. Elon Musk later claimed that the engines would be replaced, and the company rescheduled the mission for July 20 at 6:45 p.m. ET.
Market observers reacted on a mixed basis over the SpaceX stock drop as the company is seeing a sharp decline in its share prices. Cognitive scientist Gary Marcus said the most recent slide was an expression of increased doubts about Elon Musk’s performance. He added that another record low appeared more likely than a dramatic collapse.
Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt, however, said the selloff is an overreaction, because a few days of delay is not a significant operational setback for SpaceX and that investors have been overreacting to that short-term setback.
For RWA related info, check out our page on Top Tokenized Real World Assets Tokens.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has bought $18.3 million of SpaceX shares after the stock fell 5.43% to a new post-IPO low, according to the firm’s July 17 trading report.
Summary
ARK Invest bought $18.3 million of SpaceX shares after the stock hit a post-IPO low. Four ARK ETFs acquired 147,623 shares as SpaceX closed 8.2% below its IPO price. SpaceX delayed Starship Flight 13 after two Raptor engines failed during pre-flight testing. According to ARK’s daily disclosure, four of its actively managed exchange-traded funds purchased a combined 147,623 SpaceX shares as the stock closed Friday at $123.99. During the session, shares dropped as low as $122.12.
Source: Yahoo Finance The ARK Innovation ETF made the largest purchase, adding 95,129 shares worth about $11.8 million based on Friday’s closing price. ARK’s Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF bought 30,464 shares valued at $3.78 million, while its Space Exploration & Innovation ETF added 12,611 shares worth around $1.56 million.
Completing the purchase, the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF acquired another 9,419 SpaceX shares valued at approximately $1.17 million, according to the same disclosure.
ARK adds to its SpaceX position below the IPO price Friday’s purchase has extended a series of SpaceX investments made by Wood’s firm since the company entered the public market in June.
As crypto.news previously reported, ARK bought roughly $52.1 million of SpaceX shares during the week ending July 10 through the ARKK, ARKQ, ARKW and ARKX funds. Data from Ark Invest Tracker showed that those purchases lifted the firm’s investment since the June IPO above $475 million.
Ark Invest Tracker also reported that ARK acquired about $444 million of SpaceX stock around the company’s June 12 market debut. Its latest purchase came with the shares trading 8.2% below their $135 offer price, based on Friday’s closing value.
While adding to SpaceX, ARK reduced its exposure to Robinhood Markets during the same trading session. The firm’s report showed that ARKW sold 20,089 Robinhood shares and ARKK disposed of another 5,913 shares.
Robinhood ended Friday at $99.96 after losing 5.72% during the session. ARK’s disclosure did not provide a reason for selling the 26,002 shares.
Starship delay adds pressure to SpaceX shares As crypto.news reported, SpaceX’s latest decline followed the cancellation of Starship Flight 13 shortly before its scheduled launch. According to the report, at least two Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite during pre-flight testing, prompting the company to stop the mission minutes before liftoff.
Elon Musk later stated that SpaceX would replace the affected engines. The company subsequently rescheduled Flight 13 for July 20 at 6:45 p.m. ET.
Commenting on the stock’s decline, cognitive scientist Gary Marcus linked the latest weakness to rising doubts about Musk’s performance. Marcus expected another record low to be more likely than a sudden and much larger collapse, according to his assessment cited in the report.
Tesla investor Sawyer Merritt offered a different view, arguing that traders had overreacted to a short operational delay. Merritt maintained that postponing the launch by several days did not represent a serious setback for SpaceX.
Sui has launched gas-free stablecoin transfers, a move that goes directly at one of the most annoying pieces of crypto payments: needing the network’s native token just to move dollars.
For experienced crypto users, gas is normal. For everyone else, it is friction. A user may have USDC or another stablecoin in a wallet, but if they do not also hold the chain’s native token, they can get stuck. They cannot send funds, make a payment, or move assets without first acquiring gas.
That is a terrible experience for payments.
Sui’s new stablecoin transfer feature is designed to remove that issue by allowing users to send supported stablecoins without holding SUI for transaction fees. The available source material points to implementation through Sui’s Move API, with gas set at zero and the fee burden handled away from the end user.
That sounds technical, but the user-facing idea is simple: stablecoins should move more like money and less like a puzzle.
Reference: Sui
TL;DR Sui has launched gas-free transfers for supported stablecoins. Users can move assets such as USDC without first holding SUI for fees. The change could make Sui more competitive in stablecoin payments and consumer crypto apps. Why Gas Still Breaks Crypto UX Stablecoins are one of crypto’s clearest product-market fits.
They are used for trading, settlement, payments, remittances, DeFi collateral, and dollar access in markets where banking rails are slow or unreliable. But even stablecoins can feel awkward when the user has to understand gas.
The problem is especially obvious for new users. Someone may receive stablecoins and assume they can send them immediately. Then the wallet tells them they need the native asset to pay fees. Now they have to find SUI, ETH, SOL, TRX, or another gas token before they can do anything.
That is not how normal payments work.
Nobody expects to hold a separate “fee token” to send pounds from a banking app or dollars from a payment wallet. Crypto users have learned to tolerate that because they understand blockchains. Mainstream users have not, and probably should not have to.
Gas-free stablecoin transfers are an attempt to hide that complexity.
If Sui can make stablecoin movement feel more like a normal payment action, the network becomes easier to use for wallets, apps, merchants, and everyday transfers.
Stablecoin Competition Is About Convenience Now Sui is not the first network to chase stablecoin payments, and it will not be the last.
Ethereum has the deepest liquidity and most established DeFi ecosystem. TRON has become a major stablecoin transfer network because of its low fees and wide USDT usage. Solana has pushed hard into fast, low-cost consumer payments. Base is trying to combine Ethereum alignment with cheaper transactions and app distribution.
That means Sui needs a real reason for users and developers to care.
Gas-free stablecoin movement is a practical answer. It does not rely on abstract network claims. It solves a visible user problem.
The supported stablecoin list is important as well. According to the cleaned pack, supported assets include USDC, USDsui, suiUSDe, AUSD, FDUSD, USDB, and USDY. That gives the feature a wider stablecoin base than a single-asset implementation.
For developers, the more interesting part may be the infrastructure model. If apps can build payment flows where the user never has to think about gas, Sui becomes easier to integrate into consumer-facing products.
That could matter for wallets, games, DeFi front ends, subscription tools, and cross-border payments.
The Real Test Is Usage The launch is promising, but the market will judge it by adoption.
Gas-free transfers sound useful, but the feature needs real volume. Users have to adopt it. Wallets and apps have to integrate it cleanly. Stablecoin liquidity has to remain deep enough that the experience feels reliable.
The competitive bar is high. Users already move stablecoins across other networks, and many do not care which chain wins as long as the transfer is cheap, fast, and easy. Sui has to prove that removing gas friction is enough to pull activity into its ecosystem.
There is also a sustainability question. If end users are not paying gas directly, someone else is absorbing or sponsoring those costs. That can work well, but the economics need to make sense over time, especially if volume scales.
Still, the direction is right.
Crypto payments will not become mainstream if every transaction requires users to understand the mechanics underneath. The winning experience probably looks boring: open app, send dollars, done.
Sui’s gas-free stablecoin feature moves in that direction. It is not a guarantee that Sui becomes a dominant payments chain, but it gives the network a cleaner user-experience argument at a time when stablecoin competition is becoming more serious.
This article is based on information from Sui Network.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.
Thailand’s celebrity pygmy hippo Moo Deng is making another football prediction, this time choosing Argentina to win the World Cup 2026 final against Spain.
Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha district, Chon Buri, organised the activity on July 18 to add colour to the build-up to the World Cup final and entertain visitors at the zoo.
Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoi led the nutrition team in preparing two sets of fruit as animal enrichment, with the names of Spain (ESP) and Argentina (ARG) carved into the displays and decorated with national flags.
Moo Deng’s keeper, Atthaphon, then released the pygmy hippo to choose the team she believed would lift the trophy. Moo Deng walked straight to the Argentina fruit set without hesitation, drawing cheers from the crowd of visitors watching the activity.
Moo Deng, the celebrity pygmy hippo, chomping down on the Argentina fruit set.
PHOTO: THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
The activity was described as a chance for Moo Deng to make amends after two previous incorrect predictions in final matches. She had earlier picked France over Spain and England over Argentina.
Narongwit said the activity was intended to create happiness and smiles for visitors while also supporting animal enrichment. He said the fruit display helped encourage exercise, reduce stress and allow animals to express natural behaviour while receiving proper nutrition.
He added that the zoo’s intention was purely to promote the venue and bring joy to football fans, regardless of whether Moo Deng’s prediction matched the final result.
He stressed that the activity was not intended to promote gambling in any form. THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
A whale transferred 19,235 ETH to Binance, worth approximately $35.34 million.
According to YuEmber monitoring, geministar.eth transferred 19,235 ETH (worth approximately $35.34 million) to Binance 15 minutes ago.
7 minutes ago
Robinhood addresses controversy: Its support for Trump’s account is aimed at inclusive finance, not to encourage gambling-style trading.
According to The New York Times, as Robinhood integrates prediction markets into its app, external concerns have grown over the platform’s potential to exploit young, inexperienced investors. Additionally, many still associate Robinhood with the meme stock craze that swept markets years ago, and the firm was a key driver of that phenomenon. Today, Robinhood aims to be seen as more than those labels. The company has become one of the entities operating the Trump Accounts program, which gives Robinhood the chance to build closer ties with the next generation of investors while further strengthening its relationship with Washington’s political establishment. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev responded that the move is not to encourage speculation, but to expand financial inclusion and help more U.S. households participate in long-term investing. Currently, Robinhood has adjusted some product designs and is working to transition from a “speculative trading platform” to a broader financial services firm.
7 minutes ago
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister: Iran has ceased implementing the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding
According to Iranian media reports on the 18th, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Garibabadi stated that Iran has ceased implementing the Iran-US Memorandum of Understanding after the United States violated its commitments.
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BONK treasury attacker transfers approximately $1.19 million worth of tokens to Binance.
According to Yu Jian Monitoring, the address that previously drained the BONK treasury via a governance attack transferred 400 billion BONK tokens (valued at roughly $1.19 million) to Binance 20 minutes ago. The address spent approximately $4.4 million 10 days ago to purchase enough BONK tokens to meet the governance voting threshold, then submitted a governance proposal that was forcibly passed, siphoning 4.426 trillion BONK tokens from the BONK treasury, worth around $21.2 million.
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Consensys unwittingly hired North Korean developers for software development work, and has launched a full investigation.
Blockchain firm Consensys unknowingly granted a North Korea-linked software developer access to some of its internal systems for roughly a month. Earlier this year, Consensys hired a software consultant operating under the alias Tyler Knapp, who was later found to have ties to North Korea. The incident prompted Consensys to temporarily pause product releases and launch an internal investigation. Consensys General Counsel Matt Corva stated: "'Knapp' was introduced to the company via its partnership with a reputable third-party service provider, serving as a consultant (he was never a full-time Consensys employee). We detected this security threat shortly after his onboarding, immediately terminated all his access permissions in line with security protocols, and initiated a full investigation. The probe confirmed no assets or data were misappropriated, no malicious code was deployed, and there was no impact on user security or assets."
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Kevin Kelly: If Token costs become critical in the future, China’s open-source models will hold a significant advantage.
Famous futurist and "Father of Silicon Valley Spirit" Kevin Kelly told media in an interview at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference that if the day comes when everyone starts paying attention to token costs, China’s AI will hold an advantage thanks to the existence of open-source models. Kelly noted that token consumption costs are growing increasingly important, though currently the industry seems not to prioritize them. “But I think when we are consuming such massive amounts of tokens all the time, people will start caring about [costs]. If you can offer costs that are one-tenth of Anthropic’s, that will disrupt the entire landscape.” However, Kelly also warned that open-source models require sufficient funding to sustain operations, as they are not as profitable as closed-source models. “Building these large models requires massive capital.”
Hyperliquid co-founder Jeff Yan has warned that crypto’s failure to attract enough top entrepreneurs has become one of the industry’s biggest obstacles as young talent moves toward artificial intelligence.
Summary
Jeff Yan says crypto is struggling to attract top young entrepreneurs. AI’s prestige and rapid growth are pulling talented founders away from on-chain finance. George Noble warns heavy AI spending could create serious financial risks. The VALR podcast featured Yan’s comments on how the AI boom and the social status attached to the technology have influenced career choices among young founders. According to Yan, many talented people remain unsure which field would allow them to create the most value, leaving relatively few to pursue work in cryptocurrency and fintech.
Yan argued that rebuilding the financial system from first principles offers young entrepreneurs a chance to solve difficult real-world problems. In his view, the work involves turning academic ideas into market designs that can operate reliably at scale.
Rather than judging industries by their surface appeal, Yan urged prospective founders to study the problems each sector is trying to solve. He identified on-chain finance as an area where entrepreneurs can help develop new financial systems and market structures.
AI is drawing young founders away from crypto Yan’s concern comes as Chinese AI developers gain attention for their progress in global model rankings. China’s Kimi K3 recently reached first place on the Frontend Code Arena, a result that prompted former White House crypto czar David Sacks to raise concerns about America’s position in the AI race.
Sacks described Kimi K3’s performance as troubling because the model also ranked close to leading systems across several other evaluations. He argued that rules covering data centers, state-level requirements and proposed federal reviews could slow US developers while Chinese companies continue improving their models.
“This is how you lose the AI race,” Sacks wrote.
Drawing a comparison with the early internet, Sacks argued that the United States became a technology leader by allowing companies to build products without first seeking government permission. He called for Washington to take a similar approach to AI while using focused regulations to address specific safety concerns.
The competition described by Sacks helps explain why AI has become attractive to ambitious young developers and founders. Yan, however, believes crypto still offers meaningful technical work because building on-chain financial markets requires both entrepreneurial judgment and knowledge of economic design.
Heavy AI spending carries a separate market risk While AI companies compete for talent and capital, former Fidelity fund manager George Noble has warned that the investment boom could create severe financial risks. Noble estimated that an AI bubble collapse could cause 17 times more damage than the dot-com crash, which erased about $5 trillion from the Nasdaq.
Noble linked that forecast to the large amount of money being directed toward AI infrastructure. If those investments fail to produce the returns expected by investors, he argued, the losses could spread beyond technology companies and affect other parts of the financial system.
“The fallout from this could really be much more significant,” Noble said while discussing the rise in AI capital spending.
Yan did not frame AI’s expansion only as a financial threat to crypto. His warning focused on the people entering the sector, with the Hyperliquid co-founder arguing that on-chain finance will need more capable entrepreneurs if it is to turn complex theories into financial markets that can serve users at scale.
David Hunter, Chief Strategist at Contrarian Macro Advisors, known for his analysis of global markets, made striking statements of great interest to Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors.
Responding to Natalie Brunell’s questions, Hunter indicated that technically downward pressure on Bitcoin could continue, pointing to a sharp correction wave.
David Hunter, recalling that he shared a technical chart analysis when the Bitcoin price was above $100,000, said that the downtrend could deepen. Stating that technical momentum, rather than fundamental factors, determines decisions in the market, the renowned analyst summarized his short- and medium-term goals for Bitcoin with the following words:
“When Bitcoin was above $100,000, I made a technical analysis and said the price could initially drop to $75,000. Now I predict the next step could be $50,000.”
Hunter stated that the biggest psychological factor behind the declines was retail investors who entered the market at high prices (between $100,000 and $120,000) with the “desire to catch the peak.” He noted that these investors are now at a loss and have started selling in a panic.
The macro analyst stated that negative momentum in bear markets is self-reinforcing, but pointed out that the real big risk lies in corporate debt and leverage usage.
“Just like in the silver market, momentum begets momentum in Bitcoin. Those who joined the upward rally at the last minute are now at a loss and giving up. But the real danger is that players like Michael Saylor, who held positions with high leverage, will be cornered by this negative pressure.”
Hunter argues that the Fed will have to print a massive amount of money, perhaps $20 trillion, to rescue markets in the future, and predicts that one of the biggest global collapses in history will occur just before this process.
While Bitcoin supporters see it as the “ultimate financial safe haven,” Hunter, maintaining a cautious stance, said that whether Bitcoin is a real asset can only be proven by this major crisis.
“I’ve always said to people in the Bitcoin world: I want to see how Bitcoin will fare during this global downturn. After watching how BTC survives during this major crisis, we’ll be able to definitively understand whether it’s a ‘real and resilient’ asset as everyone claims.”
*This is not investment advice.
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Bitcoin may finally be entering the last stage of its bear market. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost has identified a rare on chain signal that has appeared before every major Bitcoin rally.
With Bitcoin staying above key support even after heavy selling, investors are now watching for the next big breakout.
CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost says Bitcoin has flashed a rare end of bear market signal, indicating that the market is entering its final bearish phase before a possible trend reversal.
The signal appeared after Bitcoin’s Short Term Holder (STH) cost basis crossed below the Long Term Holder (LTH) cost basis, with a required three day confirmation window now completed.
Historically, this has marked the beginning of the final phase of a Bitcoin bear market before a new bull cycle starts.
But Darkfost says that, “This doesn’t mean the bear market ends the moment the signal fires”, “It simply shows we are entering its final phase.”
Meanwhile,this is the best opportunity for investors who use a Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) strategy.
Signal Indicate Next Bull Run is Likely to Begin According to Darkfost analysis, short term holders (STH) are investors who bought Bitcoin within the last six months, while long-term holders (LTH) have held their coins for more than six months.
During the recent price drop, newer investors kept buying Bitcoin, which lowered their average buying price.
Because of this, the STH cost basis dropped from about $112,500 to around $69,000, moving below the active long-term holders’ cost basis and triggering the rare market signal.
According to Darkfost, the next bull run is likely to begin when new investors start buying Bitcoin at higher prices than long-term holders. In the past, this has often been a sign that strong market momentum is returning.
Bitcoin Holds Above $60K Despite Selling Pressure Nearly three weeks ago, Bitcoin recovered from a low of $57,747 and has continued moving higher.
Even after Michael Saylor’s Strategy sold 3,588 BTC worth about $216 million to fund dividend payments, Bitcoin did not fall below $60,000. This suggests buyers are strongly defending that price level.
Now, analysts are closely watching $67,248, which is the next major resistance. If Bitcoin breaks above this level, it could strengthen the case for a bigger bullish move.
As of now, bitcoin is trading around $63,947 relfecitng a jumpe o 1.4% seen in the last 24 hours.
Story Ends Here
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Bitcoin may continue to sweep liquidity throughout its established range, with price fluctuations anticipated between the $67,000 and $76,000 levels. However, market analysis signals the potential for both a significant breakout and a sudden correction, possibly sending BTC toward $55,000 or even the low $50,000s before a more robust recovery unfolds.
Midterm Election Cycle Sets the Stage for Bitcoin’s Next MovesCastillo Trading, a technical analysis provider known for tracking cyclical trends in digital assets, projects that Bitcoin could enter a rally leading up to the U.S. midterm elections in 2026. The firm suggests this move would fit historical election-related patterns, though there are no guarantees these developments will repeat precisely.
Their analysis positions BTC below the midpoint of its broader range, identifying support close to $60,000 and a median value near $70,000. Should the price manage to reclaim $65,683, it may open a path toward $70,000 to $71,365 in the near term.
Momentum extending beyond those levels could draw Bitcoin into what Castillo Trading describes as the “premium zone” between $74,492 and $76,696. Notably, this region includes the 2025 yearly opening price alongside several technical resistance levels based on previous trading activity.
Anticipation of heavy seller pressure in this zone remains high, with analysts pointing to the risk of rapid reversals if large-volume participants choose to exit positions at these highs.
Following the midterm elections, Castillo Trading’s charting suggests a sharp correction could emerge, potentially pulling BTC beneath $60,000 and down toward the $51,000 to $56,000 range. Such a move would likely force recent buyers into losses and clear out liquidity beneath the current trading range before a potential new cycle of gains begins.
Bitcoin faces significant hurdles at key technical zones. Sustained trading above $70,000 could decrease the likelihood of a steep decline, while falling below $60,000 would make the bearish scenario more probable based on historical patterns.
The analysis emphasizes the importance of key support and resistance levels. If the $70,000 barrier is breached and BTC manages to stay above the premium region, downside risks could lessen, challenging the possibility of a deep correction.
Liquidity Traps and Critical Levels in the Current RangeTechnical charts show that Bitcoin is oscillating between principal liquidity pockets, with market participants watching for moves beyond either end of the established range. The current outlook suggests BTC may first descend to around $61,300 before rebounding toward $67,300. Another corrective move could follow if resistance holds.
This pattern has played out in recent sessions, with Bitcoin sweeping liquidity above $64,700 before retreating. A push below $61,300 would potentially activate another wave toward $59,300, where a substantial liquidity pool awaits.
Quick recoveries from those lower zones might provide BTC the foundation for a countertrend move up to $64,700 and, eventually, $67,300. However, if $67,300 fails to give way to further advances, the wider trading range could remain intact—opening the door for potential declines toward $55,000. Analyst Justin Bennett continues to cite $44,000 as a possible long-term target, though current trading activity does not yet confirm this outlook.
For now, sharper liquidity movements in both directions appear more likely than a clear, sustained trend, unless Bitcoin can break and hold above $67,300.
Mini dictionary: Castillo Trading, a technical analysis and trading research group focusing on identifying cyclical price patterns, support and resistance zones, and volume dynamics across major cryptocurrencies.
Key LevelsAction/Implication$65,683Initial breakout target$70,000-$71,365Median/short-term resistance$74,492-$76,696Premium zone, resistance and potential sell pressure$61,300First support/liquidity target$55,000-$56,000Potential correction zone$51,000Major support area after correction$44,000Long-term bearish scenario targetDisclaimer: 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.
Polymarket traders are pricing in a high probability that the Federal Reserve holds rates steady at its July meeting, with odds rising to 94% after softer inflation data improved the market’s macro mood.
That matters for Bitcoin because rate expectations remain one of the most important forces shaping risk appetite. When inflation cools, traders usually become more confident that the Fed can avoid further tightening. That can support equities, crypto, and other risk assets because the market starts looking ahead to easier liquidity conditions.
Bitcoin has spent much of this cycle trading at the intersection of macro expectations and crypto-native demand. ETF flows, institutional access, and on-chain activity all matter, but inflation and interest-rate expectations still set the tone for how aggressively investors are willing to take risk.
The latest Polymarket move shows how quickly that macro sentiment can shift.
Reference: Polymarket
TL;DR Polymarket odds for a July Fed rate hold climbed to 94%. The move followed softer US inflation data. Bitcoin sentiment improved alongside renewed ETF inflows and a better risk backdrop. Why Fed Odds Matter For Bitcoin Bitcoin is often described as a hedge against monetary instability, but in practice it also trades like a high-beta liquidity asset.
When traders expect higher rates, the market usually becomes more cautious. Cash yields become more attractive, leverage becomes more expensive, and speculative assets can come under pressure. When traders expect the Fed to pause or eventually cut rates, risk appetite often improves.
That is why prediction-market odds matter.
Polymarket is not the Federal Reserve. It does not decide policy. But it gives a live view of how traders are pricing the probability of different outcomes. A 94% probability of a hold tells the market that traders see further tightening as unlikely in the immediate term.
That can make Bitcoin more attractive, especially if investors believe the worst of the inflation pressure is passing.
The supporting inflation backdrop is important here. The available source material points to July 14 CPI data showing annual inflation falling to 3.5%, down from 4.2% in May. A softer inflation reading gives the Fed more room to stay patient.
ETF Flows Add A Crypto-Native Layer The macro story becomes more important when it lines up with crypto-specific flows.
The repaired pack notes that spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $132.3 million on July 17, led by BlackRock’s IBIT. If that flow picture holds, it suggests Bitcoin is not only benefiting from a better macro tone but also seeing renewed demand through regulated investment products.
That combination is powerful.
Macro improves the environment. ETF flows show whether investors are actually allocating. Bitcoin tends to respond best when both line up. A better inflation print without follow-through buying can fade quickly. ETF inflows during a hostile macro period can still struggle. Together, they give traders a stronger reason to pay attention.
That said, one day of flows is not enough to declare a new trend. ETF data can be volatile, and Polymarket odds can move as new economic data or Fed commentary arrives. The useful point is that the immediate setup has improved from where it was during the outflow-heavy period.
For Bitcoin bulls, the question is whether this becomes a sustained shift or just a short-term relief move.
The Fed Still Has The Final Word A 94% prediction-market probability is a strong signal, but the Fed still sets policy based on its own data and mandate.
Officials will be watching inflation, labour-market conditions, financial conditions, and whether price pressure is cooling fast enough to justify a more relaxed stance. A single CPI reading helps, but it does not eliminate the risk of sticky inflation or hawkish guidance.
That is why Bitcoin traders need to treat the Polymarket move as a sentiment signal, not a guarantee.
If the Fed holds and its language is softer, Bitcoin could benefit from a cleaner risk-on setup. If the Fed holds but sounds cautious, the market reaction may be more muted. If future inflation data surprises higher, current odds can unwind quickly.
For now, the market is leaning toward a pause, and Bitcoin is reflecting that improved mood.
The bigger takeaway is that prediction markets are becoming part of the crypto macro toolkit. Traders no longer wait only for Fed statements or analyst notes. They watch live odds, ETF flows, CPI data, and price action together.
That creates a more dynamic market, but also a faster-moving one. Bitcoin can reprice quickly when macro probability shifts. Right now, that shift is working in its favour.
This article is based on Polymarket, BLS inflation data, and Bitcoin ETF flow data.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has purchased $136.5 million worth of Bitcoin through its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), as institutional participation in Bitcoin funds continues despite recent market volatility.
BlackRock’s ETF purchase and institutional activityThe substantial Bitcoin purchase by BlackRock was highlighted by market commentator That Martini Guy, who emphasized the scale of the investment and characterized it as clear evidence of ongoing institutional accumulation, rather than retail-driven demand.
While much of the public focuses on short-term Bitcoin price movements, large scale investors are continuing to accumulate significant Bitcoin positions through funds like IBIT, according to That Martini Guy.
IBIT offers regulated Bitcoin exposure by tracking the price of Bitcoin through a publicly traded product, allowing investors to buy shares in the fund via standard brokerage accounts. This structure provides a convenient alternative to direct ownership, reducing operational complexities such as wallet management and private key security.
BlackRock, headquartered in New York City, manages trillions in assets across global markets and has accelerated ETF product offerings in the digital asset sector over the past year.
Mini dictionary: IBIT is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund offered by BlackRock. It seeks to mirror the price of Bitcoin by holding the digital asset directly, giving investors exposure without needing to buy, store, or secure Bitcoin themselves.
Cumulative flows reflect slowing momentumSince their launch, US spot Bitcoin ETFs have drawn strong long-term inflows. Cumulative ETF data indicates that total inflows reached the $80 billion to $85 billion range, based on Farside data. At the same time, net flows—a key measure for new money entering these funds—peaked at nearly $63 billion before stabilizing around $50 billion to $52 billion.
Despite the positive long-term trend, recent figures show a slowdown in net flows compared to earlier peaks. Cumulative outflows now sit near $28 billion, partially offsetting the newly invested funds. Nevertheless, inflows remain substantially higher than outflows, underscoring continued institutional interest.
MetricPeak ValueRecent ValueCumulative ETF Inflows$85 billion$80 billionNet Flows$63 billion$50-$52 billionCumulative Outflows–$28 billionKey support zones for ETF flowsAnalysts currently monitor the $50 billion level as a vital support zone for net cumulative ETF flows. Maintaining net flows above this threshold would suggest demand remains steady. A rebound from the current level could signal a strengthening in institutional inflows and potentially lead to a retest of the $55 billion and $60 billion marks. These zones serve as reference points for market participants tracking institutional sentiment in $BTC.
If net flows decrease below $50 billion, the next support areas are expected around $45 billion and $40 billion, respectively. In the near term, BlackRock’s continued purchases are helping keep ETF activity and flows closely watched by the market.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Bitcoin has lost roughly half its value since peaking above $126K in October 2025, sliding to prices not seen since September 2024. And the strangest part about this particular downturn isn’t the magnitude. It’s the mood.
According to Bloomberg’s analysis published on July 17, 2026, this slump looks fundamentally different from the crypto crashes that investors have grown accustomed to. There are no spectacular blowups, no exchange collapses, no fraud revelations triggering forced liquidations. Instead, the market is watching something arguably more troubling: a slow, steady erosion of investor interest with no obvious catalyst to reverse it.
Death by a thousand yawns No major industry scandals have surfaced in the preceding months. No forced liquidations have ripped through leveraged positions in the spectacular fashion that defined earlier downturns. The selling pressure has been persistent but orderly, which in some ways makes it harder to trade around.
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As of early July 2026, Bitcoin was trading below its 200-week moving average. For the uninitiated, that’s a technical indicator that long-term trend followers treat as the dividing line between bull and bear territory. Trading below it signals that the asset’s price is weaker than its average over nearly four years, which tends to make institutional allocators nervous.
Macro headwinds meet regulatory limbo The backdrop isn’t helping. Rising oil prices have reignited inflation concerns, creating exactly the kind of macroeconomic environment where risk assets struggle.
Meanwhile, the US Senate Banking Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee are both engaged in discussions about crypto-related legislation. The Clarity Act and various tax reform proposals are on the table, potentially creating a more structured regulatory environment for digital assets. With midterm elections approaching, the window for passing meaningful legislation is narrowing, and timing pressures are mounting on both committees.
Many market participants expected 2026 to be the year that regulatory clarity would finally arrive and provide a tailwind for crypto prices. That thesis hasn’t exactly played out.
What this means for investors The 200-week moving average breach adds a technical layer of concern. Historically, Bitcoin spending extended time below this level has coincided with the deepest phases of bear markets. Whether that pattern holds or breaks this cycle will likely depend on two variables that are largely outside crypto’s control: the trajectory of inflation and the pace of regulatory progress in Congress.
For traders monitoring macro conditions, oil prices and Federal Reserve commentary deserve close attention. If inflation concerns continue to build, risk assets broadly, not just crypto, will face sustained pressure.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Iran has launched strikes against Saudi Arabia for the first time in months, reigniting a conflict that has kept energy markets on edge since fighting broke out in late February.
What happened and why it matters right now The 2026 Iran war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets, has gone through several escalation phases. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting critical oil infrastructure including the Ras Tanura refinery, one of the world’s largest crude processing facilities.
Saudi Arabia quietly escalated in late March, conducting what are now understood to be the first-ever direct Saudi airstrikes on Iranian soil. That was a significant departure from Riyadh’s traditional posture of fighting proxy conflicts rather than engaging Iran head-on.
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Adding fuel to an already volatile situation, Iran-aligned Houthi forces have increased their attacks on Saudi targets as of July 2026.
Oil spikes, Bitcoin dips, and the macro mess Oil prices have surged between 3% and 7% following each major escalation in this conflict.
Bitcoin has shown a pattern during this conflict where oil spikes on escalation news correlate with Bitcoin dips. At various points during the conflict, Bitcoin has fallen below $62K in direct response to geopolitical flare-ups. Bitcoin is not behaving like digital gold during this crisis — it’s behaving like a risk asset, with traders selling crypto to raise cash or rotate into traditional safe havens like gold and US Treasuries.
DeFi platforms are picking up the slack Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetuals exchange, saw trading volumes for oil-linked contracts reach roughly $200M in a single day during one of the conflict’s escalation phases. When traditional markets close overnight or on weekends, geopolitical events don’t stop happening — traders can position around breaking news on 24/7 crypto platforms when futures exchanges are closed.
What this means for investors Saudi Arabia’s willingness to strike Iranian soil directly — something that was unthinkable even a year ago — suggests this conflict has crossed thresholds that make de-escalation harder. Sustained oil price increases feed directly into inflation expectations, which complicate the interest rate environment for every asset class including crypto.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team has uncovered a malware operation called GitVenom that weaponizes one of the most trusted platforms in software development: GitHub. The campaign planted more than 200 fake repositories disguised as legitimate open-source projects, targeting developers and cryptocurrency investors with a cocktail of info-stealers, remote access trojans, and clipboard hijackers designed to redirect crypto transactions.
How GitVenom actually works The campaign, detailed in a Kaspersky report dated February 24, 2025, has been active since at least 2023. Its operators created repositories that looked convincingly real, complete with AI-generated README files, inflated commit histories, and code written across multiple programming languages. The goal was simple: look like a busy, credible open-source project so developers would clone the repo without a second thought.
Once a developer downloaded and built one of these projects, hidden malicious scripts would execute. The malware payloads varied but included Node.js-based info-stealers capable of harvesting personal data, browser credentials, and banking information. More advanced variants deployed open-source remote access tools like Quasar and AsyncRAT, giving attackers persistent backdoor access to infected machines.
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The most directly dangerous component for crypto holders was the clipboard clipper. This relatively simple but devastatingly effective tool monitors a user’s clipboard for cryptocurrency wallet addresses. When it detects one, it silently swaps in the attacker’s address instead. The victim copies what they think is their own wallet address, pastes it into a transaction, and sends funds straight to the thieves.
The damage so far GitVenom’s operators have already pocketed meaningful sums. Kaspersky flagged a single transaction in November 2024 where approximately 5 BTC, worth around $485,000 at the time, was transferred to a wallet controlled by the attackers. Infections have been detected globally, with notable concentrations in Russia, Brazil, and Turkey.
Why this matters for crypto investors For individual crypto investors, the immediate lesson is straightforward: always verify wallet addresses character by character before confirming a transaction. Clipboard manipulation is invisible unless you’re actively looking for it. A hardware wallet that displays the destination address on its own screen provides an additional layer of verification that software alone cannot match.
For developers working on crypto-related projects, supply chain attacks like GitVenom exploit dependency on third-party code by hiding malicious functionality inside seemingly useful libraries or tools.
Kaspersky’s researchers noted that as long as open-source code sharing remains a cornerstone of development, threat actors will continue to use it as a distribution channel. The incentive structure is simply too attractive: high trust, low friction, global reach, and victims who self-select as people with access to cryptocurrency wallets and developer credentials.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index has been negative for 60 days in a row since the 19th of May, which has put a lot of pressure on Bitcoin right now.
As per CoinGlass’s most recent reading, the index has experienced the longest streak on record, reaching -0.1025%. This indicates that Bitcoin has been trading at a lower price on Coinbase than on Binance for the past two months.
What does this mean for Bitcoin? Such a long streak was last seen between the 16th of January and the 24th of February, which lasted approximately 40 days. That was followed by a notable 30-day period around the market crash on the 11th of October.
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Source: CoinGlass That said, such prolonged negative readings are concerning as they have historically corresponded with times when ETF outflows have occurred.
This comes as the price of Bitcoin increased by 1.8% over the previous day, trading at $63,935.02 at press time.
However, the drop from $76,954 last seen on 19th May raises concerns. The RSI and MACD indicators further suggested that despite the hike, the bulls were not strong enough.
Source: Trading View In contrast, during the same time period, the Bitcoin ETF saw maximum outflows. However, with net inflows of $197 million from 6th to 10th July, the ETFs managed to end the eight-week outflow trend.
Source: SoSo Value Bitcoin’s risk index provides an interesting nuance Meanwhile, this year, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) and the Bitcoin Risk Index have been very similar. With less appetite for risky assets and tighter liquidity, Bitcoin entered a risk-off phase as the dollar gained strength.
The only significant rebound of the year occurred when the DXY declined, resulting in a more advantageous environment. Naturally, one of the main macro headwinds for Bitcoin may be abating now that the dollar is losing ground and the Bitcoin Risk Index is cooling.
Source: Swissblock However, analysts predict that the cycle bottom will form over the next few months rather than right away.
Source: Ted/X Similar to this, another analyst says that Bitcoin’s failure to hold the $64,000 support level validates their prediction of additional declines.
Source: Layah Heilpern/X Is $100k possible? Nonetheless, Kalshi traders gave Bitcoin a 10% chance of reaching $100,000 before year-end.
This marked the event’s lowest implied probability on record. It suggested traders saw only a one-in-ten chance of that outcome.
Source: Kalshi At the same time, Fidelity Research analyst Zack Wainwright believes that a larger portion of the circulating supply is being held by investors with strong convictions rather than active traders.
However, over 40% of this supply of long-term holders is underwater, which means that they were purchased at prices higher than the current market value of Bitcoin and are now sitting at unrealized losses.
Final Summary Though Bitcoin has seen a hike in the past 24 hours, it has dropped from $76k to $63k from 19th May to press time. Many analysts believe that Bitcoin is starting to form a bottom, and further declines are expected.
Key Takeaways BTC recovered to approximately $63,972 on Saturday following mid-week losses Moonshot AI, a Beijing-based company, unveiled Kimi K3, surpassing leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic Technology and cryptocurrency markets experienced turbulence as the AI breakthrough challenged assumptions about costly infrastructure requirements Mining operations with AI and high-performance computing agreements may face reduced profitability from cost-efficient alternatives Market watchers predict potential movement toward $74,000–$76,000, though downside risk to the low $50,000 range persists Bitcoin staged a recovery approaching $64,000 on Saturday following several challenging days triggered by an unexpected Chinese artificial intelligence announcement and diminishing prospects for United States cryptocurrency regulatory reform.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Trading at $63,972 during early Saturday hours, BTC climbed from its weekly bottom of $62,505. The cryptocurrency had earlier approached $65,000 following the release of softer inflation figures from the United States.
Market sentiment shifted when Moonshot AI, headquartered in Beijing, introduced Kimi K3, an open-weight artificial intelligence system. The model achieved a score of 1,679 on a prominent frontend coding evaluation, surpassing Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 at 1,631 and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 at 1,618.
Featuring 2.8 trillion parameters, the system employs a mixture-of-experts architecture that selectively activates portions of its framework for specific tasks. Complete model weights will become publicly available on July 27.
This development unsettled financial markets by suggesting that advanced AI capabilities need not remain scarce or prohibitively expensive. Bitcoin’s price movements have increasingly mirrored semiconductor equities due to strengthening connections with the AI investment landscape.
Mining Operations Face New Challenges Publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies that have pivoted capacity toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications face particular vulnerability. Should efficient systems like Kimi K3 diminish requirements for premium data center infrastructure, the financial viability of existing agreements could deteriorate.
Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades observed that BTC struggled to breach its local trading boundary, with the 4-hour 200 EMA temporarily holding before experiencing a bearish retest. He characterized recent trading patterns as “very choppy” and consistent with typical summer market dynamics.
Analyst Ted Pillows emphasized that Bitcoin must successfully reclaim the $65,000 threshold before substantial upward momentum can materialize.
Technical Outlook and Price Projections Castillo Trading forecasts Bitcoin may advance toward the $74,492–$76,696 range before a post-midterm correction drives prices toward $51,000–$56,000. This target zone encompasses the 2025 yearly opening price and multiple volume-based resistance thresholds.
How are we feeling about something like this into Midterms 2026?
The last two midterms $BTC has endured, we have seen a small rally leading into a short lived drop directly after, followed by ATHs. Will this time we different?#Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/2lP2ha537h
— Castillo Trading (@CastilloTrading) July 17, 2026
Justin Bennett’s liquidity analysis suggests BTC could initially retreat toward $61,300, rebound to $67,300, then experience another downward movement. A decisive break above $67,300 with sustained holding would signal improved market conditions.
Bitcoin currently trades within a range bounded by $60,000 support and $70,000 resistance, with the median positioned near $70,000. Recapturing $65,683 represents the initial milestone toward reaching that upper boundary.
Key Takeaways Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao argued on X that Bitcoin offers inflation protection unlike artificial intelligence The cryptocurrency’s capped supply of 21 million coins contrasts sharply with AI firms’ unlimited share dilution potential Zhao previously projected Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2033 based on historical growth patterns BTC surged past $65,000 following softer-than-expected US producer price index data Upcoming AI company IPOs like OpenAI and Anthropic could temporarily divert investment away from cryptocurrency markets Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao ignited discussion across crypto circles this week with a succinct post on X that garnered 1.3 million impressions. His message was brief and pointed: “AI is great, but it does not protect you against inflation. Bitcoin does.” The statement stood alone without further elaboration or supporting thread.
AI is great, but it does not protect you against inflation.
Bitcoin does.
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) July 16, 2026
The comment resonated widely because it established a distinct boundary between two dominant investment narratives defining the current market cycle. Market participants have increasingly found themselves choosing between Bitcoin and AI equities as both assets vie for speculative investment dollars.
The Significance of Bitcoin’s Supply Cap Zhao’s position hinges on the concept of scarcity. Bitcoin operates with an immutable ceiling of 21 million coins. This quantity remains permanently fixed regardless of central bank policies or government monetary expansion programs.
Artificial intelligence corporations face no comparable constraint. These companies maintain the ability to dilute existing shareholders through new equity issuance, accumulate debt, and scale operations without limitation. While such expansion can benefit shareholders financially, it fails to provide equivalent safeguards against monetary devaluation.
Traditional fiat currencies depreciate approximately 6 to 7 percent each year according to various economic analyses. Government bonds have generated negative inflation-adjusted returns throughout much of the recent decade. AI-focused equities have delivered strong nominal gains, yet strong performance differs fundamentally from inflation hedging capability.
Current Bitcoin Valuation and Economic Context Bitcoin currently trades around the $63,000 level, representing approximately a 50 percent decline from its record peak. Most market observers classify this as bear market conditions.
However, the cryptocurrency recently climbed above $65,000 after United States producer price data registered below market consensus. The weaker inflation print diminished speculation regarding additional Federal Reserve interest rate increases.
Ethereum similarly benefited from the macroeconomic development, pushing back above the $1,900 threshold in the same timeframe. These price movements demonstrated that Bitcoin remains highly responsive to monetary policy expectations and global liquidity dynamics.
Zhao maintains his bullish long-term perspective. Earlier this month, he presented a scenario projecting Bitcoin could reach $1 million by 2033 across two market cycles, utilizing historical growth multipliers ranging from three to five times per cycle. He noted the previous cycle generated weaker returns around 2x, attributing this partially to AI companies capturing capital that might otherwise have flowed into digital assets.
Potential Capital Competition from AI Public Offerings Anticipated initial public offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic have generated renewed concerns about capital allocation strategies. Substantial IPOs typically force institutional investors to liquidate existing holdings in order to finance new equity positions.
Several former cryptocurrency mining operations have pivoted toward AI-focused infrastructure. TeraWulf currently pursues financing for an artificial intelligence data facility tied to a two-decade partnership with Anthropic, representing a strategic shift from its original mining operations.
Zhao has publicly expressed preference for AI infrastructure plays including data centers and computational hardware. Nevertheless, his conviction regarding Bitcoin remains unchanged. He views these asset classes as fulfilling distinct investment objectives.
Bitcoin represents the inflation protection vehicle. Artificial intelligence represents the growth opportunity. In Zhao’s framework, investors must recognize this fundamental distinction.
The SEC has approved a NYSE Arca rule change that raises position and exercise limits for options on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, giving institutional traders more room to hedge and express larger views around the spot Bitcoin ETF market.
The change increases limits for IBIT options from 250,000 contracts to 1,000,000 contracts, according to the SEC release. That is a fourfold increase, and it reflects how quickly Bitcoin ETF options have become part of the market’s trading infrastructure.
This is not the kind of update that grabs attention like a new ETF launch. But for market structure, it matters.
Options limits decide how large positions can become. Larger limits can support deeper institutional trading, more complex hedging, and better liquidity around ETF-linked Bitcoin exposure.
Reference: SEC
TL;DR The SEC approved a NYSE Arca rule change raising IBIT options limits. Position and exercise limits move from 250,000 to 1,000,000 contracts. The change gives larger traders more room to hedge Bitcoin ETF exposure. Bitcoin ETFs Are Becoming Trading Infrastructure The first phase of the spot Bitcoin ETF story was access.
Investors wanted to know whether they could buy Bitcoin exposure through ordinary brokerage accounts. Asset managers wanted products that could fit inside existing portfolios. Advisers wanted a structure that did not involve exchanges, wallets, private keys, or direct custody.
That phase is now maturing.
The next phase is market structure. Once an ETF becomes liquid, traders want options, hedging tools, arbitrage routes, and larger position limits. Those pieces make the product more useful for institutions that manage risk actively rather than simply buying and holding.
IBIT has become one of the most important Bitcoin ETF products in the market, so options activity around it matters. If traders can hold larger options positions, they can manage larger underlying exposures, hedge portfolio risk more efficiently, or build more sophisticated volatility strategies.
That does not mean the change is automatically bullish for Bitcoin. Options can be used for bullish, bearish, and neutral strategies. But it does mean the market around Bitcoin ETFs is becoming deeper.
Why Position Limits Matter Position limits exist to prevent excessive concentration and reduce market-manipulation risk.
If limits are too low, large institutions may find the product less useful. If limits are too high, regulators may worry about market integrity. Raising the limit suggests the exchange and regulator believe the product can support larger activity without creating unacceptable risk.
For IBIT options, moving from 250,000 to 1,000,000 contracts is a meaningful shift.
It allows larger traders to operate with more flexibility. A fund with substantial Bitcoin ETF exposure may need options to hedge downside. A market maker may need room to support liquidity. A volatility trader may want to build positions that were previously constrained by the lower cap.
The result can be a more efficient options market.
Better options liquidity can also improve the underlying ETF market because traders have more ways to manage risk. In mature asset classes, options are a normal part of the ecosystem. Bitcoin ETFs are now moving closer to that model.
A Sign Of Institutional Normalisation The larger point is that Bitcoin is increasingly being absorbed into traditional market infrastructure.
Spot ETFs brought Bitcoin into regulated fund wrappers. Options brought a derivatives layer around those wrappers. Higher position limits now give larger institutions more operational room.
This is exactly how financial markets mature. First comes access, then liquidity, then hedging, then more complex institutional strategies.
For Bitcoin, that is a major shift from earlier cycles, when much of the market was concentrated on offshore exchanges, spot exchanges, and crypto-native derivatives venues. Those venues still matter, but the ETF market has changed the balance.
More regulated options activity could also affect volatility. In some cases, deeper options markets help smooth risk because traders can hedge more efficiently. In other cases, options positioning can create sharp moves around expiries, strikes, and dealer hedging flows.
Either way, Bitcoin traders will increasingly need to watch ETF options data alongside spot flows.
The SEC approval does not guarantee higher Bitcoin prices. It does not remove volatility. It does not change the underlying supply schedule. But it does make the institutional Bitcoin market more functional.
That may be the most important takeaway. Bitcoin ETFs are no longer just products people buy for exposure. They are becoming part of a larger trading and risk-management system.
This article is based on SEC release SR-NYSEARCA-2026-76 and Federal Register materials.
This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Kuwait has formally condemned a series of Iranian missile and drone strikes targeting its critical infrastructure, calling them a “blatant breach of international law.” The attacks, which hit power generation plants, water desalination facilities, oil infrastructure operated by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and even Kuwait International Airport, represent a sharp escalation in Gulf tensions.
No casualties have been reported from the strikes, but the material damage has been significant. Some periods saw as many as seven attacks in under ten hours.
What’s happening on the ground The strikes, occurring as recently as mid-July 2026, reflect Iran’s broader retaliatory posture against nations it views as aligned with US military interests in the region. Kuwait, which hosts US military installations and has long maintained close defense ties with Washington, appears to have become a target precisely because of that relationship.
The attacks on Kuwait Petroleum Corporation assets add another dimension. Any disruption to Gulf oil production has cascading effects on global energy markets, which in turn influence everything from inflation expectations to central bank policy.
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The crypto fallout has been brutal The early phases of the broader conflict triggered Bitcoin liquidations exceeding $700 million, with BTC briefly dropping below $100,000.
As US-Iran tensions continued escalating, an additional roughly $350 million in liquidations followed, with Bitcoin’s price plummeting toward $62,000.
Trading volatility surged across multiple asset classes within crypto, not just Bitcoin. USDT trading volumes spiked as traders scrambled for stablecoin safety. Gold-backed tokens and oil-related tokens also saw significant volume increases.
US Treasury goes after Iran’s crypto infrastructure The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on Iranian crypto exchanges, freezing $130 million in assets and citing ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran’s domestic digital asset ecosystem is valued at over $7.8 billion. Reports indicate that Iran has used digital assets for activities including toll collection in the Strait of Hormuz.
What this means for investors Combined liquidations exceeding $1 billion demonstrate that leveraged positions in Bitcoin and other major tokens are extremely vulnerable to geopolitical headlines.
As the US Treasury expands sanctions to encompass crypto exchanges and digital asset flows connected to Iran, any token or protocol that has even indirect exposure to sanctioned entities faces potential legal jeopardy. $130 million in frozen assets proves regulators are willing to act and have the tools to do so.
Bitcoin traded like a risk asset, not a safe haven, dropping dramatically as tensions escalated. The gold-backed token activity suggests some crypto-native capital is looking for safer ground within the digital asset ecosystem rather than treating Bitcoin itself as that safe ground.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
On-chain analytics company CryptoQuant stated that Strategy’s recently announced new capital management framework significantly alleviates the company’s immediate liquidity concerns, but a more disciplined model for Bitcoin buying and selling is needed.
In a report he published, CryptoQuant Research Director Julio Moreno assessed Strategy’s new plan, called the “Digital Credit Capital Framework,” as a significant shift in direction.
Moreno stated, “The Digital Credit Capital Framework is a real course correction. However, for this change to be complete, Strategy needs to clarify two more issues: a systematic model for timing Bitcoin purchases and a disciplined framework for selling during bullish periods.”
Strategy announced its five-part digital credit capital management framework on June 29. As part of the plan, the company created a US dollar reserve that can only be used for preferred stock dividends and interest payments.
The company has set a coverage target to meet at least 12 months of payment obligations for this reserve. Additionally, the dividend rate for STRC preferred shares has been increased to 12%, subject to monthly review. This step aims to bring the STRC price closer to its nominal value of $100.
The new framework also allows for the repurchase of up to $1 billion worth of preferred shares if company management deems the repurchase to be a value-enhancing activity. STRC shares are planned to be given first priority under this program.
Strategy will also be able to repurchase up to $1 billion worth of common shares of MSTR during periods when it believes the company’s shares are undervalued.
A separate Bitcoin cash-out program created as part of the plan authorizes the company to sell up to $1.25 billion worth of Bitcoin. The funds raised can be used to strengthen dollar reserves, finance dividend and interest payments, and fund share buybacks.
The company also announced that it will issue shares more cautiously when its mNAV indicator, known as the market value/net asset value ratio, approaches the 1 level.
Strategy’s new plan was announced just days after CryptoQuant released its recommendations for the company.
CryptoQuant had previously urged Strategy to pause Bitcoin purchases until its cash reserves and dividend coverage ratio were strengthened. The company also suggested developing a systematic model for timing future Bitcoin purchases and preparing a plan for selling a portion of its assets during bull markets.
According to Moreno, Strategy has largely followed the first of these recommendations.
Between June 29 and July 5, the company sold approximately 3,588 Bitcoin, generating around $216 million in revenue. These funds were used to pay preferred stock dividends and strengthen the dollar reserve.
Strategy raised $466.7 million from the sale of MSTR shares between July 6 and 12. The company did not make any new Bitcoin purchases or sales during this period.
Following these steps, Strategy’s dollar reserves increased from $1.44 billion to $3 billion. The company’s dividend coverage period also extended from approximately 14 months to 29 months.
Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings remained unchanged at 843,775 BTC, and the company has yet to conduct any preferred or common share buybacks.
STRC shares had fallen to a historical low of around $75 at the end of June. Following the announcement of the new framework and the increase in the dividend rate, the share price rose to approximately $88.
Despite this, STRC continues to trade below its nominal value of $100.
Moreno said the discount indicated that investors wanted to see Strategy sustainably implement its new financial discipline.
Moreno said, “The sustained discount indicates that the market wants to see the reserve strengthened and the new discipline maintained before fully repricing the security.”
According to CryptoQuant, two key questions remain unanswered in Strategy’s Bitcoin strategy.
The first is when the company will resume Bitcoin purchases.
Moreno stated that pausing Bitcoin purchases offered a solution to the short-term liquidity problem, but the new framework lacked a model-based rule for when accumulation should resume.
Strategy’s announced equity issuance policy, which it will implement when its mNAV ratio approaches 1, defines how the company will raise capital. However, according to Moreno, this rule does not explain when capital should be invested in Bitcoin.
Moreno stated, “Without a clear and valuation-focused model, the company risks repeating its tendency to buy Bitcoin at consistently local peaks whenever market conditions improve.”
The second point CryptoQuant highlights is whether Strategy will sell Bitcoin in the next bull market and under what rules those sales will be conducted.
Moreno stated that the current Bitcoin cash-out program has a defensive structure. The program allows Bitcoin sales to be used to finance dividends, interest, and share buybacks.
However, according to CryptoQuant, this plan does not offer a strategy for staggered selling or hedging positions as the market cycle approaches its peak.
Moreno said that such a sales framework could help the company reduce its debt, create value for shareholders, and build up cash reserves to repurchase Bitcoin during periods when the price falls to lower levels.
Moreno stated, “The disciplined selling approach throughout the market cycle, which constitutes the other half of active capital management, is still not defined.”
*This is not investment advice.
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Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, sparked discussion in the cryptocurrency community this week after making a pointed statement on X. Posting to his 2.5 million followers, Zhao wrote, “AI is great, but it does not protect you against inflation. Bitcoin does.” The message, delivered without further explanation, quickly attracted significant attention, registering over 1.3 million impressions.
Bitcoin’s scarcity vs. AI company dilutionZhao’s comparison drew a sharp distinction between Bitcoin, the world’s leading digital asset, and rapidly growing artificial intelligence stocks. He emphasized that Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins offers unique scarcity, making it inherently resistant to inflationary forces caused by monetary expansion.
AI companies, in contrast, face no such cap. Firms in the artificial intelligence sector frequently issue new shares to raise capital, potentially diluting existing shareholders’ stakes. Such dilution, as well as the ability to accumulate debt and expand without limit, means AI equities can outpace inflation in nominal returns but may not shield investors from currency devaluation as effectively as Bitcoin.
Economic data suggests that traditional fiat currencies depreciate by approximately 6% to 7% annually. Meanwhile, government bonds have delivered negative inflation-adjusted returns during much of the past decade. AI-focused stocks have posted notable gains, but these gains reflect growth rather than protection against inflation.
Zhao outlined his perspective by stating that, while artificial intelligence offers significant technological and financial growth potential, Bitcoin alone provides explicit protection from inflation due to its capped supply.
Mini dictionary: Binance is one of the largest global cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, founded by Changpeng Zhao in 2017. The platform offers digital asset trading, futures, and various blockchain services to millions of users worldwide.
Recent price movements and market contextBitcoin is currently valued near $63,000, representing roughly a 50% decline from its all-time high. Following the release of softer-than-expected US producer price index figures, Bitcoin rebounded to above $65,000 as speculation around further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes diminished. Ethereum also benefited from the same macroeconomic environment, trading back above $1,900 during the same period.
AssetCurrent PriceAll-Time HighDrawdown (%)Bitcoin (BTC)$63,000$126,00050%Ethereum (ETH)$1,900$4,20055%Earlier this month, Zhao projected that Bitcoin may reach $1 million by 2033, citing historical growth patterns across market cycles. He noted that the previous cycle yielded a weaker return of about 2x, attributing this slowdown in part to capital flows shifting toward AI-related investments. Despite that competition, Zhao remains confident in Bitcoin’s long-term prospects as a store of value.
AI IPOs and shifting institutional capitalInvestor attention is also focusing on upcoming initial public offerings from major artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. These IPOs could prompt institutions to rotate capital from current holdings, such as cryptocurrency, into new AI equity positions. This competitive dynamic has raised questions about how investment flows between the two sectors may evolve.
Some cryptocurrency mining firms have begun shifting strategy to capitalize on the demand for AI computing infrastructure. TeraWulf, for example, is seeking funding for an AI-focused data center in collaboration with Anthropic, representing a significant move away from traditional crypto mining operations. Zhao has expressed interest in AI infrastructure and data center investments but continues to emphasize Bitcoin’s role in mitigating inflation risk.
Zhao maintains a clear distinction: Bitcoin is designed to resist inflation, while artificial intelligence represents a growth-oriented investment opportunity. He argues that investors should recognize these assets as fundamentally different vehicles in a diversified portfolio.
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.
Bitcoin rebounded to nearly $64,000 on Saturday, regaining ground after a challenging week that saw losses triggered by a major advance in Chinese artificial intelligence and fading hopes for swift US crypto regulation.
Chinese AI milestone shifts market moodBTC traded at $63,972 in early Saturday trading, up from a weekly low of $62,505. Earlier in the week, Bitcoin had approached $65,000 following softer US inflation data that initially boosted sentiment across risk assets.
The mood changed sharply when Moonshot AI, a leading Beijing-based artificial intelligence company, introduced its Kimi K3 model—a large, open-weight AI system. In recent testing, Kimi K3 scored 1,679 points on a key frontend coding benchmark, overtaking Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5, which logged 1,631 points, and OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 at 1,618.
Mini dictionary: Moonshot AI is a technology firm based in Beijing that focuses on developing advanced open-weight artificial intelligence models. Its Kimi K3 system is positioned as a leading competitor in AI-driven coding tasks.
Kimi K3 features 2.8 trillion parameters and employs a mixture-of-experts architecture, activating targeted sections for specific tasks. Full model weights are due for public release on July 27. The development signaled to markets that advanced AI models could become more accessible and less resource-intensive, challenging the prevailing view that top-tier AI requires expensive infrastructure.
Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 leapt to the top spot in the Frontend Code Arena with 1,679 points, surpassing previous leaders and highlighting rapid progress in China’s AI sector.
The influence of AI developments has been increasingly visible in financial markets. Bitcoin’s trading has shown a growing correlation with semiconductor and AI-related equities as both sectors attract substantial capital flows.
AI’s impact on Bitcoin mining operationsThe AI breakthrough presents fresh challenges for public Bitcoin mining firms that have shifted toward providing data center infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing. If AI models become more resource-efficient, the profitability of large-scale infrastructure deals may deteriorate, raising new questions for these firms’ strategies.
Market analyst Daan Crypto Trades pointed out that Bitcoin has so far failed to break above its recent trading range, with the 4-hour 200 EMA offering only temporary support before a bearish retest. He described the current pattern as “very choppy,” consistent with the quieter conditions often seen during summer months.
Ted Pillows emphasized the need for Bitcoin to reclaim the $65,000 level before a more convincing bullish move can emerge.
Technical outlook: Key levels and analyst forecastsTrading firm Castillo Trading projects that Bitcoin may target the $74,492 to $76,696 region in the next leg up, followed by a possible correction toward the $51,000 to $56,000 area. This upper target includes the 2025 yearly opening price and matches major volume-based resistance bands.
TargetPrice RangeShort-term resistance$74,492 – $76,696Potential correction zone$51,000 – $56,000Key support$60,000Key resistance$70,000Analyst Justin Bennett stated that liquidity models suggest Bitcoin might dip to $61,300, rally up toward $67,300, then see another short-term pullback unless it can decisively hold above $67,300.
Currently, Bitcoin trades in a channel with $60,000 as support and $70,000 as resistance, with the median near the higher end. Regaining $65,683 would be a significant milestone for buyers aiming for further gains in the months ahead.
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.
Litecoin [LTC] has seen some short-term volatility over the past ten days. The price has frequently moved 5-7% in just over two days, between $43 and $46.
On Wednesday, July 15, the same short-term resistance zone at $46 was tested, and Litecoin bulls faced a rejection from this area. In the past 24 hours, LTC has shed 1.08%, and its daily trading volume has dropped 8.12%.
For a month now, Litecoin bulls have been battling against the $46 local supply zone. Does the recent bout of volatility mean they will finally succeed?
Here’s what the long and short-term price expectations for Litecoin can be.
LTC is in a consolidation phase, but could go south once more The Bitcoin [BTC] price move beyond $65k did not stick. In the short term, this rejection meant the wider crypto market was also facing losses. Since October 2025, both Bitcoin and most of the rest of the altcoins have been facing bear market conditions.
Source: LTC/USDT on TradingView The latest swing move downward began in May. The LTC bounce to $60.61 was followed by a swift sell-off that dragged prices below the psychological $50 level.
Using the Fixed Range Volume Profile tool from January’s high to today, we can see that the current market price was just above the Value Area Low at $43.9.
The $42-$46 was a high-volume node and represented a support zone. Overhead, the $55 level marked the Point of Control [POC]. A price move beyond $55 would be a positive sign, and a breakout past $60.61 would signal a long-term trend reversal.
Traders’ call to action- Watch the range Source: LTC/USDT on TradingView The technical range [purple] reaches from $40 to $46. Using the FRVP tool since the beginning of June, we can see a much smaller range between $42 and $45.3 [dotted blue], with the POC at $43.4.
Though the CMF and MFI indicated steady buying pressure and upward momentum, swing traders need to be wary of the $46 local supply zone.
A breakout beyond this resistance could set up a rally to ward $53-$56. However, based on the higher timeframe trend, it remains likely that such a rally would revert to a bearish move later on.
Final Summary The long-term trend was bearish, and the $40-$46 area served as a local consolidation zone. The short-term range formation and volume profiles highlighted important local support and resistance levels.
