Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

, /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. 

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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.

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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.

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

TL;DR

U.S. spot XRP ETFs now hold a record 1.47% of total supply worth $1.04 billion, with institutions front-running the CLARITY Act's Senate deadline ahead of the Aug. 7 recessGrayscale's Zach Pandl says Bitcoin has outgrown its four-year halving cycle, pointing instead to the Fed's July 28–29 meeting as the market's next real catalystAFX Trade, Verus Bridge and B² Network lost a combined $35.56 million in three separate DeFi exploits, with Verus hit twice in three months by the same unresolved bugU.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged a seven-day, $1 billion inflow streak as Kazakhstan launches state-backed mining and Circle brings USDC to 20 million Kakao and Toss users in KoreaXRP leaves exchanges for ETF vaults ahead of decisive Senate voteU.S. spot ETFs have removed a record 1.47% of XRP's total supply from market circulation. According to the latest SoSoValue data as of July 23, 2026, the funds now hold 977.41 million tokens worth a combined $1.04 billion.

Institutional accumulation is accelerating as the deadline for the CLARITY Act approaches in the U.S. Senate. Lawmakers have about two weeks left to reach a consensus on digital asset oversight rules before Congress leaves for its traditional August recess, which begins on Aug. 7.

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Expectations of long-awaited regulatory clarity are prompting funds to methodically purchase the underlying asset on the spot market and isolate it in custodial wallets, completely removing those coins from exchange circulation.

The price context only underscores the confidence of major players. XRP is currently trapped inside a descending channel near $1.1338, hovering around local support at $1.1158 with a neutral RSI reading of 54.82.

Total inflows in US Spot XRP ETFs since the start of Q3 2026, Source: SoSoValueThe gap between the total amount historically invested in the ETFs, $1.49 billion, and their current net asset value of $1.04 billion clearly shows that the funds are sitting on unrealized losses. Nevertheless, institutional holders are not cutting their losses and continue to maintain positions primarily through Bitwise, which has recorded $501 million in net inflows, and Franklin Templeton, with $416 million.

Although daily activity within the ETFs remains moderate at around $10.9 million in trading volume, the removal of nearly 1.5% of the XRP supply is reducing the depth of exchange order books. If the Senate manages to pass the CLARITY Act before the Aug. 7 recess, a surge in buyers will encounter an obvious shortage of liquidity on the spot market.

Why Grayscale no longer believes in Bitcoin halving cyclesThe leading cryptocurrency has outgrown the training wheels of the halving cycle and now lives by the adult rules of Wall Street, according to Grayscale Research head Zach Pandl, who has urged investors to erase Bitcoin's "four-year cycle" charts from their boards.

In his view, crypto has finally transformed into a mature macroeconomic asset that listens to the Federal Reserve rather than the miners' calendar.

At this point in the cycle, crypto skeptics would usually expect a deep plunge. The traditional theory predicted that Bitcoin would fall below $25,000 by autumn following last year's record high of $126,000. Instead, the coin is currently holding firmly near $65,800, down a relatively modest 48% from its peak by crypto-winter standards.

Bitcoin macro correlation chart (2012–2026), Source: GrayscalePandl therefore believes that, provided the U.S. economy remains resilient, the market bottom may already be behind us.

The foundation of this shift can be seen in macroeconomic charts from Bloomberg and Coin Metrics. Since 2014, Bitcoin's price bottoms have closely coincided not with supply reduction dates, but with declines in the ISM Manufacturing Index and peaks in U.S. two-year Treasury real yields.

The main event of the week is now the Federal Reserve meeting scheduled for July 28–29. Interest rates are currently being held at 3.50%–3.75%. If the regulator officially confirms a pause and rules out further increases, Bitcoin will receive a clear path toward growth, further cementing its status as the leading barometer of global liquidity.

'Black Thursday' for DeFi: Three crypto protocols hacked for $35.56 millionIt was a truly stormy morning for the decentralized finance market, as three projects were targeted by hackers one after another. AFX Trade, Verus Bridge and B² Network found themselves at the center of the exploits, with total losses reaching $35.56 million.

The hackers ruthlessly targeted the industry's main weak points: cross-chain bridge vulnerabilities and compromised administrative keys. 

The largest blow hit the AFX Trade protocol on Arbitrum, where attackers drained $24.15 million in USDC stablecoins from its custodial bridge. The project team responded immediately by suspending operations, bringing cybersecurity heavyweights SlowMist and Zellic into the investigation and offering the hacker a deal. 

The attacker will be allowed to keep 30% of the stolen amount as a legitimate bounty if the remaining 70% is returned.

On-chain message from AFX Trade to the hacker, Source: ArbiscanMeanwhile, the Verus–Ethereum cross-chain bridge has fallen into the same trap again, turning its exploits into an ongoing series. The hacker used an old repeated-import vulnerability, withdrew 3,816 ETH worth around $7.55 million and is already laundering the funds through the Tornado Cash mixer.

The irony is that the project was already exploited through a similar method in May. In July, the team triumphantly returned the recovered funds to the liquidity pools, only to suffer another identical exploit by July 23 after failing to fix the critical bug in the code.

This appears related to the previous Verus Ethereum Bridge incident in May 2026: same bridge contract, same entry path, and same bug class.

However, this is a new tx with a different attacker and loot wallet.https://t.co/FWGcnHJbzP

— Blockaid (@blockaid_) July 23, 2026 The L2 project B² Network on BNB Chain suffered the smallest loss of the three, although it was still substantial. Its staking contract was targeted, allowing attackers to steal $3.86 million before developers closed the vulnerability.

To the team's credit, it quickly contained the problem and immediately promised to fully compensate affected users from its own reserve funds.

While B² Network prepares the repayments and AFX waits for the hacker's response, the day has once again demonstrated that bridges remain the weakest link in crypto. Hackers have again proved that taking millions out of code is easier than attracting those millions in the first place, while users have once more been reminded who usually pays to close such holes.

Crypto market outlook: Bitcoin ETF inflow streak reaches $1 billion amid sovereign reserve formation and expansion in AsiaInstitutional capital is stabilizing the market, as a seven-day inflow streak into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs has brought in $1 billion, offsetting recent selling pressure.

While Bitcoin remains in a range just below the key technical barrier at $65,500, the long-term trend is shifting toward the nationalization of mining and the deeper integration of stablecoins into Asian payment ecosystems.

Key checkpoints:

ETF momentum accelerates: After a prolonged period of outflows, U.S. spot Bitcoin funds have recorded a seven-day green streak, bringing around $1 billion into the market, while BlackRock and Fidelity remained the traditional leaders.Bitcoin tests a technical reversal: The leading cryptocurrency is being squeezed into a narrowing range, trading at $65,495 after encountering a long-term descending trend line. The nearest support has formed at $63,800, while a break above the $67,433 point-of-control level is required to trigger an aggressive bullish scenario.BIP-110 faces rejection from miners: The controversial proposal to temporarily restrict the Ordinals and Runes protocols by imposing an 83-byte limit on the OP_RETURN field is losing its chances of success. Despite developers' attempts to clear blocks of spam, only 1.1% of miners have expressed support for the update, effectively eliminating the risk of a hard fork.State-backed mining takes root: Kazakhstan has officially introduced fixed electricity tariffs for licensed miners for 10 years in exchange for transferring part of the mined BTC to the central bank's national reserve. The country has joined El Salvador and Bhutan in pursuing a strategy of sovereign cryptocurrency accumulation.USDC enters Korean super apps: Stablecoin issuer Circle has signed agreements with technology giants Kakao Group and Toss to deploy blockchain-based settlements. The integration will provide more than 20 million active users in South Korea with legal access to digital assets.End of an era for a legendary derivatives exchange: BitMEX, which helped pioneer leveraged cryptocurrency trading in 2014, will completely cease operations on Sept. 23, 2026. The phased closure of positions will begin on Aug. 26. You Might Also Like

XRP selling pressure is dwindling, suggesting bearish exhaustion, as prices sit at an extreme opportunity buy zone on the daily chart.

XRP has spent nearly a year moving through a deep corrective phase after reaching its cycle high in mid-July 2025. Looking at the chart structure today, recent price action suggests that the downtrend is approaching its final stages.

XRP Selling Pressure Has Faded Significantly Chart analysis suggests that XRP is no longer behaving like an asset trapped in a strong bearish trend. Instead, it appears to be building a base near historical levels for the next uptrend phase.

One of the notable confirmations of this is how selling pressure has declined through the ongoing corrective phase. Data shows that the most aggressive selling volume appeared immediately after XRP reached its all-time high of $3.66 on July 18, 2025.

The volume spike marked the beginning of the broader correction and reflected heavy distribution from market participants. However, recent market activity tells a very different story. 

As XRP approached its lowest levels in years during the June 26 drop to $1.009, bearish trading volume had fallen dramatically. The peak bearish volume recorded was 421,000 XRP. Days before the June dip, the trading volume had dropped to 105,000 XRP, which is roughly four times lower than what was seen during the initial stages of the downtrend.

Notably, this shift matters because sustained selling pressure usually accompanies strong bear markets. In XRP’s case, the opposite is happening. Prices continued to make new lows while selling momentum declined substantially, signaling gradual exhaustion.

XRP at Extreme Opportunity Buy Zone Further analysis suggests that XRP completed the steepest part of its correction months ago. Since the July 2025 peak, the coin has traded within a falling wedge, persistently making lower highs and lower lows.

XRP Accumulation Zone However, since the broader crypto market crash in February, XRP has largely consolidated, reflecting a market that is no longer dominated by aggressive sellers. Price action has remained in a range, suggesting that the earlier distribution is nearing its completion.

At current levels, XRP has entered an extreme opportunity zone from a long-term perspective. Here the risk-to-reward ratio looks very appealing, with long-term holders already taking advantage of this rare chance to buy at a very low price.

It bears mentioning that the longer XRP spends consolidating around the current levels, the more significant the eventual breakout would be once momentum returns.

Possible Recovery Targets When momentum starts to return, the result could be notable for XRP. One of the possible recovery targets is the level around $3, a 165% increase from the current price of $1.135.

A sustained hold above this level opens the path for a 224% rally to retest the all-time high of $3.66. Notably, these are long-term targets and would require broader market recovery momentum to come to fruition.

Interestingly, XRP is not moving in isolation from the broader crypto market. Comparing its current structure with other major digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum shows similar signs that the bearish phase is nearly complete. This suggests the market is simply gearing up for the next breakout to higher levels.

DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

XRP and Bitcoin are left out as S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital have launched the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index, a new benchmark for institutional investors.

The index focuses on blockchain protocols that generate revenue through network activity. The benchmark tracks 18 digital assets, with Ethereum, BNB, Solana, Tron, and Hyperliquid among its largest holdings.

According to S&P Dow Jones Indices CEO Catherine Clay, the index uses principles similar to traditional equity benchmarks. It evaluates factors such as protocol revenue, liquidity, listing requirements, and operational maturity.

XRP and Bitcoin Excluded From Revenue-Based Index During an interview with CNBC, Clay said Bitcoin was excluded because it does not operate as a revenue-generating protocol, even though it meets other eligibility requirements.

While she did not specifically discuss XRP, the index methodology also leaves it out because it does not meet the revenue-generation requirement.

Rather than tracking the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, the index focuses on blockchain networks that generate revenue from actual protocol usage. It does not include returns generated through staking yields or other investment mechanisms.

New Benchmark Aims at Institutional Investors S&P said the index seeks to give institutional investors and asset managers a trusted benchmark for the digital asset market. The methodology draws inspiration from traditional equity indexes, including benchmarks such as the S&P 500.

Notably, the market-cap-weighted index will be rebalanced every quarter. To reduce concentration risk, the largest asset is limited to a 35% weighting. Other assets cannot exceed a 20% allocation.

Clay said S&P developed the methodology with Pantera Capital. The index measures how blockchain protocols generate revenue from real network activity rather than from staking rewards or investment returns.

Index Focuses on Revenue, Not Crypto Market Size The exclusion of XRP and Bitcoin reflects the index’s specific goal rather than a view on their market position or adoption.

Both assets remain among the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. However, they fall outside the benchmark’s focus on protocol-generated revenue.

The launch provides another institutional reference point for digital assets. It gives investors an alternative to broad market-cap-based crypto indexes by highlighting blockchain networks with measurable operating revenue.

DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

Software developer Vincent Van Code believes the proposed CLARITY Act could have a bigger impact on XRP adoption than many people expect. 

He argues that, although XRP’s legal status is clearer today, important regulatory uncertainty still remains.

In a post on X, Van Code said the 2023 district court ruling in the SEC’s case against Ripple significantly reduced legal uncertainty. Notably, the court found that XRP sales on secondary markets are not securities.

He said the ruling has already encouraged more institutional activity. It has supported the expansion of Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) corridors, bank pilot programs, XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) filings, and broader custody support.

Court Ruling Reduced Risk, but Uncertainty Remains Van Code argued that the Ripple decision is still only a federal district court ruling, not a federal law. Because of that, he said, future legal and regulatory challenges remain possible.

He noted that the SEC could take different positions in future enforcement actions. Future court decisions or changes in administration could also narrow or revisit the ruling.

According to Van Code, this uncertainty continues to concern large financial institutions. Many of them require clear statutory guidance before committing significant capital or integrating digital assets into core financial products.

CLARITY Act Could Encourage More Institutions Van Code said the CLARITY Act is designed to address this issue by putting digital asset classifications into federal law.

He added that banks and traditional financial institutions generally follow conservative compliance standards. As a result, many remain hesitant to hold large XRP positions or build major products based only on a court ruling.

Instead, some institutions have limited their XRP involvement to lower-risk activities. These include non-custodial services, pilot programs, and experimental use cases.

If passed, the CLARITY Act could remove much of the remaining regulatory uncertainty that risk-averse institutions continue to cite. Van Code believes this could support broader institutional adoption of XRP.

However, he emphasized that this is his personal analysis. He did not suggest that the legislation would necessarily have a direct impact on XRP’s market price.

CLARITY Act Advances in Senate A new draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is circulating in the Senate as lawmakers make a final push to pass crypto market structure legislation before the August recess.

The latest draft includes a controversial ethics provision. It would bar the president and other senior government officials from holding direct crypto investments until 2029. The Department of Justice would be responsible for enforcing the rule.

Republicans say the provision reflects an agreement with President Donald Trump. However, many Democrats argue the restriction does not go far enough. Several have not yet committed to supporting the bill.

Beyond the ethics measure, the legislation would expand consumer protections and clarify how digital assets are regulated. It would also establish rules for crypto exchanges, support tokenized securities, and preserve protections for decentralized finance (DeFi) developers. Developers who do not control customer funds would remain exempt from money transmitter rules.

Republican leaders are expected to bring the bill to the Senate floor soon. However, it will likely need at least 10 Democratic votes to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

With Congress set to begin its summer recess in August, the coming weeks are the bill’s best opportunity to advance.

DisClamier: This content is informational and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author's personal opinions and do not reflect The Crypto Basic opinion. Readers are encouraged to do thorough research before making any investment decisions. The Crypto Basic is not responsible for any financial losses.

RedotPay’s RLUSD card lets 8 million users spend against their XRP without selling it: pledge coins at 50% loan-to-value, borrow in Ripple’s stablecoin, swipe anywhere Visa works. It is being sold as convenience. It is, mechanically, collateralized leverage on a token that fell 60% in a year, and the difference matters.

Summary

RedotPay, a stablecoin payments fintech with more than 8 million users across 100-plus countries and roughly $12 billion in annualized volume, launched an XRP Ledger-powered card that combines XRP-backed credit, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin, and Visa’s network. The mechanics are a loan, not a payment: users pledge XRP as collateral at a 50% loan-to-value ratio, receive a credit line settled in RLUSD on the XRPL, and spend at any Visa merchant, keeping their XRP exposure intact. The pitch, spending without selling, is genuine and genuinely double-edged: it preserves upside and defers taxable disposals, and it converts holders into leveraged borrowers against one of the cycle’s worst-performing major assets. The launch is a real distribution event for RLUSD, routing consumer settlement through the XRP Ledger itself, and it arrives on the strength of a real trend: RedotPay reports stablecoin card volume up 80% this year and 250% year over year. The unpublished numbers are the ones that decide the product: borrowing costs, liquidation thresholds, and what happens to pledged collateral in the next 40% drawdown. The card’s true test is not adoption. It is the first liquidation cycle. The most successful trick in consumer finance is making a loan feel like something else. The credit card made borrowing feel like paying; the mortgage refinance made it feel like unlocking; buy-now-pay-later made it feel like nothing at all. This week the trick arrived for XRP holders, wearing Ripple’s stablecoin and Visa’s logo. RedotPay, a Hong Kong-grown stablecoin payments company that has quietly assembled more than 8 million users across a hundred countries, launched what it calls the RLUSD card: pledge your XRP as collateral, receive a credit line at half its value, spend that credit, settled in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, anywhere on earth Visa is accepted. The marketing frame, spend without selling your XRP, is accurate, appealing, and incomplete, because the product it describes has an older and less romantic name. It is a securities-backed line of credit, the margin loan of the wealth-management world, ported to a volatile digital asset and distributed to a retail base of eight million. That porting is a genuine milestone for stablecoin payments, a genuine distribution win for RLUSD and the XRPL, and a genuine risk transfer whose terms nobody outside RedotPay has yet seen. All three things are true at once, and this piece takes them in order.

What the card actually is Start with the mechanics, because every claim about the product, for and against, lives inside them.

A RedotPay user with XRP does not load the card by selling coins. They pledge the XRP as collateral into RedotPay’s system, and against that pledge the platform extends a credit line at a 50% loan-to-value ratio: a thousand dollars of XRP unlocks five hundred dollars of spending power. The credit is denominated and settled in RLUSD, Ripple’s dollar stablecoin, with settlement executed on the XRP Ledger before the money reaches the Visa rails, where it spends like any card balance at any merchant. The user’s XRP position remains theirs, still exposed to every tick of the price, while the borrowed RLUSD buys groceries. When they repay, the collateral releases; while they borrow, it is encumbered.

Strip the branding and the structure is instantly recognizable from traditional finance: this is a securities-backed lending product, the same architecture private banks use when a client borrows against a stock portfolio instead of selling it. The appeal there and here is identical and real. The holder keeps upside exposure. No taxable disposal occurs at the moment of borrowing, since a loan is not a sale, which for long-term XRP holders sitting on complicated cost bases is a material feature, not a gimmick. And liquidity arrives instantly, at swipe speed, rather than through the sell-withdraw-wait cycle that still makes exiting crypto positions clumsy in much of the world.

NEW: Squid powers instant cross-chain access for RLUSD. Users can now swap and move RLUSD across XRPL, Ethereum, Base, Optimism, and more pic.twitter.com/BUjaTzwvqb

— crypto.news (@cryptodotnews) June 17, 2026 RedotPay is a credible vehicle for the port. The company’s platform numbers, 8 million-plus users, 100-plus countries, roughly $12 billion in annualized payment volume, describe its whole stablecoin card business rather than this product, a distinction worth keeping crisp, but the underlying trend is corroborated and steep: the company reports stablecoin-powered card transaction volume up 80% since January and 250% year over year, and it has an existing Ripple relationship through African remittance corridors plus a May rollout of direct XRP payment features. The RLUSD card is not a startup’s cold launch. It is a proven distribution machine adding a leverage product to its shelf, which is exactly why the product deserves the scrutiny its marketing does not invite.

The half the marketing carries The bull case for the card is worth making properly, because it is more substantial than launch-week boosterism suggests, and it rests on three distinct legs.

The first is the stablecoin-payments wave, which is real and measurable. Card products that settle in stablecoins have moved from crypto curiosity to functioning consumer infrastructure, particularly in the markets RedotPay concentrates on, where local banking friction makes a dollar-denominated spending instrument valuable in itself. An 80% year-to-date volume increase on a large existing base is not narrative; it is throughput, and every analysis of the sector points the same direction. A card that lets crypto holders join that throughput without liquidating their positions extends the product category along its natural axis.

The second leg is what the launch does for RLUSD and the XRP Ledger, and here the significance runs deeper than one fintech’s product shelf. RLUSD’s short life has been dominated by institutional settings, exchange collateral, treasury products, cross-border settlement, and its circulation has notably concentrated on Ethereum rather than the XRP Ledger it was nominally built to showcase. The RedotPay card is the first mass-market consumer product that routes RLUSD settlement through the XRPL itself, every credit draw an on-ledger transaction, which makes it a distribution event for the home chain in precisely the dimension, ordinary payment volume, where the ledger’s activity metrics have chronically underdelivered. If the card scales, it manufactures the daily, boring, non-speculative XRPL transaction flow that a decade of partnership announcements promised and rarely produced.

The third leg is the honest version of the consumer argument. For a holder who would otherwise sell XRP to fund spending, borrowing at 50% LTV is not obviously the riskier choice; it is a portfolio decision with a respectable pedigree, and the tax-deferral mechanics are the same ones wealthy households have used against equity portfolios for generations. Democratizing an instrument the private-banking class already enjoys is, on its face, exactly what crypto claimed it came to do. The case against the card is not that borrowing against assets is illegitimate. It is about what happens when the asset is this one, the borrower is retail, and the terms are unpublished, which is where the second half begins.

The half it does not Now run the same mechanics forward through a drawdown, because the product’s defining events will not happen at launch. They will happen at liquidation.

A 50% loan-to-value line against XRP is a bet, embedded in a payment card, that XRP will not fall far enough to impair the collateral, and the recent record of that bet is the uncomfortable part: the token has fallen more than 60% from its 2025 high and traded at fifteen-month lows this month. A user who pledges coins at $1.14 and borrows to the limit has no buffer question until the price falls, and then has only questions the launch coverage does not answer. At what threshold does RedotPay demand more collateral or repayment? At what threshold does it liquidate, selling the pledged XRP into a falling market to close the line? What notice does a user in one of a hundred countries get, on what timeline, in what language of what agreement? None of this is disclosed in the launch materials, and none of it is exotic pessimism; it is the operating manual of every collateralized lending product ever built, and the crypto industry has run this exact experiment before at scale.

The lesson of the 2022 lending collapses was not that crypto-backed loans cannot work; it was that retail borrowers systematically underestimate liquidation mechanics until the first cascade executes them, and that products marketed as spend without selling are experienced, in the drawdown, as sold without asking.

The structural critique goes one layer deeper. A margin loan against a portfolio is typically one instrument inside a diversified balance sheet, extended by a lender whose terms are regulated, disclosed, and court-tested for a century. This product concentrates instead of diversifying: the collateral is a single volatile asset, the borrower base is by construction the token’s most committed holders, and the leverage is being introduced near cycle lows in sentiment, when the marketing pitch, do not sell here, keep your upside, lands hardest on precisely the users least able to absorb a liquidation. There is also a reflexivity worth naming for the asset itself: if the card scales, a meaningful stock of XRP becomes pledged collateral with mechanical sell triggers below the market, which is a new, price-insensitive seller waiting inside every future drawdown, the same structure that turned miner loans and DeFi collateral into accelerants in prior cycles. Individually rational borrowing, aggregated, becomes a market feature.

And the unknowns are not neutral. Borrowing costs are unpublished; whether pledged XRP is rehypothecated, lent onward, or held bankruptcy-remote is unpublished; the custody arrangement behind the collateral is unpublished. These may all resolve benignly, and RedotPay’s operating history earns it the presumption of competence. But a leverage product for eight million retail users, on a drawdown-prone asset, whose core risk terms are absent from its launch communications, has earned exactly one sentence of verdict: the card’s success metric is not sign-ups, and everyone will learn its real design the first month the collateral falls 40%.

The precedent shelf The card did not invent its category, and its neighbors on the shelf are the fastest way to calibrate both the opportunity and the risk, because each ran a version of this experiment and left a legible result.

The closest structural relative is the crypto-backed loan book of the last cycle, and its lesson is precise, not general. Celsius, BlockFi, and their cohort did not fail because lending against crypto is impossible; they failed at the treasury layer, rehypothecating collateral, mismatching duration, running invisible leverage on the lender’s own balance sheet, while their retail borrowers discovered that liquidation clauses they had never read executed automatically in the March and June 2022 cascades. The two failure surfaces are separable, and the RedotPay product should be examined on each independently: what the borrower signs, which will surface quickly, and what happens to pledged XRP inside the company, which will not. The industry’s post-2022 vocabulary, segregated collateral, no-rehypothecation attestations, proof of reserves, exists precisely because the second surface stayed dark until it ruptured, and a launch that leads with adoption numbers while omitting collateral treatment has, knowingly or not, reproduced the sequencing of the last cycle’s marketing.

The happier precedent is the securities-backed lending business this product is modeled on, roughly a $150 billion book at the major US wirehouses, run for decades with unremarkable loss rates. Its stability rests on three legs worth naming because each is currently absent here: conservative advance rates against diversified, comparatively low-volatility collateral; regulated disclosure of every material term; and margin machinery tested through multiple market cycles with borrowers who mostly have other assets. Single-asset collateral at 50% LTV on an instrument that routinely moves 10% in a week, sold to a retail base whose crypto position may be their principal asset, is the same architecture at triple the stress with none of the disclosure. That does not doom it. It means the product’s safety is an empirical question the traditional version never had to ask, and the first drawdown will answer it in public.

And the nearest crypto-native success, the exchange-issued collateral cards and stablecoin debit products that RedotPay itself sells, offers the final calibration: those work, at scale, precisely because they carry no leverage, which is the feature this launch adds. The category’s entire history compresses into one sentence the marketing will never use: crypto payment cards succeed in proportion to how little borrowing they contain, and this is the most borrowing one has ever contained.

What to watch Credit issuance volume, when it publishes. The company has indicated reporting on credit volumes will follow. Watch the ratio of pledged collateral to platform XRP balances: a niche convenience product and a system-relevant leverage layer look identical at launch and completely different at scale.

The terms, as users surface them. Interest rates, margin-call thresholds, liquidation procedures, and rehypothecation language will emerge from user agreements even if never press-released. The gap between the marketing and the margin schedule is the product’s honest description, and it will be visible within weeks.

The first drawdown. XRP at fifteen-month lows means the collateral question is not hypothetical for long in either direction. A 30-40% decline from pledge prices is the product’s first real audit: orderly margin management, or the familiar cascade. Every future XRP-collateral product, and competitors will copy this one if it scales, inherits whatever precedent this launch sets.

RLUSD’s chain split. Each card settlement is XRPL-side RLUSD volume. Watch whether the stablecoin’s circulation begins migrating from Ethereum toward its home ledger; if it does, this unglamorous consumer product will have done more for the XRPL’s activity metrics than any institutional announcement this year, which would be its own quiet verdict on where adoption actually comes from.

The card is a genuine innovation, a genuine RLUSD milestone, and a genuine margin loan, and the industry’s habit of celebrating the first two while ignoring the third is how every crypto credit cycle has started. Eight million users are about to learn, in the product’s own language, whether spend without selling survives its first encounter with sell without asking. The answer will arrive with the next drawdown, on schedule, as it always does.

A closing note on the geography, because where this product launches shapes what it becomes. RedotPay’s hundred countries are not a uniform market; the platform’s center of gravity runs through Southeast Asia, the Gulf, Africa, and Latin America, regions where the card’s stablecoin core solves problems a US or EU user does not have: unstable local currencies, thin card penetration, expensive remittance corridors, and banking systems that make holding dollars hard. In those markets the RLUSD card’s leverage feature rides on top of a genuinely useful dollar-spending instrument, which will flatter its adoption numbers and complicate their interpretation, since sign-ups driven by the stablecoin utility will be counted as validation of the credit product. 

The regulatory map matters in the same way: crypto-collateralized consumer credit occupies wildly different legal positions across those hundred jurisdictions, from regulated lending to unlicensed gray zones, and a product distributed at this breadth will inevitably become a test case somewhere, most plausibly in whichever market first combines mass adoption with a drawdown-driven liquidation wave and an ombudsman. The US, notably, is where products like this face the sharpest scrutiny and where RedotPay’s footprint is lightest, meaning the card will scale, and its risks will surface, largely outside the regulatory perimeter American observers instinctively assume. That is not an accident of the launch. It is the strategy, and it is the same strategy every offshore crypto credit product has run: grow where the rules are unwritten, and let the first crisis write them.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Product terms described reflect launch communications and may change or be incomplete; borrowing against volatile assets carries liquidation risk up to loss of collateral. Always do your own research. Information is accurate as of July 23, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions What is the RedotPay RLUSD card? A Visa-network payment card launched by RedotPay, a stablecoin payments fintech serving more than 8 million users in over 100 countries. Users pledge XRP as collateral at a 50% loan-to-value ratio to unlock a credit line, which is settled in Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger and spendable at any Visa merchant, allowing holders to access liquidity without selling their XRP.

How is this different from a normal crypto debit card? A debit card sells or converts your crypto at the point of purchase; you spend the asset itself. This card lends against your crypto: your XRP stays yours, remains exposed to price moves, and serves as collateral for borrowed RLUSD. Mechanically it is a collateralized credit line, the crypto equivalent of a securities-backed loan, with the corresponding benefits, retained upside, no taxable disposal at borrowing, and the corresponding risks, margin calls and liquidation.

What does the 50% loan-to-value ratio mean in practice? You can borrow up to half the market value of the XRP you pledge: $1,000 of XRP supports up to $500 of credit. The ratio is the lender’s buffer against price declines. If XRP falls substantially, the loan can approach the collateral’s value, triggering demands for repayment or additional collateral, and ultimately liquidation of the pledged XRP. The specific thresholds and procedures were not disclosed in launch materials.

Is spending without selling really tax-advantaged? Generally, borrowing against an asset is not a disposal, so drawing the credit line does not itself crystallize capital gains the way selling XRP would, a genuine feature for long-term holders, subject to local tax law. The offset is borrowing cost: interest on the credit line, whose rate RedotPay has not published, plus liquidation risk. Whether deferral beats disposal depends on those terms and the token’s subsequent path. This is not tax advice.

Why does this matter for RLUSD and the XRP Ledger? Distribution. RLUSD’s circulation has concentrated in institutional venues and largely on Ethereum, while this card routes consumer settlement through the XRP Ledger itself, every credit draw an on-ledger RLUSD transaction. At scale, it would generate the routine, non-speculative XRPL payment volume the ecosystem has long promised, and shift RLUSD activity toward its home chain, making the card a meaningful test of where the stablecoin’s real usage develops.

What are the main risks for users? Liquidation is the central one: a significant XRP price decline can force sale of pledged collateral, potentially near market lows, converting a spend-without-selling product into an involuntary sale. Undisclosed terms compound it: borrowing costs, margin thresholds, notice procedures, and whether collateral is rehypothecated are not public. Standard platform risks, custody, jurisdiction, counterparty, apply as with any centralized fintech holding user assets.

Could this product affect the XRP market itself? At scale, yes. Widely pledged collateral with mechanical liquidation triggers creates a price-insensitive seller beneath the market: drawdowns that breach margin thresholds force sales that deepen the drawdown. Similar structures, miner loans, DeFi collateral, amplified prior cycles. Whether this card reaches system-relevant size depends on issuance volumes the company has yet to report, which is why those numbers are the ones to watch.

Should XRP holders use it? That is an individual financial decision this article does not make. The honest framing: it is a leverage product with real convenience and tax-deferral features and real, partially undisclosed risks, appropriate in the way margin borrowing is appropriate, for users who understand liquidation mechanics, borrow well below limits, and can repay without selling collateral in a drawdown. Anyone for whom those conditions do not hold is the product’s risk case, not its customer. Always do your own research.

The Verus-Ethereum Bridge has been hacked… again. The latest attack reportedly exploited the same weakness used before, which raises the question: is the bridge truly safe?

Verus-Ethereum bridge drained of $7.54M  Blockchain security firm Blockaid detected a new attack on the Verus-Ethereum Bridge on the 23rd of July. According to the firm, the attacker exploited the bridge’s import process to release funds without depositing matching assets on the source chain.

Source: Blockaid On-chain data shows that the exploit occurred at 03:45 UTC. Around 1,137 Ethereum [ETH], along with tBTC, USD Coin [USDC], Tether [USDT], EURC, Maker [MKR], and Savings crvUSD [scrvUSD], were transferred to an attacker-controlled wallet. Etherscan valued the main outflows at approximately $7.54 million at the time.

Blockaid noted that although the attacker used a different wallet and transaction, they still targeted the same bridge contract, entry path, and likely bug category as in the May breach. 

Attack similar to May’s $11.58 million exploit

Cryptocurrency prices are trending lower on Thursday, pressured by renewed inflation concerns stemming from ongoing tensions between the United States (US) and Iran and persistently elevated Oil prices. Bitcoin (BTC) is approaching short-term support at $65,000, with upside resistance remaining firm at $67,000.

Meanwhile, altcoins, including Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP), mirror Bitcoin’s neutral-to-bearish tone, testing key support levels at $1,900 and $1.13, respectively.

Crypto market sentiment is in Fear territory, with a minor drawdown to 31 on Thursday from 33 the day before, according to the Fear & Greed Index. If this weakness persists, it could negatively impact appetite for risk assets, in turn reducing demand and the tail force in the broader crypto market.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index | Source: AlternativeBitcoin and Ethereum attract capital inflows as XRP lagsInstitutional demand for Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) remains robust, marking a seventh straight day of consistent inflows, albeit with a notable drop to $69 million on Wednesday from $203 million the previous day. SoSoValue data shows cumulative inflows approaching $52 billion, while average net assets under management hover around $80 billion. This highlights persistent long-term institutional confidence in the largest crypto asset.

Bitcoin ETF flows | Source: SoSoValueEthereum spot ETFs continue to recover, with Wednesday’s inflows reaching $73 million, almost double Tuesday’s $37 million. Cumulative inflows edged higher to $11.23 billion from $11.15 billion over the same period, while average assets under management climbed to $10.57 billion, compared to $10.48 billion on Tuesday.

Ethereum ETF flows | Source: SoSoValueAppetite for XRP ETFs has significantly lagged that for Bitcoin and Ethereum, with activity remaining muted on Wednesday. Looking back, inflows totaled $2.5 million on Monday and roughly $6 million on Tuesday. According to SoSoValue, cumulative inflows are steady at $1.49, with net assets averaging $1 billion, underscoring investors' long-term interest in XRP investment products.

XRP ETF flows | Source: SoSoValuePrice analysis: Bitcoin upside stays capped Bitcoin trades at $65,722, holding above the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $65,164 but still capped well below the 100-day EMA at $68,027 and the 200-day EMA at $73,734, which keeps the broader bias bearish despite the latest rebound. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) around 57 and the positive Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram hint at improving bullish momentum, yet price remains structurally constrained under the major trend EMAs and the prevailing downward resistance trendline.

BTC/USDT daily chartOn the topside, initial resistance is seen at the 100-day EMA around $68,027, with a stronger cap at the 200-day EMA near $73,734, where sellers are likely to reassert control if the rally extends. On the downside, immediate support emerges at the 50-day EMA at $65,164, while a deeper pullback would expose the former resistance-turned-structural level around the trendline break price at $59,189, which acts as a more distant demand zone in the current configuration.

Altcoins outlook: Ethereum and XRP struggle to renew momentumEthereum trades around $1,930, keeping a capped tone as it sits above the 50-day EMA at $1,832 but remains below the 100-day EMA at $1,938 and the 200-day EMA at $2,175. The MACD histogram holds in positive territory, while the RSI hovers near 64, suggesting bullish momentum that has yet to overcome the overhead trend barriers.

ETH/USDT daily chartOn the topside, immediate resistance lies at the 100-day EMA at $1,938, with a more significant hurdle at the longer-term 200-day EMA near $2,175. On the downside, the first notable support aligns with the 50-day EMA at $1,832, where a break lower would hint at a deeper corrective phase despite the currently constructive momentum.

XRP, on the other hand, trades at $1.13, capped by a dense layer of overhead moving averages. The 50-day EMA near $1.15, the the longer-term 100-day and 200-day EMAs at $1.23 and $1.44, respectively all sit above price, keeping the near-term tone bearish despite a mildly constructive momentum backdrop.

The MACD indicator holds in positive territory with the line above the signal and a modest positive histogram, while the RSI around 55 hints at steady, but not aggressive, buying interest.

XRP/USDT daily chartOn the downside, initial support appears at the Bollinger middle layer around $1.11, with a deeper cushion at the lower band near $1.06 if selling pressure resumes. On the topside, bulls would first need to reclaim the 50-day EMA at $1.15 to ease immediate downside pressure, followed by the Bollinger upper layer at $1.16 as the next hurdle. Only a sustained break above the 100-day EMA at $1.23 would begin to challenge the broader bearish bias while the 200-day EMA at $1.44 remains a far more distant structural cap.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Crypto ETF FAQs An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is an investment vehicle or an index that tracks the price of an underlying asset. ETFs can not only track a single asset, but a group of assets and sectors. For example, a Bitcoin ETF tracks Bitcoin’s price. ETF is a tool used by investors to gain exposure to a certain asset.

Yes. The first Bitcoin futures ETF in the US was approved by the US Securities & Exchange Commission in October 2021. A total of seven Bitcoin futures ETFs have been approved, with more than 20 still waiting for the regulator’s permission. The SEC says that the cryptocurrency industry is new and subject to manipulation, which is why it has been delaying crypto-related futures ETFs for the last few years.

Yes. The SEC approved in January 2024 the listing and trading of several Bitcoin spot Exchange-Traded Funds, opening the door to institutional capital and mainstream investors to trade the main crypto currency. The decision was hailed by the industry as a game changer.

The main advantage of crypto ETFs is the possibility of gaining exposure to a cryptocurrency without ownership, reducing the risk and cost of holding the asset. Other pros are a lower learning curve and higher security for investors since ETFs take charge of securing the underlying asset holdings. As for the main drawbacks, the main one is that as an investor you can’t have direct ownership of the asset, or, as they say in crypto, “not your keys, not your coins.” Other disadvantages are higher costs associated with holding crypto since ETFs charge fees for active management. Finally, even though investing in ETFs reduces the risk of holding an asset, price swings in the underlying cryptocurrency are likely to be reflected in the investment vehicle too.

Ethereum price has remained trapped below $2,000 as rising oil prices, renewed interest-rate concerns and BitMEX’s planned shutdown have tempered bullish sentiment despite continued spot ETF inflows.

Summary

Ethereum price remains below $2,000 as higher oil prices revive Federal Reserve rate-hike concerns. Spot ETF inflows and positive capital flows continue to support ETH above $1,900. A break above $1,955 could target $2,030, while losing $1,860 would weaken the recovery. According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price traded near $1,927 on July 23 after reaching an intraday high of $1,941. The token has recovered more than 27% from its June low near $1,514, but repeated failures around $1,955 have kept the psychological $2,000 level beyond buyers’ reach.

Oil supplied the latest macro pressure as Middle East tensions pushed crude prices higher for a fifth consecutive session. West Texas Intermediate rose above $90 a barrel after attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on Saudi oil tankers raised concerns about regional supplies. Higher energy costs could feed inflation and reduce the Federal Reserve’s room to keep monetary policy unchanged.

Rate traders have already adjusted their positions. The probability of a September Fed hike rose to 79% from 68% per data from the CME FedWatch tool. Expectations for the July meeting remain centered on no change, but another oil-led inflation increase could lift Treasury yields and pressure risk assets such as Ethereum.

U.S. equities also weakened after Alphabet raised its 2026 capital-spending forecast to between $195 billion and $205 billion. The company recorded negative free cash flow of $5.9 billion as quarterly expenditure doubled to $44.9 billion, while its shares fell in premarket trading. 

A retreat across technology stocks could limit speculative demand in crypto markets because both sectors remain sensitive to interest-rate expectations.

ETF demand has kept Ethereum above its rising support structure Institutional flows have provided a counterweight to the macro uncertainty. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $72.64 million in net inflows on July 22, according to SoSoValue. BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust accounted for $53.47 million, showing that regulated products continued to attract capital even as ETH struggled below $2,000.

BitMEX added a separate source of uncertainty after announcing that it would cease operations on Sept. 23 following a strategic review by parent company HDR Global Trading. The exchange told customers to close positions and withdraw funds before the deadline. BitMEX helped popularize perpetual swaps and has served more than 2 million professional and institutional traders since its 2014 launch.

Position transfers and forced closures at BitMEX could temporarily reduce liquidity or move leverage to rival exchanges. However, the announcement does not mean Ethereum’s global perpetual market will close, because Binance, Bybit, OKX and other venues operate larger derivatives businesses.

Ethereum’s daily chart remains constructive above the Supertrend support at $1,744.73. The indicator has stayed green during the July advance, while the Chaikin Money Flow reading of 0.12 shows that buying volume has exceeded selling volume over the indicator’s measurement period. Price must still close above the nearby $1,941–$1,955 ceiling before the daily structure opens a route toward $2,000.

Ethereum price daily chart — July 23 | Source: crypto.news According to analyst Ted Pillows, spot-market demand has protected the recovery’s main support zone.

“Spot demand is strong and the key support zone hasn’t been lost. IMO, Ethereum could begin its next move up in a few days.”

Pillows placed $2,030 as the first major upside barrier, followed by $2,179 and a heavier supply zone near $2,400. His chart also identified support between roughly $1,834 and $1,897, with lower demand areas around $1,730 and $1,540.

The 4-hour chart shows ETH compressing beneath $1,955.40 while holding an ascending trendline drawn from the June 26 low. Buyers have also defended the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement at $1,860.86, leaving the sequence of higher lows intact. A 4-hour close above $1,955 would clear the recovery high and place $2,000–$2,030 within reach.

Ethereum price 4-hour chart — July 23 | Source: crypto.news Momentum has weakened before that test. The 4-hour Relative Strength Index has fallen to 57.46 from its recent highs and sits below its signal average of 63.30. MACD has also registered a bearish crossover, with the MACD line at 13.48 beneath the 15.94 signal line and the histogram at minus 2.46. Neither indicator confirms a trend reversal, but both show that buyers have lost speed near resistance.

Break below $1,860 would invalidate the immediate breakout setup CoinGlass’s three-day liquidation heatmap places the largest nearby short-liquidation concentration around $1,958–$1,965. A move through that band could force bearish positions to close and accelerate a test of $2,000. The strongest downside liquidity sits near $1,895–$1,905, with another dense pocket around $1,875.

Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass Failure to hold the rising 4-hour trendline would expose the $1,860 Fibonacci level first. A close below that support would weaken the higher-low structure and raise the risk of a decline toward $1,786.63, followed by daily Supertrend support near $1,745. Losses below $1,745 would invalidate the current recovery thesis and reopen $1,682.

Oil supply disruptions, a higher September rate-hike probability, and forced position reductions before BitMEX closes remain the main external risks. Ethereum needs sustained spot volume above $1,955 to confirm a breakout; without it, liquidity around $1,900 may continue to pull price back into the established range.

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato has introduced cryptocurrency trading services for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Litecoin directly within its web and mobile banking applications. The development makes BancaStato one of the first Swiss financial institutions to offer regulated digital asset trading to its retail clients through existing banking platforms.

Full integration with Avaloq and Sygnum infrastructureThe rollout was made possible by integrating Sygnum’s business-to-business crypto infrastructure with BancaStato’s Avaloq core banking system. Clients can access digital assets, place trades, and oversee their portfolios from the same digital interfaces they use for everyday banking.

BancaStato, founded in 1915 and serving the Canton of Ticino, has aimed to position itself at the forefront of digital innovation among Swiss regional lenders. The bank’s move introduces a regulated channel for clients to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies alongside traditional financial products under a unified account.

Users can submit market orders in both crypto denominations and US dollar terms, with asset custody managed through Sygnum’s regulated platform.

Mini dictionary: Sygnum, a Swiss digital asset bank, provides regulated infrastructure for cryptocurrency custody and trading. Its API-based systems enable traditional financial institutions to offer direct digital asset services to their customers.

BancaStato offers cryptocurrency trading directly through its familiar banking channels, removing the need for separate trading platforms and simplifying access to digital assets for its account holders.

Operational benefits and regulatory safeguardsThrough this integration with Sygnum, BancaStato can provide institutional-grade custody, incorporating hardware security, software protections, governance procedures, and regular audits. Digital assets held by clients remain off the bank’s balance sheet and are segregated in compliance with Swiss financial regulations.

BancaStato is the first Avaloq software-as-a-service client to enable Sygnum-powered crypto trading directly via API. This approach reduces complexity by eliminating the need for a separate order management system while allowing the bank to adapt trading functionalities without major changes to core infrastructure.

The platform gives account holders the ability to manage both conventional and digital investments within a single online banking relationship, enhancing portfolio management and oversight capabilities.

BankLaunch DateCrypto Trading IntegrationTrading ChannelsBancaStatoJune 2026Yes (Sygnum & Avaloq)Online & Mobile BankingPostFinanceApril 2023Yes (Sygnum)Digital Banking PlatformsSygnum’s infrastructure is now used by over 25 Swiss and European banking institutions, extending digital asset access to nearly one-third of Switzerland’s population through its network of affiliated lenders.

Industry impact and regulatory evolutionBancaStato now joins a list of Swiss financial institutions, including PostFinance and Zuger Kantonalbank, that provide crypto trading and custody through Sygnum’s infrastructure. The integration expands regulated access to digital assets, addressing increasing demand among Swiss bank customers for innovative investment products.

On June 30, 2026, Sygnum Europe obtained official registration as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation through supervision from the Liechtenstein Financial Market Authority. This approval is expected to further bolster the bank’s capability to offer compliant digital asset services across the EU, enhancing security and regulatory clarity for clients outside Switzerland.

With this move, BancaStato broadens its digital portfolio while maintaining its regulatory frameworks, enabling customers across Ticino and Switzerland to access cryptocurrency markets without leaving the protected environment of traditional banking applications.

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

A Swiss cantonal bank has moved crypto trading directly into its normal banking experience, and that is the part of the story that matters most.

BancaStato, the state bank of the Canton of Ticino, has partnered with Sygnum and Avaloq to let clients buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Solana through its mobile and web banking channels.

This is not a crypto exchange launching another app. It is a traditional regional bank adding digital assets inside the banking platform its clients already use.

Sygnum is providing the digital asset banking and custody infrastructure, while Avaloq’s core banking environment is being used for the integration. The assets are held off-balance sheet in Sygnum’s institutional custody setup.

That is a very Swiss version of crypto adoption: regulated, integrated, custody-led, and built into the existing banking stack rather than presented as a retail trading spectacle.

TL;DR BancaStato has added Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Litecoin trading for clients. The service uses Sygnum’s B2B crypto banking API and Avaloq’s core banking environment. The move is a cantonal-bank adoption story, not a nationwide Swiss banking rollout. Why This Looks Different From A Normal Crypto Launch Most crypto access stories still have a similar shape.

An exchange adds a product. A fintech app adds a token. A wallet adds a new chain. Those launches can matter, but they usually sit outside the traditional banking relationship.

BancaStato’s move is different because it brings crypto into the bank interface itself.

For ordinary clients, that reduces friction. They do not need to open a separate exchange account or move money to a platform they may not know. They can access supported digital assets through a banking environment that already handles their financial relationship.

For institutions and conservative users, that matters even more.

The biggest barrier to crypto adoption is often not interest. It is trust, custody, compliance, and operational comfort. A cantonal bank working with Sygnum and Avaloq gives the service a more familiar structure.

That does not make crypto risk-free. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Litecoin remain volatile assets. Clients can still lose money if prices move against them. But the access model is more bank-native than the typical retail exchange route.

Sygnum’s Role Is The Key Piece Sygnum has built its position around regulated digital asset banking, and this kind of partnership is exactly where that model becomes useful.

Banks that want to offer crypto do not always want to build custody, trading infrastructure, blockchain connectivity, compliance processes, and asset operations from scratch. That is expensive, slow, and risky.

A B2B provider gives them a shortcut.

Sygnum’s infrastructure lets BancaStato offer crypto access while leaning on a specialist digital asset bank for the custody and trading stack. Avaloq’s involvement then connects that service into the bank’s existing core system.

That is the real adoption signal.

Crypto becomes another product layer inside regulated banking infrastructure, not a separate universe.

If more banks choose that path, the industry may not grow through flashy retail apps alone. It may grow quietly through integrations that make digital assets feel like part of normal financial services.

Switzerland Keeps Building The Boring Version Of Crypto Adoption Switzerland has been one of the more serious crypto jurisdictions for years.

That does not mean every Swiss financial institution is rushing into digital assets. But the country has built a clearer lane for regulated custody, tokenization, banking integrations, and institutional services than many other markets.

BancaStato’s launch fits that pattern.

It is not a claim that all Swiss banks are now adopting crypto. It is not even a national rollout. It is one cantonal bank serving Swiss residents through a specific partnership.

But that is still meaningful.

Traditional finance adoption rarely happens all at once. It usually arrives through controlled launches, limited asset lists, custody partnerships, and client-demand testing. Banks start with major assets, watch how clients use the product, and then decide whether to expand.

Here, the supported list is conservative but notable: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Litecoin. That gives clients exposure to the two largest crypto networks, one high-activity smart contract ecosystem, and one older payment-focused asset.

What To Watch Next The next question is whether this kind of integration becomes repeatable.

If Sygnum and Avaloq can help one cantonal bank bring crypto into its banking channels, the model may appeal to other banks that want to offer digital assets without becoming crypto-native operators themselves.

That would be more important than the launch size alone.

The market often gets excited about exchange volumes and ETF inflows, but bank distribution is another adoption route. It can bring crypto to clients who are interested but do not want to leave the regulated banking environment.

There are still limits. The rollout is local. The asset list is narrow. The risk remains with clients. And this should not be exaggerated into a national Swiss banking shift.

Still, BancaStato’s move shows how crypto access is becoming more embedded in traditional finance.

Not through a slogan. Through custody, APIs, core banking software, and a regulated bank willing to put the service in front of clients.

That is a quieter story than a bull-market exchange launch, but it may be more durable.

This article is based on announcements from Sygnum and BancaStato.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

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.

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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.

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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%.

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$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)??

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Fourth security incident today: A PancakeSwap liquidity provider (LP) granted a malicious approval, resulting in losses of approximately $2.96 million.

According to Specter’s monitoring, a long-inactive PancakeSwap liquidity provider (LP) suffered a loss of roughly $2.96 million after signing a malicious EIP-7702 authorization. The attacker drained approximately $1.48 million in BSC-USD and $1.48 million in BUSD liquidity provided by the victim, then swapped the BUSD for ETH. To date, the attacker has deposited around $1.46 million into Tornado Cash, with the remaining roughly $1.48 million in USDT still held in the attacker’s address.

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Dogecoin (DOGE) extends its decline on Thursday, approaching its yearly low at $0.069 as bearish sentiment continues to weigh on the meme coin. Escalating US-Iran conflict and fresh Houthi threats have dampened risk appetite, weighing on speculative assets such as DOGE. Weakening derivatives metrics and a deteriorating technical outlook suggest a deeper correction if DOGE slips below $0.069.

Renewed geopolitical tensions dampen risk appetiteThe US military said it completed the 11th night of strikes on Iran early Wednesday, targeting aircraft hangars and drone storage sites. Iran, on the other hand, continued attacks across the Gulf, targeting US military assets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. 

Adding to this, Iran said that its forces struck two Oil tankers as they attempted to transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Furthermore, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis targeted two Saudi Oil tankers in the Red Sea, opening a new front in the war and adding to fears of further disruption of energy flows.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump warned the US would target Iranian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants, if attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz continued.

These renewed uncertainty has pushed Oil prices sharply higher this week, weighing on risk sentiment and reigniting inflation concerns. The shift has prompted traders to reassess the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) policy outlook. 

The CME FedWatch Tool chart below shows the probability of a July rate hike rising to 33.7% from around 25% a day earlier and the 12% seen a week ago. This change reflects expectations that the Fed could maintain a more hawkish stance, weighing on risk assets such as Bitcoin and exerting even greater pressure on highly speculative assets like meme coins.

Derivatives data shows bearish biasDogecoin’s derivatives metrics show weakening conditions. Coinglass’s Open Interest (OI) across exchanges chart for DOGE has been rising since mid-June, with outstanding contracts reaching 15.44 billion DOGE coins on Thursday. The increase in OI alongside falling prices suggests that new short positions are entering the market, signaling a bearish outlook and raising the risk of further correction in DOGE.

DOGE open interest chart. Source: CoinglassThe bearish thesis strengthened as the long-to-short ratio for the meme coin remained below 1, reading 0.88 on Thursday, nearing the lowest level over a month. A ratio below one, indicates that traders are betting on the asset price to fall.

Dogecoin long-to-short ratio chart. Source: CoinglassDogecoin Price Forecast: Heading towards the yearly lowDogecoin trades at $0.072 on Thursday, maintaining a bearish near-term posture as it remains well below the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs), clustered between roughly $0.079 and $0.103. 

The meme coin continues to trade under the downward resistance trend line, whose break price at $0.085 reinforces the overhead supply, while the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart around 38 stays in mildly bearish territory and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator hovers just above the zero line with a flat profile, hinting at weak momentum rather than a decisive reversal.

On the topside, initial resistance is seen at the 50-day EMA at $0.079, followed by the downtrend break level at $0.085 and the 100-day EMA at $0.087, with a nearby horizontal cap at $0.088 adding to the barrier zone. Higher up, a prior horizontal ceiling at $0.102 and the 200-day EMA at $0.103 mark a broader structural hurdle for any sustained recovery. 

On the downside, the yearly low at $0.069 provides immediate support; a close below it suggests deeper losses toward the key psychological level of $0.065.

(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Dogecoin is currently retesting a major support zone that previously coincided with significant rallies in 2017 and 2020. The meme coin, which has built a large global following and ranks among the top cryptocurrencies by market value, is once again at a crucial junction in its price history.

Critical support zone draws attentionThe DOGE price has fallen back to a rising trendline, which in the past marked the start of extended bullish runs. Analysts point to the area between $0.07 and $0.075 as a significant inflection point; holding this level could potentially establish a long-term bottom.

Trader Tardigrade noted similarities between the current price action and those earlier cycles, suggesting that sustaining above this support zone could pave the way for another strong rebound.

Analysts see the $0.07–$0.075 region as a pivotal area for DOGE, since maintaining this support could mirror previous price surges and set the stage for a longer-term recovery.

To confirm a broader bullish reversal, Dogecoin must reclaim the $0.10 and $0.13 resistance levels. Breaking above these thresholds would strengthen the case for a sustained recovery and could encourage more buyers to enter the market.

Downtrend resistance and key price targetsDespite the optimism around the historical support, Dogecoin continues to trade below a long-term descending trendline that originated from its previous all-time high. This trendline remains a critical obstacle for the bulls.

MikybullCrypto, an active trader known for charting major altcoin setups, described the current configuration as one of his strongest plays, forecasting the potential for at least a fivefold increase should a confirmed breakout occur.

Based on the technical outlook, a successful breakout above the trendline could propel DOGE towards the $0.36 area, contingent on surmounting interim resistance at $0.10, $0.13, $0.20, and $0.30.

Nonetheless, analysts caution that previous rallies do not ensure repetition. If Dogecoin fails to hold its current support and closes below the trendline on a monthly timeframe, the bullish setup would be invalidated. Such a breakdown could expose the price to further downside, particularly if DOGE slips beneath the $0.06–$0.07 band.

The situation remains speculative as long as Dogecoin trades beneath the descending trendline. Market participants will be watching for a decisive move above resistance levels to validate any larger recovery in the coming weeks.

Key LevelSignificance$0.06–$0.07Major support zone, loss risks further declines$0.07–$0.075Current base for potential reversal$0.10–$0.13Initial resistance, signals start of recovery$0.20, $0.30Next barriers on the path to $0.36$0.36Potential target if bullish structure holdsDisclaimer: 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.

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto on X, weighed in on the recent price action across the crypto market, characterizing the current environment as unusually calm and uneventful. His comments come as digital assets struggle to recover from a sharp decline, with most cryptocurrencies moving sideways after a significant selloff that pushed many tokens to multi-year lows.

Market stalls after heavy selloffMajor coins, including Dogecoin, have lost much of their momentum since the start of July. Dogecoin itself dropped to $0.0693 in early July, its lowest level since November 2023. Although the price rebounded slightly to $0.0723 at press time, the meme coin remains 29% lower since the beginning of the month.

Analytics platform CryptoQuant observed that around 40% of altcoins are now trading near all-time lows. This level of underperformance signals a deep slump across the altcoin sector, with investor sentiment described as subdued and cautious. Volume across exchanges has also dropped, reflecting limited interest from both traders and institutions.

Billy Markus: Crypto bear markets are “boring”Given the lack of movement in prices, Billy Markus addressed the broader mood dominating crypto traders on social media. In a post that did not name specific cryptocurrencies, he remarked, “This is what the crypto bear market always looks like. It’s not panic-inducing. It’s just so boring.”

Crypto bear markets often stretch into uneventful phases, marked by low trading volumes, muted sentiment, and sideways price action. In response to a question about how long these periods last, Markus replied, “three to four years historically, but who knows,” reflecting the uncertainty many market participants feel about the timeline for a recovery.

This phase Markus described typically follows a sharp upward or downward move, leading to an extended period of price stability known as consolidation. During such times, both rallies and declines are short lived and quickly counteracted by the opposite forces, resulting in little overall progress for prices.

Consolidation leads to defensive tradingThe current atmosphere suggests that the market is consolidating after its recent descent. Most altcoins remain within tight trading ranges, and attempts to boost prices are met with swift profit-taking. Crypto traders have notably reduced their leverage and adopted a more defensive approach, seeking to protect capital rather than chase risky opportunities.

Some analysts believe that prolonged consolidation can prime the market for the next major trend, as accumulation quietly takes place in low-volatility conditions. However, there are few signs that a new rally is imminent, and market direction remains uncertain for the time being.

For investors and traders navigating this ambiguous phase, solutions like CryptoAppsy offer potential advantages. 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.

While it is difficult to predict how long the current consolidation period will last, many in the industry look to historical cycles for guidance. Until momentum returns to the market, price stability and subdued sentiment are expected to prevail as traders remain cautious and patient.

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.

Cardano is trading at roughly $0.175, bouncing 27% off a June low that touched 2020-era levels at $0.138, and Crypto Banter analyst Sheldon says the altcoin is coiling inside a textbook descending wedge with a September detonation window. The price prediction: a move to $0.50–$0.60, contingent on one make-or-break level holding the key.

The central tension here is straightforward: a pattern-based bull case targets 186%–243% upside from current prices, while the wedge’s upper resistance has limited upside attempts. Something has to give, and Sheldon has a timeline for when that will happen.

ADA is up +7% over the past week, capping an impressive stretch that has seen the Charles Hoskinson-led token surge nearly +14% in July. Daily trading volume for Cardano is sitting at over $271M.

What the Descending Wedge Is Telling You A descending wedge is a chart pattern in which both the upper resistance line and the lower support line slope downward. It is generally read as a bullish continuation or reversal pattern; the narrowing range signals that selling pressure is exhausting itself, and the eventual breakout tends to be sharp and directional.

Sheldon analyzed the 1-week ADA chart and identified exactly this structure. The wedge’s lower support boundary traces back to the October 10 crash low of $0.27; the upper resistance originates from the early December high of $0.48.

Cardano has persistently slid lower within this wedge, shuffling between the descending upper and lower boundaries, most recently tagging the lower rail at $0.138 in June before bouncing.

Crucially, that lower boundary held again. The +27% rebound from June’s multi-year floor has pushed ADA toward the wedge’s upper resistance line, where the trade thesis either validates or collapses.

$ADA moves towards a key convering/breaking point and a positive response could kick start a massive run towards the $2.90 areas which we are targeting!

This target is over ~1,500% away…

(Cardano) pic.twitter.com/qvPj1K2svb

— JAVON⚡️MARKS (@JavonTM1) July 21, 2026

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The $0.20 Line and the September Window Sheldon identified $0.20 as the critical breakout confirmation level. Reclaiming and sustaining price above that zone, roughly a 14% move from current levels, would constitute a structural break from the wedge and signal that the multi-month compression has resolved to the upside.

Once above $0.20, Sheldon’s measured target is in the $0.50–$0.60 range, representing 186%-243% upside from $0.175. Those price levels were last visited in November 2025, meaning the trade is essentially asking whether ADA can retrace a significant portion of last year’s decline.

According to Crypto Banter’s Sheldon, the wedge is likely to keep the altcoin range-bound until around September 2026, when he expects the breakout to materialize, a timeline that aligns with the broader market narrative of a more sustained crypto recovery in Q4 2026.

It is worth noting that Sheldon’s target is a significant departure from conservative baseline forecasts. Quantitative models from CoinCodex, for example, project ADA in a $0.16–$0.18 range across 2026 under neutral assumptions, a reminder that the wedge breakout thesis carries meaningful execution risk.

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A Shorter-Term Setup for Cardano is Also in Play

(SOURCE: TradingView)

While Sheldon’s wedge trade frames the multi-month thesis, Cardano stake pool operator Ssebi identified a separate, shorter-duration pattern on the daily chart: an inverse head-and-shoulders (IH&S) formation. In a standard IH&S, three swing lows form – and a sustained move above the neckline signals a bullish reversal.

Ssebi’s pattern has the left shoulder at the June 6 low of $0.148, the head at $0.138 on June 25, and the right shoulder at $0.155 on July 13. The measured target from that setup is $0.25, representing a 43% gain from current prices. The invalidation condition is clean: a daily close below the right shoulder at approximately $0.155 would negate the pattern.

The two analyses stack neatly; Ssebi’s $0.25 IH&S target would represent an early waypoint on the road toward Sheldon’s $0.60 wedge target, assuming the broader structure plays out. The upgrade adds context on scalability, explaining why Q3 2026 is being watched as a potential inflection point for ADA.

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SummaryRELX (RELX) is now rated a 'BUY' at $33.8/share, reflecting attractive risk/reward after a significant valuation correction.Concerns over AI-driven commoditization are overstated; RELX's proprietary, curated data offers irreplaceable value versus open-source AI models.RELX delivers stable growth, a well-covered 2%+ dividend, and strong business quality, meeting 4 out of 5 key investment criteria.Buying RELX at 18–20x P/E and trimming above 25–26x P/E is a disciplined approach to capturing upside while managing valuation risk.Looking for more investing ideas like this one? Get them exclusively at Wolf of Value. Learn More » Willie B. Thomas/DigitalVision via Getty Images

It's all about what you pay for what you get. Few companies encapsulate this better than many of the now-undervalued information services and IT services companies. These companies, including many A-rated businesses, were overvalued for periods of

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While this article may sound like financial advice, please observe that the author is not a CFA or in any way licensed to give financial advice. It may be structured as such, but it is not financial advice. Investors are required and expected to do their own due diligence and research prior to any investment. Short-term trading, options trading/investment and futures trading are potentially extremely risky investment styles. They generally are not appropriate for someone with limited capital, limited investment experience, or a lack of understanding for the necessary risk tolerance involved. I own the European/Scandinavian tickers (not the ADRs) of all European/Scandinavian companies listed in my articles. I own the Canadian tickers of all Canadian stocks I write about. Please note that investing in European/Non-US stocks comes with withholding tax risks specific to the company's domicile as well as your personal situation. Investors should always consult a tax professional as to the overall impact of dividend withholding taxes and ways to mitigate these.

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The SpaceX logo in this illustration taken June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

NEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Short sellers ​targeting SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab ‌shares are sitting on an ​estimated $15.5 billion ​in paper profit since ⁠the rockets-to-AI ​firm's mid-June ​initial public offering, as its stock ​slipped below ​the IPO price, according ‌to ⁠data through Tuesday from analytics firm Ortex ​Technologies.

Short ​sellers ⁠aim to sell borrowed ​shares ​to ⁠buy them back at a ⁠profit.

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Reporting ​by ​Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Editing ​by Louise Heavens

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Item 1 of 2 The silhouette of Elon Musk and SpaceX logo are seen in this illustration created on June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

[1/2]The silhouette of Elon Musk and SpaceX logo are seen in this illustration created on June 11, 2026. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

SummaryCompaniesSpaceX shares fell to a record low of $115.26 on WednesdayAbout 360 million SPCX shares, or 56% of free float, were out on loan, Ortex data showedShort ​sellers showed little sign of pulling back on bearish betsNEW YORK, July 23 (Reuters) - Short sellers targeting SpaceX (SPCX.O), opens new tab shares are sitting on an estimated $15.5 billion in paper profit since the rockets-to-AI firm's mid-June initial public ​offering, as its stock slipped below the IPO price, according to data ​through Tuesday from analytics firm Ortex Technologies.

Short sellers, who borrow shares ⁠to sell them and later buy them back at a lower price for ​a profit, have pressed their bearish bets on SpaceX as the company's shares ​slipped below its IPO price of $135 from a post-IPO high of $225.64.

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SpaceX shares have been volatile, experiencing brief bouts of strength before slipping further. On Wednesday, the stock dropped to a new ​low of $115.26.

"There is no sign of short sellers taking profits on SpaceX," Ortex ​co-founder Peter Hillerberg said.

"If anything they are leaning in harder," Hillerberg said.

About 360 million SpaceX shares, ‌about ⁠56% of the free float, were out on loan, Ortex data through Tuesday showed.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The survival probability of firms who maintain a significant short position in SpaceX over time is very low," ​SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ​wrote in a ⁠post on X on Friday.

SpaceX's lofty valuation makes it a target for short sellers skeptical of its rich price tag, ​but strong retail and institutional interest as well as Musk's history ​of public ⁠battles against short sellers make bearish bets against the company a risky proposition.

The weakness in SpaceX shares reflects in part investor concern over debt-funded AI spending. Tesla, another Musk company, reported ⁠negative ​free cash flow in the second quarter for ​the first time in more than two years as the EV maker accelerated spending on AI infrastructure, ​battery capacity, robotaxis and next-generation manufacturing.

Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Editing by Louise Heavens

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Space Exploration Technologies (SPCX -1.08%) had to abort its 13th Starship test flight after some of its engines failed to ignite. Starship is SpaceX's fully reusable super-heavy-lift vehicle, and once it's ready to operate commercially, it could significantly reduce the cost of putting payloads into space, such as Starlink satellites or orbital data center satellites. Getting it off the ground (pun intended) will be key to the company achieving revenue growth and earnings that meet the market's high expectations.

SpaceX will have another go at the Starship test launch, and many more tests and launches will come over the next few years. A single aborted launch does not significantly impact the company's long-term viability.

The bigger risk to SpaceX and its investors involves what will happen if it successfully brings Starship into service: The company will need to raise massive amounts of capital over the better part of the next decade, even based on some of the most bullish outlooks for the business.

Image source: Getty Images.

This SpaceX bull just highlighted a major risk to the stock Morgan Stanley analysts have put a $300 price target on SpaceX stock. They cite its "near-monopoly launch economics," which will enable its satellite connectivity and AI businesses to scale up at a cost advantage.

Indeed, SpaceX can already launch its low earth orbit satellites for Starlink at a lower cost than any rival. And its technology also enables it to launch rockets at a higher cadence than anyone else. It can build faster and cheaper than anyone in the rocket launch industry.

But SpaceX is competing with terrestrial telecom companies and data centers. That's why Starship, which can carry much larger payloads and can be rebuilt and relaunched faster than SpaceX's current Falcon rockets, will be essential to scaling the business further.

Morgan Stanley sees Starship opening the door to serious revenue growth, but it will also require substantial capital to scale that business to the levels its analysts estimate. In fact, the analysts don't expect SpaceX to produce positive free cash flow until 2035. They estimate the company's average cash burn at $84 billion per year between 2027 and 2034, with capital expenditures peaking in 2031 at $300 billion.

In other words, SpaceX will need to raise about $700 billion in additional capital. "If debt markets cannot absorb this financing need, SpaceX may need to issue equity, reduce growth investment, or slow deployment," lead analyst Adam Jonas wrote in his note to investors.

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Importantly, SpaceX isn't the only tech company with significant financial demands. We've seen the major hyperscalers issue both debt and equity this year to raise cash to fund their AI data center build-outs. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is considering raising interest rates this year due to elevated inflation.

As a result, the cost of capital is rising. That could mean SpaceX will have to pay higher interest rates on whatever bonds it issues. Or, if the bond market cannot absorb another $700 billion of SpaceX's debt, its stock price will likely decline as it dilutes shareholders by raising funds via new equity issues.

The other option would be for SpaceX to raise less capital and slow its Starship, Starlink, and orbital data center build-outs. But that will lead to slower growth and, subsequently, a lower stock price.

SpaceX's capital requirements are a huge overhang on the stock, no matter how it raises that cash. Investors need to be aware of that risk, even if they're bullish on the technology.

Apple's (AAPL -1.55%) measured approach to artificial intelligence (AI), avoiding spending massive amounts of capital in this area like its big tech peers, appears to be a winning strategy from the market's point of view. Shares have climbed 22% in 2026 (as of July 20). They trade in record territory.

Should investors buy this "Magnificent Seven" stock right now?

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Investors might want to think twice about purchasing this business. That's because Apple shares aren't cheap.

The current price-to-earnings ratio of 39.5, which is near an 18-year high, indicates heightened investor enthusiasm. This adds greater downside risk should the business report financial results that disappoint investors.

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The market clearly has a favorable view of this company, though. Apple's financial performance has been superb. It reported 16.6% year-over-year revenue growth in Q2 2026 (ended March 28), with diluted earnings per share rising 21.8%. Demand for the latest iPhone 17 family has been off the charts, supporting the powerful ecosystem that drives customer stickiness.

Perhaps most importantly, Apple has stayed away from the unprecedented capital expenditure (capex) cycle that's defining the AI boom. Its capex totaled just $4.3 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2026.

Consequently, free cash flow remains robust. This gives the leadership team the ability to continue returning incredible amounts of capital to shareholders, primarily through stock buybacks.

Investors should keep Apple on their watch list, but wait for a better valuation.

Neil Patel has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

© Quality Stock Arts / Shutterstock.com

I keep building a position in Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META | META Price Prediction), and every quarter the case for adding more gets stronger, not weaker. The bear thesis I heard for eighteen months, that AI capital spending would eat the margins alive, has now been tested against real numbers. The numbers won.

The Capex Panic Was Priced in Fear Q1 2026 was the quarter the argument should have broken. Meta spent $18.997 billion on capex, up 46.8% year over year, and raised full-year guidance to $125 to $145 billion. And yet revenue grew 33.08% to $56.311 billion, operating income climbed 30.29%, and free cash flow stayed positive at $12.386 billion. Operating margin held at 41%. Those are the numbers of a company compounding through its investment cycle.

The reason the pie does not shrink is the whole game. Meta has kept everyday operating costs flat by cutting non-core corporate layers, freezing traditional infrastructure, and executing deep workforce reductions, funneling the freed capital into GPUs and data centers. Those hardware purchases are booked as capex, so the cash goes out immediately but hits the income statement gradually as depreciation over a 4-to-5-year useful life. By the time those charges arrive, AI-driven ad targeting has already delivered double-digit revenue growth that outpaces the creeping overhead. That is how you keep near-40% margins while spending like a utility.

Three Reasons the Compounding Case Holds First, monetization is accelerating alongside the spend. Ad impressions rose 19% year over year in Q1 2026 and average price per ad rose 12%. Family daily active people reached 3.56 billion. The business keeps finding more inventory and charging more for it.

Second, the returns on capital are what you would expect from a fortress. ROIC sits at 20.69%, ROE at 30.24%, and net profit margin at 30.08%. Debt to equity is 0.39. Interest coverage is 71x. There is no financial fragility here.

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Third, management is telling on themselves in a good way. Mark Zuckerberg said on the Q1 call, “Every sign that we are seeing in our own work and across the industry gives us confidence in this investment,” and pointed to more than one gigawatt of custom silicon developed with Broadcom plus AMD chips complementing the new NVIDIA systems. That is disciplined efficiency work.

Why Not Just Buy the Index? The reflexive alternative for most readers is an index proxy like the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ). It is a fine holding. It is also a way to own a much smaller slice of exactly this story. After Meta’s Q1 2025 report, the stock’s 30-day return of 16.54% ran well ahead of QQQ’s 9.47%. Concentration in the specific compounder that owns Instagram, WhatsApp, and the entire ad stack pays for itself when the thesis works.

The Risk I Actually Watch Reality Labs lost $4.03 billion in Q1 2026 on $402 million of revenue. That segment is the scar on the story, and there are youth-related litigation trials scheduled in 2026 that may result in material losses. What keeps me buying anyway is that Family of Apps generated $55.909 billion in revenue in the same quarter. The core business can carry the moonshot for a long time.

Analysts covering the stock skew heavily bullish, with 49 Buy ratings, 8 Strong Buy, 6 Hold, and no Sell calls, against a consensus target of $822.69 versus a current $646.01. The thesis remains intact.

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Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.