Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Bitcoin lost roughly 14% of its value in the second quarter of 2026. And somehow, that might be the most bullish signal the market has produced all year.

Ark Invest’s newly released “Bitcoin Quarterly: Q2 2026” report shows that Bitcoin’s one-year realized volatility ended the quarter near 42%, hovering around multi-year lows. The asset closed Q2 at approximately $58,544, well below the short-term holder realized price of roughly $70,327. Yet volatility barely flinched.

The sell-off that wasn’t a sell-off Ark Invest describes what occurred as “orderly, not panic-driven, selling.” Realized volatility measures how much an asset’s price actually moved over a given period, as opposed to implied volatility, which measures how much traders expect it to move. When realized volatility stays flat during a meaningful drawdown, it suggests the selling pressure was distributed and measured rather than concentrated in a few chaotic sessions.

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For context, Bitcoin’s realized volatility has historically spiked well above 80% during sharp corrections. Sitting at 42% while absorbing a double-digit percentage decline represents a fundamentally different market structure than what existed even two or three years ago.

Long-term holders are not going anywhere Long-term holder supply hit an all-time high of approximately 14.85 million BTC during Q2. Bitcoin’s total supply is capped at 21 million, and roughly 19.7 million have been mined so far. When nearly 14.85 million of those coins are sitting in wallets that haven’t moved them in a long time, that leaves a relatively thin layer of supply available for active trading.

Bitcoin dropped to $58,544, which sits meaningfully below the short-term holder realized price of about $70,327. That means the average short-term buyer is currently underwater by a significant margin.

ETF outflows paint a complicated picture US spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of approximately 71,000 BTC over seven consecutive weeks during the quarter. To put it in perspective, 71,000 BTC at Q2’s closing price represents over $4 billion in value walking out the door.

The fact that volatility remained suppressed even as ETFs shed tens of thousands of coins suggests the broader market absorbed those sales without a significant disruption.

What this means for investors For institutional investors who have been sitting on the sidelines citing volatility risk, this data point matters enormously. Many pension funds, endowments, and insurance companies operate under risk management frameworks that effectively prohibited Bitcoin allocation when realized volatility routinely exceeded 70% or 80%. At 42%, Bitcoin starts to look less like a rodeo bull and more like a slightly aggressive equity position.

The ETF outflow trend is the variable worth watching most closely heading into Q3. If redemptions continue at pace while volatility stays compressed, it could signal a slow grind lower in price. But if outflows reverse, the combination of low volatility, thinning available supply, and renewed institutional demand could set the stage for a significant move higher.

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John Deaton has run for US Senate against Elizabeth Warren. He’s also, by his own account, more likely to be recognized for something else entirely. Deaton says his path into the XRP world began the way it does for a lot of people, with Bitcoin first, then a slow slide down the rabbit hole into other coins. 

He ended up holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, drawn in part by how quickly XRP transactions settled. “It showed up in three seconds,” he said, describing his own reaction the first time he sent it.

The story that pulled him deeper into advocacy started closer to home. When his daughter turned 18, he handed her $15,000 in birthday money that had accumulated since she was born. Deaton says his daughter bought Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP using birthday money, splitting $10,000 into Bitcoin and $2,500 each into Ethereum and XRP, entirely on her own judgment.

Why He Filed the Case

When the SEC sued Ripple and argued that XRP itself was an unregistered security, Deaton says he thought immediately of people like his daughter. “My daughter never heard of Brad Garlinghouse,” he said. “She wouldn’t have any idea. She didn’t buy XRP because she was relying on the efforts of Ripple.”

That distinction became the foundation of his legal argument, and he filed a motion representing everyday XRP holders who had no relationship with Ripple at all. Deaton’s legal effort later grew to include 75,000 XRP holders around the world. Those XRP holders came from 143 different countries, spanning Ukraine to Russia, two nations at war with each other, yet both represented among the case’s supporters.

Deaton says he never spoke with Brad Garlinghouse directly before filing, and some in the crypto world initially assumed Ripple was paying him. “No lawyer would do this for free,” he recalled people saying, though he insists that wasn’t the case. His motivation, he says, was simpler: frustration that the government was making a claim it had never made before, treating the token itself as a security rather than the investment contracts tied to its sale.

A Ruling That Cited His Work

The effort ultimately became part of the legal record. The judge directly cited the amicus brief in her final ruling on the whole case, referencing both the brief and affidavits from XRP holders in her decision that XRP itself is not a security.

Deaton says the case is now taught in law schools as an example of decentralized legal advocacy, and he remains proud of what a single filing turned into. “One person inspires a few people, inspires thousands of people, and you can make a difference,” he said.

Story Ends Here

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Kansas-based asset management firm Leisure Capital Management has disclosed a stake in the Franklin Templeton XRP Trust ETF (XRPZ), reflecting the growing presence of institutional investors in the XRP market.

New SEC filings show steady rise in XRP ETF holdingsLeisure Capital Management, headquartered in Overland Park, submitted a regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirming it held 16,745 shares of Franklin XRP Trust ETF at the end of the second quarter. The position, valued at approximately $206,000 as of June 30, offers further evidence of institutional participation in XRP-related products.

This holding joins a portfolio that also includes shares in leading technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon, as well as a range of equities, bonds, and exchange-traded funds. Leisure Capital Management provides portfolio management services for both individual and institutional clients.

Although the size of the XRP ETF investment is relatively modest compared to the firm’s other holdings, it is notable within the context of traditional asset managers gradually increasing their exposure to digital assets.

Leisure Capital Management’s 13F disclosure signals that XRP is becoming more widely accepted in mainstream investment circles, following increased adoption among several traditional funds.

Competing investment firms reveal larger XRP ETF positionsSeveral other U.S. wealth management and advisory firms have recently reported substantial XRP ETF positions. Realta Investment Advisors, another firm serving individual and institutional clients, disclosed more than $260 million in holdings in the REX-Osprey XRP ETF earlier in July. Vista Finance declared a position of 129,958 shares in the Franklin XRP Trust ETF, valued at roughly $11.45 million.

Brookstone Capital Management reported a $71 million stake in XRP-related exchange-traded funds, while CPR Investments revealed it holds $363,000 worth of ProShares Ultra XRP ETF shares.

InstitutionXRP ETF/TrustValue of PositionLeisure Capital ManagementFranklin XRP Trust ETF$206,000Vista FinanceFranklin XRP Trust ETF$11.45 millionBrookstone Capital ManagementXRP ETF (undisclosed)$71 millionCPR InvestmentsProShares Ultra XRP ETF$363,000Realta Investment AdvisorsREX-Osprey XRP ETF$260 millionInstitutional activity in XRP has also extended outside of ETF products. Galaxy Digital, Arrington Capital, The Private Shares Fund, and GAM Alternatives Lux recently agreed to acquire about $130 million worth of private shares in Ripple Labs. The transaction resulted from bankruptcy proceedings involving Linqto, a digital investment platform.

Ripple Labs is a technology company known for developing solutions for cross-border payments and powering the XRP Ledger, the blockchain network that supports the XRP digital asset.

Mini dictionary: Linqto, a fintech company that provides accredited investors access to shares in leading private companies, entered bankruptcy proceedings, presenting institutions with opportunities to acquire equity stakes in firms such as Ripple Labs.

Regulatory clarity and mainstream acceptanceXRP faced regulatory scrutiny in recent years as the U.S. SEC considered whether the asset constituted a security. Legal proceedings ultimately resulted in a favorable outcome for Ripple Labs, paving the way for broader institutional engagement.

ETF structures allow traditional investors to access XRP through familiar financial vehicles, simplifying compliance and operational processes. The latest wave of 13F filings indicates that asset managers are increasingly comfortable including XRP in their clients’ portfolios.

ETF adoption enables institutions to manage exposure to XRP with similar strategies used for conventional securities, indicating a shift in the perception and accessibility of crypto assets in established financial markets.

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.

A previously overlooked 2019 transcript of Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s appearance at the Economic Club of New York has come back into focus, resurfaced by cryptocurrency researcher SMQKE. The document details Garlinghouse’s comparison of XRP’s transaction speed and volatility risks versus traditional SWIFT payments at a time when SWIFT is updating its own infrastructure.

SWIFT pilots new blockchain ledgerSWIFT, a global financial messaging service used by over 11,500 financial institutions, recently announced the launch of a blockchain-based shared ledger. Seventeen international banks are preparing to test tokenized cross-border payments on this new system.

The new ledger has been positioned as a natural extension of SWIFT’s current network. It will allow for 24/7 payments processing, permitting member banks to settle outside of traditional business hours and finalize payments through established clearing systems after initial transaction completion.

This move comes amid a broader industry push to increase payment speeds and reduce exposure to currency volatility during the settlement process.

Mini dictionary: SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is the leading provider of secure financial messaging services and infrastructure enabling cross-border payments among banks worldwide.

Ripple CEO outlines XRP’s risk advantageIn his 2019 remarks, Garlinghouse addressed concerns from bankers regarding the volatility of cryptocurrencies. He used a direct comparison: a typical SWIFT transaction takes three days—about 270,000 seconds—while an average XRP transfer settles in just three to four seconds.

Garlinghouse argued that although digital assets like XRP may experience higher daily volatility, the limited exposure window dramatically reduces aggregate risk.

“When you do a SWIFT transaction, the average transaction, let’s just say, is three days. That’s 270,000 seconds. If you multiply 270,000 seconds in a low volatility asset and compare it to three seconds in a high volatility asset, you find that the total volatility risk in XRP is actually lower,” explained Garlinghouse.

This perspective directly challenges a common objection from traditional banks that see cryptocurrency volatility as an insurmountable issue in payment settlements.

The role of hedging and settlement windowsIn conventional cross-border payments, the weeks-long settlement period exposes parties to exchange rate fluctuations. Banks typically hedge this risk, buying and selling currencies upfront or via derivatives in case of sharp market movements.

Garlinghouse maintained that with XRP’s rapid settlement, this hedging becomes unnecessary. “With XRP, it’s happening so fast you don’t really need to hedge because you’re in and out of it in a few seconds,” he told the audience during his 2019 appearance.

This argument is gaining renewed relevance, as SWIFT’s new blockchain-based ledger also seeks to reduce settlement intervals and align the service with competitors focusing on rapid transactions.

Industry context and ongoing debateSMQKE’s resurfacing of Garlinghouse’s arguments comes as the debate around speed, cost, and risk in international payments intensifies. While SWIFT’s blockchain initiative marks significant progress for traditional finance, proponents of XRP emphasize that Ripple’s network was built from inception to enable near-instant settlements.

The fundamental distinction remains the exposure duration: seconds in networks like XRP compared with hours or days over traditional payments rails. This, Garlinghouse claims, offers an inherent advantage for managing volatility risk in cross-border transfers.

Even as new blockchain-based financial infrastructure emerges, the case for XRP’s rapid settlement and lower volatility risk continues to echo in industry conversations.

Ripple, founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, is a technology company that offers blockchain-based payment solutions using the XRP Ledger. Brad Garlinghouse has served as its CEO since 2016.

NetworkAverage Settlement TimeVolatility Exposure WindowHedging NeededTraditional SWIFTThree days (270,000 sec)HighYesXRP Ledger3–4 secondsLowNoSWIFT Blockchain Ledger (Pilot)Near real-time (undisclosed sec)Lower than traditionalReducedDisclaimer: 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.

Since February, Ethereum has been ‘cheap’ after the price slipped below its overall cost basis of $2.3K. This means more holders are at a loss, which reduces selling pressure and downside risks.  

However, crypto analytic firm CryptoQuant cautioned that a durable bottom could still be elusive in the medium term. According to the firm, the final market cycle bottom could happen if ETH tags $1.15K, citing a 2022 pattern based on the Realized Price Bands metric.

Source: CryptoQuant During the 2022 bear market cycle, the altcoin marked a true bottom after hitting the lower band of the metric (dotted green line).

Assuming the projection turns positive, it implies the durable ETH bottom could be feasible if it drops 38% from the press time value of $1,885.  

There were three other signals relative to Bitcoin that showed ETH was still far from hitting its final floor price. 

Ethereum: 3 signals show ETH has not bottomed out First, the relative selling pressure on ETH based on the ETH/BTC Exchange Inflows Ratio was only halfway to the level that marked the prior market bottom (green zone). 

As of writing, the metric reading was at 0.8 while it dropped to 0.4 during the 2020 and 2025 bottoms. 

Source: CryptoQuant  Secondly, another valuation metric, the ETH/BTC MVRV, is also halfway from hitting the bottom levels seen in the 2020 cycle and the 2025 local market bottoms. 

In the two periods, ETH reversed after slipping to 0.025 oversold territory (green). As of writing, the metric was slightly above 0.05, implying it is still far from flagging the past market bottom signal. 

Source: CryptoQuant Similarly, relative ETH/BTC ETF holdings turned positive in H2 for the first time since last year. Although the ETF demand was improving, it didn’t drop to the levels seen in 2025.

Overall, only spot volumes and Ethereum [ETH] realized price bands showed the altcoin was undervalued and close to past bottom territories. CryptoQuant concluded, 

But MVRV and exchange inflows are not yet at the extremes that have historically confirmed a floor. So a final bottom, and the ETH outperformance that would follow, may still take more time to form.

That said, with over 41 million ETH supply in loss, nearly a similar amount has been staked, marking a record 33% staking ratio. Whether the strong staking demand will further lower downside risk remains to be seen.

Source: Bitwise  Final Summary Three key metrics showed that ETH may be far from a durable bottom despite being cheap below $2K.  Staking demand hit a record high in 2026 with over 40M ETH currently staked and over 2.5M ETH on the waiting list. 

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Real world assets, or RWAs, have been the big onchain sensation this year, as billions of dollars have started flowing through tokenized stocks, tokenized treasuries, tokenized gold, etc.

Yet there are cultural RWAs, too, like tokenized Pokémon cards, lifted up by the rising tide of gacha platforms like Collector Crypt, Phygitals, and Monster where users can pay to randomly pull choice cards (which are vaulted IRL but represented by NFTs onchain).

However, RWAs feel like the terrain of institutions and suits. And Pokémon gachas and the like have significant offchain dependencies. So what about something funner, something more crypto, perhaps a fully onchain gacha that's native to Ethereum and true to its culture?

Here, cue in Fake World Assets.

TokenWorks, a self-funded duo (h/t Adam and Teto), has built some of the most creative NFT projects in recent years like PunkStrategy, Ten Thousand Tokens, and FundingWorks. Their latest experiment is Fake World Assets, which is a rather elegantly designed onchain NFT gacha protocol.

It might sound silly at first, as Ethereum NFTs have been declared dead 1000s of times already, so how cool can this new project possibly be? Very cool, at least if the early traction here is any indication.

Indeed, FWA's contracts are among the most active on Ethereum right now. Since its official (re)launch on July 20th, the protocol has facilitated ~90,000 transactions, ~35,000 purchases, and ~2,000 ETH in volume so far. If FWA was listed on DefiLlama, it would've appeared in the top 20 revenue generators in all of crypto yesterday.

its gonna be sooo embarrassing when the team of two at TokenWorks with 0 VC funding saves Ethereum and laps everyone

— Adam (@Rhynotic) July 23, 2026 I can attest that the early interest isn't just a gimmick either, as FWA has a legitimately novel protocol design and a unique go-to-market strategy, the latter of which some people are already affectionately calling "loss-to-earn" because of how the project's $FWA rewards loop works.

Plus, it's just fun to put in a small amount of ETH for a pull and a chance at winning a legendary NFT like a CryptoPunk. Users stock this gacha themselves with their own NFT deposits, so the prizes are arbitrary and will fluctuate, but for instance at the moment the biggest prize possible is a CryptoPunk backed by 66 ETH.

The odds of you getting that 'Punk on any given pull are super small, and those odds are determined by the ETH backing supplied by the 'Punk's depositor (and by the rest of the NFTs and ETH in the pool at that time). The more ETH supplied, the lower an NFT's selection weight will be. But if you were to win that 'Punk, you couldn't keep the ETH and the 66 ETH backing. You'd have four options:

Keep the NFT and do whatever you want with it, e.g. hold it, borrow against it on Gondi, relist it on OpenSea, etc. Auto-relist the NFT into the FWA protocol as your own deposit. In the hypothetical that you won a 'Punk, this route would only make sense if you're willing to risk a hearty ETH backing (if you go too low, the 'Punk will get pulled quickly) and the 'Punk itself (as someone could win it from you next). Depositors earn ETH and $FWA rewards, so there's an interesting risk/reward dynamic to consider. Accept 85% of the ETH backing instead of the NFT. So in the case of the 'Punk backed by 66 ETH, you could opt to keep 56.1 ETH to do what you want with, which in turn would send the 'Punk back to its original depositor. Accept the 85% payout in the $FWA token instead of ETH, so for example in our top prize scenario, this would mean slamming 56.1 ETH straight into $FWA. According to the FWA Pulse tracker dashboard by Priyeshu, 78% of user settlements are currently taking the fourth option, the $FWA payout. Why? For the first 15 days of FWA while $FWA bootstrapping emissions are live (i.e. 1% to depositors, 1% to purchasers per day until Aug. 4th), all external buys are disabled, so the only way to acquire $FWA right now is by actually using the gacha.

Hence, the "loss to earn" moniker. Even if you don't get a great pull, you have the consolation of a $FWA payout, and if $FWA performs well going forward, you'll have earned back what you spent on a bad pull and maybe then some.

And of course, you can choose $FWA on good pulls as well. One of my coolest pulls so far was a slick CrypToadz, which I was tempted to keep, but I went for the $FWA route to add to my stack while things are early. This is the dominant strategy we're seeing in the emissions phase, and full disclosure, it's what I've been doing so far besides an ETH claim here and there.

So with all that general context out of the way, let's say you're curious to try FWA but you're approaching this as a total beginner that's been out of the loop. You've got two main avenues to participate, namely either as a purchaser or as a depositor (or as both).

Purchasing is simple enough, you'd just need ETH. The average pull price over time is presently 0.0568 ETH, but that's been trending up as the FWA pool has swelled with fatter deposits, such that a pull this instant would set you back 0.1082 ETH. Per the docs, this price isn't fixed but fluctuates constantly depending on the protocol's estimation of the "average value of the position you might receive."

If you do decide to make a pull, randomness derived through Chainlink VRF will determine what you win. And since deposits are arbitrary, the rarity tiers will ebb and flow. For instance, today it's actually more likely to win a "Rare" NFT (22% odds) than an "Uncommon" NFT (17.4%) on FWA just because people are starting to pile in with higher ETH backings. These percentages won't look exactly the same tonight, or tomorrow, and so on.

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Then once your pull is in (it will take at least 6 Ethereum blocks to reveal), you'll face the four options I mentioned earlier: keep the NFT, auto-relist the NFT, accept the ETH payout, or accept an $FWA payout instead.

Just know the risk, i.e. you might spend 0.1 ETH on a pull and, in light of the odds, get a "Common" NFT backed by 0.04 ETH. The NFT isn't sexy, and you'd be down on ETH, so the $FWA payout would be your main consolation. Also, during the emissions phase 1% of the $FWA supply is split every 24 hours across all successful pulls (claimable once the day rolls over), so this would be another small consolation.

As for depositing, it's straightforward too if you'd prefer to operate as the house. FWA supports 48 NFT collections and counting, with the cheapest entry point being Ten Thousand Tokens, which have a floor of ~0.05 ETH on OpenSea right now. So if you have any of the supported NFTs, you could just go to the FWA Deposit page, pick your desired NFT and backing amount, and fire it in.

Every pull's purchase fee, minus the protocol's cut, gets split equally across all active listings, so your deposited NFT will earn ETH on every spin anyone makes, plus a share of depositor-side emissions through Aug. 4th.

Each day for the first 15 days, 1% of the FWA token supply is distributed to purchasers and another 1% to depositors.

Depositors can claim at any time, whereas purchasers can claim after the day is over.

Day 3. pic.twitter.com/4UADXQc0PA

— TokenWorks™ (@token_works) July 23, 2026 These rewards were very juicy in the first few days of FWA when there were only a few hundred NFTs in the pool, but now that there are nearly 2,000 NFTs deposited, the rewards have thinned some according to the wider distributions, so that's just something to keep in mind.

Your main consideration here is backing amount. If you back your NFT with a small amount of ETH, like 0.04 ETH, its position weighting will lead to it being pulled very quickly, which will minimize the amount of time that you're in the pool and earning rewards. If you back your deposit with a lot of ETH, e.g. 1 ETH, it will stay in the pool earning much longer.

In other words, a deposit is a two-sided quote on your own NFT. Your backing sets your selection odds and serves as an irrevocable standing bid, so you need to be at peace with both sides of the trade.

If a winner keeps your NFT, your backing will be returned and your compensation is whatever fees and emissions you accrued while it sat in the pool. If a winner cashes out against your bid instead, your NFT returns to you and the 85% payout comes out of your backing. The idea, then, is to place your backing at a number where neither outcome would upset you.

Plus, keep in mind that there are no guarantees here with regard to duration. The main risk for depositors is that randomness can select your NFT far earlier than its weighted average suggests, in turn ending its earnings before it went into the green.

5/ Why deposit?

Each successful pull distributes ETH fees across the active listings, so an NFT can earn while it sits in the pool.

The EV on this is roughly neutral, but it also comes with $fwa token emissions, and of course a gambling angle (you could end up EV+ or EV-)

— Quit (@0xQuit) July 22, 2026 What comes next then? External $FWA buys being activated will be a big thread to watch, plus keep an eye on what happens when the initial 15-day $FWA emissions end, after which $FWA buybacks are slated to be split across depositors, purchasers, and token burns. This design suggests the flywheel can keep spinning even after the inaugural incentives end.

It will also be interesting to see how the protocol itself evolves from here. Jack Butcher just released an entirely new collection into FWA's gacha, so expect more drops like this to come. Maybe this protocol becomes permissionless and the new NFT launchpad? Whatever happens, it's going to expand, and in turn it will inspire new spinoffs. For example, I've already seen growing chatter for an FWA-style stock token gacha on Robinhood Chain.

Theoretically, FWA can scale up to supporting millions of deposits, and TokenWorks is exploring adding support for assets beyond NFTs, presumably starting with Ethereum ERC-20 tokens and then beyond, so this is undoubtedly only the beginning for this project.

In any case, the vibes are good. FWA feels like an old school DeFi yield farm, though to approach it as just a farm is a mistake. Most fundamentally, it's a prime example of how you can build an entire business atop a Uniswap V4 hook, as path.eth has aptly noted, and in a non-stodgy way.

Ultimately people on Ethereum are having fun onchain again. They're sweeping NFTs again to buy more NFTs. They're discussing, and strategizing, and thinking up new creative possibilities. It's a heartening surge, to be sure, so let's see where things go with FWA from here.

Fake World Assets could single-handedly bring attention back to NFTs

— seedphrase (@seedphrase) July 22, 2026

Some traders still see a rally toward $2,000 as a potential bull trap before ETH makes one final move lower.

Pseudonymous crypto trader NoName says Ethereum has just crossed into the price zone where its bear market has historically bottomed, pointing to four straight lower highs as proof the downtrend has run its course.

The trader, who is buying through the dip with a long-term target of $7,000, argues that the same crowd psychology that made ETH everyone’s favorite trade at $4,900 is now working against it below $2,000.

Mapping Out the Bottom Zone In a post shared Friday, NoName laid out Ethereum’s decline through four descending peaks: $4,957, then $3,400, then $2,460, then $1,950, calling it a textbook downtrend. Each top landed lower than the one before it, and the trader said that sequence has now pushed price into the $1,300 to $1,900 range, the zone treated as the eventual floor.

The reasoning is less technical than psychological, with the analyst noting that ETH at $4,900 was a favorite while ETH under $2,000 gets called a dead chain, even though nothing about the network changed. “That’s not logic, that’s psychology, and psychology marks bottoms,” NoName wrote, adding that the climb back up will likely be rough.

Other signals moved the same day, including a bullish crossover in ETH’s MVRV ratio against its 160-day moving average as pointed out by chartist Ali Martinez. That setup has come right before several major recoveries in the past by marking the end of distribution phases.

Meanwhile, Arab Chain reported that Ethereum’s 30-day funding rate average on Binance climbed roughly 0.00339, its highest reading in six months, with ETH trading near $1,920 at the time, a sign of improving sentiment though not yet at levels tied to past corrections.

The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency was itself changing hands just below $1,900 at the time of writing, per CoinGecko data, up close to 12% over the past month but still 62% below the $4,946 all-time high it hit last August. The token slipped from a seven-week high near $1,950 earlier this week and needs to reclaim $2,000 to build any further push.

You may also like: Ethereum (ETH) Is Cheap, But Not at Bottom Yet: Analysts Ethereum’s Next Leg Higher? Historic Indicator and Whale Activity Align Franklin Templeton Exec Calls Agentic AI Crypto’s ‘Killer Use Case’ as ETH Nears $2K Not Everyone Is Convinced the Bottom Is In CryptoQuant struck a more cautious note on Thursday, noting that ETH was trading roughly 17% below its realized price but that only two of five bottom-signal metrics it tracks have reached historical extremes. “Capitulation is still missing,” the platform said.

Whale buying has continued regardless. Lookonchain tracked a wallet purchasing 27,000 ETH worth $52 million through Galaxy Digital’s OTC desk, and Arthur Hayes, whose BitMEX exchange recently announced it will be shutting down in September, added another 644 ETH, bringing his total over eight days to 3,270 ETH.

At the same time, spot Ethereum ETFs have pulled in over $408 million this month, and Kalshi traders are pricing ETH near $3,200 by year’s end.

But not every path lines up with NoName’s. Analyst Nonzee expects one more rally toward $2,000, or $2,200 if Bitcoin climbs to $70,000, but calls that level a bull trap rather than a real breakout, with a drop toward $900 to $1,300 still likely first. His long-term target, though, lands in the same place as NoName’s: $7,000.

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Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, spent most of 2026 under pressure amid the broader market downturn. Its market capitalization stood at roughly $230 billion.

ETH reached an all-time high of $4,953 on the 24th of August 2025. It has since fallen to $1,888, representing an approximately 62% decline from its record high.

Separately, ETH remained down 36% on a year-to-date basis.

Despite the token’s troubled run, activity across the Ethereum network continued expanding.

Alphractal data showed that Daily Transactions remained above 2.5 million during most of the recent period. The network processed 2.56 million transactions at press time.

By comparison, Daily Transactions remained below 1.5 million during much of last year.

Even when Ethereum reached its all-time high in August, the network processed approximately 1.6 million transactions daily.

Source: Alphractal Alphractal’s João Wedson, speaking on the development, pointed to those fundamentals as the core reason Ethereum trades well below fair value. He noted,

You may be bearish on the price, but you cannot be bearish on the fundamentals and the actual adoption of the blockchain.

Wedson expects the same fundamentals to drive Ethereum’s outperformance in the coming market cycle, a move he sees playing out over the “next two to three years.”

Is more capital entering Ethereum? A closer look shows Ethereum still drawing capital into its ecosystem, even with the token’s weak showing in the market.

DeFiLlama data shows the blockchain’s total value locked climbing as investors commit capital to the network. Between 1 July and now, TVL has absorbed $4.92 billion in fresh locked capital.

Capital lock-ups on that scale usually reflect long-term optimism on price performance, with the same group also earning the APY on offer.

Source: Artemis Daily Active Users have surged alongside the inflows, pointing to higher on-chain activity and reinforcing Ethereum’s role as the settlement layer for most transactions on the chain. Artemis reported the latest daily active user count reaching 581,000, one of the highest readings since late June.

Continued growth across Daily Transactions, TVL, and Daily Active Users could strengthen Ethereum’s underlying demand.

Validator conviction adds to the outlook AMBCrypto reported recently how zero exit queues from Ethereum validators could be another factor allowing the asset to swing higher.

Validators are holding their ETH on the network, a decision usually tied to a long-term view. The behaviour breaks from the pattern seen when the market crash peaked, when the validator exit queue held roughly 2.6 million ETH and carried a 44-day wait.

Adding weight to the shift, the number of validators looking to commit tokens to the blockchain has jumped to roughly 2.52 million ETH, with a 43-day waiting period.

Final Summary Ethereum’s rising network activity contrasted sharply with ETH’s 36% year-to-date decline. Validator demand strengthened as Ethereum’s Exit Queue fell close to zero.

Bitcoin held steady despite a sharp selloff in technology stocks triggered by weaker-than-expected corporate earnings.

Notable Statistics:

Coinglass data shows 83,203 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $301.33 million.        SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $225.2 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows of $26.3 million. In the past 24 hours, top gainers include DeXe, Audiera and LayerZero. Notable Developments:

Trader Notes:

Trader Crypto Kaleo remains confident that Bitcoin has one final leg lower before the bear market bottom is in, though the decline could come either by mid-to-late August or sooner.

He believes the market is nearing its bottom from a timing perspective and recommend keeping capital ready to accumulate high-conviction assets.

Meanwhile, he does not expecting Bitcoin to reclaim $100,000 or set new all-time highs until 2027.

Trader KillaXBT argues that Bitcoin’s market cycle has accelerated, pointing out that it reached a new all-time high before the last halving and did so just 476 days after the cycle bottom, much faster than in prior cycles.

He expects the same pattern to repeat, with a pre-halving all-time high, faster bottoms and tops, and caution against relying too heavily on historical seasonality, which he believes has already begun to diverge.

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A Governance Problem, Not Just a Technical One@IOHK_Charles, co-founder of @Cardano, has issued a pointed warning: $BTC could lose its position as the world's leading cryptocurrency not because quantum computers will break its cryptography outright, but because Bitcoin's governance culture may be too slow and too fragmented to coordinate a response in time.

"The issue with Bitcoin is it's frozen in time. It's very difficult to change anything," Hoskinson told The Block's The Starting Block podcast on Friday. He also framed @Cardano as a natural successor to Bitcoin's founding vision. "Cardano is, in many ways, a spiritual successor [to Bitcoin]. It reflects correcting a lot of things that I think that Satoshi couldn't get around to because of expertise or time but was directionally moving there," he said.

The concern is grounded in real exposure. As of March 1, 2026, over 34% of all Bitcoin has a revealed public key on-chain, meaning those holdings could be stolen by an attacker with a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. Bitcoin's proposed answer is BIP-361, a phased migration plan designed to move the network toward quantum-resistant addresses. Hoskinson argues the proposal is mischaracterized as a soft fork and would in practice require a hard fork, which conflicts directly with Bitcoin's anti-hard-fork culture.

The stakes are significant. The agonizing problem is the coins that cannot migrate: an estimated 1.7 million $BTC sit in ancient addresses, including roughly a million believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto's, whose owners are lost, dead, or permanently absent. Those coins predate modern wallet standards and cannot be recovered under BIP-361's proposed mechanism.

"What made Bitcoin so strong is it survived external threats, including the loss of its founder," Hoskinson said. "Quantum computers are yet another threat. If Bitcoin's governance is such that it's impossible to actually make meaningful progress, or they compromise the core reason to use Bitcoin, I don't think Bitcoin's going to stay the number one cryptocurrency."

Cardano's Case and the Broader Stakes"If you had on-chain governance, you could solve it," Hoskinson said. His argument is that the cryptography itself is solvable, but Bitcoin's decentralized, consensus-dependent upgrade process is not built for a transition of this scale. Hoskinson explained that Cardano's governance system makes large-scale upgrades easier to coordinate, and that the network is already voting on a quantum strategy while preparing a research proposal, with a long-term migration path designed to help users transition toward quantum-resistant infrastructure.

"With Cardano, we're going to have to make some decisions about what to do with quantum-vulnerable infrastructure. And if there needs to be a migration, we can have a vote, and then there could be an onchain function to do that," Hoskinson said. He added that Cardano is also preparing for what he described as its biggest upgrade to date, one that will make the network 60 times faster.

BIP-361 matters because Bitcoin moves slowly by design, and cryptographic migrations can take years to plan, debate, test, and adopt. How Bitcoin navigates that tension, with no CEO to mandate migration and no central authority to set deadlines, will set a template for every major chain facing the same challenge.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Hoskinson says Bitcoin's quantum fix can't save Satoshi's coins
Decrypt: Quantum Proposal Won't Save Satoshi's Bitcoin, Says Hoskinson
Crypto Times: BIP-361's Post-Quantum Migration Plan Sparks Debate

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BNB Chain is knocking on Base’s door. The Binance-affiliated blockchain’s 30-day spot DEX trading volume has climbed to $22.601 billion, trailing Base’s $24.505 billion by less than $2 billion, according to DefiLlama data.

Here’s the thing: on shorter timeframes, BNB Chain has already overtaken its Coinbase-backed rival. Its 24-hour DEX volume sits at $954.7 million versus Base’s $638.81 million, and the 7-day tally reads $6.025 billion to $5.067 billion in BSC’s favor.

In other words, the monthly gap is a relic of older trading days rolling off the calendar. If current momentum holds, the 30-day crossover could happen within days.

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Two chains, two personalities Both networks compete for the same prize: retail trading flows drawn by cheap transaction fees and deep liquidity pools. BNB Chain tends to grind out sustained, high monthly volumes. Base, meanwhile, operates more like a highlight reel, posting episodic spikes that can briefly vault it above even Ethereum.

That pattern played out earlier this year. In January, Base briefly surpassed both Ethereum and BNB Chain in 7-day DEX volume, reaching approximately $16.5 billion while BNB Chain recorded about $15.6 billion. BSC clawed back its position in the weeks that followed.

PancakeSwap remains the engine Much of BSC’s volume runs through a single protocol: PancakeSwap. The DEX has functioned as BNB Chain’s flagship trading venue since 2021, and its role hasn’t diminished.

To put that dominance in perspective, PancakeSwap accounted for roughly $4.29 billion of BNB Chain’s $6.05 billion in daily DEX volume on October 7, 2025. That’s about 71% of all spot trades on the chain flowing through one platform.

The broader BNB Chain ecosystem also got a significant boost from the Maxwell upgrade, which rolled out in June 2025. Following that upgrade, the chain posted its highest-ever monthly DEX volume at over $165 billion, a figure that dwarfs the current $22.6 billion 30-day number.

What this means for traders and investors For traders, the practical takeaway is straightforward: BNB Chain currently offers more consistent daily liquidity. Base’s strength lies in its ability to capture momentum-driven bursts of activity, often tied to new token launches or memecoin cycles on the Coinbase ecosystem.

BNB, the native token of Binance’s chain, benefits directly from increased on-chain activity through fee burns and staking demand. Investors should also consider the concentration risk embedded in BSC’s reliance on PancakeSwap. A more diversified DEX ecosystem, like what Base is gradually building with multiple competing protocols, could prove more resilient over longer time horizons.

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

CCIP Pulls in Over $7B as Projects Ditch LayerZero@Chainlink posted a strong second quarter, with its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) emerging as the headline story. More than $7.2 billion in cross-chain and wrapped assets have migrated from LayerZero to Chainlink's CCIP since May, with Mantle becoming the latest project to replace LayerZero for high-value token transfers. Migrations include Kelp and Lombard, both of which brought over $1 billion, as well as Solv Protocol, Virtuals, Re, and Kraken's tokenized assets.

The migration wave was partly accelerated by concerns over bridge security. Bridges between different blockchains have become one of crypto's largest security risks, with a single failure able to expose hundreds of millions of dollars in user assets. Chainlink's CCIP has positioned itself as the institutional-grade alternative, with projects citing security and control over token transfer settings as key reasons for the switch.

On the broader network, Chainlink's CCIP has facilitated over $21 billion in total transferred volume and supports more than $62 billion in tokens across over 60 blockchains as of July 2026. The protocol also reported over $110 billion in total value secured across its oracle and cross-chain infrastructure.

DTCC Integration Signals Deeper TradFi CommitmentBeyond the CCIP numbers, the quarter brought a notable institutional milestone. The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), whose subsidiaries processed $4.7 quadrillion in securities transactions in 2025, will integrate Chainlink as the data and orchestration layer for its forthcoming tokenized collateral platform. DTCC's Collateral AppChain will leverage the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE) and Chainlink's data standard to support eligibility, valuation, margining, collateral optimization, and settlement. The platform is targeted for production launch in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Collaborations have also extended to Swift for tokenized workflows, and a consortium including Swift, DTCC, Euroclear, and 24 others developed unified infrastructure for corporate actions processing, leveraging Chainlink for data integrity. S&P Global Ratings brought Stablecoin Stability Assessments onchain via DataLink, while WisdomTree, Visa, Deutsche Boerse, SBI Group, GLEIF, Apex Group, ICE, Westpac, FTSE Russell, and Tradeweb all adopted Chainlink for various data publishing and settlement solutions.

Taken together, the Q2 figures point to Chainlink moving beyond pilot programs into production-level infrastructure for both DeFi protocols and major traditional finance institutions. The coming months, particularly the Q4 DTCC launch, will be a key test of whether that momentum holds.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Over $7.2 Billion Have Migrated From LayerZero to Chainlink CCIP
CoinDesk: DTCC Taps Chainlink for Its Tokenized Collateral Platform
Bitcoin News: Chainlink Lands DTCC Deal to Automate Collateral Workflows

Samsung Electronics Co. (OTC:SSNLF) said Samsung Wallet will add native support for stablecoins, marking the company’s first formal move to integrate the digital asset class into its mobile ecosystem.

The announcement, made during Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in London on July 22, did not include a launch timeline, supported issuers or regional availability.

The move signals Samsung’s plans to make stablecoins a feature of one of the world’s largest smartphone wallet platforms.

"Samsung Wallet will expand beyond cash and savings. It will embrace new forms of digital value, including stablecoins," Samsung product manager Lee Dinham said.

Dinham added that Samsung aims to become "one of the first major mobile brands" to offer native stablecoin functionality.

Crypto-Friendly WalletAdding stablecoins would transform Samsung Wallet into a more comprehensive crypto platform, enabling users to buy, store and potentially spend digital assets from a single application.

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In brief Samsung said Samsung Wallet will add native stablecoin support at Galaxy Unpacked in London on July 22, showing a mockup with Circle's USDC. The move builds on a 2019 Knox-based crypto wallet, 2021 hardware wallet support, and an October 2025 Coinbase integration that reached 75 million U.S. Galaxy owners. It landed alongside the Galaxy Card, Samsung's first credit card with Barclays and Visa, as the global stablecoin supply sits near $310 billion under the year-old GENIUS Act. Samsung wants stablecoins living next to your boarding pass. At Galaxy Unpacked in London on July 22, the company said Samsung Wallet—the app that already stores payment cards, IDs, and hotel keys—will add native support for stablecoins. Samsung didn't name a launch date, an issuer, or which blockchain the tokens would run on.

"Samsung Wallet will expand beyond cash and savings. It will embrace New forms of digital value, including stablecoins," said Lee Dinham, Samsung's product manager, on stage, adding that the move would make the company one of the first major smartphone brands to offer native stablecoins.

“This will make Samsung one of the first major mobile brands to bring native stablecoins to a Smartphone, enabling fast and trusted digital value transfers,” Dinham said.

Stablecoins are tokens designed to hold a steady value, usually $1, by being backed one-to-one with cash or short-term government debt. Samsung showed a wallet mockup holding Circle's USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market value, without confirming Circle as a partner in the endeavor.

Samsung hasn't said whether the feature will be custodial, meaning Samsung or some other third party holds users' funds, or non-custodial, where users alone control the private keys that unlock their own money.

Samsung's long crypto résuméNone of this is new territory for Samsung. The company built crypto storage into Galaxy phones back in 2019 through Knox, a hardware-isolated vault unlocked only by PIN or fingerprint, and later added support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, and Stellar. In 2021, Samsung let Galaxy owners link hardware wallets like the Ledger Nano S directly to that vault.

Last October, Samsung expanded a deal with Coinbase that put crypto purchases directly inside Samsung Wallet for 75 million U.S. Galaxy owners. "Samsung Wallet is a trusted tool to millions of Galaxy users," Drew Blackard, the company's senior vice president of mobile product management, said of that deal.

The stablecoin plan landed alongside the Galaxy Card, Samsung's first credit card in the United States, issued by Barclays on the Visa network with 5% cash back on Samsung purchases and 3% on Samsung Wallet transactions. Visa's Kirk Stuart said the card reflects how "consumers expect payments to be embedded into the digital experiences they use every day." Samsung framed the wider effort as a "secured payments and rewards experience."

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The Hack VC-backed Layer 1 will shut its blockchain on Aug. 13 and return user funds as USDC, closing out a mainnet run of under four months that began with a $1.9 million exploit.

Dango, a perpetuals exchange built on its own Layer-1 blockchain, said it will shut down, halting trading on July 29 and switching off its chain on Aug. 13.

"Despite our best effort, various reasons have led us to conclude there is no viable path to a lasting commercial success," the team posted on X on July 24. "Funds are safe."

Wind-Down TimelineWithdrawal limits will be lifted shortly, and the team urged users to close positions and withdraw, warning that thin liquidity could mean heavy slippage. On July 29 at 12 pm UTC, trading halts: remaining positions will be closed at oracle prices, deposits in the protocol's DLP liquidity vault will be unlocked, and all funds will be returned as USDC to users' spot accounts. On Aug. 13 at 12 pm UTC, the Dango chain stops running, and any deposits still on it will be refunded to their deposit addresses on Ethereum.

Dango, which marketed itself as "The Endgame Exchange," was developed by Left Curve Software, the startup founded by the pseudonymous developer known as Larry Engineer. The company raised $3.6 million in a November 2024 seed round led by Hack VC and Lemniscap, with participation from Delphi Ventures, among others. The exchange's pitch was a CeFi-grade trading experience rebuilt onchain: a unified margin account, an onchain order book, and its DLP vault supplying liquidity across markets.

An Exploit in Week OneDango's perps mainnet went live in early April, and trouble arrived within days. On April 13, an attacker drained USDC collateral from the perps contract by exploiting the insurance fund's donation logic, which failed to check that donation amounts were positive. A bridge rate limit contained the damage: $410,010 left for Ethereum while $1,490,012 stayed on Dango and was recovered after the team paused the chain. The attacker returned the funds in full and was awarded a bug bounty the same day, Dango said, and the exchange was back up on April 14 with no user funds lost.

The wind-down lands mid-way through Dango Grand Royale 2, a trading competition with point boosts that was scheduled to run through July 29 at 12 pm UTC — the hour trading now halts for good. Dango held $1.77 million in total value locked at the time of the announcement, down 33% over 30 days, with about $500,000 in open interest against $239 million in 30-day perps volume, per DefiLlama. The perps market it entered is dominated by Hyperliquid, whose builder-code markets have outgrown crypto-native order flow, leaving little room for sub-scale challengers.

"To our users: thank you for the support, and we're deeply sorry for not being able to make it work," the team wrote.

After failing to break above significant resistance levels, XRP is once again trading close to the $1 mark. The small ascending support trendline that held throughout the majority of July is now under pressure as the asset has fallen below its short-term moving averages. XRP may soon return to $1, a psychological level that has consistently drawn buyers but is growing more vulnerable after several tests, if sellers are able to disprove this support. 

Over the previous few sessions, the technical picture has gotten worse. XRP made a brief attempt to move back toward the 50-day EMA, but it was rejected almost instantly, indicating that bullish momentum is still weak. The 200-day moving average is still much higher at $1.43, indicating that the overall trend is still bearish, even though the price is currently trading below the 26-, 50-, and 100-day moving averages. The trading range is getting smaller, which is a worrying signal. 

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingViewIn order to keep prices stable, XRP has been generating lower highs while depending on a progressively rising support line. Because the dominant trend is still downward, this structure frequently resolves with a sharp breakout. Unless buyers abruptly reclaim nearby resistance around $1.11-$1.12, the likelihood favors a move to the downside. A bullish reversal is also not currently supported by volume. 

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During recent attempts at recovery, trading activity has remained comparatively low, suggesting that buyers are reluctant to commit new funds. In the meantime, before XRP could gain any significant upward momentum, each push toward resistance has drawn selling pressure. Near 48, the Relative Strength Index is in a neutral range that allows for movement in either direction. Nonetheless, declining price action and a neutral RSI typically indicate waning momentum rather than accumulation.

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Before confidence in a long-term recovery can resume, bulls would prefer to see the RSI rise back above 50 along with increased trading volume. The $1 barrier is still crucial. After multiple tests, psychological support frequently deteriorates, and XRP has already spent a number of weeks just above that level. 

Stop-loss orders may be triggered by a daily close below $1, which would hasten selling toward the next support area at $0.95. Bulls have a simple but difficult path. While maintaining the ascending support line, XRP needs to recover the moving averages that are grouped between $1.11 and $1.15. 

The asset is currently at one of its most significant technical crossroads in recent months, as the risk of losing the $1 level increases considerably in the absence of that recovery. 

Zcash's psychological thresholdAfter yet another erratic week, Zcash has returned to one of the most significant psychological price levels of its current cycle, with the asset trying to hold above $500. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has fallen below its local highs near $580 due to recent selling pressure, but the overall technical structure is still positive, so the upcoming sessions will be crucial in determining whether the most recent decline is just a healthy correction or the start of a deeper retracement. 

ZEC/USDT Chart by TradingViewTechnically speaking, ZEC is still trading above every significant moving average. The 100-day and 200-day moving averages are significantly lower, at $460 and $408, respectively, while the 50-day EMA is situated around $476. 

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Despite recent weakness, this alignment shows that the long-term trend is still bullish. Buyers maintain the overall advantage as long as the price remains above these dynamic support levels. 

Because it now acts as both a short-term technical pivot and psychological support, the $500 area is especially significant. In order to absorb profits from traders who entered much lower, Zcash required a period of consolidation following an intense rally in May and July. 

Compared to the explosive buying that drove the previous breakout, the current decline has coincided with noticeably lower trading volume, indicating that panic selling has not yet taken hold. Additionally, momentum indicators suggest a cooling rather than a complete reversal. After previously reaching overbought conditions, the Relative Strength Index has retreated to the neutral zone around 49. With this reset, the market has more room to make a higher move without needing a lot of speculative momentum. 

The first upside target is still the recent swing high around $580 if buyers are successful in defending the $500 region. A strong move above that level could reopen the path toward the $650–$680 area, where ZEC faced significant resistance earlier this year. 

Hyperliquid's price testOne of the most significant support zones that Hyperliquid (HYPE) has tested since its explosive rally earlier this year is drawing closer. The token has retreated toward the 100-day moving average around $57, where buyers are starting to show signs of returning to the market, following a decline from recent highs above $75. A recovery toward $70 is still a plausible scenario if this level holds. 

HYPE/USDT Chart by TradingViewAlthough a large portion of HYPE's July gains have been erased by the recent correction, the overall trend has not yet broken. The 100-day moving average is serving as immediate dynamic support, and the asset is still trading comfortably above its rising 200-day moving average near $50. As a result, a technical cushion is created, which may serve as the basis for another bullish leg. Support at $57 is especially crucial because it corresponds with past breakout territory. 

After a powerful rally, markets frequently revisit previous resistance, and successful retests frequently serve as the impetus for subsequent advances. Today's candle indicates that buyers are defending the level despite ongoing selling pressure, suggesting that HYPE has so far respected this area. Momentum indicators also suggest that the correction may be getting close to exhaustion. 

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The Relative Strength Index is at its lowest point in a few weeks, falling into the low 40s. This shows that the overheated conditions observed during the June rally have essentially been reset, even though it does not necessarily indicate a reversal. In the past, once momentum cooled into this range, HYPE frequently resumed its uptrend. The short-term and medium-term moving averages, concentrated between $63 and $65, currently represent the biggest barrier for bulls. 

A clear close above those levels would probably rekindle buying interest and refocus attention on the $70 mark. After that, the next obvious target is the prior highs, which were between $75 and $76. 

Conversely, the bullish outlook would be considerably weakened if the $57 support were lost. Stronger long-term support is found at the 200-day moving average near $50, and a breakdown below the 100-day moving average could expose HYPE to a deeper correction. 

As of right now, though, the chart continues to favor a rebound over a trend reversal. HYPE is positioned on a technically important support zone, the long-term structure is still bullish, and the correction has restored momentum to healthier levels. A recovery toward $70 is very likely in the upcoming sessions if buyers continue defending this area.

The internet was built without a native way to pay. For decades people have worked around that with subscriptions, ad networks, and API keys, none of which were designed for a web where software agents transact on a user’s behalf, or where a single request might be worth a fraction of a cent. GoPlausible's new x402 Facilitator closes that gap, and it ships a full intelligence dashboard alongside it.

x402, briefly x402 is an emerging payments standard that revives the long-dormant HTTP 402 Payment Required status code and turns it into a working payment flow. A server responds with "payment required," the client pays over blockchain rails, and the request completes in a single round trip. That makes it a natural fit for the agentic era, since AI agents can pay per API call, unlock premium data on demand, and settle machine-to-machine transactions without a human in the loop.

The Facilitator and why the dashboard matters A facilitator is the infrastructure that verifies and settles x402 payments. GoPlausible's facilitator handles that across six networks behind a single endpoint, covering Algorand, Base, and Solana on both mainnet and testnet, with Algorand treated as a first-class citizen. That means native AVM support, ASA assets, and roughly three-second finality. It supports all assets and currencies, but is fine-tuned to settle USDC on all three chains.

Where it gets interesting is what happens after the payment. Plenty of facilitators can verify and settle. Fewer turn that traffic into something you can actually read. Most treat analytics as a separate product you configure and bolt on later, but here it's built in, so the activity flowing through the facilitator is visible and queryable as it happens.

x402 intelligence Most facilitators can move a payment and stop there. This one keeps a record of the activity passing through it and turns that into a live, public view of the x402 network, including who's transacting, what's being paid for, and how much. Every payment feeds it, it's free to use, and it's useful whether you're building on x402 or just trying to understand it.

A directory of live services. Every merchant with a successful settlement appears automatically, with endpoints, pricing, input schemas, and example responses. If you want to find an x402 API or see what a given service charges, it's already listed, pulled from real traffic rather than a form someone filled out. Leaderboards across the network. Merchants, payers, resources, assets, networks, and countries, each drillable, so you can see what's being paid for and where the volume is. A receipt for every settlement. Each settled x402 payment can produce a Universal Receipt, with the full transaction breakdown, a QR code, and social previews, that unfurl properly when the link is shared. The receipt is valid for 90 days. Transaction detail you can trace. Algorand transactions open a panel showing participants and a flow diagram of the whole settle group, alongside verify-to-settle funnels and per-network latency. Ask it in plain language. An AI agent answers questions by running real SQL over the data, backed by live per-network health checks rather than synthetic uptime. Filter it any way you need. A full dashboard suite with one consistent set of filters across every chart, so you can narrow x402 data by time, chain, asset, country, or source. Tagged traffic for campaigns. Live traffic can be tagged without ever failing a payment, giving event organizers the numbers that are useful for reporting. Everything is public and keyless, with payer addresses masked, failure reasons scrubbed, and geo-aggregated to country level, so it stays transparent without exposing individuals.

What else sets the Facilitator apart Nothing to set up. No onboarding, forms, or API keys. You start settling by pointing an endpoint at the facilitator, and it handles the rest, including keeping its directory current as you go. Agent-native throughout. A built-in MCP server, llms.txt, a .well-known/x402 descriptor, and full OpenAPI docs let agents discover and operate it the same way humans do. Gasless and free. The x402 Facilitator is currently sponsoring transaction fees, and every piece of analytics and AI insight costs nothing. Why x402 on Algorand The facilitator handles the payment flow. Algorand is what makes that flow fast and cheap.

Micropayments that finally work. Conventional card rails carry fixed fees and minimums that make anything under roughly fifty cents uneconomical. Algorand's sub-cent fees and instant finality remove that floor, so a single API call, data lookup, or article can be priced at what it's worth and settled in real time. Revenue back to content creators. AI summaries in search results answer questions outright, so users never click through and the page-view revenue never arrives, even as AI ingests the content for free. Because x402 speaks HTTP natively, a creator can charge for access from human browsers and AI agents alike, per request, at a price they set. A chain suited to the traffic. x402 traffic is high-frequency, low-value, and synchronous. Predictable low fees, deterministic finality, atomic transaction grouping, and 10,000 TPS with zero downtime keep it fast under load with no congestion logic needed.

Getting started Most products chasing agentic commerce solve one slice of it. GoPlausible’s x402 Facilitator combines settlement, a public intelligence platform, and agent-native discovery in one place, and it's live on mainnet today, already powering the x402 Global Challenge with real merchants and settled volume.

If you're building anything that meters access, whether that's an API, a data feed, or content you'd rather not give away to AI for free, this is the moment to try it. Point an endpoint at the facilitator, run a payment, and you're settling in real time with the analytics already running behind it.

Disclaimer: The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only. The information is provided by the Algorand Foundation and while we strive to keep the information up-to-date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the blog or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the blog for any purpose. The content of this blog is not intended to be legal, financial, or investment advice nor is it an endorsement, guarantee, or investment recommendation. References to GoPlausible and other third parties are for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement, affiliation, or a guarantee by the Algorand Foundation; each third party is an independent entity solely responsible for its own products, services, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The GoPlausible x402 Facilitator and its intelligence platform are operated by GoPlausible, an independent third party. The Algorand Foundation does not operate, control, or maintain the facilitator or platform and is not responsible for its availability, performance, security, or the settlement of any transaction through it. Features and functionality described here are current as of the date of publication and may change. Use of the facilitator or platform is subject to GoPlausible's own terms and conditions, which you should review; any issues arising from your use are between you and GoPlausible. You should not take any action before conducting your own research or consulting with a qualified professional. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. In no event will the Algorand Foundation nor any affiliates be liable for any loss or damage arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this blog. Through this blog, you may be able to link to other websites which are not under the control of the Algorand Foundation; the inclusion of any links does not imply a recommendation nor endorse the views expressed therein. Any statements about future plans, features, integrations, or protocol upgrades are forward-looking and subject to change.

Hyperliquid: Bouncing Off Support But EMAs Remain The WallHyperliquid, as measured by Hyperliquid Strategies Inc (NASDAQ:PURR), bounced 2% after tagging the $56 to $58 demand zone, a key support band being tested for the first time since the June rally. 

Crypto analyst ALTF4 noted on X that Hyperliquid’s growth has moved beyond trading volume into market structure, with roughly $194 billion in 30-day perpetual volume, $11.5 billion in open interest, and non-crypto markets including equities, FX, and commodities now trading on the same venue. 

The chart, though, requires patience. The 20-day EMA at $62.56 and 50-day EMA at $62.31 are converging just above current price, forming a dense resistance cluster that needs to flip to support before the setup carries conviction.

Key levels for HYPE: $56 to $58 — Demand zone support; losing this exposes $52 $62.31 to $62.56 — EMA cluster, the resistance wall to reclaim $76 — Chart projection target on a confirmed EMA reclaim Uniswap: Cup and Handle Breakout with Supertrend ConfirmationUniswap (CRYPTO: UNI) surges to $3.8, completing a textbook cup and handle breakout. The cup formed from May through June, the handle consolidated through early July, and price has now cleared the breakout level with conviction. 

The Supertrend indicator flipped green at $3.23, adding trend confirmation to the pattern.

Price now sits above all four major EMAs and is challenging the 200-day EMA at $3.9 as the final overhead barrier before open air. The cup and handle measured move targets $4.80 to $5 on continuation.

Key levels for UNI: $3.9 — 200-day EMA, last resistance before the measured move opens $4 — Psychological resistance above $3.54 — 20-day EMA support on any retest; holding here keeps the breakout valid $3.23 — Supertrend level, the line that invalidates the setup on a close below Monero: The Cleanest Breakout Setup In The Market Right NowMonero (CRYPTO: XMR) pushes to $357.28, pressing directly into the descending trendline that has capped every rally since late January. 

Bollinger Bands are squeezing tight with price coiling at the upper band at $358.63, a classic compression pattern before a directional expansion.

All four EMAs are clustering between $333 and $354, essentially flat, confirming the squeeze is real. 

A daily close above $360 clears the descending trendline and triggers the Bollinger expansion, with a breakout target of $400 to $420. Rejection here sends the price back to $333.

Key levels for XMR: $358.63 — Bollinger upper band and descending trendline confluence, the breakout line $333 — Bollinger midband support on rejection $400 to $420 — measured move target on confirmed breakout Image Source: Shutterstock

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Arival Bank announced the launch of stablecoin payment and treasury capabilities on July 3, 2026, with services expected to go live by mid-July. The offering supports USDC for all eligible clients and USDT for non-US entities, with conversion fees starting at just 0.05% for businesses moving into USD-denominated stablecoins.

What Arival is actually building Arival Bank operates as a recognized International Financial Entity under Puerto Rico’s regulatory framework, with full BSA/AML compliance, KYC/KYB protocols, and transaction monitoring systems.

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The platform supports transactions across four blockchain networks: Base, Polygon, Solana, and Ethereum. The target market is global SMEs, startups, and digital-native businesses that need treasury management and cross-border payment tools.

Why Latin America is the real story here Arival’s announcement specifically calls out demand from international clients, with Latin America as a key focus. A USDC transfer on Solana settles in seconds, not days. At 0.05% conversion fees, Arival is undercutting what most traditional FX services charge by a wide margin.

The bank’s approach builds on its existing partnership with Circle Alliance, the program Circle runs to expand USDC adoption through financial institutions. By integrating stablecoin capabilities with existing USD and multi-currency accounts, Arival is creating something that looks less like a crypto product and more like an upgraded version of the banking tools businesses already use.

The competitive landscape The fee structure deserves attention. At 0.05% for stablecoin conversions, for a business processing $1 million in monthly cross-border payments, that’s $500 in conversion fees versus potentially thousands through traditional banking channels.

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

Solana's SOL token dropped on July 24 as crypto investors became more risk averse.

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Solana prices fell on Friday, July 24, pushing lower as the broader crypto markets suffered declines amid a souring in risk sentiment.

SOL, the native digital asset of the Solana network, dropped to $73.53, according to Coinbase data from TradingView.

At this point, it was down 3.8% after rising to as much as $76.40 earlier in the day, additional Coinbase data from TradingView reveals.

These price movements materialized during a day when most of the top 10 digital assets by total market value suffered declines, according to CoinMarketCap figures.

When explaining this latest weakness, analysts repeatedly emphasized investor sentiment, noting that their tolerance for risk has suffered as of late.

The Clarity ActAs for what, exactly, caused this shift, market observers pointed to several variables, including concerns about the Clarity Act, which would provide greater clarity for the crypto sector by outlining the jurisdiction held by varying regulatory bodies.

“The broader crypto market is under pressure as the perceived odds of a successful Clarity Act diminish,” Jeff Anderson, managing partner at STS Digital, stated via email. “USD yields continue to push higher and the continuation of geopolitical conflicts are not helping risk appetite either,” he added.

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Brett Sifling, wealth manager for Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, also weighed in. Regarding the Clarity Act, he agreed that it has been having an impact on crypto markets, elaborating through emailed commentary that “It’s been hung up on ethics disclosure fights, a stablecoin yield battle with the banks, and major concerns from the DOJ.”

“A lot of investors are thinking that if it doesn’t get to the floor before the August recess, it’s effectively dead until after the midterms,” he added. “That window is closing right now.”

The market observer elaborated on other variables that are impacting the mindset of investors, stating that “The war in Iran continues to rage on, oil is over $100 again, and treasury yields are at 18mo higher. That’s a recipe that kills the appetite for risk assets, so it’s not surprising that crypto is struggling.”

“We also have a Fed meeting next week and Coinbase’s earnings report, so it’s common to see traders de-risk ahead of catalysts like that,” he added.

A ‘Microstructure Event’Eric Swartz, founding general partner of institutional crypto investment fund Panther Hollow Ventures, took a different view, describing today’s price movement as a “microstructure event.”

“We view today’s decline as a microstructure event rather than a fundamental one,” he stated through emailed input. “The latest declines appear to have been driven by a broader reduction in crypto risk rather than any meaningful Solana-specific news.”

“Higher real yields and a stronger dollar prompted a broader reduction in crypto risk, while crowded long positioning amplified the downside through futures liquidations,” said Swartz.

“SOL remains one of the highest-beta large-cap crypto assets, so these types of macro-driven positioning resets tend to produce outsized intraday volatility relative to the broader market.”

Buying stocks used to require opening a brokerage account, verifying your identity, linking a bank account, and navigating a trading interface. Now someone decided all of that should happen in a tweet.

OSbroker went live on the Solana blockchain, introducing what it calls the first tweet-based stock trading platform. Users can mention the @osbroker account on X with a command like “buy me $10 worth of stocks,” and the platform automatically executes tokenized equity trades directly from the user’s wallet. The whole thing runs on Solana’s Actions/Blinks technology, which enables on-chain transactions triggered from social media interactions.

How tweet-to-trade actually works The mechanics are deceptively simple. A user posts on X, tags @osbroker, and includes a trade instruction. The platform reads the command, creates a wallet for the user if one doesn’t already exist, and executes the purchase of tokenized stocks on-chain.

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Rather than letting users pick individual tickers (at least initially), OSbroker bundles trades through what it calls “stock packs.” These diversified baskets spread exposure across prominent equities including AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, GOOGL, and SPY.

Solana’s Actions and Blinks framework has previously been used for token swaps and staking directly from social media posts. OSbroker is the first to stretch that infrastructure into equity markets.

The platform also launched an associated token, $BROKER, with contract address 4R8nPamDM3Vk8V6ivpnq2gmvho7ueVpMGU9noXRqpump.

Solana’s quiet dominance in tokenized stocks Solana currently accounts for roughly 95% of global trading volume in tokenized equities. Weekly trading volumes have recently hit approximately $1.29 billion. The low transaction costs and sub-second finality make it practical for the kind of micro-trades that OSbroker is enabling, where someone might buy $10 of stocks through a social media post.

The social-native finance thesis OSbroker collapses social discussion and trade execution into a single action. The social post IS the trade. Automatic wallet creation means users don’t even need to understand crypto wallets or Solana’s architecture. They tweet, and stocks appear in a wallet they didn’t know they had.

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

Most exchanges and partners have signaled readiness for the hard fork, though a few are still reviewing details and the upgrade has not yet activated.

The Stacks community approved SIP-045, the Bitcoin Staking upgrade, with more than 99% of votes cast in favor, Stacks co-creator Muneeb Ali said, setting up a hard fork targeted for around July 29 at roughly Bitcoin block 907,740.

The upgrade, formally "PoX-5: Bitcoin Staking and Emission Schedule Alignment," lets participants lock BTC in a timelocked contract on Bitcoin's base layer — under their own keys — and pair it with locked STX to earn yield paid in bitcoin. A companion proposal, SIP-044, which brings Clarity 6 and new staking post-conditions, passed alongside it. Voting opened July 6; hard-fork votes require at least 80% approval from stacked STX.

"Bitcoin is the world's most trusted asset precisely because of its design and safety principles on the L1," Ali said when the Bitcoin Staking whitepaper was published in May. "Holders can now earn yield denominated in BTC, trustlessly, while their Bitcoin stays exactly where it belongs."

How the Mechanism WorksStakers fund a timelocked UTXO on Bitcoin using OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY, pair it with an STX lock equal to at least 5% of the bond, and commit for roughly six months. The Stacks contract verifies the Bitcoin-side lock with an SPV proof — no custodian or trusted bridge. Yield comes from the BTC that miners already bid through Proof of Transfer: paired bonds get a target of about 3% APY in BTC, STX-only stackers take 85% of the excess, and 15% builds a reserve that buffers shortfalls. There is no slashing; principal returns in full when the timelock expires.

The bootstrap phase caps capacity at 3,000 BTC, managed by the Stacks Endowment with whitelisted partners and about 10% open to pools. A public testnet went live this week, and a "Genesis Bond" is targeted for late August.

SIP-045 also reverses April's emissions cut, restoring the STX coinbase to 1,000 STX per Bitcoin block from 500 — a meaningful supply increase bundled with the staking mechanism.

Yield Without Leaving BitcoinStacks has distributed more than 4,200 BTC — roughly $500 million — in stacking rewards since Proof of Transfer went live in 2021, and its sBTC bridged asset holds about $186 million, per DefiLlama, down from a Q1 peak of $545 million as BTC's price fell.

The vote result did nothing for the token. STX trades at $0.144, down 13% in 24 hours, per CoinGecko, sharply underperforming Bitcoin's 1.9% decline.

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