Solana has recorded more than $900 million in net inflows related to real world asset (RWA) tokenization over the last 30 days, according to data from RWA.xyz. This development positions Solana as the leading blockchain for RWA capital during this period, outpacing other major networks.
Surging RWA momentum on SolanaThird-party monitoring platforms have highlighted strong investor appetite for tokenized versions of traditional assets on Solana’s infrastructure. The sector has seen rapid expansion as blockchain adoption widens among institutional investors seeking exposure to real world assets via on-chain mechanisms.
Solana currently holds an RWA footprint that exceeds $3 billion, with total tokenized equity trading volumes surpassing $10 billion. The blockchain offers combined support for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, stablecoin systems, payments, and consumer-focused services through a unified Layer 1 protocol.
Market observers note that this integrated ecosystem delivers both liquidity and technical capability, attracting capital flows away from competing chains with more limited RWA infrastructure.
NetworkNet RWA Inflows (30 days)Total RWA FootprintSolana$900 million$3 billionOther major blockchainsBelow $900 million (combined)VariesMini dictionary: Real world asset (RWA) tokenization refers to the representation of tangible assets such as real estate, commodities, or stocks on a blockchain as digital tokens. This enables more accessible trading and integration with decentralized finance markets.
Solana achieved $900 million in net RWA inflows within a month, marking strong momentum as tokenized assets see broad adoption by both institutional and retail investors.
Analysts highlight bullish technical patterns for SOLCrypto analyst Ali Martinez reported the appearance of the first SuperTrend buy signal for Solana since October 10, suggesting renewed buying interest. Martinez identified $96 as a key resistance level, while also setting $121 as a potential higher target if momentum continues.
Technical outlook from independent analysts highlights a bullish shift, with Solana breaking out of a falling wedge pattern and retesting key support levels, increasing the likelihood of price appreciation in the near term.
Another market commentator, CryptosBatman, described Solana’s technical positioning as “very solid,” emphasizing that SOL has retested its previous resistance and moved above a bullish falling wedge formation. However, price action has been cautious, with the digital asset facing selling pressure around the $78 threshold.
Robinhood Chain enters the competitionThis week, Robinhood launched its own blockchain, Robinhood Chain, focused on tokenized equities and financial products. While some community members have drawn comparisons to Solana, analysts point out that the two networks target different segments of the market.
Robinhood Chain leverages the brokerage’s extensive retail investor user base and is designed for private asset tokenization. In contrast, Solana maintains a public blockchain environment with significant on-chain liquidity and a broad developer community.
Mini dictionary: Robinhood is a financial technology company known for offering commission-free trading for stocks, cryptocurrencies, and other assets, mainly catering to retail investors. Robinhood Chain is its newly launched blockchain focused on digital assets and tokenized securities.
SOL price action and network activitySolana’s price has stalled near $78, dipping by 2% over the last 24 hours. Daily trading volume has also contracted, falling from $4 billion at the start of the month to approximately $2 billion. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) products tied to SOL registered $700,000 in net outflows this week, contrasting with $1.1 million in inflows the previous week.
MetricCurrent ValuePrevious ValuePrice resistance$78—Daily trading volume$2 billion$4 billion (July 2)SOL ETF net flows (this week)$700,000 outflow$1.1 million inflow (last week)On-chain data from Santiment shows that the 30-day moving average of daily active wallets has moved above the 50-day average, hinting at intensifying user engagement on the network. Analysts view this as a sign of accelerating adoption and growing activity among holders.
A critical trendline offers support at $74, while any breach could expose SOL to further drops toward $64. If buyers manage a sustained breakout above $78, there is potential for upward movement into the $90 price zone.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.
Key Highlights E*TRADE now offers direct cryptocurrency trading to qualified customers for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana Each transaction incurs a 50 basis point charge, processed via connected Zero Hash accounts The service expansion comes after a trial phase that started in May 2026 Digital asset holdings lack FDIC or SIPC insurance coverage Morgan Stanley continues advancing its Ether and Solana ETF applications Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform has successfully launched spot cryptocurrency trading capabilities for qualified retail customers. The brokerage now enables users to purchase, sell, and store Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through its interface.
JUST IN: Morgan Stanley completes crypto spot trading rollout on E*Trade
All 8.6 million clients can now buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana at 50 basis points in partnership with zerohash, per Morgan Stanley. pic.twitter.com/46UBQba0jA
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) July 16, 2026
The offering operates via a collaboration with Zero Hash, a digital asset infrastructure company. Customer crypto holdings reside in connected Zero Hash accounts, maintaining separation from their conventional brokerage portfolios.
E*TRADE applies a 50 basis point transaction fee for each crypto trade. The platform currently serves 8.6 million household accounts and managed approximately $1.56 trillion in customer assets as of March 31, 2026.
Customers can monitor both their cryptocurrency positions and traditional investment portfolios within a unified platform interface. Withdrawal and deposit features, enabling customers to transfer digital assets to and from the platform, are scheduled for release later this year.
The cryptocurrency accounts operate without FDIC or SIPC insurance protections. Morgan Stanley explicitly highlighted this limitation in its official statement.
The platform-wide launch follows a testing period initiated in May 2026, during which the company evaluated the service with a select customer group. All qualifying E*TRADE customers now have access to the feature.
E*TRADE additionally announced that crypto operations are planned to transition to Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, its national trust banking entity currently undergoing establishment procedures with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Morgan Stanley’s Comprehensive Cryptocurrency Strategy This platform addition represents one component of Morgan Stanley’s expansive digital asset initiative. Earlier in the year, the financial institution introduced a spot Bitcoin ETF featuring a 0.14% management fee, establishing it as the most cost-effective Bitcoin ETF available in the US market upon release.
The Bitcoin ETF commenced trading on NYSE Arca, marking the inaugural spot Bitcoin ETF from a leading US commercial banking institution. The fund captured over $100 million in net capital inflows during its initial six trading sessions. Current data from SoSoValue indicates the fund has accumulated roughly $385 million in total net inflows.
In April, Morgan Stanley introduced a stablecoin reserve product. This service permits stablecoin providers to maintain their backing assets in one of the firm’s money market fund vehicles while generating yield.
During June, Morgan Stanley updated its regulatory filings for proposed spot Ether and Solana ETFs, establishing management fees at 0.14%. The banking institution initially submitted applications to list these investment products in January 2026.
The company has applied for a cryptocurrency-focused national trust bank charter through the OCC, joining other industry applicants such as Ripple, Crypto.com, and Coinbase. Circle, which issues USDC, recently secured OCC authorization to establish its own national crypto banking institution.
Morgan Stanley has also implemented non-cryptocurrency enhancements to ETRADE, incorporating fractional share trading capabilities, an upgraded retirement planning interface, and additional functionality for its Power ETRADE Pro desktop trading platform.
The integration of retail spot trading access, ETF investment vehicles, and stablecoin reserve services represents one of the most comprehensive cryptocurrency infrastructure developments from a major US banking institution to date.
Lionel Messi is 39 years old, playing in what is almost certainly his final World Cup, and somehow performing like he’s got a cheat code enabled. Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso, no stranger to elite football intelligence himself, recently praised Messi’s exceptional play at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, noting that the Argentine is performing beyond expectations and managing games with remarkable intelligence.
The $ARG token and the Messi effect Trading volumes for $ARG, the official Argentina national team fan token built on the Chiliz blockchain, have surged during this World Cup. The spikes aren’t random. They correlate directly with Argentina’s key victories against Switzerland and Egypt in the tournament.
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Messi’s $20 million crypto connection Messi’s relationship with fan tokens isn’t just organic. He signed a multi-year ambassadorial deal with Socios.com, the consumer-facing platform of the Chiliz ecosystem, valued at approximately $20 million. That partnership helped legitimize the fan token concept for a mainstream audience and gave Socios.com access to Messi’s massive global fanbase.
Beyond the official $ARG token, various meme coins and unofficial tokens loosely linked to Messi have experienced speculative spikes during the tournament. The distinction between the official Chiliz-backed token and the swarm of unofficial Messi-themed tokens is important. The $ARG token carries actual utility within the Socios ecosystem, including voting rights on certain club decisions and access to exclusive rewards.
What Alonso’s comments tell us about market sentiment Messi turned 39 on June 24, 2026, during the World Cup itself, which only intensified speculation around $ARG’s trajectory. Birthday milestones for aging legends tend to generate waves of social media engagement, and in the fan token world, social engagement and trading volume are closely linked.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
1inch co-founder Anton Bukov says he has fully stepped away from the decentralized finance project’s operations after more than seven years and is now launching a new venture called Second Tier.
Summary
Anton Bukov says 1inch fired him in November 2025 after he pushed for management changes. Bukov says he remains a co-founder and 50% shareholder but no longer oversees company operations. 1inch says Bukov stopped active involvement in December 2025 and insists its systems remain unaffected. Bukov said the company fired him in late November 2025 after he pushed for changes to management and operations.
However, 1inch gave a different account of his recent role. The company said Bukov had not been actively involved in organizations linked to the project since December 2025. Bukov said he remains a co-founder and 50% shareholder but no longer has operational authority.
Bukov says management push ended with his firing In a statement published on X, Bukov said feedback from users and colleagues led him to become more involved in leadership and company operations. He said he spent months working on his leadership and communication approach while trying to change how the organization operated. “In late November 2025 I was fired,” he said.
Bukov also drew a clear line between his ownership position and his current responsibilities. “I no longer take part in the company’s operations,” he said.
He added that he has no role in product architecture or security and no oversight of either area. His statement leaves him as a shareholder and co-founder without a stated day-to-day management role.
1inch says operations and infrastructure remain unaffected 1inch responded on X by saying Bukov had not been actively involved in any associated organizations since December 2025. The statement presents a different timeline for his operational departure but does not change Bukov’s claim that the company dismissed him the previous month. The company has not publicly detailed the internal discussions that preceded the split.
We can confirm that Anton Bukov is no longer contributing to the 1inch project and has not been actively involved in any associated organizations since December 2025.
This does not affect the operation of 1inch Network or any associated organizations. The protocols,…
— 1inch (@1inch) July 16, 2026 Meanwhile, co-founder Sergej Kunz sought to reassure users about the project’s operations. He said Bukov’s departure “is not disrupting, will not disrupt, 1inch Network’s infrastructure or systems.” Kunz remains in charge as the protocol continues developing its trading and liquidity products.
Second Tier becomes Bukov’s next project Alongside his departure statement, Bukov announced Second Tier as his next venture. He said he is building the project with people who share the same values from the start. However, public information about its products, funding and launch schedule remains limited.
The move closes Bukov’s active operating role at a project he co-founded with Kunz in May 2019. During his time at 1inch, Bukov worked on protocol architecture and security, according to his account. The project later expanded from decentralized exchange aggregation into cross-chain trading tools and other DeFi infrastructure.
1inch continues expanding its DeFi products As previously reported by crypto.news, 1inch partnered with Rewardy Wallet in January to provide gasless cross-chain swaps across five blockchain networks through its Swap API. The integration formed part of 1inch’s broader effort to simplify decentralized trading while keeping users in control of their assets.
More recently, the leadership split comes after renewed attention on security across 1inch-linked infrastructure. In May, TrustedVolumes lost about $5.87 million after an attacker targeted its custom RFQ swap proxy. The incident did not affect a standard 1inch user swap route.
Kunz later called for safer lending structures following separate stresses in DeFi markets. Bukov’s latest statement now makes clear that he no longer oversees 1inch product architecture or security, while the company maintains that its systems and ongoing operations remain unaffected by his departure.
A crypto whale has accumulated another 20,000 HYPE tokens, bringing its total HYPE holdings to 220,000 since June 11.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (Twitter handle @ai_9684xtpa), the whale/entity with wallet address 0x008…E295f — which had accumulated a total of 200,000 HYPE tokens in June — has withdrawn 20,000 HYPE tokens from an exchange again after a 4-week interval, worth roughly $1.18 million. Since June 11, this address has withdrawn a total of 220,000 HYPE tokens from exchanges, totaling around $14.85 million, at an average withdrawal price of $67.51, and currently holds an unrealized loss of approximately $1.945 million.
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SpaceX extends its downward trend, falling another 4.6% in pre-market trading.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), SpaceX has extended its downward trend, dropping an additional 4.6% in pre-market trading to a current price of $125, below its $135 IPO price. On the news front, the company's Starship rocket was halted ahead of its launch.
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Web3’s First Agent Arena Kicks Off: ClawQuest Launches Agent Fire, 126,000 AI Agents to Compete in the Same Arena.
Telegram AI agent game ClawQuest: Agent Mine has launched its first sub-game, Agent Fire, elevating ClawQuest to become the world’s first Web3 Agent Arena. The tank battle mode operates without human intervention: each tank’s battle code is written, optimized, and deployed by players’ AI agents, which fight 24/7. Unlike traditional chain games that use AI as an auxiliary tool, Agent Fire’s agents are the actual players themselves. Users hand over their Tank keys to their preferred AI agents (including OpenClaw, Codex, or any agent framework), issue commands in natural language, and the agents process real-time tank data and battle code, simulate improvements, and roll out new strategies—competing to prove whose tuned AI is superior. According to prior data, ClawQuest’s main game Agent Mine has accumulated 444,751 players since its open beta on May 8, with 125,790 of them having connected their own AI agents. Also launching alongside Agent Fire is CRouter, an AI large language model (LLM) relay station; agents’ token consumption will count toward $CLAW airdrop weighting.
CZ, during an appearance on the Talking Tokens podcast, said many people still regard crypto assets as speculative investments and focus on when to exit, but crypto and blockchain are fundamentally foundational technologies that should not be viewed solely from a short-term price perspective. CZ ranked blockchain alongside the internet and AI as the three foundational technologies he has witnessed, noting that the crypto industry’s current penetration rate is less than 1% by wealth size, leaving ample room for future growth. He also stated that the distinction between traditional finance and crypto finance should not persist going forward. The tokenization of stocks and the adoption of blockchain by banks and financial institutions have demonstrated that the two sectors are converging, eventually forming a single unified financial system.
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A trader who shorted CASHCAT two days ago has an unrealized profit of $529,000 so far.
According to Lookonchain's monitoring, trader 0xc36a shorted CASHCAT two days ago and currently has an unrealized profit of $529,000.
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Prediction market agent platform insiders.bot kicks off countdown to major update.
Today, the prediction market agent platform insiders.bot has officially started the countdown to its new version update. Previously, insiders.bot just launched its official version of the AI trading agent and the v1.3 signal. According to earlier official announcements, insiders.bot’s v1.3 signal achieved a win rate of over 80%, and the AI trading was used multiple times in live streams to generate high returns.
Injective says it has filed for transfer agent registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking a regulated route to maintain ownership records for tokenized securities on blockchain infrastructure.
Summary
Injective says its SEC filing could move tokenized securities ownership records directly onto blockchain infrastructure. The proposed transfer agent role would connect legal shareholder records with sub-second blockchain settlement systems. No public SEC filing was located, leaving the registration claim independently unverified at publication time. The blockchain project announced the filing on X on July 16. The move could place Injective closer to the regulated systems that determine legal securities ownership.
However, Injective did not name the legal entity that submitted the application, and a public filing matching the announcement was not located in SEC materials reviewed at publication time.
Injective targets a regulated securities record system Transfer agents perform a core role in U.S. securities markets. They record ownership changes, maintain security holder records, and handle other administrative functions for issuers. The SEC says a transfer agent must register with the appropriate regulator before performing transfer agent functions for qualifying securities.
Injective has filed its transfer agent registration with the SEC, marking a major step towards becoming a leading blockchain with a regulated pathway to issue securities onchain.
This advances RWA market infrastructure in the New Internet Economy, right here in the US. pic.twitter.com/u97CMk1rBT
— Injective 🥷 (@injective) July 16, 2026 Injective said its proposed system would move these records onto blockchain infrastructure.
“Tokenized securities and RWAs need compliant ownership records on infrastructure that settles in less than a second,” the project said.
Still, filing for registration does not mean that the SEC has approved the application.
Tokenization moves beyond issuing digital assets The filing comes as blockchain firms and traditional financial companies move beyond simply issuing tokenized assets. Market infrastructure providers are now testing blockchain for trading data, settlement, collateral management, and securities administration.
As crypto.news previously reported, Nasdaq began distributing its TotalView order book data through Pyth Network in June. The arrangement gives blockchain applications access to institutional market data and forms part of Nasdaq’s broader work around tokenized markets.
Wall Street infrastructure continues moving onchain Meanwhile, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is developing blockchain-based infrastructure for post-trade markets. DTCC is working with Chainlink on a Collateral AppChain designed to support around-the-clock collateral pricing, valuation, margining, and settlement. The platform targets a Q4 2026 production launch.
Tokenized stock markets are also expanding. As previously reported, the New York Stock Exchange has partnered with Securitize on infrastructure for tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds, while Nasdaq has pursued its own regulated tokenization initiatives.
Injective expands its focus on real-world assets Injective has already positioned its network around decentralized finance and tokenized real-world assets. In 2025, the project partnered with Republic to expand access to tokenized private-market investments through its blockchain infrastructure.
The transfer agent application would take that strategy into another part of regulated market infrastructure if approved. Rather than only providing technology for issuing or trading tokenized assets, Injective would seek a role in maintaining the official records that show who owns securities.
Robinhood’s new blockchain isn’t exactly tiptoeing into the market. The company’s Arbitrum-based Ethereum Layer-2 network, which went live on July 1, has already crossed $100 million in AI agent trading volume and seen more than 2,400 autonomous agents deployed on the platform. That’s two weeks of existence, for context.
The engine behind this surge is Virtuals Protocol, an integration that lets developers create, tokenize, and monetize AI agents directly on Robinhood Chain. Think of it as giving anyone the tools to build their own algorithmic trading bot, except these bots live natively on-chain and can interact with DeFi protocols without human babysitting.
The numbers behind the ramp Let’s put the $100 million figure in perspective. That’s agent-specific trading volume, meaning trades executed autonomously by AI agents rather than human users clicking buttons. More than 2,440 agents are now operational on the network, each one representing a developer’s bet that autonomous trading can outperform, or at least complement, traditional manual strategies.
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The broader network metrics are equally aggressive. Robinhood Chain’s total value locked surpassed $100 million within its first week of operation. Uniswap deployments on the chain recorded peak daily trading volumes above $500 million, suggesting that the infrastructure is handling serious throughput without buckling.
Developers building on the platform have collectively raised $1.8 million from investors that include some unexpectedly heavy names. Google and General Dynamics, the defense contractor, are among the backers.
Why Robinhood is betting on agents Robinhood’s traditional brokerage app serves tens of millions of users. The company has signaled plans to extend its agentic trading features from equities to crypto for eligible US users, which means the AI agents being built today could eventually tap into a distribution channel that most DeFi protocols can only dream about.
The choice of Arbitrum as the underlying technology isn’t accidental either. Arbitrum is the most widely adopted Ethereum Layer-2 solution, known for lower transaction costs and faster settlement times compared to Ethereum’s mainnet. For AI agents executing dozens or hundreds of trades per day, those cost savings aren’t trivial. They’re the difference between a profitable strategy and one that bleeds money to gas fees.
Virtuals Protocol provides a standardized framework for agent creation, which means developers don’t need to build everything from scratch. Each bot can own assets, execute transactions, and earn revenue autonomously.
What this means for investors On the cautious side, AI agent trading introduces a layer of complexity that most retail investors aren’t equipped to evaluate. When thousands of autonomous agents are executing trades simultaneously, the potential for cascading liquidations or flash crashes increases. Liquidity can shift rapidly as agents respond to the same market signals in microseconds, creating feedback loops that human traders can’t react to fast enough.
The risk that deserves the most attention is regulatory. Autonomous trading agents operating in crypto markets exist in a gray area that US regulators haven’t fully addressed. The SEC has been vocal about algorithmic trading oversight in traditional markets, and it’s reasonable to expect that scrutiny will extend to on-chain agents, especially ones accessible to retail investors through a platform as visible as Robinhood.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence compiled by WuBlockchain, Satoshi Nakamoto’s addresses still contain roughly 1.096 million Bitcoin—worth around $71 billion at current prices—making the pseudonymous creator the single largest BTC-holding entity. The original pool of mined coins, untouched since Bitcoin’s early days, remains a silent foundation beneath a market that has since been reshaped by exchanges, funds, and government seizures.
The numbers paint a clear picture of where the actual supply now sits. Coinbase controls approximately 981,000 BTC. Michael Saylor’s Strategy (the firm previously known as MicroStrategy) holds 844,000 BTC, an accumulation driven by its corporate treasury strategy. BlackRock’s various funds—primarily through its spot Bitcoin ETF—have amassed around 732,000 BTC. Binance, the world’s largest exchange by trading volume, holds about 675,000 BTC. Then there is the U.S. government, sitting on 325,000 Bitcoin obtained largely through asset forfeitures tied to criminal investigations.
Exchanges and ETFs Become the New Base of Supply The breakdown reveals a fundamental change in Bitcoin ownership. Over a decade ago, the majority of coins were controlled by individuals and early miners. Today, a handful of centralized venues and institutional vehicles dominate the addresses with the largest balances. Coinbase and Binance alone hold more than 1.65 million BTC between them—an amount that rivals Satoshi’s estimated stash. That concentration heightens counterparty risk conversations, especially as exchanges custody customer assets in opaque ways. The rise of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. has only accelerated the trend, pushing giant volumes of bitcoin into institutional-grade custody structures managed by a few firms.
The open question is what happens if any of these large pools are forced to move funds suddenly, whether due to regulatory action, a security breach, or a strategic decision. The crypto market has seen cascades of selling pressure triggered by large exchange outflows before, but the scale here is far larger than anything witnessed during past exchange crises.
State Holdings Add a Regulatory Wildcard The U.S. government’s 325,000 BTC stake is different in kind. Unlike exchanges or investment managers, the government has no mandate to custody assets for clients; it holds them as evidence or proceeds of crime. The Department of Justice has a history of selling seized Bitcoin in batches, sometimes through auction, sometimes through open-market sales. Those sales have historically caused short-term price dislocations. As lawmakers debate the future of crypto legislation—including the landmark bill that Wall Street banks are currently attempting to kill—the massive federal Bitcoin position creates a policy contradiction. A government that debates how to regulate digital assets is also one of the largest involuntary holders of the same asset.
Other governments are beginning to face similar situations as they expand enforcement against ransomware networks and darknet markets. Germany, for example, has liquidated significant portions of its seized Bitcoin in previous cycles. How major economies decide to handle these inventories could influence market liquidity far beyond any single regulatory ruling.
The Unspoken Variable: Satoshi’s Keys No discussion of Bitcoin concentration is complete without acknowledging that Satoshi’s approximately 1.1 million BTC may never move. Wallets attributed to the creator have been dormant for over a decade, and many analysts believe the private keys are either lost or deliberately destroyed. Still, the mere existence of those coins creates a permanent uncertainty premium. Any on-chain movement from those addresses would almost certainly trigger panic selling, no matter the intent behind the transfer. The fact that the market has priced Bitcoin as a trillion-dollar asset class without substantial evidence of the creator’s activity is a testament to how deeply the “Satoshi dormancy” assumption is embedded.
The Arkham snapshot also shows that the two largest individual wallet addresses belong to Binance’s cold storage, holding approximately 249,000 BTC and 181,000 BTC respectively. These are functionally part of Binance’s aggregated holdings, but the concentration in just two addresses highlights how few points of failure exist when it comes to big exchange custody. While the blockchain remains a distributed ledger, the practical custody map looks increasingly like a traditional financial network with a small number of massive nodes.
What matters next is how these balances evolve. As ETF demand continues and exchanges compete for institutional clients, the rankings may shift further. But one thing is clear: the era of purely decentralized retail ownership has given way to a landscape where the largest Bitcoin balances reflect corporate treasuries, asset managers, and governments—a structure that carries both maturity and concentration risk in equal measure.
AUTHOR
Mushumir Butt is a seasoned crypto journalist with over three years of experience reporting on the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency. At Blockchain Reporter, he delivers insightful news, in‐depth project reviews, and precise price analysis and predictions. With a strong background in SEO and digital marketing, Mushumir excels at breaking down complex trends into clear, accessible content, ensuring readers stay ahead in the fast‐paced crypto space.
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.
A programmer has only two remaining password attempts, meaning 7,002 BTC worth nearly $8 billion could be permanently locked.
Programmer Stefan Thomas currently has only two remaining password attempts left to unlock an IronKey encrypted USB drive holding the private keys to 7,002 Bitcoin. The device will permanently lock and erase its data after 10 consecutive incorrect password entries, and Thomas has already used up 8 of his allotted attempts. The Bitcoin dates back to 2011, when Thomas created an educational video titled "What is Bitcoin?" and was compensated with 7,002 BTC. At the current Bitcoin price of roughly $111,000, the asset is valued at approximately $777 million. Thomas previously stored his wallet’s private keys on the encrypted USB drive and wrote down the password on paper, but later lost the password. While the Bitcoin remains in its on-chain address, the funds are currently inaccessible and cannot be transferred due to the inability to access the private key. The IronKey USB drive is built with high-strength encryption, triggering a permanent lock after 10 consecutive wrong password entries. Its manufacturer, Kingston, confirms there are no backup passwords or alternative recovery methods beyond the original password set by the user. As Bitcoin’s price has surged, the value of this locked asset has continued to rise. Thomas has sought assistance from multiple parties, including digital forensics firm Naxo and security researcher Chris Tarnovsky, but no successful recovery has been announced to date.
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韩国首尔市长批评韩国政府放任杠杆产品冲击股市
According to Yonhap News Agency, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon released a statement harshly criticizing the leverage derivatives issue that caused sharp fluctuations in South Korea’s stock market, as well as President Lee Jae-myung’s proposed "active debt relief" policy, and urged the government to roll out fundamental countermeasures as soon as possible. He pointed out that this year, South Korea’s KOSPI index has triggered the temporary program trading restriction mechanism 37 times in total, exceeding the full-year record of 26 times set during the 2008 global financial crisis. Oh Se-hoon criticized: "The government was aware of the huge risks of individual stock leverage derivatives, yet still approved their listing, and stood idly by while retail investors’ assets kept evaporating, ultimately leading to the current situation."
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Bitcoin drops below $63,000, posting a 2.98% decline in 24 hours.
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Meta Platforms Hires AWS Compute Business Head, Signaling Potential Entry Into Cloud Services Sector
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SOL falls below $75, with a 2.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
According to HTX market data, SOL has fallen below $75, currently trading at $74.99, with a 2.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
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.
Japan launches domestic AI project "Noetra": NVIDIA will supply 27,500 Rubin GPUs, with 44 corporate groups including Sony and SoftBank participating. 5 hours ago
The Japanese domestic multimodal foundation model development project "Noetra" officially launched on July 16. Core enterprises include Sony Group, SoftBank, NEC, and Honda, with a total of 44 companies and groups contributing to the initiative, covering a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, finance, logistics, and communications. Engineers from institutions including the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Preferred Networks will also join the R&D. This project is part of the "Multimodal Foundation Model Development Project for AI Robots and Physical AI" promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), officially named the FRONTia Project by NVIDIA. Its goal is to build a Japanese domestic foundation model for physical AI scenarios like manufacturing sites and robots, rather than just a Japanese-language conversational AI. At the hardware level, Noetra will collaborate with NVIDIA to build a computing platform equipped with approximately 27,500 latest Rubin GPUs and 13,750 Vera CPUs, adopting NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 racks and DSX platform architecture, with a designed power capacity of 140 megawatts. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2027 and operations to launch in June 2028, when it will become Japan’s largest AI computing infrastructure. The R&D roadmap is divided into three phases: starting from fiscal 2026, developing an inference foundation model centered on AI agents and natural language processing; achieving a full multimodal foundation model that seamlessly integrates text, images, video, and audio in fiscal 2028; and realizing real-world native AI that understands spatial and physical attributes in fiscal 2030, with final applications spanning manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and communications.
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韩国首尔市长批评韩国政府放任杠杆产品冲击股市
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Bitcoin drops below $63,000, posting a 2.98% decline in 24 hours.
According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has fallen below $63,000, currently trading at $62,968.46, with a 2.98% drop in the past 24 hours.
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Meta Platforms Hires AWS Compute Business Head, Signaling Potential Entry Into Cloud Services Sector
According to a Wall Street Journal report, sources familiar with the matter disclosed that Meta Platforms (META.O) has hired the head of computing business at Amazon Web Services (AWS) and is weighing an entry into the cloud services sector.
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SOL falls below $75, with a 2.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
According to HTX market data, SOL has fallen below $75, currently trading at $74.99, with a 2.92% decline in the past 24 hours.
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Ethereum researcher releases Privacy Guardians 2.0 proposal, aiming to achieve maximum attainable privacy for on-chain payments.
Ethereum researcher Leo Glisic has released the "Privacy Guardians 2.0" proposal on a research forum. The proposal proposes using the Privacy Guardians alternative to replace enterprise-controlled on-chain payments, aiming to keep on-chain payments as privacy-preserving as possible while remaining operational on the blockchain. The system features an interactive multi-component architecture, including a private payment mechanism, insurance mechanism, honeypot and claim process, exchange rate processing, liquidity pools, and metadata management.
The culture war over what belongs on Bitcoin’s blockchain just got a new combatant. Leonidas, the well-known advocate behind the $DOG token (DOG•GO•TO•THE•MOON), launched Bitcoin $DOG Mode on July 17, positioning it as a direct counterpunch to the restrictions that Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Knots have been tightening around non-monetary transactions.
The core move: $DOG Mode wants to raise the transaction size limit from 400,000 weight units to 3.9 million weight units. That’s nearly a tenfold increase, designed to make room for the kind of large-format transactions that Ordinals inscriptions and Runes protocol activity demand.
The block space battle, explained The tension has been building for years, but recent policy moves have ratcheted things up considerably. Bitcoin Core’s v30 release introduced changes to transaction sizes and minimum relay fees that many in the Ordinals community viewed as targeted restrictions. BIP-110, a proposal currently under discussion, would further tighten limits on OP_RETURN data, the mechanism often used to embed non-monetary information into Bitcoin transactions.
$DOG Mode is the organized response. Rather than fighting the policy battle within Bitcoin Core’s governance structure, it offers an alternative client that nodes can run. The client relaxes relay restrictions and reduces dust limits while staying within Bitcoin’s existing consensus rules. No hard fork required, no chain split threatened.
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That distinction matters. Consensus rules are what every node must agree on for the network to function. Relay policies are more like house rules at individual nodes, governing which transactions they’ll pass along to peers. $DOG Mode isn’t trying to change what’s valid on Bitcoin. It’s trying to change what gets propagated.
The $DOG Army’s track record This isn’t the first time the community around $DOG has pushed back against Core’s gatekeeping. The $DOG Army previously executed what was described as the largest Bitcoin transaction by routing it directly to miners, bypassing the relay network entirely. When your transactions are too large for the standard relay pipeline, you can simply hand them to miners who are willing to include them in blocks.
That maneuver worked, and it had consequences. The fact that miners were willing to process these oversized transactions, pocketing the fees, forced adjustments to Bitcoin Core’s own policies.
$DOG Mode aims to institutionalize that workaround. Instead of requiring users to negotiate directly with mining pools for every large transaction, the alternative client would make those transactions relay-eligible by default. The so-called “four-megger” transactions, ones that approach the full 4MB block weight limit, would flow through the network like any other.
What this means for investors For the $DOG token specifically, wider access to block space could remove a meaningful bottleneck. Current restrictions force large Runes transactions into workarounds that add friction and cost. If $DOG Mode smooths that process, it could drive higher transaction volumes and trading activity around Runes-based tokens more broadly.
The broader implications touch Bitcoin’s governance model. Bitcoin Core has long functioned as the de facto reference implementation, with its maintainers wielding outsized influence over network policy through relay defaults. The emergence of a well-funded, community-backed alternative client, one with clear economic incentives for adoption, represents a genuine challenge to that dynamic.
The risk for the broader Bitcoin ecosystem is fragmentation. If significant portions of the network run different relay policies, it could create inconsistent transaction propagation, where some transactions reach miners quickly through $DOG Mode nodes while being rejected by Core nodes. That’s not a consensus failure, but it could create a two-tier relay network with unpredictable behavior for users.
Investors watching Bitcoin miner stocks and Runes-adjacent tokens should track $DOG Mode’s node adoption metrics closely. If adoption crosses into meaningful territory, the increased flow of large-format transactions could show up in on-chain fee data within weeks.
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.
SpaceX isn’t just trying to get humans to Mars anymore. According to ARK Invest, the company’s Starship launch system is the linchpin of a $28.5 trillion total addressable market, with the vast majority of that figure, somewhere between $22.7 trillion and $26.5 trillion, tied directly to artificial intelligence infrastructure in orbit.
The math behind space-based AI The company filed its S-1 in June 2026, laying out the $28.5 trillion TAM figure ahead of its IPO. In that filing and in a separate FCC application from late January 2026, SpaceX outlined plans for a constellation of up to 1 million satellites designed specifically for AI workloads.
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The satellite design, called AI1, is built around efficient heat dissipation using radiators, integrated solar power, and Starlink-style connectivity. ARK analysts Daniel Maguire and Brett Winton have noted that these AI satellites would actually be simpler than existing Starlink units.
The economic argument hinges on Starship’s reusability. SpaceX has driven launch costs down by approximately 95% since 2008, and ARK believes the trajectory points toward costs below $100 per kilogram to orbit. ARK’s analysis suggests these space-based compute facilities could become economically viable within 2-3 years.
ARK’s valuation case ARK Invest forecasts SpaceX’s enterprise value at roughly $2.5 trillion by 2030. The bullish case pushes that to approximately $3.1 trillion.
More than 90% of SpaceX’s future market opportunity is tied to AI, according to ARK’s July 2026 commentary.
The crypto angle investors shouldn’t ignore SpaceX currently holds 18,712 BTC on its balance sheet, valued at around $1.29 billion.
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.
Leading cryptocurrencies fell alongside stocks on Thursday as the chip selloff and Iran tensions impacted risk appetite.
Crypto Market Breaks LowerBitcoin retreated to the $63,000 zone after consolidation, while Ethereum tumbled to an intraday low of $1,848. XRP and Dogecoin also edged lower.
More than $320 million in cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, including $276 million in bullish long positions, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin’s open interest fell 2.73% over the last 24 hours. That said, smart money sentiment on Binance, which refers to the collective outlook and capital allocation of institutional investors, remained “Bullish.”
Market sentiment switched from “Extreme Fear” to “Fear,” according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
Top Gainers (24 Hours)
The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.22 trillion, representing a slight increase of 0.14% over the last 24 hours.
Stock Market Spooked After Chip SelloffStocks sold off sharply on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 105.67 points, or 0.20%, to close at 52,552.97. The S&P 500 fell 0.51% to end at 7,533.77, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 1.47% to settle at 25,881.95.
In other news, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Iran “very much continues to talk” and expressed willingness to make a deal with the U.S.
Where Are BTC, ETH Headed?Michaël van de Poppe, a popular cryptocurrency commentator, maintained a bullish stance on Bitcoin, stating that despite a recent correction, it looks primed for “upside momentum.”
“Clear breakthrough above $65,000, and we’re still going to see a strong run,” Van De Poppe added.
Ali Martinez, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, said that Ethereum has reclaimed the 0.8 Market Value to Realized Value Pricing Band as support. This key level has preceded strong rallies in the past.
“If history rhymes once again, the next key level to watch is the Realized Price at $2,24,” Martinez stated.
Photo: KateStock / Shutterstock
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a16z-linked whale has deposited 437,000 HYPE tokens worth $28.38 million to crypto exchanges over two days.
According to Lookonchain’s monitoring, a whale linked to a16z that had previously amassed large HYPE holdings has begun reducing its positions. Over the past two days, the whale has deposited 437,000 HYPE tokens worth approximately $28.38 million onto Hyperliquid, OKX, Bybit, and Gate, likely for selling purposes.
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BofA raises AMD’s price target, stating that AI server demand continues to push up growth expectations.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya has raised Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)’s price target, attributing the move to strong AI server demand, rising EPYC processor market share, and improved supply visibility—factors that could drive the chipmaker to deliver another round of better-than-expected results. BofA lifted AMD’s target price from $550 to $620 and retained its Buy rating. The bank notes AMD is no longer just a CPU recovery play, but is emerging as a more comprehensive AI infrastructure provider. Its EPYC server CPUs, Instinct AI accelerators, and the upcoming MI455X Helios rack-scale solution are poised to be core growth drivers in the next phase. Arya expects AMD’s third-quarter guidance may include initial shipments of the MI455X Helios, adding that if demand and supply execution proceed smoothly, the firm’s quarterly AI revenue could reach or exceed $6 billion to $7 billion by the end of the fourth quarter. BofA also holds that agentic AI workloads will boost data center CPU demand, further expanding AMD’s server CPU market opportunities.
4 minutes ago
Spot gold surpasses the $4,000 mark.
According to Bitget market data, spot gold has broken through the $4,000 per ounce threshold, currently trading at $4,000.3, with a 0.59% gain on the day.
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SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won responds to recent stock price slump: Stock prices will see long-term growth supported by memory chip demand.
SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won stated that backed by memory chip demand, SK Hynix’s stock price will maintain a long-term upward trend. “Demand for memory chips is growing exponentially, which explains why SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics’ stock prices have surged rapidly since last year,” he said at a forum hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday. When asked about the recent stock price decline, he noted that stocks typically rise in line with market expectations before correcting after an overheated rally. “I believe demand for memory chips will persist, so the stock price trend will be upward over time,” he added. Note: On Thursday, SK Hynix and Samsung’s stock prices fell 12% and 8.8% respectively, as South Korean authorities imposed restrictions on leveraged funds tracking chip manufacturers.
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$1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) options are set to expire, while Ethereum (ETH) put positions have remained at high levels for a consecutive month.
Crypto analytics platform Greeks.live reported that on July 17, 19,000 BTC options expired, with a Put-Call Ratio (PCR) of 0.9, a max pain point of $63,000, and a nominal value of around $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, 123,000 ETH options expired, with a PCR of 1.61, a max pain point of $1,800, and a nominal value of roughly $230 million. In terms of market performance, BTC has continued to fluctuate above $60,000 this week, having traded in the $60,000 to $65,000 range for over a month. Sharp swings in U.S. equities (SpaceX and storage sectors) have not yet had a noticeable impact on the crypto market. Looking at options positions, around 5% of options expired this week, leading to a slight drop in overall open interest, mainly due to low market volatility and reduced trading opportunities. BTC’s Gamma Exposure (GEX) is mainly concentrated around $64,000 and $70,000. ETH’s GEX is primarily in the $1,825 to $2,000 range, with a relatively dispersed distribution. Some traders have started positioning for a rebound via slightly out-of-the-money options. The proportion of large bullish trades has continued to rise recently, dominated by short-term bull spread buying strategies. Notably, ETH’s Put-Call Ratio has stayed above 1 for a consecutive month, hitting 1.61 this week. The high proportion of put options outstanding reflects clear market divergence on ETH’s future outlook, with intensified bull-bear rivalry.
4 minutes ago
A certain whale has continuously withdrawn 50,000 ETH from Coinbase Prime, valued at approximately $95.4 million.
According to monitoring by OnchainLens, a whale that previously held 10,000 ETH continues to accumulate Ethereum through its Coinbase Prime account. After withdrawing 30,000 ETH yesterday, the whale pulled an additional 20,000 ETH today, valued at roughly $37.7 million. To date, the total amount of ETH withdrawn from Coinbase Prime by this whale has reached 50,000, with a total value of approximately $95.4 million.
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.
Southern’s double-leveraged long product targeting SK Hynix and Samsung saw its decline widen to over 19%, hitting new lows not seen since May for both.
According to Bitget market data, the Hong Kong-listed CSOP 2x Long SK Hynix fell more than 20% at one point during intraday trading, and is now down 17.8%. The Hong Kong-listed CSOP 2x Long Samsung dropped over 19% intraday, and is currently down 18.1%. Both have hit their lowest levels since May.
10 minutes ago
Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Conference on Global Artificial Intelligence Governance, and delivers a keynote address.
Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-Level Conference on Global Artificial Intelligence Governance in Shanghai, and delivered a keynote speech. (Xinhua News Agency)
10 minutes ago
A whale heavily invested in semiconductor stocks has liquidated all its holdings at a loss, with losses mainly stemming from positions in MRVL, SanDisk and SK Hynix.
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), a whale that went long on a basket of tech semiconductor stocks has liquidated its entire position at a loss, resulting in a total account loss of over $10.4 million in 30 days. The whale previously held a $19.39 million heavy position in popular semiconductor stocks including MRVL, SNDK, SKHX, MU, NBIS, CRCL, and ZHIPU, with major losses attributed to Marvell Technology, SK Hynix, and SanDisk.
10 minutes ago
DeFiTuna lending pool hacked, 580,000 USDC stolen
Solana-based derivatives protocol DeFiTuna’s lending pool was hacked yesterday, with 580,000 USDC drained, leaving the USDC lending pool with a $580,000 deficit. The attack vector has since been identified and mitigated; the team is still investigating the incident’s details and working to recover the funds.
10 minutes ago
HYPE falls below the $60 mark, with a16z seemingly liquidating over $30 million worth of the token.
According to HTX market data, HYPE has fallen below the $60 mark, recording a 10.4% drop in the past 24 hours. On the news front, a16z is suspected of liquidating its position. An address linked to a16z withdrew 471,500 HYPE tokens from Hyperliquid over the past day, valued at roughly $30.57 million, before transferring the assets to multiple trading platforms.
10 minutes ago
South Korean stocks suffered sharp declines even while closed for trading; Nan Fang Asset Management’s 2x long ETFs for SK Hynix and Samsung posted respective drops of 17.8% and 14.7%.
According to Bitget market data, South Korean stocks are closed today for Constitution Day, but SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are still priced in other markets. At the Hong Kong Stock Exchange open, Southern’s twice-leveraged long products tracking SK Hynix plunged 17.8%, while those tracking Samsung Electronics dropped 14.7%. Separately, per BIT (bit.com) market data, SK Hynix’s ADR plummeted 13.69% at the close of U.S. trading this morning, and has since stabilized, trading up 1% in after-hours sessions.
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.
The decentralized derivatives exchange launches PERPS+ on mobile and confirms full feature parity with desktop. Protected perps can now be managed on the move with Aevo.
Aevo, the decentralized derivatives exchange with more than $10 billion in options volume since 2020, has launched PERPS+ on mobile. The feature adds protection directly to a perp at entry, where the trader picks a mode, sets the level, and Aevo executes the combined position in one tap with no options knowledge required. The launch also marks a milestone: Aevo’s mobile experience now matches desktop feature for feature.
Traders can download the Aevo app on the App Store and Google Play for the full mobile experience (currently not available to U.S. or U.K. persons).
Aevo has a habit of building things the rest of the market copies later. PERPS+ on mobile continues that run. Structured, options-protected positions once required an options desk or a rigid DeFi vault. Now they execute in one tap from a phone.
Built first, copied later Aevo’s architecture set the template much of decentralized derivatives now runs on. Its custom Ethereum layer-2 pairs an off-chain order book with on-chain settlement, giving traders centralized-exchange speed while they keep custody of their funds. That hybrid model has since become the dominant design for decentralized perps with options.
Then there is aeUSD, the yield-bearing stablecoin Aevo built as trading collateral. It has been live in production for almost two years, making it one of the most battle-tested yield-bearing collateral assets in DeFi. Margin earns while positions are open, quietly earning traders yield.
All of it sits in one cross-margin account: options, perps and structured products together. Running decentralized options at exchange scale is hard, and most venues still cannot offer the combination natively.
PERPS+: options power, zero options knowledge The problem is old and stubborn. Options can cap losses, generate income or define risk before entry. But strikes, expiries and premiums scare most perps traders off, so the majority run fully unprotected positions.
PERPS+ handles the options leg automatically. Traders pick one of three enhancers:
“Limit My Loss “caps maximum loss at a set amount, with the downside defined at entry and the upside left completely uncapped. “Get Paid to Hold” pays a guaranteed upfront premium in exchange for capped upside. “Lock My Range” caps both loss and profit, giving a fully defined risk-to-reward ratio for close to zero upfront cost. PERPS+ is currently available on BTC and ETH perpetual futures.
The trader sets the protection level. Aevo structures, prices and executes the combined position in one tap.
PERPS+ serves two audiences. Audience 1: Perps traders who have never touched options get one-click protection on trades they were already going to make. Audience 2: DeFi vault depositors get tailor-made, vault-like strategies with the freedom to set their own parameters instead of accepting fixed vault terms.
PERPS+ is live on both web and mobile. The feature launched first on web and is now fully available across both platforms.
Protection that travels Traders have always been able to close positions from their phones. What they could not do is open a perp with a defined floor already built in, protection that limits losses automatically if the position moves against them. Aevo mobile makes that a one-tap action, on the only mobile derivatives exchange with full desktop parity.
A clean token with a shrinking supply The AEVO token has been fully distributed since mid-2025, when the final scheduled unlock completed. No vesting cliffs ahead. No investor unlock events. No dilution overhang.
On top of that, 74 million AEVO have been permanently removed from circulation to date through a recurring monthly buyback and burn, funded entirely by real exchange revenue, which buys AEVO on the open market and permanently removes it from circulation. The supply mechanic makes the token deflationary. Stakers receive monthly Uniswap V3 LP positions in the AEVO/USDC pool, earning swap fees that compound as long as the position is held.
The result: no unlock calendar to trade against, and a deflationary supply that shrinks as the exchange earns.
Aevo spokesperson said, “Onchain options have been called the next big thing every year since 2021. And every year, they’ve failed to become it… So we thought, what if getting options-level protection felt exactly like trading a perp? That’s PERPS+”.
About Aevo Aevo is the leading decentralized derivatives exchange. The PERPS+ feature is now live with a full mobile experience are live at www.aevo.xyz. Technical documentation is on Aevo Docs.
Ether.fi [ETHFI] has continued with its price recovery. After successfully holding $0.4 support, the altcoin jumped to a local high of $0.44, effectively clearing all recent losses.
At press time, Ether.fi was trading at around $0.43 after rising 11.34% on the daily charts. At the same time, trading volume surged 107%, while market cap climbed 10%, reflecting market participation and capital flows.
What’s behind Ether.fi’s rally? ETHFI’s relative strength was driven by an increased user base and expansion into RWA tokenization. Nearly two weeks ago, Ether.fi allocated $100 million into a new Plume RWA Vault, providing ETHFI users access to institutional-grade RWA yield.
The product introduced RWA exposure to a simple, non-custodial on-chain vault. After Ether.fi announced the investment. ETHFI surged from $0.37 to $0.44. This was later boosted by the integration with the Binance wallet. A week ago, the Binance wallet added a Plume RWA yield vault on nBASIS.
In doing so, ETHFI greatly benefited from the expanded market reach. The altcoin rose from $0.38 to $0.44 between July 8 and 12, before retracing.
ETHFI market demand remains steady In addition to the growing reach of the RWA market, demand for the altcoin has remained steady across the market.
On the derivatives side, the altcoin’s Open Interest (OI) climbed 19% to $74.47 million as of writing. At the same time, the Derivatives Volume surged 93% to $110 million.
Source: CoinGlass With OI and volume rising in tandem, it showed increased speculative activity as traders opened new positions, either shorts or longs. The same demand was observed on the spot side. According to Coinglass data, the altcoin’s Spot Netflow has remained positive for two consecutive days.
Notably, the Spot Netflow was -$82k, a significant drop from -$264k. With the Netflow holding negative, it indicated that buyers are relatively stronger on the spot.
Source: CoinGlass These prevailing market conditions have historically preceded stronger price performance, especially when sustained.
Can ETHFI’s upside hold? Currently, Ether.fi’s upside momentum remains relatively strong, largely driven by established market demand. At the time of writing, the altcoin Momentum Shift Indicator remained positive and was stabilizing at 0.025.
Source: TradingView With this indicator on an upward trajectory, the prevailing trend is particularly strong. At the same time, the MACD has also remained on a rising trend for the past two weeks, further confirming the trend’s strength.
Taken together, these two indicators point towards the extension of the trend. Therefore, if demand holds, Ether.fi will close above $0.45 and eye $0.5. However, if the altcoin fails to hold $0.44, it will likely drop below $0.4, with $0.37 as the critical support.
Final Summary
Ether.fi surged 11%, successfully held $0.4, and jumped to $0.44 amid strong market demand. ETHFI has shown relative strength, as a $100 million investment into RWA seems to be finally paying off.
ONDO is trading at the $0.37 mark after an 15% rise. The daily trading volume has exploded by over 300%. Ondo Finance has launched the first tokenised stock representations based on DTC tokenised entitlements, securities held and processed through the DTCC Tokenisation Service. Along with Ondo, BlackRock, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and NYSE are all part of this initiative.
In addition, the native token, ONDO, reacted immediately, with a surge of over 15.50%, hovering at $0.3720 with the trading volume exploding 301% to $265.75M. Technically, ONDO is pressing against key falling wedge resistance. Also, a confirmed breakout above that level opens the door toward the $0.48 range.
The broader trend is constructive, with higher highs, higher lows, and buyers stepping in consistently at key support. As long as that support holds, the path of least resistance for ONDO points higher.
Can ONDO Sustain Its Momentum Ahead? The four-hour price chart of the ONDO/USDT pair exhibits a bullish pattern, and green candles have emerged. With the positive momentum, the price could climb to the $0.3841 resistance. If the mighty bulls persist, the golden cross will take place and gradually send the asset’s price above $0.39.
On the flip side, assuming the price graph of ONDO turns red, it hints at a bearish crossover, and the price could slip toward the support zone at around $0.36. A failure to sustain this level might trigger the death cross to emerge and intensify the downside correction, pulling the price below $0.3511.
While analysing the technical chart, the MACD line is found above the signal line, buyers are driving the short-term price acceleration. Both lines are above the zero line, indicating a strong bullish momentum.
This is a classic bullish continuation signal, showing a healthy uptrend with plenty of underlying strength. With this setup, a sudden bearish reversal might be unlikely within the short-term plan.
ONDO’s ongoing market sentiment is highly bullish, with the RSI reading at 81.76, suggesting an extremely overbought and overextended condition. There is an imminent pullback risk at this level, with the upward trend heavily exhausted.
The likelihood of a sharp correction or a deep cooling-off state is very high. Entering new long positions here carries extreme risk. Also, the asset is flashing strong warning signs of an impending near-term pullback.
Crypto Market Highlights
Ethereum (ETH) Up 10% in a Week: Can Bulls Confirm a Trend Shift Above Wedge Resistance?
Content Writer | Crypto Enthusiast | Bridging Literature and Blockchain
Key HighlightsStrategic alliance advances SBI’s tokenized asset visionYen-backed stablecoin to power transaction infrastructureSBI constructs comprehensive blockchain finance infrastructure SBI collaborates with Ondo Finance for blockchain-based Japanese stock tokenization.
JPYSC stablecoin to facilitate settlement and collateral functions.
Ondo Finance will create tokenized instruments tied to Japanese financial markets.
SBI advances its digital securities vision through blockchain integration.
Initiative bridges Japanese capital markets with worldwide tokenized asset platforms.
Japanese financial services leader SBI has forged a strategic alliance with Ondo Finance to digitize Japanese equities through blockchain-powered tokenization. This collaboration introduces the JPYSC stablecoin as a settlement mechanism and collateral instrument for qualifying transactions. SBI plans to leverage its extensive financial network to distribute these innovative products while broadening market access to digitized Japanese securities.
Strategic alliance advances SBI’s tokenized asset vision Under this arrangement, Ondo Global Markets will assume responsibility for creating tokenized financial instruments backed by Japanese assets. SBI will then channel these products through its established financial distribution channels. Both organizations intend to promote these offerings via coordinated marketing campaigns and strategic business relationships.
We're excited to announce a partnership with SBI Group, one of Japan's leading financial institutions.
The collaboration covers tokenizing Japanese assets with distribution across the SBI ecosystem, and settlement using the JPYSC stablecoin.
Ondo CEO Ian De Bode on the… pic.twitter.com/Kp4twvDeZo
— Ondo Finance (@OndoFinance) July 16, 2026
Moreover, this collaboration establishes a bridge between Japan’s traditional financial assets and emerging global tokenized markets powered by distributed ledger technology. Neither party has revealed a specific timeline for product deployment. Details regarding initial asset selection for tokenization and the applicable regulatory structure remain undisclosed.
This initiative reinforces SBI’s comprehensive digital asset roadmap spanning multiple financial service verticals. Simultaneously, Ondo Finance obtains entry into SBI’s extensive banking network, securities brokerage operations, investment management division, and cryptocurrency ventures. This alliance establishes an additional distribution pathway for blockchain-enabled securities throughout Japan’s financial landscape.
Yen-backed stablecoin to power transaction infrastructure The partnership encompasses provisions to incorporate JPYSC into Ondo’s tokenized financial instrument ecosystem. This stablecoin, pegged to the Japanese yen, will enable settlement operations and designated collateral mechanisms. Consequently, trades involving digitized Japanese assets may utilize a cryptocurrency directly anchored to Japan’s national currency.
Both organizations also plan to explore expanded collateral use cases for JPYSC throughout their shared ecosystem. Specific product eligibility and collateral parameters have not been revealed. The firms acknowledge that additional development efforts will establish the operational guidelines.
Ondo emphasized that Japan constitutes a significant target market for tokenized financial instruments due to its mature capital market infrastructure. Concurrently, SBI characterized Ondo as a crucial long-term collaborator for scaling digital asset offerings. Both entities aim to forge stronger connections between Japan’s domestic financial markets and worldwide blockchain networks.
SBI constructs comprehensive blockchain finance infrastructure This partnership announcement follows multiple blockchain-focused ventures recently unveiled by SBI throughout the digital finance sector. Previously, SBI Global Asset Management rolled out a tokenized Japanese equity investment vehicle on Solana’s blockchain in collaboration with DigiFT. This offering delivers institutional and accredited investors blockchain-enabled exposure to a dividend-focused Japanese equity approach.
The JX token marked DigiFT’s inaugural tokenized Japanese equity fund available on its regulated marketplace. SBI positioned this product as a pioneering tokenized Japanese equity fund. This debut expanded blockchain accessibility to Japanese equity investment strategies via compliant infrastructure.
The Ondo collaboration extends these previous initiatives by incorporating tokenized financial products alongside stablecoin settlement functionality. Beyond this agreement, SBI has recently unveiled JPYSC, rolled out lending programs for the stablecoin, established a partnership with the Solana Foundation, allocated capital to Gauntlet and EDX Markets, and finalized the Bitbank acquisition. These moves demonstrate the company’s ongoing commitment to constructing a unified blockchain financial ecosystem that integrates tokenized assets, digital currencies, trading platforms, and decentralized market infrastructure.
Oliver Dale
Editor-in-Chief of Blockonomi and founder of Kooc Media, A UK-Based Online Media Company. Believer in Open-Source Software, Blockchain Technology & a Free and Fair Internet for all. His writing has been quoted by Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Investopedia, The New Yorker, Forbes, Techcrunch & More. Contact [email protected]
Ondo Finance (ONDO) edges higher toward the nearest resistance at $0.40 at the time of writing on Thursday. The rally follows the network’s strategic partnership with Japan’s SBI Group, shrugging off a broader cool-down in the cryptocurrency market.
Ondo Finance, SBI Group partner to tokenized real-world assets Ondo Finance has announced a strategic partnership with SBI Group, one of Japan’s leading financial conglomerates. The collaboration aims to bring Japan's massive traditional capital markets directly on-chain.
According to the announcement, the partnership will focus on tokenizing Japanese assets, leveraging the SBI ecosystem for broad distribution. Transactions will be settled using the Yen-backed JPYSC stablecoin, establishing an efficient, compliant corridor for digital assets.
Ondo CEO Ian De Bode emphasized Japan's status as a sophisticated capital market, stating the deal "creates a path to bring Japanese assets" on-chain. Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO of SBI Holdings, noted that Ondo will be a "key strategic partner" in forming SBI’s global digital asset corridor.
The integration of Japanese equities with global DeFi marks a major milestone for institutional blockchain adoption, signaling strong growth momentum for the ONDO token.
Price analysis: ONDO builds momentumONDO extends its breakout above the descending trendline, establishing a solid support base near $0.31. The token continues to trade confidently above key Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), including the 50-day EMA and the 100-day EMA at $0.34, while the 200-day EMA lies at $0.38, underscoring a bullish near-term outlook.
The spot price also sits above the Bollinger Bands middle layer at $0.33 and the upper band at $0.36, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 67 hovers just below the overbought threshold. Moreover, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram remains positive, hinting at strong but stretched upside momentum.
ONDO/USDT daily chartOn the downside, immediate support emerges at the 200-day EMA around $0.38, followed by the Bollinger upper band near $0.36, before the cluster formed by the 50-day and 100-day EMAs around $0.34 and the Bollinger middle band at $0.33. Deeper pullbacks would expose the former downtrend break level at $0.31 and then the Bollinger lower band near $0.29, where buyers could attempt to reassert the broader bullish structure.
(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)
Bitcoin, altcoins, stablecoins FAQs Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, a virtual currency designed to serve as money. This form of payment cannot be controlled by any one person, group, or entity, which eliminates the need for third-party participation during financial transactions.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrency apart from Bitcoin, but some also regard Ethereum as a non-altcoin because it is from these two cryptocurrencies that forking happens. If this is true, then Litecoin is the first altcoin, forked from the Bitcoin protocol and, therefore, an “improved” version of it.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to have a stable price, with their value backed by a reserve of the asset it represents. To achieve this, the value of any one stablecoin is pegged to a commodity or financial instrument, such as the US Dollar (USD), with its supply regulated by an algorithm or demand. The main goal of stablecoins is to provide an on/off-ramp for investors willing to trade and invest in cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins also allow investors to store value since cryptocurrencies, in general, are subject to volatility.
Bitcoin dominance is the ratio of Bitcoin's market capitalization to the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined. It provides a clear picture of Bitcoin’s interest among investors. A high BTC dominance typically happens before and during a bull run, in which investors resort to investing in relatively stable and high market capitalization cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. A drop in BTC dominance usually means that investors are moving their capital and/or profits to altcoins in a quest for higher returns, which usually triggers an explosion of altcoin rallies.
Ondo Finance has entered into a strategic partnership with SBI Holdings, one of Japan’s largest financial conglomerates, to advance the tokenization of Japanese financial assets and integrate blockchain-based investment products into the country’s capital markets.
Four-pillar strategy to drive institutional adoptionThe partnership will focus on four key initiatives: issuing tokenized Japanese financial assets, distributing these products within the SBI financial infrastructure, integrating SBI’s native JPYSC stablecoin for settlement and collateral, and collectively promoting digital asset offerings.
Ondo Global Markets (BVI) Limited will oversee the issuance of tokenized instruments, utilizing SBI’s extensive network to increase investor access within Japan and beyond. By connecting Japanese assets to global blockchain-based markets, the partners aim to broaden participation among institutional investors.
Tokenized assets, which are digital representations of real-world securities or financial instruments, have gained momentum globally as financial institutions seek to enhance settlement efficiency and expand their investor base through blockchain technology.
Mini dictionary: SBI Holdings is a leading Japanese financial services company with interests in banking, securities, and asset management. Ondo Finance specializes in delivering blockchain-based tokenized investment solutions worldwide.
Leadership perspective and institutional momentumThe rising interest in institutional tokenization reflects broader trends across global finance. Banks and asset managers are increasingly drawn to tokenized securities for their ability to lower operational costs, expedite settlements, and comply with regulatory frameworks.
Ondo Finance CEO Ian De Bode stated that Japan is a pivotal market for global capital, highlighting SBI’s central role in the country’s financial system. He explained that this collaboration provides a direct path to bring Japanese assets on chain and connect local markets with the growing tokenized economy worldwide.
SBI Holdings Chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao noted Ondo Finance’s leadership in the real-world asset tokenization sector, emphasizing its role in advancing tokenized equities markets.
Ondo Finance CEO Ian De Bode underscored Japan’s sophistication as a capital market and the significance of SBI’s network, while SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao described Ondo as a global leader at the frontier of tokenizing real-world assets.
JPYSC stablecoin integration and regulatory complianceA core component of the cooperation will be the integration of the yen-backed JPYSC stablecoin for the settlement of tokenized financial products and as on-chain collateral. Stablecoins, due to their price stability and fast transaction capabilities, are increasingly favored by institutions over traditional cryptocurrencies.
By utilizing a locally backed digital currency instead of primarily US dollar stablecoins, the partners seek to ensure smoother regulatory compliance and more efficient settlements for their Japanese market participants.
Mini dictionary: JPYSC is SBI’s Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin developed for blockchain-based settlements, enabling rapid and compliant financial transactions within Japan’s digital asset ecosystem.
Global implications and market expansionThe Ondo-SBI collaboration arrives as competition intensifies among global financial firms pursuing tokenized real-world asset solutions. Over the past two years, organizations such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan have launched various blockchain projects, signaling stronger institutional endorsement for the sector.
The partnership is expected to significantly bolster Ondo’s footprint in Asia, which remains a dominant force in global finance. If implemented successfully, the alliance could deliver tokenized investment products to millions of SBI customers and help pave the way for a growing market for digital securities in Japan.
CompanyRole in PartnershipKey ContributionOndo FinanceTokenization Technology ProviderIssuance and global distribution of tokenized assetsSBI HoldingsJapanese Financial Ecosystem PartnerTokenized product distribution, JPYSC stablecoin integrationDisclaimer: 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.
While most of the crypto market drifted lower on July 16, $ONDO stood out. The token climbed nearly 16% over the past 24 hours to around $0.37, reaching the upper end of its daily trading range. The rally was accompanied by a sharp increase in trading activity, with ONDO recording approximately $289.6 million in 24-hour volume. That represents a surge of over 230% in volume, making it the standout mover of the session.
What is driving the move The catalyst is concrete. @OndoFinance launched the first tokenized stock representations based on DTC tokenized entitlements to DTC-held securities generated through the DTCC Tokenization Service, which leverages the same underlying DTC infrastructure that clears and settles the vast majority of US securities transactions.
These tokenized entitlements carry the same CUSIP and symbol as the underlying securities and can be delivered to DTC Participant wallets. In other words, this is not a workaround or a synthetic proxy. It is Wall Street's actual post-trade plumbing, extended onchain.
The underlying assets are Circle's publicly listed stock (CRCL) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), represented on-chain as CRCLon and SPYon, Ondo Stocks tokens fully backed by each security. Ondo achieved this through onboarding via Alpaca Markets as a DTC participant.
Ondo joins more than a dozen leading TradFi and DeFi firms, including BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and NYSE, participating in DTCC's largest tokenization initiative to date. On July 15, 2026, DTCC processed its first live production trades using tokenized versions of DTC-held assets, calling it its largest tokenization production event by breadth of assets, use cases, and participants.
What comes next for $ONDO The DTC-held securities can be converted between traditional and tokenized forms, allowing greater flexibility, access to new liquidity pools, and enhanced digital asset functionality. As the DTCC Tokenization Service continues its planned rollout later this year, Ondo expects to extend this model, making tokenized stocks accessible to on-chain investors through its global partner network of exchanges, wallets, and DeFi platforms.
Technically, the picture is mixed. The token is trading close to the top of its recent weekly range, and the latest rally pushed the price back above the widely watched 100-day EMA, though it still remains below the 200-day EMA. Volume trends and overarching price action draw question marks over the token's ability to push to $0.40 or higher. Whether $ONDO can hold the breakout, or whether this is a news-driven spike that fades, remains the key question for traders heading into the rest of the week.
Sources
Ondo Finance: Official DTCC Tokenized Stocks Announcement
BeInCrypto: Ondo Hits 1-Month High After DTCC Launch
CryptoTimes: Ondo Price Rallies 16% After DTCC Integration
The market cap of tokenized ETFs has crossed the $500 million threshold, and one platform is responsible for the lion’s share. Ondo Finance controls approximately 66.4% of the space, making it the single largest player in a category that barely existed a year ago.
Ondo Global Markets launched in September 2025 with over 100 tokenized assets available on Ethereum. By mid-2026, that number had ballooned to more than 440 tokenized US stocks and ETFs, spread across Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain.
Cumulative trading volume on Ondo’s platform has surpassed $9B, with tens of thousands of holders globally, the majority of whom sit outside the US.
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The catalyst for the most recent surge appears to be IVVon, Ondo’s tokenized version of a major ETF, which climbed roughly 150% in May 2026 alone. That single product helped push the broader tokenized ETF category from around $430M in May to beyond the $500M mark.
Ondo introduced 24/7 mint and redeem capabilities in June 2026. That feature lets users create or destroy tokenized shares at any time, not just during New York trading hours.
The platform filed an SEC registration statement in February 2026, a move that signals its intent to operate within the existing regulatory framework rather than around it.
BlackRock and Franklin Templeton, two of the largest asset managers on the planet, have engaged with Ondo’s ecosystem.
The platform focuses primarily on non-US investors, and has pursued US compliance through its SEC filing.
Ondo’s 66-74% market share, depending on which analysis you reference, is dominant but not invincible. Regulatory uncertainty remains the biggest overhang. Ondo’s SEC filing is a positive signal, but an SEC filing is not SEC approval. If regulators decide that tokenized securities need to follow the exact same distribution rules as their traditional counterparts, the global accessibility that makes these products appealing could shrink overnight.
When one platform controls two-thirds of a category, any operational issue, smart contract vulnerability, or regulatory action against that single entity could ripple across the entire sector.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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Multicoin Capital has invested in Trasia Labs, the team behind an Asia-focused perpetual futures trading platform built on Hyperliquid, marking the venture firm's first investment in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, a Multicoin spokesperson told The Block.
The investment comes shortly after Multicoin disclosed an investment in the Hyperliquid token itself late last month, when it published a detailed investment thesis on the protocol. At the time, Multicoin said it initiated a large HYPE position early this year and has been accumulating since, with HYPE now representing one of the largest positions in its liquid fund.
As for Trasia, Multicoin has invested $1.75 million in the startup as the sole investor in its seed round, Trasia co-founder Mable Jiang told The Block.
Jiang is a former Multicoin Capital partner and most recently served as chief revenue officer at Find Satoshi Lab (FSL), the web3 development studio behind the move-to-earn app Stepn. Jiang said she left FSL in May 2025 and co-founded Trasia this May with Edison Chen, who has been building in web3 since 2017.
Trasia began fundraising in May and closed the round last month, Jiang said, declining to disclose the structure of the round, the valuation or whether Multicoin received a board or observer seat.
Jiang said Trasia intentionally raised only a small amount of outside capital because the team wants to first launch its products and demonstrate traction before raising additional funding. She added that more than $35 million in HYPE and USDC has been "committed" to launching Trasia's HIP-3 Asian equity perpetuals market. Asked whether that amount would primarily be used as liquidity, Jiang said it would support "various purposes."
HIP-3, or Hyperliquid Improvement Proposal 3, allows developers to create their own decentralized perpetual futures exchanges on top of Hyperliquid's infrastructure by posting a 500,000 HYPE staking bond. The largest HIP-3 application by trading volume today is Trade.xyz.
How Trasia plans to stand out Like Trade.xyz, Trasia is building a Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures platform, but with a focus on Asian traders. Trasia has launched its web trading interface in Chinese and English, with a native mobile app planned for August. Trasia is also set to launch Asia Points, an invite-only trading rewards program for early users.
Trasia initially offers Hyperliquid's native perpetual markets before introducing its own later this year. Jiang said the platform has not yet decided which contracts it will launch first because market conditions can change quickly. The initial focus will be on companies involved in AI infrastructure, particularly those approaching public listings or already attracting strong investor interest across Asia.
When asked how Trasia differs from Hyperliquid and other HIP-3 platforms such as Trade.xyz, Jiang said the platform can reach users who are not already trading on Hyperliquid or Trade.xyz.
"If all of our trading flow today came from the same pool as Trade.xyz's — the same group of traders — then we'd have no chance whatsoever," Jiang said. "The real moat is the unique users you can reach and own."
Jiang said Trasia is targeting users who have never heard of Hyperliquid or Trade.xyz and, in many cases, are not yet familiar with onchain trading. She said the platform plans to reach those users through a mobile-first experience, regional distribution channels and its local network. "We also have team members who have strong regional connections," she added.
Trasia currently has a team of 10 people based primarily across Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo, Jiang said.
"We are long the Hyperliquid ecosystem, and we expect Trasia to gain meaningful market share quickly and become a dominant force in the years to come," said Tushar Jain, managing partner and CIO at Multicoin Capital.
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Asia-first trading platform Trasia has launched alongside a $1.75 million seed investment led by Multicoin, according to a Thursday statement.
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The non-custodial platform is designed to offer a mobile-first experience similar to major centralized exchanges while targeting traders across Asian markets.
Trasia said its upcoming HIP-3 protocol will expand access to Asian assets on-chain, with a focus on emerging sectors such as AI and robotics.
The company aims to combine localized markets with a familiar trading interface to encourage greater adoption of decentralized trading. Its web platform is live, and a mobile app is expected to launch later this summer.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Hyperliquid has launched a pre-IPO perpetual futures contract for ChangXin Memory Technologies, one of China’s most anticipated semiconductor listings. The initial reference price was set at $5 per share, determined through the platform’s onchain order book.
Traders apparently thought that was way too cheap. The contract has already been trading between roughly $6 and $8.64, implying a market valuation for CXMT somewhere in the range of $400 billion to $560 billion. For context, CXMT’s official IPO valuation sits at approximately $85 billion.
What CXMT actually is, and why traders care ChangXin Memory Technologies is a Chinese DRAM manufacturer scheduled to debut on the Shanghai STAR Market on July 27, 2026, with shares priced at 8.66 RMB apiece. The IPO aims to raise around 57.9 billion RMB, or roughly $8.55 billion.
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The perpetual contract, listed under the ticker xyz:CXMT on the Trade.xyz HIP-3 market, offers leveraged exposure to CXMT’s price action. It does not confer ownership, dividends, or voting rights.
How Hyperliquid’s pre-IPO market works The platform sets an initial reference price, in this case $5, and lets supply and demand on its onchain order book take over from there. This isn’t the first time Hyperliquid has run a pre-IPO perpetual market. The platform has previously offered similar contracts for other companies.
Trading volume in the first 24 hours after launch reached about $1.3 million. That’s modest by Hyperliquid’s standards, the platform regularly handles billions in daily volume across its broader perpetual futures markets.
The valuation disconnect A $400 billion to $560 billion implied valuation for a Chinese DRAM maker that hasn’t yet gone public is, to put it diplomatically, ambitious.
With only $1.3 million in early volume, a few aggressive buyers can move the price dramatically. Additionally, foreign investors face significant barriers to buying shares on the STAR Market directly, and a synthetic contract on Hyperliquid sidesteps all of that, which may command its own premium in a market hungry for China semiconductor exposure.
What this means for investors The risks are equally real. Thin liquidity means prices can be manipulated or distorted. Because these are perpetual contracts with no expiration, traders face ongoing funding rate exposure that can erode positions over time.
The HYPE token, Hyperliquid’s native asset used for governance and network fees, stands to benefit if this model of synthetic equity trading attracts sustained volume.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Hyperliquid traders are pricing CXMT shares as much as 575% above their official IPO level ahead of the Chinese memory chipmaker’s Shanghai market debut.
A perpetual futures contract launched by Trade.xyz climbed as high as $8.64 on Wednesday, compared with CXMT’s offer price of 8.66 yuan, or about $1.28 per share. The contract implied a valuation of roughly $500 billion for the company.
The premarket surge reflects expectations that CXMT could record a major gain when its shares begin trading in Shanghai.
A rise of around 330% from the offer price would make CXMT the largest publicly traded company in mainland China, surpassing Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s market value of about 2.5 trillion yuan.
The Hyperliquid contract allows traders to take positions on CXMT’s expected share price before the company completes its public debut, creating a global market for speculation around one of China’s most anticipated technology listings.
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CXMT opened books for an IPO that could raise as much as $9.8 billion, making it the second largest offering in mainland Chinese history.
The Hefei based company sold 7.69 billion shares, including 1 billion shares issued through an over allotment option, at 8.66 yuan each. The deal gives CXMT an initial market value of approximately 580 billion yuan.
Retail demand for the offering was intense. The retail portion was 212 times oversubscribed after a clawback mechanism, with individual investors submitting 9.4 million orders, according to a Thursday filing.
CXMT is expected to generate net income of around 100 billion yuan this year. At its IPO valuation, the company is priced at about 5.9 times projected 2026 earnings, compared with a consensus multiple of roughly 20 times.
The relatively low offering multiple has fueled expectations of a sharp first day rally.
Mainland Chinese IPOs have delivered strong early returns in recent years. Offerings that raised at least $100 million over the past two years gained an average of 248% during their first trading session.
CXMT is the world’s fourth largest producer of dynamic random access memory chips, which are used in smartphones, computers, artificial intelligence servers and data centers.
The company has become central to Beijing’s effort to reduce its reliance on foreign semiconductor suppliers, particularly in high bandwidth memory, a key component for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
A successful listing could strengthen momentum for other major Chinese technology companies considering public offerings, including rival memory chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies, Baidu’s chip unit Kunlunxin and artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Decentralized exchanges were supposed to be the scrappy underdogs, perpetually outgunned by Binance and its centralized cousins. Someone forgot to tell Hyperliquid.
The decentralized perpetual futures platform has reached a 9.3% share of global aggregate perpetual open interest, measured against centralized exchanges. That number, reported by hypeflows.com, marks a record high for the platform and represents a genuine milestone for on-chain trading at large.
From 6.9% to 9.3% in six weeks Back in late May 2026, Hyperliquid held a 6.9% share of aggregate perpetual open interest. By early July 2026, that figure had climbed to 9.3%.
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Total perpetual open interest on the platform peaked at approximately $11.14B in mid-2026. Hyperliquid now also commands over 70% of on-chain perpetual futures volume across all decentralized platforms.
HIP-3 is doing the heavy lifting A significant portion of the open interest growth traces back to HIP-3, Hyperliquid’s permissionless market framework launched on October 13, 2025.
HIP-3 lets anyone spin up a perpetual market on Hyperliquid without needing approval from a central team. The result has been an explosion of tradable assets that go well beyond crypto, including equities, commodities, indices, and pre-IPO assets.
The HIP-3 markets have added several billion dollars to Hyperliquid’s total open interest figure, according to the research. That means a material chunk of the platform’s record-breaking number is coming not from Bitcoin or Ethereum perps, but from real-world asset markets that CEXs have not traditionally offered retail traders in this format.
The architecture that makes it work Hyperliquid runs on its own Layer-1 blockchain. The platform currently supports over 300 markets, with high transaction throughput and fully on-chain settlement. Non-custodial means users retain control of their funds at all times.
What this means for traders and the broader market Hyperliquid is no longer a niche product. A 9.3% share of global perpetual open interest, measured against the largest centralized venues in the world, puts it in serious conversation as a tier-one trading venue by volume and positioning metrics.
The HYPE token, Hyperliquid’s native asset, is closely tied to the platform’s growth trajectory. As open interest rises, fee revenue accruing to the protocol increases, which feeds directly into token valuation models.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
HYPE, one of the highest valued decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, slipped below a key resistance on July 16 as selling pressure increased and buyers struggled to defend crucial technical levels. The current price action has raised concerns about the asset’s short-term outlook.
Price Action and Market MetricsHYPE is currently changing hands at $62.26, marking a decline of 7.93% over the past 24 hours. Its daily trading volume reached $887.20 million, while its market capitalization stands at $15.80 billion, placing HYPE among the leading assets in the DeFi sector by market cap.
Semifury.eth, a crypto analyst, commented on the situation with a technical analysis, highlighting that the token now trades just below an important resistance at $65.784. According to the analyst, holding below this level on daily closing terms could expose HYPE to further losses, with $57.22 identified as the next key support.
Semifury.eth stated that if HYPE price closes below $65.784, the chance of a move down toward $57.22 increases, while a return above $65 could help buyers regain momentum and potentially drive the price towards recent highs.
He considers the $65 area a decisive zone for the token’s next direction. A sustained bounce above this mark would signal renewed buying strength, while continued weakness could reinforce the downtrend.
Technical Analysis: Signs of WeaknessAccording to chart indicators, HYPE faces challenges from weak buying momentum. The price currently sits beneath the mid Bollinger Band at $66.47, while the upper and lower bands are at $72.43 and $60.52, respectively. With the token trading closer to the lower band, short-term selling pressure remains evident.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for HYPE stands at 43.48, below both the neutral 50 mark and the 52.75 signal line. This positioning suggests ongoing bearish momentum, but the RSI has not yet entered oversold territory, leaving room for further declines without signaling a reversal.
The coming days could prove pivotal for the token. A move back above the $65–$66 resistance might revive bullish sentiment, prompting technical indicators to recover. If selling persists, however, attention will likely shift to lower support levels at $60 and, as highlighted by semicfury.eth, $57.22.
LevelValueCurrent price$62.26Resistance$65.784Support$60 (initial), $57.22 (analyst target)Market cap$15.80 billionDaily volume$887.20 million14-day RSI43.48Mid Bollinger Band$66.47Top/Bottom Bollinger Bands$72.43 / $60.52Investors remain watchful as HYPE navigates this critical technical region, with the potential for further volatility if either buyers or sellers gain the upper hand.
Mini dictionary: Bollinger Bands, a volatility indicator developed by John Bollinger, consist of a middle moving average line and two bands above and below it, reflecting price fluctuations around the average and helping traders spot overbought or oversold market conditions.
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.
Global market maker Citadel Securities has invested $400 million in crypto exchange Crypto.com, giving the platform a $20 billion valuation, according to a Thursday announcement.
Crypto.com, which has a number of digital asset products, said the cash would help the Singapore-based company expand its services to assets such as blockchain-based securities and derivatives.
The cash will help bridge the gap “between digital asset and traditional markets to create a more efficient 24/7 financial ecosystem,” a Thursday announcement read.
“The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance,” Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said in a statement.
“Having built the right regulatory and tech infrastructure over the last decade, Crypto.com is now perfectly positioned to capture this new wave of growth across all asset classes.”
“The convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure is an exciting evolution with the potential to further improve market efficiency,” added Jim Esposito, President of Citadel Securities.
Thrilled to announce our first institutional funding round with a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities valuing https://t.co/pFc4Pz8PQj at $20 billion. An incredible milestone 10 years in on our journey and the beginning of a new phase of growth. Grateful to…
— Kris (@kris) July 16, 2026 Wall Street’s interest in tokenization Esposito’s comment comes as Wall Street interest in blockchain technology piques — despite a market slump.
Back in February, BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, announced that it was working with decentralised exchange Uniswap to bring one of its funds on-chain.
Before that, in January, the New York Stock Exchange said it was building a platform allowing traders to buy and sell tokenised versions of US-listed equities and exchange-traded funds.
And most recently, the S&P 500 gave crypto platform Trade[XYZ] the green light to debut a new derivative contract on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, allowing traders to gain leveraged exposure to the top index.
Citadel’s crypto interest Miami, Florida-based Citadel, has for some time been interested in digital assets: Back in 2023, the company helped debut EDX Markets, a “first-of-its-kind exchange” giving investors “safer, faster and more efficient cryptocurrency trading.”
The exchange this year applied for a national trust bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, marking a step toward deeper integration between digital asset firms and the US banking system.
Citadel last year also pumped $200 million into crypto exchange Kraken to help accelerate the company’s strategy of bringing traditional financial products on-chain.
Mathew Di Salvo
Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.
CME Group just made it a lot easier to bet on the broader crypto market without picking individual winners. The exchange giant launched its Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures on June 8, giving traders exposure to eight leading cryptocurrencies through a single contract.
The futures track eight tokens via the Nasdaq CME Crypto Index: BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, ADA, LINK, BCH, and XLM. The weighting is continuous and based on market capitalization, meaning Bitcoin and Ether dominate the index while smaller tokens like Stellar contribute proportionally less. The contracts settle to the Nasdaq CME Crypto Settlement Price Index, known as NCIS. They’re financially settled, which means no actual crypto changes hands.
CME is offering two contract sizes. The standard version runs $10 per index point, while the micro contract comes in at $1 per index point.
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Why this matters for institutional crypto CME has been methodically building out its crypto derivatives menu for years. Bitcoin futures launched back in 2017. Ether futures followed. Micro versions of both came later. But all of those are single-asset products.
Giovanni Vicioso, a key executive involved in the launch, described it as a milestone in digital asset market expansion. The partnership with Nasdaq adds credibility that pure-crypto exchanges can’t easily replicate.
The launch also fits into a broader pattern at CME during the second quarter of 2026. The exchange rolled out futures for Avalanche (AVAX) and Bitcoin volatility products during the same period.
The liquidity question and what to watch There has been no significant trading volume or pricing data reported since the June 8 launch, which is entirely normal for this stage.
Eight tokens is a decent basket, but the crypto market has hundreds of liquid assets. A market-cap weighted index dominated by Bitcoin and Ether might not provide as much diversification as the marketing suggests. Depending on BTC and ETH’s combined weight, the index could behave almost identically to a simple Bitcoin-Ether blend.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has reclaimed its 200-week simple moving average after falling to an early-summer low near $57,000.
Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen though argues the recovery does not yet signal the end of the bear market.
BTC’s “Date With Destiny“A July 2026 Bitcoin Cycle Memo by Cowen, released on July 16, explained that the current setup continues to favor a Q4 bottom, citing historical cycle patterns, on-chain data and macroeconomic conditions.
Bitcoin is trading around $64,400, roughly 45% below its October 2025 peak, after recovering from a breakdown below the 200-week SMA.
Cowen terms the reclaim as Bitcoin’s long-awaited “date with destiny” but cautioned that a similar break-and-reclaim pattern occurred in 2022 before the market eventually printed its cycle low.
Instead, the analyst believes this cycle may complete its reset through an extended period of consolidation rather than a sharp final selloff.
On-Chain Data Suggests Bottoming Process, Not ConfirmationCowen pointed to several long-term accumulation metrics that have entered historically favorable territory.
Risk indicators have fallen into zones that previously coincided with major buying opportunities, while the percentage of Bitcoin supply in profit versus loss crossed at the early-summer low. This is a condition historically associated with bottoming periods.
However, the analyst said several key indicators have yet to fully reset.
The MVRV Z-Score remains above the levels typically seen at major cycle lows, Bitcoin has not revisited its realized price near $53,000, and previous bear markets bottomed below balanced price rather than above it.
The report also highlighted weakening market breadth and slowing ETF accumulation despite Bitcoin’s recent recovery.
For July 2026 till date, BTC ETFs witnessed net outflows of $11.3 million while June saw net outflow of $4.5 billion.
What’s Next?Cowen identifies a sustained weekly move above the 50-week SMA near $86,500 as the key level that would invalidate the current bear-market thesis.
Until then, Bitcoin’s cycle low is likely “a matter of months rather than weeks away.”
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A London-listed Bitcoin company faces a shareholder rebellion@Satsuma_UK (LSE: SATS), one of the few $BTC treasury companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, is heading toward a critical shareholder vote on Monday, July 20. The decision on the table: whether to sell the company's entire Bitcoin holding and cancel its LSE listing entirely.
Satsuma Technology passed its final proxy deadline today for its proposal to sell its entire Bitcoin treasury and cancel its London Stock Exchange listing, leaving the July 20 general meeting as the next decision point. Proxy submissions closed at 2:00 p.m. on July 16, 2026.
The company held 668.48 BTC as of June 30. According to the original copy, those coins were acquired at an average price of roughly $113,000 per coin, placing the current stack more than 40% below the company's cost basis. Shares have traded at a discount to net asset value and trading in Satsuma shares was suspended on 1 July 2026 due to delays in releasing financial statements.
Board divided, 75% threshold requiredThe shareholder push originated with a sizeable bloc of investors. On 6 May 2026, the company announced it had received representations from a group of shareholders representing in excess of 20% of the issued share capital, requesting that a resolution be put to shareholders to return substantially all of the company's capital to them in cash.
The board is not united on the question. A four-director majority of the six-member board recommends rejection, while two directors support the resolutions. Satsuma Technology has clarified its board's recommendation to shareholders to vote against resolutions for a return of capital and delisting from the London Stock Exchange, correcting previous misinterpretations.
Both special resolutions require at least 75% of the votes cast and are interdependent, meaning that failure of either would block both the capital return and the delisting. If both pass, the Bitcoin is expected to be sold by early August. Approval of both resolutions would start a process to sell all its Bitcoin, return net cash, and cancel its London Stock Exchange listing.
If the vote fails, the suspension of trading is likely to persist. The board expects to publish financial statements by the end of July 2026, following which it expects trading in the company's shares to be restored. Shareholders who did not submit a proxy in time may still attend and vote in person at the July 20 meeting.
Sources:
Satsuma Technology corporate update, Investegate (RNS)
Bitcoin treasury troubles reach London, CryptoSlate
Proposed Return of Capital and Delisting, Investegate (RNS)
A long-inactive Bitcoin wallet has transferred 5,908 BTC, valued at approximately $383 million, after more than eight years of dormancy. Blockchain analytics firms Lookonchain and Arkham identified the significant movement, which has garnered attention across the cryptocurrency market for the longevity of the wallet’s inactivity and the scale of funds involved.
Historic wallet activation triggers large transferOn July 16, a legacy Bitcoin wallet, inactive since December 2017, initiated a single transaction sending its entire balance to a new address. The amount—5,908 BTC—has not yet reached any exchange deposit address, as indicated by onchain records reviewed by Arkham. Instead, the entire balance remains at the newly created recipient wallet.
Lookonchain highlighted that the wallet originally acquired its Bitcoin holdings about eight years ago when Bitcoin traded near $16,865. Since then, the value of its position has risen by $283 million, reflecting a 284% gain.
Despite the enormous appreciation, the holder opted to keep the Bitcoin untouched through dramatic market cycles, including the 2018 crash, the peak above $69,000 in 2021, the 2022 bear market, and the all-time high surpassing $122,000 in 2025.
Date AcquiredBTC Price at AcquisitionBTC AmountValue ThenCurrent ValueUnrealized Gain2017$16,8655,908 BTC~$100 million$383 million+$283 millionMini dictionary: Lookonchain is a blockchain analytics platform that monitors large transactions, wallet activity, and onchain trends to provide transparency into cryptocurrency markets.
Whale movements raise speculation but selling unconfirmedThis sizable transfer follows a similar move by another dormant Bitcoin investor earlier in the week. That separate address, also inactive for seven years, sent 2,931 BTC—worth about $188 million—after remaining untouched for years.
Analysts frequently monitor such large shifts from long-dormant wallets, as these could signal preparatory steps for selling. Nonetheless, moving funds to a new wallet does not necessarily indicate an imminent sale. Industry experts note that whale holders often relocate assets to enhance security, upgrade to modern wallet structures, rotate private keys, or prepare for over-the-counter transactions.
In the latest event, the Bitcoin left a legacy “1”-prefix address and moved to a SegWit format beginning with “bc1q.” This change is typically associated with efforts to improve transaction speed and lower fees.
Mini dictionary: SegWit (Segregated Witness) is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade that increases block capacity and reduces transaction fees by separating transaction signatures from transaction data.
Meanwhile, CryptoQuant reported that its exchange whale ratio is currently near 0.99. This metric shows that recent large Bitcoin transfers represent nearly all assets moving to exchanges. Historically, periods of high whale ratio have sometimes been followed by increased selling activity.
No new transactions from the recipient address have been observed, and there is no onchain evidence of a sale. Market participants continue to watch wallets linked to whale movements for hints on future trading behavior.
Despite speculation, the current transfer remains inactive, with attention now focused on whether the coins will be moved onto exchanges for possible liquidation in the coming days.
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.
US military strikes on Bandar Abbas, Iran’s strategically critical southern port city, killed two people and wounded eight others. The attacks, which began around July 12, mark a significant escalation in hostilities that has already started rattling crypto markets.
Bitcoin briefly traded below $73,000 as news of the strikes filtered through markets.
What happened in Bandar Abbas The strikes targeted key Iranian naval facilities in and around Bandar Abbas, a port city that sits at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through that narrow waterway every single day.
Reports from Iranian state media described explosions near bridges and infrastructure west of the city. The two fatalities and eight injuries came from these blasts, though the full extent of damage to military installations remains unclear.
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Bandar Abbas wasn’t the only target. The strikes were part of a broader, coordinated US military campaign hitting facilities across multiple Iranian port cities, including Bushehr and Chabahar. US forces reportedly deployed sea drones to strike maintenance facilities used for submarines and ships, aiming to degrade Iran’s naval capabilities across its entire southern coastline.
Multiple rounds of strikes occurred across early to mid-July, suggesting this isn’t a one-off retaliation but a sustained campaign.
The crypto market reaction Bitcoin’s dip below $73,000 triggered liquidations of leveraged positions and stop-losses across major exchanges. Volatility spiked sharply in the hours following initial reports, with trading volumes surging as both panic sellers and opportunistic dip-buyers flooded order books.
The US has been actively freezing Iranian-linked digital assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, running parallel to the kinetic military operations. That campaign puts direct pressure on the intersection of state actors and decentralized finance.
Why this matters beyond the headlines Previous flare-ups around the Strait, including the 2019 tanker seizures and the January 2020 Soleimani strike, produced similar patterns in crypto markets. The 2020 episode saw Bitcoin drop roughly 5% before recovering within a week.
Privacy-focused tokens saw modest upticks during the initial chaos, consistent with increased demand for financial tools that operate outside government oversight.
Traders running leveraged positions should be especially cautious given the combination of military escalation, active sanctions enforcement against Iranian-linked wallets, and uncertain energy market dynamics.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
TLDR: The Bitcoin outlook shows encouraging signs as institutional futures demand improves while Strategy increases its cash holdings to $3 billion. Strategy’s larger dollar reserve covers about 20 months of preferred dividend payments, lowering near-term concerns over forced Bitcoin sales. CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual contracts record positive flows despite inconsistent demand across U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Strategy holds 843,775 BTC and plans to use future capital raises for additional Bitcoin purchases and further reserve expansion. JPMorgan sees an improving Bitcoin outlook as Strategy expands its dollar reserve and institutional demand returns to derivatives markets. The bank’s analysts point to two shifts beneath Bitcoin’s uneven spot performance.
Strategy now holds $3 billion in cash, easing concerns that dividend obligations could force large Bitcoin sales. Meanwhile, positive flows have appeared in CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual contracts, even as spot exchange-traded fund activity stays volatile.
Bitcoin trades near $64,125, down about 1% over the past day. The mixed market picture suggests futures positioning and corporate liquidity now offer stronger support than headline ETF flows alone.
Bitcoin Outlook Improves as Futures Demand Rebuilds Spot Bitcoin ETF flows have moved sharply between inflows and redemptions during recent weeks. JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou say the futures market presents a steadier picture.
Positive flow momentum appeared in CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual futures this week. These products often attract institutions and professional trading firms rather than only short-term retail buyers.
That distinction matters for the Bitcoin outlook. Futures demand can show how larger traders position through volatility without requiring direct spot purchases.
The latest pattern suggests some institutions are rebuilding exposure despite weak and inconsistent ETF demand. JPMorgan views the divergence as an encouraging market signal.
Flows into leveraged ETFs linked to Strategy have also stayed positive for seven weeks. JPMorgan attributes much of that buying to retail investors.
The demand has likely supported Strategy shares and helped keep the stock above the net asset value of its Bitcoin holdings. A sustained premium gives Strategy more flexibility to raise money through equity sales.
The company can then meet corporate obligations without relying on Bitcoin disposals. That funding route reduces a risk that has weighed on market sentiment during Bitcoin’s decline.
Strategy Cash Reserve Eases Bitcoin Selling Concerns Strategy raised its U.S. dollar reserve by $450 million to $3 billion on July 12. The company generated $466.7 million through the sale of about 4.82 million common shares during the week.
The expanded Strategy cash reserve covers roughly 20 months of preferred dividend payments. JPMorgan previously said reserves covering two to three years would offer greater protection against forced Bitcoin sales.
Although the latest figure falls below that range, analysts still call the increase encouraging. The reserve gives Strategy more time to manage dividends, interest costs, and market volatility without immediately tapping its digital asset holdings.
Strategy ended the period with 843,775 BTC and made no Bitcoin purchase or sale during the week. Its holdings carry an aggregate purchase cost of about $63.69 billion, according to the company’s filing.
Chief Executive Phong Le says Strategy plans to remain a major long-term Bitcoin buyer. He also describes the balance sheet as secure and says debt pressure would become a concern only if Bitcoin fell toward $8,000 to $10,000.
The company may issue additional STRC preferred shares once they return to their $100 par value. Proceeds could support new Bitcoin purchases and add more dollars to the reserve.
JPMorgan says it cannot isolate how much the cash buildup has changed Bitcoin sentiment. Still, stronger Bitcoin futures demand and a larger liquidity cushion reduce two immediate pressure points.
Spot ETF demand remains unstable, but the derivatives market and Strategy cash reserve now provide more constructive signals for the Bitcoin outlook.
JPMorgan analysts report improved prospects for Bitcoin as financial services company Strategy has expanded its dollar reserves and institutional demand strengthens in futures markets. The analysts point to these developments as key factors shaping recent shifts in the cryptocurrency’s environment.
Institutional futures demand strengthensFutures and perpetual contract flows have turned positive at the CME, signaling renewed interest from institutional and professional traders. This uptick contrasts with the volatility seen in US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, where inflows and redemptions have marked recent weeks.
JPMorgan, a global banking giant, notes that institutional positioning through derivatives often provides a more stable outlook for Bitcoin, even when direct spot purchases fluctuate. This trend suggests that some large market participants are gradually increasing their exposure in spite of inconsistent demand from spot Bitcoin ETF investors.
Flows into leveraged exchange-traded funds tied to Strategy have also remained positive over the past seven weeks, with retail investors believed to be major contributors. As a result, Strategy’s stock continues to trade at a premium compared with the underlying value of its Bitcoin holdings.
Flows into CME Bitcoin futures and perpetual contracts have turned positive, indicating that some institutions are rebuilding their Bitcoin exposure despite weak and uneven interest on spot ETFs, according to JPMorgan’s analysis.
This premium allows Strategy more flexibility in raising new capital through equity sales, reducing pressure to sell Bitcoin and thereby providing an extra buffer against market downturns.
Strategy’s cash reserve expansionStrategy announced a $450 million increase in its US dollar reserve, raising the total to $3 billion as of July 12. This influx was accomplished by selling approximately 4.82 million common shares in just one week, generating $466.7 million in proceeds.
The company, which is publicly listed and known for its extensive Bitcoin treasury strategy, now holds enough cash to cover about 20 months of preferred dividend payments. While JPMorgan’s analysts maintain that reserves covering two to three years would deliver more robust protection, they recognize the current increase as a positive measure for short-term obligations.
With these additional reserves in place, Strategy may avoid selling digital assets to meet commitments, instead managing dividends and interest expenses during periods of price volatility.
At the end of the latest reporting period, Strategy maintained its Bitcoin holdings at 843,775 BTC, representing a total purchase cost of approximately $63.69 billion. The company made neither additional Bitcoin purchases nor sales during the reported week.
Chief Executive Phong Le emphasizes that Strategy intends to continue as a significant long-term Bitcoin acquirer, describing the company’s balance sheet as secure. He further states that debt-related pressure would only become problematic if Bitcoin’s price fell sharply to the $8,000 to $10,000 range.
The company has also indicated that it may issue more preferred shares if their value returns to target levels, using the proceeds to purchase additional Bitcoin or to further grow its dollar reserves.
JPMorgan analysts say that, although it is difficult to determine how the recent reserve increase has impacted overall Bitcoin sentiment, these moves have alleviated immediate concerns about forced Bitcoin sales. For now, the derivatives market and robust cash holdings provide more supportive signals for Bitcoin compared to spot ETF flows.
Mini dictionary: Strategy refers to a company publicly known for holding significant amounts of Bitcoin on its balance sheet as part of its treasury strategy, often issuing new shares to raise capital for further Bitcoin purchases.
MetricPrevious LevelCurrent LevelStrategy cash reserve$2.55 billion$3 billionStrategy BTC holdings843,775 BTC843,775 BTCAggregate BTC purchase cost–$63.69 billionDisclaimer: 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.
Iran’s Army launched Arash explosive drones at the US Al-Sakhir base in Bahrain on Friday, marking one of the most direct military confrontations between Tehran and Washington in years. The base hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, making this far more than a symbolic gesture.
Bahraini and US defense forces reportedly intercepted the drones, with only minor damage to a nearby residential structure and no confirmed military casualties.
What happened and why it matters The strike was part of what Iranian state media dubbed “Operation Lightning,” framed as retaliation for previous US airstrikes on Iranian missile and drone installations. The tit-for-tat escalation has been building since late June, with both sides ratcheting up military actions across the Gulf region throughout early July 2026.
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The crypto angle runs deeper than volatility Bitcoin experienced short-term volatility during earlier phases of this escalation, dipping to around $63,000 during February and March 2026 as geopolitical tensions in the region first started heating up.
Analysis from 2025 and 2026 has shown Iran’s increasing reliance on cryptocurrency for sanctions evasion and military procurement. Tehran has reportedly advertised military goods via crypto channels, using digital assets to circumvent the traditional financial system that Western sanctions have largely locked them out of.
Iran has been mining Bitcoin and using digital currencies to work around sanctions for years, and on-chain analyses have indicated Iran utilizes digital assets for financing procurement networks that support its military activities and proxy forces in the region.
What investors should actually watch If the US responds with expanded sanctions that specifically target crypto infrastructure tied to Iranian military financing, the ripple effects could be substantial, including potential new compliance requirements for exchanges, enhanced KYC protocols for transactions originating from or routed through sanctioned jurisdictions, and possibly new designations of specific wallet addresses or networks. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has already been expanding its crypto sanctions toolkit.
Ethereum and other major altcoins typically amplify whatever Bitcoin does during geopolitical shocks. If Bitcoin drops 5%, expect ETH to drop 7-10%.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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Iran launched a barrage of missiles and drones toward US-linked targets in Kuwait over a multi-day window in mid-July, marking one of the most significant escalations in the Gulf since the 2026 Iran war began in late February. Bitcoin responded the way Bitcoin tends to respond when things get scary: it sold off, briefly sliding below the $100K mark before bouncing back.
The attacks, which took place around July 13-16, involved approximately 32 drones and additional missiles directed at locations associated with American military interests in Kuwait. Kuwaiti forces intercepted many of the incoming projectiles. The strikes caused material damage to infrastructure, though confirmed casualties remained limited.
What happened on the ground This wasn’t the first time Kuwait found itself in the crosshairs. Back in June, Iranian drone strikes hit Kuwait’s international airport, killing one person and injuring dozens more. That attack alone reshaped the security calculus for the entire Gulf region.
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The latest wave of strikes represents a continuation of hostilities that kicked off on February 28, 2026, and have steadily escalated throughout the year. Iran has characterized its actions as retaliatory, fitting them into the broader framework of an ongoing conflict with the United States and its regional partners.
How crypto markets reacted Bitcoin dipped to around $99,500 as the strikes unfolded, briefly breaching the psychologically significant $100K level. It recovered to approximately $102,000 shortly after, but the volatility told its own story.
The Iran crypto connection that regulators are watching There’s another dimension to this story that doesn’t get enough attention. Iran’s domestic digital asset ecosystem was valued at over $7.8 billion as of 2025, and a noteworthy portion of that activity has been linked to addresses associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The IRGC is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. Any crypto flows tied to its operations put exchanges, OTC desks, and DeFi protocols in potential legal jeopardy under US sanctions law. As the conflict escalates, regulatory scrutiny on these connections is almost certain to intensify.
For exchanges operating globally, this means enhanced compliance costs and potential delisting of addresses or tokens that touch Iranian-linked wallets. For DeFi protocols with no KYC mechanisms, it means renewed political pressure from lawmakers who already view the space with suspicion.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
SEC Chair advocates for new electronic delivery rules: In the era of AI and blockchain, paper-based delivery should become a relic of the past.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally proposed the new "Regulation E-Delivery", significantly expanding the authority of entities including issuers, broker-dealers, and investment advisers to deliver information electronically. The rule aims to meet disclosure and delivery requirements under federal securities laws, and promote electronic delivery as a more mainstream, flexible option to replace traditional paper-based delivery. SEC Chair Paul Atkins noted that this is another step toward building a modern-era regulatory framework and a key pillar of his agenda since taking office. "In the age of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, default paper delivery should be a historical relic, not the standard." Earlier, Atkins launched "Project Crypto" to modernize on-chain markets, and the electronic delivery rule aligns with his broader regulatory modernization agenda. The proposal will subsequently enter a public comment period.
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BONK treasury attacker transfers approximately $4.11 million worth of tokens to Binance.
According to EmberCN’s monitoring, the address that drained the BONK treasury via a governance attack transferred 1.186 trillion BONK tokens (valued at approximately $4.11 million) to Binance three hours ago. This address spent roughly $4.4 million to acquire enough BONK tokens 10 days ago to meet the governance vote approval threshold, then submitted a governance proposal that was forcibly passed, siphoning 4.426 trillion BONK from the BONK treasury, worth around $21.2 million. On the day of the incident, it had already transferred 40 billion BONK (about $190,000) to OKX, with the remaining tokens held on-chain. As of press time, approximately 3.2 trillion BONK (valued at roughly $10.98 million) still remains from the amount drained from the treasury. The incident has caused BONK’s price to drop by a cumulative 28% since the event.
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Japanese storage firm Kioxia saw intraday limit-down, while US-listed storage stocks SanDisk, Western Digital, and Micron extended their losses in after-hours trading.
According to Bitget market data, Japanese storage stock Kioxia hit its daily limit during intraday trading, currently down 15.55%, with its market capitalization halved from the June peak. The Nikkei 225 index extended its intraday decline to over 4%. Per BIT (bit.com) market data, US storage-related stocks SanDisk and Western Digital extended losses by over 4% in after-hours trading, while Micron Technology fell nearly 4%.
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Japan launches domestic AI project "Noetra": NVIDIA will supply 27,500 Rubin GPUs, with 44 corporate groups including Sony and SoftBank participating.
The Japanese domestic multimodal foundation model development project "Noetra" officially launched on July 16. Core enterprises include Sony Group, SoftBank, NEC, and Honda, with a total of 44 companies and groups contributing to the initiative, covering a wide range of industries such as manufacturing, finance, logistics, and communications. Engineers from institutions including the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Preferred Networks will also join the R&D. This project is part of the "Multimodal Foundation Model Development Project for AI Robots and Physical AI" promoted by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), officially named the FRONTia Project by NVIDIA. Its goal is to build a Japanese domestic foundation model for physical AI scenarios like manufacturing sites and robots, rather than just a Japanese-language conversational AI. At the hardware level, Noetra will collaborate with NVIDIA to build a computing platform equipped with approximately 27,500 latest Rubin GPUs and 13,750 Vera CPUs, adopting NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 racks and DSX platform architecture, with a designed power capacity of 140 megawatts. Construction is scheduled to start in April 2027 and operations to launch in June 2028, when it will become Japan’s largest AI computing infrastructure. The R&D roadmap is divided into three phases: starting from fiscal 2026, developing an inference foundation model centered on AI agents and natural language processing; achieving a full multimodal foundation model that seamlessly integrates text, images, video, and audio in fiscal 2028; and realizing real-world native AI that understands spatial and physical attributes in fiscal 2030, with final applications spanning manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and communications.
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Predict.fun launches Up/Down markets with maker rebates, offering higher rebate rates than Polymarket and real-time payouts.
Prediction market platform Predict.fun has announced that all its Up/Down markets are now live with a Maker order rebate mechanism. Users who complete trades via limit orders will receive a 25% rebate on Maker fees. Compared to Polymarket, Predict.fun’s latest Maker rebate offers two core, more straightforward advantages: a higher rebate rate, and real-time rebate disbursement immediately after trade execution, with no need to wait for market settlement. For high-frequency traders, professional market makers, and users who regularly use limit orders, real-time rebates enable faster capital release, reducing the ongoing erosion of trading profits by fees; the higher rebate rate also means that as trading frequency and volume grow, the actual cost savings will become more pronounced. This mechanism currently covers all of Predict.fun’s Up/Down markets. Users do not need to register or submit additional applications—rebates will be automatically credited to their accounts once eligible limit orders are filled.
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Apple closed up 1.76% to hit another all-time high, with positive momentum from Apple Intelligence's China localization continuing to build.
According to market data from BIT (bit.com), Apple closed 1.76% higher in U.S. stock trading, hitting a record high of $333.26 per share, and rose an additional 0.47% in after-hours trading. On the news front, on July 15, Apple Intelligence completed its first domestic generative AI filing in China. Alibaba’s Qianwen AI will be integrated into Apple Intelligence as its AI capability, providing Chinese users of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS with services including text and image understanding, content generation, and more—allowing users to experience these features directly without switching between apps. In addition to Alibaba’s Qianwen AI, Baidu’s AI capabilities will also be integrated into Apple Intelligence, marking the official implementation of Apple’s localized AI strategy in the Chinese market.
