For years, Michael Saylor’s Strategy built its brand around a simple mantra: Buy Bitcoin. Never sell. This week, that narrative changed.
The company authorized up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales under a new capital framework. At current prices, that equates to roughly 21,000 BTC that could eventually hit the market — a reminder that even Bitcoin’s most committed corporate holder isn’t immune to the realities of capital management.
This week’s Crypto Biz explores how the digital asset industry is entering a more pragmatic phase, where ideological purity is giving way to financial discipline. It also examines the intensifying stablecoin race as issuers compete for reserve yield, Fidelity's latest defense of Bitcoin's long-term security model and the crypto industry’s growing political influence ahead of the 2026 US midterm elections.
Strategy has authorized up to $1.25 billion in Bitcoin sales under a new capital framework that will fund shareholder dividends, bolster cash reserves and repurchase stock while preserving its long-term Bitcoin strategy.
The company’s new “Digital Credit Capital Framework” raises the annual dividend on its STRC preferred stock from 11.5% to 12%, establishes a formal Bitcoin monetization program and expands capital return initiatives through buybacks of preferred securities and MSTR shares. Strategy also said its dedicated cash reserve has grown to $2.55 billion, enough to cover roughly 17 months of preferred dividends and interest payments.
The framework reflects an evolution in Strategy’s capital allocation. After years of insisting it would never sell Bitcoin, the company has now established a formal monetization program and disclosed selling 32 BTC in June. Strategy made no Bitcoin purchases last week, leaving its holdings unchanged at 847,363 BTC as it places greater emphasis on liquidity management alongside its Bitcoin accumulation strategy.
Source: Michael Saylor
More than 140 financial and crypto companies have joined forces to launch a new US dollar-backed stablecoin that lets participants retain the yield generated by its reserves, marking one of the industry’s biggest coordinated stablecoin initiatives to date.
The Open USD (OUSD) project is backed by major payments companies, including Visa and Mastercard, alongside crypto companies such as Coinbase, Ripple, OKX and Bybit. Unlike traditional stablecoin models, OUSD will allow businesses to mint tokens without fees or volume limits while keeping the reserve earnings — a feature supporters say could help the token gain market share from incumbents Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC).
The launch comes as the US adopts a more favorable regulatory stance toward stablecoins following passage of the GENIUS Act. Open Standard plans to roll out OUSD later this year, entering a market already worth more than $300 billion that many analysts expect to expand rapidly over the rest of the decade.
Source: Open Standard
Fidelity Digital Assets is pushing back against claims that Bitcoin’s long-term security will weaken as mining rewards decline, arguing that rising transaction fees, market incentives and Bitcoin’s price appreciation should continue to keep the network secure.
In a new research report, Fidelity said Bitcoin’s economic model extends beyond block subsidies, challenging the view that successive halving events will eventually undermine miners’ incentives. Research analyst Daniel Gray noted that although block rewards have steadily declined, average daily miner revenue has grown from $1.3 million between 2012-2016 to $40.2 million today.
The report comes as Bitcoin miners grapple with mounting financial pressure following the latest halving. Many publicly traded mining companies are expanding into AI and high-performance computing to diversify revenue streams, even as Fidelity maintains that the network’s long-term security model remains intact.
Source: Fidelity Digital Assets
Crypto companies have contributed roughly $189 million to the 2026 US election cycle, accounting for an estimated 37% of all corporate political spending so far, according to a new report by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
The report found that crypto-backed political action committees (PACs) are once again driving much of the industry’s political influence. Fairshake has spent more than $82 million this cycle, while the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. Super PAC — heavily backed by Crypto.com — has spent more than $56 million. Public Citizen said the groups are following the same strategy used in 2024, backing candidates from both major parties who support the industry’s policy agenda.
Crypto’s political spending has already surpassed the roughly $170 million deployed during the 2024 election cycle, with more than four months remaining before November’s elections.
Source: Public Citizen
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Bitcoin (BTC) saw new July highs on Friday as bulls kept pushing over the US holiday period.
Key points:
Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $62,295 on Bitstamp, its highest since June 24.
BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
US markets were closed for the Independence Day holiday, with the Dow Jones closing at record highs the day prior. As noted by trading resource The Kobeissi Letter, the global stock market cap also hit new all-time highs.
“Global equities are in the midst of one of the most powerful rallies in history,” it wrote in a post on X.
Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
Commenting on the latest BTC price action, X commentator Exitpump eyed “controlled slow buying” on exchanges.
“Looks good for continuation higher, although keeping in mind 62K - 62.5K as a strong resistance area,” they told X followers.
BTC/USD order-book data. Source: Exitpump/X
Trader Daan Crypto Trades focused on the 200-week simple moving average (SMA), currently at $62,652, for the weekly candle close.
“It is key for BTC now to hold this breakout and maintain its low timeframe bullish market structure,” he commented, calling the current trading zone “important.”
BTC/USDT perpetual contract one-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X
On the back of weak US nonfarm payrolls data, which helped fuel the crypto rebound, trading resource Mosaic Asset Company noted that expectations for Federal Reserve policy remained conservative.
Related: Bitcoin supply metric prints first 'buy' signal since late 2022 as bear market continues
“The knee-jerk reaction from investors was to push stock index futures higher, signaling a regime where bad economic news is good for stocks due to the impact on the rate outlook,” it wrote in its latest Mosaic Chart Alerts update.
Mosaic referred to interest-rate changes from the Fed, with potential hikes forming a headwind for crypto and risk assets.
The latest data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool showed roughly equal odds of a pause or hike at the Fed’s September meeting, with rates staying at current levels until then.
Fed target rate probabilities (screenshot). Source: CME Group
“The reality is that the payrolls report reflects a “Goldilocks” figure for the average stock, which isn’t too cold to stoke growth fears and not too hot to pull additional rate hikes forward,” it summarized about the jobs figures.
Today in crypto, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their highest daily net inflows since early May, crypto tokenization platform Securitize shares rose on its public debut and FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed a stake in Bitcoin treasury company Strategy months after the federal reporting deadline.
US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their first daily net inflow above $200 million since early May, snapping weeks of sustained withdrawals.
The funds attracted $221.7 million in net inflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data, ending a 10-day streak of net outflows that totaled more than $2.7 billion.
The rebound follows one of the weakest stretches for US spot Bitcoin ETFs this year, with the funds posting a record $4.5 billion in net outflows in June.
Daily flows in US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: SoSoValue
The inflows came as Bitcoin reclaimed the $61,000 level after briefly falling below $59,000, with some investors, including Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, suggesting the market could be nearing a bottom. Crypto market sentiment on Friday was measured at an “extreme fear” reading by the Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me.
Tokenization platform Securitize rallied on its New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday, as it brought tokenized versions of its shares to two blockchains.
The company, which is backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on Thursday after merging with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company to take it public.
Securitize said Thursday that it simultaneously launched tokenized versions of its shares on the Avalanche and Solana blockchains, which will be available to eligible US investors on its platform.
It marks the first time a newly public company has also offered tokenized stocks, an area of crypto technology that has quickly gained attention among major institutions drawn to the idea that it can bring deeper liquidity and longer trading hours.
Securitize has carved out a lead in the tokenization space for institutions. It partnered with the NYSE in March to create tokenized assets for the exchange’s upcoming tokenized securities platform.
FBI Director Kash Patel disclosed a stake in Bitcoin treasury company Strategy months after the federal reporting deadline, according to a report from NOTUS.
Patel filed an amended financial disclosure on May 26, stating that his investment in Strategy, worth between $100,001 and $250,000, had been "inadvertently omitted" from his original filing. The purchase was made on Nov. 21, 2025, but was not disclosed within the 45-day window required under the STOCK Act, which mandates timely reporting of certain financial transactions by government officials.
In the amended filing, Patel said "no current conflict exists" despite Strategy being a registered US government contractor. The STOCK Act carries relatively light penalties for first-time violations, with fines starting at $200, and has faced criticism for its limited enforcement.
The disclosure comes as scrutiny of public officials' crypto-related financial interests intensifies. President Donald Trump's latest financial filing showed more than $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related income in 2025, while lawmakers have increasingly questioned whether existing ethics and disclosure rules are sufficient to address digital asset holdings.
Source: NOTUS
", "description": "Today in crypto: Bitcoin ETFs topped $200 million in daily inflows, Securitize shares debuted on NYSE and FBI Director Kash Patel amended a late Strategy disclosure.", "published": "2026-07-03T15:20:46+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "fbi" }, { "slug": "business" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-etf" }, { "slug": "etf" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "what-happened-in-crypto-today", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "110589" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "EU crypto rulebook faces enforcement challenge as MiCA transition ends", "leadText": "Lawyers and industry executives expect EU regulators to enforce MiCA differently as unauthorized crypto companies are required to wind down operations.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "The European Union’s cryptocurrency industry has entered a new enforcement phase as the transition period under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation came to an end.
The end of the transition means crypto companies without MiCA authorization can no longer legally serve EU clients and are expected to wind down operations or face multimillion-euro fines and other enforcement action.
Industry executives and lawyers told Cointelegraph the next challenge is ensuring national regulators apply the bloc’s single rulebook consistently, even as supervisory approaches are expected to vary across member states.
The transition marks MiCA’s first major enforcement test as regulators begin applying the EU's crypto rulebook.
Although complying with MiCA can cost hundreds of thousands or, in some cases, millions of euros, experts say operating without authorization carries far greater financial and regulatory risks.
Nicola Massella, partner at Storm Partners, estimated MiCA implementation costs for many cryptocurrency companies at 350,000 euros ($400,000) to 600,000 euros ($690,000), while Brickken CEO Edwin Mata said costs can reach 2 million euros ($2.3 million) depending on a company’s size, services and compliance readiness.
On penalties, Eckehard Stolz, managing director of Amina EU, said MiCA penalties start at 5 million euros or 5% of annual turnover for some violations.
Source: EBA
Massella added that the European Banking Authority (EBA) proposed on June 26 increasing penalties under certain regulatory regimes, including as much as 12.5% of annual turnover for some stablecoin-related breaches.
While MiCA creates a single EU rulebook, day-to-day supervision is handled by national competent authorities (NCAs), which authorize, supervise and enforce the rules for crypto companies.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) coordinates supervision across member states and maintains the public register of authorized crypto-asset service providers, and the EBA directly oversees significant stablecoin issuers.
Source: ESMA
“At the EU level, ESMA plays an important coordination and supervisory-convergence role, especially to avoid regulatory arbitrage between member states,” Ivo Grlica, founder of GrlicaLaw and G Lab Advisors, told Cointelegraph.
“National regulators are only the first line of MiCA enforcement, but the legal consequences can spread into national courts and criminal-law systems if the underlying conduct causes harm,” he added.
MiCA enforcement is unlikely to be uniform in its early stages because NCAs differ in resources, experience and supervisory priorities.
“ESMA made clear it expects NCAs to act against unauthorized providers from July 1,” Stolz said, adding that how aggressively each regulator moves “will depend on local resourcing and priorities.”
Peter Bidewell, vice president of institutional product adoption at Parfin, said differing supervisory approaches could create opportunities for regulatory arbitrage despite MiCA's goal of harmonizing crypto rules across the EU.
Related: StanChart joins ESMA's first MiCA register update since deadline
Grlica said he expects enforcement to become more systematic over time as regulators identify unauthorized providers and share information across member states, making it increasingly difficult for companies with a history of non-compliance to obtain MiCA authorization later.
Several EU regulators, including authorities in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Italy, have issued notices reminding crypto companies that the MiCA transition period has ended and urging providers without authorization to wind down their operations.
The Czech National Bank told Cointelegraph that the country's Financial Market Digitization Act gives it the authority to impose sanctions for MiCA-related violations, including operating without authorization, unlawful token offerings and failing to cooperate with supervisors. The law allows the central bank to fine companies providing crypto services without authorization up to 118.5 million Czech koruna (about $5.6 million), 5% of annual turnover if higher, or twice the unlawful benefit obtained, whichever is greater.
Cointelegraph contacted France's Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the Netherlands’ Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) to ask how they plan to enforce MiCA following the transition deadline. None had responded by publication.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
", "description": "The EU has entered MiCA's enforcement phase as unauthorized crypto companies face wind-down requirements and possible penalties for noncompliance.", "published": "2026-07-03T14:59:16+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "europe" }, { "slug": "binance" }, { "slug": "mica" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "enforcement" } ], "slug": "eu-crypto-rulebook-enforcement-challenge-mica-transition-end", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273541" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Upbit says it only expressed interest in future OUSD participation", "leadText": "Upbit said it only expressed interest in potentially joining the OpenStandard ecosystem in the future, as several South Korean firms distanced themselves from the OUSD initiative.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "South Korean crypto exchange Upbit said it is not participating in the issuance of Open USD, after its operator Dunamu was named among more than 140 businesses involved in the new stablecoin initiative.
“Upbit has only indicated our potential willingness to consider taking part in the future expansion of the OpenStandard ecosystem,” an Upbit spokesperson told Cointelegraph.
The clarification follows similar pushback from Samsung Electronics and other South Korean companies listed by Open Standard.
According to a Friday report by ChosunBiz, Samsung said it had not held formal discussions with the project and did not know what role it was expected to perform. Meanwhile, Shinhan Financial Group and KBank reportedly said they had only indicated that they would consider the initiative.
Cointelegraph reached out to Open Standard for comments but did not receive a response before publication.
Excerpt of the list of businesses listed by Open Standard. Source: Open Standard
Open Standard announced the dollar-backed stablecoin on Tuesday, saying more than 140 businesses had “signed up to use” it, including Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google, Samsung Electronics and Dunamu.
Open Standard previously said businesses would be able to mint and redeem OUSD without fees or volume limits. The project also plans to distribute earnings generated from its reserves to participating companies.
Related: South Korea adds token securities to capital market overhaul
However, some industry participants, including Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, questioned the sustainability of offering free, unlimited minting and redemption. Meanwhile, Lorenzo Valente, director of research at ARK Invest, also previously called the announcement a “giant” letter of intent.
South Korea has yet to pass the Digital Asset Basic Act, leaving questions over who may issue stablecoins and what roles companies can perform.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, lawmakers have debated whether issuance should be limited to banks or opened to qualified non-bank issuers, while the broader regulatory framework remains under discussion.
The uncertainty also makes it difficult for South Korean companies to commit to stablecoin initiatives, as the rules governing issuance, reserve management and participation in stablecoin ecosystems have yet to be finalized.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves
", "description": "Upbit clarified its limited involvement with Open Standard after Dunamu was named among OUSD participants, as other Korean firms questioned their listed roles.", "published": "2026-07-03T14:19:49+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "south-korea" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "policy" } ], "slug": "upbit-clarifies-ousd-role-open-standard-partner-list", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273533" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Belgian police arrest suspected phishing gang leader tied to $572K theft", "leadText": "Belgian authorities say a European phishing gang stole over $572,000 from victims before laundering the proceeds through cryptocurrency.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "Belgian authorities arrested a 19-year-old suspected of being a key figure in a European phishing and money-laundering network that stole more than 500,000 euros ($572,000) using fake government emails and phone calls to trick victims into installing remote-access software.
Authorities detained the suspect in an Airbnb in Antwerp, where a second suspect was also found. The Federal Judicial Police launched the investigation in March 2026, when phishing attacks became a priority in the region, according to a Thursday police report.
The main suspect was brought before an investigating judge, who issued an arrest warrant. The gang used money mules and cash carriers and laundered the proceeds through cryptocurrencies.
The investigation shows that crypto can play multiple roles in phishing operations, including as a means of laundering illicit proceeds.
Phishing is also a major threat to cryptocurrency investors, accounting for the majority of the $482 million lost in the first quarter of 2026. Phishing and social engineering attacks accounted for $306 million of those losses, according to Hacken.
Phishing attacks and social engineering scams are a long-standing hurdle for the crypto industry, as attackers exploit human behavior rather than the code of a protocol.
On May 25, onchain analyst “b-block” warned that scammers used Google to deploy malicious phishing ads impersonating decentralized exchange Uniswap, reportedly stealing more than $400,000 from victims.
Data aggregator DeFiLlama said that “fake ads on Google are a common source of phishing attacks.” Crypto cybersecurity group Security Alliance also reported in April that there was a “significant uptick” in phishing activity on Google Search in March.
Related: Phantom Chat under scrutiny after $264K address poisoning loss
Blockchain security company CertiK’s Skynet report also highlighted phishing and social engineering as leading attack vectors for North Korea-linked malicious actors.
DPRK hacking playbook. Source: CertiK
CertiK attributed the 2022 Ronin Bridge exploit that stole $600 million to a spearphishing campaign involving a fake LinkedIn recruiter and a malware-laden PDF.
Magazine: Meet the onchain crypto detectives fighting crime better than the cops
", "description": "Belgian authorities arrested a 19-year-old suspected of orchestrating phishing attacks that stole $572,000 in proceeds from unsuspecting investors.", "published": "2026-07-03T13:43:47+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "phishing" }, { "slug": "belgium" }, { "slug": "hackers" }, { "slug": "police" }, { "slug": "cybercrime" }, { "slug": "crimes" }, { "slug": "social-engineering" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "belgian-police-arrest-phishing-gang-leader-572k-stolen", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273537" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "StanChart joins ESMA's first MiCA register update since deadline", "leadText": "ESMA publishes its first post-deadline MiCA register update, adding 37 crypto-asset service providers, including Standard Chartered and FalconX.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the first update to its register of crypto companies under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) after the transitional period ended Wednesday.
Friday's update to the register added 37 licensed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including global banking group Standard Chartered, which secured MiCA authorization from Luxembourg regulators on June 25.
Among the new CASPs are digital asset prime brokerage FalconX, Sygnum Europe and Ronin EM, while the register of electronic money tokens (EMTs) has added Crédit Agricole’s CACEIS.
ESMA's interim MiCA register now lists 280 CASPs, up from 243 in the previous update published June 26.
In addition to securing MiCA authorization, Standard Chartered was also granted an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, allowing it to issue electronic money and provide payment services, the bank announced on Monday.
“Securing our MiCA and EMI licences is a key step in progressing our digital asset journey in Europe,” Standard Chartered’s global head of financing, Margaret Harwood-Jones, said.
Related: Standard Chartered, Circle bring USDC minting onto banking rails
The bank said the approvals build on recent milestones, including the launch of digital asset custody services in Asia and the Middle East, and support growing client demand for regulated access to digital assets in Europe.
Cyprus led the latest wave of MiCA authorizations, accounting for six of the newly listed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), the highest share among EU jurisdictions.
France followed with five entries, alongside Italy and Malta, which also recorded five newly authorized CASPs. The Czech Republic and Spain added four CASPs each, while Luxembourg accounted for three listings and the Netherlands added two. Germany, Liechtenstein and Latvia each recorded one new entry.
37 newly approved CASPs in the MiCA register update on July 3, 2026. Source: ESMA
The approvals bring the total number of MiCA authorizations granted by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) to 21, while Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) remains the EU authority with the most MiCA authorizations at 58.
The latest update included no changes to the register of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), which continued to show no approved issuers, or to the list of non-compliant entities, which remained at 162.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
", "description": "ESMA released its first MiCA register update after the EU’s transitional deadline, adding 37 licensed crypto-asset service providers, including Standard Chartered and FalconX.", "published": "2026-07-03T13:02:41+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "law" }, { "slug": "europe" }, { "slug": "european-union" }, { "slug": "mica" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "esma-mica-register-new-casps-stanchart-update", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273529" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin supply metric prints first 'buy' signal since late 2022 as bear market continues", "leadText": "Bitcoin supply dynamics pointed toward the end of the 2026 bear market after the first \"buy\" signal since November 2022, but analysis warned that BTC price could still go lower.", "author": { "slug": "william-suberg" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) has added another bear-market bottom signal this month as analysis draws comparisons to November 2022.
Key points:
In a blog post on Friday, crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr., a contributor to onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, confirmed the return of a key Bitcoin buy signal.
Advanced Net UTXO Supply Ratio, which measures the proportion of the BTC supply which last moved in profit or loss, is back in negative territory for the first time in nearly four years.
“The ratio dropped into deeply negative territory and then crossed back above the signal threshold on the rebound, which caused the model to print BUY on several sessions in late June and early July,” Adler wrote.
“This is the first buy trigger since November 2022, which was the bottom of the previous bear cycle.”
Bitcoin Advanced Net UTXO Supply Ratio. Source: CryptoQuant
UTXO Supply Ratio cues do not imply that a macro bottom has arrived, but occur “near cyclical lows.”
“Confirmation would be the ratio holding above zero together with rising price. The negative scenario is a move back into negative territory without price support,” Adler explained.
A missing piece of the puzzle involves supply being held at a loss, which has not yet reached the levels seen during previous bear markets.
Adler forecast that the 90-day simple moving average (SMA) of supply in loss should hit its bear-market reversal target within two months.
“Until then, it is more accurate to treat capitulation as a process rather than a completed fact,” he continued.
Bitcoin supply in loss. Source: CryptoQuant
On the topic of UTXO Supply, fellow CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost also eyed a potential market inflection point this week.
Related: Bitcoin bear market ‘dead’ after first TD9 reversal signal since July 2022 fires
“Since it depends on the profit and loss of UTXOs, it can very well signal something during either a sharp drop or a sharp rise. That said, in terms of cyclicality, it wouldn’t be inconsistent to think that the end of this bear market could be approaching,” he wrote in a Quicktake blog post on Wednesday.
“This won’t stop BTC from going lower, but we now have several signals pointing to seller exhaustion. The next step is a renewal of demand, and that could take some time.”
As Cointelegraph reported, BTC price expectations tend to favor a bear-market bottom coming in Q3 or later.
", "description": "Bitcoin enjoys another advance bear-market bottom signal from an onchain metric, but analysis warns that BTC price action can still hit a deeper floor before reversing.", "published": "2026-07-03T12:34:04+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-supply-metric-prints-first-buy-signal-since-late-2022-as-bear-market-continues", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Markets News" } ] }, "id": "273525" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Zcash’s Ironwood upgrade faces possible delay over infrastructure readiness ", "leadText": "Shielded Labs said exchanges, mining pools and wallets may need more time to complete Zcash’s Z3 software migration and safely prepare for Ironwood.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "Shielded Labs has raised the possibility of delaying Zcash's Ironwood network upgrade, warning that ecosystem participants like exchanges, mining pools and wallets may not have enough time to prepare their systems for the planned activation in late July.
Jason McGee, executive director of Shielded Labs, said in a Zcash community forum post that two major projects are moving forward at the same time. Alongside Ironwood, infrastructure providers are being asked to replace Zcash’s longstanding node and wallet software, zcashd, with a new collection of tools known as the Z3 stack.
The concerns highlight the trade-off between quickly restoring confidence in Zcash’s shielded supply and giving ecosystem participants enough time to deploy and audit the new infrastructure safely.
Ironwood was proposed after researchers discovered an “infinity” bug in Orchard, Zcash’s main private transaction pool. The flaw could theoretically have allowed an attacker to create an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC tokens inside the pool without detection. Developers said there was no evidence that the pool had been exploited. However, Orchard's privacy features make it impossible to prove that no fake coins were created.
Source: Zooko Wilcox
Ironwood would open a replacement private pool and prevent new activity inside the existing Orchard pool. Funds leaving Orchard would have to pass through an accounting checkpoint that prevents more ZEC from exiting than what originally entered. This would allow users to verify that the circulating supply remains within Zcash’s intended limits.
At the same time, Zcash is retiring zcashd, the software used by many ecosystem participants to connect to the network and process transactions. Its replacement stack includes Zebra for operating a network node, Zaino for supplying blockchain data to applications and Zallet for wallet functions.
The network's official guidance documents said operators may need to modify their systems as some zcashd functions will not have direct replacements.
Related: Why ZEC fell 40% even after Zcash patched a shielded pool bug
McGee said Zallet and Zaino were still under development and not ready for production use. Feedback gathered from infrastructure providers suggested that some expect to be ready by late July, while others need more time, he added.
McGee said no delay has been finalized.
Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox said security reviews had found no additional serious bugs so far and that developers are also working to verify the new system before Ironwood activates.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves
", "description": "Zcash’s Ironwood upgrade could face a delay as Shielded Labs raises concerns over audits and the readiness of exchanges, miners and wallets.", "published": "2026-07-03T12:21:30+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "privacy" }, { "slug": "zcash" }, { "slug": "upgrade" } ], "slug": "zcash-ironwood-upgrade-possible-delay-infrastructure-readiness", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273521" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Defendant files to dismiss New York lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin wallets", "leadText": "A defendant who owns one of the dormant Bitcoin wallets filed to dismiss the New York case, which seeks ownership of $229 billion worth of Bitcoin considered lost.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "A pseudonymous defendant has moved to dismiss a New York lawsuit seeking ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses, arguing that Bitcoin addresses are merely data strings that cannot be sued.
The defendant, identifying themselves as “John Doe 33,” filed a notice of appearance and motion to dismiss on Thursday, claiming they control one of the dormant wallets named in the lawsuit.
According to the motion, the lawsuit is legally defective because Bitcoin address strings are neither persons nor legal entities subject to the court's jurisdiction. The filing argues that a public Bitcoin address cannot itself be “found” under New York's lost-property law because it has always been publicly visible on the blockchain.
The filing challenges the lawsuit filed in May by plaintiff “Noah Doe” and two Wyoming-based LLCs, ABC Company and XYZ Company. The plaintiffs claim the Bitcoin tied to the listed addresses constitutes abandoned property that they reported to the New York Police Department and claimed under New York lost-property law.
Regardless of how the court rules on ownership, it remains unclear how the plaintiffs could recover any Bitcoin without possessing the private keys needed to access the wallets.
Defendant files a motion to dismiss the case seeking ownership of 39,069 Bitcoin wallets. Source: iapps.court.state.ny.us
The complaint lists 39,069 Bitcoin addresses, including wallet addresses widely associated with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and the Mt. Gox hacker. The listed wallets collectively hold an estimated 3.7 million BTC (worth about $234 billion), according to Sani, founder of Bitcoin analytics platform Timechain Index.
Related: Bitcoin miner MARA spent $4.3M on CEO security in 2025 as crypto attacks rise
Blockchain data suggests that “John Doe 33” controls a wallet holding 5,000 BTC received in April 2014 that has remained untouched for more than 12 years, making it worth more than $300 million at current prices, according to a Friday X post from Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn.
“That's ~100x the median defendant address. This is a real holder with real standing choosing to fight, not a bystander.”
Source: Alex Thorn
Thorn added that the filing prevented what had been a “near-certain” default judgment and challenged jurisdictional and statutory defects in the plaintiffs' case.
The supply of Bitcoin has been dormant for the past five and 10 years. Source: Bitbo
There are currently 3.5 million BTC, worth about $215 billion, that have been dormant for the past 10 years and another 6.6 million coins, worth around $406 billion, that have been dormant for over five years, Bitbo data shows.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
", "description": "A defendant who owns one of the dormant Bitcoin wallets filed a motion to dismiss the case, which seeks ownership of $229 billion worth of lost Bitcoin.", "published": "2026-07-03T12:10:24+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "satoshi-nakamoto" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-wallet" }, { "slug": "law" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-regulation" }, { "slug": "new-york" }, { "slug": "court" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-adoption" } ], "slug": "defendant-dismiss-new-york-lawsuit-bitcoin-wallets", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273517" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "India's central bank revives push to isolate banks from crypto: Report", "leadText": "The Indian central bank reportedly urged lawmakers to keep banks insulated from crypto and private stablecoins while preserving room for regulated tokenization.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly backed a containment strategy for digital assets to shield banks and other financial institutions from exposure to crypto and privately issued stablecoins, as lawmakers prepare a report on the country’s digital asset policy.
According to a report by The Economic Times, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain and Executive Director P. Vasudevan presented the central bank’s position to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday.
In a background note submitted to the panel, the RBI reportedly said prohibition remained a recognized policy option and recommended preventing the use of crypto in payments and settlements while restricting banking-sector exposure.
The central bank reportedly warned that applying traditional regulation to crypto could legitimize speculative assets and create a false perception of safety among users. However, it urged policymakers to distinguish crypto from tokenized government securities, corporate bonds and other regulated financial instruments so that restrictions would not hinder tokenization.
Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Source: Chainalysis
India ranked first in Chainalysis’ 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, although the RBI reportedly challenged the methodology behind private-sector adoption rankings.
The RBI’s latest reported proposal echoes an approach it took in 2018, when the central bank directed regulated financial institutions to stop dealing in crypto or providing services to individuals and businesses involved in them.
The approach effectively cut off crypto exchanges from India’s banking system without prohibiting individuals from owning or trading crypto.
India’s Supreme Court overturned the circular in March 2020, following a challenge brought by exchanges and the Internet Mobile Association of India. The court recognized the RBI's authority to take preventive action but found that the measure failed the test of proportionality, noting that the central bank had not shown harm suffered by entities it regulated.
Related: India arrests Darwin Labs co-founder in GainBitcoin scam probe
In May 2021, the RBI clarified that banks could no longer cite the invalidated circular when cautioning customers against crypto transactions. However, it said regulated institutions could continue applying know-your-customer, anti-money laundering and foreign-exchange compliance requirements.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves
", "description": "India’s RBI reportedly backed crypto containment, including limits on bank exposure and payments, as lawmakers prepare digital asset policy recommendations.", "published": "2026-07-03T10:26:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "central-bank" }, { "slug": "india" }, { "slug": "reserve-bank-of-india" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "policy" } ], "slug": "rbi-crypto-containment-india-policy-report", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273513" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Irish authorities seize another 500 Bitcoin, bringing 2026 total to 1,500 BTC", "leadText": "Irish authorities recovered 500 Bitcoin in criminal proceeds, bringing the total seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau to about $92 million in BTC for 2026.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) confirmed the seizure of another 500 Bitcoin, currently worth about 27 million euros ($30.9 million), in collaboration with Europol's European Cybercrime Centre.
That brings the total Bitcoin seized by CAB in 2026 to 1,500 BTC, worth about $92.4 million, the law enforcement agency said in a social media post on Thursday. CAB said Europol had provided operational coordination, technical expertise and decryption support during the investigation.
The agency did not disclose the identity of the wallet owner or details of the underlying investigation, adding that it had no further comment.
The latest seizure comes months after CAB said it had gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet containing 500 Bitcoin, which Irish media linked to a convicted drug dealer.
CAB seized another 500 BTC. Source: Criminal Assets Bureau
Following the previous seizure, The Irish Times reported that the wallet authorities accessed in March was one of 12 holding about 6,000 BTC once owned by Clifton Collins, a convicted drug dealer. The paper containing the wallet's private keys was reportedly lost.
While authorities haven't confirmed whether the latest seizure is linked to Collins, a wallet address associated with him moved 500 Bitcoin to an unknown address on Thursday. Wallets associated with Collins still hold 4,500 Bitcoin, currently worth about $277 million, as of Friday.
Source: Arkham
Related: US sanctions Sinaloa cartel-linked Ethereum addresses
Collins was arrested in 2017 after police searched his car and found a stash of cannabis, according to the Guardian.
Police said Collins used proceeds from his drug operation to purchase 6,000 Bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, spreading the holdings across 12 wallets. He stored the wallet keys on a single sheet of A4 paper, hidden inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at his rental home.
Collins’ landlord allegedly discarded his belongings after his arrest. Collins claimed the fishing rod case was stolen before the landlord entered the property.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
", "description": "Irish authorities seized another 500 Bitcoin in criminal proceeds, bringing the CAB’s total seizures to $92 million in Bitcoin for 2026.", "published": "2026-07-03T09:47:45+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin-wallet" }, { "slug": "ireland" }, { "slug": "police" }, { "slug": "cybercrime" }, { "slug": "crimes" }, { "slug": "drugs" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "irish-authorities-recover-500-bitcoin-criminal-proceeds", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273509" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "US spot Bitcoin ETFs top $200M in daily inflows for first time since May", "leadText": "US spot Bitcoin ETFs post $221.7 million inflows, the strongest daily intake since early May, as Bitcoin recovers above $61,000.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their first daily net inflow above $200 million since early May, snapping weeks of sustained withdrawals.
The funds attracted $221.7 million in net inflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data, ending a 10-day streak of net outflows that totaled more than $2.7 billion.
The rebound follows one of the weakest stretches for US spot Bitcoin ETFs this year, with the funds posting a record $4.5 billion in net outflows in June.
Daily flows in US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: SoSoValue
The inflows came as Bitcoin reclaimed the $61,000 level after briefly falling below $59,000, with some investors, including Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, suggesting the market could be nearing a bottom. Crypto market sentiment on Friday was measured at an “extreme fear” reading by the Fear & Greed Index from Alternative.me.
Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) led Thursday's rebound with $166 million in net inflows, accounting for roughly 75% of the day's total, according to Farside Investors data.
ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) followed with $91.8 million in inflows, while the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL) and Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR) attracted $4.4 million and $1.7 million, respectively.
Source: Farside Investors
Meanwhile, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest US spot Bitcoin ETF by assets, continued to bleed, posting $40.4 million in net outflows on Thursday. The fund has lost more than $2.2 billion during an 11-session outflow streak since June 17.
The recovery in ETF flows extended beyond Bitcoin, with altcoin investment products also posting net inflows on Thursday.
US spot Ether ETFs attracted $29.1 million on Thursday, following $14.9 million in inflows a day earlier. XRP ETFs also returned to net inflows, attracting $6.6 million after two consecutive sessions of outflows.
Related: Swan's Cory Klippsten sees record Bitcoin holder supply revealing early bottom
The global crypto market cap climbed 2.4% to $2.22 trillion over the past 24 hours as Bitcoin recovered above $61,000, according to CoinGecko data.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves
", "description": "US spot Bitcoin ETFs post $221.7 million in inflows, led by Fidelity, as Bitcoin recovers above $61,000 amid extreme fear sentiment.", "published": "2026-07-03T08:56:40+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "ethereum-etf" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-etf" }, { "slug": "blackrock" } ], "slug": "spot-bitcoin-etfs-222-million-daily-inflow-reverse", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273505" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Teen ‘Scattered Spider’ suspect extradited to US over $8M crypto ransom", "leadText": "Peter Stokes, 19, has been charged in the US for allegedly taking part in a hacking group’s unsuccessful $8 million crypto ransom scheme.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "A teenager suspected of involvement with the “Scattered Spider” hacking group has been extradited to the US over his alleged role in an $8 million crypto ransom.
The US Justice Department said on Wednesday that Peter Stokes, a 19-year-old dual US-Estonian national, was arrested in Finland in April on an Interpol Red Notice and extradited to the US last week to appear in a Chicago federal court on Tuesday.
A criminal complaint unsealed in court accused Stokes and others of breaching a luxury jewelry retailer’s computer system in May 2025 to steal data and demand a ransom payment of $8 million in crypto. The retailer managed to evict them from the network and did not pay the ransom, but suffered $2 million in disruption damages, according to the complaint.
Stokes is one of the few arrests that authorities have tied to Scattered Spider, which often uses crypto ransoms. Ransomware actors received more than $820 million in payments last year, an 8% decline from 2024, even as attacks rose by 50%.
An image the FBI took from Stokes’ Snapchat account shows him wearing a necklace that says “Hack the Planet,” a quote from the 1995 cult film “Hackers.” Source: US Department of Justice
According to the complaint, the hack against the jewelry retailer started with several phishing calls to the company’s technology help desk, with Stokes and others allegedly pretending to be employees requesting a reset of login credentials.
Authorities alleged the hackers managed to compromise three employee accounts in as little as two hours, two of which belonged to company IT administrators, who had access to higher-privilege accounts that were also breached and used to access the company’s systems,
After a few days, Stokes and others allegedly sent a ransom note from a compromised company email account to demand funds or they would publish credit card and payment information.
However, the complaint said the company repelled the intrusion and that the intruders later contacted the company separately to demand $8 million, which the company did not pay.
The complaint accused Stokes, who uses the online nicknames “Bouquet” and “Jordan,” of being a “Scattered Spider member who has engaged in numerous intrusions, or assisted in them” on multiple unnamed companies.
Authorities claimed that a search of a storage device allegedly linked to Stokes showed it contained downloads from a virtual private server that Microsoft had identified as being used to carry out intrusions on companies.
The complaint alleged that it also “contained exfiltrated records from multiple victim-companies.”
Related: Taiko reopens bridge after $1.7M exploit, says users made whole
The complaint claimed that Stokes’ Snapchat account shows “substantial wealth for a person his age” and alleged that he used the account to boast “about his international travel and wealth, and sent media regarding apprehended Scattered Spider members.”
The Justice Department said that Scattered Spider, also known as “Octo Tempest,” “UNC3944,” and “0ktapus,” has been involved in over 100 network intrusions, resulting in more than $100 million in ransom payments and millions of dollars in damages.
Stokes was charged with six counts related to hacking, cyber extortion, fraud and conspiracy.
Magazine: Crypto scammers face death, Aussie CGT makes Asian hubs attractive: Asia Express
", "description": "US authorities have charged a 19-year-old for his alleged involvement in an $8 million crypto ransom scheme as part of the “Scattered Spider” hacking group.", "published": "2026-07-03T07:18:20+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "court" }, { "slug": "ransom" }, { "slug": "hacks" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "teen-scattered-spider-suspect-extradited-to-us-over-8m-crypto-ransom", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273501" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "AI agent development hasn’t accelerated as expected, Zuckerberg says", "leadText": "Mark Zuckerberg’s comments came on the same day that Meta expanded its Meta Business Agent globally for businesses on Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI agent development at the firm is progressing more slowly than expected, even as technology and crypto firms continue pouring resources into the nascent technology.
In a company meeting on Thursday, Zuckerberg said the “trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasn't really accelerated in the way that we expected,” according to Reuters, which reviewed a recording of the call.
The bet on agent adoption hasn’t “come to fruition yet,” Zuckerberg said, adding that executives made an aggressive push into agentic infrastructure in January in part because of fears they weren’t moving “fast enough.”
Despite the slower progress, Zuckerberg said he expects the firm’s AI investments to start paying off within the next three to six months.
Zuckerberg's comments offer a reality check for technology and crypto firms betting that autonomous agents will soon become major users of blockchain payments. Meta, along with several crypto firms, has bet big on agentic AI, with many pivoting their business models to cater to autonomous AI agents.
In May, Meta cut roughly 10% of its workforce and reassigned about 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams — a restructuring Zuckerberg acknowledged was not as clean as it could have been, with executives miscalculating the timing.
Zuckerberg’s concerns come as Meta expanded its Meta Business Agent globally for businesses on Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp on Thursday.
The Business Agent can respond to customer inquiries, make product recommendations and close sales without human intervention, Meta said.
Zuckerberg also revealed in March that he was building a personal AI agent designed to support his decision-making as CEO.
The crypto industry has been a keen adopter of the technology, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire among the executives predicting that AI agents will become the dominant users of blockchain-based payments in the coming years.
Several notable integrations advancing AI agent-driven stablecoin spending have emerged in recent months, including one by Amazon Web Services in May, when it integrated Coinbase’s x402 payments protocol into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, allowing agents to transact in the USDC (USDC) stablecoin.
Related: OKX launches AI marketplace for autonomous agent economy
In April, crypto wallet startup Oobit launched a Visa-supported virtual card for AI agents to make online purchases in USDt (USDT) on behalf of businesses.
Despite the integrations, data shows that AI-agent transaction activity on the blockchain remains relatively small, with Artemis data showing that only $2 million in trading volume has been facilitated through the AI agent-supported x402 protocol over the past 30 days.
Monthly change in x402 transaction volume over the past 12 months. Source: Artemis
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities
", "description": "Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI agent development at the firm has not progressed as fast as expected.", "published": "2026-07-03T07:07:10+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "mark-zuckerberg" }, { "slug": "ai" }, { "slug": "data" }, { "slug": "meta" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "ai-agent-development-hasnt-accelerated-as-expected-says-zuckerberg", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273497" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "US dominates Polymarket political bets despite geoblock: Report", "leadText": "New data from Allium suggests that US users are bypassing geoblocks to bet on markets offered on Polymarket’s global platform.", "author": { "slug": "felix-ng" }, "bodyText": "US-based users are the biggest political bettors on Polymarket, despite the crypto-based prediction market’s efforts to restrict US citizens from using the decentralized platform, according to new research.
Blockchain research firm Allium estimated in a report published on Thursday that US-based users are the single biggest political market of any country by contracts traded and wallet count on Polymarket — not to be confused with Polymarket US, which is a US-regulated platform that launched in December with a narrower set of markets.
“Blocking access did not end US participation; it made the US the largest single political market on Polymarket by volume,” the report said. “The demand is still there, now offshore and beyond US oversight.”
The data suggests that Polymarket’s efforts to restrict US users from its global platform have not entirely worked, adding to an expanding list of headaches for the company in the fast-growing predictions market sector, which is under legal and political scrutiny.
Polymarket was forced to cut off US users' access to its global platform as part of a $1.4 million settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022.
Allium based its figures on the 6% of wallets it tagged with a country, meaning the data should be seen as directional only. Source: Allium
Allium found that US users are more interested in foreign conflict-related markets than the rest of the platform’s users, with five of the US cohort’s top 12 markets by notional volume relating to the Iran war.
It also shows a lesser interest in election-related markets, which is a category of prediction markets allowed on Kalshi and Polymarket US.
“US money pours into foreign wars, lately Iran, and largely skips the elections the global crowd trades,” said Allium.
Cointelegraph contacted Polymarket for comment.
Allium’s figures align with another study published in June by Rutgers University statistician Harry Crane, who estimated that 30% of trading volume on Polymarket comes from the US.
Crane estimated that people based in the US sent between $10.6 billion and $26.7 billion through Polymarket between May 2025 and April 2026, despite Polymarket blocking US-based IP addresses and VPNs, which could be used to skirt the block.
The researcher looked at the times of day the trades were made and the markets in which the trades were made to link certain trades to US users.
An excerpt of Polymarket’s FAQ page on its geographic restrictions. Source: Polymarket
Polymarket has reportedly been clamping down on users who use VPNs by blocking certain IP addresses tied to VPN services, The Information reported in May.
Related: Polymarket hit by $2.9M theft, users to be refunded
Polymarket is completely blocked in more than 34 countries, the latest being Spain, which blocked local users from Polymarket and Kalshi as a “precautionary measure” as authorities open an investigation into whether the companies are operating without necessary licensing.
Another four countries, including Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Poland, are in “close only,” meaning users in these countries can close existing positions but cannot open new trades.
There are also four restricted regions, Ontario in Canada, Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine, where Polymarket is blocked but is available elsewhere in the country.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves
", "description": "US users are Polymarket’s largest political market bettors despite being blocked from the platform, according to new research from Allium.", "published": "2026-07-03T04:38:37+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "industry" }, { "slug": "polymarket" }, { "slug": "prediction-markets" } ], "slug": "us-dominates-polymarket-political-bets-despite-geoblock", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273493" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Strategy will be ‘less important’ in Bitcoin after STRC incident: Bitwise", "leadText": "Bitwise’s Matt Hougan said Strategy's STRC offer of high yields and low volatility was always a questionable fit for buying Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency offers neither. \n", "author": { "slug": "brayden-lindrea" }, "bodyText": "Strategy’s era as the dominant Bitcoin buyer may have come to an end following last week’s STRC turmoil, which cast doubt on the company’s Bitcoin-buying strategy and sent the cryptocurrency to a nearly two-year low, according to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan.
“For years, Strategy has been the most dominant Bitcoin buyer in the world and a one-way source of Bitcoin demand. Those days are likely over,” Hougan said Thursday.
“I just expect it to be a less important figure in Bitcoin in the next cycle than it was in the last,” Hougan said, adding that investment banks, asset managers, pensions, endowments and sovereign wealth funds will likely replace Strategy as Bitcoin’s primary demand driver.
Confidence in Strategy’s Bitcoin-buying model weakened late last month when its main perpetual preferred stock offering — Stretch (STRC) — broke sharply from its $100 par value to below $75, raising fears that its dividend model was unsustainable.
The STRC incident coincided with Bitcoin (BTC) falling to a 21-month low of $58,190 on June 25, further rattling confidence across the crypto market.
Strategy responded by committing to sell Bitcoin where necessary to fund dividends and by expanding its US dollar reserve to $2.55 billion — easing immediate concerns but weakening its position as the industry’s most aggressive Bitcoin buyer, Hougan said.
Hougan said he still expects Strategy to be a “net buyer” in the next bull run, however.
Hougan described the STRC incident as “classic end-of-cycle dynamics” and likened its collapse to a similar case of “financial engineering” in 2021, when Grayscale’s GBTC premium imploded.
“Money searching for high yields and low volatility was used to buy Bitcoin, which offers neither,” Hougan said. “This money never really fit Bitcoin. And so, it needs to be cleared out before we can find a bottom. That's what's happening today.”
Strive CEO Matt Cole, however, said Strategy’s incident with STRC has drawn too much media attention and pushed down Bitcoin’s price more than it should have.
Related: Bitcoin doesn't need Ethereum-style yield, says Strategy's Michael Saylor
Speaking with NovaDius Wealth Management president Nate Geraci on Thursday, Cole noted that Strategy's 847,363 Bitcoin represents just 4% of the total supply, and while Bitcoin isn’t a public company, by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s standards, a 4% stake wouldn't be considered material.
“If one person owned 4%, you don't even have to report that publicly to the SEC because the SEC deems 4% to be immaterial. They start to view a position to be material at 5%.”
Despite concern over STRC, Hougan said Strategy has $52 billion worth of liquid assets marked against $7 billion of debt, and that Bitcoin would need to drop another 70% (about $18,500) for the company to be put at risk.
Hougan also noted that if Strategy were to start selling its Bitcoin today, it could cover dividends from STRC and its other perpetual preferred stock offerings for the next 28 years.
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves
", "description": "Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan says Strategy won’t play as prominent a role in Bitcoin’s future price rallies after its STRC crisis forced the firm to rethink its Bitcoin-buying strategy.", "published": "2026-07-03T04:12:04+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "digital-asset-management" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-investment" }, { "slug": "microstrategy" }, { "slug": "michael-saylor" } ], "slug": "strategy-will-be-less-important-in-bitcoin-after-strc-incident-bitwise", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273489" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Securitize gains on NYSE debut with tokenized stocks live on Solana, Avalanche", "leadText": "Securitize has issued tokenized versions of its shares on Solana and Avalanche, marking the first time a newly public company has done so on its debut.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "Tokenization platform Securitize rallied on its New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday, as it brought tokenized versions of its shares to two blockchains.
The company, which is backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on Thursday after merging with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company to take it public.
Securitize said Thursday that it simultaneously launched tokenized versions of its shares on the Avalanche and Solana blockchains, which will be available to eligible US investors on its platform.
It marks the first time a newly public company has also offered tokenized stocks, an area of crypto technology that has quickly gained attention among major institutions drawn to the idea that it can bring deeper liquidity and longer trading hours.
Securitize has carved out a lead in the tokenization space for institutions. It partnered with the NYSE in March to create tokenized assets for the exchange’s upcoming tokenized securities platform.
Securitize said that tokenizing its stock demonstrates that tokenized securities “can be issued and accessed in the US under existing securities laws and market structure,” adding that access will be subject to onboarding, eligibility, and customer ID and money-laundering checks.
“We have long said that public equities are moving on-chain, and there is no stronger validation of that belief than tokenizing our own public stock on Day 1,” said Securitize co-founder and CEO Carlos Domingo.
“SECZ is not a synthetic token or offshore wrapper. It is issuer-sponsored tokenization of the same common stock trading on the NYSE, made available through regulated infrastructure,” he added. “This is how tokenization should scale: with real ownership, regulatory clarity and the issuer at the center.”
The US Securities and Exchange Commission clarified in January that issuer-sponsored tokenized securities are still subject to US securities laws.
In mid-May, the SEC was reportedly ready to announce an exemption for the trading of tokenized stocks, but delayed the plan later that month after stock exchange officials raised concerns over how it would be implemented.
Shares in Securitize (SECZ) hit a high of $13.70 in trading Thursday but retracted slightly and ended the day at $12.30, a gain of 4.4%. The share price continued to climb 2.4% after-hours to $12.60.
Securitize ended its debut trading day on Thursday at a gain of nearly 4.5%. Source: Google Finance
Securitize raised $400 million from its public offering at a valuation of more than $1 billion.
The market for tokenized real-world assets currently exceeds $43 billion, the majority of which is tokenized money market funds, while tokenized commodities account for nearly $7 billion and tokenized stocks account for $1.6 billion, according to Token Terminal.
Analysts expect the tokenization market to grow quickly in the coming years, with Citigroup predicting last month that it could grow to between $5.5 trillion and $8.2 trillion by 2030.
Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
", "description": "Securitize rallied on its NYSE debut day and simultaneously issued tokenized versions of its shares initially on Solana and Avalanche.", "published": "2026-07-03T03:35:34+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "stocks" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "securitize-gains-on-nyse-debut-with-tokenized-stock-live-on-solana-avalanche", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273485" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin holds $61K after US jobs data report, AI sector weakness: Did BTC bottom?", "leadText": "Bitcoin bulls may make a run on $70,000 after weak US jobs data eased rate hike fears and capital looks to rotate into BTC and gold. \n", "author": { "slug": "marcel-pechman" }, "bodyText": "Key takeaways:
Bitcoin reclaimed the $61,000 mark following a disappointing US job market report. Traders grew less certain of a near-term interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve (Fed) given the worsening labor data. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index sold off, fueling hopes of a capital rotation favoring Bitcoin.
Nasdaq 100 Index futures (blue) vs. Bitcoin/USD (orange). Source: TradingView
The Nasdaq 100 Index erased gains from the three prior days, while Bitcoin distanced itself from Wednesday’s $57,750 low. US non-farm payrolls increased by only 57,000 in June, missing the 113,000 expected, according to Yahoo Finance. The US Labor Department also revised data for April and May downward by 74,000 jobs.
Gold prices reacted positively on Thursday, hinting at potential bullish momentum for scarce assets. The weak economic data prompted investors to cut odds of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes by September to 54% from 64% the prior day, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. Meanwhile, crude WTI oil prices stabilized below $70, opening the door for possible economic stimulus measures
Gold/USD (red) vs. Crude WTI oil (teal). Source: TradingView
Oil prices dropped after the Qatar Foreign Ministry cited “positive progress” in the latest round of discussions between US and Iranian representatives on Wednesday. Gold recovered some of the 8% losses accumulated over the prior two weeks, a possible sign that investors anticipate a less tight monetary policy and further FED balance sheet expansion.
US Federal Reserve total assets, USD millions. Source: FED St Louis
The Federal Reserve balance sheet stagnated at $6.73 trillion, although its mandate allows for $40 billion monthly purchases in short-term Treasuries and bonds. Weak job market data and reduced inflationary pressure are widely seen as catalysts for accelerated liquidity injection, creating incentives to invest in scarce assets, including gold and Bitcoin.
Weakness in the AI sector, especially among chipmakers, has led traders to anticipate capital shifting toward alternative assets. Shares of SanDisk, Seagate, Western Digital, and Applied Materials saw intraday losses of 9% or higher on Thursday. In contrast, Bitcoin is showing signs of seller exhaustion two months after rejection at $82,500.
Related: Bitcoin tops $60K amid Fed inflation talks–Is bull trap or $65K next?
Source: X/gaah_im
Onchain analyst and CryptoQuant author gaah_im said that Bitcoin’s realized profit-to-loss ratio has hit its lowest level since 2022. The net percentage of supply in profit relative to the total supply has turned negative, which historically has marked cycle bottoms with “extreme precision,” according to the analyst. In essence, onchain data hints at further Bitcoin upside.
Part of Bitcoin’s recent weakness stems from traders’ disappointment with Strategy. Despite a healthy 8% net leverage and $56.8 billion in enterprise value, holders faced dilution from accelerated MSTR share issuance used to buy back some debt and cover dividends on preferred stocks.
If weakness in the AI sector accelerates, some of that money will likely rotate into gold and Bitcoin, making a near-term recovery to $70,000 possible.
Bitcoin (BTC) reacted positively to US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s remarks on stubborn inflation. Despite the gains on Wednesday, traders fear that incentives for fixed-income investments and strong earnings momentum in tech stocks will continue to pressure non-yield-bearing assets like cryptocurrencies.
The US five-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.22%, meaning traders demanded higher returns to hold government bonds. Even as inflation eventually eases and WTI crude oil prices fell to a 4-month low, investors anticipate monetary expansion.
Regardless of how the Fed manages interest rates and its balance sheet, the US Treasury dictates debt issuance trends.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around $61,490 at the time of publication after falling to a 21-month low of $57,737 earlier on Wednesday.
Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) also gained, up 3% and 4.85%, respectively.
The bounce took place amid deep investor caution, with sentiment trackers gauging the balance of fear and greed in crypto markets currently reading around 11 out of 100, which is in “Extreme Fear” territory. Despite the rebound from the yearly low, Bitcoin remains down roughly a third since the start of the year.
Investors’ cautious stance shows up clearly in the institutional products. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have hemorrhaged funds in recent weeks, including a reported $4.5 billion total outflow in June, the largest since the ETFs launched.
Related: Bitcoin price taps new July high above $62K on weak US jobs data
Bitcoin could face further downside pressure after ending June below its 200-week moving average while still trading above its realized price, a combination that crypto analyst PlanB says suggests the market has yet to reach a bear market bottom.
Bitcoin fell 20.5% in June to close the month at $58,526 — its worst monthly performance since June 2022 — below its 200-week moving average of $62,000 but above its realized price of $52,000.
Bitcoin is down 8.80% over the past 30 days. (CoinMarketCap)
“ALL previous bear market bottoms were below realized price,” said PlanB, the creator of the stock-to-flow pricing model. He added in a separate post that Bitcoin could drop to $52,000.
Crypto treasury company Sharplink, which resumed buying Ether last week after an eight-month pause, has bought a total of $16 million worth of Ether since June 25.
Onchain data from Arkham shows that after Sharplink bought 5,000 ETH on June 25, it bought another 5,000 ETH (worth $8.5 million) on June 26.
Ether is down 10.73% over the past 30 days. (CoinMarketCap)
The company confirmed the ETH purchases in an announcement, adding it bought it at an average price of $1,611 per ETH.
The two-day buying spree adds to evidence that Sharplink has revived its active Ether accumulation strategy, with its total Ether holdings now at 866,725 ETH. The crypto treasury company was once a close competitor to Bitmine as the world’s largest ETH treasury company, but has fallen far behind.
“The Company’s ETH purchases reflect its continued commitment to growing its ETH treasury as a long-term reserve asset,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Cryptocurrency markets entered the third quarter of 2026 with less leverage but thinner liquidity after a wave of liquidations cleared speculative positions while major sources of demand weakened during the second quarter.
According to a market update from institutional data provider Talos, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) long liquidations totaled $8.35 billion in Q2. The data provider pointed out that the deleveraging coincided with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows, reduced Bitcoin buying by Strategy and a contraction in stablecoin supply.
While the reset left the market more stable heading into Q3, Talos said reduced order-book depth weakened its ability to absorb renewed selling pressure. This means the market could be less vulnerable to a chain reaction of forced selling, but prices may still swing sharply because there's less trading activity to absorb large orders.
Features: Has Strategy’s capital overhaul put an end to ‘death spiral’ fears?
", "description": "Analysts are divided on Bitcoin's next move — but that's still an improvement on universal bearishness. Meanwhile Joe Lubin's SharpLink has resumed buying Ether after an eight-month pause, and other Market Moves.", "published": "2026-07-03T00:17:47+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" }, { "slug": "ethereum-price" } ], "slug": "is-bitcoin-heading-for-65k-sharplink-buys-16m-eth-market-moves", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Analysis" } ] }, "id": "273477" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Ripple co-founder backs venture launched by US senator's son: Report", "leadText": "While engaged in negotiations over ethics in a crypto market structure bill in Congress, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she had “no involvement” in her son’s derivatives exchange, backed by at least one industry figure.", "author": { "slug": "turner-wright" }, "bodyText": "Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chair of Ripple Labs, was reportedly among those backing the financial venture of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s son as negotiations over a significant piece of crypto-related legislation continue in the Senate.
According to a Thursday Politico report, Larsen was one of a handful of investors backing the American Perpetuals Exchange Corp. (APEC), founded by Theodore Gillibrand. Although Larsen’s exact contribution was not included in the report, the majority of investors contributed between $5,000 to $10,000 each into the derivatives platform, which reportedly raised $30 million.
The investment comes as the New York lawmaker is involved in negotiations over ethics provisions in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, legislation expected to have a significant impact on crypto companies operating in the US, including Ripple. Gillibrand said in May that no one would be voting for the bill without addressing ethics:
“[T]he truth is, is that we cannot allow members of Congress, senior administration officials, presidents or vice presidents, to get rich off of these industries because of their insider status. It is the worst form of pay for play.”
A spokesperson for the senator referred Cointelegraph to her June 18 statement saying that her son was “a grown adult starting his own independent business” and she had “no involvement in it whatsoever.” Cointelegraph reached out to APEC for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Related: Fed chair nominee pressed on potential conflicts of interest, independence
Democratic lawmakers have been pushing Republicans, who hold a majority in Congress, to support efforts to add ethics language to the CLARITY Act, citing US President Donald Trump’s ties to the crypto industry. Republican leaders in the Senate are expecting the bill to pass the chamber in July, with Senator Cynthia Lummis saying in June that lawmakers were “working a little bit on ethics,” decentralized finance and illicit transactions as part of negotiations.
Source: Senator Elizabeth Warren
Senate Republicans hold a slim majority in the chamber, meaning they will need some Democratic support to meet the 60-vote threshold for CLARITY to pass.
Lawmakers in the US Senate are on state work periods for the Independence Day holiday. Scheduled to return to session on July 13 and leave for another month-long state work period in August, the window to pass crypto market structure is closing before US election day, which is expected to result in additional delays.
Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto
", "description": "Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen was reportedly one of a handful of investors backing a financial company launched by Kirsten Gillibrand’s son.", "published": "2026-07-02T23:01:25+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "politics" }, { "slug": "ripple" }, { "slug": "venture-capital" }, { "slug": "senate" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "ripple-chris-larsen-senator-gillibrand-son-venture-market-structure-bill", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273473" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "IMF says tokenization could transform settlement and financial stability", "leadText": "The global lender says blockchain-based finance could streamline markets but warns that fragmented standards and regulations may create new systemic risks.\n", "author": { "slug": "sam-bourgi" }, "bodyText": "The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says tokenization could fundamentally reshape how financial markets operate, marking one of the strongest acknowledgments yet from a global policymaker that blockchain-based infrastructure is moving into the financial mainstream.
In a blog published Thursday, Tobias Adrian, the IMF’s financial counselor and director of its Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said tokenization is more than a niche crypto innovation. By bringing assets, settlement and recordkeeping onto a shared ledger, tokenization could compress today’s multi-day settlement process into near-instant transactions.
Adrian also warned that tokenization shifts risks away from traditional financial intermediaries and toward the underlying infrastructure, including smart contracts, distributed ledgers and service providers. Without common standards and coordinated regulation, tokenized financial markets could become fragmented across incompatible platforms, creating new sources of systemic risk.
Source: IMF
The report comes as financial institutions accelerate efforts to integrate tokenization into traditional markets. The Clearing House, whose owners include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Barclays, reportedly plans to launch a tokenized deposit network in early 2027 to keep deposits within the regulated banking system while enabling faster, programmable payments.
The IMF’s assessment aligns with recent research from PwC, which found that tokenization could address longstanding inefficiencies in traditional finance, including payment settlement and the transfer of asset ownership. It also follows a May report from Moody’s showing that traditional financial institutions are actively preparing for a shift toward tokenized finance.
Related: Tokenization makes finance more efficient but introduces risks: IMF
The IMF report emphasized the growing role of regulators in shaping tokenized finance. Adrian said policymakers have a narrow window to determine how tokenized markets evolve, arguing that decisions on settlement assets, governance, interoperability and the role of central banks will help determine whether tokenization makes the financial system more efficient or introduces new systemic risks.
In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken steps to clarify how existing securities laws apply to tokenized assets rather than creating a separate regulatory framework.
Source: Cointelegraph
The agency has also signaled it is considering an “innovation exemption” that could allow market participants to test blockchain-based trading platforms for tokenized securities while a longer-term regulatory framework is developed.
Magazine: Can Robinhood or Kraken’s tokenized stocks ever be truly decentralized?
", "description": "The IMF says policymakers have a narrow window to shape tokenized finance as banks, regulators and market infrastructure move toward blockchain adoption.", "published": "2026-07-02T20:17:32+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "banks" }, { "slug": "imf" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "rwa-tokenization" } ], "slug": "imf-tokenization-financial-markets-settlement-risks", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273469" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Russia on track for digital ruble rollout on Sept. 1: Central bank governor ", "leadText": "EU authorities already preemptively sanctioned Russia’s digital ruble in 2025 as part of measures in response to the country’s war against Ukraine. ", "author": { "slug": "turner-wright" }, "bodyText": "Russia’s central bank governor, Elvira Nabiullina, confirmed that the country was prepared to roll out its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in two months, following the timeline it laid out last year.
According to a Thursday report from Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti, Nabiullina said that “everyone is ready” for a Sept. 1 digital ruble launch. The CBDC will launch as a complement to Russia’s fiat currency, the ruble, and will initially be accepted by financial and credit institutions.
“We want the digital ruble to be in demand by people and businesses, to be convenient, and, of course, we're constantly discussing [...] what functionality to develop,” said Nabiullina in a translated statement.
Pile of 5,000 ruble banknotes next to a keyboard on a white surface, viewed from above. Source: Polina Tankilevitch, Pexels
The launch of a digital ruble, whose development began in 2021, has already been targeted by preemptive sanctions from European Union authorities, which announced restrictions on the CBDC in April. The European Council said that the sanctions package was in response to Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine,” which it started in February 2022.
According to the Bank of Russia’s first deputy governor, Vladimir Chistyukhin, the law allowing the digital ruble will be enacted on Sept. 1 with a transition period until July 2027.
Related: Russia targets British 17-year-old for alleging digital assets were skirting sanctions
Jack Jarmon, who worked as a USAID technical adviser for the Russian government in the 1990s, said in a February 2025 report that the country could face “structural limitations” should its digital ruble plans fail and it relies on Bitcoin (BTC) and other proof-of-work (PoW) digital currencies as methods of evading sanctions.
“While Russia is replete with a surplus of oil and gas, the rest of its energy infrastructure is not well suited to handle such significant increases in demand for energy,” said Jarmon, referring to PoW mining. “Its power grid is old and in need of investment and upgrade.”
He added:
“The sanctions that Putin seeks to circumvent have cut Russia off from financial capital and technology. It has no domestic semiconductor industry to meet its needs and must rely on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for components [...]”
In contrast to Russia, the United States is one step away from having a ban on the country’s central bank issuing or creating a CBDC until 2030. This week, US President Donald Trump received the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a housing bill containing a ban on a digital dollar as part of a package of housing affordability laws.
Although Trump has said he will not sign the bill, expecting Republicans to first pass legislation requiring voters to provide proof of US citizenship in person to register, it will automatically become law in 10 days with no action on the president’s part. This timeline would put the law into effect in July.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
", "description": "A Russian law allowing the country’s central bank to issue a digital ruble will reportedly be enacted on schedule on Sept. 1, with a transition period until July 2027.", "published": "2026-07-02T20:04:55+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bank-of-russia" }, { "slug": "central-bank" }, { "slug": "digital-currency" }, { "slug": "cbdc" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "russia-digital-ruble-rollout-september-central-bank-governor", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273465" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin price taps new July high above $62K on weak US jobs data", "leadText": "Bitcoin took daily gains to nearly 4% on the second day of \"green July\" as US labor-market signals supported an easing inflation policy from the Federal Reserve.", "author": { "slug": "william-suberg" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) passed $62,000 at Thursday’s Wall Street open as crypto reacted to weak US employment figures.
Key points:
Data from TradingView showed new July highs of $62,137 on Bitstamp, with BTC/USD up nearly 4% on the day.
BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The latest nonfarm payrolls data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed that the US added far fewer jobs than expected in June, at 57,000 versus the anticipated 114,000.
“Both the unemployment rate, at 4.2 percent, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.1 million, changed little in June,” an official news release stated.
US unemployment data. Source: BLS
The jobs numbers painted a weak picture of the labor market — a potential tailwind for risk assets should the Federal Reserve loosen financial policy as a result.
“May's jobs number was also revised down by -43,000 jobs,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted in a reaction on X.
“The labor market remains in a volatile situation.”
As Bitcoin and altcoins headed higher, crypto trader and analyst Michaël van de Poppe was among those shifting toward a more optimistic mid-term market view.
“Inflation expectations have come down. Now, unemployment drops too. It's at its lowest level in close to a year. Those are strong, public signals about the direction of the markets,” he told X followers.
“I don't think we'll see another drop on Bitcoin if Bitcoin can clearly break through $65,000 from here.”
Other market participants also drew attention to Bitcoin bulls’ newfound strength.
Related: Bitcoin bear market ‘dead’ after first TD9 reversal signal since July 2022 fires
“Price drilling through large asks on Binance perps orderbook is actually sign of strength. Plus, we have chasing bids supporting aggressive buyers,” commentator Exitpump reported about exchange order-book data.
“Buyers are back and strong.”
BTC/USDT chart with order-book liquidity data. Source: Exitpump/X
Data from CoinGlass put 24-hour crypto short liquidations at nearly $450 million at the time of writing.
BTC/USD vs. cryptocurrency liquidations (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass
“Welcome to green July,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital continued.
As Cointelegraph reported, Rekt Capital expects a July relief rally for Bitcoin before bear-market momentum resumes in August.
An accompanying chart, which featured the 21-month and 50-month exponential moving averages (EMAs), drew comparisons to the 2022 bear market, with the implication that the cycle lows were still to come.
“And once Bitcoin turns the 50 EMA into new resistance on this relief rally, it will likely enter additional Bearish Acceleration over time,” Rekt Capital added in a separate X post.
BTC/USD one-month chart with 21, 50EMA. Source: Rekt Capital/X
", "description": "Bitcoin gets a macro boost from US jobs data as \"green July\" begins with a trip past $62,000 and nearly $500 milllion of crypto short liquidations.", "published": "2026-07-02T18:41:26+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-returns-to-62k", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Market Update" } ] }, "id": "273461" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "FBI director discloses Strategy holdings months after deadline: Report", "leadText": "Strategy is a registered US government contractor, though Kash Patel claimed that “no current conflict exists” with his $100,001 and $250,000 worth of the company’s stock that he reported late.", "author": { "slug": "turner-wright" }, "bodyText": "Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) , reportedly omitted reporting exposure to Bitcoin treasury company Strategy, in violation of federal law.
According to a Wednesday report from the nonpartisan nonprofit news agency NOTUS, Patel “inadvertently omitted” a Strategy (MSTR) investment worth as much as $250,000. The purchase, which Patel conducted on Nov. 21, 2025, wasn’t included in his December 2025 financial disclosures, as required for a government official under the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.
Source: NOTUS
Patel filed an amended report on May 26, indicating that the Strategy holdings were “inadvertently omitted” and “no current conflict exists” with the investment. Under the STOCK Act, some government officials and lawmakers must disclose financial transactions exceeding $1,000 no later than 45 days after executing the trade. Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, is a registered US government contractor, raising concerns about conflicts of interest with Patel’s investments.
Although signed into law in 2012, the STOCK Act has come under fire from many in Congress who claim that lawmakers and White House officials who violate it do not face severe penalties. First-time violators are only subject to a $200 fine under the law, with additional penalties falling short of the hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars offered in disclosures.
Related: Apple fixes bug that allowed FBI to read deleted Signal messages
Patel isn’t the only member of Congress or policymaker to fall behind in his Strategy investment disclosures. According to Capitol Trades, a website tracking politicians’ investments, Representative Shri Thanedar waited until August 2025 to report a $15,001 to $50,000 investment in Strategy made in June 2024.
The FBI director’s reported late disclosures came in the wake of President Donald Trump's release of financial records that revealed that his cryptocurrency ventures generated more than $1.4 billion in income in 2025, exceeding that of his real estate businesses.
Many US lawmakers have criticized the president for profiting from his position while in office through his memecoin launch, his family’s crypto platform World Liberty Financial, and his sons’ Bitcoin mining venture.
Magazine: Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
", "description": "Under the federal STOCK Act, enacted in 2012, senior US government officials and lawmakers must disclose financial transactions exceeding $1,000 or face a $200 fine for first-time offenders.", "published": "2026-07-02T18:04:32+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "fbi" }, { "slug": "politics" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "donald-trump" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-investment" }, { "slug": "microstrategy" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "fbi-director-kash-patel-strategy-bitcoin-disclosure", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273457" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Ondo expands tokenized equities with onchain shareholder voting", "leadText": "Ondo's latest partnership adds shareholder governance to tokenized stocks as competition in blockchain-based equity offerings accelerates.", "author": { "slug": "sam-bourgi" }, "bodyText": "Ondo Finance is adding shareholder voting rights to its tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) through a partnership with financial infrastructure provider Broadridge, addressing one of the key limitations of blockchain-based securities.
The companies announced Thursday that holders of more than 250 tokenized securities issued through Ondo will be able to participate in proxy voting and access corporate communications, including regulatory filings and other shareholder documents.
The integration uses a Web3-enabled version of Broadridge’s investor communications platform, allowing users to authenticate with blockchain wallets while accessing governance services typically reserved for shareholders in traditional markets.
The move comes as tokenized equities gain momentum among digital asset companies seeking to bring conventional financial products onchain. While tokenization promises faster settlement and around-the-clock trading, questions have remained over whether investors would receive the governance rights that accompany traditional direct stock ownership.
Source: Ondo Finance
Ondo said the governance features will accompany the launch of its first US custodial tokenized securities, including tokenized versions of BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and Micron Technology (MU). The company said the assets are the first issued under the US Securities and Exchange Commission's third-party custodial framework for tokenized securities.
Related: Blockchain.com deepens onchain stock offerings as tokenized equities market grows
The market for tokenized stocks has expanded rapidly this year, as its total value first surpassed $1 billion in March, according to Foresight Ventures. Data published by Ondo on Wednesday showed the market has since grown to $1.67 billion, with nearly 181,000 unique holders.
Ondo is one of several companies competing for a share of the fast-growing market. Backed Finance, which issues tokenized stocks through its xStocks platform, has also expanded its footprint, with its products now available across multiple crypto exchanges and blockchain networks.
The market for tokenized stocks has grown nearly 14-fold since May 2025. Source: Ondo Finance
Tokenization has emerged as one of crypto’s fastest-growing sectors in 2026, defying broader market weakness. A recent 21shares report attributed the trend to rising institutional adoption and improving infrastructure. Separate data from Binance showed the value of tokenized real-world assets, including stocks, has surged nearly 600% over the past year.
Related: Crypto Biz: The cost of stacking sats
", "description": "Ondo and Broadridge are adding proxy voting and shareholder communications to tokenized stocks as issuers expand blockchain-based equity offerings.", "published": "2026-07-02T17:25:01+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "investments" }, { "slug": "stocks" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "rwa-tokenization" } ], "slug": "ondo-tokenized-stocks-shareholder-voting", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273453" }, { "category": { "slug": "sponsored" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Digital asset inflows surge over 5x on licensed European platforms: Here's why", "leadText": "With the European regulatory transition ending, licensed digital asset exchanges are deploying deposit incentives to capture migrating retail volume.", "author": { "slug": "nihatcan-yanik" }, "bodyText": "As the July 1, 2026, deadline for the MiCA framework has arrived, regulated exchange OKX is leveraging its compliance authorization and targeted deposit incentives to attract users migrating from non-compliant platforms across the European Economic Area.
Europe’s crypto market has been operating under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, known as MiCA, since January 2025. The new rulebook has established a unified authorization regime for crypto-asset service providers, replacing a patchwork of national rules with a Europe-wide standard.
The final transition window closed on July 1, 2026. Platforms without the required authorization must wind down or restrict services in the European Economic Area (EEA), while firms with approved licenses can operate across the region under a single supervisory framework.
That is already creating pressure. Many prominent crypto exchanges couldn’t maintain their footing under the new rules, scaling back products or preparing market exits as the deadline approached.
The migration risk is substantial. Based on web traffic and application-download analysis, crypto exchange OKX estimates that roughly 60% of European crypto users have historically used platforms without MiCA authorization.
According to the company, 80% of existing exchanges may not complete the compliance transition. For European users, regulatory status now sits alongside liquidity, fees and product range as a factor in choosing an exchange.
OKX Europe is among the platforms positioned for that shift. OKX Europe Limited holds a MiCA Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization issued by Malta’s Financial Services Authority and can passport its services across the EEA. The company also holds MiFID and Payment Institution (PI) licences.
Source: OKX
User movement has already become visible in OKX’s internal figures. The exchange says inflows grew more than 5.5-fold from mid-April as users began leaving non-compliant alternatives. The increase reflects an industry shift that has moved compliance from an advantage to a legal requirement.
To address that transition, OKX has introduced a regional campaign running from June 29 through July 31. Eligible EEA residents who complete identity verification, opt in through the OKX app and make a net deposit of at least €10 can receive an 8% bonus on qualifying deposits, subject to a maximum of €20,000 in USD Coin (USDC). The original allocation was almost fully claimed within 48 hours, and OKX subsequently increased the bonus pool to €50 million.
The reward is an onboarding incentive tied to net deposits rather than a trading outcome or a claim about asset performance. Rewards are distributed biweekly across 52 weeks. Participants must maintain the required net deposit amount. The offer applies to eligible cash deposits and crypto transfers, with availability and qualification determined by the campaign terms.
A deposit incentive does not change the risks of holding or trading digital assets. It does, however, show how authorized platforms are responding to a compliance-driven migration that is already altering the European market.
https://x.com/okx/status/2072691575918919782?s=46
MiCA marks the closing of an era in which exchanges could rely on fragmented local registrations and regulatory gaps to serve European users. Competition among exchanges will increasingly center on authorization, asset segregation, disclosure standards, account usability and formal protections for users.
Europe’s exchange market is likely to become more concentrated, with fewer providers competing on clearer interfaces, transparent handling of client assets and their ability to meet common legal standards across the region. The next stage of the market will reward exchanges that can operate clearly within the European framework as users reassess where they hold and trade digital assets.
", "description": "With the European regulatory transition ending, licensed digital asset exchanges are deploying deposit incentives to capture migrating retail volume.", "published": "2026-07-02T16:00:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "europe" }, { "slug": "adoption" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrency-exchange" }, { "slug": "eea" }, { "slug": "mica" }, { "slug": "okx" } ], "slug": "digital-asset-inflows-surge-over-5x-on-licensed-european-platforms-heres-why", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Spotlight" } ] }, "id": "273445" }, { "category": { "slug": "features" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "The biggest blockchain upgrades still to come in 2026", "leadText": "From Ethereum’s Glamsterdam to Solana’s Alpenglow, 2026’s most important developments are protocol upgrades, not price charts.", "author": { "slug": "christina-comben" }, "bodyText": "Most crypto investors still obsess over price charts. But in 2026, a growing share of attention is shifting back to improving the fundamentals of the protocols.
Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche are preparing some of their largest protocol upgrades in years, while Coinbase’s Base network rolled out its Beryl hard fork last Friday in a bid to streamline the network, with a native token standard and shorter withdrawal windows.
Bitcoin development however, remains frozen, with developers still arguing over controversial covenant proposals and post-quantum computing upgrades.
Tim Sun, a senior researcher at Hong Kong-based asset manager HashKey Group, told Cointelegraph that protocol upgrades have historically focused on adding features, speed and throughput.
However, in 2026, he said the emphasis is shifting toward reliability, predictable governance, and institutional-grade infrastructure that can support large-scale financial use cases.
Here are the top five major blockchain upgrades to watch in the second half of 2026.
Glamsterdam is arguably the most consequential upgrade this year, and its already being tested on devnets. According to Ethereum’s public roadmap, Glamsterdam is designed to improve scalability, harden the layer-1, and make the network easier to use, with a mainnet launch expected sometime in the second half of 2026.
Sun said the upgrade should improve processing speeds by allowing more transactions to be processed simultaneously, expand capacity so Ethereum can handle more data at higher throughput, and reduce database bloat. Those changes should make the chain better suited for stablecoin settlement and real-world asset use cases, he said.
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Holly Atkinson, chief product and technology officer at 1inch, told Cointelegraph that Glamsterdam is viewed by many as Ethereum’s most significant upgrade since The Merge in September 2022, which transitioned the blockchain from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
Glamsterdam. Source: Ethereum.org
She said enshrined proposer-builder separation (ePBS) is a key change because most validators still depend on a small set of specialized builders and relays, which concentrates control over transaction ordering.
That setup amplifies maximal extractable value (MEV), censorship and centralization risks, she said. ePBS is designed to pull block building and proposing back into the protocol and make the process more transparent and accountable.
Pavan Kaur is a Solana Foundation judge and founder of RuleSpark, a compliance engine for digital asset marketing. She told Cointelegraph that ePBS is better understood as one step in Ethereum’s broader roadmap and does not eliminate MEV or fully solve builder centralization. “Practices like sandwich attacks may therefore migrate rather than disappear,” she said.
Solana’s biggest change this year is Alpenglow, a consensus upgrade that reworks the network’s core protocol. Alpenglow has been billed by many, including Solana ecosystem lead David Liang, as the chain’s “most significant consensus upgrade yet.”
After being overwhelmingly approved through a governance process in September 2025, Alpenglow remains under development but is expected to ship alongside the Agave 4.1 validator client release later in 2026.
Arun Krishnakumar, vice president of institutional capital at R3 enterprise software firm, told Cointelegraph that Alpenglow will be a major tailwind that will reinforce the ‘internet capital markets’ thesis even more strongly.
Solana Network Updrades. Source: Solana
At its core, Alpenglow is designed to dramatically speed up how quickly the network reaches finality. Instead of relying on Solana’s existing TowerBFT-based consensus mechanism, it introduces a redesigned system built around a new voting component called Votor.
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The practical impact is a major reduction in confirmation times, with finality targeted at roughly 100-150 milliseconds in optimal conditions, compared to around 12.8 seconds today.
Beyond speed, the upgrade also removes onchain vote transactions, which currently account for a significant portion of network activity. By streamlining how validators communicate and agree on the state of the chain, Alpenglow is intended to make Solana both lighter and more efficient under load.
Hadley Stern, board director, DeFi Development Corp, told Cointelegraph that removing onchain vote transactions is the “real story” for institutional allocators because it “cleans up validator economics and gives you honest telemetry, which matters when you're underwriting SOL as a treasury asset.”
He said that a network that can migrate its consensus layer as cleanly as is planned, would show the kind of “governed adaptability legacy financial infrastructure can't match.”
Base’s Beryl hard fork went live on Friday, following a short sequencer-related outage, when block production stalled for around two hours following an invalid block that triggered a temporary consensus failure.
Base co-founder Jesse Pollak said user funds were unaffected during the incident. While he stressed that “all funds are safe,” he added that “a halt is not okay” and said that lessons learned from the episode will be used to further strengthen Base as a platform for “global, 24/7 finance.”
Jesse Pollak speaks about the chain halt. Source: Jesse Pollak
According to Base’s documentation, Beryl introduces a set of changes aimed at tightening the network’s performance and reducing friction at the edges. These include the B20 native token standard, a shortening of withdrawal finality from seven days to five, and integration with Reth V2, which is expected to reduce node storage requirements while improving execution efficiency.
Related: Coinbase's Base resumes block production after 2-hour outage
Sun said Base has been moving toward a more unified “stack” approach, giving it greater control over how the network is built and upgraded, and allowing changes to ship more quickly than under the earlier Optimism Superchain model.
The trade-off, he said, is that liquidity, which once moved more freely across the broader Superchain ecosystem, may become more fragmented, even as Base deepens its integration with Coinbase’s wider user base.
Avalanche’s next chapter is less about a single branded hard fork than a broader push to improve performance while courting institutions and tokenized asset issuers.
Sun told Cointelegraph that Avalanche’s recent Etna hard fork replaced the old subnet model with sovereign Avalanche L1s, cutting the cost of launching a dedicated blockchain by more than 99% and making the network more attractive to institutional players.
It's already seen success in this regard. Sun pointed to Progmat, which he said accounts for roughly 63% of Japan’s national security token market, which migrated more than $2 billion in tokenized assets to a dedicated Avalanche L1, as well as the Avalanche Payments Collective backed by firms including Franklin Templeton, VanEck and WisdomTree.
Progmat Migrates $2B+ of its Tokenized Securities to Avalanche. Source: Avalanche
Atkinson said Avalanche is also pushing two upgrades aimed at making its C-Chain one of the fastest Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) environments.
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She described Streaming Asynchronous Execution as a way to separate transaction execution from consensus so the chain can run more continuously and size capacity closer to normal demand. For users, she said, the practical effect should be higher throughput and lower, steadier fees during periods of heavy activity.
Bitcoin is the outlier here because its biggest developments in 2026 are not scheduled upgrades but a continuation of passionate debates over whether the protocol should become more programmable and how urgently it should be hardened against quantum threats.
Bitcoin has not activated a major soft fork since Taproot in 2020, which upgraded Bitcoin’s scripting to make transactions more flexible and improve privacy.
Since then, discussion around covenant-related proposals such as OP_CAT, CheckTemplateVerify (CTV) and Lightning-focused ideas like LNHANCE has intensified. None of these changes has an agreed path to activation.
Researchers have also been debating BIP-360 and related proposals as ways to make it easier to migrate coins into quantum-resistant spending paths, if and when the quantum computing threat becomes real.
Atkinson described Bitcoin as the wildcard of the group. She said covenant proposals could unlock safer storage and richer scripting, but the subject remains divisive and subject to much debate.
Sun said those proposals could improve self-custody security, fee management and protocols such as Lightning and Ark, while giving institutions more programmable custody logic directly on the L1.
Bitcoin development is infamously slow, and any change to the protocol is pored over from every angle. There is general agreement that no covenant opcode is on track for activation this year, and reaching consensus on proposals like OP_CAT or CTV is still some distance away.
On the post-quantum side, BIP-360’s authors estimate that a full migration to quantum-resistant addresses and signatures would take years even under optimistic assumptions. It seems unlikely at this point that a quantum-resistance upgrade will be implemented before the end of 2026.
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", "description": "From Ethereum’s Glamsterdam and Solana’s Alpenglow, to proposed post quantum security changes for Bitcoin, 2026’s key crypto upgrades are some of the most significant in years.", "published": "2026-07-02T14:30:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "hard-fork" }, { "slug": "developers" }, { "slug": "upgrade" }, { "slug": "ethereum-2-0" }, { "slug": "quantum-computing" }, { "slug": "institutions" } ], "slug": "the-biggest-blockchain-upgrades-still-to-come-in-2026", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Analysis" } ] }, "id": "273377" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "UK payments blueprint outlines tokenized payments for ‘multi-money ecosystem’", "leadText": "UK regulators published an update to a national retail payments blueprint, calling for infrastructure support for tokenization and interoperability with new forms of digital money.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "UK regulators are calling for tokenization and “new forms of digital money” to be part of the core infrastructure of the country's future retail payment ecosystem.
In a Thursday update to the government's roadmap for modernizing retail payment systems, HM Treasury on behalf of the Payments Vision Delivery Committee said that including tokenization and digital money would advance its efforts to create a “diverse multi-money ecosystem.”
“Programmable payments, including those that rely on tokenization,” were named as potential “product-level arrangements” that may support payment innovation in the country, the agency update said.
The update of November's National Payments Vision document calls for infrastructure that enables emerging forms of digital money to interact with traditional payment systems.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this week published its landmark crypto regulatory framework and said that the licensing window for crypto companies will open from September until Feb. 28, 2027, before the regime goes live on Oct. 25, 2027.
Under that framework, cryptocurrency firms, including trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, staking companies and other intermediaries, must obtain FCA authorization to operate in the UK under the new framework.
Illustrative diagram of roles and responsibilities outlined in Payments Vision Delivery Committee update. Source: HM Treasury
In April, the UK government said it would revisit its payments rulebook to support the adoption of new payment technologies, including stablecoins and tokenization.
It said that would include a consultation on reforms for payment services and electronic money rules to create a single framework for traditional and tokenized payments, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits, according to an April 21 announcement by HM Treasury and Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby.
Related: Aave Labs’ Push gains UK FCA crypto registration
The following month, the Bank of England (BoE) proposed extending operating hours for its core settlement infrastructure toward near-24/7 availability, as part of a broader push with the FCA to prepare UK wholesale markets for tokenized finance.
The BoE said the expanded operating hours would support cross-border payments and new payment and settlement models as tokenization develops. The central bank is seeking public feedback on the proposal until July 3 and plans to publish a feedback statement in the summer.
Call for input on the future of tokenization in UK wholesale markets. Source: FCA
The FCA said just days earlier that tokenization and distributed ledger technologies could make fund management more efficient and support the innovation of the UK asset management sector.
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", "description": "UK regulators published an update to their retail payment blueprint, highlighting the importance of supporting tokenization and interoperability between traditional payment systems and new forms of digital money.", "published": "2026-07-02T14:04:23+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "payments" }, { "slug": "bank-of-england" }, { "slug": "uk-government" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "rwa-tokenization" }, { "slug": "policy" } ], "slug": "uk-payment-blueprint-tokenized-payments-multi-money-ecosystem", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273441" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Aave brings V3 lending and GHO stablecoin to Monad ", "leadText": "Aave launched its V3 lending protocol on Monad with 12 supported assets as the network commits $15 million in first-year incentives to build liquidity and adoption.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Aave has deployed its V3 lending protocol on Monad, expanding the layer-1 blockchain’s lending ecosystem with support for 12 assets at launch.
On Thursday, Aave announced that the initial market supports USDT0, USDC, Aave’s GHO stablecoin, USDe, mUSD, AUSD, WETH, cbBTC, wstETH, weETH, syrupUSDC and sUSDe. It is also Aave's first deployment with Chainlink Smart Value Recapture enabled from day one, allowing part of the value generated from liquidations to be redirected back to the protocol.
The deployment expands Aave’s multichain lending network while giving Monad users and developers access to an established borrowing market, Aave’s GHO stablecoin and liquidity incentives intended to support early adoption.
Monad is compatible with Ethereum’s application environment, allowing existing Solidity contracts and Ethereum tooling to be used with minimal changes, according to Aave’s governance proposal.
Monad's total value locked as of Thursday. Source: DefiLlama
Aave’s governance documents show that the Monad Foundation committed $15 million in incentives during the first 12 months after activation. The foundation also agreed to acquire and retain 10 million GHO for over six months, while Aave DAO committed another 500,000 GHO in incentives to support adoption on Monad.
These incentives could help establish initial liquidity. However, user activity will need to persist after incentives decline. According to a risk assessment by LlamaRisk, Monad’s mainnet launched on Nov. 24, 2025, and had about $359.5 million in total value locked as of June 8. It said early network usage had compressed after a strong start and that liquidity remained concentrated in established protocols.
LlamaRisk supported the deployment with conservative initial parameters, citing Monad’s short operating history.
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The launch also comes as institutions increasingly explore bringing tokenized assets into DeFi lending markets. In June, Standard Chartered said that tokenized assets entering DeFi could drive deposits into Aave, whose deposit base reached about $75 billion at its October 2025 peak.
In April, Centrifuge revealed plans to bring tokenized Treasurys, private credit and AAA-rated collateralized loan obligations to Monad for use in lending, collateral and secondary-market activity.
Although Centrifuge has not announced that its assets will be integrated into Aave, the deployment gives Monad an established lending venue that could support tokenized assets as its ecosystem develops.
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", "description": "Aave deployed its V3 lending protocol and GHO stablecoin on Monad, launching with 12 assets and $15 million in first-year incentives.", "published": "2026-07-02T14:00:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "lending" }, { "slug": "defi" }, { "slug": "aave" }, { "slug": "monad" } ], "slug": "aave-v3-lending-gho-stablecoin-monad", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273437" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Standard Chartered, Circle bring USDC minting onto banking rails", "leadText": "Standard Chartered and Circle launch bank-led USDC minting and redemption for institutions, starting in Dubai’s DIFC with planned global expansion.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "Standard Chartered and USDC issuer Circle have developed a system that lets institutional clients mint and redeem the USDC stablecoin through a bank-led onboarding process.
Standard Chartered said Thursday it is the first Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB) to offer such services for USDC, bringing stablecoin access into the same risk, compliance and governance frameworks used in traditional banking. Clients will be able to mint and redeem the US dollar-backed stablecoin directly through StanChart's platform instead of opening separate accounts with Circle.
“By embedding USDC access directly within Standard Chartered’s institutional offering, Standard Chartered will bring together banking, custody, and digital asset services within one integrated offering,” the announcement said. The initial rollout will be through the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
The collaboration comes as stablecoin infrastructure is increasingly integrated into traditional banking systems, as issuers and financial institutions compete to control how digital assets such as USDC are distributed and accessed.
Source: Circle on X.com
The capability supports institutional use cases such as onchain settlement, treasury, and liquidity management, while also providing the infrastructure to support payment-related use cases in the future.
While the service is initially rolling out through Standard Chartered’s operations in the DIFC, the bank said it intends to expand the capability to other markets, depending on regulatory approval and demand from clients.
Source: Standard Chartered
Roberto Hoornweg, CEO of corporate and investment banking at StanChart, said the goal is to bring traditional banking standards into crypto markets as demand for regulated infrastructure increases.
“Ultimately, this is about enabling broader institutional participation in digital asset markets through the frameworks, controls and regulatory oversight that have long supported confidence in global financial markets,” he said.
Related: French banking giant Crédit Agricole launches EURXT euro stablecoin
The news came in the wake of Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire's statement defending USDC’s network effects against new stablecoin entrants like Open USD (OUSD), pointing to growing competition over distribution, liquidity and revenue models in the stablecoin market.
“With OUSD, we work closely with many of the founding members, and we expect that those same members will remain large USDC partners and customers,” he said on Wednesday.
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", "description": "Standard Chartered and Circle launch bank-led USDC minting and redemption for institutional clients with initial rollout in the UAE.", "published": "2026-07-02T12:41:44+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "uae" }, { "slug": "banks" }, { "slug": "circle" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "institutions" }, { "slug": "industry" }, { "slug": "standard-chartered" } ], "slug": "standard-chartered-circle-usdc-minting-banking-rails", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273429" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Solana Foundation launches framework for protocol-level governance", "leadText": "The Solana Foundation launched a framework for protocol-level governance, enabling validators with at least 100,000 delegated SOL to publish new proposals.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "The Solana Foundation, the Swiss organization that supports the Solana network’s development, launched a new framework for protocol-level governance that enables proposing and voting on governance decisions for the Solana blockchain.
The Solana Governance Proposals (SGPs) establish a standard that enables validators to submit core protocol proposals and vote onchain, with voting power based on their delegated Solana (SOL) stake, the Foundation announced in a Thursday X post.
“An SGP captures a stake-weighted directional decision. It records what the community wants. It is not strictly focused on the technical detail of how to build the feature,” according to the GitHub repository, launched on Thursday.
The new framework offers Solana a transparent, community-driven way to make major protocol decisions, reducing reliance on centralized coordination while keeping technical implementations, or Solana Improvement Documents (SIMDs), separate from community governance.
Other blockchain networks with similar stake-weighted governance mechanisms include Polkadot, Cosmos, Cardano, Tezos and Avalanche.
Source: Solana Foundation on X.com
A proposal must receive endorsements from validators representing at least 15% of actively staked Solana tokens to qualify for a formal onchain vote, a measure that seeks to filter out low-quality proposals.
Validators with at least 100,000 SOL delegated can open a new governance proposal via SGP. SOL stakers can delegate their stake to validators, allowing them to participate in the governance process on their behalf.
Delegators who disagree with how their validator has voted can now override the validator and submit their own vote on the proposal, hence overriding the validator’s vote for that proposal.
SGP voting information, minimum threshold. Source: GitHub
The Solana Foundation said that governance-level proposals will be SGPs, while smaller SIMD proposals will focus on technical protocol upgrades.
“SIMDs should focus on protocol changes, SGPs should be signals from the ecosystem,” wrote the Foundation.
Related: South Korea’s Shinhan Card taps Solana to test real-world stablecoin payments
In April, the Solana Foundation introduced a new security auditing framework and incident-response network for Solana-based protocols, in partnership with Web3 security firm Asymmetric Research.
The new initiative, the Solana Trust, Resilience and Infrastructure for DeFi Enterprises (STRIDE), is a “structured program for evaluating, monitoring and escalating security across Solana projects,” according to the April announcement.
Top blockchain networks by TVL. Source: DefiLlama
Solana ranks as the second-largest blockchain network with $4.92 billion in total value locked (TVL), behind Ethereum's $37.3 billion. Solana generated over $587,000 in blockchain fees during the past 24 hours, according to DefiLlama at last look.
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", "description": "The Solana Foundation launched a new framework for protocol-level governance that lets validators with 100,000 delegated SOL publish new proposals for the blockchain’s direction.", "published": "2026-07-02T11:59:43+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "decentralization" }, { "slug": "voting" }, { "slug": "solana" }, { "slug": "governance-token" }, { "slug": "web3-decentralization-initiatives" } ], "slug": "solana-foundation-framework-protocol-governance", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273425" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "SBI Crypto shuts Bitcoin mining pool after 5-year run", "leadText": "SBI Crypto will shut down its Bitcoin mining pool on July 31 after more than five years, ranking 12th globally with about 2.2% of hashrate share.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "SBI Crypto, a cryptocurrency-focused division of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI, is shutting down its Bitcoin mining pool after a five-year run.
The company announced Wednesday that it will end mining pool operations on July 31 and will stop accepting mining shares at the same time. It did not provide its rationale for closing the pool.
SBI Crypto said miners should keep directing hashrate to the pool until the cutoff so final payouts can be calculated correctly before operations end. “We would sincerely appreciate your continued support by mining with us until the final day of operation,” it said.
The shutdown marks the end of one of Japan’s better-known corporate mining pool operations and is the latest sign of SBI’s intentions to expand its broader cryptocurrency strategy beyond mining.
SBI Crypto launched its Bitcoin mining pool in March 2021, entering a market that at the time was dominated by operators such as Poolin, F2Pool and Binance Pool.
Data from SimpleMining shows SBI Crypto currently ranks as the 12th largest Bitcoin mining pool globally, with about 21.46 exahashes per second (EH/s) of hashrate and roughly 2.24% of total Bitcoin network share.
Source: SimpleMining
That places it far behind leaders like Foundry USA, which controls about 24.49% of the network, and AntPool at around 19.05%. Mid- and lower-tier mining pools such as ViaBTC and MARA Pool account for about 8.55% and 5.15% of the global Bitcoin mining hashrate, respectively.
SBI Crypto directed miners toward several alternative Bitcoin mining pool operators as it prepares to shut down its service, including Braiins, Luxor and NeoPool.
Among them, Braiins and Luxor are established mid-tier mining infrastructure providers, each controlling around 2%-3% of global Bitcoin hashrate, according to SimpleMining data. NeoPool is not included in the top-ranked pools by hashrate.
Source: Braiins
“Some operators may offer special programs or preferential conditions for clients transitioning from SBI Crypto,” the company said, adding that customers are encouraged to contact each operator directly for details.
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The shutdown comes as SBI Holdings continues to expand its broader cryptocurrency strategy beyond mining.
The company recently agreed to acquire full control of crypto exchange Bitbank in a 46.7 billion Japanese yen ($289 million) deal, aiming to create Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
SBI has also been increasing its focus on stablecoins, backing JPYSC, a new trust bank-backed Japanese yen stablecoin, and supporting Ripple’s rollout of the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in Japan.
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", "description": "SBI Crypto will close its Bitcoin mining pool on July 31, ending a five-year run while ranking 12th globally with about 21.6 EH/s and 2.2% share.", "published": "2026-07-02T11:37:14+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "japan" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-mining" }, { "slug": "mining-pools" }, { "slug": "sbi" }, { "slug": "hashrate" } ], "slug": "sbi-bitcoin-mining-pool-shutdown-five-years", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273421" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Yield-bearing stablecoin slowdown ends 3-year run for crypto-native products", "leadText": "Yield-bearing stablecoin supply fell 15% in Q2 as sUSDe and sUSDS contracted, while Treasury-backed products including BUIDL, USYC and USDY continued to grow.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "Yield-bearing stablecoin supply fell by more than $3.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026, reversing nearly three years of quarterly growth as crypto-native products contracted and Treasury-backed tokens expanded.
Crypto exchange CEX.IO reported Thursday that the category declined by 15% during Q2. Ethena’s sUSDe lost 52% of its supply, shedding nearly $2 billion, while Sky’s sUSDS declined by 16%.
Treasury-backed products moved in the opposite direction. BlackRock’s BUIDL grew by 2%, Circle's USYC increased by nearly 16% and Ondo Finance's USDY rose by over 66%, highlighting a widening divide between crypto-native yield assets and products backed by traditional assets.
The divergence came as the broader stablecoin market recorded its first quarterly contraction since the third quarter of 2023, according to CEX.io. Total supply fell to $312 billion in Q2, while adjusted transaction volume declined by 5.5%.
Supply growth per quarter, compiled by CEX.io. Source: CEX.io
The Q2 decline marks a sharp reversal from the start of 2026. In Q1, stablecoin supply increased by about $8 billion to a record $315 billion, with yield-bearing products among the main growth drivers.
However, signs of weakening organic demand had already emerged early in the year. During the first quarter, retail-sized transfers fell by 16%, while automated activity accounted for roughly 76% of stablecoin transaction volume.
The slowdown continued through Q2. According to CEX.io, total stablecoin transaction counts fell by 530 million to 4.48 billion, the largest quarterly decline on record. However, transfers below $250 increased by 5% to $19.39 billion, suggesting that smaller peer-to-peer payments were more resilient than larger automated and trading flows.
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The stablecoin contraction also adds to broader concerns about weakening activity across crypto markets. On Wednesday, institutional data provider Talos identified declining stablecoin supply alongside spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows and slower Bitcoin purchases by Strategy as three key demand channels that weakened in Q2.
Tanay Ved, senior research associate at Talos, told Cointelegraph that a recovery in stablecoin supply would signal “fresh capital coming back into the ecosystem more broadly” and help support onchain liquidity.
Ved said spot ETF flows remain the most important demand channel to watch because they tend to reflect more durable shifts in institutional appetite. However, he added that ETF flows, corporate Bitcoin purchases and stablecoin supply often move together when market momentum changes.
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", "description": "Yield-bearing stablecoin supply fell by over $3.5 billion in Q2 as crypto-native products declined while Treasury-backed tokens continued growing.", "published": "2026-07-02T11:23:33+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "stablecoin" }, { "slug": "data" }, { "slug": "trading" }, { "slug": "yields" } ], "slug": "yield-bearing-stablecoins-lose-3-5-billion-q2", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273413" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "OFAC sanctions 134 ISIS-K crypto wallet addresses as Tether freezes funds", "leadText": "OFAC added 134 crypto wallet addresses linked to ISIS-K to its sanctions list, including 131 Tron addresses that received more than $1.4 million in crypto donations, according to Chainalysis.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned 134 cryptocurrency wallet addresses identified as belonging to ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K), which has been a Specially Designated Global Terrorist since September 2015.
The wallet addresses were added to the OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list on Wednesday, which includes individuals, entities and digital asset addresses linked to terrorism, narcotics trafficking and other illicit activity.
Stablecoin issuer Tether has frozen the balances associated with 131 Tron addresses, while the remaining three sanctioned addresses were on the Monero network, blockchain forensics company Chainalysis said in a Wednesday report.
The development comes over a week after the OFAC’s previous round of sanctions against ISIS-supporting financiers using cryptocurrency. On June 22, the OFAC sanctioned three individuals and six entities across Europe, the Middle East and West Africa, including Syria-based MSB Bitcoin Xchange and Turkish MSB Spider.
OFAC said the previous round of sanctions targeted “key facilitators who enable ISIS to move funds among its regional affiliates.”
OFAC update to SDN list, new wallets included. Source: OFAC
ISIS-K has historically solicited crypto through donation campaigns on various websites and messaging platforms, Chainalysis said.
The report said that the 131 Tron addresses in the latest round of sanctions received over $1.4 million in crypto donations since 2023 and sent over $880,000.
Network of ISIS-K funding entities sanctioned by OFAC. Source: Chainalysis
Chainalysis identified multiple such donation addresses used by the group on Tron, Monero and the Bitcoin network. It found significant exposure to mainstream services, including some wallets that sent funds to Syria-based cryptocurrency exchanges.
Related: US sanctions Sinaloa cartel-linked Ethereum addresses
Blockchain analytics tools are playing an increasingly prominent role in financial sanctions targeting illicit activity.
Earlier in April, blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs said that onchain evidence was key to securing the conviction of three individuals for terrorism financing in Indonesia in 2024 and 2025.
“Indonesian courts have demonstrated that cryptocurrency evidence — wallet addresses, transaction histories, on-chain flows — is not only admissible but can anchor a terrorism financing prosecution,” TRM said in a statement.
Magazine: Are DeFi devs liable for the illegal activity of others on their platforms?
", "description": "OFAC added 134 crypto wallets linked to ISIS-K to its SDN list, which received $1.4 million in crypto donations according to Chainalysis.", "published": "2026-07-02T11:23:29+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "cryptocurrencies" }, { "slug": "donations" }, { "slug": "wallet" }, { "slug": "isis" }, { "slug": "terrorism" }, { "slug": "cybersecurity" }, { "slug": "tether" }, { "slug": "sanctions" } ], "slug": "ofac-134-isis-k-crypto-wallets-tether-freezes-131", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273417" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Taiko reopens bridge after $1.7M exploit, says users made whole", "leadText": "Taiko restored bridge transfers after replenishing asset backing and completing security fixes following an 11-day network disruption.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Taiko reopened its bridge and restored full operations after a June exploit drained up to $1.7 million.
On Thursday, Taiko announced that users could once again move funds to and from the network after completing the final stage of its four-step recovery plan. The project said it had made all victimized users whole and that any remaining withdrawal limits are temporary safeguards that do not affect normal usage.
The reopening ends an 11-day disruption following the implementation of security fixes and the restoration of the bridge's 1:1 backing.
The exploit occurred on June 21 after an attacker compromised Taiko’s chain-state verification mechanism, allowing forged proofs to be accepted and enabling unauthorized withdrawals from its Ethereum vault. Blockchain security companies said that up to $1.7 million in crypto assets were taken.
Taiko’s seven-day token chart. Source: CoinGecko
Its token, TAIKO, briefly surged to about $0.35 following the bridge reopening, before retreating to roughly $0.14.
Taiko outlined its recovery plan on Sunday, saying it would bring the network back through four stages. The project said it had deployed fixes and verified that the chain's finalized state contained no forged checkpoints or attacker claims that could still be executed.
According to Taiko, the changes were submitted through its security council and reviewed by independent security experts. The network then replenished the bridge to ensure that assets issued on the network were backed 1:1 by assets held on Ethereum.
Related: DeFi TVL drops 39% in 2026 amid market downturn and record hack activity
Taiko also introduced conservative withdrawal quotas as an added precaution, saying the limits were not expected to prevent users from carrying out bridge transactions. However, it did not disclose the size of the quotas.
Taiko has not disclosed how the bridge's 1:1 backing was restored or whether any of the stolen assets were recovered. The project said it would publish a full postmortem detailing the incident and its response.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express
", "description": "Taiko reopened its bridge after a $1.7 million exploit, saying users were made whole and assets were restored to 1:1 backing.", "published": "2026-07-02T10:28:21+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "blockchain" }, { "slug": "security" }, { "slug": "hackers" }, { "slug": "cybersecurity" }, { "slug": "hacks" } ], "slug": "taiko-reopens-bridge-1-7m-exploit-users-made-whole", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273409" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Metaplanet buys 2,823 BTC, surpasses 43,000 in Bitcoin holdings", "leadText": "Metaplanet bought 2,823 Bitcoin during the second quarter, reducing its average acquisition cost to $106,500 per BTC, and reported $10.9 million in revenue from its income generation strategy.", "author": { "slug": "zoltan-vardai" }, "bodyText": "Japanese investment company Metaplanet acquired 2,823 Bitcoin during the second quarter at a price below its average purchase price, as its holdings surpassed 43,000 BTC.
The company acquired its latest trove at an average price of about 12.71 million yen ($78,850 at current exchange rates), reducing its average acquisition cost to about $95,117 per BTC from $96,258, according to a Thursday announcement.
Metaplanet now holds 43,000 Bitcoin acquired for about $4.1 billion. It also reported about $10.95 million in revenue from its Bitcoin income generation strategy in the quarter, which earns premiums by selling cash-secured options and employing other Bitcoin-related yield strategies.
The purchase extends Metaplanet's aggressive accumulation strategy, which has made the company one of the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holders. The acquisition comes days after Michael Saylor's Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, skipped its usual weekly Bitcoin purchase while unveiling a new capital framework designed to support dividends and expand its cash reserves.
Metaplanet Notice of Additional Bitcoin Purchase. Source: Metaplanet
Metaplanet shares closed 3.5% higher on Thursday but remain down 48% year-to-date, underperforming Bitcoin, which has fallen 31% over the same period.
While companies such as Metaplanet continue buying more Bitcoin, a handful of treasury companies are scaling back their exposure.
Nasdaq-listed South Korean company K Wave Media sold its remaining 88 BTC to repay $6 million in debt, exiting the Bitcoin treasury strategy, according to a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
K Wave Media, FORM F-3 filing. Source: SEC.gov
The move marked a sharp reversal as the company previously announced plans to expand its holdings to 10,000 BTC after securing $1 billion in capital capacity to drive its Bitcoin treasury strategy in July 2025.
Related: Swan's Cory Klippsten sees record Bitcoin holder supply revealing early bottom
On May 28, France-based semiconductor company Sequans Communications said it would monetize its remaining Bitcoin holdings over time. The company held 658 BTC at the time, and its shares rose about 14.5% following the announcement.
Magazine: Bitcoin, the ‘canary in the coal mine,’ XRP transaction demand falls 91.5%: Market Moves
", "description": "Metaplanet bought 2,823 Bitcoin during the second quarter below its average acquisition cost and reported $10.9 million in revenue from its Bitcoin income generation strategy.", "published": "2026-07-02T09:55:47+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "japan" }, { "slug": "digital-asset-holdings" }, { "slug": "digital-asset-management" }, { "slug": "microstrategy" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-adoption" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-reserve" } ], "slug": "metaplanet-buys-2823-btc-surpasses-43000-bitcoin-holdings", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273405" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "OpenAI weighs 5% stake for US government amid Trump talks: FT", "leadText": "OpenAI has reportedly discussed giving the US government a 5% equity stake in early Trump administration talks as Washington tightens AI model oversight.", "author": { "slug": "helen-partz" }, "bodyText": "OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has reportedly discussed giving the US government a 5% equity stake as artificial intelligence oversight in Washington intensifies.
The company raised the idea in early discussions with the Trump administration as it seeks to navigate a tougher political environment ahead of a potential public listing, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman argued that giving the public a financial stake in the company would be the best way to share the economic benefits of the booming AI industry.
The report comes weeks after OpenAI announced it had confidentially submitted an S-1 for a US initial public offering, joining Anthropic in preparing for a Wall Street debut this year. It also comes as the US government takes a more active role in overseeing advanced AI models.
The proposal would see several leading US AI companies contribute a 5% equity stake to a public investment vehicle. However, it remains unclear whether companies such as Anthropic, Google and Meta would support the idea.
The Financial Times reported that Altman modeled the proposal on Alaska's Permanent Fund, which invests the state's oil revenue into stocks and pays dividends to residents. Under a similar approach, Americans could share in the economic gains generated by AI.
According to the report, Altman has been in talks with President Donald Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He also reportedly spoke with Senator Bernie Sanders, who in June proposed a one-time 50% tax on the stock of the largest AI companies to create a nearly $7 trillion sovereign wealth fund for Americans.
Source: Vivek Sen
The White House is preparing voluntary standards for frontier AI models following its intervention in the rollout of recent systems from OpenAI and Anthropic.
The guidance is expected to be announced as early as next week and would set security benchmarks, establish review timelines and clarify who can access the most advanced AI models in the US and abroad.
The Trump administration reportedly requested a staggered rollout of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 and temporarily imposed export controls on Anthropic's latest models over cybersecurity concerns before lifting the restrictions.
Related: Anthropic to bring back Fable 5 as US lifts export controls
Cointelegraph reached out to OpenAI for comment on the reported discussions but had not received a response by the time of publication.
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities
", "description": "OpenAI has discussed a 5% US government equity stake during early Trump administration talks as Washington increases oversight of advanced AI models.", "published": "2026-07-02T09:26:02+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "government" }, { "slug": "ai" }, { "slug": "donald-trump" }, { "slug": "chatgpt" }, { "slug": "openai" }, { "slug": "ai-and-hi-tech" } ], "slug": "openai-5-percent-stake-us-government-trump-talks", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273401" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Robinhood links with dYdX Labs to launch new DEX Arcus", "leadText": "The crypto protocol dYdX has rebranded as Arcus and is joining Robinhood’s new blockchain to bring perpetual and tokenized stock trading. ", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "The company behind the dYdX decentralized exchange (DEX) has partnered with Robinhood to rebrand and launch the protocol as Arcus on the Robinhood Chain.
An X account for Arcus posted on Wednesday that “dYdX is now Arcus” and would launch on the Robinhood Chain, Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based layer 2 blockchain that went live the same day.
The dYdX Foundation said that dYdX Labs created Arcus “in partnership with Robinhood” and that the dYdX blockchain “is not affected by it in any way.” The platform is set to be blockchain’s “leading DEX” and will give users access to perpetual products and fee-free trading of 95 tokenized stocks.
Source: Charles d’Haussy
The DEX is part of Robinhood’s expanded push into tokenized assets and perpetual trading, two areas of crypto that have recently exploded in popularity as US regulators have shown interest in allowing the products to more easily come to market.
Robinhood’s embrace of perpetual trading comes as it looks to entice traders who have flocked to the crypto perpetual futures platform Hyperliquid, whose token has climbed nearly 150% so far this year as it has captured market share.
“Until now, traders have been shut out of the most valuable markets on earth — US equities, commodities, and indices — because of where they live, market hours, and institutions restricting access,” Arcus said in a blog post. “We built Arcus to reduce these barriers.”
The protocol said that it will offer perpetuals and tokenized stock trading that will go live this month, allowing tokenized stocks to be used as collateral for perpetuals and providing access to pre-IPO markets.
Related: CFTC chair says perp trading not suitable for all assets it regulates
It added that Robinhood Crypto, the company’s crypto technology arm, made an investment in Arcus but did not disclose further details.
The dYdX Foundation said that Arcus “is a distinct, independent product built on separate infrastructure” and that the dYdX blockchain would continue to operate and be owned by its community.
Major retail-focused trading platforms have been moving to expand their offerings to remain competitive. Crypto exchange Coinbase has looked to rival Robinhood and become a full-service trading platform, having added access to thousands of stocks earlier this year.
Robinhood’s blockchain also follows a similar move from Coinbase in 2023, when the latter launched its Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Base that has grown to be the fifth-largest by value locked, according to DeFiLlama.
Meanwhile, Bitget Wallet, the self-custodial wallet from the Bitget crypto exchange, said on Wednesday that it partnered with Robinhood Crypto to integrate the company’s blockchain to allow its users to trade tokenized stocks.
The decentralized exchange 1inch also said on Wednesday that it would be among the first major swap platforms to support Robinhood Chain.
Big Questions: Do we really only need 2–5 cryptocurrencies?
", "description": "Robinhood has backed Arcus, a rebrand of the dYdX decentralized exchange on its new blockchain, which is set to bring tokenized stocks and perpetuals trading.", "published": "2026-07-02T07:05:02+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "robinhood" }, { "slug": "dex" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "robinhood-links-with-dydx-labs-to-launch-new-dex-arcus", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273397" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "France to strengthen response as crypto wrench attacks hit 77", "leadText": "French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez promised a “more ambitious” three-part plan to reinforce security measures for the crypto sector.\n", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez has promised a "more ambitious" approach to tackling crypto ransom attacks after confirming there were 77 kidnapping, extortion or attempted extortion incidents linked to crypto in the first half of 2026.
Nuñez said Tuesday that the 77 incidents recorded so far this year are up sharply from the 45 recorded in all of 2025, according to local outlet BFM Business.
“These are serious matters, and your concern is legitimate,” he told the Association for the Development of Digital Assets (ADAN) as he promised more government support.
France has become one of the biggest hot spots for crypto wrench attacks, where criminals use physical violence to coerce victims into handing over crypto. Approximately 11% of French people own cryptocurrencies, according to ADAN, which equates to about 7.3 million people.
Earlier this year, French authorities launched a dedicated prevention platform and a rapid-alert and protection system for crypto holders and professionals, which has attracted 724 sign-ups so far, Nuñez said.
Nuñez said that emergency measures have resulted in 200 arrests, with one recent attacker being arrested within eight hours on Friday, thanks in part to the victim using an emergency identification hotline.
Related: StarkWare introduces 'Private KYC' to address personal data breaches
Nuñez promised a “more ambitious” three-part plan to reinforce security measures for the crypto sector. This includes stronger intelligence-sharing, since criminal networks are often based abroad, a deeper partnership with ADAN and better operational coordination between security services.
Blockchain security firm CertiK reported in May that wrench attacks globally were up 41% in the first four months of 2026, compared with the same period last year, with most attacks in Europe.
The firm said France is the “epicenter” of attacks because of the presence of several flagship industry companies and their executives, a “culture of flexing and voluntary doxxing that remains deeply embedded in the community,” and proven exposure from numerous sensitive data leaks.
David Balland, co-founder of French hardware wallet maker Ledger, was kidnapped and held for ransom along with his partner in January 2025 before being rescued by police.
Ledger suffered one of the industry’s most damaging data breaches when its customer database was hacked in 2020, resulting in the leak of more than 270,000 personal records and a wave of phishing and wrench attacks that continue to this day.
“France ranks among the most targeted countries in the world for this type of breach,” CertiK said.
Europe is becoming a hotbed for wrench attacks in 2026. Source: CertiK
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves
", "description": "French officials reported 77 crypto kidnapping and extortion cases in 2026 and announced new measures to protect crypto holders.", "published": "2026-07-02T06:22:40+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "france" }, { "slug": "crimes" }, { "slug": "scams" }, { "slug": "scams-and-cybercrime" } ], "slug": "french-wrench-attacks-rise-to-77-as-government-promises-more-support", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273393" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Dubai crypto market hits 50 licensed firms after new VARA approval ", "leadText": "Dubai’s VARA has licensed its 50th crypto firm, though only 39 VASPs were fully operational at the end of 2025 as the emirate’s regulated market continues to expand.", "author": { "slug": "ezra-reguerra" }, "bodyText": "The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Dubai's crypto regulator, has granted its 50th virtual asset service provider (VASP) license.
On Thursday, VARA said its latest approval went to tokenized assets platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE.
The milestone provides one measure of the growth of Dubai's crypto licensing regime, though license totals alone do not show how many firms are operational or the level of business they generate.
A VARA spokesperson told Cointelegraph that holding an active license does not necessarily mean a firm has completed its commercial launch. Newly licensed companies may go through a controlled operationalization period before offering services or onboarding customers.
Related: Senate Dems urge probe into $500M crypto deal between Trumps, UAE
At the end of 2025, VARA classified 39 licensed VASPs as fully operational. The spokesperson said the regulator is validating an updated figure for 2026.
Dubai has spent the past several years positioning itself as a global hub for digital asset businesses. As part of that effort, the emirate established VARA in March 2022 as a dedicated crypto regulator and has sought to attract crypto businesses through a standalone licensing framework.
Against that backdrop, Dubai's 50 licensed VASPs exceed the totals reported in Hong Kong and Singapore, two other jurisdictions competing to attract regulated crypto businesses. Each jurisdiction licenses different types of crypto businesses, meaning the headline totals do not represent identical categories of firms.
As of Thursday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) listed 37 major payment institutions (MPI) authorized to provide digital payment token (DPT) services. Singapore regulates DPT services within its broader payments regime rather than through a standalone VASP regulator like VARA.
List of licensed virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong. Source: SFC
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has listed 13 formally licensed virtual asset trading platforms. The count is narrower because the regime is specifically limited to platform operators.
The VARA spokesperson attributed Dubai's market growth to its activity-based regulatory framework and broader financial ecosystem, and said the regulator also considers transaction volumes, assets under management, employment and audited financial data when assessing market activity.
Magazine: Japanese pension fund tips 1% in crypto, G7 urges action on NK hackers: Asia Express
", "description": "Dubai’s regulated crypto market has reached 50 licensed firms under VARA, though only 39 VASPs were fully operational at the end of 2025.", "published": "2026-07-02T05:00:00+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "uae" }, { "slug": "middle-east" }, { "slug": "dubai" }, { "slug": "data" }, { "slug": "regulation" }, { "slug": "policy" } ], "slug": "dubai-crypto-market-50-licensed-firms-vara", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "272945" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Analyst warns BTC could drop further after worst June since 2022 ", "leadText": "The June close above realized price but below the 200-week moving average “signals the bear bottom is still ahead per prior cycles,” one analyst said. \n", "author": { "slug": "martin-young" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin could face further downside pressure after ending June below its 200-week moving average but above its realized price, a combination that crypto analyst PlanB says suggests the market has yet to reach a bear market bottom.
Bitcoin fell 20.5% in June to close the month at $58,526 — its worst monthly performance since June 2022 — below its 200-week moving average of $62,000 but above its realized price of $52,000.
“ALL previous bear market bottoms were below realized price,” said PlanB, the creator of the stock-to-flow pricing model, on Wednesday, adding in a separate post that Bitcoin could drop to $52,000.
The price move would mean Bitcoin falling about 60% from its all-time high of $126,000 in October. The dip could be even deeper, as previous bear markets have seen Bitcoin fall even further, such as 83% in 2018 and 76% in 2022.
“Right now, price is much lower than value and indeed might go lower from here (below realized),” PlanB said. “So, Bitcoin is undervalued but can still go lower.”
Bitcoin’s realized price is the aggregate cost basis of all coins in circulation, calculated by valuing each unspent transaction output (UTXO) at the price when it last moved on-chain. It represents the average price at which holders acquired their coins, serving as a key onchain metric for support levels during bear markets.
Related: Bitcoin bounces off 21-month low, but leverage data signals caution: Was $57K the bottom?
Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph that the June close above realized price but below the 200-week moving average “signals the bear bottom is still ahead per prior cycles.”
“I’m eyeing late-2026 capitulation there before the next leg up, though shallower this cycle due to institutions,” he said.
Lacie Zhang, research analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Cointelegraph that the current consolidation near $60,000 is “approaching a potential bottom zone, with strong historical and technical support likely forming around the $55,000 level if further downside occurs.”
ITC Crypto founder Benjamin Cowen also speculated there could be a cycle bottom for Bitcoin this year, given it is a US midterm election year. This has previously coincided with bear market bottoms in 2018 and 2022.
“The second half of midterm years usually marks the accumulation zone/market cycle bottom,” he said.
The US midterms are scheduled for Nov. 3, when all House of Representatives seats and about a third of Senate seats are up for election.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves
", "description": "Bitcoin ended June below the 200-week moving average yet above realized price as PlanB and other analysts eyed further downside before a cycle bottom later in 2026. \n", "published": "2026-07-02T04:42:24+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" } ], "slug": "renowned-analyst-predicts-btc-drop-to-52k-after-worst-june-since-2022", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273389" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Venice AI becomes unicorn after $65M Series A as AI privacy concerns grow", "leadText": "The funding round is Venice AI’s first external capital raise since it launched in May 2024. ", "author": { "slug": "felix-ng" }, "bodyText": "The Erik Voorhees-founded Venice AI has achieved unicorn status after raising $65 million in Series A funding at a $1 billion valuation.
Led by Dragonfly and with backing from Coinbase Ventures, F-Prime, North Island Ventures, Morgan Creek and others, the funding round announced on Wednesday marks the company's first external capital raise since launching in 2024.
The fundraising came in the same month Anthropic was forced to suddenly cut foreign access to two of its latest AI models, and comes just weeks after OpenAI was accused in a class-action lawsuit for sharing ChatGPT data with third parties, highlighting the potential appeal of privacy-focused AI platforms.
“This capital will be used to uphold the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution as they relate to mankind’s interaction with AI,” Voorhees said in an X post on Wednesday.
The First Amendment is part of the United States Constitution protecting five essential freedoms including the freedom of speech. The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
Venice AI, which claims to have 3.5 million users, offers access to over 200 AI models but adds a proxy between the user and the models and allows users to choose the level of privacy they want.
For models from OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and Google, the proxy obscures users’ IP address, account and session data. Other models offer higher levels of privacy.
Source: Erik Voorhees
“Control over intelligence is the defining fight of the coming decade,” Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, said on Wednesday.
“Whoever owns the AI delivery stack owns a direct window into your interior life. They log all your chats, train on them, and will hand them over when asked. And in the end, they decide the terms on which you'll get to access the most powerful systems humankind has ever built.”
Voorhees said the capital will be used to further build out its own data center infrastructure, owning the GPUs that power its platform rather than being forced to rent them at higher costs.
The remaining capital will be used to grow its customer base, enter new markets, hire talent and acquire “additive businesses,” he added.
Venice Token rose 6% on Wednesday. Source: X
The capital raise comes amid mounting concerns over user privacy when using AI models.
Earlier this year, lawyers told Cointelegraph that a user consulting an AI for legal matters could have their chat logs used against them in court.
Related: AI’s power crunch turns Bitcoin miners’ grid access into an asset
In February, Ethereum Foundation AI lead Davide Crapis and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin proposed a way to use zero-knowledge proofs and other methods to ensure that a user’s interactions with large language models are private.
Conversations about privacy when using AI were stirred again in May, when a proposed class action was filed in California federal court accusing OpenAI of disclosing private ChatGPT user data to Google and Meta.
The complaint alleged that OpenAI embedded Meta Pixel and Google Analytics into the ChatGPT.com website, so that when a user sends a query, the website allegedly sends duplicate data to Meta and Google alongside advertising cookies and personally identifiable information, which is then used to target advertisements to the user.
Magazine: Bitcoin slides to $58K, XRP hits $1 but onchain data promising: Market Moves
", "description": "Erik Voorhees’ Venice AI has raised $65 million at a $1 billion valuation, with VCs betting on growing demand for privacy-focused AI.", "published": "2026-07-02T04:31:39+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "funding" }, { "slug": "venture-capital" }, { "slug": "ai" }, { "slug": "erik-voorhees" }, { "slug": "ai-and-hi-tech" } ], "slug": "venice-ai-becomes-a-unicorn-as-ai-privacy-concerns-grow", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273385" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Trumps’ American Bitcoin sinks 8.4% ahead of reverse stock split to stay listed", "leadText": "The Trump sons' American Bitcoin hit a low on Wednesday ahead of the company’s reverse stock split, which aims to buoy shares and keep it on the Nasdaq.", "author": { "slug": "jesse-coghlan" }, "bodyText": "Shares in the Trump family-backed American Bitcoin (ABTC) sank to an all-time low on Wednesday after the crypto miner set a date for a 1-for-15 reverse stock split in a bid to stay listed on the Nasdaq.
American Bitcoin said its reverse stock split will go into effect after the market closes Thursday and will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis when the market opens Monday. It would continue to trade under the ticker ABTC.
It said every 15 shares of the company’s Class A and B common stock will be reclassified as one share. The company expects its common stock to be reduced from more than 1 billion outstanding shares to about 73 million.
American Bitcoin is the only public crypto company tied to the Trump family’s sprawling interests in the sector, and a reverse stock split is typically seen as a negative, as it indicates the company is in distress and is looking to artificially boost its share price.
American Bitcoin said the split aims to prop up its shares to maintain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid requirements, which allow the exchange to delist the company if it trades below a $1 closing price for 30 consecutive trading days.
Shareholders had approved the reverse stock split on June 22.
Shares in American Bitcoin dropped nearly 8.4% to close trading Wednesday at an all-time low of 62 cents. The stock saw a slight lift after-hours, rising 4.5% to 65 cents.
American Bitcoin’s stock tumbled to an all-time closing low of 62 cents on Wednesday. Source: Google Finance
American Bitcoin’s stock is down more than 63% so far this year and has fallen more than 92% since the brand started trading on the Nasdaq on Sept. 3.
The company was co-founded early last year by US President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
American Bitcoin merged with the Nasdaq-listed Gryphon Digital Mining to go public, with the Trump brothers and crypto miner Hut 8 together owning around 98% of the newly formed company.
Related: Bitcoin miners need billions to fund AI ambitions, led by IREN’s $21B gap
The company’s falling share price comes amid a wider downturn in the crypto market. American Bitcoin reported in May that it lost $81.7 million in the first quarter.
Other crypto companies have also turned to reverse stock splits to prop up their share price. Bitcoin financial services company Nakamoto completed a 1-for-40 reverse stock split in May in a bid to stay listed on the Nasdaq after it reached a low of 16 cents in April.
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at around $60,000 early Thursday, down 32% so far this year and having more than halved from its peak of more than $126,000 in October, according to CoinGecko.
Magazine: Clarity Act risks repeat of Europe’s mistakes, crypto lawyer warns
", "description": "American Bitcoin, the publicly traded crypto company backed by the Trump family, has set its 1-for-15 reverse stock split for next week as it aims to lift its share price to stay on the Nasdaq.", "published": "2026-07-02T03:38:34+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin-mining" }, { "slug": "stocks" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "trumps-american-bitcoin-sinks-ahead-of-reverse-stock-split-to-stay-listed", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273381" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin tops $60K amid Fed inflation talks: Is bull trap or $65K next? ", "leadText": "Bitcoin rallied above $60,000 despite Federal Reserve rate hike fears and steady outflows from the BTC spot ETFs. Is the rally a bull trap?\n", "author": { "slug": "marcel-pechman" }, "bodyText": "Key takeaways:
Bitcoin (BTC) reacted positively to US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's remarks on stubborn inflation. Despite the gains on Wednesday, traders fear that incentives for fixed-income investments and strong earnings momentum in tech stocks will continue to pressure non-yield-bearing assets like cryptocurrencies.
US five-year Treasury yield (left) vs. Bitcoin/USD. Source: TradingView
The US five-year Treasury yield jumped to 4.22%, meaning traders demanded higher returns to hold government bonds. Even as inflation eventually eases and WTI crude oil prices fell to a 4-month low, investors anticipate monetary expansion. Regardless of how the Fed manages interest rates and its balance sheet, the US Treasury dictates debt issuance trends.
Implied odds of FED interest rates on Sept. 16. Source: CME FedWatch Tool
US government bond futures implied 64% odds of interest rate hikes by September, up from 23% one month prior. The higher expected return on fixed-income investments came as the US dollar strengthened against other major global fiat currencies, which is especially concerning for alternative hedges such as gold and Bitcoin.
Gold/USD (left) vs. US dollar strength (DXY). Source: TradingView
Despite the gains on Wednesday, gold prices are down 12% in two months, while the US dollar strength (DXY) nears its highest mark in one year. This vote of confidence in the US economy partly stems from AI sector strength, evident in the 25% gains in the Nasdaq 100 index. However, some specific tech sub-sectors have recently signaled weakness, which could act as a catalyst for Bitcoin and gold.
Micron (MU US) and SanDisk (SNDK US) shares saw intraday losses exceeding 9% on Wednesday after competitors SK Hynix (000660 KR) and Samsung (005930 KR) announced plans to expand capacity. Still, the move can hardly be deemed a trend reversal as the iShares SOX Semiconductor Index ETF (SOXX US) gained 78% in three months.
Continued outflows from US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have shattered bulls’ hopes, reinforcing a negative price spiral as negative news gets amplified while positive events barely register.
US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs daily net flows, USD. Source: SoSoValue
Regardless of the rationale behind the sales, Bitcoin’s weakness, 53% below its all-time high, does not inspire confidence in the $60,000 support level.
Strategy (MSTR US) increased its cash position to restore a healthy 17 months of dividend coverage on Monday. However, Strategy’s variable-rate Stretch preferred stock (STRC US) continued to trade far from the $100 target required for additional issuances. The STRC dividend rose to 12% from 11.5%, which was apparently not enough to entice more buyers.
Related: Bitcoin just $5K away from ‘best investment opportunity’ of bear market
Bitcoin might have temporarily benefited from Fed Chair Warsh’s concerns about persistent inflation, but rising expectations for higher interest rates and strong earnings momentum in the AI sector may continue to exert negative pressure on Bitcoin. As a result, a sustainable rally to $65,000 could take longer.
Stock and cryptocurrency trading platform Robinhood announced the launch of its public mainnet about four months after it began testing the network.
On Wednesday, the company said Robinhood Chain, a layer-2 (L2) blockchain built on Arbitrum, had officially launched after the network went live on testnet in February. The blockchain, which the company described as “AI-native and purpose-built for real-world assets,” comes amid Robinhood's expansion of crypto- and decentralized finance-related services.
According to Robinhood, it plans to launch crypto trading in the UK soon. The company also said that its tokenized stock products were live and available through its wallet app to users in more than 120 countries. CEO Vlad Tenev called tokenized stocks “inevitable” in January, arguing that offering the products could help prevent trading freezes that sometimes occur on traditional exchanges.
Source: Robinhood
The launch of the public mainnet came just a few weeks after Tenev announced that Robinhood would cut 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring move. The company is expected to announce its 2026 second-quarter results on July 29, but reported in April that its crypto transaction revenue dropped by almost 50% year-on-year, from $252 million to $134 million.
Related: Last-minute MiCA approvals mark end of EU transition period
The company also introduced Robinhood Earn, a decentralized product that allows users to lend USDG, a dollar-backed stablecoin, through a self-custody wallet at an estimated 7% annual percentage yield. Robinhood shares rose about 8% on Wednesday.
Robinhood is entering an increasingly competitive L2 market dominated by networks such as Base, the Coinbase-backed blockchain.
In June, Base experienced two outages within hours of each other, which the engineering team later reported had been the result of a sequencer bug. The mainnet is the second-largest layer-2 network by total value secured at about $11 billion.
Magazine: AI is banking the unbanked in Africa… faster than crypto
", "description": "Robinhood said its blockchain, a layer 2 chain built on Arbitrum, had officially launched about four months after the network went live on testnet.", "published": "2026-07-01T22:38:49+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "launch" }, { "slug": "developers" }, { "slug": "robinhood" }, { "slug": "mainnet" }, { "slug": "arbitrum" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "robinhood-public-blockchain-mainnet-launch", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273369" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Tradeweb executes real-time tokenized US Treasury transaction on Canton Network", "leadText": "Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized US Treasury to Virtu Financial in what Tradeweb said was the first real-time transaction settled against USDCx.", "author": { "slug": "nate-kostar" }, "bodyText": "Tradeweb, an institutional electronic trading platform, has executed an onchain transaction involving tokenized US Treasuries, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash over the Canton Network.
Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while the Canton Network synchronized settlement between the tokenized Treasury and tokenized cash. The companies said the trade settled in real time, but did not disclose its size.
A Tradeweb spokesperson told Cointelegraph the deal marked the industry's first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton. Participants included Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial.
According to the announcement, the transaction precedes the planned launch of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Tokenization Services later this year. DTCC said the service will allow participants to tokenize select stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and US Treasury securities while maintaining the same investor protections and ownership rights as traditional assets.
Related: Franklin Templeton launches dedicated crypto division after closing 250 Digital acquisition
The transaction is also the latest step in Franklin Templeton's expansion into tokenized financial assets. Earlier this year, the asset manager partnered with Binance to let institutions use tokenized money market fund shares as trading collateral while the assets remained in regulated custody, and with Ondo Finance to bring tokenized ETFs onto blockchain networks.
Governments have also been expanding efforts to bring sovereign debt onto blockchain infrastructure. Several jurisdictions have launched digital bond programs to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and market infrastructure.
Hong Kong was among the first jurisdictions to issue tokenized government bonds, launching its inaugural digital green bond in 2023. The government completed its third digital green bond issuance in November 2025, raising HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) across four currencies, which it said was the world's largest digital bond issuance at the time.
Last month, Hong Kong said it would build a digital asset platform through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, with plans to expand the infrastructure to other digital assets and connect it with tokenization platforms across the region.
Elsewhere, the UK government appointed HSBC Orion to support its Digital Gilt Instrument pilot, which is designed to test blockchain-based issuance, settlement and secondary trading of government bonds.
Meanwhile, tokenized US Treasury products have grown into a $14.6 billion market, according to data from RWA.xyz. The sector spans 84 on-chain products and is the largest segment of the tokenized real-world asset market.
Tokenized US treasuries. Source: RWA.xyz
Magazine: Bitcoin decouples from tech stocks, Ether eyes ‘selling wave’: Market Moves
", "description": "Tradeweb facilitated a real-time tokenized US Treasury trade between Franklin Templeton and Virtu Financial on the Canton Network.", "published": "2026-07-01T21:38:39+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "hong-kong" }, { "slug": "united-states" }, { "slug": "united-kingdom" }, { "slug": "tokenization" }, { "slug": "rwa-tokenization" }, { "slug": "industry" } ], "slug": "tradeweb-executes-real-time-tokenized-us-treasury-transaction-on-canton-network", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273365" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin bounces off 21-month low, but leverage data signals caution: Was $57K the bottom?", "leadText": "Bitcoin found its footing after bulls took steps to reclaim the $60,000 level, but data casts doubt on whether it will flip back to support.", "author": { "slug": "cointelegraph" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) traded as high as $60,200 on Wednesday, up about 2.7% over the past 24 hours after falling to a 21-month low of $57,737 earlier in the session. Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) also gained, up 3% and 4.85%, respectively.
The bounce took place amid deep investor caution, with sentiment trackers gauging the balance of fear and greed in crypto markets currently reading around 11 out of 100, in “Extreme Fear” territory. Despite the rebound from the yearly low, Bitcoin remains down roughly a third since the start of the year.
Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative.me
Investors’ cautious stance shows up differently depending on what data is analyzed. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen more money leave than enter in recent weeks, including a reported $4.5 billion total outflow in June, the largest since the funds launched.
At the same time, onchain data shows that long-term holders added roughly 270,000 BTC over the past two weeks. That is generally read as a sign that some bigger investors see the recent decline as an opportunity rather than a reason to sell.
Looking at the past few days, one useful gauge is the funding rate. That figure has stayed positive for three straight days, meaning bets on rising prices have remained crowded even as Bitcoin fell to new lows. When leverage builds up on one side of the market like this while price is weak, it can add to volatility, since more traders become exposed to being forced out of their positions if the market moves further against them.
Bitcoin open interest, funding rate. Source: Hyblock
A broader look at where leveraged positioning is concentrated, combining data from three major exchanges over the past week, shows the heaviest concentration of positioning is roughly between $57,000 and $60,500, which closely wraps around the range Bitcoin has traded in since late June. That concentration thins out noticeably above about $61,000 to $62,000, and again below about $55,000 to $56,000.
Bitcoin liquidation heatmap, three-day look back. Source: Hyblock
In practical terms, most of the leverage that could be forced to unwind sits close to the current price rather than in a distant zone, so a decisive move beyond roughly $61,000 on the upside, or $56,000 on the downside, is where forced position closures would likely have the most room to accelerate a move.
The view for the next 24 hours leans neutral and a genuine shift in positioning would likely need to show up as rising leveraged positioning alongside a rising Bitcoin price, a combination that has not yet appeared in the data.
", "description": "Bitcoin searches for a bottom as bulls step in to reclaim $60,000. Is this the start of a trend reversal?", "published": "2026-07-01T21:27:49+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-futures" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-etf" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-bounces-off-21-month-low-but-leverage-data-signals-caution-was-57k-the-bottom", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Market Update" } ] }, "id": "273361" }, { "category": { "slug": "latest-news" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Democrat backed by Ripple co-founder’s PAC wins Colorado primary", "leadText": "Colorado’s Democratic and Republican primaries finished on Tuesday, with at least one candidate supported by $1 million from a crypto-aligned PAC going to the November general election.", "author": { "slug": "turner-wright" }, "bodyText": "Manny Rutinel, a Democratic candidate running to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, has won his party’s primary and will head to the November election after being supported by a crypto-aligned political action committee (PAC).
Early on Wednesday, Rutinel reported that he would be the Democratic nominee for Colorado’s 8th district, having won with 61.7% of the vote against Shannon Bird’s 33.6%. Before the primary, the You Can Push Back Super PAC, backed by $3.5 million from Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, reportedly spent $1 million on media to support Rutinel’s run.
The Colorado Democrat has a “strongly supports crypto” rating from the Coinbase-affiliated Stand With Crypto organization, based on his answers to questions about stablecoins, market structure and regulatory clarity. Coinbase is also a major contributor to the Fairshake PAC, which supports what it considers “pro-crypto” Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress.
Source: Stand With Crypto
On Tuesday, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen reported that the cryptocurrency industry had spent about $189 million so far on contributions to influence the 2026 US elections, largely through PACs. In what some experts say is the industry repeating its 2024 strategy, crypto-aligned groups are expected to continue spending to elect what they consider “pro-crypto” politicians.
Related: Senate leaders push for July passage of CLARITY Act
Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for You Can Push Back but did not receive an immediate response.
A new poll commissioned by Americans for Financial Reform released on Wednesday showed that a majority of Americans are concerned about the influence the crypto industry has on US lawmakers. The results followed financial disclosures showing that US President Donald Trump profited by more than $1.4 billion from his crypto investments.
“Voters have seen serious crypto corruption and high ranking government officials raking in profits while everyday people experience crypto-fueled losses and scams,” said Mark Hays, the associate director of crypto and fintech at Americans for Financial Reform. “Voters want crypto to have to play by the same kinds of rules as other financial companies, not dictate special privileges for itself.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said on Tuesday that neither Trump nor his family “has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest.”
Among the poll’s results included a majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents being concerned about crypto-related laws being influenced by donations from those in the industry. Americans for Financial Reform concluded that voters were likely to agree that the crypto industry needs sensible regulation.
Magazine: The end of anonymity? AI could unmask crypto’s hidden identities
", "description": "With the crypto industry reportedly having spent $189 million attempting to influence the 2026 US elections so far, one Democratic candidate in Colorado won a congressional primary after help from a PAC.", "published": "2026-07-01T20:30:08+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "politics" }, { "slug": "ripple" }, { "slug": "voting" }, { "slug": "colorado" }, { "slug": "elections" }, { "slug": "regulation" } ], "slug": "democrat-ripple-co-founders-pac-wins-colorado", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "News" } ] }, "id": "273357" }, { "category": { "slug": "markets" }, "postTranslate": { "title": "Bitcoin bear market ‘dead’ after first TD9 reversal signal since July 2022 fires", "leadText": "Bitcoin bear-market bottom signs appear as the TD9 indicator mirrors the final stages of the 2022 BTC price downtrend.", "author": { "slug": "william-suberg" }, "bodyText": "Bitcoin (BTC) has delivered a key trend change setup in the latest sign that the macro downtrend could soon reverse.
Key points:
In an X post on Tuesday, analyst Tony Severino flagged a “perfected” buy signal on the TD9 indicator.
TD9 is a derivative of the Tom DeMark Sequential market timing indicator, which alerts traders to potential trend changes. Here, price triggers a notable signal when nine candles in a row close higher (in an uptrend) or lower (in a downtrend) than the closing price four candles prior.
“Bitcoin has ‘perfected’ a TD9 buy setup on the monthly,” Severino commented alongside data from TradingView.
BTC/USD one-month chart with TD9 indicator data. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The setup is Bitcoin’s first in several years on monthly time frames, with the last TD9 downtrend signal coming in July 2022.
At the time, BTC/USD spent another five months ironing out its bear-market bottom, and as Severino notes, a completed TD9 setup does not "necessarily mean that the bottom is in.”
“Not a buy signal by itself. But if it holds into the close, it’s the kind of thing you pay attention to,” Tony Carrera, host of the Proof of Pain podcast, wrote in a further X post.
“TD 9s are where you stop chasing fear, zoom out, and ask: Is this where $BTC reminds everyone what happens when they think it’s dead?”
As Cointelegraph reported, consensus among market participants still favors new macro lows coming before the bear market truly reverses.
Related: Bitcoin just $5K away from ‘best investment opportunity’ of bear market
Targets differ, with $55,000 now popular, while BTC price cycle comparisons put the current bear market at just over two-thirds complete.
By contrast, bullish divergences across multiple time frames are locking in on the relative strength index (RSI) — a classic hint that trend change is due.
“Not sure I have ever seen more confirmed and potential bullish divergence with oversold RSI on more time frames, ever,” trader, analyst and podcast host Scott Melker told X followers on Wednesday.
“Divs building over multiple time frames is my favorite signal. Good odds.”
BTC/USD one-day chart with four-hour, one-day, one-week RSI data. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
", "description": "Bitcoin offers another 2022 bear-market comparison as the TD9 indicator sees its first monthly downtrend reversal signal since July four years ago.", "published": "2026-07-01T19:59:27+01:00" }, "tags": [ { "slug": "bitcoin" }, { "slug": "bitcoin-price" }, { "slug": "markets" }, { "slug": "market-analysis" } ], "slug": "bitcoin-tests-claims-price-is-dead-with-first-td9-reversal-signal-since-july-2022", "postBadge": { "postBadgeTranslates": [ { "title": "Markets News" } ] }, "id": "273353" } ] } } }, "extensions": { "state": "[{\"name\":\"top_promo_post_rotation_state\",\"value\":{\"selectedTopPromoPostId\":null},\"expiresAt\":1783183221}]" } }