Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Goldman Sachs CEO publicly supports the CLARITY Act, diverging from his banking peers on stablecoin yield provisions.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has explicitly voiced support for advancing the CLARITY Act in an interview, while acknowledging the legislation is not perfect. "Like all legislation, the CLARITY Act has many areas open to debate and discussion, but I think one of the most important things it does is create a level playing field to enhance market stability and enable these markets to develop properly. I strongly support advancing the CLARITY Act so that we can establish market structures and kickstart the innovation process." Solomon’s endorsement comes as Republican senators are discussing an updated version of the bill, with a possible full Senate vote next week, marking another step forward for the long-awaited crypto market structure legislation. His supportive stance stands in sharp contrast to fierce opposition from fellow banking executives including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Dimon said in May that the latest bill version "allows them to effectively pay interest on things like deposits and stablecoins without necessary protections," warning "banks will not accept this approach, and it will eventually blow up." JPMorgan also argued in a June blog post that companies offering products with functions similar to traditional bank accounts should be subject to equivalent regulation and consumer protection rules. The core of the controversy revolves around the stablecoin interest provisions.

6 minutes ago

Tesla's losses widened to 12% in early trading, weighed down by negative free cash flow.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, Tesla’s early-session losses widened to 12%, trading at $329.015 per share, with a total market capitalization of $1.24 trillion. This morning, Tesla released its second-quarter (Q2) financial results: revenue reached $28.24 billion, exceeding market expectations and rising 26% year-over-year, marking its first year-over-year revenue growth rate above 20% in three years. However, Q2 operating profit was only $398 million, far below the market consensus of $1.39 billion; adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.33, down 18% year-over-year and also missing forecasts significantly. Notably, Tesla’s Q2 free cash flow stood at -$1.09 billion, its first quarterly negative figure since Q1 2024.

6 minutes ago

Uniswap v4 Launches Permissioned Pools

Uniswap has rolled out Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard for Uniswap v4 that enables permissioned asset trading via automated market makers, with compliance enforced directly on-chain. The permissioned asset pools are built in collaboration with on-chain asset management teams, and its first batch of partners includes Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo.

6 minutes ago

Abraxas Capital deposits 2,211 $BTC to Kraken and 30,825 $ETH to Binance

Abraxas Capital deposited 2,211 $BTC ($143.88M) into #Kraken and 30,825 $ETH ($59.19M) into #Binance over the past 8 hours.

6 minutes ago

The US stock market's optical communication sector rose across the board, with Lumentum and AAOI gaining more than 7%.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the U.S. optical communication sector rallied across the board. Pure Photonics ETF FOTO and Corning advanced over 3%, Coherent and Ciena gained more than 4%, while Lumentum and AAOI jumped over 7%.

6 minutes ago

LayerZero announced a partnership with Keeta, and will support cross-public-chain transfers of tokenized commercial bank deposits.

LayerZero announced a partnership with Keeta to support the transfer of tokenized commercial bank deposits across public blockchains including Keeta Network, Ethereum, Solana, and Base, providing institutional cross-chain settlement infrastructure. The two parties will combine LayerZero’s omnichain interoperability protocol with Keeta’s compliance infrastructure to enable institutions to conduct fund management and payment operations. The newly launched Keeta Stablecoins are backed by commercial bank deposits held by U.S.-licensed fintech platform Bivo. Unlike traditional stablecoins, they are pegged to actual commercial bank deposits and allow issuing institutions to retain control over contracts via LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard. Keeta Stablecoins will launch later this month, initially supporting the U.S. dollar, with plans to expand to additional fiat currencies including the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, British pound, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, UAE dirham, and Hong Kong dollar.

6 minutes ago

Key Takeaways The HYPE token experienced a 7% decline within 24 hours and has fallen 15% across the last week, hovering near $58. Investment firm Multicoin Capital withdrew 1.96 million HYPE tokens (approximately $120M) from staking through three separate wallets, weeks after releasing an optimistic $319 price forecast. Selini Capital followed suit by unstaking around 504,000 HYPE tokens (~$31M), contributing to market uncertainty. Spot HYPE exchange-traded funds experienced multiple days of net withdrawals throughout July, including a peak single-day outflow of 90,580 HYPE on July 17. Technical analysis suggests a breach of the $54–$55 support range could drive HYPE down to $48, whereas maintaining this level may enable a bounce to $63–$67. The Hyperliquid (HYPE) token has encountered significant downward pressure throughout the current week, declining from a recent peak of $70 to approximately $58. The cryptocurrency has shed around 15% of its value during the past week, including a sharp 7% decrease over the most recent 24-hour period.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) Price Notwithstanding this recent pullback, HYPE maintains an impressive 129% gain year-to-date for 2026, positioning it among the top-performing digital assets of the year.

The current price decline appears connected to several substantial unstaking transactions executed by well-known cryptocurrency venture capital entities. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain identified that Multicoin Capital moved nearly 400,000 HYPE tokens to Coinbase Prime while simultaneously initiating an unstaking request for another 212,000 tokens.

Additional blockchain intelligence reveals that Multicoin withdrew a combined 1.96 million HYPE from staking positions across three different wallets, representing roughly $120 million in value. These holdings had remained locked in staking for close to two months prior to their withdrawal.

The sequence of events sparked discussion within cryptocurrency circles. Approximately one month before initiating the unstaking process, Multicoin released an extensive research report expressing strong confidence in HYPE with a projected long-term valuation of $319. Blockchain records indicate Multicoin initially acquired HYPE tokens at approximately $30 each, suggesting a complete liquidation at present market rates would generate around $18.5 million in total gains.

Selini Capital Also Withdraws Significant Stake Investment firm Selini Capital similarly unstaked roughly 504,000 HYPE tokens, representing approximately $31 million in market value. Combined, these two institutional players have withdrawn more than $150 million worth of staked HYPE tokens from the network.

While unstaking tokens doesn’t necessarily indicate immediate liquidation plans, it does enable unrestricted token movement. Transferring assets to centralized exchanges such as Coinbase is commonly interpreted as preparatory action for potential selling.

Cryptocurrency research account Coin Bureau highlighted on X that Hyperliquid’s open interest reached a fresh 2026 peak of $11.5 billion — representing the highest recorded level since the notable “10/10 crash” event. This data indicates robust trading activity persists despite declining spot market prices.

Institutional Demand Weakens Through ETF Withdrawals Traditional institutional participation has shown signs of cooling. Spot HYPE ETFs registered a combined net withdrawal of 11,210 HYPE on July 21. The most significant single-day withdrawal during July occurred on the 17th, when institutional investors removed 90,580 HYPE tokens from fund holdings.

From a chart perspective, HYPE has broken beneath the support boundary of a symmetrical triangle formation that had contained price action for multiple weeks. The Relative Strength Index has declined to 40, while the Chaikin Money Flow indicator has shifted into negative territory, both signaling diminishing bullish momentum.

Source: TradingView Critical support is established within the $54 to $55 range. Should buyers successfully protect this zone, market analysts anticipate a potential rebound toward $63, followed by resistance at $67–$70. Conversely, a confirmed close beneath this support area could trigger further downside movement toward $48.

Current market data shows HYPE trading at $58, with market participants closely monitoring the $54–$55 support threshold through upcoming sessions.

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market continue to feel the effects of the extensive liquidation cascade that occurred on October 10 last year. Market capitalization across the sector remains approximately 45% lower compared to the period leading up to that event. Amid this backdrop, decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid has seen its native token, HYPE, surge by about 34% during the same timeframe, exceeding the broader market’s performance. Hyperliquid’s total open interest recently reached $11.51 billion, marking its highest level this year since the October crash when Bitcoin was trading near $100,000.

Hyperliquid’s growth diverges from the marketAs Bitcoin trades around $65,000, new data from Coinglass indicates that aggregate open interest in crypto futures markets stands at $116.66 billion. This figure reflects a decrease of 47% from the October 10 benchmark. Despite the market’s ongoing recovery, Hyperliquid’s metrics show strong growth, suggesting the platform is carving out a larger role in a challenging environment for digital assets.

Hyperliquid operates as a decentralized perpetuals exchange, allowing users to trade derivative contracts without central intermediaries. Its recent performance contrasts with the more modest rebound observed among leading centralized exchanges (CEXs), highlighting a shift in trader activity toward decentralized alternatives.

Date/PeriodTotal Crypto Open InterestHyperliquid Open InterestBitcoin PriceOctober 2025 (pre-crash)$220.12 billion$15 billion~$100,000Current$116.66 billion$11.51 billion~$65,000RWA perpetuals surpass Bitcoin trading on HyperliquidReal-world asset (RWA) perpetual contracts have emerged as the primary driver of increasing open interest on Hyperliquid. Daily open interest in RWA perps currently stands at $3.61 billion, achieved through the HIP-3 protocol introduced on October 13, 2025. HIP-3 allows users to stake 500,000 HYPE and launch a new perpetual market without direct approval from Hyperliquid’s core team.

With $3.61 billion in open interest, RWA perpetuals now represent the largest segment on Hyperliquid, overtaking Bitcoin, HYPE, and major layer-1 token markets. Daily trading volumes on HIP-3 products now account for half of total perpetual trading volume on the platform, compared to just 3% at the beginning of the year when core perpetuals made up 97% of activity.

Mini dictionary: Real-world asset (RWA) perpetuals are derivative contracts that enable continuous trading of assets linked to real-world items such as equities, commodities, or bonds on blockchain-based platforms. The HIP-3 framework allows for decentralized market deployment without centralized oversight, expanding the variety and accessibility of RWA-based derivatives.

Daily HIP-3 volumes now hold a 50% share of Hyperliquid’s total perpetual trading, while core perpetuals have seen their dominance drop from 97% to 50% within a few months.

Hyperliquid’s share of global perpetual open interest among major exchanges has risen to 9.5%, a new peak according to Hypeflows data. This is an increase from 6.9% recorded in late May. Despite this, Hyperliquid’s own open interest remains about 23% below its October 2025 high of nearly $15 billion. Meanwhile, competitors such as Binance, Bybit, and Gate.io have seen more pronounced declines due to post-crash deleveraging. Analysts interpret Hyperliquid’s rising market share as a result of weathering the downturn more successfully than its peers, rather than drawing substantial trader migration from these platforms.

ExchangeOpen Interest, CurrentChange Since Oct 2025Hyperliquid$11.51 billion-23%Binance(not specified)Larger contractionBybit(not specified)Larger contractionGate.io(not specified)Larger contractionHyperliquid’s all-time high market share has been attributed to shrinking less sharply than major centralized exchanges during market turbulence.

Concentration of open interest and CEX competitionThe majority of HIP-3 open interest—over 90%—is concentrated in TradeXYZ, a protocol launched by Hyperunit, Hyperliquid’s tokenization arm. HIP-3 market operations are conducted outside Hyperliquid’s core liquidity pool, meaning responsibilities such as data oracles, margin rules, and liquidity are managed by the venue operator. This setup has resulted in a single venue supporting roughly a third of Hyperliquid’s overall open interest.

Centralized exchanges are monitoring the trend. Binance responded by launching pre-IPO perpetual contracts featuring a SpaceX market on May 21, followed by seven US equity and ETF perpetuals offering up to 25x leverage as of July 9. The availability of RWA-based products with CEX-scale liquidity marks a shift that may alter the competitive landscape for Hyperliquid and DeFi derivatives markets.

Mini dictionary: TradeXYZ is a DeFi protocol built by Hyperunit, the tokenization arm of Hyperliquid, specializing in deploying and managing on-chain perpetual derivatives markets. The project enables decentralized trading of novel assets and was responsible for most HIP-3 open interest following the rollout of RWA markets.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

COINTELEGRAPH: Bitcoin will get 'lift' from Hyperliquid, Robinhood in next crypto bull market: Bitwise exec

Fasanara Capital, an institutional asset manager overseeing roughly $5.7 billion in assets, is sitting on a sizable short position against Ethereum through the decentralized perpetuals platform Hyperliquid. The firm’s trading account, identified on-chain as BobbyBigSize, is part of a combined $108 million ETH short between Fasanara and fellow institutional player Abraxas Capital.

Both positions are currently underwater, with ETH trading around $1,920.

What the on-chain data shows Nansen’s on-chain tracking has linked BobbyBigSize’s activity directly to Fasanara Capital’s trading operations. The account has been consistently building high-leverage short positions across various crypto assets, with ETH being the primary target.

Advertisement

Fasanara’s share of the combined short sits at approximately $67 million, while Abraxas Capital accounts for the remainder. Abraxas recently deposited $3 million USDC into Hyperliquid to expand its shorting exposure across both ETH and Bitcoin.

Fasanara Digital, the firm’s crypto-focused arm, launched in 2018 and has built a digital asset platform managing around $500 million. The firm is known for quantitative trading approaches, which suggests these shorts may be part of a broader, hedged strategy rather than a pure directional bet.

Abraxas Capital is known for delta-neutral and arbitrage strategies, meaning they typically try to profit from price discrepancies between venues rather than simply betting on direction. Their short position could be offset by long exposure elsewhere.

Why Hyperliquid matters here Hyperliquid is a decentralized perpetuals exchange with on-chain settlement, meaning every trade is visible and verifiable. That’s how analysts were able to track BobbyBigSize’s positions in the first place.

Previous notable ETH shorts on the platform have exceeded $100 million at leverage ratios as high as 23x.

What this means for ETH investors The fact that both positions are underwater adds a consequential dynamic. If ETH continues to hold above $1,920 or moves higher, the pressure to unwind these shorts could create a short squeeze dynamic, where forced buying to close losing short positions would push prices up further. Conversely, if ETH breaks below current support levels, the $108 million combined short becomes a meaningful overhang that could accelerate any downward move.

Traders should watch whether BobbyBigSize reduces or increases its position in the coming days. On-chain transparency means positions are visible in real time. If Fasanara starts closing its short, that signals the thesis may be shifting. If it adds more, the firm clearly sees further downside ahead despite the current losses.

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.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA.

BMEX Price Falls 90% As BitMEX Shutdown Hands Market to Binance, Hyperliquid and Rivals

Unlimited Images and Unlimited Plus combine curated collections within Shutterstock's world-class content library with AI-powered creative capabilities

, /PRNewswire/ -- Shutterstock, Inc. (NYSE: SSTK), a family of brands delivering scalable creative and GenAI solutions to help customers fuel great work, today announced the global availability of its Unlimited downloads subscription. Previously only available in beta to select users, customers worldwide can now choose between two subscription plans: Unlimited Images, which includes a curated collection of more than 83 million premium images, and Unlimited Plus, which expands that collection to more than 100 million premium creative assets, including video, music and sound effects. Both plans combine curated Shutterstock content with AI-powered creative capabilities.

Shutterstock's Unlimited downloads subscription is now available globally, giving customers access to Unlimited Images and Unlimited Plus, which combine curated premium content collections with AI-powered creative capabilities. As marketers, designers and content creators increasingly blend licensed creative assets with generative AI in their everyday workflows, having an always-on source of high-quality creative content as a starting point helps teams move from concept to creation more efficiently. Unlimited gives customers the flexibility to move from inspiration to licensed content to AI-assisted creation without switching between multiple tools or managing monthly download limits. The result is a more seamless creative experience that makes it easier to explore ideas, iterate more freely and produce high-quality work while keeping human creativity at the center of the creative process.

"Today's creators need more than access to content. They need the flexibility to experiment, iterate and produce work at the speed modern marketing demands," said Paul Teall, Vice President, Marketplace Strategy at Shutterstock. "Unlimited brings together trusted premium creative content and AI-powered tools in a way that helps customers bring ideas to life faster while maintaining the quality, trust and creative control they expect from Shutterstock."

The Unlimited downloads subscription is designed for marketers, freelancers, designers, influencers and other professionals producing commercial content at scale for themselves, clients and employers. From social media campaigns and digital marketing to presentations, websites and client work, the Unlimited downloads subscription gives customers the flexibility to choose the subscription that best meets their creative asset needs.

Across both plans, subscribers receive: 

Unlimited downloads from curated collections of Shutterstock's premium licensed content, subject to Shutterstock's Fair Usage Policy Monthly AI generation credits Access to leading AI models from OpenAI, Google, Runway and more Commercial licensing backed by Shutterstock's trusted content ecosystem By combining one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of commercially licensable creative content with access to leading AI models, Shutterstock is uniquely positioned to help customers start with trusted creative content and extend their creativity with AI-powered creation in a single subscription experience. The global availability of the Unlimited downloads subscription reflects the company's continued focus on delivering flexible creative solutions that help customers never start from scratch.

Unlimited Images and Unlimited Plus are available beginning today in markets worldwide. Learn more at shutterstock.com/unlimited.

Unlimited downloads are subject to Shutterstock's Fair Usage Policy and system rate limits. Customers requiring additional downloads may contact Shutterstock Support.

Shutterstock Data Licensing & AI Services
Shutterstock is an end-to-end AI model training partner that unifies data licensing, services, and long-term collaboration under a single provider—reducing operational complexity and helping teams bring higher-performing AI systems to market faster and with greater confidence. Shutterstock combines access to one of the world's largest rights-cleared multimodal datasets with advanced data curation and custom training datasets to power high-performing, deployment-ready generative models. This licensable training data includes high-quality labeled and continuously updated multimodal content with clear data provenance to support AI compliance. Shutterstock leverages ML-assisted evaluation tools to provide model training, fine-tuning, alignment, evaluation, and retraining. Through human-in-the-loop workflows, expert creative feedback, and structured preference data, Shutterstock delivers aesthetic preference signals, benchmarking, and regression testing to drive continuous model improvement.

Learn more and start the conversation at shutterstock.com/data-licensing.

About Shutterstock
Shutterstock is in the business of turning ideas into impact. Powered by a global network of millions of creators and our cutting-edge technology, we provide businesses, creatives, and brand leaders with the essential, universal ingredients to make their work more effective. Shutterstock offers access to one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of high-quality licensable assets, specialized training datasets, evaluation tools, and end-to-end strategic partnerships for the full model training lifecycle, as well as advertising and distribution solutions, exclusive editorial content, and full-service studio production—delivering unparalleled resources to fuel great work.

Discover our impact at www.shutterstock.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube.

SOURCE Shutterstock, Inc.

Tractor Supply (TSCO - Free Report) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.81 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.83 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.81 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -2.41%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this retailer for farmers and ranchers would post earnings of $0.35 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.31, delivering a surprise of -11.43%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates just once.

Tractor Supply, which belongs to the Zacks Retail - Miscellaneous industry, posted revenues of $4.54 billion for the quarter ended June 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.64%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $4.44 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates just once over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Tractor Supply shares have lost about 41.3% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 9.6%.

What's Next for Tractor Supply?While Tractor Supply has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Tractor Supply was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.49 on $3.86 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.08 on $16.16 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Retail - Miscellaneous is currently in the top 27% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

One other stock from the same industry, Arhaus, Inc. (ARHS - Free Report) , is yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.16 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -36%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Arhaus, Inc.'s revenues are expected to be $366.37 million, up 2.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Cava Group (CAVA - Free Report) has recently been on Zacks.com's list of the most searched stocks. Therefore, you might want to consider some of the key factors that could influence the stock's performance in the near future.

Shares of this Mediterranean restaurant chain have returned -24.2% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.4% change. The Zacks Retail - Restaurants industry, to which Cava belongs, has gained 0.3% over this period. Now the key question is: Where could the stock be headed in the near term?

While media releases or rumors about a substantial change in a company's business prospects usually make its stock 'trending' and lead to an immediate price change, there are always some fundamental facts that eventually dominate the buy-and-hold decision-making.

Earnings Estimate RevisionsHere at Zacks, we prioritize appraising the change in the projection of a company's future earnings over anything else. That's because we believe the present value of its future stream of earnings is what determines the fair value for its stock.

We essentially look at how sell-side analysts covering the stock are revising their earnings estimates to reflect the impact of the latest business trends. And if earnings estimates go up for a company, the fair value for its stock goes up. A higher fair value than the current market price drives investors' interest in buying the stock, leading to its price moving higher. This is why empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

Cava is expected to post earnings of $0.17 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +6.3%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged.

For the current fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $0.54 points to no change from the prior year. Over the last 30 days, this estimate has changed -0.4%.

For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate of $0.71 indicates a change of +31.1% from what Cava is expected to report a year ago. Over the past month, the estimate has remained unchanged.

Having a strong externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool, the Zacks Rank, offers a more conclusive picture of a stock's price direction in the near term, since it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions. Due to the size of the recent change in the consensus estimate, along with three other factors related to earnings estimates, Cava is rated Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The chart below shows the evolution of the company's forward 12-month consensus EPS estimate:

12 Month EPS

Revenue Growth ForecastWhile earnings growth is arguably the most superior indicator of a company's financial health, nothing happens as such if a business isn't able to grow its revenues. After all, it's nearly impossible for a company to increase its earnings for an extended period without increasing its revenues. So, it's important to know a company's potential revenue growth.

For Cava, the consensus sales estimate for the current quarter of $353.13 million indicates a year-over-year change of +25.8%. For the current and next fiscal years, $1.49 billion and $1.78 billion estimates indicate +26.2% and +19.7% changes, respectively.

Last Reported Results and Surprise HistoryCava reported revenues of $438.27 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +32.1%. EPS of $0.2 for the same period compares with $0.22 a year ago.

Compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $419.46 million, the reported revenues represent a surprise of +4.49%. The EPS surprise was +17.65%.

Over the last four quarters, Cava surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. The company topped consensus revenue estimates two times over this period.

ValuationNo investment decision can be efficient without considering a stock's valuation. Whether a stock's current price rightly reflects the intrinsic value of the underlying business and the company's growth prospects is an essential determinant of its future price performance.

Comparing the current value of a company's valuation multiples, such as its price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-sales (P/S), and price-to-cash flow (P/CF), to its own historical values helps ascertain whether its stock is fairly valued, overvalued, or undervalued, whereas comparing the company relative to its peers on these parameters gives a good sense of how reasonable its stock price is.

The Zacks Value Style Score (part of the Zacks Style Scores system), which pays close attention to both traditional and unconventional valuation metrics to grade stocks from A to F (an A is better than a B; a B is better than a C; and so on), is pretty helpful in identifying whether a stock is overvalued, rightly valued, or temporarily undervalued.

Cava is graded F on this front, indicating that it is trading at a premium to its peers. Click here to see the values of some of the valuation metrics that have driven this grade.

ConclusionThe facts discussed here and much other information on Zacks.com might help determine whether or not it's worthwhile paying attention to the market buzz about Cava. However, its Zacks Rank #3 does suggest that it may perform in line with the broader market in the near term.

56.33K Followers

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in BMNR over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

The information contained herein is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article should be taken as a solicitation to purchase or sell securities. Before buying or selling any stock, you should do your own research and reach your own conclusion or consult a financial advisor. Investing includes risks, including loss of principal.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Tesla's losses widened to 12% in early trading, weighed down by negative free cash flow.

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, Tesla’s early-session losses widened to 12%, trading at $329.015 per share, with a total market capitalization of $1.24 trillion. This morning, Tesla released its second-quarter (Q2) financial results: revenue reached $28.24 billion, exceeding market expectations and rising 26% year-over-year, marking its first year-over-year revenue growth rate above 20% in three years. However, Q2 operating profit was only $398 million, far below the market consensus of $1.39 billion; adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.33, down 18% year-over-year and also missing forecasts significantly. Notably, Tesla’s Q2 free cash flow stood at -$1.09 billion, its first quarterly negative figure since Q1 2024.

7 minutes ago

Uniswap v4 Launches Permissioned Pools

Uniswap has rolled out Permissioned Pools, a new hook standard for Uniswap v4 that enables permissioned asset trading via automated market makers, with compliance enforced directly on-chain. The permissioned asset pools are built in collaboration with on-chain asset management teams, and its first batch of partners includes Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo.

7 minutes ago

Abraxas Capital deposits 2,211 $BTC to Kraken and 30,825 $ETH to Binance

Abraxas Capital deposited 2,211 $BTC ($143.88M) into #Kraken and 30,825 $ETH ($59.19M) into #Binance over the past 8 hours.

7 minutes ago

The US stock market's optical communication sector rose across the board, with Lumentum and AAOI gaining more than 7%.

According to market data from BIT (bit.com), the U.S. optical communication sector rallied across the board. Pure Photonics ETF FOTO and Corning advanced over 3%, Coherent and Ciena gained more than 4%, while Lumentum and AAOI jumped over 7%.

7 minutes ago

LayerZero announced a partnership with Keeta, and will support cross-public-chain transfers of tokenized commercial bank deposits.

LayerZero announced a partnership with Keeta to support the transfer of tokenized commercial bank deposits across public blockchains including Keeta Network, Ethereum, Solana, and Base, providing institutional cross-chain settlement infrastructure. The two parties will combine LayerZero’s omnichain interoperability protocol with Keeta’s compliance infrastructure to enable institutions to conduct fund management and payment operations. The newly launched Keeta Stablecoins are backed by commercial bank deposits held by U.S.-licensed fintech platform Bivo. Unlike traditional stablecoins, they are pegged to actual commercial bank deposits and allow issuing institutions to retain control over contracts via LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard. Keeta Stablecoins will launch later this month, initially supporting the U.S. dollar, with plans to expand to additional fiat currencies including the euro, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, British pound, Canadian dollar, Mexican peso, UAE dirham, and Hong Kong dollar.

7 minutes ago

$BTC ETFs +$709.47M, $ETH ETFs +$160.63M in 7-day inflows

July 23 Update: #Bitcoin ETFs: 1D NetFlow: +1,064 $BTC(+$69.28M)?? 7D NetFlow: +10,891 $BTC(+$709.47M)?? #Ethereum ETFs: 1D NetFlow: +37,753 $ETH(+$71.88M)?? 7D NetFlow: +84,364 $ETH(+$160.63M)??

7 minutes ago

Bitcoin fell hard on Thursday following stronger-than-expected U.S. employment data. The latest U.S. initial jobless claims came in lower than forecast, which raised hopes that the Federal Reserve would maintain a higher interest rate for longer.

Bitcoin Nears $65K Breakdown Amid Latest U.S. Jobs Dat The BTC price dipped to its lowest point of the day at $65,059.59, barely above the $65,000 support level. At press time on July 23, Bitcoin traded at $65,108.24, down 1.02% in the 24-hour timeframe.

Bitcoin price chart today. Source: TradingView For further context, the hourly chart had already been pointing to a downward trend even before the economic data. After the report, the downtrend exacerbated.

A string of long red candles pushed Bitcoin down below the $65,400 support area. Moreover, bulls seem to have attempted a bounce near $65,060, but it did not work out but, the recovery was restricted.

That implies that bears are still in control of the short term trend. If Bitcoin drops below $65,000, it could see another leg down. To get back $65,400 – $65,500 will be the first step to strength, analysts say.

The fall was after the most recent U.S. initial jobless claims release. Initial claims for the week ended July 18 dropped to 187,000, the U.S. Department of Labor reported. Further, it is much lower than the Wall Street forecast of 212,000 claims.

The claims for the week also fell by 22,000, from the revised 209,000 of the previous week. The four-week average fell to 207,500. Economic data suggested that the U.S. labor market remained robust in spite of high interest rates.

Will Latest U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Data Impact FOMC Decision? For context, the Fed will have less reason to loosen monetary policy when the job market is strong. If the economy is strong, policymakers can afford to keep selling rates high. Risk assets are typically negatively affected by higher interest rates. That includes cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, with investors moving into more secure, profitable avenues.

The focus now is on the July 28-29 FOMC meeting. According to the CME FedWatch Tool data, the chances of Fed holding its benchmark rate at 3.50%-3.75% are 62.1%. However, after the recent jobs data, the market now prices on a 37.9% chance that the Fed rate will be raised by 0.25%.

Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price is now at an important technical level, according to crypto tools data. The $65,000 support will be a focal point for traders as they wait for next week’s Fed meeting. In case of a hawkish stance, BTC could face further heat, per experts.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy and eight financial firms, including ARK Invest, BlackRock, and Coinbase, have launched the Bitcoin Security Consortium to support the network’s long-term security. The founding members have also pledged $15 million to support Bitcoin developers as they seek to address quantum threats.

Strategy Announces Launch of Bitcoin Security Consortium In a press release, the Bitcoin treasury firm announced the launch of the Consortium to support the Bitcoin network’s long-term security, with members pledging an aggregate of $15 million over the next three years.

Founding members of the Bitcoin Security Consortium include Strategy alongside Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Galaxy Digital. The Bitcoin treasury firm noted that these are a cross-section of the institutional BTC ecosystem.

BlackRock, Fidelity, and ARK Invest are notably Bitcoin ETF issuers; Anchorage Digital and the top crypto exchange Coinbase offer custody services to these ETF issuers. Meanwhile, Block, Blockstream, and Galaxy offer Bitcoin-related services.

Strategy revealed that Mike Schmidt, Executive Director of Brink, will coordinate the day-to-day work in a volunteer capacity. Schmidt also confirmed in an X post that he is receiving no compensation from the Bitcoin Security Consortium.

Today nine institutions including BlackRock, Fidelity, Coinbase, and Strategy announced the Bitcoin Security Consortium (@BTCconsortium), pledging $15M toward Bitcoin security work over the next three years. I’ve agreed to help coordinate the group’s work as a volunteer.

I said…

— Mike Schmidt (@bitschmidty) July 23, 2026

“I continue to run Brink, independent of any Consortium member. I’ve committed to a year in this role, maybe I’d do two, but ultimately I see it as a seat that should rotate to other participants over time. My commitment is to Bitcoin, and that doesn’t change,” he said.

How The $15 Million Funding Will Work The Bitcoin Security Consortium will fund and support developers and researchers already working on Bitcoin’s security. This will include the long-term work of securing the network against potential quantum threats.

Strategy also revealed that each founding member will direct its own funding independently to the developers, researchers, and organizations it chooses. Schmidt mentioned in his X post that there will be no Consortium positions on protocol changes.

He also noted that Quantum is the first focus but that if the Bitcoin Security Consortium works out well, there is room to support other security efforts too. Data from the top crypto prediction platform Polymarket shows that there is only a 14% chance that Quantum Computing breaks Bitcoin by December 2027.

Source: Polymarket

Lombard Finance is bringing institutional Bitcoin lending on-chain, and it has picked Flow Traders to prove the concept works.

The company launched its Bitcoin Onchain Credit Strategy on July 23, 2026, giving regulated firms a way to post Bitcoin as collateral and borrow stablecoins through a private underwriting structure on Cap, an automated credit marketplace. Flow Traders, one of the more recognizable names in institutional digital asset trading, serves as the pilot partner for the rollout.

What Lombard is actually building The mechanics run on two token types. Lombard’s LBTC is a liquid-staked Bitcoin token, and BTC.b is a wrapped Bitcoin variant that lets the asset move across different blockchain environments. Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol, known as CCIP, handles the plumbing between networks, and Lombard has already migrated more than $1B in assets through it.

Advertisement

Jacob Phillips, Lombard’s CEO, put it plainly. Asset managers need reliable access to stablecoin borrowing in DeFi markets, and the existing infrastructure has not delivered that in a way regulated firms can actually use.

The market Lombard is entering Bitcoin-based lending is not a small niche. The BTC-based lending market currently holds approximately $4.31B in liquidity, making it one of the more substantial corners of the broader DeFi credit landscape.

Lombard ranks as the second-largest protocol in that market, which is notable for a company founded in 2024. The firm’s Bitcoin Earn program, a separate but related product, has crossed $1B in deposits from more than 38,500 users.

The protocol operates across Ethereum, Base, and Solana, which matters because institutional allocators increasingly want cross-chain exposure without managing the operational complexity of bridging assets themselves. CCIP handles that routing, reducing one of the more persistent friction points for large-scale on-chain participation.

What this means for the DeFi credit market Third, the Chainlink CCIP integration is more than a technical footnote. Having a protocol of Lombard’s size commit more than $1B in assets to CCIP infrastructure signals that the cross-chain messaging layer is maturing into something institutions are comfortable building on top of.

For investors watching the DeFi credit sector, the risk to watch is execution. A market stress event that forces rapid liquidation of Bitcoin collateral across multiple chains is exactly the scenario where cross-chain infrastructure gets stress-tested in ways that sandbox environments cannot replicate. Lombard’s Chainlink dependency means that any CCIP disruption would have direct operational consequences for the strategy.

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

A strong labor market usually cuts against the case for lower interest rates, a headwind for risk assets. On Thursday, Bitcoin eased while XRP kept rising, a split that captures a market pulled in two directions.

Initial jobless claims fell to 187,000 in the week ended July 18, down 22,000 from the prior week's 209,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. 

That is the lowest level since 1969 and a historically low print, a sign that employers are holding tightly onto workers even as other corners of the economy soften.

On paper, that is good news. For a crypto market that has spent 2026 hoping for interest-rate cuts, it is more complicated.

The last time this few Americans filed for unemployment, it was September 1969, the peak of the long 1960s boom, when the economy was running hot on Vietnam-era spending and joblessness sat near 3.5%, among the lowest of the postwar era. What makes the comparison starker is scale: the U.S. labor force back then was less than half the size it is today, so 187,000 claims now represents a far smaller slice of American workers than it did 57 years ago. In short, the job market hasn't looked this tight in more than half a century.

Scroll to Continue

Recommended Articles

Strong jobs data can weigh on cryptoFewer people filing for unemployment points to a resilient economy, which gives the Federal Reserve less reason to cut rates quickly. 

Higher-for-longer rates tend to pull money toward safer, yield-bearing assets and away from riskier ones like Bitcoin. 

Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $65,659 on Thursday morning, down about $200 on the day and roughly flat over the session, according to price data compiled by Fortune. The move is small, but the backdrop is not: Bitcoin sits about $53,000 below where it stood a year ago, deep in the drawdown that has gripped it through 2026.

Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:Veteran Ripple developer regrets selling XRPXRP eyes bigger move as Binance open interest hits 2026 highRipple wants AI agents to pay with XRP and RLUSDXRP goes the other wayXRP changed hands near $1.13, up more than 9% so far this month after opening July around $1.04, making it one of the few major assets climbing against the grain..

The S&P 500 opened approximately 1.1% lower on Tuesday while the NASDAQ fell roughly 1.8%. Prediction markets had essentially called it in advance, pricing in a near-100% probability of a down-open for the S&P 500.

This isn’t the first tremor of the month. On July 7, the NASDAQ dropped 1.2% and the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, with chip stocks dragging the indexes lower.

Advertisement

Throughout 2026, Bitcoin and Ether have generally underperformed compared to advancing US equities like the NASDAQ and S&P 500. Stocks rallied, and crypto mostly sat there. Now stocks are pulling back, and crypto still isn’t doing much.

No specific tokens or crypto events have been identified as catalysts for Tuesday’s equity decline. The two markets appear to be operating on genuinely separate tracks right now.

For crypto-focused portfolios, Bitcoin and Ether’s underperformance during a period of strong equity returns suggests that the next catalyst for digital assets probably won’t come from the macro side. It’ll need to be crypto-native, whether that’s regulatory clarity, institutional adoption milestones, or on-chain developments that shift sentiment.

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.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA.

Crypto exchange BitMEX will close down in September, according to a Thursday announcement on the company’s website. 

The exchange said that after “a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry, the board of HDR Global Trading Limited, owner and operator of BitMEX, has decided to close the exchange.” 

BitMEX did not give further information on why the exchange was closing but told users to withdraw their funds “as soon as practical.” 

“The BitMEX platform has always remained grounded to the true ethos of Bitcoin — neutrality, transparency, and decentralisation, which is evident through our peer-to-peer operations and a top priority focus on user fund safety,” the statement read. 

“While this news is a difficult one to share, we are proud of everything that has been built at the company since its launch as a pioneer of crypto derivatives.”

BitMEX added that users will be able to access services as normal until September 23. After that date, the exchange will only hold client assets until they are withdrawn. 

It continued that it had unstaked all staked BMEX Tokens on the platform, and they are now available in users’ accounts.

Run-ins with the law Run by eccentric crypto entrepreneur Arthur Hayes, BitMEX has had its fair share of run-ins with the law. 

Regulators first stated that BitMEX had allowed U.S. clients to use its exchange without verifying their identities.

The company in 2021 paid $100 million in civil penalties after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that the exchange’s senior leadership “altered U.S. customer information to hide the customer’s true location.”

BitMEX founders Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed pled guilty in 2022 to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to operate an anti-money laundering program at the cryptocurrency exchange. Each founder then agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle the charges. 

Then, last year, BitMEX was hit with a further $100 million fine for its guilty plea for breach of the United States Bank Secrecy Act. 

But following the election of crypto-friendly President Donald Trump, all three founders were pardoned in 2025.

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.

When will the Bitcoin bear market end? This might be the biggest question investors are asking this cycle.

The tricky part is that on-chain metrics and historical trends are currently pointing in different directions. From an on-chain perspective, the end of the bear cycle could be closer than many expect.

One analyst highlighted that long-term Bitcoin holders have almost stopped taking profits, while sell-side pressure has eased for the first time since September 2025. This lines up with CryptoQuant data showing 9,030 BTC leaving Binance, pointing to improving Spot demand.

Together, seller exhaustion and renewed demand suggest Bitcoin could be moving closer to a potential cycle bottom.

Source: CryptoQuant Adding more context, Bitcoin’s Coinbase Premium Index is showing another interesting trend. 

Notably, the negative Coinbase Premium suggests U.S. institutional investors are still net sellers, with Coinbase seeing continuous selling pressure for 900 consecutive hours, the highest level of pessimism in the past two years.

However, the indicator has reached extreme levels, which CryptoQuant notes has historically acted as a bullish signal for Bitcoin. 

In short, seller exhaustion is now showing up across multiple metrics. This lines up with Bitcoin’s [BTC] four weeks of upside, strengthening the case that the bear cycle may be behind us.

With BTC consolidating around $65k, the current setup could pave the way for a move toward $70k as we head into August. 

However, “timing” is still the missing piece.

Bitcoin bottom debate heats up  Timing has always mattered more than patterns, according to some analysts. 

However, historical data shows these patterns are not random. Bitcoin has historically completed a 5-wave correction during major bear markets, a structure seen in 2015, 2018, and 2022. This cycle has followed a similar pattern, suggesting a potential bottom could be forming.

The main concern, however, is timing. Previous bear markets lasted 365 days, while this cycle would have bottomed nearly 100 days earlier.

Recent Grayscale data adds to this caution, with analysts suggesting that if the traditional four-year cycle repeats, BTC’s bear market could continue until September or October.

Source: Grayscale Against this backdrop, some analysts believe Bitcoin’s recent upside could be just a dead cat bounce.

Notably, the gap between improving on-chain signals and cycle timing has left even analysts like Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst, uncertain about the Bitcoin bottom thesis, responding with a simple “we’ll see.”

This uncertainty keeps the bear market bottom debate open.

Hence, if historical timing plays out (a view many market participants still follow), Bitcoin could see another leg down before the bear cycle ends, supporting Grayscale’s late Q3-early Q4 timeline for a potential bottom.

Final Summary Bitcoin’s selling pressure is fading, suggesting the bottom could be closer. History shows Bitcoin bear markets usually take longer to end, meaning another drop is still possible.

Kazakhstan has laid out a plan to build a national strategic crypto reserve fed by its bitcoin miners, part of a two-step push by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to pull the country’s large mining industry into a regulated, state-supervised system.

A presidential decree signed July 7 sets the frame, and a government resolution approved July 18 supplies the mechanism. The government cleared the rules for strategic digital mining under Government Resolution No. 638, published in the PRG.kz legal database.

Together the two measures aim to route mining output and crypto trading through Kazakh infrastructure, with the state taking a share of mined coins for a sovereign reserve.

The reserve sits at the center. Under the July 18 resolution, the Kazakhstan government created a program of “strategic digital mining,” in which miners receive electricity quotas at capped tariffs on 10-year contracts from listed power producers. In exchange, they must hand over part of what they mine, according to local reporting.  

A formula sets the transfer at 10% of mined digital assets after the cost of electricity and grid services, paid each month to the state-linked Astana Hub fund, which passes the coins to the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank for management inside a “national strategic crypto reserve.”

The first approved power source is the Ekibastuz GRES-1 coal plant, with a 300-megawatt quota. To qualify, a miner must run a data center of at least 150 megawatts, with rigs that each clear 150 terahashes per second, among other conditions.

The resolution defines its reserve as a vehicle to invest in digital assets, in derivatives tied to those assets, and in the shares of companies that build or invest in crypto. 

Rather than hold coins alone, the structure gives the state a spread of exposure to the sector it now seeks to grow, with the National Bank’s investment arm at the controls.

The design turns Kazakhstan’s cheap power and mining base into a channel for state accumulation, an approach that echoes the reserve strategies spreading among governments. Kazakhstan had floated a $1 billion crypto reserve built in part on seized assets and state-mined coins, and its central bank moved to invest up to $350 million in crypto-linked funds. 

The United States established a strategic bitcoin reserve from forfeited coins last year, a model other states have weighed.

Kazakhstan as a bitcoin mining hub Kazakhstan ranks among the world’s largest bitcoin mining hubs, fifth by mining activity in the Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report from April 2025, a status built on cheap coal power that drew miners after China’s 2021 ban, though the country moved to tighten its mining rules over grid strain. 

The new program reads as an attempt to harness that base rather than curb it, and the decree directs the Kazakhstan government to tap associated petroleum gas, natural gas, and renewable output for mining.

Other crypto tasked  The July 7 decree reaches past mining. It sets up a Committee on Digital Assets and Payment Systems under the National Bank, and orders work on tokenization platforms, exchange and custody services, and crypto-fiat channels tied to the financial system.

It calls for stablecoins to settle cross-border trade for export and import, tokenized government securities by the end of 2026, and rules that isolate customer assets from a bankrupt provider’s estate.

To pull activity onshore, the decree offers a plan to exempt individuals from personal income tax on crypto gains earned through Kazakh providers from the start of 2026 through the end of 2028, plus a window for holders to disclose coins acquired or mined in the past if they move them into regulated infrastructure. 

The government also plans a National Cryptocurrency Analysis Center by mid-2027 to track transactions and flag illicit schemes, along with a review of DeFi platforms.

Micah Zimmerman

Micah first discovered Bitcoin in 2018 but remained a skeptic on the sidelines for too long. Since 2021, he has covered crypto and business and now works as a news reporter for Bitcoin Magazine, based in North Carolina.

, /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Futu Holdings Ltd. ("Futu" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: FUTU). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at [email protected] or 646-581-9980, (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. 

The class action concerns whether Futu and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. 

You have until August 25, 2026, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class if you purchased or otherwise acquired Futu securities during the Class Period. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com.   

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

On May 22, 2026, Reuters published an article entitled "China to crack down on 'illegal' cross-border securities."  The article reported that China "would punish brokers it accused of illegally moving money to foreign markets[.]"  The article further reported that online brokers, including Futu, "would be penalised for soliciting business in China without an onshore licence[.]" 

On this news, the price of Futu American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") fell $34.10 per ADS, or 27.5%, to close at $89.76 per ADS on May 22, 2026. 

Then, on May 28, 2026, Futu issued a press release reporting its financial results for the first quarter 2026, including net income of HK$831.0 million (US$106.0million) after giving effect to the proposed penalties comprised of: "(i) confiscation of illegal gains of approximately RMB470 million [approximately $69.21 million USD], and (ii) imposition of fines of approximately RMB1.38 billion, [approximately $20 billion USD] in an aggregate amount of approximately RMB1.85 billion."  The press release reported this adjustment under the Company's financial statements as "Others, net" in its statements of comprehensive income for the applicable period. 

On this news, Futu's ADS price fell $5.31 per ADS, or 4.8%, to close at $104.91 per ADS on May 28, 2026.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com.

Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. 

CONTACT:
Danielle Peyton
Pomerantz LLP
[email protected]
646-581-9980 ext. 7980 

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP

After several months of extreme volatility that has caused futures traders across the crypto derivatives market to trade with caution, it appears that traders are becoming more active in XRP futures again.

Latest data from crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that XRP leverage trading on Binance is rising following the recent rebound in its price.

XRP OI spikes to 440.6 million tokensThe data further revealed that the 30-day Open Interest Z-Score for XRP futures has surged to about 1.60 on Binance. This suggests that open interest is now well above its average over the past month. 

HOT Stories

Moreover, XRP open interest on the exchange has surged to about 440.6 million XRP, while its 30-day moving average has also surged to 418.5 million XRP, as XRP continues to trade near $1.14.

You Might Also Like

The increase in Binance XRP derivative activity suggests that more traders are opening new futures positions amid growing confidence and optimism over XRP's next price move.

While this provides a bullish outlook for XRP, analysts note that the surge in futures activity does not guarantee a price rally. However, it shows that market participants are becoming more confident in opening new leveraged positions after a long period of extreme caution.

When will the XRP price break out?It is important to note that XRP spot activity has yet to mimic the renewed optimism seen in the futures market, causing its price to remain at local low levels.

Market analysts believe that the divergence between XRP rising open interest and a stable price move could mean that the market is building up for a larger price move. 

As such, if the price of XRP increases in correspondence with its rising open interest, this could trigger a strengthening bullish conviction among traders, leading to sustained buying momentum that could drive the price toward a major breakout.

XRP has arrived at a critical technical point, with its recent rebound drawing close attention from market analysts who see this juncture as pivotal in determining the token’s short-term direction. Crypto strategist CasiTrades stated that key resistance and support levels now stand to either confirm a broad trend reversal or reinforce the prevailing bearish structure.

Wave 2 correction tests critical resistanceCasiTrades identified XRP’s current movement as a “Wave 2 correction” within the Elliott Wave framework, noting that the retracement has now reached the 0.854 Fibonacci level, positioning the price precisely at $1.16. She regarded this as a significant but acceptable retracement for the correction phase, according to technical analysis standards.

The analyst emphasized that the outlook for a deeper decline would only change if XRP surpasses $1.20. She indicated that this level acts as a definitive price ceiling for the ongoing bearish scenario displayed on her chart. As long as XRP fails to record a new high above this threshold, the current expectation for continued downward movement remains intact.

On her chart, CasiTrades highlighted repeated rejections near $1.164 and projected possible moves toward the next lower supports, underlining the significance of these thresholds. She further mapped resistance levels above the current price, which must be overtaken for any sustained bullish reversal to gain confirmation.

RSI divergence strengthens the bearish stanceMomentum indicators continue to play a supporting role in the overall analysis. CasiTrades reported that the approach to $1.164 produced bearish divergences on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) across several timeframes. This technical pattern occurs when the price makes a higher high while momentum does not follow, which is frequently interpreted as a signal of weakening buying pressure and a possible precursor to downward momentum.

These momentum signals—combined with price action at resistance—have led CasiTrades to anticipate that XRP could accelerate toward lower price levels if the bearish thesis remains valid. Such a scenario would see the token testing underlying support areas in the near term.

This ‘Wave 2 correction’ has now reached an 0.854 retrace, precisely at $1.16. Though it’s a deep move, it still fits within Elliott Wave correction parameters, so the bearish scenario is intact unless $1.20 is broken.

Key levels to watch and tools for market monitoringIf the price fails to reclaim key thresholds, CasiTrades marked $0.93 and $0.87 as the next significant support zones. She signaled that a drop toward these levels could strengthen the current trend and potentially attract buyers looking for an opportunity at lower valuations.

Conversely, an advance above $1.20 would invalidate the primary bearish scenario, while a breakout past $1.30 would neutralize another alternative downward pattern, potentially clearing a path to $1.65—a level she described as major macro resistance. Only after such breakouts could traders anticipate a broader uptrend gaining traction.

In discussing the importance of monitoring these technical developments, CasiTrades reminded market participants to prioritize data-driven decisions over emotions. For traders looking to effectively track trends and respond swiftly, tools offering integrated price monitoring, prompt alerts, chart analysis, and filtered news have become essential. CryptoAppsy, which requires no account creation hassle, combines your crypto investments with real-time prices, detailed charts, and multi-currency portfolio management on a single screen. With this all-in-one financial assistant, you can instantly seize opportunities by setting up smart price alerts, filter news specific to your coins, discover newly listed altcoins without missing them, and always stay one step ahead of the market with critical macroeconomic data such as Fed interest rates.

For now, the purple bearish scenario continues to play out as long as XRP remains below $1.20. Breaking above $1.20 or $1.30 would shift the outlook, but traders should rely on actual price action when making decisions.

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.

The XRP Ledger crossed 1.4 million AI-agent transactions this week, and Ripple joined Visa, Mastercard, and Google at the table writing the standard behind them. The milestone is real. So is the arithmetic underneath it: at a fifth of a cent per transaction, the entire agentic economy on XRPL has generated about $280 in fees, and the chain it is chasing has a hundred-times head start.

Summary

The XRP Ledger has processed more than 1.4 million transactions initiated by AI agents, a milestone announced by RippleX’s head of engineering as Ripple ships developer tooling for autonomous payments in XRP and RLUSD. The infrastructure behind it is x402, an open protocol reviving HTTP’s dormant “402 Payment Required” code: a service quotes a price, an agent’s wallet signs and pays, the content or compute delivers, no account, card, or human in the loop. Ripple joined the Linux Foundation’s new x402 Foundation as one of 40 premier members alongside AWS, Google, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Circle, and Coinbase, and was named a launch partner for Mastercard’s agent-payments network. The audit matters as much as the milestone: at XRPL’s fixed $0.0002 fee, 1.4 million agent transactions represent roughly $280 in total network fees, while Coinbase’s Base has processed 119 million x402 payments and Solana about 35 million, overwhelmingly settled in USDC. The strategic question is the oldest one in the ecosystem wearing its newest costume: even if machine payments become enormous and XRPL wins a share, agents will transact in stablecoins, and what that does for the XRP token is exactly as unresolved as ever. Every technology cycle produces a moment when a real trend and a modest number get announced in the same sentence, and the reader’s job is to hold both without letting either erase the other. The XRP Ledger delivered this cycle’s cleanest example this week. The trend: autonomous AI agents, software that requests a service, receives a price, and pays for it with no human in the loop, are now transacting on public blockchains at meaningful frequency, under an open standard that Amazon, Google, Visa, and Mastercard have just formed a foundation to govern. The number: the XRP Ledger’s share of that future crossed 1.4 million transactions, which, at the ledger’s fixed fee of roughly two-hundredths of a cent, works out to about $280 in total fees, on a network whose leading competitor has processed over a hundred million of the same payments with a year’s head start. Ripple’s engineering leadership frames the moment with a cloud-computing analogy, early days, obvious potential, standards still forming, and the analogy is fair, which is precisely why the honest piece about this milestone is neither the press release nor the dunk. It is the audit: what is actually being built, what the numbers actually measure, and what, if all of it works, actually accrues to whom.

LATEST: Visa and OpenAI team up for secure agent-driven payments in AI commerce. Tokenized credentials allow autonomous transactions through Visa’s global network pic.twitter.com/VBssfwA5Gi

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 11, 2026 The machinery: what x402 actually is The protocol at the center of the story is elegant enough to explain in a paragraph, and its elegance is why the giants showed up.

When the web’s founders drafted HTTP in the 1990s, they reserved status code 402, Payment Required, for a payments layer the internet never built. Every online payment since has been a workaround: accounts, cards, subscriptions, API keys, invoices, all of them designed for humans with wallets and none of them usable by software that wants to buy one API call’s worth of data right now. x402, developed at Coinbase and contributed this month to a new Linux Foundation body, finally implements the dormant code. A service receiving a request from an unpaid client responds with 402 and a machine-readable quote: the price, the accepted asset, the receiving address. The requesting agent’s wallet signs and broadcasts the payment on a supported blockchain; the service verifies settlement and delivers. No account creation, no card on file, no human approval, no minimum viable subscription. Payment becomes a header, and commerce becomes something two pieces of software conclude in seconds.

The governance followed the code. The x402 Foundation launched on July 14 under the Linux Foundation with roughly 40 premier members, a list that reads like the payments establishment buying insurance on its own disruption: AWS, Google, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Circle, Coinbase, and, as of this month, Ripple. Membership is the context for everything Ripple has shipped around it: the XRPL AI Starter Kit released in June, packaging wallet integration, documentation servers, and payment tutorials for agent developers; the XRPL AI Hub launched by Ripple-backed t54.ai; support for agent payments in both XRP and the RLUSD stablecoin; and a slot among the thirty-plus launch partners of Mastercard’s own agent-payments network. The XRPL’s technical pitch for the workload is coherent: deterministic finality in three to five seconds, fees fixed at fractions of a cent, native escrow and multisignature support, and a built-in exchange, properties that suit high-frequency machine payments better than they ever suited the retail speculation the ledger mostly hosts. RippleX’s head of engineering, J. Ayo Akinyele, announced the million-transaction crossing with the early-cloud framing: “The potential was obvious, but the tooling and standards were still coming together.” As positioning, it is exactly right. As measurement, it invites the next section.

The audit: what 1.4 million transactions weighs Take the milestone apart with the ledger’s own arithmetic, because the exercise clarifies what is and is not being claimed.

XRPL transaction fees are fixed near $0.0002. One million four hundred thousand agentic transactions therefore generated on the order of $280 in total network fees, a number that is not a gotcha but a measurement: it says the agentic activity on XRPL to date is, economically, a rounding error, and that transaction count on a chain where transactions cost nothing is a metric that measures enthusiasm and testing at least as much as commerce. At two-hundredths of a cent, a single developer’s integration test suite, a hackathon weekend, or an agent pinging a demo API in a loop produces six-figure transaction counts for the price of a coffee. Some unknowable share of the 1.4 million is exactly that, which the more careful voices in the ecosystem, including t54’s own framing of the milestone as showing capability, implicitly concede. The honest description is that XRPL has proven the pipes work, not that anything economically significant flows through them yet.

The comparative table sharpens the same point. Coinbase’s Base network has processed more than 119 million x402 payments; Solana roughly 35 million; both had approximately a year’s head start, and both settle the overwhelming majority of that volume in USDC. Even the leader’s economics remain tiny, industry tallies put cumulative settled x402 volume in the tens of millions of dollars, an average well under a dollar per payment, which confirms the category is micropayments in fact as well as theory. But the ordering matters: XRPL’s 1.4 million against Base’s 119 million is a roughly hundred-fold gap in the category XRPL is now marketing as a strategic fit, and gaps of that shape, in developer-network businesses, historically widen rather than close, because agent frameworks integrate the chains where the other agents already are. The XRP ecosystem has run this race before, shipping credible infrastructure into a category with an entrenched leader and discovering that technical fitness does not conjure developer gravity; the EVM sidechain’s first year, which this publication audited at $25,741 in total value locked, is the cautionary precedent nobody at the milestone party mentions.

And beneath both numbers sits the question this ecosystem can never quite escape, because it is the question: who earns what if this works? Agents transacting under x402 optimize for stable settlement, which is why USDC dominates the category everywhere it exists, and on XRPL the natural settlement asset is RLUSD, whose reserve income accrues to Ripple the company. The XRP token’s role in the flow is gas, priced at two-hundredths of a cent by design, and collateral-adjacent plumbing, which means the milestone’s implicit promise, more agent activity equals more value through XRP, runs directly into the fee math above: a billion agentic transactions a year, a seven-hundred-fold increase from today’s total, would generate roughly $200,000 in annual XRP fee burn. The value-accrual gap between network success and token performance, the gap this publication has documented across payments, custody, and DeFi, arrives in the AI era fully intact. Machine commerce may be enormous. XRPL may even win a real share. The token’s claim on that outcome remains what it has always been: a thesis in search of a mechanism.

The case that the position is still right Having weighed the milestone honestly, weigh the strategy the same way, because the audit cuts against the hype without cutting against the play.

Standards tables are cheap options on large futures. Ripple’s premier membership costs it engineering attention and puts XRP and RLUSD inside the specification process of a payment standard that AWS, Google, Visa, and Mastercard consider worth governing, which is not a marketing decision on their part; the agent-payments category is the rare crypto use case that the traditional payments industry believes in enough to pre-organize around. If machine-to-machine commerce becomes a fraction of what its backers project, the chains and assets wired into the standard from the beginning inherit distribution no retrofit can buy, and the Mastercard launch-partner slot is exactly that wiring. The early-cloud analogy earns its keep here: AWS’s revenue in 2008 was a rounding error too, and the companies that dismissed it on contemporary arithmetic were measuring the wrong thing.

The technical fit argument is also better than the ecosystem’s average claim of this genre. Agent payments genuinely want what XRPL genuinely has: deterministic sub-five-second finality, fees that never spike, native escrow for conditional payments, and an architecture that has processed payments, only payments, for a decade without an outage that mattered. The chains currently leading the category are general-purpose platforms on which payments compete with everything else for blockspace; a specialized settlement layer is a coherent bet on how the category matures, particularly for the enterprise and financial-institution agents Ripple’s distribution actually reaches, as opposed to the consumer-crypto agents Base inherits from Coinbase. And RLUSD’s presence in the standard is unambiguously valuable for Ripple’s stablecoin strategy, whatever it does for the token: every x402 flow RLUSD settles is float, and float is the business.

The bear case concedes all of this and returns to the ledger’s oldest pattern: infrastructure fitness without developer gravity, milestones denominated in counts rather than dollars, and value accruing to the company faster than to the asset. Both cases are live. The difference between them will not be argued into resolution; it will be measured, which is what the final section is for.

The stablecoin sitting in the middle One participant in this story holds a materially different position from all the others, and the analysis owes it a section: RLUSD, which enters the agent-payments race with none of XRP’s value-accrual problem and all of Ripple’s distribution behind it.

The economics of a stablecoin in machine commerce are the economics every issuer already understands, at higher frequency. Each RLUSD that settles agent payments is float, reserves earning treasury yield for the issuer, and agentic flows have a property consumer flows lack: balances that never sleep. A human cardholder’s stablecoins sit idle between purchases; an agent’s working balance turns over continuously, but the aggregate float across a fleet of funded agents is persistent, programmatic, and grows with the category mechanically. If machine payments become a fraction of what the foundation’s membership implies, the stablecoins wired into the standard become the category’s silent tax collectors, and the fight for that position is already visible in the data: USDC’s dominance of Base and Solana x402 volume is Circle collecting the early category almost uncontested. RLUSD’s presence in the XRPL implementation, and in whatever flows the Mastercard partnership eventually routes, is Ripple’s bid for a share, and it is a better bid than the transaction counts suggest, because the enterprise agents Ripple’s institutional relationships reach will care about exactly the things RLUSD was chartered to offer: a regulated issuer, bank-grade reserves, and a compliance posture that a corporate treasury can sign off on.

LATEST: Ripple joins Mastercard’s Agent Pay for Machines launch. XRP Ledger and $RLUSD are positioned to deliver trust, controls, and clear rules for AI agents handling business payments at scale pic.twitter.com/3YargyVJHb

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 11, 2026 Which sharpens, not softens, the token question this piece keeps returning to. The clearer RLUSD’s path in agent payments becomes, the more precisely the ecosystem’s value routing resolves: the category’s fees go to nearly nothing by design, the float goes to Ripple, and the XRP token’s participation is the $0.0002 toll. There is one construction under which the token does capture something, XRP as the bridge and liquidity asset when agents transact across currencies, using the ledger’s native exchange, which is the on-ledger version of the company’s oldest thesis, and it carries the oldest caveat: it requires agents to hold and route through a volatile asset when a stable one is available, a behavior no current x402 flow exhibits anywhere. Watching whether it ever emerges, in the cross-currency settlement data the ledger makes public, is the cleanest token-relevant observable this whole story offers. Absent it, the honest summary of the agent era for the two assets is uncomfortable and simple: the milestone is XRPL’s, the business is RLUSD’s, and the token is, once again, the venue, not the beneficiary.

What to watch Settled volume, not transaction count. The category’s honest metric is dollars settled through x402 flows on XRPL, a number nobody currently headlines precisely because it is small. When it appears, in t54’s reporting, foundation dashboards, or Ripple’s disclosures, it converts this story from enthusiasm-measurement to commerce-measurement. Until it appears, transaction counts should be read as what they are.

The settlement-asset split. Watch what share of XRPL agentic payments settle in RLUSD versus XRP, and what share of cross-chain x402 volume RLUSD captures against USDC’s incumbency. The first ratio prices the token’s role in its own ecosystem’s newest story; the second prices Ripple’s stablecoin against the category leader on neutral ground.

A commercial workload with a name. The milestone that would actually move this story is one identifiable production deployment, an enterprise paying real money for real services through XRPL agent rails, versus the anonymous aggregate counts. Mastercard’s network going live with Ripple in the loop is the likeliest venue. One named workload outweighs the next ten million test transactions.

The gap’s direction. Base at 119 million and growing; XRPL at 1.4 million and growing. The ratio between their growth rates over the next two quarters answers the developer-gravity question empirically, and it is the same question the EVM sidechain’s first year answered badly. Watch whether this category rhymes.

The 402 status code waited thirty years for the internet to need it, which is a useful reminder that infrastructure stories run on timelines that make any single milestone nearly meaningless. The XRP Ledger’s 1.4 million agent transactions prove the machinery works and prove nothing about who wins, the $280 in fees prices today’s reality without pricing the future, and the foundation seat is a rational option on an outcome no one can yet measure. The audit’s conclusion is not that the story is false. It is that the story is, so far, exactly $280 large, and that everyone quoting the transaction count owes the fee line alongside it.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. It describes early-stage technology adoption whose metrics are incomplete and fast-changing, and comparisons rely on figures reported by third parties. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any asset. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 23, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions What is x402? An open payment protocol that implements HTTP’s long-dormant 402 “Payment Required” status code. When software requests a paid service, the server responds with a machine-readable quote, price, accepted asset, receiving address; the requester’s wallet signs and sends payment on a supported blockchain, and the service delivers upon settlement. It was developed at Coinbase and contributed to the Linux Foundation’s x402 Foundation, launched July 14 with about 40 premier members including AWS, Google, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Circle, and Ripple.

What did the XRP Ledger milestone actually announce? That more than 1 million transactions initiated by AI agents have been processed on the XRPL, a figure now around 1.4 million, announced by RippleX engineering head J. Ayo Akinyele alongside the XRPL AI Starter Kit, tooling that connects agents to wallets, payments, escrow, and documentation, with support for paying in XRP and RLUSD. Ripple also joined the x402 Foundation and was named a launch partner for Mastercard’s agent-payments network.

Why does the article emphasize $280 in fees? Because XRPL fees are fixed near $0.0002 per transaction, so 1.4 million agent transactions generated roughly $280 in total network fees. The figure measures the economic weight of the activity: at fees that low, transaction counts capture developer testing and experimentation as much as commerce, so the count alone cannot distinguish a working economy from a working demo. Settled dollar volume, not yet headlined anywhere, is the metric that would.

How does XRPL’s position compare to other chains? It trails badly on volume and leads on specialization claims. Coinbase’s Base network has processed over 119 million x402 payments and Solana roughly 35 million, both with about a year’s head start and settlement dominated by USDC. XRPL’s counterargument is technical fit, deterministic 3-5 second finality, fixed fees, native escrow, a payments-only track record, and institutional distribution through Ripple and the Mastercard partnership.

Do AI agents pay in XRP or RLUSD? Both are supported, and the split is the story’s key open ratio. Category-wide, agents overwhelmingly settle in stablecoins because they optimize for stable pricing, which favors RLUSD on XRPL, whose reserve income accrues to Ripple the company. XRP functions primarily as network gas at fractions of a cent. This is why network success and XRP token value remain distinct questions, the ecosystem’s long-standing value-accrual gap in its newest setting.

Is the agent-payments category itself real? Early but credible. Cumulative settled x402 volume across all chains remains in the tens of millions of dollars, tiny by payments standards, but the institutional pre-organization is unusual: the world’s largest cloud, card, and payments companies formed a governance foundation before the market matured, and Mastercard is building a dedicated agent-payments network. The category’s backers are exactly the incumbents who usually arrive late.

What would validate XRPL’s bet here? Named commercial workloads and dollar volume. One identifiable production deployment paying real money through XRPL agent rails, plausibly via Mastercard’s network, would outweigh millions of anonymous test transactions. Sustained growth in RLUSD-settled x402 volume, and any narrowing of the transaction-count gap against Base, would show developer gravity forming, the ingredient the ecosystem’s prior infrastructure bets most conspicuously lacked.

What should XRP holders take from the milestone? That the infrastructure story is real, early, and, so far, economically small, and that its success would not automatically flow to the token. The rational reading treats the foundation seat and Mastercard partnership as cheap options on a large future, the transaction milestone as proof of capability rather than adoption, and the RLUSD-versus-XRP settlement split as the number that decides who benefits if the future arrives. This is educational analysis, not investment advice.